Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1885 — A TEAR'S HISTORY. [ARTICLE]

A TEAR'S HISTORY.

A Chronology of the Important Events/ Political and Otherwise, of 1885. \ ‘ The Calendar Year One of Comparative Peace Throughout the Circuit of the Globe. The year 1885 haß added few political ' events of a startling nature to the annals of the world's history. It has been a year of peace, though there have been constant rumors of wars •in Europe—wars which, had they broken out, would evidently have assumed gigantic proportions and resulted in vast destruction of life and property. This very fact has no doubt caused the crowned heads of the old world to pursue a cautious policy and hesitate long before letting slip the dogs of war. The only serious disturbance of the peace of the world is on the extreme eastern confines of Europe, and that promises to bo settled without involving any of the great powers In a conflict of arms. France and China have been fighting each other at long range," inflicting very slight damage. England had a brush .with Burmah, which was “short, sharp, and decisive," the Burmese King throwing up the sponge and inglorlously surrendering to the red coats withont firing a gun. Canada’s war with the halfbreeds and Indians in the Northwest, and the change of administration at Washington by the retiring of a Republican and the inauguration of a Democratic President, constitute the chief events near home. Below will be found the record:

o JANUARY. The Slattery family formed a syndicate at Shenandoah, Pa., to prosecute claims for property worth $500,000,000 in England, Scotland, and India. St. Louis, Mo., was reported swarming with beggars ; 20,000 people out of employment. Twenty-three of the younger priests, and students of the Moscow Theological Seminary were flogged by the Archbishop of the diocese for exhibiting symptoms of rebellion. Gov. Cleveland sent his resignation to the New York Assembly on the oth, being succeeded by Lieut. Gov. Hill. Immense coal deposits, said to be the richest in the world, discovered in the vicinity of Pekin, China. Gen. Grant, in a letter to Cyrus W. Field, declined to accept the money raised to extricate him from his financial embarrassment. Presidept-elect Cleveland was notified by nearly 100 parents that as many babies were named after him, and he sent a photograph to each one. Discovery of an emerald weighing over a pound at Boyaca, Colombia. Failure of the banking house of John J. Cisco’s Sons, New York; liabilities, $2,500,000. Funeral of Hon. Schuyler Colfax, at South Bend, Ind. The mercury at Mount Washington, N. H., sank to 50 degrees below zero on Jan. 22, and a hurricane for half a day was at the rate of 100 miles an hour. A detachment of British troops, 1,500 strong, fought the hosts of El Mehdi at the WeHs of Abu Klea, in the deserts of the Soudan, and after a fierce battle the rebels were driven from the field with heavy loss. London startled by three explosions of dynamite in the Parliament House and at the Tower; the lobby of the British House of Commons blown to pieces, and the Speaker’s chair destroyed; senator Bayard introduced a resolution in the United States Senate expressing the indignation and sorrow of this country at the event. The Liberty Bell taken from Independence Hall, Philadelphia, under escort of 3UO policomen, and started for the New Orleans Exposition. Texas stockmen estimate their loss on account of the cold weather will exceed &,000,600. Russia and Germany conclude a treaty providing for extradition of assassins or abductors of royal personages, and persons guilty of illegal manufacture of explosives. Continued excitement in London over the dynamite explosions; numerous arrests made, vigilance committees proposed, and a system of espionage over persons of Irish extraction suggested. The Liberty Bell accorded a hearty reception at New Orleans, salutes being fired and shipping decorated; at Beauvoir, Miss., Jefferson Davis met the train bearing the famous relic, and made a short speech to those in attendance. Solomon Batt and Ellas Grossfeldt, educated Hebrews, renounce Judaism, and unite with the M. E. Church at Cincinnati. Ex-Gov. Moses, of South Carolina, released from prison at Dotroit, and rearrested on the charge of swindling 001. T. W. Higginson and other Bostonians. Amount of gold obtained from United States mines in 1884 ascertained to have been $31,000,000. Kansas and Missouri Legislatures adopt resolutions petitioning Congress to open Oklahoma to settlement. News received of a hardfought’battlo between Gen. Stewart’s command and the Arab rebels, in which five of El Mehdi's emirs were killed: Stewart was badly wounded and disabled for the remainder of the campaign. Mrs. Thankful Tanner, of Cleveland, brings suit against Mrs. James A. Garfield for $25,000 for injuries sustained by being run over by the latter's carriage. Thaddeus Louis Poniatowski, a grandson of King Stanislaus of Poland, found working as a cattle tender near Baltimore. The Minnesota Senate passes a bill making it a felony to attempt to increase or diminish the market price of cereals. After a dead-lock lasting twenty-two days, the lower house of the Dlinois Legislature organized by the election of Elijah M. Haines as'Speaker. A party of Oklahoma boomers numbering 150 persons dispersed by United States troops; lour of the leaders, bound over in SI,OOO eacn ; they threaten to make another raid on the coveted territory March 4.L**

