The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1893-03-10
Our Austin Letter.
pse!al corre.non ,enes Of I'M News

AUSTIN, Tex, March 9--The
Smith assignment bill monopolized
The attention of the house this after
noon. Mr. Smith, who is one OF the
strongest and most influential men IN
the house, and one OF the most popu-
lar, took the floor in advocacy OF the
measure, speaking for a.: hour and a
half in his usual earnest and impress
sive m amer The house gave him
its undivided atten ton for two rea
sons 1t was, firstly, interested in the
measure and wanted to hear the open.
ing speech thereon, and secondly, the
acoustic properties Of Mr.. Smiths
voice are sucn that they either had to
hear him or vacat the building. The
effort was mastery one, tracing the
outrages upon justice and equity
possible and actually perpetrated
under the present law to suoh an
extent as to become the rule and not
the exception. His measure proposed
to put premium on honesty, aud
make it possible for Texas merchant
to buy goods in the east with an assn
rance in law to the eastern merchant
that he would be protected IN event Of
failure, pro rata with other creditors
Many converts to the measure were
made by the speech, among members
who were inclined to oppose it, and
Representative Smith has been warmly
congratulated this afternoon on his
splendid presentation Of the subject.
In MS citations to prove the neces-
sity for the measure, Mr. Smith stated
that he had case in mind wherein a
man had filed deed of trust to
prefer certain creditors, including
therein his mother. law for con
siderable sum, when, in fact, he was
not indebted to her at all. Repre-
sentative Barron knocked Smith clear
of the perch by asking ii he was not
joking. "Do you really believe that
any man on earth would make his
mother in-law preferred creditor if
he did not owe her an thing"
tllite a crowd went up to the
Chautauqua grounds ten miles above
the city today, one of whom" your
correspondent was. The site is on
the west bank of the Colorado, and is
reached by steamer from the dam,
close connection being made with the
dummy line. The scenery is beautiful
in its awful gran 1eur The landing is
at the foot of a huge cliff, almost
perpendicular in appearance, yet
Astounding in juts and caverns, prof set.
ing lodges of rock, all covered with
growth of stunted shrubs, many hang
ing from the solid rocks, ferns of
many kinds, moses, with water ooziug
from every crevlce and trlckling down
the mountain side or dripping off of
the ferns and moses In front of this
precipice lie in wild confusion huge
ooulders which have been torn from
the mountain side by some giant up
heaval, or have fallen pell nell after
the steady undermining of centuries,
until they resemble in their chaotic
beauty some Titan battlefield where
we'll matched hosts fought to finish,
and where The vic.ors crowned their
triumph by holding high carnival
Even the table upon which the ban
quet was spread is there, in the form
of an oblong rectangular block of
stone, thirty feet in length and ten in
width, aud now UTILIZED by the pic.
nicklug parties in frolic Of milder
form
Among Other lovely scenes is a can.
on, whose further face looks like the
wreck OF some ancien, masonry, over>
grown with ferns, MOSES and shrubs,
and the rayine below with its mass of
tang led wildwood, adding a grotesque.
ness which makes the scene one Of
rare fascination. The best descrip
ton of this canon has been given by
an old darky, who says the devil went
10 sleep there, woke up mad and for.
got to make his bed up
The grounds are being laid off in
lovely and romantic drives, waterworks
are being blilt, an inclined railroad
will be in shape in two weeks, Gotta yes
are springing up, a restaurant is in
operation, and the foundation Of a
huge pavilion is done, and the ground
is cleaned Tor the college building on
the edge Of bluff below.