THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Wttos of t!je 
HOME NEWS. 
Saturday, May 17. 
Ferdinand Ward, the late swindling part¬ 
ner of Oen. Grant, in the collapsed linn of 
Grant & Ward, just on the eve of the collapse, 
induced the General to borrow from W. H. 
Vanderbilt, $150,000, which the schemer at 
once used for his own purposes. After the 
burst up, Grant gave to Vanderbilt the deeds 
of all his real estate and that of Mrs. Grant, 
as security for the loan, which he considered 
a personal obligation. Vanderbilt lias re¬ 
turned the deeds, with a notice that the Gene¬ 
ral cun repay when he gets ready. This is 
considered a handsome way of i elieving Grant 
from an obligation, without detracting from 
his self-respect by an act of patronising gene¬ 
rosity.The House Committee on Public 
Lands lias decided to authorize the Chairman 
to move, next Monday, to suspend the rules 
and pass all the bills forfeiting railroad land 
grants reported to the House.The House 
Pensions Committee has agreed to report fa 
vorably, a bill providing that all persons now' 
on, or hereafter placed on the pension roll, 
who, while in the military or naval service of 
the United States lost on arm or leg, shall be 
entitled to u pension of $40 a month; those 
who have lost a hand or foot, $30 per month, 
and if they have received a wound or other 
disability in addition thereto, $50 a month; all 
persons who have had a leg amputated at the 
hip joint or huvo lost an ai in at the shoulder 
joints $50 a month; those who have lost an 
arm and a leg, $72 a month. ...... The third 
annual award of premiums for silk cocoons 
raised in this country, given by a Philadelphia 
business firm through the W omen’s Bilk Cul¬ 
ture Association of that city, has just been 
made, and the competition showed a rapid 
growth of the industry. There were 77 con¬ 
testants, from 30 different states, against 33 
from II States last, year, and 36 from four 
States in 1882. There were 10 cash prizes 
given, amounting in all to $500, and Miss E. 
Woolston of Pemberton, N. J., won the first. 
The Association seeks to establish, on a per¬ 
manent basis, the culture of silk worms as an 
industry peculiarly adapted to women, and is 
managed without salaries and with no profit 
for the active members in any w ay.The 
bill putting Gen. Grant on the ‘’retired list” 
has passed the Senate without opposition; but 
it will probably be opposed, in vain, in the 
House .Charles O’Couor, the famous 
New York lawyer, died last Sunday afternoon 
at his country home, in Nantucket, Mass., at 
the age of 80.The Irish dynamiters ap¬ 
pear to be pretty well organized in Canada, 
and further mischief from the Emergency 
Brotherhood is anticipated.The annual 
loss by lire in the United State's is about 
$100,000,000. it is about twice us much per in¬ 
habitant as the fire loss of Great Britain, four 
times as much as that of France, and six times 
that of Germany. At the average rate of pro¬ 
duction, it, would require the constant labor of 
about 400,000 men to replace the loss. 
In the Indian Territory the Choctaw militia 
has been called out, in anticipation of an out 
break of u portion of the full blood Choctaws, 
who are dissatisfied with the recently-enacted 
law removing ail criminals to a consolidated 
judicial court selected by the National Coun¬ 
cil. Serious trouble is feared.A serious 
difficulty has arisen between tiie British and 
Canadian Governments respecting the ap¬ 
pointment of an imperial officer to command 
the Canadian militia. The British comman¬ 
der-in-chief refuses to appoint an imperial 
officer unless the Government gives a guaran¬ 
tee that he will not be subjected to such treat¬ 
ment as Gen. Lunrd received....An In¬ 
dian agent at Winnipeg, who has been de¬ 
tected in irregularities, says that, the United 
States and Canadian Governments have been 
systematically robbed for years by the collu¬ 
sion of Indian agents and contractors. One 
means of swindling is to stampede cattle across 
the frontier two or three times and sell them 
to both Governments. He says the story of 
fraud aud jobbery w'ould till a book.......... 
