The New York Herald Newspaper, January 23, 1873, Page 6

6 . NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. se hemeneerae JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. Volume Xxxvut.. AMUSEMENTS TH THIS EVENING, THEATRE COMIQUE. 514 Broadway.—Krxo xp Loto. — MPIC TITEATRE, Broadway, between Mouston and bie pegker streets —ALMANBKA, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tax Canreyter or Roven—Jace Long. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Bi yy, corner Thirtieth st— Wu Car, Atterno ine. NEW FIFTH AVE HEATRE, 723 and 730 Broad- wway.—ALIXE. GRAND OPERA jovs ‘Se, Twenty-third st. and Eighth ay.—Caranact GF Tim GANG £85 Broad’ —Granp Variety Ex- ATHENEUM, No. (TRRTAINMENT. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston streets—Lxo any Lotos. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third av.—Das MiLcumakDCUEN AU CHOENDERG, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thirteenth and Fourtecnth strects.—ATueRLEY Count. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth etreet.—Bromer Sam. \ BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty. syenue.—Bautvs, on, Tae Fa ( MRS. F. B. Conway's BROOKLYN THEATRE,— Camus, ! RRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. corner ) Cb av.—NxGro Minstartsy, Eccentricity, &c. hurd street, corner Sixth ov TanguiN. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— ‘Vanity ENTERTAINMENT. AN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th st. and Eroadway.—Erniorian Minetreisy, &C. COOPER UNION HALL.—Lroruni aL Conquests oF Tux SrectRoscore, Ae ueeon HALL, 2d street ana 4th av.—Lxe- uns, “Fxuate Drxss.” NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— FORRCE AND Arr. "Toe Astronomi- ‘TRIPLE SHEET, New York, Beieey: gant 24, 1873. ee cab THE NEWS ‘OF YESTERDAY. eee 'Lo-Day’s Contents of the Herald. OUR WAYS, MEANS AND PROJECTS FOR RAPID TRANSIT! THE UNITED ACTION OF OUR CITIZENS THE FIRST NECESSITY"— LEADER—Sixtn Pace. FATAL COLLISION IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL! AN AUSTRALIAN EMIGRANT SHIP RUN DOWN AND SUNK BY A STEAMSHIP! 321 SOULS LOST! APPALLING SCENES ON THE SINKING VESSEL—SEVENTH Paar, RUSSIAN CONQUEST IN CENTRAL ASIA! THE AIM OF THE PRESENT MOVEMENT! OFFI- CIAL DENIAL OF RUSSO-BRITISH DISA- GREEMENT—SEveENTH Page. BRITISH MASS MOVEMENT AGAINST AFRICAN AND SPANISH SLAVERY! ‘ SUPPORTING AMERICA—GENERAL AGUERO’S EXPEDI- TION TO CUBA—SEVENTH Pac. BY CABLE FROM EUROPE! THE ENGLISH BANK AND MONEY RATES! MANTEUFFEL'S EU- LOGY OF BAZAINE! MONTPENSIER DIs- CARDS THE ALPHONSISTS! THE BOURBUN FLAG—SEVENTH PAGE. ANOTHER GREAT SNOW STORM! THE VISITA- TION IN THE WESTERN STATES—MARINE NEWS—Tentu Pace. ‘A SYNDICATE TRIUMPH | THE UNIFIED BANK- ERS OF THE SYNDICATES TAKE THE ENTIRE $300,000,000 REMAINING OF THE FIVE PER CENTS! THE SAME TERMS— SEVENTH PAGE. A TERRILLE PLAGUE RAGING AT THE FED- ERAL CAPITOL! NAMES OF THE DISTIN- GUISHED PERSONS STRICKEN WITH IT! THEIR VIRTUES EXTOLLED IN FAMILIAR METRES! TOO MUCH “©. M..’—Tuirp PaGE. AMES’ BROTHER TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS OF UNION PACIFIC-CREDIT MOBILIER PLAC- INGS—Tuuep Pace. SADNESS IN THE FEDERAL SENATE! THE HOUSE GIVES THE POLAND COMMITTEE FURTHER POWERS! APP PRIATIONS! SPECIAL ITEMS OF WASHINGTON NEWS— THIRD PaGE. THE MURDER OF HONEST CHARLIE PFEIFER! HIS FUNERAL TO OCCUR ON SUNDAY | \ THE GRIEF-STRICKEN WIDOW—FiFTH PAGE. NEWS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE! ‘ JAPAN AND COREA STILL AT LOGGER- HEADS! CHANGE IN THE JAPANESE RECKONING OF TIME! A GRAND CELES- TIAL THRONE ASCENSION! AMERICAN INTERESTS IN CHINA—ELEVENTH PAGE. \ANOTHER DISTINGUISHED JOURNALISTIC LIGHT GONE! WILLIAM CASSIDY, THE LEADER OF THE ALBANY PRESS, SUDDENLY EX- PIRES! THE GENERAL REGRET—Tentu PAGE. HOW THE CUSTOM HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRO- POSE TO CARRY THEIR CHARTER! MEYER DEMOCRATS S HAND! THE OLD UNDERGROUND RAIL- WAY! ALBANY NEWS—Turp Pace. AN AUDACIOUS THEFT OF BONDS AND VALUA- BLES IN WALL STREET! $40,000 STOLEN IN BROAD DAY, AND THE THIEVES ES- CAPE—FirTH PAGE. ‘BOSS TWEED'S TRIAL! THE BROTHERS GAR- VEY TESTIFY AT LENGTH! FOLEY'S FIGHT! THE OLD OCEAN BANK ROBBERY IN COURT! OTHER LITIGATIONS—Fovrti Page. ESCAPING FROM JERSEY'S JUST PUNISHMENT! EIGHT PRISONERS RELEASED BY A CO VICT DOORMAN! PATERSON IN A FER- MENT—EIGHTH PAGE. INO SAFETY AGAINST FIRE! INVESTIGATION DEVELOPING LAX PRECAUTION IN HO- TELS AND SCHOOLHOUSES—Exeventu Pace. WHAT A CUBAN THINKS OF MR. O’KELLY'S RISK—PORTO RICO SLAVERY—SAD ELOPE- MENT—LOCAL ITEMS—E1cutu Pace. A STOCK SENSATION! THE NEW YORK CEN- TRAL SHARES ON A FLYER! UNION PACIFIC AND ATLANTIC MAIL DISABLED | WALL STREET ITEMS—NintH Pace. PROCEEDINGS OF THE MUNICIPAL BOARDS! RAPID