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&VBTER\OVS I81AND8 THAT •' ARE HARD TO LOCATE l̂lpperton Hu at Lut Bku Del- . i "ItelT Placed--Welt Worth LookliiK »or-Ita b | SttU ^AtUrfe." r Much attention has been given of late to what we may call the strange «ase of Clipperton Island. It is not more than three miles in circumfer­ ence, and it lies in the western Pacific, ethlng like 800 miles west of Mex- In the wide expanse of the Pacific ean it shows like a mere speck, so mall as to be of no value, seemingly, /#ave as a refuge for a few of the army ftp} lot beach combers "who have burst all [bounds of habit and have wandered ., jfar away" in the course of their down- . Jward progress. But the ownership of ^Clipperton Island has of late been , M (Claimed by no fewer than four coun- ^ - -juries -- Mexico, the United States, ' SFrance and Great Britain; and when It added that the island is a favorite "•> jhaunt of sea birds, and that many tons 7 ' jpf valuable guano are waiting to be .^picked up, the reason for this unwont- f:K gled solicitude, even in an era of land- grabbing, will be apparent, t ;? Clipperton Island is of interest in Vjanother direction. It is one of those -laumerous stretches of land set in the "fi^nidst of the seas, sunny and otherwise, ^ fwliich, after their first discovery, for 'many years elude all epdeavors to io- Icate them again. It has now been, as it were, nailed dow _ in one particu­ lar spot in the ocean--that is to say, its exact position has been finally de­ termined by warships sent out for the express purpose of searching for it and settling all doubts as to its exist­ ence--and the only thing remaining •now is that the question of ownership .should be settled. It happens that there is another island about 400 miles southwest of Clipperton, and rich in rthe same deposits that make that place worth possessing, for which adventur­ ous mariners are at this moment look­ ing. As late as July last a vessel named Moonlight left Altata, Mexico, on a voyage in search of this latest myste­ rious island, and spent fifty-two days of fruitless labor toward this end. Her captain failed to find the place, and, fearing that his provisions and water would run short, returned home to re­ port that either the rough charts of old Captain Martin and his associates were In error or else that some strange seismic phenomenon had caused the lost isle to disappear years ago, per­ haps, for all that mortal soul knows. Spice is added to this romance by the fact that another 'Frisco captain lo­ cated the place definitely a year or two before, and found a small colony there, which colony is still on the island, shipping guano in their own schoon­ ers, manned by numbers of their own party, to the leading ports on the Pa­ cific slope of North and South America. Quite a number of expeditions have of late been made with the object of wresting this valuable secret from the handful of men In whose possession it is, and of participating in the spoils; and one of these days we will, no doubt, hear of a sanguinary fight for -- the supremacy between the present colonists and a party of marauders. Although the stories told about the un­ known island vary considerably, they all agree that it exists somewhere about 400 or 500 miles southwest of Clipperton, in a low coral atoll cover­ ed with the richest phosphates. The place also has its legends of pirates' treasures* which may or may not have had any foundation in fact. One of the expeditions of recent date, which have been fitted out to look for the island, was the Vine expedition. That vessel's owner claims to have secured his knowledge of the place from the old sea captain named Martin, above referred to, who died some years ago, and who left an old chart among his belongings, which told of a small isl­ and in the south Pacific, not down on the regular charts, enormously rich in guano.--New Zealand Herald. Tea on the Terrace. On the whole, the terrace of the House of Commons is the finest in Eng­ land. The view from .it is most impos­ ing. Near on the left is Westminster bridge, and the spectator may watch the traffic of the bridge, and hear its roll or rumble, while be is in the quiet- ' ude of the terrace. Between the broad arches he may perceive the graceful outlines of Waterloo bridge. At night the long rows of lighted lamps in all directions are reflected on the river. This is the spot where the tea parties well known in London society are held. To have "tea on the terrace," as the phrase goes, Is the natural ambition of every one. It Is of the utmost conveni­ ence to the member to be able to sho*v this attention to his friends, and espe­ cially to his constituents and their fam­ ilies. On a summer's afternoon the collection of these tea parties amounts to a reception given by the Commons to London and the constituencies. The mixture of tea tables Is typical of the .... local character. Here will be a table with some of the most fashionable per­ sons; near it will be one where a l»»>or member is entertaining his family; next will be one where a philosophic member is receiving learned ladies. The whole scene Is one of diversified