Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

TRL-WEEKLY EDITION. WINNSBORO, S. C., JULY 4,1895. ESTABLIHED 1844. THE LATEST NES, GLEANINGS FROM MANY POLNTS. Important Happenings, Both Home and Foreign, Briefly Told. Southern Dots. A special tothe Age-Herald from Forkland, Ala., says that during a thunder-storm there Tuesday, two negroes who had taken she!ter 'inder a tree were ins!n3tly killett by light ning. At Lincoln, Ala., on Tuesday. James A. Haekney, while standing in the doorway of hi residence, was killed by lightning. His wife, who was stard-ig c!se by, w:as badly shocked. The quartetteof 'cvelists who left Knox 'ille, Tenn., for a run to Washington, 600 miles, made the trip in twelve days. The -distaace covered eacTh day ra2 ged from thirty-three to sixty-five miles. i At Grove City, Fia., Tuesday. Mrs. Richard Ta!bott was carried out into the Gulf by a huge tarpon. Her husband was fishing in a boat and' he rescued his wife as she was dragged past by the fish. The lady waz not seriously injured. Mr. Robert B.trringer Kramerand Miss Ida Irwin Howell were married at the First M1ethodist church in Atlanta, Ga., on Wed * nesday night. The groom is the city editor -of the Constitution, tad the bride a daughter -of Captain Evan P. Howell and a sister of .Kr. Clark Howell, editor of the Constitutiou. Iron was advanced $1 a ton by the Tean Pessee Coa, Iron and Ramroad Company, at Birmingham, which makes a total advance of *2.7 a ton since the 15th of Maecb, and the indications are that it is not done rising yet. "Bad" Tom Smitb. was hanged at Jackson, Ey.. Frid,% for the murder of Dr. Rodes. le made a fun confession to the ja'ler before the drop fell. The Georgia frtit growers are fighting the Geornia railroads, on account of alleged ex cessive freight charges, before the State rail road commion. The railroads -laim that fruit is the most difficult of all freight to handle, that ice must be provided, and hence the high rates. Miss Nellie Murphy, wbila out riding nea: Braidentown, Fla., was attacked by a vicious itallion, Shaied for two mh!es and bittena several times. Lightning struck the barn of W. A. Gilles pie, near Charlotte. N: C.. some time in the early part of Wednesday right. set fire to it, :and the whole building was consumed, in eluding all of Mr. Gillespie's wheat, which he ha.l just finished hauling and getting 'undet cover, and his wagon. Crime. A. C. Love, formerly assistant postmaster at Colvert, Tex.. stole $2.500 postoffice m ney and escaped, studi'ed me'dicine, and made off to Central America. The postal authorities have caught him at ranama. Legal. Louis 0. Desforges, a convicted boodle ilderman in New Orlears, has been refused 0 -re-hearing by the courts. . Private Secretary Cole Thursday morning, 'nder instructions from Governor Morton, of New York, informed Mrs. Annie Buchanan that the Governor must decline to hear any further appeals for clemency in behalf of Dr. Rouert W. Buchanan, now under sentence of death at Sing Sing prison. Fires. A fire in fiineapotrs-resmteaD Tn he-a - six persons, crushed by falling walls. A wholesale crockery establishmert was burned at a oss of $90,000. San Francisco, Cal., was visited Thursday ni:;ht by the most destructive fire in tbirty years -. 'The loss is estimat ed at $1.500,006, with $800,000 insurance. Mortuary. Julius Ruffino was found dead in a.Pullman car near Lynchburg, Va., Thursday. Mr. George Lee Todd was found dead in bed Friday morning at his nephew's, Mr. Ma-: Jamnison's, three miles from Charloi-te. M,-. Todd had been sick for some time with dropsy. He wvas 70 years of age. K.. Foreign. 'The insurgents under the command ol Admira! Da Gama, in the province of Rio do Sul, Brazl, have been defeated by the gov ernment troops at Campos. Admiral Osorio - was wounded and captured; he subsequently . succumbed to his injuries. Admiral Da Gama, ifinding himself overpowered, committed suicide. Ge~a. Tavarez assumed command of the iebels. Miscellaneous. Independent manufactcuers of tolephones and telephone supplies are 'organizing in Pittsbtrg for tho purpose of fighting the Bell ~.4~Zf acy. The Southern Railway reports for May gross earnings of $1,389,503. an increase ,of $90.837; expenses and taxes, $1t184,279, in crease, S45.815; net. $205,224. mcreaseC, $45, 022, and from July 1st to MIay 3i1, gros, $15.789,925, iacrease, $386,806. expernSes and taxes, $10,902.658, decrease, $258,480; net, $4,887,256, increase, $645,292. * . 