New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-03-01
NEW YORK CORRESPONDENTS.
New YoRK, Febrrsry q. 1sGs.

The police force of New York prides it.
self, with some reason, upon its efficiency
but it is far from being perfect. Sever laws
have passed since brutal and unDrovoked
murder was committed in one of the L ost
frequented portions of the city, in the sight
of q number of citizens, and under circum.
stances that would seem to render detection
| inevitable; but the assassin is still at
large, and the chances for his arrest are in.
fnitesimal. On Monday evening an un.
known man entered one of the cars of the
Seventh avenue railroad, at the corner of
Broadway and Barclay streets, near the
Astor house. He was man Of moderate
height, about thirtyfve or forty years old;
he had black Whiskers and mustache; he
was neatly dressed in black; some of those
who saw him afterward said they thought
| him to be an Irishmsn, while others be.
lieved him to be an American, or an En-
| glishman. He had one peculiarity about
him that might have secured his identifca-
ton in the hands of an adrot detective
although his hair was black, his eyes were
of light gray, or blue color This man
was the assassin. The attention of the
"starter" of the car and of the
conductor, who became his yictim was
| called to him, both by reason Of the fact
that he appeared to be somewhat intoxi-
Gated, and on account Of his expressing his
determination to ride up town for nothing,
since he had paid more than the proper fare
while ridin - i'til' - was
man of superior character and respectable
ity compared with the majority of those
employed in his line ofbusiness. His name
was Thomas F. Lavelle. He was the
brother of a well-known Irish priest of that
name, and he bore an irreproachable char
acter for sobriety and integrity He was
married, and had two children. When the
car reached Chambers street Lavelle re.
quested this man to pay his fare He re
fused, saying he had already paid three
fares, and would pay no more. Lavelle
went to the rear of the car to look fer q
police officer, but seeing none, returned,
and told the man he must pay or leave
the car. Still refusing to pay,
Lavclle elected the man from the
car, using no more violence than was nee
essary; ana tnen pulled the bell and started
the car again. As it moved off, the man
ran behind it, jumped upon the rear rail
ing of the platform on which Lavelle was
standing, and stabbed him in the groin;
then, leaping to the ground again, made his
way to the sidewalk, and disappeared. The
conductor, who had received fatal wound,
walked into the car, family calculated that
he was stabbed and was dying, and in a
few more moments expired. No less than
four men saw the murder committed; two
Others were able to give to the police ac-
curate and minute descriptions of the as
sassin; but he is yet at liberty, and prob
ably, long ere this, has made his escape to
some other city or to Europe.
The city of New York is the county of
New York-that is, they both cover the
same space of ground, and for all practi-
cable purposes they might as well and bet
ter be governed by one set of officers. But
manly 1t would appear for the sake of
bleeding the people and multiplying the
number of fat offices, the separate govern
ments of county and city ere still kept up,
which is just as sensible as it would be for
a man to have two dentists to pull single
tooth. the annual expenses of the county
government, wholly unnecessary and super
tiuous as it is, are enormous or would be
enormous 70 any people but the New
| Workers. who seem to disdain anything
like economy or good sense in their
i public expenditures. The salaries of all
the county officers, already large, have
Just been increased TWENTY-FIVE per
cent, and the following are some of the
items of expenditure, nearly the whole cf
which are worse than unnecessary: Print.
| ing and advertising, $l40, 900; election ex-
penses, (wholly unnecessary S95, 500; con-
tlngent expenses for county offices, $780,
900; stationery, $74, 500; a gift to the society
for the protection of Roman Catholic chill
dren, SlO2 OOOi "a very good institution, but
Whlch should be supported sby private char.
| lty,) and tor other expenses, 81, ,23l, 900, all
of which could be saved if the county gov
ernment was abolished. While this sad
waste OF money is going on, year after year,
the city who are destitute of a home who
live ON charity, and who. willing aud anx-
| iOus to work, are compelled to beg
The fearful condition of the streets, which
are for the most part almost impassabe for
pedestrians, being nothing but slums of
mud, snow, slqsh, and ice, floating in pools
of findescribablysilthy water. prevented the
usual military parade on Saturday which
was the anniversary of Washingt0ns birth
| day. But in the evening there was grand
display of fireworks, and excellent music in
six OF the public parks of the city. Tine sum
OF $4,000 was appropriated by the city
council to pay the expense of this celebra-
tioR, although it is stated that $4,000 will
| cover all the bills, and that the remaining
$4,000 is pocketed by the city fathers. II
1t had been distributed among the poor,
many a sorrOwing and poverty stricken
family would have blessed the deed.
The events Of the past three days in Wash
lngton have naturally created great eX-
citement here, Saturday being a holiday,
and the merchants, bankers, and business
men generally having nothing better to do
than to talk over these events a ld to specu-
late on what was next to come. The tone
OF New York is generally conservative, and
there Was apparent very general feeling
Of dread and dismay at the rapid progress
that the country was making toward what
the Democrats called .'revolutinn,n and
the Republicans restOration.n There was
rise in the price of geld, but not so great
an advance as might have been expected.
Evidently hope was cherished that the
storm would yet blow over, and that either
the impeachment Of the president would
not be attempted, or that if it we're made it
would not be resisted. To day the excite
ment is still greater, and as l write we are
momently expecting to hear the result
OF the vote that was to be taken at five
o'clock In the house Of representatives.