Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1902 — Page 2

JASPER COUNTY DEMOCRAT. F. E. BABCOCK. Publisher. RENSSELAER, - ■ - INDIANA.

EVENTS OF THE WEEK

The Neues Wiener Tngeblatt of Vienna asserts that negotiations are in progress for the sale of the Philippine Islands to Germany, and that the visit of Admiral Prince Henry to the United States is preliminary to the announcement of this Bale. At Carrolton. Mo.. William Marsh, who with Edward Moran was charged with killing a man named McKinney Inst May, has been convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary. The jury was out four hours. The second section of the New York Central limited, east bound, struck a switch engine standing on the track in front of the Oneida, N. Y., station. The engineer of the limited—Dorsey Welch of Albany—was killed. Both engines and a large part of the station were demolished. Two notorious burglars and cracksmen were killed, and Deputy Sheriff W. 8. Mannoring seriously wounded and Marshal Peter Fintzenwald of Athens mortally wounded as the result of a tight following an attempt to rob Mrs. Mary Priest, an aged and wealthy widow of Gallipolis, Ohio. In St. Paul, Minn., the People's Church, an independent communion with Congregationalist affiliation, of which Rev. R. (1. Smith, the well-known sociologist, is pastor, was completely destroyed by tire. The church was built in 1888, and including its large organ represented an outlay of $105,000. Three masked men mistreated and robbed Father Baulovits of St. Stephen's Church, Toledo, Ohio, and left him in a serious condition. Two of them seized him, choked him myirly to death, and then bound him with cords in such a manner that the cords cut into the flesh. They then demanded S7OO, which they claimed they knew he had in the house. The main part of Urab Orchard. Neb., was destroyed by fire, the origin of which has not yet been determined. The bank, A. O. U. W. Hall. Richardson Mercantile Company, F. M. Sharrett Hardware Company, postotlice, and numerous smaller buildings were ruined. The loss is estimated at from $30,000 to $50,000, partly covered by insurance. In Hamilton, Ohio, Judge Neiian sustained a demurrer to the State's evidence against Sylva ami Leota Bishop, faith r-urists, charged with manslaughter for allowing their daughter Esther, who was burned in a gasoline explosion, to die. for want of medical aid. He said that under the Ohio law such omission constituted no crime, anil the belief of the defendants did not enter into the case. Three persons were killed, two fatally hurt and a score of others more or less Injured by two runaway ears on the Monongahela branch of the Pittsburg Railway Company. The accident happened at the foot of the long hill running ; nto Wilmerding from McKeesport. A ear without passengers got beyond the control of the motorman and dashed down the hill. At the bottom it jumped into the Pennsylvania Railroad station, carrying away the side of the depot and tearing up the platform. Fred Tiner, n full-blood Shawnee Indian, alleged to have attacked three Shawnee squaws, was tied to a stake to be burned to death by members of his tribe, men mid women. He was being put through the preliminary torture, when Deputy United States Marshal Davis arrived from Arbeka, I. T.. quickly took in the situation, held the mob back with a gun, and single-handed cut the thongs, bricked away from the crowd with his prisoner, and safely escaped to Wewoka, where Tiner was placed in ji« il. The 142 prisoners in the United States jail at South McAlestbr, I. T., made an unsuccessful break for liberty and Nicholas Woolridge, charged with murder, and Charles Carter, charged with peddling whisky, were shot in the legs by the guards. They made a rush for the iron railing separating them from 'he miter door. Fifty of them reached the railing and tore it away, mid the wh de gang of prisoners started for the door. Jailer Wilkinson and his guards tired mid Woolridge and Carter fell. The prisoners pleaded for mercy and were ordered back to their quarters.

BREVITIES.

