text: P3'" sriv *t P3'" iSf 4v£ V,-.,, 7 9 i" •^i ...f^S*.1 S^.' V.-...-•• M* t#| is|fc''-) 'fcjgfe!%i*iWtV •V .' T\j ?-4SS- gj !&<?£ •S)ope Upioneer. .v-v--- R. H. SIMPSON, Publisher. HOPE. a $ 7 ?^V* NORTH DAKOTA AMIPPEDIPULATION is the latest name for dancing. THIS country has just half the rail roads of the world. THE colored people are raising subscriptions to erect a Lincoln monument in Washington. DR. DAVID HOSTETTER is the most heavily insured man in this country. The aggregate of the policies held by him is $800,000. THE great mule markets of America are Atlanta and St. Louis. The business in the first-named city, foots up 1,500,000 annually. SEVEN engagements were made at a leap-year party at Woodland, Cal., the other night, where only fourteen couples were present. MORE than one hundred million stars are revealed to the sight by aid of the most powerful telescopes, and yet astronomers get unduly excited whenever they discover a new one. BOYS born in Rome on last New Year's day are to be called Leo, and all girls Leonie, and to each one the Papal Jubilee Committee has promised a savings bank pass book, with one hundred traces placed to its credit. REV. DU. TALMAGE was recently sworn in as chaplain of the Thirteenth Regiment of the National Guard in Brooklyn. This is the same regiment which Henry Ward Beecher served in the same capacity so long. THE New York herald says: "The story that a well-known broker, while attempting to cross Broadway yesterday, got stuck in the mud, sank to the first diamond stud on his shire bosom and had to be blown out with dynamite, is generally regarded as a slight exaggeration." THE oyster business in this country is marvelous in extent. More than 10,000,000 worth of oysters have been shipped from the Maryland beds alone this season. Over fifty thousand persons are employed in the industry in the State, and it supports besides fifteen hundred schooners and sloops. AND now the discovery has been made that a woman in Harlem, N.Y., has a double row of teeth one of her sons has no teeth at all, a daughter has a head of hair black on one side and red on the other, and the watch dog that guards the variegated family has one artificial eye and was born without a tail. THE venerable John R. Graham, who founded Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia over forty years ago, when literary periodicals were few in the United States, recently wrote his departure from the Eye and Ear Hospital in New York, where he spent four years as a patient undergoing treatment for a cataract in both eyes. He rejoices over the improvement of his vision to such a degree that he can now resume his career as a writer. INSPECTOR BYRNES, of the New York police, states that a number of our noted cracksmen have of late been reaping a golden harvest across the water. Two well-known thieves, he says, recently went through England, France and Belgium and returned with nearly one hundred thousand dollars in cash. He asserts that the business is laid out for them before they go across, and that, being unknown to the European police, they run over and do their work and get away before detection can be had. A SINGULAR fatality has followed the family of an old man at Hamilton, Ga. One son was killed by a horse, another by a falling tree, another by the cars. He had a marriage and a corpse in the house at the same time. He had a son, daughter and son-in-law all dead in the house at the same time a son-in-law was killed accidentally by the discharge of a gun one of his daughters had a leg broken by a log, and a son-in-law embezzled about thirty thousand dollars of Government bonds and skipped to Mexico to avoid arrest. M. PERROTIN, an astronomer of Nice, corroborates the Italian Schiaparelli's announcement of the existence of what seems to be canals on the planet Mars. He has mapped and measured these great works, most of which lie in the equatorial regions of the planet and, supposing the diameter of Mars to be, as is generally believed, about 4,200 miles at the equator, some of these canals are nearly 2,000 miles long. M. Perrotin has gone far. To establish that the planet really has an atmosphere not very different from that to which we are accustomed. It has now been discovered that in all probability the prehistoric man in this country ate pork, and very likely had an occasional attack of trichina. In the sedimentary rock of the John Day river canyon in Southern Oregon was recently discovered eight-five feet below the surface, a petrified hog's head of full size and perfect shape. It had been supposed that swine were introduced into this country at a comparatively recent date, but now it may be believed that American pork chops and sausage are really as venerable as they often taste. Dr. Ivan C. Michels has published his estimate of the world's production of gold and silver during the calendar year of 1887. He estimates the production of gold at 1107,063,030, and of silver at $126,148,900. He gives the production of the different grand divisions of the globe as follows: Gold, Silver, merchandise 46,874,400 Total 8,828,000 Australia $6,844,630 Australia $6,9,000 Great total 1107,063,083 This is the seventh annual estimate by Dr. Michels. The world totals for the seven years are $708,164,780 in gold and $880,631,900 in silver. Epitome of the Week INTERESTING NEWS COMPANY ILATION. FIFTIETH CONGRESS. THOESDAY, Feb. 123.