v J1 1 it ht falmtine gaiowii JIOBKRT GOOD Kdltor and Prop VALENTINE NEBRASKA Ever since Nellie Ely was made a col onel the Tennessee militia has been ready to spring to arms at a moments notice Zola goes to prison Well he can ai least emulate John Bunyan History at all events -will give the novelist a tairer trial Slang is quite ancient but its still to Ibe proved that when the wooden steed was dragged into old Troy the Trojans said This is a horse on us Philadelphia has developed a beggar who goes about soliciting alms on a bi cycle Perhaps he wants to raise enough money to buy a 98 wheel Thieves are said to be almost un known in Finland Curiously enough there are many thieves in this country who contrive to remain entirely un known A desperado arrested in Boston had a copy of Browning in his pocket Of course his lawyer will plead a certain intellectual disturbance due to a pro longed struggle with obscurities An exchange says The hair on the Iiead of most of the hundreds of thou sands of dolls exhibited in shop win dows is made from the hair of the An gora goat Thats probably whv the kids all like dolls A gun tested near Washington re cently threw a shell over ten wilea which means that a hostile ship would be under fire for twenty miles in pass ing a battery Such target practice will make it interesting for the ship Mrs Wu wife of the Chinese minis ter at Washington has the laugh ou American women Whenever anybody says anything to her about Chines -girls binding their feet she retorts that no Chinese woman is barbarous enough to wear corsets Susan B Anthony says that tha grievances women have against the common enemy man to day are as many as the colonists had against Hing George Then why not follow the example of the colonists light for independence first and for the union afterward The Pall Mall Gazette seeks to agi tate us by disclosing the fact that a genuine prince is a waiter in a New York hotel It would really agitate Xew York to learn that any of our palace Jiotel waiters is less than a prince for that is what their manners have im pressed upon us A pleasing incident of the cotton mills strike in New Bedford was the idle hours recreation furnished to strikers through the efforts of one of the city pastors Heading games mu sic and other forms of wholesome en tertainment were provided in two -halls and all were welcome who would refrain from discussing the strike or other labor matters while present The great isothermal line of baked beans includes Dawson City- in British Alaska Outfitters in Seattle and San Francisco complain bitterly of the in creasing scarcity of the most succulent of intellect nourishing vegetables There has not yet been any rumor of organization in Boston of a society Tor the promotion of canned beans in Alas la but it would be a good neighborly -act Every family in Boston could give a pot of beans and never feel it The introduction of bills for the re moval of the charge of desertion from men who enlisted in the armies of the TJnion in our great war and who Tailed to put in an appearance when their -commands were mustered out has been going on for a third of a century lr Is the general opinion of honorably dis charged soldiers that this thing has gone far enough They assert and they know something about the mat ter that most of these deserters are men who enlisted for bounties and got out at the first opportunity The course taken by the French min istry in arbitrarily forbidding discus ion of its acts was foreseen It Is the course that has been taken shortly be fore Its fall by each of the French gov ernments that has been overthrown by revolution during the past seventy years The precedents do not warrant the inference that a change is at hand The second empire and the citizen king fcoth went on for several years after fiie policy of suppressing criticism had been adopted But this sort of vio lence reveals a weakness that had been veiled And by that disclosure invites and eneourages assault The conclusion is forced upon us that the builders of warships might collab orate with the architects of the great commerce carriers and combine speed with safety The agents of the Atlantic liners never lose much sleep when one of the ships is overdue Tihey admit that her machinery may be broken but experience has taught them that her chances are good or making port des pite the handicap Our great warships flounder about in calm harbors strike a sandbar or an insignificant tug and promptly go into dry dock for repairs costing thousands of dollars There is a lesson in this for somebody possibly the builder of modern battleships Great Britains policy of opening up to the whole world whatever markets she herself wins by her shrewt diplo macy is about to triumph in China to - as ureat Britain Are the statements about Spains de cadence true or are they false Have descriptions of her antiquated institu tions her barbaric social conditions her industrial death been mere exag gerations to enforce baseless argu ment Is this view of Spain purely an American view At one time this little sun dried corner of Europe contained about all there was of European thought Then Ferdinand came and burned the baths of Cordova because he said Christians never bathed Then this corner was the seat of power