Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1904 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. The great inundation of the river Nile began by which 30,000 persons perished. Turkey agreed to acknowledge Napoleon as emperor, and “Pades Cbach,” a title which was customary for the Porte to bestow on the kings of France. The blacks of Hayti were destroying all forts on the sea coast and fortifying the interior of the island, as they expected any time to be attacked by the French.

Seventy-five Years Ago. Bushrod Washington, nephew of General Washington, and a judge of the Supreme Court, died at Philadelphia. The Georgia Legislature rejected the proposition to have biennial instead of annual sessions. The government of Brazil derived a large income from the importation of slaves by imposing a specific duty per bead.

Fifty Years Ago. A collision occurred between two Atlantic liners in Boston harbor and one of the vessels was destroyed by fire. Commander McClure arrived in England, after accomplishing the northwest passage, having entered the polar seas in 1850, and been imprisoned in the ice for three years. The French and English consuls at St. Domingo were interfering in an unwarrantable manner with the liberty of the press and independent action of the government of Hayti.

forty Years Ago. A citizen’s draft committee was organized in Chicago for the purpose of securing the enlistment of men for army service. Hood’s Confederate army was defeated at Franklin by the Union division under Schofield. Court ordered the charges against a Chicago man who had stolen a pig changed from petty to grand larceny, because under war time prices the animal was valued at S4O. Five persons supposed to be connected with a Confederate plot to burn the city were under arrest in New Y'orfc. Rewards aggregating $25,000 were offered by tbo City Council for conviction of the guilty. New York capitalists proposed to the Agricultural Department that if properly encouraged they would purchase a tract of land in southern Illinois and produce sugar cheaply from the sugar beet.

thirty Years Ago. The Molly Maguires, an outlaw band, were making Schuylkill County, Pa., and vicinity the scene of nightly arson and murder. An exclusive mail train between Chicago and New York, to make the distance in twenty-four Hours, was proposed as a great advance in the service by Superintendent; G. S. Bangs of the railway mail. Final arguments in the famous “safe robbery” ease were in progress in Washington, D. C. The Secretary of the Interior in his annual report recommended that the homestead law be extended to the Indians. Representatives of the London Chamber of Commerce submitted 10 the foreign and colonial secretaries objections to the proposed reciprocity treaty between the United States and Canada.

Twenty Years Ago. Col. David L. Payne, the Oklahoma boomer, died suddenly at Wellington, Kan. Mme. Patti, in New York, celebrated the silver jubilee of her appearance there as a prima donna. The Postmaster General reported that under the 2-eent postage law, whleh had been In effect n year, the revenues of the department had decreased 4.7 per cent. Reports emanating from the third plenary council in Baltimore were that Arehibshop Gibbons would be made a cardinal by the Pope.

Ten Years Ago. The State Department received from Minister Denby at Peking a message that the legation was In danger and psking for protection. Lady Henry Somerset in New York announced plans of the W. C. T. U. crusade on “living picture" shows. China accepted the good offices of the United States to arrange peace with Japan, and preparations to undertake negotiations were commenced.