Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1907 — Page 2

WEEKLY REPUBLICAN. cto. H. HEALEY, fC Mjfrt. RENSSELAER, - - INDIANA.

DWELLING OF CEMENT

EDISON PROMISES TO BUILD IT IN A DAY. e Shown Model of Straetwi-e Which He Says Will Revolntionise Balldinw —Mem Kill* Sweetheart In Relic* tons Meeting. In greeting the members of the American Electro-Chemical Society and showing them through his laboratories and manufacturing plants at Orange. N. J., Thomas A. Edlsofi showed his visitors a big model of a three-story house. “I bare had New York architects working on the plans of that,” he said, “and am ready to begin on it myself. Tn~f»tt, I already have made the molds for the window casings. Next summer I will build just such a house within twelve hours at an expense of SI,OOO, and the man who labors on it will know that it was built on his basis of wage—sl.so a day. What I am going to inaugurate,” he said, **is this. I am going to fashion cast iron, molds for the entire house. This-outfit will cost $30,000 for a house of this design. AH the builders will have to do Is to putut up and pour in tjje concrete. Then they will allow’ six days for settling and drying and the family may move in. The cast iron mold of that house may be used on countless other buildings. The economic value of this rests, for one Instance, in that the house will never be in need of repair. The roof and floors will be of concrete: the concrete will be made on the site; there will be no fire insur-. •nee; as another instance of its saving value, the man who owns the house can let his children hack at it with hatchets and axes and tose nothing. There will be no wood in it save for a strip upon which carpets may be tacked.” All of the more recent structures in the group of laboratories of Mr. Edison’s plant are of cement made by hinr. ■. - KILLS IN RELIGIOUS QUARREL. a Massnchnset (s Mnn Who Slew Sweetheart Fiends Guilty to Murder. Walter Staek, who killed his sweetheart, Mary Agnes Bates, in a quarrel •bout religious matters in the street railway waiting room at Roxbury Crossing, Mass., on April 30, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was senten oe<l to life imprisonment. Tie had been indicted for first degrejk- murder, which would have meant capital punishment. Roosevelt Kill* Big Bear. News of the killing of a big black bear by President Roosevelt in the canebrakes near Bear Lake, La., reached New Orleans in a telegram’ to John M. Parker, one of the men who invited the President <o hunt in the Stqte and who himsflf was • member of the hunting party until business required his returning to New Orleans. Rnoscvelt Gives Total. “We got three bears, six deer, one wild turkey, twelve squirrels, one duck, one possum and one wildcat. We ate them •Il except the wildcat, and there were times when we almost felt as if we could eat that.” This was President Roosevelt's summing up of the results of his hunt on Bayou Tensas and Bear • Louisiana. Bee Sting Penetrates Brain t Stung on the temple by a common honey bee while he was picking up pota—toes on the farm of Henry Trim) near Canton, S. D., Michael Oakleaf died fifteen minutes afterward tw convulsions. - Physicians gave it as their opinion that the sting penetrated the brain through the knitted part of the skull. Interurban Motornmn Killed. Information has reached Cleveland of a head-on collision between two traction cars on the Cleveland, Akron and Bedford line about thirty miles from that city, in which a motorman was killed and a large number of persons are reported hurt. The accident occurred in the vicinity of Cuyahoga Falls, near the Summit County line.

Brldare Falla I’ncler Alfonso. King Alfonso had a narrow escape from a serious accident near Manresa, Spain. In his automobile the king was going aver a temporary bridge, when the light structure collapsed under the weight of the car, which was precipitated into the ■water. His majesty escaped with a wetting. Twenty Die in Wrecked Boat. The Danish steamer Alfred Erlandsen has been wrecked on the rocks off Castle Point, near St. Abb's head. Scotland. She Went ashore during a gale and twenty of her crew were drowned. Balloon Record Broken. United States signal service balloon No. 10 broke all long distance records for balloons and Aeronauts McCoy and Chandler captured the Lahn cup by covering 50b miles in flight from St. Louis. Favor Waterways System. A vast system of water ways, with the channel from the great lakes to the Gulf as the main artery, will be recommended tn the report of the inland water way commission. Fire Swerpa North Dakota Town. Fire destroyed $150,000 worth of property at Oakes, N. D. Six Killed in Car Wreck. Six persona were killed, ten are in the hospital and more than a score of others were injured in a head-on collision of two Sherman Height street cars on Harrison avenue, Chattanooga, Tenn. » American Arrested la Rasa la. William English Walling of Indianapolia, son of Dr. Willoughby Walling of Chicago, his wife and sister-in-law have been arrested in St. Petersburg because of their associations with the Finnish fparty.

