Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1874 — Page 1

THE RENSSEim UNION. Published Every Thursday by BORACK K. JAMES, JOSHUA HEALEY, PROPRIETORS. Office over Wood’s Hardware Store, Washington Street. Subscription, $2.00 a Year, in Advance. JOB WORK Of every kind executed to order in good style and at low rates.

pitch'd <ffiscelking. WHY IS IT SO! Some find work where some find rest, And so the weary world goes on; I sometimes wonder which is best ; The answer conies when life is gone. Some eyes sleep when some eyes wake, And so the dreary night-hours go. Some hearts heat where some hearts break; I often wonder why ’tis so. Some wills faint where some wills fight— Some love the tent and some the field— I often wonder who are right— The ones who strive, or those who yield. Some hands fold where other hands Are lilted bravely in the strife; And so thro’ ages and thro’ lands Move on the two extremes of life. Some feet halt where some feet tread, in tireless inarch, a thorny way; Some straggle on where some have fled; Some seek when others shun the fray. Some swords rust where others clash, Some fall back where some move on, Some tings furl where others flash Untll tnc battle has been won. Some sleep on while others keep The vigils of the trne and brave; They wit! not rest till roses creep Around their name, above a grave. —Father Ryan.

WILLIE.

BY P. DEMING.

It frightened us a good deal when we found the little dead boy. We were three country lads going home across the lots at noon for our dinner. In passing a lonely pasture ground we saw a little basket lying ahead of us upon the grass. We made a race for it and Ed captured the prize; a little further on we picked up a small hat which we at once recognized ■'as Willie Dcdrick’s. Then we turned the angle of the zig-zag rail fence, nfad there in the corner, jamrted close under the bottom rail, was beautiful little Willie, only five years old. His clothing was torn and bloody, and he didjnot move; we felt a little afraid because he was so still, but we went up to him. lie was dead, and his plump little features were all blackened with great bruises. It shocked us very much. Only three hours before we had been playing with Willie at the pond. We felt that it was a terrible thing to find him dead in this unlooked-for manner. We asked each other what Walter and Mary would do when they should hear of this; Willie was the only boy they had. And then the question came up what we ought to do under such circumstances. There was no one in sight to tell us. It was suggested that tve might take up the body and carry it home to Walter and Mary; it was not far through the lot and down the bank to the pond, where their home was. It seemed natural and right at first that we should take the chubby little boy and carry him home. But we shrank* from the presence of death even in the form of little Willie; and besides that we had certain dim and confused ideas, as country lads do who read the city newspapers, that somehow a Coroner was necessary, and that it would not be lawful or safe for us to meddle with Willie thus strangely found dead from an unknown cause. So we sat down upon the large stones near by Willie and held a council. There was no chairman appointed and no secretary, and none of the surroundings that ordinarily belong to deliberative bodies; nevertheless in all the essentials of a great council this occasion was very eminent. Here were three lads seated upon three fragments of the ancient granite which strews the northern slope of the Adirondack Mountains, and below them stretched the wild woods, away to the valley of the mighty St. Lawrence; and In their midst, upon that bright summer day, sat the skeleton king with his awful scepter and his iron crown, pressing upon their young hearts those matchless t errors Which have ruled the world since time began. It was an august presence, and the boys felt their responsibility more than members of councils ordinarily do. Their final conclusion was that one of their number, must go and tell Walter and Mary, while the other two watched the body. It required quite as much courage as wisdom to reach this conclusion, for to tell the parents was a task the boys dreaded. The Iqt was cast, country-boy fashion, with three* blades of grass, to determine who should be the messenger of evil tidings. The list fell upon Phil, and he immediately rose up to start. Ed. suggested at this point that in sending word the death ought to be ascribed to some cause. The boys had been very much puzzled from the first toknowwhat could have done it. They gazed about the pasture ground to discover what suggestion could be made. There were-a couple of horses, some cows,' and some sheep grazing in a distant part of the inclosure. As soon as it was suggested that one of the horses might perhaps have done it bf kicking Willie, the boys accented thanas the natural and undoubted solution of the mystery. And so Phil took that word with him. Phil went upon a little trot through the lot and dow n the bank, moving rapidly so that his heart might not have time to quail or shrink; and in less than five minutes he stood by the little house near the pond. He looked in at the door, which was wide open upon this warm summer day, and thern hn aaw Walter and Mary. Walter saf cleaning the lock of his rifle, while the gun itself was lying across his Jap. Doubtless Phil’s face was somewhat nrfte as he went in at the door, for Mary looked at him as if she saw something there,, and dreaded it. Thp lad had good sense; he did not blurt out ,the sad news suddenly. He said to Walter in a quiet way, “ Will you please to step out of the door with me; I wish to see you;" It was the earnestness of the voice, perhhps, that caused the man to put aside his gun and obey so quickly. When they were out of the house Phil said, “ I have bad news for you; we have found your little son in the lot, kicked by a horse, and we are afraid that he is so bad that he is dead.% Phil had thought of this way of saying it before he got to the house. When he said tread. Waitdr gave a little start and Said, “Is he dead!” Phil had to say, “Yes. we are afraid he is, and we think he is?’ , Walter stepped into the cottage and Phil stood at- the door to see how he , would tell Mary. Walter said, without any preface, ■“Ylary, our little Willie is dead I” “That was not a prudent thing,” the boy thought, as the tragic words fell

THE RENSSELAER UNION.

