Evening star., 1913-04-13
FIFTY YEARS AGO
In THE STAR
Grand Jury
Charged.

Ter anu JuSlICCS Nyhc
and Fisher. In The Star Of that date Is
an extended report Of the charge OF the
chief justice to this newly created body.
After reviewing the various offenses men-
toned in the act creating the court, ap-
proved March .. 1862, he notes the stat
ute of July II. 1862, defining treason and
prescribing its punishment. and invoking
the jury's careful consideration OF this
statute, he says:
1.-THE District is situated near the heart
Of the rebellion. 1t was here almost with
in the sound Of my voice that the first
dark plottings Of treason were matured.
1t was In this city-in yonder Capitol
that the arch traitors devised their
schemes of national dismemberment and
ruin. 1t was. here that men who had for
long years lived upon the public treas
ury-men who had borne the highest
Offices and who had sworn to support
the Constitution and laws OF this coun-
try-off1cers whose golden epaulettes were
paid for by money. they had received
from the United States-others, who had
been educated at the public expense-one
and all of them. with the awful crime
Of perjury on their souls. turned traitors
to their country and are now engaged
in slaughtering those who have once
loved and cherished them.
This city stands the border line
between loyal and disloyal states. There
are still left among us many who, If
they are in any sense loyal, love their
country with a divided heart There are
some among us. it Is feared, who are
traitors. There are others who aid and
comfort the rebellion. 1t is therefore of
the utmost Importance to the whole coun-
@rxy hot tt4 Hn FOL Nit, of Ty,Hs4
should be free of any taint of disloyalty.
1t Is an important step toward restoring
public peace and tranquility that all who
aid and assist the enemy should discon-
tinue their offenses or be punished ac-
cording to the law Of the land. The
faithful performance of your duty in
making inquiry into all such offenses
will be no less honorable to yourselves
than important to the country"
In The Star of April Z, 1863. is a
brief news report Of plans for the i'm
provement of the Center
Center market, as follows:
rr4 1.-The details Of the plan
"A"A N~'' for the improvement of
the Center market. under the appro-
priation of $4,000 lately made there
for by the city councils. by connect
ing the two present edifices through
the medium of an additional substan-
tial, two-story brick building, are now
being prepared by the. architect. The
edifice will arch sth street, with stalls
on the lower floor and large hall
above, with steeple. The dimensions
indicate spaciousness-105 feet by ~
feet inches out to out of the build
ing. with the first story twenty-five
III ~ nnd
story twenty feet. The roof is to be
circular truss, with five rows Of iron
columns to receive the girders upon
which the beams are to rest. The
front Of press brick and the steeple In
the center of the building thirteen feet
square and of the same height, with
spire above. 1t is designed to have
the lower story of the edifice complet-
ed by the 1st Of July next, and the
upper story by the 1st of August. and
the contract will be made with that
view."
1t was not difficult to start sensational
stories in circulation in Washington at
this time fifty years ago.
False Alarm SO highly excited was the
NJ public on the score es-
VI d 1oI' pecially of Confederate
plots and stratagems against the Capital.
In The Star of April 8, 1863 is the fol-
lowing exposure of canard:
"a city cotemporary has story of a
terrible Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up
the navy yard Saturday night. The
whole thing amounts to just this: About
10 O'Clock Saturday night an Irishman
named Davis was found in the navy yard
near the laboratory and arrested by one
0f toh nd NIL cd in, fNf
the guardhouses. At the time he was
found he was very drunk and had in his
pockets a pipe piece of tobacco and box
of matches Monday he was released
He stated that he had been at work in
Alexandria and was on his way to Balti-
more, but getting drunk he could not
find the cars and wandered around. get
ting in the navy yard by way of the
marsh on the west side. which at low tide
is sometimes passable, and was found,
as stated above, by the watchman on
duty there. Some persons made out of
the arrest a dreadful story to the effect
that the prisoner was passed in by the
guard, with whom he used chicanery, and
that his purpose was to blow up the
magazine and set the yard on fire, but
was hailed by second guard and
caught, whose timely interposition pre-
vented the man from putting his design
into execution
y
In The Star of April 10, 1863 is news
story telling of the discovery of secret
societies in Pennsylvania
Resisting to resist the draft evil
n. dences having been dis
OA"" covered in several counties
of the keystone state of such organiZa-
tions, leading to arrests. These arrests
were followed by meetings of the lodges,
which showed a disposition to resist the
authorities. About $50 farmers on the
morning of the 9th of April met on the
turnpike and marched into Reading four
abreast and halted in front of the court
house. A great crowd gathered and much
hostility was shown against the members
of the organization, one man being
knocked down and kicked and with great
difficulty rescued by the mayor of Read
ing Following this demonstration some
of the members of the organization de-
cided to withdraw and three of them
presented the following paper to the
federal authorities at Reading as an evil
dence of good faith:
I'VE. the undersigned. will have our
names withdrawn from that list of those
meetings which were called through
those townships. We will take our oaths
back again. We will have nothing to do
with those meetings any more; We will
not stay to those meetings at all any
more"