Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1899 — Page 2

pEK COTY DEMOCRAT. | F.' 6. BaBCOCK, Publisher. ■tNSSELAR. INDIANA.

WEEK’S NEWS RECORD

I MOfrfrty persons are known to have lost Btlteir lives along the North Carolina Egbast. and the beach is strewn with ■wi, masts and other wreckage. The say that eleven vessels are ashore I on tile coast between Hatteras and New ■Oliver inlet. | BHarrisoa Hamilton and Ira Cooper, Etwo wealthy ranch owners in Day Counirty, O. 1., to settle a fend repaired to a fwclone eave, and stripping off all clothes, a duel to the death with com Entires. The bodi<-s were found covered E with gashes. H The steamship City of Columbia has Rbeen abandoned at sea. in a water-logged U'Candition, and the crew of thirty-eight I Wien was left in Honolulu. The City of ■ECblumljia sailed from San Francisco for B'Houg Kong with a cargo of scrap iron. No lives were lost. I.Prof. Edward Charles Pickering of the r: Harvard observatory is in .Jamaica seekring a location for the largest telescope in IKthc world, which is being constructed at ■Pantbridge. for observing the new planet ■ybich is due to pass close to the earth months hence. | A firm of Birmingham. England, has kreeeived an order for 14,000.000 Ma User Cartridges for urgent delivery to Smith I Africa. Secrecy is being observed as to the exact destination of the cartridges, tut it is said that the Boers alone use Mauser rilles in that territory. v The chairman of the committee on invitation of the G. A. R. encampment. Which convenes Sept. 4 at Philadelphia, has received President McKinley's acceptance of the invitation to review tlie •parade and attend the banquet Sept. 5 Should nothing prevent his attendance. K At Newtown, Ohio, .Jacob Christman, aged 87, attempted to kill L. D. Drake f and then committed suicide. Christman : fired a shot at Drake, but missed him. ? He then rushed Jiack into his house, from ' Which a pistol-shot was heard, and simultaneously Hames burst out and the house was consumed. | Caspar Bubert, a sculptor known by his works all over the United States, designer of several of the famous groups in the decorations of public buildings at | Washington, was found dead In his •tudio in New York City, from apoplexy. He had been working on the Dewey arch at the time of his death. j- . At Stockton. Cal., Alfred Molina, n col- ; lege student, boxed several rounds with John Musick. There was no knockout ■ and no great damage done on either side. I Shortly after reaching his dressing room Molina lapsed into unconsciousness, dying the next day. Musick has been arI rested and charged with murder. An attempt was made to burn the city building at Delaware, Ohio, valued at $150,000. A man was seen running from the rear and fire was discovered in the hay used for the fire department stock. The horses were nearly suffocated before they could be removed. After two hours the flames were under control. Loss SI,OOO. An unusual scene occurred in the city hall at Kansas City when, at the in- '■ Stigation of the boa id of election commissioners recently appointed by Gov. Stephens, a locksmith smashed ip the door of the vault containing the records of the office and ballot boxes of the city. Former Election Commissioner ,1. H. Harris had refused to Surrender the key of the vault. The standing of the clubs In the National League race is as follows: W. L. W. L. Brooklyn ...70 35 Chicago 5(1 52 Philadelphia 68 41 Pittsburg ...54 55 Boston 66 41 Louisville . . .48 59 Baltimore ..64 41 New Y0rk...46 58 St. Louis. ...60 49 Washington. 36 71 Cincinnati ..58, 49 Cleveland ...18 93 Following is the standing of the clubs in the Western League: W. L. W. L. Indianapolis 65 36 St. Paul 51 55 Minneapolis. 65 41 Milwaukee . .44 57 Grand Hap..s-1 53 Buffalo 44 62 Detroit 52 52 Kansas City. 43 (12

NEWS NUGGETS.

