About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1909)
4 Hie Semi-Weskly Journal. Enter'd at th' Atlcn'a PoatoffW Mall Mat ter of the Second Ctaaa. JAMES R- GRAY, Editor and General Manager. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. Twetre moctba W** Six months •* Three months **; The Semi Weekty Journal Is “J 1 Tsroday and Friday, and to mail'd by the short- est mutes foe early delirery. It contains nows from all osar tbs world. brvugUt by apectal leased wires Into our office. It aaa a staff of d-Jngutob'd contributor*, with atroog dsaartmeots Os special ’»!«• 10 home and tte term. Agent • wanted at e"ry poetofflco. Liberal eomiulsslon allowed. Outfit free. The only trarollng repreoentatlrw T* ’“s* Me i. A. Bryan. B. F. Bolton. V. C. Coyle. M. II Oflreath and J. H. Barnhart. We win ba responsible only for money paid to tbs abors natu>4 traveling re;.rr-»rnt atl»e» TUESDAY. JANUARY ». ♦ NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS* ♦ The label used for addressing ♦ ♦ your paper shows the time your ♦ ♦ subscription expires. By renewing ♦' w at least two weeks before the date ♦ <• on this label, you insure regular ♦ ♦ service. ♦ ! ♦ In ordering paper changed, be ♦ ♦ sure to mention you old. as well as ♦ | ♦ your new. address. If on a rural ♦ t ♦ route, please give the route num- ♦ ♦ ber. ♦ ♦ We cannot enter subscriptions to ♦ ♦ begin with back numbers. Remit- ♦ ♦ tance should be sent by postal ♦ ♦ order, or registered mall. ♦ ♦ Address all orders and notices ♦ ♦ tor this department to THE SEMI- ♦ ♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga. ♦ AUGUSTA’S TAFT BANQUET. Augusta has shown becoming mod esty in waiting for so long a time to claim the privilege of entertaining Mr. Taft with a banquet, but when she did it she threw her whole soul into IL There was nothing so distinctively southern about the banquet at the Hampton Terrace as there was in the auditorium here, but there were beautiful women and brilliant men and a feast which was in every way worthy of the occasion. There were .distinguished guests, gathered from the winter colony "on the Hill" and from the salubrious summit of North Augusta. Among the most notable of those in attendance, outside of Mr. Taft himself, was John D. Rockefeller and the two great men met at last. Mr. Taft's greeting to the oil king, so the veracious chroniclers of the event inform us, was the he “went around the golf links in eighty-eight —which to the unitiated, does not mean the year eighty-eight, but in eighty-eight strokes. The oil king, for some strange rea son. did not talk golf but replied by remarking that he was sorry that he was not able to get near enough »o Mr. last during the earlier part of the day. at “the public speaking" L> be able to hear him. We are left to infer that he wan dered around in the most democratic sort of fashion, seeking a vantage point of view as beat he could, and was jostled and elbowed by the crowd, like any ordinary citizen. It would be impossible to say how many other no tames were wandering around in that crowd. Augusta Is jo used to distinguished men that she pa’~ no attention except to the most eminent. But there was one notable absen tee. Over in Aiken, just eighteen miles from Augusta, was Mr. Harriman. There can be no doubt that he was invited to bi present on such an occasion. But it is a known fact that he was not present. Was it not possible for the great railroad magnate to lay aside his ha bitual reserve long enough to meet and mingle with guests whom Taft and Rockefeller were willing to fra ternise with? Mr. Harriman has done a great many things to make himself unpop ular in certain quarters, but we fear that be has committed a blunder which it will be hard for him to over come. . And summer, fudging, rumples ths lap of winter. This sort of weather Is laying up a world of trouble for the peach crop. Richmond Pearson Hobson may yet live long enough to say. "I told you so.” Tom Platt quotes the old Roman epitaph as he retires: “I’ve had my day.” George Washington and Bt. Valentine will soon come In for their share of at tention. Billy ’Possum has become firmly em bodied in the political history of the United States. Governor Lilley has had one of his po litical jobs amputated, and is resting as well as could be expected. This thing of expunging a speech which has already been circulated throughout the country looks like a joke. That was a good one by Lord Rosebery, apropos ot the Roosevelt method, that “you cannot legislate by hurricane." A Hall county man has been givei twenty days for visiting his own wife. Whose wife woull they have him visit’ How rapidly the world moves, when al ready the greatest calamity of recorded history is passing out of the public mind The man who saved Queen Victoria’s life has just died at the age of one hun dred. The other thousand rescuers arc Only ninety years of age. Texas never rendered a better service than when she furnished the means of securing that decision which confirms the states in their rights to control foreign corporations doing business within their borders. 