The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-01-25
THE GREAT MURDER CASE.
The StOkes-Mansiield Correspond
cncc.

We have found time to read about
one, tenth of what the editors, preach
ers and reporters say in our exchanges
about the murder of James Fisk, Jr,,
the great prince Of Erie and dash.
ing millionaire Of New York city, and
verify the dimensions of the Home
would have to be increased
ten-fold if we should attempt to pub
lish~ one-tenth of what we have read,
Really, we have seen scarcely anything
else in the papers, and we shall look,
in a short time, for q book, with a
f%rontispiece ofthe hero whose soul has
been ushered, by the bullet of a gilt
edged assassin, into the shoreless sea
of eternity. Then will come a biogra
phy-when he was horn, who his pa
rents were, and where they are. How
James, at the age Of seventeen, OBJ.
tanned employment, ofa very humble
character, in Van Amburgh's Menage'
rie, his occupation being to assist in
the erection Of tents, and to sweep out
and keep clean the cages Of the ami
mails. That he accompanied his EN-
ployer in various tours through the
United States, the Canadas, and Eu.
rope "a service extending over a pc
Rod of eight years, during which time
he rose to the position Of ticket agent.
How, at the age of twenty-five, he left
Mr.. Van Amburgh and returned to his
native State vermont, 10 follow the
occupation Of his father, which was
that Of peddling. How he commenced
his career as n peddler by selling
small articles, such as pens, pencils,
&c. and how, by dint of presever
ance, Tin itself truly laudable, and
which is ole thing we would impress
upon the minds of young readers OF
the Home Journal, he rose to be a
peddler of dry goods. How, from one
horse and a wagon, he finally needed
four horses and q wagon to &C.
commodate the demands Of his goods.
And this will be told in his biography.
If it could only stop here! But his
stock gambling operations, which are
only larger editions of the same work
going on all the world over, must be
told. And then will come his infatua-
ton for Helen Josephine Mansfield,
with a picture of the woman who could
thus cajole him into an objectionable
inGdelity to his own wife. And he,
history must come in, and the letters
passed between the two, and how the
woman, as he says in one Of his letters
written when he was trying to enamel.
pate himself from her power) "veiled
his eyes and by deceit and fraud led
him through the dark valley of trouble
when she could have made his pathway
one of roses" All these letters viii,
be published, and they will be found
full Of pathos, and sometimes poetical.
There is a tragical interest about them
which will attract attention. AS far as
we have read the correspondence it
shows Fisk in a better light than one
would suppose. I~tevinces a generosi
ty of trust that will appeal to sympathy
and an %eloqnence of pen. that will
command admiration, But admira.
ton and sympathy will pass away after
the reading when we reflect upon the
immoral cloud which darkens the
scene from beginning to end.
We say that such a book will be
published, and the publisher will real
ize a fortune. What q sad commenta
ry upon humanity that sensational
books of this nature, with criminals for
heroes and heroines, should command
ready sale, while works ofmorsl worth
an literary merit leave authors and
publishers in poverty! 1t were better
that such q book should never be pub
,ished. Perhaps 1t were better that we
should not advertise the coming out
of such Il book by mentioning in the
Home Journal anything Of the whole
affair. Yet, the matter has been a
theme in the pulpit. We have before
us abstracts of sermons preached in
Boston and New York, in which Fisk
is held up as a warning to young men
We extract as follows from a sermon
delivered by the Rev. DR.. Talmadgc, at
Brooklyn, N. Y, upon the doom ofthe
Libertine, the Defrauder and the Assas.
sin. He said that after a life of public
wickedness a mans death is not much
to be deplored. He wished 20 speak
to young men about the romance of
crime. The young men are dazzled
with success. They say, THAT man
was only a country peddler a few years
ago look at him now. If a man
steals a vest he is imprisoned, but if be
swallows a whole banking institution
he faunts it in Prospect Park or some