Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 27, Number 21, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 January 1878 — Page 4

THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL, WEDNESDAY MOUNTING, JANUARY 9. 1878.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9.

Ciooi a.iii:. After all, philosophize as we may, a good came U to be chosen rather, than great riches. Fortunately for all concerned, the world still has faith in Integrity. Itwill not do, however, to exile vigilance, for the trick of wolves in ehteps' clothing is still practiced by a great many people. Fraud, like base ball, has become a national game, and quite a number of eminent men of the Schenct type are educating the people in Mraw poker." It Ls doubtful if there ever "aria a period in the world's history when so many cultivated, refined and educated ras als were in and out of penitentiaries, and the humiliating spectacle of sending bailiffs and writs to the United States senate for criminals, has been reserved for the full orbed noon of the nineteenth century. It i barely possible that the times will develop tome master geniu9, who, like Raphael, will make his name immortal by his brush. Should a niiud miracle appear he may take for his subject the crime of 1870. Should he do that, and paint the Florida fraud and the Louisiana returning board, all heaven will pity Hayes, and the devil himself will exhaust the resources of his kingdom to pur chase the picture, as a triumph of his arts, and hang it on the fire beaten headlands of his sulphurous lake, so that in thecentnrie3 of torment as the cursed creiv float by they may say to each other, "There's Hayes 'and J. Madison Wells, Stearns and Chandler, 'Patterson and Kellogg, with others of less 'note in the back ground." Such reflections bring into bolder prominence the value of a good name. There is money in it. In these later day i it has been the policy to uitlize good names, as, for instance; in an enterprise where confidence is required to make it successful good names have been regarded as capital. To obtain them and send them out to the world as directly or indirectly connected with the enterprise was to insure auccess, and thousands and tens of thousands of unsuspecting men and women have eaid ih their hearts, That a savings bank or a life insurance company is good and sound and reliable, because certain good names are aacciated with it, and their money has flowed into its cotTers in a steady stream. No doubt?, no suspicions, no fears. Let panics come and shake down fortunes; these confiding people repeat the good names and rest in security. There is in all of this much to admire. It is complimentary to human nature; it antagonizes the idea of 'total depravity;" it evidences the fact that the world still has faith in the truth, and that the divinity in mm is not entirely eliminated. Hut it is mournful to retlcct that every day discloses the most cruel deceptions. Names that were yesterday good are to day obicured. A blight has settled down upon them, and they no longer flsh in the glowing constellations of "good 4names" on earth. They lent their names as an act of kindness.witbout thought or care of the use to be made of them. Unsophisticated galoots were attracted, like moths to the candle's flame, and pay the penalty of being dinged or crippled for life. Now then, what? What must those do who are chiefly responsible for these wrongs? Shall they make amends? Shall they see to it that others do not suffer from their carelessness? If they would preserve their good names they will do it. If not, away goes their good name. They can no more retain it than they could bottle moonshine, wrest a star from its socket or call the dead to life. Just now such matters are being forced into the boldest prominence. They will not down, and men of good names will be compelled to confront them. Siyings banks are breaking. Small earnings are being swallowed up by the failures of institutions controlled by men who have stood forth in communities as above reproach. Now is the time to test the value of good names. It may be difficult sometimes to meet the full measure of the responsibilities Imposed, but it must be done though the heavens fall, if the good name is to be preserved. Eti- . mating the outlook from entirely rational -observations, the time is at hand when men's Integrity and the value of a good name will be pat to the severest tests. - We shall see what will be the outcome. THE LOSSCM. The estimate now is that Indiana in suffering to the extent of two appilcations a day for the benefit of the bankrupt law. This would give GOO unfortunates during the year. Supise the average liabilities are 410,000, which is probably low enough, then we have the grand sum total of $0,000,000 as Indiana's annual share in the losses which find their way to the records of the bankrupts' court. But it is well understood that only a small fraction of the losses sustained by the blighting curse of contraction are made public in any form. The man who ten years since had property valued at say 4100,000 finds to day that his property is