Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1885 — Page 3

OLD-TIME INDIANA PREACHERS.

Ready Wit. Rare Rloqcenoe, and Zealous Labors of the Early Men of God Raper’s Escape in Answer to Prayer— Bigelow Better than All the Bishops--How Whitten Settled a Church Difficulty. [W. H. Smith, in Indianapolis Journal.] No class of men have ever furnished a'greater fund of incident and anecdote than the early preachers who spread the gospel over the West. They passed through dangers and tails that few of the present day know anything of, and the story of their lives and of their devotion to the cause of humanity and of God would be of thr'l'ins intere t. They were quick of wit, and always ready to expose sham, no matter where found. William Cravens was one of these early apostles. He was the first circuit preacher Indianapolis had. He was a man of great power, and was possessed of a keen irony that cut like a knife. The power of granting divorces was then confined to the Legislature, and almost any one who applied was certain of getting a divorce. The preachers were dis. ussing the facility with which divorces were obtained, and severely denounced the Legislature, when a member of that body undertook to defend it. He proceeded at some lengch to enumerate causes for a divorce other than are given in the New Testament, and to show why they were sufficient. After listening quite a while, Mr. Cravens broke in with, “Ain't itwondenul Christ did not think of that?" The tone and manner were too much for the legislator, and he subsided. The preaching had strange effects sometimes upon temporal as well as spiritual affairs. Rev. Joseph Tarkington used to give an instance of this kind. Wnen he was a boy living near Bloomington, the preacher one day took for his text a passage from the Song of Solomon, which reads: “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.” With eloquent language, he pictured ■out the apple-tree, with its b autiful blossoms and lusc.ous fruit, until the mouths of his bearers began to water for the old orchards of the homes they had left in the East, and to long for them once agiin, as there were no ap-ple-trees in this sect on. So strong was this feeling upon the part of the senior Tarkington, that the next morning he started Joseph on horseback to Vincennes, seventy-five miles away, to buy some young apple-trees and bring them back. ■ '1 he country was new, and the traveling had to be done with private conveyances, and oftentimes amid great dangers. Will am Wilson was known as the "blind preacher.” He belonged to the Christian or c ampbellite faith. Those who heard him remember him as a man of rare eloquence. Once he was traveling with his wife ■over a lonely road in the southern nart of the State. Just as night was falling, they heard a noise at the side of the roa J, and his wife discovered a vi la nous-looking man with a gun pointed at them In a a whisper, she informed her husband, when Mr. V ilson spoke up in the sad voice for which he was noted: “ Friend, can you tell us the way to the next town? I am blind, and a stranger, and I fear we have lost the way.” The highwayman muttered out some sort of answer, and slunk away into the woods. William H. Raper was one of the most famous of those early preachers. While traveliug his circuit, which included all the southeastern part of Indiana, he cot lost in the woods one dar t night, and wandered about for several hours. At last he came to a creek. The rain had been falliiig for several days, and he knew the waters must be very high. Dismounting he groped along as best he could until he came to what he supposed was a bridge. He carefully led his horse onto it. As he proceeded he felt it giving under him, step by step, but he kept on until he leached the other bank. A short distance from there he discovered a house, and after arousing the inmates obtained permission to stay all night. They asked him how he had been able to cross the creek, and when he told them by the bridge, they were amazed, as he was when they informed him there was no bridge there nor never had the morning they went out and found that in the darkness he h»d. crossed on floating driftwood that had become jammed. At another time he had an experience that will furnish a nut for psychologists to crack. While crossing a very full stream at an early hour one morning, his horse threw him into the water. He was swiftly being borne out into the rapid current of the river, when he was enabled to catch an overhanging limb. To that he clung until his strength was almost exhausted. He