Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1884 — Page 3

SOUTHERN TAFFY.

(From the Chicago Tribune.) The Macon (Gn.) Telegraph extends the following glittering invitation to Northern Republican speakers to go down South and dis cuss the issues of the day: ——-• ——~— - *i*T Speaking 1 for the poople of the South, we extend in advance a warm welcome to any man of brains and ability who will come among us to discuss iu public the great business and political issues of the day. The people have much to learn of the tariff, the principles of our Government, and the progress of the Republic. And while they have much to learn, thoy have also much to teach that will disarm calumny and speed the restoration of the Union. Let Messrs- “Conkling, Edmunds, Blaine, Hoar, Frye, Hale, Hawley, Sherman, Harrison, Logan, and a score of others,” come with their wives and daughters and tarry for a season in the Southern Empire State. Socially, the people will indulge them In a season of old-fashioned Southern hospitality; politically, with such men as ex-Gov. James M. Smith, the Hon. J. C. C. Black. Gen. H. H. Jackson, the Hon. Clifford Anderson, tho Hon. Thomas Hardeman, the Hon. H. G. Turner, the Hon. N. J. Hammond, and Gen. Phil Cook, they will oppose them in open discussion upon the stump. As greatness dwindles as ,you approach it, so, porhaps, may prejudice vanish in personal intercourse. It will take something more than such taffy as the above to induce North-, ern Republicans to go South for political purposes. There is evidence on the other side, delivered under oath, which places that section in an entirely different attitude. We learn from some of the witnesses before the Senate Committee in the Copiah investigation how Republicans are regarded and treated down there. , One of them testified as follows: If you should send your biggest, man, Gen. Grant, down into our country toorganizetho negroes he would be killed at once. All our trouble last fall was amoilgthe County Supervisors. We were determined to elect our men and get rid of the Independents. We would have taken human life if it had beeu necessary in order to get rid of them. Yes, wc would do it if they had a majority of the -votes. —In some places I deny the right of franchise to the majority and believe in a qualification to limit the suffrage, We limit, it auy way. I believe it is a moral obligation to gfet rid of the Independents, even if they are in a majority, and that opinion is shured by the good white people. That was the cause ( of our trouble last fall. Frank M. {Sessions testified as to the meeting held to warn ,the Matthews family to keep out of politics: After the resolutions were adopted Mr. Baily made a speech, saying that he had gone into Beat 3to stump the county, but found he could do more electioneering in the saddle than on the stump, and ho had found the most convincing argument to be a pistol, which he drew from his pocket. The speaker said his friend Wheeler was the best clectionoerer he had over seen. Wheeler's arguments always convince. Witness had not taken much interest in politics on either side. Had been in the Confederate army. Mr. Baily in his speech said that if the Democrats who had gone off to the Independent party would come back they' ought to be rereceived kindly. But if they would not, what shall be done? A voice in the crowd cried; “Kill’em off.” “No,” said Baily, “I cannot advise that, but I bclieie you will kill them without advice.” The speech was greeted with applause. The following extracts from the testimony are also to the point: J. W. Dunbar saw a crowd of armed men nt Gough's store, where Has Wheeler made a speech saying, that they intended to force tho negree t to vote tho I)emocr^.ie-.tickot. J. T. Dameron, a merchant, saw Has Wheeler in a streetcar in Jackson the 12th or 14th of February. Has Wheeler Was talking in*a low tone. He said, “ Yes, old Hoar is coming down here on an Investigating committee, if I get a crack at him I will kill him, too. I killed Print Matthews, or rather it was the Democratic party that did it. If it had not been for polities I would not have done it, but it was politics that did it.” J. B. Alien 1s a natlvo of Tennessee, and was in the Confederate army. Had teen a Democrat, hut for four years past was an Independent. Witness was told that he was to be killed lor his politics, and the man who threatened his life wns a deserter from the Confederate array while witness was fighting In it.