worth only $10,000. The $90,000, though ir recoverably gone, is not included in the tatistica of losses. Mortgages are daily foreclosed, and property, the result of years of toil, passes to the ownership of loan gents or their principals. Farmers aro driven from their homes by their inability to pay interest, and estates are dally chang ing hands. Sheriff sales multiply, and the aberifTs hammer is honrly falling with crushing force upon the homes and estates o the people. We have shown in these col amns that by the census reports of 1870 the true value of the real and financial property of the United States exceeded thl.iy billions of dollars. It has been held, and the estimate U not controverted, that the shrinkage in -values amounts to fully 40 per cent, or 412,000,000,000. ' But this is not all of the losses. The shrinkage of values has arrested the annual itxcumulati of wealth, estimated at four per

cent, or $1,200,000,000 annually, which in eight years amounts to $9,000,000,000, giving a sum total of losses to the country of $21,000,000,000. Aa we have shown, this sbrinkagea nd these losses are the bed rock of the present business and financial depressior. The sum, total is so vast that it is difficult to grasp it. It is so colossal as almost to stagger belief. It is so cruel in Its blighting effect as to arouse, not only opposition to the causes that have created it, but to obliterate rarty lines and to bring the people together in a determined effort, if possible, to remedy the evil. The course the people have pursued to bring about a more favorable state of affairs is eminently wise, prudent and patriotic Suffering patiently they exercised fortitude and waited their opportunity. Bending and breaking in the sweep and force of the storm, they heard the sheriff's hammer fall, when every stroke was like a funeral knell. Still they endured the curse and bore their burdens. But at last the day of election rolled around, and they chose representatives to carry out their will. As a result we have a bill before congress to repeal the resumption law and a bill to remonetiza silver. These are the only measures proposed. In the national howss of representatives 1C1 votes were cast for the Bland bill and only 34 votes against it, and the bill to repeal the resumption law was almost equally popular. These measures represent the aggregate wisdom of the people. They are strictly in consonance with the popular demand. They represent the wish of fully 37,000,000 of the people. Indiana is solid in their favor. Indiana indorses these measures and demands their passage. In 1870 the value of property in Indiana was set down at $1,203,130,000. If the shrinkage has been 40 per cent then the loss to the state amounts to $5,144,720.00. This amount ought to satisfy the Shylocks. But this is not all of the losses, for the shrinkage has not only created a direct los3, but has arrested all gains, which, if estimated at four per cent, a year, would give $4,101,770,000, which added to the shnnkage would give $9,249,400,000 as Indiana's share of the curse of legislation to promote the welfare of the Shylocks, It is not surprising, therefore, that Indiana is solid on the bill to repeal the resumption law and the Bland bill. The more those measures are discussed the more popular they become with the people of all parties. The Sentinel is fully committed to the advocacy of measures of relief. Bankruptcy and ruin has had its day. Shylocks have ruled long enough. The people's voice should be heard, and will be heard. Re

sumption on the 1st of January, 1S79, is im practicable. The remonetization of silver is constitutional, in consonance with law and justice, and the right will eventually prevail. WHAT WILL, THE YEBDICT BE? It is impossible to exaggerate the deplora. ble condition of business affairs throughout the country. A reign of terror has com menced. There is business alarm everywhere. Anxiety is written on every face. The curse of contraction, worse than war. pestilence and famine combined, ls daily growing more cruel. The bondholders' policy, like the arms of the devil fish, has laid hold upon every interest, and the people are almost powerless. Struggling in the grasp of a power that has been warmed into life by the most infamous legislation that ever blackened the statute books of any country under heaven, there is nothing left for them to do bt to appeal to congress. The aggregate wisdom of the peo ple's representatives acting under the solemn obligations of their oaths has pro posed two measures of relief. What are they? One is to repeal the resumption law. Why? First, because it is impractical to resume on the day named, January 1, 1879. The best minds in the country declare that the day named is premature. Second, be cause to make resumption possible would cause such farther shrinkage in values by the process of contraction, that with resumption, universal bankruptcy would result. The facta to support these propo sitions are multitudinous and irrefragible. To reach resumption contraction has been going forward for years, and the shrinkage of values has kept pace with