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D OCUMENTS
Assembly of the State of New York.
NINETY-SIXTH SESSION— 1873.
VOLUME 9. -Mob, 161 to 169 indium*.
ALBANY :
THE ABGU8 COMPANY, PRINTERS.
1873.
UiVERSITY OF CHICAGO
LIBRARIES
266*02
MARCH 1930
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 161.
IN ASSEMBLY,
May 21, 1873.
LIST OP GENERAL ORDERS.
o. o.
1347. (Senate.) An act to incorporate the New York Mortgage and
Trnst Company.
1348. (Senate.) An act to amend an act entitled "An act to incor-
porate the village of Olean in the county of Cattaraugus,
to provide for the election of officers for . the same, and to
declare the said village a separate, road district," passed April
1st, 1858. \ . .%
1349. An act dividing the State into congressional districts.
1350. (Senate.) An act to authorize marine insurance companies to
declare extra dividends in pert^aia cases.
1351. (Senate.) An act supplementary to an act entitled " An act to
provide for the incorporation of religious societies," passed
April 5, 1813, and the several acts amendatory thereof.
1352. (Senate.) An act further to define the powers and duties of
the board of the State commissioners of public charities, and
to change the name of the board to the State board of charities.
1353. An act to facilitate the detection and punishment of crime.
1354. An act to regulate the bureau of the public administration in
the city of New York.
1355. An act in relation to the powers and duties of county treasu-
rers, and to authorize certain actions and proceedings against
them.
[Assembly No. 161.] 1
2 [Assembly
q. o.
1356. (Senate.) An act to protect the rights of tenants and owners
of leased lands, in leases commonly known as Campbell's
leases.
1357. (Senate.) An act to amend an act for the suppression of the
traffic in and circulation of obscene literature, being chapter
747 of the Laws of 1872. '
1358. An act to fix the compensation of assessors in the town of
Westchester, in Westchester county.
1359. An act to amend the act passed May 8, 1856, entitled "An act
to authorize the establishment of the House of Refuge for
Juvenile Delinquents in Western New York, passed April 7,
1861, and to provide for the payment for the care of such
delinquents as have been sentenced to Monroe county peniten-
tiary."
1360. (Senate.) An act to amend an act entitled "An act making
provision for the support of certain dispensaries in the city of
Brooklyn," passed April 21, 1870.
1361. (Senate.) An act to amend an act passed April 13, 1871, enti-
tled "An act to amend an act passed May 2, 1864, entitled
'An act to. amend an act entitled " An act to authorize the for-
mation of corporations for manufacturing, mining, mechanical
or chemical purposes," ' passed February 17, 1848."
1362. (Senate.) An act to amend chapter 371 of the Laws of 1866,
entitled "An act to extend the operation and effect of the act
passed February 17, 1848, entitled 'An act to authorize the
formation of corporations for manufacturing, mining, mechan-
ical or chemical purposes,' " passed April 4, 1866.
1363. (Senate.) An act to amend an act entitled "An act to autho-
rise the formation of corporations for manufacturing, mining,
mechanical and chemical purposes," passed February 17, 1848.
1364. (Senate.) An act to amend an act entitled "An act to widen
and improve Ninth avenue and Fifteenth street in the city of
Brooklyn," passed May 7, 1869.
1365. (Senate.) An act to provide for the improvement of Park
avenue, from Clinton avenue to Broadway, in the city of
Brooklyn, and to repeal an act heretofore passed for the
improvement of Park aveniie, from Clinton avenue to Broad-
No. 161.] 8
G. 0.
way, aijd from Hudson avenue to Bridge-street, in the city of
Brooklyn.
1366. (Senate.) An act to authorize the Bale of certain lands belong-
ing to the State.
1367. (Senate.) An act supplemental to act entitled "An act to
reorganize the local government of the city of New York,"
passed April 30, 1873.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 162.
IN ASSEMBLY,
May 22, 1878.
LIST OP GENERAL ORDERS.
G. 0.
1368. (Senate.) An act to alter the map or plan of the city of New
York by extending Desbrosses street.
1369. (Senate.) An act in relation! to a sidewalk from the village of
Albion to Albion cemetery.
1370. (Senate.) An act to incorporate the New York Rapid Transit
Company, and to provide a comfortable, safe and speedy sys-
tem of cheap and rapid transit through the city of New York.
1371. (Senate.) An act to authorize the Atlantic Railroad Company
of Brooklyn to extend their tracks through Boerum street
and other streets in said city.
1372. (Senate.) An act in relation to assessing the cost of sewers in
the city of Brooklyn.
1373. An act to prevent certain fraudulent practices.
1374. (Senate.) An act to regulate the bureau of the public admin-
istrator in the city of New York.
1375. (Senate.) An act to legalize the official acts of William Phair
as commissioner of deeds.
«
1376. (Senate.) An act authorizing the village of Fort Plain to levy
taxes.
1377. Concurrent resolutions proposing an amendment to the Con-
stitution relative to funding the canal and general funding
debts now charged on the canals.
[Assembly No. 162.] 1
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 163.
IN ASSEMBLY,
May 22, 1873.
REPORT
OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.
Mr. Rose, from the sub-committee of the whole, to which was
referred the Senate bill No. 978, G. 0. 1163, entitled " An act to
provide for the support and care of State paupers," reported in favor
of the passage of the same with several amendments:
Section 2. Strike out of line 1 the words " board of," " public "
and " as constituted," and insert " board " after " State." Strike out
lines 2, 3, 4 and 5 down to the word u are," and insert " is." Line
7, strike out " they " and insert " it."
Section 4, line 13, insert " State" before " board," and strike out
"State commissioners of public."
Section 5, line 8, same amendment as last. Line 9, strike out
uor the secretary thereof."
Section 11, line 5, strike out " said."
Section 12, line 1, insert "State" before "board," and strike out
a State board of public."
Section 15, lines 6 and 7, same amendment as last.
The bill was ordered to be reported by the following vote :
Aye*— Messrs. Cook, Watt, Bay, Sylvester, Stewart, Lincoln,
Yeomans, Davidson, Babcock — 9.
No— Mr. Rose— 1.
[Assembly No. 163.] 1
^
/
STATE OF NEW YORK.
Na 164.
IN ASSEMBLY,
May 27, 1873,
OPINION
OP THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, IN REPLY TO A RESO-
LUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY, RELATIVE TO THE
ISSUE OF FRAUDULENT STOCK BY THE ERIE RAIL-
WAY COMPANY.
