The Springfield Daily Republican from Springfield, Massachusetts (2024)

May 5, 1875

Publication:

The Springfield Daily Republicani

Location:

Springfield, Massachusetts

Issue Date:

Wednesday, May 5, 1875

Page:

5

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

THE IIEP LIBEL HIT CONTINUED ROM PAGKI die said: had a feeling of indignation after I had discovered what he was about to do and what he bad done and I desired to protect the public againsthim But toward him Ihadnoill feeliu' There has been remarkable fairness in the action of the defendant Mr Bowls tow ard the Phelps family He has admitted all' their communications and that most striking commu nication the one which he admitted very juoruing of the election tbe strongest argument that could be made for tbe other side was publish ed at full length in The Republican and indeed almost everything they have said has been pub lished there Having therefore may it please your honor failed in any endeavor to bring tbe remotest proof of malice and having seen the manner in which the newspaper has been conducted and added to this the oath of the de fendant your honor is substantially driven to find such excess as must exist to prove that the defendant was actuated by some private malice Take alleged libels as they stand and I submit to your honor that they were written with a sense of public duty when the public right was concerned when the public was to act and aet at once and when the public was in great danger of being misled and when it was absol utely necessary foi the person having the public duty to perform to call the attention of the pub Jic to it in the strongest and most ardent man ner If this defendant Mr Bowles had gone beyond the requirements of the case if he had gone into any past history of the I mean to intimate that there is any that is not entirely but if he had attempted that he should have been visited here with the severest punishment THE USE HIS POWER The defendant has a great responsibility and power and he must use it He should use it for public good but that in the method of using it he shall not be held to a very strict or critical ac count is necessary for the independence of the press The question should be Did he go beyond the subject matter? or introduce any foreim matters for the purpose of injuring the plain tift Now one thing on that point appears here that however strong may have been the language it all related to public matters The defendant was scrupulously exact in keeping to the public ques tion throughout If he had gone beyond this if there was the least shadow of an imputation upon Him in that respect he might have something here which might rest upon his conscience But he stands before the court with the feeling of conscious innocence in his heart that he intended nothing but the public good And he knows as his oath said and as he said to von that he had no other motive in his mind Your honor will recollect that the defendant took great pains to ascertain the real stale of things He conversed with the parties themselves He did not go to their enemies He sustained them as long as he could He even sustained Henry Phelps against the opposition candidate and voted for him be cause he did not then know the extent of the plans which had been laid He sent his report ers everywhere to learn the and first of all to head quarters This is the most striking proof of good faith A man whois not acting in good faith who is simply trying to get up char ges against a person to injure him will go among his enemies and those opposed to him Thedefendant argued the case against Mr Pnelps be fore the board of directors He argued it with Mr Henry Phelps in his private room and furnished an account of the interview to the pub lic almost directly after That is evidence of good faith The plaintiff understood the article in The Republican charged as libelous when it appealed and he responded to it It was anopen public controversy And now may it please your honor being a case of an open pub lic controversy on a great question where tbe whole public was interested and there being anentire absence of any shadow of personal motive or profit on the part of tbe defendant and having performed what he believed to be a very import ant public duty the question is whether he shall be liable for damages for any injury that he mav have done the plaintiff WAS THE LANGUAGE EXCESSIVE? lam aware that your honor at this trial is oc cupying a new and I may say an unknown pos ition in this court By the recent statute the parties may submit their case to the court instead of to the jury This probably the first case injthe history of libel relating to public and pol itical controversy being tried otherwise than by a jury and I hope it is not an unpleasant reflec tion to your honor to remember that it was by the concurrence of both sides in this case that it was submitted to your judgment and taken from the jury At the same time your honor of course feels" and feels more deeply than any of us can the peculiar kind of psychological process required to enable the judge to be both juror and judge to instruct himself as judge upon the law which as juror be is to apply to facts But we have no tear on either side that harm will come to any one by the manner in which your honor will discharge this new and untried duty My only anxiety is what the is sue of some trials I have read' of now brought upon my mind that the obligation that rests iion the person who has the power to rouse pub lic attention may be put to a critical analysis that sitting at our leisure with no question ot a public nature before ns your honor might think that this might have been done without quite so much force that it may have been more than tbe