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THE COUNTY RECORD! KUSGSTREETsrc. I LOUS J. BRISTOW, K<L & Prop'r. m mt -r ~a _ i " FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Report of the Proceedings from Day to Duy. SENATE. Monday.?Mr. Morgan's Cuban resolution was discussed at considerable length in the Senate. For the first time Bince the debate began opposition sentiment expressed itself, Hale, of Maine, and "White, of California, speuking against it, while Turpie of Indiana, supported it. Chauder, Republican, of New Hampshire, from the committee on census, reported a bill for taking the twelfth census. Hale, in his long argument against Morgan's resolution, 9aid its object was to prevent Spain from making a loan and thus prevent r ' her from putting down the insurrection. Tuesday.? The Cuban question occupied the entire attention of the Seuate, the debate taking a large range, and at times becoming spirited, when comparisons were made between the attitude of the former administration and the present on the subject of Cuba. The debate went over until Wednesday. During the day Senator Kyle, Populist, of South Dakota, rising to a question of privileges, disclaimed having sought committee places from Republicans. A. partial conference on the Indian appropriation bill was agreed to. Wednesday.?In the Seratethe sugar investigation of 1894 was resumed bv the introduction of a resolution of Allen, of Nebraska. Morgan, of Alabama, made a statement relative to his resolution on Cuba, but it went over for further consideration. A resolution by Butler, (Pop.) of North Carolina, requesting the President for information relative to the sale of the Union Pacific Railroad was presented and went over. The Senate then took up the calendar and passed bills as follows: For the relief of oertain citizens of Montana, claiming the benefits of the homestard laws; fronting to Montana 50,000 acres | of land in aid of an asylum for the blind; J appropriating $174,000 to Charles P. Chouteau, for extra work on the iron clad Etlah; appropriating $15,000 for Newberry oollege, Newberry, S. C., for war losses. The immigration and the kinetosoope bills were reached, but went over on objection. Thursday. ?After a long period of calm, the Senate was considerably agitated, first in the discussion of tiie sugar Senate investigation and then by a preliminary skirmish on the tariff ! bill. The Allen resolution, to bring Elverton R. Chapman before the bar of the Senate, was debated in somewhat a monotonous sty'e until Tillman, of So.:th Carolina, gave a present interest , to the subject, referring to reports that . Senat rs had within the last week specalated In sugar stock. Morgan's Cuban resolution came up and went over until Monday. Gallinger introduced a resoyf-; Jution for the appronropriation of $50,000 for the relief of suffering Americans E* In Cuba. The resolution went to the y. -committee on foreign relations. Just before adjournment Aldrich, in charge v .of the tariff bill, announced that he would not call up the the tariff bill next "Tuesday as contemplated, but on the following Thursday, when a statement would be made, the regular aebate to | begin not later b?n ^fgnday, May 24. HOUSE. Mospat.?The House resumed the transaction of public business, and entered upon the consideration of the amendments of the civil appropriation bill. The general debate, aqd most of the debate under the five minute rule, was confined to the discussion of the ;i);. Senate amendment to restore the lands MM . ' reserved as forest reservations under President Cleveland's order of Fobrub?; ?ry 22, to the public domain. The W ostern members generally supported . the Senate proposition. jet; i'vesdat. ?The most interesting debate was on the appropriation of $>0,0O> to improve Pearl Harbor, in the Hawaiian islands, which was rejected r \ by a vote of 85 to 58. Hitt, of Illinois, wanted the government to take steps to couiirm its title, saying without it as a coaling station our nation would be I helpless in case of war. The House (failed to agree with the b'enate amend' ment on Cleveland's reservation order, but wanted another to the same effect. At 5:30 the House adjourned until Thursday. * 5 I Thuwda*. ?In tne House the Indian appropriation bill was disposed of, ex- I "v , cept the provision for opening the Utah gilsonite lands, which went over i until Monday. Nearly two hours were consumed in a parliamentary squabble on the point raised by Wheeler, of Ala- I bama, that the rule for semi-weekly session was in violation of the Consti- I tutioa. Simpson (Pop.), of Kansas, I r* endeavored to renew his attack upon the speaker for failing to appoint com- I . mittees, and censured the Republicans * - ' I? TV. I lor not musiering a quurum. iud Shaker ruled him out of order, but finally he was given the floor by a vote of yo to 57. W hen he proceeded again ' he was