evangelistic vocalist, perished at Ashtabula, Ohio, in the terrible
railroad disaster consequent on the fall of the Ashtabula bridge on
the night of Dec. 29, 1876. Two engines and eleven cars, with about
160 passengers, were precipitated into the creek, seventy feet
below. The wreck immediately took fire, and before help could reach
the scene more than a hundred persons had perished through the fall
or the flames, or were so badly injured that they afterward died. A
terrible snowstorm and intense cold added to the sufferings of the
survivors. In the midst of this scene of horror and distraction Mr.
Bliss and his wife both lost their lives. It is by no means certain
that Mr. Bliss could have escaped if he had abandoned his wife. If he
could have done so, but perished in the effort to rescue her, such an
act was heroic, and none but an idiot would class him with suicides.
STATESMEN AND MARTIAL HEROES.
OCONTO, Mich.
Name five of the greatest American statesmen of early times, and as
many or more of their greatest successors; also name the principal
military and naval heroes of our country, and oblige several
readers.
CARRIE STROUD.
_Answer._—Five of the greatest American statesmen concerned in the
founding of this Republic were Washington, Franklin, Hamilton,
Jefferson, and John Adams. Seven of the most distinguished successors
of these grand men were DeWitt Clinton, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay,
William H. Seward, Abraham Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens, and Charles
Sumner. Twelve of the ablest generals this country can boast are
Washington, Gates, and Green, of the revolutionary war; Jackson
and Harrison, of the war of 1812; Scott and Taylor, of the Mexican
war, and Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, and Meade, of the war
for the Union. Ten of our greatest naval heroes are Paul Jones, of
the revolutionary war; Perry, MacDonough, Porter, Decatur, Hull,
Bainbridge, and Chauncey, of the war of 1812, and Farragut and
Porter, of the last war.
PUBLIC LANDS IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
GLORIETA, N. M.
Is there any government land open to pre-emption or homestead in
Washington Territory. If so, is any of it suitable for agricultural
purposes?
MONTEZUMA.
_Answer._—Out of an estimated area of 44,796,160 acres of public
lands in Washington Territory in the beginning, only 17,757,033
acres, or about one-third, had been surveyed up to June 30, 1882, and
a considerable part of this third is still open to purchase or entry
under the general or special land laws. In Washington Territory,
California, Oregon, and Nevada there are great areas of timber and
stone lands for sale under the law of June 3, 1878, at $2.50 per
acre. The “Desert Lands Act” of March 3, 1877, provides for the
sale of certain lands which can be cultivated only by artificial
irrigation, at 25 cents an acre. After deducting these tracts,
mineral lands, coal lands, and saline lands, there are still millions
of acres of lands in Washington Territory subject to pre-emption and
entry under the homestead law, and much of this land is well adapted
to agriculture and grazing.
OLDEST SETTLEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES.
PARKERSBURG, Iowa.
1. What was the first European settlement made in the United
States, and what was the name of the first child of European
parents born in this country? 2. What is the length of the Niagara
River, and what large islands are there in it?
HOMER L. FORBES.
_Answer._—1. The oldest permanent European settlement within the
present limits of the United States was made at Saint Augustine,
Fla., in 1565. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Captain Francisco
de Coronado, and Don Antonio de Espejo, explorers of New Mexico,
occupied, temporarily, various points in that region between the
years 1540 and 1583. The latter of these took possession of a native
pueblo, or town, called Tuoas, or Taos, in the latter year, or
thereabouts, and named it La Ciudad de Santa Fe, which was identical
in site with the present capital of New Mexico. Forts, colonies, and
missions were established in various places in New Mexico by Juan de
Ouate, who was sent there for that purpose between 1595 and 1590.
The next at Jamestown, Va., in 1607, and the next at Albany, N. Y.,
in 1614. It is not known who was the first child of European parents
born within the United States. 2. The Niagara River is thirty-three
miles long. There are no large islands in it except Grand Island and
Goat Island, but there are numerous smaller ones.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
CHICAGO, Ill.
What was the seat of government during the revolutionary war? Who
took the place of President, as head of the government?
JANE EVANS.
