The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 04, 1889, Image 2
VICTIMS OF THE FLAMES.
Awful Scenes in a Burning
New York Tenement House.
Nine-Persons Swiftly Smothered
or Burned to Death.
Nine- persons were burned to death or
smothered by smoke in a tenement house at
No. 305 Seventh avenue, New York city, at
5 o'clock in the morning.
Flames broke out in the kitchen of a
restaurant in the basement of the building
five minutes before 5 o'clock and swant
through the five stories above the street
with appalling rapidity, at once cutting off
escape by the stairway. Most of the tenants
were in bed when the fire began and the
majority of its nine victims were burned in
their bods. There were a few more than
sixty persons in the building at the time.
Those who were saved climbed from the fire
escapes into the adjoining building.
The following is a list of the dead: Glennon,
William, sixty years old, burned to
death; McGeoghegan, Nellie, twenty years,
smothered; Wells, Mary, thirty-one years,
smothered; Wells, Jane^ four years, smothered;
Wells, Thomas, two years, smothered;
Lustig, Bertha, forty years, burned to death*
McKec, William, forty-seven years,burned
to death; Jeffrey, Jane, sixty-five years old,
smothered.
Unknown woman, forty-five years, stoutly
built, medium size, fair complexion, smothered.
The injured were: Glennon, William,
eighteen years old, burned on hands and
feet, at the New York Hospital; Glennon,
John, badly burned, New York Hospital.
Thirteen families were made homeless by
the fire. The loss to their property is not
great. The flames spent their fury chiefly in
the hallway and spread out only on the "top
floor. Less than $10,000 will cover the entire
damage done to property.
The building is a five-story structure with
a brown-stone front and stands in the middle
of a 9olid block of tenements of the same
character. On the ground floor is John
Snyder's restaurant and S. Snyder's flsh
store. There was room for four families on
each floor, but the two apartments over the
restaurant and one in the second story above
were not occupied on account of the heat
from the cooking below. There were thirteen
families in the tenement, including more
than sixty persons. At 5 o'clock when the
Am Kmlro mif naorlr oil Af fAwowve
till sound asleep.
It is supposed that the flames were communicated
from the range when the fire was being
started in it. The awful swiftness of the
blaze strongly suggests the use of kerosene.
Thare was a door opening from the restaurant
kitchen into the hallway. Perhaps it
was open and so created a draft that lea the
flames to the stairway. Less than a hundred
feet away, on the comer of Twenty-eighth
street, stood Policemen Warner and McCullough,
of the Thirtieth street squad, chatting
together. The first warning of the fire
came to them in the form of a distant yell of
fear and pain. Pausiug in their conversation,
and looking up and down the avenue to
discover where it came from, they saw a
blaze at the windows of the restaurant, a
flash across the sidewalk, and at the next instant
the flames burst from the roof. Their
lurid glow seemed to shine from every window.
Amazed and awed by the sight, the policemen
stood an instant undecided. The next
moment the avenue resounded with their
raps and alarm calls. They kicked in the
door of the burning tenement only to be
met and driven back by th? rush of fire and
dense smoke. That way access and flight
were equally impossible.
- -The policeman then hammered on the doors
of the nouse next door, and burst it open.
There were fire escapes?iron ladders, running
from house to house. By these, if at
all the occupants of the burning house must
be reached and warned. Before running up
the policeman glanced at the burning tenement.
Not a head was in sight ana not a
human being seemed to be moving
in the building, though the
flames blazed twenty feet m the
air over tne roor. uutwarcuy it was as quiet
as the grave. But as they held their breath
to listen a confused murmur came from
within it that rose and grew into a wild,
frenzied wail of terror and distress, of men
and women and children struggling for their
lives in the terrible death-trap, and perishing
without hope of help. The terrible cries
sounded in the ears of the policemen as they
dash*d upstairs, broke into the rooms of the
tenants, and running along .the fire-escapes
in front and rear smashed the windows of
the burning building with their clubs, calling
at the top of their voices to the people to
run for their lives. Already the iron bridge
was filled with half-naked men and women, !
dragging frightened children to the shelter
of the adjoining tenements.
By this time the firemen had come. Captain
Croker with his engine crew of No. 1,
"came first. Within fourteen minutes after
the first alarm the reserves of the district had
responded to a general alarm call with a
dozen engines, and half the ambulances of
the city hospitals were speeding toward the
sceneof the disaster.
The struggle in the burning tenement had
been as hnei as it was fearful. Not a soul
escaped down the stairs. Those who tried
fell on the threshold of their own doors dead
and were found there. The family of James
Kloter, on the floor above the restaurant,
were among those first aroused to their dancer.
Husband, wife and children slept in the
front room. The parents gathered up the little
ones, two each, in their arms, and ran to
the front. The flames were leaping from the
front of the store, and licking the iron of the
jire-sscape until it was red hot. Terrified,
they rushed to the rear. It was even worse
there. To venture out on the iron bridge was
to rush into the jaws of death. With a desperate
resolve, the six braved the dangers of
the front and climbed from the southern corner
of the fire-escape over to the next building.
The awning under the dangerous bridge
was burning, and two minutes later escape
that way was altogether cut off.
The experience of the Kloters, was that of
every other tenant who escaped. Frank
Wilson, a night watchman, living on the
third floor, had barely got into the house
when the fire broke out. He fled, like the
others, by way of the fire escape to the next
house. Had not that way been open there
would have been no other but to jump from
the windows. The stairs and landings from
t the street tc the roof were a roaring furnace.
The roof itself was ablaze, and descent to the
Iron ladders was impossible.
The fire burst from the ground floor windows,
fanned by the draught it caused, and
reaching outward half across the sidewalk
and far into the back yard.
When the flames were burning fiercest, the
firemen stationed on the roofs of every building
in the block turned such a tremendous
flood of water into the burning tenement that
. ___ the fire went out as a candle that is snuffed.
In twenty minutes men were picking their
way among the smoking, steaming wreck of
stairway and hall, groping in scorched furniture
and dripping rooms for the bodies of
those known to he there. Outside a half
nnde. wholly crazed hysterical crowd
clamored, wringing their bands and tearing
their hair for father, mother and children.
