DELAWARE. 



239 



brated Aug. 17. The land on which the house 

 stands was given for the purpose, June 17, 1709, 

 by Richard Justison, who had received it from 

 the proprietary governor of the three counties. 



State Institutions. The population of the 

 State Hospital for the Insane in October was 

 295, of whom 128 were women. 



The question arose this year whether the Levy 

 Court of New Castle County was liable for sup- 

 port of boys committed to the Ferris Industrial 

 School. The Legislature had so amended the 

 charter in 1898 as to provide that the county 

 should pay at the rate of $100 a year for every 

 boy committed; and the Levy Court resisted, on 

 the ground that the school is a private corpora- 

 tion, that the new Constitution forbids appro- 

 priations of public money to such institutions 

 by cities and towns, and that the amendment to 

 the charter was in contravention of the Constitu- 

 tion. The court decided for the school, on the 

 ground that the appropriation is not to the cor- 

 poration as such, but for the maintenance and 

 education of boys, who would otherwise be com- 

 mitted to the county jail. 



Militia. The last muster of the National 

 Guard before it went into the service of the 

 Government in 1898 showed a membership of 549 

 officers and men, and when the regiment went 

 into camp it numbered 400 to 500. The places of 

 those who declined to enlist for the war were 

 filled by volunteers, some of whom enlisted as 

 members of the State militia for three years, and 

 others only for national service. In all, more 

 than 1,600 entered the service. At the beginning 

 of 1899 there were about 500 State militia organ- 

 ized in a regiment of 10 companies. The Adjutant 

 General desired the Legislature to make provi- 

 sion for one of 12 companies, in order that there 

 might be three full battalions, conforming to the 

 national regulations. Of the $30,000 voted by the 

 Legislature to cover the expenses of fitting the 

 militia for national service, $22,275 was ex- 

 pended. 



Banks. The trials in connection with the de- 

 falcation of the teller of the First National Bank 

 of Dover (see Annual Cyclopaedia for 1898, page 

 218) were ended in October this year by the 

 entering of a nolle prosequi against United States 

 Senator R. R. Kenney, whose two trials resulted 

 in disagreement of the juries. The teller, W. N. 

 Boggs, was sentenced in May to pay a fine of 

 $6,500 and be imprisoned in the New Jersey Peni- 

 tentiary five years. Of the three others con- 

 victed, one died in the Penitentiary in July and 

 two others Clark and Cotter are serving sen- 

 tences of five years each. 



The committee of the Legislature on private 

 corporations received a report from accountants 

 appointed to investigate the affairs of the Farm- 

 ers' Bank, which was organized in 1807, with its 

 principal bank at Dover and branches at George- 

 town, Wilmington, and New Castle. On their 

 recommendation the capital stock was reduced 

 and the branch at New Castle discontinued. It 

 is stated by the authorities that, " with the New 

 Castle branch wound up, the Farmers' Bank will 

 be able to pay 8-per-cent. dividends within a year, 

 and the State will get $117,000 in cash for its 

 canceled stock, and in one year the same rev- 

 enue from the remaining three fourths as now for 

 the whole." 



The Delaware Railroad. A new railroad 

 company has been formed by the consolidation 

 of the old Delaware Railroad, the Queen Anne's 

 and Kent, the Delaware and Chesapeake, and the 

 Cambridge and Seaford. The capitalization is 

 $2,987,000. By the consolidation of the roads into 



one company the operations of the system, which 

 is an important adjunct to the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad, will be simplified. 



The Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. The 

 annual report to the stockholders of the com- 

 pany in June showed that the revenues from tolls 

 for the past year were $135,522.99; from other 

 sources, $8,816.81; total, $144,339.80; mainte- 

 nance, $45,119.37; balance, $99,220.43. 



Defenses of the Delaware. The report to 

 the War Department, made in October, gives de- 

 tails of the work on the defenses of the Dela- 

 ware the past year. They include two masonry 

 works of old type, one of which is in the charge 

 of an ordnance sergeant. No new work is con- 

 templated at this site. The other was garri- 

 soned for a portion of the year, but the troops 

 have been withdrawn and modern batteries are 

 in course of construction at the site. Modern 

 works of defense are also located at two other 

 points on the river which are garrisoned. 



Rivers and Harbors. The river and harbor 

 bill reported in January carried an appropria- 

 tion for Wilmington harbor amounting in the 

 aggregate to $220,780. Of this sum, $45,000 is 

 appropriated in cash available during the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1900, and $170,780 is the 

 additional amount which the Secretary of War 

 is authorized to expend in future contracts to 

 complete the existing project. 



Appropriations were made for other improve- 

 ments as follows: Appoquinimink, Smyrna, Mur- 

 derkill, and Broad Creek rivers, each $5,000; 

 Mispillion river, $2,500; Nanticoke river, $3,000. 

 The Government has spent $150,000 on the in- 

 land water way between Delaware and Chinco- 

 teague Bays, but no appropriation was made to 

 continue the improvement. St. Jones river is 

 to be surveyed for a new project. 



Wilmington. Statistics give the tonnage of 

 domestic commerce of the city in 1898 as 614,315, 

 and the value $26,870,675 ; the total value of for- 

 eign imports, $86,500; foreign exports, $4,883,- 

 000. The vessels trading in the harbor not in- 

 cluded in this were 40, with tonnage of 10,590, 

 engaged in daily river and harbor work, not in- 

 cluding numerous vessels engaged in coastwise 

 trade, of which no complete record is kept. There 

 passed in and out of the port during 1898 976 

 steamers, barges, tugs, schooners, vessels, floats, 

 laden with merchandise or for repairs, not in- 

 cluding the regular lines of daily connections. 

 Freight and passenger lines between Wilmington 

 and Philadelphia and Penn's Grove carry annual- 

 ly 530,000 passengers, and freight valued at $16,- 

 500,000. 



Twenty-one vessels were built, aggregating 

 13,346 tonnage, and the vessels repaired had a 

 total tonnage of 102,288. 



The two hundredth anniversary of the conse- 

 cration of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, in 

 Wilmington, w r as celebrated May 28. While not 

 the oldest church edifice in the country, it is the 

 oldest now in use for regular religious service. 

 The building has been carefully restored, the old 

 forms of staircase, pews, and other parts have 

 been preserved in the new material, and the 

 work of modern innovations from time to time 

 has been removed. Among the gifts for the bi- 

 centennial was a massive carved chair, made of 

 wood from the church itself, from the widow of 

 Rev. Charles Breck, and a portrait of the first 

 pastor. Rev. Ericus Tobias Borck, from the Swed- 

 ish Mining Company in Fahlun, which gave a 

 silver service to the church in 1718. The por- 

 trait is a copy of one at Fahlun, where Mr. Borck 

 ministered after leaving Wilmington. 