EXPLOSION KILLS FORTY

Du Pont Powder Mills Near Fontanet, Ind., Are Wrecked TOWN IS WIPED OUT. More than Six Hundred Hurt and Scores of Others'May Die. DESTRUCTION IS WIDESPREAD. r Mysterious Blasts Ruin Village and Spread Death and Injury. Forty or more persons dead, almost as many fatally burned or hurt, 600 others injured more or less seriously, and a prosperous town leveled to~the earth —such was the harvest of a series of terrifying explosions nt the Du Pont blasting powder mills near Fontanet, Ind., Tuesday morning. After the explosions, which followed one another with frightful effect, came Are, and what the one horror left undone the other completed. Thus, manypeople who rnight_Jhave been dragged from the ruins and revived were the victims of the flames. How many bodies hay.e been incinerated is a mat

ter of guesswork. but twelve hours after the catastrophe the fatalities were believed to be below fifty. The worst explosion came when 40,000. kegs of powder blew up. Governor Hanly and a detachment of the Indiana National Guard at once took control of the death camp. Soldiers paced up and down the wreckcrammed streets. In and about the smoking ruins of the great powder plant privates in the ranks in detachments endeavored to discover the remains of unknown victims. Scores of

women and children whose husbands and fathers were missing were In the background, anxiously awaiting word from the relief corps: Town la Hopeless Raia. Tuesday morning Fontanet was a prosperous, cozy little town of 1,000 persons. That night It was a hopeless ruin. Every building, Including homes.

ALL THAT REMAINED OF THE PONT POWDER MILLS, AT FONTANET, IND., AFTER THE EXPLOSION.

HOMELESS FONTANET PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THEIR RUINED HOMES.

stores, offices and factories, was shaken Into pieces. A hand of Infinite power sweeping all before it with demoniac; wrath could not have worked greater havoc. ■ - y " The dead and more seriously hurt have been removed to other points—most of them to Tere Haute, eighteen miles distant. At least 500 inhabitants of Fontanet remain, however. Nearly all of them hear bloody traces of the Visitation. They are camping out in tents hurried there by the Governor, and must be fed and eared for during many months to come. The town is devastated. Yet Its people, so far as • possible, seem determined to remain and make the best.of their misfortune. The cxploslonsatthepowder mills came without warning. What caused the first one Is a mystery and may never be explained. Once the combustion had started tWere was no stopping It and one by one seven mills were shot into the air in splinters. Two hundred men were employed at the works, but luckily only seventy-five were at their labors when the first explosion took place. Big Mill Is Shattered. —The—blg—press—mill- was destroyed first. This was at 9:15 o’clock. The shock and detonation were indescribable. The ground shook for miles around "—it is reported that the effect was felt at a distance of 200 miles—buildings rocked as If riding a seismic swell - . And then within two minutes the glazing,nilll was ruined. The building burst outward and upward, shooting timber, metal and glass in all directions anakimne many. Next, the two coining mills and finally, as an unspeakable climax, the magazine and cap mill were torn to bits. I'he magazine was situated about 300 vrirds from the main buildings of the »)ant and did not ignite for over an - bour. Then the flames which were licking up the debris had so heated the

atiuosphere that the magazine responded. There were 40,000 kegs of blasting powder stored in the magazine and every one blew up seemingly at the same moment. It'was this detonation that shodk jo pieces the homes and stores and factories in Fontanet and which brought death or Injury to scores miles distant. Shock la Felt Far Off. Throughout the surrounding country, in farmhouses and country schools, where women and children sat, build-

Ings crashed to the ground. Persons out in the open, walking In the road far from the powder plant, were burled off their feet and injured. A passenger train on the Big Four Railroad, nearly five miles from the magazine, was all but blown off the rails. Every window in each coach was broken and a number of passengers were cut by flying glass.

THE POSTAL CARD CRAZE.

What Waa Originally a Fad Has Become a Great Baaineas. Three years ago souvenir or picture postal cards were on sale in about 109 stores or shops in the United States. To-day they may be had in 89,000 different places. What was originally a fad has become a great business. The picture postal card flourished for years on the continent. Every small town or inn had a pretty souvenir of this kind, while, in the big cities, every place of interest was reproduced on a postal.

DAMAGED HOUSE, TWO MILES FROM THE FONTANET EXPLOSION

Then the idea struck the United States. The eastern cities took it up.. Now it has spread to almost every village. Soincidea of the extent of the business may be gained when it is stated that a man who has a booth at a seaside resort near New York sells $45 worth of postal cards a day. It is estimated that as much as $200,000 a day is spent for picture postal cards in the United Slates. _ = bo large 4s the number of picture postal cards passing through the mails every day that special regulations have been adopted for them. It was only recently that permission was given to write a message on the address side. It is interesting to add in this connection that the official esti-

mate ..of the number of souvenir postal cards passing through the British postoffices last year was 500,000,000. The value placed on these cards was estimated at $5,000,000. The revenue to the various governments from postage on souvenir cards approximates millions.