J. M. Mathews (white) was sworn. Lives fifteen miles from Hazlehurst, in Copiah County, is a farmor, is a brother of Print Matthews, voted at Centennial eleetion-day, but left at 11 o’clock and went to Hazlehurst. Witness was notified by the negroes that he would be killed if he went on. Saw numbers of armed men, but nobody interfered with him, and, ho went into Hazlehurst to his brother's house. About dark a crow'd of armed men came along the road by the house aud were very noisy and profane. When witness left the polls at Centennial there had been cast eighty-five colored and eight white votes for the Independent ticket, but in the final result there were only twentyfour votes for the Independents and all the rost for the Democrats. All the negroes that have lived with and worked for witness have been driven off by the system of terrorism practiced. Witness cannot, get negroes to work ior him through their fear of being disturbed. Witness is a cotton-planter, owning 1,400 acrcs,and most of it under cultivation. Witness does not believe there is any prejudice avainst him exceptjfor his Republican politics. We might add columns more of sworn- testimony like the above, showing how Republicans are esteemed in the South, and how much freedom is allowed them in voting and expressing their opinions. Until the Macon Telegraph can explain away such testimony, or prove that it is false, and that Republicans can speak and act with as much freedom in the South as they can in the North, its invitation will have to be declined with regrets. It would be an immense advantage to the South if it could be accepted, and it would develop mutual kindly feelings, but we shall have to wait a little longer, or until a man has the liberty to speak and vote as he pleases before acting.

At List.

The House has passed the Mexican pension hill, which it is estimated will consume seventy-fire millions of taxesr and more than two-thirds of the names to be added to the pension list will be those of men who fought to destroy the Union, Of the 70,000 men who went to the war in Mexico 50,000 were from the South, and of that 50,000 every one who was alive and well fonght in the rebel army against the Federal Government. It is the only way at present that tens of thousands of the ex-Con-foderates could get into the Public Treasury through the medium of a pension, and this accounts for the fact that there were but four Democratic votes cost against the bilL As Mr. Browne, of Indiana, said: “The bill was brought in bocause the rebel soldiery could be pul on no other pension roil.” It allows these rebels to draw pensions, and under its provisions Jefferson Davis can draw his pension also. The exConfedorates in the South who were not in the. Mexican war Were in the Indian wars in Florida and other parts of the South, and they will next be added to tlie rolls, as it is the intention of the House to take up these wars

separately and provide for their survivors. Mr. Townshend may pompously announce that he is obeying the instructions of the pe pie of his State “in rewarding the old veterans,” who not only arc not old “veterans,” because a few weeks’ service does not make a “veteran,” but also because a large number of them never saw any actual service*at all. He may fancy that his advocacy of the pension bills, which, when all in, will take at least fifty millions out of the. Public Treasury for those who fought to destroy the Union, every dollar of it consuming the results of one day’s labor, will entitle him to admiration and gratitude of the people of Illinois, but he may find himself mistaken. The people of Illinois regard such pension bills as rebel raids upon the Public Treasury, namely, to reward men for services rendered in trying to break down and destroy the National Government. —Chicago Tribune.

UNION LEAGUE.