Hugo Mohr, a self-confessed anarchist, committed suicide nt his home in Paterson, N. J., by inhaling illuminating gas. Andrew Wilson was ground to death under a train at Louisville shortly after he had made an attempt to kill Sam Shutters, with whom he hgd b<vn carousing. Lane B. Schofield, senior member es the firm of Schofield, Wieher & C<x, bankers and brokers of Boston, committed suicide by shooting himself at nis home in Newtonville. Half a million dollars' worth of timber was swept out of (luyandotte river, W. Mu., by the breaking of booms. (Jreat damage along that stream by the unusually high stage of the river is reported. Harry M. Crouse, a discharged soldier from the Philippines, who claims to have relatives in Chicago, was caught in San Francisco as be wns trying to ship himself in n dry goods box ns freight to Chicago. About 100 union bakers and bench hands, employed by the six leading firms of Kansas ’City, were locked out because of an attempt of the industrial council to form a union of bread wagon drivers. Program for Prince Henry's entertainment has been completed, lie will start >»n his western tour on March 1, after eight days in Washington ami the East. in St. Paul hre wrecked the Davids m block, a five-story brick structure nt the corner of Fourth and .Jackson streets. The damage done is estimated nt $2<)5,(MIO, amply covered by insurance. Isaac Putney, a farmer of Lisbon, wns arrested while driving into Ogdensburg. N. Y., with a number of Chinamen dressed In women’s clothes. The Chinamen, according to the authorities, were brought from Canada during the night.

EASTERN.

John D. Rockefeller has given SIOO,000 to the endowment fund of Syracuse (N. Y.) University. Force of 125 physicians raided East Boston and vaccinated entire population, inoculating 15,000 persons. 11. J. Ziegler of Lancaster, Pa., shot his wife at Wellington Hotel in Chicago and then killed himself. Husband feared prosecution for bigamy by another wife in Pennsylvania. Dr. Augustin Thompson of Boston says he has discovered the secret of prolonging human life to 150 years. Asserts priority of discovery of the theory of Prof. Loeb of Chicago. Rev. Frank L. Goodspeed, for seven years pastor of the First Congregational Church at Springfield, Mass., has resigned to accept a call to the Calvary Presbyterinn Church of Cleveland. The coroner's jury found the >Jew York Central Railroad responsible for tunnel disaster and charged officials with faulty management. Engineer and fireman of wrecked train were discharged. Four national banks in Pittsburg, with an aggregate capital of $1,700,000 and a surplus of $435,000, are, according to reliable reports, to be merged into one financial institution under a national charter. After an investigation extending over many weeks, Frank Saxton, supervising immigrant inspector at Ellis Island, New York, was dismissed for neglect of duty. He is a nephew of Mrs. McKinley and has been in office two years. Six persons were killed, over a hundred were injured, and a property loss of over $1,000,000 was caused by explosion at Park avenue shaft of the New York rapid transit tunnel. Murray Hill Hotel was so badly shaken that it is abandoned as unsafe. In the report of the harbor and land commissioners on the proposed canal between Boston harbor and Narragansett Bay, by way of Weymouth, Brockton and Taunton, just sent to the Legislature, the cost of the work is stated to be $57,518,358 for a uniform depth of twenty-five feet and a width of 150 feet at the bottom. A railway mail robbery between Springfield, Mass., and Boston has been reported to the postal authorities at Washington by Postmaster Kinner of West Springfield, who has also notified the United States inspectors at Boston. Conductor A. B. Bartholomew of West Springfield while signaling near Rochdale, Mass., found hundreds of letters along the tracks.

WESTERN.

Man nnd wife in Montana mining camp fought in ring for possession of their child, the woman winning. Armour & Co. are going to San Francisco. They have bought a large site and will erect buildings and establish a big packing plant. One trainman was killed and six others injured in a freight wreck in the Burlington yards in Omaha. The accident was caused by fog. Dust explosion in a mine at Lost Creek, lowa, killed twenty-nine men, seriously injured eight others and did property damage of SIO,OOO. Prof. F. L. Washburn of the Oregon State University lias been elected to succeed the late Otto Lugger as State entomologist of Minnesota. James Cain accidentally shot himself at Montpelier, Ohio. He was handling a revolver when the hammer struck a loaded shell that lie thought was empty, E. A. Goodchild, a millmau and merchant of Thompson Falls, Mont., is lost in the mountains. A searching party of 30 failed to find any trace of him. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul limited crashed into a Kedzie avenue street car in Chicago, and a dozen persons were hurt, three of them perhaps fatally. W. G. Nevin, general manager of all the lines of tile Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fo Railroad west of Albuquerque, died at his home iu lais Angeles fr,om creeping paralysis. William Strother, negro attendant at the Yista bathhouse, has confessed the murder of Millionaire Cooper of St. Louis, who was slain while asleep on a cot in the institution.

