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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1902)
v o V. ' I1" It Nov. 7, 190JI day out all were discovered by an officer. They .were brought before tho captain, who set them to .work in tho stoke hole. There they heard start ling stories of the fate that awaited stowaways when they arrived in New York. It was too much for Johnson. He learned that a steerage passenger bad died and that his body had been oncloscd in a pine box to bo brought to port Johnson saw his opportunity, and, going down into the hold that night, he tore the top off the box, took the body out and hid It under a pile of matting. Then he crawled into tho coffin himself. Ho replaced the top so carefully that the nails fitted into tho holes from which ho wrenched them. Twenty four hours later ho was dragged out, after the ship had been searched from stem to stern. He was half famished and badly frightened, but with his companions he managed to dodge about from tho deportation pen at Ellis island into the booth for admitted immigrants and reached shore. THE PROPOSED TREATY BETWEEN DEN mark and the United States providing for the cession pf tho Danish "West Indies was re jected In the landsthlng October 22. The rejection occurred on tho second reading of tho bill. An in teresting story relating to the defeat of this meas ure is told by the Copenhagen correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle. This correspondent says: "Crown Prince Frederick, all tho ministers and many members of tho diplomatic corps and members of the foln.ethlng were present The public galleries were crowded. Long before tho hour fixed for the meeting of tho house the streets were crowded with excited seekers for admission. Tnousands were turned away. The hall and gal leries were packed. The vote was taken amid sup pressed excitement and the announcement of the result was greeted with a storm of cheers and hisses. The exhibitions of joy on the part of the anti-sale men was almost unbounded. The dis order was not suppressed for a considerable time." THAT THE TREATY WAS DEFEATED BY the votes of two dying men is an interesting fact brought out by the Chronicle's correspondent On this point he says: "The defeat of the treaty was accomplished by the votes of Thygeson and Rahen. They were not present at the first reading at which there was a small majority in favor of the treaty. The ages of these men are 97 and 87 years, respectively. Both had been expected to die for several weeks past They were both bedridden at their homos, 150. miles from Copen hagen, But they were brought,' to the city. Promi nent anti-sale political leaders were sent to trans port them here. The sufferers accompanied by physicians were carried into a saloon car, which was rolled on a ferry-boat, on which it crossed from Jumand. After their arrival at Copenhagen they were met by leading anti-salers and wera driven in carriages to a hotel. There the two old men were guarded and nursed over night and wero eventually carried to their chairs in the landsthlng hall an hour before the meeting. They had a prompter on hand to assist them 'In voting." IT SEEMS TO BE ADMITTED THAT THE predominant sentiment throughout Denmark is in favor of the cession. The Chronicle corre spondent attributes the rejection of the treaty chief ly to a domestic political effort to embarrass the government and bring about the resignation of the ministry. It Is admitted thatthe question of the Bale of the islands will not be raised for a long time and it Is said that the finance minister in tends to send a commission to the Danish West Indies to investigate the situation with a view of assisting the islands In developing better economic conditions. The syndicate recently formed prom ised to submit its plans and prepare to carry them out as soon as possible. SUSPENSION OF THE LIBERTY OF SPEECH In Ireland and the Imprisonment of promi nent Irishmen has served to contribute new vigor to tho Irish question. Balfour refused to give the Irish members a single day in which to discuss the condition of Ireland, but the prime minister was considerably surprised and it Is said somewhat tamed by the stern manner in which his action was resented. The London correspondent faf the Chicago Chronicle says that the scene when John O'Donnell rushed across the floor to Mr. Balfour was one of the most exciting ever witnessed In the house of commons. Had ho laid hand on Mr. Balfour the ministerialists and the Irishmen, who were furious and shouting their loudest, inevitably wouM have been at each other's throats. Nothing could have prevented such a melee as has never teen seen in the Austrian diet Mr. O'Donnell told the Chronicle correspondent that his object was to force Premier Balfour and Irish Secretary Wyndham at all risks to