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stoss© era ^Jest Pc^vif VOifjllr^ TO|^ | ,,^j> HoW it Pi)u<>. "," J; Dtr to ̂ Kpyc_;fî 3aSff?Lf,i"o Nf/ifn-'iH le­ sions. Handel State show force" were 1 OhlO.: Of efused and (3. the add!- WORE OF CONGRESS. I Two slight earthquake shocks were felt Tliearinv innrnlnp at- f'Snrn.' -- At Ffeeport Fred Popkes committed suicide by blowing his brains out with a rifle. • H. II. Beach, of Hillsboro. lias-assigned. 'Liabilities, $.021,000; scheduled assets, $110,735. j " Daniel Murray was killed in the White Breast Company's coal mines at Diyi- fermline ., At Rockford. F. II. Munch, of A& gona, Iowa, and Miss Raphaella Hotel- ling were, married. • "George S. Miller & ,-Gtfc--have boon- OUND A BI(J STATE WIPED OUT BY ELA.ME BRIEF COMPILATION NOIS NEWS, EXCELSIOR BLOCK, CHICAGO, TOTALLY DESTROYED. MEMBERS OUTLINE WHAT WILL BE DONE. 8omc of the More Important M cas urea to Be Introduced by Senators and Representatives--The Ship Canal Project to Receive Attention. - Ca pitai CityChat. {Washington correspondence: HE coining ses­ sion of the new Congress promises to-be full of inter­ esting work for its lh-embers, and from first" to last will hold the atten­ tion of people gen­ erally. With a view of getting ad­ vance information the w r i t e r has made inquiries of a number of the ~-- *ani..«"iiiiiiiin|,i'- d i s t i. n g u i shed '^V^irTTiraTT'-'l | members of both "*^j"~rfrrr--^TIIP MFfl houses for a fair ifr il l- outline of the pros* "^innrlr |j' i pects for legisia- II.' \ tion of interest to tire people. , Answers made to these in­ quiries by Senators and Representatives substantially agree in the- main in two things. One is that the revenues of the Government must be increased. The other ijs that the outlook for.general.legis­ lation is -poor. The session promises to be one of. inactivity, enlivened by stage plays in the interest of parties and Presi- . dentiaba'spirants. , * ' ' " . While there is general agreement that the revenues should be increased the manner of providing this increase prom­ ises to make a conflict between Congress •ttnd The President right at the start, for many Republicans insist that the revenue bill shall be drawn on protection lines, and there is an intimation of a possible conflict and even deadlock between the President and Congress on this question. The principal subjects singled out for tariff protection are limiber and wool. There are suggestions also of an increased tax on beer for the purpose of increasing the revenues. Cuba. Venezuela and the Monroe doc­ trine promise to furnish sufficient mate­ rial for discussion and for resolutions. The Nicaragua Canal, a railroad pooling bill and the Union Pacific situation will receive attention,'as will also the pension question. An effort will be made to de­ prive the Commissioner of Pensions of the right to^ut off pensions arbitrarily or to reduce their allowances. It looks as if the question of retiring the greenbacks, if pressed by President Cleveland, as it probably will-be, will overshadow in im­ portance the silver question. It may be made one of the leading issues in the next campaign. On the whole, very little legis­ lation of importance may be expected er contract similar to that made then with Thelff6rgan-Behiiontsy^ipate.-> " Cartels Two Hats. The Hon. Thomas H. Carter, the mem­ ber of the United States Senate from Montana and the chairman of0the Repu'o- can National Com­ mittee, wears two hats. 'The yliange is made when lie crosses the 88th meridian of longi­ tude. One is of the broad,. sombrero kind, about the complexion of a dun-colored mule, and carries around fhe crown outside a strap of leather, which may be tight­ ened or let oyt to a c c o m m o d a t e t h e T. II. CAKTEK. alterations in Senator Carter's head. That is the hat he wears in Montana, where he is one of the boys, drinks his whisky straight, chews plug tobacco, greases his boots and uses double negatives and oth­ er forms of bad grammar. But as he crosses the 8Sth meridian this hat is folded up carefully and tucked away in the pocket of his gripsack, so that ho may resume it \yhen he reaches the same point on his next jourhey westward. At the- same time Mr. Carter folds up his frontier manners and lays them aside to keep un­ til they are needed again. His other hat is ci sleek and glossy example of "the stovepipe variety, cut after the pattern of that which the Bftjie of Marlborough wore at his wedding. This he only wears in the East, when he-p\i'ts on a bold face, White «hirt, and his manners are those of a prosperous, New York banker. While he wears this hat he shaves and has his boots polished every day, he .abstains from chewing tobacco, smokes expensive, cigars, and his vocabulary is gauged to the Bos­ ton standard. But qiiee in awhile Sena­ tor Carter gets tired of the frills and for­ malities that go with his silk liat and takes a night off. He releases himself entirely from his eminently respectable obligations and relaxes all over. He gets out his old dun-colored hat, puts on a common-looking overcoat, dulls fhe polish upon his boots with a wet towel, shoves his necktie around under his ear. musses up his hair and whiskers and his shirt, gets a big plug of tobacco and leaves the gilded halls of the Holland, Waldorf and Fifth Avenue hotels and goes to a cheap chop house where you can buy a.plain but