Power by Wireless.

A young scientist of Lyons, France, asserts that he has discovered a means of transmitting electrical energy without wires and experiments along that line are now proceeding with a miniature ear running on rails, which is said to have been propelled a distance of 200 yards by

means of power from an electric transmitter. Details of the process are withheld for the present. Patents were taken out in August and a syndicate of bankers has been formed to develop the invention. Foothill claimed two more victims in the deaths of 'nxnnas Bertram, 20 years old, at Altoona. Pa, and Eugene M. Bourne, 13 veers oT3, at Salt Lake City;

HAS BURNED FORTY-FIVE YEARS

A Coal Mine Fire to Which a Romance Attache*. On Paint creek, about twenty miles above Charleston,W. Ya., a coal mine fire is raging. At night the mountainside is ablaze with a weird play of light y by day a column of smoke ascends like a monument. In truth, the mountain is afire, an unquenchable fire, as those who have already lost $20,000 in a vain attempt to smother it will testify. In the late 50’s of the last century the Kanawha Coal and QU Company was

organized for the purpose of producing oil from cannel coal found in the mountains divided by Paint creek. The vein located was a comparatively thin one, lying in the heart of a thick seam of*ffie bituminous coal. The company was busy with its operations when the Civil War broke out, but continued at work for some time thereafter. The superintendent was a blunt old Englishman named Gordon, who had a handsome daughter, Rowena, who was the delight of her father's heart and the despair of the young men of the neighborhood. > There was the usual courting aqd flirting, ivi.th the usual final selection of one man and ths inevitable preparations for the wedding,

The lucky man was one Adkins, a nativs of the mountains, a strapping young fellow, who had won the father’s favor as a workmen even before he won The daughter’s esteem as a lover. Thus the course of true love seemed to run smooth. But the war came, and the Paint creek section was as badly torn by opposing factions as any other small part of the entire country. The natives were of the South, while most of those who had come to work in the mines were Union men. ,Of the latter was old man Gordon, while Adkins was a regular fire-eating son of Dixie. Adkins was forbidden to enter the Gordon home, and Rowena was ordered not to see him. He enlisted in the Confederate army and marched out with. Wise on his famous retreat up the valley. This was in the spring of 1861. In the autumn he returned home on a furlough and sought to renew amicable relations with the Gordons, but was repulsed by both father and daughter. It is said that in a spirit of revenge he set fire to the drumhouse of the tnouth of the mine. The fire was communicated to the rich vein of cannel coal inside, and, obtaining a good bold, has been burning ever since. Adkins returned to his regiment and was killed in battle. The Gordons left the country soon after, and their subsequent history is not known. _ In the late ’Bos a company was formed by Charleston men to extinguish the fire and reopen the mine, but, after spending $20,000 in a vain attempt, the enterprise was abandoned. It is probable that the fire will be allowed to burn until the entire vein of coal is consumed. Of late it has been burning visibly at night, the extent being perhaps 100 yards along the face of the mountain. The Helena, Mont., Record publishes a story to the effect that numerous Montana and Washington investors have been mulcted to the extent of more than a third of a million dollars through the discovery that certain placer mines near Lander, Wyo., had been salted and that the properties are worthless. The union labor city and county convention of San Francisco nominated a ticket headed by P. IL McCarthy, president of the Building trades’ Council, for Mayor. The other candidates named are the present officers. The program of exMayor Schmits was carried out to the letter.

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

CHICAGO. In the largely increased volume of payments through the banks, decline in commercial defaults and shipments of breadstuffs double those of last year bringing the highest prices this season are found encouraging testimony to well-sustained activity in buiness. Less presure is also evident in money and the autumn demand for necessaries and factory outputs reflects steady consumption, which would not be so were the purchasing power generally curtailed. Weather conditions favor the leading distributive lines and movements of commodities compare favorably with a year ago, forwarding to the interior being especially heavy. New contracts In iron and steel show best* in structural shapes, wire, pipe and merchant iron, but there is no falling off in furnace deliveries and rail mills have bookings running into next July. Mercantile collections in the West make a satisfactory showing and credits are regarded healthy, notwithstanding the tightness of money. Agriculturists continue prompt in their marketings for cash and -the unusualTy 'profitable returns add rapidly to country bank deposits. Retail trade here and at interior centers is seen to be of seasonable proportions. Buying remains large in wholesale branches of dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, fur? Bank clearings, $269,577,109, exceed those of corresponding week in 1906 by 18.7 per cent, Failures reported in the -Chicago district number 18, against 24 last week and 26 a year ago. Those with liabilities over $5,000 were 5 in number, against 9 last year.—Duns Trade Review.

