The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-02-01
HsborOugh Highland County Ohio, Thursday February
.ganies Fisk. Ir.

,BSsE1eS FISH, 'BEs
Another case has been added to
the list of tragedies which have both
startled and disgraced this commun-
ity of late. The victim this time
was James Fisk, Jr., of "Erie" no
tOriety. Last Saturday afternoon he
drove to the Grand Central Hotel,
and while ascending the stairs, was
confronted by Edward S. Stokes,
who shont him twice, inficting fatal
Injuries. Fish was taken to room
and Immediately received the atten-
ton of two surgeons. He fingered
in a doubtful state through the night
and died in the following forenoon.
On Monday his remains were escort
ed by military procession to the
Central Depot, whence they were to
be taken to Vermont for burial.
The murderer was at once arrested,
and after being fully identified by
Fisk, was committed TO the Tombs.
He refused to give a reason for his
deed; but it is wellknown that for
months a serious feud has existed
between the two men, which had
been carried into the courts and had
become a public scandal. Stokes, it,
is stated, finding that he could not
secure his ends at law, and his pow
erful rival might crush him, determ-
ined to have his own revenge. As is !
too common in such cases, a woman
was the fatal cause of the feud and
the tragedy.
Bloody and wicked as is the deed
by which this bold, bad man has
been cut down in his proAigacy and
shame, there is in the public consci-
ence a sense of fitness in the termin-
alton of his career. The wicked is
driven away in his wickedness. |
''Thus for shalt thou go, and no far
ther," says the judge of all the earth, |
and the strutting, unscrupuIous, Ii. |
centiOus, infamous, man is murdered
by rival in business and lust. The
story of this mans life is extraord- /
mary even in this country, where
sudden transitions of fortune are fre-
quent. The son of a Vermont ped |
dler, and following the business ofhis
father, then travelling with a mean
agerie and cleaning the cages of the |
beasts, he becomesa a trader in Boston
then came to Wall street in this city |
and speculated in stocks, became the |
proprietor of railroads, steamboats,, I.
theatres, judges and bad women d /
proHigate debauchee, rolling in osten- /
tatious wealth and luxury that Sar-
danapalus could not exceed, defying .
public opinion, and lost to every |
sense Ofshame, he becomes notorious
in his libertinism, as he is infamous
for his financial transactions. Dis
gusting as he was to all decent peo-
pie in his sensuality, the influence of
such an example of apparent pecuni-
ary success was awfulIy bad upon
young men, and upon the whole
business community. His money
made him conspicuous, and he had
himself always before the public.
He was envied by thousands who saw
him fOurishing in his wickedness, as
if wealth was the passport to distinc-
ton and pleasure. In the midst of
it all, and as a natural fruit of his
lusts and speculations, he is publicly
assasslnated IN city hotel by one OF
his companions in Profigacy, and
dies as TIE fool dieth.
The city feels a sense Of relief
when such a man ceases to lieve. Ill
is shocked by the crime, and is
quite willing that the murderer
should be speedily visited with pun
ishment. But the end of Fisk points
a moral, and the public heart heeds
it. 1t is chapter in the current his
tory Of American civilization which
the young, and those who live for
this world, may study with profit
IN. Y. Observer.