Bellefonte, Pa., January 17, 1890.
P. GRAY MEEK, - - - Ebprror.
Meeting of Democratic State Committee.
HARRISBURG, Pa., January Tth, 1890.
The Democratic State Central Committee
will meet at the rooms of the Committee, Mark-
et Street, Harrisburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Jan-
uary 22d, 1890, at twelve o'clock, noon, to elect
one person to serve as Chairman of Democratic
Committees, and one person to serve as Per-
manent Secretary of the State Central Com-
mittee, for the ensuing year; and to transact
such other jusiness as may properly be brought
before the committee.
BexsamiN M. Neap,
Permanent Secretary.
ELLIOTT P. KISNER,
Chairman.
———The Philadelphia Times,speak-
ing of Judge KeLLy immediately pre-
vious to his election to Congress, said
that at that time he was engaged in lo-
cating a route for the Sunbury and
Erie Railroad ‘through the- then al-
most unexplored wilderness of North-
ern Pennsylvania.” The Record thinks
this is imputing too much savagery to
the then existing condition of a part of
the State which as far back as Jack-
soN’s time had heen surveyed fora ca-
nal route. The fact is that a traveler
on seme paris of the P.& E., (old
Sunbury and Erie) railroad, at this
date passes through miles of country
which can be considered practically
a wilderness.
A Greundless Objection.
1
Some objection is being made to the
reformed ballot system on the ground
that it will injure the Democratic party,
and the result of the recent election in
Boston, where the Democratic vote
was diminished, is cited as an example
of such injury. The theory of these ob-
jectors is that a majority of those who
can not read their ballots are Demo-
crats who would consequently be deter-
red from voting, or would vete mistak-
ingly through the Australian system.
Should not this theory be rejected as
offensively reflecting upon the intelli-
gence of the Democratic party?
But WiLLsan E. RusseLr, who was
last year's Democratic candidate for
Governor in Massachusetts, denies that
the Democrats were the losers by the
working of the Australian system. In
regard to this matter he says:
So far as I can ascertain, the mistakes were
about equally divided between the parties, and
I think were made quite as much by men of
edueation as by men of little education. The
result showed in every eity of the Common -
wealth, where the Democratic vote is made up
very largely of workingmen and men who
have not had many advantages in education,
that without exception in those places the
Democrats gained largely over prior years, with
the single exception of the city of Boston:
The contrary resultin Boston was due entirel y
I think, to a eause outside of the ballot law.
Most reforms meet with objections,
either through ignorance or interested
motives, which the test of time and ex-
perience proves to have been ground-
less.
————————
Not Cowardly, But Very Prudent.
. _—
In the dispute that arose between |
England and Portugal concerning their
respective claims to the same territory
on the east coast of Africa, it has turn-
ed out, as was expected, that the small-
er power had to yield to the larger.
Tn this case England appears to have
had the right as well as the might on
her side, which has not always been
the case in tke maintenance of her
claims.
About two hundred years ago the
Portuguese made some straggling set-
tlements on the territory in question,
but failed to keep up even an appear-
ance of ownership; in fact absolutely
abandoned it. After the value of Afri-
can possessions became apparent within
the last twenty-five years, demonstrated
by the explorations of LiviNasroNg,
STANLEY and others who penetrated
the mysteries of the dark continent,
the English established trading posts
and introduced missionaries in the re
gion the tenure of which Portugal had
ceased to maintain. A few years ago
the latter saw fit to reassert her old
claim, broke up some of the English set-
tlements and packed off the mission-
aries. This was a course of conduct
that couid not be justified; England
had the right side of the controversy,
and having also the might, the weaker
Power had to back down from its pre-
tensions,
But here comes in the interesting
feature of the incid:nt. If it had been
a first-class power like France, Germa-
ny, Russia, or the United States that
had taken such liberties with England's
right, would she have been so prompt
in sending a fleet to inforce it?
Brittania can't be accused of being
cowardly, for she has done some good
fighting in her time, but she is very
prudent when a big antagonist con- |
fronts her.
——The winter in St. Petersburg is
described as “the mildest and unhealth-
jest known for many years.”
The New Post_Master.
On Wednesday last the name of Jas.
A. FeipLer,editor of the Gazette of this
place, was sent to the Senate for con-
tirmation as Postmaster at Bellefonte.
