Cuts Quite A Figure

There are probably no statistics in tHo world tliat are onehalf as interesting as those relating to marriage. The marriage Uceases that are pubHshed each week, are ecanned vvi;h enger eyes by nearly all olasses oi readers, and 110 matter in obscure a place they may be logatcc they wiU be hunted out. In view of the value of this subjoct to our readers we have taken considerable pains to look over the record for the year past in the county clerk's oTfiee, and froin it have compiled a few figures that may be aew to the public. In the first place we find that Ann Arbor city has furnished more brides than any other locality in the county, being far anead of Ypsilanti, and in grooms the record shows almost twice as ra.'tny frora the county capital as from its (ïreek named sister down the Huron. The table is ns follows : Grooms BrldeR Ann Arbor city 7fi 88 " " town 3 Augusta 14 14 Hridgewater . fi b Dexter - 3 Í F'reedom . 8 ? Lima . 3 f Lodi 11 11 Lynilon 3 ' Manchesier lü 11 Northtleld.-.Jk. 11 11 Pittsfleld 6 3 Salem S 7 Saline lfl H Sclo 5 f sharon 4 ' Superior 4 5 Sylvan _ 12 10 Webster _ . .21 lork 18 13 Ypsilanti town 1 4 Ypsilanti city 39 51 Of the nationality of those married 280 are natives to the manor born, wtaatever that may mean - in this instnnce it meams born in tnis county. The state outside this county furnished 152. The balance of this nation 121. Of the foreign countries, 1 claimed Europe as his birthplace ; 3 Ireland, 4 Scotland, 19 Engalnd, 30 öanada, 64 Germany. Because th number of brides and grooms in a township Are even, does not indícate that the couples married both came from that place, in fact, aside from Freedom and Lodi very few brides married men in their owb township. There were rnany more instances in the two cities where this occurred, than in the country. Wïü'le the grooms register f rom all parts of the nation. The occupations show this communIty to be an agricultural one in a large sense, for out of 337 groóme, 142 were farmers, while OTily 11 were teachers, and but 2 students. Ore clergyman. 1 minister and 1 pastor took untp themselves helpmates whi'e G phyetelane, 4 laTvyers, 1 eloeutionist, (which is all the same) did likewise. Three bookkeepers, 1 1ook seUer, 1 opticlan, 2 mail clerks, 1 letter carrier, 2 jewelers, 3 paper makers, 1 paper hanger and 2 janitors and 2 masons, had the tie tied. Each oí the following occupations had one rcprescntative : sa!oon keeper, grave digger, gas man, balloonist, motor man, teamster, malster, barber, cashier, sailor, porter, lumberman, actor, insurance man. Tliree printers ventured into matrimony, and so did 3 butcuers, 3 fruit growers, 3 cooksk ,'ind 3 icemen - justt hink how the poor brides must have shivered. There were three brides over 60, the oldest being 62. There were five groorns over CO, the oldest being G8. One blushing female of 00 took unto Uereelf a husband of 36, the other extreme was reached in a groom of 50 taking a bride of 26. Another blooming damsel of 45 short summers took unto herself a diffident young man of 34, while a hero of 61 married a hroine of 38, and one of 57 I took unto himself a malden oí 32, and anotlier of 53 did a like deed. One couple were eacli aged 5G yeais. whle a groora of 68 took, a bride o: 66. This was the oldest couple macried, and they carne (rom Sylvan. Some of t-he other couples weie mated at those ages, groom 59 bride 50, 52-J.6, 62-59, 57-52, 67-61, 5853. 53-41, 67-62, 50-86 The youngest coup'e carne from Aun Arbor, the bride being 15 and the groom 24- the parents of the bride accompanying her to procure the Iicense. Oi the charming brides 1 was 15 yeara oíd, 3 were 16, 10 were 17, 21 were 18, 27 were 19. One groom was 17, 2 were 18, 1 was 19. The average age of the brides wae 23, whilo that of the grooms -vas 28. It Is noted that the average age at which young women enter the raarried state lias risen [rom 19 and 20 up to 23. Tais shows that the girls are petting more sensible, and do not take the first chance that offers, but wait until they have more experience and know more of iTe, thng inaking better wives, leading happ'er uves and making more cheerful homcs. At least that Is the increase. It Is quite astonisTiing that in!i:is ters and tlio-o empow&red to oificiate at marriages are so carelese in return'ng the record o: ceremonies pr farmed to the county c!erk's o ."fice. The law makes it an offense, accompanled by a heavy fine to neglect this important dut.v, and yet the record shows that there were 21 licenses issued last year in which no return of marriage has been received at the county clerk"s office. Of this number 2 were in January ast, and 12 