Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1885 — Page 7

LAND-GRABBERS.

Power of the Government to Prevent Illegal Occupation of Lands in Indian Territory. Millions of Acres Occupied by Oittle Companies Without the Color of Law or Justice. [Washington telegram to Chicago Tribune.] Gen. Sparks, Commissioner of the General Land Office, has had a complete list of all the eases where the public lands have been improperly fenced made out, with a statement of the present status of affairs. In all of these cases the parties have been notified to remove the fences. In some instances they have Consulted attorneys who have held that a reasonable number of openings in the fences is sufficient. In such cases the openings are guarded, and to all intents and purposes fences still exist. _ The total amount of land that has been appropriated in this ■fray is between! one and two million acres. Secretary Lamar has received a letter from GCn. McCook, ex-Governor of Colorado, relative to the power of the Government to prevent illegal occupation of lands in Indian Teiritory. The writer asserts that the law declares that the Secretary of the Interior has full control of all Indian affairs under the laws, subject to direction by the President; that certain contracts may be made by individuals with Indians relative to services in procuring the payments of claims, but no authority exists for making contracts of any other nature, and, if made, they are null and void; that no purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of lands or of any title or claim thereto from any Indian nation or tribe of Indians shall be of any validity in law or equity, unless the same shall be made by treaty or convention, entered into pursuant to the Constitution; that only the United States can make any contract with any Indian nation or tribe affecting lands, whether by purchase, lease, or otherwise, and the United States can do so only by formal agreement; and that the President may employ the military to remove trespassers from the Indian lands. Gen. McCook substantiates the above points by citations from the Revised Statutes, and declares that the United States can make agreements respecting Indian lands only with the Indians themselves, and not with third parties, and only with the Indians by agreement ratified by Congress. Notwithstanding the positive prohibitions of the law against the leasing or conveyance of lands by Indian tribes, substantially all the lands in Indian Territory set apart for exclusive Indian occupation, General McCook says, are in the possession of white men, under leases from Indians who had no power to lease, and with the tacit recognition of the Department’ of the Interior (under a former administration), which he believes had no ■ power to recognize or assent to any such lease or possession.

LIST OF THE LESSEES. The following is given as a partial list of parties in occupation of such lands in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservations in Indian Territory, and the amount of land controlled by them and embraced in their designated boundaries: Hampton H. Denman of Washington, D. C., formerly member of the Kansas State Senate, 55,(M10 acres. Edward Fenlon of Leavenworth, Kas., and William C. Mallelly of Caldwell, Kas., each 564,800 acres. Robert -A. Hunter of St. Louis, Mo., 500,000 acres. Albert G. Evans of St. Louis, Mo., 456, - 960 acres. , Lewis L. Briggs of Muscoton, Kas., 318,720 acres. Jesse S. Morrison, of Darlington, L T., 138,240 acres. Unknown lessee, leasing Oct, 15, 1883, 714,000 acres. Total to above parties, 3,832,520 acres. THE NOMINAL RENTAL. . “Briggs, a member of the: Kansas State Senate, 1881-85, and E. M. Hewins, and others, in trust for the Cherokee Strip Live-Stock Association of Kansas, a Kansas corporation, leased for fiveyearsfrom Oct. 1, 1883, 3,000,000 acres, being all the unoccupied lands conveyed to the Pawnees, Poncas, JNez Perces, Otoes, Missouris, Osages, and Kansas Indians. The rental is lg cents per acre. If the Indians had power to make leases, and if the Interior Department had power to assent to them, what can be said of such an execution of a public trust, supposed to be created for the purpose of protecting Indian rights and interests, as the acquiescence in a lease of lands for ’ a term of years at a rental which is nothing more than nominal? Is that the way the Government of the Ignited States should care for its wards? If such' leases were legal—if authority existed to make them—they would still be obtaining from the Indian wards, with the assent of their guardian, valuable property rights and privileges for a pittance. If the legality of the leases were doubtful they should not be permitted the countenance of an administration pledged to set its face against corruption, collusion, and wrong. Being, as they unquestionably are, wholly unauthorized and illegal, as well as improvident, should there be an instant’s hesitation in disavowing them, and in the summary exercise of all the power and authority of the Government in dispossessing the holders under them?” TRESPASSERS. *’ Continuing his argument declaring the illegality of the leases, Gen. McCook says: “Both under the common law and the enactments of Congress all parties other than Indians occupying these lands are trespassers. The intention of the lawsetting apart this domain was that it should be enjoyed by the Indians for the purpose of making to them civilized homes, encouraging them in habits of industry, and elevating and improving their condition. The actual facts now are that, instead of the Indians possessing and enjoying the benefits designed for them, their country is overrun with speculators and adventurers of every degree, who havei despoiled them of their property, and practically sequestrated their birthrights, destroying their opportunities of self-sup-port, and leaving them nothing for the future, while keeping them dependent in the present " Senator Plumb, of Kansas, is said to be engaged in a careful study of Southern scenes and life, and the horrible possibility is suggested that he is going to write a book. > Mb. Ruskin’s father was once a wine merchant His maternal grandmother was the landlady of the Old King’s Head Tavern at Croydon, and her husband was a sailor. B. F. Hackman, at one time publisher of the American Register at Washington, has become a partner in the New Orleans Daily States Publishing Company. A. New Bedford woman has taken to playing the cornet The question of woman's suSering is widening. Helen Gardner claims to be the only trbman infidel in the world.

