Evening star., 1936-07-29
Headline Folk
and What
They Do
Margaret Mayo Makes
Bitter War Against
Croton Dam.
BY ROBERT sTRUNSKY.

b1 hObEhT SIAUNSkY.
~ NE Of the most active taxpay-
ers and litigants in West
J chester County of New York
- is Miss Margaret Mayo, the
Illinois playwright, whose dramatic
productions we're hits of another era.
Miss Mayo is a conscientious prop
erty owner and, during the seven
years which she has spent on her
13-acre estate near Croton-on-the-
Hudson she has been asserting and
protecting her rights with consider
able asperity.
Her principal bette noir for the
last few years has been the Croton
Dam, which forms a part of the
New York watershed. 1t stems thou
sands Of tons of water daily, but it
cannot hold back Miss Mayo's wrath.
This overfowS from year TO year and
spills into one court room or an
other. The news today is that Miss
Mayo has lost her latest fight against
the dam, the third in a series which
began in 1881. 1t would appear that
the brilliant and aggressive author
is banging her head against a stone
wall. Her fortitude, however, is un-
yielding.
Menace in Dam Charged.
Her latest contention is that the
dam constitutes a serious menace to
the neighboring communities and a
public danger TO hundreds of thou
sands Of people. She has alleged it
Is on the verge OF crumbling. A Su-
preme Court justice has ruled that
this is not so and that the dam is
as stable as Gibraltar The fight
started. however. on different grounds,
Miss Mayo contending that the rus
tic Croton River, which flows through
her property. has been pumped dry to
fill the dam and that the land on all
sides has become a swamp.
Her first suit against the city was
10 restore the flow of the Croton River.
She brought action on two separate
occasions and each time was defeated.
Her greatest legal victory was won
over the New York Central Railroad.
In one case she prevented it from
building additional tracks near her
estate. In another case she won an
award of $4,000 for two parcels of
land which, she argued. belonged to
the estate through royal grant. The
fact that most of the land was under
water seemed to make no difference.
1t was question, again, of principle.
Many Friends in Theater.
uor actot ie IoffaI ,,,;.l. L.
salowS for week end guests. She has
a host of friends in the theatrical pro-
tession. harklng back 70 the days when
her adaptation of Ouida's Under Two
Flags" was one of Broadways biggest
drawing cards. There are still many
alive today who remember Polly of
the Circus" Twin Beds" Baby
Mine" and other plays which came
from her prolific pen.
She is rapid and irregular smoker. a
dynamic little woman, born Lillian
Slatten on an Illinois farm. She be-
iieves in the mental equality of the
sexes, in divorce Gf necessary. in
shirt sleeves for men, but no sus-
penders.
No Summer passes without some
mention of the political shelving Of
NJ. William Bray, Lieutenant Governor
of New York State. With the regu-
larity Of the seasons, the former
Churudusco farm boy, Union College
and Albany Law School graduate, is
put on the carpet. In 1929. when
the President UaS Governor Rroy'c
tactics were said to dsplease him and
Bray's political chances were held
slim. He was then Democratic leader
of Oneida County, later becoming
State Democratic chairman.
His chief problem always has been
reconciling upstate democracy with
Tammany, an extremely difficult task.
The psychology of the average Tam
many district leader is singularly alien
TO the upstate politician There was
a move to oust him from the State
Craftsmanship in 1880. Postmaster
James A. Farley has been on the outs
with Bray for several years, trying to
make him Minister to the Irish Free
State and thus get rid of him.
But it never has worked. Bray has
maintained, even consolidated, his
position. Shrewd, decisive, at AZ he
stands in well with the voters. who
like his blunt, plain-spoken manner.
Now, again, he is the talk of Albany
town.
Copyrisht. 1861