The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-09

The Drama OF Credit Mobilier-The
Tableaux or tho Conspirators and
hangs or tho Partisan Critics.
If the developments in the Credit Mobilier
business have been discouraging in moral
sense. they have not been lacking in what
dramatic critics love to call s'interest" The
tragedies OF wrecked regulations, tragedies OF
air castles Of character tumbled, tragedies of
mental torture of men who in seeing their
good name sacrificed saw pit cape beneath
their feet blacker than ever pagan seer,
Christian saint or brain-racked poet painted
in thought or word tragedies of mon wrung
with the superhuman sorrow of seeing them
selves flung into dishonored graves, are all too
many. We shudder for the victims; but clears,
idle tears must be for them alone The
great pulsating world outside cannot feel their
griefs. Justice, .stern justice, is the figure the
world looks TO for deliverance. Meanwhile
it would smuse itself with what Of dramatio
posturings the sad actors in their various roles
have made. :.
The first tableau dates away back to the
campaign days when the classic group of Con-
gressmen assembled together in their charac-
tiers of innocence. The scene was laid in
Alaska, with the temperature about hundred
degrees below zero. One gust of the icy air
convinced many men that the butter of Mobi-
her could not melt in the mouths Of men
breathing such an atmosphere The partisan
press wept over such frosted righteousness,
and murmured to the figures in the group
Were ye pure as ice or eaaste as snow,
Ye should not escape caiumny.
1t was affecting but painful in the light of
what followed. Scene-The House Of Repre-
sentatives. Hon. James Brooks calls Congress
to witness that it is his son-in-hw, not him
self, who is to blame for Credit Mobilier
Ajax defying the lightning might be COM
panion figure; but whore can the unique
Brooks be matched when Hoax Ames before
tho committee hurls bolts from his memory,
striking the Hon. James with the adjuration
still clinging to his ips2 A very dramatic
piece of business! We may keep before the
committee while prim and gray-headed Sena-
tor from New Hampshire swears to his own
innocence. The audience arc touched visi-
bly,, until, as in demon game Of bluff,
Hoax Ames lays down two letters from the
Senator, and Patterson staSSers away from the
green cloth q ruined man. The mask Of cant
has been torn of the face, and Mokanna rushes
to self-destruction. Very sensational! A man
of suave manners, wearing face lit with
perennial smile, comes upon the scene His
innocence he. too. proclaims. A check for
some five hundred odd dollars is the first
dagger that strikes through the white
robe. Collar still smiles in the face,
but his body writhes, and the people
wonder. He says:-"You cannot stab
me with that twelve hundred-dollar check"
To exhibit all his wonderful powers he ap-
pears still smiling in the character of tenn
perance lecturer before Young Mems
Christian Association. He next prepares a
scene in the Senate, but Thurman knocks the
tableau into pieces by hurting the constitution
at it. At the same time the audience sees the
twelve hundred dollars II the hand of bank
through the heart of Colfax, who still'wears
the smile. He is flung into the ranks of Les
1Hsfrables and the audience discovers the
secret of L Homme qui rit 1t was only a
painted smile after all. Very Frenchy this
A little comedy fits across the stage when
Kelley swears on a bar of ''pig iron" that he
is an innocent Old Hoax swears he is not
Then Kelley strikes IN attitude and calls upon
Heaven and Hoax to- hand over the stock
The old sinner dives into the recesses of his
wonderful memorandum book and "planks
down" the certificate amid the hearty laugh
ter of the audience Kelley next appears in
the character of Old Magnanimous, and
gives away with q flourish what he
says does not belong to him. The
Poland committee receives it as the work.
house did Ginxs baby, not knowing what
to do with it. Oddly enough, the fun
of this scene was enhanced by Kelley imagin-
ing that he was playing very noble and emo
tional part but it was not viewed in that
light. Then Dawes, Garfield and Scofeld are
exhibited in the pillory with Hoax Ames in
the character of public hangman, with Durant
McComb and Alley as assistants. This was o
striking tableau. Then an interlude is given
by Hoax Ames, called Refreshing His Men,
ory." No conjurer ever performed such sur
prising feats with pack of cards as this old
man with his note books. He made the purest
white change instantly to the blacklist black,
and was astonished and indignant that the au-
dience yelled to have such professor of the
black art burned like New England witch,
which they asserted he was by metempsycho-
sis. Henry Wilson was exhibited in the char
acter of Tartuffe, the hypocrite, and caused a
profound sensation. The next scene was q
dungeon under the House of Representatives,
with lucky fellow named Stewart in durance
vile. When the lace curtains, snowy cover
lets, walnut furniture, fine wines and delicate
| ,r;ards yzera contaminated by the a,,dianco