The Weekly constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1881-1884, January 10, 1882, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextTHE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION. VOLUME xrv TUESDAY MOKNTNG, JANUARY 10, 1882. PRICE 5 CENTS GRAM ON GUITEAU. ANALYZES THE MOTIVES THE COLOSSAL WRETCH. A Half Roar's 8c«no of Judge Cox’* Criminal Come* dy—Tno Manner, Style and Motive of the Prii- oner—Hla Firs Thought and After thought—A Consummate Study. Washington, January 3.—[Special Correspond ence.)—“You will now wltneas," said Emory Speer, an with Mr. Harrington, ol Columbus. we Hied Into the federal court room in this city, "the most famous, and in many respect*, the most interesting, trial cf record.!’ The court room was packed. As wc entered, the voice of the sheriff was heard ordering the doors closed, as there was standing room for no more peo ple in the court room. The crowd was of better class than I had expected to find. The most cZegant women and men of position and character made up tho staple, with here and there a strip of rough people, admitted by the connivance of some doorkeeper or subordinate. I do not know how the ladles stand the spicy details which Guitcau throws into the proceedings on occasions, but I suppose the old ones arc too wise to be giddy and the young ones too innocent to blush. At any rale they sit through It, alongside their casual or regular mates, and give the glitter of diamonds and bloom of downy cheeks to a scene that they brighten if they do not adorn. "If 1 ever snw a hanging jury,” said Speer, "that is one. 1 have studied it carefully, and iu the light of considerable experience, I think it is the most determined jury I ever saw. Along cither line there is not a face that promises the least sort of sen timent or qualmishness. Even the third juror in the front row who goes to dozing in the first half hour and sleeps peacefully untiLthc bailiff rouses him, at the close • of the session wakes with a vigor that ill-betldcs the pris oner. It Is rumored that some of the jurors have hereditary insanity In their families, and that tills may cause a mistrial. This is hardly probable, though. Guitcau Is before a hanging jury. If ever any man was." Mr. Scoville, who has charge of Guiteau’sdefcnse, has won general respect by his conduct of the case. Not a skilled criminal lawyer, his very frankness and candor commends him to the jury, while ills ready confession of ignorance as to the tcchnieal- ticaof the court excuses many an error that be could not defend. He seems to feel keenly the odium of his place, has the Ingenuous air of one who is niAnfuily shouldering a-responsibility he would never have taken on of his own motion, and rarely doses a day without having won the sym pathy of the audience. John W. Guitcau, a low middling sample out of the same field in whldi the assassin was storm-cotton, sits by Scoville and ap parently worries him with suggestions. Of the jirosec.ution Corkhill it probably the weakest of the lot. He is a blandish, round-headed man, with a lull, well fed face and a mustache. Porter Is the oratorical lawyer of the bunch. Interjecting little speeches here and there almost as Irregularly as Guiteau docs. , "That is Davidge, the manager of the prosecu tion," said Sjiecr, pointing to a chirpy old man, with a smooth face and asuffusive smile, tripjdng by the Jtlry. "See how ho bows to the jury, with till the unction of Sergeant lluzfuz, and smiles on each one with brotherly affection. He will now go overand'shake hands in a deprecating way with Scoville, and then turn and look at the jury as if to an;, ' .rj*: ho* g.nerousl am!" • Judge Cox, who walked with a quick, firm step toliis seat'promptly at 10 o’clock, is a short, thick- net man, with military primness of features and manner, and mustache anil goatee trimmed to a jKiint, reminding one of a young Joe Johnston. The wisdom of his course in allowing Guiteau such unusual latitude Is now generally understood. With the almost certainty of conviction, he has given tlie prisoner such liberal rulings that it will l>c practically impossible to secure a new trial by cxceptions. He has been roundly abused for his course, but has never moved one jot or tittle from the path he first laid out. As he sat straight ns an arrow in his chair and looked out oyer the misera ble court room, lie showed no sign of uneasiness or emotion, and it was easy to see the steadfast will that has sot a new precedent iu criminal trials and stood by that-precedent through thick and thin! "There comes Guitcau," ran around the court room, as the door opened and Marshal Henry’s burly form appeared. Behind the marshal, walk ing so close to the jury that he actually brushed its knees, came a'shambllng figure. The shoulders, square and broad, were hunched up—the closely shaved head well settled and crouching between them, moved furtively from one side to the other. This was Guiteau, the assassin of Garfield. He was clad in a cheap gray suit that fit loosely. A pair of cheap eye-glasses hung from his coat lappel. Ilis hair was cut very close, and showed the bumps of an ugly skull. His mouth was large, and of changeable expression, the thick lips twitching and curving constantly. He appeared to recognize no one in the crowds tli rough which he passed, iris eye shift ing uneasily until he reached the counsel's desk. There he stopjicd and whispered a few words to Scoville, who listened with a weary, half-sad air. Scoville made no reply, and the assassin, putting liis shoulders up again and dropping Us head down between them, hustled on to the prisoner’s dock. Beaching that he adjusted his chair, pulled two newspapers out of his pocket, and sat down. Suddenly he said, in a loud voiee,"Happy New Year to all of you. I’ve had a very happy New Year. I had a big reception —high-toned, middle-toned, low-toned folks. This shows that the public is with me, and