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liill .... I\\. . mmkm %<H/J \fyi] WILSON OJS THE WEST. SAYS THE PROSPERITY WAVE IS GENUINE. He Talks of Crop Conditions find Prices of Farm Products - Farm era All in Good Spirits--General Confidence and Cheerfulness Everywhere. Outlook Is Encouraging. Special Washington correspondence: "All through the West," said Secre­ tary .Wilson on his return from his trip through the Northwest, "the farmers are in good spirits. They can look ahead out of the darkness which has surrounded them the past years. Money Is a wonderful leaven for hard times and depressed spirits, and as the farm­ ers are getting largely increased prices for their wheat, corn, meats, etc., even now, the effect is apparent. Not only this, but the price of corn will rise still higher. An increased demand for corn will necessarily occur, by reason of the insufficiency of the wheat supply for breadstuffs. The crops of both wheat and corn will not, however, be as large through the West as many think; A large portion of , the corn crop Is liable to get caught by frost. Still the people of the Northwest have enormous quan­ tities of corn left over from last year, and this will share the advance in prices. The general result of the whole condition is prosperity for the couulVy. The farmer is at the bottom of it all. The merchant, the laborer and the man­ ufacturer are directly dependent upon him for a market and if you give him an increased volume of money, you give it as well to them. The farmer, when he has money, spends it freely. He has been scrimping himself badly of late, and now he has lots of things to buy with his surplus cash. The merchants in the large cities are beginning to feel the effects. Every little country cross­ roads store is stocking up to meet the present and prospective demand. "I saw some few people with doleful countenances," continued the Secre­ tary. "They were the pessimists and they realize that they are playing in hard luck, with all Nature against them. I heard a good deal, too, about 'McKinley luck' and that sort of thing, but the truth is that most of the peo­ ple are happy and thankful that the majority voted for Major McKinley, realizing the fact that while the direct rise in wheat is of course not due to Republican administration, yet that the general confidence and prosperity all over the country are due to nothing less than the return to power of the principles of protection and sound money. I wa- much pleased with the interest which lias been manifested in sugar beets. Over twenty-two tliou- • sand American farmers are now experi­ menting with sugar beets in twenty- seven States. One item of considerable interest and importance connected with the beet industry is the fact that thq, waste of the beet, .after the sugar is extracted is very rich in nitrogenous matter and equally as good for milch cows as bran. The dairy business will thus be stimulated by the production of beet sugar." Even pessimist-ridden Colorado comes along with reports of exceeding prosperity. The gold mining sections of the State, it is said, will show an in­ crease over last year's production of six million dollars. The increased value of the wheat crop will be in the neigh­ borhood of four million dollars. The fruit section has a double crop with in­ creased* prices over last year. The southern part of the State will receive two and a half times as much for its wool and lamb crops as last year. The cattle districts are booming as never be­ fore. The northern part of the State will yield more of all kinds of agricul­ tural products than in any previous year. The manufacturing enterprises of the State are employing more men than they have for three years. Rail­ roads are being built in the State and creameries, ice plants and factories are being put up in a dozen -cities. The general outlook for corn is full of promise. The price now stands about 12 cents in advance of last year. The foreign demand has jumped the price up since July 1 about 9' cents a bushel. Thus, on a crop conservatively estimat­ ed at l,s00,000,000 bushels the increas­ ed value will amount to from $100,000,- 000 to $105,000,000. This mere increase amounts to half as much as the value of the whole wheat crop of last year and is equal to one-third of the value of the enormous corn crop of last year. It makes the smaller corn crop of 1897 worth more in the markets than the vast crop of last year. The most en­ couraging feature of the corn market is the fact that notwithstanding the up- .ward run in prices, the European de­ mand still continues steady and the ex­ ports enormous. It is estimated that more than 200,000,000 bushels of Amer­ ican corn will be sold to the foreign countries this year. In addition to the large crop of the present year, as com­ pared with the yield of 1S94 and prior years, the granaries of the West are still burdened with millions of bushels of last year's crop. It is difficult to es­ timate the additional wealth of the farmers from this source. The