A dozen families had a narrow escape from death and were driven from their beds into a severe blizzard by fire which destroyed the Jackson block inMJlevelaud. The money loss is about $25,000. Iu Omaha the Douglas County grand jury returned nn indictment against exState Treasurer John B. Meserve, charging him with tlic embezzlement of money belonging to the State School fund. A mixed train on the Chicago and Alton branch road was wrecked about four miles from Mexico, Mo., presumably by n broken rail. Nearly all the passengers in the coach were injured, some seriously. Gen. Harrison C. Hobart died nt the Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee. lie wnß the sole survivor of the band of men who tunneled out of Libby prison and escaped to the Union lines during the Civil War. The body of W. C. Johnson was found in the city water works reservoir at Douglas, Wyo. Johnson disappeared several days ago, nnd it is believed that ho committed suicide while temporarily insane. Henry Yawn, n 75-yoar-old farmer ot Fairfield, Ohio, died while leaning against the bar in a saloon, and raannined in that position three hours before his condition was discovered. Heart disease caused his death. Two freight trains on tho Iron Mountain rond came together, head on. near Mill Springs, Mo. Fireman Moses Washburn and Brnkemnn L. 8. Degonin were killed, nnd Engineer Thomas Silver fatally Injured. After handing his wife his week's earnings John Fredericks, a woodworker living in Chicago, turned his back and drank several ounces ot carbolic acid. Fredericks died before a physician could be called. His wife, Mrs. Rosie Fredericks, could assign no reason for his wishing to die, Work on the construction .of a monster packing plant, to be erected in Denver by local capitalists, will be begun within the next forty days. The company Is to be incorporated with n capital stock of $1,000,000. The machinery of the Youngstown, ().. plant <>f tlic American Can Company Is being dismantled, preparatory to shipment to Chicago. The reason given for removal is tliat the plant is too fur from the market. Richard,and John Spikes, cattle men,

were killed by fugitive robbers op the Rock Island extension in New Mexico. The robbers were escaping from a posse which wanted them for burglary in Tecutncare, N. M, Frank Furtado, an 18-year-old boy, was gored to death by a vicious bull elk at Piedmont Springs Park, Oakland, Cal. Furtado and Lester Spencer, the jockey, had carried hay into the paddock to feed five elks there. At Plattsburg, Mo., Mrs. Addie B. Richardson was acquitted of the charge of having murdered her husband, Frank B. Richardson, a wealthy merchant, who was slain as he entered his home Christmas eve, 1900. The Supreme Court's decision in the case of the Nickel Plate Railway versus Frank Shaffer in Ohio, on appeiH from the Circuit Court of Huron County, involving the “black list,’’ sustained the railroad company. Elmer Moore, aged 22, was accidentally shot on Grand river, near Locksprings, Mo., by his brother Eugene, aged 20. They were hunting nnd became separated nnd a bullet intended for a rabbit hit the elder brother. Three members of the St. Louis house of delegates have been arrested, charged with accepting bribes for the passage of a street railway franchise. Others are involved in the scandal, and more indictments are expected. John C. Hall, cashier and bookkeeper of Swift & Co.’s Butte, Mont., branch house, was arrested on a charge of grand larceny. Hall is short $3,500. He* admits his shortage and says he lost the money in copper stock speculations. Robbers attacked Michael Sweeney, in charge of the target shanty on the Pittsburg and Western road between Niles and Girard, Ohio, and after binding him robbed him of his pay and then set tire to the shanty, cremating him. The investigation of the books of the late FI. C. Tatum, secretary and treasurer of the Western Commercial Travelers’ Association, who recently committed suicide in St. Louis, has been concluded and shows a shortage of about SIO,OOO. Mrs. Mary Battey. wife of Postmaster D. C. Battey of Florence, Kan., died of blood poisoning caused by the prick of a pin. About a week before Mrs. Battey, while brushing a dress, pricked - a finger scarcely deep enough to bring the blood. Nathan Woodring, a pioneer wealthy citizen of Beatrice, Neb., shot and killed himself. His doctors had arranged to perform a surgical operation for a chronic ailment and he declared he would die by his own hand rather than submit. A fire burned out the book store of W. O. Davie & Co., 224 East Fourth street, Cincinnati, causing a loss estimated at $50,000. The establishment is an old one of unique pattern, and is widely known among book lovers as the repository. for old and rare volumes.

