AMERICAN ITEMS.

Evening Star, Issue 4318, 29 December 1876, Page 4

AMERICAN ITEMS.

An extraordinary calculation has been made of the expenditure upon the rrcent Presidential election in Indiana. The co&t of the processions of the two parties is estimated L 500,000; 500 speakers at LIOO, L 50.000 ; 5,000.000 documents, at five cents each, L 50,000 ; 10,000 colonisers, repeaters, shoulderhitters, and blackguards generally, L 200,000 ; contingent expenses for rent, telegrams, fiscal banners, advertisements, posters, itc, L 200,000. In all, a trillion actually fpent. The loss of time arising from the utter absorption of the population in politics has been set down at L 3,000,000 mere. If Indiana be a fair specimen, and the calculations quoted be approximately correct, the total expenses of the Presidential election in this year of grace, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, will be between eighty and a hundred million sterling, a tolerably large sum to pay for the privilege of being governed by an elected president instead of an hereditary monarch.

There have been the usual crimes of cunning and violence during the month, and the law lias been put in motion with the usual result-. Several murderers have been convicted, several banged, and at llie present time fifteen men, all members of the MolkeMaguire organisation, are lying under sentence of death in one of the county gaols of the mining districts of Pennsylvania. But the sternness, almost ferocity, of American law when directed against ordinary commonplace rulflans and murderers only brings into stronger prominence the tenderness with which an interesting criminal, especially if she belongs to the gentler sex, is treated. Mrs House was the wife of a prominentdivorce lawyer, Orson House, an appropriate name, for he was a great brute, who had made a large fortune in the exercise of a most disreputable profession. Mrs House assisted him in the dirty work that he was called upon to do, and seems to have been about as bad, as violent, and unprincipled as it was possible for/a woman to be. The precious pair, although united enough against the common enemy the public led between themselves a cat-and-dog life, and in the course of a dispute between them at Trenton, New Jersey, Mrs House, to avenge a blow which her husband had struck her, shot him. The facts of the case scarcely warranted a verdict of murder in the first degree, for there was little or no premeditation, but it was certainly murder in the second degree, or aggravated manslaughter at the very ! least. But Mrs House, although a bad Moman and a murderess, was | pretty, intelligent, and pleasing. She rolled her blue eyes about the Court, and looked as beautiful and charming as any of Miss Braddon's criminal heroines, r Jhe State-Attorney was as severe as a <-' rand Promireur-General, but the seraphic expression upon the culprit's face gave the lie to his statements, and whenever she lifted her white hand to her forehead, waved her perfumed handkerchief, or moved her graceful body, a thrill of admiration went through the Court, and even the jurymen seemed desirous of applauding her. It is scarcely necessary to add j that, though the prosecution and the judge did their duty, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, a decision for which each was rewarded by a smile and a shake of the hand from the interesting widow, who is now in the enjoyment cf the large fortune which she has reduced into possession as the heiress of the man whom she sent into eternity without a moment for thought or repentance. Justice has at last been done on one of the Mormon bishops, who more than nineteen years ago took part in the massacre of a number of immigrants who were passing through the Salt Lake settlements on their way to California. Long as was the interval which had elapsed since the perpetration of the crime, a clear and strong case was produced by the prosecution, and the jury, which was composed of Mormons, found no possibility of avoiding a verdict of guilty. A peculiarity in the sentence passed upon the wretched man, John D. Lee, was that the law of Utah requires that the convict should have his choice of the manner of his execution, between hanging, shooting, and beheading. The culprit, when asked which death he preferred, said he would rather be shot, and was accordingly sentenced to be shot on the 2Gth day of January next. Beecher and Tilton are both utilising their notoriety by delivering lee-' Judging from the attendance the tide of. popularity seems setting in favor of Tilton now, notwithstanding his recent escapade. A new rival has appeared iu the person of

Martin Farquhar Tupper, the author of Proverbial Philosophy, who has been taken in hand by the Rev. Mr Talmage, and is at the present time the idol of the tea tables of Brooklyn.