T Firemen, policemen and surgeons, whose
ambulances were in waiting at the door,
made up the exploring party. There was
Httleneedof thedoctors.Nothing that had life
could have survived that fiery olast shut in
the burning building. The physicians could
only attest, officially, that tnose they found
were dead.
Acting Captain Schmittberger, of the
Thirtieth Street Police Station, as soon as he
heard th? circumstances under which the Are
was discovered,ordered the arrest of Snyder,
the proprietor; Walter Brooks, the colored
cook, who was on duty at the time, and Joseph
Plunket, who acts as cook in the day
time. They were taken to the station house
and detained for the action of the Coroner.
f IN A BURNING- MINE,
Two Americans Try to Rescue Eight
Mexicans and All Are Lost.
The Mexican steamboat Ale jandro arrived
at San Francisco, Cal., from Guaymas,
v. Mexico, bringing word that in the early part
of July a fire broke out in the 1500-foot level
of the Triumfo mine, near the town of the
same name, and ten miners lost their fives.
Eight Mexican miners were in the mine at
the time of the fire and two unknown Americans,
formerly of San Francisco, volunteered
to go to their rescue. The shaft was full ol
smoke and gases, and when the bucket was
hunlwi to the top the Americans were found
to be dead. The fire lasted several days and
,finally burned itself oat. i
f
THE NEWS EPITOMIZED. |]
I
Eastern and Middle States.
William Joxes, for twenty years a
trusted employe of E. H. Butler & Co., educational
publishers of Philadelphia, has disappeared.
He is said to be short J&O.OOO in
his accounts. J ones is a bachelor.
The State Committee met in New York
city and decided to hold the Republican
State Convention at Saratoga on September
25.
About 2200 plasterers struck in New York
city for an increase of wages from $4 to $4.50 i
a day. About 700 had their demand conceded.
Professor Elias Loomis Mu.nson, Pro
fessor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy I
at Yale University, died in New Haven, j
Conn., of Bright's disease. He was born in .
1811.
Great devastation was done by storms on
the New Jersey coast. Many wateringplaces
were seriously damaged. t
After a nine-days'-vacation in New Eng- I
land President Harrison left Bar Harbor,
Me., for Washington. He stopped at Manchester,
N. H., long enough to drive about
among the mills. At Concord, N. H., he was
formally received by members of the Legis- |
lature in joint convention. He made a brief '
address. He went thence to Fall River,
Mass., where he took the steamer Pilgrim
for New York. f .
During the late storm Benjamin Andreas j
and William McDonald, both married, were j
drowned at Walnut Port, Penn. They were '
employed on the bridge being erected across
the Lehigh River.
The vicinity of Mammoth, Penn., was
visited by a snow storm. The ground was
completely covered.
Michael and John Murphy, two brothers,
aged five and six, respectively, while sailing
their little boats near Bloomfield, N. J., fell
into the Morris Canal and were drowned.
Eben S. Allen, ex-President of the Fortysecond
Street and Grand Street Railroad
Company,of New York city, who had pleaded
guilty, in the Court of General Sessions, to .
the fraudulent issue of stock of the company I
was sentenced by Judge Gildersleeve to fourteen
years imprisonment in State Prison.
A if explosion of gas in the crockery store of
T. J. Macable, New York city, lolled Jacobs
Morris, aged seventeen, and wounded
twenty-five other persons.
United States Senator William M.
Evarts sailed for Europe, from New York '
city, accompanied by his son Allen and
daughter. He goes to have eminent oculists
operate on his eyes, which are failing him.
* -? ti J
A HOKSE ana wagOU mreu XI um X oai sau s
livery-stable at Freeport, N. Y., were stolen
from in front of the hotel in Bellmore.
Next day the outfit was found at Baldwin's
in the possession of Miss Susie Brower, of
Merrick, N. Y., a highly connected young
woman, who confessed the theft.
Drunken quarrels among miners at Pittsburg,
Penn., who had just been paid off, resulted
in two murders in quick succession.
Thomas Snell, a sinker, aged forty-five, and
Charles Fitzgerald were the victims.
Governor Goodell has prorogued the
New Hampshire Legislature. During the
last session the Governor approved 238 bills
and 57 joint resolutions, and vetoed one
act.
?Charles Keller, of Philadelphia, and
two girls named Mamie and Winnie Colligan,
aged seventeen and twenty years respectively,
were carried over the falls at
Easton, Penn., while boating. The girls
were drowned.
Rev. Fred A. Barmtz, of Middletown,
Penn., a retired clergyman, and Charles H.
Carpenter, of Philadelphia, were fishing
from a boat on Swatara Creek, near Middletown,
Penn., when they were drawn into a
whirlpool and drowned.
Mrs. Mart Hxkck, and Mrs Emma White,
of Byron, N. Y.. were killed by an engine at
a railway crossing in Rochester, N. Y.
Alfred Porter, aged about nineteen
years, of Dover, N. H., a student of Dartmouth
College, was accidentally shot and
instantly killed at Kenniston's Island, by
Herbert E. Towle, of Dover.
n jii? iv. rc?i,u?
the finance i/oaiuiibure ui iuu nuiiun 1
Fair Committee met in New York city and
organized: .Tesse Seligman, the banker, submitted
a plan to raise money without asking
Congress for help.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has
made arrangements to establish a pension
system for its employes, the first of its kind
in the United States. The pension plan will
be introduced in connection with the company's
relief association.
The body of Frederick Wilcox, aged
twenty-six, was found hanging in a hayloft at
Virgil, N. Y. He was to have been married
in a short time. Temporary insanity is the
alleged cause.
The New York State Committee met at
Saratoga and decided to hold the Democratic
State Convention in Syracuse on October
1st.
South and "West.
The Iowa Republican State Convention
convened at Des Moines. Mr. Hutchinson
was nominated for Governor on the twentyfifth
ballot. On the second ballot Poyner
was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor.
Fred Tobhman, a saloon keeper, was
lynched at Roslyn, Washington, for shooting
a man named Thomas. The latter owed :
him ?2 and would not pay it.
Captain Philip W. McKi.vney was nomi- J
4-^,1 riAiraWAf KTr QAolomof.l'nn hv thp !
XiaiAAl 1V1 UWTCiUVi wrj .
State Democratic Convention of'Virginia in :
session at Richmond.
