The New York Herald Newspaper, December 4, 1875, Page 3

HOW MALARIA TS MADE. Third Letter on Our Suicidal System of Living, GUSTS FROM FOUL VAULTS. The Evil Originated in 1850 by the. City Fathers. THE IMPOVERISHED AIR WE BREATHE. Wrongly Built Houses—Deadly Heating Apparatus. To THe Epiror ov tae HeraLp:— Somewhere about the year 1850 our City Fathers con- ceived the idea of the general sewerage of the city, They knew nothing about the business further than that “thore were millions in it,” and with a simplicity not imitated by their successors they memorialized the Academy of Medicine, requesting of them a plan forthe work and general principles upon which such an under- taking should be carried on, I was then an active member of this society. I had not then been ‘‘sus- pended” from its imaginary privileges for consulting with homeopathic practitioners, for the Academy was then quite new, and had not forgotten its objects—viz., to consolidate the profession and advance the science of medicine. Ethical disquisitions did not then absorb its energies. ‘The Academy listened to the request with pride and with disgust—pride at being recognized by “the powers thatwwere,”” disgust at being supposed to know nnything about trench digging and brick laying. That any grand hygienic laws lay at the bottom of all such work by which such structures should be made did not seem to occur to any one who took part in the discus- sion, I was then a “younger light.” To be sure, I bad made to them the first scientific analysis and re- port on ‘“swill milk,” and a second report on ‘the meat of New York,” and I really knew nothing on the subject, However, the honor was accepted, the disgust was swallowed, a committee appointed; but the city did not wait for the report of the committee, but went on to build the sewers with great rapidity. It was lucky for the enriched contractors that they did not delay, for the committee never made a report, and, in fact, were never heard of as a committee, But tho result of this hasty work, underlying which is the health of a million of human souls, is felt to-day. It ts of little importance how much money was wasted by ill-digested plans, how vain the “attempts to make water run up hill,” how abortive were many of the trials; but it is of some consequence how much ill- health, how many deaths have been caused and aro Still justly ascribable to the bad air—the malaria en- gendered by them, So great, indeed, is it, in some localities that the actual existence of a sewer there is a matter of great regret, Before the sewers wore built the frequent and copious rains rushed madly down the declivitous . streets and the turbid current washed the pavements generally and notably the gutters, cleansing them very thoroughly of their foulness, To be ‘sure, tho water sometimes stood knee deep in the low places, and some cellars were flooded and with consequent slight dam- age to individual property; but with what a benefit to tho general health! Now the gutters are never washed and are never clean, But of this more anon. The Academy never gave any opinion respecting some of the great points where scientific judgment was imperatively demanded, It never has said whether ‘sewer brick should be laid in cement or loft open so that the moisture of the adjacent soil should be able to permeate through and be carried off, nor whether the bottom should be left open with » similar design; nor |. munication with thé did they give any opinion upon the management of the | mouths and the debowchure. Had they done so then the community might have had some reason for thank- fulness that this organization has existed. CONDITION OF THR SEWERAGE, As at present constituted the sewers have two funda- mental defvcts—the traps at the entrance are not efii- cient in retaining within them the gases of putrefaction therein evolved; next, the debouchures are not con- stracted sufficiently low or long, so that these mouths may be constantly under water. The result of these two radical defects is that the foul air, as disgusting to the al- factories as prejudicial to health, is left tree to permeate the houses, the city, and disease the community. That this is done few will deny, How it is effecteg may be explained as follows :— Re At low tide the mouth of an imperfectly constructed sewer is left exposed, In the extraordinary conjunc- tion of low tide with a brisk wind which blows the water out of the bay, allare porhaps left open to the entrance of the air, which entirely fills them. With a high wind blowing into them this 1s forced through their length, overcoming the feeble resistance of the ‘trap, and effects an entrance into our houses. If the weather be still the effect is scarcely less unfavorable, for the returning tide closes upon the sewer, and this, retained with each advancing wave, is forced backward and backward till further condensation {s impossible, ‘and the swash of the waves soon produce the same re- sult as before obtained—the traps are overcome and the noisome odor pervades everywhere. ‘There are other less important defects in our sewer- ‘age system, less frequently seen to-day than formerly, ut which are numerous enough to seriously affect the heulth, Sometimes the grade of the sewer has not been sufficient and fails to carry off the heavier por- tion of its receipts and the accumelations are pestifer- ous. Sometimes the calibre of the sewer is insufficient for the requisitions of sudden storms and especially when in connection with high tide, when the back water is forced into the cellars and lowet rooms of many houses, leaving behind a sedimodt, with ac- tompanying smelis, which remains for nuyey days, and, necessarily, with consequent injurious effects upon the health of their inmates, his last conditiea is seen in East Thirteenth street, where the sewer was allowed to be built by the land owners, who exercwed their pupidity or ventilated their ignorance by building a ‘sewer too small for the purpose for which it was de- signed, but who are rewarded for their ill-placed pars!. mony by the prayers, ‘not loud but deep,” of the oo- cupants of the houses margining its extent. But some may think an occasional bad smell is quite @trivial matter and really not worth talking about. Let us see, WHAT ONE BAD SEWER DID. ‘That epidemic known as the “first cholera’? had {ts origin in a foul sewer, which ran near the old Fl Market, as my venerable deceased friend, Dr. John N. Francis, very frequently stated. When the connection of the sewer to the health of the city was recognized ‘and efforts were established for its cleansing the labor- ‘rs employed for the purpose were generally made sick and died. The hotel epidomic at Washington, from ‘which so much sickness and death resulted, was di- Tectly traceable to defective sewerage and the choking ‘of the wastepipes of the house. I saw some cases of dis. ‘ease caused therefrom, Que gentleman, who died from vther disease har hee April, considered himself to De ctognar dd by this exposure, The Lake Mahopac Hotel epidemic, with its multiform diseases any deaths, was tndisputably traced to defective weragé and improper drainage of the house.. A per- stent foul odor pervading the hose and the constant complaints of its inmates were insufficient to draw proper attention to its dangers as well as unpleagant- Noss and cause its abatement until the finger of death compelled some effective means for its remedy. WASTE PIPES OF DWELLINGS. Going still backward, we find great and glaring do- fects m the structure of the waste pipes of most of our houses, It bas been already mentioned that by ‘the action of the winds and the waves impure gases were made to overcome the too shallow traps attached to our eal washbowls, &. As at present con- Structed it ts doubtful if there is a single trap attached to the main exit pipe after it leaves the bouse and Prior to its junction with the street sewer, Next the ‘traps—which consist of merely a bend in the pipe 80 as to retain a quantity of water which acts as a plug— these traps are imperfectly made, sometimes to econo- mize room, sometimes to save tho lead, oftenest prob- ably from mere carelessness and ignorance. In cheap houses, tenements and shops which, perbaps, origin- ally intended for shops, are changed into’ lodging rooms—all these causes anite, Tho traps are frequently emitted entirely, and then nothing prevents a [reo assage of the air of the sewer, rising by its natural impulse into the higher levels of the house. ‘hose sewer emanations are the direct cause of dis- fase and death. Nothing is more evident. The cause and effect follow without variance, The investigations of hygienists have shown that in a large majority of sporadic cases of diphtheria and cerebro-spinal menin- itis there were glaring defects in tho waste pipes of ihe houses Where they occurred; and sometimes the houses were apparently first wherepipes haa acctlentaily broken by irost or eaven off by rate ‘NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1875.