_Answer._.—There was no permanent seat of government. The articles of
confederation provided that “Congress shall have power to adjourn at
any time within the year and to any place within the United States,
so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the
space of six months.” When suffered to have its own way Congress
sat, during the war, in Philadelphia, but the “red coats” were as
keen to go to Congress as the average modern politician, and the
patriots, to avoid a row over contested seats, adopted a sort of
methodistic itinerancy, minus the method. Congress was in session
at Philadelphia in December, 1776, when, seeing that the British
were likely to force themselves upon the hospitality of that city,
it adjourned to Baltimore. It returned to Philadelphia, but after
the American defeat at Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777, it adjourned to
Lancaster, and then to York, Pa. From the first session to the last
the Continental Congress met as follows: At Philadelphia, Sept. 5,
1774, and May 10, 1775; at Baltimore, Dec. 20, 1776; at Philadelphia,
March 4, 1777; at Lancaster, Pa., Sept. 27, 1777; at York, Pa., Sept.
30, 1777; at Philadelphia, July 2, 1778; at Princeton, N. J., June
30, 1783; at Annapolis, Md., Nov. 26, 1783; at Trenton, N. J., Nov.
1, 1784; at New York, Jan. 11, 1785, which continued to be the seat
of Congress until the adoption of the Constitution of the United
States. There was no executive head of the United States under the
articles of confederation. These provided that Congress should have
authority to appoint a “Committee of the States,” to consist of one
delegate from each State, to sit in the recess of Congress. The
President of Congress came the nearest to being an executive chief,
but he and the above committee, the “Board of War,” and certain other
special committees or boards were each charged with the execution
of law according to specific provisions in the act itself. Of these
Presidents of the Continental Congress the following shows the names
and the time of their election:
Payton Randolph, of Virginia, elected Sept. 5, 1774.
Henry Middleton, of South Carolina, Oct. 22, 1774.
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, May 10, 1775.
John Hancock, of Massachusetts, May 24, 1775.
Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, Nov. 1, 1777.
John Jay, of New York, Dec. 10, 1778.
Sam Huntington, of Connecticut, Sept. 28, 1779.
Thomas McKean, of Delaware, July 10, 1781.
John Hanson, of Maryland, Nov. 5, 1781.
Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey, Nov. 4, 1782.
Thomas Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, Nov. 3, 1783.
Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, Nov. 30, 1784.
Nathaniel Gorham, of Massachusetts, June 6, 1786.
Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsylvania, Feb. 2, 1787.
Cyrus Griffin, of Virginia, Jan. 22, 1788.
FIVE SUNDAYS IN FEBRUARY.
CHICAGO, Ill.
In 1880 February had five Sundays. When will this occur again? This
question was asked in one of the Chicago dailies recently, and
received several different answers, none of which were right, or I
am in error.
INQUIRER.
_Answer._—Usually this event occurs every twenty-eight years, or at
the close of each solar cycle of twenty-eight years; but owing to
the fact that the year 1900 will not be a leap year (for reasons
explained in Our Curiosity Shop not many weeks ago), it will be forty
years before February contains five Sundays, or not until the year
1920.
FORMING STATES OUT OF OTHER STATES.
FAIRFIELD, Ill.
Can a State be formed out of part of another State? If not, how was
West Virginia organized within the original limits of Virginia?
BYRON.
_Answer._.—Article 4, section 1, clause 1, of the Constitution
of the United States declares that “No new State shall be formed
or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any
State be formed by the junction of two or more States, without the
consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of
the Congress.” The erecting of West Virginia into a State was an
incident of the late war. While the convention in session at Richmond
resolved to take Virginia out of the Union, the Unionists of West
Virginia called a convention that assembled at Wheeling May 13,
1861, composed of delegates from twenty-five western counties of the
State. This convention passed resolutions denouncing secession and
providing for a convention of all the counties of Virginia adhering
to the National Government. Delegates representing forty counties
convened in Wheeling on June 11, repudiated the acts of the rebel
convention, and on June 20 elected Francis H. Pierpont Governor
of what they denominated the “reorganized State of Virginia.” A
Legislature was elected, which met in Wheeling on July 2. This body
elected two United States Senators to take the place of the Virginia
Senators which had gone over to the Confederacy. It also provided
for an election, to be held on the 24th of the following October,
to decide upon the formation of a new State, the eastern part of
the State being in possession of the rebels. The people, by a large
majority, declared in favor of a new State, and, at the same time,
chose delegates to a convention to meet at Wheeling Nov. 24, which
convention framed a State Constitution, which was ratified by the
people May 3, 1862. May 13 the Legislature—which claimed, it must be
remembered, to represent the whole State of Virginia, as it certainly
did represent all the loyal part—approved the formation of the new
State under the name of West Virginia, and Dec. 31, 1862, provided
for its admission to the Union. It was held by distinguished jurists
that the government at Richmond having placed itself outside of the
Constitution by the treasonable act of secession, the only legal
legislative body within the State was the one in session at Wheeling,
which consented to the organization of the new State, and that the
terms of the Constitution contained in the clause above quoted had
been met. When Virginia was reconstructed she was admitted on the
understanding that West Virginia was a separate State.
