Year: 1867

MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL.-A
called meeting of the City Council was
held yesterday afternoon in the City Hall
Present: Messrs. Macfarland, president
August, Clopton, Lee, Epps, Scott, Taylor
Tinsley, Mason, Crutchtield, Maury, and
Harvey.


The President of the Council announced
that he had before him the bonds of the
Salt Works Company, upon which a mo-
tion had been made TO change the time OF
payment from any fixed time to any time
when they should be presented for pay
ment.


On motion, the matter was laid over
until the opinion of the City Attorney
could be obtained.


fAlms-house for the Colored People.


Colonel August, at whose instance the
meeting was called, submitted the follow
ing report:


To the President md Members Of the COM


Gil Of the city Of Richmond:


The Committee for the Relief of the
Poor beg leave to report that, according
to the order of the Council, they have had
under consideration the subject of the CO.
| lOIcu poor Ol lHe CITY.


Your committee would call attention to
their former reports, adopted by the Coun-
Gil, upon this subject, from which it will
| appear that from the time the alms-houSe
was surrendered to the city by the au-
thorities Of the United States the city has
recognized at all times the full measure of
its obligation to take care Of all the indi-
gent poor of the city, ,cith0m regard to CO.
Tor, who by law have acquired such set
tlement as to entitle them to relief under
the poor laws of the city and State, and
to put the colored paupers in all respects
upon footing Of perfect equality as to
treatment and the measure of relief, and
in all respects to be under the same rules
and regulations as the white paupcrs.
The authorities Of the United States
having assumed the control and manage
ment Of the colored paupers, your COM
mittee have never had an APPLICATION from
person Of color for admission to the
! alms-house since its surrender to them.
! Recently, however, the Government of the
United States has determined that the
colored paupers shall no longer continue
pensioners upon its bounty, but shall be
maintained and supported by the counties,
towns, and cities to which they arc re-
spectivcly chargeable. This dctermina-
! tion-of which we have been officially no.
titled by the Major General commanding
this DStrict-renders it necessary that
the Council should take prompt measures
to assume and discharge the duty i'm
posed upon it by law (no less than by the
promptings Of a common humanity, to
provide for and relieve this unfortunate
and destitute class, whose lot, in the pro-
vidence of God, has been cast among us :;
and we feel assured that the Council will
omit no proper means to secure their COM
fort.


| Your committee take pleasure in ac-
knowlcdging the courtesy and kindness
extended to them in their interview with
Major General Scholield by that officer,
who has manifested every disposition to
aid in tightening as much as possible this
new burthen which has been imposed upon
us at time when the finances Of the city
are in an exhausted condition.


OF the various plans discussed by your
committee. they prefer and recommend
the one which looks to taking the care and
custody by the city of all the colored
paupcrs who have acquired legal settle
mcnt here.


After the most patient and thorough in
vestigation of the subject, your committee
have come to the conclusion that it is ne
ceSsary to convert the building known as
| the city hospital into an alms-housc for the
colorcd paGpers. To make the building
suitable for the purpose, it will be ncceS-
sary to drain the baScment-which is now
| flooded with water-by means Of q culvert,
and to lay new floors, raising them some
six or twelve inches higher than the pre-
sent floors, and to make some few other
repairs, at small cost, to the interior Of the
building. 1t will also be necessary to erect
an additional building in order to afford
sufficient accommodation for the number
of this new class Of paupers who will be
thrown upon our hands, and 10 separate
the males from the females. Your com
mittee, after consultation with the city en-
ginecr, are satisfied that 4 thrce-Story
framed building about twenty by forty-live
feet will be sufficient for the purpose. 1t
will also be necessary to enclose the whole
yard bya fence at least eight feet high, for
the protection of the buildings and the
garden proposed to be cultivated for the
supply of vegetables to the inmates. The
whole estimated cost Of these improve
ments will not exceed thirty-live hundred
dollars.


Your committee therefore respectfully
recommend that the city engineer be
authorized and instructed to proceed with
out delay to advertise Tor proposals to
repair the building known as the city
hospital in all the respects needed for
its conversion into an alms-houSc, and for
the erection of the three-story framed
building herein recommended, and the en-
closure Of the grounds; and that the
parties to whom the contracts for this pur-
pose shall be awarded shall be required to
complete the same at the earliest praCti-
cable period.


All which is respectfully submitted.


I. p. AUGUST, Chairman.


The report was adopted.


After the transaction of other business
of minor Importance, the Council ad-
journed.