—WITH SUPPLEMENT. Sometimes the brick continuation with the sewer was ured by time, and through the brick work, from whieh the moruir had fallen uway, the foul efluvia had f its exit, : From the very able report of the State Beard of Health of Massachusetts for 18781 copy the follow ¢. Would that New York State might bave suc! @ commission and with such valuable results:— ‘THE VENTILATION OF HOUSE DRAINS. “By the use of water closetsand their attendant eon- veniences of fixed water bewls, batting tubs and sinks, the interiors of city houses are brought into close com- ers, Whatever gases are con- tained in these under; pouse perage, seek not only to diffuse themselves under the law of ture with regard to gaseous bodies, but are also frequently subjected to severe pressure. “These are deleterious to health. What the noxious element in them is no one can defive, It is evidently neither carbonic acid nor sulphuretted hydrogen, nor any other of the gases with which chemistry is familiar in the laboratory. There is some- thing beyond all this, coming from tbe decay of organ- ized substances ina closed, pent-up position, without the free access of light and air, whr times gives rise to the most virulent’ poison an the most de- structive forms of disease. “The sensible properties of sewer air are quite re- markable, It is by no means fetid, as many people ‘Suppose, neither is it pungent or ammoniacal It is rather negative in character, faint im odor, mawkish— smelling, perhaps, more like soap than apy other fam- ilar substance, “Sewer air may escape very freely into our dwellings before its presenoe will bo sus and that this hap- pens very often there can be no sortof doubt, One cause for escape, and a very active one, is the differ- euce of temperature between the interiors of our houses and the interors of the underground sewers. A rarefication of the air and an upward current aro thus induced. * * * “There is also an obvious escape of the air of the soil pipe, corresponding with its constant daily use. When- ever fluids are introduced a certain amount of air is displaced and must go somewhere. Untess other yent is provided it flows directly upward.” FOUL An. An enthusiastic friend who has fled from the city to the purer atmosphere of Long Island simply and solely for pure air, writes me a letter, from which Textract a portion, because forcibly pu& 1 would be glad to append his name, thereby to strengthen the Weight of his words and ideas, but I should violate the sanctity of fmendship. To preserve unity of expression I shall copy it eee and the reader will, it is to be hoped, recognize ‘and useribe any personally laudatory phrases to the eulogistio feclings of one who sces only the excellonce of his friends, illmg the gaps and de- ficiencies by his own kind imaginings. As the origin of this series of letters may be justly ascribed to the quotation about to be made some interest may be felt in it by those who may not be struck by the great value of the ideas which are scarcely broached in it, : “Will 1875 bring a new work trom your pen, or will you waste your talents on diurnal hterature, the best of which has but an ephemeral existence? Why not ‘go in’ and build yourself a monument as durable as the Pyramids? You have the stuff in you. Hurvey’s name descends to iterity as the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. y do you not enlighten the darkness which Fp on the subject of zymo- tic diseases? The health wardens of Gotham will notlift their noses from the sewers and cesspools, or they might, perchance, find the real cause, Thoso men never suspect that a fine marble building, six, seven or eight stories, all new and clean as monoy can make {t, 18 a more prolific source of zymotic disease than imperfect sewerage, as far as its influence extends around, cach one spoiling the draught of the chimneys ot ten or a dozen houses and driving the sulphur down to poison the inmates. Napoleon [II.’s posthumous fame will brighten when men can appreciate what be,. in conjunction with Haussmann, has done in creating sewors for vitiated air. Long lines of streets, the houges and their chimneys of corresponding height, give little opportunity for a back draught, or for smoke to beat down jn eddies and vitiate the atmosphere of the streets. Zygomatic disease, when not highly inflammatory, is the gure product of air that has passed through fire flame or that has come in contact with highly heated metals, A man confined in a close room with a haf fire in a sheet tron stove will get bronchitis in a longer or shorter period; if, in addition to that, he gets foul animal exbalation, his discase will get a’putrid form. Herein, I think, may be discovered the origin of smallpox and’ measles’ in schools—animal exhalations from the pupils and burnt air combined. Excuse d tism; I have not time to rewrite, and am aware that you know these things better than I do. I meroly call your attention to the fact in a rough way. I have long thought that cowers for taking off tho surface water from the streets should not be contam|- nated with impurities from dwellings. Each side of | the streot should, 1 think, be provided with sewers of a comparative small diameter, air tight, with a rush of water—salt water would be the best—always running through them. But, alas! New York is too poor to shine us the queen of civilization for the benefit of succeeding generations, and the building department— Heaven save the mark)” Here are fresh thoughts enough to set an ordinary man up as a philosopher, philanthropist, original thinker and scientist, All can be pondéred over With Interest, and many might be practically aud beneficially | utilized) They are introduced in this connection on account of the hth baat way in which the tavieaed peas tion and suphurization and general destruction of our public and private air is spoken of. It scems almost vain to attempt to enumerate the public and private ways employed to vittate the most important element im our lives, We may put filtn and impurities, — meats: and vegetables, even the poison of the rattlesnake into our stomach with impunity, but we cannot with safety breath miasm, foul gases, many hospitals, HOW THE AIR 18 POISONED. Let us see what we do, as acity, to deteriorate our vital breath. We make gas in our midst and empty the retorts and permit the sulphuretted hydrogen to blow all over the city, 'e allow factories with deadly emanations directly in our midst, and go through the farce of compelling the owners to make high chimneys, so that the heavy carbonic acid gas “ blow afar all over the city, instead of falling immediately aroand, {tis not enough that we are