Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1894, Page 15

FREDERICKSBURG The Battks Fought About That Historie City. WHITEAELD'S CORSE ON THE TOWN Subsequent Events Seem to Indi- cate Its Fulfillment. THREE GREAT CONTESTS On Saturday, May 2, 1868, about 7 o’clock fm the morning, the confederate batteries opened fire on the Union forces under the command of Gen. Joe Hooker, who lay in the rifle pits around Chancellorsville walt- ing to be attacked, and for three days there Faged one of the most horrible battles of the whole war, which ended im victory for the rebels and a loss in killed, wounded and "aissing on both sides of nearly 30,000 men! In commemoration of that bloody fight the fifth corps of the Army of the Potomac has been invited by the Confederate Asso- elation of Fredericksburg to visit that city snd go over the battle grounds, five in uumber, that lie within a radius of a dozen miles or less around about It, and a large number of the veterans will take advan- tage of the invitation. They will visit the National cemetery on Marye’s Heights, where, surrounded by the graves of 15,000 of their comrades who wore the blue, 12,000 of whom sleep under marble slabs marked “unknown,” they can look out over the little city that lies in the piain below and mark the line of advance on that fatal day, when 13.000 brave men paid the last debt of devotion. The city has changed but little in the thirty years, and they will not have much trouble in locat- ing either rebel or Union lines. They will Fide out to Chancellorsville, where the lines can be accurately traced from Chancellor House to the point where, a few miles be- low, Jackson accomplished his surprise, and where he met his death. They will go over the maneuvering ground of the Mine Run campaign, which will go down in history as a duel of strategy. Scarcely five miles away they will find the “Wilder- ness,” where for twelve dreadful days and nights the Union forces, under Grant, struggled through the tangled forest, fight- ing awful, because unknown evils, left nearly 40.000 brave men and true on the field of battle. Five miles south they will stand again on the “Bloody Angle” of Spottsylvania, where thousands of those who lived through the Wilderness laid down their lives. It will be a sad sort of Pleasure that the survivors of these five fearful battles will experience, but it is T™eet that they should pay the tribute to ‘the dead comrades, “who rest where they ‘wearied and lie where they fell.” A Curse on Fredericksburg. In 1769 George Whitefield, one of the ‘founders of Methodism, and, until they ‘split on doctrinal rocks, the fast friend of John Wesley, pronounced a curse on Fred- @ricksburg, which. in the light of today, seems almost prophetic. The reformer was an eccentric man, as full of whims as a ‘watch is of wheels, and he was, hence, the legitimate prey of the small boy, who was as ubiquitous then as now. While preach- ime im the open air, over against the Heights of Fredericksbu-g in 1769, the young hoodlums of the town set upon him nd drove him to a frenzy. Turning upon this tormentors, like an avenging demon, he ‘cursed the town and all that it held, in the Burid language of the day, in which he con- ed all to hades, and ordered red hot immings for the reception decorations. He predicted that for the ungodliness of fhe town and {ts inhospitable treatment ef himself misfortune should overtake its dmhabitants. and before the curse should fee fully worked out the streets should run red with blood! He concluded by saying @hat for one hundred years it should stand still, and not a soul should it grow till the century was gone! When the census of 4870 was taken the population numbered Sust four more souls than it did when the oid man turned his invective loose upon it. iow the soul of the old Calvinist must ve gloated over the fulfilling of his phecy, the climax to his curse, if it was jovering over the pretty little town on that foggy morning thirty-two years ago, when ithe plain ove- which he stretched his bony @ands was turned into a veritable Gol- “town and the Rappehannock ran red with A Biblical Parallel. Over in the land of Palestine there is a ‘Nittle valley that was called Esdraejon, ‘when the feet of the Savior pressed its soil jwenturies ago. It is eighteen miles long by Mfteen wide, and is washed on one side by the blue Mediter-anean, and slopes to the Jordan on the east. Forty centuries ago it was the center of fertile flelds and fruit ‘trees, of rarest flowers and quaint habita- @ions. Today it is given over to the abomi- mation of desolation. Gibbon said of this plain that when the last trump sounds more bodies will answer its summons from Esdracion than from any other spot the game size on the inhabited globe. Robin- Son. the traveler. says of his visit there in 1840: “We took leave of it from the summit ef Mount Tabo>, as it lay extended before @s. quiet. peaceful an serene, in the Srilliant light of an oriental morning, so tranquil, indeed. that it was difficult to et it with the idea of battles and hed, of which for a long succession of @ses it has been the chosen scene. Here Peborah and Barak, descending with their forces from Mount Tabor, attacked and Giscomfited the host of Sisera, ‘with his Bine hundred chariots of iron.’ trom Endor %o Taanich and Migiddo, where the Kishon @wept them awa: In and adjacent to the — Gideon achieved his triumph over the idianites, and here. too. the glory of Gsrael was darkened for a time, by the fall of Saul and Jonathan upon Gilboa. It was giso adjacent to Aphek, in the plain, that Ahab and the Israelites obtained a mirac- ctory over the Syrians, under Ben- - while at Megiddo the pious Josiah aw in battle against the Egyptian monarch. hen came the time of the Romans, with atties unde> Gambinius and Vespasian. he period of the crusades