Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1896 — DEATH IN THE BLAST. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN THE BLAST.

AWFUL WORK BY A PREMATURE EXPLOSION. Metropolitan Elevated Motor at Chicago Plunges to the Ground—Kansas Prodigal Son Makes a Dramatic En-trance-Sultan Orders a Butchery. Two Killed, Seven Hurt. Two men were killed, five others so badly injured they may die, and two others seriously hurt by a premature explosion of dynamite Monday on Sec. 14 of the Chicago drainage canal. All the victims of the disaster were laborers under the foremanship of Richard Powers. According to the statements of drainage canal employes the gang had just completed a drilling and had filled sixteen holes of the blast with 250 pounds of dynamite. Investigation indicated the accident was due to the carelessness or misfortune of John Bowen, a workman, whose duty it was to explode the blasts. Bowen had prepared for a blast by placing the electrical machine used in exploding the dynamite in the bed of the ditch. To test the machine he then inserted an explosive cap and turned away for a moment. Coming back he pulled the lever and there was a terrific explosion. One after another the charges of dynamite placed along the face of the rock blew up with reports distinctly heard at Joliet, seven miles away. The laborers were in a frenzy at the killing and mangling of their comrades and, it is Baid, started after Bowen with the avoided intention of wreaking vengeance on him. He was arrested by the drainage police before the mob caught him, however, and locked up. It is usual on the canal to give a danger signal before exploding a blast by heavy notes from a steam signal. No signal was blown Monday, however.

PORTE ORDERS A MASSACRE. Dispatches Announce that Zeitoun Is to Be Destroyed. A dispatch from Constantinople to the Frankfurter Zeitung, Berlin, says: “The porte has ordered Mustapha Remzi Pasha to attack with 10,000 troops and two batteries the City of Zeitoun, and to bombard and destroy it and to massacre the 12,000 Armenians in the city.” This order followed the receipt, of ap official dispatch from Zeitoun, which said that the Armenians there on Sunday Oast massacred all the Turkish soldiers imprisoned in the town. This probably refers to the 400 Turkish troops whe were captured by the Zeitounlis when the uprising first occurred, although it has been announced that all the soldiers, except nine Who were dead, had been released. WANDERING BOY RETURNS. Discloses His Identity Just Before Family Prayers. Seven years ago Solomon Romstead, the 19-year-old son of A. Romstead, of Franklin County, Kan., left home and no trace of him could be found. Thursday night a horseman, dusty and tired, rode up to the old homestead and asked quarters for the night. The stranger did not reveal his identity until just before the father was ready for family prayers. Then there was an affecting scene be- . tween parents and son. The young man had come frpm Oklahoma where he owns a fine farm. BURNED BY HOT SLAG. Eight Men Injured by an Explosion of Gas in a Blast Furnace. At Pittsburg, Pa., by an explosion of gas at Shoenberger's rolling mill, on 14th street, eight men were burned, one of them fatally. The men were working at the bottom of a blast furnace. When the gas exploded, it forced the hot slag, which accumulates in the cupola, over the sides. Before the men could get out of the way, the hot metal potired out over them. Bowman was badly burned all over the body, and the rest sustained severe injuries about their faces and hands. Two Men Injured. The worst accident in the history of the Chicago Metropolitan Elevated Railroad occurred Monday morning when a westbound motor became unmanageable as it neared the 48th street terminus and plunged to the ground, a distance of twenty feet. The motorman and conductor were injured. The motor car stopped at the West 48th avenue station, where several passengers were let off. Motorman Brady received the signal to go on, and when he applied the current the car started forward with a rush. Before he could apply the brakes and reverse the current lever the ear ran into the bumpers. The bumpers were broken and the car plunged downward. The front end of the motor landed in the street, while the rear wheels remained on the elevated structure.

