Georgia Historic Newspapers

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” A I
WEEK
VY'iT, A’ ( THE MORNING NEWS. 1
VvlbTe - Established 1850. - -Incorporated 1888. >
I J. H. ESTILL, President. f
STORMING OF THE HIGHTS.
REV TALMAGE IN THE PULPIT OF
THE PRESIDENT’S CHURCH.
HIM Text Taken From Zechariah It.,
7—The Story ol Zerubbnbel and the
Great Mountain of Obstacles—lie
Spoke of the Prejudice Ag-ainwt the
Holy Writ—He Inveijjfhß Agrainst
Bud Literature, Bad Homes and
All Bad fnMtitntiouN.
Washington, Jan. 17.—1 n the Presldent'a
church, and before an audience in which
were prominent senators and members of
the House of Representatives and people
of all nationalities, this discourse of su
blime encouragement was delivered. Dr.
Talmage’s subject was, "Storming the
Hights," and his text, Zechariah 4-7:
"Who art thou, O great mountain? Be
fore Zerubbabel thou shalt become a
plain!”
Zerubbabel! Who owned that difficult
name, in which three times the letter "b"
occurs, disposing most people to stammer
in the pronunciation? Zerubbabel was
the splendid man called to rebuild the
destroyed temple of Jerusalem. Stone
for the building had been quarried, and
the trowel had rung at the laying of the
corner-stone, and all went well, when the
Cuthaeans offered to help in the work.
They were a bad lot of people, and Ze
rubbabl declined their help, and then the
trouble began. The Cuthaeans prejudiced
the secretary of the treasury against
Zerubbabel, so that the wages of the car
penters and masons could not be paid,
and the heavy cedar timbers which had
been dragged from Mount Lebanon to the
Mediterranean and floated in rafts from
Beyrout to Joppa, and were to be drawn
by ox team from Joppa to Jerusalem, had
halted, and as a result of the work of
those jealous Cuthaeans for sixteen years
the building of the temple was stopped.
But after sixteen years, Zerubbabel, the
mighty soul, got a new call from God to
go ahead with the temple building, and
the angel of the Lord in substance said:
"They have piled up bbstacles in the way
of Zerubbabel until they have become as a
mountain, hight above hight, crag above
crag; but it shall all be thundered down
and made flat and smooth as the floor of
a house, ’Who art thou, O great moun
tain? Before Zerubbabel thou shall be
come a plain.’ "
Well, the Cuthaeans are not all dead
yet. They are busy in evpry neighbor
hood and every city and every nation of
every age, heaping obstacles in the way of
the cause of God. They have piled up
hindrances above hindrance* until they
have become a hill, and the hill has be-
a mountain, aad y the njourXfclu has
Alp, aiuf there it stands, right
an the way of all movements for the
World's salvation. Some people are bo
discouraged about the hight and breadth
of this mountain in front of them chat
they have done nothing for sixteen years
and many of those who are at work trying
to do something toward removing the
mountain toil in such away that I can see
they have not much faith that the moun
tain of hindrances will ever be removed.
They feel they must do their duty, but
they feel all the time—l can hear it in their
prayers and exhortations—that they are
striking their pickaxes and shovels into
the side of the Rocky mountains. If the
good Lord will help me while I preach
1 will give you the names of some
of the high mountains which are really in
the way, and then show you that those
mountains are to be prostrated, torn
down, ground up, leveled, put out of sight
forever. "Who aa*t thou, O great moun
tain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt be
come a plain,"
First, there is the Mountain of Preju
dice, as long as a range of the Pyrenees.
Prejudice against the Bible as a dull book,
an inconsistent book, a cruel book, an
unclean book, and In every way an untit
book. The most of them have never read
it. They think the strata of the rocks
contradict the account in Genesis. The
poor souls do not know that the Mosaic.
Recount agrees exactly with the geological
account. No violin or flute ever were In
better accord. By crowbar and pickax
and shovel and blasting powder the geo
logist goes down in the earth and says:
"The first thing created in the furnishing
of the earth was the plants." Moses says.
"Ay! I told you that in the Book or
Genesis: 'The earth brought forth grass
and herb, yielding seed after his kind, and
the tree yielding fruit.’ “ The geologist
goes on digging in the earth and says:
"The next thing in the furnishing of the
earth was tho making of the creatures of
the sea.” Moses says, "Ay! I told you
that was next in the Book of Genesis:
•God said. Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creatures that
have life; and God created groat whales.”
The geologist goes on digging, and says:
"Tlie next thing in the furnishing of the
earth was the creation of the cattle and
tho reptiles and the beasts of the field.”
"Ay!” says Moses, "I told you that was
next in the first chapter of Genesis; ’And
God said. Let the earth bring forth the
living creature after his kind, cattle and
creeping thing, and beast of the earth af
ter his kind.' ” The geologist goes on dig
ging in the earth, and says: "The next
creature was the human family. “Ay!"
says Moses, “I told you that was next In
the Book of Genesis; *Bo Qod created
man In his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and female,
created he them.' " Those prejudiced
against the Bible do not know* that the
explorations in Egypt and Palestine and
Syria are confirming the scriptures—the
same facts writtan on monuments and on
the walls of exhumed cities as written
in the Bible. The city of Pithotn has been
unburied, and its bricks are found to
have been made without straw, exactlv
corresponding with the Bible story of the
persecuted Hebrews. On terracotta cyl
inder recently brought up from thousands
of years of burial, the capture of Babylon
by Cyrus is told. On a Babylonian gem
recently found are the figures of a tree,
a nun, a woman and a serpent, and tho
hands of the tnan and woman are stretch
ed up toward the tree as if to pluck the
- fruit. Thus the Bible story of the fall is
conn »-
In n mwum nt Constantinople you see
u piece of th* wall that once in tho an*
ottnt temple of separated the
court of the Gentiles and the court of the
IsraeUb ii, to which Paul refers when he
says of Christ. "He is our peace, who
hath broken down the middle wall of par
tition between ua." On tablets recently
discover*.! have been found the names of
prominenttmen of the Bible, spelled a little
different, .according to the demands of
ancient iwmtuage. "Adamu" for Adam.