furnishes like. rise its account of contest in and around the plain, and almost in our day the battle ©f Mount Tabor was one of the triumphs ©f Napoleon. From Mount Tabor the view fook in also, on the one side. the region of Battin, where the renown of the Crusaders gank before the star of Saladin, while not far distant on the other side, the name of Akka or Ptolemais end dreadful Napoleon was baffi i @riven back from Syria, and in pon os @ay torrents of blood have flowed within and around its walls during the long siege subsequent capture of the city by Meretin cmp in 1882." thts es it was here, too, that six or seven cen- Guries before ‘the Christian era the ‘ia Fian king, Sennachertb, and his hosts de- Scended on Jerusalem and was slaughtered by the angels of the Lord. For the crimes end bloody battles fought there and for ig David wept and mourned ¢ », Beauty of Israel ie slain.” And than jn? transport of sorrow he pronounced anathe. ma upon it. “Ye mountains of Gilboa, jet there be no dew. neither let there be rain Upon you, nor fields of offerings.” And to Qhe present day the curse is in effece though rich and fertile soll, no hands eux. tivate It, and only the rank thistle nods in the wind, while the wild fox digs its bole bnscared. The Curse Fulfilled. The geographical and battle-scarred paral- fel between the plain of Esdraeion and that of Fredericksburg is as striking as the anathema that each had pronounc; It. This is the w: that the viata tee looked to a war correspondent on that ay fm May when the curse was at last aceom- pitshed and her streets ran red with bleed: “The observer who ascends on the heigtts that rise abruptly from the suburbs 9: Western side of Fredericksburg and pom his eye to the southwest sees stretching before him a level plain to where the Rep- pahaRnock, making a broad curve with me Fising hills on the north bank, forms the The plain is horizon, about six miles long, of two and e hilf © plain is scolloged tually dicptes down ‘tom land, at intervals of abut Pine and leafiges the Rappahamage iothed with dark the left where and} War, on June 28, 1862, and it cost him his head as commander of the Army of the to the policy Of the then War Department, took that method of saying that but hindrance in Washington he would successful in his cam- President Lincoln had urged Mc- to give battle to the enemy or drive gee A him further south, and make some effort to take the rebel capital. McClellan either couldn’t or Wouldn't and Burnside move, was placed at the head of the Army of the Potomac. That general put into execution the President's orders, and the closing in on Richmond 4 ‘keburg was the point where t preg eae bore paign was @ campaign so with bloody Rorrors thst it has never had a parallel SDiistery. As on the plain of Esdreelon, warring factions back and forth like the ebb and flow of the tide, leaving Wreckage, until nearl; one huni thousand men had redden: its soll with their blood. Five awful con- tests from December, 1862, to May, 1864, in which from first to last 100,000 men were pum! among the killed, wounded and ‘The story carnage began on the morn- of ©: ber 1. Decem! 1, 1862, when the Union icksburg side. Hundreds fell under thi deadly rain of shot and shell, but, with the determination that comes of desperation, the Union forces fought their way across the river on the four pontoon and at last 100,000 boys in blue were it face to face with $0,000 of the gray-clad confederates, who, under Lee and Jackson and Longstreet, were massed on Heights, a position of their own c! and of their own fortifying. Gen. E, P. Fone naar et rete ag hom, superintendent artillery, said to Long- street of these fortifications: _ we cover that ground now—mesning the town of bUTS, oceupied by the federal troops—so well that we will comb it as with a fine-tooth comb. A chicken could not live om that fleld when we open fire on it.” And so it proved. Burnside had taken his de- voted men into the trap laid for them, and though the heroes strove bravely to support the 147 guns that they trained on the en- emy, they went before the rebel bat- teries like the “innumerable caravan that moves forever through the gate of death.” A Terrifie and Sublime Scene. An English correspondent who was on the ground wrote to the London Times: “Such @ scene, at once terrific and sublime, mor- tal eye never rested on before, unless the bombardment of Sebastopol by the com- bined batteries of France and England re- vealed a more fearful manifestation of the bellowing roar of hundreds of pieces of a! tillery, the bright Jets of issuing flame, the screaming, hissirg, whistling, shrieking pro- jectiles, the wreaths of smoke as shell after shell burst in the still air, the savage crash of round shot among the trees of the shattered forest, formed a scene likely to sink forever into the memory of all who witnessed it, but utterly defying verbal de- lineation. A direct and enfilading fire swept each battery upon either side as it un- masked. Volley replied to volley, crash succeeded crash, until the eye Jost all power of distinguishing the lines of combatants, and the plain seemed like a lake of fire, a seething, molten lake of lava, coursed over by incarnate fiends, drunk with fury and revenge.” The Richmond Enquirer said on the day after the battle: “The Yankees commenced storming the hill at half-past 11, and were repulsed four times, with im- mense slaughter. They were mowed down by hundreds. Two hundred and fifty bodies were counted on a space occupied by only one regiment.” It was here that the sixty- pinth, the famous Irish brigade, with their green and gold flag, and each man wearing in his hat a sprig of shamrock, rolled itself against the rifle pits, the breastworks and batteries of the enemy. Of the 1,200 that Gen. Meagher led into the charge on that bloody 13th