Forty thousand persons are said to have died from famine on the east coast of Africa. Dock laborers on strike at Rouen renewed their rioting and many arrests were made. An English officer claims to have,dissevered the mosquito that spreads malaria. It hails from South Africa. The Khedive of Egypt has decided to take the “cure" at Craefenburg, Silesia, Where he will remain several weeks! Four thousand masons in Havana held • conference at which a strike wag •greed upon. They asked $3.50 a day for ordinary work and $4.50 for special work. The towns of southeastern Alaska have issued- a call for a territorial convention to be'held at .Juneau Oct. 9. The convention will be composed of seventy delegates. . Tile rural guard and a number of Cuban soldiers had a conflict the other night at Cuevitas, a small town near Santiago de Cuba, in which live were killed and ten wounded. Mexican troops under Gen. Torres defeated the Yaquis in three sharp engagements before Viean. Two Mexicans were killed and 22 wounded, while the Yaqui loss was 40 killed. C Llewellyn Stout, who killed Harvey 11. Wurster, a telegraph operator and station agent, on the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, was banged in the jail at Easton, Pa. < The Shanghai Mercury publishes a communication from Pekin to the effect that the Emperor has developed symp- " toms of insanity. ■ Henderson Pierson, living near Davenport, Tex., in a fit of jealous rage shot and killed his wife and her mother. The murderer was arrested by hia neighbors and lodged in jail. The English steamship Nettleton, loaded with coal, from Norfolk, Va., has been wrecked on Marica Island, between Rio and Montevideo. Thft, crew waa saved by the United*Stat»» warship Montgomery.

EASTERN.

Forest fires have been burning near Saranac Lake, N. Y. Upward of 2,000 acres were in flames. Sir Thomas Lipton’s English racing yacht, the Shamrock, has arrived at New York after a quick voyage, and is anchored in the harbor. A serious break occurred in the Erie canal at Syracuse, N. Y- The under part of the partition between the two sections of Lock 49 was washed away. Edward F. Rich of Schenevus, N. Y., was shot and killed by William J. Haugh, his brother-in-law, at Paulsboro, Pa., while visiting his sister, Haugh's wife. Hugh Grosvenor Curran, formerly in business in Denver as the Berlin Cloak Company, filed a petition in bankruptcy in New York. Liabilities $74,352; no assets. While driving with his family through Hblmesburg. a suburb of Philadelphia, Frank Radcliffe was accidentally killed by a bullet tired by Paul Spiel, who was practicing. Mount Lookout breaker at Wyoming, Pa., operated by the Temple Iron and Coal Company, was burned. The origin of the lire is unknown. The loss is about $100,000; insured. Tlie four-masted schooner Augustus Palmer, Captain Haskell, from Newport News io Bangor, Me., went ashore and sank in four fathoms near Thimble light, near Norfolk, Va. Her crew was saved. Elder Jensen of the Mormon Church spoke for two hours on the common of Boston and later declared that it was none of the business of the country or of Congress how many wives a Mormon had. The wedding of Miss Julia Dent Grant of Chicago to Prince Cahtacuzene, it is formally announced, will take place Sept. 25. The nuptials will take place at Newport. Bishop Henry C. Potter will officiate. A head-on collision between two trolley cars occurred on the Norristown, Chestnut Hill and Roxborojigh Railway, in Plymouth township. Pa. Thirty persons were injured, two men and a wornna probably fatally. Armistead Taylor and John Alfred Brown were banged at Rockville, Md. Taylor and Brown robbed and murdered Lauis Rosenstein and his wife, Dora, on the morning of May 13, 1899, at the little town of Slidell. Md. William Robbins, instructor of manual training in the schools of Passaic, N. J., shot and instantly killed his brother, Ralph Robbins, aged 16. while hunting In the Adirondacks. He mistook the red sweater worn by Ralph for a deer. Edwin Gould’s Continental Match plant at Passaic, N. J., valued nt $500,600, closed for good. Over 500 employes, including 300 girls, are thrown out of employment. Some weeks ago Gould sold the plant to the Diamond, Match Company for $1,000.000.

WESTERN.

