Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1880 — EPITOME OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

EPITOME OF THE WEEK.

Current Paragraphs. The Tay bridge lately blown down near Ediubargt, Scotland, U to be rebuilt. M. de Lessees, the promoter of the Panama Canal, arrived at Panama on the 30th T** ■' •' _ ' During December the Treason - Department paid 91.727,520 on account of arrears of pensions. The Aurora newspaper, the organ of Pope Leo XIII. appeared in Rome on the morn tag of the Ist. The Pennsylvania Republican Convention baa been called to meet in Harrisburg on the 4th of February. The new Interest law went into eflect in New York’on the 2d, and the legal rate of interest in that State is now six per cent. A contract has been signed for the construction of the Texas Pacific Railroad from Fort Worth to El Paso, a distance of 750 ■Dm. ' The Supreme Court for the District Of Columbia has ordered a reargument of the lottery case before a full bench at the next general term. The announcement is made that the gx-Empress Eugenie will soon pay a visit to South Africa to mark the spot where the Prince Imperial was killed by the Zulus. “ Castle Stewart,” the residence built tn Washington some years ago by exSenator Stewart, of Nevada, was partially destroyed by fire on the night of the 30th ult. ' The receipts from internal revenue for the six months ending December 31, 1879, the first six months of the current fiscal year, were 961,500,331, and from customs 987,713,7150. i - ’

The official count of the late Louisiana election was completed on the 31st ult. The new Conatitution was adopted by 59,148 majority, and the debt ordinance by 10,487 majority. sUnited States Senator Houston, j of Alabama, died at bis home in Athens on i the morning of the 31st ult. His disease was. nervous prostration and fatty degeneration of the heart. Smallpox has become so prevalent at Washington as to excite alarm on the part of the dwellers' there. There had been eighteen cases tip to the 30th ult., tnosUof the victims being negroes. Teheran (Persia) dispatches, received in London on the Ist, state that the famine in the northern provinces of that country was increasing in severity.' Great Britain and the United States were looked to for relief. The committee appointed by the Governor of New Hampshire to investigate the cattle disease in that State reports that it is not pleuro-pneumonia, but that it was induced by local causes and is not contagious. Apter a thorough test Mr. Maske.lyne, of the Mineral Department of the British Museum, has decided that the crystalized forms of carbon claimed. to be 'diamonds are not those gems, but only a silicious compouad. ‘ , r The Postmaster-General has instructed the Postmaster of New York City to refuse the payment of money orders or the delivery of registered letters addressed to certain firms in Broad and Wall streets, pur]>orting to be engaged in stock brokerage. On the 2d Mr. Jas. Mae Lean, the person who claimed to have produced dia.inonds from carbon, wrote to the London Timet reiterating his claim, and asking a suspension of judgment upon the recent state- . ment of Mr. Masketyne that they, were only silicious compounds. The public-deht statement for December makes the following exhibit: Total debt (including interest), 92,219,783,408. Cash in Treasury, 9307.963,903. Debt, less amount in Treasury.'>2,oll,79B,sos. Decrease during the month, 94,251,217. Decrease since June 30, 1879, 915,408,751. On the 81st ult. J. D. Cameron, Chairman of the Nation a) Republican Committee, issued a call for a National Convention of the Republican party, to meet in Chicago on the 2d of June next, for the nomination of candidates to be supported for President and Vice President.