only 260 reported for duty on the morning of the 14th! Battered and be- grimed, sorrowing for their dead comrades, but strong for renewed endeavor, they met, still wearing the s| k in their hats, and ready to precipitate the feeble remnant upon the enemy’s guns. An Enemy's Tribute to Union Bravery. Longstreet said of the heroic courage of the federals: “Five times the Union troops formed and charged and were repulsed; a sixth time they charged and were driven back, and then night came to end the dread- ful carnage, and the federals withdrew, leaving the battlefield literally heaped with the bodies of their dead. Before the well- directed fire of Cobb's brigade the federals had fallen like the steady dripping of rain from the eaves of the house. Our musketry alone killed and wounded at least 5,000, and these, with the slaughter by the artillery, left over 7,000 killed and before the foot of Marye’s Heights. The dead were piled sometimes three deep, and when the morning broke the spectacle that we saw upon the battlefield was one of the most distressing that I ever witnessed. The charges had been desperate and bloody, but utterly hopeless. I thought, as I saw the federals come again and again to their death, that they deserved success, if courage and daring could entitle soldiers to victory. The killed, wounded and missing on the Union side was 12,973, on the confederate side, 4,576." The London Times said of the defeat of the Union troops: “It was a memorable day to the historian of the decline and fall of the American republic.” And then went on to say that the confederates were supersti- tiously sure of winning the battle, for, on the evening previous, the aurora borealis which spread over the heavens darted blood- red tongues of flame swi from the meridian down to the horizon; this was ac- cepted as an omen that the battle would be theirs, just as the cross outlined on the sky was accepted by Constantine as an earnest of victory. Thus, the year that had opened so auspi- ciously for the Union cause closed in dis- aster and despair. Not one ray of light {l- lumined the gloom from the Rappahannock to the Mississippi, for, in addition to the 13.000 who lay dead and wounded on the bloody slopes of Marye's Heights, 10,000 more had fallen among the cedars at Stone River, with only a nominal victory, and Sherman had marked his recoil from before Nicksburg with 2.500 brave men sacrificed. The blow was stunning! ‘The Battle of Chancellorsvilic. Demoralized, but defiant, the Army of the Potomac recrossed the Rappahannock and went into winter quarters, under the nose of the enemy, still squgty intrenched in and about Fredericksburg. On May 1, 1863, re- vised, <a ee: = time one of the “fighting Hookers,” Army of the Potomac, increased to 125,000 men, with a commaader who had the repu- tation of being a dashing fighter, got out on Lee’s flank and rear, and by a sort of feint got him over to Chancellorsville. When the condition, instead ie theory, con- fronted “fighting Joe,” him, and instead of the glorious victory that should have been ours, 16,080 in killed, wounded and missing marked the failure of another commander of the Army of the Potomac to come up to the expectations of those who had trusted him. The battle waged from the Ist to the 4th, and the fight- ing was something sublimely awful tn war- fare. It was here, on Saturday, the 2d of May, 1863, in the gloom of the coming night, when the tide of battle was sweeping like a stmoon across the plain, that Jackson was mortally wounded afd died a few days later. Whether the shot came from friend or foe will never be . While making @ reconnolssance his own lines, he, Bets tee cha oom Si Poisoning ensued, and, . May Tone sted at conor station; he lies buried at ingt The pattie field of Chancellorsville ts described as “a tangled wilderness,” and in this section of land densely wooded, and covered with the closest underbrush ever seen, a battle was waged — literally Swept clean the whole area. le grape, canister, shrapnel and solid shot, which for four days rained through it, left nothing standing. And the sacrifice of 30,000 men, counting the losses on both sides, went for naught. except to deepe® the despair of the northern hearts, and put off for another two years the end that 23 in sight from the beginning. In the gloom of 4 night that was only less deep than that which filled the hearts of the sulien and discomfited Union forces, “Fighting Joe Hooker” ordered the retreat back across the Rappahannock, leaving behind on the desolate fleld the kill- ed and wounded, fourteen p' of artil- lery and 20,000 stand of arms! It has been said that so deeply ws% President Lincoln moved by the awful and Continued disasters of the armies that whe the result of Chan- celiorsville was bro to him he became absolutely desperate, and for a time it was feared that he was in danger of suicide. Meade at Mine Run. In June 1863 Hooker asked to be relieved, THE EVENING STAR, MONDAY, APRIL 30 1894—SIXTEEN PAGES. and he didn’t have to the second time. Indeed, it is asserted that pressure was brought to bear to make him ask for it. Gen, George Meade succeeded him. Then the Gettysburg campaign opened, and the operations about Fredericksburg were sus- pended for a few months. After Gettys- burg, there ensued a campaign of maneuv- ers between Meade and Lee, which brought both those generals back to practically the same ground ocupied by them before the flight north, and, though both would have liked to go into winter quarters, the state of mind in the north was such that Meade felt that he must make some aggressive movements before he settled down in a state of masterly inactivity. He therefore plan- ned the movement of Mine Run, only about six or seven miles west of the battle field of Chanceliorsville, engagement took Place on the 27th of November, 