Gilded Age Newspaper Articles

HOW THEY WERE ACQUITTED.

Alleged Plan Whereby Nrs, Sheedy and the Negro Were Freed.

SET A TRAP FOR ATTORNEY LAMBERTSON.

Ring and Hair Episodes in Strode's Speech Prearranged- Decoration day at Lincoln - Odds and Ends.

Lincoln, Neb., May 30. -[Special to The Bee.]- The one absorbing topic of conversation is the verdict of the jury in the Sheedy murder case. The legal fraternity takes a special interest in the case, and pronounce it a remarkable victory considering the evidence that was unearthed even previous to the preliminary hearing. Many people who formerly believed Mrs. Sheedy guilty now declare empathetically since the trial that they think she is innocent. This change of heart is of course due to the manner in which the defense handled their side of the case against what appeared great odds. In the presence of a group of lawyers this forenoon one of the attorneys on the part of the defense, after considerable quizzing, [-nally] unfolded the plan of battle whereby the apparently sure prosecution was routed:

"The trouble on the part of the state's prosecution," said he, "was that it's attorneys and officers tried the case from the beginning to end with a brass band and through the newspapers, while we worked quietly for the defendants to win only. Mayor Graham sought, with the aid of Melick and Malone, to close his term of office in a blaze of glory. He, of course, had the laudable wish to succeed himself. So he turned sleuth hound, and, as Monday McFarland will tell you today, Graham wrung this confession from him. He got the confession but he was not posted well enough to know that he had made a loophole through which we could crawl out even had the defendant been guilty.

"Then, again, every speck of evidence which was obtained was heralded in the newspapers. This brought Graham and the officers working with him prominently before the people, but gave their case dead away. These mistakes were chicken pie for Strode, Billingsley and the rest of us. We knew just what to meet and how to parry it.

"I'll admit we had apparently a desperate case, but Strode and Detective Penneo were indefatigable in looking up evidence, and to Stearns was assigned the job of looking up all points of law that could possibly arise. But Colonel Philpot and Captain Billingsley had the hardest task of all, and that was to hold Monday McFarland down and keep his mouth shut. The attorneys for the state by various means sought to have McFarland repeat his confession on the trial and thereby secure immunity. The alleged treachery of his attorneys to his interest to help out Mrs. Sheedy was fully announced in the papers and among the colored people, all done, I believe, at the instance of the prosecution. But the darkey clung to his legal advisers, Philpot and Billingsley, although he was falsely informed that they were to get a contingentfee of $20,000 to help out Mrs. Sheedy at his expense. To Captain Billingsley, for the defendants, was assigned the duty of selecting a jury, which we think was well done. Philpot was irrepressible and did considerable of the fighting. Detective Crawe was a silent factor in the case.

"I believe that another mistake made by the prosecution was the style of addressing the jury. There was a vast contrast between the speeches made on each side. Hall and Lambertson were ornate, polished and poetic, but far above the heads of the jurors and beyond their grasp. The speeches for the defense were plain, but they got there.

"A trap was prepared for Lambertson over the ring and hair in the latter part of Strode's powerful plea, and Lambertson fell into it most beautifully. He lost his temper and called Strode 'an infamous liar.' Then Judge Field reprimanded him sternly and the crowd for once applauded, showing an apparent sympathy for the defendant. This had a powerful influence on the jury. Snell himself admits that their side of the case was not well managed."

AFTER THE BATTLE.

Now that the first surprise from verdict is over there is noticeable lack of incrimination and hints of bribery. The newspaper men know of their own experience that it was impossible to get within gun [?] of the jury room. Sheriff McClay took the greatest precaution that nobody could get to the jury, and the bailiffs, Taylor and Bates, have been as silent and grim as sphinxes. The trial entailed an immense amount of work on the sheriff and his deputies, Hongland, Hoxie and McFarland, and Bailiff Franklin, but every effort was made to accomodate the great crowds which gathered daily. The people in attendance seemed to appreciate this fact and were as quiet and orderly throughout as though they were in church. Only once did they give way to their feelings and that was in the Lambertson episode.

"The Bee is the only paper," says Woodward, "That has treated the defense fairly. The Bee has given both sides without any coloring. There is only one thing in its reports to which we can take exception, and that is the interview with an attorney, in which we were charged with selling out our client. That was not true, but, of course, The Bee intended us no malice in publishing what was given to it as gospel truth" Captain Billingsley and Mr. Strode says the same thing concerning the reports of the trial in The Bee.