KING CHOLERA.

The Epidemic Spreading in Spain—The People Dying Off by the Hundreds. [Madrid dispatch.] The total number of hew cases of cholera reported Monday frotn the infected district in Spain is 1,322, and the total number of deaths 602, being an increase of 30 per cent, in new cases and 6 per cent in deaths over the total number officially reported Sunday. lAlclra (Spain) special to Chicago Tribune.] Dr. Ferran, accompanied by Drs. Gibier, Van Ermingen, Meiadier, the latter the Bordeaux delegate, several other doctors, and the Tribune correspondent, visited the infected town of Alcira. They went to the sick-beds of fifteen cholera patients at the Hospital de la Caridad and to private houses. The visitors were escorted everywhere by a crowd of enthusiastic natives, who evidently regarded Dr. Ferran as the third Redeemer, the other two being, according to Dr. Ferran, Christ, the moral savior of mankind, and Dr. Pasteur, the physician-savior. Most of the patients are recovering. There are only two very bad cases there not inoculated. Mendacious official statistics set down the population of Alcira at 16,00 V. The real population is 20,000 or 22,000. Of these the correspondent finds 9,100 inoculated, 7,500 of whom were reinoculated. After minute examination of documents the correspondent finds that rich and poor of the middle class have all submitted to be vaccinated. The most belong to the richer part of the town, while the non-inoculated include about 1,000 persons dependent on charity or comparatively poor, living badly, and, therefore, more liable to disease. Alcira was on the a thriving town. Two-thirds of the people have been vaccinated —women, children, and the rest chiefly small land-owners or workmen in tolerably comfortable circumstances. Altogether 320 cases of cholera have been recorded at Alcira. Of these 130 died and 138recovered, while fifty-two are under treatment. The deaths of non-inoculated persons were 130, against seven inoculated and three reinoculated. Of the inoculated and reinoculated, twenty were cured out of fifty of each category under treatment. On returning to Valencia the whole party was obliged to undergo the absurd pretense of fumigating, _ L '

MRS. DUDLEY IS CRAZY.

The Woman Who Shot O’DonovanBossa Was Acquitted by the Jury. [New York telegram.] In the case of Mrs. Yseult Dudley, on trial for shooting O’Donovan-Rossa, the testimony for the defense was to the effect that Mrs. Dudley was a sufferer from chronic mania. Mrs. Dudley insisted on going on the witness stand and telling her story to the jury. She claimed that she was not insane, and stated that Rossa told her also that he intended to blow up English: vessels, and in that way strike terror to English hearts. He was a murderer. He had shown himself to be one. “You have no proof except his own word. * “No, but I believed him. I consider him a liar. If lam homicidal, it is queer that I never shot any one before. I have carried a pistol and had it loaded, too, since I was 16 years old. At that age I was living in the country, and there was a great scare about mad dogs and hydrophobia, so that everybody—men and women—who were capable of carrying a revolver did so. I gave O’Donovan as fair a trial as a prisoner has ever had in your court. I shot him, aud I am willing to take the consequences. I certainly shall not appeal. Even in this land of liberty I don’t think a man like him ought to be permitted to go about advising indiscriminate murder. I did not come here to shoot him. lam a good nurse, and was willing to take a position here. While in prison I was perfectly bewildered by offers from managers who wanted me to lecture. I answered them all that I would consent only on condition that O’Donovan should come with me, and I would give a practical illustration, aided by O’Donovan, of the effect of dynamite in the human fame. If this met their views I would go. ” The jury, after deliberating five minutes, returned a verdict acquitting her on the. ground of insanity.

MEXICAN FINANCES.

