davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
EXPIATING HIS CRIME.
Execution Of a Murderer at Fort
Wayne, Ind.
Why the Murder was Conmitte5---
Last Hours of the Condemned.

Samuel Mcdonald was hanged in the yarl
of the county jail at Fort Wayne, Ind, a
few days ago for the murder of Louis Lou
rent, between the 22d and 18th of March last.
Lourent, the murdered man, had a contract
for clearing n tract of timber land near the
village of Arcola. He employed Mcdonald
to assist him, and the two were supposed
to be the warmest personal friends
On the 22d of last March Lourent and Nc
Donald were in Arcola drinking together in
saloon, and about 10 o'clock ut night in
company with three companions, started for
their cabin i'll the clearing. Upon arriving
at the cabin Lourent and Mcdonald bid their
companions goodbye and went into the
cabin. That was the last time Lourent was
seen alive by any person except Mcdonald.
On March 80 the corpse of Lourent was dis
covered in the lonely hut by the owner of the
tract which the two men were clearing. In
the meantime Mcdonald, who was known to
be without money, bought a suit of clothes,
paying therefor with twentydollar gold
piece. and lifted an oh i2at,on in Fort Wayne,
another twenty-dollar gold piece being the
tender. He also pawned a gun, identified as
the property of the murdered man, and on
the witness stand denied all of the transac-
tions cited above. In the cabin were found
bloody footprints and shoes worn by Melon
aid and identified as his bearing blood stains,
were found to correspond herewith. The
pawn ticket which he received for the gun
ne was Seeil 10 Hue Ill Il manager III n stable.
1t was produced and he afterward denied
ever having seen it,
The condemned passed his last night in the
company of his spiritual advisers, sleeping
but little. The next morning h. appeared
cheerful and resigned and at noon ate
hearty dinner At seventeen minutes past
l p. NJ, Mcdonald, supported by
two Catholic clergymen. entered the Jail
yard from the rear door of the
Jail. His face was blanched to almost pearly
wilderness. but he mounted the scaffold with
firm tread He stood unsupported on the
drop while Sheriff Scheifer read the death
warrant without tremor. At the conclu-
sion Of the reading Mcdonald said in firm
voice: "Wel, gentlemen, | have nothing
to say. | hope God will forgive me.n
He then kissed the crucifix and repeated
prayers while his arms and legs were being
pinioned. After the moose was ad iusted and
before the black cap was drawn over his
head he said, without faltering, Goodbye to
ALL
The cap was then drawn, and while the
priest W. S praying the sheriff put his foot on
the trigger and the body of Mcdonald shot
downward a distance or six feet. His neck
was not broken. In fifteen minutes he was
pronounced dead from strangulation.
and in seven minutes after death the body
was cut down and turned over to the cor
oner. Two hundred men witnessed the exc
cution. Mcdonald, the previous night, placed
his confession in the hands of his attorneys.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
CROP REPORTS,
Condition OF the 20 n, Wheat. Oats,
n; r.ey, pc titO amt 4 Obacco Crops.

a Washington dispatch says that the
October corn report for the department of
agriculture fully sus:ains the teegraphic
summary of September 10 relative to in
juries by frosts. The general avera &c of CON
dition for the entire II I'D is seventy-eight
six points less than on September |, four from
frosts in the north and two from drought on
the Atlantic seabCard and south of the
frosted areas 1t is five -ints below the Dc
tober average of 1852, while tn re is four per
cent increase in ar a. 1t is twenty-one
point lower than the Octcb r average of the
census crop. The product of the year will be
c.ose to ,GOl, 100000 bushels, with more soft
corn than last year, most y i'll regions that
consume Their entire crop.
The returns of yield of wheat per acre in
dicate a production about two and a quarter
bushels per acre less than the crop of last
year. While a revision of the rec 1rJs of the
season may cause slight local changes, it is
certain that the final ayerag of yield will
not differ much from ll.3 bushels per O re
The aggregate viii excel 100000. $50 bush
els an may reach 1000 0 600 The quality
is not up to an average.
The yield of oats is full average of a series
of years. or about nty-eight bushels to the
acre for the whole country. The crop will
aggregate about 800, 100000 bushels. The
quality is high.
Ire barley crop will average between one
and two bushels per acre more than last year,
approximating 5D,OOO,O0O.
The potato crop is in better condition than
In any year since $50. The average is ninety
three.
The tobacco crop will he below an average
in yield. The general average Of condition
Is eighty-two.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
SUFFOCATED BY GRAIN.
Fourteen Men buried by n C-ushcd
Granary.--FOur Lose ! ncir Lives.

