The New York Herald Newspaper, August 23, 1875, Page 11

SING SING PRISON. The Management Charged with © Theft and Corruption. THE CONFESSION OF JACK CANTER. Fictitious Bills, Altered Records, Theft and Wholesale Forgery of Vouchers. THE CANAL RING AT SING SING A Convicted Forger Ordered to “Doctor” the Accounts. PurLapsirata, August 20, 1875. In the Eastern Penitentiary in this city—Cherry Hill Prison it is commonly called—tnere is a remarkable prisoner, kept in duress under the terrible system of solitary confinement in vogue in this place of punish- ment. He is one of the most daring and successful criminals in this country, and is beyond question the most expert forger in the United States. His name is John A. Canter, known lo the police records and the detectives all over tho Union as JACK CANTER. He was born in Charleston, 8. C,, the son ofa wealthy merchant, who sent him to Bordeaux, France, and other parts of the Continent, to be educated. Ho is an accomplished linguist, speaking French, Spanish, German and English. He received a diploma as a matriculated physician anda master of chemistry, is also an engraver, a photographer, an expert shorthand writer and has dabbled a little in the sciences. He isa small man, with nervous black eyes, is about fifty years old and has a bald head, resombling Jay Gould somes what in this, his sharp eyes and other characteristics, He is of the gentlomanty stylo of criminal, and if you visit him on the very rare occasions on which he is al- lowed to see any one, he will offer you the single chair his cell contains with alll the grace of a courtier. He is a man of means and is said toown property. He possesses the sole ownership of a valuable patent right for a chemical ink- eraser invented by himself. This invention, which might be a useful one, has been perverted by him to criminal purposes, and he has been in the habit of sell- ing it to dishonest clerks and check-raisers who wished for their own purposes to alter figures written in ink. The right owned by Canter is said to be a valuable ona, Ho has also several thousand dollars invested in Phila- delphia city sixes, in the name of the Wardon, as trusteo. HOW 1 LIVES. Yet, under the rigid system enforced in this model institution, his money can purchase him no privileges, and he lives, as all his fellow convicts do, ur ser tho ter- rible rules of solitary confinement. He occupies alone a cell of iron and stone; he speaks to no one and no one speaks to him. He seldom sees even his jailer, yet never knows when tho eye of his guard is watching him through the little hole in the iron door of his cage. Even when the chaplain preaches in the corridor he hears the sacred word of Him who promised forgiveness © the vilest criminal, without secing either him .who reads them or his fellow prisoners who listen. He lowed a choice of certain books and religious newspapers to rend, and only once in three months is allowed to see his friends fora singlo half hour. He is condemned to hard labor, and works all day at caning chairs. This labor he does cheerfully enough, and is probably glad to gew it, for it would probably be the cruelest punishment that could be de- vised to take away all occupation from a man confined in such a living tomb. HIS CRIME, Jack Canter’s sentence 1s tor seven years, for com- plicity in the well known case of the fraudulent insur- gnce company, which was started in this city with a eapital of one share of railroad stock. Canter, it is al- Jeged, was employed by William D. Halfman, the “president” of the ‘‘company,’? who is now serving out his sentence in the same place, to “raise” shares of Pennsylvania, Reading and other stock certificates to ‘use as collateral on which to borrow money. He has served in other prisons in the country for the same offence—forgery—and not long since was in Sing Sing Prison for the second time. WHAT HE KNOWS OF SING SING PRISON. Concerning this institution, which is but too well known as the most corrupt and worst managed prison Im the country, Canter makes a detailed statement, charging the most astounding frauds. He is anxious to procure a pardon from the Executive of this State for the crime for which he is now undor- going punishment at Cherry Hill, and he has sent to Governor Tilden, of New York, an interesting narrative of what he saw at Sing Sing, for the parpose of aiding the Governor in his war upon the Canal Ring—for it it is the same “ring” of official thieves who are implicated in these prison frauds—in the hope that he may enable the taxpayers to receive back some of the stolen public money, and that the Execu- tive of New York will uso bis official Influence to have him pardoned by the Governor of this State, This statement, which bas just been received at Albany, is given in full below. It is in the handwriting of Canter himeelf, and is accompanied by an unsigned blank of a sworn acknowledgment (which he states that he is ready to sign and swear to if he is allowed to see a commissioner) declaring that every word of his state- ment is true, Canter, because of his skill as a forger, was assigned by the different agents holding the offices during his terms of imprisonment to alter the records, make out fictitious bills for supplies, &c., and even to commit forgery, for the purpose of enabling a certain “ring"’ to steal money belonging to the people. It is not necessary here to recapitulate the shameloss frauds that his statement discloses. It will be found verbatim below. Concerning it he says:—‘‘In my effort to boil it down and avoid the appearance of setting down aught in malice I have omitted many side issues occurring dun Ing the epochs named. 1 can now verify that nearly all the parties connected with these frauds camo to the prison in indigent circumstances and retired possessing landed property. An incident there is of a con- vict who superseded me in my labor for & period of seventeen months, who after his discharge wont to New York, possessing $5,000. He purchased expensive furniture, furnished a mansion, drove in his carriage, and died, in three months after leaving the prison, from excessive dissipation. He pre. sented a woman with $1,000 worth of furniture before his death. Before coming to prison he had no money to pay counsel to appeal bis caso, He was penniless, “All these facts can be proved by unimpeachabio wit. nesses now resident in New York. ‘This man had ope- rated under Clerk Franklin before my time, and had served one previous term. In a convorsation [ had | with him after superseding me therein I advised him to | mark every fraudulent voucher. Ho significantly smiled and replied, ‘Don’t you think { have marked vouchers in the Comptroller's office #” JACK CANTER'S STATEMENT. ALBANY, August 22, 1875, The following is the astonishing narrative of the forger Canter, which has been sent to Governor Tilden from the Eastern Ponitentiary of Philadelphia, [t alleges that for many years the Sing Sing Pricon management was defrauding the State treasury, the erime of forgery not having been resorted to until the officials were (rom the Canal Ring. Pritapenrna, July 26, 1875. To His Excellency Sauven J, Tinney, Governor of the State of New York, &c. :— Sit—On the 2d day of June, 1846, | was sentenced frou the city and county of New York to the Sing sing Vrison for the term of seven years on the chyrge of forgery, In the year 1860 | Was assigned by the agent of the prison, Mr. I. Lockwood, us convict clerk. 