occasion now looked backjupon seems to have required When the whole attack upon the public has failed and the public has got back to its equilibrium that it might have been done i with the expenditure of less vigor less force in short that tbe alarm gun which gave the sum I nions to the citizens might have been fired with a little smaller charge of and perhaps I so But it would be rather hard if a man should be punished for it after he has saved the ship It may be that tbe person who sounded the bell hich aroused the city to the impending fire may have rung it louder and longer than it turne'd I out to be necessary to spread the alarm and that some nervous ersons were awaked by it who might have slept through but if it is rung in good faith in the discharge of a public duty the excess is nothing for which any person should be held strongly to account The great of tbe law is that we must discharge our duties according to our abilities If there is a cry of stop thief in the street and a hue and cry 'is raised it is legal and lawful and honora I ble On one side is a man who is in a better I position to make himself heard and he raises his I voice and it turns ont that tbe man whom he I points out was not the thief and yet he is to be I commended for he used the power which he had I A man who possesses the necessary weaixm has I the duty to use the weapon when emergency I ja murc'er is about being committed I tbe by stander who cannot reach the murderer I can do little but any one who mounts the first I fleet horse and can overtake him is the man who I has a duty to perform and should perform it Men mu discharge the dutv which is lodged I with them And the result will be this that if I the courts are too strict calling men to ac I count who have an opportunity to render a pub I he service tbe service will not be rendered I Men will not be quick to interfere to prevent the I commission of crime they will not be alert to I bring to justice tbe offender if the penalty is to I be in the true ratio of their opportunities and it I will be only those who can do little or nothing I who will act I It is of the utmost importance therefore that I nothing should be done which should tend to I disparage persons who have a public duty to per I form from performing it bravely fearlessly and I without fear of consequences except those which I they should answer for and that is personal I malice It is precisely the same thing with the I debate in the public assembly by a member of I that assembly The citizen who atthetownmeet I ing or voluntary meeting or caucus addresses his I fellow citizens should have the same privilege as I the parliamentarian or the privilege of the I jiarliamentariau rests solely on the ground that I lie is iu the discharge of a public duty It is bet I ter for the public interests that 'individuals I should occasionally suffer than that the person I who has the public dutv to perform should jier I form it timidly and half heartedly and looking THE SPRINGIELD DAILY REPUBLICAN: WEDNESDAY MAY 5 1875 only at his own safety fearing the judgments that may be passed upon him trom the courts if be hapiieiis to make a mistake under tbs critical circ*mstances impending or in a sudden emer gency The fact is all brave men and good men and earnest men and enthusiastic and these are the men who will do ths kind of if they follow their temperaments without malice will do things which may seem to be in excess when we are investigating them with de liberation THE PERIL AN ADVERSE JUDGMENT 1 have no doubt my friend and client would feel he already has the consciousness that which has appeared in this trial here has already justified him in the and he would like also to have complete justification through your decision but if it should be adverse to him in any respect much as he would feel deeply as he would feel I think I may say of him that he would feel more deeply the injury and peril to the public service than he would feel that which would fall upon him self Because the payment of the little money to the Phelpses in addition to what Spring field has already paid them though it might press upon the defendant would end there but the judgment would be a precedent which would stand in terrorem over all ardent mid enthusiastic persons who alone are found to mount the breach to assault the bridge and to lead the for loin hope rif such men are to be held to the same restriction which we hold persons to who take their time and write out their books at their leisure and correct them and pare them down so that it strikes nobody hurts nobody and does no good then sir it that be so the suf ferer is the community We beg your honor to consider most deeply whether a iine of reason ing that might attempt this would not have the effect substantially to close the mouths of all those persons who have voices that can be heard when a great public calamity is impending But whatever may be the decision we know that the defendant feels conscious of having done no wrong He would feel greatly disappointed if it was not pronounced that he'had done a great public good but he will also remember that he is charged with no pecuniary or mercenary mo live that was not said of him that he attempted to carry out any personal design for his own benefit or for any political purpose or personal private purpose whatever He has done nothing against the in terest of the public and all that can be said against him is that being full of energy deeply interested in the character and future of the town of his birth a town whose citizens love and honor him having made the newspaper of this town as the counsel finely said in opening a distinction to Spring field in all parts of this republic hav ing built up its name and built up