Arizona republican., 1898-01-01

The medal contest under the aus pices of the w. c. T. U. will take place on January Il.
 A short session of the board of super visors was held yesterday to clear the decks for action.
 The Elks' ball last night was a so- ciaI event. It was well attended and was prolonged from one year into an- other.
 The high school building has been finished, nearly all the new furniture has been put in, and its occupation by the school will take place on Monday.
 On next Monday the closing of busi- ness houses at o'clock will be re- sumed according to an agreement be tween the merchants and the clerks association.
 Judge Sloan of Prescott will arrive in town on Monday to try several cases in which Judge Street by reason of his connection with them as attor- ney is disqualified.
 At a meeting of the board of control yesterday the contract for supplying groceries and provisions for the next quarter was awarded to the Barkley- Berryman Mercantile company. Their bid was considerably lower than any others.
 County Assessor Luke yesterday filed his annual report with the board of supervisors The report shows that the assessor has collected on per sonal property s3,43O.9S; poll tax, $1,59975; total, s5,030. This is an excess of $1 300 over the revenue from the same sources last year.
 John and Lizzie Kelly, two children aged respectively 6 and years, wandered away from their mother at the New York store yesterday. They were found fifteen minutes later by Officers Hale and Galpin in front of Eschman's store They were merely taking in the town. They were led back to the Capitol hotel, where the,r agonized mother in those fifteen min utes had undergone the tOrturtS Cf years.
 R. E. Daggs last night received a telegram from his brother, A. J. Daggs, at Prescott, saying that the bonds of Cayatano Yberri, o. V. Ward and several others arrested here on complaint of Coconino parties charg- ing them with sheep stealing, had been approved by Judge Sloan. This is an old case in which it is claimed that 1000 sheep had been stolen though none were ever found. Ward, one of the accused, used to be a college pro- fssor.
 Arthur Drapeau, an old resident of Arizona, and until last fall merchant at Camp Creek, arrived in town last night from Montreal, his old home. MT. Drapeaus many friends in Phoenix will be pleased to learn that he has brought a wife with him. MT. Drapeau is the gentleman who was brought into prominence a couple of months ago by Canadian papers as a re- turned Klondyker, whose re- turn from the Yukon was fmpeded by the weight of gold which he brought with him. The Republican lately re- ceived card from MT. Drapeau, then in New England, denying that he had ever had any conversation with a Canada reporter or had in any way gone back on Arizona. MT. and Mrs. Drapeau are stopping at the Hotel Ad- ans.
 The weather now is the kind that Phoenicians have been trying to tell eastern tourists about for a month, thereby bringing their own veracity into serious question ; It was 50 warm last night that it was more comfort able indoors with the doors open and flies and mosquitoes, which had gone into winter quarters, came out with an erroneous impression that spring had come Speaking of mosquitoes, Phoenix naturalist brought a curious looking insect into The Republican of flee last night "The town has been filling up with them for the past year," said he "They are a sort of a cross between the fly and the mosquito and have all the irritating persistence of the one, all the energy of the other. all the music and cussedness of both and none of the virtues of either"
 The death of the year 1897 was inn properly celebrated by the clangor of bells, the screech ng of whistles. the crash of firecrackers, the crack of pistols and the rattle of musketry, all indicative of joyousness. That was all right year or two or three or four years ago, but it was not in good taste last night. The year 1897 was not a bad one and some regard should have been manifested for it's memory. But perhaps the celebrantS were not think ing of the dead king at all, only of the new prince, before whose birth there were so many omens of good things. But let him be never so good. He'll get the same kind of a razzle-dazzle in Phoenix one year hence unless the city ordinances are remOdeled. Beside the unorganiZed 'uproar there was little demonstration last night. At some of the churches the old and beautiful custom of the watch night was ob- served and there was also observed the still older and less beautiful GUS tom of men sitting up half the night filling their systems wiSh liquor to put themselves in proper frame of mind for turning over new leaf this morn ing.