Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-27


| woods and equipped
| with marvellous dec
| orations.
nouncement that Senator Squire has been
| sued for $l,50e.000, or such a matter by
Colonel William s. King. editor farmer
| stock breeder and ex-M. C. The merits OF
\ the suit are somewhat obscure at this point
| of view, but ii Is alleged that it is to re-
| cover real estate placed in Squre's hands
| in trust years ago by King and Philo REM
| ington, the famous manufacturer OF lion,
| NJ Y, the disputed area being no less
than the site of the city of Seattle, Squire
| home.
Colonel King is not fond of picayune law
| suits, or smallfry controversies of any
sort. Fifteen years ago or so he sued
| this same Philo Remington for two or three
| million dollars worth of real estate which
he had similarly placed in his hands in
! trust. He won the suit after long and
expensive litigation and recovered his
! beautiful home at Minneapolis, but his eX-
| perience would seem calculated to shake
| his confidence in trusts" King has a
| very wide acquaintance with public men,
| having been postmaster. of the House of
| Representatives at the beginning of the
var. He occupied a confidential relation
Vi
was N training up ON 18th street for his
bowie knife duel with Roger A. Pryor.
Before, that time he acquired considera-
BILE local distinction in Minneapolis for
being an aboltionist of the aggressive and
militant type. Slave holders were accus-
| toned to come to Minnesota with their
slavas to spend the summer. Anti-slavery
people took good care to inform the alaves
that they were free, and many of them
left their masters. The pro-slavery resi-
dents wanted the southern trade, and
threatened to mob those who interfered
with the rights" of the planters. Riots,
nobs and violence resulted. At last a suit
was brought against Missourian for hold
ing slaves in Minnesota, and the case was
tried at the court house at Minneapolis.
King was never. quarrelsome and never
carried arms, but il was generally under
stood that he was a bad man to tackle.
When the trial came off he was very much
in evidence: he was there. Standing upon
the court house steps, he made the colored
visitors understand that they were free
men and women, toathe great rage of their
masters, and Indifferent to their menaces.
Then he took the gentlemen themselves in
hand and gave them what may be called a
dressing -down, in language very far from
polite or pious. His profanity was Vo-
cfferous,so uninterrupted and 80 picturesque,
that many who heard it declared that it
sounded ike poem or psalm, and when
the planters retired in haste, leaving their
"chattels" behind them. an old and devout
Presbyterian deacon edged his way up
X,
shoulder and exclaimed, Thank you, Bill!
Thank you! 1 couldn't have done it better
myself!' Most of the slaves were freed;
few returned with their masters.
King is the man who bought $4,000 cow
in Canada a few years ago, to add to his
choice hec1. He is understood to be a NIL
lionaire, and is one of the most hospitable
and generous of men.
1 wonder what are the real facts about
these In liar jugglers. Again the maya
zines and newspapers of the country are
filled with serious accounts, vouched for by
apparently respectable men, of these mir
acles of the east In which the laws of
nature are sus pended, or the human senses
utterly baflled. Ore juggier tossed rope
into the air ard climbed up it cut of sight;
another was buried for month and came
to life feeling pretty well; another covered
a boy with a basket and he vanished;
another touched the ground with his finger
and great palm sprang to the sky and
birds sang in It's branches. This very week,
before n Washington audience of average
Observation-Disclosures, a lecturer just returned
from Hindostan has vouC he'd for stories of
men walking on the waters of the Gauges,
striking a living stream from granite
rock, flying through the air from one hill
top to another and living for hundreds of
years without eating or becoming aged
He averred that an old Yogi of India made
a large mango tree grow in few minutes
before his own eyes, to the height of fifty
feet, ard that he himself climbed up the
trunk"
Ten years ago 1 inquired about these
things of Mr.. Z. T. Barnum, the celebrated
Snowman. L ssked him why these wonder
workers did not come to America? Why
he himself did not secure some of them and
put them on the road?
He laid bis finger one side of his nose
as was his wont, for emphasis, and said,
For the same reason that l do not exhibit
Santa Claus. I'd give any money for him,
but my folks can't catch him."
V. i
these miracles of India do not occur?''
Il don't know whether they do or not"
he said, but 1 have never been able to
find any of the men who could work EN-"
L asked him if he had tried to find them.
Why certainly, he SAID. 1T was in the
papers at the time-dont you remember?
I'd give any money for the mango-tree man,
or the sailor who can toss up his rope and
climb it. When l was in Europe the last
time, l sent several of my most expert
agents to Calcutta, and they were instruct
ed to bring back a miracle worker at any
price. They travelled all summer. They
visited all parts of Hindostan and explored
the foothills of the Himalayas. They ran
sacked the whole Gauges country, Bombay,
Madras and the Puniab. What do you sup
pose they found? Nothing! They came
home with empty hands. There were some
skillful straightforward performers, but none
so good as Hermann, Heller and others of
our own
1 suggested that the Indian Yogis or Hin
doc ascetics were religious teachers and
preachers so devout that they could not be
induced to suspend the laws Of nature for
money.
Just so,' said Mr. Barnum I'VE had
heard of that objection, but that would not
prevent my agents from at least seeing
them if they were on exhibition They went
into all sorts of places, in all sorts of suises,
under all sorts of pretenses, and they saw
the best magicians that India can produce.
They did not hire anybody, or offer to hire
anybody though they were authorized TO
contract for 500 night with anybody VINO
could do the rope trick, or produce the fifty
foot mango tree, either really or apparently,
in the presence of an audience. The verdict
they brought me was, There isn't one of
them that is worth his salt "
And this is what makes me inquire again,
What are the actual facts?
Charles Sumner was purist. His ears de-
manded niCeties of expression, and his taste
was shocked by any DETACHMENT of English,
whether in pronunciation or grammar. Hen
ry Wilson, a graduate of the shoemaker's
bench, was not so punctilious, and he some
times spoke of his distinguished colleague
in the down-east lingo, as being "pernicket-
ty." While they were both walking to and
fro in Washington, and occupying a large
space in the public eye, i heard a remark
attributed to Mr.. Wilson which was thought
to indicate this difference between them
and think 1t has never been printed. THE
fact is,' said Wilson, when he was Vice
President, Sumner always resents the con-
H. 49,