The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1877-09-29
Our New York Letter.
Tweed on the Stand---Bsapid
Transit---XVil TrOubles.-Ehe
sifHemen..-NeN Temperance
NEOvement---A New Savings
Bank SYin0Ie.

1 CAlEt
Tweed's testimony is making abont
the havoc among the great and small
politicians of the city that a charge
of bird shot does among a flock of
pigeons at short range. The old man
is very frank, and speaks of his opera
tions without reserve. He has no
squeamishness about names. The
cause of the flight of Oakley Hall is
no longer a mystery, for Tweed i'm
plicates him in the ring robberies,
and it was the dread that he would
make full confession that impelled
Hall to jump the country. And then
there are parcel of Republican Off
cials who are implicated, and any
quantity of Democrats, who were dis
tinguished for the fervency of their
denunciation of the old man, after he
fell into disgrace. In fact, it seems
that those who were the most fervent
in denouncing him were, as a rule,
the most guilty. Of course they all
deny, and every one of those whom
Tweed has implicated has his docu-
ments all ready to prove his inno-
cence, but it won't do. They can't
account for the houses they live in,
the carriages they ride in, the yachts
they sail, or the money that pays for
all these things. These fortunes are
too large for honest accumulation,
and no one in New York doubts that
Tweed has told a straight, unvar-
nislied and true story. The old man
seems determined to go clear through
it, whether it does him any good Or
not.
Thank Heaven there are courts to
which the people may appeal against
the monopolists. The means of go
ing up and down town are and have
been for years shamefully insufficient.
Night and morning the cars on the
lines North ard South would be
crowded, hundreds and thousands of
weary people on them unable to get
seats, and the platforms jammed with
people hanging on in all sort of shapes.
Then to get to any part of the city
where rents are within reach of la
| boring mans income required full
hour of time-two hours each day.
Companies were organized to build
| elevated railroads the whole length
of the island, and one of them, under
charter granted by tho Legislature,
did build about a. mile of a road.
Then the horse-car companies inter
fered, for the mine was too rich to be
given up. They got out injunetions
on the elevated people, and every
possible method of retarding the work
was resorted to. Yesterday the final
decision was had, and it was against
the monopolists. New York will now
have rapid transit. The elevated
roads are simply platforms supported
by strong pillars, on which narrow
gauge tracks are laid. The cars are
long, with seat running lengthwise
on each side, each holding perhaps
sixty passengers. The engines are
small and noiseless, and the rate of
| speed is twenty miles an hour. As the
tracks are up to the level of the sec
ond story, and are. used only for cars,
there can be no danger whatever on
them. It is expected by the time
winter sets in we shall have two lines
running the whole length of the
lisland. This will do more for New
York than any one thing that has
happened for years, for it will relieve
1.-THE pressure on the Over-crowded
lower part of the city, and give the
poor better and cheaper homes in the
upper part.
| When people fix up their affairs
and lie down and die, they have no
idea how soon all their fixing will be
unfxed. Matthias Danser, gam
bier, left an estate of half million
or more, to his daughter, Mary Dan
ser, who, having seen the wickedness
of her father, was most pious and
deyout woman. When Mary came to
die, she left all this money to reli-
gious bodies, much to the disgust of
/ relatives, who had been waiting for
her decease for some time, inpatient
ly. The religious societies wrangled
i n