The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-27
Release of the Sailors Boarding House
Keepers on Bail.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT the ARRESTS.
Views Of Captain Duncan and Prominent Ship
owners Relative TO the Trouble.
THE FOURTH WARD AROUSED.

Il
all times to be imposed upon by the land sharks
who in every seaport town lie in wait for the ar
rival of vessels and, general rule, they secure
their prey. Runners and boarding house keepers,
at least those OF the worst class, are among the
worst enemies that seamen have to contend with,
and in most maritime countries, special legislation
has been secured to protect the "toilers of the
sea" from the greed chicanery and fraud by which
the poor sailor is frequently mulcted of his hard
earnings. Ofcourse there are many honest men, who
keep sailors lodging houses but they are the ex-
ception, not the rule, the majority of them being
unprncipled and unfair in their dealings. In one
of Dickens monumental Sketches the trials Of
"Poor Mercantile Jackn in Liverpool have been
graphically and leelingly detailed. and what Is true
OF Liverpool is equally true Of New York, the Sec
Ond greatest seaport in the world. Some years
since the abuses relating to the shipping of sailors
had reached such pitch In the English seaports
that the government IN power at the time brought
into Parliament and passed special act which
took the business entirely out of the hands of
THE BOARDING HOUSE KEEPERS
and placed ii under the control of regularly
dited government officers. The system worked
well for both sailors and shpOwners, and as a con-
sequence it was continued, and the boarding house
system was IN q great measure broken up.
In this city the want Of such an act was long APP
this year that one was provided, known as the
"Unlted States New Shipping law" Its passage
in Congress came Ike a thunderbolt upon the
boarding house keepers, who had long, as melan-
choly did with the youth in "Gray's Eegy,"
marked the sailor for their own. They were de-
termined to have recourse to strong measures to
defeat the working OF the act, and their indigna-
ton found vent not only in words, but deeds.
They have an organization under the name of the
"Seamens Benevolent Boarding House Keepers
Association" with membership of about one hun
dred and sixty, and through this body the deter
mnation was unanimous that the law should be
looked upon as a dead letter. The body,
as may DC supposed, is one of consdera-
BILE influence, and its power TO prevent
sailors from shipping only as they shall
dictate IS very great. sailor returning from a
long voyage after being paid of is very often re-
duced to poverty In a night, and he has no re
source but to have recourse to one OF these board
ing housekeepers, who is always willing to board
him on credit until he procures a berth on some
ship, when the shipping owner always refunds to
the boarding housekeeper the amount of the
sailors Indebtedness. Under the old system, by
which sailors were shipped before the new act
came into operation, the manner of doing business
very profitable to the boarding house keeper
as he had the sailor in his power and could compel
cases the amount Of the forthcoming wages of the
sailor nearly all went into the hands OF the board
ing house Keeper, and Jack had to go to sea with
the dismal prospect before him of
LONG VOYAGE HARD WORK
and no ready money to draw when he should re-
turn. The new system in a great measure did
away with this neIarious mode OF shipping and the
money which would otherwise go to the boarding
house keeper was secured to the sailor.
The opposition OF the boarding house keepers has
all along been very determined, but lattery they
have become so troublesome that 1t was only with
being frequently detained days and weeks in har-
Dor for the want OF men. The evil became so
fagrant within the past few days that no less than
twenty vessels which wanted to leave were lying
idle IN port and Captain Duncan, the United
States Shipping commissioner, made up his mind
that the thing should be stopped, and the
consulted with his lawyer, Mr.. Benedict, and, by
his advice, went to District Attorney Phelps and
had 1870 warrants for the arrest OF the boarding
house keepers on charge OF conspiracy to OBJ
struct the trade and commerce OF the port in oppo
night, as detailed In yesterdays HERALD, more
than fifty OF the men were arrested, and on yester
day morning additional arrests were made-John
O'fooe, so Oliver street; John Wallace, "A Monroe
street; Thomas Maher, 81 Market street; Thomas
Wild, 1osis Cherry street, and Leman Strauss, No.
Carlisle street. A large nuMber Of other places
were visited by Captain Leary and his men, but the
proprietors were found to be absent but they had
lett word that they would surrender themselves as
soon as they mad procured bail.
The General Sessions Court presented an unusual
appearance yesterday morning, the prisoners hav-
ing been brought up for u hearing The corridors
were crowded with Fourth ward roughs, and a
large number OF the wives of the prisoners were
outside the court room endeavoring to procure ad
mittance, but they could not. Inside the court
room was very animated. The sixty or seventy
prisoners were closely guarded, awaiting the arr-
val OF Judge to fix the amount Of bail. Their
FOURTH WARD STATION HOUSE
did not tend to improve their appearance much
and their usual amiability Of character was not
very conspicuous. Taking them as whole they
could not be pronounced q very hard looking set,
flVr
there were many whose countenances would
guarantee that they would not have
putting head upon any ony one bold enough to
oppose them. Some were smoking, SEINE chatting
words and curses, not loud but deep What made
the men feel particularly sore was the fact that the
warrants for their arrest were not issued until late
on Friday evening, when IL was known that the
Court OF General sessions mad adjourned over until
Monday, and the difficulty OF procuring bail would
be considerably increased. The warrants were
issued by Assistant District Attorney Allen, who
on being questioned, did not deny that the war
with the view of Keeping the men confined until
Monday District Attorney Phelps on his arrival,
disclamed any such Intention, and promised
to give every facility to those who were In posi-
ton to give bail. The prisoners were represented
by counsel and on the arrival OF Recorder Hackett
the proceedings commenced Counsel in address
Ing the Court said that he was informed that many
OF the prisoners were arrested without warrants,
ard That warrants mad been issued Tor three or
Alter some discussion the amount OF bail was fixed
at $500 IN each case. The prisoners had no diff
Guilty In procuring bail, as most OF them had friends
waiting to go upon the bail bond. John Harrigan,
q liquor dealer In Cherry street, offered TO go bail
Tor the entire lot but the offer was not accepted or
was not considered necessary. As soon as the Re-
corder had nxed the amount OF the bail he left
without signing the bail bonds, and this was the
cause OF another difficulty. The failure to obtain
the signature or the Judge is a technical default,
and had not been for the arrival OF Judge Suther
land, about one O'Clock, who signed the bonds, the
prisoners would have had
TO BE LOCKED UP
in the Tombs until Monday morning. As II was
those who were balled lett the Court in great
gee, q few remained behind, who had not sue
ceeded In procuring bail, but they were nearly all
released later in the day. When they had lett the
Court OF General Sessions Court resumed Its usual
appearance, and the sympathzers and roughs who
had congregated In the corridors departed 1t IS
understood that Mr.. John McKeon and Mr. Charles
O'Donohue are retained as counsel by the prisoners
in the forthcoming suits.