‘•Alw»mn "<tor Abraham. "ANu“ for Abel,
and so on. * Twenty-two feet under ground
has been found a seal inscribed with the
lllcchln News.
words "Haggai, son of Shebanlah," thou
sands of years ago cut, showing that the
Prophet Haggal, who wrote a part of the
Bible, was not a myth. The royal engi
neers have found, eighty feet below the
surface of the ground at Jerusalem, Phoe
nician pottery and hewn stones with in
scriptions, showing that they were fur
nished by Hiram, King of Tyre, just as
the Bible says they were. The great
names of Bible history, that many sup
pose are names of imaginary beings, are
found cut into imperishable stones
which have within a few years
been rolled up from their en
tombment of ages, such as Sen
nacherib and Tlglath-Pileser. On the
edge of a bronze step, and on burned brick
has been found the name of Nebuchad
nezzar. Henry Rawlinson and Oppert
and Hlncks, and Palestine exploration so
cieties, and Asyriologists, and Egyptolo
gists, have rolled another Bible up from
the depths of the earth, and lo! it corre
sponds exactly with our Bible, the rock
Bible just like the printed Bible, inscrip
tions on cylinders and brick-work cut
thirty-eight hundred years before Christ
testifying to the truth of what we read
eighteen hundred and ninety-seven years
after Christ. The story of the tower of
Babel has been confirmed by the fact that
recently at Babel an oblong pile of brick
one hundred and ten feet high evidences
the remains of a fallen tower. In the In
j spired Book of Ezra we read of the great
and noble Asnapper, a name that meant
nothing especial, until recently, in pried
up Egyptian sculpture, we have the story
there told of him as a great hunter, as
well as a great warrior. What I say now
Is news to those prejudiced against the
Bible. They are so far behind the times
that they know not that the Old Book is
being proved true by the prying eye of
the antiquarian and the ringing hammer
of the archaeologist and the plunging
crowbar of the geologist. No more is infi
delity characterized by its blasphemy than
by its ignorance, but oh! what a high
mountain of prejudice against the Bible,
against Christianity, against churches,
against all evangelizing enterprises—a
I mountain that casts its long, black shad-
I ows over this continent and over all con
tinents. Geographers tell us that Mount
Everest is the highest mountain in the
world. Oh, no! The mountain of preju
dice against Christianity is higher than
the highest crags that dare the lightnings
of heaven. Before our Zerubbabel can it
ever become a plain?
Another mountain of hindrance is that
of positive and outspoken Immorals.
There is the Mountain of Inebriacy. It
Is piled high with kegs and demijohns and
decanters and hogsheads, on which sit the
victims of that traffic whose one business
is to rob earth and heaven of the most
generous and large-hearted and splendid
|of the human race. If their business was
to take only the mean and stingy and con
temptible and useless, we would not say
much against the work, for there are tens
of thousands of men and women who are
a nuisance to the world, and their obliter
ation from human society would be an ad
vantage to all that is good. The removal
of these moral deficits . woutet jrot arouse
’in us much *of a protest. Buti Insobriety
takes the best. The Mountain of Ine
briacy stands in the way of the Kingdom
of God, and hundreds of thousands of
men, but for that hindrance, would step
right into the ranks of the Lord's host and
march heavenward, each one taking a reg
iment with hlrf. The Mountain of In
ebriacy is not an ordinary mountain; but
it is armed. It is a line of fortresses con
tinually blazing away its destructive
forces -upon all our neighborhoods, towns,
and cities, their volleys of death poured
down upon the homes and churches. Un
| der this power more than one
hundred thousand men and wo
men are in this country ev-
ery year imprisoned, and an army of six
hundred thousand drunkards almost shake
the earth with their staggering tread. It
causes in this country 300 murders and 400
suicides a year. This Mountain of Ine
briacy has not only assaulted the land,
but bombarded the shipping of the sea,
and some of the most appalling ship
wrecks on Atlantic and Pacific coast
have been the result. What sank the
steamer Rothsay Castle, on the way from
Liverpool to Dublin, destroying 100 hu
man lives? A drunken sea captain. What
| blew up the Ben Sherrod on the Missis-
I sippl and sent 150 to horrible death? A
drunken crew. What drove on the break
ers a steamer making its way from New
York to Charleston, and sent whole fami
lies, on the waV home from summer wat
ering places, to the merciless depths of
the sea. A drunken sea captain. Gather
up from the depths of the rivers, and
lakes, and oceans, the bones of those
shipwrecked by intoxicated captains and
crews and you could build out of them a
temple of horrors, all the pillars and al
tars and floors and ceilings fashioned of
human skulls. Is It possible that such a
Mountain of Inebriacy can ever be made
a plain?
