Year: 1869

6hort0'e Fees


The public has already once before been
shocked by the introduction of bill to in
crease the enormous patronage and revenue of
the Sheriffs office. These attempts have hith-
erto failed through the mere shamelessness of
their character, as they always must when the
attention of honest legislators is turned to
them. We see that the House Committee on
Municipal Affairs has just reported another
bill of this kind, giving to the Sheriff all the
judicial sales in foreclosure and partition, and
increasing his fees on execution, attachment
and other process to an enormous and onerous
extent The management of the Office has
grown to be such an annoyance respecting this
very matter of Sherif's fees, 80 called, that
many members of the profession avoid having
anything to do with the Office, as far as possi-
BILE. The class Of deputies under the present
Sheriff is far below that of anything hitherto
known, all the previous incumbents having
been compelled to make way for the ia
vorites of Sheriff O'Brien and instead of
affording an extended field to these
individuals, by increasing their fees,





from officers directly appointed by the courts
of equity, according to immemorial custom,
the sale and charge of infauts' estates, it is
time that something should be done to decrease
the exorbtant revenue Of that Office and re-
lieve the public, who is compelled to contri-
butte to it. 1t is enough for person who is
denied his rights to be obliged to part with
portion of his claim for necessary counsel fees,
not to be compelled afterwards to give the
greater portion of what remains to Sheriff
and his deputies.


The present revenue of the Sheriff's office
sand dollars year, though of course they
would set 1t down at about seventy five thousand
dollars. Yet here is an individual who gets
full six times the yearly salary from public
Office that the President of the United States
receives, and more than all our admirals and
major generals put together, who wants his
salary increased by means that will carry it up
to half million or seven hundred thousand
dollars.


The mere proposition is an outrage on pub
lie decency; and now that the grasping ex-
cesses of these people have called public
attention to them we earnestly recommend
to those members of the Senate and Assem-
bly, who realize that their duty is to serve their
fellow citizens and who understand the high
obligations of their station, to introduce bill
reducing the present fees, providing that they
shall be paid into the Treasury, and giving to
the Sheriff yearly salary of ten thousand
dollars aud to each deputy three thou
dollars per year, which would be a very liberal
compensation for the duties of the Office. And
to prevent the extortions which can follow, by
low class of deputies exacting special
bonuses from suitors for the performance Of
their duty it should be provided that within
one month of the passage of the bill all the
present deputies should be divested Of their
Office, and the new appointments should take
effect only on confirmation by the Metropolitan
Board of Police Commissioners or by a majority
of the Supreme Court Judges in the district.
| We should not then have our city dsyraced by
| deputy sheriffs Of the class of John Real, to
whom the job bill proposes to commit the sale
and custody of infants estates, or by such
0utrages as occurred last winter at the Broad
way theatre, where several citizens were shot
| down by deputy sheriffs in the service Of civil
process nor would parties be embarrassed
and blood-sweated by the very Office which is
established to carry into effect the DEGREES Of
Justice. There can be no honest motive to
vote for this job bill, and the public will look
to the division upon it-if division there can
be on such bill-for its opinion Of the men,
bers who constitute the present Legislature.