Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1890 — STOLE FROM THE NEEDY KILLED BY THIEVES. [ARTICLE]

STOLE FROM THE NEEDY KILLED BY THIEVES.

SCANDAL IN REGARD TO THE JOHNSTOWN FUNDS. A New York Paper Claims that of the Five Million Dollars Raised to Help the Sufferers from the Great Flood in the Conemaugh Valley, a Uhird of It Was Misappropriated. [New York dispatch.] Under a Johnstown, Pa , date the Herald prints a five-column expose of the manner in which the charity fund of $5,000,000 for the relief of the flood sufferers was placed at the mercy of contractors and supervisors, clerks and employes. Following are the leading paragraphs in the Herald's expose: The great flood at Johnstown, Pa., occurred Slay 31, 1889. It involved the loss of upward of 3.000 human lives and the destruction of §9,000,000 in value of individual property. It left 25,000 survivors homeless and temporarily destitute, many of them crippled or prostrated by exposure and suffering. The sympathy of the civilized world was aroused by this frightful calamity, and within a few days nearly §5.000,000 was contributed in money for the relief of these unfortunates, besides other millions in provisions, clothing, and general supplies. Tbtee million six hundred and sixty-four thousand six hundred and twenty-seven dollars- and seventy-seven cents of this magnificent contribution was given as a general fund, to be distributed without limitation or restriction for the immediate relief of the sufferers. Of this vast sum the afflicted people were permitted to receive but §2,225,857 in money. The remaining sum of §1,438.750.77 was variously alienated in passing from the donors to the intended beneficiaries. Nearly §150,000 of it was appropriated by the State Government. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was appropriated without authority. to relieve distress in other parts of the State. Seventy-five thousand dollais was appropriated to build elegant permanent bridges a year and a half after the disaster to replace temporary ones previously provided from this charity fund. Forty thousand dollars went to purchase new steam fire engines for the municipality. Thirty thousand dollars was expended during the present year in exhuming the buried victims of the flood, gathering them from the several burial places in the valley and reburying them in a grand cemetery; and other thousands are to be paid fcr a monument already ordered. Forty thousand dollars was set apart to establish a permanent .hospital after all the injured by the flood had been discharged from medical or surgical care. An undetermined or unannounced sum is appropriated to defray the cost of writing and publishing a history of the great calamity, upon which a professor in tie University of Pennsylvania is now engaged. Other thousands were squandered among contractors, superintendents, overseers and clerks. The record is one replete with evidences of maladministration, political corruption, robbery and jobbery well calculated to heap disgrace upon the State of Pennsylvania and discourage a similar demonstration of public generosity should an occasion for its display ever again unfortunately occur. The Herald then proceeds to show that the fund of $3,664,627 was increased to $1,211,069 by contributions from railroads, churches, secret societies, etc., to say nothing of food, clothing, lumber, medicine and other necessaries. The article continues: Following are the contributions of a few of the great cities: New York contributed $623,976; Philadelphia, §486,696; Pittsburg contributed §255,569; Boston contributed §150,763; Chicago contributed §180,573. And now as to the disposition of the money. No attempt will be made to show the disbursement of what may bo called the private funds—those contributed through the churches, the fraternal societies, the railroad companies, and the Cambria Iron Company, and other similar agencies, but will deal only with what may be tern.el the public tun As—those contribute! for general relief. These, as already shown, amounted to $3,064,627. That money was contributed from the four quarters of the globe for the relief of human suffering and distress. Not one penny of it was given to the great State of Pennsylvania to aid it in discharging an unusually onerous duty. Nor was any part of it given to aid in building bridges, to equip a fire department, or to Improve its public parks. None of it was Intended by its donors to build monuments or to endow hospitals for the benefit of sufferers by possible future calamities. Twelve days after the horrible tragedy and when it became manifest that an immense sum of money would be contributed for the relief of the sufferers, Gov. Beaver created a commission to acquire control of this fund and manage its disbursement. It had no representation from the New York committee and none from the Conemaugh Valley, where the distress existed. This fund of §3,269,167 passed under the Commissioners’ control. The books show that but $2,225,877 ever readied the hands of the sufferers of the Conemaugh Valley for whose relief alone it was given. This astounding statement, taken directly from official sources, shows a‘n apparent alienation of $1,043,310 of the money. The next, material item going to make up this great shortage Is money expended for supplies. The Commissary General of Pennsylvania, who personally superintended the distribution of food supplies after the State took charge, In his officiahreport estimated the money value of the provisions and the clothing donated at §1,250,000, and yet with such a showing Mr. Kremer reports the disbursements of the commission for supplies as §61,533.86. And added to this Mr. Kremer reports a further expenditure of $43,931, which he says was for labor in handling supplies and the hire of teams in transporting them. In addition to this the local Finance Committee charges §5,515 expended from Its funds for supplies, making a total of $110,980 charged to this account. The next Item of disbursement the commission reports is for “buildings, rent, and labor on buildings, $179,033.” Thisopensup one of the greatest scandals of the administration of this trust, regarding which the correspondent has ample data to establish the most flagrant jobbery and robbery. Paid for the burial of the dead and for the removal of the dead to “Grand View,” including the purchase of the plot and the appropriation made for improving the ground, and for purchasing headstones, $30,485. This item the Herald criticises as wrongful, because the victims were all decently buried in the first place. This money was used in exhuming the bodies, recoffining them, transporting them to a swell cemetery, and there reinterring them in newly purchased grounds, placing a heavy marble stone at tlie head of each grave, to be followed by the erection of a costly monument —all this while widows and other survivors were suffering. p The Czarowitz, the eldest son of the Czar, who is about ready to start upon his American tour, is a handsome young man of 23. He has a tall figure, a powerful physique, and is a colonel in the Imperial Guard. lie is said to show considerable talent for the military profession, Ben Butler, who is now careering through the far Northwest in a special car, has never before been west of the Mississippi, and the people of that region think there is soilo special significance in his visit.

