Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1898 — Page 3

FIGHT TO THE DEATH.

HOSTILE INDIANS ENGAGE OUR TROOPS AT BEAR ISLAND. Major "Wilkinson, Five Soldiers and Many Red* Are Killed-General Outbreak of the Savages and Attack on Minnesota Settlers Is Feared. Hostile Indians and the small detachment of troops under General Bacon met in deadly conflict at Bear Island lake Leech. The casualties of the two days’ fighting are six soldiers of the Third infantry, 'including Major Wilkinson and Sergeant Cobb, two friendly Indians and many Pillagers killed; nine soldiers wounded. The number of Indians killed i* unknown. The Pillagers carried their ■dead to the rear as rapidly as they fen. The Indians have learned that pine trees do not afford the protection they did in former years. The Ivrag-Jorgenson bullets plow through two ordinary trees. As soon as the Indians learned this they fell back. The redskins proved to be wonderful marksmen, however, and spotted their then. Reports from Deer River say that there are about 400 Indians within five miles of that village, comprising the White Oak, Winnibigoshish, and some of the Leech and Bow String bands. They are ■camped on the banks of Ball Club lake. It was reported that they were holding * war dance, and they may yet be called

MAJOR M. C. WILKINSON. Officer Killed by Minnesota Indians.

■on to assist the Pillager braves. A couple of runners were in Deer River from Leech lake, and it was learned through men who knew them that they were scouring the section, calling councils and asking assistance at Leech lake. An instructor in the Indian school at the agency says that, despite protestations of friendship, the agency Indians are in an ugly mood and, when they talk unobserved and freely among themselves, their sentiments are warlike. He fears that trouble will come from this source before the affair is settled. People in and around Walker are apprehensive of the outcome and are demanding that the redskins be pursued untU they are broken in spirit and thoroughly cowed. They say that if the trouble is allowed to drop now it will be but a short time before they again become defiant, and that life and property will not be safe. Inspector Tinker has wired the Secretary of the Interior, asking for at least 5,000 troops. Three companies of infantry under Lieut. Col. Harbach. numbering 215 men and divided into four detachments, landed on Bear Island to re-en-force Gen. Bacon. A Gatling gun and 1,000 rounds of ammunition accompanied one squad, which left Walker for the scene of hostilities. A slaughter of every Indian on the island is predicted unless the tribe surrenders or retreats beyond reach of the troops now in the field. Rumors have spread that the Bear lake savages are being re-enforced in large numbers by tribes from Cass and Red lakes. A general uprising is feared by settlers in northern Minnesota. The War Department issued orders for three more companies of soldiers at St. Paul to prepare for service. The calling out of a battalion of Minnesota volunteers was also authorized. FIGHTING RECORD OF THE THIRD Regiment Was in Thickest of Fight at Santiago. The Third United States infaptry, which was sent against the Bear Lake Indians, was one of the first regiments to move in

LKFCH LAKE AGENCY

the late Spanish war, and underwent all the hard lighting in Cuba. For several years it has been stationed at Fort Swelling, Minn. It was first sent to Mobile, and later was transferred to-Tampa. The Third accompanied Gen. Shafter’s expedition and landed in Cuba June 21. It was ond of the first regiments to take up the mureh from Bniquiri to Santiago. It narrowly escaped the tire sent into the ranks of the rough riders, and was being hurried toward the firing line when the Spaniards fled. For a time the Third was stationed at Siboney, doing guard duty with the Second. On July 1 the Third participated in the fight on San Juan Ilill, and covered itself with glory by taking an active part in driving the Spaniards from their trenches. The regiment lost heavily in 'the second day’s fighting, and throughout the <anipaign occupied posts of danger. Indians Well Whipped. Walker, Mitiu., special: Gen. Bacon says he has whipped and scattered the hostile Pillager Indians, and has come to Walker because he was unable to find any more of the enemy. The hostiles are still at large and in arms. If it were not that twenty Indians were to be arrested, the fighting would be at an end, is the verdict of the army officials. So long, however, as the Indians who are wanted at Duluth as witnesses refuse to surrender, or avoid the officers, the military will remain in the field. Bog-Ah-Mn-Ge-Shig and his sixty followers iuoist they will never give up.

RESIDENCE OF CHIEF BOG-AH-MA-GE-SHIG AT BEAR LAKE.

