New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-15
Walls Pulled Down About
Head of Ryan, Janitor,
as He Lies in Bed.
HELPLESS FROM HURT
RECEIVED AT WORK
Workmen Prepare Floor for Art
CommiSsion-Tenant Says
He Saved Building.

custodian OF the City Hall, lay help-
less in his apartment on the top floor
of the city Capitol yesterday while
workmen, acting under orders from
Borough President Marks, tore down
the walls about him.
"Ryan is overstsying his leave" the
Borough President declared yesterday.
"His term Of Office as jsnitor expired
June l. He must vacate the premises"
Ryan, who has been in bed since
early in April, following an operation
| in which three toes were removed, de-
clared he would not leave. Borough
| President Marks had assured him some
months ago, he said, that he would not
have to vacate until he could walk out,
and he intends to stay until that time,
unless he is carried out By force.
III have a better reason for staying
than Mr.. Marks's saying So" said Ryan,
who is sixty-fve years old and has
passed the last quarter Of century In
| the city's employ. 81 passed civil
service examination for the position Of
| City Hall janitor, and out of about
three hundred stood highest, with 971s
per cent. What right have they to
throw me out like this7"
Attack Ryan's sickroom.
The work of dismantling the upper
floor Of the City Hall, which has been
a comfortable fat for City Hall GUS
todians for more than a century, began
Monday Ryan's apartment, in which
he lives with his wife, daughter and
son, consists of six rooms opening on
circular hallway that runs around
the rotunda.
Yesterday morning the workmen from
| the Building Department attacked the
plaster in the room where Ryan lay,
and he was carried into one OF the
rooms overlooking the fountain.
Borough President Marks issued this
statement yesterday:
"The quarters in the City Hall occu-
pied by Janitor Ryan were set aside
/ by the resolution of the Sinking Fund
/ Commission several months ago for The
use of the Municipal Art Commission,
of which Robert w. de Forest is chair
man and John Quincy Adams is secre-
tary.
"On January Deputy Commissioner
/ Patterson of the Department of Public
Works and I called on Mr.. Ryan, and
| informed him that the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment, at an in
! formal conference, had asked him to
move to other quarters, that the Mu-
nicipal Art Commission might have pos
session. We suggested an allowance Of
$50 a month for him to secure quarters
elsewhere.
Marks Defends Action.
There has been considerable com
blaint about the condition of the CITY
Hall as to cleanliness. and we were
Obliged TO appoint another janitor in
place Of Mr.. Ryan to bring the build
! ing up to the proper standard
ain view of Mr.. Ryan's i'll health we
did not take up the question of his re-
moval until early in March, when
President McAneny and ] had con-
/ ference with mis- sons, resulting IN
proposal from Mr.. Ryan over his sig
nature
The following letter, dated March 10,
is included in President Mark5's state
ment;
"Hon. Marcus NJ. Marks, President of
the Borough of Manhattan, New
York City.
"Dear Sir: Yours OF the Sd inst.
at hand and the contents carefully
noted. In reply, make the proposition
| TO YOU as here suggested that my
/ leave of absence, with pay, be con
/ tinucd until June /; that ! should
/ leave the City Hall apartments that
now occupy on April /, and that from
April to June / should receive an
extra allowance of $50 per month for
house rent.
Trusting that you will give the mat
ter the fair and sympathetic treatment
which you promise, | am, respectfully
John S. RYAN, Janitor City Hall"
"Since that time months have gone
BY" President Marks's statement con-
| tinued, land the Municipal Art Com
mission has been urging preparation
| of the rooms for its use. The proper
authorities were ordered to make the
repairs necessary, with instructions
not to disturb Mr.. Ryan until the very
/ last moment"
Denies Reading Agreement.
RYAN said yesterday that while he
signed the letter TO the Borough Presi-
dent, he did not write it, He lay at
the point Of death when it was
brough. to him, he said, and signed the
agreement without considering it.
The progress the workmen made yes
I.terday led the Ryan family to pack
the furniture for a hasty departure.
/ CARPETS and rugs had been ruined by
/ falling plaster. The family photograph
album was lost, and the only picture
of the custodian that was found was
the one The Tribune prints to show
the likeness of Ryan to Mayor Mitchell
when he was about the age OF the
Mayor. -,
at seems like ingratitude to me"
/ RYAN said yesterday. "A year and a
/ half ago fire broke out in Mr.. Nc
Aneny's Office and might have burned
/ the building, with its priceless paint
/ ings and documents. ] rlsked my life
! TO extinguish that fire, but that was
/ only my duty. ] am here for that pur-
pose they say over in Mr.. Marks's Of
| fee. But the City Hall, with its treas
ures, still stands"
Inventor of New Systems.
RYAN, who is an engineer, was the
first to suggest the high pressure sys-
tenn for lighting fires. He gave his
ideas 10 city engineers, who developed
the system used in New York and
several other cities. Ryan says ne
never received a cent for his scheme.
"The only thanks l get is, when l
become IN, to lose my job and have
/ the walls Of my rooms pulled down
over my head" -.
RYAN injured himself when the City
/ Hall was draped in mourning for
I Mayor Gaynor's funeral. He stumbled
| over a coil of wire in dark room and
sustained a compound fracture of one
Of his great toes. q,
A suite Of rooms in the Municipal
Building was allotted to the Municipal
Art Commission. The atmosphere Of
that building, however, did not appeal