it The sum total of the losses reaches an irazaensity almost incomputable. The curse, confined to no special locality, reaches from the center to the circumference of the country. It touches every Industry. It lays its cursed hand upon every branch of business. It smites like a thunder bolt. It shatters like an earthquake. It engulfs like a tidal wave. It withers like a desert blast The aggregate wisdom of the country, speak ing by authority, and by such an overwhelm ing majority as should command respect has decided to repeal the resumption law, post pone resumption, arrest the shrinkage of values, and give the people some hope of re lief. What are the obstacles to this measure of relief? Hayes and the bondholders. Hayes, the product of a furnace where fraud and perjury were melted in hellish fires ot sectional hate and partisan wickedness, pro poses to arrest this great measure of relief by the veto power. This is done in the interest of bondholders, who, to advance their wealth would cut the pound of flesh nearest the n&Mon's heart though every mau, woman and child should bleed to death. Upon this branch of the subject it is not difficult to determine what the verdict will be. The people demand relief from the crushing curse of contraction. They believe that the repeal of the resumption law will in some measure, at least, aid the solution of the business problem and lighten their burdens, and no amount of sophistry will change their decision. The other measure of relief proposed by the people's representative s is the free coinage of silrer, and its unlimited legal tender. Upon this measure the people are united. They demand the restoration of the silver dollar to its old place as a cola

nor will they retire an inch from their advanced position. It would be as easy to hush the roar of Niagara with a tin whistle or remove the everlasting hills by jackass power such as the Journal employs as to change the verdict of the people. The de

monetization of Bilver was simply a swindle, a, trick, an adroit movement to put money in the pockets of bondholders. It - was in antagonism to the interests and welfare of the country, and has aided indefinitely in bringing about the business disasters that now afflict the country. Those who are opposed to the reenactment of the law as it stood prior to 1873. should be able to state in what country on God's green earth silver dollars have at any time been productive of disasters to business, how silver dollars at any period since the dawn of authentic history embar rassed governments, jeopardized their credit, wrought ruin to business, hushed the m"cic of machinery, made the fore closure of mortgages and sheriff sales a necessity or sent men Into bankruptcy. Have silver dollars at any time stopped the plow in its furrow or endangered the farm er's possessions? Have they hushed the ring of the anvil, the click of the shuttle or the hum of machinery? If silver dollars have not done these things in the past wby, in the name of all the gods at once, assume that such disasters will follow the remonetization of silver in the United States? The verdict of the people is for the silver dollar of the fathers. It is for the law as it stood prior to 1873. We like it and indorse it The day of wakes m Ireland is over, and they will henceforth be things of tradition. The Roman Catholic hierarchy of Ireland has forbidden any but the immediate rela tives of the deceased from being present at these watches. No liquor is to be used in any way on these occasions. If this is dis obeyed no priest is to be allowed to attend to the funeral services, nor can the dead be buried in consecrated ground. The tramps fitted up a cave near WaterJ bury. Conn., and have lived there for months. A few days ago it was examined by the officers, and a report made to the town marshal. The cave is thirteen feet deep, is fitted up with a stove, swinging chandelier. There were a stove, table, cup board, bunks, stools and other household furniture. Oak ey Hall's lecturing tour having proved a failure, he is going back to New York to practice law. ' Despite the free advertising the press gave him, he did not succeed on the lecture platform. Although very reticent on the subject, his friends say he is much chagrined over his small audiences and his financial embarrassments. The citizens of Newport have a plan by which the convicts in the Kentucky penitentiary can be put to work without interfering with legitimate mechanics. They could be put to improving the riveis of the state by deepening the channels, removing obstructions und making dangerous places navigable. The school children of St. Louis are to be so trained by the teachers that in case of fire there will be no los of life. That this can be done has been proved by experlerce, and the discipline Is of incalculable advantage in case of fright causing a panic, no matter what may be the nature of the alarm. Political prisoners banished to Siberia grow so forlorn and sad that after a few years scores of them lo3 their minds. They are gentle and tractable, but entirely incur able lunatics. After much solicitation