yfr Noted Possum Hunter Buried. Steven Ross, the greatest possum hunter in Ohio, was buried at Massillon Friday afternoon, after having lived to the age of 108. He was freed from slavery in Virginia and came here before the war. His ghost stories were celebrated, and he trotted half of grown-up Massillon upon his knee. He had a formula for cooking possum, an important feature of which was the mystic gibberish he uttered over the boiling snass, that was almost as famous as his talent for spectral stories. Though penniless and childless, he will be sincerely mourned. Crushed by a Car. Five laborers were injured—one fatally —at the Dayton, Ohio, Malleable Iron Works. The men were at work on a track between the buildings, when a car loaded with pigiron was pushed toward them, crushing them against the walls until stopped by the brakes. Warsaw Threatened by Floods. Warsaw, the county seat of Benton County, Missouri, is threatened with destruction by floods from the Osage Rives. The Sedalia, Warsaw and Southwestern passenger station is adrift. Missouri, Kansas and Texas tracks have been washed away in Vernon County. Master of Bxcheqtier Gone. George King, master of the exchequer of .Monitor Lodge, No. 68, Knights of Pythias, is missing from St. Louis, and along with him, it is reported, have gone $2,000 of the funds of the lodge. . Lost with All on Board. The.cmmt JSteamer Virginia Lake reports immense destruction all along the New Foundland coast. The schooners Victory, with twenty-two men, and Goldfinch, with fourteen men, have been lost. Several other vessels are missing. A boat named Peri Pampai was picked UP on the Grand Banks. ' Chicago Alarmed, , At Indianapolis Minerva D. Veimjlyea, Otto Carlson arid Melchor H. G. Gerde, of Chicago, filed application for the appointment of a receiver for the Fidelity -Building and .Loan Association, No. 4, • * ** - .

PRAISE FOR TERRELL. Secretary Olney Reports on Troubles in Armenia. The President on Thursday, in response to the Senate resolution of Dec. 4, calling for information respecting affairs in Turkey, transmitted a report by Secretary Olney, summarizing but not including the official correspondence and beginning with the massacres at Moosh in August, 1894. In substance the Secretary's report recounts all that has been done to protect American citizens against rioters; shows that, while their property has suffered in two instances, they have not been injured in person; quotes Minister Terrell as estimating the number of Armenians killed at 30,000. and after citing several cases wherein naturalized Americans have been oppressively treated states that proper steps- have been taken to secure indemnity in all cases and to protect our naturalized citizens in their treaty rights. Secretary Olney says the number of United .States citizens in Turkey is not accurately known, but there are 172 American missionaries scattered over Asia Minor and numbers of our citizens in business, besides naturalized Armenians temporarily residing in Turkey, and that probably the whole number of these persons is between 500 and (}OO. The bulk of this American element is found in the interior of Asia Minor and Syria, in quarters remote from our consulates, isolated and inaccessible, except by difficult mountain journeys. TO MAKE A NATIONAL PARK Plan on Foot to Create a Reservation on the Hudson. The Palisades commissioners of New York and New Jersey have taken action to preserve to posterity the wonderfully beautiful upturned ledge of rock along the western shore of the majestic Hudson. A bill has gone to Washington to be presented. The general scheme of legislation follows closely that adopted for the Chickamauga, Chattanooga and the Gettysburg national parks. The provision is to set apart a reservation within prescribed grounds, like that at Niagara, except that in this instance two •states, instead of two nations, are interested. The laying out of the park is to be done by a national commission, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The official name is to be the Palisades National Military Park. The land is to be ceded to the Federal Government. aue park will be under governmental control as to every offense committed, and persons who destroy shrubs will have to answer to the Federal courts. The appropriation ordered by the bill is $500,000, which sum is to bear all the expenses of getting the land and laying out the park and the salaries and expenses of the commissioners and their helpers.

