REFORM IS NEEDED.

Public Schools of Washington AreFar Behind the Times.

A* Cmigre** Makri Ihr I.aw* for the

District of Colombia All Citl-icua Are Interented la

This Matter.

[Special Washington Letter.]

"You have been told of thesplendid educational advantages whichare afforded to young men and youngwomen in this national capital, butthere is another story to be told on

that subject.Higher education is desirable only

for those who aspire to high places inpublic affairs and in social life. Com-mon school education is desirable forthe masses. Every child should have a

common school education, and it were

better far that every child should learnto read and write and cipher than thata chosen few should have collegiate anduniversity advantages.

The common schools of this city are

not worthy of the national capital, be-

cause they are not conducted on com-

mon sense principles. Consequentlythe children receive educations whichare impractical, because they do not fitthe boys and girls for practical contactwith the world.

in the first place, surprising as it mayeeem, grammar is not taught in our

common schools, nor in our highschools. One of the young lady gradu-ates of the high school, a near relativeof the narrator, this evening said:*'l am now going to college and amstudying Latin and Greek. It is abso-lutely necessary to study grammar inorder to learn the first principles ofthose languages, and hence 1 am study-ing grammar. I never studied gram-mar while I was in the public schoolshere, nor in the high school. What Iknow of English grammar was learnedby absorption, by the lessons learnedat home, when my speech was correct-

ed by my father and mother. So far

as the public schools are concerned, Imight have been graduated in completeIgnorance of the correct methods ofspeaking or writingmy mother tongue.

"Moreover," she continued, "they didnot teach spelling in the public schools,and very few of the high school gradu-ates know how to spell correctly. InLatin and Greek I find that it is abso-lutely necessary to know how to spellevery word, in order to be able to use

the dictionary intelligently, when at-tempting to translate sentences andparagraphs into English, llence lambeginning, although a high schoolgraduate, to turn my attention to thecorrect spelling of the English lan-guage. Of course, lam not a poor spell-er, but Iam not a good speller becausespelling was never taught me in thepublic schools."

This statement is so surprising that jit would not be deemed worthy of quo- Itation or belief, but for the fact thatthe writer has personal knowledge ofits truthfulness. High school gradu-ates have attempted to write short-

llllllwv WJP ipl'?A PICNIC CLASS.

fcand and transcribe their notes on thetypewriter, and have demonstrated

their utter inability to do even thatkind of work, because they do not knowhow to spell.

For example, graduates of the Wash-ington high schools acting as stenog-raphers for years for your correspon-dent have written out the word "al-right," supposing that the words "allright," so commonly used, constitutebut one word spelled as above. Scoresof them use the word "anythink" foranything. Hundreds of them say: "1taken" or "he taken" for"I took" or'

lie took."The young men and young women

who syak and spell in that manner aregnduares of the Washington highschools. There is not a common schoolin the Ohio, Mississippi or Missouri val-leys, or in the lake region, where thefirst principles of practical educationarc so neglected. There is probablyno" a teacher on the prairies who wouldnot be ashamed to graduate pupils insu< h ignorance of spelling and gram-mar.

Elocution is something of which thepupils in our schools know nothing.The teachers are graduates of our highschools. They were never taught spell-ing, grammar or elocution, and hencethey cannot teach what, they do notknow. Therefore it is that our boysand girls do not know how to read well.If asked ;o read a column or a para-graph from a newspaper they stammer

and stumble over it like children in theinfant classes.

Instead of teaching arithmetic as itslioi'Jd be taught, the children are givenlessons whicu they may learn or not,according to their home influences,and when they have been graduatedthey are unfit for any business requir-ing computation. Hundreds of themdo not know the multiplication tables,and yet they have diplomas settingforth that they have completed theireducations.

