is
HER I BATTLE
Meet the Deputies in Deadly
Conflict at Virden
STATE TBOOPS SENT
iFourtcen Were Killed and Many Fatally
Wounded by Rifle Bullets
KHbrt of the Coal IMinc Operators to
Ilrlug Nccro Miners from the South
Causes Trouble -Twenty-five More or
Licss Severely Wounded Railway
Cars Are Riddled with Bullets
Tanner Sends Troops
The expected tragedy at Virden III
was enacted Wednesday A train load of
nepro miners who were brought to Virden
to take the places of the men who were
oji strike was met by a mob of strikers
variously estimated at from five hundred
to iifteen hundred and a battle ensued
in which many ere killed or wounded
The striking miners had been awaiting
the coming of the negroes for several
days They have been armed during all
of that Time and have paraded the streets
of the town openly avowing their pur
pose to prevent the negroes from landing
The tragedy is the result of a determin
ed effort on the part of the
Coal Company to employ negro min
ers brought from Alabama to take the
places of miners on a strike The strik
ers were equally determined and both
sides sought to win by force of arms
It was shortly -after noon when the
rouble began The operators have known
for weeks that there would be riot and
iHP
SGSX Sr
J F ETSTEK F V LUKEXS
Manager of the Com- Manager
pany Store den Coal Co
bloodshed the moment it was attempted
o unload the negroes at the mines and
hey were prepared for trouble A stock
ade hatLbeon erected with a block house
in the inclosure in which thirty two Chi
cago police officers with loaded rifles were
itationed
No sooner had the train steamed in than
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MAP SHOWING SEAT OF MINING OUTBREAKS IN ILLINOIS
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Tliis map shows the country eiirrounding Virdun ilacoupin County where tlie killing of the
miners took place The town of Panu on the right is the original seat oi the trouble Pana is in tha
County of Christian about thirty six miles to the east Virden itself is only about twenty one miles
irjm Sprinplleld Prom Springfield to St Louis the distanco is al out 100 miles and from Springfield
to Chicago the distance is about ISOmiles The mining troubles have occurred within an area de
scribed by a circle whose radius stnrts from Virden as the center of the circ c The town of Virden
itself is situated on the Chicago and Alton Railroad and on the Jacksonville Louisville and St Louis
The population in 1890 census count 1610
CAUSE OF THE MINERS STRIKE
Conditions Leading Up to the Trouble
at Pana and Virden
The coal miners strike which has had
such a sanguinary culmination at Virden
was begun last April The miners insist
ed on a scale of wages adopted at the
miners national convention at Columbus
The operators refused the terms demand
ed and the miners offered to leave the
malter to arbitration This the operators
refused to consider and when the State
Board of Arbitration went to Pana for the
purpose of settling the difficulty if possi
ble the operators declined to join in the
investigation Then the lockout began
In August the operators grew tired of the
situation and undertook to fill the strik
ers places with imported negroes and
since that time Tana has been in a state
of siege Sheriffs have guarded the ne
groes who have been working behind
stockades The Penwell and Springside
mines were protected with stockades and
the negroes wore safe behind them When
ever an imported miner appeared in the
streets he was roughly treated
SENTIMENT AGAINST OPERATORS
Opinion General at Virden That the
Miners Have Won a Victory
Everywhere according to a Virden re-
ers It is the general opinion that the
miners have won a victory though at a
terrible price Miners stood guard at the
stockades and the Chicago and Alton
tracks all of Wednesday night fearful
that an attempt would be made to bring
the special with the imported miners on
board back from Springfield The min
ers claim that the first shot was fired from
the train by a guard A miner fired a
shot into the air as the train approached
the town as a signal for the miners to
assemble and resist the lauding of the ne
groes
Adjutant General Reece in command
of the soldiers said he had unmistakable
orders from Gov Tanner to prevent fur
ther trouble to protect lives and property
and to prevent operators from bringing
imported labor into the town He called
upon the men at the stockade with Col j
Sargeant McKnight of Girard a member
STOCKADE AND SHAFT TOWER AT VIRDEN SCENE OF WEDNESDAYS BATTLE
p f2i gs
From the shaft tower at the stockade a deadly fire was poured into the ranks of the strikers apparently by expert marksmen as it is claimed most
ofth fatalities among the attacking party were caused by bullets from this vantage point The train camo to a halt just in front of the gate and a
force of guards emerged to eo er the unloading of the negroes The fiercest fight of the aay resulted
a fusillade was opened upon the miners
from the guards in the block house and the
fifty guards hrcharge of the train Then
the slaughter began The miners return
ed the fire and soon dead and wounded