Juror Robertson said in conversation with Judge Field last evening that when the jury retired to their room after the argument close that eight of the jurors were morally satisfied of Mrs. Sheedy's guilt, but could not find her guilty according to the restrictions laid upon them in considering the evidence.

It is reported by another juror that nine of his colleagues were in favor of pronouncing McFarland guilty until they received the judges instructions.

The five attorneys on the part of the defense admit that it required their united efforts to break the chain of evidence forged by Detective Jim Malone.

THE SUSEDY ESTATE. The kindness and favor shown by ex-Marshal Melick to Mrs. Sheedy during the late murder trial have been rewarded by Mrs. Sheedy deciding to resign as administratrix of her husband's estate and have Melick appointed instead. A request to that effect will be presented to the county judge.

AFTER LIES FITFUL FEVER.

JOHN SHEEDY DIES OF HIS INJURIES.

After Lingering in an Unconscious Condition for Twelve Hours He Quietly Passes Away.

Wherein Was the Motive.

John Sheedy was the victim of a cowardly assault Sunday evening. At half past seven o'clock Mr. Sheedy stepped out of the front door of his residence, at the southeast corner of Twelfth and P, with the intention of strolling over to the Capital hotel. Just as he closed the door he was struck a heavy blow over the left eye by a blunt instrument in the hands of some unknown supposed assassin. Mr. Sheedy was momentarily stunned by the blow, but quickly recovering himself, drew his revolver and perceiving his would-be assassin fleeing away in the darkness toward the rear end of the lot, he fired five shots at him. The first shot startled Mrs. Sheedy, who came running to the door just as her husband fired the last time. The shooting startled the neighborhood and in a few moments a large crowd of people were gathered about the house, eager to ascertain the cause of the commotion.

After Mr. Sheedy had emptied his revolver he stepped into the house and remarked to his terror-stricken wife that he believed he had been shot. Drs. Everett and Hart happened to be close at hand and at once hurried into the house. Upon examination they found that Mrs. Sheedy had been struck just above the left eye with a blunt instrument and a gash extending over an inch across and an inch downwards. The cut was almost half an inch deep and it was necessary to put six stitches in it. Mr. Sheedy also received a blow ever the back of his left wrist which caused it to swell to twice its normal size.

Shortly after the shooting Officers Otto, Kinney, Adams and Bob Malone were on the premises and immediately began a search for traces of the assailant. On the porch just a few feet from the door Officer Kinney found a heavy leather cane, the upper end of which was bent as if by a blow. Futher investigation revealed a lot of blood stains on the south end of the porch, which were traced through the backyard to the alley, showing that Mr. Sheedy had hit his assailant. In the lattice work that divides the front yard from the back was a bullet hold within a few inches of the door out of which the fellow passed.

After lingering in an unconscious condition for twelve hours the spirit of John Sheedy winged its flight. It was not until midnight Sunday night that any alarming symptoms manifested themselves, everybody believing that Mr. Sheedy was only slightly injured. Near the hour of midnight Mrs. Sheedy ascertained that her husband was relapsing into an unconscious condition. She immediately gave the alarm and Drs. Hart and Everett were called in. The physicians upon a brief examination found that hemorrhage of the brain had set in and that there was no possible hope for the patient. Mr. Sheedy continued in an unconscious condition and at four o'clock Monday afternoon fire physicians held a consultation and decided that an operation would not relieve the patient. The blood was slowly clogging about the brain and it was impossible for the physicians to step it. Everything in the power of the attending physicians was done but of no avail and just a few moments before 10 o'clock Mr. Sheedy breathed his last.

John Sheedy was one of the best known citizens in Lincoln. He came here in 1870 and resided here continuously from that date. He amassed considerable wealth in this city and erected the Sheedy block on P street now known as the Hotel Mack. In all charitable movements Mr. Sheedy was a prominent figure and invariably gave liberally. The deceased freighted across the plains several times prior to his location in this city and was a typical frontiersman. He was in his fifty-sixth year and was hale and hearty.

There are several theories regarding the cowardly assault that robbed Mr. Sheedy of his life, but they are too vague to bear repetition.

Sheedy's Murder

DAWNING OF THE HORRIBLE FACTS.

