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TTTE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS, MONDAY, APRIL 21. 1012.
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Brown On Pardons—Opposes Blease
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Governor Won’t Defeat the Courts
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I Asks Rivets, Not Elastics, for Law
MEN OF RICHES
Georgia Man Talks of Task Con
fronting Democrats in Con
gress—Political Sidelights.
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
A well-known and observant Geor
gian, recently returned from a trip
East, during the progress of which
he dropped off for a few days in
Washington, taJks most interestingly
of the general political situation as
he found It outlined there.
He preferred not to discuss specific
differences of opinion existing here
ind there inside the Georgia Con
gressional delegation, as concerns
both men and things, but he did
loosen up a bit as to the anticipated
effects of the proposed tariff legis
lation and the results that may be
expected of it.
“The particular fear of Democratic
Congressmen nowadays.” said this
gentleman, “is that the people are
expecting entirely too much of tariff
tevision. They think the people are
anticipating, for one thing, a sharp
drop in the cost of living, immedi
ately upon the heels of the law’s
enactment, and this the Congressmen
know is not at all likely to come
true.
“Tariff reform, in the opinion of
the more conservative of talkers, will
not mean so much a drop in the
present cost of living as it may
mean an arrest of its further prog
ress upward. In other words, a re
vised tariff is not expected to cheap
en things particularly, but it is ex
pected to check their advance.
“In a few specific instances, to be
sure, prices will drop—or should
drop—most noticeably, but as a rule
they will not fail off to that degree
anticipated by many. Indeed, if it
were not for the Congressional fear
of public disappointment. I think
the tariff laws would be revised most
hesitatingly, and certainly with an
eye to effecting changes gradually
rather than at once.
“To be sure, if the idea becomes
fixed in the minds of the people that
tariff revision has checked the furth
er advance in the high cost of living
merely, and that only a Democratic
administration could have effected
that, it still will be creditable to the
party—but there are those who quake
when they look forward to the pos
sible necessity of 'eventually having
to fall back on that point of view
and that argument.
“Wherefore, I conclude that the
tariff revisionists are not altogether
happy over the outlook for tariff re
form, even though they are keeping
up a brave front, as it is.”
Friends of P. D. Daffln, chairman
of the Park and Tree Commission of
Savannah, are discussing with vigor
and confidence hi* application for
the position of Collector of the Port
of Savannah.
They assert that DalTin not only
has strong political backing and a
fair chance of winning out in a fight
waged along political lines, but that
he is entitled to the office on his
merits and for services ne has ren
dered the city* of Savannah without
compensation. ‘ *
Dafiin has little to say about his
Candida- : except that he is in the
race to stay. H 1 says he is stronger
than some people imagine, and that
as a “dark horse” he may surprise
the unbelievers. *
He says being Collector of the
Port of Savannah would in no way
Interfere with his duties as chair
man of the Park and Tree Commis
sion, and that if they did, he would
not take the job.
Georgia has no living ex-Senator of
the United States within her bor
ders.
Mr. Bacon and Mr. Clay were
chosen to three and four consecutive
terms, respectively, and with Sena
tor Terrell’s passing, the list of ex-
Senators temporarily was closed.
An interesting sidelight is thrown
on the present situation in Georgia
with respect to the enforcement of
the criminal law by the fact that fif
ty per cent, of the applications for
clemency now pending before the
Prison Commission come from viola
tors of the prohibition law, in one
or another of its phases.
It somew'hat dispels the nation that
the prohibition law is more or less
enforced, anyway. Evidently, viola
tions of it land quite a number of
miscreants in the penitentiary.
The people of Muscogee County
have become more convinced than
ever that the. fee system for paying
county and State officials is wrong,
since the publication of the receipts
of several offices in the county.
The figures show that the Solici
tor General’s office has received in
fees for the first, quarter $3,843.65;
the clerk of the court. $2,644.01; or
dinary. $1,146.75, and the sheriff’s of
fice, $2,168.69.
The officials have to pay their help
out of these receipts, but, after de
ducting these expenses from the of
fices, they are found to pay from
$300 to $1,200 per month.
Judge Charles Brand, of Athens,
thinks one meeting of the esteemed
Georgia Legislature every four years
would be quite sufficient to the nec
essities of Georgia. He says the
State already has too many laws, and
that every annual meeting of the
General Assembly promulgates a new
batch.
