Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1900 — Page 6

JASPER COUNTY DEMOCRAT. F E. BABCOCK, Publisher. RiNSSELAER, INDIANA.

WEEK’S NEWS RECORD

Thomas McDermott, brother of Mexine Elliott, the actress, wife'of Nat Goodwin, committed suicide nt San Francisco. 2 Engineer Frank Shaw and Fireman Harry Wetzel were killed in n local train wreck on the Southern Pacific road at Oakland, Cal. Two cars on the Genesee street line in Buffalo, N. Y., jumped the track as they were approaching a bridge across Seajaduagada creek. They both entered adjacent fields, the first car being overturned. Two persons were mortally and several seriously injured. Three big fires in Chicago caused a total loss of $148,000. The M. Schultz organ factory, Wagner & Keil's planing mill and the Jackson apartment building divided the losses. lathe Jackson apartment building there were many narrow escapes from death. Reeves Brothers' boiler works at Alliance, Ohio, were totally destroyed by tire. Ix>ss on building, machinery and stock, $144,000. with $40,500 insurance. The origin of the tire is unknown. A large number of men are thrown out of work. The plant will be rebuilt. It is officially announced in London that Col. Bethune, while marching in the direction of Newcastle, Natal, was ambushed by a party of Boers six miles west of Vryheid. in the Transvaal, and that very few of his force escaped. His casualties numbered sixty-six men. Judge Ryan of the Madison County, Indiana, Superior Court upheld the weekly pay law in mandate cases to compel the American Plate Glass Company of Alexandria, the American Tin Plate factory and the Wright shovel works of Anderson to pay employes weekly. The four little children of Thomas Brady, a well-known farmer, residing about- ten miles from Nashville. Tenn., were burned to a crisp. The parents, who had gone to church, arrived home in time to get a last look at their children, but were powerless to render aid. There will be no home at Mattoon, 111., or elsewhere for aged and disabled engineers. The brotherhood after an all-day session at Milwaukee on the proposition to establish on the farm near Mattoon owned by the brotherhood a home for aged and Infirm engineers decided to sell the property. Calvin Kimblern, n negto murderer, was lynched by a mob of 1,500 citizens who took him from n train in the outskirts of Pueblo. Colo. The sheriff’s officers and the city authorities were helpless. Kimblern had killed two little girls at the Fries’ “Orphans’ ” home in that city in an atrocious manner. The body of a young woman was discovered in Pigeon creek, near Evansville, Ind. The head was badly crushed, and around the neck was a rope, to which was attached a heavy stone. The body was nearly nude except a shirt waist and black corset. She had been handsome, about 20 years old, but the face was so badly bruised that identification is almost Impossible. An accidental shooting in which nine persons were hurt painfully and several more injured slightly took place near the close of a performance given by the Buckskin Bill Wild West company in Terre Haute. The accident was caused by the accidental discharge of a Winchester shotgun in the hands of Elmer Mendenhall, one of the performers, who was engaged in fancy shooting. The standing of the chibs in the National League is as follows: * W. L. W. L. Philadelphia 17 8 Pittsburg ...15 13 Brooklyn ...16 10 Cincinnati ...12 13 Chicago ....10 12 New York... 8 17 St. L0ui5....14 12 Boston 0 17 In the American League the standing are: W. L. W. L. Indianapolis 17 7 Minneapolis. 13 10 Milwaukee ..10 10 Kansas City.l3 10 Chicago ....15 13 Buffalo 10 15 Cleveland ...13 12 Detroit 9 17

BREVITIES.