STATE OF NEW YORK :
Office of the Attorney-General, )
Albany, March 29, 1873. \
To the Honorable the Speaker of the Assembly :
Sir. — On March 11th instant, the Assembly passed the following
preambles and resolution :
Whereas, It is well known that a large majority of the stock now
outstanding against the Erie Railway Company was, by a corrupt
collusion of its officers, fraudulently issued, and that there never was
twenty per cent on the par value of such stock paid into its treasury,
nor expended by it on its property for the public welfare, owing to
such corrupt action of its officers ; and
Whereas, The original purchasers of said stock did not pay more
than the above-named amount for the same, thereby implicating
themselves with those who perpetrated the fraud ; and
Whereas, It has been made public that the board of directors of
that eompany have declared a dividend on the entire amount of stock
outstanding against it, which dividend is limited only in consequence
of the earnings of its road, and not in consideration of the manner
in which such stock was issued ; .and
Whereas, The practical effect of allowing dividends to be paid on
[Assembly No. 164.] 1
J [Assembly
such stock would be to recognize and encourage fraud, to paralyze
the industries of an innocent people, living tributary to the line of
the road that company represents, by imposing additional burdens
on them for its use ; to levy unjust and oppressive burdens on the
commerce of the city of New York, on whose commercial supremacy
the welfare of the State so largely depends ; to increase the cost of
living, by increasing the cost of transporting the necessaries of life
between producers and consumers, and, finally, to enrich adventurous
gamblers and speculators, as against good morals, the welfare of the
people and public policy ; and
Whereas, It has been currently reported and charged, in the public
prints and elsewhere, that a large ana improper expenditure of money
was made by the foreign stockholders and officers of the Erie Rail-
way Company in the transfer of the management of that company in
the year 1872 ; and that by a corrupt contract for the negotiation of
its bonds, the agents of said foreign stockholders have since been
indirectly reimbursed out of the treasury of said company ; and that
a large sum was used to influence legislation connected with said road
in the same year ; and that other gross irregularities on the part of
said road and its managers were committed : Now, therefore,
JResofoed, That the Attorney-General of this State be and is
hereby directed to report to this House, within twenty days, whether,
in his opinion, the dividend so declared upon the aforesaid fraudu-
lently-issued stock of said company can be legally paid out of its
treasury, and whether the said Erie Railway Company may not be
restrained by the courts from paying said dividend, or any other
dividend, upon any stock thus fraudulently created.
In obedience to the above resolution I have the honor to report as
follows :
I understand the " fraudulent issues of stock," therein referred to,
to be those made' under the following circumstances:
By subdivision ten of section twenty-eight of the general railroad
act it is enacted as follows :
" Every railroad corporation shall have power * * * * * *
from time to time to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary
for completing and finishing or operating their railroad, and to issue
and dispose of their bonds for any amount so borrowed and to mort-
gage their corporate property and franchises to secure the payment
of any debt contracted by the company for the purposes aforesaid ;
and the directors of the company may confer on any holder of any
bond, issued for money borrowed as aforesaid, the right to convert
the principal due or owing thereon into stock of said company, at
any time not exceeding ten years from the date of the bond, under
such regulations as the directors may see fit to adopt."
No. 164.] *
Under this section it is charged, and I assume correctly, that large
amounts of stock of the Erie Railway Company have been fraudu-
lently issued. That bonds were issued by the Executive Committee
of the Board of Directors to one of their own number as a mere
means or cover for issuing stock. That the proceeds of such bonds
were not applied or intended to be applied to " completing, finishing
or operating " said road, but that said bonds were issued with the
understanding that the person to whom they were issued should at
once convert them into stock and allow for them to the company the
value of the stock into which they should be converted. That there
was no 'money borrowed on the bonds, no issuing of them for the
purpose of borrowing money, never at any time anything due or
owing on them, and never any actual and real owner of said bonds.
Upon such a state of facts there can be no doubt that the trans-
action and the issuing of the bonds and their conversion into stock
was illegal, fraudulent and void,.
The statute above quoted contemplates a bona fide borrowing of
money upon bonds for certain specified purposes, and the element of
convertibility into stock was added as a mere -means of increasing the
value of the bonds.
So far there is no difficulty in the matter, but when you come to
the question of a remedy for this wrong there is much embarrass-
ment.
Where such a transaction was contemplated it could no doubt be
restrained by injunction at the suit of the proper parties.
And even after the consummation of such a scheme, if any of the
stock into which the bonds were converted still' remained in the
hands of the parties to the fraud, or in the hands of those who took
with notice of the fraud, it would no doubt be the duty of the corpo-
ration to refuse to pay dividends upon it, and an injunction could be
obtained forbidding such payment.
But where the corporation has permitted such stock to be trans-
ferred on its books and it has passed into the hands of bona fide
holders, there are two very grave practical difficulties in the way of
refusing to treat it as valid stock.
In order to restrain the payment of dividends upon, any particular
share of stock it must be proved, first, that it is one of the shares so
fraudulently issued or a derivation thereof; and, secondly, that the
present holder took it with notice of its vicious origin.
4 [AflSSMBXT
The stock of this company changes hands bo frequently and there
are snch large amounts of it that it may be fairly said to be impos-
sible to identify at this time any particular shares as being derived
from the tainted source, and when this was accomplished you would
still have to prove that the owner bought it knowing of its corrup-
tion. I may here observe that it cannot fairly be said, as suggested
in the resolution of your honorable body, that the mere fact of a
purchase of the stock at a large discount from the par value is evi-
dence of fraudulent knowledge on the part of the purchaser, or
" implicates him with those who perpetrated the fraud." Something
more than the payment of less than the par value of the stock would
have to be shown to impair the bona fides of the holding.
It will be seen that the difficulty is not in the law of the case but
in the facts, or rather in the proof of the facts.
Referring to the language of your inquiry I have no difficulty in
saying that the company cannot rightfully pay dividends upon such
of such fraudulently issued stock as can be identified and traced
into the hands of persons who took it with knowledge of the fraud,
and that the payment of -such dividends can, upon proof of such fact,
be restrained by injunction ; and I think that such an action could
be maintained by the Attorney-General as an action to restrain an
improper alienation of the property of the corporation.
, But the difficulties of proof above referred to are so great that
such a suit would be practically useless.
There is a further question to be considered in this case. It has
been argued with great force that the statute allowing the issuing of
convertible bonds and the conversion of them into stock does not
apply where the authorized capital of the corporation is already full.
All the stock authorized in terms by the charter of this company
had been issued long before the fraudulent issues above referred to ;
and if the views above suggested are correct, the power to convert
bonds into stock had ceased, and the stock issued for the bonds was
wholly void. It is not necessary, however, to discuss the question
here whether the argument that the stock cannot be increased beyond
the charter limit is or is not sound, for the reason that, conceding it
to be so, the same practical difficulty above referred to remains. In
seeking to restrain the payment of dividends on this excess of stock
we should, it is true, be relieved from the difficulty of proving that
the holder of the stock took it with knowledge that it was a part of
Nalflfc] :;5
the over-issue, because, it being absolutely beyond the power of the
corporation to create it, it would be void even in the hands of a bona
fide holder ; but the difficulty of tracing it and saying that any par-
ticular share was part of the over-issue would still remain, and that
is, as above stated, practically insuperable.
For the reasons above stated I am of opinion that a suit to restrain
the payment of dividends on the stock issued in the manner above
described wonld fail of any practical results, though I shall cheer-
folly undertake it if directed by the Legislature.
I may here call the attention of your honorable body to the fact
that, by act chapter 278 of the Laws of 1868, the issue of the ten
millions of stock previously made in the manner above described
was in effect legalized, though I understand that large issues have
since been made in the same vicious manner.
The preamble to the resolution indicates that your honorable body
is impressed with the injury to the public which is supposed to result
from the imposing of undue burdens upon the people for the purpose
of paying dividends upon this fraudulent and excessive stock. It is,
however, evident that the canceling of this excessive stock would not
necessarily diminish those burdens. If the stock were diminished
one-half, the only result would be that twice the rate of dividend
wonld be paid on half the amount of stock, there being no law limit-
ing the dividends which railroad corporations are allowed to pay to
any per centage on the capital stock. The company could and would
exact the same rates of fare, and pay increased dividends on the
diminished aggregate of stock.
