Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1898 — WESTERN. [ARTICLE]

WESTERN.

Frosts have entirely destroyed the fruit crop in the lower San .Joaquin valley of California. Fred B. Wright of Minneapolis was elected president by the Republican State League in convention in that city. The proposition of the'Populist leaders of Kansas to support John J. Ingalls for Congress in the tirst district is the talk of the State. Mayor Phelan of San Francisco has appointed a committee of fifteen to devise a plan for an international exposition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of California into the Union. Passenger train No. 18, north bound, was held up at Cross Station, a siding seven pliles from Goshen Junction, Cal., by two*masked robbers. The express car was blown up and one pouch in the mail car rifled. Forty lives are believed to have been lost a few miles outside the Golden Gate, San Francisco, by the capsizing of the bark Helen W. Almy during the storm which had been raging off the coast for two or three days. .Tames 11. Southall, formerly clerk of the United States engineer service in charge of upper Mississippi river improvements, charged with issuing fraudulent time checks, has been sent to jail at St. Paul in default of $25,000 bail. At Columbus, Ohio, both the House and Senate have passed the 2-eent fare bills in a modified form. They provide that all railroads shall sell 500 and 1,000 mile tickets that may be used by any member of a family or firm or its employes. Truman I*. Handy, who lived to earn the distinction of being the oldest active banker in the United States, died at his home In Cleveland, aged 01. Death was due to a heavy cold, followed by stomach complications and physical exhaustion. Count Alexis Rozanoff of Kodisk has just been married to Miss May Dickson of San Francisco. The count is a young Russian who has business interests in Alaska, lie met his bride in Seattle, where she l'prmerly conducted a millinery store. Former Secretary of Agriculture J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska was elected president of the National Sound Money League at its tirst annual meeting held in Chicago. A. It. Hepburn of New York was re-elected treasurer and li. Y. Smalley secretary. Fred Roy Cromwell, whose name was included among those lost on the bark Almy off the Golden Gate, is still numbered among the living, lie'shipped for passage on the Almy, but became satisfied that she was unsea worthy and therefore remained at home. A wreck train loaded with section officers and workmen plunged through a trestle one mile south of Columbus, I ml., on the Louisville division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. One man is nqiortod dead, nineteen missing, three fatally injured and fourteen less seriously hurt. .Tallies Ball of Fort Scott, Kan., the Bank of Fort Scott, and Mrs. Heath of Pontiac, Mich., preferred creditors of the Durkce Coal Company, have tiled suit for a receiver and for the foreclosure of mortgages aggregating $35,000 on the company's property in Kansas City and Cherokee and Crawford counties. The Pacific mill at Tacoma. Wash., the (largest shingle mill in the world, was completely destrifyed by fire. The property is owned by the Sather Banking Company

of San Francisco and its loss will be about *IOO,OOO, There were 3,000,000 shingles in the kilns. Within thirty minutes from the alarm the immense plant was a total ruin. No insurance was carried oh stock. Superintendent J. W. Mills of the Pomono agricultural experiment station Berkeley, Cal., has succeeded in a most unique hud interesting agricultural experiment, The grafting of a morning glory Tin a sweet potato vine., As a result both plants attained an unusually large growth. The sweet potato vine produced twentyone pounds of potatoes, the potatoes averaging from ten to tivelve pounds. At Atwood, Ivan., Wesley Cochrane, Jr., a young man of good family, cut his throat with a razor, dying instantly. A few minutes after lie was found dying Mrs. Gertie Woodward, daughter of the editor of.the Atwood Citizen, was found in the doorway of the newspaper office, where she had been shot down. She died after stating that Cochrane did the shooting.. The cause of the suicide and murder is not known. William A. Lamon, a merchant; G. W. Gaines, agent of the Missouri, Kansas 2n3 Texas Railroad, and Laton Sharpe, a section hand, all of Gibson. I. T., have been indicted by the Federal grand jury at Wagoner, I. T., for murdering Ed Chalmers and his wife, who were killed by the mob the other night near Wybark. Ed Burns, Robert Blalock and li. L. Mills, the other parties who were charged with being members of the mob, were not indicted. The Northwestern passenger train from Beloit, Wis., for Chicago, was met seven miles south of Beloit on a curve and in a deep cut by a light engine bound from Belvidere to Evansville. The wreck of the engines was most complete, but the coaches were not even derailed. The crash of the collision was followed by two explosions, which were heard for miles. The engineer and a brakeman were killed and four men were seriously injured. None of the passengers were hurt. Information has reached the Government through a number of banks at St. Paul, Minn., that during the past year and more nearby banks have been made the victims of colossal frauds through the suspected collusion of Government clerks connected with the commission having in charge the improvements on the upper Mississippi river. Statements submitted by the banks indicate that $300,000 or more has been procured from, them through fraudulent time checks for services never performed. ’ Twenty women raided a saloon on the Oklahoma line, south of Otoe, Kan. They broke in the doors and set fire to the building. For some time it had been a Sunday resort for lawless characters, and the owner had been ordered to close business, but claimed his building was on the Oklahoma side. The neighborhood has taken sides, and much shooting was indulged in. A. C. Fairchild, a deacon in the Baptist Church, was shot and severely wounded. Outside towns have been called upon for police protection. An organization known as the Independent Order of Railway Men has been perfected in St. Louis, Mo., and St. Louis has been chosen as the headquarters for the grand lodge and the president elected rs James S. Hardin, also of that city. -It is said by one of the officers of the new organization that politics will be taken up, because only by dealing in politics can certain objects in view he obtained. The new organization is made up largely of former members of the Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association, which went into liquidation in 1894. There is a payment in case of death and a disability weekly payment. Organizers will be started out at once to all sections of the United-States and Canada. On account of high waters on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, between Zanesville and Newark, Ohio, a Baltimore and Ohio passenger train, No. 105, with four ears, was running to Newark over the C., M. & V. and Pan-Handle. About three miles east of Frazeysburg high waters had undermined the roadbed for 200 yards. The train struck the hanging track at the rate of forty miles an hour, throwing the engine, Pullman and <};y coaches from the track. The day coach, t-., gtee and tender wore completely submerged. Fireman Hcacock had a very narrow escape from being drowned, being rescued by the engineer and Pilot Sawyer. No one was seriously injured, but a few received cuts and bruises. Passengers and crew were taken to the shore in boats.