Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-10
LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS.
catches Of NswSy Gossip which arc the
Theme Of Much Comment.

a strange scene in Blocker street, at the
head Of Elizabeth street, last night. The
first named thoroughfare. between Broad
wax and the Bowery, is one Of the worst
streets in the city. Nearly every house
on each side Of the street Is what the
French call a aGiS0a dc joe, and a large
pr oPortion 0f the many saloons are not
able 70 get a license because they are no
toriOusly the resort Of gamblers, prize
fighters and thieves. Their want OF
license, however, does not prevent their
keeping ostentatiously open. and they
command better trade than more repu-
table places. Magdalens have taken such
complete possession of the street, between
the limits named. that Superintendent
W alling not long ago in broad daylight
was put 70 such open shame by pair OF
them that he was forced 10 attempt their
arrest. He succeeded in locking one up
only after a severe struggle, IN Whlcn ne
was badly bitten and severely scratched.
The other made triumphant escape. AT
night these creatures crowd the sidewalks
50 that il is difficult to get through the
street, and passers-by have their clothing
torn in resisting their opportunities. All
Of police headquarters,
In the midst Of this open, shameless
vice Leander Scott. a Methodist street
preacher, mounted on a small table at the
junction Of Blocker and Elizabeth streets
last evening. called sinners tOrepentance.
The call was but little needed. The pres
ence Of policemen caused the small and
constantly changing crowd OF men ana
bows. whom curiosity attracted around the
D..
respectful attention. but within sound of
his voice the usual shameful scenes were
enacted which have given Blocker street
its evil name. The same electric light
shone upon the preacher preaching right
eOusness and prostitutes plying their
trade. The light itself was the outward
and visible sign of a saloon whose inward
Wi kedness was made manifest by the
sound OF ribald songs and obscene lam
guage which fOated out into the street.
and interrupted the preacher as he warned
wrOng-doers to flee from the wrath to
come. Between the earnest but inelo-
quent mans hating sentences
could be heard the strains Of the licen-
tiOus music to which Cyprians and their
hardly less vile male associates were
dancing the imitation Of the cancan. in
Theodore Aliens ''Mabille." two short
blocks distant. Yet ignorant that he was
increasing the evil he had come to COM
bat by attracting people into the street
and thereby adding to the patrons Of the
prostitutes, Mr.. scott talked on, and other
speakers. who succeeded him, prolonged
what was too melancholy to be called a
farce far into the night. Last nights was
the second of a series of similar meetings
which Mr.. Scott intends to hold in the
same place as long as the weather cOntin-
ues warm enough. He has preached.
with what be considers success in other
Of the disreputible quarters Of New York
for many Years past, and he Is hopeful
Of beng able 10 do good even in Blocker
street, which. by the way, and not so very
long ago either. used to be one Of the
fashionable streets Of the city.
SOME EXCITEMENT WAS CREATED
in one of the newspaper offices on Sunday
evening by the presentation for publica-
ton Of a notice announcing the death Of
Albert Castor de st. James. "WhO's he?"
asked the clerk in the counting room to
whom the notice was handed, cOnceiving
that the pOssessOr of such high sounding
name must be a person Of consequence.
Il am not here to answer questions" re-
turned the young man VINO brought the
announcement for insertion, "but l will
say this much in a mysterious Whis-
per-: He was one Of the unfortunate race
tice did not tell where the Chevalier de
st. James died, 50 that the efforts Of the
newspaper reporters to ascertain what
the Young man meant were fruitless. The
French Consul. who was appealed to.
suggested that he might have been 4
member of a bastard branch Of the family,
which, he said. still figured in France.
Its members, who are said to be descend
ants Of the elder pretender, however, call
themselves FitZ James.
The Stuarts in the legitimate line were
indeed an unfortunate race. People or
dinarily only remember the unhappy end
Of Charles l., and Of his grandmother, the
fair Queen Of Scots, who, as their adj
mirers claim, came TO the sca1fOld more
through their misfOrtunes than their
fault, While the bigOtry Of James II.
causes one to ignore his dying discrOwned
and in exile. In reality, however, from
the days the High Steward Of Scotland
married the daughter Of Robert
Bruce and thus promoted his family
to royalty, the Stuarts, with few
exceptions, have led unhappy lives,
and died early and violent deaths.
Certainly this is true Of the race from the
time OF James l, and the kings of that
name, with the exception Of the learned
idiot who united the thrones Of England
and Scotland, and his eXiled grandson,
persisted by deaths only less miserable
than that Of Charles, the Martyr. and
Mary, Of Scotland. James |. was assas-
sinated; James II, was killed by the
bursting Of a cannon when not more than
thirty-iye; James III. was murdered by
traitors: James ". was killed in the bat
tie Of FlOdden; James v, as his daughter
is made to say in one Of ScOtt's novels.
died early Of a broken heart. II James the
sixth Of Scotland and First of England
lived life happier, perhaps, than his de-
serts, his mother and his son
were cut OF by deaths as terrible as
as they were strange to royalty. Charles
H., who in his youth was a King without
a kingdom, but was not taught wisdom by
adversely, had, like his grandfather, a
better fate than he deserved, but his
stupid brother, who had learned nothing
from his fathers tate, and forgotten moth
ing Of Bloody Mary's bigOtry paid the
penalty Of his intolerance. AS for James
II.'s son and grandson, what more I'M
happy heritage could have been be-
queathed to them than rights TO a king
dom which they were never to possess:
Well content must the Cardinal of York
have been to be the last Of the race. For
tunately for her present Majesty of Eng
land a daughter of the house of Stuart
bequeathed a fairer fate to her descend
ants than was reserved for the sons of the
family.
WHAT ONE OF THE MORNING PAPERS
of yesterday called the incoming exc
dus," or something equally absurd, is be-
coming apparent to even the stranger
within our gates. Express wagons, piled
high with trunks, continually rattle over
every street at all hours of the day and
night. 1t viii be a month or more yet,
however, before the fashionable folk who
have country houses of their own return
to town.
One of its periodical ''shake-uDs" has
just been given 10 the Herald staff. Every
now and then the writers on that paper
are transferred from one position to
another, apparently on the principle of
the man who said al a restaurant, "If
this is coffee want tea; if it's tea want
want a change" Mr.. Bennett,
or his representative, has yearned for
another change, and gratifed his yearn-
ing.
The newspaper interviewer must hide
his diminished head in view of what the
Senate Committee accomplished yester-
day. A wilderness of reporters certainly
could not have got Jay Gould to talk as
freely as he did to the Senatorial solons.
Nd.
Kentucky's Governors.
The C0urier-JOurndl draws the follow