The New York Herald Newspaper, March 9, 1876, Page 3

OVERCROWDED SCHOOLS. The Health of One Hundred Thousand Children Threatened. | A Surplus of Thirty Thousand Public School Children. OPINIONS §=OF EMINENT SANITARIANS. Frightful Exhibit of Primary School Life. Apathy of the Board of Edueation in Af- fording Belief. Official Acknowledgment of the Danger Impending. ‘The Board of Education ts about to adopt measures which shall place the common schools of this city in ‘an improved sanitary condition. While it must be ad- ‘Mitted that, so far as the studies in the schools are concerned, the School Commissioners have done all that was needed to supply a sound education to the children, and that their efforts have been attended with most marked success, still upon a vital point they have been laggard, deferring {rom time to time action upon a matter which on no account should they have been dilatory about. Of course, as the Board of Educa- ‘ion 18 constantly changing in its members, the blame floes not belong to the present Commissioners more than to those who preceded them; but, though there | | should be | NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1876.—TRIPLE SHEET. . who belong to | hile other sebvols the same ward, are = large pum! ‘cant soats or class roows.- Principals often find it ex- ceedingly difficult, sometines altnost inipossib 5 importunities of parents who desire that should be sd-nitted, even when they are told | already crows r og mon f this is that the especially in the ary department Sina te tke saocation of both papi and more definite rale is required to regulate this ually. I would suggest that the rd fix the xj ry building, ‘main room and every class room in | ity, and prohibit the placing, at time, of more | childres im any room than the number thus established by — law, and that every ipal be required to refuse adminsion to all pupils when the number assigned for his or her de- partment or school has been reached. If this arefully Gnd accurately accomplished, keeping in view number of seats tat could be p: ut allowing | ou ber of cuble tect of air for each child, the ‘above reported would be greatly reduced, PACKING YOUNG CHILDREN, The following remarks were addressed to the Board ip 1876:— i Lh og place, they are too much crowded, In some in- manne! ed ie us re. sion iis in ‘direct well kuos i violation of every well know Yew, It hus bee 1 utmost dittienlt, have been able to entorce the ed in & roow YY rule of the Board whieh tix the maximum number of pupils in @ class at seventy-tiv Sometimes, indeed, after the most peremptory notice and rewonsirance fe: Pelacionie. and local rs, gross Viol flons of this rale = occurred. In som bylaw | ee. The natu r schools, the of their children into , ral urgency of parents for the admissic lar schools and the competition among schools for the numbers, have al) coucurreu to intensify this evil by congregutin; lurge mussox of is into ain ae the expense of 0 | io faving a large proportion of their seats vacant, Independently of this, however, the accommo- ations for the primary schvol children are inadequate. ‘ih buildings are constructed ou a wrong principle, too much space being sacrificed for the morning assemblage; the class rooms are tov small, and are furnished with m ats than the spuce properly admits. Besides this, the rooms are gen- erally furnished with seats only, while, except in the lowest GiAreS, perliuns, every child should have 4 deak aud a seat. Vithout effecting a reform im these particulars it would be vain to diminish the number of papils to @ tencher by a gen- eral rule, sivce there would not be a sufficient number ot rooms to’ adinit of the employment of the teachers that Would ba allowed. The only remedy. in my Judgment, is an entire change in the mode of stnseractiog the buildings, so &s tu afford more spacious class rooms and to admit of furni- ture better adapted to tho purposes of primary school in- struction than that now in use. CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS. In the report of Mr. Kiddie, presented this year to the Board, he again returns to the sulyect:—- In tho construction and furnishing of our school buildings tov little regurd has been lad to the quantity of spuce which | ‘afforded to vach pupil in order to secure uot only tort to the children but adequut ans ot vertilation. ‘hen children are packed into a small room, with avout et of to each, ventilation is impossiole, jing every window in the room open to its Stmost extent: and yer in many of the class rooms. in tho ad schools this is ort presented to your Board in May last containing an exhibit of 1d class room, with the Fae are many excuses to be offered for the present over- srowding, there cam be no excuse given in mitigation ot @ want of determined insistance on the part of the Board to protect the health of so large a number of ehildren as daily fill the public schools. Among the most prominent reasons in explanation of the overcrowaed state of the schools, and the conse- quent want of adequate ventilation in so many of them, itis alleged that the Board has been unable to keep pace with the increasing population of the city, and that the appropriation each year not being sufficient to do more than merely keep the achools in a state of proficiency in studies 0 provi- | me: sion could be made for the constantly increasing num- bers. The estimates of expenses for cach year recently, prepared by the Board with a view to economy, has becu cut down by the Board of Apportionment. Noth- ing more, it is claimed, could have been done by the education department in {ts expenditure of moncy than it has done, a fact which will scarcely be questioned, tonsidering the high integrity of the Commissioners, the voluntary labor they bestow upon the children’s in- Mruction and the undoubted perfection to which the system has been advanced. Then, again, the perplex- ing fact has always stared the Commissioners in the face that, if they were to adhere strictly to such regu- lations as the sanitary rules prescribed, they would mecessarily turn out of the schools about’ THIRTY THOUSAND CHILDREN. Considering that a leading ambition of the Board hag always been to advance the schools to so high a stand- ard that the advantages of attending them would be manifest, and that a cardinal principle of its working has been, not to educate a particular class of children, but all classes, the Commissioners chose to even over- rowd the schools at the risk of the children’s health rather than that pupils should be left without an educa- tion at all, or that they should go to other schools to obtain it. But, beside this, there was the law of the State, which was mantatory, and this clearly prescribed that every child between the ages of four and sixteen ‘was entitled to receive instruction in the public schools, _ It is said that no amount of persuasion on the part of | fhe prinepals of schools or of teachers.ean induce} . its to see that it is better to send their children to some public school other than the crowded one in the nearest neighborhood. The pare! invariably re. fuse to act upon this advice, insisting upon their rights as citizens and taxpayers, and hence overcrowding be- tomes an inevitable necessity. These difficulties have been increasing with the increasing population, and the Commissioners of Education admit that they have been powerless to mect the case fully. Last year the Commissioners asked for an appropriation of $3,796,000 and were cut down to $3,766,500; the previous year they asked for $3,683,000 and were cut down to $3,653,000, inclusive of a special appropriation of $70,000 for the erection of a new school house to re. place one that had been burned down, If this amount of money is needed for the ordinary working of the educational department it follows that the remody for the existing evils requires an appropriation 1 to be applied to the securing of additional pon cred commodations. SUPRRINTENDENT KIDDLE’S