Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1881 — HERE AND THERE. [ARTICLE]

HERE AND THERE.

Stats crimes in Russia are to be tried secretly. It is stated'that government bonds are becoming scarce in New York. New YArk City has contributed $150,000 to the Michigan sufferers. The Senate has passed a bill giving Garfield the franking privilege. It is said that one of Col. Ingersoll’s daughters te a convert to Presbyterianism. It is estimated by competent authority that the trial of Guiteau will cost $150,000. f * # • There is no National Bank in the ißtate of Mississippi or the Territory of Arizona. Several bills to expedite Star Route mail service have been introduced in Congress. The English Grand Lodge of Masons has passed resolutions in memory of President Garfield. A widower at Ida, lowa, was tarred and feathered, the other day. for marrying his step-daughter. A rill has been introduced in the Senate of Congress giving Mrs. Garfield franking privileges. M/ss Shirtoff is a Russian lady whose beauty and wealth now dazzles gay and fashionable Paris. It will surprise many to learn that Cincinnati ranks next to Lynn, Mass., in the manufacture of shoes. Guiteau is not au “awful example” of whisky drinking or tobacco using, being a total abstainer from both. Thb authorities of lowa interpose objections to the operation of marriage dowry associations in that State.

The appraisement of President Oarfield’s personal property, including insurance, foots up about*sloo,ooo. The latest estimate of the cotton rop shows a falling off of a million and a'half bales compared with last year. The Cincinnati Price Current thinks the crop of hogs packed will fall short 1,000,000 pounds compared with last year. The amount that will be required to pay arrearages of pensions is variously estimated from $250,000,000 to s*>6o,000,000. The largest elementary free school in England is that of the Hebrews in London, which is attended by 2,293 hildren. . It is said that a million dollars have been subscribed iu New York for a postal telegraph between that city and Chicago. The authorities at Washington are sending out over the country 200,000 young carp, bred in the fish ponds at that place. Senator Sherman has already introduced a bill in the Senate, providing for funding f 300,000,000 of the 3J per cent, bonds at 3 per cent.

k Gciteac admitted in his cross-ex-amination that he felt remorse'for his great crime, and remorse implies full responsibility for the act. The Uifited States grand jurj’ at Covington, Ky., recently returned indictments against forty-four crooked whisky makers in that State. Ix Keokuk, the other day, a sbn married his father’s divorced wife, whom the father had divorced fur the purpose of marrying her sister. A considkrale majority of the medical experts summoned as witnesses in the Guiteau case, vill,testify that lie is responsible for his crime. At a recentjßate 55,000 applications ior rent adjustment had been made to the Irish Court, and they were 61 till coming at the rate of 500 a day. Senator La pham has introduced a •fill in Congress providing a penalty of life imprisonment for an attempt upon the life of a President of the United States. Willie Blake, of New York, aged three years, poured kerosene over his in ant brother in the cradle, then set -fire to the fluid, and the child burned to death.

It seems to be proved that the Ninth Regiment of Massachusetts disgraced itself at the Yorktown Centennial bv conduct unbecoming in soldiers and gentlemen. .'■rENATOB Bill,, of Georgia, now speaks with a perceptible lisp, but his physician assures him that it will wear off, and that the cancer on his tongue may be considered cured. ThS fellow who recently stole $117,OU(»in securities from the President of a Cleveland bank, has been arrested at n tfalo. His name is Burke, and he s a professional.* Tns State of Maine sells 100,000 pounds of sprpee gum every year# I

The force expended in chewing it exceeds several hundred thousand horse powers. It is officially announced that Spain has abolished slavery in Cuba and all her colonies. The abolition is to be gradual, a system of apprenticeship preceding absolute frreedom. The Houpe of the Legislature of Washington Territory passed a bill giving suffrage to women taxed upon SSOO worth of property, but the Council killed the bill by a vote of eight to one.

Ax excellent suggestion is made to the effect that the publication of the names of persons who receive or apply for pensions would aid materially in correcting abuses and preventing frauds. President Arthur don’t seem to ; have much admiration for the bottlescarred heroes of the army, as he has already approved the findings of court martials dismissing four of them for drunkenness. A ship load of commercial travelers, representing every kind of British manufacturers and merchanuize, will leave England soon, with the purpose of visiting every seaport in the worM where trading is done. A staem boiler recently built in Germany is believed to be the largest in the world. It weighs forty tons, and its builder celebrated its completion by giving a banquet to thirty persons at a table spread in its interior. At Greenfield, Mass., recently, Father McCarty, the parish priest, was shot and fatally wounded by David McMullen, whose wife iefthim ■several ypars ago and became McCarty’s housekeeper.

