Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-03-02

pistols. They were Of course loaded before
ButterwOrth preceded him from the house; for
the time eIapsing until Sicklcs followed him
was not more than one or two minutes
Kew lies dead, and his side ofthe mclancholy
story can never be told. Our chief sympathy,
we frankly admit, is with his orphan children,
who. though they are to be through life as in
tense sufferers from this affair as any others
they are the only parties concerned in it who
had no agency whatever in bringing it about.
Nor do we deny the existence in our breast
of some sympathy with the unfortunate woman.
Mrs. Siekles. Married at the childs age of
sixteen to an experienced man of the world.
who knew well all the dangers to which the
virtue Of young and intensely fashionable
wife might be subjected in an i'll ordered house
hold, We cannot aequit the husband of all
blame for her ruin. Such ruin rarely, If ever,
invsdes the threshold Of the husband who
strictly discharges the duty Of head Of fam
lily. Nay, We question whether it ever came
into the family Of a man really careful at all
times to protect the honor of his own house
hold.
To our mind the proper course of the true
man Of honor was not to vindicate his pride
and his ambition by the preparation Of an act
which forever cut off his young and really in
experienced wife from any possibility of roga n
ing position in society; nor yet to sacrifice the
future of his own child upon tho altar Of his
own pride and ambition. possibly desecrated in
great part through his own short cOmings; nor
again to make four young orphans to satisfy the
cravings of the same MOloch.
1t is very certain that Mrs Sickles can tell
story that will throw intense light on the kill
ing. We have no faith in the account that the
confession obtained from her was voluntarily
made, because, though mex perienced and weak,
she must have known that it was death
warrant, so far as her future in life and that of
her child was concerned She can doubtless
tell. too, whether her husbands conduct has or
has not been such as to justify tho allegation
that he had right to protect his % marital
honor" by taking the life of an unarmc1 man
for unless his conduct, as husband, ha: been
scrupulously correct, he cannot properly plead
the justification of wounded :! marital honor"
Her testimony can only be given in the trial of
an accessory to the killing, if such there was
1t is due to her and to the helpless and unof-
Tending children of Philip Barton Key, that
We have nothing whatever to say in extern.
uation of the conduct Of Mr.. Key; as when u
man inyades the marital rights of another. he
carries his life in his hand. While. however.
he has met the fate he might have expected it
surely is the duty Of the law to examine closely
whether the act of inficting that fate on him
was under all the circumstances n justihable
one on the part Of him or those inhicting it.
The REPORT OF THE SEAMAN INVESTIGATING
Contamination. Geo. Taylor, of New York.
made the report of this special House commit
tee on the day before yesterday We extract
from it the following particulars, which will
give the Stars readers a full understanding of
its character and bearing; not having room to
publish it to-day at length:
sit has been found that the books of the late
superintendent has been kept i'm manner so loose
and negligent as to make il almost impossible to
ascertain, with any proper correctness the condi-
ton Of the accounts between his office and the
government The testimony of Dr. Quail shows
that 1t cannot De ascertained from those books
within some hundreds Of reams. how much ia Der
was received nor how much delivered to the
Public Printer. and that neither those accounts
nor the account OF paper on hand can DE balanced.
Large invoices Of paper were received without
any inspection. and sometimes by an irresponsi b,
party in the employment Of the Public Printer. 4
labOrer or watchmdn in Mr.. WendelI's Office ap-
pears to have had. 10 a very great extent the
charge of the delivery of the paper To the Public
Printer His memoranda were kept on loose slips
OF paper aftcrward sent to the clerk. whose duty
1t was Ia supcrlntend the matter. From those slips
the Official receipts were made mp monthly but as
in the case of tile other accounts the official re-
ceips and the sill do not agree. Those slips hive
been collected and pasted into i book for refer
ence by the present Superintendent Some paper
described in them is not covered by any Official
receipts.
Upon an investigations the present Supcriuteud-
cnt, George w Bowman. aScertained these flcts
that the accounts purP0rtng to bc closed had not
been In fact closed. and that large Quantities of
paper furnished To tine binders prior to- his appoint
nent had not been paid for The accounts thus
standing were made out and sent 10 the binders Tor
payment. The largest amount = 40 H. was dine
from Mr.. Arnold, of Philadelphia. When Mr.
Arnold WIS spoken To on the subject. lac said the
account had been settled By lCag Of ~ Ionn 10 Mr.
Seaman and that he had refused 10 make the loan
until Mr. Seaman had promised Ia arrange il i'm
the settlement Of his waste-lef account This
however was not done, and MIR. Arnold paid TIN,
amount to MIR. Bowman. The same was the. ca..,
in another bill of less amount
Notwithstanding the fact that 81 19I 10 have
been collected from various binders on the ic-
counts referred To since the appointment OF thu.
present superintendent there is still considerable.
discrepancy between the quality of paper required
for waste leaves and the amount which has been
settled for by the binders.
In the examination of the accounts for engraving
and lithOgrlphinS, Your committee found that the
books Of various parties did not correspond with
the amounts Of the certificates issued and CHARGED
to them In one instance this di ference amounted
To about 10 about $4,000. and in another 4,
~. 1856. In one OF the two instances the books
of the cnSravers and photographers were balanced
BY fictitious entries; but ia those cases the
amounts OF money, credited as received from the
government did not correspond with the certiti-
Gates charged to the parties. In fact there. appears
TO have been u singular fatality about the books
and accounts connected with these matters t'eyy
of them could be explained and none OF them
were entirely satisfactory.
: our committee find that there was a very zen
eral belief in the trade that il was necessary for
them To pay for their contracts in some WAY and
that the practice of paying general as the
belief. Payment was made ia ii iierent ways : In
some Instances in the way of loans in other cases
a per centase was paid 10 agents for attending to
the receipt and delivery of the work at Washing
ton, the necessity for which services existed more
in Imagination than In reality, the plates were
always sent directly 10 the Superintendent and by
him were delivered to the Printer who arranged
or collected them with the sheets In other cases
the per centage was paid directly to the Superin-
tendent. The engravers and lithographers tes
tlfy. with one or two exceptions, that they could
AFFORD 10 pay the per centage, and that they made
provisions in their bids for the allowance which
10 or sll.lf. -