An advance in wages of locomotive engineers throughout the entire system of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway was granted at a conference between a committee of the engineers and officials of the road. About 800 men are benefited by the raise. Angered by a threatened separation from his sweetheart. May Connerty, and while she was seated at a piano in her home in Chicago, William Wittmacher fired two shots at the young woman with probably fatal results. Half an hour later he ended his own life with the same revolver. The man who committed suicide in a hotel at Hamilton. Ohio, two months ago lias been identified. lie is James Dolan, a street car conductor of Dayton, Ohio. His brother, who identified the body, said that he must have committed suicide because he was threatened with locomotor ataxia. John Kohler and John Qlterman, employed in the Cleveland water works tunnel which extends several miles out into the lake, were attacked by the peculiar disease known ns “bends,’’ and both died an hour after the attack. This makes fifty-five deaths in the tunnel since work was begun. ■ Two distinct shocks of earthquake were felt in St. Louis and in many of the towns in the immediate vicinity of the city. The first shock was light. The second was more severe. It awakened persons who had slept through the first shock. The shocks were accompanied by a rumbling sound. At Akron, Ohio, James O. Blakesiey assaulted his wife and mother-in-law. Mrs. Olive Ingersoll. The husband nnd wife separated six months ago. He attempted to persuade his wife to return and she refused. Mrs. Ingersoll is aged 70. Her skull is fractured and there is no hope of her recovery. The body of former United States Judge Elmer 8. Dundy of Omaha, Neb., has turned to stone, according to an announcement made by a close friend of the former judge. The discovery was made' when moving the coffin from the receiving vault. The features were as natural as when in life, but the flesh had taken on a slight copper tinge. A bill providing that any attempt committed in Ohio upon the life of the President, or anyone in succession to the presiy dency.or upon the Governoror Lieutenant Governor of any State, shall he punished by death if the assault results fatally, and by life imprisonment if it prove unsuccessful, was passed by the Ohio'State Senate without opposition. Mrs. Angelina Anderson was bound and gagged in broad daylight in her room at Wichita, Kan., and robbed of $l,lOO worth of diamonds and $1,500 in money. She went there a few months ngo and married an 18-year-old livery stable boy, who was taking care of her horse, nnd is now Heading him to a local college. The woman is said to be from Racine, Wis. Twenty cadavers were destroyed by a fire which did $3,000 damage to the anatomy building nt the University of Minnesota. at Minneapolis. About a hundred students formed n fire brigade and held the Hames in check until the dpartment arrived. The libraries of Profs. Erdman ami Rad were badly damaged, as were the instruments of most of the students. Had it not been for a three-day-old baby three burglars would have secured valuable booty at Wentworth, 8. D. The marauders blew open the Wentworth Bank safe. The explosion alarmed the father of the baby, who was trying to lull It to sleep. He dropped the infant and tolled down a Hight of stairs. This alarmed the robbers, who dropped tho bank's money and fled. The* bank officials have bought the baby a new pair of shoes and the father a crutch. Judge Jenkins of the United States Court of Appeals in Milwaukee has decided that life insurance policies issued

