Griggs courier., May 07, 1886, Image 4

About Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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§1
FLORUS B. PLIMPTON.
Bettb of a Well-Known Ohio Journalist
and Poet.
Floras B. Plimpton, for many years on the
editorial staff of The Cincinnati Commercial
end of The Commercial Gazette, after the
consolidation of the two papers, died on one
of the last days of April, at his liomo in Cin
cinnati. Death was caused by heart trouble.
His body is to be cremated.
I
F. B. FLIMPTOX.
Mr. Plimpton was born at Palmyra, O.,
£5 years ago. Ho conics of the strong
liearted, long-lived stock that peopled what
is known as the western reserve. His father,
a Methodist preacher, is still living—a hale,
ruddy man, past 80. Floras was born
a poet. Some of the strongest, sweetest and
most graceful linos ever written by an Ameri
can are from his pen. That they are so little
known is because they were usually written
at his desk in the midst of his editorial duties
and published only in his own paper. Of
spare hours he had few or none. If ho had
been at ease financially in his youth, ho
would have been at his death one of Ameri
ca's distinguished poets. Indeed, he had al
ways looked ahead to gathering his poems at
some future time and publishing them in a
volume. His friends and those familiar with
them very much desired this, but the leisure
to make the book never came. Bits of verse
from his pen are found ia collections of
American poetry.
Methodist preachers' sons must turn out
early to earn their own living. Florus
learned first the printer's trade. But writing
for newspapers suited him better than put
ting other people's writing into type and he
early began to do that. He graduated at
Allegheny college, paying for his education
himself. After a varied newspaper expe
rience he became a member of the editorial
staff of The Cincinnati Commercial in 1860.
He left The Pittsburg Dispatch to become a
•writer on The Commercial He was offered
at one time an editorial place on The New
York Tribune, but he declined it. He was
Identified with The Commercial and its for
tunes for twenty-six years.
During the absences of Mr. Halstead, Mr.
Plimpton had charge of the paper. These
absences lasted for months sometimes, and
occasionally they came in the midst of im
portant political campaign*. At these times
The Commercial did brave and brilliant
work for its party. Mr. Plimpton frequently
•lept upon a sofa in his editorial rooms and
did not leave the office for days, so busy and
Anxious was he. His last years were sad
dened by discouragement and declining
health. He was a forceful, witty writer, one
of the brave, quiet newspaper men whose
fame is unwritten.
Vassar's New President.
REV. JAMES MONROE TAYLOTT.
While search was being made for a party
to fill the rather trying position of president
of Vassal* college, it was suggested that a
woman be given a trial. This, for some un
explained reason, was not done, but the next
thing to it was effected in the choice of a
Vassar girl's husband, whose sister is presi
dent of the Vassal1 Alumnae association. So
it is presumed that the fair sex will have
this time nn opportunity of carrying out
their wishes in the government of tlia insti
tution, with the advantage of having an ex
ceedingly handsome and efficient man to ear
ly out their behests.
The father of President Taylor was for
twenty-five years a Baptist pastor in Brook
lyn, where, in 1848, this son was born. Great
care was taken with the future Vassar
president's education. From private schools
he was sent, in 1864, to the University of
Rochester, l'roin which ho was graduated
with high honors—afterwards spending three
years in the Rochester Theological seminary.
He spent the year 1871 in Europe in travel
and study. Upon his return he was called to
the Baptist church at South Norwalk, Conn.,
and after nine years of a remarkably suc
cessful pastorate ho accepted a call to the
Fourth Baptist church of Providence, li. I.,
from which ho was chosen president of
Vassar.
tnu* autnoncy noes not go very strongly
for holding the reins in one hand. It may
look very fine, but it leaves the driver at the
mercy of any sudden movement the horse
may make. Especially in the beginning of a
journey a good driver always takes tlw
reins in both hands, and holds them thus as
long as there is the least possibility of a horse
turning to the right or left. And even if ho
does for a little while hold them in the- left
band he always keeps his right hand where
be can grasp them instantly in case of need
It is to bo feared that Mr. Sidney never had
*ny experience of "sparking" over American
country roads.
THE RAILROAD STRIKE.
HOW THE STRIKE ORIGINATED ON
THE SOUTHWESTERN SYSTEM.
Slap of St. Louts and East St. Louis—Por
traits of Governors Murinuiluke, of Mis
souri, and Martin, of Kansas, anil
Vice-President H. M. Hoxle.
