Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-13
Elhiinec.
Heard
@Ceen

at his gift. It was plain '.fver" and
bore the label Of a popular but cheap cigar
Under the circumstances he thought IT
would be rank extravaganza to make ms
intended purchase. and therefore contented
himself with his cabinet smoke"
T. * X
Secretary Root l., the sphinx of this adj
ministration. 1t Is known by everybody
who does business with him, especially the
newspaper men. that he never tells any
thing he doesn't want known or gives even
the slightest basis for a clue. The corre-
spondent of a New York newspaper recently
tried to draw him out in regard to the
movement to make him the republican
nominee for governor of New York After
several ineffectual efforts to get Mr.. Root
to express himself one way or the other on
the subject, the scribe quietly remarked:
We'll you know. suppose. Mr.. Secretary
that they are talking about you for Cover,
nor" To this, the war Secretary repiled
with a smile: rs that so? Well. 1t better
to be talked about as a candidate for gov
ernor than as candidate Tor state
prison." And the interview was closed.
x x X X
bad coin is promotive of charity" SAID
a philosophical member Of the metropolitan
police force as he stood on Pennsylvania
avenue the other day musing over the
strange things of life.
able inclinations." replied the listener to
the officers remarks
"Out where 1 live is a grocer continued
the officer. land that grocer supplies
family that Is supported entirely by beg
ging. He gets all the coin .hat is daily
dropped into the hand of the man who begs
1t. That Is, he gets a large part of it -as
much as he will take. Another large part
of it is so defective that 1t can only be kept
going by means of great ingenuity. inc
fact is when man or woman gets
coin that causes objections when 1t is pre-
sented in the ordinary course of trade. ne
or she usually is affected charitaby, and
the first beggar that is met, especially II 1t
is blind man, gets the money. l have
often thought that if the beggars ever get
together to form a trust they would adj
vance their interests wonderfully by set
ting a large amount of damaged coin in
circulation"
< X
There is nothing stranger or more mys-
terious than the series Of misfortunes that
have in the last week SO befallen the
cotton mill industry in the south, especial
ly with reference to the property Of a GER
tain cotton mill concern said a southern
man to Star reporter. Some years ago
there were es abolished in Charleston, 8. c.,
what were called the Vesta mills. Ill-for-
tune followed the property from the begin
nirg. When the mills We're first estab-
lished white labor was employed but
neither the mills nor the labor were sue
cessful. and the property somehow never
paid. Other mills made money. but those
never did Accidents were always hap
pening in the mills and misfortune seemed
to follow them right along. Several years
ago the late Capt. ]. H Montgomery Of
Spartanburg 8. c.. one of the ablest mill
men in the south. acquired the property.
He introduced negro labor in the mills.
but that, like everything else. was fall
ure. 1t was decided to move the property
to Gainesville IA All the machinery was
moved to that town and the mills eStab-
lished there under a new name. The hoo
doc appeared to follow them there. The
old machinery did not prove successful,
and new machinery was put in. Some time
after Capt. ontgomery had taken charge
he was il speeding some Of the work being
done around the mills He fell from the
second story of the structure and received
injuries from which he died. His son. Cap
tain Montgomery then took charge of the
mills. A short time ago a tornado sudden
ly swept across part of Gainesville, tore
the mills to pieces and killed many of the
employees. Even that would be a strange
enough story of i'll fortune, but the end
was not yet. A week later a cloudburst
near Spartanburg, s. c.. caused the rivers
there to rise to such proportions that a
cotton mill employees at different points.
The worst destruction wrought on
property at the head of which was Percy
Montgomery. the president of the Gaines
Vile mills, that had only few days be-
fore been wrecked by a tornado. The two
cotton mill places are several hundred
miles apart in different states. A tornado
wrecks the property of a man in one state
and cloudburst in the other. 1 cannot
recall anything so remarkable as this In
the history of business enterprise in the
United States
''Verdicts of guilty and the sentences
| subsequently imposed produce different eff
fects on different defendants remarked
an official who for a number of years has
been connected with one of the local crimi-
nal courts. Some prisoners are deeply af-
fected some fail to evince the slightest con-
Germ and some seem to be really amused on
hearing the announcement of their convic-
ton.
II recall instance of a colored man,
convicted of murder. jocular1y thanking the
judge who had solemnly pronounced the
death sentence upon him. and then laugh
ingly inquiring of his honor, Is that alp
This occurred only few years ago.
Recently, however, the opposite hap
pened. colOred woman tried in
Criminal Court. No. l on a charge Of lar
ceny. Immediately upon hearing the fore
man or the jury pronounce the word
Guilty.. she declared Historically Indeed
l didn't take the money and then fell to
the floor in a dead faint. Several DAYS
later. when the presiding justice sentenced
the woman to imprisonment in the .peniten-
, tiary for three years. she again tainted
The curious feature OF this case Is that
the prisoner is an old-timer and had posed
In court as defendant on several occasions
previously.