At St. Louis, Mo., a voluntary petition in bankruptcy was filed by John P. Herrmann, Jr. Liabilities $167,202; assets $32,311. At Columbus, Ohio, Miss Dessie Garrett was struck by a West Broad street car and injured so that she died Within an hour. Sjie was riding a bicycle. At a reunion of the Third Ohio cavalry at Toledo, nrrj* geroents were made for a grand reunion of the Army of the Cumberland, to be held in that city in 1902. At Pierre, S. D., Mrs. Jennie Weston drowned herself and her son Bertie, aged 4 years, in a cistern at the family home. Family troubles are supposed to be the cause of the tragedy. Albert Anderson, aged 21, was instantly killed near Allison, Mo., by Thomas Downing, aged 17. It is understood that a woman whom both admired was the cause of their difficulty. Bichard Prendergast of Chicago, former judge of the County Court, ex-trus-tee of the sanitary district and an eminent member of the bar, died at the Chicago Hospital, of anaemia. The farmhouse of John Marshall, near Fullersburg, ill., was raided by four men, who knocked Mr. Marshall down with a slungshot. bound and gagged him and his daughter, and made off with $6. “Kid” McCoy, aspirant for the heavyweight championship of the world, was knocked out in less than two minutes by Jack McCormack. the Philadelphia heavyweight, at the Star Theater in Chicago. Miss Viola Horlocker, charged with poisoning the wife of her employer at Hastings, Neb., is said to be a patient at Oaklawn Sanitarium, Jacksonville, 111., a private insane asylum, enrolled as Miss Allen. Harry Staiuinger, IT years of age, was instantly killed and Frank Murdoch, also 17 years old. utbytally wounded by Henry Bartholmus, Whose watermelon patch six iniles east of Ouray. Colo., they were raiding. The young son of George Alispauch, a prominent citizen of Toledo, Ohio, disap peared while the parents bad him at Monroe Piers. No trace of the child can be found and it is believed be was abducted. It is announced that representatives of the Burlington. Cedar Rapids ami Northern Railroad will purchase the right of way for an extension of that road from Worthington, Minn., to Canova. S. D., a distance of 125 miles. The record has been cleared to the land relinquished by the State on the Crow Creek Reservation in the eastern part of Hughes County, S. D., and the same is now open to settlement. This opens 18,000 acres in that district. A tire, supposed to be of incendiary origin, destroyed an entire block in the heart of Sidney, Neb. Three business houses, six residences ami as many barns were destroyed, at a loss of not less than $40,000, with no insurance. At Kansas City, contracts were closed for the sale to a syndicate of Eastern commission merchants of seventy car loads of eggs now in store at Topeka, Abilene and Concordia, Kan. The sellers will realize 16 cents a dozen. Six persons were drowned in the White river at Ileimsel ferry, twelve miles southeast of Washington, Ind. A ferryboat broke loose, Jlist as a wagoq was part way upon It, and wagon, horses and occupants were precipitated into the water. „The Newport. Ohio, police authorities are scouring that efty tor some trace of a'mysterious “jack the Slasher.” Foe

no apparent reason, a strange man attacked Mattie Block, a domestic, - and slashed her with a knife, inflicting four ghastly wounds. The explosion of a watchman’s lantern started a fire that destroyed $300,000 worth of property for the Bradley & Vrooman Company, A. B. Ansbacher & Co. and the Standard Varnish Co., all large paint houses, in Chicago. The schooner Hunter Savidge capsized in a squall on Lake Huron when off Point Aux Barques, Mich. Five persons were drowned. The schooner was without cargo and was caught in a squall, which threw her on her side. The boat ha ils from , Alpena. Eliza Day, colored, aged 60 years, a patient at the Columbus, Ohio, State hospital, died from peritonitis, and an autopsy revealed in her stomach the handles of five silver spoons and fifty cambric needles and in the bowels nearly fifty more needles. A head-end collision between Burlington flyer No. 3 and a fast freight occurred at Denton, Neb. Three men, names not learned, were injured, none fatally. The freight engine was broken to pieces, the passenger engine derailed and traffic on the main line blocked. Mrs. Frank Whitlock, who died at her home in Batavia township, Mich., was reputed to be the heaviest woman in the country. Her weight was 640 pounds. Her coffin is forty inches wide and twen-ty-seven inches deep. Mr. Whitlock was formerly a Chicago policeman. By the explosion of an altar lamp at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Toledo the building was destroyed and with it all the altars and statues. The flames were noticui too late to save any of the valuable material within the building. The loss is SIS,CX)O on the building. The general conference of Christian workers closed its seventeenth annual session at Northfield, after what is admitted to be the most successful series, of meetings in the Northfield movement. At the closing service D. L. Moody asked for an offering to help the prison fund. Torn Ryan, a cattleman, was shot and killed by Frank Coil, a young sheepman, fifteen miles southeast of Chadron, Neb. The affair is the result of a feud that has existed between the cattlemen and the sheepmen over priority of right on pasturage land. Coil gave himself up.

