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PART TWO.
GOTHAM’S CRIME-WAVES.
SOME STARTLING CONCLUSIONS
FROM A LAWYER’S EXPERIENCE.
Despite Its Multitudinous 81ns, the
Wicked Metropolis is Actually
Growing’ Moral—William F. Howe on
the Vices of a Great City—American
and European Girls—The Divorce
Market— He Vindicates the Honor of
American Women The Vanished
Gangs— The Gamblers and the Bur
glars.
New York, Nov. 16.—1 t has been the
fashion from time immemorial, almost, to
talk of New York as a sink of iniquity and
a den of unspeakable wickedness. In the
country, particularly, the custom has been
to decry it at every turn and to warn the
young and unsophisticated against its
temptations and perils. While it is not
denied that at one time there may have
been very good grounds for this characteri
zation of the great city, it cannot fail to
strike even asuperlicial observer that things
have changed greatly within a very few
years —certainly not more than a decade.
New York has improved in morals. When
you find a man of the type of Rev. Howard
Crosby paying a compliment to the superin
tendent of police, there is surel£ something
in the situation to be thankful for.
Of course, like every other great city in
the world. New York has its vices, but
they are the faults that are inseparable
from large mixed communities. Wherever
people are gathered together by the million,
you may expect to find practices and pur
suits for both pleasure and profit, that
would be condemned anywhere else. It
would be idle to say that, because New
York has grown better, there are therefore
no gambling houses within her borders. So
long as mixed society always demands va
ried amusements, so long as the swell gamb
ling clubs of London are patronised by the
nobility, and while the Parisian Jockey
Club allows baccarat to bo played, it can
hardly be considered a deadly offense to
permit such games os we find in vogue
here.
But there is a very geueral impression
that such gambling houses as do exist are
a temptation set to catch the unwary vic
tim. Now, speaking from a wide experi
ence, as a criminal lawyer, I have no
hesitation in saying, that, in almost every
case, the gambling bouses under the ban of
the police are places which none bat pro
fessional gamblers are permitted to enter
and sit at play. Clerks and merchants and
trusted employes are not to be found there,
no matter how much the romaucists may
harp upon their favorite string, and for
very good reasons. Were such persons to
be entrapped into a gambling house and to
lose their money, or the funds of their
employers, discovery would certainly follow
and the closing of the gambling bouse would
be the inevitable result.
But there are other and abundant evi
dences of the growth in grace of the metro
polis which I, as a criminal lawyer, am
specially cognizant of. Within five years
the class of professional thieves formerly
existing here, and which was recruited
from England, France and different sec
tions of the United States, has almost to
tally disappeared. The severe and very
positive manner in which they have been
treated has resulted in exiling the majority
and now they all give the city a wide berth.
Then too, the gangs which were for twenty
years or more the terror of New York are
broken up and dispersed. It is impossible
now for any one to point out oven a rem
nant of the disbanded and scatterW
gangs that were the authors of most of the
murders and many of the other crimes of
the last quarter of a century, antecedent to
1884. Tho Wyos, some of whose young
members —all typical toughs—have graced
the gallows; the McGloin gang; the Tenth
avenue gahg, of whom the notorious
“Dutch Harmon” was leader and who lived
by robbing the freight cars; the “Bowery
Boys,” famous alike at fires and free fights,
and caring nothing for a broken head
whether it was their own or somebody
else’s; the “Dead Rabbits;” the wild and
murdorous “Mackerelville gang;” the rio
tous Gas House District gang, aud lust but
not least, the Hell’s Kitchen gang, with its
foul records of murder and outrage. All
have vanished and their old l aunts are
taken by an orderly and peaceable popula
tion.
But, strangely enough, although morals
have greatly improved, the number of
offenses has increased. This is explained
by the fact that the Penal Code is now so
full of offenses that almost everything one
ioes against public morals and interest is a
statutory crime. The law makers, ia com
piling this Code, have simply given more
work for the lawyers; yet, I notice that
•very session of the Legislature increases
;he list of misdemeanors. The courts, too,
Pave been kept very busy. There are
many philanthropic societies, but there are
laws enough and crimes enough
to keep ail their machinery
going, such has been the effect of this mul
tiplication of crimes; yet while they have
been augmented by legislative enactment
the criminals themselves have decreased,
owing to the energy and persistence of the
police in enforcing the laws.
Crime, like many other aspects of our
social life, comes in waves and cycles. At
one time we will have a succession of start
ling robberies; at another a remarkable
series of equally daring burglaries. Only a
short time ago the city had a visitation of
pickpockets; this was followed by robberies
in which men were boldly attacked on the
streets in broad daylight. Before
that period, and probably five
or six years ago, the city
was shocked at a succession of bold
crimes in which bank managers and mes
sengers were assaulted and, in some in
stances, gagged by tuievos, while the latter
were rifting the safes of the banks. Inspec
tor Byrnes has been mainly instrumental in
putting a quietus on those reckless criminals.
There has been no bold bank robbery of
moment since the Manhattan Bank ' was
robbed. This is certainly astonishing when
it is remembered that for twenty years
bank robbery was the leading calling of
experts in the criminal profession, and that
almost every noted offender in the country
tad been at one time or another, guilty
of it.
Tho latest Illustration of this crime-wave
theory is the epidemic of sneak-thieving
which has afflicted the metropolis and its
suburbs for some time past. A sneak thief
>s vory different from a burglar, and takes
no such chances as the latter does. Still,
some of the recent sneak thefts have led to
murder. The only way to minimize this
despicable sort of crime, is for the residents
themselves to make their dwellings secure
by the use of ample locks and bolts on the
frcnt doors. No safeguard should be
neglected; but all the protection really re
quired is to have the front doors thoroughly
fastened. Sneak-thieves av ud a lock and
bolted front door.
