St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-07-15
Our New York Letter.

D
HOW GOTHAM GOES DOWN IN ITS POCK-
ETS-BKIGHT BELLIES AND BRAVE
BOwMEN- COMETS TAIL IN A
BAD wAY-A MELANCHOLY FOURTH.
New YORK, July :, 1881.
TO the Editor Of the CdIedonjdn
Perhaps the most practically grace
full outcome of the vile assault on the
chosen chief of the nation with which
the country rings is the sympathetic
subscription of S25O,OOO at the Cham
Der of Commerce. Mrs. Garfield, who
seems to be an uncommonly good spec
linen of the kind of American wives
the most fortunate of us are proud of,
has thus a comfortable provision, in
any event, and as an easy mind is a
great thing for invalids, the knowledge
of this may help the illustrious victim
very greatly. We all know that this
modern Cincinnatus is not rich, but
rather the reverse, although the nasty
anti-elcctiOn stories made him out an
omnivorous gobblcr of unlawful gains.
What shall we do with the assassin
1t seems ten Years is all he can get for
an attempt to kill, and we don't want
the President to die in order to give us
the satisfaction of hanging his murder
er. Not anticipating such treatment
of the elected chief servant of the peo-
3 1ln hnN l., al, J.,
son, lis affecting individuals, but there
is no reason why we shouldn't. When
the Duke of Edinburgh, the second son
of Queen Victoria, was shot in Austria
liza, though not very severely, the as
sassin was hanged in three days. Is
Guiteau insane? Perhaps everybody
angry enough to kill anybody is in
sane, but proportion of such lunatics
are annually launched into eternity
In the province of Farther India, when
Il Malay, after getting intoxicated on
little too much "bhang,n or India hemp,
runs "amok" with naked "kris,n or
wave-edged dagger, Slashing right and
left at every one he meets, man, woman
OF child, the people turn out with any
weapon they can get, just as they do
here when an Ovcr-driven steer breaks
loose, and kill him like IA mad dog
The suggestion has been made that as
'cranks" are initiative, and several
have already been locked up for threat
cning the lives of Vice-President Ar
thur, ex-senator Conkling and other
prominent men, that the best deterrent
effects might he produced by giving
Guiteau Il good logging for his dis
graceful, cowardly crime. If all he is
to get is ten years in Jail, / certainly
am i'll favor of the logging, but I'd
have it administered in installments,
say 100 lashes in Washington then,
when he gets pretty well over that, 80
lashes in New York, in few weeks 80
lashes somewhere else, and so on till
his ten years were out. He'd probably
refrain from doing any more shooting
in hurry, or supply himself with
weapons to kill next time and ensure
himself hanging.
Talking of shooting and really this
deplOrable business has so occupied
mems minds and the daily papers as to
exclude news of almost every other
kind must just refer to the grand
archery tournament now being held
in Brooklyn, and of which, ably sec
noble, graceful, and altogether 'Etonyn
diversion, Major A. G. Constable, the
President of the National Archery As
ISOLATION, is the head and front and
observed of all observers, and all that
kind OF thing. He has been lending
his magnificent equipment to the men
of the press for practice and instituted
a special prize for them, and the whole
affair Is likely to he one of the most
enjoyable and delightful things to par
| ticipate III and recall i'll after days
There is remarkable assortment of
valuable prizes, and the turnout of gal
liant and fair ToXophilites is large and
attractive. The reviver of this old,
old pleasure, deserves the reward of
the inventor of IA new one, for he has
made the old new by the modern i'm
prOvements he has introduced. Arch
cry beats dove murder.
Poor old comet, His head and his
tail and AL his other appurtenances
have been sadly put out of joint, and
for some days, if noticed at all in the
papers, it has been in the briefest of
paragraphs. His very appearance is
shOrn of its glory by the increasing
light of the moon and was rivaled on
the Fourth by the eff'ulgence of the
fireworks, which in half-hearted sort
of way some folks managed to explode
IN the evening. 1t was a sad Fourth
for many people, though they made the
best of it and no doubt were benefited
by the quiet holiday, for it was quiet.
OF course the small boy had crackers,
but he let them off sensibly by ones
and twos, and the ripping and tearing
of "A whole bunch under a stolen ash
barrel was conspicuous by its absence.
The fireworks dealers-the retail ones,
| mean-must have been ont to a pretty
tune in the aggregate. As for the flags,
it was melancholy to look at them.
The very wind was too grieved to stir
their languid folds, and every citizen
expected to have to haul the emblem of
glory to half-mast to express the ma
tional grief before the close of the day
1t was a sad Fourth.
RADIx.