TRANSIT BEFORE THE ALDER- MANIC BODY — THE METROPOLITAN BANKS—ELEVENTH PAGE. ‘Tre Sraxtse Emancrpation Movement is progressing with great vigor and effect in Spain, as will be seen by our cable report from Madrid. Tho Committee of Cortes estimates the Porto Rico slave-owners’ compensation money at one hundred and forty millions of reals. The great cause of freedom is in- destructible. Tux Proriz or Bmauxonam, Exotann, have come out in support of the canse of emancipation in Cuba, and for the abolition of the African and Polynesian slave trade. ‘Tho municipality of the town advocates the effort for freedom in the Spanish Antilles. This is encouraging for the Cubans. Birmingham hhas already given powerfnl and effective aid to the causo of modern enfranchisement in Great Britain, and her present mtnsionary task poay bo just as success{ul aw YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1873.—TRIPLE SHEET. oon Ways, Means and Projects for Rapid TvransiteThe United Action of Our Citizons the First Neces- sity. The West Side Association have evidently entered into the considoration of our ways, ‘| means and projects for rapid transit, into the city from the north end and out of tho city from the south ead, with an eye to business. At the mooting of this association the other evening Mr. W. R. Martin, in opening the proceedings, said, substantially, that the ne- cessity of rapid transit is manifest; that it is appreciated and demanded on all sides; that in every direction we find some new reason for it; that nobody is opposed to it, that every- body wants it; bat that, first, monoy is ro- quired to build the road; next that the road must pay in order to secure the money to build it; that capital demands the best route and o plan of construction that will not cost too much, and that the material points to be con- sidered, therefore, are the best rou and the best plan in natesonos to cheapness and gon- eral utility. The chairman of tho West Side Association then boldly takes the ground that the best route for the rapid transit, desired by the great body of our city population, is the route of Broadway to some point up town, and thence the route of Third or Fourth avenuo for the east side of the cityand of Eighth ave- nue for the west side. On Broadway Mr. Martin thinks an underground road would be the best plan, and that on the avenues afore- said the Gilbert or some other elevated road would answer. The Central Underground road, we are informed, has been dropped, be- cause it wds not an attractive route to capital- ists. In short, from the proceedings of this west side mecting, representing twenty mil- lions in real estate, we infer that its ultimatum isan underground railroad on Broadway, say to Union square, and thence an east side ele- vated road on Fourth avenue to Harlem; next the continuation of the Broadway Under- ground road to the junction with Eighth ave- nue at Contral Park, and thence a west side elevated road along that avenue to High Bridge. But other plans have been and are proposed that are worthy of consideration—such as the plan fora single elevated track, upon which the trains will go continually round the circle of the city. This plan has at least the recom- mendation of cheapness in its favor; but it does not meet the demand. There is another plan, however—that of a double track elo- vated road on each side of the city—which does meet the demands of each side in both directions; but then the centre is neglected. Another plan is that of an elevated road of four tracks right through the centre of the island, from end to end. In support of each of these schemes the underground or over- ground steam lines of London, or the subur- ban roads on the ground, have been referred to as practical successes in favor of this or that project or the other. Doubtless any one of these projects, if carried through, would be a great relief to the city; but ‘while the grass grows the horse starves.’’ While we are wait- ing for this relief our increasing difficulties in getting down to business from up town in the morning andin getting home again in the evening are making it more and more conven- ient for business men to establish their homes on Long Island, on Staten Island, in Jersey, in Westchester or in Connecticut. At the same time and on this point the facts and statistics of the marvellous increase in the value of real estate in half a dozen counties over in Jersey during the last seven years are very instructive. At the same time, we say, the evil effects of our heavy taxations on bonds and mortgages are driving capital by hundreds of willions from this island. Thos relief, therefore, in rapid transit de- manded for the city is immediate relief as well