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I If 1 I t f i i r THE DEMOCRAT. IJ. H. ADAM;, Pchiinlier. CAPE GTR AUTVR U. MISSU'RI The exports of grain from the port of Philadelphia for the week ended on the 30th were very large, amounting to over 2,000,000 bushels, the bulk of which was corn and oats. Ox the 30th Baron von Bulow. the German minister of foreign affairs, gave United States Ambassador White a wholly satisfactory explanation of Germany's intention toward Ilayti. A cabinet officer is authority for the statement that the president is not sat isfied with the plan of autonomy for Cuba proposed by Spain. He says that something more liberal was expected. The coast and geodetic survey has prepared and will soon publish a new map which will cover practically the entire length of the Yukon river and most of its tributaries, including the Klondike. A Cubas amazon, known as Capt. Regina Palenzela, with five armed in surgents, it was announced from Span ish headquarters on the 30th, had sur rendered to the authorities at Nueva Paz, province of Havana. Gen. Jouq S. Mason, a veteran of the Mexiean and civil wars, died in Washington, on the 29th, aged 73 years. He was retired in 1888. A widow and one son, Capt. Mason, stationed at Fort Sheridan, survive him. Dritixo the week ended November 27 failures throughout the United States, as reported by li. G. Dun & Co., were 230, against 3J0 for the corresponding week last year. For Canada the fail ures were 23, against 38 last year. Secretaut Gage said, on the 30th, that iu the annual estimatji he would send to congress he would name about $20,000,000 and not above $25,000,000 as tlie amount of the treasury deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1SU8. A dispatch from Havana says: The World's first figures of Cuba"s starve tion were timidly moderate. They showed the death of only 200,000. But every painful fact unearthed tends to prove them nearly double that num ber. Minister White, at Berlin, has been instructed to intimate to the German government that the United States will not tolerate any undue or arbi tary measures in obtaining satisfac tion in respect to the claim of Uerr Lueuers against Hay ti. Mr. Chari.es M. Loring. the father of the Minneapolis (Minn.) park sys tem and a prominent miller, who was forced to make an assignment some two years ago on account of indorse ments, has affected a settlement with the return to him of a material por tion of his estate. The Cuban constituent assembly, which met recently at Camaguey to re model the constitution and electa new president, issued a manifesto which de clared, among other patriotic senti ments, that " -Independence or death' is and shall be the unalterable and sacred motto of the Cubans." Thk weekly statement of the New York city associated banks, issued on the" 28th, showed the following changes: Surplus reserve, decrease, 8847,325; loans, increase, 814.007.400; specie, increase, $500,300; legal tenders, increase, $2,838,400; deposits, increase, 81ft, 744, 100; circulation, increase. $19, 000. Thk will of the late John E. Liggett, of SU Louis, has been filed for probate. The instrument is dated June 5, 103, and is witnessed by Charles F. Ziebold and Mason C Smith. The bulk of the estate goes to the widow and daugh ters. Charitable bequests amount to 10.000. The estate is valued at 88,000, 000. Capt. F. L. Howk has designated January 10 as the day for his 'boom" to move upon the Wichita reservation if no action toward opening it shall be taken by congress prior to that date. Secretary Bliss has directed that the Indian police be reinforced by regular troops, if necessary, to prevent the in cursion. Louis W. Pratt, collector of inter nal revenue for the Albany (X. Y.) dis trict, has been peremptorily removed from office, his chief deputy, Harlan P. Draper, being designated to act as col lector until a successor to Mr. Pratt can be appointed. It is alleged that he is short about $18,000 in his accounts with brewers. President John Gardiner, of Nor- walk, O., and Vice-President J. O. Moss were appointed receivers by Judge Wildman. on the 30th, for the Sandusky, Mansfield & Norwalk rail road, a branch of the Baltimore &. Ohio. The motion for receivers was made by the principal owners, and is claimed to be a friendly proceeding. The coal mining strike in the north ern Illinois district euded on the 20th. 12,000 miners going back to work in the Coal City, Braidwood. Carbon Hill, Snrino- Vallev. Lodi. Seatonville. La I r - Salle and Oglesby field. One thousand men remained out at Streator. the settlement was the result of a com promise. The strike bad lasted nearly uve months. Minister Hoshi of Japan will return o Washington, on the 10th, after an extended visit home, during which he has had an opportunity to confer with the Japanese authorities concerning the annexation of Hawaii to the L nited States. It is understood that his re turn will permit the Hawaiian ques tion, so far as it concerns Japan, to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. L.V..r.lViOXlK 107. CUEIlExT TOPICS. THE HEWS IS BEET. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Mrs. Caroline Abke, aged 70 years, who lived alone near Leavenworth, Kas., was found dead in her home on the 2Gth. Marks on ner neck indicated that the woman had been choked to death. A lock on an outside door had been broken, apparently by burglars, and the house was ransacked. Mrs. Abke was eccentric, and was believed to possess considerable money. The armored cruiser Brooklyn was drydoeked in the timber dock at the New Y'ork navy yard in Brooklyn on the 20th. Because of the ship's im mense displacement, the task of get ting it into the dock was looked for ward to with some anxiety. It was accomplished, however, with little trouble and slight damage. Cou George A. Bute, a prominent mining man of Telluride, Col., is miss ing, and his friends in Telluride be lieve that he has been murdered, as he had a large sum of money when he left that camp. Hiram Maxim's new rapid-firing gnn was tried at Portsmouth. England, on the 20th. with remarkable results. With 25 pounds of cordite it showed an effective range of 16,000 yards. Prksident McKini.ev is a firm be liever in the doctrine that the best way to preserve peace is to be prepared for war. He desires peace with Spain; therefore, he is making preparations which are calculated to inspire the be lief in the minds of the hot-blooded Spaniards that, if they provoke war, they will be inviting their downfall. The Madrid Official Gazette publishes the royal decrees granting autonomy to Cuba and Porto Rico, thus removing the anxiety that had begun to be ex pressed on all sides as the result of the government's reticence and uuex plained delay. The Chinese merchants of San 1- ran- cisco have combined to suppress the murderous highbinder societies. These business men have signed a compact not to submit to furthur blackmail, and without their usual income the highbinders will be forced to leave the city or go to work. A dispatch to the Frankfort (Ger many) Zeitung from Rome, on the 20th, reported that a sanguinary conflict had taken place between the 1 rench and British at Nikki, in the Lagos Hinter land, in which the British were worsted. Secretary Long has recently placed with the American Ordnance Co. orders as follows: Ten thousand six-inch shell?, 15,000 one-pounder shells for rapid-fire guns, 25,000 armor-piercing shell tips, 811 rapid-fire shell guns. The naval trial board has made a re port upon the recent two-days' trial of the big battle-ship Iowa at sea. The report thoroughly sustains Commodore Dewey's comment that the ship is as fine a type of her class as there is in the world. The steamship South Portland formerly the Caroline MilW. which was ence seized as a filibuster, has been purchased by a syndicate and is to be put in condition for service be tween Seattle and St. Michaels, Alaska. L. Rosweli. Hart Rochester, treas urer of the Western Uuion Telegraph Co., died suddenly at his home in Englewood. X. J., on the night of the 28th. aged 40 years. Consul-general Lee has reported to the state department that the number of Americau citizens iu Cuba depend ent upon the appropriations made by congress is now 1,007. Of the suffering Americans 750 are in Havana province, 253 in Matanzas. and the others are scattered in the remaining provinces. Mrs. Adrian Iski.in, Sr., died on the 28th, at her home in New York city, aged 77 years. Mrs. Iselin was Miss Eleanora O'Donnell, the daughter of Columbus O'Donnell. of Baltimore, and was born in that city. With her hus band she celebrated her golden wed ding on December 11, 1895. Wu Tinge Fong, Chinese minister, contemplates the erection of a school building in San Francisco, the bring ingof a corps of teachers from China and the education of the Chinese youth of that city and coast in both English and Chinese branches. A telegram received at Port Town lend, Wash., on the 28th, from Wash ington, D. C, stated that Maj.