FEAR AN UPRISING. Minnesota Farmers Greatly Disturbed by Hostile Actloa of Indians. Excitement prevails along the Kne «f the Northern Pacific from St. Paul to Brainerd. The people, although quite outside the region of danger, appear to think a general Indian uprising is at hand and to feel that in any such event they ought to be at the front. Farmers in blue overalls. “hickory” shirts and slouch hats troop to the trains and ask questions of the conductor and the passengers as to how go the fortunes of war at Leech lake. As a rule none of the questions is answered at all satisfactory to them, but still the country people come and stand about the platforms, patiently waking for news. At St. Paul, the Fourteenth Minnesota volunteer infantry is holding itself in readiness to go to Leech lake. The citizens of St. Paul are much agitated over the situation and wired the authorities at Washington to send at least 1,000 soldiers to Bear Island in order that further slaughter of brave men may be averted. If there is nervousness among the people between Brainerd and St. Paul it is as nothing compared with the state of mind of those further on in the direction of the seat of trouble. These farmers and villagers feel they have a very personal and immediate interest in developments, and this interest leads them to stay awake of nights within arm’s length of their rifles. Reports from the region of Cass lake tell of increasing alarm there. Whether it be justified or not men are coming in from their farms, bringing their wives and children and such effects as they can carry, and with their dogs trailing at their heels. They wish to ally themselves with their white brothers of the villages for defense against the belligerent Chippewas, who ar meandering through the woods in

BOG-AH-MA-GE-SHIG.

The Bear Islander who was rescued from United Staes Marshals and who Is the cause of all the trouble. small bands, painted and equipped for massacre. TROOPS TO PROTECT SETTLER*. Minnesota Artillery Botteres Ordered to Leech Lake District. Batteries A and B, Minnesota artillery, were ordered to proceed at once to Walker, iu the Leech lake district, as a protection to the settlers, who, in fear of an attack by the Pillager Indians, petitioned Gov. Clongh for assistance. Both batteries are equipped with two Gatling guns, two rifled cannon, two brass Napoleon field guns, 150 sabers, seventy-five carbines, 100 Springfield rifles and 3,000 rounds of ammunition. They are iu command of Captain Bennett of Minneapolis and Captain Avery of St. Paul. Foldiere 1-ought Bravely. Speaking of the conduct of his men under fire, Gen. Bacon said: “No soldiers ever put up a gamer fight, and, considering that four-fifths of the men were recruits. their showing was one of which

BEAR ISLAND.

every American soldier may fool proud. I’oor Captain Wilkinson died like the bhivc officer that lie was. A storekeeper at Gfeenburg, Ky., hns on exhibition what he claims to he the largest shoe ever made for n woman. It is the exact size of sixteen pairs that were made for a mother and five daughters, natives of Tennessee. It measures 13V& inches in height,.l3 inches in length and 5 inches nen««s the largest part of the sole. Women saved the village of IncasviHe, Ohio, from destruction by fire during the absence of nearly all of the men by forming a bucket brigade and keeping the flames confined to the barn In which the fire originated.

JEALOUS WOMAN MURDERS, Mrs. McKinley’s Brother Is Shot to Death at Canton, Ohio. • Canton, Ohio, is in a state of great excitement over the murder of George D. Saxton, the brother of Mrs. McKinley, the President’s wife. Mrs. Anna C. George was arrested on suspicion of being the murderess. Saxton was shot down shortly after dark by a woman in front of the house of Mrs. Eva B. Althouse, a friend of Saxton, and a widow, who not long ago instituted peace proceedings against Mrs. George, alleging that she had threatened her with violence and death. Saxton’s lifeless body was found prostrate on the ground, with thjrVe bullet wounds in it. Neighbors’ descriptions of the woman who shot Saxton tallied with that of Mrs. George. She is a tall, graceful woman, more than ordinarily good looking, and not yet middle aged. Saxton was one of the successful business men of Canton, and was possessed of considerable property. He was 50 years old. The murder is supposed to be the outcome of trouble of long standing between Saxton and the George family, growing out of the former’s relations witn Mrs. George. Saxton lived in the upper stories of his business block, and when Mrs. George came to Canton six years ago from Columbiana County, leaving her husband behind, she opened a dressmaking establishment in the Saxton block. Some months ago Sample C. George, the husband of the woman, sued Saxton for $30,000, alleging the alienation of his wife’s affections. The case was settled by Saxton paying the husband $1,825. In a number of other cases Mrs. George was plaintiff against Saxton, and she several times created scenes in the Saxton block, in which officers were obliged to interfere. Last fall the Federal grand jury indicted her, charging improper use of the mnils in sending threatening letters to Saxton.

