Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1905 — Page 2

The Diamond River

CHAPTER I. He was waiting to meet his sweetSeart, and the place appointed for their tryst was the red-painted letter box at the edge of the common. The timo of the year was early October. It was 9 e’clock in the evening. A thick curtain of mist lay on the common, and a full moon was .lifting, very large and red, ever the edge of the distant trees. Everything was so quiet just there that the clatter of a suburban car two hundred yards away was clearly audible. If you looked to the south you might fancy yourself right in the heart of the country. If you looked north, you saw • long, respectable suburban street, inhabited by householders, but just then as quiet as the grave, except for the strumming of a solitary-piano-. East and west the prospect, so far as it could be discerned through the evening darkness and mist, was a jumble of finished and unfinished buildings. In some the household lights burned comfortably, and others were as yet unroofed and unglazed, and open to all the airs of heaven. The young man who awaited his sweetheart had been at the place appointed forra matter of some ten minates, when' he beard the sound of a faint, hoarse cough, followed by something like a groan. He was momentarily startled, but, hearing nothing further after a minute's intent listening, he fell back into the train of thought from which he had been aroused, and absently •et an ungloved hand upon the top of the letter box. He found it all wet and aticky, and his first idea- was that the post had been -newly painted, but.mov-' mg toward a lamp which was close by, he discovered, with a shock of horror and surprise, that his fingers were stained with blood. He seemed just at that instant to feel rather than to hear that something stirred within a yard or two of him in the •hallow, turf-lined ditch which at that point separated the common from the ..jpoad. His blood crisped, and a curious aensation stirred at the roots of his hair. He was not at all a coward, but he was accustomed to a quiet humdrum in his Hfe, and the sudden conviction that some horrible thing had happened set his heart —fluttering and started 'a strong pulsation in his temples. Then he heard a measured footstep slowly tramping the concrete pavement of the suburban road, •nd there within thirty yards of him was the lantern of a watchman. He made a dash for the man with a cry of “Officer!” and an instant later he was before the policeman, holding his stained band in the rays of the lantern. “Look here,” he said, “that's blood. There’s a lot of it on the top of the letter box just there. I touched it by chance, and just as I found out what it was I heard somebody groan. There's been an accident, or an assault, or something. Conte and look.” The officer raised his bufl’s-eye to the young man’s face, took a good look at him, and without a word moved in the direction indicated. He turned his light upon the letter box. There was a considerable quantity of half-congealed blood upon it, and some had trickled to the gravel at its foot—- “ Hush!” said the young man. “That’s the sound I heard before.” The officer, still without a word, walked stooping by the side of the shallow ditch, waving his lantern and peering here and there. A dozen paces beyond the lamp pest he paused,. “This,” Jie said, “looks like a bad job. Lend a hand here, will you?” He hitched the bull's-eye to his belt, «nd stooped to a prostrate figure in the hollow. It lay in a helpless posture, the head higher than the feet, one heel just resting on the lower rail of a dilapidated fragment of an old fence. The young man lent his aid, and between them they ! Efted the figure by the shoulders and I placed it in a natural position. The coat I was wet and sticky, and the hands which had touched it showed too clearly what made it so.

“This man's been set upon,” said the officer, “And.” he added, kneeling- to inspect the victim's head and face more closely, “he's got a pretty doing.” lie sounded a long and piercing call upon his whistle. "There's a doctor fifty yards that way,” he said, pointing. The young man went off at a run, and the policeman awaited his return, sou nd3ng his call from time to time. Nobody seemed to notice for a while, but in the space of a few minutes the messenger was back again, a stout and middle-aged aiedico puffing in his train. He. and the policeman knew each other. “I’m afraid this is a bad job, Mr. liawreuce,” said the officer. “I’m afraid it's as bad as ft can be,” the doctor answered, after a long examnation, aided by the bull’s-eye lantern. “Yes. there’s not a doubt about it; the yoor fellow’s done for. You'd better get a stretcher and have th® body conveyed to the morgue.” Two policemen hastened up from different points. One was dispatched at once. The four men lingered, talking in low tones. The young man showed the doctor how he had discovered the first ricn of the crime. The policemen search •d the gravel pathway for signs of footsteps, but found nothing. A quarter of «n hour went by. and then the stretcher Mine. The body was set upon it, decently covered, and wheeled away, the doctor and the young man accompanying." In *• suburban main street the cortege glcked up a small following, but this was •hut out at the doors of the morgue, where an inspector was already in waittag with a subordinate. “This was the gentleman as summoned me to the spot, sir.” , “Ah,” said the inspector, “you'd better tell me what you know about it What is your name and address, gtase?” “My name,” the young man answered, “Is Harvey Martin Jethroe, and I live to 104 Acacia avenue." “Occupation, if you please?” “1 am a bank manager. I have charge «t the Elmwood branch of Messrs. Persett, Perrott & Lane." The inspector was setting this down * a thick professional pocketbook, when toe doctor suddenly asked: “What did you My your name was?”

