Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1904 — Page 2

WEEKLY REPUBLICAN. CEO. E. MARSHALL, Publisher. —a RENSSELAER. - • INDIANA.

DEADLY NEW POISON.

THE VAPOR FROM THREE GRAINS WILL KILL THOUSANDS. Bnglish Chemist Tells of Awful Force of Strang;e«t Drnj Known to Science —Fire Destroys All Factories in Bay Mills, Mich. Prussic acid long has been supposed to be the most deadly poison, but now Lascelles Scott of Little Ilford, England, makes the startling statement that the substance known to scientists as di methyl arsine cyanide, or more shortly as cyanide of cacodyl, is hundreds, even thousands, of times more poisonous than pure prussic acid. Scott declares that a whiff of this deadly poison would kill a large room full of people, and the vapor from three grains diffused into the ~air of Drury I.ano Theater would suffice the—audience. “Fortunately ’ for mankind,” says Mr. Scott, “this poison is so-deadly that the criminal who attempted to use it would in all probability kill himself. It is a white powder which melts at 33 degrees and boils at 140 degrees. When exposed to air it gives off a slight vapor, to inhale which is death. Knowing its properties, I took every precaution to make my experiments in open air, yet in spite of my care, and I have been accustomed to dealing with such things all my life, some of the fumes must have escaped, for I was ill for a week after that experiment” PLANTS WORTH 5300,000 BURN. AU the Factories in Bay Mills, Mich., Destroyed by Fire. Fife started in one of the Hall & Munsou factories at Bay Mills, twelve miles west of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and spread to every factory in town. The value of the plants was $300,000, and nothing has been saved. The Hall & Munson plants were the largest of the kind in the upper peninsula, employing 300 men. The plants were insured, but it cannot be learned how heavily. The town has 1,200 inhabitants, all dependent on the factories. $400,000 fbr Naval Y. M. C. A. Rear Admiral H. C. Taylor, chief of bureau of navigation, has returned to Washington with news that John D. Rockefeller and others have begun a movement which will supply $400,000 for the establishment of a naval Y. M... C. A. in Philadelphia, similar to the institution in Brooklyn founded by Miss Helen M. Gould.

Six Blocks of Stores Burn. Fire destroyed six blocks of frame business houses at Sour Lake, Texas, and got into the Cannon tract in the oil fields, doing considerable damage. The loss is. placed at $200,000. The fire was got under control with the assistance of aid from Beaumont. Indictment for Kansas Senator. United States Senator Joseph R. Burton has been indicted by a Federal grand jury in St. Louis on a charge of accepting $2,500 from the Rialto Grain and Securities Company for Intercession before postofflce officials when it was in trouble. Savings Are Swept Away. Collapse of the Indiana National Bank at Elkhart, Iffil., has proved the ruin of many depositors, whose savings have been swept away. Only $50,000 is found 'in the bank to pay over $300,000 de■jfeAaAarfiMS .:. ——. ......... J''/.-! VLM Mother of Murdered Girl Is Freed. In Allentown, Pa., the jury in the case of Mrs. Catherine Bechtel, accused as an accessory after the fact to the murder of her daughter, Mabel, returned a verdict ottpot.guilty. Four-Master Crashes to Pieces. Eight lives were lost in the wreck off Quogue, Long Island, of the four-masted schdbner Augustus Hunt, bound for Boston from Norfolk, Va. Of the erfew of nine only two men were saved. Col. Lynch la Freed. Col. Arthur Lynch, former leader of the Irish brigade in the Boer war and convicted of treason, has been released from prison by command of King Edward. Two Regiments Vaccinated. The presence of smallpox among the troops at Jefferson Barracks. St. Louis, has resulted in the vaccination of all the men in the Fourth and Eighth regiments of cavalry. * Soap Plant Destroyed by Fire. The plant of the Wiehle Soap Company in Ironton, Ohio, was totally destroyed by fire. Loss $30,000; insurance $20,000. The owners claim that the fire was of incendiary origin. Verdict Againet Automobitist. A Hamilton, Ohio, jury hns returned li verdict.,of SI,OOO for killing a boy with his automobile against Col. Ball, the Brooklyn automobile manufacturer.

