Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1904 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. A famous robber of Europe, known as the “Great Devil,” was executed at Genoa. Great changes were anticipated In .lower Italy, which were to be of advantage to the French Emperor. The King of England had completely recovered from a severe illness, and the project of a regency was aban' doned. Seventy-five Years Ago. The “Union Emigrant Society” was founded in New York, the object of which was to afford assistance to all foreigners arriving in that city. Figured muslin was first woven on a power loom at Central Falls, Mass. The first steam fire engine used in Cleveland, Ohio, was purchased. The emancipation act, prohibiting convents and religious communities in Great Britain, was declared a dead letter. Fifty Year* Ago. Cholera was raging in Italy and Sicily. The United States consul at Turk’s Island was released from prison, where he had been confined by the local judiciary. Cleveland and Ohio City were united. The old “watch,” which had existed in Boston since 1631, was abolished and a police department established. Forty Years Ago. General Grant withdrew with cotfsiderable loss from his position in the first intrenchments around Petersburg, Va. Twenty persons, mostjy girls, were killed and a score of others were injured in an explosion in the arsenal at Washington, D. 0. A convention between France and Japan was signed by Japanese ambassadors at Paris. The Confederate steamer Alabama attacked and sunk the United States corvette Kcarsarge near Cherbourg, France. Thirty Years Ago. A telegraph cable from Cape de Verdes to Brazil was completed. The Porte prohibited the circulation »f copies of the Bible in Turkey. The Pope, in an address to the college of cardinals, declared that any reconciliation between the Vatican and the Italian Government must come in the way of concessions from Italy. The treaty of 1858 (trade and commerce) between the United States and the King of the Belgians was Annulled. A Turkish vessel, the Kars, was sunk in a collision in the Sea of Marmora ahd 320 persons drowned. Congress directed the Secretary of State to purchase from its possessor and restore to the family of Marquis Lafayette the watch given the French nobleman by George Washington.

Twenty Years Ago. There was such a scarcity of small coins in Mexico that coins of larger values were cut up to represent those of less value. The Republican National Committee at Augusta, Me., officially notified James G. Blaine of his nomination for the presidency. The New York Democratic State convention put an end to the Flower presidential boom by sending an uninstructed delegation to the national convention at Chicago—a Cleveland victory. The German Reichstag passed a measure, the practical effect of which was to compel workmen to Join the guilds or unions of their crafts. Ten Years Ago. Captain Mahan, American naval historian, was given the degree of LL. D. At Cambridge University. He received a similar honor from Oxford two days later. Sixteen race horses en route from the Hawthorne (Chicago) track to St. Paul were killed in a railway wreck at Stillman Valley, 111. Three stables were practically wiped out Frances E. Willard, returned from a year abroad, was given a monster reception In New York. The American Railway Union decided to declare a boycott on Pullman cars because the palace car company declined to recognize the union in considering the strike. _______ Much excitement was caused by a report In Washington, D. C., of a plot to dynamite the government buildings, the existence of which secret service officials promptly denied.