Recent cold weather almost entirely destroyed the Moaelle vintage. Distillers in conference at Cincinnati decided to eut down production for the present. John Hauer & Co.'a cigar leaf tobncco house in Cincinnati was destroyed by tire. Loan Fully 100 |>eraous have been exposed to smallpox which has broken out at North Springfield, Pa. Transatlantic travel has dropped off and second-cabin rates may Im> reduced to the winter figures. The Queen's birthday honor list includes none of the war heroes nnd confers only three iteerages. Samuel A. Elliott of Cambridge, Mass., was elected president of the American Unitarian Association at Boston. CT “Terrapin Tom" Murrey, once manager of the House of Representatives restaurant, committed suicide in New York. The President has .appointed John C. Freeman of Wisconsin to l>e United States consul at Copenhagen, Denmark. United State* sent a peremptory note verging on an ultimatum to the Sultan demanding a prompt settlement of the indemnity claims. The German reichstng, voting by roll call, adopted the meat bill by 103 to 123 votes. The measure prohibits the im|>ortation of canned or sausage meat and places other restrictions on American packers. Ambassador White made a clever speech in receiving the New York veterans of the Franco-Prussian war at Berlin. L At Hood River, Ore., Mias Ida Foss, a school teacher, aged 25 years, was shot and instantly killed by her lover, Benjamin Wagnits, in a fit of anger nnd jealTbe old Globe or Gardner mill, belonging to the Tytna-Gardncr Paper Company, was destroyed by fire at Middletown. Ohio. There was an explosion of chemicals, but the firemen escaped injury. The low io estimated at *IOO,OOO.

EASTERN.

The borough of Richmond threatens to secede from Greater New York. The nctors’ fund has decided to establish an actors’ home in New York City. Fire damaged the Mesta Machine Company’s plant at Homestead, Pa., to the extent of $50,000. Gardiner 8. Williams, emeritus professor in Cornell University, is dead at Ithaca, N. Y., aged 72. Chicagoans to the number of 280 are in a-party of Scandinavians which just sailed from New York City. William Waldorf Astor’s $2,000,000 assessment for 1890 has been confirmed by the New York tax commissioners. C. C. Augur of Evanston, Hi., and P, K. Hoy of Nutley. N. J., students nt Princeton, were drowned in Millstone creek. .1 The building trades’ strike at Philadelphia has been settled through the falling out of the Allied Trades* Council and the Carpenters and Joiners. Mary Martin, an Irish girl, lately employed at the Hotel Pleasant at Worcester, Mass., confesses to have started ten fires. It is believed that she is suffering from fire mania. Francis Truth, a divine healer, was indicted by the United States grand jury at Boston, Mass., on seven bills aggregating twenty counts for alleged fraudulent use of the mails. Prof. Roy Wilson White, an instructor of law in the University of Pennsylvania, was beaten to death on the street in West Philadelphia. Three suspected negroes are under arrest. A train on the Pennsylvania road ran into several gravel cars on a bridge near the station at Mount Holly, N. J., owing to defective brakes. A number of passengers received injuries. Another man leaped from the Brooklyn bridge in New York He was August A. Pless, 25 years old. Pless lived with his mother, who has a candy store. He had been jilted by his sweetheart. In Philadelphia Mrs. Lizzie Blakely drowned her 2-year-old daughter Marie in a bathtub, and afterwards attempted to drown herself. She was dragged out, with the child dead in her arms, by a policeman. The Diamond Breaker, owned by the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company at Wilkesbarre, Pa., was destroyed by fire. The loss is about S3O,(XX). It U supposed the fire was accidentally started by tramps. Because the life line ou her hand was broken before it reached the base of the thumb and the reading of the cards foretold a violent death, Mrs. Jennie Patrlquiu committed suicide at her home in Chelsea, Mass. Fire destroyed the Grand Army Home for Soldiers’ Widows at Hawkins Station, near Pittsburg. The forty inmates, ranging in age from 50 to 95 years, es l caped without injury. Loss $20,000; cause of fire unknown.

WESTERN.

