The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-09
K | H A !!
R|CKETTY NO. Y.
Astor Place School Found in
Worse Plight Than
Ever.
CEILINGS TUMBLING DOWN
The Roof a Mere Seive and
the Whole Building
in Ruin.
AWFUL PERIL ESCAPED
Had Children Been in the Class
rooms, Last Week Might
Have Seen a Tragedy.
CEILINGS TUMBLINC DOWN
AWFUL PERIL ESCAPED

At the office of the Board of Education,
this afternoon, it was announced that No.
u School, Astor place and Crescent ave-
nue.. which has been closed since Novem-
ber II, for repairs, would probably be re-
opened in about four days.
A reporter for 1.-The News went to the
school to find out what changes had
been made and what remained to be
done. He found out that the school
building is in a worse condition than
when it was closed to the pupils, and
that it will be impossible to open it until
more money is appropriated and 1t Is
thoroughly overhauled and repaired. AS
it is at present, it would be a crime to
risk the lives of children within the
walls "a
The school was closed because of the
unsanitary condition of the building. The
cellar was overflowed with refuse, stag
nant water and the sewage that with each
heavy storm backed up from the drains
The flooring and general arrangement OF
the first floor were anything but what
they should be. The result was that
a large number of children were stricken
with diphtheria and scarlet fever, taken
because of these unsanitary conditions.
The Board of Education closed the
=, "a
other schools when these conditions be-
came known. Money was appropriated
to put the school in sanitary condition
Engineers and experts in sanitary mat
ters examined the cellar and the first floor
and suggested important changes that
were needed. A proper system of drain
age. they advised, had to be introduced,
new sewer connections laid and traps
constructed. The boilers, also, it was
found, had to be moved, as they stood on
a boulder which attracted the water from
natural springs and made the foundations
unstable.
These and other changes were suggest
ed and were ordered made. No thought
was apparently given to the possible needs
of the building above the first floor The
cellar and first floor, with the lavatory
which is built apart from the building in
the yard. were ordered repaired according
to the most improved sanitary methods,
but no repairs were ordered upstairs.
The carpenters, plumbers and masons
have been at work for over two months
and are almost through with the work
they were ordered to do, but on the COM
pletion of their work the school will not
be ready for occupancy. 1t is now in
far worse condition than it was last
November The trouble is not the cellar
but in the upper stories. It is lucky
that the school has been closed. as, had
there been any children in the class
rooms few days ago, some of them
would surely have been killed.
The ceilings of the second and third
stories have fallen in several places and
large pieces of plastering continue to drop
GdcQ Qdys liC CCiliHSS riC attCiiy
ruined beyond hope of repair, and they
must be replaced before it will be safe to
open the school again.
The roof will also have to be torn off
and replaced. The last heavy storm has
wrought great damage to the building.
The roof leaks in half a hundred places
walls, spreads along the ceilings and
cracks them everywhere. For the last
few days Janitor T. L Walter has had
his hands full placing vessels to catch
the watr.
In one of the side rooms on the main
primary floor, he has spread huge piece
of oil cloth over the desks to catch the
water that drips incessantly from the
ceiling. This has to be run off into pals
and taken away. In Miss Marks class
room the Sixth grammar, four ash cans
have been placed to catch water.
In Miss Gregery's class room the
seventh grammar, large piece of the
ceiling has fallen. Plaster has also fallen
in the class rooms of Miss Stryker and
Miss Devany.
BY far the worst damage, however, is
that which has been done in the fourth
grammar room, where Miss Dominick $
class meets. There, a huge piece of cor
nice nearly ten feet long fell few days
ago, landing right on several of the desks
It must have weighed over one hundred
pounds, and had any children been be
meath it at the time they must surely
have either been killed or seriously in
1ured. The improvements that have beer
planned for down stairs are most Of then