VIRWS. In @ conversation winch the writer a eens. with Mr. Kiddie, the City Superintendent of Schools that gentleman stated that he believed $250,000 would goa long way toward the amelioration of the wretched Sanitary condition of many of the schools. He further said that he entirely agreed with the recom- mendation of President Wood in his maugural remarks in Japuary last that the age of adinission to the schools in this city ought not to be under six years, whereas it isat the present time legally fixed at four. In the State, however, the lowest age for admission is five, In Massachusetts and New Jersey it is also five, und in Pennsylvania and Ohio and some of the other States Mt ts six. Ifthe propused change of from four to six ‘were made in this @ty it would relicve the schools of about 10,000 children, who learn very little and whose dispiacement would make room for others of such an age us to be able to attend school with profit to them- selves. Parents in this city not unfrequentiy send children of tender years to school with brothers and pct pga because they don’t know what else to do with therm. TUR PARENTS CHIEFLY TO RLAME, In reply to a question as to whetber the principals in Bomo instances allowed the schools to be overcrowded, as the larger attendance tends to increase their salaries, Mr. Kiddle said that he thought such was not the caso; that invariably it was the parents’ owa fault. A change, however, would be desirable, for, it the tapacity of the school was determined, and adiwissions restricted accordingly, then it would excite emulation | among principals to secure promotion to schools having bhe largest attendance. The present arrangement was that mate princt were paid $2,250 4 year in schools having an av co of 150 oF less; $2,500 tn those baving an attendance of from 150 to 300; $2,750 wnen the attendance was from 300 to 500, and $8,000 when up- ‘ward of 500, Female principals were paid from $1,200 to $1,700, in accordance with the same seule, and primary | principals from $1,000 to $1,500. 1t was theretore pli Baid the superintendent, that if schools were limit according to their capacity it would bean advantage, DANGEROUS SCHOOLS. some of the school buildings at (he present ‘ch overcrowded that the health of the | children is in constant and serious danger. To name a tew will suffice to show the average condition of the Worst of them :— Primary Senoot No, 42, in Allen street, has an attend- ance of about 1,009 children daily, with accommodation for only 1,200, Primary School No. 20, in Chrystie stroet, has between 1,000 and 1,100 pupils daily, with accommodation for | ®uly 750 pupils. Primary school No. 7, in West Tenth street, has 300 piri, aud should not have 160, This school is a regu- pest house for the children. Primary Schoo! No, 13, in East Houston street, has an attendance of between 1,000 and 1,100 children, and has oom tor only 750 at most. Primary School No, 19, in East Fourteenth street, bas 1,00) pupils daily, with room for only 70. The three departments of the schvol in Fifty-seventh | Street have we Fag pupils, without accommodation for more than 2, Grammar School No, 33, in West Twenty-eighth street, bas attendance of 1,000 childreu, with accommodation for $00, Primury School No, 41, in West Fifty-second strect, totally unfit for school purposes, has an attendance of | #0, In this neighvorbood, however, a now school- sane ty being erected capable of accommodating 2,000 | children. Grammar and Prim soventh street, near Ni School No, 17, in Forty- avenue, hus 2,000 children, | eld, Fetid a thé furniture eplorable fact document shows that ard has been had to pation than to crowd in as many seats as J area would permit, and this without the appli- cation of any just sazitary principle or law. ‘Thus, we tind in some of the recitation roomy the umount of cubic leet ot wir per papil ranges from 100 to 150 and upward; while iu many Others it {s below 50, in some even tess shat 40, In Primary Sehool No. ple, uone of the class rooms in u affurd 40 cubic foct of wir per pupil, while the means of ven filation would be very insufticient even iu larger or less crowded rooms, This valuable report shows that s great feform is needed in the turnishing vf the schoolrooms; that x principle should be adopted aud upplied to Foguinte. this matter, and that’ uo more souts. should be placed in a de justified by its siso other considerations haying reference to the n windows and n in the coldest weather, to the young and tw cold currents of air many o! ry. e: often ‘agitgats pupils, who thas frequently coutract the most seriony andsometimes fatal maladies. This report yj ore ee reat and unreasonable disparit jons afforded tothe children in departments and those of the grammar departments. many of the buildings, while the rooms of the gramm ments are furnished xo as to afford from 100 to 150 cubic feet of air per pupil, in the primary departments scarcely Atty eubic fect of air is afforded. OVERCROWDED AXD STIFLING. ‘The report referred to in Mir. Kiddle’s statement is one that was nade some timo since by the then Committee on Buildings of the Bourd of Education. ‘The report ts am exhibit of the number of seats in the school rooms, the number of square teet occupied by each pupil and the cubic feet per seat, From the opinions that there is a of eminent vanitarians it wou! that there ought to be 300 cubic feet air se for each pupil. ‘The Superintendent of Schools thinks tbat each pupil in the grammar schoojs ought to have a space of nine superficial feet, but he would be well satisfied with an arrangement by which each pupil could get 100 cubic feet air 5] The report of the committee substan- tially applies to the present time, if, indeed, the figures are not too low for the increase in the attendance. The following selections will show the neod of prompt action, and the figures show in what a frightful condi- tion these schools are :— E| Flee|e Schools. : : ‘ te : : = Primary Departmevt— Grammar Schooi No. 49. in —| 65% )51.0 Grammar Sehool No. 51.| 106} 986] 5.1 [63.546 Grammar School No, 25.| 1,238, 36) 46 [66 sGracor ar RghOot No. 58.} "144} 080! 4.236 |60. 734 ‘imary School No. 1. —} 1,087) 434, )06.23¢ ‘Grammar Schoo! No. 144] 1,950} 4.245 ]00. 745 Primary School No, 29. 80} 1,070] 5.04,]7013¢ Primary Department— Grammar School No, 42 120; 1,374) 4.255 /57.9 Primary School No. 5.... 5A 316) 6.0 [58.8 Primary Department— Grammar School No, 4..{ 1,413 —| 46%) 09.9 Grammar School No. 33. 160} 1,203] 6.8 [85.1 ‘These averayes of square and cubic leet take a wide range in the different rooms, In some instances pupils have three times as much in space than others, and mone Dave enough according to sanitary authorities, OPISIONS OF SAMITARIANS The following communication from Dr. Moreau Morris, tormeriy of the Heaith Board, in reply to a re- questior his opinion as to the sanitary requirements inaschool room, fully explains the effects following | irom such a state of sanitary regulations as tbat ex- hibited in the preceding paragraphs. It sbould be re- membered that it is im the primary departments where the children of the tenderest years are collected that the overcrowding is greatest, and this is not thi cage in a Jew schools only, but in nearly all of them in the tenement house districts, DR. MORKIS ON SCHOOL ROOMS, The following is tho letter of Dr. Morris, and is a Startling exhibition of the grievance :— The query bow many cubic feet of air space per pu- pil should be allowed in furnishing our class :ooms involves with it several other important considera- tions, The amount of air space per person should necessarily depend upon the supply of fresh pure air to be admitted intothe room and the rapidity with | whice it cam be changed. To keep the air of a room | pure ag possible, it must necessarily be constantly | changing, and the best authorities on this subject seem | to agree that at least 2,000 cubic ieet per hour per per- son lor adults 1s necessary as the