animation and vivacity seldom equaled 'elsewhere. Core for Stain inering. A gentleman who stammered from childhood almost up to manhood gives a very simple remedy for the misfor­ tune. "Go into a room where you will foe quiet and alone, get some book that will interest but not excite you, and sit down and read two hours aloud to yourself, keeping your teeth together. Do the same thing every two or three days, or once a week if very tiresome, always taking care to read slowly and distinctly, moving the lips, but not the teeth. Then, when conversing with ethers, try to speak as slowly and dis­ tinctly as possible, and make up your mind that you will not stammer. Well, 5 tried this remedy, not having much faith in it, I must confess, but willing to do most anything to cure myself of such an annoying difficulty. I read for two hours aloud with my teeth togeth­ er. The first result was to make my jtongue and jaws ache, that Is, while I TOaraadhtg, «d the next t» malt* iMt «* It something had toeaenedny talking apparatus, for I could speak with less difficulty Immediately. The change was so great that everyone -who knew me remarked it. I repeated the remedy every five or six days for a month, and then at longer intervals till cured. A Divided Answer. .The country mind sometimes works slowly, although with an enviable weight and accuracy, but the country mode of expression is usually to the point Even its pauses serve their turn; they are always of rhetorical value. An old fisherman sat by the sea-wall, skinning eels, which were that fore­ noon to be packed in ice and seat to a city market A young woman, a visitor in town, stood by watching the unusual occupation, and quite fascinated by the ease and dexterity with which it was carried on. At length She felt the necea- sity of "making talk." . "What do you get for eels?" she ask­ ed. "Nothin'!" returned the old man, em­ phatically, stripping off a skin. Then with the same precision and lightning- like haste, he "peeled" another and an­ other, leaving his visitor to wonder at the eccentricity which prompted him to take so much trouble unrewarded. It was only after she had given up the question as a bad job that he calmly finished hts sentence, "--to what I'd ought to!"--Youth's Companion. It has lately been discovered that the large iguana lizards of South Australia attack and kill lambs on the sheep- pastures. They had previously been known as depredators only in poultry- yards. A singular result of the recent ex­ periments of Professor Angelo Mosso on the physiological effects of high altitudes is that a mountain ascent may produce such a flattening of the lumbar curve that a man may be aq inch and a half shorter on the sum­ mit of Monte Rosa than when he is in the valleys beneath. The height of Monte Rosa, the second loftiest peak of the Alps, is 15,215 feet The cause of the shortening Is partly the exertion of climbing. The human stature al­ ways diminishes slightly. during the dav. The Chinese method of producing artificial pearls by introducing Bome foreign substance Into the pearl oyster is open to a difficulty; the oyster some­ times expels the object from its shell A French experimenter has devised an improvement He makes a hole In the shell and Introduces a little bit of mother-of-pearl. The oyster cannot get rid of this, and deposits the nacreous layers on it until It becomes a pearl. About two yeans suffice. A small true pearl may be used. The subject was fully discussed before the French Academy of Sciences. In order to prove to the satisfaction of the members of the Linnean Society, in London, that he had really caused a buzzard to hatch and rear a chicken from a hen's egg, Mr. A. F. Crossman recently exhibited a series of photo­ graphs showing the hatching and sub­ sequent feeding of the chicken by its strange foster-mother. Mr. Crossman thought it very wonderful that the ma­ ternal instinct of the buzzard had over­ come its liking for chicken flesh, but another member of the society pro­ duced records to show that eagles had hatched out goose-eggs and then ten­ derly reared the goslings. The Washington Monument, the loft­ iest stone structure in the world, has, according to the description given by N. M. Hopkins, in tne Scientific Ameri­ can Supplement, an ideal installation of correct lightning conductors. The apex of the monument is an aluminum pyramid^ from which eight half-inch copper rods extend down to the base of the stone pyramid forming the top of the structure. At that point they bend inward through the masonry and pass down the interior of the shaft. The elg^ht conductors are all connected on the outside of the pyramid by a heavy rod, and they are all gold-plated. Two hundred platinum-tipped points, connected with the conductors and all pointing skyward, cover the pyramid. The conductors connect directly with the tops of four Iron columns which support the stairway and elevator. At the base of the monument the Iron col­ umns are connected by copper conduct' ors with the bottom of a well twenty feet below the foundation of the shaft the well containing several feet of wa­ ter and fifteen feet of sand. Severe