9VO CORONATION FOR MR. ‘BROWN. So many admiring friends and such a multitude of marching clubs have importuned Hon. Joseph M. Brown, governor-elect of the state of Georgia, for a position in the immediate vicinity of the calliope on the occasion of hla inauguration that he has been compelled to make known a plan which he had not Intended to give out until some time nearer the coronation. It is. that there isn't to be any coronation and there isn t to oe anv calliope and there isn’t to be any fuss and feathers. For once in the history of the state of Georgia an incoming chief executive will be inducted into office with true Jeffersonian simplicity. Thia is against all tradition, of course. Hitherto it has been the idea that while we deapise the personal element in kingcraft, the man chosen to represent a sovereign people was entitled to some of the out ward evidences of his prestige and eminence. It was not to the man, but to the state and the people represented in the man. that tribute waspaid with enthusiastic acclamation and the sounds of stirring music. It gave the rising generation a fitting veneration for the embodiment of government—and stimulated the desire for office. But Mr. Brown has changed all that. Perhaps he thinks the deaire for office needs no stimulation. He modestly shrinks from the implied assumption, "I am the state. He prefers to be inaugurated simply as our own “Little Joe.” He tells us that he may even walk to the capitol to be inaugurated. Thia is Interesting in the highest degree. Mr. Brown’s views on trans portation are always Interesting. Os course, if he followed historic precedent he would go to the capitol on horseback and "hitch his nag at the gate." But there isn’t any gate. He might get his old friend, that dear Fort McPherson, to lend him a gun carriage, but that would still be a carriage, and some enemy would go away and say he had gone over to the plutocrats. Consldeied simply as what it was it might cause him to be charged with a secret tendency towards militarism. It would make a great hit with the Hill Billies if he could get his consent to drive up in a cart drawn by two bull heifers, but the inau guration is fixed for a given day and hour and under the patronage of a pair of bull heifers he might arrive anywhere from a day to two weeks too soon or two late and perhaps not at all. It would, of course, be of the very essence of democracy if he were to simply ride over on the street cars as so many of our worthy citizens do. But what is democratic at one time may become plutocratic at another. Since the eyes of the whole state are fixed upon the means of transportation he is to select on this momentous occasion, it could not fail to be regarded as significant if he were to patronize one of the great corporations of the state. He might take a leaf from "Astyanax" and soar over on the wings of fancy; but in that event he might be given a fanciful inauguration, which wouldn't stick, or take a fanciful oath of office which would not bind. So perhaps, after all, it is better to walk, If he is determined not to ride in the orthodox state coach-and-four. Even then he would be in danger of having to thread the press of thronging thousands who “tossed their sweaty night-caps in the ajr," except for the fact that his pedestrian line of march will be Invested with the charm of mystery and the crowd will not know where to con gregate. We predict that on that day every avenue leading to the capitol will be filled to watch him go by, overflowing the lawns and the blind-alleys as the waters cover the sea. The transportation question looms large before Mr. Brown, and we can easily understand that in attempting to fix his choice of the means he will employ his soul is more vexed than was ever Bassanio’s in making choice of the casket. STATE CONTROL IS UPHELD. The decision of the United States supreme court, affirming the decree of the Texas state courts, imposing a fine of one million six hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars on the Waters-Pierce Oil company, of St. Louis, and ousting it from the state for infraction of the Texas anti-trust law, comes as the strongest of a series of decisions which uphold the right and power of the states to make and enforce laws regulating foreign corporations. The decision of the supreme