Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-18

Written Exclusively for II, Evening star.
II vas never more impressed with the
peculiarities of the law" remarked we'll
known attorney to Il Star reporter, than
when defending man recently at the city
hall He was charged with selling lottery
tickets and the case against him was a
pretty stiff one 1t may be stated that he
was convicted, not, however, because l de-
Tended him, but because the evidence 'Ias
against him. AS l entered the court ROOM
1 met an Old gentleman who has been
resident of the city all his life. l mention
ed to him the kind of case had on hand.
and he told me what had never heard be-
fore. though 1 have since ascertained that
it was a fact-that the money which was
used in building the original court house,
not the engagements, was raised by the
proceeds of a lottery, which were very
fashionable in olden times a means of
raising money to construct municipal
and other buildings. But that was not the
worst of il. 1t sounds bad enough to hear
that temple of justice was erected from
EiCney secured in that kind of a way, but
the fact was that the city repudiated the
prizes and defrauded the holder OF the cap
ital prize: think it was five thousand dol
lars. though ii may have been n greater
m. All the prizes were not repudatcd,
though the capital that is. the largest
prize was not paid. The holder of the win
ming ticket lived in Alexand ri;.. and it was
claimed that he did not come by it
straight IL appears, though in this RI ~
not be exactly correct, he obtained the
ticket from some other person. and when it
was found that it had drawn the prize,
there was suit about its ownership. The
holder sued the city of Washington. and
the city, in defense. pleaded that there Was
fraud in the transfer, and that the fraud
Initiated the claim for the prize. BY this
and other ways the case was kept in court
until both ciaimaN the ticket 6rnoDeI
out of existence. The fact remained that
the prize was never paid. Under the cir
cunstances. ii seemed strange well as
peculiar that my client was convicted of
thing, 4 crime, that was good enough to be
the means of raising the money which was
used to erect the court house and the room
in which the trial took place. OF course,
laws have changed since then. and what,
Ike many other things, was not a crime in
o4den days is q crime now.
Somzthing Ike it happened one day last
winter. l defended a man in the Police
Court for violating the STOW law. He was
the owner of some lots in the northern
Fart of the city, and had failed to have the
snow removed. He was promptly convict
cd ana was as mad as hornets are sup
posed 10 set about it. AS he leaving
the Police Court building he slipped on a
piece of frozen snow ard fell down the
steps. s9raining his wrist and otherwise
lhjurlns himself AS 1 said. he was mad
anyhow, and this slip actually set him on
Ire He wanted me TO get cat Il warrant
foI the Police Court judge who tried the
case, but l persuaded him that the case
would be laughed odt of court, for the rea-
sc1 that the employees of the court had
gone through the form OF cleaning off the
SLOW. though they had not done their work
We'll"
81 am glad 10 see signs OF Improvement
anywhere volunteered a navy yard Official
10 a Star reporter, but particularly to see
the Improve n1ents at the cemeteries nova
days, in the matter of interments Until
the past three weeks / had not attended q
funeral for over twelve years, but circum-
stances required ne to attend two TecsntIy
l can never forget Il funeral | attended
twelve years ago. 1t was of the child Of
my sister W hen the coffin was lowered
into the grave asd the board cover placed
On it, the graveyard men, dressed in the
toughest kind of d style, dumped big ciods
OF clay down on it in hcathenish man
ger Every thump from the clods seemed to
he upon the hearts of those who were
standing around. and 1 vowed L would
never attend another funeral I had al
most forgotten my vow when I went to a
cemetery, | won't mention which one. for
am told the custom prevails in them
ali now, at the times stated. Instead OF
ore of the grave diggers having on a res,
shirt and Il butchers cap, another Il blue.
shirt and a PIECE of straw hat and the
other no shirt at all. contenting himself
with butt0ninS up a pair Of overalIs to his
neck, the grave digGers wore gown; of
some dark material and student or card
board hats. When the time came for COW
erins the coffin, one of the grave diggers
threw down All armful of cut grass This
served a. cushion for the earth rs it vas
carefully thrown in, and the harsh and
piercing sounds of the falling earth were
slienced- was much gratihed at the inno-
FatioI am L am sure others are equally
So Inc only thing that appeared out of
the way was when the superintendent of
the cemetery. when the clergyman was
reading the service, dust to dust earth to
earth. threw in the grave from a little vial
ne carried IN his vest pocket some white
ifTd sand 1t seemed lUdicrous from the
TACT thaC the grave was dug in very red
clay Why he did not use powdered red
Gay Know not Certainly the white sand
looked out of place.
\ x x
thirk l mentioned to you in the spring
the fact that the three big circus COM
panies are now owned by the same syndi-
cate said a circus agent to Star re-
porter. though they continue to show
Under their old names. They have not done
as well this season as they anticipated. for
the reason that they held on to fifty
cent admission. even for children, except
in arms. and seventy-five cents and a dol
lar Tor reserved seats They did not seem
to be able to read the signs of the times
which are in favor of Iow-priced admis-
sions. The twcnty-five-cent circuses here
on the other hand. did great business this
season, as did the hundreds of ten-cent
tented shows. The Barnum show will leave
all the circus money for the Forepaueh
and Buffalo Bill Wild West shows next
season. and that to follow, and will spend
two years in Europe. 1t is big undertake
iig. and il is the first time one of the big
American oircuseS has gone abroad for an
extensive tour. In that respect it is show
news.
by the way. the circus people with the
Forepausn show are pleasantly surprised
at the good report they receive from the
elephants Dunk and Gold Dust at your
Geological Park. When those elephants
were with the show they were perfect ter
rors. Young Adam Forepaugh worked
them in their performances I'm the ring.
and more than once l have heard other
performers say as he was driving them
out INFO the ring, Goodbye Adam, for
they were never certain that he would
ever get back alive. He had all kinds of
unpleasant experiences with them and final
1y. when he declined TO perform them any
longer. IL was decided to give them away.
Several cities were thought of. but Hugh