Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1888 — THE WESTERN STATES. [ARTICLE]

THE WESTERN STATES.

People of Mount Vernon, 111., are recovering from thoir shocked and dazed condition, and order is gradually growing out of chaos, says Thursday’s advices from the stricken town. * Efforts to improve the deplorable condition of affairs are shaping into systematic form, and to-day shows a marked chango for the better. The debris has been cleared away from most of the wrecks about the square, and little shanties here and there serve for storerooms for the merchants whose stores were demolished. Every available workman in the city is at work repairing damages, and the work of clearing away the debris will occupy the remainder of the week. The injured who aro not considered fatally hurt, as far as heard from, are generally improving, and many who have heretofore been reported as seriously injured are to be seen on the streets. All the patients in tho court house have the best possible attendance, the ladles of the various churches vying with each other to ba of the most service to the unfortunates. The body of George Persons, colored, was found yesterday in the ruins of the schoolhouse of which he was janitor. Just before tho storm he was heard playing the organ in the east school-room. He had evidently endeavored to escape, but was overtaken at the main entrance by tho falling debris. Trains continue to bring people from all over the country. Relief committees are all doing good work, and all those who have been left homeless and destitute are being tenderly cared for. Many families have moved away or gone to friends, and some have moved onto farms. People that come from adjoining towns bring food with them, as it is hard to get into the hotels or restaurants. All visitors carry off whatever they can get as souvenirs of the disaster—bricks, stones, and all. The subscriptions received thus far will aggregate nearly 810,000, and reports have been received promising additional contributions of rnonev and provisions to the value of $3,000. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company will transport supplies to Mount Vernon without charge.

The work of rebuilding is under full headway, says a Mount Vernon (Ill.) special. Every man that can handle a hatchet, trowel, ax, or shovel is employed. The wounded are getting along very well There are thirty wounded now at the Supreme Court House. The doctors attending the wounded and the relief committees have divided the city into districts to facilitate their work. Contributions are coming in liberally from all over the country. The work of reroofing the Supreme Court House is completed. ‘ The United States court-room was crowded Thursday afternoon with lawyers when Justice Harlan read the decision in the famous “lake front” case, says a Chicago special:

Most of the counsel connected with the case since its commencement were present, and leading members of the bar droppe in to bear one of the most important decisions in the history'of the State. Intense interest prevailed, and when Justices Harlan and Blodgett took their seats there was not a whisper in the crowded room. As Justice Har!arifc>roceeded to read the decision counsel leaned forward and with riveted attention followed the paper to its close. The reading occupied nearly two hours. Divested of legal phraseology, the old Fort Dearborn reservation is declared to have passed forever from the control of the United States, which has no standing in court in this case. This affeots not only the vacant lots on the east of Mlohigon avenue nut also Dearborn Park. The Illinois Central is confirmed in the ownership of all its property and vested rights north of Randolph street, but its main contention—viz., that under the 1869 act it owned one mile in. width obthe bed of the harbor—is set aside. The repeal of the l®9 act by the 1873 legislature is declared to be valid, as the company did not lose any vested rights thereby, but was simply relegated to the rights and privileges of its original charter. The riparian rights remain in the city, with the consent of the State, not only the natural shore, but where filling-in has been done by the railroad. The three blocks between Randolph and Monroe streets, where the company intended erecting its new depot, remain in the control of the city, the contract of 1869 having been made void by the company withdrawing its denosit moneys. The deoision is a substantial viotory for the city and State. Untold millions’ worth of property, present and prospective, are involved in the litigation, and the confirmation of the ownership aud control to the city of Chicago instead of the Illinois Central Railroad Company is a matter of vast consequence.

The grand jury at Chicago has found an indictment against William B. Tascott charging him with the murder of the late Amos J. Snell, besides five additional indictments charging burglary. At this writing Tascott is still at large, but the Chicago police are firm in the belief that he will yet be captured. He is the most widely advertised fugitive in the world at the present time, and it would be hard to correctly estimate the vast number of persons in various portions of North America who are on the lookout for him. An unlooked for and peculiar explosion of dynamite took place at a rock oat in Dnlath, Mina., oa Wednesday morning, just after a gang of sixty men had started to work in the quarry. Six men were fatally injured and

■even others were more or less seriously hurt A heavy blast consisting of twentysix stioka of dynamite waa pnt in a hole which had been drilled sixteen feet into the rock and fired. The explosion wae light and ineffective. Another parcel of dynamite wae pnt in and fired with very much better results. No one bad any idea that any dynamite could possibly remain unexploded in the hole and the following morning the men began drilling for a new blast The heavy irons had not struck more than half a dozen blows into the cutting when the crash came. The men were thrown in every direction and great pieoes of rock were torn away and hurled to a distance. The air was full of debris and dust, and when it settled down seven meD, bleeding and mangled, were lying about on the jagged stone floor. One of them had been ihrown against the side wall and another was pinned to the earth by a great fragment of rock. Four men died as the result of the injuries received Two others are perhaps fatally hurt, while seven received serious injuries. The syndicate of BUgar men to fight the Eastern trust has been completed at San Francisco, and has a capital of $10,000,030. Several Eastern men in Boston, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia are members of the syndicate.

The United States grand j ary at Cincinnati has returned indictments against Means, late President, and De Camp, late Cashier, of the Metropolitan Bank, and they will be vigorously prosecuted The Grand Army of the Republic of Indiana met in annual encampment at Indianapolis last week, with the largest attendance in its history.. The Commander’s report showed that there were now on the muster rolls of the State the names of 24,464 comrades. The posts number 476. The gains during the year were: By muster, 4,346; by transfer, 451, and by reinstatement, 3,510, making a total gain for 1887 of 8,307. The losses were: By death, 243; honorably discharged, 107; by transfer, 730; by suspension, 4,297; dishonorable discharge, 46; delinquent reports, 11. The net gam in membership during the year was 2,873. The Kansas G. A. R. encampment at Wingfield was largely attended There was a gain of sixty-two posts during the year, and the total in tho State is 459. There was an increase of 1,007 in the membership, which shows an aggregate of 20,139 comrades. The Assistant Quartermaster’s report shows a balance on hand of $1,201, with $391 stilt due from posts. The G. A R. Encampment Association of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois, lowa, and Nebraska was organized at a mooting of the Grand Army men in Kansas City. The organization will be perfected at Trenton, Mo., March 13, the day before the encampment of the Department of Missouri.