NEW YORK CITY. 



389 



protected lawbreakers and gave their support 

 to many forms of crime/' Accordingly a bill 

 \vas introduced into the Legislature, abolishing 

 the bipartisan board of four police commission- 

 ers and the office of chief of police, and substitut- 

 ing for them a single commissioner, which was 

 signed by the Governor on Feb. 22. The Mayor 

 immediately appointed Michael C. Murphy to be 

 commissioner of police, and Commissioner Mur- 

 phy at once appointed Chief Devery to be first 

 deputy police commissioner, after which, on 

 March 4, Bernard J. York was appointed second 

 deputy. The committee of five appointed by the 

 Tammany Hall Executive Committee to examine 

 into vice on the East Side continued their work 

 until Feb. 25, when they reported to the Execu- 

 tive Committee and asked to be discharged. The 

 report, which was not published, gave, according 

 to an account by Chairman Nixon, a list of 340 

 gambling places that were open, and of w r hich 

 more than 270 had been closed and the gamblers 

 driven from the city. It also announced that all 

 disorderly places near public schools and churches 

 had been closed, and measures taken to prevent 

 their being reopened. The charge against Capt. 

 John D. Herlihy, of the Twelfth Precinct, which 



grew out of a letter sent to Mayor Van Wyck 

 by Bishop Potter, was formally presented before 

 the Police Board, and after examination by the 

 commissioners he was exonerated, the decision 

 being that the charge had not been proved. A 

 most important revelation concerning the cor- 

 ruptness of the Police Department Avas a report 

 published in August by the Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Crime, in which it was shown that 

 the police officials protected gambling and other 

 vices, receiving payment for such protection. It 

 was found that methods were in existence by 

 means of which pool-rooms and other gambling 

 establishments could be notified of an intended 

 raid within five minutes after a police captain 

 had received information of a proposed descent 

 on the place in question. These methods were 

 tested under the direction of the counsel of the 

 Society for the Prevention of Crime, and were 

 found to work in every instance. This led to a 

 complaint, lodged with the District Attorney, 

 charging Chief Devery with neglect of duty, but 

 up to the close of the year that office had not 

 succeeded in bringing the matter before the 

 courts. Similar charges were submitted by the 

 Merchants' Association to the police commission- 

 er, and also to the Mayor, but without results. 

 Charges were brought against Wardman Bissert 

 for receiving bribes from houses of prostitution, 

 and he was convicted through the efforts of the 

 District Attorney's office and sentenced to five 

 years' imprisonment. Capt. Thomas J. Diamond, 

 who was the immediate superior of Bissert, was 

 subsequently tried for neglect of duty and con- 

 victed, in consequence of which he was, on Dec. 

 11, discharged from the force. Wardman Glen- 

 non, of the Tenderloin district, who was regarded 

 as the right-hand man of Devery in collecting 

 bribes, was tried and found guilty on Dec. 21. 



Fire. This department is managed by a single 

 commissioner. The incumbent during the year 

 was John J. Scannell. The chief of the depart- 

 ment was Edward F. Croker. The headquarters 

 are at 157 East G7th Street. For the boroughs of 

 Brooklyn and Queens there is a deputy commis- 

 sioner. During 1901 the fire-fighting force in the 

 boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, 

 and Queens consisted of 2,586 officers and men, 

 apportioned among 137 engine companies, 44 

 hook-and-ladder companies, 5 fire-boats, and 5 

 water-towers. A volunteer force, consisting of 



2,000 men in the borough of QK.-OJIS ;i.m) about 

 an equal number in the borough , Kirlmiond, 

 increased the total force to (},f>i)0 

 the year there were 8,427 fires. 

 of Combustibles there was col !<<. 

 boroughs for licenses, permits, 

 $87,19o during the year, in the 

 fire-marshal 49 arrests in connects 

 picious fires, resulted in 3 convictions with 

 eral cases still pending. On June 28, Connni - 

 sioner John J. Scannell, and William L. Mm !<, 

 a manufacturer's agent, were indicted by the 

 grand jury as a result of the ten days' investi- 

 gation into the manner of purchasing supplies 

 by the Fire Department. 



Education. The board having control of this 

 subject consists of 20 commissioners, who are ap- 

 pointed by the Mayor and receive no salary. The 

 president of the board was Miles M. O'Brien. The 

 borough superintendent is John Jasper, and tlie 

 headquarters are at the corner of Park Avenue 

 and 59th Street. The report of the borough su- 

 perintendent, made on Oct. 2, showed that tho 

 attendance of pupils on June 28 was 223,858; 

 attendance of pupils on Sept. 27, 246,980; aver- 

 age attendance for three weeks ending Sept. 27, 

 239,226; number of classes on Sept. 27 whole 

 day 5,473, part time 374; register of pupils at 

 close of school on Sept. 27, 265,947; number of 

 regular teachers, including principals, present on 

 Sept. 27, 5,951; number of children on waiting 

 list at close of school on Sept. 27, 3,720; number 

 of children in part-time classes on Sept. 27,19,309; 

 number of vacant sittings at close of school on 

 Sept. 27, 23,044. The increase in school attend- 

 ance that usually occurs at the beginning of the 

 autumn was in part provided for by a new school, 

 No. 171, between Fifth and Madison Avenues, 

 reaching from 103d to 104th Streets, and in school 

 No. 44, on the southeast corner of Hubert and Col- 

 lister Streets. Also the following new schools were 

 to be finished by contract on the following dates: 

 School No. 133, corner Fox and 167th Streets, 

 Sept. 14; school No. 173, on 163d Street, between 

 Grant and Morris Avenues, Sept. 15; school No. 

 61, on the corner of 169th Street and Third Ave- 

 nue, Oct. 1. It was announced that an experi- 

 mental school will be built on Lawrence Street, 

 near the junction of 128th Street and Amster- 

 dam Avenue, under the auspices of the Teachers' 

 College, with a fund of $100,000, presented to 

 that institution by a resident of New York city. 



Carnegie Libraries. On March 12, Andrew 

 Carnegie, after conference with Dr. John S. Bill- 

 ings, Director of the New York Public Library; 

 arrived at the conclusion that branch libraries, 

 to reach the masses of the people, were desirable, 

 and in consequence determined to provide for 65 

 branches, the average cost to be $80,000, which 

 he offered to present. " If New York will furnish 

 sites for these branches for the special benefit of 

 the masses of the people, as it has done for the 

 central library, and also agree in satisfactory 

 form to provide for their maintenance as built, 

 I should esteem it a rare privilege to be per- 

 mitted to furnish the money as needed for the 

 buildings, say $5,200,000." This information was 

 promptly conveyed to Mayor Van Wyck in a 

 letter by the secretary of the Board of Trustees 

 of the New York Public Library. An act pro- 

 viding for the acceptance by the city of New 

 York of this gift from Mr. Carnegie was intro- 

 duced in the State Legislature on March 25, and 

 was subsequently passed and signed by the Gov- 

 ernor. At a meeting of the Board of Estimate, 

 on July 17, Mr. Carnegie's gift was formally 

 accepted. The agreement, after showing the offer 