men cumbered the ground At the east
end of the stockade where the train stop
lied the scene was awful The miners
who were making thir demonstrations
wore to the south of the stockade but over
in the field east of the Chicago and Alton
tracks was a crowd of miners The guards
in the tower and on the train commenced
picking them off and here is where the
miners lost all their men who were killed
The train met a furious volley of bullets
frosn over a thousand men every shot in
Temllng to kill The volley were kept up
for fully ten minutes until the uselessness
of remaining became apparent to the
trainmen and the train was sped on to
Spritmtirldr
Then the miners turned loose and pan
denonlun reigned The men were crazed
at the slaughter of their comrades and a
a ruu there were terrible excesses T
V Ilv rr manager of the coal company
j iosv v s espied in the stieets and set
jj mi i ewas first shot down and then
h heiy was fright fully mangled under
t v ir erihe angry miner IIv cannot
j recover The arrival of the nii
litln quieted matters somewhat
Troois were sent by Gov Trfuner to
protect life and property and he asked
tlte Federal authorities to allow him to
vm Ccl Culvers regiment He insisted
the nldis should not aid the coal mine
1 mi - in their purpose of working
rVfl tegro miners and he declares the
ought to be convicted for caus
iiz the bloodshed Mr Lukens the com
panys manager is quite as vehment in
-denunciation of the Governor for his
fa are to j end troops sooner
ntt of a total German population of
A l in the capital of German East Af
15S are officials
r a Daros Salaara
After the negroes who wore brought
from Alabama on Aug 24 were put to
work the miners coerced the Overholt
brothers to write a note calling the min
ers out but when released by the strik
ers who had captured them the note was
repudiated On Sept 14 another batch
of negro miners were put to work in the
Ienwell mines Two weeks later one of
IIMSfi
CATLING fiL N OK BATTEKY B
their number appeared on the streets and
was attacked This precipitated a riot
and the negro was arrested A call was
made for troops which after having been
previously refused by the Governor ar
rived on the last day of September
TROUBLE FEARED AT PANA
Private Guards and Armed Soldiers
Parade the Ftreets
It is feared the effect of the battle be
tween the miners deputies and hired
guards at Virden will be to precipitate
trouble in Pana where the same condi
tions precisely exist except upon a greater
scale Eight hundred miners are out of
employment and their places filled by
negroes Feeling runs high over the Vir
den incident It has been found neces
sary to place a private guard on duty and
soldiers parade the streets
of the Governors staff and notified therq
that all arms must be surrendered
ARRIVAL OF BATTERY B
Presence of State Troops Causes a Xaill
in the Tumult at Virden
The arrival of Battery B from Pana at
midnight Wednesday was the signal for
peace in Virden The tumult of the streets
had not subsided before that time and
threats of blowing up the stockade with
dynamite were freely made by the more
hot headed of the miners When the troops
arrived a skirmish line was thrown out at
once by Capt Craig and the streets clear
ed Seventy five men were found in the
strikers hall and made to come down to
the street and hold up their hands They
Avere searched and all weapons taken from
them This action was general through
out the city
Ejection Notices Served
Operator King of Chicago owner of tin
Green Ridge shaft at Carlinville has
served ejectment notices on miners occu
pying company houses King has received
no rent since last May The miners are
given twelve days notice to leave at the
end of which time it is asserted they are
to be supplanted by imported men
PENNELIi illJfE PA2A
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MANY ARE LOST
British Steamer Mohegan Wrecked
oil the Coast of Cornwall Enjrland
Dispatches from Falmouth give details
of the wreck of the steamer Mohegan off
the Manacles whore she ran aground and
I broke m in the heavy sea She struck
Iheavily tearing a great hole in her bot
tom and slid off into deep water and al
most immediately foundered bo sudden
was the catastrophe that most of the pas
sengers and crew went down with the ves
sel Of the passengers and crew forty five
are reported saved
The lifeboat from Falmouth found four
teen of the crew alive on the rocks and
took them off They were nearly exhaust
ed The tug Penguin picked up a survivor
who had been floating in the water seven
hours and a half He gave this account
of the disaster
We heard a crash and every one rushed
on deck We found the vessel on the
rocks and the water fast gaining on us
The greatest order prevailed The cap
tain at his post from the bridge gave or
ders to the crew who worked nobly and
without confusion The women were
first attended to and every one stood bv
while two boats were filled with them ana
launched The sea was very heavy and
I do not know if they got safely away
from the vessel or succeeded in reaching
the beach The vessel began to settle
astern and in twenty minutes after she