minimum. Furthe more, the entering air should be tempered by bein warmed if teo cold or cooled if too warm and without | mental excitements, impaired | school buildings baving like surroundings, or | snot a | | | | mond the adoption of Superimtendent Kiddle’s sugges- | of the hotel, asking hitn to notify causing @ draught, and the vitiated air be removed immediately so as not to be breathed over again. Unaer these circumstances tho smatiest amount of cubic air space allowable per head is probably 300 cubic ; feet. In estimating the actual cubic air space of a school room such articles aud bodies of persons as are present usually should be taken into the count, asthey occupy just so much 5; as they collecuvely measured, Th ‘amount, 300 cubic feet air space per head, is the small- est amount allowed by the Poor Law Hoard on the inent for every healthy person, and in the lodging houses of Dublin the same allowance is required, Less than this amount of cubic air space per ita is no- where admitted by our saoiiarians, and, as | remarked | before, even this cpbic capacity is’ to be governed by | the quantity of supply and displacement, so that the | products of respiration, transpiration, exbalation and | efluvia froin soiled persons and clothing shall be so diluted as to keep the air Rerecmgrsh en 9 pure and fresb, The lowest estimate for schools, for this purpose has been determined by careful and extensive experiments, and bas been found to be 1,000 cubic feet per hour per head. These figures of cabic gir space and enbic quan- tity per hour are the minimum, as ali authorities scem to ugree, so tl as much larger quantities as it 1s pos. sible in any given case to eocure are just so much the better, WITH REVERENCE TO VENTILATION, either by natural means or forced, this important fact sbould not be lost sight of, that there are many other impurities than carbonic acid in crowded rooms, which produce the most deleterious eflecta, both upon the general health and the mevtal condition of school children, The composite effect is very diferent and moch more disastrous than that from simplo carboutc , containing organic matter, excess of water, &c., producod by respiration, body exbalatious | and whclean clothing, 10 say nothug of the impure, | poisoned ar emanating from the adjacent privies con- nected with all sebools, cause heavinges, hea’ache, in- ertness and nausea; and bot unfrequputly in coanec- | tion With aJow vilaity among the poor and tenement hvuse ciase—poorly ted and uncleanly—a low ierm or type of fever. Daily exposure to these conditions produces palior, lose of appotiie and general physical dechne in both strength and spirits, Contrast the rustic schoolboy, with ruddy checks, gow: | tog with Mie and vivacity, as he emorges trom his little country schoolhouse, eituated in some lone posi- tion, surrounded by the pure air of heaven, uncou- tm od with city polluuon, with that pale, wan, iistiexs, ifidilferent, overtaxed schoolboy of our ety schools, who has sat for hours in an overcrowded, unventilaced public school class room, with his mental wctivities driven ander the high press- ure system of cramming, and what do we seo as the resulty In the first we recoymize in the boisterous shout, the elastic buand, the irolicking uo, a nature unimpaired, sound lungs, good physical development, a Vitalizing element that insures a healthy, strony, vigorous imanbood with menial capacity cocqual; while ir See iaoo” as daily attendance, 400 more than there Is accommicdation fur. if ‘The above selection of schools shows how the chil- fren are crammed together during so many hours avery day, APPEALS TO THE PUNLIC, Superintendent Kiddle hax repeatedly called the at- tevtion of the Board to this danger in the schools, and as his remarks are appeals to the public te look into the matter as well as to the Board, they are of interest here. In hie report of 18¢4 he says:— cobably the most serious evil connected with onr tote Sroterewattig of the malivoln Te this feet the aceon Hon of the Board las been troquently called, and measures ‘e been avopted from time to tinie to abate the evil; it, dowever, still exists to an alarming extent, and calls for the parnest cut ration of the Bon As. vy law. revident ate and guaraians are permitted to send, their ehildre sohovls in any part , tome schools, deemed im the second we find an carly line crippled, wearied, despondent, impaired both physically and mentally, wit bo promise of vigorous inauhood, but ou the con- tary, engraited with the sceds of carly decay. Much may be charged iu the greut mortality ot ebiid- hood to the poisoning and doviliiating elfects of our public school arrangements tn our great cities; more tan ts really chargeable to lencinent house miluences, im my huiuble opinion, Six hours of this continemont out of the twenty four in comtamnated air is far worse in its efloets than the jew really speat within doors in those habitations. The blood has become so impaired by this kind of aeration and detective nutrition that the oneral tone of the system has falieu 80 low that vitaity vecome almost exhausted during these hours of nement, and were it not tor the natural elasticity and buoyancy of youth, with its recaperative enorgy, our chiidrou would soou become an enervated race, Unable to reach @ Vigorous manoood. And with tho cor | fect of the infected house. A mandied of the malady | ing transterred to the Smallpox Hospital. | authority and the County Board of } embarrassments I - has been fomale sex it is even worse, they being denied, conven- tionally, the privilege of the outdvor exercise, im the city, that boys will have. mpure air, overtaxed by studies and constrained positions, all combined, are fast rendering the females of our public selools early victims of disewse and any- ‘thing but healthy progenitors of our future population. UNDER THE PRESENT SYSTEM of public school education in badly ventilated, over- crowded class rooms, it has long seemed to me a ques- tion whether the advantages of the education really | com, ted in any degree for the loxs of vital energy | and ithfulness which are every day so apparent us | direct elects umong our school ce hy Nervous discascs, lungs and shortsixtted- ness are but few of the evils consequent thereon, to . to sav nothing of the spread of contagious diseases which destroy their thousands of our youth, as scarla- tina, diphtheria, measles, &. With relerence to “any other suggestions” which you kindly intimate would be acceptable, that of ventilation is, of course, promi- nent. This bas been so liberally treated upon by va- rious Writers that any suggestions I can offer would | hardly add anything new. So many treatises, so | many paionts and such a variety of appliances almost | bewilder one who attempts to define what true ventila. | tion consists of, Yet, beariug in mind the fact (hat | what is wanted is the removal of impure wir and the | substitution of pure fresh air in unlimited quantitics, | roperly tempered and soared from draughts, we ve the keynote to the whole subject, From the jact that there are vot, probably, sume mode of construction, not possessing the same facilities for the admission and discharge of air, it will | be found impracticable, even imporsible, to provide proper ventilation for all by any one method, Hence, ‘Us Wost important matter should be contded only to some scientilic sunttary architect who is wedded to no special system or patent, but who will, unbiassed, nd apply the best means for éach school | Models of special methods us applicable to | may seem to be all that is desired in this direction, but when they come to be applied are jound | to be utter tuilures, | OPINION OF DR. NEBIXGRR, OF PHILADELPHIA. | In un interesting report, recently issued, of a com- mittee appoimted by the Board of Education of Phila- delphia to investigate the sanitary condition of the | schools of that city, Dr, A. Nebinger say \ It must be borne in ming that an excess ot © which coutam