St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-01-04
Our New York Letter.

IlNES-A OhEAi w al En- C3N H>ih
PRISE -wREsTLNG- BEAR HUGS
"MARsHALL THE UNDEFEATED"-A
FEAST OF RosEs-THE PRESIDENTS
VISIT.
NEW YORK, Dec. %, 1877.
10 the Editor of the CaledOnian
A week in New York without de-
falcation would be, in these days, some
thing like performance of Hamlet with
the omission of the title role. We have
no such fiat, stale, and Improbable
record to show this time, the seven days
last elapsed having given us one such
sensation of quite respectable proper
tions. In this case the present Excise
middle has acquired fresh cOmplica-
ton through the flight of Owen Murphy,
treasurer of the Excise Board, with
nearly 100000 of moneys received by
that body, mainly on applications for
liquor licenses. AS l mentioned cOu-
pie of weeks ago, but few licenses have
been issued of late, receipts for the
money having been given to the saloon
men pending the Investigation of their
cases. Now that Murphy has run away
with the money, the city raises the
question as to whether it is responsible
for the amount, which implied repudia-
ton raises howl among the ill-starred
liquor men who look upon this probable
,>i1aI ha
of which they have been the objects, as
the last straw which, according to ira
dition, broke the camels back. The
whole liquor matter as it now stands, is
a very pretty illustration of what con-
fusion lot of stupid, laundering law
makers and officials can introduce into
the city government, and it will be
quite interesting to watch and see how
they will manage to founder out of the
bog in which their own incompetence
has trapped them.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher seems to
have rather bad luck with some of his
connections. Not long ago it will be
remembered that his nephew by mar
v
Sing to wear striped suit furnished by
the State, aid now Mr.. B. is again
brought into unpleasant notice through
the shooting of his sons sister-inlaw
by her husband, which occurrence is
now the nine days WONDER of Brooklyn.
The unhappy young couple who played
the chief parts in this tragedy were
married only year ago. They proved
uncongenial, and after a few months of
suffering the wife returned to her faith
er's house. One night this week the
young man went to the house and tried
to persuade his wife to return to him,
and on her persistent refusal, drew a
pOstol and shot her, int1icting wound
from the effects of which she still re-
mains in a critical condition.
l suppose most of your readers have
by this time either seen or heard of the
improvements which the New York |
Tribune has recently put upon its
Weekly, making it sixteen-page, six
ty-four column paper, filled with spe-
cially prepared matter, upon every
topic, and raising it entirely out of the
ranks of daily newspaper week.-Mrs.. In
its present form and character the Week
ly Tribune is only comparable 20 the
high class, SO and "a weeklies, all of
which it eXcels in amount of reading
matter furnished. Its price remains
however, except that there
is slight advance on the club rates.
The changes referred to have neces-
STATED an enormous expenditure for
and folding machinery of new
and greatly improved pattern, nothing
similar to which exists either in this
country or Europe; but as they give
the Tribune marked advantage over all
they are well worth all
they have cost. simultaneously with
this enlargement of the Weekly, the
Tribune company offered as premium,
under certain conditions, Webster's I'm
abridged Dictionary and it is sig
nificant fact, showing what class of
readers the Tribune has, that this pre-
MUM has proved such an attractive one
that the dictionary has had to be full
nished in great numbers, sometimes to
the extent of several hundreds in
single day.
A foolish story has been started, by
the way, to the effect that Whitelaw
Reid intends to retire from the editor
ship of the Tribune. There is not, of
course, Il word of truth in this.
The ancient and honorable sport of
wrestling has of late been revived here,
and has become one of the standard
of a certain large class of
our sporting fraternity. All the promi-
nent athletes have had bout after bout
before large audiences, until that simple
form of the entertainment began to pull
upon its patrons, when the managers of
oh off ir haA tn lnnlr ahnnt f.>,,
some novelty to introduce. The idea
of getting up matches between men and
bears was suggested, and has proved |
quite a success. Several evenings of
this kind of entertainment have been
given before delighted crowds. Strange
to say, the bears seem to understand |
what is required of them, and give and
take heavy falls with composure and
good nature. Nor are these struggles
by any means One-sided affairs, Bruin
usually winning about as many rounds
as he loses. 1t is found necessary, how
ever, to muzzle the bears, or they would
be very apt to call their teeth to their
aid in cases where their paws prove an
inadequate defense.
The favoTite among these ursine ath-
letes is an immense cinnamon bear be-
longing to the Hippodrome, and known
until recently as "Marshall the Unde-
feated." He passed my window the
other day seated in an open barouche,
in company with Bauer the champion
wrestler, with whom he has had many
a struggle. Marshall, thought, looked
a trife uncomfortable, what with the
jOlting of the vehicle and the noisy at
tentions of the mass of men and bows
of which his chariot was the nucleus,
but he bore his honors meekly and
looked the picture of docility. Marshall
lost his title of s'The Undefeatedn a few