Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1901 — FROM THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FROM THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH

ALABAMA HAS A NEW CODE. Constitution Adopted by Big Majority — Negro Vote Small. By a vote of 132 to 12 the new constitution was adopted in the constitutional convention at Montgomery, Ala. Frank S. White Of Jefferson was the only Democrat who voted against it. The new constitution makes radical changes from the old in nearly every article, and two distinct suffrage schemes are provided, disqualification for crime and voluntary prepayment of a poll tax of $1.50 being common to both prior to Jan. 1, 1903. All can register who have honorably served in some war, who are descended from soldiers who have so served or who have "good character” and understand the duties and obligations of citizenship. At present there are about 75,000 negro voters in Alabama who can read and write. The poll tax is purely voluntary and must be paid by Feb. 1 preceding the election in November. It is estimated that the disqualification for crime, failure to pay poll tax and neglect to register so far in advance of election will reduce the whole body of negro voters to fewer than 30,000. SAYS APPENDIX HAS FUNCTION. Denver Surgeon Attacks Theory of the Uselessness of the Member. Dr. E. P. Hershey, known as the leading surgeon of Denver, stirred up the Interstate Medical Association with the positive statement that the vermiform appendix has a function to perform in spite of the reiterated statements of the world’s wisest medical men that it is without use and may be removed with Impunity. Dr. Hershey advanced the theory that the appendix has a secretory function, serving as a lubricant to the greatf'fcitestmes, and that any interference with the organ brings about ether forms of sickness and a multitude of disorders, including fatal constipation. These statements led to many passionate criticisms, the speakers all protesting against allowing such heterodox theories to go forth as the indorsed sentiment of the meeting. Finally by resolution Dr. Hershey was instructed to conduct experiments, retain notes of his observations and report results g year hence. SEIZES SMUGGLED JEWELS. Treasury Agent Secures Possession of Valuable Diamonds in Chicago. J. J. Crowley, special agent of the Treasury Department at Chicago, has seized $25,000 worth of diamonds which, it is said, were recently smuggled into this country from Europe by a prominent Chicagoan. The jewels are said to have been bought in Paris and worn by the members of the Chicagoan’s family when they arrived in New York. One of the pieces was a $15,000 necklace. The family’s indiscretion in boasting of its achievement resulted in the discovery. Big Blaze in lowa Town. The business portion of Dougherty, lowa, burned Sunday night. The fire originated from spontaneous combustion in the wareroom of Swallow’s drug store. When the fire spread to the hardware store and into the powder, benzine and gasoline the flying embers were thrown all over the town and nothing could be done to prevent the spread of the flames. The total loss reached $44,000, with $28,500 insurance. Kills Girl and Shoots Himself. In St. Louis George Keneile, aged 22 years, shot and killed Bertha Richter, his 16-year-old sweetheart, and with the same revolver put a bullet into his own breast. He is probably fatally wounded. The refusal of the girl to keep a promise to marry Keneile is said to have caused the shooting. Bank at Broken Bow Closed. The Bank of Custer County, at Broken Bow, Neb., closed its doors on an order from Secretary Royse of the State banking board. In its last statement the bank showed resources of $84,624, of which $63,266 were loans and discounts. The deposits subject to check and demand certificates aggregate nearly $60,000. Passenger Train Held Up. A large amount of money was secured by robbers who held up a Cotton Belt passenger train. The robbery was committed by five masked men at Eylau, four miles south of Texarkana. The exact amount of the booty is withheld by the railroad and express officers. Fatally Bitten by Fabian. William A. Pixley, amusement editor of an Omaha paper, was perhaps fatally injured by having his flesh lacerated by a maddened baboon. Mr. Pixley was visiting the dressing tent of a dog and pony show. Accused of Triple Murder. .¶ Fred Hardy, claiming to be a nephew of John Wanamaker, is about to be tried for murder at Unalaska. Hardy is charged with murdering Con and Florence Sullivan and P. J. Rooney on Unimak Island on Aug. 28. Schwab’s Concessions Rejected. After a conference with mediators from tHe CivVc Federation, President Schwab iof ithe isteel combine offered concessions to President Shaffer of the Amalgamated Association to secure settlement of the big strike, but his terms were rejected. Negro Is Shot and Cremated. Bill Fourney, alias Bill Hilliard, a negro charged with assaulting Miss Wilson it Chestnut Grove, Ala., was shot and his body burned by a mob near the scene of his crime. . ——— Columbia to Defend the Cup. The yacht Columbia, champion of 1899. has been chosen to race against the Shnnipock 11. in defense of the America’s cup. Fifty Ho-ses Are Poisoned. Fifty horses belonging to McNab & Smith, draymen, were poisoned in San Francisco. Fully one-half of the animals are dead.