extent to which Europe is using corn is a sur­ prise to those who have looked upon corn as a staple but somewhat un­ profitable crop. The great crop and low prices of 1890 forced corn abroad and developed an European market, and the result is that the demand con­ tinues even with the increased price and it is certain that Europe will con­ tinue to absorb far more of this Amer­ ican product than was the case prior to 1890. In the excitement incident to the great advance in wheat the Importance of corn has doubtless, by most people, been overlooked, but it seems entirely probable that the growing of corn will be, during the next two or three years, attended with considerably more, profit than of late years. The European de­ mand will tend to keep the market steady and the revival of trade and in­ dustry throughout the country will in­ crease the demand for beef, pork and other animal products dependent upon corn. A. B. CARSON. No Need of Worry. A good deal ol' worry is wasted by free trade organs just now over the fact tliat the Argentine government is contemplating a retaliatory tariff on our yellow pine, farm wagons and other farm implements "by placing a duty of 00 per cent, on yellow pine, 125 per cent, on farm wagons, 100 per cent, on other farm implements, and 100 per cent, on kerosene. Tfiis wotud affect about one one-thousandth of our exports. We sent to Argentine last year a little over one million dollars' worth of these articles, out of a total exportation of 1,032 million dollars' worth of our products. It would be a matter of regret, of course, that'the United States should lose one one-thou- sandtii part of her export trade by the Dingley law, but if she shuts out. a 'hundred millions a year of products which come into -Tottipetition with those of her own people by this law she can stand a loss of one million in ex­ ports. The imports of foreign pro­ ducts were under the Wilson law more than a hundred million in excess of the last year of the McKinley law. But it is not at all certain that the Argentine law-makers will take this step. We bought of that country in 1890 $9,313,- 385 worth of goods, and sold her $5,- 979,040 Worth of goods. Can she af­ ford to cut off a market for nine mill­ ion dollars' worth of her goods for the sake of shutting out a million dol­ lars' worth of lumber, kerosene, and agricultural machinery? During the past ten years the balance' of trade lias been in her favor.* Her statesmen will think several times before they destroy it. Even if the million dollars' worth of our products are shut out of other articles--that an increase of nearly 100 per cent, in its output is a striking proof of the general business improvement. Gets Another Setback. The ti. <»ory of a close relation be­ tween prices of silver and farm pro­ ducts has received another set-back from the recent statements of the val­ ue of the cotton crops. The increase in value in the United States this year compared with two years ago is fully $30,000,000, although the quantity pro­ duced is much- less. When it is con­ sidered that silver has fallen 20 per cent, in value meantime, it is hard to imagine how the siiver theorists ex­ plain this advance. They haven't the cry of "a famine abroad" as an excuse in this case. Effect of Discriminating Duties. A 10 per cent discriminatory duty im­ posed by Great Britain against United States wheat- and corn would soon bring the latter tb their senses.--The Canadian Manufacturer. We are rather inclined to believe that "a 10 per cent discriminatory duty Im­ posed by Great Britain!against United States wheat and corn" would have thv. effect of bringing the people of Great Britain to their sense? by showing them, directly and concliisively, the PROTECTING AMERICAN LIVE STOCK. ex Co m Argentine, our farmers will doubtless think the exchange a fair one when they consider that she sent about five million dollars' worth of wool into our markets last year, and that her "in­ dignation" is due to the fact that she is not to be permitted to continue this. Japanese Labor in Australia. Hawaii is not the only place where the influx of Japanese cheap labor is making trouble. The Melbourne Lead­ er, May 22, 1897, says that Thursday Island, off the far north of Queensland, is rapidly becoming a Japanese settle­ ment, and if the present rate of in­ crease be maintained the whole place must eventually fall into their hands. They are becoming predominant on the pearling and beche-de-mer fisheries, and are securing also the greater part of the business ashore. "In another three years," says the North Queens­ land Register, "the pearl shelling indus­ try will be theirs entirely, if no restric­ tions are imposed, and Thursday Isl­ and, except for the intermittent sup­ port of passing steamers, will become an appanage of the Mikado." Even more gloomy is the outlook of a Towns ville paper, Avhicli foresees the time when Australia itself will become a Japanese dependency. This prediction may be far fetched, but there is no doubt that white labor