was about to give up in despair, as no help was near, when he seemed to hear a voice saying: "Mother is praying for vou, and you will be saved.” This gave him new courage, and making a final effort, he reached the bank in safety. On reaching his mother’s house, some days afterward, she told him she had a terrible dream about him. She said that one morning she was awakened in a terrible fright, and heard some one saying: “William is in great danger.” She sprang from her bed and, throwing herself upon her knees, began praying for him. This she kept up until at last a peace fell upon her spirit, and she was satisfied that her son had escaped from his danger. On comparing the time, it was found to have been at exactly the time he was struggling with the raging waters a hundred miles distant. The memory of Henry B. Bascom is yet dear to the Methodists of Indiana. He had many narrow escapes while preaching in the new country. He was an indefatigable student, and occupied every moment possible in his studies. He loved to lie on t ie ground beneath the shade of some giant of the forest, and. with his book in his hand, study and meditate. As he was thus lying, one day, he heard a voice crying, “Lie still. Do not, move at the peril of your life.” Looking toward the point from whence the voice proceeded he saw a friend with his rifle pointed at the tree above him. Glancing quickly up he saw a huge panther in the very act of springing upon him. His friend fired, and the panther fell dead at his side. At another time, he stopped at a log cabin for dinner. While they were eating the meal a little child of his host was playing in front of the door. Suddenly the mother screamed: “Oh, my child!" They rushed to the door just in time to see a panther bearing the child into a tree. Mr. Bascom seized a rifle that was hang ng over the door, and, quick as thought, fired. The bullet sped true to the mark, and the panther fell to the ground dead. The teeth of the animal had done their fatal work on the chi d, however. Bascom's eloquence was of a peculiar kind. It was the eloquence of strength. It was an irresistible power, carrying everything before it. There was something grand, something wonderful about it. He was to theology what Webster was to constitutional law. He was the St. Paul of America. Once, while lecturing in Boston, on infidelity, he had among his auditors old Father Taylor, who was famous for his eloquence in the pulpit. During the delivery of the lecture Father Taylor stood by one of the pillars that supported the roof. He became so absorbed that unconsciously he began to raise his cane, elevating it gradually as the speaker rose in his eloquence, until at last he got it up at arm’s length. When he could raise it no higher, he waved it to and fro over the heads of the people and shouted: "Grand! glorious! triumphant l " Russell Bigelow was another of those pioneer preachers who swayed the multitudes by his eloquence. Such was his fame that when it was an ounced that he was to preach the people from many miles around flocked to hear him. His personal appearance was against him he was below the middle stature, and of slight and delicate frame. He was always clad in coarse, 111-fitting garments. His hair, uncombed, hung loosely over his forehead, which was broad and prominent. He had a keen eye, prominent cheek bones, a projecting chin, large nose, wide mouth and expanding nostrils. A skeptic who heard him at a '■ camp-meeting held near Dayton. Ohio, thus wrote of his sermon: “Having state 1 and illustrated his position clearly, he laid broad the foundation of his argument, and piled stone upon stone, hewed and polished, till he stood upon a majestic pyramid, with heaven s own light around him, pointing the astonished multitude to a brighter home beyond the sun, and bidding defiance to the enemy to remove one fragment of the rook on whi ch his feet were placed. His argument being completed, his perora'ion commenced. This was grand beyond description. The whole universe seemed animated by its Creator to aid him in persuading the sinners to return to God, and the angels commissioned to open heaven and come down to strengthen him. Now he opens the mouth of the pit, and takes us through its gloomy avenues, while the bolts retreat and the doors of damnation burst open, and the wails of the lost come into our ears; and now he opens heaven and transports us to the flowery plains, stands up amid the armies of the blest, to sweep with celestial fingers angelic harps, and join the -sternal chorus, ‘Worthy, worthy the Lamb!’