News of Minor Note.

Ute Indians are suspected of setting forest fires in Idaho. Chili is threatening war with both Argentina and Peru. Over 10,000 men marched in a big parade in Brooklyn as a public protest against blasphemy. Great alarm has been caused in Havana by the wholesale pardon of criminals by the Spanish officials. Zinc has taken another jump, coming within $1 of the highest price on record, reached four weeks ago. Andrew Adams, formerly a newspaper reporter at Providence, K. 1., is to marry Princess Kalulani of Hawaii Dairy products sold in Kansas last year were valued at $0,000,000, an increase of over 15 per cent over preceding year. The ultimatum of the powers to Turkey demands that her troops and officials be withdrawn from Crete during October. Mrs. Julia F. Trout lias sued Mrs. Barbara Frieh for SIO,OOO at Buffalo, N. Y., for saying she used pads to till out her figure. Elbridge T. Gerry and Robert Goelet have become citizens of Newport. R. 1., to escape the high rate of tuxatiou in New York. The Government has placed an order for smokeless powder at Santa Cruz, Cal., which will keep the plant busy for two years. . The overdue transport Senator, en route from Manila to San Francisco, was damaged in a typhoon and had to be repaired at Honolulu. The ignorant masses of the Philippine revolutionists demand absolute independence, though utterly incapable of selfgovernment. Three hundred men are to be recruited in San Francisco to take the place of the men with Admiral Dewey, whose terrnß of service expire. Edward Tomkins of Camden, N. J., had himself locked up in the Camden jail to prevent himself from obeying an impulse to kill his family. Two tea plates, each 200 years old, were sold for $12.50 and $0 respectively, at the old Satteerthau mansion, Fullingston, Bucks County, Pa. The residents of Abingdon, Pa., and vicinity are raising a fund to hnve the highways patrolled at night to prevent the depredations of thieves. The house and furniture of M. Emile Zola will bo sold to satisfy a judgment obtained against him in the libel suit growing out of the Dreyfus case. Corpornl Edwards of the Seventy-first New York regiment, who has been missing since the bnttlc of Sun Jose Hill, was found in a hospital in Brooklyn. Mrs. Annie Kline Rickert, once a famous Confederate spy, is now president of the Stockton and Tuolumne County Railroad, a sixty-mile track in (kilifornia. The visitations of the supposed ghost of Peter Christiano, who was murdered in Orange, N. J.. some time ago, are terrifying the Italian community of that town. Rev. A. S. Orne of Syracuse, Ohio, who' Inis made observations iu nineteen States, says that 95 to 99 per cunt of criminals confined in prisons were neglected children. The instructions given to the evacuation commissions at Havana and Porto Rico provide, it is stated, for the actual occupation of Porto Rico in advance of Culsi. The commission sent to Hawaii to examine into the condition of affairs has concluded to recommend a form of government for the island similar to that of the District of Columbia. The Gerinnn Government will shortly Invite the Governments of the maritime nations to come to an agreement to legally compel steamers to follow transatlantic line routes in order to avoid collision*.

FOR LACK OF VESSELS

FREIGHT FOR ASIA REFUSED ON THIS ACCOUNT. Why President Hill, of the Great Northern Railway, Was Obliged to Decline the Haul of Cotton and Steel for China and Japan. A correspondent of the American Economist, referring to a recent expression by James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, in favor of a bounty of $2 per ton on all export tonnage as a means of reviving the American merchant marine, makes the following caustic comment: “It seems that J. J. Hill is merely a subsidy hunter and an advocate of free ships. Our steamship people are all that kind, pretty much. All they want Is support for their lines, and let the nation go to the dogs. They dant want too many lines iu competition with theirs, even if American. Now, what we want is the national Interest attended to first, private enterprise second. Subsidy Is monopolistic. Three great corporations comprise most of the German steam marine. That will never do in the United States.” There is much force In those terse observations. American sentiment In favor of a fair open Held for individual enterprise will not take kindly to the policy of subsidies, free ships and marine monopolies. That is not the kind of a merchant marine to suit the people of the United States. Subsidy carries on its face the fact of favoritism, and an export tonnage bounty Is only another name for subsidy. If American shipping wore as efficiently protected in the oversea traffic as It is in the lake and coastwise trlffic. President Hill would not now be refusing the transcontinental haul of

