The Week of February 5, 1852

News in Connecticut, Stowe’s birthplace:

• A law was approved in a City Meeting which banned driving horses at more than six miles per hour, leaving a horse unhitched, or attaching a horse to a sleigh without bells. A $5 fine would be issued for each offense. Racing horses in Hartford was also prohibited by this law.

National News:

• Following the adjournment of the US Senate, Senator Borland of Arkansas struck Superintendent of the Census J. L. Kennedy. It was reported that the attack came after a confrontation about remarks made during debate. Borland broke Kennedy’s nose .   
• Natural snowballs ranging in diameter between 3 to 15 inches were reported in West Rutland, Vermont following a snow squall. This phenomenon was similar to tumbleweed, but made of snow.
• Ohio’s capitol building was been destroyed by fire. A new building was under construction which was set to be second only to the US Capitol in Washington.   
• A member of the Pueblos made it known that a mine near Toas likely contained silver. He was put to death for this disclosure.

International News:

• Louis Napoleon’s marriage to the daughter of King Oscar of Sweden was reported in error. He was set to marry another Princess of Sweden, a descendant of King Gustavus Vasa.   
• Men in France began speculating on an old theory that freezing a human could suspend life. A man found frozen in the Alps for eleven months was reported to have bene brought back to life.   
• The US Government bombarded the island of Johanna, part of the Comoro Islands near Madagasar. Years of improper treatment by the people of Johanna towards American whalers and merchants and the imprisonment of a whaling captain from New Bedford in 1850 was said to be the cause of the bombardment.