[Concluded.]
It must be apparent to every reflecting mind that the great extent of our city already, imposes a burden on the present firemen so great, that we have no right to expect that it will be borne a great while longer by a voluntary Fire Department.
It is evident that something should be done at once to furnish the Fire Department, the relief that they have a right to expect from the excessive labor that is unavoidable in drawing their engines to and from, and the hazzard and fatigue of working them at the numerous fires that take place.
In the opinion of your subscriber, the plan of placing light carts with hose at convenient distances in every street, to be at the service of a body of police, all interested to use this hose for the extinguishment of fires with the greatest possible energy and effect, is the best that can be adopted. By this arrangement it is safe to calculate that the present Fire Department will be relieved from something like three quarters of the duties they are now called upon to perform. As an equivalent for this relief, I propose that the Fire Department shall become the guard of honor for our city, to be called out as firemen or soldiers whenever their services are required by the proper authorities of our city. This arrangement proposes to continue the present Fire Department with every privilege they now enjoy, and relieve them from more than half the labors they are now required to perform.
It is believed by your subscriber, that the plan proposed will make the Fire Department and also the present active Police Department, the most useful and honorable bodies of men in our city. The hearty co-operation of the members of the Fire Department, and also the members of the Police to secure for our city the blessings which must naturally result from this arrangement, will entitle them not only to the pecuniary advantages that must result to themselves and their families, but to the lasting gratitude and respect of every worthy inhabitant of our city.
It is worthy of remark that the insurance companies of this city have now in their employ eighty (80) men, at an expense of thirty (30) thousand dollars a year, to watch against fires. I am informed that they intend greatly to increase this force; in addition, your subscriber, with a great number of merchants and private families, have for years constantly employed private watchmen, to guard our stores and watch our dwellings from robbery and fires. All that these cost, and more, would be gladly contributed to a body of police who would, by a faithful performance of duty, secure the necessary relief for our Fire department, by lessening annually the number of fires, and also by reducing the amount of property stolen below the average agreed upon.
I have taken the liberty to invite the attention of your honorable body to an ARRANGEMENT AND PRINCIPLE by which a large majority of all the officers in the employ of the city will become pecuniarily and otherwise interested in a faithful performance of their duty. Such performance will not only secure to them the large fund provided by the Corporation, and in addition the fund to be recovered from the insurance companies, as a reward for reducing the loss by fire below the average agreed upon, but they would, in addition, find the faithful performance of duty the surest relief from excessive labor, by diminishing the number of fires and the amount of crime that now form so great and so unpleasant a part of their present labor.
The principal idea in the foregoing communication, was presented by your subscriber to a previous Common Council, some twelve years since, under a full sense of the great advantages that would result by saving millions of property annually from destruction, and what is of more value, it would save the health and morals of thousands of the best and most enthusiastic young men of our city from being broken down and destroyed by their loss of time and the excessive labor occasioned by the numerous fires that take place, and which would mainly be prevented by adopting the arrangement proposed.
All of which is most respectfully submitted.
Yours, with great respect,
PETER COOPER.
We have no doubt that by this time it is pretty generally understood, that we have an engagement to fulfil, with the co-operation which, for the present, requires our almost constant attentions. We offer this as an excuse, partly for some very excellent extracts from the press, which our readers will accept, together with our best wishes. We also indulge in the hope that in our Geological researches among the islands of the sea, that we shall make some valuable discoveries which will be of use to the inhabitants of the earth, and to the dwellers in Gotham in particular.
A Capital Hoax.—Some men plagiarise the thoughts of others, without being at all aware of the pungency of the fact as regards themselves. The Herald, in alluding to a few of the “minor press,” gotten up and “spiced” precisely as the Herald itself originally was, when it first attracted public attention, remarked: “These fellows must be taught that they cannot use the liberty of the press so far as to make it the vehicle of their dirty thoughts and dirtier expressions, and that an honorable profession is not to be degraded because they hang upon its skirts, like foul birds hovering over their prey.” The beauty of it is, this extract is, word for word, the language employed by the Courier and Enquirer, in March, 1842, in relation to the Herald itself!—Mercury.
FRANK LESLIE AGAIN ARRESTED.
RICH SCENE AT THE TOMBS!
[From the Sunday Times.]