1 soon ascertained Ubat there was a large “Ring” business | done there; that bills for sustenance, butlding and re- | » travelling expenses, freights, convict cloth, hos- | pital supplies, &c., were Wholly fabricated, most of the goods never having been received there, Iisa matter of record, and the annual reports will Attest, that the excess of expenditures were anni Greasing during this administration, It was sp freely about the office at the time that ‘TMB AGENT WAS MAKING THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS PER AN! On the 2d of March, 1853, I was pardoned hy Gover- nor Seymour, During this administration at the Prison 4 was nover called upon to forge anv_sianatures to NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET. vouchers, The modus operandi then was an arrange- | = between the agent and the party with whom he | dealt, On the 6th of July, 1853, I was adjudged to eight years' imprisonment in Sing Sing from the city and | county aforesaid for the same offence, On reception at the prison I was assigned as assistant clerk, and the | same routine of business was pursued, ove de- | scribed, in the increase and altering of ‘bills, until the aforesald agent’s removal from office for malfeasance. During the suceceding administrations the “Ring” bus- iness largely increased, and there were several changes, political and otherwise, during my term. The agents, with the exception of Agent 3. H. Johnson, all came to make moncy, and they did it. The thing was so patent that the officials discussed the amounts THK INSPRCTOB IN CHARGE ‘STOOD cx’? for during each term. On the Sth of July, 1861, Chad completed my term and was discharged. On the 19th of July, 1865, 1 was adjudged to ten years for the same offence, and was shortly afterward placed tn my old po- sition at Sing Sing. It was now, during the administra- tion then controlling, that I was called upon by the Prison Clerk to enter upon a career of INNUMERABLE FORGERIES, aggregating a large amount. The agent was Stephen H. Johnson, the ovly honest one | ever knew in the place. Idid not work under his direction, however, but be- longed solely to the clerk, Walter Franklin, formerly clerk in the Canal Board, and a member of the Canal “Ring.” It was only when parties from this “Ring” ame to Sing Sing that the forgery business began there. HOW IT WAS DONE. I would be ordered to *tcover" a certain amount, say $2,500. If it was near the close of the year 1 would make out a false voucher for blankets for this amount. I bad a memorandum book containing the fac-simile signatures of the business houses with whom the prison dealt, and from this signature book [ would affix the forged signature to the voucher in two placea, on the face and under the jurat. We called this proceeding “covering.” [thus covered monthly largo amounts, from $500 to $2,000 and upward, Having a thorough and critical knowledge of tho routine and details of tho business there, having filled the position for twelve years, it was invariably left wholly to my discretion in what way I would cover the sums designated to me. I filled this position for about four years, altogether, ander this administration. + “COOKING UP? THE ANNUAL REPORTS. Beside this voucher forging business 1 compiled and “cooked up” the annual reports, I was now working for a salary of $100 per annum, to be paid me on my discharge or the clerk's removal, At this time I commenced taking a copy of every forged voucher I made, and monthly I would deposit the memoranda in a place of security for use in the event of my not receiving the money due me (which I deemed possible), so that I could thus have these evidences to fall back'upon, I took the number of the voucher, the name of the maker, the date and the amount thencefor- ward. The clerk owed me $500, and was anticipating removal. 8. H. Jobngon, the agent, was to leave Janu- ary 1, 1868. David P. Forrest, ex-clerk of the Canal Board, being inspector in charge, and his term expir- ing, he was working to supersede’ Johnson as agent, [Vide the exposé of the Legislative Investigating Com- mittee on the Canal frauds, published about this wme, in relation to Forrest. } DAYID Pf, PORREST’S ADMINISTRATION, January 1, 1868, Forzest was made agent, and Clerk Franklin, having been with him as clerk in the Canal Board, remainéd with him at the prison, Under this clique’ business was actively pursued for one year. | continued taking notes of the forgeries until the sqm- mer, when, feflecting upon the mass of memoranda already accumulated, and the probability of its being discovered, I decmod it prudent not to increase it further. It now occurred to me that to place some significant private mark upon each forged voucher would answer every purpose for future identification and bo in every way more secure for me, as the memo- randa might be lost, but the voucher could at any time be identified in the Comptroller's office. The course that | pursued as toa few manufactured vouch- ers about thrs time affords an instant ocular demonstra tion that they are forged. HOW THK FORGERIES WERE DONE. 1 would solect from my package of paid vouchers one with the signature I designed forging on my blank. I would then, on tracing paper, trace the signature from the genuine, and then transfer this tracing to my blank and carefully ink it, thus producing a minutely perfect fac-simile so exact that the lines of the forged and the genuine, on being superimposed, would exactly coincide when viewed upon a window pane or exposed in the stereoscopic side by side. Now, no man can twice write his name in so exactly the same manner, and @ close examination with an eyeglass’ will exhibit the tracing. These vouchers have also the pri- vate marks. Icould select such vouchers now, from memory of the dates. When they are vouchers that parport—as most of them do—to be from New York city houses, by a reference to their books it can also easily be ascertained that they never sold the prison such goods at the dates specified and that all such vouchers have forged signatures, “EVERY LITTLE HELPS." Small amounts, from $25 to $50 or thereabout, would generally be “covered” in the vouchers of estimate for “convict deposit refunded,’’ because {It was considerably less work than “building up" bills by pretended items of age with fractional prices, kc, I have some min- utely perfect traced signatures, such as before described, in this pretended estimate made out at this time. ANOTHER FRAUD. The convict would sign his voucher for mileage and ‘allowance and at night I would take this mileage voucher and his signature on the blank and fill it up for “convict deposit refunded, $25."’ I was instructed that when I made vouchers of this estimate to open and close an account in the convict deposit ledger closed with the same date as the vouchers were dated. In many cases I did this, but mostly omitted doing it, for the reason that although the ledger might show that the convict had such a deposit there, by a reference to the cash book about the date of the convict’s reception no such deposit could be found, and in the monthly “cash re- ecived”’ sheet forwarded to the Comptroller it could not possibly appear if no such money deposit had been re- ceived. It was an invariable occurrence on the close of each month that our cash ran over, at times as much as $2,500, taking the cash in the safe on the Ist of the month with the cash balance in bank. Adding the Comptroller's draft for the month and deducting from the sum total the cash expenditures, the result will in- variably exhibit a large surplus, Now this plain and glaring fact I am prepared to exhibit and verify from the books of the bank if the prison check book, bank book and cash book even have been destroyed, DESTROYING THE RECORDS. Thave known administrations on the eve of leaving to destroy these books. In every monthly instanes this could not be shown, but where the bank account