As he closed his d tscourse every energy of his body and mind was stretched to the utmost tension His soul appeared to be too great for its tenement, and every moment ready to burst through and soar away as an eagle toward heaven. His lungs labored, his arms rose, rhe perspiration, with t ars, flowed in a steady stream upon the Hcor. and everything about him seemed to say, ‘Oh. that my head were wate s.' But the audience thought not of the struggling body, tor e\en of the giant mind wi nin. for they were i aralyzed beneath the avalanche of thought that descended upon them. I lost the man, but the subject was all in all.” At one time the conference was to be held in Steubenville, Ohio. A wealthy Episcopalian went to the Methodist pastor in that place and told him if he would send him the most talented man in the conference he would be glad to entertain him. Bigelow whs sent to him. He made his appearance at the aristocratic residence in h.s homespun suit, ris personal appearance was not prepossessing, and, upon meeting the pastor, the Episcopalian complained ihat he had not been treated right. He was told that he had asked for the most talented mtn, and he had been sent to him. The pastor said to him: “He is to preach at the Presbyterian Church to-morrow morning. You go and hear him. and then, if you are still dissatisfied, I will change him and send yon the Bishop.” The host and his family attended the Presbyterian Church the next day. Mr. Bigelow took his seat in the pulpit, and when it was time to begin the services, arose and read his hymn. Such reading of poetry had never before been heard in Steubenville, and the host and his daughters exchanged surprised and significant glances. It was one of the preacher's grand days, and he electrified his audience. At the close of the serin' n the host requested his daughters to accompany Mr. Bigelow to the house, saying that he bad to attend to a little matter down street. He made his way at once to the Methodist parsonage, and < allmg the pastor to one side, told h m that he would not tiade off Mr. Bigelow, in his home-spun suit, for all the bishops. Such is the power of eloquence. John Gibson was one of the famous preachers of Eastern Indiana, and was very eccentric. His language was often rough, but it suited the backwoodsmen among whom he labored. On one occasion he was preaching at a camp-meet-ing near Richmond. A young woman persisted in standing upon one of the benches and laughing at the proceedings. She was requested several times to take a seat, but refused. Finally, Mr. Gibson broke out: “My Lord! knock that young woman down.” This he repeated three times, when the woman fell as if she had been shot. Turning to one who was sitting near him, he said: “Sister, that is what I call taking them between the lug and the horn.” A good deal has been said about prayer-cures of late.years, but a preacher once prayed a man to death. It was at a little church known as Mt. Olive, situated in the edge of Morgan County, about fifteen miles south of Indianapolis. Living in the neighborhood were several young men who attended the services of the church for no other purpose than to disturb the worshipei s. They would sit upon the back seats and play cards and drink whisky while the service- were going on. Many times they had succeeded in breaking up the meetings. This had gone on for several years. At length Levi Johnson was sent to the circuit. At one of his meetings the wickedness of Ihe young men broke out worse than ever. Finally, the preacher threw himself upon his knees, and in a voice of the most intense power, cried out, “Oh, Lord, if there is no hope that these men will ever become converted and do better, kill them at once aud take them out of the way." This he continued to repeat for two or three minutes, while a terrible awe fell upon the congregation. At the close of the prayer the leader of the young men fell from his seat, and before he could be carried out of the building was dead. Two or three of the others afterward said that they would have died if the preacher had kept on praying a minute or two longer. How to deal with refractory members has oftentimes puzzled the best of pastors, but Rev. Elijah Whitten had a way that was peculiarly his own. On arriving at a new charge once he found an internecine war raging with the greatest virulence. He tried for a while to make peace, but every effort failed. Out of patience with them, he called one day, at the close of his sermon, for the class books and church records. Upon these being procured, he took them to the stove and tossed them into the fire. After watching them until they were entirely consumed, he turned to his wondering congregation and said: “There, you now are all turned out of the churoh. You now have no church. If any of you want to get in again you will have to join on probation!”

