fl mum nil. E1ERS RETREATING. Are Nol Expocted to Rcl'tt Roberts' March 8oulh ol Kroonatad Their Army Slid to Have Dwindled to 28,000 Men. "There ore interesting developments atirau," as stated lit a dispatch l rum Thahn N'Chn, is about the most import ant news in the advices from South Africa. A dispatch from Blocmfontrin, dated Saturday, says: '"Reports have been received that the Boers arc retiring to the north of l.adybrand. Their horses are exhausted mid they were themselves disappointed over their fail ure to capture Col. Dainty's position. The British cavalry who were pursuing the fugitive commandoes are returning to Blocmfoiitcin. "The. Boers have taken every advan tage of the mountainous nature of the country which marks the line of their retreat to l.adybrand. The task of driving them is difficult and it is doubt ful whether they can be reduced to sub mission in a di.strict so favorable to their tactics. "A cavalry rcconnoissance 25 miles northeast encountered 400 Boers. The British drove them, out of a kopje north of Karce. Our outposts are still har rassed by moving commandoes. In an outpost affair on Thursday several Boers were killed. The enemy will certainly make a-.stand at Kroonstad. where they have rnstrtcd miles of trenches. noincr iiocmioiiiciii tonciiuiMivin sends a story that he has discovered the Boer forces, which in December were 60.000. have dwindled to 26,000, having lost 8.OT0 in killed and wounded and 5,500 captured. The others arc not ac counted for, but have probably returned to their farms. He says the Boers are short of wagons, wheat and smokeless powder, but that they have plenty of other stores and of rifle ammunition. They are not likely, however, to offer serious resistance, as they possess no positions this side of Pretoria by the British army. It is promised that Gen. Roberts will advance on Pretoria as soon as he has the necessary remounts for his cavalry. Later telegrams say: It is now ap parent that tile chances of Lord Roberts catching the retreating Boers in a net are ver; slender. The Boers have ev erywhere retired at the first pressure of the British advance, and the hope that Gen. Rundle would be able to in duce them to remain at DeWctsdorp until they had been forced to fight or surrender has been disappointing. No attempt was made to pursue the commandoes retiring from Wcpencr. Everything now depends upon the pro gress of Gen. French's cavalry brigades, but they are entering a very difficult, hilly and practically unknown country. It is asserted that the Boers are col lecting enormous quantities of provi sions at depots in the Lydenburg dis . trict, with a view to a final stand in the mountains. The districts around Jo hannesburg and Pretoria arc being ex tensively intrenched. Begsbic's foundry at Johanncsbuig is turning out 700 shells a day. The Boers now can only escape, with out risking an encounter, northward to Ladybrand. and the chance of a suc cessful outcome of the plans of Roberts depends on whether the Britis 1 troops can rtach Thaba N'Chu and Li dybrand before the retreating commandoes f"m De Wets Dorp and Wcpener. 1 CARTER GOES TO PRISON. Former United Slates Engineer Will Serve His Term at Fort Leavenworth. Ex-Captain Obcrlin M. Carter, once of the United States engineers, who has ; been a prisoner on Governors Island ' for seven months, lacking five days, Wednesday started in charge of a mili tary escort for the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. It was the seven hundred and eleventh day after his conviction by a court-martial for en tering into a conspiracy with contrac tors doing government work in Charles-, ton harbor to rob the United States by procuring the payment of two fraudu lent checks in July, 1807, one for $230, 740.00 and the other for $345,000. Me will be put at some sort of "hard labor" when he arrives at the prison. It will probably be clerical work, or he may set to making mail bags - t TTI- C 1- . ... iur uncie aam. captain barter will serve about three years and seven months. ! Filipinos Active Near Kfanlla. The insurgents continue to operate close to Manila. A casco loaded with 70 barrels of beer was captured in the bay north of the city, while en route to th? canteen at Malolos. Two cascoes on the Pasig river, ten miles from the city, were attacked by 50 insurgents and looted. The insurgents secured $312, besides provisions and clothing. Insurgent funds amounting to $100, 000 were captured at the home of Col. Tinio at Victoria. His daughter claim ed that the money was hers, but in the same box were tell-tale receipts from insurgent officers. Father Gregorio Tabar has entered a claim for $300,000 for the destruction of Paco church. Sanitary inspectors discovered that na tives were exhuming