Among all the candidates mentioned
for the position since Harrison’s elec-
tion, he is prehaps the most unpopular,
and his appointment will give the least
general satisfaction. He is compara
tively a new comer to the place; has
already received all the public patron:
age in the way of printing the party
has had to bestow, and has bean a
standing candidate for every po-
sition that had a salary attached to
it, ever since he came to town. The
only claim he had on this or any other
position is the fact that he has been
the servile and willing tool
Bellefonte ring, of which Gov. Beaver
and Gen. Hastings are the avowed
head. i:
He has the ability to make a re-
spectable and fair official, and the dispo-
sition, training and gall to turn the
post-office into a political pot-house
and serve partisan ends at the sacrifice
of public interest and official trust.
For him old and respected citizens—
life time residents of the place, who
have been Jrepublicans since birth, like
Joux Harris, W. F. Manny, and
others, were crowded aside; wounded
and disabled veterans, fully competent
and deserving like Harvey BENNER
or Dr. Geo. B. FAIRLAMB, were ignored,
the wishes of the business interests
overlooked, and the desire of our peo-
ple as a mass disregarded and repu-
diated.
These facts are not to Mr. FIEDLER'S
discredit, however. He has secured
the position in spite of the general pub-
lic sentiment there was azainst his
appointment, and he is to be com-
plimented on his good Inck. What-
ever of condemnation there isin this
whole matter belongs to the little
ring of Republican bosses who re-
gardless of the wishes of the people,
or the welfare of the public interest,
do as they please and imagine their
pleasure is going to be forever and
eternally indorsed by the republican
people.
l — ——————
| Congressional Protection against High
Water.
Johnstown is asking Congress to ap-
propriate half a million of dollars to
deepen the Conemaugh river and
Stony creek by dredging, as a protec-
tion against future floods. Congress
has no right to give money for such a
purpose, as neither of those streams is
navigable and therefore cannot be in-
cluded among those which may be
made the objects of such expenditure.
If Harry WHITE were still in Congress
he might be able to squeeze the Cone-
maugh and Stony creek into a River
and Harbor bill, as he once did the far
famed Kiskiminitas, but it is doubtful
whether there is a man in the present
House who is equal to such a perform-
ance. The people of the Conemaugh
valley should be advised that the pre-
vention of such constructions as the
South Fork dam will afford them bet-
ter protection against flood disasters
than anything that Congress may be
able to do for them.
——The wise men of Congress seem
to be a little shy of the Brazilian
movement. It is now quite awhile
since the repoted republican govern-
ment was proclaimed as having suc-
eceded to the Empire, and still our
authorities withheld their recognition
of the bantling successor to the mon-
archy. The soldiers down there are
beginning to shoot citizens in the
name of freedom. Congress had bet-
ter hold on a little longer before it ex-
tends the hand of fellowship to a repub-
lic which seems to have been brought
into existence cheitly through the in-
stramentalivy of the military.
The two French frigates which
visited Philadelphia some months ago
and met with such a hospitable recep-
tion from the people of that city, have
steamed up the Mississippi and are
now anchored before New Orleans,
where preparations are being made to
overwhelm them with Southern hos-
| pitality, Grateful recollections of a
French fleet in command of Count Dr
| Grasse, which appeared in the Chesa-
| peake at a critical period of our his-
| tory with very important assistance,
[over a hundred years ago, render
{ French ships of war welcome visitors
| to our shores.
TET ET ——
|
|
|
Of Brice, the prospective Ohio U.
S. Senator, Frank Carpenter writes as
follows: “Ie cuts a different figure now
| than he did when I knew him there
{ nine years ago. He was building the
1 Ohio Central Railroad, out of which he
| got his start in 1880, and he used to
; come around the Ohio State Capitol
i with his pantaloons in his boots, a rustic
| coat spattered with mud and a slouch
| hat pulled over his steel blue eyes. Ie
tis worth at least $5,000,000, and is, I
i am told, getting richer every year. All
I of his prosperity has come within the
"past ten years, and a decade ago he was
a red-whiskered, blue-eyed young lawyer
, of 30 odd years on the ragged edge of a
country practice.”
of the |
A Barbecue of Horse Flesh at Louis-
ville,
Over Two Hundred Thousand Dollars
Worth of Valuable Horses Tortur-
ed by the Cruel lames.
