The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-02-26
Washington, Letter.


WASHINGTON. D. c., Feb. 21. 1880.
Corcoran's Art Gallery is one Of our
most highly priced institutions. With
in it's portals are gathered many as
pure specimens of high Art as can be
found in America, and Washingtoni-, !, !,
ans are always proud to show visiting
friends these aesthetic treasures, since
they are part of the public store provi-
ded to crafty cultivated tastes. They
belong to the public, inasmuch as Mr..
w. w. COrcoran has seen fit, in his
spirit, to spend million
of dollars in erecting the Gallery, in
whatever is in it, and in
endowing it in such manner as will
ensure not only its perpetuation, but
constant annual additions: and, after
all this, in donating it to the city. FOR
the perpetual free use of all who wish
to enjoy them. No place in the city is
more visited by citizens and strangers,
nor is there any object of interest in
whose welfare deeper regard is felt
than for it. Mr.. CorcOran has always
desired to extend the benefits or sphere
of his gift by alding::a School of Design
to it, and yet has always been balked
in carrying out his design by his ina
bility to secure adjacent grounds on
which to erect the requisite building.
Admiral Lee, a retired officer of the
Navy, owns vacant lot Immediately
in the rear of theArt Gallery, but will
srix
Mr.. Corcoran recently repeated an Of
fer, made originally ten years ago, to |
purchase, but the Admiral refused to
name a sum thereupOn Mr.. G. offered
to take the lot at price to be fixed by
any three real estate agents selected by
the Admiral, and would pay 20 per
cent. additional upon their appraise-
ment This offer was curtly declined;
so we are to be deprived of our School
of Design through the surly old fogy-
ism of an antiquated specimen of hu-
manity. Washington is afflicted with
many of these Bourbons, who are as
destitute of public spirit as SO many
misers, and who enact the role of dog
in the manger whenever any public
good is to be subserved through part
ing with a portion of their property.
They own and retain old tenement
rookeries, filled with the worst portion
of our population they hOl,. on. to
vacant lots right in the midst of the
better portions of the city, which serve
to gather accommodations of filth and
offal. In every wise they stand as fix
ed monuments of the lack of spirit and
progress which curses every cOmmuni-
ty afflicted with them. Admiral Lee,
as a stipendiary of the people, doubt
less regards himself as on the same
footing with an inmate of a poor-house,
who is being a subject of support,
should not be called on to bear any
public burden or to contribute to the
good or well-being of others. His
province, like that of the pauper, is to
receive, not to give. ..5..
We have heretofore written of the
attempted shooting, on New Years
Day, of Senator Morgan's son by a
Miss Horton. and of her subsequently
entering suit against him for breach OF
promise, with claim of $1,000 dam
ages. The trial is now in progress,
and strange developments appear in
the evidence offered by the defendant
Morgan, who, among other papers,
files letters written by Miss Horton to
Hon. C. M. Shelley, a member of Con-
gress from Alabama, in which she ac-
cuses him of her seduction. Yet these
letters bear the same date as those
written Senator Morgan and his son
the defendant, making precisely SINH
lar charges against the latter. Mr..
Shelley's deposition, which accOmpa-
MES these letters, says that when he
afterward saw Miss Horton she reite-
rated the charges, and stated she had
been in hospital from the effects of q
miscarriage. This damaging testimO-
ny seems corrOborated, and, unless re-
butted, certainly deprives Miss Horton
of all claims to the sympathy aroused
by her statement of wrongs at the
hands of young Morgan, and places
her among the adventuresses who
swarm here during a session of Con
gress, "seeking who they may devour." "
She is undergoing a fearful ordeal at
young Morgan's hands. as he denies
all her allegations, and is making a
strong case against her. 1t is not safe
here to espouse the cause of woman
simply because she is woman, or be-
cause she charges some man with out
rage. Scores of Senators and Repre-
sentatives will not risk the receiving
of ladies alone, under well-grOundetl
fear of subsequent attempt to levy
black mail if given the slightest oppor-
tunity for an attack. 1t is not time, as
yet, to place Miss Horton among this
INSCRIPTIONS class, damaging as the
evidence is against her at present.
Brumidi, the artist SO justly celebra-
ted for his wonderful talent for frescO
painting, died on the 18th inst. at his
residence here. He came to the Uni
ted States from Italy in 1848, being
driven from that country through be-
coming involved in the political troub-
les of that eventful year. But it was
not until 1854 that he visited this city.
Gen. Meigs, who then had charge of
the public buildings, permitted him to
decorate the room of the House Com
| mittee on Agriculture. The talent dis
played in choice of subjects for his
brush, and in their execution, at once
attracted great attention, and Ii d to his
permanent employment. He has de-
voted all his energies to the work OF
decorating the Capitol, and the whole
building is illuminated by his magic
touch. The lower corridors and COM
mittee rooms of the Senate wing afford
fascinating studies for every lover of
art. A perfect panorama of American