Hewitt, of New York, has introduced another 
tariff bill into the House, taking about 10 per 
cent off the import duties on many goods, and 
putting some others on the free list. There is 
little prospect, that it will be considered this 
season, since the Morrison 20-per-eent-borizon- 
tal-reduction bill collapsed. Much recrimina¬ 
tion among the Democrats, and bitterness 
against Randall and His forty ‘‘bolters'. 
A late through train from Boston to the City 
of Mexico, was attacked by train wreckers 
near Queretaro lately. The train escaped 
without, serious injury, but 17 of the would-be 
wreckers have just been officially shot at 
Queretaro.The voter is threatened with 
no less than six national tickets this year, to 
be nominated by conventions called thus; 
Anti-monopoly, at Chicago, May 14; Green¬ 
back-Labor, at Indianapolis, May 28; Repub¬ 
lican, in Chicago, June 3; Anti-Masonic, in 
Chicago, June 10; Democratic, in Chicago, 
July 8, and Prohibition, in Pittsburg, July 23 
...The Chicago Driving Park Associa¬ 
tion have voted to introduce horse-racing on 
Sundays.The Hennepin Canal has at 
last got “recognition,’* by u grant of $800,000 
in the River and Harbor Bill, for beginning 
work....The floods along the Ixiwer Mis¬ 
sissippi are extremely disastrous; several par¬ 
ishes iD Louisiana are almost entirely sub¬ 
merged, land being overflowed that has not 
been under water for 15 years. Over 25,000 
people are in need of food and shelter. In 
most places, crops will have to be replanted, 
and much distress will be felt for weeks to 
come. The withdrawal of Sir Charles 
Tupper, the eloquent Nova Scotian, from the 
Dominion Cabinet, is thought, at Ottawa to be 
the forerunner of an exodus from the Cabinet 
and its thorough reorganization. Among 
those marked for withdrawal are Hon. D. L. 
Maephorsou, M mister of the Interior; Hon. 
John Henry Pope, Minister of Agriculture; 
Bir Hector Laugevin, Minister of Public 
Works, and Hon. John Costjgan, the Marine 
Minister. There is a possibility that Sir L. 
Tilley will resign, and also that lion. J. A. 
Chaplean, Minister of State, may go. Sir 
Alexander Galt, Speaker Kirkpatrick, Tom 
White, of the Montreal Herald, and Dalton 
McCarthy, a brilliant, Toronto lawyer, are 
mentioned for places in the new Cabinet. 
There is a keen passenger rate war from Den¬ 
ver, east. On Wednesday the following rate s 
were bulletined ut 11 A. M,: To Missouri River 
points, a distance of 635 miles. $3; to St. Louis, 
$5; to Chicago, $7; to New York, $25; and 
proportional rates to other Eastern point ,r It 
was said that scalpers were selling tickets to 
New York for $20.The wurm weather 
in Utah is causing floods and great damage to 
nearly all the roads in tho territory. 
Granulated sugar is selling in tho Chicago 
market now at. from 7 to 8 cents per pound. 
The cause of the low prices is said to be the 
competition forced on the Eastern importers 
by Claus Spreokels, of California (who has a 
monopoly of the Sandwich Islaud sugars) and 
the immense beet crop of Europe last year ... 
The liabilities of the collapsed firm of Grant 
&, Ward are now known to be over $14,500,* 
000. Ferdinand Ward appeal’s to have been 
the “business man” of the concern, and one of 
the most remarkable swindler® ou record. 
