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The River Press. Vol. XXIV. Fort Benton, Montana, Wednesday, June i, 1904. No. 32. PREPARING FOR BATTLE. Russian Commander Said to He Making Important Movement. St. Petersburg , May 25.— There are indications that General Kuro patkin is preparing to make a very important movement against the enemy. One of the reasons for this belief is the sudden increased restric tions upon the war correspondents at the front. The prevailing belief here is that General Kuroki's army is in difficulties. According to the latest information obtainable the Japanese have resumed their forward movement. Several columns are advancing though the bulk of the invading army is still near Feng Wang Cheng. There are per sistent rumors of a bloody battle hav ing taken place resulting in the de feat of the Japanese with great loss. Small parties of Japanese scouts have been seen northeast of Mukden at a considerable distance, but no impor tant body of the enemy has been lo cated in this vicinity. Russia lias Trouble at Home. London , May 26. —The Standard publishes a dispatch from a Russian correspondent containing most sensa tional statements regarding the alarm ing condition of Russia as a result of the war. The correspondent asserts that disturbances in various cities have been followed by wholesale exe cutions without any civil trial. It is said that 000 persons have been hang ed in Warsaw alone, and that many others have been hanged in Cronstadt and Moscow. At the latter place, the troops buried 80 coffins, containing the bodies of those who had been hanged. The bodies were buried secretly in the night, presumably in the woods. This correspondent asserts that the war has resulted in the utter paraly sis of all business, and says that even the most sober-minded are drawing ominious conclusions from the sig nificant fact that regiments stationed in European Russia have been re tained in their places and that only reserves have been mobilized for the front. Government Officials Acquitted Washington , May 25.—Within 22 minutes of the retirement of the jury in the case of James N. Tyner and Harrison J. Barrett, tried on the charges of conspiracy in connection with their duties as law officers of the postoffice department, a verdict of not guilty was returned. General Tyner, expecting a longer wait, had been wheeled from the room, and his neph ew and co-defendant hastened to give an order which caused him to return. General Tyner appeared greatly ex cited as he attempted to face the jury, and when the verdict was read, he broke down completely. Thayer Appointed Manager. New York , May 25. —Benjamin B. Thayer has been appointed assistant general manager of the Amalgamated company. H. H. Rogers continues in general charge of the properties as presideut and general manager. The Herald announcing the news says: | "Mr. Thayer, who is an expert min- 1 ing man, with a practical experience 1 of many years, becomes assistant to the president. In that capacity he! will have charge of many sub-depart- j ments of the company's affairs. He, will have his headquarters in New j York and Butte. Mr. Thayer is a Harvard graduate." j In addition to being in charge under ( President Rogers, of the copper prop erties and the smelters, Mr. Thayer will be assistant manager of the lum ber interests, hotels, newspaper, stores, banks, street cars, electric lighting and power plants and other interests of the Amalgamated in Mon tana. The Good Old Summer Time. Baltimore , May 25.—The intense 1 heat of yesterday continued today, the I thermometer marking 87. One man was prostrated. Philadelphia , May 25.—Excessive 1 heat today resulted in five prostra tions. Thermometers on the street registered 94 degrees. From Poverty to Affluence. New York , May 25.—After having toiled more than 25 years at $2 a day as a custom house weigher in a sugar refinery here, Patrick G. Hennessey of Brooklyn has suddenly found him self to be the heir of $400,000. Hennessey became cognizant of his good fortune through an advertise ment inserted in a daily paper by a firm of London solicitors, who has charge of an estate left by Hennes WORLD' FAIR VIEWS. m m mmm r-v%■;, am* sey's uncle. The latter was a wealthy merchant of Melbourne. He went to Australia in his youth and the nephew sought his fortune iu America, never having seen his benefactor since child hood. Treasure In Old Coat New York . May 25.