Consolidation of the National Debt—The Maximilian Issue Repudiated. [City of Mexico dispatch.] The Government announccs.in the Diario Oficial its plan for the consolidation of the entire debt of the country, With the exception of the floating debt; which is already provided for in an authorized issue of $25,000,000 bonds at six per cent. The consolidated debt wilF'bear interest at three per cent., but the maximum interest will not be reached until 1890. Next year, 1886, one per cent will be paid; in 1887, per cent; in 1888, 2 per cent; in 1889, 2| per cent; and in 1890, 3 per cent The National Bank of Mexico will have charge of the negotiations, and the interest will bte payable in the City of Mexico, in New York, and in London. The debt of Maximilian is formally repudyuted. * Foreign capitalists are reported to have advised this Government in this matter, and it is believed that now- this complete financial readjustment will revive the credit oft the nation abroad.

CENTRAL ASIA.

Russia's Warlike Preparations. A dispatch from Teheran states that one thousand persons are at work constructing the Transcaspian Railway. Warlike preparations are still being continued by Russia. Rumors are in circulation in the bazaars of Teheran that war will probably occur after the Transcaspian Railway is completed to Merv, in Turcomania. The Russians are bridging the River Murghab, on the confined of Afghanistan. Eight hundred Russian soldiers are at Old Sarakhs. The Persians are fortifying Persian Sarakhs and building barracks there for troops. A foundry has been started at Herat for the casting of heavy guns. A young lady teacher near Mitchell, D. T., on the approach of a storm last week dismissed her school in a body to a neighboring tree claim and stationed each pupil aba stout cottonwood, with instructions to hold on in case of a blow. A Cincinnati wife asked her husband to min 4 the baby for half an hour while she went to the store. That was three months ago, and she has not returned home yet. Dr. Oliver WatDELL Holmes is passing ihesummenhs usual, at Beverly, Mass. ■» Prince Edward of Wales has been raised to the degree of a Master Mason.

BLEW OUT HIS BRAINS.

Andre J. Dumont, Late Naval Officer at NeW Orleans, Commits Suicide. [New Orleans special.] Dumont, ex-Naval Officer at this port, suicided this afternoon. Dumont was one of the most eminent colored men in the State, one of the organizers of the Republican party, and its most earnest, energetic, and continuous supporter. He was an admirable organizer and canvasser, and held in such confidence by all themasses of the party that he was generally chosen as the figure-head in conventions, committees, etc. In 1876 Dumont was elected as President of the Republican State Convention, over ex-Gov. Pinchback) after a prolonged struggle. In 1880 he was Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee, and directed the canvass of the State., and in the late Presidential election he held the same office. He was a delegate to every Republican State Convention, and;generally chosen as one of the delegates at large. He held various State offices, and represented for some years the Fifth District of New Orleans in the State Senate. He was an Inspector in the United States Custom House, and was appointed by Hayes Naval Officer, which position he had held up to within a few weeks, when he voluntarily resigned, without waiting for Cleveland to appoint his successor, announcing his intention to settle in Central America and invest his money in fruit plantations. Dumont had been very despondent for some years on account of domestic troubles, and frequently spoke of committing suicide. To-day he returned from a visit to the country gloomier than ever, and told his wife that be was going to kill himself. She secured his pistol and hid it, but he found it and took it out. She then locked it in a chest; he assaulted her and by violence wrested the key of the chest from her. She endeavored to prevent his carrying out his design, but he was too strong for her, and succeeded in opening the chest and getting thejpistol. Pursued by her he fled through the two bedrooms and parlor to the sitting-room in the front of the house. She heard a shot, and when she entered the room a moment later she found him dead, he having placed the pistol in his mouth and fired, blowing .out his brains. Dumont was 41 years of age and a native of New Orleans. He had served as a Lieutenant in the French army, and was with Maximilian in Mexico. He was a very light-colored octoroon, and neither he nor his wife would have been taken for hegroes. He was highly esteemed by all, his merits being acknowledged even by the Democrats. He leaves a very comfortable estate.

TREASURY CIRCULAR.