A great many people have peculiar ideas
as to what branches of the legal profession
are specialties. Men and women of all
stations and conditions of life visit here as
freely as they would a court room, and as
numerously. They pour out, without re
•"Tve. their tales of woe and affliction. A
cUnuKaJ lawyer necessarily sees every side
H!)e JHjjfning
and aspect of human ljft> and interest.
Statistics are dry and uninteresting,
but it is a singular fact that rarely do
two cases, even with a precisely
similar basis of action, resemble
each other in any essential particular.
There is almost always the element of
novelty in every case. This shows that in
spite of the skillful provisions of our law
maker-, the causes for each different species
of litigation are by no means stereotyped.
They present an interminable and seem
ingly exhaustless variety, whether the ca o
be the ordinary action for breach-of-prom
ise of marriage, or is based on any other of
the 1,001 complications that combine to
make a subject for the lawyers and the
courts.
It is worth noting that a very large pro
portion of the cases that come up in the
criminal courts of New York city are suits
brought by young girls whose lives have
been blighted. Unlike the regular crimi
nal cases, in which an arrest has been
made and publicity incurred at every step
of the proceeding, tho public know nothing
of these suits until they come up for trial.
This facts keeps them well in the back
ground, aud so people are ignorant of their
number and of the extraordinary pre valence
of this form of crime. Now, there is a
partial explanation of this abnormal
phase of the metropolitan morals. New
York is a cosmopolitan city. Its doors are
open to all sections of the globe. There is
here a certain freedom from restraint in
domestic affairs and in the relation of
parents and children which is not found
elsewhere—and certainly not in either
London or Paris. There the daughters of
the family grow up under tho strictest
guardianship, and are never allowed to
enter society until they are beyond their
teens. A young Parisieuue is not permitted
to go out doors without the accompanying
father, mother or chaperone ;and in London;
among the wealthy aud even with the
middle ciassos, it is utmost tho same. Here
on tlie contrary, there is so much latitude
and independence in the relations
between parents and daughters—aud
especially between mother and
daughter—that more freedom is permitted
and the youug girl is largely her own mis
tress. She has the privilege of accepting a
thousand attentions from the other sex,
which would not be allowed her abroad. Even
while she is very young, sho is not deterred
by any notion of parental authority from
accepting the escort of gentlemen to thea
ters and other places of amusement. Her
whole notion of the proprieties is very hazy
and indefinite, aud it is not surprising that
tbis condition of things affords an oppor
tunity for license ana privileges that would
never be contemplated under different
auspices. It is not that tho American girl
is less moral than her European cousin, but
that she is less securely hedged about by the
safeguards that belong by right to her
youth and inexperience.
Of course, a very large proportion of such
cases, as I have indicated, never see the
light of publicity and are settled without
even going into "court. Where the defend
ant has reputable connections, he is gener
ally glad to have the matter quietly ad
justed rather than have his conduct known
and his friends scandalized. Under our
criminal laws, a late amendment to the
Penal Code makes it a state’s prison offence
to blight the life of a young girl. This con
sideration has no little weight in effecting a
settlement in many cases. lain happy to
say that I have been an humble factor In
bringing to an agreeable conclusion many
oases of this kind and in witnessing the
marriage of the principals. Many of these
unions turn out very happily indeed.
One of tho peculiarities of suits of this
character is that they are almost all brought
by girls under 21. Indeed 1 cannot now
remember a single case in which the plain
tiff was not uuder 21, and the majority were
under 18.
In divorce cases—a field in which I have
probably had a larger experience thun most
members of my profession, and certainly a
varied one—the vast majority of the liti
gants are women. By this I moan to be
understood as saying that there are nine
teen actions brought against husbands to
one against a wife. The proportion of five
in 100 is really on the safe side. It is cer
tainly a pleasant fact to be able to say that,
in twenty-five years experiences at the
criminal bar, I have mot only at rare inter
vals with conclusive evidence of the fla
grant violation of marriage vows by the
woman.
On the other hand, ma-riage, as, viewed
in the light of Flack case, seems always
more of a burden to the man than to the
woman, especially after he has made his
way a bit in life and been fairly successful
iu business. When the world begins to
prosper with him the marriage bond too
often grows irksome, and he longs to throw
it off. Cases of this description are almost
countless. If such a man has the
slenderest reed to stand on, he will take his
position unhesitatingly, and will enter the
divorce court to seek relief. It is an old
and trite saying that wherever tliore is
trouble there is sure to be woman at the
bottom of it. Well, I would just reverse it.
In my experience aud observation, whereyer
the marriage vow has been violated I have
found, as "a French writer cynically re
marked: “There is a man at the bottom
of it, instead of a woman.”
For the sake of American women, and
womankind in general, I am happy to bo
able to state these truths. No merit of any
statement I might make can give them any
greater force of significance than they de
rive from the fac s themselves, which are
in the highest degree creditable to woman.
Very few divorce suits, based on tbe
ground of unhappy msrriages or iucom
patability of temper and cruel treatment,
are tried in this state, for tbe reason that
there can be but one ground for absolute
separation, and that is infidelity. Asa
rule, where tuero are enildreu, the parents
usually come together aud settle their
difficulties; for it is hard to break up the
family, even to gratify personal passion or
rosentment. Besides, it is a difficult matter
for the plaintiff to establish cruelty.
Most women are tender of hearts and open
to persuasion, and I have known many in
stances wnere marred ladies have been
advised against persisting in an action of
divorce, and after awhile have relented.
