Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1901 — FROM THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FROM THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH

HE SAYS HE CAN'T LOSE HER. Anton Praeger Is Pursued by a Woman Who Fell in Love with Him. Afiton Praeger of , East St. Louis, 111., 6ays he is the most pursued man in the world. There is a woman. Miss Lise Merto, who wants him to marry her, and she wants him badly. She has been following him about for nine years now, he says, and at last he is going to see if the law can’t rid him of her dogging footsteps. He swore out a warrant for her arrest the other day, hasn’t been able to get it served upon her. Praeger, who is 40, says he was a butler in a wealthy family of Vienna in 1892. The first week of his services there, lie declares, the woman began to make love to him. He repulsed her, but she wouldn't be refused. Finally, to escape her, he fled to America, the land of the free. He was working serenely in California, when one day, two months after his hegira, Miss Merto, bobbed up and insisted that he take her hand. Again Praeger fled, this time to Wyoming. But still the woman pursued him, and with the aid of a clairvoyant, found him a laborer on the railroad. From Wyoming Praeger fled to North Dakota, and all over the Northwest, but he couldn’t lose her. She was always on his trail, with the clairvoyant to help her. Praeger' reached St. Louis two or three months ago, congratulating himself that Miss Merto never would find him there. But there is no pur»aer so keen as this woman scorned, and on a warm May day she upset all his plans by bobbing up calmly at his boarding house. Then Praeger went across the Eads bridge to East St. Louis and found work at the stock yards. But once more she found him. BIG BUILDING COLLAPSES. Grand Rapids Business Structure Falls —Damage Is $259,000. With a crash that'roused residents for blocks around, the four-story Luce building at Monroe and Ottawa streets, Grand Rapids, Mich., collapsed at 2 o'clock Thursday morning, doing damage estimated at $250,000. Half an hour after the building fell fire broke out in the great heap of debris and caused considI erable damage before it was extinguished. The building was constructed in 1856, and had long been regarded as unsafe. Recent interior improvements necessitated removing some of the supporting walls, and this is believed to have caused the accident. Friedman Brother* dry goods and department store and C. F. Blickey's crockery and glassware store, in the building, were completely wrecked. The only person injured was Lieut. John Connor of the fire department, who fell from a ladder and sustained internal injuries that may be fatal. HUNDREDS KILLED BY VOLCANO. Terrible Eruption in Java—Great Destruction of Life and Property. Oriental advices give details of a terrible destruction of human life which occurred in northern Java last month by a sudden and terrific outburst of the volcano Kloet. For fifty miles around all the coffee plantations and other estates were destroyed by showers of ashes and stones, together with great streams of | Tava and hot mud. Seven hundred natives and a.number of Europeans perished. The country around was strewn with corpses. Charitable Man Die*. Charles A. Spring, associate of the late Cyrus H. McCormick and manager of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company from 1858 to 1889, died at his home in Chicago. He was 75 years old. It was one of his principles that no man should have more than a moderate fortune, and, in keeping his property at the $250,000 mark, which he had set, charitable institutions and individuals were benefited.

N. P. Boynton bo.es Office.

N. 8. Boynton, founder of the order, was deposed as supreme adviser by the Supreme Tent, Knights of Maccabees, at Port Huron, Mich., the law creating the position being repealed. The office was especially created for Maj. Boynton and this action is the result of the fight made against him since he sought two years ago to wrest the chief executiveship from D. P. Markey.

Fatal Freight Collision.

Two freight trains collided on a bridge over the Arkansas river in Indian Territory, killing five persons and fatally injuring two. Fire consumed both trains and the bridge. Both locomotives dropped into the river and were swallowed up up by quicksands.

Russian Crops Are Ruined.

Large parts of the Russian empire are again threatened with famine. The last official report was dated June 21. Since then not a drop of rain has fallen in the eastern provinces and it is believed the crops are now largely beyond hope in many districts.

Man Walks Out of n Win low.

Stuart Leathers walked out of a thirdstory window at his home in Louisville and fell to the pavement, thirty feet below. He was badly injured, but the physicians say there is a slight chance for his recovery.

A Charged with Bigamy.