VOL. VI.

upon his car and fixed themselves in his memory. The effect of , the words upon Mary reminded the boy of the way he had seen a rifle-shot tell upon a rabbit or partridge. The woman passed through a kind of flutter or shudder for a moment and then sank straight down in a little heap upon the flpor. Then followed a series of quick gasps and catching for .breath, and short exclamations of “O dear! O dear!” and then the stifled shrieking began. Walter took his wife up in his strong arms, and tried to undo in part the sad work which had been accomplished upon her by the few words he had so suddenly and imprudently uttered. He said that Willie might not be dead after all, but only hurt. And so he placed her upon a bed, and he and Phil left her there and started to go and see Willie. Not many words were said us the man and boy climbed the bank and strode hastily along to the fatal spot. As they neared it there sat the two watchers, faithful to their post and as still as statues. Phil and Walter turned the angle of the fence, and the father came up to the body of his little son. He had not seemed stricken with grief until now, but only excited. As he looked steadily upon the chubby little form, all battered and bloody ana bruised, the lad who had brought him there felt that some word must be said. “ It’s a kick, ain’t it?” said he. That was hardly the right thing to say at such a moment, perhaps. The poor father choked and trembled, and replied, “A kick or a bite or something—O dear!” And then he turned his head and looked away, and there was the sound of his sobbing, and a strange, moaning cry. Walter would not stay by the body, but directed the boys to remain and watch while he himself went and brought his friend the doctor. ■ And then he turned away and went off over the fields toward the settlement, uttering load sobs and that same strange cry. It was hardly more than ten minutes’ walk down to the road toward which Walter directed his steps, and in a very short time the boys saw groups of men coming from the houses, up the acclivity, toward the fatal spot. They came hastily, two and three together, and soon a dozen or more were gathered around the three boys who had watched, and were gazing at the body. After the first look the men made characteristic remarks. “That is a rough piece of business!” said Dan. “ Fearful!” said Pete. “ That’s mighty queer work for a boss now, ain’t it?” said Levi, a tall, keen fellow intended by nature for a lawyer. “ It don’t look like a boss to me,” said another. And so they went on to comment and examine. It appeared that the rail under which Willie was jammed was dented and marked as if hammered by many blows. The three innocent boys who had originated the “ hoss theory, as the men called it, accounted for the marks on the rail by saying that the horse pawed Willie after he was under the fence. The men said they knew better; they began to question the boys as if they entertained suspicions in regard to them, and the boys became very uncomfortable. The men asked repeatedly just how the body was lying when the boys had found it, and inquired again and again whether they had moved it at all. The lads felt these insinuations very keenly. Men continued to come, and at length women came in groups, until quite an assembly was gathered there in the open field. Finally Walter returned slowly up the hill with a few friends, as if he were reluctant to come again to the place. Just as he readied the spot good old Father Mosely and his wife, a sharp, managing woman, came from the opposite direction and met Walter. Father and Mother Mosely lived down by the school-house, at the other side of the settlement. Mother Mosely at once seized hold of Walter, and while she wrung his hand exclaimecTlh a high voice that seemed to the boys not a becoming or natural voice in which to express grief: • ■ “ Oh, Walter! we can’t give him up; no, no, no; oh, dear!” The gesticulation which accompanied this was tragic arid stagey, and it was by far the most theatrical thingdone on that occasion. Father Mosely spoke a few words which interested the people very much. Hearing some allusion made to the “ hoss theory,” he said “ The little bqy >down at the school says it was a sheep that did it.” And then it came out that Willie’s playmate, Charlie Sanders, was “ the little boy down at the school,” and that Charlie had cried all the forenoon and dared not tell the teacher what the matter was; but finally at the noon-spell he told a little girl that Willie did not come to Miool because a sheep in the lot had chased them and knocked Willie down, and he could not get up. HereFwas light Tndeed, especially for the three lads, who had begun to feel, since the horse theory was criticised, as if they themselves were culprits unless they accounted for “ the murder.” Across the lot the sheep were still feeding. A young farmer stepped out of the crowd and called “ Nan, nan, nan.” and the flock, raising their heads, responded with a multitude of ba-a-as, ana came galloping over the grassy field. At their head was “ the old ram," a fine “ buck” with great horns curling in spirals around his ears. The young farmer held Willie’s basket in one hand, and making a brawny fist of the Other struck out toward the ram, offering him battle. The buck at once brought his head down in line of attack, squared-himself for a big butt, and came on with a little run, and a charge that in an artistic point of view was quite beautiful. The farmer, stepping aside, caught him by his horns as he came, arid that magnfftceflt charge was his last. There was a blood-thirsty feeling pervading the crowdjUridoubtedly, but Buck had a fair trial. There on his white, bold face and horns were the bright carmine drops of fresh blood. No other witnesses were needed. In a moment a glittering, keen knife flashed from somebody’s keeping in the bright sunshine, and in a moment more a purple stream dyed the white wool around Buck’s throat, and there was a red pool upon the grass; and a little later, as Dan remarked, “ some tough mutton.” The excitement abated; for the mystery was cleared up and Justice bad its due. Kind-hearted Joe, who superintended the Sabbath-school and led the religious ele. ment of the neighborhood, stepped forward and said to the crowd:

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, JULY 9, 1874.

