Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-11-01
Our New York Letter.
THE TRIAL or GENERAL PoRTER-A REMINDER
OF WAR TGsfEs-THE CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
AND FA1n-sANcT1F1ED GAMBL1NG-TwENTY
five YEARS OF SUCCESS THE FEN1ANs

NEW 1ONk, OClubcf Zotil, 1915.
A vast amount of interesting historical rem
incsconce is being brought up in the proceed
ings now progressing at the military head
quarters on Governors Island down in tho
lIarbor, whore II commission of army officers
has for sonne time been busy investigating
and rehearing the charges on which Gen.
Fit2 John Porter was, sixteen years ago, cash
tered from the United States Army. These
charges have reference to Gen. Porter's DISC
bedience to orders from his superior officer
Gen. Pope, at the time Of the second battle of
Bull Run. The names alone of the witnesses
for the Government must awaken n host Of
recollections in many of yorr readers, for
they comprise many the mere mention of
which aroused breathless attention and inter-
est as they occurred in the kilograms which
crowded after each other both northward and
southwark during those troublesome years.
| Mcdowell, Heintzelman, Sgel Early, Mosby.
Pope and Hooker-"F Fighting Joe" as he
used to be called but who now drags himself
painfully from private life, an almost helpless
| paralytic, to tell what he knows of the ma
nHuyers of those awful days. Robert Lin
coin too, the Presidents only living son. has
been upon the stand to testify to his fathers
expressed opinion that such conduct as that of
the offending general would have justified n
death sentence. Altogether this trial is a re-
markablc and memorable one. 1t has now
continued for over three weeks and is not yet
terminated.
For years, rs every recent visitor to New
York knows, magnificent Catholic Cathedral
has been in process Of construction on upper
| Fifth Avenue. How much it is costing. |
won't attempt to state, partly because don't
know, and partly because 1t is better TO let the
Imagination run loose about such grand and
reverend pile instead Of reducing the impos-
ing mass to decimals. At all events the Ca
thedral is fine enough to bear comparison
with many a European celebrity Of similar
character, and has swallowed up so much
money that the local Catholic hierarchy, nlbe-
it rich and powerful organization, has been
a good deal put to it to get together the funds
necessary for its completion As one means
of securing money, grand fair has been or
| ganizcd and is now in progress in the Cathe-
dral itself rs q sort Of housewarming for the
almost finished building
The most prominent and most profitable
feature Of the fair is that form Of sauctifed
gambling known as the rattle. Pretty much
everything at the scores Of richly decorated
tables over which shines the aggregate radi-
ance Of fifteen hundred gas Jets, is disposed
Of in this manner, Of course thus realizing
| prices which yield TO the cause about 30 per
cent profit. The articles to be mffled for in
cludo all manner Of Injuries and necessities,
from the straw-stuIed doll to magnificent car
riage-not carriage for the straw-stufed
doll, but ''real" carriage. One can try his
| luck on n barrel of -four. a diamond ring,
! passage to Europe aud return, good for
one year a dress. pair of bootq, a house
and lot n horse, billiard table-in fact, on
anything the most whimsical mind can sug-
gest
This fair is one of the biggest things in It's
way since the Sanitary Fairs of war times
1t opened on Tuesday evening with great
flourish Of trunipets. Such n crowd as con-
gregated in and around the cathedral last night
is rarely seen in New York. Fully twenty
thousand tickets were taken by the gatokcep-
ers. From halfp seven until ten o'clock
not foot of unoccupied ground could be
found in the vast enclosure and the ladies in
attendance on tables were in some cases
wedged up against the side of the stalls and
unable to move n foot away without imminent
danger Of being carried along by the surging
stream Of people. A lady of some inches and
ounces declared on her honor to n little
knot OF sympathzing friends who were ar
ranging her dress for her when she got out Of
! the cathedral that from the time she entered
until she left she had not put a foot ON the
ground. The receipts for admission alone, it
is thought, must reach 1000.
\ pleasant instance of honorable and per-
manent success in what is commonly and just
ly considered precarious field, is described
in little book which has this week fallen in
to my hands and which contains a full his
tory Of the Home Fire Insurance Company
The occasion for the printing of this book il
the quarter centennial dinner and celebration
OF the organization of the institution. This
dinner was presided over by President Mar
| tin, who was one of the original officers and
whose address shows that many others who
started with hin in what was called a fool
hardy venture in 1853, still share with him
the unexpected and unparalleled success which
has attended their long administration The
address shows also how the company's capital
has grown from $500, 900 to 81, 900, 600 more
than one-third of which magnificent increase
arose from the capitalization of surplus earn
ings, and that it has now in its hands a mil
J lion more of surplus earnings, as yet uncapi-
talized. This showing is most extraordinary
in view of the fact that the Home, which was
| one Of the few American companies which
! stood the strain of 1912, the years of the
Chicago and Boston fires, paid losses during
those years of over $4,000, 600, and, during
its whole existence of over $27 900, 600.
! While scores of other companies, started un-
der equally favorable auspices and handled
with fully ordinary skill have gone down dur
ing its lifetime, the Home has steadily paid
every claim in full and made money into the
bargain. Its history is pre-emnently the his
tory of good management
| The Fcuiau movement like the Cuban re-
bellon is one of those small things, which,
for some reason or other, seem to possess
enormous vitality. How the handful of Irish
enthusiasts who keep alive the Fenian feeling
among their compatriots hope to accomplish
anything against the power of England is not
easily understood but their show of patriot
ism certainly seems to be popular among
Irish Americans. A meeting which was held
at Cooper Institute, one night this week, in
honor and aid of two prominent Fenans,
Condor and Melody, who for years have
lived in English prisons, and who lately re-
ceived their liberty on condition that they
would henceforth enjoy it in exile, was i'm
| ,napceIv attended The tvro t,a,, ,,.sr, boila1
as martyrs, and their speeches DANGEROUSLY
applauded S. S. Cox, John Kelly, Abram
Hewitt, Dion Boucicault and other notabilities
We're present and numerous letters were re-
ceived from prominent meu who could not
attend. Tammany Hall, was, of course, out
in full force for indenendent of the fnct