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Lincoln Letter
Current Gossip from the
STATE CAPITAL
Legislative and Otherwise
The thirtieth session of the Nebras
ka legislature has practically gone into
history as at this writing the hour of
ilnal adjournment Is near at hand The
last day was spent in listening to the
reports of conference committees and
a general jollification and goodbye ser
vice which began and ended as the
mood of any certain member dictated
A great many of the members of both
houses left Thursday ovening but a
quorum was present all day Friday
and faithfully voted on tho conference
committee reports and toward evening
it was only a waiting game waiting
for tho enrolling clerks to get bills en
rolled Late In the evening it became
apparent the enrolling clerks could not
finish their work before morning and
as there was no business to transact
until heir labors were completed
both houses took a recess until Satur
day morning Friday was spent most
ly on the appropriation bills and the
conference committee8 reports which
were adopted cut out the 20000 ap
propriation for the new orthopedic hos
pital at Lincoln cut out the salary
for a chief clerk in the office of the
Jabor commissioner and added and sub
tracted some minor amounts leaving
a grand total of all appropriations
against the general fund of 3589217
not counting the 1 mill levy for the
university This amount caps the ap
propriations of past legislatures but
members of the finance committee of
both houses justify the increase by
The increased needs of the state The
1 mill levy for the university of
which 100000 goes to the state farm
for new buildings will add not less
than G17G13 to the amount the tax
payers will have to contribute during
the next two years providing of
course Governor Sheldon does not get
busy with his pruning knife which it
is freely predicted he will do The
total of all appropriations two years
ago including the university appropri
ation amounted to 362160405 add
ing the estimated amount which will
go to the university will make the in
crease this biennium approximately
tH7G13 The Lancaster delegation
made a hard fight to save the new
building for the orthopedic hospital
but the legislature could not see the
need of it just at this time
A feature of the legislature in Its
closing hours was the presentation by
the members of the senate to Lieuten
ant Governor Hopewell rf a beautiful
gold headed cane In accepting the
same he said I shall not endeavor
to express my feelings at this time
because I could not if I should try
I can only say I sincerely thank you
from the bottom of my heart not for
the cane but for the sentiments that
the speaker has expressed in present
ing it This session has been very
pleasant We have made many ac
quaintances and friends that we will
remember as long as we live I think
I can say this is a memorable body
a good deal above the average if we
take the word of those who have been
acquainted with legislatures for years
past I believe this is the finest body
of men I have come in contact with
There may be a better body some
where but if so I have never seen nor
heard of it
The state university won 50000
from the Nebraska legislature in the
closing hours However this will af
ford little relief according to the re
port of the university authorities The
conference agreement commands that
100000 be diverted from the 1 mill
levy proceeds and be expended on the
state farm In return the general
fund of the state is to furnish 50000
to be expended as the regents direct
This sum is insufficient it is stated to
make any progress on the civil engi
neering building so badly needed by
the university On the other hand it
Is feared that the expenditures at the
state farm will necessitate the use of
the 50000 for the maintenance of the
university proper
House roll 2GD was indefinitely post
poned in committee of the whole The
bill sought to penalize teachers vhen
they broke their contracts Senator
King opposed the bill He declared
that the school teachers of the state
were honorable and honest They
deserved te utmost consideration If
they damaged a school board there
was an action at law
Don C Despain clerk in the labor
bureau and letter writer of much re
nown has been worsted in his cam
paign for the perpetuation of his pay
check The conference committee on
the general salaries bill eliminated his
salary of 1200 a year fror the list of
perquisites In the riase Vresenta
tive McMullen had the item struck
out alleging that Despain returned no
service therefor
A romance was one of the features
of the closing day of the senate It
leaked out that Senator H B Glover
one of the bachelor members of the
senate and Miss Cordelia Johnson of
Lincoln were to be married in the
evening Their acquaintance began at
