North Carolina Newspapers

I V' " " II II i ' v -.: "''M.:r:W:'V;':..--''"K-,r.- , - -- ...... f . . 1 . . '.The Weekly Star The (iSUchli) jstm PB ISBIO AT WILMINGTON. N. C , At $1.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE. z hi 'a 8SS888SSS8SS888S8 .moWgi 8ojgogg8SgSSgag T S3S8SS888S88SSSSS J 8SS8S3S88S8888S8S r" SSSSSSSS8SSSSSSSS S888gg&S8S88888S ! 8S8S88S88S8888888 ! ' Sg88S88Sg88S88888 l' SSSS3S88888888S88 ( -"H t-l m wl e tsS yr - J- s o - . - s . .- - ' t-i i : : : ; i1 - ' 1 - - i-4 vol. xxxn. WILMINGTON, N. CM FRIDAY MAY 31, 1901. NO. 31 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIANS. Kim-' J at the Post Office at llratgtou, N. Second Class Ma ier.l SUBSCRIPTION P 'lCE, I'lif subscription price of the We' Jy Star If as ioI !": Sir.cli Copy 1 year, postage paid.,., ...$! CO " J months " " , , 60 " 3 months " " , ....... 80 DESTROYING THE SUBSIDY SCHEME. The professed object in presenting the ship subsidy bill fathered by Senator Frye and Representative Favne, and sponsored by Senator Hauna, was to build up an Ameri can merchant marine. The argu ments in favor of it were that Amer ican ships are necessary for Ameri can commerce, to make American exporters independent of ships which belongjto the nations with whose exporters they have to compete. There is something in (hat, although it is not an argument for subsidizing ship owners or ship builders. Another reason was that if Amer icans built ships they could not sail them in competition with foreign ship3 because American sailors de mand higher wages than foreign sailors get, and our ships are re quired to provide better for their crews, which entails a much heavier expense upon them than the foreign ship owner has to bear, which gives the foreign ship owner a very de cided advantage over the American. This may betrue, but it is not an argument for ship subsidies for the reason that it is based on an as sumption which may or may not be well founded. It had no test be cause since 1801 we have had no marine on the high seas to compete with the merchant marines of other countries. That our shipping laws as far as they apply to the provis ions which must be made for Ameri can sailors, or sailors on American ships are not a Benous obstacle is shown by the fact that our merchant marine grew steadily and rapidly up ior;5 .v. :t. : .1 o: of our exports and imports, and ranted next to the merchant ma rine of Great Britain, the mistress of the sea, and competed success fully with the ships of all nations, notwithstanding these laws, which they now say prevent the American ship owner from competing with the foreign ship owner. If with the aarae laws in operation they could compete up to 1858 they ought to be able to do it now. If we had a merchant marine and paid higher wages than foreign ves 'seles pay, and provided better for 3eamen than other vessels do wouldn't that draw seamen into the service of American ships and com pel foreign ship owners to increase wages and otherwise make better provision for their crews? Men go where they get the best wages and fare best, and for this reason Ameri can ships would soon have the pick of the seas, and the wage question would soon cease to be a factor if it be a factor now. But there is not much in this assumption any way even if it were true, for if we had a merchant marine ample- for our needs we could not count on getting Amer icans enough to man it, at the pres sent rates of wages, what they say are so much higher than than for eign ships pay that our ships could not . compete with these foreign ships. The difference between the wages paid on land and on sea is so great that there are few Americans who care to follow the sea as ordi nary seamen. This is so true that a very considerable porportion of the seamen on our war ships, in our . coast service and on the lakes are for eign born, and many of them not citizens. They are willing to work for lower wages than Americans, just as foreigners have to a great . extent taken the place of Americans in our coal and iron mines. Up to ' 1858 this did not operate to the same extent that it does now for then with our comparatively limited Bettled territory and much of that along the Atlantic, young men had not the same opportunities to find employment, and to better their condition that they have now, and therefore there were more of them, wages on American and foreign ships wouldn't it be necessary to make the subsidy perpetual? Of course it would, or there is nothing in that contention. Again, they say that we ought to save the $200,000,000 or 'there abouts which we annually pay to foreign ship: owners for sea service and pay it to American ship owners. Well, isn t J . Pierpont Morgan, rep resenting an American syndicate, buying big fleets of English ships, to which they propose to keep on adding? It is asserted that his plan is to get possession of vessels enough to control the carrying trade between .this country and Europe, putting on lines of vessels from our leading ports , to, run, in connection with the system of rail roads embraced in the : great com bine which he has formed, covering more than one-half the railroad mileage