Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1889 — SUFFERING FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

SUFFERING FARMERS.

GREAT DESTITUTION REPORTED IN WALSH COUNTY, DAKOTA. Twenty-five Families Visited by a Reporter Au Indiana Boy’s Experience Among Cannibals—lmportant Supreme Court Decisions, Etc. [Minneapolis (Minn.) special.] A reporter ot the Tribune, of thia city, spent two days in Walsh County. Dakota, inquiring into the alleged destitution of the fanners. The rejmrter states that the time was employed in visiting f amilies in their hovels in the extreme western portion of the county, and some of the sights were truly pitiful. Walsh County is one of the wealthiest in Dakota. It is the second from the extreme northwestern portion ot the Territory, Cavalier County being tho most northern. It is in a productive region, and has prospered accordingly. The eastern portion of the county is a level prairie, with scarcely an undulation, except immediately adjacent to tho river which flows through its boundaries. The western portion of the county is “mountainous, * as the residents of the prairie country view it. There are a continuation of undulations which make of it a rolling surface, which in no instance could be called more than a bluff. It is just over these “mountains" that the poverty-stricken people of Walsh County were found. They ure distant from Park River, the most western town ot the county and next to Grafton, the county seat, the most important, about twenty-five miles. The almost total destruction of the lust wheat crop in thia belt by frost has left the settlors without a thing to purchase supplies with, and la many instances they are suffering for proper food and clothing. In several places families were found who had not tasted meat for weeks and who had subsisted entirely on porridge made from frozen wheat. The Tribune reporter visited about twenty-five families in a drive of over sixty miles. The houses are situated at least a mile apart and in most instances a mile and n half to two miles. The only thing that has prevented the greatest suffering has been tho mild weather. There is the most abject poverty on every hand. Tho settlers are mostly Norwegians and Bohemians. There are a few Canadian families. They are all bearing their lot with scarcely a murmur, although much discouraged. As a rule the families are large. The men are unable to do any work in the winter, as there is nothing that can be done. They take care of the stock, which is generally warmly housed in huge straw stacks. It is only in rare instances that they are clear of mortgage, however, so that their possession can afford the farmers no relief in their present straitened circumstances.

PRISONER AMONG CANNIBALS. ' Remarkable Experience of an Indiana Youth During a Trip Around the World. [Wabath (Ind.) ■pedal.] Henry M. Strohm. son of Abraham Strohm of Now Paris. Ind., who was last year captured and held prisoner by cannibals on the Island of Gaun, one of the South Sea group, finally making his escape, has been heard from. The young num is now on his way home, and when he reaches this section he will have completed the circuit of the globe. Young Strohm has had many startling experiences during his long voyage. Ho left home March 2,1887, to see tho world. He did not run away, but the consent of his parents was given reluctantly. The boy, was only 16 years old. He made his way to Sun Francisco, where he shipped before tho' mast on a whaler bound for tho Arctic Ocean. Young Btrohm did not find life on the ocean wave all that his fancy painted, and ho was subjected to very rourti treatment. at which ho rebelled. When the vessel put in at the Island of Gaun, Strohm watched his opportunity and made his escape from the boat. I Tho Captain instituted a vigorous search, but the fugitive was not discovered and the vessel wont on her way, leaving Strohm among the savages and 5,000 miles awayj from San Francisco. He was captured l several times by the natives, who designed! fattening him for a choice banquet, but in each case he managed to escape to the settlements. Six months later a vessel arrived at the island, on which Strohm secured passage to Manilla, one of the Philippine' Islands, 1,100 miles away. At Manilla Strohm received tho kindly offices of A. R. Webb, | United States Consul at that port, who interested himself in the fugitive. Secretary Bayard wrote to Consul Webb to extend ail needed assistance to Strohm, but the Consul answered that Strohm was robust andi hearty and appeared well able to care for himself. From Manilla Strohm went to Hong Kong, China, where the United States Consul. who hud heard of his case, proffered assistance, which was declined with thanks. From Hong Kong Strohm continued his journey and landed at Sydney, Australia, where, Oct. 18, he shipped before the mast on a vessel bound for London. The boat is duo in London next month, and tho young man is expected home soon thereafter. His journey, considering his youth and inexperience, is one of the most remarkable on record.

SUPKEME CODBT DECISIONS. The Constitutionality of State EaWs Affirmed at Washington. [Washington CD. C.) dispatch.] The Supreme Court of the United States has rendered an opinion in the case of William Baldwin, plaintiff in error, vs. The State of Kansas; appealed from the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas. Baldwin was convicted in Kansas of murder, and appealed the case on the ground that the jurors who tried him were not sworn according to the mdde prescribed by the State statutes, and that he was therefore being deprived of his life without due process of law. The court, in an opinion by Justice Blatchford affirming the judgment of the State Court, says that the plaintiff did not raise the constitutional question brought here at the time of the trial, but first made the point in the Supreme Court of Kansas, and this court therefore has no jurisdiction in the case. The court also rendered an opinion dismissing for want of jurisdiction the application for a writ of error in the case ot George W. Farnsworth, plaintiff in error, vs. The Territory of Montana. Farnsworth was convicted of violation of a statute of Montana Territory making it a misdemeanor for any person to sell goods as a commercial traveler without having first secured a license. The dburt also rendered an opinion in the case of Frank M. Dent, plaintiff in error, vs. The State of West Virginia, in error to the • Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of West Virginia. Dent was convicted of unlawfully engaging in the practice of medicine without a diploma, in violation of a statute of the State which requires every practitioner of medicine to obtain a certificate from the State Board ot Health • that he is a graduate of a reputable medical college, or that he has practiced medicine in the State continuously for ten years, or that he has been found upon examination by the board to be qualified to practice medicine. Dent appealed the case to the State Court.of Appeals, asserting that the act was unconstitutional inasmuch as it deprived’ hirh of liberty and* property without due prodess ofr law, contrary to the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution. The Court of Appeale gave judgment against Dent and this court affirms that decision.