New Britain herald., 1915-03-27

city cannot and should not try to do without, and the proper maintanance of a free public library is one of them. h@F
 The street sprinkling question was before the. council this week for the first time in a numbel5 of years with the result that the whole matter was referred back to theh board of pub lie works. The matter came up on the question of a hve-year contract ana as d couple of local young men, who are said to have some financial backing, arc anxious to make d con- t1act with the city to- do the, +wpork for less money than tio city@is bow paying some members Of tfits dosncil as well as some of the members of the board of public works are in clined to think that the city can bo best served by continuing the present arrangement If the city desires to make any changes in regard to hay ing this work done it will be ueces- sary to spend some time in inyesti- gation because the problem is not to be disposed of offhand or by the reception of d bid. Those who have given this matter any serious thought have had an impression for a long time that eventually the work will be done by the city, but it will tak kc some time to prepare for it. 1t cannot be done under present con- ditions for the reason that money is scarce, taxes are high and there is hardly any disposition to engage in any new enterprises. President Hum- phrey of the board of public works, who was all through the controversy incident to the installation of the pres- ent method of sprinkling the streets, says that paved streets do not need as much sprinkling as do the macad- amized streets, but there can hardly be much difference because on the paved roadways the dust which con- stantly gathers from passing teams and by the wind is apparently blown more freely than from the macad- amized streets and needs wetting down just as much. The squeegee keeps the paved streets clean but it does not clean the gutters. It would seem as if that can best be done by flushing and Main street is especially we'll graded for that kind of work. The flushing could be started at the cor her of Lee street and there would be no difficulty in cleaning the dirt and refuse from the gutters while the work could be done just as easily on West Main street. It is job to be done at night and the best hours would be after all traffic had ceased so that the morning would find the paved thoroughfares as clean as a whistle. The people everywhere are demanding clean streets and in our own city it will be necessary to spend 1,1n nrn 1,o, Inc Bon done and in the practice of economy some other department must be taken for the experiment. The pavement in some places on Main street is in a wretched condition.
 The execution of Peter Krakas at Wilmington, Del, on May fl will be the second murder in this city to be avenged on the gallows. the first be- ing that of Anna SpelanslSy which oc- cured on Lafayette street few years ago. There have been New Britain
 men executed but not for crimes con-
 mitted in this city. Krakas has admit
 ted the murder of the Rev. Joseph
 Zcbris and his housel1ceper as does
 Montvid, who is awaiting trial 1t
 Hartford for this crime, so that there is no doubt about their guilt although
 the former is to die for the killing of policeman in Wilmington. pe-
 culiar feature about the case as it now stands is that both men claim
 that there were two others implicat-
 cd in the murder. The police were not inclined to take any stock in this story when Montvid first told it and
 may not even now, but 1t seems q bit
 strange that I<rakas should make the
 1f1,p ,j,,y, f. ~,.,
 it will be necessary to depend
 large extent on these two men to
 nish the clues that are needed to leit,
 to their apprehension. It Is probable
 that they may be induced to talk as
 long as they arc to pay the penalty oe all convicted of first degreo murder. kral1as having already been convict cd. The general opinion has been that only those two were connected with the Crlme and because of that 1t was felt from the beginning that if theie were moro in it the solution of the mystery would be much easier be-
 cause of the liability to talk among
 sc many. krakas may be willing 70 tell what he knows but if he isn't Montvid will in all probability make up for it. The latter is not the wicked appearing fellow he has been pie turcd, although he may have become more subdued since the law has closed in upon him, and he realizes. as he admits himself, that he is in 2 bad box. Whatever may have been
 his manner before he surely is T much weakened individual just now and 1t is not at all improbable that hn will make a clean breast of the whole affair before long. He seems to be
 ready for it and the only question