New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-23
Law TURNS LIGHT
ON BLIND CHARITY
District Attorney Probes
Mysterious Fund Got in
Many Mites"
COIN GIVEN TO AID
SIGHTLESS GIRLS
Minister Has Charge of Affair
Iiere-Pleas for Home. Not
Built as Vet.

Tho District Attorney has interested
himself i'm one OF those charities with
which every ono is so familiar that It
seems almost part o. inc metropolitan
atmosphere
Noar tho cash registers o. drug stores
of restaurants. Of diaries and of bakeries
little placards printed in red and black
have intHed5for a year the insertion OF
ro-uics and other loose change into the
slots OF little metal boxes 10 nelp Inc
Home for Blind Girls" And thousands
uron thousands OF shoppers have accepted
r', invitation without question m their
minds regarding the gcnuinenoss ~ the
charity
But tho District Attornor can take no'h-
ing Tor granted So, through his assist
ant Aaron j. Colnon. he would like TO
know not only why Tine Home FOR Blind
Girls" docs not exist but also why. OF the
$500 already collected from these mite
boxes only $50 I'm cash remains. The
r-an Who can tell him an this IL the Rev.
EGNn'C. HOLMAN. treasurer OF the Golden
Rrlc Alliance or America. pastor OF a
Tr,sDyterian church al Franklin Furnace
s. H.. and former field secretary OF the
International Sunshine Society
Mr. Holman has promised Mr. Coinon to
produce his books some time this week
or next" As he keeps them apparently,
at his home in Franklin Furnace the Dis
trict Attorney is powerless to impound
them. and MI Holman and his wife. Who
IS secretary Of the Golden Rule Alliance.
may take their own sweet time i'm deliver
.ng them up.
Tn the mean time. however, the minister
has presented himself before Mr. Conon
and has verbally explained the situation.
I'm the first place. he says. the mite box
collections arc destined for the erection Of
a home for blind girls, not for the main
tcuance Of one already I'm existence. In
corroboration Of this Ny. Holman points
20 the newest placards Of the Golden Rule
Alliance. which read A penny week
will help us build the Home for Blind
Girls Address all communications 10 the
Golden Rule Alliance, No 70 Fifth avenue,
New York City"
The original placards Of the alliance.
however. read: The Home for Blind
Girls Please give a coin 10 help the blind
girls The change was made last April
when Mr.. Holmans collector. Arthur
Richmond, was arrested IN Newark for
obtaining money under false pretences.
Richmond spent the weekend in Jail, and
was then released by Judge Hahn on the
condition that all the mite boxes should
disappear from Newark. But some Of the
original placards persist to this day in
New York one may be found i'm a drug
store az 1l6th street and Seventh avenue
and another in q drug store at Broadway
and 140th street.
As FOR the uses 10 which the collections
nave been put thus far. Mr.. Holman estl-
mates that he has 800 mite" boxes scat
tered throughout the greater city and ad-
accent territory. representing an invest
ment OF about 81 900 This would account
for 80 l-S per cent OF the 5000 collected.
Then he paws his collector 81 Is a day and
expenses, or, roughly. % per cent of the
collections.
In addition, the alliance. instead OF
making money. as II had hoped. actually
lost. he says, between $500 and $40
through lecture given last spring in the
Hudson Theatre by Helen Keller for the
tenoit Of the charity.
In other words. he accounts off hand
for the expenditure Of s. 0i0. or G6 per cent
OF the fund. Add TO this office rent, the
wages Of sNnOgrapher and options. SO
the minister says, on sites for the home n
Franklin Furnace. Palisade. Hackensack
Montcla!r, Brooklyn and Yonkers and the
showing Of $500 cash Is rather surprisingly
good. he thinks. Mr.. Holman SAYS n.
gives his own services 10 the charity free
No. rs Fifth avenue. where the alliance
has its office. is converted brick dwell.
ing house redolent of ante-bellum mem
cries On the second floor the Colder
Rule Alliance is ensconced In what was
the hall bedroom OF better days. over BY
the window overlooking the avenue Their,
sat yesterday a Titan haired stenog
rapher chewing gum. At a battered ole
rolltop desk Mr. Richmond. the collector
dark young man. was piling coins In lit
tie heaps and wrapping them In paper
each cylindrical bundle representing 6
round figure in pennies or nickels OF
dimes. or even quarters or halves. These
he slowed away later in the safe. where
his cash. The remaining 500 he has OF
deposit in the Bank Of the Metropolis.
MIR Holman had been in town the day
before. il was learned but would not be in
again until Monday. Richmond, who
lives at No. 100 West 6sth street, repeated
the story that Mr.. Holman had told Mr.
Co,non. lie had. he said. from twenty &c
twenty-five routes. over each one Of
which he travelled every five or ter
weeks making collections, I'm summer
going as far south as Cape May and as
far north as Saratoga. lie has beer
working for Mr.. Holman for FIVE years
folr Of them In connection with the In
ternational Sunshine Society.
Holman has been accused OF getting as
commission % per cent OF the collections
ne made through his mite boxes for the
sunshine Society. but he denies this.
In any case. the contract he had with
this society was not renewed at the be-
snning OF last year. and he started the
Golden Rule Alliance as an independent
charity The officers OF II. besides his
wife and him are Miss Fanny J. Crosby
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