Meeting of the National Council, at Washington. The National Council of the National Union League recently held its annual session in Gen. James S. Negley, of Pittsburgh, presiding. The session was devoted principally to'perfecting the organization of the league for effective work in the coming Presidential campaign and consideration of the anti-Bourbon movement in the Southern States, its necessities, and the means employed to assist the Independents in that section. The following were elected officers for the ensuing year: President—James S. Negley. Vice Presidents—William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire; Gen. C. H. Grosvenor, of Ohio; Col. J. E. Bryant, of Georgia; J. E. O’Hara, of North Carolina; Col. 'lhomas H. Rich, of Maryland; C. F. Scott, of West Virginia; C. A. Boutelle, of Maine; L. C. Houk, of Tennessee; S. A. Mac Allister, of Delawares R. K. Bruce, of Mississippi. Corresponding Secretary—Thos. G. Baker, of New York. Assistant Corresponding Secretary—J. W. Bartlett, of Massachusetts. Recording Secretary—S. V. Gwynner, of Pennsylvania. Treasurer—A. M. Clapp, of Washington, D. C. Chaplain—Capt. J. J. Cooper, of Pennsylvania. Marshal —Geo. Simpson. Sergeant-ut-Arms—B. T. Bemar, Of Pennsylvania. The Committee on Bourbonism and Misrnle at the South submitted a report describing the condition of affairs politically in the Southern States, and suggesting plans for adoption by the league to aid in securing freedom of the ballot to all citizens. Representatives Pettibone and Houk, of Tennessee, addressed the council in support of the recommendation made by the committee that aid be extended to the opponents of Bourbonism in the Southern States. They presented statistics of the anti-Bourbon vote in Tennessee, showing it had increased from less than 60,000 in the Hayes Presidential election to 89,000 in the Garfield election and to 105,000 in the last Gubernatorial election. They stated that an additional 10,000 votes would redeem the State from Bourbonism and that those votes could be brought out if assistance were given to overcome the lawlessness which operated in that State against the free exercise of political rights. Addresses on the same subject were made by Representative Boutelle, of Maine; Gen. Charles H. Grosvenor, of Ohio; Lieutenant Governor Lewis, of Virginia; ex-Senator Bruce, Prof. Greener, ex-Representative Lynch, of Mississippi, and others, after which the report of the committee was adopted. A special committee to be known as a Committee on Bourbonism was then appointed as follows: Gen. Charles H. Grosvenor, Chairmaji; J. E. Bryant, of Georgia; C. A. Boutelle, of Maine; Horatio Bisbee, Jr., of Florida; L. C. Houk, of Tennessee; John B. Lynch, of Mississippi; A. M. Clapp, of Washington; Nathan Goff, of West Virginia; and J. E. O’Hara, of North Carolina. It is intended that this committee shall establish headquarters in Washington during the campaign and act in conjunction With the National and Congressional Committees, directing its efforts principally to aiding the independent movement in the South, and it shall, after the nomination of the Presidential ticket, in its discretion, issue an address to the people of the United States on the condition of the South. An Executive Committee and a Committee on Finance were also appointed, and it was agreed that the next session of the Council should be held in Chicago the Monday preceding the meeting of the Republican National Convention. Congressman Buckner, of Missouri, in an interview at Washington, takes a doleful view of the prospects of the Bourbon party. He thinks that the action of the Carlisle-Bourbon wing of the Democracy in forcing the tariff issue and in antagonizing Randall cannot be other than disastrous. He warned Carlisle, soon after the Speakership was decided, that this would be the case. The contest now, he thinks, has assumed such a shape that peace js ont of the question.— Chicago Tribune.

