The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-08
Forceps Wanted to Pull a
Snag Out of the Build
ing Inspectors
Office.
1856! 1S5! 1876! 1885! 1856! 1856!
There Is a Great Big Kick and
the Builders Are Making 1t.

Hello, 1852
That's what said this morning.
There was no answer, and rang up
Central again.
Hello, Central, can't have 1872
DO you mean the man who used to be
s17Yo
Yes, ring him up, won't youS''
Hello, 1s5-r-r-r-r-r-ingl Hello, 1885,
r-r-r-r-r-r-ing! HELLO, 1872
Then came voice as of one crying In
the Wilderness
Don't you know Mr. Clarke never comes
here?v
Central began to talk, but took hand
in:--
:" say, Inspectors office, isn't Mr..
Building Inspector James 1856 Clarke in
his Officer"
Nah, he amt here. You must be q
chump to ask me dat. WY, you big fool.
he don't come here only once in VILE"
Where is he ?"
"How'je tink knowS"
Then Central broke i'm
"Oh, you want to go up to 274 Mont
gomery street. He's mechanic, and he's
probably tinkering teeth up in his house.
ExAsPERATED BUILDERS
Up went. A crowd of men sat on the
brown stone stoop of his brown stone
house and vented their dissatisfaction in
profanity as forcible as it wasn't elegant.
! started up the stoop, and the men be-
gan to deride me.
do you expect to see the dentist?''
queried one of the men.
mo, want to find Mr.. Building In
spector James 1S5 Clarke
$50 do we.''
"Who are you?" asked, for I wondered
whether Jim's creditors We're making
combined effort to get $1S5 worth of
Doodle.
ooh, we're builders, and we've given up
trying to find the Inspector in his office at
Police Headquarters, so we're waiting
here till he comes home
What do you want of him?n
"What do we want Of him? We want
him to attend to his business. We want
him to put his signature on permits to put
up buildings
Yes" broke in another one of the
group, that's what we want of him, and
that's what the city wants of him, too. 2
The taxpayers support him, and the
taxpayers are the ones who want to
build, y said third.
WAS IL 1lbllt 10 near lllS SOft
of thing, for l had always believed that
the self-styled mechanic tried in every
way he knew how--from 1S5 ways to 317--
to earn his wages. But I had no time to
stop for conversation SO, thinking that
might find him by accident
Just then saw him appear at the COR
ner. He espied the crowd and lodged
back up Barrow street. l hurried after
him, but he had already disappeared
when | reached the corner.
THE BOY AT THE OFFICE.
AS last hope tried the office of the
Building Inspector at Police Headquar-
ters.
There was no number on the door,
had expected to see it labelled 1S5-but
heard the same voice that had called me
chump, over the telephone.
1t was the little loafer who sits at the
desk in the Office and tells the unfortunate
builders that Mr.. James 1S5 Clarke is not
in.
They call him "Conk," this so-called
clerk, and he is a member of the Republic
can County Committee, or was, three
months ago. He may have been in arrears
for his dues, in which case, according to
the rules of the committee, he was
dropped. But Colonel Samuel G. Dickin-
son would not be likely to let that go by
default for Conk is friend of tho
Colonels.
IL Is Stlu UuttO uIl6 OllN ulSCcIudUl6 rcd
son for making Conk clerk to a demo-
cratic 1856 Building Dentist-no, Mechanic
cal Inspectors that the gallant Penn
sylvania colonel asked Mr.. James 1S5
Clarke as special favor, or a 317 favor,
or something of that kind, to let him fill
the place.
Conk told me, in his own peculiar tough
way, that needn't expect to find the in
specting dentist in the office all the time,
and also said that any one was chump
who thought that building mechanic
like Mr.. James 1856 Clarke could neglect
filling for building, or that he cared less
for drawing teeth than for drawing his
salary.
The police officials told me how the
builders are making police life burden
and that they are slowly preparing to
wither away in lonely dungeon cells in
Morris Plains unless the Tooth Inspector
changes his whole principle of life and
earns his money.
THE BUILDERS ARE LAYING A TRAIN.
Back | scooted to the No. 1S5I mean
No. Montgomery street. The great
engineer of buildings, or bills, I'm not
sure which, was not there.
But the builders were.
They laughed as | approached the
house, for they wanted company, and
they had been looking for the Man-Who-
Draws-H -His-Salary for many moons and
they knew that my quest had only lasted
a few hours.
81 see the Mechanic has not yet come
homer" remarked, interrogatively.
''No, he hasn't; and you can gamble
that he won't come while we're here,n
said the most prominent of the crowd.
"This will settle him. said another.
'fWe've Just about lost what little patience
we ever had and will fix him."
II don't see how you can do that, said
I. "He was reelected by the Aldermen
1,,& nj hsaT 10 afaft has