1863, and was in the nature of a skirmish, in which the loss was about 500 a side. Meade was too slow, and when he came to round thin; up for action he, or rather some of his corp: commanders, decided to face criticism in preference to 1s more precious lives, and refused to take their troops into ac- tion. So sure was the rank and file of the Army of the Potomac, brave men that they Were, that certain annihilation awaited them if they went into action at Mine Run, that ving been disposed on the evening re, 80 as to be ready for attack on the early morning, they spent the long night hours writing messages to their homes «und ber ae oe oe s on oe WI ey pinned on the! blouses. Not one of them ever expected to pean t out alive, and they were prepared for Grant and the Wilderness. ‘The operations in Virginia ceased, after the failure at Mine Run, until spring came, and kindly nature covered with her long grass and flowers the graves of those who had paid their debt of devotion. Then e | Grant started on his Richmond campaign, and on the banks of the Mine Run, where & year before the bloody battle of Chancel- lorsville had crimsoned its gloomy waters, and less than six months before the Army of the Potomac had stared certain death he met Lee in the battle of the years extensive mining has been car- ried on. To feed the mines the timber of the country for many miles had been cut down, and in its plaze there had arisen a dense undergrowth of low-limbed and scraggy pines, stiff and bristling chinka- pins, scrub oaks and hazel. It is a region of gloom and the shadow of death. Ma- neuvering here was necessarily out of the question, and only Indian tactics told. The troops could only receive direction by a point of the compass; for not only were the lines of battle entirely hidden from sight of the commander, but no officer could see ten files on each side of him. Ar- tillery was wholly ruled out of use; the massive concentration of 800 guns stood silent, and only an occasional piece or sec- tion could be brought into play in the road- sides. Cavalry was still more useless. But in that horrid thicket there lurked 200,000 men, and through it lurid fires played; and though no array of battle could be seen, there came out of its depths the crackle and roar and roll of musketry like the noisy boiling of some hell cauldron that told the dread story of death. Such was the battle- field of the Wilderness. Combinations or grand tactics there were none; the order of battle was simple, ani was to all the corps attack along the whole lire. ** tae battle of the Wilderness was a mortal com- bat. * * * There ts something horrible yet fascinating tn the mystery surround- ing this strangest of all battles ever fought —a battle which no man could see, and whose progress could only be followed by the ear, as the sharp and crackling volleys of musketry and the alternating Union cheer and rebel yell told how the fight surged and swelled.” Spottsylvania’s Carnage. Horrible tn its intensity and sacrifice of life, it was in every respect a drawn bat- tle, and after a Union loss of over 18,000 and 12,000 to the rebels Grant moved south- ward to Spottsylvania, fighting every foot of the way. For twelve long days and nights they kept up the mortal struggle, which culminated finally in the slaughter at Spottsylvania, in what is now called the fiercest and deadliest combat of the war of the rebellion. More than 40,000 men had fallen between the Wilderness and that point in the twelve days of fighting, yet, with a courage that stands almost unex- ampled, the broken and wearied men met the enemy in a hand-to-hand encounter in the “Bloody Angie’ at Spottsylvania and fought with sabers and clubbed muskets over ground where their comrades already lay three and four deep, planted their col- ors inside the enemy's breastworks and maintained the position they had seized despite the desperate efforts of Lee to re- cover it. Nearly 13,000 men were numbered among the killed, wounded and missing, and brave Sedgewick and Wadsworth were killed. The rebel loss was 9,000 and a se- vere blow to them. Finding the position absolutely impregnable, despite his ham- mering, Grant went south on the 20th of May and, for the first time in two years, the peopie. of Fredericksburg could sleep without the roll of cannon in their ears. ‘The curse had been fulfilled. On fair Marye’s Heights, once drenched in the blood of contending armies, sleep side by side in two cemeteries those who here paid the price of desperate devotion to apo and principle. Dead on the field of honor, they lie couched on the bosom of mother earth and canopied by the blue May skies. Over their graves the grasses creep and over their hearts the flowers bloom. History has built them a monument of fame and love has laid upon the inmost shrine its unfaltering devotion. wi those heroes are now housed the color of the uniform they wore is not questioned. ISABEL WORRELL BALL. ee AROUSED HIS SUSPICIONS. Why a Germ: Barkeeper and His Irish Customer Are Strangers Now. From the New York World. There is a certain German barkeeper up town who is nursing a vigorous wrath and @ particularly knotty blackthorn, because of an unknown person with an Irish accent and an engaging address. One night the stranger stepped up to the bar and asked for a quart of gin in a black bottle which he placed on the bar. The barkeeper filled the bottle, and the man walked toward the door. “Here!” yelled the barkeeper. me no moneys for dot chin!” “Ah, mark it down on the slate, will yer?” “We heff no slet; you give me back dot chin or give me my money. “Not a cent, not a cent; take back your weuft if you won't hang it up.” So the man handed back the bottle to the barkeeper, who poured the contents of the bottle into the cask. A week later, almost at the same hour, the door blew in again: “Hey, Dutch, give pod aah gin, Bol le unsus- eeper pot the juor into the bottle, handed it over the bar, and, as — the man took the bottle and started “He “You give you, give me my moneys or my chin. t you do, hey? Flim flem me? Giye me dot chin!” = eras Se mark it down on the ps possi kip no slet—give lot chin!” * it. Take your dommed old and be cussed wid yer!" rs The bottle was handed back across the bar, and the man again disappeared into the night. Again the liquor trickled down into the cask. Four more times, on as many nights, the game incident was enacted. Then the bar- became suspicious. “Dot man buys him no chin,” he solilo- quized, “but alretty he comes him beck six time. I find out dings.” A week later the man appeared again, with: “Hey, Dutehy, fill this in a hurry, will ‘Haf you got any moneys dis time, hey? Let us look at some of dot money, hein?’ The man showed a neat roll of bills, and the barkeeper filled the bottle and handed it across the bar. “Say, Dutchy, just mark that on the slate, will yer?” “Here, you, yust give me beck der chin! Vat you vant, hey?” Once again the bo: passed back into the barkeeper’s posgession, and again the man went away. But this — the bottle was not emptied into the cas) Raising the bottle to his lips, the bar- keeper tasted its contents. Then he smash- ed the bottle on the floor, and the air was thick with his invectives. A policeman, hearing the noise, poked his head inside the door and saw a raving barkeeper, who was — swindler. I brek his fess! Where he is?” And then it was all explained. The man with the Irish accent and the engaging per- sonality had come each time with two bot- thes. One was empty, the other full of water. When he turned to the side door, he dexterously changed the bottle of gin for the bottle of water and gave the latter to the barkeeper instead. Six times he practiced the deception successfully, but if he ever returns there may be a case fo= the dis- court to pass on. NEWS OF THE CYCLISTS. General Interest in the New District Track. The question of a cycle racing track has by no means been settled, although several overtures have been made by the Associated Cycling Clubs, this organization having charge of the affair. In another column of today’s Star appears an advertisement Inviting parties having suitable sites for a track to communicate with the secretary, Mr. W.C. Cook, 3205 M street northwest, and give particulars concerning their prop- erty. A meeting of the Associated Cycling Clubs was held on Thursday evening at the Gormully & Jeffery Company’s store on 14th street, nearly a full representation being present. The meeting of one week ago Thursday had adjourned to this date, to enable Mr. W. H. Stearns, who represents the syndicate which proposes building a cycle track at Brightwood, to give the asso- ciation more minute particulars regarding their intentions, but not having received the reply to his New York correspondence, he was unable to give the particulars neces- sary, and the meeting resulted in a desul- tory conversation as to the best thing to do. The syndicate proposes issuing $10,000 worth of stock, in shares of $10 each. As the associated clubs, from their present outlook, would only have about $2,000 in hand, the majority of stock would remain in the hands of the syndicate, and the cyclers would have to depend upon the large stockholders, and it may be difficult to make these gentlemen understand just what is best for the class they are catering to. The street car company is naturally the most interested party, as a majority of the spectators would be carried to the track, and it is on their account that the meeting was unable to do anything. The track, as proposed at present, 1s to be of paving brick, but this in all probability will be altered, the association considering it impossible to get a perfectly good sur- face with them. The Washington Road Club will hold their usual monthly meeting at the military cy- clists’ rooms, 17th street and Pennsylvania avenue, on Wednesday evening next at 7:30 o'clock, and several members are to be pro- posed. The club has now nearly sixty members on the rolls, but the continuing recruits bid fair to bring the total back to its old stand- point—seventy-five members. Nine mem- bers were expelled at the last meeting and their names posted in the associated clubs’ black book, and a copy sent to every club secretary in the association. The track movement is watched closely, but most members doubt the advisability of allowing the funds to be put in the hands of men to- tally unacquainted with the necessities of racing men, and the associated clubs will probably take steps to get and manage a track of their own, and Kept exclusively for cycling. All propositions under considera- tion at present have the horse-track night- mare on the outside, and it is an open ques- tion how it will work. There is one club in this city, and only d that is one that takes no Sunday runs the newly organized Y. M. C. cently organized, as pub! a few days ago, and persons desiring to join should send their applications to the association rooms, on New York avenue, The initial run was made up the Conduit road, as far as Cabin John bridge, with about a dozen members, under the leader- ship of Capt. McArthur. The last meeting of the Potomac Wheel- men was an interesting one, and there was a large attendance. The club will hold a@ one-mile club championship race on the 15th of May, and the entries must be in not later than two days before the time fixed for the event. Capt. Grace and C. J. Mont- gomery and A. C. Tindall are members of the committee to make arrangements for the race. Harry Higham, jr., arranged a Baltimore trip for yesterday, and expected to have about twenty-five wheelmen in the party. It was not the intention of Mr. Higham to have his party ride against