St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-04-13

OLD PROB. ON HIS HIND LEGS-SUPER-
ABUNDANCE OF WEATHER IN MANHAT-
TAN-CONDITION OF HER HIGHWAYS
f "A NOVEL REMEDY-THE IMMORTAL
RING-MORE ''TRUE INwARDNEss"-A
GENUINE CENTENARIAN-OLDER THAN
UNCLE SAM-AMUSEMENTS- CHILL
DREN'S CARNIvAL-ITALIAN OPERA
DEBUT OF ANNA DICKINsoN-TELE-
PHONE CONCERTS.
NEW YORK, April 6, 1877.
To the Editor Of the Californian
How any correspondent can be ex-
after such ii spell as we have just been
through is more than | can understand.
Talk about yOur equinoctials This
must have been old Equinox himself.
When it hasn't rained it has showed
and when it hasn't done either it has
hailed and all the rest of the time it's
! been colder than the upper end of the
North pole and blown great guns. Veri-
ly, as Mark Twain puts it, we have had
weather enough to go all around, and
some left over to give to the poor. |
ask you, therefore, as Il man and
Christian, how | could be expected to
go hunting round during such time
for items respecting events which would
be absolutely ashamed to happen dur
ing such weather? But as my necessi-
ty knows no law save that of filling my
appointed column at the appointed |
time, and as | have already spread my
excuses over as much space as | dare
give them, | will proceed to business,
giving You fair warning, however, that
if L can't find enough genuine facts to
fill out my letter, shall not scrupIe to
manufacture us many as may be neces-
sary to make up the deficit
And right ut the start, one subject
appropriate for present reference sug-
gests itself, the facts regarding which
have neither to be sought out nor man
utactured-and that is the condition of
the streets of New York at this time. l
do not believe that ever before in the
history of the city were there such IA
lazy, inefficient, rascally set of men in
the street cleaning department as at
present. Shetering themselves behind
technicalities, or squabbling among
themselves, or brazenly and openly re-
tusing to act, they have almost totally
neglected their business all winter; and
now nine-tenths of the city streets are
ill Il state which would be disgracefu to
country plank road i'll the worst of
weather. 1t is but few days ago since
L was one of IL company of over IA hun
dIed pedestrians, who at one of the
busiest corners of Broadway found
themselves confronted with Shiny pond
OF semi-LquId filth, broad and deep
enough to be utterly impossible L at
once recognized the spot us one where |
had, few months previous, lost an
overshoe ill the same old slough.
Such being the state of things on
Broadway the condition of the poor and
densely populated streets on the East
and West sides may be imagined. On ,
one OF these unfortunate avenues | no
uced a short time since, within the .
space of single block, some dozen :
piles of garbage, the accumulation of
many weeks. One of these stood over
ten feet high, and into its top some of
the neighbOring sufferers, in bitter de- ,
taxed to support, had stuck an Ameri- ,
cah flag. The notice taken of this par !
ticular instance, and the feeling it GREAT !
ed has, | believe induced those high I
and mighty despots of the cart and /;
shovel to remove IL portion of the OBJ /;
structions, but there remain hundreds of :
similar cases of which no notice is taken.
The recent rains have done a good
deal more for us i'll this line than the
Department has accomplished during I
the Whole wiuter, but enough remains ,
to breed Il pestience in the coming q.
warm days. If every official whose ,
shoulders share the responsibility for ,
this shameful state of affairs should be !
taken bodily and rolled for all hour in
the cutters OF the worst neglected streets +
and repetition of the operation prom f
lsed FOR every day things remain as thew :
are, 1t would not be long before they +
would find something to do beside !
drawing their salaries and driving fast I
teams.
1t seems as though the Ring suits and :,
never would find an end
The last Insertion of the probe conse- f
quent on Sweeny's return has revealed =
the fact that the old cancer ran deeper.
ana spread its roots more widely, than
any one suspected. The cold steel
seemed to touch Oakley Hall-for this
theory of his disappearance is now gen II
orally accepted us correct-and he van f.
lshed into thin air. 1t reached a tender c
spot I'D old gentleman Tweed who re- n
marked with ii groan that che might as "
well give it up now" Woodward has G
told tales out of school which Sweenv L
can hardly help cOrrOborating, and we s.
seem to be ON the eve of revelations Il
which Will be as startling as the first t;
ones OF II. 1t was supposed till re- "
Gently that all participants in the plum q
der were known to the public by name is
u least. Should the cIews now in hand. ii
however, Prove to be genuine ones, tt
some thirty OF forty more victims have C,
yet to be hauled over the Goals. and X
'hey VIII be selected from among poll tC
lclans, Legislators and business men ID
VINO nave carried their heads as high as el
sVef during these years of prosecution. ii
lhey have relied contidentally Oh the f.
old mans grit" for the preservation of g,
heir guilty secrets, and to do him JUS hi
Ice, Tweed has held out with Spartan n,
irmness through all his troubles, against ri
he repeated efforts to make him dis n,
lose the whole list of accompIices II Il
ooks now, however, as though this m
,honor among thieves" were to fail of v,
is purpose after all, aud as though the v,
true lnwardness" Of the great sWindle SIS
we're to be completely uncovered. a
The whole city press is ont this week a,