the carcasses of Cariboos and selling the meat Plngrto With the Democrats. Go. Pingree asserted in an interview at Detroit, Mich., that the hope of the Deonle in this year's general elections is ' the Democratic party. The governor Us always hitherto been an independent lepublican. Speaking of the increasing lower of trusts, Gov. Pingree said: ("There is no use in hoping that the Republican party will do anything with lre you preparing to announce your Jiclrawal from the Keoublican party f I governor was asked. There is no announcement about It. inly say what I have said all the while. vu haven't heard me say anything Inst the Democrats for some time, elieve that the hope of the people is 1 the Democratic party this tall. ' . A Fatal Explosion. ve men and one girl were burned 1 explosion of oowder in theboard ouse of one Michalovitz, at Lari a., Tuesday night. Three of the 1 are so badly injured that the LATEST NEWS NOTES, Fire in sweatshops on Pclham street, New York, did $60,000 damage. Forest fires have done a great amount of damage to timber lands in Pike coun ty. Pa. Herman Erb. Jr.. former mayor of Applcton, Wis., committed suicide in that city Sunday, United States Consul General MasoYi at Berlin is preparing an official report of the ucrnian trusts. While intoxicated. William Edmunds, of Chicago, on Sunday, shot his wife and himself. Both will die. President and Mrs. McKinlcy return ed to Washington Friday mr-ning after their trip to Canton, O. , Eight men blew open the safes of the Massanutlen bank at Strasbitrg, Va., and got away with $5,000. In a quarrel in court at Paris, Tex., Lawyer E. P. Scott stabbed and badly wounded Justice J. J. Hooks. Antonio Loitsa murdered his wife in New York, and James McCauley cut the throat of his wife in Brooklyn. Judge Bischoff, in New York, granted Rita Stof;cs a divorce from W. E. D. Stokes with $12,000 yearly alimony. At Watseka. III.. Saturday night, Bert Underbill fatally shot Miss Anna Davis, aged 17, and then shot and killed him self. Former Secretary to the President, John Addison Porter, is seriously ill in New iork as the result of a surgical opera ion. Journeymen plumbers to the number of 250 are on strike in Chicago, being the latest move against the Chicago con tractors. Over 30.000 persons marched in the May day parade of the Socialist labor party and Central Federated union in New ork. Canton, O., is planning a great Fourth of lulv. inviting all celebrities in sight, including the President and Ad miral Dewey. The flood situation in Texas is much improved, but there is still a great deal of suffering among the poorer people of the inundated districts. A lone highwaymen held up an Iron Mountain train in White county. Ark., Friday morning and robbed the passen gers of money and valuables. At Newark, N. J.. Sunday morning, Edward Morley. aged 40. after attempt ing to murder his wife, cut his throat with a razor and died in an hour. Six masked men tried to break into the safe in the First National bank of Elizabeth. Pa., having first bound and gagged James Jordan, the janitor. Editor W. T. Stead, in a review of the Paris exposition, said it represents the focal point of all the thought and progress of the nineteenth century. The first steamer left Seattle Mon day for Cape Nome, and will be follow ed by 24 during May with 5.838 passen gers and $2,552,000 worth of freight. A shamrock craze has been started in England by the queen's recent visit to Ireland, and it is even proposed to at tire the new Irish guards regiment in kilts. An attempt was made by Senator Pcttigrcw to have his resolution express ing sympathy for the Boers considered by the Senate, but a quorum did not vote. While fighting fire in a field on their farm, near Lawton, Mich., Friday after noon, Mrs. William Brace was burned to death and her husband severely in jured. A thousand people were present at the county jail at Dover, Del., Saturday, to witness the whippings of nine culprits, all colored, who had been sentenced for petit larceny. The North American Turquoise Syn dicate, with a capital of $1,000,000, h s been organized in Jersey City, N. J.; it seeks to control the turquoise indus try 6f the United States. At Hot Springs, Ark., Adolph Spitzel, a well-known sporting man, was found lying in the street with his head crush ed in, and died shortly after, and it is supposed he was murdered. The amount of bonds so far exchang ed at the treasury for the new 3 per cents, is $256,101,850, of which $43. 