National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-19
GOTHAM CHANCES.
THE LATEST NEW YORK GOSSIP.
Stewards House-The Stores and Show Windows
Dress N0Yelties-Electrie Lights-The Whit
taker Case-Neu York Thugs-Is it
Safe to Live There!
Special TO The Republican.

| come. You may be surprised at this poetic all
nOuncement and wonder how l found it out
whether have interviewed the earliest Robin or
| gathered violets in Broadway. / have done
| neither; have not even visited our park, which
Senator Astor insists must be kept for the purposes
OF park, and on no account used for the exposl-
| ton. The infallible calendar which have con-
suited is to be found only in the windows of our
great dry goods stores, which. during the last few
days, have blossomed out with prints and muslins,
summer silks, and spring wraps. The old house OF
A. t. Stewart for so many years the headquarters
| for shoppers at home and abroad, strange TO say
| begins to show the influence of sentiment over
| trade. When the Womans Hotel proved such
| complete fzzle, great many women resolved tnat
| they would not patronize the store The owners
smiled at the threat, fully convinced that custom
would come where the goods were kept But
gradually
THE INFLUENCE OF THE THREAT
begins to be felt The store is often full but il is
matter of general remark that it longer presents
| the appearance OF a thrOnged emporium, which it
| once did. The windows at McCreery's are the
most noticeable in the city. Talk of primrose beds
| and violet banks! Here are flowers from every
| cline and of every hue; there are dafodils and
jonquis. roses and fuSehias, violets and daisies,
ferns and grasses, and tropical branches of palms.
One Sunday afternoon last winter an explosion
I
Creerys thought was a small earthquake. One of
| the furnaces in the cellar had burst, and among
other damage it did il blew out these radiant win
dows. But it made no difference with the spring
| flowers. There are new windows there now, as
| full of blossoms as ever.
| WALKING on Up BROADWAY
| you pass number of stores of more or less fame
| till you come to Arnold's, where there are no
special show windows but where the display in
e.. do aifr
is an especial clientele of old New York families be-
longing to this establishment, many of whom,
dare say, do not enter any other dry goods store
| half dozen times during the year. At Lord d
| TaylOrs, ON the next block, there is just now a
hand-painted white satin dress in one of the win
| dows, which attracts throngs of people. Mr.. Lord
| talks about q policeman with a club to keep the
sidewalk clear. These names are land marks to
the shoppers; for years they have been conned
over and over in connection with elegant goods
and recherche toilettes. But now new names ap-
pear which at least dispute their supremacy.
Happening in at Stern Bros. at an informal OPEN
ing of several boxes of imported goods, 1 saw the
delicate French CONNECTIONS from Worth and from
| Grange Magentis, which are so bewidering and
bewitching. If Mr.. Tennyson had known the
modern young lady he would not have said that
| her thoughts turned to
| LOVE IN THE SPRING
! time. No, you can see how it is yourself in any
| bright afternoon, you can see how they throng
| such an emporium, and how their minds alb
sorbed in the spring openings. Grays or drabs
with tint Of rose-color in bows or in cord and
tassel, is one of the favOrite combinations. With
| this is worn little gray bonnet of silk. With
trimmings of lace, covered with cut steel beads and
a cluster Of ose-colored ostrich tips You occa-
sionally see flowers in the windows of miliners or
! modistes but very few of them are worn. The
keynote for the fashions of the coming season is
metalic-bmetallic one might say, for it is not
only silver with pink, or silver with blue but gold
with blue or mauve. Bunchiness is the leading
characteristic in the novelties for spring wraps
They are puckered on the shoulders. The large,
loose sleeves of the dolmans are shirred and fin
ished with loopings of satin ribbon, and they are
shfrred down the back. Are they pretty? Very.
They are quaint, old fashioned and withal grace
| full
I SAW ONE GRAY SUIT
less than $40 in price, that was quite marked ex
ample of the antique, and at the same time
dressy and pretty style. The short skirt was quite
full, finished at the bottom with box pleating,
and above it cluster of five tucks; there was
gathered bodice belted at the waist, and with it
was worn the dolman have described. But it is
q mistaken notion that such garment can be
Worn to advantage by an ungainly or an ungrace-
full figure; on the contrary, erect carriage and
elegant figure really essential If one must be
angular in their movements it is better to wear
straight outlined English sacque, or even meal
bag pattern. Edison has last turned business man.
He isto be found in his transformed shape IS Fifth
| avenue, and i'll his shining beaver and clothes of
fashionable cut he presents very different ap-
pearance from the we'll known wizard of Menlo
Park He announces his work as complete his
experiments finished, and the incandeseent horse
shoe is no longer to be hid under bushe but is to
light the world.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS
of the Brush patent with which the city is already
illuminated in Spots is very satisfactory, and
quite puts the old fashioned yellow gaslights out
of countenance. ] went into the Army Building
the other day, where the Whitaker case is now
being tried by military tribunal. The court dis
plays great quantity of brass buttons and gilded
epaulettes, and are most of them large men-at
least in physical sense. Whitaker was dressed
in the West Point gray cadet uniform. He is very
pale, tan rather than black, and his elosely-cut
hair shows but little tendency to kink. His face
seems boyish, frank, and good natured the breadth
between the eyes being quite remarkable, an indi-
cation, physiognomists say, of candor and OPEN
ness and characteristics opposed to craft and
scheming. The question of interest was to obtain
Photographic copies of the threatening letter. Ex-
Governor Chandler wanted to examine them out
side of the building, and had not yet been per-
mitted to do so by Judge Advocate Gardner
More copies were, however, ordered by the court
one of the military gentlemen remarking that no
matter if it 100000 we want to get at the facts
of this case. But it seems that this truth lies at
the bottom of very deep well, and the proceed
ings so far have not succeeded in fishing much of
it out. The testimony OF one of the detectives en-
ployed in the case was to say the least very anus
ing. He said that
WOKKJStI Up THE
he interviewed large number Of the cadets, and
that at these interviews every one of them knew
that he was detective employed on this special
case. The question was asked if detective service
was usually conducted in this way. He admitted
that it was not generally so conducted. "Then,"
said one of the members of the court facetiously
"this case was worked up ON truly gentlemanly
principles" 1t is becoming more and more haz-
ardous to live in New York. 1t is not only that
malaria eonfronts us even on Fifth avenue or
Broadway, or that the food furnished in the aver
age restaurants is delnsion and snare, but the
actual dangers which encompass US are growing
daily greater and greater. Talk ofthe vicissitudes
of life travel the frontier, or the perils of
crossing the ocean, why was recently wrecked in
Broadway omnibus, and saw two gentlemen in
the nobbiest spring attire thrown from the front
platform of a street-car as it was going around a
curve. Yesterday Mrs. Eva 4. Kinney, in one of
our police courts, brought suit against two pick
pockets, who, by jostliDg, pushing, and blowing
tobacco smoke in her face while she was getting
off one of the street-cars, succeeded in taking her
pocket-book, containing Si0.95. Last week a lady