Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-24
ROUND ABOUT NEW YORK.
RippIes on the Current of Life I'm the
Metropolis.

OudTlJdDlS InSlllullOubt VI WhiCh
are hundreds in Greater New York, an
ticipate great difficulty in taking care Of
the poor this winter owing to the in
crease in the cost Of the necessaries Of
life. d. G. Potter, chief examiner Of ac-
counts Of charitable institutions, partly or
wholly supported by the city, declares that
unless great additions are made to their
support most of them will soon be in a
critical condition, This Is due mainly to
the unexampled increase in cost OF food
and fuel. Present rates of payment per
capita for hospitals are so to so cents and
Mr.. Potter recommends that they be
raised from 70 to 80 cents.
Mr. Frank w. Skinner Of the Engineering
Record has a paper in the October Cen
fury on the subject of engineering feats
in the construction of the New York sub
way, In which he describes the running
Of the subway under the Columbus monu-
ment and the moving of a tunnel. He also
gives this account Of the relocating OF a
long, thin. high wall:
An ordinary derrick will handle compact
loads of three, five or even ten tons a hun
dred-ton load is about the limit of the ca
pacity Of the heaviest steel ordnance cars
drawn by powerful locomotives, or OF the
largest hydraulic Jacks, which will lift 1t a
few inches so slowly that the motion Is
scarcely perceptible. A building weighing
300 tons may be carefully braced and lifted
up or moved literally with rollers on
smooth level tracks by the help of scores
Of powerful Jacks. It would require i'm
mense power to push along even a ifty-ton
boulder resting on the ground and yet be
more difhcult to move a long, thin high
wall several feet transversely without
cracking, tipping or twisting 1t.
Generally, when such a wall Is to be
located II is taken down and rebuilt, but
such was not the case on the subway above
One Hundred and Thirty-ftth street, where,
at the entrance to a tunnel section walls
nearly 200 feet long retain the bank on
each side Of the cut. After the structure
was completed It was decided to widen 1t
eleven feet to receive a third track, and,
although II was at first intended to tear
down the masonary and build new, IL was
finally decided to move 1t bodily and this
was successfully accomplished at a saving
Of several thousand dollars.
The walls are Of concrete and brisk, thlr-
teen feet high at one end, three feet thick
on top and weigh about 4OO. 900 pounds
each. The earth was dug away behind
them for a width of six feet and to a
~ III CAO NASAA
the bottom Of each trench a concrete moor
was laid Just below the level OF the foot
of the wall. Small holes we're tunneled
under the wall a few feet apart. and in
them was laid transverse timbers reach
ing to the floor Of the trench and having
both ends supported on cross stills. Mar
row. thin, creased steel track plates were
inserted under the walls on top OF the
timbers and extended across the trench
floors. Small steel bearing plates were
set on the track plates under the front ana
rear edges Of the walls and pairs OF oak
wedges. driven between the cross timbers
and their stills lifted the whole wall on
the steel pillars.
Horizontal hve-ton jackscrews we're set
close together against the face OF the wall
at the base for it's whole length and being
simultaneously operated the wall In a
few hours was moved back FIVE and a half
feet on the floor in the trench. The pro-
jecting ends Of the track plates were cut
of, and the spaces between the plates under
the wall were filled with liquid cement
The work on each wall was done by twenty
men in ten days, and the walls we're not
distorted the sixteenth Of an inch.
A police captain Of New York City who
was dismissed from the force a few days
ago was responsible for many amusing
stories based on his use-or misuse-of
words. Once he asserted that he never
paid any attention to unanimous letters"
On another occasion he is said to have re-
ferred to his possession OF a "veracious"
appetite. Third avenue, he told a man one
day. runs paralyzed to Lexington avenue"
At another time, one story goes. he was
reading to an outgoing platoon a list OF
some clothing that had been reported stolen.
One item was a Kersey coat. Next on the
list, men" he announced, in his rich brogue,
"Is a kerosene coat" II was this captain
who directed a patrolman to open a window
in the station house and "~putrefy the air"
II was not this captain, but a sergeant now
dead, who while testifying in a trial at
police headquarters, asked permission Of
the commissioner TO correct his testimony.
saying: "Mr. Commissioner. / wish to re-
tract the v~eracity Of my former statement"
New York's greatness, says a writer In
Pearson's. is shown by the fact that the
port Of New York transacts a vast proper
tion OF the foreign OF the United
States; that Of letters alone the New York
Il nosto6nca handlea 697 TIA $40 annually and