Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1895 — Page 6

THE ISLAND OF CUBA.

LAND WHOSE PEOPLE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM. n* i mmense Mineral and Agricult■ral Resource* that Await Bevel•pment—The Black Record of Spanish Cruelty and Oppression. Rich in Resources. The civil war in Cuba will probably ■erve still further to devastate an isl*nd which the Spaniards during past (years have done all they could to ruin.

THE GREAT CATHEDRAL IN HAVANA.

St Is a pity, for tropical America does Bot contain a fairer land than that over .■which the flames of civil war are now spreading. No matter what may be the result of the war, it will leave the Island ta a condition to recover from which many years of prosperity will be reunited. There are thousands of men bow living who vividly remember the •tatus of the Southern and border States of this country after the civil war, and when such desolation is possible in a land where war Is conducted With some regard to civilized methods, She question may well be asked, What train will not be wrought when the con filet is waged with the savagery peculiar to the Spanish forces? The general physical characteristics •f Cuba are too well known to need description, but few, even of better Informed readers, are aware of the resources of the Island or of the extent to which it is blessed by nature in the matter of climate and vegetable productions. We are accustomed to think of Cuba as a hot country, situated as it is under the tropics, and the common impression is correct to the extent that the mean average temperature of the year is higher than in countries further aorth, but the climate is more equable, there are not those sudden variations that in many parts of the United States are so severe on the human constitution. In Havana, for example, the average temperature of the hottest month Is 84 degrees, of the coldest, 72. In Santiago de Cuba, a city often mentioned in the war dispatches, the average of the year is 80; of the hottest month, 84; of the coolest, 73. These are high figures, but not very high for an Island lying in equatorial regions and •urrounded by water that is warm to the hand all the year round. To a stranger from a dry country a feature more objectionable than the steady beat is the tremendous rainfall. The geographical and topographical situation of Cuba provides two seasons only, the wet and the dry. During the lat-

IN A CIGARETTE FACTORY.

ter, rains are not frequent, being atoned for, however, by the abundance of the dew, but In the rainy season Jupiter Pluvlus sebms to turn himself loose to excel- all previous efforts, and from 125 to 140 inches of rain are not uncomman, there being about 102 days when toe rain comes down, not in drops, but In sheets, in masses, In tubfuls, at a time, as though the windows of the

lieavens were opened and the floods of •he great aerial deep had broken loose, ft* abundant is the rainfall, In fact, that, *s a recent traveler remarks, the wonder Is that any island remains; that toe whole is not dissolved and carried «ff into the sea. But In Cuba no one naiads the rain, save only to go In when It rains, the necessary knowledge to accomplish thli feat being common alike toSpanlsh resident and native Inhabitant. Owing to the curse of Spanish misrule, the natural resources of the island are not even completely ■otbing of being developed. Enough baa been ascertained, howevpr, to justify the statement that inmost dvery metal and mineral used in the arts and •deuces is to be found on the island. Gold has been discovered' th /overa! rivers; silver in four or five of the mountain ranges; copper. exists In abundance in a hundred different localities; quicOlver, lead, antimony, nine. Iron ore, magnesia, ochre, alum and several different varieties of mar-

ble, some little inferior to the best Italian, have been found In different sections of the island. None of these natural resources, however, have been developed as they should be, for the policy of Spain has been rather to repress than to encourage the progress of the Island and its people, and the consequence is Jhat the native wealth of Cuba, while known to be immense and varied, is, as yet, largely a matter of speculation. Such is not the case, however, with regard to those products, which, by the labor of man, the arable soli may be compelled to yield. The topography of Cuba is so varied, composed, as the island is, of plains almost at the level of the sea. of pla-

teaux many hundreds of feet higher, and of mountain ranges, some of which attain an altitude of 8,000 feet, that any product of the tropical, subtropical or temperate regions may be raised, and from the banana of Mexico to the barley of Norway, all are at the command of the Cuban farmer. As might be expected, however, by far the greater portion of the Cuban field products are such as are appropriate to the geographical situation of the Island, and tobacco, bananas, oranges, pineapples, other tropical fruits and vegetables, with cotton and sugar, are the leading staples. No pen, however gifted, can