FEBRUARY. Mr?. Laura De F. Gordon, of California, admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court at Washington —the second woman accorded that privilege. O’Donovan Itossa shot in New York by an English woman calling herself Yseult Dudley; great rejoicing in England over the news. Queen Victoria offered to contribute from her private purse to auy reward the Government decided to offer for arrest of persons guilty of dynamito outrages. During a severe windstorm the Colorado Central train from Denver to Georgetown was lllown from the track ; eighteen passengers more or less injured. Intense excitement in England caused by receipt of dispatches from General Wolsely announcing the capture of Khartoum by El Mehdi. The Union Paeiiic Koad reports its gross earnings for 1884 at $25,791,000. Reported dissensions in the Mormon Church, causing its gradual disintegration—the young Mormons trying to break away from ecclesiastical rule. Authentic reports wore.received in London that at the time of Jho fall of Khartoum the city Was on the verge of and on entering the enemy massacred about 18,000 people ; General Gordon was among the latter, and his head was cut off and carried in triumph to the Mehdi, who received it with eager satisfaction. Michael Davitt compelled to leave a. hotel at Home because English guests refused to sit at table with him. Ex-Congressmau D. J. Morrell, President Cambria Iron Company at Johnstown, Pa., sent to a lunatic asylum. The Texus House passed a bill forbidding the carrying of deadly weal one. Ti e laLar crisis in Franco causes the utmost alarm ; 3iA',(M' unemp o. ed men in Paris and 1,000,0U0 more :n toe provinces. Nati nal Independent Association organized in Loudon, one of its objects bail-g un alliance btt.iozn England und tha United btat s. The worst blizrarl known in many years prevailed on the eth and 9th throu bout the ration btjoveeu tao fct I awien o and the M'.ssour . The charge of high treason and felony was brought aga nst J. G. Cunningham and Harry Burton, a leged dynamitards. in the how Street Police Court, London. Definite iriformatiop received of the death ts Gen. Gordon and the indiscriminate slaughter of -the non-com-batants and Christians at Khartoum. Die Vatican rfustd to recognize Michael Da . its, vho desired to ir sent an and ref s justifying t. e cause cf tab Irish Na ionalists. A cotton mill established at I all River, Mass., transf r ed its machiaerv to Mexico, to manmiictu.e print goods with native labor. Never bofer. in maritime history were so many steannhipt and sailing vessels so long overdue at New York ; over 100 bound f >r that poit not spocen or heard from - that should have arrived weeks previous. Fears were expressed thatlxng Isi ul Found would be sealed up by ice. M.ss Eva Mackey, daughter of the bonanza king, married in Paris to the Italian Prince of Gaiatro,. Ferdinani Juleu Oolonna. Secretary Chandler issu dan crier prohibit ng naval officers Qom memorializing Congress. The House of Representatives, by a vote of 158 to 103 (the necessary two-thiids not being obtejnedi, defeat-id a bill placing General Grant on the letired list,-. Intense cold weather, with snow drifts, almost suspended railroad traffic throughout the West; in the Dub;:quo section the embargo was the worst reported in eightsc n years;. The Susquehanna River was frozen to the bottom at Lancaster, Pa. The Nebraska Legislature passed a bill prohibing the sole of to hoc op to minors. Final decision rendered at Washington granting money-order fees to postmasters as perquisites ; the decision adds millions to cost of maintaining the mall service. Feb, 18 the first formal ballot for Senator from Illinois was reached by the joint assembly of the Legislature ; John A. Logan received 101 votes, W. R Morrison 94, with 7\cat*e ring—lo 2 being neces, ■arv to a choice —two absentees. ' Lake Mich* igkn, opposite Milwaukee, was frozen from shqre to shore, the ice ranging from nine inches to three feet in thickness. The British Parliament