court of New York in the case of the Consolidated Gas company, affirming the right of the state to prescribe the rate which that company should charge for its product, upholds the right of a state to regulate public service corporations, while the Texas decision sustains the right of a state to regulate trading monopolies. It will be noted that in the latter decision it is maintained that the state has the right, not merely to fine the corporation which has violated its laws, but may even expel it altogether from the state. Thia right of the state to regulate and control foreign corporations doing business within the state was one of the contentions in Governor Hoke Smith’s first campaign. It was his contention that foreign corporations, doing business in a state where mere licensees of the •tate; that if such corporations did not see fit to domesticate themselves, they would come into a state, not by any inherent right, but purely by the voluntary license of the state, which might freely be granted or withheld as the state saw fit. He held that all foreign corporations should, in fact, take out domestic charters, and that while it might not be wise to enact a specific statute demanding that all foreign corporations should domesti cate themselves, the same end might lawfully be attained by refusing them the license to do business in the state. The present decision of the supreme court has upheld this conten tion in every particular. It has enunciated the principle that the state can go so far as to expel a corporation from the state which does not abide by the state law. It goes without saying that the state has no right to deal harshly or unjustly with a corporation. It. must recognize its legal responsi bilities as well as insist upon its legal rights. But once for all, it would seem, the United States supreme court has clearly, strongly and emphatically upheld the principle that the foreign corporation which cornea into a state to do business must conform to the laws and regula tions imposed upon it by that state, and that if it fails and refuses to do so it can be punished by the state authorities even to the extent of being expelled altogether from the state. There has never been any disposition in Georgia to deal harshly with corporations. The benefits they confer and the rights to which they are entitled are clearly recognized. But in the first place they should voluntarily domesticate themselves. They refuse to do so because when litigation arises they promptly take it through all the tedious processes of appeal to the federal courts, and drag out the litigation until the delay becomes intolerable. We are confronted with the vexatious and exasperating discussion of the conflict of authority between state and federal authorities. The motives of the state are impugned because it seeks to uphold its inherent rights. In innumerable instances there has been open defiance of the state's authority. All this when the state has only been attempting to exercise its right to regulate a foreign corporation which is doing business within its borders under license which might have been withheld entirely if the state bad seen fit to do so, and which, under this latest decision of the supreme court, may be revoked, just as Texas has revoked the license of a Missouri corporation, the Waters-Pierce Oil company, to do business within its borders. It has taken a long time, and many decisions on various points to get a clear and unmistakable utterance upon this point, but it would seem that the question has been set at rest at last. The real meat of this decision Is that the authority of the state over all corporations, foreign or domestic, within constitutional limita tions, is supreme, and it is just as well that those who represent the corporations and those who represent the state should get this funda mental .principle clearly fixed in their minds. A proper recognition of the law, by all parties, will save a vast amount of useless trouble and annoyance. SIDELIGHTS ON THE CANAL. Two interesting facts in connection with the Panama canal were presented last week by our Washington correspondent, who points out, as the result of an interview with Congressman Gordon Lee, that the actual work and a large share of the responsibility of the canal depend upon southern men. A southerner is in charge of each of the three great divisions into which the canal zone has been divided and a southerner is building the great spillway at the Gatun dam. The more important part of the interview, however, consists in the grave fears expressed by Congressman Lee that the Gatun dam will prove a source of great anxiety to the government and may yet necessi tate a change from a lock