give an idea, however, of the luxuriance I of vegetation on a Cuban plantation. The sugar cane grows to a size equal- | ed only by that of the most favored situations In Louisiana, while a field of i pineapples, with their thorny leaves and spiny fruit, Is a sight, once seen, never to be forgotten. But even the glory of the pineapple is excelled by that of the banana plantation, with its great leaved trees and enormous bunches of fruit so large as to occasion the suspicion in the mind of a Spanish ecclesiastic that the bunches of grapes mentioned as borne between two men, when the Hebrew spies returned from their Inspection of the land of Canaan, were not really grapes, but bananas. The abundance with which this remarkable plant yields Its fruit and the little care required for Its cultivation after a plantation has once been made, have not proved an unmixed blessing to the dwellers In tropical regions. An acre of banana plants, with little or no attention, will produce more than a hundred times as much food as an acre planted In wheat, and so long as a man has food for himself and family to be had for the trouble of picking it, there is little Incentive to labor. The excellence of the tobacco grown in Cuba has become a proverb the world over, for alike to smokers and to those who regard the weed as a rank poison, the fragrant Havana is typical of the habit. Not every quarter of the island, how-

WHERE THE PINEAPPLES GROW.

ever, produces the tobacco whose flavor Is so highly regarded. Only a few river valleys, whose soil contains elements peculiarly favorable to the de-

THE BUCCANEERS’ FORT.

velopment of the aromatic qualities es the leaf, can be relied on for the genuine Havana product, while much of the tobacco of the island is little superior to that grown elsewhere. In any other country, and with rea-

sonably fair opportunities for development, the mineral and agricultural resources of Cuba would render that island one of the richest regions of the globe, but the curse of Spanish rule is alike on the farmer and planter, on the merchant and miner and the same merciless taxation alike prevents all from attaining any measure of success or prosperity. The history of Cuba has been one uniform record of Spanish depravity, I spoliation and oppression. Spanish rule began with the destruction of the entire native population. At the discovery | of the island by Christopher Columbus, 1 it was peopled with a race of gentle, i inoffensive Indians, whose worst fault was their laziness. Tfip discovery was : made in 1492, the island was completely overrun by the Spaniards in 1511, the natives were enslaved, and so great was the barbarity with which they were treated, that, in 1534, the colonists petitioned the Crown to be allowed to import African slaves at once, that I they might be inuured to toil in the fields before all the Indians perished. African slavery began shortly after, ; and formed the second black spot on the ' Spanish record. The third, and perhaps the most detestable of all, has been the : treatment of the native Cubans. In their own country they have been sub- , jected to every form of political and . social oppression that the ingenuity of the Spaniards could devise. Thg latter, i from the captain general down to the meanest custom house clerk, have generally regarded their positions as given them for the purpose of enabling them to enrich themselves, and have carried out this idea to the fullest possible extent. The people have been robbed, legally and Illegally, plundered and taxed to death, so that the industrial growth of the island under the circumstances is something quite marvelous. ■ As a class, the native Cubans are far ’ superior to the Spanish tyrants who have dominated the island, and their restiveness under the control of the foreign element is easily understood and appreciated. Time and again have they risen in insurrection, but the lack of arms and the overwhelming forces that on the first appearance of trouble were poured into the island have up to the present prevented success. Stories of Spanish atrocities are of almost daily occurrence in the newspapers

THE PRADO, HAVANA.

