Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-07-01
WASHINGTON LETTER.
A Knotty Geographical Question to be
Settled by the Supreme Court.
Mrs. Martha WashingtOn's Snuff Box
The Original Adam Was Not a Monkey
Tobacco Smoke--The Two Georges--The
Mexican Veteran Pension Bill.
snnclnl corresnondence ofthe Gazette.

| special Correspondence olthe Gazette.
WASHINGTON, June 26.--It Is an
extraordinary fact while was in Alex
andria, Va, this morning, and every
body who saw me there said | was in
Virginia, and / walked on the shady
side Of King street in the old town
and looked into the stores and shops,
yet / was thoroughly satisfied ut
the moment that / was not
in Virginia and that my feet
left no imprints on the sacred soil"
Congress did that which 1t couldn't do
when Alexandria was retroceded to
Virginia, and the weary old town is
still part and parcel of the District of
Columbia. The very constitution of
the Uuited States rectes this fact, and
no clause of the constitution was ever
resCinded or repealed. This question,
some day, will surely come before the
courts, and ut least one Judge, If
Justice Field remain upon the
bench, will declare that the con-
stitution means precisely what it
says, neither more nor less, and when
1t declares that oitions of Maryland
and Virginia, ten miles square, consti-
tute the District of Columbia, and that
It is subject to the exclusive control
and jurisdiction of the congress of the
United States, Judge Field will only
say tia lex scripta est, aud that courts
were instituted to construe and not To
repeal or enact laws. True eDough;
don't see why Alexandria should be
part of this District of Columbia.
There was seat enough for government
without it, and when the government
and George Washington sat down
here don't see why they bestrode the
Potomac. But SO it was and is and
congress cannot change the fact and
Alexandria, at this hour, the statute
to the contrary Notwithstanding. is
part and parcel of the District of Co.
lumbia.
EMINENT RESPECrABILITY OF THE OLD
TOWN.
But old AleXandrians confess little
interest in the matter. Ia fact never
heard 1t discussed or even mentioned,
and when / wandered listlessly, as
they rested idly beneath the shade of
old trees, each having u tradition that
1t was planted or admired by the
great George or his grand wife.
| was beguiled by stories these
people tell and rocked as little rs they
Of the political status of the drowsy
old town.
THE ANCIENT DOMICIL OF BRADDOCK.
The responsibility of Alexandria is
wholly independent of its relations to
Virginia or 10 the District of Column
bia. IL was so grand place 1873 years
ago that when the great British gem
nr IL
England to organize colonial army |
and invade the Indian country about |
Pittsburg of our time, that he made
Alexandria the central seat of his
power rs the representative of the
crown, and here the several
governors of the several col.
onies were summo ned to consult him.
They came, modestly and humbly
mansion in which their conferences
were held still remains unimpaired by
the lapse of years, firm and strong rs
the people were heroic and incor-
ruptible. The venerable structure is
still known as Braddock's head
quarters. A modern hotel incloses it,
Il wing of this great structure occupy
ing the whole space between the front
ike its fire places, We're spacious, as
were wine and wood cellars below.
and in the broad roof, its timhers
)raced like the body of great ship,
ire dozen sleeping apartment.
from the rear windows and portico of
he building, when Braddock occupied
I and before Alexandria learned to
make brick and build brick ware
houses, u boundless view OF the broad
'Potowmack,n as Jefferson spelled the
lame of the river, was expanded north
md south.
he Father Adam" AS business man
# Alexandria, is Robert l.. Adam who
the silversmith's trade of his |
ut the "old stand" The
irst signboard set up over the shop
pore the date of 1900 and the name OF
Adams grandfather, the discovery
IF which fact will excite,
As never before, the delight
Of those philanthrophists who abhor
.he Darwinian theory. This grand
father, Adam, decorated the coffin of
George Washington, having made the
silver collin plate entombed with the
of the father of his
country. Mrs. Washington gave
Adam, in attestation of her
respect and appreciation of his skill.
small elliptical shell and silver snuff:
ooX, which is surely very beautiful.
ana preserved with religious care by
tne grandson of the ancient artisan.
he owns, too, an old prayer book
which lay for years in Washipgton,s
pew Mt the old Pohick church five
miles from Mount Vernon. where
Washington and old George Mason
used TO pray, as this book shows
Tor the King as vestrymen, and where
these two WORTHLESS once particjpated
IN protracted discussion of a ones
tion about the proper location OF the
now time-worn, then proposed. Pobick
brick edifice. The law taxed the
people In behalf of the established
church in those days, as in our time in
behalf of the mill and mine and hsnt
and rail owners, Then the poor and
rich alike were forced to .shell ontn
.ooareo l.hey had no money! MS We do
,reehoacks and bank notes, just as it
..apPeneu 2,iou years earlier that
Aristlues was "shelled outn of Athens.
.ach voter inscribing "ayen or mot
"a iitt'e sea shell and depositing il {
u the flnerty ballot box of those S
iays, Shells were used, of course s
nat tissue ballots might be impossible a
no old Aristides, in militarv
,ariance, was 'shelled out of
hat neck of woods" lying about
ne farthenon. There was singular
therefore in the DOM. n
ION OF TINS translucent shell snutt.box {
!, .ue decorator OF the coffin of one e