State Items. —Bartlett’s drug store at Laporte was destroyed by fire, involving a loss of $20,000. —Henry S. Barnaby, of Jeffersonville, has been fined SIOO for gambling—the heaviest fine ever imposed for the offense in Clark County. Samuel Tilly was fined $97.65. —Both Pogue’s Run and the base-ball club at Indianapolis have dried up, and the citizens begin to long for a circus or a fair to break in upon the solemnity.— Exchange. —With the assistance of a dentist Mrs. Henry Cook, of Evansville, cut one of her third set of eye teeth the other day. It was attempting to come out laterally through the jaw bone. —Mrs. Ruth Garner, widow of the late Captain Wesley Garner, of New Albany, has just died at the age of 80 years. She had been a resident of that city for more than half a century. —Mr. J. B. Starr, the new superintendent of the New Albany schools, has been a teacher in the public schools of Floyd County for twenty years, and ranks as one among the best principals the grammar schools have had.

—The telephone companies of Indiana have devised a plan for evading the new law forbidding a charge of more than $3 per month for the use of a telephone. Extra charges are made to subscribers for batteries, service, etc. —George Steffy, who has been in the infirmary at Vincennes for ten years, dumb and helpless, suddenly recovered his speech while engaged in a scuffle, and now talks easily and rationally. He has no recollection of his ten years of silence. —A peculiar lawsuit has just been decided in the Knox Circuit Court. Last fall, a Vincennes correspondent writes, Mr. Sam Wile, Republican, bet with Mr. James Kackley, Democrat, that Gov. Oglesby would beat Carter Harrison in Illinois by 10,000 votes. The money was put up In the hands of Chris Guess, a Democratic saloonkeeper. After the election Wile claimed he won the bet, but the stakeholder would not give him the money. Wile sued, for the recovery of the stakes, S2OO. Yesterday the case was decided by Judge Mullott’s court. The Judge instructed the jury to find a verdict against the plaintiff (Wile), because he had sued for the whole amount; but the Judge held that if Wile had sued for the recovery of his own money he could have recovered. The defendant claimed that Wile had bet that Oglesby would beat Harrison by 10,000 majority, and not by 10,000 votes.

BLEW OUT HIS BRAINS.

Andre J. Dumont, Late Naval Officer at New Orleans, Commits Suicide. [New Orleans special.] Andre Dumont, ex-Naval Officer at this port, suicided this afternoon. Dumont was one of the most eminent colored men in the State, one of the organizers of the Republican party, and its most earnest, energetic, and continuous supporter. He was an admirable organizer and canvasser, and held in such confidence by all the masses of the party that he was generally chosen as the figure-head in conventions, committees, etc. In 1876 Dumont was elected as President of the Republican State Convention, over ex-Gov. Pinchback, after a prolonged struggle. In 1880 he was ' Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee, and directed the canvass of the State, and in the late Presidential election he held the same office. He was a delegate to every Republican State Convention, and generally chosen as one of the delegates at large. He held various State offices, and represented for some years the Fifth District of New Orleans in the State Senate. He was an Inspector in the United States Custom House, and was appointed by Hayes Naval Officer, which position he had held up to within a few weeks, when he voluntarily resigned, without waiting for Cleveland to appoint his successor, announcing his intention to settle in Central America and invest his money in fruit plantations. Dumont had been very despondent for some years on account of do. mestic troubles, and frequently spoke of committing suicide. To-day he returned from a visit to the country gloomier than ever, and told his wife that he was going to kill himself. She secured his pistol and hid it, but he found it and took it out. She then locked it in a chest; he assaulted her and by violence wrested the key of the chest from her. She endeavored to prevent his carrying out his design, but he was too strong for her, and succeeded in opening the chest and getting the pistol. Pursued by her he fled through the two bedrooms and parlor to the sitting-room in the front of the house. She heard a shot, and when she entered the room a moment later she found him dead, he having placed the pistol in his mouth and fired, blowing out his brains. Dumont was 41 years of age and a native of New Orleana. He had served as a Lieutenant in the French army, and was with Maximilian in Mexico. He was a very light-colored octoroon, and. neither he nor his wife would have been taken for negroes. He was highly esteemed by all, his merits being acknowledged even by the Democrats. He leaves a very comfortable estate.

TREASURY CIRCULAR.