wholesome dinner for 40 cents and most of the. patrons eat with their knives. I met the Senator there the other evening and to my inquiry he responded: "Yes, by gosh, I've been high-toned as long as I can stand it and I'm laying off to­ night." liobleWork Of Elgin Women--Thieves Secure $5,000--Flora Suffers Se­ verely from Fire--Kuklux in Mor­ gan County. ' Sherman Hospital Opened. Sherman Hospital, built for the city by the Elgin Woman's Club, was formally dedicated Thursday. The rooms of the new building were crowded with visitors all afternoon and evening. Mrs. J. S. Wilcox, president of the Woman's Club, acted as manager of the ceremonies. The new hospital,, which cost $40,000. has been-completed and paid for witn the ex­ ception of a debt of less than $2,000. Robbed ot a Life's Savings. Five thousand dollars, the savings of a life of toil, was stolen from Cornelius and Patrick Cowley Thursday by daring thieves, who did their work in midday while the men were, at work. The Cow- leys are industrious farmers residing about six miles from Harvard.. They are, bachelors, and do their own farm and house work. They were laboring in the field "until sundown, when they went to the house to prepare their supper. •Every­ thing in. the house was turned topsy­ turvy. Trunks had been broken open and rrtnsacked and the.btirglars, who liad no difficulty in breaking in, were well reward-, ed for their trouble. That section of the • country is thickly settled and the wonder is how the thieves did their' work, unob­ served by the neighbors. \ Fire Loss of $30,000 a if Flora/ A fire at Flora, originating in the rear of Siu.itli Bros.' clothing store, spread with great rapidity and was cheeked only when there was nothing more in reach. Three farge brick buildings and several frame ones were destroyed. The principal losers are: August Myers, grocer, $4,000 on building and $*?.(K)0 oil stock, insured for $5,000 on stick and building; Smith Bros., clothing, $12,000, insured for $4,000; C. .1. Myers, druggist. $27,000 on stock and $3,200 on building: insurance $3,500. The entire loss is estimated at $30,000, with insurance of $15,000. SUNDAY SHAVING LAW INVALID. Decision by a Chicago Judge that the Law la Class Legislation. Judge Gibbons, of Chicago, in a careful­ ly written opinion, holds that the Cody law, making it a misdemeanor for a bar­ ber to shave a man on Sunday, is class Called to His Door and Shot. Morgan County is having a little Ku­ klux scare, which has ended without loss of life, but not pleaggj^Jy. John Luke- man, a bachelor wMfiBweS alone, in the with buckshot by;^^£ niisec^hts. who evidently intended rob him. Fortunately the sho11.' lai^p|16 do the work meant for them and Luk^man shout­ ed for help, and the rascals took to their heels. He made his way to the house of a neighbor, jmeM he arrived more dea than alive. 'wi&'jfo&thero is no clew to t perpetrat Aggregate Loss Will Reiach $621,000 --Plants of Twenty Firms in Ashes-- $300,000 Blaze in Woolen Exchange Block--Many Firemen Buried. u Burned Like a Tinder-Box. EFFECTS OF CLOSING CHICAGO BARBER SHOPS ON SUNDAY. from the coming session cf Congress. Fortunately the party strength is so di­ vided between the two houses and the Executive that very little dangerous or disturbing legislation need be feared. Treasury Stock Is Sinking.^.C Recent withdrawals of gold for export by New York banking houses have re­ duced the balance in the treasury to $80,- 439.030, which is about $11,000,000 below the lawful reserve, and within $14,000,- 000 of what is considered the danger point. The bullion in the vaults is valued at $54,088,730 and the coin was $88,073,- 018 before the withdrawals of Saturday, of which $50,338,739 represents outstand­ ing gold certificates. This leaves a mar­ gin of less than $30,000,000 in coin avail­ able for the redemption of greenbacks and other United States notes. All the mints have been working steadily through the summer coining gold with the hope of escaping another such emergency as occurred in February, when coin had to be borrowed from trust funds to re­ deem notes and replaced with bullion. The shipments of gold last week amounted to $3,207,000, and it is expect­ ed that they will reach $5,000,000 this week unless something unusual happens to affect exchange. It is- believed, too,- that the flow eastward will continue at the rate of $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 a week during the remainder of the year, and after the first of January, when divi­ dends are payable, it will be even great­ er. The best authorities anticipate a de­ pletion of the treasury gold to $50,OOO,- 000 or $00,000,000 before Feb. 1. unless some action is taken to stop it or replenish the reserve by the sale of bonds. No aid can be expected from the public revenues. The deficit is piling up largei- and larger every month. The exports in October were only $12,- 000.