Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1896 — Page 6

AFTER THE TORNADO

Storm-Stricken Cities Now Face the Future. BKAVE AND HOPEFUL. Thousands Are Busy Clearing Away Wreckage. Story of Violence, Terror, Rnin, Deoo* lotion and Death—Burying the Dead and Caring; for the Injured, Bantry and Homeleaa—Close Estimate of the Property Damage—Thousands Go to View the Storm’s Work—Pen Picture es the Horrors the People of St. Louie Have Endured. Braised and torn and bleeding, staggerfrom the force of the blow, but still reliant and confident in her own strength, he city of St Louis is standing in the ’lew of hundreds of thousands of visitors, a beautiful picture even in her misery and pain. Though 200 of her children were torn from her by the merciless wind, and scores are lying in the hospitals on beds of agony, she is rallying her superb resources ready to begin again the march of progress. Property n worth millions was snatched from her bbsom, and from the fair surface of her vicinage huge factories, beautiful dwellings, gigantic elevators and thousands at homes of the poor have been razed. Dazed and half bleeding, she has struggled to her feet, groping in the darkness of affliction. Her little neighbor is scarcely able to ■ove. The full force of the storm that laid her waste was not lost in the long and remarkable voyage across the river. Out of a population of nearly three-quar-ters of a million -St. Louis lost two hundred souls. East St. Louis has scarcely a family in her limits that does not number in its membership one dead or wound-

EAST. ST. LOUIS CITY HALL.

sd. The list of victims to the fury of the wind runs up to 160, and to say who* s Injured would be to enumerate one-half the population of the bustling little community. Weaker than St. Louis, in that she lacks the size and wealth, she Is strong in her own might With the assistance of the outside world she will recover from the blow in time and her Mocked streets will again be the thoroughfares full of teams and men they were before the terrible visitation. But

VIEW ON SIXTH STREET. ST. LOUIS-TYPICAL SCENE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE CITY.

in the history of the world, the disaster that overtook the sister cities will live on and on as the greatest of modern times. Birth of the Tornado. On that fateful Wednesday afternoon the clouds formed in conclave over St t uis. For months, weeks they had been vering in an atmosphere that made them worried and restless. They were surcharged with energy generated by excessive heat and they were surly. They thirsted for rapine and slaughter. Down below them myriads of mortals ran about the streets of the big city like anta, each carrying out his part in the daily journey of the world. Across the river dense volumes of smoke arose and from the many railroad -yards the shriek of locomotive whistles mingled with the rumble of moving cars. The great stock yards and the rolling mills and the foundries were adding their quota to the atmosphere that was irritating the jrapory masses in the

Traitorously the storm crept upon the city, and even as the people wondered why the shadows of vapor were behaving In a manner so unusual they framed their battle' front and brought to being the tornado, the child of unusual atmospheric conditions, the concentration of the power of the elements. In less than ten minutes it caused damage to property that cannot be replaced in years and loss of life horrible to dwell upon. It swept a city from end to end, attacked a swollen river, lined with shipping, made of it a waste of muddy water, showing here and there on its surface a wreck, and rushed on through the little city across the bridge, demolishing it most utterly. It left behind a long trail of blood and twisted ruin. When the force of the wind abated from every door and every place of shelter men and.lttomen swarmed with blanched faces and trembling lips. Every thoroughfare was a vista of broken signs, overturned vehicles, ground and shattered glass and twisted wires. Lights were snuffed out by the ftry of the gale and the wonderful current that propels so many of the cars of the city was rendered useless. In the downtown business districts, where the damage was slight, the streets were crowded with citizens anxious to get to their homes to reassure loved ones. All felt that a dreadful calamity had occur* red, but none could say the ixtent of it. While the news of all the fatalities was being circulated in the manner that news was circulated in the olden time, when town criers were the chroniclers' of the events of the day, night was falling rapidly. The telephone system of the city was useless and the rapid transit conveyances stood idle in the streets. Light was at a premium. Candles were called into requisition and gas jets that had not •sen service for years were pressed into «M. The streets were wildernesses of risk. On every hand the wires were.apjttiag and chapping and from feofs pieces as debris were falling suddenly and with.•Taming. -An hour before the usual dtase tte town was burled In a black pall