It is all right for such, young men asHenry Clay. Abraham Lincoln or JamesA. Garfield to ca»ve out educations forthemselves ana attain the highest

scholastic excellence by tneir own ex-ertions, and it is equally all right forthe sons of wealthy men to be carriedthrough the schools ami colleges. Hutthe sons of rich men seldom amount tomuch, and the Clays, Lincolns and Gar-ilelds are but few and far between. Thecommon schools and high schoolsshould lie conducted for the purpose ofgiving practical education to the mil-lions who will soon be men and wom-en, bearing upon their shoulders, mindsand hearts the burdens of the repub-lic, and they should be well groundedin the first principles of education.

In all of the grades of our publicschools the teachers are required, will-ingly or otherwise, to make excursionsinto the hills and woods surroundingthis city, taking the children with themwith the alleged purpose of studyingbotany and geology. The days thusspent are picnic days, and they come

quite often. The children are obligedto pay their own car fare, no matter

how poor their parents may be. Thisis as unfair as it is unwise. The chil-dren do not need botany or geology, nor

will they ever have need of knowledgeof those branches in after life. But all

of them will have need of knowledge of

1n v=Q

;V

!I]

TRYING TO WRITE SHORTHAND.

reading, writing, spelling and arith-metic. And those studies are nottaught them.

Business men need not less than 2,000words with which to express theirideas fluently and freely. The averagehigh school graduate in this <?ity doesnot know more than 1,000 words, anddoes not know how to spell more thanhalf of those words accurately. Andwhen they come to work for men injournalism, or other literary pursuits,these high school graduates are help-less, because they do not understandthe words spoken to them, any more

than they would understand the wordsof a foreign language. These extremestatements are made as a result of per-sonal experience in dealing with thegraduates of these schools.

Inasmuch as the boys and girls arenot taught to be accurate in their spell-ing, they carry through life with them

j tlovenly intellectual habits. Some of! them study law and medicine, but theydo not know how to spell the technicalterms used in their professions. One ofthem, now a practicing physician, re-cently gave a receipt to a patient, for"fourty-nin dolls." Another, a younglawyer, wrote to a client: "Pleas calson as possble."

Young men so educated cannot rise.Scholarly men know exactly where toplace half-educated men. Hut the men

of limited or slovenly education never

can understand the completely educat-ed men about them, llenee the highschool graduates of this city seldomknow how to choose a profession, or

how to succeed in one. It is an imcon-

troverted truth that no man ever madean ill figure who understood his owntalents, nor a good one who mistookthem.

The highways and byways of historyare strewn with the wrecks of the iivesof men who mistook their callings, or

who were not well equipped educa-tionally for any calling. Many a youthwho would have been a first-rate me-

chanic is forced into a learned profes-sion, and "with all his blushing hon-ors thick upon his vacant head" set-tles down to kill people scientifically,pouring drugs,of which he knows little,into bodies of which he knows less.

"Tompkins forsakes his last and awlFor literary squabbles;

Styles himself poet: but his tradeRemains the same?he cobbles."

Thus it appears tii«.t scores, if nothundreds, of men and women becometeachers in the public schools, whomight better be in trade of some kind.Thus it appears that there are superin-tendents or members of school boardswho know little about teaching, buthave power to employ teachers whoknow less. Consequently our publicschools are in need of competent su-pervision. which will result in com-plete reformation of method and ofmeans for giving practical education toour young people.

Upon whom to flx the responsibilityfor the deplorable condition of our pub-lic schools the writer does not know. Itis enough for the present to state thefacts. The congress is the lawmakingbody of this city, and the facts hereinpresented will be laid before the con-gress by a body of leading citizens,and legislation will be asked requir-ing the public schools of the Districtol' Columbia to teach reading, spelling,writng and arithmetic in the first, see-and third grades. After that, if chil-dren require higher education, theymay be taught something of the sci-ences, and maybe of the dead lan-guages. Hut reform must be wroughtin our public school system.

SMITH D. FRY.

A Fnrreone Conclusion.( holly Weally, Mabel, 1 didn't mean

what I said at all. In fact, I spokuwithout thinking.

Mabel <th, I never doubted that foramoment. ?N. Y. Journal.

