The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-10-30
NATURALIZATION n New York.

10 "SouACu VI oqudi priFiieScs pcio1o eii0 avs
NaturaIization in New York.
A reporter for the Times gives the following
account of his Investigations respecting the
method of naturalizing foreigners during the
recent furry in New York. 1t appears to be .
decidedly short and easy method. After ex-
planning that the whole business in the city is
left to the Superior Court and the Court OF
Common Pleas, the report details some OF the
difficulties encountered by people in pursuit OF
exact information about the matter: 1s s..H
The persons best able to give information
were unusually reticent From the Tammany
Hall Committees, and all other Committees to
which application was made, there was the
same "know-nothing" answer, or else an appa-
rent indifference to queries which plainly indi-
Gated mind your own business. Hence the
plan was adopted of awaiting in the Court
room, watch in hand, and counting the number
of those who in given p number
of minutes were passed through at one door,
around in front Of the Judges bench, and after
answering the short formula of Undergraduates
conducted from the presence of the Court
through the door opposite to that by which they
entered. The result was as follows, and all Of
it took place one day last week. Our readers
must bear in mind that inasmuch as our report
er could not sit down, or even stand up by the
hour, owing to the crowd in the Courtroom,
he adopted the plan of going in at five different
times: AB +sf it.. e 80 g. 'sias
In first five minutes IA made citizens
In second five minutes IL made citizens.
In ten minutes 80 made citizens. liiH 9
In third five minutes 10 made citizens.
In fourth five minutes q made citizens -iA
Total, 1O4 in one half hour, taken at the short
intervals specified between the hours of IL
A. M. and p. M. On that day the Judge sat
little beyond three o'clock, and the estimate
of the number naturalized between 1890 and 3,
as given somewhat reluctantly by one of the
Officials-who was in constant attendance, and
hence had good opportunity to judge was
$50. These are the figures from one Court for
one day. rdrog@ Ind f.gs,fljt.t l.,58,. a..a
This was not an exceptional day; before and
since, nearly every day last week, and this
week so far, it has been almost the same thing.
The General term of the Common Pleas lad
vertised to sit last week and this) has been
unable to carry on its regular business, except
during q small portion of the time. In the
chamber of the Common Council more than a
dozen clerks are constantly employed making
out the requisite papers They are SO busy
during each day they can find no time to go
out for lunch. saela 1di HOO
In the Superior Court the naturalization has
not proceeded 80 briskly. The Courtroom and
its surroundings are not SO commodious, and
yet the halls and stairways are constantly
crowded from IL A. M. to 3 p. M. every day,
and the General Term room, the largest in the
building, has for the last ten days been entirely
given up to these proceedings One Judge
finds constant employment during the ordina-
ry Court hours. Estimates made by reliable
men, who have good opportunities for Judging
put the number naturalized daily in this
branch at from $50 to 800. sllii3 loW9l
So much for the amount of business done.
The manner in which it is done is described as
follows in Fridays Post: ah 10 eB3 sib
The system is briefly as follows: The candi-
dates for the elective franchise are brought to-
gether by the runners at Tammany Hail. where
all the papers that must be signed in advance
are prepared. A number of men being in
readiness, an agent marches them to the City
Hail. They get into line, and SO pass before
the judge, to whom the papers are given. Each
applicants record is all on his paper; SO the
talking is done by the Judge and the runner.
4 One of these runners is Chas. Redmond. On
the day before yesterday he took nine squads
of men, at different hours, before Judge Cardo-
TO- and swore them thr9ggh Withnssiti iS t6ese
sdnads We're respectively thirteen, two. four.
three, eight, six, five, four and seven. Total
hfty-two. Other squads were brought by other
runners while Redmond was..away, A day or
two before this man had just twenty in one
squad. an .s..ls -5l,tas,-t,,i :. r..f.
The questions put by the Judge and answer
ed by redmond for each of his men are sub
stantially as follows: m il t.ti n Z
Judge-Charles Redmond, how long have
ypu AhoWA db III ILLS Country An
swer-Ten years, more or less. '''A'
= q: Has he been out of the United States in
the last five years? Answer--No.fo ss,argf b. /
q Q. Has he lived in this State one year,, An
swer--Yes T.ie.i 314z lasss 10 $3.50 - siffo1 /
@. Is he man of good character? Answer
Yes ash .zsg 5itS1aomab sas 10 alsera1f., 4
The judge then puts his endorsement ON, the
paper; the candidates and their witnesses no
before the clerk of the court, who swears the
witnesses in regard to all of the papers in one
and han <sx.ol
A man named Pat Cuff is another of the
runners who does a large business On the
day when Redmond brought nine SQUADS Cuff
had several One of them contained eight
men, and another ten. VIM. Conner brought
also q number of squads. The largest number
in any one was fifteen. Patrick Riley Alexan-
der Moran and Councilman Robinson are also
prominent in this business. 10 J isl5T
Another plan of getting citizens papers that
has been practised to some extent is this: Two
men are applicants, and they vouch for each
other. The operation of the law requiring that
'scitizen" shall be the voucher is anticiDated
by few minutes. Such case was that of
William and John Rockingham, who, accord
ing to the testimony we have, assisted each
other in the capacity of witnesses Patrick
and jeremiah Sullivan did likewise 1t is re-
ported that there are many cases of this kind.
The Irregularities are not confined to the
Court of Common Pleas 1t is openly said
from one of the desks of the Superior Court
III.
the candidate will go to Tammany Hall. and
inquire for the Alderman or the Councilman
he will come over and get out the papers,"
There are brokers" who offer to procure
naturalization papers, without giving the an
plicant any trouble whatever. They REQUIRE
only his name. This gives color to a rumor
that the seal of one of the courts is used with
out authority, or that it is counterfeited. SO
Last night Judge Daily, of the Court of Com
mon Pleas, who has not done much of the nat
uralization work, took Judge Cardozo's place
for three hours One of the runners. whose
name is not reported, but who came before the
Judge two or three times with squads of men
whom he was prepared to swear through, was
finally arrested by order of the court. Some
of his answers had not been satisfactory, or his
general conduct was such as to convince Judge
DAILY that his vouching was fraud. The man
procured bail but will be arrested on Monday.
This morning palpable conflict of testimo-
ny on the part of a runner and one of his men
occurred in the Court of Common Pleas. The
oath of the candidate for citizenship was that
he came to this country when he was TWENTY
five years old; but the runner, forgetting his
man, or making mistake in some way, made
affidavit that he knew his friend" was here be-
fore he was eighteen years of age. The result
was that the papers were torn up No arrest
I'D