Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1885 — THE NEWS CONDENSED. [ARTICLE]

THE NEWS CONDENSED.

THE STRICKEN SOLDIER. Gen. Grant's Obstinate Battle with Deatjh. Gen. Grant slept unfnterrnptedlv through the night of April 21, and was reported as apparently gaining in strength. The swelling at the base of his tongue still existed. He was driven through Central Park during the day. A New York telegram says: There are still rumors in certain circles that Gen. Grant’s disease has been misrepresented. These rumors are increasing, and this morning the Sun said editorially that the hemorrhage was caused by a sore which has now disappeared; that he has not had cancer; that his doctors-now admit It, and that Drs. Douglas and Shrady have got a good deal of free advertising and are sharp fellows. A continued improvement in Gen. Grant’s condition was noted in the New York dispatches Of April 23. His three physicians held ■ a consultation and examined his throat, which they found to be much better than when last seen. The General drove out In his carriage, and later walked a block or two. returning not in the least fatigued. A gentleman, ju-t arrived from England, presented the General with a card, upon which Premier Gladstone had written his sympathies and good wishes for him. A Chattanooga dispatch reports that a movement is oqfoot in that city to tender Gen. Grant the free use during his convalescence of a private hotel on Lookout Mountain, in sight of the battle-fields of Cldckamauga, Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and Chattanooga “Gen. Grant expresses himself as feeling better and stronger than at any time since the favorable symptoms began to appear," says a New York dispatch of April 24. "The General, his wife. Mrs. F. D. Grant, and Mrs. Sartoris went for a drive yesterday. Afterward the distinguished patient took a short walk. He gave an artist a sitting for a bust. On being weighed, the General found he had lost twenty-one pounds in the past three month?. His weight was 141 pounds. There were a number of callers during the day, including Senator Leland Stanford and ex-Speaker Keifer.” „ New York dispatches of the morning of April 24 reported Gen. Grant as having passed a comfortable day, but a somewhat restless night. The usual airing in the park was taken. It is likely that the General and his family will spend the month of July at or near Saratoga, and August in the Catskills. Mr. Drexel has offered them his cottage at McGregor, and they may occupy It in July. Gen. Grant’s health continues to improve rapidlyr" is the language of the bulletin sent out on the morning of April 27. “The four doctors in the case held a consultation, and found less irritation in the throat and a better condition of the system generally. In regard to the cancer the doctors had not expected much change, and were consequently prepared to find it about as It had been. They parted with the understanding that they would meet again in a week unless sooner summoned. The electric light agent who gave out some startling statements about the cancer was not allowed to see the General, and his machine was not used. Arrangements have been made to transfer the General and his family to Saratoga during the latter part of June. Joseph W. Drexel having tendered the use of his cottage.” THE EAST. At Greenwich, Conn., Barclay Johnson enticed his mother and sister into the . woods and killed them and himself with a revolver. The head of the family is a prominent railway lawyer, named J. Augustos Johnson. —-„ The Pullman Palace Car Shops at Philadelphia were burned, creating heavy loss. Seven cars, worth $105,000, and machinery valued at $40,000 were destroyed. The steamer City of Mexico was seized, and her captain, John O’Brien, arrested, at New York, on a charge of supplying war munitions to the insurgents in the United States of Colombia. The vessel was chartered in March for lumber, but in reality took out a cargo of firearms.... An incendiary fire destroyed thirteen buildings at Sharpsburg, Pa., rendering sixty persons homeless, and causing a loss of $60,000. Eben M. Boynton, of New York, has entered suit in the United States Court against HusSey, Howe <fc C 0.,, steel manufacturers of Pittsburg, for an alleged breach of contract Boynton claims that the defendants refused to deliver a large contract for steel plates which had' been contracted for because the priee on steel had advanced several cents before the date of filling the same. The suit which involves $600,000, will come up for trial May 11. The Hon. Benjamin F. Butler has been secured to take care of the plaintiff’s interests.... .George Smithy, of Pittsburgh, a young married man. died from overexertion caused by roll-er-skating. Widliam G. Cabr, a son of the Secretary of State of New York, was shot in the stomach in an altercation at Troy by Colonel Joseph Egolf, a one-armed veteran. The affair grew out of newspaper attacks on Secretary Carr... .Isaac W. England, publisher of the New York Sun, has passed away, after a life of stern devotion to duty. He was city editor of the Tribune under Horace Greeley, and was associated with Mr. Dana in a journalistic enterprise in Chicago.

