Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-16

Some Oddities in Suicides-Mrs. Paran
Stevens Sunday Evening HOspitaIi-
ties.
Correspondence oTthe Morning Nelos.
NEW YORK, March 13.-We have met
the enemy and they are ours. is the proud
motto of the O'Brien faction of the Re
publican party in this city to-day. The
| attempt of the ''swallow tailsp to depose
the ''short hairs' from power and elect
another Chairman of the Republican gen.
eral committee in place of Johnny OBJ.
has resulted in their utter discontinue.
The 0'Brien still rules the rOOst, and is
left apparently free to make whatever
bargains and ''deals' he may find neces-
sary next autumn with the Kelly of Tam
many Hall. There is however, a seamy
side to his triumph. The ''swallow tails,
hold the party purse, and they may refuse
to furnish the sineWs of war to the ''short
hairs'' when the time for action comes.
The latter cannot make bricks without
straw, and may not, in this event, be able
to deliver the goods, should they effect
bargain with Tammany Hall, with !
out money to grease the wheels of
the machine. Although all seems to
be harmony now, and the swallow tails'' /
on the surface submit gracefully to their /
defeat, it is more than likely that many |
| ordinarily large contributors to the cam |
paign corruI ton fund will withhold their /
offerings, and the operations Of the E'short /
hairs'' will be prOpOrtiOnately crippled.
The word corruption reminds me of the |
disgraceful manner in which the Republi- |
can investigating committee put a stop to |
its work as soon as Irregularities were !
discovered in a Republican department. |
AS long as their Investigations were con-
I n Il
could have been more Jealous than the /
committee in unearthing everything there /
| was to be discovered. No sooner that the /
Republican SurrOgate's office was reached |
and the investigation proved of the boone |
rang description, than the committee all |
at once discovered that it had no time for |
further work, and hurried back to ALBANY. /
Had the committee been honest in its |
design to ferret out abuses, it would not /
have ceased from its labOrs with the most |
fertile fields of corruption untouched |
the Republican Health Department and |
Election Bureau, and the practically Re- /
publican Police Department. When Gen. !
Shaler was first appointed Health Com |
missioner he created the superfuOus |
Office of private secretary, salary $2,4O0 a |
year, for his son-in-law, and since then /
Maj. Bullard, professional politician, /
and DR.. Morris, another Republican of |
the Republicans, have been put in DO |
sitiOns paying. them $4,000 year, and the /
only work they have to do was uD to New
Years day done for nothing, it being in /
cluded among Sanitary Superintendent |
Days and his deputy's duties. 1t would |
doubtless recall the methods of the LOufsi- |
ana and Florida returning boards in 1876
should the Election Bureau, of which |
Johnny O'Brien IS chief, be investigated. /
and the Republican members of the Police |
Department would fare badly if light was
thrown upon them.
IT IS REMARKABLE HOW OFTEN THE
COINCIDENCE
occurs of what is considered an evil
omen being followed by misfortune.
Several newspapers, in their account of |
the wedding OF Mr. and Mrs. Richard L.
Campbell four years ago, said that the
brides gown was made of black satin.
She was, of course, "clothed in white
samite,' and the substitution of funereal |
black for wedding white was considered
a bad augury at the time. Mr.. CampbelPs /
suicide when coming from Europe, a
month or more ago, an account Of which
/ sent you, has revived the story of the
alleged black wedding dress, and persons
an AZ, ~ thought the newspapers mistake
nroof Of nl1ir tEiumphantly point to it as
Mrs. Campbell, sif26 SEQ iiiFtn u,
| almost simultaneously With her husband's /
/ suicide has not yet been JUId that he
! killed himself, although ie knows of his
death. Outside of the f2mily, indeed, only
the readers of a penny evening newspaper
| know that Mr.. Campbell did commit sui
/ eide, for the rest of the New FORK press,
in compliance with the wishes of friends,
said nothing about his death being other
| than natural.
Speaking of suppressing suicides, no
| account of an attempt at self-destructiOn
by Mr. Philip COrsOn, a well known figure
! i'm society, has yet appeared in print. AS
I / ri b1 or Ttax xxyoc oh f1 no me-
ried when he was stricken down with ty-
phOid fever, and, of course, the wedding
| had to be postponed indefinitely. The
! pOstponement came near being perpetual.
| When suffering from delirium produced
! by the fever, he cut three great gashes in
| his throat. The fever was severe enough
to have killed an ordinary man, and few
persons in health could have sustained
| three such wounds and lived.
Mr.. COrsOn, however, has not only re-
| covered from the fever, but his surgeons
| sewed up the wounds in his throat so
skillfully that he is also convalescing
| from his attempt at suicide. His re-
cOvery is considered most marvellous
triumph of surgical and medical skill. Ii
| is yet too soon to fix the wedding day
again, but in 10 long time doubtless the
bridegroom, who has so nearly passed
through the valley of the shadow of death,
will be united to his bride.
| While no mention has been made of this
undOubted attempt at self-destructiOn,
the evening newspapers Of Saturday dub
bed man a wOuld-be suicide who never
has had the slightest intention of killing
| himself. The man is Lewis Leland. of the
| Sturtevant House, a younger member of
a famous family of hotel-keepers. 1t was
added that he made the attempt when in
sane, and had been shut up in lunatic
asylum in order that repetition of the
ACT might be prevented.
'Do | look like a lunatic p asked Lewis
Leland strlding INTO the office of the City
Press Association, which had supplied
the story to the evening papers, within an
hour from the time it first appeared in
print.
The question was answered in the mega
tive, and Dir. Leland, while he generously
holds the Press Association guiltless, in
tends to prosecute criminally the author
of the c3nard who is said to be the
managing editor of an illustrated paper.
He, it is said. procured the publication in
order to crafty grudge against Mr.. Le-
land, with whom he has q lawsuit. The
plea on which he furnished the story was
that, being friend p of Lelands, he
did not wish his own paper to be the only
one to print such insidi0us intelligence.
However this may be, libel suit is on
the carpet.
Apropos of hotel keepers, a character
istic speech was made by Mrs. Paran
Stevens at one of her Sunday evening
receptions. Somebody demonstrated with
her for her disregard Of the fourth COM
mandment in thus having company on
the first day OF the week. "The custom
did not originate with me-" Mrs. S. re-
turned l0ftily. st is a time-honored Gus
tom of my husbands family. The Stevens
always entertained on Sunday evenings"
'SThey entertained both man and BEAST"
is the cruel comment of those who remem-
Der that the late Pafan Stevens kept the
fremont House in Boston, and laid the
fOun dation of his fortune in 'entertain-
ing" those OF the general public who had
money to pay for the privilege of being
his ''guests."
Mr.. Abbey's opera company and Bar
NUNS big show are rival attractions in
the amusement line this week, and fash
ionable people are as apt to be found at
the second as at the first. 1t is quite the
rage among our "best people" to make up
parties to visit the Madison Square Gar
den, and the boxes there, as long as the
show stays, will be more or less filed with
men and women in evening dress. Think
OF going to a circus in a swallOw-taill
DAILY put new play on his stage last