as permanent relief, and the more urgent necessity is immediate relief. We agree, with Mr. Darling, that we must have ‘security for life and property in this city; that we can and must attract capital here and build up the greatest metropolis in the world; that for this purpose we want rapid transit and must have it, no matter how we get it; that if private capital cannot be procured to build the steam lines required to this end the city should build them. That is a most important point in this matter; it should build them. Mr. Darling further suggests that agitation is the one thing that will bring us rapid transit, and that meet- ings of the citizens should be held regularly to bring about the desired results. Agitation, however, in spasmodic mectings of East Side and West Side Associations, each pulling, like the horses of a balky team, in a different direction, will accomplish nothing. We have had a pretty active agitation on this subject for several years, and what has it ac- complished? Nothing. Whatis the prospect at this time for a bill or bills at Albany that will give us the facilities needed for rapid transit within less than ten years? It is any- thing but encouraging. What is the first essential towards legislative action at Albany in belalf of Tapid transit which, within five, three or two years, or even within one year, will secure it? The unity of the prop- erty-holders and business men of the city, east side, west side and centre, in the recom- mendation of some common plan of relief, combining, if you please, immediate and per- manent measures. Immediate relief may re- quire merely temporary facilities. Very good. Why not provide them, in conjunction with a permanent system, and by the city, for the common relief of its taxpayers? But as the unity of the city is the first essentiol to practical relief the question recurs, How can we gain this object? Not by an- tagonistic east side and west side associations, nor by underground and overground compa- nies, each with their little bills buttonholing our legislators of the rural districts in the Albany lobby. Such conflicting counsels and schemes only knock their heads against each other and defeat each other. What, then, is the proper course to pursue in order to secure something like the united voice of the city in favor of some specific scheme of rapid tran- sit? Not much over a year ago, with the un- earthing of the abominations of the Tammany Ring, the question, “What are you going to do about it?’’ was at first very perplexing. But soon there followed a general uprising for city reform, which, availing itself of the best means at hand, carried everything before it. What we have gained in real reform so far may not’ but, as the con- tinuance of the dominant party in power in the citv and State depends greatly upon be much; a new city charter of practical reforms from our present Legislature, we have some hopes of such a charter from this Legislature before its final adjournment. In any event, through a general uprising of our honest citizens in favor of city reform, that corrupt Ring, which was supposed to be all powerful in the city and State, has been dislodged, and a revolution in the city has been accomplished which has revolutionized the State. 80 much for the union and co-operation of our honest citizens of all parties in the cause of city reform. Let us have a union of this sort among our city property-holders, tax- payers and men of business of all parties and all sections of tho island in behalf. of rapid transit. Leta strong committee, representing our different Assembly districts, be appointed to submit to the Legislature some common scheme of rapid transit, embracing immediate and permanent relief, and we shall secure the bill. The first step in this direction is, of course, a general meeting of citizens—east side, west side, centre, north end and south end—to consult together upon some goneral plan of operations, The subsequent stages in the movement can only be shaped from meeting to meeting as the work progresses. But it is said that tho property-holders of the central districts of the city are indiffer- ent or opposed to all these schemes of rapid transit. If so, they need only a little enlightenment to convince them that their interests are identical with those of the property-holders of the east and the west side and of the north and south ends of the city. | The whole city, in all its parts and in all its material and moral interests, will share in the good fruits of rapid transit upon a plan em- bracing the’ general relief of the island from its present obstructions and detentions in get- ting into and out of the mouth of our city funnel. Meanwhile, we care not to enter into the