Relations Which Will Hereafter Govern the Issue and Redemption of Currency and Coin. [Washington telegram.] The United States Treasurer has issued a circular promulgating the relations which will hereafter govern the issue and redemption of the currency and coins of the United States and the redemption of national bank notes. The principal changes made in existing regulations are in regard to shipments of silver and to the redemption of mutilated United States notes. The new regulations in reference to the issue of standard silver dollars is as follows: Upon receipt of currency or gold cola, the Treasurer, or Assistant Treasurer, will cause to be paid to applicants in cities where their respective offices may be situated standard silver dollars in any desired amount. 8 audard silver dollars are forwarded to applicants outside of cities m which the Treasurer, or an Assistant Treasurer, may be situated, at the expense of the government in sums or multiples of $500: 1. Upon the receipt by the Treasurer of an original certificate issued by any Assistant Treasurer erf national bank depository that a deposit of currency or gold coin has been made to the order of the Treasurer in general account, deposits with the Assistant Treasurer in New York may be made by drafts payable to his order and collectable through the Clearing House, forwarded directly to him with instructions to deposit the amounts on account of standard silver dollars, and to forward the certificates therefor to the Treasurer upon the receipt by the Treasurer of gold coins. United States notes, silver certificates, or national bank notes. 2. By the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer, by registered mail, free of charge in sums or multiples of $65, at the risk of the party to whom sent, upon receipt of gold coin. United States notes, silver certificates, or national bank notes. r The regulation respecting the issue of fractional silver is as follows: The Treasurer and Assistant Treasurers of the United States will pay out fractional silver coin in any sum desired tor lawful money of the - United States. Fractional silver coin will be forwarded from the office nearest the place of its destination by express at the expense of the Government in sums or multiples of $500: 1. Upon receipt of an original certificate issued by the Trensnrer, an Assistant Treasurer. or a national bank depository, that a depositof currency or gold coin has been made to the credit of the Treasurer in general account, deposits with the Assistant Treasurer in New York may be made by drafts payable to his order, and collectable through the clearinghouse, forwarded directly to him, with instructions to deposit the amounts on account of fractional silver coin, and to forward the certificates to the office nearest the destination of the coin. 2. By the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer, by registered mail, free of charge, in sums or multiples of seventy dollars, at the risk of the party to whom sent, upon the receipt of currency or gold coin. The following is the regulation in regard to the redemption of United States notes: United States notes, each exceeding ninetenths of its original proportions in one piece, are redeemable at their fpll face value in other United States nptes by the Treasurer and the several Assistant Treasurers .of the United j States, and are redeemable in coin, in sums not j less than fifty dollars, by the Assistant Treasurer in New York,

DASHED TO DEATH.

The Awful Results of a ColUsion. [Erie (Pa.) special.] A frightful accident occurred on the Nickel-plate Road to-day whereby three lives were lost. Mrs. John Donlin, with her babe and little boy and nurse girl, Sade Mahoney, was riding in the caboose. The train stopped on a trestle over- a ravine at Springfield, where it was run into by another freight Mrs. Donlin grasped her babe and boy and ran out on the p atform, followed by the nurse, when all were hurled over into the abyss, 100 feet in depth. Mrs. Donlip and the nurse were mangled to death, bfit the baby was caught in the boughs of a tre,e and may possibly recover. Mrs. Donlin held on to her child until it was tom froiq. her grasp by the wires below. She was terribly mangled by the wires about the breast Brakeman Thomas Fahey was seriously in. jured in the collision. . In 1862, during the war of the rebellion, Mr. Charles H. Hooper, of Castine, Me., sent a letter home which his wife never received until last month. Twenty-three years were occupied by the missive in coming from Washington to Castine, Gen. G. W.P. Crsns Lee has resigned the Presidency of Washington and Lee University on account of ill-health. Washington has 9,355 licensed dogs, or more in proportion to Ihe population tlian any other city in the Union,. , -Victor Hugo always used quill pens, which he made and mended himself.

LOGAN AT BOSTON.