(100 in excess of the imports, while they were $23,033,135 ill excess during the corresponding month last year. For the ten months of 1895 ended Oct. 31 the balance of trade in our favor was only $31,119,749, while during the correspond­ ing period in 1894 it was $90,001,390, and this difference is not sufficient to settle balances in Europe and meet mercantile obligations. Assistant Secretary Curtis went to New York last week to confer with the bankers of that city concerning this situation, and he was advised by every one that it Would be necessary for the treasury to issue another loan in order to maintain the Government credit until Congress takes some action. The same syndicate that has l.o^n supporting the treasury all sumniW and manipulating exchange so as to prevent the withdrawal of gold is willing to come fo the relief of the Government again on much better terms than they demanded last February, but stipulates that action be taken at once before public, confidence is unsettled and the reserve is reduced below the danger point. They agree to furnish $25,000,000 in gold coin in exchange for $20,000,000 par of 4 per cent, bonds, and it is be-' lieved the President will accept their offer without taking the risk that he did early in the year, and then call upon Con­ gress for permanent relief. The New York bankers told Mr. Curtis that while the Government can place bonds at the. rate of 3 per cent, now it will be compelled to pay at least 3% per cent, if the reserve is reduced below $00.- ,000,000, and if the* administration gets into the same fix as it was in last Febru­ ary he will be compelled to make anotli- legisiation and invalid. This is the result so far of the fight waged by Chicago bar­ bers against the law. The case will be reviewed by the Supreme Court next. The Judge, in the course of his opinion, said: "The basic question of this case is, Can the Legislature single out any one calling or avocation, which in and of it­ self is not harmful to others', and make it the subject of special legislation. It can not be urged that barbering is a pursuit inimical in itself to the health or morals of the community as it has long been recognized as a handiwork that very ma­ terially ministers to the cleanliness and comeliness of the human family. "In truth, we find that this occupation was known to man long before many of the learned professions found a place in human economy. The prophet Ezekieb said: 'And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thine beard.' The courts cannot take cognizance of the moral aspect of the case, even though a seventh day of rest seems to be established by divine decree or natural necessity." SINGULAIRBAILROAD ACCIDENT. M The niu Bue h e r , a b r a k e m h a road, whose home wfflPtu Decatur, found lying on the trircW^par the sh in Springfield. It is known that he d $25 or $30 from the railroad company on Thursday, and that he always carried a fine gold "watch. As nothing of value was found on his body there is reason for the belief that fie was murdered and- robbed and that the body was then placed upon the track to create the impression that he was killed by a train. Klevated Train Crashes Through a Statibn and Fulls to the etreet. A_remarkable accident occurred about t\\ o.( weeks ago in Paris, by which an en­ gine and tender were precipitated from an elevated platform at the Montparnasse station. The train rolled into the train shed at a rate of about thirty-five miles an hour without being able to arrest it- sol, crashed through the bumpers at the end of the track, as well as the front wall of the station, and after traveling about forty-five feet tumbled into the street be­ low, the engine fairly on its nose. For­ tunately at this moment the air brake was put on. and the rest of the train was pre- | vented from going over. It was to this j circumstance that the 123 passengers in i the coaches owe their lives. As to the engineer and fireman they were saved by being thrown from the engine at the first shock and the only fatality, strange to say. that resulted from the whole affair, was the killing, of a merchant in the street below by the fall of a block of stShe detached from the wall by the shock. The cause of the accident--quite the most singular in I<Yench railway an­ nals--is attributed to a defect in the hand brakes, which, strange to say, are always used on French trains, sava, in cases of emergency, when the air brakes are called into play, and in this case the air force could not be applied quickly or effectually enough. The Ursdort;ik&r in the A::tipotlos-.-- Wq see in a daily paper that an un­ dertaker in a country town not a hun­ dred miles from Launceston announces that he has supplied a long-felt want In the district by securing a hearse of the latest design, a.w-1 is how prepared to carry out his work on terms to suit these depressed times. That, as our contemporary remarks, is not at all bad in the way of grim humor, but it is & hardly equal to that of the gentleman who advertised, "Why live and b[e mis­ erable, when you can-be comfortably buried for three guineas?" Medieval knights often took a volun­ tary oath that they would never spare the life of an enemy. . .» . State News in Brief. James Roberts was killed in the Linden mines, Galena, of which he was a part owner, by falling down a mining shaft. The Champaign City Council received bids on the proposed water system. Twen­ ty-two bids were opened, running from $40,000 up. No action was taken. Mr?;. Albert Ehrett, of Percy, dissolved a half-box of matches into a pot of coffee and drank the mixture, death resulting. She had only been a wife fifteen days. Principal Hall, of the Waukegan higii school, declares that not 50 per cent, of high school pupils in Chicago can correct­ ly spell words in a first-year primer. The school system is blamed. Charles Glickman, alias Sam Rosen, escaped