Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1898 — Page 2

THE REPUBLICAN. GEO. E. MARSHALL, Publisher." RENSSELAER, - - INDIANA.

SPAIN BUYS SHIPS.

TWO CRUISERS . BEING BUILT IN BRITISH YARDS. jglpv; 'V.-:/ •• * „ 1 ■ -# Madrid Government Suddenly PossesI aed of Plenty of Money, Which Londoners Believe Was Raised in France —Convict Was Silent for Seven Years. Bays Ships of Brazil. Spain has purchased two cruisers which the Armstrongs of London have been building for Brazil, the Amazonius and a sister Bhlp, unnamed, of 4,000 tons each, 23 knots, and ten guns. Spain is also negotiating for and will probably secure two cruisers of a similar type which have been building in France for Brazil. The Amazonius is ready for launching and her sister ship will soon be ready. The Spanish Government is also endeavoring to secure guns and large supplies of ammunition in England and on the continent for immediate use. The Governmeht of Spain seems to have funds, for it is understood to be paying a large part of the purchase money in cash, giving good security for the balance, these being the only terms upon which the Armstrongs would deal. Some weeks ago Spain attempted to purchase ships and supplies in England, on credit, from prominent firms having close rela tions with the Government, but aftet making Inquiries, the firms refused to give credit. Since then Spain has raised funds‘from unknown sources. Diplomats in London express the belief that French financiers are helping the Spanish Government.

Silent for Seven Years. Seven years ago William Rodgers,, a convict serving a thirty-year sentence in the penitentiary at San Quentin, Cal., was told by Lieut. McLean of the force of guards to stop talking and attend to his work. The prisoner replied: “I’ll not talk any more.” He kept his word until the other day, when he was informed that McLean, had left the prison. Then Rodgers broke his silence of seven years by remarking that his vow was off. He now converses freely with his fellow convicts. United States Tag Sinks. A special from Norfolk, Va., reports the loss of the powerful tug Underwriter of Boston in a storm off Hatteras. The tug left Norfolk with the derrick Chief in tow for Havanu, where the vessels were to help in the work of raising the Maine.

BREVITIES,

The Anglo-German loan of £16,000,000 has been ratified by Chinese imperial decree. The Ohio Legislature has passed a bill authorizing the Governor to appoint women notaries public. Loreuzo Barnes was hanged fn East Cambridge, Mass., for the murder of John Dean, an aged farmer. Six men were badly burned, one perhaps fatally, by the explosion of a keg of powder in London miue at Dubois, Pa. Returns from the Lomdon countv councils election show a net gain of thirteen seats for the progressives. John Bums was re-elected. Leopold Nathan Feldman, a physician of Loudon, England, a son of wealthy parents, committed suicide at San Francisco by taking poison. Four tramps wore nsphyxiated in a refrigerator car at Fort Worth, Tex. They had built a coal fire in a leaky stove, and they were overcome by the gas while they slept. George D. Cragin, ex-president of the v New York Produce Exchainge, nnd one of the founders of the packing business in New York and Chicago, is dead at the age of 82. Col. Henry, one of the witnesses called In the receut trial at Paris of M. Zola to contradict minor points of testimony given by Col. Plcquart, has challenged the latter to a duel. Shop Wood, a farmer at Gordele, On., In a quarrel with his brother Thomas shot and killed the latter and then turned his weapon upon himself aud sent a bullet through his own brain. Carmen Sylvia, ns Queen Elizabeth of Roumania is known to the literary world, has received a diploma constituting her a doctor of letters and honorary member of the University of Budapest. ! The Cora M., a Wilmington, Del., schooner, is alleged to be implicate in the seizure of 20,000 rounds of ammunition nnd a large number of rifles intended for Cuba, in St. Ann’s Bay, Jnmuica. Edward H. Olnrk, formerly of Minneapolis, Minn., fell from the roof of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Building in Santa Monica, Cal., breaking his back aud killing himself instantly. W. H. Santlemaq has been enlisted as a musician in the nmrlne corps ami designated as leaded of the Marino lift ml, to succeed Prof. FuneJulll. He was Sousa’s assistant in the band for several years. While firing n salute In Frankfort, Ky„ In honor of the Irish celebration, William Ovfwton was fatally inangled and A. B. Dixon hod one of his hands blown off by the premature explosion of the emmon. The Navy Department has been Informed of the arrival of the gunboat Newport at Aspinwall with the Nicaraguan canal commission on board. The commission will sail for the United States immediately. The Sioux Indians on the 'Lower Brule agency in South Dakota have agreed to cede to the Government seven townships of land in the western part of their reservation. TMe land Is valuable for agricultural purpose*. Revolution has broken out In Venezuela. Rcnor Hertiandez, defeated candidate for the presidehey, has taken the field ugninst the Andrade government. , A Paris fcrtlst, crazad by the Zola trial, committed kuiclde by Jumping from a high window, under the delusion thnt he was Major Esterhazy and that the police were pursuing him. . The coal miners in the northern Colorado district threaten to strike nnd close every mine unless the trust, which recently dosed some of the shafts, takes action looking to a resumption of business and fixes the scale .of wages.

