The New York Herald Newspaper, September 13, 1878, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD »° BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. every day im the year, TRE DAILY BERALD, ‘Tbiee cents per cop! any jomernaaes bg ee Tate mou ssn iltin vit mouths, or Bve dollare for six months, Sunday ea vires of WERLY NERALD One collar per year, iree of post- eee. . *Sovien TO SUBSCRIBERS.—Remlt in draits York or Post Office money orders, wher these can be procured sund the mone; All money remitted at risk of send Attention anbseribers wishing their ‘their old as well as their ines. news letters or New Your Past Saas nd packages sbou! properly seale Communications will not ve returned, a registered h Iu order to insure ‘address changed rust Tens, raphio despatches must ————_—. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO, 112 SOUIH SIXTH EMT. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD NO, 4 PLEET STRELT, PAids OFPICK—49 AVENUE DE LOPERA, “a ‘ om e iona! Ex; itim can have Sar icies, ‘addressed to te ciure of ou? Paris “Ka pith ORLNO. 7 STRADA PACK. sg tions and advertisements wil! be received a sertoftel'de'the cane tacos cs in Now York. +g AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. FIFTH AVRNUE THEATER GLOBE THEATRE -Maca SIBLO'S GARDEN—Mazerra. REW YORK AQUARIUM—Living Wonvens. GRAND OPERA KOUSE--Uneix Tom's Canin. PARK THEATRE—Hvi BROADWAY THEATER: BOOTH'S THEATRE-Jaxe WALLACK’S THEATR. 1884 HARLOWS, BOWERY THEATRE—Ocronoos. AMERICAN INSTITUTE FAIR” ne HUNCEBACK, KUBIZ ART GALLERY as 2 UNION SQUARE THEATRE—Ouvia, BAN FRANCISCO MIN) TOY PASTOR'S -Vauist GILMORE'S GARDEN—T ? Coxcents, MBER 13, 1878, NEW YOR The probabilities are that the weather in York and its vicinity to-day will be slightly warmer and cloudy, with rains and brisk winds, Mo-morrow it promises to be cooler and cloudy in the early part of the day, followed by clearing weather. New Wat Srruer Yestirpay. —The stock specu- lation was dull and prices deciined. Gold was steady ut 10044 thronghont, aud money on call | loaned at lly to 3 per cent. » Government bonds were steady on small transactions, States were ignored and railways were steady and quiet. Tur AyaStavery Ac begun in earnest in Cuba. avion has at last ‘Tar New Hamrsit JuMocRAtS found room iu their platform for barely eight lincs on the Aanaucial question. - Is rue Orion of the best physicians the danger that the yellow fever may be communi- cated through the mails is excecdingly remote. The precaution of disinfecting the pouches has been taken by the Post Office Department. Four Pirsons from ditierent parts of the country were reporicd ut the Central Police Office yesterday as missing. of metropolitan life have probably made them temporarily forget their anxious friends at home. Norvorw, Va., is obtaining an unenviable prominence in the criminal line. Two murders have been committed there within a week. ‘The one yesterduy—of a poor colored man—was en- tirely unprovoked und exceedingly outrageous. Ar Mars. Sturxe, of Williamsburg, who is ac- cused of the untilial crime of au attempt to poison her wother, is innocent. she has not suc- ceeded in convineing the lower court of the fact. She is held 10 await the action of the Grand Jury. NEARLY ey FSTED Parniors bave sent in their applications for the position of supervisors of election. ‘Thus far more than a thousand have been appointed, the greenbackers and independents of all shades being left out in the cold. Tue Rercsuican Reverses in Maine do not teem to have discouraged Mr. Blaine or in- fluenced his opinious on the financial question. His speech at Ogdensburg yesterday on the currency issue was enthusiastically applauded by the farmers of old St. Lawrence. Tue Si ST10N that the presidency of Vas- sar College should be given to alady does not seem to have met with much favor from the Board of Trustees, At all events, they have selected Dr. Caldwell, of the Newton Theo- logical Seminary, for the position. Ty Wittiam Keyxepy, who was found guilty of manslaughter in the second degree yester- day, had not carried a revolver it is very cer- tain that he would not occupy his present unfortunate position. His excellent character for years could not, of course, be taken into consideration by t Tux Exwiarnox of Horticultural Society, which is always interesting, promises to be unusually attractive this season. A very Jarge number of prizes have been prepared, and the florists of this and other cities will, no doubt, second the efforts of the socicty to make the exhibition a success. Tue Weatuse,—The storm centre that has been developing oil the South Atlantic coast for the past few days is moving in a vortheast- wardly direction. Although its centre is still south of Virginia its intluence extends far into the Middle Atlantic States and lower lake re- gions. Its general movement indicates that it will pass overthodistricts exst of the Alleghany Mountains and is likely to prove very destructive along the coast. Another depression is moving over the extreme