electrical storms do not affect the mon­ ument. ! *" r- ^ DECLINE or A PART* WaiCH ONCE 9HOWED 8TRENQTH. Prominent Western Ksn Are Aban­ doning Populism and Sign of the Party's Early Itemise Begin to Mnl- tiply-Democrata Find Isenes Ecarce Ex-Senator Peffer and Senator Har­ ris of Kansas have signified their in­ tention to return to the ilepublican party. In doing this they followed rather than led in a general exodus from the Populist party in the West. The New York Sun publishes letters from eight Western and Southern iStates regarding this decline of Popu­ lism. These letters contain author!ta-' tive statements from Populist and Democratic leaders. They show in­ cidentally general agreement on the point that in no State, except Ne­ braska, will a fusion ticket be accepted by the Populists in 1900. Prominent Populists, in admitting that their party is not so strong as It was three years ago, argue that the decrease In strength comes from desertion of Democrats who were Populists only in name. The situation as stated by the correspon­ dents of the Sim is in brief as follows: Arkansas--Populism as a name is un­ questionably dying out. Populism as an idea, however, is strong with the Democrats as well as the fusionists. The rank and file of the Populist party have returned to the Democratic fold and the Populists will probably not nominate a State ticket in 1900. In 1894 the Populist candidate for Gover­ nor received 24,541 votes. In 1897, H. valuable as is the proaperity of the American peopte. The proposition therefore made by some British states­ men that the friendliness now existing between this country and Great Brit­ ain should be used as a lever with which to do away with our protective tariff is the most arrant nonsense. They might, with as much show of reason, ask us to contribute to the expenses of the royal family. Brftlsh interests would undoubtedly be subserved in either of these two cases. But Ameri­ can interests have first place in our consideration yet and American Inter­ ests demand the continuance of our present prosperity-bringing policy of protection. Still Hunting an Issne. After all their recent beating of drums about trusts the < Democratic managers discover that they can claim no exclusive ground on that subject The Republican party has declared against trusts in former national plat­ forms and has not changed its views. Democrats might use more words in writing a plank against oppressive bus­ iness combinations, but all that is es­ sential will be embodied in the Repub­ lican national platform of next year, and people will understand that It means something in action, which is proverbially not the case with Demo­ cratic planks. Silver is still a necessity to the Democratic party. Bryan's cross of gold has become a poor piece of stage property, but he would be a ridic­ ulous candidate without the old ratio, which he has Insisted was the keynote of prosperity. To drop silver at 16 to I would be to obliterate Bryan. Only his shadow would remain, a grotesque reminder of a huge and admitted blun­ der. , STILL STICKINQ TO THE CHICAGO PLATFORM. $ Made for the White House. At a White House dinner the guests, while waiting for the courses, some­ times turn their plates to see what ad­ ministration they belong to, for when a new administration comes in a new ' set of china is made and marked with the name of the President. Of course ; the old china is kept the new being only of sufficient quantity to make up for the breakage and loss during the last administration. The decoratiorf of the china consists of a dark blue border, with gold tracings In shape of | corn stalks and ears, while in the cen­ ter of the white plate Is the coat-of arms of the United States in colors. The best of artists are employed to paint these plates, and, as each one is marked with the name of the adminis­ tration, each has a value. The china is in charge of the steward, and he is re­ sponsible to the Government for it. It Is rare that any of it gets out of the White House, and therefore the ap­ pearance of two plates in the auction- room recently caused comment. The price paid for them was certainly re­ markably low, in view of their value to collectors. ^ S. Morgan, Populist received only 8,532 votes. Texas--The Populist party is a mere shadow of its former self. The plan of the middle-of- the-road Populists Is to pursue vigorously the lines of action laid out at their first national conven­ tion at Omaha in 1892, to repudiate fusion, to oppose Bryan, and to make a straight fight for men like Barker and Donnelly. In 1894 the Populist >*>te for Governor was nearly 200,000. The Populists who are Democrats have re­ turned to their old party, and It is es­ timated that the middle-of-the-road people, led by Milton Park, will not cast more than 50,000 votes. Outside of the middle-of-the-road faction there is no Populist party in Texas. Iowa--Populism has almost disap­ peared from the State except as it man­ ifests itself through the regular Demo­ cratic organization. Thousands of Re­ publicans who voted for Bryan in 1896 have returned to the Republican party. The Populist party, which never polled