656 



PATENTS. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



ledge, and, pressing the handles together sim- 

 ply by closing the fingers, swings himself clear 

 of the ledge. Slightly loosening his grip, he be- 

 gins to descend, and can regulate the speed of 

 descent at will. Even if presence of mind for- 

 sakes him, the turn of the rope around the pin 



FiG.12. 



JBocLy 

 I Belt 



will check the downward movement sufficient- 

 ly to prevent serious injury oil reaching the 

 ground, and, if a person on the ground holds 

 the lower end of the rope, he can regulate the 

 rate of descent without any aid from the clutch 

 by merely bearing more or less weight on the 

 rope, and thus tightening the turns. 



PENNSYLVANIA. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the 

 year: Governor, James A. Beaver, Republican ; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, William T. Davies ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Charles W. Stone ; Treasurer, 

 Matthew S. Quay (elected United States Sen- 

 ator); Auditor-General, Jerome B. Niles, suc- 

 ceeded by A. Wilson Norris; Secretary of 

 Internal Affairs, J. Simpson Africa, succeeded 

 by Thomas J. Stewart; Attorney-General, W. 

 S. Kirkpatrick ; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, E. E. Higbee; Chief-Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, Ulysses Mercur,* succeeded 

 by Isaac G. Gordon ; Associate Justices, Ed- 

 ward M. Paxson, John Trunkey, James P. 

 Sterrett, Henry Green, and Silas M. Clark. In 

 August Governor Beaver appointed Henry W. 

 Williams to till the vacancy on the Supreme 

 bench caused by the death of Chief-Justice 

 Mercur until a successor should be elected in 

 November. Judge Williams then became his 

 own successor. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 January 4, and adjourned May 1 ( J, having been 

 in session 135 days. State Treasurer Matthew 

 S. Quay was chosen to succeed United States 

 Senator John J. Mitchell, receiving 33 votes in 

 the Senate and 133 in the House. Fourteen 

 votes in the Senate and 60 in the House were 

 cast for Simon P. Wolverron, the Democratic 

 candidate. In the Republican caucus, Jan. 4, 

 Quay received 154 votes to 9 for Galusha A. 

 Grow. 



The Legislation adopted includes an act 

 fixing the number of members in the lower 

 House of the Legislature at 204, and rearrang- 

 ing the districts from which they shall be 

 elected; an act reorganizing and defining the 

 congressional districts ; an act providing for the 

 semi-monthly payment of wages by employers ; 

 a " married women's property act," and a high 

 license act. 



The property act declares that every married 

 woman shall have the same right to acquire, 

 hold, control, and dispose of her property as 

 if she were a feme sole, without the interven- 

 tion of any trustee, and free from the control 

 of her husband, except that the latter must 

 join in any mortgage or conveyance of real 

 estate made by her. She may contract upon 

 the basis of her separate property, may sue or 

 be sued alone on such contracts, and for torts 

 committed to or by her, and her separate prop- 

 erty is alone liable. The license act fixes the 

 amount to be paid by wholesale and retail 

 dealers in cities of the first, second, and third 

 class at $500, in all other cities $300, in bor- 

 oughs $200 for wholesale, and $150 for retail 

 dealers, and in townships half of the last 

 mentioned sums respectively. It further pro- 

 vides that the sale or gift of liquor to any per- 

 son, whether by a licensed dealer or not, shall 

 be unlawful on election-days and on Sundays, 

 and at all times when the person receiving it 



* Died June 6. 