—In the Senate bills were reported from committees to extend the southern and western boundaries of the State of Kansas, and to provide for the compulsory education of Indian children, not including the live civilized tribes nor the Osages. Bills were passed to provide aid for State homes for disabled soldiers and sailors, and to extend the laws of the United States over certain unorganized territory south of Kansas, popularly known as No Man's Land." In the House & S. Cox, of New York, was elected Speaker pro temp. The session was devoted to considering bills for public buildings at various places. FRIDAY, Feb. 24. A resolution was adopted in the Senate requesting the President to inform the Senate whether the French Government had prohibited the importation of American products. The bill granting pensions to ex-soldiers and sailors who are incapacitated from the performance of manual labor and providing for pensions to dependent relatives of deceased soldiers and sailors was considered. Adjourned to the 27th. In the House Senate bill to increase the pensions for deafness was reported favorably, also the bill increasing the pension for total disabilities to $30 per month. The bill for the admission of North and South Dakota as separate States was reported adversely. SATURDAY, Feb. 25 —The Senate was not in session. In the House a long discussion took place over appropriations for public buildings, and the bill for the organization of the Territory of Oklahoma was considered. MONDAY, Feb. 27.—The Senate considered the bill granting pensions to ex-soldiers and sailors who are incapacitated for the performance of manual labor, and to dependent relatives of deceased soldiers and sailors. The bill to incorporate the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua was passed in the House. Bills were introduced granting amnesty for all offenses against the internal revenue laws committed prior to February 22, 1888, and for the admission of the State of Wyoming. Resolutions were introduced extending the term of office of the President until the 30th of April, 1880, and changing the date of the meeting of Congress, and ca ling upon the President for information as to what Bteps have been taken to prevent the con tinued immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States. FROM WASHINGTON. THE Treasury Department ou ihe 23d is sued warrants for the payment of $10, 000,000 ou account of pensions. BY a strict pi.r.y vote House Commit tee on Tt rri.oiies on the 23d agreed to re port vorably Chrirmin Springer's om nibus bill to enable the peop of Dal oca, Montana, "Washington Teiritory and New Mexico to form constitutions and State governments, and to be admitted mto the Union on equal foot ngs with the original State& The bill provides that the people Bhall vots on the question on the 6th of November next. In session at Washington on the 23d the N aional Democratic Committee selected 8:. Louis as the place for holding the con vention and named Jane 5 as tne time of meeting. IEE death of William Wilson Corcoran, the millionaire philanthropist, octmrrrd at Washington on ihe morning of the 24th, at the pge of eighty-nine yenr-. At the time of his death he was worth $0,000,000, imd during his life his charities exceeded $3, 000,000. THERE were 183 business failures in the United States during the seven days ended on the 24t'j, ag ilnst 236 the previous seven days. The total failures since January 1 to its number 2,112, against .2,141 in the Stltnp iilum 'Bujeor,-. 1 ..V PBESIDENT CLEVELAND and his wife ar rived in W. shington on the 26th from their trip to Fiorid.i. At twenty-six leading clearing-houses in the United States, the exchanges during the week ended on the 25 aggregated $740,780,372, against $857,322,273 the previous week. As compared with the corresponding week of 1887, the decrease amounted to 4.8 percent. The penitentiary at Joliet under the supervision of two years. FRANCIS HERBERT, of Detroit, Mich., who assaulted a thirteen-year-old girl, was on the 24th, under the new law, sentenced for life in the penitentiary at hard labor. JOHN LEE PACHE, late treasurer of Colfax County, Neb., was reported missing on the 24th, and his accounts were said to be short $80,000. A WIND-STORM on the 24th at Haubstadt, Ind., blew down several co-tages, unroofed houses and barns and killed several cattle. THE ASSURANCE DICKSON, of Marion County, O., charged with being a defaulter to the extent of $10,000, was arrested on the 24th. RAIN on the 24th caused great suffering, among the people at Mount Vernon, Ill., who were made homeless by the recent cyclone. ON the morning of the 27th the two thousand locomotive engineers and firemen on the Burlington system between Chicago and Denver struck for higher wages, and all passenger and freight traffic was at a standstill. Fully fifteen thousand employees were directly affected by the strike. GUSTAV WINKLEB, of Milwaukee, during a quarrel the 25th shot his wife dead and then killed himself! Three little children were left destitute. THE EAST. PUEINO 1887 the output of coal in the second anthracite district of Pennsylvania reached 5,043,515 tons, an increase over 1886 of 810,060 tons. In mine accidents fifty-two men were killed and 146 wounded. At the annual meeting of the trustees of the