NEW Y»RK. Trade, crop and industrial reports arerather more irregular. Interest as to distributive trade has now largely passed' from the wholesale and jobbing branchesto retail trade, the development and proportions of which will be closely scrutinized from now bni So far the reports as To this Tine are conflicting, being best io parts bf the Northwest, Southwest and South, and relatively slackest at the East,, which needs sharp, cold weather for best activities. Jobbing business is fair as a whole, it being noted that house trade is very quiet, while filling-in orders vary with sections reporting. The money stringency is an additional feature which attracts attention, affecting as it does the_ item of collections on' past transactions. As to this item of collections, too, it may be said that holding of crops has been a subject of complaint from several points. Business failures in the United Statesfor the week ending Oct. 17 number 194, against 192 last week, 170 in the like week of 1906, 178 in 1905, 227 in 1904 and 216 in 1903. Canadian failures for the week number 36, as against 24 last week and 18 in this week a year ago.— Bradstreet’s Commiercial Report.

THE MARKETS

Chicago—Cattle, common to prime, $4.00 to $7.45; hogs, prime heavy, $4.00> to $6.85; sheep, fair to choice, $3.00to $5.75; wheat, No. 2,98 cto $1.01; corn, No. 2,62 cto 63c; oats, standard, 51c to 52c; rye, No. 2,85 cto 86c; hay, timothy*, $12.00 to $20.00; prairie, $9.00' to $15.00; butter, choice creamery, 27c to 28c; eggs, fresh, 19c to 24c; potatoes, per bushel, 55c to 65c. Indianapolis—Cattie, Shipping. $3.00 to $7.00; hogs, good to choice heavy, $5.00 to $6.80; sheep, common to prime, $3.00 to $4.75; wheat, No. 2, sl.Ol to $1.03; corn, No. 2 white, 63c to 64c; oats, No. 2 white* 52c to 53c. St. Louis—Cattle, $4.50 to $7.20; hogs, $4.00 to $6.75; sheep, $3.00 to $5.60; wheat, No. 2, $1.03 to $1.04; corn, No. 2,63 cto 64c; oats, No. 2,49 cto 50c; rye, No. 2,82 cto 83c. Cincinnati —Cattle, SI.OO to $5.75; hogs, $4.00 to $6.75; sheep, $3.00 to $5.00; wheat, N0.«2, SI.OB to $1.09; corn, No. 2 mixed, 70c to 71c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 53c to 55c; rye, No. 2,91 cto 93c. Detroit—Cattle, $4.00 to $5.30; hogs, $4.00 to $6.50; sheep, $2.50 to $ 1.75; wheat, No. 2, $1.03 to $1.04; corn, No. 3 yellow, 67c to 6Sc; oats, No. 3 white, 55c to 56c; rye, No. 2,89 cto 90c. Milwaukee —Wheat, No. 2 northern, SI.OB to $1.10; corn, No. 3,02 cto 63c; oats, standard, 51c to 52c; rye, Np. 1, 87c to 88c; barley, standard, sl.lO to $1.11; pork, mess, $15.50. Buffalo —Cattle, choice shipping steers, $4.00 to $6.60; hogs, fair to choice, $4.00 to $7.10; sheep, common to good mixed, $4.00 to $5.25; 'lambs, fair to choice, $5.00 to $8.75. New York—Cattle, $4.00 to $6.35; hogs, S4,QO to $7.00; sheep, $3.00 to $5.50; wheat, No. 2 red. $1.06 to $1.07; corn, No. 2, ,72c to 73c; oats, natural white, 58c to 62c; butter, creamery, 25c to*2Bc; eggs, western, 18c to 23c. Toledo —Wheat; No. 2 mixed, $1.04 to $1.05; corn, No. 2 mixed, 65c to 66c; oats. No. 2 mixed, 55c to<sGc; rye. No. 2,89 cto 90c; clover seed, prime, $10.90.

In the Sporting World.

Sir Thomas Lipton expressed great disappointment at not being able to make terms, to race for the America Cup. Keene’s' Colin won a $9,000 stake at Brighton. George Bennett announced he would quit the turf forever, i. The Yale football 1 eleven started off with a smart victory over Wesleyan. Bobby Walthour, the American cyclist, was seriously hurt in a race in Berlin. Line bucking won the game for tha University of Pennsylvania which-, its team played with Villa Nova. ’ Philadelphia and Detroit. American League teams’played a remarkable seven-teen-inning game to a drawn score.