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Newspaper
Monticello Express
Location
Monticello, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Sep 23, 1897
Page
1
The Express quips that some miners wasting provisions to reach the Klondike will later rely on the aurora borealis for supper. It notes a new German ambassador is a philosopher diplomat and duelist. It comments on disease, Alaska gold, a pneumatic tube venture, and pacing records with playful, dated tone.
Report states Honduras may hand over public administration to a syndicate of American businessmen. Describes the idea of a Yankee trust running a nation as a novelty in governance.
Two lovers in a sensational tale resolved to die together. The man shot the woman and then himself but both survived and later married. The piece notes such an act as near a novel sensation for the era. It also contrasts the czar’s Siberian reforms with a French alliance and cites 1896 fire losses of 118 million dollars in insurance tables.
Mexico says rich Yaqui gold fields are open after peace with locals and many expect an exodus from cities to prospect. A New York farm bean vine with massive leaves and six inch pods grows wildly, while doctors worry about oversupply in England and the United States.
A 50 cent tariff per person on out of state visitors marrying in New Jersey spurred a rush to wed. The inquisitorial fee prompted a stampede, with about 1,100 marriages recorded as many couples had planned long engagements.
The article notes the Russian thistle faded from prominence after failing to justify funding for weed control. In contrast the gypsy moth, once used to raid Massachusetts funds, remains prosperous and contributed to a $100,000 public funds pull. Legislation buckled, and lawmakers abandoned weed-killing programs, yet the nation endured.
The piece argues that attempts to halt the Klondike rush ignore history of wealth chasing. It notes humans have long sought wealth since Adam and will pursue wealth to the end of time. It suggests distance and danger fuel greed, tapping the gambling instinct in treasure hunts.
Advices from Ireland warn of a grim harvest season with protracted rains preventing grain collection and causing widespread rotting. All counties report poor crops including the vital potato harvest, with church leaders recalling 1817 as a benchmark for the current dire outlook.
Commissioner Jones reports 68 insane Indians in the country while postmaster general weighs postal savings banks. Eight months’ exports rise to 629 million. August gold imports 4.37 million, exports 1.98 million. Silver imports 1.49 million, exports 5.31 million. Powderly orders deportation of 16 Japanese contract laborers to San Francisco. McKinley names Thomas Smith consul at Moscow. Green stamps defeated by a postal congress rule. US business failures total 204 in the week to Aug 17, vs 215 prior week and 317 year ago. Gen Fitzhugh Lee asked to return to Cuba as consul general. Alger to seek relief for Klondike miners.
Louise Michel the French anarchist and alleged conspirator against the United States faces denial for entry. Separately Seymour Bros stock brokers in multiple cities fail for a million dollars, while 15000 to 18000 coal miners in the Pittsburgh district return to work. Boston hosts a laundry workers vote defeating a Chinese boycott proposal. Clearing houses show weekly exchanges totaling 1 386 354 242 with a strong year over year rise. Lamp light manufacturers sign a wage scale. National League tables list team percentages led by Baltimore and Boston with Pittsburgh and New York mid pack. A kite reaches 10016 feet at Blue Hill Observatory, Boston. Jimmy Michael sets a 25 mile bicycle record in 45 minutes 5 45 seconds, earning multiple distance records.
News notes report Ex-Postmaster General Wilson installed to lead Washington and Lee University in Lexington Virginia. Other items recount fires, storms, accidents, and deaths across the country from Virginia to Montana and Colorado with multiple fatalities and property damage.
The First National Bank of Benton Harbor Mich closed its doors with liabilities of 90000 dollars. In Indianapolis Star Pointer broke the pacing race record in a match race against Joe Patchen covering a mile in 201 in the era’s time.
Reported calamities and political upheavals span Port Alma fires Mughal analogies and Cuban conflicts, with strikes on Sunday work in Hamilton. Kabul bazar inferno destroys 150 shops and four killed. Mexico City lynching and Moorish slave trade claims. Cuban battles and peace treaties ripple across the era. Multiple shocks plus fogbound ship losses near Newfoundland.
Warrant issued in Wilkesbarre for Sheriff Martin and 80 deputies over the Lattimer mining killings. Boiler explosion kills workers near Redman Missouri. Bank of Rice in Colorado closes. Railroad robbery near Smith Lake Minnesota. Yellow fever cases rise in New Orleans and Mobile. Peary arrives in Sidney Nova Scotia with the Hope. Leprosy found in Walsh County North Dakota. Dana ill at West Island New York. National bank of Greensburg Indiana closes. Debs injunction renewed in Wheeling West Virginia. Hazleton coal strike reportedly ended. New Mexico governor touts statehood with 100000 population gain since 1800.