ST. LOUIS, March 81.—Whata tremendous
conflagration can result from a small spark
is shown in the recent railroad strike which
spread over all the roads of Mr. Gould's
Southwestern system from the discharge of a
single man. It began in this way:
One year ago an agreement was made be
tween the Knights of Labor and the mana
gers of this system that no man should be dis
charged without du3 notice. On Feb. 15
District assembly 101, of the Knights of La
bor, held a convention at Marshall, Tex.
Among the delegates was C. A. Hall, a fore
man in the Texas Pacific car shops at Mar
shall. He had secured, it is alleged, a leave
ol'absence to attend the convention from his
immediate superior, the master car builder.
The convention lasted four days. At noon
of the last day Mr. Hall resumed his
work, but received a note in the evening on
quitting work from this same master car
builder that he was discharged for being
absent from business without leave. The
local committee demanded his reinstatement,
which was refused. A local strike was
ordered, but the men refused to obey the
comm.ttee. A meeting of the executive
vwtne Hospital
vaxU*
MAP OF ST. LOUIS AND VICINITY.
board of the Knights was called, and an
order was given for the men to quit work at
Forth Worth, Marshall and Dallas. Again
the executive board asked for the reinstate
ment of Hall, and threatened in case of re
fusal to call all the men out on the Gould
system which employs as shopmen, track
men and trainmen, some 13,000 men. On
March 0 tho order for the machine shopmen
to strike was given, and immediately 3,000
men quit work. The railroad managers still
refusing to yield, on March 8 the switchmen,
trainmen and firemen were ordered out,
which resulted in 7,000 more men leaving the
trains. The reason the number was not
larger was owing to the fact that
great care was taken to leave sufficient men
to run all mail and passenger trains without
any delay. Thus has begun the trouble
which has resulted in losses of thousands of
$
GOVERNOR J. S. MATTMADL-KE.
carloads of perishable freight, a lack of pro
visions almost to starvation in towns sup
plied by the railroads, a loss in wages to the
strikers of £-0,(100 a day, besides a loss which
is incalculable to all lines of business, and to
truckmen, expressmen and others indirectly
depending on the railroads.
On March 10 tho order was given by the
railroad managers to lay off all the clerks,
telegraph operators and yard watchmen,
which resulted in tho discharge of 3,000 men.
The above map of the city of St. Louis and
East St. Louis shows the termination of the
various roads centering in or near the city.
St. Louis is the center of but four lines of
railroad from the west, while out of East St.
Louis there are nine lines running east. At
tho Union depot there was little change
noticeable in the arrival and departure of
trains, but at the stock yards, west of the
depot, and at Carondelet and the other
freight yards, thousands of cars and locomo
tives remained idle.
GOVERNOR JOHN A. MARTIN.
Oil March 20 there was a conference of the
governors of the states of Missouri and
Arkansas with Vice-President Hoxie, in the
hope of bringing about a settlement of the
dWmiltim Qua. tfanuuluka. of feiswurl.
is largely identified with some of the leading
business interests of his state, so that for per
sonal, as well as public reasons, he was eager
to see an adjustment of the troubles.
As editor and proprietor of The Daily
Champion, at Atchison, Kan., Governor
John A. Martin was admirably fitted as an
arbitrator.
The progress of the strike from this timo to
its close is familiar to the newspaper reader.
Its results it is hoped will teach the Knights
of Labor and their employers a salutary les
son. At any rate it will long be remembered
in this section of country as being one of tho
lirst pitched battles between weli organized
capital and organized, but poorly disciplined,
labor. H. W. KEI:P.
A KEW WHITE HOUSE.
A PRIVATE RESIDENCE TO BE BUILT
FOR THE PRESIDENT.
Tim Ktirly Tlistcry of the First National
7 iiilli»g In America—Designed After
a Dublin l'alace—Its Attoinptcil De
struction by liritisli Soldiers.
WASHINGTON, April 6.—Senator Morrill's
bill, which lias been reported favorably by
the senate, and is likely to pass both houses,
is designed to furnish the president an appro
priate dwelling place. The present Whito
House lias long since been inadequate to tho
demands of a president's residence. Out of
the thirty-one rooms in the building, there is
but one room on the first lloor, the family
dining room, and six chambers on the second
lloor aro all that is left for the use of the
president's family. The rest are devoted to
the requirements of official receptions, and to
the executive offices.
1
his is a very different state of affairs to
tho days of that good housewife Mrs. John
Adams, who used to have lines swhuing
from one pile of lumber to another in the
Ka i, room, and bang' the clothes there to dry
on wash days.
km
THE WHITE HOUSE IN IFIOO.
