Evening Star Newspaper, January 6, 1894, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR peas hers name PUBLISHED DAILY EXCEPT SUNDAY. AT THE STAR BUILDINGS, ‘Avenue, corner 11th St, by lio The Evening Star Newspaper = nee he Now York Ofice, 68 Potter Building, as Tur Evexrxo Stam is served to subseribers in the city By carriers, om thelr own account, at 10 cents or 44c. per month. Coptes coun- oof loom each. BF matt —angutere to the United oma agin simone acme yee -RDAT QUINTUPLE SuERT Stan $1.00 per year; with foreign oy byt $8.00. bax (Entered at the Post Office at Washington, D.€., “Fan mall eubecriptions subscriptions must be paid im ad- vance. Matos af a@ve-tising made tnown of application ts. Che Fpeninigy Slav. rvs v=. WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. CABINET MINISTERS Gossip and Story About the Big Men of Cleveland’s Official Family. HOW THEY COME 70 CABINET MEETINGS Secretary Morton's Turnout and Secretary Smith’s Horse THEIR WIVES AND FAMILIES Written for The Evening Star. T WAS TEN MIN- utes to 11 o'clock last Tuesday. I stood on the White House steps. President Cleveland was in his office upstairs, ready to go to his cabinet meeting, which w: to take place when the clock struck 11. A steady stream of visitors, sightseers and bridal couples sauntered up and @own the half-moon walks which lead from the tron fence to the porte cochere of the Ex- ecutive Mansion. Some of the sightseers were in the vestibule staring at the wall of glass which separates the long prome- nade corridor from it. Others were trying the chairs of the east room, and still others were button-holing the guards and asking to be admitted to the private apartments of the house. Two brass-buttoned policemen Stood at the door, and a half dozen mes- sengers, lounging in chairs or standing guard here and there, could be seen. No Congressmen or office seekers were visible. No one is received on cabinet days, and this order has become so well known that the latter class keep away, and the mem- bers, if they call at all, come early. 1 had taken my stand here to watch the cabinet come up. First I saw a carriage, with prancing horses, driving in at the gate. A swell coachman sat on the box, and a blonde man of fifty odd, dressed in dapper clothes, was its sole occupant. He had a heavy straw-colored mustache, bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks. He sat straight up in the carriage, and, as his horses were reined suddenly up before me under the porte ere, I could see that his yellow gloves were new and that his clothes had been made by a good tailor. This man was Secretary Morton, the horny-handed farmer inistration. He had a package of in his left hand, but he held them gingerly, as though he thought the dried ink might discolor his new gloves: and as he jumped from the carriage | could see no signs of gardening or plowing upon his pol- ished boots. The Secretary of Agriculture stepped briskly into the White House after alighting from it, then turned to the left and then to the right, going upstairs to the cabinet room. The next arrival was the Secretary of State. Judge Gresham looks more like a farmer t nm Morton. He walks from the State D rtment to the White House at cabis tings, and he has a way of push- ing hims~!f along with right-angled gestures which is peculiar to himself. He often > Seeretary Gresha Wears a slouch hat, but today he had on a stiff silk plug, the nap of which was well roughed up. He came up the walk to the porch with a look of determination written all over him. This said, “I am going to get there by and by,” and he did. He spoke to the guards as he came up and saluted every one with a democratic “How do you do.” He had no papers to carry, nor did he put on airs. As he passed me I noted that the 'y hairs have crept rapidly im and out ig the black strands of his hair snd ard, and that he is now on the edge of growing old, and his walk shows that he still feels the pund which he received at the battle of Atlanta. A War Story of Gresham. Speaking of that battle, I heard the story of Gresham's wound the other day. Gen. MePherson was over him, and a day or two before Atlanta fell a shell struck Gresham and carried away the fleshy part of his leg above the knee. He was badly hurt, but he had the nerve to send word to Gen. Mc- Pherson that he was disabled and had been ordered to the rear. McPherson sent back @ sympathetic message and an escort, and Gresham was tied out by a roundabout course to a place where he could set medical attention. Here he lay for some time, bat as soon as possible he was put into a bag- e Car on @ stretcher and in this way car- led off. In this baggage car he found a coffin next him. It ‘sas there when his Stretcher was put in. everal men were anding about it, and he 1 ;, {t's too bad that the What genera! is it you are talking ta he asked; whereupon th> men tolt hica thet they were speaking of Gen. McPherson, wio had been shot in the hattle and whese dead body was in the coffin et his stile Me. Pherson had been killed shortly after he hud sent him his ‘ort and had now overtaken im on his way to the rear. A Major Generalship or Bust. This battle was fought in July, 1864, and Gresham went into it, 1 am told, with the hope that he mjght be made a major gen- eral for his bravery. ‘There is no braver man in the country than he. He won his brigadier generalship largely through his Gallant conduct at the battle of Vicksburg. seneral is gone.” He had gone into that battle as colonel of | the fifty-third indiana and had rushed into the storm of it at head of his men with- ment had done its full fighting, and he had ever m in the thickest of the fray. At its however, the brigade commander put Grant had noticed his bra- lered his release. mendation shortly after this te a full brigadier. At this anta he realized that the e and that if he was ore riding into the en- said to one of his friends on “Here goes for a major b He then slouched black eves, dug bis spurs dashed into the fray. a dozen rods before he received a shot in the leg which knock- e4 him from his horse and threw him to the ground. The wound was such a severe ge D or his hat over bh into his horse he had ridden bar ard one of them | It was on! “honors he would have to! one that the surgeon at the hospital advised the amputation of the leg, but this Gresh- am refused to permit. Blood poisoning en- sued, and he nad a hard struggle for life. I am told that he now and then still feels the effects of the wound. ‘Ihe blood poison- ing left his stomach weak, and though he has a great capacity for work he has to use much care as to his health. 