Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1899 — ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE. [ARTICLE]

ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.

ENSIGN FEARS TO FACE COURTMARTIAL. About to Be Tried for Drunkenness, He Tries to Go Out of Life by the Revolver Route—l xplosion in Indiana Powder Mills. W. T. Coleman, an ensign on the battleship lowa, who was to have been court-martialed on a charge of having been drunk while the vessel was at the Puget Sound naval station, attempted suicide at San Francisco ,by shooting with a navy revolver. Coleman was found with the pistol in his hand. He had aimed at his head, but the muzzle of the heavy weapon was thrown upward by the recoil, and the ball grazed the skull. He had evidently prepared for death, as his effects were in perfect order and he had written several letters to his family and relatives in Syracuse, N. Y. Coleman, who is about 26 years of age, is a recent graduate of the Annapolis naval academy. 11l health and worry of the fact that he was to be court-martialed are supposed to have led to his act. POWDER MILLB ARE BLOWN UP. Explosion at Aetna Company's Plant Shakes Earth for Miles. Three powder mills connected with the plant of the Aetna Powder Company at Aetna, Ind., blew up, shaking the ground for miles around. The explosion was caused by a fire which started in one of the miUs and spread to the other two, igniting a quantity of dynamite in process of manufacture. The alarm was given in time for the employes to escape and no one was injured. The force of the explosion was so great that many people in Valparaiso, fifteen miles away, ran out of stores and dwellings in the belief that an earthquake had occurred. The loss is about $5,000. STOPS HAZING AT WEST POINT. ' Colonel Mills Appeals to the Cadets' Sense of Honor. Hazing at West Point has been abolished by Col. Albert L. Mills, whose gallantry at the storming of San Juas heights, when he was a lieutenant of cavalry, cost him an eye and won him the superintendency of the military academy. The new superintendent’s medium for the enforcement of his views on the attention of cadets is a wonderfully worded order, which is calculated to appeal alike to their sense of honor and their fear of discipline. This document has excited a great deal of comment among army officers. whose reminiscences of the academy are interwoven with hazings of the past. Young: Lovers Die Together. Workmen repairing the high school building at Arapahoe, Neb., brought to light a double tragedy. In one of the rooms was found the body of James Bloodworth. Lying partly across the body was that of Miss Grace Cooper. Both had been shot through the temple. Bloodworth was 21 and Miss Cooper was 15. They had been keeping company for some time, to which the parents of the girl objected. Zinc Mining Prices Made. The climax of the Missouri-Kansas Zinc Miners’ Association fight against the smelters for higher prices for zinc was reached the other day, when the association announced that it had made the prices for all grades of zinc ore for the next six months. This means prices for about $8,000,000 worth of zinc ore. Heretofore the schedule of prices has been made weekly. Meets Death in a Wheat Bin. Robert Shatto, aged 17, met a horrible death at Columbus, Ind. He was working in a hopper-shaped wheat bin at Griffith’s elevator. His legs became submerged in the wheat, and, drawn by the suction of receding wheat, he was unable to extricate himself. He was covered by 400 bushels of wheat, from which it required an hour to recover the body. Chinamen Reduced to Subjection. Sixty Chinese members of the crew of the United States transport Victoria were in mutiny and before the end came a pitched battle took place. The ship’s officers, backed by some carpenters, won. The trouble arose over wages, the Chin--amen demanding a $7 increase a month, which was refused. Cleveland Teamster Shot. William T. jCaple, a non-union motorman of the Big Consolidated Company at Cleveland, fired two shots at William Little, a teamster, both bullets taking effect. In return Little picked up a hatchet lying in his wagon and hurled it at Caple, striking the motorman in the head and making a frightful wound. Found Dead Near Railroad Tracks. The dead bodies of two men, one white and the other colored, were found at Columbia, N. J., near the New York, Susquehanna and JVestern Railroad tracks. The white man has been identified as a man named Francis, and it is thought be was killed by a train.

* Cleveland Car la Blown Up. A Wade Park avenue electric car of the Big Consolidated line in Cleveland was blown up near the Euclid avenue barns. The ear was badly torn. The motorman was badly hurt. There was one passenger on the car, but he escaped injury. Cross the Dominican Frontier. The revolutionary Dominican troops which assembled at Onanaminthe have crossed the frontier and have taken possession of Dajabon. The garrison at that place retired to Fort Belair, a strategic position commanding the town. The Haytian consol left the place.