at the bank shows a greater balance of deposit than the re- turns made in the sheet the Comptroller calls for, then the nail is clinched. Now, having shown these facts, the query arises, whence accrues this monthly surplus? and I'am pre: pared to plainly, indisputably show, from THM INCOME OF THE “COVERING.” These funds would not lay long enough to spoil. A division was effected with magical celerity, and the figured records and the cash on hand would coincide. ‘The bank check book was a useful and reliable resource in many ways. A suspicious voucher, purporting to come from _a New York city house, could be readily detected. The check book would show if the payment had been made by check, and all payments other than in Sing Sing were made by check on the New York city bank or the Sing Sing bank. An account was kept at this time in the New York bank, as also one in the Sing Sing bank The New York Ke account was shortly after this date closed up, and the Sing Sing bank was the sole account, After Forrest left the bank check books were never seen, [ had un- successfully searched for them for over a month, HENRY ©. NBLSON IN OFFICE. January 1, 1869, Honry C. Nelson replaced Forrest as agent, and the machino was run on the same track. Clerk Franklin retired and Casper C. Childs, Jr., who had filled the position from 1850 to 1855 and consequently understood the trim of the ship, being now very poor, was very hungry. Franklin called upon me on the 10uh of January and paid me $500 due me. and | destroyed the mass of forged voucher memoranda | had accnmu- Jated, ax I deemed it unnecessary impedimenta, the ne- cessity for which I amassed it not arising. Having suf- ficient testimony as | already had on tile tn the Comp- troller’s office, 1 certainly could not have done a wiser thing, for it would have proved fatal to me had it been discovered. I continued marking the vouchers that might in the future need identification, butmerely those | |! | of large amounts, and my attention was somewhat re mittent. [had been contined for a long time constantly | to the desk seven days in the week, and writing at night until twelve o’clock. My health was failing, and 1 was worked out, AN AMATEUR TRIES HIS HAND. At this time the clerk tried his hand at forging voucher signatures, and [ can select some of «uch from the Jan- tary and February, 1869, packages. The agent was very “enterprising,” and speculated largely in flour, having purchased a large lot of either damaged or very indiffer- ent flour and gained $5 or $6 on it per barrel. The prisoners would not consume it and refused work. Tho consequence was an open rebellion, and 100 men out of | 1,100 were locked up in their cells for some weeks. Sep- tember 1 | left the office worn ont, and did no labor of any consequence in the prison again, PROULIAR BOOKKEEPING, In Nelson’s annual report, if the debits and credits be, taken and tho balance struck, the result looks very dif- | ferent from what he states {t therein, and shows @ large balance due him from the State. This ts partly owing to his giving no credit for money drafts from the Comp: troller to run the chain works, and of which he makes no mention. . He was deposed for some “rregularity—flour speculation, 1 understood—but | subsequently reinstated and allowed to remain one year more. That bubble, Company," of which Alfred Walker was the originator, | the President and the company, was a fair sample of other kinds of fraud, It was purchased by Comptroller Allen for the State at the earnest recommendation of | the Board, at the moderate sum of $125,000, lis aub- | sequent unavailability and worthlessness to the State | and its final reversion to the hands of the vender, with | a large annual salary from the treasury for its super- Intendence, are well known, Lam strongly impressed with the belief that, although | tho criminal part of the business transactions herein re« lated be barred by the statute of limitation, yet etill the funds might be recovered for restitution to the treasury and the benetit of the taxpayers by a civil anit at law. All_of the foregoing statement [ can verify and re specifully submit, 10) TER. | PROVIDING FOR THE FUTURK, 1 ‘The report of the Whig Committee, published about 1854, reference to which is made on folio first of state. ment, contains my name as havifig signed recoipes for | wood supplies, bearing dates subsequent to my dis- charge from prison, The Commission say they conld ot understand thia, ‘The explanation is that [ was te- | “The Westchester Marble and Lime | said receipts in blank and without date, which [ did, | the dates and amounts having been inserted subse. | quently, If such supplies were ever received ‘“deponent ‘saith not.’ City and Cownte of Philadelvhia, 4.—Personally ap: | | acid, whiel | distin | superior to the chloride of lime.” nested, before leaving, to sign some quantity of the | peared before me this — day of ——, 1875, John A. Can. | ter, a citizen of the State of New York, who, upon being | | duly sworn, deposes and says that he makes the at nexed statement in his own handwriting, and that the facts therein set forth, all and singular, are true of bis own knowledge, and further deponent saith not. Attest—Commissioner to take acknowledgments for the State of New York. THE HARLEM FLATS. CARBOLIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE OF VIRUS— DISBECKER'S DIRT LIKELY TO BREED PESTS IN THE FUTURE—WHAT SANITARIANS SAY. The Harlem flats are certainly not in the good con- dition which the Board of Hoalth would have the people believe them to be. That the offensive stench which they used to give forth is subdued, if not entirely over- come, is true; but that the flats are‘no longer danger- ous to health is not. Disease and death atill linger on them, and from them send forth their emis- saries to penetrate even to the heart of the city. The means which have been adopted by tho Board of Health to do away with tho nuisances of the flats are inadequate, and the peoplo may look toward being speedily revisited with all tho evils of which they have temporarily beon rid, anless the health authorities adopt some now and efficacious method to decompose the filth which lies npon the flats, and even now infects the atmosphere This ts not said in the spirit of an alarmist. The most conservative sanitarian, if he ts aman who has kept himself well read in the literature of the science he pro- fesses, will declare the above statement to be true. The Board of Health of this city has done much good work, It did much toward preventing pests from visit- img the city when it rid the SQUALID, FUNGI-GROWN CELLARS of the poorer districts of their wretched tnhabitants, and cleared away from the environments of the public markets the ramshackle and filthy shanties, These thing? the Board did in the beginning of its great power, [t did them quickly and energet- feally, but tt did not follow them ap with other work, #0 that the applause of the pub- lc might continually be merited, It certainly cannot be denied that the Board of Health Is responsible for the dumping of “filling” which contains at least thirty per cent of organic matter on the Harlem flats. It was the duty of the Board's inspectors to tnspect all the material thrown apon the barges of the Police Btreet Cleaning Burean; to indicate what’ should be used = for_=— “filling,” = aand_—s what for manuring purposes, or to be dumped into the open sea. Those inspectors neglected that duty, and permitted poisonous material to be used In upraising the wet lands at tho upper end ofthe island, When tho reduction of that material began, and the nitrogenous particles commenced to infect the alr of the Harlem district, it