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Newspaper
Brainerd Dispatch
Location
Brainerd, Minnesota, United States of America
Date
Jan 27, 1888
Page
2
Brainerd Dispatch reports Major General Alfred H. Terry, commander of the military division of the Missouri, has traveled to Florida due to ill health. Chicago papers attribute his illness to sewer gas and paint poisoning.
Edwin Booth, the actor, continues to decline any dramatic appearance in Washington. Yet hardly any resident now recalls the tragedy forever linked to his brother's name.
The Blaine family extends with James G Blaine III joining James G Blaine Jr. and James G Blaine Sr. The young Blaine cabled his grandfather J G B of Maine in Milan to share the news and received a congratulatory reply.
The passage asserts that California irrigation benefits extend beyond the direct area of application, with water spreading through plains to 15 or 20 miles away. It notes water travels until it meets the hard pan near the surface, typically three to twenty feet deep, enriching extensive tracts of land.
The annual statement by Postmaster Pearson reports 1887 mail matter totaling 797,778,145 pieces handled, averaging 2,454,857 daily. Receipts reached $4,822,996.35 with expenditures of $1,758,994.68, leaving a net revenue of $3,074,001.67.
The Inter State act forbids discrimination by railroads in rates for freight and passengers and bars pooling of receipts. Each railroad must conduct its business independently without earnings division agreements. No railroad may charge more for short hauls than for longer hauls.
During the last two census decades the wealth of the United States rose by 28 billion dollars while farmers gained only five. The gain came from new public lands, while farm values in older states declined. The average farm value dropped from 3,200 in 1860 to 2,500 in 1880, with a single Illinois county seeing a loss of 3,000,000.
Government data tally last year shows wheat, corn and oats totaling 1 146 billion dollars in value. Corn leads with 646 million on 1 456 million bushels, wheat 300 million on 456 million bushels, oats 200 million on 659 million bushels. Wool adds about 112 million, roughly one tenth of the cereals’ value.
John Wannamaker, Philadelphia merchant, explains his success by avoiding posters and dodgers. He buys substantial newspaper space to fill with his message and would not advertise in a 400 circulation paper. He condemns low quality hand bills and lottery schemes as insulting to readers.
Sir Charles Dilke argues in the Fortnightly Review that at the Aldershot review the army muster contained only one full army corps, with the second corps described as a loose mass of volunteers. He notes it took a month to prepare the Egypt expedition, comparing unfavorably to Germany in 1870 which could field fifteen corps in a fortnight and now can deploy thirty-five corps quickly.
Justice Gray writes that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction over appoint or remove state or municipal officers. The Nebraska federal court actions against Lincoln officials for contempt are void, dismissing their proceedings as an unlawful usurpation of judicial function.
The Railroad Gazette lists eight years 1880 to 1887 with 13,160 locomotives built, peak 2,282 in 1882 and low 800 in 1885, last year 2,044. Freight cars total 102,322. coal cars 52,344. passenger, mail, express and caboose 3,599. sleeping and buffet cars 468. grand total 158,733. Taken as a whole the returns show a thriving industry.
Washington dispatches report Charles Agnew McNeale named British vice consul at St Paul and debates over Canadian demands. Supreme Court decision against Brooks Maxwell for murder in St Louis. Augusta Pratt, Minnesota, appointed to a $900 Treasury clerkship. President Cleveland sends a penny and a tribute to a Kentucky baby named for him. Davis bills $1.2 million for St Paul public building. Speaker Carlisle’s health delays duties. may visit Fortress Monroe. Eakin incapacitated for active service. retirement announced. Democratic convention likely in New York. president favors. Interior seeks $28,200 to compensate Sioux ponies taken in 1876. Green opposes postal telegraph. Hubbard supports. Brooks resigns from treasury secret service post. Bell to succeed. Parcel post pact with Canada awaits signature. Brown resigns. J Fenner Lee named state department chief clerk and praised for diplomacy.
Benjamin F. Butler’s personal tax in Lowell stands at 3061.21 for last year. Lillie Devereux Blake heads suffragists lobbying Albany. N Vallandigham becomes Columbus newspaper correspondent. David Whitmer, last Book of Mormon witness, died in Missouri. E A McDermott examined in Minneapolis probate court and found insane. former county auditor. Senator George of Mississippi shows a large open-laced silver watch. Letitia McCullough, widow of the tragedy, dies of breast cancer in Philadelphia. Lieut Thies of the Third Infantry dies at Fort Shaw of erysipelas after a brief illness. He served from 1866, rising to sergeant major, later joining Custer’s Seventh Cavalry and becoming second lieutenant in 1873. He later became regimental quartermaster in 1885.