from the Alton jail by knocking down Janitor Fox and dashing through the door. He was to stand trial for throwing vitriol at a conductor. At Moline the Third and Fourth Divis­ ions of the Second Battalion Naval Militia have been mustered out and the first two divisions reorganized. Head­ quarters will remain in Moline. Gov. Altgeld has issued his warrant on the requisition of the Governor of New York for the surrender of Bert G. Haw- ley. wanted at New York City for the lar­ ceny of $300 worth of property from Ben jamin L. M. Bates. Hawley is under arrest at Chicago. At Clay City the two-story frame build­ ing owned and occupied by Samuel IIol- man as a general store was burned, with nearly all th& large stock of general mer­ chandise, /alued at $12,000. His loss on the building is estimated at $2,0<X). Oth­ er losses amount to $1.2O0i The Peoria distilleries are now grind­ ing 19,000 bushels daily and J. B. Green- hut says that all the Peoria houses will be running at their full capacity in a few days. The internal revenue collections have averaged better this month than for several years, and heavy shipments are being made to the East daily. Mrs. Jessie Gray, of Woodford County, has retained a Lacon lawyer in a case which involves million's of dollars. Forty- five years ago her husband sold 100 acres of land adjacent to the city of Columbus, Ohio, but for some reason she did not sign the deed and now claims her dower right to a one-third life interest in the property. The Upper Illinois River packets have served notice that Nov. 10 its boats will go into winter quarters, except the steam­ er Borealis Rex, which will run until ice forms. The season has been a profitable one. The excursion business, was the largest ever known. For the first time in many years the intense rivalry between the boat owners did not break out into anything serious. The commissioners for the new asylum for the incurable insane selected the Bar­ ton ville farm of 314 acres for the site. The people of that end of town agree to deliver it for $20,000. Londsdale Green, of Chi­ cago, was selected as an architect.. John Workman, of Hawley's Station, Tazewell County, displays a rare curios­ ity. It is a tooth of a mastodon which was found by his children on the banks of Coal Creek. It is evidently from the back of the lower jaw and is a monster, -weighing -seven -pounds, and- has _ro.o.t.s seven inches long. He will present it to the Peoria Scientific Association. k At Decatur the gentlemen's furnishing goods store of N. T. Watson was closed by the Sheriff on executions in favor of E. W. Moore for $321. Peddecord, Bur­ rows & Co., $l>74, and Charles S. Han- kins. $433. Later Watson assigned to Charles S. Hninkins. The total assets are $5,000 and liabilities $5,741. At the Chicago coroner's inquest every member of the gang of private detectives, belonging to Berry's agency who was known to have taken part in the killing of Frank White was held to the Grand Jury by the verdict. W. J. Dix is 'charged with the murder and the others are held as accessories. Many of them have un­ savory recordsi awarded the sewer building otmtract-a-t Champaign at $44,970. George Thome was thrown from a' horse at Jacksonville and sustained in­ juries from which he died. James Roberts, 37 years old, was in­ stantly killed at" Linden by falling thirty feet down a mining shaft, - Charles Bierce, son of Judge J. M. Bierce, a Baltimore and Ohio Southwest­ ern brukeman, was'killed at Iola. George Putrnah was given a five-year terni in the penitentiary. He killed A. S. Griue. a resident of Carlisle. May 8, 1894. Henry C. Foster, colored, was convicted of the. murder of George W. Wells, at Chicago. His punishment is to be death on the gallows, . • • French Jones and his son Lindsey, Con­ victed of the murder, June 24 last; at Thebesi Alexander county, of John G6s- kie, the former's son-in-law. were taken, to the penitentiary, The father is* sen-, fenced ,for life and the . son. for fourteen yeiirs. ' " * - E. J; Corey, of Peoria, a contractor, h«s-_ disappeared, and: his. partner-, . John W. lira tier, has to stand the brunt of his carelessness. Already claims for $5,000 have been presented to Brai'ier, which he authorized Corey to settle, and for which, lie advanced fhe money. Several weeks ago the contractors secured work at Keo­ kuk, Iowa, and Newcastle, and were just completing the contracts at the latter place. Brauer thinks his loss will foot up $10,000. At noon Wednesday the wedding of Mss Isabel P. Yeningerholz and Charles 0. Lefargee was solemnized at Decatur at St. John's Episcopal Church in the presence of 100 guests. A brilliaht re­ ception was held at the home of the Hon. J. J. Peddicord, the banker and grand­ father of the bride. Ex-Gov. R. .1. Ogieshy, grand uncle of the bride, was present with his family. A wedding break­ fast was served. The groom is a leading member of the Macon County bar and a prominent Democratic orator. The cou­ ple will reside in Decatur. Billy Wilson, a desperate character from the Pea Ridge,^is the only prisoner in the Lacon jail. He was allowed the of the corridor, and in his idle conceived the idea to demolish and all its fixtures, and chose a Deputy Sheriff Broaddus was ng papers. He had partly 'suc- is work when Mrs. Broaddus ldlv down the corridor with a in her haiid. Wilson at first defiance, but the steady nerve and ion of