In Cincinnati St. Paul’s German Catholic Church was partly destroyed by fire. The parish school adjoining was damaged by falling debris when the dome fell. The church was being remodeled for its golden anniversary. The fire started from the supplies of the frescoers and painters. The three sons of Martin Winkle of Luckey, Ohio, were injured fatally at a lime kiln near Toledo by being caught in the machinery. The youngest, 6 years old, got too close to the machinery and was caught in the shafting. The other boys in attempting to rescue him met with similar fate. A big deal in the transfer of a line of grain elevators was consummated at Winona, Minn. It includes the sale by the National Elevator Company of its line of forty-two elevators along the line of the Great Northern and Milwaukee and St. Paul railways to the Van DusenHarrington Company of Minneapolis. As passenger train No. 1 on the Colorado and Southern was proceeding south between Folsom and Des Moines, Colo., train robbers attempted to hold up the train, but were frustrated. The conductor opened tire on the robbers. The bandits returned the fire and shot the express messenger, Fred Bartlett, through the left side of the face. Diver William Baldwin was killed near Tacoma, Wash., while trying to reach the sunken British ship Andelana, lying at the bottom of the harbor with eighteen of the crew. Death came to the daring submarine explorer when he was 150 feet below the surface of the water. Death was due to some accident to the pumping gear which supplies the air. Lumber deeds to property in St. Louis County, Minn., transferring from the Pillsburys of Minneapolis to Landen Choate of Oshkosh for the sum of $90,000, have been tiled. The property involved is in the northwest corner of St. Louis County, for the most part adjacent to Itasca County. Timber in this section of the county is usually boomed to Canadian mills at Rat Portage by way of Little Fork river and Rainy river. A man who gave his name as Thomas Spotwood, 60 years old. was arrested at Ardmore, I. T., and placed in the United States jail. He is believed to be Theophilus Freeman, wanted at Butler, Mo., where he was sentenced to be hanged otj Dec. 7, 18(19, for murder. A few days before the date of the execution he escaped from the jail. Sheriff Mudd of Bates County, Mo., is positive that the prisoner is Thomas Freeman. The prisoner admits having been in Bates County about that time, but denies that he is the person wanted.

SOUTHERN.

Charles Hurt, a negro, was taken from the Brantley, Ala., jail by a mob of 100 men and shot to death in the woods half a mile away. Three cars on the Chattanooga, Tenn., street railway were derailed on suburban lines by some miscreants who had tampered with the switches at several places. Fortunately nobody was hurt. Fire started at midnight in the warehouse of the R. L. Crooke Company, wholesale grocers at Vicksburg, Miss. The fire spread rapidly, destroying the adjoining warehouses of the P. I’. Williams Company, wholesale grocers, and the Lee Richardson Hardware Company. The estimated loss is $200,900. Three of the boilers in the extensive sawmill of Frank Hitch at Portsmouth, Va., 'exploded simultaneously and wrought awful havoc. Doiiglas Shearer, fireman, colored, wns instantly killed. The skull of Gus Osborn, water tender, was fractured; Preston Williams, engineer, was frightfully scalded, and several others received minor hurts.

FOREIGN.