In Pittsburg William Murdock aged citizen was defrauded of 10000 by a bancomer. Judge Hicks of Minneapolis denied a new trial in the Lou Murray assault case. Henry A Blair residence in Chicago was robbed of diamonds and jewelry worth 2000 during dinner. Fort Bowie Arizona martial court found Amos Waddams guilty of beating his wife and daughter and sentenced him to dishonorable discharge. P J McMahon Grand Forks charged with selling liquor under local option and pleaded guilty after barkeeper admitted sale. bail set at 300.
Winnipeg reports the hanging of Nosey Smith by vigilantes at Sun River Montana. Smith was a well known figure in the territory. The note mentions further arrests in Ireland and attacks on Louise Michel, with details on the Paris Rome pilgrimage and local police incidents.
Fires devastate Cannon Falls Granville Holyoke and Chicago with multiple deaths and vast losses. Insurance coverage listed for several totals, including 5 500 in Cannon Falls and 325 000 at Holyoke envelope mill. Janesville boiler explosion kills Burton Kennedy and J Bracker wrecking the mill, with adjoining warehouses damaged and no total loss estimate available.
Private advices from Wanpeton say Mrs. John Front, six miles south of Hankinson Station in Richland county, did not reach her home after leaving a neighbor’s house during the late storm. Her body remains unfound. Reports from the ship John T. Berry’s survivors in Philadelphia indicate the vessel burned at sea. Captain Watts wires that the captain, mate and a passenger Mr Benn and eleven crew are safe in Sydney, with the second mate and ten crew still missing. A Salem branch railway crash near Baxterville, N Y, may kill four men and seriously injure many others. Western Union lineman David Owen dies. severities to conductors and several named individuals. A large Philadelphia fire destroys multiple firms with heavy losses. A Manitoba night express wreck near Moose Island kills Ben Prentiss of St Paul and injures others. A Stillwater branch collision wrecks two locomotives. engineers McLaughlin and Cary escape by leaping free. Responsibility placed on Engineer Cary for running a special.
Reports from St Louis note Guernsey Furniture avoiding assigned debt. A Sault Ste Marie Republican convention splits over Jay Hubbell. Gov Hill nominates John Clinton Gray for New York Court of Appeals seat. A Chicago deacon injured after poker champagne exit from a fire escape. Chicago County Clerk Walff sues Times for 50000 over clerks’ campaign expenses. Union Pacific coal trains halted as fuel ran out and cars looted. Tennessee Rep Presley Glass pushes bill to curb lotteries and church raffles. A four round glove match in Peoria ends with Warren defeating Majesty. Baltimore Methodist ministers censure Cleveland’s constitution gift to the pope over Humbert. Hugh M Munro funeral held in St Paul with many tributes. Pioneer Press buys land for landmark building in St Paul. Mrs Rolinda Helen Smith files for absolute divorce from Hal Clarendon. Belmont & Co offer 8000000 Northern Pacific bonds as part of 12000000 loan. Bonds dated 1887 sold at 6 percent, mature 1937, semiannual interest in New York.
New York visitors Commander John P. Rea and Adjutant General Fish recount a Washington pension discussion with President Cleveland. They say the talk was general and incidental, with Cleveland expressing support for deserving veterans. Fish notes the president hinted at broader pension justice but doubted congressional passage soon.
A moderate gathering of Minnesota Republicans in Minneapolis on the 18th outlined steps to organize publican clubs statewide in advance of a state league meeting. T. E. Byrnes opened the session. A. Barto was elected chairman. officers and a county by county organizer plan were urged. A February 2 Minneapolis state league meeting was urged with delegates from leagues statewide.
An attempted train robbery on the Kans as City to St Louis express No 4 was thwarted near Cooley s Lake. Three masked robbers opened fire but were repelled by a posse and the leader Barney Sweeny was wounded and captured while John King turned informer. The incident followed a long gang history including connections to Jesse James era and previous blackmail attempts against Col A A Talmadge.
James B Nowlin was hanged at Cambridge jail on Friday the 20th for murdering his employer George A Codman, a milkman by trade. The execution followed a year of sensational coverage as Nowlin and his mother shared a poignant farewell prior to the sentence.
The fragment notes a person who, despite severe injuries, shows remarkable steadiness as he endures multiple falls of about five to six feet, with a dislocated neck implied by the wording.