Yonder also is the Mountain of Crime,
with its strata of fraud, and malpractice,
and malfeasance, and blackmail, and
burglary, and piracy, and •embezzlement,
and libertinism, and theft, all its bights
manned with the desperadoes, the cut
throats, the pickpockets, the thimble-rig
gers, the plunderers, the marauders, the
pillagers, the corsairs, the wreckers, the
bandits, the tricksters, the forgers, the
thugs, the garotters, the flre-flends, the
dynamiters, the shoplifters, the klepto
maniacs, the pyramanics, the dipsoman
| iacs, the smugglers, the kidnappers, the
I Jack Sheppards, the Robert Macaires, and
the Macbeths of villainy. The crimes of
I the world! Am I not right in calling them,
i when piled up together, a mountain? But
we cannot bring ourselves to appreciate
great bights except by comparison. You
I think of Mount Washington as high, es
| pecially those of you who ascended as of
i old, on muleback. or more recently by rail
train. to the Tip Top house. Oh, no! That
| is not high! For it is only about six thous
and feet, whereas, rising on this western
hemisphere are Chimborazo, twenty one
thousand feet high, and Mount Sahama,
twenty-three thousand feet high, and
Mount Sarota. twenty-four thousand eight
hundred feet high. But that is not the
highest mountain on the western hemis
phere. The highest mountain is the
Mountain of Crime, and Is it possible that
this mountain, before our Zerubbabel, can
ever be made a plain?
There Is also the Mountain of War, the
most volcanic of all mountains—the Ve
suvius which, not content, like the Vesu
vius of Italy, with whelming two cities.
Herculaneum and Pompeii, has covered
with its fiery scoria thousands of cities
and would like to whelm all the cities of
I both hemispheres. Give this mountain
full utterance, and It would cover up
Washington and New York and London
as easily as a householder, with his shov
el. at 10 o'clock at night, banks a grate
fire with ashes. This mountain is a pile
of fortresses, barricades and armories, the
world's artillery heaped, wheels above
wheels, columbiads above columbiads.
seventy-four pounders above seventy-four
pounders, wrecked nations above wrecked
nations. This Mountain of War is not
only loaded to cannonade the earth, but
It is also a cemetery, holding the corpses
of thirty million slain in the wars of Al-
’ SAVANNAH, MONDAY, JANUARY IS, 1897.
exander and Cyrus, sixty million slain in
Roman wars, one hundred and eighty mill
ion slain in war with Turks and Sara
cens, and holding about thirty-five billion
corpses, not million but billion, which
was the estimate made by Edmund Burke
more than a hundred years ago of those
who had been destroyed by war, so that
you would have to add many more mill
ions now. Twenty years ago a careful au
thor estimated that about fourteen times
the then population of the world had gone
down in battle or in hospital after battle.
Ah! This Mountain of War is not like
an ordinary mountain. It is like Kilauea,
one of the Sandwich Islands, which holds
the greatest volcano in all the earth, and
concerning which I wrote from the Sand
wich Islands a few years ago:
"What a hissing, bellowing, tumbling,
soaring force is Kilauea! Lake of un
quenchable fire: convulsions and parox
ysms of flame: elements of nature In tor
ture: torrldity and luridity: congregation
of dreads: molten horrors: sulphurous
abysms: swirling mystery of all time: in
finite turbulence: chimney of perdition:
wallowing terrors: fifteen acres of threats:
glooms insufferable and Dantesque: cauld
ron stirred by the champion witch of Pan
demonium: camp-fire of the armies of
Diabolus: wrath of the mountains in full
bloom: shimmerinng incandescence: pyr
otechnics of the planet: furnace-blast of
the ages: Kilauea!” But, my friends,
mightier, higher, vaster, hotter, more rag
ing is the volcanic Mountain of War. It
has been blazing for hundreds of years,
and will keep on blazing until, until,—but
I dare not hazard a phophecy. Can it be
that its flres will ever be put out? Can It
be that its roar will ever be silenced? Can
it be that before our Zerubbabel that blaz
ing mountain will ever become a plain?
The mightiest, grandest movement for
driving brutal war out of the earth dates
from Jan. 11, 1897. The men who on either
side of the sea did most to effect that plan
of arbitration have made themselves im
mortal.
The eve of the present administration of
the United States government has been
honored with the gladdest event of eigh
teen centuries. All civilized nations will
copy the sublime example. I implore the
illustrious Senate of the United States to
a.low nothing to interfere with a vote of
ratification, that the bells of church
Christendom may ring out “Peace on earth,
good will toward men.”
Senators, many of you my personal
friends, let me say that this is the oppor
tunity of your lives. By emphatic and
enthusiastic vote rise to the splendor of
the occasion and win the favor of all the
good of earth and all the mighty In heav
en. Let the aye, aye, of our American
Senate resound through all the capitals
of Europe and make all the arsenals and
armories of the round world hear that
there shall be no more murder among na
tions.
There is also the long range of moun
tains, longer than Appalachian range,
longer than Caucasian range, longer than
Sierra Nevada range—the piled-up oppo
sition of bad literature, bad homes, bad.
aLiuremen bad cen
turies, bad religions; Paganism, Hlndoo
ism, Buxldlsm, Mohammedanism, and
buttressed and enthroned Godlessness, de
voted to ambition and lust and hydra
headed, argus-eyed abomination, as it
stands with lifted fist and mocking lips,
challenging Jehovah upon the throne of
the universe to strike if he dare. Oh, It
1s a great mountain, as my text declares.
