davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

one of those instances where supply
contractors really were in charge, and
where the whole end and aim of the
institution seemed to be to enrich
them.
well. got in a row with them
right off And the row kept up for
four years. 1t made a Not of trouble in
the party. 1 could not see that a
democratic CRATER was any more to
be protected than a republican CRATER.
For four years l remained, four bare
knuckle fighting years. Then they fred
me out. But l think l improved condi-
lions while 1 was there"
The senator's next political job was
mayor of Portland That was in 1905,
the wear Portland held the Lewis and
Clark centennial exposition. Before it
opened the citizens determined to have
a clean town. Though the city was
predominantly republican, DR.. Lane
was elected mayor on the democratic
ticket by big majority. His work
was to eliminate the gamblers. the
fake auctioneers and the other gentry
that live to get sucker money" as
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
SENATOR LANE OF OREGON.
photo by Clinedipst.)

meeting, our intention being to see
that there was a fair and free discus
sion. We broke the slate and put in
man 1 had selected. DIR. Pennoyer as
chairman. Right there l got my first
considerable lesson in politics. 1
found that we had started something
that we could not handle. Pennoyer
turned out to be as radical in favor
of the anti-Chinese element as the
business men were radical against
them. The meeting got clear away
from us, and resulted in red-hot anti
chinese declarations.
"From that meeting sprung move
ment that resulted in the election later
of Pennoyer as Governor of Oregon.
Gov. Pennoyer made me superintendent
of the state hospital for the insane.
found a terrible condition in the instt-
tuition. The patients were being treat
cd in a most inhuman way, robbed in
their food and poorly clothed. It was
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
OLD TOBACCO BARN NEAR Foxs FERRY.

or moodiness or pessimism, but with
a sincere desire to give his boat an ap-
propriate and descriptive name.
The captain, owner, agent and man.
ager of this ferry line is waterman
of many years life on the river His
name is w. H. Wheatley. OF course,
the reader ought not to be told that
he is Capt. Wheatley. Army officers
esteemed title. Any man who holds the
tiller or drives the mules of canal
boat is a captain.
Well, Capt. Wheatley sailed the Ram
bier over, and on the voyage said:
This old causeway here with the
stones sinking and slipping into the
river and with the weeds and willows
growing over it was Fox's Ferry. A
George Fox leased the ferry rights
from the Berry family. which owned
about all the land you can see from
here, and he built this causeway and
started little steamboat running back
and forth across the river. He called
the steamboat the Alice Fox. Alice
being the name of his wife. It was
very kind of him to name the steam
boat after his wife, but those were old
fashioned times, and it may be that
he had some other Alice in mind. He
also built a house at the ferry and ran
tavern. Part of that house was in
the District of Columbia and part of
it in the county of Prince Georges. and
1 have heard, though 1 do not know it
as a fact, that there were some high
old times in that tavern.
Before George Fox started the ferry
there was an older ferry farther down
the river, about mile, near where the
Swifts have their market gardens to-
day. Fox and the Alice Fox went out
of business after a number of years of
more or less prosperity, and then foot
ferry. very much like this one. was es-
that is, in the 70s-some of the mon
eyed men of Alexandria formed a COM
pany and started a small steamboat
called the Virginia on the ferry. Capt.
Griffin ran her. The flats filled up so
that the Virginia often had a hard
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
AIT
INTRODUCTORY LETTERS =
TO THE ANGEL GABRIEL
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star
LONDON, October 1. 1914.
FEW more astonishing or more sig
nificant things have happened
since the beginning of the war than
the action of that famous Indian dig
nitary, the aga khan, in directing
the community Of which he is
the spiritual head to place their per-
sonal services and resources unreserv-
eddy at the disposal of the British gov
eminent, and in addition to this vol
unteering to serve as private in any
infantry regiment of the Indian expe,
dictionary force, for this prodigiously
wealthy and largely Europeanized ma.
tive chieftain. as the spiritual leader
Of vast numbers of Mohammedans in
western India, central Asia and East
Africa. Is perhaps the greatest power
of the Moslem world.
Directly descended. as he is. from
Ali, the nephew of Mohammed himself.
he is regarded by his followers almost as
a god, and is believed by many of them
to hold the keys of heaven. Many or
the curious privileges of his position
are not, however, exercised by the
present prince. So far as known he has
not, for instance, followed his fathers
practice of giving letters Of introduce
ton to the Archangel Gabriel in order,
to insure special consideration for his
followers in the next world. "a
The territory over which the aga
khan rules, as head of the Ismaelian
sects, is not large. but the number OF
his followers is counted by the hunu
dred thousand. and to every one of
them his word is law. So great Is his
Sra in for haf hiG fri linz
to British rule in India always has
been of the greatest value to the gov
ernment and will be more so than evef.
in the present emergency.
In London, which he has visited
times without number. and where hs'
is at present, the aga khan is an ordi-
nary man of the world. wearing Eng.
lish dress, persona grata at court ana
cordially received by the high society
of this capital as well as that of Paris
He Is so English. in fact. that he is a.
of the Marlborough ClaB.
which King Edward founded. and also
belonged to the extinct Walsinghafh
Club. He plays golf, used to cycle. and
is keen motorist. He is not espeo'
cial1y dark, is decidedly good looking.
wears a fierce black mustache. and. in
his national dress, looks more like a.
warrior chieftain than a high priest. 80
AS a man of great wealth and an
oriental potentate to boot. his entery
tainments at the splendid caravansaries-
are truly brilliant functions. At re-
cent function karsavina and Nijinsksr
and a distinguished company
was present. The ballroom was law
ishly decorated with crimson rambleen
roses and the foyer arranged with COOL
green palms. Lady Cunard helped the
aga khan receive his guests. ~
Such is the exalted Indian dignitary'
who is prepared to serve the empire
as a private soldier. His family cameA
originally from Persia, but migrated to-
India several generations back. Queeff-
Victoria admired him greatly and gaves
him the English title of highness.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

