Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1898 — CONVICT IS CAUGHT. [ARTICLE]

CONVICT IS CAUGHT.

OLD OFFENDER APPREHENDED IN CHICAGO, After Nineteen Years, J. L. Bates Must Return to State’s Prison at Anamosa, lowa—Bird Averts a Serious Accident in,Tcx-S, Bold Criminal in Custody. Nineteen years after breaking jail in Anamosa. lowa, John L. Bates was arrested in Chicago and must serve his unexpired term. Bates is said to be heir to $32,000 left him by his father in 1892, and while he knew of it he was afraid to claim the money for fear of being compelled to serve the rest of bis term. Bates was born forty-two years ago in Jackson County, lowa, and when 18 years old began his criminal career. He was arrested for burglary and served two years in the Anamosa penitentiary. He was released and robbed the railroad ticket office in Anamosa. He was arrested and sentenced to the Anamosa institution for a term of three years. May 29. 1879, after having served fourteen months of his sentence. he escaped. Although followed by the authorities for months, Bates was not caught, and the lowa authorities lost trace of him. For nineteen years he kept up his career of crime, but effectually concealed his identity as the escaped lowa convict. In 1881 be was convicted of burglary and served three years fn the penitentiary at Chester. He was not connected with any other crime until Hunter, the stock yards commission merchant, was killed in his office in the Exchange Building in Chicago. At that time he was arrested for complicity in the murder. After having been held several months under suspicion he was released, as the charges against him could not be substantiated. ROBBER MYSTERIOUSLY SLAIN. Inmates of a House He Entered Find Body in the Morning. A most peculiar shooting affray occurred at the home of John Shaw in Quincy, Mass., wbf'ii a robber, who had plundered the house, lost his life. The occupants of Mr. Shaw’s house declare they heard no shot and did not know their home had been entered until the body was found the next morning. The pran wore a new suit, in the pocket of which a gold watch, diamond pin and two pairs of eyeglasses belonging to members of the family were found. A piece of paper marked “James Emerson, Green street, Jamaica Plain,” was also found. The police are working on the theory that the robber was shot by a “pal,” who may have mistaken him for the owner. FEAR'TWELVE ARE LOST. Sloop with Prospectors Bound for Atlin Found Capsized. The Rosalie, which has arrived at Victoria. B. C., from Skaguay, reports the wreck of a sloop which left Wraugel for Skaguay with a party of twelve bound for Atlin. The sloop was found bottom up by Indians and it is feared that all have been lost. Fred Smith of Victoria, just out from Atlin. brings news of two more rich gold-bearing creeks discovered. The new finds have been christened Moose and Goose creeks. Smith had both hands frozen and nearly lost his life on the way out. News is brought of the wreck of the schooner Ohio of Victoria. No lives were lost.

TRAIN SAVED BY A BIRD. Broke the Headlight mid Foiled Plans of Wreckers. The north-bound passenger train on the I. & G. N. Railroad narrowly missed a serious wreck forty miles below Austin, Texas, through the intervention of a bird. Some miscreant had tied a rail securely across the track. Just a few miles before reaching the spot, a bin!, blinded by the headlight, flew against'tht glass, breaking it and extinguishing the light. This necessitated running slowly to the next station. The train proceeding at rcdis/ed speed struck the obstruction, tearing up the track and damaging the front of the engine, but no one was injured. Letter Is Two Year) Late. A leading business man of Bucyrus, Ohio, received recently from a former sweetheart a mod loving letter, which had keen written in 181X1, but which for two years had lain in the Cleveland postoffice. Kot having received the letter the young p>un had learned to forget the writer, *ho had forgotten him. he thought, and when the letter arrived at its destination • t found him a bridegroom. Kills Herself in a Hotel. A woman about 30 years old, well dressed ami hearing evidences of refinement, tvns found dead in bed in one of the rooms of the Chittendon Hotel, Columbus, Ohio. A half-emptied two-ounce vial of carbolic acid and one ounce bottle of laudanum nearly full were found on the stand near the bed. The suicide had carefully removed every mark that might lead to her identity. Margaret Dodge a Suicide. Miss Margaret Dodge, 30 years old, a well-known literary worker. was found dead in a gallery pew by the janitor of the church of St. John the Evangelist in Boston. Mass. She had hidden in the church after the evening service and ended tier life with eyannide of potassium, n vial by her side revealing this fact. Bolivian Revolt Spreads. A dispatch from Bolivia says that the •evolution is gaining in importance and utrength. An advance force has been started in the direction of Omro to encounter President Alonzo’s troops. The latter has ordered the Bolivian representatives at Mollendo. Peru, to inqiede all importations from Ln Paz. Contract Let tor Havana Dock. The Drake A Stratton Company of Pittsburg Has received a contract from ’the United States Government for the construction of a great dock at Havana. Cuba, and a short railroad to Morro Castle. costing altogether about SStK),OOO. The company has dispatched 500 laborers to the island. Successor for Bliss. The President has nominated Ethan A. Hitchcock of Missouri to lie Secretary of the Interior to succeed Cornelius N. Bliss, resigned. Mr. Flitchcock is at present ambassador to Russia. Acquitted at Omaha. At Omaha, the jury lias returned a verdict of not guilty in the case of W. F. Bethel, ex-auditor of the Pacific Express Company, charged w ! Ui embcaalement.