compelled to suffer from the stench of petroleum refineries, east and west of us, because they are out of the city’s juris- diction—this is not quite enough, so we permit fat- rendering establishments, with | most disgusting effluvia, to blow over the city with every weat wind; we permit scows for manure dumping to stand on each side of the city and manure to be piled into the wharves till, to the sufferers, it sometimes seems as if life was a thing not worth having. We allow ammonia works to exist in the city, and the diurnal changing of the retorts renders might hideous; we clean up Broad- way daily and Fifth avenue every other day, and Baxter street and all cross strects and overy street near the wharves, where fine ladies trail their dresses, we clean once oronce a month during some montha, and not at all, no matter how open the winter, from October’ to May. We sweep many’ streets, but woe never wash 4@ gutter; and Fifth avenue and our big bugs forget that the outskirts of the city exist—because they don’t see it, But death and disease don’t tonget y and every wind from that quarter brings the seeds of disease into the palatial mansions and death goes in the blast, and the sea breeze of summer which flows so delightfully into the windows of Murray Hill blows first over the dirty slums, and the humanity of mankind—the rich and the poor—ta established. ‘The rich man can’t af- ford to have a pestilential place a mile or half mile from his house, St. Paul said if one member suffereth the whole body suffereth. How foolish, he said, for us to open our windows to aerate our dwellings when the | air that came in was loaded with the exhalations of Peeking gatte pestilential gases and deadly miasm. Dr. Moreau Morris, a@ very able hygtenist and ac- complished physician, in a forcible letter to thy Naw York Hera.o, drew attention to the filthy condition of the public streets, and said that disease must result from such neglect. Were we pagans and worshipped Hygeia, and on every recovery from ills sent a votive offering to her shrine of a hoo, ora brush broom, or a sweeping machine, according to individual means, we should see such an “answer to prayer” in this city a8 was never belore observed to follow directly the invocations to any deity. There should be some stringent laws respecting the business that sheuld be carried on ina city, some law regulating the heights of buildings, and localities antl Streets should be averaged, ¢o that one huge structure should not dwarf the smailer ones in appearance, not so much as that they should not deprive their neigh- bors of air and sunshine and beaith and life. Napo- leon’s straight streets, so eminently beneficial as per- mitting currents of air, such streets we have; but the principle therein involved of air sewers should not be Kost sight ol. HOW HOUSES ARB HRATRD. But the destruction of the air depends very greatly on the individual If the aircame imo the houses pure and bealth-giving it would too often be devital- ized by our red hot stoves and badly built furnaces and the like, Except our steam heaters there ts scarcely a healthily constructed furnace in the city. Speculatora, who build most of our hoyses, put the smallest possiole furnace into a’ building which must be driven to #8 utmost to warm the house comfortably, and this is not expected without the fire- t being all the ime red hot and in cold weather white 0b. If the result was simply the drying ont of all the moisture of the natural air this would bg bad enough— and that this is dove the cracked veneering of all the furniture of the house evinces—but the oxygen 1s in a great degree, and often entirely, burnt out, and the air, ifwe had to rely solely upon ft, without admix- ware, utterly incapable of supporting life. Of late years this is growing far worse. furnace Manuiacturers used to recognize the fact that the matu- Tal air of the heavens was the best for brvathing, and endeavored to supply the loss of motsture eflected by their form of heating it, They used to provide pans for the evaporation of water for supplying the moisture dried out; they used to endeavor not to burn out the oxygen by lining their frepots with soapstone and fire- brick; but now bo such attempts are made, and they not only do not appear to try to restere to tho air what they have taken from it, but they actually endeavor to prove its inuulity, Moisture, they argue, ts inconsis- tent with a comfortable heat, ‘and that what ts really needed is a dry heat; that a cold, dry 'y air ig mue pleasanter than # moist’ one of many degrees higher temperature, As for oxygen to breathe, they don’t pretend to fur- nish air to breathe, but only hotair. If you want to breuthe it mix it at your pleasure with out-of-door air; and in conformity with this plan of thought they make iron firepots, thicker than formerly, which must be red hot, and must burn out more or less oxygen in any case where any beat te required. he Gold heating apparatus is the only ono [ ‘have seen for several years that gives a large, broad and ex- tended small fire, instead of a tierce, Hery, smail one; gives an extended, radiating surface, with the final re: sult of a very large quantity of moderately heated, un- destroyed, healthy air, fit to sustam life, even un- mixed with air that has not “gone through a flery fur- Race,’? But here comes the trouble, No con- tractor or speculating house b it Into his Liouses monde to sell Even the builder of 4 house for uman putridity or the air of | bis own indwelling, unless he makes his health a hobby, will incur this extra expense. For those of us with whom the day’s life is a daily struggle, and who must let to-morrow take care of itself, Gold heating is gold, and we must do the best we can for the present time being, GENERAL INDIVPERENCE, There is no room to enlarge on the old theme of viti- ated air from cracks in stove or furnace, from the eco- nomical dampers and open stove doors in the stoves of private life; to the horrible effluvia of half cleansed children, packed in the illy ventilated, furnace heated school rooms ®f our public institutions. We, the peo- ple, bave so tong looked upon them as inseparable evils that Gabriel’s trampet would not arouse us to active Opposition to them, But there isa foul air which strangely overlooked by hygienist and lawmaker—the mal-air from contagious diseases. One of these we banish to Blackwell’s Island, and with an impotent at- tempt to strangle in its birth, or rather before its incep- tion, by vaccination. But smallpox, as it now exists, is afar less fearful scourge to humanity, especially to children, than dipth- theria and scarlet fever, and against these we attempt no prevention. Indeed, quite to the contrary, we ask our dearest friends to inhale the poison by inviting them to the funerals of the dead with it; we crowd our houses with men, women and children when every.cor- ner and cranny 15 reeking with the pestilence; we open the coffin of our dead ttle darling and invite our friends to draw near to it; we carry the remains of our dead with the direst scourge that children have known singe the days of the Pharaohs and King Herod—we carry the seeds of disease into our churches and crowd it with people to listen to the oratory of priests, when, with every breath in that assemblage, the air becomes: more impure and moro imbued with the morbid exha- jations of the dead from the coffin before us, Parents re there; mothers, with children in arms, who hurry, almost fainting, from the place when they accidentally hear of what comptaint the child of her friend died. Should this not be stopped? Should not every invi- tation to a funeral service, every notice in our news- papers inviting the community to the funeral obsequies also state the cause of death, that all those who feared it for themselves or children might stay away? POISON