Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-30
FIFTY YEARS Ago
In THE STAR

In The NIAk
ON Monday. March 81, 1863. the Sa-
preme Court of the District of Columbia
as constituted under a recent act of Com
gress reorganized with Chief
District Justice D. X. Cartier and JUS
r.,r4 tees A. B. Olin and Andrew
Wylie on the bench. In The
Star of that date is news account of
the first sitting OF the court. The hrst
business was the appointment of clerk.
Return j. Meigs. who had been thus
designated, taking the oath of office and
giving bond in the sum of $1,000. Chief
Justice Cartier then announced that the
court had in chambers resolved on a
rule for the admission of members of
the bar. The justices did not regard
the oath they had taken to support the
Constitution and to do allegiance to the
government as calculated to injure the
sensibilities of any gentleman and they
had resolved that the members Of the
bar. whose patriotism is proverbial.
should take the same oath. The chief
justice went on to say that no man
could regard himself as degraded by sub
scribng to such an oath and he had no
doubt that it would afford pleasure to
the members of the bar to bear this testi-
mony of their loyalty before the world.
The clerk then read the orders of the
court, directing him to take possession
of the records of the Office and to make
q roll of the members of the bar during
the vacancy and conveninE special
term of the criminal. court Ito be held on
the first Monday in April by Justice G. p
Fisher, then absent from the city. There
were at that time 26O cases in jail await
ing the action Of the criminal court, with
100 cases on the appearance docket. The
Stars account astates that the first ses-
sion of the court was attended by a large
number of persons and that before the
Judges entered the courtroom flag
which had been used several years prev
ious in the fifth ward know Nothing
lodge was hung above the bench.
. X 4. -.-x-:
Great interest was always expressed
during the civil war, in the state Of pub
- lr lie sentiment in the
Confederate SOU H., papers from
Dependency southern cities that
lines being. eagerly scanned 1n'the north
for signs of tagging courage. In The
Star of March "a. 1885, are reprinted ex-
tracts from the Richmond Inquirer which
must have given great satisfaction to
northern readers. In the course of one of
these, written in spirit of pessimism, ii
is SAID:
"All reasonable men have by this time
probably come to the conclusion that we
have at least one other years war be-
fore US. perhaps two. The peace delusfon
is blown away. Neither from foreign inter-
vention nor from imperious DEGREES of
King Cotton, nor from imagined friend
ship OF the northwest. nor from stupid
rumor about, decentralization in Yankee
armies does any hope. of peace beam
upon lis. We must fight or submit. What
some politicians. the soldiers in the field
at least want to know and ought to be
told the plain truth, and the truth is that
we are right in the middle of the war,
and that during the coming spring and
summer war is to be more fierce than
ever, before. The Yankee enemy is only
beginning to fight. To buy provisions for
the army at current rates would call for
the imposition of a debt upon -posterity
such as would make our children curse
us in our graves. Great union meetings
are the. order of the day at the Refth. .
tSuch meeting was just then being held
here in Washington.)- =
In two words, We are going to have a
great campaign and the greatest Of all.
The army wants every soldier. The tcoun-
try must and will sustain and arm them.
III nigh spirit and honor do not impel
stragglers to their duties. let public opin-
ion do it Let women present. crochet
needles to all laggards at home, as they
formerly sent spinning dis affs to too lag
gard gentlemen of France. The crisis is
Thr L.:
spring breezes are making favorable and
verdant battlefields and firm earth be-
meath the hoofs of cavalry and wheels of
artillery. Battle buds and will blow ere
long. War is in season and peace is out
of order.
During the war soldiers encamped in
and around Washington picked up loot
from this city which they
statues sent away as souvenirs OF
c+.,. their stay in Washington. 4
strange case of this sort of
thieving is noted in the following para
graph in The Star Of March ~, 1863
Lately Noble S. Hammond and broth
err of the 9Th Michigan Cavalry were ar
rested. it will be remembered, for stealing
marble statuary from the Congress bury
ing ground and from the establishment OF
Clark Mills, which statuary they had
been boxing up and sending home to
Grand Rapids. Mich. Some of this has
been recovered from there, the figure 'Di-
vine Love taken from the Gideon tomb
Congress burying ground, and the Sleep
ing Youth from the Parker tomb A
lamb and sleeping infant figures. also
found at Grand Rapids. have not been
identified yet
y.
The District Supreme Court was not the
only local judicial body to reorganize at
this time fifty years ago. In
The Levy The Star of March p, 1855,
rA is the following paragraph
oo"A'' telling of the reorganization
of the levy court. which had jurisdiction
over local taxation, as directed by late
act of Congress-:
ION Monday the following members Of
the levy court met at the city hall, in
accordance with the requirements of the
law passed at the last Congress: Messrs.
S. j. Bowen, d. V. Burr. c. r. Belt, T.
Blagden of the county, NJ. Larner, G. A:
Plant and N. Sargent of this city and Jen-
kin. Thomas of Georgetown. The oath of
office, the oath to support the Constitu-
ton and the oath of allegiance prescribed