Fire at Hot Springs, Ark., destroyed the' Rogers block, causing a loss of $15,000. Bubonic plague is said to have reached San Francisco, causing six deaths already. A blow in a friendly sparring contest killed William Stowe, aged 17, at Batesville, Ind. Three suburban trolley lines at Cleveland, Ohio have consolidated with $2,000.000 capital. Republicans nominated W. E. Stanley for Governor of Kansas and Joseph Flory for Governor of Missouri. A stranger who refused to give his name was shot fatally while trying to break into the Warren, Ohio, postoffice. While a fire at the Addison mill, in Tacoma, Wash., was in progress a stairway which was crowded with people fell. Nine persons were injured. William I’nlchou, aged 102 years, died at Findlay, Ohio. He probably was the oldest man in northwestern Ohio, and last summer chopped wood for weeks. The Sauntry mine at Virginia, Minn., has shut down. The mine is one of the new developed open pit properties of the American Steel and Wire Company. . E. C. Morrison shot and killed his brother, M. B. Morrison, at their home, two miles oast of Edmonds, Wash. The trouble grew out of a game of cards. The street ear strike at Dayton, Ohio, has been settled and declared off. 'The cars are running on schedule time. The settlement was made by concessions from both side's. A-desperate battle between four farmers and cattlemen is reported from near Eldorado, Okla., in which the two farmers were killed and the two cattlemen badly wounded. Fierce rioting has prevailed in St. Louis. One man was shot dead in his awn door by a bullet tired by a motorman. Many were wounded in conflicts between the police and strike sympathizers. Two meu were killed and seven injured. three fatally, by the explosion of the boiler of the locomotive attached to southbound passenger train No. 21 on the Illinois Central Railroad at Dubois. 111. Negotiations for the sale of the Rawhide mine, the once famous gold producer of Tuolumne County, California, to an English syndicate have been practically completed. The price named is $850,000. Two Yosemite valley stages were held up at Big Oak flat, near Stockton, Cal., by a lone highwayman. One stage was going into and the other was coming from the park. The rubber secured about S3OO. Samuel Wyatt, a young English evangelist of good family, who is missing in Chicago, leaves queer letters indicating thut he has committed suicide and making wild charges /(gainst prominent men in England. Alois Standemyer, a ranchman, was murdered and his body left lying on the plains ten miles from Harrison, Neb. He was a cattleman and had gone out to look after bis stock. There is no clew to his slayers. Two hundred University of Nebraska students went on a rampage the other niglft at Lincoln, and in a collision with the police assaulted Chief Hoagland and Officer Harr, beating the latter and breaking his leg. < In the presence of clerks and guests of the Coates Hotel In Kansas City, Mo., a lone robber seised a strong box containing $1,500 in jewels and money, held