It is, moreover, clear that if stock, held by bona-Jide purchasers to
whom the company has permitted regular transfers of it to be made
npon its books, and thus induced them to pay for it to the vendors,
should be declared void and canceled because of its being in excess
of the chartered limit of capital, the company would, upon the
principle settled by the Court of Appeals in the case of the New
Haven Railroad Company's over-issued stock, be liable in damages to
the last bona fide transferrers of the stock thus canceled for the value
of the stock at the time of the transfer ; to pay these damages a
debt would have to be created, the interest on which would be about
equivalent to the saving of dividends on the canceled stock, so that
nothing would be practically gained by the cancellation.
The only remedy for such violations of law, if it can be called a
6
[Assembly Kb. 164.]
remedy, is the criminal punishment of the guilty officers of the rail-
road and the summary proceeding of a forfeiture of the charter ; and
it is no doubt competent for the Legislature to limit by law the rates
of fare and freight, and thus effectually set bounds to the amount of
dividends which shall be paid on this stock.
Very respectfully,
FRANCIS 0. BARLOW,
Attorney-General.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 165.
IN ASSEMBLY,
May 27, 1873,
REPORT
OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.
Mr. Rose, from the sub-committee of the whole, to which was
referred the Senate bill No. 476, G. O. 1281, entitled " An act to
extend the term of office of the Brooklyn park commissioners,"
reported in favor of the passage of the same without amendment.
The bill was ordered to be reported by the following vote :
Ayes — Messrs. Rose, Oakley, Ray, Herrick, Stewart, Lewis, Lin-
coln, Yeomans, Davidson — 9.
•
Mr. Rose, from the sub-corn mitte of the whole, to which was
referred the Senate bill No. 425, G. O. 1284, entitled "An act to
legalize the acts of Thomas H. Horton as a notary public," reported
in favor of the passage of the same without amendment.
The bill was ordered to be reported by the following vote :
Ayes — Messrs. Rose, Cook, Oakley, Ray, Herrick, Stewart, Lewis,
Lincoln, Yeomans, Davidson — 10.
Mr. Rose, from the sub-committee of the whole, to which was
referred the Senate bill No. 282, G. O. 1113, entitled " An act to
amend section 19 of chapter 570 of the Laws of 1872, entitled * An
act to ascertain by proper proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to
the right of suffrage in the State of New York, except in the city
and county of New York and the city of Brooklyn,' and to repeal
chapter 570 of the Laws of 1871, entitled 'An act to amend an act
[Assembly No. 165.] 1
2 [Assembly No. 165.]
entitled " An act in relation to elections in the city and county of
New York/ " " reported to the passage of the same by the following
vote :
Ayes — Messrs. Rose, Herrick, Lewis, Lincoln, Yeomans, David-
son— 6.
Noes — Messrs. Cook, Oakley, Ray, Stewart — i.
Mr. Rose, from the sub-committee of the whole, to which was
referred the Senate bill No. 478, Qt. O. 1293, entitled "An act to
release the interest of the people of the State of New York in cer-
tain real estate to Nathaniel Edmonds," reported in favor of the
passage of the same without amendment.
The bill was ordered to be reported by the following vote :
Ayes — Messrs. Rose, Cook, Oakley, Ray, Herrick, Stewart, Lewis,
Lincoln, Yeomans, Davidson — 10.
Mr. Rose, from the sub-committee of the whole, to which was
referred the Assembly bill No. 997, G. 0. 1160, entitled "An act to
amend an act entitled ' An act to incorporate the Inebriates' Home
for Kings county,' passed May 9, 1867, and the acts amendatory
thereof, passed April 13, 1868, and April 15, 1871," reported in favor
of the passage of the same with some amendments.
The bill was ordered to bo reported by the following vote :
Ayes — Messrs. Rose, Oook, Oakley, Ray, Herrick, Stewart, Lewis^
Lincoln, Yeomans, Davidson — 10.
NINETEENTH
ANNUAL REPORT
OP THE
upetiutettdent of ;
tttrlic :
wttndwn
OF TELE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE FEBRUARY 28th, 1878.
ALBANY :
THE ABGUS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
1873.
STATE OF NEW YORK
No. 166.
IN ASSEMBLY,
February 28, 1873.
NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THS
Superintendent of Public Instruction,
state op new york :
Department op Public Instruction,
Superintendent's Office,
Albany, Feb. 28, 1873.
Hon. A. B. Cornell,
Speaker of the Assembly :
Sir. — I herewith transmit to the Legislature the
Nineteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, and the documents accompanying
the same.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ABRAM B. WEAVER,
SfiiperirUendeni of PvJblic Instruction.
STATE OF NEW YORK
No. 166.
IN ASSEMBLY,
February 28, 1873.
NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Superintendent of Public Instruction
state of new york :
Department of Public Instruction,
Superintendent's Office,
Albany, Feb. 28, 1873.
Hon. A. B. Cornell,
Speaker of the Assembly :
Sir. — I herewith transmit to the Legislature the
Nineteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, and the documents accompanying
the same.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ABRAM B. WEAVER,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Nineteenth Annual Report
OF THB
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
STATE OP NEW YORK :
Department of Public Instruction, )
Albany, February 3, 1873. )
To the Legislature of the State of New York :
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in obedience
to the requirements of law, respectfully submits the
following
REPORT.
The returns for the school year ending September 30,
1872, given in this report, are as favorable, in nearly all
respects, as those for any preceding year. This indicates
a fair measure of prosperity, according to the usual
standards, but should not be accepted as conclusive
evidence of such great success that efforts for a better
condition may prudently cease.
Although statistics may be truthful in reference to the
facts reported, and, for some purposes, very serviceable,
they cannot reveal the whole life of our school system,
nor, without careful study, will they disclose its defects.
An account tff the large sums of money raised and
expended for the support of free schools, of the great
number of teachers employed and of scholars taught, if
6 NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
inconsiderately accepted, might encourage the inference
that there is no occasion for further improvement. But
those in charge of public instruction should ever keep
before their minds the question whether we are doing the
proper work in the best way. I shall express my views
plainly, in this report, upon some subjects involved in
that inquiry, in the treatment of which I think changes
for the better may be made, and submit them, with other
matter, for the thoughtful consideration of the Legisla-
ture.
School Districts and Houses.
The reported number of school districts in the State,
exclusive of cities which have no such divisions, was :
In mi 11,350
In 1872 11 ,367
Increase 17
This increase is chiefly owing to the formation of new
districts in sparsely settled sections of the State, as
required by the increasing population. On the other
hand, owing to the consolidation of small districts and
the organization of graded schools in cities and villages,
there has been, in the aggregate, a diminution of thirty
during the last ten years.
The number of school-houses, and their classification
according to the materials of which they are constructed,
are as follows :
Log. Frame. Brick. Stone. Total,
Cities 51 329 10 390
Rural districts 121 9,890 869^ 473 11,353
Total, 1872 121 9,941 1,198 483 11,743
Total, 1871 127 9,914 1,182 505 11,728
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 7
Their number and classification, as reported for the
years 1862 and 1872, are as follows :
Tears. Log. Frame. Brick. Stone. Total.
