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Over Uncle Sam’s Property
on Isthmus of Panama.
TRANSFER IS PERFECTED
Stars and Stripes Wave Over Canal
Zone and All Property Therein
Contained—Comm/ssion
Meets in Wachington.
Adviceg from Panaina state _that the
United States canal commission Wed
nesday took formal pos.sessio'n of the
canal route aund of the property of the
Panama Canal Company.
William W. Russell, the retiring
minister to Panama (recently appoint
ed United States minister to Coiom
bia); Secretary Lee, of the United
States legation, and Dr. Pierce, su
perintendent of the sanitation work,
were among those present,
From date the canal works will .be
under the direction of Major Bark
Brooke, of the engineer corps of the
United States army, who represeated
the canal commisgion at the ceremony
of the transfer,
Immediately after the transfer the
United States flag was hoisted over
the legation and over the canal of
fices in the cathedral plaza.
Knox Reports on Transfer.
A Wiashington special says: The
president has received a lengthy re
port {rom Attorney General Knox on
the Panama canal transfer. This re
port gives the details of the arrange
ments made with Morgan & Co., to -
nance the deal in Paris and make the
payments for the canal propertics.
In connection with these payments,
it is said at the treasury department,
that Morgan & Co. wili be designated
as dishursing agents of the govern
ment and following the invariable rule
in such cases, they will be required to
deposit $40,000,000 bonds as seenrity
to the government.
The payment wil] be made as soon
as the bonds have been received,waich
vrobably will be in a day or two.
Canal Commission Meats.
There was an informal executive
conference of the members of the
isthmus canal commission at Wash
ington Wednesday at which a number
of matters of interest were discussed.
It had been intended to elect a sec
retary, but this action was not :taken
at the forenoon session. It was stated
that *no matters of interest to the
public were in shape to be given out.
RUSSIA CLAIMS VICTORY.
Great Slaughter of Japs Offsets Rout
of Czar'’s Forces.
The gloom which prevailed in St.
Petersburg Tuesday says an Associa
ted Press dispatch, was almost com
pletely dispelled Wednesday morning
when the people read the story of
the glorious fight made by General
Zassalitch’s handful of rough regl
ments against the flower of the mikar
do’s legions at the Yalu and of the utr
ter defeat of Vice Admiral Togo’s new
attempt to seal the entrance to Port
Arthur.
It is now plain that not more than
8,000 Russians were actually engaged
in the fighting at the Yalu against
the Japanese army, of a total strength
of between 30,000 and 40,000. The
losses on both sides, which are ex
pected to reach 1,000 and possibly
1,200 in the Russian force and twice
that number for the Japanese make it
one of the bloodiest fights in history.
At the river crossing the Japanese
dead lie piled up literally in heaps,
ana General Kuroki’'s success was pur
chased at such a heavy cost that the
Russians are disposed to regard it as
rather a defeat than a victory for him.
General Kuropatkin's dispatch
gshows that the Russians fought with
guch bull-dog tenacity and bravery
agalnst nverwhelming superiority of
enemy that the latter's nominal vie
tory was eclipsed Ly the prowess of
the czar’s soldiers.
FIRST SUICIDE RECORDED.
For New Wiiliamsburg Bridge Across
East River, in New York.
The first suicide frcm the new wil
liamsburz bridge which spans the
East river, a mile above the old
Brooklyn bridge, was recorded Thurs
day when an unknown woman leaped
to death in the river, 135 feet below.
As she descended feet foremost, her
skirts filled, forming a sort of para
chute, and just before reaching the
water her body turned and she went
into the water head first.
SHIP MAKES INITIAL TRIP.
New “City of Columbus” Arrives at
Savannah on First Voyage.
The City of Columbus, the new
steamship of the Ocean Steamsiip
Company, arrived at Savannah Friday
morning at 11 o'clock on her initiai
voyage. She was under command of
Captain W. H. Fisher, who for scv
eral years has brought out every new
ship of the company. The City of to
lumbus is a sister ship of the Civy
of Memphis and is a magnificent vie
sel.
FOUR CUBANS GARROTED.
