The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-04-09
TWO f FROM THE
UNITED

Capt, Nay, IL Gays fOD Sau TduClSCO HIS II
nished us with New York papers up to February
We are indebted to Mr.. Freedom and J. w. Sullivan
of San Francisco for favors.
The news is very meager in the papers received.
We notice that Mr.. Buchanan; President elect of the
United States, was visiting Washington. Preston j.
Brooks, the South Carolina bully, who made such a
stir last winter in as~saulting Senator Sumner, died
suddenly in Washington.
In New York a terrible murder had been commit
ted, which was wrapped in mystery. We publish
an abstract of the particulars of 1T.
In Europe quiet reigns, and we find no news worth
republishing from thence.
MURDER OF DIR. BURDELI.-The more evidence
that is taken on the awful tragedy in Bond street,
the more clearly is it seen that it was the work of no
common hand, of no mere lawless vagrant. Though
the witnesses whose testimony has been published
cannot be described as directly fastening the charge of
murder on this or that person, yet their evidence goes
on the one side to narroH very materially the circle
within which the culprit must be sought, and on the
other to lessen the improbability that a person In q
station where murderers are supposed to be uncom-
mon should have taken the life of the late DIR. Bur
dell. There is a risk and a responsibility in giving
expression, at this early stage in the inquiry, to the
suspicious that Torment in the public mind. 1t IS
possible that those whom the public eye now regards
as guilty may prove simply unfortunate. But we are
bound to say that up to this moment the burden of
the testimony taken is frightfully against John j.
Eckel and Emma Augusta Cunningham.
They may be innocent, and heaven knows we hope
they are. But it is, to say the least, an unfortunate
thing that Mr.: Eckel should have gone out before
breakfast that morning, and should have deposited
in his private desk a paper which would seem to have
been purloined from DR.. Burdell. 1t is unfortunate
that he should have been on such terms with the
woman Cunningham as to lead the housemaid to
regard her as an indscreet mother to grown up
daughters. And it is still more unfortunate that ne
should have allowed expressions of Ill will towards the
deceased to escape him, to which the present conjunct-
ure imparts an awful significance. AS for the IN
happy female over. whom the public wrath now
impends, every circumstance connected with her Is
unfortunate. She had a husband, who died, sud
denly, in his chair, leaving a policy of insurance for
$4,000 in favor ofhis wife. Was he poisoned? We
must dig his body up. She led a life after his death
which is described in the evidence of the witness
Hildreth; a life evidently calculated to harden her
heart and steel her nerves. Her acquaintance was
such as no honest woman would willingly keep.
Arrived at a mature age, and not destitute of those
artful charms or charmful arts by which women IN
the meridian of life secure lovers, she met, ensnared,
and conquered DR.. Burdell. Entering his house as
his mistress, she sought to assert q control over HIM
against which the passionate and grabbed tempe of
the doctor rebelled. He gave her money. He gave
her q home. He took in her daughters. lie lodged
her friend Eckel. Not content with all this, the wO-
man Cunningham insists that he shall marry her. He
refuses, and she sues him. Burdell, an angry, but
not q erseveringhater capitulates, on certain candid
tons, among which is the one that he shall "exten-
to Mrs. Cunningham and her family his friendship
through lie,' and another that he shall rent her his
rooms at half their value, she withdraws the suit
Burdell ~confeSseS that from the woman to whom he
has vowed friendship through life he stands in terror
of his own. He declares he has caught her at bis
safe. The servant indiscreetly wakes at an untOward
noise. Eckel and Mrs. Cunningham leer at each
other across the table as they speculate on the happy
consequences of Ga handy blow'' on the doctors
head.
Yet all these people go on living under the same
roof, until one night one %neighbor smells burning
woollen or flannel, another hears q stifled cry of muir
der, and next morning poor DR.. Burdeil is found by
DR.. Main and the boy Burchell dead in his room.
The whole affair fills the honest mind with DISCUS.
and loathing. What shall we say of the other resi-
dents of this i'll fated house? of these two girls. of
whom the elder is said to be twenty-five years of age,
and a lady of much hauteur, and of the youthful
Snodgrass, the son of a clergyman, who seemingly got
his board on condition of being the cavalier of Miss
cunningham? How came these people to hear moth
ing of the murdered mans death struggle? OF
course, to suppose that they were accomplices is
repulsive to common sense; but how came they all to
sleep so sound that night?-M. Y. Herald.
GENERAL POLICY OF THE New ADMINISTRATION
Few men ever passed through so bitter and earnesta
canvass, as that which has just terminated, with so
little of personal obloquy or impeachment as James
Buchanan. His whole life had been a public one; he
had filled for forty years the most difficult and proml-
nent Offices in the nation; he had been conspicuous IN
all public discussions and party conflicts, and yet MS
personal character and honor passed through them
all without a blot or stain, a shadow or suspicion
"A man with such q reputation,s such tested honesty
virtue and wisdom, cannot but administer the impor;-
tant powers committed to him with satisfaction, with
honor, justice and efficiency. There is a calm WISDOM
a sedate prudence, blended with steady determination
and fidelity to principle, tremendously united in the
character of James Buchanan, which are admirably
adapted to the present condition of our public affairs;
The angry sectional contests that have been stirreG
up by the ultras of the two sections of the Union, VIII
soon decline into a more healthy and fraternal sta's
of. feeling under the wise direction of such a mai.
Every section of the Union will be protected In ~,
rights. The extremists will find but little favor anu
encouragement.
Another feature which will characterize the admin,
~istration of James Buchanan, will be the absence "
all caucusing and intriguing for the successlo%
There will be no favorites, no kitchen cabinets, "
undetermined scheming to employ the patronage
the government for selfish objects. James Bucnanan
will be President himself. He can call around hIS
no men who could claim superiority to him in any n.y.
the qualities which his position will demand. ~
must look up to him as the chief and real ezec u;rat.
of the Enthusiastically imbued with the sP" ncb
and familiar with those principles which gaE gave
energy and success to the administration OF Ja0 rth
there is little danger that he will not keep paee oFthe
the progress, the demands and the deVelopmeh'"
democracy of the country. r., IN the
He will maintain the principle embodieu r;tory
Kansas Bill, which gives to the people OF a VEN
the right of determining the conditions OF It's s
ment.