as in a dungeon. Out of the west came another storm, resembling the first, and terrified mortals fled from it wildly and aimlessly. All the time the rain beat down desperately. Night came on a city thoroughly and pitifully demoralized. In all its vast extent there was not a man who knew what had been accomplished by the terrible wind. Ghastly Tales Told. About 7 o'clock the eastern horizon took on a ruddy appearance, and through the blinding rain long tongues of fire could be seen mounting high in the air. East St Louis was on fire. There were fires to the south and to the east and to the west. The city was walled In with flames on three sides and the streets were impassable. Out of the confusion and chaotic spawn of rumors, it became soon apparent that the bulk of the damage had been done in South and East St Louis. No one knew the extent of It and all feared to guess. That it was unprecedented was intuitively surmised. Up in the city, where the full force of the charge of the angry clouds was not felt the ruin gave a faint Indication of what it was where the tornado had mowed a path through the solid evidences of the Industry of man. A steady stream of travel took its way toward the south and all night long it ebbed and flowed out of acenes of misery and devastation into scenes of devastation and misery. The rein did service In putting out numerous fires the firemen could not

reach and then died slowly and sullenly, as though angry at being called upon to render any succor to the victims of its allied friends, the wind and the clouds. To the Rescue. Brave men, with heads cool and hearts true, realized, as soon as the full fury of the visitation was spent, .that there was work for them to do. The City Dispensary naturally became the central point of news and succor. Every minute news of fresh horrors was received. Ambulances began to reach the city hall loaded down with wounded and dead before any measures looking to their care could be taken. Physicians, full of energy, willing to do their part, came from every district in the city that had not been touched by

SCENE IN HICKORY STREET.

the storm. Volunteers poured in from every direction, ready to dig and delve or do anything to assist the authorities. Eight hours followed such as never before were ticked off by the clocks of St. Louis; eight hours of terror and uncertainty. The innermost recesses of the highest mountain ranges were scarcely more difficult of access than were the stricken districts. A darkness that seemed all the more impenetrable because it was experienced by a people unused to darkness, hid the view of one side of the street from pedestrians on the other. Wires hung at all angles or lay on the ground, tripping those who tried to cross them at every step. Telegraph poles were spread in every direction in the downtown districts and the remnants of buildings that had stood the brunt of the storm were stacked up like small hills on every corner. Those who ventured into that portion of the city lying south of Clark avenue took their lives in their hands. It was like defying fate to plunge into the vortex of ruin, but fate was defied. Trucks loaded with firemen were sent but to clear roads leading to the hospital from South St Louis. Then men on them were equipped with wire cutters and axes, and they blazed paths through piles of wreckage. The bulk of the horror of the night was grouped at the morgue, at the City Dispensary and at the hospital on Seventeenth and Pine streets. Down the narrow alley back of the city hall ambulance After ambulance swung in, loaded down with suffering humanity. The limited quarters were a repository for the misery of days crowded ifito hours. Newly

THE ST. LOUIS TORNADO IN THE HEART OF THE CITY.

