February 8.—Henry C. Frick, of the Steel Trust, and Henry H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Company, are elected directors of the Santa Fé Railroad. Elihu Root, former Secretary of War, leads an attack on the constitutionality of the New York State Barge Canal, which is opposed by the railroads, and which was supported by such an overwhelming majority in last fall’s election. February 10.—In the hearing of the Hearst case against the Coal Trust, the attorney of the Trust says in effect that the United States has no power over the corporation. February 13.—The Federal Grand Jury returns new indictments against Senator Mitchell and Representatives Hermann and Williamson, of Oregon, in the public land fraud cases. February 14.—A sensational war in high finance is begun between President Alexander, of the Equitable Life Assurance Association, and James H. Hyde, its First Vice-President and majority stockholder. February 15.—The Kansas House of Representatives passes the bill for a State oil refinery already passed by the Senate. The New York Legislature adopts a resolution directing an investigation of the Telephone Trust. February 16.—A truce is patched up between the warring factions of the Equitable Life Association on the promise of Vice-President Hyde to mutualize the company. February 17.—Governor Hoch, of Kansas, signs the bill appropriating $400,000 for the erection of a State oil refinery. February 20.—Mrs. Jefferson Davis, in a letter to the public press, scores General Nelson A. Miles for having placed her husband in irons, and asks General Miles to publish a photographic copy of her alleged letter of thanks. An explosion in a coal mine at Virginia, Ala., entombs 160 men. Thomas W. Lawson, in _Everybody’s Magazine_, continues his story of the formation of the Amalgamated Copper Company, outlines its devious operations under Standard Oil, accuses James M. Beck, ex-Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, of perjury, and attacks James H. Eckels, ex-Comptroller of the Currency, for his part in the infamous Cleveland bond deal. February 21.—Mayor George B. McClellan and ex-Mayor Seth Low, of New York, appear before the Legislature at Albany to plead for a larger water supply for New York City, claiming that a few dry years would bring a water famine to the metropolis. President Mellen, of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, refuses to arbitrate with the firemen who threaten a strike. Fifty of the 160 miners entombed by the explosion at Virginia, Ala., are known to be dead, and little hope is entertained for the remainder. A manuscript copy of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s poems sells for $1,000 in New York. John W. Gates and Joseph H. Hoadley claim to have secured control of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Company.