Gov. Waller, Democrat, of Connecticut, who is here, is quoted as expressing great dissatisfaction with the Democratic conduct of affairs in Washington, and as saying that the Democratic House hod done nothing but to show its unfitness to control public affairs, and that probably Connecticut would give 5,000 Republican majority next fall. —Washington Telegram . How much longer is the Democratic party to bo permitted to fling the bloody corpses of white and colored Republicans in the face of the nation ? The testimony' before the Senate Investigating Committee, at Washington and .New Orleans, is horrifying as anything made public during the bloodiest days of the Democratic ku-klux.— Indianapolis Journal The Man-afraid-of-the- tariff— Thomas A. Hendrick*, and every other man in the Democratic party named for office. —Exchange.

THE BAD BOY.

“Get ont of here now, pretty lively," said the grocery man to the bad boy, as he came in rubbing his hands and trying to be pleasant. “A bov that will load around here and eat things, and kick when I ask him to help mo sort over potatoes, can’t stay in my store. Git!” and the grocery man picked up a link of sausage and looked mad. “O, go hate yourself,” said the boy as be drew a knife and eut a slice off the grocery man’s weapon, and began eating it, as unconcerned as possible. “When yon want work done, say so, and I will help you, but when you say ‘let’s go and have some fun’ sprouting potatoes or carrying in coal, that is too thin. When you say that, you are a gay deceiver, and you are guilty of false pretenses. But quit lying and call it by its right name, work, and you catch Hennery, but not with funny chaff. But I have got all the work I want on my hands now. I have been appointed pa’s guardian, by ma, and I am straining every nerve to keep pa out of politics.” “Good gracious!” said tho grocery man in alarm, “I am sorry for yonr pa, if he has got his head set on going into politics. I was in politics one year myself, and it has taken me five years to get ont and pay my debts, and now every ward politician owes me for groceries. You see, they came to me and wanted me to run for Supervisor. They said I was just the man they wanted, a man with a large head, one who was a business man, and who would not kick at the expenditure of a few dollars when he could make a barrel of money. They said if I was on the Board of Supervisors I could be placed on a committee that handled the funds, and I could make the purchases of groceries and provisions for all the county institutions, the poor-liouse, house of correction, insane asylum, hospitals, and everything, and I could buy them at my own store at my own price, and in two years I could be rich as any man in town. Well, I never had a proposition strike me so favorably, and I went in head over appetite. For a month I went around our ward night and day, Bpending money, and the politicians came to the store and traded when I was out, and had it charged, and when the caucus was held I*only got one vote for Supervisor, and voted that myself. Well, the politicians tried to explain to me, but I bought a revolver, aud they kept away. Do you know, the next day after the caucus I didn’t have twenty dollars, worth of groceries in the store, and the clerk was dying of lonesomeness? Whatever your pa does, dont let him go into polities, for he will bring up in the inebriate asylum, sure. ” , “WellJ pa has got it bad, but he is too numerous. He has been yearning for two years for a political campaign to open. I don’t suppose there is a citizen who enjoys politics as much as pa. He stays cut nights till the last place is closed, and is the first map on deck in the morning. He has drank with more candidates, more different times, than anybody, and when be is so full that he can’t drink be takes a cigar, and brings it borne. His guests have been smoking up old election cigars ever since the Hancock campaign, and some of them are awful. But this time they are going to run pa for alderman, and he has opened the campaign with a corkscrew. Fa thinks that the position of alderman is greater than governor, because aldermen wear a badge, and have influence. But pa is overdoing the thing. He wants to please everybody, and ho has promised to put ninety-seven men on the police force, has promised forty-four men the position of bridgetender, and there is only one bridge in his ward. He promises the saloon keepers to reduce the price of licenses, and allow them to keep open all night, and he has promised the prohibition temperance people to raise saloon licenses to a thousand dollars and close, every saloon in town. The result is £&ing to be if pa is not elected he will kill himself, and if he is elected the people will kill him, so somebody has got to save pa." ♦ ~ “You can’t do it as long as the fever is on,” said the grocery man. “You have got to watch him, and when he meets with defiat or reverses in politics, then fire some sense into him. But as long as he is red-hot in a campaign, nothing will stop him. I have seen a politician who was full of enthusiasm and beer, fall into the river and drown, and the police pulled him out and then rolled him on a barrel, and pretty soon he came to and the first thing he said was ‘ Rah for Tilden. Set ’em up again! ’ Yon would have thought that man would quit politics, and try and lead a different life, but the next day he was going whooping around, electioneering in the saloons and on street corners, with a cork life preserver strapped around him. He is alive yet, and is an alderman. When a man gets into politics it takes possession of him, and wherever he is he is getting in his work for his party. There was a ward politician that I knew once that used to make a specialty of laboring with the working men. One day he was on top of a building that was being erected, arguing with a bricklayer, when bis foot slipped and he fell off. As he was going down he passed a hod carrier going up with a load of mortar. Yon would think that man would forget politics, as he was falling, and say his prayers, or pick out a soft place tp strike on the sidewalk, but he didn’t As he passed the hodcarrier he yelled to him, ‘ Don’t forget the caucus to-night in yonr ward, and get ont all the boys.’ He stuck in a bed of soft mortar, which saved his life, and as they took a hoe and puUed him to the surface, he scraped the mortar ont of his eyes, and as a doctor came np to set his bones he asked the doctor if he had made Up his mind how to vote this year. No, sir, there is no room in a politician for anything except politics. I was never so annoyed in my life as I was once in church when they put a politician in my pew, and when we got np to sing and opened the hymnbook, the politician had a Republican Presidential ballot under bis thumb, and I had to read it all through. Dear me, if you can get yon pa out of politics do it, if yon have to scare the life ont of him.” “Let ma and me alone for that,” said the boy. “We are experimentig witha

phosphorus, and some night when the campaign is fairly opened, and pa comes home late at night acting crooked, he will see the handwriting on the wajl of a dark room, and the skeletons and snakes and animals and things that vtill visit him will break him up. If every politician had a good little boy to look after him he might be saved or killed, which would be better than . lingering in politics to be cut down like a Bower after be had gone through his property and lost his health,” and tho boy went ont to learn to draw a skeleton on the wall with phosphorus, and the grocery man sat and thought of his own experience as a politician.—PecA’s Sun.

Roses at New Orleans.

