Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1898 — TO PRESS RUIZ CLAIM. [ARTICLE]

TO PRESS RUIZ CLAIM.

UNITED STATES IS ABOUT TO TAKE ACTION. The Mild Demand of Last Sommer Is to Be Followed by More Vigorous ■Pressure—Explosion of a Rapid-Fire Gan Hurts One Man. The Ruiz Indemnity Claim. Another demand is to he made upon Spain for the payment of $75,000 indem-

nity to the widow of I)r. Itieardo Ruiz for the murder of her husband in a Guanabacoa jail. The State Department is preparing an instruction to Minister Woodford, in which he will be directed to call the attention of Minister of Foreign Affairs Sagasta to the fact that this claim was presented last summer; that it has not yet been paid, or, in fact, has a detailed answer been received to the note addressed to the late Minister (,'anovas. The only reply made has been a formal acknowledgment of the receipt of the claim. Since its presentation the admin, istrution has made no attempt to press the claim, partly on account of the negotiations following the arrival of Minister Woodford in Madrid, which have resulted in the inauguration of autonomy in Cuba, and the carrying out of a humane policy in the prosecution of the war. It is expected by the administration that Spain may take an argumentative course and endeavor to rehut the evidence produced by rhe United States, showing that Ruiz was murdered, by counter evidence that he committed suicide. The department received a letter from Mrs. Ruiz a few days ago, in which sh'e asked to be informed as to the steps taken to procure the payment of her claim. Mrs. Ruiz wrote that she was in needy circumstances, and expressed the hope that the United States would do all it could to obtain the indemnity demanded. The action to tie taken by the department effectually disposes of reports which have lieen jiersistently in circulation for several months alleging that Minister de Lome had pritately settled with Mrs. Ruiz, as was done by his Government in the Delgado case.

RAPID-FIRE GUN BURSTS. One Man Hnrt by Explosion on the Sandy' Hook Ground. After standing a test of seventy-three ivtmds a five-inch rapid-fire DriggsSArotedtr gun hors; at the Government proving grounds at Sandy Hook. Only person was hurt. William H. Murray, a telegraph operator, who was at work in a temporary office some distance away fr-nt where the gun was undergoing the test. His leg was broken. Several pieces of the gca crashed through the roof and sides of the building and either fell to the or pa -s«-tl oa out through the side of the building opposite to that through which they entered. Suicide of a Professor. The body of Prof. Harry Curth was found in the Ohio river at Cincinnati at a point not far from where his clothing was found three days before. Curth left his home one recent night, went to the river, and, after leaving his clothing on the bank, secured a boat, rowed out into midstream and jumped overboard. He was one of the brightest teachers at the University of Cincinnati. Close application to study brought on nervous prostration.

Kansas Prisoners Escape. Charles Robinson, alias "Blaekeye,” who was charged with robbing banks and postolHees in Missouri, and who was recently captured at Port Scott, Kan., liToke jail with George W. Finche, under a life sentence for the murder of Frank Swafford, and six other prisoners. They assaulted the jailer and took his keys and gun. Robinson is accused of robbing banks at Hume and Richards, Mo., and the postofliee at Nevada. Aerial Railway Is Completed. Hugh C. Wallace, at Tacoma, AVash., president of the Chilcoot Railroad and Transportation Company, has advices of the completion of the company's aerial railwny over the Chilcoot Pass to Lake Linderman. This marks a new era for Klondike travel, as the time between tidewater and the headwaters of the Yukon river is shortened from a month to one day, besides removing the peril and hardships. Insurance Rate AVar. St. Louis is soon to see a general rate war among the insurance companies doing business in the city. The Germania, one of the largest and most powerful companies, has decided to withdraw from the St. Louis board of underwriters and to reach out for business on its own hook. Associated with it will be the newly organized International Insurance Company pf New York.

Try to Burn a Town. Firebugs attempted to burn and loot the business part of Plano, fifteen miles north of Dallas, Tex. Half a dozen business houses in ns many blocks were fired almost simultaneously, coal oil being scattered over the buildings. The fires drew a large crowd and the flames were soon extinguished. Tennessee Deadlock Broken. The senatorial deadlock at Nashville, Tenn., ended in the re-election of Senator T. B. Turley, the present incumbent. The vote stood 40 for Turley to 44 for McMillin. Gov. Robert L. Taylor withdrew from the race. Measles at Dayton, Ohio.

There are more than 3,000 cases of measles in Dayton, O. It is feared that ail schools will have to be closed. Forty-fonr Sink in a Raging Sea. It is reported that the mail steamer Channel Queen has been totally wrecked off the Island of Guernsey. The owners of the Channel Queen announced that out of 65 persons on board of her when she struck 44 are known to have been drowned. Locomotive Explodes. The locomotive of a Norfolk and AA'estern train exploded near Welch, AA T . A'a. Fireman Will Jackson, colored, was killed and Engineer O’Leary was so badly injured that he will die. Heirs to a Fortune. A 1 and J. F. Reitz of Great Falls, Mont., have received word that by a decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania they have fallen heir to $1,000,000. The estate belonged to their grandfather, who died at Tamaqua, Pa., in 1847, leaving an estate of sixty acres of coal lands. Barge Carries Four Men Down. The Luckenbach towboat Walter A. Luckenbaeh, which sailed from Newport Kews having in tow the barges Yonkers and Halcyon, bound for Providence, when Barnegat discovered that the Yonkers bad sunk with the four men on