A Rousing Reception Given the Illinois Senator at the Hub. The Treachery of Democracy to Oivil-Serr-ioe Reform Denounced—Republican Success. Predicted. [Boston special to Chicago Tribune.] Gen. Logan is to-night the guest of the Norfolk Club of this city. The General, Mrs. Logan, and their sons arrived from Portland about 2p. m. -The railway station was crowded with admirers of the Illinois Senator and cheered him lustily when he stepped from the car, where he was met by a committee of the club and’'taken to the Parker House. As the carriage containing the Senator was leaving the station a poorly dressed'individual standing on the sidewalk opposile caught Gen. Logan’s eye apd instantly raised his hat Gen. Logan, with characteristic courtesy, recognized ths greeting by completely uncovering his head and bowing as if to a distinguished assemblage instead of to one humble person. This little act was the signal for three more cheers, which echoed in the ears of the visitor as he was driven away in the direction of the Parker House. The guests were given a lunch on arriving at the Parker House, and soon retired to their rooms. From 5 to 6p. m. a reception was given to Gen. Logan in the parlors of the Parker House, where about 250 prominent men were presented to the General and his wife, whose presence was requested in the re-ception-room. Among those who paid their respects to the visitors were Gov. Robinson, Lieut. Gov. Ames, Senator Hoar, Congressmen Long aud Ely, the Speaker of the House and President of the State Senate, ex-Gox. Bourne, and Congressman Spooner of Rhode Island, and a large number of prominent gentlemen. Soon after 7 o’clock the company entered the dining-room. The President of the club, the Hon. Asa French, one of the Commissioners of Alabama Claims, presided, with Gen. Logan on his right and Gov. Robinson on his left. After excellent speeches by the presiding officer and Gov. Robinson, Senator Logan was introduced. Gen. Logan on rising to respond was received With cheer after cheer, and two or three minutes elapsed before he could be heard. The General began by making some complimentary allusions to Massachusetts. He referred to some of the eminent men of the old Bay StaM; he spoke of the remarkable change iff public sentimeat on some important questions during the last thirty years, and then passed on to a consideration of some phases of the present political situation. He said: “First, let me say of civil-service reform that it is the child of the Republican party, but unfortunately has been put out to nurse with a stranger, and if not dead now looks 'sick’unto death.’ When the law was pAsed the intention was to put into the positions to which the law applied such persons as were found to be best qualified to perform the duties required, and also to retain in position such persons as were well qualified and found to have faithfully performed their duties. The law is now being construed, however, to the effect that a person who voted the Republican ticket at the last election committed a crime against ‘the peace and dignity’ of the Democratic party—a new offense—heretofore unknown to law of politics—to wit: ‘Offensive partisanship.’ A man may have rebelled, or, being in the North, may have sympathized with rebellion against the Government; he may have sought to negotiate with foreign powers for its overthrow; he may have striven to ‘ham-string’ it at the most critical moment of its desperate struggle for existence; he may have attempted to destroy its beneficent influence; he may have tried to make our institutions a by-word and a mockery among the nations; he may have terrorized voters; he may have suppressed or destroyed the ballot, or fraudulently perverted its true intent and meaning; he may have assisted in enacting laws under whose free operation freedom became a delusion and personal liberty a snare; but these do not seem to prove him to be an ‘offensive partisan,’ provided always that he voted the Democratic ticket. Shall a man who has been true, oven at the .risk of life, limb, health, and fortune, to the Union, to freedom, to the sanctity of the ballot, and to that spirit of progress which is acceptable in ihe sight of God be amenable to the charge of ‘offensive partisanship’ for exercising his right as an America© citizen? Is ibis the character of the man who is offensive to the Democratic party? Do we not see the civil service principles twisted, warped, and most wretchkdly deformed, in place of the service being, as was promised, reformed? I object, for one, to the prostitution of the public service in the name of reform. I insist that there should be candor and fair dealing in the matter of making removals from office. If our political opponents propose to make removals from all the offices I say that, instead of trumping up frivolous and unjust charges against Republican incumbents as a justification for their removal, they will announce that they are to be turned out because thej' are Republicans, and their successors are to be appointed because they are Democrats, Sir, tear away the mask of reform and let the face of Democracy come forth. ” After reviewing the record of the Repubican party the Senator continued: “Mr. Chairman, the Republican party is not dead;, jt lives the life of the vigorous and strong. It will be returned to power by the people. It is the party of the people. Protection to our home and free labor demands it; the restoration' of true civil-service reform demands it; adequate appropriations to aid the system of free schools wherever needed demand it; the promoting of our home industrial interests in all proper ways demands it; the necessity for the enforcement of the right of every voter within our national boundaries to* cast his ballot and have the same fairly counted at all national elections, and to give to each man that equal and adequate protection before the law to which he is entitled, require the return of the Republicans to power both in Congress and in the Executive branch of the Government; and in order that the financial system established by the Republican party may be preserved—that the revenues of the country may be protected against unwarranted claims upon the Treasury.” Speeches were also made by Senator Hoar, the Hon. John. D. Long, ex-Gov-ernor Bourne of Rhode Island, Henry Cabot Lodge, ex-Collector Beaid, and others. The appointment of a successor to Collector Robertson, of New,York,] shows that there was no “principle” in the reappointment of Postmaster Pearson, while the satisfaction expressed over the Postmaster's case, and the meek acceptance of the violation of civil-service reform in the other inStanee, shows hwhat a contemptible craven thing the mugwump spirit is.— Indianapolis Journal,

OLD-TIME INDIANA PREACHERS.

