Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

Newsgathering was attended in 1858
with difficulties which are not known now
by the reporters for the
Reporters daily press. Officials did
r..,,hI not then make public docu-
ments which are In these
days freely given to the newspapers. This
is illustrated by the following paragraph
In The Star Of October IS. 1858. relative
to the difficulty with which the paper had
secured President Buchanan's statement
concerning the respite of Barrett. con-
demned to death for murder:
ION last Friday morning we went to
the Jail. On arriving there we learned
that respite had been granted and that
Mr.. King. the jailer. was then reading
the same to the prisoner We requested
Of Marshal Selden a copy Of the document
and he answered that on its being re-
turned to him he would read 1t over In our
presence. Accordingly after few mo-
ments the marshal called the reporters
into an adjoinine room and read the re-
spite We asked to be allowed to copy
It, The marshal for some reason unknown
to us regarded it's publication as I'M
proper and declined our request Another
reporter present expressed his concurrence
that it was sufficient to give synopsis
of the instrument. His course prevented
us from using any argument with the
marshal and we Quilted the fail without
MAKING further effort to enect our on-
iect Subsequently we called on Mr.. Red
dali at the State Department and asked
him for copy of the respite We were
told that he could not grant our requesf
without an order from President Bu-
chanan and he further stated that he had
made similar reply to another reporter.
We next procured an order from the
President and on its presentation to Mr..
Reddall he politely extended to us every
facility we desired"
then 1t would have been possible to obtain
official permission to publish the respita
without the long tourney from the fail
to the State Department and the White
House. which in those days. when the
omnibus was the only mans OF transpor-
tation. was serious handicap on the re-
porter's activity.
The following paragraph in The Star
OF October 81, 1858. indicates that the
work of Mr. William r.
Botanic Smith. the superintendent
a-s of the Botanic Garden. was
highly appreciated then, as
1t is at present:
1.-THE Botanical Gardens at the foot OF
the Capitol grounds never appeared in a
better aspect at this season Of the year
than the present fall. Mr.. Smith. the
superintendent there. who Is q most skill
full and intelligent gentleman. with per-
feet knowledge Of his profession. never
relaxes his labors to effect valuable i'm
provements and obtain new specimens
of plants for the adornment Of the
grounds. His hothouses always present
to the eye the most admirable arrange
ment and perfect order. and now that
the plants have been placed in winter
quarters and properly labeled visit to
them is doubly interesting to the admirer
Of nature in her loveliest form. Very
recently MIR Smith has added largely
to the extensive variety OF specimens
here of rare and beautiful plants.
which he has procured in some Of the
most extensive Conservatives in northern
cities and he Is constantly making ar
engagements to obtain at the earliest no
tice any new and interesting rarity which
may be announced. Among his late ac-
cessions we notice an unusually fine spec
linen of the ancient paper plant or Egyp-
tian papyrus from which the ancients
wrote the original Bible. He has now In
flower an exceedingly handsome speci-
men Of the pampas grass OF South Amer
lea. which attracts great attention and
admiration from all visitors. Those who
have q leisure hour cannot do better than
devote 1t to q stroll through these gar
dens."