cannot stand in competition with those avIio are con­ tent with the Asiatic standard of living and the Asiatic rate of wages. What is happening on Thursday Island will happen elsewhere if the inroad is en eouraged. The virtues of the Japanese increase the danger of the competition. He is sober, intelligent and hardwork­ ing, and can thrive under conditions which white men would abhor. He is patriotic also and pretends to uo con­ cern for Australian interests. Are Aus­ tralians to sacrifice their own safety at the sliriue of free trade? benefit of a policy of protection to Brit­ ish agricultural interests. Causes Must Be Removed. "After a great smash like that of 1893 or that of 1873 there is nothing to do but wait and let the business of the world settle itself, carefully keep­ ing meanwhile the medicine men of finance with their feathers and rattles out of the way of the sick man. When public confidence is profoundly shaken it must re-establish itself. It has been shaken by causes, and those causes must be removed."--Speaker Reed on the Business Situation. Exclude This Cheap Labor. It lias long been known, and recent experience has shown its intensity, that quite a number of unemployed laborers come tp this country across the Canadian border. It is not the mere fact that they are unemployed to which we object, as it is the fact of their unfortunate impoverished condi­ tion. The immigration laws upon our statutes are supposed to check any in­ flux of pauper labor. But they do not, because they are not rigidly enforced. It is not possible to watch every mile of the Canadian border, but it should be possible to prevent the admission of British pauper labor at those points where American officials are station­ ed. With the restoration of prosperity under our policy of protection, and the consequent greater employment of la­ bor, we are sure to see many hundreds of English, Canadian and Chinese la­ borers attempting to locate in the Uni­ ted States, and every effort made to do so--in contravention of our immigra­ tion laws--should be promptly check­ ed. The American labor mlarket should be supplied by American wage- earners. There are more than enough of them to supply all demands at pres­ ent. Increase in Irott Business. The "iron barometer" is showing some gratifying conditions in business, commerce, and manufacture in the United States. One year ago the aver­ age weekly output of pig-iron was only, a little above 100,000 tons per week, now it is reaching nearly 200,000 (tons per week. This shows more about the real business improvement of the country than columns of wail­ ing about "temporary prosperity due to famine abroad." Iron now enters into so .vast a number of industries-- the fencing and machinery fo the fafm, the rails and cars and engines for the railroads, the frames for great business buildings, tin-plate for roofs and for manufactures, ships that sail the seas and rivers, and thousands of A Double Blessing. Blessings, like misfortunes, some­ times come in pairs. The triumph of the American system of protection, at the polls last November, lias put an end to the outflow of gold from our shores to pay for foreign made goods; and now lias come the discovery of gold in Ala-s­ ka to put more money into the pockets of the American people. A Business Administration. Secretary of Agriculture Wilson is a busy man these days. Besides looking after the progress of sugar-beet cul­ ture, the exportation of American but­ ter, and the introduction of leguminous food plants all over the country, he Is now arranging to introduce the cam­ phor tree in the Gulf States. It Is evi­ dent this is a business administration. Political Notes. "The Republien party is responsible for the prosperity which we have with us. I make the assertion from the standpoint of a business man."--Mark Ilanna. Will Air. Bryan please stop over in the cotton States and "explain" how it is that our cotton crop this year has increased $25,000,000 in value while silver has fallen 20 per cent.? The Ohio Senatorial contest is ex­ pected to cut an important figure in de­ termining the control of the United States Senate during the next two years. As goes Ohio so goes the Sen­ ate. The farmers of the South are not finding much support lor the theory of the close relation between silver and farm products in the increased value of their cotton crop this year in the face of the fall in silver. The corn crib will have to do its full share of duty this year. Advices from abroad indicate that every bushel of wheat that we can spare will not be sufficient to meet the demand, and that our corn crop will lie drawn h«av- ily upon for food supplies. As to sil­ ver--but then Mr. Bryan says we must not talk about that. Will ex-candidate Bryan kindly de­ vote a part of that $1,500 Ohio speech to telling the farmers how it is tha* Ohio XX wool, which sild in New York: at 17 cents a pound a year ago, is now selling at 20 cents in that market? Here is an increase of more than 50 per cent, in price when silver was