Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1885 — THE WEST. [ARTICLE]

THE WEST.

A dispatch from Portland, Oregon, says the County Jail nt Baker City, in that State, was destroyed bv fire, and five prisoners were burned to death and a sixth severely scorched. Cbop reports from Minnesota and Dakota are to the effect that the reported damage to wheat has been exaggerated, and that, while there has been some damage from rust and blight reported, the loss is insignificant. Harvesting has begun in many places, and well-filled gameis are expected by farmers. A drove of cattle wrecked a train near Delphi, Ind., the engine and baggage car tumbling down an embankment. The fifty passengers escaped unhurt, but Bag-gage-master Robinson was severely injured. The financial loss is S4'I,QOO. John Edie, 72 years old, and worth $50,000, living near Philadelphia, Ohio, hanged himself in his barn, owing to domestic troubles... .Maud S. trotted at Cleveland in 2:08}, lowering her record half a second. The quarter was reached in 32}, the half in I’.tkj, and the three-quarters in 1:355. Simon Harris, the Chicago' attorney who has been filing libel suits against journals and persons in Ohio until the aggregate reached nearly $2,000,030, was delated insane at Cincinnati, and taken by friends to a sanitarium... .Hot weather, attended by frequent severe storms, prevailed throughout the West last week. Numerous cases of sunstroke and heavy losses from wind and lightning are reported from various points. The damage inflicted upon growing crops in Minnesota, Dakota, and Wisconsin is very great... .Valentine Wagner was executed in the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. The doomed man was with difficulty prepared for his fate. He had to be carried to the trap, and then tried to lie down, struggling like u maniac while the officers were adjusting the rope. His neck was broken by the fall, and death was instantaneous. . *

AT a meeting at Kansas City the Mayor and 1 Common Council sent a dispatch to President Cleveland, stating that great hardship would ensue, not only to the cattle I men directly interested, but to all classes who are in any way connected with the prosperity of the Western country, by the enforcement *of the order requiring the removal of cattle upon leased lands in the Cheye’nne , and Arapahoe reservation in forty days.’ The strict enforcement of the order would be a virtual destruction to the catt e interest, amounting to $1,000,000 in said reservation, and that it would seriously disturb the finances of Kansas and Missouri. ~. Tost Sunday’s storm was marked in Chicago by an almost phenomenal rainfall, the gauge at the Signal-Service office marking 5.58 inches for nineteen hours. This record has not been equaled for years. The sewers were pressed beyond their capacity, and as a result many basements in the business andresidence districts were flooded and much damage done.., .Amagent of the Portofiice Department attempted to Saji

from Sun Francisco on a Pacific Mail steamer, with trucks containing mail for Mexico and Central America, for which he offa*e«4 to pay as extra baggage. The purser declined to take the trunks on board, and the mail was forwarded to its distination via New Orleans y-