Joseph Cratner, 75 yenrs old, is under arrest in Philadelphia charged with having seven wives, all of whom, it is declared, are living. When the warrant was served Cramer fainted. He is a sufferer froni heart failure. Burn lx cm’s Body. American train crew in Mexico, having killed a man by accident, threw his body into the firebox of the locomotive and tied across the border.

Girl* Brow i While Bnthinur.

Elsie Hirtz, uged 14, and Fannie Griffin, aged 16, both living nt Hoknh, Minn., were drowned while bathing in Root river falls.

FROG BLOWS UP HAPPY HOME. House of Newspaper Correspondent Wrecked Because of ?tory Sent Out. The home of Hillman, a newspaper correspondent at Albany, Mo., was wrecked by dynamite. Hillman is charged with being the correspondent who wrote the story telling of a frog that ate dynamite, exploded and killed or seriously injured the three children of George McCurr.v. The trouble with the story was that McCurry was single, had no children, dynamite, or frog. Some friends of McCurry’s decided to hoist Hillman by his own petard. The other night a quantity of dynamite was placed under the correspondent’s house with the intention of giving the writer a taste of higher journalism. Hillman, however, was away from home. The explosion lifted the roof off the house and tore great gaps in the walls. ATTACK ON GIRL A MYSTERY. Estelle Neidel of St. Louis Is Found Wounded and Nude in a Field. Estelle Neidel, 19 years old, was found lying wounded, nude and unconscious in a weed-covered field at Tyler and Oak Hill avenues, St. Louis. There was a frightful wound in the back of her head. Attending physicians declare the girl must have been lying wounded and exposed to the sun for several days. The wound in her head, they state, could not possibly have been caused by a fall. Mrs. Emily Neidel positively identified the girl as her daughter, who disappeared from home last October, and of whom she claims she has not been able to find a trace.

Eminent Frenchman Shot At.

In Paris, while Baudin, the Minister of Public Works, was proceeding through the Avenue Marigny, a woman fired a shot from a revolver at him. under the impression that he was Dejcasse, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Baudin was not hurt. The would-be assassin is a Frenchwoman, who is married to a Pole of the name of Olszenski. She was arrested after the shooting.

Amie Leslie Weds Bell Boy.

Surprise was aroused in theatrical circles through the announcement that Miss Amy Leslie, the Chicago dramatic writer, had married Frank H. Buck, chief bell boy at the Virginia Hotel in that city. The ceremony was performed at St. Joseph, Mich. Mr. Buck is 23 years old and his bride 42.

Good Job for Mostly.

John S. Mosby, Confederate leader during the Civil War, has been appointed a special agent of the federal land office. He claims his present residence in California. He has beeu assigned to duty in Nebraska. >

Woman Burned to Death.

Ijliss Elsie Hirseh, the 19-year-old daughter of Simon Hirseh of the Star Distilling Company in Cincinnati, lighted a gas stove in the bathroom. Her night dress caught fire, and she was burned so badly thut she died.

Po**c Hangs Horse Thieve*.'

A posse organized nt Big Sandy, Mont., to capture three alleged hotsw thieves, “Bucking Bill,” Fred Com me nnd Pete Walter, has received word that the three men were hanged by another posse on the Missouri river, near Judith.

Town Farmer’* Crimes.

Fred Fourhelm, a farmer of Bartlett, lowa, insanely jealous, murdered his wife, his 6-year-old stepson, killed his favorite horse, set fire to his house and committed suicide.

If eld Up by Boy Robber*.

Three boy bandits held up Agent Miller at Hoyue avenue station of the Metropolitan Elevated road in Chicago and shot him in the arm, kit secured no monef

