davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

of forming such a plan. 1t would have
been the most consummate folly.
AT that period neither the government
nor the proprietors contemplated that the
whole or even large proportion of the
burden should be thrown upon the lnhabl-
tants of the city. This assertion is amply
sustained by two considerations. In the
first place, the contract between the govern
ment and the owners of the land gave to
the former large extent of public lots,
sufficient for all the edifices and improve
ments which its convenience could require,
and in addition thereto, One-half OF all the
building lots within the limits of the city,
thus making the nation itself an equal
owner of all the private property. and
equally interested for the benefit OF this
private property in all the improvements
which might be made. In the next place,
the government assumed. and from that
day to the present has claimed and exer-
cised, entire and absolute control over all
the streets of the city, so that the lnhabi-
tants or the corporate authorities have no
power either to enlarge or to diminish them
nor to open or close them; but the author
ity in these respects has been exercised at
all times by Congress. 1t has even closed
one of the streets and sold the ground
which formed part of it.
at has also changed the situation of the
streets and canal, retaining to Itself the
lots thereby thrown open, and the Supreme
Court has sustained its authority in SO do
ing If the streets are Its property, and to
be regarded as altogether under its control,
it is not easy to perceive why it should call
upon or permit others to keep that property
III order; and If the streets are to be re-
earded as for the joint convenience of the
government and the inhabitants, the ex-
pense of maintaining them should be joint
and in proportion to their respective in
terests
The early action of the government and
its agents is believed to have been in con-
formty with this principle, but the gov
eminent has not heretofore borne anything
like its relative proportion. Its expendi-
lures for this object have been COMPARE
lively small, and devoted almost entirely to
the avenues and streets which were indis-
peusaby necessary for the convenience of
Congress and the public officers.
X 4
Another cause of the embarrassment Is
the attempt to erect a city hall, for the
convenience of transactng the public bust
ness Such building was necessary, and
the plan of the one which has been partly
erected is well suited tc the object. So far
as II is completed 4 has cost more than
| $50. coo AS there were net convenient apart
| ments for the courts in the city and county,
! 1t was thought expedient 10 provide them
| In this hall, and Congress thought proper
! to appropriate for this accommodation the
| sum of $4,000; and to enable the city to
| commence and complete this building a
| grant was made of right to draw lot
teres until the profits should amount to
100000. Tha city was unfortunate, but not
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

IN a corner of the Washington Asylum
grounds in extreme East Washington,
by the Anacostia river IS one of the
II most unique institutions in this country
the Old Mans Home. It's name indi-
Gates only in measure the character of
this strange institution, and its existence is
known TO but few Westinghouse. Within
Its precincts are about ninety aged cOlored
men. the last relics of slavery days, who,
like the American buffalo, are fast becom-
ing extinct.
The old Mems Home is a branch of the
Washington Asylum and is in charge of
General Superintendent Zinkham of the
almshCuse and warehouses;. The buildings
occupied are long, rambling one-story
brick structures. During the civil war they
were employed by the War Department
as magazines for the storage of gunpowder
shot. shell and other agencies for the de-
struction of human life.
In these pretty May days the structures
serve a more peaceful purpose as refugees
from the storms of life for the time-worn
age-bowed old negroes who spent the best
years of their lives in the cotton ana corn
fields away down south in sunny Dixie.
The buildings, of course, have been re-
modelled in their interiors and are COM
fortably fitted as dormitories for the aged
black men who occupy them. The heavy
iron doors and windows have been removed
and the structures are now admirably suit
ed for their purposes.
Clustered about the home when a Star
reporter visited the place were groups of
the aged men chatting about old times in
the southland and relating the weird negro
superstitions that have come down from
the days when this republic In it's
swaddling clothes. The inmates range in
age from about sixty years to 1O5 in the
shade of life.
Surrounding the home are garden
patches. which the venerable relics culti-
waite with their feeble hands and raise small
crops of vegetables. including water melons,
dear TO the negro's heart and appetite
'Yas, boss" said white-topped old
fellow, AN we rizzes 'baccy too Good
smokin an chawn 'baccy dat GIBBS US com
fort on de long winter ebenin's"
Sure enough to the south of the southern
most building was a newly cultivated patch
which the superintendent of the home, Will
liam A. Smith said was planted with to-
bacCo seed Last year the crop of this
weed was rather large and furnished soace
for the venerable inmates when the snow
was flying and the north winds blew cold
and kept the old men indoors.
Many Of the aged negroes are afflicted.
Some are partly paralyZed, others have de
rheumattCks' of long standing; one poor
fellow is totally blind and another has ST.
Nitus' dance so badly that he cannot get
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