LexiNeroN, Jan. 12.—Bell Boy, the
$51,000 coit, who enjoyed the distine-
tion of being the highest priced horse
ever sold at auction in America, was
burned to death Saturday morning to-
‘gether with forty-four other horses, in
Macey Brothers’ training and livery
_ stables, at Versailles. It was the largest
barbecue of horse flesh on record, and
the loss will amount to upward of $200,-
000. The fire broke out at about four
o’clock in the morning, and is supposed
| to have been of incendiary origin.
The stables covered almost an entire
| square consisting of proper sheds for
| training and adjacent stalls for horses.
| There ware quantities of loose hay and
‘straw in all portions of the structure,
which were rapidly licked up by the
i flames. Beil Boy's quarters were ad-
' jacent to the office of the stables, where
| a groom was on guard. This man made
i a determined effort to reach the horse
and get him out, but the animal refused
to move, and before sufficient assistance
could be had to force him from the
building the intense heat drove the
groom away. Bell Boy’s charred body,
burnt so that the entrails protrude, lies
in full view of the people who congre-
gatein great crowds. :
BELL BOY'S HISTORY.
Senator Stanford sold Bell Boy asa
yearling to Messrs. Brown & Stock-
bridge, of Kalamazoo, and the colt was
entered in several stakes for 2-year-
old. He won all his engagements
and in severa! events had a walkover.
At the Kentucky Trotting Horse Breed-
ers’ Meeting at Lexirgton in October he
trotted a mile 1n 2:26, his fastest per-
formance that year, and the best mark
for a 2-year-old of his sex. In the Spring
of 1888 Bell Boy was sold to Jefferson &
Seaman, of Kentucky, for $30,900, which
was the highest price ever paid for a
3-year-old-trotter. During the season
the youngster made a record of 2:19%.
Late in the summer of 1888 Bell Boy
was put up at a special sale which was
advertised as being held in order that
Mr. Jefferson might dispose of his share
of the colt. At that time Mr. Seaman
bid $50,000, and Bell Boy was declared
to be his sole property. The sensu-
tional young horse was again placed in
the market and sold atthe Woodward
sale at Lexington, Kentucky, on Feb-
ruary 21, 1889, to Judson H. Clark, of
the Genessee Valley Stud Farm, near
Elmira, New York for $51,000.
The forty-four other horses
were high priced animals.
burnt
To Save a Life.
A Man Gives Twenty-eight Ounces of
His Blood for Transfusion.
NEw Yorx, Jan. 13.—In the medical
ward of the New York hospital are two
patients in whose condition every other
patient and all the doctors take a special
nterest. ‘I'hey are Amos A. Lincoln
iand Lizzie Cunningham. Miss Cun-
ningham is the girl who with Mary
Fallon, was found asphyxiated by gas
in her room. Miss Fallon died and if
the Cunningham girl should recoyer
she will undoubtedly owe her life to Amos
A. Linc. In, a sturdy telegraph lineman,
who, when he heard last Thursday that
some good strong human blood was
needed to save the girl’s life, promptly
offered his own.
The surgeons accepted, and the opera-
tion of transfusion was successfully
performed. Twenty-eight ounces «f
Lincoln’s blood was forced into the
veins of Miss Cunningham’s arm, but
without apparent beneficial effect until
yesterday, when she became conscious
for the first time since her admission to
the hospital. The chances of her recov-
ery are now a little better, but she is by
no means out of danger, the doctors say.
Lincoln is little the worse for the loss
of nearly two pounds of blood. He is a
Philadelphia man, and he is said to bee
poor and friendless. He. brought to tha
hospital on Nov. 9. suffering from a
nervous tremor similar to St. Vitus’
dance, from which he has recovered.
In Memory of Tilden.
Congressman Cummings
Proposes a
Statue for the Rotunda of
the Capitol.
WasnHiNGgToN, D. C., Jan. 13.—Con-
gressman Amos Cummings, of New
York, created a sensation in the House
to-day when he offered a resolution to
appropriate $50,000 for the erection of a
bronze statue to the late Samuel J.
Tilden in the centre of the rotunda of
the Capitol.
The resolution provided that on the
front base of the statue there shall be
engraved the words. ‘Samuel J.
