The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 9, 1898, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1895. veeerveeee...DECEMBER o, 1808 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE Market and Third Sts., S. F. Teleph Main 1865 EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2I7 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) 1s served by carriers In this clty and surrounding towns for I5 cents @ week. By mall $6 per year; per month 65 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL.. .One year, by mall, $1.50 OAKLAND OFFICE.. +2....908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE. ..Room 188, World Bullding DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE... Riggs House C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE .. Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative, BRANCH OFFICES—527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 1941 Misslon street, open until 10 o'clock. 2991 Market street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Misslon street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open until 9:20 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ana Kentucky streets, open until 9 o'clock. ANMU ‘A Boy Wanted Just for Fun.” California Columbia—"'Gayest Manhatta; . The Private Secreta) Tiv Cyrano de Bergerac.” Morosco's—*'Blacklisted.” Orpheum—Vaudeviile. “hutes—Gorrilla man, vaudeville and the zoo. —Corner Mason and Eddy streets, speclalties. zar- Coursing Park—Coursing Saturday and Sunday. Mission Zoo, Sunday. —Coming In December. AUCTION SALES, k W. Butterfield—This day, at 11 o'clock, Furniture, ntieth street FOR OUR SOLDIER FRIENDS. HE soldiers now in Manila will have occasion to Th'.css the thoughtfulness of Mrs. Price of Healdsburg. It was owing to this lady that ar- rangements were made for forwarding to the troops books and magazines. All contributions will be sent free if placed in the care of The Call. The California Northwestern Railroad will carry from points along its line reading matter that may be con- signed to it through the agency of Mrs. Price. This allows the citizens of San Francisco and of a wide scope of country to remind the boys at Manila that they have not been forgotten. Within a few months he soldiers may be returning, but there are weary weeks still in the tropics and the long voyage home. The next ship to Manila will have on board a sub- stantial token of remembrance, and every ship to fol- low until all the volunteers shall be again in their native land should have a similar store. Tthis title, will come up in court to-day. The Prince of Forgers, Karl Becker, the “Dutch- man,” the wizard of the pen, will be brought to the bar for sentence. A brief review may not be out of place. Becker was at the head of a gang who contrived a successful forgery which involved the raising of a check for $12 to a check for $22,000, and getting the bogus paper cashed. There were several in the scheme, and be- cause they disagreed among themselves an exposure followed. Becker, together with one Creegan, was arrested, put upon trial, found guilty «nd sentenced tc the penitentiary for life. Since the passing of the sentence Becker has been in the County Jail awaiting a new trial, which, occurring recently, culminated in a hung jury. Before a third trial could be had Becker's associate deserted him, in the hope and upon the promise of clemency, stipulating with the police that he would testify against Becker, a despicable piece of roguery, stamping him as a deeper dyed scoundrel than his chief. Becker, seeing that his own case was hopeless, then pleaded guilty, being led to this by the assurance from Chief of Police Lees that a sentence of seven years in the penitentiary should be meted out to him, with credits for the time spent in the County Jail. A question naturally arises as to whether the Chief has not exceeded his authority. What right has he to be Judge and jury? Thus the affair simmers down to an issue between Chief of Police Lees and Superior Judge Wallace. If Wallace shall abide by the in- iquitous arrangement concocted by Lees in the inter- ests of a dangerous felon, plainly the bench becomes but an adjunct to the Police Department, a powerless and discredited mouthpiece. Becker was once proved guilty. By his own con- fession, he is guilty. Happily Judge Wallace has not been even indirectly a party to the unholy bargain. He is in no manner bound by the dictum of Lees. The Bankers’ Association is a private concern, which, by declaring itself satisfied with a sentence of seven years for Becker, commits an impertinence. No difference what Lees may decree, or in what the bankers may acquiesce, for the climax is in the hands of Wallace. He can demonstrate that the court is bigger than Lees, bigger than the Prince of Forgers, and above being swayed by a dicker between crime and incom- petency. It is not within the province of a journal to argue with a Judge. Wallace knows the facts. He has a full conception of -their import. He is near- ing the end of a term during which his in- cumbency has been an honor to himself and a gratification to law-abiding people. It is hardly a supposable contingency that among the last acts of his official career will be one catering to a Lees or kowtowing to a Becker. -We confidently expect that the arrangement for imposing a nominal sen- tence will be swept aside as a presumption, an insult and an attack upon the public welfare. For Wallace to impose a less sentence than he did before would be not only a degradation of his high authority, but open confession that in the former instance he had been wrong. 