Wichita eagle., 1889-05-24
LINCOLN lNEB.l NEWS.


vice commission has just completed an ex-
animation here of applicants for positions.
| Forty-seven were examined. Twenty
were for the railway mail service and the
others for pension examiners, inspectors
and other positions in the Washington
| offices.
The Kearney & Black Hills Railroad
company has filed articles of incorpora-
tion with the secretary Of state with cap
ital stock of s5,000,O00. 1t is proposed TO
construct railway from kearney
through northwest Nebraska to the Black
Hills, Dakota and Wyoming, with
branches to Hastings and Broken Bow.
The incorporators are Kearney and Oma-
| ha men.
All members of the plumbers union are
out on strike Of sympathy for their
Omaha brethren. The difficulty seems to
have arisen from an attempt by some OF
the Lincoln boss plumbers at going to
| Omaha to help out the contractors there
while their union men were On strike.
| All work has been suspended.
Lincoln is to have an investigation OF
alleged Doodle aldermen. For two or three
! years past there have been many lmpor-
tant improvements made in this city,
| and grading. The charge has been made
again and again that in these con-
! tracts aldermen in one way or
another have had an interest, and
| now an investigation is to be insti-
tuted. Two members were plumbers
and dealers in sewer pipe ard other ma
terialS largely consumed by the city.
These, it is charged, they furnished, max
ing a large per cent. Another was inter,
ested in the grading contracts and shared
the profits. Another is merchant and
broker, and has been purchasing city war
rants at large discount, knowing they
could be cashed soon. Others have been
charged with having received cash sums
from contractors. All these matters are
to be investigated by a committee of the
council, and while nothing serious Is
likely to result from the inquiry, 1t may
make present members little more
cautious about letting contracts.
The report coming from the FAR east that
the Rock Island has purchased the Union
Pacific branch from Beatrice to Omaha is
emphatically discredited by officials OF the
Union Pacific in the west. They say it is
ridiculous and that no proposition IS pend
ing for lease to the Rock Island, though
they admit that to be feasible and not
unlikely scheme.
NEBRASKA CITY, Neb.. May pa farm
house, six miles south Of this city. burned
with its contents this morning. The
family had a narrow escape. Nothing
was saved. Mr. Martin had to borrow
clothing to come to town. Loss, $1,000.
No insurance.
THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY.
WASHINGTON, May 23-In all of the
speculation about the filling of the su-
preme court vacancy one thing seems to
be ignored. That is the unwritten rule
which from the foundation of the court
has governed these appointments. Sue
cessors have, with very rare exceptions,
been taken from the circuit where the va
caucy occurred. The exceptions can be
traced to the disarrangement caused by
the civil war. The gossip respecting the
successor to the late Mr.. Justice
Matthews centers thus far about Attor-
ney General Miller, Curcuit Judge Gresh-
am and District Judge Woods, OF In.
dianapoliS, and yet to appoint any one OF
these three would be to vioiaee the nm
written law of the supreme court success
sion. If President Harrison observes the
rule he will be confined in his choice to the
states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and
Michigan. How well this rule has been
kept by former presidents is illustrated
clearlA in the case of the late Mr. Justice
Matthews, of Ohi0. He was ,5o1 a.
Immediately succeeding Noah H. rSwayne,
who was appointed from Ohio in 1862 by
President Lincoln. This was another re-
cognition of the rule, for Mr.. Justice
Swayne was the direct successor of Mr..
Justice Mclean, who died in 1861. Mr..
Mclean was appointed by President
Jackson from Ohio i'll 1929. Old Hickory
was law unto himself in many things,
but he did not disregard the custom of
succession, for Mr. Justice Mclean took
the place of Mr. Justice Trimble, of Ken
tucky, in the circuit. Robert Trimble
died in 1928. His Immediate prede-
cessor was another Kentucky man,
Jefferson in 1907. Thus it appears that
the rule of succession has been maintained
without a break in the circuit from 1897 to
1889, from Thomas Todd, of Kentucky, to
Stanley Matthews, of Ohio. Those init
mate with the unwritten rules and prac-
tices of the supreme court do not believe
that President Harrison will depart from
all these precedents and appoint an Indi
ana man. The supreme court justices do
not think he will.
The tenacity with which the rule has
been observed by presidents may be illus
trated by tracing down the line OF success
sors to nearly every associate justice on
the present bench, bearing in mind, of
course the fact that the bench has been
increased and the circuits changed as new
states have been admitted. Take Mr..
Justice Batchford, of New York. He
succeeded Ward Hunt, of New York, who
in turn succeeded Samuel Nelson, of
New York. Mr.. Justice Nelson was
the only supreme court appointee
of President Tyler, and his prede-
cessor was Smith Thompson. of
New York. Mr.. THOMPSON Immediately
followed Brockholst Livingston, who was
New York's first associate justice on the
supreme bench, having been appointed by
President jefferson in 1876. Thus Ill
obedience to this custom New York has
had an associate Justice on the bench con-
tinuously from 1906 to the present, always
representative died or resigned. Mr.
Justice Gray, who represents the
New England circuit. as it is called,
although it does not include all of the
New England states, Vermont and Con-
necticut being attached to the New York
circuit, is the last link in an unbroken
chain which began with William Cushing,
of Massachusetts,, in 1899, the year of the
foundation Of the court and by the way
the supreme court centennial has not yet
been celebrated. William Gushing served
till 1910, and upon his death Joseph Story,
Mr.. Justice Story died in
1915, and Levi Woodbury., Of New
Hampshire, was appointed to succeed him.
His death brought the New England line
down TO 1851, and then Benjamin r. Cur
It's, of Massachusetts, was appointed. Mr..
Justice Curtis resigned in 1857, and was
succeeded by Nathan Clifford, of Maine,
upon whose death, in ISL, Mr.. Justice
Gray. of Massachusetts, was appointed
foundation of the court to the present day.