Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-08-07
FllsST' EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA.
our ATuRpA IsrTER

I
| AFFhIh--uuMoRs OF CITY RAILWAY DIRECTOR
bHIP-sUMMER THEhrRIcAi.s BALL, &c.,
| &C.
| Specidi corresptnience Of the Commercial.
| PHuADEIpnIA, Aug. d.
| The Alexander case attracts renewed a:ten-
| tion-diferipg in character from tho interest
felt In the trial and conviction of the nurderera.
| Two of tho assailants of Alexauder, you will
| remember, were sentenced to heavy terms of
| Imprisonment The third accused party a man
| named Flowers, has boen awaiting trial
at tho opening OF the Fall term. Suddenly
| the authorities wero Informed this woek that
| Flowers was at liberty. Not only but lie had
been net free by officer Merke, of the City Pris-
OIL. person who has been III places of trust at
Moyanensing for 35 years. IL is not believed
that bribery entered into the Case, District At
tornoy shepherd, while strongly condemnipg
A1orkes aotion, taking pains to say that there
Has no charge OF dishonesty. But careessnesa
and ignorance are at times to he ciaAsed as
crimes and from this view the Merke-
Flowers affair il vcry interesting and
important. The facts are these :-Morviue,
Blrcley, and Flowers wero charged with nomi-
eide, that charge being Of COURSE entered on the
prison books. Mervino and Barclay being con
vieted there seemed to be some doubt with the
authorities swhether they could also convict Flow
ers and bill for aggravated assault was presen-
ted i'll addition, to the grand jury, 40 that in
some way flowors might he punished Tho
grand jury for some cause ignored this last bill,
and an order reaching the jail for the discharge
OF all persons held for trial, the bills in whose
cases had been ignored, officer Merlile cool
ly gave Flowers his liberty, regardless of
tho first and main charge against
him. The examination was long and involved,
but this ID the point OF it, and despite Mr.. Mer-
kles Indignation and his 85 years of service, he
was held in $4,000 to answer the charge. Judge
Elcock we'll said, at the close OF the examination,
that under such reckless system-7or want OF
system-snperintendent might discharge
whole prison.
One way or another the Zoo is kept pretty
constantly in notice, and If notoriety is all
public matter requires for its establishment aa
worldly minded people assure ua, the Garden is
in a fair way of being put firmly on it's legs
The Society " hath had losses thia week;
it has also Ind valuable additions
to its treasures; and 1t has had to
withstand another blast from the llliberal minis
terH, who, il they had their WHY, Would eifectual-
ly close the Garden to four hrths Of the people
by shutting its gates on Sunday. People who
clamor for free admission to the Zoo simply be-
cause 1t is located on corner OF the Park which
the city granted for the purpose may perhaps be
brought to 500 by the death of the Elephant
" Empress how unreasonabte that demand il.
Tie " Empress - cost tho Society several thou
sand dollars and diod after few months. A
giraffe worth considerable sum, valuable
llama and other animals representing largo
penses of such an establishment arc
necessarily heavy and now etock is being con-
stantly purchased This week two sea COWS,
said to be the only creatures of the kind in any
Geological collection, woro placed ON exhibition.
Let us in spirit of love inquire who IL the in
diyiduai, or where ID tho corporation, Who would
do all this for nothing2
Not that the case ID altogether on the side of
the Zoo, either. Tie daltlen Offers Immense
scientific opportunities which are not properly
improved. Tho directors arc too easily content
with making it a pleasing show, and tho
grounds a place OF popular resort. The great
collections OF Europe partake of this character,
but they servo at tho sane time much
higher purpose. They arc centres of study and
research. The Joriin des P(dltes has made tho
reputation OF scores of naturaists. The Euro
pean gardens are presided over by learned men;
they have their proceedings" and "transac
tions = students gather about them from all
parts of the world 1t may be said that our 400
s young and that there IL time for all this, but
it would be assuring to sec at least a beginning
made, If no moro than to arrange with other 80
cieties for exchange of duplicate specimens
NC, or with the Smithsonian Institution, or the
Academy of Natural Sciences, for the preserya-
ton OF valuable remains There il CON
slant loss to tho study Of Natural His
tory through neglect of this KIND. Not
a great while since u professional gentleman
visiting the garden was asked by one OF the
keepers what the proper food Of the sloth was,
that pair of those animals had just been re-
ceived and there had boon discussion among
the authorities as to their food ? The gentleman
replied that buds, twigs, of troes, shrubs and
similar matters constituted the proper diet.
'Then you think" reioined the keeper, that
hard-boiled eggs would be scarcely the thing
'Not unless you want to kill tho animals" was
the reply. Nevertheless, the man had been or
dered by the Director to feed sloths on hard
boiled eggs. and did so, and III
few days they were, very naturally,
dead. This may serye as an illustration of the
Fon f1tat t1,n Ana nf
such an establishment is wanting. The ele-
phant, it is true, is being dissected, but n num-
ber of valuable carcashes have been throw away,
while slight provision of alcohol and retaining
vessels would have preserved them Tor study.
There iH report, too, that even in the case Of
the elephant the brain Concerning which there
is 80 much scientific interest) was not removed
under the plea that to do 30 would iniure the
ekul-a notion that any alatomst VIII laugh
at
People who eat sausage in summcr a danger
practice at tho best-must be careful. Three or
four families were dangerously poisoned yester'
day from that cause. One of the persons par
taking of the meat has died, two others are dan
gerously i'll aud may not recover, and over
dozen were sick in varying degrees. a dog who
was given peice of the meat died within quar-
ter OF ali hour after eating 1t. The sausage was
moully and had been condemned on lllat account
by the grocer who had it for sale. At least that
is the dealers account; he aliirmh he threw the
food out on a rubbish pile whence the people
who wero affected must have taken it, Some of
the parties say, ON the contrary, that the grocer
gave 1t to them. However it il, it should teach
people to be particular in their indulgence in
this direction.
Citizens who weakly fancy that the people
own the streets have a series Of facts presented
Just now, disabusing them of that idea. Petty
squabbef of the Street Railway companies the
real owners of the thoroughfares, have resulted
in various sections in making the streets I'M
passable The Paramount bridge can only be
crossed on the top, and the conidng teamstcr,
when ho takes that road finds himself in n heap
of trouble, for there il nothing but wallow of
mud from the end of tho bridge to 33rd street.
SO of several streets traversed by that precious
fraud the "West End Railway, really whipper-
in of Jake Eidgways Union line and which has
been given tho extraordinary right to lay rails
OH any street in West Philadelphia. l may have
more TO eay of this ewiudle hereafter. The now
Callowhill St line is finished AZ far as Paramount.
The route as now run cannot pay with the liace
and Arch street lines running double the dis
tance for the same fare. When the Bridge is
entirely finished it is the design OF the Callow-
hill street road to cross aud run to the Centen-
nial grounds. III this it will be iierccly opposed,
the result being, of course, mora blockaded
streets and further miles of mud holes Who
saws the people own tho stroots
An attempt was made to force the theatrical
onaanu tb,e xyoels hotb Al the 3" Arch " and tho