Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1883-07-07
Ai1BrrBR FROM ,wAsHINaroH.'

T
regular panel, and summon q special one |
composed Of fifty or one hundred men, select |
ed by the marshal for their known intelli- |
gence, integrity, and force of character men
well known in the community, and having q
standing to maintain In the sight of their fel-
1ow-citlzens-men of honor and Of property,
who could not be approached by jury fxers."
remarked that while the press seemed
pretty generally to dissent ffon the verdict
lately rendered by the star route jury, it sp-
peared to be conceded that jury fixers had
had no share in bringing it about. A very
grave expression came over Mr.. Merrick
face, and with slight shake of the heaA. he1
said: So
"Well, I am not talking about that jury.
I know more than choose to say, and in fact,
say nothing at all on the subject Of jury
fixing in this case; let.the jury go. But its
makeup well illustrates the necessity Of a
new mode of selecting the jurors for such inn
portant cases. 1t contained four colored men,
one Welshman, who can scarcely speak any
English, one man who cannot write, one who
is victim of mania pUtu, and one who Is
somewhat off his balance intellectually. In
almost every one has read and thought, SO
many persons have formed an opinion, that
unless the panel is specially selected, SO that
there are only intelligent men to draw from
in making up the jury, it is next to impossi-
BILE to get body of twelve fit men into the
Jury box.''
In view of the number of cases of national
importance that are liable to come before the
courts of this district, the suggestion Of Mr..
Merrick seems worthy of the early attention
| Of congress.
A CAMEO OF GARFIELD.
Colonel Rockwell, commissioner of public
buildings, grounds and works, received q few
days ago from Paris, an exquisite cameo like
ness of the late president, which was cut, on
the order of Mrs. Garfield, by GARNER, of that
city.
GARNER was recommended to Col. Rock
well by the well-known sculptor st. Gaudens I,
as being the most celebrated comeo cutter in
the world, and the perfection of this cameo of
Garfield certainly sustains the high reputation
of the artist. The likeness is cut in profile in q
sard stone, which is designed to be set in q
brooch, the head being about three-fourths Of
1 an inch in length. -..,..
I The picture from which this cameo was
copied is a photograph taken by T. W. Smil.
lie, photographer Of the geological survey, 9
few days after General Garield's nomination
for the presidency. Meeting General Gar
field in the national museum, Mr.. smillie
who had taken photographs of him on two o.
three previous occasions, asked hin
| To CIT ", n 1o 49, 4
and the result was one of the best likenesses o
him that had ever been taken. 1t was, more
over, profile, and, as it happened, the onl.
likeness of him in profile which had ever beel
made-a circumstance that gave it specia
interest after his death. as preserving tn
exact curve of the nose, and the correspond
ing contour of the entire face and head, al
outline especially important for the purpose
of sculpture and carving. A tine bust Q
Garfield, now at the deaf mute college il
this city, was made from the same photo
graph. The cameo just received by Coone
Rockwell. has been forwarded by him to Mrs
Garfield.
| INDEMNITY RAILROAD LANDS.
) An important question now pending betOr
the department of the interior, has relation t.
indemnity lands granted to railroads, or t
states, for the benefit ofrailroad corporations
: In every railroad grant there n belt of Ian,
lying within certain number of miles on eac
side of the land grant road, within which tn
; alternate sections of land not otherwise dis
posed of at the time of the grant, are donate
to the road on certain prescribed conditions
On each side of this belt is another of a widt
fixed by law, within which the road may TAX
lands by way of indemnity for lands lost to
by sales or settlements within the granite
r limits; that is, within the inner belt alread
mentioned. In the earliest grants the inne
belt was twelve miles in width-six miles o
each side of the road. and the two indemnit
7 belts nine miles each; their outer limits bein
4, fifteen miles from the road on each side.
some of the later grants the granted bell
were eighty miles in width, while the linden
nifty lands extended to distance Of fifty {
sixty miles on each side of the road. I'll
total width of the Northern Pacific grant, fl
= portion of its length,is 120 miles, eighty mil.
within the granted limits and forty more,
twenty on each side within the indemni,
limits.
For over twenty-five years after the inaug
ration of the land grant policy, the land graz
laws were construed by the depar
ment Of the interior, as giving the RAJ
roads indemnity for any of the alternate sc
tions within the granted limits disposed
by the government, either after or before Il
date of the granting act. The acts, howeve
provided that indemnity lands should
Of loni Inv or,fs
which might be lost to the roads by settl
ment thereon, or otherwise, after the date
the grant, and it has been contended, app
rently with the best possible reason, that Il
lands granted within what are known as Il
s'granted limits,' embraced only such alte
nate sections as had not been previously d
posed Of. The government, it is urged, cou
only grant such lands as at the time actual
belonged to it; aud as it was only in lieu
Glands hereby granted" that indemnity Ian
were provided for, the law clearly did n
contemplate indemnity for lands within d
granted limits which had been in any way d
posed of before the grant was made and we
- not then grantable.
Although this view is contrary to the pra
tice SO long followed by the department
the interior, it is contended that it is full
borne out by language used in the decision
the supreme court in the case of the Leave
worth, Lawrence y Galveston Railroad w
sus the United States, which was rendered
the October term of the court in 1875.
If this view is correct, some twenty-fi
million acres of land have already been
lowed to railroads to which they were n
entitled under the law, and there are, pt
haps, fifty million acres more, or an ar
nearly equal to the large state Of Mnnesoi
to which they are not entitled but which tn
would nevertheless receive, if the past pr,
tice of the interior departmentshould be &C
tinued. Atty-Gen. Devens, in reply to
inquiry made by Secretary Schurz in 1Ss
wrote an opinion in which he set forth tt
the language of the supreme court on t
subject in question was obiter dicta!,n, a
after referring to a contrary decision render
in 8 circuit court by Mr.. Justice Harlan,
advised the interior department to adhere
its original practice, except as to lands
sa served from grant at the time the grant
net was passed. 80
The political tidal wave of last Novemt
Isppesrs, however. to hsvs beaten against