The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 28, 1895, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2§, 1895. | Balaur secona, Soundmore third, Time, 1:56. T I | BJockey Turner was suspended for the balance | Of the meeting by the racing governors for his i ] | weak ride on Arlist yesterday. | i S THREE WORLD'S RECORDS. New Marks for Cuclers Made by the Syr- | acuse Racing Team. | HOTEL DEL.CORONADO, Car., Dec. | 27.—Three world’s records were made to- | day by the Syracuse racing team. Hamil- | ton went third-mile, standing start, | paced, in 3-5. William Taylor and | Canby Hewitt on a tandem, paced by | Stone, Swanbrough, Washburn and Terriil | on a quad, made two-thirds of a mile, fly- ing start, in 1:08. A hal i ered by the same feam in — Gas Trust to Reorganize. NEW YORK, N. Y., Dec. 27. —Judge ischoff, in the Court of Common Pleas The Puget Sound Steamer | Evangel Struck by the Transit. LOSS OF LIFE AVERTED. Absence of Fatalities Due to the Slow Running of the Big Vessel. | to-day, handed down a decision denying | the motion made by William R. Whitney | for order making permanenta tempo- injunction to restrain the plan of re- | organization the Chicago gas trust. DECK-HOUSE CARRIED AWAY. EL PASO, Tex., Dec. 27.—The breach etween Fitzsimmons and Julian, that cemed permanent, was finally healed this evening by Jocal mutual friends. Julian | leaves for New York to-morrow to attend | to legal business. He will return shortly. g Flow of the Gold Reserve. WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 27.—The Treasury gold reserve at the close of busi- all withdrawals, stands at The amount of gold reported wn at New York for export to-day The Disaster Due to an Error of the Smaller Steamship’s Captain. SEATTLE, Wasn., Dec. 27.—As it was | leaving the Arlington dock on its second trip to Central American points this | Woo S50 00~ ama. $418,000 2o exchange the Puget Sound and | for currency for domestic use. American Steamship Com- | e e pany’s steamer Transit ran into Will Drop the Libel Suit. the steamer Evangel, Captain Winfield Mann, plying between Seattle and Vie- toria. No loss of life resulted. but the Evangel’s deckhouse was badly demol- ished and a portion of its guard rail torn off, doing damage to the extent of probably $500. But for the fact that the Transit had not got under headway the Kvangel, which is an old and much smaller boat, would doubtless have been instantly sunk. The sound boat, which was heading for Port Townsend with a dozen or more pas- sengers and a small amount of freight, had to put back to Yesler's wharf, and the Transit, after rendering assistance and waiting to see that all were safe, went on | her way. | Captain Mann admitted that he at- | tempted to cross the Transit’s bow, alleg- | ing that he believed the big steamer to have been at anchor. The Evangel is owned by Mann & Morgan. ; BALTIMORE STOCK BAOKE Vigorous Attack Made by the| Bears to Weaken the Road’s | Securities. ! Officials of the Company Say That aj | Receiver Will Not Be ! Appointed. “ NEW YORK, N. Y., vard while the floor of the washhouse was tur: he tra at the New York Stock | Scrubbed. It was put back again in the Exchange to-day was the break in Balti. | 1598l place, and ‘the cat secmed quite Exchange to-day was the break in Balti- | ),ppy." However, some hours after the more aud Ohio from 4014 to 33, on sales of less than es on the the reporis of 1ip and rumors of an intended issue of new stock to take up the floating debt. It also stated that T Sl sell it where the two dogs were lying be-| the gompany had sold, or would sell ils | tore the: fire, sand® L¥ said casually block of Western Union Telegraph stock. [to the terrier, ** Do show me where Vice-President King of the Baltimore and | the kitten_ is!” never really thinking she | Ohio when ed about the ramors said : “You may unqualifiedly deny the ramor that the Ba re and Ohio Railroad is selling its holdings of Western Union Tele- graph Com ock. Not a single share of the stock 1 disposed of. Also the reports n impending default on the part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company or any of its affiliated line: The -money to meet all interest charge: due January 1, 18¢ all has been provided for and is now in bank. Final the report that the management h cussed the issue of from $10,00 $15,000,000 of new preference stock is en- tirely without foundation in face.” General Louis Fitzgerald, president of the Mercantile Trust Company and one of the newly elected directors of the com- pany, said: “There is to be no receivership for the Baltimore and Ohio. There is no occasion for one. The company has now on hand | the money to pay the interest on its bonds | and the dividend on the preferred stock due January 1. The attack on Baltimore and Ohio stock was made by bears on Western Union sto ted to create | the idea that the more and Ohio would be obliged to let go of its Western | Union.” William A. Read of Vermilyea & Co., another director, receiver for the Baltimore and Ohio. The Company has not the authority to issue second preterred stock to take up its float- ing debt, as has been reported it would do.” e e STORM OF WIND AND RAIN. i Damage, Done by a Gale of Wind Along the Atlantic Seaboard. NEW YORK, N. Y., Dec. —Reports | continue to come in this morning of the damages which were wrought in this city by last night’s high wind and rainstorm. | Many persons had. narrow apes from serious injury if not death.’ In North Mor- risiana four telegraph noles fell across the elevated road tracks this morning, almost in front of an approaching train, which stopped within ten feet of the obstruction. | The blowing down of the poles paralyzed the telegraph wires. Pl Jass windows were blown in, trees uprooted, roofs torn | away and street lamps wrecked, but up to | noon no one was reported injured BROOKLYN, N. Y., De, JUDGE ALYV Asked by Cleveland to Serve on the FVene- zuela Commissio NEW YORK, to the Sun from Was The President hac invited Richard H. Alvey of Maryland, the present Chief Jus. | tice of the Court of App of the District | of Columbia, to serve as a member of the Venezuelan Commission. He now has the | matter under consideration and it is prob- able that he will accert. Jud Alvey although well advanced in years, is ro. garded as one of the ablest lawyers in this part of the count. i RACING AT NEW ORLEANS. Shields Will Ship IHis String of Horses to California. | NEW ORLEANS, La., Dec. 27.—Alex- | ander Shields will ship his string of hors including Logan, to California to-morrow, | Appended is a summary of to-day’s events | at the track: i Seven furlongs, Hen Ban won, King Gold | hird. Time, 1:3614. The Sculptor 1 ? One mile, ta won, Doming, land third. Time, 1:46. One and a sixteenth miles, Jack the Jewwon | Time, 1:1: second, Ash- | and offer to return him. My wife urged | | fore ‘| she was about six weeks old. | LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH. | they read it, while those who did not hear | language, as the scene-painter suits his KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 27.—Dr. J. C. Hearne said to-day that he would drop his libel suit for $100,000 against the San Fran- cisco Chronicle and immediately take up the practice of medicine at S; 1egO. SOME NEW DOG STORIES. Several Instances of Remarkable Canine Instinct. About a fortnight ago I was given a fox | terrier, on condition that if it did not suit me I should return it to the donor. Last | Sunday evening 1 was sitting in the draw- ing-room with my wife, the dog lying on the mat by the fire. I said that I was dis- satisfied with the dog, and should write | me to do so then and there, and after dis- cussing the matter for a short time 1 got up to pen the letter. As I did so the ser- vant came to take the dog for a run prior to turning in for the night. No sooner was the garden door opened than off went the dog, full speed, into the darkness, and has not been heard of since. He had always been taken out in the same w. e- | e and had always come in on being | called. Whether he understood the con- versation I cannot tell. All I can say is that I can offer no other explanation for his disappearance. My wife and the ser- vant who let the dog out can vouch for the truth of -these particulars. The letter which I wrote offering to return him les | before ine unposted ‘‘to witness if I lie.”” I have two dozs—a spaniel and a little Highland terrier—also a cat. The latter has a kitten, born last Monday week. All the rest of her family were drowned, and this, Isuppose, has made her rather sus- | ous of being moved about, for on Sat- | urday last her hamper was put out in the | kitten was found to be missing, and the cat was sitting contentedly on a chair in thelittle hall. We all hunted high and low for the kitten, but could not find it. At Jast T returned to the dining-room, understood me, when she solemnly got walked round me, under the table, and ime to my side, then stood looking at a small cupboard, wagging her tail. I opened the cupboard, and there lay the kitten on a tea-cosy! I atonce called to my cousin, who had by this time given up the hunt and was in her own room. She called to know where it was found, and 1 <aid: “Go down in the dining-room and ask the dogs to show you.” She then went and said: ‘‘Dear dogs, do show me wher: the Kitty is!”” and immediately the spaniel got up and went to the cupboard, looking at the door and wagging her tail. They certainly both understood what was | wanted of them. The spaniel was born in 1857, and has been in my possession since The terrier is about the same age, but I have only had her since December, 1890, Apropos of your interesting article on “Recent Ratlore,” in the Spectator of vember 9, the incidents named from H. C. Barkley's graphic *‘Studies on Rat Catching” suggest my writing to narrate a clever exploit of a retriever dog belong- ing to the housekeeper of a well-known newspaper office in the Strand. Rats are | constantly caught on the premises, and the dog, fully aware of their habits, inces such ability that his intelligence quite worthy of record. Last Sunday he heard barking loudly, calling for as- stance, in the compositors’ room, where there is a rat hole in the floor. The doz had watched two fine rats come up through therr hole, and immediately they were fairly away from their point of entry he | rushed up and sat on the hole to cut off their means of retreat, barking forthwith for help. Nothing would induce him to budge till a board was brought and placed over the hole, when he started in pursuit and soon dispatched the intruders. His master assures me that the dog originated this ingenious method of procedure, and that he has practiced it with like success on several other occasions. —London Spectator. R The Wonderful Oratorieal Instinct Which Foresaw Its Effect. The present controversy over the Get- tysburg speech is curious, as revealing