northwestern districts, but its outline is not yet-well marked, ‘the barometer contivues high in the Missouri and Mississippi the valleys and the northern lake region. It is also high, but fulling gradually in the Northeast. Rain has fallen throughout the Middle Atlantic and New England States, the lake regions and the South Atlantic | coast districts. In the latter section the fall has tween @xecedingly heavy. The winds have been trom brisk to high on the South Atlantic coust aud inthe lower lake regions, In the other districts they have been from fresh to brisk. The temperature bas been variable in the northeastern and the central valley districts. Elsewhere it has risen generally. Brisk to stroug winds may be expected over the lake regions during the next few days, and on the Middle Atlantic couste severe weather will probably prevail. The weather in New York and its vicinity to-day will be slightly warmer and clondy, with rains and brisk winds. ‘To- morrow it promises to be cooler and cloudy in the curly part of the day, followed by clearing The fascinations | NEW Y | whe Butler Campaign in Massachu- sotts. Since the Maine election all eyes are turned toward General Butler, who has be- come for the moment the central! figure in American politics. He will continue to oceupy this conspicuous position at least until next Tuesday, when the Massachu- setts democrats are to hold their State Con- vention at Worcester. General Butler is aiming to capture that body and secure its nomination, and his chances are sufficient to inspire anxiety and alarm in both the regular parties. ‘the republican parly would be the greater sufferer by such an arrangement, since the democrats could not elect their regular candidate in any event ; while the republi- caus will have the chances in their favor if the opposition vote is divided between But- ler and a popular democratic candidate, The situation in Massachusetts does not quite resemble that in Maine, In Maine it requires un absolute majority of the votes to elect a Governor, but in Massachusetts the candidate receiving the highest number is elected, even though it be not a majority. If the law of Maine were like that of Massa- chusetts Governor Connor would have been re-elected by a handsome plurality, but since a clear majority was requisite there was no election by the people, and the chances are against him in the Legislature. But in Massachusetts the running of three candidates would favor the republican hopes by dividing and weakening the oppo- sition. It is therefore a matter of greater interest to the republican party of Massa- chusetts than to the democratic party of that State that the latter should run a regu- lar candidate, since if Butler gets the demo- cratic nomination he will probably be elected. Within the last three or four days dem- ocratic caucuses have been held in a large number of cities and towns for choosing delegates to the State Convention, and so many of these have instructed their dele- gates to vote for Butler as to cause great consternation among the old line demo- eratic leaders. So thoroughly have their fears been aroused that the Democratic Ex- ecutive Committee have held a meeting in Boston and issued a mandate aguinst the admission of Butler delegates to the Wor- cester Convention, The Executive Com- mittee declare that ‘no person known by his acts or declared opinions to be in favor of nominating through the Democratic Convention asa candidate tor Governor or for any State officer a person who is not recognized member of the democratic party is entitled to sil or vote in the Democratic State Convention.” This significant proceeding is an official confession that Butler is likely to capture the Democratic State Convention, unless delegates known to favor him are excluded. But what authority*has a small committee in Boston to dictate to the democratic con- stituencies what kind of men they shall send to the State Convention as delegates? A small intermixture of Butler delegates could not control the Convention, because the majority could easily vote them down. he Butler entausiasm must be ranning like wildfire in the democratic organiza- tion to call for so extreme a measure as de- nying the right of local constituencies to send delegates of their own choice. ‘Lhe Butler movement must have assumed for- midable and threatening proportions when this. public confession is made that the Convention must be quarantined against the Butler infection as carefully as our Northern ports are quarantined against the yellow fever. ‘fhe Boston Post, the able leading organ of the Massachusetts democrats, is wild and frantic in its protests against the adoption of Butler by the Worcester Convention. It scolds and threatens and remonstrates as if the party were on the brink of dissolution. It denounces the election of Butler dele- gates by a democratic caucus as the act of traitors and renegades. ‘The bare sugges- tion,” says the Post, ‘of the employment of a democratic caucus for the betrayal and overthrow of the