The Woodruff County News.
G. W. KBAMKK, Editor.
McCRORY, • • ARKANSAS*
NEWS OF THE WORLD.
As a result of fire in a coal mine
at Pocahontas, W. Ya., five men lost
their lives.
Republican leaders are said to have
agreed on reducing the was tax $50,
000,000 annually.
The Cudahy packing plant at
Kansas City was damaged $150,000
by fire on the 15th.
The new constitution of Alabama
carried by a safe majority at the
election on the 11th.
Wm. F. Willouglily, of the District
of Columbia, has been appointed
treasurer of Porto Rico.
It is reported an effort will be
made to secure the release of Aguin
aldo through habeas corpus pro
ceedings.
Troops sent to the Indian Terri
tory about two months ago on ac
count of threatened trouble have
been withdrawn.
Great Britain now holds as pris
oners in concentration camps and
on various islands 42,000 Boers,
men, women and children.
The governor of Kentucky order
ed troops to Hopkins county, Kcn
tukey, to put down trouble between
union and non-union miners.
A terrible storm lasting several
days recently swept over Great Brit
ain. Many coast towns were swept
away and the loss of life was enor
mous.
Cole Younger, recently released
on parole from the Minnesota pen
itentiary, has declined an appoint
ment to the position of captain of
police at Minneapolis.
A Maryland company which bond
ed Neeley, former chief of the bu
reau of finances of Cuba, has been
sued to recover $30,000 of the money
Neeley is alleged to have embezzled
from the government.
James Jeffries defeated Gus Ruh
lin in the fifth round of a battle for
the heavyweight championship at
FSan Francisco on the lGth. It is
6aid Ruhlin proved a rank quitter,
and some intimate the bout was a
fake.
The United States grand jury for
the southern district of Mississippi
returned indictments against a
number of cotton seed oil mill offi
cials for alleged violations of the fed
eral statute to prevent combinations
in restraint of trade. It is alleged
the mill men combined to contract
prices of cotton seed and cotton seed
products.
The keynote of the annual report
of Secretary Long for 1901 is “in
crease”—an increase in both the
number of ships and the number
of officers and sailors for the navy.
The secretary’s recommendation for
new construction is as follows:
Three first-class battleships. Two
first-class armored cruisers. Three
gunboats, each of about 1,000 tons
trial displacement. Three gun
boats, each of about 200 tons trial
displacement. Three picket boats,
each of about 650 tons trial dis
placement. Three steel sailing
training ships, each of about 2,000
tons trial displacement.
Secretary Boot has issued orders
governing the engineer school of ap
plication established at Washington
Barracks, i). C. The instructions
at this school will include military
engineering, which covers fortifica
tions, military mining, topography,
photography, map making and the
art of war; civil engineering, which
includes surveying and astronomy;
strength of materials, constructions,
mechanical and municipal engineer
ing, improvement of rivers and har
bors, the law of contract, specifica
tions and estimates and business
methods and records; electrics,
which includes electrical measure
ments, generation, transmission and
application of electric power and
military uses of electricity; ord
nance and armor, including artil
lery, use of fortifications, warships,
guns, mortars, projectiles and ex
plosives.
Over one hundred' families were
left homeless by the destruction of
sixty-two buildings at Thomas, W.
Va.
The board of supervisors of West
Point military academy report that
the practice of hazing has been erad
icated.
President Roosevelt has declared
his intention to make army promo
tions strictly on the meritorious rec
ord of applicants.
At a mass meeting of citizens at
Chickasaw, resolutions in favor of
single statehood for the two territo
ries were adopted.
The chief collector of internal
revenue has rendered a decision to
the effect that beer, whisky, etc.,
exported to the Philippines is liable
to the internal revenue tax.
One of the last acts of the Choctaw
council before adjournment was the
passing of a bill appropriating $11,
000 for the governor to use in eject
ing cattlemen and intruders.
May Slagle, less than 15 years of
age, shot and seriously wounded
Houston Merryman, a bank cashier
at Ashville, N. C. The girl was em
ployed as a domestic in the house of
Merryman’s father.
