Upon bills payable out of this State, but within the United States, and not in an adjoining State, duly protested, etc., damages are allowed at the rate of ten per cent with legal interest, costs, and charges.

Upon bills payable out of this State, but within some State adjoining this, duly protested, etc., five per cent damages are allowed, with charges, etc. The holder of any bill or note, instead of bringing separate suits against drawers, makers, indorsers, etc., may include all or any of said parties in one action, and proceed to judgment and execution in the same manner as though all the defendants were joint contractors; but each defendant is entitled to the same defense as if he had been sued separately.

Bills and notes payable at sight, or at a future day certain, in which there is not an express stipulation to the contrary, are subject to three days' grace. But bills, notes, and drafts, payable on demand, are not subject to grace. The general rules and customs of the Law Merchant, with reference to bills, notes, and drafts, are recognized by our statutes, and enforced in the several courts of the State.

Lost notes may be recovered upon by proving the loss and contents thereof; but to entitle the plaintiff to recovery he must first execute an approved bond to defendant to save him harmless from the lost note.

STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS.

Actions in ejectment must be commenced within twenty years after the right to the land in question accrued.

Every action of debt founded on any contract or liability not under seal, except such as are brought upon the judgment of some court of record, all actions of assumpsit or on the case founded on any contract or liability, all actions for waste, replevin, or trespass, must be commenced within six after the cause of action accrued.

years

These provisions do not apply to a note signed in presence of an attesting witness, nor to the bills of a bank.

Actions for slander, assault and battery, false imprisonment, and actions against officers, are limited to a shorter time.

All other personal actions may be commenced within twenty years after the cause of action accrued.

If any person entitled to bring any of the above actions should be a minor, feme-covert, insane, imprisoned, or absent when the cause of action accrued, such person may commence suit within the times above limited, after the disability is removed.

If the cause of action arose without this State upon a simple contract more than six years previous to the commencement of the suit, or upon a sealed or attested instrument in writing, or judgment or decree of any court, more than ten years before the commencement of the action, the defendant may plead the statute in bar.

The statute cannot be pleaded if it is shown that the defendant has changed his name, or been known by any different name, within the previous six years.

CONVEYANCES.

Conveyances of land are made by deed, signed, attested by two witnesses, and acknowledged before a judge, commissioner, notary public, or justice, and recorded in the county where the land lies.

Deeds made out of the State may be executed according to the laws of

the State where made, and should be acknowledged before any officer authorized by the laws of such State to take acknowledgments, or before a commissioner appointed by the Governor of this State, but, except in case of said commissioner, the deed should have attached the certificate of the clerk of a court of record of the county where the acknowledgment was made, under seal of his office, that the person whose name is subscribed to the acknowledgment was at the date thereof, such officer as he is therein represented to be, that he believes the signature of such person subjoined thereto, is genuine, and that the deed is executed and acknowledged according to the laws of such State or district.

Conveyances not recorded are void against subsequent purchasers in good

faith.

A conveyance of land exempt by law from execution, is totally void unless the wife of the grantor, if he has one, joins in its execution.

A scroll or other device used for a seal by the grantor, has the same force as if a seal had actually been impressed.

Bonds, contracts, and agreements concerning any interest in lands under seal, attested, and acknowledged, and recorded, take precedence of subsequent deeds, and operate as a lien upon the lands described, according to their import and meaning.

Lands upon which the taxes are unpaid, are annually sold for the taxes, and if not redeemed within three years from the sale, with interest at the rate of twenty-five per cent, a deed is made by the county to the purchaser or his assignee.

INTEREST.

Seven per cent is the legal interest, but any rate that parties may agree upon, not exceeding twelve per cent, is valid.

Since April, 1851, the reservation of more than twelve per cent renders the whole contract void.

For about eighteen months previous to April last we had no law restricting the amount of interest that could be taken, and parties could take and give any rate that they could agree upon.

LIEN.

Judgments are a lien upon all real estate of the judgment debtor, except exempted property, within the county where the record or a certified transcript thereof shall be filed.

Mechanics and others engaged in furnishing labor or materials for the construction of buildings, have a lien upon the building for the value of the labor or material.

MORTGAGES

Executed by husband and wife are sufficient to convey their rights in real estate.

The usual method of foreclosure is by bill in chancery. A decree is as easily obtained as a judgment at law. After the decree the premises mortgaged are sold upon six weeks' advertisement without redemption.

As a general thing it is easier to realize upon a mortgage than upon any other security that must be litigated.

MARRIED WOMEN.

The real estate of a married woman is not subject to the disposal of her husband.

A female married since February, 1850, has control over both her real and personal property.

A married woman may receive by inheritance, gift, grant, or devise, from any person other than her husband, any real or personal property, or any rents, issues, and profits thereof, and may control and dispose of the same, and in neither of these last cases is the property subject to the disposal of her husband, or liable for his debts.

Art. VII-FEARLESS FEAT OF AN AMERICAN WHALEMAN.

FREEMAN HUNT, Esq., Editor of the Merchants' Magazine, etc. :

Sir: The printed article accompanying this, giving a narrative of the remarkable feat of Benjamin Clough, third mate of whale ship Sharon, was cut from the Boston Mercantile Journal, in which it was republished from the New Bedford Mercury. It was laid by carefully, as worthy of preservation and deserving of an imperishable record, among the many fearless deeds of sailors and whalemen, as one surpassing all in danger, that danger plainly in view, and executed with so much coolness and deliberation. The deed was so noble and bold, that I have ever since kept M. Clough in remembrance, hoping that some time I should see him, and, as curiosity might prompt, test the science of physiognomy, and "and with greedy ear devour up his discourse;" also learn his subsequent history, how much of deserved good fortune had attended him.

A gentlemen of New Bedford, of whom I have made inquiries, informs me that Mr. Clough is now in command of a new, first rate ship of 600 tons, called the Niagara, built purposely for him; and that the ship was cleared at New Bedford the 9th of this month for the north Pacific, on a whaling voyage, by Messrs. N. Church & Son, of Fairhaven.

The article is inclosed to you in hopes that you will republish it in your Magazine, as it so nearly falls in with its scope and design. It will give the deed a renewed and more extensive promulgation. As it is now published in newspapers only, and in very few libraries, bound up with others without index, it will seldom, if ever be seen. In your Merchants' Magazine, it will be accessible in the best form, and become a record that cannot and should not be overlooked.

Captain Benjamin Clough was born in Monmouth, Maine, and will be twenty-eight years old next March. This will be his third voyage as master of a whale ship.

Inquiries will undoubtedly arise in the minds of the readers of this narrative about the boy Manuel, for his aid in this rescue. He cannot be passed by and forgotten. He better deserves a silver pitcher than some who have obtained one. All information concerning him, now obtainable, is that he went home to the Western Islands on the return of the Sharon, and that Captain Clough has had no tidings of him since. Your obedient servant, HENRY GASSETT.

BOSTON, February, 1851.

MURDER OF CAPTAIN NORRIS OF THE WHALING SHIP SHARON, OF FAIRHAVEN, AND RECAPTURE OF THE SHIP FROM MUTINEERS, BY MR. BENJAMIN CLOUGH, HER THIRD OFFICER.

The Sharon having been some time cruising for whales in the vicinity of the Caroline Islands, put in at Ascension the 15th October, 1842, for wood, water, and recruits. The requisite supplies being obtained, preparations were made to

proceed upon the voyage, when eleven of the crew deserted, and being secreted and protected on shore, all efforts to retake them were fruitless. The ship sailed again on the 27th October, with a crew of seventeen men, all told, four of whom were natives of King's Mill group, and two of other islands in the South Sea. The intention was to touch at Bay of Islands or Port Jackson to make up the compliment of men. On Sunday, November, 6th, lat. 2° 20' N., lon. 1620 E., whales where raised and both boats lowered in chase, leaving Captain Norris, a Portuguese boy named Manuel Jose dos Reis, who acted as steward, and three of the King's Mill Islanders on board. The boats soon succeeded in capturing a whale, which the ship ran down to and took along side-they continuing in pursuit of others. At 3 o'clock P. M., the mate's boat being about a mile and a half from the ship, her signal was discovered at half-mast, and he immediately pulled towards her. The singular and unaccountable management of the ship for some time previous, had already been remarked by those in the boat, and excited the liveliest apprehensions as they approached her. Coming up upon her quarter within speaking distance, the boy who was aloft and had cut the main-topgallant halyards, told Mr. Smith, the mate, that the islanders had killed Captain Norris and were in possession of the ship. Just then one of them, armed with a cutting-spade and entirely naked, leaped upon the taffrail, and brandishing his weapon with most furious and menacing gestures, dared the crew to come on board. The other two were also naked and stationed one at each side of the ship, where they had collected all the whaling craft, billets of wood, hammers, belaying-pins, in short, everything that would serve as a missile or offensive weapon, determined to repel any attempt to board. The fourth native of the same islands was in the boat, and one of the mutineers addressed him in his own language, telling him, it was supposed, what they had done and inviting him to join them. He made a gesture of disapproval, upon which the other caught up the cook's axe and hurled it at him with such precision of aim, though a ship's length distant, that it cut through the back of his shirt as he stooped to avoid the blow. A shower of missiles followed, thrown with such force that the bone belayingpins were broken into several pieces on striking the boat, but fortunately no one was seriously injured by them. The mate then ordered Manuel to cut the maintop-gallant sheets and main-topsail halyards, and to go forward on the stay and cut the halyards of the head-sails and clear them from the yards, which was done. The task of retaking the ship was evidently one of extreme difficulty and danger, for the mutineers had the advantages of position and a plentiful supply of arins, with the resolution and skill to use them effectively, so that the second mate and his crew, who had in the meantime come up, were called to consult upon the best course to pursue. It was proposed that both boats should advance and board the ship, one upon each side, at the same time; but Mr. Smith, upon whom by the melancholy catastrophe on board, the responsibility and duties of master had devolved, thought that a proper regard for the interest of the owners as well as for the safety of the men under his command, required him to avoid all personal risk, for which reason he proposed that both crews should take the other boat and proceed to the ship, leaving him alone to await the issue. This proposal met with no favor, the men declaring a wish rather to start for the nearest land-five or six days' sail distant-and the second mate relishing it so little that he suffered his boat to drop astern out of talking distance. Mr. Clough, the third mate, who acted as Mr. Smith's steersman since the ship was short manned, had darted his lance several times at the naked savage on the rail, but for want of sufficient warp it fell short three or four feet at each trial; he requested therefore, that the boat might be pulled within reach, as the fellow kept his position without flinching and insolently defied him; but the mate thought the danger too great, and refused to gratify him. He then offered to go on board over the bows, if the boy would cut the fore-royal stay and let the end fall overboard, so that he could ascend it to the jib-boom with a lance-warp in his teeth: but the boy Manuel had become so exhausted by fright and fatigue that he was unable to get up to the royal-mast-head to execute his part of the task.