was the duty of the Board of Health to immediately begin the work of purification, Yet tho Board did not pay any attention to the evil antil afer the Henanp had discovered and denounced it, As soon as the Hrnaxp had done this, the Board entered upon what {t culled the work of purification, Its employés carted to the flats, and spread over them A THIN COVERING OF CARBOLIC ACTD and sawdust, Then {t assured the people that the {lls they had suffered from the fints were banished, and the people believed, because they did not smell the horrible stench which had previously disgusted and sickened thom. It was very easy for the Board of Health to make the people believe that carbolic acid was a true remedy for all the {ile which might have come from the flats. There is scarcely a house- holder in this city, not learned in. tho literature of sani- tary science, but believes that with carbolic acid ho can banish contagion. The Board of Health has edu- cated the people to this belief, It has prescribed the acid as a aniversal counter-ngent to contagion. Is {t so? The best authoritios on sanitary science say it is not. The President of the Board of Health is a great chemist. No sanitarian will oppose this statement, but many sanitarians do declare that he js not ‘of their guild. Ho and his colleagues have reposed faith in carbolie acid, in deflance of the assertions that it is not, used as tho Board of Health uses it, an agent to hasten putrefaction of organic matter, and, at the same time, to overcome the poisonous results of the reduction of that matter. According to the most earnest of experimenters in reference to sanitary sci- ence, CARBOLIC ACID 18 AN ANTISEPTIC; that is, it preserves matter and’ will not urge decay. Said a well known physician to the writer yesterday, “If I wish to preserve specimens, I put them into diluted carbolic acid, — Bac- teria may exist in carbolic acid.” The question as to whether bacteria are results or causes of putrefaction is too deep for discussion here. It is sufficient to note that they are organisms, and may exist, if the word may be ised, in carbolic acid. This seems to prove that the acid is a preservative, and hence a preservative of the germs, the nitrogenous matter, which is the cause of all contagious diseases. JT MAY RESIST DECAY, the separation of elements, for a time, but when its force is expended putrefaction starts once more and the nitrogenous clement is evolved and starts on its mis- sion of disease, Thus, unless measures are now taken, will it be at Harlem. The organic matter, the filth of the streets, which was dumped on tho flats, is now being preserved by the carbolic acid, and when the power of that antiseptic is expended it’ will once more begin to putrefy, and nat only offend the nostrils of the people, but also affect (Bir health. Lt is time for the Board of Health to admit that carbolic acid is simply a preservative and 4 deodorant. With the fact before them that practical commercial men use the acid to preserve beef on the long journey from the West or Texas the Board should not be slow to admit this. And having made the adinission it should immediately begin the use of some efficient purifying agent upon the Har- Jem flats. In the medical monthly journal called the Sanitarian, for the month of September, there is a valuable article on “CHE PREVENTION OF PUTREPACTION.”” It was written by John Dougall, M. D., of Glasgow, Scotland, and was read by him’ before the Medico Chirurgical Society of this ‘city in April. It is copied | by the Sanitarian from ‘the Glasgow Medical Journal of wet week. The members of the Board of Health woukt do well to read it. In his paper Dr. Don- gail detatls the results of some experiments made by him with carbolic acid. There ts not space here to ad- mit of a quotation of the details of those experiments, but the following is Dr. Dongall’s. summary of them;— Those experiments with carbolic acid and vaccine lymph prove shat the infecting property of the lymph is unaffected | after being buried for thirty-six hours in an atmosphere of concentrated carbolic vapor; that even where vaccine Is in- corpornted with what is manifestly a large quantity of ear- | boll id (nearly equal parts), its infecting property may be pended, and that only when the mixture is hermetically from the atmosphere; that if such a mixture be ex- | tocommon air for twelve days its lymph is normally active, Tho negative results obtained by Lemaire and Crookes, and in my second experiment, are explained by the mixture having been used to vaccinate soon after its prep- aration, when probably the coagulation of the lymph " provented its “absorption by the dermal | capillaries, whereas when the acid is allowed to | volatilize “for twelve days the lymph ts rendered more soluble in water, and, being still animpaired by | ite recent union with the carbolic acid, vaccinates success: fully, as stated, Now, when vaccinine ‘is thus so obviously by carbolic acid, and remembering that vaccinine js inimical to varioline, it seems a Just. conclusion, if we are to be allowed to reason at all, that, at least, to a similar degree, will varioline be unaitered by carbolic acid, and if so.’ submit there is a — strong presumption that all aymotic poisons will, ander the’ same cir cumstances, remain active, and not only so, but that | carbolic acid rather antisepts, rather ‘preserves than de- stroys, their rymotic powers; moreover, it will be conceded that the conditions of the experiments were highly in favor of carbolie acid, the proportion of that substance present be- | ing greatly in excess of the quantity which it is possible to nse in practical excremental or aerial disinfection, Briefly, Xperiments show that the use of pure antiseptics as anti-zymotics is palpable paradox, preservation being prac- tised and destruction expected In commenting upon Dr. Dougall’s paper, Dr. A. N. Bell, the editor of The Sanitarian, says:— Dr. Dougall's most recent paper on the pi trefaction and the destruction of contagia, on other sof | this number, should be read by all persons interested tn the health, and especially by health oificers. It to enil attention anew to true dis- nd lessen the liability to waste both health and life on the suggestions of theorists. Dr. Dongall and others have shown that, in general torms. the efltoncy of substances as disintectants jepends upon thetr power as oxiditing agents. sulphurous has 40 long been esteemed as one of the inost werful disinfectants, has been found by Drs. meron and jongnll to be inferior to several other substances hitherto but lightly esteemed. tion of pn- infectants wi f potash proved so effieacions in Dr. Dongall's | hands ¢ as led to experiment with ite active | nent, cid, and he expresses the opinion th compound will eventually tako the foreinost place Tho only apparent obstacle to its general is its cost. * Chioride of ataminuim also ranks very hij little, It is to ft that chloralam chiefly owes i Wanklyn says of ehloralum :—"For removing fetor and of fluvin it ia bettor aud more available than auy agent with whieh Tam acquainted, In this respect it is incomparnbly Chioralnm has beer lin, aud found to be wed to disinfect the sewnge of Dub- ngularly efMficacions, Tk has #liso been very favorably reported upon by Mr. tiame: he em- {nent veterinarian, who used one pound of it dissolved in five gallons of water to effectually disinfect twenty Ove aquare yards of fetid lob, as evolved by pouring nitric acid on onatitute one of the most powerful | ut they are 40 dangerous to life ender Sulphate of copper is a disinfectant of the first rank, and expecially ralnable in the disinfection of vessels, as it speed- | lly destrays