Middletown transcript., 1876-09-02
Our New York Letter.
NEw Yoak, Aug. 25th, 1876.
rHe ssAsHED coALeRrsG.

i THE sDAsHED CoALp RING.
The pleasantest occurrence have to
chronicle this week, not SO much as to
the parties Immediately concerned, ,
perhaps, but certainly welcome to
everybody else, is the final breakin g
down of the great coal combination
which for four years past has monopo-
lized the trade in anthracite coal, con-
trolled its mining and transportation,
and regulated the prices for the country
to suit its own convenience. The
stringency of the times has been
squeezing various of the members Of
this ring. which is mainly composed Of
railroad corporations for some months,
and at last brought such pressure
upon them that carrying their share Of
the rings load became too great bur-
den. The results were increasingly
frequent secret breaches of agreement
in the cutting Of prices, and now the
whole thing has fallen to pieces of its
own weight. 1t is therefore a ray of
sunshine thrown upon the prospect Of
the approaching winter that fuel will
be within the reach of more people tnan
for years past. M
THRILLING ADvENTURE-A STATE
MENT UNDER OATH.
The most unpleasant one is about
mosquitoes. Now is the season when
the New Jersey marshes and Long
Island sands breed these vampires SO
large that many of them have to take
the ferry boat to get across to the city.
This may seem little strange or even
exaggerated to parties residing at a
distance, but all such must remember
that it is newspaper mans duty to
tell the whole truth unfinchingly, even
though be jeopardizes his reputation
for strict veracity. Still I should be
sorry to have even one Of your readers
lose confidence in me, so I will try and
neutralize any i'll effect which might re-
suit from the above statement by re-
peating one which was told me in con-
fdence this morning by friend Of
mine, also a journalist. This statement,
which was made under oath Chat is,
accompanied by considerable profanity
runs as follows: Ny friend relates that
on retiring to bed last night after the
few glasses of beer which he says his
physician has prescribed as tonic, he
sunk at once into refreshing slumber.
But few minutes had elapsed, how
ever, when he was reused to a semi
conscious condition by feeling some
thing walking over his chest. Suppos-
ing it to be only the dog he made
made a pass at it which caused the
weight to be removed, but which start
ed peculiar noise-something like
tug whistle. only not SO steady. But
the beer had strong sedativsl .inau-
ence, and sonny friend just sunk off
again into . confused dream about
Levy's coming down from Gilmofe's
and sailing around his room on cor
net, which kept up droning blast Of
supernatural power The next thing
he knew, something took hold Of his
ear with pair Of red hot pinchers and
hauled him out Of bed. A wild blow
in the dark released him, but started
up the cornet again. Then he realized,
as fully as the beer would permit, that
he was dealing with New Jersey mos
quito. Of the remaining horrors of that
night my poor friend could not bring
himself to speak. Suffice it to say that
when morning came he found that he
had blacked both his eyes, fattened his
nose and brought out one cheek to
look like the mumps; and being still
little dazed with the battle and the beer
be got up and had himself arrested for
assault and battery But the immi-
grant from Jersey only laughed caro-
lessly. stretched himself once or twice,
kicked pane Of glass ont Of the front
window and sailed over to a neighbor-
ing tree to get little rest and practice
the scales awhile, just to keep his voice
in trim
/ remarked to my friend that I
thought his mosquito tale was the sad
dest thing I had ever known. but be
must have misunderstood me, for he
replied that for sadness it wasn't cir
cumstance to the mosquitoes other end
5 I have given the story just as it was
told to me. and I submit to any unpre-
,judiccd reader. if Of the two he
wouldn't rather believe my modest as
sertion about the ferry boats?
THE FRENCH ARTISANS.
The officially accredited delegation
sent by the French government to in
spect the Centennial in the interests of
the various trades ID that country, ar
rived at this port early in the week and
were received with much ceremony by
a committee Of French resident work
ingmen, who presented an address Of
welcome and did the honors Of New
York previous to rheir departure for
Philadelphia The delegation numbers
over fifty men representing every lead
ing industry of civilized country.
They are all keen looking, intelligent
men, who will carry back fund Of in
formation we'll worth the cost Of their
trip. We now want to see the artisan
excursions Of the other great powers,
and will promise them abundant salts
faction with thsir journey. s
VALUE or THE BLACK CROOK
Appropriately enough, just at the
commencement ofa revival of the spec
tacular furore, comes a legal decision
recalling to notice the estate Of Charles
M. Barras, author of the renowned
" Black Crook" who was killed by the
cars few years ago. while his many
legged offspring was still rnnning with
great success. Ms Barras left about
$40. 200, which was chiefly. if not
wholly, brought him by this one piece
LARGE FIRE AT THE CENTENNIAL.