St. Paul daily globe., 1888-03-15
Acres Of Garbage and Ruined
Groceries Left Rotting on
the River.
The Refuse From the Burned
Store Of Beaupre, Keogh
& Davis.
Government and City Officials
Have Stopped the Further
Like Proceedings.
A Steaming Mass Of Corrup-
ton That May Breed All
Foul Disease.

st. Paul is in danger. 1t is threat
ened by foe which aims at the general
health of the community, and which, II
not checked at once, may develop
plague as serious in its consequences as
would be visitation of ''yellOW jack:
1t would be bad enough were it purely
local in its character. That it is more
far-reaching, however, may be Judged
from the fact that the Federal officials,
who perceived it Tuesday, at once took
steps to bring it to the attention OF the
civic authorities. The fire OF Jan. II,
i'm the wholesale grocery establishment
of Beaupre, KeOgh q Davis. at 20 East
Third street, is of such recent date that
readers of the GLOBE can readily recall
its details. Of the large stock which
the building contained comparatively
little was saved from the rayages
of the fire, and the falling
walls buried beneath them hundreds
of tons of commodities of all kinds,
partially burned and thoroughly water
soaked. AS soon as the ruins became
cool enough to be handled large force
of men were put to work removing the
debris. An idea of the extent OF this
Job may be cleaned from the fact that
it is not yet completed, although as
many men as could be worked to adj
vantage have been engaged upon 1t con-
tinuously since the fire was out. 1t has
been prosecuted under the direction OF
George j. Grant, contractor and builder,
at 61 East Ninth street, who was en-
gagged by MeSSrS. Gustav and Ferdinand
WillluS, owners of the burned premises,
and the insurance companies holding
risks on the stock of Beaupre, Keogh q
Co. The disposition made OF the mass
of rubbish by the men employed by
Mr.. Grant. and presumably acting under
Instructions from him, is known to many
in the city.
THOUSANDS OF LOADS OF IT
were hauled in sleighs to the mid
die 'of the river opposite
the foot of Sibley street, and there
dumped upon the ice. This was con-
tinued until late Tuesday afternoon,
when it suddenly ceased, and for the
best of reasons. Mayor Smith heard
of it for the first time then, and called
halt. The policemen whose beat is In
that locality evidently did not think the
contractor was doing anything wrong.
At any rate they took no notice OF him
or his work, and did not notify. the
mayor. The matter was apparently OF
such little interest to private citizens
that not one of them demonstrated or
inquired by what authority the mass OF
putrid garbage was being dumped in
the center of the ice-bOund river. Maj.
Charles J.. Allen. of the United States
engineers office, happened to look out
of one of the rear windows OF the Army
building. and the first object on which
his eyes lighted was heap OF odorous
riff-raff that covers space two OF three
acres in extent in mld-Stream OIL the
freight depot of the Chicago, Milwaukee
g. ST. Paul Railway. Maj.Allen at once
dispatched an attache of his office with
a note to Mayer Smith, requesting him
to put stop to the work OF filling up
the channel Of the river. This was the
first intimation Mayor Smith had re-
ceived that the unSaVOry stuff was being
dumped there. 1t did not take him long
to decide what to do. He communicated
with police headquarters and requested
Chief Clark to send an officer to the
locality with instructions to stop the
contractor from continuing the work
and
TO ARREST ANY ONE
Offering resistance. The police headed
off several sleigh loads bound for the
dumping grounds, tore up the bridge
leading to them, and whatever else In
the line of garbage remains In the
burned building will of necessity have
to be dumped in some spot not III such
close proximity to the heart OF the city,
Contractor Grant, however, is not
alone. The st. Paul Od0rleSs EXcavat-
ing company followed in his wake. This
company dumped a large number OF
loads of excrement Oh the ice within
thirty feet of the freight depot and there
81 or al, OF
mass of disease-breeding matter is
simply frightful. 1t is carried by the
breeze into the union depot, where
thousands of people arrive and depart
daily, and the wonder is that the rail-
road companies whose premises are be-
fouled by it did not long ago call the at
tenton of the authorities to the matter.
There are people in st. Paul so poor
that they will eat of the food damaged
in the Beaupre, Keogh q Co.'s fire
dumped upon the ice and now rotting
in the sun. Numbers of these who
live in squalid wretchednesS and
poverty on the flats can be seen every
day picking over the heap in search OF
food. How they can bear to handle the
stuff, much less eat it, is past cOmpre-
hension, and still they do both. Yester-
day score of women and double that
number OF men and boys were there
with baskets and bags, which they
were filling with whatever appeared to
them to be worth carrying off. The
majority of them were not in the least
particular and mixed hardware and
food in the same packages, as if the
whole were to be eaten. A few made a
speciality of tobacco and cigars, of
which there were considerable guam
titles, while others affected toasted
cheese and canned goods. What one
wouldn't take another would, and none
went away empty-handed. They
reeked with the filth in which they
poked about and seemed pleased at the
chance afforded them to get something
for nothing.
WHAT MAYOR SMITH SAYS.
What steps the civic authorities will
take to compel the removal of this mat
ter, which, if allowed to remain, will
undoubtedly breed contagion, remains
to be seen. Mayor Smith is highly in
dignant that he should have been kept
in ignorance of the state of affairs until
nearly all the debris was dumped on
the ice. To a reporter for the GLOBE
he said yesterday:
sit is an outrage, and should not be
allowed to pass unheeded. / knew
IL
me from the United States engineers
office, and then fastened to put stop
to the practice. l do not know what
can be done, but | think the contractor,
or whoever caused the filth to be dumped
there, should be compelled to remove it
at once. If allowed to remain, as soon
as the ice breaks the heavy material
will sink into the channel. The re-
mainder will be carried down stream
and find lodgment along the bluff.
There it will breed disease and death.
| was not informed that the excavating
company had dumped excrement there,
but If such be the case then it is so much
worse"
AS soon as the warm weather begins
to get in it's work upon the fetid mass,
if it is not sooner removed, then will
residents of st. Paul realize what a
hleSSinp if is tO have q dumDinp prOuDd