The Senate has confirmed Col Wesley Merritt Fifth Cavalry as brigadier general. Born 1836 in New York, he graduated West Point in 1860 and served in the Second Cavalry and dragoons. He fed staff duty with Gen Stoneman in 1863 and earned a brigadier general of volunteers promotion before Gettysburg.
A long blurb traces Gen Merritt’s Civil War service from 1863 to 1864 in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah and Richmond campaigns, noting brevet promotions and actions at Five Forks and Appomattox, then his postwar U S Cavalry command and later life, plus a Senate resolution to appoint him as messenger acting assistant doorkeeper.
A St Paul meeting of the board of managers for the St. Cloud State Prison discussed architect plans to eventually house 400 inmates. The central wing would include fifty cells, officers quarters, store room and kitchen, with costs not to exceed 90 000 dollars, within a 100 000 dollar appropriation. Superintendent salary set at 2000 dollars annually, with expenses paid by him until occupancy.
Bradstreet's Journal reports 554 strikes involving 240 000 in 1887 versus 850 strikes and 450 900 strikers in 1856. The outbreak rose 2.5 times, but 1887 participants were three quarters of 1886 totals. Twenty lockouts affected 46 000 workers. ten the prior year. Most locked out were beaten. Two thirds of strikes aimed at wages or hours. one fourth sought union demands not tied to wages. About 340 000 strikers, 40 percent succeeded, up from 20 percent in 1886.
Washington Special Secretary Vilas sent to the House the agreement with Chippewas in Minnesota and a White Earth Red Lake funding package. Congressman Nelson opposes the terms and a bill for a different reservation reduction plan is before the House. Requested appropriations total include 150000 for removal and houses, 75000 for dam losses, 25000 surveys, 100000 buildings and furnishings, 50000 schools, 7500 mechanics and physicians, 3500 surveys.
Judge Willis Drummond former general land office commissioner died of consumption on February 20 in San Diego California at age sixty one. He left for California December 15 seeking relief but delayed his visit. A Missouri native, he served as a major in the Ninth Iowa cavalry 1863 to 1865 and held multiple public posts before joining the firm Drummond & Bradford.
The National Board of Trade adopted resolutions urging reform of national banking laws and refunding the 4 percent debt at low interest with annual redemptions 1891 to 1921 to back circulating bank notes. It calls for repeal of compulsory silver bullion purchase, fair pay for American steamship lines, and use of extradition treaties to bring accused criminals to trial.
The house passed the agricultural experiment stations bill authorizing 585000 to implement the March 1887 act establishing stations. the National Democratic Committee to meet in Washington February 24 to set a convention date and venue. pensions granted in Wisconsin and Minnesota for several individuals, listing names and towns.
Moorhead and Lake Superior Railway spares no expense as it files articles to build a Moorhead to Lake Superior line with a 10 million dollar capital and 10 million dollar indebtedness limit. Other items report a Portland to St Paul express wreck on a broken rail near Watab, a Swedish farmer linked to a multiple family killing near Princeton, a 15 year old in Long Prairie killed by a horse, a Stillwater prison escape recaptured in near-freezing condition, and local court and business moves across Minnesota with rail disputes, bank elections, and a fatal fall from a St Paul palace tower.
Atlanta dispatch to the Philadelphia Press reports Burton’s bigamy case expanding to polygamy as a fifth wife emerges and officers pursue him after he vanished. Court witnesses with certificates claim five women as wives, with Tales of elopement and vow to marry 25 women before age 25.
The Boston Advertiser recalls a humorous Whittier anecdote about a leftover cabbage. Whittier dislikes cabbage odor yet secretly retrieves the boiled cabbage, burying it triumphantly in the garden rather than wasting it. The tale is framed as a story told by a friend and is titled accordingly.
Mrs N O Northcote, youngest daughter of Mr Hamilton Fish and daughter-in-law of Sir Stafford Northcote, Earl of Iddesleigh, died in New York recently. She was a noted figure in high society. Her husband and one child survive her.
A hotel on Sutter Street hosts a comic chaos when a sleepwalking bride wanders into a bachelor’s room and a red headed iron dealer hides behind a sofa. Laughter erupts as the couple discovers the mix up and the truth emerges: the intruder is a sleepwalker, not a burglar.
A club window observer praised humane driving, recalling a team carrying a heavy lumber load up an incline. The driver stayed calm and spoke not a word, and the horses responded with impressive strength, guided by trust and sympathy. The piece urges respect for a horse’s sense and warns against anger.
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