fall­ ing 20 per cent., and no "famine" to charge it up to, either. ILLINOIS INCIDENTS. The Farm Bulletin. SOJ3ER OR STARTLING, FAITH- FULLY. -RECORDED. ,v- i_ Pacific Express Officers Make an Im­ portant Arrest -- Postoffice Boxes Robbed at Mount Vernon--Real Yel­ low Fever at Cairo -Brutal Policeman Caught with a Decoy Parcel. Superintendent W. R. Bressie and Route Agent J. D. Cross of the Paeifi Express Company made an important capture. For some time large wholesale homes of Chicago have been receiving forged express money orders on the Pa­ cific Express Company. The orders have been sent from different towns where this company operates. They would be passed through the exchange office and back to the express company, where the forgery would be discovered. Rowe Bros, of Chi­ cago received one of these orders, and in compliance with instructions of the com­ pany sent a decoy package to New Phila­ delphia, McDonough County, the super­ intendent accompanying it. When the package arrived the man who called for it was arrested. He^ gives his name as Charles Hamilton, and' claims to be, from Philadelphia, Pa. He was held under $1,000 bonds on the charge of forgery and in $S00 bonds on the charge of .lar­ ceny, in default of which he was put in jail. When searched there was found on him a package of diamond rings which he had received at Smithfield, 111., from Pea­ cock & Co. of Chicago. The package wa s worth about $500: He had in his pos­ session coupon railroad tickets worth $574.15, These were taken from the To­ ledo, Peoria and Western office at Cun- ton. 111. They were all properly punched and Ave re in proper shape to sell. One blank egress money order was found. There w as also taken from him a full outfit for picking' locks. Superintendent Bressie says bicycle companies have b?eu defrauded of over $700 worth of wheels. The orders were sent in from this State and the wheels ordered sent to Buffalo, N. Y., or some other large city. There they would be claimed, and sold. The Adams Express Company has also been defrauded in a similar manner, Hamil­ ton claims he worked for a gang located at Kansas City. Norton's Bondsmen Are Sued. Suit has been begun against the bonds­ men of C. A. Norton, the absconding cashier of the Bank of Durand, to re­ cover $18,000 school funds which were in his hands. The State bank of Freeport notified many farmers in the vicinity of Durand that they held their notes for various amounts, and to notify the bank at once of their authenticity. They are all pronounced forgeries by the farmers. The bank has made an assignment in the County Court, Joel B. Whitehead, of Rockford, being named as assignee. Clubbed by a. Policcman. John Appear, the Charleston policeman who biutally assaulted Alderman Edward C. Craig because he would not "move on" in his buggy when told to do so, has been arrested and will be prosecuted to the limit of the law. All who witnessed the assault say there was no reason or provo­ cation for it. The indignation has been greatly increased since it became known that an oculist had been compelled to re­ move Mr. Craig's injured eye. The peo­ ple of both Mattoon and Charleston are greatly stirred up. Real Yellow Fever. The two suspicious cases in the United States marine hospital in Cairo were de­ clared to be yellow fever of a mild type by Dr. Guiteras of the United States marine service, yellow fever expert. He considers there is no danger of it spread­ ing, as every precaution was taken at the hospital to isolate the cases and prevent contagion. There is no excitement among the citizens here thus far. Postoffice Boxes Robbed. A bold robbery of postoffice boxes oc eurred at Mount Vernon, and two drafts on Erails' bank for $500 were taken from the bank's box and many letters to busi uess men were found open and the con­ tents removed. The drafts and letters were found concealed in an alley, two blocks from the office. The boxes were opened by persons in the postoffice lobby Driven Out of Town. Benjamin Clotfelter and Jasper* Isaacs, young men living between ITillsboro and Coffeen, who were deputy sheriffs at the time of General Bradley's crusade, were driven out of Sorrento by a crowd of forty strikers, miners who live in Sor­ rento. State News in Brief. Plans have been made for a harbor at Evanston to cost $100,000. Edgcwater was threatened with de­ struction by prairie tires. Mrs. John P. Altgeld is lying at the family apartments in Chicago seriously ill with neuralgia. In Aurora, Katie Weber, 12 years old, was run over by a Chicago, Burlington and Qitiney switch engine. At El in n Contractor John A. Wright was perhaps fatally injured by a fall. It is thought his back is broken. Senator Mason has followed in the foot steps of the illustrious Paderewski and patronized the barber 25 cents' worth. The Rev. J. J. James, a Baptist minis­ ter of Elwood, Ind., was held up and robbed by three colored men in Polk street, Chicago. News has been received by his brother in Elgin that Solomon Babbitt, of Oak­ land. Gal., and