hear him denounce their action in imprisoning him when he spoke in Ire- The Commoner. land and closuring him when he spoke In parlia ment Every time he has tried to address his own constituents In two years ho has been forcibly prevented by the police and ho avers that ho has been brutally maltreated. Already he has served seven months in prison undor tho coercion act for public speech and now ho is going in for three months. In the latter case tho magistrates divided one offenso into three parts, sentencing him a month for each, thus making him live on bread and water nine days and steep on a plank bod tho whole three months. If they had given him three months straight ho would only huve to cat broad and water throe days and sleep on a plank bed one month. Such measures have exasperated tho Irish. 7 ACCORDING TO A LONDON CABLEGRAM tho Russian minister of finance and tho tariff committee have fixed the rates for a journey through Russia on tho Siberian railroad from any frontier station on the west to a station In Man choorla, on the Russo-Manchoorlan frontier. Tho first-claBs faro, inclusive of an oxtra charge on op press trains, and not including a charge for bed ding, sleeping, etc., will bo 164 rubles, or about ?G3. The second-class faro will be about ?5 less. Tho Siberian express will start from Moscow, which may be reached by way of St Petersburg on the Warsaw branch. Beyond the frontier sta tion the journey through Manchoorla will bo a charge of the Chinese Eastern railway, which, ac cording to Russian official statements, has bo-:n recognized as a foreign lino. Immediately after this recognition it was announced at Kharbln that the opening of the line through Manchoorla to traffic had been postponed for a year. THE ONLY BUFFALO HERD IS LOCATED IN Stanley county, South Dakota, according to the Fort Pierre correspondent of tho Minneapolis Tribune. This herd Is owned by James W. Philip at Fort Pierre. It is known as the Dupreo herd. There are seventy-five of these fine creatures, and they are confined in a 1,000-acre pasture eight miles north of that city. The pasture Is so con structed as to withstand a great deal of resistance the posts being set very near together and very deep in tho ground, and is almost twice tho height of an ordinary fence. Within this pasture is a smaller enclosure where the herd can be penned, thus affording visitors a better opportunity of ob servation. A short distance from this enclosure Is the commodious ranch where the keepers reside, and hundreds of tons of hay are kept constantly on hand. The original of this herd were five calves captured by tho Dupree family in 1882 whllo on a buffalo hunt on the Little Missouri river. Tho captives that in time were to represent an im mense fortune were hauled In an ordinary wagon to the Dupree homo on the Cheyenne river, about twenty miles below where the little town of Leslie is now located. They were close herded for a time and then permitted to range at will as in their natural state. They increased steadily un til they reached almost the present number, when, about a year and a half ago, tho entire herd was purchased by Mr. Philip from the Dupreo estate and moved to his pasture near Fort Pierre on tho Missouri river. It is the intention of Mr; Philip to take this remnant of the great herds of the north west to tho exposition at St Louis in 1904 and if tho constant streams of visitors to the pasture is an indication it will prove to bo one of tho chief attractions there. SOME OF THE INACCURACIES OF AUTHORS are pointed out in an Interesting way by Edward Latham in the Saturday Review. For In stance, in "Ivanhoe" a knight of Richard I. holds converse with a contemporary of William tho Con queror, who was Richard's great-grandfather. In "The Newcomers" CHve in a letter dated 1830 asks, "Why have we no picture of the sovereign and her august consort from Smee's brush?" Tho rea son was probably due to the fact that there was no prince consort before 1840. The moon seems to be a very dangerous planet for writers to trifle with. In "King Solomon's Mines" Rider Haggard makes an eclipse of this satellite take place at the new instead of the full moon an astronomic impossi bility. In the "Children of Gideon" Walter Besant has caused a new moon to rise in the east at 2 o'clock in the morning. The most casual observer has without doubt noticed that the new moon ap pears In the western sky and sets from tho mo ment it becomes risible. Trollope makes Andy Scott come "whistling up the street with a cigar in his mouth." THIS SAME WRITER POINTS OUT THAT AT the close of "Around the World in Eighty Days" the hero arrives triumphantly at his club just as the clocks of London strike ten minutes to twelve! A Paris journal recently recorded the dis covery in the Seine of the nude corpse of a man With ton