Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-14
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
New YoRK. Wednesday. Oct. 8. 1869.
pecial Correspondence PUBLIC LEDGER.]

NEW YORK, Wednesdays oct o, looss
Special Correspondence PUBLIC LEDaER.l
b. sa1 TIE FLOOD. 1a
Just at this time it is rather difficult to
get away from New York by rail, but no
doubt the wires will assure credulous
world long before this letter gets to Mem
phis that the railroads are all in good or
der again and that trains are running as
usual" The composition between the
various lines is so strong that none OF
them think they can afford to admit half
the damages of the late freshet. Yester-
day morning called at the Erie railroad
Office and inquired whether the cars were
run ming through to Buffalo, which by the
way is distance of something over 400
hu ndred miles. The officers assumed an
Injured air and assured me and about four
hundred others that there would be no de-
teutiou whatever. q We immediately-all
four hundred of us--endeavored to soothe
the rufled feelings of said officials by
purchasing through tickets to the most
remote points possible, and then took
the first train vest Nothing occurred to
shake our confidence in through connec-
| tions until we arrived at Port Jeryis, a
romantic village of second-class board
| ing-hous keepers on the rugged banks Of
the Delaware river. There the conductor
and brskesmen informed us, in the melli-
| huous railroad language, that passengers
wou I" change kesrs." We all got cut,
and then on the platform learned for the
first time that no trains had been through
for two days, and that there were two
bridges down at wide distances apart;
besides big land-slids somewhere on the
great sristocratic line, where the sun so
seldom sets that it is hardly worth mem
tioning at all. Then about three hum
dred and pinety-eight of the passengers
began to make remarks highly compli-
mentary to the railway, and for time the
atm osphere was perforated with the most
profane interjections known to the Eng
iish language. Finally, an order came
from somebody to carry US all back TO
New York, free of charge, where we ar
rived at haif-past eight o'clock at night
l. TRAVELS ABOUT TOWN. T ai
This morning l have travelled at least
ten miles, trying to find some officer OF
the railroad who has authority to return
the money for my tickets. 1t seems that
any of them have the right to receive
money, but paying it out is privilege
reserved unto only few. But at last
nailed the right man at headquarters In
the Grand Opera House, on Twenty third
street, signed any amount OF vouchers,
and then the tickets we're redeemed. 1
shall next try the Pan Handle route,
stopping day or 80 at Philadelphia. II
ia said that this route is open, but the
others are certainly 10 damaeed condi-
ton. The lines leading from New York
were all more or less injured by the late
Hood. and millions Of property have been
destroyed, to cay nothing Of a dozen Or
80 of lives. 5s el in a3-
THE GOLD FEVER. M a
The Wall street sensation has died out
and it would be hard to say anything on
the subject that has not in some shape or
other already been in print. 1t IS really
of little consequences to the outside world
to know who lost or who made fortune
duriup the panic. Those who dabble in
cold and stocks in Wall street are mere
gamblers on large and rather respect
able scale, who stand in the same rela-
| tion TO the rest of mankind as men who
bet at a horse race. The price of gold
cannot be permanently affected by any
thing but the national debt. The bulls
and hears may make fortunes in day
by their trickery, but those who are afraid
Of the fire should keep their fingers out
Of the ashes. .ail lo
Mr.. Jim Fisk, jr., the renowned Erie
railroad man, is making still iurtner
reputation by cheerful quarrel with
President Grants brother-in-lsw, Mr..
Corbin, who denies thst be ever had any
acquaintance with Fisk. Tbs latter has
clearly proven that be and Oorbin we're
in the habit of taking it out of the same
straw and frequently exchanging linen.
These pleasing fraternsl amenities, how
ever. have been suspended. Fisks Qpers
on Tventy.third street, has been seised
bv the sheriff TO make good some OF his
cold investments, aud the two bellige-
rents have resorted to newspaper cards,
concluding no doubt that it is not good
for men to buy gold together at l65 in
unity and peaee. Fisk has closet in
the o Opera House where sheriffs seldom
intrude, and where no reporter has yet
penetrated. This makes no difference
With the reporters of New York, for as
race they possess the finest inventive
| faculties Of any beings in existence, and
never require much knowledge of sub
ject or event in writing up the most rscy
descriptions.
GENERAL TOPICS.
Aside from the two subjects Just mem
toned, New York is rather dull Just
now. It is true Broadway is full of peo-
pie. The trains and boats coming and
going are always loaded. The tbeaters
are crowded with country people, who
sustain such places. The crop Of green
horns, who answer = personals" in the
newspapers and get their packets picked,
is quite luxurisni, aud all Gotham seems
foil Of life. So il is, but business men
complain that the Western trade is
very dull, and that they have to rely
chiefly on the South. The Southern
merchants, they say, buy as closely now
as any Yankee, and buy only such srti-
clea aa the people must have, and the