Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1899 — EUROPEAN CROP OUTLOOK POOR. [ARTICLE]

EUROPEAN CROP OUTLOOK POOR.

Reports by Foreign Correspondents of Agricultural Department. The Agricultural Department’s foreign crop report for July states that the commercial authorities estimate the shortage la the Russian crop of wheat at from 000,000 to 120,000,000 bushels as compared with last year. The deficiency is most serious in the regions most favorably situated for export. The Prussian official report on wheat is a little above “fair,” 2.3 being the technical designation. The Austrian outlook for wheat and rye is good in all but one province, that of Bukowina. Austria, Roumania and Bulgaria are all slightly below the average in wheat, rye and maize. A French estimate of the wheat crops of Spain and Italy puts it at 84,000,000 bushels below last year, the shortage being somewhat the heavier in Spain. The wheat crop in France is represented as satisfactory, but the optimistic estimates made earlier in the season have been scaled down by later crop damage. In Great Britain cable reports of a severe general storm presage considerable damage to a grain crop that otherwise would have ranked as fair. NOTED CHARACTER IS SLAIN. Double Murderer of Appanoose County, lowa, Himself Meets Death. Wells township, lowa, was the scene of another murder one day recently, which resulted in the death of Brazil D. Courts, a notorious character who has to his record two murders within the last fifteen years and for one of which he served a term in the penitentiary. John Frazee is guilty of the crime of killing Courts. The men had long been enemies and, meeting in the highway, Frazee, after a few words, raised a shotgun and killed Courts instantly. The shooting was but n few hundred yards from where Moore killed Shehrer last December. Frazee gave himself up. While Courts was a notorious character the sentiment of the people is against his slayer. FALLS TO HEATH. CharlM Keef Killed in Sight of Hundreds in Cleveland, Ohio. Charles Keef, an aeronaut, was killed in the presence of several hundred persons who had assembled to witness a balloon ascension at Euclid Beach Park, Cleveland. The balloon and parachute were attached to a guy rope, which in turn was attached to a stake. The ascension of the balloon was very sudden, jerking the rope in such a manner as to pull the stake from the ground. This struck the parachute bar, breaking it off. Keef frantically clung to the cordage of the balloon. When 150 feet from the ground he was compelled to let go and fell. He landed squarely on his feet, sustaining broken legs and internal injuries. He died soon after reaching the hospital. STOCKMEN BUYING RANGES. Quarter of a Million Acres Disposed Of in Western States. With the last two weeks the Union Pacific land department has closed sales and leases, principally with sheep owners, for over 250,000. acres. This breaks the record so far as known to the officials at Omaha. Last month 78,000 acres in Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah were disposed of to sheep and cattle men. Many land buyers from lowa and Illinois are acquiring farms in the West, especially in Kansas and Nebraska. A deal involving 20,000 acres in Lincoln County, Nebraska, is now pending. An Eastern syndicate will make of it a cattle ranch.

SUICIDE’S BODY IDENTIFIED. Man Who Shot Himself at Minneapolis, Minn., Is K. C. Hinnant. The identity of the man who shot himself through the heart at Lake Harriet, near Minneapolis, was disclosed by Mrs. F. L. Hanna, who recognized the body as that of B. C. Hinnant, one of her boarders aud cashier of the construction department of the Northwestern Telephone Company. Hinnant came from Texas two years ago. About six years ago he married a Miss Clarke of Hillsboro, Texas, and it is said that family trouble drove him to suicide. Bandits Cause a Fatal Wreck. At Wybark, I. T., on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, a freight train in charge of Engineer McCune of Parsons, Ivan., was wrecked. McCune was killed. The switch lock had bee* battered to pieces, the switch turned and the light taken up the track a short distance, signaling a clear track. It was doubtless the work of men who had intended to derail and rob the Missouri, Kansas and Texas passenger train. Thugs Raid a Farmer’s Home. Daniel Miller, a farmer residing a mile south of Lexington, Ohio, reported to the police that four masked men entered his house at 1 o'clock on a recent morning, bound him, his wife and son hand and foot aud then fastened them to a bedpost. The robbers then looted the farmers safe of SI,OOO iu bonds aud money.

Bank Cashier is Sentenced. George M. Valentine, cashier of the suspended Middlesex County Bank at Perth Amboy, N. J., has.been sentenced in Middlesex County Conrt to six years in the penitentiary at Trenton. Valentine pleaded not guilty to the charge of larceny in connection with his misappropriation of about $130,000 from the bank. Arrested for an Old Crime. Louis Billow, who was arrested in Elleuburg, Wash., is wanted for the murder of Jacob Hess of Lindsay, Ohio, on May 16, 1896. Billow was engaged to marry the daughter of Hess, but her-par-ents opposed the match. Billow shot and killed the father. Fire at Saratoga. Fire started at Congress street and Broadway, Saratoga, N. Y., and spread rapidly. The fire originated in Charles Leggett’s bicycle, store and was caused by an explosion of naphtha. The loss is estimated at $150,000; Cloudburst in Wisconsin. Rain and hail fell in a cloudburst at Campbellsport, Wis., destroying hundreds of acres of growing grain. William Prehn & Sons’ large coal elevator, newly built, was completely wrecked. Mormon Chief Pleads Guilty. At Salt* Lake City, through his attorneys, Angus M. Cannon, president of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, has entered a formal plea to the charge of polygamy. Joined by New York Men. Employes of the Metropolitan electric street railway system in New York have big atrikei r °° >U /° * 3 mCU ,a e “