more than. 34,000 votes in Iowa, lost its identity in 1896 when it entered into fusion with the Democrats. Nebraska--According to ex-Governgr Holcomb, Populism in Nebraska is just about holding its own. The middle-of- the-road element which is against fu­ sion, has been growing iu strength. The silver Republican element has practically disappeared. Minnespta--Fusion killed Populism In Minnesota. The campaign of the fu­ sion candidate in 1898 demoralized the Populists instead of strengthening them. The present Governor is not a Populist and his success as a fusionist promoted irritations in the Populist party. Missouri--The fusionists in the Popu­ list par$ are going Into the camp of the Uuion Reform party. The leaders of the middle-of-the-road faction, ac­ cording to one of the most prominent Populists in the State, have no strength of themselves and no breadth of mind. He believes Populism in Missouri is dead. Montana--The Populist party in Mon­ tana lias ceased to be a potent factor in politics. The silver Republicans are returning to their party, and it is stat­ ed that Senator Lee Mantle will be found in the Republican ranks in the next campaign. South Dakota--The machinery of the Populist party in South Dakota has been captured by politicians, who formed an alliance with the Democrats. Even the fusionists are tired of Petti- grew, and the downfall of the fusionist party and the retirement of Pettigrew are twa things looked forward to by both Populists and Republicans. Thus passes the party which, but three short years ago, Impressed the Intelligent Democracy so deeply with the iiica of Its enduring strength that the heritage of Jefferson and Jackson was sold to it for a mess of dema­ gogical ismies and heterogeneous votes. --Chicago Inter Ocean. Equally unpromising for Democratic uses is the situation In the Philippines Democrats have grown shy of the word expansion. They prefer to speak of imperialism or militarism. No sentl ment of the kind exists In the United States, but possibly a fog can be raised on the subject Some Democratic ̂ pa­ pers want no nonsense on this point The Brooklyn Eagle remarks that "As for opposition to expansion, events by the fall of 1900 will quite probably make It so Quixotic and unpatriotic that any political party espousing the issue will likely feel that it would be better had a millstone been hanged around its neck and had it been cast into the depths of the sea." The Penn­ sylvania Democratic State convention has Just endorsed Bryan as "our match­ less leader," but is silent on the Chi­ cago platform, referring approvingly Instead to "the platforms of our sev­ eral national conventions." Democrats find Issues distressingly scarce. The old are played out and the new after a short trial prove to be worthless.--St Louis Globe-Democrat Loitet Are Not Large. The doleful stories which the Aguin- aldo papers tell of the losses sustained by our army in the Philippines are not verified by the official records. From the landing of our first troops, near Cavite, June 30, 1898, until June 5, 1899, the date of General Otis' last re­ port, 364 men have died of disease and other causes than battle. This loss in an army which, first and last, number­ ed 40,000 men, is remarkably small, considering the circumstances. Be­ tween Feb. 4 and June 6, 226 men were killed in battle and 69 died of wounds. Thus the deaths from all causes to June 6 were 659. During the first year of the late war for the Union a single division lost more men by disease than has the army in the Philippines. Con­ sidering the losses which are reported by British armies in hot climates, the death roll of the Philippine army is surprisingly small. Col. Bryan's Bravery. Col. W. J. Bryan, the hero of many a reddened watermelon field In Florida, declares that "the man who fights the trust of commerce is quite as brave as the man who swims a river or climbs a San Juan hill," this being his own peculiar way of comparing his achieve­ ments with those of Fred Funston In Luzon and of Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba. There is scarcely a day but Col. Bryan bruises and lacerates his voice in a heroic assault upon a trust of one sort or another, and as for his intellect it is scarred all over with the tell-tale spots where monopoly projec­ tiles have tried in vain to pderce it.-- Deadwood, S. D., Pioneer-Times. SOME PEOPLE HARD TO HfcLIV Dittculties Met by the Cfcaritabl Anionic the Needy. "My better-day clients, those who have known leisure and independence, are hardest to help of any on the list" said a woman who doeB much charita­ ble work. "I know this is an old story, but now and then some peculiarly un­ reasonable Instance crops np to put me out of patience. People in reduced circumstances have a hard road to travel and are entitled to all sympathy, but really sometimes they are so Incon­ sistent and blindly unsympathetic to­ ward others that you wonder if it is true that adversity strengthens charac­ ter, or if it establishes a wall between the hard-hit persons and the rest o! the world, so that they can't see out and above as they did before. Now, there's Helen Blank, that