Time, the healer, has covered up all the
wounds and brought husband and wife
together again and they have kissed aud
made up. One such lesson generally lasts a
lifetime.
There is still another method of endeav
oring to secure a divorce, and that is by
collusion. Tliis was the means adopted iu
the Flack case to which I have already re
ferred. In all such cases where collusion
exists, or is presu ned, the divorce is illegal,
and can be set aside. But the collusion in
the Flack case was peculiar, being wbolly
different from the collusion contemplated
by law, which points to an agreement be
tween the plaintiff aud the defendant
that the defendant shall give
the necessary cause for action, with
the knowledge and connivance of the plain
tiff. Now the defendant Flack stood ia the
absolutely unique position of a man, who,
having given cause for action against him
self, aud have also secured a decree against
himself, afterward opposed the reversal of
that decree aud practically adopted the
attitude of a man who was fighting his
own interests. It was collusion of a char
acter which the lawmakers who framed the
statutes on divorce could hardly have
imagined likely to exist in real lifa
A majoritv of the criminal esses that
occupy the "attention of the courts have
their origin in marital troubles of some
SAVANNAH, GA.. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1889.
sort*, JtrrsrSffifabout a wife, or a mistress:
jealousy or revenge. Tae two latter are un
deniable the strongest passions that imnel
men to commit crime. Then there are c imes
fromSmpulse and from premeditation; ail
of them equally guilty in their various
dogrees before the iaw, yet some of
which would seem to be crimes to which
the perpetrators are driven by irresistible
forces, for the arousing of which the vic
tims are largely responsible. Such was the
case, apparently, in a recent murder in
in New York City, when it was shown that
the murderer had been reduced to absolute
poverty by the naan he afterwards killed.
While the liw cannot, of course, recognize
such provocation, public sentiment is
strongly impressed witb the conviction that
such a criminal is deserving of considera
tion beyond what is extended to ordinary
coldblooded murderers. At the same time,
crimes of impulse are far more numerous
than those of premeditation.
Regarded as a whole, the criminal]'ele
ment in the metropolis is under better con
trol than under any other large city in the
world. Our effective police and superior
detective system are the main causes of this
fortunate condition of affairs. With tho
elimination of “toughs” element, the wiping
out of the gaugs that infested the city, and
the suppression of the young class of crim
i als, whose ranks contributed to fill the
jail and decorate the gallows, the c .ango
for tho better has come. Not since tho
days of the Wbyos have we beard the
boast of a young murderer that he had
“done his man” and was therefore a fit
companion for other graduates in o&pital
crime. W. F. Hows.
HE BLEW HARD AND LONG.
His Breath Not Strong Enough to Ex
tinguish an Electric Light.
From the Albany (Oa.) News and Advertiser.
M. Urine was rocontly on bis way from
Kentucky to Albauy, having been in the
blue grass section to ship a lot of fine mules
for his Southwest Georgia customers.
On arriving in Atlanta he took the Cen
tral for Macou, and while sitting quietly in
the smoker enjoying a good Havana, he
formed the acquaintance of a fellow
traveler, who proved to be an insurance
agent, living below Macon on the Georgia
Southern and Florida road .
They chatted along until they reached
the Central City, when Mr. Crine pro
ceeded to a hotel and asked for a room.
“I have only one room left,” said the pro
prietor, “and that is the bridal chamber. I
ana very much crowded and may have to
put someone else in the room, with you,
but if I do I will put in another bed.”
“I don’t care,” said Mr. Crine, “I know
you would put no one but a gentleman in
with me.”
Just then a gentleman approached tho
counter andjasked for a room.
“I can put you in the room with this
gentleman,” said the proprietor, pointing
to Mr. Crine.
On looking around Mr. Crine found the
gentleman to be the same one with whom
e had traveled from Atlanta. He at once
consented to share his room with him, and
they were assigned together.
The insurance agent then went to a res
taurant, and, after getting some oysters,
went back to the hotel. About 9 o’clock
Mr. Crine went to his room, and found his
room-mate reading. “Why, I thought you
had retired,” said Mr. Crine.
“No, I thought I would sit up until you
came in.”
Together they sat and talked a while and
finally rnado their preparations to retire.
When tuov were ready to fall upon thoir
couches, Mr. Crine said:
“Shall I put out the light or leave it burn
ing 1”
“Just blow it out, I don’t care for a
light,” was the reply.
It happened that it was an electric light
in the ’ room, and, Mr. Crine thinking it
strange that the gentleman should tell him
to blow it out, said:
“Well, you blow it out while I turn the
oover down on my bed.”
The ruse worked properly, and the gen
tleman secured a chair that he mounted and
began using his lungs. His blowing, of
course, had no more effect on the light than
if ho had not beon there, which had the
teudenoy to make him blow all the harder.
All this time Mr. Crine was shaking with
laughter, but after watching his friend for
about five minutes in his vain efforts, ha
said to him:
“You seem to have some trouble in blow
ing out that light.”
“Yes,” was the reply.
“You just turn your back for a minute
and I’ll just wink at it and make it go out.”
The gentleman tuned bis back, aud, witb
a quick turn of the key, Mr. Crine quickly
extinguished the iucaudescenoe. Then sud
denly he turned it on again and the gentle
man was lost in bewildered amazement.
Then the limb of ignorance to which the
insurance agent had been clinging, broke,
and he tell out of a tree at once; in other
words, he tumbled to the raoket.
Mr. Crine then burst into a loud, merry
laugh, and said:
“My friend, its my treat. I had no idea
I could catch you so easily.”
“O, no. It’s my treat,” said the insurance
agent, aud insisted oa It so strongly that
ttiey took a night cap at the insurance
man’s expense.