On last Thursday Isaac Basset completed his fifteenth year of service as an officer of the United States Senate, and was publicly congratulated upon that fact by the President of the Senate pro tern. It is alleged that President Arthur has written a letter to the governments of Peru and Chili, urging peace, and that the mission of Walker Blaine and William H. Prescott to those countries is the bearing and presentation of the letter. A Washington special to the Indianapolis Times says that the evidence upon which the Star Route conspirators were recently convicted in Philadelphia was furnished by General Tom Brady, who commenced the prosecution previous to his resignation as Second Assistant P. M. General. - - In a Philadelphia court a woman has secured a verdict of $6,000 from a street railway line for the loss of a hand by an accident to the car in which she was riding, while a few days before, in the same court, a verdict of only $4,000 was given in favor of a boy who had both legs cut ofl in another street-car sequent. v - The actual quantity of corn bought and sold by J. B. Hobbs, of Chicago, during the mouth of October was 00,000,000 bushels. This is the largest grain deal ever made or conceived by one man or firm. In the purchase of this enormous amount, Mr. Hobbs actually signed checks for the total sum of SIO,OOO 000.

Iu an Frie, Penn., eebooi, one day last week, a little boy, being locked in an unused room as punishment fulsome slight fault, was attacked by seW-er-rats, over-powered and nearly killed before assistance arrived, summoned by his cries. The terror and pain have make him a maniac, and it is feared that he will never recover. A noticeable feature of General Raum’s report is its list of kiiled and wounded among his little army of revenue officers. During the past five years the casualties have been no fewer than 92 in the various engagements between the illicit distillers on one side and the revenue officers aud employes on the other. The large proportion •of 28 killed to 64 wounded shows the desperate nature oi these conflicts. . *

The rumor some weeks ago that Commissioner Dudley was on ti e track of a band of conspirators amon» the pension clerks, who had ben, swindling the’ government, through fraudulent pension-claims, is brought to the front again by the arrest of a pm - sion clerk who has made a partial confession revealing the existence of the fraud conspiracy. European newspapers are talking of the possibility of American wheat b - ing driven out of.tbe markets of Europe by grain from Tunis. Land can bj bought in Tunis.it is said, for half the price it costs in the Western States of the American Union, and it is so fertile that it will yield two crops fin the year- The quality of the grain, mor£ ever, is equal to the much prized Hungarian wheat. Of the twenty-eight Speakers of the House of Congress, three have come from Pennsylvania; four from Massachusetts; three Kentucky; twq from New Jersey; one from Connect!: cut: one from North Carolina; two from Bouth Carolina; one from New \ork; four from Virginia; twojfrom Tennessee; three from Indiana; one from Maine, and one from Georgia.

General Keifer is the twenty-ninth Speaker of the House (not counting Speakers pro tern.) and the first from Ohio. A syndicate of wealty capitalists from New York is reported to be negotiating for a 2,000 acre tract of land between the Big Calumut river on the south, and Lake Michigan on the north. It has two miles frontage on the river, and two miles of Lake Michigan beach, is lrom eight to ten feet above the level of the lake and is covered with large pine trees. The beach on the lake shore is said to be the finest anywhere near Chicago, and presents unusual attractions lor a lake shore drive and seaside resort.

Jacob Ixikim.ard has made a proporsiiion to organize a company for building faster and more luxurious steamships than any now running between New York and England. He says he will put on a line to make the distance lrom New York to Milford, Haven, in Wales, inside of six days. No freight will be carried and each steamer will accommodate 500 passengers. The opinion seems to be that, to make sucb a line profitable, freight must be carried. Loiillard claims the money is ready to launch the enterprise, and the ships will be running in 1883. . Rocxaxia and Austria are at sword’s points. The former insists on having jurisdiction and control of that portion of the Danube river which passes through her territory, while Austria claims the absolute freedom of that river to its mouth, and has suspended, all diplomatic relations with her plucky little neighbor because the latter does not consent to relinquish her claimed rights without a murmur. Roumania calls upon the great Powers to support ner side Of the controversy, and it is believed that Russia is backing her. "War mav grow out of this difficulty before it shall have been definitely settled.