EASTERN.

Lieutenant Commander L. S. Sobral, former naval attache of the Spanish legation in Washington, has sailed from New York for home. Augustus St. Gaudens, the sculptor, who has been so long identified with art in America, has left this country, has given up his studio and will take up his permanent residence abroad, in Paris and Florence. The New England Hotel at Cleveland, Ohio, was gutted by fire and about a dozen guests had sorrow pscapes, though nobody wns hurt. The fire started from a gasoline explosion. Building was owned by B. B. Frazier, who estimates loss at $20,000. At Wilkesbarre, Pa., in the trial -of Sheriff Martin and deputies for the shooting of strikers at Lattimer, Stephen Guttenmiller gave the first evidence to substantiate the assertion of the defense that a man stood behind the line of deputies and urged the strikers on. Several subcommittees of the American Maize Propaganda, an organization formed to promote the more extensive use of Indian corn, met in Philadelphia and adopted plans whereby it is hoped to interest every farmer in the country, especially those of the corn belt, in the undertaking. Plans are now being prepared to have a corn exhibit at the Paris exposition. Frank S. Washburn, who has just returned to New York from Central America, where with E. L. Cragin and L. E. Cooley of Chicago and others he investigated for a syndicate the possibility of constructing the Nicaraguan canal, says the committee’s report will be ready in about a month, and that it will show the conditions to be even more favorable than has been reported. The remains of George W. G. Ferris, known throughout the world for his daring Invention and construction of the great Ferris wheel at the Chicago World’s Fair, are still held nt the crematory of an undertaker in I’ittsburg, for the unpaid funeral expenses, contracted over a year ago. Mr. Ferris was practically penniless at his death, but carried insurance to the amount of $25,000. This, it is said, was more than eaten up by the numerous claims left.

WESTERN.

