Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-11
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

/ AAy - - - ~ u A1AV
| It was considered good form half q cen-
| fury ago to deride everything In and per-
| tanning to Washington. the
Local capital being apparently re-
Hotel& garded az necessary evil.
In The Star Of November 4,
| 1856, is to be found an answer to an attack
OF this character. as follows:
"The New York Herald has turned its
attention to showing up the hotels af WASH
ingtoa. al Of which It pronounces, ex
fact that such is its Judgment Of them today
| makes them 20. It complains that their
charges are higher than those Of New York.
This IL untrue. We have beside VI the
bill recently paid by q gentleman who. with
his wife, occupied &. chamber s1d parlor at
| a Broadway (New York; hotel few weeks
| since. It amounts to So per day for their
board and the use Of the parlor. No hotel
| IN Washington charges such high prices.
what the Herald says about the attendance
Of the servants at the Washington hotels
Is also false. None are better drilled or
more civil and accommodating anywhere in
this country. Nor are more substantial
other city in this country. Though, we
admit, the immense caravansaras of New
York and one or two other American COM
mercial emporiums are conducted with a
closer attention to parade-to fuss and
f<eathers-f the reader pleases. The truth
is, the hotels Of Washington are, like all
| the rest In this country, quite as well kept
rant: and we are very sure that they give
quite as general satisfaction to their pa
irons as any others in the land. No man Of
| brains expects landlord to set before his
one or two hundred guests as varied or as
deliberately prepared bills Of fare as he
| would certainly present them If they num-
bered daily from five hundred to one thou
sand, as at some of the hotels in New
York"
Newspapers did not display election. re-
| turns on screens then as they do now,
| chiefly because the returns
| ELECTION were not received as prompt
| Night. ly or in such volume as at
| present. The scene described
| in The Star Of November 8, 1856, from
| which the following is taken, will offer q
striking contrast to the conditions on Penn
| sylvania avenue last Tuesday night.
| Everybody was bound to be on the ave-
nue. last night to get the earliest inklings
Of election news as given out at the tele-
graph offices, political club rooms and large
hotels. The news hunters had rather time
| Of 1t during the early part of the evening
| in consequence Of the driving rain. 1t was
l
| and gloomy and wet overhead. For q
| while the returns came In with tantalizing
| slowness and the thousands of excited poll
ticians abroad went spla through the
puddles up and down the town, hurrying
restlessly from club room to club room.
and occasionally making break in the
direction of the telegraph offices. as If to
| intercept or hurry up the news. Large
crowds occupied the sidewalks in the neigh
| borhood of the 9Th street telegraph offices
| and seemed disposed to maintain their
| ground when the rain commenced the
| Jackson Association headquarters, at the
| corner Of 10th street and the avenue, was
| crammed with fairly good-natured crowd.
While waiting returns various prominent
democrats were singled out IN the crowd
and called on for speeches AS the returns
began to thicken and to give sure token Of
democratic victory the enthusiasm of the
democrats democrat mounted to fever heat and there
IAN night long the city was vocal with
| defiant cries for Buchanan and Fillmore.
| though toward the last they were uttered
with painful hoarseness. Well. the country
| Is safe!" .
| *
| The Georgetown boom did not diminish in
| strength, but increased in vigor reaching
probably the high-water
High mark of over-the-creek en-
Tide. terprise and prosperity In
| The Star of November g.,
| 1855, Is this Dit OF Georgetown correS-
pondence'':
Doubtless but few persons in your city
| are aware of the amount of business which
\ is now being done along the wharves con-
| tiguous to the mills of Morgan & Rhine
| hart, known as the old stone house. During
the last week not less than 1900 tons OF
plaster cement, stone, coal, &c, were landed
| at this point, and we learn from Mr.. Nor
gan that this species of heavy trade Is daily
| and rapidly increasing, and that already
l 10 no OF
| in consequence of a want Of sufficient wharf
room. This is the point Of all others for
Washington to secure fine bold water
| front at but little expense and Of great
magnitude. For several years we have en-
| tertained the belief that this point would
| eventually become the principal CONNER
cial depot OF Washington. and present indi-
! cations only serve to convince US that our
| anticipations Will be realized much sooner
| than we expected"
The days of the "stone battle are past.
It has been many year since neighborhood
| gangs INDUCED freely In
Stone this gentle sport In The
Rattle. Star of November 8. 1855. is
to be found q brief &C.
count of an engagement of this kind:
Last night two gangs of boys who an
| swer to the delectable slang names OF Nice
| and Bull bats got up a stone battle In the
| neiehborhood Of the city hall. Pebbles
few thick and fast for a season. and the
| residents in the quarter found 1t prudent to
\ fasten blinds and shutters officer Yeat-
| man. with some difficulty and not few
| bruises, succeeded in dispensing the dis
orderly youngsters. The 'Bull-bat associa-
| ton is, we believe, a Northern Liberties in
| stitution: the Mice ornament this quarter
| of the city. Thus. .honors are easy"
|