Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1899 — SHUT OUT REFUGEES. [ARTICLE]

SHUT OUT REFUGEES.

AUTHORITIES FORBID THEM TO ENTER MANILA. American Officials Take This Precaution Against Famine and IllnessFireworks Factories Near New York Are Destroyed-Kansas Crops, A thousand refugees who are attempting to come to Manila are being turned back by the authorities, who are fearful of the city becoming overpopulated, causing pestilence and famine. There are frequent sights on the country roads of men, women and children staggering along under loads of household effects. The refugees are hungry, but not starving. The American officials are issuing rice to them for their present needs. Many of the refugees tell of being forced to give up their supplies to the insurgent army. They are afraid to jeturn to the enemy’s lines on account of possible attacks. The insurgent government is to issue an order for all the military forces to discard their uniforms and wear ordinary white in order to deceive our army. Communistic societies have been formed in northern Luzon for the equal division of property. FIREWORKS IN A BLAZE. Two Factories Near New York Go Up in Smoke. Scorching rays of a red-hot sun ignited explosives in two fireworks factories in Greater New York. Hundreds of lives were endangered, both plants being almost entirely destroyed and the property loss is not less than $250,000. The factories were the Pain works, Brooklyn, and the Charlton Fireworks Company’s plant on Staten Island. In the first plant 200 persons, men, women and children, were employed, but all were rescued by the firemen and police. At the Charlton works, where thirty-six buildings were destroyed, sixty girls employed there promptly executed the fire drill, preventing a panic and saved their lives. FINED EVERY MAN IN TOWN. Kentuckians Pay One Cent Each for Contempt of Court. Princeton, Ky., has had the unusual experience of the arraignment of every man in it for contempt of court. It happened that a petition had been signed by all the men in town asking the grand jury not to indict the insurance companies, and no indictments were found. The commonwealth’s attorney moved to proceed against the signers for contempt of court. After considerable argument the judge fined each signer 1 cent and the decision was applauded by the defendants. CONDITION OF KANSAS CROPS.

Poor Outlook for Wheat, but Corn Is Doing Well —The Percentages. A bulletin was issued by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture showing condition of wheat and corn. It shows that 39 per cent of the wheat acreage is a failure on account of the unfavorable winter and spring. The condition of the remaining 61 per cent is given at 55, some counties reporting an average condition of 70. In most of the corn territory, or the eastern three-fifths of the State, the situation and prospects are very encouraging and an improved acreage is reported. Car Load of New Wheat. A car load of new wheat, the first of the crop of 1899, was received in St. Louis Wednesday from Waco, Texas. It graded No. 2 red winter and tested sixty-one pounds to the bushel. On being auctioned off on ’Change it brought 90 cents a bushel, 15 cents more than cash wheat was quoted. Family Struck by a Train. In a railroad accident at Hamilton, 0., Chief of Police Peter A. Clair was instantly killed, his little 3-year-old daughter Margaret dying an hour later and his wife badly injured. Her life is hanging by a thread. The chief, his wife and daughter were struck by a train. Flames in a Georgia Town. The largest fire in Augusta, Ga., for many years burned over the same district that was swept seven years ago. Several buildings that escaped at that time are now in ruins. The losses aggregate $250,000. The fire started in the drug store of Davenport & Phinizy. Wants X-Ray Damages. Edward E. Miller, a student of the University of Vermont, has brought suit 'against Allison W. Slocum, professor of mathematics in the university, for damages in the sum of SIO,OOO. Miller says that he sustained an injury of the leg as the result of taking X-ray photographs. Will Reduce the Herds. Notwithstanding the objections of the United States Government, the California fish commissioners have decided not to abandon the work of reducing the seal herds and operations will be continued at the rookeries not under Federal control. Fitzsimmons Knocked Out. James J. Jeffries has become champion heavyweight pugilist of the world by knocking out Robert Fitzsimmons. The battle took place at Coney Island, New York, the knockout blow being administered in the eleventh round. Terrific .Heat in New York. This is without doubt the hottest June month New York has ever known. Prostration and fatalities are numerous. The hot wave is general over all the country east of the Mississippi. Manager Daly Dead. Augustin Daly, the well-known theatrical manager, who, with his wife and Miss Ada Rehan, arrived at Paris a few days ago, died there of heart failure, following pneumonia. Actress Lashes a Manager. Marcus Mayer, well known as a theatrical manager in the United States, was horsewhipped on the liner St. Paul at New York by Miss Ilda Orme, an actress. May Lose Charters. Trusts received a stunning blow in Indiana when the Supreme Court unanimously held that the courts can take the charters from the offending companies. Railway Postal Clerks. Two hundred delegates were present at the opening of the annual convention of the National Association of Railway Postal Clerks at Indianapolis. Philadelphia Editor Dead. Vincent McLaughlin, publisher and editor of the Philadelphia Times, died at his home there Thursday morning.