all the victims brought in were completely naked, stripped by the violence of the storm. Speed was necessary in treating them and the gentle, kindly words of the surgeon who has plenty of time were not spoken. It was hurry, hurry, hurry. A man with one fractured leg would give way on an operating table to a man with both legs fractured, or a woman with her tender flesh hanging in shreds. Little children, torn and crushed, were brought in and laid before the surgeons, their shrill cries and pitiful moans contrasting with the howls of the more powerful adults. They cftpe in a swift stream that seemed to be without end, all night long, and it appeared to those who handled them that the sights and sounds grew more terrible as the hours crept by. Among the Mangled. The scenes at the hospital were a repetition of those at the dispensary. It was at the morgue that the full force of the disaster was brought to the understanding. The little slate-colored building on Twelfth and Spruce was the magnet that drew a funeral procession, radiating from every part of the South Side. First, the slabs were filled in the usual way, one body to a slab, and then two slabs were placed together and made the resting place for four bodies. Still the corpses came. They were dumped in like grist into a milt The slabs were soon crowded and the Ice boxes were put in use. It took but a short time to fill the boxes and the doors were closed for a few minutes, while a general shifting of the mutilated forms was made. The next time the doors were opened from six to eight bodies were placed on a slab and the boxes were filled to the top, as a bey piles wood into the big box behind the kitchen stove. When all the receptacles provided for the use of the dead were full to overflowing, the tired morgue attaches laid the bodies on the floor, and those who came to search for loved ones were confronted by a spectacle well fit to stagger a grave digger. All night long St Louis and East St. Louis were cities alone in their terrible desolation, almost entirely cut off from communication with the rest of the world, and without exception the streets of this city were dark tunnels, and her homes were the homes of fearful people. Dead and dying, death and injury, were the sole topic of conversation. To those who slept came dreams of rushing storms carrying the bloody victims of its fury in outstretched arms. To those who spent the night in work in the devastated district came a surfeit of sickening experiences that will haunt them for months to come. And in all the horror of the black night and its terrible developments reigned a feeling of dread for what might be disclosed by the day. When the first gray coloring in the eastern sky gave evidence of the coming'of the light, the watchers gazed with mingled feelings of thankfulness and fear. ..Objects became discernible dimly as the sun mounted higher on the course of his daily journey, emphasizing the ruin that was rather felt than seen in the gloom of the night.

After the Storm. The first reports of the great storm were considerably exaggerated, as is usually the case when such a calamity occurs. It was impossible in the confusion and darkness to obtain definite information, and the stories of havoc and fatality were magnified by the exciting influences of the situation. The number of killed, which was hastily estimated at 1,000, is now known to be less than 500 for St. Louis and East St. Louis, while the destruction of property may be put at not to exceed $5,000,000. It is impossible to tell how many were wounded, but the list is likely to be several times as large as that of the dead; and there are hundreds of houseless and destitute families, thankful in their distress that they escaped with their lives. The work of succoring the needy is being carried on with all possible diligence and effectiveness. There was a quick response of public sympathy and charity to the demands of the occasion, and well organized efforts of relief give assurance that no suffering will

be neglected and no means spared to restore general comfort and happiness. It will take some time to repair the property damages, but the undertaking is already in progress and will be pushed forward with characteristic American pluck and enterprise until the last vestige of the (misfortune is removed. It will take at least two years to repair the damage done by the tornado. It is estimated that in St. Louis at least 7;500 houses were destroyed, although the officials of the buHding commissioners’ office are to place it at 10,000. The

WRECKED STEAMERS ON THE EAST SHORE OE THE RIVER.

number of buildings destroyed or damaged at East St Louis will not fall below 500, which means a loss from which the Illinois town will not recover in many years. The tornado was not a respecter of classes, and made no distinctions. It swept away the palaces of wealth as well as the hovels of the poor. It spared neither institutions of mercy nor the monuments of productive industry. While the money value of the damage is estimated in aggregate at not over $5,000,000, these figures do not convey an adequate Idea es the tremendous losses sustained.by the great catastrophe. The losses entailed by suspended business operations and the money that will be required to clear away the wrecked factories, blocks and dwellings will swell the total loss to an incredible figure. KILLED BY THE WIND. Nearly One Tbonsand Lives Blown Ont in the Last Sixty Days. Nearly 1,000 persons have been killed by tornadoes and windstorms of lesser violence during the last sixty days. The figures at hand show the number of dead to be 795, a total that will undoubtedly be swelled to much larger proportions when the full loss of life at St Louis is ascertained. Illinois. „ Dead. Injured. Peru, May 16 1 Mercer County, May 16 1 Elgin, May 16, 1 4 Rockford, May 16 3 14 Monroe, May 24 2 6 Leaf River, May 24 1 Cairo, May 25 14 ... East St. Louis, May 27 150 800

AT TENTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS.