for several generations Then it began to go to ruins What it is to day an article in the National Review a London pub lication indicates somewhat vividly Decadent Spain is the title This ia what it says Spam is not only de void of progressive spirit but she can not muster up sufficient energy to gov ern herself She is the most backward country in Europe The people are shamefully taxed a peasant emnot bring his load of faggots into a town without paying octroi toll The admin istrative departments are oriental 111 their sloth and management Fresh butter is obtained from France The postal service is a disgrace It is a risky thing to post a letter especially if it seems to contain anything of val ue To send a check by post is regard ed as an extreme act of folly The pass ing traveler on his way through Mad rid to France is asked by his friends to take letters and post them in security over the border Yet no Spaniard seem- to care for any of tOiese things and is surprised if they are remarked on One remedy for the dodging of taxes ou personal property suggested by Gen eral Harrison is entitled to something more than casual consideration It is that a meeting of the tax commission ers of a considerable number of States be held to consult as to some plan for the taxation of personal property that will secure a uniform system One of the embarrassments at the present time is that when a State undertakes to adopt a plan which will increase the taxation of certain classes of property it becomes a serious loser by the re moval of those who are taxed under such a system New Jersey is said to be the paradise of New York tax dodg ers Ohio is said to have lost a num ber of wealthy citizens because the State undertook to tax them One was so incensed not long ago that he dis posed of all his property in Ohio and left the State in something of a huff Tax commissioners like insurance and labor commissioners could meet con sider plans and finally adopt some one of them This plan they could recom mend to the Legislatures of the States represented and thvreby a uniform sys tem for more adecttate taxation could be secured Taxation is not one of the topics which the people generally dis cuss They complain of local taxation but when the topic is discussed it is lederal taxation usually the taxation of the poor to pay for bonds This may be important but compared with local taxation it is inconsequential The agitation of the topics which General Harrison has brought to the front iu neighborhoods in village or township meetings for the purpose would call public attention to the injustice in a manner which could not fail to be gen erally beneficial A Xew Envelope An envelope for carrying merchan dise through the mails is so construct ed with reversible flaps and a stiffen ing strip attached to the closing flap that the inside of the envelope may be come the outside and the same enve lope used to return merchandise in the same manner in which it was forward ed A good many people make hay while the sun shines and then let it spoil Reform Is used for almost as many purposes nowadays as electricity BBoamm iztjl sjsj i klojsdike shipping will be that American ships will soon be permitted to penetrate the very heart of the richest part of China and American commerce will be exceed ingly shortsighted unless it joins in the exploitation of this land of great com mercial promise This triumph of En glish diplomacy may be looked upon as of immense value to the whole English-speaking world ourselves as well A million bobolinks killed last year Four million other birds slaughtered ic the same year and for what That their torn and distorted bodies might be flaunted in the headgear of Americai womankind There are no guess worii figures but the official report of the Au dubon Society of Massachusetts And what does it mean It means five mill ion voices stilled in Natures aviar choir Five million flashes of cheeri ness and gladness taken from humar life and millions of other young lives doomed to starvation or prey in ordei that the plumaged corpse of the mur dered mother bird may be rent by 2 milliner and jammed in hideous in miladys hat Ah milady is there no efficacy in these desolating figures Is there no mercy in your heart no conscience in your make up no sentiment in your soul Can you enjoy the finest opera when you think that the killing of the birds with which you and your sisters are crowning your beauty is gradually silencing the grand oratorio of the forest and the fields A birdless country A voiceless forest Wtiat a desolation it would be And yet that is just what this country is coming to if -the song birds of our land are to be killed off at the rate of five millions a year in order to gratify fem inine vanity and keep woman In style What a grewsorae hideous conscienceless style it is that mur ders melody and silences the lark that sings from Heavens gate GREAT DEAL OF IT IS OF THE OLD TUB ORDER The Old Indian Method of Traversing the Waves by Canoe Is Again in Vogue Chilcoot Pass Electric Road Kept Busy Information as to Rates Regiments of Men Seek Passage About 10000 men are sailing each month from Tacoma and Seattie on the regular passenger steamers for Juneau Sknguay and Dyea Forty five trips were scheduled for February and March