A dreadful and peculiar accident occurred
the other night az the farm of Mr.. Northruff,
eight miles east of Moorhead, Mimi, in
which four men were kille outright and
ten more narrowly escaped with their lives.
The fourteen men We're members o. a
threshing crew who had been threshing for
MIR. Northruf the day previous. They were
sleeping in the lower story of a granary, in
the upper story of which were stored 1 400
bushels of oats During the night while all
the men were asleep, the floor suddenly gave
way and the falling cats completely buried
eight men who We're sleeping az the
end of the building where the floor
first gave way. The other six, who were
sleeping at the other emf of the granary,
were partially crowded tn ough the side Of
the house, which gave way under the sudden
pressure of the descending grain, and made
their escape without serious difficulty. After
giving the alarm they set to work to release
their buried comrades. When the unfortunate
men were finally reached four of them were
dead from suifocation, and some Of the others
were so nearly so that it was a matter Of
doubt for several hours whether they would
live or not.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
WHEAT,
A Two Years Analysis OF thc.CcreaI
Completed.

Professor Clifford Richardson, of the
United States department of agriculture
has Just completed a TWO years task in
the analysis of nearly 2,0JJ specimens
of whoa from various parts of
the country. and colpJ ariLg them
with each other and with European wheat
He says that the main failing Of our wheat is
n deficiency in slbummods, which are re-
garded as the most valuable portions of
the grain. Among our VIII. ats the highest
percentage of albuminoids was Il. ID, while
IA Russ an wheat from Minnesota contained
~ per cent, twenty-four different speci-
mems averaging 10 IS per cent, the lowest
having .6S per cent. In the East our wheat
is the poorest, falling below the general aver
age in albuminoids and ash and in the size of
the grain. A regular graduation of improve
ment from asst to west is found until the
Pacific coast is reached, where there is q most
remarkable falling off IN everything but the
size of the grain In the Juntry between the
Mississippi and the mountains the best grain
is produced. The middle West, represented
by Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, holds
an intermediate position between this district
and that on the Atlantic coast. The latter
shows plainly that Its soils have been more or
less worn out, the middle West that it is los
ing its fertility, and the far West the fact
that it contains those stores of pant food and
nitrogen especially which make rich grain.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
FREAKS OF LIGHTNING.

AT Higginsville, Mo-, Lightning struck the
hen-hou>e OF j. 7. Fulkerson, and of its sixty
inmates not whole hen could afterward be
found.
THE poodle of Mrs. Walter Reynolds, of
Orange, Mass, was killed by lightning as it
lay u bed with her. while the lady herself
wa, not harmed.
THE eighteen-months-old chill of Mrs.
John Tucker, OF Sal,m. Ga, was at its
mothers breast nursing when lightning
killed both mothe: and enid.
AN apple tree was perfectly pc rtrayed on
the window pane of the house of Colonel
Armstrong, near Atlanta. Ga, before which
1t stood when lightning strUc6 it,
LIGHTNING struc, directly in front of a
team at Pasccag, X. l., killing one o the
horses. while the other changed in color
from maho1 any bay to jet black.
THIRTEEN head of yearling cattle were
killed by lightning at Oregon, Wisconsin,
while standing in the shelter of some trees
that We're not even touched by the fatal bolt
The nursing infant Of Mrs. Mary Sa.a-
white, Of Winlrtd. Ca, was taken from her
breast and thrown across the room by
lightning without injury, bat the mother
dropped dead.
AT the house Of George Busby, of Fidelity,
H., lightning drew the nail upon which his
coat hung against the WALL ana showed Il part
Of the coat sleeve into the hole where the nail
niid Deen, 80 that tine garment dld not iall to
the floor.
JOHN MCFADDEN, a teGmster of Omaha,
was on a load Of lumber when struck by
lightning. 1t burned his hair, whiskers and
eyelashes Off. and marked his breast and
stomach with hundreds If small burned spots,
tore off one leg of his trousers, and one shoe
and stocking. He was dead when found.
On the top of Locust mountain, in Penn
sylvania. was an immense rock Weighing
ninety IONS When lightning struck it the
shock was felt for miles and the rock was
shivered to atoms In the dwellings nearthe
foot of the mountain one woman was killed,
two men injured, and another ma lie insane
A GLASS dish filed with shells was ON
mantel shelf in the home of Joseph Haynes,
of South Parsonsiield, Me. When lightning
truck the building it threw this dish across
the room without cracking it or losing
shell, struck gun, tearing the stock into
pieces, then EASEL into the sitting-room
where the family were AMI took square out
OF the plast@ring. but injured no one.
WILLIAM WASHINGTON of Hills Station,
Md, was rcck ne the cradle containing the
younee t OF his three children. His wife was
moving toward The fireplace with knife,
70 TX and plate in her hands when, suddenly,
both fell to the floor, the wife, though deal,
still clutc ing the knife in one hanl and
holding piece of the broken pate inthe
other. Washington was stunned only.
Lightning had entered through the chimney
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
UNITED STATES ARM !.
Changes CAUSED by the Retirement
Gen,rai Sherman.