Frank Leslie was again arrested yesterday morning, on complaint of Aldermen Reed and Tuomy. The officer told Mr. Leslie that his orders were imperative to take him at once before Justice Osborne at the Tombs, without allowing him to send for counsel or seek for bail. On arriving at the Tombs, they were met by Aldermen Tuomy and Reed, accompanied by Mr. John Graham, their counsel. Justice Osborne asked Mr. Leslie if he demanded an examination. Mr. Leslie stated that he had not been allowed time to send for his counsel, and did not know what course to pursue. Justice Osborne said he could have time to send for counsel and for bail.
Mr. Graham then produced the complaints. That of Alderman Reed set forth that Mr. Leslie had published a picture representing him in the garb of a butcher, with a party of Irishmen driving a miserable and diseased-looking cow, without tail or horns, up to his stall. The leader of the party, Mr. Mike O’Flannagan, is represented as saying: “I read you tould the aldermen t’other day that swill-fed beef was worth half a cent a pound more than any other kind of meat. Here’s a beauty, yer honor; doesn’t he look fat and luscious? Arrah! don’t yer eyes wather to look at it?—Here’s the baste; we’ve brought it on purpose fer yez. Hand us over the dimes!”
Alderman Reed is represented as saying:—“I don’t deal in that kind of beef. I stated that as an alderman, not as a butcher.”
Ald. Tuomy makes two complaints against Mr. Leslie. In the first one Ald. Tuomy is represented as a ranting, roaring Irishman on board the Ericsson, with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a shillelah in the other, saying—“If I catch the “Tribune” reporter I’ll throw him overboard, G—d d—n him.” The second one embraces an alleged libellous article, and a caricature of Aldermen Tuomy and Reed, in which their nasal peculiarities are most outrageously magnified. Mr. Graham stated to the court that he desired to compel Leslie to give $2,500 bail in each case; in the two former instances, to keep the peace for twelve months, and abstain from publishing any more caricatures; and in the third case to answer criminally to the Sessions. Mr. Graham proceeded to say, that they intended to show these English scoundrels that they could not libel and caricature respectable citizens with impunity.
Mr. Leslie said—“You had better keep cool, Mr. Graham.”
Mr. Graham, who was evidently very much excited, jumped up and said—“Don’t speak to me, you scoundrel, or I shall not be answerable for the consequences. I ask your Honor to note that this is an attempt to intimidate respectable counsel. These fellows intend to caricature the whole court. I’ll neck the first man I see take out a pencil. [At this juncture our reporter took out his pencil and began to take notes.] The first acquaintance I ever had with him showed him (pointing to Leslie) to be a d—d scoundrel. If they will meet me on any flat in New York (pointing to Leslie and his friend Watson), I’ll take the heads off both of them. I’ll show them by the swelling of their chops there’s no Miss Nancyism about me” [shaking his fist in their faces].
Mr. Leslie—“We are gentlemen—we are no pugilists, Mr. Graham.”
Mr. Graham.—“You are a G—d d—d English thief. I can lick the pair of you.”
Judge Osborne.—“Mr. Graham, you must stop this, as I can’t allow it.”
Mr. Graham.—“Within the past seventy-two hours he has sent a shaft to the heart of the only remaining parent I have on earth, and the other night I went down alone past his establishment, intending if I met him on the curb to whip him like a dog.”
Mr. Leslie asked if the court intended to allow such procedings to continue. They were gentlemen, and not blackguards.
Ald. Reed.—“If they are gentlemen, one has sailed under an alias for the past five years.”
Mr. Leslie.—“That is not true.”
Justice Osborne.—“Gentlemen, you must stop this.”
Mr. Graham.—“The only question is, are two gentlemen to be constantly libelled by these English transports? They contaminate the air. If I stay in the room with them much longer, I shall suffocate. [Pointing to them.]. See what mean-looking English thieves they are!”
At this juncture, a gentleman, who we believe is Mr. Leslie’s printer, got up and told Mr. Graham that he must not speak to him in that way. This style of conversation continued some time longer, but did not lead to any breach of the peace, although it was evident that Mr. Graham needed but a very small provocation to make him take off his coat and “go in.”
Mr. Leslie gave the required bail to keep the peace, justifying himself, in $5,000, and two sureties of $2,500 each. Messrs. Sam S. Sherwood and Alexander Douglass became his bail.