Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-05

| A L6IkGE HEOan NcW AOTA- COmstOck-The TaxtersaIls Of America | The Mercantile Eibraryss Change Oi Base-James C.. Flood The Great WhaIe-The Metropolitan Museum Oi Art--WashingtOn Market.
 NEW YORK, April 1. | To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: Anthony Comstock can sympathize with the Czsr just about this time. There are plenty of men who would like to see him put out oi the way. It is not certain that he wears a | cuirass under his clothing, but it is certain that when he last went to court to testify against one of his victims Gas they are popu. larly regarded) he carried loaded revolver in one pocket and roll of bandages in another. The life insurance companies would charge a higher premium to insure him than they would a man in the last stage of consumption or, ii they would not insure the consumptive at all, they would much less insure Anthony Con- stock. But the jeopardy in which he stands does not seem to prey upon his physical health. Seeing him the other day in consulta- tion with his attorney, noted robust health, wonderful vigor of purpose and lots of fight. He is formidable man to have for an enemy, and just the man for thankless ofice It is understood that William H. Vanderbilt is associated with several other capitalists, among them Leonard Jerome, in scheme to establish horse exchange, to be called the Tattersalls of America. In general plan and purpose it will resemble the great London Tattersalls. The project has already pro- gressed as far as the purchase of the ground, the site chosen being the Slevin homestead estate, fourteen lots, at the junction of Broad way, Fiftieth street and Seventh avenue. Two hundred thousand dollars was the price paid. The building will probably be begun at once.
 The Mercantile Library, whose present quarters in Astor Place are an eyesore, is going to make @ change, of course for the better. More ample accommodations were found to be absolutely necessary. They have sold their property for $1S0, ,000, and have purchased new site at Broadway and Thirty eighth street, paying for it in the neighbor- hood of $500, 900, and the coming fall they will erect very handsome building.
 The city is likely soon to make the acquisi- tion of g wealthy celebrity who will swell the number of such who are centering in the me tropolis. James 0. Flood, the mining mil lionaire of California, has offered $850,00o for the Stevens mansion, at Flfty-seventh street and Fifth avenne. For the decoration of this house decorators were brought over from France and boarded and lodged in the house, and paid extravagant prices-$10 or more day. It is rumored that Robert Bon ner has refused $75O, 900 for the vacant prop erty opposite the Stevens mansion.
 The whale which was caught of the New England coast and lowed to this city for ex- hibiticu is proving very successful specula tion. The shrewd investors in the cetaoean well knew that New York never ''goes back on a sensation. The admission fee of twenty five cents to the covered floating ock on which the huge animal lies stranded is of no consequence to the public when whale is in question. Well, it is worth the money. The whale is sixty-five feet long and stout in pro portion. On entering the enclosure the show man invites you to walk all around the ami nal, and it is quite a journey. Three or four men and half dozen boys could be accom- modated in it's mouth at once. It is said that the price paid for the whale, $700, was got back in two hours after the carcass was placed on exhibition.
 Central Park has a new attraction in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose charac- ter and object were we'll defined by Mir. Jos eph H. Choate in his address on the occasion of the opening of the museum 'He who re- turns to his native land with fresh memories of the Louvre and of Kensington, to compare those splendid results of time and of wealth with this our feeble embryo, may well regard it with concern and solicitude; but could he point to one of the grand old museums of Flu rope that in it's tenth year, without the aid of government subsidies or of regal bounty, could show such valuable results as those which are now and here exhlb- ited? The erection of this building at the expense of the public treasury, for the use of art museum, was an act of signal forethought and wisdom on the part of the Legislature. It was prominent feature Of the trustees plan to establish museum of industrial art, as distinct from the beautiful in art, for the direct and practical instruction of artisans"
 Washington market is pretty sure to be sought out as one of the sights by the curious stranger. In short time he will have to seek for it in new quarter A strong effort is being made to have the market removed to West Twelfth street, and there is no doubt that the removal will take place before long A bill Is now before the Legislature looking to