Evening journal., 1903-02-25
RIVAL FORCES
MEET UNDER
WHITE FLAG
of Delaware
and New Jersey Discuss
the Fishery War
CASE NOW BEFORE SUPREME COURT
Arrangements e'Vere Made to Hurry
the Settlement Through the Tri-
bunaI-Meetins Said to Have Bsen.
M,t,,tl,, c....f..

t"e oettement lnfou9h the Iri-
bunaI-Meetins Said to Have 7ssn.
Mutually Satisfactory.
The warning factions OF Delaware
and New Jersey met in the Bellevue
Hotel Philadelphia, yesterday, and
over that hotel foated the milk white
flag the emblem Of peace. AT the head
of the rival forces were Governor
Hunn Of Delaware, and Governor Muir
Ihy, of New Jersey.
Jersey and Delaware have been at
war ever since the American colonies
broke away from the rule Of George
I'LL The bone of contention is the
control OF the Delaware river within a
twelve mile circle"
Delaware claims this as her own,
and maintains that only the blue hens
chickens have the right TO fish within
the lmfts. New Jersey SCOTS at the
idea, and has a constabuiary to baclo
UP her claim. Delaware has her land
and water forces, too. Arrests and
! counter-arrests have been frequent.
and suits. countersuits and a multi
tude OF interstate legislation have
caused several generations OF lawyers
to thrive and wax fat
On Neutral Ground.
Only the greatest se,f-control on the
part of the warning hosts has kept the
tides of the Delaware from floating td
I the bay crimson with patriot blood.
THE dispute is now hanging fire in the
Supreme Court of the United States
and the Delaware Assembly has been
asked to appropriate $4,000 to help
along the good work. The Attorneys
General OF the two States and a strong
larray Of special counsel are girding
their loins to storm the last citadel.
Pending an ultimate decision the
WAR goes on, and It was largely to patch
up some sort Of truce that the Cover
nors met yesterday. It took consider
able diplomacy TO arrange the meet
ing Obviously the Governor Of Della
lware could not 20 TO Trenton, and it
was equally obvious that Governor
I Murphy, even under the flag of truce,
could not set foot on the hostile soil
, Of the little State.
Chose Neutral Ground.
Consequently. neutral ground had 10
be chosen, and hence the meating in
the Bellevue. The conference was as
pleasant as the historic meeting be-
tween the Governors Of North and
South Carolina. There is no report
that there was amy similar complaint
as that which attended the memor.
able gathering of the rules. of tbs
Carolinas. There was not a long tim
between anything. In
The meeting was pleasant The de-
o tails Of the controversy were gone over,
2 and details were arranged to hurry the
= matter to a successful conclusion in
n the court of last resort While no of
n ncial statement was given out, it is un-
d derstood that an agreement was reach
n ed by which the New Jersey and Della
e ware constabulary will close their Off
d cial eyes pending a settlement
The Original Grant.
It was through the wording of a
grant made by the Duke of York to
William Penn in 1852 that the dispute
came to be born. Penn wanted a way
, from his colony to the sea-
II Penn's original grant had been "that
j extensive forest lying twelve miles
northwest of New Castle and part Oh
his southern boundary was ''circle
d drawn at twelve miles distant from
New Castle northward and westward
into the beginning Of the fortieth de-
gree of north latitude" When Della
ware, at the opening of the Revolu-
tionary War. separated herself from
sr PENIS possessions, the arc that mark
N ed the boundary between two of Penn's
D. counties came to mark the boundary
S. between Pennsylvania and Delaware
le This arc also added TO Pennsylvania
8 a triangular piece OF land Of 500 acres
W lying between Delaware and Siary land
r For more than a hundred years Dela-
d ware exercised jurisdiction in spite OF
r. adverse boundary lines.
The dispute between Jersey and
m Delaware arises out of the curious man
D. ner chosen to define the limits OF
ie Penn's grant. The question at issue is
e. whether the grant Of twelve miles
about New Castle entities the Blue Hen
,, State. as inheritors of this right. "a
d exclusive fishing privileges in the Della
10 ware river within all parts of the rivei
~ s..,..1.l l., eudh circlo