The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-11-25
FRESH GOSSIP
FROM GOTHAM
Grand Jury TO Investigate Dlscre-
pancies in Water Department
PARENTS. DEAD, BOYS STARVING.
Ga coeo Brought to the Attention OF
the Police millionaire Inter-
ested in Building Model
Town

NEW YORK, November a lieAp 800
,.#,,d of its own volltlon, ne
mr., Yesterday decided to take d Hali0 -.
49, Investigation of the Department VI
w, 1,.s -. S,,,r,v Chairman John p. faure
- his q associates, after reading III yes
tarday,s newspapers the reports Oh I reoe'
icl, p dc Becard to the Merchants Assn
citation, in which charges are mace tiia.
discrepancy in water rentals, Sio"lhS "
apparent loss to the city OF s4,lo'' o'- eNi..s'
set Monday morning next, at hali-pasl -
O'Clock, for the beginning OF d NV nus
inquiry into the matter. 1t IS coiia 1...-
probable that the officials OF the "atel
Department will be asked to explain nc
presence of the large quantity OF VI 5'Hio
waiter in the citys drinking water.
William Dalton, commissioner OF water
SUNNY and his chief engineer. George w.
Birdsall, have been summoned 10 appeai'
as also have several bookkeepers- OF t!ie
Department Frederick 3. de Berard' 1ne
expert accountant whose report attracted
the Grand Jury's attention, ana Officers
of the Merchants Association.
While no charge Of malfeasance is maze
nv the Merchants Association. it is al
legged that the system OF bookkeeping IN
the Department of Water Supply makes IL
impossible even for an expert to deter
mine whether the city's money mas oseH
detected into the pockets OF lndlvlduais'
| or there has been failure to collect some
| 100000 in water rentals.
STARVED TO DEATH.
Hungry and hopeless, crouchins IN child
| ish terror beside the body OF their oeao
| father. the three little sons Of Joseph Van
| Druska were found yesterday by the
| neishbors in rear room Of a tenement at
No $40 East Seventy-seventh Street.
| Father and children were last seen enter
| ing the room on Tuesday. Their slight
| store of food was exhausted Wednesday
| night, and on Thursday afternoon Van
| Druska died.
| He was one of the cigarmakers who
| went on a strike last spring Since then
! he had been unable to obtain work.
| Suffering from consumption, from which
| his wife recently died, and unable TO pro-
| cure medicines, he steadily grew weaker,
| and began to subsist, with his boys, on
| the charity Of his neighoors.
| Word was sent to the police of the East
| Sixty-seventh Street Station, and they re-
moved the body to the Morgue. The boys,
| Christopher, Emil and Robert, thirteen
| eight and seven years old, We're brought
before Magistrate Pool aud committed to
the care of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children.
UNEARNED INCREMENT.
Spencer Trask, millionaire head of the
| banking house of Spencer Trash and Com
| pany, of this city, in association with other
wealthy and practical phianthropists, is
| interested in a scheme which has just
| been launched for building a model town.
| In this community the working man is
| not only to get a full dinner pail, but is in
addition to reap in the form OF both public
improvements and private accommodations
a considerable portion of the direct profits
! of the industries which employ hiru, and
also a fair share of that 'unearned IN
crement,' of which Henry George declared
that the workers who made me wealth Of
the world are deprived.
This scheme was successfully set afoat
Thursday evening at banquet given in
honor of Mr.. Trask, at the Aldeae. in
Philadelphia, by Joseph ]. Byers, OF that
city, and a committee was appointed to
select site for the town and prepare the
detailed plans of organization. Money IN
ample quantity is said to DC ready to hack
the new enterprise, as we'll as industries,
whose factories are to serve as the back
bone for the towns commercial success.
USED MAILS FRAUDULENTLY.
Charged with having used the mails for
fraudulent purposes, Charles G. Horton,
who has been doing business under the
name of the Consolidated Lumber Com
pany. was arrested yesterday on complaint
of Postottice Inspector John e. Ashe. Hor-
ton was held in $500 bail for examination
next Friday by United States Commits
slOner, Shields. Bonds were furnished by
/ Joseph Price, of No. 80 Elizabeth Street
Complaint was made to the PostOffice
Department by John J. NIcNelvey counsel
for thu National Wholesale Lumber Deal
| ers' Association. Mr.. Nckelvey says that
he has in his possession letters from
more than twenty lumber producers who
nnr M Ia hat how no
signments OF lumber by the carload, for
which he has never paid them. The lum-
! Der sent was valued at from 800 to $3.50
| a carload.
DIVORCE QUIETLY OBTAINED.
| Mrs. Tirzah Hamlin rutland, we'll
known concert singer, who has been the
| contralto soloist for nine years in the
! Fashionable Lafayette-Avenue Prasbyte-
! rlan Church, in Brooklyn, of which DR..
| David Gregg is pastor. quietly obtained
a divorce yesterday morning from her hus-
| band, Arthur l.. Rutland, who receives a
| large salary as head of a department in
| the Munson Steamship Agency. The di
vorce is the outcome Of a scandal which
has divided the Rutland family for seve-
| raj years
Once Mrs. rutland was disposed to for
give irSr young husband, but the discovery
that he did not repent made her change
her mind, and she brought the suit after
consultation with her brother and friends
III the LafaEette-Avenue Church
Ruland, who is son of a wealthy
New York family, was married to Miss
Hamlln by DR.. Gregg, in the Lafayette-
Avenue Church. about six years ago. Both
We're prominent in church work, and Miss
Hamln was even at that time noted as
singer. The wedding was fashionable
one. The young couple went to live j.
/ South Oxford Street, and little boy was
born The child is now five years old, and
the court gives him to his mother.
According to the testimony in the ca Sc
Rutland was guilty of some indiscretions
l. in 1886. Some time after that his wife
learned OF his actions. Dreading a scan.
dal, she and her friends did not appeal tc
the divorce court at the time. rutland, ir
z letter written afterward, spoke of hayine