There is no use in denying it. The most
authentic statistics declare it. The signs
of the times prove it. All Christian work
ers realize it. It Is a mountain. "The
mountain can never be brought down,"
says worldly- speculation. "The mountain
can never be made a plain,” says small
faith in, the churches. "Well, let us see.
Let us look about for the implements
we can lay our hands on. Let us count
the number on our side who are willing to
dig with a shovel, or bore a tunnel, or
blast a rock. Let us see if there is any
foreign help that will come in to reinforce
us. 1 do not want to make myself absurd
by attempting an impossibility. If it is
only one spade at the foot of Mount
Blanc; if it is only one arm. capable of
lifting but a few pounds, against a moun
tain that weighs a hundred million tons,
let us quit before we make ourselves the
travesty and caricature of the universe. If
we are to undertake this job, first of all
we must have a competent engineer, one
who knows all about excavations, about
embankments, about tunnels, about moun
tains. I know engineers who have carved
up mountains, cut down mountains, re
moved mountains. I will do nothing un
less I know who is to be our Engineer.
Zerubbabel led at the rebuilding of the
ancient Temple, and Matthew Henry,
the greatest of commentators, declares
that our Zerubbabel is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Zerubbabel of my text was
only a type of the glorious and omnipo
tent Jesus, and as I look up into the face
Os this Divine Engineer and see it glow
with all the splendors of the Godhead,
and see that in his arm is the almightl
ness that flung out all the worlds that
glitter in the midnight heavens, and that
to lift the Himalayas would cost him no
more effort than for me to lift an ounce,
my courage begins to rally, and my faith
begins to mount, and my enthusiasm is
all aflame, and the words or my text this
momtnt just fit my lips and express the
triumph of my soul, and I cry out, “Who
art thou, O great mountain? before Zerub
babel thou shalt become a plain."
My experiences with the shovel are that
you cannot do much by one push of that
implement, and that after you have been
digging with it an hour what you have
accomplished seems very little; but just
go along by the place where they are build
ing a railroad through a mountain and see
what a great work a thousand shovels can
do, and know that while there are a thou
sand shovels at work on this side of the
mountain there are a thousand shovels
busy on the other side, and all I have to
do is to manage my own particular shovel.
It cheers me to think that against this old
Mountain of Sin there are hundreds of
thousands and millions of shovels this mo
ment busy, and we are all at work under
the one Engineer who came down from
his throne in heaven to oversee and help
the removal of that mountain, and who
has contracted to have it done. I have
seen the contract, and He is well paid for
it. The compensation promised by the
throne of heaven is, "I will give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance and the ut
termost parts of the earth for thy pos
session." The reason so many of us are
idle is that we want a bigger shovel or
we would like to manage some great hy
draulic engine. No, brother. Stick to
your shovel. Dig away in your Sabbath
classes. Dig away in your missions. Dig
aw in your homes. Dig away in your
pulpits. Do the work next to you. Do
not spend too much time look
ing at the great size of the mountains,
or at the way others use their shovels'
All that you can accomplish toward the
removing of that mountain will be with
your own particular shovel. Remember
little David, with Saul’s helmet on him,
dropping clear down over his ears, even
unto his shoulders. But when he got in his
hand the boy’s sling, how well be used it!
If you do not understand Greek, do not
attempt to tell the people was t the text is
in the original. If you do not understand
Latin, attempt no drafts upon Latinity.
You who want to help in the removal of
the mountain, hold on to your shovel.
Much time has been lost by the fact that
many of the sharpest shovels, instead of
being used for the removal of the moun
tain, have been used in fighting each
other. The great Presbyterian church
was mightily hindered by the fight
that for years went on between
Old School shovels and New
School shovels, and it was not
until the meeting of the general
assembly at Pittsburg, thirty or forty
years ago that many good men made up
their minds that shovels are not made to
fight with but to dig with. Many of the
old theologians went around with band
aged foreheads which had not been struck
by the swords in the battle for God, but
by the shovels of ecclesiastical embroglio.
They had a special admiration for that
Psalm of David which said, “Blessed be
the Lord which teacheth my hand to war,
and my fingers to fight.” So also the Meth
odist church had a battle of shovels over
the questions of lay delegates, and wom
anly representation. I am glad to Say that
most of the ecclesiastical pugilists, in all
denominations, are dead, and that they
had big funerals. But there are so many
shovels now rightly engaged that no sta
tistics can fcount them. I tell you the
mountain Is coming down. It is coming
down rapidly. It will all come down. There
are those who hear or read these words
who will gaze upon its complete prostra
tion; for what is the use of my keeping
back any longer the full statement of the
fact, which I have somewhat delayed
through lawful sermonic strategy, the fact
that the Lord God Almighty, in the full
play of his omnipotence, will accomplish
this supernal work. = If God can build a
mountain, I guess he can remove a moun
tain. After GOd has given full opportu
nity for the shovels, he will eome in with
his thunderbolts. We have amplified the
idea of the Lamb of God. I tell you now
of the lion. Here is a thought that I have
never seen projected, and yet it is the most
cheering of all considerations and plainly
scriptural, the thought that as at the open
ing of the gospel dispensation, in the
Christly, and Johanian, and Pauline days,
the machinery of the natural world was
brought into service, the shadow of
eclipses and the agitation of earthquakes,
tempests put to sleep under the voice of
divine lullaby, iron bolts of prisons shov
ed back by invisible muscle, kindling of
flame on heads of worshippers, by instan
taneous pharmacy blasted vision given
full eyesight, and the dead returned from
the eternal world, mingling amid earthly
scenes, so it will be again. As I read my
Bible, these supernaturals are to return.