called down, and then there was some filibustering after the House decided that Simpson could not speak. * whereupon he appealed to the chair to be informed "where am I at?" "The chair has never been able to find any oue who knew that." w as the reply. * - How Large Profits Are Made. } If firet-cla8s bicycles can be manufactured in large quantities for twentyfive dollars etfch, how much less does it cost to build type-writing machines? Is there any reason whv such machines should sell for 8100 each? Is there any reason why purchasers should pay even fifty dollars for such? What makes it possible for the manufacturers to secure five or six times the original cost? Persistent and judicious advertising. Wins Their Suit. The Bell Telephone Company have won the case brought against it by the United States government to annul the Berliner patent. This continues the control of the telephone by the Bell Company for seventeen years from 1P91. when the last patent was granted. Cotton Firms Dissolve. The Inman cotton firms of Atlar is and Augusta, Ga., Houston, Texas; New York and Bremen, Germany, are to expire by limitation on Sept. 1st* by Mr. S. M. Inman retiring and younger members stepping in. MOB LYNCHES TWO GIRLS J Colored Servants Handed to a Tree in Alabama. THEY HAD POiSONED A FAMILY. One or Them Confessed?IIa<l Killed One Person and Nearly Killed a Score? The Lynching Was the Work of About Twenty Men and Their Identity Has Not Been Discovered by the Sheriff* Birmingham. Ala. (Special).?Mollie Smith and Amanda Franklin, two young colored women, were found at daybreak Wednesday morning swinging from a tree on the road between Jeff and Huntsville, in Madison County. The twenty men who had lynched them had disappeared. The girls paid the penalty of death for poisoning the family f Joshua 0. Kelly, a prominent citizen of Jeff. Several attempts have been made to poison tho Kelly family. The first was made two months ago. Mr. Kelly and his family, consisting of eleven persons, arose from the supper table one night suffering from terrible pains, and the next day Mr. Kelly died in great agony. It was ascertained that arsenic had got into the coffee, but it was thought then that it was an accident. Eleven persons set up with the body of Mr. i Kelly the night after his death. Toward midnight they partook of some sausage.and at once became ill. Fortunately there was a physician in attendance, and no fatality resulted. Last Friday all the members of the family arose from the breakfast table with terrible cramps in the stomach. Although none has yet died, several are still in a dangerous condition. This time it developed that the poison was in the bread. Suspicion was then directed to Mollie Smith, a younjj colored girl, who had zormeriy woricea in xne iamny, aoqaawrcu of her house was made. Mollie had anticipated the visit, and had started to Tennessee on foot. Amanda Franklin, Mollie's successor in the Kelly home, was also suspected. Twenty men gathered Wednesday. Some of them started out to capture Mollie, whom they overtook some ten miles away. The Franklin girl was found at her'home, in bed. She was told to get up and dress, and go with the posse, which she did. The Franklin girl gave way when she was cross-questioned, and finally made a clean breast of the whole affair. She confessed to the last poisoning, but said Mollie Smith had put the poison in the coffee and sausages, and had persuaded her to poison the bread, which she did while carrying the flour of which it was made from the pantry to the kitchen. The Smith girl denied everything, even when faced with the Franklin girl and the letter's confession. The posse, satisfied of the guilt of the two girls, carried them to the woods, a short distance from Mollie Smith's house, and, deaf to tears, prayers and screams, tied ropes about their necks and hanged them to a tree, waiting quietly until it was evident they were dead. Without a word they then stole away in the darkness. There will probably never be a clew to their identity. BOY MURDERER HANGED. Elmer Clawson the Youngest Person Ever Executed In New Jersey. Elmer Clawson, a boy of nineteen years of age, was hanged Wednesday in the Somerset County Jail af Somerville, N. J., for the murder of Harry Hodgett, his former employer. He was the youngest murderer executed in the State, and next to the youngest person convicted of a capital crime in New Jersey. The drop fell at 10.07 o'clock, a. m., and in nine minutes the Joung murderer was pronounced dead. efore the execution he admited his guilt and expressed contrition for his crime. He was attended by Rev. J. 0. Wiemer of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Somerville, who said that he had baptized the ondeained youth. The crime for which Clawson paid the death penalty was committed at 6 o'clock on the morning of August 29. 