1862 228 10,004 964 554 11,750
1872 , 121 9,941 1,198 483 11,743
• • **v^ •••• • • • •
Increase .... 234
Decrease 107 63 .... 71 7
The increase in the nnmber of brick school-houses does
not represent the full number of new buildings that have
been erected during the period mentioned, for many have
been constructed in place of old ones of similar materials.
The improvements, which have been made in providing
suitable houses and sites, are better indicated by their
reported value, as compared with preceding years, and
the sums expended each year for these and kindred pur-
poses, as stated in the tables which follow.
The value of school-houses and sites in 1865, when it
was first reported, and in each of the succeeding years,
was as follows :
Tern. Cities. Rami Districts. TotaL
In 1865 $5,041,061 $4,904,862 $9,945,923
In 1866 6,720,535 6,534,422 12,254,957
In 1867 9,500,085 6,680,511 16,180,596
In 1868 9,599,627 6,859,858 16,459,485
In 1869 10,760,589 7,688,459 18,449,048
In 1870 11,981,302 8,445,110 20,426,412
In 1871 14,606,903 8,861,363 23,468,266
In 1872 15,165,314 9,350,936 24,516,250
The average value of school-houses and sites is :
In the cities $38,885 50
In the rural districts 823 65
i
J
8 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
The average value of school houses and sites in the
rural districts was :
In 1865 $433 02
In 1866 492 12
In 1867 693 92
In 1868 604 98
In 1869 678 17
In 1870 744 34
In 1871 780 46
In 1872 823 65
The sums spent in each year, since 1862, for school-
houses, out-houses, sites, fences, furniture and repairs,
were as follows :
Years. Cities. Rural Districts. Total.
1863 $242,547 53 $186,961 40 $429,508 93
1864 370,815 34 276,485 89 647,301 23
1865 516,902 04 282,258 66 799,160 70
1866 489,348 67 480,875 92 970,224 59
1867 1,012,482 87 700,624 14 1,713,107 01
1868 1,166,076 28 1,017,988 67 2,184,064 95
1869 1,401,464 03 1,053,988 98 2,455,453 01
1870 1,079,160 61 891,418 27 1,970,578 88
1S71 692,862 79 901,198 14 1,594,060 93
1872 1,110,144 14 878,779 04 1,988,923 18
Totals $8,081,804 30 $6,670,579 11 $14,752,383 41
More than ten millions of dollars have be,en expended
for these purposes during the last five years ; and the
large increase in the reported value of school-houses and
sites would indicate that the amount had been chiefly
used in permanent improvements.
Children and Attendance.
The whole number of children between the ages of five
and twenty-one years, as reported, was :
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 9
Tears. Cities. Rural Districts. State.
In 1871 645,128 857,556 1,502,684
In 1872 662,778 859,175 1,521,953
The number who attended the public free schools, some
portion of the school year, was 1,024,130.
The whole number in attendance, in each of the last
ten years, was as follows :
Tears. Cities. Rani Districts. Total.
1863 294,211 592,604 886,815
1864 293,265 587,919 881,184
1365 310,556 606,061 916,617
1866 326,798 592,511 919,309
1867 362,288 586,915 949,203
1868 359,229 611,613 970,842
1869 378,861 619,803 998,664
1870 409,477 616,970 1 ,026,447
1871 411,133 616,977 1,028,110
1872 409,272 614, 858 1 , 024, 130
The aggregate number of days of attendance, for each
of the last five vears, was as follows :
Tens. Cities. Rural Districts. Total.
1868 36,047,805 47,349,445 83,397,250
1869 38,125,791 48,952,174 87,077,965
WO 40,907,068 49,396,980 90,304,043
1871 39,096,552 53,511 ,055 92,607,607
1872 38,479,418 50,234,513 88,713,931
The average daily attendance of pupils, for the same
period, was as follows :
Yean. Cities. Rural Districts. Total.
1867 164,565 255,392 419,957
1868 166,645 279,223 445,868
1869 178,607 289,814 468,421
J870. 192,623 292,082 484,705
Wl 195,230 298,418 493,648
»872 199,853 294,997 494,850
10 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
The largely increased attendance of pupils upon the
public schools, which has hitherto marked the years fol-
lowing the adoption of the Free School Law, has been
substantially maintained during the last year.
Though the total number of pupils, reported as having
been in attendance during some portion of the year, is
somewhat less, the average attendance is more than for
any preceding year. According to the foregoing table,
the average number of pupils in attendance for the whole
State, each day of the entire term in 1872, was 1,202 more
than that of the equal term in 1871 ; 10,145 more than in
1870 ; 26,429 more than in 1869 ; 48,982 more than in
1868, and 74,893 more than for the shorter term in 1867.
The average time each pupil in the rural districts
attended school was sixteen and nine-tenths weeks ; in
the cities, nineteen and three-tenths weeks.
The average length of school terms in the cities was
forty one and three-tenths weeks; in the whole State,
thirty-five weeks.
The following table shows the average length of time
ths schools were in session, in the rural districts, for each
of the years mentioned :
Yean. Weeks. Daye.
1863 30 1
1864 29 4
1865 30 4
1866 30 2
1867 30 3
1868 f 32 4
1869 32 4
1870 32 4
1871 32 4
1872 32 4
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 11
The number of pupils instructed in the several common
schools, normal schools, academies, colleges and private
schools, during the year, was as follows :
In the common schools 1 ,024, 130
In the normal schools 6 , 377
In the academies 31 ,421
In the colleges 4,012
In the private schools 131 , 761
Total 1,197,701
The total number, thus reported as having attended
school during the year, is about seventy-nine per cent
of all persons in the State between the ages of five and
twenty-one years, and much larger than the entire popu-
lation between the ages of six and seventeen years.
12
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
For the information of those interested in comparative
educational statistics, the following tables, based upon
returns received at this Department, are submitted :
COUNTIES AND CITIES.
Albany
Citar
Conoes
Allegany
Broome
Blnghamton
Cattaraugus
Cayuga
Auburn
Chautauqua
Chemung
Elmlra
Chenango
Clinton
Columbia
Hudson
Cortland
Delaware
Dutchess
Poughkeepsle
Brie
Buffalo
Bssex
Franklin
Fulton
Genesee
Greene
Hamilton
Herkimer
Jefferson
Watertown
Kings
Brooklyn
Lewie
Livingston
Madison
Monroe
Rochester
Montgomery
New York
Niagara
Lockport
Oneida
Utica
Onondaga
Syracuse
Ontario
Orange
Newburgh
Orleans
Oswego
City
1.
87
196
861
50
47
108
51
58
109
58
59
96
41
78
155
48
40
148
Tl
114
55
61
71
69
58
85
58
47
90
168
154
61
68
58
80
196
87
188
78
10»
68
187
60
95
61
86
181
60
61
116
2.
54
81
190
41
88
65
41
41
68
49
41
55
89
51
47
78
85
88
46
66
58
67
49
46
50
50
48
97
48
88
61
77
84
87
45
89
58
68
60
94
51
79
45
59
46
47
46
69
77
47
48
65
3.
©
I
S3
S 9
►»3
I
9
u
9
P.
