Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-07-23
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
Notable Things that are Occurring in
Gotham.
Streets Torn Up-Hotel Amenities 500.
900 Damages -Maudlin Murder
Sentiment Servia-A
Steamship Departure.
Special correspondence OF The Chronicle.

Special correspondence of The Chronicle
NEW YORK, July 21, 1891.
Acting on the principle that everybod,
is out of town, the city government O
New York has seen fit to overlook tn,
million and half of people who are lef
to swelter among the stone walls, anC
has proceeded to tear up the streets OF
various pretexts. AS consequence the
city is pervaded with that composite
stencil that affects US wheresoever the
saturated soil of our roadways is dis
turbed. Aside from the disagreeable
odOr of the gases thus liberated there are
sanitary facts to be remembered. At no
other season are the evil humOrs of the
exposed soil so quickly drawn out by the
sun, and thoroughly distributed through
street and dwelling. There seems to be
general cry for relief going up to the
common council, praying them to be
brief in completing all necessary repairs
"a prayer that is only noticed as suits
the convenience of the powers that be.
***
The man whose conscientious devotion
to work prevents his leaving his office for
a few weeks in the mountains or by the
sea, but contents himself with flying
trips to the average summer hotel from
night to Monday morning is apt
to have pretty hard time of it in get
ting enough to eat, let alone an efficient
service in other departments. The aver
age waiter is devoid of pity, and listens
to the appeals of the half famished tran
sient in a supercilious way that is ex-
tremely provoking. Only after the regu-
lar guests have been served with the
choicest things from the kitchen, does he
listen to the unhappy transient. Finally
he is served with the cold remains of the
feast, or receives the information that the
particular dish he desires has been eaten
before his eyes by. more favored guests
Even generous tips are Ineffective. As
4 transient is always without considera-
lion, an appeal to the management sell
1Om brings relief. This is the complaint
If multitudes of New Workers who have
sought a few days change and relief
rom Office labOrs. What makes the
all the more strange is the fact
hat in many instances it is the transient,
who in the guise of the over-busy father
'r husband, pays the bills. OF course,
he great hotels at the beaches who make
speciality of catering to transients must
,e excepted from this charge-but then
nobody ever was served on time in those
hotels, anyhow.
Xxx
The New York Life Insurance Compa-
~ has begun suit against the Neao York
Times for libel, setting the damages at
100000. Whewl However, as they real
re thoroughly that in all probability they
will never recover cent, it is just as we'll |
o make the amount big as little. AT all
vents it looks better in print. Libel |
uits against great newspapers have not
sually been source of profit to the
laintiffs, and the present suit shows no
gns of being an exception.
Xxx
The maudlin sentimentality displayed
y some of the daily papers of New Y York
oward the murderers executed by elec-
'icity at Sing Sing, on Tuesday, the 7th,
,ems rather tiresome. Would these same
writers have restored the
'ur murderers to all the rights of citi-
,nship had the power to do so resided in
lem Notwithstanding the fact that
ley sent their victims into the unknown
ithout warning or chance to make ,
leir peace with sin-hating God? There
altogether too great a tendency on the /,
art of modern daily journalism, with |
,rhaps the idea of creating sentimental
,ws, to aid a criminal in beguiling the
lblic into a belief in his innocence, G
hen the evidences of his guilt are over +
helming and conclusive. What good
N we hope from such depraved being f
Smiler, ,salvationist, bigamist and wife Il
?-who, though almost in the
ath-chair relieved himself of such SEN
nents as "brutal tyrants, who call
emselves Christians, make our laws" \
venture to say that if the victim of one n
these brutes had been a relative or '
ar friend of Jo Howard and the other L
ntimentalists, they would have wasted D
" sympathetic expressions for the four g
human brutes who suffered Just pun n
lment for the most awful crime on our II
ltute books. Electrocution is neither n
cruel or unusual punishment in these II
Us, and is not to be condemned because O
may not be absolutely painless. Muir G.
rers show no consideration for their Sc
,tims, and it logically follows that they nj
We no right to demand that the pun u
ment shall be painless. As long as it
'ps short of torture, it is but Just that
should as nearly as possible "fit the fe
me-" There is no doubt but that the m
ath-c chair process was very much of as
,cess. A sponge cake bouquet policy te
i never prove effective as a means of N
,cking crime. 1t might likewise be N
IL for some of the people who are n,
iting with such breathless frenzy n,
put electrocution to acquire rudimen- G.
y information about electricity. Some ii
the errors verge upon the grotesque. M
*** W
The passengers who were on board the OF
via when she was disabled, may con-
ltulate themselves that the accident
,urred so near the port. Any disar
lgemeut of the motive power of the 81
J great liners of the day is very seri sc
J thing. Aside from the discomforts p
! dangers of a voyage in great iron ~
TX at the mercy of the winds and waves 'i'
the not uncommon event of a storm, pi
sea, the loss of time to the travellers, ai a.
! the delay In the delivery of mails is li'
st annoying. The tourist usually as III
hos l. X