Cot Wlmt II)- Ankcil For.Ca-cy?See here! thot dollar ye liul

me yisterday wuz a countei feit.Cussidy Well. Casey, didn't ye saj

ye wanted it bad? ?Judge.

EIGHTY YEARS OLD.

Miss Susan B. Anthony Has Reachedthe Four-Score Mark.

InltraKlila Will Observe FebruaryIS, lIHIII,am \u25a0 Day on Which to l'»f

Tribute to 'l'liel*UimlnKulaheil

l.ead-vr's Work.

The National American Woman Suf-frage association will celebrate tliaWghtjeth birthday of their great lead-er. Susan li. Anthony, in a mannerbefitting her grand work for human-ity. A committee appointed for tin*purpose is making preparations for a

public meeting in honor of the event,which will take place on February 15,in Lafayette opera house, Washington,D. C.

In the evening of the same day therewill be a card reception for Miss An-thony, at which she will receive withmembers of the birthday committee.The occasion will be one of interest inmany ways. Those having the ar-

rangements in charge are:

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chair-man; .Rachel Foster Avery, secretary;

Harriet Taylor Upton, Ohio; MayWright Sewall, Indiana; Mary I?. Clay,Kentucky; Emily M. Gross, Illinois;Mrs. Senator liurrows, Michigan; Mrs.Senator Warren, Wyoming; Lucy E.Anthony, Perinsylvania, and HarrietStanton Blatch, of England.

Prominent women representing allphases of woman's work and experi-ence will present to Miss Anthonytheir greetings, and express theirsense of recognition of what her la-tors have meant to their respectiveefforts. There is not a woman to-day,no matter what her position, who hag

touched any of the really vital issuesof life, who has not been helped to

some degree by the efforts of Miss An-thony and her compeers.

This celebration will follow the closeof the National Woman Suffrage con-vention, which will be in session InWashington from February 8-15.

When Miss Anthony began her workwoman was a chattel in the eye of thelaw; shut out from all advantages of

SUSAN 13. ANTHONY.(For Fifty Years Leader of the Woman's

Suffrage Movement.)

higher education and opportunities inthe industrial world; an utter de-pendent on man; occupying a subordi-nate position in the church; restrainedto the narrowest limits along sociallines; an absolute nonenity in politics.To-day American women are enviedby those of other nations, and standcomparatively free individuals, withthe exception of political disabilities.

During the 50 years which havewrought this revolution. Miss Anthonyis the one woman in all the world whohas given every day of her time, everydollar of her money, every power ofher being, to secure these results. Shewas impelled to this work from no per-sonal grievance, but solely through adeep sense of the injustice which, onevery side, she saw perpetrated againsther sex, and which she determined to

combat. Never for one short hour hasthe cause of woman been forgottenor put aside for any other object.Never a single tie has been formed,either of affection or business, whichwould interfere with this supreme pur-pose. Never a speech has been given,a trip taken, a visit made, a letterwritten in all this half century of herefforts that has not been done direct-ly in the interest of this one object.There has l>een no thought of personalcomfort, advancement or glory} theself-abnegation, the self-sacrifice havebeen absolute ?they have been unpar-alleled.

Future generations will wonderwhat manner of people those were

who not only permitted this woman tolabor for humanity for 50 years almostunaided, but also compelled her to begor earn the money with which to carryon her work. Too often these factsare forgotten or ignored by those whohave been most benefited by her la-bors. They see glory in the fact thatmoney is entirely their own now to dowith as they please, but do not know,or will not admit, that the statuteswhich guarantee this independencewere passed by the efforts of Miss An-thony and her compeers.

That they may express in some smalldegree their appreciation of Miss An-thony's life of self-sacrificing labor, intheir behalf, the women have arrangedthis celebration to take place upon hereightieth birthday.

Women >lnl, lnif Uniform*.

Over 1.000 women are at present mak-ing uniforms for English soldiers.Khaki is a dyed cotton, but what it isd.yed with the government officialsthemselves do not know. The firm

that discovered it keeps the secret verymuch to itself. To guard against mis-fits the English army clothing stores

make the uniforms in no less than 30

different sizes.

Hot Water for llcmluclicn.Ordinary headaches almost tilwnv*

yield HI I lie simultaneous applicationof hot water lo the feel and back of theneck.

CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1900

RAILWAY TRUST.A Gigantic Combine of Trunk

Lines Is Planned.

Hallway 'lumiuli* ure Kald to be

Working oil a Scheme to < lilte the(?real Itoad* of tin- Country

Into the ol All I<1 iistrlul< oimoIl<latlon».

Chicago, Jan. 19.?The Tribunesays: In order to carry out their an-ti-commission agreement it is propos-ed jow to combine all the railroads inthe country in a big passenger pooland operate it in such a way that eachroad will get an agreed percentage ofthe earnings, liy such action no pos-sible profit can accrue to any of theroads from ignoring the agreement.Each road is to be allowed to carryall the passengers is can secure, butany road that should manage to getmore than its allotted proportionwould have its labor for its pains, as

the profits would goto the competingroads which have failed to carry theirproportion of the business.

The eastern roads have all voted infavor of this scheme and a committeeof western railroad executive ollicialsis now at work to get nil the westernlines into the combination.

The railroad magnates do not admitthat the formation and maintenanceof a passenger pool would constitutea violation of the law. It has alwaysbeen the contention of the railroadsthat the section of the inter-statecommerce act forbidding pools relatesonly to freight traffic and does not

affect passenger business in any way,anil it now seems to be their determi-nation to act and fight it out on thispresumption. The fact that PresidentFelton, of the Alton, is chairman ofthe committee insures the co-opera-tion of the Alton and I'nion Pacificrailroads, have been opposedto pools heretofore. The Great North-ern, which always has been a .stum-

bling block in the way of pools andsteadfastly refused to join the combi-nations of that kind, is said to havebeen won over.

The Chronicle says: As a result ofthe recent consolidations and agree-ments among the owners of the greattrunk railways east of Chicago the en-

tire transportation system betweenthe Mississippi river and the Atlanticseaboard is to be reorganized, involv-ing the following changes: The aban-donment of the city ticket offices of

all the roads in the syndicate in Chi-cago, New York, Philadelphia, Bostou,Buffalo, Haitimore, Washington, Pitts-burg. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit,Indianapolis, Peoria and St. Louis andthe substitution of joint offices Ineach city. The discharge of all city,general, traveling and district freightand passenger agents and solicitors 'jf

the eastern roads i,i all parts of theUnited States, Canada, and Europe.This will affect nearly 50,000 men.

The abolition of fell forms of com-

missions heretofore paid for the saleof tickets over these roads will affectthe incomes of 10,000 agents and elim-inate the scalpers.

A number of through fast passengertrains putin service during the pastfew years as the re.suft of sharp com-petition will be abandoned, togetherwith all fast freight trains.

All the big competitors of the bigsystems are in with the combiningmovement and stand readv togo intoany deal that will maintain rates andreduce expenses. Several small inde-pendent roads in the west and north-west are to be purchased. The fail-ure of congress to legalize pooling Isgiven as the cause of the consolida-tion, as the owners are determined topoo I if the purchase of ever'- railroadin the country is uecessarv to obtainthat end.

THE CABLE BROKE.

Two Men Killed and Three KiidlyIn-jured l>) an Kit-valor Accident.

New York, Jan. 1!).?Two men were

killed and three possibly fatally in-jured in the falling of an elevator yes-terday in the storage warehouse ofOMJeiily Pros. At the time of the ac-

cident the elevator v\as at the ninthfloor of the building and had just beenloaded with five wheelbarrows tilledwith firebrick. There were five menon the elevator, .lust as the elevatorstarted downward one of the cablesbroke, letting the elevator loose, andit went down to the basement withfrightful rapidity. The total distanceof the fall is 140 feet. The elevatorwas crushed to splinters. On the way-down it fore out the brick partitions

and did so much damage that the ironcounterbalance weights were loosened,

allowing them to fall on top of the el-evator. The weights killed the men

in the elevator. The dead men werecrushed in a frightful manner.