for the past month of December. There are 11 licenses for 1894, for wnich no returns have been made. Several of these not returned are known to have been married, a few being people of some considerable prominence. The number of licenses issued 337, is 13 in excess of 1894, when there were but 324 issued. This is an indictation, so some argüe, that the times are growing better. If this is true. the improvement ia not nufficient to brag about in any great degree. Marriage is not a Failure - In this connection it might not te out of place to say a word about divorces. TTw-y are on the decline in about the same ratio that maniages have increased for the past year. Durrng the year 1894 the court records ehow that there were 53 applications for divorce, while in 1895 there were only 44. The ratio, it wil! be eeen, is reduced fi-om one divorce for every eix marringes in 1894, to one for every eight, or nearly feo, in 1895. It ie to be hoped that the ratio will keep on improving. Cases in Court - The records oí the circuit court show a slight falilng o'f in business from Iast year. For instance, in 189-t there were 121 law cases coinmenced, while in 1895 there were but 105. Of the chancery cases 123 were commenced in 1894, While 118 only were eommenced the past year. The criminal docket is not quite fo favorable, the record íor this year, 61, being six anead of 1894, which was 55. Únele Sam MakinR Money - Ií one is fond of Btatistics iio u:n liave his fondest desired giaii iel liere. Únele Sam does a penny business and equires exact accuracy of his eervants, and as á consequence he keeps iostmasters and tbeir c'erks figuring most 'Of the time. "VVhen a Courier representatlve went to Postmaeter Beakes a few day's sioce, to get some statistics for the year, that official was found very accommodating, and gratiiied him in an overwhelmrag manner, in fact said scrlbe could have been figuring yet with columns upon columns ahead of ïim had he not gracefully backed out after eecuring some of the items of the most interest to the reaillng public. The year jast has been a pros--perous one, showing more bushress than any previous year. The sale of stamps, of couvse is the important business of the office, so we glve the number sokl by months for the past year : Spec. Postal lc. 2e. iïc. 5c Lieliv. card. Jan. 13,83 27X81 SM 1,105 ÏÜ J4.D4Í5 15,645 77.U09 H68 1,10 177 15 128 Mar. 18,48 79.OÍ9 512 1 M3 179 J í ..to Apr. 14 747 72J5S8 6U8 708 186 18,IKW Miiy 17,ií-I5 77Ó81 oB2 (iUI 2fe 15,608 Jane )3 20p 66,374 416 920 229 1 ,!vs July Ki,o: 48,436 341 ii 8 123 11.715 All" 10,885 44,15lj 388 580 140 Sept. 12,882 54,051 83ii 47 155 ls,2(i7 Oct. 28,128 B0.215 685 1,042 16S 16,634 NOV. 80,841 79.258 60" 1,1178 137 18,232 Dec. 9959 70,49 1.836 2,2'JS 38S) 15,151 185 05(1 8Ö7,9:'3 0,807 12,047 2,250 184,070 Besirtes the above there were 357,727 ütamped envelopea diepoeed of, and a largo number of stamps of other ilenominations. In the above tafre the 2c stamps denote the Jomestic letter postage, while the 5 cent stamps denote the foreign letter postage. The merease in the registered letter and parcel department for the past quarter has been quite marked. in 1804 the number for the December quarter was 775 while for the past it was 1,009. In th December quarter for 18S7 there were 518, itntl during the years succeeding, up to last December it was considered a great feat to pass the G00 no'tch. The entire number of reglsteïed etters and pareéis for the year lias been 2,680, a handsome increase, showing that the people are beginning to understand the almost absolute safety of BendLng small packages in1iis way. The Ann Arbor newspapers and publications aggregate an astonishing weight ïor the year, 90,831 pounds, or over 45 tons. As it takes about 50 of the Couriers to weigli one pound, the mumber of separate papers this vast gum representa can be easily figured out by the average school boy or girl. What is Uncle Sam making out of all this ? Wel, he Is doing welU Here are the receipts for the past two years, so that they may be comparad : 1894 1895 lst. quarter $7.863 15 #9.073 30 M, " 7,368 97 7,7ÖO 84 !id " 5,412 44 6,131 ds 4th. " 8,412 65 9.171) 17 Total $29,052 21 ?S2 161 96 29,053 21 Inerease ? !,109 74 The increase is about 11 per cent over 1894k The proiits ? WeU, Uuc!e Sam U doIng -vveil, a!so. After deducting all expenses oí the oífice, even to payir.g for all carrier's satche'.s, all mail boxes, letter boxes, and every penny that is expended for any purpose ttliatever, there has been remitted 10 the government in net p-.