The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-03-08
TILDEN STATUE
REPLICA is PUT
ON PUBLIC TRIAL
Ii Model Is Liked, Permanent
Figure Is Likely
to Follow,

New York. March S*-"Ain't that
new statue love, though said Ma
bel, lodging a taxicab as only shop
girls can, as she scurried across 34th
street at Fourth avenue.
Grand" said Sadie. Immense"
who is it? Bryan?"
And, as they hurried out of sight,
the face of the man who thirty years
ago was known to every cabbie, every
newsboy in the city, reflected no i'm
patience in his kindly smile, but rath-
er the patience of one conscious that,
though his day be over, it was not
always sot
Samuel J. Tilden, reformer, poll
tician ,one-time mayor of New York,
governor of the state, and, many peo-
pie stiE firmly believe, President of
the United States, has come to Gath
street at last, in accordance with the
provision in his will, filed years ago,
that $4,000 be devoted to a statue Of
himself, to be erected somewhere in
the city by his executors, under the
supervision Of the Municipal Art
Commission and the Park Commits
sioner.'
To be sure, he is on trial for week
only, during which time a committee
from the Municipal Art Commission
will inspect the 10-foot plaster model
and it's temporary setting, and report
to the Commission itself on Monday
next But such changes the commit
tee may see fit to suggest will only
affect the scale of the figure to be
eventually mounted there, aid the
architecture of the base. By the end
Of June, if all goes as well as the
sculptor, William Ordway Partridge,
and the architects, Wilder & White,
expect, the monument will be ready
for dedication. The actual casting Of
the bronze statue will require less
than two months time.
Must Alter Sidewalk
In order to set the monument off
properly, a considerable alteration on
the north side of the street is neces-
sary A wide sidewalk will be put in
and the old iron fence will be taken
down. The figure, standing in
speaking posture, with one hand out
stretched and the other resting on
large book on top of pedestal, faces
south. The present plan calls for a
ten-foot base, mounted on the high
est of a series of three platforms of
different levels, which graduate by
steps to the sidewalk. The platforms
are, respectively, fifteen, ten, and
twenty-three feet in depth. A para
pet, twenty inches high, will extend
the length of the top platform on
both sides, serving as seat for those
who wish to withdraw from the bus
tie Of the street and inger for a closer
inspection. of the monument. The en-
tire setting will be OF granite.
Charles B. Slower, ex-Park Com
missioner, explained today how it
happened that, although the statue
was provided for thirty years ago, it's
erection had been delayed until. now.
After reviewing briefly the contest,
one of the bitterest in history, that
developed between Tilden's executors
and his heirs in their effort to break
his will, Mr.. Slower described the, in
ability of the executors, when the legal
tangle was at length cleared, to agree
either on the site or the sculptor.
'The executors were at that time"
he said, John Bigelow, Andrew H.
Green, now both dead, and George w.
Smith, for twenty years Mr.. Tilden's
private secretary. In0y ndQ D0on try
ing to agree for years on the site and
the sculptor, but never had been able
to. When they called on me in Jan
uary, 1910, they finally decided to put
it on the west side of Madison Square.
But the Art Commission said it should
go on the north side, and that imme-
diately started the dispute all over
again. Then they Thought they would
place in it Union Square, but the ac-
tual location there proved again too
great a stumbling block. So the dis
pute dragged on.
after the death of Mr.. Bigelow
and Mr.. Green, Lewis V. F. Randolph
and Mr.. Smith were the executors.
They decided on Mr.. Partridge as the
sculptor and 34th Street as the SITE
Mr.. Partridge has been at work now
for seven years on the model, during
which time he fought a lawsuit, which
ended in mutual agreement, how
ever, to retain his rights. The model
was ready on December 1, and sub
mitted at that time to the Art Com
It was submitted again on
January 8, and now it is ready for
final approval by the Commission. AS
far as know, those who have waded
through the slush these past few days
Il