“ Well, boys, it is all right here, and no suspicion and no need of any ceremony; let us take him home.” And then Joe took Willie in nis arms and held him closely with the little -face against his own, as if he Were still living, and started for the cottage. Some of the people followed in a picturesque procession, through the pasture lot and down the bank and along by the shore of the pond. When Walter’s house was reached, a few of the women went in to soothe Mary; and Joe and the went in also, and the people clustered about the door. In the course of an hour it seemed that all had been done that could be done for Walter and Mary, and the people, except a few who remained as watchers and helpers, dispersed to their homes. The three days that followed were bright, sunny days. A strange stillness and unusual hush reigned in the neighborhood of the cottage. The harsh, grating sound of the saw-mill was not heard as at other times, for the mill was stopped in token of respect for the great sorrow. Only the softly-flowing stream was heard, mingling its »v*urru» with the hum of the bees in the garden Now and then groups of children, dressed in their Sunday attire, would come down the bank, and with hushed voices and fearful looks steal up toward the cottage door. Then kind Joe would see thenrand-would come out and take them in to see Willie; and after a few moments they would issue forth again and walk sadly homeward; aud as they went the sunlight dried their tears. And farmers and hunters cqme from many miles away “to see the little boy that was killed by a slieep.” Some of the rough men manifested their sympathy by exhibiting vindictive feelings toward the ram. After going in and viewing the bruised corpse they would come out with dark, determined looks, and grasping again the long rifles which they had brought with them and “ stood up” by the door they would inquire of any bystander, with fierce emphasis, whether the ram that “ did that” was dead. On being informed of his execution, they would say “That will do,” with an air that implied how mucli they would have enjoyed it to have had a shot at him. Indeed, it appeared that if the poor brute had been possessed of fifty or a hundred lives, so that each irate hunter might have taken one, it would have been a greatTeiief and satisfaction. On the fourth day Willie was buried. Mary continued inconsolable. All of the social influences which the neighborhood could command were put in operation from the time of the funeral onward, in order to cheer' her and bind up her wounded spirit. Social meetings were held and pleasant little gatherings made for her. Wherever there was enjoyment Mary must be. She gratefully submitted herself to all their kindness and tried to please her friends. But it seemed to do her little good. She remained pale, weak and dispirited. After a few months Walter and Mary discovered that somehow they were not suited with their farm. They sold the place at the first opportunity and returned to their former home in New England, the remains of little Willie having heen forwarded in advance to a cemetery there with which they in their early days had been familiar. — Atlantic Monthly. •

A Fable for Farmers.

In a certain zoological garden two bear s were chained several rods apart which were fed each with a certain kind of fruit. Now there were in the same garden a half dozen monkeys who thought ’ it would be nice if they could manage to get a portion of these luscious fruits for themselves. Accordingly they persuaded the biars that variety being the spice of life it would not only be grateful to their palates, but conducive to healthy digestion, if they would exchange with each other a portion of these fruits at each meal. But the chains being too short for the bears to come within srconvenient distance of each other the exchange could be eflected only through the kind offices of the six monkeys aforesaid. Accordingly the fruit was passed by bear No. 1 to the first monkey, who passed it to the next, and so on to the last, whodelivered it to bear No. 2. The fruit in exchange passed back to bear No. 1 in like manner. Now eaclDinonkey througli whose paws the fruit passed thought that a few bifes was no more than a just compensation for his services, and it happened when the fruit reached its destination little more of it was left than the cores. So the bears grew lean in spite of" improved digestion, and the monkeys grew fat and put.on many airs, and winked at each other as they passed the hungry bears in the course of their employment. The keeper of the gardens seeing this, and ascertaining the? cause, lengthened the chains of the bears, and so the services of the monkeys were .dispensed with, and the bears grew fatagain. But the monkeys set up a howl at being deprived of their legitimate employment, and berated the bears for their ingratitude. This fable teaches a lesson which Patrons should ponder.— Exchange.

Of Interest to Pensioners.