The injured men bore no marks on

their bodies, nor were any of theirbones broken. They were all uncon-

scious. however, and were removed toa hospital. They are in a precariouscondition. The superintendent of thebuilding. Thomas Perry, was arrested,

lie claimed that the elevator was reg-ularly inspected by licensed inspectorsand that no warninir was given of theparting of the cable.

A Ileiiiarkable Ca*e.

Baltimore, Jan. 19.?The post-mor-tem examination of the body of

Charles I'. Seeberger, the electrician,who was shot last Saturday night itBrunswick, Mil., by Conductor Swart-

ly, and died Tuesday, revealed thefact that Seeberger lived 60 hourswith a bullet hole through the centerof his heart.

A Street Car Dynamited.

Sprinirfiehl. 111., .Tail. 10. A car offlic Consolidated Street liailwav Co.was dynamited last night in the busi-ness portion of the city and near po-lice headquarters. The fore trucksof the ear were broken and severalwindows and the track torn up.

Smallpox ii: Indiana.Indianapolis. Jan. 19. The state

board of health has received word that15 new cases of smallpox have appear-ed ill Clav county. .Nine new caseswere reported yesterday from Vander-burg count I '. T he disease prevails in14 counties of the state.

ASKS FOR AN INJUNCTION.

niMuurl'a Attorney t.nirral Ht-qiioatitin' Sii|iri'ini' 4 onrt ti> Stop llii'Oper-

ation* of the t lil<a:;o

Washington, .lan. IS. ? The state .>1Missouri by its attorney general, K.li. Crow, has made application in theeuprome court and asked leave to lilta bill praying for an injunctionagainst the state of Illinois aiul thecity of Chicago to restrain them fromoperating the recently opened drain-age canal. The court took the mo-

tion. but did not indicate when actionwould be taken.

The principal ground of objectionraised by the bill of complaint filed byMr. Crow is that the sewage from thecanal will pollute the water of tin;Mississippi river. It is set forth thatthere are several cities and towns 011

the Mississippi below the mouth ofthe Illinois river which derive theirwater for drinking and other purposesfrom the Mississippi and that thesewaters are "indispensable to the lifeand health of thousands of inhabi-tants of the state." It is contendedthat Lake Michigan is the natural re-ceptacle of the drainage of Chicago,and that unless diverted it would findits way into the lake instead of theMississippi river.

Mr. Crow also represents that not

only will the current filth of 1.500,0(10

peonle be turned into the Mississippithrough the canal, but also that whichhas accumulated on the banks of theChicago river for years past, amount-ing daily to about 1,500 tons of "poi-sonous and noxious matters." If thisis permitted he says the waters of theMississippi "will of a certainty bepoisoned and polluted and renderedwholly limit and unliealthfnl fordrinking and domestic uses;" also

that it willrender useless the variouswaterworks plants on the Mississippibelow the entrance of the Illinois. Onthis account it is urged that the,health and lives of the people will beendangered and their business inter-ests irreparably injured, lie asks forboth a temporary and permanent in-junction.

Lock port, 111.4 .Tan. IS. ?The beartrap dam separating the drainagecanal from the Desplaines river was

lowered by the sanitary district trus-tees with the consent of the canalcommissioners and fiov. Tanner yes-t< rdav and 200,000 cubic feet of waterper minute rushed into the Desplainesriver on its way to the Gulf of Mexi-co. The bear trap dam is the largestof its kind in the world. It is 100 feetin width and has an oscillation of 17feet.

Chicago. Jan. IS.?Attorneys repre-senting the city of St. Louis yesterdaymade application before Judge Kohl-saat, of the United States districtcourt, for an injunction to restrainthe board of trustees of the sanitarydistrict, from turning the sewage ofthe Chicago river into Desnlainesriver. Judge Kolilsaat set January'2oas the date for hearing arguments 011

the question.

