St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-04-29
Our New York Letter.

TELLING BRUSH-FIsH IN THE WRONG
Observation-Disclosures MILITIA VERY
MAD-PAYING THE PIPER FOR OTHER
FOLKS sINs-LEARNED DELIVERS IN
MUCK-HEAEs AND PARKS - SPRING
STARTING OUT SWIFT SWIMMERS OF
THE sEAs-MORE HOLY HAULS FROM
PHILANTHRoPIsTs' PoCKETs-A PROM
Use OF THINGS GOOD TO CONF.
New YORK, April %, 1881.
To the Editor of the Caledonian.
Quite as a matter of course, the dis
graceful act of compromising a felony
has been committed by the jeweler of
whose robbery l told you in my last.
Without any attempt at cOucealment,
or apparently any, idea of the enOrmity
of this offense, Police Commissioner
General Jourdon of Brooklyn had made
a terrible example of the officers to
whose negligence the success of the
burglars was due, and not recognizing
the innocence of any of them of care
lessness, dismissed them all eleven OF
them), including two sergeants and two
roundsmen. Negotiations were opened
by the thieves with the ieweler, who,
after much haggling, agreed to give So
100 for the return of the property stol-
en-. The proverbial honor among thieves
was wanting in this instance, for the
stuff returned fell short by the value of
round 800.
Edison's and other electric lights are
again coming to the front i'll busy sort
of way, one OF the strong points urged
in their favor being that their general
use will tend to discourage burglary.
Another ingenious person, not connect
ed with Edison in any way, has sug
gested that instead of lighting the
streets we should light up the police
men, by painting them all over with
the new illuminating paint which is be-
coming so much used for nocturnal
clock dials, miners lamps, etc. He
says there might then be some chance
of occasionally finding Il policeman on
his beat. The fact is, our blue-coated
guardian have so long INDUCED in the
luXurics of 'cubby-hOles" and free
drinks that they are proverbially never
in the way when they're wanted, though
they are often oiliciOus enough when
they are not.
We have at last a genuine American
lady artist worthy to rank with Rosa
BonheuT in her own speciality eff cattle
painting, with the additional aptitude
for producing the most enchanting and
mastery landscapes i'll Il way the Gallo
genius could never compass. Mrs.
Lakey, the wife of the popular Charles
ID. Lakey, publisher of the Builder and
WOOdirOrker, under whose keenly criti-
cal guidance your RADIX once welded
an editorial quill, is the lady | mean.
The New York Press Club paid her the
very unusual compliment of requesting
her to exhibit her painting i'll their par
lOrs, and there they aIe and will be till
May 5th, enthusiastically admired by
connoiSseurs, and yet appreciated 10y
those most ignorant of art. They are
simply superb.
The street cleaning fight still RACES,
and people are dying with alarming
frequency of Zymotic diseases, but an
other cause of diSquietudc has been
found out in the abOminable flavor of
the Croton water, which, so they say
who have tasted it, which your RADIX
religiously rcfrains from doing, is evil
IDENTITY due to the presence of myriads
of decOmposed fish. 1t has an ancient
and tish-like smell, like many other
Gothamite official and deficient institu-
tions.
The National Guard is getting demon
allied because some Jack-in- office up
at Albany has been earwigging the
Governor and getting him to recon-
mend Il ridiculous code which carefully
provides large salaries for certain staff
officers, for the reduction and disband-
ment of numerous troops and battal-
lions, and then Celebrates multitude
of Usurd provisions which will knock
the Militia, of which we have had good
reason to be proud, higher than Il kite,
SO to speak. Rifle practice, i'll which
we led the world, the distinctive uni
form, and hundred other points dear
to the soldiers heart, whether he be a
general or Timothy Muggins of the
rank and file, are attacked with I'M
sparing hand, and i'll short there's a
laundering row over it all. EmmOns
Clark and Il number of other represent
ative officers, all with distinguished war
records, have gone to Albany to pro-
test, and their commands, one aud all
are, us Col. Clark expresses it, cred
hot" It's a world of change, we all
know, but it's pity when we've got Il
good thing to be obliged to fight every
now and then to keep it. The insecu-
rity of tenure has played old harry with
recruiting and the designations of eff
cient and popular officers, men not so
easily replaced, are very numerous.
These wholesale congratulations rarely
result in anything but disOrganization.
A singular case has just been tried
and resulted in a verdict that, | fancy,
few expected. Mr.. w. Alphabet Shanks,
for many years city editor of the Tri-
bune, but now not connected with it in
that capacity, ut any rate, rather I'M
popular parsonage among newspaper
men, had some unpleasant remarks 5,
such as ginpig, blackmailer, &c, re-
peatedly reprinted about him in Il sour
rilOus one cent sheet, which has OBJ
tanned very unpleasant notoriety on
several occasions. Being of opinion
that lie could obtain no solid satisfac-
tion by suing them, just as all ones
likely to get by sning Il beggar is il,
well, we won't mention the illustration,
he sued the American News Co. for
S25, 900 alleged damages for circulating
libels about him. They replied that
they never meant to burt him, never
saw the libels, and couldn't read the
papers they sold before distributing
them, simply because they hadn't time.
The Judge was within an ace of dis
missing the complaint, but rather re-
luctantly allowed it to go to the jury.
That body found for the plaintiff $500
1 l.. IL L