under the semi-tontine plan become a portion ot the estate of a bankrupt, and must be surrendered to The ruling is new, and will apply in hundreds of cases. It was handed down in the bankruptcy proceedings of David Welling of Chicago, and reverses a decision by Judge Kohlsaat. Fifty men were imported by the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern llailway Company to taka the places of strikers who went out at Washington, Ind. The men were secured through a St. Loiiis employment agency and were hired at $1.50 a day. When the neW" men arrived and learned that a strike was on about twenty-five of them refused to go to work ih the machine shops. Detectives are guarding the shops and yards. Joseph Cox shot and killed Howard Ratcliffe at church at Eagle Mills, Ohio. C<ftr had been paying attention to Ratcliffe's sister and Ratcliffe objected to this. Cox took Miss Ratcliffe to church, and when Ratcliffe saw them together he attacked Cox, who drew a weapon and fired, the ball passing through Ratcliffe's body. The wounded man fell in the aisle nnd died. Both men were school teachers. Ratcliffe married a sister of Cox.

SOUTHERN.

At Huntington, W. Va„ George Pakes, a turfman, fatally assaulted his wife with an ax, carving her head and face to an unrecognizable mass. He escaped on a freight train. Col. Gilbert Bentley, a wealthy timberman of Big Sandy Valley, W. Va., was shot to death in a pistol duel with Riley Ramey. The men had an old grudge. Ramey has surrendered. In a rear-end collision between two sections of a stock train neat Keller, Texas, W. T. Stillwell was instantly killed and his body burned in the wreck and J. G. Adkins was fatally injured. Seven or eight men held up the passenger train from Charleston on the Southern Railroad. They looted the local express safe and carried off the through safe. All made their escape. The holdup occurred five miles from Branchville. News has been received of a fierce fight in which seven men participated on Buck creek, in Owsley County, Kentucky, the result of an old grudge between Newt Brewer and George Scott. Six of the seven were wounded, and three will die. Mrs. Bula Abbey, wife of a young merchant near Sparta, Tenn., died as the result of pulling out one ot her eyes in a fanatical and literal interpretation of the scriptural injunction, “If thine eye ofend, pluck it out. Her mind became unbalanced over religion. During the hearing in New Orleans of the case against Klein and West, charged with robbing a man who claimed to be T. E. Manners, the last named took the stand and confessed that ho was Edouard Kern,' Jr., the valet who stole $50,000 worth of jewelry from the Thebaud mansion in New York. Fire in the wholesale business district of Mobile, Ala., destroyed property to the value of $300,000 and caused the death of Richard 11. Vidmer, a leading society man, and Bat Thomas, a negro laborer from New Orleans. Mr. Vidmer and Thomas were assisting the firemen in subduing the flames, and were caught byfalling walls.

FOREIGN.

The celebrated Saint Paul Monastery, on Mount Athos, Greece, was burned recently. The prior and nine monks perished and twenty others were seriously injured. Denmark has signified her willingness to accept the offer of the United States for the three West Indian Islands, the price being between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. Chinese officials have found treasure to the value of over 100,000,000 taels in gold and silver, which was buried in the women's quarters of the palace before the court fled from Pekin. The Emperor of China granted an audience to the ministers of foreign powers, nnd, for the first time in history, received them as representatives of monarchs equal in rank to himself. News has been received that the British bark Savernake, which sailed from San Francisco for Queenstown, was wrecked Nov. 14 at Reao, an island in the east of the Tuamotu group, in the south Pacific. The captain and three men are missing. Rev. I. W. Barns, rector of Episcopal churches in New Whatcom and Fairhaven, Wash., has gone to South Africa to arrange the final details of a gigantic colonization scheme, which the British government will shortly undertake there. The plan of the British government is to induce a number of British-born subjects now residing in the United States to emigrate to South Africa.and mingling with the Boers to eradicate the feeling of hatred which dwells in their breasts.

