Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-01-31

Our New York Letter.
THE BELT OF PERIL-2,OO0 TONS OF SNOW IN
BRoADwAY-PETER coPERs LIBEL SUIT
HEAVY CoUNTERFEITING-ENN Ex-
HIBITIoNs.
NEW YORK, Jan. 9th, 1879.
To the Editor of the Free Press and Times
The insurance companies, some OF whom
saw swept away within the week before last
more than their possible profits for the year,
have been investigating, through commit
tee, the condition of the lower part of this
town.
The report Of this committee, shortly to be
published, will give some startling facts as
to the belt of peril which surrounds the bust
ness section Of the island, in the shape OF
the wooden piers and sheds which line the
waters edge. The report states that on the
Hudson River front alone there are sixty-two
piers of wood, and Of this number fifteen
have either stationary boilers upon them or
boilers upon wheels; on many there are
grists mills and elevators, using stationary
power, and on ten there are blacksmiths'
shops in full operation. From the Battery
to the foot of Charles street, there are upon
these piers four and half miles of wooden
sheds. In few cases the roofs are OF cor
rugated iron, but the sides, and of course
the foundation, are of light wood. Eight OF
these piers have absolutely no protection
from fire Nineteen Of the piers have no
hose upon them, and only seven OF the en-
tire number have watchmen. The commit
tee discovered that on the piers where hy-
drants are placed there is no water at
night, it being the custom to shut oil
the water for fear of It's freezing in the
pipes. Upon these piers they discover
ed not only the most valuable but the most
inaimmable goods in the city, stored in i'm
mensc quantities or awaiting shipment. 1t
seems only question of time, and perhaps
of very short time at that. when most OF
New York has got to go.
The masses of snow which have fallen in
the city recently have been terribly ob'truc-
tive of travel. Double teams to half loads
have been the rule, with slow progress at
that. Our able and efficient street cleaning
department didn't seem to notice anything
unusual in the appearance OF the streets Tor
week after the snow fell, but at length
some one must have told them about it, for
they finally made up their minds to clear
the incumbrance from the leading thorough
fares 1t is no small job to clear Broadway
after such storm, as may be inferred from
the fact that it took l 900 men and 600
carts from daylight till six O'Clock in the
evening to accomplish it, during which
period they shoveled up, carried away, and
dumped into the rivers some nine thousand
cart-loads, weighing close onto two thousand
tons. Since then the thaw has taken most
of the snow from our streets.
The venerable Peter Cooper as the
reporters never tire OF calling our aged and
amiable philanthrophist and Grcenbacker,
whose whte-fringed coun;enance graces the
platform of about every other public meet
ing that is held in New York, and appears
above the festive board at still larger pro
portion of our public dinners. is still hearing
from his presidential campaign of two years
ago. suit has been pending against him
for some time past, in which the plaintiff,
man named Groom, claims $50, 900 dam
ages for libel. Groom seems to have oc-
cupied the relation to Cooper during that
campaign that Stanley Matthews and Sher-
inan did to Hayes, or Pelton and Marble to
Ti,den and when all was over, Mr.. Cooper
accused Groom of misusing his money. The
latter felt greatly aggrieved and brought
suit, only, however, to be badly defeated.
During the trial, Mr.. Cooper took the stand
and ,as he is very apt to do whenever he speaks
on any subject, gave condensed autoblogra-
ply, informing the court, among many other
particulars, that if he lived he would finish
his eighty eighth year next month. Before
he was twenty-one years old he had learned
three trades, those of halter. brewer, and
carriage-maker. 1t was Mt, ono year. ago
he began to aid the laboring classes. In his
sixty years of business he could not rcmem-
Der time when his workmen had to wait
for their money the reason was he had
kept clear of banks. Although candidate
two years ago, he had no expectation Of
being President of the United States. lie
had paid out a good deal Of money for ex-
penses. lie could not say how many men
he had paid who said they had watched
the polls for him on election day. The
court room would not hold them. They
had been coming to him ever since for
their pay. and were coming yet.
Some detectives in the United States Sc
cret Service have successfully accomplished
difficult and delicate job in tracing and
arresting a man named Ulrich, said to be
the most skilful engraver Of counterfeit
money in the country. A few years ago he
was imprisoned for executing bogus 800
bill on Boston bank, so perfect that 81
900 900 of it were put in circulation. He
was pardoned out, however, and soon re-
turned to his old occupation. When the
raid was made on his house in the little vii
iage whittier he had been traced he was
found at work engraving by hand the geo.
mctri,al lathe-work of the back Of a 800
Treasury note, which is done by the Gov
eminent with machine that cost SlOO,O
and which it had been supposed could not
be initiated Ulrich's work, however, was
almost perfect.
Sec what noble ambition the success of
the recent pedestrian matches here have
been able to awaken in the provincial
breast In Patterson, man has started on
an attempt to walk $50 miles in six days, |
resting only three hours each day. In the |
same town, another enterprising party is en-
dea, oring to gain wealth and reputation by |
keeping awake for six days. One Mackcy, |
of Passaic, calls himself champion Raw
Onion Eater of the World Michael |
Burns is going to eat against him for $500
and gate-money." Another man wants to
'eat barrel Of raw onions against time,
claiming that he can do 80 in four days.
And in a day or 90, another hero will
charge the public an admission fee to see