A BRIBE-PROOF PATRIOT.
HAVANA, Mo.
Who was it who, when the British tried to bribe him, said: “Poor as
I am, the King of England is not rich enough to buy me?”
FLORENCE WYATT.
_Answer._—It was General Joseph Reed, a delegate from Pennsylvania
to the Continental Congress. When approached by one of three British
commissioners, Governor Johnstone, with an offer of £10,000 and the
most lucrative office in America, if he would use his influence to
reunite the Colonies to Great Britain, he answered: “I am not worth
purchasing, but, such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich
enough to buy me!”
MASON AND DIXON’S LINE.
GRANGER, Mo.
What is Mason and Dixon’s line, and what were the provisions of the
Missouri compromise? Who were responsible for its repeal?
R. E. GLOVER.
_Answer._—Mason and Dixon’s line is the concurrent State line of
Maryland and Pennsylvania. It is named after two eminent astronomers
and mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were sent
out from England to run it. They completed the survey between 1763
and 1767, excepting thirty-six miles surveyed in 1782 by Colonel
Alex. McLean and Joseph Neville. It is in the latitude of 39 deg. 43
min. 26.3 sec. Missouri was admitted to the Union only after a long
protracted and violent discussion, growing out of a provision in the
State constitution sanctioning slavery. A compromise was finally
effected by which the new State was admitted with slavery, with a
solemn agreement that there should be no more slave States formed out
of territory north of the parallel of 36 deg. 30 min., the southern
boundary of Missouri. In political discussions Mason and Dixon’s line
was understood to mean both of the above lines and the Ohio River,
or, in other words, the boundary between free and slave territory
the country through. When Kansas was thrown open to settlement the
Southerners were determined, despite the Missouri compromise, to try
to make Kansas a slave State. Their Representatives in Congress,
with the exception of a few Whigs, united in favor of a repeal of the
compromise. With the help of the Douglas Democrats in the North and
several pro-slavery Whigs, they carried their point. The consequence
was the bloody struggles between the free-State and pro-slavery
men in the early history of Kansas, which was practically the
inauguration of the war of the rebellion, although the latter did not
burst into full flame until after the election of President Lincoln
and the secession of the Southern States.
RATES OF INTEREST COMPARED.
FREEPORT, Ill.
Please give your readers a comparison of the rates of interest in
England and the United States for several years back.
A. BORROWER.
_Answer._—Of course rates vary greatly in this country with locality.
Where opportunities for profitable investment are in excess of
capital, as in the Western States, rates are higher than at the
great money centers. The following statement of the average rates of
interest in New York City for each of the fiscal years from 1874 to
1882, inclusive, is taken from the report of the Comptroller of the
Currency:
Call loans, Com’l paper,
Years. per cent. per cent.
1874 3.8 6.4
1875 3.0 5.8
1876 3.3 5.3
1877 3.0 5.2
1878 4.4 5.1
1879 4.4 4.4
1880 4.9 5.3
1881 3.8 5.0
1882 4.4 5.4
The average rate of discount of the Bank of England for the same
years was as follows:
Per cent.
Year ending Dec. 31, 1874 3.69
Year ending Dec. 31, 1875 3.23
Year ending Dec. 31, 1876 2.61
Year ending Dec. 31, 1877 2.91
Year ending Dec. 31, 1878 3.78
Year ending Dec, 31, 1879 2.50
Year ending Dec. 31, 1880 2.76
Year ending Dec. 31, 1881 3.49
Fiscal year ending June 31, 1882 4.01
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa.
Are there any lady members of either House of Parliament? How many
members are there in each House, and what are their titles?
J. A.
_Answer._—There are seven peeresses in their own right entitled
to seats in the English House of Peers. These are the Baroness
Emma Harriet Tyrwhitt; the Baroness Augusta Mary Elizabeth
Cavendish-Bentwick; the Baroness Angela Georgiana Burdett-Coutts; the
Countess Anne S. Leveson-Gower (Duchess of Sutherland); the Baroness
Mary Elizabeth Boscawan; the Baroness Susan North; the Baroness C. E.
H. D. Willoughby. Besides the ladies the House of Peers contains in
all 509 members, viz.: Six princes of the blood; 3 archbishops; 20
dukes; 18 marquises; 114 earls; 26 viscounts; 24 bishops; 225 barons;
16 Scottish representative peers, elected for each Parliament; 28
Irish representative peers, elected for life. There are also 10 minor
peers, who will be entitled to seats when they attain their majority.