Grant Monument Committee on the 23rd in New York, William B. Grace was elected president. The amount of the fund on deposit was stated to be $120,162. PEET & Co.'s three-story iron-clad building in Pittsburgh, Pa., was burned on the 24th. Loss, $100,000. A WILD-STORM on the 25th at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., unroofed many buildings and blew down scores of trees. Great damage was also done in the country districts. DINGLEY won the seventy-two hour (twelve hours a day) bicycle race closed at Philadelphia on the 25th, making nine hundred miles. THE discovery was made by citizens of Eitontown, N.J., on the 25th that when they lynched Samuel Johnson two years ago for assaulting a woman they hung the wrong man. A FIRE in the business section of Buffalo, N.Y., on the 26th caused a loss of $250,000. KEAR Portland, Me., the schooner Nellie Bowers was wrecked on the 25th, and Captain Summers and three of his crew were drowned. HON. JAMES G. BLAINE, in an interview in Florence, Italy, made public on the 26th, emphasizes his letter of declination, which was printed recently, and establishes the fact that he is out of the Presidential race and does not wish to be nominated or to have his name presented as a candidate. AT Frankfort, a Philadelphia suburban town, Julia and Kate Forb (sisters) were struck by a train and killed on the 27th. On the 27th, Mrs. Florence Schiosson, of New York City, celebrated her 102nd birthday. She has 130 lineal descendants. Her great-grandfather lives to be 120 years old. The firm of George R. Cork & Co., of New York City, the oldest house in the hat trade in this country, failed on the 27th for $250,000. SIXTEEN persons were killed at Connellsville, Pa., by railroad or mining accidents during the seven days ended on the 27th. THREE THOUSAND employees of the Edgar Thomson steel works at Pittsburgh, Pa., were charged on the 27th by Carnegie & Co. for failing to accept the terms offered by the company. WEST AND SOUTH. KNIGHTS OF LABOR convention at Cairo, Ill., on the 23rd and nominated T. T. Robinson, of Pomeroy, Jackson County, for Congress. THE Oregon Republican State convention will be held at Portland April 11. THE steamer Isle of Hope sank on the 24th at New Orleans, carrying with it a dry dock, using a loss of $200,000. FRANK M. LEGEL, assistant cashier of the Metropolitan Bank of Cincinnati, charged with being an embezzler for a large amount, was arrested on the 24th. JOHN DONAHUE, who lost both his legs in a railroad accident, brought suit at Troy, O., to recover $30,000, and the jury on the 24th awarded him $16,000. MUBLOCK BROTHERS' Exchange Bank of New York City, Col., failed on the 24th for $144,500. On the 24th Senator Stockbridge, of Michigan, sold his famous trotting stallion Bell Boy to Kentucky parties for $35. The Senator purchased the horse one year ago for $5,000. OFFICIAL returns of the 24th from Oceana County, Mich., showed that it had gone for 100 option, making thirty-one counties in the State so far declared dry. On the 24th, Daniel J. Wren, one of the most respected Chicago boodlers, was to express train on the Union Pacific road dashed into a freight train on the 15th near Colton, Neb., wrecking eight freight cars and two Pullman and two passenger coaches. Loss, $100,000. One man was killed and eighteen persons were seriously injured. REPUBLICANS of Kentucky will hold their State convention at Louisville on the 2nd of May to elect delegates to the National convention. DEPUTY SHERIFF COY, of Brownsville, Tex., was attacked at E. Cuero ranch by five and its on the 25th, and he killed four of them and badly wounded the other. ON the 26th freight trains collided on the Fort Wayne road at Bourbon, Ind., and two boys who were stealing a ride were killed. P. P. MUNGER'S three children were burned to death on the 25th at Annandale, Minn. They were alone in the house when it took fire. ON the 26th one of the most severe storms of the season rage through Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, Eastern and Central Dakota and Iowa, with the mercury away below zero. AT Cedar Hill, Tenn., a windstorm on the 25th swept away houses, barns and fences and did other damage. THE Georgia Republicans will meet in State convention at Atlanta on the 18th of April to elect delegates to the National convention. OWING to the strike of the engineers but very few passenger trains on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road were running on the 27th, and freight. Trial was entirely suspended. OFFICIAL returns on the 27th of the special election held recently in the Eleventh Congressional district of Michigan give Seymour (Rep.) a plurality of 402. The boiler of a petroleum tank exploded on the 27th on a crowded ferryboat at Vallejo, Cal., and between thirty and forty lives were lost and over twenty others were injured. At Shreveport, La., the Tilley Hotel was destroyed by fire on the 27th, and B.C. Craig, a Cincinnati commercial traveler, perished in the flames. Burglars narrowly shot Charles Bium, proprietor of the Batim House at Miamisburg, O., on the 27th and robbed his safe of $700. The death of Colonel E.B. Cash, of Columbia, a C., noted for having killed four men in dust, occurred on the 27th, at the age of sixty-six years. On the 27th, John A. Beal, a thirteen-year-old boy who murdered his mother near