Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1898 — WESTERN. [ARTICLE]

WESTERN.

William Francis White, passenger traffic manager of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, died suddenly at his home at Highland Park, near Chicago. He leaves a widow and five children. A ledge of gold-bearing quartz has been found by men engaged in grading at Seventh street, San Francisco. • This street is being cut through a bluff, varying from forty to fifty feet high and about 300 feet long. At Brown’s Valley, Minn.. John Nelson and Herman Dahleen, farmers, became involved in a dispute which resulted in a shooting jiffray. Nelson seized a shotgun and kilted Dahleen, and dfterward shot himself with the same gun. While endeavoring to harpoon a large basking shark two miles outside of Monterey Bay, Cal., two boats, containing seven Japanese fishermen, were capsized. The sharks completely demolished the boats and four of the fishermen were drowned. Inmates of the Colorado Industrial School for Girls at Denver created a disgraceful riot when the new matron, Mrs. U. L. Harrison of Chicago, was inducted into office. The police were called in and seven of the girls were taken to the Denver jail. The Missouri Supreme Court, en banc, in an opinion by Chief Justice Gantt, decided that the inheritance tax law passed by the Legislature iu 1895, for the benefit of the State University, is unconstitutional. The opinion was concurred in by all the judges. In a conflict between members of two high school fraternities in Leavenworth, Kan., over class colors, D. Atwater was shot through the thigh amL seriously wounded by Zach Brogan, who was severely beaten and will probably lose the sight of one eye. The hostler nt the Lorain County jail, Elyria, Ohio, discovered ropes made of bed clothes hanging from a window in the third story of the jail. Sheriff Lord discovered that the four prisoners who hdd been confined in the cells of the second floor had escaped. The heaviest frost of the season occurred in the southern part of California the other night, and serious damage was sustained by the fruit industry. Reports from Stockton, Fresno and Sacramento are to the effect that the apricot, peach and almond crops are ruined. A three-handed fight occurred on the street at Higginsport, Ohio, in which Mayor Charles Halfill, John Donald and the latter's son were the principals. The duel was the outcome of an old quarrel, and fifteen shots were exchanged. Mayor Halfill and John Donald, who is a wealthy liveryman, were fatally wounded, and Donald’s son was shot in the head. A peculiar suit was filed in the Federal Court at Omaha, Neb., against Charles M. Williams, cashier of the First National Bank of Freinont.X by Homer B. Galpin of Chicago, as administrator of the estate of Lucie W. Hitt. It is alleged that the woman’s husband as executor squandered $50,000 of the $00,090 estate, and sold to Williams for $3,(M10 papers worth $15,000. It is alleged that Williams knew that this transaction was illegal and wrong. The suit is to recover possession. Patrick Ford, an ex-member of the Omaha, Neb., City Council, visited Gov. Holcomb-to plead for a pardon for his son, Patrick Ford, Jr., one of the survivors of the Maine disaster. Young Ford two year's ngo was convicted of burglary and sentenced to fifteen years in the penitentiary. He escaped from the Omaha jail, made his way to Boston, enlisted in the navy under an assumed name and was assigned to the Maine some months ago. A letter from him to his parents details his experience in the wreck, in which he was wounded. Letters from other sources tend to confirm his story. The little fishing steamer New England put into San Francisco for a supply of coal and provisions sufficient to carry her to Vancouver, B. ('. She had come* from Boston by way of the Straits of Magellan, and she had traveled 14,770 miles without mishap. She carried a cri».v of eighteen, all told, nnd was commanded by Capt. Small. The captain said he passed the steamship City of Columbia. He had on board the New England twenty widows and six male passengers. The widows are bound for Alaska, where it is their intention to open shops for the sale of groceries, dry goods, hardware, etc. Sixty widows were to have sailed in the steamer, but all except twenty lost courage at the last moment. The hotly contested libel suit of the American Rook Company against the Kingdom Publishing Company for SIOO,-

000 damages came to a close in the United States District Court in Minneapolis, resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff for $75,000. The jury was out half an hour. Counsel for the defense feaid he Would apply for a new trial, new evidence having been secured too late fqr introduction at this trial. The suit grew out of publication by the Kingdom Publishing Company of a pamphlet written by President George A. Gates of lowa College at Grinnell, entitled “A Foe to American Schools.” This pamphlet charged the American Book Company with bribery and other improper methods in the introduction of its books. James O’Neill is playing an immensely successful engagement at McVicker’s Chicago theater in “Monte Cristo” and “Virginius.” Next he will be seen as Robert Landry in “The Dead Heart,” which he played with such success seven years ago. Mr. O'Neill in “The Dead Heart” is one of this season’s most notable successes. Owing to the demand for romantic plays, Mr. O’Neill decided to revive this magnificent play. Mr. O’Neill made it famous five years ago by giving a sumptuous production. of the play in Chicago immediately after Sir Henry Irving’s presentation in London. The action is laid during the stormy period known as the Jfrench* Rev olution, Which lends itself better to a presentation on the stage than any other epoch in history. Everything employed on the stage is carried by the organization, and in the scene illustrating the storming of the Bastile fifty people will be employed. The land defenses of San Francisco harbor have been greatly strengthened lately, and the military and naval authorities agree that the presence of the battleship Oregon is not essential for the protection of the port. The ten-inch battery at Fort Point has been re-enforced by the addition of two guns, so there are now five teninch rifles in position. Five 12-inch guns, commanding a fine sweep of the ocean can be depressed to bring under fire a ship attempting to pass through the narrow channel between Lime Point and Fort, Point. Three more 12-inch guns at Fort Baker, together with the sixteen mortars and three dynamite guns on the peninsula can also be brought into use at long or short range. The great guns on Lime Point, nearly 500 feet above the water, are so high that a plunging fire against the deck of a ship may be delivered.,, All of the formidable weapons are so situated that their fire may be concentrated on any hostile fleet attempting to enter the golden gate. Steps have been taken looking to the organization of a naval reserve for the State of Oregon.