Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-07-27
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Poisoning an Oarsman-MOrtaltty
Summer PIaces-TemPerane
Insurance agaIn-Business.
FAIRNESS IN SPORTING MATTERS.

FAIRNESS IN SPORTlNG MAIIEhS.
1t has become settled matter that there
is no such thing as honesty, or honor, in
anything connected with sporting matters.
The races at Jerome and Fleetwood Parks
are all arranged beforehand, and the ring
have agreed with the owners as to which
hores should win, and by how much. Oc-
casionally an honest man undertakes to
row, or run, or fight, or walk, or do some
thing, and if he cannot be bought he is
disabled in some way, if it is the interest
of the gamblers to do it. A rowing match,
sports, was arranged between Riley and
Courtney. Courtney was known to be the
best man, and bets on him were made
three to one. A little ring of sporting
desperadoes took all the bets they could,
and an immense amount Of money was
staked on the event. At noon of the day
of the race Courtney was in excellen t
condition. He sat down at his hotel
to take the little refreshment allowed him,
a cup of iced tea being part of it. He
drank it, and noticed that its taste was un
pleasant. A few minutes after he was
taken very sick; he vomited severely, and
fell into stupor from which he did not
recover till night. Riley rowed over the
course alone, the judges awarded him the
race, and the money in the pools was paid
over to his hackers. Courtney had been
dragged with arsenic. This is no more
than is done every day on the race tracks
in the city, and is fair illustration of the
honor of sporting men.
ALARMING MORTALITY.
The excessive mortality among children
in. the city is occasioning alarm. The
deaths last week were over FIVE hundred in
excess Of the corresponding week for years,
the mortality being mostly confined to
children. 1t is not. as usual, confined to
the tenement houses, but the children of
the better classes have suffered terribly.
The weather has been unusually severe,
and the streets and alleys were never so
filthy. The accumulations of last winter
were left on the ground till late in the
spring, and then were not wholly removed.
Under the hot July sun the cutters and
back yards of the densely populated streets
in the lower part of the city emitted a con-
centration of stenches that singly were |
enough to kill hearty adult, to say moth |
ing of weak and insuficiently nurtured |
child. The germ of disease once set afioat |
was carried into the better regions, and the |
child of many a wealthy man died as all
attonement for his neglect of the poor,
''whom we have always with US" The
Board of Health, always weeks too late,
have taken hold of the matter, and their
efforts have, in some measure, checked the
disease.
THE SUMNER PLACES.
The blazing sun must be endured by the
poor of New York during the week, for
they must work to earn their bread. But
on Sundays every one of them who can
raise the means takes his wife and family
to where a breath of fresh air is attainable.
The poorest go to Central Park, for five
cents will take them there. Last Sunday
over 100000 people visited the Park; poor
mothers with their sickly children staying
all day, having taken their lunch and
supper with them, that the little ones
might get as much of life as possible to
fortify themselves for the intolerable heat
of a close tenement house for the next six
days. There were 80, 900 people at Coney
Island the same day, and every land and
water route leading put of the city to
cool, fresh air was crowded. Fortunately
there are many such places about New York
and they are Of cheap and easy access,
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Is progressing favoFhly. All the noted
orators in the country are brought to New
York by turns, so that the feeling is not
allowed to die or lessen. Mother Stewart,
who started the crusade movement in the
West is here, and Is speaking every day
and night, with great effect. Murphy
will open his peculiar work next week,
and Gen. Gibson of Ohio, and other noted
orators are held in seserve. The legal
part of the work is better organized than
it has ever been. The rum-shop that is
caught without license, or that in any
way transgresses the law, is held to all the
penalties prescribed. And as good law
yers with plenty Of money are employed,
Vhey worry the sellers considerably. 1t is
no joke to them to be arrested, for the old
TICKS OF indefinite postponements and
L- I''"" oail are not allowed to work. They
-'''' r worried nearly two hundred bucket
up, OUT OF existence, The excise law
'; "n'on i, restricts the sale of liquors to inns,
= o9Ing rigldly enforced, and consequent
" al inc dirty little gin mills are putting
up tne requisite three cots in their little
dirty back rooms The temperance peo-
pie are working fora decision to block this
game, aud they will doubtless ge, it.