assembled on the 19th. The Niagara River was covered by an ice bridge nine miles long and extending two miles into Lake Ontario. The lower house of the Michigan Legislature killed a bill requiring the securing of licenses to marry. New York and Chicago merchants drilled their employes in street-fighting tactics, anticipating socialist outbreaks. The Washington Monument Was dedicated on the 21st. A tramp secured a place on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Road by saving the special train of Vice President Waite from being wrecked on a broken rail. Wood-choppers .at Galion, Ohio, beheaded a corpse while at work on a hollow tree; SBOO, a pair of revolvers, and some burglars’ tools were discovered. A huge meteor, throwing off smoke and flames, and hissing loudly, passed over Victoria, B. C., and was seen to plunge into the Sea of Haro, throwing up a cloud of spray. Judge Advocate. General Bwaim was court-martialed at Washington for conduct prejudicial tq military discipline, and suspended from rank for twelve years,- with the forfeiture of half his pay. A New York telegram of Feb. 28, based on. reliable authority, stated that Gen. Grant was a very sick man, and that the fact should no longer be concealed from the country that he would not be long among the living. MARCH. President Cleveland-took the oath of office on March 4, in the presence of an assembly estimated at 150,oOO; about 25,000 people in organized bodies escorted him from the Capitol to the White House, to the music of 100 bands, and 10,000 devotees of Terpsichore danced at the inauguration ball; sixteen regiments of Pennsylvania militia, headed by ex-Gov. Hartranft, bore off the honors of the parade. Almost the last act of Congress was the passage of a bill putting tho name of U. 9. Grant on the retired list, with the rank of General; President Cleveland’s first official act was the commissioning of his Cabinet; his second was the signing of the commission of U. S. Grant as a General on the retired list. The Chinese Government ordered home all its subjects studying in French schools. Andrew Carnegie, the Scotch millionaire of Pittsburgh, was blackballed when nominated for membership in the Reform Club of London. President Cleveland Issued a proclamation forbidding the invasion of trespassers upon Oklahoma, and ordering all unauthorized possessors of land to withdraw. The Supreme Court of lowa decided unanimously that the prohibitory law is constitutional In every particular. The Delaware River was frozen over at Easton, Pa. On March 22 the Bignal-service observer on Mount Washington, N. H., reported a gale of 100 to 140 miles an hour and a temperature of 48 degrees below zero. On the 26th, Queen Victoria called out 53,000 reserves of the regular army and 140,000 militia for permanent service. Map Crozior, of the Dominion frontier mounted police, with a force of 100, encountered several hundred rebels commanded by Louis Riel at Duck Lake, Manitoba, and after a hard fight Crozier was defeated, with 12 killed and 11 wounded. The anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s landing at,St. Augustine, Fla., in 1512, was celebrated with elaborate ceremonies at that place March 28.

APRIL. Mahlon Van Horn, of Newport, R. 1., who was chosen as a member of the General Assembly of that State at the election on April I, was the first colored man ever elected to that body. On the Bth, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, arrived in Dublin, being the first members of the royal family to visit Ireland for many years; they received a eordial welcome, particularly the Princess, who was arrayed in green, velvet. Infprmation was received “at the Russian War Office that Penjdeh, in the disputed Afghan territory, was occupied by Russian troops on the 2d inst. The New York Presbytery decided to retire Rev. Dr. Burehard, of “Rum, Romaajsm, and Rebellion" fame, on a pension -of SSOO. A snow-storm was general throughout Illinois and Wisconsin on the 14th,’ the snow drifting badly in many places ; snow fell also in Michigan and Northern Indiana. Orson P. Arnold, a leading Mormon of Salt Lake City, guilty to unlawful cohabitation and was fined $300; he promised to obey the.laws and abandon polygamy. The twentieth anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln (April 15) was marked by memorial services at the Capitol at Springfield, HI. Veterans of the Texan army of 1836 met at Sherman April 21, and celebrated the forty-ninth anniugrsary of the battle of San Jacinto, by which Texas established her Independence. The Ohio Legislature passed an act requiring all executions in that State to take place within the walls of the Senitentiary. Margaret Coleman died at Bonus, LI., having fasted forty-five days, for five days preceding her death refraining from partaking of water. The 321st anniversary of the birthday of Shakspeare (April 23) was celebrated with much ceremony at Stratford-on-Avon.