The president's house has been the scene of
more changes, and business of importance
to the welfare of a greater number of people
has been transacted within its walls during
the past eighty-six years of its existence than
in any building in the world. It was the first
public building erected in Washington. In
March, 1792, the commissioners having
charge of the new capital city advertised in
the New York and Philadelphia papers "for
a plan for a president's bouse to be erected in
the city of Washington," offering as a prize for
the competition the liberal sum of $500 for tho
accepted design. The successful one among
the ilfteen applicant* was James Hoban, a
young Irishman. He pleased the commission
ers so well by his talent that they gave him a
large salary to superintend the construci ion
of the house. Hoban's plan, it was after
wards found, was not such an original con
ception as they at first supposed, for ho
closely copied tho plan of Duke of Leinster's
palace at Dublin, so that tho present White
House is almost a duplicate of that palace.
The above sketch of the "President's pal
ace," as it was then called, has baen handed
down to us from those days. A fitting ac
companiment to it would bo this extract
from a description of tho city by John Cot
ton Smith, at that time member of congress
from Connecticut. He wrote: "One wing of
the Capitol only had been erected, which,
with the president's house, a mile distant
from it, both constructed with white sand
stone, were shining objects in dismal con
trasts with the scene around them. Instead
of recognizing the avenues and streets por
trayed on the p'an of the city not one was
visible. The Pennsylvania avenue, leading,
as laid down on paper, from the Capitol to
the presidential mansion, was nearly the
whole distance a deep morass covered with
elder bushes, which were cut through to the
president's hou e." Here is a contrast with
the Pennsylvania avenue of to-day.
THE PRESENT WHITE HOUSE.
In 1702 the corner stone of the While
House was laid, and though the neighboring
hills of Maryland and Virginia were full of
excellent marble they were unaware of it,
and a sandstone from a Virginia quarry was
used in the walls of the building. This sand
stone was afterwards found to be such a poor
building material that it became necessary
to give it each year a coat of thick whito
paint to keep it from crumbling awuy. The
house is 170x8(5 feet in dimensions.
Tho original White House cost about $250,
000, and when John Adams and his family
first occupied it, but six of its rooms were
furnished. In 1814, on tho invasion of
the city by the British troops. President
Madison fled from the city to a place of
safety iu Maryland, but his wife, Dolly Paine
Madison, remained to fulfill an engagement
for a dinner party which she had made, not
believing that the British would reach the
city before the next day. While the guests
were assembled at the banquet a servant
rushed in with the startling intelligence that
the enemy was on Capitol hill. Then there
was a scamper. The guests fled in all direc
tions and half an hour later the British
soldiers were in the house. Finding a glori
ous dinner .spread in the east room they re
galed themselves first, then pillaged tho house
and set lire to it. The wines which the
soldiers found in abundance at tho deserted
feast so fired their brains that thev made a
bungling job of tho incuidiary portion of
their raid and but little damage was done to
the building. It was not until
1617
that the
house was restored.
When General Jackson was president in
lft?J the grand portico was added, with its
Ionic columns, which add such a grandeur to
the buildius. Since "Old Hickory's'' time no
other important change has been made in the
building, except refurnishing and its annual
coat of paint. These expenses, together with
the original cost of tho building, foot up to
nearly $800,000.
THIS SITE FOR. THE NEW PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
Tho site for the new building proposed by
Mr. Morrill's bill is located directly south or
in the rear of the present Whito House. An
appropriation of 5300,000 is asked to begin
the erection of a building precisely similar to
the present one and to be connected with it
by a broad corridor, the new building to be
used as the president's private residence and
the old one for the executive offices.
While the bill is before congress there will
bo considerable chafing of the members advo
cating it, on tho ground that thev are only
the ones who possess the '-presidential bee'
and are voting to feather their future nest
But Which Could bo Prevented in One
Case and Provided for In tin.' Other,
Were Not. Human Avarice so Strung-.
Illustrations From l'liotograpliu.
Nono of the effete monarchies cf Europe
can boast triumphs of nature's handiwork in
the way of water falls and caves and canyons
such as we possess, neither aro tliey privi
leged to witness such grand exhibitions of
nature's power when agitated. Our bliz
zards and cyclones are sruarantoed to excel
anything of the kind elsewhere. Then our
floods aro warranted to bo full width, and as
full of destruction as those found anywhere.
Our losses from this last cause are :iu a larrre
measure duo to our want of caution. We
build our bridges and dams and locate our
houses a good deal on tho "sufficient unto the
(lay is the evil thereof" principle. Tho old
country people err almost on tho side of un
due caution. Witness their bridges, they
are always built with provision for the
stream running beneath to swell past all the
bounds of reason or precedent. Then their
milldams are built even nioro solid than the
walls of China.