In a freight wreck at Ashtabula, Ohio, John Blair and W. W. Ellis were seriously injured. Dr. J. T. Coombs has been removed from the head of the State insane asylum at Fulton, Mo. . All Youngstown, Ohio, bucket shops were ordered closed and many proprietors were arrested. The Woman’s Temple in Chicago is to tie renamed in honor of the late Miss Frances E Willard. Thomas F. Wright, a grocer of Lorain, Ohio, has assigned, with liabilities of $lO,000; assets about the same. At Deadwood, S. D., Portland Consolidated Mining Company’s property was ■old on a judgment of foreclosure. Ten men met their death as the result of a fire and an explosion in the Hall Bros, pharmaceutical works at Kalamazoo, Mich. During a quarrel in a saloon at Irondale, near East Liverpool, Ohio, Fred Mosey, aged 18 years, fatally stabbed Samuel Gilson. Angellp Bill, who shot Mrs. Martha Lawrence, Mrs. Teter Ferando, Daniel Noute and Joseph Ferando at Hubbard, Ohio, was caught. At Columbus, Ohio, Standard Oil Company gives a list of certificate-holders, but declines to tell the court the profits arising from the trust. The steamship Doric arrived at San Francisco with a yellow flag flying. While three days out one of its Chinese passengers died of smallpox. The entire business portion of Cortez, Colo., was destroyed by fire which originated in Blackmore’s Hotel. The loss will be about $45,000. Two masked bandits shot the president of the State Bank at Bayard, Neb., and got away with a roll of currency amounting to from SIOO to SSOO. A jury at Omaha has returned a verdict relieving the bondsmen of ex-State Treasurer Bartley, who wns sentenced to the penitentiary for twenty years for embezzling $555,000. * It is now proved beyond doubt by government investigation thnt the two Indians burned by the Oklahoma mob at Maude, I. T„ for the murder of Mrs. Lnird, were innocent. The National Creamery Buttermakers, in session at Topeka, Kan., elected Irwin Paul, Springvillc, lowa, President; Geo. Parks, Owntonnn, Minn., Vice President, and E. Sudendorf, Elgin, 111., Secretary and Treasurer. The two bandits who shot President Taylor of the Bank of Bayard, Neb., and looted the strong box collided with a sheriff’s posse. The fight occurred forty miles ndrth of Goring in the sand hills. The bandits made a desperate fight nnd it is now believed they can never be taken alive. A distiller in Cincinnati is authority for the information thnt a deal is being worked for the consol illusion of all the spirits manufacturing plants independent of the American Spirits Manufacturing Company. The plan is then to consolidate the new combination with the American company, with J. B. Grcouhut nt the head. The freight boycott on the Kansas City, Pittsburg nnd Gulf Rnilrond by roads in the Southwestern aud Wosterp Truffle bureaus hns gone into effect. To avoid a violation of the Interstate commerce law, prepayment of freight on all shipments received from the Pittsburg and Gulf will be deuiuuded and full local tariffs be exacted. Henry Noggles nt a revival meeting nt Dubuque, lown, confessed thnt six years ago he ami two others murdered a peddler near Fennimoro, Wls., robbed the body and cqt it into small pieces and burled It. One of his accomplices is now in the penitentiary for another murder, the other Couuty fWis.) farmer, and has been arrested. The entire system of government Inspection of meat which hns Iteen’.established in the packing houses of the United States was declared to be unconstitutional, Ineffective nnd void in an opinion handed down in the United States District Court at Kansas City by Judge John P. Rogers, Federal judge nt Fort Smith, Ark., who sat for Judge Phillips. In its twenty-eighth nnnuai report, just submitted to Secretary Bliss by the borIder Indinu commission, of which Merrill E. Gates is the chairman, the statement is made that the Indians arc showing mark-

ed progress in educational matters and in industrial pursuits; that all Indian agents should be placed under Hie civil service rules, and that some provision should be made by the Dawes commission toward protecting the rights of the Chickasaw freedmen. , Bartholomew Brandt Bradner , was probably killed by a hatpin or by a blow on the head, or both. Coroner’s Physician Noel and the others who conducted the autopsy in Chicago discovered a deep incision under the left eye, reaching clear into the brain. There were also evidences of a concussion. The detectives working on the case believe he was either the victim of,a deep-laid plot to murder, or thnt a woman, fired with sudden anger, stabbed him in the face. Bradner, who traveled for J. Rannel, a Parisian exporter of sardines, staggered into the Palmer House lobby. He said he had been attending a performance at a State street theater, stepped Into a saloon next door, took a drink of whisky, and knew nothing of what happened after that. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bradner of 1222 Chartres street, New Orleans, have taken the remains home for burial.

SOUTHERN,

The Stamford dye works at Lynchburg, Va., were destroyed by fire. Loss, SIOO,OOO, partly covered by insurance. Charles M. Lowe of New Orleans, finding his wife out walking with a young man, killed her and then committed suicide. The United States fleet at Key West received orders to hold themselves in readiness to start for Havana at the tap of the drum. Col. Matthew C. Galloway, founder of tie Memphis Avalanche and afterward editor of the Appeal, died in his seventyeighth year. At Murfreesboro, Tenn., Dr. C. B. Helmark, charged with grave robbery, pleaded guilty, and was given six months’ imprisonment and $l5O fine. J. R. Freeman, a white man who was appointed postmaster at Ada, Ga., in February, was shot in front of his house by unknown persons in ambush. The Supreme Court of Georgia, in session in Atlanta on Monday wiped out the inass of prohibition laws, thus throwing down the bars to the whisky men. The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld the compulsory vaccination law, enacted during the recent epidemic. The case may be appealed to the United States Supreme Court. While Mr. and Mrs. John Brown, residing on a plantation near Livingston, Ala., were at prayer meeting their home was destroyed by fire and their five small children perished in the flames.

