The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-02-24
ouR NEW o LETTER.
NEW YoRK. Feb. Is, 1875:
BEEcHER-TILToN.


SIR: / suppose | shall have t
write these words about forty tin e
more, the exasperating fact beinI
that this everlasting trial will con
tinue a: the rate it is progressing
about forty weeks.
Tilton is now on the stand, ant
for a week has been examined, cross
examined, and examined in ever.
other way that lawyers know of, an
yet nothing has come of it all tina
the people did not know before. Al
that has been brought out the people
were made aware of q year ago il
the Statements" made by the par
ties connected with this wretcheC
business. This week the proceeding
have been nothing more nor less thar
a series of duels between Tilton ant
his opposing lawyers. in which
neither have shown to advantage
TiltoI's answers to questions bav'
been either the smallest of small wit
or grandiose orations on matters en-
tirely foreign to the subject in hand
and Evarts seemed to be be inspired
with a crazy desire to rival him il
repartee. There is nothing new il
the trial, and will not be till BeecheI
gets on the stand. Then something
may be expected.
BY the way, why isn't Henry C
Bowen, the editor ofthe Independent
on the stand? He knows more abou
this business than any living man
for he has not only been the con6dan
of both, but he has been the con6dan
of everybody who knew anything
connected with the two principals
Everybody who ever had anything
to say against either came to Bower
with it first. Possibly be knows too
much for either party to want bin
on the stand. Possibly be could tel
more han either of them would wan.
made public.
THE ARCTIC SEASON.
The weather has been colder here
than has been known for years. TIL,
river between the foot of Cortland
street and jersey City has been filled
with ice for the first time in thirty
years, and ice bridges across the
East River are almost of daily occur
renee. Ferries are in a continue.
state of stoppage, and the oaths and
curses one hears from the pincheG
and half-frozen people, who wait for
hours for o boat to get to Brooklyn
or Jersey City, are frightful to hear.
The experience this winter will do
more toward hurrying the great
bridge to completion than all the
newspapers could do in a century.
a SORRY STORY.
Monday morning q young woman
"a supernumerary in Booths Thea.
ter, tainted during the rehearsal Of
the play. Her sister actress raised
her, and carried her to the green.
room, and when she revived, told hel
story as best she could. She had
not eaten q morsel of food for three
days, and her fainting was the re.
suit of nothing but starvation. o.
course, food was given her, and o.
course a collection was made for her,
and then her ghastly story came out
Her husband was q scene-shifter iu
the theater, but had been down with
consumption for nearly a year. She
had a mother, also an invalid, and
four children, all of whom she had tc
support, and the pay on which al
this had to be done was six dollars 8
week. Think of it; rent, food, fuel
medicines, clothing, for seven people
two of them invalids, to be provided
out of six dollars q week, and thai
pittance to be earned by one little
woman-not twenty-one years of age
from one of the most precarious o
professions. The family were living
in the top of the house, in one room
the house so badly built that the
wind whistled through the crack:
with about as much freedom as i
would on an Iowa prairie, and NJ
fire. The poor woman couldn't get
fuel for heat, and she never had fooC
enough to make it necessary fol-
cooking. The sick husband and sicl
mother lay on wretched pallets will
scarcely any covering, and another
wretched pallet sufficed for the young
er mother and her four children. Al
the day they lay in that horrible mes
for warmth, and to that horrible mes
the overworked mother came a
twelve at night, when her exhaust
ing labors were completed at tn,
theater.
This is one case in twenty thous
and, only this poor woman had tb,
good luck to faint with her hunger
at a time and place where her dis
tress excited pity and brought hel
relief. Had she tainted in her garrett
she would have died as hundreds dc
every day. 1t is terrible.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
The worst side of the labor trou
bles is shown IN the present strike O
the hands in q s%tone-cutting yard NJ
town. The men in the same bust
ness in Newark and Philadelphi,
have but $3.50 for a days work o
ten hours, and the men employed OF
the Capitol at Albany have not NOR,
than $500 for the same hours. Tbt
Journeymen Cutters
Association prohibits its member
from working for less than 81 so (
days work of eight hours. The firm
in question have large contracts, ant
being able to employ more hands
than they have at present, engaged
some men who applied for work a
a less rate. These men became dis
satisfied after working with the othe,
hands, and complained to the Asso
citation, who fined the firm 500, will
notice that in default of payment th,
hands would be ordered on strike
This was paid under protest, as worl
was pushing; but it vas not long be
fore another fine of$l00 was ordered
on complaint Of an employee belong.
ing to the society, that be bad beer
defrauded ont of a days wages. Th,
firm refused to pay the fine, anC
their men, as ordered by the society
went on strike. The firm soon haC
over twenty outside men at work a
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