St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 4

i 1 forced him to cook lor tnem, ana ne says that TRAGEDY AT SEA. get past him. xney uurnau onward and away from the ugly little leaden messengers which they were afraid might stray that way, but the man on horseback turned about and followed them, keeping up the fusilade until his revolver was emptied. .1 .4 inmnAil ft-ntn thA oarrlnEPa An rl the novel experiment of doing their sworn duty according to the plain directions of the law. MUNICIPAL ELECTION CONTESTS.

Our Democratic municipal administration has done so well thus far and has given for not carrying out the original proposition of the railroad company to build an elevated railroad connection, and no justification has been shown for an act which would cause serious pecuniary loss to thousands of property-owners, and establish a constant danger to the lives and limbs of those who are injured in their property. The difficulties which the corporation is raising against the elevated road are exact repetitions of the attempts made to prevent the lowering of the tracks west of Eighth street. Against this the railroads fought most bitterly, although it has since proved to be as great an advantage to them as the elevated road will be when it is finished. EQUALIZATION. In another column we print an interview with Secretary of State McGrath, revised by himself, in which, in a matter-of-course way, as if there were nothing wrong or questionable about it, he discloses the prevalence of a remarkable laxity of official opinion at Jefferson City in regard to the obligations of an official oath and the obedience due to State laws from State officers.

He has been Secretary of State and a member of the State Board of Equalization continously through the administrationsf Harding, Phelps, Crittenden and Marm-addke, and yet eleven years of close official association with State officers at Jefferson City do not seem to have taught him that this is a government of law, and that State officers have no authority to suspend or set aside the laws and regulate State affairs by agreements among themselves at variance with the positive mandates of the law. On the contrary, he seems to have been taught that that is precisely what they are there for. Like one championing the cause of the country against the city, of the poor against the rich, he attempts to justify a gross discrimination in assessments and taxation which the constitution positively prohibits, and which the statutes make it the sworn duty of the State Board of Equalization to prevent. What the law specifically makes it their duty to do, he admits they have refused to do, and holds that they should still refuse to do. The very function and purpose of a State Board of Equalization and its speciflo duties, as minutely set forth in the organic and statute laws, he holds to be all wrong, and that it has properly and righteously left the assessment where the law says it shall not be left to the control of the local assessors.

The laws provide that the State taxes shall not be levied upon the local assessments until the State Board shall have thoroughly investigated and "equalized the valuation among the several counties," in order that no municipality or class may evade or be discharged from 'its proportionate share of taxes" according to its actual wealth. But Secretary McGrath and the rest of the State Board have held, and seem still to hold, that it is discretionary with them to violate these provisions of law, in order that the municipalities with the smallest local burdens may be free to put their assessment at absurdly low valuations and thus escape their proportionate share of State taxes and impose an undue share of the same on other municipalities whose debts and necessities compel them to assess property as its full value. Read what McGrath says about the ample authority of the local assessors, and his denials and doubts as to the authority of the State Board, and then read the appendix we have added to his interview from the Constitution and the Revised Statutes of Missouri. The reader cannot escape the conclusion that the State Board of Equalization have habitually resolved themselves into a BoaTd of Autocrats, set aside the mandates of the law, violated the rules laid down in the statutes to govern them, and acted upon other rules evolved from their own ideas of publio policy, and without any legislative authority or legal sanction whatever. McGrath says they have never meddled with the local assessments but once, and then not to equalize valuations in obedience to the plain commands of the law, but to exercise the doubtful power of increasing the revenue by a $50,000,000 increase of the valuation of agricultural lands throughout the State 1 The Post-Dispatch does not ask the Board to do anything of that kind or to exercise any doubtful power whatever.

VTe ask only that the Board shall obey the plain provisions of the law and "equalize the valuation among the several counties" so that "all property subject to taxation shall be taxed in proportion to its value," and so that each municipality shall pay "its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for State purposes," as the constitution provides, and no more. The Board has ample power to send for persons and papers and to collect all the evidence necessary for its guidance in reducing local assessments that are too high and raising those that are too low, till all are brought approximately near to some fair plane of equalization. If this were done, we firmly believe that the State tax rate would be reduced to 30 cents at most on the $100, and perhaps to 25 cents. The constitution limits the State rate to 15 cents, exclusive of interest, whenever the assessment aggregates $900,000,000, and cities and counties laboring under immense burdens of local debt and local taxation are fairly entitled to such relief. Instead of unlawfully conniving at overvaluations and unequal assessments, uiider the false pretense of favoring the necessities of heavily burdened communities, let the members of the State Board when it meets on the 21th try he put a lot of matcues in their coffee with the hope of poisoning them.