94
45
48
90
90
87
90
90
49
99
90
40
17
98
91
45
17
16
91
99
95
80
90
90
95
95
90
11
99
19
84
89
49
17
99
90
94
84
96
45
95
88
99
88
94
88
98
98
89
99
94
44
*|2-
f,
II
98.15
98 19
19.08
89.94
41.41
86.49
40.05
89.81
87.91
49.06
89.11
49.09
40.79
99.66
80 58
98.64
88.14
40.86
98.89
90.99
89.46
96.88
85.86
89.75
85.96
85.99
85.11
89.48
88.14
40.09
87.99
19.64
97.81
88.58
85.09
89.04
80.41
17.64
80.18
88.59
88.68
87.88
85.99
97.75
89.09
85.99
87.97
89.07
99.96
86.68
89.98
87.94
5.
"2 O °" ©
•go0"
•8
• •3 " H
2 -
5lSK
nils
pk
45.60
65.98
86.89
47.95
51.48
57.60
49.80
60.99
66.19
58.68
49.78
79.84
51.69
44.95
44.71
57.10
47.67
48.70
46.89
48.69
46.59
59.69
46.75
45.06
51.08
49.49
47.77
41.65
59.04
49.47
56.89
41.81
50.96
46.74
48.80
61.69
46.08
68.96
48.97
47.61
48.18
48.46
49.57
64.94
61.87
71.60
50.84
46.95
50.84
46.47
49.96
67.47
Superintendent of Public Instbdction,
COUNTIES AND CITIES.
1.
8.
8.
4.
5.
Ill
III
I
1
1
18
S3
83
a
89
37
S3
to
as
£9
30
10
30
86
ai
98
n
si
30
99
3a
39
30
19
33
49
37
i
1
I £
£ 5
tills
PWauD.. .. ,.
48
m
w
ut
iao
la
130
53
66
81
145
n
48
71
66
80
68
54
BB
M
49
Tl
101
M
79
6S
40
74
*»■
m
»
. 41
40
44
67
«
41
88
33
91
as
39
X
33
i
3
n
89
M
86
40
M
84
40
M
90
31
86
aft
37
as
34
30
80
64
09
98
09
44
40
84
Bl
07
17
81
78
08
68
40
50
46
00
30
00
03
M
68
ai
IS
BO. 00
45.84
45.97
40.46
45.87
57.08
46.85
45.84
50.14
46.87
46.31
46.51
88.10
4B.B5
49.61
47.78
47.T4
48.78
43.98
50.83
50.41
so!**
40.81
49.00
46.43
49,16
45.68
47.07
48.83
48.81
Looilalwd Cltj...
tiaumtut
BocUuil,
3»c&U.
Cltj ,.
Sebohirw
Hnb«...
1
Twlcbeeler .....
ei
ne
El
n
»
i»
84
41
4t
K2.
8W«.. .
so
The whole number of teachers employed in the common
schools was :
Ton. Milei. Fannies, Total.
Inl871 6,481 21,773 28,254
In 1872 6,670 21,887 28,657
The nnraber reported as " employed at the same time
for twenty -eight weeks or more," in each of the last five
fears, is stated in the following table :
14 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
No. employed No. employed in
Yean. in cities. rural districts. Total.
1868 3,998 12,598 16,596
1869 4,334 12,806 17,140
1870 4,463 12,974 17,437
1871 4,752 13,119 17,871
1872 4,800 13,256 18,056
The " district quota " is annually determined by divid-
ing the aggregate amount apportioned for that purpose,
by the number of teachers simultaneously employed
during the previous year, in the several districts, for the
prescribed legal term of twenty -eight weeks. Though
the aggregate amount has annually increased, the num-
ber of teachers from year to year has, in some instances,
increased more rapidly, causing a decrease in the amount
of the " quota."
The amount paid asa" district quota ' ' was :
In 1868 $47 57
In 1869 47 15
In 1870 46 09
In 1871 47 56
In 1872 48 11
In 1873 48 19
The following statement shows by whom the teachers
employed in the schools were licensed :
By normal By Sopt. By local
schools. Pub. Inst officers. Total.
Cities 270 448 4,480 5,198
Rural districts 273 647 22 , 539 23 , 459
Total for 1872 543 1,095 27,0J9 28>657
Total for 1871 533 1,054 26,667 28,254
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 15
The amount expended for teachers' wages was :
Yean. Cities. Rural Districts. Total.
In 1867 $2,217,028 94 $2,609,442 70 $4,826,471 64
In 1868 2,564,592 90 3,032,914 04 5,597,506 94
In 1869 2,790,068 90 3,302,11169 6,092,180 59
Li 1870 3,036,439 98 3,460,252 41 6,496,692 39
In 1871 3,066,787 94 3,586,305 11 6,653,093 05
In 1872 3,316,926 27 3,640,529 49 6,957,455 76
Increase over 1871, $250,138 33 $54,224 38 $304,362 71
The average annual salary for each teacher, calculated
from the foregoing statements, was :
Tears. Cities. Rural Districts. State.
In 1867 $621 36 $216 73 $309 23
In 1868 641 47 240 75 387 28
In 1869 642 87 257 86 355 02
In 1870 680 36 266 70 372 58
Inl87l 645 37 273 38 372 86
In 1872 69103 274 63 385 33
The average weekly wages was :
Tears. Cities. Rural Districts. State.
In 1869 $16 16 $7 86 $10 09
In 1870 16 12 8 13 10 58
In 1871 15 44 8 33 10 58
Inl872 16 73 8 37 1104
The amount paid for teachers' wages was $2,130,984.12
more than in 1867, which is an advance, in five years, of
more than forty-four per cent upon the gross amount,
and of more than twenty-two per cent upon the average
annual salaries of the increased number of teachers.
The following is a summary of the statistical reports
for the year ending September SO, 1872. For a detailed
16
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
statement by counties, see table No. 4, in the appen-
dix.
Number of district*
Number of teachers employed at the same time for
twenty-eight weeks or more
Number of children between 5 and 91 years of age
Number of male teachers employed
Nnmber of female teachers employed
Number of children attending the common schools
Average daily attendance
Number of visitations by school commissioners
Number of volumes in district libraries
Number of log school-houses
Number of frame school-houses
Number of brick school-houses
Number of stone school-houses
Whole number of school-houses
Cities.
004
4,800
682,778
409
4,796
400,973
100,858
• • • • • •
189,881
51
10
800
Rural
Districts.
11,867
18,956
850,175
<i,268
17,101
614,858
204,097
17,940
741,089
191
0,800
478
11,858
Total.
19,061
18,056
1,621,058
6,670
31,987
1,094,180
494,850
17,940
874,198
191
9,941
1,196
488
11,748
Public Moneys.
The following table shows the receipts and payments
on account of the Common School Fund, during the year :
Receipts.
Balance on hand, September 30, 1871 $33,495 26
Interest on bonds for lands 8,622 90
Interest on bonds for loans 8 , 930 39
Interest on loan of 1840 2,924 46
Interest on State stocks 67,903 27
Interest on Comptroller's bonds 2, 160 00
Interest on Oswego city bonds 2,996 00
Rent of lands '. 43 50
Dividends on stock of Manhattan Company 5,000 00
Interest on money in the treasury 70,022 97
$202,098 75
Amount appropriated from the U. S. Deposit Fund, 165,000 00
$367,098 75
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 17
Payments.
