The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-12-09
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

L n
Crimes-Beauties Of the +. Ran Aris-
| t0cratic slugger-The Bartoldi Statue
Holiday Goods and Prices.
New YORK, December 2, 1882.
EDITOR CHEF:
The snow storm which swept down
on us tue day before Thanksgiving,
though it left the city i'll awful condi-
| tion, was, nevertheless, a blessing in
| disguise, for many a poor fellow, who
otherwise would have gone without his
Thanksgiving dinner, got a chance at
shoveling snow and in very short time,
if ne had any industry at all, earned
sufficient to participate joyfully i'll the
Thanksgiving holiday. -.
We have much to give thinks for-the
splendid fall weather, the sbundant crops
and the general prosperity Of the coun-
try-but while inclined to be thankful
for the abundance of the crops, we feel
like giving an occasional grnmble, for
everything is up to familk prizes. Chari-
ity is open-handed, but 4eses of destitu-
ton occur, as grievous aathsy are shock
ing.
Acts of savagery arc heard Of from time
to time, which would dissrAce Cannibal
or a Hottentot. In ons &c sour courts
this week an Irishwoma by the name
Of Hullohan, was brought into court
with six starving childien, all covered
with rags and verinin, and the poor
mother had both her eyes beaten out by
her brutal drunken husband. The sight
was SO hcartrending that tears came into
the eyes Of the Police Judge, and old
court officers, hardened by years of assp-
citation with all sorts If suffering aud
crime, wept like children. The wretch
Hullohan had stripped his miserable
home Of every article Of furnituro that
could be pawned for drink, and when
his poor wife pleaded with him for her
starving children, he beat her blind with
a stone. Only the day before another
brute was sentenced to States Prison for
life for beating his wife t. death with u
bed-slat. Well might Mr.. Beecher say
that Brooklyn was the city of grog-shops
instead of churches. In 1he orderly city
of Brooklyn on Monday last nearly two
hundred liquor dealers we're arrested for
violation of the Sunday law, which for
bids the selling of liquor OIL tho Sabbath
day. The Chief of Police fondly i'm
agined because the front doors were shut
that no liquor was sold, aut every saloon
had " Family eutrance,p and into this
family entrance the people poured on
Sunday. The sight Of drunken men and
drunken boys became more common on
the Sabbath day than on weekdays, and
the magnitude of the evil is going to
make the temperance question very
important factor in all future elections.
The vast increase of intenperance iii our
large cities is a question with which
legislation will have to grapple before
long. Whether the impending battle
will end in prohibition or some regula-
ton by which the devil, Rum, can be
held in manacles is something at present
beyond my ken. Thinking men are re-
garding it as much in the light of politi-
cal economy as Of humanity, and it re-
solves itself into the simple question,
"Does it payi" Arc the jails and the
orphans and the widows and the wives
and the wretched drunkards, male ard
female, and the paupers compensated for
by the license that society wrings from
the liquor:dealer or tho tax that the
General Government sxacts from the
manufacturer This vital question will
rise up at every future election in this
State, and men will keep asking Does
it pay :"
The lawless element, in this city are
tremendous power. Occasionally our
police get virtuous til on, and We hear
of a sudden raid OH gambling house or
lottery shop; but it is only spasm.
The fit only lasts sing night and then
goes to sleep again forsix months. 1t is
only a short time since the District
Attorney announced that we were to
have 40 more glove fights, and as the
great knocker-out Sullivan had nearly
murdered man i'll Washington we
thought We had got rid of him for a year
at least; but on Monday night a broken
down bruiser by the n,mo of Tom Allen
was advertised for a benefit, and the
affair brought together tho elite of the
Fancy; all the pickpockets, burglars,
gamblers and politicians turned out, and
the result was most gratifying. In ono
sense it was blessing. for a mans watch
or pocketbook was gu to safe for nearly
three hours on any ofthe street cars or
ferries, all the thieves Icing at the boxing
match. Tom Allen vas once noted
bruiser; he had figurod freq uently in the
prize ring, and was ace regarded as Il
champion. Well, the champion is now a
miserable wreck, and, 10 give his benefit
u fighting flavor, he iRited Mr.. Sullivan
to knock him out. Ofcourse there was
a tremendous So ueeze. Wall street is q
liberal patron OF the ?. r. and the dog
pit, SO Wall street tigued i'll the reserved
seats. Our sapient Chef Of Police sent
up plltoen of police to keep order
that is to say, that Whenever this viii