formerly of Elgin, has committed suicide. Dr. Felix Regnier, of Monmouth, who killed Simon FrandsOn, was not only fully exonerated by the coronor's jury, but State's Attorney Hanna dismissed the case brought for manslaughter before the justice court. Judge Tuley is to decide the legality of inserting a union labor clause in Chicago Board of Education contracts. This agreement having been reached; the Building Trades Council declared the school strike off. /H v Ida Bratz, a Chicago girl of 11 years, caught on a railroad track on which a fast express was rapidly nearing her, was so paralysed with fear that she stood mo­ tionless between the rails. The engine struck her and threw her mangled body twenty-five feet to one side. Diphtheria in an aggravated form has broken out in a school district in 'he north part of Normal Township, and the district school has been closed. One child is dead and several others are not ex­ pected to live. The drinking of impure water from schoolhouse wells is believed to be the cause of the disease. Bee-ause she had been chastised for dis­ obeying her parents, Laura Bloodgood. 15 years old, attempted to end her life at her'home in Harvey by drinking carbolic acid. Robert Cooney," one of the richest of the young men of Schiller Park, Leyden Township, and of some reputation as a politician, was fatally shot Sunday night by his friend and boon companion, Will­ iam Kerby. William Wyndham, formerly a captain in the Royal artillery and British consul for the Balearic islands at Barcelona since 1894, has been appointed "British consul at Chicago to succeed A. G. Yan- sittart, who will go to New Orleans. Robberies have begun early this sea­ son in Chicago." Five occurred on a re­ cent night. ^ More than twenty-five thousand per­ sons visited the new Chicago public li­ brary Sunday. William Scherer, 23 years of age and single, was shot and killed by John Mc- Creary, Colored, at Peoria. McCreary claims self-defense. Alexander Anderson, ox-deptity -sheriff and politician, of Chicago, was thrown un­ der a' Milwaukee and St. Paul freight train from his buggy and killed. Near Brocton, Sanford McNiitt, an old soldier and proprietor of the Brocton City hotel, fell under the wheels of a heavy wagon. He died a half-hour later. Use of gasoline in the attic of. 04 Hast­ ings street, Chicago caused the death of Annie Witzke, 3 years old, and severely burned Mrs. Augusta Witzke, the child's mother. George Bai Peter Hanso$ at Elgin, whe tenger nndCHanson were ^-Peter Bittenger and were rowing in the river their boat capsized. Bit- rescued, but Bart was drowned. The corner stone of St. Andrews' Church was laid at Peoria, with the im­ posing ceremony of the Protestant Episco­ pal Church. Several clergymen were pres­ ent from other cities. ; The Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention of the Eighth Congres­ sional district at Elgin in its symposium on temperance teaching in the public schools opposed the use of tobacco. Upon the testimony of Alderman Mang­ ier, corroborated by A. J. Brockman, John Z. Vogelsang and Eddie Kehm, the grand jury at Chicago voted to indict Jacob L. Kesner, manager of the Fair de­ partment store, on the charge of offering to bribe a city official. H. S. Egan, a steamfitter, who, for lack of work at his trade, has been forced to serve as a waiter in a Chicago restaurant, was found dead in his room. He had turned on three gas jets and lain down on the bed. The odor of escaping gas caused the discovery of the remains. Egan was 25 years old. The auditor of public accounts has is­ sued a permit for the organization of the Durand State Bank, at Durand, for the purpose of transacting a general banking business under the laws of Illinois. The capital stock is $25,000 and the organizers are George M. Haines, Daniel Dobson, C. A. Starr, William M. MeCullougli, A. J. Barringham, F. A. Yone and S. P. Best. Agnes Meier, the 10-year-old daughter of Joseph Meier, a well-to-do farmer liv­ ing south of Joncsboro, died from hydro­ phobia after suffering two days. Two weeks ago she was playing with a dog belonging to the family and the latter was caressing her with its tongue. There was an abrasion of the skin and the disease re­ sulted from that. The dog had betrayed no symptoms of the disease at that time, but died later. Simon Pokagon, chief of the Pottawa­ tomie tribe,of Indians, and Lawyer In- galls, of Hartford, Mich., have been in Chicago to interview W. H. Cox, a Chi­ cago capitalist, in relation to a claim that the Pottawatomie tribe holds to 130 acres of land in the heart of Chicago, which land is mostly in possession of Mr. Cox. According to 'the Indians, the land be­ came theirs by virtue of a treaty executed in 1833 between the father of the present chief and the government. This 130 acres, as clainietl, formed part of an im­ mense territory which the Indians after­ wards sold. It is stated that when Mr. Cox attempted to procure an abstract to the land he was advised by the govern­ ment that the property was part of" the