Tilden, Nineteenth President of the
United States—elected, but not seated ;”
that on the right of the base shall be
inscribed the date of birth, election and
death of Tilden, and that on the opposite
side shall be engraven an eagle with a
solution was referred.
nm ne
Jeff as a Pioneer.
Northwest, was built by Jefferson Da-
vis,” was the novel historical statement
made to me yesterday by L Mich.
His statement was followed by this ex-
old pamphlets I was overhauling the
other day. Davis was a lieutenant in
the United States army, serving under
old Zac Taylor, whose daughter he af-
terward married. Tavlor was in com-
mand of Fort Crawford, now Prairie dn
Chien. It became necessary to build
other forts in the Northwest. The
government sent a sawmill to Taylor
to prepare the lumber.
up the Chippewa River to locate the
mill and operateit. That was the first
sawmill in what is now one of the
greatest lumber sections of the country,
It sounds queer that Jeff’ Davis should
thus be entitled to be classedas the pio
neer lumberman of the Northwest.” —
N.Y, Press:
The Obsequtes of Hon. W. D. Kelly.
Services of an Impressive Character Held
in the Hall of the House.
‘WA HINGTON Jan. 12.—The funeral
services over the remains of the late
Congressman W. D. Kelley took place
in the hull of the house yesterday. As
the solemn procession moved down the
aisle, Rev. Mr. Cuthbert read aloud
the preliminary Baptist burial service.
The casket, carried by policemen, bore
no other decoration thun a large bunch !
of lilies and mixed flowers. Mrs. Kel- |
ley, leaning on the arm of her eldest |
son,and followed by other membersof the |
family, entered and took the places re- |
served for them. At a rap from the
gavel of Speaker Reed the assemblage
sat down, and the reading of the re-
mainder of the Baptist ritual service was |
proceeded with. Dr. Cuthbert closed |
the service with the benediction, and |
the casket was then taken up by the |
body bearers, who followed the mem- |
bers of the committee with their burden. |
The members of the family walked out
of the house directly behind the casket, |
and they were followed by the members |
of the senate who were present. i
Another rap from the speaker’s gavel |
called the house again to order, and Mr. !
Bingham of Pennsylvania arose and |
moved that the house adjourn. The motion |
was carried and the house adjourned un-
til Monday. Shortly before 1 o’clock
the remains of Judge Kelley were es-
corted to the Baltimore & Potomac sta- |
tion, and at 1.15 o'clock the funeral!
party left for Philadelphia on a special
train. Upon arrival at Philadelphia
the remains were taken to the residence
of Mrs. Horstman on Chestnut street.
The services in Philadelphia will occur
to-morrow and be conducted by Rev.
W. H. Furness.
vo |
The American Eiffel Tower.
The Tallest Smokestack in the World for
Making a Draught.
Boston Globe.
The tallest smokestack in the United
States, and, in fact, the tallest in the
world, designed solely for the purpose
of providing a draught for boilers, is
receiving its final courses in Fall River
Mass. It is intended to meet the re-,
quirements of the entire steam plant of
the four new mills of the Fall River Iron
Company. Some idea of its size can be
had from the following figures, furnished
by the contractor: From the top of the
granite foundation to the cap is 350
feet, the diameter at the (ase is 30 feet,
at the top 21 feet, the flue is 11 feet
throughout, and the entire structure
rests on a solid granite foundation 55x30,
16 feet deep.
In its construction there were used
1,700,000 bricks, 2000 tons of stone,
2000 barrels of mortar, 1000 loads of
sand, 1000 barrels of Portland cement,
and the estimated cost is $40,000. It is
arranged for two flues 9 feet 6 inches by
6 feet, connecting with 40 boilers,which
are to be run in connection with four
triple-expansion engines of 1350-horse
power each. In erecting the immense
shaft no outside staging has been used,
but as the work progressed cross pieces
were set into the inner wall, and on
these a platform laid for the time being.
All material was carried up on an ele-
vator, and self-closing hatches precluded
the danger of either workmen or ma-
terial falling from above.
The Deadly Cold Bed.
How the Spare Room Has Slain Its
Thousands and Is Still at It.
Good Housekeeping.