Tney warned him to stay in his galley if he wanted to live another minute, and while one prowled about the fore, castle, the other lingered at the window and doors of the cabin, no doubt hoping anj that the captain was dead. Ah fang, thai steward, nan run away ana tocaeu unnslf a his room, when he saw the captain's wound, and it was only by the threats that he was pre' vailed upon to lend Mrs. Clarke the sliifht-f o'clock until daybreak, -and on that disruij Sunday there was scarcely any change, captain lingered between life and death. He knew nothing as yet about the fate of hu crew, but he guessed rightly that his mate woj dead. There can be no doubt that every on who escaped from that 6hip owes his the beneficence of Providence, to the faith ul exertions of Mrs.

Clarke. All day long on of the Indians, probably the very one who at tacked the captain, was heard about the can. tain's window by the Inmates, and was seei by the man in the rigging listening for the tain's dying groan, or a cry from the porw wife or child that would indicate thai he was gone. Had he died, every soul would have perished, for th assassins could then have entered the cabu. with impunity, secured the firearms ami Killed off the rest of the men In detail.

Tha sails, which were set during ail the time were alternately filled and flapping loosely, M' the noble ship swung round and round' a helpless and aimless thing. The night cams on at last, and it was an age of doubt, uncertainty, dread and suffering to those unhappy mariners. Monday morning, January 4 dawned at last, but no relief came: no wmnj or word of hope from the crew. Mrs. Clarke hal succeeded in stopping the flow.

of blood from her husband's woundj by stuffing cotton batting int the gashes in his head ftud face, and by press, ing the lung back Into its place and bandaRing the wound In his left side securely, lie brgan to suffer intensely after the first excitement of the fray was over, but he kept his will anil determination actively employed, and, though, be had neither food, drink, medicine nor stimulants since supper time on Saturday, felt a shade better Monday morning. Ttia captain, lor the first time, learned from Hendrickson that the Indians were the onljr culprits. The captain now felt stronger than be was, and deterniinad to make a Ucbperata effort to DISLODGE THE INDIANS. But oh Sunday night the assassins had prepared for the battle. Across the roof of tii fore cabin, a few feet forward of the skylight they placed a heavy door on edge, laehiuirit it fast to the poop railing.

Behind this they placed a wide 2-inch pitch pine plank, and finished off the breastwork with the bed and pillows from the murdered carpenter's room. They were armed with a fine shark harpoon and several Javelins made by lashing knives to ends of rods ten feet long, They were worried by the show from the skylight and prepared to haroonp the first person who ventured there. They divined that all was not well with their game, and they were going to play their last desperate card. Hendrickson, directed by the cap. tain, kept up sueh a fusillade at their breastworks that he finally dislodged them and forced them to seek shelter along the sides of the cabin before they had a chance to hurl their javelins.

Firing through the cabin where he knew they were standing, he hit ona and wounded him so badly that he yelled and ran to the forward part of the ship, where he first put a plank overDoard and then went over himself. The captain, meanwhile, cut the upper door of the companion-way open with a broad-axe, and Hendrickson climbed up through the sky. light. Landbergh, who was in the rigging, now came down, and Indian No. 2 disappeared, nobody knew whither, when ths men broke out of the castle.

In the tumult of the moment, while the men were acting like half-drunken wretches, wakened from sleep, smoke was seen issuing from the after-hatch, where the mates were slain, and it was some minutes before the captain could get the men to go into the hatch with revolvers to KILL OR CAPTURE THE INDIAN. whom all knew to be the Incendiary. At length Henry Wilson and Hendrickson led the way and all the others who were able followed. But between the decks was already filled with smoke and the Indian, flourishing his knife, kept well concealed behind a bale of hemp where there bullets could not reach him. They were undoubtedly stilled with the smoke until, they say, they thought they had killed the Indian, so they scrambled to the deck and began with a will to tight the Are.

