davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
MIR. Beecher ON Journalism.

There is probably no better judge of a
well told story in the United States than
the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher for when a
man possesses in himself the narrative
faculty and can tell story with an in
stinctive perception of the especial merit OF
each of its parts he is the readiest to recog-
nize the happy effort of fellow worker in
the same difficult field Of intellectual
labor. Consequently we were pleased
to note that the reverend gentleman
read to his congregation from the pulpit
on Sunday nearly the whole of the admir-
able despatch in the HERALD in which our
correspondent described the funeral at
ChiseIhurst of Prince Louis Bonaparte.
It was good chronicle of an event dis
tinguished by some remarkable features
an event as to which the preacher did not
90 too far when he spoke of it as in the
number of the most remarkable events OF
his time and, as the chronicler dealt with
a notable drama Of human sympathy, he
handled it in spirit of characteristic
grace and simplicity. There are some
persons who desire that all the good things
shall be written up by the Macaulays Of
the period. 1t would not be difficult to
have that done if it were desirable. All
the city papers keep several Macaulays on
hand, and even the HERALD is not without
O limited number; but the truth is that
Macaulayism in literature is so danger
ously near to tustian at it's best that
when it is in the slightest degree
aside from it's best it tumbles full
into that fearful abyss. AS the first
great special correspondent sometimes
nodded, of course the first great professor
of the art of padding sometimes had his
lapses, and imitators, would especially re-
semble him in that particular. 1t is good
deal better to fill newspaper with contem-
porary chronicles, well and simply told, than
with labored rhetorical expansions in the
Macaulay style, and We note Mr.. Beechers
irrepressible admiration of our Chiselhurst
despatch as the unconscious testimony on
that point of man of mature and culti-
vated judgment.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
One OF the worst Results.

On several recent occasions the police, in
attempting to arrest disturbers of the
peace, have been set upon by the COM
panions of the offenders and beaten. One
of the worst results of the misconduct and
brutality of the force is the encouragement
of these lawless acts on the part of the
people. When policemen use their clubs
savagely and needlessly on their prisoners.
or on persons who have committed
no offence warranting their arrest,
the depraved and criminal classes are
induced to resort to violence in
their turn whenever they come in contact
with officers, and the unpopularity of the
force deters bystanders from interfering in
their defence. If the police were to dis
charge their duties in becoming manner,
using force only when it became necessary
in the arrest of criminals, treating respect
able citizens with civility and efficiently
protecting life and property public senti-
ment would check any violent resistance
of their authority and they would always
find plenty of assistance at hand if it
should be needed ior their defence against
ruffianism.
The Police Commissioners have re-
peatedly been urged to do something to
protect citizens from the police They have
been reminded that while unoffending men
are dubbed and kicked by officers because
of some iancied insult, while such cases as
the arrest of DR.. Wood and the assault on the
wife and son of the keeper OF the Battery
place boarding house are common occur
rences and go unpunished and while
policemen are found playing the part of
burglars, the respectable portion Of the COM
munity must feel that the police are public
danger instead of public protection. II
is now evident that some action OF the Com
missioners is needed as much for the pro-
lection of the force as of private citizens.
The misconduct of the few brings peril on
the entire police body, and unless we have
such change in police management as
will restore public confidence in the force
it is to be feared that violent assaults on
police officers by the depraved classes will
become as common as violent assaults on
unofending citizens by police officers have
recently been.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
An Absurdity in Our system.