“The next morning,” said Mr. Crine as
he was speaking of it to a crowd of friends,
“tho gentleman followed me everywhere
and wanted to do the honors, saying fre
quently, ‘for heaven’s sake don’t give me
away on that’ ”
How an Emperor Goes Shooting.
Vienna Dispatch to the London Daily Tele
graph.
The emperor’s hunting party in Styria is
now favored by splendid weather. The
royal hunters went out singly the other day,
and Prince Leopold of Bavaria made the
largest bag. Yesterday morning the entire
party, after having gone out to hunt early,
returned for mas3 at 9:30, it being the
emperor’s fete day. The life led in the
little hunting box is of tho simplest, a game
of cards being the greatest gayety ever
indulged in after the day’s laborious and
fatiguing sport. At 9 the imperial hunts
man and his guests retire to rest. The
house contains a large number of rare
works of art, the finest being a col
lection of carvings in wood. The
entrance hall ia decorated with a wealth
of trophies of tbe hunt, and beneath every
pair of stag’s horns is the name of the bunts
mon who killed the animal and tbe date.
On tbe emperor’s writing table is a porcrait
of tbe Crown Prince Rudolph at the age of
10. Tha room used by the crown prince
whenever he went to" Muerzsteg remains
uu iccupied and in exactly the state he left
it in a year ago. The stables belonging to
tbe hunting box bold a large number of
horses, and the party always drives in car
riages to the wild district where tbe
chamois aro to be found. While it was not
possible for the late Crown Prince of
Austria and the Prince of Wales to kill a
single bear this time last year, a great num
ber of bears have recently shown them
selves In the Carpathians. At one place
some bears were discovered in a field of
oats, and a mother with two you ig cubs
killed. In another place a bear which hod
been wounded attacked the huntsman and
tore his flesh off.
SKETCH OF PROF. JOHN LE OJNTB.
One of the Distinguished Men Who
Begun Life in Liberty County.
By Prof. H’ Le Conte Stevens, in Popular
Science Monthly.
The subject of the present sketch is the
professor of physics in the University of
California, where he has for many years
been associated with his brother, the dis
tinguished geologist aud writer on evolu
tion. He was the second son of Louis Le
Conte, and was born on Dec. 4, ISIS, at the
family homestead in Liberty countv,
Georgia. The father was a man of much
independence of character, lirm and de
cided, yet kind and gentle, exceedingly fond
of inyestigation, original iu thougnt, but
siugularly indifferent to popular 'recogni
tion. He published notbiug himself, and
would never have become kno vn away from
his own bome.had not o there beau apprecia
tive enough of his real merit to give some
of his results to the world by presenting
them before the New York Lyceum of
Natural History.
By personal influence and example, Louis
Le Conte inculcated in his sons the love of
science, and of truth for its own sake. The
virtue of verification was one which he
sought to cultivate in them as of cardinal
importance. An illustration of the success
of his teaching in this direction, and of the
early growth of the philosophical habit of
mind in his son John, was afforded on one
occasion who i the father aud a number of
neighbors, while patrolling at night to
check some illicit transactions between the
negro slaves and the shopkeepers of the
nearest village, were fired upon with blank
cartridges, aud thrown from their startled
horses. Relating the story of his mishap
after he had reached home, the father said:
“I lost my left stirrup; at the turn in
the road I lost the other stirrup,and at the
next turn I was thrown.” John, who
listened to the narrative with grea: inter
est, was perplexed to know how the stirrups
could have been lost. His night’s rest did
not remove the trouble, and, leaving his
lied before suuriso, be wout umi examined
the saddle. He reported upon the result of
his investigation at the breakfast table.
“Pa, did you not say last night t at, when
the horse runaway with you, you lost your
stirrups?”
“Yes, my son, I did say so.”
“Well, I have found that tho stirrups are
safe and sound.”
The laugh was turned against the son,
and the father often told the story aftor
ward as a joke upon him. It was, however,
no joke; it was a prediction of the career of
the future iuvestigator in physics.
The childhood aud most of the boyhood
of John Le Conte wore spent at the planta
tion home iu Georgia, whero hunting, lull
ing, boating, and all kinds of athletic sports
contributed largely to the training of his
observing faculties. His unc e, Maj. Le
Conte, an accomplished zoologist, often
gave up his New York home in winter for
the purpose of spending the colder mouths
on the southern plantation. The scientific
proclivities of both father and uncle insen
sibly made all the children students ol
natural history and collectors of specimens.
Thus they gradually imbibed knowledge on
such subjects, and acquired powers of dis
crimination that aro ordinarily attained
only by years of study in inaturer life.
Tueir mother died in 1826, leaving tho father
in charge of six children. Deprived of ma
ternal care at so early a period of life, all
of them, and especially the boys, were
thrown largely upon their own resources at
a tender age.
In thosa days and in that country neigh
borhood, forty miles from the nearest city,
Savannah, it was necessary to do without
the school accommodations that aro now
abundant in every village of our land. An
isolated wooden-framed house, with no
plastering, a single door for its single room,
abundant ventilation through the crevices
of the floor and walls, fully supplemented
by the draught through an ample clay
chimney—sue i was the schoolhouse iu
which the children wore gathered daily
from plantations varying in distance from
one to halt a dozen miles or more. Tae
teacher was rarely evor of the best. One
there was who took charge of this
roadside seminary for two years became
the intimate friend of Mr. Le
Conte, and exerted over his boys an influ
ence that became life-long. Alexander H.