struck went down While the sea was
high the night was very clear The last
I saw of Captain Griffiths he was still on
the bridge and I do not know if he was
saved
Reports of the loss of life vary Lloyda
report says the crew numbered 115 and
the passengers 59 Another report gives
these figures at 80 and 53 A third ac
count says 170 drowned The latest esti
mate of the saved from various sources
is 45
HAULING DOWN THE TRICOLOR
British Empire Will Stand No Tri
fling from France
All England is applauding Lord Rose
berrys speech at Epsom in which he de
clared that the British empire would stund
no trifling from France over the Fushoda
matter and that unless the tricolor was
hauled down on the Nile by Maj Mar
chand there would be war Lord Rose
berry also took occasion to warn all the
other nations which are anxiously await
ing developments that the old spirit of
Great Britain is as strong as ever and
that any disrespect to its flag would end
in disaster to the offending country
These firm words coming apparently
well studied from the liberal leader have
created a most profound sensation and
aroused a warlike feeling In speaking of
the situation at Fashoda Lord Roseberry
said it was one of extreme gravity and
that it had been precipitated by France
in the face of a deliberate warning from
England that the course Maj Mar
chand has taken would be considered an
unfriendly act He said the united
strength of the nation was behind her ma
jestys government in the matter and that
no sign of weakening could be considered
KILLING FROSTS
Averaffe Dnte of Their Recurrences
in Corn Producinff States
In view of the possibility of a killing
frost at this season of the year and of
the apprehensions to which such possibil
ity gives rise the following table has been
prepared by the Agricultural Department
showing the average date of recurrences
of the first killing frost in the principal
corn producing States Killing frosts
have occurred at much earlier periods in
all the States considered and even as
early as August in Minnesota the Da
kotas and Michigan The average dates
for the last twenty five years are how
ever as given in the table
Northern Minnesota Kentucky Oct 21
Sept IS West Virginia Oct 23
S Dakota Sept 22 Pennsylvania Oct 24
Southern Minnesota Maryland Oct 25
Sept 2B Tennessee Oct 25
Nebraska Sept 28 Virginia Oct 31
Michigan Sept 20 N Carolina Nov 1
Wisconsin Oct 5 Arkansas Nov 1
Iowa Oct i Alabama Nov 7
Kansas Oct 14 Mississippi Nov 9
Illinois Oct 15 S Carolina Nov 12
New York Oct 15 Georgia Nov 14
Ohio Oct 10 Louisiana Nov 23
Indiana Oct 17 Eastern TexasNov25
Missouri Oct 20
GERMAN OPINION CHANGES
Feeling Toward America Is Regarded
as Much More Favorable
There has been a great change in Ger
man public opinion on the subject of the
retention of the Philippine Islands by the
United States The feeling towards Amer
ica generally is much more favorable
than a couple of months ago The news
received in Germany from the United
States that the Government at Washing
ton is seriously contemplating holding the
Philippines is commented upon dispassion
ately in the German press and it is signifi
cant that this week two papers of such
standing as the Kolnische Zeitung and the
Vossische Zeitung have published long let
ters from German merchants settled in
the Philippine Islands in which American
annexation is strongly advocated A cor
respondent of the Vossische Zeitung even
vigorously combats Germany making any
attempts to secure a portion of the isl
ands citing weighty reasons therefor
MADRID BUSINESS MEN
They Meet and Criticise the Govern
ments Management of Affairs
A large meeting of business men was
field in Madrid After a number of vio
lent speeches had been made regarding
the Governments conduct of affairs the
meeting adopted a series of resolutions
aiming at the improvements of the econ
omic situation including the withdrawal
of permission to the Bank of Spain to in
crease its note issue of 2500000000 pese
tas the payment of the interest to foreign
debt holders in pesetas and not in francs
large reductions in the public expenditure
iucluding the pensions the closing of the
military schools for the next ten years
the reduction of the officers pay and a
vote in aid of the sufferers from the war
One of the London District Councils
has just had a prolonged debate as to the
removal of a public bench at Bourne
mouth The bench was known as the
courting bench It was decided that
courting in public is a nuisance and the
bench is to be taken away
An immense eagle swooped down on a
flock of sheep belonging to George Stam
battgh a farmer in Mercer County Pa
and seizing a half grown sheep in its -talons
lifted it from the ground apparently
without effort and carried it away to its
nest on a high cliff
All Washington is laughing at the plight
of several government clerks It has been
the custom of the heads of departments
to let off clerks who may have relatives in
regiments passing through town so that
they may have a chance to exchange
greetings with the soldier boys This
privilege has been considerably abused
but there seemed to be no way of stop