-Gen. Nelson A. Miles had submitted to the secretary of war a letter in which he recommended that Fort Townsend be occupied by troops immediately. A later dispatch from Washington said that Secretary of War Alger had not been apprised of Gen. Miles' intention to garrison Fort Townsend. The British steamship Kensington. Capt. Fraggett. arrived at Philadel phia, on the 28th, from London after a tempestuous voyage that lasted all the way ia the Delaware capes. Her decks were broken, bridge smashed, stanch ions bent and twisted and her entire deck cargo of 30 drums of naphtha and a large quantity of phosphorus washed overboard. The grand jury has found true bills against several firms in Denver. Col., for selling oleomargarine. The Colo rado Creamery uieu's association insti gated the prosecutions. It is claimed that eight out of every ten retail gro Rtrs in that city handle oleomargarine. 3 3 i 1 I Sun. Mon. Ttie. Wed. Thur. Frl. Sal j I 2 3 4 j S 6 7 j 9 10 Ufc X- Jl Ji IE ii 21 i?l 3 79 20 2J 22 23 24 25 1 326 27 28 29 30 31 The millinery and furntsning stores of Apt Bros., 39 and 41 North Eighth street, Philadelphia, were damaged by fire, on the 2Sth. to the extent of $75, 000, on which the firm carried 850,009 insurance. The building was dam aged to the extent of $10,000; covered by insurance. The steamer City of Seattle arrived at Seattle, Wash., on the 28th, from Skaguay, Alaska. She had on board 25 men who left Dawson City, October 14, coming out over the Dalton trail. They reported a state of things border ing on panic at Dawson, owing to the lack of provisions there. On the 23th the associated banks of New York city held $22,500,925 in ex cess of the requirement of the 25-percent, rule. Archbishop Keane, former rector oi the Catholic university at Washington, was received by the pope on the 29th. His holiness congratulated the bishop upon the abnegation with which, in a letter to the pope, he renounced his claim to be included in the list of can didates for appointment to the arch bishopric of New Orleans. As a result of the confession made by Oliver Prevost, alias Gauthier, now confined in jail at Pembroke, Ont., Mrs. Gauthier was arrested, on the 29th, charged with having poisoned and then cremated Rene Debin and Fred Carriere at Port Arthur, Out, in February last. Three men, who represented them selves as detectives, entered the home of Mrs. Mary Eppinstein, 4444 Wabash avenue, Chicago, on the29tb, and after beating Mrs. Eppinstein with revolv ers and locking her in a room, made away with her diamonds, valued in all at S4.000. EX-CoNGRE33MAN EPHRAIJi M. W'OO- MARdied iu Lebanon, Pa., on the 29th, of Bright's disease, at the age of 53. A widow and one son survive him. Ole Halveuson, who was shot at Inkster, N. D., by Miss Mary Lux ton, died on the 2'.Hh. He was conscious uutil death, and begged that Miss Luxton might not be prosecuted, as he alone was to blame. Assignee Arnold has gone through the books of the defunct Bank of Eu glish, Ind., anil its branches, and finds sufficient funds to pay the claims in full and leave, asurplus of $25,000. A tekriule railway 'wreck occurred at Warsaw, Russia, on the 30th. While a passenger train was stationary at the terminus a heavy freight train crashed into it, owing to the error of a points man. Eleven persons were killed out right and 22 others were seriously in jured. The Bristol City line steamer Exeter City, which arrived at New York, on the 30th, from Bristol and Swansea, fell in with the British schooner Elite, Capt. Margrave, dismasted and in a sinking condition, rescued the crew of five men and brought them safely tc port. Ore dock No. 4. of the Chicago & Northwestern railway, at Escauaba, Mich., one of the largest in the world, was burned, on the 30th, together with the steamer Nab ant, which was lying alongside. Two lives were lost. Official reports from Havana have it that only four insignificant skir mishes have taken place recently be tween Spanish troops and insurgents. Frank A. Keith and Maggie God frey committed suicide together in Lowell, Mass., on the 30th, by inhal ing gas. They were peuniless. On the 30th Secretary Alger stated that he had finally decided to approve the sentence of the court-martial in the Lovering case. LATE NEWS ITEMS. Gen. Nelson G. Williams died at his home in Brooklyn on the 1st, He was a classmate of U. S. Grant at West Point, At the battle of Shiloh he had a horse shot under him and the explo sion of a shell rendered him totally deaf. For 30 years he had been in charge of public stores in New York city. The navy department has sent orders to the United States ship Alert, now at San Francisco, to proceed to lirito Nicaragua. This place is at the western terminus of the proposed Nicaragua canal, and the vessel will be kept there in readiness, to co-operate with the canal commission. ALL sorts of wild rumors were cur rent in Berlin ami at Kiel, on the 1st, probably based in the main upon the speech of Emperor William at the opeuing of the reichstag as to the re lations between Germany and China. But most of the reports were dis credited. The deplorable condition of