time, but merely to go out for a day’s enjoyment in the country. Among those who participated in the run of unattached wheeimen were George Suppes, Arthur Ball, George Lewis, Robert Slagle, George F. Suppes, Thomas Singleton, Stanley H. Smith, George Thompson, John Craft, P. Slater, O. Lewis, C. L. Shattuck, James M. Wade, George C. Sutton, J. C. McDearman, Charles F. Osterman, George Vogt, F. L. Osterman, J. H. Thomas, Otto Kleinhenn and others. A meeting of the cycle club captains was held at the residence of Chief Consul French last week to discuss the proposed Washing- ton-Denver relay ride. Chief Consul French went to Baltimore two days ago and con- sulted with Chief Consul Mott of Maryland about the arrangements being made in his division, as it is proposed that Washington riders participate in the Maryland territory. anole acli TROLLEY’S BLOODY ROLL. Records of the Coroner’s Office in Philadel; From the Philadelphia Inquirer. Although the troliey’s bloody roll of dead and injured is growing to frightful propor- tions, and although three coroner’s juries have recommended, three separate times during as many years past, that rigid legis- lation be enacted to provide proper safe- guards, the trolley cars are still untram- meled, save by the antiquated ordinance of 1857, which provides that street cars shall not be run at a greater speed than six miles per hour—a law, by the way, which is dead and almost forgotten. The records of the coroner's office tell the tale of wanton neglect of citizens’ rights more forcibly than caf the most graphic writer. Here is that record: Patrick Shannahan, seventy-five years old, of 1328 Catharine street, died on March 20, 1893, after being struck by trolley car No. 862 on Catharine street. below Broad. May Kingston, three years old, of the rear of 1424 Bainbridge street, died on April 11, 1893, after being run over by trolley car No. 857. Louis Pangborn, nine years old, of 760 South Fifth street, died on April 15, 1893, after being struck by trolley car No. 853, Anna R. Campbell, ten years old, of 864 Bainbridge street, died on April 19, 1893, after being struck by trolley car No. 853. Michael Evans, jr., four years old, of 754 Swanson street, died on September 17, 1893, after being run over by trolley car No. 865 at Front and Mead streets, Powell Caviezel, six years old, of 3207 Latona street, died on October 11, 1893, after being run over by trolley car No. 862, at Thirtieth and Gray's Ferry road. Albert H. Hartman, thirty-eight years old, of 611 South Twenty-seventh street, died on December 31, 1893, after being —— by a trolley car on the Gray's Ferry Ine. James Thompson, eight years old, of 761 South Sixteenth street, died on February 9, 1894, after being run over by trolley car No. 1148 of the Twelfth and Sixteenth streets line. Joseph Hetzell, motorman, of 1920 Uber street, died on March 9, after being run over by a trolley car on the Twelfth and Sixteenth streets line. Daniel Kelly, ninety-five years old, of 2000 Malcolm street, died on March 26, after belng run over by a trolley car at Thirteenth and Tasker streets. An unknown man, about forty-five years old, instantly killed by being run over by trolley car No. 1149, at Sixteenth and Carlton streets, on March 26, Joseph M. Kirschneck, twenty-seven years old, of 483 Fernberger street, died on March 28, after being run over by a trolley car on Thirteenth street near Spring Garden. Thomas E. Morris, thirty years old, of 913 Sargeant street, died on April 8, after being run over by trolley car No. 1071, at Thirteenth and Bainbridge streets. Annie Schametz, six years old, of 831 South Third street, died on April 23, after being run over by trolley car No. 860, on Catherines treet above Third. In addition to these killed there is a long list of maimed and wounded, the increase of which has become an incident of almost daily occurrence. ‘The Coroner's Views. Coroner Ashbridge, in the routine of his office, has watched with feelings of dismay the death list steadily increasing. Yester- day he spoke forcibly of the need of prompt action to check the recklessness that seems to pervade the corporations, leading them to operate trolley cars under conditions that render the sacifice of more lives a matter of absolute certainty. “While it is plainly the duty of every corporation and of every individual,” said Mr. Ashbridge, “to take proper precau- tions against accidents, yet it does not come within the province of the coroner or his jury to censure a corporation for even gross negligence, unless such negligence is a violation of law. It has even been hinted that the ccroner’s jury has gone outside the strict line of duty in recommending to councils the passage of an ordinance mak- ing fenders compulsory. “In spite of this discouragement three separate recommendations to that effect have been made thus far without doing any apparent good. What is required, in my judgment, is a rigid law, not alone com- pelling the use of fenders, but controlling the rate of speed at which cars shall be run in the crowded portions of the city.” SWHOLESALE PRICES 8 3 6 For Freezers. tee everything we 25-ft. Garden Hose, nly $1.65. —combination nozsle. BETTER HOSE-25 FT., FOR $2.60, $3, $3.25, $3.00, $4.25, $4.50, $4.75 and $6.25. Hose Reels, 75¢. G7 Your old hose sent for, repaired and delivered for 2B. oe for fixing your old hose— called for and delivered. Fully Guaranteed Lawn Mowers, $3. —10 inches wide. $6 to $i8. “The Favorite” Lawn [lower. Were. Now. 212-in.—$5.50 $4.75. 14-in.—$6.00 $5.00. 15-in.—$6.50 $5.50. Poultry Netting S100 ~ ft—soc. by the Wty sq. ft.—7oc.—cut. Sra e ® ® Cor. 11th and G Sts. Barber & Ross, eeeee oe Lawn & Garden Tools, Poultry Netiing, Gas Ranges, Oil & Gas Stoves, HESE prices below ‘‘knock’”’ the Dry Goods and “Notion Store” prices ‘sky high’’—yet we guaran- sell. Spades, 50c. Hoes, 20c. to 4oc. 3 | & e@ S& e Rakes, 20c. to 50c. | The ‘Scarifying’ Rake, a, See Gas Rang f 2 of the comfort of a Gas because we know they're “3rlight, $16. 