WASHINGTON.

The national debt was decreased sl,597,122 during February. The United States Supreme Court has decided that a United States official cannot take advantage of his position to secure advantage over others in the location of Government land. According to a report laid before President McKinley, 10,073,576 able-bodied men are now available for military duty in the United States. Of these 112,082 are already in the militia. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Webster Davis has issued an order relating to appeals of pension claims pending before the department. The order, it is stated, will result in giving all soldiers a chance to be heard. The Commissioner of Pensions has made a ruling in the case of the application of the widow of Oscar Hoffman, a soldier who was killed while out hunting, that the man met his death while in the discharge of duty, and that the widow’s application should be considered. The board of army engineers appointed to pass on plans for a bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis has made its report to the war department recommending changes in the plans in the interest of navigation, mainly as to the height of the structure, and the contracting company hns been notified to made the changes.

FOREIGN.

An Irish heiress, Miss Janie M. Westroff, has mysteriously disappeared in Boston. Crown Princess Stephanie is critically ill with inflammation of the lungs at Vienna. The Spanish cruiser Vizcaya arrived at Havana nnd was received with great popular acclaim. Frederick Tennyson, the poet, eldest brother of the late poet laureate, Lord Alfred Tennyson, is dead. One hundred und twenty-six members of the Bismarck family held a reunion’at Berlin. The prince, however, was absent. The British steamer Bramble, Capt. Fostlewnite, from Porman, for Mayport, England, is ashore near Flimby. Her rudder nnd proptfller are gone nnd she has apparently been abandoned. The high tides have driven her high on the bench. The queen regent of Holland hns conferred upon Captain William G. Bundle of the American liner St. Louis the decoration of the Order of Orange nnd Nassau for his part iu the rescue of the passengers nnd crew of the sinking steamer Veen dam Feb. 7. The Pekin correspondent of the Berlin Tugeblaat says: “The Chinese government hns cancelled the appointment ns hiotnt of Yau-Ohuu of the official dismissed at German/’s instance for the outrage on Bishop Anzor, thus complying With the German demand for an immediate cancellation. An Anglo-ltalinn syndicate hns obtained n concession for railways and mines, especially coal mines and petroleum wells, in the provlhce of Shon-Si. The emperor hns already approved the concession. Moreover, the Tsung-Ll-Ynmen has given n formal pledge to allow the import, duty free, of foreign goods in their original packages to all points of inland China, on a condition that the packages are not to be opened until they reach their final destination.” In the event of n w*Ar between Nicaragua and Costa Rica it Is snid that the alliance known as the Greater Republic would give to Nicaragua the armed strength of Salvador nnd Honduras. The Nicaraguan army is estimated nt about 8,000 men. Salvador hns not more than 3,000 soldiers, but Honduras hns the bestdrilled nnd equipped force in Central America, numbering 50,000. Against these the Costn Rican army of about 5,000 seems insignificant. But in the present calculations it is thought that Guatemala

would cast her influence with Costa Rica. Guatemala has an army of about 50,000. In this event the forces would be about evenly matched, with Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvador arrayed against Guatemala and Costa Rica. The basis for the view that Guatemala may be drawn into the controversy is the fact that the new president of Guatemala, Senor Estrada Cabrera, was a special envoy to Costa Rica when the latter epuntry was in a former conflict with other Central American States. At that time Guatemala was looked upon as the ready ally of Costa Rica, and it is thought that Cabrera would again incline to the same alliance.

IN GENERAL.

