The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-10 00:00:00

SINGULA .1? AND EXTRAORDINARY i ENGLISH CAPITAL AND AMERICAN
CASE. 1 S ff:OURTT

A gentleman of Baltimore, some 14 or 15 years
ago, was passing down Baltimore-street, late at
night, durieg a heavy snow storm, when he met,
near Frederick-street, three men and a woman.
He gave them the way. but eing violently jostled
by ono of them, he upraidel them somewhat
sharply, when they attacked him. Being a power-
ful man, standing about six feet in his shoes, he
soon laid two of them hors de coothat, and chased
the other to the opposite side of the street, where
he felled him to the ground, and where, leaning
over him, he received a blow on the left temple,
which staggered, as well as bewildered him, for a
few minutes. Upon recovering himself, his assail-
ants had fled, and feeling the blood flowing pretty
freely from the wound, proceed to a physician who
soon found that he had been stabbed, the instru-
ment entering about half way between the eye and
ear, breaking off short. leaving a considerable
length of blade in his head. All efforts to extract it
proved futile. Strange to say, he felt very little
pain orinconveuience from his condition. The wound
soon h:aled, and he attended to his regular avoca-
tions as if nothing had happened. Three years after
the wound again opening, he consulted a surgeon,
who, feeling the ragged edge of the blade, made
several efforts to draw it out, and after considerable
labour drew from the wound a portion of the base
of the broken dirk, which measured within a frac-
tion of two inches. This part of it gave an idea of
the amount remaining, supposed to be about the
same size. For 11 years longer it continued in this
condition, when, about two weeks since, after suf-
fering a great degree of pain on the right side of his
nose, near the corner of his eye, on the opposite
side to where he received the wound, and a consi-
derable swelling appearing, he went to Professor
Smith, who, upon examining the diseased part,
found the point of the blade protruding. It had
actually traversed through the bones of The head,
and, atter 14 years, made its appearance in the
above locality. Such is its position, plain to the
eye, and wonderful to be believed, excepting by an
eye witnes?. We have often heard of pins arid
needles being swallowed, and in after years making
their appearance in different parts of the body ;
but that the blade of a dirk, between three and four
inches in length, should thus travel, and through
bone, forms an interesting subject for the surgeon,
as well as the common mind.

ORM CON. AND ATTEMPTED MURDER IN

AN AMERICAN HOTBL.

On Saturday evening, the 18th ult., the New York
Hotel was the theatre of an abortive drama, in which
one of the principal actors may congratulate himself in
having made a fortunate escape. The following are the
precise 'details of the affair, as we have obtained them
from the beet sources : _

.
Among the transient residents at the hotel was Mrs.
W—, a young and pretty lady from Louisiana, who
was enjoying too freely her husband's absence—behaving
remam,d in New Orleans on account of business. A
gentleman, of middle age, said to be rich, an auctioneer
by profession, Mr. F--, had " overbid" with the
greatest success on the charming creole, and their inti-
macy had gone so far that it was noticed and commented
upon by several inmates of the hotel.
Among those was a friend of Mr. W--, who thought
it his duty to advise him of what had occurred in his
absence, and to enjoin him, either by steamer or rail,
to come on as soon as possible to put a stop to the
scandal. As soon as he received the message, Mr.
W-- left New Orleans, without advising auy one of
it, and arriied in New York on Saturday evening, with
a revolver in his pocket, determined to take the law into
his own bands. It was in such a disposition of mind
that he went to the New York Hotel, where his faith-
less better half was boarding, and inquired for the num-
ber of her room.

He bad no trouble at all to get in. Full of imprudent
security, and not suspecting that the outraged husband,
whom they thought far off, was already advancing in the
hall—the two lovers had not even been cautious enough
to look the door. Mr W-- entered as if he was at
home' w and although it as very early in the evening, be
found his wife and Mr. F--- in a position easier to
imagine than to describe, and which did not admit of
any possible false explanation.
Without uttering a word, Mr. W— drew his re•
volver and fired at the guilty party. Mr. F—, not
being hit, jumped out of bed and ran to the door, where,
on opening it, he was shot at a second time, and took
flight headlong towards the hall, followed by his terrible
enemy. The fugitive had nothing on but a single
flannel undershirt, and at the moment it seemed to be
the least of his cares. _ _

But one can judge of the sensation created by this
strange apparition among the persons hasteninct, from all
sides after the noise of the firing of pistols. Mr. -,
running head foremost, arrived at the head of the stair-
case, descended in great haste, turned to the right, and
stopped in ono of the cells of the water closets of the
hotel, iu which he bolted himself close.
The pursuit had been hot. Re could hear from his
unpoetical shelter the tumult on the stairs, and the
struggle to stop and disarm the terrible husband. lie,
however, did not rely on his ears, and consented to open
the door only when summoned by the police, and upon
the formal promise that Lis life should be protected.
It has been said that Mr. F- was wounded ; but
we believe it to be untrue, unless one means the double
wound to his lova and his self-love.

As Mr. W— immediately left for the south with
his wife, we are inclined to believe tha. the affair will
go no further, after having caused less blood than sweat
and tears to be shed.—New York Herald.