Ready Wit, Rare -Eloquence, and Zealous Labor* of the Early Men of .CJod Raper 1 h Escape in Answer to I’rayetJ— Blgelow Better than* All the Bishops--How Whitten Settled a Church Dlfll'■culty. [ [W. H. Smith, in Indianapolis JonrnaL] No class of men have ever tarnished a greater fund of incident and anecdote than the early preachers who spread the gospel over the West. They passed through dangers and toils that lew of the present day know anything of, and the story 'of their lives and of their devotion to the cause of humanity and of God would be of thrilling interest. They were quick of wit, and always ready to expose sham, no matter where found. William Cravens was one of these early ties. He was the first circuit preacher Indianapolis had. He was a man of great power, and was possessed of a keen irony that ent like a knife. The power of granting divorces was then confined to the Legislature, and almost any one who applied was certain of getting a divorce. The preachers were dis. hssing the facility with which divorces were obtained, and severely denounced the Legislature, when a member of that body undertook toxlefend it He proceeded at some length to enumerate causes lor a divorce other than are given in the New Testament, and to show why they were sufficient. After listening quite a while, Mr. Cravens broke in with, “Ain’t itwondennl Christ did not think of that?* The tone and manner were too much for the legislator, and he subsided. The preaching had strange effects sometimes upon temporal as well as spiritual affairs. Rev. Joseph Tarkington used to give an instance of this kind. When he was a boy living near Bloomington, the preacher one day took for his text a passage from the Bong of Solomon, which reads: “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons." With eloquent language, he pictured out the apple-tree, with its b: autlful blossoms and luscious frnit, until the mouths of his hearers began to water for the old orchards of the homes they had left in the East, and to long for them once again, as there were no ap-ple-trees in this section. So strong was this feeling upon the part of the senior Tarkington, that the next morning he started Joseph on horseback to Vincennes, seventy-five miles away, to buy some young apple-trees and bring them back. The country was new, and the traveling had to be done with private conveyances, and oftentimes amid great dangers. William Wilson was known as the "blind preacher." He belonged to the Christian or Campbellite faith. Those who heard him remember him as a man of rare eloquence. Once he was traveling with his wife over a lonely road in the southern part of the State. Just as night was falling, they heard a noise at the side of the road, and his wife discovered a vi.la nous-lookisJL'man with a gun pointed at them. In a a wWsper, she inforjned her husband, when Mr. Wilson spoke up In. the sad voice for which he was noted: “.Friend, can you tell us the way Ac?-the next town? T am blind, and a stranger, and I fear we have lost the way.” The highwayman muttered out some sort of answer, and slunk away into the woods. 4 William H. Raper was one of the most famous of those early preachers. While traveling his circuit, which included all the southeastern part of Indiana, he got lost in’the woods on». dars: night, and wandered about for sevcral hours. At last he came to a creek. The rain had been falling for several days, and he knew the waters must be very high. Dismounting he groped along as best he could until he came to what he supposed was a bridge. He carefully led his horse onto it. As he proceeded he felt it giving under him, step by step, but he kept on until he reached the other bank. A short distance from there he discovered a honse, and after arousing the inmates obtained permission to stay all night. They asked him how he had been able to cross the creek, and when he told them by the bridge, they were amazed, as he was when they informed him there was no bridge there nor never had been. In the morning they went out and found that in the darkness he hud crossed on floating driftwood that had become jammed. At another time he had an experience that will furnish a nut for psychologists to crack. While crossing a very full stream at an early hour one morning, his horse threw him into the water. He was swiftly being borne out into the rapid current of the river, when he was enabled to catch an overhangiifg limb. To that he clung until his strength was almost exhausted. He was about to give up in despair, as no help was near, when he seemed to hear a voice saying: “Mother is praying for you, and you will be saved." This gave him new courage, and making a final effort, he reached the bank in safety. On reaching his mother’s house, some days afterward, she told him she had a terrible dream about him. She said that one morning she was awakened in a terrible fright, and heard some one saying: “William is in great danger.” She sprang from her bed and, thrbwing herself upon her knees, began praying for him. This