TAKES ACID AT DINNER PARTY. Woman Reproved by Husband 'Commits Suicide Before Quests. The climax to a dinner party given by Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Peters at their home in New York City came the other night, when Mrs. Peters walked to a sideboard, tilled a liquor glass with carbolic acid, and, facing her guests, drained the glass. Her action was brought about by a reproof from her husband before the rest of the party, it is said. After she had drunk the poison and physicians were called, Mrs. Peters, who was only 20 years old, begged the doctors to save her life. Everything possible was done, but she died several hours afterward. NATURAL GAS BLuWS UP CHURCH Men at Work in the Basement Burned in a Horrible Manner. The Christian Church, which was erected in Noblesville. Ind., four years ago at a cost of $20,000, was almost completely wrecked bjf an explosion of natural gas. Plumbers were putting a meter in the basement of the edifice when the gas ignited from a match and the explosion that followed shook the entire city. Doras Granger and Frank Shannahan, who were placing the meter in position, were burned in a horrible manner about the face, hands and arms. Trains Stbpped by Suicide. George A. Kent, the telegraph operator of the West Shore Railway at Palmyra, N. Y., killed himself in the depot. For several hours the train dispatcher at Rochester called Palmyra, but he was unable to get a reply. Train orders piled up thick and fast, and half a dozen trains were held up at different points along the line waiting for the tied-up orders. Hay to Medinte. The State Department makes formal announcement that Secretary Hay has made a tender of the good offices of the United States to the Colombian and Venezuelan governments to bring about a peaceful issue of the misunderstanding between these neighboring republics. - Bin Fire at Jefferson, Wi», The plant, offices and paint shop of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Company burned at. Jeffersoßr'Wis. The loss to the manufacturing company is estimated at $75,000; loss to the Episcopal Church is $5,000. Seventy-five people are out of work as a consequence of the fire. Family Grudue Ends in Murder. Albert Morris of Nowata, I. T., was shot and killed on the street at Coffeyville, Kan., by John Nelson, his brother-in-law, also from Indian Territory. The murder was the result of an old family grudgei A Oman M v 81n : n. The body of Sarah Waldron, 30 years old, was found near the old fort at City Point, Me.’ The woman apparently had been strangled to death and there were indications that the body hud been dragged to the spot where it lay. b School to Aid a Faith. A Christian Science school for the purpose of propagating the tenets of that belief is to be established in St. Louis. The corner stone of the principal building was laid Friday with Christian Science ceremonies., a - *■ Peacemaker >hot Dead. While acting as peacemaker between two mountaineers who had quarreled over dice at Middlesboro, Ky., Dick Young, aged 20, of Stonega, Va., was instantly killed. lie was shot by Sam Loin*. Imprisonment for Bunk Wrecker. James M. Key, wrecker of the Commercial Bunk of Andrew, Ind., pleaded guilty to the charge of forgery and was given an indeterminate sentence of from two to fourteen years. 1

TRAMP TORTURED BY CROWD. Strung Up Twice to Pole and Then Told to Leave the Country. Edward M. Lingell, the tramp who attempted an attack on the 4-year-old daughter of Walter Perry, near Weeping AVater, Neb., was twice strung up to a telegraph pole by irate citizens, made to confess his crime and then turned loose and warned to leave the country at once. On being found by Perry, Lingell was forced at the point of a revolver to return to the former’s home for identification. Before the sheriff could be notified of the capture of Lingell fifty indignant neighbors, headed by Perry, took Lingell to the railroad tracks and strung him up to the cross arms of a telegraph pole, lowering him before he was seriously hurt. He was allowed to pray and send word to his mother, and was hauled up a second time. He was left suspended until almost unconscious, when he wai again lowered. On further examination the crowd