William Lade was killed and A. Southworth and J. H. Harvey slightly injured in a snowslide near Silverton, B. C. The alleged filibuster, Dauntless, which has been under guard at Jacksonville. Fla., has slipped away to Cuba, carrying the Numex party and 1,000 rifles. The French liner, La Champagne, disabled with a broken tail-end shaft, was safely towed into Halifax by the Warren line steamer Roman, after drifting helpless on the ocean for five days and nights. General elections for the Ontario legislature took place throughout the province and resulted in a virtual, if not actual, defeat for the liberal government, which has held power for more than twenty-five years. Interest in the wheat situation mainly centers in the enormous shipments being made by Leiter for the Liverpool market. Last week he sent 900,000 bushels by way of New York, and it is positively stated that he has arranged for the shipment of 2,500,000 more as soon as cars can be secured. The second great factor which is sending whent upward is the danger of freezing in the winter wheat district, which is now bare of snow, with the ground saturated with moisture. The price of wheat is steadily advancing. The American clipper ship Tacoma, Captain Gaffney, has arrived at Tacoma, completing and winning one of the longest races ever run. She sailed from Philadelphia Oct. 12, thus making the time of her passage over a 10,000-mile course 138 days. The Taooma and the Yankee ship Indiana sailed from Philadelphia the same day. Arthur Sewall, last candidate for Vice-President, owns the Indiana. The Indiana is bound for San Francisco and it was agreed she should give the Tacoma a time and distance allowance, as the Tacoma had to come 700 miles farther north. The United States Government is about to send an expedition from Vancouver barracks to find a practicable route up Copper river, AlaskaJ to the Yukon basin. While official information is not yet available, it is understood that this expedition will consist of fifty men and three officers of the Fourteenth Infantry, and that it will leave Vancouver barracks for the north about March 15. The reindeer that were secured for aiding the relief expedition to the Klondike, now abandoned, will probably be utilized in connection with the exploring trip up Copper river. The American bark Canada, Capt. Andrews, lies high and dry and practically a total wreck on the beach nineteen miles below Haines Mission, Alaska. No lives were lost, the crew having esenped in safety. News of this marine disaster by which the Canada was overtaken came via the steamer Rosalie* Capt. John O’Brien, five days out from Skaguay. During a windstorm which blew with all but hurricane force, the Canada was torn from her moorings in Skaguay harbor anl driven on the rocks a few hundred yards distant. Seeing that she was threatened with destruction, Capt. Andrews ordered the boats lowered, and the crew and two women, one a Mrs. Lockwood of Tacoma, Wash., were taken ashore. There was not a mishap of any kind. While the storm raged lines were carried ashore and the Canada made fast to some trees on the beach. She remained on the rocks for an hour or so, when the wind and waves set her adrift again, and finally her lines snapped and the vessel was carried out into the bny. She drifted for several hours and eventually brought up on the beach below Haines Mission. Meanwhile she was leaking and had taken in a great deal of water. Her eurgo consisted of about 1,000,000 feet of lumber, some baled hay and other freight not of a perishable nature. The probabilities are that nt least the lumber portion of the cargo can be saved, though the vessel, Capt. Andrews thinks, Is a total loss; Capt. O’Brien reports that there are about 12,000 people in Sknguay and camped along the White trail for a distance of six miles from the town. Many are going over the passes, but a far greater number are arriving daily.

MARKET REPORTS.