RAILROADERS GET MORE PAY.

Tile It. A O. ami IMIIKIIIIrjiA l.akr ICrlcKoatl* Advance the of (em-

ploye*.Pittsburg, Jan. IS. ?Firemen anil

possibly conductors and engineers allover the Baltimore & Ohio railroadsystem proper are to be the subjectsof a substantial wage advance datingfrom January 1. The advance will beclose to 10 per cent. It will vary, i fis understood, 011 different parts ofthe system so as to equalize the scale,and for the most part the advance will

be about 8 per cent. It goes to allfiremen, however, the men of theyards and the men of the road.

The Pittsburg & Lake Erie manage-ment sent out notices yesterday to thevarious division headquarters an-nouncingl what will be a sharp ad-vance to all its yardmen. This is alsoin the nature of a readjustment ofwages, the plan being to advance asnear to a common standard the men

of all the yards. In general the ad-vance averages about 10 per cent. Allyardmen, including conductors, engineers, firemen and switchmen of theyards, will be paid the advanced scalefrom January 1.

It is understood that the new scalewill fix the wages for the men of thelocal yards of the Pittsburg & LakeKrie as follows: Day conductors 25cents an hour; night conductors 20cents an hour; day brakeinen orswitchmen 19 cents an hour; night,brakeinen or switchmen 20 cents an

hour: engineers 29 cents an hour.

KILLED THEIR JAILER.

Two lninati'N ol a lllsmiuri liaNtlln.tlurilrr llx < uMoillan and liH'ape,

West Plains, Mo., Jan. IS.?CountyJailer Alfred llenry, while feeding theprisoners in the Howell county jailyesterday, was overpowered and kill-ed by two prisoners, Men Kichardsouand Ed < i rail v. Kichardsou was un-der sentence to the penitentiary forburglary and is an escaped convict,from the Tennessee penitentiary.

Henry had gone to the jail to feedthe prisoners and. not returning homeat the accustomed time, his wife be-came anxious and sent a neighbor insearch of him. His Ixuly was found ina pool of blood 011 the jail Door. Theprisoners had escaped and locked thedoor sifter them. A posse was organ-

ized and is scouring the woods. A re-

ward of SI,OOO is offered for their cap-ture. A report by telephone announc-

ed their appearance two miles southof here, headed for Arkansas. Intenseexcitement prevails and talk of lynch-ing is freely indulged in.

Tin* "Uherty Alliance."

Chicago. Jan. IS.?The Times-lleraldsays: A movement which is beingcarried on in the name of the LibertyAlliance to give aid to the lioers hasbi en 011 foot in ( hieago for ten days.Associated with it. are a number ofwell known citizens of ( hieago. Si".-

oral Cnited States senators, it is said,

have signified their intention of giv-ing the organization support. Whenasked if the allianc. was recruiting

for service in S.iuth Africa, onecf ;he promoters said. "No." lie a,Ul-

cil that the organization was merely

"colonizing" for the Transvaal.

A ROTTEN_MESS.A Few Samples of Putrid Pol-

itics in Montana.

A PUGILISTIC PREACHER.

lie Gives Racy Testimony in theClark Bribery Case.

A LAWYER DEFINES A LIE.

\u25a0 I<- IdentlficM a Letter \VrllH-iiIt} lllm

and 'l'llAdmit., Iha I Kverj' Stale-iiu-nt4 ontuiucdTlicrt-Ui wan a False*hood.

Washington, Jan. 20.?The hearingyesterday before tin- senate commit-tee on elections in the ease of SenatorClark, of -Montana, developed fournew witnesses. They were Represen-tative Cooney, T. E. ISutler, a preach-er named Warren, who was ehapla'iiof the Montana house of representa-tives. and a lawyer named Cason.

Mr. Warren said that he had resign-ed his ministry in the Methodisechurch after giving Ins testimony be-fore the Montana supreme court be-cause of scandalous reports that wereputin circulation about him, liesaid that previous to going to Helenahe had had a difficulty at Sweet (irass."A man called me a had name," hesaid, "and I knocked him down andgave him a thrashing."

