The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-01

Inc DullulnB on Wan suect INV
occupied by the National City Bank,
originally constructed for merchants
exchange and occupied until October,
1907, as a Custom House, has probably
during its tenancy by the Federal
Government harbored more odd char
acters than the Eden Musee once
housed startling wax figures.
At least one OF these was a Collector
Of the Port who came prominently into
the public notice OF the people of New
century. This public servant was in
point OF incumbency somewhere be-
tween the stalwart figure OF Edwin
A. Merritt, whose death at near the
hundred mark occurred recently, and
the roundness of William Loeb Jr..
whose political demise was concur
rent with the expiration OF Theodore
Roosevelts last term as President.
Like Merritt, Magone was a St.
Lawrence county politician. The ag-
gressive figure Of this fighting lawyer
from Odgensburg is likely to be re-
membered by the older merchants Of
New York, for the truculent Celt was
probably the liveliet and most pic
turesque figure and the least scrupu-
lous respecter OF persons that ever &C.
cupied the chief seat of customs at
New York. If the name of Richard
the Lion Hearted was one to scare the
children of Merry England in the
days of the Crusades, that Of Dan"
Magone would at one time make some
merchants of New York flush with
anger or turn pale with fright.
Magone's appointment came from
Grover Cleveland. That executive had
acquired a reputation for picking odd
Ones and this lawyer from north
ern New York was one OF them.
Mentally true to the traditions OF his
race, he was a fighter. He was round
Of head. erect Of stature, keen eyed,
and he darted at the unwary with the
startling suddenness Of hornet. He
had acquired his training as a pleader
at the bar of ST. Lawrence county,
where he had bullied litigants as ad-
vocate and terrorized criminals as
prosecutor, and he came to the post
Of Collector Of Customs at New York
honesty that the harmless lapse of the
most reputable merchant was in his
distorted imagination the clever cum.
ming of a crook.
With the Federal employees who
were his official aids Magone was a
bull in a china shop. Some of the
china was old and brittle-heirlooms
for which this mercurial Irishman had
no reverence. More stories are told
Of how he twirled his blackthorn in
the curio cabinet of the select house.
hold into which he had been intro
duced. and smashed pitchers that had
gone to and from the we'll of the
Treasury without being broken from
tered around all Of his correct and
tradition loving predecessors.
The eccentricities of Magone are
still remembered by some men in
New York with amusement or pain.
1t depends on whether the victims
sense of humor Is sufficiently devel =.
oped, as we'll as whether they were
pricked with a pin jocularly and with
harmless intent, or had bludgeon
swung at them malicious ;. Magone
could do both. 1t was treat to see
him handle a school of merchants in
his office each business day and put
them through his official regimen for
fancied violations of the revenue laws.
With a tabulated report prepared for
him by one Of his chiefs of division
he would cross question the most dig
nified merchant like common thief
, -, fot
nation. When his wrath was near the
point of explosion he would brusquely
inform his victim that 1t was due
to the lenity Of the Collector that
he was not In the hands of a
United States Marshal. After fig
uratively tearing him to rags he
would dismiss him with the expressed
hope that there would be no occasion
for him to see him again. and he
would soothe his outraged sensbilities
with a parting injunction to reform
and be honest.
Magone was a nightmare to the
men OF his official staff. Most Of
those who came under the ban of his
displeasure were employees protected
by the civil service laws. The Collec-
tor. taking no account of his official
impotence, dismissed men Of this class
daily for imaginary infractions of his
own rules: You are dismissed" was
the dose of disagreeable medicine that
men took with apparent resignation.
went back to their desks-and forgot
all about 1t.
One of his chiefs OF division was a
lank countryman from up State. He
was a politician--had been, I think. a
port warden-and held a position that
was not buttressed by the civil SER
vice laws. His head had some Of the
characteristics of a crows and his
legs all of those of a giraffe. His
desk wouldn't accommodate the latter.
What he couldn't get on 1t he got
over 1t and let his heels cheerfully
threaten the back OF the man in front
OF him. He had a quaint humor, some
yarns that savored of the village