162,750 were from individuals and insti tutions other than National banks. Both England and the Boers arc fast wearying of the war, the former believ ing the terrible cost can never be repaid. An Italian officer with the Broes writes that the ammunition supply is fast fail ing. The three men under arrest on the charge of dynamiting the Welland ca nal locks were arraigned for a prelimi nary hearing Wednesday and will be tried at the Assize court at Welland, May 22. The board of business agents of the Building Trades Council of Chicago has adopted a resolution asking the 20,00a union men of the city and their families to have nothing to do with the Dewey celebration. Near Colombo, Wris., Friday after noon, the dead bodies of Levi Myhill and wife were found lying in the road with bullet wounds in them, and it is supposed to be a case of murder and suicide by the man. A flood relief expedition found 40 families, mostly colored, in a starving condition in various places of refuge in Rankin county, Mississippi. Some had not tasted food for three days. On one islet were 40 persons. A report to the biennial council of the National Association of Colonial Dames, in session at Washington, shows they spent $60,000 in relieving the wants of soldiers and sailors during the Span ish war. .In the New York supreme court the State Trust Company filed a suit for the foreclosure of a mortgage of $3,000,000 against the Harper publishing firm. Over a thousand Japanese coolies, bound for the United States under al leged contracts, are in quarantine at Victoria, B. C, and an additional 600 arrived Wednesday. Secretary Gage Tuesday sent to the Senate a statement that the revenue col lected under the war taxes from June 13. 180H. to March 31, 1900, was $183, 405.202. Rev. Ingram W. Irvine, who had been convicted of conduct unbecoming minister while rector of a church at Huntingdon, Pa., was deposed by Right Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, bishop o( the Certral Pennsylvania diocese. 5 PARIS frail HE. BRIDGE COLLAPSES. Inurlng Forty ard Killing Nino The Structure Had Been Condemned Feared That Other Building Are Insocuro.. Nine persons were killed and nine in jured Sunday by the fall of a bridge on the Avenue dc Suffren, which-forms the northern boundary of the Paris exposi tion grounds. There was an immense throng in the neighborhood, as the fine weather had drawn the largest attend ance of any day since the exposition opened. The bridge, which was constructed of wood with a stucco facade and with a plaster tower at each end, had been con demned Sunday morning as unsafe by the exhibition authorities. The people were not allowed to go upon the struc ture, and in this way n disaster more terribc thr.n occurred was prevented. A crowd was passing along the ave nue aynd some 100 or more persons were walking beneath the bridge when an ominous crash was heard. Before those underneath could turn aside the structure fell with a fearful crash, bury ing nearly 50. A shout of horror rose from the spectators, mingled with the cries of the victims. For a moment nothing could be distinguished but a cloud of dust and plaster. A scene of the greatest excitement and confusion followed, but only for a few seconds. Almost immediately the crowd attacked the debris in an effort to release those lying beneath. The victims first recovered were most ly only injured, the dead being found later beneath the center of the struc ture. Messengers were dispatched to bring firemen and sappers with their equipments and the first body was found aiter a quarter hour s frantic labor. As a result of the accident. M. Lc pme. prefect of police, has ordered the closing of several side shows, the struc tural arrangements cf which are con sidered dangerous. INTO A VAT OF BOILING SODA. Terrible Death ol Pols al th Pennsylvania Salt Works. John Motclcwski. Pnliv mit ivith a fearful death at the works of the Penn sylvania Salt Manufactiirinir Comnnnv at Natrona, Pa., Sunday morning. The man was working near the kettles when ne tripped over a loose brick and fell headfirst into a vat of boilincr cm stir soda. The men around rushed to his assistance and dragged him out of the seaming liquid. Motelcwski's condition was terrible. His eyes were almost burned out and he was totally blind. Some of the fluid got into his mouth and he was unable to speak. All he could do was to moan feebly. His hair and mustache were scalded off and the whole upper part of his body was fearfully burned. For 7 hours he suffered intense agony and then he died. EXPECTS TROUBLE ON DEWEY DAY. Chicago Strikori May Attempt Violence During the Big Parade. Th Inlinr cihinliAn in 1, :.. 