The chamber of deputies of Belgium, sitting as committee of the whole, adopted the proportional-representation proposal by a vote of 65 to 51. By an explosion of fire damp in the Llest colliery, in Glamorganshire, Wales, eighteen persons were killed and many others placed in great danger. Reports from southwest Russia say that the recent drought in that portion of the country has caused the utter loss of the winter and spring wheat crops. There was a riot in Paris Sunday that

developed into almost a revolution. St. Joseph’s Church was sacked by a crowd of anarchists. Three hundred and eighty persons were injured. Sixty police agents I were wounded. i The man who attempted to murder Maitre Labori, leading counsel for Cap- ' tain Dreyfus, has been arrested at Doi, France: His name is Glorot, he is a na- , tive of the Department of Cotes du Nord . and he has confessed. Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, commanding general of the army, is going to the I Philippines. He will start the latter part lof October. He will act in his capacity | of general of the army and will have a supervision over field operations. Walter Wellman and the survivors of the Polar expedition led by him have arrived at Tromsoe, Norway, having successfully completed their explorations in Franz Josef Land. Mr. Wellman discovered important new lands and many islands. The unsatisfactory rise of the Nile is giving the Government and the people of Egypt grave anxiety. The flood resembles that of 1867, when a large area, being inundated, had to be left fallow, and the Government was obliged to remit £l,060,000 in taxes. A riot occurred in Havana, growing out of an attempt to lynch Juan Villegas. a former lieutenant of police, who had ill treated his wife in the most atrocious manner. A detachment of artillery met the mob and the latter promptly dispersed. United States Minister Russell at Caracas reports to the State Department that the insurgent faction in the state of Los Andes, Venezuela, under Gen. Citriano Castro, was completely defeated by the Government troops in a bloody battle which lasted eighteen hours. Prince Henry of Prussia, who commands the German squadron in the Pacific, will visit San Francisco, according to the Berlin correspondent of the London Daily Mail, on board his flagship after he leaves China. It is possible, according to the same authority, that he will also go to Washington to see President McKinley, who has sent him an invitation.

IN GENERAL.

Arthur Brass, of Brookville, N. 8., Was drowned in Kennebacasis river while boating. While bathing at Loch Lomond Lake, near St. John, N. 8., Melvin Stackhouse, aged 19, was drowned. The steamer Cutch arrived at Vancouver, B. C., with 103 Klondikers. Purser Turner reports $400,000 of treasure on board. The Labrador mail steamer reports that the Peary expedition steamer Diana passed Domino Run, northern Labrador. All on board were well. An order has been issued at Washington directing that ten additional regiments of infantry volunteers be organized for service in the Philippines. The first arrest of Dominican filibusters was made by American officers at Baracoa, on the northern coast of the eastern extremity of the Island of Cuba. Captain Dillon of the steamer Socoa states that the town of Red Bay, on the island of Andros, twenty iniles southwest of Nassau, Fla., was swept away in the recent tropical hurricane and about 300 lives lost. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., for some years in the drafting room of the rolling stock department of the New York Central road, is the inventor of a locomotive every part of which was made from designs furnished by him. The first legal execution in the Klondike took place at Dawson. The victims hanged were two Indians—Dawson Nantuck and Jim Nantuck—and one white man, Edward Henderson. Henderson had murdered his partner, named Peterson. and the Indians had killed William Mahan. R. Gl Dun & Co.’s weekly review of trade says: “The Cramps have discharged many hundred hands and ask Russia to extend time for completion of two warships because they cannot get the steel. Completion of twenty-one out of thirty-seven vessels building in the Delaware is also affected. It is a curious experience for this country, but shows the gigantic expansion of home demand. For wool Coates’ circular for Aug. 1 still holds good, although inside quotations are more often made. Sales for three weeks have been 28,399,990 pounds, against 13,996,500 last year, 38,530,305 in 1897 and 23,365,400 in the same weeks of 1892. Failures for the week have been: In the United States 156, against 154 last year, and in Canada 24, against 17 last year.”

MARKET REPORTS.