Fran Materna retires from public life. A man dies from lockjaw linked to tight shoes in a St Louis hospital. Hoboken saloon seizes 400 ounces of smuggled phenacetin. Albany NJ forms firm curing diseases by blood infusion. Leopold II offers 5000 for Belgian history. A New Jersey rider attracts a swarm of bees for miles. Sterkfontein caves near Krugersdorp reveal wonders. 26 blacks indicted for murder in Alabama. Dallas county 18 to be tried. London prayers include US president’s name. Mrs George W Connare gives Ogontquit Me a public library. Stephen Mallory White and Stephen Russell Mallory are cousins and senators. Mme Maretzek near blindness at 70 in Staten Island. World telegraph length totals 4908 miles with major continental shares listed.
New Orleans and several southern cities report rising yellow fever cases with no fatalities until recently. Health boards organize mass sanitation, draining, and fumigation while urging water purification and postponement of gatherings. Mobile and Edwards clinics see outbreaks though Biloxi reports cases with no deaths. Public fear grows as thousands flee, trains shrink, and quarantines tighten.
Mexican authorities order a rigorous inquiry into the Arroyo lynching. President Diaz pledges strict punishment for the guilty as 20 plus detainees remain in custody. police officials are jailed and investigated amid public pressure to show lynching is not tolerated.
President McKinley asks Gen. Fitzhugh Lee to return to Cuba as consul general for several months amid talks of ending the Cuban war. Aldrich was selected last June to succeed Lee, with a change slated only if a settlement seemed near. Lee favors aiding in peace but did not seek the post.
In Indianapolis on Sept 20 Star Pointer set a new mile pace record of 2 01 as the turf kings contested a single heat due to darkness. The event drew a large crowd amid perfect racing conditions and enthusiastic finish.
Samuel G. Dunham, statistical expert for the Labor Department, relays a graphic Aug 26 1897 letter from Lake Lindemann Alaska describing the brutal crossing from Dyea to the Yukon routes. He details 60 mph winds sleet and 30 degree cold, swollen rivers, starving crowds, inflated prices for packers and ships, and deaths and injuries among both trails with calls for immediate relief.
Frank Gardner a London capitalist purchased in Denver the patents outside the United States for the Wilfley ore concentrating table for $250000 cash. He plans heavy mining investments in Colorado California and is active in South Africa and Australia.
An advertisement claims thousands have been cured of nervous trouble scrofula sores rheumatism dyspepsia and catarrh by Hood's Sarsaparilla. It asserts the medicine will purify blood tone the body create appetite and improve sleep with Hood's Pills as the recommended companion.
A September issue of The Corn Belt quotes Levi Hofer of Seward Nebraska in a August 25 1897 letter. He describes arriving in 1868 with 400 acres in good condition worth 20000 and 30 horses 35 cattle 100 Poland China hogs plus city and personal property. Hofer says he feeds all he raises and has rarely sold corn, noting no total crop failure and strong satisfaction with Nebraskan farming and a recommendation for others to move west.
A shabby but neat stranger in a Chestnut street hotel cafe tells a group he lost $500 en route to the Klondike and seeks help for wintering. He brands a notebook for names and addresses, promising to remember benefactors, as one man tips a dime and mocks the ruse.
A once grand ceiling painted by an Italian artist, depicting a Vesuvian night sky, was marred by vandalism as whitewash covered the stars. The house, once a merchant prince’s residence, shifted from fashionable notoriety to tenement occupancy, erasing the celestial decor.
October closes the greatest exposition yet held in the South with special attractions and lower rates from all regions. Nashville on the Louisville and Nashville main line offers cheap through-car routes. inquire at ticket offices or write C. P. Atmore for current rates and information.
The candidate for congress tells friends he has gone out for a walk. He asks the precinct desk clerk to relay the message and adds that he will stretch the other leg, signaling weariness with the campaign.
Chicago theater news reports Andrew Mack the popular singing comedian appears in An Irish Gentleman at McVicker's Theater for two weeks starting September 20. He headlines in a likely crowd drawing engagement at the famed venue.
A collection of silly quips and reader notices includes a cartoonish exchange about bloomers and a joke on marriages caused by head bumps. It also contains a testimonial about Piso's Cure from Williamsport, a remark on finding a matchbox in the dark, plus an ad for Hall’s Catarrh Cure priced at 75 cents.
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