of the whole country. Will not the money, or the most of it, paid for ocean service then go into the coffers of Americans and be saved? From the bold beginning which Mr. Morgan has made it looks as if the time is not far dis tant when the question as to who will get the most of the $200,000, - 000 expended for transportation across the seas will' be solved with out any subsidy. But in addition to all this we are told that it is necessary to encour ages American shipbbuildexs, who cannot compete with foreign ship builders on account of the higher cost of labor &c, in this country. This is the same stale old humbug which has been played to bolster up tie protective tariff. Eight on the face of it comes the announcement of the organization of a great ship building combine backed by Ameri can and English and money, which proposes to have on the Delaware river the largest shipbuilding plant in the world, and compete with the world in the building of all kinds of ships. When shipbuilders will put $15,000,000 or $20,000,000 into a business of this kind without any subsidy, whereig the need of thrust ing a subsidy upon them, or where is the justice in taxing the people to pay them millions of dollars for do ing what they propose to do without it? Doesn't it look as if the events that are taking place now are dis- troying the subsidy scheme, and that Americans will own ships and build them without any subsidies? IRON AND SALT. The Industrial Commission in ses sion in Washington is receiving a variety of information and listen ing to a variety of opinions from the persons who appear before it. It had some views a fcouple of days ago- on Trusts as affecting iron and salt, the former by Hermon B. But ler, a large iron merchant Chi cago, and the latter by Christian Klincke, a pork packer of Buffalo, ?. Y: They are thus, in subsistence reported by some: "Mr. Butler said he had no anxiety concerning Trusts, as he be lieved that if they raised prices i so as to insure apnormai pro fits competition inevitably would arise and thus result in benefiting the public. He said that iron and steel products can be produced more cheaply in the United States than abroad, and that in his opinion the time had come when the taritt on them could oe dis pensed with." Mr. Butler doesn't fear the Trusts because if they get to putting prices up too high there will be a compe tition; but how long would compe tion hold out against a combine with a billion dollars capital, and owning railroads, boats, iron ana coal mines r ouch a combine is in a position, as long as it holds together, to defy any competition and to hold the fort. He is of the opinion that the time has come when the tariff on iron and Steel can be dispensed with, but Hon. Mark Hanna and Mr. Schwab president of the billion dollar combine, differ from him. The following shows how the Salt .Trust operates; '.'In the afternoon the Commission listened to a statement by Mr. Chris tian Klincke, a pork and beef packer of Buffalo. N. Y . who spoke coneern in? the salt industry, tie said mat tne price of salt had been advanced to such . . . . n i . m . H an extent bv the Halt Trust mat me Buffalo packers had combined and bought out the Trust salt plant at JLe roy, N. Y. They had found that salt could be made and freighted from that point to Buffalo at a cost of $325 per ton, whereas they were paying the Na tional Salt Company $5 70 per ton." If there were no duty on salt could the National Salt Company thus salt the people who buy its Bait, charging them-nearly double as much as the salt would cost to make and deliver? Talking about successful competi tor when the Trusts are strength ened by the protective tariff is folly. It doesn't take much to arouse M nornortion to rtonnlation. willincr I thn ananicion of some people. Just . x . r l - o 1 1 to take to the sea than there " are I because a young (man in Camden, Dw. The probabilities are that if IN. J., who happened to live in ihad a large merchant marine we I Philadelphia, went to a ship yard and would be dependent upon foreign I said he owned it and several blocks our 8eamen mainly to man it, as we are io a great extent now to man ar ahips and other Vessels. T a) ' there were anything in. this intention about the necessity of to offset the difference of of buildings on Broad and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia they arrested him on suspicion of being insane, and when he offered the policeman a check for $6,000,000 to tnrn him lobs they felt sure of it. STILL CHARGING IT TO BRYAN. During the late Presidential cam paign the Republican organs and campaigners worked the charge that Wm. J . Bryan was responsible for he prolongation of the war in the Philippines and made much of the alleged utterance of Gen. Lawton that "if I am killed Wm. J. Bryan will be responsible for my death." This became standing matter in many of the .Republican organs hrough the campaign and they and the stump speakers worked it for all it was worth. Of course the motive of that was fully understood and it didn't fool many sensible people. 