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WILL WORK THEM" * And Pay the Government a Big Cash Royalty for the Privilege OPENS OFFICIAL EYES A Seattle Man Shows How the Govb t eminent May Make Two Million e, Dollars Per One Hundred Acres w r< for Alaskan Coal Lands Against gl 110 Per Aero Trus tWould (live. ^ n A new and somewhat sensational C factor suddenly appeared Wednes- ^ day in Washington to add intensity 8 to the already sufficiently excited e situation over the Alaska coal lands, o on the eve of the beginning of the 8 Ballinger - Plnchot investigation, 1 which largely concerns that question. John E. Ballaine, of Seattle, 8 said to be the largest individual 1 property owner in Alaska, made a n proposition in writing to the senate p committee on territories, of which e Senator Beveridge of Indiana is e chairman, offering to the government a a royalty of fifty cents a ton of coal 8 mined, for the lease of 5,000 acres of some of the choicest coal lands in Alaska, in the Katalla and Mat- 1 ansuka districts. Such a tonnage- 1 royalty would net the government, " Mr. Ballaine claims, amounts as - _ . high as 12,000,000 per nunareu a acres. Tbla proposal contemplates a radical departure from past practices In 1 the government's disposal of the 1 Alaska coal lands. and It comes 1 avowedly to do battle with another e proposition, designed to permit the 1 sale or lease of such lands at a rate of $10 per acre. It is said that the general features of the plan have the approval of officials high in the administration and of influential I members of ooth houses of congress, including some of the prominent Insurgent Republicans, and delegate WIckersham, of Alaska. Mr. Balline, In his letter to Sena- 8 tor Beverldge, offers to enter Into a bond of $1,000,000 with the govornment for the performance of his ^ part of the agreement, which he proposes, and he makes the charge that "other Interests" have now at work in Washington a lobby, "headed by a former U. S. Senator" In support of the bill referred to above, under | whose provisions, he declared, the government would extend an unconditional guarantee to a railroad or railroads which these interests pur- 8 pose to build in Alaska, and would ^ virtually donate to them at $10 per ( acre one or more tracts of 6,000 j acres each to be selected by them. DnllntnA o olr a OAn (reAja a q ii_ iUi . uaiiniuv aono wu^icoo * \j uu j thorize the head of a department to be designated to enter into a lease with a coal company to be organlz- ^ ed by him, for 6,000 acres of Man- ^ tahuska coal land under all the provisions for regulation and against monopolistic control of prices as stipulated In the bill recently Introduced by Senator NJelson in conformity with recommendations of Secretary Balllnger'g annual report. This coal company would pay the United States and Alaska a royally of 60 cents a ton for the coal as mined. Mr. Ilnllaine states in his 1 proposal that veins averaging a total 1 thickness of twenty feet would yield, according to standard measurements, a total in excess of 100 million tons from the 5,000 acres, making a royalty of $60,000,000 for this comparatively small area. 1IAIIC BAI.Ij IN HKli STOMACH. It Served There as u Sort of Pin anil Needle Cushion. Surgeons operating on a woman patient at the St. Lawrence State Hospital for the Insane at Ogdensburg a few days ago took from her stomach a ball of hair weighing 3 1-4 pounds. It had to he cut into three pieces to be taken out. Many pins and- needles were found imbedded in the mass. The doctors thought the woman had a tumor. It is supposed she was in the habit of pulling hair from the mattress of her bed and swallowing it. Dealt Blow Willi Axe. A dispatch from Winston-Salem, N. C., says news reached there a few days ago of a probably fatal light near Vado Mecuin Springs, Stokes county, in which, it is alleged, Will Nlten crushed Robert Cook's skull with an axe. The story goes that both men struggled for possession of the weapon and finally Nlten got It and ended the battle. Dr. R H. Moorefleld, who attended Cook, says - his recovery is doubtful. Nlten is said to have escaped. The men fought over an old grudge. !Ia<1 a Great Time. The legislature took Wednesday off to make a trip to the Citadel, the special carrying over 40 members of the legislature, members of their families and friends, leaving over the Coast Line early Wednesday morning. Then on Friday they went to Clemson. < ?itj.. .