7 —— The sympathy which Mrs. Mentel is getting is hardly enough to soothe and sustain. In fact, the sentiment that a young woman is at her best when unarmed is steadily growing in this community. all LEES VS. WALLACE. HE case of Lees vs. Wallace, although not by Spanish and Cubans still seem inclined to fight, and, while this is to be regretted, the fact that Uncle Sam is there to act as referee is a guarantee that that there will be fair play. The pleasing rumor that a number of Chicago ‘Aldermen were to be hanged to lampposts seems to have been based on inadequate information. THE ZANTE CURRANT CASE. HE McKinley tariff bill put “currants, Zante or Tother,” on the free list. This was done without | knowledge of the fact that the Zante currant, be- ing a grape, enters into direct competition with the _raisins of California, for which it is a kitchen substi- tute. The Wilson bill put a tariff on “Zante cur- rants,” omitting “‘or other.” ‘The New York importers contended that this meant a tariff on this class of dried fruit only when grown cn and exported from the island of Zante, and that grown on the mainland at Corinth, and at Patras or Ithaca, etc., must be admitted free. The Collector of the Port of New York overruled this contention, and it was carried on importers’ protest to the Board of General Appraisers, before which the case was heard. The Government case was very imperfectly made out; the witnesses introduced to sustain it were in a nebulous state of opinion as to what the Zante cur- rant is, and their testimony rather favored the idea that it is the common shrub currant, dried. Under the law, the Collector of the Port, or the Secretary of the Treasury, has a limit within which to appeal from the General Appraisers to the United States District Court. As the Collector and Secretary had no case on the testimony taken, they declined to appeal, and the decision of the General Appraisers stood as the law of the case, and these currants under it were free. The effect of this decision may be estimated when it is known that no currants had been exported from Zante to the United States for about forty years, and our whole import came from the Morea and vineyards on the mainland. In this emergency Naval Officer Irish determined to take jurisdiction of the case here, where the com- petitive interest lies and the testimony is accessible. At his instance an importation was made to pay duty and the importer was compelled to protest. Under the law all actions in a port of entry under the rev- enue laws are brought in the name of the Collector, so this one was brought. The case was fully made in the brief of the Naval Officer, and upon that went to trial. Under the law in such cases a member of the Board of General Appraisers is assigned as a Commissioner to take the testimony, which then goes to the United States District Court, with the briefs and oral arguments of the lawyers. General Ap- praiser Shurtleff was assigned to take this testimony, and sat for many days in San Francisco as Commis- sioner. The first stand taken by the attorneys for the importer was an accusation that Naval Officer Irish had exceeded his authority and had overruled his su- perior, the Secretary of the Treasury. But, as the Naval Officer’s action had secured jurisdiction here and the amount involved was several hundred thou- sand dollars of Federal revenue, this point had no point. In his brief the Naval Officer’s premise was that the Zante currant is a dried grape, and that it is the same fruit whether grown on the Greek islands, the Morea ot any part of the mainland of Greece. He brought to bear upon his case all the resources of botany, etymology and commercial custom and nomenclature. As the issue is a burning one now, in view of the free admission of the fruit being again imminent, we re- sort to the copious and complete statement of the Naval Officer’s brief for the facts. The so-called Zante currant is the dried fruit of a grapevine, first known and for ages cultivated near Corirth, and known botanically as the Vitis Corinth- iaca. In commerce it was early called the Corinth. This came to be shortened into corint, and corrupted into currant. Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1773, defines it: “Currant, a small dried grape, properly written Corinth.” McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary: “Currant, a small species of dried grape, largely cultivated in Zante, Cephalonia and Ithaca, of which islands they form the staple produce, and in the Morea, in the vicinity of Patras.” French Dictionary of the Institute of Belles Let- tres: “Raisin de Corinth; blanc variete de raisin, nomme aussi pasarelle,” the latter being the name of a kind of white grape. ) Standard Spanish Dictionary: “Pasas de Corinto,” pasas being Spanish and Portuguese for dried grapes. Imperial English Dictionary: “Currant, a small kind of dried grape.” Encyclopedia Britannica: “Currant, the dried fruit of a variety of the grapevine.” American Dictionary of Commerce, De Colange: “Currants, the raisins of a small, seedless grape, growing in huge bunches, often eighteen inches long. Originally Corinth was the principal place where they were raised, whence the name Corinths, from which the word currant has been derived.” Skeat’s Etymology of th. English Langsage says the fruit was known in England long prior to 1353 as 2 Corinth raisin, which name was corrupted intq cur- rant, and that when the shrub ribes was introduced in the above year it was called currant, from its re- semblance to Corinths, although not seedless. The inquiry ran through a long list of commercial and botanical dictionaries, all confirming the Naval Officer’s premise that the fruit is a grape, and that the name when corrupted to. currant passed over to the fruit of the shrub ribes, our common bush currant of the garden, to which the Zante currant has no. bo- tanical affinity. Historically, it was shown that when the Turks were masters of Greece they completely extirpated this grape from the Morea and the mainland and from all the islands which they dominated. The Ve- netians were the masters of the island of Zante and they domesticated the fruit there, and it continued to enter the commerce of Europe and came to be known as the Zante Corinth, or currant. After the battle of Lepanto, and ensuing upon the final expul- sion of the Turk from Greece, this grape was re- patriated on the Morea, but continued to be known in commerce as the Corinth currant or Zante currant. The Naval Officer secured the testimony of the bo- tanical and horticultural professors of Stanford and Berkeley universities, and introduced Greeks, Turks and Armenians as witnesses, all proving his conten- tion. He also procured the importation from the American Consul at Patras of a complete vine, with the fruit on it, showing it to be a true grape and with- out resemblance or physiological affinity to the shrub ribes, or common currant. When the case went to Judge Morrow he decided that the Naval Officer’s contention was correct and had been proven. Then places were changed. The importers had no case for appeal from the District Court, and Judge Moérrow's decision stood as the law of the case. But under the law that was not a finality, the rule stare decisis did not apply, as it was not the decision of a court of last resort. Therefore the New York im- porters again rallied, and on a new protest again took jurisdiction in New York, and that case was pending when the Dingley bill passed. The case as presented by Naval Officer Irish influenced the Ways and Means Committee in putting the present tariff on Zante currants, and the result was satisfactory to the raisin-growers of California. As to reciprocal trade, it was shown by the Naval Officer that the balance on Greek trade was heavily against us, that she took | that Governor Budd has the power to fill it. agreeing to take her petroleum of that country. Mr. Botazzi, the Greek Consul General in New York, has been a wily agitator of the issue, and has always cunningly fostered the idea that this fruit is the common garden currant, dried. As we don’t dry garden currants in this country, of course it would not be a competing article. The fact, however, is the exact reverse. It is a grape and competes not only with our Muscats, but with the seedless Sultana and Thompson’s seedless grapes. In the testimony presented by the Naval Officer it was shown that these Zante currants in Greece are usually dried in the sun on the ground and on beds of cowdung, which, by fermenting, supplies heat to hasten desiccation. This accounts for the amount of filth found in them, which requires that they be laun- dried before fit for use. The raisin men of California have enjoyed one sea- son of fair prosperity under the Dingley tariff on rai- sins and Zantes. The President is misinformed in the matter of this competitive fruit, and we appeal to our members of Congress to inform him and prevent the ruin of a great industry that will result on making this fruit free. THE SUPERIOR COURT VACANCY. LTHOUGH they have presented a great deal fl of wisdom calculated to illuminate the subject, the able lawyers of the daily press have not yet handed down 2 decision in the case of the vacant Su- perior Judgeship. In short, they have not yet decided whether Governor Budd or Governor-elect Gage will appoint to the late Judge Borden’s place, nor whether the legal tangle caused by the death of the jurist will result in any appointment at all. It is not with any expectation that these able law- yers will agree with us—newspaper lawyers, like real lawyers, never agree on anything—that we interfere in this matter, throwing, as it were, our legal