bonis acid | tion from utrexcible matter ¢ jon, which matter: expired. This organic putrescible matter the best thorities declare is more injurious to health when loan than " the i hi ent in ean be 4 i" { purposes be arp ‘Yous the sum of putresci- ble matter in wny som, for example, ix expressed —y | the same figures us indicate the sum of the excess of car | onic acid. In other words, if the carbonic acid is five, six | or seven times in excess of the sum of that gas in normal air, then is the putrescible matter five, six or seven times in ex” cess of such matter in ordigary air, The watery vapor ex- | pired trom tu id whieh holds in soluti the | putrescible organic ‘matter, ix not under ordinary | circumstances ible, It is rendered visible, however, by condensation, as is often seen on the ginss of the w.n- dows, and not unfrequently observed flowing down them in currents where u large numt the external te: point. Nearly the entire amount ot the whic seen under such circumstances bodies. aud with wll its foul putrefactive matter was cast off or exluiled by those in the room, and in its aeriform condition, by being breathed of tnaplred, ‘enters again the clrowiation of every one of the auditory; and, much or little, corrupts and poisons their bodies. ATTITUDE OP THE BOARD, The Commissioners of Education do not expect to be able to secure a complete and thorough revision of all | the schools, or to erect new and suitable buildings, but they will endeavor, it is affirmed, to remove causes of | flagrant wrong to the pupils in thuse schools which are lering the most from overcrowding. The Commit- © on Buildings, of which Commissioner West 18 | chairman, has the matter sow under cousideration and | will make recommendations at the next mecting of the Board. It is probable that the committee will recom- tion, which ts, that in the grammar schools nine super- | ficial feet shail be allowed per person, and 100 cubic | feet air space. The Philadelphia commitice in their — case recommended fora much larger air spuce. At tho present time there is no law in our education depart- ment governing the limitation of admission of pupils in a giveo school, and asa preliminary some limit must necessarily be made. There can be scarce apy doubt of the speedy adoption by the Board now of some plan toreleve the children, Ounce the law for a li i Ml it will be necessary to remove Sa children from the schools in which they are, it is proposed in order to meet the wisnes of parents that supplementary schools shall be opened in hired buildings adjacent to the regular scboolhouses where uccommodations may be had at low rentals. It ts said by those conversant with school affairs that the public generally do not comprebend the difficultics under which the Bourd of Education labors, But the Commiesiouers are anxious that the taxpayers should | understand this matter fully, feeling confident that | when the difficulty is understood the many existing be removed. Money is never grudged for the support of the schools. The whole number of schools pow under the Board is bey. ereag ing 44 grammar schools tor males and 45 tor ales, 1s grammar schools for both sexes, 64 pri depart: | ments, 47 separate primary schools, 9 sehoole tor colored children, 43 rate schools, $7 evel schools, the Normal Coliege and the Training School, ‘The average attendance ot pupils ast year was 117,239, being an inereaso over the previous year of 7,844 In me _ Coen agcnedls pide Ue Se about 000, It will, the! re, be understood sopalans the demand for schoul accommodativs in this city. Duriug these ifteen years 28 new schoolhouses have been erected by the Board and 38 of the buildings altered or rebuilt. Still the growth of the city is calling for a new departure to meet pressing claims. SUICIDE OF A CITY MARSHAL Yesterday morning Mr. John T. Stewart, City Mar- | that they sbould be allowed to remain. | by my fndisposition to damage Plymouth church or HENRY C. BOWEN. HE APPEARS BEFO. COMMITTZE AND MENT. Mr. Henry C. Bowen appeared before the Examining | Committee of Plymouth church last evening, in the house of Mr. H. L. Pratt, on Hicks street, Brooklyn, | As usual, the members of the press were excluded, and although some enterprising geutiemen of that pro- feasion enterea the house, they were requested to with- draw, in the face of a demand on the part of Mr. Bowen | THE PLYMOUTH SPECIAI MAKES ANOTHER STATE- | Mr. H. C. Bowen arrived at the house shortly before eight o’clock P, M., accompanied by the Rev. W. H. Ward, E. 4. Bowon, John E. Bowen and Henry E. Bowen, Plymouth church was represented by Messrs, S. V. White, M. K. Moody and E. H. | Gurvutt, the gentlemen that first brought the matter | before the church. The Special Committee, Messrs, HM. L. Pratt, Aaron Healy, E. C, Davidson, Samuel Belcher and I. M. Spellman and the exarmining com- mittee, Messra, T. G. Shearman, B. F. Blair, T. J. Tir | ney, M. H. Robinson and 8. B- Halliday, The business commenced aboat eight o'clock P. M. and Mr. Tiluey , conducted the prosecution on the part of Piymouth choreb, A number of documents wero produced on behalt of the church and the statements therein made | were substantiated by the members of the committees present, who were examined us witnesses, The case | | for the prosecution closed last night, and next Tuesday evening Mr. Bowen will be allowed to produce his wit- pesses in order to substantiatetbis statements, ip the | early part of the eveuing the following answer to the chargox against Mr. Henry C, Bowen was read by the Rev. W. H. Ward, D. D.:— GextLemey or THe@Commirter—The charges pre- | sented to me by the Examining Committee of Plym- outh church have been received, duly cousidered and | the following is my reply :— 1 deny that [am guilty of the first charge mado | ainst me, that ‘Ll violated my covenant with Plym- when questioned as to my | the withholdmg of o1 opinions 18 Dot a recuguized offen Bocuse 1 was restrained from denying that I had in- formation Which couvinced me of Mr Beecher's guilt, | a denial would have been a lie, ' Bec 1 was restrained from admitung it, first, by | the fact that I had made a written covenant with Mr, Beecher that I never would do so; secondly, by my sense of obligation to the parties from whom I had re- ceived certain contidential information; and, thirdly, 's knowledge and ny of the’ parties implicated, or to bring turther public | dishonor on the Church of Christ. Because my silence was a benevolent silence, benefl- cial to Mr. Beecher aud Plymouth church, and is to be regarded as a merit and not an offence, | | | | i | | either to atirm or deny that I knew such tacts,’ I have | since livtened to the expostulations of the Examining | Committee and purged myseif of that offence. } AS to the second charge Mr, Bowen says:— | I deny the secoad charge made against , of “an. christian, disreputable aud dishonorable conduct” in | } my reply’ to the Examining Committee on February 4, | 1876. Because it was no recognized offence to demand awritten copy of Mr. White's oral statement of griev- | ance agaist ine und to “request time to answer said | grievance.”’ Because the statement in my reply being | true the “accusstions’’ made thereiu could pot be *in- | famous’ in such sense that any infamy should at- | tach theretor to me, but only to Mr. Beecher. Be- cause my statements made therein were so definite and explicit that they were not ‘“in- sinuations,”’ Because the said statements made by me to the Examini Committee were not voluntarily made by me, but fe im the nature of a reply forced trom me by the persistent demand of the kxamining Committee, so tbat if it wus an offence for me to make such aflirmation or denial the fact that I was required { by the officers of the church in an action partaking of the nature of am ecclesiastical process against me, thus to affirm or deny should bea bar to complaint made against me thereior by the Examining Com- mittee, Because itis uo offence that! gave “neither facts nor the names of witnesses,” as 1 was not volun- evripg ppear as a prosecutor, bat was required un- willingly to make reply, Because I had received a part of my information in such a way that | did pot think it right, even on the demand of the committec, to give it to them, especially when otber important information was available which they never sought toobtuin. Be- cause that it it wore an offence that 1 did not ut that time gave facts and names of witnesses, I have since partially purged myself of that offence, to wit, in my commuoni- cation on the the 2ud of February. Because, if the ubove | were an offence | did still turther purge myself of it by | my offer, made Febraary 10, to give all names and facts | to a committee of three impartial men, not members of | the chureh; and still further by my offer, made Feb- Tuary 23, to give all such tacts and names toa commit- tee of the chureh, two of whom bad made complaint | against me, neither of which offers were accepted. Be- | cause the causing or permitting of my statement of the 4th of February to be published 18 nota recognized ol- | fence, and because if it were such an offence the action | of the church in causing or permitting to be published | my muck more explicit and circumstantial statement of February 25 ts a bar to its treating as an offence the peng oh aging ee by me; and farther, because ithad been widely publisbed and believed that I was then | under process of deception, ana I feit that I had the Tight to let my reply te known. I deny that 1 am ilty of the third charge of equivocation and fulse- fooa’ because it is not false, but true, that I did very fully occupy the ten days asked for by we in consult mg witnesses and referring to dates, documents und shal, of No. 78 Nassau street, committed suicide at | Gerdts’ Hotel, at the corner of First and Hudson streets, | Hoboken. A revolver was firmly clutched in his right | hand and a bullet hole was found behind bis right car, | from which blood was still oozing. It appears that the unfortanate man came to Gerdts’ Hotel at about four | o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, and stuted, after engag. ing a bedroom and registering his name, that he had | some important business to transact at Union Hill, | but would be later in the evening. At about half-past eight o’ciuck he returned , and went to bed. Upto noon yesterday morning he | bad not leit nis room. The proprietor then looked in the room through the fanlight above the coor and saw Mr. Stewart lying on the bed, apparently dead. — The police we immediately communicated with, and - Officer Wright broke open tae door, where be tound | Stewart perfectly dead. The fatal shot had evidently | been comiitted some hours paren, 8 the blood on the pillow nad become coagulated. In soarching bis | clothes letters were found addressed to the proprictor | nis wife, Mrs. Louisa Stewart, of No. 348 East Eighty-fourth street, Now York, of his death. Chiet of Police Donovan instantly | a itched Officer Wright to Kighty-fourth street with | the sad tidings to the widow. The body was then re- | moved to the Morgue and Coroner Crane will hold an | inquest. Mr. Stewart was about af ix years old and a native of Montreal; he leaves a widuw and six or | seven children. He was a member of Tammany Society tor the past twenty-five years, he was formerly | an Oddfellow and belonged to Beacon Lodge, He was , for fiteen years a deputy sheriff! upder Lyuch, Willett | and otbers. He went into partnership last June, but was too ill to attend to business subsequently. He | was a terrible murtyr to malarial fever, caused by the Harlem flats emanation, ana a sbort time ago be told ity Marsbal Leubuscher that he must kill himself. Last week he walked about six miles round Astoria in avery excited manner. He was one of the first city marshals and was appointed in 1865, THE CONVICTED REVIVALIST. Parkinson, the Weehawken canalboat revivalist, who lies in the County Jail at Jersey City, under a con- vietion of assault and battery, has been unable to pay i his flac. Yesterday morning he renewed tho re’ opened in the jail last week, and announced his tion of establishing regular weekly revivals at Wee- hawken and elsewhere, on his “mission boat,” which, he says, 1s the “fort of salvation” for sinnet He sent aforcibie appeal, through @ friend, to the committee | having in charge the exercises at the Hippodrome, ask- | jog Jor assistance to pay his fine. The Court bas ex- tended the time tor payment, with the alternative of imprisonment tili Saturday. SMALLPOX SPREADING. The spread of smallpox in Jersey City has now as- sumed alarming proportions, Public School No, 19, in Wayne street, has been closed in consequence of the close proximity of a house in which there 1s a case of smallpox, The schoolroom windows open within four days ago near the schoolhouse, and no means | to prevent the neighbors holding a | the schoolhouse 1s that of a young woman who was taken over from New York a jew days ago to avoid be- | The Board of | Health im Jersey City complains that it has pot ‘ho | Health that it i¢ not | supplied with the funds necessary to cleanse infected districts, A MIXED CASE. ‘On Tuesday evening last Patrick Howard, of No. 244 East Fifty-tfth street, quarrelied with his wife and threw a teacup at ber, While ho was passing down stairs shortly afterward, a man named Thomas Wynne, occupying a lower room, rushed out with an axe and struck Howard across. the ekali, iniicting a severe scalp wound. Howard’s wile then preterred charges against her husband for assault, aod be was committed tothe Fifty-seventh street prison. Subsequently be was removed to Bellevue Hospital tor surgical treatment, His wounds, though serious, are not pecessarily fatal. THE FILIBUSTER OCTAYVIA. News bas boen received in this erty that the Cubans have sold their filibastering steamer the Octavia (lately the Uraguuy), with her cargo of arma, to the revolutionary party of Hayti, and that sho is now fly. ing the British flag. The vossel was at the isiaad of St. Thomas, xecording to the latest sews, und will doubtless soon proceed to Hayt!. She was released bg the Britisu authorities at Kingston upon giving @ heavy bond would not proceed to he island ne memoranda and in paring my statement of essential facts in my knowledge. Because it tions that might be put to me b: > mittee, On the contrary, | did explicitly state that 1 would under no circumstances give to that committee | anything more essential facts, and tor that season I then Low pom a os eee hong stituted ior Impartiality and secrecy, for which I could | give ali names und facts withoat reserve, Because no express instructions of the church to state any and every tact within my own knowledge can make my refusal so tu do either equivocation or falsehood. To charge 4, accusing Mr. Bowen of slander in having made certain false and malicious charges | against thepastor, he answers:—‘‘I deny that 1 am | pe ails tt r hed db: nes: el of adultery, perjury and hypocrisy made | by me just Mr. Deeiber were not ‘false’ but true. Because statements made by me derogatory to Mr. | Beecher’s character were not ‘malicious,’ in as much as [ bad not wiltally thrast them before the Examiving Committee, but presented them only on the urgent solicitude and demand of that committe, and also | under the inti that if 1 did not thus present them I should be mmunicated from the church. | Becanse 1 was then under no absolute obiigatiou to | substaotiate by proot any @tatements not wilfully made | by but which were drawn from mo in the line of | what 1 was told was my duty by tne ollicers of the chureh. -Because I did give circumstances which the | Examining Committee, in its protessed search for light, | might follow up if they pleased by the interrogations of | other parties; and because it is not true that ‘I tailed to give the bames of any witnesses by whom such | charges might be verified,’ inasmuch as I did give the | names of two very