his own credit with it deeply interested in the town and in all that concerns it when he saw its peril when he saw the disease that was spread ingpoint by point into New England was af fecring his own native town and that then acting for public he may have shown a little more zeal more earnestness than perhaps some persons at their leisure afterward might say was absolutely necessary though all in tbe line of public duty or for tbe public bene fit With no other imputation resting upon him than that may it please your honor 1 think that in every condition in life whatever mav happen to him he may always recall or derive pleas ure from it THE AUG UM ENT GE JUDGE THOMAS Judge Thomas began his argument for the plaintiff by stating that he considered his task a very1 simple one having only to address the court His brother Mr Dana had included both the court and the press and he should despair were it not his experience that all subtleties ot logic and rhetoric are shorn of their strength when brought face to face with common sense and the judgment of the law The case is a very unusual yet still a simple one Here is an old man of three score years and ten who in the town of his birth is able after a life of conflict ing interests to bring forward some twenty of the friends of his youth his manhood his old age to certify that in all the past his character has been above reproach and even suspicion A public work is demanded the city stands ready to subscribe to it the best citizens favor it and the only difference is over the amount of this public subscription or this difference with out it is claimed any intention to injure his pri vate character Mr Phelps is denounced as a rob ber and public corrupter Into this charge is concentrated all that men hate and abhor to tbe plaintiff is applied an epithet which includes the sum of all he is called the Tweed of The question under tbe law is Has justification been shown for the libel oris it the right of the press to utter such charges under the claim of privilege? What was the sense of these libelous articles? Here three points are to be considered: irst a libel is distinct from mere slander It is enough to establish libel to show that the words written bring upon their subject contempt and ridicule an oral charge must be of the commis sion of crime under the law Second each one of the libels is a distinct issue of the press and so a distinct libel we do not say that there might not be a series of articles whose relations should be such that all must be read to determine their character but we do say that one taking up a paper and reading a single libelous article is not influenced in bis judgment because previous arti cles have explained and qualified it Third the law does not look at a libel through any remote construction it only asks What is the impression that these words make upon the common mind? not how they affect legal or erudite persons The alleged libels were then commented 'upon in their order The first count Mr Phelps proved himself in the Athol transaction a public robber and a public corrupter is but the summing and condensation of all the articles and it cau be constrained to convey but one it brings down contempt hatred and ridicule upon its subject And this sharp summary is but confirmed and fixed by the whole article: every passage leads up to and £ives to the final utterance In the ar ticle of November 29 when Mr Phelps is charged with standing at both ends of the rail road bargain the explanation claimed is utterly inadequate: Boss Tweed to Albany and put through a bill appointing his ring auditors of his own accounts and thus used the proceeds of his corruption to multiply the facili ties of etc and we are to suppose that Mr Phelps is likened to this man in this act But if we accept this claimed relation of the ar ticles we see that this one opens with a picture gentleman who has just snent his first thanksgiving ibebind the bars in New York is a representative rom Boss Tweed hind the it is suggested that we have an old man here in Springfield who should be in a similar situation because he has committed crimes of the same character and method No explanation accompanies the third count but the charges if believed are utter ruin of a character they strike at his whole relations public and private Here is a robber obtaining public money by corrupt and unjust means The Springfield Boss Tweed should be imprisoned lor stealing he openly buys votes and carries elections a felony punishable by an imprison ment of 10 years Tbe charge here hits the whole life The defense offered to us is the largest struc ture ever built from such small timbers on com ing to the facts we find that no such elaborate defense evr meant so little After much cir cumlocution and after mentioning certain ar rangements or combinations between tbe plain tiff and his sons the defense comes to the con clusion that he ia public robber and corrupt er and charge him practically with bribing the people witn their own money to open the public treasury to him On some of the most material poins no defense is attempted The accusation that he openly bought votes is not repeated in the answer nor has any proof ofit been brought The charge that Mr Phelps manipulated the Leg islature after the Tweed style was here alluded to but net discussed it not being referred to in the declaration Mr Thomas passed to tbe charge not iu the libel that Mr Phelps knowingly and fraudulently earned an over issue of the stock which would be a state prison offense but being indisposed he asked to be excused from further effort By the ready agreement of the counsel the court was accordingly adjourned until this morning THE PRESS THE SUIT'y i Outside of Springfield we do not notice