Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1895-12-07
NEW YORK LETTER.
Especial. CORRESPONDENTS. |

defined the powers of peace officers in
making arrests without warrants very
succinctly. In brief, he held that a
policeman who sees misdemennol
committed may arrest the off nler;
and that when felony has been com.
mitted he may arrest any person whom
he has good reason to believe guilty,
though he has not seen the crime. A
citizen not policeman has exactly
the same rights. He also may make
an arrest under the same con.
ditions. But reasonable ground fol
belief of guilt will not exempt the
citizen from damages in a civil suit il
the arrested party is really innocent.
1t will exempt policeman. The hold
ing of Justice Gaynor is based on the
common-law principle that only neces.
sity can justify arrests without war;
rants. 1t is in accordance with the
ideas that have always prevailed on
the English Bench and in our own
courts of record, though police magis-
trates have often tolerated an elastic,
and sometimes pernicious, extension
of the peace officers authority.
G. L. Thomas, II business man hay
ing IN Office in the Postal Telegraph
Building as the representative of an
electric company the headquarters OF
which are in Baltimore, was seized by
the police of this city without war.
rant at 1870 p. m, Friday. A writ of
|, Ia, -
man, led to the release of Mr.. Thomas
Saturday. 1t appears that an action
for tort had been instituted against
Thomas by man named Renrdon,
in Baltimore court, alleging that
5000 had been obtained on
false pretenses'-a charge which
might mean anything or nothing. The
Baltimore police hid asked the New
York police to grab Thomas, and the
request had been complied with with.
out regard to the citizens rights or
the forms of law. Clearly the New
York police should be more careful.
III they would pay little moro atten.
tien to suppressing felonies here they
would have less time to use their
power to assist in the collection OF
questionable debts by citizens of other
states. Justice Gaynor's ruling ought
to be read by every man on the force.
Bloomer girls in restaurants are
having hard time of it. They can't
hold their Jobs il they don't wear
them and the police shy they can't
hold their jobs ii they do
and to that end have com.
menced to arrest them for being
public nuisances. That girl who
wears boomers in Col. Fitzgerald's
restaurant is making lot of trouble.
Not only did it take 16 policemen To
keep Nassau street clear of the curl.
GUS crowds, but Acting Captain
Thompson, tired at last of the thing,
arrested the colonel himself for main
tanning nuisance Fourteen young
men who pc rsisted in standing where
they could stare at the bloomcr maid
were arrested. 1t was after the police
found it impossible to clear the street
that Capt. Thompson applied to Magis-
trnte Kudlich, in the Centre Street
Police Court, for warrant to take
Col. Fitzgerald. Before making the
application he consulted with the Dis
trict- Attorneys Office. Col. Fitzger-
aid, rrainged before Magistrate Kud-
Itch, announced that he had ordered
the woman off the floor, and had
abandoned tho project OF having
"bloomered" waiter girls. He read
lily signed an agreement to discontinue
the practice and was discharged.
The vexed question as to who shall
raise the flag at the Battery on Evac-
uation Day was settled by the Park
Board deciding that Christopher
Forbes should have that honor. Forbes
claims to be direct descendant of
John Van Arsdale, who tore down
the British standard from n fagpole
ON the Battery in 1888, and replaced
it with the American flag. The Old
Veteran Corps of 1776, through Col.
Asa Bird Gardiner, claimed the right
to hoist the flag Lawyer Appleton
Morgan represented Mr.. Forbes be-
fore the Park Board. Mr.. Forbes
VOWS that no one who has not Van
Arsdale blood in his veins will ever
hoist the Stars an | Stripes on Evacu-
alton Day on he Battery.
One OF the most potential factors in
modern life is the great merchant.
Formerly the avenues of greatness
were narrowly confined to the profess
sions, or to politics. But today the
great man is as liable to be a great
merchant as anything else. A great
merchant must possess great executive
capacity, great discernment as to the
needs of the people, a gift OF general
ship not unlike that of military
lender, and large capacity for hard
work. The late Eben D. Jordan pos
sesscd these and other gifts in full
measure, and the ismense gathering
at his funeral bore impressive testi.
mony to the place which he had won
in the public's regard.
Two of New York's landmarks are
being pulled down-the histor ic
Striker homestead and tho Mott home
stead. The northeast wall of the
Striker homestead is $50 years old,
and the rest of the building is over
$50 years old. The Striker home-
stead stands near the 1lu lson river
front, at the foot of Sd | street. The
Mott homestead faces the river, a
block further mp. Fifty-third and
54th streets are being cut through and
the two ancient homesteadS, 80 often
made the scenes of romance and Of
fetal intrigue, in fiction, were visited
recently by relic hunters and old resi-
dents of the west side. Italians have
torn the buildings to the ground and
the last vestige of them will be swept
away.