Monday McFarland Makes a Confession That Confirmes Current Suspicion.

The Wife of the Deceased is Arrested in Company With her Supposed Paramer, A. H. Walstrom.

Suspicion The Poison From Her Own Hand Completed the Murder So Well Begun--The Body [?] Sunday.

Slowly but surely the web is tightening around the principals in the Sheedy murder case and already have the guilty parties been ensnared in its meshes. Link by link had been forged the chain of circumstances until it is completed and now the veil that shrouded the mystery has been torn away and the clear light of day is mining upon the terrible affair, leaving the assassins exposed to view. Every detail in the dark tragedy is now known and it stands revealed as one of the most skilfully planned and cold blooded crimes in the annals of criminal history and is absolutely without a parallel in the history of Nebraska.

The first step in the untangling of the skein was the arrest of Monday McFarland Saturday night as the assassin who struck the blow that laid John Sheedy low. In its narrative of the arrest of McFarland THE JOURNAL, owing to circumstances that were eminently proper in order that the ends of justice might be accomplished, refrained from going into the full details of the crime and gave only a meagre account of the affair. Happily these obstacles have been removed and THE JOURNAL is now in a position to give the fullest and most minute details of the crime.

After Monday McFarland was placed in a cell Detective Malone set to work to persuade the prisoner to make a confession and acknowledge his complicity in the crime, and also to reveal the identity of his accomplice, for it was well known to Malone that McFarland was not alone in the commission of this awful deed. All night long McFarland was put through a rigid questioning, and as he was made aware of each link in the chain of circumstances against him began to falter and finally, before the sun arose in the eastern horizon, McFarland, in the presence of Detective Malone and Officer Kinney, confessed to the killing of John Sheedy and unfolded a tale that was at once terrible and horrible in its import. McFarland's confession implicates none other than Mrs. Mary Sheedy, wife of the murdered man, and her paramour, one A. H. Walstrom, a young man whom she met in Buffalo, N. Y., last summer during a visit there and with whom she became infatuated and who followed her to Lincoln, all unknown to her husband. The details of McFarland's confession as related to a JOURNAL reporter by Detective Malone and Officer Kinney are substantially as follows. The confession was repeated in the presence of Mayor Graham, Marshal Malick, Detective Malone and a stenographer who took it all down. At present writing it is impossible to publish it verbatim. However, the substance of the confession is given below:

For several years past McFarland has been acting in the capacity of hair dresser to Mrs. Sheedy and always performed his work at the Sheedy residence. In the course of these hair dressing visits an intimacy sprang up between Mrs. Sheedy and her dark skinned servitor. This intimacy gradually reached the point where Mrs. Sheedy took McFarland into her confidence to such an extent as to confide to his keeping all her domestic difficulties. Gradually, according to McFarland this intimacy assumed such proportions that he became something more than a common African hair dresser. He became fascinated with the woman, but it was a fascination that also partook of fear, a fascination and fear that was destined to place the brand of Cain upon his brow and possible to lead him a shameful death upon the gallows. In the latter part of the last November, while McFarland was at the Sheedy residence upon one of his hair-dressing expeditions, Mrs. Sheedy made a proposition to him so horrible in its import as to cause him to turn sick at heart. It was no less than a proposition for him to murder her husband for a money consideration and for other favors yet to come. The unnatural wife agreed to pay McFarland $15,000 to murder her husband, $500 after the deed was committed and the murdered man buried and the remainder of the $15,000 after the estate had been settled up, McFarland would not agree to do the job, whereupon Mrs. Sheedy threatened to kill him and compelled him to fall upon his knees and swear that he would commit the terrible crime.

Eventually McFarland agreed to get Sheedy out of the way by Christmas. The time drew near for the commission of the crime and McFarland began to weaken. He frequently called at the Sheedy residence during the absence of the unsuspecting husband. He and Mrs. Sheedy finally agreed that the job must be done, and the means to be employed a revolver. On the evening of December 19 last McFarland filled up the whisky to nerve himself to do this deed. He took his station in the yard shortly after 9'clock and awaited the coming of his intended victim. He was under the impression that Mr. and Mrs. Sheedy were calling on on Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carpenter, who live a few doors east of Sheedy's residence, and was expecting Sheedy to come from that direction. Unknown to McFarland Mr. and Mrs. Sheedy attended the Eden Musee on that evening and came home from the opposite direction and McFarland was taken unawares. In order to prevent Sheedy from recognizing him he fired a shot from his revolver in the air and then ran through the back yard, into the alley and made his escape.