I New Baden, May 27 13 24 Blrkners, May 27 4 Boyd, May 27 2 8 Irvington, May 27............ 1 5 Hoyleton, May 27 8 Mascoutah, May 27......... .. 1 ... Jefferson City, May 27 5 Fairfleld, May 27 1 j Total 208 864 Missouri. St. Louis, May 27 250 800 Audrain County, May 27...... 15 oft Total 265 825 Michigan. Oakland County, May 25 113 83 Mount Clemens, May 25 12 Total 113 45 lowa. North McGregor, May 24 15 Valeria, May 24 5 j Bondurant, May 24 4 Mingo, May 24 4 ... Santiago, May 24 3 ... Durango, May 24 5 . New Hampton, May 24 1 Centerville, May 27 3 8 Total 40 ~12 Kansas. Concordia, April 26 8 12 Falls City, May 16 4 Sabetha, May 16 18 Oneida, May 16 6 . ’. Reserve, May 16 4 ... Emporia, May 20 1 ~, Total ........... fi ».. 36 ~24 Indiana. Warsaw, May 27. ’.. ■.2 5 Texas. Denton and Grayson Counties and city of Sherman, May 15.100 200 Colorado., Denver, March 27.' 1 . .. Kentucky. Elva, May 16 5 ... Oklahoma. Osage Reservation, May 20... 4 ... North Dakota. Epiphany, April 27 3 10

Virginia. Salem, April 24 2 Ohio. Sandusky, April 20 2 Nebraska. Pawnee, May 17 10 Pennsylvania. Jarrettown. May 28 8 ... Columbia, May 28 1 ... Total . .../X 4 Grand total 795 975 The most famous dog artist was Landseer.

