The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-12
WARNING TO DEPEW
Menace Posted at His Home Door
by a Latin-Writing Crank.
The Famous Orator Notified that He Had
Been "Judged'-Used to Receiv-
ing Death Warrants.

NEW YORK, Feb. LIT has just leaked
out that the crank has broken loose again.
This time he has chosen for a target no
other than the genial Chauncey NJ. Depew,
who is just now placidly walking around
under sentence of death" This crank diff
fers from most of his predecessors in re-
spect of knowing Latin. 1t is in this classic
language that he phrases his communica-
tions, and the circumstance only adds a
new terror to the situation.
Mr.. Depew lives in a handsome brown
stone double house at No. 4S West Fifty
fourth street. on Tuesday he attended the
funeral of George w. Childs in Philadelphia
and on Wednesday was in Peekskill, where
in the evening, at the Depew Opera House.
he delivered one of his conversational
lectures on his travels in Italy. At about
o'clock that morning Mr.. Depews butler,
Anthony Eckstrom, opening the front door,
became aware of a small, neat-looking slip
of white note paper, about three by two
inches in size, affixed to the brownstone
pillar of the portico near the door bell. 1t
was pasted on firmly, and at the foot of
the written inscription which covered the
surface of the paper was a rough drawing
of a bomb with fuse attached. The in
scription was in Latin and read:
"FratreS-ReminiSce eXemplum Valiant
gloriosum Mors diveti. Hic est homo ad-
judicatus. Omnibus none. Imperio Com
muniS Populi.
Translated into workaday English this
means:
"Brothers-Remember the glorious exam
pie of Valiant. Death to the rich This
man is Judged. Every one beware. BY the
command of the Common People"
When Mr.. Depew returned to his home
on Wednesday night Eckstrom showed him
the placard which he mad carefully kept
Mr. Depews mother-in-law. Mr.. Depew, it
is said, read the notice attentively, smiled
and said, CONDEMNED to die. And for
nothing. That's the hard part of the whole
Now, 1 do not object to the anonymous
gentleman leaving death warrants at my
mind" said Mr.. Depew last night while be
was dressing for dinner. But L think
with Latin. This is torture before death.
1t is long since l looked at a Latin
primer that L feel as lost as a rudderless
ship when am compelled to delve through
the mists of generations and dig up words
enough TO translate his condemnation into
plain, everyday New YorkeSe."
"Cranks." continued Mr.. Depew Il have
long become endeared to them and they 20
me. L have cranks to the right OF me,
cranks to the left of me. and cranlSs in
front of me. They have become part and
parcel of my. existence; which would he
three in day l feel quite lonely l am
sure / don't know why they go for me.
a
| it, | represent good deal of money. and
without them. Even when l go off for a
| holiday they follow me across the Atlantic
and are waiting for me as / step on the
| pier. After my return from Europe few
weeks ago / said something about Rome
| and the Pope which brought down on my
unhappy head the combined wrath of two
| parties Of cranks the one arrayed against
| the other One set denounced me because
i had spoken so handsomely of Leo XIII;
| the other side attacked me for the reverse
What are my sensations on receiving
such n letter as this which threatens ME
wfh thoagh sa5a r and PeT his 6Gr T6c S9d
| taken graver tone when he again spoke.
MY only feeling in such a case as this
| is one of utter indifference" he said; ''but
my Indifference arises not from careless
| ness, not from heedlessness of the thou
sand such risks which attend any man who
occupies a public position, but from a
belief in a higher power, which dominates
| our actions and shapes our destinies.
was born and bred in the Presbyterian
| ism of the old school. Deep down in my
heart there lies irnbadded that sacred prin-
What is to be, will be- Ones faith may
change. but although | am now in the
Episcopalian fold at the bottom of my
| soul lies the cardinal belief which rises
paramount only when danger threatens
| To this l ascribe the absence of fear. I
/ have been across the seas in tempest and
calm; l have Travelled over thousands of
| miles of railroad under circumstances in
which the element of danger is always
| present; have been on board a steamer
| when the boiler burst: and all others with
| me believed that they were lost but
through all the old blind unquestioning
faith-which can scarcely be called fatalisrn
-uphaid me; l suppose it is an instinct
| with which / am mbued in the same way
| that at eight years old. ] could repeat
the catechism by heart, first forward and
then backward, without understanding one
word of It,"
Mr. Dapew is not the only sufferer from
the crank with classic tendencies. John
Alton, a footman to Mrs. j. Coleman Dray-
ton, No. 374 Fifth avenue, opening the front
door early Thursday morning found a
slip Of paper pasted on the granite side
| wall. On this paper was written a Latin
! inscription similar in all respects TO that
| left at Mr. Depew's house. So far the po-
| lice have not been asked to make an in
| vestigation into the matter
Father Phelan in Trouble.