3. L. Eisenberg, of South Bend, O0ia., - .publisher of the Wave and tae author of the scurrillous article that leadto the killing of Rlegister Patterson and Marshal Williams, left town to avoid being mobbed. The people on reading the ai-ticle, became so incensed that threats of a mob were freely made and had he been found he wo.uld have been sam marily dealt with. Threats are made against the Wave office and it was with great diffi-I culty that the crowd was kept from tearing the building te pieces. While this is about the dullest season of the year for railway freight traffic, receiepts show a good increase over last year's business. The net gain of 82 lines in the flat week of June was 10.13 per cent. Only 58 have re ported as yet for the second week, and their net increase is aoout 8 per cent. The First of' Its Kind. The State against Mack McE~voy colored) and M. C. Deaver. (wLite) for crimninal L'egligence and mnanmlaugh ter. was the most importanit ease at the recenit session of the court for Chester county. The prosecution was brought by friends of Rev. Mr. Grat harn, who lost his wife and son onI Broad river last Jaunry, while cross ing onl the flat owned and operated by Mr. Deaive?. This case2 was a strange one and nothing like it has ever been known :n the courts of South Carolina before. The trial of ibis case lasted through most of Tuesdiay and all of WXednersday and the jury. after re mraiuingt out but about three minutes. returned ai verdiet of not guilty. The Status of the L iquor Cases. In the cases wvhere rules were dis charged unconditionailly the petitioners pay ihe costs end the State retains the liquor. In the case of Hawes the St ate got three half barrels of whiskey. All the cases before the Court have been heard. When rules were dischargent without ordering the restoration of liquors seized, the proof was that the importation was not for personal use. Manv German newspapers severely criti else thee mpnur incurred by the Eiel HORRIRLE ACTS OF A MADMAN. lie Kills His Wife, Mortally Wounds One Boy and Tries to Kill Others. A horrible affair occurred near Hu ntersville, N. C., Friday afternoon, the facts in the case as nearly as could be ascertained being these: A white man named Sims, who is a farmer, was at work in his coLton patch. Three or four boys of the neighborhood passed along and holler ed at Sims, not meaning any harm,but lie took it as an insult, and turned on the boys. fuiously. One of the brav est in ihe crowd picked up a rock and ihrew it at him. Sims put his handto his bip pocket, drew forth a pistol aI1 fired at ihe boys. The ball struck one of thei (name not known) under the evo,it is thought, mortally wound ing Lim. Sims then ran across the field toward his house. His wife saw him coming, and diviniug intuitively that he meant harm to her, ran out of the house and across the field. He pursued and caught his wife, who, frightened nearly out of her wits, had hidden in the tield. The demented husband, put the pistol to his wife's temple and fired, killing her instantly. Sims left his wife in the field wel tering in her own blood and went to Huntersville and gave himself up. He said the reason he killed his wife was that he knew he would either be hung or sent to the penitentiary for life for shooting the boy,and he could not bear to be separated from her. The boy who was shot was taken by the other boys in the crowd to a neigh boring house and a physician summon ed. His chances for life are slim. Sims made the following confession to a reporter of the Charlotte Ob server: "I was on my way home from the low grounds and had a 'square' in my hand which I had used in measuring a ditch. It was about 4 o'clock in the %fternoon. I had to pass a field along the roadside where a lot of young men were at work cutting wheat. They were Ben Barnett, Grant Stewart, Ar thur and Will Alexander. They were near the road and hollered at me, ask in me what I was doing with the square, at the same time using some bad language. Will Alexander spoke up and said 'you had better 'square' hings right now.' I became incensed it what the boys had said, and said to JoNs S1. Alexander: 'Come out in the big road ind you and I will fight it out here, and if you are afraid to come let any of th gn com an i'qae "Tedr Coee out int thei road and Will Alexander said he was ready to meet me. At this juncture I ran to my house, about 30 yards away, and got my pistol and was returia;; "n ere the boys were when they, the boys, be ran throwing rocks at me. When I Iad gotten near them Will Alexander poke and said: 'Go on back to work and put your old pistol up. I am not afraid >f you or your pistol either.' I said: I am not afraid either.' Alexander igain said: 'Shoot if you dare; comne yut in the road and I'll fight you,' and icked up a rock and advanced arnd ihrew it at me. He was about 'l0 yard way from me when he threw the rock. [ pulled my pistol from my pocket and ran toward Alexander and fired two shots. The second shot entered the race under the left eye. or at least i' looked that way to me. I