MAY. The resignation of, U. S. Treasurer A. U. Wyman made it necessary to count all cash and securities in the public vaults at Washington, a task of great magnitude; on the Ist Inst., 100 clerks began the work, and consumed about three weeks in accomplishing it. James R. Osgood &* Co., well-known Boston publishers, failed: liabilities, between $150,000 and $200,000. Capt. Lord, of the steamer Critic, which arrived at New York on the 14th, reported encountering miles of solid ice, with numerous bergs 200 to 800 feet high. Prof Odium leaped from the Brooklyn bridge, 135 feet to the river beneath, and was killed. In the Illinois Legislature, on the 19th instil, Gen. John A. Logan was elected United States Senator on the 120th ballot, thus ending a memorable contest of four months’ duration. Tbe British evacuation of the Soudan commenced on the 21st day of May. The bill to restore the death penalty failed in the Michigan Senate. Propeller lines running from Chicago to Buffalo offered to carry wheat at one cent a bushel, the lowest prico.e.ver known. On the 24th Illst., Queen Vic. toria’s sixty-sixth birthday was celebrated in an elaborate manner; but nine of the fifty-five sovereigns who have preceded her on the British throne have attained an equal age. By direction of Gen. Terry, Gabriel Dumont, Beil’s lieutenant, was released at Fort Assinaboine, Montana. The Brazilian Government adopted a programme for the abolition of slavery. A dispatch from Now Noxico stated that “no Indian raid for the last ten years equaled the present outbreak for cruelty7s whites were known to have been murdered ; women were outraged and their bodies pinned to the earth by wedges driven through them into the ground : men were terribly mutilated, and one little girl was hung up alive by a meat hook stuck in the back of her head. Louis Reauine, a Fronch-Canodian, became a raving maniac on a Wabash train from the West for Chicago, and on reaching-that city killed Officer B irrett and badly wounded Lieut. Laughlin, who were waiting at the depot lo receive him; the manioc received three shoiS in the back. JUNE. James McCann, of the Herald, defeated Ira Somers, of the World, in a type-setting contest at ’ New York; the lormer piled up 6,342 ems of solid rninitn in throe hours, the latter 0,042. at several placos in Maine June 10, An Ergiih insurance company Bent iLSTUCt.ons to a St. Louis agent to investigate tie Maxwell-Preller murder at the Southeru Hotel iu March, the company stating tbeir belief tbat the boly found in the trunk was a medical "subjectthat Preller, before leaving England, had his life heavily insured : that his relatives were anxious to get the money; and that Preller was still alive. JULY. Tho anniversary of the fell of the Bastile (July 14*, was celebrated at Paris as a general holiday. The Nia'ora Falls’Park was formally dedicated to the public on the i:th July, with appropriati ceremonies. John Itooch, the shipbuilt or, mads tn assignment, with preferred cla.ms i mo mt ng to $122,000. Princess Beatrice, vouugt st daughter of Queen Victoria, was marH d July 23, 10 Prince Henry of Eu.it nIu g. Appalling news from Spain; mortality from the dreadful scourge of ehol<ra averaged 1,000 daily iu the kingdom. Sixty Russian criminals, while en route to Siberia, made a break fpr liberty; twenty-three were killed by the soldiers, and thirty of the survival's made good their escape. In the British House of Commons a petition a mile and a half long, and containing 500,000 signatures, was presented, urging the passage of a law for the protection of young girls. A monument to the memory of Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged at Salem for witchcraft, July 19, 1682 ( was dedicated at Danvers, Mass: The famous mare, Maud 8., wiped out all previous records by trotting a mile at’Clovcland, Ohio, in 2:08%. AUGUST,. Miss Adrianha Physick, a gray-haired woman of 60, who was once a reigning belle of Philadelphia, was released from an insane asylum in that citv, where she had been incarcerated for twenty-seven years as “extravagant’’ and “eccentric she was In full possession of her faculties, and. it is claimed, had never been otherwise. Within