The Washington critic., 1886-09-14
TOPICS or THE DAY.

C0mmefctdt'G Gdzott0 says IL is reported
that upon Professor McGee's return
from Charleston to his modest lodgings,
which are furnished mainly for earth
quake observations, with tumbler of
water, stand and q high swinging
headboard, he found, or supposed for
the moment that he found, this head
board still in active vibration. AS may
be imagined, this startled him. Upon
q careful count the rate was the same
as noticed before, namely, 115 TO 1870
per minute Upon filling his earth.
quake tumbler with water and placing
1t on his earthquake stand, the waves
were found to take the same direction
rs before. The estimated length
of the shock also proved to
be tho same rs the estimate of ten
days ago. When he sat down to reilec
over the matter the shock stopped.
When he rose to walk toward the head
board 1t began again with Its former
force. After long and careful study
of the manifestations he went down
stairs and asked If any one felt an
earthquake. Nobody had. lie then
explained the shalings in his room,
when servant said: Laws sakcs, Mr..
McGee, the ole head board rattles every
time yo done walk over de 400"
Thus suddenly did the only Govern
ment observation of the earthquake
come TO an untimcly end.
%"x
Speaking of earthquakes a corre-
spondent of the Atlanta Constitution
says: During my stay at Summer
vile the shocks were continuous day
and night. Some of them sounded as
heavy roll of thunder from the
bowels Of the earth, but, curiously
enough, these were not always &C.
companied by motion perceptible to
those standing on the ground. Others
again gave reports like the boom of
heavy siege guns, and were accompl-
MED by muiiled, rumbling sounds. To
those standing or reclining on the
ground, the last described gave SEN
sation such as would be felt on a stout
bridge which was being josted from
below, and vigorously rocked by lateral
forces at the same time. During disturb
ances like this the neighboring frame
structures would rattle and creak and
ircmble. In the effort to locate in some
way the direction of the force and ac-
count, If possible, for the cause, |
visited the graveyards of the First
Presbyterian and the German Lutheran
churches. SO far rs | could ascertain,
all headstones and bases of monuments
buried in the ground, retained their
original positions. But tall granite
and marble shafts and columns had
been shifted from three to five inches
on their pedestals towards various and
opposing points of the compass saw
but single column that had been
hurled from its base and broken. In
this case the debris lay to the North
ward. The lateral forces seemed to
have ro fixed direction, but were
rather in the nature Of violent trem-
bic, shaking objects in some places in
/ one direction. in others, in Il
different one. AS to the ma
terials forced from the fissures
near Summerville, my impression is
they could not have come from depth
exceeding few hundred feet-per-
haps not more than u hundred in many
cases. The flow, which ceased few
hours after the great shock, brought
up what Is familiar to all on the coast
to witt white and yellow sand and
greenish. black mud with the charac-
teristic stencil of exposed salt marshes
at low water. saw but two that con-
tinlled flowing water, and it was
strongly akin to the surface water Of
the country, certainly in faint milky
color and taste / saw no trace what.
ever of sulphur in the material, and
could detect no smell Of sulphurous
acid at the cavities, though the smell OF
the grecnish black mud is quite sug.
gestive of 1t.
w.
Colonel +. ID. Taylor, now 50 year.
of age, and resident of Ottawa, Ill.
seems to have clear right to the title
of Father of Greenbacks." lie was
personal friend to Abraham Lincoln
long before the la ter WIS elected to b
President, and is said to have been the
person who induced Lincoln to study
law. He was member of the Illinoi
Legislature in 1882, and under appoint
ment from Andrew jackson in 1885 hi
sold the land on which Chicago is nov
luilt at S1.25 per acre He afterwart
became banker and far seeing finan
Cier. In January, 1862, when the wa
had depleted the United States Treas
ury, Lincoln sent for Taylor to come t,
Washington aud advise him. Taylo
promptly advised the issue of Treasury
notes, printed on the best bank-not,
paper, bearing no interest. and to b
nude legal tender. Secretary Chas
was afraid the notes would become II
worthless rs Confederate money, bu
Lincoln liked the plan and adopted it
with what success everybody knows
In 1864 President Liucoln wrote let
Ter acknowledging Taylor's paternit.
OF the greepb back.
~
OF the parentage and family o
Jefferson Davis, writer in the Cour3a
Jouraat says: Mr.. Davis mother
maiden name was Jane Cook. Sh
was of Irish descent, which may nc
count, in measure, for Mr.. Dlyi.
natural oratOry. She was bora i
Pennsylvania; married Mr.. Sa nue.
Davis when quite young, by whom sh
had ten children, five ons--Joseph H.
Samuel, Benjnmin, Isaac w. an
Jefferson; and five daughtors-Annd
Lucinda. T., Amanda, Matilda an
Mary. She died at the residence O
her son in law, William Stamp,
in October 1915, about on
and a.half miles from WOOD
vile, Wilkinson County, Nil
sisslppi. She had reached tn
advanced age of eighty.two year,
and was in full retention OF her mentu