1. - t....tiii.ii ,ii .iiivaKu is up coming desperate and genuine fear is enlprtninnH lm ,.n..l,l. .. : . uuuuii; ilia . UlllllllUlt: on Dewey day by a riot on account of the non-union grand stand the erection of which has angered the strikers. Seats nave Dcen placed on sale at $t each, but f l, fin.,, l.i.nn . ' I - . , Kaa..a n 1 afraid that the strikers may cut rite sup ports or diow it up. Th- clrll nl ilU.,v. 1... I .1.. bloodiest Chicago has ever seen. Four men have been killed practically out right and more than too wounded since November last, the greatest part of the casualties having occurred since Febru ary 10 of this year, when the lockout i me men in tne Diuining trades tor- tnnllv S ' .." .... . i.i.-.i wiv-. men have been beaten and one killed. An Immense Oil Strike. One of the greatest oil strikes in forty years' history of Pennsylvania oil fields has been made at Gaines' well No. 3, of the Blossburg Oil Comoanv. was completed Tuesday afternoon, and flow ed 100 barrels per hour the first twelve hours. The second well owned by the same company produced 900 barrels the first 24 hours, when oil was struck a few weeks ago. Hill Reveals a SeoreL At the Jefferson dinner given by the Syracuse, N. Y., Democracy Tuesdiy night, ex-Senator David B. Hill came out in favor of the election of senators by popular vote and revealed a secret concerning that question in the Demo cratic National convention of 1896. He said: "A plank favoring an amendment to the constitution providing for the elec tion of United Slates senators by the people was in the original draft of the Chicago platform, but was stricken out by the sub-committee on resolutions, against my earnest protest. There is now every reasonable prospect that such wise action may be had that it can be truthfully said at the conclusion of the coming convention at Kansas City that 'the stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner.' " Many Mexicans Homeless. Telegraphic advices received state that Panuco, Mexico, the most import ant trading post on tne river of that name, was totally destroyed by fire. Two thousand people are homeless. The majority of them are coming to Tampico for shelter. The property loss has not been ascertained, but it doubt less will be large. Nebraska Storm Swept A storm of wind and hail did much damage in a limited area in the west ern part of Nebraska Friday evening. The wind wrecked some small buildings, and hailstones of unusual size killed young stock, and ruined wheat and gar dens. In the southeastern part of the State there was much damage. Between Wahoo and Cedar Bluffs a tornado wrecked the farm house of Thomas Rochford and Mr. Settee, and tore out buildings to pieces. Mr. Rochford was severely injured by a flying plank. ( ONTARW'S BIG FIRE. The Ottawa Calamily Caused Lost ol $17,. 000,000 Shven Lives Lost Four Squaf 0 Milet Burned. Over five burned oven hiiare mile of territory uore than 2,000 buildings destroyed; n cn lives lost; 7,000. men, property loss of $17,000,000, insured for about half it! value, are the results of the fire whic 1 swept Ottawa and Hull, Ont., Thurs( ay and Friday. Although under contr 1 for many hours, the flames were not entirely extinguished until about 1 0011 Friday. All of H11I s principal buildings, with the execptin 11 of the Catholic Church, are things Ai the past. The buildings and land inl'.hc place arc valued at $2, 700.000, nmilof this amount over $1,000, 000 may bf put down as a loss. Then in stocks, lixtures, equipments, house hold effect! and wearing apparel there is a loss oil nearly $3,000,000. The vast piles of luti iber which went up in smoke may be re koncd at $2,000,000 more. The fire irea was viewed by hundreds of people. One of the most remarkable things nlxVut the sad scene was that no smoke lvas to be seen. There were no half-bunted buildings or smouldering logs anywlierc. Everything that the fire touched was burned to ashes. A relief! committee has been formed by the citizens and this, together with the Cath'Vlic archbishops of Ottawa and Montreal, will make an appeal for relief to the coiWitry. The most serious prob lem that Confronts Hull is that of work. The ma, ity of the householders who were burned out are poor and have large famines. It is not expected there will bc employment for a consid erable periodS and the way in which many of the flioor arc going to live in the meantime5 is doubtful. The estimates on the damage wrought by fire prove ti have been under rather than over the luark. A careful survey of the field givs the following results: Dead, 7; homeless, 15,000; buildings burned, 3,000; h.nds out of work, 5.030; value of property destroyed, $15,000,000. All tne title aliens in me registry i ficc at Hull were destroyed, and this will complicate matters greatly. Will Make Lumber Scaroe. Lewis A. Hall, president of the Ex port Lumber Company. f New York, Boston and O.itawa. which had $1,000, 000 worth of ts lumber burned in the Ottawa fire, said: "The destruction of white pine lum ber at Ottawa, which is reported as amounting from 150 to 200 million feet, together with the loss