a sin journal that has not responded with profes sional pride and sympathy to Tbe accumulating proofs of the truth and justice of its challenged criticisms We make a few ex hether The Republican tried its remedies in the right quarter or not there will be no doubt that that sort of corruption has gone about as far as is good for the public health aud that the only effective treatment for it is the Advertiser If what the witnesses say is true The Republi can bad good reason tor denouncing the means used to carry the elections of that city Journal The Springfield Republican is under trial for its zealous advocacv of the interests of the peo ple There is not the slightest pretense that it was actuated by any malicious or hostile mo tives toward Mr Phelps personally in opposing his railroad scheme wherein he sought to saddle an onerous burden upon the city of Springfield without adequate guarantees of any benefit or advantage to be derived ton ree Press It has been pretty well established that the ob jectionable articles were published without malice and with an eye only to what was regard ed by Tbe Republican as tbe public good That the local politics of Springfield was controlled bv the Phelpses for the benefit of their railroad in terests is probably not doubted by a dozen intel ligent citizens although it is not an easy thing to pi ove specific corruption iu such Courant Tbe courts must protect the newspapers in free and bold discussions of all questions relating to government and the jobs which reach into public treasuries or the people wall Times Mr Bowles hits our Boston papers pretty hard at times but even those who are tbe subject of his strictures admire the ability and independence of Hie Republican and no man is personally more popular in the society here to which he pays too infrequent visits Should anything occur to lessen the freedom spice and vigor with which The Republican treats what it believes to lie corrupt or time serving it would be recognized as a mis fortune by all who read that most enjoyable of journals but I guess there is no danger of this whatever may be the result of the Boston Letter to Hartford Courant We know what the result of The Spring field Republican libel suit will be but if the tes timony given concerning the elections in that city is true The Republican ought to deal pretty largely in vigorous Anglo Saxon quite up to the standard out of which grows this suit News ROM THE WEST Over 5000 misspelled votes were cast at the re cent Michigan election enough to have easily changed the result had the contest been a close one Hillyer the man recently accused at St Paul Minn of outraging several girls be tween the agesofnine and fifteen who belonged to a Sabbath chool class of which he was teacher has been convicted and will doubtless be sent to the state prison for life The Chinese tailors of San rancisco have struck and have posted bills throughout the Chinese quarter offering a reward of for the killing cf any boss tailor who pay the wages demanded and an additional reward ot $3C0 for the killing of any tailor who consents to work for less money Tbe trustees of tbe property of James Lick of California to relieve themselves of the embar rassment consequent upon the revocation of the power given them to dispose of his public gifts have instituted a suit to have new trustees ap pointed They do not wish to appear to desert the interests of the public and yet they are wil ling to be governed by wishes The ques tion for the court to decide is whether the origin al deed was valid and irrevocable Coulter an old resident of Leavenworth Kan and recently foreman of the Commercial office committed suicide Monday with lauda num St Louis is in considerable of a stew over tbe approaching election of a mayor to take the place of Barret leceutly deceased Several citi zens including Senator Bogy and James Eade have petitioned Brown predeces sor to be a candidate again This time it is a gang of men instead of women who have attacked a bouse of ill fame The other night about a score of them made an as sault on such a place at Escabana Mich and with revolvers frightened the inmates into the street though a heavy snow had just fallen and a cold north wind was blowing They then sat urated the house and furniture with kerosene and burned them up The prostitutes spent tbe rest of the night in sheds and barns the incen diaries meanwhile drinking up all the liquors they could find on tbe premises Thirteen of the mob have been held for arson During the trial of a Dr Smith and Mrs Ing ham for practicing an abortion at Quincy 111 the other day a letter constituting very strong evidence against tbe accused was produced and the defendant and his lawyer made a dive for it There was a lively squabble for a short time in volving almost all of tbe large crowd in the court room Dr Smith contending successfully against eight officers and citizens The doctor finally got the letter into his mouth and began to chew it up but the crowd soon got him down and choked him till he was obliged to spit it out The Chicago common council has counted the votes cast at the recent election upon the adop tion of the incorporation act of 1874 in spite of the injunction issued by Judge Williams on ac count of alleged frauds There is a majority of 1433 for the act and a majority of 3994 minority representation Rich veins of cannel coal have been discovered near East Saginaw Mich and there is consid ei able fever over them Since Rankin was removed from the superin tendency of the Chicago custom house a whole sale decapitation has been going on among the subordinates The Central 'Union German Catholic relief as sociation of the United States probably the largest Catholic benevolent society tn the coun