relic of Fort Foote, though the name
clings to the place. 1t is still govern
ment property, in charge of a care
taker, and is still consecrated-if that
is a good word-to military uses, be-
ing an instruction or practice camp
in summer for engineer troops station
ed at Washington barracks.
Beyond that wooded bluff the eye
skips across the bay or mouth of Broad
creek and again follows a ridge which
bends westwardly and ends ones view
of the river, for the tip of that ridge
is Fort Washington and there the Po-
tomac sweeps to the westward and out
of sight. II the afternoon Is clear the
roofs of many of the buildings at Fort
Washington show plainly, IND it may
be that they are shining in the after
noon sunlight.
AS you make out all these objects
across the river the idea may come to
you that it might be pleasant and prof
liable to examine the other side. When
a man is on one side Of broad river
it is natural, or at least it is common,
for him to fall into speculation as to
how things look and what they are on
the other side. Distance smoothes out
the details of landscape and sets
ones fancy rowing, but after you have
examined the matter IT comes to you
that one side of river is very much
like the other side. It is things that
are far off, blurred in mysterious haze
and which seem difficult to get at that
are calling to one. And perhaps but
for that there would have been no
pioneers and no new worlds discovered
and developed.
If you should desire to cross, the
voyage will not be long or costly
Navigating the river between slip ad-
joining the slip of the old Washington
and Alexandra ferry and the other
shore at Fox's ferry is small fiat-bot-
toned boat with centerboard, a tri-
angular sail and a pair of oars. The
name of the little boat, painted in ir-
regular red letters on the bows, is i'm
pressive and oppressive. It's name is
Hard Times. The master Of the boat
told the Rambler that he christened it
Hard Times not in any spirit of gloom
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
ABANDONED HOUSE ON BERRY FARM

and slime stands on the shore. It is
submerged at high tide. That stone
is one of the Districts boundary stones.
1t is the Oldest of the stones within the
present boundaries of the District Of
Columbia After the setting of the
District corner stone Of Jones' point be-
low Alexandria the line was run across
the river and the second stone set was
that which at low tide you can see q
few yards south Of the east end of the
ruined causeway.
The ferry house, or the tavern, or
Possum Hall. small frame structure,
stood in a dilapidated condition until
last summer, when it was blown down
by a high wind. The tall and broad
aged willows which shaded it are still
to the north. close to the river shore,
a man has himself built a small house
and has a thrifty garden.
From the ferry inland is a broad
green lane cut through the heavy
growth of willows, alders and spice
wood that covers the earth in that part.
A road once. ran here, but what was
the roadbed Is now grown up in grass
es, weeds and wild flowers, with fee
BILE wheel track through them and a
footpath on one side. The way here is
usually muddy, but it is an interesting
walk because of the great amount of
blooming plant life.
Over the flowers and muddy pools
hundreds of butterflies fitted or rest
ed. The road finally leads you out
into sandy meadows and far to the
left up the ridge you see few small
houses and an old barn with a broken
roof
1t may pay you for the time and foot
power required to visit this old barn.
A wheel trace leads that way, and If fol-
lowed will after many turnings carry
you to the crest and into the road
other settlements to Broad Creek
Church and all the other places on
the map of southern Maryland. AS
you emerge from the marsh-1and
thickets around the ferry there is a
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