Again the eclipses, as at the destruction
of Jerusalem, will put red wing under the
moon and black wing under the sun, and
the mountains will shake with ague of
excitement, and hospital cots be emptied
as their patients bound into sudden health,
and the Gospel of Mercy emphasized by
most tremendous spectacles. “And I be
held whacuhe djtenwV-3*xtl< seat;
ana, id, there was & great earthquake:
and the sun became black as sackcloth of
hair, and the moon became as
blood ... and every mountain
and island were moved out of
their places.” There you have it. The
shovels now digging away at the moun
tains to be reinforced by thunderbolts.
The gospel is only partlaly successful be
cause we preach it amid all placidities,
the hearers having heard the invitation a
thousand times before, and expect to hear
it a thousand times more, but in coming
times to be preached amid pulverized rocks
and stellar panics and shattered masonry
of cemeteries, from which the pallid dead
will spring into roseate life. I say then
the gospel will be universally accepted.
There is the programme. First the shov
els, then the thunderbolts. Ours the shov
els, God’s the thunderbolts. The text,
which before we uttered with something of
trepidation, now we utter in laugh of tri
umph, “Who art thou, O great mountain?
before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a
plain.”
Sometimes a general begins a battle be
fore he is ready, because the enemy forces
it on him. The general says, “The enemy
are pushing us, and so I open battle. We
are not sufficient to cope with them, but
I hope the reserve forces will come up in
time.” The battle rages, and the general
looks through his field-glass at the troops,
but ever and anon he sweeps his field
glass backward and upward toward the
hill, to see if the reserve forces are coming.
“Hard pushed are we!” says the general.
“I do wish those reinforcements would
come up.” After awhile the plumes of
the advancing cavalry are seen toss
ing on the ridge of the hill, and then the
flash of swords, and then the long lines
of mounted troops, their horses in full
gallop, and the general says, “All is well.
Hold out, my men, little long
er. Let the sergeants ride along
the lines and cheer the men and tell them
reinforcements are coming.’ And now the
rumbling of the batteries and gun-car
riages is distinctly heard, and soon they
are in line, and at the first roar of the
newly-arrived artillery the enemy, a little
while before so jubilant, fall back in wild
retreat, their way strewn w-ith canteens,
and knapsacks, and ammunition, that the
defeated may be unhindered in their flight.
That is just the way now. fn this great
battle against sin and crime and moral
death the enemy seem too much for us.
More grogshops than churches. More bad
men than good men, and they come up
with bravado and the force of great num
bers. They have opened battle upon us.
before we are, in our own strength, ready
to meet them, and great are the discour
agements. But steady, there! Hold on!
Reinforcements are coming. Through the
glass of inspiration I look, and see the
flash of the sword of "him who hath on
his vesture and on his thigh, a name writ
ten, King of kings and Lord of lords.” All
heaven is on our side and is coming to the
rescue. I hear the rumbling of the King’s
artillery, louder than any thunder that
ever shook the earth, ami with every roll
of the ponderous wheels our courage aug
ments, and when these reinforcements
from heaven get Into line with the forces
of God already on earth, all the armies of
unrighteousness will see that their hour
of doom has come, and will waver and
fall back and take flight and nothing be
left of them save here and there, strewn
by the wayside, an agnostic’s pen or a
broken decanter or a torn playbill of a
debasing amusement or a blasphemous
paragraph, or a leper’s scale, or a dragon’s
tooth, to show they ever existed. Let
there be cheering all along the lines of
Christian workers, over the fact' that
what the shovels fail to do will be ac
complished by the thunderbolts. “Who
art thou, O great mountain? before Zerub
babel thou shalt become a plain.”
The mountains look on Marathon,
And Marathon looks on the sea,
• • • •
Shrine of the mighty can it be
That this is al! remains of thee!
Appendicitis’ Deadly Work.
New York. Jan. 17.—Chevalier Louis
Contencin, consul general to the two Sici
lies, and one of the most prominent Ital
ian merchants in the city, died at JO
o'clock to-night of appendicitis.
THE PORTE AND THE POWERS.
EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS CONSIDER
COERSIVE MEASURES.
England and Italy Argue That the
Decision of the Powers Should He
Promptly and Energetically
Forced by Sea and Land—Summary
of the Proposed Reforms—Kaiser
Wilhelm Thinlcs the Sultan Should
Have Time in Which to Act.
Copyright, 1897, by the United Associated
Press.
Berlin, Jan. 17.—Under instructions
from the foreign office, Baron Saurma von
Genlitch, German ambassador to the
porte, has given persistent support to
M. Nelidoff, the Russian ambassador,
throughout the series of ambassadorial
conferences held in Constantinople, which
are now about to terminate, but in the
decision of the financial and administra
tive reforms proposed by M. Nelidoff,
however, Baron Saurma has taken no
prominent part. M. Cambon and Sir
Philip Currie, respectively French and
British ambassador, are understood to
have obtained some Important additions
to the Russian proposals, which claimed
the consent of the European governments.