trv opens a four session at Cincinnati on the 16th i 1 The supplies so greatly needed for the Indians near ort Sill and the Wachita agency have all gone forward from Caddo within the past few days say the Indian bureau The insufficiency of provisions 'and consequent suffering among the Indians there have been caused by the fail ure of the contractor to convey the supplies from Caddo to the reservations He claims that trans portation heretofore has been rendered impos sible by the extraordinary state of the roads and bad weather A large number of prominent railroad men representing among other roads the Union Pa cific Central Pacific Pennsylvania company the Star Union line the Union and National lines and the Pittsburg Cincinnati and St Louis rail way arrivea in Chicago yesterday but as to the particular nature of their deliberations they are as yet silent The business portion of the town of Cornell Livingston county Ill was destroyed by fire Sunday night The Presbyterian church at Evanston Ill was burned Sunday loss tally insured Tom Donnelly who was reported lost by the sinking of the steamer St Luke near Sc Louis Sunday night has arrived at St Louis He floated down the river some nine miles on a raft and then swam ashore It is reported that Mrs Divan and her two children are also saved but this is not definitely ascertained OREIGN AAIRS ROM WASHINGTON i London Tuesday May i Great THE HOUSE COMMONS AND THE PRESS The House of Commons to nighf Uildeif*ck to grapple with its anomalous law which' allows any member by calling attention to the presence of strangers to secure the exclusion of every one except members including represents Tlle marquis of Hartington moved that the House do not entertain any com plaint with respect to the publication of its pro ceedings except in cases of willful misrepresenta tion or when the publication thereof is express ly prohibited and that strangers are not to be ordered to withdraw from the galleries unless they are disorderly or by vote of the House Disraeli opposed any curtailment of the pres ent privilege The House was to deal with the inconvenience caused by the present method ot excluding strangers by suspending the rule permitting a single member to order their with drawal i Mr Lowe denounced the continuance of the anomaly At this stage of the debate Mr Sullivan called a tten non to the presence or strangers and the galleries were accordingly cleared The debate was then adjourned 1 tbe House of Commons to day withdrew his motion for the i ecognition by Great Britain ol the belligerent rights of the Carlists in Spain and Mr Bourke under secretary for the foreign department stated that there was no reason to depart from the policy of non inter ference observed during the previous civil wars in Spain THE LONDON PRESS ON LETTER TO THE LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL The London Standard (tory organ) severely criticises the letter from read at the centennial celebration of the battle of Lexington It remarks that the habit of toadying to Ameri cans is discreditable in English public men and journalists that the results of tbe republican ex periment in the United States are corruption of public hfe extinction of public spirit oppression of the minority disgust of honorable men with politics and tbe transfer of the government into men iaUS and ignorant The Times fully endorses letter and says it would be melancholy if the first great attempt to complete independence should result in social anarchy although there is noth ing at present to justify their fears Grave evils exist in some of the American institutions which must be remedied if progress is tobe kept up Tbe week day average attendance at the Moody and Sankey revival meetings thus far has been 27000 and on Sundays 45000 making over 200 000 brought together weekly to hear the Ameri can evangelists At the opening of the Presbyte rian synod in London to day the moderator re ferred to the revival movement and expressed cordial sympathy with Moody and Sankey in their religious work Tbe steamer African has arrived from Cape of Good Hope with 850000 iu gold from tbe diggings the largest consignment ever sent from South Africa One ot the nuggets weighed nine pounds 'The earl of Pembroke will resign the under secretaryship of war it is said and be succeeded by Lord Cadogan The British government intends to send the frigate Valorous to suivey bay and the North Atlantic Reply to Germany reuly to note of ebru ary 15 was read in the Belgium Chamber of Deputies to day It denies that Belgium has declined to consider demand and says the question of fulfilling "the obligation to prevent subjects from disturbing neighboring countries applies not to Belgium alone but to all the states which regard it their duty to watch over the peace When the Belgian government is apprised of steps taken in Germany and other countries to remedy the deficiencies in their penal laws it will examine its own in their bear ing on the customs traditions and liberties of Belgium With the sincerest desire to co operate in the maintenance of good relations Belgium is determined to fulfill the duties of a neutral state and to cultivate the friendship of Germany Spam King Alfonso received the papal nuncio to day He said he was aware of his duties of gratitude and affection to the holy father and should fulfill them Miacellaneoua The North German Gazette gives positive de nial to the statement that a company has been organized at Berlin to facilitate the return to Germany of German emigrants in the United States The pope is again feeble and under the care of physicians A rich Genoese marchioness who keeps her name a secret has recently given the pope two thirds of her great wealth to be paid annually to