WANT BONDS BARRED

SENATORS ADOPT THE BUTLER MEASURE, 32 TO 25. Further Issues, Without torment or Congress, Prohibited—Lively Debate Precedes the Vote—Pass River and Harbor Bill Over President’s Veto. Anti-bond Bill Passed. At 7 o'clock Tuesday night the long struggle in the Senate over the bill to prohibit the issue of bonds came to an end and the bill was-passed by a vote of 32 to 25. The bill as passed covers only three lines, as follows: - “Be it enacted that the issuance of in-terest-bearing bonds of the United States for any purpose whatever without further authority of Congress is hereby prohibited.” The vote on its final passage was as follows: YEAS. (Republicans.) Brown, Pettigrew, Cannon, Pritchard, Dubois, Teller, Hansbrough, Warren, Mitchell (Ore.), Wolcott—lo. (Democrats.) Bacon, Morgan, Bate, Pasco, Berry, Pugh, Chilton, '’'Ulman, Daniel, Turple, George, Vest. Harris, Walthall, Jones (Ark.) White—l 7. Mills, (Populists.) Allen, Peffer, Butler, Stewart—s. Jones (Nev.) » NAYS. (Republicans.) Aldrich, Hawley, Allison, Lodge, Burrows, Mcßride, Chandler, Nelson, Cullom, Platt, Davis, Quay, Galllnger, Wetmore, Hale, Wilson—lo. (Dempernts.) Brice. Mitchell (Wls.), Caffery, Palmer, Faulkner, Smith, HHI, Vilas—9. Lindsay, The voting did not begin until 6:30 p. in., at which time the chamber was dimly lighted aud the galleries almost empty. A flood of amendments were first voted down, all being defeated. One by Mr. Aldrich of Rhode Island gave the executive power to issue bonds in certain emergencies, another by Mr. Aldrich provided that the act should not impair the obligation to pay in coin. Mr. Hill’s amendment that treasury notes be retired when redeemed was tabled—43 to 12. Mr. Quay's amendment for the substitution of coin notes for treasury notes was defeated without a yea and nay vote. The last preliminary vote was on Mr. Hill’s motion to postpone the subject until next December, which was defeated. Then came the final vote. River and Harbor Bill. The report of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors recommending the passage of the bill over the President’s veto was made by Chairman Hooker, and the report was read. Mr. Hooker moved the passage of the bill, saying that the committee was of the opinion that the President’s message covered every possible objection to the bill and that report answered all objections. “Many members have asked me for time to debate this matter,” he said, “and to yield to their requests would take much time. Without expressing any opinion on the question whether there be debate and to test the opinion of the House on the question whether debate is necessary I will demand the previous question.” Instantly Mr. Dockery (Dem.) of Missouri was on his feet demanding recognition, but the speaker told him that debate was not in order. Members were shouting “Vote, vote,” but the voice of Mr. Dockery pierced the uproar, shouting: “The gentleman agreed with me yesterday to have debate on this bill. This is unfair, unjust, unmanly.” The House demanded the previous question—l7B to 60 by a rising vote, and only 46 rose to sustain the request for yeas and nays. “Under the rules the vote on the passage of the bill must be taken by yeas and nays,” the speaker announced. “Is there no rule by which we can have debate?” asked Mr. Dockery. "Not if the House orders the contrary,” said Speaker Reed. “And the House has so ordered—to stifle debate,” responded Mr. Dockery. The bill was passed by a vote of 220 to 60, a wide margin over the necessary twothirds. The Democrats who voted to pass the bill over the veto were: Bankhead (Ala.), McCulloch (Ark.), Berry (Ky.). McMillin (Tenn.), Buck (La.), Mcßae (Ark.), Catchings (Miss.), Meyer (La.), Clarke (Ala.), Money (Miss.), Cobb (Mo.), Ogden (La.), Cooper (Fla.), Owens (Ky.), Cooper (Texas), Price (La.), Culberson (Texas), Robertson (La.), Cummings (N. Y.), Sparkman (Fla.), Denny (Miss.), Strait (S. C.), Dinsmore (Ark.), Talbert (S. C.), Ellet (Va.), Terry (Ark.), Elliott (S. C.), Turner (Ga.), Fitzgerald (Mass.), Tyler (Va.), Kendall (Ky.), Underwood (Ala.), Kyle (Miss.), Washington (Tenn.), Latimer (S. C.), Williams (Miss.), Lester (Ga.), Wilson (S. C.)—39. Little (Ark.), The Republicans who voted against passing the bill over the veto were: Allen (Utah), Long (Kan.), Anderson (Tenn.), McCall (Tenn.), Andrews (Neb.), McClure (Ohio), Baker (N. H.), McEwan (N. J.), Brown (Tenn.), . Pearson (N. C.), Calderhead (Kan.), Pitney (N. J.), Connelly (Ill.), Scranton (Pa.), Grout (Vt.), Settle (N. C.), Hager (Iowa), Shafroth (Col.), Hainer (Neb.), Sherman (N. Y.), Hepburn (Iowa), Strode (Neb.), Lelghley (Ind.), Tracewell (ind.), Unney (N. C.), Updegraff (lowa)—26.

Told in a Few Lines.

Barney Barnato has guaranteed the payment of the fines of the reform prisoners released at Pretoria. Fire partly destroyed D. Lutz & Sons’ brewery on Spring Garden avenue, Allegheny. Loss, $50,000, fully insured. The pope has written a touching letter to the Negns Menelik of Abyssinia in favor of liberating the Italian prisoners. Traffic on the Oregon Railway and Navigation line between Wallace and Burke, Ida., is suspended on account of the damage done by high water. Henry M. Stanley, who has been so serjiously ill as to have made it necessary to send for his wife, has recovered and is able to start for London. Fire destroyed the five-story livery barn of Hermon Pohlman, on Fifty-third street, New York. Fifty horses were roasted to death. Total loss, SBO,OOO. The steamer Bermuda sustained a setback when Capt. Clipperton, the British consul at Philadelphia, notified the collector of Port Read that he had cancelled the steamer’s registration papers. This action was taken as a consequence of advices received from the British minister at Washington. Ex-Gov. D. R. Francis has been appointed receiver of the United Elevator Company at St. Louis on application of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company, which owns 1,900 shares of stock, $97,500 in first mortgage bonds and $35,000 in second mortgage bonds with R. P. Teney, who also is a stock i holder and bondholder.