Eaton, about a year ago, was sentenced to the penitentiary for life. A fire destroyed the State Deaf and Dumb Asylum of Missouri at Fulton on the 27th, causing a loss of $500,000. A comet was visible on the 23rd in Melbourne and New Zealand. The Dominion Parliament was formally opened at Ottawa on the 23rd by Lord Linsdowne. Dispatches of the 25th say that another disaster on the Yellow River in China resulted in the drowning of four thousand Chinese laborers. Advices of the 25th from Canton, China, say two Buddhist monks had been legally burned to death, the sentence being passed by the abbots for assaulting two young men. Many hundred people witnessed the punishment. ADVICES of the 27th say that the village of Valtorta, in the north of Italy, had been half-buried by an avalanche. Twenty-three corpses had been recovered. TEN natives and one European were killed in a recent fire at Hanoi, Tonquin, and five hundred residences and numerous business blocks were burned. ON the 27th the report that Mrs. Marie Burton's claim to three hundred thousand acres of land in Lower California had been confirmed by President Diaz was pronounced false. LATER. The grand jury in New York, acting under instructions from Judge Corning, decided on February 28, not to find an indictment against Jay Gould and Russell Sage. A CABIE from London says the stakes were deposited on February 28 for the Bullivan Inchell prize fight. Mitchell won the toss and would select the best ground. A TELEGRAM from Houston, Tex., on February 28 says that five negroes were shot dead at a settlement known as Spanish Camp. The tragedy is said to be the outcome of a suit over a land title. AT Clinton, Ky., on February 28, Sam Price, white, and William Remus, black, were taken from jail and lynched. Both were guilty of murder. THE three children of a farmer named Hiller were burned to death at St. Cloud, Minn., on February 28, during the absence of their parents. THE Wisconsin Supreme Court on February 28 declared invalid the law which makes drunkenness a criminal act. THE Senate bill for a public building at Milwaukee passed the House on February 28, with the appropriation reduced from $1,200,000 to $300,000. THE SEDENTIAL CLARION has directed that the new military post at Highwood near Chicago, be designated as Fort Sheridan, in honor of Gen. Sheridan. At a party at Hillsboro, Ohio, on February 28, Dora and Lizzie Aikens were, it was feared, driven insane by fright, two other young ladies, hideous disguised, having broken in upon the party in a spirit of unrest. At Ashland, Wis., on February 23, a discovery was made of what is supposed to be natural gas. On February 28, the Union Square Theatre, New York City, burned to the ground, involving a loss of half a million dollars. Six firemen were injured and burned by the falling in of the roof on which they were standing. In St. Louis, Mo., on February 27, David Gallagher cut his wife's throat and then his own. At Toronto, Canada, on February 28, Robert Neil was hanged for the murder of his prison guard in January, 1887. The strike was still on, on the C. B. & Q. from February 28. Chief Arthur says he has received no propositions from the company looking toward a settlement. President Purins arrived in Chicago, and after a conference with the officials of the road it was resolved to declare all positions vacant at noon on February 30, 1887. The strikers returned to work. ABANDONED THEIR MACHINE A Great Strike on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad— The Engineers and firemen Quit Work. Because their request for an adjustment of wages is refused, the Knights of Labor and the Reading Railroad threaten retaliation. CHICAGO, Feb. 27.—Today the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad and all its branches will have to run its trains without the help of the engineers and firemen of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. The last conference held between the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy officials and representatives of the men was held last Thursday afternoon at the office of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad. Mr. Henry B. Stone, general manager, represented the rail road with its branches, while Grand Chief Engineer Arthur and Grand Master Fireman E.P. Sargent spoke for their respective organizations. Three points at issue were discussed at this meeting—the wages to be paid engineers for overtime, the rules regulating the dismissal of the firemen's service, and the rule of wages to be paid engineers and firemen running on the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy System. The questions of overtime and dismissal might have been settled by means of a compromise, but in the matter of wages Mr. Stone refused to make any change in his existing schedule. On the conclusion of this conference, the engineers on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road and its branches were notified by Messrs Arthur and Sargent to strike at 4 am on Monday, February 27, 1888, unless notified to the contrary. Since Thursday, Sargent and Sargent have waited for some action on the part of the engineers on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road and its branches to strike at 4 am on Monday, February 27, 1888. Since Thursday, Sargent and Sargent have waited for some action on the part