If trustworthy statistics could be had
of the number of persons who die every
year or become permanently diseased
from sleeping in damp or cold beds,they
would probably be astonishing and
appalling. Itisa peril that constantly
besets traveling men, and if they are
wise they will invariably insist on hav-
ing their beds aired and dried, even at
the risk of causing much trcuble to
their landlords. But the peril resides
in the house, and the cold “spare room’
has slain its theusands ot hapless guests,
and will go on with its slaughter till
people learn wisdom. Not only the
guest but the family suffer the penalty
of sleeping in cold rooms and chilling
their bodies at a time when they need
all of their bodly heat, by getting be-
tween cold sheets. Even in warm sum-
mer weather a cold damp bed will get
in its deadly work. It is a needless
peril, and the neglect to provide dry
rooms and beds hasin it the elements of
murder and suicide.
Inexcusable Delay.
On the 31st of" May, 1889, oc-
curred that ever to-be-remembered
flocd that desolated the Conemaugh
valley with death an, destrac-
ticn.. On the 12th of January
1890, Governor Beaver’s relief commis-
sion reports $200,000 on hand. Only
the good Lord knows what want and
misery the impoverished survivors of
that awful disaster have suffered in the
long interval since millions of dollars
were thrust into Governor DBeaver’s
planation : I found this fact in some"
snake in his talons, and under them | been sore need for every dollar given—
these words : For The Right.” The re. | and more. Have the governor's methods
i
)
|
|
|
“The first sawmill ever built in Wis. | shameful status of his case as does the
OnSite AndTT thick the first in ‘the | statement of naked facts ?. Two hundred
ious | thousand; dollars still held back
| those for whom it was given.
Iman at the railroad bridge on the
: found dexd Friday morning by the work
Davis was sent
| what has been given?
hands for their benefit. Hasn't there
even allowed prompt distribution of
To be honest
about it, has the so-called injustice of
newspaper criticism ever set up such a
from
Do the
mors ?-—
flood safferers need nothing
Pittsburg Post.
A WarcumaNn Fouxp DErap.—
John Waltz, employed as night watch-
Beech Creek railroad a short distance
below Beech Creek borough, was
men when they went to the bridge to
commence their days work. The dead
man was in a sitting position and the
supposition is that a bolt or other piece
of iron had fallen from the upper portion
of the structure and struck him. Mr.
Waltz was about 83 years of age, a
resident of Beech Creek borough and
leaves a wife and two children.
ER ————
Monopolists, it is said, refer to
the proposed tariff’ bill as *‘our dollar
An Incident of Andersonville,
Death of a Man Said to Have Acted as
Hangman of Fellow Prisoners.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Jan. 12.—E.
‘W. Nichols, a veterinary surgeon who
died here last Friday from influenza
complications, had a remarkable war
history. He was a member of the
Fourteenth Michigan cavalry and was
captured and confined in Andersonville.
He was chosen sheriff of the court order-
ed by starving Union prisoners to pun-
ish a gang of comrades that stole their
small supply of rations. Ten were con-
victed in a court of Union prisoners and
sentenced to be hanged. Nichols, who
was a powerful man, had to string the
men up alone, and one of the emaciated
comrades was hanged the second time,
as the rope broke.
On his return North Nichols re-enlist-
ed, and was with a troop of cavalrymen
who captured Jefferson Davis, and shar:
ed the $100,000 offered by President
Johnson. Nichols had property and
was successful in business. On account
oi his horrible duty at Andersonville he
was shunned by veterans, and rarely al-
luded to the affair.
A dispatch from Bloomington, Ill.,
says: Hon. Ivory H. Pike, member of
the legislature, denied, to-day, the re-
port that E. W. Nichols of the Four-
teenth Michigan cavalry, who died at
Springfield, Mass. was the hangman of
10 Union prisoners at Andersonville.
Mr. Pike says that Le Roy Key of the
Sixteenth Illinois cavalry, a printer
who died in Springfield, Ill., several
years ago, hanged the men, and that
there were six, not 10, in number,
Mr. Pike was one of the guards that
kept order during the hanging. Mr.
Pike says Key was respected and be-
loved by the old soldiers, and at his
death many State associations passed re-
solutions of respect to his memory.
The Gigantic Dragon Tree.
It is Forty-Five Feet in Circumference
and 10,000 Years Old.