> - SHOT BY CAR-BREAKER IIS OWN PISTOL THE WEAPON USED ON HIM. lesperate Struggle Against Heavy Odds?Special Officer of Southern Hallway at Columbia. A dispatch from Columbia says pecial Officer S. H. Poyer, employ a by tne eoutnern railway mere, ras shot and seriously wounded a ew nights ago at the Royster yards, ome two iniles below the ci'.y, while ttempting to arrest two negroes who ad broken into a box car. At the !olumbia hospital it was said that e could hardly recover. Mr. Boyer was on duty at the Royton freight yards, when he discovred two negroes taking a quantity f goods from a freight car on a iding. He advanced closely on the hieves before he mado any attempt o protect himself in case the neroes attacked him, and did not have line to draw his pistol when the egroes discovered him and overowered him. In the struggle that nsued one of the negroes, wrenchd Mr. Boyer's pistol from his band nd shot him, the ball entering his houlder and coursing downward and odglng in his body. Bloodhounds were secured from he penitentiary and placed on he trail of the thieves. An unveriled repoii. to police headquarters ater said that one of the negroes lad been captured but had escaped gain. Mr. Buyer is well known in Coluniiia, at one time being a member of he police force. He resigned some en years ago and has been In the mploy of the railroad since. He Ives with his family at 2018 Gadsien street. DYNAMITE 4vlEES ONE. explosion in North Carolina Court House Futal. By the accidental discharge of a tick of dynamite in the county court louse at Bryson City, N. C., Thurslay night, Omar Conley was lntantly killed, Barrett Banks lost ioth eyes and was otherwise injurd, and Lee Francis, registrar of eeds, of Swain county, was fatally njured. Conley and Banks were thawing yuamite on the radiator of the regstrar's office in preparation for a ishing trip. One of tho sticks of lynamlte, it is said, fell to the floor ind exploded with such force as to hatter the doors and windows of he office and seriously damaging he entire west end of the court louse. Many valuable county records and egal papers were destroyed. Regstrar Francis was working at his iesk when the explosion occurred. Late advices state that he and Banke iiave little chance for recovory. WHITE LIOHTS COT HIM. William Filgate, ?.f Savannah. Begs' New York Judge to Shoot Him. Police Magistrate Breen, of New York city, was considerably surprised a few days ago when a well dressed person on being arraigned, asked that he be either shot or thrown in t ho ri vor Thn nrlurtnnr ao</l was William Filgate, of Savannah, Ga., who went to New York four months ago with $1,100 In cash and was arrested before daylight that day for begging on the streets. "It's absinthe and whiskey," said the young man; "I came up here to make my fortune, but I tarried around the white lights too loRg and I went down pretty quick. I had $38 left yesterday morning; 1 had a good time and last night I was broke and had no place to sleep. I asked a man for a quarter, and when he called me a beggar I struck him. Judge, I don't want to go to Jail. I'd rather have you shoot me or throw me into the river." Further examination of the young man was postponed until later so that his identity might be verified. m n.ii e iv.a i nt" i mi <<>r An appeal to America t.o aid the sufferers from the French floods has been sent to New York by the municipality of Paris. The appeal is as follows: "We. are doing all we can for the homeless and destitute. The firemen and Red Cross are working like heroes, but we need help. The suffering in Paris is terrible. We would ask that America help us with money to build shelters for our homeless and to provide provisions and clothing. We also need bread and coal." Four Killed In Wreck. Four men were kil'ed and three others wore seriously injured Thursday when a freight train on the Chaptauqua branch of the Pennsylvania railroad Jumped the track about a mile north of Tltusvllle, Pa. The dead are: William P. Pastorious. signalman, Tltusvllle; Fred Warrend, conductor, Oil City; V. H. Hughes, brakenrTan, Buffalo; Mltche" Wallace, fireman, Buffalo. PROVES A SUCCESS EDISON'S NEW STORAGE BAT- A TERY RUNS A STREET CAR. Edison Estimates That the Cost of > Driving the New Car Will be Om Cent a Mile. What seemed In every way a successful test of a Btreet car equipped p with the new Edison storage bai- ^ tery was made on the Orange Valley & Pasaic electric railway at West i) Orange, N. J., recently. Thomas E. Edison himself c?uld ^ not witness the test, but his elec- ^ trical expert assistant, Ralph H. Beach, was on board the car with Zi street car men from all over the y country. The test was under the auspices of the public service cor poration, and T. S. AdaniB, master ^ mechanic of that organization, was motorman. t The car, which was specially con- g structed for the new batteries, i3 ^ 24 feet long and carries 30 pas- j, sengers. One-half the weight of an ^ ordianry car of the same size, It rides on a single track and is propeMed by a straight drive. It is j equipped with 210 cells, arranged ^ under the seats on both sides. Of ^ these cells 200 are for propulsion and 10 for lighting, wtih a total force of 50 horse-power. Edison estimates that the cost of ; driving the new car will be one cen' (j a mile. If the test satisfies the ex ^ perts, the problem of cables and over head wires will be solved for city ( traction companies, as the new ca" . generates its own power. Mr. Edison believes that the stor- ^ age battery will revolutionize auto . mobile as well as street car traffic. Not electric machines only will profit by it, for the apparatus should supplant gasoline motors as well. y DISCUSSES HIGH COST OF LIVING 1 v President Wilson Says the Trouble I p is Too Many Leaving Farms. 8 "Is costs more to get the common necessities of life in the United 'j n States today than in any other coun- t try in the world." 