The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-07-02
Tho New York sherin,s onioe.

| statesmen OF Washington can hear IL.
The New York Sherih's Onioe.
Our esteemed contemporary, the CONNER
cidl OF Louisville, a Republican journal Of
dignity and intelligence. attaches to the tes-
timony taken by the FAssETT committee
respecting the Sherif"s Office in this city q
degree OF importance which does not
belong to 1t. "There was q formidable
bulk OF evidence" says our contemporary,
"bv which the long and utter corruption and
venality which marked the administration OF
the SherfT's office was incontestibly proven"
This, We submit, is by no means correct
statement OF the case. Beyond some minor
matters of detail respecting the administra-
ton of the Sherif's Office. nothing was
proved which was not perfectly we'll known
before; and nothing at all was proved to in
dictate corruption and venality.
1t was we'll known to every practising
lawyer in this city and to every Intelligent
public man who had occasion to under
stand the subject, that, from the i'm
mense amount Of business and the enor-
nous pecuniary responsibilities OF the
Sheriff, the Office had entirely outgrown the
legislation which fifty years before had been
| framed for its administration. For an In
definite period, and under long line OF
Sheriffs of different parties, it had been
| found impracticable to carry on the Office on
the old scale of fees; and there had grown
up In practice another scale which every
| Sheriff had adopted, with which the Legisla-
ture had not been willing to interfere, and
which the courts had not disapproved or
| set aside.
More than thirty-flve years ago the
late JOSEPH BLUNT, lawyer OF eminence
| and ability, expended a great deal OF eff
| fort In an attempt to improve the Sher-
| IFS office, and to regulate and change the
| system OF charges which were univer-
sally admitted and paid without contest by
lawyers and litigants. He went up to the
| Legislature again and again with energetic
representations of the facts. and with appeals
| for new statutes but the Legislature would
not do it. What the reformers objected to
was not that any improper charges bore
| upon the public treasury. 1t was simply the
| charges and commissions which were re-
quired of private litigants In their contro-
versles with each other that Mr.. BLUNT
complained OF, and the charges imposed up
on persons held In prison on account OF
compelling them to pay up. the Sheriff
being liable In large sums in case they
should escape from his custody.
When Mr.. GRANT came into office as
Sheriff, he very soon set about reforming the
Office especially its usages regarding the
sale of property seized upon execution.
In consequence of his reforms the parties
upon whose account forced sales had to take
place. obtained very much larger returns
than they had previously been In the habit
OF receiving for such sales. In this Mr.
GRANT departed from the practice of all his
predecessors, and the departure was not 80
much for his personal benefit as for that OF
lltigants whose interests came under his
official care. Instead OF conducting such
sales himself, or by an ordinary deputy and
In an out-of-the-way corner as had prevl-
ously been done, he employed competent
auctioneer, had them widely advertised, and
thus obtained the market value Of the goods
sold. There was nothing in it like venality
or corruption. For the rest, the fees and
commissions followed regular course. long
established and long practised In the Sheriffs
Office. and repeatedly allowed by tho courts,
Moreover, 1t was something all persons
dealing with tho office had been well aware
OF, and which the Legislature had for years
declined to alter.
These facts are striklngly oorroborated by
what happened upon the induction of Gen.
SICKLEs after the resignation OF Sheriff
FLACK. The General, being rich and inde-
pendent man. at once put the Office down
upon the system OF fees prescribed by the
ancient statutes; and 1t was Immediately
evident that they were entirely inadequate.
and that under that system the work OF the
Sheriff's Office Of New York could not posi-
bly, be done. In this situation the Legsla-
ture was at last willing to act upon the sub
iect and Il new scheme was adopted.
Whether it will work well, or whether 1t
will require further amendment, remains to
be determined by experience.
But in the whole investigation OF this FAs-
sErr committee, conducted as 1t was by
men whose chief purpose was to destroy
Mayor GRANT, as II mo ms OF destroying the
Democratic party in this city, nothing was
brought out which showed corruption, Va
nality, or dishonesty In either HUGH ].
GRANT or the Tammany Society. OF which
he Ia conspicuous member.
---
While they are raising funds in England
to launch q steamboat on Victoria Nyanza,
another 81 eambost Ia to be placed by the Congo
State on Lake .IanganyIka This steamer will
be carried from Leopoldyille up the Congo to
the Kassai, then up the KASsRi to the BankuFa.
then up that hVer to the LomAmi and 70 the
hand NJ naV1RtIon on that FIVar II viii kkaR