,,-,.,.;...-..., ,.','--..,, - ,r,
a "S"l'iStoh u-si'uuch says; Inc Ioliow-
Ing general order was issued this afternoon
by the secretary of war: The President hav WING
oco,.1aI 20 +1, -. e -, W. re
, ~ ~ ieiu9sU Vi oehelai W. l.
sherman to be relieved from the command Of
the ann, on November |. 1ss3. prepal at prv
70 his retirement from, act;,.e sor,.ioa dir.ots
a., srI.e - 0i ~ = 'e' 'i'o' 'ie0''
Ine loho"lhS changes ana assignments TO
command General William T. Sherman
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
OHIO AND IOWA.
The Dcmoci as Successful i'm the
FOrner AMI lie RIO 'ublicans i'm
The \ after State.

Reports received from eighty four out of
the lightweight counties in Ohio show the
ma 5ority of Ju ige Hoa lily, the Democratic
candidate for governor, 10 be about 1850.
he prohibition Vote will probably reach
about 1900, and the Greenbac.l vote
about 2,0C0 votes. Ths tota vote
OF the State is estimated at 1i5,00D-
equal to the presidential vote of 1850. The
Demo crat, have an estimated ma ority in the
legislature OF twenty-four on joint la lot
which insureS them the election of a United
States Senator. The canvass was the hottest
ever held in Ohio, the temperance advocates
making desperate efforts for the success of a
constitutional. amendment called the
Second Amendment which reads thus:
THE manufac ure of and the traffic in i'll
tox eating liquors t. be uSe1 as a Leverage
are forever prohibited; AMI the general as.
sembly shall proyi lie by aw for the enforce
ment Of this prov sion Women and child
rem were enlisted all over III, State to fight
for the success of this amendment, and its
friends claimed its adoption by IA small ma
jority.
In Iowa late returns put the majority of
Sherman, the Repubican candidate for gov
ernor, over Kline, the Democratic caadi-
date, at about $4,000, and over Weaver,
Gre nda k candidate, at 10000 The SEN
ate is Repub lean and the house very close,
the Greeabsckers electing about five mem
bars Judge Cook, Democrat, is elected to
Congress in the sixth distr c. by n small ma.
iority, although it is GAINED his seat will be
contested.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC,

Lolita will probably play in London next
spring.
HAvERLY is to take another minstrel troupe
to England
New YoRK's new opera-house VIII seat
1904 persons.
MAGGIE MITCHELL refused to play on Sun
day night in Cincinnati.
THE Rev. Henry Ward Beecher lectured
recently in New Orleans and other Southern
cities.
Mrs. AGNES BoUCICAULT has been added
to the company of the Fifth Avenue theatre,
New York.
JOE JEFFERSON has played Grip Van
Winkle' over 1000 times during the last
twenty years
THIS is the time of the year when the re-
turning prima donna talks about America
, and gives us all "taffy."
j. A. ARNOLD, an American has made
successful debut in London in Planquette's
comic opera, Rip Van Wrinkle"
Brooks AND DICKINSON have engaged
Ristori for tour of this country during
1SS4-5 She will be supported by an Aneri-
can company.
THE subscription to the opera season at
the new Metropolitan Opera-house, New
York, amounts to $4,000, the largest known
for any season.
THE four "Lights o London companies
now on the road afford employment to 1872
persons, ninety-seven of whom form the total
of the acting department.
MISS MAY NEWMAN, who is playing the
leading female role in the Boston theatre
"World" company, is receiving much praise
from the New England press
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN, it is said, has I'M
dertaken to write an Italian opera, which, if
finished in time, is to be produced at Covent
Garden next year. The story of Mary Stu
art is to form the su bject of the libretto
THE queen of Spain appears to be fond of
good music. Last summer she attended some
performances of "Parsifaln at Bayreuth, and
during her recent visit in Vienna, Strauss
Merry War" was sung at her special re-
quest.
Mr.. LYTToN SOTHERN, son. of "Dun-
dreary," is not achieving much success in his
effort to produce throughout the country the
plays made famous by his father. The man
who undertakes to initiate a distinguished
father has big contract always.
Mr.. JAMES E. MURDOCH proposes next
season to give a series of farewell per-
formances in all the principal cities of the
country before finally retiring from the
stage He will probably appear as Hamlet,
Othello, Claude Melnotte and Charles
Surface.
AN interesting account appears in the
London Era of the Warrington theatre, said
to be the oldest in the provinces, and the first
in which gas was used. There is a Playful
in existence of performance which was
given in 1898, when scenic effects were evil
IDENTIFY feature new i'll those days The
artist announced that he would display 1.-THE
ribs of beef roasting in the old barons
kitchen" Another scene was to be tom
Paine burnt in effigy.n
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
South and West.

