Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1887 — THE WESTERN STATES. [ARTICLE]

THE WESTERN STATES.

An attempt was made at South Bend, Ind., to remove from tho streets the poles and wires of tho Central Union Telephone Company. After the connection with tho Exchange had been severed an injunction restraining tho prosecution of the work was served on the authorities. Tho company attempted to replaco the dismantled poles, but the citizens took the matter in hand and chopped them down as fast as they were erected. Fauragut Post, G. A. R, says an Evansville (Ind.) dispatch, is making great preparations for the reunion of the blue and the gray in that city from Sept 20 to 23, inclusive. A number of prominent Generals of both sides have accopted invitations Among those whose engagements prevent them from coming Is ox-Seuator lioscoe Conkling, of Now York, from whom tho po3t has received the following letter: New York, Aug. 22.—Gentlemen: It is an honor highly valued to be invited as one of the guests of Farragut Post of the G. A. K., at the approaching reunion of surviving soldiers who fought on’ one side and on the other in the late war. I beg you to receive my thanks and to believe my regret sincere at being unable to tako part in observances of so much interest and significance. My earnest sympathy and hope go to and go with every movement and idea having for its real purposo to weld together all sections and all classes, and to make our country throughout all its borders united, prosperous, aud great. Could wish or act of mine decide every community and neighborhood in all the land should he crowned with the fullness of peace and 4>rogresß as much at the South as at the East, the West, or the North. Tho bravo men who faced each other in battlo can bo the best teachers and the most genuine actors of this creed. Glad that the reunion is to occur, and never forgetful of hospitality and kindness receivod in the past from the soldiers and the people of Indiana, I trust the occasion will bo an event of enjoyment, pride, and success. Cordially your obedient servant, Koscoe Conkling.

An unusual scene occurred at the burial of Samuel Sparks at Crown Hill Cemotory, says an Indianapolis telegram. Sparks committed suicide by iakiug morphine, but a desire to keep the fact out of the papers led his family to keep his death a secret The undertaker called at the health office for a permit to bury the remains. When the death certifica'e was handed to the officer in charge he refused to issue the permit, saying that the case should bo called to the attention of the Coroner. The latter was summoned by telephone, hut before he could learn all the facts the corpse was ea route to Crown Hill as rapidly as decency would permit it to be carried. The Coroner secured a buggy and started to overtake the funeral procession, and reached the cemetery just as the corpse was about to be lowered into the grave. He stopped the ceremonies, had the body taken from the coffin, pushed back the eye-lids, and took measurements of the corpse, all being done in the presence of the family aud friends. The funeral ceremonies were theu allowed to proceed. The Coroner’s jury in the Babcock case, at Gardner, Ili., returned a verdict reciting that, from the testimony, they believed the fatal shot to have been tired by Sarah Dodge, and recommending a full investigation by the Grundy County grand jury. No new facts were brought out at the inquest. A Denver dispatch denies the report that Colorow and his band had been surrounded by whites. “It now appears that they are a most impregnably intrenched in the hills, and spoiling for a big fight with the pale-faces. Captain Lawson narrowly escaped falling into their hands on Wednesday, being pursued twenty miles aud fired at a number of times.” Denver dispatches give the following particulars of an engagement between Colorow’s band of Utes and the militia, near liaugely, Col. : The fight -was opened at 6:50 a. m. near Rangely, about sixty miles west of Meeker, the Utes beginning the battle. The Utes who came into Major Leslie’s camp on Wolf Creek the day before for a talk skipped out during a thunderstorm that night. Major Leslie at once ordered a mount, and the boys followed the Utes over the hills through the dark and the drenching rain. Joined by Kendall, with forty picked men and Pritchard’s scouts, the troops and party

came up with the Indians about davbreak. The militia and cowboys fought the Indiana all day, and for three honrs the battle was a hard one. Both sidee fought Indian style, sheltered by rocks and trees. The militia made a gallant record, keeping cool and self-possessed. The fighting was done on foot, as the horses of the troops were worn out by bard and rapid riding over the rough mountain trails. The Indians are said to have lost eight warriors in killed and wounded, and the troops suffered the following losses as far as reported: Jack Ward, of Meeker, killed; Lieut Folsom, of Aspen, wounded; Ed Foltz, of Apen, shot through the cheek ; L. Stewart, of Leadville, wounded; Doc Caflery, of Leadville, wounded—not seriously; Dr. Dumont, of Meeker, wounded.