Lawyers have done their utmost to prove
that the trial by jury is farce and that it
should be set aside. If it were not that
remedies their arguments would not have
been without great effect. But the some-
what analogous folly, the coroner's jury,
is so patent an absurdity that it is probable
a resolute attempt to put it away as an
obsolete and ridiculous machinery would be
resisted only by the coroners. There is no
formality known to the society of this time
SO absolutely empty as the pretended
inquiry by a coroner's jury. An in
quiry into the cause of death is likely
to be the first stage of an important
criminal process. 1t is the foundation
of legal structure; any fault in it is fatal
to the structure. This inquiry should
therefore be conducted by man of trained
mind, and should establish to the satisiac-
tion of jury the main points in the his
tory of crime. In truth, a coroner under
our system is some accidental ward poll
tician, and his jury nine times in ten is
group of average loungers in handy places
always ready to certify to the verdict it
may please him to 'fnd." The Seymour
cal nature OF coroners' processes. It was
deemed convenient in that case to formu-
late verdict that should cover the failure
of the police to clear up the facts of the
crime. Hence it was returned as an acci-
dent, and all testimony inconsistent with
that theory was excluded from the case.
Was Mr. Seymour robbed on the night on
which he was murdered? Was any valua-
BILE property that had been in his posses
sion when he went out of his house on the
night Of his death noted as missing when
his body was found? That would seem to
be an important point for investigation; yet
the Coroner refused to direct any portion of
his public inquiry to this point. Did he ex-
anime the subject privately and assure him
self of the facts? 1t is at all events known
that when the body was hastily examined at
night Mrs. Seymour was heard to say -
"They have taken his watch, but not his
rings" If Mr.. Seymour's watch was taken
this also may merge into an ordinary case
of homicide for robbery. 1t would
pretty certainly establish that it was
not case of accidental shooting.
Such fact would give significance to the
story of man seen to part from Mr.. Sey-
mour at about twelve, and then to approach
him rapidly at the moment pistol was
fred between the two. Suppose that man
to have been a tramp asleep in the bushes
to have become when awakened savage,
impudent sort of beggar; to have been re-
fused the assistance he demanded, and to
have turned to 60 away, but remembering
the seclusion of the place, and having OBJ
served the watch on Mr. Seymour, to have
turned suddenly, approached him, shot
him and robbed him. In that way the mys-
terious murder might become only COM
monplace crime. AS the Coroner refused
to examine the witness who heard the
above quoted declaration it must be, we
suppose that he has satisfied himself that
no valuables were lost. But why not satisfy
the jury, unless the jury is farce?
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
Something More Than a shadow.


The timely cartoon in yesterdays Graphic
will aid in directing public attention to
the danger that threatens the city through
the neglect of the street cleaning officials
The authorities stand bowing in the midst
of slush and garbage to welcome the APP
proach of the spectre OF Pestilence, whose
grim shadow is cast dimly on the fgurative
gates Of the city, while women and children,
wading in the filth, prepare themselves for
his approach. Who can tell how long it
will be before the shadow becomes a sub
stance. and the deadly scythe is found
moving wide swaths in the cultivated
meadows of the brown stone neighbor-
hoods, as we'll as in the rank and thickly
covered fields Of the tenement house dis
tricts?
The streets of New York are in disgrace
full condition. Not the broad, healthful,
we'll cared for thoroughfares in which the
wealthier classes live and the principal
business of the city is transacted, but the
narrow, crowded, neglected streets in the
back parts of the city, where high tenement
houses shut out the light and dir and poor
people find unhealthful homes. The street
cleaning authorities are careful to clean
those neighborhoods where there is the
least dirt and the smallest danger of
contagious diseases, and to neglect those
where there is the most filth and the great
est danger of pestilence. One advantage
of this policy to them is that their work is
done on streets and avenues a majority of
which are swept by private contractors
whose labor is credited TO the bureau.
But as pestilence, when it does come, is no
respecter OF localities or of buildings, stalk
ing along broad avenues as well as narrow
streets, and leaving its mark in mansion as
well as in hovel, the residents of Fifth
avenue are put in as great peril as the resi-
dents of the foulest thoroughiare of the
Thirteenth ward by the shameful neglect
or incapacity of the authorities.
The reliable accounts of the condition of
the streets given in the HERALD to-day, yes
terday and on former occasions, show that
the note of alarm is not unn necessarily or pre-
maturely sounded. With the thermometer
creeping up to hundred it is flying in the
face of Providence to leave garbage rotting
in the uncleaned streets of populous neigh
borhoods and inviting contagious diseases.
Three months ago tho head of the Street
Cleaning Bureau was removed from office
because he notoriously failed to clean the
streets of the city while expending some
eight hundred thousand dollars year on
the work To-day the streets are in quite
as bad, If not worse, condition than thoy
were before the removal of the late Commits
sioner, and just as much money is
wasted on work neglected or insufficiently
performed 1t is evident that the change
in the management has secured no i'm
provement, and has only had the effect of
shifting the patronage OF the bureau from
one political set to another Our at
tempted reforms in municipal matters gen.
orally have this result. Recently an offer
was made by responsible citizen to re-
move promptly all the dirt and garbage
collected by the Street Cleaning Bureau,
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
Farmers ON tho Fence.