1 was thinking of this story as I saw the general push his way on into the Executive Mansion. There was hardly a limp in his walk, but what an historic path his feet have trod. From the war until now he has been a part of our history. He has had the closest associations with men of both par- ties. Gen. Garfield at one time intended to make him Secretary of the Interior, and President Arthur thought enough of him to make him his Postmaster General and Secretary of the Treasury. He has never been an office seeker, and he said not long ago that he had never allowed ambition to take hold of him for fear it would make him its slave. He has the confidence of the President, and I venture he makes no bones of saying just what he thinks without re- gard to the corsequences of Cleveland lik- ing it or not. He sits at the right of the President in his cabinet meetings, and he usually comes into them about five min- utes late. . A Look at the Attorney General. As the door closed behind Judge Gresham I saw the Attorney General walk into the White House grounds. A little sober, stu- dent-like man, with a gray mustache and iron gray hair, he came gingerly along, with his overcoat on his arm. The day was warm, and Gresham had left his coat at. home. Morton was clad in a business sult, but the Attorriey General carried his coat, though it was within an hour of high noon and he had only to walk across the street. United States, and if it were not irreverent 1 might call him and Secretary Bissell the to appear in the newspapers. Attorney General Olney is sixty-seven years old. He is worth a fortune, and his law practice, largely conected with railroads, has, it is said, been netting him $50,0v0 a year for a decade or so. Bissell and His Carriage. to the White House in a carriage. He is dred men here outside of those who have ; met him in @ business way who know him. from hig coupe today and stood upon the White House steps. The Postmaster Gen- eral has been compared to President Cleve- I do not see where the likeness comes in. Bissell is a much bigger man than the President. He is taller, broader and better made. He has a giant frame, and the bones of this are loaded down with muscular fat. 1 don’t think his flesh is flabby. It looks solid, and dark, sallow skin appears to be healthy. He nas a bigger head than President Cleveland. If you could thrust a ruler through it from ear to ear you would find it quite as thick as that of the Presi- dent. Its longest dimensions, however, are from top to bottom. I venture it is nine inches from his crown to the medulla ob- longata, and his face must be a foot long. His chin is a double one, and it slopes off into a long, strong neck. The Postmaster General has a good, broad forehead. It is high, as well as broad, and he combs his black hair straight up from it, making it look still higher. His head is very high above the ears, and the ears are of a good size and set close to the head. Postmaster Genera! Bissell has a pleasant expression. He is honest in his manner, and he can laugh. I judge he would make a good club man, though he has not spent much time in club life in Washington. He is noted for his reticence in regard to himself and his department, and the cold chills corrugate his fat back until it looks like a washboard when he is asked to make a statement for newspaper publication. He is, perhaps, the closest to the President of any man in the cabinet, and psychically he and Cleveland are in fact the halves of one so The Postmaster General lives here at Washing- top about two blocks from the White House. His home is a big brick of three stories and an English basement. It has a prison-like entrance, and at the right of this is a little office or library, where the Postmaster General receives his gentlemen friends of an evening. He does much of his work at his home, and he smokes and works here far into the night. He is a man of culture, of good education and a graduate of Yale. His wife is one of the most ac- complished women of the capital, young and charming. She is a fine musician, and received a part of her musical education in Europe. She is a New York girl, and was a | schoolmate of Mrs. Cleveland at Wells Col- lege. The Postmaster General is sald to be rich. He has made a fortune at the law and in railroads, and is said to be worth as many thousand dollars as he weighs pounds. As he tips the beam at about three hun- dred, this would make him the possessor of more than a quarter of a million. Lamont as War Secretary. Another rich man in President Cleve- land’s cabinet is Daniel Lamont. He fol- lowed Bissell up the White House steps this morning. fe 15 six menes suurtec tan the Postmaster General, and, though he has materiaiiy gained in weight since he Was private secretary to Clevesand, ne does not how Weigh more than haif as much as Mr. Bissell. rie nas not aged in tne past eignt years. His mustache is the same wiry red. His china-plue eyes look out from under the same heavy, unwrinkled brows, and his only difference is seen in fuller’ cheeks and a perceptible paunch. Secretary Lamont is always well dressed. He wears business clothes as a rule, but they are new, and the creases in his pants | are as clearly defined as were those of Sec- | retary Whitney's. Lamont leads a demo- | cratic life at tne War veparunent. He nas a little ante-room back of his office, where he receives his friends and in which many !a confidential political chat is held. He is |a rapid worker and knows how to make others work for him. There are