of mill capacity of bctwcctti 200 and 250 million feet ner annum, will have a greater effect upon the white pine and spruce lumber markets tnan it would have had at any other period within 10 years. Not only does it take out of the market for the next la months over 400,000,000 feet of lumber, ( principally white pine, but it docs thi when the demand was increas ing altogether out of proportion to the available supply. The lumber destroy ed had tycen practically all sold, and contracts', had been made for the full 1900 cuttfngs of the products of the nulls that have been burned. SPANISH SWINDLER ARRESTED. One ol a Band of Ingenious Swindlers Taken In by the Police. United States Consul Horace Wash ington, at Valencia, Spain, reports to the State department the arrest by the civil authorities there of one of the members of a complete organization which has been engaged frpm Valencia, Cartagena and Barcelona 'for the past eight years in a wholesome swindling game directed against persons in the United States. The swindlers send notices to United States citizens to the effect (that a pris oner dying in the "Castle Fort," a penal station in Valencia, has left a large for tune to the United States citizens sub jeet to his undertaking to care for an orphan child left by the deceased. Mr. Washington says the scheme has been practiced to his definite knowledge in 12 different States, and many persons in the United States have been put' to the expense of a fruitless journey to Valencia, while others have been in veigled into forwarding considerable sums of money. He says that, owing to the light penalties imposed by Span ish law for attempts at swindling, and the great difficulty in obtaining evidence to convict the perpetrators of the swin dle, it is futile to regard the scheme as suppressed. SETTLEMENT REACHED. Turkey May Need Some Tims, but Will Settle Mission Claims It can be stated on authority that the negotiations respecting the American missionary claims are progressing in the most satisfactory manner, in the view of the government. The department has received from Mr. Griscom, the United States charge, a cablegram announcing that the porte has undertaken to meet all of the en gagements made with the United. States minister respecting the payment of the claims set up on account of the destruction of the American missionary property in Turkey. It is not stated when the payments will be made and it is surmised that, owing to the many obligations of great er magnitude pressing upon the porte, some time may yet elapse before the money is actually in hand. TERSE TELEGRAMS. I The treasury department has ordered a special agent to the Pacific ' coast to investigate the influx of Japanese coolies. ,' At Clay Center, Kan., the Populist State convention elected a solid Bryan delegation to the Sioux Falls National convention. i The Tennessee Third Congressional district convention indorsed Pension Commissioner Evans for ' McKinley's running mate. ' The trustees of Franklin and Mar shall College have closed a contract for the erection of a science building on the college campus to cost almost $30,000. It is said at Niagara Falls that the men arrested for attempting to blow up the Thorold lock of the Welland canal were drunk and were tryli.g to dynamite fish. HOCK DIMM MIS MANY LIVES LOST. Several Counties Suffer From the Great Storm. Heaviest Rainfall In Fifteen Years. Crops Are Ruined. An electric storm, accompanied by rain in torrents, fell at Waco, Tex., Friday, flooding half of the city and do ing great damage to property. The bodies of two known and one unknown dead have been recovered and three other persons are known to have perish ed. The business streets were converted nto rivers. Such a flood was never be fore seen here. The rain resembled a succession of cloudbursts. Waco creek, on the south side of the city, and Barron s branch, on the north side, poured their surplus water toward the center of the city and formed a sea in the business district. At present tne exact number of persons drowned can not be ascertained. The storm commenced at 4 0 clock in the afternoon, and the water fell in vast sheets, one cloudiiurs following the other, the water courses rising above the divides and uniting into a foaming and raging sea. The people in the por tion of the city suffering most fled from their houses. The firemen and police and hundreds of citizens rushed to the rescue, but the water was too swift for them, and at least six persons lost their lives by drowning in less than five min utes. The main Bosnue and its tributaries arc overflowing a large district and ruin ing valuable crops, the lirazos river is ten feet above the danger mark, and is still rising. The property loss in Waco will be