Iconoclast of Senate
Would Have the Sena-
tors Bitten by ella
Monsters to Insure
Their Vocal Cords Be-
ing Paralyzed for a
Year-Wants Execu-
tive Sessions and Sc
cret Committee Meet
ings Abolished.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

time getting across, and at last she
caught fire and burned up. That was
a good many years ago, and since that
time have been running the foot ferry.
I gave this boat the name of Hard
Times.
Some time ago carried over very
old lady. Her name was Miss Wash
ington, and I suppose she was sister
of George Washington. She told me
that she had always heard this place
over here-the ferry house-called
Possum Hall, and Possum Hall she
would always call it,
George Washington. If the Ramb1er's
memory is working properly, had two
sisters. One was Mildred. who died in
early youth, and the other was Betty,
who became the wife of Maj. Fielding
Lewis of Fredericksburg. who lived in
the great house Kenmore, and who died
before the tree sprouted out of which
the boards of the Hard Times were
sawed. But it is quite likely that Capt.
Wheatley ferried over some old lady
who remembered the place as Postum
Hall. The Rambler asked some old
time folk in the neighborhood if they
had ever heard Fox's Ferry called Pos
sum Hall and they had not, but tt may
nave Deeu 50 udjHeQ NY SOiuc WIS VI
the time. Postum Hall was a very
likely name for an ancient tavern.
A civil war map of that part of the
country shows two ferries, one the up
per ferry. and the other, naturally. the
lower ferry. The upper ferry was 10
Gated somewhere close to the point at
which Shepherds is now, and the lower
ferry was F,oxs. In colonial and revo-
lutionary days there was ferry from
a point on the Maryland shore near the
site of River View. and the Virginia
shore near the present electric railway
station of Snowden or Arcturus.
Stepping out of the Hard Times, the
Rambler found a path down the old
causeway bordered by dense weeds as
high as mans shoulder. To the
right at the land end of the causeway
a stone thick crusted with river weed
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

patch Of lima beans, still green and
fruitful, and a field of slender corn,
which has been cut and shocked" Far
off to the right and toward the river is
little cabin overhung with willow
trees, and there lives a family which
the Rambler long ago wrote of as car
rying in the veins of its members
blood of the Piscataway Indians. the
tribe which dwelt in those parts be-
fore and for many years after the
coming of Europeans.
At fork In the trail Is the upstand-
ing trunk of a dead sycamore tree ap-
parently killed by lightning a good
many years ago. The trail to the left
ridge seems long way off and it
seems to slope evenly from the crest
to the bottom lands, but this evenness
disappears as you near 1t and you find
succession of rising bits Of ground,
broken by ravines and gullies. For
nearly a mile you walk across the
sandy fiat which seems not to have
been under the p1ow and harrow TOR
many seasons. The whole picture is
black and gray with frequent splashes
of yellow. The cowtail weeds which
grew thick here are stiff and black and
the wild carrot blossoms which grew
plentifully are dry and brown. Various
species Of everlasting" give a gray
tone to the fields and golden rod fur
ntshes the splashes Of yellow.
X
When you come close to the barn
you see how old and neglected it is
and how gray and warped are its re-
naming boards. and perhaps you fall
to thinking of the unnumbered tobacco
crops that have been raised on these
fields by hands that long ago became
mere bones. There is a faint odor
of tobacco in the barn now. so deeply
was it's wood permeated with the scent.
To the left of the barn and on a
steep hillock that suggests itself as
one Of the foothills of the ridge is a
vacant house. A tenantless house near
ly always has q dreary look. but an
abandoned house in the country, with
its windows and doors broken and its
garden nearly effaeed by wild growth.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

important storage place for navy am
munition, but how important it is now
In this age of Intermediates powder
the Rambler does not know, but he
judges that not much ammunition is
kept there, though in a small brick
magazine not far from the gray house
perhaps enough dynamite of tri-nitro-
tuluol, or explosive D, is kept to make
a first-ciass explosion if 1t were deto-
mated.
Bare places along the slope of the
ridge show where the land is cleared
and where farms yield their produce
for the Washington markets. Some
farmhouses. mostly frames, painted
white, show in these clearings. Jut-
ting far out into the river is a long
pile structure-Shepherds termi-
nus of that branch of the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad which runs down
from Biadensburg, through Benning,
Twining and Anacostia to this point,
and at which place freight and cars are
ferried across and down the river to
railroad ferry slip near the south end
of Alexandra.
To the right of Shepherds and fur
Their inland, extending from the fiat
lands half way up the ridge, Is small
city Of new brick buildings and a
This is Blue Plains, the old folks
home and the Industrial School for
Colored Children. To the right of this
new city the ridge back of the river
breaks; There is a wide gap. but
ridge further to the eastward Ais in
the background. Through that break
in the river ridge the stream of Oxon
run comes through the country, and in
the course of ages it has secured out a
wide and winding valley.
X
The eye follows the ridge to the
right. where it bends toward the west
and ends in a steep bluff at the river.
1t is a wooded bluff, but there is a big
yellow scar where a patch Of the
grave1ly clay is exposed. That is Ro-
ziers bluff, on the fiat top Of which
was Fort Foote, one of the river de-
lenses of Washington during the Pc
Rod of the civil war. Here is only the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
HE iconoclast of