Schooner Sinks with Nineteen Men. Fishermen arriving from the banks reported that the Gloucester fishing schooner Oregon, with nineteenfenen had been sunk on the Georges. Fire Destroys Anlesund, Norway. The fishing town of Aalesuud, Norway, wns destroyed by fire and 14,000 people are left homeless. Vanderbilt Girl Baby Born. Mrs. Reginald ..Vanderbilt gave birth to a baby girl at the Vanderbilt home in New York. Fire in Chicago Masonic Temple. Fire in the Masonic Temple in Chicago caused a property loss of $20,000 nnd induced thousands of persons tv flee from the great building; elevator operators re nialned on duty, and a crowd cheered the firenfen ► Empty Care Kill Men. Three 81av coal miners in the Rouse tnlqe, ten miles from Walsenburg, Colo., were killed and two others badly injured by being kun down by a string of empty coal cars on an incline tunnel 1,000 feet

FORM THE FOVR QVARTERS OF THE EARTH

LOSE LIVES IN HOTEL. Three Persons Burned to Death as Result of Gas Blast at Marion, Ind. Three persons were burned to death, two fatally burned and ten seriously injured as the result of a gas explosion in the Seitz Hotel in Marion, Ind. The building was wrecked. The dead are: Charles Beitel, proprietor of the hotel; Mrs. Charles Beitel, wife of the proprietor; and James Devlin, proprietor of the case. Two guests worn fatally hurt and several; others seriously injured. - The hotel was near the National Military .HLome^.llu - ee.-milcs-.fj»ur,th.c-oc4Atet.7o£ -tlm. city. Natural gas is said to have escaped from a pipe- line that- passed—near- the building, the basement was tilled, and when the rooms on the first floor began to fill the gas was ignited. The building was a two-story brick, having five stores on the first floor, the hotel occupying the second floor and having about thirty rooms. There were thirty guests at the hotel. The outer walls were blown out and the second floor fell on the first. The guests were asleep in their rooms when the explosion occurred. Rescuers had great difficulty in taking the injured from the wreck. The gas could not be shut off and fed the fire, which continued to gain headway. The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Beitel were seen in the flames and wreckage for an hour before they could be recovered;

ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE IS FATAL. Deserter from U. S. Army Dies After Being Shot by Guard. Commodore L. Warren, awaiting trial at Fort Wayne, near Detroit,,' for desertion from Company G, First United States Infantry, now stationed nt the fort, died Tuesday from bullet wounds received the previous day while trying to escape. Warren and another prisoner named Richardson, also awaiting trial for desertion, dashed away from their guard while they were returning from doing fatigue duty. Guard David Stanford fired and brought . down Warren with two bullets in his back, but missed Rii hardson, who was captured by another member ,of the regiment as he was leaving the reservation.

FIRE WIPES OUT MILLIONS. The Unite-J States Steel Corporation’s Plant at Shdlby, Ohio, Burns. The United States Steel Corporation sustained a $3,000,000 loss by fire at the plant of the Shelby (Ohio) Steel Tube Company. The fire started from a defective electric wire. The product of the entire plant for the last six months was destroyed within an hour, consisting of 800,000 tons, making in all 25,000,000 feet of finished product. Officials of the company say that a portion of the tubing can be worked over. The fire was confined to the stock buildings, which were entirely destroyed. The plant was erected in 1890 and now covers nearly ten acres of ground.

Strict Theater Law for Chicago, The Chicago City Council rules that the theaters cannot open till steel curtains, sprinkler systems and other safety appliances are installed, after which the managers will be given until Aug. 1 to comply with'tlie remlfinthg provisions of the new building code; theatrical interests are in deep gloom, as the requirements made by the Council are said to mean that nearly all the playhouses will be unable to comply, for mouths. Heavy Loss in Chicago Fire. Fire in a six-story brick building at 122-124 Market street, Chicago, caused a loss of $60,600. The blaze started on the third floor, which was occupied by tailoring firms and clothing dealers, »and for three hours baffled the firemen, who were hindered in the work by frozen hydrants, and icy pavements.