one of the receptions held by Governor
Sheldon They met frequently at the
same function and were together much
of the time during the session The
nuptials were tipped off and Senator
Glover was the subject of consider
able joshing
ti
Tho conference committee report on
tho puro food bill was adopted by the
houso and senate making the bill quite
as stringent as when It left tho senate
Tho committee was at work over the
measure a good portion of a whole day
and tho reports were submitted in
each house just before adjournment
being accepted without discussion
Many of tlie provisions objected to by
the druggists were placed in effect but
the provision which the jobbers object
ed to with regard to labels on canned
goods were changed to meet their re
quirements in a business way In brief
the conference committee cut out the
provision for meat inspection and left
thiB to state inspectors Tho provision
that packages must bear the net
weight and measure of their contents
was put back in the bill as was also
the provision that packages must bear
the ingredients stamped on the outside
under certain conditions The dairy
provisions of the bill were little
changed as they were altered by the
house with the exception that instead
of leaving the dairy commissioner to
decide upon the proper test tho
The Gibson bill to prohibit brew
eries from engaging in the saloon bus
iness passed the house Its passage
was foreshadowed by the indorsement
it received Introduced by its author
for the alleged purpose of revenge and
according to common report in the
legislature disowned and disapproved
by him the bill was taken up by others
and pushed with a vigor such as that
given terminal taxation and some of
the other big bills of the session One
feature of the bill which was approved
of by many who voted against It is
that which forbids breweries or their
agents to own or aid in securing li
quor licenses The other feature
which was denounced by a number
who voted for it is the provision ro
hibiting breweries or their agents from
renting property for saloon purposes
The Hamer bill amending a bill
which passed both houses early in the
session and became a law was passed
by the senate after an ineffective fight
to kill it by Epperson of Clay The
legislature passed H R 31 early ln
the session tailing away from cities
villages and precincts the power to
vote bonds in aid of railroads Until
after it became a law very few per-
sons knew the importance of it At
the request of members from the
northwestern part of the state an-
other bill correcting the joker was
introduced the new bill allowing
bonds to be voted for steam railroads
only Senator Epperson who backed
the first bill fought the second one
but was unable to kill it
Redmond of Nemaha got through a
resolution in the house to clear the
title to eight acres of land belonging
to T J Majors by allowing the col
onel to sue the state When the state
bought sixty acres of land for the State
Normal school at Peru it was in two
tracts By a mistake the eight acre
tract was not properly described and
instead of getting what the state
bought the deed reads eight acres be
longing to Colonel Majors However
the state has been using what it
bought for forty years and the reso
lution is only for the purpose of al
lowing Colonel Majors to get his title
cleared up
Senators Ashton and Aldrich fought
a two hours oratorical battle in re
gard to the Milford and Grand Island
homes for old soldiers Ashton won
his fight He pulled house roll No
491 through this measure apropriat
ing 25000 in state funds for a build-
ing at Grand Island Milford was al
lowed 15000 and then Grand Island
came in for 9000 for repairs
Through the provisions of a bill
which was passed in the house and
which had already passed in the sen
ate the sheriff of Douglas county will
receive a salary of 4000 a year after
January 1 1908 Until that time he
will draw his present salary and will
receive 39 cents a day for feeding
prisoners After that date the feeding
of county prisoners will be done by
contract
House roll No 328 to allow bonds
to be voted for railroads slipped
through the senate by a vote of 25 to
7 Hamer introduced the bill in the
house Senators Hanna and Phillips
worked for the bill claiming the
North Platte country needed railroads
The legislature has repealed a similar
law at the present session The bill
restores the statute as far as steam
railroads are concerned
Senator Randall made a fight to in
crease the 1250 appropriation for a
monument to General Thayer to 5
000 He declared the larger amount
would be necessary to erect a shaft
suitable to commemorate the memory
of one of Nebraskas leading citizens
His amendment was voted down
The governor signed S F No 76 by
Seantor Gibson a bill to eliminate
brewers from active or indirect partic