But, alas, there were only eight men besides the Chinamen(who were strictly useless) able to work. The captain says that, however, as their earlier conduct is judged, it cannot boJ denied that they did ail that they possibly could then to subdue the fire, but all in vain. The breeze was blowing fresh and the flames spread rapidly. The rest is soon told. The captain got the men fairly to work and they had taken the hose into the 'tween decks by the port leading onto the main deck.

He found the lire raging and the men told him that while they were in the 'tween decks the assassain and incendiary had gone out through the hatch. gay completed the story with the information that when he came, he uttered a yell and leaped over the side. The sharks were about the vessel, and no doubt took him for what he was worth. By 11 o'clock the flames were coming through the decks, and the captain saw there was not a moment to lose if he would take the chance of saving them bv means of the boats. Al ready every sail and mast was burned, and a scanty supply of provisions and 200 gallons 01 water were got into the largest 01 tne two boats that were launched.

The three men who had charge of the small boat swamped it under the bows of tha ship with a cask of water, and all hands were packed into the other boat. Seven hundred miles from the nearest speck of land, and that land a small island which is often missed bv good mariners who are in search of it. Capt. larke had the good fortune to sight the island at 8 p. in.

Sunday, January H. I have sought in vain for the motive which impelled the Indians to commit this horrible butchery they had any more tangible than a savaiia thirst for blood, it remains hidden lu the realms of conjecture. CORRUPT LEGISLATORS. How Money Was Openly Paid For the Broadway Railroad Franchise. Bv Tslegraph to the Post-Dispatch.

New York, February 15. The Broadway horse car railroad investigation naturally attracts a good deal of attention, and talking with a gentleman who has had a good deal of experience in legislatures at Albany, the Post-Dispatch correspondent was told the follow ing story: At the time that influence was being brought to bear in the legislative circles with a view to passing a Broadway railroad bill, there were two parties at work, one representing Jake Sharp and the other the cable party. They each had a well-known lobbyist In their interest and some very lively work was going on. Bids for votes started and as one lobbyist would bid over, the other enhanced to 5,000 and over. Of course, the voting commences with the names of those commencing with and from what I understand the Sharp party, knowing how the sheep follow tne stuffed their pockets with $5,000 apiece.

In the meantime, tbe doubtful men were being taken outside and when Sharp would pass the agent would eay: "Mr. Sharp, allow me to introduce Mr. nave 1 power to actr" "Whatever Vou sav ia all Jake would slip awav. Thi. point, and some thirty honest legislators got left.

Ihe countrymen came down to ew lork and hung around the A 8 tor bouse interviewing the lobbyist until they got tired of promises and wont home. A New Yorker who was promised M.000 didn't exactly like the situation and told a friend that be was going to pet his money. ne went to Jake Sharp's bouse and simply told him be haa come for his money and if be did not get It they would walk off the dock together. The talk was good and he got his money, but the contrymea were left. Antl-Chlnese.

Portland, February 13. The Anti-Chinese congress assembled here to-day. One hundred and fifty members were present. Resolutions were adopted to tbe effect that any community had a right to protest against undesirable elements, and aa the Chinese were 01 ni class tne cttisens ot every locality were called upon to assemble and request them to go to fan Francisco or some other community that wanted them. February 22 was named as the day for men public meetings.

Other resolutions commending certain newspapers and boycotting the Oregonlan and the livening Telegram for tbeir respective attitudes on tbe Jiuestton were passea cans upon uongreas or prohibitory legislation and tbe Impeaobyf ment of tov. Squires for his armed rlf be requested to OOIMUI UM propoaM I' '1 THE MUTINY ON BOARD THE AMERICAN SHIP FRANK N. THAYER. Capt. Clarke Punishes One of the Crew, an Indian, for Refusing Physic The Sailor and Another Indian Murder the Mates and Take Possession of the Ship Capt.

Clarke Attacked and Made a Prisoner In His Cabin. Ths Mutineers Set Fire to the Vessel and Jump Overboard. New York, February 15. A correspondent of the Tribune sends the following story of the mutiny on the American ship, Frank Si. Thayer, from St.