"Isn't it a fact," asked Mr. Faulk-ner, "that you were charged by mem-bers of your congregation with em-bezzlement and fornication?"

Mr. Warren Replied in the negative,saying there had )>een no officialcharge. He said that the stories cir-culated after he had given liis testi-mony charged him with drunkenness,embezzlement and immorality.

Z. T. Cason, an attorney at liut.te,told how he had been sent for to cometo Helena to use his influence withRepresentative Marcey, of Custercounty, and that when he went therehe saw Senator Clark, who told himhe would like to have him see Marceyand talk with him and that Mr. Mar-cey had not been approached; thatservice being left to him (Cason), ashe could handle him better.

"He authorized me to say to himthat he would pay him SIO,OOO for hisvote for him (Clark) for the UnitedStates senate," said the witness.

Mr. Cason said he had seen Marceyseveral times and after satisfyinghimself that Marcey would vote forClark, had so reported to him. Hehad not. however, made any sugges-

tion of a money consideration to Mr.Marcey. Afterward Marcey had votedfor Clark and on February' 4 he (Ca-son! had received a letter from Mr.Clark enclosing a check for SSOO for"professional services." This letterwas produced and identified and Mr.Cason snid that the only services hehad rendered Mr. Clark were in con-nection with the senatorial race.

Mr. Cason identified a. letter he hadwritten to Albert (i. llall. of Wash-ington. I>. C? a brother-in-law of Sen-ator Clark, who had originally intro-duced him to the senator. This letterthanked Mr. Hall in profuse terms forCason's introduction to Mr. Clark andspoke of that gentleman in the mosteulogistic terms.

Mr. Cason identified the recantingletter he had given to a Mr. Root. Itcovered three pages of foolscap amir,as read by the witness amid roars oflaughter by all present, this laughterbeing to the abject character of thelanguage used.

"l)o you pretend to say that whenyou wrote that letter you knew : t wasnot true?" said Mr. Faulkner.

"Why, certainly," responded the

wit ncss.

"Then you confess here to havingwritten and signed three pages of liesin that letter," said Mr. Faulkner.

In his reply the witness gave thesecond unique definition of a lie thatthe hearintr has brought out.

"No, I do not." he replied. "I con-

fess to writing the letter, but I don'tthink any statement is ever a lie whichis made With the understanding thatit is false."\u25a0''amine Confront* 1a, 000,000 People.

Calcutta, .lan. 20. The council yes-terday considered the famine situa-tion. The official estimates show thatthe cost to the government of the te-

lief works to the end of March will be40,000.000 rupees. About 22,000,000

persons are now affected in Britishterritory anil about 27,000.000 in thenative states. The viceroy. Lord Cur-zon. said that the famine area had ex-panded. surpassing the worst fearsand thev were now facing a cattle,

water and food scarcity of a terriblecharacter. Aboul :i.2.">0.000 persons are

now receiving re lief.Killed lli« Family and Knlcldcd.

North Urookfield, Mass., Jan. 20.

Martin liergen, the catcher of theIloston baseball team of the Nationalleap'iie, killed his wife and two chil-dren and committed suicide at his

home Friday. An ax was the imple-ment used in taking the life of Mrsliergen and one of the children, whilea razor was employed to out thethroat of the other child, a little girl,and of the man himself, it is thoughtthe action was due to insanity.

I'ayiic'* Frt-e Trade Hili.

Washington. Jan. 20. Kepresenta-tive l'avne. of New York, chairman of

the ways and means committee, hasintroduced a bill in the house to ex-

tend the customs laws to I'ort > Ki<*o.The effect of the enactment of thisbill into law would be free trade be-tween the Cnited States and I'ortoRico.

Itroad'M Victory.

New York, Jan. 20. "Kid" I'.road,of Cleveland, defended Joe I'ernstein,of this city, in a hard fought battleof 25 rounds before the I*roadwayAUiLtia club last ndglu.

3