The Sunday globe., 1901-07-21
THE ANNOYANCES
To Which Citizens Are Subjected
at the District Building.
THE CASE OF Mr.. SANDFORO
Arrested Forty Times ON Frlvlous PreteSts
and Compelled 10 Come Twenty Times for
a Permit 10 Repair and Remodel His
HOuSeS-An Outrageous State Of Affairs
al District Headquarters

scene, for the past week or two of
some pitched battles between the SUI
perintendent of the Street Cleaning
Department. Mr.. StutEer, and Auditor
Petty, the former endeavoring to get
paid for sundry relatives and people
who, he claims, renders the District
government service on Sundays, and
the latter resisting payment in accord.
ance with the law as he sees it. The
daily press, however, has ventilated
this subject to the full extent, and the
Sunday Globe leaves the matter in the
able hands of the daily space grinders.
1t appears, to obtain permits for re.
construction, remodeling, or repair Of
houses, If the applicant does not stand
in with the powers that be, he encoun.
ters as much trouble in securing the de.
sired permit as the powers are expe.
riencing in obtaining from China the
indemnity agreed upon for the slaugh.
ter of our missionaries.
Mr.. d. A. Sanford, a well-known
property owner and taxpayer, has, in
some manner, incurred the hostility of
not only the District Inspectors Office,
but also the Health Department. He
has appeared in the Police Court not
less than 40 times within the past few
years, summoned there by either one
of those Departments on the most friv.
olous charges, but which as will be
readily understood, has taken up a
great portion of Mr.. Sanford's time,
and necessitated the expenditure Of
money for attorney fees, witnesses and
other expenses. Neither the Building
Inspectors Office nor the Health De.
partment have so far secured a single
conviction upon any one Of the charges
brought against Mr.. Sanford. This
fact, Of itself, will demonstrate to the
public the malicious character Of the
petty prosecutions to which he has
been subjected by these public serv.
ants.
Mr. Sanford has a great many houses
in different parts Of Washington Of the
tenant class, many of them costing him
more to keep in repair than the rents
amount to. He is noted by all prop
erty owners, as well as others who
know him, for his particular careful.
ness touching the condition of his
property, not leaving anything undone
in and about the premises which re.
ANAAN albNAllAuB w. ANtNtI lIldlGSB, ne
has been arrested, as stated, by the
Health Department for permitting nui-
sances, and by the Building Inspector
for failure to comply with the alleged
rules of his Office. Recently Mr.. San
ford applied for a permit to remodel
some houses on E street, near Ninth.
Not anticipating any trouble in secur.
ing the desired permit, he bad en-
ployed a superintendent Of construc-
ton by the day, and other men by the
week, These men were under pay,
whether they worked or not, and, OF
course, Mr.. Sanford endeavored to eX.
pedite the work so as to derive a rev.
enue from the tenants. He applied for
the usual permit and was met with an
excuse to call tomorrow. This was
kept up for week or more, Mr. San.
ford calling each day to obtain the per-
init and Inspector Brady putting him
OFF, under one pretext or another. Fl
nally, Mr. Sanford determined to bring
matters to a crisis, when applying as
usual for the permit, he was met with
the old-time excuse, and he plainly
told the inspector and the officials what
he thought of them. They pretended
W 'AAON bAHb NhNy Mtlt uOl DItJuulttu
but obeying the law, but he reminded
them Of a conversation that he had
overheard, wherein the chief of the Of
flee said to his subordinate, "Is there
any way that | can refuse safely per-
init to this MANI" This was denied
when Mr., Sanford repeated the Ian
guage to them that he had overheard
and having with him a witness who
also overheard it, he challenged them
to a denial in the presence Of said wit.
ness, and they shamefacedly backed
ont.
The old Seed Building, near Fra
zee's laundry, which the Government
had for the storage of seeds, is the
properly of Mr.. Sanford All during
the time that the Government occupied
the premises, the Health Department
had no fault to find with the condition
Of the premises, but as soon as the
Government moved out of the build
ing, Mr.. Sanford was notified to clean
up the nuisance in the cellar within
"a hours, This nuisance was the see
page from a sewer, two houses east Of
the Sanford place. The seepage had
accumulated in the cellar, and Mr.. San
ford realized the justice of abating IT,
which he did. He then notified the
Health Department of the condition of
the sewer, and the fact that the same
nuisance would occur again If the
sewer was not repaired, but to his COM
plant the Department has paid no
heed whatever. One Of Mr.. Sanford's
grievances relates to the fact that, hav-
ing abated a nuisance complained of
in another property Of his he was ar
rested and brought before Judge Kim
ball to whom he explained the facts
The judge disbelieved him, and would
have inflicted penalty but that he had
summoned as a witness the garbage
collector. The Judge believed the gar
bage collector and not the taxpayer,
and finally dismissed the case.
For two or three years the sewage has
been seeping into his cellars on Louis
lana ave. TO stop this sewage from
coming in, he has had to expend sew
eral hundred dollars. Notwithstand-
ing this, he Is arrested on the smallest
pretext and dragged before the police
court although he is a sufferer from
the unabated nuisances OF his neigh
bors who are neither compelled to stop
the same nor arrested for permitting
them to continue.
Asa Illustration Of the extremes 10
which the Building Inspector has seen
hl to go with this gentleman, 1t is only
necessary to state that in some prop
erty that he has near the Jail, the
houses Of which he rents for from S5
to S12 a month, a demand was made
that he should have plumbing executed
at cost Of 500, which he subsequent
ly had done much better for $50 They
also wanted him to expend about 49,
600 in Improvements on these shanties
or small houses, going so far as to in
sist that he should put bathroom in
each house and keep a fire in the
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