A Washington dispatch of the Ist gives the following information: The act approved Jnne 18, 1874, entitled “An act to increase pensions in certain cases.” provides that all persons who arc now entitled to pensions under existing laws, and who have lost an arm at or above tlie elbow, or a leg at or above the knee, shall be rated in the second class, and shall receive s2l per month; provided that no artificial limbs or commutation therefor shall be furnished to such persons as shall be entitled to pensions under this act. Thia act. by its terms, was to take effect from and after'June 4,1873. Gen. Baker. Commissioner of Pensions, to-day announces that persons embraced within the provisions of thia act can secure the benefits of the same without formal application and without the intervention of an attorney. A power of attorney will not be recognized in’an application for increase of pension provided bv this act. A letter of ths pensioner addressed to the ComHUPsioner of Pensions, inclosing bis pension certificate and giving his postoffice address, will be sufficient presentation of his claim. Address by a Detroit Judge: “If it wasn’t for your children. I’d nut you where the coach dogs couldn’t bite you. I'tn going to let you go this time for thSir sakes, but look out for me in fiitute. If that physiognomy ever peeps over this desk at me again you’ll think I’m a piledriver and you are a mouse. Trot out of here, and don’t tarry to see what becomes of the rest.” Says a broken-hearted Pennsylvania farmer: “If the new Constitution had had a clause inserted outlawing sewingmachine and lightning-rod men it would have been carried by a majority that would have been unanimous.’ 7

OUR COUNTRY OUR UNION.

LATEST NEWS.

The Situation in France Considered Serious, ' i The Potter Railway Law Declared Valid. Republican Disaster at Estella — Cen. Concha Killed. Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc. THE OLD WORLD. According to Paris dispatches of the 29th the Committee of Thirty had rejected M. Perier’s Constitutional bill by a vote of 18 to 6, and had appointed a sub-committee to draw up a Constitutional bill of its own. On the Ist the Sub-Committec of Thirty had prepared and submitted its bill. Tliis provides for the continuance of the title of “President of the Republicfor a second Chamber; fora personal septennat to terminate with the expiration of MacMahon’s seven-year term, or sooner in case of his death,pr resignation. No provision is made for a successor to the President, thus leaving an opportunity for the restoration of the empire or the monarchy when the septennat ends. The Count de Chambord took the opportunity to urge the claims of royalty. On the 3d inst. lie issued a manifesto to the people, demanding a truce to the divisions which distracted the nation. The Count concluded his address with these words: “I am now, as before, ready. * * * Is it not time to restore prosperity and grandeur to France with the venerable royalty?” French and English papers consider that this manifesto had rendered it impossible for him ever to become King of France. The Government had ordered the suspension of Z’ Union, the paper that first published it. A later dispatch, dated on the sth, says the political situation had again become serious. An attempt to unseat the Ministry on an interpellation in regard to the suspension of Z’ Union had been decided upon by trie Legitimists. MacMahon has said he would not accept their resignations, even should the Government be defeated. On the' 29th the Madrid Government received dispatches saying that Marshal Concha had been killed on the preceding day in- in attack upon the second line of defends' at Estella. The army fell back with a loss of 1,500 in killed and wounded and reoccupied the lines held before. The Government was organizing fifty battalions for immediate and active service. Paris dispatches of the same day say that the death of Concha would dispose of tile claims of Prince Alplionzo. The Carlist account of the disaster reports the Republican loss at 4,000. A story was current, on the Ist, that Marshal Concha was killed at the instigation of Marshal Serrano because he was an Alphonsist. According to Madrid dispatches the Republican troops were greatly excited over the reports of the murder of their comrades taken prisoners at Muro, and threatened bloody reprisals. A dispatch of the 2d says the Carlisle had energetically denied the charge of massacring and mutilating Republican prisoners surrender at Muro. Madrid dispatches of the 4tli state that the national troops had been compelled to abandon the forts outside Bilboa on account of the withdrawal of the forces to reinforce the army of the North. The Carlists were said to have immediately reoccupied these forts. The Spanish Government, .accordingly a Madrid dispatch, had called for an additions 1 levy of 80,000 men to reinforce the army of the North. Gen. Michel Dominigue has been elected President of the Haytien Republic., According to late Russian newspapers destructive fires had occurred in Russian Poland. In the city of Bcrditchev, within four days, nearly 2,000 buildings were burned and most of the rendered homeless. Accor im wi to letters from Shinatra the Acheenese had made an attack on a Dutch fort on the night of March 20, capturing it and overwhelming the garrison. Over 1,000 persons were killed and 4,.W0 Wounded. A resolution offered in the British Parliament by Dr. Butts on July 2, conferring home rule upon Ireland, was very generally debated, and finally defeated by (51 to 458 votes,, According to Berlin dispatches of the 2d the German Government bad decided to send a squadron to Spanish ports to exact compensation for property captured at Cartagena by the Intransigcntes.