discussions of the projects of east or west side associations, or underground, on the ground or aérial railroads, for, so long as this commu- nity is divided upon many schemes, so long, wo fear, from the confusion and cross-pur- poses of the lobby and the Legislature, will all our rapid transit agitations be a waste of time, labor and expenses, As this business now stands, the united action of our citizens is the first necessity. The Late Storm “Holocaust in the Northwest—The Philosophy of Our ‘Winter Climates. ‘The accounts published in the Hznatp of the dreadful sufferings by the recent unparalleled snow storm or deadly polar wave in Minne- ‘sota and other Western States have excited a painful interest all over the country, They will naturally attract to that section a great deal of curiosity regarding its temperature and to the philosophy of our cold continental Winter climates generally. The climate of Minnesota, from the purity and dryness of its atmosphere, has been generally regarded as one admirably calculated to benefit those suf- fering from consumption and pulmonary com- plaints in their various stages. Recent expe- rience demonstrates that if the very lowest degree of temperature, accompanied by the most terrific of snow tempests, are to be re- garded as panaceas for such complaints, Min- negota is just the State, and a Minnesota Win- ter is just the climate in which the'suffering patient can with certainty plunge himself—it is certain to kill or cure in a very brief period. In connection with this terrible Arctic agita- tion in Minnesota it may not be uninteresting to mention a few striking facts. At the time of the Minnesota storm and subsequently the weather reports indicated intense and increas- ing cold in that State, and thence to Missouri, Ohio and over the Upper Lakes, the tempera- ture ranging everywhere below zero in the Upper Valley of the Mississippi and attain- ing in Minnesota the fearful depression of forty-five degrees below zero, with northwesterly winds. At the very time when the mercury was falling so low in the Minnesota thermometers its readings over the Pacific slope, in California and Oregon and eastward to the Upper Missouri River and the one hundredth western meridian are aston- ishingly high—from fifty-five to seventy-five degrees higher than in Minnesota. I€ is ® most important physical inquiry how it is that these vast arial undula- tions, already traced to their cradle in the Pacific, should give warm weather to its American shores and their adjacent territo- ries, while on their advance eastward beyond the Missouri they become intensely frigorific. A correct relief map of North America shows that the Continent is worked by two immense depressions. One of these is a longitudinal furrow, or deep gash, about one hun- dred and thirty miles wide, running northwestward from the Red River Val- ley all the way to the mouth of the Mac- kenzie River in the Arctic Ocean. The other is the vast elliptical basin of Hudson Bay, deeply scooped out. Both these continental hollows serve as receptacles or reservoirs for the cold air-waves which first appear on the North Pacific shores as warm and vaporous air moving eastward, but, subsequently con- densed on the Rocky Mountains, tumble down as cold and snowless air into these two great continental troughs. From the westernmost of these, extending from Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba to the Polar Sea, in whose central depression lies embosomed the chain of British American lakes, there issues the great river of torrential cold, which sweeps down the Upper Mississippi, and whose expanding stream finally spreads itself out in fanlike shape over the whole eastern half of the United States. The ice-clad entourage of Hudson Bay and its solid sheet of ice sus- tain in Winter enormous columns of refrigerated air, which, whenever _ the barometer falls in Canada or the United States southward, begins to pour forth thither in floods of cold, and also, doubtless, feeds itself to the storm-breeding Gulf Stream regions lying far to the southeastward. The climatic agencies of these great receptacles of Winter temperature—not unlike the fabled Molian Cave of the Winds—have been scarcely ever, if at all, noticed by geographers or meteorolo- gists; but they exert an influence upon the continental climate quite as marked as that of the great magazine of tropic air banked up in the Gulf of Mexico, These facts strikingly demonstrate the climatology of the far Northwest and the Pacific States and Territories, on whose golden shores civilization will, in all vroba- bility, ereot some of its proudest fabrics and most enduring monuments of. power and wealth; for, while long supposed to_be too