Los Angeles herald., 1891-03-31
Land Commissioner Gr0Ts Sue.
cessor Appointed.
Arguments on the Bering Sea Case
Will Soon Be Heard.
The Counterfeit 81 Silver Certificate a
Dangerous Thing-Texas Rogues
Must Hang.
Associated Press Dispatches.

indisposition and looks very we'll. Sew
eral foreign ministers called upon him
The fourth-class post-ofice at Escon
dido, California. will be released to the
third or presidential class, April 1st.
The president has granted pardon
in the case of Nicholas HI. Groesbeck
convicted in Utah of adultery and sen
fenced October 27, 1890, to eighteen
months imprisonment.
PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS.
The president today made the follow.
ing appointments:
Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, com
missioner of the general land office, vice
Lewis A. Croft, resigned.
James Compton, of Fergus Falls, Min.
nes0ta, surveyor-general of Minnesota,
vice John f. Norrish, term expired.
THE MISSISSIPPI UNDER CONTROL
Colonel Ernest, member OF the Mis-
sissippi river commission, has just re-
turned from two months trip in the
south. He said this morning that the
commission found the river to be very
high; indeed higher than during the
great flood of 1882, and yet there had
been but three breaks in the levees so
far. "Still," F" he contihued, "there is a
good deal of danger of flood, and
should not want to predict that there
will not be one. I think, however, the
chances are that the greatest danger
has been passed"
THE BERING SEA CASE.
The department of justice has received
. return from the Alaska district court,
to the writ issued by the supreme court,
asking that cause be shown why writ
of prohibition should not issue in the
case of the schooner Sayward, libelled
foi violating the law forbidding sealing
in Bering sea. 1t will be fled in a short
time by Attorney General Miller or So
icitor General Taft, and no reason is
now known why argument should not
be proceeded with the second Monday
in XpriE
THE KINCAID TRIAL.
In the Kincaid case today Judge
Bradley ruled that testimony going to
show that the deceased had on various
occasions threatened the life of the
defendant, was admissible. William
Il. Curtis, of Perry's Heath, KY, ex-
congressman Laffoon and others were
called, and told of threats they had
heard Taulbee make after the publica-
tion in Louisville paper, of which
Kincaid was correspondent, of story
OF a scandalous occurrence in the patent
Office. in which Taulbee and female
clerk figured.
THE CoEUR D'ALENE LANDS.
Secretary Noble has sent telegram
to Representative Wilson of the state of
Washington, stating that upon due con-
sideration, it is his judgment that the
Couer D'Alene Indian reservation in
Idaho, as described in the Indian appro-
priation act, approved March 8, 1891,
was opened by force of the statute, and
needs no proclamation or further action
to accomplish that end. This opinion,
however, the secretary says, is given
without any argument made to the de-
partment, and it is to be received as an
expression of views that may be changed
If there is any dispute arising concern
ing its validity in a contest case. The
northern section of this reservation,
which is open to settlement, contains
about 900 acres, and may be entered
under the homestead act upon the pay
ment of $3.50 per acre, half of which is
to be paid within two years.
THE BOGUS SILVER CERTIFICATES.
The secret service officers declare the
81 silver certificate counterfeit most
dangerous one. The vignette of Han
cock is as fine as the original, and the
lettering and lathe work is an exact
copy of the treasury note. In fact, the
only difference is too minute to be per-
ceptible to the naked eye. In the upper
left hand and the lower right hand cor
ner Of the genuine note is the figure
"2, and on it's face is engraved in char
acters so minute that they are not legi-
BILE, except under magnifying glass,
the word "two" repeated three times.
In the counterfeit 'two'' is similarly en-
graved the same number of times, but
IN two cases the counterfeiter has made
the letters read "owt." The discovery
OF the counterfeit is not a new thing.
Attention was called to it some time ago.
The entire circulation of the genuine
note may have to be called in.
TEXAS ReGUEs MUST HANG.
The supreme court of the United
States today refused to grant the ap-
plication for writ of habeas corpus in
the somewhat celebrated murder case of
Dick Duncan versus Mccall, sheriff of
Bexar county, Texas, in which it was
sought to bring into question the vail
dity OF the entire penal code of the state
OF Texas. Duncan was duly indicted
tried and convicted, in Texas, of murder,
and sentenced to be hanged. He ap-
pealed the case through all the interme-
diate courts of the state OF Texas, and
when the court of appeals of the Lone
Star state decided against him, the case
was taken to the United States court,
and the decision still being against him,
it was brought here. The supreme court,
in an opinion by Chief Justice Fuller,
affirms the judgment of the circuit court
from which the last appeal was taken.
Duncan's contention was that the
penal code of Texas had never been
lawfully enacted in accordance with the
state constitution that the code en-
rolled differed through errors of the en-
rolling clerks from the code passed by
the state legislature.
Had Duncan's contention been sus-
tained, it would have resulted in the
release OF all the prisoners in the state,
and would have totally upset the state
criminal system.
THE state of Texas, says the opinion,
rs In full possession of its faculties az
member of the union, and its legisla-
ture, executive and judicial departments
are peacefully operating by orderly and