1 But the election being over there is no reason why they should con tinue to harp on that string and repeat that kind of rot, but some of them do, even wnile Mr. McKiriafy "is congratulating the people whom he addresses on the era of good feeling. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat quotes Gen. Fred Grant assaying: stopped active operations after the nomination of Bryan and tried only to protect my own men.' But when the news of the election came the American forces struck hard. No headway could be made between July ana .November, because the Filipinos had read Bryan's letter of acceptance and knew that his election meant Americau retreat. The Tagal assist- ants in the United States are respon sible for the needless loss of thousands of lives." The only distinguished thing about Fred Grant is his name, to which he is, no doubt, indebted for the position he holds. If he ever particularly distinguished himself before going to the Philippines, we have failed to learn it, and if he has particularly distinguished himself since the discovery is confined to to those islands. What motive could he have for reiterating this arrant rot at this late day, after it had served its purpose in the campaign? Did he "stop active operations "when Senator Hoar and other distin guished Republicans were denounc ing the war and holding Aguinaldo as "a second Washington?" In his speech at Greenville Sena tor McLaurin read and virtually en dorsed, a letter from a gentleman in Georgia who had lost a son in the Philippines, which son told his father that he held Wm. J. Bryan responsible for his death. This wounded young man may have felt that way, but he was simply repeat ing what he had heard others say. But Gen. Fred Grant, and the poli ticians who played that ro t in the campaign, didn't feel that way, nor did Senator McLaurin when he approvingly "read Mr. Crenshaw's letter. Wm. J. Bryan was no more responsible for the prolongation of the war in the Philippines and the deaths in battle after his nomination than was every Democrat in South Carolina, or in the United States who endorsed his nomination, sup ported and voted for him. A West Virginia fellow who was jilted by his girl, who married an other fellow, thought it bad enough to lose the girl without being soaked for $27.02 for ice cream and other refreshments he had lavished on her in his two years devotion. He made out an itemized bill for that amount and sued her to recover, but her mean lawyer made him acknowledge that he helped her to eat all this stuff and that laid him out. It is said that the bridge to be built by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company across the Hudson river at New York will be the greatest bridge in the world. Well, that's right. The country which has the greatest rivers, greatest lakes, highest mountains, greatest Trusts, greatest men, handsomest women and biggest humbugs in the world ought to have the greatest bridge. A Muncie, Indiana, woman who was deserted by her husband, took it bo much to heart that she invited all her neighbors over the next night, had a splendid layout and a jolly dance, at the conclusion of which she announced that her husband had lit out and she would follow his ex ample by packing up and going to her father. Which she did the next day. The railroads of Massachusetts played a practical joke on the solon who introduced a bill to require them to issue 500 mile books at 2 cents a mile, by quietly issuing them and saying nothing about it. Mr. Conger's boom ior Governor of Iowa isn't yet assuming formid able proportions. In the dozen or more county conventions so far held his name hasn't been chirped. The New York Herald's corre spondent, after viewing the new yacht Constitution, which will de fend the America cup, take a spin, pronounces her "the cleanest gaited racer ever built." There will be 1,468 delegates in the Virginia Constitutional Conven tion. It wouldn't seem from this that any of the outlying rural dis tricts have been neglected CURRPNT COMMENT. Admiral r Schl'ev expresses anything but the alarm which ap pears to agitate the patriotic bosom of Senator Lodge over the danger of uermany's appropriation of Brazil and defiance of the Monroe doctrine. The gallant Admiral is not so want ing in respect for the good sense of tne Germans as to attribute to them absurd designs wholly repugnant to their character. Fhuadelvhxa Re cord, Dem. The dispatches from South ampton say the king's escape from death, when Shamrock II. was dis masted by a squall, was "miracu- ous. Nonsense! He was no more saved by a miracle than was the humblest man of the crew. None was lost or hurt. The making of a great sensation out of it, by reason of the king being on board, is in the spirit of mere toadyism. Ohattan-. ooga Tinies, Ind. Not much encouragement or Government ownership of public utilities, it is remarked, is found in the fact that in the telegraphic service conducted by the British Government there is an annual loss of $3,500,000. The aggregate losses since the Government took over the ines is $41,500. "Unproductive extensions must be discouraged," was the only-reply of Hicks-Beach to the query as to a remedy. Charleston News and Cozirier, Dem. It seems to us