democratic party is a mon- strosity in political morals. It isan utter impossibility in the maintenance of any party organization.” ‘It would be just as proper tor a democratic primary meeting to instruct its chosen delegates to vote for Rice, ‘Talbot or Long, as to vote for Butler.” “Phe democratic party of Massachusetts could not more effectually disband than by exchanging its old standard for the flying trooper colors of Butler.” The danger must be formidable when the leading organ of the party thinks it necessary to put forth such frantic warnings and vehement de- nunciations, ‘he series of interviews we publish to-day shows how deeply rooted are the fears on one side and the determina- tion on the other. But is it possible to head off the Butler movement for capturing the Worcester Con- vention by undertaking to exclude the Butler delegates? They cannot be refused seats without disfranchising the lgcal con- stituencies that sent them. Is it desirable to hold a rump convention? Would the ticket of a ramp convention bind the party? What should prevent the excluded Batler delegates from organizing another demo- cratic convention in Worcester and claiming to represent the party? Moreover, if they should happen to be a majority they may hold possession of the hall, control the or- ganization and force the old line democrats to bolt, ‘vo be sure, the State Committee inny go to the extreimo ofretusing tickets of admission to the Butler delegates, but that would lead to an explosive row which would shatter the democratic organization of the State into fragments. But the Butler menumay adopt a different and more. artful line of tactics. For the sake of securing theirseats they. might dis- eratic votes for Governor. In such a trade the democrats would lose nothing by de- serting a gubernatorial candidate whom there was no possibility of electing, and they might gain a few Congressmen, More- over, the canvass in this form might be more favorable to Butler than a regular democratic nomination, which would repol some of the republican sup- port that he hopes to receive. ‘The political situation im Massachusetts is so curious, critical and exciting that the chief object of political attention for the next few days wil! be the Democratic State Convention at Worcester. It will bo pretty much the same to Butler whether he cap- tures it outright or secures the nomination of a feeble and unpopular democrat, put up by his party merely to be sold out in the progress of the canvass. A Battle with the Nannocks. The information from the Plains this morning announcing a victory by General Miles over the Indians, instead of the de- ‘feat and massacre in yesterday's despatches, will be extremely welcome news to the country. In an engagement with the Ban- nock Indians last Sunday on Soda Butte Creek thirteen of the savages were killed and thirty-seven captured, while the loss on our side was one officer—Captain Ben- nett—and one soldier mortally wounded. The force under General Miles was very small, being only twenty-one men and a few scouts. No mention is made of tho excursion party, and if their existence is not entirely mythical it is to be presumed they are entirely safe and in the full enjoy- ment of their scalps. It will be seen from the despatches of General Pope that the Northern Cheyennes will have an opportu- nity to either fight or surrender within the next few days. ‘Troops have been sent to intercept them at different points along the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and the orders are to pursue and give them battle unless they lay down their arms. Their course of action will in all probability depend upon the force brought against them. If they see a good chance to win it is very certain they will not avoid an en- counter. The economists at Washington are really the most effective allies of the Indians. The Quarrel About Holcs. ‘The columns of a morning contemporary report an interview with Commissioner Campbell, of the Board of Public Works, from which welearn that Chairman Nichols, of the Committce on Street Cleaning, com- plainsof the broken condition of street pavements and the obstructions in gutters, &e. We further learn that. Commissioner Campbell has been informed that there are 3,650 pavement holes that need to be graded up to level, Assuming the dimensions ofa pavement hole to be three feet by three, which does not express the extent of some of the stagnant ponds and lakes discovered by the Heratp reporters while obtaining the information upon which the broom and cart brigade based their late blun- dering’ campaign, it will be seen that the city has the equivalent of two ranning miles of holes, or, in’ other words, depressions numerous and extensive enough to afford fitting graves for the whole street cleaning organization, commissioners in- oluded, In such positions these gentlemen would be far more useful than they have ever been in cleaning these sinks of filth and hotbeds of disease. Now, if Mr. Camp- bell will retort by enumerating the vener- able