she kept up until at last a peace fell upon her spirit, and she was satisfied that her son had escaped from his danger. On comparing the time, it was tound to have been at exactly the time he was struggling with the raging waters a hundred miles distant. The memory of Henry B. Bascom is yet dear to the Methodists of Indiana. He had many narrow escapes while preaching in the new country. He was an indefatigable student, and occupied every moment possible in his studies. He loved to lie on the ground beneath the shade of some giant of the forest, and, with his book in his hand, study and meditate. As he was thus lying, one day, he heard a voice crying, “Lie still. Do not move at the peril of your -life." Looking toward the point from whence the voice proceeded he saw a friend with his rifle pointed at the tree above him. Glancing, quickly up he saw a huge panther in the very act of springing upon him. His friend fired, and the panther fell dead at his side. At another time, he stopped at a log cabin for dinner. While they were eating the [ meal a little child of his host was playing in : front of the doof. Suddenly the mother screamed: “Oh, my child!" They rushed to the door 1 just in time to see a panther bearing the child into a tree. Mr. Bascom seized a rifle that was [ hanging over the door, and, quick as thought, , fired. The bullet sped true to the mark, and the panther fell to the ground dead. The teeth of the animal had done their fatal work on the ' child, however. ! Bascom’s eloquence was of a peculiar kind. It was the eloquence of strength. It was an irresistible power, carrying everything before it. There was something grand, something wonderful about it. He was to theology what Webst ?r was to constitutional law. He was the St. Paul of America. Once, while lecturing in Boston, on infidelity, he had among his auditors old Father Taylor, who was famous for his eloquence in the pulpit. During the delivery of the lecture Father Taylor stood by one of the pillars that supported the roof. He became so absorbed that unconsciously he began to raise his cane, elevating it gradually as the speaker, rose in his eloquence, until at last he got it up at arm’s length. When he could raise it no higher, he ■ waved it to and fro over the heads of the people and shouted: “Grand! glorious! triumphant!" Russell Bigelow was another of those pioneer preachers who swayed the multitudes by his eloquence. Such was his fame that when it was announced that he was to preach the people from many miles around flocked to hear him. His personal appearance was against him. Be was below the middle stature, and of slight and delicate frame. He was always clad in coarse, ill-fitting garments. His hair, uncombed, hung loosely over his forehead, which was broad and prominent. He had a keen eye, prominent cheek bones, a projecting chin, large nose, wide mouth and expanding nostrils. A skeptic who heard him at a camp-meeting held near Dayton. jOhio, thus wrote of his sermon: "Having stated and illustrated his pos tion clearly, he laid broad the foundation of his argument, and piled stone upon stone, hewed and polished, till he stood upon a majestic pyramid, with heaven’s own light around him, pointing the astonished multitude to a brighter home beyond the sun, and bidding defiance to the enemy to remove one fragment of the rock on whi ch his feet were placed. His argument, being completed, his peroration commenced. This was grand beyond description- The whole universe seemed animated by its Creator to aid him in persuading the sinners to return to God, and the angels commissioned to open heaven and come down to strengthen him. Now he opens the mouth of the pit, and takes us through its gloomy avenues, while the bolts retreat and the doors of damnation burst open, and the wails of the lost come into our ears; and now he opens heaven and transports us to the flowery plains, stands up amid the armies of the blest, to sweep ’ with celest.al fingers angelic harps, and join the eternal chorus, ‘Worthy, worthy the Lamb!' As he closed his discourse every energy ot his body and mind was stretched to the utmost tension. His soul appeared to be too great for its tenement, And every moment ready to burst through' and soar away as an eagle toward heaven. His Itings labored, his arms rose, the perspiration, with t ars, flowed in a steady stream upon the flcoL and everything about him seemed to aaf. ‘Oh,tbat my head were wate s.' ■But the audience thought not of the struggling body, nor even of they giant mind within, for they were paralysed [beneath the avalanche of ■thought that descended upon them. I lost the man, but the jiubjeet raall in alL* At one time the conference was to be held in Steubenville,- Ohio. A wealthy Episcopalian went to the Methodist pastor in that place and , told him if he would send him the most talented man in the conference he would be glad to entertain him. Bigelow was sent to him. He made his appearance at the ari’tocratic residence m h;s homespun suit His personal ap-

