Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1877 — EPITOME OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

EPITOME OF THE WEEK.

CURRENT PARAGRAPHS. Caleb Cubing, United States Minister «t ItkdcM, hM tod a foiwwult audience with the Kin*. _ Andrew Halliday, a British playwright and awtbcsr of ooneiderahle note, died on the IMh. ■ P. C. Shannon has been reappointed Ohtef-Jaettee es Dakota Terri torj. dhd J. J. Boranan, temtoJaSioa , The United Btatea troops in Alaska have been ordeted to be withdrawn and the Territory turned over to the control of the Treasury Department. Finaei A Sons, of Bristol, England, pn»prietonof the largest eager refinery in the world, have failed, with liabilities aggregating **,500,000. | John P. Hoyt, of Michigan, has been appointed Governor of Ariaona Territory, and Alfred E. Lee, of Ohio, to be Oonwrl-Ooneral at Frankfort, Germany. Alonzo Bell has been appointed Assist-ant-Secretary of the Interior, being promoted {ram the Chief-Clerkship, in accordance with the CSvil-Serviee rales. The Grand Jury of Caroline County, Md., where the Bennett-May duel waa fought, have been instructed to indict all the parties concerned in the affair. The New York papers of the Bth say the only difficulty then in the way of the relearn of Tweed waa hia unwillingness to divulge the names of those who am said to have been bribed by him. Gov. Packard addressed a letter to President Hayea, on the sth, in which he excepts to the instructions issued to ttolxtaiauunaCommuKioneni, in that they exclude or do not direct inquiry upon the three essential questions, namely: Which is the legal government entitled to recognition? which is the legal Judiciary? and does domestic violence and insurrection prevail within the meaning of Sec. 4, Art. 4, of the Constitution of the United States? At a late session of the New England Methodist Conference, resolutions were adopted, that the freedmen of the South should have secured to them the rights and privileges that their changed relation to the country and their increased responsibility demand for them; reoognudng a dearly-defined purpose on the part es the President to so administer the Government aa to secure to nil classes the full and free exercise of all their rights and privileges, and pledging to him, in the exception of this purpose, hearty sympathy and support. The New York Methodist Conference, in session at Readout, on the 9th, adopted resolutions approving the conciliatory policy of President Hayea. John P. Phair, convicted of tlie murder of Mrs. AnuiePretse, was to have been hung at Windsor, VC, on the 6th. The evidence was circumstantial, but deemed conclusive, and all efforts for pardon or reprieve had failed. On the morning of the 6th, the Boston papers published a statement from Phair that, if given time, he could establish an alibi and prove his innocence. This statement attracted the attention of a gentleman, who remembered to have seen Phair at one of the places mentioned, and where he could not have been had he been guilty of the murder. He telegraphed the Governor of Vermont, and, on the strength of the story, a reprieve waa telegraphed, delaying the execution until May 4, that the new aspect of the case may be investigated.