21 Jul 1885
Page 1
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This newspaper page contains 14 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Le Mars Evening Sentinel
Location
Le Mars, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Jul 21, 1885
Page
1
Washington July 21 court martial for Paymaster-General Smith met yesterday as defense argued no criminality in charges. Jeff Chandler cited routine contract changes. assistant AG said abuse of discretion could punish him. Smith alleged to have doubled contracts and reused funds across fiscal years, drawing government scrutiny.
A. R. Mullet, ex Supervising Architect, protests convict labor in public building work. He asks Secretary of the Treasury to cancel the Peoria Post Office contract awarded to convict labor, arguing there is no statute forcing acceptance or rejection of such bids and urging fair labor standards.
A Treasury Department letter condemns a bid that proposes convict labor as inferior to skilled mechanics and urges rejection to protect honest labor. The official cites the need to determine quality before declaring a bidder lowest and directs subordinates not to consider such proposals.
Gen. Howard reports Utah tensions on Mormon Pioneers Day and urges strengthened Western detachments. Gen. Hateb and Ninth Cavalry will move to Salt Lake if unrest begins. Sixth Infantry stays at Fort Douglas per a Schofield dispatch. Also notes political and local incidents and multiple appointments.
A major blaze in southwestern Chicago last night caused an estimated loss of more than 300000 dollars. At Twenty second and Paulina streets the Wells and French Car and Bridge Company buildings burned, with wood and materials for 1800 cars stored in one structure. Fire officials blame spontaneous combustion from a paint shop cupboard and saved only the foundations. About five hundred workers faced unemployment as the loss mounted with the total destruction of the works and uncertainty about insurance.
Abe Dinger, a wealthy eccentric farmer west of here, faced divorce and an injunction. In response he drove his stock to a barn and set it ablaze, burning horses valued at $20,000. The barn and stock were destroyed. Dinger is missing and presumed to have perished in the fire.
A Redwood Falls man, Israel Alexander, shot and killed his father in law Charles Mowers about 11 oclock yesterday morning. The first bullet struck the side, dropping the victim, then three more shots killed him instantly. Alexander was arrested and jailed amid threats of lynching.
The dispatch lists newly appointed postmasters including William Gillespie Tracy Iowa to replace J W Hart, W H Norton Elkhart Indiana for A M Tucker, Albert N Flynn Nashua New Hampshire for M R Buxton, N Horneck Detroit City Minnesota for C W Dix, D W Gurjun Tallahassee Florida for W G Stewart, J P Newell Danville Illinois for William R Jewell, J W Lauer Evansville Indiana for HI Bennett, S Berry Winchester, and John F F Smith Freeport Illinois for D Atkins among others with suspensions noted for several predecessors and ongoing appointments.
A summary of historical sizes compares Noahs Ark and the Great Eastern, noting Newtons feet and inches based length estimates for the ark and the Great Easterns dimensions. It discusses tonnage, capacity, and the ark versus iron ship differences, followed by a mathematical riddle about dividing seventeen camels among three sons with assistance from Mohammed Ali, illustrating fractional shares and an extra camel solution.
A speaker recounts a grim anecdote about an Irishman who sat on a keg of black sand to smoke and, after finishing his pipe, knocked live ashes into the keg. The tale ends with a listener asking if others were killed, but the response clarifies there was no explosion, only a tragic mishap.
A clergyman muses there is much religion in nature and a girl retorts that grass hides a sermon in every blade while noting grass is cut short this season. A man boasts of birth yet never of his high berth in a sleeping car. A country seat that always rents by a barbed wire fence.
Nathaniel P. Banks was elected Speaker of the Thirty-forth Congress on February 2, 1856, after a hard fought struggle framed by North versus South tensions over the expansion of slavery. The vote totaled 103 for Banks, 100 for Aiken, with key support from Massachusetts and American party factions, in a scene marked by scenes in the hall and cheers as Banks took the chair.
Envoys, officers, and travelers note a perceived Jewish cast among Afghans, especially interior groups. The author traces a long, debated claim that Afghans descend from Israel, citing historical travelers and Afghan self-identity, while acknowledging anachronisms and evolving religious labels.
A comic scene unfolds as Gus De Smith bears chin injuries from a barber, then jokes about sharing his self after paying for a drink. Another digression features a Back Bay breakfast table debate on heaven, with a restless 10 year old and a quip about 100 in deportment determining who goes there.
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