578 



NEW YORK (CITY). 



Year. Estimated cost. 



1874 $16,667,414 



1875 18,226,870 



1876 15,903,880 



1877 1:3,365,114 



1878 15,219,680 



Year. Estimated cost. 



1879 $22,507,322 



1880 29,115,335 



1881 43,391,300 



1882 44,793,186 



1883 43,214,846 



Total ten years $202,404,450 



The number of fires occurring during the 

 year was 2,168, against 2,001 in 1882; the 

 losses by fire amounted to $3, 5 IT, 32 6, a de- 

 crease of $678,640 from the previous year. 

 The average loss for each fire was less than for 

 seventeen years preceding. A school of in- 

 struction has been established in the Fire De- 

 partment. One new company was organized 

 to man a floating engine, the most powerful 

 fire-boat in existence, 125 feet long and 25 feet 

 beam. Five engine and two hook-and-1 adder 

 companies were equipped with a second set of 

 apparatus. The police force of the city num- 

 bered 2,783 men on the 31st of December. 



The average number of persons under the 

 charge of the Department of Charities and 

 Correction during the year was 11,334. The 

 health statistics of the city were unusually fa- 

 vorable. The number of deaths was 33,958, a 

 decrease of 3,966 from the previous year. The 

 deaths in tenement-houses were 18,041 ; 502 

 persons died in the rivers and streets. There 

 were three judicial hangings. Violence caused 

 1,325 deaths; small -pox, 12; measles, 716; 

 diphtheria, 709; typhus fever, 15; typhoid fe- 

 ver, 470; cerebro-spinal meningitis, 227; di- 

 arrhoea (among children under five years old), 

 2,867 ; diarrhoea (all ages), 3,393 ; alcoholism, 

 218; phthisis, 5,260; heart-disease, 1,690; 

 pneumonia, 3,158 ; solar heat, 83 ; apoplexy, 

 524; Bright's disease, 1,845. Of children un- 

 der 1 year, 8,724 died ; under 2 years, 10,246; 

 under 3 years, 13,720. One hundred and twelve 

 persons more than 90 years old died, among 

 them 3 men and 17 women who were more 

 than 100 years old. There were 61 homi- 

 cides. One hundred and sixty-one persons 

 134 men and 27 women committed suicide. 

 Thirty -four persons were accidentally poisoned. 

 Forty-three persons were accidentally suffo- 

 cated. The following is the record of conta- 

 gious diseases : 



The number of births recorded was 28,972; 

 marriages, 11,556 ; against 27,321 of the former, 

 and 11,085 of the latter, in 1882. 



Defalcations in Public Offices. In the early part 

 of April it was discovered that a defalcation 

 had occurred in the Finance Department of 

 the city. Evidence was found among the pa- 

 pers of a deceased coupon-clerk, William B. 

 Carroll, that there had been a practice going 

 on for some time of leaving paid coupons un- 



canceled, and then selling them to brokers to 

 be again presented for payment. On the 14th 

 of May the comptroller, Allan Campbell, made 

 a report to the mayor on the subject, in which, 

 as the result of an investigation by the chief 

 book-keeper of the department, he placed the 

 loss at $148,630. It was his conclusion that 

 the frauds began in July, 1879, and were car- 

 ried on by Carroll alone until his death in Sep- 

 tember, 1882. 



A report made to the mayor on May 19th 

 by the Commissioners of Accounts, after a brief 

 investigation, put the total loss at $169,460, of 

 which $10,930 was credited to the year 1879, 

 $17,257.50 to 1880, $66,732.50 to 1881, and 

 174,540 to 1882. The commissioners criticised 

 the methods of the comptroller's office, and 

 intimated that their investigation had been 

 obstructed rather than assisted by the officials 

 of the Finance Department. On the 4th of 

 June Comptroller Campbell addressed a note 

 to the foreman of the grand jury, requesting 

 that a thorough investigation of the matter be 

 made. In the mean time the Board of Alder- 

 men had taken the matter up, and directed an 

 examination to be made by a special commit- 

 tee. This occupied several weeks, and a report 

 was made in which the lax methods of the 

 office were criticised, and the theory was an- 

 nounced that the frauds had been conducted 

 by Carroll alone by means of counterfeit cou- 

 pons. Attached to the report were the fol- 

 lowing resolutions, which were adopted : 



Resolved. That the Comptroller of the City and 

 County of New York be and is hereby required to give 

 a bond for the faithful discharge of the duties of his 

 office in the sum of $200,000, with two or more suffi- 

 cient sureties to justify in double the amount, under 

 oath, before a judge of the Supreme Court, on due 

 notice to the corporation counsel. 



* That the svstem of accounting pursued in 



the Finance Department is inefficient, insufficient, and 

 in violation of the charter. 



Resolved, That the directions of the charter that 

 regulate the receipts and disbursements of the city 

 funds form a safe system of finance ; that through their 

 violation has the city suffered by official defalca- 

 tions, and that their strict observance, in the opinion 

 of the Common Council, will be ample guarantee 

 against any loss in the future. 



Resolved, That, entertaining no question of the legal 

 liability ofone^or more of the municipal magistrates 

 during any period of the three years' process of Will- 

 iam B. Carroll's defalcations, 'for the whole or part 

 thereof, it is hereby referred to the corporation coun- 

 sel, under the evidence, to institute such action and 

 take such legal proceedings against any one or more 

 such magistrates as he shall be advised can be sus- 

 tained at law. 



The grand jury, having failed in an effort 

 to secure the aid of expert accountants from 

 certain banks of the city, accomplished little 

 in the way of an investigation. It made a pre- 

 sentment, however, with these suggestions : 



1. That if the payments of the city coupons had 

 been made by a responsible bank or trust company, 

 as was formerly the practice, no loss could have ac- 

 crued to' the city. 



2. That if the payments for coupons had been made 

 by the City Chamberlain as formerly, the city would 

 have been protected from loss by the large bond of 