I don’t believe there is any region on earth where roses grow in such abundance, variety, beauty, and sweetness as they do in the New Orleans country. A Mississippi gentleman to whom I have been indebted for information on various subjects, tells me that there is growing and in bloom at bis home at this moment a Lariiarque rose vine eighty feet long. The stem is eight inches through in the thickest part. It was planted seventeen or eighteen years ago. It is twined around a veranda, and its gorgeous clusters of cream-tinted roses are splendid to behold. At New Orleans the Marechal Neil roses cause the Northerner to stare in speechless wonder. I saw one of the plants that must have been fifty feet long. I have seen vines of the same rose that long in the North, but they were scraggy and lean-looking and in the florists’ green-houses. At New Orleans they run wild and revel like a midsummer night’s dream. The blossoms grow in gorgeous clusters of half a dozen or more, and the flowers are so large that they would more than cover the top of a large-sized coffee cup. A Ringle one of the pale gold beauties will fill a room with perfume. They are as plenty down there as “white top” in a Northern meadow. And they sell for $1 a lmd np North. In some of the private citizens’ yards in New Orleans there are as many as a hundred different kinds of roses all in bloom at once. They do not require protection from cold at any time. They all stand outdoors in the open ground, and many varieties bloom more or less all the winter through. The rose is a favorite flower at New Orleans. At the .Jockey Club races we saw dozens of handsomely dressed ladies with exquisite bunches of rosebuds at their belts and elsewhere in their dresses — the sweet lovely flower that nature made, none of yonr abominable artificial things. The rose the French inhabitants of New Orleans are fondest of for decoration is called the “Gold of Ophir.” Northern florists have it, but it is not common. The bud is especially prized for its) beauty. It is a smallish rose, of a very pale pink, shading on toward the heart into a deep, rich gold color. Faint streaks of crimson touch the outer petals. It is one of the loveliest roses I ever saw.—Commercial.

The Nativity of Flowers.

But few persons are aware that the dozen or more plants growing in their flower beds are probably representatives of as many different parts of the globe. Some of the worst used and most neglected of our flowers have the most interesting histories, and have traveled farthest from their native soil. For instance, the campanula Carpathia, or Canterbury bell, grows spontaneously on the slopes of the Carpathian Alps. Travelers are surprised to find patches of it growing rankly in almost inaccessible spots. From the Bulgarian Mountains comes the Pentagonia, a rich purple variety of this family. The Tagetes, or common marigold, has a most interesting history. Tageti, a Spanish botanist, found it upon the table lands of Peru. He carried the seed to Europe, where the plant became valued for its medical properties. The removal from a tropical to a temperate region developed some eccentricities; the plant produced double instead of single flowers. And after a second remo vaLto Africa, its deep golden yellow changed to a lighter hue. French florists observed its susceptibility to variation, and by selection soon produced the variegated bloom. The marigold came to ns from Africa and France. The little sweet mignonette is a native of Barbary; the niggela, or Johnny in tbe green, comes from Palestine and Spain; the amaranthus is from the East Indies, and the larkspur from Siberia; candy-tuft is indigenous to the Isle of Crete, and is said to be propagated there for sheep pasture; the aster was discovered In Churn; and so on through a long list of our most common flowering plants. The subject of the nativity of plants is almost exhaustless, and is extremely interesting and profitable.— Indiana Farmer.

Do You Know the Plants?

It is not only a pleasure, but very useful, to know the names and qualities of trees, plants, herbs, and flowers. All this you can learn only by keeping your eyes open. Many a time you will need such knowledge. A vessel was once wrecked in the English Channel. Only four persons were saved. No one could seo them for the darkness, nor hear them for the noisy storm. They climbed from rock to rock till they could get no higher, but just then one of them, by a flash of lightning, saw a samphire plant. By this he knew they were safe, for it never grows in a place which the tide can reach, and then they conld rest. So life might often be saved if you knew certain common herbs and plants that are cures for diseases. Keep eyes and ears open as you pass through life, and you will learn much that may lie useful to you. Then, too, such knowledge is, in itself, a pleasure, even if you never need it.— Florai World. Love does not ask for perfection; it asks only tor He own. You cannot propitiate it with gifts nor satisfy it with all the virtues, if you cannot pay it back value for value, in its coin; and if this t ibute be paid it will forgive every weakness, ' Music does not Change the disposition of «*ur soul; it makes ns feel what we think. *

DEATH IN THE MINE.