The following is a statement of the coinage executed at the United States Mints during December, 1879: Gold, 5®»,809 pieces —value $6,487,000; sUyer, 2,384,200 pieces—value $2,358,032; minor coinage; 3,103,250 pieces—value $31,433. Total coinage, 6,078,319 pieces—value $8,876,465. One hundred andseventeen colored emigrants from Goldsboro, N. C-, arrived at Petersburg, Va., on the 30th uIL, en route for Indianapolis, via Washington. The emigrants, consisting of men, women and children, were under charge of the General Passenger Agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Several hundred more were to follow. At Boston on the night of the 29th ult. Mrs. Helen J. Ward was shot and killed by,her daughter, a young lady nineteen years of age, under singular circumstances. The girl stated at first that she committed the tragedy while in a state of somnambulism, but as she afterward told contradictory stories the matter she was arrested and locked up. Two young Americans, traveling by stage coach in Mexico the other day, encountered a band of thirty robbers, and in a desperate engage me nt gave them such a drubbing as the survivors will never forget After five of the highwaymen had been killed and many wounded, those able to beat a retreat did so in a very precipitate manner. One of the Yankee lads received painfal injuries. The total amount of additional Na-tional-Bank circulation issued during the year ending December 31, 1879, was $26,507,870-, amount retired, $7,612,761; net increase of bank circulation during‘the year, $18,985,109; total amount of National Bank circulation outstanding December 31. $340,388,012, not including the circulation of National gold banks, which was $1,426,12.1 The total amount of United States currency outstanding on the 31st ult. was $362,754 009.

< re neral. Dispatches were received from General Roberts at Gabul or the 29th ult. stating that his losses at that point during the pre ceding four or five days bad been seventy-sev-en killed and'two hundred and twenty wounded. In consequence of a heavy snow-fall most of the insurgents had escaped out of reach. London dispatches of the 29th ult. say the loss at life by the Tay bridge disaster had. been considerably exaggerated in the reports previously transmitted. It was believed at that time that the loss of life would not exceed ninety. The bodies of six victims had been recovered. A boiler explosion in Paris on, the 29th ult. killed six persons and wounded two. On the evening of the 30th ult., as the King and Queen of Spain were driving trough the gate of th* royal palace, a

young man fired a pistol at the former, but, as his aim was poor, no (isrange resulted. The would-be ssaassin, who to but nineteen yean old. was promptly arrested. A Cape Town dispatch, received on I the 30th ult, says that, at a recent meeting of the Boers, it was resolved to maintain the demand for the independence of the Transvaal. The same dispatch adds that Bir Garnet Wolseley, at a recent public dinner at Pretoria, stated that in the future the Transvaal would be regarded as a Crown colony. “ It having been reported that the Czar had ordered the nobles to divide their property among the peasants in Russia, and those on the lands of Count Schouvaloff seeing no signs of division, a large number of them attacked the castle of that diplomatist on the 30th alt., and literally sacked IL lx consequence of the alleged success of the Edison electric light gas stocks in London fell £5 per share on the 30th ult- The total depreciation in this class of securities since the announcement of Edison's success bad been £2O per share. General Grant and party left Washington on the evening of the 30th uIL, for the South. They would embark at Fernandina for Cuba. Lieutenant-General Sheridan and wife will go as far as Havana. Secretary Sherman has written Senator Morrill a long letter on the subject of the bonded indebtedness of the United I States. He takes the ground that it would be unwise to attempt to refund the s’s and 6’s falling due in the next eighteen months iin 3X per cents, and states as a reason why the issue would be unsuccessful that the improved condition of the mercantile and manufacturing interests of the country will afford better opportunities for investments than even a bond bearing a higher rate of interest than those about to be refunded. . He says In regard to Fernando Wood’s bill providing for\ a 3)< per-cent-loan that the-bonds would not sell at par, and that he has grave doubts of the Government’s ability to borrow money much longer at four per cenU make the trial, however, as early as possible, he recommends that action be taken by'Congress for the immediate issue Of another four-per-cenL loan. The amount of bonds to be refunded prior to July 2, 1881, is nearly 9800,000,000, and Mr. Sherman thinks the time now available is none too great for that purpose.