English farmers are grumbling loudly,
and with very good cause, as will be seen
by our London letter. In the best of
seasons fully half of their receipts go to the
landlord-for scarcely any of them own
land-and bad years, like the present,
reduce to ruin great number of agricul-
tursts who, if in a new country, would be
able through economy to weather u poor
season. Foreign competition, which few
years ago extended only to grain, has grad
TALLY come to be in dried and salted meats,
fruits, cheese, butter, and, finally,
live cattle and horses, so that
market gardening and poultry raising,
which farmers everywhere consider occu-
pations beneath them, appear to be the
only directions in which English soil can
profitably be handled. Unless rents are
reduced bankruptcy of the entire class is
simply inevitable; indeed, it appears at
present to be a foregone conclusion, al
though farmers, most of whom are what
they are by centuries of inheritance, are
the last men in the world to realize such o
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE WEATHER.-A general rise has taken
place in the barometrc pressure throughout all
the territory east Of the Rocky Mountains. II
is, however, still very much below the mean
over the st. Lawrence Valley and in the North
west and is only relatively high along the
local rains are reported along the South Atlantic
coast; there have also been some light showers
experienced in the Northwest A destructive
tornado, accompanied by lightning and a fall of
hailstones, was developed over the northern part
of the New England States last evening, severely
damaging the crops in that section. The
weather was generally clear or fair over
the lake regions, central valleys, Gulf
and Middle Atlantic States. The winds have
been from fresh to brisk in the North
west and upper lake regions and light in the
other sections of the country. fall occurred
in temperature in the northern portions of the
lake regions and the New England States.
Elsewhere it has risen decidedly. 1t is probable
that electrical disturbances and tornadoes will
be developed in the district between the Upper
Missouri and the Ohio valleys during the next
forty-eight hours The weather over the British
Islands il becoming unsettled, and there are in
dications of the approach of % disturbance. The
weather in New York and its vicinity to-day
will be warmer and fair, possibly with thunder
showers Tomorrow it will be warm aud fair
or partly cloudy.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
Secretary sherman Going East.

Secretary Sherman made an excursion on
to Maine, where he is to open the political
canvass by a speech at Portland. In reply
to an after dinner welcome he spoke of the
revival of industry, consequent largely on
o stable currency, and said, 81 believe
there is no part of our country now where
money tor his work" When Mr.. Sherman
gets to Maine he will do well to hunt up a
Maine soldier who has just written to one
of the papers in his State his brief expert
ence Of how resumption affects him. II
am laboring man." he writes "let me give
tunes are not so hard as we are told. In
1868 worked for the town building q road.
received 81 SO per day, and ! find
by book kept by trader whers
bought my groceries that / paid
SIG 90 per barrel for -four, 81 25 per gallon
everything in proportion. Well, now get
81 IL 1-2 per day for the same work, and
pay So for -four, forty-fve cents for mo-
lasses, ten cents for sugar and everything
in that proportion That is what specie re-
sumption has done for me, and wish it had
come long ago." That is about as forcible a
presentation of the case as Mr.. Sherman
himself could make. and there is not word
in it about 'the South" either. We should
be glad to discover that Mr. Sherman be-
lieves resumption strong enough child to
stand alone
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

thus leaving nothing for the authorities to
do but to sweep the streets and collect the
refuse. For some unaccountable reason
this offer was rejected. and we now find
the garbage rotting in the streets and the
health OF the city seriously imperilled.
We call the attention OF the Mayor to the
accounts published in the HERALD, from
which he will learn the condition of the
streets more truthfully than from depart
mental reports.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
Hot Weather.