was sure I bad killed Alexander, and the next hought that entered my mind wa MY WIFE. "I could not think of going to jail and leaving her. I turned and ran toward the house. My wife was out a'. the road., about ten steps from the house, talking to John and Jim Johnstou, who ad passed the field where the fracas occurred. I supposed they were talk ing about what had occurred between me and the boys. When I got near where my wife was she screamend and said, 'Oh, John, don't shoot.' and ran to the cotton field near the heuse. I ran after her with pistol in. hand. : n-l when I was about 30 yards from hier. fired. She wheeled and Cell. I thouughit [ had killed her, but after examinmlrg her closely I saw that the shot only tock effect in her hand. While I was preparing to shoot her again she neve'r spoke but lay as if she were dead. I p-laced the pistol to her forehead and fired while she was lying senseless on the ground. "I turned and went back to where the Johnston's were standing. and said to them: 'I killed my darling wife. and will go at once and give iself up.' Before leaving for Huntersville I went back to the field arid kissed my wife and said, 'darling, mecet me ir, Heaven.' When asked what he meant by kill ing his wife, Sims said he couldn't bear the idea of being hung and leav ing his wife behind: that he dearly loved her and they had always gotten along together nicely, with the excep tion of one or two little quarrels they had had, and they didn't amount to anything. His wife was .always grood to him and treated him kindly on all occasions. He said, further, no family troubles whatever led him to the rash Sims was married tour months ago to Sarah Martin, the woman he murder ed. She was I8 years old last May. Sh is the daughter of J. C. Martin, who lives near Caldwell's Station, on he Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Rail road. Sims will be 25 years old to-i morrow. His weight is about 1601 pounds. He has sandy hair and mus-a tace, and has a very good counten.-3 His last words to the reporter 'werel that "he had given up everything andi expected to be hanged, and that hi)i ojy hm .w&s to meet bis ..ifej~i Heaven." He made a request that thie zood people pray for him, and that the preachers visit him and pray with him. H He seemed perfectly sane, and when isked if he had ever had any mental trouble, replied that he had not. He ;aid he let his temper get away with >im when he shot Alexander, for which cc ie was sorry, and that he hoped God 0 .vould forgive him for what he had tone. ti 01 COMMERCIAL REPORT c THE OUTLOOK ENCOURAGING. H de Business Improving Despite the Crop -Be Prospects. Ja R. G. Dun & Co's trade review for the as past week says: The half yearly report of i failures next week will include about 6,900 1 against 7,039 for the first half of last year, and liabilities of about $88,000,000 against 10 $101,570,152 last year. But for the cordage N concern, the aggregate would be nearly 28 re per cent. less than last year, and the manu- te facturing liabilities 26 per cent, less but in- ag cluding it. the manufacturing liabilIties will Ou be about $40,000,000,000 against $41,476,102 S last year, and the trading $45,000,000 against d $52,34,978 last year, while miscellaneous lia- c bilities were only $2,700,000 against $7,856,. M 072 last year. Failures for the past week t have beeu 256 in the United States against t 214 last year and 22 ia Canada against 35 Ai last year. Business is better, although the crop out look, affecting prospects beyond the near fu- R ture, is a little less distinct. Cotton has fallen three-sixteenths to seven cents, in spite of reports of serious injury by a rains in Texas and Louisiana. A little buying by Northern spinners sur prises the market for their takings have been more than enough for the year's consump- E tion. and British returns show a great de- 0 crease in exports of cotton goots. The labor ti troubles are passing with frequent adVances 4 in the rate of wages paid. The closing of the contract by the syndicate 11 raises the Treasnry reserve about $100,000,000 D but the certainty that no more gold is to be M imported by the bankers makes foreign ex change stronger, and if a large part of the bonds taken abroad have been re-sold to N this country. deliverable as soon as possible, 1 as some believe, the heavy merchandise im- R ports for June at New York, 48 per cent. T larger than last year, against exports about w 2 per cent. smaller, will render exports of t gold altogether probable. Money still comes hither from the West in amounts gregat ting $250,000 daily, and commercial loans n are enlarging, particularly on iron and other t i manufacturing paper. L The volume of business represented by ex- C changes through the principal