Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-08-14
GOSSIP OF GOTHAM.
= pATHsTic pulNsss pgRvAp,No
the SPECULATIVE CENTRES.
xhs story ola Pair OF Pistols ana the Fart
coisnsi Babceek Played in 1.-THE
Hsase Of Poe.

whore II Is pathetic. / use the term Wall
street In the sense Of a speculative centre.
for every day the stock speculatof Il being
crowded closer TO the curb. and the leeiti-
mate businessman takes hrs place. At the
present rate the broker aud his customer
viii soon be pushed out Of the street
altogether, and firms representing othcr
lines Of business will be found In
their places Wall street, therefore,
Is stiN q busy placs; one OF the busiest. |
indeed. IN the city. Bat IL ~ not the |
eneryescent champagne variety OF busi- |
ness which stock speculation represents. |
bomo OF our largest manufacturing con-
Germs have their Offices in that thorough |
fare; many Of tho big corporations are |
there or in the vicinity, and several Inn |
portant banking institutions are in the |
Wall and Nassau districts Big insurance /
companies crowd the neighborhood. It is |
the home OF some Of the biggest low firms |
IN the city, and so, With one line OF bust |
ness and another. Wall street IL crowded, !
and the Spectator who formerly held high |
court there Is shifting into less defensive To- |
calitfes
Tho public. am told, is completely ont !
OF stock speculation, and old-time brokers /
are getting out Of 1t as fast as they can. !
BONE OF them have made money, and have |
kept it, but the majority are ready TO turn |
their attention 10 anything that promises |
nm honest dollar, and in some instances old |
habits Will mako 10 easy for them to waive |
the qualification as 10 the dollar and take |
the coin itself for, better or for worse, as
~ were. To stand on the floor of the
Stock Exchange It still has the appearance |
of business, but II Is OF the most super |
fetal kind. The brokers ore simply bet |
ting on thenext quotation. Formerly deals /
were made by men able TO make them, and |
prices were pushed up and down many |
points. Perhaps stock was "cornered
and lifted out OF sight. The element OF |
excitement was always present, and mil /
Hons were made aud lost. The brokers !
who brokered and did nothing more
made money, but when they sue
cumbed TO the fever of speculation and !
took "hyern on their own account |
they lost their money and their bust !
ness. These were the "gallus DAYS, when ,
the public was in the street" and busl- |
ness-men, their clerks, and occasionally |
the preachers were specializing from Maine !
20 California and back again. kinety-nine |
out Of every 100 Of these rural spectators
have lost their money, and this has cut on |
the supplies from Wall street. This is
what is the matter with stock speculation
to-day. The brokers and commission |
houses are practically doing no business,
and unless all presidents are overturned |
speculation wall peter out still more
ANTHONY coNsTook AND HIS WORK.
figure of growing importance in the |
life OF this city-a man who has made more |
enemies. perhaps, than any other living !
New Yorker-is Anthony Comstoek. | saw |
bin on the street on the very day on which |
the entire edition of tho illustrated weekly !
called Truth was called in. as far as the |
Union News Company could do it, Mr.. |
Comstock is a large, dignifed, and very vol !
uble man. with considerable periphery and |
81 aggressive manner. AS the leading agent !
OF the Society for the Suppression of |
18Th drtnno hto has I
been identified for years in the public eve, |
Dir. Comstock has beyond question been /
the means OF accomplishing vast deal OF |
good. He is not an old man yet and may |
6aye many years OF activity TO live. lie /
Is fully aware of his own importance, |
and. many people think, makes his per- |
sonality too conspicuous; but the means |
he uses TO accomplish his ends, as
odious as they sometimes seem. are /
unquestiopably within the letter of |
ihe law. hairs breadth transgres-
sion on his part would OF once subject HIM |
and the society to the penalty of every
civil process known to lawyers. for those
whom he prOsecutes invariably harbor
against him n deep-seated malice. Tho
fact is that the connection of ones name
with Comstock in PRINT must imply odlum.
Conviction OF an odious charge is all the
more severe a punishment, and that he
rarely fails TO secure conviction, and has
lived and fourisbed for so many years in .
this community, Is wholesome evidence OF
the Legality of his proceedings. The rising /
food Of filth, which twenty years ago
seemed 10 threaten absolutely TO over |
whelm the youth of the United States, has
been to very large degree checked and
driven 10 the noisome sewers from which
10 camo by the Comstock society. AT the
time this incorporated body, which is
creature of statue and endowed with far
reaching privileges and powers by the law
that created II, took Its origin, the United
States mails were used for the dlssemina-
ton of obscene literature 20 an extent to
which few people were aware, and with an
impunlty calculated to make parents and
guardians shudder even now. To IA less eX-
tent all over the country, but TO shock
ing degree In the city OF New York aud
Ats suburbs, school children of both sexes
had thrust upon their attention cards,
pictures, and printed matter whose vile
ness was simply indescrlbaDlo. This often
continued for weeks before teachers or
parents were aware of it the harm SO
done could never be repaired. However
great every free mans adherence must 90
of inquisitorial powers vested by law III
individuals, the end attained by the Gre
alton and maintenance OF the Comstock
society has been 30 beneficial that we can
well afford TO forgive much 10 both man
aud methods The Transmission of in
decent mail Is now attended with so much
risk that few people try IT.
The possession even of debasing publ
cations or objects Is so dangerous-as was
shown a week or two since in case of
weli-known cigar merchant, whose desk
was broken open by Comstock with war
rant in broad dsylight-that its very exist
ence IS now largely matter OF hypothesis.
The public indignation which eylnced It.
felf il some quarters at the arbitrary break
ing open Of this mans private desk by An
thony Comstock and the seizure therein OF
;llielt articles ought In reasonable mind
20 subside on reflection. The cigar
merchant pleaded guilty in open court
20 the charge which Mr.. Comstock made
against HIM, and was fined therefor. Had
there been a single flaw IN the legal
methods which Mr.. Comstock adopted in
this case, heavy suits for damages would
undou otedly have followed at once. The
colored cartoon In Tt7oh, by. the way.
which excited the virtuous indignation OF
the Union News Company, was harmless,
reproducing on n small scale the time
honored picture of a satyr watching naked
nymphs bathing, and as companion 10 IT
O kodak dend taking views OF female love
illness at the seaside. The comparison OF
the kodak fiend TO the satyr was an excel
lent one.
There was nothing indecent in either
view of the subject, bits of careiessly
fpiashed red paint adding TO the contour
of the nymphs. however, what in an evil
mind might have been suggestive OF evil.
protest, Truth. however. was distributed,
ss usual, that week.
A PAs OF PISTOLS.
saw Colonel John Q. Babcock, who was
ehiof Of the Secret Service of the Potomac
during the war, on the piazza of the Man
haitian Beach Hotel an evening or two
ego. He is o slender, athletio-looking
man. apparently about % years of age,
with dark. burning eve. Colonel Bah
cock was i believe. one of the founders
of the Now YORK Athletic Club. and in
the late maturity OF his life is pur-
suing calm and upeventful exist
ence, which curiously contrasts with
tho rugged adventure OF his career of
the war. He is now, l understand,
st work on the private memoranda and
official papers which came into his posses
sion between 1861 and 1866, with a view TO
the publication of his memoirs. If he
tells one half what he knows about the
adventure and intrigue OF the civil war.
his book will need no oommendation to
the public. saw q tew days since
In the collection of friend. whose
lad 10 curious arms aud armor.
.taal