0 This startling statement was made 0 a few nights ago by James Wilson, e Secretary of Agriculture, in an address delivered before the Manufac- ? turers* Club of Philadelphia. Sec- 0 retary Wilson discussed "The Pres- n ent Food Crisis," in a way that was j original and forceful. a "Some poeple," he said, "tell us t that if we repeal the present tariff c law to let in foreign products free fi of duty, the present difficulty will r cease. 1 do not believe it. Eggs c are 35 cents a dozen in Canadian cities and 60 cents a dozen in some c American cities. The duty is 3 cents f a dozen. What difference would it t make whether you took off that 3 t cents or not?" ( The secretary further stated that ( he believed the Aemricau people are ( suffering at present not so much | from the cost of living, his statement being: "it nils been said that the American is the best fed, best clothed, best , educated and best housed man upon earth. We shall have to add now that he is the most evpenslvely fed." Secretary Wilson pointed out that the fundamental difficulty was that the people are leaving the farms to such an extent that there are not enough remainipa to produce the food of the increasing population. The boys and girls of the farm, he asserted, are being lured away to the cities, to the factories and to the mines, and to too great an extent the agricultural resources of the country are being neglected. He said he was convinced that the combination of retailers, wholesalers and the like were responsible in great measure for the keeping up of prices and that the same influence would be sufficient to control the prices of products brought from other countries, even though the tariff were removed. Secretary Wilson, after declaring that the record made by the manufacturers of the United States is a good one, said "the education of the farmer, however, has been overlooked. The young farmer has been educated away from the farm and | rrom tne production of food for the people." Confesses to Murder. James Hall, an enlisted man In the navy, has confessed to the murder of Anna Schumacher at Rochester, N. Y., In 1909, and Is now under arrest at the Portsmouth navy yard. The girl was killed In a cemetery last August. Fiend Assaults Child. Frank T,arrance, a forrteen-yearold negro boy, has been committed to Jail at Hendersonvllle, N. O., charged with committing an assault on a little white girl ten years oid. The fiend has confessed his crime Fiend Makes Kscape. A negro entered the horn? of a farmer near Osborne, N. C., while he was away and assaulted his wife. The negro was caught by the farmer but later made his escape. Close search la being made for the fltcd ( COPPER TRUST FORMED lmalgamatkd company absorbs smaller ones. ibw vorponuon to IXmtrol Uop? per Output of Country and Influence Market of the World. A dispatch from New York says reliminary steps were taken a few ays ago to efTect the long-lookedor. merger of the principal copper roducers of the country into one ignntic corporation. In Wall street nother biUion-dollar company was requently mentioned, but the morel onservative believed final capitiliation would be closer to $500,000,00. The Anaconda Copper Mining Coraany officially announced that at a leeung of the board of directors few days ago it had been decided o call a special meeting of the tockholders in Anaconda, Mont., on larch 23, to pass on a proposal to ncrease the capital stock from $30,00,000 to $150,000,000, "for the urpose of acquiring the property of ther companies located in the ilutte istrict." The Amalgamated Copper Jompany owns 55 per cent of the maconda stock. Following the merger of the Butte iroperities, which include the Amal;amated Copper Company and its ari'sus holdings, namely Anaconla Copper Company, Boston & Monana, Butte & Boston, Washington, "renton and other subsidaries, and he North Butte and Butte coalition, t is expected that the new Anaconda /ith is increased capital of $150,>00,000 will merge with the Guggenleim, Haggin and other copper inerests, thus effecting a corporation /hich will not only control the copier output of the United States but /111 influence the copper market of he world. i ? ? *? * * \^uuv:ci mug tut? pia.n to merge toe arious copper properties in the lutte district, the Amalgamated Copter Company, in a statement issued, ays: "The reasons for proposed Increase n stock Involve consideration of difienlt and complicated legal quesions as well as those relating to the conomical and efficient management f business operations of the dicernt companies. "Some of the operating features ?hich have been considered in favor f the proposed transaction are ecolomles which will result from workng all the mines in accordance with i general system of development, bus relieving owners from necessity tf maintaining numerous expensive lurfaco and underground plants lecessary under present conditions >f separate ownership. "The Anaconda Company, because >f its size and its location, is regarded as the logical company to besome the purchaser of properties of he other companies, and the step aken to call a special meeting win ;he first toward submitting the mater to stockholders