“The Great Northern road alone has been compelled to refuse the shipment of GO,OOO tons of steel rails and 30,000,000 pounds of cotton—all demanded by Asia—simply because there are no water facilities by moans of which this merchandise may be transported to Atlantic ports.”—President J. J. Hill in a recent interview:

steel rails for Japan and raw cotton for China because of lack of ships to carry the freight across the Pacific ocean. He has already solved this problem as regards rail and lake carrying, and he would solve It as readily In the matter of rail and ocean traffic If the conditions were the same. The trouble is that while the lake carrying trade Is amply protected from alien competition, the ocean carrying trade is wholly without protection. Some years ago Mr. Hill undertook to reduce the cost of transporting a bushel of xvheat from the granaries of Minnesota and the Dakotas to the terminal elevators at Buffalo. He ordered a reduction In the Great Northern’s charge for hauling the grain from Interior points to Duluth, only to find that the hoped-for addition to the price realized by the wheat grower was promptly wipod out by an equivalent increase by the lake transportation companies In the charge for delivering the wheat from Duluth to Buffalo. President Hill thereupon took matters Into his own haikls. He caused to be built and put In service between the head of .Lake Superior and Die foot of Lake Erie a fleet of fast steel steamships, each with a freight capacity of over 3,000 tons. From that moment he was master of the situation, and the power of the Great Northern Railroad to make and maintain a rate was once for all established. Lake shipping was protected then as now by laws which made It Impossible for foreign vessels of cheaper construction and cheaper payrolls to compete Injuriously against the new Northern line. If oversea traffic In American bottoms were similarly protected today. President Hill would not now be refusing freight for lack of ships to take It across to Asia. Long before this the Great Northern Railroad would have had In operation its own line of steamships to handle Its traffic with China, Japan, Australia and the Philippines. With a system of discriminating duties In force these ships could be certain of return cargoes at. remunerative rates. Instead of having to take their chances with the underbidding tramp steamers manned by underpaid foreign crews. Discriminating duties made and maintained the American merchant marine from 17KP up t<> the time when that wise and sensible system was abandoned for the folly of “marine reciprocity.” Then the American flag gradually disappeared from the sea, until to-day It Is not displayed at the foretop of more than one-twelfth of the ffiips that carry American commerce. Bring back the policy that In times post made our shipping Industry foremost In the world's carrying trade and

you will bring back the marine supremacy that has been lost for nearly forty years. Then and not until then. Paaaing the Hat. The appointment of W. H. (Coin) Harvey as financial manager of the Democratic party will come as a shock to tire Bourbons and the silver RepublU cans. To the former It will seem like the appointment of a receiver and the beginning of the end In winding up the affairs of the old party. To the latter It will be loss of faith in the non-parti-sanship of the silver question. Two years ago Harvey would not train under the Democratic flag unless he was permitted to run his meetings in his own way. He did not make stump speeches; he delivered non-partisan lectures on free silver. The Republicans who believed then that he was more interested in silver than in the Democratic party will suspect now that he is more interested in the Democratic party than he 18 in silver. To the politicians of both parties the appointment will signify that the old stand-by contributors to the Democratic campaign fund have tightened the purse strings and that the managers have come to the pass-around-the-hat stage of raising campaign funds. As the moneyed men of the party will not open their purses if silver is to be made an issue in the next campaign, and as Altgeld and Bryan insist that silver be made an Issue, Harvey, as the friend of silver, will pass the hat. This means that the farmers of the West, who were carried off their feet by the silver craze, will be assessed to bear the expenses of an anti-war, anti-expan-sion, and un-American campaign.— Chicago Inter-Ocean. Make It an Open Fight. Iu the last presidential campaign, the Democratic party, seeing before It complete defeat on its tariff record, sought to avoid the inevitable by giving ,the place of prominence to the silver question. No device, however, could save the party -whose elevation to the control of the Government had brought de-

FOR LACK OF SHIPS.

