Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-22

friend in a quarrel over a girl and was
defended in court by a lawyer named
kelso. who secured his acquittal.
That young man was lying Ill with
typhoid fever election day, but, knowing
that the contest between Kelso and
David Hanery, the whig candidate, was
very close, he risked his life by going
to the polls to show his gratitude by
casting his vote for the man who saved
him from the gallows. The fatigue and
exposure was too much for him; he had
a relapse and died without ever knowing
that his vote had elected kelso to the
legislature. kelso had only one ma
jority.
!, When the legislature met the demo-
Gratis had a majority of only one on
joint ballot to choose a United States
senator; but kelso. for personal reasons,
| refuse. to vote for Oliver Smith, the
his vote for Edward E. Hannegan, who
had served with great credit in the legis-
lature and the lower house of Congress.
kelsos vote was originally Intended
| merely as compliment, but Smith be-
| came angry and was so abusive that
kelso notified the democratic managers
that he would vote for Tiilman A. How
ard. the regular candidate Of the whig
caucus on a certain ballot, unless Smith
withdrew. This would have elected How
ard. and the democrats, knowing that
kelso would keep his word decided to
call another causus. when flanagan was
made the party candidate and elected
senator by seventy-five votes against
seventyfour for Howard the next day.
A few months after flanagan went into
the Senate the Texas annexation Ques-
ton. which had been rejected at the pre-
VlouS session. came up again In the form
of a resolution, and was carried by his
vote Thus the vote of the young man
in Switzerland county resulted In the
admission of Texas and the war with
Mexico.
Result of an Accident.
The accidental insertion of semicolon
in tariff law several years ago caused
diamonds to be admitted free. In one
part of the bill, under the title of jew
elry." duty of 10 per cent was placed
on uncut stones and duty of % per cent
was placed upon cut stones set and
mounted as jewelry In the free list. in
another part of the law, was a paragraph
reading as follows
Diamonds: miners. glaciers and en-
gravers' diamonds not set, and diamond
dust or bort
In suit brought by a firm Of diamond
importers on Maiden Lane. New York.
the courts decided that the semicoIon
after the word diamonds in the free list
was equivalent to saying that diamonds
should be admitted free. and the gov
eminent lost large amount of duty on
session of Congress, when the clause
was amended.
You will remember. perhaps, reading
| the paragraph which went around the
papers recently showing the Importance
of a hyphen or a semicolon or some
other small punctuation mark 1t quoted
an advertisement which appeared in the
| London papers as follows:
Mrs. Nathan Levi having cast off
clothing of every description invites an
early inspection"
| There is story going about Wash
| ington dinner tables just now about the
wife of member of the diplomatic corps
who has just learned to speak English
and who still uses the formal expressions
she learned from her textbooks. Her
husband, who understands and speaks
| English perfectly, says that while he was
sitting in his library one morning. he over
| heard his wife discussing a bill for re-
/ pairs that a carpenter had just presented.
The charges were more than she had been
accustomed to pay for such work, and his
IeXcellency says that she said to the car
penter:
! You are dearer to me now than You
were when you were first engaged to
me-
Humor in Supreme Court.
| One of the justices of the Supreme
Court adds another to the list of humor-
Gus incidents that have occurred in that
| Sacred Presence. 1t occurred a quarter
of century ago. when Mathew H. Car
penter Of Wisconsin, one of the most