of different companies for their consideration." MANY WIVES DESERTED. Said to bo Duo to tbe Increased Cost of Diving. At Pittsburg, Pa., deserted wives in great numbers have appeared at the central police station within tht past few days, -asking aid in the location of their mates. On Tuesday eight weeping women told their stories and one man reversed the tale by asking the police to find his wife. A few days age five more women appealed to the defectives and Capt. William Elmore is authority for the statement that a wave of wife desertion is sweeping over the city. About half of the disrupted couples are childless and the other hali have large families. The childless couples, after an Investigation, were shown to be the better otf, but couples with largo families found the struggle of life was hard. Capt. Elmore believes that the increased cost of living has something to do with the desertions. Seen Just in Time. Moths saved a small fortune from destruction by fire at South Norwalk. Conn., Thursday night. A bundle of worn garments which had belonged to Mary Spitzer, an aged recluse, who died recently, were about to be thrown on a bonfire when through a moth-holl the gleam of a yellow back was seen. An Investigation brought to light $3,000 in bills, which had been sewed intc the linings. Advocate High License. A Columbia dispatch to The New? and Courier says a candidate foi governor on a high license platform was the announcement deflnitelj made by one who is In close touct with the political alignment of Soutt Carolina. Next summer a gentleman will certainly come out in th< race for governor who will advocate a system of license for the handling of liquor traffic In this State. A girl likes an extravagant younj man?If she Isn't going to marri him. ABOUT THE NEW COMET WHICH MADE ITS APPEARANCE SEVERAL. DAYS ACO And Which is Visible Now in Western Horizon Just About the Sunset Hour. The new comet discovered last Sunday In South Africa, close to the sun, in the morning sky, and now visible from the northern hemisphere and emerging from the solar rays in the evening sky, is one of those strange interlopers from space whose coming astonishes the astronomers as much as anybody else, says Garrett P. Serviss in the New York American. Moreover, it is evidently a comet of the first magintude, and of appalling brightness, since It has been seen at the Lick observatory in full daylight, something that has happened but very rarely in this history of comets. The great comet of 1882, which stole into the solar system in a similar manner, being first Been in the Southern hemisphere, was likewise visible for several days in full sunlight, and It proved to be one of the most marvelous comets on record. But when it got into the Northern hemisphere it was visible only in the morniug sky before sunrise. This one, on the contrary, is coming out into the evening sky, and if the observations of its present course are correct, it is likely to become a brilliant object. Already its spectrum has been protographed, nud it shows that the comet is shining both by reflected sumlght and by the blaze of its own intense heat. The indications are that we shall have a very unusual spectacle which, 'f present indicate us are fulfilled, may be as memorable as anything in cometary records. It is all the more remarkable thai this great etranger should have made Its dramatic appearance at the time when Halley'8 comet is nearing the sun and preparing for its perihelion swing. But the two comets are pursuing viiuicij uiiit;reuv puins, ana me new one is likely to be a far grander object than its well known rival. Not enough is yet known of its orbit to enable us to say just what its future course will be, but its promise is so brilliant that the most surprising things may confidently be expected of it. It remains to be seen whether it is, like its perdeccssor of 1S82, a member of a group of comets all traveling in the same path, or an entirely independent body. -It is evident, however, that its perihelion must lie very close to the) sun, and it has probably swept through the coronal region, almost brushing the solar surface, whence the astonishing brilliance that it exhibits. If it keeps in sight as it withdraws from the neighborhood of the sun it should exhibit a magnificent tail. The story of this comet will form a startling chapter in the history of astronomy. With the spectroscopic ! apparatus now in the possession of astronomers a great revelation of the nature of these mysterious bodies ij apparently put without our rea^h. 1 Its sudden appearance is another . proof of the adventurous nature of . the vast voyage '.hat the solar sys , tern is making through space. On go the planets flying north( ward with the sun, and into the midst of them, like tornertn hnntu in ? vading a fleet, come plunging greu: ( comets. Some time one of t.liem U , mathematically certain to hit the sun?and then what? Nobody can say. * ( But who's afrnid? After all, in spite of their formidable look, con; ets are insignificant bodies compar ed with our solid globe, mostly gas j and dust; so let them come. Their | arrival increases the joy of life, and prevents our minds