that he (Sena tor McLaurin) is in closer touch with the Republican party than with the Democratic party. On all of the live questions the questions which are commanding the attention of the country he appears to be as good a Republican as the .President. He is with that party on the Phil ippine question, the tariff question, the money question, and he makes as good an argument as any Repub- lcan can in favor of the ship sub sidy bill. Savannah News Dem. BRUNSWICK COUNTY VETERANS. NEW CAPE FEAR STEAMBOAT. Celebration of Fortieth Anniversary, by Company 0, Twentieth Regiment. A Brunswick County Confederate Veterans' reunion was celebrated yes terday in Southport. It was the 40th anniversary of the organization of Company G, of the Twentieth regi- meut, N. C. S. T., and there were about seventy veterans present and a large number of others, including many la- dit8. A basket dinner sufficient for 500 people was spread on a long table in Franklin Square. The tables were beautifully draped with State and Na tional flags. Swift Galloway, Esq., of Goldsboro, who was to have been the speaker of the occasion, was prevented from coming by important business. Addresses were delivered by Col. Jno. D. Tavlor, of Wilmington, and others. A Monument Association was formed with Miss Kate Stuart president and R. W. Davis, Esq., vice president, Mr. Fred R. Mintz secretary, E. H. Cranmer, Esq., treasurer. A ways and means committee was elected, consisting of Mrs. Foley, Miss Maggie St. George, Mr. C. Ed Taylor and Mr. J. B. Mercer, of Wilmington. The purpose is to raise funds to erect a monument to tne uomeaerate aeaa of Brunswick county in Franklin Square, at Southport. It was an interesting occasion and most heartily enjoyed by all. Many of the veterans told of their services in the field in the Army of Northern Virginia. TAR HEEL PHYSICIANS. Of 96 Applicants, 67 Were Licensed, 25 Were Refused; Two Withdrew. Among the applicants who success fully passed the State Board of Med ical Examiners at Durham this week, other than those mentioned in yesterday's Star, were Bl 8. Herring, Wilson; George Ruffin Banton, Wil son ; Augustus M . Hose, n ayetteviiie ; T. V. Moore, Phoenix; J. E. Poscue, Pollocksville; H. Cook Davis, Fayetteville; Dunlop Thomp son, Morven; John A. McEachern, Fayetteville; M. Hugh McBride, Lit tie River Academy ; W. E. Kornegay, Goldsboro; Zary Highsmith, Parkers- burg; Thos. F. Genn, Goldsboro; Theo. L. Hooks, Fremont; E. K. Hart, Tarboro; Paul R. McFadyen, Clarktoh: A. 8. Williams, Kenans- ville. f Among the applicants were ten ne eroes. and of this number only three passed a successful examination. The hiohest average was made by Dr. Wm. A. Graham, Durham. Wilminerton and Newborn both asked for the convention next year, but as stated in the Stab yesterday, Wilmington was chosen and the time will be decided by committee. THE MURDERER CAPTURED. Contract Let By Fayetteville Parties For Its Building The Dimensions, Etc. Fayett&riflle Observer 22nd. The Fayetteville and Wilmington Steamboat Company yesterday placed a contract with the Merrill-Stevens Engineering Company, of Jackson ville, Fla., for , the first of its proposed new Jine of light draught steamers for navigating the Cape Fear River be tween Fayetteville and Wilmington. ThH boat is to be 140 feet in lensrth. SO feet beam, -with a draught suffi ciently minimized to enable her to traverse the Cape Fear at any stage of water, however low. "The , City of Fayetteville" will be built for both passenger and freight service with an average speed of twelve miles an hour. Her state rooms and saloons will be handsomely furnished, with Yunninsr water in every part of the boat. This fine steamer, graceful in design, and lighted with electrieitT.will be a pretty sight as she glides between the pictures que banks of the old Cape Fear. livery modern convenience will oe u&ed in her construction and the ma chinery will be of the lastest type. The builders are under contract to have the boat completed by October 1st of this year. THE $50,000 BONO ISSUE Read This If You Are Interested In the Bond Issue Election. Remember these facts: Unless you register anew your vote will not count either way in the bond election to be held June 18th. . If you wish to vote for the issuance of the bonds for county road improve ment you must both register and vote. If you are opposed to the issu ance of the boads (50.000) vou must register. Then your vote will count against bonds, whether palled or not. It requires a majority of the registered vote, not a majority of the vote cast, to authorize the bond issue. ! Do not overlook the fact that an entirely new registration is required for this special election. POSTMASTERS' SALARIES INCREASED. Department Announces New Order Which Will Qo Into Effect July 1st. To take effect July 1st, salaries of the following postmasters have been increased by the department: High Point, from $1,900 to $2,100: Lanrinburg, $1,300 to $1,400; Lincoln ton, $1,200 to $1,300; Marion. $1,200 to $1,300; Raleigh, $3,000 to $3,100; Rocky Mount, 1,700 to (1,800; gtatesville, $1,900 to $2,000; Wilmington, $3,000 to $3,100; Hendersonville, $1,500 to $1,600; Kinston, $1,700 to $1,800; Lex ington, $1,400 to $1,500; Lumberton, $1,200 to $1,300; New Bern, $2,200 to $2,800; Reidsville, $1,700 to $1,800; Shelby, $1,400 to $1,500; Waynesville, $1,300 to $1,400: Winston Salemr $3.