the isl and of Cuba grows more appaieuL Refugees and recouceutrados are be coming more and more miserable. Ac cording to the representatives from San Domingo, small-pox is making ter rible ravages among the recouceutra dos. The rumor that John G. Carlisle, cx secretary of the treasury, inteiuU to to settle iu New York, has been strenghtened by the report that the house at No. 4 Washington square. New York city, has been rented, fur nished, to Mr. Carlisle for the winter. Thk West Vaucouver Coal Co., in which II. C Uolliday and other San Francisco capitalists are interested, is i bout to develop its coal mines at the north end of Vancouver island and es tablish a coaling station for Alaskan steamers. The canals of the state of New York were closed for the season, on the 1st, and active work was begun at once by the contractors to complete the im provements under the 89.000 act. The business of the year was unusually poor. The boiler in the engine room at the Glenwood coal mine at Des Moines. la., exploded on the 1st. Twenty men were in the engine room and not one escaped injury. Eleven were fatally injured. The building was wrecked. Tun December statement of the pub lic debt shows that at the close of busi ness November HQ, the public debt, less cash in the treasury, amounted to SI. 009.220. 400, a decrease since October 80 of $11,338,125. MISSOURI STATE NEWS. Will be Placed Among Friends. Rev. E. A. Powell, of Houso tenia, superintendent of the Kansas City dis trict for the orphans' home, St. Louis, has secured and taken home with him May Carr, aged six years, whose fa ther, Wm. Carr, is to be banged at Lib erty, December 17, for having drowned bis three-year-old daughter. Belle, in the Missouri river. It has been decided not to obta in a home fot the child in Missouri, but Key. Powell will cure for her at his residence until after her fa ther is executed, when she will be placed in some Christian family in either Iowa or Min nesota, where the entire community is not familiar with her history. Tae child is un usually briKht. and Kev. Powell says many families would be glad to adopt her. but it is not deemed advisable to place her where her fam ily history is known. Eagle Trie to Carry Off a Child. Henry Kella, near Black water. Cooper county, captured a bald eagle while it was trying to carry off a four-year-old son of his brother, Theodore. The child was In the yard near the house, which is near Blackwater river, when the eagla made an effort, but the child being too heavy it could not rise off the ground. Its claws be came entangled in the child's clothing, and Mr. Kella rushed to hi nephew's assistance. Taking off his coat, he threw it ovei the eagle's head, completely blindfolded it. Then, tying its legs together, he released its claws from the child's clothing and carried his feathered captive home, where it wascajed, but was afterward taken to Blackwater and placed on exhibition. The ea;?le measures f feet 11 inches from tip to tip. The child was frightened into a spasm, but otherwise was un injured. St. Louis' Good Showing. Never in the history of St, Louis hai there been such a tremendous increase in the volume of business carried on during a single month as characterized November of thisyear, according to the statement of the clearinghouse. The total bank clearings for November were M21. NO. ITS, as compared with ft'7.;u7.;:!6 for the corresponding month of last year, an im.-r.asa of ifcM.-KI.4itt. The balances f,r the montn wera il2.7X8.iyrt. while for the same periixl of 19 they amounted to ll..Vy.!tl'j. showing an in creasa of l.SJ.2l7. For the last day iu tin monib the clearings were 4,;il.tj and the oal ances ."o. :ol They Were iu Sore Need. Two little girls, Helen and Stella Wall, inmates of the house of refuge of St. Louis, have fallen heir to S1.UJ0, and their poor mother, a widow, who was separated from them because she was unable to feed them, will share their good fortune. It transpires that the attorney for the Polish National society, in which the father anJ hus band was insured, had been seai-euin--- fortliem. The little girls were found on the strai ts, and the Humane society took them iu charge. This caused the papers to notice them, au-.l the al 'urney, by that means located them. lion. Willlani II. Letcher. Hon. William H. Letcher, one of the best-known lawyers in the staU died at St. Joseph hospital in Kansas City. Deceased was born in St. Ljuis. September 24, and was educated at Washington college, Lexington. Va ; was uiinitt jd to the bar in 1S4S, and located in -Marshall soon after. He was eleetei to ths legislature in liO, and rs-eiected in ISM by wjigs aal Amer icans. While a member of the assembly he ob tained a state reputation in the djoate on the "Cape Girardeau Sunday Bill." In ln!.t he was adeiegate to the convention which framed the present state constitution. Never Readied Her Destination. Mrs. Hettie M. Burtless. aged 73, of Stotesberry, Vernon county, died in the union passenger statiou, Chicago. Death was caused by old a-e. She was on her way to Elburn. HL. to speud the rest of her days with her son, Irving. For a long time the son had been desirous that his fath.