sous In his waistcoat pocket But thJ was scarcoly more paradoxical tkn the case of Robinson Crusoo, who boforo divesting himself of his clothes to owlm to tho wreck took precaution to fill his pockets full of biscuits. In "Don Qulx oto" Sancho continues to rldo on hi as3 after having lamontcd tho animal's death. The ana chronisms and errors of Shakespoaro are too well known to rcqulro repetition. Ho speaks of cannon in tho reign of King John, a century and a half be foro thoir Invention; ho refers to printing in the reign of Henry II., of clocks In tho tlmo of Cacear; makes Hector quoto Arlstotlo and Corlolanus refer to Cato. Ho Introduces a billiard table into the house of Cleopatra, makes Delphoo an island and gives a seacoast to Bohomia. GENERAL DAVIS, JUDGE ADVOCATE OF tho United Statos army, recently mado a re port showing tho results in army trials. This re port shows that during tho year ending Juno 30, ninoteen commissioned officers wore tried by court martial, of whom six wero acquitted. Two cadets wcro tried and convicted. Tho number of enlisted mon convicted wero 4,854, tho sentences in 158 cases boing disapproved, whllo 430 cases roBulted In acquittal. Tho number of men sontenced to dis honorable discharges wore 2,965. Death sontence wero Imposed by courts-martial in eight case of enlisted men, four of theso sentences being on conviction of murder, two on conviction of do sortlon and of entering the service of the enemy, ono on conviction of desertion alone and one on conviction of robbery and larceny of United State arms and attempting to steal ammunition after desertion. The sentences wore executed in three cases of murder, and In tho other cases were com muted to dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and allowment, and to hard labor for llfo in four cases, and to a term of thrco years' labor In the remaining case of desortion only. It Is shown that 720 persons wore tried, being 2C0 less than in the preceding years. Of this number 076 wore con victed and 144 acquitted. In fifty-five cases the sentences wore disapproved. Death sentonces were imposed by military commissions in about 23S cases (nearly all natives of the Philippine Islands). On conviction of tho more serious crimes name in tho list tho sentonces were executed in 128 cases. In the romainlng cases the sentences were commuted to imprisonment for life or for a term of years. A MOVEMENT It ON FOOT TO REMOVE TO this country the ancestral home of the fam ous Washington family. It Is rumored that this old house will bo torn down and tho material brought to this country and re-erected. The Chi cago Record-Herald of October 12 gives the fol lowing description of this old manor house: "It stands at the eastern extremity of tho English village of Sulgravp, about eight miles from Ban bury, a town better known to tho majority of travelers, perhaps from tho neat little packets of cakes that they c.ior for salo at Its railway sta tion. Sulgrave masor has for many years past been used as an ordinary farm house; tho estate originally belonged to a priory dissolved by Henry VIII. at tho reformation, and was given to Law rence Washington of Northampton. Lawrence Washington came of a Lancashire family and was mayor of Northampton In 1532 and 1545. He died in 1585 and was burled In Sulgrave Church. On his tomb the patriotic American of today may see tho original of tho famous banner of the Stars and n-wpes In other words, the Washington arms, consisting of red bars on a silver ground with three five-pointed stars. Lawrence Wash ington's grandson, Lawrence, had two sons, both of whom emigrated to America about 1657, and it was one of these sons John who became the great-grandfather of the Illustrious George Washington. THE DISCUSSION OF THE PROJECT TO remove the Washington building to thla country has served to bring to light the fact that among the historic London buildings marked for destruction is tho chapel where the author of "Pilgrim's Progress" preached. This famous build ing consisted of a -doublo house, one half of the same being used for the chape and the other as a hiding place for the preacher and his followers in time of persecution. John Bunyan'g connection with this church began after his twelve years' im prisonment for expounding the doctrines of his creed, when he became a licensed preacher. Three years afterwards his license was revoked as were all those of the non-conformist ministers, and on Bunyan's refusal to give up preaching he waa again arrested and sent to prison for six months. It la said that It was during this latter imprison ment that he wrote his great work, though it wx ot completed until some time after his release. ( HI frifrli,tM,LlVialf titMHtHjLiH liKftiii hAi t liijtfri'Vtiftfii ftfcanfiiBii 11 ff 1 JitfiituM ir ! ,lL-LJfllLiA. mr i.rflifcTfl liitismm