castor into the ring; but the subject is interesting in its com- plications, and that is sufficient excuse for attempting to cast the effulgent glare of our intelligence upon it. At the time of his death Judge Borden was filling an unexpired term by appointment of Governor Budd. He had also been elected to fill a full term be- ginning January 2, but the official result had not yet been declared. There is no doubt that Governor Budd can appoint to the term which expires on Jan- uary 2, but can he or anybody else appoint for the term which begins on that date? Judge Borden’s cer- tificate of election has not yet been issued; in fact, no one knows officially whether or not he has been clected. When the Election Commissioners conclude their labors—unless some one double crosses Judge Borden’s name in the meantime—they will probably make out a document certifying that he received a sifficient number of votes at the late contest to elect him. They have not and cannot have any official knowledge of his death, and the only way they will ever discover that he has been summoned to his last account will be by his failure to appear and claim his office. Judge Troutt had been re-elected and will claim his certificate. Judge Murasky will in due time come around and get his. Judge Seawell will probably take a day off and call for his. But Borden will never put in an appearance. Whether this will create a vacancy for the term beginning January 2 is a ques- tion the journalistic jurists ought to decide before they proceed any further with this matter. There is strely a vacancy in the Superior Court. of this city at the present moment. It is equally certain Ii he does so will there be a vacancy on January 2, or, if there is, and he names the same man between that date and the inauguration of Governor-elect Gage, who can contest the title to the office? The constitution limits the terms of Superior Judges to six years and arbitrarily terminates them at the ex- piration of that period. Section 70 of the Code of Civil Procedure authorizes the Governor to appoint in cases of vacancy, and the appointee holds until the election and qualification of his successor. There is no provision of law enabling a duly elected Superior Judge to act for a longer term than six years, and the assumption that Judge Wallace can hold over by vir- tue of an election which took place six years ago is untenable. It is our opinion—presented with due deference to our learned brethren of the daily press—that Gov- ernor Budd controls the situation. If he appoints a Judge before January 2 and reappoints him after that date, the gentleman will hold office, not until the elec- tion under the new charter next year, but until Jan- uary I, I90L. Concerning a young lady who was recently taken from the surf, one account has it that she was res- cued by some gallant workmen, another that a dpg did the business, and a third that the young lady simply got her toes wet, anyhow. ' Variety being the spice of life, these conflicting statements are of ‘course welcome. Another court—this time in Michigan—has decided that express companies must pay a war tax. Against this ruling the companies advance the plea that they don’t want to pay it. There does not seem to be much in the plea, but so far it answers the purpose, which is that of robbing patrons. For the brutal murder of a sergeant, an officer of the German army has received a sentence of two years in prison, which the Kaiser is expected to commute. By ordering the assassin shot Wilhelm could have done much to make the army better and himself popular. The public will be cheered to learn that the $5,000,- 000 fine imposed upon young Gould for the crime of marrying the woman of his choice has been re- mitted. This country believes in matrimony and would hate to see it discouraged. There is an absence of effort to make the Botkin woman appear as a heroine, which indicates that in this region a murderess, or a supposed murderess, possesses many of the elements of a chestnut. It is only fair that regiments should return from Manila in the order they went, and this will start the California boys home before long. And we won’t do a thing to them when they get here. Major Moore is said to be drowning his sorrows in cider, but if the stories told of him are true, he ought to get enough cider to enable him to jump in and drown along with the sorrow. —_ Brandes is now said to rest under the suspicion of bigamy as well as murder. He may miss the gallows, but so far as the discarded wife is concerned, he can’t escape. Auditor Broderick, in his contention that a thieving School Board has no right to rob the teachers of their wages, will find himself sustained by good citizens generally. Competitors in the six day bicycle race at New York are physical wrecks now. It may fairly be as- of us practically nothing but petroleum, and that in | sumed that they were mental wrecks when they 1806 she made a commercial treaty with Russia | started. THE CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY Previous Contentions That Were Made for Its Abrogation. The contentions and