and to these must be added the voyages made by schooners and sailing craft of all sorts Every kind of craft in Seattle and Ta coma even to canoes is hiring out for Skaguay and Dyea Canoes will carry one all right if properly managed The Alaska Indians have been coming down every summer since 1S39 for the hop-picking season on Paget sound paddling 1500 miles down and back again The canoe business has come to life again therefore and Indian cauoemen command high wages To Tacoma a city of perhaps 40000 persons which was until recently in finan cial distress neterinc out its bottom Eastern investors said 10000 men a month passing through and leaving dollars for outiits means a great deal Houses that have been empty since the boom burst in 1S90 are full now and ho tels that have been closed for the last three years are crowded with guesls The same is true in Seattle where rents have advanced twenty to fifty per cent The transportation business is paying as good returns as the best Klondike claims Indeed a boat is a far better in- ULl SHIPPING KIOXD1KE DOGS vestment than a claim Mr High Wal lace of Tacoma a son-in-law of Chief Jus tice Fuller and president of the Chilcoot Railroad and Transportation Company rented the steamship City of Seattle last fall for 1500 a month She carries 023 passengers and 400 tons of freight and makes the trip to Dyea in 70 hours She had gone out of commission and her own ers were mighty glad to accept Wallaces offer They are not so glad now however as Wallace is clearing over 50000 a month above expenses with a prospect of no decrease hi business in the next three years Not one of twenty five steamers will consider any more proposals for freight unless the date is later than May 1 They have absolutely every cubic foot of space below deck and above already contracted for Nor is there much chance to obtain passage except on through tickets from the East in which case berths are reserv ed TheTacoma company that has built an electric road in the Chilcoot nass is al- rv JMwpiaHMHf8iawMii mmCMfa8a sSE5S5jSjsaSfcaw HORSES GOING ON BOARD AT SEATTLE ready transporting freight and has more business than it can handle Its capacity is 150 tons daily or outfits for about 300 men The line consists of a railway from Dyea to Ganyon City and thence an aerial tramway to Sheep Camp and from Sheep Camp over the summit 3500 feet above sea level to Crater lake which has an ele vation of about 3000 feet From Crater lake a stream flows into Deep lake and this empties into Long lake which in turn empties into Lake Lindermann The rates for passengers from Tacoma Seattle Port Townsend Victoria and Vancouver to Fort Wrangel are First class 30 second class 20 to Juneau first 35 second 22 to Haines Mission Skaguay and Dyea first 50 second 35 This includes meals berth and 150 pounds of baggage Extra baggage three cents a pound Miners outfits are classed as freight Freight rates are as follows To Fort Wrangel S a ton of 2000 pounds or of 10 cubic feet at the ships option to Juneau 9 per ton to Haines Mission Skaguay and Dyea 13 per ton horses 35 per head dogs 750 per head This does not include lauding charges at the port of destination Another suggestion may be timely All vessels dont leave Seattle or Tacoma on schedule time Some of the old tubs delay as long as ten days or two weeks They do this because it takes so long to stop he cracks in the hull and fix rotten ma chinery or rigging With them its a clear case of paying your money and tak ing your chances both of starving and getting there HIT BY A BLIZZARD Nebraska in the Grip of an Intensely Cold Wave Throughout Nebraska the mercury reg istered a drop of fifty degrees in tempera ture between Monday noon and Tuesday night During that time a severe blizzard has raged in the State The mercury fell to zero at many places A hurricane was a leading feature of the stnrm fiiQ attained a velocity of eighty seven miles per hour at several points in the State and in many localities the air was filled with snow 1 Considerable damage was done by the k U T fEjSssfiSasr - ghasaaaa afcBBL - - re- isapi Bfcrr mmm -v -- wind to small buildings haystacks and farm pronerty all over the State Rail road traffic was delayed from five to ten hours all over Nebraska the engineers finding it impossible to make time against the storm Freight trains were cut in two sections and many trains of less than a dozen ears were unable to move ou the level prairie where the full force of the wind was felt Much damage to stock and winter wheat is apprehended There was no snow on the fields to protect the tender plants from the cold winds and the prospects are that the growth will be not only retarded but many fields wholly de stroyed Much stock being fed in the State had been permitted to run out on the range by owners under the impression that spring was here and this will be the cause of much loss The loss to the sheep herds is likely to be especially severe This is the only really dangerous storm the stockmen have had to encounter this sea son northwestern part of the State The aii was so tilled with snow that it was impos sible to see a distance of ten feet for sev eral hours Many bunches of stock were scattered and will net be gathered togeth er for several days The weather has not