Ghicago—Cattle, common to prime, $3.00 to $6.75; hogs, shipping grades, $3.00 to $5.00; sheep, fair to choice, $3.00 to $4.75; wheat. No. 2 red, 71c to 72c; corn. No. 2,31 cto 32c; oats, No. 2,19 c to 21c; -rye, - No. 2. 53c to 55c; butter, choice creamery, 19c to 21c; eggs, fresh, 12c to 13c; potatoes, choice, 25c to 30c per bushel. Indianapolis—Cattle, shipping, $3.00 to $6.00; hogs, choice light, $2.75 to $5.00; -sheep, common to prime, $3.25 to $4.50; wheat, No. 2 red, 68c to 70c; corn, No. 2 white, 32c to 34c; oats, No. 2 white, 23c to 24c. St. Louis —Cattle, $3.50 to $6.50; hogs, $3.00 to $5.00; sheep, $3.00 to $4.25; wheat, No. 2,72 cto 74c; corn, No. 2 yellow, 31c to 33c; oats. No. 2,21 cto 22c; rye. No. 2,54 cto 56c. Cincinnati—Cattle, $2.50 to $6.00; hogs, $3.00 to $5.00; sheep, $2.50 to $4.25; wheat, No. 2,70 cto • 72c; corn. No, 2 mixed, 32c to 34c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 21c to 23c; rye, No. 2,56 cto 58c. Detroit—Cattle, $2.50 to $6.00; hogs, $3.00 to $5.00; sheep, $2.50 to $4.50; wheat, No. 2,72 cto 74c; com, No. 2 yellow, 33c to 34c; oats, No. 2 white, 23c to 24c; rye. 56c to 57c. Toledo—Wheat, No. 2 mixed, 71c to 73c; corn, No. 2 mixed, 33c to 34c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 20c to 22c; rye, No. 2,55 c to 56c; clover seed, new, $3.95 to $4.05. Milwaukee —Wheat, No. 2 spring, 71c to 73c; corn. No. 3,32 cto 33c; oats. No. 2 white, 22c to 24c; rye, No.l, 53c to 55c; barley, No. 2,41 cto 43c; pork, mess, SB.OO to $8.50. Buffalo —Cattle, good shipping steers, $3.00 to $6.25; hogs, common to choice, $3.25 to $5.25; sheep, fair to choice wethers, $3.50 to $4.50; lambs, common to extra. $4.50 to $6.75. New York—Cattle, $3.25 to $6.25; hogs, $3.00 to $5.50; sheep, $3.00 to $4.50; wheat, No. 2 red, 77c to 79c; com, No. 2, 40c to 42c; oats, No. 2 white, 28c to 28a; butter, creamery, 17c to 22c; eggs, Wedern, 12c to 16c.

BOER WAR IMMINENT.

BRITISH OFFICIALS BELIEVE A CONFLICT AT HAND. Kruger's Answer Taken aa a Defiance of England—Counter Proposal from Transvaal Will Be Ignored—Backdown of Afrikanders Only Way OuL The action of President Kruger of the Transvaal in refusing to accept the court of inquiry proposed by Secretary Chamberlain has caused officials of the Colonial Department to believe that war with the Boers is now inevitable. London advices say that just what Oom Paul’s reply to Mr. Chamberlain contained in the way of rejecting his plan for settling the . dispute is not known, as the colonial office is noncommittal, but it has been admitted, however, that in place of accepting the suggested court of inquiry, Kruger submitted a number of new proposals, that are taken to mean an open defiance to England. The British officials, however, would far rather have received a curt, defiant reply from the Boers than the temporizing and “soft word” answer, which it is feared will require considerable explanation to justify any aggressive action in the eyes of the world and English minority, which still declares that war would be an outrage. It has developed that the war office has been aware of the nature of the Transvaal’s reply for several days, hence it is believed that Great Britain will de lay the denoument as little as possible, and if Mr. Chamberlain has his way the counter proposals of President Kruger will meet with scant attention, thus forcing the Boers into a position where the only way to avoid war will be by a complete back-down, w-hich is not at all probable. All England is talking war. Even the man in the street who knows nothing of what is going on behind the scenes is confident that an appeal to arms is now the only solution left for the Transvaal problem, which has reached an ugly stage. That the Boers will yield aJI is not believed, and this idea is strengthened by tlie feverish preparations which both sides have been making for hostilities within the last month. The Transvaal dispute has been tanging fire for fifty years, and now that it bids fair to comb to a crisis where it must be settled for all time the government seems annoyed a,t tho apparent indifference of the public in the question. Throughout the Orange Free State and Cape Colony Sunday was observed with prayer and humiliation by the populace advocating a peaceful settlement of the Transvaal dispute. A dispatch from Pretoria says: "President Kruger, while personally conducting a public church service, prayed that if war was unavoidable God might find right and truth on the side of the Afrikanders.”

