Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1904 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN.

One Hundred Years Ago. The black citizens of Ilnyti, anticipating the arrival of French troops to subdue them, compelled the whites to destroy the fortifications while they retired into the interior. Jacob Jolihston, of- Phikulelpfaia, flrst- ::.: introduced modern printers’ ink. The Cape of Good Hope passed under British control. Letters from Dr. Jenner were published in London claiming that his cowpox vaccination would give immunity from oriental plague. The United States Senate agreed to a joint resolution prohibiting the importation of slaves into Louisiana territory. There were.but fifty-three banks in tha United States, of which eight were in New York, sixteen in Massachusetts, and six in Pennsylvania. The art of Stereotyping was revived in London by Wilson and other famous 1 printers. - The Maryland Legislature debated an act pftfliibiting Roman Catholic priests from making converts or teaching children in that State. Seventy-five Years Ago. Bolivar opened the ports of Colombia to the importation of Spanish goods in ships of neutral nations. Plans for a treaty between Turkey nnd the United States were abandoned because the former refused to permit the free navigation of the Dardanelles. The ship Harriet sailed from Norfolk, Va., with a load of free negroes bound tor Liberia. The viceroy of Egypt began the .construction ot a great arsenal at Alexandria. The independence of several of ths South American nations was fecognized by the Pope, who appointed bishops there. Western Australia was formed into a British province, with a government and territorial officials appointed by the crown. The first Portuguese refugees arrived on the island of Terceira, having evaded the officials by shipping on American vessels. Fifty Year* Ago. William Walker, the famous filibuster, proclaimed the independence of Sonora, including Lower California. The Spanish captain general of Cuba prohibited tho circulation there of all foreign newspapers printed in Spanish, except three. The town of Brandon, Ohio, was destroyed by a cyclone. President Franklin Pierce issued a proclamation warning American citizens against filibustering in Lower California. Detroit and Buffalo were joined by the completion'of the Great Western Railroad of Canada. The Czar Nicholas first referred to the Sultan of Turkey as the “sick man of Europe.”

Forty Year# Ago. Blacksmiths in Chicago were paid $2.25 daily; carpenters, $2; laborers, $1.75; machinists, $2.75; and masons* $3, while flour, sold at $8.50 a barrel, fresh pork at 12 cents a pound, beef 12 cents, chickens 25 cents, butter 28 cents, eggs 35 cents a dozen, and anthracite coal at sl2 a ton. Secretary of the United States Navy Gideon Welles issued a formal challenge to the world for a race against one of the department’s new side wheel steamers, which the newspapers had declared were too slow. A resolution was introduced in the United States Senate by McDougall declaring the French occupation of Mexico an unfriendly act. and autboiizing a declaration of war against France unless its troops were withdrawn by March Ti Henry Wnrd Beecher’s salary as pas tor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, was raised from $7,009 to $12,500 yearly io return for his services iu England in behalf of the uniom Jefferson Davis’ salary as I'resident of the Confederacy was fixed at $12,500 for the ensuing year, $15,000 was provided for household expenses. $297,000 for mileage and salaries of the Confederate Congress, and $1,000,000 for the support of prisoners of war. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase formally announced his candidacy against I’resident Lincoln for the Republican presidential nomination. Thirty Year* Ago. The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition asked Congress for a SIO,OOO.'MXJ “subsidy." The national cheap transportation convention at Washington, proposed to stop the "bleeding of commerce” by "legalized bands of robbers,” known as the railroad and steamboat trusts, by constructing s government railroad system. The death of the Siamese twins at Mount Viry, N. C., was announced. Chang, it was said, having drunk himself to death, and Eng dying later of fright. Morrison R. Waite, an attorney of Toledo, Ohio.-nnd a member of the Geneva Arbitration Commission, was nominated by President Grant for, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The nomination of Caleb Cushing for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was withdrawn by President Grant because of opposition based on his atheistic views and a suspicion that ho was not socad en “state right*,*'