Hold Up an Entire Town. Five robbers held up the entire town of McLean, Neb., at 2 o’clock the other morning, amj, while, two of the bandits were holding off the thirty citizens of the village the others broke the safe of the McLean State Bank and took SSOO. Then, keeping up a rapid fire, the desperadoes got away. Saved from Sinking Steamer. The steamer John 11. Starin, of the Starin Line, bound from New York to New Haven witli thirteen passengers and freight, ran into ice or some sunken obstruction, while off Bridgeport, Conn., and sunk on the mud flats after being towol into the harbor. Her passengers wore taken off safely. Text of Eastern Negotiations, The text of the negotiations between Russia and Japan, printed In a Tokio paper, shows that Japan insisted on the integrity of Manchuria and Korea being preserved, and that both Japan and Russia recognize the open door in Korea and China.

Urge* Manual Training for Negroca. Governor Vardaman, of Mississippi, In his inaugural address declared that the present system of education is the curse of the negro race, nnd that crime is keeping step with learning. He urged manual training as remedy. Injured In Pennsylvania Wreck. Pennsylvania bnggnge, mnil and express train No. 25, west-bound, crashed into a freight at Dnvis, Ind. Euglueer J. <J.* McCarthy, Fireman I. F. Kring and one of the express messengers were injured. Calle for National Convention. The great national conventions have been called by the chairmen of the opposing parties, the Republican for June 21 in Chicago, oud the Democratic for July 6 in St Louis. Freeze* to Death In River. Leroy A. Coleman, 17 years old, a high school cadet, was skating on the Tidal reservoir in the VFnbiugton Monument

grounds, Washington, D. C., when he fell into the water. Hd could not get out and waited for help with his face just above the water. Meantime the water around him slowly congealed into ice and when, three hours later, taken out he. was dead. a/ctor prevents a panic. Kansas City Audience Terrorized by Flames that Threaten Scenery. A serious panic was prevented at the Grand Theater in Kansas City by the presence of mind of Nat Wills, who occupied -tlie cont-er-<rf-~fhe-stnge whenuni electric light burned out, setting fire to a curtain in the north wing of the stage. When the small blaze was seen creeping along the edge of the curtain by the audience women began to scream apd men arose from their seats, preparing to make a hasty exit. Wills, who had been singing a song, immediately shouted. “For God’s sake, keep your seats and remain quiet. Six hundred people were killed in a Chicago fire recently by becoming panic stricken and trampling themselves to death.” The large audience remained quiet, and ona- minute later the fire had been extinguished.

ACCUSED OF BEHEADING SON. New Jersey Mother, Believed to Be Insane, Is Under Arrest. Mrs. Arthur Oswald was arrested on the charge of murdering her 8-year-old son at her home in Oakland, N. J. She is believed to be insane. The tragedy was discovered by the woman's husband when he returned home late the other night. As be entered the dining room he was horrified to see the headless body of his son lying on the floor. The head lay near the boy’s feet. Near by lay the body of his pet dog, which also had been beheaded. Oswald found his wife lying in bed with her young baby in her arms. She was singing softly to the infant. Near the bed her two other children were sleeping iu a crib. The woman did not recognize her husband nor seem to understand what was said to her.

FOR GREAT J Southern Presbyterians to Two of Atlanta. The special conference iu which the Presbyterian synods of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee," Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were represented voted to establish a great Presbyterian university at Atlanta. The vote was 18 to 3 on the proposition to recommend the consolidation of the Columbia (S. C.) Theological University aud the Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tenn., in one large institution at Atlanta. Atlanta citizens have pledged $250,000 for the new institution.