4-light, $18. 2-burner Oil Stoves, $1. 2-burner Gas Stoves, $1.35. Freezers. own Ice Owning your ~ —— movey—and hav- ani “when yous want "It. “The wi “Blizzard” and “Gem™ have “ Freezer == polnts, eo Wwe sell “Blizzard’’=3 qt.,$1.35 “Blizzard’’-4 qt.,$1.70 =3 qt., $1.60. =4 qt., $1.95. “Gem’ ®‘BARBER & ith and G mee n ROSS, Hardware and Building Materials, Sts. N.W. AMERICANS ABROAD A Oomparison of the Oost of Living in This Country and Europa Mistaken Notions About Expenses in a Land Where Economy fs Respected. Francis B. Loomis in Lippincott’s for May. The belief, so widely disseminated in the United States, that the cost of living is much cheaper in Europe !s no longer war- ranted by facts nor borne out by experi- ence. I am speaking of the cost of food, Tent, clothing, amusements for people who have small incomes; and I take for a basis a family of four with an income of $5,000. To a trained observer of great intelli- gence, who has resided with his family in Europe for a period of twelve years, I put the question, Do you find the cost of living well cheaper in Europe than in America? “I have lived,” said he, “in five European countries, and may say, in the first place, that, as a rule, the days of cheap living, except in remote localities far from the lines of travel, are long since past. The cost of living, I find, varies very much in different European countries and among different cities of the same country. Mar- seilles is more expensive than Paris, Frark- fort-on-the-Main is more expensive than Munich or Lelpsic, Amsterdam is more costly than Brussels, while Aix-la-Chapelle is dearer than either Paris or Berlina. “There are small, dull and unattractive places in France, Germany and Italy where one may live cheaply if one be content to live, like the natives, in bare, ill-furnish- ed rooms, eat black bread and have meat on the table but once a day. Few persons would care to live thus, however, Family Expenses. “Respectable living for a family, as Americans understand that term, is a little more expensive in Europe than in Amer- ica. In other words, if you want to live quite as well abroad as you do at home, it will cost you more. Service, cabs ard some articles of clothing ure cheaper. Rents are about the same in corresponding localities, but abroad the houses are less convenient. Cotton goods are cheaper in America than abroad, shoes and clothing are cheaper in Europe, but, as a rule, the shoes are much inferior in quality. A family living on $5,000 a year can have @ better return for its money in Paris than in any other large city in Europe, provided always that some of its members speak the language well and can make bargains and practice economy, like French peop! of the middie class. If one wishes to liv: in a fashionable quarter in Paris lHfe will be found 33 1-2 per cent dearer than tn any American city except New York.” Railway fares, unless one travels in slow trains and miserably in_third-class cars, are more expensive in Europe than in the United States and the ac~>»mmoda- tion is inferior. For a sleeping-var berth from Paris to Nice one pays $18; in Amer- ica one may travel from New York to Chi- cago, a greater distance, in a sleeping car trite in good European hotels costs as much as it does in good hotels in America, but travelers may be independent and get cheap accommodation in third-class hotels if they like; they will be badly lodged and fed. Open-air music, beer, wines and com- mon cigars cost less in Europe than in America, but good theaters, a first-class opera and excellent cigars are quite as expensive abroad as at home. Servants’ wages are lower here, but ex- perience proves that one good American servant does the work of two Europeans, and does it more simply and neatly. Street, fares are about the same in Europe in America. Many medicines, such as quinine, for instance, are very much dearer. Where Economy is Respected. The real difference in favor of Europe is that one may, if one chooses, adjust the standard of living to one’s income. Econ- omy is respected in Europe and is con- sidered respectable, whereas in America this is not always the case. In Europe Instruction in languages, music, art and tuition at schools is quite as expensive everywhere in Europe as in whe United States, except, perhaps, in two or three of the larger cities. The days of cheap and good instruction are past in Europe. Prices are finding a level throughout the civilized world, and this equalizing process will continue as long as the ways of ccm- munication are so easy and inexpensive. In Dresden the cost of living for Ameri- can families ts about the same as it is in the United States. Some luxuries are cheaper, but the necessaries of life average about the same in cost. Rents are about the same as in cities of corresponding size in America; meat, tea and coffee are considerably dearer in Dresden, says my informant, who has kept house there for several years; poultry and bread cost about the same, while clothing ts about 25 per cent cheaper. Many Americans who come to Dresden are content to live in a much more simple nd economical way than they do at home. A student who does not waste money can live comfortably on $500 a year. It is esti- mated that $3,000,000 is spent yearly in Dresden by Americans. In Munich the cost of living is somewhat less than in Dresden. A good apartment can be enone 2,200 marks a year, and an income of $5,000 has more power than in America. Esmee In Geneva, From experienced and reliable sources I learn that the cost of living in Geneva is, on the whole, less than in any of the large cities of America, if one lives as the Swiss @o and practices the same