Helena: The following Is a plain, unvarnished statement of the tragedy on the Frank N. Thayer, on January 2, 3 and 4, about 700 miles southeast of this place, all of the affair having been gleaned from eye wit nesses, in an Investigation just made by the United States consul, James L. MacKnight, at this place. However incomprehensible or incredible the story may seem, it Is the unanimous testimony of the captain and his wife and of the fourteen seamen who survived and reached here early on the morning of the 11th in an open boat. The Frank N.

Thayer was a fine wooden ship of 1,600 tons, built in 1873 at Kewburyport, hailing from the port of Boston, where her principal owners live. She sailed from Manila for New York on November 1, 1685, with a full cargo of hemp, valued at $350,000, and with a crew of twenty-two men, including two Manila Indians and two Chinamen. The only Americans were the captain, Robert M. Clarke of Long Island, and tbe mate and sec ond mate, Holmes and Davis. The others were Germans and Scandanavians.

A few days after leaving Manila one of the Indians complained of sickness, but when the captain decided that he needed physic and offered him a dose of salts, he made a wry face and re jected it, upon which the captain took up a rope and gave him a cut or two over the shoulders, and after this persuasion he took the salts. Absolutely nothing occurred In Connection with the Indians that is remembered by any of the survivors from that time until midnight, January 2. A few minutes after midnight, January 2, Capt. Clarke was aroused from his sleep by some one calling "CAPT. CLARKE, CAPT.

CLARKE." Half asleep, and In his night clothes, he ran up the after companion-way, and when he reached the top, received a blow with a knife on the top of his head. He saw that one of the Indians was his assailant and began to fight him as best he could with naked hands, but the savage pressed him so closely that he was obliged to back down the steps. The captain had struck the ruffian several blows In the face, and prevented him from making his thrusts with effect, but as the two reached the bottom of the steps, grappling with each other, the captain slipped In the blood and fell. The Indian then plunged his knife into his victim's left side and ran up the steps, leaving him for dead. The captain's wife was aroused by his fall and in a moment she saw him enter her room covered with blood.

He merely said that he was hurt, and, arming himself with a revolver, returned to the door. He called to the man at the wheel, Malone, telling him to shut the Upper door of the companion-way. "I can't, sir," said he. "Why not?" asked the oaptain. "There's somebody there," said Malone.

Capt. Clarke then shut and locked the cabin door leading to the companion-way and went through the fore-cabin to shut the doors leading on to the half-deck. As he did so he found his second mate, Davis, lying dead at tne door of his room, and hastily closed and fastened the outside doors, impressed by the vaguness and uncertainty of the danger which had fallen upon him and his charge. As he re-entered the after-cabin, he heard a man at the door. It was a sliding panel, so he shoved it back a short distance and saw a white man, J.

U. Hendrickson, standing in the passage. He covered the man with his pistol and demanded what he wanted there. The man cried, 'Hide me, captain, hide me." But the captain was not reassured, and asked what he wanted, if he belonged to the murderers, but the man only repeated, "hide me, bide me." Failing rapidly from loss of blood from his wounds, and fearing to trust the man, as he would give no account of himself, the captain told him to go away, and again shut and locked the door. Hendrickson then entered the bath-room, the aoor of which opened upon the companion-way, and locked himself in.

He had scarcely done so when the Indian from whom he had retreated traced him to his hiding place and tried to induce him to open the door. Failing in this attempt he went back up the steps, and Hendrickson saw him stab Malone, the man at the wheel, and throw him overboard. A moment after the death moan and the struggle of Malone were heard by the captain, the Indians smashed in one of the cabin windows, and one said to the other, "Go In." The fellow was about to obey when the captain fired two shots in rapid succession, putting them to flight, with a volley of oaths and curses on their lips. He then shut and fastened the shutters of the cabin windows and lashed the outside doors fast. Mrs.