Through bim the firm dunned to be operating 
in enterprises of such magnificence that they 
could pay from two to five per eeut. a month 
for money. They bid off city revenue bouds 
at. prices nobody else could pay. They took 
great loans to the pauper railroads on collate¬ 
rals of stock, aud then rehypothecated the col¬ 
laterals for more ready cash. They made 
checks on banks where they had no funds and 
got them pa id. They took every advantage of 
the free and easy methods of business to swin¬ 
dle. right and left. The three partners, Fish, 
Ward and young Grant, drew out $3,000 a 
month each for living expenses, aud played 
t.heir came to the last limit, ot human hum 
bugiliility. In the last eight months. Warner, 
a chum of Ward’s, got cheeks for $4,000,000, 
for what, nobody seems to know. Ward got 
the millions out of ids dupes principally by re¬ 
presenting that, the firm imd enormously pro¬ 
fitable Government, contracts, so that they 
could afford to pay high interests; and he did 
pay enormous interest, but took it out of the 
principal. The Grants are mined, and all con¬ 
nected with them through ties of blood, mar¬ 
riage or friendship, are heavy losers. Ward 
must have a pile hidden away; but the ac¬ 
counts were kept, in such u slip-shod fashion 
that no clear statement of the business can be 
made out. Ward owns up that the concern 
has been bankrupt for more than a year; that 
all the money—millions—scooped in for over 
two years was obtained by fraudulent misre¬ 
presentation, as the firm never had any pro¬ 
fitable Government contracts. Fish, too, ap¬ 
peal’s to have been a fishy customer. .. Ou 
Wednesday, exposure of the heavy indebted¬ 
ness and phenomenal fmaneeering of Graut & 
Ward, together with the collapse of tho old 
Marina Bank for $5, 000 JHKJ throng h the m isci > n - 
duct of Fish, its President, and a partner with 
G. & W,, caused a panic in W all Street. A 
number of prominent firms suspended pay¬ 
ment; excitement grew intense ; Wall Street, 
sidewalks aud roadway, was a packed mass of 
black, excited humanity. The stoops were 
crowded; the side streets thronged. The ex¬ 
citement has been abating since then, and is 
now nearly over. 
FROM A CLERGYMAN 71 YEARS OF 
AGE. 
A clergyman in Cleveland, O., seventy-one 
years of age, who had preached regularly 
nearly every Sunday for over fifteen years, 
say s, in a letter dated February 8th, 1882, a 
few weeks after commencing the use of Com¬ 
pound Oxygen; 
“My strength was equal to the work until 
about a year ago, when l began to fail, end 
had come to the conclusion that my work, if 
not my r life, was nearly at an end. But now J 
am quite a new man; yea, the revitalize! has 
introduced new life into my almost dead or¬ 
gans. I cun say that 1 am well with the ex¬ 
ception ot a little soreness in my throat. Al¬ 
low me to give thanks first to God, and then to 
you, for this blessed hour of health.” 
Our “Treatise on Compound Oxygen,” con¬ 
taining a history of the discovery and mode 
of action of this remarkable curative agent, 
and a large record of surprising cures in Con¬ 
sumption, Catarrh, Neuralgia, Bronchitis, 
Asthma, etc., anrl a wide range of chronic dis¬ 
eases, will be sent free. Address. I)rs. Star- 
key & Palen, 1109 Girard St., Phila.— Adv. 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Saturday, May 17. 
Last Thursday Professor James Law, of the 
Treasury Cattle Commission, reported to the 
Secretary of the Treasury that there is no 
foot-and-mouth disease among the cattle in 
Kansas, Illinois and Iowa, as reported.A 
swarm of locusts, nine miles wide, have set¬ 
tled on Texmalca, Mexico, destroying all the 
herbage.In Waterford, Deland, at a 
meeting of the Nationals, Suuday, Michael 
Davitt argued that five years’ rent was the 
utmost tenants should be required to pay for 
the purchase of their holdings. Healy con¬ 
tended that one year’s rent was sufficient. 
....Farmers in England are taking to beet 
growing. In Norfolk they have undertaken 
to grow this season at least 900 acres of sugar 
beet from selected seed, and on the faith of 
tliis an association has been formed, which, 
long before the licet is ready, will have $100,- 
000 worth of plants on the ground ready to 
make sugar as fast as the roots come in. The 
farmer will get $5 a ton for the white beet 
delivered at the works, and as he can grow 
from 15 to 20 tons to the acre he will, after 
allowing for heavy manuring and all cost of 
land, labor, seed, and transport, be able to 
reckon, oven in an indifferent season, upon a 
return of at least $15 an acre, which must 
seem to him, uTter recent experience, “wealth 
beyond the dreams of avarice.” .The 
frosts damaged peachos in Alabama aud 
Georgia.A dispatch from Washington 
County, N. Y., says potatoes are a drug in the 
market, and are bought for the starch mills 
at 20 cents per bushel.Last week’s 
combination auction of Jersey cattle closed 
here on Saturday, when 69 head were sold, 
Tho stock offered wus of better quality than 
that of the preceding day, aud the prices were 
higher. Among the highest were $2,750 for 
the cow Charity of St. Lambert, by Stoke 
Pogis 3d, out of Flora of St. Lambert, sold 
by Mrs. Jones,of Ontario, Canada; and $1,400 
for the bull Tug Wilson, by Stoke Pogis 5th, 
out of Lily of St. Lambert. The silver cup 
for the owner of the five cattle bringing the 
highest price of the sale was awarded to 
Valancey E. Fuller, the average price for his 
five highest being $3,850. The silver salver 
for the live animals bringing the highest price, 
and sold by the breeder, w as given to A. B. 