“Nothing is easier than getting a
new law through the Legislature,’'
says the judge.
Comptroller General Wright if
scanning corporation tax returns with
a forty-horse power microscope this
year, and already has turned down
those of the Southern Bell, which was
later adjusted, and the Pullman Com
pany as inadequate.
It is rumored that there are other
turndowns to come, moreover!
The fast of trie Confederate pen
sions for the current year have just
been paid—more than three months
late.
Of course, under the present sys-
! «m. the delay cannot be helped, but
’be incoming Legislature might make
a note of the. delay, and see if it cas
• .f a ramuflv next summer.
Atlanta Executive
Urges Premium for
Respect, Not Viola
tion, of Statutes.
Views Power i n the
Abstract.
This article, published
yesterday in Hearst’s Sun
day American, attracted
wide attention. It is repub
lished by request.
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
The Governor of Georgia, Joseph
Mackey Brown, is possessed of clear-
cut, definite and matured ideas with
respect to the unrestricted and arbi
trarily discretionary power of clem
ency conferred upon him by the Con
stitution of the State.
And those ideas are diametrically
and utterly opposed to the views on
tertained by the Governor of South
Carolina, as set forth in Hearsth
Sunday American of last Sunday.
Governor Blease generally Is looked
upon as the easiest source of pardon,
parole or commutation in the South.
Governor Brown generally is looked
upon as the most difficult.
The former yields to the slightest
of pressure; the latter yields only in
the final most favorable analysis.
The one looks upon the power of
clemency as a personal prerogative
of the executive office largely; the
other looks upon it as an impersonal
and logical provision of the funda
mental law r to be most carefully ex
ercised.
Opinions Are Sinoere.
The opinions of the two Governors
may be accepted as sincere, and as
having been arrived at in a conscien
tious endeavor upon the part of each
to come to a righteous conclusion in
respect of the most sweeping, the
most extraordinary, the most unham
pered, the most picturesque, and the
most trying of all the rights, powers
and duties prescribed for Governors
of sovereign States.
For within the right of clemency
dwells the power of life and death, of
liberty, of property and the pursuit of
happiness—to individuals and to so
ciety collectively—and these are the
ideals around which the very Decla
ration of Independence itself was
framed.
Governor Blease boasts that it is
his ambition to make his pardon rec
ord in South Carolina the greatest
the state ever has known, in so far
as the total number of released pris
oners is concerned. And to make It
that, he is willing to stretch the law
in the prisoners’ favor to its utter
most limit.
Holds State Is Supreme.
Governor Brown has no ambition
to set a record paralleling Governor
Blease’s at any point. To him, the
rights of society and the State are
superior to the petitions of a duly
convicted criminal, and he contracts
the law sternly and jealously to its
written limits in considering pleas
for clemency.
I Interviewed Governor Blease per
sonally upon this pardon question,
spending more than two hours with
him in the State House in Columbia.
His views were set forth, just as he
gave them, in last Sunday’s Amer
ican.
I interviewed Governor Brown for
this Sunday’s American upon his
ideas and his theory of the pardon
ing power.
Governor Brown said: ^
“In considering the matter of ex
ecutive clemency, I will say, in the
first place, that those who are in
clined to deeds against the peace of
society should be made to know that
it is a very serious thing to violate
the laws of Georgia.
“In the second place, with that ele
ment undoubtedly the strength of the
law is the certainty of its enforce
ment.
“Yet. weakening this, there seems
to be growing in the minds of many
of the better element of our people a
belief that after a criminal has been
in the penitentiary for several months
or several years he has b^en suffi
ciently punished’ and that the ex
ecutive of the State owes it as a
kind of moral duty to set him free, so
that he may re-establish himself as a
man of character.
“There Is one consideration here
which these people overlook. That is
the fact that if. after a trial, be
ginning with indictment by the
Grand Jury and running through the
proceedings in the trial court and the
appeal to the higher court, a violator
of the law has been sentenced to
serve a given number of years, it is a
fair assumption that the Jury knew
its business when it found him guil
ty and that the trial Judge, with the
case fresh in mind, knew and at
tended to his business when he fixed a
certain period of time as the- proper
limit of his punishment. .
