The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-02-06
SUPREME JUSTICES GOWNS.
Our Early Statements Teak In Select
ing a Court Dress.

Ex-President Harrison tells of the con-
tention created over the question of an
appropriate court dress for the Justices
of the Federal Supreme Court in the
January Ladies' Home Journal" 'Wnen
the constitutional organization of the
court had been settled and the high duty
Of selecting the Justices had been per-
formed by Washington" he says, 'tthe
smaller, but not wholly unimportant ques-
ton of a court dress doomed up, and
much ,agitated and divided the minds OF
our. public men. Shall the Justices wear
gowns? And if yea, the gown of the
scholar. of the Roman Senator or of the
priest? Shall they wear the wig of the
English Judges? Jefferson and Hamil-
ton. who had differed so widely in their
views as to the frame of the Constitu-
ton, were again in opposition Upon these
questions relating to millinery and hair
needless official apparel, but # the gown
was to carry he said:-'For Heavens
sake discard the monstrous wig which
makes the English Judges look like rats
Hamilton. was for the English wig with
the English gown. Burr was for the
W WooIlsa g0w tepm;e epf a ag van The n 1 Englfsa
gown was taken n the wig left, and /
am sure that the flowing black silk gown
still worn by the Justices helps to pre-
serve in the court room that dignity and
sense Of solemnity which should always
characterize the place of judgment"
AJury Cajoled by Beautiful women
The jury lin the Martha Washington
case, a famous trial of forty years g
wherein the captain of the steamboat
Martha Washington and others were
charged with burning the boat to Sc
cure i~nsurance) was chosen with diff
Guilty. During their five weeks service
the members of it were assailed on every
side by the Jealous feminine smypath:zers
OF the accused. By every art possible to
youth, beauty and wit, and the reckless
abandon of lives largely spent in the COM
partnership of adventures, were they APP
preached. IF you do not go into that
jury room and vote not guilty. in an
hour you will be a lead man. said the
an aged juror On the staircase. Sprung
from an old and respected Massachusetts
Lamily she was a ~singularly beautiful
IN she had gone in early girlhood to the
west, and become enamoured of the
picturesque river captain. Cummings
TO Mexico and opened his gambling house
en- the Rio Grande. One day as he SAT
dealing ealing ! faTo there, his affianced presented
ornned "a mail azure anu
made her way without detection to the
Rio Grande. She was a skilled shor.
and could hit a dollar across a room
Levelling a pistol at the recreant lovers
nead. she said in a short. sharp voice,
captain Cummings, marry me, or take
this in your head" The astounded can
tam replied, Why Ollie, my dear, IS
tnat your The marriage ceremony was
performed that day.-McClure's Magazine.
Disappearance Of the North Polar
Where the North polar continent that
once figured ON the maps? It is not so
long ago that the renowned g-eographer
Petermann believed he had good reason
for faith in its existence. The pole was
probably in this continent. and he
thought towering rocks near Behrfng
Strait. now known to be an island. miah
be one Of the termini of the great land
mass. Faith in this theory has gradual-
" weakened the farther men penetrated
into the White North,' and now Nam
sen has thrown a flood Of light upon fhe
question. The ocean depths he has found
to the north of Franz Joseph Land and
Spitzbergen, the disappearance Of animal
life in that region, the structure Of the
Ice, which is plainly formed at sea and
not on land. and the free movement Of
the ice masses driven, as they are. in
any direction by the prevailing winds.
point inevitably to the conclusion that
the mai who reaches the North Pole viii
probably find no land there, but q deco
sea instead, covered BY closely packed
and drifting ice.-Mcclure's.