The age-herald., 1900-12-19
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

''rhe United States navy" remarked a Birmingham citizen who is familiar with naval affairs. lis particularly anxious to enlist mechanics and machinists. A re- eruiting office was opened in the United States courtroom last week, but out of the twenty-five or thirty recruits enlisted there was only one mechanic The department had hopes that in the Birmingham district where there are so many machine shops, that a number of mechanics would be en- listed, but they were disappointed The trouble was that there is too much pros rerity in the district and the men were making better wages than the government offered them although the government pays machinist from S45 to S55 a month. A mechanic in the Birmingham district makes as high as $5. Then the govern ment will only take unmarried men, and the age limit is from IS to 25. The govern ment is not only constantly building new ships, but the increased mechanical appil- anees on shipboard require more machin-
 
 about ship from the propeller up Is run by machinery. The whole trend of modern invention is towards timezsavins machin- cry. If this is important in ordinary busi- ness affairs 1t is a hundred times more so on a warship. In action every second counts, and nothing is done by hand which can be done by machinery. The guns are turned elevated, loaded and even aimed by of A11- steered started and stopped by electrical apparatus. The most tedious work about warship is coaling 1t, and even this Is done by machinery. During the Spanish war some ships were being coaled where the sailors were helping by hand; and es an illustration of American grit, I saw some of the naval militia handle coal until their hands, which were tender, became raw, but they wrapped rags around them and kept at it. Their pride was aroused and they did not wish to be outdone hy the regular sailors, whose hands were tougher The Iowa recently took 1915 tons aboard in one day. There were ten or twelve coal openings in use and the work was done by steam holsters"
 I have recently begun filing most of my damage suits in the United States Court" remarked lawyer yesterday. q find the results more satisfactory. You get a trial sooner and in case of an appeal the delay is comparatively short. When a case is taken to the State Supreme Court the delay seems interminable The State courts are crowded, while the. United States Courts are not. Any kind of a suit can be filed in the State courts, while in the United States Courts the amount involved has to be over 5000, and only certain classes of cases can be filed, where the citizenship of the parties is different, or some Federal question is involved, etc The jures, too, are better in the United States Court. I don't know why this is so, but it is. The men compos- ing the juries are the same men who com pose the State Court juries. Yet they are more satisfactory in the former court
 'I often wonder" he continued 'how a jury ever arrives at a conclusion in cases where the evidence is directly conflicting, or in cases where all the witnesses are ly- ing.
 l believe it was Sir Walter Raleigh who, while confined in prison, undertook to write history of the world. One day there was fight between two of the prisoners and
 
 count of it. Sir Walter gave up writing his history, saying that if he could not find out the truth of an event within the prison walls he could never expect to find out the truth of history. >Juries, however, often manage to reach verdicts when all the wit nesses are lying and each telling a different lie. Usually witness who is lying espe- cially a coored witness, can be broken ,,,i,a T do lending white man once who was accused of shooting negro. The white man said he shot in self-defense and the question was who shot first. The shooting occurred on car filled with negro excursionists. One of the negroes testified about as fol- lows: "Gem men, de trouf was dat black run in de car do and de white man arter him, de nigger jump outen de window, and de white man yell Look out, niggers, and den he shot. De niggers began jumping outen de windows, and scrambn' under de seats and some ob de sisters cung ter me and aXed me ter save 'em, but de white man war restin' his gun on my shoulder an shootin' away an I jest had ter stand still"
 On cross-examination he admitted he was scared and had hid under the seat and did not know what was going on. He had sense of humor and enjoyed the reminis- cense of the scene, and several times during his testimony broke out into a loud ha, ha! Sifted down, his testimony contained as much truth that of the boy who came home and told his father he had seen fifty rabbits, but who finally admitted under questioning that he heard the bushes rattle and thought he saw rabbit.
 TOO LATE.
 Ry Nora Perry