little economies. “I am sure,” said my informant, “thet it is an excellent thing for Americans to keep house here for a time, in order to Jearn these sensible household economies, which are very numerous here, narticular- ly in regard to the treatment of servants.” Rents are about the same in Geneva as they are in cities of one or two hundred thousand inhabitants in America. A good apartment can be had for 1,3u0 or 1,500 frances; food costs about the same in Ge- neva as in the United States, with the ex- ception of meat, which is much dearer and inferior in quality. Education is a little cheaper her than at home, and a student who is economical can live comfortabiy on $500 a year. In Rome the necessaries of life are much Gearer than in America, while the hixuries are less expensive. This makes it a de- sirable residence for those who say, “Give us the luxuries of life and we will dispense with the necessities.” Rents in Rome are about the same as in cities of 200,000 inhabitants in A good apartment of eight rooms costs from $50 to $80 a month, to the elegance of the house. Food and fuel cost, I am informed, 30 per cent more than in the United States. A student cannot live @s well on $500 a year in Rome as he could in_ America. Perhaps the cheapest capital of Europe to live in is Athens. It Is a city of 125,000 inhabitants, and the temptations to ex- travagance are not great. Rents are lower than in most American cities of the same size, and so are food, clothing and local transportation. Fuel, owing to the ab- sence of coal in Greece and the paucity of wood, is dearer. A friend of mine rented in 1892 a handsomely furnished house, a minute's walk from the palace and in the same block with the French and Russian legations for $600. The house contained ten rooms above the basement. But burgains of this sort cannot be had every day. Lotel life in Athens is reasonable as to price and the accommodation is excellent. The hotels of Athens are the best in the east. “I can live as well for $3 a day in one of the first-class hotels here,” says Prof. Man- natt, the consul at Athens, “as 1 can in London or New York for $5 a day;” but he adds, “you can also any price which the manager, on looking you over, thinks you can bear.” People are some- times taken at these first-class hotels for as little as 10 francs a day, fire, service and méals included. The smaller hotels frequented by the Greeks are very inex- pensive. An American and his wife live in great comfort at one of these notels at $50 @ month for the two. The sum of this inquiry ts that for per- sons with a turn for economy life may be found less expensive in Europe than in America, but for those who wish to enjoy “all the comforts of home” it will generally be found somewhat 5 the bd at Manasss for Steasbarg, daily, aig i1:01 2. SOUTITERN FAST New York the NEW saue? LINE via and oo Sie Se York to A! connection ee, and New “orlesae Mediate stations, ‘at ‘tor Freak of i Sa and ing ear, vharlotte * Eis "cpus mae Sl ew Orleans vis Atlanta and ‘ork to via Salisbury, to tre ‘Dining car Greensboro’ INS ON WASHINGTON AND SION leuve Washi at 9:20 a.m. i, and 6:25 p.m., turning, ont Wenhingtes 5:30, a 2:48 . arrive ou §:80 a. F vqifom Hound Hilly and 6:88 "acm, BALTINORD ax OWTO RAL’ SCHEDULE IN EFFRCT FER if. Leave ame from sta Vestibuled Limited, SELES isburg and Cleveland, express datly 1120 a.m. and 8:40 p.m. Fo Lexington apf Staunton, 11.30 as. For Winchester and Way fons, 5:30 p.m. For Loray, a > 1... 5 me stations OYAL BLUE For Philadelphia, New York, Boston amd the Bere Gsbe Dis et ed Dining » azs a : a 8:00" (11:30 Dim Sleeping “Car. ‘open at 30:00 oe Ky. Bumet Parlor Cars on all day trative, Pa: For Atlentic City, 16:00 a.m. and\12:00 seem Sunérys 32:00 noor IMacept Sunday. “Dally. ‘Sunday ouly. sess tialms. residences by Union Transfer Co. on orders left at ticket offices, G19 and 1351 Pa. eve., and at Depot. KB reg CHas. 0. SCULL, Gen. Pose Agt. 220 CHESAPEAKE AND OBIO RAILWAY, Schedule In effect 25, 1808. Pron aot B ats pemapies 7 Es be grat in America with ian u ae ecenery fee west from Ws aed 3 5 Pretiehtnde | ‘Trata. end Waa! apol Tont pei ited. Pall Louis 6:30 p.m. pm. and a 7 for 2 inte. 10:57 A.M. DATLY—For Old Dvint Comfort an@ jorfolk. Only rail line. To PM. Date Expres for Geordonsville, Charlottesville, Waynesboro’, Stounten aud princ- pal Virginia points; daily, except Seata;, tor Rich Pauliman locations and tickets nt compacy's of fives, Bis and 3421 Denwbent, one, POTOMAC RIVER BOATS. = =e: —— NEW PALACE STLAMEn HARRY RANDALL Leaves River View wharf, 7th # Tuesday and 7 wharves as tar down on Mondays, Wedn «days eenger accommodations Brat until heur of sailinz. Tele; F. A. REED & CO. creek. Pridevs. 3 pam. Pas- ans. Freight neceived: _ferp-tt STEAMER MATTANO For Mattox C:ek snd inter s 7 from Tth street wharf every SUNDAY DAY and THURSDAY at 7 o'clock a. wenger snd freight rates the lowest. formation apply G. L. SHERITF, Ce 828 Pa. BOAT CO., “LIMITMD." 7th st. ferry ‘Wwhart, c Wakefield on MONDATS, DAYS and SATURDAYS at T late landings. tisturaing tern ediate _ arnt AXS ond SUNDAYS. (See schedul RIL, THURSD. 420-tf Gen"l Manager. NORFOLK AND WASHINGTON STEAMBOAT 00, DAILY BETWEEN WASHINGTON, DB, G, UNF OMT MONROE apd NORFOLK, Va. ‘The new and powerful Iron Palace Steamers. -ASHINGTON AND NORFOLK—SOUTH 7 ‘Washington faily at 7 p.m. from foot 7th et. wharf, arrive at Fortress Monroe at Sim. next day. Arrive at Norfolk at 7-20 am. Where railroad connections are made for all paints south and southwest. ortolk Gaily at 6:10 pom. aw Norfolir at 6:10 p.m. Leave wists Tt 7:10 pu Arve at) Washington "et 6:30 a.m. next day. ‘Tickets on sale at SIR, Gis, na 1S Tith at WaSHING? ‘ON ST rom aple-tt MANICURE = MADAME PAYN, MANICURE AND GUL odist, 708 i5TH ST. N.W.—The ar4 ‘mauntacturer of CEMOPODIST GOODS = MA of New