-ofits th following -amounts : lst. quarter $4.717 55 2nd. " 3,219 IS ,1rd. " - 1,398 41 4th. " 4,540 15 Total $13,873 24 This certainly represente quite a handsome Cncome. one which many a city of far greater population than Ann Arbor would be proud lo boast oí. The Real Estáte Record- At the oífice of t lie Register oí Deeds we find that business lias ! een íair'y good for the past year. According to the records there -nere 1,260 deetls of all kinds recarded., 01 ihis number Aun Arbor is far anead Uirnislüng 3i7, or over one quarter of the entire number. YpsiUanti comes j next 'vith 192, or not quite one-sixth. Tlie wjde-awake vlUage of Chelsea is no s!ow coach in this matter, having furnished 59, and we persunie there are others credited to Sylyan, that really belong to her, while Manchester village and to'n'iiship combineí, only reached 45, and Saline 40, Salem 22 ; Dexter village could not be separated from Scio, while the village of Milán coméis! i nfor only six transfers, the reason probably being that York township gets many of t'hcm ín this county, whlle a few go to Monroe county. The record by townships stands in this way, of both deeils and mort.gages : Mortgflges Deeds Ann Arlior city 223 347 Ann Arbitr town 8 18 Augusta in 73 Brldgewater 17 48 Baxter 8 28 Freeilom is 2ii Lima 11 14 Lodl. 19 2li lyndon 8 S rwancln.'ster 46 45 Norlhfleld 10 37 Filtafleld 8 21 Saline - 95 40 Salem - 18 22 Sclo 19 x Sharon 7 18 Superior IS 29 Sylvan - _ Si 25 ( Ihelsea "9 Webster 14 22 York 34 -51 Milan 6 Ypsil Mli ITOD f) ]-. Ypsilanti city 119 192 There have been no very lieavy t.ransferB during the year, Pittsiie'd baring one oï $12,000, Chas. II. Roberts to "Wm. Geddes, and Lima one of the ame amount, H. S. Holmes to J. Smith. There was one transfer of $10,000, five of $8,000 and over, and but fifteen between $5,000 and $8,000. The greater numbers nre irom $500 to $2.500. While the record shows 654 mortgages recordcd rturSng the past year, it ateo shows 305 discharges and 40 re'ea.ses, which indicates a liealthy condition of the roal estata inarket. There were, besides the mortgages 18 mechanic's Heus, 198 assignments, of mortgage. 30 Lis Tendens, 5 attafthments, 12 vies, 5 attachments, 2 ejectments, 3 farmleae-, 2 üie 'easea and one bond. In tuis coimection we wish to say a word about the present condition of the Register of Deeds office. Mr. MeKinstry has worked a revolution in it during the past few weeks. He has everythng up to date, and any person wanting a paper recorded can have it compLeted, compared and ready for delivery if necessary. That is business. Inquiry at the office of Brown & Kearns, abstractors, calle out the fact that they have made 412 abstracts for transfer during the year, about t-he same as last year. The English Sparrows BxpensiVe- The figures at the County Clerk's office indícate that at 3 cents per head there were 9,194 sparrows killed in 1894, and at two cents per head, 14,661 killed in 1S95. But as the law changed irom 3 to 2 cents some time in March, the figures for 1S95 will not be exactly accurate. The amount paid to each townshio in sparrow bounties for the two years is as follows : 1S94 1895 Ann ArV)or City 33 49 188 00 ' ' tOWD 4 14 7 77 Atgusto 5 i S 57 Bridicewiiter 1U 3 60 Dexter I U2 Freeüom 2 10 9 72 Umt 29 68 17 Si Loli 1115 7 09 J.yndon 34 15 Mancnester.. 7 77 8 98 Nortlifleld i Si 4 47 PiUsflefü 7 77 4 20 Salem.- 3 18 12 44 Saline 13 42 9 48 Scio 13 08 13 02 Sharon - 2 19 8 90 Superior 27 04 7 54 Sjfvan 22 78 235 Webster 11 20 7 06 YorK 5 00 5 55 Ypsilantltown 8 61 19 44 city 52 02 44 53 Total $275 81 $293 21 Work of the Prosecuting Attorney - ProseentiDg Attorney Seth C. Raudal! this week fnrnished the attorney general with his report upon the amouut of criminal bnsiness done in the connty during the past sis months. The total nnmber of pf rsons piosecnted during this time was 236, of whom 1 64 were convicted, three acqnitted, 52 dismissed ou payment of costs, three nolle prossed, 1 1 discharged on examinaron, and three settled. Of the cases, three were of arson, 42 of assanlt and battery, one of adnltery, three of assanlt with intent to do great bocüly haría, three of cruelty of animáis, three of breaking into a freíght car, seven of boarding trains while in motion, five of disturbing religious meeting, (8 of drnukenness, three of jnvenile disorderly, four of prostitution, eight of violation of game laws, one of f orgory, two of f alse pretenses, 1 2 of violation of liquor law, six of grand larceny, one of sednction. For the six months preceding the whole number of arrests had been 187 (making a total of 423 for the year). Of these 155 were convicted, one acqnitted, 17 disoharged on payment of costs, five nolle prossed, uiue discbarged on examination.