Woodruff County news., 1902-12-11

in currency and $14,0OO in drafts and checks was stolen while being transferred from Danville, Ky, to Cincinnati
 Chas. w. Tucker and Ernest Damns, rivals for the affections of a young lady, fought a pistol duel a few miles from Kansas City, Damns receiving a mortal wound.
 In his message to congress Presi- dent Roosevelt recommends nation al laws to control and regulate so- called trusts. He also asks for an appropriation for the better enforce ment of the present antitrust laws.
 Rules and regulations for a pen sion system, which will go into ef- feet January 1, 1903, have been completed by officials of the Union Pacific Railroad, by which its old employees will be retired on pen sions.
 Fifteen men were instantly kill ed and others badly injured by an explosion on the steamer Progresso, under repairs at San Francisco. The workmen were engaged in changing the vessel from a coal to an oil burn CT, when one of the oil tanks caught fire and exploded. The vessel was almost totally destroyed, and men working quite a distance on shore were injured by flying glass and timber.
 The coal situation in Washington city will be made the subject of an inquiry under the supervision of the commissioners of the District of Columbia. These officials appoint ed a committee to take up the sub | iect and make a thorough investi- gation. The city is now practically suffering from a fuel famine, and the finding of this committee will be embodied in a memorial to con- gress with the object of obtaining legllation to prevent recurrence of such conditions.
 General Manager Harding, of the Missouri Pacific, has issued an or der to the effect that heads of de- | partments shall not practice nepo- .tism in making appointments. No official announcement has been is- sued to the effect that many radical changes will be made, but it is ex- pected that the first of the year will see a thorough readjustment among the employes. This means that changes are contemplated. Relatives of the head of department will be transferred to other departments j; there must be no relatives in the same department.
 The final report of the statisti- clan of the department of agricul- ture shows the actual growth of cotton in the United States in the year 1901-02 to have been 9,966, ATS commercial bales, of which 115, $50 bales were marketed before Septem- Der 1, 1901, and 9,696,336 bales be- tween September 1, 1901, and Aug ust 31, 1909, 154,592 bales being carried forward to the year 1902-03. The commercial crop of the year amounted to 1O,663,224 bales, thus exceeding the amount actually grown by 696,740 bales. This ex- cess was due in the main to the very extensive marketing of cotton held over from previous years.
 Secretary Moody's annual report on the navy shows that there were on June 30 last 21 ,433 enlisted men in the service. Many of these came from the middle western states, and tt the time of their enlistment were unacquainted with the new life upon which they had entered. Their progress has been eminently satisfactory. All men now enlisted are required to be either citizens or to have declared their intention to become such. Eighty-nine per cent of the enlisted force are now citizens and 76 per cent are native born. Ninety-three and three tenths per cent of the landsmen are training and 94 per cent of the ap- prentices are native born Secretary Moody recommends continuance of the increase of ships and the es- to b1 ic bpoop+ of ,,oyaJ c+o+;o,, =, +1,o