The first attempt had proven fruitless and John Sheedy was still in the path of his wife and his lover, Walstrom. But she was determined that her husband must die and she sent a note for McFarland to come and see her. McFarland came and again Mrs. Sheedy and he planned to kill Sheedy. Mrs. Sheedy said the deed must be done by New Years and that is must be done by a blow. She gave McFarland money to buy a heavy cane and the latter went to Goldwater's pawnshop on North Ninth street on Friday January 9, and purchased the fatal cane. He hit it under the steps of John Sharp's barber shop and left it there until half past 5 o'clock on the Sunday evening the blow was struck. He took the cane at the hour mentioned and went to the Sheedy residence, meeting Mrs. Sheedy on the back porch. She told McFarland that the deed must be done that night and gave him 50 cents to buy a pint of whisky to bolster up his courage. She also said if the blow did not kill her husband she would do the rest; all she cared for was to get him in bed and then she would find means to remove him forever.

McFarland went out to a drug store at the corner of Twenty-third and O streets and bought a pint of whisky and then started back. On the way he drank the whisky and arriving at the Sheedy residence he entered the back yard and again met Mrs. Sheedy on the back porch. She told him that her husband was going out in a few moments and then was the time to strike the blow. She told McFarland to station himself at the south end of the porch and when her husband was about to step out she would raise the window curtain and then McFarland was to be prepared when Sheedy opened the door to jump on the porch and beat him down. She then went into the house and returned with a goblet of whisky which she gave to McFarland. The cowardly assassin gulped the liquor down and then nerved himself for the final moment.

When Sheedy stepped out of his door, unconscious of the presence of the hired assassin and dreaming of no dnager, McFarland bounded upon the porch and struck the blow. The dastardly assassin struck his victim with such force as to cause himself to fall. Quick as a flash the bullet flew over McFarland, who jumped to his feet and ran towards the rear of the yard. He ran against the lattice work and fell again, but quickly recovering himself, regained his feet and sped out of the yard and up the alley to Thirteenth street believing in his cowardly terror that all of the five balls from Sheedy's revolver were implanted in his miserable carcass. He then went to the residence of Police Officer Botts on O street, between Thirteen and Fourteenth, where his wife and children were and accompanied them home. He afterwards went to a gambling joint and gambled all night, becoming beastly intoxicated from frequent slugs of whisky. The following day he continued his debauch and wandered from saloon to saloon drinking heavily, trying to drown remembrance of the awful crime he had committed. That same day, remembering he had dropped the cane when he assaulted Sheedy, he procured another one similar in appearance in order to throw the police off the track in case the cane was identified. One day during the week he called at the Sheedy residence to procure some money from Mrs. Sheedy, but was unable to see her.

McFarland's confession was the last link in the cabin of circumstances and revealed the terrible crime in its true light, and indissoluble and incontrovertible connecting Mrs. Mary Sheedy and H. H. Walstrom as aiders, abettors and accessories before and after its commission.

Having the evidence complete, Marshal Melick and Detecitve Malon at 8 o'clock yesterday afternoon placed Mrs. Sheedy under arrest, and an hour later arrested Walsrom at his room in the Heaton block on O Street. Mrs. Sheedy was kept under guard at her residence until evening, when she was escorted to more secure quarters. She takes her arrest very cooly and denies all knowledge or connection with the crime.

Walstrom, Mrs. Sheedy's Buffalo lover and accomplice, is twenty-eight years of age, about the medium height, dark complexion and wears a dark mustache. He is quite nice looking and dresses well. He had on his person $226, a gold watch and chain, a diamond pin and the diamond ring that was given to Mrs. Sheedy by her husband, which she claimed to have lost. Walstrom is sullen and morose and is uncommunicative.