all at bay with a revolver,, mounted a horse and escaped. Representatives of English wheat buyers are contracting with some of the big Kansas' wheat growers for their entire crop of wheat at 50 cents per bushel. The wheat is to be exported via the Gulf of Mexico to Liverpool. In the District Court at Guthrie, Okla., John McGovern bus filed a suit for a divorce upon the ground that his wife cannot make good coffee. The beverage has not improved any in five years, he alleges, and he cannot stand it any longer. Fire broke out iit the business portion of Grand Meadow, Minn., and 6ne side of the main street was entirely consumed. The loss is estimated at $50,000, with insurance at about one-third that amount. The fire started in a saloon. The origin is, unknown. A new theater designed especially for •the Castle Square opera company fs projected for St. Louis. Under present plans it will be completed for the winter season. It is to be situated at Tenth and Olive streets, near the Century Theater, and will seat 3,500 persons. The African Methodist Episcopal Church conference at Columbus, Ohio, elected live new‘bishops. They are: L. J. Coppen, Philadelphia; M. M. Moore, Washington, D. C.t C. T. Shafter, I’hiladelphia; D. 8. Smith, Nashville, Tenn.; Evans Tyree, Nashville, Tenn. .2 At Portsmouth, Ohio, Stephen Masters, a sawmill operator, was shot and killed by his nephew, Frank Jenkins, when Jenkins had called to settle the affairs of a former partnership. The shooting occurred in the presence of Mrs. Masters. Jenkins surrendered to the sheriff. About 425 linemen employed by the Cleveland (Bell) Telephone Company in that city struck for an eight-hour day without a reduction in wages. The men now receive $2.50 anil work ten hours. The company offered to compromise on nine hours, but this was rejected. Mrs. Annie Smith, 2554 Wabash avenue, Chicago, died at Mercy hospital from burns received while pouring kerosene oil into the kitchen stove. Leo Leahy was badly injured while attempting to extinguish the flames which enveloped her and Edward Leahy’s face was slightly scorched. At St. Louis Judge Elmer B. Adams of the United States District Court issued a temporary writ of injunction restraining strike leaders and all other persons from interfering in auy manner with the running of mail cars over the street car lines of the city. The injunction was asked for by the postal authorities. A young Indian, Tuey, shot and killed his grandmother and fatally wounded his wife near Rolla, N. D. The murderer escaped to Manitoba. He is only 16 years old and was married recently against the 'wishes of his grandmother. All the parties are full-blooded Indians on the Turtle Mountain reservation. Fire caused by lightning destroyed a tank containing 30,000 barrels of oil at the Cramer pumping station of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company aT Findlqy, O. One hundred other tanks of like capacity were saved by firing cannon balls into burning tanks and letting oil escape into the river. The loss will be $50,000. Gov. R. B. Smith of itontana, who had just returned from California, announces tha-t he had decided to disregard Lieut. Gov. Spriggs’ appointment of Senator Clark to the vacancy created by that gentleman’s resignation, and that he has himself appointed Maj. Martin Maginnis of Helena to the vacancy. Maj. Maginnis wired his acceptance. ——= One of the most disastrous fifes for years occurred ou Broadway, at Wellston, Ohio. The original opera house and city hall building, Schuss’s large grocery, Bingham’s saddlery and Dr. Darling's office were burned down. The fire was of incendiary nature and makes the seventh within a week. The loss, which was $50,000, is covered by insurance. At Paulding, Ohio, Simon W. Cramer, ex-Representative of the State, accidentally shot and killed his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Cramer were attempting to dislodge a rat from a pile of debris. Mrs. Cramer was on the opposite side of a woodshed from her husband, who held in his hand a loaded shotgun. He thought he saw the rat and fired, striking Mrs. Cramer full in the face.

SOUTHERN.

Henry Huffmaker died at Knoxville, Tenn., at the age of 105, leaving a widow aged 93. Henry D. Allen, Congressman from the Henderson, Ky., district, has been declared Democratic nominee without the formality of a convention. Fire destroyed the central portion of Bt. Mary’s College at Belmont, N. C. The college is owned and conducted by the Catholic Church. The loss is estimated at *200,000. John Mooney and Frank Friday, the latter a desperado, thought to be wanted in Chicago, where he formerly lived, were sentenced at Wheeling, W. Va., to be hanged July 13 for having killed James Hervey. A bloody fight occurred at Manchester, Ky. Felix Davidson, a deputy sheriff, started out to arrest Millard Philpot, who had been discharging a revolver promiscuously around the streets. When he attempted to arrest Philpot, the latter turned his pistol on the deputy and fatally shot him. In a little cottage at Memphis, Tenn., Mrs. Lily Vadnkin and Henry Reichmau were found dead in bed. From the positions of the bodies and the condition of the room, the man nnd woman had evidently been murdered in their sleep. The woman’s husband has been arrested, charged with the crime. As the result of an old grudge, H. 8. Devoid, a Guthrie, Ky., jeweler, and J. Frank Hutchinson, editor of the Guthrie Graphic, had a shooting affray, during which Devoid shot Hutchinson twice through the lungs and once in the arm. Virgil Marshall, a witness to the fight, was accidentally shot audFlmny wvunded. Encouraged by the “discovery” by his daughter, while in a franco, of a rich gold mine in Colorado, William Ballough, a well driver at Daytona, Fla., has sold off all bis property nnd departed with his family for that State. He wrote to Colorado for n description <*f the place she had described, and the reply tallied with her description. , A bad wreck occurred near Gordonsvillc, Tenn., when a fast train on the Nashville and Knoxville collided with a construction train on Lick’s ’Trestle. Four men were seriously Injured. The

passenger train had the right of way, and, rounding a curve to the trestle, crashed into the construction train. Neither engineer knew of the approach of the other. The engine, mail and express cars telescoped. A number of passengers sustained injuries of a serious character.