—Five $1.000 treasury notes have been found in au old moth-eaten coat purchased by Elmer Eckerson of Bogota, N. J., at an auction sale of unclaimed baggage in a railroad station. Neither the trunk nor the coat it contained bore any marks of identification. Ecker son was about to throw the garment away, when he discovered the treasure carefully wrapped in oil silk. The lucky buyer is 63 years old and will at once take a vacation in Europe. Suffocated in Tunnel wilkesbarre, Pa., May 20.—Ten miners were suffocated by iras and sul phur fumes from a locomotive this afternoon in the workings of the Sum mit Branch Coal company at Wil liamstown, Dauphin county. The tun nel in which the accident occurred is one mile in length and is used by the coal company to convey the coal mined in the workings in the Bear valley to the breaker in the Williams valley. The men employed in the Bear valley, who reside in Williamstown, have made a practice for years of riding to and from their work on the trips of ears that are hauled between the two valleys by small locomotives. May Work Without Pay. Chicago , May 20.—A dispatch to the Tribune from Emporia, Kan., says that William Allan White, editor of the Emporia Daily Gazette, has been offered the position of state accountant without pay under Gov ernor Bailey. Mr. White has not yet accepted. The offer made by Govern or Bailey is the result of an editorial written by Mr. White last week, in which he declared that he would glad ly accept the place of state accountant without a salary. He expressed belief that a state ac countant could fiud plenty of work to do in checking up the expenditures of the state officers. The plä'ee of »täte accountant was created by the legis lature of 1903 and pays a salary of $2,000 a year, but has never been filled. Mississippi Town Destroyed. Jackson , Miss , May 25.—Fire iu Yazoo City today destroyed every business house of any importance to gether with a large number of private residences, the principal hotel and the passenger station. The burned dis trict is three blocks wide aud 12 blocks long. The estimates of the loss are between $1,600,000 and $2,000, 000. The water supply was inadequate and efforts to stay the flames were futile. A citizen named C'hambless was killed by falling walls and Mayor Holmes was severely hurt, his condi tion tonight being reported as pre carious. Yazoo City is 40 miles from Jackson and has 6,000 inhabitants. Rumor Denied By Heinze. New York , May 26.— "There is no truth in the story. You can state that authentically and send my regards to my friends in Montana." With these words F. Aug. Heinze disposed of the rumor, originating in the fertile brain of Thomas W. Lawson of Boston, to the effect that Mr. Heinze had dis posed of his Montana properties to the Amalgamated Copper company". The story was given no credence here. Neither the Associated Press, the Scripps Service, nor any of the reputable press associations consid ered it reliable and it was treated iu the New York papers as one of Tom Law son's fairy stories, manufactured for purposes known only to Mr. Lawson. AGRICULTURE BUILDING. .MOVING AUAINST Ulli!' ARTHUR Japanese hrive Back, the l nemy and Capture I ortified Position LONDON, May 26.—A dispatch to the Central News from Tokio says the Japan- se have stormed and captured the town of Kin Chou, about 32 miles north ut' Port Arthur. After the oc cupation of Kin Chou the Russians retired iu good order to the heights farther sou h, which were attacked by the full Japanese force acd carried after a stubborn resistance. lu un earlier message the Tokio cor respondent of the Central News cabled that the Japanese spies had ascer tained that the Russians had 30 guns at Kin Chou and numerous mines and wire entanglements at all the points where a Japanese attack was expected. The Tokio correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, under date of May 26, sends the following: The Japan ese have already constructed 30 miles of light railroad for the transporta tion of the siege guns toward Port Arthur. Around Kin Chou, the Jap I anese have been fighting for the past eight days, bat are making little pro gress against the Russians, who oc cupy strong positions on the heights. War Correspondents Barred St. Petersburg , May 26.—Viceroy Alexieff has decided not to allow uny more foreign newspaper correspon dents to join the Manchurian army, at least for the present. None of those at Mukdeu have yet been allowed to go to Liao Yang, much less to the front, and when permission is granted it is probable that some sort of pledge will be exacted that will require them to remain until the end of this year's campaign, on the ground that if they should depart at will they would take away information concerning the Russian dispositions, equipments, guns and transportation facilities which would be published beyond the jurisdiction of the Russian military censors and might prove of great value to the enemy. Made Bonfire of Pianos New York , May 25.