18 Nov 1887
Page 1
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Newspaper
Brainerd Dispatch
Location
Brainerd, Minnesota, United States of America
Date
Nov 18, 1887
Page
1
Brainerd Minnesota reports the October national debt decreased by almost seventeen million dollars. The item is published by Ingersoll and Wieland.
The New York Central railroad is being relaid with 50 pound steel rails imported from England, marking a significant upgrade to the line. The project aims to improve track stability and load capacity for faster service.
The state covers 22 counties with 5,100 square miles of coal. In six years coal production rose from 494000 tons to 1700000 tons, a fourfold increase.
A Lancaster resident confined in jail 298 days over the past year to ensure presence at a trial billed $1 per day for his time. The court rejected the claim and instead charged him $2 weekly for board.
Secretary Bayard discusses the rumored treaty with Russia and upholds the American doctrine that persons charged with political crimes are not subject to extradition, but argues that the mantle of political crime should not cover assassination any longer.
One of the country’s largest salt makers, the Michigan Salt Association, will halt operations on December 1 for four months to reduce market stocks and sustain prices. The move aims to stabilize salt supplies and prevent price declines.
On February 26 the United States Senate elected John J Ingalls of Kansas as president pro tempore. He remains a senator and acts as presiding officer over the Senate. In case of presidential death the 1886 cabinet succession would place the secretary of state first in line.
Rear Admiral Worden, famed for the Monitor and Merrimac fight, resides in Washington. At age seventy he appears younger, with a full blonde beard and less white hair than expected. A wound from the battle left him with headaches and impaired sight. Retired in 1886 on fur pay, he receives $6,000 yearly.
A romantic yet sinister tale centers on Silas Crosby who confessed to strangling his wife years ago. A friend, Bellingham, lived with Crosby and helped bury the body to fake an elopement. The body was buried at night in an old quarry, Bellingham vanished, and Crosby has lived in terror and remorse ever since.
A New York physician argues half of heart disease cases stem from indigestion and fears many men, more than any other cause, may die. He notes dyspepsia raises breast pain and speeds heart rate, recommends avoiding tea coffee tobacco beer and whisky if used, eating brown bread and plenty of meat especially rare roast beef, and avoiding hot bread cake pudding and pastry. A powder of bismuth and baking soda before meals for a month is advised, along with exercise, to cure in about nineteen of twenty cases.
A Herald reporter tallies uptown peak service showing intervals between five car trains rarely exceed two minutes with one minute five seconds the shortest and three minutes the longest. The piece criticizes the elevated railway for failing to meet public demand while urging trains at or below one minute apart despite safety concerns.
At a Boston meeting of the Northeastern department of the American Shipping and Industrial League President Spofford warned that American merchant shipping is shrinking. From 8,000 plus world ports only 37 ships fly the American flag, sea tonnage fell from 2,379,396 tons in 1860 to under half by 1886. Britain leads in steam tonnage with 3,328,790 tons versus the US 554,187, and British carrying power dwarfs all others combined.
A stark scene describes a drop and ghostly figures advancing slowly toward a deadly engine. The text conveys peril and suspense with restrained, haunting imagery.
A formal notice detailing medical examiners findings and the disposition of deceased persons. The document lists authorities involved and outlines steps for handling the bodies, pending further determinations.
At 11:20 the final act began as Sheriff Matson carried death warrants for August Spies Albert R Parsons George Engel and Adolph Fischer to their cell. Spies faced the gallows with defiance as the four condemned men prepared to mount the stair to the platform amid a hush of marching footsteps.
A white robed figure rises from behind a protective screen and stands on the drop. August Spies, bound hands, moves with stately tread to the scaffold under the left noose. Pale features show a solemn, far away light in his blue eyes as his hair is brushed back in waves.
The article details the execution of August Spies Adolph Fischer George Engel and Albert Parsons at Cook County Jail. It describes their final moments, the officers, the white shrouds, the crowd, and the sheriff's later reflections noting a calm, orderly process and no major disturbances.
Schwab and Fielden, the two anarchists whose sentences were commuted by Gov. Oglesby to life imprisonment, were not taken to Joliet today as expected, as their mittimus has not yet arrived from authorities.
The narrative records the final moments of Engel Parsons Spies and Fischer during an execution. It notes pulse readings, convulsions, and the timing of death at six to eleven and a half minutes after the drop, with observers reacting as bodies showed purple coloration and the room gradually calmed after the deaths.
Reporters visited Sam Fielden and Michie Schreah after the execution. Fielden stood in his cell with a grim demeanor while Schwab reflected on the trial and alleged conspiracy. Schwab blamed biased prosecution, lamented the lack of early funding, and warned of lasting reputational harm to all involved.