slight, re­ fined-faced woman who we^t out as you entered. The Blanks are all broken up, and the two boys, who have secured business employment, are hardly able to make moce than enough for theli wants. Everybody' who knows Helen has been trying to map out some plan for her to make a little something. Thursday I went* there with a proposi­ tion that I certainly thought would solve a part of the difficulty, only to have it meet with' a direct! refusal from both mother and daughter,' "Over at the church houjie there I» an old man, a g?ntle, Intelligent person whp has lately lost, his sight. Reading was his one piqasure, and now he Is compelled to do without it. Several ol the ladies interested In him proposed to find a reader wha Could- give him at least an hour a d&y of her time, and we hit upon Helen Blank hs the very per­ son. We would offer her a dollar for every hour's reading, aud she, -being refined and sympathetic, would take peculiar interest in thus helping the old man. It seemed the very thing for lx>th parties, and I drove as fast as possible to the Blanks, counting on their approval. Cold water, and plenty of it, was thrown on the scheme. Wouldn't. Helen come and see the old man? I asked, and then she would feel differently about it. Why, one of oar parish visitors had said that if she only had time she would read to the patient herself Just for the pleasure of it, he was such a prepossessing person. It seemed a task that any woman might take up readily, needy or not. But the Blanks were obdurate. For the daugh ter to go regularly to read at that home would be rendering a personal service and would be most unpleasant. It would not do at all. So this $30 a month was let slip by these folks mere­ ly because of a crochet and thinking caps have to be put on again trying to find proper work for the poor girl. "I'm confused as to the Blanks' the­ ory of living on nothing a year with these notions, until I recall the other in­ stances of Just such unreasonableness that have chopped up to bother the re­ lief corps when they have set out to mitigate circumstances for people hard hit. The very time that things will have been contrived smoothest for them inconsistency , sets in and the best laid plans are blown to the winds." XLXurois THE DOLLAR SIGN. Mistah Mose--I tell yo' dat Pom- pey's pergressive! Jes' look at him puttin' all his ground in tiowah beds! Mistah Smiff--What's pergressive 'boat dat? Mistah Mose--Why, he won't hab tuh go aftah chichens now. Dey'll come to him.--Kansas City In­ dependent The Greatest Vnlne. There is nothing so valuable as to be I beyond price. The friendship of our I British cousins is to be highly prized | and carefully cherished. It should not be lightly let go, but better it should go I than that our present good times should go. Valuable as it is, it is not so ! An Absurd Assumption. The story of the manipulation of Parliament by the Standard Oil Trust shows that in free-trade England such combines exert as great an influence as they do in the United States; there­ fore it is absurd to assume, as some persons foolishly do, that protection is responsible for their development or that they would be rendered less pewerful if the protective tariff were stricken down.--San Francisco Chron­ icle. 1 he Theory of l)r. Marcus Baker as to Its Origin. Several weeks ago Dr. Marcus Baker, of Washington, published in one of the magazines an account of a theory which he has to account for the oriftia of the familiar dollar sign. This has long been in dispute. All sorts of ex plauations have been given, the most common of which Is that the Initials of the United States are crossed. But there have been seven or eight other theories to account for the dollar sign which are about as good. Dr, Baker, in his Researches In the library of the bureau of education, came across an old book entitled "A compendium of Federal Arithmetic, Designed for the Use of Schools, and Especially Calcu­ lated for the Meridian of the United States," which was published at Lan- slngburg, N. Y.. in 1797. Its author was the Rev. Chauncey Lee, of Rut­ land, Vt. In this book was set forth a system of so-called "characteristics," by which one vertical stroke was to designate the mill, two vertical strokes the cent, these two crossed by one curved stroke the dime; and for the dollar a sign consisting of two verti­ cals combined with two curved strokes, now so familiar, was proposed. At that time the people of the country were just emerging from the use of pounds, shillings and pence, each sep­ arated in writing by a space from the next denomination. It seemed neces­ sary to Mr. Lee to have an arbitrary mark for each of the denominations of our monetary system. But he soon found that one'character, with the aid of a decimal point, was all that was necessary, and In the latter part of his own book all of the elaborate system of symbols except the one intended to mark the dollar was found to have been dropped. Dr. Baker certainly finds the dollar sign in this old arithmetic, and does not find it in use at any earlier date. By the time Adams' arithmetic was published, in 18<p, the symbol had be­ come