Pottawatouiies' tract. The sovereign grand lodge of Odd Fel lows' at its session in Springfield selected Boston, Mass., as the place for holding the next annual meeting. The members of the sovereign grand lodge were given a street-car ride to the State fair grounds and Lincoln monument at the close of the session. At the latter place appropriate speeches were made by Deputy Grand Sires A. S. Pinkerton, John C. Under­ wood of Kentucky and C. M. Basher of North Carolina. A feature of the session was the conferring of the grand degree of chivalry in front of the State capitol. The chevaliers and Itebekahs decorated were: Col. T. T. Parsons, St. Louis; Maj. Sven Windrow, Chicago; Lieut. Col. G. P. Doyle and Maj. C. Garrett, Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Gertrude Pursley, Peoria, 111.; Mrs. Mattie Dienstein, Decatur, 111.; Mrs. A. S. Estey, Boston, Mass, Gen. Ellacott presented first prizes to the can­ tons from Muucie, Ind., and Terre Haute, Ind., in the competitive drills. Visitors to the Illinois State Fair of 189(5 will remember the large and ex­ ceptionally interesting exhibit, in the southeastern wing of the Dome building, brought from all sections of Nebraska by a few of her enterprising farmers. With its great ears of corn, splendid wheat, oats and barley, alfalfa, chicory, sugar beets and beet sugar, and a most hand­ some display of fruit, this Nebraska ex­ hibit was such a center of interest that the fair management asked to have it re­ peated, and an entire wing, in the north­ west corner of the Dome building, second floor, was engaged for the use of the Ne­ braska people in 1897. This year a dozen farmers, former residents of Illinois, who have made for themselves new homes in Nebraska, will bring this exhibit, consist­ ing of two carloads of almost everything that State produces. There will be an abundance of beautiful fruit and sacks and barrels of sugar, made from beets, by the two large factories located at Grand Island and Norfolk. On one of the prin­ cipal days of the fair 5,000 souvenir barrels of Nebraska sugar will be dis­ tributed to the farmers and fanners' wives of Illinois. Whoever goes to Spring­ field this year, and everybody should go and see the finest fair ground and the greatest State fair in the United States, should not fail to visit the Nebraska ex­ hibit and talk with the sturdy sons of toil who went from this State to get a cheaper home and a bigger farm just beyond the Missouri River. The Kankakee Manufacturing Com­ pany's plant, manufacturing refrigerators and bicycles, has been closed on a judg­ ment of the First National Bank of Kan­ kakee. Estimated liabilities, $45,00(r, assets, $35,000. The -auditor of public acouuts has re­ ceived a draft from the county treasurer of Winnebago County for $22,270.20, be­ ing the amount due the State inheritance tax from the estate ofjhe late.Judge Ben­ jamin R. Sheldon, of Rockford. This is the largest amount realizeel from any es­ tate since the present law went into effect. Veterans of the Ninth Illinois cavalry enjoyed their reunion at McCoy's Hotel, Chicago. At the business meeting they rejected the action of the committee fix­ ing the place of reunion next year at Sterling, and decided, after a' spirited de­ bate, to meet again in Chicago. ./ Attorney D. Hess, of Pittsficld, went to Jacksonville after a long search and found the marriage license of JameS Ed­ munds and Cora M. Allen, which was issued March 18, 1882- The license es­ tablishes the claim of a 14-year-old daugh­ ter to an estate of $80,000. The marriage of the parents had been kept a secret,, The relatives of the girl's parents were trying to get the estate away from her. DEATH OF ."BUCK" KILGORE.; Former Congressman from Texas Ex. pires at Ardmore, I. T. Judge C, Buckley Ivilgore, ex-Congress­ man from Texas, died at Ardmore, I. T., after a short illness. Mr. Kilgor'e was born'in Newman, Ga., Feb. 20,1835. In 1846 he removed, with his parents, to Rusk County, Texas, where he received a commoTT-fecnool education.-.. He" served BUCK" IvIUGORE. in the Confederate army, first as private, and by successive promotions reached the grade of adjutant general. He was wounded at Chickainauga, and in 1804 was confined as a prisoner in Fort Dela­ ware. He was admitted to the bar after the war, and in 1875 was a member of the Texas constitutional convention. He was a presidential elector in 1880 on the Han­ cock and English ticket, and in 1884 was elected to the State Senate for four years, and in the following year was chosen pres­ ident of that body for two years. He was elected to tht Fiftieth, Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses as a Democrat. "Buck" Kilgore, achieved greatness in a single night while in Congress by kick­ ing tlown the door which Speaker Reed had caused to be locked so that he could hold a quorum while it was being counted. That brought him universal notoriety and immense popularity on the Democratic side of the house. FATAL MINE EXPLOSION. Five Men Killed and Many