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MINISTER CONGi Reports the Legation I of the Ch * NEWS REGARDED AS AUTHENTIC. The Message Came to .Minister Wu and Stated That Minister Conger V.. s Still'Alive -Department Inclined to to Beli.ve the .News Washington. B. C.. Special.?The State Department Friday morning received the following cablegram from Minister Conger, at Pekin: '"In Britsh legation. Under continued shot and shell from Chinese troops. Quick relief only can prevent general massacre." The message is not dated, but it is understood was sent from Pekin on the 18th. Washington. D. C., Special.?Lik" a flash of sunlight out of a dark sky can)" the intelligence at an early hour Suit United States Minister Conger i.ad gent a cipher cable dispatch from IVkin to the State Department at Washington. making known that two d:?>s ago he was alive and that the t'? re'gners were fighting for their iives. The message was received by the Chinese minister. Wu Ting Fung, at 8:30 a. m. Within an hour the welcome intelligence that Conger had been heaid from, after weeks of silence and evil report, was flashed through the conn*? A ?/ .,! tKvAxo-ViAnt tKr? a*nrltl ur > , llliu IUUVCI * LMV nv. dispelling the gioom which had prevailed everywhere and bringing to officials and to the public, generally, a sense of profound relief. The dispatch was in reply to Secretary Hay's cable inq hary to Minister Conger on July 11. and as both messages were in the American cipher code they were rega-ded by the officials as above the suspicion i f having been tampered with in the < oxvse of transmission through Chfhr.se channels. Mr. Wu promptly < orr.unicutcd the dispatch to the State Department, where the ti.:nsla*:cn was made from ;.:e cipher fig ire? and .-on all Washington was astir with <he inttlligon o. It was ^telegraphed by Secretary H..y to the ^ President who responded with a wholesome expre.-.-ior. of gratification, and word of it was sent to the various oei-inef officers. They gathered in Secretary Hay s office and an impromptu cabinet conference was held in the diplomatic chamber, mainly for the purpose of exchanging congratulations and of taking a survey of the situation to see if it had been materially changed by this important dovrlopment. First of all. from the standpoint of the administration officials. the most welcome feature of the nic-sago was the assurance that the American minister himself was alive two days ago. But with this cheering news came the ominous statement of Minister Conger that the besieged foreigners were in the British legation under continuous shot and shell from Chinese troops, and that only quick relief could avert a general massacre. After the first flush of thankfulnoac thtc vrot'or fna htro nf tho nussage began to impress itself upon cabinet officials most deeply. As one of them remarked: "There are the poor creatures, penned up under Are of shot and shell, appealing to us for help." The consultation brought about no pronounced change of policy, for it was felt that already absolutely every enVictory for Dubois. Poiatello. Ida.. Special.?The Democratic State convention reconsidered the vote by which it voted against the nomination of a Senator and instructed the conference committee to consider the Senator one of the officers to be apportioned in the fusion arrangements. This is a complete victory for Dubois, and the result will be in little doubt. The Blue and the Grav. Atlanta. Special.?A genuine Georgia barbecue Friday afternoon closed the re-union in this city of the Blue and the Gray. Although it was given ^' out at its inception that the re-union m was for the benefit only of those who * participated in the battles around Atlanta, and the city's invited gutsts, veterans from all parts of the South were present, swelling the crowds to large proportions. General John B. Gordon, commander-in-chief of the United CConfederate Veterans, disobeying bis physician's order, was present with the other distinguished guests. ER HEARD FROM L'nder the Constant Fire sinese Guns. e:gv had been lent toward meeting the situation, and there was absolutely nothing more that could be done. After .'11. the cabinet officials felt, and so I stated, that the message was an evijdc-me of friendliness an good faith of 4 jJiu-iuieiKU eieuiriu ui liitr ^liiue^e, j**ud that wisdom dictated a coarse I which would continue to utilize this ; friendsnip. The government accepted the mes' .