The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1884-01-17
THE MOUND CITY
COmatni, on The Cosrsni Rnd Other
CsnllagratlOns,
The Gaze N Frank Janes-A Race Tor
tan prysidCHCJ
or the Merchants Exchange Notes.


q plg has been taa talkeJ.lf event Bon Is.
I.luia ever since i.s occurrence Ia Belle
Vile the sisters o. charity pre- l.am.u. he
Aro department for not hBYllE ladder.
.tas enough 90 reach the igiTd story of tho
convent building while tho fIemel ia 10
tGrE arc blaming the sisters Tor locking rhc
Cn.trgn la ana no nlYiEg some ore near
10 ual7oE the doors IN tine o. nn emergency
Ike that Of Satur lay night, some say that
the mother superior Of the convent mishl
have liberated al the chill
drsn had she acted promptly
but instead she delayed until IL was 100 lala
and was then iorCcl to give up her lIte with
the pupils. The record ia rot one OF Which
the sisters can be pTond. According 10 it
there were slXty-three persons in the con-
vent on the night OF the FIRE, Ihirty-one
of these were sisters and thirty-two we're
pupils Of the institution, o, this number
twenty-five pupils lost their lives, while
only four sisters ara numbered among the
mis'lng. The search Tor the dead has been
carried on oil week, but so Carelessly have
the remains been handled that the coroner
holding the inquest cannot even tell how
many bodies have been found. Somo say
tTcnty.nlue bodies have been taken ont,
and Gs there are only twculy-,iX
persons missing IL Is thought That the bones
OF one person has been divided up into two
or moTa lots. Or the bodies taken out
twelve we're burned beyond all hope OF
Identification. Parents Looking for their
missing children have in some cases con-
tented themselves with s1aH trinEeJ or
0t nr which az one time was tho property
OF heir loved opeg. Many Of the young
ladies' who attended the convent belonged
20 ST.. Louis, and tho funeral Of one OF Tho
victims which took place from the Clark
avenue Baptist churco was very largely at
tended.
GA the same night that the convent fire
took place the Jail ang courthouse no Jer.
seville, Illinois, wsshIrnPl 10 the ground.
Tue tailor, n man nUUIeG Bliss, had locked
iuur prisoners in tho cells and then went
90 his home, half mile away. When the
jsil took fire Eeve 81 persons living near
rushed TO tAe jail and sought to hDerate
the prisoners, buL could do nothing, for be-
fore Bliss and the keys could be secured the
four prisoners had burned to death. All
iUur were confined in solid stone cells and
we're literally roasted to death. Oue Of tho
prisoners was charged with murder, one
with horse stealing and the two others
with larceny.
Besides the suburban fires there we've
some pretty lively beZes in OF. Louis dur
streets was visited on Christmas night, and
besides the burning Of half million Of
property, two tiremen los, their lives. Since
th en- large fires have cegu OF dolly occur
renee. and last Saturday night the block
bounded by Third and Fourth, Locust ami
ST. Charles streets, was visited and great
amount OF property burned. The iusUr-
anCe companies already estimate their
losses since January l at 100000. They
al napos,, D.,
lost Sl,l0O,OO0, and that this loss
wiped out the whole profits OF the
year. The st. Louis underwriters say that
while their Chicago opponents cleared ST.
900 600 last year they have not cleared a
dollar, and they attribute their i'll luck TO
lack oil water and the poor apparatus used
by the fire department. No concert OF
action in the premises has as yet been TAX
ell by the underwriters, but many promi.
nent business men have received intima,ion
that an advance in premiums OF about 30
per cent would shortly occur and that they
had better hurry up and take advantage Of
the present rates.
The weather here has been very cold
and hiss in great measure retarded
tho fremen in their work. In
many Instances hose were frozen up
nan Il ave suffered from frozen faces, hands
and feet. Que of the most expert drivers
IN the department had his feet 80 badly
frozen that amputation of the toes proved
necessary. The cold weather has also helped
business, and has been perfect God send
to many clothing dealers, who up to two
weeks ago were broken-hearted at the pros
pects of an open winter.
The news comes from independence, Mo-,
the home of Frank James, the noted train
robber, to the effect that his health has
completely given out, and that his
friends have given up all hope OF
his lasting through the winter. He
has looked like u eonsumptive ever since
his capture and is now suffering from an
aggravated attack of pneumonia. lie is
very weak and his death may occur before
the Blue Cut robbery caae is called for trial.
Frank is now out on bond aud was boarding
with his wife and boy at Independence I'M
til the present attack of pneumonia devel--
oped when he was removed to the house of
his father.in.law near Independence.
Frank WAS never very strong man, but
outdoor life gave him good health which
he retained until locked ia prison. 1t was
the Jail life that made inroads upon his
health. Until incarcersted at Independence
air and plenty of exercise. Should Frank
survive and succeed in having all the
charges against him in the btate dismissed
he will be turned over to the United States
authorities, and the charge of the Mussel
Shoals, Ala, robbery will be presented
against him. II not convicted for this latter
otfsnse he will be claimed by the Minnesota
authorities for participation in the North
field bank robbery, where Cashier Haywood
was killed by tho Youngers and their five
confederates, only two of whom escaped,
tho latter being believed to be Frank and
jesse James.
This years race for the presidency of the
Merchants Exchange was the liveliest ever
known. Upon election day business on
change was at stand-still, and nothing
was done but electioneering. There were
only two candidates for the presidency, but
there were no less than eighteen tickets in
the field. David z. Francis aud Frank Q:
Gainnie were the gentlemen who headed
the respective tickets which bore at the top
many q strange device. Seine were called
the favorite ticket, others the independent,
while there were other tickets headed ex.
change, teamsters, regular, redemption,
select, compromise, opposition, popular,
elected by a majority Of III, 1T being
the closest light of the kind for years. Mr..
Francis is young.msn and represents the
option dealing class rather than the heavy
-four and grain crowd. Gatnnie ran for the
presidency year ago and was then beaten
by Jake Ewald, who gave up the place to
FRANCIS.
The band Of thieves and confidence men
who long held position in the St. Louis
Sums have seen tit to transfer their opera
tons to the Relay depot in East st. Lonis,
and that point is at present a very danger
Gus one for strangers. A few days ago
German emigrant was robbed there of $500,
and an Illinois farmer was deeced of
his ready money. The other day the
whole band of thieves were arrested
and taken to the Office of a neighboringj JUS
tice. Here they protested their innocence
and the justice called the officers who made
the arrest aside, intending to ask them if
they might not be mistaken as to the char
acter of the men under arrest. While his