Ol'll FOREIGN LETTER Dealing with Commercial and In dustrial Conditions Abroad. I'lip Aifrariian Pnrly 111 C* c r 111 an y 'Woulil liutcbac tl»«» Duty i resign, and is now on his way to Eng- I land. The news is all the more start | ling as the question of Gen. Colville's | responsibility for the yeomanry dis- I aster at Lindlay last May was inves- I tigated by the authorities when Gen. j Colville returned from South Africa ' last summer. After the inquiry Gen. | Colville was reinstated in his eotn | mand at Gibraltar in September last. The attitude of the war office in dicates that a new regime in Pall | Mall will reverse the decisions of | Lord Lansdowne and Lord WolselPy i in regard to some of the recent com manders in South Africa. Gen. Col ville. like (Sen. Methuen, has always been a great social personage in Lon don. DOZENS DROWNED. A It eport thai Between IO mid oil Children I,o*( Their Lave* \\ liilc Skating. Des Moines. Ta„ Dec. 28.—A tele phone message from Washington, la., | says that -"il school children were skating on the river near Foster, la., when the ice gave way and 49 were drowned. A telephone message from the \\ hat Cheer telephone operator, at midnight, to the operator in Des Moines, said that 40 school children had been drowned. Immediately thereafter it became impossible to reach What Cheer by telephone, the operator evidently having gone home. Telephone messages by way of Os kaloosa and Ottumwa say the report of the drowning of 49 school children at What Cheer is true. The children were skating on a pond near the fair ground, and the accident occurred about 9 o'clock last evening. Burlington, la., Dec. 28.—A tele phone message to the Havvkeye from Washington, la., says 49 school chil dren, while skating on the river at Foster, la., near What Cheer, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail way, were drowned. Oruanizliiu lor a Struggle. Washington, Dee. 28.—The vast in dustrial forces of Germany are or ganizing for a tremendous struggle with the agrarian and commercial in terests. according to a report to the state department from Consul Sehu : mann at Main/, lie says that the I manufacturing interests of Germany j will demand the passage of a protec tive tariff during the present session of the reielistag. The imperial gov ernment apparently is in sympathy with the movement and while the ef forts so far have failed they are not j to be abandoned. AMERICA'S CROPS. Oflielul l'"imi re* a* lo (lie Production of I'Oodstnil', iii tiilh ( ouiitry lliirin; (lie Ven r lUOU. Washington, Dee. 2*. The statis tician of the department of agricul ture estimates the I'nited States wheat crop of 1900 at 522,229,505 bushels, the area actually harvested being 42,4!1,">,385 acres and the aver age yield per acre 12.29 Ini-shels. The production of winter wheat is esti mated at 350,025,409 bushels and that of spring wheat at 172,204,096 bush els. the area actually harvested being 26,235,897 acres in the former case and 10.259,488 acres in the latter. The winter wheat acreage totally aban doned in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois is placed at 3,522,787 acres and the spring wheat acreage totally abandoned in North Dakota and South Dakota at 1,793,467 acres. The rapid rate at which the winter wheat acreage of Nebraska is gain ing upon the spring wheat acreage of that state has necessitated a spe cial investigation of the relative ex tent to which the two varieties were grown during the past year. The re sult of the investigation is that while no change is called for in the total wheat figures of the state, 590,575 acres have been added to the winter wheat column at the expense of the spring variety. The newly seeded area of winter wheat is estimated at 30,282,564 acres. While this acreage is lightly greater than that sown in the fall of 1899, as estimated at the time, it is 600,654 acres less than the area that was actually sown, the discrepancy being due to the remarkably rapid develop ment of winter wheat growing in .Ne braska, with which, as above stated, the department's reports failed to keep pace. The production of corn in 1900 is estimated at 2,105,102,516 bushels; oats 809,125,989 lnishels, barley 58,- 925,833, rye 2.3,995,987, buckwheat 9,- 566,966, potatoes 210,926,897 and hay 50,110,906 tons. The corn crop of 1900 was one of the four largest ever gathered, while the oats crop has only once been ex ceded. On the other hand the barley and rye crops are the smallest, with one exception in each case, since 1887. The buckwheat crop is the smallest since 1883 and the hay crop the smallest with one exception sine*? 