Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-13
THE EVENING STAR.
Washington News and Gossip.
GOVERNMENT RECEIPTS sTO-pAY.-Internal rev.
enue, s612, 2,613s2; customs, s535, ,4o3.s7.

dUNEhNMEST HkCklPIS SIO-DAf.-luUSTualE6 rev.
enue s612, 2,6'3.s2; customs, s535, ,4o397.
THE Z. S. TUG SPEEDwELI., the vessel used by
the fish commission during the summer, arrived
at the navy yard here yesterday afternoon at 4
O'Clock.
NAVAL ORDERs-Passed Assistant Paymaster
Fl. C. Macchette to the New Hampshire at Port
Royal, November 1st. Paymaster T. L. Thomp-
son from the New Hampshire and ordered to
settle accounts
ARMY ORDERs.-The general court martial
appointed to meet at Columbus barracks, Ohio,
August 10, 1879, is dissolved. Leave OF absence
for six months is granted Captain Arthur w.
Allyn. 10th infantry, and Captain o. W. Pol
lock, 23d infantry.
PENSIONS AND PENsIoNERs.-At the ceebra-
tion in Philadelphia, Saturday, of its 18th an
niversary by the Grand Army of the Republic,
Commissioner Bentley, of the Pension bureau,
delivered an address in which he gave some In
terestIng facts on the subject of pensions and
pensioners. At the outbreak of the rebellion,
he said, there were only S,636 pensioners, and a
the s0th Of last June there were PASS pen
sioners on the roll, drawing annually $50, ,O9OO00.
The whole number of separate payments is
about 600 or 5000 per day. over 10000 un-
settled original claims are now On file in the
Office at Washington, and this large number,
says the commissioner, 'ShOWS that something
is wong" The cause of the trouble lies in the
10 establish pension claim. It is gathered by
the claimant or some one for him, and being
wholly wholly ! eS paate, Is not OF nature to
Tesa Iey na tae tng Geef5 Claim OF IS the p psns9n Fa 1
are so often attempted that it is absolutely ne
cessary to make rules in relation to the produc
tion Of evidence which often work hardship to
honest claimants. The commissioner thinks
the present system invites fraud and in its
stead he recommends a new plan. He would
divide the country into districts Of such size
that a commission consisting Of physician
and lawyer could go through each one twice
year ara examine and cross-examine pensioners
ard claimants and their witnesses. This would
do away with e9 parte evidence and In its place
supply that which could be accepted at the bu-
leau without question. A bill providing for
this system was discussed in the Senate last
winter for several days and finally defeated.
was mainly from claim agents and others inter-
ested In maintaining the present system be-
cause OF the frauds than can be practiced
throughit.
COUNTERFEIT TwENTY-DOLLAR NOTES.-The
Treasury department, referring to the Philadel-
ph1a dispatch in which it was mentioned that
new and dangerous $40 United States legal
tender note had been discovered by Dyes de-
tector. states that it is "neither new nor dan
gerous. 1t is the same style of note discovered
In New Orleans some months ago. a full descrlp-
tion Of which was published by the press at the
time. The note is the production Of pen. and,
SO far from being dangerous, the work upon 1t
Is SO mean as to be beneath criticism. To accept
such note as genuine would evince a lack of
ordinary care amounting to recklessne5s Thus
far only hVe OF these notes have been detected,
each one different from the others, showing
that they were not executed by plate printing,
JOHN RANDOLPH OF RoANoKE.-A correspond
ent at Wharton, Texas, writes for Information
as to the whereabouts of the nearest living rel
atives OF John Randolph OF Roanoke. He has
In his possession, he states, watch given by
Randolph to friend at the time he fought q
duel with Henry Clay in 1926.
WESTERN ENL1sTMENTs FOR THE NAVY
Commander George w. Hayward, commanding
the Michigan, reports to the Navy department
the arrival of his vessel at Erie, Pa. on the 10th
inst, having sailed from Cleveland, Ohio, the
evening before. Commander Hayward says:-I
will forward to New York all boys on board
this evening, and attempt dulIng the coming
week TO enlist here enough to make, with those
we ought to obtain in Buffalo, another draft of
twenty or more.
TIE REPORTED DEMOCRATIC ASSESSMENT
RAID UPON THE DIRTRICT GovERNMENT.-In
reply to question by STAR reporter Of Com
missioner Dent as to the truthfulness of pub
to the District government having been ran
sacked for money under lead of Mr.. Stilson
Hutch1ns to aid In the election Of Ewing In
Ohio, and that the District government had
bled freely; that gentleman stated that so
far as he was concerned it did not apply. He
stated that 1t was true that Mr.. Hutchins and
General Walker had called on him In his
week for such purpose, and that he fatty and
refused to contribute cent for
the purpose, on the ground that the District
government was not partisan office and he
the Office. as 1t would have the tendency Of
making 1t so; further, that II there was any
canvas made through the office 1t had been
done without the knowledge or approval of the
Commissioners, and he had been aware of 1t he
would have prevented it. He could not speak
for his associates, but did dot believe they had
sented to the clerks being imposed upon In that
way as the principle was wrong, so far as it ap-
piled to this District government. Captain
phelps being absent from the city no statement
could be obtained from him. Commissioner
Twining laughed at the idea, and said If any
contributions were taken up it was more than
he knew, and said, as far as the politics of the
nothing, but he believed the heads of the differ-
ent departments Of the District government
were republicans.
THE Z. s. SUPREME COURT met at noon to-
day, and all the members except Justice Hunt
were present. The session was merely formal
and no business was tranacted. The President
being absent, the usual form OF calling at the
White House on the first day of the session was
made upon his return. Tomorrow the court
Will commence the hearing of.arguments in the
series OF so-called "political cases." which, on
account of their public importance. have been
The first case to be argued is the
petition for mandamus in behalf Of the state
Of virginia against the Hon. Alexander R. Rives,
judge of the United States Court for the west.
eIn district OF that state, who removed into
the FEDERAL court the cases of two colored
men indicted for murder, on the ground that
they were prevented from having any colored
men upon the jury. 1t will be argued BY At
torney- General Devens and Mr.. Willoughby, Of
Va, for Judge Rives, and by Mr.. Field, attor.
ney-general of Virginia, and Judge Roberts for
the state.
THE CITY POST OFFIcR SITE-It can be stated
authoritatively that the commission appointed
to select site for Post Office site In this city
has not yet performed that duty, and the
chances are that for the present it Will not. A
majority OF the commissioners are of the opin-
Ion that for the present 1t is better to let the
matter rest as 1t is, and at some future time
recommend that Post once building be
erected on some one Of the triangular reserva-
t1ons on pennsylvania avenue.
NEW SILVER MINES IN MExIco.-Mr sutton,
U. S. consul at Matamoras, in his dispatch to
the Department of State, dated September 81,