Evening star., 1944-09-03
Fifty Years Ago
The illumina ton of the dome Of t

O"FAooA % tdAcu iOf grained Dy mod
ern Washingtonians, but
Copitol half a century ago it was
Lit tUp a matter of particular con-
Germ. In The Star for Au-
gust 80. 1894, 1t was reported that:
Precisely at 6:03 O'Clock last evening
Electrician c. P. GLEN signaled to As
slstant Engineer Thomas America that
all was well, the button was pushed.
and Immediately the gathering gloom
about the Capitol Building was inu-
minated as If by an electrical display
from the heavens" About a week
earlier. Albert Ports, an expert climber
and rigger. assisted by Joseph Sullivan
and Dennis Naley, had climbed to the
shoulders of the Goddess of Freedom,
and placed IL large electric lamps
over the head Of the efngy. Other
globes were arranged around the base
OF the statue. The display was an
incident of the Knights of Pythias
encampment. Long afterward, dur
Ing the First World War, tho present
system of lighting was devised. Ar
thur E. (Gus) Cook yesterday said that
Wnen ne first came to the Capitol in
1886, he found 1t dark. FUZZY lighted,
the Capitol dome now Except in the
prevailing emergency is bstaaed In the
silver tridescence of So floofilishts and
IL searchl1ghts, of which are directed
to the statue on the top of the vast
edifice.
Gen. Nathaniel P. Bangs, one of the
laS' surviving military leaders of the
-, Civil War, died
Veteron at waltb.m
Commander Dies Mass. September
l., 1894. The Star
1or That date explained that he had
been In command Of the defenses of
washington in 1852. He later served In
the House of Represe natives from 1865
to 1873, from 1875 to E879 and from 1890
to 1891. But he had, been a Congress-
man before he was a soldier. His debut
at the Capitol was i'm 1853, and when he
resigned in 1857 1t was to become gov
ernor Of his native State. A bobbin bow
as child, he subs sequently was In turn
q mechanic, newspaper editor, a clerk
IN customhouse. IA lawyer and 4 rail-
road executive. E6s career was 10 tvn.
ically American As to be REGARDED "ayer.
age" yet he was from first to last an in
dividualist in theproper meaning of that
word.
The Star on September ;, 1894 printed
an editorial reading in part: The shock
felt by the whole Nation at
Mob Crime the news of the murder of
Resented six Negro prisoners by a
mob in Tennessee q"
furnishes evidence that the public con-
science is awakening to sense of duty
in this matter of lynching The State of
Tennessee owes it to itself to see that
swift puniShment follows the frightful
crime of this mob q crime not against
the lives al these six defenseless Negroes
only, but against the honor and the lib
critics OF, the whole people. Whenever
lynching occurs in a community, re-
spect fer law is lessened, and life and
property are not so secure in that COM
munity as they were before"
RN
Dr. James Clarke yelling, presi-
dent OF the Columbian University and
professor of private and
Dr.. WelIina international law in the
Ckports law department Of the in
stitution which now is
George Washington University, died of
heart disease at Hartford, Conn, Sep
tember 3, 1894. The Star for that day,
announcing his demise, said of him:
Tor over 10 years DR.. yelling has been
identified with the National Capital As
one Of its most valuable citizens" He
was born at Trenton, N. j., July IA,
1925; was educated at Princeton and
later taught there: became literary edi-
tor Of the National Intelligencer in 1850
and remained In that position until 1865;
was made president Of st. Johns Col
leee, Annapolis, In 1867 and began his
career as head Of the Columbian faculty
in 1871. The influence of his labors
still Is manifest in the cultural life Of
Washington.
Interviewed at length in The Star
for September 5, 1894, Harvey M. Hub
| bert Of Philadelphia,
llbToY returning from = tour
Movement Of New York, Boston,
| Providence and New
port. testified: Everywhere the free
library scheme Is taking . nrmer hold
upon the people. They are beginning
to recognize what . powerful factor this
Is in the education Of the masses. Bos-
ton b the mother Of the tree library
movement There the plan has sue