Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1904 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. Bonaparte demanded from Denmark the exclusion of British ships from the Baltic and all Danish porta. A general massacre of all whites began at Cape Francois, Hayti. Heavy re-enforcements of regular troops arrived at the Spanish colonies in Florida. Four frigates and ninety officers were ordered to re-enforce Commodore Prebles’ squadron in the Mediterranean. The King of Spain issued an order that no French or English prizes were to be brought into any port in his dominions. Makey, a rebellious Malay settlement on the coast of Sumatra, was destroyed by English troops. Seventy-five Years Ago. Europe was suffering from great depression in agriculture, commerce and manufactures, the wine districts of France presenting the greatest distress. The House of Representatives rejected a bill for the construction of a national road from Buffalo to New Orleans. The Russian minister and all members of his staff at Teheran, Persia, were assassinated. ' The British fUade an attempt to secure from Germany an agreement for the free navigation of the Rhine. Paris fashion papers reported that the sleeves of ladies’ dresses were being made of ‘‘frightful breadth.” The Catholic relief bill, after a long discussion, was passed -by the British Parliament Fifty Years Ago. Cyrus W. Field secured from the Legtelftture of Newfoundland the exclusive fifty years’ right to land a marine telegraph cable. The steamboat Secretary of San Francisco, while crossing San Pueblo bay, was sunk, with fifty passengers, by a boiler explosion. x A revolution started at Bogota, New Granada, in an outbreak of the garrison, which arrested the President and proclaimed Gen. Milo dictator. Four hundred Chinese coolies arrived at Havana, Cuba, as an experiment in the development of the island’s plantations. Spain concluded a loan of $2,000,000, offering the revenues of the Philippines as security.

Forty Years Ago. Gold reached 187 in New York, but slumped at the close on a rumor that Secretary of the Treasury Chase was manipulating the sterling exchange market against the bull clique. The Chicago Tribune sprung a political sensation on the eve of the city election by exposing a long list of citizens who secured exemption from the draft by taking out papers as British subjects. The courts of London, Rome, Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg agreed to recognize the Emperor Maximilian when France should place him on the throne in Mexico. A new war tax bill was reported in the House at Washington, fixing the rate on whisky at $1 a gallon, on salt at 0 cents a pound, and on tobacco at 30 cents a pound. Thirty Years Ago. Forty-eight saloon men were indicted at Rock Island as part of the great temperance wave that was sweeping the country. Gov. Baxter of Arkansas was forcibly ousted from office by Joseph Brookq, whom the Legislature declared to have been elected. Gov. Baxter then issued a proclamation declaring he would seize the capitol pudding by force and oust “Gov.” iffboks, who he claimed had usurped his office. At the annual meeting of the Chicago Presbytery, Prof. Francis L. Patton filed charges of heresy against the Rev. David Swing. A plebiscite was taken in Switzerland on the proposhi to revise the federal constitutional. Twenty Years Ago. A negro was burned nt the tsake nt Lyons, Texas, for the suspected murder of a white woman. Planters in South Carolinn and adjoining States were renorted starving as a result of the prolonged drought. ( The Indiana Republican State convention met nt Indianapolis, with the delegates said to be unanimous for Blaine for President. Richard J. Oglesby was nominated for Governor by the Illinois Republican State convention at Peoria. The funeral of Charles Reade, the novelist, was held at Willesden, England, Edwin Arnold and George A, Sala being among the literary personages present Ten Years Ago. Gov. Roswell P. Flower of New York was accused of violating the civil service law and an investigation was started at the instance of Carl Schur*. President Cleveland was accused of showing unseemly friendship for Andrew Carnegie by reducing a fine assessed against him for armor plate frauds and preventing a further investigation. Kelly’s industrial “army," 1,800 strong, crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluffs and encamped ia*lwwa.