Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-29
YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

| Half q century ago the financial commu-
| nifty was considerably upset at the prospect
OF disturbance of the
1 No Moro currency soon to occur.
Small Notes. owing to the taking effect
of an act Of Congress on
the first day Of November for the suppress
sion OF small notes. This act, as stated In
| The Star of October o. 1858. provided tha&
| If any person or body polite or corporate
| within the District should make, emit, Is
! sue. utter. sign, draw or indorse any Dank
| note. promissory note or any instrument OF
writing for the payment or delivery OF
money or other valuable thing. or OF any
thing purporting to be valuable thing, of
| less amount than So. to be used as a
paper currency or as a circulating medium,
| either as money or in lieu of money or OF
any other currency, every such person ana
| every member. officer or agent of such body
| polite or corporate concerned In the max
| ing, uttering, ETC., should forfeit the sum
| Of $40 for each such bank note or other IN
| strument one-half of this fine to go to the
| person suing under the act, and the other
| half to the county of Washington. Other
| sections of the act provided for various
| phases of the offense and process of prose
cution, the fifth making void and illegal
| all contracts concerning matters in which
notes under the denomination Of s5 should
enter.
Washington was "a placid city In those
Of arrests did not call for special atten-
| ton, as in the following paragraph printed
| in The Star of October %. 1855:
THE city was remarkably quiet last
night, there being no occurrences which
called for the interpretation of the auxiliary
| guard. 1t is always with pleasurable emo
tions that we make such announcement
Old residents of this city doubtless
well remember a once conspicuous figure on
the streets of Washington
An ODD who went by the name of
Character George Washington, al
r though there were few, If
any, who knew his real title, which was
supposed by some to have been Daggett.
He paraded the thoroughfares on all occa-
sions, sometimes dressed Enthusiastically, and
was frequently the butt of ridicule. In The
Star Of October "a 1865, is to be found an
article of some length descriptive or
George Washington.
George is inoffensive and never displays
i'll temper save when inconsiderate persons,
by teasing, disturb his usual equanimity.
He imagines sometimes that he is the pos
SCISSOR of immense wealth; in fact that he
has valid title to the entire country. and
is sufficiently well and legally sustained to
claim the throne of America, an article,
however, which has not been found by the
explorers of this continent. and we patriot
ically trust never will be discovered.
| tons, and whenever he obtain any sol
dierly adornment he wears 1t, either
| cockade or a gold band or shoulder-knot:
and in lieu of a sword or a musket he
| sports a cane a broomstick. Thus ac-
coutered, George is a leader of imag inary
hosts, although we have never perceived in
him fighting propensity except when
rude dog or an fll-bred human cur crosses
| his path. We have never had the pleasure
of seeing him on horseback, though he
sometimes rides in a cart, which In his
| fancy serves him for a coach and answers
| his locomotive purposes. He never conde-
scenos to walk abroad without being the
| observed of all observers He cannot even
| perform an errand for a store without at
tracing attention and eliciting comment,
| especially from the boys
| The almanac scheduled an eclipse of the
| moon for the night of Thursday, October
%, and the morning follow
a Belated ing, and The Star of the for
| Eclinse mer date gave the hours at
which the various phases of
| the eclipse were due. There was something
| wrong however with these figures and on
Friday afternoon, October %. The Star re-
| printed comments from the National intel
| ligencer, which slyly ''poked fun at its
| contemporary forecast, .the eclipse having
been about thirty minutes later than The
| Stars announcement promised. The Star
| apologized to its readers for the mistake,
| saying:
1--WE were not aware of our mistake until
| this morning as it is well known that we
| are not in the habit of being out 'skylark-
ing. We do not, however, wish to be mis-
understood as imputing bad habits to our
youthful friend of the Inteligencer. The
American Almanac, however, Is to blame
| for any disappointments we may have unin-
tentially occasioned. Either the editor of
| that work or the moon herself committed
n W a n he lew
that the first named is responsible
| In the same issue of The Star the fol-
| lowing paragraph describes a street cpl
| sode which suggests the experiences of
J some of the visitors to the capital in these
| days who are not aware of the eccentrici-
| ties of some of the streets at the points
where intersections form small circular
parks:
| IAN estimable but eccentric old gentle
| man, who has such an inveterate habit of
| looking down at the sidewalks that he has
been known not to raise his eyes once even
during two hours pedestrian perform
ance, the other afternoon took his bearings
| at the Presidents square and set sail along
Pennsylvania avenue toward Georgetown.
| After walking briskly quite a long time,
| and Rock Creek bridge not heaving in sight,
| although, judging from his feelings he
| must have made some eight or ten miles
| difference of longitude, he raised his eyes
| to take another observation, when 10! the
aStoniShed navigator found that for an
| hour or so he had been scudding or bob
| bin around the Western Circle much to
| the concern of some lookers-on, who had
| been curiously watching his movements and
| had concluded that he was going it. for
| wager; whereupon the old gentleman went
off at a tangent and arrived safely at his
! place of destination. though greatly IA
| tigued."
Washington was visited by a large num-
| Der of Rochester firemen at this time fifty
years ago, and in The Star
| Vls1t1ng OF October 81, 1855, occurs
| Firemen an interesting description of
the scene at the railroad sta
| ton when the guests Of the city took their
| departure. One of the city bands perform
| ed lively airs. among them the classical
| tune of Pop Goes the Weasel Judging
from this description, the Rochester fire
| ladies had been made extremely welcome
| by the citizens of Washington, for APP
| parently the entire community turned out
| to bid them farewell. The Star said
I'VE never before Witnessed a more In
| noeently exciting scene. Everybody APP
| peared to be happy. (By the time the cars
| left our firemen had huzzaed themselves
| hoarse, it may be remarked by way of par
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