SOLDIERS TERRIFY A TOWN, First Mississippi Men Shoot a Boy to Death and Injure a Woman. Members of the First Mississippi regiment disgraced themselves on their return home after being mustered out at Columbia, Tenn. A child was shot through the head and fatally wounded and its mother received a painful wound in the shoulder. Mrs. Lucy Thomas and her little son were standing in the doorway of their home at Eutaw, Ala., watching the first section of the regiment rolling into the town. Suddenly a fusillade, of shots was fired in their direction. One bullet struck the boy in the forehead. Mrs. Thomas was shot in the shoulder, but her wound is not fatal. The boy died in a short time. Gov. Johnston of Alabama has offered SIOO reward for the arrest of the men who killed the Thomas boy. HOUNDED TO HIS DEATH. Ex-Convict David Shea Commits Suicide at Ft. Louis. . David Shea, an ex-convict, deliberately committed suicide in a St. Louis rooming house by shooting himself in the head. In a pathetic letter left by Shea and addressed to the editor of the Post-Dis-patch he says he was driven to death by a private detective agency as a result of being hounded by the agency. Shea declares he was unable to obtain work to sustain himself honestly and be decided to die. Murderer Commits Suicide. A man known as "Big John” murdered John Gtillickson in lowa, just across the State line from Spring Grove. Minn. The murderer then attempted to kill Gullickson’s wife, beating her into unconsciousness. and left her for dead. A sheriff and a posse from Decorah, lowa, pursued “Big John.” and just as they were about to capture him he drew a revolver and shot and killed himself. Driven Insane by Idleness. Six convicts, driven mad by idleness, were taken from Kings County penitentiary, New York, to asylums for the criminal insane. One of the penitentiary officials said that until the abolition-,of convict labor there had not been a case of insanity among the prisoners in that institution for years. Six Killed in a r now Slide. News has been received at Seattle of a slide on the Chilkoot Pass, in which six people were killed. .Five bodies have been recovered, as follows: Mrs. Darling and two sons of Lake Linderman; Bert Johns, Juneau, and Harry Shaw of Skaguay.

Orders 50,000 Mustered Out, Adjt. Gen. Corbin has issued the preliminary orders providing for the muster out of 50.000 volunteers in the next month. This action marks the final passing of the volunteer army organized for the war with Spain. Two Men Killed. John Kerrigan and Walter H. Holbrook were killed in a collision between electric cars in Leicester, Mass., and several oth; er passengers were dangerously hurt. The collision occurred during a dense fog. Secret Dossier Turned Over. The Dreyfus secret dossier has been turned over to the court of cassation at Paris under the pledge that it shall not be communicated to the counsel for the defense nor to anyone outside the court. Restored to Public Domain. At Santa Fe, N. M., the United States Court of private land claims has restored to the public domain the Estina land grant made in 1845 and claimed by Joel Parker Whitney. It contains 500,000 acres. Montreal Suffers by Fire. A fire ruined the big dry goods warehouse of S. Greenshields’ Son & Co. at Montreal, one of the largest dry goods houses in Canada. Losses on building and stock amount to $500,000. Gompers Ta Re-elected. Samuel Gompers was re-elected president of the American Federation of Labor by a practically unanimous vote at the eighteenth animal convention of that organization in Kansas City. Fire in a Kentucky Town. At Taylorsville, Ky„ nine business houses wt-t<> burned, including the offices and new office building of the Spencer Courier. The loss will aggregate $20,000. Seb'eatinii Bach Mills Dead. A cable dispatch from Wiesbaden, Germany. announces the death of Sebastian Bach Mil**:. the well-known pianist and composer, aged 60 years. Goes to Seek the South Pole. Captain Borchgrevink’s expedition has started from Hobart, Tasmania, for the antarctic .regions.