THE WEST. The Coroner’s jury at St Louis returned a verdict that C. Arthur Preller died from the effects of chloroform administered by Walter H. Lenox Maxwell. Chicago telegram: The recent rains have extended all over the Northwest and have greatly facilitated seeding. In Western and Southern Dakota the ground has been very dry, but reports from these sections now say there is plenty of moisture and that seeding is being rushed. In Southern Minnesota there has been no complaint of drought, but the recent rains will not impede sowing to any great extent.... At Wheaton, 111., fire broke out in the hardware store of J. P. Bauer through a leakage of gasoline, and before it was subdued seventeen buildings were destroyed, inflicting loss estimated at $50,000... .The Louis Cook Carriage Company, of Cincinnati, with liabilities of $200,000, has made an assignment to ex-Mayor Stephens. Neab Medicine Lodge, Ran., a waterspout caused the death of several entire families. A dispatch from Medicine Lodge gives the following meager particulars of the disaster: “The water rolled down over the lowlands east of Medicine Lodge five to twelve feet in height. Several families are known to have been drowned. Men who went out to give relief found men, women and children clinging to trees with nothing on but their night-clothes, and some without any clothing whatever, but still alive. Their cries could be he heard as early as 4 o’clock in the morning. Three attempts were made to rescue persons on the opposite side «• the river, but each boat in turn was swamped, and the occupants only saved themselves by swimming to trees. Six bodies have so far been recovered. There were eight movers' wagons camping in the bottoms, and one old man has recognized the bodies of three of •-i his family—his wife and two children." Among the settlers on the Dakota lands opened by President Arthur and closed by his successor great activity prevails. Meetings are being held, societies organized, and

funds secured to test the validity of the Government’s position in the courts. In the whole district in dispute, itis claimed, there are but DOO Indians, while the number of settlers is placed at 6,000.... The 'story comes from St Louis that William D. Winter, an officer of the Bank of Commerce, lind Bernard P. Bogy, Secretary of the wire company, settled a personal ma#er by a ring-fight i» a bam in pine street Thepolice appeared on the fourth round. ''..An Omaha dispatch reports that “near Trenton. Hitcheock County, in the western part of Nebraska, a fatal fight occurred between some cowboys and settlers, resulting in the death of four settlers. There has been considerable ill-feeling between cowboys and settlers for some time, owing to the fact that settlers have dared to take up homesteads on cattle ranches. On Thursday a difficulty.aiose between a settler and a cowboy,, which resulted in the former discharging bis rifle at the latter, but withbnt effect.. The cowboy some companions, returned and shot to death four inrmt-rs. ”.... The funeral of C. Arthur Preller, the murdered Englishman, was held ip St. Louis, the remains being placed in a vault in Bellefontaine Cemetery. The heavy snow-storm in Wyoming last week insures a fine yield of grass. The loss of cattle by the storms of the winter is estimated at from 3 to 5 per cent., taking the Territory as a whole... .An order was issued stoppiing work at the Wabash shops at Moberly, Mo., for three days. The men took this to mean a violation ’of their contract. by which the recent strike was settled, and accordingly all the employes connected with the road at that point quit work, which resulted in business coming to a standstill... . About 500 miners from Lemofit, 111., made an attack on the quarries at Joliet, and drove off all hands working there. ,

THE SOUTH. The veterans of the Texan army of 1836 met at Sherman on the 21st inst., and celebrated the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto. Davy Crockett’s famous bowieknife was exhibited by Robert Wheat. Among the noted characters present was Mr, Phillips, of Brazoria, who raised the first Lone Star flag oh the Rio Grande. A Vicksburg (Miss.) dispatch reports that a number of lives were lost in the conflagration in that city. Six bodies had been recovered, and it was believed from fifteen to twenty others were still in the rains. - ■ At New Orleans, Mrs. Amelia Evans, a clairvoyant, the wife of a policeman, aud •Casper Wenger, an unmarried man, were found dead in bed together, with bullet-holes in their heads. The woman’s husband is in prison under suspicion that, entering his house he found the guilty pair under the circumstances above mentioned, and killed them... .Miss Constance Edgar, stepdaughter of Jerome Bonaparte, and great-granddaughter of Daniel Webster, assumed the veil of the religious Order of the Visitation at Baltimore, Archbishop Gibbons officiating. A dispatch from Vicksburg says the people of that city, to the number of 2,000, followed to the cemetery the remains of thirty-two victims of the recent fire. Thirty-seven people are known to have lost their lives by this disaster, only bare mention of which has been made in the telegraphic Columns of the daily press.

