Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-09-11

TON, Sept. 4.-Secretary Sherman has
addressed a long and interesting letter
to 0. Fl. Booth, Of Mansfield, Ohio,
concerning the issue of the trade dollar
and the present depreciation in It's
value. Upon the latter point Secre-
tary Sherman says: cat no time and
on no accent have they ever been re-
ceived or paid out by the Treasury,
and tits cause Of regret that SO many
of our people should have accepted
them at their face value, thus enabling
their owners to put them into circua-
ton at considerable profit. Under
date of July 25, 1878, the Director Of
the Mint published tables from which
the value of coins can be ascertained.
He does not advise any one to dispose
Of them at such rates. AS early as
August "a, 1876 the department in
formed an inquirer that trade dollars
had only bullion value and this infor-
nation has been repeated scores of
times and published by the press
throughout the country. TO avoid the
the labor Of preparing manuscript
letters, the Director of Mint embodied
information in circular, adding there
to tables for computation Of such value.
There was no new decision involved in
the circular, though possible It's pub
lication may have fastened the depre-
citation of coins to their true value, an
event which was inevitable and could
not have been much longer delayed.
Tom THUMBS FATHER AGAIN.
The Chicago correspondent Of the
Golden Rule writes that /" "Among the
LOO inmates Of the Poor House In
this county are Straton, father of Tom
Thumb and a man named Hutchins
who, ten years sago, was pastor OF
, fourishing Congregational Church in
Michigan. The hard hearts of Tom
and the other thirteen children keep
the one there, and sin has sent the
other freindless to live upon public
charity" a..
The above item, which is floating
, around the country, is utterly false, sc
far as it relates to Mr. Stratton. Thai
j., pauper is liar and an imposter. Sher
wood E Stratton, the father of Gener.
al Tom Thumb, died in Bridgeport anc
was buried in Mountain Grove Gene
,. terry fifteen years or more ago. A
lofty monument marks his last resting
place. He left fortune Of some
= $4,000 or more. His widow reside:
: in West Haven. Conn. General Ton
Thumb, one sister and brother consti
!, tute all his surviving children
Bridgeport Conn., Standard, Augus
3Oh ult.
: Gsmbetta leads dual life. He ha
two establishments. In one he wear;
blouse, eats black bread, drinks sour
G wine and receives his plebeian friends
| While in the other be dresses richly
and receives the aristocratic ones in g
t manner BETTING Prince.
: Rather serve: Governor Seymour
e contemp plating the niggardly responses
f made by the people Of the Mohawk
valley, N. Y, to the appeal made to
r them for the Herkimer monument
: fund, says be is "beginning to think
7 General Herkimer made a mistake
: when he died for them"
t The confirmation of Secretary
, Schurz's decision affecting the unsold
land-grants to railroad companies, and
the reverting of these lands to the
public domain, was announced yester.
day. The decision is based upon a
question which arose after the original
decision was altered as to whether the
fact that lands granted by Congress
were mortgaged was in any sense dis
posal of such lands. The original de-
cision threw all lands undisposed of
{ into the market. The railroad compan.
les contended that certain of their
lands were disposed of by having been
mortgaged. The sum of the decision
is that to mortgage piece of property
is not to convey the title to it. This
decision is only final as far as the In
terror Department is concerned. The
Commissioner of the Land Department
will issue circular to land officers
showing what roads are affected by
this decision, giving them instructions
for the sale of the Kansas Pacific
lands. That circular will be made
public in few days, but it is expected
that with the first attempt at sale the
railroad company will seek an injunc-
tion from the courts to prevent such
sale, and that no further steps will be
taken until the Supreme Court of the
United States has been given an op-
portunity to review Secretary Schurz's
decision. The railroad companies
have given notice that they will con-
test every step.
The Chef of Police Of Kenosha was
informed Friday morning that four
young burglar tramps were camping
out in Bonds woods. A raid was
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