One Hundred and Fifty Men Meet a Horrible Death-in a Virginia Coal Mine. • • •”', •• - : . i _ ; * ■ _ An Explosion of Fire-Damp or Gas the Cause of the Terrible Calamity. Terrific Force of the Explosion- -Heartrending Scenes of Sorrow Abont the Mine. Located in Tazewell County, at the terminus of the new river division of the Norfolk and Western Railroad, is the village of Pocohontaa, • comparatively new settlement. Here are located the mines of the Southwest Virginia Improvement Company, a joint stock corporation composed of Northern capitalists. These mines were opened about a year ago, and from them immense quantities of coal are shipped to Northern markets. The mines gave employment to some five or six hundred men, mostly foreigners. On the night of the 18th of March a relief of iso men went, to the mines to take their turn at work. Abont midnight the people Of the locality for miles around were startled by a terrific explosion and a great trembling of the earth. The terrible sound wns sufficient to inform every one that a frightful calamity had befallen the midnight laborers. In an instant the streets were filled with a crowd of screaming women, children, and men, all rushing for the mouth of the principal mine in the southern suburbs. Here a dense volume of smoke was found pouring from the shaft, and scattered around within a radius of a quarter of a mile were broken timbers, shattered cars, pulleys, and machinery. On all sides were to be seen fragments of human bodies, some of which were lodged in tree-topis, and others on roofs of houses.and sheds. For more than an hour wild shrieking and tho louder manifestations of grief from desperate men filled the air. No one seemed to have any idea as to what should be done, and all rushed hither and thither, seeking frantically for some evidence of the fate of relatives below. At intervals a more than ordinary shriek of anguish would tell that some searcher had found a token which realized his or her worst fears. The scene was terrible in the extreme. Miners' houses, buildings, and trees several hundred yards away were completely torn to pieces, showing conclusively that the force of the explosion must have been remarkable. It was not until two hours bad passed in fruitless lamentations that any effort was made by the panic-stricken crowd to ascertain the condition of affairs. Then a ghastly faced man, whose night-clothing was not altogether concealed by an immense blanket which he had thrown around bis shoulders, sprang on a stump and cried out: “For God’s sake, men, let's stop this. We all have friends and relations down below, and maybe we can help them. Let’s see about it, and let the women folks do the crying.” Every one of the officials of the camp was below ground, and there appeared to be no one competent to lead except the man referred to, who at once called for volunteers. There was a hurried movement to the month of the mine, and led by the man in the blanket, and amid the shrieking of frantic women, some of whom pleaded with the men to remain out of danger, the little band disappeared in the gloom and smoke around the mouth of the mine. They soon reappeared, however, and It was announced that all attempts to get into, the mine were fruitless. A dense volume of flame soon commenced to shoot upward, and illuminated the scene for half a mile, rendering the ghastly spectacle, which had hitherto been viewed only by torchlight, ten times more impressive. The crowd had gathered, helpless. In little groups, either discussing the situation or lamenting the death of some loved one. It was agreed that the explosion had taken place at Flat Top mine and had been caused by fire-damp. The situation remained unchanged nntil daybreak, when the horrors of the scene became glaringly apparent. The men who still retained their composure began to gather the fragments of humanity scattered about. These were evidently the limbs of those miners who had been working near the bottom of the shaft at the time of the accident, and bad been blown upward. Not one of these unfortunates, numbering about fifty, survived, as their shattered limbs lying around broadcast testified. A party of miners from Coalfield mines under Col. George Dodds arrived during-the afternoon and took charge of the camp. The residents were compelled to retire from the vicinity of the mine, and the new-comers then gathered all the fragments of humanity and placed them in adjoining houses. The collection was a ghastly one, and the l.soo population remaining above ground seemed to have lost all reason. Not one in the crowd but had lost a relation, and all seemed to have little hope of ever seeing any of them alive. Young girls, half-naked, dashed around aimlessly, many of them covered with blood-stains received in their ghastly search. Men sat on logs or lay prostrate on the ground, staring stolidly around, their pole features testifying to the terrible mental strain. Abont every half hour a body of men would proceed tothe mouth of the mine and make a determined effort to force an entrance. Again and again the great pail of smoke and the bursting flames from below would force them back, and some of them would be borne half fainting into the fresh air. At 7 o’clock it was thought an entrance could be had, as the smoke showed signs of decreasing. Aparty of men attempted to get in, and had gone below gronnd, when a volume of flame shot up, and they were hurriedly assisted to the surface. One of their number, an Italian named Carlo Franchi, was misHtng, and had evidently dropped from the cage. All of the party , were badly burned, and this showed how frultless were any hopes of resene. The shaft at Bp. m. was a roaring funnel of flame. All the outbuildings in the vicinity Ignited, and the fan house, which bad been looked to as the salvation of any of the men who might be alive below, caught also. A shriek of despair went up again at this catastrophe, which was regarded as fatal to all hopes of rescue. The men fought manfully to save the building from destruction, but without avail, and It was soon a mass of cinders. It became evident at this hour that the whole mine was ablaze, and it is doubtful whether It can be extinguished for weeks, if at all. This settled the fate of the ISO unfortunates below the ground.

THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.