First Legal Execution in Island Since
the Spanish Regime.
Four bandits convicted of murder
were garroted Wednesday in the pro
vincial jzil at Santiago, Cuba.
It was the first legal execution since
the Spanish regime. Two execution
ers who came from Havana were al
most mobbed on their way to the jail.
President Paima was petitioned to
comriute the sentences, bput he dc
clined to interfere.
ENTOMBED IN BURNING MINE.
Five Coal Diggers Buried Beyond All
Hope of Rescue.
A special from Shamokin, Pa., zays:
Rescuing parties are still at work
in the Locust Gap colliery, where five
men are entombed as a result of the
fire in one of the slopes.
The miners have been in the mine
many hours, and all hope of iinding
them alive has been abandoned.
The fire Is burning as fiercely as
ever, making it impossible to pene
trate the forgings.
CONNECTICUT FOR PARKER.
After Boisterous Convention, Demo.
crats of State, Instruct Delegates.
In one of the. stormiest gatherings
the party has ever heid the dzmo
cratic state conventicn at Hartford,
Conn., chose delegates to the =i,
Louis convention and instructed the:n
to vote as a unit and for Alton B.
Parker, of New York, as a presidentizl
nominee.
The climax came at the end of two
hours of angry dehate between Hearst
and Parker delegates.
RALLY OF MISSIONARIES.
Preiates of Southern Methodist
Churches Gather in Waco, Texas.
The great missionary rally of South
ern Methodist workers, together with
tie heads of all missionary depart
ments in Nashville and other parts of
the south, formeily opened at Waco,
Texas, Mcnday night and continned
Tuesday. All of the bishops of the
chnrch, south, except three, were on
hand. Several thousand delegates and
risitors were in attendance.
DEADLY TEXAS TORNADO
State Is Visited by Three Destructive
wiid Storms, Which Play |
Frightful Havoc,
A special from QGoldthwaite, Tex.,
says: A tornadn, accompanied by s -
vere rainfall, resulted in the death
of Mrs. Allen Dennis, George W. Ma
son and a child of S. E. Harper, of
this vicinity. Luther Reed, Allen Den
nis, Mrs. S. Harper, Joe Griffith and
a child of S. F. Harper were seriously
injured. Twelve or more homes were
totally destroyed. Fuil particuiars are
not obtaimable.
A ternado in the section of cowun
try about Star Mountain, located about
25 miles southwest of Hamilton, in
Mills county, destroyed five houses,
killing George Mascn and blowing
away one of his children. The child
is alive, but is not expected to live.
C. E. Behooksr had his house blown
away, and one child kiiled and other
members of his family slightly injured.
The house of Mr. Rayburn was aiso
destroyed, injuring four of the. fam
ily.
A tornado at Holliday station, in the
Wichita valley, about 12 miles from
Wichita Falls, entirely demolished the
school house and many other build
ings. The teacher, Sam Horton, of the
public school, was fatally injured, and
a boy, Henry Riggs, had his arm
broken,
The elevator and grain house of
Wilson & Nolan was totally destroyed.
The Davis grain house was wrecked
and the hotel blown from its founda
tion and wrecked.
At Ruby, John Mullen’s house was
wrecked and Nir. and Mrs. Mullen
were carried nearly 100 yards by the
wind. Mrs. Mullen is believed to be
fatally hurt. Wesley Spurlock, 14 years
old, was Kkilled.
At Sunset nearly tweniy buildings
were wrecked, but no person was fa
tally burt, . ’
NO LIBERTY HERE.
Bishop Turner Refuses to Sing “My
Country, 'Tis of Thee.”
“] am unwilling to sing ‘America,
until this country is what it claims
to be, ‘Sweet Land of Liberty,’” de
clared Bishop H. M. Turner, of At
lanta, at Friday night’s session of
the African Methodist Episcopal Con
ference in Chicago,
“The Negro In Science,” was the
subject of the address delivered by
Bishop Turner, which caused him to
take up every phase of the negro
question in this country, and led him
to say that this was not the negro’s
bome, but on the contrary, that Ged
had allowed the negro to come to this
country, to be enslaved in order that
he could be (raired and go back to
his native land and make it what
it should be.
