Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-06-28

HlNlELN S'AhED ALDERMEN.
NEW loEK, June ~. 1873
The stupcndous engineering operations in
cident to the building of the Brooklyn bridge
have been carried on with wonderful success
and safety, the first serious accident for two
years or more occurring last week, when one
Of the strands belonging to the four great ca
bles was being put in place. This strand was
something like half mile long, reaching
from the Brooklyn to the New York anchor
age, and weighed about forty tons 1t had
been made fast at the Brooklyn end. drawn
up in safety over the Brooklyn pier. across
the river over the New York pier and was
just about TO he finally attached at the New
York anchorage, when one of the wire ropes
of the hosting apparatus parted. Then, in
the words Of an eye witness, with a roar
like that of Am immense cannon the strand
sprang like great snake away back into the
air, up toward the picr-tower on the edge of
the river. with cloud of dust. For Il mo-
inent the whole platform OF granite quivcred
under the terrible rccoil and then the strand
sagged between the towers, its middle bury
ing itself in the river with long white splash.
throwing the water up like n submarine ex-
plosion in all directions all the way across
Fortunately, the river was clear and the on
~ damage done was the wetting of ferry
boat which was passing at the time. The
spring of the wire carried it clear over the
houses in the 500 feet interval up TO the pier,
except that it knocked down one chimney
and cut off telegraph poles. Two men who
were engaged in the work were struck by the
flying monster and hurled into eternity. 1t
seemed almost miracle that such an ncci-
dent could occur without greater loss Of life,
especially as upon the end Of the strand dan
gled n mass of iron weighing nearly a ton
| but the very immensely of the force rendered
the occurrence so slightly destructive by Jerk
ing this resstess missile clean over the hous-
cs and streets between the anchorage and
the river. Had the impetus been less and
the pOndCious mass been allowed to drop to
the earth instead Of taking this gigantic leap,
the destruction which it might have wrought
IL terrible to imagine
In the Brooklyn Police court was witnessed
last week the closing scene of brief but
spirited drama combining romance. comedy
and pathos. On the day previous a young
lady of twenty was walking along one of the
avenues Of that city when She suddenly felt
her pockct-bool taken from her, hand and
turning about saw Il man making Of with il.
Being girl of spirit she ncontincnty gave
chase but after running several blocks she
found that the object Of her pursuit was wild
Cning the. distance between them. Seeing a
butchers cart standing by the sidewalk she
jumped in, whipped up and after a brief but
| exciting race overhauled the culprit He was
quite AN MISUNDERSTANDING man of middle
age with nothing of tile thief in lis appear
ance, and when Intercepted by the girl as to
the cause of his crime broke completely
down, saying that he had gone almost crazy
at watching his wife and two little children
starve. and that he had taken the pocket
| book in fit of monetary desperation. Said
| the young lady III court next day, when he
| told me how his family We're suffering ] went
with him to his house, and found it Just as he
stated He took his little child on his knee
and cried, and his wife could mot imagine
what it was all about He did not want me
TO tell her, but he finally told her himself that
he had taken my pocket-book | then gave
| her part of my money. Then the officers
came and | told them l did not wish to make
any complaint against him, and would not
have come here if had not been compelled
to-" There We're applause and tears plen-
| ty from the courtroom audience that morn
| ing. The progressing appearance Of the
| sorely tempted prisoner and the heart break
absolute perjury which was told by his fair
| advocate with earnest simplicity worked
strongly even upon the judge, whose daily
| experiences are such rs to render him proof
| against any ordinary displays Of emotion.
The charge upon which the man had been
committed was grave one, that of highway
robbery and had it not been for the girls
effective pleading long imprisonment mus;
have followed. But so persistent was She
that a consultation was had with the district
attorney and his consent obtained to change
of the record, which enabled the judge to dis
charge the grateful prisoner, who. am hap
Ply to say found friends at once. aud is in 10
further danger Of want. The heroine of the
affair has since received complimentary letters
from all quarters for her humane aud spirited
conduct,
There was piece of quick railroad build.
ing done in Brooklyn the other night. A
company had a charter to build II rapid-tran-
sit road from Fulton ferry right through the
heart of the city, the only condition being
that mile of the road should be built within
n certain time This time after having been
several times extended blythe legislature, was
about to expire, and very valuable franchise
to become lost. So the company collected
some four hundred workmen and sufficient
material, conveyed them quietly to the spot
after nghtfall and commenced work When
| the astonished residents along the route awoke
the next morning there lay a mile of track
| ties. rails, and Joints all complete, and the
new rapid-transt line had thus, in the night
become q fixed fact
| In New York rapid transit continues to be
a success. The new Sixth Avenue line is
said TO be carrying an average of twenty thou
sand passengers day, and the East Side road
is rapidly approaching completion. The ''old
original elevated road this week barely es-
capped a terrible catastrophe on Greenwich
street. lot of young ragamuflins filed an
old sack with stones and climbing up to the
track by one of the supporting pillars, fast
ened the sack across one Of the rails, presum-
ably for the fun of seeing train full of peo-
pie sent crashing down into the street twenty
feet below. Fortunately the obstruction was
seen and removed in time to prevent this
catastrophe The ringeader of this band Of
miniature tmin-wreckers has reached the
mature age of ten years. lie will make an
invaluable member of society if he lives long
enough.
Are news-stands nuisance and an obstruc-
ton to the street? That is one of the lead
ing questions of the day here and one which
has raised a tempest in the municipal teapot
Some weeks ago the Common Council passed
an ordinance authorizing the erection of one
of the obnoxious structures on a certain street
corner. Property owners objected and a
"muss" was the result. Judge Hacketts
| nNN 10, IA. L..
turn instructed the Grand Jury in such a
manner that they promptly found true bill
against the sixteen offending aldermen. The
latter became alarmed and retained half a
dozen lawyers, among whom was David Dud-
ley Field to protect them against the Meme
sis of public opinion. Their counsel made
the usual motion to quash the indictment ON