death, — a process much less lingering and tedious. The pressing process was simply a device, as Pat said the press-gang was, " to force a man to turn volunteer." The only process in modern times sim ilar to pressing is the confinement in prison for months without bringing to trial, in the apparent hope, in the absence of criminating evidence, of so demoralizing the accused that he will confess what he is not guilty of, — as for example in the case of Lizzie Borden. If the playwright is guilty of this error, it should be corrected. Mr. Corey died by pressing, because of his obstinacy. It was entirely unnecessary. All he had to do was to say guilty, or not guilty; and in either case he would have been humanely and picturesquely hanged. "GRASS WIDOW."— A lively discussion concerning the meaning of this phrase has sprung up in the columns of "The Nation." Imagination has there run riot in regard to it. Until now we had not sus pected that there was any doubt about it,— that it is a vulgarization of " grace widow," or one called a widow by way of grace or politeness, — a woman deserted by her husband, or living apart from him. This is the definition and the derivation given by the Century Dictionary and in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, although by Brewer's is suggested the notion that in California, in the days of the early gold mania, a miner would put his family to board while he went digging, and hence it was called "putting his wife to grass." as if she were a horse. One derivation in "The Nation " is still more gro tesque, and must not be dwelt upon "in the presence of Mrs. Boffin." " Widow bewitched " is said by these authorities to be synonymous; but we have heard that phrase applied to a regular widow of a lively temperament.
THE ANARCHISTS' CASE. — An account of the celebrated trial of the Anarchists for murder of the policemen in Chicago is given in " The Century" for April, by Judge Gary, who presided at the trial. It is a valuable contribution. " The Nation " says of it: " It is perhaps unfortunate that Judge Gary does not unfold more lucidly the cumulative and narrow ing trend of the facts fixing special responsibility on the defendants, instead of dwelling on the general responsibility of ' the whole body of conspirators ' to such an extent as to imply that Judge Clary holds that all the Anarchists were equally responsible under the law, independently of any question of their degree of nearness to the particular crime charged." Judge Gary does not hold that "all the Anarchists were equally responsible " merely by reason of their political sentiments and without regard to their acts
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of active conspiracy against public order; and he does, in our judgment, disclose the facts fixing " special responsibility • on the accused, sufficiently to indicate that he does not hold the doctrine imputed to him by •' The Nation." At all events, we are glad he did not try to depict such a singular thing as a " cumulative and narrowing trend." We do not deny that a thing may be heaped up and at the same time narrowed, but it must get thin in the process. After all, the best account of this famous trial ever given is in the opinion of Judge Magruder on the appeal in the Supreme Court. MORE NOVEL LAW. — Let no one suppose that we have read " Miss Nobody of Nowhere," by the author of " Mr. Barnes of New York." A lawyer, whom we suspect of brain-softening, who confessed to having regularly perused that "effusion," called our attention to a remarkable way. disclosed therein, of getting affidavits in legal proceedings from Eng land in a hurry; namely, having them cabled. This is worse than administering oaths to affidavits by telephone, a query in regard to the legality of which recently was raised in the '• Michigan Law Journal." But the author of such literature as this is safe in presuming to any extent on the credulity of his readers even on the violent assumption that he himself knows any better.
AMATEUR THEATRICALS. — We recently made from this chair a contrite confession of having once written a play for amateur actors. To show the lasting evil effects of a wrong step in early life, we now have to add that the play in question has just been acted in Albany by the young ladies of the Albany Academy. The male parts were assumed by the young ladies, and no men were admitted to the performance. It is said by those privileged to see it to have been a notably good performance. But it is sad to be obliged to record such an infraction of the statute which prohibits women from masquerading in masculine apparel. Of course the public authorities could not have broken up the performance, for the police could not have been admitted. But the girls should not be encouraged in this sort of thing, how much soever they may pant for histrionic fame.
UNMARRIED LADIES. — Our beloved disciple, R. Vashon Rogers, discoursed of late in this magazine in a very entertaining manner concerning this numer ous and deserving class. His speaking of Serjeant Buzfuz's •' chops and tomato-sauce " reminds us thai an English antiquary has recently broached the plau sible theory that "tomato-sauce " some relevancy bore, because at the time when Dickens wrote tomatoes
