Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1875 — THE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

THE NEWS.

The court to which the appeal in the case of the Tipperary election was referred on the 26th unanimously decided that the late John Mitchel was disqualified from occupying a seat in Parliament and that his opponent, Mr. Moore, is entitled to the place. It is stated that when Congress convenes the Postmaster-General will use his efforts to have the present law governing postage on third-class matter or transient newspapers modified. On the 26th President Grant in an address to the Sioux delegation said he had always been a friend of the Indians and was anxious to do what he thought was if or their good. He said the country where they live would not support them -should the Government supplies be withdrawn, which supplies might be withdrawn at any moment without any violation of the treaty. He did not ask the Indians to leave without their consent, but there was a territory south of their reservation where they could much better support themselves. He wished the delegation to think over what he had said.

The Pennsylvania Republican State Convention met at Lancaster on the 26ih, and organized by the election of Gen. Harry White as President and C. D. Elliott as Secretary. Gov. Hartranf t was renominated by acclamation, and H. W. Rawle was nominated for State Treasurer. Among the principles enumerated in the platform which was adopted were: Equality of all men before the law; the harmony of the Federal and State Governments; the unity of the nation; in favor of civil rights; adherence to the unwritten law of the country limiting the Presidency to two terms; protection to home industries; protection to labor; cheap transportation; free banking, and indorsement of Hartranft’s and Grant’s administrations, and favoring a general system of laws regulating municipal governments. On the evening of the 26th, in Boston, a terrific explosion occurred in a drug store on the corner of Washington and Lagrange streets, which completely" wrecked the building, in which were about twenty-two people, nearly all of whom were more or less injured, six being killed. The cause of the explosion was unknown at last accounts. The building was a four-story brick. The adjoining buildings were considerably injured by the shock. A fire occurred in Lexington, Ky., on the 24th, which destroyed about thirty buildings in the most valuable portion of the city, involving a loss of from $500,000 to $1,000,000. On the 27th Secretary Delano made a speech to the Indian delegation at Washington, in which he sought to convey the wish of the Government to do that which was for the best for both whites and Indians, and also that it could not stop the whites from settling in the Black Hills. He spoke of the advantages of the territory further south, and mentioned to them the inducements to change their location. Spotted Tail replied. He said he was not the man to break a treaty; he desired to remain in the reservation; he knew it to be a good country; he respected the treaty which had been made, and if white men invaded the Black Hills it was not the fault of the Indians,

A horrible accident occurred at Holyoke, Mass., on the evening of the 27th. During the evening service which was being held in the French Catholic Church, the draperies of the altar caught fire from a candle and the building was soon on fire. The audience numbered about 700 people in the body of the church, who escaped, but on the stairway leading from the gallery human beings were packed in a dense mass. As the flames rushed toward them many leaped to tbe floor beneath, and were trampled to death. The gallery skirted both sides of the building, with only one entrance from the front The scene was fearful while it lasted. Sixty-six men, women and children were either burned or trampled to death, and the fatally wonnded would make the loss of life fully seventy-five. One family of four were in the church %nd all killed. Many were pulled out by the arms and feet so badly burned that they lived but a few hours, the flesh peeling off on being touched. Some were taken out with scarcely any flesh remaining on their bones. Judge Porter concluded his argument for the defense in the Beecher suit on tbe 26th, and on the 27th Mr. Evarts commenced his summing up. The Grand Lodge of the Good Templars of the World, recently in session in Bloomington, HI., elected the following officers for the ensuing year: R. W. G. L., Col. J. J. Hickman, of Kentucky; R. W. G. C., Joseph Malins, of England; R. W. G. Yi T., Amanda Lane, of Massachusetts;' R. W. G. S. W. 8. Williams, of Canada; R. W. G. T., R. R. Scott, of Missouri; Superintendent of Cold Water Templars, Mrs. M. B. O’Donnell, of New York. Louisville, Ky., was fixed upon as the place for the next session. A change was made in the constitution which provides that Grand Lodges may be chartered in States where Grand Lodges already exist, upon the petition of existing Grand Lodges. Hon. Horace Maynard, United States Minister to Turkey, has reached Constantinople. A regent issue of the Levant Herald says a series of terrible earthquake shocks ook place early in May in the province

of Broussa, in Asia Minor. Several villages were destroyed and 2,000 persons lost their lives. A Caklist battery located at Mount Rico on the 27th fired on a Spanish squadron, and the Admiral was killed and several of his officers wounded. The Cortes of Portugal lately passed an act granting unconditional freedom to remaining Portuguese slaves. The Secretary of the United States Treasury has retired $987,760 from the currency balance of the Treasury, the same being 80 per cent, of additional circulation issued to banks during the month. The accounts up to the morning of the 29th place the number of dead by the Holyoke (Mass.) disaster at seventy-one; fatally burned, twenty-two; .otherwise burned and wounded, twenty-seven. A Kansas City (Mo.) dispatch of the 28th says that a large band of Indians were encamped on the forks of the Salmon River in Kansas, and that the citizens had been obliged to abandon their homes. The Chicago Journal of the 28th says the reports from the grasshopper-in-flicted regions of the West indicated that the first reports were greatly exaggerated.

Dr. J. H. Eccleston has been elected Episcopal Bishop of lowa. Four children of S. M. Christian, of Versailles, Ohio, were burned to death a few days ago by the explosion of a can of coal-oil, with which one of them was kindling a kitchen fire. According to a London dispatch of the 29th ult. Paul Boyton, who started the day before to cross tbe British Channel from Cape Grisnez, France, in his life-saving suit, landed between Dover and South Foreland on the morning of that day, having been in the water continuously for nearly twenty-four hours. An investigation concluded at Berlin on the 29th ult. shows that the offer of Wiessinger to assassinate Bismarck was merely an attempt to extort money. The ships Alert and Discovery, of the British Arctic expedition, Bailed from Portsmouth, England, on the afternoon of the 2Wth ult The Secretary of the Treasury has di" rected the sale of $500,000 in gold each week during the month of June. The 29th ult. was observed as Decoration Day in many parts ©f the country. Sunday, the 80th, and Monday, 31st, were observed in other localities. A LETTEirfrom President Grant to the Chairman of the recent Pennsylvania Republican State Convention has been published, in which he disclaims all desire for a renomination. He says: “I am not nor have I ever been a candidate for a renomination, i would not accept a nomination if it were tendered, unless it should come under such circumstances as to make it an imperative duty—circumstances not likely to arise.” A number of business blocks in Springfield, Mass., were destroyed by fire on the 80th ult. Loss estimated at nearly $500,000. The graves of the Confederate dead in the cemetery at Nashville, Tenn., were decorated on the 28th ult., several Federal and ex-Federal soldiers being present.