The Washington critic., 1886-01-26
TOPICS OF THE DAY.


Says "Towle" of the Boston 1'rdc.
elier: President Cleveland has good
car for music, but his favorite tunes are
popular enough, goodness knows.
Since he has been in the White House
he has said that there were two melo-
dies that he was always glad to listen
TO. When questioned in regard to them
he replied that they were "Auld Lang
Sync" and "Listen to the Moclling
Bird" He enjoys the lighter music,
and is particularly fond of negro melo.
dies, A minstrel entertainment pleases
Mr.. Cleveland beyond anything else,
but he will not shy at comic opera,
provided the music is bright and clever
and the girls pretty and interesting,
The President is very much like the
rest of us in this respect. He hasn't
been regular patron of the theatre
since he has been in Washington, but
that is probably owing to the fact that
the entertainments haven't been to his
liking when he had the leisure to at
tend. Mr.. Cleveland doesn't take much
interest In the emotional drama, the
melo.dramatic or tragedy, because he
goes to the theatre TO be amused, and
as pleasant relaxation from the duties
and responsibilities Of his high posi-.
| ton.
w#~
A New Mexico friend of mine, writes
the Washington correspondent of the
| Philadelphia Record, who has lived in
every State and Territory in the South
west during the past thirty years, said
TO me to-day: "Do you know that the
Bender family are still alive? They
are, in spite of the popular belief that
they were killed, and / think | know
| just where they are living now. /
have seen some horrible things during
my rough life in the West, and I've
heard of great many more, but ]
never saw or heard Of anything so dia-
bolical and dreadful as the career of
that family in Kansas. l was living in
Kansas when their crimes were discov-
ered and a brother of one of my dear
est friends was one of their victims.
| So / knew q little more about them
| oplilt pthClS. Nthl NlNi tHui
friend of mine to the Bender farm to
look for the remains of his brother.
The scene in the field that day where
he and all the other murdered men had
been buried was one of the saddest ]
ever saw. There were the relatives of
those who were known to have disap.
peared at the Bender house hop.
ing and fearing alternately as
| nft ,Nf Il, ,.t,
brought TO light, They discovered
and uncovered them with plow, you
know. They took an old pair of over
alls and wrapped them around the
plowshare so as to prevent its sharp
edge from cutting the corpses, and
then hitched four horses to the plow
and drove slowly over the field. You
remember that the remains of nearly
twenty persons were discovered. BY
the time the remains of my friend s
brother were uncovered, he was almost
beside himself with agony. After he
had taken the body away examined
the house thoroughly. There was the
table in the front room at which the
unwary traveller sat down to eat his
last meal Just behind him was win
dow, covered with piece of white
cotton cloth. The candle on the table
before him threw the shadow of his
head full on this cloth. In the room
just behind stood one of the Benders,
AK in hand, ready to strike the swift,
silent blow on the head which laid it
to rest forever. There never was any.
thing more cold bloodedly devlish in
the history of crime"
u"@
| Young men who go into society a
great deal inform the Richmond state,
correspondent that they do not like the
chaperone system that has become SC
general in Washington. The most OF
them who come here from a distance
are not used TO this sort of thing, and
if it could be abolished they would re
joicc. They say that it prevents many
young lady from being invited to the
theatre. If they were always sure
there would be only from three to fou,
in the party-three preferred wheu
there has to be "crowd"-it would
not be so bad, but in many instances q
single beau has to foot the bills for d
half dozen persons who make up q
theatre party. A young man from
Kentucky, who has place in De
partment has nice society relations
and about week ago he asked the
daughter of a prominent official
TO accompany him to the theatre
She accepted, but said that she
would be obliged to ask @
lady friend to go along, too
Certainly" said the young man
The young lady who was to act as chap
erone said her sister would not mind
being q member of the party, Then
dcmoiselle No. said; We'll, If your
sister Is going mine would like to go,
too" The consequence was the young
Kentuckian found himself in charge OF
four ladies. After the theatre he pro
posed refreshments, and the dear crea-
lures accepted, and among the re
freshments" that these angelic fair