now, but every attempt of the.Qubans to gain their liberty has been attended by barbarities similar to those now being perpetrated on captured Cubans. They have been hung and shot by dozens. they have been sent In strings to the garrote, to the galleys, to the prisons for lifelong sentences; they have seen their wives and children murdered before their eyes; they have witnessed the destruction of their property, and yet. in spite of the knowledge that certain death In its most terrible forms awaits them if unsuccessful, the exasperation of Spanish rule goads them to renewed revolt, and they prefer to see their land in ruins if only it may be free of foreign control. Under American control or protection, the advancement of Cuba would be rapid. Havana, with its mediaeval cathedrals and canopied streets, some of which look as though they might have been imported from Barcelona or Seville, would soon become a bustling American town, where the cowboy would jostle the millionaire, and the office building take the place of the prison-like palace that seems designed for no other purpose than to serve as the scene of an opera. The old “Buccaneers’ Castle” that, tradition says, saw service when the bold Viking of the South Seas rode triumphant over the Spanish main, would be converted into a museum for preserving the handcuffs and branding irons, the manacles, stakes, thumb screws and other instruments of Spanish cruelty, and the pretty Cuban girls in the cigarette factories would learn enough English to respond to the ardent advances of lovers from the States. That the day of Cuban freedom may be delayed is possible, for the island is too rich a plum for the Spaniards to relinquish willingly,) but that it will always remain under' the oppressive rule of a nation whose administration of civil affairs is somewhat better than that of Dahomey, and somewhat worse than that of Turkey, is not for a moment to be believed.

it takes a bright woman to rebuke another woman’s rudeness, a general statement well borne out by a story from the Atlanta Constitution. A lady entered a railway train and took a seat in front of a newly married couple. She was hardly seated before they began making remarks about her. Her last year’s bonnet and eloak were fully criticised, with more or less giggling on the bride’s part, and there is no telling what might have come next If the lady had not put a sudden stop to the conversation by a tilt of strategy. She tu'rned her head, noticed that the bride was considerably older than the groom, and in the smoothest tones said: “Madam, will you please have your son close the window behind you?” The “son” closed his mouth, and the bride no longer giggled. Mrs. Nurich—You can’t think, Brother Caleb, What an expense ih’s been to us, learning Amelia to pla£ the planner. Brother Caleb (dolefully)—lt can’t compare with what I had to pay out when George was learning to play the races. And he didn’ &*rn much, either. —Judge.

Revenge Is Sweet.

TO SEEK THE NORTH POLE.

8. A. AaSree.'Scienttfic Aeronaut, Will Attempt the Trip by Balloqp. The plan conceived by Professor 8. A. Andree, a distinguished Swedish scientist and aeronaut, to overcome the difficulties of the polar ice by journey-

ing to the north pole by balloon, is taking such definite shape that it caji no longer be classed with visionary projects. The contemplated undertaking Is attracting wide attention in Europe, owing not only to its boldness, but also to the fact that Professor Andreo is a practical balloonist and scientific man of standing, who would not entertain a wild or obviously impracticable scheme. He Is now in Paris superintending the construction of the balloon. It will contain sleeping rooms for three, persons, and a dark room for photographic purposes. It will be equipped with a set of sails which will serve to keep It under control and propel it, and a boat.

OBSERVATORY AND GONDOLA OF THE BALLOON.

or gondola, of considerable size, will be carried. A great number of heavy cables will be provided so that in case the balloon should suddenly sink it will be relieved of weight by the contact of the lines with the earth. It Is intended to make the trip, starting from Spitzbergen and crossing the pole to the shores of Bering Strait, next year, in June, ’ when the atmospheric conditions are most favorable to aerial navigation. A heavy snowstorm would probably be disastrous to the balloon, but in the early summer they are infrequent. It is estimated that not more than a week will be consumed en voyage. The fact that the ice which surrounds the pole and has been an unsurmountable barrier to ships will not have to be taken Into consideration constitutes one of the chief reasons for believing that a balloon expedition may succeed where those by vessel have been failures.

A NEW INVALID’S CHAIR.

For Comfortably Moving a Patient in an Upright Position. The device here illustrated is one of the best chairs for Invalids yet Invented. One of its greatest merits is its simplicity, with no complicated parts to be adjusted, and no likelihood of its getting out of order. As may be seen in the cut, there are

INVALID CHAIR.

handles at different heights on opposite sides of the chair, making it very easy for two persons to carry it up or down stairs, while the patient remains in an upright position. Another advantage is that the chair may be placed upon the edge of the bed and the patient moved upon it or from it with perfect ease. When not in use, the chair may be folded into a small, compact bundle.

