Arizona republican., 1899-05-04
UNIQUE ANTIQUITIES SOLD.
The Scattering of a Long Island Char
 acter's Collection of Curios.

| There, was dispersed last week at a Fifth avenue auction room one of the most remarkable collection of an tiques ever gathered together in Amer ica It was the lifelong labor of a unique character, the late John J. Hal leran of Flushing, L. l. Halleran was a Long Islander born and began his career as a curio collec- tor in the sos. Thirty odd years of accumulated finds" were stored in a great Building near the Bridge Street depot at Flushing and overf1owed into barns, sheds and other hooks. They comprised some of the most beautiful works Of art and rarest bits of furni- ture and plate that ever came to this country or were made in colonial days Halleran was not dealer direct to the public. His rare pieces usually passed through the hands of the best known curio dealers in New York and other large cities. His business it was to keep a record of all auctions and at tend every sale all the way from As toria to Monlauk Point. As the con tents of some Of the most historical old mansions Of the finest Quaker families of the island went under the auction eers hammer within these years, MT. Halleran managed to secure great cu- rios at a price that was astoundingly low.
 In the years of his collecting rage Halleran gathered together nearly half a million pieces, only selling them when he was compelled to do so in or der to forage in new fields. Nothing escaped hirn-sculptures paintings, old Ia, Io1r .io1 haa ings, tapestries, plate, old glass, pot tery and porcelain, jewelry and auto graphs One of the quserest was a note, which ran as follows:
 ''I promise to pay, or cause to be paid, unto Cornelius Vanderbilt or his assigns, the just and full sum of fifteen pounds Of good and lawful money of New Jersey with lawful interest from the date hereof, to be paid the first day of May, 1794, for value received, as witness my hand and seal this 9th day of April, 1793.
 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. "Witnsss present:
 Joshua Wyckoff.
 ''Garret Wyckoff.
 q sine my right and title within this note menshnunned unto John Van NIln, May AULQ, lISo, Dy uS--OUTu61- jus Vanderbilt
 A great many parchments were Of value and interesting as well. As witness the following code of laws adopted for the government of Natick, Mass, in 1851:
 If any man be idle week. or at most a fortnight, he shall pay five shillings.
 If any man shall baat his wife his hands shall be tide behind him, and he shal, be carried to a place of justice to be severely dealt with.
 Every young man, if not another's servant, and if unmarried, shall be compelled to set up a wigwam and plant for himself and not shift up and down among the Wigwams
 If any woman shall not have her hair tied up, but hang loose or be cut. like a mans hair, she shall pay five shillings.
 T'All men who wear long locks shall pay five shillings."
 Whie MT. Halleran had a most re- markable instinctiVe knowledge of what was old, curious and valuable, he was not deeply verseG in the rarities that literally glutt5d his several build ings. But he knew the commercial value of them and he was simply in- defatigable in his search, far and wide