WASHINGTON!. The Tlfst Comptroller of the Treasury has advised the Commissioner of Agriculture that he has power to order the slaughter of infected catt.e and cany out quarantine measures. . 2 .- The Secretary of the Treasury has received from the Union Pacific Railroad Company $916,704, of which $633,541 is to be applied to the sinking-fund account aud $281,163 to the bond and interest account, in accordance with the awards made by the Court of Claims... .A. U. Wyman, Treasurer of the United States, has resigned his position, to the regret of Secretary Manning, to become Vice President of an Omaha bank. C. N. Jordan, formerly a bank cashier in New York, will take the vacancy. Secretary Manning desires to transfer $35,000,000 in gold coin from San Francisco to New York, for which purpose Congress appropriated SIOO,OOO. The express companies ask $3.25 per SI,OOO for carrying the treasure, but the Pacific Mail Steamship Company made a much lower bid.... The silk undervaluations report now under consideration by the authorities at Washington is a voluminous document It fully sustains the charges made from time to time by Chicago importers, and sets forth that the frauds have been of frequent occurrence and immense proportions. President Cleveland has refused to exercise the power of executive clemency in regard to the sentence bf Gen. D. G. Swaim, Judge Advocate General of the army. After the sentence of the courtmartial which recently tried him was approved by President Arthur, and after the new Chief Executive had assumed the duties of his office, Gen. Swaim appealed to the latter fcr a pardon, on the ground that he had not been allowed a fair trial, .... Attorney General Garland has reversed his decision th.ulhe CommissionerUf Agriculture has power to purchase and slaughter cattle having contagious disease?. James Q. Chenoweth, of Texas, has been appointed First Auditor of the United States treasury... .Gen. Henry J. Hunt, retired, has been appointed Governor of the Sok.iers’ Home at Washington, vice Col. Samue’ D. Sturgis, Seventh Cavalry; and Capt Robert Catlin, retired, has been appointed Deputy Governor, vice Capt. W. Lyman, Fifth Infantry. These changes go into effect May 15, When the officers relieved will join their respective regiments. Army officers express themselves as pleased with the action of the President tn placing retired officers in charge of the Home.

FOMTICAL. The Illinois House declined an invitation of the Illinois Central Road to visit the New Orleans Exposition, notwithstanding that the Speaker drew up a resolution favoring the trip and that it was 'warmly supported by Mr. Linegar. Speaker Haines was given leave of absence for a week to visit the Exposition, and permission was also granted that he take a select committee with him. Ignatius Donnelly, in a card published in Washington regarding the Minnesota plan of securing Federal offices, declares himself able to prove that P. H. Kelly has for years labored to T»revent the election of Democratic Congressmen from Minnesota... .It is rumored that at the commencement of the fiscal year the posit tion of Public Printer will be given to exCongressman Rogers, of Buffalo. „ Consul-Genebal James ALMobgan, of South Carolina, cleared his skirts of the

suspicion of Blaineism and has started for Melbourne with the full indorsement of Secretary BayardEx-Gov. W. D. Bloxhain, of Florida, declines the Bolivian mission. , • : ■ J*’,