ipation in the retail liquor business
Delegation after delegation of brew
ers called on Governor Sheldon but
despite their protests he signed the
bill
Both senate and the house adopted
the report of the conference commit
tee on amendments to the pure food
bill without serious opposition the ex
pected fight not materializing The
conference committee amended sec
tion 8 over which the big fight oc
curred to make it practically the same
as it was when the bill left the sen
ate It requires the names of ingre
dients but not the quantities to be
placed on bottles and requires the
quantity to be placed on till bottled li
quor except that used for medical pur
poses
X w
Z K1P
Clarke Will Again Play Outfield
Pittsburg baseball fans are joyous over the report that Fred Clarke has
agreed to don a uniform and take his old place as captain and left fielder
of the Pirates When Clarke signed his contract this year it was with the
stipulation that he was to manage the team from the bench at a salary of
8000 a year
Indian Sign Pugilists
Are Usually Winners
Queer Tradition in Fistiana About
Mysterious Road to the Victors
Goal
Several fight critics in attempting
to explain the decisive manner in
which Honey Mellody beat Willie
Lewis of New York in their recent
engagement attribute it to the In
dian sign This is a familiar ex
pression to the followers of pugilistic
events and is used many times to ex
cuse defeat of a local favorite But
for the benefit of anyone who may
not be acquained with the term a
word of explanation will not be amiss
When a man is said to have the In
dian sign on another fighter it sim
ply means that the possessor of this
mysterious sign has defeated a man
once and is considered a sure winner
any time the pair meet again in the
ring It is an old saying and is firm
ly believed in by most of the men
closely connected with the fighting
game Whether or not it was a case
of Indian sign in the recent
match is immaterial
There are plenty of instances in the
history of the ring where it does
seem certain that some fighters held
the Indian sign on others And the
more you listen to trainers and men
intimate with fighters the more firm
ly are you convinced that there is a
great deal of truth in the idea that
certain men can beat others under al
most any condition
Take an example that is always re
ferred to by believers in the Indian
sign that of Young Corbett and
Terry McGovern and they will tell
you that Young Corbett could beat
the Brooklyn terror any time A
well known fight critic visited each of
the fighters in his dressing room just
before he was to enter the ring for
what proved to be Corbetts second
victory over Terry When he asked
Young Corbett how he felt in regard
to the outcome of the fight the Den
verite replied Well Britt might
beat me Herrera might beat me or
you might beat me but I can beat
this fellow any time He was just
made for me That showed Corbetts
supreme confidence
In McGoverns dressing room there
was a different reply to the inquiry
as to what he thought the result of
the fight would be Terry who wa
usually so strong in his belief that he
could win against anybody and never
hesitated to express his opinion said
that night I dont know Hes a
tough feflow That showed the dif
ference and that confidence which
Corbett possessed and his subsequent
decisive defeat of McGovern is con
sidered positive proof by iiiany sport
ing men that Corbett had the Indian
sign on Terry And they claim the
Denvoilte would win any time the
pair start
This is one of the most striking in
stances of the Indian sign There
are many other cases where it is
claimed that certain pugilists could
always beat others Take the case of
three fighters who were active about
Ave years ago Joe Walcott George
Gardner and Kid Carter Although
many people claimed that some of the
fights among this trio had a queer
look there is no doubt that some of
the reversals of dope could be at
tributed to the Indian sign
Joe Walcott certainly had the
sign on George Gardner any time
they started and yet Gardner could
beat Kid Carter who in turn de
feated Walcott In these instances it
looks like a good examaple of the
Indian sign
Another case that could be cited is
that of Jimmy Gardner and Buddy
ltyan Buddy was a first class fight
er in every respect and yet he was
comparatively easy for Gardner
while Ryan beat men with whom
Gardner would not have a look in
The National Game of
Baseball Follows Flag
American Army Has Taken Up the
Game Through Efforts of
Gen Burt
After introducing the great game of
baseball into the army of the United
States and incidentally into the
navy Gen A S Burt U S A is now
endeavoring to make the system of
calling balls and strikes a simple one
in the major leagues He bases his
argument on the fact that not one
fan in a dozen knows what is called
on a batter and if the umpire should
be instructed to raise his right hand
above his shoulder in calling a strike
and his left hand in calling a ball
every fan would know at once what
was doing
Silk OLoughlin one of the Amer
ican league handlers of the indicator
can be heard probably better than
any other umpire in the major leagues
to day but even his powerful Strike
tuh does not carry way out to the
farthest bleacher seats and the sit
ters in that region have to guess and
guess and guess But as the general
says the mere raising of a hand
would clear everything up and lighten
the hearts of the faithful
Gen Burt is known in the army
wherever there is a ball team It
was he who had the courage to play
with enlisted men he himself being a
commissioned officer and in this man
ner paved the way for others In the
Philippines he often competed in
games in which the captain of the
nine was a mere sergeant And as
there must be discipline on a ball
nine the same as in an infantry com
pany the general was not the boss
during the game
By introducing the game into the
army while in the Philippines it is
now played wherever a Yankee sol
dier spreads his tent be it in Cuba
or Hawaii or Panama or Porto Rico
And whenever the battleships or
cruisers touch a port where the na
tives know anything about baseball
a game is arranged speedily between
the crew and the shore folk Espe
cially has this been the case in Japan
Thus if Gen Burt succeeds in get
ting the innovation through with re
gard to the calling of balls and
strikes he will merely add another
triumph to his already long list and
baseballdom will have occasion to do
him homage
I
I
IN CONSTANT FEAR
WIVES OF ENGINEERS HAVE UN
QUIET LIVES
Know Full Well the Danger That Each
Trip of the Loved One May Be
His Last One Womans
Story
When railroad wrecks occur the Hre
manmay jump but tho engineer if he
is faithful to his trust must stay by
tho throttle To do this means death
in many cases No one knows this
better than tho engineers wife Tho
engine men say that they become in
different to danger and lose all dread
of accidents and death Their wives
it seems are the ones who live most
in fear
Engineers wives are not happy if
they love their husbands Many of
them will admit that a shadow rests
an Iheir lives If you ask them in con
fidence Their husbands perhaps do
iot know it
I do not care to make my husband
miserable what little time he is at
home complaining of his profession
said an engineers wife I never
knew of an engineer quitting the busi
ness for his wife or anyone else but
once I heard of a man who gave up
the road at the solicitation of his
sweetheart But after they had been
married a few years he went back
and was killed in a wreck
My husband has been an engineer
on a fast mail train for nearly 30
years said a woman with an unhappy
face I have found that being an en
gineers wife is a kind of semi-widowhood
The only time that I am abso
lutely sure that I am not a widow is
the two or three days out of each
week that my husband is at home
When we were first married lie
ran a switch engine in the yards and
was at home every day There wasnt
so much danger of accidents in that
I hoped that he would always run one
of those busy little engines with a
headlight on both ends
But my husband was ambitious like
other engineers He was not satis
fied with work in the yards I shall
never forget the day that he came
home and told me that he had been
promoted to the road He seemed
very much pleased I hid my feelings
and made an effort to share his pleas
ure with him He ran a freight en
gine for a few years Then he was ad
vanced to a fast passenger engine
The woman stopped talking for a
moment and looked at the clock
Its three oclock lets see He is
near the town of L now A few
miles this side of the place is a bridge
across a river I am always afraid of
that bridge during high water
She said that she had learned her
husbands schedule by heart Every
hour of the day she knows just where
his train should be at that time She
has been over his run many times and
knows the location of every bridge
every high embankment and every
dangerous curve
Wrecks Yes he has been in sev
eral Twice I have seen his name in
the death column in the newspapers
They were awful experiences for me
and the children until we knew the
truth
The life of an engineers wife is
made up of many sad farewells Each
time that I see my husband leave it
is with the thought that this may be
his last trip I believe that I owe my
gray hairs to those hundreds of times
that I have had to say good by
Kansas City Star
TO KEY WEST BY RAIL WITH
ISLES AS STEPPING STONES
GULF
CC iff
MEXICO
BtfOFtZOM
4
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Jf
SsVftki
The most remarkable railway in the
world is now under construction in
Florida where the City of Miami is