-as,e as authentic, and Secretary Hay transmitted it to all our ambassadors and ministers abroad, with instructions to lay it before the respective governments to which they are accredited j and urge upon them the necessity of ' co-operation for the immediate relief of the foreigners at Pekin. A me sage | was sent by Secretary Ixjng to Admiral ! Remey conveying the intelligence of the desperate situation in Pekin. and I instructing him to "iv-e and urge every | i?c3-ible endeavor for rslief." This message. Secretary i^ong explained, meant for Admiral Romey to : himself "use" and to "urge" upon the commanding officers of the other powi ers the use of every endeavor for the relief of Pekin. Secretary Root s?nt a .-S-Vktl..,. n/At t A 1 Prtfilwlcro : siuiiiui itviiiiLaiiuu iw V/i/i. the senior American officer ashore at j Tien-T: in, but without injunction. This action was the result of the conference of Secretaries Hay, Long and Root. It was realized that the land and naval for< es of the Knited States now in China could not single handed push 0:1 , to Pekin. and the other powers, accordingly were appealed to. on the basis of Minister Conger's message, to co-oper-1 ate for instant relief. Secretary Hay ! oxnlained his reasons for niacins re dance in the authenticity of Minister Conger's dispatch, saying that it was ! a complete reply in code to the <ode nitsage sent to him. and that its au tiionticity was vouched for by the Tsung Li Yamen. "Of course, said Secretary Hay j smiling, "I am not omniscient and may be foaled, but I can not see how the authenticity o.' Minister Conger's cable c.?n he questioned." Secretary Hay said he attathed no ; significance to the use of the words i "Chinese trocps." in the message. They ! did not, in his opinion, mean that the Chinese government trc.ops were be- i sieging the foreigners. He seemed to entertain little doubt that the Chinese government itself was doing all in its power to suppress the Boxers' insurrection. In this c;nnection the message from Consul Fowler that General | f'uan Shih Kai, governor of Shen Tung province, reported that the Chinese an- ! ' :horities were doing all in their power . o put down the insurrection, is exceedingly welcome intelligence. It not only confirms the theory of the State Department that the position of the Chinese government is correct, but it is assumed to indicate that Yuan Shih Kai has thrown the weight of his influ. 1 ence on the side of the government. I Yuan is considered one of the ablest, if not the ablest, general, in China. He has. according to a statement matfe by Lord Charles Beresford to a prominent State Department official, when he was here last fall, the best drilled and equipped army in China under his command. Some doubt was entertained as to which side he would ally him;elf in iho nrcsunt insurrection and the fact that he appeared to have come out on the side of the government is 1 eepted as evidence that his best judgment is that Prince Tuan'a rebellion is destined to fall. Sixty Missionaries Killed. London, By Cable.?A dispatch from I Shanghai, received here Saturday, reports that 60 missionaries and 100 native converts have been massacred by Boxers at Tai Yuan. Tai Yuan is a fortified and populous city in the province of Shan Si, on the Fuen Ho, an affluent of the Hoang Ho, 250 miles southwest of Pekin. Fire in the Dismal Swamp. | Norfolk, Special?Weeks of drought ' have put a large portion of the Dismal j Swamp in a highly inflammable condi tion. and fires are eating into the timber undergrowth and peaty grounu at several points along the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Fires are supposed to have been started from locomotives. If no heavy rain comes soon, there may be heavy losses in the destruction of standing timber. The drought has effected the depth of water in both the Dismal Swamp and Albemarle and Chesapeake Canals, and some vessels of deep draft have not been able to get through. WHY THIS DELAY? Probable Reasons Why th? Advarc? ol the Allied Forces is Not Med.. Washington. D. C., Special.?Two dispatches from Chinese officials ana one from Admiral Remey at Taku represented the news developments of Saturday so far as the Chinese situation was concerned. The Chinese dispatches were corroborative or were intended to be. of the important news of Friday relative to the state of the legationers. Admir;* Remey's disI patch aside from a list of casualties I was most important. It conveyed the < i disagreeable news that the interna- 1 I tional column would not begin its ad! vance upon Pekin before the middle