Bill "Westmoreland, colored, has been ;
banged at Jacksonville, Fla., for killing his f
wife on the night of April 5 last.
A cyclone 200 feet wide by a mile and a
half long struck Russell, 111., inflicting great
damage.
An engine which was being repaired at
Charlotteville, Va., exploded, killing two
men and injuring several others.
Damage was done by flood in North and
South Carolina.
Glanders is raging among car horses at
Chicago. Thousands nave died.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen J.
Field was arrested at San Francisco, Cai.,
charged with being an accessory to the murder
of Judge David S. Terry, and released
on habeas corpus proceedings in $5000 bail.
The jury at Purvis, Miss., returned a verdict
of guilty of prize fighting against John
L. Sullivan.
At Jackson, Tenn., Henry Prewit, an excowboy
from Texas, shot his young wife
through the neck, inflicting a fatal wound,
wounded his mother-in-law, and thon shot
himself through the head, dying instantly.
The Montana Constitutional Convention
finished its work. The North Dakota Constitutional
Convention decided upon Bismarck as
the permanent Capital of the new State.
Walter Asburg, alias Berriam, was
lynched at Pooler, Ga., ten miles west of Sar
nn?h for assault UDOn Lulu KlSS
man, a seventeen-year-old 'German girl.
The work of the Revision and Phraseology
Committees was completed at Helena, and
the Constitution being finished, the State
Convention of Montana adjourned sine dia
The Constitutional Convention of North
Dakota has finished its work.
John L.Sullivan* was sentenced to twelve
months' imprisonment at Purvis, Miss., for
prize-fighting. He appealed the case.
Eighteen men were injured by a train
accident near Lincoln, Neb.
Ex-Governor John G. Brown, of Tennessee,
late receiver of the Texas and Pac ific
Railway, and at the time of his death President
or the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company,
died recently at Red Boiling Springs^
Tenn.
Congressman J. Laird, of the Second Nebraska
District, died a few days ago at his
home at Hastings, Neb.,from a complication
of diseases. He was born at Fowlerville, N.
Y., in 1849.
A fiiht occurred between the "Jaybirds''
and ''Woodpeckers," rival political factions
at Richmond, Texas, in which Sheriff Garvey
and Deputy Blakeney were killed and several
others wounded. Tho Governor and two
companies of State troops went there and
quelled the disturbance.
Andrew Johnson, a barkeeper, and a man
named Peterson, a blacksmith, were drowned
while fishing on Camp Lake, Wis.
J. C. Lyons was killed outright, C. W.
Pauly fatally mangled, an engine and eight
ears were wrecked and a large number of
cattle killed in a wreck at Montgomery, ina.,
caused by the engine striking a cow.
Walls constituting part of the ruin of the
brewery recently burned in Fort Wayne, J
Ind., fell, burying five men. Charles Ruhl,
Martin Thomas and Lawrence Overly were
killed, John Gleason and Henry Kentz were
badly hurt.
A
Assistant Postmaster Dewey, of Huntington,
Ind., has defaulted for 16500. The
fugitive clerk took WOO of Postmaster Swint's
money, who is completely ruined by the
theft. He has turned over to his bondsmen
the paper of which he was editor.
President Harrison, Private Secretary
Halford, AttornOT-Genenal Miller and Secretary
Rusk left Deer Park, Md., for Indianapolis,
Ind., where the President was to
spend several days before returning to Washington.
Washington.
President Harrison has definitely determined
not to place the clerks of the Census
Bureau under the civil service rules.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has
issued a circular from "Washington prohibiting
the refilling at distilleries cf casks or
packages previously used at the samo distillery.
The light offerings of bonds have resulted
in a steady increase in the Treasury surplus
at Washington, which amonnts to $70,800,000,
being the highest point reached since
October last. The pension payments for the
present montti are estimated at ?io,uw,uw.
The Navy Department lias ordered the
payment to Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia,
of $10,200 on account of the new gunboat
Yorktown. This is the last regular payment
on the vessel.
Acting Postmaster-General Clarkson*
awarded the contract for furnishing postal
cards to the Postoffice Department for four
years, beginning October 1 next, to Albert
Daggett, of New York.
The Department of State has been informed
that the Nicaragua Government has
appointed Senor Don Horacio Guzman, the
present Minister to the United States, to represent
Nicaragua at the Congress of American
Nations to be held in October.
The President and Mrs. Harrison left
Washington for Deer Park, Md., for a brief
sojourn.
The President has authorized BrigadierGeneral
MacFeely, Commissary-General of
Subsistance, to perform the duties of Secretary
of "War during Secretary Proctor's absence.
The President has made the following appointments:
Robert B. Rentfro, to be Collector
of Customs for the District of Brazos
de Santiago, Texas; Daniel R. Collier, to be
Surveyor of Customs for the Port of Louisville,
Ky.; Robert A. Mosely, Jr., to be Collector
of Internal Revenue for the District
of Alabama; Louis Weinstein, to be Collector
of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District
of Iowa.
Colonel John M. Wilson, Engineer
Corps, late Superintendent of Public Buildings
and Grounds in the District of Columbia,
has been appointed Superintendent of
the United States Military Academy at "West
Point, to succeed General John G. Parke,
who was recently retired.
r"^tt" A# a /WM/rnlftlWA TTOP rt]APn/l
JL I3?i UXjyLH UlUCUl \JL AUUtUii'Uio ntwuiwotu
for a day 011 account of the death of ex-Commissioner
of Agriculture Watts at Carlisle,
Penn. Mr. Watts was Commissioner during
Grant's administration.
There are seventeen contested seats in the
House of Representatives, the papers being
already in the custody of W. H. Mobley,
clerk of the Committee on Elections. The
cases are with one exception (Indiana) from
the Southern States. #
The bond purchases by the Treasury Department
at Washington from August 3,
1887, to arid including August 17, 1889,
aggregated $177,624,800, at a co6tof $204,514,871.
These bonds would have cost $240,543,277
at maturity, so that the saving has been
$36,028,405.
The Argentine Republic, through its
Charge d'Affaires at Washington, Mr. Ernesto
Bosch, has addressed a formal invitation
to the United States Government to take
part in the second international cattle show
of the Argentine Agricultural Society, to be
held at Buenos Ayres. The show opens on
April 20 and closes on May 11, 1890.