A DIFFICULT FEAT.

Louis Kin»-n<»r Carries Hi* Wife oa iia Chin. A new act for the specialty stage is that performed by Louis Kins-ner and his wife. Kins-ner is a little fellow

THE ACT.

the table and vaults lightly into the seat. A moment later she Is lifted lightly in the air, and when she descends again i one of the hind lege of her bespangled seat rests upon her husband’s chin. When the chair is securely In place tire little giant, with outstretched arms and his heavy burden poised dangeorusly between heaven and earth, takes his usual stroll up and over the long flight of stairs and out into the middle of the stage again. When his wife leaps lighUy to the floor it is to bow to deafening applause. She seems as unconcerned over her perilous ride as if she had been securely seated on terra Anna. Her carelessness of manner, however, is quite surpassed by the easy way in which her boyish-looking husband carries her about They do not always get through the performance without accident, though.

OLDEST LIVING MASON.

Charles R. Deming, of Geneseo, 111., Said to Bear that' Distinction. Charles R. Deming, of Geneso, 111., is probably the oldest living mason in America. He was born on Oct 8, 1804, at Sandsfleld, Mass. When 12 years old he came west with his parents as far as Ohio. The trip was made with a yoke of oxen and the emigrants were six weeks making the journey. They stopped»at Brunswick, Medina County. Not long before the Demlngs passed through the county the British had burned Buffalo, and Cleveland was an insignificant town. The elder Deming bought a farm in Medina County and worked it until 1823. The younger

CHARLES R. DEMING.

Deming left farming in that year and in 1825 he went into Ashland County, was married in 1830 and returned to the farrp near Brunswick. Two years later he removed to Ashland County and embarked in trade. • From 1852 until 1864 he traded in cattle and iu the last named year came to Illinois and settled in Henry County, where he has Jived ever since. He was twice sent to the Ohio Legislature. His initiation into masonry took place in Ohio in 1826. Notwithstanding h’s great age Mr. Deming keeps pace with the march of modern progress. He reads the daily papers, and takes a special interest in politics. His health is good, his eye clear, and his mind bright.

His View.

The necessity, or the apparent necessity, of making a living may easily induce a strange habit of thought. If we find it difficult to get bread, we naturally look askance at whatever stands In our way. Edward Hoare tells in his “Autobiography,” of going down to Ramsgate, where he became greatly Interested In the English boatmen, two hundred of whom were entirely dependent on the chance of helping ships in distress off the Goodwin Sands. So poor were they,That it had become with some of them a habit of life to think more of their earnings than of the human beings they saved. One bitterly cold morning, Mr. Hoare met an Old boatman of his acquaintance, and said to him, after passing the greetings of the day: “And how are you getting on?” “Ah,” said the man,“now that they’ve got their lights and buoys and chain cables, there’s nothing left for an honest man to do.” “What do you mean?” “Well, here’s a case. There We were at the south end of. the sands about three o’clock this morning, when up came one of those foreign chaps, and was running as pretty upon the Goodwin Sands as ever you’d wish to see, when, all of a sudden, he saw one of these here nasty staring buoys. Port helm and off!” No one would guess from his tone of disgust that he had spent the best efforts of his life in trying to save from disaster the vessels for which he seemed to court it

Professor Was Absent-Minded.

Prof. Dusel, of Bonn, noticed one day his wife placing a large bouquet on his desk. “What does all that mean?” he asked. “Why, this is the anniversary of your marriage,” replied Mrs. Dusel. “Is that so? Well, let me know when yours comes round and I’ll reciprocate.” Attorney—What was there about the deceased that led you to believe ht was of unsound mind? Witness—Well, for one thing, he abhorred bicycles.— Philadelphia North American. It is perhaps as well that men don’t grow wings before they get to heaven; their wives would use them to trim their hats.

and weighs about 120 pounds, but every pound of him , is either muscle or bone. He is a juggler and handles such small (?) things as cartwheels, axles, tables, etc. His latest act is that of carrying his wife (seated on a chair) on h 1 s chin. While Kins-ner weighs but 120 pounds, his wife weighs 140. With a smile and a wave of her hand Madame Kins - ner places a chair upon

TO VOTE FOR SILVER.