FOREIGN.

The boiler of a torped< boat exploded at St. Petersburg, killing six persons. Rioters in Aberdeen broke up two peace meetings which Cronwrigbt Schreiner was to address. Two Chinese murderers of Missionary Brooks have paid the death penalty by proxy, having hired substitutes. Buddhists of Japan have contributed 500,000 yen for the reception of Buddha’s bqnes, which are to be sent from Siam to Tokyo. British troops are announced to have arrived at Mafeking and compelled the Boers to raise the siege. London is wild with joy. It has been officially announced in London that Hutton’s mounted infantry surprised and captured Commandant Botha and twenty-three others thirty miles northwest of Kroonstad. The strike disturbances In Berlin were mostly confined to the Roseyholerthor district. Two policemen were severely injured and two workmen have died from wounds inflicted with sabers. Fifty others were injured and 103 arrests were made. News has been received of a victory by the Colombian Government troops over the insurgents In a battle in the Vetaa district, which lasted seventy hours. Gens. Leal and Herrera were among the killed, who are said to have been very numerous, the slaughter being described as “horribltT’butehery.” The anti-forelgn movement in China, headed by the “Boxers,’’ has attained alarming proportions. There has been a serious anti-Christian outbreak near Pao-Ting-Fu, province of Pe-Chi-Li. Seventy-three native Christians were murdered, including women and children. Many were buined alive.

IN GENERAL.

America’s corn kitchen at the Paris exposition has been formally opened. Examination of the books of the San Juan, Porto Rico, post office reveal no shortage. Commissioner Peck flatly denies the story that the United States pavilion in Paris is flimsy and unsafe. Populist leaders have contributed to a fund to perpetuate a memorial to Thomas Paine, the revolutionary hero. Fire at St. Catharines, Ont., destroyed the plants of the Canada Cycle and Motor Company and the Welland Vale Company, with loss of $500,000. At the City of Mexico an earthquake had three distinct shocks of forty, twenty and fifteen seconds each. No serious damage was done except eracked walls. Admiral Dewey has decided that he is not in the presidential race this year at least. The heartiness of the reception accorded to him in the South did not deceive him about his chances for getting a nomination at the Democratic convention. A deal is pending in the City of Mexico for the transfer from capitalists in Monterey of the steel plant there to the Wellman-Seaver Engineering Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The capital authorized for the Monterey company is $lO,t MX),000. Reports from outlying States show that the recent earthquake in Mexico, which was mild in the capital, was severe on the Pacific coast. The second shock was followed by a tidal wave many feet high, enveloping every coast town of Colima and Jalisco. At Penitas and Zapotillo fishing boats were swamped and several natives drowned. Bradstreet’s views the industrial situation thus: “Continued dullness in many branches and a further shading in several staple lines constitute the leading features in the business situation this week. The weakness of prices is displayed In lower quotations for corn, pork, butter, cheese, wool and cotton among the great agricultural products, and petroleum and lead among mineral productions. Wheat is slightly higher, partly owing to less favorable crop reports here and abroad. Wheat, including flour, shipments for the week aggregate 5,178,422 bushels, against 3,480,574 bushels last week. Corn exports for the week aggregate 3,437,994 bushels, against 4,638,140 bushels last week.”

MARKET REPORTS.

