Evening star., 1901-02-05
CENTENNIAL INAUGURATION
TOPICS OF TIMELY INTEREST DIS
CUssED BY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Facts in Regard to First Induction OF
President Into Office In
District.

Two papers of much interest were reae
at the meeting of the Columbia Historica
Society in the banquet hall of, the Shore
ham last evening. In the absence OF tne
president of the society. Mr.. John A has
son. Mr.. Lewis ]. Davis presided Resolu
tions relative to the death of queen VIC
toria were reported from the board OF man
ayers and unanimously adopted
1t was announced that DIR. j. Dudley Nor
gan had resigned as treasurer of the So
ciety, and that Mr.. William A. Mearns mac
been elected to succeed him in the position
The first paper of the evening was one
in a series that are being prepared for Inc
society. which give accounts of early resi-
dents of the District. with some sketches
of the times in which they lived Rich
ard Forrest and His Times" was the sub
ject of this paper, and. as handled by me
authoress, Mrs. Kate kearney Henry, de-
scendant of Richard Forrest, proved to be
of great interest Some account was also
given of George Walker, also an ancesto!
of Mrs. Henry, who was enc of the large
investors in property here in the earl?
years.
A discussion followed in which Miss Fan
ny Lee Jones. a daughter of Mr.. Walter
Jones, in his day the leading member of
the District bar. took part. in order to
clear up a doubtful point that was raised
relative to the location of the residence
the building of the fine mansion at the foot
of 18th street.
Miss Jones said she recollected that when
she was a child their home was in the
house which was known as that formerly
occupied by Gen. Van Ness and which.
as she recalled. was on 11th street between
Pennsylvania avenue and street.
Jefferson's Inauguration.
The next paper on the Inauguration Of
Thomas jefferson, was prepared by DR..
Samuel c. Busey and was read by the sec
retary, Mrs. Beall, in the absence of DR..
BuSey, the state of whose health did not
permit his attending the meeting. The sub
ject was very appropriate, as the coming
4th of March will be the centennial an
niversary of the first Inauguration of a
President at the permanent seat of govern
ment.
In addition to the timeliness Of the sub
ect, DR.. Busey gave a clear account of
the inaugural ceremonies of that occasion,
and showed the mythical character of the
accounts which are generally given of the
event. The accounts noted describe JEFF
ferson as riding on horseback to the Cap
itol unattended on the 4th of March, 1901,
and tying his horse to the fence that then
surrounded the building, and that he walk
ed into the Capitol, where he took the oath
of office.
A discussion also followed this paper dur
ing which reference was made to the fact
that among the sO-called midnight ap-
pointments'' of President Adams were those
of justices of the peace for the District. 1t
was pointed out that when Mr.. Madison, as
Secretary of State, subsequently refused to
sign the commiss' on of Mr.. Marbury, who
had been nominated for one Of these places,
a suit was instituted which was carried to
the Supreme Court and resulted in one of
the decisions which established the judicial
fame of John Marshall.
In this year of centennial anniversaries it
Is noted by the society that the 9th of
this month will be the centennial ami
versary of the date of the act establishing
a judicial system for the District, and
which has been held by the courts to be
the date of the assumption by Congress of
the power of ''excluisve legislation in the
District. vested in that body by the Con-
stitution of the United States.