Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-19


and for which she was threatened with q
libel suit and Imprisonment. She followed
this up by such scorching arraignment that
the ministers were glad to go, and the suit
was dropped The minister, however, who
writes his impressions of Pittsburg IN those
stirring times saws nothing of these excite
ments. The church was all torn up over
the subject of slavery, but as editor Of a
magazine for ladies, he deemed it best prob
ably not to introduce any exciting, or poll
cal subjects to disturb their minds.
The Editors Opinion of Pittsburg.
he said 'Pittsburg was rightly named.
1t was burg of p1ts-coal pits, iron pits,
furnace pits and all of them smoke pits.
1t was sort of United States smoke house.
Ii, he writes, the people of this city should
erect posts and connect them with iron bars
they might smoke all the green hams in the
country at small expense and large profit.
To still further emphasize the matter of
smoke, he added, that the people who are
constantly smoked from the cradle to the
grave all look sallow and baconish. 81 saw
not one rosy-checked child or young lady,
except very few, who, I was informed were
born in the neighboring country"
The children, indeed, were all so black
and dirty that the mothers when they
wanted to find their own had to wash a shoal
Of youngsters in order to recognize their
them. Nevertheless, with this single draw
back, he asserts that "Pittsburg is the
greatest place in the whole nation" 1t i'm
pressed most of the visitors in the same way
during that meeting in 1848 so what would
they think now? Although the city itself
was thought by the writer to be q bad place
to live in, yet the delightfulness of the sur
rounding country took his fancy amazingly
The most fastidious, he thought,
could find charming homes in the
suburbs. He was delighted with Mt
Washington, and surprised that the
GLORIOUS bluffs'' across the Monongahela
had not been chosen for elegant homes. At
|Nhe time of his visit there was only one
handsome residence upon the grand old
blufs" in addition to the cottages of the col
liers. To talk of the difficulty of getting
there was to him ridiculous. The cool,
calm sweet repose of night up there
would be worth a climb to Chimborazo, in
his opinion.
He Interviews the Miners.
While on 'the bluffs" he visited coal
mine, and talked with the miners, both of
the Methodist and Presbyterian persuasion.
These expressed themselves as ENJOYING
their lives in the mine, where they were far
away from the noise of men and the worlds
temptations.
He describes the Bench of Bishops at this
conference, and tells of the practical wis
dom, piety and charity of Bishop Hedding;
of the integrity, love of peace and loyalty
of Bishop Waugh; of the social, cheerful,
good-natured Bishop Morris; of the brill
liant, intellect, extraordinary preaching
talent and unparalleled sweetness of man
ners of Bishop Leonidas L. Hamline, and
of the eminent business qualities of Bishop
Jones, who made it point not to talk, but
to think. Then there were eminent church,
men from England, Canada, and all parts
of the South.
1t would be quite interesting to know
something of the proceedings of this notable
General Conference at time when the
whole country was boiling over the subject
of slavery, and when the churches were all
for peace and compromise at any price.
But the reverend writer evidently
thinks that these are not topics for
women readers as he ignores them all, and
treats only of his personal experiences
The smoke gave him the horrors. ALLIE
gheny was to him haven of rest. Most of
the merchants and manufacturers, he re-
lates, who make all the smoke and dirt will
not live in 1T, but, like men of sense, live
over the river. Brother Hunter, editor of
the Pittsburg Christian Advocate at that time,
lives in this blessed Allegheny he tells his
readers.
Disappointed In One Industry.
He visited the rolling mills, the glass
works, the novelty works the nail works,
and was duly impressed with their magni-
tude. In the novelty works he was vastly
disappointed. He had deferred buying
anything in the line of presents for his
children and friends until he got there, and
was vastly surprised to find only huge
quantities of brass keys, door locks, coffee
mills and screws.
Even when far away from Pittsburg he
tells his readers that his mind was con-
tinually drawn to the vast volume Of smoke
which from one years end to another is
towering and rolling over the heads of the
thousands who make it their business to
breathe the blacklist air upon the continent
Such was the effect of this air on his health
and spirits, and such was his awful
"reminiscences concerning it, that he could
not think of Pittsburg without cough.
He coughed for the first two weeks of the
conference in Pittsburg to such extent that
Providence took the matter in hand, and
secured for him an invitation to spend the
two weeks with Major Beckham
and family at the penitentiary in ALLIE
gheny. With the pure air here furnished
he passed TWO happy and delightful weeks.
He took occasion to investigate the system
Major Beckham pursued and pronounced it
one of the best institutions in the world.
He describes it as removed from all hustle
of the town, located in park, and looking
more like the palace of q nobleman than
prison.
In Love With Burglar.
Within its walls he became acquainted
with the Napoleon of Burglars''-who
knows who he was? Most of the convicts,
he relates, are men of feeble lntellects,
whose vices have brought them to the
lowest scale OF meanness. These when
visited were all submission, all kindness,
and religion, but without sense
enough to hide their hypocrisy. But this
prince of house breakers was magnificent
looking man, who disdained to assume the |
piety dodge. His head was like that of |
Webster His bearing was grand and |
lofty. There was nothing of the sycophant |
about him, but rather kind of condescen- |
sion that seemed to proclaim himself any |
mans equal.
The reverend brother had many conversa-
tions with this high and noble burglar, who
told him that all of the prisons he had been
in were schools of iniquity, save
this one in Allegheny, where the
system tended to bentit the prisoner
For the first time in his life
in this prison he had thoughts of reform.
This Napoleon of crime revealed his whole
history to the reverend brother, his real
name, his whole list of villainies, and his
hope that it was in the power of omnipo-
,ence to save him. He told him how burglars
manage their mischief, how houses were
robbed and travellers waylaid, and, in short,
j II, ,l1Dla ofr II