DEMOCRATS TO ACT EARLY.

May Hold National Convention in February or March, 1900. The next Democratic convention may be held as early as February and not later than March, 1900. A Chicago dispatch says that sentiment among party leaders has been crystallizing in favor of an early convention, and it may find expression -at a meeting of the national committee, which will be held in Washington very soon after Congress convenes in December. Ex-Governor Stone of 'Missouri, as acting chairman of the committee and probable manager of the campaign of 1900, is the originator of the plan for holding the convention in February or March. The underlying motive for holding an early convention is to enable the men who will have to shoulder the responsibility of conducting next year’s battle, to raise money. By holding the conclave in February or March, nominating Mr. Bryan for President, selecting a running mule for him and adopting a platform, ex-Governor Stone is convinced that the intervening time until September, when the actual campaign will be begun, can be profitably employed raising a fund big enough to enable the national commitee to make a handsome showing. Mr. Bryan, it is understood, favors the plan. Mr. Bryan is regarded as the nominee now. The choice of his running mate will be largely a matter of expediency.

CITY RUINED BY FIRE.

Flames Destroy the Business Portion of Victor, Col. Fire has destroyed the business portion of the city of Victor, Colo., causing a loss estimated at $2,506,000. Beginning shortly after noon Monday the tire raged until evening, consuming everything in its way. it lin.il its origin, it is thought, in the Merchants’ case, adjoining the Bank of Victor, 3d street and Victor avenue. A strong wind from the south fanned the flames, and in a few minutes all the surrounding houses were afire. Help was summoned from Cripple Creek, but the town had been built in the early days of the camp, and was of pine timber, for the most part, and burned like paper. Efforts were made to stop the progress of the flames by blowing up buildings in their path, and all afternoon the hills have roared with the explosions, but the effort was in vain. The scenes of the great Cripple Creek fire were duplicated. Hurrying before the roaring flames went men, women and children, carrying what they could snatch from the tire, racing for their lives. -The crash of buildings torn asunder by dynamite and the crackle of the flames as they consumed the dry timbers hastened their flight, and the pall of smoke added a terror to the spectacle. The residence portion of the city has suffered little, but the business part is paralyzed, and suffering is bound to follow. i The fire claimed the Bank of Victor,, the poetoffice, on the corner opposite, crossed 3d street and followed the row of blocks between 3d and 4th streets to the north, taking the Victor Banking Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company's office, the office of the Colorado Telephone Company, the Hotel Victor, .on the opposite side of 4th street, and the three great shaft houses of the Gold Coin Mining Company, and its ore bins, among the largest in the Cripple Creek district.

Patronise those who advertise.