TRAPS, If disease is noticeably lurking in the walls of houses where a solitary death has occurred it is much more markedly so in old houses whose history has many a sorrow and many a tragedy. Most markedly is tho malign influence of mal-air seen in the wards of hos- pitals. The great Hotel Dieu of Paris was compelled to ‘be_ clo: while I was a student there on account of the excessive mortality in its damp and often under- gous wards. In oar own (now destroyed) Broadway ‘ospital certain wards it was impossible to change. They were washed and scrubbed, fumigated and scraped and whitewashed; the windows were left open to the sun and elements, but all in vain. Every patient with ascalp wound developed erysipelas; every ampu- tated limb took on gangrene; every female eontined was seized with aap ag fever. The use of the build- ing Was practically given up for a period before its dis- mantlement, Later still old Bellevue was found so foul that all puerperal patients were dismissed from its confin and sent to Blackwell’s Island, and the latent, perisci- lant poison no one has seen; it sas subtle and as omnipresent as harlequin in a’Christmas pantomime, and, after months of cleansing, witti the tirst case of serious illness, it shows itself with the old cry, ‘‘Here we are again!” : Noone has seen itany more than they have seen the miasm of our swamps, the typhus on the green, embowered cottages of the Connecticut, the cholera in our river cellars. It deties winter's frosts, for it rea pears in the same apartments with-returning spring and summer warmth, CLEANLINESS 18 NEXT TO GODLINESS. We may never know how to eradicate malaria in our fields, our hospitals or our houses, but we do know how to prevent {t, Absotate cleanliness is a sure pre- ventive. How this is to be effected is of second im- portance, Bat we both know to prevent and how to eradicate the poisonous effluvia of hospital wards, prison cells and private chambers. The sloshing of the floors with ap suds, ablutions with the disiniectants of areedy Speculators with carbolic acid may and do often fuil, but the cleansing that comes in tho life-giving breath of Heaven in its purifying breezes, in the revivifying rays of the glorious sun—the dark mists fly not belore them more surely then does the maésain airs of long used and shat op dormitories. Did hese people think moro of this sunshine as an essential element of a healthy life, instead of whether 1t faded their curtains and carpets, the average life of city residents would be greatly lengthened, The air which is sun dried js always a healthy one, whether in the cold plains ot Siberian or American deserts, or the burning sands of Sahara, Itvisin the damp, dark jungles and marshes, and the undisturbed and unsunshined corners of our hospital wards whore disease lurks in secret, We take great precautions against fire, but next to none agamst disease. Asan example, the Fire Com- missioners required of Barnum’s Amphitheatre that a certain mineral paint should be put on to every exposed Piece of woodwork in its out-of-sight beams and braces | and girders, and this was done, at a cost of $4,500, Suppose the Board of Health should require of ‘any theatre or any church that itshould make certain flues for ventilation, order a change of gas-expelling fur- haces for steam heating, or something akin, at a cost of a quarter of this sum, what au outcry would be made! ‘ MEPHITIC AIR FROM GAS BURNING. Many public places rely for their warmth entirely upon the gas burnt in them for illumination. Mr. Thomas G, Hodgkins, late of this city, invented a method of burning gas within a confined glass globe, with the result that entire products of combustion were, by meaus of tubes connected therewith, carried off, leaving the air of the room uncontaminated, and in summer unheated by the burning—a design since re- invented or stolen and used to gome extent in England, lts use was urged wy a former ownér of Irving Hall, which is markedly unventilated, and the objections made to its use were to this eflect:— First, it would be with considerable expense that theso new fixtures could be added, and would require cou- siderable cost to run through the building the meces- sary outlet ay ‘When it was urged that perbaps the change might be effected with no cost to him, in order to make the experiment in a public way and thus to in- troduce tt to the world, the answer was, secondly :—If the heat was thus carried off it would be necessary to provide means and fuel for heating, which would be costly. Now, there is no fire made except tn extraor- dinartly cold weather, In summer the i is but sei- dom used. In private houses, especialiy in sleeping apartments, such a method of lighting cannot but be of use. ‘The proseut METHOD OF BUILDING HOUSES almost airtight, with double doors and india rubber appliances to the cracks in the windows, 1s probably a saving of fuel, bat manifestly detrimental to health; and the over-weening care with which every breath o fresh air is excluded, the anxtety of everybody against the imfluences of a slight draught of air muy, perbaps, prevent a few individual cases of cold and rheumatism, but the result cannot bat be prejudicial to the common weal. What can be worse than the air of a shutup Third avenue car crowded with ail sorts of people, in all degrees of cleanliness, ona cold day when the moist emamations frost the window panes? The horrors of a sleeping car ere un- utterable, These ‘modern improvements” bring hu- manity to the level of the Sequcnsnx, whose resi- dences are in caverns, dug ten to twenty feet under ground, entered through the top by means of ladder, with no other entrance or exit for air, or smoke or ma- terial of any description. Their sole reliance for light and heat is the dame of a rude wick burning in a ves- sel of oil; the sole ventilation ia the occasional open- ing of the trapdoor above. Is it strange, then, that ac- cording to S50) professional statements of Dr. Hayes, the distingui: Arctic traveller, their deaths—gen- erally at an early age—are ascribable to diseases directly resulting from imperfect aeration? ‘The deleterious character of the air in our cars is not left to be imagined, and, as an evidence, the careful analysis of the air of the ordinar} ager trains leaving Boston, made by Professor William R. Nichots, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may be cited, and the one here given is taken simply for short ness and condensation fro very many similar ones:— ‘The air in the smoking car of the Stonington steam- boat train, on the Boston and Providence Railroad, was examined at intervals during tue journey from Boston to Providence, December 11, 1874. The train left Bos- ton at 6:30 P. M., reaching Providence at 7:05 P. M. ‘The capacity of the car was about 2,750 cubic feet, net. The number of passengers was thirty-seven, of whom eighteen were smoking. This was about the average during the trip, Time, | Length | After leaving of time. 35° M.| 6 min, |Boston. 60 P, M.| 20 min. | Boston. 205 P.M.) 86 min. |Boston, 10 P. M. + _ 15 P.M.| 6 min. /Sharon, :22 P.M. es :35 P.M.) 12 min, Mansfeld, 38 P.M. | t = M.