Clarke now began to dress the wounds of ber huspand as he sat braced In a corner whence he could command the doors and windows with his revolver. His head and face were hacked to pieces, and from the gash in his left side, Just below the ribs, the lower side of his loft lung protruded. Who shall describe tbe sensation of that captain and his wife at that dread hour? The little daughter clung to her mother, aumb with fear, and the poor wife, a fragile and timid woman under ordinary circumstances, directed her best efforts with coolness and deliberation to the stoppage of the bleeding, which she knew would soon end her husband's life. While they were thus occupied they were entirely ignorant as to who were engaged in the mutiny, and knew not at what instant the cabin door would be forced and the murder completed. Meantime, the Indians had been doing gory work above.

The mate, Holmes, was dying in the forecastle, the two men having fallen upon him and the second mate at once at the opening of the fray. Mr. Holmes had made his way to the forecastle, Instead of the cabin, because the Indians bad gone toward the latter, and a wounded man always has a keen sense of danger. He had fallen on the floor of the forecastle when he entered, and had become unconscious almost Immediately, only telling the men around him that one of the Indians had ctrr htm all to pieces. A sortie was made by six of the men, armed with capstan bars.

The only result was that four of the party were stabbed almost to death and the other two escaped, one to the bathroom, the other to the upper rigging. It was about 12 :30 when the doors of the forecastle were suddenly closed from the outside and fastened with locks and ropes and timbers braced against tbe bulwarks. The men Inside were undoubtedly demoralized and panto stricken by the scenes of blood they bad witnessed in the preceding twenty minutes. Those who were wounded thought they were I dying, and the others seem to have been entirely bewildered. O.

Schmidt was the firs one stabbed by the Indians after they wounded the mates. He was walking on tbe half deck near them, and when he saw one of the Indians come up the step from the main deck, be asked him what he wanted, lie pretended not to under tand, and walked on toward where the mates were sitting, and the other Indian came up the step almost immediately. The mates seemed to pay no attention to their presence, but continued their conversation, the first mate giving directions as to the work that was to be done by the MriS morning watch. The action of the IndlanaWii as quick as lightning, and Schmidt had no idea they had hurt the mates until thtt barf stabbed him. Having made the om and the forecastle secure on the out side.

thev hnhanri out- Roothke and the man on the lookout aSI herein. Th. tnrti. themselves, the only other person alivii th being the Chinese cook, aV SaV Ef ho.i v. Iv me 1 PUBLISHED BT THE DISPATCH PUBLISHING CO.

Joseph Pulitzer, President. Entered at the Post OlBce at St. Louis, as second-class mail matter. T. TERMS OF TI1K DAILY.

One year, postage paid. 00 Six months 60 Xlrree 25 One month. 5 One month (delivered by carrier) 6 By the week (delivered by carrier) 15 Subscribers who ail to receive their paper regularly will confer a favor npon us by reporting the same to this office by postal card. THE WEEKLY. One year, postage paid SI OO Six months, postage 60 All business or news letters or telegrams should be addressed POST-DISPATCH, SIS and 517 Market street.

TECEPHOJTE NUMBERS. Editorial Rooms Business Office 558 MONDAY. FEBRUARY 15, 18S6. AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. Grand OFEBA-nors (Market, between Broadway and Sixth Robson and Crane.

Olympic (Broadway, near Walnut) A Night Off. Pope's (Ninth and Olive) Jananschek. Fioplx'S (Sixth and Walnut) Dominica Murray. Standard (Seventh and Walnut) Pattl Rosa. Casino (Fourth, near Walnut) Four Diamonds.

Palace Museum (Sixth, near Franklin avenue) 1 p. m. to 10 p. m. Biding School (Armory building, Seventeenth and Pine) Open dally from 9 a.

m. to 5 p. m. MATIXEKS TO-MORROW. Casino Four Diamonds.

ts it possible that the experienced editors of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and of the New York Sun hare been taken in and done for? It would be very unfortunate for the present city government if the evidence which is shut out of court should be published in the daily papers. There i3 only one answer that Mayor Francis can give to the charges in connection with the recent election and that is to disprove them if they are untrue. The peculiar circumstances of the killing by Mexicans, of Capt. Crawford, furnish ground for the suggestion of a government reservation for Mexicans living or roaming this side of the Rio Grande.