THE NEW WORLD, The Secretary of the Treasury has ordered the sale of 11,000,000 in gold each Thursday during the month of July. Late Washington dispatches say that at the heels of the late session a bill passed Congress which provides that an editor of a newspaper can be arrested anywhere and conveyed to Washington for trial upon the tiling of a complaint for libel before any competent tribunal in that city* The question of jurisdiction in the pending cases for violation of the Illinois State Railroad Passenger and Freight Tariff law against the Chicago-& St. Louis Railroad Companylias been transferred to the United States Supreme Court, upon petition of defendants. Representative Sloss, from the Sixth Alabama District, recently shot and probably mortally wounded one Long, of Tuscumbia, Ala., for slandering bls (Sloss’) daughter. Sloss gave himself up to the Sheriff. The appropriation* voted by Congress at its recent session aggregate <177,018,719.40. Last year’s appropriations for similar purposes were <201,389,178.65. A dispatch from Washington of the 30th, says that United States Minister Cushing had made a peremptory demand upon the Spanish authorities for indemnity for the Virginius prisoners and for consequential damages. The New York State Convention of tlberal Republican* will meet at Albany Sept. 9. A boiler in a saw-mill at Carrollton, Mich., exploded on the 30th ult., killing four persons and seriously wounding four others. A few evenings ago Mrs. Harriet Beard, living near Du Quoin, 111., undertook to fill a lighted kerosene lamp. The can exploded and she was fatally burned., > A State Prohibition Convention was held at Bloomington, 111., on the 30th ult. Resolutions were adopted-denouncing the traffic in

liquor as a dishonor to Christian civilization; favoring moral as well as political action by temperance men; demanding the reduction of official salaries and perquisites; advocating the election of President, Vice-Presi-dent and Senators by direct popular vote; commending the course of temperance women in 'their efforts to stem the tide of intemperance and requesting them to continue their efforts iu the same direction until they shall be given tlie ballot, and favoring tlie substitution of greenbacks for National currency and the return to a specie basis as speedily as compatible with the public interests. The following nominations were made: State Treasurer, Maj. Little, of Pana; Superintendent of Schools, Mrs. Jennie F. Willing, of Bloomington, Professor in, the Wesleyan University. The following statement was the condition of the public debt July 1: Six per cent, b0nd551,213,624,700 Five per cent, bonds 510,628,050 Total coin b0nd551,724,352,750 Lawful money debt $14,678,000 Matured debt 3,216.590 Legal-tender notes 382.076,733 Certificates of deposit... 58,760,000 Fractional currency.,... 45.881.205 Coin certificates 22.825,100 Interest 38,939,087 Total debt 52,290.729.555 Cash in TreasuryCoin. ~... $74,205,304 Currency. 14,576,01# Special deposits held for the redemption of certificates of deposit, as provided by law 58,760,000 Total in Trea5ury..5147,541.314 Debt less cash in Trea5ury...;.52,i43,1W8.241 Decrease during the month 2,180.196 Bonds issued to the Pacific Railway Companies, interest payable in lawful money, principal outstanding $64,623,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid... 1,938,705 Interest paid by the United States.. 22,286,691 Interest repaid by the transportation of malls. etc 5,252,086 Balance of interest paid by United States 17,134.655 On the Ist Hon. Eugene Hale declined the Postmaster-Generalship. The National Banks have been called upon for a statement of their condition on the 26th ult. Charles F. Conant was, on the Ist, appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Conant hails from New Hampshire. Over 600 clerks had been discharged from the departments at Washington up to the 2d. The Arkansas Constitutional Convention has been carried by a majority estimated at 60,000. All accounts from Southwestern Minnesota and Northwestern lowa seem to agree that the grasshoppers are rapidly destroying everything green in, that section. On the Ist inst. the lowa Republican State Convention met at Des Moines. The following nominations were made: Hon. T. D. Young, Secretary of State ;Capt. P. C. Christy, Stato Treasurer; B. R. Sherman, Auditor; David Secor, Register of the State Land Office; M. E. Cutts, Attorney -General; E. F. Holmes, Clerk of the Supreme Court; J. S. Runnels, Supreme Court Reporter. George C. Heberling, of Jackson, was elected Chairman of the State Central Committee. Resolutions were adopted—favoring free banking and a return to specie payments as speedily as consistent with the material and industrial interests of the country, insisting that the obligations of the Government shall be paid in specie; declaring that the power to regulate Inter-State commerce, whether by railroad or water highways, vests in Congress, and that that body should legislate so as to prevent extortion, and that it should provide for the Improvement of great natural water-ways; that the State has power to regulate railway transportation within its own limits, and demanding the enforcement of the State Railway law; favoring appropriate, legislation for tlie full and equal protection of all citizens; congratulating the party on tlie $27,000,000 reduction in the estimated expenses of the General Government for the current fiscal year; demanding the election of President and Vice-President by a popular .vote; favoring a modification of the .Patent laws; commending the position of the partyin instituting investigations of corruption in office, and favoring the submission of an amendment of the Constitution extending tlie right of suffrage to women to the people for their decision. The Freedmen’s Bank of Washington, aud its branches in various sections of tlie country, went into liquidation on the 2d. Mr. WiELiASuMGCpRMtCKr of New York, who recently died of hydrophobia, was bitten by a dog which, it lias since been ascertained, was not mad, and tlie statement is made that the bite of any dog may induce the complaint. The recent statement that a reduction of 50 per cent, on through’Western freights from New York had been determined on is denied on the authority of a dispatch from New York on the 2d. Christina Ross, while replenishing a vapor stove, a few days ago, accidentally spilled some gasoline. An explosion followed, which so severely burned Miss Ross and Minnie Brammer, her fellow-servant, that they died a few hours after. This occurred at East Cleveland, Ohio. According to a Des Moines dispatch of the Ist the Chicago, Rock Island <fe Pacific Railroad had determined to obey for the present the new Railroad law of lowa, although they deny its justice and constitutionality. The Coroner’s juryion the Mill River disaster have ri'ndercd a verdict. In, it tlie Legislature is censured for indifferent legislation, the millowners for their parsimony, the engineers for blind and obscure directions, the contractors for poor work and the County Commissioners for accepting a botched piece of work, that was so manifestly insecure and illy done. Hon. Marshall Jewell, United States Minister to Russia, has accepted tlie position of Postmaster-General tendered him by the. President, and will return to this country in August next. Tending his arrival First As-slstant-Postmaster-Gen. Marshall has been commissioned. According to a Washington dispatch of the 4th, one of the colored members of the Legislature of the District of Columbia had been arrested for forgery-Fibe-crackzrs caused a destructive fire in -Allegheny! City, Pa., on the 4th, which resuited In the destruction of 100 houses, with a total estimated loss of $250,000. Several of the largest blocks in the city of Pontiac, 111., were burned on the 4th, the fire being the result of throwing lighted firecrackers into a barn-loft. Total loss, $175,000. The Potter Railway law of Wisconsin was, on the 4th, declared valid by Judges Davis, Drummond aud Hopkins, of the United States Court, and the lujupction sought by foreign