HE iconoclast Of
the United States
Senate is Senator
Harry Lane OF
Oregon. Though
personally held In
high esteem by
his associates, he
never has alb
sorbed that rev.
erence for the
greatest delib-
erative ho(1y on
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

United States senator Nevertheless ~
Illustrates. for one thing, the change
that Is coming in the Senate. and for,
another 1t demonstrates the icono-.
oregon, partisan warrior in politics M
ASHMJJN BROWN
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

He could get the same view by sitting
on one of the Alexandria wharves
which is in complete repair, but the ef-
feet on his mind might not be the
same. Every picture needs it's atmos-
phere.
The great river, one of the romantic
historic and majestic rivers of the
world, is before him. 1t is blue or
green. or blue and green, and some Of
its swirls and eddies are gi1ded with
the yellow glow of the autumn sun.
Beyond two red spar buoys that mark
the easterly or left side of the channel
stretch the shoals or fats. At high tide
there is plenty of water here for small
boats. but at low tide. and at this sea-
son, tangled mats of ribbon grass and
other marine growths float on the sur
face.
Across these shoals, opposite the
southerly part of Alexandria and OPP
posite the central part Of that city, are
brush marks outstanding in the water,
as though dead trees were there. Once
these brush marks were green, but they
serve their purpose just as we'll now
that they are dead, bare and brown.
That purpose is to mark the lines of
Two SWdSn CHdHnelS, WHICH are udTIOW
ways dredged across the flats for the
passage of tugs with their lows of
sand and gravel barges, for close to
the shore of the District of Columbia a
few rods north of that venerable land
ing place and ruined causeway called
Fox's ferry a dredge is at work, and
still farther to the north in a little bay
or cove which is the mouth Of Oxon
run another dredge is working taking
sand or gravel from the river bottom,
and all for the upbuilding Of Washing
ton city.
Along the shore of the river and so
close to the waters edge that 1t seems
to be growing out of the river, Is wood
land, where the trees are thick and
tall and their afternoon shadows long.
Over the trees rises long, high ridge,
the trees on it's crest making jagged.
picturesque sky line. Between the trees
that grow along the river and those
that grow on the crest of the ridge Is
nearly a mile of low land. stretches of
it wet and Doggy, and other stretches
dry and sandy. but you cannot see all
this from your position on the sunset
side of the river.
You can pick out many familiar OBJ
iects. Far to the left and, of course,
up the river, the great dome looms dim
and slatey in the brown smoke and
purple haze that hangs over the river
and wells the city. The outline of the
War College is blurred. The tower at
the steel plant rises distinct. and to
the right of that, just pointing above
the wooded ridge, is stack, from
which dense smoke streams 1azily
float away. 1t is the stack of the
power plant at St. Elizabeth.
Close by the river is small brick
house with a mansard roof. For many
years the house was red, but this sea-
son it is painted gray. Near it an
American flag flies from a fresh. white
staff 1t is Belleview. Once it was an
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
S(5HE RAMBLER
NE of the pictures

NE of the pictures
of the region in
which Washington
is happily situated
is t h q t W h 1 c h
spreads itself be-
fore a man who
sits on one of the
ruined, or. at least,
ruinous, wharves
at Alexandria and
looks e a 8 t W a I'd
across the river.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

earth" that is possessed SO generally by
gentlemen who have won to its men,
bership.
His iconoclasm began with his first
week of service last year. Some one
asked him what he thought about the
Senate, now that he was a member.
"Oh, feel perfectly at home" SEN
ator Lane replied, cheerfully. You
see, I was superintendent of an insane
asylum for several years"
Several months ago he predicted
darkly-and publicly. which is worse
that If the Senate did not mend its
ways presently it would be abolished.
Then on top of all this, quite recently
he delved deep into his medical knowl-
edge and came out with the suggestion
that a choice assortment OF Arizona
gila monsters be imported and turned
loose in the Senate. The gila monster,
he explained. when 1t bites, locks it's
jaws SO tight that they can be pried
open only with a cold chisel.
Further, while it's bite is not fatal,
the venom injected through the bite
causes a total paralysis of the vocal
cords for a year. That is what Sem
ator Lane wants. He thinks the Sem
talks too much.
Really" said he, recently. you would
be astonished at the manner in which
the senators are falling in with the
idea. Each one thinks 1 am hitting at
the other fellow, and, SO, is for the
suggestion Subscriptions to buy a sup
ply of gila monsters for the purpose
are pouring in. Every man who sub
scribes IS can pick out the senator he
wants bitten. Vice President Marshall
has subscribed SIS and has picked out
his senator. For myself, I have picked
out a nice. fat but garrulous one. No
part of the subscription fund is to be
used to furnish cold chisels."