wants me acquitted.” It l« impossible to describe the vague, perfunetory way in which this was said. The utterance was purely mechanical—tire manner abstracted. It was addressed to nobody, being delivered apjsirently to his newspaper. The tones were dry, hollow, with out the slightest emphasis, jxtuse or inflection. They were delivered precisely asif they were turned out of a east-iron throat by a crank. Indeed, they reminded me of only one deliverance I ever heard. That was when a curious Swiss clock opened ils diaJ,And a cuckoo hopped out,crew three automatic- crows, wheeled on its metallic base and vauislied in the clock again. Having made bis sjieech, Guiteau took his eye-glasses, held them to his eyes and apparently buried hi rase] i in his newsjaper. £! took advantage of lh<£lnll to stud^the face oi the most remarkable assassin of history. I ap- jiroaohed this study bewildered by two opinions. Sliison Hutchins had said to me with that tine em phasis for which he Is famous: “His eye Is a wonderful one. It is net the eye of a wild beast, but It is the eye of a human being with a savage beast behind it. glaring at you through it.” I was at a some pains to justify this picturesque or not. I don’t think I would have known what it was if I had seen it. So that Mr.Wattereon may have been right. Certainly no one can ever prove that be was wrong. As for me, it struck me that Guit can was the brightest man in the court room. I do not think so smart a prisoner ever before went on trial for his life. His defense is unique—it is spark-, ling—and full of an audacity and cheek that is either sublime or insane. It is certainly not insanity. It is too well-ordered for that. He never misses a point in the trial. He never throws in a shot at random. With wonderful self-control, he sits, his eye-glasses resting on his paper, bnt hi* eyes half-shut, throbbing, rolling under his glasses, hearing every word that is said, noting every mo tion that is made—conscious that at any moment he may be shot dead in his seat; yet sitting silent, with a smile on his lips, and only his half-sheathed eyes showing" the tonneutlug fears that devour him. ' What a miracle he has worked already. He Is the hero of the most causeless, wanton and atrocious assas sination that ever stained human annals. Only a month ago running-a-muck through bowling and cursing crowds as he hurried from the court room lO his van. and now the easy and chatty center of a court roam that laughs good-humoredly at his sj>ceches and only complains that he does not talk enough. Only a month age, that same room sat hushed and harror-strickeu, as the bones of the murdered president were placed before hisassassiu— and now the ghastliness of that scene is forgotton and the trial of that assassin is esteemed the best farce of the day. Will the cunning that has made this chauge iu the public that hangs about the court-room affect the jury? I think not. Guiteau is surrounded by a mesh that he cannot break through. As shrewd as he is he has not been able to deceive a single exj>ert who has examined his case. The prosecution has sum moned the ablest exerts in the country and their testimony has been uniform, jrosilive and iutelli gent against the prisoner. His previous lifehAS been sifted, and nothing found to justify the belief of insanity. it has simply demonstrated that he was an unconscionable dead beat, too lazy to work, but greedy of good things, and hence a petty thief. His whole career has been one of make-shifts—first swindling a boarding house keeper, next bleeding a politician, then beat ing a community. The key-note to his life is his inordinate vanity. Possessed with the idea that he was a lecturer, an author, an orator, a preacher, a lawyer, a statesman, aud having not the slightest qualification for either—he has beein a sort ;of in tense Tittlebut Titmouse—with higher vauity, deeper wrongs, and swifter impulses than his Eng lish prototype. The only possible ground for convincing the jury that he Is insane, is that the act itself proved insan ity. It docs look iucrcdible that any man of such light weight, such petty methods, saeh shallow af- feef inns, should deliberately shoot dowu the presi dent of the United States, in the heart of a great city, in ojien day, without being in sane. John Wilkes Booth might have done it; the nihUist assassins might have done it; any other assassin in tho world’s history; any man of deep convictions, of strong character, of tragic leaning or inclination, might have done it, and sternly smiled as they paid forfeit with their life. Hereto fore assassination has furnished its explanation in the tremendous and inexorable forces that moved the assassin, deliberate, brooding and absolute, to his crime. But that this will o’ th’ wisp—this mean tridcr and vicious sneak, whose predatory instincts lcd,him no further than the lunch counter, and who wasa terror only to JTOT '’'.”" , oijslandladie%sshould have committed acrirne that in daring and atrocity has no parallel from Brutus to Booth, at first seems, incredible on any hypothesis save that of insanity. The explanation I suspect is this: Through a long life of j»etty meannesses this man had become so depraved that he believed Grant, Arthur and ConkUng would protect him. The same abnormal vanity that led him to so over-value his own im- portance, unbalanced his judgment of everything else. His weak brain was heated by the factional frenzy then raging, and his govcrnless nature was fed by his accumulating reverses. If lie believed that Grant and Arthur would protect him, his crime loses its audacity , and a mistaken cunning sup plies in him the sterner stuff that moves the ordi nary assassin. That he did so believe is proved by many things. By his first exclamatiou, "I am a stalwart of the stalwarts”—by his hurried declaration that he killed Garfield so that Arthur might be president—by the request to General Sher man to