Sixteen persons killed by the heat in one
day in city of but little more than fifty
thousand inhabitants implies a terribly op-
pressive temperatures; and this experience
of Charleston recalls the much severer
visitation that afflicted st. Louis last year
short time before the yellow fever
epidemic declared itself. In st. Louis
on that occasion the largest number
of deaths was, we believe, forty in
one day; and as the population OF that
city is at least six times larger than the
population of Charleston, the mortality re-
ported from the latter place is twice as
great proportionately as that for the worst
of ST. Louis bad days last year. In Charles
ton on Saturday the temperature at two
P. M. was Ill degrees, and in st. Louis last
July the highest point attained was 1O3 de-
grees. From the comparison of the degree
of heat, as we'll as the extent of the NOR
tality, itappears, therefore, that the vista-
ton this year on our South Atlantic
coast is severer than that Of last year in
the Mississippi Valley. In view of what
followed lower down the river that great
fatality OF the heat ut st. Louis might
fairly be regarded as a premonition OF q
bad year for the people and it is to be
hoped that the premonition may not hold
good in the present case, and may not i'm
ply that the fever which ravaged the Mis-
sissippi cities will not spare us this year,
but will change its seat to the region where
the mortality already indicates unusually
oppressive atmospheric conditions.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

Shall an Emperor Accept Orders.
Prince Jerome Napoleon, sometimes called
Plon-P -Plon-in the spirit in which his cousin
Napoleon Ill was called Badinguet-is now
in the theory of the Napoleonic system En-
peror of France, though excluded from his
throne by the obstinate state Of the facts He
attended at Chiselhurst, in England, the
funeral Of his cousin Louis, whose heir he
is and through whose decease he inherits
the primacy in the Napoleonic pretension,
and there, it is said, he was wanting in def
erence to the Empress Eugene because he
refused to wait upon that lady sin obedi-
ence to her wishes" She sent word that
s'she would receive him"-and his sisters
and his cousins and his aunts-at time
specified in the message; whereupon the
illustrious Prince Immediately left the
neighborhood and went to London. Was
he in this unmindful of any obliga-
tion? On the contrary, he remembered
the imperial idea-and she forgot it. He
is the Emperor; and when the widow of
former Emperor-and the mother of the
late Emperor-sent word to the actual EN-
peror that ''she would receive him" she
made mistake; her condescension was at
fault. 1t is his turn now to give out these
little points of favor, and to intimate the
happy mortals who may be received"
He did not want to see Eugene this time,
and when he does he will let her know.
Meantime the mother of little Louis must
study all the shades of meaning that attach
of presumed sovereignty has passed to an
other branch Of the family.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

as half the penalty in either of the offences
we have mentioned goes to the intoriner the
desire to earn two hundred and fifty dollars
ought to insure the laying of an information
against some one of these boats, backed by
sufficient evidence to secure conviction.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

LOWER New YORK seems devoted entirely
to business houses, yet the concert ut the
Battery last night was listened to by
crowd as great as Central Park usually holds
about the music stand. Where did it come
'front.'
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

GENERAL SHERIDAN is in no danger of paying
for that 500, 900 Killoona plantation, applica-
tion Tor new trial having been denied. Prob
ably the thousands of claim agents who had
pockets full of similar suits to urge in case this
one went for the plaintiff could express some
vigorous opinions upon United States judges to-
day.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15
ADJUSTMENTS TONIGHT.
II RIPPLE SH e e L
NEW YORK, TUESDAY. JULY 10, 1879