Stepheus, the future statesman and his
torian, was then a youug graduate who
sought in teaching tho pecuniary support
that was necessary while lie was preparing
for admission to the bar. His fine classical
taste and clear, logical mind produced a
lasting impression upon John Le Conte, who
received thus his training for college, and
entered Franklin College, now the univer
sity at Athens, On., with distinguished suc
cess in January, 1835.
Asa student, young Le Conte soon be
came noted for his clearness of conception
and hi3 scrupulous accuracy iu work. The
curriculum of study was the same for all,
irrespective of native bias or prospective
aim in life. He was fully appreciative of
all the classical culture that wus there af
forded, but his tastes naturally led him into
spending on matbemati sand its applica
tions a larger share of attention than Latin
and Greek could attract. “Give him the
cosine of A and he will prove anything,”
was the criticism expressed by an admiring
fellow-student, and concurred in by the
rest. The formal teaching of physios and
chemistry involved mere text-book recita
tion, and attendance upon illustrated lec
tures of the most elemeutary character,
which were delivered with oracular author
ity. It was more than whispered among
tho students that on these topics John Le
Conte knew as much as or inure than the
professor himself.
During his senior year at college Mr. Le
Conte was bereft of his devoted father,
who died after a very brief illness. This
calamity hastened his selection of a profes
sion. In Augnst, 1838, he was graduated
with high honor. Immediately afterward
he began the study of medicine, aud in the
spring of 1839 he entered the College of
Physician* and Surgeons in New York,
where, in March, 1841, he received the de
gree of doctor of medicine. A few months
before his graduation in medicine another
domestic ciinmity befell him iu the death
of his eldest brotbor, William, to whom had
been committed tbe charge of the family
estates in Georgia. Tin- event hastened
Dr. Le Conte’s return home iu the spring of
1841, to take charge of the estate as the eld
est surviving s in, and frustrated the execu
tion of a cherished plan for supplementing
his medical education by a year’s residence
in Paris.
During the summer of 1841 Dr. Le Conte
returned to New York, and was married in
July to Miss Josephine Graham, of tbat
city, an accomplished young lady of Scot
tish and English extraction. The deep love
and earnest devotion, and tbe consequent
domestic happiness which crowned tbis
union, contributed more than all else after
ward to fortify and sustain him in tbe bat
tle of life. Mrs. Le Conte was a woman of
wonderful personal magnetism, queenly
in bearing, a id of extraordinary beauty.
Her brilliancy and wit, her her quick in
sight aud ready tact, added to her majestic
presence, made her the center of attraction
in every social gathering. In after years,
especially at the annual meetings of the
American Associa ion for the Advance
ment of Science, such men as Ba ne,
Pierce, Henry and Agassiz vied with each
otuer in doing her homage. Her fame in
social circles equaled that of her husband
among men of science; aud ne Important
step in his life has bee i taken witmit ac
knowledgment of the help derived from
thesicial influence of a wife of whom he
was justly proud.
In the autumn of 1843 I)r. Le Conte estab
lished himself as a practitioner of medicine
iu Savannah, Oa. His four years of resi
dence in that city formed no exception to
the usual exponent* of a young doctor; a
very small practice and" an increasing
family. It afforded, however, an excellent
opportunity for study and research, and it
was during this period that he mado his
most important contributions to medical
literature. These at once established his
reputation in the profession as an acute
observer, cautious, exact and industrious.
The first of them, entitled “A Casa of Car
cinoma of the Stomach,” published in the
Now York Medical Gazette in 1812, was
the initial outcome of a series of observa
tions on cancer that has been continued
from tune to time, even after Dr. I* Conte’s
abandonment of tho practice of medicine.
At this period ho probably paid more atten
tion to physiology than to any other of the
departments included in medical scio co,
and his fondness for research interfered to
some extent with the efforts that might
have been made to secure paying patients.
Iu August, 1846, l)r. Lo Conte accepted
the chair of Natural Philosophy and Chem
istry iu Franklin College, his alma mater,
from which lie had gone forth eight years
bofuro as tho best scientific student in Ins
class. This decided his withdrawal from
the field of practical work in medicine.
Henceforth he devoted himself to the study
of physical science, but without failing to
keep pace still with the progress of physi
ology. Ho retained his professorship at
Athens for nine years, resigning it in the
autumn of 1855 to become lecturer on
chemistry iu the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, his medical alma mater. In the
spring of 1856, at the conclusion of his
course of lectures in Now York, he ao
ceptepted a call to the South Carolina Col
lege at Columbia, where ho hail been unani
mously elected to fill tho chair, then first
created, of Natural aud Mechanical Phil
osophy. This position he held until the
college was disbanded soon after the open
ing of the civil war. He was
then put in charge of the
Niter aud Mining Bureau of Kouth
Carolina. In 1866 the University of South
Carolina was organized, and Dr. Le Couto
was eloctod to the same chair that ho na l
held iu the aollego of which this was the
new development. This position he re
tained until 1869, when ho gave up his resi
dence in Columbia to become au adopted
c.tizen of California, Here his homo has
continued up to the present time.
The period of thirteen years embracing
Dr. Lo Conte’s oonuection with the South
Carolina College and University, al
though clouded by the saddening events in
cident to tbe civil war, constituted the
pleasantest and most satisfactory period of
his life. The institution was governed by
a board of trustees composed of gentlemo i
of refinement and culturo, who entortaiuod
a genuine sympathy for the labors of the
student who strives to plant himself at the
most advanced outposts of science and
literature. The community amid which
the college had beon developed was
strongly influenced by the atmosphero of
scholarship which it produced. There was
a quiet spirit of encouragement to learning,
which, by its freedom from pretension,
furnished the most grateful incentive to
study. It was during these years that Dr.