FATAL FIGHT FOR A GIRL. Felice Delong Killed in a Duel nt Pittston, Pa. At Pittston, Fa., Felice Delong was stabbed to death by Giovanni Destacliio in a fight for a girl with whom they were in love. They were good friends until about u week ago, when they discovered they were in love with the same girl ami that she was encouraging both of them. Then they had frequent quarrels. During one of them both men drew stilettos. They wasted no time in preliminaries, but sprang at each other. At the first pass Delong’s stiletto flew from his hand. Destacliio struck at him and he dodged beneath the blade, but stumbled. Destachio buried the stiletto in his back as he rose and then four times in rapid succession plunged it into his buck. Delong fell dead at his opponent’s feet, and he, with one thrust, buried the stiletto in his rival's breast, left it there and lied. FINDS THE HIDDEN MONEY. Treasure Secured Forty Y'ears Ago Discovered by a Prospector. About forty years ago a wagon train loaded with valuable goods and about SBO,OOO in gold and silver, en route from the City of Mexico to the United States, was attacked near IHncon, Mexico, by a band of brigands and all the members of the wagon train were killed and the booty seized. The robbers were overtaken a few days filter by a detachment of soldiers and all were killed. The money and stores haiT been secreted by the outlaws and could not be found. The other day Rafael Villegas was prospecting for mineral ten miles south of the town, when he enme upon tiie entrance to a cave. He explored the cave, and found several sacks filled with the money taken by the exterminated band of robbers. DISEASE IS LIKE RABIES. Department of Agriculture Report on Peculiar Ailment of Cattle. Interesting now because of Germany's prohibition of the importation of American cattle is a report just issued by the agricultural department on the corn-stalk disease of cattle and investigations of a disease apparently identical with rabies. The former has caused heavy losses to Western cattle-feeders. The investigation shows conclusively that it is not a lung disease, is not communicable and is not even of a bacterial nature.

Men Were Parboiled. Five men were killed and six injured by the explosion of a steampipe on the American line steamship St. Paul while the vessel lay at her dock at the foot of Fulton street, North River, New York. At the time of the accident, shortly after 7 o’clock, there were thirty men of the crew in the fireroom and ten in the en-gine-room. The main steampipe, which is three feet In diameter, runs from the engine to the fire room. It was this flipe which exploded. The main stop-valve was blown out. The accident is believed to have been caused by a flaw in the pipe. Preparations were being made for the sailing of the vessel at 11 o’clock, but fortunately none of the passengers was aboard the vessel. From above the noise of the escaping steam could be heard the cries of the men who had been at work in the engine-room and injured by the explosion. The nature of the explosion was such that it rendered access to the locality extremely difficult. As quickly as possible the steam was turned off. Almost simultaneously four half dead men scrambled up the iron stairway leading from the engine-room and fell prostrate upon the port side of the vesel. They were hurried into the cabin and restoratives administered to them. Two other men terribly scalded were found in an almost unconscious condition lying near the bottom of the stairway, and were lifted up to the deck. As soon as the steam had cleared away sufficiently to render seeing the surroundings possible five men were found lying near in various parts of the compartment, dead. They had all been scalded to death, and their faces and those parts of the body which were not covered by their clothing looked as if they had been parboiled. Fearful Mine Disaster. At 9 o’clock Thursday morning, shortly after the day force numbering sixtyseven men had gone on duty at the Cumnock coal mines, six miles west of Raleigh, N. C., a fire-damp explosion occurred, killing, it is believed, forty-three men. Not a Dissenting Voice. ./ Friday, the Senate without a dissenting vote passed the House bill for the appointment of the Venezuelan commission. Not an amendment was pressed. Call Money 75 per Cent. There was a panic in the New York stock market Friday. The President’s special message to Congress on the Venezuela affair had the effect of frightening nt '• • ! »!•