WILL WATER VAST TRACT. Plans for Reclaiming 500,000 Acres of Desert Land in Utah. As the result of action taken at a mass meeting of the farmers of the Salt Lake Valley and stockholders of various irrigating companies using water from Utah Lake, the Government project for the use of that body of water as a great reservoir will soou be under way. The Utah Lake reservoir scheme will bring under cultivation 500,000 acres of desert land in the great Salt Lake Valley. Fifty Girls in Peril by Fire. The Mihalovitch, Fletcher & Co. plant in Cincinnati, used as a distillery and for compounding liquors, was practically destroyed by fire. Fifty girls employed in the building had narrow escapes, owing to the inflammable nature of' the contents. Two firemen were seriously injured by falling. The loss is estimated at SIOO,OOO. Man and Boy Burn to Death. Ozma Mothato and his 4-year-old son, Juan, were burned to death in a fire which broke out nt flieir home in San Bernardino, Cal. The mother, the grandmother and two other children got out, but in an incredibly short time the building was destroyed. RiversVt Flood Height. 'lce gorges au<T~Tieavy floods in the rivers of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania lujve driven hundreds of families from their homes and caused great damage. Dynamite was used to blast out the ice. Open Letter to MacArthur. The Executive Council of the National Alliance lips issued nn open letter to General MacArthur, in which the soldier is severely criticised for his interview relating to the attitude of Germany toward thiq country.

Professor Von Holst Dies. Professor Herman Eduard von Holst is dead. He was famous as a historian, rind was the fifst professor and head Of the department of history at University of Chicago. Favorable Outlook for Spring; Trade. The outlook for the country’s spring trade is reported favorable by Dun’s and Bradstreet’s weekly reviews; January railroad eat%lngs are 3.0 per cent over 1003. _; ■ . ■>—: i - Tornado Kilts Thirty-seven People. A tornado wrecked the town of Moundville, Ala., killing thirty-seven persons and injuring more than 100. Every building iu ijie place was destroyed, except one small drug store. Cleveland Bank Closes Doors. The Produce Exchange Bank at Cleveland, Ohio, closed its doors because of a defalcation of $170,000 by Cashier George A. Bose, who lost money in speculating in Chicago grain. Chicago Concerna Suffer from Fire. Fire caused a (osa of $250,000 to the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company and $150,000 to the Bucklen Medicine Company in Chicago.

MAKERS OF BAD MONEY. Two Men Arrcvtad in Counterfeiting Plant in Chicago; With twenty or more molds on a table in front of them and a pot of molten metal on a stove near by, two men vfere arrested by deputy United States marshals in a flat in Morgan A few minutes later the officers arrested Fred Sullivan, a saloonkeeper at <’>4 Desplaines street, who is charged with disposing of the output of the counterfeiting plant. The two men arrested in the Morgan street apartment gave their TunffSTas Jack~O’Sll'ea and Ilenry Uottfe They are said to be in the employ of a railroad, but it is thought they may have resorted to railway work merely to divert suspicion from their counterfeiting operations. Sullivan is said to have passed the spurious coins on the patrons of his saloon. The dies seized by the officers were for dollars and half-dollars. The execution of the molds was good and the metal used by the counterfeiters was an alloy that resembled silver. Some of the finished Coins also were found and they are said to be of such good workmanship that they could be passed readily.

WHIP WOMEN AND KILL MEN. Ku-Klux Klan Attacks Mrs. Mullin, Who Is Protected by Neighbors. A Ku-Klux Klan in Letcher County, Kentucky, took Mrs. Elizabeth Mullin, a widow, from her bed and whipped her unmercifully with switches, sprinkling her naked back with salt after the lashes had drawn blood. The Ku-Klux were attacked while at their work by a posse of neighbors led by James Mullins, a brother-in-law of the widow, and a desperate fight with revolvers and Winchesters resulted. Mullins and one of his followers,' Harvey Moore, were killed. Two of the Ku-Klux Klan, whose names are thought to be Hookersmith and Haley, members of a notorious Cumberland Mountain gang, were wounded and taken prisoners. They were -bound to a stake and fire started under them, causing them to reveal .the. names of. their associates, who were recognized as among the most desperate of mountain outlaws. They made for the Cumberland Mountains. BURSTING PIPE SPREADS DEATH. Twelve or Fourteen Men Killed by Explosion in n Johnstown Mill. From twelve to fourteen men are dead and at least twenty-five are injured, some of them fatally, as the result of a sudden fire at the Cambria Steel Company mill Ko. 2, in Johnstown, Fa. An immense steam pipe directly over the engine in the boiler room exploded, bringing down a large section of the roof. The woodwork took fire from the furnaces and burned fiercely.. Fifteen injured men have been taken out. One man, caught in the debris, was in plain sight, but could not be rescued, owing to the intensity of the heat.