DOUBLE MURDER ON A TRAIN. Negro Kills an officer and Latter’s Friends Pitch Him to Death. A tragedy on an excursion train from Spartansburg, S. C., to Charlotte, N. C., resulted in the death of two persons and the probabiy fatal wounding of a third. The train was returning to Spartansburg, the crowd having spent the day in Charlotte. About midnight, as the train was approaching Thicketty, S. C., a halfdrunken negro caused alarm by flourishing a pistol in a ear reserved for white people. Dexter Kirby, an electrician of Spartansburg, who was also acting as a special policeman aboard the train, sought 4.0 suppress the trouble. He asked Haynes to put up his pistol. This the negro refused to do, saying that he would shoot if Kirby came at him. Kirby continued to advance and Haynes -began firing. The first bullet struck Kirby in the breast and penetrated the heart. He died in a seconds. As soon as Kirby’s friends realized that their companion was dead they laid violent hands on the negro and might have killed him aboard the train had they not planned a more horrible death for him when the train was crossing Thicketty trestle. It is ninety feet high. The negro was taken to the platform and hurled head forejnost into space. His body was found in the gras® below the trestle. BANK ROBBERS FOILED. Desperate Attempt Is Made by a Gang at Alexandria, Ohio. A gang of six or seven robbers wrecked the Ressler & Ashbrooke Bank at Alexandria, Ohio, about 1 o’clock the other morning. The strong box resisted their efforts and they overlooked a package of $1,500 in the outer vault, which they blew almost to pieces. Tools were stolen from the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad with which the front door of the bank was opened, after which four charges of dynamite was exploded to open the vault. The noise aroused Cashier C. B. Buxton and others who reside near the bank, and they hastened to the scene. Although the citizens responded promptly, the robbers remained in the bank for an hour longer, during which time they made repeated attempts to force the strong box, meanwhile keeping up an exchange of shots with the villagers. Finally the bandits fled in two buggies which had been stolen previously. They drove furiously away to the north. There was only about SBOO in the strong box, the package of $1,500 having been received too late to be placed therein the previous evening. This money was found among the debris by the cashier. GREAT FIRE IN WICHITA, KAN. Packing Plant of Jacob Pold & Sona Destroyed—Loss $550,000. The packing plant of Jacob Dold & Sons of Wichita, Kan., was destroyed by tire. There were four large buildings. It is estimated that 7,000,000 poupds of meat, in process of preparation, was destroyed. The loss is $1,000,000, with insurance about $400,000. One wall fell, injuring four men, but not fatally. Three hundred and fifty men are thrown out of work. It is said the plant will be rebuilt at once. The fire originated in the lardhouse and is thought to have been due to spontaneous combustion.

A'lmit9 Fraud In Pension Calm.

Thomas Carr, aged 72, of Edina, Mo., was arraigned before United States Commissioner Mitchell on a charge of making false affidavits for the purpose of being restored to the pension rolls. It was discovered Carr had been drawing a pension of $8 a month for three years under the name of James Carr. He pleaded guilty and was sent to the Hannibal jail. Two Die In Missouri Wreck. A head-end collision between a northbound St. Joseph and Grand Island passenger train and a Santa Fe freight, two miles west of Gower, Mo., killed Engineer Baker of the Santa Fe train and Express Messenger Floyd of the passenger train, injured fourteen others, and demolished the Santa Fe engine and several freight cars. , Steamer Collide* with a Yacht. With forty feet of her bow cut clean off in a collision with the steam yacht Wild Duck, the steamer Tremont of the Joy Line, which left Boston for New York with 300 passengers, was towed into New Loudon, Conn., and beached. All her passengers had been transferred to other steamers. Points ton Dark Crime. The village of Six Mile Ferry, near Homestead, Pa,, is excited over the finding of a woman’s arm in a ravine near the town, and later the discovery in some bushes of a silk dress, minus a sleeve. Bloodstains were also found on the grass in the vicinity. Kill* Mother by Accident. Near Dexter, Mo., Charles Dobb, while hunting turkeys saw u motion in the bushes and fired. He 'was horrified a moment later when his mother staggered out and fell dead in his arms. She was picking berries when the bullet struck her in the heud. Bnil* for the Pole. At Troinsoe, Norway, the ships of the Baldwin-Zlegler arctic expedition weigh W 1 anchor and, with the Stars and Stripes and Norwegian Hags at their masts, steamed off to the north. Mr. Baldwin feels confident of reaching the pole. Bake Steamer i amused by Fire. The excursion steamer Puritan was burned at its dock at Buffalo. The entire upper works were destroyed, and it will not be possible to repair the boat for this season's business. The damage ia estimated at SIO,OOO. Gave a Slice . u Imitation. Charles Kager, 10 years old, lost his life at Donaldsonville, La., through his own folly. He was imitating (be actions of a drowning man when he was taken with cramps and died.