Darling, the average being $2,967.The 
New England Tobacco Growers' Association 
lias inaugurated a movement to secure the 
repeal of ull internal revenue taxes on tobacco 
growers. The packers uud trade generally 
t hroughout the country are to unite in favor 
of the plan. A movement has been started 
for effect!ug a coalition with Southern and 
Western politicians and the tobacco men. A 
meeting to complete arrangements will be 
held in Hartford, Conn., to-day. 
The Ontario Legislature has appropriated 
$35,000 to the purchase of live stock for the 
Ex|ierimental Farm at Guelph........From 
i860 to 1883 inclusive, 4,907,976 head of cattle 
have been driven from Texas to the various 
States and Territories.There are al 
ready as many calves in Northern Wyoming 
this Spring its there were at the opening of 
June in 1883 . Stockmen ure jubilant, over the 
prospects....No less than 6,500 cattle 
were lately shipped into Montana, in t wo days, 
over tho Northern Pacific Railroad, from the 
stock farms of Missouri, Iowa and Southern 
Minnesota...It is proposed in England 
as a sanitary measure, that veterinary sur¬ 
geons bo placed on board ships employed in 
the cattle traffic.It is estimated that 90 
per cent, of the cows “come in” between Feb¬ 
ruary 1 aud Juuo l.Last March, Great 
Britain unported from Denmark nutter valued 
at. £302,939, from Germany £108.378, from 
Holland £429,781, from France £329,268, from 
the United States .€34,745, However, in cheese 
w’o furnished £77,267 worth, and all other 
countries £70.104.At the sale of Lord 
Falmouth's race horses at London, Euglaud, 
April 28th, the three-year-old bay colt Har¬ 
vester, was knocked down at $43,000,and Busy¬ 
body, the same age, brought $44,000 ....... 
The sale of trotting stock at Woodlawu, near 
Cincinnati, Ohio, which took place May 1, be¬ 
longing to the estate of Horace Burgher, was 
very successful. Twenty-two head brought 
$26,015; average, $1,182,50..A total uf 
L264 live cattle aud 506 sheep were exported 
from Boston last week.The Northern 
Texas Stock Association now numbers be¬ 
tween seven aud eight hundred members,... 
An English court lately decided the disboro- 
iug of cattle an unwarrantable cruelty, pun¬ 
ishable by statute_ A total of 11,168 cattle 
were exported from the United States to Eng¬ 
land in the mouth of March..Arthur 
Gorham, Vice-President of the Western Kan¬ 
sas Cattle-Growers' Association, has bought 
50 Aberdeen-Angus bulls to put on his ranch 
.southeast of Dodge City.The supply of 
cow ponies in Texas is reported as being 
greater than the demand, with prices current 
at $20 to $30 per head ...-It is claimed t hat 
in Boston from 100,000 to 150,000 pounds of 
oleomargarine and other imitations Of butter 
are sold each week.There are iu Aus¬ 
tralia in round numbers 90,000,000 of sheep, 
divided among the seven colonies al.<out as 
follows: New (South Wales, 35,500,000; Vic¬ 
toria, 13,000,000; West Australia, 4,000,000; 
South Australia, 8,000.000; Queensland, 13,- 
500,000; Tasmania. 2,000,000; New Zealand, 
13.000,000; total. 89,000,000... .A move¬ 
ment is on foot in Philadelphia to compel the 
concoctors of bogus butter to color it pink 
instead of yellow. 