ping it except to refuse leave to clerks
asking it for the purpose mentioned Last
Saturday the Tenth Cavalry colored
spent the day in Washington Notice was
sent arounj through the dejoaituiepts that
clerks having relatives in the regiment
would be allowed time to see them A
good many white clerks possibly forty
or fifty altogether remembered that they
had brothers cousins or fathers in the
Tenth and were given leave of absence
to visit their heroes Imagine the amaze
ment and chagrin of the Caucasians who
had played it low down on Uncle Sami
in order to steal a few hours for pleasure
to discover that the boys of the Tenth
were black most of them very black
The commissioners to Paris and the
commission that is investigating the army
are both to be paid out of the general ap 1
propriation for carrying on the war Aj
liberal allowance was made in the lastr
army bill to be expended at the discretion
of the President for unforeseen contin
gencies and both the investigating and
peace commissions answer that descrip
tion The investigators will receive 20
a day in lieu of salary hotel bills and in
cidental expenses and are not required to
render accounts Their traveling ex
penses are also paid The compensation
for the peace commissioners has not been
fixed and will not be until they have
completed their labors All of their hotel
bills and other ordinary expenses will be
paid by Mr Brannagan the disbursing
officer of the State Department who ac
companied the party but each commis
sioner is expected to supply his own pock
et money It is probable that a lump
sum will be paid each of them when they
return to the United States That was
the case with the members of the Geneva
arbitration in 1871 and the Paris arbi
tration in 1S03
Few soldiers in the field will enjoy the
privilege of casting their ballots at the
next election In the absence of a na
tional law the State law will prevail and
there are few States on whose statute
books are laws granting this privilege
Politicians at both the Democratic and
Republican headquarters have been ap
pealed to by a large number of regiments
to secure furloughs to enable them to vote
The politicians are helpless however be
cause the matter lies between the War
Department and the regiments Unless
the War Department grants the soldiers
furloughs in many instances they will
lose their votes Leaders of both parties
are consoling themselves with the fact
till at the soldiers are about equally divid
ed as to politics and as nothing can be
done to relieve the situation they are
turning their attention to matters nearer
home
With the exception of New Orleans all
the principal cities show a healthy in
crease in postal receipts during the past
year New York leads the list with a net
increase over last year of 58643845
Chicago follows with a net increase of
50345427 and then follow- Philadel
phia with 16315207 Boston with 134
04011 Brooklyn with 13334305 St
Louis with 12088209 and Baltimore
with 9816960 increase Kansas City
Mo had an increased revenue of 92
05230 and Washington D C led snch
cities as Milwaukee St Paul New Or
leans Rochester Newark X J Denver
and Providence with a net increase of
4496293 New Orleans reported a def
icit over last years receipts of 130398
The administration will recommend to
Congress the revival of the grade of ad j
miral and the promotion to that rank of
Rear Admiral George Dewey now in com
mand of the Asiatic station Secretary1
Long made the positive announcement
that he intended to recommend that the
grade of admiral be revived and that rank
be conferred on Rear Admiral Dewey
The President indorses the Secretary
According to the report of the surgeon
general of the navy the men-of-war of
the United States were the healthiest
places in all the world last summer both
afloat and ashore In the entire navy oi
about 24000 men there were only eighty
four casualties including accidents and
everything and of these only seventeen
esulted in death
Secretary Hay has settled down at once
to the discharge of the many duties of
his new post Already have applications
for office begun to pour in upon him but
the Secretary finds upon examination that
there are no positions in his department
within his disposal under the law
Mr Simon the new Senator from Ore
gon is a Tew and the third of his race to
hold a seat in the Senate The first was
Judah P Benjamin of Louisiana the next
was Mr Moses of the same State Both
of them were men of distinction and in
fluence
Controller Dawes who is treasurer of
the Lafayette monument fund received
the first contribution for that purpose
Monday It was from Schoolmaster
Haigh at Ryan Iowa and amounted to
205
Foreign governments are seeking infor
mation in regard to the gun practice of
the American sailors They desire to
adopt the system in their navies as such
good results were obtained from them in
the Spanish war
Information has been received In Wash
ington that an offer is about to be made
by the French interests controlling the
Panama canal to sell out to the American
Government
War makes thieves Law hangs them
DETECTION OF FORGERY V-
