The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-05
NEWS AND COMMENT.

w. e. Curtis is sure that everybody who
reads the paragraph We are about to
quote from his correspondence from
Washington TO the Chicago Record will
agree that Mrs. Charles Brandon, of
Moundsvile. w. Va, is entitled to a PEN
sion even if only half her story is true
She claims to have been the third wife
of Charles Brandon, who recently died at
the age of SO, having been the father OF
thirty five living children and four who
did not survive infancy. AT the time OF
his death his eldest child was 70 and the
youngest 3 years of age. Her maiden
name was Sarah Barker, and she was the
youngest of family of sixteen. She is
now 81 years old. The first Mrs. Bran
don was the mother of two children now
living and of four that died in infancy.
The second was the mother of eighteen
and the third, the petitioner, of fifteen
children. At the time of her marriage
twenty olive branches left by her two
predecessors still lived under the parental
roof, the oldest being strapping boy of
SO years, and she claims that she has al
ways given them a tender mothers care.
Brandon was a veteran of three wars.
He fought the British in 1872, the Indians
and the MeXicans, and seventeen of his
sons served in the Union army during the
rebellion. 1t appears that there We're not
enough names TO go round, for two Of the
boys were called Charles and two We're
called JOnll, tne uupllCdleS DelHB lne SOUS
of different wives. Both of the Charles
es and both CT the Johns served in the
army with Simon, Evans, Peter, Jo-
! sephus, Hiram, James Van Buren,, JACOB,
| Abraham, Alexander David, Andrew and
| Rufus. Both Of the Johns and one of tho
| Charleses were taken prisoners at the
battle of Chickamauga and died In An
| dersonville. Peter was killed at Shiloh.
| The rest of them returned safe and
| sound at the close of the war and are
now scattered through the mountains of
| West Virginia, Virginia and eastern Ken
lucky, engaged in farming and other
| pursuits. Having reached the age OF 81
and feeling the infirmities of her years
| Mrs. Brandon thinks the government
| should do something to help her, and
therefore applies for a pension
The more stable the government of
| Cuba writes Robert II. Porter in the
! ApriI North American Review, the more
certain will be its industrial development
| The closer and stronger the ties which
| bind Cuba to the United States, the
greater will be the prosperity and the
| more rapid the reconstruction of the
| island, To the outside world Cuba has
become mart of the United States. 10
| call the present situation Military Pro-
| tectorate or Military Occupancy will not
| alter the fact that the strength OF Cuoa
| today is in close alliance with the United
| States. Commercially ana lndustrlally
| the two countries fit perfectly together.
! The products of Cuba can all find a mar
ket in the United States, while the needs
| of Cuba can al be supplied by its con-
| tinental neighbor The Cubans have had
a taste of the prosperity which followed
| reciprocal commercial relations with the
| United States. The golden possibilities
of absolutely free intercourse between
Cuba and the United States must be ap-
| Darent TO the more intelligent Cubans.
Here, says the sun, is the story Of a
business transaction between the war
department and an American corpora
tion in connection with the war. The
| largest single purchase Of ships for
| transports was that of the fleet of the At
lantic Transport Line, of which Bernard
| n. Baker of Baltimore, Is the president.
When the government was sorely In need
| OF vessels i'm which 10 carry its troops,
Mr. Baker offered to the department
! seven steamships of his lima at tina de-