she edor of eulphuretted hydrogen given of by | @ the fumos of nitric acid, is | bilge water. It, however, Ii potsonous, and should not be intrusted to careless hands, Nitrate of lend is of like properties with sulphate of cop- | per, and requires like care fi lution of permanganate | ad, althouzh less | Li adapted to | of being odor. | of potassium, an powerful than aome, a good di the sick room, as It possesses an efficacions disinfect. lorine ts generally fn ant, and doubtless it frequently is so if sufficiontly ap- plied; but its odor penetrates far beyond its power as a disin- fectant, This, therefore, is not to be taken as evidence of | iss e@tcieney, ‘pat, on the contrary, as being very linble to | regarded cet. Tho salts of rinc—ehloride, miphide and suiphate—are gro disinfectants, particulary th Brat swe, and sre Dy | the wandering beggar nuisance would die out, ; do not have to work at reduced wages, pal a — Bu solution” {s « nseful means It ts simply chloride of sine dissolved in muriatic acid. The salts of zinc are al! poisonous. Sulphate of iron or copperas is the cheapest, while for sewage, it is one of the most efficacious of the metallic salts It shonid be used freely, Indeed, it may here be remarked that in the use of disinfectants generally they are almost always used too xperiments with disinfecting gases bacteria and the contagious parti- when protected by an extremely thin film of solid or semi-solid matter, the action of chlori and sulphurous acid gases applied to them in larger quant are usually employed in disinfection. contagi- ous icles. or germs, as tho case may be, of cholera, smallpox imflar diseases are doubtless invested with some sueh film as shat which protects the contagious granules in vaccine, and if ordinary gaseous or other disinfectante fail 10 destroy ‘it, inferentially they are equally ineffcacious for the destruction of otber disense germs. Namerous other substances might be named in habitual nse as “disinfectants,” inost of which are in reality, like cmr- coal tar creosotes, and probably or, like charcoal, certain ‘only absorbonts or deodo- jestruction of infection, more Of the disinfectants which Dr. Bell mentions, the best {s bichromate of potash. The use of this has been ob- Jected to because it Is costly, But the members of the Board of Health should remember— for they surely know the fact—that bichromate of potash can be reduced or economized until its cost becomes very little, ifany, more than that of carbolic acid. Having remembered’ the fact, they should hasten om that efficacious disinfectant upon the Harlem THE TRAMP DANGER. DARING TRAMPS IN NEW JERSEY. Between eight and nine o’clock on Saturday night two men called at the residence of Mr. Albert Herbert, near Waunockie, N. J., and asked if they could get something toeat All the family were absent at the time, except Mr. Herbert's daughter Mary, a young woman twenty- two years of age. Upon being told that she had nothing t givo them, one of them asked if Mr. Herbert was at home, The young lady indls- creetly replied that no one was in the house but herself; whereupon one of them seized her about the waist and forced her into the front room, the other following and closing the door. They then attempted wo ravish the poor girl, but evidently got alarmed by her repeated cries. ‘While one held the poor girl down the other ransacked the and managed to.—s secure. =— Boing. ~— old fail: silver valued at about $40, witl which they decamped. About nine o'clock Mr. and Mrs, Herbert returned home, and found their danghter lying upon the floor in an insensible con- ition, She was immediately removed to her room and medical aid procured, The suspected parties were last seen going toward Jorsey City, but, notwithstanding every effort was made to arrest thom, they succeeded in making their escape. house, EVERYWHERE THEY ROAM-—THE COUNTRY RIs- ING AGAINST THEM, At Mansfield, Mass., whilo Captain Smith’s family were away, a tramp succceded in breaking Into the house and loaded himself with such articles of clothing as he conld carry, when he was discovered by Richard King and his gon, They secured him, tied his hands with a rope, brought him to the village’ and delivered him to an officer. PLANS FOR REMEDIES. New Hampshire has a very severe law against tramps, which bas been very efficacious in abating these nuisances, It snch there be, going from place to place asking or subsisting on charity, or without visible means of support, they may, upon duo complaint, be sentenced to hard labor upon any county farm or town farm, or in any house of correction or common jail, for aperiod not exceeding six months, Tramps do not abound in New Hampshire. A like measure in other States would no doubt be efficacious in reducing the annoyances which these fellows inilict upon our rural districts. ORANGE COUNTY VISITATIONS, Tho Union, Orange county, New York, says that the tramp nuisance has latterly become dangerons as wellas annoying. During prosperous times a beggar was seldom sent away from the door hungry, and hence a largo number of lazy fellows found it easier to tramp about the country and live from door to door than to work, Tho hard times increased the number of tramps, who were really suffering (rom Inability to ob- tain work, but people also became less willing to assist vagrants. The result has been that the tramps, becoming desperate, have taken to pilfering and robbery, and we hear from all parts of the couutry of the operations of gangs of burglars. Wero work abundant and wages high we should of course find a great decrease in the number of tramps. Even in Italy, the traditional home of beggars, the demand for laborers caused by the building of railroads and public works has lately mado beggary rather the exception than the rulo, and what has been dono in Italy could moro easily be done here, It might not be a bad idea to try Count Rumford’s plan with reference to tramps, and compel them by law to work for their board and lodging. Count Rumford put this plan in operation in Manich. After holding some 2,600 tramps to labor he found on releasing thom that a very large proportion became industrious and self-supporting. Of course this could not be dono without tho aid of a good vagrancy law; but we certainly need a law which will relieve as in some way of the dangerous plague of tramps which has spread over the whole country. FEEDING THE WANDERERS. Mr. FE. W. Lockwood, of Middletown, Del., last week established, on his own account, asort of free dispen- sary, giving orders upon one of our bakeries for bread to all wanderers or ‘tramps’? who called upon him. During the day ho thus fed 180 peraons. Hearing of Mr, Lockwood's charitable undertaking a number of citizens went to him and proffered their assistance, which was accepted, and the “dispensary” was con: tinned, thus giving food to hundreds who would other- wise have been compelled to ask for food from house to house or go without. HOW TO LIMIT TRAMPING, The Albany Evening Times in an article on the «Tramp Scourge” has something on the subject worth reproducing. It says:—'What is required to prevent accessions to the ranks of the tramp and to reclaim the less debased of their members is the opportunity to ob- tain voluntary and steady labor. This condition of affairs cannot be reached at once, but the spread of the tramp scourge and of highway robberies and house- | breaking should admonish our statesmen of the neces- sity of so legislating as to bring the country to a stato of prosperity at as early aday as possible. * * So. cicty is, in a measure, responsible for the scourge of vagabondism. If the people would make tt their business to attend to their