The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-10-05

- Ss WV w "G oOSus
Courts decide to give trustees the
r'eht to sell enormously valuable prop
crty left by Privatccr Randall!
Fifteenth Ward business men to re-
ccivc privilege OF buying lands that
heretofore could only be leased"
lhrsc were headlines recently print
q" IN New newspapers. but they
were slightly. misleading. An attempt
Is being made TO obtain Il legal deci-
sion to enable the trustees to dispose
OF some Of tho enormous holdings Of
sailors Snug Harbor. but the trustees
nave no yet wOn. In April last they
instituted II friendly suit against the
attorney general for the purpose of
having the courts set aside the terms
OF the Will In which Robert Richard
lthndall provided that the income
from his estate should for all time DO
devoted to maintaining "A home for
aged and d%ecrepit" sailors.
The suit has not yet been ended.
hut the trustees hope for a decision
In their favor. as they feel that the
interests OF their wards. the city and
business men affected will be best
served by obtaining permission to sell
some of the lands that have attained
values which have seemed i%nconceiv.
~ to the original donor. From $45.-
600 to $50, 600. 900 Is n fairly respect
~ S"tutttlbtIs lIlu ~ IL
safe to say that when Randall drew
hts will he would have ridiculed a
suggestion that this enormous Increase
In valuation was possible. For at that
timo Randall grew hay. carrots. eggs,
cowa. cabbagcs and other products Of
nature where today n gets but the
flash of foulards and other feminine
frippcrtcs. the rush of trolleys and
automobiles. the clattcr of printing
n1l.NNnG md thu thnsson o., <N I~. ,~..-.H-
and sights pertaining To the business
and private life Of the persons who
i've or work In what is now one Of
the most congcsted parts Of New York
city.
And. impossible as 1t would have
been for Randall to have formed n
mental picture OF what his little farm
would look like after the passage of a
hundred years. 1t Is equally difficult
OF beans. lettuce. corn and other
tropical fruits growing from Broadway
and Tenth street to Fourth avenue and
south to Beverly Place. Nor Is It
easy to picture Randall. the p~rivateer.
turned merchant and farmer, driving
home in his high wheeled buggy and,
pulling up. to ask his farm overseer
how many bushels OF corn he had
gathered from tho land which now is
covered ny the Wanamalicr stores. and
whether he had succeeded in cxterm-
mating the humble molcs that preced-
I'D the builders OF the subway.
Again. understand that hero Is an
institution owning property 80 highly
valuable. yet SO bound by the express
ca wishes OF n man who has been dead
Tor more than 81 hundred years. that
II cHnnot spend It's income and is wor-
ricd by Its accumulated wealth! There
vnNY knN., Snt..rs S~,,. A- NJ
the poor trustees!
In June. 1901. when the first crop of
my was being taken OF" Aston place,
Alexander Hamilton drove along the
road That crossed the fields which he
once had owned in partnership with
John Jay and Isaac Roosevelt. Pull
Ing up his horses about one hundred
yards west Of where Grace church
stands today. at Broadway and Tenth
street. he entered the mansion built
ny the last British governor of New
York. In 1890 this relic had been
bought by Robert Richard Randall.
the privateer. together with the Mimic
fnrm. comprising about 20 acres.
which then marked the northern cx-
trcmity OF Broadway.
Randnll's father. Thomas. owner
and master OF the Fox. a swift bark.
had operated. under letters Of marquc.
tn" Spanish Main. making New Or
leans his headquarters and base Of
supplies. For n number Of years his
son. Robert. privatccred-or piratcer-
cd-with Captain Tom." but when his
parent died the young mar left the sea
and became IA merchant md gentle
man farmer" He originated the COM
muting hahit-in II buggy.
On that bright day in June Alexan-
der Hamilton had been summoned to
draw IL will. Us sandall's antipathy
I" lawyers Is recorded in history. 1t Is
not hard to credit tho somewhat testy
greeting said to nave been uttered by
the rGmodclcd pirate: