Evening star., 1907-09-01
FIFTY YEARS AGO
in THE STAR

The District suffered. half q century ago
from the lack OF a comprehensive system
OF laws and an adequate
Judicial machinery for the enforce
p... ment OF statutes and the
preservation Of the peace.
The following paragraph from The Star of
August "a. 1857. describes the situation in
this respect:
BY law. justices of the peace for this
county are obliged to issue all United
States warrants when called for by q COM
9lainant: but for this service, although
they are to purchase the blanks. pens and
Ink. and spend their time trying the cases.
they receive no pay or emolument except
for cases Of murder or theft. Such cases
as assault assault and battery. threats. as
sault with intent to kill. fraud, obtaining
goods under false pretense. arson, rape and
mayhem. although they the most un-
pleasant to deal with. do not pay at all; on
the contrary are losses to the magistrates
and officers. These cases the officer Is ex-
pected to take and to serve in them, with
out regard to the tear of clothing and
flesh. and frequently are Obliged to employ
physicians in consequence of injuries
ceived in arresting desperate parties. The
constables are frequently obliged to hire
carriages to convey persons to prison, but
even for this they are not repaid. In fell
ony caSeS-that is. murder and theft-the
officer is allowed for the service of a war
rant 80 cents; for summons, 16 2-3 cents:
commitment. 80 cents. The magistrate gets
for warrant 12k cents; summons l2k
cents; swearing witness. cents; judg-
ment 12R cents: commitment. 12ls cents;
bond, 12ia cents: release, 1211 cents. At
present the county officers have little in
ducement to risk their persons in arrest
ing desperate offenders The credit Of
making arrests IS but poor pay in such
cases. The consequence is that fewer Of
fny tLo..
system
There was great excitement over the At
lantic cable experiment. the cable-laying
fleet having sailed from VAL
Atlantic entia. Ireland. the evening of
o Friday, August 7. 1851. BY
the day vas regarded
as inauspicious, and later events proved
this foreboding to be justified. In The Star
of August "a was printed dispatch from
Quebec giving favorable news fro: the
fleet. brought by the steamer Anglo-Saxon
to that port She had passed too far north
of the cable ship. the American frigate
Niagara. to bring direct reports but hav-
ing left Liverpool on the 18th. she was
charged with the glad tidings that for five
days the work had been progressing satis-
factorily as reported f~an the Niagara.
then about 300 miles fro shore. The puJ-
lication of this news rhe Star caused
great rejoicing in Washington. In the is
sue of the 25th The Star said:
We can compare the existing popular ex-
citement concerning the success or failure
of the experiment to nothing short of that
for news from Mexico when Gen. Scott was
gradually approaching the end of his plans
for taking the capital of the Montezumas.
We are questioned hundred times daily
on the subject to know whether we have
ing down the cable. The news published in
yesterdays Star goes to prove the probable
success of the experiment, which, however,
is not vet clear. There a hundred un-
foreseen contingencies that may occur, any
one of which may prove sufficient to dash
the hopes of those engaged in the work and
of the SO interested public"
just twenty-four hours later The Star
printed the disappointing news that the
cable had parted. First came
Cable a dispatch from Halifax an
nouncng the arrival of the
Cunarder America, which left
Liverpool August Is. On the nth the cable
broke when the feet was $50 miles at sea-
Further details came the next day. The ca
BILE was lost at a quarter before o'clock on
the morning of the 11th. after having been
Pe'iN out ~ tiiV CAlciil VI liduiiCdl niles,
the water at the point of the break being
about two miles deep. AT the time of the
accident there was heavy swell on The
Niagara was going at the rate of four
miles an hour. and as the engineer found
that the cable was running out in too great
a proportion to the speed of the vessel he
considered 1t necessary to apply the brakes
more firmly. when the cable parted at some
distance from the stern Of the ship. The
dispatch continues:
1t will be interesting in this connection to
recall that the Niagara and one of her con-
sorts In the unsuccessful enterprise of 1857,
the British warship Agamemnon succeeded
in 1858 In laying the cable from Valentia to
Newfoundland. They met in midocean
each with half of the cable on board. spliced
the ends and proceeded in opposite direc-
tions to their ports without mishap. The
cable. however. was a failure. 1t being i'm
possible to transmit signals after the first
message. A ninety-word greeting from
Queen Victoria to President Buchanan had
been with great difficulty sent across In
sixty-seven minutes. Eight years later the
first successful cable was laid on the bed
of the Atlantic by the Great Eastern.
Photography was virtually in it's youth
only shortly advanced from infancy, in
1857, and it is not surprising
"New to encounter a publication
..,, like the following In The Star
of August q of that year:
THE value Of this new art was never bet
ter illustrated than in It's employment In
aid of the construction of the public works
now in the course of erection here, partIc-
ularly the extensions of the Capitol and
the Treasury Thousands of working draw
ings and other views of the various plans
of the different parts Of those buildings are
required-sufficient In number to employ,
without the aid of photographs. half a
dozen accomplished draughtsmen in connec-
ton with each. A photographer is how
ever. employed in the office of me engineer
experimenting each Of them, who is con-
stantly engaged in making the working and