Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-01-29
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.

lSlsfadt Correspondence or i'ie Ftrf'tsS Srs'.l
Nkw YORK, Ian, ~,
Caroline Allen Is a Christian. and existence
is too sweet TO her. even In this dismal place 20
attempt to take her own life" The spe Axe. WAS
an Old lady In shabby genIee dress sitting by the
register In the corridor OF the diminutive lock
up OF the Town Hsll. in Flushing. L. l.. distant
ABOUT ten miles from our own CiLy Hall Heavy
Ioius oil Tow coiored hair formed a sort OF tawdy
curtain 10 heavily furrowei prov from under
which pair OF restless. keen stee-gray ewes
Sharply examined your correspondent who
was talking 10 her and the remark which opans
this letter was made Ia RESPONSE 10 an INQUIRY
as TO the correctness OF certain newspsnar
reports which said That she attempted
10 take poison when the officers arrested har AT
the hotel In Newark. \. j.. last sunday. wnerp
she was living under an alias MIA Allen mas
neen news sensation In the metrOpOlittu
dailies for some weeks and her arrest affar
the orthodox asSinlne biunde"s OF the darac
tives who have been following CLUES rather
than the real object OF Their search mas given the
she was arrested was for an attempt u
murder Mary HanDelL You are uouoties,
familiar with the original expose. In
which the latter was found fastened into a
deserted mansion near Flushing. without ne
or food. aid In nearly famished condition Sh
had been put there by Mrs. Allen. who rented
the house, and who. it Is asserted, had obCaina
aMonderful influence over the unfortunate girl
Mhen the newspapers first made the discovery
thefe was great derth OF news and as is Gus
,Unaly IA snch cases. they gave the story fic
tltious Importance making Mary Hammpll on
10 DE victim TO horrible plot against her life
ana MIS- Allen TO be nendIsh hsg, vampire
plood.thiTstv ogress, and a whole lot OF otaer
cheerful Things. When the immaculate prp a
begun TO thunder its denunclattons and hurled
anathemas by the wholesale al the he al of Mrs
Alien it was the most natural hing in the world
she should seeksto disappear from the public
gaze, and In this she Was successful for short
un,e.
When saw her In tie Flushing lookup she
received me with great polttenesS. apologiZlng
for not asking me 10 take seat By sayins that
y Oh notice there Is only one chair and know
you are too much OF a gentleman 10 accept II IL
1 were 10 rise and Offer IL to you. | am only
guest here and SO you must not hold me respon-
STOLE for the arrangements" Then she apollo
gized for her personal appearance. They tell
me have grown Old twenty years since this
trouble came upon me- she continued and
am sure look as though had really come out
or Noah's ark" This last remark was made
with true touch OF feminine pride and sho ned
so unnistakabiy a desire that should reassurr
her on that point that 1t was no tax on my cor
science 70 delicately compliment her on the
remarkable manner In which she has risen
superior TO unhappy events and disagreeable
surroundings AS nearly as | can learn the
facts OF her past career, she must be between
65 and 20 years OF age, although She claims TO
be about 90 Then she went on to tell me OF
her relations with Mary Hammeil, how she had
done every thing In the world for the poor.
half-Witted girl" and had never felt anything
but kindness for her loving her like sister. II
have always been doing good to other people"
she said, always doing Just such things. but
bolted doors that surrounded her-.'almost dts
courages me-" You must know that Mrs Allen
Is professional philapthroplst, a sort of gen
teel evangelical dead-beat according to the
popular estimate OF her Ife-worK 10 which
she has devoted many years. "You may say
that am as innocent OF the charges on which
fore whom her preliminary examination Is TO
lake place today, toid me that he did no,
believe She could be held on the charge OF an
attempt to Kill, but that she undoubtedly would
Mra
Allen Is well connected, and Ia times past have
had many powerful friends. Whether they
VIII come to her relief In her present dire strait
am sure do not know. In the short time
enjoyed the pleasure OF her society she talked
great deal OF religion TO me, and it Is not her
fault that | have not already decided TO leave
Journalism for the ministry. When she caus-
tically remarked that There is more room for
missionary work In Flushing and In Queens
county than in Timbuctoo," quite agreed with
her; Altogether the case Is queer one, and
Will puzzle the lawyers aud the courts, be
neye, as much as it has already puzzled the
public.
GEN. GRANT AGAIN.
In my letter TO YOU II fortnight ago, as you
will doubtless remember, took occasion TO
suggest the name OF General Grant for several
important positions. You must have felt q
very proper pride when you discovered thai
your influential Journal had been the means OF
having General Grant appointed president OF
the Worlds Fair Commission f)T 1888. Before
that the prospects or the exhibition looked
dubious. Now everything looks promising FOR
the complete success or the enterprise.
THE HOTEL MEN,
TIE meeting OF the Hotel Mems Mutual Bane-
lit Association Of the United States aud Canada
in this city last week was a representative
gathering OF one of the most import ant in
tSreStS In the country. Everything possible
was done to make visiting members enjoy The 4
selves, including dinner at the Metrop1lita
Eotel and all sorts OF excursions and divertise
mentS.
THE sToRM AGAIN.
You have already had so much about he great
storm that played havoc here last Friday that
VIII not bore you with any details. The result,
OF that storm, however, were most astonishing
TO New Workers. For one night we were prac-
tically Isolated from the OUTSIDE world owing to
the TACT that all the telegraph lines were either
down or SO tangled up that communication was
impossible. We had no telephone no market
quotations, 10 associated press news or ''spe-
Gals" no Are alarm. and then IL was that We
came to realizing sense OF how much We de-
pend upon what electricity has done for US, and
how helpless We are without IL. To be sure we
had the railroads LETT, and these were the only
means by which business men could reach their
correspondents Bat we had reminder OF the
old times still more striking 10 a nre patrol on
horseback, looking for fires, and 2 reltillzation
OF the long dsuSed watch-IoweFS. That storm
not only taught us TO be thanStul for blessings
that We had ceased TO regard as 30cn, but It also
gave US valuable suggestions in other ways.
The cost OF repairs which the telegraph cOmpa-
MES have TO derray would very nearly, II not
quite, pay the entire cost OF running all the
wires In pipes underground instead OF on poles
as at present. Add TO this the fncllculable
damage to the general business OF the country
caused by the delay In every department ana
you VIII get some idea OF what that storm has
done for us.
ODDS ANB ENDS.
Al last the obellsk is In position In Central
Park-aS you might have discovered La Last
sundays World-and henceforth 80 centuries
will look down with classic contempt aud as
constituent On what in reality Is still a very
young and immature metropolis.
Another U 'Leary walk Is In progress this week
at the American 1nstitute-si1 days. go-aS-y ou-
please. out OF field of thirty starters a third
have already dropped out One would suppose
that this pedestrian plague would have ex-
hausted Itself long ago, but the people are
going in thousands to see the fellows in tights
make double barreled fools OF themselves.
The Markets.
BALTIMORE, Jan. 29.-Yirgi1ia skies, old, 80
bid, do. deferred. Il asked: do oensols. 80 bid
do second SERIES 70 bu; do. past due coupo is.
do taD-f ~