Superintendent ok Census Porter has
appointed Charles E. Taft, of Little Rock,
Ark., special agent on ship building.
Foreicn.
An attempt will be made by France to obtain
General Boulanger's extradition from
Great Britain.
Turkish troops are hastening to Crete to
suppress the insurrection there.
Ex-Kino Milan has consented to allow exQueen
Nathalie to visit her son, King Alexander
of Servia, several times a year and to
reside in the palace during each visit.
The rioters in Totien, province of China,
fled before the approaching troops. For the
loss of four or five of their countrymen last
year the rioters revenged themselves by
Billing between 400 and 500 inhabitants of
Chin Chu villages, including women and
children.
Legitime is now virtually in charge of the
entire island of Hayti. Hyppolite's forces,
since their defeat, have become demoralized.
General Boulanger has issued from his
retreat in London a manifesto addressed to
the "Honed: People," declaring that the
French Senate and Chamber procured his
conviction by fraudulent means.
Earthquake shocks were felt in Bosnia ;
and Herzegovina. * i
Kixg Humbert, of Italy, has conferred
the title of Count on Thomas A. Edison, tb*
inventor, who is now in Europe.
Edward Conroy, United States Consul at
Porto Rico, is dead. He was one of t he oldest
members of the consular service, having
been appointed Consul at San Juan, Porto
Rico, April 21, 1889, from Pennsylvania. He
was a native of Connecticut, and was fully
eighty years of age.
Auqustin Arroyo de Anda has been chosen
President of the Mexican Congress, by
virtue of which office he becomes Vice-President
of the Republic.
The betrothal is announced of the Duke of
Nassau to Princess Margaret, youngest sister
of Emperor William of Germany.
TnREE miners wero killed by an explosion
in a colliery at Hauley, Staffordshire, England.
Hepji Lachmanx, editor of the Londoner
Journal, a weekly newspaper printed in
German in London, England, murdered his
wife and child, and then committed suicide.
A dynamite cartridge accidently exploded
in a coal mine at Domen, Hungary.
Five persons were killed and a number of
others injured.
A famine is threatened in Montenegro
owing to the failure of the crops, and endemic
disease4 is now extensively prevalent.
A new steamer just completed was makfng
her trial trip from Shanghai, China,
when her boiler burst and thirty persons on
board were killed.
Ex-King Malietoa and other exiles have
returned to Apia, Samoa. The ex-King was
warmly welcomed by the natives and his own
dag was hoisted. King Mataafa also greeted
Malietoa with cordiality.
BRAZIL'S COFFEE CEOP.
Tlio Recently Emancipated Slaves
Produce a Small Yield.
Some important information was received
on the New York Coffee Exchange respecting
the situation of the Brazilian coffee crop.
Brazilian coffee being the only product dealt
in on the exchange, the information at hand
was deemed of the utmost importance. The
best informed houses in Rio now say that as
a yield 5,500,000 bags is a moderate estimate.
The quality of the crop has, in general, not
been good; careful preparation is no longer
profitable, and the differences in price between
the lower and higher grades are now
much greater than for years past. Previous
estimates of the new crop were fixed at
2,500,000 to 3,000,000 bags, but the severe
drought and excessive heat has reduced the
| probable yield so much that, with the continued
disorganization of labor, about 1,500.000
bags below the regular crop is expected,
which is considered a moderate estimate in
one sense, as 5,500,000 was in another.
The quality of the new crop as shown by
arrivals so far is poor. Washed coffee is very
scarce, and of Sena abaixon none has been
seen. From July 1, 1888, to June 30, 18S9,
Rio shipped 2,343,882 bags to the United
States, against 1,330,509 in 1887-88, and 2,092,336
in 18b6-87, and 2,449,106 in 1885-86. Things
are still in a transition state; it has taken
time for the recently emancipated freedman
to realize that he is free. Many of the exslaves
are already reduced to working for
their keep. The condition of these people
will have an important bearing upon the future
coffee production of Brazil.
I Spring chickens are shipped by the car
load from Tennessee to New York and other
eitaea The business is steadily increasing.
V?TEEANSJN^A WRECK.
Rails Spread Under a Pennsylvania
Train With Fatal Effect.
An excursion train on the Butler branch of
the West Pennsylvania Railroad, loaded with
veterans returning from the reunion of the
I02d Regiment at Butler, was wrecked at
Sarvers, seven miles east of Freeport, P;nn.,
two passengers being instantly killed, three
Dr four others fatally injured and twentyfive
more or less seriously hurt.
The dead are: Mrs. Duff, an old lady, residence
unknown; Farrell, child, Butler; IV.
Powers, Laurenceville, Penn.
The wreck was caused by the rails spreading
on the end of a small Bridge that spans
Buffalo Creek, the timbers on which the rails
were laid being so rotten that the spikes had
been forced out the side by the weight of the
train passing over them.
The rails plowed through the second car
and the escapes were miraculous. One lady
bad her dress cut from the wrist to shoulder,
another lost a small piece of her cheek,a third
bad her chin cut and many others' in the
lecond car narrowly escaped.
The train consisted of a smoker, day coach
and combination coach. The engine stood
about 100 yards from the wreck still uninjured
on the track. The smoker was smashed
in splinters and fell fifteen feet down the embankment.
The front truck of the coach was also
thrown over the embankment, the hind
truck remaining on the track. The combt
nation also remained on the track. Of the
twenty passengers in the smokor one was
killed and nineteen injured, it being a mai vel
that all were not killed.
At the wreck the sight was truly heartrending.
On either side of the track, for a distance
of nearly a quarter of a mile, in(ured
veterans were laying on cushons
and, in some instances, on the
bare ground. Women and children,
wounded and bespattered with blood, sat
and lay around pieces of the wreckage.
The doctors and others on the relief train
at once set to work to care jJor the injured.
LONGEST FAST ON EECOED.
Robert Marvel Dies After Abstaining
From Food Sixty-seven Days.
Robert Marvel, the Marion County (Ind.)
fasting wonder, died after sixty-seven daya
of abstainmcnt from food or drink. He was
nearly eighty-five years old. His case has
been the marvel of tho modical world. Thousands
flocked to seo him from all parts of tho
State. When his friends attempted to givo
him food he would make strange sounds.