mounds of refuse which encumber the pavements, transforming our thoroughfares into landscape gardens, replete with all the decayed vegetation peculiar to the season, the fight between the two depart- ments will assume that evenness of balance which is so necessary to interest the spectators ofa fight. Should any innocent soul imagine that the purpose of these letters and replies is anything but political we would remind him that election day ts near at hand, and that any politician with a soul big enough to take caro of his pocket fights not for the:public, but for himself. Letters, complaints and protests will be as numerous during the coming month or two as dirty streets and foul gutters, but they have no meaning except for the political “outs” and “ins,” ‘he citizen who sup- poses that they are really inspired by a do- sire for the public good should lounge an hour or two in places where politicians most do congregate. He would retura to his home carrying a full set of cleaning and paving tools and a firm conviction that if his street is to be cleaned and levelled he will have to do it himself. Imperfect Rapid Transit. Within the past few days some smal! im- provements have been made on the clevated railway in Thirdavenue. More speed seems to have been attained by some trains, and in places where stations should be there are piles of lumber and stone, and some men—though utterly inadequate in num- ber to the necessities of the public amd the reputation of the road-—-are at work, But the degree of improvement is by no means what it should be. Whe directors having taken the responsibility of opening the road for travel there should be the strongest available force kept at work night and day until the passengers receive the full equiv- alent of their passage money. An open platform to wait upon, an uncovered stai way to ascend in the rain, a walk of half a mile in order to get a train at all, a movement that is apparently controlled by jerk motion, and the absence of a terminus in Tryon square, where most downtown people would prefer to take their trains, are Gisadvantages not at all counterbal- anced by the few accommodations which the road offers, The directors should, in justice to their own personal reputations, claim any intention to nominate Butler and give pledges to vote only for w regular demucrat, But once in their seats what shall prevent them from nominating a candidate who is ut- terly destitute of poptfar strength and who would be no obstacle in Butler's way? With a weak-and wooden democratic if the rights of the public seem of no consequence to them, transform their road from its present position of }® quasi-nuisance into a business enter- prise, conducted eccording to those princi- ples which appeal first of all to public con- fidence. If they really prefer to insult or swindle the public they should become candidate running agaitist him it would be easy for Butler's friends to make bargains with demoeratit: candidates for Congress, offering them support against their repub- wether. \ lican competitars in. exchange. for demo- either Street Cleaming Commissioners or “gonfidence” men, th former requiring the exercise of less sense.and the latter of less capital than the mansgement ot an elevated railway demands, The Gulf Stream, The scientific world has been set astir by the surprising observations recently made by Captain Coffin on the southern bank of the Gulf Stream. ‘The interest attaching to the discovery is heightened by its impor- tance and value to the merchant marine. ‘The observations of Captain Coffin lead to the conclusion that all the marine charts err in locating the southern limit of the Stream, and that this limit, betweem the meridians of fifty and sixty degrees, is upward of fifty miles south of the position assigned to it by the geographers. From the earliest periods of our history this colossal river of the ocean has been a favorite subject of study. Its vast depth, its width varying from thirty to three hundred miles, its mysterious jour- ney of some seven thousand miles through the counter currents and hurricanes of the Atlantic, its return to the Mexican Gulf, whence it set out and from which it derives its name, have rendered it a marvel even to the philosophers of our own day. Currents vaster and more powerful traverse the Antarctic Sen and the Pacific, yet the Gulf Stream remains the most interesting of all. All the rivers that flow into the Gulf and the Caribbean Sea mingle their turbid waters with this Stream and are borne with it far upon the ocean, there to be deprived of the elements of disease. But for its ceaseless flow the tropical heat would be- come insufferable and perpetual ice and snow would rest on the shores of all North- ern Europe. While it stores up the sun’s heat avd wafts it to northern climes it induces counter streams from the Polar Seas, which carry their chilling waters to the tropical zone. Apart from the benefi- cent purpose it thus subserves in the economy of the creation its great practical utility to