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New YORK. May Sth. 1881, James R. Keene has failed for a million or two and he will be sent to the rear and forgotten in a few days by the fellow gamblers who beat him at his own game. A failure in any legitimate bussiness is always more or less a public cala mity, but the Keene failure is simply one gambler plundered to nakedness by more successful gamblers, and the legitimate channels industry, trade and commerce are not in any degree affected by it. Mr. Keene acquired a fortune of several millions by lucky ventures on the Pacific Coast, and he made the common mistake of supposing that three or five millions could beat fifty or a hundred millions. He came to New York in state in a palace car, and Gould's reputed prophecy that Keene would be sent back in a freight car, now promises to be fulfilled. Keene had conquered in California; he staked all to conquer Wall street, and he lost. That is the whole story. The excitement caused by the failures of the Marine Bank and the firm of Grant & Ward, subsided yesterday and the street breathed easier. Men who went home the day before perturbed and fearful came down town with lighter earts and with more confidence. As the day progressed and no other banks or firms sus pended, and as it became known that the failure of the bank was not SO disastions as at first reported, a bouyant feeling prevailed. On all sides it was said that there was no cause for alarm. The announcement by Clearing House Manager Camp that other New York banks were not affected by the failure and were in 11 sound condition, the frequently repeated assertions of the directors that the Marine Bank would pay 100 cents on the dollar, the return of Mr. Ward to the city and the fact that the failure of Grant & Ward was not due SO much to the financial condition of the company as to peculiar and extravagant methods of doing bussiness, all tended to allay the excitement. The irony of fate can receive no sadder illustration than the sight of a sister-in-law of John C. Calhoun, the great statesman, and a cousin of the rich Van Rensselaers, wandering penniless and homeless through the streets of New York. The policeman who on Tuesday afternoon saw an old and feeble lady, whose face was wan with hunger and exposure, and whose clothes were wet with the pouring rain, tottering along Greenwich street, did not suspect that she was so closely related to the distinguished South Carolinian and to the family of the old. Albany patroon. He watched her until she fell exhausted to the payement, when he hastened to her assistance. When he asked her where she lived she burst into tears and answered that she did net know Several times she shook her head, the hair of which was perfectly white, as she tried in vain to recall her last place of residence. The policeman, suspecting that her mind was affected, took her to the Twenty-seventh Precinct Station. At night she was taken to Police Headquarters and remained there all day yesterday in charge of Matron Webb. Theatres here are gradually elosing. The Umon Square is closed probably for the whole summer. Shook & Collier will not let it for