Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-08-14
FIRST EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA.
our sATuR DAY LETTER

OF THE soHUYLKuL sYsTFM-THE BRIDEsBUno
ARSENAL EXPLOSION AND THE UNIVERSITY HOS
PfTAL-A HURRICANE IN THE CIrY-THE PEACH
SHIPMENTS, ETC.
Special Correspondence Of ths Commercial.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10.
The death OF Horace Binney was not only the
event Of the week and in this city it was an
occurrance Of national concern and one Of the
true events Of the year. The effect Of the news
is just beginning to be felt, people are only
beginning to realize, AZ expressions
of veneration, admiration and sym
pathy are received from distant sections
that Mr.. Binney, although lifelong resident OF
this city and Philadelphian to the core, was rec
ognized by the land at large as the patriarch Of
the bar. This not alone on account OF his great
age but because in him was seen an eminent
representation Of legal knowledge and force
joined with high integrity and the perfect pro.
fessional manner OF old days. Greater lawyers
perhaps than Mr.. Bnney have arisen since hit
retirement from practice, for example Vim. Nj.
Evarts and Chas. O'Conor, but at the time Of hia
retirement he the confessed head OF the
legal profession in the United States, and leav-
ing the Held with such a reputation tile years
Lave naturally and properly preserved that fame
and added to it. or course only elderly men
have any recollection even OF the close OF MIR.
Binney's career but popular Judgment il happi-
ly not founded on mere tradition. Besides the
records going to show that for forty years MIR.
Binney was connected with the first legal inter
ests OF the city and State there il the cotempo-
rary evidence of Chase, Everett, Sergeant, In
gersoll and Others to assure us that our renera-
ton is not misplaced, and that We are not led
away by the feelings inspired by no exceptional
length OF life.
And that life,-h strange and wonderful
thing man born before the constitution and
outliving seventeen Presidents college gradu-
ate in the last century and admitted to the bar
III the year 1900 Almost OF years OF discreticn
when the French Revolution-the trBt OF them
startled the world and who road accounta at
first hands of the establishment OF " States Gen
eral, the Massacre OF the Swiss, and the execu-
tions Of " Madame Veto" and Louis, the Well
Beloved !" man cotemporaneous with the
whole career Of Bonaparte and who noted the
history and progress Of this country from post
revolutionary times to the present adminlHtra-
ton. Surely, it is passing strange, 1t is not
only the fact OF extreme age but the fact .oi
genius at such an age. We hear daily OF the
deaths of centenarians but the case Of MIR. Bin
ny is practically unexamped. Considering ev-
erything, the nature of the man, his learning,
his public services, his intellectual force, and
his ability to interpret events, all sthese things
make the facts of this life exceptional that
they will probably not be equalled in tho time
OF any one now living.
The question OF the city water supply is grad
ually assuming the proportion which some peo-
pie have long seen was inevitable. The pupho
men who, 80 long AZ water can be obtained Ill
tolerable amount and of tolorable purity Will not
think OF the future. But men who do think know
that there has got to be a reconstruction. Ihe
city has outgrown tho Schuylkill supp,ly-or
rather such ot that supply as il fit to drink. II
the wisdom that came to us recently III the es'
tablishment of the Park had been
an earlier growth, II the banks
of the Schuylkil had been made public property
to point above Manayunk, and If the manufac
t,rr an ha AT m
been forbidden in good season, no city IN the
world would have had finer water supply than
that furnished Philadelphia by the Schuylkll
River. unobstructed, it has capacity to sup
ply not only Philadelpma but London anc
Paris combined. But the dams along it's course
back the water into pools and only after heavy
rains docs the whole river How into
Fairmount. For the most OF the time
we do not gather from the entire stream,
but only from the stretch below the Manyunk
Dam, fed by few slender creeks between that
point and Falrmount. This might all have been
averted IL our predecessor had had the proper
wisdom, but the manufacturing system wae
built up step by step, the ultimate greatness oil
philadelphia not boing appreciated Now, asi
entire change Of base would cost icss thar
to disposess manufacturers and 30 control the
Schuylkill. Thus we pay for experience IN Die
things as in little. In planning new system OF
OF water works Philadelphia will be sure to Sc
cure the purity of ts supply but how much viii
| it have cost to learn the lesson And how many
smaller communities are making the same mis-
take that we now realize and which Will IN tnrr
become equally clear to themselves Inc
opinion il nearly unanimous among the newly
appointed Bosrd of Water Engineers that tht
Schuylkill should bo wholly abandoned. A pro
| ject of an aqueduct, on the croton plan, iron
| the Perkiomen has strong support III the Com
| mission. This aqueduct would be between thlr.y
/ and forty miles IN length and the water woulc
| reach us by gravity. Numerous other plans are
talked OF but the subject has not assumed suci
shape that / need revert to them In detail
| 1t may be some time yet before the subject be
| comes one of general discussion.
| The explosion at the Government arsenal ~
| Frankford escaped being great calamity
| through tho simple but ingenious method OF
constructing the roof of the building where the
blow-up occurred. Possibly all buildings de-
signed for similar uses are 30 constructed they
should be, at all events. In this Case the rool
lifted without injuring the walls, scarcely
disturbing the cornice. Without suci
a precaution the thirty persons within th'
building would probably all have been kiilet
and the flying stones and timbers might nav
occasioned a great number OF other casualties
Tbree bows we're killed by the explosion. enc in
stantly and the other dying within short Tune
The boys were emptying condemned cartridges
and it is supposed the Illuminating cap on one
the missiles was struck tho spark leadlnl
through the medium Of loose powder sprin
ked about to a pile of the half-emphe'
cartridges An effort was made to charg
the University Hospital Will ulshch
nation to furnish aid to the sufferers
the story gettipg abroad that, on being Appealed
TO, the Hospital Surgeons asked II they were .
| be paid for their servicesf Some feeling wa
| excited by this statement, but DR.. Pepper OF Tn
University has put the matter, right Inc DOC
tor saws it is positive law OF the Hospital Una
its resident Surgeons shall not accept comPenss
tiop in any quarter for services, and that I'll
| question of which 30 much was made reterre
| simply to the transportation service of the Hot
, pital Ambulance which in the first alarm 1t wa
Thought would be needed.
, The Tornado on Wednesday evening wa
one of the most singular experience
! citizeps have had in q long time. The sudden
| ness OF the shock was something TO remempel
The powder explosion just referred 70 wa
scarcely more abrupt. In less tune than lt take
here to tell it houses, factories ana stapies wer
unroofed. Chimneys blown down, IRON renee
, and tree boxes demolished, and good sized tree
torn up by tho roots. 1t was genuine hurri
, cane. 1t cut only narrow swath OF about wv
, squares in width, and swept from about 23Id an
, CaIlowhill streets in slightly north-east dlret
t ton to the Glrard College Grounds where
Z rose as mysteriously as 1t had descehueu
q | liz a considerable section had peen COY
Q cred by the hurricane the resul'
3 would no doubt have been as serious as thos
d | at Geneva or which have attended any recent g
{ emental disturbances. We had all the coma
L tions of wind storm OF the first CLASS. hs
Q the rain, not only oil Wednesday but on all otht
t days and nights-I leave that to tue ima8ii
l. ton. We begin to fear there Will Dc no moi
IS comfortable dryness this summer.
d Complaints have been heard III some qua,tel
-..t. Ill. Aoat.n hu