simply see that he was protected from the instant fury of tfio mob, and by the arrange ment he made with the hack-driver to siui ply carry him beyond immediate danger. But more than all by the stupefaction that seized him when he first read, in the papers that Grant and Arthur denounced his crime and indicated that lie ought to be hung. He seemed to be utterly unable to comprehend this for some lime, and when he did his whole manner changed; his pres ent theory of the defense was. formulated. No where did he mention or suggest “tho inspiration of the deity,” that is now his sole defensq, until after he realized that Grant and Arthur had deserted him. The "deity" was an afterthought. I was struck as I sat listening at the trial; the Jumbering heavy lawyers; the tedious^ witnesses; the sharp interruptions of the prisoner: the light cheeriness of the audience, and the dark tragedy that was behind it all; with the uniqueness of this tria) among all trials of this sort. What an enor mous distance this shaved-skull elown has led us all from the gloom and sorrow of a few weeks ago; how far he had carried that audleuce from the broken-hearted mother and sor rowing widow at Mentor; how jauntily he jiugies his fool scap and bells over a grave on which the funeral flowers have hardly lost their b'oom What a difference in the scene it presented and the trial of the nihilist assassins. What sort of trial would this have been with John Wilkes Booth in the pris oner’s dock? What tremendous and profound inter est would there have been in probing the depths of his tragical nature—in bringing to light the secret- springs of his life, and laying bare the tense pus sions of his soul. The world would have waited breathless as the great lawyers confronted the great actor, and sought to wring from him the names of his accomplices, or put before him as a witness the one woman he ever loved. How meagre and flippant and trifling is all this trial compared to what the superb and stormy scenes of the other world have been? How wretchedly scant of all that is serious or thrilling. With what slight accessories Is the trial made up. A few faded landladies, whose meat and bread the poor devil had eaten without pay; a wife from whom he was divorced simply because he didn’t care to sup- port her; a half dozen cranhs with whom he once associated in crank communities; two or three hook agents to prove that when a hook agent him self he collected money without delivering good: a woman or two to prove that he had, on occasions keen immoral. A life plastered over with mlsde- when it started. It is a cnrlons and pitiful specta cle. The tremendous strain upon this small crea ture, as he Ibrns, baffled in his purpose, deserted by those he counted bis protectors, and confronts bis assailants alone. Cornered, set upon, involved in meshes that a lioar could not break through, he dashes against them with tho frenzied impotence of a trapped rat. I never saw such a mass of flip, pant carelessness put over such a terror stricken face. The ladescribable, hunted look that is under the surface of every feature, the vague appeal for protection orsymjiathy that flickers in his eyes, the uneasy, ceaseless tremor of the hands, and the scared turns of tho head—all these tell of the torments he suffers. His cuckoo-like speeches, that were juicy and springy when they came as a first inspiration, are now' dry and unhuman, since they have failed to deceive, and only cause a laugh where they onee started inquiry. There Is a weariness and distrust in his manner now, since those terrible experts have demonstrated in cold logic that it is im possible for him to be insane. The wrestler with the deceived landladies, the deserted wife and the buyers of books never delivered, he stood very well—but these technical experts that stand not as the accusers of his past life but the interpreters of his crime have been too much for him. That he should be hung there is no doubt. That he will be hung there Is scarcely less. But I could not help pitying him as I witnessed his anequal and hopeless struggle. And back of this what a hard unloved life was' his, with its shabby makeshifts—with its hungry nights and its days of disappointments—its mortifying beggary, its looming ambltiors and its wretched performance—its misery, its worthlessness, its vagueness, its abjectness, its homelessness, its friendlcssness, its misproportions. How many weak and vicious fellows, as he Is, with misdirected aims and mistaken purposes, with maladjustments and misestimates, are drifting on the swirling cur rents of life—as worthless as he, hut less known simply because they haven't yet been thrown on the rocks. An outcast from all sympathy, devoured by a consuming vanity as deadly os the delirium of drink, a miser able slink, despised, avoided, dodged, mistrusted and kicked nut. Tho jailer says that there seems to l>e only one human being that feels the slightest interest in his future, and that is his sister. Be yond this one love, he is the utter outcast from human sympathy he has always been. He looks into the crowd that has already made two attempts to take his life, and feels that even now it may be preparing for the third. And so he sits there shiv ering in his soul, ague-stricken in its heart, mask ing his terror with ignoble flesh—tossed by a strange slip from a petty criminal into a tremend ous one—a Jeremy Diddlcrturned intoa murderer— t jackal thrown into a tiger’s place! J ust before I left the courtroom I called my boy’s at tention to the prisoner. Guiteau saw me as I pointed him out. The boy looked at him with open-eyed wonder, and for once the restless eyes of the assassin were fixed as they rested upon the fresh young face of tho child. The scared, hunted look died out of the murderer's face for the mo ment, and he gazed steadily into the bright, itnto cent eyes only a few feet away from him. His ex pression changed, his grimacing