to a sea level type of canal, which would increase the cost and the time necessary for construction to an immeasurable extent. The Culebra cut, as Congressman Lee points out, is simply a matter of dynamite aud steam shovels. The dam Is the difficulty. The engineers in charge are confident, but when we are told that not long since thirty five feet of the dam sank thirty-five feet in two minutes, there would seem tQ be just grounds for apprehensions, and that after all we ma’’ have to resort to a sea level canal. THE ATLANTA SEMIWEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, IM ABOLISH THE COURT OF APPEALS? It is evident that one of the questions which is going to press for solution in the near future is that of abolishing the state court of ap peals created two years ago and In lieu thereof enlarging the supreme court, probably to nine members. The wisdom of creating a separate court of appeals, for the hearing of a certain lower grade of cases, seem ed well justified at the time. There is no doubt that the supreme court was greatly overburdened and that something had to be done. In practice, however, objection is made to the complication of the sys tem and there is a very general movement to abolish the more recent court and enlarge the supreme court. The latter will undoubtedly be necessary. It was shown by facts and figures that the supreme court of Georgia decided a greater propor tionate number of cases in a year than the courts of any other state in the union, and the more zealous workers for reform maintained that the knowledge of this fact among the courts and the lawyers of other states took away some of the regard in which Georgia decisions were held. Both the supreme court and the court of appeals now have all they can attend to, and while it may be proper to simplify the system by abolishing the court of appeals, this is not to be thought of unless it car ries with it a provision for substan tially enlarging the supreme court. South Knows 7aft Very Well Now Also Alfred Henry Lewis, in the New York American. Mr. Taft says that hereafter he’ll know all about the south, and that no one will be able to mislead him once the talk crosses to the equatorial side of Mason and Dixon’s line. Mr. Taft might have added that the south, too, will know all about him, and so with the one word announced both ends of a good thing. It is ever thus—not that it’s to be re gretted. When you've gone close enough to see a man. you’ve gone close enough to be seen. While you’re taking his pic ture, he’s snapping yours. It’s diamonds to dumplings that right now the south knows twenty fold as much of Mr. Taft as he knows of the south. This applies especially to Georgia and Georgians. The latter are the Yankees of the south. How do they compare with the New England variety? The following, whereof I was eye and ear witness, should show: It was when Mr. Crisp was speaker. Ex-Speaker Reed's portrait in oil had just been hung in the lobby. Also, Mr. Crisp was a splendid specimen of the Georgia Yankee, just as Mr. Reed was a speolsnen equally splendid of the Yankee of N»w England. An ex-member came to the house door and sent In for Mr. Reed. The ex member’s wife was with him. Mr. Reed came out and was to the lady. The lady had heard of Mr. Reed’s new portrait and wanted to see it. Mr. Reed was at a loss. The picture was hanging In the. lobby, and the lobby with the house in session was sacred ground. No one cotjld enter save a mem ber or an ex-tnember of the house. Mr. Reed was distressed, for the lady wanted much to see the picture. But Mr. Reed proclaimed himself powerless, and after many apologies, went his helpless way. Along came Mr. Crisp. He paused to shake hands with the ex-member, and be presented to his wife. She casually related the conversation with Mr. Reed. She wanted greatly, of course, to see the picture. Equally, of course, it was im possible while the house was in session. “Can't see the picture? Nonsense!" pro tested Mr. Crisp. Nothing easier! I’m sur prised that Mr. Reed shouldn't have ar ranged it. He couldn’t, as he said, have taken you to the picture, but he could at least have had the picture brought out to you." Then, calling a house messenger, Mr. Crisp said: “Take down Mr. Reed’s por trait and bring it out here to the cor ridor.” The lady and the picture were face to face a moment later. Also the difference between the Georgia Yankee and the New England Yankee had had demonstration. Roast 'Possum If there’s a dish that ever “I ate, And ate and ate,” plate after plate, With an appetite insatiate, It’s ’possum, roast ’possum. If there’s a morsel most fit to eat, One that certainly can’t be beat. With the finest flavors quite replete, Why, it's 