Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-19
THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT,
Secretary Noble Hard at Work on His
Annual Report.

The annual report of the Secretary of the
Interior this year will be largely the compo-
sltlon OF the Secretary himself. With the ex-
ception of some of the more important recon-
mendations it is seldom that department
report Is anything more than a compilation.
The heads of the various divisions each pre-
pares brief statement of the work and needs
OF the branch of the service under his direction
and these statements are as a rule incorpo-
rated into the annual reports. But Secretary
Noble is
DOING THE ENTIRE WORK HIMSELF.
He has reviewed personally the various re-
ports OF the bureau officers and has prepared
whatever he wished to insert from these docu-
ments in his annual report. In some cases ne
has been assisted by extracts Of the reports
which have been submitted to him. In order
to pass i'll review all the various branches of
such a vast collection OF public offices as the
Interior department has in charge, Secretary
Noble has been obliged to devote days
and nights to the work. For days at
time he has only spent a short time at the de-
partment. The rest of the day he has been
shut up in his house hard at work. Some days
he has not visited the department at all It is
characteristic of Secretary Noble that what
ever he attempts to do he does thoroughly.
He masters the subject whatever it is, that is
brought before him. and he reaches conclu-
slOL5 Only dIter Cdre1ul STUDY.
WHAT HIS REPORT WILL BE.
His annual report, while it will contain no
sensational features or novel recommendations,
Will be a concise, vigorous review in the Sec
retary's language of what has been done in the
patent office, the land office, the pension Office
the Indian office, the census Office and in the
other branches of the department work. The
recommendations will be such that the
Secretary believes will be wise and
judlcious. AS the work almost entirely Of one
man this years report of the Interior depart
ment will be novelty in this class of literature.
A Woman's Narrow Escape.
Judge Millers action yesterday in imposing
the extreme penalty of the law on Robert Wat
kins for carrying revolver in East Washing
ton did not have any effect on William Berry, a
colored resident Of the same locality, for last
night he used similar weapon, bu. fortunately
the bullet was not sent with sufficien. force to
drive 1t through Mary Simms' head. Berry was
at the house of Bette Tyler. No. 400 I'd street
southeast. There was no quarrel nor trouble of
any kind. but Berry had pistol and he didn't
know 1t was loaded" Just for fun ne snapped
the pistol at Josephine Simms to scare her and
he succeeded in his undertaking. Much to his
surprise the weapon was discharged and the
bullet passed Josephine, striking Mary on the
head. She was more frightened than hurt, and
not knowing whether she was fatally injured or
not she went to neighborng drug store. where
the wound was dressed by Dr. j. W. Bayne
The bullet, the physician found. had struck the
woman's head, but glanced and only a scalp
wound had been inflicted. Policeman Foster
of the fifth precinc. heard the report of the
pistol, went to the house where the shot was
fired, and learning that it was the result of an
accident did not arrest Berry,