} 1 min. |Attleborough, * Train stopped at Sharon. } ‘Train stopped at Mansteld, Train stopped at Attleborough. VENTILATION. It is perfectly unnecessary go entor into details regarding the hackneyed subject of ventilation of our —— and private buildings. People know so much etter than they do that itis discouraging to consider the topic. Note, for example, the horrid air of all our court rooms, more especially the ventilation of that in which the Beecher trial has been held, and then rofiect that the most eminent men of the community were kept confined in this atmosphere for montha. Any Juryman might refuse to sit on a Jury trial on the just ploa that the State had no right t0 compel a man to risk his lite on such a trivial matter, and this act could be sustained by the very court itself upon whom he was summoned to attend, ag a portion, But there are vast assembleges that are not com: pelled to meet im any fixed place, but may choose at their option a heaithy ono, or even nave no session at all; yet they do aot fare any beter, Tho lecture rooms of the medical coll are so impure that a large proportion of the students are made sick, and many die every year, and this is looked upon as neces. sary and proper. The alr ofthe room where the Aca- demy of ledicine and the County Medical Societies meet is so impure by the end of the meeting that many Interested members full to sloep. The Liberal Club, supposed to be par excellence ascientific society, hold their meetings over one ofthe most horrid holes ‘in the city. Dr. Lambert, the emt- nent sanitarian and himself @ member, characterizes it as the foulest spot on which he knows any number of decent men to live together, and the stinkingest pubtic place in the city. If men of such high meutal attain. ‘monts are willing thas to herd together, what can wo expect of the lower strata of society? The Italian and coolie population of the Sixth and adjacent wards are comparatively (compared with their mentality) even better housed. I visited at midnight their sleeping rooms, which answered byfday for workshops, kitchen and dining rooms, and the’ average sleepers in a room of ten by Dfieen feat were from eleven M» snventean— all on the floor—where carbonic acid gas was thick ‘and | the superiucumbent strata was cloudy with tobacco smoke. But to the ventilation topic. I can add little novelt; and but confirmatory opinions; but the subject of a | air cannot be treated upon without a word respectiny the foul air of our public halls, schools, hospitals au: inetitations of ali kinds, for, while mach has been done for the last few years by the efforts of Dr. Griscom, Mr. Leeds and others, there is much yet to be done. A. K. GARDNER, M. D. THE THIRD AVENUE BANK. THE CHARGE OF PERJURY AND FRAUD AGAINST THR O¥FICERS—THE EXAMINATION CON- ‘TINUED—AN EXPERT ON THE VALUE OF STATE BONDS. ‘The examination into the charges of perjury and frand Against the officers of the late Third Avenue Bank wag continued yesterday afternoon in the Fifty- seventh Street Police Court, All the accused were present, but the complainant, Mrs, Levion, was absent. Mr. Hassler, the expert on the value of State bonds, being recalled, — testi- fied that the Louisiana levee bonds for 1873 were quoted at from 52 to 58 for three years; for 1874 they ran from 20 to 25, and the Kansas bonds have not been quoted on the Stock Exchange at all during the past five years; the Georgia State bonds for 1873 were quoted at 91 as the highest and 704s tho lowest; for 1874, 92 to 82; Alabama eights, for 1873, from 82 to 45; Alabama eights, for 1874, from 50 to 40; Virginia sixes, old, from 47 to 32; new, 57 to 35; for 1874, 46 to 28; new, 47 to 28, The witness on cross-examination said that these figures were given by him from the Financial Chronicle, which had obtained them from the official lists of the Stock Exchange; could not say whether he had him- self bought or sold during the years 1873 or 1874 any securities, and could not say whether ho had witnessed any cither bought or sold; besides the Kansas State bonds, Colorado and Nebraska bonds are not bought or sold on the Stock Exchange; wit ness was of the opinion that the market value of State bonds could neither be higher por lower than th prices brought at the Stock Exchange; bonds which should not be quoted on the Stock Exchange for a year would not have a market value; they would be unsalable for that year; if cer- tain bonds were not sold on the Stock Exchange for a period of two years, and during that time there were numerous private bond fe sales for cash or its equiva. lent the prices go brought would be the market value of the bonds; State bonds that are not bovght or sold on the Stock Exchange and pay their interest have a market value of 90 tw 100; witness had no opinion as to whether the reports of the Bank Examiner appointed by the Bank Superintendent could be taken as the mar- ket value of bonds; he should give the same answer regarding reports from the Bank Superintendent himself; he should, however, regard such reports as prima facie evidence, subject to rebuttal by better evidence; the Stock Exchange is considered the only open market in New York for those bonds called in its list; for bonds not upon that dist the open market is m the street among brokers. Carney Lamoreaux, a realestate agent in Tarrytown for thirty years back, was called to testify to the value of a farm held there by tho Third Avenue Savings Bank, He was not able to locate the property and therefore he was not competent to place a value upon it, The exam- ination was thereupon adjourned. GERMAN BANK AT MORRISANIA, Within the past few days the German Savings Bank at Morrisania, |n common with other institutions of a similar character inthe metropolis, was suspected of ungoundness, Accordingly mahy of the depositors, who are for the most part Germans, fearing for the safoty of their little savings, presented themselves at the counters with their bank books and were promptly paid, The feeling of insecurity continued, how- ever, on Thursday, when the bank ‘handed over to depositors from $50,000 to $100,000. Yesterday confidence seemed to be restored, as few if any of the remaining depositors appeared ‘to claim what their books accredited them with, The restoration of con- fidence in the solvency of the bank is mainly owing, it is said, to the action of the President and directors, who have given the assurance of their personal rospon- sibility to the depositors, The directors claim to have a surplus on hand of $28,000, and as they are known to be responsible men, there is little doubt that the ques- tion of the solvency of the bank has been satisfactorily settled. It is the principal business bank in the Twenty- third ward, MUTUAL ‘BENEFIT SAVINGS BANK. The Mutual Benefit Savings Bank has decided to go into liquidation, The deticiency reported by Mr. Reid, the bank examiner, amounts to $22,700 (which is about five per cent on the amount of doposits), About $0,000 of the deficiency is for interest due depositors since July 1, 1875, THE WORTHLESS BANKS. Superintendent Ellis, who is engaged in the examina- tion of unstable banks, has quictly but surely studied the situation, having the advice of leading bankers, and is now in a position to understand the situation fully. He says the worst is now over, but that he will continue his work till every unsafe bank is closed, Their trustees will be obtiged to secure the depositors by advances of cash or solid security. Very few of them will have to retire from business except those which have not sufficient deposits to enable them to meet expenses. New banks will only be established where there is absolute public necessity for them, BUSINESS FAILURES. Kilbourne Tompkins, printer, of No, 16 Cedar street, has suspended, Adolf G. Mandell, dealer in varnishes, of No. 257 Pearl street, has suspended, and 4s at presont engaged in preparing a statement of his assets and habilities. Richard L, Worthington & Co,, booksellers, of No. 760 Broadway, whose failure and subsequent assign- ment to Amaziah L, Ashman appeared some time ago in the Henan, have liabitities amounting to $82,452 66. Their available assets are $24,709 82 Thomas Moore, who assigned last week to P. Van Zant Lane, states his liabilitios to be $5,872 63; assets, $7,833 63; actual value about $4,185 29. Morris Henschel & Co., who assigned to D. Loewen, November 2, have Habilitics amounting to $14,- 623 60; assets, $12,861 20; actual value, $7,215 75. in B. Lawrence and Phineas Lawrence have assigned to Henry G. Stetson. THAT LITTLE PIECE OF LAND. A meeting of the heirs ot the Vermilyea estate was held .yesterday afternoon at No, 216 East Broadway. The Secretary reported that he had placed himself in communication with 171 persons named Vermilyea who claimed to be descendants of John Vermilyea, and some seventy others collaterally connected with the family, It was proposed to mako a family tree. ‘The property which the Vermilyeas seek possession of {8 supposed to be worth $250,000,000. Its boundaries are:—"Boginning at a point on the south side of Sev- enty-fourth street where it runs into the East River, and thence along the west bank of the East River at water line; thence along said bank of the East River to a poms ‘on the southerly side of tho Harlem River where it runs into the Kast River; thence along the southerly line of the Harlem River at low water mark, northwesterly toa int on said Harlem River where it flows into the North River; thence along the easterly side or line of North River, at low water lines, to a point on the northerly side of 110th street, and where it runs into the North River; thence along a certain line running east wei from 110th street, North River, to the porth- erly side of Seventy-fourth street, at the point or place of beginning. PHONOGRAPHY. “Phonography and How to Write It” is the subject of a free lecture to be delivered this evening at No, 391 Fourth-avenue, by Mr. J. F, Sntpes, under the auspices of tho New York Phonographic Society. The lecture will be illaustrated with blackboard examples and exer- cises, and tho object is the diffusion of a more general knowledge of shorthand writing. COOPER UNION FREE LECTURE, Rev, Joseph T, Duryea, D. D., of Brooklyn, will lec- ture at eight o’clock this evening in the great hall of the Cooper Union on “The Powers of the Mind." VICE PRESIDENT WILSON’S DBATH. A paper on the cause of Henry Wilson’s death will be read by Professor Willam A. Hammond, M. D., before the New York Neurological Society, at No, 12 West he gs street, on Monday evening next, at eight ° FL . Yesterday morning a fire broke out on the third floor of the five story brown stone dwelling house Na 123 East Forty-stxth street, in the apartments of Antony Dryett. It caused a damage of $60. fire, which occasioned a loss of $100, occurred yes- terday morning on tho first floor of No, 436 East Tenth street. The loss falls on Wilham Rigins, who occupies the place as a steain heating factory, A barn attaghed to the Van Riper Manufacturing Com- pany’s workin Van Houton street, Paterson, N. J. was damagod by fire yesterday to the oxtent of $260. ‘The fire is believed to have been the work of an Incen- diary. During the fire the flames were communicated to several other buildings in the thiekly sottled locality, Dut the: quickly extinguished by the fromen. A singular th in connection with the affair is tl insurance on the building expired at twelve o'vlock. during which time the Gre was at jue haimhty | report. You are required—the diagrams furnishing all EXPENSE OF STREET OPENINGS. CORPORATION COUNSEL WHITNEY POINTS OUT AN ENORMOUS SYSTEM OF EXCESSIVE CHARGES, The following letter, exposing an enormous over- charge in the bills which the property holders have paid for street openings, was despatched yesterday by the Counsel to the Corporation :— Law DeranrMeyt, Orvice or Couman TO CORPORATION, ‘ew York, Dec. 3, 1875. To Tu® Commisssionens yoR Tuk OPENING OF STREETS AND AVENUES :— GuxTLEMEN—The enormous expense which has for some years attended the jegal proceedings for the opening of streets and avenues in this city has induced me to make special examination of the subject for the purpose of ascertaining how far these great ex- penditures are authorized or required by law. From such examination it is entirely clear that down to the present time the expenses have been out of all pro- portion to the requirements of the law, and are without | any justitication whatever. As you are now conducting | proceedings not yet perfected, I desire to call your at. | tention to one erroneous practice in these cases, in or- der that you may avoid an error into which every com- mission inted during the last thirteen years bas fallen, and that is wit& reference to your report. The law of April 24, 1862, applicable in these cases, provides specifically what shall constitute your report. That there might be no misunderstanding of your duty, each step of your proceedings is clearly provided for by the law. ‘The street or avenue for which you are to estimate and aesess damages has prior to your appointment been laid out on the city map and surveyed and monumented by | the public authorities, Before any or assessments can be made certain must bo obtained, and, therefore, the law provides for the preparation, ander your direetion, of diagrams showing “the extent and boundaries of the ro- spective parcels of land taken” by the opening, and tipo simitar diagrams of the property ‘benefited by the ae tceryery, npon which diagrams each parcel is to be indicated by “a separate number,” and ‘the dimen sions, metes and bounds of ‘each” are to be jaid down in figures. After you have asce: tained the names of the owners of the various parcels ag far a8 possible, and have determined the amounts of the awards for property taken and of as- sessments for that benefited, the law provides for the preparation by you of a tabniar abstract of yoar awards and assessments, in which each parcel shall be referred to by its number upon the diagrams. The names of the respective owners shall be given as far as known, otherwise the parcel shail be indicated as be- longing to unknown owners, and the amounts of the awards and assessments for each piece shall be stated. Upon pages properly headed each would occupy but one line. This abstract has always been properly prepared. After all objections of prop- erty owners have been heard and passed upon, the law provides for the presentation of your report, and in terms specifies what shall constitute that report:— “The said report shall consist of said diagrams, duly corrected when necessary, with a tabular ab- stract of said estimate aid assessment, with any corrections or alterations thereof by suid Commis- sioners, and shall refer to the numbers of the tracts and parcels indicated by said diagrams and state the several | suns respectively estimated for or assessed upon each | of said tracte or parcels, with the name or names of the owners or claimants of each, if ascertained by said Com- missioners, It shall not be necessary in said report to describe any of the said tracts or parcels by metes and | bounds, but only by reference to the said diagrams.” It is entirely clear from this as to what shall constitute your the data—to tabulate thé awards and assessments, as is now the custom, referring to affected parcels by the ap- propriate number in each case upon the diagrams giv- ing the names of the owners and the amounts assessed | or awarded in figures. Then the diagrams and the tab! lated abstract, properly verified and certifed by you, constitute the report, They are made so by the law. le custom for the clerk of the commission to prepare an elaborate so-called report, in which a leat is givon for each award and each assessment, and in which an elaborate story is told of what the Commissioners have done ineach case; and the full description of the affected property ‘is given by motes and bounds. This is “exactly” tho “thing | which tho law con- templates shail not be done. It says:—“The said report shall consist of said diagrams, with | a tabotar abstract,” &e:, and provides against this | very thing specifically: —It shall not be necessary in said report to describe any éf the said tracts or par- | cels by metes and bounds, but only by reference to the said diagrams.” The criticised process is quite analo- gous