GEORGE CHAMBERLAIN, of Baltimore, at
midnight. shot and killed Charles Geirhart
who was standing in the road and calling to
one of Cha.nberlain's daughters to come out
AN Usage Indian doctor named Joseph
Rogers shot and killed his wife, white
woman, at Quincy, ILL.,, and then committed
suicide. The cause was Jealousy.
POLICE SERGEANT JENKINS. of st. Louis,
was shot and killed by a colored woman
Mhom he was about to arrest.
THE great event of the day at the Chicago
Driving ark was the beating of all previous
trotting and pacing records by the young
PAGER Johnston. The horse paced without a
break or skip in exactly 2:l0, thereby making
the fastest harness record ever known
A SAN Francisco dispatch says that Lieu
tenant Schwatka, of arctic fame has re-
turned from an exploring tour through
Alaska. Speaking of his trip up the Yukon
river. Alaska, lie saws he Travelled >, 800 miles
overland, reaching the head-waters of the
river, where they constructed raft of logs
to navigate the stream to its mouth. They
procured crew of six Indians and
proceeded down the gradually increasing
stream within $50 miles of Fort Chile At, where
rapids We're encountered. Down them the
Indians refused to 60 and attempted to force
the raft Ashore Schwatka, in order t, sup
press the mutiny opened fire on the Indians.
killing three. when the others submitted AMI
the Ianids were run. The voyage on the
raft was 500 miles Lieutenant Schwatka
says the Yukon is one of the largest rivers in
the world.
NINE weeks after being bitten by a small
dog, Pauline =. Hartman, of Chicag 90, a gel
nine years, died in great agony of hydro
phob;a.
AT Dodge City, Kansas 'Billn Smith,
negro, shot Harrison Hilman. As Hillmal
fell he grapplei Smith, wrenched his pistol
from him and shot Smith in the head. He
then reloaded the pistol and fired two moro
balls into Smiths body, after which he fell
back dead.
ONE of two negroes who murdered Police
man Street, of Huntsville, Ala, by splitting
his head open with an AK, was taken from
jail at night by fl ty mas4el men AMI
hanged.
UNITED STATES DEPUTY MARsHALs PERRY
and Weatherford, while guarding some In
dian prisoners at Fayetteville. Ark, quar-
relied over game of cards, drew revolvers
and killed each other, one firing three and
the other seven shots.
SAN Francisco has been visited by another
earthquake shock, the severest felt in several
years
LIEUTENANT STOREY, who went to Alaska
on the last trip of the nited States steamer
Corwin, reports, on his return to san Fran
cisco, the discovery Of an immense rive.
Indians told him that thy had come down
the river a distance of 800 miles to meet
n fur trader, and that it went up higher than
that
THE annual convention of the National
Bankers ass citation was held this year in
Louisville, delegate from all parts of the
country being in ATTENDANCE. Addresses
were delivered by PRESIDENT Coe, of New
York. John j. Knox, comptroller of the
United States trea -ury, and others.
DURINGe ection day there was a sanguinary
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
FIVE EXECUTIONS.
Two Wife NIurderets One OF the
Ashland Ficnds, Hoy and n
Negro Hanged.