general. A dispatch from JPanama states that “while a strong barricade was being erected to inclose the officaof the Central and South American Cable Company, and other preparations were being made for a fight, the Americans arrived, knocked down the barricade, and took possession of the town. Aizpura and three of his stajf were arrested. He is wild with rage. The rebels were completely surprised, and threaten to burn the city if AizpurA is not released. Reinforcements of 500 men have arrived from Colon. Commander McCalla has issued a proclamation 1 taking charge of the town. The French Consul has issued a violent protest against’the action of the'Americans. There, has been some firing. The plaza was cleared by a Gatling gun. One rebel was killed and three wounded.” These events occurred on Friday, the 24th of April. The first battle between Gen. Middleton's forces and the Northwestern rebels occurred near Batoche Crossing on the 24th of April. There was fighting off and on all day. The Canadians lost seven men killed and a large number wounded. -The loss of the rebels, who fought Indian fashion, partially concealed, is not known. From the meager and disconnected accounts telegraphed from several points in the British territory we glean the following ’• Tine engagement was of short duration. The pickets of the insurgents and of Middleton's troops first had an encounter. The Scotch company of the Ninth, commanded by Capt. Clarke, being the nearest, was the first to fire and to receive a volley from the rebels, who numbered about a htwdretl. Capt. darke. was first to fall, badly wounded. Then Corporal Maclin dropped dead, killed by a bullet. Private Ferguson was the next to fall, and quite a number were badly wounded. Two minutes after Gen. Middleton rode up. His cap was pierced by a bullet from a rifle in the hands of a sharpshooter. Capt. Wise, whose horse was shot from under him, was badly injured in falling. The business failures occurring throughout the country during the week numbered for the United States 215, and for Canada 25, or a total of 240, as against a total of 222 the week previous. More than twothirds of the failures in the United States were furnished by the Southern, Western, and Pacific States.... A le'tter from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, states that the death of Gen. Barrios has crushed forever the hopes of the Union Liberals in Central America, and political and social regeneration in that section has ceased. Many of Barrios’ followers still think he is alive. It is also said that Barrios relied on the friendship and assistance of Gen. Saldiva, of Salvador, to aid him in carrying out his plans for a Central American ’ Union, but the latter forsook the ambitious schemer at the critical moment. .. .Lieut Jouett, of the Tenth Cavalry, son of Rear Admiral Jouett, who commands the North Atlantic Squadron, is to be dismissed the sendee because of irregularities in the accounts of, the post where be had charge. An unfavorable display is still made by the clearing-houses, the transactions for the last week showing a decrease of 30.3 per cent, as compared with the corresponding seven days of 1884. The slow business was chiefly in New York, the decrease outside of that city being but 5.8 per cent. Chicago clearings were 5.1 per cent, greater than for the same week last year..,. The plan for the reorganization of the Nickel Plate Road includes a' new guaranteed 4 per cent, mortgage bond to take up the out- . standing first-mortgage bonds and pressing claims, and the issue of 6 per cent, income bonds to s ttle other obligations. It becomes clearly evident that the Lake Shore intends to retain iishold oh the property,,.. Recent reports from the scene of Friday’s skirmish ,in Manitoba, indicate that the troops were so roughly handled as to cause grave .doubts of the ability of raw volunteers to cope with the hardy sharpshooters of the frontier. Official dispatches from the Northwest begin to have the true Soudanese tone. ..

FOREIGN. In the House of Commons, April 23, Mr. Gladstone, in replying to an inquiry by Sir Stafford Northcote, said there was no intention of laying further papers touching the Afghan situation upon the table before asking for a vote upon the war ' Credits already submitted to the House. “The Government,” Mr. Gladstone continued, “ was engaged in a correspondence of extreme gravity with Russia. It was impossible now to make a complete statement of the nature of that correspondence, while no partial statement could be given without the greatest risk of causing misapprehension.”.. ..A mysterious explosion occurred in the basement of the Admiralty Office in London. Edward N. Swainson, the principal 1 clerk, received a severe scalp wound. Windows were broken, and an iron railing was loosened.... The 321st anniversary of the birth of Shakspeare (April 23) was celebrated with great ceremony at Stratford-on-Avon. Every house was decorated and the church bells chimed all day.., .Russia has made contracts at Newcastle for 10,000 tons of steamer coal, to be delivered at Cronstadt at ninepence above the retail price. M. Babbebe, French Charge d’Affaires at Cairo, has been instructed to suspend all official relations with Egypt, and to make the dec’aratkm that Fiance declines to sanction the Egyptian financial convention, and reserves to herself complete liberty of action. This step is regarded as evidence that there is an understanding between France and Russia. It is stated that Egypt now offers to compromise the dispute with France concerning the seizure and suppression of rhe jßof-phore-Egyptien by making an apology and by admitting that her officials violated the rights of domicile of the publishers—the apology, however, to contain “no allusion to the seizure of the Bosphore-Egyp-tien."... .Some of the greatest landholders in England met the other day and. resolved to form a company to buy land at wholesale and sell it in lots n6l to exceed forty acres, in order to break up the large parcel system... .The fast steamship Alaska, of the Guion Line, hns been chartered by the British Gpvernment, and. will be refitted for cruising purposes in cose war is declared... .The brief speech of M. de Lesseps on being received into the French Academy caused M. Renan to pav a compliment to the American style of oratory. Ths foreign dispatches show much uncertainty aa to what the outcome of the present relations existing between England and Russia will be. The most significant dispatch is to the effect that Baron de Staal, the Russian Embassador, had another conference with Earl Granville, which, it is said, resulted in a further straining of the delations between the two nations. Smalley’s dispatch says that hopes of peace with Russia have daily grown slighter since the rec dpt of Sir Peter Lumsden’s dispatch. He convinced the Government that the Russians were the aggressors in the Penjdeh affair, and further explanation is insisted upon from the latter.... The Prince and Princess of Wales visited

Londonderry and were accorded a most enthusiastic reception. The people turned out en masse, and , the town was literally covered'with flags. Dispatches fronj Rome state that the Pope intends to remonstrate with the Irish Bishops now assembled at the holy see. on account of the .conduct of the Irish clergy toward the Prince and Princess on the occasion of their visit to., Dublin. It niay take the shape of a pastoral letter to the Catholic clergymen everywhere on their duties to the government under which they live.... The Egyptian Government is firm in its determination not to compromise with France for the suppression of French newspapers.