Relations Which Will Hereafter Govern the Issue and Redemption of Currency and Coin. [Washington telegram.] The United States Treasurer has issued a circular proinu'gating the relations whi' h will hereafter govern the issue and redemption of the currency and coins of the United States and the redemption of national bank notes. The principal changes made in existing regulations are in regard to shipments of silver and to the redemption of mutilated United States notes. The new regulations in reference to the issue of standard silver dollars is as follows: Upon receint of currency or gold coin, the Treasurer, or Assistant Treasurer, will cause to We paid to applicants in cities where their respective offices may be situated standard silver dollars in any desir d amount. S andard silver dollars are forwarded to applicants outside of cities in which the Treasurer, or an Assistant Treasurer, may be situated, at the expense of the government in sums or multiples of $500: 1. Upon the receipt by the Treasurer of an original certificate issued by any Assistant Treasurer of national bank depository that a deposit of currency or gold coin has been made to the order of the Treasurer in general account, deposits with the Assistant Treasurer In New York may be made by drafts payable to his order and collectable through the Clearing House, forwarded directly to him with instructions to deposit the amounts on account of standard silver dollars, and to forward the certificates therefor to the Treasur *r upon the receipt by the Treasurer ot gold coins. United States notes, silver certifi'-ates, or national bank notes. 2. By the Treasurer or any. Assistant Treasurer. by registered mail, free of charge In sums or multiples of $65, at the risk of the party to whom sent, upon receipt of gold coin. United States notes, silver certificates, or national bank notes. The regulation respecting the issue of fractional silver is as follows: The Treasurerand Assistant Treasurers of the United States will pay out fractional silver coin in any sum desired lor lawful money of the United S ates. Fractional silver coin will be forwarded from the office nearest the place of its destination by express at the expense of the Government In sums or multiples of $500: 1. Upon receint of an original certificate issued by the Treasurer, an Assistant Treasurer, or a national bank depository, that a deposit of currency or gold coin has been made to the credit of the Treasurer in general account, deposits with the Assistant Treasurer in New York may be made by drafts payable to his order, and collectable through the clearinghouse, forwarded directly to him, with instructions to deposit the amounts on account of iractional silver coin, and to forward the certificates to the office nearest the destination of the coin. 2. By the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer, by registered mail, free of charge, in sums or multiples of seventy dollars, at the risk of the party to whom sent, upon the receipt of currency or gold coin. The following is the regulation in regard to the redemption of United States notes: United States notes, each exceeding ninetenths of its original proportions in one piece, are redeemable at their full face value in other United States notes by the Treasurer and the several Assistant Treasurers of the United States, and are redeemable in coin, in sums not less than fifty dollars, by the Assistant Treasurer in New York.

DASHED TO DEATH.

The Awful Results of a Collision. [Erie (Pa.) special.] A frightful accident occurred on the Nickel-plate Road to-day whereby three lives were lost. Mrs. John Donlin, with her babe and little boy and nurse girl, Sade Mahoney, was riding in the caboose. The train stopped on a trestle over a ravine at Springfield, where it was run into by another freight. Mrs. Donlin grasped her babe and boy and ran out on the p atform, followed by the nurse, when all were hurled over into the abyss, 100 feet in depth. Mrs. Donlin and the nurse were mangled to death, but the baby was caught in the boughs of a tree and may possibly recover. Mrs. Donlin held on to her child until it was tom from her grasp by the wires below. She was terribly mangled by the wires about the breast. Brakeman Thomas Fahey was seriously injured in the collision.

KING CHOLERA.

The Epidemic Spreading in Spain —The People Dying Off by the Hundreds. [Madrid dispatch.] The total number of new cases of cholera reported Monday from the infected district in Spain is 1,3'22, and the total number of deaths 60’2, being an increase, of 30 per cent in new cases and 6 per cent, in deaths over the total number officially reported Sunday. [Alcira (Spaini special to Chicago Tribune.] Dr. Feiran, accompanied by Drs. Gibier, Van Ermingen. Me.adier, the latter the Bordeaux delegate, several other doctors, and the Tribune correspondent, visited the infected town of Alcira. They went to the sick-beds of fifteen cholera patients at the Hospital de la Caridad and to private houses. The visitors were escorted everywhere by a crowd of enthusiastic natives, who evidently regarded Dr. Ferran as the third Redeemer, the other two being, according to Dr. Ferran, Christ, the moral savior of mankind, and Dr. Pasteur, the physician-savior. Most of the patients are recovering. There are only two very bad cases there not inoculated. Mendacious official statistics set down the population of Alcira at 16,00 t). The real population is 20,000 or 22,000. Of these the correspondent finds 9,10!) inoculated, 7,500 of whom were reinoculated. After minute examination of documents the correspondent finds that , rich and poor of the middle class have all submitted to be vaccinated. The most belong to the richer part of the town, while the non-inoculated include about 1,000 persons dependent on charity or comparatively poor, Kring badly, and, therefore, more liable to disease. Alcira was on the whole a thriving town. Two-thirds of the people have been vaccinated—women, children, and the rest chiefly small land-owners or workmen in tolerably comfortable circumstances. Altogether 320 cases of cholera have been recorded at Alcira. Of these 130 died and 138 recovered, while fifty-two are under treatment The deaths of non-inoculated persons were 130. against seven inoculated and three reinoculaied. Of the inoculated and reinoculated, twenty were cured out of fifty of each category under treatment. On returning to Valencia the whole party was obliged to undergo the absurd pretense of fumigating.