mouth grew seri ous, and— "Papa, he’s looking at me!’' whispered the boy, dropping his eyes and cuddling closer to my side. At this motion, Guiteau rose from his chair, turned it com pletely around, and sat down, with his back facing the audience—a favorite position with him. The outline of his shabby head, cuddled between his.broad shoulders, was sharply made against the light. His great ears stood out like handles to his skull. There was a notable flatness on one side of his head as compared with the other, and a de pression on one side of the top skull with an up heaval on the other. He made a littleawningofa newspaj>er and held it like a hood between his face and the__jjiii, When I left the court room a half hour later he had not moved. II. \V. G. THE QUAKER CITY. ONE HOUSE THAT SWALLOWS UP ATLANTA. Bevelling in Figures of Enormous Wealth—The New PuMtr iiuildlngs of Philadelphia Sescribed- A Magnifioent Railway Depot—The Greet American City of Philadelphia. GEN, JOHNSTON’S DISCLAIMER. He a-- , « ];io>‘Sflflt»n* ’lavlxe III# fhpHr< Alleged Agatunt Mr. Davis* Washington, January ".—The Post will publish to-morrow morning the following letter from Gen eral Johnston: To the Editor of the Daily Post—Sir: When the article headed "General Johnston’s narrative” ap peared in the Philadelphia Press oi December 18th, T wrote to the editor that the conversation on which the narrative was evidently founded was not an in terview, and the article was so inaccurate that I would not undertake to correct it. This was published by him promptly. As that article seems to be read in the south as accurate and I am eharg ed with having accused Mr. Davis with having ap propriated the confederate bonds he carried through North Carolina, I write to deny the charge. I did not use the languge imputed to me. What I did say was that the president ongbt to have accounted for this money. It is a well-known practice in this and all other civilized countries that those having disjwsed of public funds shall account for them.; What I said on that occa sion was in an accidental conversation with one whom I considered much above the class oi interviewers. Therefore I had no fear of the publication of what I might say and said agqod deal that uothing would induce me to say for publication, especially on the subject of the funds at Greensboro. That part of the conversation was in connection with the subject of application twice made by me that part oi that money should be paid to the army I then commanded in North Carolina, which had received no real pay for several months. J. E. Johnston. Swallowing a Tcu-Cent Piece. Kingston, N. Y., January 7.—About six weeks ago Robert Talliender. a t^lor, employed as head cutter in the clothing house of I. Bernstein, in this city, accidentally swallowed a silver ten-ceut piece while playing with his children at his home, in Washington avenue. Not supposing that any seri ous result would follow, he paid no further atten tion to the iucident. About three weeks afterward he began to cough, and this trouble' gradually in creased with great severity, and the man was alarmed. He tnought he was atilieted with con sumption, aud says he was about making prepara tions to leave this world and its trials. A few days ago the cough became more violent than ever, and he suffered acute pain which seemed to proceed from his Inngs. It; appeared to him as if some thing was flapping about in his chest on the right side. Ail this time the swallowing of the ten cent piece did not recur to him. The next day, while in another violent coughing fit, aud when iu the act of stooping over, the coin new out of bis month. The tailor's eongh has now disappeared. A CURIOUS PREACHER Who statement, but I confess that I was unable to do so. I saw no savage beast behind Gu Beau's eye, nor any meunors, and yet not steadied with one serious trace of one, and as I have been to a menagerie or j thought or weighted with even one respectable two, I dattermyseU that I know a wild beast when J crime. It Is the incongruity between the man and I see it. I only saw a furtive, cunning eye. with a j the deed—ihe disproportion * ctweeu this and other scared, hunted look iu it, that the feat- ! assassins—the tilpjianev of the proceedings of this loss unconsciousness of insaulty never.) tria. as compared to others—that has taken the give* to its subjects. I am afraid that Mr. Hutchius j jicople off their feet and bred an infectious light- let his lore of the picturesque get away with his j ness iu the court-room atmosphere that may extend judgment. The other opinion with which I found l to the jury. myself burdened came from Henry Watterson, who _ Strange os ft may seem. I felt a pity for had written: i the poor devil oi a prisoner as "He Is a weird and wizened apotheosis of dead- | I watched him in his dock. An expert has predict- beatism." i ed thalGujtcau will break down intoa gibbering I am unable to sav whether I saw this in Guitcau ' idiot before the eud of the trial, sane as be was Professes to Do a Great Deal by tbe Power of Faith. Louisville, January 6.—Rev. George 0. Barnes, the mountain evangelist of Kentucky, a modern Lorenzo Dow, has been creating a sensation in this eity during the week by his services at the Chestnut street Baptist church. He is a firm believer in what is termed "faith cure,” and at the conclusion of hisserviceshe calls up the afflicted, anoints them, prays for thei r recovery, and assures them all will be well, if they have faith, Mr. Barnes claims that God will never damn, but it is the devil who does, aud makes sickness and disease. God heals evt ry day. We see in the newspapers the lie "that it hath pleased Go-1 to remove from ns our brother." God didn't remove him. It pleased the devil to re move. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. 