determiued that Lingell was not right mentally, and, after making him take an oath to leave the country at once, the man was released without being turned over to the authorities. AERONAUTS’ SHUCKING FALL. Thousand* See a Man and Woman Hurled from Balloon The thousands at the Ohio Exposition at Columbus saw a thrilling sight the other ‘’afternoon, when the captive balloon collapsed while seveuty-five feet in the air, sending the occupants, Miss Lucy Shields of that city and Harry Barker of North Lewisburg, turning over and toward the earth. Women fainted and men blanched as the falling couple descended. They crashed down through a tree and lodged in the heavy branches. Barker, who was not seriously injured, climbed to Miss Shields’ assistance and held her in his arms until help arrived. Miss Shields suffers mainly from shock. _G RL SHOT AND KILLED. Though There Is Evidence of Snicidei Murder Is Charged. Bertha Phillips, aged 18 years, of De Witt, Mo., was shot and killed in an npartment house in Kansas City. George Bitzenberger, with whom she had been TiVing, is under arrest charged with killing her, although there is strong evidence that she committed suicide. Bitzenberger was in the room when the shooting occurred, and he told conflicting stories about the affair. He has a wife at Carrollton, Mo. Bitzenberger is an iron molder. He formerly lived in Carrollton, where Bertha Phillips was employed as a domestic at his house. Illinois May Get Statue. As the result of a disagreement between the donor and the Municipal Art Society of Cincinnati a lil’e-size statue of Abraham Lincoln, intended for that city, is likely to be given to an Illinois town, in which the donor, whose name is kept secret, was born. Owing to a disagreement as to a site for the statue it has lain at the Pennsylvania depot since last December. Fire ot Emporia, Kansa«. Emporia, Ivan., narrowly escaped destruction by fire. As it is, the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Sprague’s planing mills, Randolph’s coal yards and ice plant, and several residences and barns were destroyed. The total loss will foot up over $60,000. The tire, it is alleged, was started by a spark from a switch engine. Many Men in Ohio. The male population of Ohio outnumbers the female, according to a bulletin issued by the census bureau. 1 The percentage is 50.6 per cent of the former and 49.4 of the latter. The native born population of the State comprises 89 per cent of the entire number, with only 11 per cent of foreigners. Explosion causes Fatal Fire. The destruction of the Hotel McKee, a frame structure in the East End, at Pittsburg, resulted in the loss of one life, injuries to four others and the narrow escape of many more. The fire was caused by the explosion of a gasoline stove. President McKinley Speaks. President McKinley delivered a speech of world-wide importance at the Buffalo exposition. Reciprocity was his message to Europe, while he declared this government must build the isthmian canal and that the American merchant marine must be encouraged. Fatally Shot by Rurclnrs. Burglars forced an entrance into the home of Benjamin Dottermnn. a wenlthy farmer living three miles north of Kokomo. Ind. Dotterman was awakened, and a fight ensued, in which Dotterman was shot and mortally wounded. Jealouoy Lends to Shooting. At Walpole, Mass., two men were shot aud seriously wounded us the outcome of n quarrel between Fred L. Jenks, machinist, and Myra Belle Spear, a young woman with whom he hud been keeping company. Fire I 'ama res a Coal Dock. Fire caused in the neighborhood of SOO,000 damage to the dock of the Lehigh Coal and Coke Compuny at West Superior, AA’is. The loading apparatus aud several box cars burned. Kitted in n Tnnnel. E. C. Duchesny, 47 years of age, assistant general superintendent of ,-.e Pacific division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was killed by a falling rock at tunnel No. 11. Grain Elevator Burned. Fire destroyed the Mount V’ernon, Mo., elevator, causing a loss of $50,000. The elevator was filled with grain, all of which was destroyed. To Fell the Island*. The new Dutch ministry has decldod to accept the United States’ offer of 18, 000,000 kroner for the Danish West ladies.