During the entire fast he partook of only
about a quart of liquid nourishment. TTia
bowels remained wholly torpid and inactive.
He became terribly emaciated, and
tho walls of the abdominal cavity
became withered and shrunken to
thn n-rtpnt tliat when Ivinir oil his hnplr t.hn
articulat'on of the backbone could plainly
be seen. He slept well, his respiration being
regular and even. His pulse was irregular.
The cause of his condition was paralysis. The
disease completely destroyed his hearing, but
his eyesight remained excellent to the last. It
also robbed him of his speech and nothing
intelligible could be gotten from him. He
died without a murmur.
His trouble began with apoplexy and paralysis.
He was born in Sussex County, Del.,
October 7, 1805. When a young man he was
a sailor for seven years.
His fast is the longest on record, so far a9
known. The most prominent case of voluntary
fasting was Tanner's, and it will be recalled
that ho ato nothing and drank only
water during forty days.
ARMY DESERTERS.
The War Department Alarmed at the
Increasing Number.
The War Department officials at Washington
are greatly exercised over the number of
desertions from the army, especially as they
are increasing in numbers every year.
During the six months ending June 30 last
the records show an increase of 135 over the
number reported for the corresponding period
last year. For the past six months or the
present year there were 1467 desertions
against 1209 for the same period in 1888.
Fully seven-eighths of the desertions took
place during the first year of enlistment.
The importance of these figures is appreciated
by General Schofleld. This has been
the subject of much thought and discussion
lately, and some plain action which will look
toward modification of existing articles of
war will receive the General's earnest advocacy
and be presented to Congress.
A number of officers believe that one of the
best ways of breaking up desertion in the
army would be to put a stop to the soldiers
doing so much extra work. When a man enters
the army he expects to become a soldier,
When he finds that in addition to his duty as
a soldier he has to do all the work around
the garrison and the officers' quarters the soldier
feeling dies out and he deserts at the
very first opportunity.
A decrease in the number of useless calls,
now prevalent at army posts will also, it is
said, result in fewer desertion*
THE SUN'S ECLIPBE,
A United States Expedition to be Sent
to Africa.
Captain Phythian, the Superintendent of
the Naval Observatory at Washington, says
that the preparations for the expedition to
Africa to observe the total eclipse of the sun,
which occurs in December next, are being
YM,cV,orl fnrtrnrH The scientists are
UVWTtiJ .-v
making their advance calculations. Instruments
are being purchased and regulated, and
everything isbcingattended to that can be
done in advance. The meagre appropriation
given by Congress for this work, ?>000, necessitates
very careful expenditures, and it will
be impossible to send the expedition to St.
Paul da Loando, where the observations will
take place, except on a Government vessel.
It was at first thought that the new cruiser
Baltimore would be selected for this purpose,
but it is now seen that she will not be ready
for sea in time for the expedition, which will
have to sail about October 1. One of the
older vessels will probably be sent over with
the scientists, possibly the Alliance, now at
Norfolk.
e FLOOD VICTIMS, Terrible
Suffering Among: Tliem Predicted
Unless Help Is Given.
The suffering among the victims of the late
disastrous flood in the valleys of Slate, Tucker,
Tygart, Lee, Sandy and other creek
valleys debouching from Limestone Mountain,
in West Virginia, the scene of the fatal
cloudburst, still continues, with a prospect of
still more suffering as the nights grow colder.
Many families are huddled in extemporized
Knilfc a# rnnrrVi KnorHc nlnno* +.1io r>TH>atr(I
and glens of the dismantled territory.
Many are taken care of by the more fortunate,
but poor hill farmers, who have
opened their doors and their hearts
to their ruined neighbors. The
charitable of the neighboring villages and
cities are doing all in their power to relieve
the sufferers, but all the help they can render
will be entirely inadequate to place the hundreds
in comfortable or even safe condition
for the coming winter. There will be terrible
suffering among these people when the
cold weather sets in unless outside relief is extended.
*
KILLED BY STUDENTS,
A. Montreal Lad Dies in the Hands ol
Careless Doctors.
George Prendergast, a boy employed by
the Sobiston Lithographing Company at
Montreal, Canada, had two of his fingers
caught in the machinery and badly crushed.
He went to Montreal General Hospital to have
them amputated. The house surgeon being
absent, two young students, both under
twenty years of age, instead of calling in the
consulting physician, who lives only a block
away, undertook to do the job themselves,
and to stop the boy's yelling began giving
him ether.
The lad's mother remonstrated, but was
told to mind her business. They guessed
they knew theirs. In fifteen minutes the
patient was taken with a fit of vomiting, and
within half an hour he was a corpse. The
students were arrested to await the coroner's
inquest The boy's brother wanted to shoot
them.
J.
LATER NEWS.
Two cotton mills at Providence, the Wauregan
and its leased property, the Nottingham,
and a woolen mill, the Thornton
Worsted Company, have failed, the result of
the recent failures of Lewis Bros., of New
York city, and Brown, Steese & Clark, of
Boston.
A tornado of thirty minutes' duration
passed over Winthrop, Me. Rain fell in torrents,
accompanied by very heavy thunder,
and the wind blew a gale. Corn and other
crops were seriously injured, barrels of apples
were blown lrom trees in orchards, and
numbers of trees were prostrated by the
gale.
The Keystone Furnace Company, of Reading,
Fenn., has failed Liabilities $500,000.
Joseph Popa, a thirteen-year-old bootblack,
testified that he saw a man set the
Seventh avenue (New York city) tenement
house on fire in which ten lives were lost recently.
A gasoline still at the oil refinery of A.
D. Miller, in Allegheny, Penn., exploded with
a frightful noise, and the entire plant was
immediately fired and rapidly destroyed.
The engineer and a watchman were killed.
The property destroyed was valued at 1325,
000.
Governor Hill, of New York, respited
Giblin, the wife murderer, sentenced to be
hanged August 23d, for sixty days.
Frank Morris, John Heil, James O'Brien
and Brodio Morris, miners, of Charleston, "VV.
Va., were caught beneath a fall of slate in
the mines of the Connellton Coal Company
in Fayette County and killed.
Dr. E. Parsons, said to be the oldest practicing
dentist in the United States, died a few
days ago at Savannah, Ga. He was born in
Northampton, Mass., in 1806.