inhospitable for a numerous population, these remoter sections ars blessed with a marine climate less rigorous than that of our lake- bordering and Eastern States and incompara- bly finer than that of Canada. Indeed, a traveller who should ride across the Continent from San Francisco or Porthnd, Oregon, on the parallel of either of these cities would pass by gentle stages from Summer to Winter tem- peratures. The Disaster in the English Channel. In our news columns of this morning will bo found a report of a terriblo disaster witich took place in the English Channel on Wednes- day night. It isasad story, but it is easily told. An emigrant ship, named the North- ficet,, with four hundred and twelve passen- gers on board, exclusive of the crew, sailed from tho Thames a few days since. ‘The ship was bound for Australia. About midnight on Wednesday, off Dungeness—a jutting promon- tory on the coast of Kent—the Northfleet was run into by an unknown foreign steamer. The collision proved fatal to tho Northfleet, which was cut to tho water's edge. Of the four hundred and twelve pas-| sengers, not speaking at all of the crew, only eighty-five persons are supposed to have beon saved. The most painful feature of the whole affair is that the steamship, which might have rendered assistance to tho unfortunate vessel and her still more unfortunate passengers, proceeded on her ccurse, leaving the sufferers to their fate. Naturally enough, the sceno on board the emigrant ship after the collision was alarming in the last degroe. The passengers, most of whom were in their berths and‘ asleep at the moment, rushed on deck and wildly ond vainly fought for life. The agony of the situa- tion was aggravated by the disorderly conduct of the crowd on board. The Captain, strange to say, lost his temper, and, finding words useless, fired upon the terror-stricken people, some of whom were wounded, and one man is said to have beon killed. As we have said, it isa sad, sad story. It adds another to the many tales of horror associated with the deep. The steamship which worked all the misory, and which with Satanic indifference held on her way, must be found out, The Captain of that vessel, whatever his name and whatever his nationality, has much to answer for; and unless he can explain what seems inexplicable he had better find his way as quickly as possi- ble to parts unknown. If the ‘interests of trade and the demands of employers have | made sailors, who enjoy the reputation of being kind-hearted, indifferent to the valuo of human life on the high seas, our boasted modern civilization has reached a point of wickedness worse a thousandfold than we had deemed possible. The Yokohama affair was bad, very bad; this Northfleet business is worse, infinitely worse. The Captain of the unfortunate vessel must surely have lost his senses when he fired upon the passengers. Captains of passenger ships ought to have cool as well as clear heads. How differently the London was managed, some seven years ago, when she went down with her living freight in the Bay of Biscay! This disaster demands investigation, and it ought to result in better laws more effectively enforced. The Court of Appeals on the Car- Hook Murder. 5 Public security and the protection of life against unbridled passion have received a most valuable service in the decision of the Court of Appeals denying a new trial ,to Foster, the car-hook murderer. Counsel for the prisoner on his trial asked the Court to charge the jury that upon the indictment and evidence the prisoner could be convicted of murder in the second degree. The Court decided that -such conviction was not warranted by the evidence, and so instructed the jury. Under the Re- vised Statutes one defigition of the crime of murder was ‘‘the killing of a human being without authority of law, when perpetrated without any design to effect death, by a per- son engaged in the commission of any felony."’ By the amendment of 1862 all cases embraced in this definition, except where the first de- gree of arson was intended, were made mur- der in the second degree. Counsel urged that the jury might find, as matter of fact, that Foster in striking Putnam upon the head with an iron bar—a blow which crushed the skull and caused death—only-intended to commit the felony of mayhem, or maiming, and therefore the case would come under the definition of murder in the sec- ond degree by the amendment of 1862. Judge Andrews, in delivering the decision of the Court of Appeals, shows that breaking the skull is not such bedily harm as is defined by our or the English statutes as mayhem. This decision is sustained by copious citations from reported cases, A judgment as to the inten- tion of the culpni could only be