important witnesses—to wit, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Richards, togetber with an abstract of their testimony. in the case of the facts ia | my possession, which | am not at liberty to expose to | the world, | bave proved my good taith by offering to | presont them to an mpartial tribunal, and on another ‘occasion to a hostile tribunal. Because by the publi- | cation of my communication of February 4 I bad laid = inyself lable =to = put for | livel before the civil courts; and the fact that no such action,ias been brought against me is presumptive proof that Ihave nut been guilty of slander.” In answer to charge 5, charging Mr. Bowen with jan conduct and violation of his covenant | of unchristian conduct or violation of any cov with the chureb in my action on the evening of March 1, 1876, it ig not truc that I refused to answer | uny question put to me by order of the charch; on | the contrary, | did answer the on-y question put to me, | which did not require me to divulge such names as ft felt under obligation to.protect. Because | was under no obligation ‘to answer any questions put to me,’ in- asmuch a8 my stateroents of my absolute eonvictioa of | Mr. Beech guilt were not ‘accusations’ voluntarily | made by me, but were made under advice and require- | ment of the Examining Committee, and in the course of what I was told was an ccclesiastical process against me. Because no church has a right inquisitorially to compel any one of its mem- bers, who, for reasons obligatory on his own cou- science, keeps any knowledge secret, to publish it and prove it to be true, Because it 1s not u recognized | offence to decline to consent to the presence of iawyers at a conference between church members, Because in | case, offering, as I did, to give ull tacts and names | ‘nown to me in the nee Of Mr. Beecher to threo | members of iymouth church known to be believers in My. Boecher' any woman who such there were, would receive all necessary protec. | tion without introducing other legal counsel. Lecause — ‘the exclusion of other law; from that committtce ras not an condition,’ as is church, atter cousiderabie debute, at first passed | revoluhon without making any provision for their | attendance, and it was only as an alterthougbt of Mr. | Heecher’s that my consent to their presence was de- manded. HENRY ©, BOWEN, Brookiys, March 8, 1876. SERIOUS STABBING AFFRAY. Patrick Gallagher, Jamcs Beans, Michael Griffin and | Marcus Stokes, who made a murderous assault on | Michael Flood, in Grand street, Jersey City, last Satur- day night, were brought up for examination before | Justice Davis yorterday. Flood, who is still tna very | weak condition, testified that be wi the prisoners came in and created a disturbance. One of the gang knocked him down, and the rest fell on bin kicked him, while one stabbed bim several times, Tho prisoners Were committed for trial, A SAVAGE BRUTE, | give those tact | done to ci be THESTATE CAPITAL An Attempt to Smother the “No Seat No Fare” Bill. CONDIMON OF THE NEW YORK SALARY BILL | | Horatio G, Appointment of a Commission for the Survey | of the State. | Ausaxy, March 8, 1870, | There seems to be some foundation for the statement of a railroad man from New York, who was up here | one day last week, that the Railroad Committee will not take any action whatever on the Kilian ‘No seatno fare bill’’—that is, that it will be smothered in thecom- mittee, It will be of interest, therefore, to know just what the members of the Railroad Committee thought of the bill three weeks ago, shortly after its introduc. | tion, Their views, exprossed in off hand conversa- tions with your correspondent, were expressed as 1ol- lows: Cibdiiskichéiteakiesemb ink | 's been considerable talk goin’ on about what the | ends to do with this bill, “T tell you what it is. they got @ hold on the Railroad Committ and they help it, If they suv they eu lus so that be reported they’ll Sud out they've Leen track. The biil will Le reported in some | will be no holding back on it. If t they'll roport mittee think it’s wrong, why, If they th and Jet the House do with it wliat it it’s Just the thing, or will be amended p report it favorably. But there's goin about it. [haven't looked into it onght to be done to afford better facili the street ears, and Iam willing to go as fur as anybody to Hut us to this bill of Killian’s { can’t say yot if it is Just the thing. | Mr. Powen, (rep.) of Columbia—L will be ready to give my views fully aud frankly about the bill when I have had tine to study it thorougtly. Tt may be an unobjectiouabe one in | respect, ‘that's what I want to be sure of before I can | am in favor of it, | Mr. Girputy, (ep,) of One to learn the people in New York a rule by the way they are. cor and be half crushed to death in them reliof iy w one; but will accomplistt all thatts desired tect the rights of all concerned—railroad companies us ra Ras | a of giving | pill tutroducedl | ‘at the sume time prs | us the travelling public—yet remains to be seen. I hav made up my mind yet how £ shall vote om the bill, It is yet, I think, in too crude # shupe. Mr. (rop.)~-I'd ike. to say, right now, that T wilt ‘ote for the bill; but, to tell the trath, T haven't seen it yet. | All I know about it is that it compels the companies to give | every passenger « seat, Some bill might be drawn up to put un end to the crushing on the cars; but I 1 think that, no matter what laws are passed, people will ride even on plat- forms and hanging by straps if they are ina horry, Dm willing to do ail Lean to give the travelling public all the relief possible, but I want to sve my way clear first, to see how we can possibly get at the matter and pass a law that | will amount to anything. Mr. McKxe, (rep.) of Herkime ing ought tobe | put anend to the crushing in the ¢ Tf the bill | pel the companies to run cars 0 1g the hours when travel is the greatest it ought to be passed. Mr, BaLpwin, ( ygany—I don't know anything | at ull about the Lil fteoties from the committee t | will look into it, Lf itis ajust bill I'M vote for it; if it is not L won't. | ) dem.) of New York—1 will do all in my | ower to further the wishes of the people who want better | facilities for travelling in the horse cars. If this can be | done by puttlug ow more curs, I say, have them put on, | Any good vill, just and fair to all concer will vote for. | ‘The bill introdivced, I think. needs erable. pruning to | ke it meet the wishes of those who want # bil that will | be effective when passed. Count me as one who desires to vote right on the measure, regardless of uli couside | Mr. Cook, (dem.) of Queens—The bill, so fur as Lhave | been able ‘to learn (I haven't read it yet), meuns well. | It is anderstood that the Peabody bill, somewhat amended, will be sQbstitated for it. Mr, Wenzell, of Sullivan, introduced a resolution relative to the Belknap seandal, indorsing the im- peachment, &c, The resolution went over under the rule, Mr. Hayes’ bill, providing for a complete survey of the State, constitutes Horatio Seymour, William orshemer, William A. Wheeler, Frederick Law Olm- stead and Isaac A. Stout a commission under whom the work is to be done, They are to hold office for six years and get $300a year each, ‘The bill appro- riates $20,000 for the work of the ensuing year. ‘This evening the democratic and the’ republican members of the Senate and Assembly held a caucus to nominate candidates for Regents of the University to flil the vacancies in the Board made by the deaths of Warner and Wilham H. Goodwin. The democrats held their caucus in the Senate chamber aud the republicans in. the Assembly chamber, The republicans nominated William L. Bostwick, of Ithac: aud Augustus C. George, of Syracuse, The democrats nominees are Erastus Corning, of Albany, and Daniel Beach, of Senuyler county, A number of New Yorkers are up here to-day to lay pipes forthe ultimate defeat of Comptroller Green’s bills. Among them is Tax Commissioner