Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — CENTENNIAL RELICS. [ARTICLE]

CENTENNIAL RELICS.

The lowa State election will be held next Tuesday. M. H. Weir, of I,aPoitc, has taken the stump in Ohio for the democracy. Hon. Schuyler Coif ax says “there are 60,000 American women in the order of the Daughters of Rebecca, and yet no one outside knows anything about the society. Who says a woman can't keep a secret?’’ The business men of Bloomington, 111., held a meeting on the night of the Ist instant, at which resolutions were passed demanding that congress repeal the act for a resumption of specie payment in 1879. The Monticello Constitutionalist, of the Ist. inst., says the engineer was expected to arrive there last Saturday to commence laying off work on the Chicago South Atlantic railroad between that place and Bradford. The Bank of California resumed business on the morning of the 2nd inst., having coin enough on hand to meet all possible demands, and the directors of the Institution are confident that they are entering' upon a new era of prosperity. The Indianapolis Exposition was almost a failure this year on account of the managers being too niggardly with their advertising. The display in the departments was said to exceed any former exhibition, but the lack of attendance made the exposition unprofitable. The Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of the United States, at their session in Indianapolis week before last, adopted the following resolution on the “color question:” Resolved , That admission to our order has always been restricted to the white race; that this law lias been, and is now, well established and understood wherever American Odd Fellowship is known, and that all attempts to change the same should not be countenanced by this Right Worthy Grand Lodge. The election m Ohio comes off next Tuesday, The friends of Billy Allen claim that the chances for his election are splendid, and a prominent democrat of Chillicothe, has bet a large sum that Ilayes will be elected by 50,000 majority. The fight waxes warm on both sides and the election will be the most hotly contested of any since the war. Both parties are confident of success, and the result of the election is waited for with a great deal of anxiety.

A Jasper county man killed one hundred snakes in one day. His boots were badly perforated iu the operation. —lndianapolis Journal. We should like to know who the man was. It must have been some one who went down to Indianapolis to visit the Exposition and got “snakes in his boots” while there—the result of an overdose ol Indianapolis “rot-gut. M We can’t account for them in any other way, for there are not one hundred snake* in Jasper county. It surely couldn’t have been the editor of the JRepuNican. Ofi, no! Charley don’t drink. LaFayette has been afflicted with fire-fiends for a couple of weeks past, and several attempts have been made to destroy the city. The first fires were noticed in the Union last week, but on Sunday night another attempt was made, and the incendiaries succeeded in burning six more buildings in the heart of the city. It is gratifying to learn that two of these worse than devils wet-e caught and it is a hard matter for the citizens of LaFayette to keep from hanging them to the lampposts of the city. There seems to be-a band of these incendiaries organized, w*hose business is to travel from one city to another and fire the most valuable buildings for die purpose of plunder and theft, and although we do not endorse the practice of lynching, we think that if the strong arm of law and justice is unable to reach them, an outraged people should mete out to them their just deserts.

In the United States Circuit Court at Chicago on the 4th inst., in the case of Hanna et. al. against the Plymouth, Kankakee & Pacific Railway Company, an order was entered by Judge Drummond appointing Phineas M Kent Receiver of the road. Mr. Kent was also given authority to recover from Jay Cooke, McCulloch <fc Co., or whoever may be the custodians of the sariie, all the unsold bonds of the company, and to give receipts for the same when obtained. Schell, the man who was charged with outraging and murdering a young girl who had entrusted herself with his company upon a berrying expedition near Bellefontaine, Ohio, recently, and who was taken from the jail at thflft place last week and huugbyan intimated mob, is now supposed to have been innocent of the crime. lie protested his innocence to the last, and said his wife committed the murder. Investigation of the affair has developed the fact that Schell’s wife either did the deed or was an accessory to the crime, for in the hand of the murdered girl were several hairs which had been clutched in the struggle for life, much longer than Schell’s, and of a different color from either his or the victim’s, and corresponding to that of Schell’s wife. The evidence of Mrs. Schell is decidedly weak and prevaricating. If it is true that an innocent man was hung by that mob, the consciences of those participating in the hanging will always be harassed by a just God, and they will have the sin to answer for at the great day of reckoning.

In these days of Centennial excitement everything pertaining to Revolutionary times is of interest. It maxes little matter whether the article has much intrinsic worth or not; it is valuable and an object of interest if its history is in any manner connected with the days of our forefathers —the times which tried men’s souls. Among other relics of this nature belonging to residents of this county, arc a sword-cane, now the pioperty of Rev. 11. B. Miller, once owned by Captain Gates, distinguished at the battle of the Cowpens, in Louth Carolina, where the American forces 1,000 strong, under General Morgan, won a signal victory over 1,100 British troops commanded by the arrogant, profligate and impetuous Col. Tarleton. This engagement was fought -January, 17th, 1781. The British loss was 300 killed and wounded, between 500 and 600 prisoners, 2 field pieces, 2 battle-flags, 800 muskets, 100 dragoon horses, 70 negroes, and considerable baggage. TlieAmerican loss was 12 killed and 90 wounded.

Dr. G. A. Moss, also has a curious and interesting relic of Revolutionary days. It is a tobacco box found on the line of retreat of the British and Hessian forces at the evacuation of Philadelphia. The box is oblong-oval in shape, 6 inches long, l£ inches deep,2J inches wide. The sides are composed of a single thick strip of copper, neatly brazed together at one end. The top and bottom are each a thick sheet of brass, both of which are elaborately engraved with field scenes, hunters, shepherds, shepefUesses, sheep, dogs, birds, deer, villages, groves, scroll work, etc. There are also four inscriptions engraved upon it in English characters, which, as near as we can make out, are as follows: EEN (heart an,d hands) IS EEN (crown) D E R (cross) The words we have enclosed in parenthesis are represented by the engraved objects.

"al Wat den b’oer h’aalt’ Van de Veld’a is Voor schattiuge en angelde maaral’sden heer dat niet Versoct dan Moct den boerteh Yeideu Oct 1767” | “Myn Socte herderrin Myn hert myu vcolik wese genict ik maar u gunst’ dan is myn Pyn genese” “D’an Sehict ik in u sehoot Met Vrugffe onbetaan En’ dryve Met u Voort Ous Sehaapie sal to Sautn” Dr. Moss has frequently shown the box to Germans, Bohemians and other foreigners for the purpose ot having the inscriptions on it translated, but has not yet found anybody that could give anything like a satisfactory explanation of their meaning. When found the box was full of tobacco.