the woman cowed him ission, and he was marched to ttie dark cell. - Mrs. Broaddus inguished herself on several occa­ sions. The European hotel at Greenup was discovered to be on fire Monday morning barely in time for the inmates to escape in their night clothes, and but for the persevering efforts of men and women alike almost the entire business portion of the town would have been destroyed. Total losses were sustained by Frank Bos- Worth, proprietor of the European hotel and restaurant, estimated at $5,000; Glias. Flowers, general store, $5,000; A. R. Bosworth, in whoso building Flowers' store was located, $2,000; L. 0. Feltner, hardware and implements, $7,000. These were unable to save even books and ac­ counts. Other losses may reach $3,000. The buildings were all new, having been built last year. The cause of the fire is •unknown. The leading packers in the Chicago stockyards, as well as the lesser ones, are worried by the salt combine, which has been raising prices until now it seems the effect of the salt "trust's" squeeze will cost the packers a matter of $400,000 or $500,000 a year. Rock salt has been ad­ vanced in price nearly 100 per cent. The packers dispatched trusted men to find out whether salt could be bought else­ where. Their agents have returned and reported that the combine seems to have secured everythng. Packers at the stock­ yards require rock salt for certain of their processes of curing. Their consumption amounts, it is said, approximately, to 15.- 000 cars annually, or nearly 300,000 tons. The packers gave little heed to the-com­ bine, it appears, until November. Then they discovered that instead of $2.75 a ton they were paying $4.50 to $4.7." for their rock salt., Mrs. William Best and her daughter Kittie were thrown out of a carriage at Rockford, and it is feared they are in­ ternally injured. The lifeless body of Henry Becker, aged 05, a farmer, was found lyiiig in the wag­ on road a half-mile east of Germantown. Death was due to heart trouble. The remains of Louis Brown, the mur­ dered Rockford boy, were brought home from Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Chief of Police Bargren received a letter from Darlington, Wis., indicating that Dun­ bar, the man who killed the lad, was the terror of that city. Wednesday evening he went to his home, and sitting down at the table told his mother that lie was go­ ing to kill himself, for he had murdered his partner five miles south of Mount Pleasant and sunk his body in the river. He then took out a revolver and pressed it to his head and pulled the trigger, dying five hours later without recovering con­ sciousness. The Writer says that this murder is not the only one in which Dun­ bar has been concerned. Some time ago, while he was hunting and trapping, by which he always made his living, his part­ ner was found dead. The circumstances pointed to murder at the hands of Dunbar. On the day he committed suicide he is said to have threatened the life of a Dar­ lington citizen., and a friend to whom he confessed having murdered young Brown says that Dunbar would shoot anybody for $5. Michael ,T. O'Brien, a saloon-keeper at Chicago, shot and instantly killed one of two women who bear his name, and who believed she was legally married to the slayer. Neither woman knew the other before the crime and up to a late hour the survivor was ignorant of the tragedy. G. D. Mathews, Mayor pro tem. of Grayville, has issued a proclamation re- questiiig that the schools, churches and all public gatherings be discontinued for ten days on account of the prevalence of diph­ theria. -Seven deaths have occurred in the past week and several new cases were re­ ported Tuesday. Diphtheria is prevalent in various places in Marion County,, a number of schools havingsbeen closed on account of its pres­ ence. Two children in Salem died from the effects of it, and the little child of J. H. Yawter now has it. To prevent its fur­ ther spread the Board of Education or­ dered the schools to be closed indefinitely. Burglars entered the New York Dental Parlors at Chicago and stole* between $400 and $500 from a safe. Suspicion rests upon a porter, for whom a search is being made. By a strange coincidence, Dr. B. R. Simons^ manager of the place, was surprised to find thieves had also entered his house while he was away, taking considerable fine jewelry 1 IRE at Jackson, and Canal streets. Chica­ go, destroyed two big 1> lock s owned by W'a r r e n Springer, ate up the plants of twenty firms, threw 700 persons out of e m p 1 o y m out and caused a loss of $<>00.000' Thursday afternoon. The fire b u r n e d f o r t h r e e hours. Fo'ur hun­ dred women and girls on a sixth lloor were in danger at one time of being cut off by the flames, jbut they were saved bjv the presence of mind of a policeman.