The age-herald., 1900-04-30
N HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 ahead until p. m. :.
 ''Thou wilt have many annoyanees to contend with, and danger of sickness ana of law in thy business"
 "A child born on this day will be of un- settled disposition, and not fortunate in its undertakings, unless the hour of it's birth is a good one"
 Towards the end of the month there is great danger of an extensive strike and resort to violence on the part Of the strikers. It will be time of great inter- est in the labor market, and a general rise in the prices of public commodities may be expected. Accidents will be serious, frequent and very fatal, and again we shall have a heavy list of suicides
 There is evident a general demand that Francis l.. Pettus Of Dallas shall be elect ed to the speakership of the lower house of the general assembly. MT. Pettus had no personal desire to return to the legisla- ture, but he was eager to promote the cause of Senator Morgan, and therefore he declared himself to be a candidate He has been previously speaker of the house
  and as a presiding officer he is easily the first Alabamian of the day. He has the courtesy, tact ana good will which char acterzed Speaker Carlisle and the courage which made Speaker Reed successful. Mr. Pettus has the much desired but seldom comprehended power of getting the maxf- mum amount of work out of legislative body. When he is in the chair there is no idling, and legislators are not suffered to lapse Into quarreling mob. MT. Pettus has great knowledge of parliamentary law and custom, and he has the intellectual ouickness to make that knowledge imme- diately available and useful. If MT. Pet tus be willing to accept the speakersmp, he would in all probability have no oppo- sition. -
 When D. J. Meador of Marengo was sent to the senate, the house lost one or it's members who was most competent to deal with questions of finance and taxa tion The senate did not need his serVices as much as the house, and therefore ms elevation to the upper house was loss to the state. MT. Meador is now candi- date for the presidency of the senate ana stands a good chance of securing 1t. It Is understood that his opponents are senator Silas P Rather of Morgan and Senator William D. Jelks of Barbour. MT Rather is very popular and very capable, ana should he be elected to the office he now aspires to, he would be the third Rather to adorn the presidency of the senate; ms father and grandfather having held that position. There is gossip to the effect that General George P. Harrison of Lee will also ask for the honor of presiding over the senate, but as yet he belongs to the army of the prominently mentioned Should it be decided that General Harrison shall be Governor Samfords spokesman in the senate, he will not, of course, seek the presidency
 .The capitalists interested in establish ing a 'briquette coal plant in Alabama have practically decided to go ahead with their enterprise, but the question is whether the plant will be located in Jef- ferson, Walker or some other county said a coal operator yesterday. Mobile is making a strong pull to have the 'briquette' company locate in that city. As the projected company would do large export business Mobile might be a desra- ble location. But Birmingham, on account of it's proximity to the coal fields, would be the best location, and it is understood that the projectors of the enterprise lean to this idea. But there is no time to be lost The location will be selected within the next few days, and if Jefferson coun- ty does not secure this 'brquette' plant it will lose something worth having .Briquette coal, manufactured from waste slack or dust, is coming to be one of the great commodities of the mineral regions The parent 'briquette' plant in this country is in Chicago. Pittsburg will soon have a similar plant. The Birmingham district cannot afford to be left out of the calcula- tion. A 'briquette coal industry would be the biggest thing for Birmingham since the steel industry was put into opera tion."
 Mrs. Melissa Jones, wife of the late Joseph J. Cook, has been allowed $1OO, amount due her husband for services on the United States ship constitution during the Mexican war, October-February IS, 1879.
 It was by a mere chance that a friend of Mrs. Jones, looking over an old file of newspapers, saw the note concerning the act in question. She has his diary contain ing his boat signals while in action of ser vice on board the Vincennes, United States warship on the Pacific ocean, in South America. in 1S50-51. Joseph J. Cook resigned the navy in 1851, aud wrote for Gleasons Pictorial in New York City. He was an artist, writer and poet. At the breaking out of the war between the states he went to Galveston, Tex, and was colonel up hafa ti,a of tl,a war, when he was promoted to brigadier general. General Cook captured several federal gunboats in the Galveston bay. The general was the father of Mrs. c. H. Due of this city.
 "For persons of international reputations and fame Alabama ranks high up amongst the states" said publicist of wide infor- nation and sound judgment, last night. Alabama has John Tyler Morgan, Hannis Taylor Richmond Pearson Hobson, and