1 he lie was started by old Job when he was in deep affliction. There is not a bit oi truth in it. The Lord givetli, but the devil taketh away. God has constituted us. he continued, that though the devil may lav grief onus it soon wears out and time heals, t'he weeping widow will console herself in a year and a half by marrying another man. Watch and pray. This choice injunction used to trouble me a great deal. I couldn't understand it. I would pray * to the Lord and watch the devil; then to the Lord and watch the world and flesh, and ’hen the devil would slip up behind and catch me, but. thank God, I am ov«.r that difficultv now. 1 pray to the Lord and watch too. and he protects me. He will not let me suffer as lung as I look to Him. Mr. Barnes caused the jteople to look around at each other in amazement when he beheaded the devil. Take away the firs letter, he said, aud yon have evil; the second, and vou have vil; the third, and you have il; the fourth, and von have a word ■ that sounds like hell itself. So you see, my fiends, the devil i< mean all the way through, and I don’t intend to have anything more to do with him. At the conclusion of each hour's service, he iuvited backsliders and sinners to come forward and have their souls cared for, after which he extends an in vitation to the afflicted in the body t«* come and be healed. If none come forward, he does not insist, but says they will do so before he is done here. He does not seem iu the least di*.-ouragod at the appa rent slow p ros res* for good, but feels he has done his best, and leaves the rest with God. Philadelphia, January 4.—[Special Corres pondence.]—Fulton is the richest of the 13S counties in Georgia. Its real estate and per sonal property combined are valued, I be lieve, at about $19,000,000. It may be some what in exeess£j_tjiese figures now, but tbey are about last year’s returns. Think of one building worth as much as all tbe houses and all tbe land and all the money in Fulton county. Tbe suggestion sounds, wild, and yet Philadelphia proposes to have just such a building, and has gone a good way towards its erection. "When complete, she proposes to put it at the head of the list, not only in America, but in the world, so that she can point to it as the costliest public structure reared by the hand of man. I refer to the new public buildings in the Quaker city. They were begun morejthan fifteen years ago, and yet to-day they are not half com plete. Tw o of the finest and most populous streets in Philadelphia are cut off by the great walls which encircle four acres of ground, and the impeded highways pass through the heavy arches. There is a rude, weather-stained scaffolding which obscures a view of the exterior from a distance; but a closer observation will repay the visitor. The gigantic structure is of mar ble and that grey granite of New England which takes the most delicate touch of tiie chisel and defies the frost and rain. From the first stone of the foundation to that freshest from the mason's hand there is not one Without the mark o,f special adapta tion to its place. In the first place, the architecture is simple. It is boldly grand. Every o.-nament is wrought to harmonize with the general design. There is none of the cut tip work or light flippery that has made the. millions spent on the state, war. and navy buildings in Washington such a poor investment. On the inside there is an open court of fully half an acre. From it a fine view can be had of the best work yet done, and an intelligent idea formed of what the great structure will he when complete. Four grand entrances lead in from the streets cut- off by the building. Passing under the arches of each, one secs above him the mas.y stone wrought into a hundred shapes to touch strength with the tenderness of beauty or the expression of design. Justice is several times portrayed as “the blind god- 'doss,” at;d the staid, Quaker face of Penn peers at yoh from various views. Allegorical see \vs a> g portrayed in stone with the most , vfcction. Under the most ornate arch are six mono liths of red marble twenty-five feet high, sur mounted by bronze capitals that cost about $1,000 each. On the inner side of this entrance rises the main towerof the building, now about a hun dred feet high. It is barely begun, for it is destined to lift its head to the awful height of five hundred and forty feet, three feet higher than the tallest of the Strasburg cathedral spires, and Lite loftiest pinnacle in the world. On its cap stone is to stand a statue of William Penn, and to make it appear life-size to the people in the street away below, the figure must be forty-five feet high. To support- this great tower, in addition to its mighty walls, are four marble pillars live feet in diameter but not more than ten feet high. Above them, with their arms thrown over their heads as if straining to uphold theirjburden, are groups of figures representing faithfully the types of Caueassian, Mongolian, Malay and African races. From out the inner arches, peering at them from the four sides are life size heads of lion, tiger, elephant and ox, chiseled so fine that you can almost see the hairs or count the wrinkles of the skin. There are many other points of interest that could be mentioned, but, all given, they would enable one who has not seen the build ing to form but a poor idea of its proportions or finish. Already it has cost the city about eight millions of dollars, and when completed as now designed, the total cost will be in the neighborhood of twenty millions. It is proposed to appropriate about a million a year until the work is done. How long it will*,take to complete it, even with regular appropriations, is hard to surmise. The capital at *Washington is now the costli est building in America, but with all the waste of money on its squatty expanse the government has spent over five millions less tha » this city’ proposes to put into its offices. The New York state house is considered by some people the finest building iu America, and