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The Commoner.
, VOLUME 3 "NUMBER it
f CURR8NT ATOPICS
rx"S i?s- x
fjiyCiJ A
flR?
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT PROVIDES A
pension fund of ?G0,000,000 which Is used
for tho relief of railroad men who suffer from ac
, cldent8. A writer in the New York Tribune says
that the care of railroad men is one of tho few
philanthropies to tho credit of the government
of the hear and that the elaborate scale on whicn
it was worked out shows what tho Russians can
do If they will. The Russian railroad hospital is
a combination hospital for tho sick and injured
and a homo for Invalids and is usually surrounded
with a largo tract of land with ample buildings for
tho comfort of not only the invalids, but for their
families, the grounds being divided into tracts
which tho families can work for their own profit.
Great progress has been made recently in the es
tablishment of railroad hospjtals in tho United
Stal.es. Tho largest railway lfospital in tho world
Is said to bo located in St. Louis where 18,000
patients were treated last year.
A SURVEY OF THE MASON AND DIXON
lino Is now being made under the authority
of tho United States coast and geodetic survey.
A writer in tho St. Louis Republic says that the
popular impression that tho Mason and Dixon
lino formed tho dividing lino between tho slavo
and anti-slavo states is erroneous. During the war
this line was talked of In a vague way and became
confused with the Missouri compromise and many
other current terms of expression of tho time.
This writer says that tho Mason and Dixon Una
Is tho boundary between Maryland on one si do
and Pennsylvania and Delaware on the other side.
It formed tho northern and eastern boundary of
Maryland, so far as limited by contiguous states.
At tho time of its survey Delaware was part of
Pennsylvania, and was known as the "Three Low
er Counties on tho River Delaware." Tho term is
however, often extended to cover tho whole south
ern boundary of Pennsylvania, and not without
good reason, as Mason and Dixon had received
instructions to complete tho whole of that line
and had actually progressed some thirty miles to
tho westward of the western limit of Maryland,
then unmarked and unknown, when their opera
tions wore stopped by the Indians, who were then
S i7?c U, WC3tVof the Alleghenies. This was
in 17C8, and was the final act of a long-maintained
and rancorous dispute between the lords proprie
tors of Maryland and Pennsylvania, which had its
birth in the grant by King Charles I. of England,
to Caecilius Calvert, Baron Baltimore, of the
provnee of Maryland, carved from the parent
province of Virginia, and extending on the nortci
to the fortieth parallel of latitude. This in
cluded the whole of Delaware and about fifteen
"lvanla. thG Eouthern border of penn-
WHEN MANY YEARS LATER WILLIAM
Penn obtained from King Charles II the
nti l the provinco of Pennsylvania and estab- '
lished his town of Philadelphia, according "to Sis
same authority, he found to his dismay that the
and'he ffiSfeL T thrUg hattow
ftmit Ser?fore- refused to accept that charter
a s hrewri lb,0imdary ,Penu 8eems to hav been
' toe T,SLinid nunscrunulus Politician, and, hav-
H and of " I'T? the C0l,rt both o Oharlea
L , , , mes u" he managed, through a ser-
iwn fJntH,SUe? and llt,eatins r too long to
SEnihS ?U?r h0,r0 t0 forco a nation which
fm" .ed In Maryland losInS Delaware and hav
ing to accept as tho southern boundary of Penn-
mlinf ia u TC1101 of latitudo sffied fifteen
pHAT IT WAS ONLY AFTER NEARLY A
aclv
Wired the fruition of Ms chemes Is pSed oTt
by this same authority and ifr ti .5, Ut
similar woik, they made a survey that Is really
mounmental in its way, and undoubtedly the best
of all tho provincial boundary surveys. Arriv
ing at Philadelphia in the fall of 1763, they began
active operations the following spring and con
tinued tho work until the fall of 1768, when' they
were discharged. The object of the present sur
vey is to restore the old monuments, many of
which have been destroyed or removed and to
erect additional monuments for the better defini
tion of the line. Owing to tho fact of Maryland
being a slave state, while Pennsylvania was a
free state, this line was frequently mentioned In
tho discussion over that burning question ana
many confound it with the "Missouri compromiso
line." It was also generally forgotten that the
boundary between Maryland and Delaware was a
part of the Mason and Dixon line. These were
both slave states and there was therefore no dis
tinction to be drawn.
3-' &
ANEW JERSEY PENNY BEARING THE
date of 1787 was unearthed by the sexton
of the parish cemetery at Mamitituck, Long Isl
and. The sexton discovered the coin while he
was engaged in opening a grave. The Mamitituck
correspondent of the Brooklyn Eagle says: "On
the penny's face is the United States shield an-',
tho inscription 4E Pluribus Unum,' and on tho
rovorse the date, 1787; a horse's head and a plow
(coat-of-arms of New Jersey), and the Inscrip
tion, 'Nova Caesarea' (Latin for New Jersey).
The sexton was cleaning up the earth removed
from the grave of Elias Smith, when the penny
was found. The land where the cemetery is lo
cated was once farming land, bought of the late
Joseph Wickham by the late John Cox, and pre
sented to the parish. One portion of tho ceme
tery dates back in the 1600 period, but the spot
where the penny was found was acquired since
that time."
