The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-07-10

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the contrary Of such men as Jay Gould
James Keene, Cyrus w. Field and Rus
sell Sage demand their action. The
London trustees absolutely control the
voting power of one-half of the capital
stock OF Erie for term of years, and,
unless opposed by the completely unan-
imOus vote of their American partners,
can easily carry out their intention to
keep the interests of their road and those
of Mr.. Vanderbilt in harmony hence
it is believed that if the hundred-mil-
lionaire presently buys largely of Erie
bonds, be may do so with fair likeli-
hood Of seeing his son, Cornelius, Jr.,
|, and colleagues elected Erie Directors
before long, and thus have it in his
power to eheckmate any hestile move
ments of railroad rivals whom his
English friends particularly despise.
Mr.. Vanderbilt is also credited with a
desire to run an elevated railway from
his Grand Central Depot through Fourth
avenue, Elm, Crosby and Chatham
streets to the City Hall, so that his
character as his railroading fathers
chosen son is seen to be maturing rap
idly. Unlike that father, however, he
seems to be more or less Influenced by a
multitude of counselors, which may be
safe, but is certainly not radically Van
derbiltian.
An exciting scene was witnessed in
Central Park yesterday. During a storm
a party of about a dozen women and
children were in one of the boats on the
lake, when the wind and rain came on,
and, with the carrying off of the avn
ing, a general panic ensued. The chill
dren screamed, the women tainted, and
parents and friends on the lake were in
a frenzy Of excitement. For some mo-
ments it seemed impossible that all
could be brought to the shore safely;
but finally, through the exertions of a
number Of park boatmen, all were
safely landed, thoroughly drenched.
Then there came a wall of sorrow for
the loss of a bonnet, parasol, or the
spelling Of "that new dress" 1t was
pitiful to watch the expression of a
"bachelor uncle" who had entrusted
his little ten-year-old niece to the mercy
Of the angry waves. He declared it was
"bad enough to be an uncle, but it must
be terrible to be a father"
1t is to the credit of ordinary human
nature that il is slow and reluctant to
cold-blOoded reasoning in matters OF
startling crime. 1t prefers the conven-
tional theory that at once attributes any
not Immediately traced wickedness to
some suppositiOus professional evil
dOer to the cool, analytical process OF
argument pointing to a different style
Of offender. Thus a very great majority
of the people of this city tenaciously
hold to the idea that the late Jane Law
renee De Forrest Hull perished at the
hands of a hOusebreaker, and the effort
Of the detectives most approved by COM
mon feeling is that which was aimed at
the discovery and arrest Of one Bristow
Francis, the rowing husband of a colored
cook in the Hull mansion, and a negro
Of disreputable character. To a minor
ity Of the community, however, the
case appears to have possibilities of oc-
casiOn not limited to any readily con-
ceivable scheme of common burglary.
IL has not been disguised in current
print that officers OF the law have stead
fastly shadowed DR.. AlOnzo Grandson
Hull, the aged husband of the murdered
woman, from the day of the murders
discovery. To those who, from general
kindness Of heart, reprobate such SEEM
ing inhumanity to a lonely old man,
already sufficiently afflicted, the ordi-
nary answer is that in such perverted,
abnormal domestic system as that Of
the Hulls appears to have been, the
common principles and feelings Of
wholesome human nature could scarce
/ ly have been much observed. The
childless husband, past the three score
and ten of life, was drearily exiled in
his own home to a living and sleeping
apartment by himself on the topmost
| floor Of the stately house managed
wholly by his wife and furnished by her
money, himself apparently very poor,
and said to have been on the footing Of
boarder to his wife sad-looking,
eccentric, secluded old man, believed to
be not aware of the business or even of
all the names of the several boarders of
Mrs. Hull and sitters at the table with
her. The wife was virtually being Of
another world from his-a gay, strong
willed person, much younger than her
years, and reported to be wealthy. The
same report that mentions DR.. Hull as
in arrears for board to Mrs. Hull meu-
tions the latter as specializing through
| Wall-street brokers in stocks and bonds.
Here are indications Of form Of social
disease not unlikely to develop any evil
vagary; and if it sounds cruel to hint
suspicion of the detached, superannu-
ated husband for the crime, the specu-
lative mind need not go further than
the characters frequenting the wife's
levees to conjecture personalities fit for
all sorts of evil in the society, if not in
the actual family, of such a miscalled
home. AUGUST.
IA man named Cox, who proved to
be the murderer of Mrs. Hull, was ar
rested in Boston on the oath OF June.
and gave the officers a minute descrip-
tion Of the manner in which the murder