Chicago—Cattle, common to prime, *3.00 to *5.75; hogs, shipping grades, *3.00 to *5.50; sheep, fair to choice, *3.00 to *5.75; wheat. No. 2 red, 65c to 06c; corn, No. 2,36 cto 37e; oats, No. 2,21 c to 23c; rye, No. 2,54 cto 56c; butter, choice creamery, 19c to 20c; eggs, fresh, 10c to 12c; new potatoes, *2.50 to *3.25 tier barrel. Indianapolis—Cattle,''shipping, *3.00 to *5.75; hogs, choice light, *3.00 to *5.50; sheep, common to prime, *3.00 to *5.00; wheat. No. 2,70 c to'72c; corn, No. 2 white, 39c to 41c; oats, No. 2 white, 26c to 28c. Bt. Louis—Cattle, *3.25 to *5.75; hogs, *3.00 to *5.50; sheep, *3.00 to *5.50; wheat, No. 2,70 cto 72c; corn. No. 2 yellow, 36c to 38c; oats, No. 2,23 cto 25c; rye, No. 2,55 cto 57c. Cincinnati—Cattle, *2.50 to *5.75; hogs, *3.00 to *5.50; sheep. *2.50 to *4.75; wheat, No. 2,72 cto 74c; corn. No. 2 mixcdi 41c to 42c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 25c to 26c; rye, No. 2,60 cto 62c. Detroit—Cattle, *2.50 to *5.75; hogs, *3.00 to *5.75; sheep, *3.00 to *5.00: wheat. No. 2,72 cto 74c; corn. No. 2 yellow, 39c to 41c; oats. No. 2 white, 27c to 20c; rye. 00c to (J2c. Toledo—Wheat, No. 2 mixed, 74c to 70c; f° rn > No. 2 mixed, 30c to 41c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 28c to 25c; rye. No. 2,56 c to 58c; clover seed, new, *4.95 to *5.05. Milwaukee—Wheat, No. 2 northern, 66c to 67c; corn, No. 3,39 cto 41c; oats, No. 2 white, 25c to 27c; rye, No. 2,56 c to 58c; barley. No. 2,41 cto 43c; pork, mess. *11.75 to *12.25. Buffalo—Cattle, choice shipping steers. *3.00 to *5.75; bogs, fair to prime. *3.00 to *5.25; sheep, fair to choice, *3.00 to *5.50; lambs, common to extra, *4.50 to *7.00. New York—Cattle, *3.25 to *5.75; hogs. *3.00 to *5.75; sheep, *3.00 to *5.50; wheat. No. 2 rpd. 80c to 81c; corn. No. 2, 41c to 48c; oats. No. 2 white, 28c to 80c; butter, creamery, 16c to 21c; eggs, Wasters, 18c to 15c.

SAN PUT ON THE STRIKE.

Federal Court at St. Louie Issues a Sweeping: Injunction. The only developments in the St. Louis street car strike situation Saturday was the issuance of an injunction from the Federal court against fifty leaders. The injunction was issued by Judge Elmer B. Adams in the United States Circuit Court on request of District Attorney Rozzier. The order is very sweeping and is directed against each and every one of the men named in the petition. It Is in effect that they shall do nothing whatsoever that will delay or obstruct the operating of mail cars or the gathering and distribution ofrthe mails. The information is based upon complaints filed with the Government authorities by Postmaster Baumhoff and other employes of the postofflee. The union men who indorse the strike, and are in favor of declaring a sympathetic strike, had decided to hold a parade late in the afternoon, Chief of Police Campbell, being fearful of trouble if the cars and the parade should happen to collide, required the company to keep its cars in the barn. The parade was a success in point of numbers and enthusiasm, about 7,000 men being in line. Banners and transparencies carrying mottoes Indorsing the strike and pronouncing in favor of a sympathetic movement were numerous throughout the column, which marched through many of the down-town streets. There was not the slightest evidence of disorder. The crowd along the line of march was small and undemonstrative. The first steps in a movement toward a general sympathetic strike were taken Friday night by the executive committee of the Central Trades Assembly. It was resolved that the time was ripe for a sympathy walk-out, and all unions were requested to prepare for a strike. All negotiations between the strikers and the St. Louis Transit Company have been terminated for the present at least. Hereafter officers assigned to .cars on the transit company’s lines will’be armed with rifles instead of revolvers, with instructions to shoot into any mob which offers violence.

TAYLOR IS DEFEATED.

