New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-06

| for Cuba may have been striking below the
belt but he called attention to a weakness Of
our National character.
Payers Of blackmail are always told that 1t Is
| 70 placate important people who cannot appear
| personally In the transaction. Thus Elizabeth
| Whitaker. who deposes that she paid the sum
of 500 to ex-Assistant District-Attorney Purdy,
| was informed that some Of 1t was to go to the
| agent Of the Parkhurst society, and it is a Won
der she was not told that percentage of it was
to go to Parkhurst himself. In the case Of the po-
| liceman Morrow, who paid money to get on the
| force he seems to have been assured that the
lions share of It was for Commissioner Parker.
| There is no end, of the fanciful tales which, in
| such cases, are invented to account for the dis
| trIbution Of the money. In the days Of Tam
| many domination 1t was plausible enough that
| anybody in that organization should be ready to
take any plumber that came along. but with the
| change Of times has come modification OF man.
ners. If the official rascal is not entirely extir-
pated. he has at least learned circumspection
The ingenuity OF the collectors Of tribute In ac-
counting for its dsbursal parallels that OF the
cabman at Lambeth. who thus explained the
heavy fares he exacted from visitors to the
palace You see Your Honor. divides with the
Archbishop"
The effect Of good government in New-York
Is strikingly shown in the lowering OF the death
rate for the last year, the credit for which must
be awarded mainly to the efficiency Of the
Health Department and the Department Of
Street Cleaning.
It Is no wonder that the political pilgrims
who brought a tin horn thirty feet long to the
President-elect the other day should have been
promptly provided with free transportation
home 1t was a case in which any existing
statute against deadheads might we'll be
pended. Coxey their man. At the small
end Of that horn he would loom into a figure
Of National Importance.
The number Of old deeds. bonds OF mort
main and other disturbing parchments which
are unearthed from time to time. threatening
existing titles to property, Is prodigious. and
put together they would exceed the scrolls Of
Pergamus and Alexandria. notable feature
OF these documents is. however. that they COM
monty thunder in the index. and really affect
very few retrocessions or mutations Of estate.
II II were otherwise the owners Of corner
other lots in ST. Paul and Minneapolis would
Just now eat their meals in fear and sleep In
the affection Of horrible dreams shaking them
nightly Of being cvicted from their holdings.
An old deed recently turned up in Chillicothe.
Ohio, made by the Nawdawsse Indians. now
obsolete. subsisting not even in bones.
being pyramidally extant. vesting in Jonathan
Carver and his assigns forever all the land and
a good deal which these thriving
cities and their suburbs .built. 1t is in no.
wise likely that it's validity will be established
or that the claims under it will ever amount to
more than those which the heirs of Anneke
he NJ T~t,,
Church Corporation The case may pervade the
| local courts for a while. but nothing more i'm
portant Is likely to come Of 1t than the formula
| ton Of some more less interesting historic
particulars concerning the Nawdawsss Indians.
who probably did not own the property they
pretended TO convey palming OFF a gold brick
| on the unsuspecting Jonathan Carver not worth
the publishing trinketry and soul-consuming
nrewater which he very likely gave In return
for It,
Out OF the 81. 10000 appropriated for the pur
| chase Of sites for county parks for Brooklyn,
there remains a balance of $4,000. Mayor
Wurster wisely suggests that 1t should be used
for additional parks or Fairgrounds In parts Of
the city where no such breathing places now ex-
ist 1t is difficult to see how the money could be
used to better advantage.
The plan for a bridge across Coney Island
Creek. to form a direct connection between the
Island and the region surrounding Bensonhurst.
Is an excellent one. and II carried out will be
greatly appreciated by all who drive and wheel.
At present. after going to the Island by Ocean
Parkway, II is necessary to return over the same
route every time. the disadvantages Of which
are obvious. A bill has been drafted providing
for the construction Of the bridge. II ought tn
be paased. and IL work should be taken In hand