Injured at Johnson City, 111. By an explosion of black damp in the Williamson County coal mines, located at Johnston City, 111., Friday morning, five men were killed and several others suffered painful burns and bruises. The machinery of the shaft was badly wreck­ ed. A quantity of gas had accumulated in an entry 200 yards south of the big shaft during the night, and upon the ar­ rival of the men who were at work at that particular place it was ignited from the limps worn by the miners upon their caps. Shortly after the descent of forty- five men into the pit a terrible explosion occurred, blowing the cage that was rest­ ing at the bottom of the shaft fifty feet upward and sending a volume of smoke and gaseous vapor whirling and hurling out of the mouth of the shaft. In an instant all of the machinery was stopped. A signal from those at the bottom told the engineer that there were some below who were uninjured. The work of res­ cuing the imprisoned men began at once. Nearly all the Americans employed in the mine did not go to work at morning, hav­ ing decided to attend a picnic. But for this fact the death list would have been much greater. AMAZON OF THE COAL FIELDS. Mrs. Martin McCrone, a Heroine of the Pennsylvania Coal Strike. Mrs. Martin McCrone, the general of the Amazon forces, who so severely trou bled the troops when she led her forces against them, is the heroine of the big coal strike in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Me Crone is the widow of an Irish miner and she knows all about strikes. She passed through the great strike of 1877 and un derstands how to get the men out of the Tl»e Versailles Lynching. tet-'fhe guilty men be punished.--Via- cenhes (Ind.) Sun. They are lynching people in blocks of five down in Indiana.'- Times. "rev-: MRS. M'CRONE. mines and to keep them out. Mrs. Mc Crone believes that the best method o 1 succeeding in inducing men to strike is for the women to parade before thera and shame them into joining the movement. She has her own ideas about coercion She says that with "white people," or those who can speak English, moral sua­ sion is all that is necessary. On foreign­ ers she would use force. "You have to beat it into them or stone them," she naively says. Her forces consist of thirty women, Irish and Welsh, who are weil drilled. These are often re-enforced by Hungarian and Polish women, who, while not understanding what is going forward, are ready to lend their strength to the cause blindly. POSTOFFICE SAFE BLOWN. Michigan Robbers Secure $1,500 and Some Stamps at Omcr. A party o£ bandits at an early hour Friday morning blew open the safe in the postoffice at Omer, Mich., and carried away about $1,500 in money and a quan­ tity of stamps and valuable papers. The robbery occurred a few minutes after the village night watchman had passed the building in which the postoffice is located. At that time he noticed nothing unusual, but about twenty minutes later he T\*as startled by a muffled explosion in the'di- rection of the postoffice. ' The noise was heard by other citizens, and they hurriedly made their way into the building. The interior of the office was littered] with the ruins of the safe and papers. So quicklyhad the robbers work­ ed that when people arrived at the scene of the robbery they had utterly vanished. Entrance into the building had be*en ef­ fected by prying open the door with chisels. Sparks from the Wires. "Mrs. Norman J. Colman, wife of Nor­ man J. Colman, ex-Secretary of Agri­ culture, is dead at the family residence at St. Louis," Maximo Lipeho, one of -the most noted men among the Metis of Manitoba and the Northwest, dienl suddenly at his home at Winnipeg." It. is reported that John Cudahy, the millionaire pork packer of Chicago, who is owner of several thousand acres of land near Florence, Los Angeles County, has in contemplation the turning of this land' into a sugar-beet plantation, and the erec­ tion of sugar-reduction works « Only cravens would have a method of redressing their Philadelphia Record. The act of the mob cannot be from either a legal or moral New Albany (Ind.) Ledger. It is impossible to see any palliation for such an act as was committed by the In­ diana lynchers.--Springfield (Mass.) Re­ publican. And yet we prate about "Armenian, atrocities" and are shocked at alleged ̂ cruelties to inmates of prison in Cuba!--T New York Herald. .. We feel sure that the people of Indiana will sustain the efforts of the Governor to vindicate the outraged law in this in­ stance.--Rochester (N. Y.) Herald. Five men taken out of the custody of officers of the law and done to death for the crime of burglary! The statement reads like a wild exaggeration,--Atlanta Constitution. Lynching is bad enough when it follow® ; a capital crime, but in a civilized country there should be no possible excuse for the illegal : killing of robbers.--Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. It is one of the worst cases in the whole history of lynching, and shows a mur­ derous spirit that should be dealt with ac­ cording te its terrible deed.