IN GENERAL.

The Hotel Cecil was burned at Ottawa, Ont. The hotel was owned by ex-Mayor Davidson, who rebuilt it and had it newly furnished about three years ago. The loss is about $60,000. The treaty of cession of the Danish West India Islands from Denmark to the United States was signed nt the State Department at Washington by Secretary Hay and Constantine Brun, the Danish minister. According to statistics collected by the census bureau, the gross value of the products of manufacture in the United States in 1900 was $13,003,127,682, as compared with $0,372,437,282 in 1890, an increase of 38.73 per cent. The steamer Queea City reports that Indians at Ahousett, B. C., have found a small boat which is believed to belong to the missing sloop of war Condor. It is clinker-built and painted white. News of other wreckage is reported by the Queen City. Word has been received of the eventful voyage of the ship James Drummond from Puget sound to Freemantle, Aus. tralin. during which Captain IL J. Nason was forced to shoot his first mate to save his own life and prevent mutiny on the craft. An order in council has been passed nt Ottawa, Out., extending for the yt#r 1902 the modus vivetidi between Canada and the United States regarding fishing vessels. Licenses will be issued ip the usual terms for the purchase of bait, ice, seines, lines and all other supplies and outfits, as well ns the transshipment of catch and the shipping of crews. The fee Is $1.50 pe r ton.

Congress.

Senator Hanna was the central figure in Senate debate Thursday when consideration of the Department of Commerce bill was resumed. The pending question was the amendment offered by Mr. Pettus of Alabama providing that the Department of Labor be not transferred to the proposed new department. Mt. Pettus made a brief argument in support of his amendment, and be was supported by Mr. Bacon. In reply Mr. Nelson, in charge of the pending measure, said he had heard no protest against the transfer until recently an official of a labor organization had objected to IL He maintained that it was a mistake to leave the labor department without the jurisdiction of nn executive department. Mr. Hanna said the establishment of the new department was in the interest of both capital and labor. In the House the consideration of the urgent deficiency bill, which has been under debate since Monday, was completed, but owing to the lateness of the hour passage of the bill was postponed until Friday. A successful effort was made to increase tho pay of rural free delivery carriers from SSOO to SOOO per annum. Mr. Hill of Connecticut made the motion to increase the appropriation for this purpose. It was resisted by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Loud, chairman of the postofflee committee, and Mr. Payne, the Republican floor leader, on the ground that the method was irregular, but the members with rural constituencies supported it nnd it was adopted by n vote of 109 to 78. On Friday a vote was reached on the urgency deficiency bill. The item that had aroused Democratic opposition was ingeniously amended so as to appropriate $500,000 for “the protection and shelter” of American troops serving iu the Philippines. instead of specifically for barracks. In its original form the item had received the support of only one Democrat. Mr. Cummings of New York. When the vote was taken upon it in amended form it received the support of sixteen Democrats in addition to the full Republican strength, the vote being 178 to 105. An animated and prolonged discussion was precipitated in tho Senate on Monday over the right of army officers to criticise utterances made in the Senate or elsewhere on the conduct of affairs in the Philippines. At times it became somewhat acrimonious, officers in the Philippines being taken sharply to task for statements attributed to them in dispatches from Manila. Tho House adopted a resolution calling for documents relating to the old training ship Vermont, which was placed out of commission last summer, and also passed a bill to provide for the compulsory attendance of witnesses before registers and receivers of the general land office. A bill to appropriate SIOO,OOO for establishing homes for the teaching of articulate speech ‘o deaf children was defeated. The House adjourned until Wednesday. Philippine debate grew so bitter in the Senate on Tuesday that prsonal encounters were narrowly averted. The storm raged for three hours, and the chairman was kept busy maintaining order. After years of patient effort commercial organizations and business men were rewarded by the Senate passing the bill for rhe creation of a department of commerce and labor. The measure goes to the House in substantially the form in which it was introduced. The most important change is in the name of the department. As originally suggested it was to be the department of commerce and industry. No material opposition in the House is anticipated. Its quick passage is confidently expected. A bill to permit the extension for twenty years of the charters of national banks was favorablyreported by the Senate committee on finance. Just before the adjournment ot the Senate Senator Spooner introduced a substitute for the Nicaragua canal bill. The new bill is a practical authorization to the President of the United States to choose between the Panama and the Nicaragua routes. Senator Cullom, ns chairman of the committee on foreign relations, virtually appealed to the Senate on Wednesday from the decision of his committee on the question of reciprocity treaties. Broadly, he took the position that a treaty is the supreme law of the land, superseding acts of Congress, and that under the constitution the President by treaty ratified by the Senate can do anything Congress can do. For an hour the Senate had under discussion the question whether a censorship of press dispatches exists in Manila. The debate for a time was very spirited. The Secretary of War was quoted as saying that no press censership now existed in the Philippines, and a letter from Gen. Greely. chief signal officer of the army, was presented by Mr. Beveridge of Indiana, making the statement officially that there was no censorship and that “the press is entirely free.” It was contended by the opposition that ■ censorship did exist in the Philippines, ami that copies of every news dispatch filed with the cable company were filed with the military authorities. The House adjourned after being in session only twenty-five minutes. Mr. Hopkins of Illinois reported the permanent census bill and gave notice he would call it up Thursday. A request to make the oleomargarine bill a special order for the following Monday was objected to on the Democratic side.

