The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-07-30
Stray Topics From Little Old
New Y0rk--Unique Contributing

from the island to Manhattan and
back again the war department has al
ways maintained a ferry service be-
tween the Battery and Governors Is.
land. For many years the ferryboat
Hancock served as the means Of COM
munication. but finally it became so
dilapidated that a new boat, the Gen.
Otis was placed in service. The Otis
was designed by the experts in the
quartermaster generals department OF
the army and it was expected that it
would be a model for craft of its
kind. Results proved, however. that
the Gen. Otis did not come up to ex-
pectations. The boat displayed a re-
markable tendency to ship water no
matter how calm the water in the bay
might be and it's wheel worked so
hard that it took two sturdy pilots to
handle it. Many of the officers and
their wives received drenchings while
crossing in the boat and several times
the steering apparatus became so un.
manageable that the boat instead OF
landing at the Battery, swerved over
to the Brooklyn shore. Now the old
Hancock is to be patched up and put
in service again, while the Gen. Otis
which cost $4,000 is to be remodeled
Soon there will be no excuse for
the aristocratic patrons Of the Wal
dorf-Astoria hotel to neglect their re
ligious duties on Sunday. The man
agement of the hotel is installing a
fine large pipe organ in the magnifi
cent ball room and in the future sery
ices will be held in the large hall on
Sunday mornings. Conservative church
members do not altogether approve OF
the idea to hold religious services on
Sunday in the same hall which on 9th
err days is devoted to the rather friv.
olous use of dancing and feasting, but
others rather favor the plan which
promises to bring to church many per
sons who would otherwise not 60 to
church at all.
The judge. the officials and lawyers
and all the rest of the people in the
Tombs court were greatly alarmed the
other day during the hearing of the
case against prisoner, charged with
grand larceny. The alarm was not
due to the explosion of a bomb or in
fernal machine, but by the fact tina,
one of the officers dropped package
containing twelve alarm clocks, ths
alarms of which were set going by the
shock. The frantic efforts of the Off
Gals to open the package and to stor
the individual alarms from ringing
caused considerable merriment in the
court for some time.
An old blind man led by a bright
faced lad of thirteen, both showing
signs of extreme poverty, came to the
children's bureau of the charities de
partment the other day and told ar
unusually pathetic story in a straigh,
forward manner. The old man, blini
since his early childhood, meagerly
supported himself by soliciting aims
on the streets. Several months age
the boy showed kindness to him b,
helping him to cross the street ant
when the old man heard that the little
fellow was an orphan and homeless
he befriended the boy and shared hi.
berth in the lodging house and hi.
frugal meals with him. But finding
that he could not make enough to sup
port both, he asked the authorities tt
take care of his little friend. The DO,
| was sent to the Brace Farm school, Al
valhalla, N. Y, and for the old man {
place will be found in one one of the
homes for the blind.