'possum, roast 'possum. If there’s anything I can suggest. To eat before one goes to rest, , That any stomach should digest, Os course it’s ’possum, roast ’possum. If there’s anything that I love quite, That I can eat from morn till night, As long as 1 can chew or bite. It's possum, roast 'possum. If there's any flesh in fain or drouth, Especially in the "Sunny South,” That will suit the most fastidious mouth. It’s 'possum, roast ’possum. If there’s a word that e'er was writ That makes me laugh till I most split, I’ll be gol darned if this ain't It— Just ’possum, roast 'possum. —Albert Eugene Peck, in N. Y. Sun. Chanson from the Latin Quarto* An attic up four flights of stairs. With couch, an easel, tuckless chairs, Mv loaf and bottle with me shares A mistress: this is she: A fragile form In shabby dress, A rogue’s dark' eve: in each caress A mingled sweet and bitterness; Her kiss but Irony! Eh. bien! I like the bite and tang Os careless kisses: like the slang Ot her crisp love words:* with a pang Our parting I foresee. She gave me life, she gave me friends; Her lovers, they, like me!—she lends Vs inspiration, all: she blends Our toil with gaiety. Ah! some, I know, she’s made her slaves, A few to false and cringing knaves; Her kiss drove some to nameless graves; Their love was tragedy. But I. I love her as a wench To spice my face on wine-house bench With Attic salt and cayenne French; Thus she and I agree. My attic, up a hundred stairs. With bocks and bottles piled on chairs And pipes and sketches, with me shares, My mistress. Poverty. -CHARLTON LAWRENCE EDHOLM, in January Smart Set. SEEKS TO FIND MEMBERS HANDLIGHTER’S ARTILLERY Editor Journal: Please publish in your paper If any members of Haiidlighter's artillery are living I will be glad to get a letter from any one of them. My address is Harlem. Ila.. B. F. D. No. 2. I am a subscriber to The Journal. I belonged to that company. Yours truly, D. W. REVILLB. Harlem, Ga.. It. F. D. No. 2. MURDERS - RUE-MORGUE / —' DOCAR-ALLAJi- (Continuation of testimony at the police Inquiry into the tragedy in the Rue Morgue). “Jules Mignaud, banker. Mme. L’Es panaye had some property. Had opened an account with his banking house eight years previously. Made frequent depos its in small sums. Had checked for nothing until the third day before her death, when she took out In person the sum of 4,000 francs. A clerk was sent with the money. “Adolphe Lebon, bank clerk, deposes that on the day in question, about noon, he accompanied Mme. L’Espanaye to her residence with the 4,000 francs, put up in two bags. Upon the door being opened, Mlle. L. appeared and took from his hands one of the bags, while the old lady relieved him of the other. He then departed. Did not see any person in the street at the time. "Wm. Baird, tailor, deposes that he was one of the party who entered the house. Is an Englishman. Was one ot the first to ascend the stairs. Heard the voices. The gruff voice was that of a Frenchman. Could make out several words, but. cannot now remember all. Heard distinctly ’sacre’ and ‘mon Dieu.’ There was a sound at the moment as if of several persons struggling—a scraping and scuffling sound. The shrill voice was very loud—louder than the gruff one. Is sure that it was not the voice of an Englishman. Appeared to be that of a German. Might have been a wom an’s voice. Does not understand Ger man. “Four of the above named witnesses, being recalled, deposed that the door oi the chamber in which was found the body of Mlle. L. was locked on the in side when the party reached it. Every thing was perfectly silent—no groans or noises of any kind. Upon forcing the door no person was seen. The windows, both of the back and front room, were down and firmly fastened from within. A door between the two rooms was closed but not locked. The door leading from the front room into the passage was locked, with the key on the inside. A small room in the front of the house, on the fourth story, at the head of the pas sage, was open, the door being ajar. This room was crowded with old beds, boxes, and so forth. These were care fully removed and searched. There was not an inch of any portion of the house which was not carefully searched. The house was a four-story one. A trap door on the roof was nailed down very securely—did not appear to have been opened for years. The time elapsing be tween the hearing of the voices in con tention and the breaking open of the room door was variously stated by the witnesses. Some made it as short as three minutes—some as long as five. “Alfonzo Garclo, undertaker, deposes that he is a native of Spain. Was -one who entered the house. Heard the voices. The gruff voice was that of a French man. Could