Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-03-20

sentence OF ueath ior the murder of James Fisk, !
forcibly illustrates how deeply great crime !
strikes among the innocent victims and mat
wealth, culture and standing are no sure safe.
guards against the saddest Vieissitude of human
expeTence. IL is rare that reference of this
kind includes sufferers of like high prominence
for there are no better names in New York or
Philadelphia than those borne BY persons stricken
in this catastrophe
In the year 1888, Edward ii. Stokes, a success
full cloth merchant in New York and nearly con-
nected with some Of the most prominent renresen
tatives OF the wealth and benefcence Of that CITY,
retired from business with handsome competen-
cy. Eight years previously he had married a Mss
Stiiee, daughter of q leading PhIladelphian and |
seeking home of ease and elegance, Mr.. Stokes
chose Philadelphia as his future residence There
his eldest son was born, in 1889, and named Ed
ward Stiles, after a maternal relative The lad
was boy OF unusual beauty and promise, quick
active mind, generous and loving disposition
these TRAITS being remembered we'll qfter tho lapse
OF years by those who know him well at that time
Two daughters and two other sons were born in /
the peroid between lS40 and 1850. The family is |
recalled as being rarely endowed with ell that |
seemed needed to insure the happiness of the |
heusehoud The home was one Of wealth and
luxury, the culture of the best
Edward was educated at the University, and
took high rank as q scholar. lie went TO New
York at the age of seventeen to enter the store of
Samuel Perry, an extensive cheese dealer Perry
tal,ed three years later, and young Stokes made
new partnership with junior Of the collapsed
mouse, anu Lnoy, as stokes " BuQIOu0, ODeued q
store on Vesey street. They had excellent sue
cess, their foreign slnp trade being very large
calling Stokes to visit Europe several times with
in the next few sessions. About this time the
senior Stokes was induced 10 remove to New York
where he made his Office with his son. though not
originally intending 10 become entangled in bus-
ness Such was the result however, and MT on
ly were the father, but other and prominent veal
thy relatives, gradually, but heavily involved in
| the extended ventures of Stokes j. Budiono The
/ fafiura ~ ha firm fOlourGd md Nok
| were thrown into bankruptcy
| With the wreck Of his fortune Young Stokes
embarked next in the enterprise of establishing an
oil refinery ct Hunters Point. Three hundred
thousand dollars were expended in the works
| which were to be Of the frs, class Whsn the COM
panY fell into difficulties, and at this juneture the
baleiul light Of jim Fisks eountenance comes in
to the story jim was in the full tide Of his oper
ations with Erie. He held the advantage 1--WE
wish it were less employed by even more scrnpu-
lous railway managers then hey supplied by bis
corporation, in transportation and CCpkr0l Of the
market, as the Erie was tia great thorOuqhfare OF
the oil regions. 4 compact was struck. Fisk en-
tered the refinery company reinforced capital,
and with change ofname and heavy drawback
on the Erie Freight bills, the Hunters Polnt refl-
neiY sailed strongly into successful competition.
stokes was secretary, az, Ss Ts as partner At 9ns
per week
In 1864 Stokes married tho daughter % ]. w
Southwick, prominent furniture dealer in New
| 1OFkt one VI tue uiueab III IN tuAL
short time since one OF the oldest residents show
! ed Us Is set OF furniture, wedding outfit, bough
of Mr.. Southwick, who is now a man of lmmens
, wealth, and still in active business in grea
: Broadway Establishment. The wedding of Stoke
> with Miss Southwiek seemed to lack nothing tina
I. wealth, position and social sourroGpdiugs coul
: bring to insure happiness. They made their sump
: uous home IN the Hoffman House, and move
a among the brilliant life OF the metropolis
= The next scene in the drama bungs the infa
q mOas woman Mansfield into the plot. Solomo
2 describes her many centuries ago, and we fea
= Solomon know what he was writing about Be
~ his painting has never been surpassed, and
10 somebody could have slipped into Stokes mind th
- little pen portrait made more than two thousan
u years of Josephine Mansfield and her infamoT
sis ter, it might have spared the community Ii
=, - fruits of an new acquaintance. Here are some
dl the wise mans eolonngs OF his subject
She lieth in wait as for q prey, and increaset
NJ tina transgressiens among meu.
Is Her feet go down to DEATH her steps take ho
x on hell
n Her house inclineth into death, and her pail
er into the dead None that go unto her Fsturl
IL again.
a He goeth after straigAtway. as an OK goeth
he the slaughter,
IT, She hslh casted down many wounded yea maj
DIS strong men have been slain by her.
is Her house is the way to hell, going down to q
chamber Of death.
Tue dead are there, Her guests ara in t
ma fdepths OF hell.
ri. And Just precisely that happened which the S
AZ of Dayd predicted; from the house Of the har
- ths path turned downward. A quarrel betwe
nR Fisk and Stokes followed. II was carried into
no affair of business. Fisk refused to allow Hunte
a Point concern to make dividend, and thus c
ch, of stokes supplies This disgFaceful Talatio
er- become more shameless, and the father-ln-ia
is SouthWick. sent his daughter and child to Euro
IN early in 1881, 70 remove her from the scene
"a scandal. Stokes, enraged at Fisk, used his 20
tioR as secretary TO collect $50, 900 from DeVoe,
IN" old merchant, which sum he held openly and d'
M antly as his share of the profits. Fisk caused
RID arrest on a criminal charge. Stokes turned to
wealthy relatives. Not one OF them would
him, and he was forced to make terms subn
and refund the money, His relations to Fisk vi
bitteEand out of the intensity OF the evil passl'
IL and eriminalities Of Eis position with Mansh
me grew murder. Turn to Solomon again, and tn
Ind Is no mystery in the chain of sequences. tits
of that the steamer that took out to Europe the N
uch derer Of Fisk by Stokes, carried divorce prod
Of cd by her family for his wife, who still Tema
~, abroad
ha' II Young men in our communities could O
ifK' ride ON express trains to the devil, and take
sen one with them, there would be less to be 81
not aside from these o0nsiderati0na, Il is every ms
ant individual right to bartsr away his life and fort
the and sacred honor al his own Pfice Satan bul
great many OF these poor fellows very cheap,
at short option for seller. But every car y
Of a family train The shock and crush OF shi
has and iserSes must fan on the innocent as well
on the guilty. In bahalt Of the tatAeEs and mott
rare and sisters of the community, let general wi
The ing be made OF the case Of Edward Stoke
and Where has romance woven anything so sad
tha WhsFa. IN modem oommnnitisa haVs beee g
- more abrupt and startling variation OF light
otA shade from the brightest point Of promise and
soon sured happiness 70 the depths Of darkness
wall misery, than those on which the curtain fall 2
G of N 89UaTIW
ther -