from stagnating with too mil %h costly politics and cheap poetry. Negro Breaks l*p Court. A dispatch from Washington. Oa? says noticing the unusual appearance of the face of Cy Billiard, <i noero armlcnptl KofnrA HI**-* on ? misdemeanor charge Judge William Wynne of this county asked the county physician to examine him. "Smallpox," said the physician imi mediately. Hardly had the words i been spoken when judge, court of[ fleers, spectators, all made for doors . and windows, leaving the negro in i complete possession of the court i room. An immune officer later took him to jail where he is the solo prisoner. j Accused Himself Falsely. At Denver, Col., John Pressly Rari rett, who claimed he was wanted in r Memphis, Tenn., on a murder charge, i was arrested charged with passing a i forged check for $15. Thursday - night word was received from Mem> phis that Rarnett had, been tried s and acquitted in Memphis on the C charge of killing Frank Smith. When confronted with this information Rarrett admitted he told the j story, hoping thereby to escape prosf ccutlon on the charge of passing fraudulent checks. - . . BIG SWINDLE ' nsuraoce Policies Secured on Men Virtually in Grave THEIR WORK EXPOSED Men of Atlklotic Hitlkl Were Ex amined in Lit'u of Heal Applications?Insurance People Have Trouble on Their Hamls That is Puzzling. "I believe this investigation now under way will unearth the biggest swind4?-in the insurance life ever exposed west of New York," said State Insurance Commissioner Bell, of Kentucky, a few days ago as ho took up the case of Walter S. Rider, a teamster, at Louisville, Ky., who died January 4, and whose body was exhumed by the coroner on the request of certain insurance companies. The death certificate indicated that Rider died of intestinal trouble, but is is reported that the autopsy showed a large portion of the lung eaten away, supposedly by tuberculosis. Commissioner Bell has taken up the case upon the request of certain life insurance companies in Indiana and Tennessee, who are said to be large losers by reason of the "grave yard" swindle. These companies, which it is alleged have already paid $10,000 on policies issued in the Rider case, are excluded from business in Kentucky, yet it is said have carried on a large business in Kentucky through an agency at NewAlbany, Ind., across the river from l.ouisville. The scheme worked on the companies is to a certain extent an old one, the company issuing the policy to men virtually in the shadow of the grnve, after having examined a man of athletic build who was renresented as th*> nnnlinnnf Local insurance men refuse to say anything regarding the matter, for the reason that they wish to recover policies now outstanding with the "dummies" involved in the swindle. Rider, it is alleged, carried insurance aggregating $16,000, but none cf his relatives is named as beneficiary. Mrs. Mary Quill, sister, and James R. Rider, brother, made affidavits several days ago to the effect that they believed their brother came to his death by poisoning and that he was a victim of foul play. The family communicated with the Independent Life Insurance Company of Nashville, Tenn., and the matter was taken up in Louisville later by & representative of that company and three Indiana companies. Upon these representations Acting Coroner Dacher ordered the body exhumed and the au'opsy held in the presence of several physicians. After discovering the li sion in the lung, the stomach was turned over to the chemists for analysis. Rider was a teamster and received $10 per week. FOIM) CLASPED IN DEATH Young Couple Whose 1'arents Objected to .Marriage, nAPtl lico of ??? * ~ 1 ? ? ? . ? ui tiaicuiai opposition lO marriage on account of tiieir youth, Vernon llarr, aged 16, and Lina. Ammer, aged 14, killed themselves Thursday. They were found near Monroe, Iowa, clasped in each other's arms, sitting upright in Harr's buggy, in which they were riding home from a dance. On the girl's lap rested a cup partly filled wtih strychnine. They both had drank of this. Their horse proceeded on his way and stopped at the gate of the girl't home. ItOOZE DOWNED HIM. Another of Hag Time Music (iocs to the l'oor House. Hugh Cannon, who wrote "Goo Goo Eyes," "Ain't That a Shame,' "Hill llailey" and other classics of ragtime, was sent to the Eloise poor house at Detroit Tuesday at the ago of thirty-six. He told the pathetic story of his life in short, expressive sentences. "I quit coke easy," ho said. "I hit the pipe in New York for a year and stopped that. I went up against morphine hard and quit, but booze, red, oily booze, that's got me for keeps. Except for seven montns on tne water wagon, f'v? been pickled most of the time." How to Lower Prices. Representative Sabath, a Demoway to lower prices on foodstucs way to ower prices on foodstuffs is to place them on the free list for Importation from foreign countries. He hag introduced a bill to accomplish this. Many Unsolved Murders. Thirty-seven unsolved murders in twelve months was the record of New York for 1909. Seven morn have been added in the first threo weeks of the new year, according to a report just issued by the pollen department. IfcL jj^ji