—While 150 delegates to the national piano deal ers' convention in Atlantic City waved red lights and danced in a circle, 200 venerable square pianos ha\e beeu cremated to mark what the dealers term the passing of the old make of instruments. The bonfire, which was built in an open place on high ground, blazed like a burning house and was not extinguished for several hours. Expensive .Mail Service in Alaska. Washington , May 26.—The post office has received bids for carrying the mail from Vahles to Tanana, Alaska, via Fairbanks and China, a distance of 620 miles and return, from October 3 to May 3 each year from next October to May 3, 1906. The contract doubtless will be let to Oscar Foote and Joseph Grant of Alaska, whose bid, $40,945 a year, or $1,372 a round trip, was the lowest. The only other bid was $50,400 per annum, or $3,650 per round trip, submitted by the Northern Commercial company of San Francisco. The contract is one of the largest undertakings of its kind. The schedule calls for 50 days running time each way, with a maximum -eight of mail of 400 pounds each single trip. Yukon Navigation Opened. Washington , May 26.— The post office.department has announced that navigation on the Yukon river in Alaska is reopened and that mail mat ter may be accepted by postoffices for transmission to any destination in Alaskan territory. This also includes mails for Dawson aud all other places in Canadian Yukon territory. The first trip was made with an ice plow which carried 14,000 pounds of mail matter. This was prctically the first shipment, of newspapers and mer chandise to that section since last I November. Oregon Wheu: Groweis Combine. i Pendleton . Ort.. May 26.—A move ! meut ha- been inaugurated her.e for : the formation of a wheat growers' as sociation for the purpose of pooling the entire harvest of Umatilla county j this year. The deal will be one of the ! most gigantic in the history of the j northwest, if it is carried out. : E L. Smith, one of the heaviest growers in the county, is formulating the plan, ami already has other farm ers working with him. The idea was takeu from the success of the sheep men iu pooling their wool clips and selling to the highest bidder. The plan is for all members of the associa tion to pool warehouse receipts for wheat after it has been graded, and then offer the entire lot to the highest bidder. Yazoo City I'nacr Martial Law. Yazoo C'itv , .Mi-,., May 26.— Yuzou* I City is under martial law as a result of yesterday's conflagration. Several j negroes who were caught in an at j tempt to steal salvage have been ar I rested. Two military companies pa I trolled the burned district. The loss I is estimated at $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 and the insurance probably will ap ! proximately reach 50 per cent, of the loss. Twenty-eight blocks were swept : clean by the flames. Of the 200 build ! ings destroyed, fifty were splendid j residences, occupied by some of the j wealthiest citizens of the south. Thirteen Killed by Explosion. Louisville , Ky., May 26.—Thir teen persons were killed, three fatally injured and five hurt by an explosion of boilers which totally demolished the towboat Fred Wilson today. The Wilson was the property of the Mon ongahela Coal & Coke company, and left Pittsburg last Friday with six barges, twelve coal boats aud four flats bound for Louisville. She ar rived here about midnight, had pro ceeded down the river and was about to tie up when the explosion occurred. The Wilson was literally blown to pieces and her hull sank iu 18 feet of water. Two heavy pieces of wreckage were found almost 50U feet from the bank and her flag iu the top cf a tree where it was blowu with a piece of wreckage. .Miles Is An Anti-Imperialist. boston, Mass., May 26.—Lieuten and General Miles was the principal speaker at the dinner of the Massa chusetts Reform club at Young's hotel last night. General Miles advocated emphatically the independence of the Filipinos and reciprocity with Canada. Referring to the so-called anti-imper ialists, the general said: "A small body of intelligent, pa triotic men have been in this vicinity for a number of years, advocating a principle of humanity and justice con cerning our relations with a people living on the other side of the globe. They have endured the jeers aud criticisms of those who were in au thority or differed with them and yet within a few years they have seen a radical change in public opinion in this country concerning the status of 8,000,000 Malays. All honor to those men and God grant that speedily we may witness the establishment of the first republic in the Orient. - ' excluded From the .Mails. y\ ashington , May 26.