“Why?” Governor Ask*.
“Why, then, must the executive of
ficer, who was not in the cxmrt room
and did not hear or see the witnesses
testify, change, say, a ten-year sen
tence' to one of only two years, or
any other term shorter than ten
years? Why should he use this of
fice to defeat or to supplant the courts
or attempt to make of it a court of
correction ?
“Jn clemency hearings it lias, been
stated to me time and again that the
Stat f> does not need to hold that man
i j wav from his family a longer time
Gov, Brown’s Views
OnPardoningPower
“The strength of the law is the
certainty of its enforcement.”
“Why should the executive of
fice be used to defeat the courts?”
“Criminals must realize that if
they incur the penalties of the
law, the law will be enforced.”
“Fifty guilty men go free to one
innccent man adjudged guilty.?
“There must be extraordinary
reasons for reversing the courts.”
“We should have higher sympa
thy for the law abiding than for
the criminals.”
“Instead of putting a premium
on crime, we should put it on re
spect of law.”
“Instead of excusing those who
violate the law, we should encour
age and protect those who obey
it.”
“‘We need more rivets and less
elastics in the application of the
criminal law.”
*L_
than the period he has already served.
Harrowing accounts of the necessi
ties of the family are brought be
fore the Prison Commission and the
executive. There is too much truth
in these stories of suffering; but
what shall we say of the suffering of
the families of those law-abading
citizens whom these criminals have
shot down, in very many cases with
out warning?
"They (the criminals) have re
moved forever the power of those
men to provide for their families, and
co-ordinately made it necessary for
the State to withdraw the offenders
from the power to take care of their
own families. The confinement com
plained of is not the fault of the
State, but it is a supreme duty which
the lawless acts of criminals have
made necessary. It must in such
cases be made clear to those in the
criminal element that If they incur
penalties those penalties will be en
forced.
Extends to All Laws.
"In these remarks I have referred
primarily to criminals who have
taken human lives; but the same ob
ligation rests upon the people of
the State to OBEY all’the laws, and
the same obligation is upon the offi
cers of the State to ENFORCE all
the laws.
“Of course, no hard and fast rule
can be laid down to govern all eases
alike. The Constitution places upon
the executive officer the power to
grant pardons in his discretion; but
that discretion he [is expected to use
only after the exercise of the great
est care. It is true that occasionally
a wave of passion, sweeping over a
community, influences a jury into ex
tremes. It is true tlrat judges them
selves sometimes err, and sometimes,
I am sorry to say, are prejudiced, and
that it is the duty of the executive
to protect the people against such
judges.
“There are other causes which call
for tlie exercise of clemency in ex
ceptional cases, bt*t, these are excep
tions. As a rule, those placed in au
thority by the people should conform
their official, as well as personal, acts
to the words spoken by the Almighty
Himself, viz: 'They shall keep the
way of the Lord to do justice and
judgment.”—Genesis xviii: 19.
Safe to Trust Courts.
“As a general proposition, the ex
ecutive is safe in assuming that if
the solicitor general, the jury and the
judge have steered the case through
mazes, quibbles, false swearing, tech
nicalities and sometimes sophistical
speeches and found the accused guil
ty, he is really guilty.
“I <lo not doubt that 50 guilty men
go free to one innocent man who is
adjudged guilty. Quite likely the
proportion is even greater. Hence
while in the courts the burden is upon
the State to prove the arraigned man
guilty, in the executive office the
conditions are reversed, and the as
sumption is that the. courts have
done their duty, and there must be
EXTRAORDINARY reasons for mod
ifying or reversing their action.
“It is but stating it* correctly when
I say that while criminals are on trial ;
there are some other matters on trial.
Our laws are on trial, our very civ
ilization is on trial. Not only do
technicalities specious pleadings and
false swearing in tin* trial of crimi
nal cases contest the law. but mis
guided sympathy after conviction be
comes the most powerful advocate of
the criminal. It is against this that
we must take a firm stand.
“While we are having so much
sympathy for the criminal, we should
have even higher sympathy for the
law-abiding people.
“Instead of putting a premium on
crime, we ought to put it on respect
for law.
“Instead of excusing or condoning
those who violate the law', we ought
to encourage and protect those who
obey it.