1888. . A REVOLT IN JAIL. Female I'rinoiierH Attack tile Matron and the Warden. New York, Dec. 28. —Twenty female prisoners in the Raymond street jail, Brooklyn, rioted yesterday and fiercely assaulted Matron Frances Hanley and Warden Met i rath. There was no attempt to escape. The riot was the consequence of nothing but ill-feeling. Miss Hanley was trans ferring the prisoners from one cor ridor to another in the women's sec tion when she was attacked by Nellie Joseph, a powerfully built woman, who had been sentenced to 15 days for intoxication. Miss Hanley was felled. Nineteen other prisoners then assaulted her. While the blows rained thick upon her head and body she managed to reach a push but ton that rang a bell in the warden's office. Warden McGrath rushed to the wo men's department without waiting to call for assistance. As he entered the corridor he diverted the atten tion of the women and they jumped on him. The blows were fast and furious and McGrath went to the floor. Hatpins were brought into play and his face, head and neck were gouged. Miss Hanley made her way through the crowd and again rang the alarm. The sheriff, under sheriff and five deputies replied. They had much trouble in subduing the women, but finally succeeded, and two of them were placed in straight jackets. IS SAID TO BE A MORAL TOWN. t'lllcajgo'M Mayor and Police Officials don't Know (hut Vice Kxlhlnlii llial lit)'. Chicago, Dec. 28.—Mayor Harrison, Chief of Police Kipley, and other of ficials were put on the rack by the grand jury yesterday. From first to last they pleaded innocence of any knowledge of vice or crime in Chi cago. They did not know, of "their own personal knowledge, .that base ment dives and saloons have been open after midnight and frequently ail night. "I'm always in bed at mid night," was the answer of Police In spector Knlas, "and I don't know of any place open after that hour." Others entered similar pleas. They did not know of any gambling, nor did they know of no tribute money being paid by dive keepers to secure immunity from police interference. Mayor Harrison declared that there had been no prize lights in Chicago. Every fistic battle had been a "spar ring exhibit ion." To Aid (he Coal TruM. New York, Dec. 28. —The Times prints the following: The North American Co., which has been one of the conspicuous financiering compan ies of Wall street, has passed into the control of J. I'. Morgan, and is to be used by him to further the great coal deal known to the street as the "coal trust." The plan is to make the North American Co. the joint selling agent, which will take over, or to which will be consigned, the entire output of all fhe coal properties con trolled by the trust. !Wnerw Strike. Pittsburg, Dec. 28. —Six hundred miners of the Bak;yton Coal (Jo., near Barnesborough, on the Pennsyl vania road, are on strike. The strike arises from the introduction of min ing machines, and five mines of the company have been forced to suspend operations. (ioriiiany'M "Naval Progrem. Berlin, Dec. 28. —The Berliner Post, summarizing Germany's naval pro gress this year, says that seven ves sels have been launched, including I two battleships, one large cruiser i and four small cruisers. A BANK IN TROUBLE. A llaltiinorc Institution IN I'larcd in (hi; IlandM ol' Kect-ivrr». Ma It imore. Dec. 27. -Koger T. (Jill, of the law firm of Itufus o,uoo. Washington, Dec. 27. —An appended report to Gen. MacArthnr's review of the civil affairs of the Philippines for the past fiscal year gives some start ling facts regarding the introduction and prevalence ot' leprosy in the is lands. According to the estimates of the Franciscan fat Tiers, says Major Guy L. Etlie, the writer of the report, there are 30,000 lepers in the archi pelago, the major portion of these being in the Viscayas. Leprosy was introduced in 1633, when the emperor of Japan sent a ship with 150 lepers on board to the Philippines as a pres ent to be cared for by the Catholic priests. Thus the seed was planted, and as no practical methods ever were adopted to eradicate the dis ease, or prevent its spread, it has taken firm root. A house to house inspection begun last .January found more than 100 lepers concealed in dwellings. These were sent to San Lazaro hospital in Manila, but many others escaped into the surrounding country. A commit tee will select a suitable island or islands for the purpose of isolating all the lepers in tlie archipelago. Decided Against Kipling, New York, Dec. 27. —Judge La combe in the circuit court yesterday denied the motion made by Iliulyard Kipling's atorneys to restrain K. F. Freno from publishing and selling editions of his works on which an elephant's head was used. Judge La coinbe said that Mr. Kipling had not established a common law trademark. Price* to be Advanced. Huntington, W. Va., Dec. 27.—The independent glass combine, recently ergani/.ed, will on January 1 advance the. price on all window glass 15 per cent. AN EFFECTIVE TIE-UP. tilrlhf of Street lliilliiar (employe* at Scran ton, I»a., I'araijzen the lloail't IS'.ihiiifxs Superintendent !•> \»»»iilt cd. Scran ton, Pa., Dec. 24. —Every one of the :!