The probabilities are that The weadter IN Nc0
York and its ricinity today aciA be 'n0rmer and
fair, possibly wih Mu'ader shoUers Tomorrow
il uiH be rarm and fair or partly cloudy.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

GENERAL GRANTS famous Des Moines speech
has come to the top again, with comments by
Bishop O'Connor that should securely bury the
charge that the ex-President reflected upon the
Catholics, as has SO often been reported.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

WALL STREET YEsrERDAY.-The stock specu-
latiOn was rather dull, and prices declined a
fraction. Government and railroad bonds were
in demand and advanced while State securities
were stagnant. Money call was plentiful at
2 per cent on stock collateral.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

Is the quality of lager beer growing worse 2
Germans have not usually added fighting to the
pther attractions of their picnics.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

HANIAN believes that total abstinence from
liquor and tobacco is necessary to the most
ccssful physical effort. He has certainly demon
strated his theory most handsomely, and he
ought to be sent ON a Iecturing tour among ath-
lctic clubs in general
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

The REPORT that Sarah Bernhardt is to re-
ceive about thousand dollars night during her
American engagement will probably lead hun
dreds Of good girls to become poor actresses,
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE LATEST METEOR that emigrated to the
United States went into real estate to the extent
of twenty feet.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

RowDYIsM was rampant at New Haven when
some alleged baseball players Of the gentler
were in the field yesterday, such exhibitions
being particularly attractive to bad characters.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

An INDIANA city treasurer, having gone int
Wall street with the citys money, has gone
back home with detective.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

The ONLY WONDERFUL THING about the
tobacco factory sickness is that more of the girls
do not succumb to the fumes of moist tobacco
In closed hot crowded room.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE YELLOW FEVER SCARE is subsiding at
Memphis and elsewhere but the citizens will do
well to regard the sanitary precautions sug-
gested by the National Board Of Health. There
was yellow fever in the South when the army
compelled clean streets
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

HAPPY TALMAGE! Think of how his late
prosecutors will feel as they read Of the Taber-
nacle pastor getting five hundred dollars per
night for lecturing Goals of fire would be
cooling hailstones by comparison.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

The "L" ROAD EMPLOYEES have organized a
mutual benefit association, such as should exist
In every large body of men working for single
employer.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE OFFICERS Of the French feet were the
occasion Of delightful entertainment at New
port yesterday. See report.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THREE FINE GAMES of polo delighted an ap-
preciative audience at Prospect Park yesterday.
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL has been in excellent
company ut Newport the place and the season
afording gathering representative Ameri-
cans such Us could not he found in any other
etv
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

THE CENTENNIAL SEASON still fingers. Stony
Points turn comes tomorrow and recalls one
Of the most gallant assaults ever made by
soldiers
The New York herald., 1879-07-15

per cent Of the total vote cast, and Wiscon-
sin, in which two years ago the republicans
cast only A "a per cent of the total vote.
All these, it is urged. are republican States
in which such combination of the oppos-
ing elements on an electoral ticket might
defeat the republicans and cause them
fatal losses.
There is, of course, nothing contrary to
the constitution in such plan; on the con-
trary the trainers Of that instrument ex-
pected the members of the Electoral Col
lege to vote Independently and if two
political parties can combine upon joint
ticket. with an agreement to divide the
electoral vote afterward upon a prearranged
basis, they are free to do this. The main
and probably fatal difficulty about it is that
in Presidential years, as long experience
shows, the voters, almost without excep-
ton, go back to their original parties.
Every man wants his vote for President to
tell and whatever may be the greenback
national vote this year, next year, unless
all precedents fail, the republican nationals
will vote the republican Presidential ticket
and the democratic nationals the demo-
cratic ticket. Moreover, the difficulty of
dividing the electoral votes, the suspicion
of each of the two contracting parties that
the other would cheat it, the jealous ambi-
tion of candidates--all would contribute to
make the plan TAIL There is no doubt,
however, that it is entertained by shrewd
politicians, and it may play part in the
great game Of $780, especially if California
should 60 solidly republican and Ohio
democratic.