Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1888 — TOPICS OF THE TIMES. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THE TIMES.

PLANS OP PROHIBITIONISTS. ladianapolis special, March 3. An impor ant new line of action, respecting prohibition has been practically inaugurated with the active support cf the leaders of the movement in all parts of the country, the first step of which, it islikelv , will be taken in this city. It grows oat of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Unite! States in the Kansas case, wherein it is asserted that the people cannot barter away the morals and health of the public, and plainly says that the public trtffic in intoxicants is against the public life and health. Correspondence has been had with all prominent workers, and it has been agreed to try and attack the constitutionality of all license laws. Preparations have been completed in New York, New Jersey, and other States, to bring the matter immediately to a test. In thiß county the Prohibitionists expect at an early day to file with the Coant Commissioners a protest, against the granting of licenses to applicants for saloon powers. In case the Commissioners decline to grant the petition, a result that is expected, they will apoeal, and carry the matter to the Supreme Court of the S rate.

A prominent lawyer says he has made a careful examination of all the facta bearing on the situation which it is proposed to bring about, and he thinks the Bupreme Court will concur in the legility of the conclusions reached bvthe Kansas Court and affirmed by the United States Court. Preparations are going forward on rather an unusual plan for the approaching Prohibition National Convention in this city. There will be some unique features at the convention. Music, oratory, and women will be the inspiration of the occasion. A chorus of several hundred voices has been provided for, and old army tune?, to new and old word?, will be sung by the chorus, with an invitation to the entire convention to join in. All the great women interested in the cause will be here.

The “Blue and the Gray” is the name of a National organization of Federal and Confederate soldiers that will be formed in the interests of the prohibition movement. It is to be modeled after the Grand Army ot the Republic, except that soldiers of either army in the late war are eligible. Adherence to the prohibition idea will not De made a cardinal requisite of the membership in the association. Its purpose is to unite and assist in uniting the voters of the North and South, and to call their attention to a new principle worthy of the adherence of voters of all sections. * * INCOMPETENT ENGINEER. Globe Democrat. The danger of running on an engine handled by an incompetent engineer or a man who has remained ut some other business long enough to get fusty is not fully understood by the traveling world. I had an experience of that kind that drove me off the road and into morepleasant lines of labor. The lowa Legislature passed a law in 1887, holding all railroads responsible in heavy amounts for loes of life or injuries incurred in their service, and to offset the liability the|railroad addressee a circular to all employes asking them to relinquish their claim?. One morning I had fired up as usual and rnn the engine around to await the freight which we were to take weet from Burlington. Before the hour an agent stepped up and asked the engineer to sign the agreement. He refused and was discharged on the spot. A new man was pot in the cab. He had an engineer's license, and everything look straight, so far as papers went. During tbe .talk my fires bad run down sol filled in coal until out bf the saf» ty valve, and then I opened the furnace door. Having .taken our train, an hour later we ‘were spinning along nicely when I turned to feed the fire. Throwing open the door I observed the crownsheet and rivets showing through the fire-box, and looked np a* the gauge only to find that we were running with a dry boiler. I yelled to my partner, and he started out on the running board with a hammer in one hand. The pump had stopped working. The new man struck the metal gently to loosen the plunger. That's all I saw. I started over the coal in the tender, and, climbing up on the side of the first car, was not tong in putting twelve or fifteen care between me and that engine. Reaching the caboose and sitting on tbe cupola, I waited for the explodon. If that fool with hie hammer had succeeded in starting that pump he wonldhave gone into eternity tbe next second, the boiler was at a white heat. I wasn’t in a suicidal frame of mind, and that’s why I lit out. But the old adage about fools amt children proved true, for that engineer had to fttbP. draff the fire, and wait for a relief engine. We had ran only fifteen miles, but the damage in balf an hour took three mouths to repair.

* * .* MURDER WILL OUT. Shoals, Ind.. special, March 5. The excitement over the arrest of John Jones, a county commissioner, and his four accomplices has not the least abated, and a more complete confession has been hourly expected from one or more of the gang. James Archer and William Stanfield, the two that were jailed, were averse to talking in any

manner of the crime. Albert Qualkenbush, the confessor, who was released on bail, has gone home, and it is feared he will be fouly dealt with before corroborating his confession. He refuses to advance anything farther on his confession to the public at present. It is in instance this:

“In early March, 1864, Jackson Ballard, the murdered man, was at home to effect the arrest of one Anderson, a deserter from the army. Anderson was a member of our lodge and had our sworn protection, and we were determined to defend him at all hazards. In addition so this Ballard threatened to shoot any copper on sight. At this juncture, myself and many others yet unsuspected of our organization, were notified to meet at once and take immediate measures toward disposing of Ballard. At the meeting Jones and Qualkenbneh were, with reluctance, induced to execute the plot enacted. We divided into two posses, each following the main highway that Ballard would travel in search cf Ander son. Not meeting him we congregated in a thicket, almost in sight of his residence and lay in ambush until he came down the road in plain view, well armed and ostensibly in search of Anderson. The order was given by our leader to fire; Jones’ courage failed him and he handed his loaded weapon to Stanfield. We fired seven shots into him. Not yet satisfied, Stone advanced and fired several shots into his prostrate form, rendering him almost unrecognizable. At this juncture we disbanded and never has the secret, although it has haunted me constantly, been revealed.” He says the scene of the murder has haunted him and now he feels himself greatly relieved. The organization referred to was evidently the “Knights of the Golden Circle,” yet the confessor is silent on this point. It is also authentically stated that a diabolical plot had been arranged to murder the officers then serving papers on soldiers drafted. Archer’s son is also under indictment for the murder of Stanfield’s daughter. It would not be a surprise if the trio in jail would celebrate by being lynched the second anniversary of the hanging of the Archer trio—March 9, 1886. Stone, it is said, is at Olney, Ill.

'\~ ' # * CYCLONK.S. A MeteorologistMeteorology is a fascinating science when you once become interested iD nature’s phenomena, but the general public never takes pains to investigate until their path is crossed by something like a severe storm. Then they hunt up old barometers, goose bones and watch the mercury in the thermometers with an owl-like air. Men of science, however, wil b astonished to hear that no theory concerning the origin of these mysterious wind storms has ever been substantiated or even supported by facts. The cause and origin are unknown. Curiosity is moreover piqued by the knowledge that they areindigenous, as it were, to the Mississippi Valley, and that they were never known to have occurred except between the hours <4 4 and 6 o’clock in the afternoon. The Marshfield visitation is repertedto have occurred at a later hour, but Prof. Nipher and myself rode through five counties on horseback and collected data that is beyond dispute. Storms are divided into tornadoe®, sach as our Western blows; cyclones, which carry devastation to shipping on the ocean for hundreds of miles, preserving a rotary motion, and hurricanes, which exert a lateral force.