Washington Notes.

Future of the Philippines continues to cause concern among party leaders. James Almnn. who was offered SIOO,000 to poison Abraham Lincoln, is dead. The moveiuent’to change the date of tiie presidential inauguration gains in favor. A favorable report was recently imidt by a House committee on the resell lion, providing for the election of Senators by popular vote. Naval retiring board refused to retire Captain Richmond P. Hobson, who requested it on tho ground that his eyesight had become impaired by work at Santiago. Captain Buy ley, naval attache to tho British embassy, will be recalled nt a hint from the State Department that ho has exceeded bounds of diplomacy in getting information. Secretary Wilson urged Congress to appropriate $40,000 for continuing tho, microscopical inspection of meat intended for the export trade, which otherwise will atop on March 1.

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

f— The steadiness of bus!I nRV lOrk ness was not marred by any I-.-- XUla ' tl n tow ar d developments during the last week. The statistics which best indicate the course of trade hold true to the early promise of improving conditions. Favorable reports coin* from all sections of the West, and while prices are easier for some products, manufacturing establishments are generally well supplied with orders. That tho business world is without special incident of disaster iu this time when people are still asking whether great prosperity will abide longer iu this country is a good sign. It is of the highest importance that all features of the iron and steel trade remain bright as regards present and future trade. The heavy demands of railroads for steel rails tax the facilities of the mills to such a point that the total output for 1902 is almost entirely sold in advance. Under these circumstances it will be strange if more independent plants are not built. One large road is reported to have placed a rail order with foreign manufacturers, and others may be compelled to do the same. The bridge and structural company of the United States Steel Corporation is planning the construction of more plants, so heavy has its business become. The coke situation improves steadily and is much better in the Chicago district. Wire and wire nails are firm at the advanced prices, and there is some talk of another meeting, which suggests the possibility of another raise. Western bar iron manufacturers have added $2 a tou to the price of bar iron. Eastern manufacturers have made an advance of $1 a ton on the same product, and as the Western has been lower than the Eastern price quotations now are alike in both sections. The ore association has fixed the price of Bessemer old range as a base of $4.25 a ton, unchanged from last year's quotation. Spring jobbing trade will be enormous in volume, buyers showing more confidence in making purchases. The London sales of wool gave firmness to the prices here, but holders hope for higher quotations. Yarns are steady but without material change. Print cloths are firm and are held closely. Staple eottons are firm, but buyers purchase slowly. The raw material has not improved on its previous •uncertain position. The leather trade generally is iu a satisfactory situation. The prospects for activity ClliCdQO. * n construction of down8 . town buildings in Chicago have received a serious setback in the refusal of the Council to permit structures of over 132 feet. It is stated that the total cost of construction of eighteen buildings, mostly in the business district, for which plans have been prepared, will be $10,000,000, but some of the enterprises are contingent on the Council’s attitude. Builders would like to see this money invested. Grains and provisions were lower. May wheat losing 2% cents on the week's movement and May corn 3% cents. Liqfiidation iu wheat was caused by snow in the Western belt and a reduced cash demand. Enormous receipts of coffee made the market weaker and prices are easier. Money shows increasing ease. Tho Rank of England reduced its discount rate from 4 to 3Mi per cent, but there is a suspicion that the London market .s being prepared for a new loan. Call rates iu New York are practically nominal, and while commercial funds the country over are in good demand rates are gradually easing. Country banks are increasing their city balances and are‘ buying commercial paper freely. They have been advised by the city banks to be cautious in their purchases, particularly of city paper, and to make no such purchases without consulting their city correspondents.