no frills about him, and though he is now rich and famous he puts on no more airs than he did when he was comparatively poor. |1 am told that the biggest salary he had 1 received up to the time he entered the | White House was considerably less than the amount he got there. He was the first pri- vate secretary to get $5,000, but it is now said that his New York railroad and other stocks bring him in several times this amount, and he is on the way to a million. | Secretary Whitney discovered his sterling abilities during the last administration, and it was through him Lamont became one of the heads of the greatest street railroad syndicates of the country, and I am told Lamont's ability aided materially in mak- ing this property so valuable. The com- pany has a capital of $30,000,000 and its | Stock sells for 150. Not long ago it was | only twenty millicn, and it sold at 60. La- | mont got a good slice of the stock when he entered the company. He had a big salary, | and his ability was so pronounced that he | was taken into a large number of the big- | gest institutions of New York. He was sec- | retary or treasurer of a number of these, , and he was a director in eighteen different | stock companies. He is not a man who | talks much about himself. He is very | friendly with the newspaner men, but ob- |fects to beine interviewed, and will not talk for publication if he can heln it When he first came to Washineton he lived in a howse on H street, not far from the | Metronolitan Cluh. Now his home Is a bic low brick. Just aeross Jackeon Park from tie Executive Mansion. It Is sandwiched Oley is one of the reserved men of the | clams of the cabinet. Neither of them likes | | Postmaster General Bissell always comes | seen walking on the streets of Wash- | ington, and I venture there are not a hun- | | Let me tell you how he looked ag he stepped | | between the home of Senator Cal Brice and that of the literateur, Henry Adams. It is within a stone’s throw of the War Department and Lamont walks to his office and back again three times a day. . rlisie as a Walker. It is the same with Secretary Carlisle, | who lives a block or so farther up on K strect. Carlisle walks a great deal. He is {a tall, angular man with a student's stoop. He has fattened somewhat since last March, but his clothes still hang on his big frame im wrinkles, and he could stand fifty pounds more of flesh without injury. He is a man of many acquaintances and he stops and talks to every other man he mee In coming from the treasury to the White House he was button-holed by no less than six men and I noted that each one seemed to laave him well pleased. Carlisle is noted for his honesty. He is blunt in his ways, and he always says what he thinks. There is nothing of the oleaginous politi¢ian about him, and he is big enough |to be simple. He is not a hard student, though he is a good deal of a worker. He leaves his work at the department when he goes out and delights in playing poker for small stakes of an evening. He is noted for his clearness of intellect and in the ‘point of pure brains he is a heavier weight | than any other man of his party. Full of Blood. and Mascte. The Secretary of the Interior likes to 40 things with a rush. He is over six feet in height end he is packed with animal vi- tality, He has iots of muscle and plenty (of geod blood. He couldn't keep quiet if he \tried, and he moves about Washington with a rush. He is fond of horseback rid- ing, and he rides a big bay steed up to the White House and hands him over to a groom while he goes into cabinet meetings. He is not at all Backward in expressing his | opinion in the meetings, and his words jearry considerable weight. He is perhaps the best mixer of the cabinet, and though he says he would rather be a lawyer than a politician he has shown himself to be. eminently fitted for the latter occupation. He is one of the hard workers of the cabi- net and one of the heavy weights. He is |not fat, but he must weigh at least three hundred, and every ounce of his flesh is | solid. Gossip About Herbert. The Secretary of the Navy is another big man. Mr. Herbert is nearly six feet in | height and he weighs one hundred and sev- enty-five ‘pounds. He has a big head, the face of which is covered by a tawny beard, and his blue eyes look out from under jheavy brows. His complexion is rather rough and it has just the tinge of the sal- low of the south. He dresses plainly and is thoroughly democratic in all his ways. | There is no trouble in getting at him either jat the department or at his house. If he jean do.what you want he tells you so at lonce, and if not, he will tell you why. He | has been so long in public life that he un- |dersands how to deal with the Congress- |men. He knows most of them personally jand is popular in both houses. He has |many sociable qualities, can tell a good \|story and can dictate like a steam engine. |He has a rosy-cheeked private secretary |named Finney, who can take down his \ideas at the rate of two hundred words a | minute. With this man on one side of a | big mahogany desk and himself on the oth- er, the Secretary begins work at about 9 jo’clock in the morning. He first runs } through his mail, then receives callers and | devotes himself to the work of the depart- ment. At petween 1 and 2 he has a light lunch. The afternoon Is largely taken up with the chiefs of the various bureaus, and \all sorts of questions are disposed of.’ The navy is now one of the big manufacturing departments of the government, and its estimates amount to millions. There are (all sorts of fine questions to be answered, and Secretary Herbert calls in his experts | and places these before them. He has been studying the navy all his life and he is thoroughly posted upon it and its needs. He is practical, however, in his ideas and he runs things to suit himself. His even. ings he usually spends at home. He is bookish man and is well read. He likes a good novel and at the same time is thor- |eughly posted on historical subjects. Much jot his reading he carries on in connection | with his daughter, Miss Leila Herbert, who |presides over his house here and does the lhonore as the leading lady of the navy. |Seeretary Herbert is a widower. His wife died a few years ago, ving two grown up daughters,*both of jom are noted for their beauty. The oldest sister is married and now lives in Alabama. The younger is Miss Leila. She is a slender, blue-eyed \blonde, with fluffy light hair and delicate features. She is by all odds the youngest woman in the cabinet, but by virtue of Washington society rules she has the place her mother would hold if she were alive. Miss Herbert has had much experience in Washington society. She is the Secretary's |constant companion when he is outside of the department. She travels with him everywhere, and it is said that she has | been on the deck of every ship in the United States navy. She is a very accomplished you1g woman, speaks French and Span- ish fluently, and nas seen enough of Wash- ington life to enable her to preside over j ber father’s house with great credit. FRANK G. CARPENTER. iT IS A HARD GRIND. The Daily Life of a Member of Congress. HIS MANY DUTIES AND WORRIES. He is Sought For and Importuned -on All Sides. A GRAPHIC PEN PICTURE. ——— Written for The Evening Star. ERY FEW HAVE an idea of the daily work of a Congress- man. If he attends to his duty he may work eighteen hours a day and still have work unfinished. If a member of a lead- ing committee and attending its sessions regularly, and the sessions of the sub- committees to which he is assigned, and performs the task allotted to him there he will do well aside fram any other work. But he must also attend the sessions of the House and be in readiness to sustain or oppose bills that affect his constituents. Next in importance is his mail. A good Congressman always answers his letters promptly. If an old member of the House, he receives from forty to seventy-five let- ters a day. One letter in a hundred may contain a postage stamp. He pays the postage for answers to the remainder out of his own pocket. If he is a member of the Grand Army, many of the requests will be to look up claims for pensions and use his influence in forwarding settlements. If he is a democrat, a dozen of the letters will be applications for office directly or in- directly. Some may be from mutual friends and others -ndorsed by persons of influ- ence. If he visits the departments and at- tends personally to all these requests, this alone will take up his entire time. Some are applications made by constituents, but the majority come from persons who have no such claim upon the attention of the representative. Then there are letters making applications for public documents, all of which require more or less attention. Aside from this work the Congressman is personally importuned in every corridor, and at every turn in the Capitol. If he de- sires to go from the House to his committee room, he may be an hour in reaching it, and by the time he gets there, unlegs he is a man of strong mind, he forgets the ob- ject for which he started. Tf he attends strictly to his.duty, inves- Ugating bills, drawing up reports.and keep- ing a close watch upon the legislation of the House, he will not have time to keep abreast with the news of the day, or at- tend to any social obligations. He will do well to find time to eat and sleep. To il-| lustrate this it is only necessary to detail one day in the life of a Congressman, A Typical Day's Duties. Take a day in the week ending December 16, 1893. The Congressman lives at a hotel near the Capitol. Before 8 o'clock in the morning cards are sent to him. One is from a young lady bringing a letter from a gentleman residing a thousand miles from the Congressman's district, asking him to secure a place for her in one of the de- partments. Another is from a veteran member of*the G.A.R. who thinks he has been illegally discharged from government employment. A third is from some school- mate who desires a personal introduction to the President. Disposing of these vis- best he can, the Congressman goes tothe cl pitol, ordering his breakfast at the House restaurant while on his way to his room. tiers Ts finds his mail. Beside the let- ters there are a basketful of newspapers, many of which contain marked articles for inspection. Then there is a raft of public documents and pamphlets on all conceiv- able subjects from silver and pension leg- islation down to matters of trifling inter- est. Cranks present visionary sthemes and persons interested in private bills flood him with circulars. He is invited to banquets and receptions and asked to re- mit checks for tickets of admission to en- tertainments given for charitable and other ses. ire bas barely time to sift the heap be- fore he is called to breakfast. Even here unless wary he is subject to importunities from visitors. On his way back to the committee room he is buttonholed by dele- gations around the doors of the committee of ways and means and urged to use his influence toward changing the tariff sched- ule. Preserving his equanimity, je does his best for his friends and is nail door of his room by committees from the chamber of commerce and Maritime Aszo- ciation, who urge him to exert his influ- ence against a bill damaging to the com- mercial interests of the city they represent. With His Committee. He arrives at his committee room in time to take part in the deliberations of a sub- committee intrusted with a bill of great importance. The meeting lasts until high noon, when the Speaker calls the House to order. The legislative mill begins to turn out its grist. To vote intelligently he must pay close attention and understand thoroughly the subject under discussion. But he finds it difficult to remain in his seat three minutes. If he goes to the restaurant to lunch he is accosted a dozen times before he reaches it. Once at lunch, however, he is com- paratively safe, unless those seeking him are lunching at the same time. Here a constituent presents a case in which prompt attention is required. An appointment is pending, and action must be taken at