—— Suffer in Pennsylvania Wreck. The Pittsburg express on the Pennsylvania Road was derailed at. Prospect, Pa., the entire train leaving the rails. It is said_.no _one was injured. It was a bitter cold night, the mercury registering 20 below zero, and the passengers who were tumbled out of their berths in their night clothes suffered intensely from the cold. Alarms a Theater Crowd. Half the audience in the Star Theater, Cleveland, left the building the other afternoon during a matinee performance because of fear of fire, which had broken out next door and which was sending smoke into the theater gallery and downstairs. There was really no danger. Labor Battle in Kansas City. T. B. Bowers nnd T. P. Ayres were seriously injured in a pitched battle between fifty non-nnion bridge workers employed on the Union Pacific bridge at Kansas City and about a hundred members of the Structural Iron Workers’ Union. Motorman Instantly Killed. A Suburban line street car, running at full speed, struck a curve at Union boulevard and Bircher road, St. Louis, throwing Michael Godfrey, motorman, under the wheels and killing him instantly and injuring five others. Told to Kill President. E. A. Erler, a New York baker, who claimed that mystic influences were at work on him through the agency of his atomach, bidding him kill the President, was committed to Bellevne hospital for examination as to his sanity. Colorado lias Lake of Oil. The first lake of oil ever discovered in Colorado hns been tapped while drilling well No. 312 at Spindle Top Heights, three miles south of Florence. The oil was encountered at a depth of 2,775 feet. Bnshncll’a Estate $7.000,0Q0. The will of former Governor Asa S. Bushnell of Springfield, Ohio, provides for the distribution of an. estate estimated nt $7,000,00(1 Thermite no public bequests. Korean Prince in America. Prince Euswha of Corea, selected by Seoul plotters to mount the throne If war helps their plans to depose the present ruler, is keeping his whereabouts in America secret. Cxar Predicts No War. The Czar is officially reported to have declared at a St. Petersburg reception that danger of conflict is over; acceptance of Japanese note is possible. New Capitol for Kentucky. The Kentucky House of Representatives, by a vote of 01 to 1, passed a bill appropriating a million dollars for a new State capitol buildings.

TOWN IS BLOWN A WAY

MANY PERSONS KILLED IN ALABAMA CYCLONE. Little Town of Moundville Destroyed by . Tornado Other Places in the State Are Swept by the Wind—lce Gorges Cause Floods. The entire population of the little town of Moundville, in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, was reported annihilated in a tornado which swept that part.of the State at 2 o’clock Friday morning. Officials of the Alabama Great Southern Railroad at Birmingham received a message by way of Selm,a from Conductor Capehart of a north-bound passenger train, dated at Akron, saying that when his train reached Moundville shortly before 3 o’clock in the morning he was unable to pass because of wreckage on the track. He says the entire north end of the town of Moundville was wrecked by the tornado and that practically the entire population of tliU-place was killed. Moundville is a town of about 300 people on the line between Hale and Tuscaloosa counties. It is seventy miles southwest of Birmingham and about fifteen miles south of Tuscaloosa. A tornado struck the suburban town of North Birmingham and demolished or damaged thirty-six houses, most of which were negro cabins, A number of industrial plants were also slightly damaged by having.stacks blown down. The store of Posey Bros, was destroyed. There were a number of narrow escapes.

ICE GORGES BREAK.

