Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-03-31

SO. according 70 BrddStreeCS report,
against 2e1 in the corresponding week
Of last year.
Two tramps built a coal fire in an
Did basin the other night, put it into a
refrigerator car in the Frisco yards at
Fayetteville, Ark, and went to sleep
by it. A third tramp elm bed into the
Ear. shut the door and also went to
sleep. In the morning another tramp
entered the car. He noticed the coal
smoke but thought nothing of it and
fell asleep. An hour later tramp,
who slept in another car, went to
wake his friends, and found two of
them dead and the other two uncon-
scious.
The Nebraska state board of trans
2ortatiOn has announced its intention
IF enforcing a reduction in local
freight rates on all roads in Nebraska.
The reduction will amount to from 10
to Is per cent The action is the result
Of the supreme court decision at Wash
.ngton declaring the maximum freight
:ate law imperative.
THE astronomers of the University
Of California at Berkeley on the 25th
had completed their computation of
the comet recently discovered by Prof
Perrine, of the Lick observatory, and.
according to them, it will become
brighter and remain in sight for some
time. It was said to be travelling to-
ward the earth at the rate of 1. 600. 900
miles a day. It is visible about four
o'clock in the morning.
INTENSE feeling was created among
the officers of the torpedo boats at
Key West, Fla, at the news that the
Spanish torpedo fiotilla had sailed
from the Canary islands for Porto
Rico. They said that the flotilla was
greater menace to the united States
fleet than if all the rest of the Span
ish navy was brought to those waters.
Porto Rico being nearer Key West
than Cuba
THE republican subcommittee of the
house committee on banking and cur.
rency laid before the full committee
bill ''to provide for strengthening the
public credit, for the relief of the
United States treasury and for the
amendment of the laws relating to ma
tional banking associations" The
purpose of the bill is to throw upon
the national banks the entire burden
of finding gold for the notes of the
country.
ADvICEs were received at Washing
ton on the gath that the Spanish tor
pedo fiotilla had sailed from the Ca
nary islands for Porto Rico and it was
considered by the United States gov
eminent to involve serious POSSIBLE
tiles. Naval strategists informed Presi-
dent Mckinley that this feet must not
be allowed to reach western waters.
rhe situation was considered, but the
conclusion reached was not known.
HEAVY floods have done great dam
age at Richmond, Ind. The bridge
over the Whitewater river was de-
stroyed. the city electric light plant
was drowned out, the streets were
badly damaged and many people were
driven from their homes
WALTER MANNING was killed at
the Y. Y. u. tile works at Eldora, Ia. :,
the other afternoon. His overcoat be-
came entangled in the cogwheels and
his back and neck were broken and his
head was severed from his body.
HEAVY floods were reported on the
o3d in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Vir-
ginia and Indiana. Nearly all the
railroads in central and southern Ohio
were said to be crippled or totally dis
abled because of washouts. Around
Pittsburgh, Pa. manufacturing con-
Germs were severely Inconvenience
from the freshets. At Wheeling, W..
Va, various manufact turing establish
ments. employing from 10, 900 to Ii, 600
men. have shut down because of floods.
A DISASTROUS prairie fire ragged near
ONeill. Neb., on the 22d from Chain
lake south, a distance of so miles by sc
miles wide. Every thing was destroyed
except a few ranchers' homes, which
were protected by fire banks. Dozens
of families were forced to leave their
homes and flee for safety with nothing
but the clothes on their backs.
Col. FRANK d. BARTLETT and DR.. b.
F. Wooding, of Denver, Col. were en-
rolling 500 young men. experts in the
use of the rifle, who will offer their
services to President Mckinley in case
of war. The organization will be
known as the Rocky mountain sharp
shooters"
The other night, at Wellsville, o..
Oliver Reed asked Sarah Walton to
marry him and upon her refusal he
drew a revolver and shot her through
the heart. He then turned the weapon
on himself and blew out his brains,
dying in a short time.
SAM ELLIS, negro, was recen thy
hanged to a limb of a tree near Polk,
Ala. for attempting to assassinate
Hendrix A. Hardy on the night of DC
tober 20. He confessed his crime.
A sHANTY boat. occupied by George
Harding and family, was capsized by
the food short distance below Column
bus, O., and Harding and five children
were drowned.
The steamer Santa Rosa. bound fol
Alaska, was found at the mouth of the
Golden Gate, on the Pacific coast, bot
tom side up. It was feared that &C
persons had lost their lives. Among
the passengers were about a dozen
coal miners from Coalgate, L T.. who