The House of Commons is composed of 639 members, of which 489 are
representatives of counties, universities and towns in England and
Wales; 60 are Scottish and 103 Irish representatives. The title of
honorable is given to members of the House. Some of them have titles
in their own right, as Lord Elcho, Earl Bective, Viscount Galway,
Right Honorable Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, and so on.
BONE DUST AS A FERTILIZER.
ALMOND, Wis.
How are bones treated before being used for fertilizing purposes?
For what crops is bone-dust most used, and on what soils?
SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—First, they are generally boiled for the oil and glue
or gelatine in them, which do not materially affect their value
as fertilizers. They are then ground or crushed, without being
previously burned. In this state this fertilizer is known as bone
dust, and is sown broadcast at the rate of 50 to 100 pounds to the
acre, as a rich manure for pasture, turnips, and small grain lands.
In Cheshire, England, where the fine red sandstone loam had become
comparatively sterile before the first of this century, through
deficiency of phosphoric acid in the soil, caused by constant
pasturage in dairy farming, they resorted to the use of calcined bone
and bone dust, with the effect of doubling the product the first
year. There they often lay on a half ton to a ton to an acre, which
serves as a good dressing for sixteen to twenty years. The best way
to ascertain whether a soil needs bone dust is to experiment for a
year or two with a small plat of ground. The result will determine
better than a chemical analysis whether a bone dust dressing will pay.
THE AGE OF SANTA FE.
ATCHISON, Kan.
Is Santa Fe the oldest of American cities, as the Santa Fe papers
claim?
A SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—Cabez de Vaca, a Spanish adventurer, was in New Mexico
with his shipwrecked party as early as 1535. General Coronado, with
a large military expedition, conquered the Zuni and Moqui towns, or
pueblos, in 1540-41, and kept a journal, still in existence, which
identifies the regions he overran as undoubtedly a part of this
Territory. Don Antonio Espejo left Zacatecas in 1581 according to
some authorities, but late in 1582 according to others, and visited
what is now Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in July of 1583. He gave a
fuller report than had ever been given before of the pueblos of this
region, in which he estimated the population of the province of Taos
as 40,000. The principal pueblo in this province was Tanos, afterward
known as Tegra, and still later as Santa Fe. As an Indian town Santa
Fe may be older than any other town in the United States, but as a
European settlement St. Augustine, Fla., still carries the palm of
antiquity, having been founded in 1565.
JOAQUIN MILLER’S REAL NAME.
CHICAGO, Ill.
What is “Joaquin” Miller’s real name, and what were the real and
assumed names of his divorced wife? The Chicago _Herald_ says his
name is Henry F. Miller, which I think is incorrect.
A. STEELE.
_Answer._—The real name of “Joaquin” Miller, author of the “Songs
of the Sierras,” is Cincinnatus Heine Miller. His divorced wife’s
maiden name was Minnie Theresa Dyer, and her literary pseudonym was
“Minnie Myrtle.” It is said that the name “Joaquin” was given to Mr.
Miller by “the boys” in his early California experience, when he was
“roughing it,” from a real or fancied resemblance to a noted Spanish
highwayman, and he adopted it as a pseudonym.
THE BLACKHAWK WAR.
BATTLE CREEK, Mich.
Who was the commander in the Blackhawk war? State some of the chief
facts as to that war.
V. H. LUCAS.
_Answer._—By a treaty made with certain chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes
at St. Louis in 1804, the Indians ceded all their lands in Illinois
to the United States for the paltry annuity of $1,000 and goods to
the value of $2,234.50. In a treaty made in 1822, covering various
matters, a clause was introduced confirming the cession of 1804.
Still the government did not demand actual possession of these
lands. In 1830, Keokuk, Black Hawk’s rival, negotiated a treaty in
which the government recognized him as the head chief of the Sacs
and Foxes, and in which he clearly ceded all the lands in question.
Black Hawk, who had always opposed any cession of territory to the
whites, was not present at this convention, and he and his followers,
constituting a minority of the tribe, but really representing the
portion most concerned, the actual occupants of the great village at
Rock Island, protested against the validity of this and the previous
cessions. Black Hawk declared that the treaty of 1804 was made by
only four chiefs, that they signed it under the influence of liquor,
and had never been authorized by the tribe to cede lands. It was not
so easy to explain away the clause in the treaty of 1822, but he
characterized it also as a fraud, signed without full understanding
of its intent. As to the convention of 1830, he denied the authority
of Keokuk’s band to deed away the lands east of the Mississippi.