Ohio Valley Ib Threatened with Serious Inundation. Reports received in Pittsburg indicate a general break-up in the rivers. The ice gorges are letting go at different points and the water is rising at the headwaters of both rivers. All conditions favor a great flood. A Greensboro (Pa.) dispatch states that the ice broke in the Cheat river and came out with thirty feet of water back of it. The ice gorge at Freeport, on the Allegheny river, started with a rush. At Springdale the start of the ice caused a great deal of excitement and apprehension. Flat boats river side were caught and crushed. At Cleveland, Ohio, a gorge broke above the city and a flood of water swept down the Cuyahoga river, tearing away three big steamers from their moorings. The vessels were carried down the stream and crashed into the- drawbridge of the Superior street viaduct. The boats word all badly damaged by the collision and it is believed the foundation of the big bridge has been seriously damaged. The break-up of the ice gorges in the Ohio river nt Cincinnati has been accomplished with comparatively small loss. So far a few barges have been crushed and a few others torn from their moorings. In the vicinity of Columbus the lowlands have been inundated and the levees are being closely watched.

At Logansport, Ind., the Eel and Wabash rivers have overflowed their banks and much property has been destroyed. The village of Georgetown, on the Wabash, is flooded. Residents were rescued by boats. At Adamsboro a dam was swept away. Many Peru families have moved out of their homes on account of high water and ice in .the Wabash river. The record for twenty years is broken. The Howe factory has closed and 600 men are idle. It is feared the new $35,000 bridge of the Indianapolis Northern Traction Company will go. Ten miles of the Wabash Railroad tracks are under water.

Wide sections of the Miami valley south of Dayton, Ohio, are inundated. Traction traffic between Dayton and Cincinnati has been suspended. At Akron all trains on the Cleveland branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway have been stopped because of the flood. The Little and Big Cuyahoga rivers are away out of their banks. Cellars are flooded and many factories have been closed.

The Political pot.

The Kansas Democratic State convention to select delegates to the St. Louis convention will meet in Wichita April 7. Senator Gorman met with defeat in the Maryland legislative caucus at Baltimore, former Gov. Smith refusing to be side-tracked in the senatorial race apd preventing a nomination by forcing an adjournment. Former Gov. W. O. Bradley of Kentucky has announced that he would be a candidate for delegate at large to the liepublican national convention and would use his best efforts to have the Kentucky delegation pledged to Roosevelt. The fusion nnd mld-rond Populists, together with reorganisation committee appointed at Denver last July, will meet in joint session at St Louis 'on Feb. 22, 1904, to arrange for time, place and representation of the Populist national convention for this year. Sir William Whiteway, former premier of Newfoundland, in a letter to the press announces his return' to public life and that he will be a candidate nt the next general election in opposition to the present government. This makes the third political party now in the field. Senators Gorman and Hanna have been invited by joint resolution to address the Kentucky Legislature on the principles of their respective parties. x A resolution inviting President Roosevelt to address the Assembly also was introduced nnd is awaiting action. The Nebraska Republican committee decided to hold a single State convention at Lincoln May 18, indorsed President Roosevelt for renominntion and John L. Webster for Vice President, and recommended the nomination of a United States Senator by the State convention.

CONGRESS

The Senate required less than a minute Tuesday to dispose of the motion to refer to the Committee on Postoffices the resolutions looking to an investigation of the Postofflce Department. After the passage of several bills the Senate returned to consideration of the Panama question. Mr. Quarles spoke for almost two hours in support of the administration, and was followed ’by Mr. Patterson, who criticised the President's course in Panama. The Honse considered the Hepburn pure food bill, but did not complete it. A recess was taken until 11.55 Wednesday. A bill transferring certain records relating to the Indian wars from the Interior Department to the records and pensions division of' the War Department was passed. A request for an immediate appropriation to defray the expert.se of the diplomatic service of the United States in the republic of Panama was-transmitted from the State Department. The draft of an net fixes the salary of the minister at SIO,OOO annually and that of secretary of legation at $2,500. An urgent deficiency appropriation of $300,000 was requested of tlio House by Postmaster General Payne to enable the establishment of rural free delivery routes after -March 1, when the present funds will be exhausted. In the Senate Wednesday Mr. Patterson completed his speech on the Panama Canal question. He declared the President largely responsible for the revolt in Panama, and announced his decided preference for the Nicaraguan route. He was followed by Mr. Platt (Conn.), who took this pronouncement for Nicaragua as a text, saying it explained the mystery of the opposition of Democratic Senators to the Panama treaty. Mr. Platt had