-r an J moth er come to him. and they starts J on tae jour ney. When tue train arrived -in Chicago Mrs. Burtless was so weak that -she UaJ to De taken off the train in a roller chair. Sue hai been in the waiting-room only a few mm Jtes when she expired. Sale of Short Horns. W. P. Harned, proprietor of the Idle wild herd of shorthorn cattle, held his second annual sale the other day, near Bunceton. CoL F. M. Wood, of Lincoln, Neb, was auctioneer, and sold the offerings, consisting of & young bulls and 24 fancy heifers, for W.tUO. The heifers were as good as have gone uuder the hammer in Missouri for maay years. They brougnt an average price of rH. per head. Tha bulls averaged luo per heaJ. The 34 head brought an average of HH pv head. C'onldu't Stand the Charge. Brooding over a charge of theft caused Eugene Hutsell, of 2121 Suvan uah avenue, St. Joseph, to go insane, and he lias beeu taken to the asylum. Last year Hutsell wasemployel as janitor oi the Francis Street M-jtboui ,i church, and while working there a number of articles were missed from the pastor's study. Kev. Frank Siier in stituted a search for tue missing articles, and among otner places theresid'n.-e of the janitor was searened. Nothing was found, and liuueU was afterward exon?raud from all blame. Almuu K. Marsh. Almon E. Marsh, one of the two re maining Missouri Mexican war veter ans of l Louis, died recently. Thirteen months a'o he was stricken with paralysis, wnich tinany caused bis death, ile was etf years of age. In I'm," he organ.z.-d Co. K, Missouri regulars, und under Lien. Winueld Scott invaded Mexico. H s nuht arm was torn off by a sued in the battieof Cerro Gordo. With his ueath tne St. Louts Mexican War Veterans' union ended, as there is but one member ief L Cotter i;ieared At Springfield a jury cleared George 11. Cotter, who shot and killed New land McCroskey last May. McCroskey bad made some threats against the life of Cotter, it was alleged, and he uiso had a bad reputation for being quarrelsome. Cotter pleaded self-defense, mtuoun McCros key had no weapons of any kind in bis posses sion when killed. l'robably Fatally Kiuked by a Hone. S. I. Allen, of Marshall, while at his farm, east of the city, weut iuto the stable, wneu a fractious horse kicked him in the abdomen. Probably a fatal injury. Mrs. Emma T. lllancbard. Mrs. Emma T. Blanchard, aged 83, mother of J. M. Blanchard, a prom inent business man of Centralis, died recently, after a protracted illness. Caused 11 Hunter. A party of hunters passing through Arnold Bros.' pasture, west of Sedalia, accidentally set tire to the meadow, burning 7.20 tons of timothy bay. Wan Poor aud Lonesome. Joseph Montgomery wrote a not stating that he had no mouey and was lonesome, and theu shot and killed himself, near XndeDendeuce. NATIONAL MATTERS, A Lars; Deereaw In the Pablic Debt and How ft Occurred Keeelpta and Expendi tures for November Rural Free foetal DeUvery-Kepurt or the Department at Agriculture Statistician. Washijigtox, Dec. 2. The December statement of the public debt shows that at the close of business November SO, 1897, the public debt, less cash in the treasury, amounted to $1,009,220, 400, a decrease since October 30 of 11, 338,125. This decrease is accounted for by an increase iu the cash due to the deposit of an installment of the pro ceeds of the sale of the government's interest in the Union Pacific railroad. But for thU transaction the cash in the treasury would have been $771,450 less than last month. The debt is recapitulated as follows: Interest-bearing debt ( 847,.9 Debt on which interest has ceased since maturity 1.331.2S0 Debt bearing no Interest 381, IW, 125 Total ll.'iS.WJO.OS This amount, however, does not in clude $579,920,933 in certificates and treasury notes outstanding, which are offset by an equal amount of cash in the treasury. The cash in the treas ury is classified as follows: Gold, 8194,089.200; silver, $507,656,382; pa per, Si 05,7?0. 