LIFE IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4354, 4 March 1875, Page 3

LIFE IN AMERICA.

(From the Australasian, February 13.) An extraordinary picture of life in a civilised community is afforded by the summary of American news, received by the mail, one,which it would be hardly possible to match, in another a"e or country ( We are told of five mounted and armed men,stopping .an- express train,hind. robbing’ it ’6f 27,000d015., and of a lawyer shot and killed in the streets of San Francisco by a lady client, . who thought .that he was somewhat dilatory with her law business, and took . this means of remonstrating with him for his slowness.., ,-fiVe next,read of. a mob of 150 men , breaking, open a. gaol, and taking out. ,and lynching a,murderer,his, wife clinging- to him till forced away by the lynchers. A superip-, tendent of coal-mines, while -making a tour of inspection,, was shot arid fatally wounded. It is' discovered* that a systematic courSe'of robbery has been 'pursued by the officials of a tboard of health, and “Boss Tweed,” the great master of ; all of the tricks of municipal corruption, being tired of gaol, gives public notice of his intention of escaping at the earliest opportunity. The editor of !a: New' Orleans paper attacked Governor Warmotte, of Louisaria, not in the columns of his journal,- but in the street with a large stick. The Governor retorted with a knife, and was successful in killing his assailant. -It does, indried, appear that'ho was subjected to the formality of a police investigation, but was; discharged, and the cose remains a warning to editors riot to lightly assail persons in authority. In Missouri, an; old and wealthy citizen, named Spratt, was shot by a Mr. Brown, and Brown in his turn was wounded by the son of deceased. Spratt. The feud was an old one, and will now go on with additional vigor. That such feuds are institutions in the-country is shown by the account of a vendetta between two families! in Illinois. Nine men were killed in consequence of this difficulty Inst year, “and all who express an opinion on either side are doomed.” The consequence is that the officers of justice passively look on,. and the “whole community is terrified into silence.” Passing over many other cases, of violence and murder, we note an item that an effort is being made to procure a pardon for Stokes, who was unfortunate enough to murder Colonel James Fisk some short time ago. -Beally there is much to be said in favor of the movement, and in country where murders are committed with such frequency and impunity, it seems rather invidious ito ■ deal severely with a single offender. From all this, it is evident that life in America is not deficient in -incident, and that it is far from moving , on a dull level of unvarying monotony,: