St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-10-19
Our New York Letter.


NEW YORK, Oct. IL, 1877.
To the Editor of the CdledOntdn:
The white whale of the Aquarium,
long the foremost curiosity of this city,
now has his big nose put entirely out
of joint. A few days ago steamer
from st. Johns drew up to dock in the
East River, and as its coming had been
previously heralded by telegram, it was
soon surrounded by curious crowd
who eagerly awaited developments.
Their curiosity however, got scant graf
ification, for after the careful unloading
of huge cask something like sugar
hogshead, which was placed on truck
and rapidly driven away, the audience
grumblingly dispersed. The mysteri-
GUS attraction which this cask contain
ed, and which has dimmed the lustre of
the white whales pre-eminence as a
curiosity, was nothing less than mon
ster octopus or devil-fish, member of
the hideOus family which Victor Hugo
has SO graphically described. This ami
NAL, which is so improbably horrible
and utterly nightmarish in appearance
that l wouldn't believe in his existence
any more than in that of the sea SER
pent unless had seen him with my
own eyes, got caught in the rocks some
where along the coast of Newfoundland,
and having struggled himself to death
was secured by some fishermen, who
during his lifetime wouldn't have risked
themselves within his reach for all the
gold of the Indies. After exhibiting
their CHASTITY prize for a day or two they
sold it to naturalist, who shipped it
southwark for the purpose, believe, of
placing it in the Smithsonian Institute
at Washington. But our wide-awake
Aquarium managers got wind of the
affair, and promptly bought the thing
by telegraph at an enormous price, to
the intense disgust of the Smithsonian
Institute.
We may well congratulate ourselves
on securing this specimen, for beside
being one of the largest ever taken from
the sea, it is the greatest natural Curl
osity ever seen in this city. Barnum's
"What-is-it" and the "woolly horsen to
the contrary Notwithstanding.
Arrived at the Aquarium the devil
fish was spread out upon the floor for
examination and measurement, to which
formalities only chosen few were adj
mitted. In appearance the creature is
unlike any other living thing under the
sun but for the sake of having some
thing i'll mind with which to compare
it, may say that its general plan is
more like that of an enormous spider
than anything else can think of Its
pulpy body measured nine feet in length
by four in breadth and one in thickness.
From this misshapen carcass stretch ten
arms or tentacles, trailing, livid, snaky
affairs, two of which are over twenty
four feet, and the others about ten feet
in length. The eyes are the largest
possessed by any known creature, each
being fully eight inches in diameter and
said to wear, in life, most terrible ex-
preston. To complete the horrors of
the thing its mouth is furnished with
thick curved beak like that of a parrot,
with which it tears in pieces whatever
prey its long waving arms encounter.
These arms are furnished with numer-
GUS Orifices which, the moment they
touch any object, act like so many suck
ers and give the animal grasp from
which there is absolutely no escape ex-
cept by severing the arms from the
body. The dead monster will soon be
placed on public exhibition.
The annual trade book sale for 1877,
the opening of which l noticed two
weeks ago, has closed with larger
record than any of its predecessors.
Altogether, over million volumes were
disposed of, including for the first time
considerable contributions from promi-
nent European publishers.
The largest demand for any one book
was for Lee & Shepard's '.That Hus-
band of Mine," the total sales of which
already foot up 10000. Just as
"Helen's Babies" opened up new and
apparently exhaustless vein of litera-
ture, "That Husband of Mine" has prov
ed the pioneer in rich field of writing.
1t has set style which every body is
following, though at a considerable dis
lance. "That Wife of Mine" however,
which the same publishers are just
bringing out, promises an equal success.
Another book just announced promises
to be an even greater bonanza to them
and to its author, and that is "They
All Do It," in which Bailey, the Dan
bury News man, demonstrates to the
reader that he has lost none of the
power that has kept the whole country
holding its sides for the past five years.
10000 copies of this book were sold in
advance of its notification
The dramatic fraternity have this
week added one more to the many
recorded proofs of their warmhearted
generosity as class. Edwin Adams
the tragedian having fallen into long
sickness and pecuniary trouble, the
prominent actors now i'm New York,
headed by SOthern and w. j. Florence
got up benefit matinee for their I'M
fortunate brother artist which netted
him somewhere from seven to ten thou
sand dollars. This matinee which was
held in the Academy of Music on Friday
afternoon was one of the most remark
able performances ON. record. Some
thing like one hundred members of the
dramatic and musical profession took
part including SOthern, Florence, John
Gilbert, Mckee Rankin, William Castle,
S. B. Mills, Clara Morris, Lolita, Aimee
and a host of lesser fame.
Some days before the performance
the boxes and best seats in the house
were sold at auction. Florence and |
Charlie Backus, of Backus' Minstrels, |
being the auctioneers. Sothern paid |
$500 for one box, which he afterwards
returned to be sold over again. This
auction alone realized $500. In view
of the frequent slurs on actors as a class |