of j I August. This notice was received1 | here with consternation, in view of j I Mr. Conger's advice of the desperate j ! postion the legationers were in on the j i 1C.U T?u? ^l..in/./xmn..ARnno;R1/> I 13111. lilt- ut'iav is nu uiiiinojRiioit/ic | to the officials here. It is known that . an army, already formidable in nura- j hers and of veteran soldiers is at Tien j Tsin and Taku. and with a courageous ; leader, it was expected that this would ' push on at once; cutting loose from ! its base if need be. and forcing its j way to Pekir., leaving the re-enforce, j meats now steaming toward Taku j from every quarter of the globe to re- | establish the base and to reopen com-! munication. It is possible to draw two conclu-. i sions from a failure of the foreign commanders to do this. First, the | European governments have allowed j their skepticism as to the authenticity ! of .Mr. Conger's dispatch to carry them j to the point of proceeding coolly and j deliberately upon the first supposition, i namely that there are no foreigners ' ! alive to be saved; consequently there | is no need for haste. The'other conclusion is that friction ! is developing among the internationals I ' .1 f , 1 1Q SjJJIie Ul lUf caiurai cuucaiuio ui mC I powers whose motives as to China are so far unimpeached to prevent it. Col- j ! or is lent to this latter theory by the ! fact that fhe governments have so far i i been unable to agree upon an interna-' tional commander for the expedition ; 1 to Pekin, and this too, in spite of the fact that Admiral Remey, acting by the ; instructions of his government is ex-! | haustlng every effort to induce the | ; other commanders at Taku and Tien Tsin to hasten their movements. The text of Admiral Remey's statement relative to the movement 01 the 1 international column was not made public; in fact it was not intended that ! the news should get out. and there was a feeling of annoyance exhibited ' at the publication, because of its possible effect upon the international negotiations now under wav. Mean- ( while to secure an accurate statement of the exact conditions at Taku and Tien Tsin ar.J the resources which ?.!H 1,a * 4Ua .1 innnpa 1 f\f inrDrnM. Will uc at me uiopuoai wi vtiv ?.? j tional commander, whoever he may be i Secretary Ixmg to-day cabled Admiral Remov to send him a statement of the number of international troops now ashore in China, separating different nationalities. Gen. Chaffee is due at Nagasaki in a day or two. He will tranship at that point and arrive at Taku in about a week from this time. It has been sub-: gested here that Gen. Chaffee will, if j need be. leave the other commanders i to their own devices and lead the way | to Pekin himself. His brother offi- j j cers in the war department say. that j he is quite competent to undertake j this task. Others declare that with the small force of Americans at his j command, the attempt would be sui-j | cidal. even if Chaffee were supported , by the British. A notable feature is the inclusion of j Lieut. Col. Heistand, now United j States military attache to the Paris exposition commission. The troops movements ordered con-' horning the First infantry, had been ' anticipated. It is presumed that one ' effective battalion will be made Out of | the two battalions of that regiment returning from Cuba, excluding the j short term men, who will remain at Leavenworth, as the home battalion ' of the First regiment. This new battalion with a battalion ; now at Iyeavenworth will proceed to China. The consolidation into two of i the original six military departments j of Cuba, announced to-day, is nothing , more than the logical result of the j withdrawals of troops from that island j already directed. Sale of Georgia Peachea. New York, Special.?Nearly $600 ! was realized from the sale of crated [ peaches auctioned at tne pier or ine 1 Pennsylvania railroad. North river, for the benefit of the Georgia Industrial Home at Macon, oa. A carload of ?^)Oi:t 700 crates was contributed by the fruit growers of Georgia for this purpose. Norrow Escape. New York, Special.?Capt. Burg of I the Savannah, Line steamship City ot Birmingham, reports that when pass I lllg ^UUU) nuUK Miui U> auci uuuu Saturday, bound for Savannah, a shell ! j which was fired from tue Sandy Hook ! proving grounds struck the water be- 1 j tween his vessel and the shore, about 1 [ 150 feet from the vessel and ricochet ting passed over his vessel about midship. There was great excitement aboard the vessel at what was considered a very narrow escape, and many of the passengers were very much frightened. f % TilE GOEBEL MURDER TRIAL. Startling Testimony From a Republican Witness. Georgetown, Ky., Special.?In the < trial of Caleb Powers, charged with < complicity in the Goebel shooting. 