clearing n houses is, for the past week, 35 8 per cent , larger than last year, a really surprising gain ? and only 7 to 1 per cent. less than in 1899, while the average for the month is 288 per t cet. larger than last year and 7.1 per cent. 1 less than in 1892. The return is highly en- a couragins, in spite of the bomparative magni- sl tude of specuiative importations. fo There are a few evidences of a revival 9 t.1 general trade at the South, but merchants ti almost all leading cities in that region report that the demand continues very mode e, and collections aro slow. C -r I -e 1. and the business outlook is reported encouraging. Incessant rains in Texa$ have re hurt the crops. Increased shipments by c Galveston jobbers are reported due rathar to a railway freight rate war than to increased demand. ti Asked to Resign. a Governor Morrill of Kansas, has demanded tl the resignation of W. J. Hurd and y. J. Barnes, 'T the two Populist members of the State board a of directers of the penitentiary. Hurd and Barnes were hold-over appointees of Gover,. nor Llewelling and constitute a majority of t< the board. In his letter demanding their ', resignations, the Governor charges them [ with being incompetent and derelict in the 11 performance of their duties, calla upon tiem, in ease they decline t'o resign, tbo appear be fore him and show cause why they should P not be removed. Both say they will nqet b give up their ofices and d6fy the Governor g to remove them. E L Vote for Silver or Resign. - The democrats of Wood county, Tex.h~ave' organized a strong bimetallic club; In the resolutions recently adopted dedaring for ai the free, unlimited and independent coinage tc of silver at 16 to 1, this resolutonl was also si adopted: "We call on our representativer in both houses of congress to labor for th, repeal of all laws, if there be any. grantz the secre- S tay of the treasury the powerO issue bonds in time of peace, and if any member of eithE. of house of congress refuse teso labor, we de' al maud his immediate resignatbD."t Tae Contempt cases.m Judge Simonton has'nly two of the th contemfpt cases now unier considera- fo tion as will be seen frfln the disposi- al, tion that was made o' all the cases Cc ubmitted to him. A each case the th name of the consigne is given and the de disposition of the ca~e. The following de is the result:a 1 C. F. Klenke rule discharged. 1 John McSmy1, of Camden, rule tic d hischarged.. ast 3 S. Simpsonfinnsboro, rule dis- 'i charged. a 4 R. B. Hawr, Charleston, rule dis- ~l charged. :of 5 W. c. jilehuber, Greenwood, Ju rule discha '.gal 6 George ytzler, Charleston, rule .c discharged,jhiskey returned. Ch 7 David p Varko, Charleston, rule th dischargepeer to be returned. V 8DvoeVarko, Charleston, rule obr discharge'whiskey to be returned. ter 9 W. ; Prince, Charleston, rule tal discharf1, whiskey to be returned pil and co, aid. Ca 10 Cfi- Hopkins, Charleston, rule ad dischpd, *whiskey to be returned fr and cels paid. 11. H. Otten, Charleston, rule wa discirged, whiskey to be returned car ansts paid. .cxl - ulius H. Walker, Columbia, 100 cyable guilty of contempt and two rrar g ths imprisonment, an rd M. Keith, Charleston, consta guilty, two months imprisonment. 4 B. Adams, Charleston, constable T h ilty, one mouth in jail. ed f 15 Pape and Andel, reserved for "~a rer investigation. Con B Givens and others, reserved for ws ~her investigation. ia I thei -aptain JTonathan Pinkchamn is ac- law ely serving as a pilot at Bath, 3Me., ge the age of eighty-four. He says the at he is the oldest pilot in New " THE EPWORTH LEAGUERS ad a Grand Timein the City of Chat tanooga. A special to the Charlotte Observer ted Saturday gives the following ac >unt of the International Conference the Epworth League at Chattanooga: Three thousand people attended .e sunrise prayer meeting held Lookout Mountain this morn g. Every train on both roads om 2 a. M. to daylight was owded. The greatest fervor and ethodist fire marked the devotions, Iich were ld. by Col. Frank A. ardin, of FreePort, Ill. The Illinois legation, at a meeting to-day, unani ously elected Dr. S. A. Steele, general cretary of the Southern branch, a ember of the Illinois Conference of e League. Rev. - W. B. Murray, of ckson, Miss., presided over the semblage in the tent this morn g, Rev. H. Kindling, of Leba )n, Ind., leading in the devotions. av. Chas. Stuart, of Chicago, spoke st on the "Spirit of Methodism," fol wed by S. B. Turrentine, of Winston, . C., in line with a strong undercur nt against classical music. The lat r speaker said: "We must guard ainst the use of secular hymns as ing by a Godless choir." The Park sters, cornetists, of Boston, are fa >ites with the Conference. "Metho st Fervor" was ably discussed by bas. A. Littlefield, of