- The firemen were threatened by the fre­ quent falling of the tall walls and liy explosions of,oil. They had several runs -for their lives, with narrow escapes, but 'they luckily came through unseat!i\>d. rlhe- Springer buildings were occupied raijuufactiiring concerns.' -and ' the flames spread so rapidly that ,the occu­ pants .'had barely time to seize their books and a few personal belongings- ami- es-r cape with their'lives, .The buildings wele equipped With automatic sprinklers* but these were as .helpless as garden sprink­ ling pots to stay the tire. There were also two tire walls, but the. flames pass.ed these barriers as easily as though they were but lath. Feathers and oils*and inks carried the fire from floor to floor and from end to end of the big blocks with lightning speed, and in half an hour the whole Canal street front was ablaze. This front presented a surface 184 feel long by sev­ en and eight stories in height. A half- hour later the Jackson street side, 104 feet deep and seven stories high, was by that floor with flame. The blaze spread rapidly and caught the woodwork that sur­ rounded an air shaft in tJjF corner of th4 floor, and which riin from the basement clear to the roof. It served as u chimney .for the flames to leap to the floods above. The burning.'Wood fell to the floors below and started the blaze among the material stored on them. . In fifteen,minutes after the first spark oj^fire. was seen, the seven. ..s.tqries of the Excelsior Block were blaz­ ing like a furnace. ,. f Breaking out in the afternoon of a raw, showy November day. just Us the first travel from, the Union station to Suburban points was about to begin, the tire created a tremendous sensation among the dirty" ways of Canal street, in the dark depths of the stat'ion. and ®^h'e Springer build­ ings themselves, wheV? hundreds Of men, women, girls and boys fled down the nar­ row stairways for their lives, and. find­ ing themselves safely in the streets, laughetl and clapped their hands for the joy of safety. Then" .they .wat :Jfie~d."""the shell pass more quickly than any building of its size in Chicago has ever burned before since 1871. The character jf the interior construction of the ^Springer ' buildings has always been condemned by j the wage earners of the West Side and I feared by the firemen of the city depart-f j nient. . : . • . •*" SIX FIREMEN DEAD. Horrible Results- of Another Fire in aj Seven-Story Building. At 9:30 Friday morning fire which was the cause of death and the loss of prop­ erty Worth $500,000 broke ouf in the fourth "story of .Kuh, Nathan & 'Fischer's ,in'\y building,, the Dry 'Goods',and Woolen' Exchange, at 2,15 and 217 Van Buren street and 270 and 2JS Franklin street, Chicago. The» flanie-S' burst'through the windows all along the front, ot' the build-' iifg, ami iii.au instant the whole structure Wits a "mass of cfirling fire. , Jumping from the upper windows, a number of people were dashed upon the pavement and sustained fatal injuries. Hanging between life and death, a score or more of shrieking, screaming girls dung to the window casements of the building. With lightning-like rapidity engines and hose carts surrounded the blazing structure. In a twinkling every fire escape in the building was alive wjtli helmeted firemen bent on saving the lives EXCELSIOR BLOCK OX FIRE. spitting tire from every window. So much valuable property adjoining was threatened that the fire department turn­ ed out with thirty-five engines, fhe largest number called into use at a single fire iii five years. The fire broke out about 3 o'clock. Three hours later there was lit­ tle left of the two Springer buildings but parts of their walls, and their contents were all burned or lay in hot heaps of debris in the basements. Less than $500 worth of property was saved by the occu­ pants. When it became known that hundreds of women were in danger in one of the tall buildings the crowd wanted to make a rush for it, but was kept back by a detail of police from the Desplaines street station. Oflicer Thomas Brennan had gone into the building and had prevented a fatal panic by barring the stairway with his stalwart figure until he could reassure the frightened women and send them down the stairs in platoons. Even then some of them fell and bruised themselves in their hurry to escape, but as they pour­ ed out of the doomed building the crowd sent up a shout for the women and the gallant officer who had saved them. Oil Kxplosionu. It was reported that the basement un­ der the rooms occupied by the Shober iV Carqueville Lithograph Company was filled with oils, and the firemen worked in constant fear of an explosion. Fortu­ nately when the explosions came their force spent itself upward. The loud re­ ports Were followed by a cloud of tim­ bers and debris Hying toward the upper floors, which fell back into the seething pit without injury to firemen or specta­ tors. Many of the floors were filled with printing presses and other heavy machin­ ery. As the supports were weakened by the flames the machines broke through the floor and went down to the bottom with crash after crash as they struck each succeeding floor and landed in the basement in jangled masses of rods and wheels. As the flames spread from one section of the buildings to another, and floor after floor gave way, the noise resembled a bat­ tery of artillery in action. Then falling walls added their thunders to the occa­ sion. The first section to tumble was the sixth and seventh stories of the Exceisior Block on Canal street. A warning crack and a shout from the crowd sent the fire­ men flying for their lives. The wall fell half way across the street and sent bricks with sufficient force to have killed the firemen, who escaped the danger by bare­ ly a second. The next section to fall was on the north, but it struck the Wilson building and went through the roof with­ out a rebound. A little later three upper EXCELSlOIt BI.OCK BEFOItE THE FIIIE. stories