--St. Louis Globe-Democrat. This is an advance in the jurisdiction of Judge Lynch. Usually he is called on to avenge only crimes against life or per­ son, but in this case it was a matter of robber}-.--Pittsburg" Post. The Indiana lynching emphasizes the fact that in too many parts of the country; to-day the people are forgetting the old) homely moral precept--two wrongs do not make a right.--New York World. We denounce the people of the Southern States for hanging and burning negroes, yet we hang five men whose crime was almost a virtue as compared with that for which men are lynched in the South.-- Indianapolis News. Every incident of this character is a re­ lapse to the savagery and brutality which preceded civilization; to the era when men - ruled by violence and recognized only one form of punishment and revenge--death. --Philadelphia Ledger. So mob law has undertaken to amend the criminal code in Indiana, and mate burglarly a capital offense! That is-the only logical deduction with regard to the ethics of lynching to be deducted from the latest affair.--Pittsburg Dispatch. The "citizens" wanted no investigation into the guilt of these men. It was enough. that they w#re in jail under charges. That was considered reason sufficient for their being taken out of jail and killed. Where will this contempt for law stop?--Cleve- . land Plain Dealer. We simply cannot afford to override oar courts. If they do not perform their fUne-; tions properly the thing to do is to reform them. Mob law is the overthrow of alt law and the relegation pf the Social or- ganism and civil society into barbarism. --Tewe Haute Gazette. Nothing in the annals of Knights of the Golden Circleism, Kukluxism Or White Capism can compare with it. These five men had committed no greater crime than small thievery, and it was not clearly es­ tablished that they were all even guilty of that.--South Bend Tribune. The Indiana'instance is so far an ag­ gravated and magnified case of lynching that it gives the State authorities a right to resort to the extreme limit of the law in huuting it down. It should be demon­ strated once for all that a man cannot be murdered in cold blood in this country, even though he be a criminal.--St. Paul Pioneer Press. •- .1 Cuba and Spain. The Cubans are resolved to carry on the war to the bitter end, and to make it & bitter end for Spain.--Boston Globe. Gen. Weyler may be putting down the revolution, but he isn't putting up very much of a fight.--Chicago Times-HeraM. It is generally rumored in Madrid that if Spain can only save appearances she will not care so much about saving Cuba. Chicago Record. The country knew that Minister Wood­ ford went to Spain with more important business in hand than watching bull fights.--Boston Journal. It would be somewhat presumptuous in President McKinley to interfere in Cuba with all these postoffice rows on his own bauds.--Detroit Tribune. General Lee is to go back to Cuba and the end is near. The trouble is, how­ ever, that, as heretofore, nobody knows which end it is.--Chicago News. The Spanish Government had decided that no man under the rank of Senator or Deputy may criticise Weyler. This is merciful to the captain general.--Buf­ falo Express. Consul General Lee's description of the Evangelina Cossio Cisneros stories as all tommy-rot may not be strictly diplomatic language, but, no doubt, it meets the facts in tlie case.--Boston Herald. The Klondike. The sending of a detachment of the United States troops to Alaska destroys its value as a possible home for the Debs commonwealth.--Detroit Free Press. When the boundary line dispute is con­ sidered, it will be noted that even the Klondike gold strike may have to be left out to arbitration.--Duluth Tribune. The latest news from Alaska ought to be very satisfactory to those who stayed at home. It ought to make them glad that they did not go.--Baltimore Ameri­ can. It will be observed that the miners re­ turning with riches from the Klondike are not half so gleeful that they have gold as that they are home again.--Chicago News. - „ Men who come back from the Klondike with a few hundred dollars ought tb re­ frain from the mysterious reticence by which they radicate to the credulous that the hundreds are thousands.--San Fran­ cisco Call. This and That. The diplomatic world is ready to con­ cede that the sultan is the sly old man e>f Europe.--St. .Louis Globe-Democrat. In the absence of other "arrangements Emperor William could do well by form­ ing an alliance with his subjects.--Mil­ waukee Sentinel. Business appears to be improving in Guatemala. The regular revolutions now occur Weekly instead of semi-monthly.-- Chicago Chronicle. It has come to the pass where the Presi­ dent of the United States has in store Very many less appointments than disap­ pointments.--Nashville Banner. When Kentucky went Republican last year it opened the elodr to all sorts of sur­ prises. A Iveotuckian has invented • water filter.--New. Haven Leades, • m