- 000 to $3,100. Reduced Rates, Teachers' Assembly. The Atlantic Coast Line has an nounced a rate of one fare for the round trip, pins $2 membership fee, from points in North Carolina, Nor folk and Suffolk, Va., and interme diate points, on account of the Teachers' Assembly at Wrightsville, June 10th -15th. Tickets will be sold from June 7th to 15th, inclusive, with final limit June 25th. Capt. Frank Creel. Fayetteville Observer 24th: "Mr. Frank Creel, the well known engineer on the steamer Hurt, is ill at his home in Campbellton from the effects of a terrible blow on the head with a brick. He says that one night this week he, in company with a lady companion, had reached Watson's corner when he was suddenly hit by a brick and knocked down. His companion was also struck, but she was not so badly hurt." A Village ia Mitchell County Destroyed Sixteen Residences and a church Washed Away Damage to Southern Railway $500,000. Bv Telegraph to the Horninz Btar. Charlotte, N. C, May 24. Re ports from remote counties in the mountain districts show great destruc tion by . the storm. In Bakersville sixteen residences and the Baptist church were, washed away. Quiuton Moore and his son were drowned. Every house in Magnetic City, a village in Mitchell county, was de stroyd. At Roan Mountain station twenty houses were swept away. Six large stores on Big Rock creek wt-re carried away and one man, John Mc- Kmney, drowned, while an unknown man was killed in a landslide. Damage to the Southern. AshevilIiE, N. G. May 24. The damage to the Asheville division of the Bouthern railway by the recent hoods is estimated at a half million dollars. The Asheville and Spartan burg branch of the Southern will re sume its schedule to-morrow, but the me to Salisbury over the Blue Kicire mountains will not be open for several days ' Mails Delayed. Washington, May 24. Serious de- ays to the mails in the South caused by the floods are announced in a dis patch received at the Postoffice De -partment to-day from the railway mail division headquarters at Atlanta. Train No. 32, the New Orleans and Washington fast mail; 33,' the New York and Flonaa express, and 34, another fast train, all carrying the mails, were abandoned and the service performed on the other schedules. Waters Receding. Knoxville, Tenn., May 24. Re ports from upper East Tennessee indicate that the water in all rivers is receding. Railroad traffic is gradually being resumed. In addition to the devastation of Elizabethtown, it is now reported that 1,000 people are without food at Allentown, all stores having been da stroyed. Chattanooga, Tenn.. May 24. Officials of the Southern railway here announced to-day, that they will be able to run trains through the flooded district to Bristol over temporary bridges by Monday and will reach Asheville to morrow. PREPARATIONS AT MEMPHIS. TORPEDO BOAT RENDEZVOUS. No Determination by the Board As to the Points to be Recommended. B? Teiesraim to tbe Horning Btar. Washington. May 25. The naval torpedo boat board, which has in charge the determination of a policy for the torpedo boat fleet and the selection of a chain of stations along tne b.v lantic coast, returned to-day from a trip along the Southern coast. Visits were made to Pensacola and Fernan- dina. Fla.. Savannah. Charleston, Port Roval and Norfolk. The board will now inspect the points on the Northern Atlantic coast No determs ination has vet been made as to the central points to be recommended as a torpedo boat rendezvous, urunswics, Ga.. has been asked to have its merits considered as a torpedo boat station, but it is not likely that the Board will return South. MEMORIAL DAY. Slayer of John Brown, Colored, Was Ar rested by Police Officers and Consta ble Sheehan Last Midnight Jim Hawkins, the slayer of John L Brown, colored, particulars of which killing were printed in these columns yesterday morning, was arrested last midnight by a detail of police includ ing Sergeant Woolard, Policemen Leon and Dan Gebrge and Constable Wm. Sheehan. He was found upon information received by Chief Fur long, in the house of Francis Jones, colored, on Meadow between Tenth and Eleventh streets. The officers pulled him from under a bed in the house, and though he had a pistol on his person, he offered no resistance and confessed the murder, implicat ing Robert Smith, Wm. Bennett and another negro, all of whom were in the house at Brooklyn at the time of the shooting and whlTta being held fae station house by Chief Furlong. Observances Lexington Decoration of Graves of Lee and Jackson. By Telegraph to the Mornlne Btar. Lexington. Va . May 25. The Confederate Memorial Day was ob served here by the decoration of the tomb of Gen. R. E. Lee at Washing ton and Lee University and the grave of Gen. T. J. Jackson (Stonewall) and hundreds of others buried in the Lx incton cemetery. The memorial ad' dress was delivered this afternoon by Rev. Dr. J. A. Ouarles. of Washing- l