DASTARDLY WORK OF TRAMPS AT DESPLAINES, ILL. They Attack an Old Man, Michael BrazelL and Brutally Pound Him to Death—Robbery the Motive for the Crime. [Desplaines (Ill.) dispatch.] Michael Brazell, one of the oldest and wealthiest citizens of Desplaines, was brutally murdered by thieves shortly after 8 o’clock last night The murderers waylaid thp old man in his barn, crushed his skull with a bludgeon, and then robbed him. To get at his money and valuables they had to cut his pockets, and when he was found by. neigh bors his clothes were cut to shreds. His. wife estimates that the robbers got at least SI,OOO and several thousand dollars* worth of papers, as he was in the habit of carrying much money about his person. Mr. Brazell went out to milk hiscows shortly after supper, and when he had finished the job he went into the, barn, which is about a block from his house. He carried a lighted lantern in one hand and a pail of milk in. the other. The three robbers were waiting for him. It is believed that theyattacked him the moment he stepped over the threshold, and tried to brain him with a heavy piece of scantlingwhich was subsequently found in thebarnyard covered with blood. That Brazell made a gallant fight for his lifeeverything in the barn as well as the marks on his body would indicate. A man of powerful physique and fearless, he fought his assailants until, finally overcome, he sank to the floor nearly dead. His arms wc-re torn and lacerated, his hands were covered with blood, his. face and neck were a mass of cuts and bruises, and several of his ribs werebroken. Even the walls of the barn were bespattered with blood. The assault occurred at a time when the streets were nearly deserted, and not until the murderers had secured their booty and were flying for safety did anybody hear the old man’s feeblecries for help. William Haben and hiswife passed the barn just as the murderers vaulted the fence. One of the fellows, who was bareheaded and whose face was covered with blood, collided with Mrs. Haben and sent her reeling into the gutter. He ran on without saying a word, leaving Haben to pick his wife up. The faces and hands ot the other two men were also bloody. Mr. Haben’s first impulse was to follow them, but he was arrested by a feeblecry of “murder,” which seemed to com© from Brazell’s barn. He listened, and again heard thb cry more indistinct than before. Thoroughly frightened and confused he ran to Wicke's saloon, and told Wicke what lie had seen and heard. The two men ran back to Brazell’s place and entered the barn. Lying on the floor, his face covered with blood, which was flowing from a score of wounds, was Brazell. He recognized Haben and Wickes, and in a faint voice exclaimed: “I’ve oeen murdered; I’m dying.” The two men bent over the injured man, who made one or two vain efforts to talk and then died with his battered head resting in Haben’s arms. After covering the body with some bags Haben. and Wicke ran out and gave the alarm to Brazell’s neighbors. In a few minutes a hundred men armed with shotguns and revolvers were scouring the country in search of the murderers. Every nook and glen, every strip of woodland was searched, but the fellowshad left no trail. Word was sent to the police department in the city for detectives, and half a dozen were dispatched from the Central Station to help in the man-hunt, but they arrived at Desplainestoo late to do any good. The only thing the murderers left behind that will serve to identify them was a hat. It was an. ordinary Derby hat, in fair condition beyond the battering it received from old man Brazell’s blows. When the men were last seen, about 11 o’clock, near Norwood, one of them was described as hatless. The fact was reported by two farmers who were driving in from the city, who said the triowas walking along the road in the direction of the city, and they seemed to be anxious to conceal their identity. Word was at once sent to the police station at Jefferson to send out men to meet them if possible. Along the line of the Northwestern at every station between I}esplaines and Chicago officers were searching freight cars as fast as the arrived, and everybody who could not give an account of himself was promptly taken in and locked up at Montrose. Four men were taken from one train that passed through Desplaines. The men were traveling in pairs, and had between, them over SIOO. This, coupled with the fact that they were stealing a ride, gave the officers some hope that they had caught the right men. The three murderers are known by sight to half a. dozen persons in Desplaines. They spent Tuesday night in the railroad station and yesterday sat in Wicke’s saloon, drinking and playing cards. Last evening, just before 6 o’clock, one of them entered the saloon with an empty whisky bottle and asked Wicke to fill it. Thefellow was apparently under the influence of liquor and the saloon-keeper told him he could not have any more. The same whisky bottle was afterward found in Brazell’s barn near the battered; hat. That the trio came to Desplaines for the express purpose of robbing old man Brazell is generally admitted. It has. been known among the man’s neighbor.’ for years that he was in the habit of can* rylng big sums of money, and though hehas been warned repeatedly against the habit he persisted in doing so. At times he was known to have $1,500 in cash i» his pockets. Only a week ago he cashed a check for a friend, paying him S4OO in gold. He did an extensive loan businesswith the farmers, and always carried from one to twenty notes for ranging from SIOO to SI,OOO. When he w-as searched by the police no trace of a. note could be found. Men who knew him well say that the exact amount th er murderers got will probably never beknown. The old man. while conceded, to be wealthy had no bank accounts. He abhorred banks. He believed they wireinstitutions run for the purpose of defrauding people, and always considered his own pocket a safer repository than the steel vaults of the modern bank.