181; bonds, disbursing of ficers' balance, etc., S!8,907,251; total, 8840, 409, 070; against which there are demand liabilities amounting to $025, 745.510, leaving the ret cash balance, 8220,1103,559. RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. Comparative Statement for the Mouth of November. Washington", Dec. 2. The compara tive statement of the government re ceipts aud expenditures shows that the total receipts for the mon'.h of Novem ber, 1897, were S43,oti3,r05,of which S1S, 194,C18was received from the reorganiza tion committee of the Union Pacific rail road, making the ordinary receipts for the month $25,168,987. The total expenditures for Novem ber were $37,810,838, of which $4,549, 309 was cash in the Union Parihc sink ing fund turned into the treasury and repaid to the appropriation from which it had originally been drawn for in vestment. Hence the mouth's dis bursements include this sum. The or dinary receipts for the mouth, there fore, were $25,108,997, anil tlie ordinary Jisbursements were $33,201,470, leaving a deficit of $8,092,483. Ueceipls from customs were $9,830, 325, a falling off of about $100,000 as compared with November, 1890. The receipts from internal revenue were S13.530.049, a gain of about $430,000 for the uioutli. The excess of expenditures over re ceipts for the five months of the pres ent fiscal year independent of the pro ceeds of the sale of the Union Pacific, was $40,101,494. The government has received another payment of $6,100,000 on account of the Uuion Pacific sale which still leaves due from the com mittee $34,153,605 to be paid in four equal installments, the last on Jan uary 6, 1898. RURAL FREE DELIVERY. How the Ultimate Success of the Systesa May be Promoted. Washington, Dec. 2. Acting Post master Geueral Perry S. Heath, has is sued the following circular regarding the rural postal free delivery. "The ultimate success of the experi ment of free delivery of mail, which ia now being tried, by direction of congress, in 50 rural districts f the United States, will depend largely upon the promptness with which the carriers can make their deliveries to the patrons on their routes. This will be greatly facilitated ii those desiring to take advantage of rural free delivery will erect su itablu boxes by the roadside, in which car riers may deposit mails as they pass, and from which they may collect the mails intended for transmission. The time which would otherwise be con sumed by carriers in reaching resi dences some distance back from the road will thus be saved, tlie service will be rendered more efficient, its cost will be reduced and the probability of its becoming a permanent feature of the postal administration will be iu zreased. DEVOTED MAINLY TOCRITICISM. Annual Report of the Statistician of the Department of Agriculture Washington, Dec 2. The annua report of the statistician of the depart mentof agriculture, Mr. John Hyde, was issued yesterday. It is devoted mainly to criticisms of the cumbrous aud unbusinesslike crop-reportiag sys tom that has been in use in the de partment during the last few years and to recommendations looking to an improvement of the system. Mr. Hyde states that his brief offi cial connection with the divi sion has been sufficient to impress him strongly (1) with the extreme cumbrousness of the existing system of crop reporting; (2) with the fact that the information obtained is utterly incommensurate with the labor involved in its collection, and (3) with the disadvantage under which the farmer labors in being placed in pos session, so much less promptly than other citizens, of the information which the aepartment makes public from time to time concerning the condition of the crops in this and other coun tries. UNDER THE HAMMER. Nile of the Detroit (Mich.) Chamber of Commerce Hulldlng. Detroit. Mich., Dec 1. The Detroit chamber of commerce building was sold under the hammer in default of payment of interest on the first mortgage on the building held by the New York Life Insurance Co. The purchasers are L. F. Fechheimer, of Cincinnati, and Wm. II. Wiuslow and Francis A. Winslow, of Chicago, who were the only bidders. The pur chase price is $422,050. The building was recently appraised at $825,000. FURY. An Immense Amount of Valuable Prop erty Destroyed, with Peril to a Great Many Lives The Paper Houso of tho F. O. Sawyer Company, with IU Costly Stock of Paper Outted In Thirty Minutes Other Losses. St. Louis. Dec 2. Fire of unknown origin started in the big four-story brick building occupied by the F. O. Sawyer Paper Co., southwest corner of Third and Locust streets, at 3:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon. and within an hour the entire building and contents were a mass of ruins The loss was from $125,000 to $150,000,. and the insurance was $75,000. Over 100 persons, many of them girls, were employed in the paper company's building, and as they had short warn ing of danger there were many nar row escapes. But everybody es caped without serious