Watertown, ass., who furnished a captital illus ation of his subject. General Secre ry S. V. Crews, ot Canada, spoke of Datholicity," taking the place of N. r. Rosewell, who was absent, while ev. G. W. Kirby, of Toronto, closed ith a solo. Toronto, Canada, and Seattle, Wash., e represented by strong delegations, ho are working for the next meeting. The afternoon tent service was pre ded over by Rev. John H. Coleman, Albany, N. Y. An interesting devo onal programme was carried out. At 30 p. m. came the Junior League. The report of the committee on reso tions was presented by the secretary, r. Jesse Bowman Young. This com ittee is composed of Bishop I. W. >yce, Bishop C. B. Galloway, Rev. R. . Burns, Rev. Jesse Bowman Young, ev. J. W. Newman, Rev. George Bond, ev. J. E. Prince. J. R. Pepper and N. . Powell. The resolutions as offered ere adopted section by section,in order read: SECTION 1. We recommend that the ext bi-ennial session of the Interna onal Conference of the Epworth eague be held in the city of Toronto, anada. After the selection of the eeting place had been ratified with eat demonstrativeness by the Con rence, Rev. V. S. Crews, league secre ry for Canada, arose, and thanking e Conference for its consideration, uded the claims of Toronto to the ies. But one other city made a bid r the convention, and tnat was Seat e, Wash. A strong delegation from ie coast town came with a guarantee om the city counci4 of $10,000 towards Sec. 2. ResolvedThat the Conference joices at the friendship and broth -ly love that has prevailed throughout is Conference. SEc. 3. Resolved, That we are un terably committed to the prohibi on of the li4uor traffic and that we -e determined to fight the saloon until Js deadly foe is destroyed in the land. his resolution was adopted standing, nid the waving of handerchiefs. SEC. 4. We exhori, our young people >cultivate their evangelistic gifts and > co-operate wvith thieir pastors in the ork of broi';I sianers to repentance. et us not **g'et :nis th . f Saving uc lost. SEC. 5. We believe that uniform ra3Cer-meetin~g topios and uni'orm Bi le topics ought to ae used by the three reat leagues repireented in this Con. -rence. SEc. 6. We urge the Epworth eague'rs to make large use of their de > nation' theokgical literature. SEC. 7. WC exhort our young people study thie ques~ions of government ud to da everytaing in their power expedite the cause of good citizen 11p. SEC. S. We urge Epwort~h Leaguers to > all in their power to maintain the credness of the Satbbath day. Section 9 took the form of -t message fraternal greet'ng toj the internation convention of the S-ociety of Chris in Endeavor in session in Boston, >m the 15,000 Epwarthians assembled Chattanooga. Section 10 was the resolution of anks to the citizens of Chattanooga Stheir hospitable entertainment, and who had contributed to make the nference so grand a success. The anks of the convention were also ted to the railroads and to the resi ts of Chattanooga for their cour .ies. The report was then adopted as rhole, viva voice. Before closing the session a resolu n from "15,000 Epworth Leaguers embled at Chattanooga, Tenn.," was animous passed and telegraphed -o ;hop I. W. Fitzgerald, who is tempo. ly absent in Berne, Switzerland. A asing finale to the fine programme the day were the exercises of the rior League. The adult singers in the lery made way for 1,000 bright-faced ldren, takecn from the leagues in the attanooga Union. They had been roughly trained by Musical Director liams, and the change made every relax and feel as though a cool_ eze had been wafted through the t. A well-selected programme of s and illustrated lessons was hap ' carried out. Miss Florence M. 'pbell, one of the speakers, listed to ress the young people, sent regrets the continent of Europe, where is traaling. 'o-night's grand concert, looked for -d to as the brightest memory to be ied from the Conference, fully met ectations. In the trained chorus ecf voices were both numerous and talent. The choir was assisted by rchestrt of 25 pieces. The famot'.s They Can Fight. w Corbett-Fitz.simmions fight Is an assur ust now inasmuch as an occupation tax ised Saturday for the fight by the Stat e ptroler of Texas. He became mixed up lis manner. The tax collector at Daillas offered $500 by the managemuent of the ts Athletic Clubto let the fight t'ome oft e. tbat being the amount prescribe~d b~y for glove contests. Tiue collector refr 'he matter to thn Compi roller andi tha'. lenan Saturday issued :he receipt for ?500 and tbe liht can now come off with fr or hinderane, as the State has~ in r~cept pitt its offi':ial stamup oa a pr in to cndrinn t he filabe A NATION'S CHARTER STORY OFTfHE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. A Glorious