debts now amount to the enormous sum or
81 SOC, 442 80; and it has not means from
which it apply at this time a single
dollar for its discharge. SO perfectly
haustcd have its resources become that it
will very probably in a short time be driven
to the surrender of its charter by neglecting
TO elect its corporate officers, and thus be
left upon the hands of Congress to dispose
of, govern, and sustain as may best suit
their own views of what is proper for the
CA ital of the Union. A part of the en-
gagements of the city, in relation to the
stock which IT holds in the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal ii is known to Congress, are of
a kind which must be promptly satisfied or
the property of the inhabitants exposed to
sale in a few months under the orders OF
the Executive of the United States, and Its
creditors who are foreign bankers, in all
probability will become the owners of a
great proportion OF the property within the
capital of the Union. y state of things so
little CTcditab!e to the nation, and so abhOr-
rent to the feelings of the committee, that
they will not hesitate to recommend such
measures. within the constitutional author
IT, of Congress as, in their judgment,
ca led for by the occasion"
The committee did not find In the conduct
of the officers Of the District anything
which should have excited in Cong ~ess "a
reluctance to afford relief.
x x
The circumstances leading to the selec-
ton of Washington as the capital of the
nation is then referred to, and the report
continues:
The plan of the city was formed by the
public authorities: the dimensions of the
streets determined by them. without inter-
ference by the inhabitants or regard to
their particular interest or convenience. 1t
is plan calculated for the magnificent
capital OF great nation, but oppressive,
from its very dimensions and arrangements,
TO the inhabitants, if its execution rs any
considerable extent is to be thrown upon
them No people who anticipated the exc
cution and subsequent support of it out of
their own funds would ever have dreamed
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

ones who have gone to the great beyond.
and the aged negroes can decipher them
and read the messages.
They are the cotton plckers and corn
planters Of the old south. Their poetic
ideal Is de ole banjo and their prime del
icacies the juicy watermelon and baked
postum and sweet later" The most heav-
emily harmony is found in the quaint camp
meeting hymns like Cit Oar, Sinner
which begins:
'Git dar, sinner git dar,
I sees de heahenly host,
Deys comm in de fiery chariot,
Go long fru de pearly gate"
There is much Of human interest to be
seen and heard at the Old Mems Home.
Superintendent of the Washington Asylum
Zinkham sees to II that the venerable col
ored men are well cared for and their quar-
ters kept clean. He encourages them to
hold religious services and directs their at
tention to the better things in this life and
beyond. Their food Is ample and their
clothing seasonable and comfortable. Mr..
ZinkharN says in the Old Mems Home are
the rarest and most interesting aggregation
of the genuine old-fashioned, good-natured,
polite, aged negroes OF old times in Dixie
to be found In this entire country.
The institution furnishes one OF the last
chances to study in the book of human ma
ture the dark-sknned men with the hoe OF
another generation. Alien with the habits.
the dialects, the matners and the sturdy
honesty of the dim past, and Withal the
weird superstitions that have been handed
down to them for ages.
X <
The collection of these men OF the past,
with all their quaintness. is growing less
year by year. They are in the deepening
shadows of this life, and through their age
dimmed vision these old black men are
straining their feeble sight toward the
horizon where will be the parting of the
ways" between mortal existence and the
great and boundless infinity.
I'VE wont be hyah much longer" said
feeble old man, patheticaIly, as he rocked
to and fro in his seat, with his gaze turned
skyward as billowy clouds went tumbling
along between earth and the blue vault
above. But we dun lib de bes' we could,
an l reckon de gud Massa up dar Will take
US in when de time Gums an dat won't be
long"
Then the old man lowered his age-glazed
eyes until they rested on the warehouses;
and jail filled with malefactors Of all sorts,
and his eyes became moist rs the voices Of
the prisoners reached him in song Reli-
gious services were being held in the grim
and gray workhouse for men. They were
singing in the distance, Nearer, My God,
to Thee
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

