St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-22
A FOOLS WISDOM.


him as any other official in the state.
His sense of justice is well illustrated
by his attitude i'll the state legislature
some years ago toward the bill placing
upon railroads the burden of proof as to
the destruction Of grain in stack by To-
connective sparks. Previously the law had
compelled the farmer injured to prove
before recovery from the railroad that
locomotive had caused the loss.
This worked great injustice, and the
new law proposed that when grain in
proximity to railroad track was burned
within short time after the pas sage OF
train. it should be construed as fair
and sufficient evidence that lOcOmO tive
sparks had caused it unless the COM
pany could prove otherwise. The rail-
road lobby fought the bill h ard and APP
peale d to Mr.. RICE to aid them. He
fatty declined to, and not only that, but
defended the new measure and voted
iOrit.
Mr.. RICE was in the state senate when
one OF the BURBANK brothers, then a
member from st. Cloud, brought i'm a
bill authorizing that town to issue bonds
for $4,000 to aid in the construction of a
large hotel. AS soon as MORTON VIII
KINsoN saw the bill he jumped up, eX-
claiming:
''It is unconstitutional! We can't
pass such bill"
Mr.. RICE was personal friend of
the BURBANKS, and when did he ever
forget friend? He answered WILKIN-
soN by whispering excitedly:
''VOte for it-vote for it,"
''But | say it can't be legally done, :"
ret0rted WILKINSON.
''No matter-vote for it," Mr.. RICE
urged.
But the bonds won't be worth a
penny" observed WILK.
"Oh, well,'' replied Mr.. RICE, ''then
they won't have to pay for them"
WILKINSON could not resist this ap-
peal for his friends bill. He took the
measure in hand, struck out the uncon-
StitutiOnal features, land in new form put
it on final passage.
The local celebrity and weather oracle
of the town of st. Peter is BENHAM.
You don't. know BENHAM? He is a
weather prophet with a hundred Tor
more) successful predictions holding up
his fame above the jeerS and ScOrn of
the incredulOus crowd. Professionally
he is railroad agent, but scientifically,
seer OF the elements. Every storm this
winter, every cold wave, every cheering
thaw, BENHAM has fOretold. In
all his years of prophecy he has
made but one miScalculatiOn, and
that was in the winter of 1881.
1t was bad winter, but in the pre-
ceding, October BENHAM said that it
would be mild, Sleighs would be useless,
ice rarity and strawberries ripe in the
last change of the moon in January.
The farmers and railroad men trust
BENHAM. They believed him then. All
rejOiced over the happy, easy winter
before them. Snow-plOws were sent to
Manitoba, sleds boxed up, flannels
packed, and-the 18th day of October
there came fearful storm of cold,
snow and wind that lasted until April
| l, 1882. BENHAM did not smile that
winter. He has remained solemn ever
since, although but that one fearful
mistake mars his fair record as a divin-
er of elemental connections.
The manner in which certain men,
bers of last winters legislature took
pains to advertise their official position
was ludicrouS. They confined the eX-
| preston of their vanity not alone to
| their calling cards and the hotel regis
| tiers, but by word of mouth made all
| with whom they came in contact under
| stand that they were honorableS-in
| title at least. Years ago WatOnwan
| county had member from Madelia by
the name of BOWEN YATES. He was
| an eccentric genius, inclined to be hui
| mOrOuS, but it was in all seriousness
| that he perpetrated the following. No
| sooner was he entitled to his seat than
he began circulating neat cards bearing
this inscription: "H0n. BOWEN YATES,
member of the legislature and dealer in
| dry goods, groceries. fancy China ware
and crockery, and all other articles usu-
! ally to be found i'll such establishments"
His legislative career brought to Mr..
| YATES no particular distinction, but his
cards advertised him beyond his most
sanguine expectations.
The employees of the railroads, aside
from the frontier settlers, undoubtedly
felt most severely last weeks storm.
They had to face the blast at its worst
and bear the responsibility for the
safety of their trains and the many lives
upon them. l watched Conductor
MEsSER, of the Omaha, Saturday, take
train of four coaches 100 miles in
eleven hours with three engines. That
was slow travelling, and dangerous
enough to try any conductors nerves,
let alone those of the passengers. Al
one stage of the journey we came to a
place known as Bradley 's-a high trestle
few days before. Engine No. "a, dash
ing across the bridge at high speed and
with only a cabOOSe attached, lost one
of her driving wheels-a forward one
1t broke into pieces, and the shock was
such that the engineer was thrown out
of his cab window. The fireman climbed
over the tender and set the cabOoSt
brakes. Engine and car, wonderful tt
relate, kept the track, Z. x. SULLIVAN
well-known to railroad men, had an al
most similar experience st. Valentines
day, 1880. He was buclling snow with
an old WOOd-burner, and making the
flakes fly. He had long cut to clear
out and ran back mile to get his start
He came down on the drift at the rate Of
a mile minute, but within quarter OF
a mile OF it there was great shock, anC
the engine reeled, though holding the
track. SULLIVAN grinned at the fright
ened occupants of the cab and 'let hel
gO' little faster. When his engine
was dug out of the snow he found tina
the shock had been caused by one of the
rear driving wheels bursting into hun
dred pieces. The engine had run int
the drift on three wheels.
nouncement of his candidacy for con.
gress from the Fifth district anC
his election to the chairmanshir
of the late Republican con
ference in Minneapolis have a spe
cial significance. In the first place,
understand that Mr.. BARTo is the only
available candidate for congress il
Stearns county. His outside opponents
may be Judge STEARNs and Senator
COMsToCK. A bitter fight for the nom
ination between these two would make
\ H. E. II n
united upon. In case he is not chosen
the grievance he would have woulC
give him the claimed right to follow hi:
old leader, GILMAN, into the rebellion
There is in this all the hidden meaning
also, that the GILMAN-BARTo faction