well established. Dr. Baker, therefore, regards Mr. Lee as the in­ ventor, and believes the sign to have been absolutely arbitrary in its origin. Since the publication of his paper in one of the magazine I)r. Baker has re­ ceived many letters on the subject, but none in which his conclusions are chal­ lenged. He intends, for further verifi­ cation, to make a study of the depart­ mental records to see when the dollar sign first appeared in the treasury ac­ counts. He also hopes to make a more thorough search of the old text-books to see if by chance any use of this sign prior to that of the Rev. Chauncey Lee can be discovered. Perhaps some of the descendants of Mr. Lee will be able to find the author's manuscript, in which case additional light might be thrown upon the subject: It is certain­ ly interesting to know thex)rigiu of a thing in so constant use as the dollar sign.--New York Post. Highest Mast-; of Sailins: Vessels The highest masts of sailing vessels are from 160 to 180 feet high; and spread from 60,000 to 100,000 square feet of canvas. Be particularly kind to your neigh­ bors after you have added a bay win­ dow to your house, or they will claim you are "stuck up " SOBER OR STARTLING, FULLY RECORDED. Troy Grow People Badly Victimised --Officers of Mew Historical Society -Old Man I>eaerMi|by Rich Daughter - Reduction of •EArsenal Force. Troy Grove has been worked 1>y alleged •harpers, who claimed to represent glass manufacturing interests in western In­ diana. They succeeded in getting a bonus subscription of $6,000 and proposed to remove the glass plant to $iat city and bring in 200 glass blowers and their fam­ ilies. It was alleged that the removal was found necessary on account of the supply of natural gas giving out in that section. There was great jubilation and enthusiasm in the village over the pros­ pect of doubling the population in less than a year by the establishment of a glass plant, but these hopes have now gone glimmering, aa it recently dawned on the subscribers that the whole project was a mere fake. Organise Historical Society. The organization of the Illinois State Historical Society was perfected in Springfield by the adoption of a constitu­ tion and the election of the following offi­ cers: President, Judge H. W. Beckwith, Danville; vice-president, J. F. Snyder, Virginia; secretary, Prof. E. B. Green, University of Illinois; executive commit­ tee, Prof. E. J. James, University of Chi­ cago; Captain J. H. Burnham, Blooming- ton; J. Nick Perrin, Belleville; Judge Da­ vid McCullougb, Peoria; George N. Black, Springfield. The first annual meet­ ing will be held in January next, the place to be designated by the executive committee. One Man Drowned. A tiny sailing yacht, compass gone and all knowledge of direction lost by the crew of three, drifted all through a re­ cent night on Lake Michigan, Capsizing the next forenoon just as help was at hand. Thurman Mnlone of Cincinnati went to the bottom with the boat while Seth Warren and Lou Biederman, his companions, were rescued with difficulty by the steamer City of Chicago. As the steamer approached the sailboat turned over and sank, but Warren and Bieder­ man managed to swim until assistance arrived. The men had attempted to sail from Chicago to Waukegan. Phot Down at His Gate. James Barkati, a prominent merchant of Marquette, was shot and instantly kill­ ed by Anton Borat, an Italian miner. The trouble originated in a slight quarrel be­ tween the men. Borat said at that time that he would kill Barkati, and procured a revolver, which was taken from him by Policeman Timbthy Carson. Barkati, to avoid Borat, remained in his store all night. He left for home the next morn­ ing, and whA in front of his house Borat, who had been in hiding, shot him with a revolver. The bullet struck Barkati in the head and death resulted instantly. The murderer took to the woods. 2001 dot I during June. i. .. **•. m is Mast Return to County Farm. Peter Johnson, aged 90, an inmate of the county home at Ottawa, escaped from that institution. Shortly afterward John­ son arrived in La Salle in a wagon. On alighting he was so overcome with weak­ ness that he became unconscious in the street and was taken to a hospital. He was attempting to reach the home of a daughter iu Peoria. Johnson was once a wealthy resident of Streator. His daughter, who lives in Peoria, has noti­ fied the La Salle authorities, it is said, that her father will not be admitted to her home and he will be sent back to Ottawa. Arsenal Force la Reduced. The discharge of 652 men from the force at Rock Island arsenal came with quitting time the other evening, the Gov­ ernment appropriations for the year open­ ing July 1 being insufficient to keep at work more than a few hundred men. Dur­ ing the war nearly 3,000 men were em­ ployed there, but this force had since been reduced to about 1,300. Machinists, har­ ness makers and gun repairers make up the majority of the mea let out. Wins Annapolis {Cadetship. An examination to decide the appoint­ ment of a naval cadet to enter the school at Annapolis from the Eighth Illinois congressional district was held in Au­ rora. Samuel