the inability of otherwise competent critics to discriminate between the requirements of written and spoken langnage. We admire the flawless perfection of this masterpiece as we read it, and, forgetting the totally different conditions of its delivery, cannot bring ourselves to believe that it could have been an. oratorical failure. The fact is that we should have greater cause for wonder had it been otherwise; for the very excellencies we so justly admire ;n it stand in the way of its immediate effect, and immediate effect is the sine qua non of the orator. Everett realized next day that he had listened to a masterpiece. The masses who heard it came to realize the fact when it at all were loudest in its praise. Any critical student of oratory could have prophesied just that result,” Lincoln, with the orator’s instinct, foresaw 1t, and it is a hundred to one that Everett was dis- appointed, even if he did not give expres- sion to the feeling. For one thing, Lincoln did not give him- self or his audience time to acquire emo- tional momentum, if one may use such an expression. A speaker must suit his outlines and colors to the requirements of multitudes and distance. ~Lincoln’s ect defies microscopic scrutiny, but »artly for that very reason, and more be- cause of its admirable brevity and com- pression, it is not, in the truest sense of the word, an oration. The world has cause to rejoice that it is |not and to give thanks for that high in- n Kidd won, Del Coronado |stinct that seemingly, in spite th npx third. Time, 1:49. | 47 p LY spite ol e ngs, Red Jolin won, Elberon second, | SPeaker's will, checked the flow of what might bave been commonnplace eloquence and gave us instead a matchless prose poem.—F. Townsend Southwick in New York Tribune. { his PASADENA'S CARNIVAL Arrangements for the New Year's Day Floral Fete Completed, FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS. The City Preparing to Entertain Numerous Guests From Neighboring Towns. READY FOR THE BIG PAGEANT. Many Candidates to Compete for the Prizes Offered. by the Citizens’ Committee. PASADENA, Carn, Dec. 27. — The ar- rangements for Pasadena’s annual floral festival — the rose tournament, held on each New Year's dav—are nearly com- plete, and the occasion bids fair to be a brilliantesuccess. Especial preparations have been made for the reception and entertainment of guests from neighboring towns; the entries for the floral parade have been more numerous than ever be- fore, and more general interest on the part of citizens is displayed. Heretofore the festival has been given under the auspices of the Valley Hunt Club, the leading society organization of Pasadena, but it has been considered ad- visable to have this event in the future under the supervision of all the citizens. | g;jar ma netic field on_our weather, now This year a tournament association was formed to arrange for the pageant. The celebration will be confined to a floral street parade, omitting the usual games and sports, as the committee did not have sufficient time to prepare for them after the association was formed. The entries for the parade must be en- tirely floral and will include floats, eight, six and four-in-hand coaches, private car- riages, double and single teams, pony carts, an equestrian and military division, bicyclists, fire department, etc. Many civic organizations, social clubs and cor- porations will be represented. Pasadena’s Chinese and Japanese residents will each make a characteristic entry. Judges have been appointed to make awards and elegant and costly prizes pro- cured, to be given as first and second awards in each class cf entries. Consider- able enthusiasm is manifested and the only possible drawback will be inclement weather and scarcity of flowers. The pro- longed cold weather has caused some anxiety on this latter account. A press stand will be built opposite the judges’ stand, and a general invitation will be extended to artists and writers to at- tend. Napoleon's Personal Appearance De- seribed by Constant. In the “Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon,” Constant, his famous valet, gives an interesting description of the per- sonal appearance of his great master. It was just after his return from Egypt and Bonaparte was then very thin and sallow, kin was copper colored, his eyes were sunken, and his figure, though perfect in shape, was very slender. His forehead was very high and already bare; his hair thin, especially on the temples, but ve fine and soft and of a rich brown colos his eyes were deep blue, expressing with almost incredible vivacity the various emotions by which he was affected; some- times they were extremely gentle and caressing, sometimes severe and even in- flexible. His mouth was very handsome; the lips were straight and rather firmly closed, particularly when irritated. His nose, of a Grecian shape, was well formed, and his sense of smell was acute. His ears were small, periectly formed, and well set. His whole frame was beautifully proportioned, though at this time (1800) his extreme leanness prevented the beauty of his features from being especially noticed and had an injurious effect npon his general appearance. His lead was very large, not only in compari. son with the size of his body, but abso- lutely, being twenty-two inches in circum- ference; it was a little longer than it was broad; it was so extremely sensitive that Constant had his hats padded and wore them several