Supreme Court’s Decision Rendered in Beckham’s Favor. The Kentucky governorship case was Monday decided by the United States Supreme Court in the interest of Beckham, affirming the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The opinion in the Kentucky case xvas not unanimous, one of the justices dissenting. The opinion was handed down by Chief Justice Fuller, and the case was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. lie said thq court should be the last to overstep thq bounds limiting its own jurisdiction, and that the determination of cases of this character, contests for State office must necessarily be settled by. the political branch of the Government. That branch had acted in the Kentucky case when thq General Assembly took jurisdiction, There was no appeal from the Assembly’s decision, which was favorable to Goebel and Beckham, except to the .tribunal of the people, which tribunal the chief justice said, was always in session. He also said the case was purely a State casethat Kentucky was In the full possession of its faculties as a member of the Union, and that there was no emergency at this time calling for interference.

BOER AND BRITON.

Rigid censorship is held over news from Natal. British are accumulating stores at Smakleel. Johannesburg women are forming a police corps. Boers north of Newcastle are falling back on Majuba. Methuen is advancing along the ssuth bank of the Vaal. British say the Orange Free Staters are tired of the war. Boers’ supply of smokeless powder is said to be exhausted. British authorities decline a proposition to exchange prisoners. Since leaving Bloemfontein Roberts’ casualties are very slight. Boers are said to have .abandoned the Biggarsbetfe Mountains. Boer commandos have been ordered by Kruger to evacuate Natal. Kroonstadt is two-fifths of the way from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. The story of a plot to kill Sir Alfred Milner is ridiculed in Pretoria. There is talk in Pretoria that Kruger is preparing to leave the capital. Boers have dynamited Laing’s Nek tunnel and destroyed the railway. Roberts is to make an example of three men who fired on the white flag. Correspondent Speneer Wilkinson fleclares the Boers are demoralised. Boer envoys at Washington place no significance on relief of Mafcking. British forces are reported northeast of Ladybrand and Basutoland border. * Two steamers left New Orleans Friday with 2,950 mules for the British army. Commander Hloft, reported captured by the British, is a grandson of Kruger. Natal Parliament has passed to third reading a bill for a loan of *5,000,000. London believes the Boers’ next stand will be on the ridges near Johannesburg. The Orange Free State capital has been moved from Kroonstadt to Heilbron. Col. Baden-Powell is reported slightly wounded in a skirmish outside Mafeking. Gen. Roberts has 200,000 men to operate on a front 200 miles wide from Fourteen Streams to the Biggarsberg. Against thia army the Boers have only 25,000 men. Gen. Aswogan of the Boer forces was killed in an engagement near the Vaal river. Peace negotiations may be opened in the Raad despite the protests of Kruger and Steyn. British war office wants the volunteers to be available at any time for home or foreign service. Under cover of heavy bombardment, the British Infantry crossed the Vaal river, close to Kalmberg; In a speech at Birmingham Secretary Chamberlain predicted that the Boer republics would become a crown colony.