MRS. DUDLEY IS CRAZY.

The Woman Who Shot O’Donovan* Hossa* Was Acquitted by the Jury. [New Yqrk telegram.] In the case of Mrs. Yseult Dudley, on trial for .shooting O'Donovan-Rossa, the testimony for the defense was to the effect that Mrs. Dudley was a sufferer from chronic mania. Mrs. Dudley insisted on going on the witness stand and telling her story to the jury. She claimed that she was not insane, and stated that Rossa told her also that he intended to blow up English vessels, and in that way strike terror to English hearts. Ho was a murderer. He had shown himself to be one. “You have no proof except his own word.” “No, but I believed him. I consider him a liar. If lam homicidal, it is queer that I never shot any one before. I have carried a pistol and had it loaded, too, since I was 16 years old. At that age I was living in the country, and there was a great scare about mid dogs and hydrophobia, so that everybody—men and women—who were capable of carrying a revolver did so. I gave O’Donovan as fair a trial as a Prisoner has ever had in your court. shot him, and I am willing to take the consequences. I certainly shall not appeal. Even in this land of liberty I don’t think a man like him ought to be permitted to go about advising indiscriminate murder. I did not come here to shoot him. lam a good nurse, and was willing to take a position here. While in prison I was perfectly bewildered by offers from managers who wanted me to lecture. I answered them all that I would consent only on condition that O’Donovan should come with me, and I would give a practical illustration, aided by O’Donovan, of the effect of dynamite in the human fame. If this met their views I would go.”

The jury, after deliberating five minutes, returned a verdict acquitting her on the ground of insanity.

MEXICAN FINANCES.

Consolidation of the National Debt—The Maximilian Issue Repudiated. [City of Mexico dispatch.! The Government announces in the Diario Oficial its plan for the consolidation of the entire debt of the country, with the exception of the floating debt, which is already provided for in an authorized issue of $25,600,001) bonds at six per cent. The consolidated debt will bear interest at three per cent., but the maximum interest will not be reached until 1890. Next year, 1886, one per cent will be paid: in 1887, 1| per cent; in 1888, 2 per cent.; in 1889, 2| percent.; and in 1890, 3 per cent The National Bank of Mexico will have charge of the negotiations, and the interest will be payable in the City of Mexico, in New York, and in London. The debt of Maximilian is formally repudiated. Foreign capitalists are reported to have advised this Government in this matter, and it is believed that now this complete financial readjustment will revive the credit of the nation abroad.

CENTRAL ASIA.

Russia’s Warlike Preparations. A dispatch from Teheran states that one thousand persons are at work constructing the Transcaspian Railway. Warlike preparations are still being continued by Russia. Rumors are in circulation in the bazaars of Teheran that war will probably occur after the Transcaspian Railway is completed to Merv, in Turcomania. The Russians are bridging the River Murghab, on the confines of Afghanistan. Eight hundred Russian soldiers are at Old Sarakhs. The Persians are fortifying Persian Sarakhs and building barracks there for troops. A foundry has been started at Herat for the casting of heavy

LAND-GRABBERS.