ton and Lee University, in the Lee Memorial chapel. A parade was a iea- ture of the day. LYNCHING IN OKLAHOMA. f Negro Taken From Jail and Hanged by a Mob for Murder. By Telegraph to the Morning Btar. Wichita, Kas., May 25. A specia to the Eagle says that Bill Campbell a negro, was lynched at Pond Creek, Oklahoma, at 10 o'clock to-night by mob of four hundred persons who broke down the jail, took him to the scene of his crime and hanged him to a telerraph pole. The crime for which Campbell was hanged was the fatal shooting of Deputy Sheriff George Smith. IN MOUNTAINS OE NORTH CAROLINA. Loss of Life and Great Destruc tion of Property Caused By tbe Late Storm. SERIOUS DELAYS TO MAILS. SPIRITS TURPENTINE For the Great Reunion of Confederate Veterans Expected to Eclipse Any Similar Event Ever Held. By Telegraph to the Morning Star. Memphis. Tenn., May 25 All is in readiness for the great re union of Confederate veterans which will be held in this city on May 28th, 29th and 30th. At a meeting, of the executive committee to-night the various chairs men reported that their work had been finished and that on Monday the gates of the city would be thrown open to the old soldiers. The finance commit tee. under the chairmanship of A. B. Pickett, has raised $100,000 which is being expended for the entertainment and comfort of the veterans and visitors. A large building with a seating capacity of 16,000, has been erected on the Blufls, overlooking the Mississippi river, and General Moorman on a recent tour of inspec tion declared that it was the most com modious and elaborate building yet tendered the veterans at their annual meetiDg. Preparations have been made to feed, free of cost six thousand persons dail v. In the way of enter tainment there will be a grand norai parade, which it is confidently expec ted will eclipse any similar event ever held in the South. A brilliant fire works display will be another attrac tion, while balls ' will be given in Confederate Hall in honor of the visit ing sponsors and sons of veterans. BRITISH STEAMER ASHORE. The Robinia From Charleston for Balti more Stranded at Cape Henry. By Telegraph to the Morning Btar. Cape Henry. Va., May 25 The British steamer Robinia, from Char leston for Baltimore, stranded off this station this afternoon, during a dense fog, Captain Nelson fiolmes and crew of the Cane Henry life saving station boarded the vessel with the life boat- Captain Lash, of the steam er, stated that the accident which occurred at 4.50 P. M. was' due to. very heavy fog which sat in at 1.40 and lasted till 6:25 r. M. The Robinia lies justinside Cape Henry, head on. and about 350 yards off shore. A Merritt wreck ing tug has arrived, but probably will not be able to render assist ance before daylight. The captain and crew of the steamship remain aboard, The Robinia is frbm North Shields, England, and was on her way to Baltimore in ballast to load for Europe. FALL RIVER MILLS. Corporations Pledged to the Curtailment and Shut'Down Agreement. By Telegrapn to tne Morning Btar. Fall River, Mass., May 27. Re ports to-day indicated that from fifteen to eighteen corporations had pledged themselves in the combination curtail mAnt &nd shut down agreement and that the original provisions have been modified to meet the conflicting inter ests. It was also stated that among the last half dozen agents signing, reservations have been made so that certain mills will not be compelled to carry out all of the provisions called for. HnmA nf the mills manufacturing coarse goods posted notices to-day announcing that they will not run next week, but making no statement as to when they win start up again. Sanford Express: A new bank is to be established at Pine Bluff, this county. Stock to the amount of $5, 000 has already been subscribed. Three baskets of homing pigeons, shipped to this place by a Baltimore club, were liberated last Sunday morn ing. The most of them left at once on their homeward journey while a few remained here for several hours be fore leaving. Several more baskets of pigeons will be shipped to this place next Saturday to be liberated. Rockingham Headlight: From all the data we have been able to gather the prospect for cotton is not encouraging. Many of our farmers have planted twice, and some of them three times, and yet stands are not generally good. Wheat is repre sented as being exceptionally fine, and the oat crop is the best in many years. Bud Hinson tells us that at this time he has the promise of at least 5,000 bushels of oats Smaller farmers ex pect to reap in proportion. Reidsville Webster's Weekly: Mr. James Robinson, one of the county's best farmers, says he has failed only twice in the last ten years in making a good wheat crop. Eight good crops out of ten is a fine record. Mr. Robinson 8 experience is that thorough preparation of the land is the main thine in wheat growing. The seasons have a great deal to do with this crop, but when the farmer does his full duty an unfavorable sea son may be tided over and a fairly good yield secured. Statesville Mascot: A thought ful and observant citizen of this county says that he thinks the cotton crop in the county