struction to American industries and suffering to American homes; no devices could save the party which had saddled on the country the Infamous Wllson-Gorman bljl. The people knew it for the same old free trade party whose success at elections had always been followed by disaster to the American people; and it was burled out of sight by the avalanche of votes cast for McKinley and protection. In view of the attempt of the Democratic party in 1806 to blind the people to the fact that the question of protection or free trade w r as at issue between the parties, It is Interesting to note that Hon. L. F. McKinney, the contestant in the First Maine district for Speaker Reed’s seat In Congress, made the tariff the sole Issue of his recent campaign. If this Is any Indication of the policy to be pursued by other Democratic candidates for Congress, In other States, the friends of protection have no need to worry. It Is always easier to fight lu the open, and with the Issue drawn squarely between protection and free trade, or between protection and that elusive, chameleonlike "tariff reform," there Is no doubt of the outcome. The country wants no more free trade and no more “tariff reform" of the Cleveland-Wllson-Gorman type. Cnuae of Humiliation. It Is humiliating that the United States, which can furnish a navy to mntch the world’s best, as compared man for man, should possess no merchant marine worth speaking of. It Is doubly humiliating when we consider that the fault Is wholly our own; that

DIGGING UP a "GENERAL MANAGER" FOR THE DEMOCRACY.

-Chicago Tribune.

the only cause of our lack of a merchant marine is the failure on the past of our legislators to apply the same doctrine to our commerce which they have applied to manufacturing industries that it is due to their failure to give protection to American shipping as they have given protection to American industries. By protecting American products we have put the United States at the head of nations industrially. Let us put the United States at the head of nations on the sea. Proper protection to American shipping w r ill do it. A Protection Victory. The proprietor and manager of ths largest tin plate plant In the world, William Williams, has sold his Welsh Interest and will locate in Pittsburg. The Worcester and Upper Forrest Works, at Morristow’n, Wales, were sold In August at a public sale for £BB*000. The plant was equipped with furnace and steel mills, but had been idle for some time. Two sons of Mr. Williams spent some time in the United States last spring, and, It is understood, leased land in the vicinity of Pittsburg for a tin plate plant. The loss of the great American market, the heaviest consumer of tin plate in the world, has necessitated this mi-*» gration from Wales to the United States. It all comes of protecting the manufacture of tin plate in the United States4oK Now we are making the greater part of the tin plate used here, and the cost to the consumer steadily fallen to the lowest point ever known. To have forced the largest manufacturer in the world to close up his Welsih plant and invest lids millions in an American plant, where the American rate of wages must be paid, is another of those Protection victories that have been coming thick and fast in die past year. Declining Woolen Imports. The enormous decline in the imports of woolen goods during the past year Is a clear demonstration of the beneficent effect of the Republican tariff of 1897. During the last year of the Wilson tariff measure, the imports of woolen goods reached the enormous sum of $49,100,000, which drove woolen manufacturers In this country to despair. The fiscal year just closed hns wrought a great change, the total imports being; less than $15,000,000. This means that during the last fiscal year the American people consumed nearly $35,000,000 worth of American woolen goods in excess of the last year of the Wilson hllL In other words, American woolen mills and American labor was benefited to that extent. This is an Industrial Improvement that cannot be denied.—Kalamazoo Telegraph. Pointing with Pride. We point with pride to our fulfillment of the promise of tariff reform. With a return to protection there has come a change in the balance of trade. Under Cleveland we were shipping millions of gold to Europe in exchange for goods bought from foreigners. Under McKinley Europe is shipping millions of gold to us In exchange for our products and manufactures. We point with pride to the revival of trade, the Increased demand for labor, the advance of wages, the improved condition of the agricultural class that we predicted as a result of return to Republican policies. The coming winter will make no call for free soup houses for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed.— Chicago Inter Ocean. Let It Go On. It has been the free trade contention that other countries will not buy from us, or at least will buy less, if our protective tariff reduces the amount wo buy from them. Free traders claimed that the Dlngley tariff is that kind of a measure and must have that kind of an effect. But we are selling more to foreign countries to-day than we are purchasing from them—Just what theRepublicans promised in 189(5. Let the good work go on, keep the Republicans lu power and enlarge our foreign trade, and ldt the nation grow rich by reason, of the prosperity that comes to us through sound economic policies.— Burlington Ilawkeye. , Let Ua Have n Merchant Marine. All in all, just 1,792 ships passed through the Suez canal last year, of which 1,19(5 were British. How many, do you supiKKse, were American? Only four, and no more—only four! It la time for the American merchant marina to get into the water and begin to do* business.—New York Mail and Express. Curious Kind of Ruin. The record of failures for the months of August in this country Is the best la five years. And the financial, currency and tariff conditions have been identical with the conditions t'lwit Kryanltea have claimed were plunging this country Into hopeless ruin.—Keokuk “Gata> CJlty.”