The English and Italian ambassadors
advocated a distinct plan of armed en
forcement of the decisions of the powers,
and argued that the presentation of the
reform projects to the sultan should be
accompanied by an explicit declaration
that the powers were prepared to enforce
them by sea and land.
The report is entirely credited in official
and diplomatic quarters here that Sir
Philip Currie placed before the ambassa
dors a fully matured project of naval and
military operations, designed to cover the
occupation of Constantinople, the Darda
nelles and the Bosphorus and also to over
awe the Moslem population in the all too
probable event of a rising and attempted
massacre. To any consideration of coer
cion, Baron Saurma took a decided stand
in opposition. The kaiser obviously con
tinues to hold that the sultan must be
trusted to carry out the reforms and that
his sovereign powers should not be inter
fered with. M. Nelidoff professed no un
willingness to agree to the principle of co
ercoon, but opposed the English proposals
on the ground that they were premature
and that the sultan must have time in
which to act. On this point of time com
munications are proceeding between the
powers.
The English government, which appears
tp think that .the kaiser’s opposition to
coercion will disappear if France and
Russia agree to act with England, is ne
gotiating directly with St. Petersburg and
Paris. It is known here that under no cir
cumstances will Russia assent to any form
of armed interference until the spring
is well advanced, the Black sea ports un
obstructed by ice and the roads, railways
and rivers in Southern Russia in good
condition. It is a winter of almost un
precedented mildness in Southern Russia,
being as warm as early spring at Odessa,
and traffic with Nicolaieff and Kherson is
still open. But it is no part of the Rus
sian policy to permit a concerted armed
intervention in Turkey. The sultan will
get time and take it.
The Berlin season is now in full swing
and the past week has been one of almost
incessant festivity. The reception given
to the members of court society at the
United States embassy last Monday by
Ambassador Uhl was a magnificent func
tion. The ambassador’s saloons were re
splendent with gorgeous uniforms, and
the exquisite costumes of bejeweled la
dies, whose diamonds presented a most
pleasing effect. Following the reception
at the American embassy, came Count
von Wedel’s “polter-abend” (nuptial eve),
given upon the occasion of the marriage
of his daughter to Count Johann von Bis
marck-Bohlen of the First Regiment of
Foot Guards. The emperor was present
at the wedding dinner, and presented the
bride with a costly porcelain table. On
Tuesday there was a reception at the
French embassy similar to that given by
Ambassador Uhl, and there was also a
ball at the Austrian embassy, followed by
a dinner at the English embassy, besides
a number of aristocratic balls and other
functions during the week.
The court marshal’s programme of fes
tivities during the carnival period opened
with the coronation orders of the day. To
morrow will be the festival day of the
Order of the Black Eagle, which will
bring together as notable an assemblage
of royal, high military and other digni
taries as Germany can produce; on Wed
nesday will be the grand court held by
their imperial majesties in the royal castle
and on the kaiser's birthday, Jan. 27, there
will be a reception at the royal castle, fol
lowed by a banquet and gala opera per
formance at the royal theater. Wednesday,
Feb. 3, the kaiser will give a banquet. On
the following Wednesday a private ball
will be given at the castle and on March
2 a grand masked ball will be given, with
which the kaiser and kaiserin propose to
conclude their Berlin season. There is also
to be an unusual stream of aristocratic
private functions. Many well known
princely families, who were absent last
season, owing to discord with the kaiser
or to his intrigues, have now appeared,
and Berlin court tradesmen are rejoicing
thereat.
The trial of Maj. Baron von Tausch,
formerly chief of the police, upon charges
of forgery and perjury, will not begin
before the end of March. Almost daily
new witnesses are coming forward, and
new charges are cropping up. A rather
sensational article in the Staatsburger
Zeitung seeks to prove that one of the
principal informers against Tausch is the
Berlin correspondent of a Hanover paper,
Herr H. G. Keller, once a member of the
staff of the Tageblatt. The Staatsburger
Zeitung asserts that Herr Keller, besides
“rounding” on Tausch, set to work to im
plicate in the case other Berlin journal
ists, although they were in no way con
nected with It. The article re
stricts the petty jealousies, if
not the corruption. prevalent In
the ranks of the Berlin journalism
It is not surprising that the report gains
credit that the kaiser has set his face
against the whole system of official and
semi-official journalism and has requested
all leading officials to cease communicat
ing with the representatives of these
newspapers. If greater latitude were al
lowed to the expression of opinion in the
press and actions less easily brought, the
disappearance of “inspired” articles would
be beneficial. Ministers have so long
been accustomed to supply certain papers
with views, upon the appearance of which
other papers waited for the key-note of
attack or defense as to make the entire
cessation of their inspiration very em
barrassing to some journalists.
The reception of Count Golouchowskl,
the Austrian minister of foreign affairs,
by the emperor and Chancellor von Ho
henlohe was most cordial and it is be
lieved that the assurances which he will
receive in regard to the status of the drel
bund powers in view of certain European
complications, the proposed Increase of
armaments and other matters will be en
tirely satisfactory to the Austrian gov
ernment.
The appointment of Count Muravieff,
who is a friend of France and a pronounc
ed Germanophobe, to the office of Russian
minister of foreign affairs, has been made
the subject of a very undignified discus
sion in the German press, and was tne sub
ject of a scare, which is now subsiding.
