Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1904 — THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

One Hundred Years Ago. The British under Admiral Popbam attacked Fort Rouge at the entrance of Calais harbor. Russia had seventy sail of the line in commission in her navy. The French ambassador left Constantinople, as the Ottoman parte refused to acknowledge Napoleon as hereditary emperor. The surveyor of public buildings at Washington reported to Congress that $57,665.72 had been spent in one year on the Capitol and White House. Seventy-five Years Ago. A Canadian priest ordered that all Catholics in his parish who had been married by Yankee ministers or magistrates be lawfully remarried by him. Slaves were selling for nearly nothing at New Orleans. Almost every ship brought them to that port, and owing to the failure of crops the planters had little money to buy them. A civil war began in Chile, The reduction of wages caused a strike among the weavers of Norwich, England. Fifty Years Ago. The king of the Sandwich Islands, H to prevent the overthrow of his government by lawless violence, accepted the aid of the naval forces of the United States and France. The Spanish minister of foreign affairs declared in the cortes “That the sale of the island of Cuba would be the sale of Spanish) honor itself.” Peace was restored at the Ballarat gold diggings, Australia, after a reign of terror lasting weeks, in which twenty miners had been killed and martial law established. Commercial reciprocity had been arranged between the United States and Great Britain. It opened to Americans the sea fisheries in British provinces. Forty Years Ago. General Dix issued an order for re- - prlsals on Canadians because of the St. Alban’s raid. It was annulled later by Lincoln. % Sherman stormed Fort McAllister, near Savannah, Ga. Cook County, Illinois, voted a bounty of SIOO for every man who would enlist for army service. Springfield (Ill.) citizens were much alarmed over a report that the Illinois Central Railway was ready to give the State a bonus to have the capital removed to Decatur. A number of soldiers were killed and many wounded in the blowing up of the transport Maria at St. Louis. Thirty Years Ago. An exchange of notes took place between Washington, D, C., and Madrid concerning the Virgiuius affair, A Congressional investigation of the Pacific mail subsidy increase, and the bribery charges connected with it, was commenced at Washington, D. C. The watch presented to Marquis do Lafayette by Washington and later stolen from him, having beon recovered, was presented to the Frenchman’s grandson by the American minister to France. King Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands was in Chicago en route to Washington, D. C., to perfect a commercial treaty. The taking of evidence In the trial of Count von Armln for the abstraction of official documents from the records of the German government closed in Berlin. Twenty Years Ago. The announcement was made In New York of the gift of $300,000 by Mis* Mary G. Caldwell to the Roman Catholic Church for the purpose of founding a university. President Dias of Mexico ordered J closed all of the gaming houses In the City of Mexico, The President sent to the Senate with a note of review and commendation the commercial treaty between the United States and Spain. The Superintendent of Public Instruction In Illinois reported that the enrollment of the pupils in the public schools of the State for the year had been 728,681. ** Ten Years Ago. Two hundred persons were killed by an earthquake in the vicinity of Me*sina, Italy. Nelson Morris, of Ohlcago, brought"** suit for over $500,000 damages against the American Distilling and Cattle Feeding Company (the whisky trust), alleging breach of contract The Socialists, led by Tommy Morgan, started a fight for control of the convention of the American Federation la Denver.