the government has erected asylums for their care and accommodation. Tiik house of representatives of Maine is not composed as such bodies generally are. There are only 12 lawyers members of the house, while there are 50 farmers and 17 shopkeepers. The grangers can have it their own way once. Tnc poet Stedman lost $5,000 by the defalcation of Bonner. The matter created some surprise, aa it wai not known that he had the money to lose; nevertheless, he has received much sympathy. . Scvrx prizes were offered this year to the most successful students in political economy by the faculty of Cambridge university. Of these five were secured by women pupils. Hesry Ward Beecher received over a thousand calls on New Year's day. People always patronize free shows. WHAT THE PEOPLE S IT. "The Milk In the Cocoannf." To the Editor of the Sentinel: Sik I am astonished at you for lashing tho Journal for its sinuous course upon the financial question. The Journal is sound upon the financial question, and ls governed by its antecedents. It is controlled by men who loan eastern money, and net to pocket money for advertising bankrupts. The most convincing argument that it makes upon the money question Is the noticed of bankruptelett. Now, square the main spring of its action by it antecedents, and the money it gets la Its subsequents. lio slow, there's money in It. Pi.niKiAN". Terre Haute, Jan. 3. Oh, yes, everybody understands what's the matter with the Journal. That it has sold out to the bondholders and money sharks admits of no doubt whatever. But Indiana is not entirely sold out to eastern capitalists. and there is a disposition to speak out in meeting. The people are opposed to the Journal's platform, and they do not propose that a few Indiana postmasters shall lash them into the support of the veto power to defeat the will of the people and increase the bu&iness distress ol the country. . Richmond, Ind., Jan. S, 1878. To the Editor of the Sentinel : Hia Hundred ol voters, reuubllcans. demo crat and independent, Inuorse the eourtte of ine nenunei on tne nuancial Questions, no txidy approves of the course of the Journal. lour application or tne ian tneeta with na qualMed approval. Onk or tub People. Evidently the Sentinel is right We ad vocate the repeal of the resumption law and the free coinage of silver. The Journal is generally understood to be a nincumpoop

on financial matters, and to have sold out to the bondholders and money shark."). We Khali continue to expose its treachery to the interests of the peopJe. Lafayette, Jan. 3, 1577. To the EdTtor of the Sentinel : Sir A lanre number of republicans, as well democrats, relish your spirited exposure ot the treachery of the Journal to the interests of the people of Indiana. They realize that the Journal has sold out to the eneriics of the people of Indlnna and the wort, and is doing what It can to help the bondholders regardless of the welfare of the people of Indiana. You can not apply the lash too everely. We are pleased with the indorsements that are coming to us from all portions of the state. We shall compel the Journal to squeal in due-time. It is even now getting ready. The Sentinel is absolutely right in the two treat measures of relief now before the country, and those who can not advocate the repeal of the resumption Law atd the free coinage of silver with unlimited lepal tender had better dig their political graves. SocTii Bend, Jan. 2, lSTS. To the Rditor of the Sentinel: 8m Hundreds of republicans in this section of Indiana applaud your bold and manly advocacy of the people's lDterestt. Kvery Industry, every farmer, every mechanic and laboring man indorse your soarsd views noon buiness and financial questions, and denounce the treason of the Journal. Ills universally understood that tne Journal has sold out to eastern capitalists, and will do what it can 1 to embarrass business throughout the west. Nokth Indiana. We can assure our friends in northern Indiana that the Sentinel will continue to expose the treachery of the Journal and stand by the interests of the people. VISCENNK8, Jan. 2, 187$. To the Editor of the Sentinel: Hir Your ca titrations of t he Journal are enJoyed by men of all parties. You navecorreetly named the Journal as "damphool" and "niucurapoop." Wabash. We shall not let up on the Journal. Its feet are too big for Morton's old shoes, and its head too small by forty inches for Morton's old hat. and it is almost too small to be kicked. Still, the Sentinel will exercise it as occasion may require. New Albany, Ind., Jan. 3, ltfDS. To the Editor of the Sentinel: Sir The people generally approve the course of the Sentinel npou biiiliieas and financial questions. They are opposed to the veto power when used to crush the west and build up the fortunes of tlx bondholder) and eastern capitalists. The Infamous policy advocuted by the Journal meets with unequivocal disapproval. The people will si and by the Sentinel. Floyo. Wejare entirely convinced that the people are with us, and we shall continue to advocate the right. As for the Journal, everybody understands its policy. It has simply old out.

Elkhart, Jan. 5, 1S77. To the Editor of the Sentinel: Sir Your course In regard to tho finances meets wit li the unanimous indorsement of the party In this part of the state, and also of the uress generally. Some few of the resuiuDtion editors growled somewhat awhile ko, but most or tnem are incoming quiet as they nnd that the people are not with them. Keep on, and as General Taylor said, give them h . We propose to make it exceedingly warm for those who are opposing the welfare of Indiana that Shylocks may Increase their wealth. MCNCie, Ind., .Ian. 5, 1878. To the Editor of tho Sentinel: Sir Let me assure you that the Sentinel is dolus food worli for the people of Indiana. Democrats and republicans aliKu approve or your course. The tteuttnel is winning the In dorsement of prudent men of all parties, tio ahead. Akti-Bo.niuiolpxr. We are patisfied that the Sentinel is abso lutely right on financial questions. Fully 37,000,000 of the people are with it We demand the unlimited coinage of bilver and an unlimited legal tender of Bilver dollars. We demand that the hltghtmg curse of contraction shall cease. We are opposed to the Journal. A paper that advocates the Folicy of eastern Shylocks is a traitor to ndiana. Wim'Hkstek, Ind., Jan. 3, 1S7S. To the Editor of the Sentinel : Sir Everybody asks what price the Journal demanded for its treason to the people of Indi ana, when it sold out to eastern capital. .-'is? Kepuoucans witn scarcely an exception announce Its Infamous course upon businefs and linancl.il questions. If we can not arrest the crushing curse of contraction half the farmers In Indiana will ie sacrinceu oeiore tne close oi thevear. The sentinel has taken the right chute. Ulve us thunderbolts dai.y. KEl'l'HLICAN. We have no idea how much the Journal received for its "treason to the people of Indiana," but we presume it was a sort of a Judas transaction. We shall keep it in the pillory and subject it daily to the scorn and con te mot of the people. . Konnd Mirer Talk. The Rothschilds were deemed good author ity on money matters. No men in Euroie were -supposed to be shrewder or longer headed than they. Here is what the French member of that great bouse said before a monetary convention in Paris in 1&Z: The simultaneous employment of the (wo precious metals Is auti factor , and gives rise to no complaint. Whether gold or silver denominates for the time being, it is always true that the two metals concur together In forming the monetary circulation of ilie world, and It is the general mass of the two metals combined which serves as the measure of the valcn of things. The suppression of silver would amount to a veritable destruction of values without any compensation. And M. Rowland, governor of the bank of France, said at the same conference: We have not to deal with ideal theories. The two moneys lave actually co-existed since the origin of human society. They coexist because the two together are necessary, by their quantity, to meet the needs of circulation. TliU necessity of the two metals, has it ceased to exist? Is it established that the quantity of actual and prospective gold ls such tnat we can now renounce the use of silver without disaster! . Let the falling prices and risi ng multitudes of unemployed men answer these questions. The Silver Bill. The silver bill, as passed by the house, restores the coinage and the legal tender character of the silver dollar of 412)1 grains to what tbey were before the adverse legislation in 1873 and 1874. The senate committee have reported amendments (yet to be voted on) making the dollar a legal tender again, but limiting the coinage to not less than $2,000,1)00 nor more than $1,000,000 a month, and the money to be coined on account of the government. Gold is now, as the silver dollar was before 1873, coined tor any person who should deposit the bullion, a charge being made sufiicient to cover the cost of coinage. The amendment, so far as it limits the coinage to fcur millions a month, will have no practical force, because that sum exceeds the capacity of the mints to coin. The restriction, however, in the bands of a hostile administration, might confine the coinage to the minimum. There is no more reason for authorizing the free coinage of gold than there is for the free coinage of the sliver dollar. For a few months, perhaps, the government might make a profit by buying bullion and converting it into dollars, but the price of silver bullion would rapidly advance to what silver will be as coin.

A Tliir TO TEXAS.

A Chatty Letter About a Journey to tha Lorn Star State. The Conn try from St. Lontsto Austin, aa fikfii from a Car Wlatlow First Impression of Tex a Ielitit- ' ful Climate and lUcti Roll Ulrd'a Ejf View or Ant. tlu an t Vicinity. jHegular Correspotdence of the Sentinel. Austin, Texas, J.in. 1. For many long weeks has our jen Iain idle, while we have been a silent yet appreciative reader of the many interesting letters that have graced the colnmnsof the Sentinel from time to time. From a recent paper we learn that W. S. W., the enthusiastic tourist, is homeward bound, so believing there is room for even D8, we venture to accept your invitation (so graciously extended) and write from the "Lone S:ar state" in his stead. W. S. W. has fully enlightened you on the varied and wonderful resources of this great state, told of its delightful, health giviug climate, its many and sure orenues to comfortable living and independence, and urged your repeatedly to takeyourlarailies and emigrate at once to th:s paradise on earth. So you will pardon us if, in giving our impressions to the reading public, we repeat much of what has slready been said. In the beginning it is our wish to "praise the bridge that brought us over" so safely and pleasantly. We traveled via the Vandalia from Indianapolis to St Louis, and the superiority of this road is too well and widely known to require any elaborate comment from us. Sulrice to say that its present officials are affable, courteous gentlemen and do their utmost to promote the comfort and enjoyment of their patrons. Arriving at St. Louis, we re-embarked fo the sunny south via the St Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern railway. This is a new road, built only three years ago, but furnishes first claai accommodations to all; and we will endeavor to give you our impression of the route, as 6een from a window in one of their elegant and comfortable palace cars. TICK TRIP At the St Louis wharf we saw many of the larger steamboats that ply the waters of the Mississippi. Pursuing a direct eonthern course, the road follows the western shore of this river for miles and miles, and leaving SL Louis far to the northward, we were rapidly carried through the wild and picturesque ecenery of the O.arks past the dark, irregular and rugged Iron mountains past Pilot Knob and as darknefs covered the land we entered the desolate, widespreading swamps of Arkansas. Morning dawned brightly, and found us still in that trimitive land, and it was just after passing ittle Rock that we experienced the only decided sensation of the trip. Something went wrong with the engine, and necessitated our laying up in the woods three or four hours. Torpedoes were put back on the track to warn a coming freight, but our train was hidden from view by a curve in the road, and, it being down grade, they failed to stop the freight as soon as necessary; hence we were treated to all the excitement and none of the danger resulting from most similar catastrophes. Ths passengers in the rear sleejer saw the coming train and jumped for life some en dishabille, it being very early in the morning. We were in the second sleeper, and unaware of any danger until we felt tuj shock from the collision and heard the screaming passengtrs outside. Fortunately no further damagi was done than to send us flying down the road, leaving the affrighted and horror stricken passengers to follow as lest they could. The scene was ludicrous in the extreme, ani can be far better imagined than described. , IX TEXAS. Another day's ride through vast pine forests, and we arrived atTexark&na, quaintly called in honor to the three states on which it borders. Day waned, and we were fairly into the "Lone Star state," but it was too dark to pee much. During the night we heard the patter of rain against our window, and the howling of the fierce, angry wind, but morning daw ned more propitiously than we had expected. Can we tell you bow delightful and varied is the ecenery in eastern Texas? How deverslfied are its resources? Sometimes we passed broad cultivated fields, teeming with their staple, the ungathered cotton. Then again the road runs through vast prairies, des Jtute of a tree far as the eye can reach, but abounding in nutritious grasses, upon which we saw immense herds of sheep and cattle grazing. Along the entire route are clustered thrifty enterprising towns. Lands are cheap here. Farmers can ra'se almost every thing that grows upon the face of the earth, and northern people whoSe means are les abundant than once they were are here by the thousands, looking forward to larce profits in the near future. Society is growing up, schools are being established, and on every hand are the signs of rapid improvement lumber on the ground, houses in progress of erection, etc., etc. These towns, new as they are, are not one whit behind many of our older ones, and have their churches, school houses aad retail supply stores of various kinds. "Seeing is believing," friends, and already here we learned enough of Texas, its climate, and generil productiveness to warrant us in saying th;it you people of the north have not been the victims of misplaced confidence in newspaper correspondents, for while it is not literally "a land flowing with milk and honey" it is in extent, beauty and general delightfulness unrivalled as a state. ACSTIS A!CD ITS SrBrRBS. Austin, a worthy terminus of the raaznificent road over which we have been traveling, is beautifully situated on the Colorado river, surrounded on tdl sides by picturesque hills rising one above another, and making of themselves an ever varied picture of charming landscape. Standing on this side of the river we catch delightful glimpses ot many handsome residences on the opposite shore, peeping from lefty summit?, surrounded by the beautiful evergreens nature has so lav ishly scattered here, and having altogether a grand, lofty look we can but admire. Austin is very picturesquely and handiomely built up, stone being the principal material used. Some of the locations for residences on its neighboring hillsides are simply charming, and the beautiful wide-spreading live oaks are scattered here and there in a manner that would gladden the heart of an artist. Unfortunately we are not one. and can not better illustrate the effect this most beautiful tree has on Austin and its surroundings. A ride over the immediate suburbs on last Sunday was fu'l of interest to the writer. With a rood bam, a comfortable carriage, pleasant company, temperature just right for comfort, samery charmintr and romantic to the highest decree, we would oe cnimisa indeed not to have felt unusually happy on tbat day, and failed to extract a little sweet when there was so mucn in everything around us. It is glorious spring time here, balmy as our May; the ntmospoere is pure, dry and exhilarating, and while there are few flowers. yet every thin t is luxuriantly green. The peach trees ure budding and will be in bloom in a few days. At this writing- I am comfortably quartered at the Austin house, and can not

close this letter without tcl!inK' onr northern frinds that it is a first rate pla."-? to t0P Captain Ncavitt, the proprietor, 8 genial, whole souled southerner (not mercvn,iry n the least) and does everything for tb com fort of his guests. In our next we wiJl Wt?0 more fully of Anstin as a health resort, anj of life and society as we find it here at the capital. Maeel Lawbesce.

TUB IIU31K J.II KOFTJ4IEVES. At Ease Only W heu Surrounded by Tlietr Families. 1ST. Y. Sun. J In response fo the card of a reporter for the Snn, a plent-ant faced intelligent, middle-aged man, famous in the annals of bank burglary, and now in the city prison on a minor charge, came down from his cell on the third tier. The corridor in front of murderer's row was used as a reception room. "Tell me how men Jive the reporter said, "who are pursued by the law." "I've been crooked," the famous robber eaid, "and now Fin square. Fve made it all up. If I should try I couldn't mention more than five crooked men of whom I have any intimate knowledge, I always try to associate with square men. I don't feel ea?y with a crooked man. I can only tell you my own experience and that of a few men like me. I never wanted a five dollar bill offofanyman. The roost of the crooked men I know are legally married, and they love their wives and children not only as well as other people love theirs, but use them a great deal better. They set their hearts on them. These children, and often the mother, know nothing of the father's way of making money. The crooked man is often fearful of every body. He must constantly be on his guard with square men aud with his own kiud. Thee is only one place in the whole world where he can feel at ease. That place is his home, and he learns to love it" "Where do crooked men live?" "Many of them keep saloons, or hotels, in . the suburbs of cities. They do this for the sake of getting cover. It gives them the appearance of a regular business, and they are also out of the road of ordinary observation. They can tell better whether or not they are being watched in these thinly settled places. But for my part I have always lived in this city, open and plain. When! left my last house I told the man, when I surrendered the key, that if any man presented a bill there for a five cent stamp he could cut off my arm. I never left a neighborhood yet that I couldn't come back to in open daylight." "If you wished to find a crooked man in this