Chicago—Cattle, common to prime, $3.00 to $5.75; hogs, shipping grades, $3.00 to $4.25; sheep, fair to choice, $2.50 to $4.75; wheat, No. 2 red, SI.OO to $1.08; corn, No. 2,28 cto 30c; oats, No. 2,25 c to 20c; rye, No. 2,50 cto 51c; butter, choice creamery, 10c to 21c; eggs, fresh, 11c to 13c; potatoes, common to. choice, 55c to 05c per bushel. Indianapolis—Cattle, shipping, $3.00 to $5.25; hogs, choice light, $3.00 to $4.25; sheep, common to choice, SB.OO to $4.80; wheat, No. 2,07 cto 90c; corn, No. 2 white, 30c tp 31c; oats,- No. 2 white, 29c to 31c. St. Louis--Cattle, $3.00 to $5.75; hogs, $3.00 to $4.25; sheep. $3.00 to $4.75; wheat, No. 2,99 cto $1.01; corn, No. 2 yellow, 27c to 29c; oats, No. 2 white, 28c to 30c; rye, No. 2,49 cto 51c. Cincinnati—Cattle, $2.50 to $5.25; hogs, $3.00 to $4.25; sheep,' $2.50 to $4.75; wheat, No. 2 red, 97c to 99c; corn, No. 2 mixed; 31c to 32c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 28c to 29c; rye, No. 2,53 cto 55c. Detroit—Cattle, $2.50 to $5.25; hogs, $3.00 to $4.25; sheep, $2.50 to $4.50; wheat, N«. 2,97 cto 99c; corn. No. 2 yellow, 31c to 33e; oats, No. 2 white, 30c to 32c; rye, 52c to 53c. Toledo—Wheat, No. 2 red, 09c to $1.01; cent, No. 2 mixed, 31c to 32c; oats. No. 2 white, 27c to 28c; rye, No. 2,50 cto 62c; clover seed, $3.05 to $3.10. Milwaukee—Wheat, No. 2 spring. 95c to 97c; corn. No. 3,30 cto 31o; oats. No. 2 white, 28c to 30c; rye, No. 2. 50c to 51c; barley, No. 2. 38c to 43c; pork, mess, $10.25 to $10.75. Buffalo—Cfttle, $3.00 to $5.50; hogs, $3.00 to $4.50; sheep, $3.00 to $5.00; wheat. No. 2 red, 99c to $1.01; com, No. 2 yellow, 34c to 35c; oats, No. 2 white, 32c to 33c. New York—Cattle. $3.00 to $5.50; boga, $3.00 to $4.59; sheep. $3.00 to $5.25; wheat. No. 2 red, $1.07 to $1.09: corn. No. 2,37 cto ÜBc; oats, No. 2 white, 810 to82c; butter, creamery, 10c to 21c; eggs, Western, 12c to 14c.

RECALLS A TRAGEDY.

MURDERERS IN HAYSTACK MASSACRE” TO BE TRIED. ■ • Bix Men Implicated in a Famous Kansas County Seat Fight Find that Justice Awoke After Eight Years’ Sleep —Vigilantes at Paducah, Ky. Paper City Caused Murders, After living unmolested and peacefully for almost eight years, the five men who were convicted of murder in the famous “haystack massacre” in No Man’s Land are to be dragged from their homes in different parts of the country and taken back to the little Texas town of Paris to be tried again, unless sufficient influence can be brought to bear on the Federal authorities to have the indictments quashed. It is ome of the most lurid chapters in the history of the West that deals with the “haystack murder” and has been fought in every court from the circuit tribunal of Texas to the Supreme Court of the United States. The defendants, although without money, were, and still are, able to enlist the services of some of the greatest lawyers' in the country, and it is said there was never any more politics in the case than that which surrounds a struggle for a county seat. It was over the location of a county seat in a county with a total population of less than a thousand people that four men were killed.lt was in 1886 that two rival boom towns were fighting for the location of a little courthouse in Stevens County, Kan. Primarily there was little at stake except the imaginary rise in real estate that would follow ip the town named as the permanent location of the county records. It mattered not that this boom, like all others in the Southwest in the late eighties, existed only in the minds of the professional promoters. The war over Stevens County’s particular seat was waged long and bitterly, and before it was ended the lives of the sheriff of the county and three of his assistants had been sacrificed. Lives cut little figure in those days compared with the inflation of a paper town.