once. After a hasty junch, they catch the cable cars and hie to the Treasury Department. They wait an hour or more before the Secretary can be seen, and then are compelled to wait their turn before they can address him. Even in the department the Congressman Is not relieved from importunities. He meets others who are there upon similar business and who urge him to give whatever aid he can. Back to the Capitol he goes without ac- complishing the object sought. Before he gets into the House he is urged to favor this measure or to oppose that. A friend desires him to press upon the committee on claims some personal bill. Another wants him to see the committee on mili- tary affairs and use his influence toward relieving some man from the charge of desertion. A third tells him a harrowing story of a young lady who has lost her place in one of the departments and ep- peals to his sympathies to do what he can toward reinstating her. A fourth has a claim in the auditor's office and urges the Congressman to revisit the department and use his influence toward securing its pay- ment. A fifth is a Washington correspondent who wants his views on Hawali and the Kanaka queen. Here is a man who has trouble in the patent office, and in defiance of the law wants the Representative to visit the commissioner and expedite the matter if possible. Here is another from away off in California seeking a place as clerk in the Mare Island navy yard, and there a third, who wants a rare book printed by the Agri- cultural Department years ago and entirely out of print. Mere comes a page informing the Representative that Senator So-and-so wants to speak to him a moment in the Senate chambe: The Congressman starts for the other wing of the Capitol and is met by constitu- ‘at the | ents who desire cards of admission to the members’ gallery. This necessitates a visit to his committee room. Before he reaches it he is stopped twice again—once by an employe of the House who wishes his sig- nature to an order for binding, and again by his clerk, who has a telegram of moment, which requires an immediate answer. Im the Senate Chamber. Half an hour is gone before he is again ready to start for the Senate chamber, and fortunate indeed he is if he passes through the hall of statues and the great rdtunda without further importunities. Once in the Senate chamber he is again in trouble. A Senator has a constituent in the employ of the House who is in danger of dismissal and wants him retained. Another Senator has a bill which has passed the Senate and which ne desires the Congressman to look after when it comes to the House. A third has a request for a public document from one of the Representative’s constituents and places the matter in his hands. . A trip back to the House Is attended with more interruptions. The Congressman is urged to offer an amendment to some bill under discussion. To enable him to thor- oughly understand it the gentleman interest- ed pulls him into a window embrasure and talks rapidly and unceasingly for fifteen minutes. Meantime three or four other gen- tlemen interested in various projects learn the whereabouts of the Representative and stand in a circle awaiting his release. Suddenly there comes relief. A page of the House darts through the corridor shout. ing, “Yeas and nays,” and the Congress- man graciously excuses himself. But he has only a hurried idea of what is going on and, if in doubt, listens to the roll call to hear how the Nestors of the House vote, and casts his vote with theirs. The House no sooner adjourns than his troubles begin anew. Half a dozen gentle- men from various parts of the country have been waiting the opportunity to renew their acquaintance with him. Each has an ax tc grind. The Congressman is the grindstone which they propose to use. None has a special claim upon him. Yet fatigued and weary he presumes the semblance of good humor and extricates himself as politely as possible. Finally he makes his escape from the House through the hinged windows of the barber shop, reaching his committee room without further trouble. The House has adjourned. The crowd has disappeared. Once more free, he has full time to collect his thoughts and go to work itematically. He remains in his reom until 8 or 9 o'clock seated before a log fire in a flood of mellow gaslight reading the news- papers, poring over bills and reports, sean- ning the Congressional Record, and attend- ing to his private correspondence. Anon he goes down town, gets his dinner and {ills appointments made during the day. Rarely does he see his bed before midnight. His day’s work done he woos sleep, but fre- quently in vain. A dozen or more matters come up which had demanded his attention during the day and which he had entirely forgotten. After settling in his mind what to do in each case sleep comes at last, some- times weary and troubled,but usually peace- ful and satisfactory. An Amusing Incident. Such is a fair average of a day’s work done by a conscientious Congressman. There are some amusing scenes, however, in congressional life. Mr. Talbott of Mary- land related one not long ago to a group of his fellow members. He says that during the forty-sixth Congress he was called out of the House one day by a beautiful lady who had forwarded a soiled card to him. When he reached the reception room she came rushing toward him, telling her name and exclaiming, “Mr. Talbott, I am from Maryland. I am forty-one years old and my daughter is twenty-one. Neither one of us has ever had a government pdsition.” “Madam,” replied Mr. Falbott, “in what part of Maryland do you reside?” She then gave her address in Baltimore. Talbott brightened up, sayi “You are very fortunate, madam. The Constitu- tion of the United States provides that each Congressman shall give either mother or daughter an office when the mother is forty- one and the daughte> twenty-one years old, and that each district is entitled to such a ; position. All the members of the Maryland delegation have filled the places allotted to them under this provision with the excep- tion of Col. McLane, in