not distinguish what was said. The shrill voice was that of an Englishman—is sure of this. Does not understand the English language, but judges by the intonation. “Alberto Montani, confectioner, was among the first to ascend the stairs. The gruff voice was that of a Frenchman. Could not make out the words of the Roosevelt's Gallop Recalls Other Rides New York Press. A young woman, it seems, covets the notoriety of a horseback feat to excel the recent record of President Roosevelt with his ninety-eight miles of continuous rid ing in the saddle during seventeen hours. She will undertake to gallop from Phila delphia to New York with four relays. Though she may be neither an Amazon nor a Count Robert of Paris’ athletic spouse, who rode one of the crusades along with her husband, we dare say the president’s ambitious rival in petticoats can succeed. General Miles, who in his military ca reer has done some service on the back of a horse, does not think that the pres ident’s Jaunt over a picked course was anything very much for a man used to that sort of thing. It seems to us a rather stout performance. Yet it is quite true that a test of endurance in the saddle which is familiar in history to soldiers seems to show that Mr. Roosevelt the other day was nowhere near the record of celebrated men at horsemanship. William of Orange, after becoming king of England, was in personal com mand of his army at the battle of the Boyne. He was of frail and feeble frame. Both his body and his spirits were con stantly ravaged by a consuming disease. He had an affliction of the throat and lungs which made it impossible for him to draw his breath while recumbent in a bed. He was compelled to get his rest while half reclining in a chair. Under such suffering as he endured without ces sation he seemed to be a mere shadow of physical power or vigor. On the morning before the battle of the Boyne William had just mounted his charger when a shot from a six-inch ’gun of the enemy across the river struck his right arm and shoulder. He was able to retain his seat, though falling over on the neck of his horse until he was lifted down, while assuring the horror-stricken members of his staff that his hurt was of no consequence. They implored him to permit them to remove him from the field, but he commanded that his wound be dressed on the spot. When this was done he remounted and spent the next eighteen hours of daylight and darkness uninterruptedly in the saddle, reviewing his troops, disposing of his forces and ex amining all the ground where he was to engage. After a brief rest shortly before dawn he went into action at the head of his left flank. With his right arm disabled so that he could not play his sword on the wounded side he had to carry the blade in his bridle hand, the left. He was able to manage the reins with the fingers of his injured right. Under auch circum stances, added to his usual infirmities, he was compelled to force a passage of the Boyne, swimming his horse and fighting with the troops in the bed of the river. Once across, with his chief general al ready killed and his best lieutenants put out of action, practically the conduct of the whole engagement, extending along several miles, devolved upon him. while at the same time he repeatedly led Y EDGAR ALLAN POE shrill voice. Thinks it ttie voice of a Russian. Is himself an Italian. Cannot speak Russian. “Several witnesses testified that the chimneys of all the rooms on the fourth story were too narrow to admit the pass age of a human being. Brushes were passed up and down every chimney in the house. There is no back passage by which any one could have descended while the party proceeded upstairs. The body of Mlle. L’Espanaye was so firmly wedged in the chimney that it could not be got down until four or five of the party united their strength. “Paul Dumas, physician, deposes that he viewed the bodies. That of the girl was much bruised. The fact that it had been thrust up the chimney would suf ficiently account for this. The throat was greatly chafed. There were several deep scratches just below the chin, to gether with a series of livid spots which were evidently th’e Impression of fingers. The face was fearfully discolored, and the eyeballs protruded. The tongue had been partially bitten through. A large bruise was discovered upon the pit of the stomach, produced apparently by the pressure of a knee. Mlle. L’Espanaye had been throttled to death. The corpse of ■gSII iMK iuMhJIHKIF MMnjr- the mother was horribly mutilated. All the bones of the right leg and arm were more or less shattered, as well as all the of the left side. Whole body dread fully bruised and discolored. It was not possible to say how the injuries had been Inflicted. A heavy club of wood, or a broad bar of iron—a chain—any large, heavy, and obtruse weapon would have produced such results if wielded by the hands of a very powerful man. No wom an could have inflicted the blows with any weapon. The head of the deceased, when seen by witness, was entirely separated from the body, and was also greatly shat tered. The throat had evidently been cut with some very sharp instrument—prob ably with a razor. “Nothing further of importance was elicited, although several other persons were examined. A murder so mysterious, charges and mingled in combats at the very head of troops as a subaltern leads and cheers them. When William, sick, sore and wounded, had fought and won the battle of the Boyne he had been In the saddle 35 hours out of 40. So far as recent events are concerned, the record of mounted endurance still stands. In breaking shop eggs, it ia wise to crack each into a cup for fear of a bad one, or a whole batch of good material may have to be thrown away. TEACHING S. S. LESSON UNDER DIFFICULTIES Now that the ’possum has become a national bird it is having a far-reaching effect on the life and the thought of the people. Sunday school teachers have been seriously embarrassed in their ef fort to guide the young idea aright A JOY RIDE IN DIXIE. 1 \UH ■’ A \'Mil/ J'■ CMtAO • »A •L I /rom the New York .American- and so perplexing in all its particulars, was never before committed in Paris—lT indeed a murder has been committed at all. The police are entirely at faulL There is not. however, the shadow of a clue apparent.” The evening paper mentioned that Adolphe Lebon had been arrested, al though nothing appeared to criminate him beyond the facts already detailed. Dupln seemed singularly interested In the progress of this affair, but made no comments. It was only after the an nouncement that Lebon had been impris oned that he asked me my opinion re specting the murders. I could merely agree with all Paris in considering them an insoluble mystery. I saw no means by which it would be pos sible to trace the murder. “We must not judge of the means," said Dupln. “by this shell of an exami nation. The Parisian police are Cunning, but no more. There is no method in thetr proceedings. Vidocq. for example, was a good guesser. and a persevering man. But. without educated thought, impaired his vision by holding the object too close. He might see, perhaps, one or two points with unusual clearness, but in so doing he necessarily tost sight of the matter as a whole. There is such a thing as o»- iijg too profound. “As for these murders, let us en»er into some examinations for ourselves. An inquiry will afford us amusement, and besides, Lebon once rendered me a ser vice for which I am not ungrateful. We will go and see the premises with our own eyes. I know G , the prefect of police, and shall have no difficulty in ob taining the necessary permission.” The permission was obtained and we proceeded at once to Rue Morgue. It was late in the afternoon. It was an ordinary Parisian house, with a gateway, off one side of which was a glased watch-box. Before going in we walked up the street. turned down an alley, and then, again turning, passed in the rear of the buildins —Dupln, meanwhile, examining the whole neighborhood with a minuteness of atten tion for which I could see no possible object. We came back to the front of the dwell infi, and, having shown our credentials, were admitted by the police. We went upstairs—lnto the chamber where the body of Mlle. L’Espanaye had been found and where both the dead women still lay. I saw nothing beyond what had been stated in the newspapers. Dupln scrutinised everytring. We then went in to the other rooms and into the yard. The examination occupied us until dark, when we left. On our way home ray com panion stepped in for a moment at the office of one of the daily papers. (To Be Continued.) While the 'possum craze was at its height a child of five years, who had absorbed a good deal of the current comment on the marsupial order was trying to learn his Sunday school lesson. His mother repeated the motto text to him several times and then asked him to say it af ter her. The result almost took her breath away, but as the story is very amusing she has finally consented to let others enjoy it The text and the revised ver sion are given below: SUNDAY SCHOOL TEXT REVISED VERSION. “They continued (According to steadfastly in the you g America). “They continued Apostle's doc- steadfastly tn the trine and fellow- 'possum’s doctrine ship, and in the * nd the break- ~ . . . ing of bread and breaking of bread perslmmon and In prayer.” —Walter C. Coop —Acts 2: 42. ", Jr., 6 year* old.