yet it cost far less than the present bare walls for three or four stories of this wonderful venture. The people of Philadelphia are justly proud of it, and there is not apt to be any delay in the appropriations necessary to crown the work with a timely, perfect completion. Just across the street from this monument of Philadelphia’s wealth and public spirit stands, what is beyond doubt, the finest rail road depot in the world. After several years of building it was thrown open by the Penn sylvania railroad, and is used principally for its through trains. What made this cost so great • is the heavy elevated railway from the old depot away out of the live part of town. A great deal of property had to be bought and more is clamoring for purcliase by the road, claiming irreparable damage and asking, as usual, from a rich corporation about twice its worth. But already the outlay has been enough to stagger any but such a Crcesusof corporations. It foots up about six million dollars. When you roll into the depot you are glad the money has been spent, for you are in luxuriant apart ments with abundance of electric lights, tes- selated floors, richly furnished saloons, ready elevators, and, in 'short, every luxury the traveler wants. Enough spent on a depot to build a railroad a hundred miles long through almost any difficulties! The state of Georgi. for the one hundred and fifty miles of the Macon and Brunswick with all its prop erty of rolling stock received less than one- fourth what this great corporation spent on what it modestly calls its "Broad street station.” - Philadelphia is, in many respects, the most remarkable city in America. It was supposed by many that it was the leading city in manufactures, but the census puts New'York forty millions per year ahead of it. Nevertheless. Philadelphia has more Amer ican born people than the great metropolis with its mongrel mass of humanity. It cover* more ground than New York, and, with only about tiro-thirds of the population, has forty housand more houses. It is not crowded ike New York. Even the poorest classes do not live in such nests as are seen in that hu man hive. The better class of families live in separate houses, the French fiat and tene ment system in its most compact form being almost'entirely unknown. The Philadelphia plan is the healthier, morally, physically— every way. While there arc few of those colossal for tunes here, more people live on their incomes in tills city probably than in any other in.the union. Wealth seems to be better distribu ted than in New York. There is less display, less of what the world calls style, less, too, of what its own bitter tears and gaunt despair name wretchedness. And yet there are numerous instances of enormous wealth. The other day a Mr. Weld, whom scarcely anybody knew, died here and disposed of twenty-two millions of property in his will. A grocer who lived on a not' very busy street, after a loug life of toil and economy, finished his labors a year or two ago, aud one of his bequests gave half a million to a maiden sister. She did not keep it long, however, for the summons soon came to her aud she put her treasure to golden uses in helping out an asylum for the blind. What wonderful cities these twin giants are, lying here ninety miles apart with the human tide swaying to and fro between them every day! Wo'nderful are they in riches and enterprise, busying their myriads of hands and employing their quick, fertile brains.- Wonderful 'as great hearts sending out the life blood of commerce all through a conti nent. Wonderful for their growth in popula tion, wealth and culture; their thousand public enterprises, their charities and their misery. I was speaking to a friend of all these things tlie other night when, to chill my ardor, he said v "That is all very well, but do you everthink that London has* as many people as New York. Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, Bos ton, St. Louis and Baltimore all put in a lump?” I took these seven great American cities, footed up the figures of their vast population and found that he was correct. F. II. R. A Talk With the Social Humbug oi England, in Which He Dilates Upon the Influences That Govern His Life—The True and the Beau tiful Crush Him Beneath Their Feet. STRIKING LAGER BEER. The Strange Ueiult which Followed Drilling for Oil Near Franklin, I’a., Real & Sou have drill ed a number of wells on leased ground. A short time ago they located a well on the sum mit of a very steep hill, known as the Point,” which rises from the bank of French creek in a very abrupt manner. The rig was built and everything worked well for about a week, when tiie drill had penetrated about 500 feet. At this point the drill struck' a crevice and dropped away several feet. This was a great surprise to the workmen, for sand is not struck generally until a depth of sev eral hundred feet is reaehed. ‘However, the tools were withdrawn from the hole and the bailer was run down. It eanle up seemingly full of oil, and continued bailings did not seem to exhaust tlie supply. They decided to tube the well, and Mr. Real gave orders to that effect. On the following day the well was tubed without being shot. They commenced to pump it and it threw the fluid out at a good rate. Noticing something queer about the oil, one of the men tasted it. He found it so good that he put his lips to the pipe and took long gulps of the delicious stuff. 