Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-05-19
NEW YORK.
A Fire, Murder and Some PoIitfRl
SmOke-TheatricaI Matters-GOssip.
IT VI1I . " II OUII % 7VIINI NIIO'
NEW YORK. MAY u


SmOI1e-TheatricaI Matters-GOssip.
from our own Correspondent.
NEW YORK, May y, 49,:
What is popularity known as the "eg
DRAMA was first introduced to our AmGi-
can public on the stage at Niblo's Gardn.
! Not that we were unfamiliar with some
thing in that line before, but it had ben
confined to the purlieus of the Bowery or
been made subordinate feature in speca-
cles of a different nature. Opera BOufe,
| English burlesque and the spectacular
PLAYS of the "Bacll Crook" the "Whte
| FaWn" and lastly "Lalla ROOkhn are abolt
| the order in which our worthy citizens
were gradually brOughtup Cor DOWN to the
! standard eXemplitied in the "leg DRAMA
and Niblo'S Garden was the place where
each one of these different styles of art
were first brought out and now Nibl(s
! itselfis no more. ... ..
With the particulars Of last weeks fire,
your readers are undoubtedly familiar by
this time through the medium of
! YOUR exchanges. Nothing but the direc-
! ton of the wind saved the Metropolitan
! Hotel and no one knows how many 9TH
er buildings from total destruction. AS
! it is. the passer-by would never suspect
| that there had been fire within hun
! dred miles. Everything looks as usual
| from the Broadway side, but in the rear
the blackened walls and the empty space
where was so recently the finest stage in
the city, tells its own story. The re-
sources of our fire department were fully
tested, and no other occurrence of the
kind has so signally proved its efficiency
and superiority over our former vOlun-
teer system Everything worked harmO.
niousiy, smoothly and energetically; there
was no confusion or Clashing of orders,
and although the theater was almost a
part and portion of the hotel, the business
of the latter was hardly interrupted. Mr..
Stewart intends to rebuild the thea
ter at once, and already the work
men are busy clearing away the rubbish.
The fire was a twO-days' sensation,
and when it had ceased to form a topic of
conversation we were furnished with new
food for reflection in the shape of first
Glass; murder. 1t is strange, the impunity
with which burglars or highwaymen or
even murderers ply their trades in this
city of ours. Two young men were walk
ing through TWentySiXth street, near
Fifth avenue, one evening recently, when
two men suddenly sprang upon them and
knocked one Of the two senSeleSS with
slung-shOt but missed his companion. Be
fore the gentleman could comprehend
what was going on, his senseless cOmrade
had been robbed of everything that he
had that was any degree valuable. a gem
tleman who was approaching the scene
was stopped by two cOnfederates who
threatened his life in case he attempted to
interfere. Such an occurrence renders
stroll around in the evening about
as pleasant a pastime as tide
from Naples into the county
infested with banditti. Our most recent
murder G have not yet seen the evening
papers, was the result of an attempt on
- ,r+o Of l,,-r tn nFnX-pnt
! two other "wOrthy'' gentlemen from help
| ing themselves to his property. They
were practical communists and Mr.. Phelps
objected to both their theory and practice.
| Whether his life will pay the penalty of
! his interference or not is yet uncertain.
| The papers say that "a vigorous search is
| being made for the muTderers, " and they
said the same thing after Mr.. Nathan was
murdered. If you walk in the street you
run the risk Of being knocked down; if
you ride in the street car, you run the
risk of being "car-hooked;n if you keep
valuables in your house, you run the
risk of being murdered; if you interfere
with thief, you run the risk of being shot
| for your pains; if you call for the police
you must wait until they can go to
| headquarters and obtain permission to
make an arrest. In Mr.. Phelps case there
was an anomalous species of the genus
policeman in the neighbOrhOed; a mount
| ed" policeman who was dismOunted and
he gave chase, but was afraid to fire at
| the man he was pursuing lest he should
| hurt him, and as soon as possible he went
! home to see if his mother knew that he
was out. Providence is "wonderous
| kind to these pests of the metropolis.
Our model reform Legislature has fin
| ished its labOrS and gone to its rest. To
say that we feel disappointed with the re-
! suits of the winters session is putting the
matter very mildly, indeed. No Legisla-
| ture ever had chance to do so much real
! good, and no Legislature ever tried so hard
| to do as little as possible. The only praC-
! teal reform it has carried through was
in its partial publication of our disgraced
| Judiciary, CardOZO, who resigned to avoid
| impeachment, and will doubtless be tri
umphantly selected to his old position by
! his intelligent (?) constituents. Of truth
we are in lovely condition, dependent
entirely upon the tender merCies of our
| Governor.
The two leading theatrical features Ofthe
past fortnigl have been Richard III'' at
! BOOTHS and London Assurance" at Wal
lacks. Of the first it may be said that
the scenery is superb, the costumes gor-
geous and accurate, the acting with few
! exceptions very poor. Booth is, of course,
painstaking and successful, but with the
! exception of Mr.. Bangs, the rest of his
company are "sticks.n At Wallack's JnO.
Brougham, Charles Matthews, Lester Wal
lack and John Gilbert do their best, with
a poor play AS Artemus Ward has 1t,
! huff sed."
We need rain very much indeed. The
country is parched and our water supply
growing beautifully less" II. w. r.
II loin
have the entire day tomorrow in which