The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-12
NorEs or nEeAL rrENrs.

one OF the Associate Justices OF the Supreme
Court of Montana, died by his W hand. prob.
ably while suffering from mental arrangement
brought on by falling health. lie was u Mis-
sissippian by birth and was graduated at Yale
College In the class of 1870. On Tuesday As.
bury b. Conway, Chief Justice Of the Supreme
Court OF Wyoming, died at Cheyenne of heart
failure superinduced by an attack Of the grip.
He was a native OF Illinois, served in the
Union army as an officer Of an Iowa regiment,
ana went TO Wyoming at the close of the war.
He was elected to the Supreme Court of the new
State In 1890. On Friday occurred the death
OF Asa w. Tenney, the newly appointed District
Judge OF the United States for tho Eastern Dis
trlct OF New York. He was taken Ill at church
on Sunday and grew steadily worse from the
time of the first attack. lie had worked very
hard since he entered upon the performance Of
his judicial duties early in the autumn. and
gave every promise of making a fine record
upon the bench, as he had already done at the
bar. Judge Tenney was a Dartmouth graduate
Of 1859. His long service as United States
Attorney in Brooklyn, extending over a period
OF twelve years, and his widespread reputation
as a political speaker doubtless had much to do
with his selection as the successor OF Judge
Benedict.
1t was not only as an orator on Republican
platforms that Judge Asa w. Tenney showed
exceptional powers. He was o most eloquent,
persuasive and winning advocate In jury cases.
One Of his finest efforts in court was his sum
ming up in the suit of Ethel Spooncr against
the Delaware and L~ackawanna Railroad Com.
pany. a negligence case tried In Brooklyn some
ten years ago, in which Mr.. Tenney represented
the plaintiff, a beautiful golden-haired little
girl, who had lost her foot while unselfishly
trying to save smaller children from danger at
N rntltvav crnaainn IN nranua Iplnn EJp,h ne
the Court of Appeals thus states the circum-
stances of the accident: "She came to the track
to sec the train go by. She found some children
smaller than herself playing about the rails and
in danger from the train soon to arrive. She
told them to get Off Of the track. and they not
heeuing her warning, she stepped upoa it to
make them get out of the way, and in the pro-
cess her foot was caught between the plank and
the rail. She waved her hands wildly as a sig.
nal to the engineer, who reversed his engine
and applied the brakes when about $50 feet
from the crossing and stopped the train just as
the truck wheels Of the engine had passed over
the imprisoned foot" AS the child sat in court
and told her simple and affecting story, all the
time unconsciously playing with her crutch,
while her golden hair fell about her face and
was bright in the afternoon sunshine. she looked
like some picture by Sir Joshua REYNOLDS;
and no one who heard Mr.. Tenney's address
to the jury in her behalf will ever forget the
eloquence or pathos of his words on that occa-
sion. Both client and counsel are now dead.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
in this department handed, down decisions in
sixty-one cases on Friday. OF these the most
important Is tho afirmance of the injunction
granted by Judge Frederick Smyth, in the
Kingsbridge Railroad case, restraining the
Board Of Aldermen from comforting a perma-
nenu franchise upon the Forty-second Street,
Manhattanville, and ct. Nicholas Avenue Rail-
road Company. The point upon which the de-
cision depends is very simple. Section 73 Of
the Greater New York charter provides that
latter the approval of this act, no franchise or
right to use the streets, avenues, parkw avs, or
highways Of the city shall be granted by the
municipal assembly to any person or corpora.
ton for a longer period than twenty-five years.
The approval Of the act took place on the 4th of
| May. 1897. The court holds that from that date
tho granting of any permanent franchise to use
the streets is forbidden. whether the municipal
assembly or anybody else may attempt to grant
it. In effect, the time when the prohibition
| shall begin to operate Is de emed to be a more
| important and controlling element than the men.
ton of the municipal assembly as the granting
power.
In the Van Week divorce case, on trial in
Buffalo, some of the witnesses have been ques-
toned In writing concerning The names OF q
number Of women who are supposed to have
made trouble between the parties. In this way
the names were kept from the audience. Thus
counsel could write the name of a woman upon a
piece of paper and showing 1t to Mr.. Van Week
would ask him whether that person had not In
terfered between him and Mrs. Van Week, or
whether he had not paid her millinery bills at a
800 .l T1tn -1.- 4 -
in the newspapers as O novelty. but 1t has been
employed before. In a Westchester county case
tried before Judge Wilmot NJ. Smith last year
at a special term of the Supreme Court one OF
the questions was the extent to which liquor
had been sold and consumed on certain prem.
ises at Larchmont. Mr.. Everett =. Wheeler
was ono of the counsel engaged in the trial. and
in:cross-examining witnesses who testified tina,
they had seen persons intoxicated on the prem
Uses specified, he asked them to write the names
of such persons on n slip Of paper, instead OF
stating the names orally. Thus one of his ques
lions was in this form: II will ask you to write
on a piece of paper the names of the person;
whom you state you saw under the influence Of
liquor in the dining roomi" BY such a course
the persons mentioned were spared a Notifying
publicity.
We have received from the Department o.
Public Instruction at Albany a copy of the opin
ion just delivered by Justice Alden Chester II
the Watcrvliet school case. 1t is the broades1
and strongest assertion OF the power OF thu
State Superintendent which has ever been mad
by the courts. The Board Of Education o.
Watervliet consists Of four persons. two Demo
Gratis and two Republicans. Before the begin
ming Of the school year in September the board
got into a deadlock as TO the officers and teach
ers to be employed. Every resolution for tb'
employment OF officers and tea chers which wa
offered on either side was defeated by a til
vote. Two OF the members then applied to thu
State Superintendent OF Public instruction fo
the removal of the other two and for an ordel
directing the opening of the schools at once
superintendent skinner refused to remove the
officers proceeded against, but did direct tina
the schools in Watervliet should be opened oil
or before Oct. 4. 1897. This order was no
obeyed. in consequence OF which the Supcrin
tendent sent an employee OF his department 4
the city with directions to organize tho schoo