formed from his acts, Every person is properly judged to intend the natural result of what he does. Death ensued, and was likely to ensue, from Foster's well-aimed, powerful blow. While it was proper for the jury to determine with what intent the blow was delivered, no man can, without doing violence to common sense, say that Putnam's assailanf intended to frac- ture his skull without ‘killing him. Had the blow been aimed at the arm and accidentally deflected so as to fall upon the head and crush it an intention to maim might perhaps be in- ferred. No such intention could by possi- bility be inferred from the proved facts. The verdict of the jury in effectdinds that Foster aimed his blow at a vital part, using a weapon capable of inflicting a mortal wound, with such force as would naturally produce death. Wilful murder or murder in the first degree is the statute definition of such an act. All the exceptions of counsel to the rulings and charging of the Court were over- ruled by the Court of Appeals, which fully sustained the decisién of the Court below. Under this decision murder remains murder, though it be not committed with an instru- ment specially named in the statute ; and the man who slays his fellow by on unusual or chance weapon must expiate his crime equally with the ordinary culprit who kills his man with the fashionable revolver or the efficacious butcher knife. In the forcible language of the decision, ‘‘while no errors are trivial in the judgment involving life, it is to be remembered that the law of murder is designed for the protection of life from lawless violenos."’ If our local Courts and prosecuting officers faithfully perform their proper func- tiovs, in promptly trying and convicting the murderers who have lately made life in New York so cheap, we may count upon tho Court of last resort to do its duty by refusing new trialsand unwholesome delay of execu- tion to convicted murdercrs. Our law has been framed to protect society by punishing crime, and our highest Courts have not surrendered to the control of reckless ma'efac'ors. Death of Wi liam sidy, of A*bany. Mr. William Cassidy, the principal proprie- tor and editor of the democratic State organ, the Albany Argus, died at his residence in that city yesterday morning, after a brief ill- ness. Mr. Cassidy was ‘a forcible political writer, and was for many ycars one of the knot of democratic politicians which ruled the des- tinies of that party in this State and some- times in tho national conventions, and to which had descended the name of the ‘Albany Regency,"’ formerly enjoyed by Croswell and his associates. Tho principal members of this clique were Dean Richmond, Peter Caggerand William Cassidy, and the last of the trio has now passedaway. The power they wiclded in the party was mainly due to the fact that none of them were aspirants for cffice. Mr. Cas- sidy was, indeod, the only one who ever held any public position, and his services to tho State were confined to constitutional conventions, of two of which, including that now in session, he had beena member. He lived long enough to see the party in whoso cause he had labored so assiduously, and to many of whose victories he had contributed, broken and scattered, and hopelessly destroyed as a political organization. The Albany man- agers of the domocracy held their rule through the power of the party in the State. For some years they had been in conflict with the lead- ers from the city of New York, who had as- pired to control the State policy and nomina- tions, and up to the time of Dean Richmond's death they had generally carried off the vic- tory. After the loss of their chief the strength of the city patronage became too great for them, and the management of the “slate’’ passed out of their hands, It is proper to state, however, that the Albany clique sided with the Tammany lenders during the divisions in this city, and did much to build up the old, Tammany Ring by conceding to that branch of the party the advantage of recognition as the regular organization. It was only when Tweed and his associates grew overbearing in the State through the power of their plunder in the city that the Albany leaders renounced the Tammany Ring. It was then too late. The glaring corruptions in the municipal gov- ernment and the debauching of Legislatere after Legislature had been fatal to the pros- pects of the party, and the democracy was to- tally destroyed as a political organization. Mr. Cassidy's active career as a journalist covers the history of his party from the time of the quarrel between Cass and Van Buren and the division of the New York democracy into the Hunker and Barnburner factions, The deceased journalist had studied law in the office of