1 Jno. A. Glade, of Barbourville, a banker and a Republican of prominence, was the first witness. He said Powers 1 *-?o r>> ri t /\ 4? i TY^ In Tonnnrv t r\ Ivtti as to the pro.Viety of the mountain '< organization which he said Powers was getting up. "I asked Powers," said,the witness, "what sort of a cfjv.d he was p.-tting up, and he said lie was organized an armed mob to go o Frankfort. I discouraged this and told him it would injure the Re; ab.iean party; would be a stigma on ;.u:- end of the State and ought to be abandoned. Powers, however, insisted .hat the mob should be formed. His idea was that it would intimidate the legislature." Black, continuing, said; "I saw Powers later and again remonstrated against the mountain mob going to Frankfort. Powers told me it was being formed with the approval of Governor Taylor, Charles Finley and other Republican leaders at Frankfort. Finley also came to me and endeavored to get me to co-operate with them. I protested bitterly. Powers became very angry with me on account of the position I took. I tried to disuade them from the dirty band and to send people of influence, if any." A check from Charles Finley, to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for $1,000 for transportation of the men to Frankfort was produced by Black in response to a queston from the prosecution. W. H. Culton, who is under indictment as an accessory to the killing of Governor Goebel, was called next. Cuiton said he attended a conference at Frankfort in January at which the i Powers brothers were present and the I matter of bringing mountain men to I Frankfort was being discussed. Hamp j Howard, Frank Cecil and other moun- j tain men were asked by Powers how , many they could bring from Harlan, , Belle and other counties. They promised to bring from 50 to 200 from each of the counties. Powers said, according to the witness, that when the m u arrived at Frankfort they would give ' the Democratic legislators 30 minutes in which to settle the contests and "if i they did not settle it in that time th'.y : would kill every one of them." Culton continued: "The mountain men arrived in Frankfort January Ji. They numbered from 1,000 to 1,200) men. These who carried guns had them stacked in the office of the Commissioner of Agriculture and each man was given a tag corresponding with a number on his gun. After holding the meeting m the State house yard the larger part of the crowd was sent j home." Culton said Henry Youtsey told him I ? I""! e nnnlrl Ka ' I1C I1UU 1UUUU a naji utcuci v.vuiu ?/v killed and no one find out who did L Youtsey said it could be done from the Secretary of State's office, and showed some steel bullets. The witness told i Youtsey such a thing should not be j done. Ex-Governor Bradley had told J witness of hearing that Goebel was to be killed and said it must not be done. Witness saw Youtse/ again and the lit ter said the idea had been abandoned. Powers, the witness alleged, distributed money among the various captains who were to bring the mountaineers to Frankfort. He did not know whence the money came. He declared Governor Taylpr furnished him (Cultoa) trie money to bring the Jackson county crowd. Witness said Governor Taylor did not want the mountain men to go home. He went to Berry Howard and others, at Taylor's instance, and told them the Governor wanted them to lemain and not go home as Powers wished. On the day of the VanMeter-Berry contest in the legislature the witness said Taylor sent orders by him to Assistant Adjutant General Dixon to have the troops in the arsenal ready to be i called out at a moment's notice. The court adjourned with Culton on the stand. Notes. In St. Louis Attorney General Crow filed in the State supreme court quo warranto proceedings against the St Louis Transit Company and United Railways Company and the National . Railway Company, to revoke the charters. Latest dispatches give what purports to be details of a massacre of foreigners in Pekin. ; Many Die From Heat. New York, Special.?The hot weather Wednesdey caused or contributed toward the death of more than seventy persons in this city and vicinity. A3 many more stricken ones are in the hospitals and some of them will succumb before the night is over. More \ than half