will with favorable sea sons show an increase of 20 per cent. I over last year. The acreage is increased and the present crop is more highly fertilized. Une day- last week Messrs. W. S. and J. J. Brawlev. of Shiloh township saw a novel sight. A. king snake about three feet long and a copper head about two and a half feet feet long got into a fight on a ditch bank. The king snake wrapped his tail around the copperhead's neck and dragged him into the ditch, where the copperhead's head was held under the water until he was dead. The king snake then swallowed the other snake, although the copperhead was the larg est, except in length. Mr. W. S. Brawley tells as that he had often heard of king snakes killing and swal- owing other snakes, but this was the first time he ever saw the performance. Lexington Dispatch: A num ber of South Carolina capitalists dur ing tbe past week have organized a stock company for the building of a new railroad from Wadesboro to Win ston-Salem. The new road will be ninety miles long and will pass through the counties of Anson.Stanly, Montgomery, Davidson and Forsyth. The capital stock of the company is $500,000 and a charter has been ap plied for. If built the new road will connect with the Saaboard Air Line at Wadesboro and the Atlantic Coast Line at the same point. - Mr. M. Bowers, telegraph operator at Con rad's Siding, recently returned from Pelham, Caswell county. Mr. Bow ers says there is a minister in that town, Rev. T. H. Walker, who has united for better or worse during his ministerial career, exactly 1,551 couples. Rev. Walker began "tieing the Knot ' in the year 1874, and from appearances he will be able to' con tinue the great work for several years to come. A large number of those married were runaway couples from the State of Virginia. GERMAN TROOPS IN CHINA. Present Time Regarded as Opportune for Withdrawal of Von Waldersee. BV Telegraph to the Morning Btar. Washington, May 25. The State Department has been advised that the German government regards the present time as opportune for the with drawal of Field Marshal Von Walder see, commander of the international forces in China. Nothing is stated as to the exact date for the return of the field marshal nor as to the number of German troops that will be left in China, but it is hoped at the State De partment that the German government will follow our own example and with draw all but a legation guard. The United States force will remain in command of a major and he will not be permitted to assume the command of the international forces even if so invited. STEWARD. ARRESTED. Unfinished Business Disposed Of and the General Assembly Adjourned Sine Die Home Missions. By Telegraph to the Merning star. Little Rock, Ark., May 25. 'After adopting the usual resolutions of thanks the forty -first session of the . Presbyterian General Assembly ad journed sine die at 10:30 P. M. to-day. A majority left on the afternoon trains. 1 At this morning's session of the Assembly the unfinished business of the session was disposed of. Rey. Dr. Beattie made a report for the committee on publication, showing that the publication plant is worth about $60,000. . Thenewhjmn book, he reported, is now ready, printed, and will soon be on sale. Dr. S. M. Smith presented a protest against the action of the Assembly in declining the invitation to participate in Confederate memorial exercisis, but after the original resolution wis read he withdrew his protest. The Assembly adopted the report of the committee on Sabbath observance, urging the people to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, and that all ministers preach on Sabbath observance at least once a year. In response to an overture from thu Montgomery Presbytery as to the validity of ordaining a probationer by two ministers and one elder, the As sembly declared that an ordination bo made is not strictly regular, yet when sanctified by the presbytery is valid. The Home Missions executive com mittee was directed to turn over the property, books and papers of tlie invalid fund to the ministerial relief executive committee to take charge of the work of raising and distributing funds for the relief of disabled minis ters and their families. At the business session last night Rey. S. L. Morris, of Macon, Ga., the new secretary of the Homo Missions Committee, was received, the commis sioners standing in welcome to. him. Dr. Morris said the honor had come to him unsought. He announced his ac ceptance, after prayerful consideration and consultation with his home people. The moderator called upon Dr. Boggs, of Holly Springs, Miss.. u offer a prayer for tbe success of tne new manager of Home Missions and Dr. Boggs responded. THE TEXAS OIL FIELDS. Report of the Chief Geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey On Extent of the Oil Territory. T. S. By Telegraph to the Morning Btar. Washington, May 25. Robert Hill, chief geologist of the U. Geological Survey, has returned from an extended geological investigation in the Texas oil fields, and has em bodied tbe result in a report, which says: "The importance of this oil -field is far greater than at present can be