—In connec tion with the decision of the postoffice department to take steps to eliminate objectionable patent medicine and other advertisements from the news papers, it is stated that all these cases will be taken up individually on their merits. RUSSIANS OX THE RUN. Japanese Storm Fortified Position and Will March Against Port Arthur. Tokio , M ay 27.—The Japanese army J swept the Russians from Kin Chou | last evening, aud iu a desperate fight stormed the almost impregnable pos ition of the Russians on Nan Shan hill, west of Talien Wau. The battle raged in the hills all through the night, and fragmentary telegrams from the Japanese headquarters re port that the engagement is still iu progress and that the Japanese are pursuing the Russians south from Nau Shang and the head of Talien Wan bay. The Russians had been making elab orate preparations to check the Jap anese march south on the Liao Tung peninsula toward Port Arthur. They had fortified the high ground on the south shore of Talien Wan bay. This hill was the stougest part of the line. A series of batteries, strongly em placed, crowned its crest, while rifle pits extended around its sides. Miues had been placed lower down on this hill aud around the base, on the nor thern aud eastern sides was stretched well made wire entanglements. Iu storming the hill the Japanese first centered their fire on the Russian batteries, iu which work they were aided by four gunboats from Kin Chou bay. They succeeded iu silenc ing many of the enemy's guns. The Russians had constructed a series of trenches around the hill on a terrace protected by wire entanglements and other such devices. The Japanese made a series of rushes, but they were in vain. The deadly rifle and cannon fire of the enemy checked them repeat edly. Finally, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese reformed and stormed the crest of the hill. The Russians held to their position dog gedly aud it was 7 o'clock in the even ing before the Japanese finally gained possession of the ridge. London , May 27.—A dispatch to the Central News from Harbin says the J apanese losses during the fight ing at Kin Chou are said to be 12,000 killed. It is said these figures have been confirmed by an official dispatch. A Tokio correspondent of the Tele graph says he learns that the Japan ese troops are now within 12 miles of Port Arthur, and that the Russians suffered heavier casualties than the Japanese, who have taken guns and other material and a few prisoners. Brings Suit for Fifty Millions Boston , May 27.—Fifty million dol lars is the amount claimed by Eliza beth T. Greenbough of New York, widow of the famous inventor, Benja min P. Greenbough, in a suit against Henry H. Rogers of the Standard Oil company, and the executors of the estate of Charles Pratt, ouce Mr. Roger--' partner. Mrs. Greenbough's cl ai ii I i.jr this big sum is based on the invention by her hu- baud of a process of oil retiuin>_r which renders kerosene none-xplosive, and she alleges she is entitled to a royalty of one-quarter of a cent a gallon on all oil so treated by the Standard Oil company. In 1874 when Rogers and Pratt were young and poor in the oil business, Greenbough invented his process and sold it to them under a contract guar anteeing him the royally mentioned. Within a few years Greenbough had received more than $500,000 in royal ties from the Standard Oil company, to which Rogers and Pratt transfer red the invention. Then Greenbough was lost at sea, and his widow having no knowledge of the contract with her husbaud, made no claim for royalties. The Standard Oil company also apparent ly forgot it. A short time ago Mrs. Greeubough found among her hus band's papers a copy of the contract aud her suit is the result. Though begun against Rogers aud the Pratt executors, the Standard Oil compara is the real defendant in the suit. Warship Named Montana. Washington , May 27. — It was de cided today to name for the Treasure state one of the new armored cruisers provided for iu the last naval con struction act. The cruiser Montana, when completed, will be one of the finest ships in the navy. Early in the session