The flourishing city of Colfax, 111., on the
Illinois Central, has been almost entirely destroyed
by fire
The President was enthusiastically received
and entertained by the city of Cincinnati, J
after which he resumed his journey to Indianapolis.
.At a session of the Grand Lodge of Odd
Fellows at Rome, Ga., Colonel Adolph
Brandt, while opposing a resolution, fell
dead in the hall from an attack of apoplexy.
He was a prominent lawyer of Atlanta, and
widely known throughout the State.
The contractors of the now cruiser Baltimore
have notified the Navy Department at
"Washington that* they are ready for the official
trial of the vessel.
Severe hail storms passed over parts of
AnrMa Motiit nopcnnQ WflPB Hllfid. Mnch
damage has been done by gales on the English
coast. Severe storms also prevailed throughout
France. Telegraphic communication was
greatly interrupted.
Cuba has established a signal servioe
bureau.
Thirty thousand dock laborers are on
strike for higher wages in London, England.
News comes from Victoria, British Columbia,
of the seizure by the United States
revenue cutter Rush of two illegal sealers,
the Minnie and tho Pathfinder, in Behring
Sea; both were dispatched to Sitka, Alaska,
with a prize crew.
SHOT BY A MINISTER,
The Minister Says He was Provoked
by Being HJt With an Egg-.
The Rev. D. Helmrick, pastor of the
Methodist Church, at Ncola, Iowa, 6hot
Earl Palmer, a popular young man of Council
Bluffs at Neola, during the night. Palmer
was tne successim suitor ior iue nn-nn ui aliss
Ella Porter. The preacher objected to the
match, and in his opposition used strong
language against Palmer. The young couple
were married in Council Bluff a, July e. JVom
that time the feeling intensified. On Sunday
before the shooting, the minister says, some
one gave him a revolver, with the suggestion
thatne might have use for it. OnMonday
evening Helmrlck returned home from the
country and saw several men near his barn,
one of whom was standing in the doorway.
He called to them to go away, when he was
struck by an egg. He then drew his revolver
and Area and the man in the doorway, who
proved to be Palmer, fell dead with a bullet
in his head. , - .
LIGHTNING KILLS TWENTY.
The Missouri Valley Doses Over Hall
a Million Dollars by Storm.
The storm which passed over the Missouri
Valley recently was the most disastrous
known to that section this season. Fully
twenty persons, it is said, were killed by
lightning, and the damage in animals killed
and ruined crops will run over 1500,000. This,
of course, includes the damage to railroads.
Among those killed were a son of H. H.
Silver, at Cortland, Neb.; George Warner
and George Richardson, of Dawson. Neb.;
E. Winkler, of Winthrop, Mo.; H. Hunter,
' -* it?1;? Von nrvl EY<vi Pasa. of OaJflthe.
<jjl oouiuu, , 1 1
Kan.
Reports from other towns state that there
were many fatalities.
TEE LABOR WORLD.
.The coal market is glutted.
A congress of barbel's has just been held
In Germany.
German" miners are working for from $125
to $185 a year.
English metal works do not admit foreigners
to tfieir shops.
The strike of the cigarette makers at Havana,
Cuba, has ended.
The plumbers will hold a convention in
Washington in October.
A union of Jewish goldsmiths has been
formed in New York city.
New York clairr- the best diamond cutters.
They make $00 per week.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has
decided to increase the works at Altoona,
Penn.
There is great rejoicing in the Pennsylvania
coke regions over the settlement of the
strike.
Waiters for the Paris Exposition are paid
$30 a month each and must be able to speak
three languages.
In Glasgow, Scotland, there are more factories
to the square mile than in any other
city in the United Kingdom.
The five flint-glass factories of FindJay,
Ohio, resumed operations after tha usual
summer snut down wun o-m nanus.
Lowell (Mass.) union carpenters are taking
contracts on the co-operative plan and
dividing the profits among themselves.
About fifty large pulp mills, giving employment
to from 100 to WO people each, aro
oeing built in different parts of Sweden.
The movement for higher wages throughout
central Europe continues, despite setbacks
among workers in textile factories.
The Bethlehem (Pcnn.) Iron Company has
increased the wages of its puddlers from
$3.25 to $3.80 per day, and has raised the payor
its other men.
In all parts of Scotland the workers
have a spirit of revolt against low wages and
long hours, and everywhere the employers
have been yielding.
It is said that the Knights of Labor order
is rapidly falling away, two-thirds having
withdrawn from a membership of nearly
tbree\iuartprsof a million.
The organized weavers of Fall River,
Mass., are still divided into two bodies^ each
having a different object and scope. An attempt
is to be made to affiliate them.
At the convention of the National Association
of Silk Workers in Yonkers. N. Y., it
was decided to strive tor tUe equalization of
wages in the trade all over the country.
President Weihe, of the Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers, has
been re-elected President and his salary advanced
to $2000 per year, jmincrease of 8600.
/
m-*'"' " *" t w'+.'z . r-v *vfec,T^7: < '
s : . </
J ' " ' ' ..
' RAILWAY STATISTICS.
t
The Progress Made in Railroad
Building During 1889.
The Dividends and Earnings Compared
With Those of 1887.
The railway mileage of the United States
now aggregates 156,081 miles, an increase for
last year of 7028 miles, according to' the advance
sheets of Poor's Manual for 1889, just
issued. On 154,375 miles there have been issued
14,438,411,842 in stock and $4,624,085,023
in bonds, along with a funded debt
of $306,952,589, and a current debt
of $238^88,355, a total of $9,607,487,S09.
The cost of this amount of
road and its equipments aggregated $8,344.-.
804,820, while securities held as investments
are set down at $1,106,232,499, and cash and
other assets increase the total $423,433,053, to
$9,873,970,373.
Gross earnings on 145,341 miles were $950,622,008.
Net earnings were $297,363,677, and
other income was $84,897,880, a total net of
$382,261,557. Bond interest payments were
$199,062,531-dividends, $78,943,041, and all
payments, $367,653,647.
The stock deot pier mile is $28,768; bonds,
$29,972. Passenger earnings per mile were
81729; freight, $4397; total gross, $6540; net
earnings per mile, $2045. Passenger earnings
were 28.44 per cent, of gross. The rate per
passenger per mile was 2.246 cents, and per
ton .907 cent, against 1.246 in 1883.
