The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-15
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
AND ELSEWHERE

plicants for the place are Mrs. Terrell.
whose family have been always republican,
and I. G. Fowler, who deserted the demo-
cratic party In 1896, and now seeks office as
republican, and who has heretofore In re-
cent years sought office as a democrat
notably asking Gov. Oates to appoint him
to be a railroad commissioner. 1t is not
for democrats to dictate to the republican
president but 1t is for democrats to pro-
test against the public reward of a man
who deserted his own party, and upon the
heels of such desertion claims pecuniary
reward in the shape of presidential post
! office. Mr.. Fowler represents one vote.
That Is his own. Let the president appoint
a real republican like Mrs Terrell to be
postmaster at Uniontown." So spake a
| democrat in the lobby.
A water-pipe burst under the pavement
on the south side of First avenue between
Nineteenth and Twentieth streets at noon
yesterday, and for four hours the water
poured up through the pavement and
flooded the street There was a broad
stream flowing down that side of the street,
and passers-by stopped to look and to won
der. The cold wave bursted hundreds of
pipes throughout the city, and the plumbers
have got all the work they can possibly
perform for week or two to come.
A brave little woman told her little story
of suffering yesterday afternoon. She stood
at the crossing of the streets and had much
to say of the effect of the unprecedented
cold.
do you know she said, that we are
all frozen up at our house? The water-pipe
leading n our Kitchen atova froza apd
could get no service at all. We could not
get and man to get the matter working
for us. Two colored men summoned re-
fused to do any work at all, through fear
of bursting pipes and explosions, and I'M
mentionable dangers conjured up In their
minds. The result of all this condition of
affairs is that we have had nothing to eat
in our house since last Saturday. 1t is
frightful trial, this cold wave, and fright
fully expensive to a lot of people who can't
afford the loss.''
One effect of the extraordinary weather
Is a sort of ore famine, added to something
that very nearly approaches a coal famine,
and which in some cases actually amounts
to a realization of that lamentable condi-
ton. Some ct the surface mines, like the
great iron mines at Ishkooda, are simply
impossible of working, and the result is that
some of the furnaces are run out of ore
and must be momentarily banked, a very
expensive process at any time. Some of the
furnaces are badly in need of being blasted
out; but trade is so brisk and the demand
for pig iron SO pressing that none of the
furnaces dare close down for repairs. Clos
ing down would mean loss of $l,5)0 to $4,000
a day in the of some of the furnaces.
Coal mining is also greatly retarded by the
phenomenally low temperature.
II never saw any Alabama legislature
comparable in one two respects to the
present general assembly," declared an old
legislator yesterday. There is more cross
ness pickering and personal spite now
! manifest in the legislature than 1 ever OBJ
served before. Nearly everybody seems to
have it in for everybody else, and a spirit
of spite pervades the whole assembly. 1t Is
sad to see but, being seen calls for COM
ment''
Yesterday was st. Valentines Day, and
there live many persons who remember the
years when the day was universally OBJ
served by signing maidens and adoring
|
SWANS
Nearly all the members of the party of
the visiting northwestern editors had an
erroneous idea of the population of Biz
mngham. The Age-Herald reporter was
asked about 1t repeatedly and when the
visitors were told that the population of the
city not including any of the suburbs, was
something like $4,000 and that with the pas
sage of the Greater Birmingham bill now
pending in the legislature, it would be up
wards of 10000, this, too, not including much
of our nearby population, they seemed sur
prised; for they had in their mind the
census returns of 1890, which gave the popu-
lation as only little over $4,000. The
mark was made by Major Mcbride, of
Pittsburg, that the principal reason for tho
agitation of the Greater Pittsburg question
was to have city which would rank fourth
or fifth in size in the United States, and
thus make a more favorable impression on
the world than it could otherwise do. This
question of population, he said was coming
to be one of vital Importance. The cities
that do not show large growth in the CEN
sus of 1900 will be looked upon by investors
as not worth considering, and Birmingham
should not loose sight of that fact.
1t is sad story that comes from Jasper
concerning the 4-year-old daughter of the
high sheriff of Walker county, Mr.. O'Rear.
Night before last the little child approached
too near the family fireside, the night being
intensely cold, Her clothing caught fire.
and she was burned to death before aid
could reach her.
Mr.. ]. M. Williams, of Lynchburg, Va,
one of the leading travelling statesmen Of
tobacco in the south, and one of the most
popular men ION the road in this country,
Is in the city.
Sheriff Frank P. O'Brien, who has been
at home quite i'll since Saturday, hopes to
go to Montgomery today.
Hon. Sidney ]. Bowie, Hon. F. M Hight
mayor; Hon. R. P. Thomson, late candi-