whose district you reside. He has not ‘ailed himself of this constitutional privilege. Col. McLane would be delighted to meet you and give you or your daughter a place.” M>. Talbott then returned to the chamber and the same card went to Representative McLane. The old gentleman was absent about ten minutes. When he returned he walked up to Mr. Talbott and said, “Fred Talbott, you sent that woman to me and you know there is no constitutional provi- sion giving places to mother and daughter whose ages aggregate sixty-one. The worst of it is that she insisted that I was deceiv- a ig I avert her that she was mistaken. ¢ replied that Mr. Ta’ inp act =. man to lie.” 7 headiees en Col. McLane sat down and la) heartily. While minister to France, = quently told the stozy with great gusto. AMOS J. CUMMINGS. A CURIOUS EXPERIENCE. A Lady’s Warning in Behalt of An- other, Correspondence of the Portland (fe.) Argus. It has been my good fortune to have had @ number of remarkable psychical experi- ences and in no case could anything which I witnessed be attrittuted to “mind read- ing.” Upon one occasion I was calling upon a friend who claimed to possess psy- chic powers, and as we sat chatting upon divers subjects she suddenly became silent and appeared to be looking intently at something which was invisible to me. At length she spoke to me, saying: “There is a spirit here, who, when in the body, relied greatly upon your judgment. She expresses much fondness for you and she is very anxious about her daughter, who is now contemplating doing something which will cause 7 7. oo She wants you to warn her o' er danger. She ve — Fed Emiline Ms——" apres ithe t the mention of that name I recogni a friend who had always expressed ‘much affection for me, and who, though many years my senior, had frequently asked my opinion in regard to important matters. The last time that I saw her before her death we were discussing the subject of spirit return, and, taking my hand in hers, she said solemnly: “If it is possible to re- turn I shall certainly come to you,” and she had indeed kept her word. The daughter of whom she spoke I had not seen in several months, and, in fact, did not know whether she was in the city, but the following day I felt impelled to call and see if she had returned from the west, where I knew she had been spending some time. She was at home and when I was ushered into her presence she greeted me with these words: “You have been on my mind ali day, and I was about to write to you. I have just finished a long letter to my brother John in regard to a business affair. I am very much perplexed—he offers to invest some money for me in the west, and I do not feel satisfied with the tone of his let- ter, and I am afraid to do anything about it until I receive a clear statement as to what the investment is and what security I shall have.” It struck me that this was the affair that her mother wished me to warn her ubout, as during her life she was a shrewd busi- ness woman and never considered her daughter competent to manage money mat- ters, so I related my experience of the day before. She at first also received it rather Thomas like, but, thinking it over, finally decided that it was very strange and agreed to do nothing until she was thoroughly satisfied that the investment was a safe one. What her investigation revealed 1 never knew, but her money still remains here in the bank at 4 per cent interest, when she might have been receiving 8 for it. ‘Was her mother conscious of the danger which beset her, and did she, by warning, avert thereby a serious loss? ——— + Tough on the Burglar. From Spare Moments. Goodfellow (nearing Jollyfellow’s house very late at night after a “time” at the club)—“Shay, Jollyfellow, look there. There's a burglar getting into your house by zhe window. Jollyfellow—“So he is. Stay—wait—thic)— wait a little. My wife il zhink he’s me and (ic) she'll half kill the chap.” ROBBED OF TERRORS Making Railroad Traveling Safer Through Mechanical Appliances. LAST YEARS TERRIBLE RECORD Late Inventions and Their Uses Interestingly Described. RAILROADING SIMPLIFIED Written for The Evening Star. HEN FATHER Time's train left block No. 1893, and rolled into block No. 1804, the sighs of re- lief that were uttered by the railroad pres- idents and their as- sistants of the entire country must have developed, at their conjunction, into a prayer of thanksgiv- ing. The year 1893 will go into railroad history as the most disastrous on record, when the loss of life and the destruction of rolling stock is taken into consideration. Sheer luck will be blamed by the managers of the eastern roads for the misfortunes they have suffered, while the western roads, through their officials, simply at- tribute their losses to the immense traffic that swept down upon them in the later days of the world’s fair. it is a peculiar coincidence that the month of March, 1893, was the only month of the year that escaped without a black mark in the shape of a fatal accident to its credit. For many decades the month of March has been considered the worst month of the year for fatal railroad accidents and re- Mable records will show that she has well earned this reputation. This state of things was, no doubt, brought about principally through the season of the year and its ef- fect upon newly built roads. Frost would {be leaving the ground about that time of the year and roads completed and oper- ated the fall previously would be called upon by Mother Nature to stand a strain that hastily constructed roadbeds were not equal to. Hence cave-ins and washouts fell to the record of March. The year 1883 had hardly begun opera- tlors before the great wreck on the Big Four, January 21, occurred. In that wreck, it will be remembered, thirty-two were killed and thirty-six injured. With this ap- palling inauguration of accidents the rec- ord of disasters was kept up throughout the entire year with such persistency that the believers in bad luck came to believe the figures 1893 were ill-omened. Last Year's Terrible Record. The record of the year