BY DAVID MURRAY

“Harvey Martin Jethroe,” the young man answered in some amazement. • , The Inspector’s subordinate had been going through the dead man’s pockets, and had just handed to the doctor a small bundle of letters held together by an elastic band. The doctor held this out toward the inspector, who gave but a single glance and started violently. “This looks like a rum business,” he said, recovering • himself in an instant, and turning a look of strange significance upon the witness; “this has just come off the body. Is that what you say your name is?” “Harvey Martin Jethroe,” written In a bold and legible hand, stared him in the face from the back of the envelope the inspector held toward him. “Why,” he stammered, with a pale face, “why, I——■” His speech was frozen with sheer amazement. “All these letters,” said the inspector, who slipped the elastic band from the bundle, and was now shuffling the letters which comprised it, “are addressed to Harvey Martin Jethroe.” “Card case, sir,” said the inspector’s man. “Harvey Martin Jethroe again,” said the inspector. “You haven’t been giving us the dead party’s name in mistake for your own, have you?” “My name is as I tell you,” the bank manager declared. “I never knew another man that held it, except my uncle; he is in South America.” “This party,” said the inspector, nodding his head sideways, “seems to have moved about there a goodish bit.” He shuffled the envelopes anew. “Rio Janeiro. Havana, New Orleans. Do you identify the body?”

CHAPTER 11. Harvey Jethroe looked long and earnestly at the dead man. The doctor had already sponged the face, and the features were unobscured. “No,” the young man said at last, “I don’t think this can be my uncle. I am almost sure of it.” “Not very intimate, seemingly, eh?” “I never saw him but once! I was five or six years of age. But' there was always said toM)e a strong family likeness between him and my father, and I see no such resemblance here.” “Now,” said tho inspector, “this is rather a remarkable party. I should take him to be near on six feet six. Just pass the tape along him, Munslow. What do you make it? Six feet four. Well, they do look a bit longer than they are, as a rule, when they're laid straight out like that. Any signs to go by, Mr. Jeth-roe—any-physical deformity, any scar or mark?” “Notfiing that I know of.” “Your uncle now —was he out of the common height at all?” “He was uncommonly tall. It was that which made me doubtful.” “What’s that on your shirt cuffs?” asked the inspector. “Let’s have a look at ’em, if you please." “I helped to lift that poor fellow.” .said Harvey Jethroe, holding out both hands. "Very good. Your name Is Harvey Martin Jethroe, and you had an uncle of that name in South America. Did you have any correspondence with that uncle?” “Since my father’s death, and until six mouths ago, we wrote pretty regularly.” “On good terms with each other?” -"Until then. He was rather angry because I could not accept an offer he made me." “Oh! What might that have been?" “He wanted me to join him in Brazil, and offered me a partnership." “H'm!” The inspector was very serious. “A well-to-do man, I suppose?” “I believe he was extremely wealthy. He may have been a millionaire.” “Had you expectations from him?” “Until I declined to join him it was always understood that I was to be his heir. He had no other relation in the world —nor had I.” “H’m!” The inspector was looking very grave indeed. He nibbled the unsharpened end of his pencil, watching the man he questioned from beneath close-bent brows. “Your only relative, and a very rich man? Wanted you to join him? Meant to leave you everything? Must have been some very strong reason why you didn’t gd.” “Well,” said Harvey Jethroe, with a passing aspect of embarrassment, “there was an excellent reason. lam going to be married in a mouth or two, and my uncle was very eager to make another match for me.” "In Brazil?” “Yes. The lady was an only daughter of an old friend of his.” “Well, now, Mr. Jethroe, when did your uncle land in the United States?” "I have no reason to suppose that he meant to cocie hero at all. I do not believe that he has left Brazil.” “How do you account for this party" —again a sideway nod of the head—“having apparently the same name and coming from the same part of the world ?" “I can’t account for it,” said Harvey Jethroe; “I don't pretend to account for it. But this poor fellow is not my uncle —I am sure of that.” “You were uot so sure-a little while ago." “I am quite certain now. I have heard the family likepess between my father and my uncle insisted on very often. Except in height and the color of the beard, there is no likeness between this man and my father.” “The expression of the eyes might go for a good deal,” said the doctor. “It might,” said Jethroe, looking thoughtfully at the dead face again. “Do you undertake to swear that the deceased is not your uncle?” the inspector asked. “That’s the point." “I have a very strong opinion," Jethroe answered —"I have, in fact, a moral certainty.” “You won't go further than that?” "It would need direct evidence of the clearest kind to shake my opinion." "Well. Mr. Jethroe. this is a ‘very serious case, and 1 shall feel it my duty to detain you."