Le Conte established a European reputa
tion through his writings, which wore pub
lished chiefly iu the American Journal
of Science and the London Philosophical
magazine. It was iu 1857 that lie made
the remarkable discovery of tho sees tivo
ne s of llaine to musical vibrations—a dis
covery which served as the startiug-point
for Barrett, Tyndall and Koenig in tho ex
quisi e applications that have since bee i
worked out by the use of flame for the de
tection of sounds too delicate for the ear to
perceive, aud for the optical anal ysis of com
pound tones. Unfortunately, Dr. Le Conte
did not possess tho wealth of instrumental
appliances needed for the development of
his uuiq le discovery, but his priority was
graoeiuuy proclaimed by Tyndall in tne
now classic book on sou id, mado up of lec
tures delivered at tho Royal Institution.
Among other papers that attracted marked
attention iu Europe was one "On tne Ade
quacy of Laplace’s Explanation to account
tor tue Discrepancy beiween the Computed
aud the Observed Velocity of Sound in Air
and Gasses,” written in 1861 and published
in 1864. Laplace’s modification of New
ton’s formula had beeu questioned by emi
nent English mathematicians and
physicists. Dr. Lo Conte showed that the
obscurity into which tbe subject had been
thrown was due to misconception of the
physical theory of Laplace, and to tne diffi
culties and obscurities which invest tho
mathematical theory of partial differential
equations iu tho application to physical
quostio is. This paper evened replies from
profs. Cualiis, Earnshaw and Potter, in
England; but the Ain rican puysicist’s p >si
ti m is generally accepted to-day. The
paper is a model ofexact physical reasoning.
In addition to the discussion of Laplace’s
views, it contains an original investigation
of the bearing of the phenomena attending
the propagtiuu of sound in air oil the ques
tion whet nor the gases constituting our at
mosphere are in a stato of mixture or of
combination.
just before the close of the war the borne
of Dr. Le Conte was included iu the belt of
desolation that was left by Geu. Sherman’s
inarch through South Carolina. Among
the losses by tire was a manuscript of a vol
ume ou general physics, tho product of Dr.
Le Conte’s many years of exporieuce as a
teacher a.id student of this subject. The
tribulations of the reconstruction period iu
South Carolina during tho ye irs following
the war male scientific investigation im
possible. The political turmoil, and the in
auguration of tne rule of ignorance and
vice in place of intelligence, left no refuge
but expatriation for thoso whoso occupa
tions depended upon tne embellishmems of
civilization. To this source of disquietude
was added the burden of domestic affliction
in the loss of an only daughter iu the bloom
of early womanhood.
At this critical time came a call to the
Pacific coast, to assume the chair of Physics
and Industrial Mechanics in the University
of California, which was then in the in
cipiency of its organization. The offer was
accepted, and Dr. Le Conte arrived in San
Francisco in April, 1869. Being imme
diately appointed acting president, he drew
up tho first prospectus of the university, in
which was set forth a synopsis of the pro
posed courses of instruction. Iu September
of the same year exercises were begun in
temporary buildings at Oaklani, where
during the following summer ho conferred
the baccalaureate degree on three young
men, and then retired from executive du
ties in order to build up more thoroughly
his own department of work. On the resig
nation of President Oilman in 1875, Dr.
Le Conte was induced again to assume the
presidency, wnich be retained until June,
1881, butstill performed tue duties of his
professorship. Since that date be has con
fined himself to his chair of physics.
Through nearly the whole of life the two
brothers, john and Joseph Le Coate, have
been closely associated, each attaining emi
nence, tbe elder as a physicist, the younger
as a geologist. The elder preceded the
younger by six years at Franklin College
in Georgia. They went almost together to
the South Caroiiua College, and likewise to
the University of California. This fact
has oft n led to their nanus becoming con
founded by strangers.
Dr. lie Conte is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, the American Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Science,
the American Philosophical Society and
Academy of Natural Sciences in Pbildel
plila, the New York Academy of Sciences,
aud the California Academy of Sciences
To this list inignt lie added various other
bodies which ha • e bestowed upon him hon
orary membership.
MRS. CLEVELAND'S NEW HOME.
An Authentic and Detailed Aocount
of Ita Interior Decorations.
From the Sew York lYorld.
When Mr. and Mix. Grover Cleveland
left the white house for New York, they
came hero as homeless as two immigrants
from over the son—though thoy still owned
their country place, “Red Top.” They took
up their temporary habitation in a hotel.
But. Mrs. Cleveland is an American woman
and believed in an American home, wicn
ail that tho term implies, and almost
from the day she stopped foot in tho city
she began a quiet but thorough house-hunt
ing.
She flitted from place to place in hor
search, and inspected every desirable dwell
ing that came under her "eye, until finally
she alighted at tho pretty little modern
house at No. 816 Madison avenue. She
passed through the front portal, jieered into
all the ruoniH, and found it a place to suit
eveu her 6ritical taste. The ex-President
was soon apprised of his wife’s choice, went
thither to view for himself the selection,
and at once agreed with her on the beauty
and the wisdom of her choosing.
The house itself tins already been fully
described. Suffice it to say that it was just
sucli a house as a woman of taste, refine
ment. and with ampin means would be apt
to desire for an elegant aud comfortable
home.
Thought had already been givon to the
furnishing and decoration of the interior by
Mrs. Cleveland while she was yet the mis
tress of the white house. She had known
that at some time in the futuro another
would bo called upon to take Imr place in
tbe executive mansion, and that she must
prepare to live elsewhere. With that eye
to the future iiossibllities she called into
consultation E. H. Jennings, tho artist
decorator of Buffalo, in whose taste and
judgment she had confidence, and imparted
to him something of her ideas as to bow
she wanted her house furnished when the
time came.