Signs of Fraud that Appear Only ta
J rained Kyca
A clever swindle was described a day
Cleveland bank
or two ago by a young
er It is so simple and yet so ingenious
that it is a wonder it hasnt been tried
before
Xot long ago a vell dressed man of
line manners walked into a leading lo
cal house and looked at a certain line
of valuable goods He made his selec
tion Avith care and when the bill reach
ed 200 lie drew a check book from his
pocket and filled out a check for the
amount
There he said ymi dont know
me of course and vu know nothing
about my financial affairs Just send
that check to your bank and I -will drop
in to morrow morning to see that every
thing is all right and get my goods
The next morning bright and early
tho stranger dropped in
Well he said Avith a confident air
everything all right
Sony said the salesman but your
check lias been returned There were
no funds in your name
What cried the stranger Just
let mo see that check please
The document was handed to hi m
and his look of grieved astonishment
at once gave place to a cheery smile
Thats one on me he said You
see how it happened I gave you a
check on the wrong bank
He drew the little check book from
his pocket and rapidly filled out anoth
er check
If at first you dont succeed he
hummed try try again There try
that if you please and well again
hopefully await results
He waved his arm in a comical man
ner at the salesman and jauntily step
ped off with the first check in his
pocket
Something like a halt hour later he
briskly walked up to the paying tellers
window of the bank with AVhich the big
mercantile house does business With
an air of the utmost confidence he push
ed in the check which he had brought
away in his pocket It was payable to
the big mercantile house and it bore
the firms indorsement The slick op
erator had deftly removed the clearing
house stamp with some sort of acid
Kindly oblige he smilinglj said
as he thrust the cheek forward The
latter scanned the slip He turned it
over It was evidently all right He
looked tip at the stranger
Just let us have a hundred in lives
fifty in small bills and the balance in
silver the latter glibly requested
Were a little short of change
If there had been any suspicion in
the mind of the teller it was certainly
swept away by the strangers frank
and open manner
The money was counted out and
shoved across the glass shelf and ano
the pleasing stranger hasnt been seer
since Cleveland Plain Dealer
With Numberless Eyes
To say that a person has eyes in the
back of his head has long been a rec
ognized way of paying a high compli
ment to his powers of observing ev
erything going on around him But
the phrase when applied to insects -comes
as naturalists are wll aware
simply a statement of facts Indeed
considering that very many insects in
dulge in eyes by the thousand the
head of a horsefly for example being
literally made up of eyes alone it
would be strange if some of them had
not to be relegated to the back of their
owners heads
Thus it is said that if an ordinary
dragon fly were placed in the center
of a globe he could see every part of
it at once without moving his head
And this insect though possessing
about 20000 eyes is a long way from
being the most liberally endowed in
this respect the mordella beetle for
instance comfortably beating him by
some 5000
These eyes often give off prismatic
colors and under the microscope are
very beautiful objects looking like a
section of honeycomb That each in
dividual eye of the many thousand has
its perfect lens system is proved by
the fact that
each makes a separate
picture of any object placed before it
Of course a microscope is required to
see these pictures but they are very
distinct and are known to
ists as the multiple image
The Number or Languages
The least learned are aware that
there are many languages in the world
but the actual number is probably be
yond the dreams of ordinary people
The geographer Baldi enumerated 880
which are entitled to be considered aa
distinct languages and 5000 which
may be regarded as dialects
Adulguns another modern writer on
this subject reckons up 30G4 languages
and dialects existing and which have
existed Even after Ave haAe allowed
either of these as the number of lan
guages Ave must
acknoAvledge the ex
istence of almost infinite minor diver
sities for almost every province has
a tongue more or less peculiar and this
we may Avell believe to be the case
throughout the Avorld at large
It is said there are little islands ly
ing close together in the South Seas
the inhabitants of which do not under
stand each other
Smallest Inhabited Island
The smallest inhabited island in tht
Avorld is that on which the Eddystone
lighthouse stands At low Aater it is
thirty feet in diameter at high water
the lighthouse whose diameter at the
base is 28 feet completely covers it
It is inhabited by three persons It lies
nine miles off
the Cornish coast and
fourteen miles southwest of Plymouth
breakwater
Occasionally you see a woman who
looks so well in her mourning that it ia
hard to believe that she doesnt en
joy it
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