ADDITIONAL NEWS. Three suits for libel have been begun in the Circuit Court, at Chicago, by Mayor Harrison, the damages asked for aggregating SBOO,OOO. The Mayor demands $200,000 frdm the treasury of the Inter Ocetin, a similar amount from the pocket of Edwin Lee Brown, and $400,000, from the joint resources of the two/ The suits are based on remarks alleged to have been made by Mr. Brown in a campaign speech and published by the Inter Ocean, in which he is said to have referred to the Mayor as “a thief and a participant in the fruits of the crimes of thieves.”.... A foot-race of 125 yards for SI,OOO and the American championship was contested at Cincinnati, H. M. Johnson, of New York, defeating George Smith, of Pittsburg, by six feet. Winner’s time 11 3-5 seconds, the best on record. . ..T. C. Campbell, the criminal lawyer, of Cincinnati, has been acquitted of the charge of giving money to a juror in the Berner murdef' trial. Cable dispatches of the 28th ult. report that a fresh battle had occurred on the Afghan frontier, between the Russians and Afghans, in which the former were demented and retired, having pet with a heavy loss. Of 1,700 Russians who engaged the Afghans, nearly all were killed. Premier Gladstone informed the House of Commons that Capt. Stephens, of the Afghan Boundary Commission, was on the way to London with maps of the disputed territory and a detailed account of the affair at Penjdeh; and that Sir Peter Lumsden would forward to Earl Granville a statement of the present situation. The British Government claims to have information that Bismarck has been urging Turkey to side with Russia in the event of war. The House of Commons, without discussion, as suggested by Mr. Gladstone, voted the credit of $55,000,000 asked by the Government. Admiral Jouett and Commander McCalla have informed the Navy Department that the American forces were withdrawn from Panama because of promises made by the rebel, Aizpura, that he would not interfere with American interests in that city, and that he would not erect barricades in the streets. The American troops were marched a short distance from the city to the Panama Railroad Company’s property. A Panama dispatch of the 28th ult. says: The city is quiet. The moral effect of the occupation by the American forces has been very great. Nbt a shot has been fired since. The peach crop of Delaware will be unusually large unless some unexpected disaster occurs. Over two million mackerel were recently Caught in one day a hundred miles off Barnegat, and fine samples sold in New York for $1 a wagon-load, or five cents a dozen... .During a fire at Pittsburg, a building fell, killing four persons, and injuring a number of others slightly. The trial of Dickson, the foreman of the star-route jury, who was charged with attempted bribery, resulted in a verdict of not guilty. Immediately after his acquittaFMr. Dieksoh entered a suit against ex-Attorney General Brewster for libel, laying his damages at $50,000, and basing his cause on the alleged statement bv frhe defendant th.it he “sold the trial” es the star-route people.

New York telegrams oL the morning of April 28 reported Gen. Grant as still on the mend. His sixty-third birthday, the 27th, was ’one of the best he has passed since his illness began. During the day he took a drive in Central Park, and also walked out. To the thousands of congratulations he received,, the old soldier sent the following answer through the Associated Press: “To the various army posts, societies cities, public schools. States, corporations, and individuals, North and South, who have been so kind as to send me congratulations on my six-ty-third birthday. I wish to otter my grateful acknowledgments. The dispatches have been so numerous, and so touching in tone, that it would have been impossible to answer them, if I had been in perfect health. U. S. Grant.” In the evening thousands passed by the residence, which was brilliantly lighted, and birthday cards by the basketful, and flowers more than sutticient to stock a florist’s shop, were received during the day. The family enjoyed a reunion dinner, the table being lighted by sixty-three wax-candles. The General’s birthday was commemorated by salutes and the hoisting of flags in various Cities, and in some of the cities the celebrations assumed the form of public meetings, at which eulogies upon the life and services of the illustrious soldier were delivered by eminent men. Senator Stanford attributes the improvement in Gen. Grants cancerous affliction to the use of clover tea, which was suggested by a large number of letter-writers.