A Parrot’s Inference.

Among the neighborhood stories told and implicitly believed in the Massachusetts town of W. is one which we should be slow in asking any reader to credit, but which is interesting as an example of the local wit in story making. The wife of Deacon Saunders, an excellent citizen of the place, is said to have possessed a<parrot of exceptional Intelligence and remarkable conversational powers. On one occasion Mrs. Saunders was making cucumber pickles. She had the cucumbers in a dish on the kitchen table, and was stirring a kettle of hot vinegar and spices ovei; the fire with a wooden spoon. While thus engaged she chanced to turn about, and saw the parrot making off with one of the cucumbers. “Ha, you rascal! You’ve been stealing pickles!” she exclaimed, and threw the wooden spoon, dripping with boiling vinegar, at the bird. It struck him on the top of his head, and though it inflicted] no serious injury, its effect was to take the feathers entirely off the top of the bird’s head, leaving him bald for a season. Some time afterward a minister from another town came to preach at the W. church, and took dinner at Deacon Saunders’. He was quite bald. As the

family and the minister sat down at the table, the parrot, who had the freedom of the room, eatne up and perched on the tall back of his chair, and eyed the top of bis head with a close and highly interested scrutiny. And then the bird called out harshly: “Ha! you rascal! You’ve been stealing pickles!”

Whining Children.

Dr. Mary Wood-Allen, writing in Womankind of breaking children of the habit of whining says: "In this case, I should say, that the first thing to do is to secure the cordial co-operation of every other adult member of the family. Let there be united purpose never to give to the child that for which he whines, even if it would be given to him otherwise. Give him to understand this in a firm but gentle way, and if possible secure his approval of the idea. Tell him kindly of the evil of the habit, the unhappiness it causes him and every one else, show him that it is creating a habit for the future years and fell him you are all going to help him to overcome it. Let him feel that your refusal to grant his whining requests are to aid him, not to punish him. Then steadily, persistently, sweetly and firmly, adhere to this policy. Never once yield to his insistence, but always recognize his attempt to meet your wishes in a pleasant manner. If the thing he wants is something he should not have, tell him so, and assure him that no amount of whining will secure it, and then let him whine. Wait, don’t scold, don't tantalize, don’t appear to be either disturbed or moved by his whining. If what he desires is something he can have, and he whines for it, assure him that as soon as hi asks pleasantly he can have it, and then give him time to make up his miml to be pleasant. We are too apt to try to drive our 'children rapidly from one frame of mind'to another. Walt patiently, and if possible help him by diverting his thoughts to something agreeable. In a few minutes he will probably get control of himself. It is often Avery touching sight to witness the efforts of children to gain selfcontrol, sometimes under the stings of the tantalizing reproaches of their elders.—Womankind.

Toeing the Line.

The reign of graded schools and scientific methods of education has deprived the rising generation of many of the experiences, laughable, instruct tive, pathetic, which live in the memories of gray-headed men who once figured as the prototypes of Whittier’s “Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan.” It was the hour for the spelling lesson in one of those fondjy remembered red district school houses, and the boys and girls had taken their places on the floor. “Toe the mark,” commanded the teacher, and a rustling and shuffling indicated obedience. The line stretched clear across the school room; now a pair of bare and dusty feet, next a eonple of nicely blacked shoes, side by side with a pair of rawhide boots guiltless of the suggestion of blacking. The teacher inspected the line approvingly until his eye rested on one small urchin standing so far behind the others as to be almost out of sight. “Nate,” he asked, “why don’t you toe the mark?” “P-p-please, sir, I am,” falters the boy, “but I’ve got on dad’s boots.” Sure enough, the toes of the boots were all right, on the mark, two or three inches beyond the toes of the youthful wearer.

Accommodating Landlord.