()() car and barn employes of tlie Scranton Railway Co. obeyed the .strike order whieh went into effect .it 5 o'clock Sunday morning' and a~ a consequence only two ears were run in all of the Lackawanna valley yes terday. These two cars were manned by Superintendent Patterson and dis patchers, foremen and clerks. No at tempt was made to molest them, and although rain fell a greater part of the day the two cars seldom had a passenger. The tied-up region extends from Pittston to Forest City, a distance of 30 miles, and includes G5 miles of tracks, on which are run ordinarily HO ears. The men of the Wyoming* Valley fraction Co., operating all tlu? lines south of Pittston as far as Nan tieoke, threaten togo on strike Thursday. With both companies tied up there would be a total cessation of street ear traffic in a busy stretch of country. SO miles north, including the cities of Scranton, Wilkesbarre, Pitts ton and Carbondale. The men demand 20 cents an hfii<* for old employes and from 13 to lT'/s cents for new men. At present the new men receive an average of 15 8-10 cents an hour and after four years' service this is raised tc 17 :! / t cents. They also demand a ten-hour day instead of 12 as at present. The company in its answer to the grievance committee's demands says it is not in a position to givj r.n ad vance at present. Scranton, Pa., Dee. 2S. —The first blow struck in the street car men's strike was received last evening by William Patterson, the new superin tendent of the Scranton Railway Co. Teamsters blocked the car he was running and breaker boys and street urchins assaulted it with potatoes, stolen from an adjacent freight ear. When the trolley car reached strike headquarters the strikers boarded it and attempted to take off the crew. Some one pulled Patterson from the car and he was dealt a blow on the head, with a fist or club, that knocked off his hat and caused him to reel. Two strikers, Edward and Joseph Pentley, brothers, rushed the super intendent into a saloon, protecting him from the crowd with great diffi culty and then barring the entrance to give the superintendent time to escape by the rear door. The other strikers helped throe police officers disperse the crowd and also helped the company's officials take the stalled ear to the barn. Eleven cars were moved Thursday, but not more than six at one time. As far as is known not a single pas senger was carried. Some strangers who boarded a car at' Lackawanna avenue were induced to get off and accepted a free ride in one of the busses which the strikers maintain for just such a purpose. Provisions for the imported men have arrived from Philadelphia. The local business men refuse to sell the company any supplies. The letter carriers have hired busses at their own expense and will not ride on the cars hereafter. SHOT TO DEATH. Frank 11. .llorrl*, Auditor of the Uar Department, 1» .11 ordered. Washington, Dec. 24.—Frank If. Morris, of Cleveland, auditor of tin war department, was shot and in stantly killed Saturday afternoon by Samuel Mac Donald, also of Ohio, re cently a disbursing clerk of the treas ur, in the former's office at the Win der building. Auditor Morris was closeted with Mac Donald when the shooting oc curred and in trying to make his es cape, he also assaulted the watchman, Thomas Cusiek, with the butt of his revolver. He was arrested while leaving the building. Before being taken into custody, however, he shot himself in the stomach and also made an ugly gash in his throat with a small knife. Frank 11. Morris was 40 years of age and leaves a widow and two sons. He entered the government service at the beginning of the present adminis tration as auditor for the navy de partment. During the first two years he made an exceptionally good rec ord for efficiency, bringing the de layed work up to date and putting the office in a better shape than ever before. A year and more ago Morris was made auditor for the war de partment. Mac Donald is unmarried, 38 years of age, and has been in the govern ment service since soon after the civil war. Mac Donald was in a precarious con dition at the Emergency hospital last night and his death is expected mo mentarily. Mac Donald has been en tirely conscious since his removal to the hospital. He has constantly reit erated the hope that he would die. Dan A. Grosvenor, deputy auditor for the war department and the next in line of rank to the late Mr. Morris, was discharged on Saturday. Mr. Grosvenor received his discharge papers half an hour after the killing of Mr. Morris. They were conveyed to him from the office of Secretary Gage, the discharge taking effect at once. W. W. Brown, auditor for the navy department and the predecessor of Sir. Morris, lias been reinstated in his old position as auditor for the war department. A Stubborn lire Checked. Tainaqua, Pa., Dee. 24. —The offi cials of the Lehigh Coal and .Naviga tion Co. are jubilant over the fact that the tire in the burning mine at Summit Hill, which started 42 years ago, is now under control, and it is said that the next two years will se lls extinguishment. The tire con sumed about ■ acres of the finest coal land in the anthracite coal re gion. Two immense drilling ma chines have honeycombed the earth west of the burning portion. Culm Is being poured into these holes and a solid mass will confront the lire. 3