Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-05-01
THE NEWS IN BRIEF.



forces The imperial bank has been ordered
TO provide the government with 90 0OO,0 600
roubles. The report of the occupation Of
Maruchak by the Russians was confirmed
Wednesday In the House of Commons by the
under foreign secretary, who stated that the
government had received definite and reliable
information to the effect that the Russians
were now in full advance on Herat
The Novoe Vremya Mt st. Petersburg, act
! ing, II ia believed, under imperial inspiration,
has attracted attention by publishing an arti-
Gle with the startling headline "On the Eve
Of War" This article declares that "Russia,
in the event Of war, will settle matters with
England in India, and not in Afghanistan
alone"
Nine thousand troops aud six batteries OF
artillery belonging to the Sth army corps left
Moscow Wednesday for the south At least
80 ZOO people thronged the streets, wildly
cheering as the soldiers marched to the rail
way station. Monday night 10 companies of
engineers, with 200 car loads OF railway tele-
graph plant, left for Askabad, wherethe great
est activity prevails. Telegraph lines that
only few weeks ago ended at Askabad now
extend TO Sarakhs, 100 miles beyond and on.
ly POP miles from Herat. prominent off
Ger of Russian engineers declares that sufi.
cent railway material has been already col
| lected at Askabad to build a railway TO Herat
miles, in an incredibly short time.
| MIR. Gladstone made a very remarkable
speech in the English House Of Commons on
Monday night, which carried everything be-
fore it, and at its close the war credit Of $780,
600 900 which the government asked for was
voted without dissenting voice.
Mr. Gladstone's speech was received with
profound interest throughout Europe, and
was published in full in all the newspapers
] IL Had ., -
concessions to Russia. The general opinion
of the press is that the speech makes war GER
tain.
Orders have been issued for the mobilza.
ton Of the entire Russian army.
Five steamships have been bought in the
United States by Russia and are to be used a.
cruisers
The steel man. OF. war Howe was launched at
Pembroke, Wales, Tuesday This new addi-
ton to the British navy carries 10 guns and
will have a crew of 445 men.
This mornings Advices are a little less war.
! like.
GEN. GRANT STEADILY IMPROVING.
DIR. Douglas said Wednesday that though
| there was some thickness of speech Gen.
! Grant had better command OF the organs Of
! his vocal powers than at any time since the
attendance of the doctors became constant.
He added that the general was better than
for month. The liberated part of his
throat, from which tissue has souRhed away,
has materially improved. The cancerous
! trouble at the base OF the tongue is neither
lessened. nor is it at present aggressive-it is
| quiescent.
Gen. Grant dictated to his stenographer
! Thursday enough ma ter to make twenty
three pages of his book He is now at work
on the Appomattox campaign.
-Vicksburg Miss, has gone through a
sad and singular experience the past week
After destructive FIRE which visited the city
on Tuesday, the 2lst ult, a dozen men,
mostly negroes were missing; and it was
feared that some of them had been burned
alive. Bot nobody suspected the truth until
a search Of the ruins brought about a sue.
cession Of horrible revelations. The city was
full of strangers attracted by freman's pa.
rade which was to have taken place the next
day and every day tho searchers have drag
ged out the bodies of fresh victims whose
presence in the city even had been unknown
Up to Friday night II bodies were taken
FROM the ruins and Is more were added 10
the list Saturday. The funeral of 30 victims
took place Monday afternoon, and was at
tended by great throng of people. The
bodies of four members of the volunteer fire
department were identified. SIX of the re-
naming % bodies have been identified all
negroes, residents of the city. The remain
ing % we're so charred it was impossible TO
tell whether they were white OF black.
Intelligence was received at Leadville,
Col, last Saturday, that II miners had been
buried by a snow-slide in their cabin at Home
Stake mine On Eagle river. rescuing party
was at once cited out, and reached the scene
of the disaster on Sunday. Several excava-
tions were made before the cabins could be
located. The first one found contained only
provisions etc, but in the bunk house. next
reached we're found the l bodies One BODY
stood erect, with the head thrown forward as
if listening-the whole position Indicating
apprehension. Near by, in bunk, lay an
other, with face downward and arms crossed
under the head several logs lay on the body
Three bodies we're found in an upper bunk.
clasped in each others arms. One man was
found beside his bunk in an attitude Of pray.
err. In another part of the cabin were two
bodies crushed between fallen timbers OH.
or bodies lay about the cabin as il thrown
from their hunks by the shock. Owing to
the fact that all the faces we're covered witt
white mold, the features could not be recog
nized From letters and papers found, it is
thought the slide occurred between February
20 and %.
A deadly epidemic prevails in Plymouth,
small town in western Pennsylvania, where
there have been about 1000 cases of sickness
of typhoid character, with deaths by the
dozen, during the past fortnight. Disregard
of the most obvious sanitary roquirements-
imperfect drainage, with filthy privies and
cess-poos and stsgnant water pumped out of
the mines-csused the infection.
Jacob Scott aged 10, at Port Gibson, N.
Y, Monday night shot and killed his wife,
aged &C. He was arrested. The couple have
not lived happily for several years, and they
separated about month ago.
Forest fires in South Dennis, Mass, Sat
urday and Sunday, swept tract of woods six
miles wide, and when the solid sheet of flame
reached the village it was all the inhabitants
could do to quel it.
Luther Rider of East Chatham, N. Y. So.
was killed and mangled by vicious SOW last
Sunday. The head was severed from the
trunk and partly eaten.
The Arctic steamer Alert was handed over
TO the British admiralty Tuesday afternoon at
Halifax, N. S. The ceremony was brief.
james c. Hamilton and Bishop Ward
were arrested Wednesday at Salt Lake CITY
for polygamy and were bailed in S25OO each.
Angus NJ Cannon has been convicted of un
lawful cohabitation. He will be sentenced
May 9. The defendant is president of the
state and brother TO George O. Cannon.
"A pile of coal containing some %, 600 tons
at the Boston gas company's wharves has
been burning over two weeks at the rate of
about 500 tons day. Water proves useless
in trying to put it out. Five streams PLAYED
upon the coal day and night, but at first il
seemed as though the water did no good
Owing to the peculiar nature of this bitumin-
Gus coal it is turned 10 coke as soon as the
water reaches the burning mass. This acts
as an efectual watershed, and the water
rolls of as easily as from ducks back, with
out accomplishing the work for which it was
intended. How long the coal will burn is on
ly matter of conjecture.
Eleven unfinished tenement houses of
Contractor Buddensck have been examined by
the inspector of buildings in company with an
architect, and six of them are TO be taken
down entirely, while of the others several are
to be taken down in part, and the rest subject
ed TO great changes.
The Postmaster General has issued a cir
cular order to postmasters explanatory of the
changes made by Congress at the last session
in the rates of postage. The main change
relates to the increased weight allowed for
letters at the single rate. On and after July
l the rate on all domestic first class matter
] wi he y