days to break them in before he gave them to his master. Napoleon's feet were also very tender and he had to have his shoes broken in by a boy em- ployed in the wardrobe ~who “wore exactly the same size as the Em- eror. Napoleon’s height was 514 feet. e had a rather short neck, slop- ing shoulders, a broad chest almost free from hair, a well-shaped leg and thigh, a small foot, and well-formed fingers; his arms were fizely molded and well hung to his body; his hands were beautiful and the nails particularly well-shaped. Of his hands, as indeed of his whole person, he took the greatest care. He would bite his nails slightly, however, when impatient, or preoccupied. Later on he grew much stouter, yet without losing the beauty of bhis figure. On the contrary. in Constant’s opinion he was handsomer under the em- pire than under the consulate; hisskin, previously sallow, bad then become very white, and his expression animated. It appears that, during his Jong hours of labor nd of meditation, Napolecn was subject to a peculiar spasmodic twitching, which seemed to be a nervous affec- tion, and which clung to him all his life. It consisted in raising his right shoulder frequently and rapidly, and per- sons who were not acquainted with this habit sometimes interpreted the move- ment as a gesture of disapprobation, and inquired with anxiety in what way they could have offended him. As a matter of fact, ne was unconscious of the movement. A remarkable peculiarity of the Emperor’s was that he never felt his heart beat. He mentioned this often to his valet, and more than once made Constant pass his hands over his master’s breast_in order to observe this singular fact. Never could the slightest pulsation be felt. Another peculiarity was that his pulse at the wrist was only forty to the minute. S e e THE MECHANISM OF STORMS, ‘Weather Forecasters Frequently Find Their Theries at Fault. The new chief of the United States Weather Bureau, Willis L. Moore, has the reputation of being peculiarly bold and skillful in his methods, and he has tried so earnestly not to allow himself to be tied down by old ideas and prejudices that he has incurred some hostile criticism. Mr. Moore was given an opportunity to speak for himself before the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science at its last meeting, and some of the most in- tereetinf parts of his address are here quoted from the official report in Science. After quoting the law of 1890, which prescribes the chief’s duties, he goes on as follows: “To those who bave read every impor- tant treatise on meteorology, and who have studied every text-book on the sub- ject, it is painfully patent that we are ex- tremely ignorant of the mechanism of storms; of the operations of those vast and subtle forces in free air which give incep- tion to the storm and which supply the energy necessary to accelerate cyclonic action when formed, or to disperse the same when once fully in operation. We know that great atmospheric swirls in the shapeof high and low pressure areas alter- nately drift across the country atintervals of two or three days; that the atmosphere flows spirally info the cyeclonic or low- pressure system and outward from the anti-cyelonic or high-pressure system, that the indrawn east an@south winds on the front of the storm are warm, and that the inwardly flowing north and west winds are cold. “‘The theori¢s of Redfield. Espy, Loomis, Ferrel and others teach that our great storms are composed of immense masses of air gyrating about a vertical or nearly vertical axis, drifting eastward and at the same time drawing in warm easterly cur- rents at the front and cold westerly cur- rents at the rear; that the commingling of these two as they rise to greater and greater elevations near the region of the cyclonic center throws down volumes of rain or snow; that as precipitation oceurs with the ascending currents the heat of condensation energizes the cyclonic circu- Jation; that the air at the center of the stormis relatively warm, is rarefied by centrifugal force, and by reason of less density rises to a great elevation, and in the upper regions of the atmosphere flows away laterally to assist in building up high-pressure areas on either side. *‘The high and low pressure areas are supposed to be carried eastward by the general easterly drift of the atmosphere in the middle latitude, somewhat as eddies are carried along by water in arunning stream. . *‘But, unfortunately for the complete ac- curacy of these theories, the forecaster often finds heavy downpours of rain with- out any cyclonic circulation, and no con- vectional system in operation; again over immense areas of country, especially in the Rocky Mountain region, for many months in the year condensation occurs not at all in the warmer eastecly currents flowing into the storm center, but almost exclusively in the western portion of the storm area, where the cold north and west winds are flowing in.”’ Professor Moore then outlined a few methods of investigation that may in- crease our knowledge of these matters, such as the study of the influence of the being prosecuted by Professor Bigelow, and the exploration of the upper air by kites and balloo; e TURNING TIME BACKWARD. How ‘the Day Is Lengthened in the United States Senate. Captain Isaac Barrett, the veteran as- sistant door-keeper of the Senate, who died the other day, first turned back the finger of time on the face of the big clock in 1844, and his own account of it is more interest- ing, perhaps, than it can be made by elaboration: “It was on March 4, 1844, that I first turned backward the hands of the Senate clock. The Senate then, in what is now the Supreme Court room, was considering and voting upon an appropriation bill, when it became evident that the bill could not become a law before the hour of noon. Some one suggested to the President pro tempore — Send- tor William P. Mangum of North Carolina—that the hands of the clock might be so manipulated as to lengthen the oflicial day. I was sent for, and was ordered by Mr. Mangum to put the hands back ten minutes. The Senate clock then was a tall one, and I remember very dis- tinctly chmbing up to its face. The time thus manufactured was sufficient, and the | bill became a law. Only op rare occasions | was there any meddling with the clock to | within the last twenty years. Since then the hands have been turned back at least once ir every Congress.” Captain Bassett had learned to regard the old desks and ehairs of the Senate as historical relics in his personal care. He knew the history of each one, when it was made, who was its first occupant, and by whom it had been usel since it was first employed. He also knew the vandals who haunt the Capitol, and who would rend and carry away the desks of famous men if they could bui tind them. Captain Bassett would not impart the information he had, but he had private marks on cesks and chairs registered in a book closed to everybody. Mr. Bassett would prefer to see the chairs of Cass, Calhoun, Clay, Webster and other great statesman burned where they stood than mutilated by the relic-hunter. The desks are made of the best mahogany, and after the pattern first used when the seat of Government was established at Wash- ington. Every desk made for the Senate is still in use. Some of the original chairs also remain. During his long term of service, Captain Bassett has been absent when the Senate was in session only thirty days, and twenty of those days had been lost on’ account of iliness during the last five vears. To be absent a moment when he should be at his post was distressing to the veteran. “When sickness keeps me indoors,” he has said, “in spite of all my endeavors 1o be cheer- ful, T am simply miserable. You cannot understand how I feel. After sixty-three years of service the idea that the Senate is in session and I am not there seems awful. Ican ricwre to my mind the vacant chair, and of course 1 feel confident that nobody can perform my duties satisfactorily.” Captain Bassett had a private nook in the Senate room of the Capitol which few eople ever saw and fewer suil had ever' Eeurd of. It was near the room of the Sen- ate Committee on the Library, and would be a very dark little den but for the gas- | light. In that room is a lot of historical and antique articles, each of which has a volume oi reminiscenses clustered around it. He had the old snuffboxes used by Senators when the boxes were kept in the niches on each side of the Vice-President’s chair; and as they were retired and re- placed by new ones, Captain Bassett kept the old ones and labeled them. He also preserved a piece of the cane which Pres- ton Brooks broke over the head of Senator Sumner. He kept all of these things for description in a book which he intended to publish before his death. Do Stones Grow? No, They Don’t. A builder employed on the work of re- pairing a church, a well-known and trusted man at Dunstable, and old enough to talk and think sensibly, declared to me that the kind of stone (pudding stone) in ques- tion grows, and that this particular mass had grown since it was used as a founda- tion stone, as proved by its projection both ways beyond the thickness of the wall. Nothing I could say about the absence of ‘vitality,’ or the impossibility of an isolated mass removed from all opportunity or growth by aceretion of first material, could shake his belief that the mass had grown in size. Surely his vpinion ¢ uld not fina support in his experience. It would be well to inquire if this be a popular belief in this county.—Notes and Queries. ———————— Tom Reed’s Latest Fad. Speaker Reed has a new fad. He has taken up amateur phoiography and be- come quite an expert. Last. summer he amused himself taking pictures by the hundreds, and he has a very interesting collection to show to friends. Recently he asked a friend, who is also an enthusiastic amateur, if he thought it would be pos- sible to take good photographs in the hail of the House. Perfmns Mr. Reed thinks of using his camera to count a quorum with. Jhicago Times-Herald. —— LATEST SHIPPING INTELLIGENC, s oredbaestial D bbbl Movements of Trans-Atlantic Steamers. NEW YORK—Arrived Dec 27—Stmr Saale,from Bremen and Southampion; stmr St Louls, from S 1_somer 5— Arrived out Dec27—Stmr Furnessia. VIOPENHAGEN—Arrived out Dec 27— Stmr a. !!'KEMERHAVEN-A!HM out Dec 26—Stmrs Aller and Stuttgart. ¥ LONDON—Sailed Dec 27—Stmr Mobile, for New LIZARD—Passed Dec 27—Stmr Palatia, New York for Hamburg. T o He bas told how it happened, [ LAST OF THE TAX CASES, Suits for Railroad Dues for 1887 to Be Argued in Wash- ington. A MILLION DOLLARS INVOLVED. If the State Wins, Railroads Have to Pay Full Taxes for at Least One Year, John H. Miller and J. P. Langhorne, special counsel for the State of California, leave for Washington to-day to argue the last of the Central and Southern Pacific tax cases in the United States Supreme Court