of the engineers on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road and its branches to strike at 4 am on Monday, February 27, 1888. Main line it controls the Burlington & Missouri River railroad in Nebraska, the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad and the Chicago & Iowa railroad. Over this great length of track, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road runs nearly 800 locomotives, operated by 2,000 engineers. The Brotherhood of Locomotive engineers numbers about 25,000 members—the total number of engineers in the country being in the neighborhood of 30,000. At the head of the brotherhood is the great labor organizer in America. At the head of the brotherhood, it is the great labor organizer in America. In April, the brotherhood will be twenty-five years old. From twelve members, it has grown to 25,000. In eleven years, this is the first strike Mr. Arthur has been unable to settle. The elevated railroad strike was not under his rection and was inaugurated in defiance of the rules of the order. It was no successful. The policy of the order always is peaceful. The order is the richest in this country and best able to maintain a long struggle. Perhaps the most remarkable element of the strike is its peaceable character. The managers of the brotherhood—for the firemen are also in the strike—were the coolest men in town yesterday. The firemen are nearly as strong as the engineers and are virtually controlled by the latter. If the road gets the men to run its trains, neither Mr. Arthur, nor Mr. Barrett, grand master of the firemen, will lift a hand. No whispered councils or secret meetings made. The differences between the engineers and the road have been under discussion for four weeks, and Mr. Stone was familiar with them. The engineers demand that all be paid the same wages. The company at present classifies its men and grades their wages. First-year men, those just promoted from firemen, receive certain wages, estimated on the miles run, and second-year men a higher price per mile. Full engineer's wages are not paid until the third year. The engineers claim that the Burlington road pays less than many third-class roads. All the roads entering in Chicago, except the Barlington, pay their engineers according to the Brotherhood schedule. During all the weeks of negotiation, Mr. Stone has not been idle. An agent of his road went to Reading, Pa., and employed all the men he could who had recently been thrown out of employment by the strike on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. Other points were reached by telegraph offering work to idle engineers. Every man in the shops who could manage an engine was ordered to be ready to go out with one. Applicants for jobs as engineers got them in a hurry. Early last evening the officers of the road said they had enough men to run three trains each way. The company has been running twenty-six such trains daily. The chief depots or round-houses are located at Aurora and Galesburg, Ill. Omaha, Burlington and Creston, Iowa, and Lincoln, Omaha and McCook, Neb. These cities are at the ends of working divisions of the road. Into the round-houses, the abandoned engines will be run. At these points, also, the new men will go to work. At each city, a committee of the Brotherhood will wait on the new men and offer them better wages to do nothing than to accept the company's terms. The policy of the strikers will be to appeal to the applicants for work on the general ground of mutual interests and sympathy, and failing in that, to attack the selfish side of the new men by offering them higher wages than the company will give. The Knights of Labor threaten to aid the road to defeat the engineers. The Knights say the Brotherhood filled their places on the Reading and the Missouri roads when the Knights were fighting those corporations. The leaders of the Knights of Labor yesterday openly expressed their determination to get even. Chief Arthur said the Brotherhood has never done anything to warrant any ill-feeling between the two organizations. The strike is not likely to involve any other trouble, in the opinion of Mr. Arthur and Messrs. The Gold-Water Convention. CHICAGO, Feb. 27.—Representative Pro- hibition in this city are considerably chagrined over the fact that the date set for the National Democratic convention at St. Louis is the same upon which the National Prohibition convention will assemble at Indianapolis. They fear that the importance of their own gathering will be overshadowed by that of the Democrats, and that the press will have but little space for the doings of the cold-water people. It is not improbable that an effort will be made to change the date of the Prohibition convention to some time in July. The police of Logansport, Ind., have closed all the gambling houses in that city. Morrison for Second Place. WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—A dispatch sent to the New York World says William Morrison, of the Inter-State Commerce Commission, has decided to become a candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. Cleveland, and during a meeting of the Democratic National Committee here this week announced his desire to several members of that organization. Those support he solicited. Died Together. IND., Feb. 27.