Representative Dixon urged President Roosevelt to name oue of the new warships Montana, and today the president announced that he would do so. lüii I.oss to Uncle Sam. Baltimore , May 27. —The decision of the New York federal court in sus taining the appeal of Honolulu im porters from the ruling of Collector of Customs Stackable of this district aud upholding their contention that saki is beer, aad not wine, also sustains a large number of claims, aggregating $400,000 to $500,000 against the federal government. The decision means that all duties overpaid on saki as wine importations since the appeal was made two years ago will be returned to the importers. Eastern Farmers Are Alarmed. W ashington, m ay 27.—Of the four teen great irrigation projects, for which the secretary of the interior re cently set apart $27,000,000 of the re clamation fund, seven will, according to the estimates of the engineers in charge of the work, reclaim 1,103,000 acres of laud at aiUotal cost of $12, 550,000, an average of $11.37 per acre. When the immense increase in the value of the land effected by irriga tion is considered, the cost is by no means great, much similar land sell ing at $40 aud upward per acre. Agriculturists in the east are al ready beginning to wonder what will be the effect on the farming industry of the vast acreage which it is expect ed to render fertile by irrigation. They say that the opening up of the west, the cultivation of the great wheat fields of the northwest and the large area iu the corn belt has already driven the eastern farmer to intensive farming. Those interested in irriga tion, however, maintain that the re clamation of the arid sections will no more than keep pace with the increas ed population, aud consequent de mand of the country, aud that eastern farmers will "never know the differ ence." The Smoot Investigation. Salt Lake , May 27.—According to Senator Dubois of Idaho, who reached Salt Lake from Washington yester day enroute to his home in Blackfoot, the senate committee on privileges and elections will meet in Utah some time before congress assembles for the purpose of hearing further testi mony in the Smoot case and will have its report before the senate soon after that body meets. Senator Dubois, owing to his position as a member of the senate committee, refused to dis cuss the merits of the case or give aa opinion as to the possibility of Sena tor Smoot being unseated as a result of the investigation. Will Investigate Freight Rates. Denyer , May 27. —The cattle grow ers' interstate executive committee re ceived word today that the interstate commerce commission has issued an order to proceed of its own motion to investigate the freight rate situation and the service of railroad's in live stock shipments iu the west and north west. The hearing will be held in Denver, but the exact date has not yet been fixed. The investigation will be confined to the lines west of £the Mississippi, but will not include the rates east from Texas, Indian Territory, New Mexico and Arizona. It will include the rates aud service from those states aud territories to northern ranges. Dog Eaters Amuse Miss Roosevelt. St. Louis , May 27.—Miss Alice Roosevelt was entertained at 1 o'clock luncheon by Mrs. George D. Mark ham, at the Directors' club on the fair grounds today, after which she visited the Philippine reservation in honor of the occasion. The Iggor rotes donned their brightest clothing, killed their fattest dogs, three pigs aud 25 chickens and executed their fanciest dances. The Urooklyn Handicap New York , May 26.—Amid the rousing cheers of 35,000 people, The Picket won the rich Brooklyn handi cap, one and a quarter miles, at Gravesend today, by a head from the favorite, Irish Lad. Proper was third, two lengths back: Hennis was fourth, ahead away. Even before the horses had been called to the paddock for the first race the grand stands anil lawns were crowded to their fullest capacity. It was a typical May day gathering from every walk of life. About 300 book makers drew in line and it is roughly estimated that more than a million dollars chauged hands on the after noou's result. An Alaskan .Murder Mystery. Vancouver , B. C., May 26.— A dispatch from Dawson today says: W. S. Evans, a miner, was murdered some time last week just below Eagle City, Alaska. His body, horribly mutilated with the blows of an ax, was found this morning on the river bank. The man had evidently been camping beside the river. He had a considerable amount of money aud robbery was probably the prize which the murderer had in view.