John Van Buren, then of Albany, and they became warm per- sonal friends. Edwin Croswell was edit- ing the old Albany Argus, which was established in 1813, and no person was found able to cope with that experienced politician in political controversy. Mr. Cas- sidy first wrote articles for two Albany papers of little note, and his pointed and forcible style speedily attracted attention. .The Van Burenists purchased the Atlas, which was started by Correlius Wendell, and put Mr. Cassidy into that journal as editor. Before long the Atlas surpassed the Argus in circula- tion and influence, and Croswell retired from the latter paper. The war was kept up vigor- ously by the Aflas until the reunion of the democratic factions took place, when the two tival democratic organs became consolidated under the name of the Atlas and Argus. Sub- sequently the former title was dropped and the paper was made a joint stock estab- lishment, retaining the old name of the Argus. It has been prosperous concern, mainly through the profitable character of the State printing, which has proved sufficient to support all the leading political papers at the capital, independent of circulation, and which the organs of the two parties generally manage to divide up between them, the one in power for the time being taking the lion’s share and giving its oppo- nent sufficient to keep it silent on the matter of plunder and jobbery. As a sharp political writer Mr. Cassidy had, probably, few superiors. His style was caus- tic, and probably no greater contrast was ever presented between ability and mere political chicanery than was discoverable in his numer- ous controversies with Thurlow Weed, of the Albany Evening Journal. But Mr. Cassidy lacked application and earnestness of purpose. He seemed to regard political editing more as a sport than asa serious duty, and no person could appreciate more thoroughly than himse)f the hollowness and fraud of much of the political argument which he was, neverthe- less, at all times prepared to use. His real ability as a writer cannot, however, be justly measured’ by his political writings. He had wit, brightness and polish in no ordinary de- gree, and he was a good classical scholar and a faithful reader. His taste led him to French literature, and in his ‘kle and quickness of repartee he really longed to the French school. His newspaper articles were pecu- liatly epigrammatic and were always readablo. In a political controversy he was unscrupulous and merciless, and he sometimes indulged in sarcasm and personality at the expense of effectiveness and policy. His great failing, however, was want of that steady application so necessary in the editor of a daily newspa- per. He would become tired of a subject, weary of a controversy, and would occasionally withdraw from it altogether, even in the heat of acampaign. He was brilliant and popular as an editor; he was a failure as a politician. In private life Mr. Cassidy was peculiarly gifted with attractive qualities, and the social circles of Albany, as well as political journal- ism, will not readily fill the blank occasioned by his death. Tue Lrorstate mE.—In the State Assembly yesterday Mr, Blumenthal introduced a good bill making it » misdemeanor to point firearms at any person, and making it a State Prison offence when shooting follows. The Bribery and Corruption Election bill was ordered to a third reading. Mr, Babcock introduced reso- lutions. which were laid on the table uuader the $$ wee rnles, charging tho lato Superintendent of the Insurance Department with using his last annual report as a vehicle for self-defence and personal attack. A petition from several thousand Brooklynites, asking for an increase of pay for the Brooklyn police force, was pre- sented, — -Tne Frye Per Cenr Loan, so far as tho placing of the remaining three hundred mil- lions at the disposal of the Secretary of the Treasury is concerned, has been awarded in equal sharcs to the representatives of the two great banking firms that have been at war for the large profit to be realized on the Syndicate transaction. These firms aro Jay Cooke & Co. and Morton, Bliss & Co. The profit amounts to one and throo- quarters per cent in all, and is very money- making brokerage. Whatever objection was hold to one banking house having a monopoly of the national business will now be mot by saying that there are two on the road to for- tune. To the undisciplined mind this will not seem a very great difference. That a wider range of facilities for putting the new Joan on the market has been gained is, never- theless, undoubted, and this is about all. Quotations from Modern Classics, As the various peoples of the world in suc- ceeding ages have built up forms