Dividends to common schools $244,600 00
Salaries of school commissioners 90, 187 32
Indian schools 4,481 66
$330,268 98
Balance in treasury, September 30, 1872 27 , 829 77
$367,098 75
A statement showing the increase and diminution of
the fund, and the manner in which its capital has been
invested from 1805 to the present time, is given in tables
Nos. 6 and 7, in the appendix.
Free School Fund.
The following table shows the receipts and payments,
on account of this fund, during the last fiscal year :
Receipts.
Balance on hand, October 1, 1871 $31 ,666 18
Avails of State tax received during the year 2,565,672 37
Reftuided on account of erroneous payment to the
Albany [Normal School 20 00
$2,597,358 55
Payments.
Regular apportionment to cities and counties. . . $2,411,685 35
Supplementary apportionment 2, 190 73
Indian schools 3,209 28
Teachers' Institutes 15,069 10
formal School at Albany 16,000 00
Normal School at Brockport 17,990 S3
Normal School at Buffalo 17, 115 12
Normal School at Cortland 18,513 81
Carried forward $2,501,773 72
2
18 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $2,501 , 773 72
Normal School at Fredonia 17, 556 10
Normal School at Geneseo 17, 996 65
Normal School at Oswego 28,281 39
Normal School at Potsdam 18,881 42
Balance on hand, September 30, 1872 12, 869 27
$2,507,358 55
I respectfully suggest to the Legislature the propriety
of amending the law in regard to the Free School Fund,
so that the supervision of it by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction shall be similar to that exercised by
the Comptroller over the General Fund.
Under the existing law, all payments from the Free
School Fund are made upon the warrant of the Super-
intendent, and all receipts for moneys coming into the
fund are required to be countersigned by him. His con
trol does not extend further. He has no means of ascer-
taining whether the money, for which he receipts, is
actually placed in the bank to the credit of the fund.
On account of this defect in the law, mistakes have
frequently occurred, as the following cases will illustrate :
In 1868, moneys due from the treasurers of the counties
of Kings and Lewis, on account of the State school tax,
amounting to $20,224.88, were paid by those officers to
the State treasurer, and receipts therefor, duly counter-
signed by me, were given them. But, by a mistake in
the Treasurer's office, this sum was deposited in the bank
to the credit of the General Fund, and was so credited on
the books of the Treasurer and Comptroller. There was
no way to rectify the error, except by procuring legisla-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 19
tion authorizing a transfer of the money. Accordingly,
the necessary appropriation was made in the supply
bill of 1870, and, soon after, the Comptroller drew his
warrant for the amount, and a check therefor was drawn
by the Treasurer. This check should have been deposited
in the bank, to the credit of the Free School Fund, in
May, 1870. But it was withheld, and the money was not
placed to the credit of the Free School Fund until Decem-
ber, 1871. Thus, more than eighteen months' interest
upon this large sum was lost to that fund.
In 1869, the sum of $7,734.42, due from the treasurer of
the county of Richmond for school taxesi and paid by
Mm to the State Treasurer, was in like manner credited to
the General Fund. An appropriation was subsequently
made for the repayment of this sum from the general
fund to the Free School Fund. A warrant for the amount
was drawn by the Comptroller, and a check for the same
amount was drawn by the State Treasurer. That check
should have been deposited to the credit of the Free School
Fund, but it never was so deposited. The check was
indorsed by the State Treasurer, was presented to the
bank, and was paid ; but the money never went to the
credit of the Free School Fund. Legal proceedings were
subsequently instituted, upon the Treasurer's bond,
for the recovery of the money, and doubtless it will
eventually be placed where it belongs.
I have cited these instances, to show the necessity for an
amendment of the law. If the Treasurer was required
to make to the Superintendent of Public Instruction a
monthly report of the condition of the Free School Fund,
and, also, if the Superintendent were furnished with a
20 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
*
duplicate bank book showing the sums placed, day by
day, to the credit of the fund, such mistakes and omis-
sions, as those above referred to, would not be likely to
occur. The law itself should guard against a misappli-
cation of the public funds.
Statement of all School Moneys Received and
Apportioned.
The school moneys for the fiscal year ending Septem-
ber 30, 1878, are derived from the following sources :
From the Common School Fund $170,000 00
From the United States Deposit Fund 165,000 00
From the State School Tax 2,448,784 81
$2,783,784 31
The apportionment has been made, as required by law,
as follows :
For salaries of school commissioners $91 , 200 00
For supervision in cities 18 , 500 00
For libraries 65,000 00
For contingent fund (including $84.99 for separ-
ate neighborhoods) 1 , 797 57
For Indian schools 3, 172 00
For district quotas 871,371 58
For pupil and average attendance quotas 1 , 742 , 743 16
$2,783,784 31
The pupil and the average attendance quotas are
apportioned to the several counties, and cities having
special school acts, according to their population, and
are re- apportioned by the school commissioners, in their
respective counties, to the several school districts which
have maintained school the required term of twenty-eight
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 21
weeks during the preceding school year: one- half
according to the number of children between five and
twenty-one years of age residing in the several districts
on the thirtieth day of September next preceding, and
one-half according to the average daily attendance at
school, as determined by dividing the whole number of
days of attendance at school during the year by the
whole number of days that school was taught.
It was undoubtedly the original design, in establish-
ing this basis for the distribution of a portion of the
public moneys, to encourage attendance at school ; but
the practical operation of the law tends to defeat that
purpose, by rewarding the highest average daily attend-
ance, which is more easily secured for a short term than
for a long one. Thus a district maintaining school beyond
the required legal term, not only receives no public money
on account of such additional time, but incurs the risk
of reducing the average daily attendance already attained,
and, consequently, its share in the next annual appor-
tionment.
It would be more equitable, and encourage attendance
for longer terms, to divide this portion of the fund
according to the whole number of days of attendance at
school.
The following table is a summary of the financial
reports relating to common schools, for the year ending
September 30, 1872. For a detailed statement by coun-
ties, see appendix, table No. 5.
22
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Reubiptb.
Amount on hand, October 1, 1871
Apportionment of public moneys
Proceeds of gospel and school lands. . .
Raised by tax
Estimated value of teachers' board
From all other sources
Totals.
PATXKMT8.
For teachers' wages
For libraries
For school apparatus ,
For colored schools ,
For school-houses, Bites, etc ,
For all other incidental expenses
Forfeited in hands of supervisors..,
Amount on hand, October 1, 1872. . .
L
Totals
Cities.
$818,869 09
1,01(1,88? 98
44 86
4,840,065 60
90,722 21
$6,266,689 74
$8,816,926 27
10,862 18
167,966 06
69,886 04
1,110,144 14
721,960 12
878,906 96
$6,266,689 74
Rural districts.
$264,749 05
1,641,978 12
86,452 62
2,940,862 78
235,660 87
169,744 62
$5,289,448 06
$3,640,529
15,197
57,715
6,690
878,779
429,850
142
260,543
49
87
86
13
04
70
18
84
Totals.