—John H. Harper and wife, of Riley township, Vigo County, died Friday of pneumonia, both having been sick five days. Their married life covered fifty years, spent on the farm on which they died. IN DEAD EARNEST. progress of the Burlington's Big Strike— Nearly Every One of It—Engineers and Firemen Quit Their Pouts. — Very Few Trains Running, and Traffic of All Kinds Almost Suspended. CHICAGO, Feb. 28. — The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy engine men went out at 4 o'clock a.m. yesterday. All freight traffic was suspended. The passenger trains were handled as far as possible by the railroad officials. Neither side offered to make concessions. All freight handlers were laid off until the strike is concluded. A few new men were taken on by the company. Both sides are confident of victory. The Brotherhood held a meeting and endorsed the action of Mr. Arthur. Aside from the incidents necessarily attending the strike of 2,000 men and the stoppage of traffic on a great railway system, nothing sensational occurred yesterday. The roundhouses, stations, and yards of the company along the road were filled with curious people. The engines out when the strike hour—4 o'clock a.m.— arrived were run into their stations and abandoned. The entire force of engineers and firemen complied with the order of the Brotherhood. During the day Chief Arthur received telegrams from Aurora, Galesburg, Burlington, Keokuk, and Lincoln saying the men were all firm and all out. Committees at the points at the ends of divisions were offering applicants the same pay not to work that the company proposed to give them to take the places of strikers. This plan was not resorted to until argument failed. The officers of the Brotherhood were confident and cool. They declined to make any predictions concerning the outcome of the strike. It was in its inception, and guesses were rash. On the contrary, the strike was not a success. Company's side it was claimed that all the trains would be running within a week. The company ran four suburban trains of the seventeen usually engaged by the country residents. No through trains were run and freight traffic was suspended. Perishable freight was absolutely refused and other freight accepted, subject to delay. The freight handlers, conductors, switchmen, and other employees who had to quit work for want of it, accepted the situation in the best manner possible. The brakemen and switchmen are said to be loyal to the strikers, the contractors, and freightmen to the company. The few trains run were in the hands of master mechanics and shop foremen. The Knights of Labor at some points sought work of the company, but no retaliatory measures of a general character were inaugurated. Only about 150 Reading Knights are out, it is said, and the local leaders of the order thought few of these would come to Chicago. An accident occurred at Naperville, a few miles west of this city. The official report of the affair is as follows: Train No. 2 at 3 o'clock today was short of steam at Naperville, and the engine was run by C. F. Geyer, general foreman of the shop at Aurora. They cut off to run ahead to get up steam, and coming back to couple on the train they were in too much of a hurry, and were going down hill, and not check the engine from striking the train. Engineer Geyer had his nose cut, and Freeman Parsons was out on the shoulder and legs. George Clark, mail clerk, face cut and back injured. William Stensin. Mall clerk, and injured. J. T. Duikin, mull clerk, knee bruised. T. Foster, em loye, Aurora, arm scratched and knee bruised." At meeting of the District Assembly 24, Knights of Labor, last night, resolutions were adopted relative to the attitude of the Knights of Labor toward the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy strikers. After leaving the fact that many rumors were circulated regarding the willingness of the Knights to aid the road in retaliation for probable grievances against the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engine men, the convention protests in the name of District Assembly 24 Knights of Labor, against any Knights assisting the road in any way, and as upon the order generally to refrain ABOBA, Ill, Feb. 28.—Promptly at 4 o'clock yesterday morning every member of the Brotherhoods of Engineers and Firemen concluded with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system at Aurora packed up traps, ran his engine to the round-house and quietly walked home. Every ten or fifteen minutes an engine with a few cars went flying past the depot and as soon as possible the engine was run to the round-house, turned over to the hosier, and from that moment the engineer and fireman ceased their connection with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. The Chicago fast mail arrived a few minutes after 4 o'clock. The engine crew always changes here, and at the appointed time one of the Brotherhood engineers and a trusted fireman ran an engine out, attached it to Uncle Sam's freight, and sped away with hearty Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad In the midst of interference, whatever was offered to the manning of the two or three trains which left here yesterday. GALESBURG, Ill., Feb. 28.