injury. The building of the Woodward A Tiernan Printing Co., south on Third, street, was in danger, and there was av wild panic among the 600 employes.. Several hundred girls work iu this, printing establish me ut. and at the: alarm of fire they became hysterical, and it was some time before quiet was restored. The fire was one of the worst the fire department has had to fight in many a day. The Sawyer company's building was piled full of a general stock of pa per, which was quick to burn. The lire started on the second floor, ou which was stored a large quantity ol tar paper that was eaten by the flames as quickly as if it were oiied tinder. In less than 15 minutes after the fire was discovered the flames had pierced all the floors, and were darting out ol the windows and shooting upward far above the roof of the building. There was much danger of the adjacent buiUUngs ou both sides of Locust aud Third streets catching tire, aud men aud women rushed helter skelter down stairways to reach the street. Master James Kowe, 13 years old, who was ou the sixth floor of the Woodward & Tiernan building when the cry of fire was given, went down the long fire escape as quickly as a coon down an elm tree. K. E. Fowler, the insurance agent, was standing across the street when he saw the first smoke arise from the Sawyer building. As his office was in that building he rushed over, and iust had time to place his books in the safe and escape before the flames darted through his office. Thus the fire took the entire neighborhood by surprise. The value of the stock in the Sawyer building is estimated at $75,000 to $100,000, on which was insurance ag gregating $40,000. The building was valued at $50,000, and carried an insurance of $35,000. There was also an insurance of $2,500 on fixtures and $6,800 on rents. A con servative estimate places the total loss at $125,000, with a total insurance of $84,800. There were many narrow escapes from falling walls. The fire steamers were this morning still playing water upon the ruins. Considerable damage was done to ad jacent buildings not mentioned above. It is thought the fire originated by an employe of the company going into the tar paper room, ou the second floor, with a candle, that the gas from the paper ignited and the fire resulted. RUSH TO THE YUKON. Beport of Councul Smith, at Victoria, B. . C, to the State Department. Washington, Dec. 2. Consul Smith, at Victoria, in a report to the state de partment , discusses the subject of the Klondike gold fields. The advices re ceived at Victoria, he says, indicate that the rush in 1819 to California and later to South Africa, will be eclipsed by the gold seekers headed for the Yukon in the early months of 1898. Agents from England have been at Victoria making arrangements for 3.000 or 4,000 gold seekers. Merchants there have secured great supplies of outfit goods and the transportation companies have made arrangements sufficient to make daily lines between that pert and St. Michaels, Dyea, Skaguay and Fort Wrangle. The Canadian authorities have made every possible arrangement for an all Canadian route to the gold fields aud are trying to make it to the interest of miners to purchase their outfits in Cauada. This is to be done through tariff laws. Hon. Clifford Sif ton, the Canadian minister of the interior, made a trip to the northwest recently and in an address intimated that the 100 pounds exemption now allowed by the Canadian government to the miners would be abrogated by January 1. aud that probably everything not bought in Canada would have to pay duty. He declined to give any assurance that the tax on mining would be reduced or the "alternate claim outrage" be alle viated. The consul goes to some extent into a description of the methods of mining in Alaska, gathered from people mho. have returoed from there. Due man told him that he regarded Alaska as a. more profitable place for miners to go than to Canada, owing to the excessive royalty charged by the Dominion gov ernment, which, it seems, there is no expectation of having repealed. The Klondike stratum rnles in the direc tion of Alaska, and those men who have interest in mines there are doing as weli as those in Canada. FIRE AT MARIETTA,. O. Tha K. J. Lobdrll Bleyela Rim Factory Ituraed to the ground. Marietta, O., Dec 2. The E. J. Lobdell bicycle rim factory was burned to the ground lust night. Some de partments were running, and the men immediately turned on tiie factory stream, but without avail. Large quan tities of benzine and. paint were saved, at great risk to the firemen. The storage house and aJjoir.mg dwellings were saved, but all else were, destroyed. The loss is 950.000: insur ance, 820.000 FLAMES IN