to be connected with Key West by
way of the chain of islands known as
the Florida Keys a distance of 154
miles
x
Use Left Handed Movement
The New York Central for conven
ience uses a left handed movement
of all its trains running in and out
of the Grand Central station below
Wakefield on the Harlem division
and Spuyten Duyvil on the main line
A left handed movement simply
means that trains pass one another
on the left instead of on the right
A New York Central official said the
other day that while in England the
left handed movement is used ex
clusively there are only two railroads
in the United States which habitual
ly use it These are the Lake Shore
and the Chicago Northwestern
N Y Sun
Worlds Railroad Earnings
The average railroad earnings for
jthe whole world are 34 per cent of
iixQ capital invested
HORSE LIKED THE TIE8
Enjoyed Pleasant Trot In Front of
Angry Train Crew
This Is why tho Hutchinson train
ou the Great Northern was half an
hour late at tho terminus of the lino
says the Minneapolis Journal
A nice old Charley horse marooned
at Lake Minnetonka by the return of
the summer residents got on tho track
at Crystal bay and trotted placidly
ahead of the train till It had passed
Now Germany In Carver county When
the train pulled up at a station old
Charley kept steadily on and It took
the locomotive several minutes to
catch up with him again Had it not
been for these chances to run for i
iU K W -
few miles at normal speed the train
would have been much more than 30
minutes late
The exasperating thing about it to
the engine crew was the
of old Mr Horse He seemed to
like the right of way and refused to
turn off at any of the crossings The
head brakeman went out on the run
ning board and pelted him with
chunks of coal while the engineer
expressed profanity with the whistle
but the track remained blocked for
speed iby the moving obstacle They
didnt dare run him down and when
they were at a station he was so far
ahead that they couldnt run on and
catch him He bade defiance to block
system signals and derailing switches
and so it was a big relief to a thor
oughly mad train crew when a mile
beyond New Germany ho flirted his
tail and turned off on an intersecting
road He had made a run of 22 miles
and was as fresh as a daisy at the
finish
I dont mind bein 30 minutes late
said the engineer with an air of an
noyance at the end of the run but
I hate like the dickens to run my train
as the second section of a horse
FOR SAFETY ON CURVES
Lesson Learned from Railroad Wreck
in England
The railway accident at Salisbury
Eng in which a train at high speed
was thrown from the track on a curve
has led to much discussion concern
ing the conditions necessary for safe
running on curves The tracks are
specially banked to prevent derailing
and the cause of wrecks seems to be
failure of the trucks to guide the en
gine This it is shown does not de
pend upon the truck itself An old
engineer points out that certain
trains which had a habit of leaving
the track on a downhill curve were
braked mostly by the engine caus
ing the cars to bump against it and
as the drawbar between engine and
tender was lower than the axle of the
trucks the rear end of the engine was
depressed and the forward end raised
The conditions are now reversed
With emergency brakes the braking
is mostly done by the train but as
the drawbar is now higher than thf
axle of the trucks the forward end of
the engine is raised by the pulling
back of the cars A new locomotive
design is the suggested remedy In
this the weight must be readjusted
and enough must be placed on the for
ward trucks to make sure that they
can guide the engine at all times
Rode on Corpses Ticket
Time was when traveling men
who rode with the same conductor
year after year could hope to receive
a quiet wink once in awhile in place
of a demand for his fare said one
of the old Michigan salesmen to the
Detroit Free Press Nowadays the
companies are so strict a knight of
the punch would not dare pass his
own mother I had one friend remem
ber me awhile ago though
I got on at a small station bound
for Cadillac There were not many
in the car and I thought I must havo
taken the wrong train Then I saw
the conductor was an old friend He
came down where I sat alone after
awhile and handed me a slip
Theyve just put a corpse on
board Fred he said and I guess you
might as well ride on his ticket The
corpse is boxed up tight in the bag
gage car and he couldnt kick if he
wanted to
I took the ticket but I carne so
near splitting with laughter that it
looked as if I would have to let the
other passengers into the joke I
didnt though Its the only time I
remember passing for a dead one
Have New York as Terminus
New York city is the terminal for
25 railway lines
fit
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