Loomis of Sycamore gets the appointment, with Charles Peterson of Elgin as alternate. Loomis' brother has just entered West Point. Gets Money for Lost Love. At Galesburg, in the breach of promise suit of Parthena Connors against James A. McKenzie for $10,000 damages, the jury awarded the plaintiff $1,000 dam­ ages. The woman's story was that Mc- Kenzie courted her between 1800 and 1894 and promised to marry her. The defendant is a leading attorney. Brief State Happenings. Fifty men are idle at the Sylvan steel works, Moline, because of a strike of the 12-inch mill men. Mrs. Fearman, wife Qf James Fearman of Findlay, committed suicide by taking a large dose of concentrated lye. Domes­ tic trouble was the cause. Mrs.. M. Skinnion, proprietor of the Skinnion Hotel in De Kalb, attempted to fill a gasoline stove that was lighted, and an explosion followed. Mrs. Skin­ nion was so badly burned that phe died. At Elgin, the wholesale grocery house of A. L. Hammond was closed by the sheriff on a claim of $530 in favor of M. M. Miller. It was thought the matter would be adjusted and the business re­ sumed. A woman of Mount Vei-non who did not bank her money had by economy ac­ cumulated five $100 bills, which she kept in the house. Desiring the other day to see her money, she was horrified to dis­ cover that mice had torn the money into shreds for a nest. Rev. and M rs. Alpheus Brown of Ilush- ville «Sebrated their fiftieth wedding an­ niversary and left for Perry on their golden wedding tour. Both enjoy good health and are spry for their age. They are greatgraudparents to twenty-five chil­ dren. At Quincy, Leonard Roeder celebrated his 100th birthday. He was in the Mor­ mon and Black Hawk wars and always made all boots worn by John Wood, Gov­ ernor of Illinois from 1S57 to 1800. Roe­ der is in good health and his centennial feast consisted largely of tobacco and on­ ions. State Treasurer Floyd Iv. Whittemore has appointed his nephew. Floyd Whitte­ more, as assistant treasurer. Transportation from Pana has been furnisiiod most of the negro miners, by Gov. Tanner, as the operators refused to aid iu getting the negroes away. A num­ ber of the nou-iiniuu white miners have left. C. F. Hill, a tiaguian on a train work­ ing between Pierrou and Pocahontas, was struck by a traiu and killed. He had been sent to flag a freight ami it is sup­ posed sat down on the track and fell asleep. The body was sent to his houae in Terr* Haute, where is a widow and »o£ child. TIm a^itmt oomvksionws of tie --t* lam at Ftorfa havs let the cmdnet m the construction of a number of and two dining halls. Bushrille's business ma's has invited the Farmers' State TltilWt to meet in that city next February, fW time for holding it* regular auMMl *e»> •ion. The citizens of Monmouth have raised the $50,000 which was necessary to se­ cure a like sum from the Law estate, and ̂ the $100,000 is added to the endowment '; fond of Monmouth College. f; Ned Schwabacher has returned to hl»^ home in Peoria after an absence of twelve '.a: years, during which time he has visited nearly every country on the glob«v and . . ̂ has traveled a distance of 45,000 rail--. • William Murphy, an alleged noted ' r crook, who was being held in Harvey jail;', Vi pending his return to Battle Creek, MidL,i 7 * on extradition papers, escaped from jaiL ̂ A companion, James Marooney, was to®;; '* " bi£r to crawl through the hole which Ui 0 cellmate dug in the wall with a caae " knife, and failed to get away. -k Grading has been begun on the extea* ^ sion of the Streator and Clinton branchy of the Illinois, Indiana and Iowa road . „ from Streator to East Clinton. The road >' - k will be built to Walnut on the I. V. & branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy this year. Between these point»|, contracts have been let for the grading^: of the roadbed and 100 teams and 800 V men are already employed. This portion of new road will be completed about Oe» tober. t?. The State Board of live Stock Com-^ missioners has appointed the following^.. . members of the board of veterinary ^ t aminers, provided for by the last General v Assembly to regulate the practice of vet-*.v"»#«i erinary medicine and surgery: W. H. Me ' Killip, Chicago; James Robertson, presl-.,t. /Vj dent of the Chicago Veterinary Associa- 3 tion, and Charles H. Merrick, Rowville. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy shops at Beardstown have started up on^ a ten-hour schedule instead of eight hours, ^ , as formerly. This is the first time in six ; ' ? years these shops have run ten hours per 'y day. The Wabash Railroad has increas- ed the wages of their trainmen, botb pa»* V vj senger and freight. ,['•* / Farmers of Stanton township are trou- J/ '* bled over the appearance of hydrophobia^;. ̂ . among farm animals. A few weeks agok; . -J ' a large dog bounded into the dooryard of, Edward H. Somers, a farmer. The ani* , - | mal bit five kittens playing In the yard, -t v | Then it ran into the barnyard, biting a^ Jersey cow and fifteen pigs, and disap- " < peared over the prairie. Nine days laterb®1 the effects of the strange dog's visit be--'*' gan to show. A mad cat was killed at-,"?1 * 1 the farm of Abel Condit in the neighbor- { .