Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-10-09
CAPITAL PLANT FIRE HIT
Blaze in Adjoining Drug Store
Causes Damage 10 Newspaper.
WATERMAN SAYS NCENDIARY
Namur DruE store Scene of Fire I'm
DeS MOinss ResultinE from Ex-
PlOsiOn IN Basement---In-
vestiEatfOR Promised.
CTrom a staff corespondent. }


DIES MONIES. Ia. Oct S-(SpeciaI Tell
egram. l-Investigation is being made into,
fire which burned the Namur drug
store this morning and caused great dam
age to the plant OF the Daily Capital. be-.
cause of the belief Of the night watchmnn
that IL was OF insendiary origin He de
clares he heard an explosion IN the base
ment Of the drug store just before the
fire and at place where fire has been
discovered IN the past.
The fire quickly spread as II wasfin an
old building. The drug store wasspraeti-
cally all burned.
Rejoice Over Victory In Arson Case.
State officials are rejoicing over the
success in the supreme court of the fire
marshal department in having affirmed
the case from Union county In which
Earl Madden was convicted of conspir-
acy with two others to burr, Jthe property
Of farmers out of revenge THE case was
regarded as something of. Ia test case to
find out whether the ordinary proof OF
incendiarism would stick in court. A
stout fight was made by the defendant,
but the case was fully affirmed. 1t is
regarded as one-of the. things that will
Immensely strengthens the state In the
effort to rid it of ali incendiarism
A large number Of c&iviotions have been
had and now in epery instance where
there was. any evifknce worth while con-
vietioR has been Rad.
Judicial Bafpots Are Fixed.
The secretary q state 10 preparing the
official ballots for distribution in the
state, The one point much discussed and
about which. tAere has been some doubt
is that of the placing OF the judicial bal
lot Some OF the supreme judges. and
others who are candidates for district
tudgeships, Rave desired that the judicial
ballot be gi' Ien first column, but the sec
rotary OF state holds that first place is
reserved for the political party that cast
the largest number of votes at the last
election. Because Of this the republican
party will get first place. the democratic
party second, the progressive political
party thiprd and the socialists fourth. The
judicial ballot viii be placed in the last
columlA Some OF the candidates for judi
cial lrsitions take the view this will
after ALL be best. as then nobody will
vote on the judicial except those who
are REALLY interested and the indifferent
votk VIII be eliminated
May settle. JaIxebed Ownership.
State officials are moving In the direc-
tbn OF having II settled in the courts,
'tnce and for ALL whether the ownership
bf the lasebeds in the state are with
fIowa or with the federal government
This has long been an open question and
the courts have always decided every
case without quite settling the final
question OF ownership. 1t has been con-
tended by some federal authorities that
the titie Is still in the federal government |
Senator Cummins, at the suggestion OF
state officials. has pending a bill In con-
gress TO have the matter settled by a |
declaration that tho lake beds belong 20 |
the state of Iowa. Before this is done, Il |
Is hoped a case can be got through the !
courts
knights of Luther Active.
The newly organized antl-Catholie or |
ganizatlon In Iowa is becoming very ac-
tive in a political way. The organizer for |
the secret society, a Rev. Mr.. Spurgeon |
of Nashua, has announced himself as a |
candidate for the United States senate, |
and this week a meeting OF the official |
board was held in an effort TO line the |
entire order up for him and especially |
against Senator cummlns. but II is under
stood to have failed because OF differ |
ences of opinion. An effort was also !
made to commit the organization to a |
fight especially on the governor because
OF his having appointed 10 prominent
office democrat who IS a Catholic. This
Is said TO have been suppressed. The or
ganization claims TO have 1900 or more
votes TO be used as directed.
Sehemias 90 Control state.
Discovery has been made Of what APP
pears TO be a little clever maneuverinR
on the part OF the public service corpora
lions of the state. They have been trying
for several years to get through the leg
islature a bill for a public service COM
mission that would Just suit them They
are especially anxious TO have the right
OF franchise placed with a commission
appointed by the governor. Now II IL
found that the publicity bureau main
tanned by the Des MOines street railway
company, which Is working hard on a
franchise IN Dies Moines. is identical with
the one working on the plan to effect
the election OF a democratic candidate for
governor, who Is a wealthy banker ana
closely allied with large corporations in
his city. II IL believed thaFo ia a plan
TO secure a commission ana have a gov
ernor who VIII appoint q commission 20
suit the corporations
fabernacle Case viii Watt.
All Des Motnes IL much wrought up |
over the suit 10 prevent the building OF |
. tabernacle for the Billy Sunday evan
gelistie serytces. and during the presen- |
tatiOn OF the matter 20 the court the room
was thronsed win church people. Judge |
Appiegate, who was called in from the |
outside to.hear the case. took II under ad-