The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-12-26
LnE
A DICKENS STORY.
Names and Dates Forgotten
of a Suit Still in the
Court of Chancery.
VALUABLE PROPERTY RUINED
Thousands of Shoes Made in the
Prisons and Rotting Away in
the State Armory.
PROPERTY RUINED
Special to the Jersey City Nsacs.

TRENTON, Dec. 26, = in the
Nold stone building in the southern part
of the city, known as the State Arsenal,
big and barn-like, a fit abiding place for
bats and rats, are the Wondering remains
of a pile of shoes and shoe machines
that are a silent yet impressive witness
to the ''ci~rcumlocution'' of our courts.
Last winter when the business depres-
sion caused the organization of a relief
committee for the help of the unem-
ployed, General Donnelly, one of the
organizers, made the statement hat thou
sands of pairs of shoes were stored in
the State Arsenal and might be benef-
cially distributed to the worthy poor,
if they could only be used for that pur-
pose.
Last week, remembering the Generals
statement, a reporter Investigated this
stock of shoes and visited the Arsenal
for that purpose. Captain Charles Snow
den, whose title of NJ. S. K. reads like
{, title from 'Pinafore," n whose years
of duty in the Office cover something
like twenty, EXTENDED the hand of well
cone to the scribe and conducted him to
the Arsenal store. room.
SERIES OF FAILURES.
Here, along the right wall and the
eastern end, in cases and in cribs, are the
shoes and the material for shoes; while
on either sides are sewing machines, peg
ging machines, leather shavers or split
tiers, and other shoemaking machinery.
There it is, has been for twenty or
twenty-five years, and may be for TWEEN
ty-five years more.
None of it is of any use. The ma
chinery is out of date; the leather is out
of oil. What Improvements of a pro-
g~ressive era hav done to make the ma
chinery worthless, heat and cold, dry
ness and moisture, under a slate roof,
have done for the properties of the leath-
er, and it crumbles and tears like paper.
And why this trash? 1t is like a story
from Dickens. A prison contractor, sued
by a prison supervisor and his goods at
tached, carries the matter to the Court
of Chancery. The goods are slowed in
the Arsenal pending its settlement. Ten
thousand dollars is the deb to the State;
the goods today are worth a hundred
dollars.
They cannot be destroyed or got rid of
until the litigation is out of the way in
some shape or another. Quartermaster
General Perrine tried it and failed. Cen
eral Mott tried it and failed. Governor
Bedle tried it and failed. Captain Snow
den wanted but two hours and the ne
cessary permission to do away with the
debris, and failed. General Dornelly went
to the Governor to see if the shoes could
not be given away to the por, but failed
DETAILS OF THE CASE.
AS to the details in the case, like the
Wondering leather in the cribs and
cases, the life has gone before. The
goods are there, and the minds of men
are clouded as to the occurrences that
caused the litigation. Names and dates
are alike forgotten. In the musty record
department of the Court of Chancery no
trace can be found. A $4,000 case of
long ages pales into insignifcance in
these days of abandoned millions in dis
pute. NJ. K. S.. Snowden jars not his
memory as to data. Ex-Clerk Bonney
finds the thread of the story missing.
General Donnelly now knows they are
not for Trenton's poor. but every one
knows that rubbish is in the way.
But one thing is certain:-Major An
derson promises to run the thing to earth,
dates, names and all, and in the near
future will have a clear space for the
more ~commodious storing of the military
effects of the State.