FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   >>   >|  
to Seventh street, up Seventh street to Jackson street, down Jackson street to Third street, up Third street to Market street. Ex-Gov. W.A. Gorman and ex-Gov. Alex. Ramsey were the orators of the occasion, and they delivered very lengthy addresses. It had been arranged to have extensive fireworks in the evening, but on account of the storm they had to be postponed until the following night. It was a strange coincidence that on the very day of the celebration the last message was exchanged between England and America. The cable had been in successful operation about four weeks and 129 messages were received from England and 271 sent from America. In 1866 a new company succeeded in laying the cable which is in successful operation to-day. Four attempts were made before the enterprise was successful--the first in 1857, the second in 1858, the third in 1863 and the successful one in 1865. Cyrus W. Field, the projector of the enterprise, received the unanimous thanks of congress, and would have been knighted by Great Britain had Mr. Field thought it proper to accept such honor. * * * * * Some time during the early '50s a secret order known as the Sons of Malta was organized in one of the Eastern states, and its membership increased throughout the West with as much rapidity as the Vandals and Goths increased their numbers during the declining years of the Roman Empire. Two or three members of the Pioneer editorial staff procured a charter from Pittesburg in 1858 and instituted a lodge in St. Paul. It was a grand success from the start. Merchants, lawyers, doctors, printers, and in fact half of the male population, was soon enrolled in the membership of the order. There was something so grand, gloomy and peculiar about the initiation that made it certain that as soon as one victim had run the gauntlet he would not be satisfied until another one had been procured. When a candidate had been proposed for membership the whole lodge acted as a committee of investigation, and if it could be ascertained that he had ever been derelict in his dealings with his fellow men he was sure to be charged with it when being examined by the high priest in the secret chamber of the order--that is, the candidate supposed he was in a secret chamber from the manner in which he had to be questioned, but when the hood had been removed from his face he found, much to his mortification, that his confession had be
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

street

 

successful

 
membership
 

secret

 

operation

 

America

 

increased

 

England

 

received

 
enterprise

procured
 

candidate

 

chamber

 
Seventh
 
Jackson
 

instituted

 

Pittesburg

 
investigation
 

charter

 
questioned

lawyers

 
manner
 
Merchants
 

success

 

removed

 

mortification

 
confession
 

derelict

 

ascertained

 
numbers

declining
 

Empire

 

editorial

 

doctors

 

Pioneer

 

members

 

printers

 

dealings

 

satisfied

 
gauntlet

victim
 
fellow
 

proposed

 

charged

 

examined

 
initiation
 

population

 

committee

 

supposed

 

enrolled