discussions preced- ing and leading up to the making of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and the reasons that made it apparently necessary and desirable as well as the several efforts that have since been made to have it mutually declared invalid and abrogated form a very interesting chapter in the history of American diplomacy. The treaty was signed at Washington April 19, 1850, by Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State in President Taylor’s administra- tion, for the United States, and Sir H. L. Bulwer, the British Minister at Washing- ton, for Great Britain. The opening of interoceanic communi- cation had become a matter of paramount importance to the United States, on ac- count of the vast rush of population to the newly acquired California, where the discovery of gold had closely followed the formal transfer of the territory from the possession of Mexica, to that of the United States by the treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, May, 1848. Already in December, 1846, there had been ratified a treaty between the United States and New Granada (now Colombia), by which a right of transit over the Isth- mus of Panama was given to the United States and free transit over the isthmus “from one to the other sea,” guaranteed by both of the contracting powers. Under the shelter of this treaty the Panama Railroad Company, composed of citizens of the United States, and working with capital supplied from the United States, was organized in 1850 and the road put in full operation in 1885. In 1849, however, before this company had taken shape, the United States en- tered into a treaty with Nicaragua for the opening of a ship canal from Grey- town (San Juan), on the eastern coast, by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua to a convenient point on the Pacific Coast. Greytown was then, however, virtually in possession of and occupied by British settlers, mostly from Jamaica, and the whole of the eastern coast of Nicaragua, so far as the terminus of such a canal was concerned, was held, so Great Brit- aln maintained, by the Mosquito Indians, over whom she claimed to exercise a pro- tectorate. That the Mosquito Indians had no set- tled rights over such territorial site and that, even if they had, Great Britain had no such protectorate or sovereignty over them as authorized her to exercise any dominion or control over their soil, was at the time insisted on by the United States, and that position has since been repeat- edly affirmed. But the mere fact that pretension and claims, baseless as they were, had been set up, and that any attempt to force a canal through the Mosquito Indian coun- try might precipitate a war, induced Mr. Clayton to ask, through Sir H. L. Bulwer, the then British Minister at Washington, the administration of Lord John Russell (Lord Palmerston being Foreign Secre- tary) to withdraw the British pretensions to the coast, so as to permit the con- struction of the canal under the joint auspices of the United States and Nica- ragua. : This the British Government declined to do, but agreed to enter into a treaty for a joint protectorate over the proposed canal. After some long discussion the treaty was drawn and signed in April, 1850, and ratifications were exchanged on the 4th of July following. The provi- sions which it is now sought to abrogate are embodied in the first article, in the following language: The governments of the United States and Great Britain_hereby declare neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control of said ship canal; agreeing that nelther will ever erect or main- tain any fortification commanding the same or in the viclnity thereof, or occupy or fortify or colonize or assume or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection which elther affords or may afford, or any siliance which either has or thay have, to or with any state or people for the purpose of erecting or main- taining any such fortifications, or ocoupying, fortitying or colonizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast or any part of Central A assuming or exercising domin- “same; nor will the United States or_Great Britain take advantage of any intl- macy or use any alliance, connection or in- fluence that either may possess with any state or government through whose territory the sald canal may pass for the purpose of acquir- ing or holding directly or indirectly for the citizens or subjects of the one any rights or advantages in regard to the commerce or navi- gation through the sald canal which shall not be offered on the same terms to the citizens or subjects of the other. Since the execution of the treaty there have been many controversies and much diplomatic correspondence between the two Governments respecting the inter- pretation of the principal clauses. Great Britain having maintained her dominion over the Belize, or British Honduras, it has been claimed by the United States that the treaty is vold or has become voidable at the option of the United States, on the grounds (in the language of a dispatch from Mr. Frelinghuysen, dated July 19, 