The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-03-10
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

Specimen Brick of the Salvation Army
Frightful Calamity-Star Actors-Post
office Robbery-The Arion Ball, etc.
NEW YORK. March 3, 1888.
EDITOR CHIEF:
1t is only a few weeks since had al
occasion to record the shooting of a vii
lain in broad daylight, and the woundinI
Of one of the most faithful police officer
i'll the city; and now we have an accoun
of two other officers shot by u murderon
villain, and that they were not boil
killed is wonder. A couple of month";
ago a respectable looking young ma,
was detected in the act of entering
house from which the family were absent
He was committed for burglary, ant
pending the trial was admitted to bail
He represented himself as stranger
from Baltimore, named Harrison, who
had got into the house by mistake. The
story did not 60 down with the police
but in some way all influence was usel
on the District. Attorney, aud against the
protests of the police authorities he was
| admitted to bail in $1,000. 1t then tran,
spired that the bail furnished was straw
| and later still, that the nice young man
| was a noted criminal by the name oI
Horan, whose photograph was one of the
chief objects Of interest in tile rogue's
"a,
known at headquarters it was resolved
to arrest Koran, and couple Of the best
detectives in the city were deputed to do
the job. They cornered the burglar at
an elevated station up town, and just as
they were going to arrest him he shot
them both and got off himself without a
scratch
| don't wonder that Herbert Spencer
and Oscar Wilde think we are hardly up
to the standard of modern civilization.
A Norwegian or Finn when he reads of
murder in Arizona, a lynching in Mis-
sissippi, or vendetta in Kentucky, its
all America to him he has no idea that
the United States is larger than Europe,
so it is not astonishing that as the vessel
comes up New York harbor you see them
standing near the bow with their trusty
yagers and shotguns in their hands, all
ready to have Il shct at an Indian or
buffalo.
One thing is pretty certain, and that
is, Notwithstanding our stringent laws
and heavy penalties against carrying
firearms, ten times as many men carry
pistols and knives as were carried thirty
years ago. Brawlers and bullies there
were, and plenty Of them; street fights
galore; Moses and Sykeses were no ideal
pictures, but substantial realities of flesh
and blood, that might be found in every
engine house, or sitting on the top of
every fre-plug; but the resort to the
pistol or knife was rare, even in the most
desperate encounters, and it was not till
the invention of Colt made eit posi-
BILE for u man to turn himself into a
walking battery that pistol carrying be-
came common among the I'll f1ians of New
York. Take two items and we have the
keystones to most of the brutal crimes
which cloud the fair fame of this other
wise beautiful city-rum and the
revolver. Only tho other day a lot of
registering boys were -balllng each
other in the street; one of the snow balls
struck the window of an eccentric law
yer in the vicinity; he Immediately
opened fire on the boys, seriously wound
ing one Of hem, and when he was taken
to the police station and searched, they
found ou his person three revolvers, two
derringers and a couple of bowie knives,
in addition to which formidable arma-
ment his innocent looking cane turned
out to be a murderous air-gun, capable
of bringing cat down from a neighbor's
fence at a hundred yards. 1t seems to
be mania on the part Of our boys to
get possession of a pistol, and the yellow
covered literature which is sent out by a
number of disreputable firms here is
simply Il school for pirates and thieves,
which ought to be suppressed by legis-
lation.
A sensation was created in the ranks
Of the Salvation Army by a young lieu
tenant who brought to the police station
a blushing young damsel, who had been
pursuing him and9 eudeavoring to win
him from the straight and narrow path
in which he was walking. The girl was
desperately in love, but the Salvation
soldier didn't sentimentalize for a cent !;
his pocket Bible and volume of Saliva
tion hymns proved to him a couple of
sheet anchors. 1t was something of a
struggle, to be sure, but am happy to
say that the Salvation soldier triumphed.
He conquered the flesh and the devil,
and when he found that the fond fair
one would not 30 back to her parents as
he desired her to do, he took her by the
arm and walked her off to the police
station, and handed her over to the Off
GERS of the law for safe keeping. This
Salvation soldier set an example which
is worthy of imitation. l know plenty
of protesting Christians who would not
have taken the trouble that he did to
save foolish young girl from ruin. So
lam forced to confess that however much
l may dislike the Salvation Army, that
good may come out of Nazareth.