been cold enough to freeze cattle but heavy loss is likely from the stock stam peding in the storm running into and be ing cut by wire fences straying beyond the possibility of rounding up falling over embankments running into ravines riv ers etc SIXTEEN MORE SHIPS Naval Appropriation Bill Provides for War Vessels In the naval appropriation bill which was reported to the House Tuesday and referred to committee of the whole pro vision is made for increasing the fighting ability of the navy by the building of three sea going coast line battle ships one of which is to be named the Maine The three vessels will be 11000 tons displace ment each and will each cost 3000000 exclusive of armament The construction of nix torpedo boat de stroyers of 350 tons displacement and six torpedo boats of 150 tons to cost exclu sive of their armament a sum not exceed ing 2340000 is also provided bv the bill and a gunboat to take the place of the Michigan will be built at a cost not exceeding 200000 and will be stationed on the great lakes provided her construc tion shall conform to all existing treaties and conventions For armor for the ships authorized in the bill and under construction an appro priation is made of 5400800 provided that the armor for the three ships author ized by the act of June 10 1S90 shall not cost to exceed 3210000 and no contract for armor plate shall be made at an aver age rate to exceed 400 a ton including nickel For equipment of the new vessels authorized 175000 is appropriated The bill provides that the contracts for the construction of the new vessels shall be awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to the lowest responsible bidder having in view the best resources and most expe ditious delivery The total amount car ried in the bill is 35GS3059 The nriations for the current vcar were 531 01SG27 and the estimates for the year ending June 30 1S00 furnished by the de partment aggregated 3312S234 FORTY LIVES LOST Bark Helen W Almy Wrecked at Sea Off the Golden Gate Forty lives are believed to have been lost a few miles outside the Golden Gate by the capsizing of the bark Helen W Almy during a storm Twenty seven of those lost were passengers bound for Cop per river ports and other points in tin Alaskan gold fields The other thirteen were the captain and crew of the vessel When the first intimation of the wreck was brought to San Francisco the tug Sea Witch was dispatched to the point indi cated The bark lay upon her starboard side with her stern low down in the er her deck hamper badly wrecked and several planks of her hull washed loose by the seas which broke over her While there were no signs of beats among the wreckage it is not believed that her pas sengers and crew escaped by putting oil i om ttie vessel in them Furthermore no word has been received from the sur vivors if any exist According to the tugboat men there was a pretty stiff breeze when the Almy sailed out of Golden Gate on Sunday anil by noon it Avas blowing a gale She left under topsails- and when last seen wa standing out for an hng There was a heavy sea running and it is supposed that some time during the night she was struck by a squall and turned turtle The Helen W Almy was once a south sea trader and was iiiile famous for her many adventures among the reefs The vessel uas in good condition for an old vcsel She was on the dry docks some lays before being put on the berth and her owners spent S000 in repairing her She had a temporary house on deck When the Almv left port she had twentv fivo tons of ballast in her besides the provisions of the passengers and theii outfits She was a vessel of only 250 tons FIXING FOR WAR Dona Eusli Work Day and Night on Naval Vessels Late advices received by the Navy De partment from its representatives abroad describe in detail the extraordinary ef forts which are being put forth by tht Spanish naval authorities in preparing foi war On the cruiser Cristobal Colon 150G men it is declared have been at wort night and day for a fortnight past mat ing that ship ready for service The ar mored cruiser Carlos V is now at Havre France where she has just received from the French cannon maknr n - enormous eleven inch rifles These gum fire projectiles weighing about 500 pounds with a range of twelve and one half miles The eleven inch guns are mounted oni forward and one aft In addition Canc i has furnished the Carlos V with a broad side battery made up of 55 inch rapid fir guns The projectiles employed weigt about seventy pounds and the rate of fin is auour twelve shots per minute A bill is pending in the Canadian ParlH ment imposing a poll tax of 500 on eaci Japanese immigrant L0AD1NQ AMMUNITION ON THE MARBLHeaD AT KEY WEST xL I Tegr l mmmjmmm kwieyi sjfjir C lcn l Pagfari Uaaias clfer of po lice calls corresiOde ts of American newspapers liais pigs and caraiile m tz t w 9t7ZQ GEN MILES AND FIVE DEPARTMENT COAlflANDERS 0SS IN THE MILLIONS ENORMOUS DAMAGE DONE BY RAGING FLOODS Indiana and Ohio the Chief by Inundations TVhich in Some Sec j tions Have Reached an Unprece dented Height Traffic Suspended Iennle Driven from Home Flood damage reaching into the millions--of dollars is reported throughout Indiana and Ohin Thmisnnili nf fnmlits ire homeless and many of them are dependent upon charity Many