city, and had to pace the streets to look for him, what part cf the city would you visit?" "I wouldn't know. I might find the crooked men that I have known in any respectable part of the city. If you mean sneak thieves and pickpockets, vou know just as much about them as 1 do. I know nothing about them. I have always lived in respectable neighborhoods. My wife was always dressed like a lady, and the furniture in my house was the best that money could buy. My bed cost $400." "Are the wives of crooked men usually ?ood women in their homes, and faithfnl to tkeir husbands?" "As a rule Pihey are, but there are some exceptions, as you might expect A crooked man is apt to have his ups and downs, and the wife's constancy is sometimes put to severe tests. Sometimes the wife learns to dnnk, and then everything, children and all, go to ruin. I have always haed drinking, especially in women. A drunkard is no good to any man. To you the life of a crooked man may appear interesting, bat to me, ouLsiue of the specia; transactions in which he may be engaged, it is quite the ordinary thung." "How do crooked men first become crooked? Do they inherit the disposition?" "I don't know bow it was with the men I knew. I found them crooked. I guess their parents were square enough. I know my parea'rs were. 1 was pushed into the business. I had money. I was pushed into the crooked business, and then the crooked men tried to ruin me. I was the only one that had money, and they wanted it I can stand a thief, but I can't stand a liar. With a liar I don't know what o do." The reporter then visited two criminal lawyers, each of extensive practice. One of them said: "You want to know about the domestic lives of men that handle the jimmy, do you? Well, the best of them I mean the most successful are brave men. The man that takes the jimmy in his hand to break into a house is not driven to it by any sudden impulse. The scheme must bo planned. lie always risks both his life and a long term of imprisonment. These men are just the kind to win a gir.'s heart. It ls astonishing how often they marry into good families or win a mistress front them. The women are true to them when they get into trouble. The children generally go the wrong way through force of circumstances, though the parents are desirous of bringing them np virtuously. The uual borne of a thief is in furnished rooms, where no references are required, and where there is no tea table gossip. They eat at restaurants. The affection between husband and wife is often intense, but it is sddom lasting. A woman who pawns sll of her jewelry to pay theC03tof getting hin out of prison will perhaps in the very next case be a witness against him. "The same characters are coming up again and again in my buaices?, but I never knew until I talk, to them what motives are actuating them. The impulbes of the criminal classes are generally good. I trow a woman, for example, who keeps a disreputable house. Her daughter is now bring educated in a fashionable convent school, but doesn't know how the money is got that pays her echool bills." The other criminal lawyfr said: "The average thief cares no more for his children than he cares for lumps of wood. He generally becomes attached ta a disreputable woman. He may love hr intensely for a time He does nothing from day to day, while he lives on her earnings. Now and then he will make a strike in bis line. This money soon goes in gambling, and then he lives again on the woman. I notic; this, tbat when the man is arrested the woman will pawn her clothes and wear her shoes out in running to lawyers for him. but when the woman gets caught in shoplifting the man never comes near ter. But the affection even of tbe won an is shortlived. Let either man or woman b s-nt to prison for a year or over, the other will not wait a monthbefore he or she picks' np another companion. If they are married the one out of prison will nt marry agin hi -cause it would be bigamy, but I never kne a case where real faithfulness existed be'ween a pair of criminals. The wife may visit the prison, and so keep up a show of faithfulness, but it is onlj in form. 4Tne thieves of this city congregate in the Eighth ward, in a region of the city tbat centers at Houston aud CI. ecu strtets,' although I know of no thieves being in that immediate vicinity. I know one would think that they would shun each other, but it is not so. I don't know any reason why they should associate, except that which leads persons of every class to come together. That Is where the thieves of the city'live, and that is where the officers seek them when they are wanted. Many Inherit theirdisposition to steal. There are families of thieves, fathers, mothers and children. Now we get one member of a family, now another."