1896. The victim was his former employer, Harry Hodgett, an Englishman, thirty years of .1 J ? ?ann af Pin Air. Bge, tun unuci vi a ouiau nuiu > . ..v_ amin. Clawson demanded work and a quarrel followed, Hodgett accusing the young man of having robbed him while in his employ a year before. During a quarrel the youth shot Hodgett. The murderer then rode away on his bicytfld, but was overtaken by two men in a buggy. ^ TRANSVAAL'S REPLY DEFIANT. Insists Upon Its Bights and Suggests Arbitration With England. A dispatch from Cape Town, South Africa, says that the reply of the Transvaal Government to the .strong note, said to amount to an ultimatum^ from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, insisting upon observance of the London Convention, is defiant In tone. It Insists, the dispatch adds, upon the right of the Transvaal to demand arbitration of the questions in dispute, and also upon its right to pass the Allen Immigration law, and asserts that, if the right is disputed, arbitration is the best means of arriving at a settlement of the question. Japanese Cruiser at Honolulu. f On May 5 the Japanese cruiser Naniwa arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, from Yokohama with Japanese Commissioner Abiyama, who is to investigate the cases of the rejected immigrants. Commissioner Abivama states that his mission is friendly. If ne finds the Hawaii Government has erred a claim for damages will be made. He denies that Japan seeks war, and says negotiations will be conducted diplomatically. Elected a New Speaker. Speaker Charles BlAndford, of the Kentucky House of Representatives, is in Washington in pursuit of n Federal office. He has been there so iong, ana uas giveu uv sign of returning, that his fellow legislators moved that a new Speaker be elected. The motion was adopted, and M. T. Flippin, of Monroe County, was chosen to succeed Mr. Blandford. Wintry Weather tin Great Britain. Heavy snowstorms prevailed on May 12 over the English counties of Berkshire, Lincolnshire and Herefordshire. In Scotland there have been heavy snow and hail storms, and the weather has been as cold as during the month of November. There was a sharp frost in London and in the inland counties. Wild Dear a Pest. Wild deer have multiplied^ immensely on Long Island dnringthe closed season. They are not only eating the crops, but are destroying plants and flowers. Getting Beady for War. A commission of British cavalry officers and veterinary surgeons is in the Argentine Republic buying horses for the British ; avalry service. Spain the Arbitrator. Peru and Bolivia have submitted their territorial dispute to the arbitration of boain. . - ;. : "t .: ' OUR BUTTER FOR EUROPE. yir?t Step in an Effort to Extend the Market for the American Product. The first experimental exportation of butter from this country has Just been made from New York City, when the government, through an agent sent by the Agricultural Department, shipped three quarters of a ton of selected butter for sale in Europe. The result of this experiment 1s of great iirportr.nce to the agricultural interests, as it is the first step in an effort of the Government to extend materially the market for Amedean butter and gain some of the trade with Great Britain in particular which Denmark practioally controls with considerable profit. An incidental object is to determine wnat improvements are needed in transportation facilities. Some butter Is now being sent abroad by private firms, but it is alleged to be of inferior grades. Unsatisfactory storage in crossing the ocean and carelessness in leaving the shipments on uncovered piers at Southampton before being loaded into freight cars, thus making the butter soft, have further deteriorated its value In the English market. The butter sent comes from the Iowa Agricultural College and a creamery at Windsor, Vt. Subsequent shipments which will be made during the summer at intervals will be of butter from other places. To build up a high standard only the best grades will be shipped, and the butter wlb be sold at the prevailing market prices. The present shipment went on the stsamex St. Paul, and will be kept at a low temperature. The cargo is maae up of packages oi different sizes to determine which is most satisfactory. A Department agent will meet the ship at Southampton, England, and take proper care of the produot aad attend to its sale. The appointment of butter agents by the Department at New York and Southampton to take care of then* interests is possible. r NEW MOTIVE POWER USED. Electricity Tested on the new England Rail rood. The directors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, In conjunction with the directors of the New York and New England Railroad Company, have begun the most important experiment ever undertaken by those who believe In the ultimate supremacy of electricity over steam as a motive power. A train moved and controlled by electricity developed