—The strike on the Burlington road here was complete, only three engineers here remaining at work. By the aid of the division officials, six trains out of sixty were manned and sent out from this point. Seven hundred men are idle—engineers, firemen, and men who are laid off—but the best order is preserved. ST. LOUIS, Feb. 28.—Every engineer and fireman on the Burlington here quit yesterday morning. Not a pound of freight was moved on the road at this point and freight is being billed at the office, but it is received subject to delay. Passenger trains are running as usual to and from St. Louis. OMAHA, Neb., Feb. 28.—Everything is at a standstill in the Burlington yards here. Three passenger trains and many freights are stalled at McCook with no prospect of securing engineers to man them. DETROIT, Mich., Feb. 28 — Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, was asked yesterday what action his order would keep, if any, in the Burlington strike. We will take some action, but what it will be I cannot discuss. It will not be antagonistic to the Brotherhood, you may be sure. I do not uphold the action of the Reading Knights in taking the places of the Burlington strikers one of revenge. It is bad policy, and will only help the railroad. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is an excellent organization, although it has done wrong in isolating itself on labor matters. In their present strike, the trades unions are with them. A Verdict Against TascotU CHICAGO, Feb 28 — The coroner's jury which has been deliberating on the murder of Amos J. Snell for the last three weeks concluded its labors yesterday. Two or three witnesses, whose testimony developed no material fact as to the cause of the death of the murdered millionaire, were examined, the jury finding its verdict against William B. Tascot from the fact that an indictment for murder has already been found against him. Four Semen Drowned. PORTLAND, Me., Feb. 28 — The schooner Nellie Bowers, from New York for Portland, was wrecked Saturday evening on the east coast of Richmond Island. The captain and three others were drowned. Brual Murder. CHICAGO, Feb. 28. — A brutal murder was discovered yesterday afternoon at No. 1319 State Street in the leather remnant store of Green Bros Maggie Gaughan was found dead, and bearing all the marks of rage on her person, in a small closet. The murder, Zeph Davis, a colored man, is still at large. Struck Against a Reduction. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Feb. 28.—Furnace employees, to the number of nearly 1,000, of the Edgar Thomson steel works struck Monday morning against a 10 percent reduction. It is estimated that, owing to the strike, the production of pig iron will be reduced by 1,000 tons a day. DEATH'S AWFUL HARBOR. A Ferry-Boat Blown Up in San Francisco Bay—The Death Burns to the Water's Edge—Belief That Forty Lives Were Lost—Twelve Bodies Recovered. VALLEJO, Cal., Feb 28.-The ferry-boat Julia was the scene of a disastrous explosion at her wharf yesterday morning, and it is now believed that fully forty lives were lost. The Julia was about to leave her moorings at South Vallejo a few minutes after 6 o'clock a.m. There were seventy people on board, most of whom were men employed in the lumber-yards on the other side of the strait. Just as the deck hands were hauling in the lines there was a loud explosion, and a panic ensued. The sheet of flame shot up in the air. Those who were on deck at the time were hurled overboard by the force of the explosion, and several of them were killed outright by jing struck by pieces of the debris, which were sent flying in every direction. A great quantity of petroleum was stored on the wharf where the Julia was lying, and this was fired by the explosion. The flames spread rapidly, running from v.it to vat. The fire companies were unable to accomplish anything, as there was no water, owing to the tide being out, and fifteen minutes after the explosion, the freight depot and the telegraph office were turning. When the tide "came" in, they managed to get a supply of water and at noon the fire was under control. While the firemen and others were trying to save the wharf, a large number of boatmen were rowing around the wreck seeking to recover the bodies. A number of men from the United States navy yard at Mare Island and from other steamers assisted in every way to rescue the remains of the passengers. While the search was going on, women and children were standing by the burning wharf, and as each body was brought to the surface and placed in a shed, a crowd would gather around and an explanation from someone would show that some relative of the dead had recognized the mangled remains. Soon after the explosion occurred, the steamer had burned to the water's edge and plunged to the bottom, with the greater number of the victims buried in the debris in the cabin. It is believed that between thirty and forty lives were lost. Up to this time, twelve bodies have been recovered, two of which were burned beyond recognition. The names of half the passengers who were on the steamer at the time of the explosion are not known and it is impossible to tell how many sunk with the wreck. At least fifteen men who are known to have been on the steamer are still missing. Captain Gedge, of the Julia, was severely injured, as was also Charles Heath, the pilot. Twelve or fifteen others were also very severely injured. The record of the Julia is a bad one, and this is not the first