fully $50,000. As the city is divided into sections by the high wat er, and communications cut off between the various divisions, a complete list of the dead at this hour cannot be giv en. An organized relief movement is already under way. Telegrams from Blum, Tex., says a tornado passed through the eastern part of that place at noon Friday, destroying several residences and a two-story school building. Fortunately but two people were seriously hurt. About 15 others were slightly hurt. The storm started about three miles south of town and was nearly 200 yards wide. The grain crop and fruit trees are broken and stripped of fruit. BOERS K0T WELCOME. Commissioners Not to be Received at Any Continental Capital The Vienna correspondent of the London Times says: "The Boer peace commissioners will not be received eith cr at Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg or Rome. It is well that the United States should know how the mission has fared in Europe and the temper of Europe toward the United Mates. "The widespread hostility to the Unit cd States which is constantly manifest' cd on the continent is a factor to be reckoned with, as the United States wi doubtless discover at the next renewal of commercial treaties." The correspondent goes on at great length to argue that "the latent feeling of hostility toward the United States, though not of a serious character, is yet strong enough to make an opportunity of putting a spoke in America's wheel very welcome;" and he adds that "on this account America will probably re alize the desirability of maintaining a good understanding with England." Sympathy tor Agulnaldo. On May 24, Queen Victoria's birth day, the Windsor, Out., board of edu cation will send two delegates to Manila with a resolution of sympathy from 2,500 school children for Aguinaldo. the lead er of the Filipinos. This action is to offset the course taken by the Philadel phia school children, who have sent representatives to Paul Krugcr with a resolution of sympathy. The resolution, in addition to sympathy, will show "admiration for the brave stand the Filipinos have taken against the unjust war waged against them by the Ameri cans." Arrangements for the message and dispatch of the delegates were complet ed by the school board last night. "We'll show the Yankees," said the secretary of the board, Alexander Black, "that two countries can play the sympathy game." MYERS AS A PROPHET. f Ohio Man Dcc'ares Bryan Would Not be J Seated II Elec'ed by a Million. i Allen O. Myers, of Ohio, responding to a toast at the banquet of the Sun flower League, following William J. Bryan, created a mild sensation at Wichita, Kan. Mr. Myers said the country was "fast racing to destructon." Then, sud denly turning toward Mr. Bryan, the speaker exclaimed: "You may be elect ed, sir, by a million majority, but they will not permit you to take the Presi dential chair. Look at the fate of Will iam Goebel. Men whose pastime is bribery find in murder an amusement. Ohio was bought in i8q6. the country was bought: it will be bought again in 1900, and Mark Hanna's reward for it is a seat in the United States Senate. "The masses of the country will con tinue to permit the encroachments on the classes," concluded Mr. Myers, "un til finally too late for a restoration of rights by the ballot. Then the sword and gun, violence, revolution a new order of things." Ohio to Honor Heroes. The Ohio battlefield commission ap oointed bv Gov. Nash, of Ohio, have started on their way to the battlefield of Shiloh, and while there are to study the locations on that famous battlefield of the various Ohio organizations. That State proposes to expend $53,000 in the work of marking the places where her heroes fought on that bloody field. The commission is made up of Senator J, M. Mitchell, of Port Clinton; R. B. Brown, Zanesville; T. J. Lindsay. Washington Court House; N. R. Parke, Ada; Mil ton Turner, Cambridge, and J. . S. Lauahlin. Xenia. METHODS ASSAILED. A Oisoloauro Thai Startled the Lower Houso and Caused an Appropriation to bo Slricken Oul ol Postal BIIL , The House, by a vote of 87 to 50, knocked out the whole item for pneu matic mail tube service from the postal appropriation bill. The postoffice com mittee had recommended an increase of the appropriation from $225,000 to $725,000, but Mr. Moody, Republican, Massachusetts, made a vigorous attack on the service. He said that duty com pelled him to speak of the scandal un covered by the postal commission, of which he was a member. He declared that former Second Assistant Postmns- ter General Neilson, under whom the first experiments in the pneumatic tube service were made, when he retired ac cepted from the company $1,000 in cash and $to,ooo in stock for his services here