St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-02-20
Our New York Letter.

SILK SMUGGLING AND BRACKETS AR
GUS EYEs-GREELEY's INTERPRETER
DEAD-RAIN-SHEDD BALLOONS-A
MIDNIGHT RAMBLE-THE BROOKLYN
BRIDGE AND THE IRON BooM-MUD
AND POLICE MUDDLES -CUPID's MIS-
sIvEs.
New YORK, Feb. ID, 1880.
To the Editor of the CoIedonian:
The famous smuggleI -crcumventer,
Capt. Bracket, whose deplorable acct
dent on the occasion of the explosion on
board the National steamship "Greece"
l recently told you about, has sued the
steamship company for $4,000 dam
ages. One of the culprits he captured
in the great silk frauds of 1873, when
the Government was cheated out OF
81 100000 by one importing house, has
lust revealed in court some of the true
inwardness of that affair, being brought
from Jail to testify. His name was
Lazarus, and he picked up good many
rich crumbs for his own share. He
had his name changed by the Legisla-
ture to Lawrence, and proceeded to
work as follows: The exporters on the
other side would send a number of
jute in one shipment, with secret
mark on the latter. Lawrence or Lag
arus, would go down to the docks to
clear them, and Il custOmhouse officer
| with whom he is in collision would ex-
anime the cases of jute in the most open
and casual sort of way, mark the whole
batch jute and let them be duly carried
off. Uncle Sam got the duty on jute.
Somewhere about half of the difference
between that and the duty Oh silk was
squarely "divided" between Lazarus
and Dec Angeo, the deputy collector.
Bad writing is the joy of the am
bilious proof-reader, but Horace Gree
ley's at its best was the despair of most
of the craft of decipherers. When he
wrote hurriedly, as indeed he generally
did, he couldn't read his own writing.
One man could. He has just died. His
name was John c.. Robinson, and he
was in the Tribune from the age of thir-
teen till Greeley died, afterwards going
to the Sun. At the time of the cam
paign for the Presidency, which killed
the old man, Robinson detected at a
glance a most skillful forgery in the
shape of an article written in the closest
imitation of Greeley's handwriting, rec
ommending a certain candidate whom
the Tribune by no means wished to ad-
vocate. Robinson was perhaps the
most rapid reader that ever lived, and
no stenographer could keep pace with
his utterances when he let himself out.
He has been timed to utter 696 words
a minute, or at the rate of Al 200 words
in an hour.
A new industry, the plan of which
has attracted some attention here, has
been suggested by General Daniel Rug
giles, of Virginia. He has observed, as
have several million other people, that
the conclusion of the atmosphere by
the firing of heavy guns during battle
invariably brings OF rain. His idea is
to send up balloons with dynamite, to
be exploded in mid-air by electricity or
time fuses during dry weather, and so
let us have rain to order. In order to
make the thing certain and to enable
the gallant officer to prove his superior
ity to the rain makers among the Zu-
lus, it is proposed that the General
should go up in balloon himself and
boss the job.
The "Black Crook" is to be revived
during Lent as an additional proof of
the emancipation of large section of
New York society from old-time super
stitiOns. There is no difficulty in get
ting handsome and we'll trained girls
for the ballet now. Not long ago it was
a task to get together the requisite
number of bashful and unframed beau
ties, but hard times led many to appre-
ciate the small earnings afforded by
minor parts on the stage, and the sup
ply grew rapidly more than equal to
the demand. Now, the destinations of
the footlights have maintained their
sway, and the f1eetfooted sisterhood are
numerous, perfectly self-possessed and
frequently quite proficient. The scenes
ut their engagement for the approach
ing spectacle would no doubt have
highly diverted the gymnastic Taberna-
Gle Talmage.
The Irish Relief boom of the Herald
has assumed gigantic proportions, and
stirred the hearts of the people in re-
markable way. There is rivalry in
every direction. Prominent artists of
fer their services in music, lectures or
whatnot. The police, firemen, employees
of various firms are in the race to see
who will send the most money chill
dren give, clergymen preach, ships to
carry cargoes are offered, and free
truckage, loading and expressage, ev-
erybody canvasses everybody else by
letter and by word, and the money is
rolling in. Some carping critics want
to know who will distribute the money
and why it isn't sent. The probability
is that the Herald sends daily every
dollar it gets and distributes it through
its own representatives, who were long
ago dispatched to make their reports
from the actual scenes of the trouble.
The contributions thus far have reached
nearly 100000.
The Columbia College boys, who so
calamity maintained their country's
credit in the international University
rowing matches few years ago, have
had to suffer from the dastardly malice
of some contemplate cur or ours, who
broke into their boat house and ruined
: their shells with brutal digs of chisel.
Not one of the expensive and beautiful
craft escaped.
Too much prosperity has painful
effect on some people. The other eve
ming, as beauty and fashion with Their
gallant escorts were thronging the up
town thoroughfares, after the theatres
homeward bound, after a slight but