The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-07
NO MORE GERM
LADEN ICE IN
THIS CITY
Action Taken to Protect
Public Dealers Accused Of
Selling Infected Product.

-
The sale of ice. pronounced impure
for domestic urposes cut from th'
ponds In Irvington, was taken up las
night by the sanitary committee of th'
Beard of Health, and one man caugh'
selling it by Health Inspector A. ]
Brady was heard on the matter. Tht
board renewed it's action of some time
ago in empowering Health Officer
David d. Chandler to revoke the IL
cense of any dealer selling Irvingtor
ice for other than storage purposes, as
was ordered by the board last spring
after the crusade of the Newark Daily
Advertiser. in which the ponds were
shown to be in filthy condition.
When the Advertiser told of the hor-
rible condition of the water last spring
the Newark Board of Health took the
matter up and substantiated the state
ments of the Advertiser, and many
tests, both meteorological and chem
ical, showed that the use of the Ice in
any form, except for storage, would
be the cause of a possible epidemic
of disease. and with characteristic
-promptness Health officer Chandler
took the matter up over the heads of
the Irvington Board of Health. which
QlQ uOl bt6In 10 TAKE Hlutn niAtINSt ia
the conditions existing in their town,
and ordered the sale of the ice stopped.
and finally the Newark board allowed
1t to be sold for storage purposes after
receiving the assurance of Mahlon S.
Drake that he would see h a the men
buying the Ice were told to use it for
that purpose only, but despite the
promise and the drastic action OF the
TTooIfh DOar7 the Too haG haan nadHlpd
through the streets of this city.
Some time ago Mr.. Chandler heard
that in some cases the men who bought
Ice there for delivery were selling 1t to
their private customers. in direct vio-
lation of the boards orders. Enough
evidence was gathered against some of
the dealers for the board to demand an
explanation.
Louis Sotz, of 426 Avon avenue, was
before the Health Board last night.
After he had stated that he was in the
habit of serving his private customers
with ice bought from the Mountain
Ice Company and the butchers with
Irvington ice, Inspector Brady old the
board what he had learned of the cases.
He said that he had seen Sotz for the
first time last spring, when he was get
ting a load Of ice from the house of
the Clinton Ice Company. Sotz said
at that time that the %Irvington Ice was
very bad and should not be used. The
next time Brady came in contact with
him vas in the latter part of July,
when he asked him where he got his
ice, and was told that he was buying
in Irvington, but was only using the
I%rvington ice for his butcher trade.
Brady said that he told him then that
he must conflne himself to storage
trade only, and not to sell 1t even to
saloon-keepers.
On Monday, Brady said, he had been
up to Irvington at s o'clock, and seen
Sotz coming from there with a load of
ice. A half hour later he had found
him delivering the load in private
houses. On being questioned, Sotz said
that what he was selling was what he
had gotten at the'Hay street ice depot
of the Union Ice Company. Brady tes-
titled that the man told him he had
supplied one of his customers, a butch
err by the name of Klein, with ice that
morning, but when he visited the store
Klein said that Sotz had not been near
the place hat day.
To make sure that the Ice had not
come from the Hay street depot, Brady
said he went there next, inc at his re-
quest The nan in charge went over all
his receipts for sales that morning and
Sotz's name was not among them. The
man said ne had not been there that
day.
Sotz interrupted to say thai the same
weigher had not been there when he
bought the ice. and gave two receipts
to DR.. M. c. H. Herold, the president
of the board, which, he said, represent
ed his purchases at Hay street on the
day in question. Sotz said thai he had
witnesses to prove that he had gotten
his load of ice at Hay street. Then, with
out any reference to what had been
said. ne asserted that the whole trouble
was with DIR. English, who, he said,
was connected with the Clinton Ice
Company and wanted his trade. Ac-
cording to him, DIR. English started the
investigation. Mr.. Chandler asked II
the Hay street place and the Irvington
houses were not of the same firm, and
when told by Brady that they were,
said hat in that case the slips could
easily be arranged to read as Sotz
wanted them to.
Mr.. Chandler summed up the case
for the board. The Irvington ice, he
said, could be bought at a dollar
less q Ton han the better quail
ity. This enabled the men selling at
retail to give a larger piece for the
same or less money than their COM
petitors, nj so do a larger business,
and hat the men handling Irvington
ice were not only e%ndangering the lives
Of their customers, but were driving
those who complied with the board rul-
ing out of business.
DR.. Herold remarked that he thought
Brady should be instructed to look up
the duplicate slips at the Hay street
depot, and If it were found that Sotz
nae been selling the ice his license
should be revoked. A motion to that
effect. made by Or. Wrightson, was
passed.
Several other names Of men said TO
be retailing the impure ice were on
the inspectors list, but were not pres
ent at the meeting. They are John J..
Hood. 426 Avon avenues; Peter Moebaus
and his son, Henry. $50 South Eight
zenith street, and Gustave Steck, 79S
South Fifteenth street.
Inspector Brady said he had seen the
last named out selling the ice in Hun
terdon street and again in Paramount
VEN Steck. the inspector stated,
admitted that it was Irvingtoh ice.
and denied knowing that the board
had forbade it's sale for private
use hnf fold Rra1y that ha would h,,x,