Forty-Ninth Congress Reviewed, and Charlie Herling Races a Train

The Cortland News, Friday, March 11, 1887.

Washington Letter.

(From our Regular Correspondent.) Washington, Mar. 8, 1887.

   The marble halls of the Capitol are deserted. The 49th Congress has passed into history. Whatever may be said of the quality of its work, it is a fact that no previous Congress has equaled it in the amount of work accomplished. It has presented more measures, passed more bills, and had more bills vetoed than any other Congress in the history of the country.

   Among the important bills passed by the present Congress are the Interstate Commerce bill; the Electoral Count bill; the Presidential Succession bill; Mexican [War] Pension; granting land in severally to Indians; Canadian Fishery Retaliation bill, a bill repealing the Tenure of Office Act; and one for the increase of the navy.

   Congress failed to revise the tariff and to reduce the war taxes, which are pouring $100,000,000 annually into the treasury in excess of the legitimate needs of the government. It is this great surplus fund that has invited the rapacious raids upon the Treasury that have been made during the past four years, and the past Congress was elected to prevent this surplus accumulating by reducing taxes. To continue this onerous and useless taxation is a neglect of duty so great as to almost efface the good which the past Congress has done.

   The radical cure for such a state of affairs as was seen during the closing hours of Congress cannot be found by simply putting a different Representative at the head of the Committee on Appropriations. Neither would it be cured by distributing all appropriations among separate committees. The real trouble about our system of legislation is that there is no head upon whom the responsibility of failure can be vested. When Congress does not do its duty, or performs functions badly it is only the country that suffers. When good legislation is enacted the country is benefited but the party and men whose efficient work has passed the bill are not rewarded. What we need is a Cabinet responsible for legislation. A constitutional amendment requiring members of the President's Cabinet to be members of one or the other House of Congress, would do more than any other measure to bring order out of our legislative chaos. This is the great reform which would bring the Executive and Legislative branches of our government into harmony and facilitate the work of both.

   The Congress presented a deserted appearance yesterday as compared to the lively scenes of the last few days. A few Members sat at their desk writing, culling out papers for preservation. The floors were littered with torn paper and all the debris that had accumulated during the busy prolonged session. Already employees [have started] to remove the worn carpets to prepare the halls for renovation next session.

   In the committee rooms members who have lingered in the city, ransacked drawers and put their effects in order. A lively interest was exhibited by those remaining Members in the condition of matters of legislation, and many of them dropped into the Clerks’ office to inquire with anxiety whether the President had signed bills for which they felt a concern.

   Notwithstanding the unexpected strain put upon the enrolling clerks by the hasty legislation of the closing hours of Congress, no material errors have been detected in the work. Some idea of the manner in which the 49th Congress wound up its work may be found in the declaration of a Member of long experience, that the fact was that one quarter of the legislation of the session had been enacted in the last few legislative days.

REX.

A Race That Came Near Costing a Life.

   WILKES BARRE, Penn., March 6, 1887.—A thrilling scene was witnessed yesterday at Hazleton. Near Ellison and Co.'s foundry and machine shop is a road which crosses the Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks. About noon, while the employees of the shop were sitting around waiting for the whistle to blow which would call them back to work, Charles Herling, a somewhat eccentric character of the town, drove up to the crossing in a sleigh, to which was hitched a fiery pair of horses. Instead of driving over the tracks, Herling turned the horses onto the railroad bed, and lashing the animals furiously with his whip, a mad race up the track was begun, the sleigh bounding over the ties at a rapid rate. The employees of the foundry were terror stricken when they saw a freight train rounding the curve, and running at the rate of 18 miles an hour. They knew it must only be a short time before the eccentric driver and his horses would be overtaken by the iron horse, so they rushed out upon the railroad track and signaled to the engineer to stop. The engineer at the time saw nothing ahead of him on the track, and was at loss to know what his signalers meant. He soon found out, and as he cleared the curve he saw ahead of him the madman and the horses. He whistled down brakes and reversed his engine, but did not expect to stop the train in time to avoid a terrible accident.

   The man in the sleigh heard the tooting of the locomotive's whistle, and turned back two or three times to ascertain the distance between himself and the train. The engineer waved his hand to the lunatic to go on, and the later, taking in the situation, whipped up his horses to the highest pitch. The frightened animals tore down the railroad track at a terrific rate of speed, but the locomotive was gaining fast. To add to the danger a train was coming toward Herling on the east track, so that he could not turn cut had he so desired. When the engine was within 50 yards of the sleigh one of the runners broke and the speed of the horses was considerably lessened. By this time, however, the train was almost at a standstill, and when within ten feet of the sleigh the train came to a dead stop. The train on the east bound track was also stopped. The horses' feet were badly cut up and they were ready to fall from exhaustion. The sleigh was also wrecked and would not have pulled its freight much further.

   A large crowd collected. Herling took things very coolly. He said: "By thunder! That was a big race, but I think I won."