A JURY IN THE FEDERAL COURT IN HAN
nibal, Mo., was recently persuaded to ren
der a verdict against a railroad company in the
sum of $14,198.28. The attorney for the plaintiff
adopted a unique method of bringing about this
result Mrs. Martha B. Phipps of Macon had
Sowghi sui gainst the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe railroad for $15,000. Mrs. Phipps was
represented by Attorney Nortoni. The Hannibal
correspondent of the Kansas City Journal tells
the interesting story in this way: "Mrs Phinns
claimed that a spark" from one of Us engines
caused the burning of her deceased husbaldl busi-
that thrPSy ? ?tBl Th0 tesmony showed
,, L H SaJitaFe train stopped at Ethel four min
utes the night of the fire, but also that tho flr
was well under way before the train pulled out
and the road's attorneys argued thSt it was
ridiculous to maintain that a fire could be started
K 1 fpark and set well under way in such a
short time. Mr. Nortoni took out his watch and
SonHlRJ2Tf L' SVHarlan aCkeranof
t X lph C?Unty' and requested him
to signal when four minutes had nassed Tho
Their seaTs Mr yTTfltIr?d and settled back
rested 3 on h f' irJla V0WGred his hand and
fnoo tmi , (1 a watch was studying its
"or loss to bo!" U, Xn0t SUm Ue,"Ir Sow5l
-pHE Algonquin Indians occupied a
has flavored that ttoMfllfg f
pie of the United States a large number of verbal
heirlooms. He says that there are one hundred
and thirty-one words of Algonquin derivation iu
the English language. Aniong these are the fol
lowing: Chipmunk, hickory, hominy, menhaden
moccasin, moose, mugwump, musquash, pemmi
can, persimmon, pappoose, pone, porgy, 'possum
powwow, raccoon, samp, skunk, squash, squaw'
succotash, Tammany, tautog, terrapin, toboggan'
tomahawk, totem, wigwam, woodchuck. '
a? af
A CLERGYMAN LIVING AT SYRACUSE, N.
Y., has just now received considerable at
tention from the press. The name of this clergy
man is Allan D. Draper. He was pastor of the
Fourth Presbyterian church of Syracuse at a sal
ary of $3,000 per year. Recently Mr. Draper ap
plied to the general Presbyterian session to re
lease him from his pastorate and permit him to
take up work in the Elmwood Presbyterian church
at a salary of $800 per year. The request was
granted and Mr. Draper left a church having a
membership of 700, a seating capacity of 900. a
property valuation of $100,000 and a salary of S3 -000
for a church having a membership of SO, a
?atJn caPacifcy of 200, a property valuation of
$10,000 and a salary of $800. Mr. Draper explains
that he made the exchange because of the good
he believed he could accomplish and it will not
he doubted that a man capable of such a sacrifice
may be depended upon to accomplish good in
any field.
1-HE ASHTABULA DISASTER OF 1876 WAS
recalled by an incident that recently hap
pened within three-quarters of a mile of the
scene of that famous accident An Ashtabula, 0.,
dispatch by the Associated press under date of
March 21 says that "the Twentieth Century Lim
ited west-bound train came near meeting a ter
rible fate. Only the hand of Providence saved
it. inexplainably a derail signal showed a dan
ger signal when the track was clear. This caused
the engineer to stop his train and when ha
started it after ascertaining that the track was
clear, the train was not yet going at much speed
7a lt 5rtr?6S. a defectve switch and left tho
f; J not been for thls incident the
S?aS?dn5?vS1ru8hed tnro"Su this city at
high speed. The Twentieth Century Limited does
thi S af Ashtabula- is the train which makes
27 New York to Chicago in twenty
Si Twf ca,rs of five Psenger coaches re-
mp i rL?e,tracc,and only the froQt wheels of
one in front of it left the rails."
nPHE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE, WHO IS A
exnerienndlna Vr re-election. undeterred by the
teA tw f hie fyernor of Kansas, has prom
confei iwfeCited' he wil1 marry- The mayor
and ft? f he ?as not yet selectd the woman
ample SPfhv?T?ntS are citin the horriMe ex
Eeason SrVl? s1overnor of Kansas as provid
et soZ thG dPmand tnat e mayor give at
shall do cast.g f PrgreSS before ho ballots
A MONUMENT TO HORSE IS TO BE
resnondonf X ??U1Xf?' I1L The Bloomingto.t
that the tr,t f th ?hicag0 Record-Herald says
members 1? if tllG, prPsed home for aged
erect this L MofoWo order at Sullivan will
Bt?aU LffiT0.- The exPnatlon for this
ago imnofi m- giVen as f0ll0WB: "Somo tlme
farmofRoho? legacy of the
farm Is of ann L aS a site for a hom Th'J
the tnistLs JivrGS; Valued at fuy $25,000. While
covopS 1,1 inspectinS the farm they dis
fence, and w?rn lS,rr0lnced a neay kePfc
favor to graT n?ftrmed II was u gravo of .
a y0gimg T' ?WnS? by MIller when lie
Miller mat o ow In .the sprIne of 1849 Mr
hRck; he returnil nn0iyMto Califoia on horse
twice. HoSl? repeated the journey
'rips, aggreEatin-?.iiSaanlmal for lhe thre3
and horS acoomni1 Hy ?5,000 mlles- Both owner
Bcathed and 1hHi?mSd i.0, lonB ;,ournGys un'
ward. When it aHimaliv,Gd many years after-
conslderaiceremonv "n ller burIed lt witl1
around the gravpwy ?d erected the fence
the story of MrMiiw th Masnic board heard
decided without 7 S reard for the mare they
they boiieveS woufd hT ne vote to do wnat
would have pleased Mr. Miller mors
EiHssa
Vjul.