“We need more rivets and less elas
tics in the application of the crimi
nal law.
“We should force it upon the
knowledge of the good and the bad
that the law is a solid rock wall, not
a woven wire fence.”
Here, then are two Southern Gov
ernors, chief magistrates of two of
the proudest and bravest Common
wealths in the Union—each tracing
its history back to the “original Thir
teen”—entertaining absolutely con
trary views concerning the tremen
dous and unrestricted power of
clemency lodged in the person of the
executive.
Each is the choice of his people for
Governor; the titles of both rest upon
the verdict of an unterrifled electo
rate
Into the ease of Blea&e enter those
things which go to make for “human
interest” in newspaper stories, ele
ments that encourage the “sob” re
porters to do their worst—or best—
as the case may be.
Abstract Versus Personal.
Into the case of Brown enters the
abstract, impersonal, stern contem
plation of the law—the sure protec
tion of the honest man against the
criminally inclined.
The case of Blease considers the
executive in his most intensely per
sonal attitude. The case of Brown
considers the executive as the execu
tive—nothing more.
If Blease asked the people of South
Carolina to-morrow to re-elect him
Governor, they likely would do it.
If Brown asked the people of Geor
gia to-morrow to re-elect him Gov
ernor, they likely would do it.
Each State seems abundantly sat
isfied with its Governor. •
Which, then, is right in his view
of the pardoning \ ower
it is as pretty a problem as might
be submitted in a thousand efforts!
Vice President Reasserts Rever
sion of Great Fortunes to
State Is Coming.
WASHINGTON. April 20. -Vice
President Marshall declared thut “if
the men of power and wealth con-
cult their consciences in business they
will not have to worry so much about
the law.”
He has been deluged with criticism
from rich men and women following
his speech in New York, when ht
warned millionaires that if they were
not careful they would find a propo
sition raised ^and carried that the
State dispose of great fortunes. Mr.
Marshall, however, declared the idea
was not original with him. that it had
been indorsed by the attorneys of
the country generally and that some
such plan would eventually be adopt
ed in this country.
"When I said in New York that Karl
Marx and hunger and a longing for
happiness were abroad in the land,"
said the Vice President, “I was ex
pressing not only my own opinion, but
the opinion of others. From men of
nil classes I have heard expressions
of disgust with present economic pol
icies. Men are asking that the oppor
tunities that once existed, now mo
nopolized. shall be restored to them
State Gives Right to Inherit.
In my speech in New York 1 said:
The right to inherit and the right to
devise are neither inherent nor con
stitutional, but on the contrary they
arc- simple privileges given the State
to its citizens.’
“I think it war the State Bar As
sociation of Illinois which at one time
recommended that a large part of
estates revert to the State. I have
never recommended such a thing, but
I have simply pointed to it to show
that the power to inherit and to de
vise are simply privileges given by
the State to its citizens.
“Men of judgment have expressed
o me the opinion that were a vote
to be taken on the proposition that
rill estates over $160,000 revert to the
State upon the death of the owner—
the $100,000 being exempt—it would
be curried two to one?.
“The prevent tariff monopoly is thf
chief cause of our unrest, and mer
are asking with concern whether
there is any difference between the
manufacturer who comes to the Gov
ernment to ask for help in his busi
ness and the poor man who goes tc
the workhouse to got help.
People Now Want Chance.
“The people were told in the lust
campaign that trusts were a natural
evolution and that the bnlv way tc
deal with them wav to regulate them.
The people are tired of being told
such things. What they want is tin-
kind of opportunity that formerly ex
isted in this country.
“One man in my State told me he
had $106,000 and was about to set up
in a business that was controlled
largely by a trust and that he was
warned not to proceed. He had fig
ured out the amount that would be
needed for his plant, how much his
raw material would cost and what
labor could be had. < )ne of his own
friend.-' told him he had better not go
on a the trust would drive him out of
business.
“This is the kind of business against
which the people are complaining.
They are being told that there are
just as many opportunities to-day as
ever before; that there are any num
ber of jobs ranging from $10,000 to
$20,000 waiting for* the capable man.
It may be that a v< ry able man might
not want to earn $20,000 working for
the steel trust, however. He might
prefer to Kart a little rolling mill of
his own. so that he would be inde
pendent and his own master, even
though he made but $5,000 a year
“The question is being pressed why
the Government should be expected to
guarantee profits to the manufacturer
when It does not guarantee the dif
ference in the cost of food at home
and abroad to the consumer, with
an extra dollar for a rainy day.
Golden Rule Not Followed.
“There is a growing feeling tha*
many of our great financiers are mak
ing the restrictions of the law their
touchstone of guidance instead of ad
hering more closely to the Golden
Rule. There arc many evils that can
not be reached by statute, and men
are saying—and strong men, too—
that if business men do not consult
their lawyers when they are think
ing of driving a weaker competitor
out of business, the people will take
the matter into their own hands and
go to extremes to remedy the situa
tion.
“I am an American. 1 would go
down into the ditch to shake the hand
of the poor man, but I would aleo be
glad to shake the hand of the rich
mar. We are all brothers. But T be
lieve that the men of power should
know what the rest of the people are
saying, and I repeat merely what has
been said to in?
“The w hole idea of vested interests
can be summed up by the story of the
young lawyer who appealed to Ben
Butler to have him admitted to the
bar. ‘What are j’our qualifications?’
asked Butler. I know all the statutes
of the State of Massachusetts,” said
the young man. ‘Well, then.’ said
Butler I’m afraid you won’t do. The
Massachusetts Legislature might re
peal all you know in twenty-four
hours.' ”
DOCTOR^ AFFLICTED WITH
PHTHISIS, TREATS SELF
COLUMBUS, IND.. April 19.—Dr.
Herman L. Essex, trustee of Haw-
creek township. Bartholomew Coun
ty. is fighting tuberculosis in a scien
tific way. Dr. James H. Morrison,
county health commissioner, and a
brother-in-law of I)r. Essex, is as
sisting him Dr. Essex is afflicted
with the disease and is giving his
own case careful study.
Dr. Essex has Just returned from a
camp in North Carolina where he
took a special treatment that will be
continued at home. The affected lung
is Inflated with compressed gas, after
which the cells are squeezed and the
circulation of the blood arrested in
its flow through the healthy tissues
in the hope of stopping the progress
| of the disease. Nitrogen is used and
1 Dr Morrison make*’ this gas himself
H ERE is the last word in municipal buildings, the new New York County court house, which
will cost $10,000,000. The pictures below show drawings made by the architect, Guy Lowell,
whose fee was $60,000.
73, BUT HE ELOPES! $10,000,000 Structure Planned for the
i- Metropolis to be Most Modern
L in Countrv.
Veteran, Crippled by Bullet at
Shiloh, Weds Woman, 63,
Three Times Widowed.
ST. LOUIS, April 21.—J. H. Scott,
seventy-three years old. took his
fourth plunge into the sea of matri
mony when he eloped with and be
came the fourth husband of Mrs.
Anna V. Brim, sixty-three years old.
Mr. Scott, is the fourth Civil War
veteran to whom Mrs. Brim has* been
married, and he still is compelled to
use crutches in walking, as the re
sult'of a bullet wound he received in
the battle of Shiloh.
Despite his physical disability the
aged veteran slipped away from his
home in El Dorado. Ill., early in the
morning and went to the residence
of Mrs. Brim In Harrisburg.
The two had been friends Knee
Mrs. Brim’s first marriage, in 1868.
and they decided quickly to wed.
Jubilantly they made they way to
Belleville, where Mrs. Brim wan taken
to a hotel, while the bridegroom went
in search of a license. ,
“You'll have to bring your intended
bride with you. or we cannot Issue a
license, as she may not be of legal
age,” County Clerk Bosquet told the
crippled veteran.
Mr. Scott’s eyes twinkled as lie
wheeled about and departed. Re
turning with hie blushing bride, he
was soon in possession of the coveted
document and on his way to Justice
of the Peace Fred Obst’s office, where
the ceremony was performed.
“The fact that we are along in
years does not make a bit of differ
ence,” the couple said last night, when
seen at the Belleville House. “Our
children will be surprised, but not
di.**agreeably so.”