recalls the worst days of Mississippi steambcating, when lives were recklessly sacrificed to speed, and the time when the wrecks of the frail side- Wheel steamers on the Atlantic ocean brcught death to hundreds. Since January 1, 1888, until December 31 of the same year, twenty-eight severe disasters have occurred, on the railroads of the country. This is by no means all the collisions and derailments from which death and injury have resulted, but it includes the principal “ones. Adding up the totals of deaths and injuries we and that 232 people were killed and 647 injured. This is an appalling record, and may well excite a painful interest public's a im the traveling in @ conversation recently with - known railroad official an + ame aes a pcemryn yy Subject of the dis- astrous record of 1893 as regards travel. The official said: _— “The year’s record was undoubtedly the worst in my memory, but I know it will re- sult in great good. Many things were brought out through the misfortunes, und where they can be prevented in the future Preparations looking to that end have al- ready been inaugurated. Many of the Jis- asters occurred to world’s ‘air trains, but the fact that this class of travel was ver- jously affected is no adequate reason why it should be so. On most of the railroads where extra service was necessary by the travel to Chicago trains were not so fre- quent that the doubling or trebling of them need have resulted in crowding. The cause, in my mind, for the great lst of accidents can be traced to the parsimony of a majority ofthe western roads. The overworking cf employes from the lack of train service is one result of economy,but amore weighty result was the incompetence of those em- ployed. The desire to cut down expenses led to the employment of men lacking in the training necessary to rightly under- stand and execute orders, and who were hired simply because they could be hired cheaply. It is an undeniable fact that two of the most prominent roads in the ewst, roads that have always had the least trou- ble with their employes on account of wages, were the least sufferers in the way of wrecks last year. The Battle Creek Horror. “Let me cite the horrible Battle Creek, Mich., accident as the natural result of hiring incompetent employes. The engineer and conductor did not seem to understand the orders given them and were totally un- fit to carry them out. Fancy any of our old engineers pulling away from a station when they didn’t understand an order. They would have stayed there a week under the same circumstances.- The lack of system on many roads is also accountable for some of the year's horrors. Past immunity from cr:minal prosecution has made several com- panies careless. They know they can be mulcted in damages to a certain amount for every person they kill or injure, but beyond that they ere safe from danger. Investiga- tions generally end in nothing, or, if a ver- dict is brought in, a prosecution in the courts of the employes or of the officials of the companies rarely or never takes place. The trust of too great a majority of the railroads is that public indignation will soon blow over, and generally they calcu- late correctly. This is a result brought about by the general belief that accidents will and must happen, but the extreme to which this idea may ®e carried is not taken into consiacration. “You very weli know that the railroad Passenger business of the country is rapid), picking up. The enlargement of a tremen- dous depot, that is, it was so considered five years ago, in a neighboring city substanti- ates this ussertion, and the railroads that have an entrance into the city of New York or reach nearby water fronis are simply swamped by their passenger traffic. The year | 1898 will show that there were 750,000,000 | Passengers transported, and of these one in {each 1,000,000 was killed and one in each ; 100,000 was injured. This is a comparative- ly small number, it is true, but the fact re- mains that it is an increase over 1892 and that it should not have been so large. There are thousands of competent, hard-working men employed by the railroads who are con. a pity that the effort they are making to elevate their calling and win the confidence the lack of system with which many roads are run. To Prevent Disasters. “The recent meeting in New York of the officials connected with the American Raii- way Association to discuss the best method of preventing disasters that result in the loss of life and limb on the rail is proof that the warning given by the great num- ber of casualties occurring in 184 did not pass unheeded, and that the public have at least a small satisfaction in knowing that their interests were discussed joinuy ale ity from danger of the 600,000,000 pas- sengers carried annually by the railroads of this country. block and signal ‘which, when they work correctly, prevent a train from entering @ section of the road until the track for that section is clear, are great advances upon the old method of telegraphic orders between stations, as that was an advance upon the haphazard methods of forty years ago. But the ex- perience has shown that these systems are far from perfect, and as you have ai- ready told in The Star, my road for one 1s trying very hard to better that later sys- tem. The block system upon the giving of correct signals to the engineer and his seeing and obeying these signals. If any part of the a) ing of the signal, disaster is only avoided by lucky chance and the public being startled by a long list of killed and injured. “Automatic devices to supplement human skill and foresight are being the extension of electrical appliances to railroads will, in the near future, make traveling on the rail safer than it is to stay et home. That is an old and broad assertion, but notwithstanding the record of 1893 I think we shall soon see those conditions fulfilled. Some inventions look- ing to this end are being tested now. it arranged a train at points of danger independen’ the engineer, that will warn the of an accident happening to the device itself and