St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-04-20
Our New York Letter.


BoMBsHELL IN A PRIVATE OFFICE
GOVERNOR TILDEN's HoRsEs-DEATH
OF JIM FISK'S OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
ANNA DICKINsoN's FIGHT.
New YORK, April 13, 1877.
To the Editor of the CdledOniaR
write you this week from out whirl-
ing clouds of dust such as | imagine to
be those that vex the traveller through
the great Sahara. The mud that | was
growing about last time, dried by the
sun and pulverized by ten thousand
wheels, is caught up by the cold simoons
of our clustering spring and is thrown,
a driving binding pail, worse than a
genuine London fog, over the town.
One consolation, and only one remains
to us in this trial, and that is that our
rascaliy street cleaning bureau who
could find refuge in their carriages from
the Inconvenience of the mud, can in
no wise escape their share of the present
plague. They have got to choke and
cough and wipe their eyes with the rest
of us, and that, perhaps, will do more
towards making them do their duty
than all the Indignation which is finding
public and private expression against
them.
And it is not alone this department
of the city government which makes a
decided nuisance of itself. The police
force of this city and Brooklyn have
been getting themselves into bad odor
lately by series of brutal and unpro-
vOked assaults upon citizens. blue
coat is becoming an object of fear al
most as great as would be waiting
highwayman with drawn pistol. Half
a dozen patti Olmen have, however, been
dropped, and one sent to states prison,
so there is IA returning hope that the
active clubs of the peelers may cease
the tattoo which they have been beat
ing upon our skulls at irregular but fire.
quent intervals all winter long.
That the three partners of one of the
heaviest manufacturing firms in the
country should be suddenly blown into
the air by ii hand grenade while quietly
cOnversing in their private offices in one
of the busiest streets of New York, is
of itself sufficiently strange occurrence;
but when to the fact itself are added
the ell cumstances which surround the
Jewett tragedy OF last week, the case
becomes one of the most mysterious
which ever perplexed a million of peO-
| pie. Just previous to the strange catas-
trOphe papers were being passed az
ranging for the withdrawal from bust
ness of the junior member of John
Jewett & Sons, white lead and oil man
ufactureIs. While this business was
being amicably transacted behind the
board partition of the private room, the
outer office was filled with clerks going
through the routine work of the morn
ing. Suddenly deafening explosion
took place in the inner office, followed
by four or five rapid pistol shots. Be-
fore the paral wed employees could move
hand or foot the door opened and one
of the principals staggered forth man
gled and speechless. Then they rushed
in to find one of the remaining partners
dead and the other dying. The sur
vivOr either can or will give no ex-
PLANTATION of the tragedy, the clerks per
sst in the most profound ignorance of
any cause which might have led to the
N'Nh'1 "hu w VIC NHoIC lC-
mains almost as mysterious as on the
afternoon of its occurrence. Where the
deadly missile came from, whether its
explosion was by design or accident,
and who fired the pistol shots that kill
ed Orville Jewett-are questions which
may sometime be satisfactorily answer
ed, but for the present they remain
among the ghastliest cOnundrums ever
propounded in this eventful city.
Ex-Governor Tilden is extremely fond
of horses, carriage and horseback riding
being his chief if not his only recrea-
ton. Nor does he care for the ordinary
equine of steady and equable habits,
but rather prefers something in the way
of Il fiery, untamed steed. This prefer
ence may some day cost the illustriOus
gentleman his life. Shortly after his
nomination for the Presidency last year
he met with an accident while driving
near Albany which barely escaped being
serious if not fatal, and two or three
days ago he had another warning in
this city. His team became unmanage-
able while coming down from Central
Park, and running against Il heavy
coach threw the venerable occupant of
the carriage out upon the pavement,
where lie was severely but not danger
ously bruised.
A dwarf employed in one of the rail
road offices i'll the Grand Central depot
came to his death i'll peculiar manner
this week. On last new years evening
he was bitten by IA cat, and although
experiencing no immediate i'll effects
from the slight wound, expressed the
belief that he should die of hydrophobia
A week ago he began to get nervous
over the matter, took to his bed and in
IA few days died, the victim of disease
of which he had not the least symptom.
This little man, whose name was Rich
ardsOn, used to be quite favOrite of Jim
Fisk, who made him dOOrkeeper of his
private Office and used always to call
him ''the deacon" on account of the
extreme and ludicrous gravity of his
demeanOr.
Miss Anna Dickinson, whose debut |
mentioned in my last, has completed
her short and somewhat stormy season.
The critics with one consent made fun of
her; and Anna, being a plucky little
woman, got her ''mad" up and talked
back. After the press had pitched into
her Il while she came out one morning |
with the announcement that after her
performance that evening she should |
have something to say Oh the subject.
A crowd was attracted by this notice,
and they got their moneys worth in the
hours TRADE against the critics which
she gave as sort of afterpiece to her
"CrOwn of ThOrns." Anna expresses
her willingness to be called ugly, and
no actress, and all that, but with abuse
of her play and misrepresentation of her