$1,088,618 14
2,658,866 10
86,497 48
7,280,928 38
235,660 87
260,466 83
$11,556,037 80
$5,289,448 06
$6,957,456 76
26,059 50
225,681 44
66,525 17
1,988,923 18
1,151,800 83
142 13
1,139,449 80
$11,556,037 80
By deducting from the totals, under the head of pay-
ments, the sums remaining on hand October 1, 1872, it
appears that the actual expense of maintaining the com-
mon schools, during the year, was as follows :
In the cities $5,887,683 78
In the rural districts 5,028,904 22
Total $10,416,588 00
Corresponding total for 1871 9 , 607 , 903 81
Increase
$808,684 19
The total expenditures for the maintenance of our pub-
lic schools in each year, from 1850 to the present time, is
shown in the following table :
1850 § $1,607,684 85
1851 1,884,826 16
1852 2,249,814 02
1853 2,469,248 *2
1854 2,666,609 36
1855 3,544,587 62
1856 3,323,049 98
Carried forward $17,745,820 51
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 23
Brought forward $17,745,820 51
1857 3,792,948 79
1858 * 2,600,000 00
1859 3,664,617 57
1860 3,744,246 95
1861 3,841,270 81
1862 3,955,664 33
1863 3,859,159 21
1864 4,549,870 66
1865 5,735,460 24
1866 6,632,935 94
1867 7,683,201 22
1888 9,040,942 02
1869 9,886,786 29
1870 9,905,514 22
1871 9,607,903 81
1872 10,416,588 00
Total $116,562,930 57
The following table shows the entire amount expended
during the year for the maintenance of public educational
institutions, not including appropriations made to orphan
asylums and other public charities in which instruction
is given :
For the wages of common school teachers $6,957,455 76
For district libraries 26,059 50
For school apparatus 225,681 44
For colored schools 66,525 17
For buildings, sites, furniture, repairs, etc 1,988,923 18
For other expenses incident to the support of
common schools 1 , 151 ,800 82
State appropriation for support of academies. . 41,746 50
State appropriation for teachers' classes in
academies , 15,080 00
Carried forward. .« $10,473,272 37
* Estimated.
24 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $10,473,272 37
For teachers' institutes 16, 190 28
For normal schools 174,339 23
For Cornell University 44,000 00
For Elmira Female College 3,500 00
For Indian schools 7,690 94
For salaries of school commissioners 90,18732
For Department of Public Instruction 19,620 08
For Regents of the University 6,242 26
For printing reports and school registers 13,958 72
Total $10,849,001 20
Corresponding total for 1871 9,880,185 06
Increase $968,816 14
District Libraries.
The condition of the district library system, and the
ruinous tendency of its present management, are fully
stated in the former reports from this Department. The
reported number of volumes has constantly decreased
from 1,604,210, in 1853, to 874,193, in 1872, notwithstand-
ing the annual appropriation of $55,000 for their support.
The decrease for the last year was 54,123. If the system
is to be redeemed and made useful, the Legislature must
interfere.
In accordance with previous recommendations, and for
the purpose of carrying them into effect, I have prepared
amendments to the Code of Public Instruction, providing
for the repeal of those provisions which permit the use
of library moneys for any other purpose than for the
purchase of books, and making it the duty of trustees to
raise by taxation, in each district respectively, a sum
equal to that apportioned to it for library purposes, and
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 25
to apply the same exclusively to the purchase of books ;
and the duty of supervisors to disburse the library
moneys, only upon the written orders of trustees accom-
panied by their verified statement giving the names and
cost of the books purchased or contracted for, and certi-
fying that at least an equal amount has been raised by
the district for library purposes within the year.
Amendments in form, embodying these provisions and
appropriately designated, will be submitted to the legis-
lature at its present session, and, I trust, meet with favor.
Teachers' Institutes.
Fifty-four county institutes were held, during the last
calendar year, in as many different counties of the State,
besides one for Indian school teachers on the Allegany
and Cattaraugus reservation. The aggregate attendance
of teachers was eight thousand six hundred and eighty-
three, of whom two thousand eight hundred and forty-
five were males, and five thousand eight hundred and
thirty- eight were females. The average attendance for
each county was one hundred and sixty-one.
In St. Lawrence county, a distinct session of the insti-
tute was not held, the last year, in view of the establish-
ment of a special training class at the State normal school
at Potsdam, to continue ten weeks, commencing with the
fall term in September, for the benefit of those proposing
to teach during the ensuing season, and the expected
attendance of a large number of the teachers from that
county where the school is located.
On this account, and the neglect of commissioners in
Columbia, Kings and Onondaga counties to organize
26 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
institutes, and in some other counties to use proper
effort for securing a full attendance, there has been a
decrease in the number of teachers reported to have been
present at the institutes of the past year. No satisfactory
excuse has been rendered by the commissioners of the
three counties last named, for neglecting a plain statutory
duty to organize an institute in each of their respective
counties ; and it is a notable coincidence, that both in
1869 and 1872, at the end of which years the terms of
office of school commissioners expired, no institutes were
held in Columbia and Onondaga counties, and that there
was a diminished aggregate attendance for each of those
years upon the institutes held in the other counties of the
State.
The attendance, though less than in 1871, was seventy-
one and four-tenths per cent of the whole number of
teachers employed for the full legal term in the counties
in which institutes were held.
The average length of time that those in attendance had
taught was five and three-tenths terms, or a little more
than two and one-half years. Assuming this to be a fair
measure of the experience of the entire number of teachers
in the public schools of the rural districts of the State,
more than five thousand of the 13,256 employed for the
full legal term, and more than nine thousand of the
23,459 employed during some portion of the year, were
teachers of no previous experience.
Though there has been an increase in salaries, a
demand for better qualifications, and a tendency to
greater regularity of service, yet these frequent changes
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 27
continue to occur, causing large accessions of those who
have had no special training for their work.
Institutes held for the short term of two weeks are not
expected to supply such thorough instruction and disci-
pline as it is the design of the normal schools to impart,
but they render important service in giving general infor-
mation relating to improved methods of management and
teaching, and convey to the great mass of our teachers
needed advice and encouragement.
The aggregate cost of maintaining these institutes was
$15,724.48, or $1.81 for each teacher in attendance. The
amount paid during the fiscal year, ending September
30, 1872, for the support of institutes, as given in the
financial statement, was $16,190.28.
Statistical information, in regard to the several insti-
tutes held the last calendar year, may be found in table
No. 9, in the appendix.
28
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. Superintendent of Public Instruction 29
Indian Schools.
Prom the reports made to me by the several local super-
intendents, there appears to be a steady increase iti the
aggregate and in the average daily attendance at the
Indian schools, and that most of them are progressing
satisfactorily in other respects.
The teachers' institute held upon the Cattaraugus
reservation, in 1871, was so well attended, and awakened
such an interest, that I caused another to be organized
during the past year. It was held at the Indian court-
house near the village of Versailles, for a term of two
weeks, commencing July 29tb, under the charge of Prof.
H. R. Sanford of the Fredonia Normal School. Thirty-
one teachers were in attendance, and much good resulted
therefrom.
During the calendar year, several changes occurred in
the superintendency of the Indian schools, occasioned by
the resignations of Mr. Benton of the Allegany and Cat-
taraugus reservations, and Mr. Raynor of the Shinecock
reservation, and by the death ©f Mr. Cummings, for many
years superintendent of the Tonawanda Indian schools.
The vacancy first mentioned has been filled by the
appointment of Mr. F. E. Be Wolf, of Versailles,
Cattaraugus county ; the others have not yet been sup-
plied.