the holy see as long as the present troubles of the church last The amount will be 100000 francs a year ROM THE SOUTH The congressional canvass in the ninth Geor gia district between Ben Hill and Colonel Beel has oven complicated by the entiyof a republican candidate who hopes to poll a strong vote Vice President Wilson returned from Lexington to Louisville Ky Monday night and will remain there several days He will probably go to Nash ville and Memphis before proceeding on his west ern tour Tbe democrats made a clean sweep in the mu nicipal election at Ala yesterday electing the mayor clerk and 12 aidermen' This is the first time 'the democrats have carried the city since the reconstruction: A wandering showman named James Moir whose principal stock in trade was an educated hog suicided at Montgomery Ala Monday because it cost moie to keep the hog than the tricks of the beast brought in to him New Orleans is enjoying one of its periodic A big ship outward bound has been stuck on Pass a Outre oar for a week unable to get in or ont or let any other vessel of equal ton nage pass either way Two steamships four ships two barks one brig and one schooner are detained inside and two steamships and two schooners are waiting outside i The details of tbe toinado which swept portions of South Carolina and Georgia Satur day show that it was destructive of life and property but is not to be compared to the cyclone which swept over the state in the latter part of March A few lives were lost and many injured The storm traveled' through the state from west to east following nearly in the direction of the March cyclone THE 91VJL RIGHTS BILL AS VIEWED BY TWO UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGES Judge Morreiles of the United States district court for the eastern district of Texas in his charge to the grand jury yesterday reviewed the civil rights law and took occasion to give his view of its meaning which briefly is that all persons have legal right to board and lodging at inns transportation on steamers railroads or stages and entrance into theaters while thev do not thereby acquire any social rights To hold that a conductor of a railroad train cannot assign a special car to ladies and children and their at tendants to the exclusion of all others provided the other passengers are furnished with other cars with all necessary facilities for traveling would says Judge Morreiles be to stab social lights privileges and immunities Judge Brooks of the United States district court at Wilmington Del in charging the grand jury yesterday said the civil rights bill its criminal aspect which was tbe only shape it could come before the grand jury was unconsti tutional anjl void Washington Tuesday May 4 getting ready for At a meeting of the Jackson democratic asso ciation to night a resolution was submitted rec ommending the nomination of Senator A Thurman ot Ohio for president and Senator ihoraas Bavard of Delaware tor vice presi dent on a platform recognizing all the amend ments of the constitution uniform taxation aud currency and no discrimination in favor of the bond holders iThe resolution was laid over till the next meeting 1 The southern claims commission will sit until June 1 a month later than usual Senor Antonio Mantilla who represented the late Spanish republic here presented his creden tials as representative of the king of Spain to day I Cyrus Burnham entered upon duties as assistant secretary of the treasury to day Mr Burnham is a Kentucky man prominent as a lawyer and a strong personal friend of Secretary Britqw He was called from the presidency of a national bank and is very wealthy Hartley his predecessor formerly a Massachusetts man had been in the treasury 87 years Many laborers on the public works under con tractors are on a strike for a day the pres ent price being 1 Justice Miller of the supreme court has started for the eighth United States circuit which com prises Iowa Missouri Kansas and Arkansas aud the other justices will soon leave The Elgee cotton case has finally been decided by the supreme court which gives the now in the United States treasury to the heirs of Elgee The opinion delivered by Justice Strong affirms the English doctrine relative to the pas sage of a title in sales of personal propertv as against the doctrine of the courts in New York and some other states Bradley and Hunt dis sented The employing printers of this city will sub mit a proposition to the typographical union to reduce the price of composition from 60 to 50 cents per 1000 ems for piece work and 824 a week for ten hours per day or $20 a week for eight hours per day the price now paid being $24 a week for eight Lours per day Senator Spencer of Alabama who recently bad a congestive chill and was dangerously ill is rapidlyrecovering and was able to sit' up to day ROM NEW YORK New Tore Tuesday May 4 A man who bad been refused the payment of claims against the city by Deputy Controller Earl lay in wait for him this morning aud when he came from the office made a violent attack upon him and tried to shoot him with a revolver which however failed to go off He says he has been in vain endeavoring to collect the from the city for eight months and his family are in the greatest poverty for lack of it Thomas Murphy only 19 years old has been sentenced to 15 years in the slate prison for rob bery James A Duffy a former prison van driver under Sheriff Brennan attempted to kill Deputy Controller Earle to day in the court house because Earle declined to pay claim of $400 against the city for past services Duffy succeeded in severely pommeling the control ler and was snapping a pistol at him when he was arrested Subsequently when asked why he drew the revolver be asked in astonishment 1 do that 