Killed by a Waiter. Gus McKennie, a prominent and wealthy cotton compresser of Gainesville, Texas, who with his wife had been stopping at Manitou, Colo., was instantly killed by a colored waiter, George A. McCormick, at the Barker House. Murder by Venarefnl Woman. Mrs. Annabel! Collier was fatally shot at Dearborn, Mo., by Mrs. Nellie Montgomery, who recently was plaintiff in a damage suit in which Mrs. Collier gave testimony against her. Live Wire KilltToar. A live electric light wirtx carrying a current of 2,000 volts killed flkw firemen while they were fighting an inApificant blaze on an upper floor of thi Mercer Chemical Company's building a#Omaha.

KILLED IN A DUEL. J. L. Greene of Kansas Victim of a Cnban Officer’s Better Aim. J. L. Green of Fort Scott, Kan., at Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, met his death in a duel with a Cuban officer. While in Havana last March Greene and his slayer had some words, resulting in Greene’s accepting the Cuban’s challenge. The Cuban officer did not appear at the appointed place and the meeting did not occur. A few days ago the men met and renewed their difficulty. Another meeting was arranged and Greene fell mortally wounded at the first fire, while the Cuban was unharmed. When Greene graduated from the normal college at Fort Scott in 1892 he enlisted as a private in the regular army. After several years’ service he was discharged and went to Cuba, and was made a major in the Cuban army. Last year he joined the rough riders and received a commission. He was 28 years of age. WEST RIVER TRADE IN CHINA. Consul Reports Traffic Growing: Despite Depredations of Pirates. Consul General Wildman has reported to the State Department from Hong Kong on the growing trade of the West rirer in China, which taps one of the most fertile sections of the empire. He appends a memorandum giving an account of the depredations of Chinese pirates along the river. It is impossible, he says, for the Chinese officials to put down this piracy, as well as the dishonest fiscal system along the river and the brigandage of some of the chief towns. The torpedo boats sent to suppress the depredations are said to be engaged in “turning an honest penny by towing, to the neglect of their proper work, which receives no attention.” The opinion is expressed that if piracy is to be suppressed it will probably have to be done by British gunboats. KILLED BY FORMER PARTNER. Murder at Fremont, Neb., Canaed by Business Settlement. U. S. Pope, proprietor of a confectionery store, with a gambling room attached, was shot and fatally wounded by his former partner. E. Jerome, at Fremont, Neb. Jerome fired five shots, all of which took effect. He fled immediately after the shooting, but was captured by a sheriff’s posse and landed in jail. The men quarreled over the settlement of their former partnership and Jerome asserts Pope attacked him with a chair and that he shot in self-defense. Wife Sees Husband Whipped. Joseph M. Britton was taken from his home in Newark, Ind., and severely whipped by White Caps. One held Mrs. Britton and three others guarded her son, a third looked after the younger children. The others then assaulted Britton. , ' Lightning; Causes Big Fire. At Parkersburg, W. Va., lightning struck the store of the W. H. Smithy Hardware Company, which burned up: Paulus Rep’s and Berry’s restaurant, three-stony buildings, both had their contents destroyed. The loss will easily reach $150,000. Wife Slayer Commits <=> Morando Jaiconah, who killed his wife in Hoboken last May because she refused to live with him, committed suicide in his cell in the Jersey City jail. He hanged himself with a rope made of strips torn from his underclothing. Train Wreck in California. The engine and a portion of a southbound Los Angeles express train on the Southern Pacific Railroad were derailed near Don Palos, Cal. Engineer C. J. Ford is reported to have been killed. None of the passengers lost his life. Carranza Letter Case i- nds. George F. Bell, who claims he stole the celebrated Carranza letter, was discharged at Montreal by Magistrate Le Fontaine on the ground that the prosecution had not proved that a letter was stolen. Town Swept by Fire. The business portion of Carlisle, Ky., was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of $60,000. C. G. Rogers’ tobacco warehouse, containing 300,000 pounds of tobacco, worth $40,000, was burned. Shot on the Street. George W. Blazer, superintendent of the Elizabeth. Colo., public schools, was Shot and instantly killed on the street. The murderer escaped. ‘ torm Damages Wheat Crop. Fields of wheat in Cass and Traill counties, N. D., were devastated by a severe storm of wind and hail. The loss is from 40 to 50 per cent.