In a dark jail corridor near the gallows, about 250 newspaper men local politicians and twelve jurors gathered to witness the execution bodies around 11 oclock. The crowd grew pale as the final hour arrived and the room quieted, with chairs and benches rattling briefly before silence settled and the whitewashed walls closed in.
In Washington the Supreme Court voids Andrew Green's driven-well patent. Postmasters appointed in Dakota and Wisconsin. Sparks urges President to demand resignation. Lamar’s fate eyed as possible cabinet vacancy. Yellow fever reported in Florida. Agriculture reports corn yield at 19.9 bushels per acre on 73 million acres. cotton at 6.4 million bales. Tupper arrives. Canadian contingent named. Army quartermaster shifts announced. pensions granted in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Crown prince may undergo operation. anarchist plots prompt Vienna police action. Paris court convicts D'Andlan group in Legion of Honor affair. Irish disorders rise. Mr Cox evades capture.
Scattered dispatches report a spate of incidents including a prisoner suicide claim, prison officials charged with perjury, financial figures fleeing, a turfman assaulting a Times reporter, a fatal wound from Edward Richardson, rape examinations in Romsey County, a dynamite case in Greenock, a San Francisco forgery arrest of Mrs Clara McDonald, a sensational New Orleans sword contest with a violent finish, and police intervening to prevent further bloodshed.
A Des Moines man Kelly shoots his wife by mistake. At Marquette Adams Steffes an old settler of Lake Linden and a Grand Army of the Republic member was killed by a belt in a Calumet mill. Near Mendota David J Byrnes died after his team was frightened by a passing train. In St Thomas Oak Frank Jones building on Main Street burned, housing Lloyd Conmee scale makers F G Arthur carriage maker Joe Roach blacksmith and Mooney Donaher boiler makers. On Manitoba road a collision killed five laborers returning from Montana. Names Charles Engel Gottlieb Wolf James Allen Albert Evans James Moore all single, mostly from St Cloud. There were no others in the caboose.
Cholera reappears in Messina prompting health warnings across the region. In Aberdeen, George Joachim Goschin rises to rector by a 455 to 314 vote over John Morley. In London, Dr Mackenzie reports the crown prince’s throat cancer remains very small.
Reports include the Minneapolis courthouse budget of 1.5 million dollars, Hatch’s assignment after failures, a St Paul theater project, Nebraska Supreme Court upholding rail rate control, druggist arrest for liquor sales, Lehigh Coal mine vein valued at 2 million, Manitoba tariff cuts, Goethe monument cornerstone in Philadelphia, Webber’s NP Express embezzlement, and political shifts in Minnesota. Also notes on diphtheria in Ohio, Sunday newspaper protests in Pittsburgh, anarchist flags in Winona, and rail line expansions and new El Paso North Eastern Railroad charter with a $3 million capital.
After the emperor met Dr. Schmidt on the 15th a palace medical conference declared the crown prince throat problem cancerous and that partial removal of the larynx is no longer advisable. Doctors Bergmann and Schmidt insist laryngotomy is inevitable though tracheotomy may save life. The prince favors delaying but may accept an early operation as swelling diminishes.
Fielden and Schwab, condemned anarchists whose death sentences were commuted, bade farewell to their families on Saturday before departing Joliet. They were stripped, bathed, shaved, and dressed in striped clothes, then taken to the jail station. Warden McClaughrey said future work would be light at first due to their frail condition, with harder labor possible in months ahead.
Inspector Brynes of the New York police calls John Most the most dangerous anarchist in America. He cites Most as responsible for the Haymarket murders in Chicago and portrays Lingg as a key follower shaped by Most's influence. Lingg fled Germany for Sweden then Chicago, where he learned dynamite bomb making from Most's writings.
Minnesota items describe Gustavus Adolphus College events in St Peter with opening ceremonies honoring Gustavus Adolphus, remarks by Rev Prof George W Sands, Luther jubilee music, vows by Gov. McGill and a grand concert, plus other regional news including fires and the St Paul wedding of Jennie O’Brien to Stanislaus Donnelly, with pensions granted and rail talks.
A Blackwood's Magazine writer contrasts German and British soldiers, noting the German peasant's uniform garners respect and privileges, while English volunteers face social contempt. The piece recalls incidents at Windsor hotels and the National Gallery, questioning when voluntary service will command equal esteem to conscripts.
In a Harper's Bazar told aboard a tale set in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri a government commission visits to study amazing petrifications. A cowboy guide recruits savants by promising petrified rivers grazing fields and a gravity defying buffalo, while defying natural laws in humorous dialogue.
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