The appointment of a successor to Prince
Lobenoff, the Messenger says, remains in
suspense. The fact is now recognized here
that the promotion of Count Muravieff
need not excite the least degree of dis
quiet in Germany.
The number of German royalties who
are already booked for attendance at the
queen’s jubilee in England includes a large
list of names figuring in the Almanach de
Gotha. It is the desire of the kaiser *that
there shall be the fullest attendance of
Queen Victoria’s German relatives. The
Grand Duke and Duchess, the Crown
Prince and Princess of Roumania, with
others of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family;
Prince and Princess Aribert of Anhalt
and some of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz fam
ily, will attend the celebration. The czar,
with the czarina, if her health permits,
will take part in the London festivities.
The opposition of the produce bourses to
the new bourse law is still confined to the
exchanges of Prussia proper. Operations
through the Berlin, Breslau, Stettin, and
Dantzig organizations proceed, but the rec
ord of dealings by no means comes up to
that of the same period in 1896. The
stock bourses are also feeling the pinch of
the new laws most acutely. If the dimin
ution of transaction, continues, the brokers
agree, Berlin will lose her position as an
international market for securities and be
come merely a sort of minor local bourse.
Herr Giesen, the editor of the Frankfort
Gazette, who was recently arrested for
refusing to disclose the identity of the
author of an article published in his pa
per containing insulting references to the
emperor, has been released. The offense
of the writer of the article was lese ma
jeste, but the authorities failed in their
efforts to induce Herr Giesen to disclose
the name of the author of the article and
the matter was dropped.
The imperial decree dissolving the Aus
trian Reichsrath is likely to be issued on
Jan. 31, the general elections will occur
about March 15, and the new Reichsrath
is to assemble the first week in May.
DEATH BY ASPHIXIATION.
Well-Known New York Newspaper
■Man Suffocated in Bed.
New York, Jan. 17.—Rudd Smith, a well
known newspaper man, was found dead in
bed this morning at tho Putnam house,
Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenue,
death having been caused by asphyxia
tion. Mr. Smith had gone to the hotel
about 1:30, and was assigned to a single
room on the third floor. He was shown
to his room at once, and that was the
last seen of him alive.
A chambermaid passing Hr. Smith’s
room about 8:30 o’clock, detected the odor
of gas, and the door was forced. The
room was filled with gas, and it was sev
eral minutes before an examination could
be made. Meanwhile a call had been sent
to Bellevue hospital. Dr.. Powers, who
-came with the ambulance, pronounced Mr.
Smith dead, although the body was still
warm. The gas was turned on full head.
Mr. Smith had apparently undressed lei
surely and gotten into bed. On the table
were powders, probably for the purpose
of producing sleep. An empty paper on
the table indicated that he had taken a
similar powder. Mr. Smith’s associates
are of the opinion that death was due to
an accident. They say he was apparently
in good spirits and light-hearted, and, so
far as known, in perfect health.
Mr. Smith was 38' years of age, and had
been in newspaper work in New York and
in the west for about fifteen years. He
was a brother of Ballard Smith, the Eu
ropean correspondent. His mother and
sister are now in Europe. Mr. Smith was
one of the telegraph editors on the Jour
nal.
TRAGEDY IN SPRINGFIELD.
A Murderoni Tole’s Assault on His
Stepdaughter.
Springfield, Mass., Jan. 17.—There was a
murder and a probable suicide on Sharon
street early this morning. Dominick Kra
tafoski, a Pole, shot his step-daughter
twice, killing her almost instantly, and
then turning the revolver against himself
put a bullet into his brain. He is now lying
at the hospital, with the prospects against
his recovery.
It seems the murderer has been crimi
nally intimate with his step-daughter for
nearly a year. Whenever he is drunk,
which has been quite often, he has tried
to assault her, and she has often com
plained to the police. About a year ago
the police were called to the house to af
ford her protection against her step
father.
This morning Kratafoski tried to assault
her, she resisted, and in a fit of rage he
shot her. It is thought he committed some
crime in Europe before coming to this
country. He is 29 years of age.
FREIGHT HAIES CUT.
Biggest Railroad War in Years May
. Result at Once.
St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 17.—The Minneap
olis and Sault Ste Marie Railroad Com
pany created a sensation yesterday even
ing by announcing that on Jan. 25 it will
put into effect a freight rate between
New York. Boston and Atlantic seaboard
points and St. Paul and Minneapolis based
on $1.05 first-class. This is a cut of 20
cents on a hundred on this class of
freight. The slash may cause the big
gest rate war in years. The Twin City
Freight Association has been at work to
secure this concession from the “Soo” the
past eighteen months. The Trunk Line
Association, whose rate Is $1.35, is expect
ed to meet the reduction, if not go below
the “Soo” figures.
PEACE AT BYRON AGAIN.
Candidates Exchange Shots Over a
Political Contest.
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 17.—Peace is restored
at Byron. In the confusion resulting
from a third tie between the candidates,
four men, C. C. Richardson, C. I* Bate
man, C. E. Bateman and R. H. Baskins,
engaged in a row yesterday. Richardson
and Clabe Bateman exchanged shots, but
neither were seriously hurt. The parties
are all of the best families, and highly
connected.
( WEEKLY 2-TIMSS-A-WEEK $1 A YEAR > XTZA -
•2 5 CENTS A COPY. pr
DAILY, $lO A YEAR. f
MONDAYS
a|n
THURSDAYS
WRECKERS’ DEADLY WORK.