It must bo cosy, comfortable, artistic.
She abhorred the conventional matched
sots In blue, green or red plush or velvet,
an l detested carpets, no matter bow rich
they were, that were sewed togethor aud
fitted Into the corners and gathered dirt.
furnishing tiik house.
Mr. JetiniDgs forthwith began prepara
tions for that future home, lie weut
abroad and ransacked tbe capitals of Europe
for such artic es as he knew would please
and gratify tho taste of his patron. He
visited castles in Germany, palaces in Italy,
manor houses in England and stately villas
m France in Ins search for the rich, the rare
and the beautiful. He kept his gleanings
close hid until tuoh time as they would
come into play, and now, for the last month,
has beeu reveling in the enjoymont of
placing them in position.
A partial inventory of the contents of the
ex-Prosident’s and Mr. Cleveland’s new
home was made by a World reporter in
person last eveoing. In tbe front hall, be
fore the hospitable open door, tbe attention
is first attracted by a magnificent Moorish
lamp that once hung in a house in Cairo,
Egypt, which shed its rays through tinted
glass and fine scroll work. To the right of
the hall stands a heavy, black oak settle of
the De Medici period. Both tbe settlv and
the dam on which it stands are thickly in
laid with pearl. On the front and the high
carve l back the I)e Medici arms, five balls,
are carved. This pi -co of furniture is over
3(16 years old and came from a palace in
Florence.
A LOVELY CORNER.
At tho left of the hall is a little jog in
tho wall. Baforo tho opening bang heavy
portieres of pink and yellow tapestry, with
a Venetian lamp between them. Within is
a divan covered with yellow silk, while the
walls aro hung with an ancient rich vest
ment, such as is worn by priests of the
Greek church. It is a veritable lovers'
nook. A carved black-oak chest, lined
with blue velvet, stands near the dining
room door. It was made in the fourteenth
century, and was secured at Nuremberg,
Germany, where it had done service as a
silver chest for hundreds of years in tho
house of a burgher.
AN ANCIENT DUCAL CHAIR.
A high-back, heavy, oarvod dark oak
duoafenair, upholstered in Genoese velvet,
is another article of interest in the hall. Its
history is lost, beyond the fact that it once
graced an Dalian palace, it uiay have been
the one old Karon Rudiger died in. Tho
floor is covered with camel’s hair rugs in
dull pink aud yellow.
Stepping from the ball into the reception
room one’s foot falls oa tho exquisite Lahore
rug with cafe a lait center, ruby medallion,
and wide border. Ruby velvet curtains
hang at the front windows, with foldings
held by gilt cupids. Tbe furniture is mostly
of ebony and in quaint designs. An ebony
cabinet, inlaid with ivory, is an importa
tion from Flanders, where it was made over
two hundred years ago. Secret drawers are
hidden within it, where gold and jewels
were formerly secreted from the envious.
It is not quite certain that all tho myster
ious compartments are even yet known to
its present possessor.
THE DINING ROOM.
The dining room next claims attention.
It u a place where tne epicure would feel at
home, aud even the surfeited would find an
appetite. Its purpose can be gleaned from
the Scotch blessing carved doep in tbe
black oak chimney piece:
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat tbat want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat
And sue the Gird be thankit.
The dining table is a pre-revolutionary
relic from Maryland and was imported
from E gland long before the stamp act
was passed. It is of dark mahogany, and
the base is ouriously carved. Tho chairs
are also of mahogany and are exact copies
of a set that Voltaire once had in his hoOse
in Paris. The sideboard, also mahogany
inlaid with light wood, is from England,
and has held the good things ot earth for
over a hundred years.
FROM MRS. CLEVELAND’S RIFLE.
Two flne deer heals, mounted, hang upon
the walls. Both were shot in the Adiron
dacks. one by Mr. Cleveland, and the other
and larger one, with the graceful, branch -
ing horns, had the pleasure of falling before
Mrs. Cleveland’s rifle. The hangings are of
French tapestry iu subdued blue and yel
low.
Ascending the stairs, one stops at the first
landing to admire an Italian clock tbat did
not cease to tick oa tho demise of a dozen or
more successive and consecutive grand
fathers, for it ticks to-day as industriously
as when it ixHjan duty more tnan two
centuries ago. It chimes the qua l ter and
half hours, as well** the completed cycle of
sixty minutes, while its face shows the
changes and phases of tbe moon. This
ancient time-piece is of mahogany and
brass, and was a wedding present to Mrs.
Cleveland from Robert Roosevelt.
IN WHITE AND GOLD.
The drawing room on the second floor
PAGES 9 TO 12.
was originally intended to represent the
time of Louis XVI., and is finished off iu
white and gold. Mrs. Cleveland has made
it a i • ildiy-prettv room by furnishiug it iu
colonial stvle. No two pieces in the room
are if the same p ittern, though mostly iu
mahogany, and, with tbe exception of the
piano, which is modern, no article is lese
than a century old. E. en the rugs on the
polishel hardwood floor have softened the
step of slippered feet for ten and fifteen
decades.
Cream colore 1 silk embroidered with gold
constitutes the hangings. Two old-time
sconces adorn either side of the mantel, and
the walls are relieved by several water
colors, and two fine etchings, “The Loet
Chord” aud “D-ifting,” by Re ?inaid Coze,
a New York artist.
THE PRESIDENT'S LIBRARY.
