Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-01-10

arrested, and is now held TO answer for his act
When the tidings of what had happened came
10 be known, all was agog at the great newSpa-
| per offices. Such a chance for sensation had
not been known for years. The bare title,
properly displayed "Jim Fisk shot by Ed
| Stokes" would sell thousands Of COPIES Re
| porters and interviewers were sent in every di-
reetion to pick up what they could, while the
editorial corps" of the various papers ran
sacked old files for a biography Of Fisk.
An odd mess they made of il, as any one
can see who reads the papers Of the next
| day. Some are sure that Fisk during the
ten years before he burst upon the world, was
travelling with an idnerant mcnagelie; others
are equally sure that at the same time be was
peddling calicoes all through northern New
England. think the peddling history the most
likely to be the true one. All agree.that when
not ten years ago he turned up in Wall street,
he had cut his eyeteeth. Barnum-that odd
compound of Benjamin Franklin and Cagliostro
could give him no lessons in the art of hum
bug; the sharpest Wall street operators might
take lessons from him in the way of lodges
about CORNERS" One way or another, he was
too much for the shrewdest of them. | am told
that he never laughed so heartily as at the time
when he outwtted Commodore Vanderbilt"
actually making him carry Erie pigs and cattle
TO market at a tenth of the cost of transporta-
ton.
This was the kind of man whereof the able
editors had TO write during those few hours be-
tween the time when Fisk was shot, and the in
evitable hour for their papers ''going to press"
On the whole, they did very fairly. Most of
them fell back upon the old Latin maxim, ''De
mortuis nil nisi bonum" OF Fisk they could
safely say that when he had come to have money
he gave it away as freely as he had acquired it,
So on this text they expatiated freely, and in
the best language at their command, while
waiting for the reporters accounts of what had
happened.
The reporters and interviewers had mean
while a rather sorry time of it. They
had to make deal Of brick, with only
bare chance of finding any straw. From
Printing House square they radiated in all d.
rections. Those who went to the Grand Cen
trail hotel picked up few items. Some of them
| got moments speech with waterwho knew
the boy who had almost seen Stokes shoot
Fisk. One of them saw Tweed, and counted
the tears which rolled down his fabby cheeks,
as he sat waiting TO learn what would turn up.
But those who went off on their own hook had
a rather hard time of II. lnteivicwers can not
always cast their lines in pleasant places.
Sometimes they get sndbbed; sometimes they
get, at least metaphoricaliy, kicked down stairs.
They get used to this, as eels are said to being
skinned, and after a while come to like it. One
| parsonage of this sort started straight for the
Mansfield mansion, quite sure that he could
up pick something there. Unluckily he missed
the number, and rang the bell at the next door
Finding that the Mansfield did hot live there,
| butdid live next door, he tried to pump the do.
nestle as to the character of the nei!hbors. She
| knew nothing and cared less about the matter
! The reporter left the steps without, as one would
| think, getting matter for a line. Not quite So
for when his report came in to his employers
there was a full dozen lines describing the
house. and giving the additional information
that the person who had answered his ring was
"an ugly old hag." Another clever report
er managed to work into bis statement an in
| gcnious puff ola tailor, for which hope he has
received fair equivalent; pair of pantaloOnS,
certainly, is not too much. "Mr. Stokes" he
wrote in effect "is nearly six feet high, and
looks a very Antinous in proportions But l
am told that he is quite slender, and for his fine
figure is wholly indebted to bis eminent tailor,
Mr.. Bell, of Broadway"
OF such stuff was made up the contents of our
Sunday newspapers, which supposew VIC all read
much more than we did our Bibles that day. 1t
seemed to be fOregonc conclusion that Fisk's
hurt would be mortal, though most supposed
that, as in the case of Richardson, the supreme
hour was some days distant This being Sun
day, no ostensible business was done; hut stock
Spectators know no Sabbath; and it became
quite well understood that Stokes pistol shot
had raised the value of Erie shares several per
cent. A little after noon it was reported that
Fisk was dead. An hour or two later the ii ings
were confirmed. He had died an hour and
quarter before noon. Erie stock had waXed as
he waned. Men who had day before been
| ready to sell for 81 now held it at 40.
In the gray dusk the body of Fisk was re-
moved from the hotel to his residence close by
| the Grand opera house. This morning the
corpse lies in state This afternoon the body is
TO be conveyed to its resting place in Vermont.
| II is said there will he great pageant | have
no wish to see it. If were to do so, and to de.
scribe it toyon the telegraph would have antici-
paed all that could say.
James Fisk died at theagc of thirtv-seven. He
had physical frame which should have cut
lasted four-score. 1t would have been well If all
record Of his life could have been buried with
him. But that can not be. A topic which loads
the newspapers and burdens the telegraph can
NOT he ignored, He must now, at least be spoken
Of Those who undertake to speak of him
should tell the fair truth. To such as him
| the saying: "De mortuis nil nsi bOnumD does
not apply. Let me say briefly what | think
should be said.
There lives in all the civilized world no man
whose death is less to be lamented His life
was bad in almost every possible wav. 1t was
standing protest against all that is decorous and
decent. 1t was, moreover, shameless life He
Haunted his faults in every face. What other
men would have hidden he exposed in every
| highway. He gloried of what other men would
have been ashamed. His impudence was some
thing astounding. Not many months ago
some one, acting for him, wrote his biography
In it he was held up as the model man Of bis
! day; as an example which all young Americans
should copy; and as the very man who of all
others should be the next president of the
United States. This astounding biography
was offered for publication to respectable
| publishers. OF course it was secuted by them
have only seen it in manuscript; but | believe
ii has been actually printed ] dare say some
dishonest dollars will now be made ny selling
the copies hidden away in out of the way cor
ners. The one thing that has been said in bis
praise is that be was most literal in dispensing
| his unlawful gains; and above all things he
was never weary of helping any one who had
helped him when be needed help. SO far as
that goes let ii stand to his credit IN orr est
nation of him. For the rest, the trucst charity
is to forget him as soon as possible. A. II. G.
From the State House.
| Announcement of 1he Standing COmInit.
| tres-shOFt Prayers ana Busy sessions.