Detective Malone found his first clue in his case by meeting McFarland at Seligsohn's saloon on North Tenth street Monday morning very drunk and hearing him talking incessantly about the Sheedy case. McFarland had plenty of money, and this unusual circumstance aroused Detective Malone's suspicion and he at once went to work investigating McFarland's movements. Malone learned that McFarland had called at Sweeney's barber shop Tuesday and procured John Sheedy's shaving mug, informing the proprietor that Mrs. Sheedy had sent him after it. About this time Hyman Goldwater, the Ninth street pawnbroker, identified the cane at the police station as one he had sold to McFarland. What was before a belief was now a certainty, and Malon knew McFarland was the guilty man. Malone also over heard a conversation between two colored girls named Ida McFarland and Maggie Trusty, which gave him additional evidence in the case. He caused them to be summoned before the coroner's jury, but both girls told stories in direct contradiction to the statements they had previously made. The arrest of McFarland could have been made Thursday, but Marshal Melick and Detective Malone decided to be dead sure of their man before an arrest was made. Marshal Melick and Detective Malon, in unearthing the mystery that shrouded this terrible crime, have accomplished a piece of work that redounds to their ability; sagacity and zeal in the hightest degree. The culmination of their untiring efforts in unearthing the terrible plot and arresting the murderer and his accomplices is a piece of detective skill that will add undying laurels to their names, and places them in the front rank of their avocation. Mayer Graham also aided materially in the work and is to be congratulated upon the success of himself and his officers.

Since McFarland's confession it is the general opinion among the police and the friends of Sheedy and John Sheedy did not die from the effects of McFarland's blow, but that Mrs. Sheedy and Walstrom in the dead of night administered a deadly poison to him that caused his death. One of the various rumors that have been going the rounds is that Walstrom was seen at Sheedy's house at a late hour of the night on which Sheedy was assaulted, and that Mrs. Sheedy was sitting in his lap. It is hinted that Sheedy awoke from his slumber and seeing his wife in the position, fainted from the shock and never regained consciousness. This rumor has never been fully verified but has generally been credited to be true.

Mrs. Mary Sheedy is all attractive woman of face and form and is about thirty-five years of age, although she appears much younger. Her maiden name was Miss Mary Gabriel. She has been married three times, having come to Lincoln some ten years ago with her second husband, George Merrill, a worthless, dissolute fellow, by occupation a stone cutter. She was brought up at Abington, Ill., where she married Merrill. Some time after she came to Lincoln she procured a divorce from Merrill on rather delicate grounds and under peculiar circumstances and married John Sheedy. Her life has not been immaculate, and her reputation previous to her marriage to John Sheedy was far from being good.

The unlocked for developments in this cave have created a great deal of excitement and the city jail was surrounded by excited groups of people all the afternoon and evening yesterday. The case is the sole topic of conversation and more developments are eagerly awaited.

THE SHEEDY VERDICT

IT IS A REVERSIBLE DOCUMENT.

Monday McFarland Held as a Principal With Two Accessories.

A Second Clause Finds Mrs. Sheedy the Principal and McFarland and Walstrom Accessories.

A Chance for a Choice.

The coroner's jury in the Sheedy case reconvened Friday morning and decided to bring in a verdict. After mature deliberation the jury rendered the following as its finding:

"State of Nebraska, Lancaster County. }

At an inquisition holden at Lincoln in Lancaster county on the 23rd day of January, A. D. 1891, before me, Edgar L. Holyoke coroner of said county, upon the body of John Sheedy, lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereto subscribed, the said jurors upon their oath do say:

That Monday McFarland, on the eleventh day of January in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, in the county of Lancaster and state of Nebraska, in and upon One John Sheedy, the and there being, unlawfully, purposely feloniously and of his deliberate and premeditated malice, did make an assault with the intent, him, the said john Sheedy, unlawfully, purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice, to kill and murder; and that the said Monday McFarland, with a certain iron or steel cane covered with leather, which he, the said Monday McFarland, then and there held in his hands, the said John Sheedy in and upon the bead of him, the said John Sheedy, the on there unlawfully, purposely, feloniously and of his deliverate and premeditated malice, did strike and wound with the intent aforesaid, thereby, then and there, with the cane aforesaid, by the stroke aforesaid, in the manner aforesaid, in and upon the head of him the said John Sheedy, giving to him, the said John Sheedy, one mortal wound of the length of two inches and the depth of one-half an inch, of which mortal wound the said John Sheedy, from the said eleventh day of January in the year aforesaid, in said county, did languish, and languishing did live, on which twelfth day of January in the year aforesaid he, the said John Sheedy, of the aforesaid mortal wound, died. And that one Mary Sheedy and one Andrew H. Walstrom, then and there unlawfully, feloniously and purposely and of their deliberate and premeditated malice, were present, aiding, abetting, comforting, procuring, assisting and maintaining the said Monday McFarland in the felony and murder aforesaid in the manner and form to do and commit. And so the coroner's jury, upon their oaths aforesaid, do soy that said Monday McFarland and Mary Sheedy and Andrew H. Walstrom, him, the said John Sheedy, in the manner aforesaid, unlawfully, purposefully and of deliberate and premeditated malice did kill and murder. And the said jurors upon their oaths do further say that Mary Sheedy, on the 11th day of January, in the year aforesaid, in said county, unlawfully and feloniously by contriving and intending him, the said John Sheedy, to deprive of his life and kill and murder, purposely and deliberate and premeditated malice, a large quantity of certain deadly poison did mix and mingle in a certain preparation, which he, the said John Sheedy, then and there intended and was about to drink, the said Mary Sheedy, then and there well knowing that the said preparation with which she, the said Mary Sheedy, did so mix and mingle as aforesaid, was then and there prepared for the use of the said John Sheedy, and then and there well knowing that such poison was a deadly poison. And that said John Sheedy, in the day and year aforesaid, did take and drink and swallow down into his body said poison, so mixed with said preparation, the said John Sheedy at the time of drinking said preparation and poison, not knowing that there was any poisonous subsance mixed or mingled with siad preparation by said Mary Sheedy with the intent of her's the said Mary Sheedy then and there, him, the said John Sheedy, willfully, feloniously, purposely and of deliverate and premeditated malice, to kill and murder, and by reason of said poison so mixed with said preparation said Mary Sheedy as aforesaid and swallowed by the said John Sheedy, he, the said John Sheedy, became mortally sick and distempered in his body and of said mortal sickness, from the 11th of January in said year until the 12th day of January in the year aforesaid, in said county, said John Sheedy, of the poison aformesaid, so taken, drank and swallowe dodwn as aforesaid, and of the mortal sickness and distemper thereby occasioned did die.

And they said Monday McFarland and Andrew Henry Walstrom, then and there willfully, feloniously, purposely and of their deliberate and premeditated malice, were present, aiding, abetting, comforting, procuring, assisting and maintaining the said Mary Sheedy in the felony and murder aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said Mary Sheedy, Monday McFarland and Andrew Henry Walstrom, him, the said John Sheedy, int he manner aforesaid, and premeditated malice, did kill and murder.

In testimony whereof the said jurors have hereunto set their hands the day and year aforesaid, Foreman: Roberth McReynolds. George Bosselman. Thomas C. Munger. James Aitken. George W. Mead. Frank R. Waters."

Walstrom Was Mistaken.

It will remembered that when Walstrom, Mrs. Sheedy's "sweetheart," was before the coroner's jury he testified that on his way from Kansas City to Omaha he met a member of the firm of Mayer Bros., Lincoln clothiers and that the latter, in the course of a conversation on gambling in the west, chanced to mention the name of John Sheedy, which led to an investigation upon the part of Walstrom to ascertain whether or not Mrs. Sheedy was the woman he had met in Buffalo. A member of the firm of Mayer Bros. is authority for the statement that that portion of Walstrom's story is untrue.

Mrs. Sheedy in a Cell.

The impression has become more or less general that Mrs. Sheedy's imprisonment was merely nominal, or, in other words, that she was provided with comfortable apartments in the residence portion of the county hail. Inquiry develops the information, however, that she is incarcerated in a cell and has no more comforts supplied her than are afforded the other prisoners.

It is said that in her youthful days Mrs. Sheedy, then Mollie Gabriel, attended a school at or near Abingdon, Ill., which was taught by Jesse B. Strode, one of the attorneys now entrusted with her defense upon the awful charge which confronts her.

Eminent Physicians everywhere recommended Ayer's Cherry Pectoral as the most reliable remedy that can be had for colds, coughs, and all pulmonary disorders. Ask your druggist for Ayer'd Almanac; it is the best publication of its kinda, and full of information.

MERCHANTS DEMAND IT

Senator Manderson's Bridge Project Meets With Great Favor.

Washington, Jan. 22.-[Special]- Senator Manderson has won quite a notable victory for the people of Nebraska and Iowa in securing the approval of the engineers of the war department to the proposed new low bridge across to Missouri between East Omaha and Council Bluffs. Heretofore the department has steadily declined to recommend the passage of any bills which provide for low bridges across the western rivers and it was only through the persistence of the senator that the chief engineers were induced to change the programme in this case.