stockholders of the Northwestern Railway was dissolved. An appeal was taken to the United States Supreme Court. The formal opening of the new bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis was celebrated on the 4th. A number of boys celebrating the Fourth in Chicago exploded a glass bottle half-tilled with powder. Fragments of the bottle flew in every direction, killing at once Gilbert McKeon, and severely injuring several other boys. The ninety-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was very generally celebrated all over the country. The usual fatal accompaniments occurred. THE MARKETS. July ft, 1874. New Yohk.— Cotton— l7!4@l7?»c. Flout— Good to choice, $5.20®6.60; white wheat extra, $6.60@ 6.90. Wheat—'So. 2 Chicago. [email protected]>4. lowa Spring, $1.35®1.37;-No. 2 Milwaukee Spring, [email protected]. Western, [email protected]. Barley- »....@ ... Corn— 7l@7sc. Gate—New Western, 55@59c. Pork— New mess, $18.37‘[email protected]. Lard— Woof—Common to extra, [email protected]. Beeves— sll.so® 12.50. Ilogs— Dressed, $7.62>/,@7.75. Sheep— Live, [email protected]. Chicago.— Beeves— Choice, [email protected]; good, [email protected]; medium, [email protected]; butchers' stock, [email protected]; stock cattle, [email protected]. Hogs— Live, [email protected]. Sheep— Good to choice, [email protected]. Butter— Choice yellow, 21@24c. Eggs— Fresh, 11@12%c. Port-Mess, new, [email protected]. Lard —[email protected]. Flour— White winter extra-, [email protected]; spring extra, [email protected]. WheatSpring No. 2, [email protected]. Corn— No. 2, 59® 59‘/,c. Oats-No. 2, 42'/,@43c. Rye— No. 2,82 c. Barley— No. 2, . Wool —Tub-washed, 45@50c; fleece, washed, 40®44c; fleece, unwashed, 30@33c; polled, 37@39c. Lumber— First-clear, [email protected]; second-clear, $47.0041.49.00; common boards, $11.00@12:00; fencing, $11.00®12.00; “A” shingles, $3.25®3.50; lath, [email protected]. Cincinnati.— PZour—ss.6o®s.9o. Wheat— sl.lß @1.20. Corn— 63®Goc. Bye—B9@9oc. Oats-47 @s3c. Barley—s... . Pork- [email protected]. Lard— lo*i@llMc. St. Louis.— Cattle— Fair to choice. [email protected]. Hogs—Ute, $5.0066.00. Flour— XX Fall, $5.00® 5.50. WAsat—NO. 2 Red Fall, [email protected]. ComNo. 2, 56@57c. Oats— No. 2, 48@49c. Bye—79 @Boc. Barley—Pork— Mess, $18.75 @19.00. Lard— loi4@ll l /,c. Milwaukee.— Flour— Spring XX. [email protected]. WAeat—Spring, No. 1, $1.21 1 [email protected]; No. 2, $1.19 @1.19?.. Corn— No. 2, 57@57J/,c. Oats— No. 2, 43 @43‘/,c. Pye—No. 1,-88@89c. Barley— No. 2, $....@.... Cleveland.— Wheat— No. 1 Red, [email protected]; No. 2 Red, [email protected]. Com— 7o@7lc. Oats—No. 1, 52@55c. Detroit.— Wheat— Extra, [email protected]. Com—--66@67c. Oats—49@soc. Toledo.— Wheat— Amber Michigan, $1.90® 1.21; No. 2 Red, [email protected]>4. Com-Mixed, Biteealo.— Beeves— [email protected]. Hogs— Live, [email protected]. Sheep— Live, [email protected]. East Liberty— Beeves—Best, [email protected]; medium, $5.50®6.00. Hogs— Yorkers, $5.80@ 6.20; Philadelphia, [email protected]. Sheep— Best, [email protected]; good, [email protected].