'First one and then another drqnk of the supposed oil. and finally they'became what is known as drunk. The owners visited the well, drank of the fluid pumped out and were overcome. Operators came to see it, drank and were over come. The people of the town who had heart! of it went up the hill, drank Aid were over come Finally one man m the crowd, who, l.ad tasted beer before, affirmed that tlie liquid was “lager.” Everybody laughed at him, but he persisted, and finally Phillip Grossman, the beer brewer, was sent. for. He came and tasted it. “Mine Got!” he exclaimed, “dot is mine own peer.” Grossman's brewery is situated on the other side of the creek, while the beer vault is on the west side, just beneath the spot where tiie boring took place. The beer vault is blasted out of tlie solid rock, and runs back about a hundred feet. One task in the rear end of the vault is used as a supply cask. All the others are connected with this one by pipes, and the supply cask being sunken, is always kept full of beer. On visiting the vault, three of the large casks were empty. The supply cask had been penetrated by the drill, and that was why it continued to pump. Grossman has instituted proceedings to recover the price of the beer. UNWISE LOVES That Cause Scandal and Breed Trouble. Watseka, ill., January 6.—Mis. Maria Leather- man, aged -SI years, educated and accomplished, the wife of Edward D. Leatherman, one of the richest farmers in this county, eloped with Dave Germain, aged 27, a poor, uneducated, ugly-looking tenant on a neighboring farm. The recreant young man leaves a wife aud two children in wantof sup- port. The rich lady leaves a husband frantic with rage and four children, two of whom are nearly grown. Mrs. Leath erman had been married 22 years, hut had become wearv of the hum-drum life of the farm, and desired to visit other scenes. The illy-mated' but loving couple departed on the train unobserved but were seen subsequently at Tlanville, but quickly disapjiearcd. Leatherman offers a large reward for the apprehension ef Germaiu. It seems that Mrs. Leatherman carried off with her three trunks tilled with silverware and valuables, and SI.200 in money. Germain is described as a young Frenchman, with a frightful scar on his cheek aud neck, resulting from a bum. A TEXAN IDYL. * Dallas, Tex., January 6.—A. A. Pearson, a well known millinery goods merchant, has been absent since lost Thursday. So has one of his lady em : ployes. Miss Edna May Bradley, aged 17 years. Telegrams have been sent in all directions and no information of either can be had. Pearson leaves a most estimable wife and a ten-year pld daughter. He Is a handsome, high-sirung man, known throughout the country In business circles. For several weeks whisperings of intimacy between him and Miss Bradley have been heard, and now the scandal breaks on high-toned society, creating more sensation than any similar event in the city’s history. Pearson took all the money belonging to the establishment. Mrs. Pearson, through her at torney, made an assignment for benefit of creditors. Her husband'sliabilHies exceed S&.000. It is thought the asset* will net about 30 per eeut. The creditors are all New York and Cincinnati merchants. Pearson and family boarded with Miss Bradley’s mother. Mrs. Pearson is prostrated by the shock. OUR FAILING FORESTS. A Movement to Discourage Wholesale Destruction. Cincinnati, January 5.—A large meeting was held at the Gibson house in* this city to perfect ar rangements for the holding oi a national conven tion in the interest of forestry. A permanent or ganization was effected, ana the chairman, the Honorable John Simpkinson. instructed to uppoint committees on time of holding the convention, order of business, tbe securing of the Springer music hall as a place of meeting, on correspondence and on printing. The movement has now a good start, what is proposed is the holding of a forestry convention, to which the general government, each, state government, the scientificsocietiesand schools of scientific learning shall send delegates. It is probable that railroad and transportatran companies, some of the largest manufacturing con cerus, and the state agricultural societies will alto be iuvited to send representatives. Itis urged that the country has suffered great injury from the destruction of the forests, and that the injnry will verv soon grow to alarming proportions, unless something is done to encourage the planting of trees and to prevent their wasteful destruction. Governor Foster, in his annual message, refers to the importance of a united effort to save the for ests, aud what he said gave an added impulse to the jiroceedings A resolution Is now before the council which will authorize the city officers to take steps in the matter of providing accommodations and entertainment for the delegates to the conveu- j tion. The ehairmr-n will announce the committees at the next meeting. THE ESTHETE TALKS, AND FINDS FAULT WITH H CRITICS. New York, January 7.—Oscar Wilde at tended the Standard theater thus evening,' and saw the performance of “Patience.” He was witli a party of ladies and gentlemen, some of whom were from Boston, and with them occupied a proscenium box. He was rather fiashily dressed, and without making himself at all obtrusive, gave the people in the house a good opportunity to see him. It soon be came noised about that he was in the theater, and for the rest of the evening opera glasses were leveled at him. When “Bunthorne” came on the stage his prototype turned to a lady, and said: “This is the com pliment that mediocrity pays to those that arc not mediocre.” After the opera he left by a back door, and so escaped a crowd that was waiting for him on the sidewalk. The per sonal appearance of the esthete has already been described. He is very tall, but is far from being as conspicuous, either in dress or manner, as some of the morning papers have represented him! When engaged in conver sation he Ls very engaging; his voice is musi cal, and his gestures are graceful. After a few introductory remarks about his vovage across the ocean, which he seemed to enjoy]exceedingly,he said to a reporter present that he was sorry to read in the American papers alleged interviews with him, which, if true, were exaggerated unjustly and unrea sonably. I don’t mind being caricatured and made fun of, sir; but I do object to being lied about. I only saw two