cities report that the -water is at the highest stage ever known Illinois Missouri Pennsylvania and West Virginia also report rivers turned into raging torrents but in those States the damage thus far done is comparatively in significant Two railroad wrecks have resulted from washouts One was in Ohio where a Bal timore and Ohio passenger train went through a bridge near Frazeysburg The other and the more serious one was near Columbus Iiid where a wrecking train met disaster Property loss in Indiana will exceed 1000000 All the streams are overflow ing their banks hnnsos nnrl riiilrnnr - tracks have been washed away and grow ing crops have been seriously damaged Near Greensburg the loss of two lives ia -reported Franklin has 200 homeless faim Hies to care for while Shelbyville has 300- and Rushville 150 These are slmply sample figures from entire hoosierdonu Throughout central and southern Ohio all the railroads are either crippled or totally disabled The damage in the State may amount to 1500000 Dayton re ports the conditions worse than at any period since 1860 when the central part of that populous city was inundated Del aware has four business blocks under water and a much wider territory threat ened Canal Dover is cut off from the outside world and unless the waters sooik subside many lives will be placed in ardy The list of homeless in Zauesvillef foots up to 4000 In Columbus 2000 per sons are imprisoned in the upper stories off dwellings in the western part of the cityj An idea of the flood conditions in ous sections can be gleaned from press dispatches given below Indiana The White river is still rising The Richmond electric light plant is -drowned out The canal north of Warsaw overflowed - Uoodmg the entire vicinity Between 100 and 150 Itushville families -have been driven from their homes At St Paul the Bickhart flour mills have been washed out and destroyed The property loss in Decatur County is about 100000 and two lives have been lost in the flood Several bridges on the Big Four and Cambridge railroads are out as well as ten miles of roadbed The loss to the farming community around Shelbyville is estimated at from 100000 to 200000 Many important towns are temporarily cut off and trains have been entirely uoneu on some roads The northeastern section of Indianapolis is submerged and many people have been driven from their homes or forced to the second stories Between thirty and forty miles of track of the Louisville division of the Pan Handle are washed away between Louis ville and Indianapolis Ohio Hundreds are homeless at Newark At Cincinnati the Ohio will probably reach fifty five feet Floods have caused a shutdown of near ly every factory in Hamilton H C Boss was killed as a bridge col lapsed in Muskingum County Four thousand Zanesvillnnonnto km been driven from their homes and few of them saved auy household effects Four squares of Delaware business houses are under water and scores of wagon and foot bridges have been carried away Nearly all railroads in central and south ern Ohio are either crinnlod or iu abled because of washouts or destroyed bridges The Tuscarawas river has broken loose m one of the biggest floods ever known and Canal Dover is entirely cut off from the outside world A bridge over the Wakatomika creek at Frazeysburg gave way while a Baltimore and Ohio passenger train was crossing and the whole train was submerged Pas sengers crawled to the tops of the cars and were soon taken away by farmers iu skiffs No one was seriously injured MANY ARE KILLED Train Plunges Through a Waahed Ont Trestle in Indiana Shortly before 6 oclock Wednesday evening a work train loaded with official and workmen plunged through a trestle one mile south of Columbus Ind on tho Louisville division of the Pennsylvania Railroad Several were killed The men had been at work repairing the track which had been washed out in many lcs uw ign waters and were on their way to the southern part of the road The work train had passed over the railroad bridge just south of Columbus and the engineer opened the throttle He thought the danger was past Following the engine was a combination coach with seals in each end the middle for baggage Behind this was a caboose The mem were all in the coach Just a mile from the railroad bridge was a frame trestle which had been weakened by tlie hi h water Upon this structure the train plunged and almost instantly disappeared Ihen began a struggle for life The window panes were broken and the men escaped with broken limbs and bruisedT bodies The enzinppr crnn inri -- of Ins ooiler and lay there until rescued with both legs broken The fireman caught in a tree in the river The acci dent was witnessed by a throng of sight seers The work of rescue was conducted under the greatest difficulty Tust a few minutes before the wreck occurred a train load of Madison teachers X Z LI the Southern Teachers Haute passed along The North German Gazette has publish ntS deDial of the storr that Em peror T ilham at a private dinner party last week declared that so long as he is JJe German emperor the United State fcball not possess themselves of Cuba Prince Bismarck is a helpless crinnl and his only diversion is bSnwl7S around his garden in an invamTs chaTr jL V r r Vw i i Hi I II M t m 4V l t i s