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

The following detailed tabulation of the Senate complexion at the present writing, and as it will be when Congress next convenes (barring deaths), will be worth preserving for future reference: Repnb- Demo- I’opu- Sil- IndeStsrte. Ilcau. crat. list. ver. pndt. Alabama 2 Arkansas .... 2 •California.. 1 Colorado... 1 .. .. 1 Connecticut. 2 •Delaware.. .. 1 Florida ....... 2 Georgia 2 Idaho 1 .. 1 Ilinols 2 Indiana .... 2 lowa 2 Kansas .... 1 .. 1 Kentucky .. 1 1 Louisiana .... 2 .. .. .« Maine 2 .. .. .. Maryland ..2 .. .. .. . Massa’etts .2 .... .. .. Michigan ..2 Minnesota .2 Mississippi ... 2 Missouri 2 Montana ... 1 1 Nebraska .. 2 Nevada .. ... 1 1 N.H’mpshire 2 New Jersey. 2 New York.. 2 N. Carolina. 1 .. 1 N. Dakota .2 Ohio ....... 2 Oregon ....2 .. .. .. .. •Peunsyl’a .1 R. Island... 2 S. Carolina ... 2 S. Dakota.. ~ .. .. .. 2 Tennessee ... 2 Texas 2 'Utah ' 1 Vermont ... 2 Virginia 2 Washington. 1 1 .. .. W. Virginia. 2 .. .. .. . t Wisconsin .2 .. .. .. Wyoming ..2 ... .. .’ Totals .. ’sl 27 3 3 RECAPITULATION. Republicans ......51 Independents Democrats 27 Vacancies ......... i Populists 3 - Silver 2 Total 9( Sitting members..B6 Republicans 5 Republicans ......51j Combined oppoeiDemocrats 271 tlon 3“ —i Republican majorlRepublican maj’ty.24| ty over all 14 •Vacancies by reason of failure of legislatures to elect. s The monthly statement of the Government receipts and expenditures shows total receipts during July of $48,054,258, as against $43,847,108 for July, 1898. The expenditures during last month were $56,561,090, as against $74,263,475 for July, 1898. The receipts last month from customs were $16,971,454; internal revenue, $28,322,574; miscellaneous, $2,760,229. This is an increase as compared with July, 1898, of about from customs, $2,200,000 from internal revenue, and about $254,000 from miscellaneous sources. The expenditures on account of the War Department last month were $19,291,080, against $34,774,153 for July, 1898, and for the navy, $5,090,245 against $8,514,279 for July, 1898. The monthly statement of the comp troller of the currency shows that at tht close of business July 31 the total circu lation of national bank notes was s24lp 541,878, an increase for the month o: $273,192 and for the year of $18,845,008 The circulation based on United Statei bonds amounted to $205,768,304, an in crease for the month of $504,210 an? for the year of $10,075,619. The circu lation secured by lawful money aggre gated $35,773,574, a decrease for th« month of $224,828, but an increase fa the year of $4,769,389. The amount a United States registered bonds on de posit to secure circulating notes was $230,464,110, and to secure public deposits $69,849,940.

Lack of target practice among thr troops in Cuba, which lessens the effl ciency of the army, is to be remedied Books for preserving the records of th various commands and individuals if small arms practice are being distribut ed by the officers of the Department o Havana. Under the present system o training a soldier must first be able t tell how many steps are necessary in gu ing from 200 to 1,000 yards, and he mus be able to judge with his eye within per cent of the exact distance of an oh ject within those limits before being per mitted to fire a ball from his rifle. Whe: able to do this a soldier is then drilled ii firing nt what are called lying, kneeliw and standing figures at distances varying from 200 to 1,000 yards. He is trainee in firing not only at moving objects, bul while he himself is walking or running Company volley firing is also a part at the drill.

United States Treasurer Roberts, in his official compilations, will not make a separate account of the new gold certificates issued under the recent order of Secretary Gage, but will simply add new issues to the amount of certificates previously outstanding. The total gold certificates outstanding July 31, which is the last official statement given to the public by the department, was $34,251,520. The count of new certificates will therefore be from that as a base line. According to the report referred to this $34,000,000 in gold certificates includes $4,476,860 in denominations of S2O, $2,533,250 in denominations of SSO, $3,473,900 in denominations of SIOO, $3,277,500 in denominations of SSOO, $5,361,000 in denominations of SI,OOO, $4,770,000 in denominations of $5,0(10 and $10,360,000 in denominations of SIO,OOO. Treasurer Roberts reports that the banks are not making as heavy demands as was anticipated for “to order” certificates of $5,000 and $lO,000, but he supposes this is because they do not care to be in the early rush. The Petersburg National Battlefield Park, for which Congress will be asked to make an appropriation, is to be located in front of Petersburg, in Prince. George County, Va. It will be three miles long and a mile and a half wide, and will cover 3,040 acres, extending from the Appomattox river on the north to the Jerusalem plank road on the south and west. It will be bounded on the east by the original Confederate works, and on the west by the last Confederate works. The park is to contain a great many of the original fortifications.