pearance was not prepossessing, ana, upon meeting the pastor, the Episcopalian complained thit.lie had not been treated right He was told that he bad asked for the most talented min, and he had been sent to him. The pastor said to him: “He is. to preach at the Presbyterian Church to-morrow morning. You go an I hear him, and then, if von are still dissatisfied, I will change him and send you the Bishop.” The host and his family attended the Presbyterian Church the next day. Mr. Bigelow took his seat in the pulpit, and when it was time to begin the ,"ervl6w, arose and read Ms hymn. Such reading of poetry bad never before been beard in Steubenville, and the host and his daughters exchanged surprised and- significant glances. It was one of the preacher's grand days, and he electrifiedhis audience. At the close of the sermr n the host requested his daughters to accompany Mr. Bigelow to the house, saying that he bad to attend to a little matter down street. He made his way at once to the Methodist parsonage, and calling the pastor to one side, told blip that he would not trade off Mr. Bigelow, in Ms home-spun suit, for all the bishops. Such is the power of eloquence. John Gibbon was one of the famous preachers of Eastern Indiana, and was very eccentric. His language was often rough, but it suited the backwoodsmen among whom he labored. On one occasion he was preacMng at a camp-meet-ing near Richmond. A young woman rersisted in standing upon one of the benches and laughing at the proceedings. She was requested several times to take a seat, but refused. Finally, Mr. Gibson broke out: "My Lord! knock that young woman down." This he repeated three times, when the woman fell as if she had been shot. Turning to one who was sitting near him, he said: “Sister, that is what I call taking them between the lug and the horn.” A good deal has been said about prayer-cures of late years, but a preacher once prayed a man to death. It was at a little church known as Mt. Olive, situated in the edge <rt Morgan County, about fifteen miles south of Indianapolis. Living in the neighborhood were several young men who attended the services of the church for no other purpose than to disturb the worshipers. They would sit upon the back seats and play cards and drink whisky while the services were going on. Many times they had sneceeted in breaking np the meetings. This had gone on for several years. At length Levi Johnson was sent to the circuit. At one of his meetings the wickedness of the young men broke out worse than ever. Finally, the preacher threw himself upon his knees, and In a voice of the most intense power, cried out. "Oh, Lord, if there is no hope that these men will ever become converted and do better, kilt them at once and take them out of the way.' This he continued to repeat for two or three minutes, while a terrible awe fell upon the congregation. At the close of the prayer the leader of the young men fell from his seat, and before he could be carried out ot the building was dead. Two dr three of the others ai terward said that they would have died if the preacher had kept on praying a minute or two longer. How to deal with refractory members has oftentimes puzzled the Lest of pastors, but Rev. Elijah Written had a way that was peculiarly his own. .0n arriving atfinew charge once he found an internecine war raging with the greatfet virulence. He tried tor a while to make peace, but every effort failed. Out of patience with them, he called one day- at, the close of his sermon* for the class ■books MnMghurch records. Up ouTnese being procured, be toflWhern to the stove and tossed them into the fire. After watching them until they were entirely consumed. he turned to his wondering congregation and said: “There, you now are all turned out of the church. Yon now have no church. If any of you want to get in again yon will have to join on probation!” State Items. —Henry S. Barnaby, of Jeffersonville, has been fined SIOO for gambling—the heaviest fine ever imposed for the offence in Clark County. Samuel Tilly was fined $97.65. —Both Pogue’s Run»and the base-ball club at Indianapolis have dried up, and ths citizens, begin to long for a circus or a fair to break in upon the solemnity.— Exchange. —With the assistance of dentist Mrs. Henry Cools, of Evansville, cut one of hez third set of eye teeth the other day. It was attempting to come out laterally through the jaw bone. —Mrs. Ruth Garner, widow of the late Captain Wesley Garner, of New Albany, has just died at the age of 80 years. She had been a resident of that city for more than half a century. —Mr. J. B. Starr, the new superintendent of the New Albany schools, has been a teacher in the public schools of Floyd County for twenty years, and ranks as one among the best principals the grammar schools have had. —George Steffy, who has been in the infirmary at Vincennes for ten years, dumb and,, helpless, suddenly recovered his speech while engaged in a scuffle, and now talks easily and rationally. He has no recollection of his ten years of silence. Railroad Fire Liabilities. The celebrated case of J. A. A J. H. Cunningham against the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad Company is one of the most important cases in railroad litigation. In July, 1879, the Messrs. Cunningham owned and operated very extensive starch and glucose works, situated on the line of the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad, a short distance north of that place. July 29 of that year fire was discovered in the shelling-room, and in a few moments the great establishment was totally destroyed. The Messrs. Cunningham claimed that the fire originated from sparks thrown out 'by a passing locomotive on defendants’ railroad. This the company denied, and also 'claimed that, as the Cunninghams were insured and had collected the insurance, the insurance companies were subrogated to their rights and could alone maintain the action. This view of the law was indorsed by the Knox Circuit Court The Cunninghams sued the railroad, however, for $200,000. The case was tried in the summer of 1881. The trial occupied some two weeks. The Judge’s rulings throughout were generally against the plaintiffs, and the jury returned a verdict for the railroad company. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court This court, in an opinion prepared by Judge Howk reversing the decision of ihe lower court, lays down the law applicable to such cases as follows: “In an action for property destroyed by fire, where it is claimed that plaintiffs’ property was consumed and destroyed by defendant’s actionable negligence, it is no defense that plaintiffs’ property was insured for its full value, and that he has received the insurance money. In such case the plaintiffs are entitled to recover their entire loss from the defendant, and the fact that the insurance companies in which the property was insured have paid plaintiffs the amount of such insurance cannot constitute any defense. [135 N. J. (Law), 400; 103 Mass.,,2l!); 105 Mass., 213; 17 Mich., 47; 38 Bart, 589; 37 111., 333; 25 Conn., 265; 39 Minn., 255; 71 N. J., 574.] Nor can the payment of insurance money be used in mitigation of damages against the wrongdoer. The insurance is something with which the wrong-doer has nothing to do, and, whether received by the plaintiffs or not, is no concern of such wrong-doer, nor’ can he have any benefit from it. [1 Luth, on Damages, 242; 44 Ind., 184; 59, Ind., 317.]” Other questions arising in the case are also passed upon, but this is the one which principally concerns the public. The case will be tried again, and having the principal legal questions now settled in their favor, it is believed the Messrs. Cunningham win be successful The decision of the Supreme Court was held in this case for nearly four years. It is considered a leadingcise of record in this branch of American law.