reporters, and as they were apparently gentlemen, I treated tbem as such. Although I have not had much of an oppor tunity to see your city, I am delighted with its magnificent sky and atmosphere I am already convinced that I- Khali thoroughly enjoy it and that it will keep me here for a considerable time. I came to this country, sir, as a stranger, but yet as a public man. I am confident that I shall succeed, because I am in earnest and am determined to achieve my object. You arc aware already that one of those objects is a lecture tour, and as art Ls steadily growing in America I am assured that it will 1)0 successful. Oue cannot readily converse with a stranger about subjects in which his whole life is deeply interested “My philosophy, about which I have been so grossly rtdicifted, is tiie appreciation of the beautiful, and coarse indeed must be the in telligence of the man who will knowingly sneer at that which makes the world about us so glorious. I have always loved nature in its wild magnificent beauty. When I can meet her in the wilderness amidst towering cliffs, and hanging cataracts then I love her and be come her slave. 1 have since I can remember been impressed by the intensity of nature, bnt alas for the past few years I have been unable to gratify my longing. I have been a London man and have been surrounded by nauerht bnt smoke-a-id fog. It is in the midst of tlie city life that I first saw all the follies of the pres- sent society, and the grotesqueness of modem customs. I admire tlie middle ages because their social life was natural and unharrassed- by petty rules. I approve of the medieval costumes because they arc graceful, because they are beautiful. Tlie surroundings of art. no one doubts, enhances one’s existence and makes life worth living. This talk about the sunflower and lilly is nonsense, sir, especially as I am represented gazing fondly over it. I love flowers, sir, as every human being should love them. I enjoy their perfume and admire their beauty._ “I saw Patience, tlie comic opera, while it was played in London. I fail to see its point, sir, bnt think it a very pretty opera with some charming ml sic. A» a satire on tlie philosophy of tlie beautiful, sir, I think it is tlie veriest twaddle. Before I had made my mind up to come to America I had been in formed that the Americans were very impres sionable. I fine them so. sir, and am extreme ly gratified. Grand ideas, sir, are more likely to attain the ful-a ness of their foliage in the soul of a* new civilization than in the wasted energies of effete governments. The cultivation of estlieticism, sir, is a grand idea, and I am ready to sacrifice my ‘life, enmity and amity’ in its successful development. ' Estlieticism has not an enervating influence on society, it redeems it front gross errors and cleanses it from tlie accumulation of the scraps of ages. I do not know, sir, whether or not I shall make an extended lecture tour. It will all depend on circumstances. Good evening!” THE DAY’S CRIMES. A Chtnumau Killed—A Texan Quarrel — Galllj of Murder. Louisville, January 3.—Detective Bligb, who Bhot and killed a Chinaman Saturday night, had a preliminary trial in the city court to-day, and was discharged. After a toll heying oi the testimony, the judge held that he was entitled toliis discharge upon the grounds of self-defense, and if not, he was justified in slaying the deceased, who was about to commit a felony, to prevent said felony being committed. MISSOURI MURDERERS INDICTED. Cape Girardeau, Mo., January 5.—The grand jury brought into court to-day an indictment of murder in the first degree against Alonzo Gibbs, principal, and David Cruchon, accessory, for the murder of Robert McHcyne Stead, at this place on the 7th of December last. The trial is set for Fri day. Stead wasacivil engineer,employed on thegov- emment works- here, and was a married man. but leaves no children. His widow resides in Michi gan. He and a friend, William Stark, of Kansas city, were waiting for a boat going south, when the prisoners, taking them for some one rtse, fol lowed them around, and locating them at Iiersch’s hotel, waited for them to come out. Stead came out fiist, when Gibbs, with an axe handle, gave him a fearful blow ou the right temple, from which he dfed in two hours. OVER a CAME OP CARDS. Galveston, January 5.—A special to the News from Houston says a report has reached this city of the killing of a man named Schmeicker by Pem broke Dyer, an old and respected ci izen. The killing was the result of a quarrel over a game of cards. Singular Death of a Ranchman. Rawlins, Wy., January 6.—George Miller, the sujierintendant of Stewart’s extensive cattle ranch on the Sweetwater, seventy miles north of this place, accidentally shot himself there yesterday noon and died almost instantly. He had left tbe dinner table and had gone into the saddle room intending to ride out on the range when the men. were startled by the sharp report of a pistol and a cry from Miller, and on running into the nex room found him on the floor to a pool of blood. Ilis only words were* “1 am shot.” He died un conscious within ten minutes. In taking down from a peg nis pair of chupareros a brace of pistols hanging over hi* leggings had fallen at his feeljand struck the board floor. The hammer of one of them, not being on the safety notch, was dis charged, the ball entering his stomach and ranging upwards. Miller was a man of property and leaves a wife, son and daughter in Couucii Bluffs, where he is well known. His body was brought in over the mountains seventy miles by his em ploye* and will be taken to his home on to-night s express train. The ranch of which he was in charge is one of the largest in Wyoming, the value of toe cattle alone being over 3250,060.

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The Weekly constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1881-1884, January 10, 1882, Image 1