Home is an aged colored man whose head
and neck are constantly craning back and
forth and from right TO left, somewhat IKE
the motions of a snake. He has been term
ed 1.-The snake man." and says he has been
afflicted in that manner since birth, because
before he was born his mother was badly
frightened by big serpent which dashed
al her out of a thicket.
Robert Brady is known as the herb man.
He showed the reporter basket filled with
calamus roots he had dug from the marshes
along the river shore just beyond the home
This root, he said, was excellent Spring
medicine and cured many kinds of aches
and pains and ailments He added that he
had been an inmate of the home for twelve
years.
Some of the men have become mentally
unbalanced owing to their old age and
many infirmities and Mr. Smith said they
did not know where they were living,
whether. In charitable institution or
away down south on the old plantation.
Henry Brooks has been an inmate of the
home longer than any OF the others. When
asked his age, he said 1t was "sot down"
by Charles Fisher, clerk of the court at the
time of the battle of Fort Fisher.
Three of the old men were grooming on a
bench at the edge ~ the garden, content
eddy smoking their pipes, when one of them
observed several crows alight on trees in
Congressional cemetery, only a few hum
dred feet away.
Oar, now said one of the trio as he
noticed the actions of the crows. Dat is err
bad sign for dem black debbil birds ter
visit de dead in de graveyard. Oar is sum
soul in dat place dat am Uneasy an can't
res. an de debbil birds knO's 1t. Dat soul
will git up an walk dis Dressed mite. suah
you is bohn, but / hopes de ha Mt won't
walk dis way"
The old men still believe in the supersti-
tons of slavery times They are poor crea
lures of another age and century, and the
wonders of this advanced period are as I'M
known to them If they had just emerged
from the jungles of darkest Africa.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

These old men see a sign or omen in al
most every passing event In everyday life
and in nature. The croakng of a frog be-
fore nightfall portends disaster. Clouds
passing in opposite directions, as is fire.
quently the case in the upper and lower air
currents, foreteu a plenteOus yield of the
crops. The wall of a night-hawk under
certain conditions means trouble, and the
requiems that the soughing breezes sing
through the tops of the tall southern pines
tell of the death of a relative near friend
and his or her entry into de promis' Ian. "
One of their prettiest superstitions is the
moonbeams ginting on the water. These,
like weird cablegrams from space, bring
messages of love and comfort from dear
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

Upon these grounds. in the erection of
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30

1t is the highest in leavening pow
err. Cleveland's Baking Powder.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
GOES TO SEATTLE
Prof. Anderson Will Attend Meeting
of Pathological Society.

Prof. L. F. Anderson will leave
this evening for Seattle to attend
the annual meeting of the Washing
to State Pathological society, which
meets with the University of Washing
ton December 1 and 2. This society
will this year observe it's 10th ami
versary, and in addition to the regu-
ar program consisting of addresses and
papers upon the ancient and modern
foreign languages, the English Ian
guage and American Indian dialects,
will devote one evening to a comment
orative program. The whole program
is not yet issued, but representatives of
all of our leading institutions of learn
ing will speak.
Professor Anderson's topic is "Syn
t Professor Anderson's topic is "Syn-
tactical Discipline and Methodic Con-
struction Illustrated by Examples from
the Orator Lysias."
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30

