Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-01-24
GOTHAM GOSSIP.
Correspondence of the Republican

! The sensation Of the week was unques-
( tionablyssthe suit for $4,000 damages for
! breach Of promise of marriage. brought
: bv Miss Mary A. A Livingston, against
! Henry Fleming, young millionaire.
: The details as developed in the course
| of the trial were prurient in the extreme,
! and of course ;he court room in Brook lyn
WAS packe to repletiOn with curiosity
seekers. The trial resulted in Il verdict
| for the plaintiff for the full amount asked
! for. the heaviest amount ever awarde in
breach Of promise case in the history Of
! legal practice Now there is no doubt
| that such a verdict would mot have been
| given in any other city in the Union save
Brooklvn. That city has not It's like in
! the country. It has more scandals to the
square yaru than other large cities have
to the sqare mile. 1t combines the pecu-
| liar frlskine5s Of Chicago with the out
| ward occurrences Of Quaker town.
Everybody goes to the church and yet
everybody looks as if he or her had a
history. Outs de of that, however, Mr..
! Flemings case was groSslv mismanaged.
! His lawyer, Mr. Howe, who IS very good
at,savlng criminals from the gall0ws,
seems to have been at sea in this case,
lie attacked the girl in the most brutal
manner
said lawyer to me, man who At one
time filled the position of judge in one Of
our leading ) ate Courts, aud who has
gained many lurols by his pieadings at
the bar, tine day OF bullying a plaintiff
or neaplng vile abuse on him, and treat
! ing INN or her III such manner as to
arouse all that is manly in bystanders
are over. A.lawyer who attempts to re-
| ly on such a method will not alone lose
his own cases, but he will make him5elt
liable to prosecution. The spirit of the
aye IS III favor oi moderation, and II was
| hiph t!,4r nat this spirit made itself ieit.
m appeal has ee taken from the
/ vpruict N additional evidence against
tn character UI the woman has IL l.
cl med been discovered. During the ui-
i, T. WAS CHARGED that Miss LlvinsstD
had been intimate with her mCtneI' 8
rnachman. one Alexander Cornelius.
| TINS person has now came forward and
pr,siucei the letters alleged to have been
! written to him by the girl. IhIs Ut
course will open the slui,e gates agaln.
The spectacle is not ed1iying. And yet,
strange are the workings OF woman 5
mind, or rather feelings, this girl even
now would marry Fleming were ne Will
ing. | am 80 informed by person
who knows both parties.
The first OF the great masquerade balls
is over. The French Society L'Amlnc
gave their tenth annual masquerade at
the Academy of Music last evening, and
of course the place was packed after MIA
nirht. L'Amtie's Is not thes trence. Ball,
il u but the preliminary canter, to Use d
racing phrase to the grand pageant oi
the Cercle Fra lcaiSe de = Harmonic
next Monday Then III rapid succession
come the Eiks, the Llerkranz Aron
pageants. The ball-g will be pretty
well worn out by the beginning of Lent
The season Cl penance and sOrrOw tins
year begins on the 7th of February, and
thus all extreme wOrldllness Will nave 10
be COMPRESSED into two weeks. While
at the Amitie ball, it struck me, that
somehow the taste for masquerades and
carnival extravagances is on the wane
in New York. There were crowds oi
coulse, but the crowd came more to look
on than TO take part in the fun, and tt s
is bound to kill such affairs, for when
fun EN- masque becomes iunereal 1t c. asses
to be fun and everybody walks home
.'tired.'' in the vernacular of Wall Street.
Besides, the societies WHO get up these
affairs are not spending any money for
pareants and monster surprises and this
very clearly shows what way the wind IS
blowing. The St. Johns Guild which
every year gave one of the famous "Mar-
tha Washington" Recl ptions, has this
year decided to give no public entertain
ment. The truth is, society has had SO
many private entertainments this winter
that the participants in them seek rather
more rest than additional excitement
Apropose OF the Milwaukee hotel fire,
our Building Inspectors are actively en-
gagged in examining every pu0llc house
of comfort to see whether the means OF
escaping from fire are adequate. Now,
according to the statement OF one OF the
inspectors of the department, every one
of the big carayansarles is a death trap
in case of fire, but the system of vigil
ance inaugurated in the leading establish
ments is calculated to reduce the danger
from flames to minimum. Only about
three weeks ago fire broke out IN one
of the most fashionable hotels in up
per Fifth Avenue. One of the pipes
was overheated which set fire to the
flooring and then to the carpet in one Of
the roons The porters headed by the
engineer who had been we'll drilled went
to work with an energy which produced
the best results. In ten minutes they
had ripped the burning floor up and in
halt an hour the flames which might
have caused dresdful loss of life were
extinguished The hotel people were
anxious to keep the matter out Of the
newspapers and this statement here is
the first that has appeared regarding the
occurrence shall not mention the name
of the hotel in question, but it is in Fifth
Avenue not very far from Central Park.
A Catholic priest of my acquaintance
had an amusing adventure in street car
the other day. He is one Of those few
clergymen of modern days who remain
pool because they find SO much misery to
relieve. He was riding in a street car Oh
his way to sick call. In his overcoat
! .o.l- ot bo oarriaJ :. lar0a oamOrandum