Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-09-18
OUR NEW YORK LETTER,
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE I

OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
An interesting development of re-
form in school conditions in the
crowded quarters of this city is the
creation OF Fairgrounds on the roofs
OF schoolhonses. One of the laws
which resulted from the Glider teae-
ment-house Commission" of 1895
provided that no schoolhouses thence
forth should be built without open-air
Fairgrounds. AS the funds at the
command of the board of education
are limited, and real estate costs
great deal in such sections of the city,
the board devised this roof substitute,
which really has many advantages over
. playground on the levc! of the
street. being well up in the air, and
swept by breezes which do not
touch the streets. One -snoh 'epace
finished, and half dozen will
be ready for use shortly after the be-
ginning of the school year. The roofs
are inclosed in wall some Is feet
high on the north, east and west sides,
and five feet high on the south side,
making the playground comfortable in
winter as well rs summer. Over the
whole will be stretched wire netting,
preventing the dangers of accident
from climbing children, and enabling
games of ball to be played without
chance OF losing the ball. The extra
expense over an ordinary roof is sm all,
and the children can have outdoor sx.
ercise.
Dick Croker is the only dandelion
on the lawn now in New York. All
his movements are noted down and
served up for the enlightenment of
the readers of the he VS. papers, and not
Croker wink or blink escapes the
observation of the metropolitan press.
Mr.. Croker wakes from his nocturnal
slumbers, performs his morning alb
lutions, eats his breakfast, puts ON
his English togs, takes an outing in
the park, and so goes through his
days routine, every item of which is
elaborately described and dilated upon
by the reporters, who are apparently
under instructions not to let up on
the movements of the returned boss
for an instant. Verify, fierce is the
light that beats upon throne, but
6ercer yet and more pervasive are the
Roentgen rays that are focused on a
Tammany boss in Greater New York
lust at this crisis,
A somewhat complicated family
scandal was stirred up here the other
day by the arrest of DR.. J. N. Butler
of New York on the charge of need
lessly holding an autopsy on the body
OF the late William r. Roberts, min
lister to Chill during Mr.. Cleveland's
administration. The charge was
brought by James F. Roberts, the son
of the deceased. It was claimed in
behalf of DR.. Butler and the physi-
clans who assisted him that Mr.. Rob-
erts had consented to the autopsy be-
fore his death, but Magistrate Crane
held that the family should have been
notified, and DR.. Butler was held over.
Mr.. Roberts was rich dry goods mer-
chant in New York before he was ap-
pointed as minister. He was para
lytic in his later years, and it is
claimed that for nine years he was
kept prisoner by certain people, and
his family not allowed to see him.
The rapid transit committee of this
city, after having completed it's excel
lent scheme for underground rail
roads, is baked in one particular
the tunneling of Battery park-by the
park commission. The park commits
sioners, now as always, appear to be a
stupid set. After what has been al
lowed to the elevated railroads in
their great injury to this one little
breathing place on the harbor shore,
the objection of these commissioners
seems very foolish. They have had
the plans of the rapid transit commits
sioners in view since April, but have
inst now entered their objection. The
refusal of the park commission will
only delay the work little, however,
because without doubt the rapid tran
sit plan will be carried out.
Business men here claim $3.50, ,OOO,-
900 of business for the city during
August as the result of trade excur-
sions, and about one-half of this is
declared to be entirely new business
that is, business gained at the ex-
pense of other wholesale trade CEN
tres. As only $500 outside merchants
are known to have visited the city
during the month, this is probably an
exaggerated estimate of the proper
tion of new business, but it is inter-
esting. Now the merchants are strik-
ing hard for special rates from the
New England roads, and say they in
tend to get them if it takes until win
ter.
Transatlantic travellers are having
some of their alleged experiences at
the customs house here written up in
the London Times. "Charges of i'm
pudent official blackmail are freely
made" the report says. Take this in
connection with the frank admission
of customs inspector to your corre-
spOndent, that so per cent of the in
spectors at New York will take gift
of IS or $40 from a traveller, ''but only
as an evidence of good will" There
is possible relationship between this
admitted practice and the London
Times charge of blackmail.
Thomas Hussey, the old Alabama
man who was found in Broadway re-
Gently with $3.50 in securities in his
boots, has just died in the Brooklyn
tenement of his graudnie,e. Mrs. Har-
riet Twitchell, and with another grand
niece, Mrs. Donohue, at his side.