THE MARKETS

Chicago—Cattle, commpn to prime, $3.50 to $0.75; hogs, shipping grades, $4.25 to $0.50; sheep, fair to choice, $3.00 to $4.65; wheat, No. 2 red, 83c to 84c; corn. No. 2,56 cto 57c; oats. No. 2,40 c to 41c: rye, No. 2,56 cto 57c; bay, timothy, $9.00 to $13.50; prairie, $5.50 to $11.50; butter, choice creamery, 20c to 24c; eggs, fresh, 20c to 22c; potatoes, 75c to 80e per bushel. Indianapolis—Cattle, shipping, $3.00 to $6.30; hogs, choice light, $4,00 to $<5.00; sheep, common to prime ,$2.50 to $3.50: wheat, No. 2. 87c to 88c; corn. No. 2 white, new, 62c to 63c; oats, No. 2 white, 48c to 49c. St. Louis—Cattle. $4.50 to $6.30; hogs, $3.00 to $6.25; sheep, $2.50. to $4.50; wheat. No. 2,84 cto 85c; corn. No. 2, 58c to 59c; oats. No. 2,43 cte 44c; rye. No. 2,61 cto 62c. Cincinnati— Cattle, $3.00 to $6.00: hogs, $3.00 to $6.40; sheep, $2.25 to $3.85; wheat. No. 2,89 cto 00c; corn, N/-. 2 mixed, <>3e to 64c; oats, No. 2 CLxed, 48c to 49c; rye. No. 2,66 cto 67c. Detroit—Cattle, $2.50 to $5.50; hogs, $3.00 to $6.20; sheep. $2.50 to $4.00; wheat, No. 2,85 cto 86c; corn, No. 3 yellow, BVc to 60c; oats, No. 2 white, 46c to 47c; rye, 63c to (Me. Toledo—Wheat, No. 2 mixed, 86c to 87c; corn. No. 2 mixed, 57c to 58«; oats. No. 2 mixed, 44c to 45c; rye, No. 2,52 c to 53c; clover seed, prime, $5.75. Milwaukee—Wheat, No. 2 northern, 73c to 74c; corn, No. 3,55 cto 56c; oats. No. 2-white, 43c to 44c; rye, No. 1,60 c to 61c; barley, No. 2,61 cto 62c; pork, moss, $16.00. Buffalo—Cattle, choice shipping steers, $3.00 to $<1.75; hogs, fair to prime. S3.(MJ to $6.60; sheep, fair to choice, $2.50 to $4.50; lambs, common to choice, $3.75 to $5.90. New York—Cattle. $3.75 to $6.10; hogs, $3.00 to $6.05; sheep, $2.50 to $4.25; wheat, No. 2 red, 86c to 87c; corn, No. 2, GGc to 67c; oats, No. 2 wlrite, 48c to 49e; butter, creamery, 22« to 25c; eggs, western, 26e to 28c. All th® federal convicts who escaped from McNeil's Island, near Tacoma, AVash., bars been recaptured.