at a central power-house was run from Berlin, Conn., to Hartford, on a regular schedule between two trains drawn by steam locomotives, in the ordinary way. The electrically equipped train did not in any way interfere with the passage of the train drawn by looomotives. This is important as showing that railroads on whioh there is a large and constant volume of passenger trafflo may be gradually changed from steam to electricity without any interference with the oomfort of passengers. Colonel H. H. Heft, the ohief electrial engineer of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, demonstrated that k direct current of electricity can be sent without serious loss from leakage for a distance of nearly thirteen miles from the oentral power station. Taking in this case, Berlin, Conn., as the oentre, it will be possible to replaoe steam locomotives ana cars for Hartford, New Britain, Meridan, Waterbury, Mlddletown, Walling zoru ana oiner ciuee 01 me nutmeg mate, comprising a population of oyer 200,000 Inhabitants. KENTUCKY a A. R. ENCAMPMENT. Ex-Confcder?toi Take Prominent Parts In the Ceremonies. ^ The State Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic, at Lexington, was the most remarkable eyer held In Kentucky, from the fact that ex-Confederates took the leading part In the exercises, and only one Union soldier made a set speech. Captain Stephen G. Sharp, an ex-Confederate. was the Chief Marshal of the day. Colonel William C. P. Breckinridge, an exConfederate, made the address of welcome. Judge Jerre B. Morton, an ex-Confederate, presented the encampment in a neat speech with a gavel made from wood grown on the battlefield of Chickamauga. The only Federal soldier to make an address was General Samuel E. Hill, AdjutantGeneral of Kentuoky under Governor Buoknex. He accepted the gavel on behalf of the Grand Army of the Republic. He made wuBi woo uuusiuorou mo uoav opoouu ui mo afternoon, and when he spoke of how the old sojdiexs had barled the hatchet he asked Judge Morton to rise. They clasped hands, and in this position General Hill finished his address amid deafening and prolonged applause. Then five hundred school children sang "Dixie." About 12,000 persons were in attendanoe. The parade was participated in by all of the larger Southern military organizations. The encampment was held at the Chautauqua grounds. * MBILLH STRONG SHOT DEAD. The Famous Kentucky Mountain Fighter Assassinated. Captain William Strong, the greatest mountain fighter in eastern Kentucky, died with his boots on a few days ago, after having successfully dodged rifle bullets for twenty-five years. He had left his home, which is about ten miles east of Jackson, to go to the house of a neighbor, and had been gone only a few minutes when his family was startled by shooting, whioh appeared to be not more tnan half a mile away. Members of the family ran toward the place where the sound of shooting was and found Strong dead on the roadside, seven bullets having penetrated his body. Strong was lying on his back with his revolver in his right hand. The revolver had barely been drawn from his pocket when a bullet broke the arm. Not a shot had been fired from the revolver. Investigation showed that a blind had been constructed in a place immediately above the road commanding a full view of the thoroughfare for a distance of several hundred yards. Scraps of bread and meat were found behind the blind, and other signs which showed that several men had been hiding there for Strong. TERRIBLE CRIME IN RUSSIA. A Hermit Walls Up Alive Seventeen to Receive the Martyr's Crown. A terrible crime, the result of superstition, has been committed at Tireepol, in the government of Kherson, Russia, where are a number of hermitages inhabited by sectarians. Recently seventeen of the hermits disappeared, and it was believed that they had emigrated in fear of the impending day of Judgment, but a hermit named Kowalind has' confessed that he walled them up alive in response to their earnest entreaties that they might receive the martyr's crown. The police examined the spot and verified the confession. United States nave 50,000,000 co.^ 'Mexico is the rlohest mineral country, i Ohio has Just witnessed its first electros eution. There are more than 900 golf clubs in tbp United States and Canada. Sixty-live million dollars is the ye?rly value or the potato crop of the United Kingdom. A large increase in tobacco aereage ove? that of last year is predicted in l'ennsyi vania. Earl Gray Wilson, the ncwiy-elecjcba Mayor of Morrow, Ohio, is said to be /Only v.e?j -one years old. i i IN THE QUIET HOUKS. PRECNANT THOUGHTS FROM THE V/ORLD'S GREATEST AUTHORS, Be Always Prepared?A Protest-A Prayer ?Seed Growing?Work for All at the Master's Bidding-God's Ways are the Best?The Secret of Love for Christ. Said Mark to Martin. "Wherefors spend Such constant care thy vines to tend? It may be