• ..“To detain me!” cried Jethroe, in a voice of wounded anger. “On what ground?” "Let me finish, if you please, sir. I shall feel it my duty to detain you until I have ascertained the truth as to tha statements you have made about yourself.” “Oh,” cried the bank manager, “that is reasonable, of course. My cashier, Mr. Murdoch, lives within five minutes’ walk of us.” “We’ll see the gentleman,” said tha inspector. “You understand, Mr. Jethroe, it’s my. duty to satisfy myself oa these points, and I must tell yoit that it doesn’t end there. I don’t regard the case as being one for arrest St present, but if you should desire to*make a sudden journey anywhere it might save disagreeable consequences if you let ma know beforehand.” “I presume,” said Jethroe, flushing hot from head to foot and stammering in a sudden anger, “that means yon intend to have me watched?” “So long as that is understood, sir,” the inspector answered, with a manner grown all of a sudden quite suave and cordial. “Very well,” said Jethroe, angrily, “next time the police may make their discoveries for themselves. Ido my duty as a humane citizen, and this is what comes of it.” The inspector beckoned to his man with a mere motion of the head and with a wave of the hand to Jethroe, and the three went out together. CHAPTER 111. As it turned out, there was not the slightest difficulty in establishing the bank manager’s identity. Mr. Murdoch, Harvey Jethroe’s cashier, was entertaining a small bachelor party, to every member of which, with one exception, the manager was known. The exception was a juiceless, withered looking man Who had evidently seen much open air life in a hot climate. His beard, mustache and eyebrows were all sun-bianch-ed.—Theskin about his eyes was puckered with constant blinking against the dazzling tropical sun and sands, and the eyes themselves were strangely light in color. He was the only man of the party who wore evening dress, and a big diamond solitaire sparkled in his shirt front. Jethroe had insisted upon facing the assembly. 4 “That is as you like, sir, said the inspector. “I should have been content to keep the matter private.” “I see no reason for keeping the matter private,” Jethroe answered, with a tone of wounded pride. The relatjon of the stbry of the night was_ th o _ca use of profound excitement, and this was increased tenfold when the sunburned man broke in with an exclamation. “Harvey Martin Jethroe!” he cried. “Why, I traveled with him from Brazil.” , There was a hubbub of questions and ejaculations, but the inspector silenced it. “You knew Mr. Jethroe?” “Well,” said the sunburned man, “I spent the best part of three weeks at sea with him. I ought to know him.” “This gentleman,” said tjie inspector, indicating Jethroe, “does net Identify the body as that of his uncle.” “I cam set your mind at rest upon that point,” we, stranger answered. “Perhaps, you .will yourself the trouble to accompany Mr. Jethroe and myself to the morgue?” the inspector suggested. “Of course I will,” the stranger answered. "That is my name,” he added, taking a card case from his pocket and offering his card. “George Johns. I have had the honor to be known to Mr. Murdoch for many years.” The cashier confirming this at once, the inspector took a hasty leave with Jethroe and the new witness and led the way to the morgue. The body of the dea 1 man was by this time decently composed, and when the three had entered the twilight room, and the inspector had turned up the gas, the witness at a first glance said quietly: “That is the man.” is no chance of mistake?” asked the officer. “I parted with him the day before yesterday,” was the_ answer. “He had agreed to dine with me a’t the Northern to-morrow. We struck up a s'ort of friendship aboard thd ooat, and he barely spoke to anybody but me.” “What do you say td this, sir?” asked the inspector, turning upon Jethroe. “What can I say?” cried Jethroe. “I saw my uncle when I was a mere child. My mother spoke constantly of the extraordinary likeness between him and my father when they were young men. Except that both were unusually tall, I see no point of resemblance.” (To be continued.)

The Heal Name.

