Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-18
MURRAY'S MUSINGS.
Persecution of Mrs. Leslie Carter by an
Anonymous Correspondent-skatin in
Central Park, New York-Bills for Rum
and Tahacco

EVERY decent person must heartily SYM
pathize with Mrs. Leslie Carter 10 her per-
secution by certain anonymous characters yet
unknown to the public. The bogus telegram
from Chicago, to the effect that her child was
at the point of death, is but a small part of the
work of these iends-for there are several per-
sons at it. The meanest individual on earth is
the anonymous individual, but when the an
onymous individual uses the cover of mail and
wires to persstently harass a woman, and that
woman one who is endeavoring to earn an hon.
est living in an honorable calling, there are no
words in the English language with force
enough to express the contempt and loathing in
which the traducer is held. One thing In this
is apparent. If it is the desire of the conspira-
tors to break down a new and talented actress
in the beginning of her brilliant career, IT will
fail. Such methods will excite popular SYM
pathy. 1t is the wrong way to go about achiev-
ing such an end. Threats of vitriol and other
Infamous schemes of violence are scarcely
more outrageous than the dirty, vulgar Ian
guage in which these anonymous letters are
couched. They are typewriter in form, but
there are clews by which even typewriter let
ters may now be traced. The attorneys for
Mrs. Carter have recently assured her that evil
dence had already been obtained that would
lead to the uncovering of 1.-The entire con-
splracy, the originator and promoters" When
this shall have been accomplished nothing
short of good. stiff coat of tar and feathers,
IN connection with the proper legal penalties,
will do exact justice to the miscreants
A Remarkable Coincidence.
T may be only coincidence, but there are
certain facts in connection with all this that
once known nay lead to conclusions as TO the
source of these prosecutions OF Mrs. Carter.
her manager, Mr.. Price. recently brought ac-
ton for breach of contract against Actor Fer
guson, who had broken his contract with the
company, to enjoin him from playing with any
other company this season. Judge Barrett re-
fused the injunction on the ground that no
damage was sustained by the breach of con-
tract. On the other hand, another English ac-
tor, one ArthDr Dacre, was engaged in Fergu-
sons place at $3.50 per week and was discharged
Tor lncompetency. Why in the world such an
experienced manager as Price should go to
London for such stupid actor as Dacre is one
OF those things known only to the profession.
AS an American he would be overpaId at $50
his work in "The Ugly Duckling." Since his
dismissal Dacre has followed up the company
claiming his weekly salary, and brought things
to focus by an attachment on the play, seem
cry, etc.. During all this good deal of bitter
personal feeling has been evolved. From every
word and act of these disappointed and dis
gruntled English actors 1t is plain that they are
not only hostile to tho company of which Mr..
Prlce is manager, but entertain a venomous
personal grudge against Mrs. Carter. Whoever
is at the bottom of these anonymous attacks
upon her, 1t is evident that he Is familiar with
her nervous and hysterical system and the
,probable effects of the systematic plan upon
the production of the piece When the matter
is thoroughly sifted it will probably be found
to be one or more of the profession who are
guilty.
Ice a Level1er.
THE first brief season of skating in two years
was improved last week in Central Park
after fashion curiously cosmopolitan. While
the lakes in the park are quite extensive, the
crowd that essayed to utilize the ice on this
occasion from early morning till within an hour
OF midnight averaged about two persons to the
square yard. An hour or two spoiled the sur
face. BY dark there would be two or three
inches of chopped ice. as line as snow, covered
the lake. And yet thousands of gentlemen and
ladies, men and women, boys and girls and
children in pinafores cavorted about, hour
after hour, and long after nghtfall. in that soft
stuff and that dense crowd and imagined they
were skating. The skaters were of every
nationality under the sun. 1t is to be doubted
d whether question in any known language
that language from that ice. Then the con-
trasts OF the various stations in life are never
more marked than at such time. even in New
Y ork. The rich and the poor-every shade of
wealth and every shade of poyerty-every
shade of betwixt and between-from the mill
ionaire's daughter to the squatter's girl who
sleeps with the Iamily goat. each jostled the
other on the lakes surface and laughed and
shouted and screamed in the enjoyment of the
present, unconscious or unmindful of dividing
social lines. The ice of Central Park on
skating days is the only place in the metropolis
where all meet upon the level and part upon
the square,"
Rum and Tobacco Win.
THOSE who went to historic Yorktown upon
a certain memorial centennial occasion
(and survive) will doubtless watch with some
amusement the settlement of the question
raised by New ork's corporation counsel and
Controller as to whether drinks and cigars are
lawful expenses. The former claim they are
the latter, who is Treasury watch dog of the
most approved breed-says they are not. The
question arises with reference to a bill of s7O5
expended for drinks and cigars IN the course
of searching for witnesses. 1t is to be referred
to the Supreme Court of the Stat by manda-
mus. The same question has come up before
Congress and Congressional co mmittees from
time to time have always decided in favor of
rum and tobacco. This was not without a
tremendous hue aud cry, but rum and tobacco
got there just the same. The cases of cham
payne and boxes of so cent cigars that melted
away before the Yorktown crowd of deadheads
like spring snow before the sun, raised storm
of Indignation, But the people had to settle
the Dill. Inero Is not a JunkeU, Ou1claI or semi
official, that is engineered from Washington,
but this same question of rum and tobacco at
public expense is not passed upon-and in the
affirmative. The Controller Of New York City
is long distance behind the official procession.
Nothing is calculated to make a man more
thirsty than to hunt up witnesses. AS the vast
majority of New York cases are directly OF Ia
directly associated with bsrrooms. it follows
that there is the place the official hunt for wit
nesses usually begins and ends. Manhattan
cocktails are said TO form substantial basis
for successful operations, and a single bottle of
champagne little sherry and egg often
serves as a clew in the tenderloIn precinct. If
the Controller would insist on an itemized bill
in such matter as this, it would be in the in
terest of science, il not in the interest of the
general public.
Country Boys in Town.
CPEAKING of the recent death of John NJ.
Tilford, founder of the big grocery house
of Park & Tilford, New Yorker says: "You
know he was farmers boy? Well, there are
hundreds of such farmers boys right here in
New York. They come here. like Tilford, be-
fore or about the time they become OF age,
when starting out in the world for themselves.
They come like Horace Greeley came-poor
green, awkward. ignorant of the world-to
make their fortunes in the great metropolis.
They had brains energy and endurance and
many of them succeeded. If a census of the
thousands of successful old business men of
this city to-day could pe taken It would be
found that a majority of them were country
boys, Just as TilfQrd and Greeley were, and a
still bigger majority were poor IN boyhood.
That is my opinion formed from my personal
acquaintance"
Look Out for the Farmers.
GO a SUCKER is born every hour" is the motto
y of the bunko sharps and others of the
limited class who do anything rather than work
for a living. From all experience the suckers