Iron County register., 1899-08-17
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE.
PERSONAL AND GENERAL.

Gen. Otis cables that letters have
been captured from high insurgent au-
thority, exhorting inhabitants to hold
out little longer; that European rec
ognition will be granted by August 81,
| and that present United States admin
| istration will be oyerthrown.
From Pietermaritzburg, in Natal,
comes news that the commanding Of
ficers of the imperial regiments met
in Newcastle and issued orders for all
| mess, and ex-volunteers were invited
to join them.
Two million bushels of wheat are
estimated to have been lost during the
hail storm in North Dakota, on the
10th, which partly destroyed the crops
on nearly 25O,OOO acres of land. Farm
ers who were busily cutting wheat
were driven to their barns for shell
| ter.
The August report of the statisti-
clan of the department of agriculture
shows the following averages of con-
| ditions on August 1: Corn, 500 per
cent; spring wheat, S3.6; oats. 90.S;
barley, 93.6; spring rye, 50; buck
wheat, 93.2; potatoes, 90; timothy hay,
| s6.7
Advance sheets of the pension COM
missioner's report show that the total
number of pensioners on the rolls
June 80, 1899, was 991, $40, decrease
| of 9, 1875 over the number for 1898. The
| important feature of this statement is
that the pension roll is growing less.
notwithstanding the fact that during
the year 37,O77 new pensions were
granted.
During the last fiscal year 81. 345
pensioners were dropped from the
rolls by death, and S,S41 were strick-
en- from the list because of remarriage,
minors attaining their majority, fail
ure to claim pension and other causes,
making total of 43,1S6 dropped from
the rolls during the year.
| Lieutenant Commander St. John, of
the British cruiser Peacock, will be
asked to explain an interview credit
| ed to him, in which he criticised Gen.
| Otis and the manner in which the
campaign in the Philippines has been
conducted. The matter has been taken
up by the war department, referred to
the department of state, and will oe
brought to the attention of the British
| embassy.
After knowing for two short years
what it is to be millionaire many
times over, big Alex. Mcdonald is
| again a poor man. Tne reign of the
| Klondike king is ended and he has
shouldered his pick, and, without COM
planning, has started out as poor
miner, leaving his bride in Dawson
with a horde Of creditors for whose
benefit all his interests, both mining
and trading, have been assigned.
| A street car ran off the Prairie
street bridge in Merrill, Wis.,, on the
11th, dropping into the river, dis
tance of 20 feet. The car was complete
! ly wrecked, but none of the passengers
were fatally injured.
The popularity of the revolution in
San Domingo is due to the use OF the
name of Gomez, and should he decline
| the presidency or Jiminez finally op-
pose his election, prominent leaders
| are already considering the alternative
of calling plebiscite in order to as
certain whether the country would no.
prefer to renew the vote of 1871 tor
| American annexation or an American
! protectorate.
Col W. c. johnson, of Cincinnati,
acting commander-in-chief of the u.
| 4. r., is a candidate for election as
| commander-in-chief at the coming ma
tional encampment in Philadelphia.
Maj. Elijah ]. Halford, paymaster of
the department of the gulf, arrived at
Fort Thomas, Ky, on the 18th, with
= H. II ret
| regiment and the regulars stationed
| there.
a report was received at the war de-
partment, on the 18th, from an officer
at San Juan, Porto Rico, estimating
| that the number of killed in the recent
| hurricane on the island amounts to
500.
A dispatch from Ponce, Porto Rico,
OF the 18th, says: ut is now plain that
| Ponce was the greatest sufferer from
| Tuesdays hurricane. The Rivers Por-
| tuguese and Canas inundated the city,
| drowning thousands of people. Five
| hundred bodies have already been re-
| covered
The secretary of war, on the even
| ing of the 18th, issued an appeal to
the mayors of cities throughout the
| United States to call upon the public
spirited citizens to contribute for the
relief of the people of Porto Rico left
destitute by the work of the recent
| hurricane.
| When Secretary of War Root
learned of the appalling condition Of
| affairs in Porto Rico. as the result of
the hurricane, he did not stop to ex-
anime the law. He ordered the COM
missary department to load a relief
ship while the appeal to the country
was working its charitable effect.
Isaac Doctor, well-known stone
work contractor. at Dubuque, Ia, sui
cided on the 11th. He rose as usual,
ate hearty breakfast. and then went
upstairs, changed his clothes, and
| then, going into the barn, hanged him.
| self from rafter. He was the big
gest and strongest man in Dubuque,
| giant in every way.
The enlistments up ia tbe 18th, for
| the volunteer regiments, were 12,15S.
Five cf the new regiments are now
| comple,ed-the Twenty-sixth, Twenty
seventh. Twenty-eighth. Thirtieth, and
| Thirty-frst infantrT-