1884)—first, that the consid- eration of the treaty having failed, its object never having been accomplished, the United States did not receive that for which it covenanted; and, second, that Great Britain has repeatedly violated her agreement not to colonize the Central American coast. On November 19, 1881, Secretary Blaine, through Minister Low- ell, proposed to the British Government certain modifications of the Clayton-Bul- wer treaty. He argued that the conven- tion was made ‘‘under exceptional and extraordinary conditions, which had long ceased to exist—conditions which were at best temporary in their nature and which can never be reproduced”; that the interests of her Majesty’s Government were insignificant, while those of the United States were paramount; that “the presumptive intention of the treaty was to place the two powers on a plane of perfect equality, but that in practice this would prove utterly delusive and would, instead, surrender it, if not in form vet in effect, to the control of Great Britain, as the treaty binds the United States not to use its military forces in any precau- tlonary measure, while it leaves Great Britain perfectly free and unrestrained, ready at any moment to seize both ends of the canal and render its military occu- pation on land entirely within the dis- cretion of her Majesty’s Government.” Lord Granville ably fenced the propo: tion, and a long letter, to which Secretary Frelinghuysen replied on May 8, 1882, re- counting the history of the treaty and the changed condition of things since it was entered into, and saying: The Clayton-Bulwer treaty was concluded to secure a thing which did not exist and which now never can exist. It was to secure the con- struction of a canal under the grant of 1849 from Nicaragua that the United States con- sented to walve the exclusive and valuable rights that had been given to them, etc, etc. Through no fault of theirs (the United States) time was necessarily lost, the work was never begun and the concession failed. The Presi- dent does not think that the United States are called upon by any principle of equity to re- vive those provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty which were spectally applicable to the concession of 1849 and apply them to any other _— concession which has been since or may here- after be secured. In reply, Lord Granville, in a dispatch of December 30, 1882, denied that there was any reason for the United States de- nouncing the treaty or that any necessity existed for removing any of its provi- sions. Mr. Frelinghuysen, in a dispatch of May 5, 1883, reaffirmed his position as to the voidability of the treaty, on the ground, first, that the first part of it ‘‘related to the construction of a canal by the Nica- raguan route only; and secondly because Great Britain has at the present day a colony instead of a settlement at Belize,” besides advancing many other argu- ments fully demonstrating the contention of the United States Government. Further correspondence ensued, but no definite re- sult was ever reached. The United States Government has thus maintained from the outset of the contro- versy that the treaty was void or void- able at its option. KIND. WORDS FOR O’SHAUGHNESSY SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7. 1898. To the Editor of the San Francisco Call—Dear Sir: You allowed me this morning a brief comment on the life of the late Rhodes Borden. To-dav the spectacle of a large congregation of men and women kneeling before the altar of St. Joseph’s Church, while the funeral services over the body of Charles O’Shaughnessy were intoned and sung, in a different sphere of life furnished another example r the young men of this State, which a daily journal may well notice. I am not given to moral- izing, in fact, as a rule, I dislike theor- etical moralists, but this particular scene was practically impressive. O’Shaughnessy was a young man with a fine face, clear eye and manly bearing. His working life for ten years had been spent in an elevator at the Palace. His appearance and his voice were fa- miliar to thousands of guests repre- senting every part of the world. In a place involving very great responsi- bility, he had never failed, and his one act of temporary forgetfulness cost only his own life. He had been sober, honest, intelligent, careful. steady. obliging and agreeable, and, when he died, he had acquired a character an earned a reputation which secured re- gret for his loss and honor to his memory. It is true, therefore, that here and everywhere, merit gains suc- cess. The actual business of the world is not conducted by pothouse politi- cians or by the rioters who pollute the day and make the night hideous. While our State produces young men of the type of O’Shaughnessy no serious danger will threaten our institutions., our so- ciety or our civilization. The music. the perfume and the sympathy which floated about his remains were more than an elegy—they were an inspira- clon. PUBLICOLA. AROUND THE CORRIDORS. M. A. Robert, U. 8. A, iz at the Palace. ‘W. Manson of Vancouver is at the Cali- fornia. L. C. Dudley