Evening star., 1933-05-21
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

GfueSome souvenirs OF crime, and par
ticularly portions of the bodies of these
III executed for the gravest
Gulteaus Of offenses, have always
cL.1.+o, been objects Of keen pub
S'oA' lie curiosity This was
particularly so in the case Of Gui-'
teau, slayer Of President GARFIELD, who
was executed a little more than so
years ago in this city. The Star Of
May Is, 1888, says:
THE bones of Charles j. Guiteau, the
assassin of President Garfield who was
executed at the jail in this city on June
80, 1882, after having been in the Army
Medical Museum since July last, have
at length, it is stated, lost their identity
as his bones. The day following the
execution Guiteau's body was inferred
under the floor of the east wing of the
JAIL, On the night Of July 1t was res
directed by the anatomist Of the
museum. DR.. E. p. Schafhert, and taken
to the museum. Here the bones were
prepared for articulation, and. being In
fine order for such purpose, it was
supposed that some day or other Gui-
teaus skeleton would be placed in q
glass case in the museum, properly
labeled. 1t was known by number
of the clerks and other employees of the
museum that the bones were there, but
only few persons have ever been per-
mitted to see them. 1t has been deemed
inadvisable, however, to place the skel-
eton on exhibition as that of Guiteau.
for, like the cervicle vertebrae Of the
assassin of Lincoln, Wilkes Booth, it
would have attracted too large a crowd
Recently DR.. C. H. Crane, the surgeon
general, took the bones into his personal
possession and he has made a disposal
Of them of which every other person Is
ignorant. Gen. Crane will doubtless
keep the secret to himself. 1t Is thought
that the bones are yet in the building
as an entire skeleton, or that they, with
other bones, form exhibits there"
The Trail controversy which agitated
Washington fifty years ago would not
English Rail May May Is, IS 1885, s'ss says:
Is Suggested. the tne TNra,I aylng Iypog o,'r 0r
tramways is defended on the ground that
the fiat rail in use here is difficult to
keep in place and that cars do not
fiat rail is not up to the mark and is
to be superseded, why not adopt the
European fiat rail, which is laid level
with the street and which has a narrow
groove to hold the car wheel upon the
track by thin flange and which offers
no obstacle whatever to the movement
Of carriages in any direction upon the
streets? The Trail is so thoroughly
OBJ ectio ma lie, especially upon the
smooth streets of Washington, which
would otherwise rank as the finest driv-
ing streets in the world, that the Com
missioners should in all possible ways
discountenance its adoption here. They
should forbid any extension of its use
here or its being relaid when the tracks
where 1t is now in use ere renewed"
= <
"The acton of the Chicago CITY
Council, says The Star of May is, 1888.
rl. W.. 'in passing an ordi-
Chlc2gos Wire nance recurring that
Pole Scandal. the tn eleetrieaI striean come oase
panies should substitute UNDERGROUND for
overhead wires, met with the universal
appreciation OF disinterested citizens Of
that city. The companies, in pursu-
ance OF their fixed policy, resisted the
law, and had the authorities regarded
the plainly expressed will Of the peo-
pie, the question as to whether a greaI
city has power to enforce obedience to
its ordinances on the part of corpora
tions would have been tested and de-
termined; but when the contest came
to an issue, the City Council disap-
pointed the public by agreeing to
compromise which left the companies
virtual masters of the situation. They
are simply required to change the char
acter of their poles 1t needs no argu-
ment to show that the companies are
not erecting iron poles with any ex-
pectation of lowering them soon. They
put them up, no doubt, with the inten-
ton Of maintaining them permanently.
And now the Chicago Tribune openly
charges that the compromise which sac
rihced the interests and convenience Of
the citizens was attained by bribery, the
sldermanic votes being paid for by the
telegraph companies"