the mariner is well known. The science of navigation embraces a thorough knowledge of the nature and location of this current. Itis all-important that ship- masters desiring to enter or leave the Stream should possess a most accurate knowledge of its limits. The question arises whether the deviation, observed recently may not be merely temporary. This is hardly probable, inasmuch as it was observed two years ago. The evidence as to the velocity of the current there appears to be quite conflicting, which is no dispar- agement to the individual statements, “it being probable that the swiftness varies from three-quarters of a mile to threo miles per hour, and each captain gives his own experience, Although the southern limit on the chart is only an approximation it would seem from the observations—first, that extensive tem- porary changes take place in the direction and velocity of the current; second, that the late discovery shows either a large error on the charts or the development of a per- manent alteration in the Stream. ‘This last view will not seem improbable when it is remembered that the configuration of coast lines, which often’ determine the direction and force of currents, is subject to per- petual change. The accumulation of bars, deltas and coral islands, the changes wrought by submarine earth- quakes and volcanoes, climatic variations and other agencies are known to influence the journey and the power of occan streams. ‘thus the late phenomenon would seem to result from the inexorable laws of change. The mariner -has already turned astronomy and the magnetic needle to ac- count, In latter days the famous general- ization unfolding the law of storm paths has robbed ocean travel of its greatest terrors. It remains to make one more step in this direction by giving accurate and trust- worthy maps of the Atlantic and Pacific currents. The Naval Department might at- tempt this with much profit to science and the commercial world. + Cleopatra’s Needle. London is the richer by one monument since the famous needle was yesterday suc- cesstully placed on the pedestal beside the ‘Thames, where it is to stand tor a longer time, let us hope, than it has endured hitherto in all places together, and where it will probably remain until the famous New Zealander shall procure the gift of it from some future barbarian potentate in England sad Ing ,it away to decorate a Maori city. In some respects this is the most remarkable monument that London possesses—and she possesses many ; but it is of interest not with its relation to Egypt so much ag itis as a monument of what exists in England. It will be regarded in some degree as the monument of Mr. Eras- mus Wilson, the munificent physician, who gave from his own pocket the money neces- sary to defray the expense of its transporta- tion to England; but in a larger sense it is f monument of the existence in that coun- try of the class of citizens of whom this en- thusiastic devotee of science is a type. .In that respect it will compare favorably with any monument in the great city, from the Duke of York's column to the Duke of Wellington posed as a contortionist near Hyde Park Corner; tor the possession of the class of mon of whose oxistence the pres- ence of this monument is eloquent is of greater value to the country than all the achievements it has typified in bronze or marble. Fever Fright im New Jorsoy. Just west of the Palisades, in New Jersey, a fugitive from the plague-ridden South died on Wednesday from yellow fever. His death afforded occasion for a public exhibi- tion of how ignorant, cowardly and con- | temptible the people of a village in that section may be if they try, but beyond that it could do no possible harm to the commu. nity, All that is known of yellow tever— even without the special knowledge of the physician—should prove to people pos- sessed of ordinary intelligence that the fever poison cannot spread in such place as Closter, N. J., at this time. But the fact that a man who has taken the disease in another climate and comes North only to die, does actually die in their neighborhood, and of this dreaded malady, is enough ap- parently to frighten extremely the unreason- ing multitude in a country town. If, how- ever, any one shotld propose to these countrymen to take shoots or seeds from a tropical plant in the greeffhouse and set them ont in the cold soil of New Jersey, in ORK HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1878—TRIPLE SHEET. Fe ceerenenemearteeetneninaemmennmrranenmmmenstiit ene GEL LE CL LT TL TL LT TOLL OLE the hope that in the warm days and cold nighty of the Northern September they would germinate and blossom and bear fruit, the countrymen would laugh at the author of the proposition as an imbecile. They would wonder what had become of his sense if he proposed to plant at this time any ordinary crop that ripens out of doors in a Northern summer. Yet these men fear that a tropical plant- for the yellow fever germ is strictly a tropical plant of microscopic proportions—they fear that