political duties to seo that public affairs were wisely and cconomically administered, taxation kept. down, and business freed from constant governmental interferences, prosperity would be restored, and with it Tho fow tramps who would still remain might then be easily put under the wholesome discipline of compulsory labor, until habits of industry and thrift had been acquired.” In brief, the Times secs, as all who choose to look for themselves must seo, that the public prostitution and private penar: luding trampage, which bas aottled ike an tncubtis on the country, is the direct outgrowth of the policy which has “ruled” and all but ruined the country, inthe comparatively short period since the | time honored principles which led the country to pros- perity gave place to the incompetency, étupidity and corruption which are all embraced in the term Grantism. This is the cause of this offect, and until the primary cause is rethoved the social evil of trampago and a thou- sand other ills, within the powor of good government to remedy, will be our portion despite the best efforts to get rid of them, RHODE ISLAND'S VAGABONDS, The Newport Mereury says that tho dull times have flooded the country with the genus tramp, and 98 long as the times remain dull their numbers will continue to tnerease, Thoy alone and in gangs of from three to half a dozen, and their lawlessness, particularly for the last few months, 16 a subject of terror to all defenceless women and children, The amount of mischief done by one of those gangs can hardly be estimated, Their ravages far exceed those of the army worm and grasshopper com- bined. Even ® genuine Western flood is less to be dreaded «than =oone of these useless = mortal. Just now Fall River is producing material for tramps more — rapidly ~— than fs convenient or agrecable for the enrrounding town: The 20,000 people out of employment there have de- termined that the world owes them a living, and they are not particular as to how they get tt provided ther Bands of these operatives, Who have voted themselves a “vacation,” are prowling through the towns along the borders of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, digging potatoes by night, robbing melof patches, plundering clothes lines, harvesting chickens and laying thetr hands upon every thing that comes in their way. Soon, unless work comes, they will seek a wider field for their exploits wnd will be even leas scrupulous how they obtain what they want, MASSACHT, EITS ITINERANTS, about, One of that class was hospitably entertained by one of our citizens a week ago, and rewarded the kindness shown him by leaving suddenly, car- rying with him asilver watch and a small amount of money, in all abont $50. him, and our kind-hearted citizen intended to board and shelter him anti the work promised could. be tained. Buta future of work was not inviting, to save himself from tt he left for parts ankno ix a pity, when so many men are idle and travel fro place to place in search of employment, that assistance rendered stiould be so repaid. The good and the de- serving are frequently punished for the transgressions of others, Tho experience of our friend should not lead us to treat with too great severity a class of persons many of whom are not only in need of, but deserving, assistance, excessive | travel | Work had been promised | (LD K'NGSBR'DGE ROAD. Will Upper Manhattan Ever Get Its Wished-For Roadway? FIVE MILES OF SYLVAN BEAUTY. Ten Years’ Agitation Among the Politicians, Who Want to Know “If There's Anything in It.” WILL THE ROAD BE BUILT? It is now nearly eight months since a resolation of the greatost possible interest to the property holders on the west and upper end of Manhattan Island was offered tn the Board of Aldermen by Alderman Joseph Strack. The resolution reads as follows and the disposition mado of {t is given below:— Resolved, That the Kingsbridge road, from the north- erly lino of 155th street to the Harlem river or Spuyten Duyvil Creek, be regulated, graded, and curbed, the side- walks flagged four feet in width; and that the roadwa: be constructed on the Teiford-Macadam plan, accord- ing to the specifications for such roadway’ as con- structed on the Boulevard; and that the labor and work required for such ‘regulating, grading, eurb- ing, flagging, and roadway be done by day's work; and that tho materials required thorefor be procured by the Commissioner of Public Works in such manner as he may deem for the best interests of the city and the property owners-—all to be done under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Works—and that the ac- companying ordinance therefore be adopted. Ho then moved to refer the same to the Committoe on Roads, The President then put the question whether the Board would agree with sald motion, which was de- cided tn the affirmative. A fact patent to nearly all of the citizens of this city is that the district throngh which this road ts proposed to be Improved and widened {s one of the most valuable on New York island, and yet during the long interval since this resolution was referred to a committee of the Board of Aldermen not o step has been taken to remedy the evils which the present ragged edge condition of tho road involves, Tho Committee on Roads, whieh consists of Aldermen Reilly, McCarthy and Deano, have had the resolution referred to them; and while citizens owning property to the value of perhaps $300,000,000 are kept wafting patiently from year to year for this much-desired and long-looked-for improve- ment, this committee pay not the slightest attention to the wants of their constituents, who aro forced to find their way, night after night, through a dark country lane, which fronts and borders upon the most Magniticent suburban residences in any of the neighbor- hoods environing the metropolis. THR OLD, OLD #TORY. In 1865—ten years ago—the inhabitants of Kings- bridge, Carmansville, Fort Washington, Inwood and the neighboring villages made up their minds that they ought to have @ public road, and they discussed and canvassed the subject quite freely. The locality of the Kingsbridge road 1s celebrated for its romantic and sylvan solitude and beauty, and the citizens of this re- treat, many of whom lived in houses built by tneir grandfathers, thought it was only fair that this section of the city should reap the benefits of any improvements that might be made, These were the early prosperous days of the ring rule in this city and the opening of a road was looked upon as a Gol- conda of plunder for all the harpies who fed upon public improvements. The first Commissioners of Assessment and Award appointed were Henry Parsons, William Parsons and John T. McGowan, the latter being a young lawyer, To these gentlemen succeeded Thomas J. Creamer and James H. Coleman, Henry Par- sons retaining his place on the commission. Assess- nfents were made not at all satisfactory to the property holders, and the matter was taken before Justico Donohue when the Commissioners made their report, and in the case of James Lynch, notably a wealthy property holder, who appealed from the report of the Commissioners, believing it to be an unfair one, Chief Justice Davis and Judge Law- rence, however, denied tho motion, and the crowds of property-holders who attended court, with almost brilliant array of private counsel, received no satisfaction. A surveyor named Edward Boyle was appointed to take charge of the proposed new toad, and as money was plenty in those days, how- ever gotten, wonders were expected; and yet ten long years have elapsed since then. ‘A new generation has grown up, an old one has passed to its fathers, and not a cobble stone has been turned