Leroux into Judge Huffman's court
yesterday to settle the controversy
Mr. Meinecke a year and a half ago
bought a colt Of Pat Bowling Some
time ago Mr.. Leroux missed one of
his horses and decided that the
horse that Meinecke claimed was
his own and yesterday he replevined
the animal. The case is being stub
bornly contested, Mr.. Meinecke being
represented by Attorneys w. A. Toner
and G T. Thompson and Mr.. Leroux
by Attorney S. E. King. Numerous wit
nesses were summoned and the trial
is still in progress. the horse is val
ued at $125.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
PAGE Three

crop for $4,000 heads the list of these
Dig wheat growers with $500 acres, one
half of which he has already seeded
down. Mr.. Drumneller is a very con-
servative farmer and 1t is to this fact
that he owes his success. He generally
seeds one-half his land to winter wheat
ana the other half to spring wheat BY
following this method ne lessons the
chances of losing whole crop by a
hard killing winter. Last spring he
was compelled to reseed several thou
SAND acres at cost of nearly $4,000.
Next to Mr.. Drumheller comes John
Hoffman WITH 1000 acres and Grote
b Jthers Will 1000 acres Grote
Brothers are farming the Pickard
lands and Mr.. Hoffman owns over $500
acres, leasing the balance of his acre
age. The list Of big farmers Of the
county and its acreage they are farm
ing is as follow:
Alex Drysdale. 1000 acres: C. B. Up
ton $500 acres; Harry Abbott and 10
seph Harvey. 1000 acres; H. F. Clo-
dius. 1850 acres; Minnick Brothers.
$500; E. v. Pence, 1000 acres: W. p.
Reser. 1900 acres; Oliver Cornwall, 600
acres: A. J. Evans. 600 acres: John
Hoffman, 1000 acres; George Drumhel-
Ter, $500 acres: William Jones, 1000
acres; John Kydd, 5000 acres; Jap
Scott, 1890 acres; Johnson Brothers.
1850 acres; Grote Brothers, 1000 acres;
L. c. Hail. 1000 acres; George Struth-
ers, 1000 acres; William Hector, 1900
acres: Gross & Sons, $500 acres; DR..
J. ]. Gross, 1000 acres; w. F. Marsh.
700 acres: Warren Marsh, 1900 acres;
Mrs. P. Martin 600 acres: Pentacost
Brothers, 1900 acres; Patrick Lyons,
500 acres Bruce Terrell, 1000 acres;
P. Tonseth. 1000 acres; Gus Fergu-
son, 5000: Paxton & Slime, 1000 acres;
Harry Collins, 1000 acres; Daniel Dom
ovan, 900 acres: A. NJ. Robinson, 1900
acres.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
Must Pay to Ride.

NEW YORK, Nov. 30.-F'ree passes
to state and city officials, members OF
the legislature and their friends, no
longer will be issued by the New YORK
Central railway company. They were
cut off by an order of the board OF d.
rectors adopted at a special meetlns
called for the purpose of considering
tho free mass evil. The order went
into effect yesterday. No passes mere
after will be issued except to employ
ees actually engaged on the road or It's
branches.
Heretofore state and city officials
If TIE legislature and their
friends enjoyed the pass privileges loi
the mere asking.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
Uric Acid and Gravel

Are caused by the kidneys being un-
BILE TO properly filter the impurities
from the blood. Irving's Buchu Waf-
ers are the only sure remedy for this
condition; they cleanse the kidneys
from all worn out material, build up
the shrunken walls of the Kidneys
and prevent the formation Of the
Uric Acid. Sold at soc a box by
100 WATERS. IS CENTS
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
HAS NO RIGHT TO ROAD FUND
ATTORNEY GENERAL ATKINSON
SAYS THE CUSTOM FOLLOW.
ED Is UNLAWFUL


County Commissioners Have Exclusive
Control Of the Money and Cannot
Give to City.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
FARMERS OF THE
COUNTY HAVE IN NEARLY
$4,000 ACRES.
Will Represent Over One Fourth of the
Prospective 1906 crop-Georee
DrumheIIer Leads.