the fatalities were among babies and little children and there are now about forty bodies of the litti* ones lying at the morgue at Bellevue. This is the third day of the spell of intense heat. Late at night the heat 1 moderated. On the streets the temperature ranged from 98 to 105. and the official record from the weather bureau ' high above ground was 94 degrees shortly before ? o'clock in the aitc-r- , noon. throughout the county. f The South. In consequence of the atrocities of die Albanians who recently raided old :!ervia, numerous bandc of Christians iiave lied into Servia and Montenegro. In a three-cornered fight at Hawesrille. Ky., Jack Hesson and Allen Pulliam were killed. TVio Qnnthorn lr.rfu?trinl T.^acilP met it Atlanta, Ga., last week. W. H. Culton, as a witness fct the trial of Caleb Powers, accused of the murder of William Goebel, revealed a plot to bring armed men to Frankfort to kill legislators. * At the trial of Caleb Powers, charged with complicity in the murder of William Goebel. a witness testified t? threats by Powers against Goebel'S life. Arthur Bailly B]anehard, of Ixrnisiana, has been appointed third secretary of the Embassy at Paris. The North. John Matthews, of Columbia College, New York, is the American delegate to the general meeting of th Society of Chemical Industry, at London. Two hundred fishing vessels are caught in the ice off the Labrador coast, and it is feared some of tbem ".-ill he lost. Fifty bathers, powerless to r,escue her, saw t3-ycar-old Margaret O'Brien drown at Lighthouse Point, Conn., on Tuesday. Professor J. M. Meneek, a distinguished scientist of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, D. C., was lost several days ago in the desert of Southern Utah, and is beleved to have perished. The National League of Republican Clubs elected Isaac Miller Hamilton. of Chicago, president. Stockholders ot the National Wallpaper Company decided at a "meeting in New York' to wind up its affairs. Curtis Guild, Jr.. of Boston, has declined the appointment of First Assistant Postmaster General, tendered him in succession to Perry S. Heath. The President has appointed IL Percival Dodge and Samuel Morrill, of Massachusetts, respectively as second and third secretary of the Embassy at Berlin. Nicholas Pierson. a prominent Democrat of New York State, was killed by a train at Ithaca. 11 Allicnn /iirjinlr Five-year-om .nanmm a probably fatal dram of gin careless, ly left on a table at Brooklyn, N. Y. Joseph A. Donnell, a New York letter carrier with eight years of service, is alleged to have been caught robbing the mails. The steamer Colorado, from New York for Brunswick, Ga., is achore at Doboy, Ga. William Waldorf As tor will build a hotel to cost $3,000 000 between Fortyfourth and Forty-fifth streets, on Broadway, New York. John G. Woolley, Prohibitionist can. dwidate for President, is to make a tour of the country in a special train, to be known as the ' Prohibition train. A formidable Ice Trust, in which nearly all the shareholders are Republicans, is crushing small dealers in Syracuse, N. Y. General Lew Wallace will probably preside over the meeting of the National Anti-Imperialist League, at Indianapolis, Ind., August 13 to 17. Foretjn. Lieutenant Colonel Perisse, a French officer, was accidentally suffocated by gas in India. Additional details are made public of an alleged invasion of Siberia by Chinese. Boers made a spirited attack on Pole? ?'? "/.nitUii nnt far frnm Pra trtiew o jjvsoi irvsu, uvt, &M4 ?. v toria. The Shah of Persia called upon the Czar of Russia at Petersburg. The Canadian Parliament was prorogued Thursday. The immigration authorities are investigating; the proposed large influx of Roumanians, who are said to be undesirable, into this country. Governor General Wood, of Cuba, who is in Washington, spoke enthusiastically of the improved conditions on the island. Spanish Consuls in Cuba have protested against a death sentence for Jose Garcia for alleged murder of Cuban prisoners in the revolution. Miscellaneous. Lieutenant Richard Hobson is at Tokio, Japan, to be treated for Oriental opthalmia. Dispatches from Chinese sources tend to confirm earlier dispatches that foreign Ministers in Pekin were still alive July 9. According to the reports sent to th? Adjutant General the organized militia force of the several States 1s placed at 133,771 and the men unorganized but liable for military duty at 9.348,056. Governor General Wood, of Cuba, in an interview, says the islands are contented and happy.