-K! - hood. Two days later hydrophobia ap- 'I peared on Robert Johnson's farm, and the , week following four other dogs in the^"3^^ | neighborhood went mad and were killed/ Now the hydrophobia symptoms have ap­ peared in Mr. Somers' cow. Charles Clark, a farmer living meai Petersburg, saved a Chicago, Peoria and Northern passenger train from a disas­ trous wreck. The rains had caused at washout at Wilson crossing, two and one- half miles south of Petersburg. Clark,'; who had been working on his farm, was on his way to Petersburg when he dis-: covered the washout. He looked at his watch and saw that the passenger train' * from Peoria to Springfield was due inrj, t three minutes. He took his coat and hat s in his hands and ran down the track to-v ward the fast-approachiiig train, wildly, 4 waving them. The engineer saw the sig~ * nal and stopped the train within about * twenty feet of the washout, thus averting! t \ , a wreck which would have undoubtedly ^ resulted in great loss of life. ' \ - The Associated Press has it from a re*^. / liable source that a large and wefl-organ-ffi^//jfj ieed engineering corps, under the chargeI ,} c? of E. C. Ollins of Kirksvilie, Mo., backed; _ '» by the Missouri Construction Company^. ^ is surveying a line of railroad from Quin^-n* "' 'l! cy to Springfield. The railroad is the . {,1 •- {VI Omaha, Quincy and Springfield, and is t<*.'; , *4 • * be an extendsion east from Quincy to thei Omaha, Kansas City and Eastern Rail-*, ' '*, road. The proposed line from Springfield!, , ,-»J * .tfj to Quincy will be ninety-four miles, asi1* against 112 miles by the Wabash and\:i ' | Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. The " < ). . .J same authority states that some of the^ most prominent railroad men in the Eastj^., y are backing the enterprise. With the contemplated extension of the Cincinnati,£ \ If .iM Hamilton and Dayton Railroad from,^ t % "Tjj Decatur to Springfield, this would make,.. ',* 7\ a through line from Norfolk, Va., to'^,, , , ^ Omaha, Neb., by way of the Norft&k and -'"ty Western, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and|*f?'|| Dayton and the Omaha, Kansas City and ̂2; ̂ M Eastern roads. ^ . j H A sensational church trial closed atp"\:yM |̂f| Winchester, in which Rev. B. C. Blacker.?|| late pastor of the Christian Church of that city, was the defendant. The charges, £ ^ " J.j preferred against Mr. Black were in sub-*®^|| stance as follows: That he maligned mem- , bers of said church; that he attempted by"v<^ duplicity and misrepresentation to injuret ->l!' members of said church; that he practiced;/ ^ injurious tattling and gossiping about; " . members of the church; that he used vio--•' .* $ lent and abusive language about members « of the church; that he married in about* three months after he buried his former,, wife; that when kindly requested by the'" church board to desist from certain ac-;' v w tions, which were furnishing a foundation:.** for gossip, to the injury of both himselfr >.>, and the c-hurch, he refused to heed it and » * ; ^ defied public sentiment, to the injury of * n the church; that in the course which he pursued B. C. Black manifested a strange,.IjffOrt blindness to the peril of his own reputa- *' ' •, tion as a minister and the welfare of the ^ .17. church and an unjustifiable stubbornness in refusing to listen to advice of good; -v brethren. The decision of the committee, after hearing all the evidence, was: "We^| regard him as unworthy of fellowship in .-. the church or of a place in the Christian ministry until confession and reformation ? take place, and find him guilty of the '̂ charges preferred.'* Since the death of Daniel Stephens, at Rushville, $34,000 has been found secret- f ed about his old home. \ + The Continental Cotton Oil Company, composed of Chattanooga, Tenn., capital­ ists, has tiled articles of incorporation. The company will establish a cotton seed oil mill of eighty-ton capacity to cost ̂ $50,000 at Cairo, the construction of ^ which will commence at once. ^ Sheriff Hogsland, who has been ia charge of the men hunting for Antor Bo- y rat, who killed James Barkati" in Mar- quette, has stopped work and telegraphed - a description of the murderer to all near- s by places with an offer of $50 for his cap- ^ ture. >The officers think Borat is being ^ concealed by friends near Marquette. Dr. Thomas Morgan of Gorevilie re- ports a case of smallpox on the works of the New Orleans, Eastern and Illinois S Railroad, twelve miles from Vienna. The rules and regulations prescribed by ! the State Board of Live Stock Commis­ sioners governing the importation of dairy and breed'; 11 c cattle with reference to tub- 1 erculosis amiag cattle have been amend­ ed and now provide that eattie offered to any railway company for shipment into ,• t h e S t a t e m u s t b e t e s t e d w i t h t u b e r c u l i n by a veterinary inspector. The test ot : | temperature shall not show a reaction to f ' the tubercwline test to exceed 1-50 ia ex­ cess of the highest temperature talMft be­ fore injecting the tuberculin. & :V:Xlk. 8$ ' * ; * «£ X