not completed bis Spbfecli bn 'the’Panaiha matter when the Senate adjourned. The House passed the Hepburn pure food bill on a rising vote of 201 to 68. It was amended to - go into effeifF”Feb. 1, 1904. Mr. Hull (Iowa), chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, reported the army appropriation bill and gave notice that he would call it up Thursday. A substitute by Mr. Payne for the Hitchcock resolution, calling on the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish the House information regarding the number of carriages furnished his department at government expense, was agreed to. Mr 1 . Zenor (Ind.) was granted forty-five minutes for a speech on good roads.

Mr. Platt (Conn.) concluded his speech on Panama in the Senate Thursday; defending the course of the administration. Mr. spoke in explanation of his bill for the annexation of I'anaran to the United States, basing liis argument on the ground that the pending canal treaty practically coiftemplatcs 1 that result Mr. Tillman read the Ostend manifesto and the comment made on it by the Republican platform of 1856. Mr. Teller spoke against the treaty. The army appropriation bill was under consideration in committee of the whole of the House for'five hours, most of which time was devoted to a general discussion of the tariff. Mr. Williams made a general a-rraignment of Republican policies and declared the party had become one of negation. The only opposition to the army bill was by Mr. Baker (N. Y.). Mr. Thayer (Mass.) introduced by request an amendment to the constitution providing that the lands of the United States shall be so divide^ns to give each citizen eight acres in as nearly a square piece as possible. ‘ ~ «.

The Senate Friday adopted the resolution of inquiry concerning affairs in Panama introduced Jan. 5 by Mr. Gorman. Mr. Dolliver of lowa mad'e the principal speech. Mr. Tillman spoke on his resolution relating to Senate recesses. No action was taken.' Senator Platt of New York reported favorably the bill giving employes of the government printing office who receive annual salaries annual leaves of thirty days each, exclusive of Sundays. Senator Foraker presented the credentials of Senator Hanna for six years, beginning March 4, 1905. , The House passed 209 pension bills amj also resolutions calling on the Secretary of War and the Attorney General for Information as to the number of horses and carriages maintained nt government expense for officers of these respective departments. A bill permitting the withdrawal duty free from the St. Louis exposition of articles donated to religious, scientific, educational or literary institutions also was passed.

The House devoted the entire day Saturday to of the army appropriation bill in committee of the whole. Mr. Robinson (Dem., Ind.) criticised the War Department for the expenditures in connection with the Langley airship, declaring that such expenditures were without the sanction of Congress, and that the airship was without utility. Only twelve of the forty-one pages of the bill had been rend for amendment when the House adjourned. The provision in the bill for the const ruction of n submarine cable from Sitka to Fort Liscum, Alaska, went out on a point of order. Mr. Hemenway, chairman of the appropriations committee, proposed n limitation on the purchase of books and periodicals for the army. A bill permitting the construction of a dam across the Mississippi river between Wright and Sherburne counties, in Minnesota, was passed. -’ l ■-■- - - ■ - - ■

Notes of National Capital.

Senator Hepburns’ bill to prevent food adulteration may get through' the Senate. Congress may pass n law to preserve the big trees in Calaveras Grove, California. * About $300,000 will be expended In Improving the, dam the Ohio at Louisvilhs< J H. Causten, of Washington State, has been appointed collector of customs in Porto Rico. Representative Haskins, of Vermont, Introduced a bill amending sections 1781 and 1782 of the revised statutes relating to participation in contracts and Interest in securing positions or other advantages from the government by members of Congress and employes of ths government, by making it apply to members of Congress sleet