its failure to work correctly, and which will enable every moving train, Switch and drawbridge to operate its own signals. Help From Electricity. “But that is what we now propose to Go, and those with me who have witnessed the marvelous things done by electricity will scientiously trying to do their duty. It is| of the public should be defeated by the par- | simony of some of the companies and by | | back up my assertion. These devices wiil warn an engineer in ample time to stop his train when a train is approaching him on the same track, tell him when a draw- bridge is open ahead of him, whether an accident has happened to any wheel on his train of cars and whether a trestle has sagged or fallen These devices will limit, as far as human genius can apparently go, every element of uncertainty and leave nothing to human fallibility or negligence. They will do everything but talk, and for that they will substitute the sharp end continuous ringing of gongs that will speak as plain as words. “Next to the electrical appliances are the mechanical designs, which are almost, i not equally, as effective in preventing ac- cidents. One of these is the derailment st vhich consisis of a lever inside the driving wheels of the locomotive and with- in the trucks of the cars, whose lower end depends within a few inches of the top surface of the rail. It is pivoted so as to permit of a movement longitudinally of the train, and its upper free end, which ex- tends beyond the pivot, is connected to @ link or arm, which in turn is connected with the handle of a cock situated in the main train pipe of the train's airbrake sys- tem. When derailment takes place the lower end is brought in contact with the rearwardly, the upper end moving forward sists of a sliding rod lying at and the land end = bridge ~~ projecting out sufficiently to be engaged a bracket or arm fastened to the bridge moving with it. This sliding rod upon it a spring, so arranged tha! lieved from the pressure of the plate it springs out, and upon the return the bridge it is pushed back and the compressed. Pivoted to the cross bell crank whose ends are engaged ively by the sliding transverse rod line of gas-pipe lever running pareiiel the track. This is carried back a sufficient distance and there connected to a crank arm, which in turn is connected to a rock shaft, lying transversely of the tracks, and to which are connected at suitable places sector-shaped trip pieces, which are raised and lowered by the rotation of the trans- verse rock shaft as the bridge opened and closed through the means of the mechan- ism I have spoken of before. These trips, when in operation or In a raised position, which is the position they occupy when the bridge is opened, engage the levers of the air brake system, and by turning them back apply the brakes and stop the train. Upon the closing of the bridge they are, of course, turned down and out of their work- ing position. “An engineer approaching an open draw- signal warning him to P. his levers are struck and turned back by the stops and he comes to a standstill upop the rails whether he wants to or not. A Protection Fence. “The other device I have hinted at in the first part of our conversation 1s a protec- tion fence to be placed on trestles. It is & marvel of simplicity and ingenuity. a across the trestle is a series of join! levers, whose joints are connected by fusible plugs. Just outside of the structure is @ spring coiled upon a rod, exerting a con- tinual pressure away from the structure, yet coiled so that it can itself be compress ed. A line of gas pipe lever connects with the jointed levers and runs back a proper distance, where it is connected to a crank arm, which is attached to a rock shaft, at right angles, and this rock shaft runs trans- versely of the tracks and terminates in a box having fastered to it a crescent-shaped lifter, upon which rests a trip having its lower surface formed like a cam. ‘With the apparatus in operation, should a bridge burn, one or more of the fusible plugs would be melted, and the gas pipe lever, under the influence of the spring, would move down and back, throwing down the crank arm, rotating the rock shaft and raising the trip up out of the box by the pressure of the crescent-shaped lifter against its under or cam side. “Should the bridge be washed away by @ flood or fall through weakness, the connec- tions would be snapped. and the mye 4 would occur,but if the bridge sinks weakness insufficiently to part any of the couplings, the reverse movement is impart- ed, as the connections, having to cover the form of an inverted arc, would be drawn toward the bridge and move the crank arm down in the reverse or bridge direction and cause the trip to rise by the pressure of the other lifter against its under surface, thus providing for two distinctly diferent move- ments in a way that is at once simple,prac- tical and cheap of construction. “These devices form the principal tm- provements in railroad safetuards contem- plated for the coming year. Like all devices, they have defects, but these defects are re- duced to a very small percentage. In the matter of electrical signals, snow and sleet are the most formidable foes to overcome, while in the case of the two mechanical safeguards villainous tampering, such as likely to come from tramps, is the only drawback. It takes a case-harfened scoun- drel to wreck a train, and while there are many tramps that will commit petty crimes, the class of murderers t= comparatively small. Considering this circumstance, the mechanical appliances will surely prove @ substantial benefit. “To sum up the outlook for 1894, my opin- is that the percent- age of wrecks will show a decided decrease under the record of 188%, and that the trav- eling public's interests are being looked af- ter with greater persistency than ever be- fore.” atiest A Sis i ——+e+ ——_ Explained. From Texas Siftings. Briggs—“I saw a district messenger boy in a horse car get up and give his seat to a lady the other day. Griggs—“What suggested the idea tw him?” Briggs—"He wanted to get out™