The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-09-04
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
FROM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT

! To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
When the news first flashed over the
country that domestic eDlcute had oc-
Cured at Narragansett Pier, the parties
principal being Senator ConkIing and
I Mrs. Sprague, very great number OF
people undoubtedly smaeked their pru-
rient chops in anticipation Of another
scandal, differing from the Beecher-
Tiltou mess Of filth only in being sea-
soned with politics Instead Of religion.
I 1t is Of course too early as yet to decide
whether these people are to be disap-
pointed wholly or in part, but so far as
the behavior Of the parties principal up
I to this time may be regarded as an in
dex to their future action, 1t is safe to
conclude that at least one great incen-
tive which figured in the Beecher-Tlton
case will be found wanting in this one,
to-wit.; the mere vulgar desire for noto-
! riety, at any cost. Mr.. COnkling has
been more or less attentive to Mrs.
Sprague for a period of three years.
Whatever may be their sentiments
with regard 10 each other, it is q question
that nobody can conclusively answer
but themselves, and it is probably safe
to assume that they will never answer
It. But whatever the truth may be,
there was and is nothing unnatural and
nothing remarkable in the fact that
these two people should have cultivated
Intimate relations. They are, in fact,
well matched. l know Of no two per-
sons Of opposite sex more exactly calcu-
lated To be congenial than they are.
Each, In his or her own line aud way,
has fame, commanding position in So
ciety and politics, pride Of caste, vanity
Of person and naughty Independence OF
character. Each seems to have found
10 the other that precise complement Of
qualities which each failed to find in
the domestic partner recognized 10y So
ciety aud by the statute
OF the five Stewart grave-robbers,
only one, Henry G. Romaiue is known
by name. The lawyer through whom
they have sought To negotiate with
Judge Hilton is Patrick II. Jones. for
merly postmaster, and later register Of
New York. Tie sum demanded was
S2O0O coo Judge Hilton refused to pay
more than Sd, 900, the original reward
for the return Of the body. All Efforts
having failed TO secure both robbers and
body, Judge Hilton, or July oath, re-
opened negotiations for the ransom Of
the body, without regard to the convic-
tion Of the thieves. These negotiations
are now pending. The name Of the de-
tectiye, vino is represented as Jones *
Co.'S agent, but who in reality ouly APP
preached him TO inform him that he
was under the espionage OF the police,
is James Irving, formerly captain Of the
detectives OF the police force. lie was
accused several years ago Of completely
along with Detective Philip Farley,
now Of the excise Office, in the Bank OF
England fOrgeries, and after two trials
was dismissed from the force. Farley
had previously resigned. Irving ten
dered his services to Judge Hilton when
the search for the body began, but his
help was soon dispensed with. Judge
Hilton does not say that Stewards body
has not been recovered, and will not be
seen by reporter now. Four men are
on guard at the Stewart cathedral
crypt, at Garden City, Long Island, and
a gentleman of position in the city is
reported as saying, at is hard TO say
positively how far negotiations have
gone with the Stewart grave. robbers,
bat | feel pretty certain that the trans
ferof the body has already been effected,
aud Judge Hilton has it safe at the pres
eut mon eut."
a strange character died in the
Tombs prison ia this city last week-a
woman who for twenty i've years has
been a voluntary inmate Of the prison,
which she had grown to look upon as
her home. In her youth, Mary Valen-
tine was a handsome, wsyward girl,
and as she grew older she went from bad
to worse, till she used to be frequently
arrested and imprisoned in the Tombs
for drunkenness. When she got to be
fifty years old, she resolved to reform,
aud she would go to the Police Court
aud voluntarily give herself up when
she felt the craving for drink, and in
this way she placed herself beyond
temptation. At last she came to love
the TOmbs so much that when, some
twenty-five years ago, the term Of one
Of her voluntary imprisonmeuts ex.
pired, she begged to be allowed to spend
the remainder of her days there. Tie
charity commissioners humored the
prisoner, and upon the matron's recon-
mendatiOn she became Il "tier woman"
whose duty it is to care for the prisoners
on the tier, in which capacity she has
ever since remained. On Sunday she
was found to be sick, and wednesday
she died.
Judge Miller, in the United States
District Court, on Friday rendered a
decision in the suit Of Christopher c.
Campbell against Postmaster James aud
Charles Eddy for infringement Of
patent hand stamp used for marking
letters in the general post Office in this
city. The patent was originally granted
to NJ. p. Morton in 1868, but Postmaster
James claims that it was used in Phila-
delpbia in 1851. The decision Of the
court is that, in fact aud in law, Morton
MA the oriyfnal inventor and that a