The Question of the Day.

Prof. Turner, of Jacksonville, 111., recently delivered an address at Galesburg on the isms of the day, from which we extract the following relating to the railroad qu< stion: “Cannot,” asks the /n----dustrial Age, “ our Wisconsin friends and the people ot an the 'Western States see mirrored in this extract their condition at the present time? ” , - After securing to themselves free grants of millions of public money (more than $20,000,000 from this State alone), and more square miles of public lands than there are in tlie six New England States, with New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois included, besides their right of way, our various corporations of common carriers began to consolidate and combine for the unlimited taxation of the produce of the country, under pretext of an unlimited right to flx their own freights and charges in defiance of the people, the States and their laws. They well knew that such a course was in fact a direct trampling under foot of every real doctrine of common law known to the civilized world since Romulus and Remus were suckled by the wolf. Heuee they sought shelter from thia common law of Christendom, and from all State laws based upon it, by inducing the courts to throw over and around them the pretended protection of the Constitution of the United States by that most infamous application to them of the doctrines applied In the celebrated Dartmouth College case. It seems to me that the simple reading of Mr. Webster’s argument in that case, and of Judge Marshall’s grounds of decision, by any lawyer of common sense, Wore any court of ordinary common sense, without further note or comment, would show, beyond all doubt, that whether the decision of tlie court was right or’ wrong in that particular case (which now some of our very ablest lawyers dispute) it is impossible tliat it should be made, logically, either to cover or come near to any oT our railroad cases. Ido not deny that railroads have guaranteed rights which must be most sacredly regarded'; but those rights are neither fully defined in nor “limited by the wording of their charters, whatever the wording may be. They h“ie simply the rights <-f comtium carriers under thecommon lair, no more, no less. This they themselves well know. Hence their extreme anxiety to escape the domain of the common law* and all statute laws of the States, which would render the practical application of the law either available or possible to the citizens, and to find some shelter from it under special statutes or constitutions of some sort. But they will find in tire end that this common law of Christendom evermore grasps and envelops them on all sides alike, as the light of day envelops the earth, and evermore will grasp and control them, and tliey cannot escape from its presence bv throwing dust in tlie air, whether it be their gold dust in our halls of legislation, or the still more blinding dust of their pettifogging special pleaders in our courts of justice. The dogmas by which these adroit, hireling, special pleaders would subject us to this corporate tyranny, through our courts, are no more the real common law of Christen, dom than the dogmas under which ecciesiasts burnt heretics, through the church, in the middle ages were the common law of Chris tianity. I know that the subject has now, mainly through our own folly, inaction and inattention, become involved in immense difficulties from which it is not possible to retrieve the country and save tlie future liberties of the continent without great and serious and undeserved losses to many worthy citizens. But the Republic must live, even though von and I ana all the rest of us may die. It'is high time that we were awake and fully resolved on its salvation at whatever costs of either our moneved or personal interests. The recent subterfuges and skulkings and evasions of this unscrupulous moneyed power shows us clearly that we are on the right track, whatever special pleaders or a prostituted and hireling press may say to the contrary. The great question now is not whether those corporations tax us too little or too much. As our fathers said in a far less infamous case, “ The right to take one pound imSlies the right to take ten pounds.’’ Ware ley now carrying our products for nothing, I would still with the same vigor prosecute this railroad war in behalf of the rights and Übieties of my children, of the continent and of the race. Under*any principle of real law known, or fit to be known,, to civilized men I deny that it wks possible tor any Legislature to put any sort of words Into any single charter whatever that could give any company this practical indefinite power of taxation. It is the tyranny and the infamy of the principle we are resisting; not merely a few cents per bushel in the price of corn and wheat The question now is not whether our corn will 'bring us sixty or sixty-one cents per bushel, but whether a few close corporations to Wall street, through their knaves in legislatures

THE RENSSELAER UNION. rates of advertising. and charged until ordered out. nmiu™ , Yearly advertisers will be charged exti a for Dlmoseacx. im. sm. gm. lyi One square W $4.00 »6JO SIM . Two squares..., 5.(0 IM 12.® ts.( J One-quarter column 10.® 12.00 14.® 20. C I One-half column.... 12.00 16.00 22.® One column U.® ®.® e.® ®x»

NO. 42.

and their hireling attorneys In courts, or our forty millions of people and their immemorial rights under the common Jaw of Christendom, are to rule this great continent of ours.