Power of the Government to Prevent Illegal Occupation of Lands in Indian Territory. Millions of Acres Occupied by Oittle Companies Without the Color of Law or Justice. Washington telegram to Chicago Tribune ] Gen. Sparks, Commissioner of the General Land Office, has had a complete list of all the cases where the public lands have been improperly fenced made out, with a statement of the present status of affairs. In all of these cases the parties have been notified to remove the fences. In some instances they have consulted attorneys who have held that a reasonable number of openings in the fences is sufficient. In such cases the openings are guarded, and to all intents and purposes fences still exist The total amount of land that has been appropriated in this way is between one and two million acres. Secretary Lamar has received a letter from Gen. McCook, ex-Governor of Colorado, relative to the power of the Government to prevent illegal occupation of lands in Indian Territory. The writer asserts that the law declares that the Secretary of the Interior has full control of all Indian affairs under the laws, subject to direction by the President; that ceitain contracts may be made by individuals with Indians relative to services in procuring the payments of claims, but no authority exists for making contracts of any other nature, and, if made, they are null and void; that no purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of lands or of any tide or claim thereto from any Indian nation or tribe of Indians shall be of any validity in law or equity, unless the same shall be made by treaty or convention, entered into pursuant to the Constitution; that only the United States can make any contract with any Indian nation or tribe affecting lands, whether by purchase, lease, or otherwise, and the United States can do so only by formal agreement; and that the President may employ the military to remove trespassers from the Indian lands.

Gen. McCook substantiates the above points by citations from the Revised Statutes, and declares that the United States can make agreements respecting Indian lands only with the Indians themselves, and not with third parties, and only with the Indians by agreement ratified by Congress. Notwithstanding the positive prohibitions of the law against the leasing or conveyance of lands by Indian tribes, substantially all the lands in Indian Territory set apart for exclusive Indian occupation, General McCook says, are in the possession of white men, under leases from Indians who had no power to lease, and with the tacit recognition of the Department of the Interior (under a former administration), which he believes had no fiower to recognize or assent to any such ease or possession.

LIST OF THE LESSEES. The following is given as a partial list of parties in occupation of such lands in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservations in Indian Territory, and the amount of land controlled by them and embraced in their designated boundaries: Hampton H. Denman of Washington, D. C., formerly member of the Kansas State Senate, 55,000 acres. Edward Fenlon of Leavenworth, Kas., and William C. Mallelly of Caldwell, Kas., each 564,800 acres. Robert A. Hunter of St. Louis, Mo., 500,000 acre?. Albert G. Evans of St. Louis, Mo., 456,960 acres. Lewis L. Briggs of Muscoton, Kas., 318,720 acres. Jesse S. Morrison, of Darlington, I. T., 138,240 acres. Unknown lessee, leasing Oct. 15, 1883, 714,000 acres. Total to above parties, 3,832,520 acres. THE NOMINAL RENTAL.

“Briggs, a member of the Kansas State Senate, 1881-85, and E. M. Hewius, and others, in trust for the Cherokee Strip Live-Stock Association of Kansas, a Kansas corporation, leased for five years from Oct. 1, 1883, 3,000,000 acres, being all the unoccupied lands conveyed to the Pawnees, Poncas, Nez Perces, Otoes, Missouris, Osages, and Kansas Indians. The rental is ij cents per acre. If the Indians had power to make leases, and if the Interior Department had power to assent to them, what can be said of such an execution of a public trust, supposed to be created for the purpose of protecting Indian rights and interests, as the acquiescence in a lease of lands for a term of years at a rental which is nothing more than nominal? Is that the way the Government of the United States should care for its wards? If such leases were legal—if authority existed to make them—they would still be obtaining from the Indian wards, with the assent of their guardian, valuable property rights and privileges for a pittance. If the legality of the leases were doubtful they should not be permitted the countenance of an administration pledged to set its face against corruption, collusion, and wrong. Being, as they unquestionably are, wholly unauthorized and illegal, as well as improvident, should there be an instant’s hesitation in disavowing them, and in the summary exercise of all the power and authority of the Government in dispossessing the holders under them?”

TRESPASSERS. Continuing his argument declaring the illegality of the leases, Gen. McCook says: “Both under the common law and the enactments of Congress all parties other than Indians occupying these lands are trespassers. The intention of the law setting apart this domain was that it should be enjoyed by the Indians for the purpose of making to them civilized homes, encouraging them in habits of industry, and elevating and improving their condition. The actual facts now are that, instead of the Indians possessing and enjoying the benefits designed for them, the r country is overrun with speculators and adventurers of every - degree, who have despoiled them of (heir property, and practically sequestrated their birthrights, destroying their opportunities of self-sup-port, and leaving them nothing for the future, while keeping them dependent in the present” Senator Plumb, of Kansas, is said to be engaged in a careful study of Southern scenes and life, and the horrible possibility is suggested that he is going to write a book.