The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1893-03-25
ARKANSAS STATE NEWS.
Are the clayton Murderer. Found

The Little Rock police assert that
there is some ground for believing that
the murderers Of John NJ. Clayton, al
Plummerville, are now in the hands Of
the authorities at Butte, Mont. Dur
ing the Breckenridge investigation by
the congressional subcommittee on
elections the evidence showed that the
pistol from which the bullet was fred
that killed Clayton had been sold by
the Simmons Hardware Co of st. Louis
to Butte (Mont) hardware dealer,
and from him 1t was purchased by .
stranger The authorities claim that
they have positively identified the MUIR
derer. Four years ago the Legislature
passed an act Offering reward of 81, 900
for the capture and conviction of the
murderer, and this act has never been
repealed.
Word About that Cotton Convention.
The St. Louis Globe Democrat of a
recent date contained the following:
The farmers convention. held in Little Rock
Ark, on the oh Of March, was quite an able
and influential gathering Of planters. After
urging their people to reduce the acreage of
cotton tho coming season, and to make
like increase In tho acreage Of
cereals, giving good reasons for such
memorial to the New Orleans cotton ex
change, urging that body to make its contracts
for the handling Of cotton commercial transac-
lions, and not lottery deals as they are now
claimed to be- This Is most remarkable ap
peal and it is hard to sec how this southern city
can fail TO notice and act upon this wall from
the dispirited cotton planters of the south. Sure.
ly they could not ask for less from an honor
able exchange, the largest in the southern
states, than that they should have fair com
mercial transactions In the sale and delivery OF
their cotton. II 1t is as is suggested In this
memorial. fact that the present system
makes that exchage q lottery institution, II
should be condemned by all commercial bodies
In this country, and. II necessary, suppressed
by the national and state governments.
An Eccentric Character Dead.
DR.. George s. Light, the oldest char
acter of Pine Bluff, died at Covington,
KY, the other day.
He was born In the north and migrated to Ar
kansas when quito young, living the life OF
hermit. He made q journey every summer,
calling on his wife at Covington for short
ltme, and then returning to resume his usual
u
owned by him on the bank OF the Arkansas
river at Pine Blur, where he passed his days
reading and writing poetry, and did his own
cooking on q common heating stove. Occs-
sionally he would emerge and minsls
among the people. He regularly wore
q straw hat and blanket in winter. although
he had ample means to provide for himself
more properly. He left real estate at Pine
Bluff and at Covington and is said to have had
money In five different banks. His mania was
to run for ofice. Hardly an election took place
that DR.. Light was not q candidate for some
once but he never was elected to any. He was
the oldest physician in the city, graduating
from the Cincinnati medical college in 1870, but
ceased practieing many years ago. Two Of his
sons live in Cincinnati,
A Sad Father.
The Little Rock Gazette few DAYS
ago contained the following:
Mr.. Richard Miles, farmer OF Hickory
Plains, Ark, was In the city yesterday on his
way home from Lamar Mo-, where he had gone
to witness the execution Of Amos Avery. Avery
murdered his a0year-old son, J. A. Miles. near
Liberal, Mo-, September q, 1891, was tried, con-
victed and sentenced TO be hanged on the 18th
inst, but Gov. Stone OF Missouri respited the
prisoner for thirty days. Young Miles was
visitor to Missouri when he was brutally
murdered by Avery, who was fellow-traveler
Win hiA oVcT y COuHtTy TOau avery StOlc MS
victims horse and buggy, together with his
hat and other things, and skipped out, leaving
the dead body by the roadside. The murderer
was detected through the initials Of the muir
dered boy found In the hat he wore. When he
exchanged his own hat for that OF his victim
he had failed to notice that II was marked.
Mr.. Miles is q broken-hearted father, and he
thinks Gov Stone did wrong in respiting Avery.
stole Doctors Instruments
Ten or more physicians of Little Rock
are mourning the loss of their surgical
Instruments.
They were stolen from their ofiices in broad
daylight by young white man, C. H. Clifford,
alias Pittman. who worked his thieving game
very successfully and probably till Chief Of
Police Mcmahon got an inkling to
his pull and arrested him. He
would call upon them ostensibly for the
purpose OF seeking treatment, but these visits
were made to locate the instruments He
would make q very plausible talk and then
leave only to return when the physicians had
gone to visit their patients He would sell the
stolen property, claiming that brother,
physician, had died in San Antonio, Tex. and
left lot OF fine instruments which were OF no
use to him.
An Election Middle at Pine Blu0:
There is no little speculation as to
what will be the outcome of the munich
pal election to be held at Pine Bluff on
April 4.
Acting under the last election law the cleo.
tion commissioners, o short while ago appoint
ed judges and places Of voting The city coun-
Gil commended that under the law, which was
never repealed 1t was their duty to appoint
judges and places Of voting they, at o special
meeting appointed distinct from commission
crs) judges Of election and places OF voting So
~ 1t stands now there will be two distinct cleo.
tions for the same ofices. and there's the
rub" The outcome Is anxiously looked for by
all.
Articles Of Incorporation.
Tho Idaho Grocery Co., of Idaho
Landing, Mississippi county, has fled
articles of incorporation at Little Rock
with capital stock of $1,000
The Helena Ice Co., OF Helena, has
1led articles Of Incorporation at Little
Rock, with capital stock of $50, 900.
Also, the Rose Furniture Manufactur.
ing Co., Of Texarkana, with capital
stock of e25. 900.
Federal Attorney for the Eastern District.
Joseph w. House, Of Little Rock,
chairman of the Democratic state CEN
trail committee, has been appointed
United States district attorney for the
Eastern district of Arkansas by Presi-
dent Cleveland, vice c. G. Waters, whose
commission expires March 81. Mr..
House held the same position during
Cleveland's frst term.