to that of turning a merchant’s ledger into a nar- Tative, so that each itein should make a complete story. These books, as might be supposed, generally become rubbish when made; they are very voluminous, so, much so that bulky volumes have been brought | forth im numbers from a single opening. They are used for no legal purpose, because they are pot known to the law. Though these books are quite un- neccessary and serve no uselul purpose, it appears from an examination of the bills that they havo cost the city zince the act of 1862 forbade them over $350,000. I can- not find from any accessible records that their illegality has ever been suggested, but hereafter it will be neces- sary to eliminate this |tem from the bills offered for taxation or when taxed, I suggest {t, therefore, to you at this timo in order that the expense may not bo tn- curred by you, Iam, gentlemen, yours respectfully, WM. ©, WHITNEY, Counsel to the Corporation. BOARD OF POLICE, A mecting of the Board of Police Commissioners was held yesterday, President Matsell in the chair. A reso- | lution was adopted thanking Mr. Jobn Jacob Astor for a gift of $250 to the Police Life Insurance Fund, Acting Sergeant Fawcett, Twenty-first precinct, was remanded to roundsman’s duty, and Roundsman Fitzgerald pro- moted to be acting sergeant, A resolutton, presented by Commissioner Voorhis, was adopted asking infor- mation from the counsel to the Board ag tothe powers | and duties of the Board in reference to the suppression of lotteries, prize distributions, pool selling and similar violations or evasions of law. yn missioner Smith submitted a series of rules in reference 10 police Sppointinante, dotails and promotions, mak- | ing it an o} for en officer to allow a friend to urge his promotion or to interfere in his behalf in any way with the Commissioners. These regulations are de- signed to free the force from all political and personal influence outside of the Board, and to confine int- ments and promotions strictly to the question of per- sonal fitness of the applicanta They were referred to the proper committee SELLING LIQUOR ON SUNDAY. N. Goldsmith, proprietor of the Tivoll Garden, in St, Mark's place, being arraigned before the Board of Ex- cise yesterday for selling liquor on Sunday, excepted to | the organization and jurisdiction of the Board. Several policemen testified to seeing hquor sold on the prom- | ses on. Sunday. The case wus adjourned w next Thursday, JACK TAR’S GROWL AT HIS Ra- TIONS. Ox Boarp rus U. 8. Steamer Drorator, Novy. 29, 1875, To Tue Eprror or tye Herap:— The grumbling crew of the United States steamer Dictator have for once found It in thetr hearts to re- Joice that the tardy process of starvation which has for the past six months been consistently applied is at length partially relaxed. Bean soup 18 served again, instead of boiled rice and molasses, to which seamen have evinced an unaccountable repugnance, It ts not that the rico is bad, for myriads of insects have lived and thriven upon It, and the doctor has given it as his | opinion that such food is good enough for us, The im- lacability of seamon !s perhaps & constitutional de- Foct, ‘and hence the persistent clamor for government allowance. Tho bread is considered unsuitable because it is permeated with cobwebs and burrowed by cock- roaches, tho very things to which it owes tts excellence, as every Chinaman knows. But Jack ie ignorant an ¢ luxuries, preferring what he procutes at or can he be familiarized to the rticle of food, as the repeated experiments at have been made for the purpose will show. A bse quantity of condemned stores is kept on und and regularly issued when the email supply of wholeaome food is consumed. By this means it ts hoped thas Jack’s antipathy to bad bread will ultimately be overcome, aud that he will lose al! power of discriminating between wi ie good and what ie not. As before stated, this isa mis. take, for a sailor can smell blue mould from @ hard- tack barrel 200 yards off, and {n spite of Yhis well known fact, is it not a shame that he must be made a victim to avaricious experiment Objection to this treatment is frequently made, but itis month, at least, before any satisfaction follo' and then there ja no certainty whether it will last a month, or only aweek. It is always ast or a famine with him—a toss-up whether his maintenance {8 to be borne by the government or by himself. Of course he has a perfect Tight to indulge ‘an expensive folly, but it is melan- choly to think that there is only one man ica lar who offers him any sympathy. This is y- master’s yeom: a Gti Imule cherub, who is by no means Jpotled by the dignity which a cheege-cutter confers, In fact, 80 careful is he of our hap tig that rathor than Insult us with what we do not like, he issues provisions in the smallest quantities, Just enough to acquit him of baving performed his duty. We offer him our thanks tender A SHOCKING CHARGE. Samuel P. Soper, sixty years of age, a farmer, resident in Farmingdale, L. L, through counsel, put in an affl- davit yesterday, In the Supreme Court, Special Term, denying the allegation of William H. Pearsall that ho had hold improper relations with Mrs. Pearsall, who ts his niece, The lady in the case married the plaintiff, Pears. all, in 1869, but a ago, being shame! treated by her husband, she lef him and went w live with her unclo on his farm. On September 8 Soper took his niece to his brotheW’s house in Wayne county, and he swears that whilo there he never occupied the same room with her or introduced her as his wife. Mrs. Jane M. Soper also testified, through an affidavit, as to the cruel treatinent her dau; tet received from her husband, Counter affidavits we: presented denying these sworn statements, and repoa ing the chi inst the farmer defendant, Soper has been in Ludlow Street Jail for the past month. Mo- tion was made to discharge the order of arrest, but the Court denied the motion, : | claiming that the system adopted by the | which bad been stolen, 3 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, | ALMOST A HOLOCAUST—DANGERS AND DEFECTS IN WARMING AND AIRING THE INSTITU« ‘TIONS. Nowadays, when cheap theories of house warming and ventilation are enjoying a wide circulation and — fathers of families talk learnedly of heat and hygiene it might be well for parents to look certain unpalatable’ truths tn the face, which, somehow, seem alway to escape them, and among these pone more re- quires ‘their attention than the fact that tho children whom they think safely housed in airy andi secure institutions of learning are in reality more than ordinarily exposed to the dangers of fire and disease. These things are sometimes brought before the publio’ in a vague, spasmodic way, but seldom more foretbl; than they were yesterday, when it was ascertained an uptown school caught fire three times within a cou~ ple of weeks. The causes assigned for the’ accidents! were invanably connected in some way with the heaters, although there were certain not very plausible refer- ences made to juvenile depravity as a possible agent in! the matter, To resolve the doubt,a HexaLo reporter! Visited the school, which is in West Thirty-f(th street,/ and was shown the spot where the fire originated an the places it communicated witn. The building itself! isa largo, airy and rathor elegant structure to look’ upon, tis well furnished and apparently kept in clean and orderly condition; but on exam ining the provisions made for warming and ven- Wlating it struck the reporter that if the buildes and heater had resolved themselves into a society top the cremation of unsuspecting juveniles they could not have provided better MATRRIAL POR A ROUSING CONPLAGRATION and furnished ampler facilities for its gaining headway than they have done. The heating apparatus is in nearly every instance