A correspondent assures us that he never knew that it was possible for an innkeeper to be too accommodating to his guests until he went down to Nova Scotia recently, and put up at a pleasant little hotel in the country. The landlord of this hotel laid It down as one of his principles of action to give people a little more than they asked for—to be “extra accommodating,” as he termed it. The landlord brilliantly illustrated his adherence to this principle the very morning after our correspondent’s arrival at the hotel. The guests had to go away on the seven o'clock train that morning, and asked the proprietor to call him at six. The guest went to sleep in the calm assurance that he should be aroused at the proper hour. He seemed hardly to have fallen into a sound sleep when he heard a terrific pounding at his door. He sprang up, wide awake. “What’s the matter?” he called out. “Four o’clock! Four o'clock!” came the landlord’s voice the other side of the door; “two hours more to sleep!” It is needless to say that the guest slept no more that morning. The landlord’s anxiety to be “extra accommodating” failed of its mark that time.

Beautifying the Arm.

For the girl whose arm will not stand complete exposure in evening dress there is made a sleeve that fits close on the inside of the arm from the wrist to the hollow under the shoulder and on the outer side of the arm is loose and puffed to the elbow. This sleeve is made of transparent material, and is laced up the Inside of the arm, the flesh showing between the cords, while the draping on the puffs soften the elbows, though the transparency of the material allows the general contour of the arm to show. The bodice is made with a pointed yoke, the yoke lacing along its edges to the rest of the dress and exposing slightly just that part of the neck which cannot help being smooth, no matter how thin the girl may be.

One-Hand Watches.

The first English watches had weights and were used as pocket clocks. They had only one hand, and required to be wound up twice a day. The dials were of silver and brass, while the cases were unglazed, but opened at the back and front, and were four or five inches in diameter—about the size of a common desert plate. The State of Illinois is one of the wealthiest of the Western States, its valuation reaching $786,616,394. The three sections of Tennessee—East, West and Middle— are valued by the assessor at $228,154,432. Almost every one believes he has a monopoly of faithfulness.

THE LATEST IN FADS.

Indian Relics and Indian Furniture Are All the Rage. The very latest thing in the fads of the fashionable world, or at least the American part of it, is at the same time one of the most unique which has taken “society” by storm in many years. It is nothing less than the collection of Indian relics of every sort and of everything Indian which will go towards the furnishing of “wigwams” or summer cottages. In the living room the proper thing is to have chairs, paddle backed and easy, which are largely constructed of weapons of the chase and Indian blankets. Those who do not possess curios sufficient to form the foundation of thgir “wigwam” furniture have recourse to the cabinet-makers’ art for their chairs, sideboards and dressingcases, with painted pipes, tomahawks and paddles. The real thing, of course, is much more chic and expensive. Indian blankets are used with good effect as rugs and portieres, where “wigwam” furnishings are used. A pair of such blankets large and fine enough to drape a doorway costs S2OO. A Navajo saddle blanket for a chair covering or rug may be bought for $25 to $35. Paddles and carved trinkets range in price according to the work upon them. “Totem poles,” Imitations, of course, cost anywhere from $lO to SIOO. When it comes to dining-room and Bleeping apartments the idea is much less pleasing. It gives one a creepy feeling to be eating game with a barbarically ornamented sideboard in front of ope. And then to wake in the middle

PADDLE-BACK CHAIR.

of the night and see in the moonlight a dressing table ornamented with beaded and feathered war clubs, or with wick-ed-looking spears is enough to make one’s dreams full of ghostly spirits and most unhappy hunting grounds.

VERY EASY TO PICK LOCKS.