The last intelligence from New York suggeslet
some curious considerations regarding the cond:-
Hens on which English caDital is ins estecl in Atm -
rice. The amount of American securities held here
can merely he conjectured. Five years back it was
thought to be nearly sixty millions sterling, and it
may now be eighty or a hundred millions. Until
the approach of the Russian war they. almost all
paid large and regular dividends, but the ability of
the various railway and other companies to raise
fresh money as it was wanted on sec3nd, third, and
fourth mortgages in London, having then received
a check, there has since been a constant downward
tendency, until perhaps two-thirds of the weaker
sort have gone into comparative insolvency. For a
time, when distributions could no images: be made
from capital, the device was hit upon of pay-
ing what are called scrip dividends, and as these
cost nothing they were always on a liberal scale.
The accounts usually showed to the shareholders
that there was a profit of about 10 per cent., but,
unfortunately, the cash balance had invariably
been absorbtd though some temporary and acci-
dental circumstances. The gain was therefore
handed over to them in paper, redeemable a year
or two hence. The plan, however, although it
was at first thought to be all right, failed upon
repetition to satisfy the hunger of the parties in.
tetested ; and probably many of our own Bir.
miugham theorists had received, from experience
in this. respect, the first blow to their ideas re-
garding the nature and funclions of money.
At last, in a number of instances, exposure V,
came unavoidable, examples of deception, fraud,
and repudiation abounded on all sides, and
prices even of the leading undertakings went
to a point which showed that in the minds
of the public, years of economy and good
management would be requisite to restore any of
them to a solid position. Thus far the result had,
perhaps, been little other than might have been
expected. It was the old story of the State loans
over again. Any hon. member of Congress or
Assembly coming over to England had only to
make a demand large enough, and he could get
all he wanted. He would go to a leading iron-
master, give a heavy order fur 'rails, . pay about :30
or 40 per cent. above their value, and trust to this
gentleman for the disposal, through brokers and
.abhors tempted her I n revel cllnh
amount or stocks and bonds as mght be deemed
appropriate for the moment. The next and each
succeeding year the process might, of course, be re-
peated, since the prosperity of the part already
constructed rendered extensions of all kinds in-
dispensable. But it was to have been supposed
that experience dearly purchased would at length
have generated some pru hence. Apparently, how-
ever, our people are incurable. Tue last railway
concern that has broken down is the Michigan
Southern, and it is said that only a few months
have elapsed since the President paid a visit
to the English shareholders, and induced them
considerably to extend their commitments. Still,
instances of this kind are as nothing compared
with the wholesale apathy exhibited. Incredible as
it may seem, our 80 millions or more of American
securities are left to take their chance, without the
holders knowing or learning anything about them
except from the managing parties. The railway
companies issue reports only once a year, usually of
the most vague description, and no accounts of what
passes at their meetings transpire. Everything is
taken for granted, and each individual English
holder assumes that some other holder, by whom,
perhaps; he was first led into the investment, keeps
careful watch. And while this total absence of or-
ganisation prevails in England, there is actually a
powerful combination on the other side; for the
avowed purpose of bringing all the principal under-
takings to ruin. Unlike those of any • other
country, the majority of the leading speculators
of New York are devoted to the task of depre-
ciating the national credit. Whether this .arises
from the extent to which American liabilities
are held by foreigners need not be dis-
cussed. A large body of active persons are known
to be associated for the purpose ; they influence
the press to work out their views, and are alleged,
not merely to operate with a joint capital, but to
hold regular meetings, and permanently to retain
legal advisers, whose chief vocation it may be as-
sumed is to discover points that may enable the
validity of each kind of security to be care I in ques-
tion, and thus to create universal distrust. They are
also said to succeed in a vast number of instances iu
getting their own creatures into the control of com-
panies, ostensibly supporting or opposing them as
may best suit their tactics in each particular case.
Each now revelation of fraud is hailed as a triumph,
and such directors and shareholders as may show a
disposition to take a'lvantage of technicalities to
defeat all equitable claims, instead of being hooted
from the Exchange, find a circle of admirers. Of
course this state of things would end, or be greatly
mitigated, if fho stock and bondholders were to
exercise vigilance. In most instances the proceed-
ings are so notorious and the laxity of management
FO complete and long-continued that English in-
vestors, if they had any rational agent on the spot,
could not fail to be warned. But there is no London
Committee of American stockholders, and, appa-
rently, no possibility of forming one. Yet some-
thing should be done if possible to remedy the
evil. Some rersons will say the best remedy
would be found by an avoidance of American
investments altogether ; but this, although it
seems likely enough to be brought about unless
the respectable portion of the American mer-
cantile community can contrive to influence
public opinion, is not a result that any one
anxious for the advancement of the best interests
of both countries would wish to sea take place.
No field for the employment of capital is superior
to that of the United States, and the sympathies
of business begeta universal disposition here to seek
it and trust to it. Under such circumstances it is
deplorable that owing to a want of concerted action
among the honest portiets of the two communities
a depraved minority should command all the chan-
nels *of enterprise, and render confidence impoa-
sible.—Timcs City A rtic'e.