A number of wagon-loads of arms and ammunition were removed from the arsenal aVßangor, Me., to Augusta, off the 30th uIL In response to the protests of a Committee of Safety Governor Garcelon said he had ordered the transfer for the purpose o£ testing the loyalty of the people ,of Bangor. He would not call out the military unless forced to do so by disturbances which the police could not control. A largely-attended Democratic mass meeting was held at Portland in the evening, at which Congressmen Murch and Ladd made speeches approving the acts of the Govertfbr and Council. Large indignation meetings were held at Newport and Phillipa, and resolutions were adopted strongly condemning the action of the State authorities. The Governor was engaged in framing a reply to ek-Benator Morrill’s last letter. A dispatch from Cabul, received in London on the morning of the Ist, represents the Mahommedans as abandoning the city in crowds, fearing that some retribution would be visited upon them because they sympathized w ith the insurgents. A London dispatch of the Ist says it had been learned that if the Afghan rebels had whipped the British they would have stipulated, as a basis of peace, the return ■of the British to India, a promise that the Ameer should be restored, and that two British officers should be delivered to them as hostages for the fulfillment of the pledges. The sweeping British victories deprived the insurgents of an opportunity to present their cheerful proposition. John H. Morgan, son of Senator Morgan, of Alabama, was shot at Washington* on the Ist, by Miss Lucy W. R. Horton, who' last summer sued the young map Tor * breach of promise .of» marriage. The girl was arrested, and the victim of Ser wrath was taken to his residence. His wound was not of a dangerous character. Since she began her suit against Morgan, last July, Miss Horton has ' lost a position she held in the Treasury Department, and been generally unfortunate, and she claims that she has been persecuted. She expressed regret after the shooting that her aim had not been a deadly one. Governor Cornell, of New York, was inaugurated In the new Capitol at Albany on the IsL The ceremony was very brief, but it was witnessed by a large number of prominent citizens from all parts of the 1 State.

The suspension of the Grocers’ Bank, New York City, was announced on the Ist .The suspension was caused by the failure of j. Lloyd Haigh, wire manufacturer, the bank holding from SBO,OOO to $100,000.0f his paper. An Augusta (Me.) dispatch 6f the 31st ult. says Governor Garcelon Jiad submitted certain questions to the Justices of the Supreme Court, embracing some of those contained in the memorandum lately presented to him by ex-Senator Morrill. Embry, editor, of a Leavenworth (Kansas) Sunday newspaper, who some years ago shot and seriously wounded D. R. Anthony, 'Was killed on the Ist in a Leavenworth saloon by his partner. The tragedy grew out of a quarrel over the collection and applica tion of certain firm moneys. »• ■. General Hatch and party arrived at Indian Creek on the 31st ult. A St. Petersburg dispatch of the 2d reports, that the country between the Volga and Don was famine stricken. Many persons had already perished. A Madrid dispatch of the 2d says that several of the West Indian members of the Cortes had become so much disgusted with the temporizing policy of the Government on. the bill for the abolition of slavery in Cuba that they would return home in the spring, jeaving the measure to take its chances., ■' A serious outbreak took place at the prison in Turin, Italy, on the 2d, and the guards were forced to fire on the prisoners. Several were killed.

Miss Horton was arraigned in the Washington Police Court on the 2d for the shooting of Senator Morgan\son, and. the young man not being able to appear, the case was continued, and Miss Horton was released on SI,OOO bail, furnished by Mrs. Belva A. Lockw.xJd, the lawyer. *• A lively disturbance was created on the New York Produce Exchange on the 2d, when statistics of articles dealt in were posted in centals. The provision inen tore down the tables of receipts, and the grain men refused to do business. Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish agitator, landed in New York on the 2d. He was visited at quarantine and appropriately welcomed by the local committees and by delegations from other cities.. In answer to the various addresses presented to him Mr. Parnell spoke briefiy, and explained the object of his coming, which was to secure contributions of money to aid the distressed people of Ireland. He announced that he should visit Philadelphia on the 10th and Chicago on the 20»h. The cattle plague has appeared on the Island of Mariuua. Up to the Ist 20,000 animals had died. Ten Afghans were hanged on the 30th ult An Italian bark arrived at Baltimore on the 3d with eleven of the passengers and