this plant, which can only be germinated with a temperature of eighty degrees continued for many days and nights, will germinate and reproduce itself, and contaminate the air of a town in North- ern New Jersey in the middle of September. Even in New Jersey people ought to know betteg. Mi The Latest Ruilroad “Accident.” That we are not called upon to record this morning a companion calamity to the recent collision on the Thames or the Welsh coal mine disaster is certainly not owing to the care or good management of the Long Island Railroad officials, The so-called ac- cident on one of the branches of that rail- road yesterday, by which one man was killed and ten persons move or less injured, would not have taken place if the most or- dinary and obvious precautions to insuro the safety of their passengers had been taken. It is reported that the immediate canse of the derailment of the train was owing to the breaking of a flange on one of the wheels of the engine which sent the cars with nearly one hundred pas- sengers on board plunging down an embank- ment. An intelligent member of the Cor- oner’s jury—a blacksmith—in examining the broken wheel plainly detected a flaw in the iron work, which of course caused the break. The curious thing about it, if any- thing can be said to be curious in connec- tion with this Long Island Railroad, is that the engine in question came out of the repair shops only a few days ago, In speak- ing on the subject the superintendent of the road naively says the wheels were not repaired. It is very evident they were uot. On most roads, and in the opinion of most mechanics, wheels are considered very im- portant parts of an engine; but thie extraor- dinary mechanics of this extraordinary road have outlived all such foolish prejudices. The people who live on Long Island and are at the mercy of such railroad manage- ment are to be pitied. Literary Piracy. Harper & Brothers call attention in a let- ter to the Heraup, which we give else- where, to a remarkable revival of an evil that was thought to be pretty well rooted out of the book trade in this country. They inform the public of the existence of a book made by some unauthorized person pretending to be » complete record of Stan- ley’s adventures and explorations in Africa, and made, no doubt, with the intention of diverting into the pockets of its ‘enter- prising” publisher some portion of the money that it is to be supposed the popu- lar interest in Stanley’s achievements will produce. Such a book would, of course, not be difficult to make by any person who, with a scissors and paste pot, had atten- tively followed Stanley's own record of his doings as given to the world in the Hznarp during some years past, and who had with the same care laid away all the maps made by us from Stanley’s sketches and memoranda, Such a person might even urge that as these . letters were published in the newspapers without the protection of copyright he had the right to use them. But what must be the spirit of that person who, stowed in some comfortable corner at home, watches and follows the thrilling narrative of the daring adventurer in the African wilder. ness, and for years cherishes the deliberate intention to endeavor to procure for himself some portion of the reward justly due to the heroic explorer, and never once in all those years has one generous impulse to throw his copy into the fire? But that sort of trickery cannot prosper with the Ameri- can public, and the Harpers have done all that is necessary to prevent its success in announcing the fact of the existence of this piratical edition. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Wondoll Phillips is in il-bealtn, Ex- Minister Schenck is in Chicago, Goneral Longstreet Is revenue agent for Georgia and Florida. Kearney says:—‘‘Greenbacks of itsclf are a vory good issue.’” Chiet Justice Morrison R, Watte is at the St, Niebolas Hovel, A statement by Kearney all over she country.” ‘yhe London announcement that Miss Helen Taylor would offer hereelf for Parliament has been con- tradicted. Henry Ruggles, United States Consul at Malta, 8 yn the Britannic, of the White Star line, to-morrow, Mr, Ruggles was for several years in tho Consular service at Barceiona. iio is accompanied by bis wile aad daughs Says an Haglish oritic:—‘Sodern music books for the young priated upon the full folio sizo are apt to confuse the mind and to discourage the energy by presenting to the sight difficulties yet to come groater than those already overcome.’? Midshipman A. £. Jardiwe, of the United States sloop-ol-war Tennessee, who was seriously burt about threo woeks ago by the premature discharge of a cun- noo, at Mystic, Conn, ent stopping at the re Jardine, at Noank. Now Haven Reyis'er:—“The Christian Union ex- plains that twenty-four packs in the sieeve of Bret heathen would Lave been @ useless encum- And that the poet meant to say twenty-four jacks, It fa wotl to bave this question settled by wathority, By the way—What is the Christian Union's Opinion a4 to making a straight flush better than tour of a kind?” From the New York Graphic:—“Whoa the book which Dr, George B. Wallis is writing apy we shall probubly bave as valuable a contriva’ to history o# was ‘Pepy’s Diary,’ or the ‘Greville Me. moira.’ Under the administration of James Gordon Benuert, the elder, Dr. Wallis was tor many yours counected with tie Hknany ag correspondent and leader writer, and the book oa winch he is now under- stood to be engaged will contain his recollections of public meu avd evente Dr. Wallis’ experience and his acquaintance with the leading statesmen and politicos of the country bave been extensive, and date back, we believe, as far as 184, He camo in contact and was inore or less intimate ali our principal stateemea when a cotresponde Wash- ington, during the period when the South ruled the pation, His répertoire ot uneedotes is large, he is a vi ub Writer, Is a close accurate observer, aod Aman of extensive roading and cuiture, His book will be interesting to the readers of to-day aad Vulu- ubie 10 the historian of the suture.’? “God bas followed me jonce of his iasher, Genet AMUSEMENTS, “AN OPEN VERDICT AT THE STANDARD THEATRE. , Neil Delafield, “bis better nature’ .Kben Plympton Godfrey ‘curse of his nother’ .Vrenk kvans Pope, Tsnwu Biodaiet, bat honest this on Foreman of the Ju Dourkeep tHlester stun! DE, @ purpose and a fate. Mer for chia part.) May Harriott A new aod original American entitled “An Open Verdict,’ was produced last evening at the Standard Theatre to a large audionce, and proved &@ decided faliure, owing to its faulty construction and lack of coherent dramatic form, in the whole cast there is not a single strik- tpg character, and it is diMecult to under stand how any manager could be induced to produce it, This may be considered sweoping criticism, but it was by Do means an open verdict that the spec. tators rendered when the curtain fell for the last time, Tho plot of “Am Open Verdict’ is, as the playvill unpvounces, ‘so peculiar” that it requires consider- able space to explain it, The first act presents the rivalry betweon two Southern planters—Netl Delafield (Mr. Plympton) and Godtrey Pope (Mr, vans) for the hand of a rich and bdeautiful girl, Edith (Miss Rose Osborne), Hester Stanhope (Mrz, Enma Waller), a mysterious gypsy-!ooking creature, appears upon the scene to tell Edith of the dospica~ ble character of Pope, who is urging herto marry him clandestingly. Edith suspects that Net! had ine ducea Hester to malign bis rival and goes in anger with Pope to church to be hastily married, and om returning introduces him to Neil as her busband, The act exds thero, though the fact ts revealed that Florence (Miss May Davenport), ward of Noil, {s In Jove with her guardian. 1n the second act two years have elupsed, Neil has married Florence; Pope hue become a gambler and ruffian, Hester Stanhope stily pursuiog and spying upon him for some mysterious wrong done her, She denounces Pope for a murdet ho has committed and sets a mob with bloodbounds in pursuit of him. He flios to Delafetd for safety, and is by him protected trom tho fury of the mow and hounds, This makes a striking scone, and the curtain fell amid abundant and heartfelt ap plause, The third act opens ten =yeara after in the city of New York, the scene be- ing as Btrect’ «= during =~ sraging = snows storm. A wedding party arr.ve at a mansion and the deserted street is occupied by Pope, who, it appears, has been acquitted of the murder, through the offorta ot Netl, who acted as bis counse), Florence is dead ana Neil bas just married Edith, she having procured adivorco, All this is told by Heater to Pope, and a furious scene ensues between them. Pops announces bis intention of entering the house and demanding money as the price of nis silence. On Hester seckiug to prevent hin Pope stabs her, rings the bell and gaing admiszion, the negro servant going to the a id of Hes- ter, Through an open window the two mon are seeu to mect, and bey struggle tho curtatn falls. ‘The foarth fs really a part of the third, Pope throutons Neil io words and the dumb quarrel is re- enacted, A mysterious pistol shot 1s firea and Popo falls mortally wounded. Ho dies after denouncing Neil as hia murderor, but Hester declares that sh¢ committed the crime, The last act occurs acourt room where Hester is on trial for mu: ‘The District Attorney watves the charge, and Hester 1s acquitted by order of tho court, ."Then the prose ecutins officor orders Neil, whe 1s acting ag Hester’s counsel, into custody for the crime, bat the .Court refuses permission, thougn strangely enough allows the attorney to examine witnesses in support of bis charge. Then Hester again deciares that she killed Pope, but as sbe nas already been acquitted she cannot be tried a sec ond time. Then comes the dénouement, such as It ig. Hester declares herself w balf sister of Vope’s, and that, though the wife ofa white man, had been claimed by him on the death of their father as his slave, her mother being one, This was the motive for ler