One girl was instantly killed and
two fatally injured in a tire at Cleve
land, 0. The girls were employed
in a factory on the fifth floor of the
burning building, and jumped from
the windows into a net held by fire
men.
Frank Ividwcll, after repeatedly
being refused in matrimony by Miss
Ida Thompson, aged 1G, daughter of
a prominent Carter county (Tennes
see) farmer, entieed the girl to a
lonely spot in the woods and shot her
to death. Kidwell then took his own
life.
Judge Hanccy, of Chicago, has
sentenced Geo. W. Lawrence and H.
S. Canfield, editors of the Chicago
American, to forty days in prison
for contempt in publishing an arti
cle criticising the court’s action in
a suit involving the surrender of the
charter of a local gas company.
Chas. Miller and a woman known
as Mrs. Collins were sentenced
by a Kansas judge to a term
in fecTeral prison for operat
ing a fake matrimonial bureau.
Government officials declare war will
be made on all parties using the
mails for such fraudulent schemes,
and many more arrests are to fol
low.
The statistics of the growth of
rural free delivery service show that
on December 2 next there will be
6.000 carriers throughout the coun
try, traveling a total mileage approx
imating 147,220 miles daily, or
twenty-four and a half miles each
on an average. There have been
12.000 applications for routes, *or
twice the number of routes.
The interesting feature of the
session of the United Daughters of
tlxe Confederacy in eighth annual
convention at Wilmington, N. C.,
was the receiving of the report of the
Jefferson Davis Monument Associa
tion. It was read by Mrs. S. Thom
as McCullough, of Staunton, Va.,
and shows that approximately $13,
000 was collected during the past
year. The monument will be erect
ed to cost not less than $50,000 and
will be in the form of an arch in
Richmond, Va. June 3, 1903, was
settled as the date for the unveiling
ceremony. Of the amount needed
for the arch, $38,000 is already de
posited in bank.
The government’s preliminary es
timate of the average yield per acre
of corn, as published in the month
ly report of the statistician of the
department of agriculture is 16.4
bushels, as compared with an aver
age yield of 25.3 bushels per acre
in 1900 and 1899, and a ten-year
average of 24.4 bushels. The present
indicated yield per acre is the lowest
general average ever recorded for this
crop, being 2.2 bushels per acre.
Preliminary estimate of the yield
per acre of potatoes is 59.9 bushels,
against an average yield per acre
of 80.8 bushels in 1900, 88.6 bush
els in 1899, and a ten-year average
of 78.7 bushels. The present indi
acre is the lowest
since 1900.
NEWS OF ARKANSAS.
Law as to Appeals.
In the case of Annie Deshay vs.
the State, Judge Battle, speaking for
the supreme court, passed upon a
qusetion of appellate procedure which
is of considerable importance to the
profession in this state. Annie De
shay was convicted in the Jackson
circuit court on January 17, 1900.
She failed to pray for and perfect
on appeal from the judgment in the
regular way. Afterwards, on April
1, 1901, more than a year having
elapsed, she prayed for and obtained
from the clerk of the supreme court
a writ of error and attempted to
bring the judgment up for review in
that manner. Previous to March
10, 1899, the limitation of appeals
and \yits of error to the supreme
court was three years with certain
saving clauses for persons under dis
abilities. On that date the legisla
ture passed an act amending the sec
tions of the digest regulating ap
peals and writs of error, so as to
specify that they should not be
granted “except within one year next
after the rendition of the judgment,
order or decree sought to be re
versed.” The question here raised
was whether the digesters of the state
statutes since 185G had erred in con
solidating the provisions relating-to
the allowance and time of appeals
to the supreme court and writs of
error therefrom, as they are found
in sections 1017, 1018 and 1019 of
the' present digest. The contention
was made that these sections should
not have included writs of error and
that the amendatory act does not
therefore cover this means of pre
senting a cause for review. The court
held that there was no distinction
in principle between the two methods
of presenting the cause, and that the
digesting of the statutes on the sub
ject being correct the act of 1899
applies and limited the time for pre
senting a cfiuse by writ of error to
one year from the date of the judg
ment.
Large Increase in Manufactories.
