Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1879 — NEWS NOTES. [ARTICLE]

NEWS NOTES.

AjCYCLOne in Nebraska, last week, 'killed eleven persons. The latest reports from the West predict a fine crop of wheat. On the 27th of July next, the Bank of England will be 185'years old. Gen. Goby has deposed the President of Paraguy and seized the government. A shower of live minnows fell in the streets of Des Moins, lowa, the other day. A storm at Elkhart Ind., last Saturday,destroyed a SIO,OOO school house, and other buildings. Fishermen at Michigan City have recently been hauling in two thousand pounds of fish per day. The bonded indebtedness of LaFayette is $1,915,500. The expenses last year were $709,409.07. The nomination of Senator Conover for Collector of Internal Revenue in Florida, has been withdrawn. The prospects are that the cotton crop of 1879, in the Southern States will be the largest and best ever raised Owing to divisions in the Liberal ranks, the Clericals gained advantages in recent municipal elections in Italy. Twenty lepers were recently discovered by the Health officers in the Chinese slums of San Francisco, and sent back to China. Two men were killed, and two others badly injured, at Terre Haute, last Saturday, by the caving in of a sewer which they were constructing. It is stated that the large organ of the Brooklyn Tabernacle was mortgaged for $2,500 to pay the expenses of Dr’ Talmadge’s trip to Europe. Another jury has decided that Guetig, the Indianapolis murderer, is guilty as charged in the indictment, and must sutler death as the just penalty of his crime. Several ships’with yellow fever on board have arrived a£ New York, and the health officers are apprehensive that the dread disease may find a lodgment in the city.

Emperor William’s golden wedding concluded with a.grand dinner, laid for 750 guests, and a soiree attended by 9,000. He granted 700 pardons, and more are expected. Congress lias passed a joint resolution appropriating funds for a monument to mark the birth-place of Washington. The old house in which he was born has completely disoppeared. The prospect now is that the contest for the-Governorship of Massachusetts next fall will lie between Governor Talbot, the present Republican incumbent, and General Butler, as the Democratic nominee. The jury in the case of Mrs. Vredenburg vs. Members of the Crescent City Rifle Club, of New Orleans, gave a verdict of $15,000 for the plaintiff, whose husband was killed by a pet bear kept on the club grounds. It is said that the Empress snubbed Bismarck at her golden wedding reception. That is nothing, dear gossips! It is more than probable that the pepper and vinegar old lady has snubbed the great Emperor himself, scores of times. A Colorado inventor skips across the deep, - wide and rapid Missouri river, with ease and speed on hid' patent water-shoes. The shoes, when attached together, become a buoy or life preserver, upon which the wearer can sit or he with ease and safety, t It may here be stated that General Shields breathed his last in a hospital attached to a Catholic convent, presided over by a female relative of his, in the beautiful- little city of Ottumwa. The immediate cause of his death was the bursting of the old by him at the battle of Cerro Gordo. The other: “From the State of South Carolina to Gen. Shields, in testimony of her admiration of his gallantry in the- Mexican war, and as a tribute of gratitude for his parental attention to the Palmetto regiment.” The hilt is studded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds, and on the scabbard is a palmetto tree, with dates of the several battles in which the old hero fought in -ae Mexican war. South Carolina invested the handsome sum of SB,OOO in this gift.

Amelia A. Young has made application for the appointment of a receiver, and for an injunction to restrain the executors, of the estate of Brigham Young from the further performance of duty, claiming that they have improperly made away with over $1,000,000 of the estate. The executors are George W. Cannon, Albert Carrington and Brigham Young, jr.

Some uneasiness is beginning to be felt tn Chicago regarding the eight hour labor demonstration, which is to taka place in that city on the Fourth of July. While the proclaimed intention is to have a peaceful and orderly parade and mass’meeting, it is feared that some of the Socialist leaders have a more serious programme in preparation. George A. Reynolds, of Salt Lake City, has been convicted on the charge of bigamy and sentenced to two years imprisonment and SSOO fine. He is the first Mormon convicted of polygamy since the passage of the act of Congress in 1862, making polygamy a crime. He is to serve his term of imprisonment in the Detroit penitentiary. Hon. John Gilbert Shanklin, Secretary of State, and Miss Gertrude Avery, of Louisville, Ky., were united in marriage last Saturday at Wyoming, New York. Miss Avery has been one of the belles of Kentucky, being beautiful, highly accomplished and very wealthy. Mr. Shanklin is well known as one of the most polished and genial gentleman in the Hoosier State, h ’ . Judge Davidson, of the Fountain Circuit Court, has decided that the railroad whistling act is in violation of the section of the constitution of the State which provides, in substance, that no man’s property shall be taken without just compensation. He holds that the term “taken” as used in the constitution is not limited to actual seizure of property, that it may be construed to be synonimous with injury. The whistling is injurious and destructive to property, therefore, the act requiring it is unconstitutional and void.

Managers of many of the railroads have issued the following sensible order: To Engineers: “While complying with’ the whistling law, if you see that teams are frightened and likely to become unmanageable, you will at once stop whistling. Human life and property must not be placed in .jeopardy if it is possible to avoid it. Further, we do not wish to make any more noise than is actually necessary. At best it is a very serious annoyance to our passengers and to the people on the line of our road.”

Rev. Thoms Cooper, pastor of the Congregational Church at Peru, has commenced suit against A. N. Dukes, Charles Kumler, George Rettig, John T. Stevens and others of his congregation for SIO,OOO damages, alleging that the said persons have conspirited together to eject him from the church edifice, deprive him of his pastorate and injure his reputation. The congregation is divided on the question of retaining Mr. Cooper as pastor, and the fight between the factions is red hot. A cannibal has been discovered near Otis, Mass. His name is Smith, and he got his education as a maneater in the South Sea Islands, where he entered into all the savage rites, and acquired an appetite for human flesh. He stands accused of eating a man in New Jersey, but denies the charge. He admits,however,that he offered to work six months for a Blanchford farmer in exchange for his daughter, and that he made the proposition with intent to feast on the girl. As he can’t get his man flesh he eats raw toads, snakes, and fish. >

According to the estimates of the Railway World, 400,000 persons are employed on the railroads in this country, and five times that many depend upon the roads for support. It is also estimated that between $200,000,000 and $400,000,000 are annually paid to employes and to persons who furnish the companies with supplies of various kinds. Fifty years ago there was not a public railroad in the United States, and the enormous business indicated in these figures is the outgrowth of less than half a century in the country’s existence. At- the funeral of General James Shields, the two swords presented to him by the Stages of Illinois and South Carolina were crossed over the casket containing his body, and with the floral decorations, helped to mak/ np a rich and pleasing picture. In tile procession they were borne, respectively, by Col. P. G. Ballingal, of Ottumwa, lowa, and, Mr\l. M. Wilcoxson, a banker of Carrolton. The inscriptions on the testimon ial^are: On the first— ‘ ‘Presented by the Slate of Illinois to Gen. James Shields, for gallant service at Vera Cruz, Cero Gordo, Contreas, Cherubusco, Chepultepec and the Garetta o Belin, City of Mexico.” On one side of this blade is a view of the City of Mexico; on the reverse, scenes from the several battlefields named. The cost was $2,000.