The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-12-29

toLe, GlougII lIle Iauy sprung from race
American kings, while the lord was only
third-rater in his own country. Exclusiv
of the dresses prepared for the occasion, til
amount expended could not be less tina
twenty thousand dollars This sum wa
1avishly wasted on lot of people who ha
good homes of their own, who were abund
antly able to pay for all they got, who wer
well fed and well clad, and who wante
nothing. Twenty dollars each to thou
sand employees on the Central road woul
have been godsend and blessing in thi
wintry time, but Mr.. Vanderbilt neye
thought of that. This .ostentatious displa
OF his wealth, while it may have gratifie
his vanity and that of the toadies abou
him, with the mass of the people has bu
intensified the dislike and detestation whic
seems to centre on his family name, an
which, if the rude forces now held in partia
check should ever break loose, would max
him wish that milestone had been tie
about his neck, and that he had bee]
drowned in the sea.
The concentration of wealth in a fey
hands is becoming more and more man
1fest every day. The new Produce Exchange
opposite the Bowling Green, is the mos
magnificent building of the kind in th
United States. It is only a few years age
since the Exchange occupied its forme
quarters on Whitehall street. It then looked
like a very grand affair-now it woult
scarcely serve as an outhouse for the pres
ent establishment. Not many years ago ,
million of dollars was looked upon as very
large sum, now they put up buildings cost
Ing three or four millions, and seem tf
think nothing about it.
Early this week a man died in abiec,
Wretchedness, an outcast and tramp, who
a lew years ago was welcome guest in the
most % fashlonable houses in town. He was
the son OF German baron, and the heil
| to vast estate, but some scandalous con-
duct abroad compelled him to fly from his
native land, his father giving him S1OO, 600
Ills rank and fortune procured him entry
INTO our best society, where his conduct
gave such offense that he was banished
from every house. He ran through his for
tune, and deserted by those who had known
hlm, became ragged outcast and tramp;
he might be seen any day wandering through
the streets, picking stray bits of food from
ash barrels; the love OF drink clung to hin,
to the last, and on Tuesday he was found
dead in the street.
Oakley Hall is going abroad, and it is now
some years since I had the honor of writing Q
him somewhat unhattering obituary. Mr.,
Hall was the Mayor of the City of New York
In the days of Tweed's ring, and winked at
the robbery of the ring thieves, if he did
not share in the plunder. In single morn
ing he signed away three million dollars of
the City's money, to Carvey, IngersolI and
other Williams who were engaged in plum
dering the city. On the 18th Of July, when
the Catholic rioters attempted to drive the
Orangemen from the streets, and the riot
cost number of lives, Hail sided with the
rioters and nearly plunged the City in anar-
chy. When Tweed, Connolly and Sweeney
fled, Hall held the fort for a time, when
one n; morning the city was startled with the
intelligence that Oakley Hall had disap-
peared, no one knew how or where he went.
Every thing In his law Office remained ex-
actly as he left it the night before. Nothing
IN his house was disturbed, he had not taken
a change OF clothes, nor any thing that
looked like flight. Every one thought that,
driven to desperation by the ruin of his
friends, he had jumped from ferryboat
into the river. Weeks passed by and an
enterprlslng newspaper reporter discovered
him III obscure lodgings in London. After
q time he returned to New York, but Oakley
Han was changed man. In the days Of his
power and pride he took the greatest de-
llghtln exhibiting himself, and no public
gathering OF distinguished dinner was per-
tect without him. Since his return he has
avoided observation as much as possible,
and abandoning his law practice, has de-
voted himself to journalism, being engaged
until recently as writer on the New York
World. The guild of newspaper scribes all
felt kindly to him SO that his name was
seldom seen III print. He goes abroad as
correspondent for the World, and there is
no doubt of his success, as he is one of the
most brilliant and witty writer's on the New
York press. Few men have seen greater
changes than he. In short two years he
descended from imperial wealth to almost
squalid poverty, and from imperial power
to the estate of an outcast and a fugitive
from justice. He now goes abroad at the
age OF sixty to commence, as it were, his
i1fe anew. AS he looks back upon the past
with It's wasted opportunities, its ruined
ambitions, and its withered hopes, let us
hope that the future will not be all a blank
for Oakley Hall. Besides being a scholar,
an artist, and poet he is generous and
a kindly man. On Thursday night num-
Der of friends, who had known him in his
more prosperous days, gave him a porting
dinner: The company was not large, but Sc
lect, with more brains among the forty or
fifty who sat down to table, than could be
found among the thousand guests at the
Vanderbilt ball on Tuesday. Wine flowed
and wit flashed, and for few hours at least,
it looked like the return of the golden past
The party gave him parting God-speed,
and he IS now on bis way to Europe.
:, Mrs. Christiancy, the divorced wife of
Senator Christiancy, died in Brooklyn on
Thursday night, 3 raving maniac. It
only seems like the other day that l saw her
in Washington, on the day of her marriage,
young, lovely, and elyied by the two thou
sand female treasury clerks, whose COM
panionship she left to become the wife of
a Senator of the United States. The bright
hopes of that brilliant day are dust and
ashes now, and after all the terrible scan |
aals of the past few years, the broken heart |
is now at rest.
Yours truly, BROADBRIM.