crew of the steamer Bonusla, which lately foundered in mid-ocean. * At Lyons, N. Y., on the afternoon of the 3d Miss Fanny Hovey entered her father’s ■tore, and shot him with a revolver in his left temple. She then shot herself in her left temple, dying almost Immediately. Her father was mortally wounded. ▲ Paris telegram of the 4th says the Seine had overfiowed its banks and caused immense damage. A woman attacked and severely beat the Queen Dowager of Bavaria a few days *go. Eleven persons have been drowned at Loban by the overflow of the River Danube. General Nicoles De Piero la was on the 22d of December proclaimed Dictator of Pena The President fled the country two days before. A New England Bank Examiner says that all recent inveatlgsUons into the Dexter (Me.) bank robbery case confirms him in the opinion that Cashier Barron was both murdered and slandered. A Washington dispatch of the 4th ■ays General Hatch left Lake City for Fort Garland on the 2d. He is stated to have expressed the opinion that the White River murderers would not be surrendered until after the return of the Chiefs from Washington. He thinks that Ouray was altogether sincere in his desire to surrender them, and believes they would have been yielded up had it not been for a fear that the people of Colorado intended to lynch them before trial. General Grant and party arrived at Fernandina, Fla., on the morning of the 4th. The Maine Judges of the Supreme Court on the 3d rendered an opinion on the questions recently submitted by Governor Garcelon. The opinion was unanimous, and entirely condemnatory of the position taken by the Governor and his Council. In reply to the First Question, they decide that the Governor and Council cannot order a new election where there is no return. If it appears to the House of Representatives that there was an election of Representatives in fact, they should admit them to their seato, though no return be made to the Secretary of State. The Representative is not to be deprived of his rights because municipal officers have neglected their duty. In answer to the Second Question, they reply that reference can be made to the record to correct an error. In answer to the Third Question, they decide, substantially, that a return signed by less than a majority of the Selectmen of a town or Aidermen of a city is valid. The Governor and Council cannot go behind the returns. In auswer to the Fourth Question, they decide that the votes in some of the returns designated as “ scattering” are properly so designated. In answer to the Fifth Question, they decide that the returns which are not attested by the Town or City Clerk are not valid, 'but in the <absence of the Clerk, a Clerk pro tempore, or a Deputy Clerk can act In reply to the Sixth Question, they say that the Governor and Council must act on the returns forwarded to the Secretary of State. If they purport to be made in open town meeting they constitute the basis for the action of the Canvassing Board, and the Board has no authority to receive evidence to negative the facts therein set forth. In reply to Question No. Seven, they say that the Canvassing Board has no right to inquire whether a certain town had more than two Selectmen, and could not go behind the returns to find ouL In answer to the Eighth Question, they say that a person not acitizen might be elected a Selectman, and his official acts bind the town. Such an officer, would be clothed with apparent right, and the Governor and Council could not inqure intdhis title. In reply to the Ninth Question, they say the Governor and Council could not inquire whether certain ballots had a distinguishing mark. Their business was with the returns only. The statute prohibited the rejection of a ballot ’’after it is received into the ballot-box.” In reply to Question Ten, they say that the use of the words “ do,” “ditto,” or points equivalent to them, constitute no valid cause for the rejection of returns. In answer to Question Eleven, they say the Governor and Council have no power to reject returns, either on the ground of improper signatures or alterations, unless an objection in writing is presented setting forth that the signatures are not genuine, or that the return had been altered after it was signed. Then notice must be given and the facte adjudicated upon. The Governor and Council have no right to reject returns for such cause without a hearing. The genuineness of the returns is to be presumed, and this presumption must be overcome by evidence. In answer to the Twelfth Question, the Judges say that when two returns are received, the return first received must be the basis of the action of the Governor and Council. If defective or not a true copy of the record it can be corrected in accordance with the provisions of the statute. “It is enough if the returns can be understood, and, if understood, the full effect should be given to their natural and obvious meaning. They are not to be strangled by idle technicalities.”