Judge Nathan Webb, who resigned recently from the United States District Court for the District of Maine, is known to the members of the bar for his downright good sense. Ho hates shams and "frills,” and when on the bench liked to take the starch out of poses. This trait was illustrated In his court some time ago by a little episode which the Boston Herald recalls. A witness on the stand gave bis name as T. Augustus Browne. His condescending manner exhausted the patience of the court, and Judge Webb asked him: “What did you say your name is?" “T. Augustus Browne with an c,” repjled the witness. “Well, what does the T stand for?” asked the judge. “Thomas,” was the answer. “Proceed with the testimony of Mr. Thomas A. Browne with an el” said the judge.

Dense Kuns 2,900 Years.

Probably one of the longest leases known was granted for a small piece Of meadow land, sixteen acres in extent, in Surrey, England. It is for the term of 2,900 years, and was granted on St. Michael’s day, in 1051, at the singular rental of "a red rose when demanded." It is not stipulated that tbs rose shall be the product of this land, which is fortunate, for no such rose grows anywhere on the sixteen acre*

Making faces at her baby Is an unpardonable offense in the eyes of a mother. Stockholders in a fire Insurance con> pany have money to burn.

MUTINYONA WARSHIP

RUSSIAN SAILORS SLAY OFFICERS AND SEIZE VESSEL. Raise the Red Flag of Revolution in the Unprotected Harbor of Odessa— Town Fired Upon and Ships and Buildings Burned. The red flag of revolution was hoisted at the masthead of the Kniaz Potemkin, Russia’s most powerful battleship in the Black Sea, when the vessel steamed into Odessa harbor Wednesday' in the bands of mutineers. The captain land most of the officers were murdered and thrown overboard in the open sea, and the ship was completely in the possession of the crew and a few minor officers w’ho had thrown in their lot with the mutineers. The guns of Kniaz Potemkin were trained on the city, and in the streets masses of striking workmen who on the preceding day fled before the volleys of the troops, now inflamed by the spectacle of open revolt on board an imperial warship made a bold front against the military. A dispatch from Odessa on Thursday said that all the shipping in the harbor was ablaze. The battleship Kniaz Potemkin, whose crew mutinied and killed the officers, was re ported to have fired on the city. It was rumored that the men of four other battleships mutinied at Sevastopol. The mutiny was precipitated by the brutally inconsiderate treatment of the crew by the commander of the Potemkin, On all Russian vessels of war the captain buys rations for the crew. The government allows an adequate fund to mess the crew properly, but the mess being the captain's perquisite he usually serves bad food to the crew, pocketing the difference between its cost and the generous sum the government allows him. The crew of the Potemkin had been victims of the captain’s greed. Finally, driven to desperation, the crew held a meeting forward and appointed a delegation to lay their grievances before the captain. The latter wasfurronsandshotthespokeshiah from the forecastle delegation dead. Then, adding insult to injury, the cap-

tain ordered the body tossed overboard. The crew demanded bls burial with full military honors. The captain scornfully refused the demand, whereupon the wrath of the sailors and marines burst out and the entire ship's complement of nearly 700 men mutinied and ran amuck. The sailors and marines rushed to the quarterdeck, where they shot and sabered the captain and all the commissioned officers. It is reported that out of all the officers only one midshipman escaped. He was spared in order that he might navigate the ship. The bodies of the officers were tossed overboard, then the imperial standard and the national flag were hauled down and tho red flag of revolution run up. Following the example of the crew of the Potemkin, the crew of the torpedo boat also mutinied, killed their officers and threw the bodies into the sßa. The midshipman who was spared navigated the Potemkin to Odessa, finishing the sanguinary voyage from Sebastopol. The insurgent torpedo boat, with its decks cleared for action, ran into the harbor and seized the Russian collier Esperanza, with a cargo of 2,000 tons of coal, and took it alongside the battleship. At the same time an armed pinnace which had been launched by the battleship steamed to the quay, where it landed an open coffin containing the body of a seaman to whose .uniform a written paper had been attached. This paper stated that the man’s name was Omiitchuk, and that he had been shot dead by the chief officer of the battleship for complaining about the bad quality of the soup served to the crew. It added that Omiitchuk had been murdered for telling the truth, and that the whole crew had avenged his death by killing the battleship’s officers. The police, supported by the Cossacks, tri<*d to disperse the crowd and remove the body, but the ■ crowd surrounded the coffin and defied them to touch it. Some scuffling followed, but before there was a definite result the Kniaz Potemkin Tvritchesky hoisted signals that the body was to be left on the quay, and that it would be retaken on board later for burial at sun down with full naval honors. If the authorities Interfered the insurgents on the battleship declared they would immediately bombard the city. Meanwhile the battleship was rapidly coaling from the Esperanze. The Governor of Odessa telegraphed to Bt. Petersburg and Sevastopol asking the authorities of the latter place to send the fleet

BIRDSEYE VIEW OF ODESSA.

