St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-10-25
Our New York Letter.

New YORK, Oct. Is, 1873.
To the Editor of the CaIedonian
A curious little conflict in mid-air
was occasioned the other day by the eff
forts of workmen employed upon the
Western Union Building to take down
the big red globe known as the "time
ball." whose fall from top to bottom of
the flagstaff of this towering structure
daily informs inquiring New York of
the moment of noon. The old time-b ball
having become in some respect defec-
tive, was therefore set upon as above
intimated. No sooner however had the
hands of the workmen touched the ball
than they were attacked by cloud OF
hornets who had pre-empted this dizzy
dwelling place, and who, after having
gone to the expense of furnishing and
fitting up the hollow globe in the latest
style known to their kind, by no means
rellshed these summary ejectment pro-
ceedings. The battle was an unequal
one, the hornets easily getting the best
of it until the idea occurred to the be-
siegers of going below and swiftly rails
ing and lowering the ball. This move
ment proved successful. The astonish-
ed insects tried for while to follow the
erratic movements of their agile dOmi-
Gle, but soon gave it up in disgust and
flew off in search of some more stable
residence.
| feel like apologizing for again refer
ring to that eternal Vanderbilt will
trial, but one bit of the testimony OF
this week is rather interesting. II
seems to be clearly proven that the old
gentleman was confirmed spiritualist,
and spent Il good deal of time and mon
ey on ghostiy communications; and 1t
is testified that Oh one occasion he
sought and obtained through Il medium
an interview with the late lamented
Jim Fisk. He inquired the future price
of certain stocks, aud promptly receiv-
ed AN answer, purporting to come from
the prince of Erie" He appeared
highly dissatisfied, however, with the
expressed his determination to trust his
own judgment instead. After this the
Commodore asked Fisk whether ne
liked his new abode, and deiicately in
quired after the climate TO which Jim
gave IL somewhat testy reply, TO the eff
feet that he didn't quite like his quar-
tiers, and that the Commodore would
soon have an opportunity to "knOw
how it was himself"
To the long and somewhat mOuotO-
nous list of defalcations and embeZZle-
ments to which this city is the most
fruitful contributor, we now add the
case of George w. Hoxie, for the last
five years Assistant U. S. District At
tOrney in Brooklyn. AS usual, the rev.
citation of the mans misconduct WAS en-
tirely unexpected, and the culprit well
known and highly respected. From a
letter which hessent to the press on the
eve of his disappearance ii seems that
Mr.. HoXie was led into Wall street
SpecuiationS some years since, and be-
ing unfortunate therein, began using
money which came into his official
hands, and has ever since pursued the
same system of peculation. At last ID,
finding longer concealment impossible,
he writes Il letter of confession and alb
seconds.
What sameness there is in all these
stories of weakness and crime, and what
Il mystery it is to those of us who have
never been subjected to similar tempta-
tions, that men of intelligence, of abili-
ty, of refinement, of high family and
social standing, can enter, or having
entered, deliberately pursue, Il path that
is thickly strewn with the moral cOrpseS
of their predecessors, and the ruinous
end of which lies plainly and uumistak-
ably before them
Carver, the rifleman, turns up an elo-
quent nose ut the Creedmoor style OF
shooting. He says that he has yet to
meet the deer or Indian who would feel
it an honor to be asked to stand at ease
and wait for an enemy to drop upon his
back, cross his legs, push the butt of his
rifle against his right cheek, clasping
the stock with his left hand thrown be-
hind his head, rest the muzzle over his
knees, adjust his wind guage and eleva-
ton before pulling the trigger. Carver
is of the opinion that any we'll regulat-
ell Indian would have dozen scalps in
his belt during the time occupied by
the Creedmoor rifleman's preparation,
while the deer would probably cast ii
plying look back as he leisurely rub
bed one of his ears with hind leg and
strollcd smiingly away. But the distin-
Sulshed ritieman fOrgets that the aver
age Creedmoor sportsman is not fitting
for work on the plains. The range was
established for target shooting, and
when Jackson, or Jewell, or Fulton hits
the BULBS eye he accomplishes precisely
what he attempted to do, whether he
assumes position looking like an in
ebriated 49," or not. Neither should
the critic lose sight of the fact that there
is no sport freer from objections than
rifle shooting. No one with nerves I'M
strung by dissipation can hope to com
pete. The hand must be steady and
the eye and Judgment clear, for without
these requirements no man can hope to
enter the lists as a successful rif1eman.
Every now and again somebody turns
up here with a story about a fortune
which he or she is about to come into
as the ''lOng lost" child, relative or de-
scendant of some old Croesus who has
been dead for many years. The public
are duly RECALLED with a glowing ac-
count of the claimants claims and pros
poets, and then the whole matter drops
out of sight, the claimant usually being
either lunatic or an impostor. We
are just now going through one of these
periodical attacks. The hero in this
case is bluff and weather beaten old
sailor named Morgan, who has come all
the way down from Maine to look after
a little trife of 81, 100000 which he
says clearly belongs to him as heir OF
some old chap who lived in New York
far back of the memory of this genera
ton, and which he will doubtless get
when the SkV falls