of Boston is a guest at the California. Fritz Thynen of Germany is a guest at the Palace. F. P. Smallwood of Stockton is staying at the Grand. W. F. White of Portland is a guest at the Occidental. A. L. Robinson, U. 8. A., Is registered at the Occidental. State Librarian F. L. Coombs of Napa is at the Grand. M. J. Maloney of St. Joseph is a guest at the Occidental. Attorney W. F. Knox of Sacramento is a guest at the Grand. Mr. and Mrs, C. Adams of Mare Island are at the Occidental. Attorney F. J. Thomas of Grass Valley is a guest at the Lick. William Wehner of Evergreen is regis- tered at the California. Attorney L. W. Fulkerth of Modesto is registered at the Grand. A. T. Ames of Galt, a large pump manu- facturer, is at the Lick. Colonel J. T. Harrington of the Govern- or's staff is at the Lick. Captain James J. Meyler, U. 8. A, is registered at the Palace. Willlam Kidston of the Roanoke is at the Palace. J. R. Bane and J. H. Einhorn of Santa Rosa are at the California. Mr. and Mrs. F. J. T, Stewart of Wash- ington, D. C., are at the Palace. Mrs. George Reed and Miss Jacobs of Guatemala are at the Occidental. J. Goldman, a prominent merchant of Merced, is registered at the Grand. Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Estenos of Lima, Peru, are staying at the Occidental. Arthur J. Hunn of St. Louis, a well- known horseman, is a guest at the Grand. ‘Walter L. Vail, a prominent merchant of Los Angeles, is a guest at the Palace. Sheriffs 8. D. Ballou of San Luis Obis- po and W. C. Conway of Auburn are at the Grand. A. P. Holfhill of Los Angeles, the pro- prietor of the California Fish Company, is at the Grand. Dr. J. Goodwin of Oakdale and Profes- sor O. P. Jenkins of Stanford University are at the Palace. Thomas Petch of Eureka, who has large interests in the oil and paint business, is staying at the Grand. ‘Willlam Gillette, the actor, was at the Palace yesterday. He opens in Oakland to-morrow night in “Secret Service.” Dr. Charles A. Sheets and wife of To- ledo, Ohio, are at the Palace. Dr. Sheets has come to San Fancisco for the purpose of locating here. ] N. B. Dolson of Seattle and T. J. Smythe of Salinas are guests at the Lick. H. Doc C. Barnbart, a prominent citizen of Santa Cruz, is at the Lick. J. L. Hass, a drygoods merchant of New York; P. R. Schmidt, a prominent wine merchant of Calistoga, and L. F. Moul- ton, a wealthy grain dealer of Colusa, are registered at the Lick. CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. steamship NEW YORK, Dec. 8—John Lawson of San Francisco is at the Holland. A. W. Ransome of San Francisco is at the Im- perial. George Grigg of San Francisco is at the Girard. —_—————— Nuggets of Gold. A. G. Wissel, who is prominently con- nected with the Alaska Commercial Com- pany, and who only recently returned from Alaska, is in the city on his way back to the snowbound realms of gold. He is at the Lick, and has with him a comfortable sum in nuggets. They are all of a large size and superior quality and range in price from $10 up to $100 a nug- gret. The majority of them were mined om_the famous French Gulch claim. Mr. Wissel has a unique watch chain ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN WINS A NOTED CASE The Bequests in the Donahue Estate. RECOVERS TWENTY THOUSANE IMPORTANT DECISION BY DIS- TRICT JUDGE BEATTY. An Honest Agreement Not Against Public Policy and Must Be Fulfilled by Mrs. Sprague. United States District Jddge James H. Beatty of Idaho rendered his decision in the case of Archbishop Riordan vs, Mrs. Belle W. Sprague in the Circuit Court yes- terday. The questions presentcd arose upon a demurrer to the complaint, and were presented before Judge Beatty while he sat in the Circuit Court several months ago. His opinion has been forwarded to the clerk from Idaho. The defendant, Mrs. Sprague, is a daughter of Judge William T. Wallace, and was formerly Mrs. Belle W. Donahue, widow of James Mervyn Donahue, deceased. While Mr. Donahue’s estate was in course of administration at San Rafael, two agreements were made by the Arch- bishop, Mrs. Sprague and certain Catholic asylums. By the terms of one of these stipulations Archbishop Riordan and the Catholic asylums agreed that in any dis- tribution of the estate two-thirds of the property should be regarded as com- munity property, and that the estate should be distributed accordingly. The law allows a man to give in char- ity one-third of his separate estate and one-third of half the community proper- ty, the other half going to the widow. Consequently, the larger the amount of community property, the more would go to the widow, and less could go to char- ity. Judge Angellotti decided that the com- munity property did not reach two-thirds of the entire estate, and, consequently, those charitable institutions which di not make the agreement that two-thirds of the estate was community property received a greater share than Archbishop Riordan and the Catholic institutions that did sign the stipulation. ‘The amount which the Archbishop and these institutions lost by their stipula- tion was $20.858 40, which the Superior Court of