Thkre is no sufficient reason for shrouding the workings of a municipal election in St. Louis with the gloom and mystery that belonged to the Louisiana Returning Board when the voice of the carpetbagger was heard in the land. The future of the Pan Electric Telephone company is wrapt in doubt and gloom but its past is becoming more radiant every day with the light that streams through the port-holes of scrutiny and investigation. The readiness with which the House of Delegates grants switching privileges across Clark avenue is an indication of what it is prepared to do in the way 'of surface tracks. The outlook for the property owners south of the proposed Iron Mountain extension is a very poor one.

It was Shakspeare's idea that the man with no music in his soul is not the right sort of a citizen. This view received recent confirmation when Patrick Grx-more, a man with an abundance of musio in his soul, gave two concerts for the Par-nell fund, the net proceeds being about 56,000. The equalization of valuations among the several counties as directed by law, is the very keystone of the equity of our tax laws. Remove it and the whole system becomes a chaos of inequality and injustice. That is what the State Board make of it, when they treat as dead letters all the provisions in regard to equalization.

The State officers have managed to make a dead letter of entirely too much of the constitution and laws of Missouri. Secretary McGrath'b plea for treating the State laws in regard to equalization as a dead letter, is that a good deal of personal property and some real estate in St. Louis, belonging to the rich and influential, escapes taxation. It is lamentably true that the heavy burden on the great mass of St. Louis tax-payers for whom there is no escape is thus made heavier.

But is that a good reason why the State Board should, contrary to law, con nive with the local assessors to make the victims of local discrimination pay two or three times their proportionate share of State taxes also Aiija ueuiowaw 01 c. louis nave a stronger interest than the Republicans have in putting an end to the claim that the recent city election was carried by fraud. The refusal on the Democratic side to allow the ballots to be examined is the strongest justification that the Republicans have in claiming that the frauds, of the existence of which no one doubts, were sufficient to determine the result in favor of the Democratic ticket. If this claim is false. there is an easy way of disproving it, which is wholly in the power of the Democrats.

If it is not disproved, but if, on the contrary, technicalities of the law are invoked to prevent the disproof, it is only reasonable to assume that tbse who have the deepest the fairness of their election are uiraui to do it. There will be no further hearing before the Council Committee on tbr fsroposed surface extension of the Ire'' kiutain road, and there is no neof JJilrther hearing. reason what ias been 1 lilO started for the nearest farm-house, leaving 1 i 1. 1 1 ji Pearce to aiono, wuicn by doing the now unarmed man up In Sulll-vanlstio style and sitting on him until the driver returned with help, when the fellow was taken in tow and landed in Jail at Greenville. Pearce, you are a good boy.

At a preliminary examination the man was bound over to the February term of circuit court. The case came up last week, but was continued until next term. A Word to St. Louis. Prom the Henry County Democrat.

Another thing St. Louis should do. Her business men should urge the passage of a Just and equitable law by the next legislature, putting the railways of the state under a strong statutory provision, to prevent outrageous charges and discrimination. The BO-called "granger law which now serves as a "tub for the whale," should be repealed whether anything else Is done or not; and if no laws commensurate with the necessities of the business Interests of the state be passed, the expensive luxury known- as the state board of railway commissioners, should be repealed. It Is an outrage on the tax-payers of the state to keep three men in'office at a salary of $3,000 per year each, with the next thing to nothing to do, and a clerk at $1,500 a year to do it for them.

No wonder half the people of the state, as well as the writer, yearn to be state railway commissioner. It is the only high salaried office in the state that a man can hold, the the duties of which will toot interfere materially with any other business he may want to engage in. St. Louis must not be afraid of railway managers and railway politician lobbyists. She can come out boldly and win to her aid the balance of the state.

Hancock Seen in Battle. From the New York World. Said the Rev. Dr. Paxton at the recent annual dinner of the Typothetae: "At the battle of Chancellorsville I was a private soldier and stood with my musket trembling, a little fellow 18 years old.

The Chancellor house was burning, the confederates had broken our Eleventh corps and my regiment was held to support five pieces of cannon. I was scared to death and would have run. Along our line came Gen. Hancock. Shells were bursting, men were groaning, the dead were lying here and there I frightened as if at the mouth of hell.