twelve hours three brothers named Truby met violent deaths at or near Marta’s Valley, Pa; one fell into a cattle guard and broke his neck, another was drowned in a quar-ry-pit, aud the third was suffocated in a grainbin. The Oklahoma “boomers" broke up camp and dispersed. The steamship Etruria made the run from Queenstown to New York in six days five hours and thirty-one minutes; this is the fastest time on record. SEPTEMBER. A colored woman named Ellen Johnson, 112 years old, who was sold as a slave to New Orleans parties fifty years ago, arrived at her daughter’s home in Louisville ; the daughter was ik) years of age, and her roof sheltered representatives of five generations. The first race between the vachts Puritan and Genesta, for the cup won in' 1851 by the America, which was sailed on the 14th iust., over what is known as tho inside course of the New York Yacht Clqb; a length of thirty-eight miles, was wop by the former in 61)1:3u; the English cutter was beaten a little more than a mile: in the second race of

the series, frver. a fifty-mile coarse, the Puritan won by 1 minute 38 seconds; the Genesta led for three-fourths of the distance, and at one time was 8 minutes 6 seconds ahead. Jumbo, the enormous elephant, was run down and killed by A. train of cars at St. Thomas. Cnt., while bourfling a car. The seventeenth annual reunion-Of the Soeieiy of the Army of the Cumberland was held at Grand Rapids, Mich., Gen. Sheridsn presiding. A hailstorm, some of the stones being ten inches in circumference, devastated the country south of Granite Falls, Minn., on the 16th; drifts of hail three leet in depth were found. Thirty thousand Poles were expelled irorn Posen, Prussia, and in retaliation the Russian Government began the expulsion of Germans from Poland. The Governor General of Eastern Roumalia was deposed by the populace of the capital city, Philippopolis, who proclaimed a union with Bulgaria and established a provisional government. At Pittsburgh, the Coroner held an inquest on a piece of bono one inch long, all that was left of the body of John Osterineir, a lad of 14; the unfortunate boy was engaged feeding rock to a crusher, fell in, and was ground to atoms. The famous trotter, Goldsmith Maid, ended her career on a stock farm near Trenton, N. J., at the age of 29 years; she had trotted in 132 races, winning 92. her earnings being nearly S24O,HOC*. On the 23d inst., three inches of snow fell In the Derby Line (Vt.) section. OCTOBER. Ths work of demolishing Flood Rock, in New York harbor, was successfully accomplished on the 20th inst.; nine acres of solid rock were tunneled ; nearly 300,00 J pounds of dynamite were consumed in the explosion, and the Bhock was felt over the entire area of Manhattan Island. Everett J. Waring, an intelligent mulatto, was admitted to the ba/ in Baltimore, the first colored man ever authorized to practice law in Maryland. Te deums were sung in Madrid, Spain, on the 15th inst., as a token of thanksgiving for the disappearance of the cholera; the dread scourge caused over 100,000 deaths during its prevalence. Nearly a foot of snow fell in the Ishpeming (Mich.) district on the 20th; trains were blockaded. Lannie McAffeo made a run of 6,004 points in a three-ball game of billiards at Yankton, Dakota. Jacob Kauffman, a musician of Denver, became demented, divested himself of his clothing on a prairie, and crawled back and forth through a barbed-wire fehce until death came to his release; his flesh was found hanging in shreds. Mrs. General Grant wrote a letter to Mayor Grace of New York, saying that Riverside Park had been selected as the General’s burying place by his family, because of the agreement that she should ultimately be interred beside him, and that no change was contemplated. A crazy Corsican named Mattei attempted to assassinate M; De Freycinet. French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the Btreets Of Paris, but failed. NOVEMBER. The purchase of the steamer Dolphin from the assignee of John Roach, was consummated by Secretary Whitney. The Andre monument, which Cyrus W. Field had erected on the Hudson River at Tappan, N. Y., was blown up by dynamiters. Ferdinand Ward was put at