Document That Has Been Neglected-Its Words Said to Have Faded Almost Be yond Recognition. TH E original Declaration of In dependence, of which Ban croft, the hisjorian, said that it had "received a renown more extended than that of any other State paper in existonce," has faded away beyond the possibility of res toration. The names of the signers to this great charter of American lib erties are no longer legible. After 118 years of careless guardianship, in various custody-during the greater portion of which period it was thoughtiessly exposed to the destroy ing influences of light, air and heed less handling-now when the irrepar able havoc is done and the precious A FAC SIMILES OF THE S archive has become hardly more than 1 a blank and wrinkled sheet of paper,] solicitude for its preservation has be gun to be felt, and at last it is cared for as it should have been cared for years ago. It was my privilege some time sincez --a privilege then accorded to few, i and now, under the strictest prohibi- a ion accorded to none-to see and I ouch this precious document, says a riter in the Detroit Free Press. It i s kept locked up in a steel safe in the 1 ibrary of the Department of State. I t is spread out flat in a mahogany I ortfolio, made to slide in and out of c he safe, and over it is a sheet of i hick paper and a plate of glass. It is f ow never exposed to the light, and is t s little exposed to the air as is possi- C le without placing it in a vessel from e hich the atmosphere has been ex- t austed. s The document is a single sheet of a archment, thirty-din inches long and t nd thirty-two inches wide, and bears a o scrolls or decorations such as are t: een upon many of the copies that are ir c common. The body of tbe writing d aving been evenly and clearly written o hen the instrument was engrossed, is f< till even, though badly faded, and tj an hardly be made out, but the sig- a atures, which were written perhaps ith a different-ink and another pen, o rc faded and beyond recognition, a any of them being wholly gone, and ii thers partly so. The heavy stroke of ti he pen in the J of John Haucock's si old autograph is still visible, but a: tat is the only line that is distincL . The history of the origin of this t reat State paper is well known to r ost Americans, but is always inter- i sting. The story of the varied and d isastrous fortunes of the document p tself during the past 118 years is less s nown, and is here told. tl On the 26th of June, 177(1, a comn- N ittee, of which Thomas Jeriferson n as Chairman, was appointed by the .0 ontinental Congress, then sittingt at Ii hiladelphia, to draft a declaration etting forth the reasons why the thir- l i een colonies should become indepen-p ent of England. Jefferson was re- a1 uested by thc other members of the A ommittee to prepatre the draft, and c his draft when presented was at once r pproved by a majority of the commit- w ee, a few verbal alterations only beP ig suggested. On July 2d a cop)y of it his draft was laid before Congress, o few sentences were stricken out and the Declaration was then adopted. I1 was at once entered upon the journal of Congress; but the engrossed copy, on parchment, was not prepared and signed until August 2. During the first twenty-four yearE of its existence the Declaration was pre served among the archives of the Gov ernment at Philadelphia, and during all or part of that time it was un doubtedly rolled up, as it shows by the cracks in the parchment that it must have been rolled for a long period, and it is known that subsequent to that time it was hung up exposed to public gaze. When, in the year 1800, the Na tional Government was transferred to Washington, the Declaration was car ried there and deposited in the De partment of State, where it remained for forty-one years. In the year 1811 K substantial building having been erected for the use of the United States Patent Office, which had form erly been in the State Department, and the State Department being in a IGNATURES TO THE DECLJARA.TI >riek building, and not fire-proof, )aniel Webster, Secretary of State, addressed a letter tc Henry Li. Ells rorthi, the Commisioner of Patents, nd reqnestad him to receive the Dec laration and other valuable docu aents into his custody for safe keep ag. This request was complied with, nd for the next thirty-five years the 'atent Office retained charge of the recious paper, but it was while there suffered its greatest injury. It was ung up, exposed to public view, be ind the glass in one end of a case of latent Office models. At certain hours fthe day the sun shone directly upon :, and, of necessity, it gradually ided. It is amazing almost beyond be power of belief that of the dozen onmmissioners of Patents who had the istody of