Vast fortunes made by farming in
the Walla Walla valley are easily ac-
counted for by a glance over the rec
ords of the acreage seeded down to
winter wheat in Walla Walla county
alone this year. A list of the acreage
that big farmers will farm next year,
compiled by an Evening Statesman
representative shows that 33 farmers
Of Walla Walla county will harvest
crops next season off 1910 acres of
land, the most of which has already
been seeded down.
If 1906 is as good a crop year as
1905 was, these 33 farmers will har-
Test in the neighborhood of 1900. 900
bushels of wheat, counting the average
than one-fourth of Walla Walla coun-
tvs entire yield this year. Twenty
five bushels to the acre is a most con-
servativC estimate. In only few sec
lions did the yield on Eureka fiat fall
below % bushels this last season and
in many instances the yield was as
high as 40 bushels. In the fOOthill dis
trict the average yield seldom falls be-
low 35 and goes as high as 60 bushels
to the acre.
DrumheIIer Leads in Acreage.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30

The custom of many counties to turn
over portion of the road and bridge
funds to the cities Of the county is
without warrant of law, according to
an opinion given by the attorney gen.
eral to Prosecuting Attorney Cochran
lof Clallam county. The opinion fol-
lows:
Il will say, as a general proposition,
the board of county commissioners is
the body constituted by the law for
the purpose, among other things, of
constructing and improving it's roads
and bridges in the body of the coun-
ty. The municipalities within their
corporate limits have like powers
The body polite is vested with the
power to levy taxes and raise money
for such objects.
Law on the Subject
you will obserce that under sessio.
laws Of 1898, page PA, section s. boards
of county commissioners shall make an
annual levy for road and bridge pur-
poses of not more than mills on the
dollar valuation of all the taxable prop
erty in the country necessary
for the construction, repair and i'm
provement of roads and bridges, in
which all the inhabitants are inter
ested
Again, the session laws OF 1901, page
120, provide that any count ywithin the
state of Washington, by and through
its board of county commissioners, and
any city of the first, second or third
class, by and through it's legislative
body, and they are hereby authorized
and empowered to join in paying for
the construction of any bridge, trestle
or any other structure which crosses
any stream or body of water and
forms a connection between any coun-
ty road or highway and street or ave-
|
is within or partly within said city.
1.-THE above provisions must be con-
/ sidered together. The county board
seems to have a wide discretion in the
matter of Improvement of county
| roads and bridges, though in some IN
stances they may be located within
the city limits of some municipalities
Usually a city is supposed to care for
it's streets. This is one of the burdens
the law puts upon the Incorporation.
Il can find no law authorizing
county board to turn over to the city
any of its funds for road and bridge
purposes. On the other hand, the pol
icy Of the law seems to be that the
board of county commissioners shall
keep control of such funds, exclusive
ly to be disbursed by this body as the
law directs and not otherwise. The
board of commissioners have no right
to act on what they may consider
equitable consideration in the face Of
a positive statute, Or disburse money
otherwise than as the law expressly
directs, in which case the members and
their bondsmen might become liable
to suit
"These are the views that I am com
PEELED to take, after looking the mat
ter up very thoroughly, and I trust I
have covered the ground of the in
formation you desired from me-
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30

Does the label on your can of bak.
ing powder say it is the PURE CREAM
OF TARTAR kind? Cleveland's is
a PURE CREAM OF TARTAR BAK-
ING POWDER, as stated on each la
bel, and vouched for by the U. S.
Government Chemists.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
DrumheIIer Leads in Acreage.

George Drumheller who sold his 1905
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30

Ont Flowers and Floral Decorations
at Waits. Satisfaction guaranteed
store No. 9 South Second. fhoiie 100
creenhouses East Whitman ST. Elk
tension. Phone 327.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
ANIMAL DINNER.

The PILGRIM Society of the Presby-
terrain church will serve dinner at ooo
Fellows Temple on Dec. from nVe
to seven o'clock.
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
WHO OWNS Tue HORSE !?
William Meinecke and Charles lie
roux Appeal to the Law.

Both men claiming the ownership of
the same horse brought William
Meinecke. the hackdriver, and Charles
The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-30
AUCTION SALE

of Imported Clydesdales, two stations
and fourteen Fillies at Farmers Barn,
Walla Walla, Wash, Sat-, Dec. 18th.
1895, at 10 o'clock p. m The above
are the finest lot of mares that ever
came into the Inland Empire.
WILLIAM ANDERSON, Owner,
Milton Greg
COL. ]. L baldwin,
Walla Walla. Wash.