It is doubtful if there has been a bridge introduced in congress within the past twenty years which has attracted so wide an interest as the one introduced by Senator Manderson about a week ago. All the railroad companies traversing Nebraska and Iowa, excepting the Union Pacific and its connections, seem to have gone wild on the subject of a new bridge, and business men from all over the state of Nebraska have telegraphed to General Manderson urging him to do all in his power to secure prompt action in the senate. The approval of the secretary of war to the project will probably have the effect of inducing the senate commerce committee to promptly make a favorable report on the bill, and if anything goes through at this session there is a good chance that this measure will be in the race.

AN OFFENSIVE BREATH is most distressing, not only to the person afflicted if he have any pride, but to those with whom he comes in contact. It is a delicate matter to speak of, but it has parted not only friends, but lovers. Bad breath and catarrh are inseparable. Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy cures the worst cases, as thousands can testify.

RAILROAD CONDUCTOR SHOT

Two Burglars Prove Desperate Men in a Tight Place.

Boone, IA. Jan. 22. -James R. O'Neil, a freight conductor on the Chicago & Northwestern road, was shot and instantly killed at Long Point about two o'clock this morning by a tramp whom he attempted to put off the train.

Later developments show that the murder of Conductor O'Neil was committed by burglars, who had a few hours before robbed the station at Legrande. An officer was on the train with O'Neil and the officer went to an empty freight car to see if they were aboard. O'Neil climbed up, and as he looked in a shotgun was discharged in his face, literally blowing off the top of his head. Two men in the car jumped out and fled. The officer fired at them, but without effect. Two tramps have been arrested at Marshalltown on suspicion.

FARMERS IN SESSION

An Alliance Federation Scheme Proposed Knights of Labor Admitted.

Washington, Jan. 22. -Representatives of the Knights of Labor, the colored farmers' alliance, farmers' union and citizens' alliance began a meeting here to-day in accordance with the instructions of a call for a conference. The representatives of three other organizations are expected to-morrow. A plan of agreement looking to confederation was drawn up. It provides for a joint committee, five from each organization, to represent the confederation. The St. Louis platform shall be the basis. Each shall stand pledged to assist when possible in all local efforts to better the condition of the people. The joint committee shall have power to admit other organizations with a similar object. Each organization shall be bound to support the place agreed upon by the joint committee. Adjourned to-morrow.

AN EDUCATED LIBERTINE

Irate Fathers Seek to Bring to Justice a Solon, Ia., Professor.

Omaha, Neb., Jan. 23. -A special from Cedar Rapids, Ia., says: Quite a sensation has developed at Solon, a town on the Burlington road south of here. For some time the larger girl scholars attending the public school had been complaining that Professor Sulivan had been making improper advances toward them, and an investigation was about to be made when Sullivan left town. It then developed that he had been intimate with Bertha Fished, one of his pupils, for several months. Her father at once started in pursuit, but could learn nothing of his whereabouts. This morning Sullivan returned. Nothing has been done as yet, but arrests will probably be made soon. The people are much excited. Sullivan has a wife and two children.

Fighting at Close Quarters.

Walsenburg, Col., Jan. 23. -Bob Ford, the slayer of Jesse James, and J. D. Harden, a saloonkeeper, engaged in a Harden, a saloonkeeper, engaged in a shooting scrape here Wednesday night. They were so close together that each man was trying to knock the other's gun out of the way. Harden was shot in the shoulder and in the hand and Ford was hit in the foot, besides being badly burned about the face with powder. The men quarreled over a game of craps. Neither is dangerously hurt and both are under arrest.

To purify Your blood Take Hood's Sarsaparilla.

MONTANA LEGISLATORS AGREE.

Helena, Mont., Jan. 23. -The legislative deadlock is practically at an end. The republican and democrat caucus committees reached an agreement tonight and only a few minor details remain to be settled. The democrats will have twenty-seven members, the speaker and all other officers and a majority of all committees. The republicans will have twenty-eight members of the house. This majority of one will give them no advantage, as the senate and governor are both democratic.

BALDWIN SIGNED.

Columbus, O., Jan. 23. -Mark Baldwin, the well known pitcher, was signed by the Columbus club to-day.