New-York tribune., 1907-10-06
HOLDUP OF CITY HALTED
WE4THER RECORDS DO 1T.
Damage by Floods Sought When
Theu ShO7c There Vas No Rain.

1,,,estigation by Controller Metz Of the numerous
,latrns fled against the city for alleged damage
,-on overhowing sewers shows that some of the
,ou-rers have overreached themselves and that
tbe,- attempts 20 hold up the city will come to
nothing.
The Controller. TO prevent the collection OF hun
,Ads Of thousands of dollars worth OF suspicious
claims has obtained from the United States
weather Bureau a complete record Of the rainfall
tor the last four years Among the claims filed
,rit the Controller twenty-one, aggregating
s2s s., for flood" damages March u, 1904. The
veatber bureau records show that in this locality
bsre was no rain AT all March u of that year the
sev being merely cloudy. The official record shows
,bat not a drop of rain fell between March 10 and
March le 1905.
The Controller yesterday directed Frank J. Prial
chief examiner of sewer claims. TO take charge of
81 water diversion cases, a class Of cases against
the city that is growing 10 enormous proportions
There was rainfall of IS Of an inch on July g.
7s4 The possibilities of the sewer claim method
NJ getting rich quick just then beginning to
dawn, and I67 claims. amounting s5l 902 2s were
FLED AS the summer advanced the system de-
veloped rapidly. It was principally in the hands
Of a few attorneys, but they adopted wholesale
methods and finally became so voracious that they
manufactured claims regardless Of whether or not
the alleged claimant had sustained any loss. On
August s lSo4 .o7 Of an inch of rain was recorded
br the weather bureau. This is just about enough
m
ro-ked overtime this flood" and turned out
sa claims amounting IN the aggregate to sl47 $40 A.
better idea Of the sudden popularity Of this
Industry may be gathered from the fact that
August l. 1904 and several days earlier. there had
been rainfall Of l.ss Of inch. which brought
GU only l6e claims. with total OF s57,525 81.
The infant industry had gathered such strength
by March leo5. that the formalty OF having
any rainfall whatever dispensed with. The
Official records Of the United States Weather Bu-
rsau show tnat March 10. 1901 there was tall
Of g Of an inch. %ot another drop of rain fell
rrtI March g, when there q precipitation OF
. # an inch but for March % which is officially
described cloudy the twsnty-one claims, Rg-
grr-ating s. 245 :. were fled for floods"
Tie system was well organized that as soon
as here was enough rain 10 lay the dust ard
often when there not runners from the head
ou. tiers Of the various sewer claim specialists
fastened 70 quarters Of the city that were known
IS flooded districts Competition keen. and
vile every runner had his own customers there
vas nothing - prevent the runner OF one factory
taxing claim. although l. had already been given
the regular rlune- from anotlc-. In this man
ne- many duplicate claims for the same time and
place were fled. By the close of 1905 more than
te7 thousand claims aggregatng *5OOo,0Oo. were
avatng adjustment IN the Controllers Office. IN
sre Of fact that almost s5n1eoo had been actu-
ally paid out in cash. much Of II confession Of
Judgment in one far that carried question
able eases with it,
controller Metz reorganizcd tho bureau May g.,
1871 and from that day this the total Of all
sewer claims flied l.3. with aggregate Of
ge5ll 30 This curtallment OF the business was
due t8 the fact that Mr Metz organized a system
OF inspections that forestalled the runners. In
former times or three years often ELAPSED be-
fore any representative Of the city started 10 in
vastgate. It then Impossible 10 see any Of
lie goods alleged T. have been damaged Nj
Metz directed that inspectors should go through
the flooded districts within tTenty-four hours Of
the storm
While the sewer claim industry is on its last legs
q class of claims pushing the front
These are known water diversion claims, and
those already filed amount 10 almost s. 600 600 while
large amounts of city cash have already been paid
out in damages. The claims come from the
country districts where It is alleged that the city
II seeking a water supply diverts water from its
natural course and brings damage to crops, etc.
With tie vast plans for water supply now under
way the possibilities of this class OF claims is
dazzling. so the Controller has directed Mr.. Prial
take charge Of IL.