NosEo hhShuSeus
The following five executions took place all
on the same day:
A Grayson iKy.) dispatch says that Ellis
Craft, one of the Ashland murders, was
hanged there at 1:20PM. At Los he mounted
the scaffold. He declared his inno-
cence, and spoke of IN. crime the
witnesses against him had committed.
The crime for which Craft was hanged
was the outrage of two girls-Fanny Glib
bons, aged fourteen and Emma Carico, aged
htteen-and their murder, along with that of
Robert Gibbons, one-legged lad, aged II,
brother of Fanny, George Ellis, an accom-
plice, was taken from Jail and hanged by a
crowd after he had been sentenced to inn
prisonment for life Neal, another accom-
plice, is yet awaiting trial
:, Bowling Green Ohio dispatch; Carl
Bach was hanged here to-day for the
murder of his wife in October 1881 He
spoke briefly, attributing his death to the
persistent efforts of the prosecuting attorney,
who he said he forgave. The priest said
prayers in German, Bach responding. He
showed no signs of fear until the moose was
adjusted. When the black cap was drawn
over his face he trembled violently. The
drop fell at 1905. His neck was broken, and
there was no struggle.
Fremont Ohio dispatch: John Radford
was hanged here to-day for the murder of
his wife last October. He spent last night
carousing with his guard drinking whisky
and telling stories This morning he made a
fierce fight against the officers, crying " Let
me go, you hellions!n and showering blasphe-
mics and indecent epithets upon them. When
dragged to the scaffold, he tried desperately
to break away and jump from the
platform. While standing on the scat
fold, and the clergyman was praying,
he discovered among those in the Jail Mr..
Greensade, the father of the murdered
woman. Then ensued an indescribabe scene.
He made frantic effort, strapped as he was,
to rush upon his father-in-law, and the sheriff
and his assistants had all they could do to
hold him. He raved, and cursed every body.
With much trouble the moose was adjusted,
and the hanging was successful.
LOriginal Quebec dispatch: Frederick
Mann, the murderer of the Cooke family, was
hanged here this morning. The crime for
which Mann was hanged was a horrible one.
He was little more than boy, and was en-
ployed as farm hand by Ruggle W. Cooke
On January 2 last Mr.. Cooke had occasion to
reprimand him, when Mann seized an AK
and almost hacked Mr.. Cooke to pieces. Then
he killed in succession the wife, daughter and
a son of his employer
Monticello Ark dispatch: William
johnson, negro, was hanged here to-day.
He went to the scaffold bravely and confessed
his crime. A great crowd, mostly blacks,
witnessed the hanging. johnson killed
another colored man so that he might marry
his victims wife,
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
AMERICAN HOG PRODUCTS.
Commission to Investigate the
Curing Of Pork.

The secretary of state has addressed letter
to the United states commits ,ioner of agri-
culture stating that inasmuch as certain
foreign governments have charged that the
hog products of the United States are
affected with disease and not proper for
export purposes, the President has
decided to appoint commission
thoroughly to investigate the curing
of pork, and has named as III smbers of such
commission George b. Loring, Professor C.
F. Chandler, Eliphalet W. Blatchford, f. d.
Curtis and Professor Z. ID. Salmon TIC
President states that mo has no authority TO
guarantee the expenses of the commission,
but has no doubt that in view of the magni-
tude of the commercial interests involved
Congress will meet all bills incurred for this
purpose The commissioner of agriculture,
as chairman of the commission, is directed to
summon his associates and proceed to the
yvork without delay.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19

At a recent family gathering in Fulton, o.
wego county, n. ", there We're found to be
two andfathers, two grandmothers, six
children. one brother, three sisters, one uncle,
two aunts, five cousins, three nieces, one son,
four daughters, three fathers. three mothers.
two fathers in-law, three mothers-in-law, and
yet the entire gathering only comprised ten
persons.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19

From statistics compiled in Prussia it is
learned that twins occur once in eighty-nine
births tripIet once in 1910, and bankruptcies
once in 81 ,l?6
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19

The funeral of Lucy Fish Curtis, who died
at West Randolph, VT, "a the age of about
one hundred years, was attended by all her
six children, the youngest being fifty five and
the oldest eighty three years of age.
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19

1T was Miss Willis first day at home from
school at Wilmington. and she was watching
a storm from the back porch when a thunder
bolt struck her dad. She was the twelve
year-old daughter of Frank Willis, of Queen
Anne's Md
The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-10-19
Washington.

THE consul general of the United States at
Lisbon Las informed the department of state