Evening star., 1901-12-28
City Will Petition Congress for New
Post Office.
TWO-HEADED SNAKE In PARK
Tammany Vigilance Committee
to Watch New Mayor
SCHLEY IN TOWN
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

building to take the place of the present
quarters. Announcement of the plans of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to
transfer its main terminal from Jersey City
to within a stones throw Of Herald Square
has started a movement to locate the post
office in that vicinity. 1t is argued that
the construction Of the tunnel under the
North and East rivers will bring the main
stations Of the principal railway systems
centering in this city from the north. west
and south into radius of a few blocks
With the Pennsylvania and Long Island
roads ending at Bath street and 7th avenue.
and the New York Central and New York,
New Haven and Hartford roads terminal
ing at 42d street and 4th avenue, the pres
ent post Office will be left three miles away
from the mail carrying center.
The close proximity of the rapid transit
tunnel, which may be used to convey the
mails quickly to the upper part of Man
haitian and to the Bronx and the projected
trolley tunnel from New Jersey were the
post office properly located, would place at
the disposal Of the postal authorities addi
tonal means for the rapid collection and
distribution of the mails. This reason
alone, it is claimed would be sufficient to
warrant the removal of the general post
office from it's isolated position, even If It
afforded all the facilities for handling the
mails that are required, instead of cramped
and wholly inadequate quarters. To leave
the central office where it is would mean
that more than 100000 pouches weighing
thousands Of tons, would have to be hauled
backward and forward through three miles
of congested streets every year at enor-
nous expense and great loss of time.
TwO-Headed Snake at Bronx Park.
Up at Bronx Park they have a curiosity
which is exhibited with pride by the natu-
ralsts in charge. 1t is two-headed snake.
And the joke of the situation from the pub
lie point of view, though hardly from the
point of view of the snake or snakes as the
case may be, IS that when food is placed
before it the heads commence a battle
royal. The only way that the attendants
can feed the snake is to cover up one of the
heads. A somewhat parallel case is found
in the attempts to elect a successor to Con-
gressman Nicholas Muller in the congress
slonal district which is made up of Wall
street and Staten Island. Perry Belmont is
a candidate, though he has never resided
in the district, his home for years having
been on Staten Island. Against him was
pitted Police Commissioner Murphy. The
result of the fight has been two conven-
tions, two candidates and an appeal to the
courts to decide between Belmont and Muir
phys henchman. young resident of the
district named O'Grady. The joke of the
situation is that all the efforts of Richard
Croker to blanket one of the two heads
of the democratic congressional snake have
been useless and unavailing. Belmont and
O'Grady are still fighting for control in the
district, which only goes to show that Cro-
kers power Is on the wane. In the old days
he need only have crooked his little finger
to have stopped such fight.
Tammany Vigilance Committee.
The plan to form a Tammany vigilance
committee, to watch Mayor Lows admin
istration, has been revived and prominent
member of the organization says that the
committee will be formed in a few days
with De Lancey Nicol as chairman. The
plan is to appoint only lawyers on the
committee, and have one or more of them
assigned to each city department to watch
the public business. 1t is proposed to have
the committee meet in Tammany Hall once
or twice a week, for the members to COM
pare notes and evidence and see If they
can indict anybody. One report has it that
Squire Croker has ordered that only young
lawyers in the organization be placed on
the committee. but a later report is to the
effect that such well-known Absaloms as
Col. Asa Bird Gardiner, aged sixty four;
John Whalen, aged forty-eight, and Mau-
rice B. Blumenthal, aged thirty-seven, are
to be the chief men on the committee 1t is
not intended that the committee shall
watch the police or the Red Light district.
They are to search the city departments for
campaign material,
Admiral Schley's Admirers.
Admiral schley is the center Of admira-
tion of throngs Of well wishers. He went
into the shopping district the other day
with his wife, hoping he would not be rec
ognized. He was recognized, however and
his greeting must have done much to
soften the bitterness of the memory of his
recent experience The admiral, Mrs. Schley
and the married daughter, Mrs. Wortley,
were abroad early buying Christmas pres
ents They went together to the doors of
the stores, and then separated SO that one
might not see what the other was buying
This led to some embarrassing experiences
for the admiral. In shops where there were
young women clerks business was practi-
cally suspended during the time of his pres
ence. The saleswomen all wanted to fol-
low him around and shake his hand. The
outspoken compliments heaped upon him
caused his cheeks to blush and his eyes to
shine. Not only in the shops but on the
streets was Admiral schley recognized. No
man in New York was the recipient of more
hearty wishes for Merry Christmas Grat-
flying as this all was to the admiral II is
doubtful II he felt the pride that Mrs.
Schley felt. 1t was a pleasant experience
for the hero Of Santiago and his wife.
City Must Borrow Money.
Controller-elect Grout will have to begin
the new year and his administration by bor-
rowing large sum of money. The rate of
interest is always high the first week in
January, and he may have to pay as much
as per cent. The causes of the money
stringency in the city treasury is this: The
nScal year OF the city begins January /,
and the taxes for the year 1902 are not COL
lected until October so that for ten months
of the year the city is borrower Be
sides Controller Coler will not be able to
leave any balance for his successor. The !
city must redeem about $1,000, 600 of out
standing obligations before January /, and
there is only about S., ,OO0, 900 to do it with.
Controller Coler has been borrowing very
little money in order to reduce the interest
account.
Mrs. Blanks Gift of Lemons.
It was at the Christmas charity fair
Mrs. Blank had volunteered to furnish all
the lemons needed for lemonade. The rooms
were warm, the crowd numerous, the lem
onade booth was center Of a thirsty and
clamorous throng. Early In the evening
the attendants smiled upon the throng and
dipped out lemonade with free and care
less hand. BY and by it became evident
that the supply was bound to give out be-
fore the thirsty crowd had had enough to
drink. This would never do, those in charge
decided, and a hasty calculation assured
them of the fact that the lemons which Mrs
Blank had sent were just about half as
many as were needed, so the telephone was
called into service and Mrs. Blank was
questioned as to what was to be done un-
der the circumstances.