The library is at the rear of the second
story. Mrs. Cleveland lias invaded this
apartment also, and with true feminine
instinct iias made it too handsome for ordi
nary work-a-day use. Three sides of the
room aro lined with low bookcases, broken
in two places, aud the niches occupied by
divans loaded with eider-down pillows,
covered with deep orai.ge-oolored India
silk. The portieres and window curtains
are of the same material. A large carved
table occupies the center of the room,
while near the window stands a unique
writing desk of rosewood. It was originally
an upright piano or spinet, but altered to
its present purpose. It is of English make,
and was brought to the United States in
1814 by John Quincy Adams on his return
from England, after his term as minister
to the court of St. James. The spinet was
packed up In Massachusetts, whore it bad
been carefully preserved as a historical
relic all these years.
THE PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Photographs or engravings of several
distinguished men adorn tho walls, among
them Abraham Lincoln and Henry Ward
Beecher. There are also two rare old por
traits of George Washington and Martha
Washington that were found reoently in
Maryland.
Tbe library floor is of polished hard wood
and covered with tiger and white bear skins
and Angora goat skinning*
Tho sleeping rooms are in the third story,
and are as interesting In their way as tba
other rooms in the bouse, for the same love
for tbe antique is shown throughout. The
President's room, for instance, contains an
old-fashiouod mahogany four-post bedstead
and ancient chairs and tables. A gem of a
rag c irpet that did duty in a New E gland
home a full coniury ago, and which is as
bright to-day os when it loft the loom,
covers the floor. White dimity, flecked
wifh red, constitutes the hangings.
MRS. CLEVELAND’S OWN ROOM.
Mrs. Cleveland’s own room is mors
dainty. ludigo-blue and cream are the pre
vailing colors in portieres, curtains and up
holstery. The bedstead is a high old four-j
poster that came originally from Spain and]
long occupied the room of state iu a New
Orleans mansion. An old rocking-chair iw
white aud gold and an English secretary of
a time that aute-dated George .IV., are
among the room’s furnishing.
The guost-chamber is a museum of anti
quities. Rag-carpet rugs are on the floor,
a tall clock that wag old when Washington
was born stands in a oorner and flirts with,
a spluniiig-whool at the other side. An all
night visitor at the Clevelands occupying
this room would warm himself at a Frank
lin stovo that came from down East some
where. If tbe fire did not burn well there
are a pair of bellows to help it. He would,
sleep on a fur-posted bedstead of the Huger
Williams period.
A warming-pan hangs in the room ready
for use if the sheets should happen to be
cold or damp. While waiting for bedtime
to come around ho can sit iu the high->
backed ohintz-covered rocker, or the stiff
backed, rush-bottomed, uneasy affairs that i
made tbe children of our real old-time an
cestors so unhappy. In fact it would re
quire no effort at all to irnagiue oue’s-self
back in Salem in too days of witchcraft and.!
the blue-laws.
How Long Do You Bleep f
From the London Lancet.
Insomnia is rightly regarded as one of the*
marks of un overwrought or worried nerv
ous system, and conversely we may take ifc
that sound sleep lasting for a reasonable
period, say, from six to nine hours in thei
case of adults, is a fair test of nervous com
petence. Various accidental causes wayi
temporarily interfere with sleep in that
healthy; but still the rule holds good, and m
normal brain reveals its condition byi
obedience to tbis daily rbytbmic variation*.
Custom cau do much to contract one’s I
natural term of sleep, a fact of which we
are constantly reminded in these days oC
high pressure; but the process is torn
artificial to be freely
Laborious days with scanty interval*
of rest go far to secure all the needs
ful conditions of insomnia. In allotting)
hours of sleep it is impossible to adopc any!
maxim or uniform custom. The due allow
ance varies with the individual. Age, con
stitution, sex, fatigue, exercise, e tch has it*
share of influence. Young persons andf
hard workers naturally need aud should
have more sleep than thoso who neitbea
grow nor labor. Women have by conamort
consent been assigned a longer period ofl
rest than men, and tbis arrangement, iu th
event of their doing hard work, is in strict!
accord with their generally lighter physical
construction and recurrent infirmities. Ab
solute rule there is none, and it is of llttla
moment to fix au exact average allowance,,
provided the recurrence of sleep be regular*
and its amount sufficient for the needs ot
a given person, so that fatigue does not re
sult in such nerve prostration and irrita
bility as render bealtby rest impossible.
Number of People Since Adam.
From the St. Louis Republic.
Did you ever make a calculation of
number of people that have inhabit'd tnis
globe since the beginning of time? Not
doubt you will say that such calculation*
involve a loss of time and are, after all,
barren of remits, but as we aro engagod ia
giving curious readiu/i and odd calcula
tions, let us take a few minutes’ time aud
approximate, with a certain degree of accu
racy, an least, the number of souls that
have been ushered into and out of this sin
ful world since the time when it was not
good for Adam to be alone. At the
present time it is believed that there
are 1,400,000,000 human beings on our globe;
but let us suppose there has been but an
average of 900,000,000 living at one time
since tne creation. To give room for any
possible doubt as to the average length of
life, we will put it down at 50 years. (16
may have been longer than tbat during
Bible times; it has been much shorter, how
ever, since.) With the average length of
life, reckoned as above, we have had two
generations of 900,000,0 0 each every century
for tho past 6,000 years. Taking this for
granted, wo have had about 66,027,843,237,-
075,266 inhabitants on this globe since the
beginning of time.
Admitting tbat there is a great deal of
guess-work about this speculation, and that
it has been hastily and perhaps inaccurately
done, it will be peceived, nevertheless, that
our earth is a vast cemetery. Oa each rood
of it 1,283 human beiugs have found q
burial place. A rood being scarcely suffl.
ciont for ten graves, each grave must
contain the remains of 129 persona Tin
whole surface of the globe, if oil peoplei
bury within tbe earth as we do, has been
dug over 120 times in order to get room foi
burial places.