CONGRESS

The Senate bn Thursday considered the postoffice appropriation bill. The Committee amendment for the extension of the pneumatic tube service created - some debate and was under discussion when the measure was laid aside for the day. Mr. Wolcott, chairman of the committee on postofficcs and post roads, vigorously attacked the committee’s proposition to appropriate $750,000 for pneumatic tube service, declaring the extension of the service was unnecessary and the appropriation a waste of public money. Mr. Mason quite as vigorously supported the proposition. An amendment of Mr. Butler to redftce by 10 per cent the amount to be paid the railroads for the transportation of mail was rejected, 11 to 41. In the Senate on Friday nearly the entire day was devoted to the pneumatic tube system service in the postoffice appropriation bill. The debate at times was sharp and almost personal. ’Hie appropriation was defended by Senators Chandler, Mason, Carter and Wellington and opposed by Senators Allison, llale, Tillman, Lodge and Wolcott. Senator Morgan introduced a resolution to investigate the Panama Canal Company, and in a speech severely criticised that company. Senator McCumber made a speech in favor of the retention of the Philippine Islands, during which Senator Tttlman took issue with him over an assertion that the people of the South were glad the confederacy was unsuccessful. .The House devoted the day to the consideration of bills reported by the committee on war claims and in committee of the whole favorably acted jipon a bill to appropriate $200,000 to pay ex-Confed-erate soldiers for horses and other property taken from them in violation of the terms of Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox. After a spirited debate, by the decisive vote of 32 tcr*fl6. the Senate on Saturday laid on the table the whole proposition relating to the transportation of mall by the pneumatic tube system. An effort was made to secure the adoption ''Of an amendment to appropriate $225,000 to carry out existing contracts for the service in New York, Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia, but no action was taken upon If, special orders superseding the appropriation bill. The closing hours of the session were occupied in accepting from the State of ■ Missouri statues of Renton and Blair, located in Statuary Hall of the capitol, and from the Grand Army of the Republic the statue of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, located in the capitol rotunda. The House devoted the day to unveiling of the Grand Army statue of Gen. Ulysses 8. Grant. A pyrotechnic discussion of the status of the Boer commissioners now in Washington was precipitated in the Senate on Monday by a resolution offered by Mr.’ Allen (Pop., Neb.) extending to the commissioners the privileges of the floor of the Senate during their sojourn in the national capital. The resolution was defeated by a vote of 36 to 21, but not until after a sharp controversy between its author and Mr. Davis, chairman of the committee on foreign relations. The postoffice appropriation bril was passed, the amendment to carry out existing contracts for the pneumatic tube service being agreed to. An effort was made by Mr. Morgan (Ala.) to displace the Spooner Philippine bill with the Nicaragua canal bill as the unfinished business, but it failed by a vote of 21 to 28. A bill to create the southern division of the southern district of lowa for judicial purposes was passed. In the House two important labor measures were passed under suspension of the rules, one to extend the eight-hour law to all under contract on Government work, the other to prohibit interstate traffic in pris-' on-made goods by bringing them under, the jurisdiction of the public powers of. the State. Mr. Payne, floor leader of. the minority, offered a joint resolution for a sine die adjournment of Congress on June 6. It was referred to the ways and means committee.

On Tuesday the Senate heard Mr. Spooner in support of his resolution giving the President full power over the Philippines until the suppression of the rebellion. Received the credentials of Senator Clark of Montana, ou the appointment of Lieut. Gov. Spriggs, and allowed them temporarily to lie on the ta J ble. Adopted a resolution by Mr. Allen asking the President to send to the Senate translations of the constitutions of’ the South African republic and the Orange Free State: also one by Mr. Jones' of Arkansas directing the Secretary of War thoroughly to investigate the ojjeratious of the North American Trust Company in Havana; also one by Mr. Allen calling upon the Secretary of War for information regarding conditions in the Philippines. The House devoted the entire day to the Alaskan civil government bill. An amendment to reduce the numbr of judges in Alaska from three to two was defeated. The conference report on the army appropriation bill was adopted, the Senate amendment for the library at Manila having been stricken out. The Senate on Wednesday agreed tothe conference report on the army appropriation bill, passed the Morgan resolution calling upon the Secretaries of War and Navy for information regarding the cost of the transportation of troops to the Philippines, and devoted the rest of the day to debate on the Cuban postal frauds, with Messrs. Platt (Conn.) Bpodbar and Hnle ns speakers. The House passed resolution for sine die adjournment June fl; also resolution authorizing committee on wnya nnd means to sit during recess of Congress to frame bill reducing war taxes; also the Nmlv extradition bill.

Odds and End.

Gen. Silas M. Bailey, 64, one of the 80<l of the famous "GNd Guard,” which stood by Gen. Grant in the convention of 1880, died at Uuiontown, Pa. Names of Benjamin’ Grover Cleveland and Richard Olney have been suggested as members of the permanent board of arbitration, ns provided for by The Hague treaties. | Secretary L4.y nnd Lord Paunqefote have signed a treaty extending for seven months, from Aug. 5 next, the period of time allowed for exchange of the IlayPauneefots canal treaty.