in tho bed of the Kingsbridge road, and, possibly, now that Aldermen Reilly, McCarthy and Deane have taken hold of it, it may be that ten other years will clapse before the sound of the public pick or shovel ts heard In the shadow of the trees of the old revolution. ary Kingsbridge road. Yet it is a duty that these officials owe to the public to repott to the Board on the ordinance offered by one of the Aldermen what they propose to do, and they should do it at once, as the inhabitants of the district aro waiting for them, and have not heard even an echo in eight months, Surely it need not take eight months to consider it, such a simple and easily worded resoln- tion as the one which Is printed at the head of this article, GENERAL PORTER 18 READY. General Fitz John Porter has repeatedly stated to property holders that hoe was ready to go on with the work, and begin operations as soon as the ordinance 1s passed by the Board of Aldermen. But until they have made up their weighty minds, it will be impossible for the Commissioner of Public Works to stir in the matter, There are about five miles of road to be excavated, laid out, graded and sidewalks to be built, and it is a big job of road work, and will take somo timo, even if properly performed and economically accounted for to | sho people who are to be assessed. 18 THERE 4 Jon IN IT? 3 And now comes a very grave question for the | property holders of this section. The act | now before the Board of Aldermen—if it ‘is ever passed—reads that the Job of improving and laying out the road shall be done in | days’ work," as tt is called by the Commissioner of | Public Works, instead of being done in tho honest way, | | which {s to ave it let out to contractors in sections, at | the lowest bids made in public. Tho property owners, | who are most interested in the matter, have informed | | the writer that the ‘days’ work’ plan promises tw torn out a buge swindle on the tax- payers, who will have to pay tho fiddler, no matter who does the dancing. And therefore | it ts the opinion of nearly every taxpaying citizen of | Inwood, Fort Washington and Kingsbridge that to pro- vent an open and atrocious swindle from being perpe- | trated upon them they mast organize themselves into a Taxpayers’ Association in order that they may be en- | abled to protect their own interests. An example may | | be given in this wise of how the “day's work’? system | will work as compared with the contract system, which ts open and above board, and by which fraud can be de- | tected at once :—- A DIPFRRENCE WITH A VENGRANCE. It ts estimated by practical engincers that in assess- ing for this road the owner of twenty-five fect front. | Ing on the Kingsbridge road will have to pay about $200 as A special tax for the improvement so mach needled, that 18 If the work be dono by the contract plan. But if itis done by the “day's work" xystem the us- | sessment will probably “amount for the same | twenty-tive feet frontage to about $1,500, of a difference | of $1,300, But faney what tremendous amounts of money properties like the Seaman, Dyckman, Hays and | other valuable tracts will yield to the cormorants who may be appointed to fatien on these wealthy land- holders, ‘One well known citizen of Inwood, who lives on the Ridge road, suggested to the writer that it would be an exce!lent plan lor the residents of the villages border. | road build of the Kingsbridge themseives and side MRSORS either ether, on | ing elub te hte beauty t the upper part of the island, and ata very moderate cost to all those interested 1h the property. Furthermore, the residents on the line of the pro- posed improvement do not by any means want a road. vay on the Telford Macadam plan, which would Ureak their horses’ feet to pieces on the ig drive that would reach from avenue St. Nicholas to Yonkers, and | Which, when completed and connected, would make one Of the handsomest drives in) the world. In. | stead of the Telford Macadam centre readwa: the | | residents declare that they want a central roadway of | dirt with macadamized sides, and that only with these will they be aatistied; and that the roadway proposed in the Board of Aldermen, if it ever comes, will be worse than no roadway at all. It ts calculated that unless | the road improvement i# Intrusted to the right parties and andor the right system it will take at least five years to complete it. And now the question is “What nse that vent roadway that would be a ereditand a | Tho Palmer, Mass., Journal saya tuat trampa are | T.maguiticent roadway, that ve beapty 88 ry the Board of men to do about it?” Do they intend to batld Ki bridge road or not? And how many times i} montl will it take before the sapient Committee on 8, con. sisting of Messrs. McCarthy, Reilly and Deane, ready to report on this question for which the publie demand immediate solution. THE OLD DREAMY ROAD, + And now that so mnch has been satd voli pae acon of bridge road that ts to be, when the Aldermen get ready, should not something be said of the hosing ge road of the present and the dead pas this leafy road in the olden time swa: the red’ Indian, the wide breeched Dutchman, the Continental in his buff and bine, and after the latter sometimes came the red-coated soldier of King George, flaming with whiskey and brutality and beer, and look- tng for plunder. Here in this ravine, which slopes te the Hudson, now Slowing so peaceably, and a beau tiful spot it is—owns by Isaac "P. Martin)— and at whose margin is the West End Hotel and the Institute Prevost, Briton and Continental clinched, fought and feli as the musket barrels, rusty andeaten by time, that are hero dog ap will’ vestify. Across. by the grounds of Isaac there .{s another ravine and through this tore the hot and diserganized Hessians, a hundred years ago, after Washington's rear guard, who sought Tefuge on the Palisades at Fort Lee whon retreating from the shameful routat White Plains. Along this narrow road, rising from the river to an ascent highest on Manhattan Island, are the mansions of Enos and Bucking and Hopkins, and a glimpse is caught through tho trees of the home of Charles O’Conor, foremost of American advocates, who sleeps nightly ‘on the ground where the pickets of Ka: hausen held wassail in the guttural Cassel dialect, fore, as we use tho road to the avenue St. Nichol which ends here, is tho gateway of the Orphan Asylum, and here commences what 1s known a what is left of the old ipec mandy road. Below is the magnificent bridge which crosses the upper end of the avenue St Nicholas, and which joins to- ther the eastern and western sections of Trinity Semetery. Tho Kingsbridge road here is a mere rugged lane full of shanties and tin pots and tomoto cane with the bottoms torn out, and one wonld not think to look at its opening that any square foot of gronnd on either side of the road will be valued ono day at $50 a foot. Here, before we come to the wido-spreading gates that lead up an avenue of trees ta the Jumel mansion, on the right hand side of the Toad, are a number of little, scattered shanties, blackmiths' shops, and ragged children, poverty and rags alongside as it is in hundreds of other places, of pride pomp and power. For in this old mansion |s shown us by a fair young lady the camp chest of the once mighty ohitd of destiny, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the halls of the old mansion aro literally covered with pictures, sketches and relics of the great soldier, The smell of the boxwood as we come down the wide avenue, which rung to the end of the place and looks down in a rainy mist into the Harlem River, is truly refreshing to tho senses. Then comes