Former Archduke Leopold has become a private in the Swiss army. Sir Alma-Tadema is to be paid £14,000 for his picture, “The Finding of Moses.” The lord chief justice of England was well known in his younger days as a boxer of note. King of the Cocos islands, i|ear Sumatra, rules over the smallest-province in the world. M. Sebillot has succeeded M. Deniker as president of the Anthropological Society of Paris. Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist and poet, will write no more, it is said, although his mental and physical condition is practically perfect. Alfonso XIII. is said to have inherited his father’s remarkably steady eye and sure hand, and is now accounted one of the best shots in Spain. M. Jean Richepin, author of “Du Barry," was.born in Medeah, Algeria, in 1849, and has, in his time, been a circus clown, sailor and a miner. George Leyron, a well-educated Parisian, earns a comfortable livelihood by figuring as the fourteenth guest at dinner parties, to help superstitious thirteen people out. Count von Eulenberg, marshal of the imperial German court, enjoys the distinction of having more orders and decorations on him than any other man in the world. He has seventy-five to his credit. J. N. Nowak, an Austrian meteorologist, claims to be able to forecast the weather by the means of a plant called "Abrus precatorius,” discovered by him in Mexico years ago. He declares that he will erect his first weather stations in London and. Vienna. Lord Grimthorpe’s eccentricities are gossiped about by the London M. A. P., which says: “He hates new clothes and dislikes collars and ties. His favorite hat is a Panama, which he cheerfully places under the pump and souses, then clapping 9 on his b** s d.

RUSSIAN THRONE SHAKING.

Red Revolution Threatens the Empire of the Czar/ Revolution is shaking the throne of Russia. All the Baltic ports are in revolt. Immense arsenals and naval depots are almost within thengrasp of the rebels. A gigantic conspiracy has been discovered in the navy to capture the naval depots at Li'bau and Reval and the arsenals at Kronstadt, the doer to St. Petersburg. The bureaucrats are panic-stricken. Emperor Nicholas himself is alarmed. He has recognized the desperation in the situation by issuing a ukase declaring that civil war exists at Odessa and ordering that the people be crushed. Sebastopol displays signs of disaffection. If the garrison of that mighty Black Sea fortress espouses the cause of the revolution the government will be doomed, at least so far as southern Russia Is concerned. The fortress is tilled with vast stores of guns, ammunition and clothing, sufficient to fit out a rebel army. With Sebastopol as a base the revolutionists could soon secure control of every city in the Black Sea region, for it has long been known that none of those cities was firm in its loyalty to the Emperor and the ruling bureaucrats. On the contrary, all have been rife with sedition. Perhaps, however, the most alarming feature of the situation for the government lies in the naval plot in the Baltic. Hundreds of officers are said to be involved in the conspiracy. Nobody can tell yet how extensive it is. At Kronstadt are the arsenals with stores of rifles, the arms and ammunition factories, and the cannon foundry. These factories and stores in the hands of skilled workmen would solve the problem of supplying a revolution with arms and munitions of war. Eight thousand imperial sailors, together with the workmen at the yards and docks of the naval port of Kronstadt, suddenly refused to work and practically a state of mutiny exists there. The revolt at Libau already is serious. The sailors revolted Wednesday night, on the pretext that the food served is not fit to eat. They secured rifles and ammunition, wrecked their barracks, and attacked and looted houses. Then they attacked the offi-

cers' quarters, firing shots through the windows. A detachment of troops, including artillery, was ordered out, and it is repoised that only after severe fighting were they able to repulse the mutineers, who, however, escaped with their arms. The mutineers, of whom there were 4,000 or more, fled to a big forest, where they defled the soldirs. Cossacks and a regiment of infantry were sent against them Thursday. Not since the unsuccessful insurrection in December, 1825, when a portion of the guard regiments joined in an attempt to set up a republic in Russia, has the situation of the autocracy and the Romanoff dynasty been 'so serious as at present.

Short Personals.

ENGINEER WALLACE RESIGNS.

Chief of the Panama Canal Construction Force Quits His Job. John F. Wallace, chief engineer of the Panama canal and member of the commission, has resigned both of these po-

J. F. WALLACE.

departing freqp the isthmus unless he obtained the permission of the War Department. While the administration claims to have a grievance against Mr. VVallace, he, on the other hand, is prepared, it is said, to make out a bill of complaint against the Washington officials, the chief feature of which will be that the canal will never be built jvithin the present century if politics and departmental interference are allowed to hamper the work of those on the ground. It is said that previous estimates of $250,000,000 cost and ten years’ time for the completion of the canal wilFhave to be more than trebled if the actual results of the past month are taken as a criterion. The astonishing statement is made by one well informed on Panama affairs that at the rate of excavation accomplished in the month of May the completion of the canal would require more than 100 years. The cost of the excavation at the same time has increased three or four times the unit figure used in estimating the total cost of the water way. Mr. Wallace is to become the head of the Metropolitan Railway Company’s new subway system in New York, a great undertaking, destined to yield enormous profits. Paul Morton had virtually accepted the place when he was selected as the head of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Mr. Wallace’s salary on the canal has been $25,000 a year, and report has it that he will begin in New York City at $60,000 a year. One official graphically expressed Mr. Wallace’s decision to resign by the statement that he had got “cold feet.” There no longer is any question that the yellow fever situation on the isthmus is far worse than generally warffielieveffl Returns which have been received in Washington show that there is more sickness during the present year than has prevailed during the last twelve years, nine of which were under French administration. The result is that employes are leaving the zone by every steamer, and the commission finds difficulty in getting men to accept positions. The President is doing everything he can to bring about the immediate improvement. He has authorized Gov. Mar goon and Major Gorgas, medical officer in charge of sanitation, to adopt any measures they may consider advisable to eradicate yellow fever from the isthmus.

GOOD ADVANCE MADE BY CROPS

Progress Is Satisfactory, Though Reports Are Not Uniform., The weather bureau’s weekly summary of crop conditions is as follows: The region from the upper lakes westward to the north Pacific coast received insufficient heat, lack of sunshine being especially unfavorable in Washington and Oregon, but elsewhere the temperature conditions were favorable. Excessively heavy rains occurred in the central and west gulf districts and in portions of the central Missouri and Ohio valleys, lower lake region and New England, while portions of the south Atlantic States and central and eastern Missouri continue to suffer from drought. Sunshine is generally needed in the central gulf States, Tennessee, Ohio Valley and lower lake region. Except in the upper Missouri and Red River of the North valleys, where, as a result of low temperatures, the growth of corn has been slow, this crop has made good progress, although suffering somewhat from lack of cultivation in portions of the Ohio valley and middle Atlantic States and in central and western Nebraska. In lowa corn has made vigorous growth and is well cultivated, witn better stands than previous reports indicated, and the outlook in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, where early corn has reached the silk and tassels, is very favorable. Recent rains have greatly improved the condition of corn in Texas. Heavy rains have interrupted the harvesting of winter wheat in the Ohio valley, Tennessee and portions of ths middle Atlantic States, but elsewhere this work has progressed favorably, and is near completion in Missouri and southern Kansas. . Harvest is now in progress in the northern portion of the winter wheat region. Some complaints of rust and weevil in central and western Ohio and of smut in New York are received, and some grain in shock has been damaged by rains in Kentucky and Tennessee. In Illinois corn is promising and further advanced than at the same period last year; is clean, and considerable is laid by. Oats are ripening in the central and heading in the northern part; some are short, but generally the outlook is favorable. Wheat harvest extends to the northern portion; yield is good in the central and below the average in the South.. The yield of clover is heavy; timothy is short. Grapes and berries are promising. Apples are falling, and a light crop is indicated. Po-' tatoes are cut short in the southern portion. Except in low lands, in southern lowa and portions of the Dakotas and Minnesota, the oat crop has advanced favorably and continues in promising condition. In Texas rains interfered with harvesting and in Tennessee caused some injury to oats in shock. Spring wheat on low lands in the Dakotas and Minnesota Is suffering somewhat from rust, but as n whole this crop has made vigorous growth and continues in promising condition throughout the spring wheat region and also on ths north Pacific coast. Theodore Hansen, first secretary of the Russian embassy at Washington, D. C., is an accomplished pianist and frequently gives concerto for charity’s sake.

sitions to accept a $60,000 office with a New York corporation. Mr. Wallace, it is said, objected to the squad of minor officials appointed to pass on routine matters, demanded a freer hand and finally was angered by an order of the Secretary of War prohibiting him from