of the Jackson street wall toppled outward and across the street, but it had been expected, and the firemen were out of the line of danger. Edward B. Gallup, manager for Mr. Springer, put the. loss on the seven-story I Excelsior Block, 175 to 1S3 Canal street, I at $225,000 to $250,000; that on the eight- story block at 171 to 173. Canal street at ! $75,000, and that on the No. 10 building j ou Clinton street at $25,000. He inti- | mated the insurance would come near the L value of the buildings. The property of ' the tenants in„the buildings was all heav­ ily insured. r The origin of the fire is a mystery, al­ though the supposition of employes about the Emmerich feather renovating institu­ tion was that a' gas jet by accident com­ municated its flame to some of the chem-. icals used in the gleaning of feathers and } that an explosion followed which filled imperiled above. Catching its breath, the spellbound crowd gazed upward as one of the girls, driven to frenzy by the choking, blinding smoke, leaped in midair to what appeared certain death. A fireman's strong arm extended from the fire escape was almost wrenched from its socket as he caught the flying human figure. A second later another girl threw herself headlong. But no protecting arm saved her. and. turning over and over, she fell to the sidewalk below, a mangled, bleed­ ing mass of humanity. After the fire was entirely under con­ trol and while the firemen were oh the first lloor of tlx structure, throwing water oil some still smoldering flames, the second and third floors suddenly gave way and crashed on the first, covering the firemen. Captain Louis Feine, of fire company 2, and the lieutenant and four pipemen of the same company were buried beneath falling floors of the building. WOULD RETIRE GREENBACKS. Secretary of the Treasury Declares His Policy in a New York Speech. The address by Mr. Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury, at the annual dinner of the New York Chamber of Commerce was a plea for the retirement of the legal tenders. lie took the ground that no change made in our currency system will afford relief unless it provides for this retirement, as the circulation...of the legal tenders has a tendency to drive out of use and out of the country the very gold in which the Government is compelled to redeem them. His exact language was this: "No change that can be made in our currency system will afford the relief to which the Government and the people are entitled unless it provides for the retire­ ment and cancellation of the legal tender United States notes. Anything less than this will be simply a palliative and not a cure for the financial ills to which the country is now subject." lie added thai "no other Government in the world is re­ quired to supply gold from its treasury to discharge the private obligations of ita citizens." Notes of Current Events. A Sister of Charity in St. Yineent'a Asylum, St. Louis, has been appointed a notary public. The Choctaw Legislature, has rejected the Dawes commission proposition to ac­ cept lands in severalty. <:* Joseph Ivilgore and John Jones were killed, and John Ilaiidley fatally wound­ ed in a street duel in Birmingham, Ala. Two pretty New Y'ork women are going to Atlanta in a twenty-foot rowboat. They are making the voyage to win a bet. Five theaters on'the Midway at the Atlanta fair have been closed on account of immorality. The proprietors were fined $100 each. A Salvation Army invaded a-Muncie, Ind., theater and changed the variety pro­ gram to a religious service. Four con verts were made. Details of the loss of the Italian bark Brom Carlo off Cape Horn by collision with the British ship Condor, show that only four of her nineteen men were saved. The trials of the notorious Scatterfield whitecaps have begun at Anderson, Ind. Another attempt to kidnap Miss Hudson, the State's principal witness, has been frustrated. Retail druggists of Kansas City will manufacture all the patent medicines con­ sumed by the local trade in order to fight those manufacturers who supply patent medicines to department stores. Assistant Secretary Reynolds, of the Interior Department, has decided that where a pension has been obtained fraud­ ulently the attorney procuring the pension is not entitled to the fee and must re­ fund it. Citizens of Thompson Township, Ohio, are being terrorized by a lioness .and two ieopards, which escaped from f, fcircus some time ago and traveled from Marion County. Many ,sheep and calves have been killed. Farmers go to their field work heavily armed. Tralvel after night has been entirely stopped. A hunting party will be organized. TWO WONDERFUL CITIES. The Beginning and Growth r>f Mil wan*' kee and Chicago. The" celebration at Milwaukee of her fiftieth anniversary as a city brings to mind the; great, question which agitated Eastern people going West fifty years ago. Between 1840 and 1850 there was a great division of opinion among the Ohioans, Pennsylvanians, New-Yorkers and New-Englanders who were con­ templating following Horace Greeley's, advice of going West and growing np . with the country as to which of the two places, Milwaukee or Chicago, would be the leading city on the west shore of. Lake Michigan and keep the lead. The inajority of them were,of opinion that Milwaukee was the coming city of the great West--except St Louis, which would stand "first J" ' •' •; The