Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-20
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Lawton's Commission as Brigadier
General.
A PECULIAR PARDON CASE
Burial Exercises of the Maine VIC
Tins Next Week.
SOME OF TODAY'S CALLERS

Secretary Root, on leaving the White
House said that he would soon issue an
announcement to the army about the death
of Gen. Lawtdh. This is not an unusual
proceeding, but has been taken only In the
cases of distinguished soldiers among them
being Gen. Shernc an and Gen Terry. The
announcement will recite the brilliant work
OF the dead soldier, and his record will be
held up as one worthy of emulation by the
soldiers of the armN
Secretary Root and the President dis
cussed the question of whether to send to
the Senate the nomination of Gen. Lawton
as a brigadier general in the regular army.
On the day before he was killed there was
put in the desk of Adjutant General Cor
bin the commission of Gen. Lawton as a
brigadier general in the regular army. This
commission would have been signed by the
President and sent to the Senate in few
days. Upon investigation at the War De-
partment it was found that in several cases
where nominations had been made during
a recess of Congress and the nominee had
died before the regular meeting of the Sem
ate his name had been sent to the Senate
anyhow, merely as a record, however, of
his recess appointment. 1t was deemed
unwise to send the nomination OF Gen.
Lawton to the Senate at this time, and the
matter will be held in allegiance.
A Presidential Pardon.
President Mckinley has granted a pardon
to James H. Bacon, who was convicted in
Utah in 1896 of making fraudulent returns
to the controller of the currency, and was
sentenced to seven years in prison. None
Of the sentence has been served, however,
as Bacon has been on bail pending court
proceedings. The case is one of general in
terest as the former and the present con-
troller and the Attorney General all think
the accused man was innocent of inten-
tional fraud the last named officer con-
Guiding his recommendation to the Presi-
dent as follows:
TT would be most unjust to visit upon
the petitioner the severe penalty pronounced
by the statute upon offenders against the
national banking laws, for a mere failure
to follow with strict legal accuracy the de-
batable requirements of the department of
the currency in purely technical detail
such as this was / advise that the pc
utioner be granted a pardon"
Some of Today's Callers.
Among the callers were Representative
Southard, with Rev. Messrs Wright and
Highly of Ohio; Senator Penrose and Rep
resentative Bingham, on Pennsylvania mat
ters; Representative Kluttz of North Caro-
lima. introducing a number of young lady
pupils of Elizabeth College, N c.; Senators
Allison, Gear and Representative McPher-
son of Iowa. Senators Aldrich and Bur-
rows, representatives COrliSS, Davidson,
Newlands and Graft and Governor Otero of
New Mexico; Representative Sibley of
Pennsylvania, looking after some Porto
Rican matters.
Burial of the Maine Dead.
Secretary Long told the President this
morning that he expects the remains of the
dead of the battle ship Maine to reach this
country early next week, and that the in
terment VIII take place at Arlington to-
ward the last of the week. The President
Will attend the exercises incident to the
lnterment. These exercises will be simple
Secretary Long will accompany the Presi.
dent.
Officially Spelled "Puerto.v
The government finally adopted puerto
Rico as the official spelling of the name
of that island, and hereafter all official
documents will adhere to that form. The
board on geographic names decided in
favor Of this some years ago, but the usage
has not been uniform. The board requested
from President Mckinley an expression of
his views and in making the decision he
says the name should be Puerto Rico in ac-
cordance with the custom of the people of
the island.