1 know what 1 was do He was held in $3000 bail Minnie' and Lillie Conway the orphaned daughters of rederick and Sarah Con way make their first venture in the management of the Brooklyn academy of music on Saturday next assisted by Lester Wallack Mr and Mrs lorence aud Mr and Mrs Barney Williams The sisterswill soon re open the Brooklyn theater taking up the business at the point where it was left by their mother and will carry out her plans to the end of the season GENERAL NEWS ITEMS The Welland canal Is open for navigation The Boston Rede defeated the Centennials at Boston yesterday at base ball 14 to 2 Steamer arrivals At Queenstown City of Montreal from New York aud Sarmatian from Portland They pretend to think at Pottsville Pa that the strike will not last longer than May 15 or June 1 As the rainy season is about to open in Cuba there will be a partial cessation of hostilities for the next 60 days The steamer Alhambra ashore on Cape Sable went to pieces Monday night Only a small part of the cargo was saved Sergeant Bates the peripatetic ass is going to march with his flag from Windsor Out to Tor onto and then is going to Europe to afflict the Germans and Russians Samuel BuEock who killed McCready at Morristown March 28 was yesterday found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to 12 imprisonment A reporter professes to have interviewed soir Clarence out in Chicago and learned that be considers Beecher bad and Tilton perjurer and an Wesley Van Dusen a wealthy farmer of Co pake shot his mother through tbe head and breast yesterday killing her while in a fit of insanity and then shot himself dead The department of marine and fisheries in Can ad a Jias ordered a steamer from Halifax to search for the steamers Polynesian Dominion and Lake Champlain supposed to be unable to get into the port of Quebec on account of the ice Walt Whitman sent the following characteris tic message to a friend in London recently: unwell and paralyzed but up and around Post office address at Camden A Shall probably remain there Design to bring out a volume melange of prose and verse partly fresh matter till i The trial of Rev John Gordeman for embez zling $40000 of the funds of the Catholic church of St Bonifaciiis at Philadelphia of which be was pastor till November 4 has begun at Philadel phia Heapnears in court with his wife the former organist of Iris church with whom he suddenly disappeared immediately on the discovery of his theft Anna Partridge has sued the town of New town I on behalf of 12 persons for the pos session of the whole village of Laurel Hill in cluding the well known Calvary (Catholic) ceme tery the land having belonged to their ancestors and theiclaim being that the transfer to other paities was illegal The property is worth over a million dollars The centennial celebration to take place in Westmoreland couuty Pa on the 16th assumes rather a droll air in view of the fact that the res olutions whose adoption is commemorated de clared the unshaken loyalty of the people of Pennsylvania His Majesty King George the Third our lawful and rightful and this after the massacre of Americans at Lexington A curious mode of fish hatching is followed in China Having collected the necessary spawn from the edge the fishermen place a certain quantity in an emoty egg which is sealed up with wax and put under the sitting hen After some days they break the egg empty the fry into water well warmed by tne sun and there nurse them until they are sufficiently strong to be turned into a lake or river The report of the delegates from Boston to the recent fair ot tbe Washington light infantry of Charleston was received last evening at a meeting ot those interested in getting up the Boston table The delegates reported the suc cess of tbe table complete its receipts and also spoke in the highest terms of the hospi talities of the Charlestonians A committee was appointed to confer with the city government as to securing the presence of the Washington light infantry at the Bunker Hill centennial celebra tion of June GLEALflNOB AND GOSSIP Louisville Ky is going to have a cotton £ao tory i A son ot Brigham Young is employed in the Consolidated Virginia mine Nevada Eight ex mayors officiated as pall bearers at ko funeral of Mayor Barrett of St Louis last weei fJ San rancisco talks of taking water from thi Calaveras river about 50 miles away at a cost of $11000000 The latest notable achievement of Van Pelt tbe1 ex reformed rum seller of Ohio is the theft of a span of fine horses was the item ears of old jackasses hot or that scared away a would be hippophagist from the Geneva banquet A patent was recently issued from the Marysville (Cal) office to George Washington Christopher Columbus Schillenbergannanzi The old confederate generals Colston and Loring are distinguishing themselves as African expldfers in the service of the khedive of Egypt An Indiana judge has decided that if a woman will shorten pie crust with butter at 38 cents a pound her husband has good cause for divorce in and get and and night 1 we spread out the are among the signs displayed by the Chinese gambling houses in San rancisco the earnest solicitation of my wife and children I have consented to become a candidate for county is the way a Misriippi candidate puts it A Bowling Greet) (Ky) colored girl tried to curl the hair of a child with a red hot poker the other day and the child will always wear scars 1 to remind her of the fact A Louisville Courier Journal reporter woke Vice I President Wilson up in his berth in a sleeping car at 1 in the morning last week to 1 interview him and Wilson kill him A Madison county (III) girl is soon to set her self up as a prize at a spelling match An ad2 mission fee is to be charged the proceeds