Compared with 1887, net earnings fell off
$33,358,068, or ten per cent.; interest payments
increased $3,333,036, or 1.63 per cent.,
and dividends fell off $11,830,417,' or 12.4 per
cent. The number of passengers increased
six per cent. The freight tonnage was 589,898,817,
an increase of 37,823,565, or 6% per
cent.
This interesting computation is made by
Poor:
"The tonnage-mileage of 1887 was 61,56V
069,996, for transporting when the railroads j
received an average rate of 1.034 cents per
ton per mile, producing a revenue of
$638,666,223. In 1888 the tonnage-mileage
was 70,423,005,988, which produced an
average revenue per ton per mile of .907.
cent, or, in the aggregate, $839,200,723. Had ;
the rates received in 1887 prevailed in 1888,
the differenced about 1% mills per ton per
mile would have given the railroads an increased
revenue of $89,189,819, sufficient to
pay more than 2 per cent, upon the total .
amount of capital stock outstanding at the
and nf 1S88. niion all of the roads contribut- .
ing toward this grand aggregate."
It is eh own that the average reduction in
freight rates since the close of the Civil "War
has been not less than seventy per cent., not- '
withstanding which the average rate of
wages paid by the railroads to tneir operatives
is higher now than it was at that period.
"It becomes plain, therefore," says the
\fnnnn1, "that the immense sums that have
been annually lost to the railroads of tne
country by their voluntary reductions
in rates have been a corresponding !
saving to the public at large. A
calculation of the sums saved to the public
by these reductions in rates during the past
quarter century would reach far up into the
thousands of millions.'^
A GIG-ANTIC WOLF-DRIVE.
"Wyoming Stockmen and Cowboys
Unite in Hunting Coyotes.
A big wolf-drive, by several hundred stockmen,
cowboys and sportsmen' took place a
few days ago in Southern Wyoming. The
drive resulted in the extermination of all the
coyotes and gray wolves in the large district,
and afforded unique sport for toe participants
in it The district swept by the drive
js watered by numerous creeks, along
which are rich stock ranches. The country
is hemmed in for its entire length bv a range
of limestone cliffs, known as Chalk Bluff s, m
which are hundreds of small caves and dens.
In these gray wolves and coyotes hide.' During
the present season their numbers have
increased largely, and the losses of the stockmen
from their constant preying upon young
calves and colts have been excessive.
>At daylight from every ranch between
Cheyenne and the Nebraska line, thirty miles
/U-lbUlliU, wgguuni OJL 1 uun uujo wva >uu UUU
against the wolves. They were reinforced
by 200. horsemen from Cheyenne and ha i as
spectators a large number of business men
and ladies, who drove to the starting point.
At 7 o'clock the long line of riders, under
command of ten captains, moved forward.
All the known hauxra of the wolves' were
scoured by men and dogs. Slinking coyotes
and defiant wolves broke from cover and ran
for the protecting caves of Chalk Bluffs.
Occasionally'the hounds turned a wolf toward
the riders and brought htm to bay.
The expert cowboys would throw their
lariats around the wolf and drag him to
death across the prairie. The drive lasted
until noon. At points of rendezvous in the
valley skirted by the bluffs were barbecued
steers and coffee for the hunters. The afternoon
was devoted to smoking out the wolf
dens and killing their occupants. WLere
flames and smoke failed to drive out the
wolves charges of dynamite were exploded,
tumbling down portions of the cliffs and
burying the wolves in the ruins.
Twelve big wolves were smoked from the
first cavern assaulted and all were killed as
they ran.
Dogs drew seven heavy fellows from the
second, and thirteen died in a den rather
than face the htinters. Their brushes were
1 1 VI ! *V.? nrJtV, m'onf
secured uj uwwuig up uwuns
powder.
PROMINENT PEOPLE,
Tee Shah has left Paris.
Emperor "William will go to Madrid.
The Prince of Wales is short, stoats and
bald.
Chauncey Depew's income is $125,000 a
year. .
The Queen of Italy is an ardent student of
Volapuk.
The E^rl of Fife is descended from a peddler
of eggs.
Jat Gould when a young man was noted
for his wit and high spirits.
Empep.or William has invited Queen Victoria
to return bis visit at Berlin.
Senator Blackburn, of Kentucky, is
said to be the best shot in Congress.
A son of Cetcwayo, the Zulu, is one of the
dusky notables at the Paris Exposition.
Senator Ingalls, of Kansas, is devoting
hisvacationto collecting books for his library.
King KALAEAUA,of the Sandwich Islands,
though he has a salary of $30,000 a year, is
always "hard up."
General Albert Pike,the held of all the
Masonic orders and rites in this country, is
in his eightieth year.
Prince Alexander, of Battenberg, has
been appointed to the command of an Austrian
regiment i* Styria.
Howard Everett Hale savs that when
he was in collego he and his cnum took tha
first daguerreotype ever made in Boston.
Hon. Allen G. Thurman has gone ffco
? : A ?1. TirViAFA lio will rppfilVA
not djjl j3j?...
treatment tor his old malady, the rheumatism.
Richard Henri' Stoddard, the poet,
now fails to recognize his most intimate
friends except by voice, and is a physical
wreck.
Mrs. Mart E. Rowell, a granddaughter
of General Stark, of Revolutionary fame,
has been sent to an insane asylum at the request
of friends.
Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras,
has become a rich man. Some years ago he
bought 200 acres near Oakland, Cal. They
are to bo taken now for town lots.
According to Henry M. Stanley himself,
ho has propossd marriage to seven, only to
be refused with thanks. On the eve of his
eighth proposal he reconsidered his determination
and took to the woods.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes says that
in reviewing his life ho finds that he has
taken more interest in surgery than in pootry,
but ho realizes that his famo will rest upon
| the efforts of his pen, not of his knife.
Thirty years ago, 03 some of the residents
of Trenton, N. J., recall. Prince Murat, now
engaged to Miss Caldwell, a wealthy American,
drove a milk wagon in that town and
was considered a farmer of rather uncertain
resources.