Small-fox seems to be very popular among the Chinese in California. The ladies’ dress-reform question is now agitating the country to a greater extent than ever. The Anthropometrical is the name of a new association. This is tiie scholastic way of saying journeymen tailors. Two girls have gone into the green hide business in San Francisco, and are making money. Neither of them is over seventeen. A girl arrested in Boston the other day for stealing an apple was sb weak for want of food that she fainted away in the court-room. Jackson Gerard, of Benton, Me., went to sleep soon after leaving the breakfast table a few days ago, and at last accounts all attempts to awaken him had proved unavailing; ————- Dorothy Williams, of Wyoming, started to walk three miles to church the other day, and they found her tom into about fifty pieces, the result of meeting a grizzly bear of low moral character. Gen Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, proposes to donate a tract of land for a miners’ school or school of miners, and measures are'under way for the establishment of a National institute for practical miners. A convention of workingmen, delegates from trades-unions, factory operatives and labor reformers generally, will be held in Worcester, Mass., about the middle of August, to nominate a State ticket. It is understood that a number of lady students are to enter the Boston (Methodist)' School of Theology next fall, the Trustees having assured candidates, that the doors of the seminary are open to all, without respect to sex. A New England philosopher has discovered that the dull times are a blessing in disguise, because “there is probably no other way of checking the feverish intensity of American business life and compelling the busy workers to take it easy.” A little girl in Rowley, Mass., has earned a dollar and a quarter by Catching woodchucks at twenty-five cents apiece. She snaps them up as they .put their heads out of the hole. Such a live steel-trap will not be particularly safe to meet one of these days. The Dallas (Tex.) ‘Herald records the story of two young men who, while out riding, saw a poifket-book lying in the street, and they both jumped from the buggy to get it. The hurry broke a finger of one of them and dislocated the ankle of the other, and the pocket-book contained nothing. Because he bad been sued for $29, a Barton (Vt.) man committed suicide, declaring that if he had got so low that his name was not good for $29 he did not want to live any longer. Such sensitiveness is extremely rare in America, and our friends in England must not be misled by an isolated case like this. The “ Excelsior Magazine,” one of the choicest and most artistic of monthlies, is published at $3.50 a year. New subscribers are offered a $4.50 field croquet set and the magazine for $4.40, only 90 cents additional. A handsomely-illus-trated Fashion and Etiquette Supplement goes with it. Rare inducements to get-ters-up of clubs in money or premiums. Sample copies 25 cents. Office, Room 59, No. 157 La Salle street, Chicago, 111. * The Japanese have taken a sudden fancy to the German language. They learn rapidly, but they are fond of change and have no perseverance, so that the teachers are obliged frequently to alter the subject of study. Moreover, the best pupils leave them just as they are beginning to get on; directly a Japanese understands a few words of Gennan he goes to Yeddo to seek employment. Fortunately tlie number of pupils is very great. Since the Emperor himself has taken to study, and Govern- 6 ment appointments at Yeddo are only given to educated people instead of being sold to the highest bidder it has become fashionable to go to school. There was a very sad occurrence lately, near the residence of Jonathan Herrington, a few miles northwest of Hillsboro, Mo. Elijah Burgess with his family were visiting Herrington’s, and the boys were out on a steep bill side orbluff. They had been amusing themselves rolling stones down the lull, when two of them concluded to go to the foot of the bluff-to see the rocks jump oft'. A large stone’ was started from above and. warning given to the boys below, when a little son of Burgess, nine years of age, stepped out from behind a tree and the rock strack f him on the head, smashing his skull and killing him instantly. ‘ A prominent oculist says that the contagious Egyptian or granular inflammation of the eyes is spreading rapidly throughout the country, and that he has been able in many, and, indeed, in a ma jority of cases, to trace the disease to what are commonly called rolling towels. Towels of this kind are generally found in country hotels and in the dwellings of the working classes, and, being thus used by nearly every one, are made the carriers es one of the most dangerous and, as regards its symptoms, most troublesome diseases of the eye. This being the case, it is urgently recommended that the use of these rolling towels be discarded and thus one of the special vehicles for the spread of a most dangerous disorder of the eyes—one by which thousands of workingmen are annually deprived of their means of support—will no longer exist. Of all places in the world to select as a retreat from the scorching heat of a June day, an ice-chest is perhaps the last, and yet George Straubel did it. George had formerly been bar-keeper at Apollo Theater, but on Monday was living at 815 South Fourth street. He had been suffering to some slight extent from cotte, and was also perspiring proftisely. Do what he would, he could not keep cool. The more he tried to keep cool, the more he perspired, and at last the brilliant idea struck him that a brief retirement in the ice-chest woulfl set him up all right. It did the lager good, and why shouldn’t it do George Straubel good, too? 80 be got into theme-chest, and very sooAelt cool enough Ihe perspiration was checked, and when Straubel got out of the ice-chest the perspiration didn’t return. On the couldn't get warm, and he continued to get colder and colder, qptil in a short fftne GeOrge Straubel was not only as colA as death, but he was Louis Republican

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