during the succeeding year. What that service could be Mr. Moody could not imagine. These facts, he said, had been brought out by the commission. John E. Milholland. of New York, he said, was the president of the tube com pany. Air. Moody's next statement startled the House. The tube service, he said, had been constructed by contractors who took their pay in stocks and bonds. The only asset of the company was its contract with the government. "I re gret to say," continued Mr. Moody, "that one of the principal holders of these stocks and bonds was n member of the committee on appropriations." Mr. Moody refused to give the name, hut added that a block of stock had been sent as a New Year's gift to a near relative of another member of Con gress, but the dishonoring gift had been returned to the sender by the next mail. BOERS BOUND TO BE BEATEN. Opinion ol a French Engineer Who Had Charge ol Transvaal Artillery. Captain Leon, the French engineer who had charge of the Boer artillery and engineers and who was shot in the head during the siege of Kimberlcy, ar rived at Marseilles Tuesday. His 'head is still bandaged and the sight of the left eye is lost. In the course of an in terview he described the Boers as splen did artillerists. He said they never had more than from 36,000 to 40,000 men under arms, and of these they had lost only 6,000, of whom only 600 had been killed. "In my opinion," said Captain Leon, "unless the Boers win an important victory near Blocmfontcin, they must be beaten in the end, and although Pre toria could withstand a long siege, be cause it still possesses cannon and em placements for those temporarily with drawn, I believe the plan of the Boers is to take refuge in the mountainous .re gion to the north, which is practically inaccessible, rather than to defend Pre toria at the risk of a heavy loss of life and the exposure of the population tol the fire of the British. ' "liven when Great Britain declares the Transvaal annexed, the Boers will never "icld, and an army of 150,000 will be 'needed to occupy the country." ?pcaking with reference to the climate of South Africa, Captain Leon said the season was now approaching when horse sickness ceased, and that the British would therefore not suffer much longer on this account. The death of Gen. De Villcbois-Mar-cuil was, in Captain Leon's opinion, a very great loss to the Boers. Louis Botha, the new commander-in-chief, he characterized as a "capable and daring general, upon whom the Boers could reckon considerably." When his opinion of the British gen erals was asked, he replied: "They are absolutely worthless. Their incompe tence surpasses all belief. The errors they have committecd are enormous and incomprehensible." SIOUX ARE DISCONTENTED. They Allege Their Rations Have Been Cut and Money Due is Unpaid, There is great uneasiness and bitter ness of feeling among the Sioux In dians in North Dakota over the policy of the Indian bureau. They claim that suddenly and with out explanation their rations have been cut in half, and the money from the sale of hides and the annual interest money has not been paid them. Th hold this to be directly in violation the treaty. Letters are being received by Sioux here from the Pine Ridge Si urging that if peaceable means fail secure treaty rights there is nothing left but to ngnt lor tnem. Agent IJingeh heimer has seen some of these inflam matory letters. Hard Battles With Indiars. General Bravos' force of Mexican troops has had several severe engage ments with the Maya Indians in Yuca tan during the last ten days, and the rebels have suffered a heavy loss in kill ed and wounded. The government troops captured a large store of arms and ammunition and found supplies which the Indians abandoned in their hasty retreat. CABLE FLASHES. Frankfort, Germany, wants 500.000 tons of coal from the American market. At Huelva, Spain, 12 houses were de molished by a tornado, and 60 others are ready to fall. Queen Victoria has tabled her heart felt sympathy to the sufferers by the great fire at -Ottawa and Hull. The Turkish torpedo boat Schamyl blew up in the harbor of Beyrout, Syria, causing the loss of 33 lives. The pope is increasing his standing army from 440 to 600 men. The charity bazars inaugurated by the Count and Counteas de Castellane were opened in Paris with a blessing by Cardinal Richard. The Prince of Wales has written a public expression of thanks for the con gratulations from all parts of the world on liis escape from assassination at Brussels. It turns out that the Boxers who re cently attacked Catholic Christians in a 'village near Tien Tsin, China, were) driven off. 70 of them being killed and one villager wounded. 1 1 V I r 7 V
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers