The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-20
ST. LOUIS NEWS.
A RESPITE GRANTED TO WILLIAM
WIENERs EXECUTION IN
ST. LOUIS.
The Decay Of Life Insurance I'm st. Louis
The benevolent Associations Taking
the Place of Insurance Companies.

lhe Ufcay Ot Lste Insurance I'm st. Louis |
The Benevolent Associations Taking
the Place of Insurance Companies.
Especial Correspondence of the Demoerat]
ST LOUIS, January II, 1873.
You have already been informed by tele-
graph of
THE RESPITE GRANTED TO WILLIAM wIENBIs,
who was to have been executed tomorrow for
the murder of Americus Vespucius Lawrence
at the Theatre Comique in January last.
Gov Phelps says that he granted the respite
at the request of his spiritual adviser, and as
he gives no other reason for it he is believed
to have positively refused a commutation of
sentence, but there is no telling how much in
fiuence will be brought to bear on the Gov
ernor within the next two weeks to commute
the sentence. The prisoners sister and sew
eral other ladies, as well as his spiritual ad-
wiser, are working night and day to save
Wieners from the gallows, and they may pos
sibly succeed.
THE LAST EXECUTION IN ST. LOUIS
occurred Feb. 10, 1876. Three Italian lemon
peddlers. Cattaano, Bastino Lombardo and
Dominica Damina were hung for the murder OF
Francisco Palermo, also on Italian lemon ped
dlsr Palermo was shot down by five OF his eoun
| trymen as he was walking along Broadway
one morning in March, 1875. The murderers
all made their escape. but were captured a
| couple Of days afterwards at Belleville, Ill.
| AS there was some difficulty in getting the
murderers positively identified, two OF them
we're allowed to testify against the others at
the trial, and in this way three of the murder
ers were convicted and executed, and the other
| >; paI q
killed without q moments warning, and the
movements Of the murderers just previous to
| the shooting showed that it was plain case OF
cold -blooded, deliberately planned assassina-
| tion. Palermo had been in st. Louis but @
few months, and previous to that he had lived
four years in New Orleans. 1t was after
wards claimed by his friends that his assas-
sins had murdered one of his uncles In New
Orleans a couple of years before, and that
they murdered Palermo to silence him on the
subject.
A bill has been introduced into the NUM-
cpal Assembly here for the issue OF
| RENEWAL BONDS
for the redemption of 81 ,32s,Ooo in old bonds
-about to mature The bill fixes the interest OF
the new bonds at per cent per cent less
|
it payable semi-annually, at New York, in
gold, or at London in pounds sterling, at the
option OF the holder, and the bonds are to be
made payable any time after the lapse OF
twenty and within fifty years. The total bond
cd debt OF st. Louis is $23, OCT ,oo0 and most ol
it will mature within the next ten years. The
debt of the city was increased about 81, ,000, ,00(
at tie separation Of the city and county Of ST
Louis in 1876. The limits Of the city were ex.
tended by the separation 50 as to include For
est Park, OFallon Park, the insane asylum
poor-house female hospital and several other
public institutions on the outskirts OF the old
city, and for all this property the city agreed
to assume the entire debt of st. Louis county
which then included also the city-amounting
to S6,S29,000.
The present bill for the issue OF renewal
bonds provides that all the new bonds shall be
of the denomination of $1,000, but an effort will
be made to amend the bill so as to make some
Of the bonds of lower denominations, namely,
$50, 800 and $500.
Mr. Rowse a member Of the City Council
stated In speech before that body Tuesday
night that he himself could find purchasers
for $50 900 worth OF st. Louis bonds OF small
denominations. There are thousands Of peo-
pie in St. Louis, he said, who were only walt
ing for q chance to take their savings out oil
the banks and invest them in city bonds.
A great many people have lost all confidence
in
BANKING INSTITUTIONS,
and as real estate investments don't pay, or
at least haven't paid in st. Louis for some
time they are at q loss to know what TO dO
with their savings. This want OF the people
will be supplied, Mr.. Rowse Thinks by the
new issue Of ST. Louis bonds, if the denominar
tions Of the bonds are placed within the reach
Of the working people Ihat tas banks s.
people, is shown by an annual report pub
lished in the papers day or two ago by Mr.
Chase, the manager OF the clearing house
here. There are. twenty-five banks in the
clearing house nineteen State banks and
six national banks and seven that are
not in the clearing house. The CAPT
tai and surplus Of these thirty-twc
banks amounted, on the first of january, to
S13O58, ,21O, the savings and time deposits to
s7,971, ,693, the current deposits to S19, 9,139,231
the loans discounts and bonds to $28,990, ,322
and the cash and exchange to $904l,974 Six
months ago there We're forty-two banks in
the city,, and their capital and surplus
amounted to S14,318813, their savings and
time deposits to S12,936, ,579, their current de,
posits to S2O, 1858, ,218 their loans discounts and
bonds to S35, ,547, 1874, and their cash and ex-
change to S1O,607, 789. The decrease in the cir
months was from S70S,070 to $410,5OC
The business of every
LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
having an agency in St. Louis has also suf-
fered more or less the past year, and for the
same reason that occasioned the falling off in
the banking business. A great many people
in st. Louis have lost faith In insurance com
panies and particularly life insurance com
panies, and the result is that
THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES
that have life insurance departments arr
gradually taking away the business OF The
life insurance companies.
The Knights Of Honor have received q
whole host of new members lately, as have
also the Ancient Order of Foresters and th,
United Order of Workmen.
The commercial travellers Of the West hat
several large meetings in St. Louis Christina.
week. and a second life insurance association
was formed in addition to the original ON
organized some time ago in Chicago, and nov
the expressmen Of the country are hold
ing convention here. Their organization
called the Expressmen's Mutual Benefit Asso