this document during dose t bir ty-five years, not one of them iw that it was being ruined, and not ne of them had the forethought to dke it out of the sunlight and put it way in darkness. In England such eatment of an important State paper unheard of. Magna Charta, the cath wairant of Queer. Mai-y and ther archives in the British Museum ur or five times as old as our Declara on of Independence, are still kept in condition of perfect preservation. In 1875 Congress woke up to the atrage thb~t was being perpetrated 2d appointed a commission consist Lg of the Secretary of the Interior, ie Secretary of the Smithsonian In itution-Professor Joseph Henry 2d Ainsworth R. Spofford, the i brarian of Congress, "to have resort such means as will most effectually ~store the writing of the original anuscript of the Declaration of In pendence, with the signatures ap andied theretc." Experts were con Ited by this commission, and finally, te matter was referred to the ational Academy of Sciences. It tving beccme known that the great eclaration was fading away, the pub a became interested in the effort ade for its restoration, and the pub e rse urged the importance of ~o:npjt actioc, but years went by id nothing was done. The National eademy of Sciences reported to the >mmission01 that portions of the -storation was impossible. Mean hile, in 1876 George W. Childs, of hiladelphia, and Frank M. Etting, charge of the historical department the Centennial Exposition, re ,cted the Government to senr1 the document to the Exposition to be placed on exhibition. The Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Zachariah Chandler, wrote a letter to President Grant, setting forth the reasons why this request ought not to be complied with, but this request was granted, and, on its hundredth birthday, the great charter, faded and scarcely legible, returned to the place of its birth, and there was exposed to the gaze of the American people, its piti ful condition a standing rebuke to the National Government. In 1877, at the close of the exposi tion, the Common Council of Phila delphia petitioned Congress for au thority to retain the Declaration and to place it in Independence Hall. This request was refused, and the docu ment was brought back to Washington, but upon request of Hamilton Fish, then Secretary of State-the Secretary of the Interior consenting-it was again returned to the State Depart ment, where it has since remained. While the Declaration was in the Patent Office an excellent photolitho N INEEDNE graphic~ ~~64 coykeucdtbothl IrI phtoitogaper Laer aul4sze '0 copperplate engraving was prepared, and the copies printed from this plate are perfect fac-similes of the original. It is believed that in making this en' graving the original was seriously damaged by a chemical application to restore the fainter lines; but it may be said that if this engraving had not been made there would not be an exact copy of this most important document in existence. A framed copy of this en'graving may be seen in the library of the State Department, and, what is even more interesting in a frame be neath it, is shown Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the declaration,- in his own handwritting and with all of his erasures and interlineations just as it left his hand. The singing of the Declaration of Independence was a solemn act. The singers were subjects of King George, and their act was treason. If the'King could have caught them he would have hang them every one, and this they knew ; but according to the traditions that have come down to us, this kowl edge did not deter certain of them from relieving the solemnity of the oc asion with the natural flow of -their it and humor. The remarks attri bted to them are not exactly authen icated by history, but they are too ood not to be believed. It is said hat when John Hancock affiredhis bold utograph he remarked: "The Eng ihmen will have no difficulty inread ng that ;" that when Franklin sigued e said: "Now we must all hang to ether or we will hang separatiely;" and that Charles Carroll,of Carrollton, when asked why the wrote his-place of esidence, replied that there was an ther Charles Carroll and he didn't ant them tW hang the wrong man. The most enthusiastic avocate of he great measure, and .the one who ed the debate in its support was John dams, of Masschusetts, and when the eclaration was adopted he wrote to is wife : "This will be th# most memor ble epoch in the history of Amnerica; elebrated by descending generations a the great anniversary-festival,,.com meemorated as the day of deliverance y solemn acts of devotion to Go~d Al ighty, solemnized with .mps, hows, games, sports, gans, bells, bon ires, and illuminations ,from, one end f the continent .to the other, from