on the 6th of next month. The case involves the taxes of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroad companies for 1887, which, with counsel fees, penalties and costs amount to alittle over $950,000. The suits were first entered in 1889 in the Superior Court by Langhorne and Milier, who were then law partners and were chosen by Controller Dunn as special coun- sel for the State. The cases were tried in the Superior Court and judgment ren- dered for the full amount in favor of the State. The railroads took an appeal to the State Supreme Court, which confirmed the decision of the lower court on January 6, 1895. On writs of error the cases were taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. On motion of Langhorne and Mil- ler the Supreme Court advanced the cases on the calendar and set them .for hearing January 6 next, just a year from the date of the State court’s decision. Otherwise the Supreme Court would not reach them for two or three years more. Charles H. Tweed, one of the biggest lawyers of the New York bar, and J. Hub- ley Ashton of Washington will appear for the railroads. The courts here held against the rail- roads in every point, and both Mr. Miller and Mr. Langhorne said yesterday that they had very little doubt of winning be- fore the court in Washingion. In fact, Mr. Miller said that he belieyed that the main reason of the railroads for appealing was that they wanted time. When the de- cision was rendered here January 6 last by the State Supreme Court the railroads were short of money on account oi the strikes. If the State wins, 1887 will be the only year for which the State will receive full taxes from the railroads since the adop- tion of the new constitution. Suits were brought by the Attorney- General and District Attorney for the taxes from 1880 to 1884 inclusive, and only partial recoveries were made by com- promise. In 1893 the Legislature passed the reassessment bjll, under which all of the railroads were reassessed for all years from 1880 to 1887 at a lower rate than the original sssessments, and the taxes on these were paid except for 1857, The assessment of 1887 having already been declared valid by the Superior and Supreme Courts of California, it was left alone. Messrs. Langhorne and Miller will come in for a good fee of about $50,000 if the cases are won. GILDEA DEFEATS FLYAN, The Buckleyites Routed at the Annual Iroquois Club Elec- tion Last Night. Nearly Two Hundred Braves Ranged Themselves in the Hot Fac- tional Fight. The Buckleyites and the other friends of President J. J. Flynn of the Iroquois Club were routed at the annual election last night and Charles Gildea, second vice- president during the past year, was elected president by the Junta element, the mem- bers of which worked like Trojans. There was long and hot trouble last night, and all over the rule put through by the Gildea side with their majority, that nobody should vote unless his dues were all paid up. Yesterday about 200 of the 230 members owed from 50 cents to $7 50. At all former elections the rule men- tioned has been honored in the breach, but this year it was of political im- portance. Fewer members in arrears were on the Gildea side than on the other, and he and his backers held firmly to the club law. They worked like beavers to get v otes, and saw that everybody on their side was Yald up. However, nearly every- body paid up last night before the voting was over, putting about $600 in the treas- ury. Between tweuty and thirty mem- bers did not attend and pay, and most of these would have voted for Flynn. It was asserted last night that the two employes of the Board of Health who would” have voted for Flynn were 1'g‘iven instructions to vote for Gildea. ddie Greaney was there, and several employes of the Federal offices mentioned lined up with Gildea. Dag:ert was able to give a number of votes to defeat Flynn. 1t was the biggest meeting the club has known. On_ one side the crowd were Gayin MeNab, who is seldom at the club, and who had nothing to to say last night, Charles Gildea, James Denman, Isidor Jacobs, Charles Wesley Reed, E. P. E. Troy, Eddie_ Greaney, Clitus Barbour, M. Greenblatt, P. J. Har- ney, Theodore Metzler, Christian Reis, P. M. Wellin, Harry Zemansky and Registrar Hinton. In the Flynn crowd were Reel B. Terry, M. J. Donovan, John McCarthy; Dr. J. L. Stanton, Robert Boyd, T. Carl Spelling, Alexander Laidlaw, Dr. Bryan, Thomas Ashworth, P. J. Dunne, M. M. Foote, W. P, Stradley, John A. Wall and others. The first_vote by rollcall on an unim- portant point showed about how the fac- tions stood. There were 56 for the Flynn side and 73 for the opposition. An bour of hot dispute, mixed with much disorder, followed, aud, finally, at 11 o’clock the Gildea side forced things to the ballot-box and the voting began amid uvite a row. During the voting Alexander aidlaw prepared for a contest b& refusing to pay dues and formally offering his ballot, which was refused. Anotherscheme to contest the election, which was early conceded to Gildea, came to light on a question of allowing voting by proxy.’ Some member had paid up his dues and sent his proxy to a friend, who offered it. President Flynn stated that as the club was a corporation any member had a legal right to vote by proxy, but the meeting refused it. Whether the determination to contest Gildea’s election will last or not not remains to be seen. The canvass of the vote showed the fol- lowing result: For president—James J. Flynn, 52; Charles Gildea, 74. For first vice-president—A. D. Lemon, 75; John A. Wall, (é’. For second vice-president—John A. Stein- bach, 51; Thomas J. Walsh, 74, For recording secretary—Daniel J. Gordon, For financial secretary—T. J. McBride 43, Aug. D. Pratt 80. For corresponding secretary—W.H. Kline 50, J. H. Zemansky 75. For treasurer—P. J. Thomds 107. For miembers of the Board of Trustees—Will- iam J. Ryan, 107; n Thomas P. Barns, 78; A. Hansen, 47; ISador J; acobs, 69; John Krel- ing, 59; L. V. Merle, 84; Louis Metzger, 100; Fred Raabe. 14; H. K. Robin, 40; M. Schwartz, 40; W. H. Vincent, 15; L. J. Welch, 58. Welch was first declared elected, but on a recount on a motion made by Mr. Toby, Kreling was declated elected on a differ- ence ot one vote. BANQUET BY A FIRM. Miller, Sloss & Scott Dine Their Em- ployes at the Maison Riche. Miller, Sloss & Scott gave their fourth annual banquet last night at the Maison Riche to members of the firm, heads of de- partments, traveling agents and salesmen. On the occasion of the first banquet after the orzanization of the firm there were fourteen present, last night there were thirty, as follows: C. E. Miller (presi- dent), Joseph Sloss, Leon Sloss, A. L. Scott, J. A. Scott, members of the firm, and E. Sanders, F. Batchelder, C. F. Moul- throp, W. A. Rice, W. A. Leonard. M. E Quin, George Henderson, George Hickman, E. R. Hunt, A. Cooley, W. H. Palmer, Ww. Armstron%, J. Foster, H. G. Sturtevant, A Biskop, J. Johnson, Milton | Bray, W. H. Young, O. P. 8. Sheets, J. McBride, George Burton, J. A. Britton, Theo Shucking, James Vance, J. W. Oat- man, George Crum. Sturtevant and Sheets, two knights of the road, acted as toastmasters and called forth a number of impromptu humorous responses. ——————— A $400 Dollar Blaze. An'alarm of fire from bex 84 was turned in last night for the purpose of getting enough firemen at the residence ot Michael Pohlman | at 317 Prospect avenue to extinguish a blaze | in the basement of that gentleman’s residence. Although the jakies did the best they could, the damage summed up to $400 before the | matter was adjusted to the satisfaction of Mr. Pohlman. LAKE ERIE OUTTING UP DIDOES. A Proposed Dam to Deepen the Water That Would Harm Niagara Falls. Lake Erie has been cutting up all kinds of pranks the past summer, according to a Cleveiand dispatch in the Washingtou Sun. So fickle has this shailow body of water become that those most interested think it time to restrain the “‘most treach- | erous of the unsalted seas.” Never has | the water in the lake been so low as this year. From Buffalo to the mouth of the Raisin River shoals and reefs have been out of water which had been hiaden since white men first came to these parts. Old lake observers have asserted that the water of the lake fluctuates in periods of | seven years. This, they maintain, is the | seventh year, and the water is at the lowest point. From now, for three years and a half, the water will increase in depth. At the expiration of that time it will be at the maximum and then will de- crease until the period of seven years is at an end. The water is now on the average about four feet lower than it has been since 1891, Vessels going in and out of the harbors at Cieveland, Sandusky, Toledo and other oints where rivers flow into the lake and bring with them more or less discharge | have grounded, and considerable loss has resulted to their owners because of the | lack of water. Some vessels have not been | able to carry full cargoes because they could not make the Lake Erie harbor to which they were consigned. Windstorms have caused great fluctu- tions in the depth of the lake. On the | night of November 25 a tremendous gale swept these parts. It piled the water up | at the east end of the lake. Tt lowered the | { tain districts. _croup and earache. gara dam,and all that will be necessary will be to tuild a substantial stone barrier from the Usited States to Canada. Prob- ably it would increase the depth of water in Lake Eriefrom two to four .feet. Of course, it woald spoil Niagara Falis to some extent, and so many tourists might no longer come to see the thousands of tons of water nour over the limestone cliffs. Some water would find its way into Lake Ontario, bu it would not be the v ume of the present time. Instead of N gara Falls it would be Niagara gorge. Another caper-tiat the lake kicked up during the past summer was to possess itself of a tidal wave. One day the people along the south shore of the jake were astonished to see a wall of water come booming and bulging toward the shore, threatening to carry away everything within the limits of its destruciive force, It broke without doing much damage. Some cause had to be found for it, and by and by it was determined that 1t could have {)een nothing more than the water returning to the south shore after a pro- longed blow from the south, followed almost immediately by a gale from the north. Lake Erie can do all sortsof funny things as a ls — - - —— ITEMS OF INTEREST. On account of the phenomenal drought the Missouri River, about and above Pierre, S. D., where normally it is of a vol- ume well entitling it to the name of the “Big Muddy.” is now little more than a creek. A week ago the water was two feet below the lowest mark ever before re- corded, and in some places there was not more than two feet of water in the main channel. M. Wilson, conductor on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St, Paul