It Is Also Easy to Defeat Lock Pickers by a Little Caution. It may be of pretty general interest to know that it does not take much caution to defeat the sneak thieves who pick locks. A lock that takes a flat key with a serrated edge, something after the Yale pattern, is beyond their skill, but a 10-cent bolt is the best protection of all for a door that is habitually fastened from the inside. The only way in which a thief can beat a bolt with the “handle" turned down is to cut the panel of the door, and this is too much of an operation when they cannot be assured of plenty of time. Where reliance is placed on the lock and the key is turned from the inside, it is a question whether it is better to remove the key or leave it in the

PICKING A LOCK WITH NIPPERS.

lock. If it is a fairly good lock, the housekeeper should decide in favor of removal, for the tramp thief is about as likely to be provided with “nippers” as he is with a skeleton that will shoot the tumbler. Nippers bear a close resemblance to curling tongs, but the ends of the tong part are hollow, so that they will slip over the end of a key. Nippers are not as much in favor as skeletons and lock picks for a number of reasons,. They are more difficult of manufacture for one, and again, there is no mistaking their character in event of the owner’s arrest They are a burglar's tool and canot be passed off as anything else, whereas a wire pick may be of such innocent appearance that a new’ police judge would express a doubt and discharge the prisoner.

The Greatest Canal.

The largest canal in the world is contemplated by the Russians. This is to be a continuous waterw’ay of 1,000 miles, connecting the Baltic with the Black Sea, and the cost would only be a little item of £20,000.000. It would start from the port of Riga, in the Baltic, and use the rivers Dwina, Beresina and Dnieper on its route, entering the Black Sea at the Crimean port of Cherson. It is a project by which a merchant ship going at only six knots an hour would do the whole journey in a week, at a tremendous saving of time and fuel. In a £at country like Russia there seems no real difficulty in the enterprise, except the eternal want of roubles, from which the government suffers.

Deep Sea Thermometers.

Thermometers made for taking the temperature in moderately deep waters havb the tube incased in a copper cylinder to protect it from inquisitive fishes and from contact with rocks; there is a ring at the bottom to which sufficient weights may be attached to sink it readily. The cylinder has a long, narrow door in front of the scale, which may be opened for the reading, and this door closes with joints so tight that the cylinder brings up the water from the bottom with its temperature practically unchanged by the waters through which it passes.

NEWS OF OUR STATE.

A WEEK AMONG THE HOOSIERS. I What Our Heighten Are Doing—Matter* of General and Local Interest —Marriage* and Death* Accident* and Crime*— Pointer* About Our Own People. Hi* Wife in Flames. John Parr, a fanner residing four miles south of Sheredan. was awakened by his wife the other morning at 3 o’clock. He arose and went to a field to cut corn, leaving his wife lying on the bed. lie continued ins work for a time, when, glancing toward tire house, he saw fire. He at once returned to the house and found the water closet in flames and his w ife burned to death. When first discovered in the burning building she was sitting on the floor with her feet straight out in front, her body and head leaning back against the seat behind her and her arms folded across her breast in an attitude of peaceful repose. Her position indicated that she must have been wholly insensible and suffered no agony from the torture of the flames. After Mr. Parr left the house she evidently went to the kictchen and lit the gas in the eook stove, as it was found burning later. It is thought possible that she may have accidentally fired her clothing at that time. The remains were burned beyond recognition. Minor State Item*. Vermillion County now lias six newspapers. Laporte is to have a shirt factory in the near furture. Michigan City’s new census gives a population of 13,979. According to its city directory Wabash has 10,OCO inhabitants. Hancock County will next year build a new Court-house at an expense of about $125,000. Frederick Royce, of Griffith, was killed by a Chicago & Erie freight train at Hurl but. Eliza Smith, a colored servant girl a Alexandria, burned to death. Her clothing caught fire from a stove. Frank Bennett, living nearHelmer,, who was terribly bitten by dogs while gathering nuts, died of blood-poisoning. A big gas well has been struck eight miles north of Farmland. It is said to be the best well in Randolph County. Alexander James, a Connersville letter carrier, was probaby fatally shot by a coal thief whom he tried to capture; A smart young man frightened a horse which two young boys were driving at Laporte. iyi the runaway the boys were seriously injured. The Chase memorial fund has been completed. Trustee Atkinson has received $2,165 in cash. A house in Wabash costing $2,100 has been bought for Mrs. Chase. The demand for laborers at Alexandria by the new factories just starting up is so far beyond the immediate supply that steps are being taken to bring several car loads of men from Chicago and St. Louis. William Whitney, who claims his home to be as Washington C. IL, 0., was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary at Washington, for bigamy. One of his wives in Daviess County and the other at Washington C. IL, O. Isaac Doddridge, aged 68, years, who lives east of Milton, sold 2,500 bushels of wheat and hauled it to the mill himself. He has also during he summer built seventy-five rods of stone wall, laying every stone unassisted. □While out hunting, Samuel Cromwell, a farmer, livmg near Brazil, was attacked by a ferocious wildcat. Mr Cromwell succeeded in killing the animal, which measured three feet from the tip of the nose to the root of,the taji. -■ , f ,< • Mrs. Catherine Peters, a pioneer of Cass County, wife of Major A. B. Peters, died at her home in Logansport. Death was unexpected. Mrs. Peters fell dead from her doorstep presumably from an attack of apoplexy. She was 75 years old. A new electric road is to be constructed connecting Logansport with Rochester, Fulton county, and Burlington, Carroll County. The road will be about thirtyfire miles long and will penetrate the best part of Fulton and Carroll Counties.