New York Morning Journal.
The most gigantic specimen of the fa-
mous dragon tree of the Canary islands
stocd, until within the vear, and still
stands for that matter, but dead as a
mummy of the time of the Rameses,
near Gratava, on the Island of Teneriffe,
the largest one ot the group above men-
ticned. This monster warty dragon has
been fully described by dozens, yes, hun-
dreds, of globe-tourists who have ‘‘done”’
the sights of the world during the past
50 years.
No wonder that the great Humboldt
did not even make provision for a doubt
when he calmly says: “I would consid-
er it at least 10,000 years old.”
To the native Canary Islander the dra-
gon tree is as sacred as the bo tree is to
Ceylonese, and the rights performed in
its immense hollow, which Humboldt
says would comfortably provide shelter
for 20 men, were as mystic if not as hor-
rible as those performed around the can-
ibal tree by the Australian savages.
—
Pineapples for Diphtheria.
The Chicago 7'ibune publishes a new
cure for diphtheria which, it .is said
never fails, It is simply the juice of the
pineapple. The correspondent of the
Tribune thus speaks of it : “The doctors
who had never heard of this cure now
all use it in their practice I understand,
and have never known of a death where
it was taken in time. The patient ought
to gargle the juice and then swallow it,
and the dose ought to be repeated fre-
quently so as to saturate the system
with it. To keep the stuff fresh and
prevent fermentation I used to keep it
on ice constantly. Of course it is always
easy to obtain fresh pineapples here.
In the South I have heard that they
keep it bottled, when the pineapple is
out of season, and it answers the pur-
pose just as well provided it is not
sweetened. One thing is certain, you
can always get a pineapple at my house
by asking for it, for we are never out of
them now.”
La Grippe Affects Freight,
PrrrsBurG, January 14.—The Penn-
sylvania Railroad company has been
compelled to refuse freight for the sea
board during the past few days on ac-
count of la grippe on one division where
200 conductors, {freight and passenger,
are employed, 135 were off duty at one
time with the grip. New men were
put on some of the trains, but in the
majority of the cases it was impossible to
get new men, and when they were se-
cured they proved to be more easy
victims of the grip than the old men.
Freight began to collect on eastern div-
isions to such an extent that a few days
ago an order was issued to send no more
freight for sea bound points until furth-
er notice. There was a blockade of
freight at Altoona yesterday, due to the
fact that the trainmaster was unable to
get out full crews and only about half of
the freight could be handled.
The Western Blizzard.
A telegram from Kansas City says :
The blizzard which raged all day Sun-
day throughout Kansas and Nebraska
was phenomenal on account of the sud-
denness of the storm and the high tem-
perature just preceding and at its close.
Much suffering is sure to follow among
livestock. At many places the drifts
are from ten to twelve feet deep. In
the northwestern part of Kansas the
snowfall is unprecedented, and in the
town of Hiawatha all travel is stopped
except in beaten paths, Railroads have
met with much trouble, not only from.
the snow, but from tracks being damag-
ed by high water. The greatest danger
to be anticipated from the storm in
Kansas is acoal fuminein some of the
smaller towns,
AA
The late Mr. F. B. Gowen held
life insurance policies to the amount of
$220,000. The various companies have
begun to pay these, and all of them will
be sestled in full without a contest.
This is simple justice, but does any sen-
sible man doubt that had the holder beena
man on alower plane of social and public
life, one less known and without influen-
tial friends, these insurance com-
panies would have paid over this large
sun without a protest ? Then there
would have been a costly contest before
bill.”
the heirs could have come by their own.
The Election of Constables.
There is dispute in some sections o?
Pennsylvania as to the term for which
Constables were elected at the February
election of 1889, and the following is one
of several inquiries received at the
office of the Philadelphia Times :
To The Editor of The Times :
Were Constables elected for three
years in the boroughs and townships of
this Commonwealth in February last?
See act of February 14, 1889, P. L., page
6. Or will the election of Constables
for three years, under said act, take
place in February, 1890? There is a
difference of opinion among the attorneys
on the subject.
Williamsport, Pa., Dec.. 10. '89.
