St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-01-23
Our New York Letter.

10 tne EGtJ0r OF the CGteGOntan
Frank Leslie is dead-and regretted
Perhaps the most American of publish
ers, in the sense of periodically catch
ing everything interesting to our PEG
pie, on the wing, and giving it full
prominence in his publications, he wa
by birth an Englishman, and his nam
was Henry Carter. An artist by instinc
with keen literary perception superadd
ed, he naturally gratifed his bent b,
contributing to the papers, but hi
friends Directing to it he assumed til,
nom de plume of Frank Leslie, which
after arriving here, he formally adopt
ed, and the change was sanctioned b,
an act of Legislature. His career wa
phenomenal. A simple list of the nu
merous periodicals he conducted will
such signal ability would take cOnsid
cradle space. That financial difficulties
overcame him in his later years was {
misfortune he shared with many othel
men of prominence, but his pluck wal
undated, and had he lived little
longer he would have been clear of the
harassing interference of his creditors
committee, whose annoyances, it is
charged, fastened his death. His col
lection of woodcuts, accumulated DUR
ing his long and Industrious business
lifetime, amounted to over a million,
and cost for the drawing, engraving and
procuring fully $4,000, 900, mere item
in the gigantic business. A faded pho
tograph of some half-forgotten celebri-
ty suddenly brought into notice, when
furnished i'll the nick of time, has often
brought the lucky owner 5000 or $500.
MIR. Leslie's superb country mansion,
with its park, was the glory of Sarato-
ga. In it he dispensed an elegant hospi-
tally. Mr.. Leslie was an excellent
judge of character and firm friend.
His employees, from his chief editors and
artists, down to the scrub woman who
polished the floors of the new and mag
nificent building in Park Place, were
devoted to him. He was married twice,
his second wife, to whom he was fondly
attached, being the sole legatee of his
large fortune. The funeral was quiet
enough, but among the hushed throng
of mOurners were many of the foremost
citizens in this country, men distin-
guished by learning, dignity, wisdom
and genius.
AS pleasing instance in point of our
present prosperity, may just remark
that on Tuesday last Uncle Sam took
1895, 900 (only $1,000 less than a mil
lion) at the New York Custom House.
Of this sum $3.50, 900 was in gold coin,
weighing about ton and quarter.
The preparations for the coming
Worlds Fair in 1888 are likely to be
begun shortly. Two rival organizations
have consolidated in the most amicable
fashion, and at preliminary meeting
under the craftsmanship of President
Jewett of the Erie Railroad, considera-
BILE enthusiasm was manifested. The
appropriateness of the date selected, be-
ing the centennial anniversary of the
acknowledgment of American indie
pendence by Great Britain, and the
place, New York, being the last portion
of our soil evacuated by hostile foreign
troops, WAS dwelt on with effect.
1t is queer what condolences occur
every now and then to strengthen the
notions OF spirltualists about presenta-
ments and all that sort of thing. A few
days ago Brooklyn paper, by way of
a sensation had some articles and inter
views about what might happen if
ferry boat pilot were to die suddenly.
Of course, in such an event the conse-
quences might be awful. The East
river is very crowded watery high
way, full of remarkably swift, intricate
and ever varying currents and eddies,
and the ferry boats are, during several
hours of every week day, packed like |
sardine boxes. The companies have
for years been very fortunate, the few
lives of passengers which have been
lost, having been sacrificed by their
own imprudence in trying to land, or
embark while the boats were in motion |
or else by suicide. The officials pooh
poohed all idea of danger, and econOmi- |
cally declined to go to the expense of |
keeping two pilots at the wheel of their
boats all the time. However, one day |
a tugboat was observed careering wild
ly about the stream, puzzling the con-
ductOrs of all the other craft in the vi |
cinity as to how they should get out of
the way. The pilot had fallen in fit. |
Next morning early, the pilot of one of
the Fulton ferry boats fell dead while |
the boat was in the slip, narrowly es-
Gaping a terrible calamity, for the boat
was .jammed to suffocatiOn, with work |
ingmen and women, and the river was
thrOnged with other vessels. The di-
rectors promptly doubled up their force
OF pilots. In the same afternoon, two
ferry boats collided, and one sunk in a
few moments afterward. No lives were
lost, luckily.
The defalcators have been having
high old time of it. Finding them out
seems a catching complaint. j. Lloyd
Haigh, the wire-rope man, whose ras-
calities l mentioned in my last, was
quickly followed on the roll of infamy
by Treasurer Bogart of the Produce
who was discovered to have
the funds of that body, to
have swindled every one else, and to
have Over-issued a number of Bergen
Co. IN. j. bonds while holding promi-
nent Office there. He committed sui
eide. The Masons buried him. The
last gentleman who lived by his wits,
land he has plenty of them, to be found
out is Mr.. John c. Freund, an able but
writer, with gift of talk
ing the shrewdest business men out of
solid hard cash. He has been here but
a few years and succeeded in wrecking
the Arcadian, once reputable literary
journal, and then trade paper which