Mrs. William Van Buskirk, of Ewlood, is one of the direct heirs of the Edwards estate of $60,000,000 now in course of settlement in New York -City. She is one of the direct descendants, and will receive about $850,000. Her family is poor, and recently lost their home by fire. Mrs. John Spencer was burned in the potter’s field at Richmond. She, her husband and tw’o children arrived from Ohio, enroute to Anderson, going overland. While starting a fire, her clothing ignited, and she died from her injuries. Spencer has disappeared, and the two children are in the Home of the Friendless. There is the worst epidemic of hog cholera in the vicinity of North Salem ever known. Several farmers have lost from thirty to 250 animals. Andrew Page, who lives just south of that place, has lost 250. Other farmers shipped their hogs before they were ready for market in order to avert complete loss. The disease seems to be extending to other neighborhoods and pigs are dying in every direction except to the north. The loss will foot up several thousand dollars and there is no abatement of the disease. People living in that vicinity wiJl have to buy hogs for their winter meat from other neighborhoods. An attempt was made near Cockran, Ind., to wreck the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern express. The engine struck a dynamite cartridge which had been fastened to the inner rail. Engineer Tom Higson and his fireman were badly s tuned. Tiie fireman was unfitted for work. Great damage was done to the engine. A steel Tail was blown out of place and a hole blown in the road. Fortunately the ears did not leave the track. The motive of the attempt was evidently robbery. Several suspicious characters were seen by the train men about the place, but no attempt at robbery was made by the theives when they saw that the, train was safe. The Trustees of the Indiana State Soldiers’ Home, in session at Lafayette, adopted rules for admission to the Home and appointed the following officers: Commandant, Capt. John P. McGrew, of Indianapolis, late Commandant of the South Dakota Soldiers’ Home; Adjutant, Capt. W. F. Hevens, of Indianapolis, Assistant Adjutant General of the State. Benjamin Wilson, a rich farmer, living near Peru, was appoached by card sharpers, one of whom showed a game of cards, and, after allowing Wilson to win once, proposed that he go to the city and get SIO,OOO to containue the game. Wilson dispersed the fellows with his revolver. Patents have been issued so residents of Indiana as follows: Cortland Ball, Indianapolis, hydrocarbon burner; Greehbury Bryant, Raleigh, Wire fence; Charles B. Case, Indianapolis, cell door lock; Francis P. Davidson, East Chicago, apparatus for rolling plate glass; Albert G. Dougherty, Chambersburg, machine gun; Jason H. Greenstreet,, Indianapolis, shipping crate; George F. Hartley, Muncie, sand papering machine; George W. Morble, Plymouth, wooden rim bicycle wheel; John S. Maxwell,Worthington, gate hinge; Edwin H. Powers and E. H. Tellfair, Michigan City, cane weaving machine; Gottliebb Schneider, Kendallville,’.food cooker and boiler; Melville F. Shaw and J. F. Gail, Ingalls, wire mattress.