the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, surrounded by a noble tract of green. This institution has a front on Kingsbridge road of about 1,000 feet and has a number of fine trees, The next places seen on the road are the Ward Montayner estates, now not occupied, and we get a sight of the tower built to furnish Croton water to. the residents of the high ground in the neigh- borhood. Next we see in aclump of trees the Doric columns of a French institute, like a gem in its setting. Mr. Augustus F, Smith has a fine place here, over 300 fect front, and as the horse canters ‘along wo pass Louis Rader’s, the Bucking’s villa, handsome front of Hosea B. Perkins’ place, one of the finest on the road; the summerlike spot owned by Uncle George E. L. Hyatt, a retired carpet dealer; tl Bonnett property, on the shelf of a hill, and from’ this place through’ a gorge northward can be seen the road to Yonkers, which the eye follows in its sinuous lines as well as the mist will allow. On tho right of tho road ts the stone fence enclosing the property purchased by Mr. Scholl, and to the lefta littl quaint old white story a ahalfstone house that might have been built in u year one. Here is ‘‘Mr. Rogers’ cheap grocery for cash.” Next we pass Dr. Brann’s handsome church. It ig now down hill nearly all the way, bat gradually, ta Kingsbridge. We pass rapidly Mr,’ Richards’ castle, once owned by Tweed, and the fine property Mr. William Hays, son of the once famous “Jake Hays,” premier constable of New York and its leather heads. Then is passed the Chittenden place. Dowa the Inwood road is the house of Joseph Byrne, a well known citizen, with his happy family, wife and beauti- ful daughters, and the residences of James McCreery, Augustus Dovalli, Brooks, tho clothing mer- chant, and back up the road are the once magnificent properties of the Slomans and the Dyckmans, and a host of other well known famili who, in the good old days that are gone, held high an courteous hospitality, when New York was young, and when the shriek of the railroad engine and the scream of the steam whistle from a passing boat could not bo heard on the quiet waters of the Hudson, now no longer quict, That old Kingsbridge road has memories tearful and grave, gallant and gay, of brave men ‘and deautifal women of the Revolution, their der thoir patches, the hoops and buckles and farthingales. Its rocky road bed has echoed to the tramp of armed and hosiile legions in hot pursuit and eager retreat; but these pages of the story of the old Kingsbridge road are falling into nothingness, and soon not even an echo of the days that are gone will be heard by the shore of the Hudson which laves the base of the old Broadway road, THE COURTS. THE TWEED SIX MILLION SUIT. In the Supreme Court, General Term, which meete to-day, the appeals from the various orders given in the Tweed six million suit will probably be argued. There are two appeals, the first from the order of Judge Don- ohue, directing a bill of particulars to be given, which appeal, of course, is made on behalf of the people, and the second from the order of Judge Barrett, refusing to reduce Mr. Tweed’s bail from $3,000,000, as fixed by Judge Davis, or to vacate the order of Court, the latter be An being mado on behalf of Mr. Tweed. tis understood that a preliminary objection will be raised by Mr. Twoed’s counsel to any argument op either appeal, on the ground that this is not a eneral Term, and that it is in vacation and merely am rmment for rendering decisions. The absence of David Dudley Field in Europe will also be urged as additional reason for an argument at a regular General Term, which meets in October. An objection will, im all likelihood be raised to Judge Davis sitting, on the ground of his letter to Mr. O’Conor, asking advice from him in the Tweed case, and especially in view of the fact of Mr. O’Conor’s appearanee in the case. How- ever, should these preliminary objections be omitted, the argument will either be proceeded with or orders entered without argument. ‘ FIFTY-SEVENTH STREET COURT. Before Justice Kilbreth. UNLICENSED LIQUOR DEALERS. The following unlicensed liquor dealers were arrested on Saturday night:—Alexander McGregor, No. 144 Third avenuo; Thomas Whelan, No, 679 Third avenue; Will- jam Cravin, No, 773 Third avenue; William Hugh No, 796 Third avenue, and John McGinly, No. 950 Third avenue. They were held in $100 bail cach for trial at General Sessions, COURT CALENDAR—THIS DAY. Sormewn , Cornt—Craunens—Held by Judge Tape Nos, 28, 25, 28, 3247, 06, 82, 90, 124, 160, 170, 174 THE NEW pen. 175, 17 POST OFFICE, PREPARATIONS FOR REMOVAI-—EVERYTHING@ NEARLY READY, It is now fully determined that the new Post Office shall wt last be occupied for public business on the. 28th ofthis month, and that the old one in Nassau street will bo given up for good. The last touches are now being given to the new building preparatory to moving in, and so far as the rooms for the use of the postal authorities are concerned they will be all ina state of complete readiness by the time designated. The laborers aro now even moving out their secaf- folding and paraphernalia from the lower floors. The paint-work and varnishing are done, the tables for for sorting letters aro in position, the boxes likewise, and the letter and newspaper drops. These latter, of the Broadway side, are much more elaborate than those now in use and will be of much greater benefit both ta the public and the post office clerks in the way of saving time, ‘There 1s a drop for every State and Territory is the Union, besides one for the most important cities. This will save a great deal of time in sorting and will be another means of despatch. Postmaster James’ room is also complete, and is the handsomest in the building. It fronts down Broadway, standing on the second story, immediately over tl | principal entrance. It is freseoed and beautifully fur. | hished. The only unfinished portion of the Post Office part of the building is the gallery, which will be de- voted to various administrative offices, | It is announced for greater convenience that in the change of boxes (he same numbers will be retained in | the new office which belonged to them in the old. This will save trouble and confusion. Much of the débria ‘has been removed on the Park side of the building, | leaving facility for the mail wagdns to reach the build- ing. The elevators for these are now ready, so that without hand work the bags are carried bodily where they are needed. This is one of the greatest improve- meits in the building, and will insure accuracy and the | greatest possible saving of time. SABBATH ROWDYISM IN JERSEY. The old Sixth ward of Jersey City was yesterday the scene of a wonderful degree of rowdyism, The fighting commenced at three o'clock in the morning on First street, between Brunswick and Colgate streets, An old man, residing in Hudson City, seeing tho rowdies en | Baged in a free fight, interfered, and was at ones | knocked down and beaten severely by the gang. Te the arrival of Officers Fitzhenry and MeDon. | ough the man owes his life. Three of | the gang were arrested and locked fp. When bronght before the Police Justice the old man wag unable to identify them, and they were therefore dis \ charged. While the officers were on thei way to the | First precinct station, with their prisoners, the ery of “Murder!” resounded through the district in the vicinity of “The Crow's Nest.” A desperate fight was ip | Progress, in which knives, stones and cart rungs were . freely used. When the officers arrived at the scene tho rowdies had disappeared. No ie rf than ante, took place in the same district tl le alluded ta: . Bo arreate were made bevond those