SOLD BOTTLES TO PAY
EUCHRE DUES, WIFE SAYS
ST LOUIS, April 21.—To raise 4c
cents to pay her dues in a euchre
club. Mrs*. Katilie E Anderson was
forced to sell her husband’s empty
whisky bottles, she testified in the
suit of Charles J. A. Anderson, » j
•prominent attorney, for divorce.
To follow him to a banquet at For
est Park Highlands during the sum
mer of 1910, she got the money to
defray her expenses by cashing a
book of trading stamps', she said.
One of the greatest problems of the
present time in the South is the
question of new public buildings. At
lanta is only one of the cities of the
South which has a crying need of
new buildings in which to house its
municipal affairs.
Therefore, contractors who make a
business of constructing public build
ings, are watching closely New Y’ork
City’s proposed $10,000,000 court
house. Thin building, which will
actually be two separate round build
ings, one within the other, is said to
be the last word in public buildings.
The outer building is modeled after
the Colosseum in Rome. It will be
500 feet in diameter and five stories,
or a total oi feet In height.
275-Foot Pile Inside.
The inner building will be eight
stories high, or a total of 275 feet.
The three upper Kories will be re
served exclusively for the Justices of
the Supreme and City courts.
In addition to its resemblance to,
the Colosseum from the outside it
will contain a replica of the Pantheon
in Rome about the central court or
main lobby, which rises to the height
of three stories. The Pantheon was
102 feet in diameter. The lobby will
be 115 feet in diameter.
The outer shell will !>** devoted en
tirely to court rooms. The fir.K floor
will contain eleven City Court rooms
and one large auditorium or court
room to be used for special occasions.
The smallest of the City Court rooms
will be 48x46 feet!" Others are 48x48.
The other floors in the outer build
ings will be devoted to Supreme Court
Honeymoon Salute
Brings Out Firemen
Friends of Newly Wedded Tarry-*
town, N, Y., Couple Cause
Scare With Red Fire.
NEW YORK, April 21.—Edward O.
Wiley and his bride, Miss Elsie Peck,
married at Dumoht, N. J., while bound
up the Hudson on a night boat were
given a salute as they passed Tar-
rytown by Wiley’s friends, who burn
ed a great quantity of red fire
on the dock.
The boat threw her searchlight on
the pier and the reflection spread
over the whole business section, giv
ing the appearance of a big fire. In
a few minutes the entire fire depart
ment was dashing to the scene.
rooms, of which there v. ill be sixty -
two. Eight of these will be large#
than the other fifty-four. Each court
room will have a gallery for specta
tors. «
Guy Lovvell, who.-e plans were
chosen in a competition with twenty-
two leading architects, is the first ar
chitect to design a round public build
ing in this country. When asked how,
h» cam' to make this decision, h^
said ■
Got His Idea In Rom*.
“I got the idea when I was in Rome
last year. I saw there a model of
the city of Rome as it existed 1.800
years'ago. I found many round build
ings in the group, and was struck
by their beauty and the economy iu
space and cost of construction.”
There will be four main enframe*
with eight Corinthian columns at
each, with -pace for eight statues of
the world's great law givers, from
Mosey down to the present day. Above
this the entire building is to be sur
rounded by eighty Doric columns^
each forty feet in height. The Corin
thian columns will be fifty feet high.
The ground floor will cover the en
tire site, and will contain 120,00(1
square feet of floor space. There will
be twenty-four public and eight pri
vate elevators leading from the
ground floor. There will also be
freight service and food elevators.
Of course. New York's proposed
< ourthouse e- probably much larger*
than any needed in Atlanta, but local
contractors who have studied the
plans of this building, declare that it.
is.an ideal construction; and a con
struction of a similar one in Atlanta
would be a step forward along “Tho
City Beautiful” line.
$1 Bet Nearly Costs
a Swimmer’s Life
After Hearty Meal at Clambake Man
Tries Mile Dash in Long
Island Sound.
NEW YORK, April 21.—Stephen
Pender, 38, of New Rochelle, N%
Y., lost a wager of $1 and very near-*
ly his life in an effort to swim a mile
in the cold water of Long Island
Sound.
As the result of exhaustion ir:&
shock he is in a critical condition ;viT
the Ford ham. Hospital. The wag^
was made during a clambake m
Hunter’s Island and after Pendtrr hkti
eaten h hearty meal.