Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-01-14

bill ON the night it passed the Senate, /,
clause was retained which provided II
original bill that promotions shall b
from the lower grades to the higher or
the basis OF merit and competition
This CLAUSE was stricken out by ths
Senate, on the motion of Brown on thu
| preceding day, as has been stated in tht
press reports The bill passed by the
House and Senate, and signed by the
President. was identical with the bill
that passed he Senate.
| Crazy Freak sf Neither.
WHEELING, Jan. l3.-Mrs. Hettie Gun
ningham. a widow, at noon TODAY threw
her three-year-old boy from q suspen-
| sion bridge at Fairmount, into the Mon
| ongaheia river, . distance of so feet, and
then jumped in herself. Both were res
cued after floating over dam below the
bridge. No cause is assigned for the
act.
An AsslGnment.
CINCINNATI, July, 13.-The immediate
cause of the assignment of the Cincin-
natl Lard-Oil Refinery Co. is unex
planned. Through the absence of E. w.
Blair, the manager, it is not known
whether his accounts are correct or not,
but the manner of his disappearance
led the company to make an assign
ment.
Panic In . Theater.
NEW YORK. Jan. 14.-There was a
slight panic in the Union Square The
ater last night, owing to a musicians
instrument case taking fire from gas
jet under tie stage near the door by
which they enter the orchestra. In tho
second act of "a Partisan Romance
the pungent smoke from the burning
case was forced into the auditorium.
Several persons moved uneasily in their
seats and whispered. The first persons
to leave their seats were the Misses
Lawrence of the New York Hotel. The
theater was packed, and the hurried
movements of the Misses Lawrence
caused the people to rise and exclaim:
What's the matter?" Mr.. A. Nj. Pal
lard, who was in the stage-box, called
out: "Be still, or you'll lose your seats.
Nothing's the matter; its smoke from q
fire they are lighting next door," Mr..
Richard Mansfield, on the stage in the
role of ''Baron Cheorial," also treasured
the audience. Ushers sprang to the
exits, and the panic was over in min
ute. About twenty-five persons went
into thestheater lobby. One lady faint
ed there. She recovered and went
back with the others into the theater to
witness the performance which was
continued. The only damage done by
the gas jet was the burning of the mu-
sician's instrument case.
The National Park Leases.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13.-Josselyn, As
sistant Secretary of the Interior, has
prepared to leave with the syndicate of
Rufus Hatch. The syndicate is for the
Improvement of the Yellowstone Ma
tional Park, which has been assented to
by leases, and submitted to the sub
Committee on Territories for its ap-
prOval. Last summers contract, to
which the committee especially object
ed, was one granting exclusive privileges
to one company. The new lease avoids
that. The Secretary of the Interior is
left at liberty to grant like leases to
other parties, but the monopoly which
last summers contract proposed to es-
tablish is much more restricted than is
generally supposed. Nothing could be
done in the Park by law, or under that
contract, except by consent of the SEQ
retary. Every change the leesees were
to make was to be submitted to the SEQ
retary for his approval, and a full
schedule Of rates to be posted at all oon-
venient places. This, in the opinion of
Josselyn, was sufficient protection
to the public against extortion, and was
the reason for granting exclusive privi-
leges.
The Secretary believes he could have
maintained much more efficient su-
pervision over the park if he had dealt
with only one concern, and could rely
on that concern to keep others out of
the field, than if he had supervised a
hundred hotel keepers and a thousand
guides or stage company men; on the
other hand, men of capital would soon
buy handsome and oommodious hotels
and make roads and other improve
ments, if they were subjected to unlim-
tied competition.
As to throwing the Park open to any.
body and everybody, that was not
deemed in accordance with the inten-
ton Of tho act of 1872, and the Secre-
tary believed it would result in the in
PRODUCTION at the Park of every variety
of swindling, but as tho Senate Com
mittee ON Territories objected to tho
contract of the lease which grants les
sees no exclusive privileges, except on
tho ground that it is Government
lease.
The Secretary may grant leases TO
other parties. but it Is certain he will
not grant them to any parties but those
of whose trustw0rthiness he is assured.
Hatch and his associates take a lease
to one section of land at tho Great Gey-
sers, and 0ne-haf section at each of the
six other objects of interest, for hotel
sites under contract last summer. The
committee thought the terms in which
these hotels are leased to these compa-
nies gave them q chance to abstract
administration fees from the public for
getting in sight of tho curiosity. To
avoid any misunderstanding, cases in
this respect have been modified slight
ly. The company begun work on its
hotel at Great Gsysers, and although
not guaranteed immunity from oompe-
tition, are pretty certain the Secretary
of the Interior does not intend to incon-
venience it much by introducing oom-
petitions. At any rate, the present les
sees have already secured building sites
at several localities OF the most interest
to tourists. 80 that they are in pretty
good condition to hold their own. The
contract proposed to give leesees the sx-
elusive right to operate the State lines,
they agreeing TO run stage to all rail
road lines extending to the park,
the Committee objected to, the new
lease makes no mention of stage line,
and while the subject of transportation
will have to be dealt with at some fu-
ture time, il is not intended to allow
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