Wheeler, Ex- Pohee Comin Disbecker 18 also here to give a lift to the bill 1 extends Comptrolier Greeu’s term of offi ixt as wellas the terms ot the Corpo- ration Co: seven Commissioners of Education for the sai neth of time. Disbecker bas not fom gotten Wickham’s kindness to hrm yet BELKNAP SCANDAL, Mr. Wevzeu olfered the tollowing: Whereas the finan a reputation, so far | ernment 13 respec Kovernmo and tho strfetest seratiny on part of her representutives in their various eapacities logislative duties; and whereas, the House of Kepresents tives huve brought to light ylar uds and peculations in on the part of tue late Secretary of War, humiliating to ous rogressing in their good work frauds and peculations eds of which ure de- of distinetion and onerous the duties veratic tender honor by the of those b the ban archival gov Resolved, House, cordially indorse the’ efforts of our r in Congress in fg out frauds, and heartily approve of the tm- ent, by the House, of W. W. Belknap, cretary of War, and — earnestly that they will » their ood work of reform to th that corrupt officials may be speedily removed from positions of trust, and the honor and integrity of our government may be maintained and respected at home and abroad. Tabled under the rule. AN OBNOXIOUS BILL. The following protest, which has received the signs tures of a large number of the prominent property owners resident in the two upper wards of this city, will be taken to Albany this morning for presentation tothe Legislature by ex-Congressman John B, Has kin, of Fordham :— To THR LeGISLATURE OF THR State pw Yore:— We, the undersigned property ow and residents of the newly annexed wards, Without distinction of party, do respeetiuily protest against the your honorable boay of Assembly bill No, 37, od Utled “An act to reorganize the local govern) Cy the city of New York.” The effect of the passage biil would be to place the annexed distriet completely | under the unchecked power of the present President | of the Park Department. For more than three he has had complete sway over our district, and has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet not one single uselul Improvement has, up to the present time, been ineugurated or completed. Under his manage- ment $130,000 have been expended in what 18 called “surveying, mapping and monumenting.”? and all that has been given in return for the expenditure i$ pum- ber of maps (many of which his associates have wisely refused to advpt) representing “visionary schemes’? of engineers, who have had no actual personal knowledge of our district—schemes which, if adopted and carried out, and which all honest and intelligent citi should oppose and resist, would cost more than ie ed wards, | as was clearly shown in an article in the New York HeRaLp. Avyhow, it is aimed wt the abolishment “of some abuses | value of all the’ Jand in the anne Gilah cughtto’ be colveeveds” ki good bill of tua.kigd will beeen “ener ong sens in me. New York—8 . oa ir, WuITSoN, ( .) of New York—Some ot the provisions = of the bill ure zoo ore are tome that weaken Instead The invidious retention of the “one” member of of strengthening, the aim it basin view. I bave not made | the Park Commission, who has for years past been im up my mind how I will vote, I waut to seo the peuple xot | the receipt of a large salary, and. the abolition “of the all the accommodation possible on the horse cars. |) © | offices of the three members—bis associates—who have will depend altogether on what shape the bill wi | gratuitously rendered eflicient and valuable servicos ‘tons to him with in asaloon when | 4 Frederica Hausmaun, ® young German woman, was attacked in Hoboken yesterday by a Russian bicod- = and badly ee en her limhe hejoro the owld raleane ite ein when put to # Gnal vote, The in object of it is a pruise- | worthy one. | The Railroad Committee met to-day, but did not ; take any action on the bill. KSCAPING AMUSEMENT LICENSES, } The bill passed to-day relative to places of public | amusements, amendatory of the act of 1875, reads so | that the provisions ard requirements of the act shall not be held to apply to any building, room or rooms in | which only private theatricals, tableaus and other ex- | hibitions for charitable and religious purposes are given | by amateurs for the benefit of any church, mission, parish or Sunday school, or for any other charitable or religious purpose, nor sball the same bo | held to apply to the Masonic Temple in New | York, or the trustees of the Masonic Halil and Asylum fund so long as the revenues of said temple shall con- | | timue to be applied to the use of the Masonic Hall and | Asylum fund or other charitable purpose. It will be | seen that under this bill the Masonic Temple trustees | will not be obliged to pay the license fee for the privi- | lege of allowing theatrical amusements in the Templo. | ‘This, in fact, was the real object of the gentleman who | introduced it on Monday evening, when it was by | unanimous consent ordered to a third reading, no mem- ber at the time knowing what tho bill really was, 4 LOBBY QUESTION, A New York newspaper insinuated a few days ago that Mr. Strahan, Chairman ot the Judiciary Commit | tee, was deterred from subpwnaing a certain lobbyist | during the investigation by his committee into the , lobby efforts tokill the Bergh Salt bill, lest some revela. tion damaging to his own career in the Legislature of 1872 should be forthcoming. He rose to a question of privilege to-day. Ho called attention to one of the state- ments made by the newspaper in question to the effect that a member of the investigating committee, who was a member in 1872, had had a conversation with who declared that his (Mr. Strahan’s) name Mr. payroll of the lobby of that y Straban, in addressing the House to-day, he was the only member of the Leg who isa momber of the Judiciary Commitwe of the | present House, he assumed that the charge was directed aguinst him. He said that no such conversa- tion as described in the newspaper as having taken Bie between him and a lobbyist had ever occurred. ‘he statement was false asa whole and in detail, and the lie was made out of the whole piece. Neither that person nor any other individual had made any insinuu- rence to his action ip the Legis. | lature of 1872, He publicly invited the editor of the newspaper not only to name himself, but to name the | man with whom it says be bad that conversation, and he pledged that paper and he pledged the House that that gentleman sbould not keep that pay- roll much longer in his possession. He pledged his honor that the payroll should be produced if the news- , paper would nate the genticman who it says has it. je alse extended to it his carnest request and ep- | treaty that it shall do so, and if it will not heed his re- | juest asa member of the House he should ask the jouse to adopt a resolution which he would offer, after a fow days time 18 given to the paper to name the man, embodying a request to the editor to give the name of that man, and ji the paper docs not heed the request of , the Assembly he should adopt stil another course, | and he pledged himself that wo payroll or other thing | which shall be brought up against him shall be smoth- ered, but he would show the falsity and the flimsy pre- text upon which this article was based, Itis said that the whole story was started by the | boast of John W. Smith, who was a member of Assem- | | bly im 1875, that he knew how Strahan could be mado | to stop bis lobby denunciation, and that he knew | Stratan’s name was on the lobby payroll of 1872. Mr. Smith's friends here deny that he ever made such a Doast, Bat the payroll would be interesting reading , ifitcould only be got at f may add that Strahan once said thai his name was put on a list of ‘sold’ | members for $500, that a lobbyist pocketed the money, | which he (the lobbyist) represented be bad had to pay | Strahan, If this 18 so it ‘* not the first instance where | Dancing —_—_Lesson, lobbyists have pretended to buy certain members and | have pocketed money that corporations were induced to believe had been expended for *legisiation.’’ KEVISING THE STATUTES, ‘A long discussion took place in the Senate, on a mo- tion of Mr. Rogers to amend the general appropriation Dill by restoring a clause stricken out in commitice to | continue the salaries and expenses of the Commission- ers appointed to revise the stututes and extynd their term of office to Muy 1, 1878, Mr. Rogers thongnttbat | although the revision provided for bad not been alto- | ther satisfactory yet it would not be well for the cgisiature ina motent of weariness to give up the ‘Commission and thus allow all that bas been accom- | plished to for naught. Their work had been sub- | mitted to members of the legal profession from time to Lime and was one involving great labor and pro- | tessional ability. Senators Coie, Harris and McCarthy opt the amendment, and Senaiors Woodin, Star- buek and Scloonmaker spoke in its favor, and, aiter a | good deal of talk, Rogers’ amendment waa adopted to allow the Coinmissioners to go on with the work of re- vision abd harmonize conflicting statutes and make the laws plain to the usderstanding. A motion to strike | out the appropriation of $4,500 for the expense of the Board of Pilot Commissioners of New York was lost, | TUR GOVERNOR'S CHARTER COMMISSION, | The report of the Governor's Charter Commission will be ready sooner than anticipated, Each of the | twelve members of the commission drew up a plan or ebarter for the government of erties, and, like so many architects, each had a favorite style of his own, One | momber drew up two elaborate schemes and is unde- erded which he kes beet. It will probably devolve upon the president of the commission, Mr. William M. Evarts, to take the baker's dozen of plans | mould them into one harmonious whole. | in all js the concentration of aa- thority and responsibility in the chief city oliver, As | the report will hardly be completed uutil the latter part of this month, the tikelibood ts it will go over for | consideration ontil I Any serious discussion of its merits at this time would protract the session unul about the lst of June, and it is not in the calculations of the leading repuvlican politicians to keep the Legis- lature bere beyond the month of April, LEGISLATIVE XOTES. Tho New York Salary bill, when it came up on the order of a third reading to-day, was, on motion of Mr. Forster, recommitted to the Committee on Cities, with to revort comblete on Friday morning. The m Charles Hue, $170; in matters where their taste and good judgment were as essential as his own, 18 not such legislation as is cal- culated to secure reform or such cconomical goverp- ment as the people of our city demand or that we | approve of. Finally, we protest against any partisan or political change in the present personnel of the Park Depart ment, e AMUSEMENTS, ENGLISH OPERA—FAUST, The Academy of Music was well filled last night, om the occasion of the appearance of Miss Kellogg as Mare guerite, in Gounod’s “Faust.” The cast was am ad. mirable one and comprised the best members of Mr. Hess’ nne company. There was a bewitching Stebel in the impersonation of Mrs. Seguin, who has fairly earned, after seven years of service, the title of the queen of American contraltus, Mr. William Castle, albeit his voice shows ominous signs of wear and tear, acted the part of the rejuvenated philosopher wita commendable spirit and sang as one accustomed to the role. Henry Peakes is always an enjoyable actor and singer on the English opera stage, and as Mephisto we think he is particularly worthy of praise, Certainly his rendering of the role lost night calls for the warm- est commendations. Mr. Carleton made a thoroughly satisfactory Valentine, But the interest of those pre sent was mainly devoted to Miss Kellogg. It ts many years since this lady first introduced “Greteh in operatic form to the New York public, In was thea considered an admirable performance. Since that time we have had many other distinguished repre sentatives off the role, notably Nilsson and Lucca, Miss Kellogg seems to have made jal study of the Geethe-Gounod heroine, and her impersonation Jast evening showed not only the cul- tivated songstress, but also the matured actress, There were points of excellence in her rendering of the tamilur numbers of the role of Marguerite iutensified to a degree approaching, if not actually reaching, the grandeur of the lyric impersonations of the past and greatest school, that of which Titiens bas, during the present seuson, given us an idea The Marguerite of Miss Kellogg isa iyric and dramatic portraitare that the English opera stage may boust of, To-night Mr. Josopli Maas, who has proved hiu tenor on the operatic boards to-da will appear as Manrico in “Il Tro Mme. Vau Zandt, Mrs, Zelda Segui self to be the best has a benefit, and MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES. At the matinéo of Brags’? at the Park Theatre om Saturday Mr. Rowe will prosent each lady who attends with a memento ring. Professor Cromwell's illustrated lectures at Chieker- ing Hall are quite picasant and have much interesting description of the Old World, ‘Ben Israel,” we hear, has been withdrawn from the Grand Opera House. The play wanted life and mo tion, but it was not without literary merit. The Lyceum Theatre will open on Monday night, under the management of Mr. Matt Morgan, with @ new company, new scenery, painted by the distim cuished artust, and new attractions, FINE ARTS, SALE OF A PORTION OF THE KAHN COLLECTION, The first night's sale of the Kahn coltection of fore eign paintings, which have been on exhibition at Krutz’a gullery, took place lastevening at Association Hall; t important prices brought were “The Morning Prayer” and ‘fhe Morning Meal,’ by Michel Arnoux, $145; “A Visit to the Neighbor,” August Lejeune, $150; “Girl at the Well,” Emile Birk, $116; “The Teon Callie, $170; & “Happy Mother,” Caille, $105; “Attentive Young Listener,” L’Enfent de Metz, $11 ‘In the Cottage Garden,” Salmson, $155; “Wayside Charity,” Raoul Marie, $115; “Happy Mother,” Paul Leyendecker, $145; “Little Busy Body,” Paul Preyer, a son of the fruit painter, $125; “Fighting and Clim ing,’ Gustav Brenner, $175; “Soirée Dansante,* “Jeune Fille Basque,” Charleg Schrieber, 0; “Pretty Waitress,” Cahiland Las salle, $110; “Charity,’? Victor Chavet, Ri and Groom,’ Jules Dididr,” $130; ‘Flirting ver Gambling.” Cadina, $300; ‘At Dinner,” Ricardo los Ri 200; “Poor Animal,” William Friedem berg, $200; '“A Military ‘Council,” Edmond | Anaté, $195; |‘ Valeria,"? Joseph’ ‘$200; ‘Jeune Femme Greeque,” Eruets $116} “Phe Picture Book,” George Henkes, $405 ‘The Cat’s Amusement,” August Lee Joune, n@ Beach at Trouville,’ Cha Peerus, # omipg i — gen, beeper i Levy, $400; ‘The Violin Player,’ Zam Wh M4 im the Black Forest,” Kauffmann, $205 You Buy My Birds!” Adrien Moreau, $47 ot a Tavern,” Jean Antoine Bail, $31: Flower Says," Adriana Bonifaai, $200; Dauvigny, $460; “The New Poom,” Pascud “Beach at Dieppe.” Micbel Levy, $125; “The | Golden Wedding,” Bromori, put up at $1,000, receiv: ing no bids was withdrawn; ‘‘The Confidence,” $600; “the Twins,’ $860; “Nour Lake do Nem,” Pio Paris, $145; “La Sieste,”’ Jaies Rangeron, $500; “The Inter. rup rene,” Spirdon, | $480; |, “solitude,” Francois Laton, $325; “La jeuner” and “ Toilette,’ water colors, by Simot “‘Htetian Peasant Giri,” color, $185; “svepping Over to the Net water color Ui: is, $155; “In the Gi Romako, $105 put up at $250 and withdi Jaime, $6v; ‘Coming from the Forest,” Mul $55; sketch, by Fortuny, put up at $200 and with- pen and ink sketeb, by Vibert, $184; wo pea and ink sketches, by Galofre, $50 ; one by chetti, $100; one by Simonetti, $190, Mr. Kaba isso much discouraged at the result of last evening's sale that he contemplates withdrawing the remainder of his pictures this evening, His dever+ mination will be made known in this evenina’s papexm