A bulletin has been issued by the
census bureau showing the condition
of the manufacturing industries of
the state of Arkansas for the census
year 1900, and giving comparisons
with each census since 1850. The
statement shows that last year there
were 4,471 manufacturing establish
ments in the state, with an aggre
gate capital of $35,960,640, with
1,649 salaried officers, to whom was
paid $8,686,291. The cost of ma
terials used was placed at $23,963,
768, and the value of products for
1890 was $22,659,179. In 1850
the value of products of a manufac
turing character amounted to only
$537,908. For 1900 the showing in
the leading industries in the matter
of value of products was as follows:
Cars and railroad shop construction,
$2,095,447; cotton ginning, $1,261,
097; flouring and grist mill prod
ucts, $3,708,709; lumber and timber
products, $23,959,983; oil, cotton
seed and cake, $2,874,864.
Law and Order League.
Eev. Father Lucy and several
other prominent citizens of Pine
Bluff propose to organize a law and
order league, to be composed of
about ninety per cent colored people
and ten per cent white citizens, with
the object of securing a better ob
servance of the law by a certain class
of colored people. The order will
seek for membership leading people
of both races, the whites to advise
and assist the majority in attaining
the objects desired. It is proposed
to organize local leagues through
out the south to work in conjunction
with the national league.
Refused to Receive the Report,
The Jefferson county grand jury,
in a report to the circuit judge,
stated tliat they found Prosecuting
Attorney W. B. Sorrells guilty of
“grossest criminalityAfter filing
the report they asked to be dismissed
by the court. Judge Grace directed
them to return to the grand jury
room and amend their report, stating
in detail what the “grossest crimi
nality” consisted of. He refused to
receive the report.
The McKinley Memorial Fund.
The following address to -the peo
ple of Arkansas, in connection with
the movement for a national monu
ment to the late President William
McKinley, has been issued:
No matter what one’s political
faith may be, all persons must agree
that the late William McKinley, our
martyred president, was great and
and conspicuous in those tender and
chivalrous virtues which endear
leaders and high officials to their
fellowmen. In all that stood for
beauty and nobility of character, as
a husband, a father, a son, a pious,
honest and law-abiding citizen, his
example shines resplendent and can
not be surpassed. -That example
presents an incentive for imitation
and copy to all our American youth.
And even his most bitter political
opponents are bound to testify un
grudgingly to his greatness and kind
ness as a man and as a patriot, even
though they might feel like question
ing the correctness of his views.
His praiseworthy life was cut short
by the bullet of the reckless assassin.
Thus, without rhyme or reason and
without warning, was his life ended,
and his frail, delicate and suffering
wife bereft of one of the truest, most
considerate and solicitous of hus
bands and of a companion whose
presence was never wanting in her
hours of suffering. And thus was
this glorious country deprived of a
loved and solicitous chief magistrate.
From all over this land, from all
over the civilized globe, testimonials
to his character were sent to Canton
on the occasion of his funeral, and
the emblems of esteem and sorrow
which adorned his last resting place
counted among them the unsolicited
tokens of peer and pauper, of poet
and peasant, of friend and political
foe.
For these reasons, and because
American youth and manhood, now
and hereafter, would set up some last
ing monument to the personal esteem
in which the lamented William Mc
Kinley was held by his countrymen,
and because, too, they would show
to those anarchistic spirits who would
enthrone riot, license and bloodshed
in lieu of government, that no such
folly can prevail in this land of or
dered liberty and legal freedom, the
undersigned, representing the com
mittee having the matter in charge,
appeal to the good people of this
commonwealth to respond to the call
for funds to erect a national monu
ment to the memory of the deceased,
William McKinley, in such sums,
however small, as they can afford,
without reference to politics or sex.
And they agree that when the certifi
cates shall have been issued by the
national committee, to be delivered
to those who have contributed to this
fund, to see to it, as far as practica
ble, that the same are turned over to
those whose names shall appear
thereon. It being the intention of
such national committee to issue such
a certificate to each subscriber to
such funds, and to make this a peo
ple’s own tribute to their late presi
dent.
II. M. Cooper, Chairman.
Little Rock.
Must Pay Tax.
