he was pursued by the plaintiff and one Francis Umbehocker, two of his dupes, who offered a reward for apprehending him. The person whom they made use of for this purpose ingeniously held out to the defendant the lure of having £200 in specie at home, ready to be put into Savin's bank, if he should come to his house and receive it for multiplication Some strong suspicious circumstances were shown against the defendant as being in connection with Savin. The latter first came to the house, in pursuance of the scheme, about ten o'clock at night of the 2d of July, 1790. The plaintiff and Umbehocker lay concealed in the barn, and were notified of Savin's presence. On their appearance Savin was alarmed, and desired them to walk up stairs with him. On a signal given the defendant also appeared, and some altercation occurred; but afterwards, on being informed of their respective demands, he became security for Savin's appearance at his house the next morning before day. Thither they all came on the 3d of July, 1790, and defendant promised to pay the plaintiff his demand against Savin, £100, within six weeks from that time, or sooner; and as Savin owed to Umbehocker $303 11, to pay him $100 down, and the residue on the Tuesday following, at the same house in Dauphin county. Whereupon Savin was set at liberty.

Verdict pro quer for £149 17s. 6d. damages. Messrs. Clymer and Reed pro quer. Messrs. Ingersoll, Hopkins and Fisher pro def.

A motion was afterwards made for a new trial, and a rule to show cause obtained; but the argument coming on in December term, 1799, the defendant's counsel discharged the rule.”

THE TOWN INCORPORATED INTO A BOROUGH.

The act to erect the town of Harrisburg into a borough was passed on the 13th day of April, 1791; and an act to alter the same without interfering with the boundaries originally laid

down, was approved February 1, 1808, on the ground “that experience has fully proved that, owing to a difference in the local situation of the places, and various other causes, the act of Assembly for erecting the town of Reading into a borough, however applicable to the purposes for which it was originally intended by the Legislature, is not well calculated for the good government of the borough of Harrisburg; therefore, be it enacted, that the said town of Harrisburg shall continue and forever remain a borough, under the name and title of the 'Borough of Harrisburg;' the extent and limits of which shall be the same as in the original law, to wit:

Limits of Harrisburg, incorporated 13th April, 1791.

Beginning at low water mark on the eastern shore of the Susquehanna river; thence by the pineapple tree north sixty degrees and one quarter east, seventy-nine perches, to an ash tree on the west bank of Paxton creek; thence by the several corners thereof three hundred and twenty-three perches to a white hickory on William Maclay's line; thence by the same, south sixty-seven and three quarters degrees west two hundred and twelve perches to a marked chestnut-oak, on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna; thence by the same course to low water mark to the place of beginning."

The borough limits were extended by the act of the 16th April, 1838, by the 17th section of "An Act granting certain authorities to the cities of Lancaster and Philadelphia, and for other purposes," in the following language: "The north-western boundary line of the borough of Harrisburg shall be, and the same is hereby extended and enlarged as follows: Extending it along the river line to the upper line of the land of the late William Maclay, on said river; thence to Paxton creek, and thence along said creek to the north-western corner of the present boundary;" thus annexing the town of Maclaysburg, or all that part of the present borough laying north-west of South

street; and in the 18th section, giving its inhabitants the privileges and subjecting them to the same liabilities as if they had been originally included within the corporate limits of said borough.

The minutes of the first Town Councils are not to be found; and the only record the compiler could discover relative to the affairs of the borough in the first year of its incorporation, is an account of the Overseers of the Poor, which reads as follows:

"To amount of Hogs and Butter for

ye use of ye

£16 1s. 1d."

DEATH OF JOHN HARRIS, JR.

John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, died 29th July, 1791, and is buried in the graveyard of Paxton church. He was about sixty-five years of

age.

COST OF THE COURT HOUSE.

The Minutes of the first Boards of County Commissioners are not to be found, and it is therefore difficult to discover any great amount of information respecting the erection of the county buildings. There is, however, in the Commissioners' office, what is entitled an "Order Book" for the year 1785, which gives the receipts and expenditures of the county for that year. By it we learn that the old Jail was erected at a considerable period before the present Court House; for among the first expenditures noted in the book are sums of money paid for the erection of a "stone wall around the goal."

The expenditures made for the construction of the Court House we find to be as follows:

In the borough account for the year 1807, we find a statement of the expenditure of monies for the construction of market houses, the sum total of which was $915 86. The first buildings appropriated to this purpose were very small, and in the language of an old citizen, "mere sheds in comparison with the present capacious buildings."

GREAT SICKNESS AT HARRISBURG.

About the year 1793, Harrisburg was exceedingly sickly. A fever of a violent character, similar to the Yellow Fever, prevailed, especially among the new settlers or foreigners. At the same time the Yellow Fever was prevailing in Philadelphia, and fears were entertained of its introduction into Harrisburg. A patrol was accordingly established at the lower end of the town, to prevent infected persons of Philadelphia from coming into it. A large number of Irish emigrants died, and some of the citizens; but most families of the place were to some extent afflicted.