SCENE DURING THE LEE FLOOD.
Here, as in the case of the recent disaster
at Lee, Mass., a stock company constructs a
dam to store water power. Their aim is, of
course, to build it with the least possible ex
pense and with the greatest show of strength.
Residents of the town detect signs of weak
ness in the dam. The persons who own tho
structure have their attention called to it,
but they aro too bu-sy making money to
bother about it. "Sufficient unto tho day,"
etc., they answer. One line morning, at 5:30,
the dam gives way and the torrent washes
down the valley, plowing a gully or channel
in the earth from 50 to 200 feet wide for a
distance of some four miles, wrecking- $250-,
000 Worth of property, be.-ides killing nearly
a dozen persons. The loss of life would have
been greater Llad not a farmer boy, named
Dwight Baker, who heard the crash of tho
bursting dam, rushed down the valley and
aroused many slumbering families of the
danger that was upon them.
Similar disasters have frequently occurred
in the New England states and always from
tho same cause the criminal neglect and
avarice of mill owners and water power
proprietors. Thi is the season of tho year
for such catastrophes, and this should le a
warning to settlements with such elements
of destruction stored above them to examine
and strengthen their dams.
VIEW IN ST. CLOUD AFTER THE CYCLONE.
Human'negligence is in a great measure ro
s]Knsible for the terrible loss of life in the
recent Minnesota cyclone. They have had
many previous experiences of a similar
nature in that country which should have
warned them to build cycloiw pits, and not
trust to cellars that are covered only by the
floor of the houso above, so that when tho
latter is swept away tho uncovered cellar
becomes a pitfall for flying debris, whieh piles
in upon the unfortunate inmates who have
sought it as a place of safety.
Among the cyclones which have recently
occurred in Minnesota, previous to tho last
one, tho most destructive was that which
visited Rochester early in the evening of
Aug. 82. 18S.'!. The entire northern part of
tho city was laid in ruins, twenty-six people
killed outright and eighty others badly in
jured. Tho storm was terrific, carrying
everything before it. After leaving Rochester
it swept onward to the west through Dodgo
county, carrying death and destruction in its
path. Tho loss in property from the effects
of the storm was about $300,(KM.
In tho recent cyclono at Sauk Rapids and
St C!oud the number of killed and injured-
were as ronows
St Cloud—Killed, 21 injured, 80.
Sauk Rapids—Killed, 08: injured, 100.
Rice's Station and adjacent country—'!
Killed, 15: injured. 83.
Total—Killed, 74 injured, 313.
Besides many who have died sine© from in
juries. The property loss is estimated at
*300,000.
This cyclone swooped down on these town",
about 4 p. in., and wrestled with thorn about
twelve minutes, only leaving the terrible
amount of death and desiriieticn recorded
above.
roots
PEKKY BARTON.
AVINI) AM) FLOOD.
CALAMITIES WHICH ARE COMMON
TO THE EAST AND WEST,
3IAP OF ST. CLOUD.
In the above map the path of the cyclono
is shown, and this is a curious feature of
these visitations, that they will cnt a swath
across a country moving everything to the
level of tho earth und leave all outside it-i
path untouched.
Among the freaks of this cyclone vera
the wafting of a suit of clothes from a tailor
shop to Brainerd, sixty-two miles away, and
the carrying of a headstone from a grave
yard to St. Cloud, across the Mississippi, and
landing it ihree miles away. In the heart of
Sauk Rapids a safe weighing
was carried
1,500
400
feet.
Davs,"
or
Kude,"
The
pounds
Tho iron bridge at this point, which
weighed hundreds of tons, was carried clear
over the town, and dropped in tho country
some distance on the oilier side.
The depot sign, "Sauk Rapids," was car
Pied thirteen miles away, hi the direction of
Rico's.
A lteil Mag Itcfore it Mad
Bull.
I can hardly understand how tho Morgan
syndicate are gifted with so little foresight
and common sense as to attempt to put up
tho price of coal in the face of the stand taken
by the labor party, more especially when
they show such enormous power. Some
weeks ago I ventured to point out to
these capitalists that labor was begin
ning to assert its power, and yet I
find that a combination, representing a
capital of over £1100,000,000, are banded to
gether with a view to advancing the price of
one of the necessities of life. It looks as it
they were shaking a red flag before a mad
bull, and if ever the bull does get among them
there will be a lively rattling of old bones.—
Financier in Town Topics.
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