His next plan and the one he executed was, that both boats should pull ahead

of the ship, and when it was quite dark, taking every precaution to avoid exciting the suspicion of the mutineers, he would jump into the sea, and passing close by the side of the ship, enter her by the cabin windows. The ship and boats were surrounded by sharks, attracted probably by the carcass of the whale killed in the morning, to defend himself against which he took a boat-knife in his teeth, and let himself into the water as silently as possible. At the same moment the ship took aback and it became necessary to swim; but to "strike out" and make the best of his way would cause a sparkling of the water, and betray his approach to the look out, so that he was obliged to "walk water," by which scarcely any agitation was made and almost as little progress. It was a tedious passage of more than an hour and a half in duration, terminated at length by diving under the ship, seizing the rudder at the heel, and ascending by the after part of it to the starboard cabin window, through which he made his entry. Two large sharks were close to the boat when he left her, and kept him company the whole time without offering to molest him, and the knife, which luckily had been useless, he left upon the transom as he got in at the window.

He then divested himself of his clothing, that the enemy might have no advantage over him on the score of nakedness should they come to close quarters, and applied himself to listening to the movements upon deck; as these indicated that there were yet no suspicions of his presence, he then proceeded to search for arms and ammunition. Two cutlasses were soon found, and amongst all the muskets, two only were fit for service, so far as he could judge by careful handling-it was too dark to see; every locker in the cabin was then ransacked for powder and ball, which being found, the muskets were loaded and placed with the cutlasses at the foot of the cabin stairs; while engaged in loading a fowling piece, he heard a step in the gangway and some one descended the stairs, hitting the arms at the bottom and knocking them down upon the floor. Mr. Clough ran to the spot, but unable to see anything, groped about by the intruder's feet till he caught hold of a cutlass, with which he ran him through the body; as he drew it out a struggle ensued for the weapon, and both fell to the floor; the officer luckily uppermost; planting his knees upon his breast he took out one of his eyes, and with a good deal of trouble brought the edge of the sword to bear upon the back of his neck, and made an attempt to cut off his head; he pulled it back and forth several times but it was an awkward operation, for the other kept hold of the sword and struggled violently, wounding Mr. C. severely by twisting the blade several times in his hand. After a while he became quiet, and supposing him to be dead, Mr. C. got up, but the other immediately rose and struck about furiously with the cutlass, hitting him at almost every pass, until, exhausted probably by loss of blood, he uttered a slight groan and fell upon the floor. Going again to the stairs, the officer saw another in the gangway with a cutting-spade pointed towards him, when, feeling for a loaded musket he succeeded after snapping twice, in putting a ball through his heart. At the same moment the spade dropped or was thrown down, taking effect in the thick part of Mr. Clough's arm, and the blood gushed so violently from the wound that he supposed the artery to be severed, and began to give way to unpleasant reflections, when the third came to the gangway, armed also with a spade, and endeavored to look into the darkness below: Mr. Clough made several ineffectual attempts to gain another musket, but his right hand and left arm were both disabled--the man stood still a few minutes, then dropped his spade and walked forward. Mr. Clough now hailed the boats, which were so near that he could hear the conversation going on amongst the men. He told them that two of the mutineers were dead, himself dangerously wounded, and urged them to hasten on board. They said they did not believe more than one had been killed, as they had heard but one gun and did not consider it prudent for them to come near him; so the wounded man had to sit down and suffer his blood to flow, for his right hand had become so stiff and sore that he could not use it to place a bandage on his arm. More than half an hour having elapsed since the hail, and no further news being heard, the boats ventured alongside. A light being struck and brought into the cabin, the floor was found covered with the blood of both combatants. The man who