New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-05-24
SPARE US PERRlNE:

iy 01er 10 scare away TUG 'oaosAo~S A'oS
that were sucking his blood because they
were gorged, and fresh swarm, whichcould
not fail to follow, would be sure to kill him.
But for one consideration we should APP
proach with an equal dread the abuses that
perPetually suck at the treasury of this un-
lucky City. There is difference in the
cases which gives us courage. A change
of our bloodsuckers could not be for the
worse. They are constituted incapable of
being gorged. They are like the daughters
of the horse-leech. Their cry is forever
"Give, Give!' They cannot get enough.
They thrive and grow greedier on what
they feed on. They are more indefatiga-
BILE than Nature. Night knows no repose
of their efforts, and day. dawn and the heat
of noon alike find them fresh and Unsuitable.
Their name too, is legion. We are plum
dered by men in Office and men out; by
rich men and poor men by contractors and
common-council men; by gas men and oil
men-especially the latter; by street.
makers, street-sweepers and by a thou
sand other sorts of vampyres; and now at
last, as if to crown our woes and exhaust
our final drop of endurance, we are beset
by Perrine
Who is Perrine! We know not
Neither his origin nor his final destiny are
disclosed to us. As to his earlier deeds
and experiences history is silent. He was
mystery until his first descent upon this
metropolis. He is a mystery even now.
Some four years ago he was heard of. Then
he had possession of Broadway, betwixt
Franklin and White-sts. He barred off
the thoroughfare; he dug it up; he piled
the sidewalks with fiat stones, with square
stones, with cobble stones and with pebble
stones. And then he paused. People in
quired about the phenomenon, and were an
swered that it was Perrine. More they
did not learn. The man they could
not Sees nc was SHeuo"t Pi0"
ence,-and his work seemed intended to
fill out the measure of his days. Long
weeks, long months, ali, dreary, dole
full memory he remained, slowly bedevil-
ing that unhappy street. Finally the fiat
stones were lazily laid down, and the square
stones and the cobble stones. Then big
kettles, like witches cauldrons, were set
along the way, lazily smoking with tar; the
pebble stones were smeared and spread
abroad. And SO this pavement was COM
pleted,-a very ridiculous structure, no
doubt, but one to be thankful for. Its
maker had gone,-the presence had disap-
peared, and we hoped never to hear of it
mere.
But we are disappointed. He is back
again. He has Broadway in his clutches
once more. He has dug up the street by
slow and hopeless stages. The fiat stones
and square stones are piled up there like
the outworks of besieging foe, and the
repetition of that whole melancholy pro-
cess must be endured. 1t is said that Per-
rine has a contract with the Corporation
to build so much pavement. Having bored
the town to death with his former job, he
has managed to get another.
Insatiste psyior, would not one suffice!
How such a contract was obtained we
can guess, and so can everybody. His
pavement is as costly as it is worthless
very little better than the old cobble stone
pavement, but vastly more expensive and
profitable to Perrine. The contract binds
the mysterious pavior to have his job done
the first of last December. and he begins
the middle of the present May! What an
ominous respite! One branch of the Com
mon Council voted last week to stop this
Perrineal infection, this preposterous draft
upon the good nature and the treasury of
the people, but the other branch adjourned
for fortnight, leaving the question to set
tie itself in favor of Perine!
Only one resource remains-a private
subscription to buy OFF this terrible con-
tractor. One should be set on foot imme-
diately; otherwise he will have Broadway
under embargo till the end of the summer,
possibly till next year-possibly even till
the next generation. Perhaps even this
resource, backed by all our entreaties, may
avail us nothing. We have dreary pre-
sentiment that this man is fixed upon the
City by some inevitable decree of fate.
But let an effort be made to escape from
the evil. If he wants money let him have
it and begone. Let fortune do the town