The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-04-01
OUR NEW YORK LETTEH.
NEW YORK, March 80, 1874
SrNC -STNg SToKFs


NEW YORK, March 80, 1874.
SING-SING-SToKEs.
Your readers have mostly forgot
ten Stokes, and with him Jim Fisk.
Wcll. such is life. The Lero of to-
dc Is forgotten tomorrow. Fisk
J in his bloody grave at Brattle-
Dro; Stokes is in Sing-Sing prison,
ut no one mentions them now.
faa up to Sing-Sing the other day
and saw Stokes. He is employed in
the prison as book keeper for the
great boot and shoe manufacturing
house of Melius, Trask & Ripley, of
this city, who employ the labor of an
immense number of convictS. Stokes
tenaciously clings to the account he
gave as a witness in his own behalf
during the trial. He contends that
his meeting with Fisk at the Grand
Central Hotel was owing to accident,
and not TO any premedltated design
to encounter his enemy and shoot
him as the prosecution claimed.
Stokes said that when he caught
sight of Fisk, the latter was ap-
preaching him with speed. He ad-
ded that he saw Fisk pull his pistol,
and it was owing to the impulse of
the moment-the instinct of self pres
ervation-that he drew his own
weapon and fired. After discharg-
ing his revolver, he jumped out of
range, and gave the alarm to the at
taches of the hotel. He iswell treat
ed, and does not complain, but it is
evident that the change from the life
of excitement in the city to the rou-
tine life he is compelled to lead is
telling upon him. He said to Mr..
Trask, of the firm in whose service
he is for the nonce, that he would
like to exchange places with him.
"You are as well off as you are" s"
said the philosphic merchant. "In-
deed, your situation is preferable to
mine. You work so many hours and
get excellent food and comfortable
clothing. The change in fashions
dent affect you; you have no cares
on your mind; you work, eat, and
sleep. That is all get for nearly
twice as many hours labor and a
million times more worry"
And speaking Of
HARD woKED MEN,
there are no men in the world
who labor so hard as the merchants
of New York. The life of the aver
age merchant is not so pleasant as
that of the dray-hoTse, for he has
more physical labor, and the mental
worry thrown in. With expenses
running into thousands per week,
with an interest account Of Brobdi-
gnagian proportions, with his capi-
tai scattered all over the United
States, and his solvency depending
entirely on the solvency and prompt
ness of ten thousand other men, some
of whom are ten thousand miles
away, the trouble surrounding him
is perpetual. He is compelled to be
in his counting-room at eight A. 81,
and from that on till night it is one
perpetual strain. Every nerve in
him is strung to the utmost tension,
for a mistake or a neglect in the
smallest matter may bring upon him
ruin. They grow prematurely gray
and nine-tenths of them die before
their time. And the trouble is that
Cut of every hundred, ninety-iiTe end
their business career with nothing
1t is twenty-five years of labor and
trouble, and worry, only to go out
finally in a panic, which they had
nothing to do with, and which they
could not prevent or provide against.
SOCIETY"
What is called Society" in New
York, is a queer thing. The great
city is full of people who have made
money rapidly, and whose principal
desire is to figure in what they call
Society" that is to be recognized as
people of fashion-to have their
wealth recognized, and to have a GER
tain status among the upper-crust.
The real aristocracy are compelled
to recognize these new creations to a
certain extent, for the Almighty Dol
lar has power anywhere in this
world. A little lawsuit in one of
the courts of the city the other day
developed some of the ways by which
the shoddy aristOcrats attain their
notoriety. These papers give ac-
counts of ladies present at certain
balls, and their toilettes-for a c0nsld-
Grafton. They have a regular scale
of prices which the fashionables pay.
A mere modest mention costs SO;
a complimentary adjective or two
thrown judiciously in as to the lady's
beauty, adds a five dollar note to the
bill minute description Of toilette
brings up the expense to S35, and a
full description, from the white slip
per to the top dressing, costs from
$50 to S75. At one hall a husband
had agreed with one of the reporters
for a description of his wife, with
which he was displeased when it
appeared, and he refused to pay.
The reporter took his revenge by
suing him, and as he could prove con-
tract he got judgment.
"Will not this expose ruin your
business ~ | inquired.
"NOt at all" was the reply it will
increase it. for it will show them all
where they can get good accounts
But it has killed Mr.. and Mrs. y.
Everybody knows to a dead certain
tv that they contracted for my effort
to make her appear as she desired
and all their kind friends will know
that everything that is done for her
hereafter is a matter of contract.
They don't care what people think,
for they are shoddy, but they dread
proof"
And as the fellows paper has been
full of such work since, rather think
he was right in his conjecture as to
the effect of his procedure.
Speaking of fashion, and the shams
that seem to be part of it, lady
for pmnloVment ne an oor