--♦♦♦ 
Alarmingly prevalent, death from Heart 
Disease. Dr. Graves’s Heart Regulator cures 
it. Druggists.— Adv. 
W hy still suffer? Dr. Graves's Heart Regu¬ 
lator will cure Heart Disease. Price $1. 6 
for $5. By druggists— Adv. 
««» — 
CROPS AND MARKETS. 
Saturday, May 17. 
The returns of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture for May make the wheat prospect nearly 
as favorahl}’ as in April, when the general av¬ 
erage was within five percent, of the standard 
of full condition. The May average is 94. It 
was 83in 1883. Barring the changes of the 
future, a winter wheat product of about 350,- 
000,000 bushels is indicated. Low-lying lands 
have been saturated with moisture, retarding 
growth. Well-drained wheat soils are nearly 
everywhere hearing a vigorous and healthy 
growth. The winter wheat of New England 
is a scarcely appreciable quantity. Its condi¬ 
tion is quite uniformly high. The Middle and 
Southern States make averages ranging from 
90 to 100. The Ohio basiu makes a less favor 
able showing, with little difference in the 
States on the north side of the river. 
The States of large production make the 
following averages, 100 representing not an 
average condition, but a full stand of healthy 
plants of medium growth: New York, 97; 
Pennsylvania, 98; Kentucky, 99; Ohio, 85; 
Michigan, 85; Indiana, 85; Illinois, 87; Mis¬ 
souri, 94: Kansas, 103 ; California, 95. The 
seeding of spring wheat is nearly finished in 
Minnesota, It. has been delayed by heavy rains 
and low temperature in Dakota and is not yet 
completed. 
Rye promises fully as well as wheat The 
general average is 96, It is several points high¬ 
er than wheat in the principal States of the 
West. The general average for barley is 101. 
It is 100 in New York, 100 in Pennsylvania, 98 
in Michigan, and 103 in California. 
Meadows aud pastures are generally promis¬ 
ing, though failing to come up to the standard 
of healthy growth and unimpaired condition. 
The progress of cotton planting has been de¬ 
layed everywhere by low temperature in 
April. Iu some of the Virginia counties none 
was planted on May 1, and little in several of 
the counties of North Carolinia. The propor 
tiou planted May 1 of the proposed area is re¬ 
ported as follows; North Carolina, 45 per cent; 
(South Carolina, 60; Georgia, 68; Florida, 95; 
Alabama, 75; Mississippi, 76; Louisiana, 77; 
Texas, 80; Arkansas, 70; Tennessee, 52. The 
acreage w ill be reported on June 1. 
Two-thirds of the corn in the great Western 
corn belt was planted on May 15, Lust year 
over 50 percent, was planted after May 20. 
Other crops promise a large yield. The condi¬ 
tion of winter wheat has materially improved 
since the first of the month. 
MARKETS BY TELEGRAPH. 
Saturday, May 17, 1884. 
Chicago.—C ompared with cash prices 
week ago, “regular” wheat is 4%c. lower; No. 
Chicago Spring, 5%c, lower. Corn, }£c. low¬ 
er. Oate, steady. Rye, >£c. lower. Barley, 
2c. higher. Pork, 15c. lower. Hogs, from 
10c. to 20c lower, according to grade Cat¬ 
tle, from 15c. to 20c. lower. Sheep, from 15c. 
to 30c. higher. 
Wheat.—O pened steady and excited: there was a 
frantic effort to buy as soon as trie gong sounded, 
und prices shortly alter tho opening showed an ad¬ 
vance of 3y»c. over the closing tlgures of yesterday; 
reportsof run* on Kansan City banks caused a decline 
of l<V»2e., but. an advance of #tc soon followed: later 
prices eased off *slC., fluctuated and closed l<ktt\ over 
yesterday; sales ranged: "Regular” May 87 <8» 
<4tS8h*c; June. SSGiiSWo, July, 89<*9tfiO; August, 
KSlUShsUOr Septenilier, No. I Chicago 
Spring, HJffiSitc. Corn- 0usettlcd: sales rnnged: Cash, 
iSiisMbi: May. June. W-A'aFIIic: July. 58^w 
59c.; August, .VMiil'/te. Dvrs.—Dull; sales ranged: 
Cash, Mv£c: May. June, HitoU^e; July. 