KENTUCKY DEMOCRATS ADOPT THE UNIT RULE. At the State Convention in Lexington White Metal Delegates Rigidly Bind Representatives Sent to Chicago end Instruct for Blackbnrnfor President Kentucky for Silver. Kentucky’s twenty-six votes at the Democratic national convention will be solidly cast for free silver and for Senator Blackburn as the party’s presidential nominee, with “Silver Dick” Bland of Missouri as the probable second choice. These two facts were decided upon in the State convention at Lexington when the white metal delegates thus bound the delegation to Chicago with a unit rule. The silver men were so thoroughly seated in the saddle of favor that they rode rough shod over the administration men. The only concession to the latter was abandonment of the plan to reject the two sound money national delegates chosen from the Fifth or Louisville district. This concession is only upon the surface, however, for the unit rule necessarily disfranchises them of the right to vote according to their convictions. The action taken had been long foreseen by political* prophets. Radical silver men wanted the

SENATOR BLACKBURN.

committee on credentials to Unseat enough, delegates from the Louisville district to give the white metal faction control there, but the adoption of the unit rule rendered this unnecessary. Senator Blackburn, the present idol of Kentucky silver Democrats; P. Wat Hardin, who last November as the party gubernatorial nominee on a white metal platform, led Kentucky Democrats to their first defeat; John S. Rhea, an able stump speaker, and W. T. Ellis, also known as an efficient campaigner, were elected as delegates-at-large, with Robert W. Nelson, J. Morton Rothwell, Theodore F. Hallam and John D. Carroll as alternates. J. P. Tarvin and W. B. Smith were nominated for presidential electors-at-large. They are all earnest advocates of free coinage. Joseph Clay Stiles Blackuurn, candidate of the Kentucky Democracy for the presidency of the United States, is a native son of Kentucky. His father was a breeder of thoroughbreds, but Joseph took to the law. He spent two years in Chicago and returned to the South in 1860. He was an elector on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket, joined the army, went to Arkansas and planted cotton, returned to his home and became a legislator, went to Congress and became a Senator.

FRANCE’S PRIME MINISTER.

Felix Jules Meline Now at the Helm of the French Government. Felix Jules Meline, who has taken the helm of the French Government as prime minister, is one of the strong men in Gallic politics. Every Frenchman is a politician, and Meline is one of the fortunate few who have come to the front Born in Remiremont, he studied law, and was an intense politician at his majority. He was elected a member of the commune, but declined the office. He was

FELIX JULES MELINE.

made a national assemblyman in 1872, and four years later was elected to the chamber. For fifteen years he was almost constantly before the public as deputy or as filling some function under the patronage or necessity of some ministry. He was under secretary of the interior with Grevy, but resigned at one month’s end. Later he was made a member of the tariff commission. In 1883 we find him minister of agriculture. Retiring in 1885 with Ferry’s cabinet, he went back to the chamber, and in 1888 he presided over that body. Since then he has been in the chamber at odd times, and has never been out of the public eye.

TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD.

Huge Bowlder Will Mark the Besting Place of Buffalo Soldiers. Thomas H. McDonnell, president of the Quincy Granite Railroad Company of Massachusetts, has gone to Buffalo to superintend the setting up of a large bowlder. The bowlder is rated as weigh-

BOWLDER WEIGHS FORTY TONS.

ing forty tons, although the workmen who were engaged in moving it 300 yards in order to put it aboard a car say that it must weigh between fifty and sjxty tons. It required fifteen workmen to move it and jack it so as to get it aboard a car, and the purchaser of it is the city of Buffalo. This large bowlder will be set up in the common of the Queen City as a memorial to the unknown soldiers of the City who perished in the civil war.