The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-07-29
The Munifcent Municipal Thieves Of
New York.

anu gas utlluB III tue county OulCes anu
armories, from which II appears that in
little over two years 1921, sl77G was
drawn in the name of this firm for that
class Of work.
The Times reviews some OF the frauds
exposed in way to bring them more di'
rectly home to the people OF New York.
We quote
We have seen what q good thing it is
10 be appointed furniture dealer or car.
penter, or plGSterer, or plumber, under the
city authorities. We have seen that the
money paid, or alleged to have been paid,
for carpets iHthe new Courthouse and
armories, would have purchased l22, 222
square yards ut $3.50 II yard. II OF the
usual width per yard, this carpet would
cover 1850, J66 feet, or about seventy miles
in other words, it would go nearly from
New York To New Haven. or half way to
Albany, ur tour times from the Battery
TO Yonkers, or IRON Albany to OswegO
But what carpets are there really in tue
Court housey Only three floors Ol the
new Courthouse arG OOcupi Cd. On each
floor 3O72 square yards are occupied as
offices, making u total Of 9,2lG square
wards. II covered with carpet nj 81 per
yard, the cost would be $4B0S0 One Of
the largest TOXINS, that occupied by the
Bureau Of Arrears Of Taxes, has no cover.
ing " hnlevrr on It's floor. The County
Clerks Office, SherilFs office, and office Of
the Surrogate, are not CaEPeted, but are
covered with Oilcloth and mating, with
the exception Of the small private offices.
Few Of the other offices or cOurt.FOOms
are carpeted throughout.
With regard To the carpenter work done
to the new Courthouse, for which such
enormous sums have been paid, it must be
remembered that the building is chiefly
constructed of marble and iron-there Is
very little woodwork in 1t. Yet, II this
woodwork cost so much, what must have
been the expense of the iron and marble
Those materials do not enter into the &c.
counts which we have laid before the pub.
lie.
For chairs supplied u the HrmOrjes only
Ingersoll was paid $l70,729 90. lfarmo.
ry chairs cost s. each, and II each chair
was q feet in depth, the money paid to
IngersOll would have bought "a, l45
chairs, and II placed in straight row
these chairs would have reached over
lS5.363 feet, or about II miles. II they
cost $40 each they would make line Of
81 miles, and even at $2j each they would
stretch from the City Hall Park IN Forty
second street.
For cabinet work and furniture In the
new Courthouse and county offices the
sum of $2,Bl7 400 10 was spent-Or at
I least WIS signed away by Mayor Hall and
Controller Connolly. An eminent uphOl-
slerer informs us, ailer making Il careful
estimate, that no would furnish the new
Court house magnihcenlly for 100000,
J and make handsome profit On the trans
action.
Look at this charge In another way.
What could be done with the $2Sl7,-
400 10 in furnishing private houses 7 Al.
lowing $4,000 per house, II would fur.
nisll, thoroughly, nearly three hundred
houses ON FiilhavCnuc, from Washing
lon.s1uare to ThirliClh.slrcet, on both
! sides Of the street. The same amount
would put two parlOr suites Of $3.50 eaCh,
and three bedroom suites at 5000 each
? into every house on broadway from the
Battery to the upper end, on both sides,
and enough would be let to furnish In the
T same way every house on Third.avenue
: from the BOwery 10 SeyentiethsLreet, on
both sides.
Mr.. CHARLES NoRDnOFF, recently Gdi.
tor of the Post, has been looking around
the Court House little in the light ofrc.
cent revelations, and here arc some things
, he writes to the Tina abouLit:
The new Court House, according to my
own counting, has one hundred and thir-
~ six gOod.sizGd windows and twelve
small ones. According to the accounts
you have printed, Mayor Hall and Con
!. lruller Connolly have paid Tor curtains;
shades and c0rniCGs for these one hundred
and thirty.six windows, $i0S,02l 10. Tho
, twelve small windows have neither cur
tnin, shade nor CornCe They may, there
9 fore, he lcft out Of the account and I
n thus appears that the citizens, taX.pay
i era, Of New York have paid nearly $S0l
: for each window Of the new Court IlOust
' 10 furnish II with curtains, shades ant
Q cOrnicGs.
c This, to use Mayor Halls pretty phrase
1 Is u large sum, and possibly extraVagant
!, But the bigness Of the SUN did not sur
y prise me nearly''sO much as this fact, that
Q so far as could ascertain and my exami
/, nation included almost every room In TIL
v building-there is not single curtain OF
I. any Of the one hundred and thirty.siH
" windows.
;, The windows of the new Court HOUSE
;. have shades, common linen shades, work
!, Ing on rollers; shades which, with al
= their fixtures complete, could hardly havO
J cost more than SO each; but suppose thel
/. cost $40 each, that would make b 800
whereas the accounts you have published
It pretend that they cost over $l0S, 900.
@ When | had studied the curtainles
!. windows sufficiently, turned naturally
to the wallis In Mr. Andrew J. Garyeyi
y little account, which you printed on Mon
d day, there are dozens Of entries Of ire
n pairs" About these | can tell you moth
+, Ing, except that he seems TO have don't
" his repairing In such q manner as Il
U neCessitate more; for the walls are in
h tlisgrrceihl condition. They are not Onll
n dirty, but In the lower halls and else
= where pieces u the plastering have peel
=, ed of, leaving ugly blDtches, which givC
/" the famous new Courthouse the:appear
ance Of tlilapltlated and neglected ruin
!. But from Mr.. Garvey's account, as you
n printed II, | took down eight items, whicI
NJ were distinctly for "plastering," suppose,
:, 40 have been done In the new Court
u house. These eight items, which wer
" you say, audited and paid TO Mr.. Carve,
10 by Mayor Hall and Controller Connolly
d amount TO the sum of $26S,6GO %. Now
:, you can imagine, perhaps, my amazement
i a. a,, d;snIy,.,,1 hnt hnsn't, .oaiI,, mi,