months, it may be years, Before the vineyard's Lord appears." Said Martin, "Though it may be long Before 1 hear His harvest-song, If of that hour can no man say, It may be that He comes today." ?Julia Wood. A Protest Against Morbidness. The Apostle's injunction, "Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to ecllllcation, Dnngs out me sunny siue 01 tno ideal Christian life. It is a protest against the morbidness and the mournfulness which are too commonly associated with Christian discipleship. It helps u:i to draw a distinction between seriousness and dullness, between earnestness o'- purpose and frigidity of soul. It remimls us that whatever throes and pains may a'tend the germination and growth of the ideal life, that life should present to the world the rich blossom and fragrance which minister pleasure to mankind. 1 here is, therefore, some flaw in the piety which is repellent, and in the zeal to ao good which succeeds only in hiding the beauty of holiness. If there were any doubt on this point, it would only be necessary to brii g it to the test of the one Ideal Life lived among men. No life can compare with His in the sense of solemnity and seriousness. Upon Him lay the burden of the heaviest task over imposed upon man. Through sorrows unspeakable, yet with unfaltering step, He pressed on to the goal of sacrifice. Yet, from first to last, He exercised upon men the charm of an attractive spirit, which made them feel it was happy to be good.and scattered around Him influences which added to the joys and delights of life. And in this matter of winsomeness, His disciples have great need to learn of Him. It is their duty to cultivate His charm, to discipline themselves into His power to make the world brighter and men happier. A crotchety Christian is a monstrosity. The man who fails to spread peace, joy, hope, In this world of real and countless sorrows, is an enemy of the race and a criminal before God. For foremost among the marks of the ide.il life is the faculty of enjoying and dispensing the gladness of the Creator. ?Charles A Beiry, D.D. A l*rayer for Larger Growth. Christ, who dost bid me not to let my hear: be troubled, I believe in God and in thee. Let thy joy be in me, and let it be fulfilled. Fulfilled in the presence of fail* ure if thou didst send the failure, and my own folly did not invite it: fulfilled in sickness,If the great Physician bestows the sickness in order to beat me fulfilled in loneliness, if the solitude is crowded with tbee; fulfilled even in death, when death is the shadow of thy light. Wherever I turn my weeping eyes thy loving face is a tender reproach. I mourn over my sins in such wise that the mourning is an added sin. I grieve at my poor service of God and of man, and that grief hinders my service. I sorrow at my paltry growth?a growth that sorrow dwarfs and joy enlarges. Blessed Lord, who dost die in my deaths, take me into thy resurrection life. I will forget failure and gloom; I will forge t duty, even the duty of joy; and I will learn privilege. Speed me on thy errands so s sviftly that 1 shall have no time for moodiness. Take me into thy joy so compete v that I shall not even consider whether 1 am joyful. And all through no grace of my own, but out of thy love which hs? promised and never failed. Amen. Only the Seed Orowing. Let. it not bo a group of ash trees, but a group of men, ... a thought of God en- | trusted to the earth for its embodiment and execution. What are those dreams and visions.tbese upward reaching*, these certainities of infinite belongings?what are they, O thought of Ood, but the unbroken tension of the chain which binds the thinker to His thought forever? And what are t all these earthlinesses, these tender clinglngs to the things our senses understand, .... these calls of present duties, this fear of dying, this love of the present, warm, domestic earth?what are they all but the pressure of the warm ground upon the seed entrusted to It ? The man who does not somehow hold the complete truth about his life?both of these truths combined in one?does not live worthily. The man who has and holds them both, look, what a life he lives! Look how substantially his roots are fastened in the earth. Look bow aspiringly he lifts his branches to the sky.?Phillips Brooks. God's Ways Are Best. Sometimes rain comes in storms, with black clouds and fierce lightnings and thunders. People tremble and are afraid as they look on. But the storm passes, pouring out rich blessing of rain, which make all the fields rejoice. God sometimes sends His word to us in dark, portentous forms?sickness, loss, disappointment, sorrow, trial. At first we are terrified; but in the end, when the storms have cleared away, we find that the dark clouds we so dreaded were but God's messengers to bring to us rich blessings of grace. "God bends from out the deep, and says, 'I gave thee of My seed to sow ; Bringest thou Me my hundredfold?' Can I look up with face aglow, And answer, 'Father here is gold?'" -J. B. Miller, D. D. The Master ttlds Us Work. "Roll ye away the stone," said Jesus to His disciples,not because He could not have Himself attended to that small task, but He would enl ist their service. "Loose him and " 11** ooiH TTa funnlH Himself in liiui UO UUiVI , MV v? W.v. bare unwound the bandages, but that is not His way of doing things. He is saving the world through us. There are multitudes of souls awakening to the glory of the better life?moving, like Lazarus, with slow, uncertain, tottering steps from darkness to light. His word to every one of His followers is : "Lead a hand. Loose them and let them go." Why stand we idle at the grave's mouth ? We cannot regenerate, we cannot quicken from the dead, but we can suffer the Master to use us. The great Emancipator speaks. Unbind the cerements! This is practical "Altruism." This is the work of all true believers. So may we help our Master in accomplishing the restoration of the race to the glory of God.?Rev. D. J. Burred, D. D., in "For Christ's Crown." The Secret of Love for Christ. Wherein lies the personal power of the Lord Jesus to bind human hearts to Him in devoted lore and heroic service ? He was indeed perfect as God is perfect, and in being this He left all His disciples.even such an one as St. Paul hopel essly behind. But the divine loftiness of His character does not remove Him beyond reach of our sympathy. We do not loose interest in Him because he is so much better than we are. On the contrary, it is by His excellence that He draws us. He is to our hearts the imitablo inimitable, holding us at once by aspiration and by admiration.?A. B. Bruce. Ft ith is n grasping of almighty power; The hana ruan laid Dnthe arm of God? The grand sad blessed hour In which th. things impossible to me Become the i sible,0 Lord.through Thee. -A. E. Hamilton. ( .THE NEWS EPITOMIZED. Washington Items. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Theodore Roosevelt will investigate charges that have been made against various departments in the New York Navy Yard. The President nominated BrigadierGeneral James W. Forsyth to be MajorGeneral. Senator Allen introduced a resolution requiring Broker Chapman, of New York, to appear before the bar and purge himself of contumacy as a preliminary to Executive clemency. 8enatorHoar thought the resolution would let the case go out of the Senate's jurisdiction. He favored punishing Chapman and also probing the Issue to the bottom. General Wesley Merritt has Issued an order refusing to appoint a court-martial to try charges against Lieutenants O'Brien and Bamford, preferred by Captain Romeyn. In dismissing the charges against O'Brien he says that the charges grew out of a feeling of personal spite, and that military tribunals could not be made vehicles of private revenge. o * - - ? a -J .AmlnafInnnt JL UC7 OCUOtO UUUUfUICU IUO uwmiuawtvu v* Cornelius Van Cott to be Postmaster of New York. ~ Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee inspeoted reports on Cuban affairs at the State Department, which are said to strengthen the cause of the Insurgents. President McKinley decided to accept no invitations to take part in Memorial Day exercises outside of Washington. The House refused to concur in a Senate amendment to the Sundry Civil bill approEriating $50,000 to improve Pearl Harbor, 1 the Hawaiian Islands. President McKinley appointed Albion W. Tourgee Consul at Bordeaux. Sidney B. Everett, of Massachusetts, was named to be United States Consul of the United 8tates at Batavia, Java. Henry P. Cheatham, of North Carolina, was named to be Recorder of Deeds, District of Columbia. The Secretary of State and Mrs. Sherman held a large reoeption In honor of the. seventy-fourth birthday of the former. Six; hundred invitations were sent out, and the guests included the President and Mrs. McKinley, Vice-President and Mrs. Hobart, members of the Cabinet and the Diplomatic Corps, with ladies and other friends. President Gordon, of Leland Stanford University, has been appointed eommission3r to investigate the condition of the Bering Sea seal herd the present season. Th? report that seoret negotiations of great importance are being carried on be;ween Spain and the United States in regard to Cuba Is denied at the State Department. W. L. Scruggs, formerly United States Minister to Venezuela and now senior counsel of th8t republic, arrived with the approved boundary treaty with Great Britain.1 the ratifications will be exchanged In Washington. United States Senators signed a petition isking the President to pardon E. B. Chapnan, convicted of refusing to answer questions before the Senate sugar scandal oqiunlttee. Domestic. Cbanf Ten Hoon, head of the Chinese Imperial Treasury and special Ambassador :o the Queen's jubilee celebration, arrived m New