Suddenly In the midst of our collapse a man on a horse rode down the line. It was awful, but that man, tall, magnificent, the incarnation of a hero, the grandest soldier. He rode on the horse, not a muscle quivering, and looking us in the face, said: Gentlemen he called his soldiers gentlemen 'we are left to keep them in check until the second line is formed. Hancock relies on the old First Brigade. I became a hero by that man's influence.

No Plutarch could have done that for me." THE METROPOLITAN PRESS. What the Editors of the New York Journals Are Saying this Morning. By Telegraph to the Post-Dispatch. New York, February 15. The "World says to-day: "What threatens to be a serious in-Jury to the Democratic party will be turned into a substantial benefit, if it is made the means of proving to people that Democracy is faithful to its pledge of reform that in advocating purity and integrity in the public service, it means the purity and integrity of Democrats as well as of Republicans that in rebuking malpractices and official improprieties in other parties it honestly resolves to check and uproot even the slightest impropriety in its own ranks." the sirs-.

The feun says: "Whether the attorney-general keeps his stock or sells it, or burns or buries It, or flings it away, it can not but have tbe most intimate relation to the scandalous fact that the Pan Electric company gave him the stock for the purpose of securing his influence as a public man of high importance, and that through such manipulation the Pan Electric has succeeded in getting the administration of which he was a member to direct that a suit be brought by the United States to annul an obstructing patent." the tribune. The Tribune says 'A discussion of the tariff question will be unprofitable, and the opponents of any change will have a tremendous advantage. It will always be possible for them to command a part of the ardent believers in silver coinage when they propose to put aside the tariff debate and tumble the bills into the waste basket and settle the money question without further delay. the times. The Times says: "The advocates of free coinage, who are not owners of silver mines or immediately controlled by these, are in favor of it because It would compel the coun.

try very rapidly to resort to the exclusive use of silver money and paper based on it, and that, they think, would give them 'cheap plenty of it, high prices, universal speculation and general good times." THE PEOPLE'S 1'ORUM. Ancient History. To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch. On the 14th of January you said that the Republican party allowed so much corruption in twenty-four years' administration, and it is a shame it is true. But please stir up the conscience of Tllden to pay the poor miners on Lake Superior over $25,000.

Was he a Republican? Please give us a memorandum of what good the Democratic party did in the years under James Buchanan. Were they patriots? Honest in their several offices and their oaths? ANIHOKT SDPPIQKtt North of Highland, February 13, 1836. Mr. Supplger doubtless means well, but we cannot go into ancient history. We believe however, that the Globe-Democrat makes a specialty of collecting facts relating to the period of the civil war.

Editor Post-Dispatch. Art at Home. Please oblige Observer by answering the following question through the POST-Dispatch: Which is most becoming and now most used for parlors, pictures of scenery or portraits of the family or friends? Observer. b. Please answer as soon as possible, as I wish to know Immediately.

St. Louis, February 11, 1886. The Post-Dispatch artist, who is also a portrait painter, gives it as his professional opinion that portraits are the proper thing Editor Post-Dispatch. answers to correspondents. F.

W. G. According to Hoyle a slaver ordered up cannot go it alone. jir Edward E. Smith.

Mardi Gras night. Tuesday, March 8, is the masquerade night. Nine Subscribers. We cannot undertake to reprint the speech of Daniel Webster which you request. Constant Reader.

The Silver Bow and the R.J. Lock wood were sunk by the ice in the break-up of 1872. Reaper. No one, no matter whether he is a policeman or not. has any right to enter your house without a warrant.

A policeman can be sued for swearing that a man ts a thief After the Crown Jewels. From the Chicago Inter-ocean. llat the French crown Jewels are to be VliVerJwluJt rush toward Europe of hotel clerks and circus agents. MR. XT.

C. 8TE1GER3 Will eall on Merchant winning to oontraot to advertising In the Poi Dispatch. Ttltphene US. given promise of such further improvement that we should dislike to see it "nipped in the bud," as it were, and the general publio, which cares more for good government than for party, must entertain a grave doubt that a change would be for the better. But we should still more regret to see such a man and officer as Mayor Francis is retaining office by a title like that of President Hayes, stamped all over with grave allegations and presumptions of election frauds, protected from judicial investigation by technicalities that plainly defeat the provisions of the constitution and the intent of the laws.