As in the Days of ’49. Forty or fifty burglaries of note near Paducah, Ky., lately have aroused the people. A stringent ordinance and a curfew law have been adopted by the City Council and put in force. A strong vigilance committee also went to w r ork and eight negroes and three white men were caught, whipped and forced to leave on departing trains. One negro, in his haste to depart, fell from a moving train and was injured, but he was thrown on another and carried away. The committee promises to clear the town before disbanding. There is great fear, particularly among negroes. - - Torture by Fire and Rob. At Ryan, I. T., three masked men entered the house of Dr. pise upon pretense I of needing pis professional services. They bound the doctor and his wife and tortured first one and then the other by burning their feet until the victims gave them sll4, all the money they had in the house. A posse is in pursuit and threats of lynching are plentiful. Nine Lost at Bea. '' The schooner Speedwell, Captain Collier, from Marco, Fla., for Key West, was Btruck by a squall while off Marquesas, eighteen miles from Key West, and capsized. Nine persons were drowned out of thirteen all told on board.

NEWS NUGGETS.

Cincinnati baseball players have gone South. Chicago baseball season opens April 29 with Louisville. Arkansas’ Governor will prohibit the McCoy-Bnrley fight. The Young Men’s Investment building at Mankato, Minn., was destroyed by fire. The Nicaraguan Canal Commission estimates that the cost of the work will be $100,000,000. Negotiations are in progress for a combination of hard rubber manufacturers of the United States. The Ohio Senate passed the Jones bill to require coal to be weighed before screening, and it is now a law. The measure was urged by the miners of the State. By the bursting of an engine boiler near Brewton, Ala., William Kelso, Andrew J. Enright, Arthur Atkins, Peter Thom, as, David Alston and G. W. Thomas, laborers, were killed. Two tons of dynamite were shipped from Cincinnati to Pensacola, Fla. The shipping firm declines to say whether it was shipped on government account or to private dealers. Frank Stadelman and a woman named Emma Stabb, who had deserted her husband at Akron, Ohio, went to Cleveland together uud agreed to commit suicide. The woman died, and Stadelman, whose nerve.failed him, gave himself up to the police. A large steam dry kiln at the Central coal and Cook sawmill at Texarkana, Ark., tumbled in, seriously wounding a number of workmen, two of whom will die. Three others are believed to have been killed outright. The fatally injured are Gos Walton and ltichard Hunting. Japan is said to be ready to seize the Philippine Islands should the Cuban question result in, hostilities between Spain and the United States. The queen regent is reported ns being greatly alarmed lest complications both in Spain aml abroad may / wrest his throne from her son. The Supreme Court of South Dakota has issued a peremptory writ of mandamus removing Insurance Commissioner Kipp from office. A new issue of a counterfeit $2 treasury note discovered by the secret service some time ago has made its appearance. This note bears check letter B and plate number 28. General Manager Metcalfe of the Louisville and Nashville Itailway has announced to a committee of conductors, engineers and firemen of that system that the 10 per cent cut In their wages made in 1893 would be restored in a few mouths. It is rumored at Paris that Major Comte Ferdinand Wnlsin Esterhszy has chaNenged Col. Plcquart to a duel, as a result of the latter’s evidence in the recent trial of M. Zola, and of his repeated attempts to convict Comte Esterhazy of the crime for which Dreyfus is now undergoing imorlsonment.

