NEW YORK (CITY). 



579 



the chamberlain, which the jury believe would apply 

 to cases like the Carroll frauds. 



, 8. This grand jury is of the opinion that a law 

 should be passed prohibiting any issue of the city's 

 indebtedness other than in registered form, and they 

 recommend the conversion of all outstanding coupon 

 bonds into registered stock. 



4. From the testimony before the grand jury they 

 believe that the system and methods of book-keeping 

 in the comptroller's office can and should be so 

 changed and improved as to make a repetition of the 

 late coupon frauds an impossibility. 



On the 26th of July Comptroller Campbell 

 resigned his office on account of broken health. 

 The resignation was accepted and took effect 

 August 1st. On the 3d of the same month 

 the mayor appointed his private secretary, Seth 

 H. Grant, to the vacant office. The Commis- 

 sioners of Accounts made a second and more 

 extended investigation of the coupon frauds, 

 submitting a report on the 8th of October. 

 Their examination covered the period from 

 1872 to 1882 inclusive, and the fraudulent over- 

 payment of coupons, beginning in 1874, was 

 found to amount to $164,699. 



In the month of September other irregulari- 

 ties were discovered in the Water Register's 

 Bureau of the Department of Public Works, 

 and in the Bureau of Arrears in the Finance 

 Department. Two arrests were made in these 

 cases, and indictments were found but not 

 tried during the year. Two clerks and the 

 auditor in the comptroller's office had been 

 dismissed for negligence in connection with the 

 coupon frauds, but the entire result .of the 

 manifold efforts at investigation was unsatis- 

 factory. Finally, in November, a special grand 

 jury was called for the Court of Oyer and 

 Terminer, and was charged by Chief-Justice 

 of the Supreme Court Noah Davis to make 

 inquiry into all allegations of fraud and dere- 

 liction in the city departments, and of malfeas- 

 ance in office under the city government. At 

 the special request of the grand jury and the 

 district attorney, $20,000 was included in the 

 city appropriations for 1884 to cover the ex- 

 pense of expert assistance in this inquiry, which 

 was going on at the close of the year. Two 

 changes had occurred in the office of district 

 attorney since the question of this inquiry 

 came up. The Hon. John McKeon, the in- 

 cumbent of the office, died, and Wheeler H. 

 Peckham was appointed by the Governor to 

 succeed him on the 30th of November. After 

 holding the office little more than a week, Mr. 

 'eckham concluded that the state of his health 

 rould not permit him to carry on its arduous 

 luties at such a time, and he resigned on the 

 bh of December. On the following day Peter 

 B. Olney was appointed to the place. 



New Aqueduct. The subject of an increased 

 water-supply for the city occupied much at- 

 mtion during the year. The matter had been 

 iveral times urged by the Commissioner of 

 'ublic Works, and in 1882 he had submitted 

 the mayor a plan for a new aqueduct, pre- 

 >ared by the Chief Engineer of the Croton 

 Aqueduct. The State Senate early in January 



adopted a resolution requesting the mayor to 

 appoint a committee of citizens to act with 

 himself in examining this plan, and to report 

 upon its feasibility, the probable co,st of the 

 aqueduct, and the time necessary to "carry the 

 plan into execution. The mnyor appointed as 

 such committee the Hon. O. B. Potter, John T. 

 Agnew, William Dowd, Amos F. Eno, and 

 Hugh N. Camp. Public hearings were given, 

 and the subject of the necessity of increasing 

 the water-supply, the sufficiency of the Croton 

 valley sources, and the merits of the ne\v aque- 

 duct scheme was fully investigated. A report 

 was submitted to the Senate on the 7th of 

 March, the conclusions of which were : 



1. That the Croton water-shed is the amplest and 

 most available source of supply for the city's wants. 



2. That a new aqueduct capable of conveying 150,- 

 000,000 gallons of water daily should be built imme- 

 diately. 



3. That a storage reservoir or reservoirs should be 

 constructed of suitable capacity to provide against all 

 emergencies, and to provide a supply of water for the 

 next twenty-five years. 



4. That the work of constructing this aqueduct and 

 storage reservoir or reservoirs should be surrounded 

 with such safeguards as would insure immediate con- 

 struction, and at reasonable cost to the city. 



A carefully prepared bill was alsu submitted, 

 which, with some modifications, was that 

 passed by the Legislature. (See NEW YORK 

 STATE, Legislative Action.) Strong efforts 

 were made to prevent the change in the bill 

 which took from the mayor the appointment 

 of Aqueduct Commissioners, but without avail. 

 The commission, provided for in the act of 

 the Legislature, was organized in August, and 

 began the consideration of the problem of a 

 new aqueduct and an enlarged storage reser- 

 voir in the Croton valley. At the first regular 

 meeting the Commissioner of Public Works 

 submitted plans for the construction of a dam 

 at Quaker Bridge, and for an aqueduct from 

 the site of the dam to the Harlem river, near 

 High Bridge, upon the line known as the 

 "Hudson river route." That route met with 

 serious opposition from property-owners 

 throughout almost its entire length, and the 

 commissioners finally came to a unanimous 

 decision upon a modification of the "Hudson 

 river route." The commissioners likewise 

 unanimously determined to build the aqueduct 

 of a size equal to a fourteen-foot cylinder. 



The estimate of the Commissioner of Public 

 Works of the cost of the project, on the plan 

 submitted by him, was as follows : 



Dam and reservoirs .$4,000,000 



140.311 feet of aqueduct from dam to Harlem 

 river, at an average of $60 per foot 8,418,660 



2,320 feet tunnel across Harlem river, at $100 per 

 'foot 232,000 



11 ,986 feet of aqueduct from Harlem river to Man- 

 hattan valley, at $50 599,300. 



4,000 feet of iron siphons across Manhattan valley, 

 at $93.50 ' 874,000 



Gate-houses connected with siphons 100,000 



9 783 feet of aqueduct from Manhattan valley to 



Central Park, at $60 586,980 



Gate-house and connections to Central Park res- 

 ervoir 100,000 



Four waste-gates between dam and Harlem river 50,000 

 Total $14,460,940 