of architec- ture which stamp the men and the era distinc- tively, so has language followed a similar though infinitely more gradual and delicate mutation. The history of civilization, archi- tecturally, was more fully learned at an earlier date by the scientific inquirers than its history, philologically, because in observing the form and materials of a column, an arch, a dome or a wall it was not necessary to institute that deep comparison, comprehensive and minute at the same time, which the marvellous Murder story of languago demands. Anything which is linguistically distinctive, therefore, of a par- ticular epoch, should in this age of enlighten. ~ ment be sifted free from all husk and chaff and preserved for the use of posterity in neat form, Such is our intention in the pres- ent instance, so far as regards the vernacular of that popular branch of the community—our murderers. Ingenious people have collected the dying words of great and good men with a goody-goody object. This is not our particu- lar weakness. Good men when dying may often give utterance to the keynote of their lives, but with a homicide wo think it a nice psychological point that his keynote can best be taken at or about the time when he takes a life not his own, We do not propose going back to the time, about twenty years ago, of the mur- der of Bill Poole by Paudheen McLaughlin at Stanwix Hall. There is something very sug- gestive, however, in that case of an invitation to murderers of the future in his keynote as he fired his pistol:—‘‘Now, boys, sail in!" We shall commence our quotations from the modern murder classics with that unfortunate prophet of the murderer's Arcadia, who learned in his person the disbelief that over- takes prophets generally in their own coun- try :— Hanging is played out in New York.—Jack™ Reynolds, Jan. 29, 1870. Take that, you s— of a b——.— Michael Moe Aloon, Aug. 24, 1870. I shot him and I could not help it. I knew that something was going’ to happen. I dreamt I was a Prussian soldier and a lot of French were after me.— Valentine Reckel, Sept., 10, 1870. You won't marry me and Pll kill you— William Marsh, Sept. 16, 1870. ; Tl knock your d—d head off.—John Thomas (colored), Sept. 30, 1870. I was very drunk, and do not remember anything of it.—George Woodruff, Nov. 28, 1870. Now, Iv’e got you.—Abraham Jones (cole ored), Jan. 1, 1871. I saw him draw a pistol; I pulled mine and shot him.—Reddy the Blacksmith, Jan. 25, 1871. I am going as far as you do, and when you get off I'll give you hell.— Wiliam Foster, April 26, 1871. We have a case over there.—James McGaw- ley, Aug. 28, 1871. I'll settle with you.—Daniel Foley, Sept. 24, 1871. There’s a man shot at the ladies’ entrance. Edward Stokes, Jan, 6, 1872. I was reported by him for violating the rules and was marked for it.—Justus Dunn, March 17, 1872. Well, I don’t know that he is any worse off now than I am.—Jumes Burns, April 28, 1872, I don’t care if you cut my head off. Ihave done right.—Emile Andrie, June 13, 1872. T've killed Margaret.— Thomas Cobb, July 3, 1872, Bob, I didn’t mean to shoot you.— William J. Sharkey, Sept. 1, 1872. I did it with a knife, and then I threw the knife away.—G@arrett Landers, Sept. 22, 1872. Ican kill any one that dares to cross my path.—John Scannell, Nov. 2, 1872. Tudge, you can have this (pistol).—James C King, Nov. 18, 1872. Ihave shot my niece and am going to give myself up.—Robert P. Bleakley, Dec. 10, 1872. Kill you! I'd kill you a dozen times if I could.—John E. Simmons, Dee. 16, 1872. I will shoot you for this to-morrow.—Jfar- shall MeGruder, Jan. 19, 1873, I told you I'd shoot you, andI did it, didn’t 1?—Marshall McGruder, January 20, 1873. I just pulled out my pistol and shot him.— Michael Nixon, Jan. 21, 1873. These, we imagine, should suffice for exame ples. They are barely one in six among the slaughters of the past three years; but there is much material for thought in these phrases that in each case gre identified with a scene of violence, blood and death. Thereis no neces- sity for us supplementing these ejaculations with the stories of the murders themselves, The effect can be as simply and accurately reached by always bearing in mind that close to the time of utterance of these phrases, by night or by day, there could be found a lifeless form, a white face with a hor- rified look, a pair of stony staring eyes and one or more gaping wounds, with blood all clotted around their mouths. As ina mathe- matical proposition we may say, given the gory corpse of the victim and the murderer's phrase, it will then be easy to place the ono in the proper relation of time to the other. But, like grim fate, we would keop that figure of the murdered before the public eyo until the