terrible accident on the steamer. In the year 1800, the head of her boiler blew out, instantly killing nine of the crew and scalding the clerk and the other officer of the boat so badly that they lingered for only a few days. The use of the disaster yesterday is not known, though it is generally believed that the explosion occurred in the boiler-room. The impression also prevailed that the fire was in some way communicated to the petroleum tank, and that the explosion occurred in that quarter. The steamer turned petroleum for fuel. He is twenty-nine miles up the bay from San Francisco. Eight of the men who met death had wives and families and five more were singing. Several are still at work on the wreck trying to find more singe men. Mrs. T. Ferrier, wife of the gunner of Mar Island navy yard, seems to have been the only woman on board. She was badly scalded about the head and arms. The uncovered bodies are now thought to number eleven. It is supposed that, despite the crew, there were fifty-two passengers on board, making sixty-three in all, and not a single one escaped with injuries more or less serious. THE TRUST INVESTIGATION. President Rockefeller of the Standard Oil Company Answers Some Questions. NEW YORK, Feb. 28 — J. D. Rockefeller, of the Standard Oil Company, was examined yesterday morning by the Senate Trust Investigating Committee. He said the company of which he is the president had a capital of $3,500,000. He is a member of the Standard Oil Trust, which had originally a capital of $70,000,000, and was increased to $90,000,000 by taking in other refinements. The capacity of the trust is about 20,000,000 gallons, and the trust last year refused about 75 percent of the total product. Mr. Rockefeller believed all the refineries entering into the agreement were corporations. No companies were taken afterward except for reasonable value of their refineries. No efforts had been made to force their stocks down in order to force them into the trust. The trust certificates are worth $105, par value $100. They have been higher. In 1887 the shareholders received 20 percent more stock, and in addition a dividend of 10 percent. Dividends have been declared every three months, the average being 7.2 percent annually. A number of refineries have been closed and new machinery put in. The number of refineries have been increased constantly, the trust, doing nothing to prevent production. The trust only owns the stocks of a few small wells, whose production is about 200 barrels a day, while the total production is 100,000 barrels a day. The trust has not been able to secure better transportation rates than are allowed the general public, nor has it received rebates. The trust owns the stock of the pipe lines, for the stock of which its certificates were given. Of the $90,000,000 of the capital of the trust about $30,000,000 represents the plant of the pipe lines. It costs about 45 cents to run a barrel of oil to New York from the wells. The purposes of the trust are to mine for, produce, manufacture, re-line and deal in petroleum and all its products and all the materials used in such business, and to transact other business, connected therewith. The trustees are given power to purchase the bonds and stocks of other companies. Each trustee is entitled to a salary not exceeding $25,000 a year, except the president who may be voted $30,000. Mr. Rockefeller said a growing and dangerous rival bill sprung up in Europe. The Rothschilds are taking advantage of the American idea of tubes and are successfully working the Russian oil fields. Beduced Wages for 15,000 Employees. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Feb. 28 — The coal operators yesterday posted notices throughout the Connellsville coke region of reduction in wages of from 6 to 10 percent, to take effect Feb 1. The employees will meet Wednesday to decide whether or not they will accept. From 12,000 to 15,000 employees are affected. There is a strong feeling against accepting the reduction. CAUSED BY THE STRIFE. BEADOTG, Pa., Feb. 28.—The monthly statement of the Reading railroad shows a decrease in the net earnings for January of $822,000 over the same month in 1887, caused by the strike. A Village Swept Away. LONDON, Feb 28.—The village of Valtorta, in the North of Italy, has been half buried by an avalanche. Many houses were wrecked and their occupants buried in the ruins. Troops from Bergamo have arrived to aid in disinterring the buried. Twenty-three corpses have been recovered. Several persons have been extricated alive, though more or less injured. An Old-Time Scout Dies. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 28.—Daniel Dewar, an old-time Indian scout and one of the explorers of the Black Hills, died at Detroit yesterday. He has been a citizen of St. Paul since 1817. ST. LOUIS HAPPY. The Missouri Metropolis Gets the Democratic Convention—It to Be Held on June 5—The Official Call—An Administration Victory. WASHINGTON, Feb 24. —The National Democratic Committee met yesterday morning in secret session, to continue the balloting for the selection of the city in which the Democratic convention shall be held. Before the opening of the session there was a rumor circulating in the bill that an effort would be made to reconsider the vote by which the 3rd of July was agreed to as the date of the convention. 