the foreign inventors —especially the English—in American securities. Before the Eastern markets opened cables from Ixmdon evinced that there was a semipanic in the American department on she British Bourse. Stocks and bonds were thrown on the market regardless of the price and buyers were very few eveu at enormous concessions. At the close of the exchange in Chapel court the "Yankees” were thoroughly subverted. The general list fell from 2 to G points below the final New York quotations. In Wail street the effect of London’s closing figures was simply demoralizing. The important nnd active properties opened all the way from 1 to 3 points off and up to noon continued to fall. Each successive cable indicated still lower figures, and it was finally reported that many "jobbers” on the London Stock Exchange had refused to accept orders. The unfavorable news was coincident with preparations by the gold-shipping houses for Saturday’s exports to Europe. The initial trading was highly sensational, and declines were made all along the line, extending to 4% per cent. A sinister feature was an advance in rates for call money to 75 per cent., collecting the calling of loans. Three failures were reported on the New York Stock Exchange and one on the Consolidated Exchange. Only one, that of S. S. Sands & Co., was of financial importance. The railway and miscellaneous bond market was also demoralized, declines ranging up to 15 per cent. It was rumored that a single house had dumped $400,000 of Reading bonds on the market. Wisconsin Central trust receipts scored the extreme loss noted and in the leading speculative!) the recessions extended to 11% per cent., in Kansas and Texas seconds, to 47%. Around 12:30 the selling pressure abated and recoveries were made in the stock market from the lowest extending to 3 per cent. Bonds were relatively active.

MIGHT PROVE A BOOMERANG. Bfitlsh Financial Leaders Talk of Calling in Their American Credits. A London dispatch says: A grave but inevitable consequence of President Cleveland’s message upon the BritishVenezuelan dispute has arisen perhaps sooner than might have been expected. A meeting of prominent financial leaders who have important interests in the United States was held in a London banking office for the purpose of considering the advisability of united action in calling in their American credits. It is undoubtedly within the power of English capitalists by such a combined movement to deal America a blow which would, temporarily, be terribly embarrassing and disastrous. It would, however, prove to a certain extent a boomerang, and this view had its influence upon the majority of those who attended the meeting. The conference was private and it was not intended even that the fact that it took place should be allowed to be made public. BACKS TIIE PRESIDENT. Congress Rallies to the Support of the Monroe Doctrine. The House passed a bill authorizing the President to appoint a Venezuelan commission and appropriating SIOO,OOO for expenses. The Senate did not take up the Venezuelan dispute directly, but Senator Chandler introduced a bill “to strengthen the military armament.” It directs the President to strengthen the military force of the United States byadding 1,000,000 infantry rifles, 1,000 guns for field artillery, and not exceeding 5,000 heavy guns for fortifications. The sum of $1,000,000 is made immediately available for the purpose of the.proposed armament. BIG BUILDING COLLAPSES. At Least One Man Killed by an Accident in Minneapolis. The second floor of the Palace Clothing Company’s big store on Nicollet avenue, Minneapolis, collapsed just before noon Friday. Gale Walters, a clerk, is dead, and, a dispatch says, others may be in the ruins. The store is a double front, and the entire right half of it collapsed from the fourth floor to the basement. The building is an old one, which was remodeled for the Palace Company’s use. Death of Captain Basset*, Capt. Isaac Bassett, the venerable assistant doorkeeper of the Senate, died at Washington Wednesday' afternoon. Capt. Basgett,. the “father of the Senate,” spent his entire career as a Senate employe. He enjoyed the distinction of being the second page employed in the ’chamber and the last official of that bodyelected by ballot, all subsequent offices being filled by appointment. Cleveland Sends Another Message. President-Cleveland sent another message to Congress Friday, in which he Requested immediate legislation to protect the gold reserve, stating that immediate demands threatened to greatly deplete, if not to entirely wipe it out. A revision of the currency system is also asked, and he requests that no adjournment be had until these two measures are accomplished. Fighting to Be Forced. Havana advices say: Campos will make desperate efforts to break the power of the insurgents. He has determined to force the fighting because of urgent orders from Madrid. Barnato Seeking New Fields. A personal representative of Barney I. Barnato, the famous Kaffir mining operator, has arrived in New York, his purpose being to look over the Cripple Creek district.