The allegations on which the quo warranto proceedings are based are printed in another column, and are of a character so grave that any honorable official- should court an opportunity to refute them judicially, rather than rest under their 6hadow behind the dishonorable protection of a legal quibble. ine state Constitution explicitly provided that such election contests should be heard and decided by the courts, and commanded the Legislature to specify the proper courts. In. the attempt of the General Assembly to do so, some verbal conflicts crept into the various statutes, and on the strength of 6uch a conflict the Supreme Court has excluded St. Louis municipal election contests from the Circuit Court jurisdiction, which the Legislature plainly intended to extend over them in common with other election contests.

If the doubtful remedy by quo warranto shall prove ineffectual, will Mayor Francis retain office under charges of ballot-box frauds which he dares not submit to a judicial investigation? Will he permit such a cloud to be cast over a career that has opened so brightly and in all other respects so honorably? It was by appealing to the publio conscience against Republican election frauds and the concomitant corruptions in office that the Democratic party has gained its present ascendency. To see its nominees gaining offices by the same methods and holding them by closing the door against any investigation, must bring the blush of mortification and shame to the cheek of every honest Democrat. The Democracy that does not stand up manfully for freedom and fairness in elections, is not Democracy, but fraud stealing the livery of Democracy to betray and disgrace it. The prevalent opinion among Democrats is that there was not enough fraud in the voting or in the returns to change the result. But it will be a grea blunder to leave this point open for dispute, merely to cover up the frauds that were committed and to protect the scoundrels who committed them, and who should be exposed and punished no matter how the contest is decided.

The only proper and creditable course is to challenge the proof, and, instead of evading the charges by questionable devices, to meet and refute them. mum Ths cigar-makers are opposed to "piping times," whether in peace or war. Gebontmo may yet have a chance to display his symmetry in a dime museum. A woiST statesman should not pick up a burning question by the wrong end. Lord Randolph Churchill is finding out what struck him and has made a speech.

Sib Charles Dilke's "vindication" shows that the British lion sometimes enjoys a Joke. It is not known how many volumes of poems have been distributed by the St. Louis gas companies. Mr. Garland says no one Is willing to accept his Pan Electric stock; but he forgot to consult his Btove.

Ma. Garland may yet make a good Attorney-General, but he needs a chaperon occasionally when the question of propriety is involved. Mary" falls to give us "Eosallnd" while in St. Louis, there will be abundant disgust and disappointment in the local bald-head circles. Jacob Sharp's failure to keep any books may turn out to be a proof of his business sagacity.

If he were a politician he would write no letters that required cremation. Congressman- Warner shows an excessive and superfluous amount of foresight in stating what the financial needs of the country will be in 1900. He should shorten his telescope and lay hold of the present. The czar danced till 3 o'clock in the morning at a recent ball. This shows remarkable strength and endurance when we consider the elaborate system of steel and iron defenses which he carries under his clothes.

He wry James having started "The Princess Cassamassima" in the Atlantic Monthly, Marion. Crawford begins "The Prince Sarran-esca" in Blackwood's Magazine. It is Mr. Howell's turn to make the next raise. Miss Cleveland says a woman should be "moderately Senator Edmunds says that a man especially a Mormon should be moderately married.

This is severe on people who are considerably married, or who contemplate excessive matrimony. A Plucky Editor. From the Poplar Blnff ClUzen. About a month as W. A.

Pearce, one of the Doniphan Prospect newsmen, started on a trip from Greenville to Piedmont by stage. When crossing the St. Francois river en route, a drunken man on horseback was la the middle of the stream, blocking the passage. He was requested to move to one side and give the vehicle room, but Instead of so doing be became very noisy and seized the bridle of one of the horses. The driver struck him a severe lick with the carriage whip, whereupon the aforesaid drunken man pulled his pistol and began Urine' at the driver and Pearce, who were the only occupants of the stage.

He fired several shots, but the driver put the lash to the horses and. managed to Ma ThTj jrtarihmtnlL A. 4. RsfssVesVMi.