most of the immigrants of Jhat day looking for homes came West,by water, taking steamer at Cleveland or Buffalo. The first place at which they stopped was Milwaukee. They found it located on high ground, well drained, and a very handsome site for a great city. From, there they usually went out to Rock River, thence to the Mississippi . near Galena, thence down, to Rock Isl- . and, thence across the prairies eastward ' to Chicago, and from here back, hotne again to Cleveland or Buffalo by steam- i er, for there were no railroads then to • return, by on the west side of the lake. These travelers in the majority of cases related that they had found Chicago, a low, -"damp? fiat, swampy, iindraiaed place, and with a bad climate on ac­ count of the dampness, but all the same a bustling, breezy place, and Its peo­ ple having an anticipation of good times coming when the- Michigan canal should be finished. They didn't like its wooden buildings, erected on posts, or ifs board pavements, Its wooden side­ walks on stilts of varying height, its swamps and its sand dunes about Calu­ met as compared with the dry soil, rolling prairies, beautiful little lakes, and fine country west of Milwaukee; but they were forced to confess that Chicago was full of wide-awake, bust­ ling real estate agents, lawyers, mer­ chants, builders, bankers, etc. - It also made a great impression upon tourists that Milwaukee was 100 miles nearer to Cleveland and Buffalo by wa­ ter than Chicago, and that it had a better harbor and entrance and deeper water for vessels, while the Chicago River was a narrow, crooked, shallow, stagnant bayou. These were in substance the opinions of the majority of the tourists who fifty years ago were contemplating moving westward of Lake Michigan from the older States, and who came here'to spy out the land. Later the news came that the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed,and was bringing grain from the interior of the State and tobacco from St. Louis to Chicago, that there was much business being transacted here, and that the city was forging ahead of Milwaukee ^ . In 1S45 the latter had about 10,000u population and was rapidly growing, while among the swamps, sand dunes, and bog holes of Chicago at that time there were about the same number, or somewhat less. Before the end of the forties travelers reported that Chicago was in the lead; that trade was pouring in by the canal and that the people were talking of railroads. Br 1S50 Chicago had 29.000 people and Milwaukee about 15.000, and the latter reluctantly acknowledg­ ed that it looked as though Chicago was In the load. In 1S55 Chicago had close to 50,000, while Milwaukee had but 25,- 000. Then the feeling of rivalry in Milwaukee ceased. There was no longer a question which city would be the metropolis of the lake region. But Milwaukee has kept along at a good fair jog pace, and is now a beautiful city of over 250,000 people, while Chi­ cago in the same period has made her wonderfully prosperous and successful march, pud now has over 1,000,000 in­ habitants, and proposes to round the century by passing the two million mark. The one and a half story wood­ en houses of 1S45 are giving place to the sixteen and twenty story steel structures of 1S95. Handel's Obstinacy. A child's obstancy does not always bring as fortunate results as was the case with Handel, the great musician. His extraordinary resoluteness as a boy doubtless led to that great success which crowned the later years of his life. When lie was some seven years of age his father had occasion to visit a son by a former wife, who was valet to the Duke of Saxe Weissenfels. Trav­ eling in those days--two hundred years ago--was tedious and expensive, and Doctor Handel did not desire to be de­ layed with the care of an "Infant" during a journey which the demands of a responsible profession would prob­ ably make as short as possible. But the future giant of music would go. He cried, bellowed, and eventual­ ly ran along the road after the vehicle, until the tender feelings of the doctor could refuse no longer. In an evil mo­ ment for his jurisprudence scheme he took the child with him. No sooner did the little fellow reach the ducal residence than he gave rein to his fancy on the keys of every in­ strument that he found open. The re­ markable music that came from the finger-tips of the child's hands was soon the object of wonder and conversation throughout the palace, and all this was intensified when he secured an oppor­ tunity of touching the keys of the chapel organ within the hearing of the duke. Such a throb started from that chapel organ when little Handel'3 tendrilled fingers chose the keys, and the soul of the duke was touched as it never had been touched before. Truly a momen­ tous occurrence, since but for it Han­ del's sacred music might never have been written. The duke's attention having been rested, he Inquired of Doctor concerning the child's future, and even­ tually succeeded in xdacing him for three years' study under Zachau, the organist of Halle Cathedral. This was the beginning of Handel's musical edu­ cation. Ohio the CbKampion Divorce State. Statistics completed for the annual report of the Secretary of that. v 0,540 suits for divorce brought during the year inJ these petitions 9T0 were 2,497 divorces were granted. tional number of cases still the courts.--New York Sun. „ /~\