London dispatches idve full particulars of Gen. Graham's assault upon. Osman Digna’a fortified position in Egypt, which appears to have resulted in a great victory for the British arms. The attack was made at an early boor in the morning. Probably cot more than 3,000 rebels were seen in front, but as the British advanced more sprang np, sometimes 200 yards sway, armed with spears. Brandishing bugs shields, these charged down upon the British ranks without hesitation at breakneck speed until bnUets laid them low. The British stormed the works where the rebels were in force. The gallant blacks held ont shield and spear against bullet and bayonet nntil the trenches around looked like graves. After three hours of continuous iigt.ting, the rebel position was taken and Osman Digna defeated. The fighting was more severe than on Feb. 1. The- battle lasted nntil noon. The battle was a series of desperate close fights. The Soudanese fought with the utmost recklessness. The British loss was 100 men killed, many of whom were officers, and ISO wounded. The rebel loss was 2,400 killed.

The Cattle Plague Spreading.

[Chicago Telegram.] Unfortunately there remains no longer a doubt that the foot-and-mouth disease has broken ont in Effingham County, in this State. Investigations at Effingham and at Blue; Point, in the neighboring connty of Cumberland, prove that several herds are infected. The farthers, not knowing the symptoms of the disease, attributed the rotting of the hoof to freezing during the cold weather. Bnt as several annuals comfortably housed have been affected this theory has been abandoned. It haa been ascertained beyond reasonable doubt that the cattle in the belt, of country between Shumway, in Effingham Connty, in the west, to Prairie City, in Cumberland County, in the east, are infected. The farmers are somewhat alarmed, but are ready to submit to such regulations ae may be deemed necessary for checking the disease. Gov. Hamilton has ordered State Veterinarian Paaren to proceed to . the infected county. The district will probably be quarantined.

BRIEFS.

'■ipyw - ■ ■■ Osman Diqna prays while his soldiers fight. Jenna Yomros, of Hooslck Falls, fell between the slats of her bed and was choked to death. Deacon John Cob with, a wealthy farmer of Beaver Dam. Wl*., lost his life by freezing bis big toe. *■ . A Philadelphia young man Is under arrest for stealing money in order to buy a wedding crntfil- □ Oscar Wilde says that everything in America Is twice as large as it need be.

THE GERMAN AUTOCRAT.