Marin County distributed to Mrs. Sprague. The stipulation upon which the suit de- cided by Judge Beatty was brought was a part of the same transaction. By that stipulation it was agreed by Mrs. Sprague that if a bequest of $25,000 for the build- ing of a fountain was decided to be a gift to charity and to be taken out of the fund legally disposable for charftable purposes she would make up the loss to Archbishoj Riordan and the Catholic charities whic! had signed the stipulation with her that two-thirds of the estate should be regard- ed as community property. The Superior Court of Marin County did decide that the fountain was a char- ity, and the losses sustained by that de- cision were as follows: Archbishop Rior- $15,151 51; Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, $3030'30; St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Orphan_Asylum eof San Rafael, $3030 30, and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Infant Asylum of San Francisco, $757 57. Notwithstanding the agreement Mrs. Sprague refused to pay the several amounts above named, and suit was ac- cordingly brought in_ the Superior Court, which she caused to be transferred to the Circuit Court upon the ground that she was a resident of thc State of Louisiana, where she lived with her husband, Rich- ard T. Sprague. The point upon which she attempted to avoid her contract was that it was against public policy, in this: that the result of the stipulation was to give more than one-third to charity. This claim 1s disposed of by Judge Beatty in an opin- ion covering nine ¥ages. in the course of which he says: “It may be observed that at the threshold of the negotiations be- tween these parties their declared pur- pose was to avoid the trouble, expense and delay of litigation. Such contracts honestly entered into are not discouraged by the courts.” In conclusion Judge Beatty said, speak- ing of the plaintiff: “I can. perceive no reason why he may not b{ such a con- tract as he made with the defendant protect himself against the possible adverse action of the court,” and con- cluded by deciding that the contract was not against public policy and that it was enforceable, and aecordingly overruled the demurre; ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, PHELAN BLOCK FIRE — Subscriber, City. The fire In the Phelan Block oc+ curred at about 2 o'clock on the after- noon of February 12, 1898. NOT ON THE PREMIUM LIST—C. G. H., Point Arena, Cal. A dime of 1832, one of 1855 and a quarter of 1844 are not pre- mium coins. The dimes of that date are oftered for 25 cents each and the quartera may be had for 75 cents. A PLAIN PROPOSITION-—J. K., City. In the following proposition the language speaks for itself: “Jones declares that Lavigne will win a certain contest within twenty rounds. Brown declares that La- vigne will not win within tweénty rounds. The contest is declared a draw.” From this it appears that Lavigne did not win within twenty rounds, consequently Brown's contention is correct. GAGE'S MAJORITY—Subscriber, City. The count shows that at the election held in California November 8, 1898, Henry T. Gage received 148,169 votes and James G. Maguire 128,946, giving Gage a majority over Maguire of 19,223. As the full returns as toJob Harriman's (Socialist Labor par- ty) and J. E. (Prohibition) vote have not yet been given Gage's ma- jority over all cannot at this time be fur- nished. That cannot be obtained until the official figures are given to the public. — Cal. glace fru.. 50c per Ib at Townsend’s.® —_—— Our store will be open evenings until Christmas. Sanborn, Vail & Co., 741 Mar- ket street. » e ee————— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. * —_—— Sanborn, Vail & Co. have a big stock of the new Taber-Prang and Hargreaves photo panels, plain and colored, on glass, with gilt, white, green and ebony frames, and they have all the desirable subjects. % —_—— The Prince of Wales is colonel of thir- teen British regiments, the Duke of Con- naught of eight, the Duke of York three and the Duke of Cambridge eight. These of course include regulars, volunteers and yeomanry regiments, and the positions are mostly honorary. —_— ‘Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used over fifty rears by millions of mothers for their children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Colic, reg- ulates the Bowels and 1s the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether arising from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists in every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs. ‘Winslow's Soothing Syrup. 25¢ a bottle. —_—— HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantage of the round-trip tickets. Now only $0 by steamship, including fifteen days' board at hotel; longer stay $250 per day. Apply at 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco, —_——— e of thirteen oblong n ts joined by gold hoo He values the chain at over $100, w! amount the ht of the A eoticaity of Alnsrena s ook ACKER'S ENGLISH nEMEDY WILL STOP a at any time, and will cure tha worst twelve hours or money refunded. No %mnnw