A Washington special says: “It is more than probable, that the action of the court to-day finally and forever disposes of the star route prosecutions. In every case, with but one possible exception—that of Dorsey—the statute of limitation intervenes and bars any criminal proceeding. The counsel for the government maintain, however, thatlhe battle which has been go 1 ng on in the courts for the matter of a week is but a mere preliminary skirmish, and that behind it they have sufficient evidence to make a case by regular proceeding before the gfan jury for presentment aud indictment. Still, however, the current of opinion is that the last has been hear-d of the star route business.” A traveller bought an excursion ticket from Washington to Toledo and, owing to detention of trains, for which he was not responsible, its limit of,time expired while he was stKl on lie way. The conductor on the terminal road demanded regular fare, and put hith off the train when he refused to pay. He sued the company whose agent sold him the ticket, on the ground that* the contract "was made with that official for the entire journey, and the jury, on the direction othe court, gave him a verdict for SSBO.

This Country now has iu circulation or subject to circulation, the enormous amount of $1,883,401,872 of currency, of whieh $468,493,227 is in gold coin, $181,774,524 in silver coin, $362,618,021 in United States Treasury notes, and $361,220,009 in National hand bills. During the year there has been an increase of $18,655,327 in paj>er currency, (national bank bills), and during the past sixteen months there has been an increase cf $147,948,141 in gold and silver coin,of wbich5109,535.536was gold In the statement of the total currency in circulation no account is made of the $71,871,950 outstanding Treasury coin-certificates, because, these merely stand for and actually- represent the amount of coin in the Treasury. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has decided a case of interest to the general public. A person named Dearmlt was arrested on a warrant issued by Mayor McCarthy, of Erie, and he brought suit for malicious arrest and detention. The court belov gave Deannit damages, it being shown that the man was entirely innocent of the charge upon which the warrant was’ issued. The case was appealed aud Judge Trunkey, of the Supreme Court, in delivering the opinion reversing the case, said: “An innocent man is unfortunate when he is suspected of having committed a high crime, and is deeply injured when imprisoned upon but he has no redress if his injury came through the proper actiou of a public officer while in the faithfu performance of his duty.”

The Chicago Inter-ocean gives excellent and timely advice to young men who are begging for apppointments to the minor offices of the Government, when it says: “Don't do it, boys, A multitude of bright fellows have been ruined by capturing just such prizes. Department clerkships at Washington are asylums where twen-ty-four out of every twenty-five men bury ambition and hope. It is a life in which habits are formed which unfit a man for ordinary business affairs and if he fills such a positioimfor a series of ye&rs the future settß toto a 1

contracted circle beyond which he does not hope to step. Better plow or digfor maul or shove the plane or engage in any of the rough-and-tumble work in which men of mind and muscle engage, than seek the life referred to. The day workman in his cabin, the small farmer in his humble .home, and the mechanic as he rests from his daily toil, each and all have reasons for more hope and a brighter future. Petty official pasition, where there is but small hope of promotion is but the iron pyrites which has deceived many a young man into the belief that it was pure gold.”

The annual report of State Auditor Wolfe, just filed, shows that the total receipts and balances on hand of the State Treasury, am0untt054,167,743.06. The total net disbursements were, $3,427,092 S 4, leaving a balance in the Treasury, Oct. 31st, 1881 cf $740,650.72. The Auditor expresses his opinion, based upon incomplete returns from the several counties and an extensive correspondence, that the new tax law has proved to be a great improvement upon all former laws, as a very considerable amount of taxable property which had hitherto escaped assessment has this year appeared for the first time upon the tax duplicate. Early in 1882, when the abstract of the several counties will be on file in the State Auditor’s office, he expects to be able to ascertain with exactness the increase of tax receipts which has resulted from the act. The provisions for the taxation of foreign corporations doing business in the State have not as yet been strictly complied with by the corporations intended to be affected thereby, and the returns required by law have Hot been received from either the,Pullman, Woodruff’ or fast freight companies, or from the Western Union Telegraph Company. It is the intention of the State Auditor to call in the aid of the Attorney General to secure .a prompt compliance with the law by these corporations. Colonel Wolfe also makes some severe criticisms upon the class of foreign insurance companies who do business in the State in-viola-tion and contempt of the laws enacted for the protection of the public from fraud, and warns the people of the Siate that policies taken out with companies that have not complied with the State laws can not be enforced in the State courts, because there is no one upon whom service can be made, while it is extremely doubtful whether even in the State where the companies belcug any recoverycould be made on account of such policies. He ruggests that the next Legislature should provide more stringent laws against the officers and ng-ntsof such companies, and says tuat meantime he intends to do all he ca:i to carry out existing laws.