CONGRESS

Henry W. Corbett was on Monday denied admission to the Senate as a Senator from Oregon on appointment by the Governor by a yote of 50 to 19. The Senate began consideration of the Alaska homestead and railway right of way bill, and had not concluded it whep it adjourned. The House passed the sundry civil appropriation bill after four days’ debate. The appropriation for representation at the Paris exposition was eliminated on a point of order. The sudden change of sentiment which is often witnessed when members go on record was twice illustrated. On Friday the House, in committee of the whole, where there is no record of the vote, knocked out a provision in the bill for an appropriation to pay those who furnish the Government with information leading So the conviction of the violators of the internal revenue laws, and in committee an extra month’s pay was voted the employes of the House. When the members voted oh roll calls in the House, however, both of these propositions were overwhelmingly defeated. The House entered upon the consideration of the Loud bill relative to secondclass mail matter, on Tuesday. The bill is identical with the measure passed by the last Congress, but Mr. Loud gave notice of an amendment permitting the transmission at pound rates of sample copies up to 10 per cent, of the bona fide circulation of the newspaper periodicals. This amendment removes much opposition to the bill. Mr. Loud made an exhaustive speech in its favor. Mr. Moon (Dem., Tenn.) spoke in opposition to the bill, and Mr. Perkins (Rep., Iowa) iff favor of it. The Senate passed a resolution for erection of a bronze tablet to the memory of the victims of the Maine. Wednesday’s debate in the Senate on the Alaskan homestead and railway right of way bill was spirited. Mr. Carter (Mont.) delivered a vigorous speech in reply to that made by Mr. Rawlins (Utah), in the course of which he made a strong defense of the honor of Congressional committees and of officials in the several government departments. One of the special features of the debate was a speech delivered by Mr. Elkins (W. Va.), in which he explained that the Canadian Pacific Railway was enabled to make war upon American interests, and how and why the aggressions of that great railroad ought to.be stopped by the United States. The speech drew replies from Mr. Hoar (Mass.), Mr. Chilton (Texas), and Mr. Nelson (Minn.). Mr. Hoar maintained that a large part of the speech of Mr. Elkins was irrelevant to the pending discussion. The House spent another day in debate upon the Loud bill relating to second class mail matter. The speeches as a rule attracted little interest. The speakers were Messrs. Bromwell (Rep., Ohio), and Ogden (Dem., La.), in favor of the measure, and Messrs. Bell (Pop., Colo.), Simpson (Pop., Kan.), Clark (Dem., Mo.), Brown (Rep., Ohio), and Lentz (Dem., Ohio), in opposition to it. In the Senate on Thursday the House amendments to the bankruptcy bill were' non-coucurred in, and Messrs. Hoar, Nel-" son and Lindsay were appointed as Senate conferees. During almost the entire seßslou the Senate had under consideration the Alaska homestead and railway right of way bilk One of the features of the discussion was a speech delivered by Mr. Vest, in which he ridiculed the idea of homjsteading any part of Alaskd or constructing railroads in that district. His motion to eliminate the homestead feature of the bill by striking out the first section was defeated. The resolution for a congressional invqstigaticto of the qiurder of the postmaster at Lake City, S. C., was referred to the Committee on Contingent expenses. A bill was passed to establish an assay office in Seattle, Wash. In the House the Loud bill, to correct alleged abuses of the second-class mail matter privilege, was laid on the table by a vote of 162 to 119, thus killing it. Fortyseven Republicans joined with the Democrats and Populists in accomplishing this result and ten Democrats voted with the majority of the Republicans. Mr. White (Rep., N. Ck), the only colored member of the House, asked unanimous consideration for a resolution appropriating SI,OOO for the family of the assassinated Lake City postmaster, but it went over upon objection from Mr. Bartlett (Dem., Ga.). After a debate lasting several days the Senate on Friday passed the bill extending the homestead laws and providing for right of way for railroads in the district of Alaska. Comparatively little discussion of general interest was created by the bill. Section 13, providing for certain bonding concessions to Canada in lieu of privileges to be extended by the Dominion Government to this country, however, induced a pretty lively debate, as it brought into the controversy the old fisheries question ok tbs New England enlist, which has been pending between the United States and Great Britain for lOOji hnrs. Two more appropriations were tfbqt to the Prwiideut Friday, the pension bill and the coosular and diplomatic, both of which went through their final stage in the House. It was private bill day. The most important action taken was acquiescence in an agreement to make the bill appropriating about $1,200,000 for war claims approved by the court of claims under the provisions of the Bowman act a social order for the next Friday. The claims carried by the bill, 730 In number, arc for stores and supplies seized during the war in the Southern States. Only two bills were passed, one to pay the heirs of Sterling T. Austin about $59,000 for cotton seized during the war. and the other to pay an aggregate of $3,300 in small claims growing out of back pay, etc., earned during the war. The House adjourned until Monday.

Sparks from the Wires.

A cave said to rival the Mammoth of Kentucky has been discovered in Center County, Pa. It Is believed in official circles In London tbnt the French cabinet is attempting to bring about a crisis in Africa in order to return to the popularity enjoyed prior to the Zola trial. Zoln has taken an appeal from the decision of the court which condemned'kim to a year' In prison and a fine of 3,000 francs, nnd the Dreyfus case will agaiu be beard in the French courts.