Prince Bismarck's special medical attendant,
Professor Schweninger, who cured
the Chancellor of his too pronounced tendency
.to stoutness, is, by particular desire of the
Saltan, about to instruct two Turkish physiAfon
in his gpocial method of treatment.
' CURIOUS FACTS. 9
Indiana has a double-headed baby girl*
Damsons originally eame from Damas-y IM
cus. QH
The number of writers of the Bible id . Hfl
fifty. BH
German student life differs very ma-j IMS
terially from the student life of all otherj B
nations. >_
A white kangaroo, the first 'evert
known, is on exhibition at the LoudoriJ j^H
Aquarium. '
In France the doctor's claim on the e&4
j j i
taie ox u ueceaaeu paueui iuu? preueucutq
of all others.
The total number of bodies registered!
as buried in cemeteries used1, by London)
is 1,276,875. V'|
A letter can now be sent round thei|
world in sixty-nine days, via Vaheouver,j X
British Columbia.
A Londoner advertises that he iaj
"Porous. Plaster Manufacturer t* Herj
Majesty the Queen."
A new and expensive whim in jewelry]
is to have diamonds bored and strung
upon a chain like pearls for a necklace.
One of the wonders of Paris is a jwel
2350 feet in depth. Hot water roshea
out of this well in a stream 114 feefchigh.
A Kanawha (W. Ya.) fisherman
caught a jack-salmon that had swallowed
one bass and had another half way down
its throat. . ^
John Bright said that he owed his
quick imagination to his life-long habit
of reading poetry every night before going
to bed.
A murderer was convicted at "We!Kng-(
ton, New Zealand, by bits of newspaper.'
used by him as wadding and foutffi & IheJ
wounds of his victim.
S. Landman, of Waynestown, Jnd.,?
has a calf without tail or eyes and Reb-J
ert Jones has another that has the skin ofj
an elephant and no hair on its body.
The most northern electric light in the/
world is at Hernosand, Sweden, on thei
Gulf of Bothna, above the 62d degree ot
latitude. Light is needed there at ^:3?>
P. M. ..
The Berlin newspapers chrnofcte thtf
fact that the heat of the -present season*
has been greater than ever recorded siiee
1719, the year when regular observations
were first taken.
The story is told of a Pennsylvania
man who was bidding at an auction sale
when the stone upon which he was standing
split in half and precipitated him in-<
to a cellar, killing him instantly.
The great bell of Hung-wu, which has
long lain half buried in the ground, Las
at length been lifted by foreign machin-j
ery and hung in a pagoda built of rtam
by a foreign firm. According to prophecy,
this bell was never te be lifted '
until China had entered upon a new ca-j
reer of prosperity.
In the Town Library (Stadt BibEothek)!
of Nuremberg is preserved an interesting)
globe, made by John Schoner, professor!
of mathematics in the gymnasium there'
A. D. 1520. It is very remarkable that!
the passage through the Isthmus of Pan?" ?
on mnoli crvnrrVif in lfttpr ftWir.S-1
OUIOj 3U 1UUVU OVUgMW tMVM
is on ihisold globe carefully dilineated. /
On the sides of the Jesen Ron!J on theJ
west coast of Norway, mountains rise)
perpendicularly to a height of several
thousand feet. Recently -stones and]
rocks, some of which are said tp havoj
been as large as a house, began bo fll ?aj
one side of the fiord. The awknehe ~\
continued for more than two hours," and s
the crash was heard ten miles away. ,
Prodigious Msths. !
The largest known moth in existence
is the Atlas. Its average size is ten!
inches of spread of wings, and its closest1
competitor is the Erebus Strix, a large
gray moth of South America. The Owl'
moth, also of South America, is anokherj
prodigious fellow, and spreads about
eight inches. But its size is not its only!
feature; It is so peculiarly marked beneath
that any child readily recognizes
the owl-like appearance of the outlines.'
The two hind wings from the owl's head,
being eyed, and the fore part of Che body
represents the beak. In close jaxtaposi-:
tion to the owl is pinned the Death's'
Head, a moth which derives its name
from a mark on the back resembling a,
human skull. It is English, but it is
claimed that in 1887 a specimen was
caught flying in New London. This is1
easily accounted for, as it feeds era potato
vines, and many were imported that year.'
It is thought that the pupa m$y have
been in the earth that came with the
potatoes and the moth, hatching out,
escaped and was captured.?Ma Yerb
Tribune. i
A New Cattle Pest and Its Prevention.
Last summer a new pest was reported'
in cattle in New Jersey, Delaware, Alary-'
land and Northern Yiginia. Tie peat
has again made its appcarancc. It ft a
I small fly, half the size of a house fly^
which settles in great numbers irotrad!
the base of the horns and on other por-j
tions of the body, where it cannot be-'
reached by either tail or head. Dt sacks
a moderate amount of blood, reduces the
condition of the cattle, and lessens the
yield of milk by from one-third to one-;
half. This new pest has been iavfcstiJ
gated by the Department of AgrtafRure
through the acting entomok><ri$>, I/. O.j
Howard, who has sucoeeded in tracing;
the entire life history of the pes! He
finds that the fly lays its eggs usually at
night, in freshly dropped cow dung.j
Applications may be made to milch .cows
and valuable animals which will keep the
flies away. The applications may be fish,
oil and pine tar, with a Hitte salphur
added; tobacco dust, when the sHdn is
Rot broken; or tallow with a small
amount of carbolic acid.?New Ttri Tri-\
bune.
T,ii/u?i.anT<{nc Tn And From Trains-'
X JL UyuiHQ
A company is about being formed im
Baltimore to place in operation the sys-<
tem of telegraphing to and from moving'
railway trains invented by Bayhia Ckde,.
of Raleigh, N. C. Mr. Cade places ai
wire along the railroad near the *rack,
and the communication is made with the
moving train by a drag descending from,
the car. Recent experiments at Raleigh
demonstrated the success of the system/
It is proposed to equip one of the rail-'
roads between Baltimore and Washington
with the Cade system. It is asserted;
that, with the new system in operation,collisions
between trains equipped with'
the instruments will be practically invj
possible, as the instrument on onj? train:
will automatically give notice of tie apJ
proach of another train on the Same'
track. It will also enable all railroad
business to be transacted directly with)
the train, and do away with the necessity
for the block system of telegraphic!
signals.?New York Tribune. _J