CROSSTIES PILED ON A TRACK J
CAUSE WOUNDS AND DEATH.
Engineer Clemons So Terribly Hurt W
That His Death Im Certain— Others
of the Crew as Well as an Express ■
Messenger and a Postal Cleric,
Badly Injured—A Bad Smash-Up in
Texas Canned by Fiends in Human.
Form.
Dallas, Tex., Jan. 17.—The through ex
press from St. Louis on the Iron Moun
tain and Texas and Pacific route, due at
Dallas at 6:20 o’clock a. m., was wrecked
last night at the little station of Forest,
in Cass county, near Springdale. Engi
neer Clemons had both legs broken and
sustained other injuries so severe that he
died to-day. His home was at Marshall,
Tex. The express messenger is reported
as being fatally injured and a postal route
agent seriously injured. The wreck was
the work of train wreckers, who had piled
crossties on the track. The full details
have not yet reached Dallas. Two trains
have been abandoned and two others are
late and are expected to arrive between 9
and 10 o’clock to-night. Half a dozen or
more passengers are reported injured, but
none fatally. The engine and three cars,
mail, baggage and express, were thrown
down an embankment, but no passenger
coaches left the track.
THE WAR IN CUBA.
Persistant Rumors Current That
Maceo Still Lives.
Kingston, Jamaica, Jan. 17.—Seven Cu
bans, including Senor Sauvennell, have
arrived here bringing dispatches from
Cuba. In view of the quarantine regu
lations they were detained for observa
tion. Rumors continue to reach here that
Maceo is still alive. It is said that he
was desperately wounded in the engage
ment in which he was reported to hav|
been killed, but that he is now improving.
Little credence is placed in these rumors.
Advices which have reached here are to
the effect that Maximo Gomez now has
his forces completely equipped, and is
prepared to open a vigorous campaign
against Capt. Gen. Weyler.
Tampa, Fla,, Jah. 17.—Passengers by
the Olivette bring news of the war situa
tion on the island of Cuba. Port au Prin
cipe and Santiago are practically in the
hands of the Cubans, the Spaniards not
daring to leave their fortresses, except
under the protection of a. str£M»“_£Ssarf.
In fact, whole eastern portion of the
island la now under the government of
the Cubans.
Gen. Weyler permits nothing against his
Interest to pass his censorship, but it now
comes out that the 200 wounded sent into
Havana last week came as the result of
an attack made on the trocha twenty
miles from Havana by a Cuban column.
It is now certain that the Cuban general,
Jose Aguirre, died of pneumonia at El
Englis, in the province of Havana, on th®
29th ultimo.
The Spaniards are now driving the coun
try inhabitants into the cities and are
fortifying them. They continue the work
day and night at Havana. On Saturday
morning, before the Olivette left,
Spanish troops were out practicing with
heavy artillery. The bellowing of the
great guns shook the ground and could
be heard for many miles.
The stories published in this country
that the Cuban leaders and sympathizers
are ready to treat with the crown on a
basis of autonomy are denounced as slan
ders on Cuban manhood. They are em
phatic in the statement that the Cubans
will never accept anything at the hands of
Spain but absolute independence. Gomez
has never authorized anything to the con
trary.
It is reported that Col. Fondeviela con
tinues to butcher "pacificos" at Guana
bacoa.
A large body of insurgents under Castillo
and Delgado is reported near Havana.
It is also reported that Gen. Calixto Gar
cia has defeated Gen. Segura, inflicting a
loss of 500 in killed and wounded on the
Spaniards.
FLORIDA PALACE HOTELS.
Royal Poinciana and Royal Palm
Open For th*» Season.
Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 17.—The Hotel
Royal Poinciana on Lake Worth and the
Hotel Royal Palm at Miami were opened
for the season yesterday. These belong
to the chain of hotel palaces erected by
Henry M. Flagler on the east coast of
Florida. The hotel system begins at St.
Augustine and extends south to Key West.
A CONVENTION FOR SANFORD.
National Farmers and Fruit Growerg
to Meet.
Sanford, Fla., Jan. 17.—At the adjourned
meeting of the citizens of Sanford, held
Saturday afternoon, the committee previ
ously appointed, made a report, recom
mending that a convention be held in San
ford on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 16th
and 17th days of March, 1897, which shall
be called “the national farmers, vegeta
ble and fruit growers' convention."
FOUND DEAD IN BED.
Sudden End of a Well-Known and
Wealthy Brunswiclcian.
Brunswick, Ga., Jan. 17.—E. Brlesenlck,
a well-known and wealthy citizen, was
found dead this afternoon. His body was
discovered lying across the bed in his room.
A coroner’s inquest rendered a verdict of
heart failure as the cause of his death.
SOMETHING NEW PROMISED.
Evening Constitution to Appear This
Afternoon.
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 17.—The Evening Con
stitution will make z ita appearance Mon
day afternoon. In style and service it
will be something entirely new In southern
..journalism. A complete force of bright,
well trained yopng men have been secured.
Its news service will be up to that of the
morning edition.
ACCIDENTAL DROWNING.
A Young Rhode Islander’s Death in
Florida Waters.
St. Augustine, Fla., Jan. 17.—The coro
ner’s jury has rendered a verdict of ac
cidental drowning in the case of Clarence
Gladding of Providence, R. 1., who tost
hia life off the yacht Coeheco at St. Au
gustine.