in close contact with a wooden waingcot and has its pipes simply crammed through the flooring. Sutticteut space is left between the flag tubular top and the wall to accumulate dust, paper and such other inflainmable materials as may Oind there way in, but there is not room to admit of their removal. In this way THE DEBRIS OF THE SCROOL ROOM ACCUMULATES around the base of the register, in direct contact wit the heated pipe, and without ing the apparatud apart nothing can be done to dislodge it, But that ig not all. Behind the register and concealed from view: ig a ventilator opening on a flue which runs throughy tho wall and communicates with an almost inaccess1~ bie loft having a dry wooden floor ana ceil- ing. In the case of the last fire the smoke and flame were drawn up this fine from under the register, hiding for a time the danger and carrying sulliciegt sparks along to set the loft in a: biaze several hours after the fire below had been extin- uished, These are the circumstances of the fire in frammar School No. 82; and from conversations held with gentlemen who have made the methods of heating and ventilating our schools a study, it appears that in other school vuildingsgno better provisions are made ‘against a possible conf Wration. Aven fire extinguish. ers may be wanting \u many, as they were in this one, and the water may not be accessible any higher up thay’ the basement, as it was in the same Instance, The reporter called upon several manufacturers of steam heaters, who stated thas the heaters in use i Grammar Schooi No. 32 were no doubt old, but that 1 properly located in the buikling no danger might be Snticipated from thelr ase, They agreed, however, in! ol = cation in giving contracts to the lowest bidder, without! any more than a mere formal regard to bis responsi- bility, 18 much to be condemned. They cite instances, of estimates having been accepted from mere specula- tors, whose end would simply be to perform the wor with the least possible cost to themselves. Information! from other sources tends to show that in the provisions for the comfort and safety of the children OUR SCHOOLS ARB LARGELY DEFICIENT. Cases of poorly ventilated classrooms were Fepeatediy, made mention of to the reporters,'and & physician who! had.given the matter bis closest attention stated that! if the deaths occasioned by diseases formed in the} &chool room were only aggregated people would, be astounded at the ghastly total. Ono thing at least is certain, that the measures taken to meet the contingencies of @ fire in most school, houses are entirely inadequate, and tt also appears: that in many instances a conflagration is made very| possible by tho arrangement of the heating apparatus) and the failure to adapt it to the peculiar structure aud, requiremenis of the building it is placed in, THEFT OF VALUABLE HORSES. THEY ARE FOUND IN A NEW YORK LIVERY STABLE. Trenton, Dec, 3, 1875. About the Sth of last month a valuable team of gray horses, with a heavy set of harness, and attached to an old-fashioned lumber wagon, were stolen from a farmer named Cyrus Gaine, of Penn’s Park, Pa. The theft was advertised liberally in posters through~ out New Jersey and Pennsylvania, A shork time afterward a gentleman named Cooper read an ad- vertisement in the H¥raib announcing that a team of gray horses and a farm wagon had been leit in a Livery” stable in New York city, the owner of which was un- known, Mr. Cooper went to Now York, visited the livery stable and satfstied himself that the property’ was the same as was advertised in the posters, and He communicated ‘with Mr. Gaime on the subject, and subsequently tha property was identified by the latter as belonging to am. [twas handed over to him, and the reward off $150 which had been offered for its recovery will very’ likely be paid to Mr. Cooper. A man named Anderson is suspected as the thief, and it is charged that he had the property in Freehold trying to seil it, He belongs to «(amily of old offenders and is now in prison on the! charge of having committed awother crime, HOMICIDAL INSANITY. Trextox, N. J., Dec. 3, 1875. Sylvester O'Toole, who pleaded guilty to an assault with intent to kill Dr, Rioe, of this city, and was sen- tenced to ten years in the State Prison at the last term of: the Mercer County Court, has become a confirmed luna- tic, and he was (ransterred to the Stare Lunatic Asylum yesterday, For the past fifteen days he has refused lo partake of any food, and this fact, coupled with other cmpay caprices which he indulged in of late, compelled the prison authorities to have him removed tw tho asylum, jam Thompson, Charles McCarthy, John H. Ha- ber and Patrick Qui! were aiso seit to the asylum from the éame institation. CAPTURE OF BURGLARS. On Wednesday night the store of George Totten, a¥ Ridgewood, on the Erie Railway, was entered by bur glars and several hundred dollars’ worth of goods were. stolen. On Thursday night two of the thieves wero captured in Paterson, N. J., together with about $200. worth of the stolen goods.’ They gave their names as| Henry Waiker and Alexander Toma. Two other young men, named Jerry Spear and James Toms, were also arrested op suspicion of having been concerned In they robbery, and the quartet were taken to the Hackensack’ County Jail vo await trial. BREAKING UP GAMBLING DENS. John Ramsey, the keeper of a notorious gambling) house on Exchange place, Jersey City, was called up for sentence in the Court of Quarter Sessions yesterday. , Judge Hoffman informed the prisoner, who obtained the rank af, brigadier general of volunteers dur- ing the late war, that the Court could impose; & eentence of two years in the State Prison and 9 fine of $500, bit as the main object of the law is) the breaking up of an infamous business the Court would suspend sentence on payment of costs Tho Court would appoint officers to watch and enter thoy place, and if the bustifess should be resumed, even by Seger to another party, Ramsey would be brought up! ‘or sentence, SUDDEN DEATHS. The following deaths were reported at the Coroners’ Office yesterday :—Rosa Butcher, nine years old, of No, 95 Wirst street, died in her mother’s arms while being: carried to the dispensary; William Bunte, aged eleven’ months, who was accidentally scalded by the upsetting, of a kettle of hot water on Thursday evening; pamed Collins, who died in her bed, at No. street; Mary Dunn, who died in ‘her bed, Fast Eleventh street; Fred Debus, at No. 605 Tenth avenue, and Bridget Murphy, aged seventy years, who fell out of a window at her residence, No. i Dry Dock, street, about a month ago, ACCIDENTS. John Greciey, aged fifty-eight years, of No. 255 Eliza- beth street, slipped on the ice in the rear yard of bia residence, yesterday morning, and broke hisarm He was sent to Bellevue Hospital by the police. A woman named Emily Duganno, in the employ of Mr. Jergs, on Communipaw avenue, Jersey City, was found dead in her bedroom at eight o’clock yesterday’ morning. She was seen alive an hour“previously, when she worked with her wonted activity and wag — in good health. Death resulted from heart isease, Maggie Hanks, a servant girl in the house of Mr. Dudiey, on Summit avenue, Jersey City, was at work yest near the range in the kitchen when hee clothes caught fre, She ran into the street, wrapped in flames, and, before relief came, sho was 60 ter- ribly burned that she cannot live. George Black, condactor of a Greenville car, in Jer- sey City, Pent off his car to remove a stone from tha track, on Thursday night, and was struck by the dash. board, which buried him several feet and inflicted serious injuries, The body of the man who was drowned in a tank of water at the Mountain Rond brewery, in Jersey City, has deen identified as that of George Walbratt, a Bava- rian butcher, He bad veen in thia country only a few moantha