N.B KE
The act referred to provides that the
voters of the townships, boroughs and
wards in Pennsylyania, “shall cn the
Third Tuesday of February next, and
triennially thereafter, vote for and elect
a properly qualified person for Consta-
ble in each of said districts who shall
serve for three years.” This act was
approved on the 14th jay of February,
1889, and ‘‘the third Tuesday of Feb-
ruary next” would be commonly under-
stood to be the 19th of the same month,
which was the day on which regular
spring or local elections were held in
the State.
It was the obvious intention of the
Legislature to pass the bill to take effect
at the last February election, but the
fact that the bill was delayed in its
passage until early in February and not
approved until the 14th of that month,
law somewhat ambiguous as to the
time it should become operative. Had
the bill been passad and approved in
January, as was expected when it was
introduced, the 19th of last February
would clearly have been “the 31 Tues-
day of February next,” but as it did
not become a law until February, and
within five days of the date named,
there is no room for doubt as to the
judiciel interpretation that may be
given to the words “the third Tuesday
of February next” ina law passed during
the month of February. Had the
Legislature intended the act to go into
effect in 1890 it would have beenso ex-
pressed in the bill, and if the clear in-
tent of the Legislature shall govern "the
construction of the measure, the Con-
for three years.
The Surpreme Court has gone so far
in maintaining the intention of the
Legislatnre as to declare that statutes
are to be constructed as best to effectuate
the intention of the Legislature though
such construction may seem contrary
to the letter of the law; and that ail
laws must be executed according to the:
sense and meaning which they imported
at the time of their passage. Judging:
by the precedents it seems reasonably
certain that the Courts would hold that.
the Constables elected last February
were choosen for three years ; but the
opinion of even the most intelligent
newspaper men is not to be accepted
when the Courts have the last guess at a
disputed problem.
BT —
The Prize Poker Outfit.
An Elegant Ivory Leay-Out Made as a
Giftto John Morrissey.
From a Washington Letter.
In a private residence up-town in
Washington there is the finest set of
poker chips that were ever manufactur-
ed in this country. Their history is
interesting. They were made for the
famous John Morrissey, congressman,
State senator, anti-Tammany shoulder
hitter, pugilist and gambler. Before
Morrissey started his famous Saratoga
gambling house he had a place on Bar-
claystreet in New York. While there
a party of Western sports, among
whom was the famous “Big Head Ri-
ley” of California, called on Morrisey,
and during the week managed to win
about $30,000 from him.
|
As they had been treated very elabor-
ately and won s> much they determined
to give Morrissey some token of their
distinguished consideration. After
some discussion it was decided to have
made the finest '‘rack” of poker chips
that money could buy. The chips now
{in Washington were the result of that
determination. There were 1000 chips,
with a few odds to make up for any that
might be lost or broken. Upon each
chipis a carving made by hand. On
the white ones is a small figure without
special significance “5” and 25” in a
center of red and yellow. Each chip
is carved by hand and from the finest
“heart” ivory that could be found in
the city of New York. The total cost
of the set was over $2000, or $2 apiece.
‘When they were given to Morrissey
they were polished to the highest degree
and shone and glistened in the light as
though they were silver. The case
which still holds them is of rosewood,
finely polished, and in the top is set a
tiger couchant of polished brass, two
enormous cat’s eyes being sunk in the
head and giving ita peculiar animated
appearance. Now, because the chips
were given to him by winners, Morris-
sey thought it would be bad luck to
use them in the same place, and conse-
quently they were not used until after
Morrissey started his place at Saratoga.
Then the superstition worked in ac-
cordance with the gambler’s idea and
the first time they were used in a heavy
game Morrissey lost over $50,000. Then
he put them on exhibition and they
were stolen within 10 days. Some
months afterward they were recognized
in a Bowery pawnshop, where the thief
had pawned them for $75. Morrissey
redeemed them and shortly afterward
they were stolen again. A young En-
glishman who was doing the country
bought them from the thief and carried
them to Chicago. After the habit of
young Englishmen the tourist in ques-
tion becance hard up and sold them to
the present owner, who brought them
to Washington, where they have been
for two years and have been played
with by some of the heaviest poker play-
ers in the capital. I was shown them
the other day and they bear no more
signs of use than if they had been bought
yesterday.
—Considering the amount of noise
Foraxer made in his political career
who could have supposed that he would
so silently dissolve from public view
makes the peculiar language of that.
stables elected last February were chosen