The age-herald., 1898-02-06
MATT MINORS
 SUNDAY CHAT

i pidCo III lflt OHIlcu OtdlcS HHcic SiA11h6Cto 70 l are so stared at by the natives as they are
 in this city. The most I see of the pub ] lie of Birmingham is in the street cars, and that Is not bad place to study human
 nature. A few days ago, in coming from i the South Highlands down into the vil- 1 lage, there was lady and gentleman who boarded the car about Avenue I. It
 was evident they were strangers, and sub- i sequent events proved that fact. The gen.
 tleman was a business man of New York,
 and is an intimate business associate of William c. Whitney. His wife is one of
 the prominent society women of New
 York and Philadelphia.
 She was brought up in Philadelphia, and
 married New York gentleman little less
 than two years ago. They were each
 wealthy They were on their way from
 New York to New Orleans. The gentle man having some business in Birmingham, l stopped here for one day. The wife was
 a handsomely dressed woman. Her hus-
 band was also dressed in the best of New
 York fashion. They took passage upon
 car that was filled with ladies and gentle men, the ladies on their way to a matinee. It was but a minute or two after the strangers had entered the car until one lady asked another in d tone of voice audible from one end of the car to the
 other if she knew who those people were, meaning the strangers. She answered in equally loud tones that she did not know,
 but supplemented the reply by adding that they wore very fine clothes. There were
 others who said nothing, but kept up
 wild, glassy stare, and nudging their neighbors.
 By this time all the women in the car and the men likewise, were staring the strangers square in the face, and viewing them from the tops of their hats to the soles of their shoes, taking in every ar ticle of their dress and commenting upon it. As some of the ladies got off of the car
 at First avenue and, passing by the strange lady, they each half hesitated and looked her square in the face as if they were go- ing to say something. I don't suppose that the New York lady was dressed any better than a great many Birmingham ladies dress, but that strangers should attract so much attention and be stared out of coun- tenance as some Birmingham people did upon the occasion referred to is not in keeping with the spirit of the times. It is true Birmingham is more of a village than a city, but in the present age there is no excuse for people looking at strangers as though they had never seen anyone before. If a man puts on clean shirt more than once week in this town he seems to be looked upon as dude. Idle curiosity runs riot with the peoples minds. The best evidence that Birmingham is small place is that strangers attract so much atten- tion upon the streets.
 Some time ago attention was called to the fact that railway trains were allowed to occupy too much time in blocking the crossings. This has not been remedied in the least degree. It continues the same. Another thing that those in authority should correct and if it is not corrected there will be big accident some day in Twentieth street at the east end of the railway station. The frequent blocking of the crossings by the trains naturally con gests the thoroughfare on either side of the train. After the trains have passed and the crossing is cleared then there is | a. general scramble of vehicles, pedestrians
 bicycle riders and others. There is no ef- fort whatever made to obey the well-es- tablished law of driving to the right This
 
 should be the duty of the railway compa- nies who are responsible for the crossings to see that this rule is enforced.
 That is one of the most dangerous cross ings imaginable, and unless great care is taken by everybody, and especially by those charged with guarding and protect ing the lives of the people, there is going to be an accident there, when perhaps some of the most prominent citizens of Birmingham may be killed outright. It Is no matter whether they may be promi- nent or not. The mere fact that they may be killed Is enough to warrant proAec tion
 It may occur as very peculiar to a great many people that a number of the school houses here are not provided with suffl- cient methods of heating the building. During the past week there were three or four rather cold days So cold, in fact, that some of the schools were dismissed because the school rooms were too cold for the pupils. I expect fuel is cheaper in the Birmingham district than any other section of the United States and that school houses should be built in these mod ern times without sufficient heating appar- atus to be equal to any emergency does not reflect credit upon those charged with the responsibility of building the houses nor upon those having the care of their maintainance and protection.
 
 The trial of John A. Gafford, murderer and highw waynan, at Greenville, is natur- ally attracting a great deal of attention.
 From what has been printed of the case the impression must prevail that the kill ing of Bartcw Ilyod was a most unjusti- fable murder. It is very natural that pub lie indignation should be intense against the prisoner. Gafford has been ncter- ious highwayman for years. Lloyd was not the first nor the second man that Gaf- ford had killed. He had been in the peni- tentiary and no doubt should have been kept there. The friends of Gafford seem to go upon the principle that it is an outrage that any should express themselves in fa- vor of John Gafford being given the full punishment which the law provides. Why