The Official Documents Relating to thrlaaker Matter Sent to this Honfie. Secretary FreUnghaysen Refuses to Receive the Resolution Retimed by Bismarck. All the documents relative to the Looker resolution were transmitted by the President to the House of Representatives on the 10th of March, and tho reading of them was listened to with breathless interest. Mr. Hisoock, of New York, immediately offered a resolution, which wss referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reciting that, ss » friendly sad respectful communication to the Parliament of the German Empire had been intercepted arbitrarily by a “person” now holding the position of Chancellor of the German Empire, the House cannot but express surprise and regret that it should be eren temporarily within the power of a single subject to interfere with such a simple expression of kindly feeling between two great nations; that the House reiterates its expression of sincere regret at the death or Edouard Lasner and its sympathy with the Parliament of the German Empire. Among the doouments sent to the House by the President relating to the now famous Lasker resolution are a number of telegrams which passed between Secretary Frelinghuysen and Minister Sargent relative to the return of the resolution by Bismarck, In which Mr. Sargent said that he had been wholly disregarded. Next is a memorandum of s conversation Maroh 7 between Secretary Frelingbuysen and Herr Von Eisendecker, the German Min‘»ter, in which the latter presented the following dispatch from Bismarck returning the resolution: [Translation.] Fhxbdbxcbsbuhe, Feb. 9, 1894.—'The Envoy of the United States of America has communicated, firitb a note dated the Ist Inst., the text of a resolution of the American. House of Representatives, dated the 9th of January, in which the House expresses regret at the death of Dr. Edouard Lasker,-. — w Every appreciation which the personal qualities of a German may receive in a foreign country con not but be pleasing to our national feelings, especially when emanating from such an Important bodv as the American House of Representatives. 1 should, therefore, have gratefully received Sargent's communication, and should have asked his Majesty the Emperor to empower me to present it to the Reichstag, if the resolution of the 9th of January did not at the same time contain an opinion on the direction and effects of the political action of Representative Lasker which is opposed to my convictions. in the resolution it Is said in relation tothe deceased that "his firm and constant exposition of free and liberal ideas have materially advanced the social, political, and economic condition of those people." From my knowledge of the course that the political and economic development of the German people has taken, I can not regard this opinion sa one in accordance with the facts 1 have witnessed. I would not venture to oppose my judgment to that of an illustrious assembly like that of the House of Representatives of the United States if I had not gained, during an active participation in German international politics of more than thirty years, an experience which encourages me to attach nl*o to my opinion certain competency within these limits, I can not make up my mind to ask his Majesty the Emperor for the necessary authorization to communicate the resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States to the German Reichstag, because I should therewith hove to officially indorse myself, and also to indorse, with his Majesty the Emperor, an opinion which I am unable to recognize as jost. : Voir Bismarck. The last document of the series Is a letter from Secretary Frelinghuyson to Minister Sargent and Is as follows. Department or State, Washington, Marsh 10,1884.—Sir: I incloses oopy of the note of which a copy has boen banded me hr the German Minister, and which states that Prince Bisrmarck declines to be the medium of communication between the House of Representatives of the United States and the Reichstag of the resolution on the subject of the death of Mr. Lasker. The resolution was passed by the House with the most courteous motives, for the single pur-, pose of expressing sympathy with the corresponding branch of government of a friendly nation in the loss of one of its distinguished •members, who died within the national juris{diction of Congress. If any other purpose (has been surmised, the indisposition of this republic, as proven by toe hls>tory of a century, to obtrude upon other nations sound political principles upon which lour own prosperity Is founded should have /counteracted that surmise. In the customary order of transmission the resolution came into the possession of his Excellency, who is pleased to explain the embarrassment under which be conceives be would labor by forwarding it to it# destination. The position anti the personal convictions to which be alludes are matters affecting his Excellency alone, and upon them it Is not becoming that I should moke any remark further than to aay it does not occur to me bow the transmission of the resolution would have involved an indorsement of the political views of Ur. Lasker. My duty of courtesy to the House of Representatives ended with forwarding the resolution through the proper channel to the hands of the officer charged with the administration of the foreign affairs in Germany. This Government is not disposed to inqnire Into the relations existing between the different branches of another. The sentiments of the resolution are now generally known, their merits or demerit# can be judged, and its non-transmission officially, as It was intended and claimed on its face to be of friendly intent, while a matter of regret, is not one of Concern to either branch of the Government of the United States. You will either forEtrard a copy of this instruction to the Minister or Foreign Affairs or read it tp him and leave lira a copy, as you ascertain he prefers. I am. rs., Fkedk. T. Fbelinohotskh. It appears, therefore, that Mr. Ochßtree'S resolution of condolence neither reached the llenran Reichstag, as designed by Congress, nor the American Congress as desired by Autocrat Bismarck, and is to remain in the pocket of the German Minister at Washington. The latter said to an interviewer, in reply to Inquiries in regard to the return of the resolution, that he bad carried out his inptrnctions. His Government's action in the (natter was, he said, two-fold. In the first biace it was compeiicdf or important reasons, feinting to internal |iolftics of Germany, not {c send the resolution to the Kclch-tag, and yet it could not merely retain It, since that plight l:ave implied indifference or discourtesy, and tire course pursued by the Government was certainly the most courteous that tie situation permitted. The Minister felt entirely satisfied, he said, that I here was po disrestect or discourtesy intended on either side.

The Richest Man in the World.

(New York Dispatch.l In an interview with a reporter of the New York Mornimj Mews, W. H. Vanderbilt said: “ I believe I am the richest man in the world. In England the Duke of Westminster is said to be worth $200,000,00'J, but it is jnnetly in lands and bouses. It does not yield him 2 per cent. A year from now I shall be worth more than $200,0(0,000 and will have an Income equal to 8 per cent, on 1 that amount.” He own* 930.840 shares of railway stock, valued at $88,700,000. bis railway bonds amount to $J6,*57.420. bo bolds ST:j.SsU.LO ) In Government and a tr:ficof 85,00‘U0 J in other securities the aggregate wealth of this Midas being $201,332,413. And the snow-ball rolls on.

SPLINTERS.

... Masv Mexican perio-hcai* are edited hy womca. KKUorGunARDT basloetso much mooey on the race-track, it is said, that Mrs. Isnftry Is talking of giving him aJieiieflt. The bullet that killed Geo. Warren at the battle of Bunker Hill, is in porsemion ot William H. Montague, of Boston. Mrs. Charles, called the ** blue woman." because her skin liras the color of indigo In consequence of using drugs, in dead at Worcester Da. At. Watts, of Boston, hge caught and killed *,#62 dogs during the past term years.