In concluding Lis address Bishop
Turner said: .
“The supreme court of the United
States is against us. We fiave gooc
friends in this country, yet they are
comparatively few snd the only thing
left for us to do is to leave. Let us
be men, let us go where we can be
men. The negro is here, some declare
that he is here to stay, but I doubt it
very much, unless he is to stay under
the ground.”
CLOTHES OF WENTZ FOUND.
Two Mountaineers Held for Complic
ity in D.sappearance.
A special from Knoxville, Tenn.,
gpays: There is a strong. suspicion
that Silas Ison and Thomas Wr:ight,
the mountaineers who were capiured
at Cumberland {ap, Tenn., rccently,
after having been shot and wounded
by officers, had a hand in the myste
rous disappearatcce¢ of Edward L.
Wentz, th> young mtilionaire who aas
' been missing since last October. Three
|garments discovered in a house at
fGlamorgan, whicn Ison and Wrigit
formerly occupied are believed to
have been the property of Wentz. One
of these ,a pair of *riding trousers,
nas on it wha: appears to be hlood
I stains. The women of the family now
' oce:pying the house declare the
trousers are identically the same in
appearance as thogse worn by Weilz
The other gar.cents are tailor-made,
but unfinished, and bear a tag which
shows that the cluth came from Louis
ville, The men suspected in this cor
ncction are now i 1 jail at Tazewcll
Tean. ¢
JOHNSON GRASS BARRED.
United States Supreme Court Sustarns
Law of Lone Star State.
The United States supreme court, in
| an opinion by Justice Holmes, in the
case of the Missouri, Kansas and ['exe
as Railway Company vs. Clay May,
sustained the wvalidity of the Texas
statute prescribing a penalty against
railroads in that state which permit
Johnson grass to go to seed on their .
lines. The law was attacked as un- ]
constitutional, but the court upheld
it as a measure for the protection of
the people of the state against an ime
jurious plant.
EX-CONVICT FILES SUIT.
Wantsg DamM Alleged lliegal
Detention Overtime. g
Timothy Goings, an ex-convict, will
fila suit against the Chattahoochae
Brick Company, of Atlanta, Ga., for-”
$30,000 damages. The suit is a most
unique one and nrobably the firs: one
of its kind in the state.
The suit grows out of the clalh
made by Goings that he was unlaw
fully held as a prisoner by the brick
company for a period of eleven and a
half months.
COSTLY BELAZE AT INDIANAPOLIS.
Union Stock Yards Burned, Entailing
- a Loss of $300,000,
Fire at the Union stock yards in
Indianapolis Tuesday resulted in a
loss of $300,000 te the Belt Rai'road
and Union Stock Y.rds Company. Thir
ty-five head of cattle were burned and
forty acres of cattle sheds and iive
stock pens were totally destrcyed ‘fo
gether with about five hundred tons
of hay and 10,000 bushels of corn. The
!nsura.n-ce’flis . 8440.000.
BOSTON BAKERS ON STRI!KE.
Town Is Without Pies and Baked
Beans Cut from Bill of Fare,
A new feature of the bakers’ strike
at Boston, Mass.. Wednesday was the
diminution in the supply of pie 3, a
number of restaurants being compell
ed to sirike this ilem from the bill
cf fare. The principal master bakers
‘of the city manifest no tendency to
consider any pronosition of a gettle
ment from the unionsg,
JAPANESE ALSO THREW ROCKS.
Russian General Was Put Qut of Ac
ticn in Contact with Stone.
A St. Petersburg dispatch says: Ihe
emperor has received a dispatch from
General Kuropatkin giving the report
of Lieutenant General Zassalitch of the
Russian losses in the battle ¢f Klu
lien Cheng. The report states “uhat
Major General Kashtalinsky was '\
jured in the head by a stone.
There are sfaid to be about 200,000
of the surviving sold.ers of the civil
war who have not vet applied for pen
sions. These, as rapidly as they reach
the age of 62, if the recent order
stands, will be entitled to pensions,
upen simple application.