BOND ISSUE INVALID. Famous Sny Island Case la Settled ta Supreme Court. The holders of $350,000 worth of bonds issued by the Sny Island distinct of Illinois in 1872 cannot recover their money from the present owners of the land, according to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals decision rendered at Milwaukee. The suit has been in the courts since 1878 and was considered of such importance that Justice Harlan of the Supreme bench went from Washington to sit in the case. According to the court’s ruling the act of 1871 authorizing the district to issue bonds was invalid and the numerous transfers of the land since that time left the creditors with no claim on those who now hold the property. More than 1,000 land owners were named as defendants in the action and the amount involved was over $5,000,000. GREAT FLOODS IN TEXAS. Colorado River and Tributaries Swollen by Heavy Floods. The Colorado river and its tributaries are the highest they have been for years, and great destruction of property lying in the path of the floods has already resulted. The water is flowing over the great dam at Austin, Texas, to a height of twelve feet. The dam was constructed at a cost of $1,600,000, and the great flood is apparently having no effect upon it. Behind the dam extends a sea of water eighty feet deep, forty miles long and one mile wide. At Kingsland a rise of eighteen feet is recorded. Marble Falls has been almost washed away. The bridge at that place and two other bridges in the vicinity have been carried away and the water works power house is a total wreck. BABIES IN CARRIAGE KILLED. Train Crushes Out Lives of Children in Sight of Mother. The two children of Mrs. Carl Dettloff, aged 1 and 3 years, were run over by a freight train and horribly mangled at Poplar Grove, 111. The mother had gone into the depot at the village, leaving the children in their carriage on the platform outside. A gust of wind started the baby carriage, and it rolled off upon the track directly in front of the through freight, running twenty-five miles an hour. The mother got out in time to witness the accident, and made a desperate effort to rescue the little Ones. She is crazed with grief. Nineteenth Infantry Lands. The transports Meade and McPherson arrived at New York Monday. The Meade brought from Ponce, Porto Rico, the Nineteenth infantry, consisting of about 650 men under command of Col. Simon Snyder. The troops go to Camp Meade, Pa., and after being recruited to full strength will go to the Philippines. Strangled and Robbed. Martin Meier, an aged Swiss resident of Chicago, was found bound, gagged and strangled to death on the pantry floor of his home, where he had been left by his murderers after they had thoroughly ransacked the cottage for the wealth it was supposed to contain. Date Is Changed. The date of the Chicago Civic Federation’s conference on trusts, which was called for June 26 to 29, has been changed to Sept. 13 to 16 in response to a general demand for more time made by many of the public officials and organizations invited to participate in the meeting. Eight Days to Dawson. The tracks of the White Pass Railway will be completed to Lake Bennett in a few weeks. The schedule time from Puget Sound ports to Dawson will then be about eight days. Declares Them Forgeries. Articles on expansion, bearing Senator Foraker's name, which were sent to the Century Magazine and North American Review, have been declared forgeries by the Senator. Frost in June.' The temperature in Salt Lake valley Monday night dropped down below the freezing point, and Tuesday morning the ground was covered with a white frost. Olympia Leaves Hongkong. Admiral Dewey’s flagship Olympia sailed Tuesday from Hong Kong for Singapore, returning to the United States. Noted Railroad Man Dies. Frank Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, died Monday evening at his home at Merion. Pa. Reed’s Resignation J-'ent In. A Portland, Me., paper says that Speak•er Reed’s resignation has been sent te Gov. Powers.