de scribed or estimated. It means not only a cheap fuel supply to tbe largest State in area in the Union, but owing to its proximity, to tide water it prom ises an export trade such as exists nowhere else in the world. Prepara tions are being made to sink hundreds of wells and very soon the present output of 500,000 barrels a day may be quadrupled. "It is entirely within tbe limit of probability that oil will be found at many places throughout the coastal pririe, and especially in its southern extension toward the Rio Grande and in the northeastern State of Mexico at Tamalipus. The outcrop of the territory formations in Southwest Tex as, in . Wilson, Atascosa, McMullen, Duval and other counties is naturally rich in oil and the practical oil men are risking their money in experi menting in that region. As the oil bearing tertiary strata extends east of the Mississippi into Louisiana and Alabama it is not beyond possibility that oil may be found in these States. " It is impossible now to state ex actly the extent of the oil yielding bed, which supplies the Beaumont well ana this can be only determined by drill ing experiments. "The area of profitable exploitation of the Beaumont oil fields is confined between the Sanjacinto and the Sabine rivers, east of the Houston ana west Texas railroad and south of Oil City, Nagderches county. This area may be extended or restricted by future exploitation. "It is very probable that other oil fields may be discovered in the coas tal plain between Beaumont and Tarn pico fields. Here lies a vast territory underlaid by the oil bearing ecoene formations which has not been exploited." COAL RATES REDUCED. Charged With Abstracting Gold From the Specie Room of a Steamer. By Telegraph to the Morning Btar. Berlin, May 25. Theodore Magers, the bed-room steward of the North German Lloyd steamer Kaiser Wil helm der Grosse, who in April last, i Bremen, found the three gold bars behind a cornice in the cor ridor outside the second class saloon which had been missed from the specie room on the arrival of the steamer at Cherbourg, and who claimed and obtained the reward of 10,000 marks offered for the recovery of the gold, has been arrested at Bremerhaven, at the instance of the North German Lloyd Company, charged with being the man who abstracted the gold from the specie room. BOERS STILL ACTIVE. Three Commandoes Again Invade Popu Ions Districts of Cape Colony. By Telegraph to tne Morning Star. Middelburg, Transvaal Colony, May 25. The commandoes of Krit zinger, Vanreenen and Fouche de bouched yesterday before dawn and crossed the railroad. They dashed southward,' re-invading the more populous districts of Cape Colony. Fouche's commando has been resting many weeks in the Zourberg moun tains. BANK ROBBED. Twenty Thousand Dollars Taken No Clue as to the Robbers. By Telegraph to the Morning Btar. ' Mineral Point, Wis., May 25. The First National bank of this city was robbed early to-day of $20,000 or more, mostly currency. Insurance covers the full amount of the loss There is no clue to the robbers. Caused by Prospective Invasion of Oil for Fuel FronT Texas. By Telegraph to the Morniuic dtai Birmingham, Ala., May 25. The cheapest coal rate in the history, of mininer in this district has just been announced for shipments to New Or leans, Mobile and Pensacola, a reduc tion of more than 25 per cent, having been made. This reduction makes the rate to New Orleans $1.25 per ton; to Mobile $1.10, and to Pensacola 1.10. The rates heretofore have bsen $1.75 to each city. The admitted cause of the reduction of rates to New Orleans is the pros pective invasion of oil from the Texas fields for the purposes of fuel. FLOOD SUFFERERS. - Destitution at Elizabethton, Tenn. Ap peals for Assistance. Bv Telegraph to the Morning star. Knoxville, Tenn., May 25. Des titution prevails with many families at Elizabethton, the flood stricken town. Mayor Lee F. Miller appeals through the Associated Press for aid. Congressman W. P. Brounlow has made a request for 1,000 - tents and blankets from the War Department at Washington. He has secured the im mediate shipment of enough to ac commodate fifty families. The South ern Railway offers to ship free of charge all supplies. The weekly statement of the asso ciated banks shows : Loans, $858,872, 600; decrease $14,639,500; deposits, $941,116,900, decrease $10,509,800; cir culation, $31,140,700, decrease $4,300; legal tenders, $76,501,000, increase $2, 183,500; specie, $180,067,200, increase $3,178,100; reserye. $256,568,200, in crease $5,361,600; reserye required $235,279,225, decrease $2,627,450; sur plus $21,288,975, increase $7,989,050. m 3 1:1: iii Mil v.. It -i! t. ; '-V t :t - H '111 I J. r I: : 'ijll j Ml ill; ;! 1 I' yu it I L. F. Loree, fourth vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, . has been selected as the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com pany, and the, official announcement will be promulgated next Wednesday, the appointmrnt to take effect June 1. . Mary Allen Lease, the lecturer, filed a petition in bankruptcy in the United States district court yesterday. The liabilities are $3,247, and assets $2,293.