jong pursuit aud fiaal vengeance. With such aplot there was po scope 'or acting. Mr. Plympton was manly enough, but he really had noth ing to do, Mr. Evane ag the villain waa as Villanous ag ope could wish, Mr. Maginiey as an ble negre was toleruble. Miss Kose Qsvorne as Edith looked lovabl ough, but she had. scarcely anything to do, Mrs. V ¢ Was inelodramatic and weird, Mr. Le Clercq, a8 a canting, hypocritical mipister, endeavored to muke something of bis part, but,’ like much of the cast, be might as well have been loft out for all tho need thero wag for him, There may have been worge plays presented in this city, but if so we do not recall thom at this moment. At theciose of the performance there were loud calls tor the author, when Mr. Henderson appearea bofore the curtain and declared that be did not know wbo wrote the piece, but believed “thoy? were in Washington. Sotho auai- ence dispersed more mystified than ever, Nr. Hou- derson deserves great credit forthe liberahty he hag displuyedin mounting the play, and bis company isso good that, wich a more Intellixent drama, they will Goubtiess achieve ail the success they seek to attain, MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES, Tho third organ recital of Mr. John White, at St Patrick’s Cathedral, will take placo next Mondsy. The regular season at the Union Square Theatre will commence on Monday, September 23, with a new play by Sardou, the author of *Diplomacy.”” The artistic services of Mr, Prank Gilder, the piane ist, and William H, Lee, the boy sopfuno, have beoa engaged Jor a number of concerts during the coming season. ‘The last nights of the ‘Hunchback’? are announced at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Miss Mary Andersen, as Julia, has drawn well, and her engazement, judging from reports at the box office, has been successiul, “Evadno” will be produced on Monday. The Fiorences go to the Grand Opora House at an early day. The dresses of Mrs. Florence, purchused by her duriug ber recent trip to Europe, are sald to v¢ superb, ‘There aro certainly fow ladies on’ the stage who can more grucefally exbivit a toilet, * A musical entertainment for the benefit of Si Mary’s Orphan Asylum will be given to-morrow evening iu the hail of St. Joseph's Industrial School, South Orarge, N. J. Among the artists who have volunteered their services for the occasion are Mme. de Barril, Mile, M. Barrtl, Miss Marcy, Miss Piunkost and Mias Dann, who will be assisted by Messrs. Piaa- kett and Wait, THE ITALIAN OPERA, MR. MAPLESON AND TH STOCKHOLDERS 01 THE ACADEMY, ‘fo tHe Epiron or THe Hekanp: “A Lover of Italian Opera’? states that the stock. holders of the Academy should faruisb certain funds jor the benelit of Mr. Mapleson’s enterprise, Taking into consideration the fact that the stockhoidera are presenting Mr. Mapieson with privileges that, at the loweat computation, will put $5,000 a week into bis pocket whieh, had they choson,’ they might Just am their own, I think your corespood. suddio on the wrong horse, Tne hat it (as f took the hberty of committce) Mr, Mapleson only consolation warning the stockholders’ intends to ran his season on tho “economical” plan, ag from present Indications seoms to be the case, ho will probably lose instead of gaining the large sum ot money which the stockholders have virtually pre sented him. EVWARD DEVON, 46 Wast Fovateesti Stren, Sept. 12, 1873, LITERARY PIRACY, Fraxkux Squats, New Yore, Sopt. 12, 1878 | To Tax Epiroe ov tuk Huraup:— vo of Staniey’s magnificent exploration one of tho grandest achievements of moder times—is published by us in tW&o bundsome volumes, profusely Jilustrated with engravings trom his cwo sketel and under tho suggestive title “Pbrough the Dark Contivent.” The story of this brave man’s adventures, the dangers through which he passed, the sufferings he endaared, the wi rial discoverics bo made, told 1m his own graphic and ener- getic style, reads hke a chapter of romance, and no oo who takes up the book willbe willing to lay it Gown enti tne inst page is finisned, No book 1m interest and importance baa p the last twenty-five years, We ropret, therelore, to loaea that an attempt ie maxing to impose Upon the pablic 4 spurious work, purporiing to be arrative of Stai nents aud discoveries. Lt is w garb p tron lettorg pecessariy imper- vm which were omitted * many of the t pepe appear in Mr. jey’s Look, and Ww! hocessary to the complete aodersianding of work be bas accomplished, To protect the inter of Aworican readers we deem tt proper to warn the public wgarnst attempts to parm of upon them this Jed und spurious narrative of bis explorations, rough the Dark Continent,” copyrighted and published by ourselves, arrangement With (be author, and Is solu by subscrip. tion agents only, Wuoover buys avy other will sine ply Waste his money ans cheat bimsell out of a book which the most censorioas of Bugiish critics prow nuance the most churming and fascinating stury of travel wud aaveuture produced in modera times. “Ke. epecttully, HARPER & BROLHERS