In answer to an inquiry from
H. L. Renuuel, collector of internal
revenue at Little Bock, the commis
sioner of internal revenue has writ
ten in part, as follows: “Your let
ter of the 26th ultimo has been
received, inclosing a formula for the
manufacture of a beverage called
‘beerine.’ From this formula it ap
pears that the beverage in question
is made in part of fermented malt
liquor (lager beer), and ‘that it is
a light table beer and should be han
dled as such and not like common
soda water.’ This being the case,
the beverage must be regarded as
similar to weiss beer, and the manu
facturer of it must be required to
pay special tax as a brewer and tax
on this ‘beerine,’ and other persons
engaged in selling it must be required
to pay special tax as malt liquor deal
The remains of a well dressed
man were recently found in Poteau
Bottom, near,Fort Smith. The re
mains were in such condition iden
tification was impossible.
The Rathbun Case.
Newell C. Rathbun, who attempt
ed to defraud an insurance company
out of $4,000 by having it appear
that ho died at a hotel in Jefferson
ville, Ind., and whose supposed re
mains were shipped to Little Rock
for burial, is under arrest at Louis
ville, and will have to answer to the
charge of murder. The facts in the
case are as follows: Rathbun, sev
eral months ago, was stationed at
Little Rock as a recruiting officer
for the army. There he met a young
lady to whom he proposed that they
get married. After setting up
housekeeping he was to secure a
body, burn the house and have the
body appear as his remains. The
wife was then to collect his life in
surance, and later they would take
up their residence in some foreign
country. The lady to whom this
proposition was made refused to have
anything further to do with Rath
bun. Shortly thereafter he was
married to Miss Susie Lundy, of
Little Rock, daughter of a well
known and respected journeyman
tailor. Rathbun was then ordered
to Plattsburg N. Y., from which
place he deserted October 7 last.
Nothing more was heard from him,
until his wife received a letter No
vember 2d, stating that he had se
cured a furlough and was en route
to pay her a visit at Little Rock.
Then came the news of his sudden
death at Jeffersonville, Ind. His
supposed remains were shipped to
Little Ilock. Those who knew Rath
bun declared the body was that of
some other party. Detectives went
to work on the case, and in less than
twenty-four hours the real Rathbun
was arrested at Louisville, where he
had re-enlisted' in the army under an
assumed name. He made a confes
sion in which he admitted every
thing. He gave the name of the
man whose body was shipped to Lit
tle Rock as Goodman. Rathbun
met Goodman, an indolent charac
ter, in Louisville, spent considerable
money with him for liquor, and in
duced him to go to Jeffersonville,
where they took a room at a hotel.
Rathbun registered for himself and
Goodman, giving his own name as
Wm. Ten Eyke, and that of Good
man as “Rathbun.” It was noticed
that Goodman was considerably un
der the inil nonce of liquor when the
man retired. The next morning
Rathbun went to breakfast alone,
stating that his “friend” desired to
sleep till noon. When the man fail
ed to show up for dinner the door
of his room was forced and he was
found to be dead. In the meantime
Rathbun had not returned to the
hotel, and all efforts to locate him
failed until his arrest at the army
headquarters in Louisville. Rath
bun had left a batch of his letters
in the pockets of Nthe dead man,
from which it was at first inferred
that the body was that of the ex
soldier. The coroner’s inquest de
veloped the fact that the man’s
death was due to laudanum poison
ing, enough of the drug being dis
covered in his stomach to kill half
a dozen men. There is little doubt
but that the drug was administered
by Rathbun.
Santiago Iglesias, who went to
Porto Rico as the representative of
the American Federation of Labor to
organize the workmen of the island,
has been arrested on the charge of
conspiracy. The act is said to have
consisted of advising the workmen to
strike unless paid for their labor in
gold at the same ratio as silver. The
president has addressed a communi
cation to Gov. Hunt, asking for facts
in the case.
Mrs. Mary Ann Bickerdvke, better
known as ‘‘Mother Bickerdyke,” one
of the most widely known women
among veterans of the war between
the states on account of her many
heroic deeds while performing the
duties of nurse during the period
from 1861 to 1865, died last week at
her home at Bunker Hill. Kan. She
was endeared to the rank and file
of the Union forces for her devotion
first to the humble private who fell
from the ranks, either bv wounds or
sickness.