York on Ms way to England. Edward E. Dodge, aged fifty years, com-, nltted suicide at Worcester, Mass. He went to Dr. Bice's house, where he met Dr. Bice, %nd presented a pistol to the letter's head,; rhe doctor Induced him to lie down In an ftdjolnlng room. No sooner bad the doctor turned his back than Dodge fired a bullet Into his head. Gerald Peters, a West Indian oolored ?per, stole a boat and escaped from North Brother Island, New York City. A late break In a Louisiana levee willj muse some of the richest sugar lands In that State to-be submerged. The Grand Jury In New York City ihIfcted Commander Booth-Tucker, of the lalvation Army, for maintaining a publio juisance?the Fourteenth street barracks. The new Flower telescope andobserra ;ory duu dings or me university 01 .reniisyir&nia were dedicated at Philadelphia In :he presence of about fifteen hundred persons. C. C. Baldwin, Naval Officer of the Port >f New York, died In Newport, B. I. He vim born is Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1831, and when the war broke out mtered the Confederate Army from Baltinore. Ten-year-old Mamie Cnmmihgs, who was irreeted at Mount Vernon, N". Y., April IT .'or stealing-a blcyclfc from Charles MoKen:le, was sent to the Catholio Protectory at Westchester. One of the worst failures known fn Ban rrancisco, Cal., for several years occurredphen Williams, Brown A Co., who did a. keavy trade fn canned salmon, wheat and fruit with Australia, failed for #600,000: The firm was established five years agebyi William Brown, son of Cashier Thomas Brown, of the Bank of California. Bnmford Falls, Me., will soon have the' )iggest paper machine in the world. It< vas made in Worcester, Mass., and will' )roduce paper 160 inches wide, beating the world's record by two inches. Professor Shaffer, of the Rochester (N. ?.) Theological Seminary, fell out of a' window and was killed. Owen Bowie asked Charles Smith, a farm land, for a chew of tobaoco at Frederlok, j tfd., and upon being refused shot Smith1 with an old armv musket and made his es ;ape. Smith died. Both are colored, and1 Bowie Is known as a desperate character.! Frederick Jackson Cunningham, a young nan of good family and high social post* Jon, is In prison at Atlanta, Ga., oharged rlth highway robbery- and with assault rith intent to kill. Fifteen students of Grove City College, I me of the best known schools in Western Pennsylvania, have been expelled by the lollege faculty for riotons conduct. C. H. Damsel, general bookkeeper at the! National Bank of Columbus, Ohio, is found o be short $25,000) in his accounts with the >ank. He fled. In anticipation of the duty of ten cents >er pound provided for in the Senate imendment to the tariff bill the price of] ea has been advanced in New York markets !rom three to Ave cents a pound. The sealed verdict of tho jury In the ease >f F. A. Rockafellow, the former banker, rho was oharged with embezzlement, was >pened in court at Wilkesbarre, Penn. The lefendant was found guilty with a recomnendatlon to mercy. Foreign. ? . _ William J. Calhoun, the special eommftiloner appointed by President MoKinley to nvestigate the death of Rlcardo Ruiz and >ther matters connected with the Cuban inlurrection, arrived at Havana. A series of earthquake shocks have 'been 'elt in the mountain districts of the State )f Jalisco. Mexico. At San Gabriel some lamage was done. The shocks were, felt iistinctlv. New gold mines have been discovered in ;he Province of Carabaya, Department of Puno, Peru. It i? believed they will yield largely. The Ambassadors of the Powers at Constantinople asked the Porte to suspend hos:ilities in Greeee pending the oonolusion of i permanent peace. Turkey at first dedined the request. A dispatch from Naples announces that two large streams of lava have been flowing down Mount Vesuvius and have united with the deposits from the eruptions of 1895. The activity in the principal crater Is normal. A battle has been fought in Bechuanaland, South Africa, in which six whites, have been killed and thirteen wounded. i-' f'i&k''* ? f * ' ' ? .r' . ' * ' 4 . . < ' J - - u CROPS IF-1 Cill J The May Returns of the Department of Agriculture. PROGRESSOFCOTTON PLANTING V Percentage of Contemplated Acreage Thus Far Planted Above the Average for the Past Seven Years. The May returns of the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, show a ^ decline from the April condition of 1.2 points?80.2 against 81.4 last month and $ 82.7 May 1st, 1800. The averages of the winter wheat States are: Ohio, 82; Michigan, 81; Indiana, Gl; Illinois, 87; Missouri, 54, ? Kansas, 78; California, 97: Pennsyl- 'M vauia, 00. The averages in the a Southern States are higher, rang- > ing from 85 in Mississippi to $Sr 98 in Texas, and in the minor States, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary- > land and Virginia, from 98 in New Jersey to 102 in Maryland. As ^ported in JS April, the worst injuries from freezing <3 and deficient snow are in Illinois, - S though the bordering States, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, report ^ severe winter injury, and States border- ,aj| ing these, Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska tB and Kansas, show reduced condition figures. Over the oountry elsewhere the condition is unusually good, being 'Sj practically normal east of the Alleghany.. j mountains and quite high also ou tba M Pacific slope. The average condition of spring paa- * ture is 93.4, against 98.2 a year ago; and that of meadows 98.4, against 91.6 in 1890, the wet spring having been favorable particularly in the region! of % deficient rainfall. The per centage of spring plowing , finished May 1 is 61.9, the usual per-\ centage being 78, only the extreme $ Northern and Southern States showing the customary proportion. Everywhere 2g else delay resulted from the late season .1 and heavy rains. fiannrtji (rnm F.nrnnfl arfl cpnerallv ;e favorable as to the condition of crops, bat in France there is a reduced area of j winter wheat and the crop is expected 'J to fall short of last year's at least 16.- 1 000, (XXX bushels. In parts of 'Prussia .M the spring showings have been retarded ipjl by rain. The Viceroy of India telegraphs that there will be no wheat for . export from that country this year. The cotton rei>ort for the month of May, as consolidated by the statistician , jS of the Department of Agriculture, relates to the progress of cotton planting and the contemplated acreage. The ex- ?s tent of the proposed breadth already & planted on the first day of May was 61.9 against 87.9 per cent, last year. This figure is several points below the "rl amount usually planted at this date. The estimates for the several States are as follows: Virginia.81; Florida 90, Ala- " bam a 85, North Carolina 74, South Car* ;Qj| olina 80, Georgia 82, Mississippi 80, Louisiana 86, Texas 88, Arkansas 75, ] Tennessee 58, Missouri 45. The returns of correspondents in relation to contemplated acreage as compared with the acreage last year, which are simply indicative of correspondents- -3 views as to intentions ol planters in re- .. ~ speot of area to be planted, are sum- * marized as follows: General average* | 105.4 per cent of last year's breadth, apportioned to State a* follows: North. H Carolina 106. South Carolina 108,. Georgia 108, Florida 101, Alabama 104*.' Wk Mississippi 102, Lonisiana 102, Texas- i. t 109, Arkansas 104, Tennesse 105. In 'Xj the northern part of the cotton belt planting has been greatly retarded by the late season and heavy rains. Thie ^ is less the case toward the Gulf, while- vf in Texas planting is further advanced, this, year than usual. -TE Methodist Board of Education.Tha Board of Education of the Metfo- - 1 odist Episcopal Ghnrch, South, met in I Nashville, Tenn. W. B. Hill, of Mar eon, Ga, and T. B. Anderson, of Cali- B fornia, were the only absentees. Tha u report of the secretary wss read1 and adopted. The committee appointed4at ] the last meeting of the board to fermu- W late a system for improving the oondi- . tion of Methodist schools reported. The flj recommendations refer chiefly to mis- flj ing the standards of preparatory schools and colleges. With slignt amendments* S the report was adopted. Bishop Dun- ' % can made a successful appeal far ? help for Paine Institute, at Augusta, % Ga C. C. Goodrich, of Augusta^ Ga* WAS elected & member of tne Doarov vice ?j W. B. Hill, resigned. The Exposition Now Open. j According to previous announcement' f the Women's Exposition of the Caro- b'?fl linas was opened at Charlotte, N. G., on the night of the 11th, and was *' 1 brilliant success in every way. The attendanoe numbered over 500 and the building was beautifully decorated for the occasion. Mrs. Robert Cotten, of - yP Falkland, N. C., delivered the opening: address. A Monument to Southern Women. n At Richmond, Va., on the 10th, Me- J| morial Day was the most imposing in fl recent years. Senator John W. Daniet n was the orator. He paid a beautiful * \ tribute to the Confederate soldier and made an earnest plea for a monument . to the women of the South. The crcwd va* estimated at 10,000. Practically Accomplished. The latest news from Athens, Greeoe, soys that the surrender of Greece haa been practically accomplished aid that the powers are now acting upon the ' formal acceptance of the troops leaving Crete. To Be Contested. A dispatch from Washington says that Col. Jas. E. Boyd, of Greensboro, N, C., ia to got the place of Assistant Attorney-General in the Department of % Justice, instead of Solicitor of Internal Revenue. Also tnat ex-iMprsenwur? Cheatham's nomination as Recorder of, Deeds for the Distriet of Columbia has been sent to the Senate, but that there there will be a contest over hia CQUftruu atibn by local Republicans. 4 t * 1 lb