33W4--MM.C.: August,all the year, .'T-vmU&c. 
RVK-IuUi. at Ett^c. Baulky - Firmer at 73c. Flax 
skvay Quiet at XI.69 m 1.7II. Point—Sales ruuged: Cash. 
kl7.;WwJ7.ai: May. »17.»X’v)7.9.’i June, *17 22!^«17.35; 
Julv, *l7.8.Vil7.-178,: August. SIT.Ghi'.'I7.SJV all the 
year, *14.45. Lard In fair demand: but Irregular: 
sales ranged; Cash. May, *\15 Juue, 
i8.77Sti(!tH.35. Rous - Market weak. unsteady. 
Rough packing, packing ami shipping 
$5.75w«.Cffl; tight, *5.3l'i5.*P; skips, ft.lXfci5.U0. Cattle 
—F.xport grades at fC.itt.'ti.Cu: good to choice ship¬ 
ping, $5 CWi&F.J'i; cotnmon to medium, *5.Vo@5.8.5; 
grass Texans, f4,25<Jt*'; corn-fed Texans, fto-B.lO. 
Sheep- inferior to fair, $4 ■giS.lUj medium to good, 
$Cii,<3.25; choice to extra, #0.1'>#7.TO; shorn, f.Xrt0,40. 
St. Louis.—C ompared with cash prices a 
week ago. No. 2 Red Wheat is Gl^c. lower; 
No. 3 Fall, 2c. lower. Coro, 3* c - lower. 
Oats, },{c. lower. Pork, 3?>£c. lower. 
Wheat—A ctive: No. 2 Red. *1.IS cash: May, *1.1254 
June. *1.0896: July. ,jr, %c: August,»2ft&93fcu: all the 
year, Jijfke; No. 3 Red Fall, $i.i»3 bid. (John—U n¬ 
settled at Bl'Idi'.W'AO. cash; hlX&biHC, May; 51?$(<s 
511*0. Juue: 53 Uw5S 1 4c July; I4e. August;- 15 V 4 C. all 
be year. Oats—D ull at Site-. cash: May; 27 W 
(i2o>i;e. nit the year. RTE-Quiet at x-iondo Barley 
—S teady at 'iiviHik: Eous— Steady at UitfiC. Flaxseed 
—N ominal at $l.6u. Hay Steady: Timothy, Jri-l>il7; 
Prairie. 813.®ia. Bran quiet ai 70litTie. Pork- 
Cash, *17; Bullcments-Uing clear. H.SO; short 
rib, »8.S5<*H.lO:8hort clear. £*, 65 . bacon—Long clear. 
* 11 : short rib $8 j 15#9.UI: short clear, #9 40. Lard— 
Pul) at *9.15, 
Cincinnati. —Compared with cash prices a 
week ago. No. 2 Red Wheat isle, lower. Corn, 
lc. higher. Oats, lbjC. lower. Rye, 1c. higher. 
Barley, steady. Pork, 50c lower. Hogs, a 
sbade'lower. 
Wheat— Active: No. 2 Red. cash, 4i.04 il.dfi. Corn 
—I n fair demand and steady: No. 2 Mixed, 5Sls®59i^c. 
Oats- Easy. No. 2 Mixed, 86ii3H^. Rye—Q uiet, No. 2, 
69(o ? <•, Barley -Quiet but Arm Extra No. 3 Fall, 81 
aS2i>. PonK-*l7i«,iJ.25. Lakd—D ull and nominal at 
*S.(CVto~.Wi. HcT-kmeats— Quiet and weaker: Shoul¬ 
ders, short rib. *«,!>. llacon, easier and low¬ 
er: Shoulders. *7.50: Short-rib, *9 1214; Short Clear, 
*9.50. Butter— In fair demand: Extra creamery. 
25c.; choice dairy, 18c. Koos—Steady: Common and 
Light. *4.250:5.65: Packing and Butchers, *5.25(^5.90. 
