Evening star., 1939-11-26

second wife still is living, as are his
two sons and one daughter. The
widow and one of the sons have
home near the city, known as Argyle,
and a portion of the original estate
in that section has been improved
in recent years by the construction
of suburban homes. A brother of
Mr.. Blagden-Rev. George w. Blag-
den-settled in Boston early in the
last century. and was at one time
pastor of the Old South Church."
Builders Services.
George Blagden, who settled here
in 1893, served as superintendent of
the stonework in the construction
of the original Capitol and also had
the contract for building the two
houses which once stood on the west
side of North Capitol street between
Constitution avenue and c street,
for Gen. Washington. In his writ
ings, Gen. Washington made men
ton Of Mr.. Blagden and these
houses number of times. Upon
one occasion, in writing to the COM
missioners, appointed to protect the
Federal interest in Washington, he
said:
Il have resolved to agree to Mr..
Blagden's terms-that is, to give him
$11 900 to build the two houses, ac-
cording to the plan agreed on and
agreeably to the specifications which
have been presented to me, and
must be produced and referred to
as the criterion by which the work
is to be Judged taking upon my
self the execution of the painting
and glazing and furnishing the iron
mongery agreeably to the bill which
he exhibited-the quantity of nails
not to overrun the specification.
that is by allowing him the amount
OF that item he is entitled to no
further call upon me for an in
crease"
Mr. Blagden was vestryman in
Christ Episcopal Church, in South
east Washington, and came to an
untlmely end about 1926. when
experimenting work being done in
connection with the extension of
the Capitol Building.
Historic Place.
OF course, the most historic resi-
dence in Blagden Row was the
Taney house, where the Chief JUS
tice lived from about 1852 to the
time OF his death in 1864. It was
In March, 1857, that he delivered
the opinion of the Supreme Court
IN the Dred Scott case, and in all
likelihood it was in his Indiana ave-
nue. home that he wrote this opinion
after carefully and judicially weigh
ing all the evidence and arguments.
The case itself had to do with
Dred Scott and his wife, who were
slaves belonging to surgeon in
the United States Army. They were
taken into and resided in Illinois
and at Fort Smelling, in territory
from which, by the ordinance of
l787, slavery was forever excluded.
Afterward they were carried into
Missouri, where they and their chill
dren were held as slaves. They
claimed freedom on the ground that.
by the act of their master, they had
been carried into free territory.
At this time the members of the
Supreme Court included, beside the
Chief Justice, Justices John Mclean,
Ohio; James M. Wayne, Georgia:
John Catron, Tennessee; Peter v.
Daniel, Virginia; Samuel Nelson,
New York; Robert C. Grier, Pennsyl-
vania; Benjamin r. Curtis, Massa-
chusetts, and John A. Campbell.
Alabama.
Read by Chief Justice.
According to The Star of March
Z, 1857, the decision as read by
Chief Justice Taney. and as entirely
concurred in by Justices Wayne,
Daniel, Grier and Campbell, decided
that:
81. Negroes, whether slaves or free
that is, men of the African race
are not citizens of the United States
by the Constitution.
%. The ordinance of 1887 has no
independent constitutional force or
legal effect subsequently to the