road, was hurt in a peculiar manner. He had a long, shar] lead-pencil in his hand and got off with it at Hericon to get orders. Running along he collided with a boy on the platform with such force as to force the pencil through his clothing and into his stomach. A bad wound was inflicted, and it is feared that the internal injury may result se- riously. President Crespo of Venezuela is a tall, heavy man, with a countenance revealing force and determination. He is very ab- stemious in his babits and generally goes to hed at8 o’clock in the evening. He is in the habit of summoning his Ministers to him at sunrise. He is fond of catile- ranching, and owns a large number of acres no* far from the Venezuelan capital. He is a fine equestrian. During the time of the Incas, when the natives of Peru had attained a high posi- tion 1n the consiruction of communica- tions, they formed suspension-bridges of the tough fibers of the maguey, a kind of osier, for the purpose of crossing the huge gulleys and swift streams of their moun- These osiers they wove into enormous cables, sometimes over 200 feet in length, and attacned the end either to heavy blocks of masonry or occasionally to the natural rock. Planks were then lald.transversely and thus a road formed. A medicai authority . truthfully sonnds the praises of onions. They are excellent blood-purifiers. Boiled onions used fre- quently in a family of children will ward off many diseases to which the little ones are subject. As an external application they are successfully used in cases of They are good for the complexion, and & lady who has a won- derfully clear, fine complexion attributes it to the liberal use of onions as food. People_troubled with wakefulness may be assured a cood night’s rest often if just before retiring they will eat a raw onion. Wkeen troubled with a hard cough, if a raw onion is eaten the phlegm will loosen water at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River about three feet. At Sandusky it blew so hard that a portion of the bar, generally covered with eight or ten feet of water, was dry. At Toledo the force of the wind | carried so much water out of the Maumee | River than many vessels went aground. | Not far from Cleveland on the evening of November 25 a well-known doctor of North- | ern Ohio watered his horse at the shore of | the lake. | The next morning he started from the point where he had watered the animal on the preceding evening and walked directly toward the center of the lake sixty-four aces, equal to 192 feet, without getting f:)s feet wet. Before night of the same day | almost immediately and can then be easily e NEW TO-DAY. 7] eEe® 3 VTV OVTVTVVVBVD the water had returned and was nearer the | shore than before. It made him think of the Bible story of Pharoah’s army and the | Red Sea. The same windstorm exposed | some of the reefs near the islands, and ves- | seis went hard on the rocks where ordina- rily there should have been sufficient | w Estrella . ater. A lake that cuts up didoes of this kind is not esteemea by those who cruise upon ’ it in great ships and the lake carriers are beginning to devise schemes to prevent some of these disturbances. One of the plans proposed is to build a dam across | the Niagara River. Colone! Jared A.| Smith, the United States engineer at this point, says the plan is perfectly feasible, and sees no reason why the flow at Niagara Will continue to be the might not be checked for the benefit of the commerce of the lakes. | finest of Key West All Vessel owners are besieging Congress an- | . nually for a twenty-foot channel from one | Havana Cigars® bbbk end of the ereat lake highway to the other, | 2 for 25¢., 10c., 3 for 25¢c. **eTeoTVTTBTIBTVLAD which is surely needed, but a twenty-foot | channel will be of little avail if Lake Erie is going to shift its depth as often as a | woman changes costumes at a fashionable | [ resort. Colonel Smith says there are no | p“..“..”.. erngineering obstacles in the wey of a Nia- ~I\/‘ - -~ v\/‘ @ ~~~® -~ S v\/‘ D -~ -~~~ -~y D A -~- -~ -/\.t‘ e ~~® ~~® -~ D -r\.t“ -~ D w R THe ['Ercury e Souvenir B—— Sunshine, Fruit and Flowers NOW READY- Contains 325 pages, 9x12 inches, and is ILLUSTRATED FROM 939 PHOTOGRAPHS. Mundreds of beautiful half-tone engravings, showing the aspect of the county from January to December. The Fruit Industry Illustrated And described — the most valuable treatise upon the Santa Clara County Fruit Industry that has ever been published, giving details of the business from nursery to market, with crops, prices and profits. i A Work of Art, Suitable for the center-table, and a most appropriate Christmas present. There is scarcely a question that could be asked concerning Santa Clara County and it. resources that is not fully answered. < ) ~~~® I~ A shidbidi ittiidiiaiitiinitii 2 000000000000 The MercurY Bouvenir will be sent, expressage prepaid, to any part of the United States at the following rates: Bound in Bristol board, 75 cents per copy; bound in leatherette, $1.25 per copy. Sent to any part of the United States, postage prepeid, at the following rates: Bound in Bristol board, 80c per copy; bound in leatherette, $1.35 per copy. The Souvenir is sold over the counter at the MERCURY office at the following prices: Bound in Bristol board, 50 cents per copy; bound in leatherette, $1.00 per copy. ddbdibdisdibss I ik Nt Address CHAS. M. SHORTRIDGE, San Jose, California. l fiiiim&iiiiiifiiiiifiiiiifiiiifi