work shoveling ashes from under the engine boilers at Sing Sing Prison. Subscriptions to the Grant monument fund in New York were received from Paris, Amsterdam and Hamburg. Roach’s great ship-yard at Chester,.Pa., resumed work on the 9th, under the management of the United States Naval Department. The “Three Americas’"Exposition of Art and Industry opened at New Orleans on the 10th, to continue through the winter. On his Polo Alto ranch, near Menlo Park, Cal., Senator Stanford proposed to establish a great university, which he is to endow to tho extent of $20,000,000. Tho managers of a charity fair at Reading, Pa., created a sensation by refusing to let Hebrew women participate. Lewis Riel, the leader of the rebellion in the Northwest Territory, was hanged at Regina, tho capital, on the 17th; in his last moments he displayed a decent fortitude which had nothing of bravado about it. Earthquakes were reported In the Pacific Ocean along the California coast, similar to those which preceded the great upheaval in the island of Java several years ago. A jury at Sparta, Ga., sustained the will of David Dickson, leaving $500,000 to his colored mistress and child, and disinheriting his heirs. L. B. Joneß was fined one cent and imprisoned one hour at Richmond, Va., for sending a. .challenge to fight a duel. Thomas A. Doyle was for the seventeenth time elected Mayor of Providence, R. I.; the Republicans threw him overboard, but tho Democrats mode him their candidate, and carried him through. Gen. Javanovitch, commanding a division of the Servian army, was dismissed for disobedience, and suicided with a revolver.

DECEMBER. Lima, Peru, igas surrendered to Gen. Caceres, who appointed Eusebio Sanchez provisional Governor, In the far East, King Theebaw, of Burmah, surrendered to Gen. the British Empire thus gaining control of about 180,000 square miles of territory at very small cost. A physician who attended Vice President Hendricks for many years stated that death was caused by a clot of blood reaching the brain. Subscriptions to the Grant monument fund at New York, up to the 3d inst., amount to about $105,000. A storm on Lake Michigan on the 4th caused the lake at Chicago to rise eight feet above the ordinary line. A. J. Cassatt, of the Pennsylvania Road, purchased the English racer Tristan; Americans are said to be rapidly acquiring the best horses in Great Britain. The ceremony of christening the steel cruiser Chicago (launched at Chester, Pa.) was performed by Miss Edith Cleburne, of Philadelphia, who broke a bottle of v wine over tho bow, and liberated a canary, an Irish linnet and an oriole. Reports were abroad in London that the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon hail permanently broken down from heart diseaso. A shower of young smalts, each half an inch indength, fell at Cumberland, Maine, for a radius of a mile, Mr. Tbomas P. O’Connor, Mr. Parnell’s political lieutenant, declared in an interview that what is sought for Ireland is a government similar In character to that of Canada. The funeral of Herr Strassman, President of the municipal council of Berlin, a leading Hebrew, was made the occasion to rebuke Jew-baiters ; the (Emperor sent handsome wreaths of flowers to the funeral, and the car was followed by thirty thousand persons. The funeral of Louis Riel took place at St. Boniface, Manitoba, on tho 12th, with seven hundred halfbreeds in attendance, eight of whom bore the remains on their shoulders for six miles. Benjamin Louth, Sr., of Pittsburgh, the inventor of a process for turning old steel rails into nail plate.sold his right to a syndicate for S3OO per day for the next sixteen years. For a purse of SI,OOO, at New York, Joseph McCann defeated W. C. Barnes in a type-setting contest; in four hours McCann set 8,062)6 ems, Barnes’ string measuring 7,951; the typo was solid minion. De Lessops, the famous civil engineer and canal builder, over eighty years of age, was presented by his young wife with another daughter. Rumors of political combinations iu Great Britain pointing to tho concession of home rule to the Irish. The bill giving Mrs. Gen. Grant a pension of $5,090 a year passed both houses of Congress. < "