to go toward fui nisbing a home for the happy couple At an amateur performance of a piece called and His in London recently Potiphar wore a black frock coat white vest black trousers and hat carried a walking cane and smoked cigars Dr Samuel Mackenzie Elliott the celebrated New York oculist who died last week had num bered among his patients Gen Scott Longfellow Charlotte Cushman Commodore oote Willis and John Audubon They say Phil Sheridan is going to lie married now she is a daughter of Gen Rucker assistant quartermaster general of tbe army and chief quartermaster on his staff and the wedding is to be in June A gratifying indication of the healthy condi tion of Baltimore is found in the fact that an establishment was sold the other day because of the dullness of the times Six hundred coffins were knocked off 2V vigilance committee having been organized at Galveston Tex to drive a lot of roughs out of town the mayor has issued a proclamation de claring that if they molest the roughs he will set a company of state troops on them A ergus alls (Minn) young man caught his former sweetheart dancing with another fellow in a public hall one evening recently and fired a pistol at her and then blew his owu brains out The corset steels saved her life They have an undertaker in Baltimore who promised a woman whose child had died a coffin for $8 the other day but having got the cash 1 refused to furnish the coffin The child re mained unbuned for several days in couse quenee The zealous Wiltqn (la) women who recently entered a house df ill fame and taking out a girl tarred and feathered her and then left her in the cold nave been sued for $50000 by tbe girl while her father asks $10000 for damage done to his house A San rancisco company has gone extensive ly into tbe manufacture of paper barrels Some of the barrels containing sugar have already been shipped to China and Japan and they seemed as good when they reached their destina tion as when they staited Tbe national bank at Burlington fa recently claimed public patronage on the ground that it was a democratic bank and secured the city business but orders have been sent frem Washington to the postmaster to withdraw his deposits from the institution Two three card monte players got into a fight on a train of cars between Goshen and Waterloo Ind a few days ago and fired several pistol shots about among the passengers but they finally escaped from the itrain with about $1000 they had made out of the unwary The wives of Chief Justice Waite and Postmas ter General Jewell are members of a committee just appointed in Washington to aid the na tional commemorative monument association in erecting a monument at Philadelphia in counec tion with the centennial celebration Rev Mr Bliss a revivalist denounced the street songs ot the period before a Nashville (Tenn) 1 audience the other day and while mentioning the refrain etc an urchin among the audience supplying the missing words much to tbe amusem*nt of the crowd Somebody has discovered that the surest way of identifying a person is to get a distinct photo graph of the palm of one band taken in a strong oblique light so as to bring out the markings strongly This will be found a map it is said which is never alike in two persons no disguise short of actual disfigurement can do away with tbe difference One of the many proofs that George Washing ton wasn't much of a temperance man is found in the following words occurring in an order for 1 the celebration of the ourth in 1779: wish we had it in our power to distribute a portion of mm to the soldiers to exhilarate their spirits upon the occasion but tin fortunately our stock is too scanty to A cave has just been discovered neai Manitou Col which is a remarkable natural curiosity even for that part of the country though it has been only partially explored one chamber 100 feet long feet high and 20 feet wide beauti fully adorned with stalactites and one 175 feet wide with lengtn and hight unknown have been discovered while the smaller vaults aud corridors are innumerable An Iowa railroad contractor is noted for his had clrirography Tbe other day he received from a storekeeper six pounds of yarn and a bill for the same Un inquiring into the matter he was shown a letter which be had written ending apparently with the words six lbs The matter was set right on his explaining that ibis phrase was really In a comedy now playing in Paris Labois siere is requested to give something to a cbarira ble enterprise he says my uame down on the list for a hundred Laboissiere dealer in metals and member of the General sir we have no list we are collecting tbe money in a list! and in a hat! Here is five francs for Aud he puts the bank note back into his pocket book Two lives rarely run so closely parallel as those 1 of Robert and Mary Essery who had lived for many years at Orchard liill farm near Bideford Eng They had been married 65 years when the husband fell ill Hi wife attended to him as siduously and when he died ou Wednesday af ternoon she exclaimed God he has gone before It was not long however for the old lady sank back exhausted and died within five hours Both of them were verging on DC years of age A TaylorsvillefKvJ mau was stooping down to drink from a spring the other day when a pc tol fell from his pocket aud rhe taff was 1 charged through his neck to the base of hu brain He fell forward Plyaed hmd which was tbe only part of him that be could move coming dose to the spring The discharge set bis clothes on fire and he vainly tried to ex the flawve by squirting water upon them from the spring with ids month He fatally burned before anybody found him.

About The Springfield Daily Republican Archive

Pages Available:

281,503

Years Available:

1844-1931