Late in the fall, steps were taken towards building a
new school-house upon the Tonawanda reservation, where
one is much needed. The Indians agreed to prepare and
driver the heavy timber, and foundation stone, and to do
all the necessary team work. I have promised that the
State will bear the other necessary expenses. Work
30 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
upon the structure was interrupted by cold weather, but
will be resumed in the spring.
The supply bill of 1872 contained two conditional appro-
priations for building school-houses upon Indian reser-
vations; one, of five hundred dollars, to be paid and
expended under the direction of Ex- Governor Seymour
and Bishop Huntington, for a school-house upon the
Onondaga reservation; and one, of two hundred and
fifty dollars, to erect a school house upon the St. Regis
reservation. The first mentioned sum was to be expended
"if deemed advisable by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction ;" and the other "if the same shall be con-
sidered necessary by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction." In both cases, I have declined to give my
consent, and have informed the parties interested that I
would take no action in the matter, unless facts were pro-
duced showing that an additional school-house was
needed. If, in either case, it should be deemed advisable
to build, the funds under the control of this Department,
applicable to the support of Indian schools, are suffi-
cient to meet the expense without an extra appropriation
for that purpose.
There seems to be no question but that, under the
operation of the fourteenth amendment to the constitu-
tion of the United States, the Indians are entitled to all
the privileges and immunities of citizens. The time will
come when such of them as reside in civilized communi-
ties must perform the duties and bear the burdens of
citizenship. The education and training, which the Indian
children now receive at the expense of th# State, are
intended to fit them to become good and useful members
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 31
of the body politic. In order, however, that it may pro-
duce the contemplated result, the Indians must be taught
to help themselves, by being required to bear some
measure of responsibility.
I respectfully suggest that all State aid hereafter
granted to the Indians for the purposes of education, for
building and repairing roads and bridges, and for other
improvements, should be coupled with such a require-
ment.
The usual statistical information respecting Indian
schools will be found in table No. 10, and in the reports
of the several local superintendents, in the appendix.
The following is a statement of the receipts aud pay-
ments on account of Indian Schools during the fiscal year :
Receipts.
Balance on hand, October 1, 1871 $4, 740 52
Appropriation, chapter 718, Laws of 1871 4,000 00
Apportionment from Free School Fund 3, 147 42
Total $11,887 94
Payments.
Allegany and Cattaraugus reservation $4,875 40
Oneida and Madison reservation 441 64
Onondaga reservation 382 40
St. Regis reservation 532 09
Shinecock reservation 418 50
Tonawanda reservation 544 60
Tuscarora reservation 409 66
Education of Indian youth 100 00
General Expenses, not apportioned to reservations . . 36 65
Total Payments $7,690 94
Balance on hand, September 30, 1872 4, 197 00
Total $11,887 94
3 2 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian
Children.
The annual report of the trustees of this asylum, con-
taining a detailed statement of the receipts and expendi-
tures for the last fiscal year, may be found in the appen-
dix, ( I.)
The receipts are reported to have been $9,992.35, the
full amount of which was expended, leaving unpaid bills
at the end of the fiscal year amounting to $739.20.
Ninety-six pupils were in the asylum at the date of
the report.
J respectfully recommend that the usual appropriation
be made for the support of this worthy charity.
New York Institution for the Instruction of the
Deaf and Dumb.
The following statement shows the number of pupils
remaining in this institution at the close of the fiscal
year, and to what parties their maintenance is chargeable.
New York State pupils 329
New Jersey State pupils 33
County pupils 131
Paying pupils 14
Frizzell fund pupils 1
Not provided for 1
Total 509
Of these, two hundred and ninety -four are males, and
two hundred and fifteen are females. During the past
year, good health prevailed among the pupils, and they
made satisfactory progress. From personal visitation
and inspection, I am satisfied that the institution is faith-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 83
fully performing the work allotted to it, and I recom-
mend, therefore, that the necessary appropriations be
made for its support.
Its general management is vested in a board of directors
who serve gratuitously, and who deserve much credit for
the ability and fidelity with which they have discharged
their self imposed duties. The intellectual department
remains in charge of Prof. Isaac Lewis Peet, as principal,
who is assisted by an experienced corps of teachers.
The board of directors are considering the question of
erecting another building somewhere in the rural districts,
and of transferring thereto all pupils under twelve years
of age. It is believed that such a change would lessen
the expense of supporting pupils, and be advantageous
in other respects.
It seems proper, while speaking of this institution, to
notice the death of the venerable Dr. Harvey P. Peet,
who was connected therewith for a period of more than
forty -two years, and who, during the greater portion of
that time, was its principal. He was, also, for many
years president of the board of directors. Under his care
and management, the institution grew to be the largest
and best managed of its kind in the world. Nearly the
whole of his long, active and useful life was devoted to
improving and ameliorating the condition of deaf-mutes ;
and the distinguished success, which attended his efforts,
entitles him to a high rank among the philanthropists
and educators of our age.
For fuller information respecting the institution, and
in relation to the general subject of deaf-mute instruction,
34 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
I respectfully refer to the report of the principal, Prof.
I. L. Peet, in the appendix, marked (A).
Institution for the Improved Instruction of
Deaf- Mutes.
At the beginning of the last calendar year, the number
of pupils under instruction in this institution was sixty-
four. During the succeeding nine months, fourteen more
were admitted, making the whole number seventy-eight.
Within the same period, eleven were discharged, leaving
sixty -seven pupils in attendance at the close of the fiscal
year, September 30, 1872.
It will be remembered that only the articulative method
of instruction is used in this institution, which is the first
one of the kind established in this State. Its success has
attracted much attention, and has led to the introduction
of the same system into several other establishments for
the deaf and dumb.
Under the provisions of chapter 180, of the Laws of
1870, the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-
mutes was authorized to receive and instruct State pupils
upon the same terms as the Institution for the Deaf and
Dumb. Upwards of twenty State pupils have been ap-
pointed under the provisions of said act, but no appro-
priation has, so far, been made for their support. The
institution has borne the expense of their maintenance
out of its own limited funds, and the State is, therefore,
indebted to it in the sum of several thousand dollars;
and this obligation cannot honorably be repudiated.
I respectfully recommend that the Legislature make
provision, at its present session, for the discharge of this
SUPERINTBNDENl OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 35
indebtedness, as well as for the maintenance of State
pupils at this institution, for the current and ensuing
fiscal years.
New York Institution for the Blind.
The following information respecting this institution is
respectfully submitted :
The number of pupils, at the beginning of the year
1872, was one hundred and fifty-six. Thirty-nine were
subsequently admitted, and twenty-nine, whose terms
had expired, were discharged, leaving one hundred and
sixty-six pupils in attendance at the close of the year.
Of these, one hundred and forty are New York State
pupils.
The sanitary condition of the institution, during the
year, was remarkably good. No deaths occurred, and
there were no cases of serious sickness.
The general course of instruction remains the same as
previously reported. The difficult experiment of instruct-
ing female pupils in the operation of the sewing-machine
was here first undertaken, and has been attended with
marked success. The example has since been followed
by a number of institutions in other parts of the United
States. Considerable attention has also been devoted to
the training of male pupils in the art of tuning pianos,
and with much success.
The ingenious system of point- writing and printing
devised by Prof. William B. Wait the accomplished
principal, and which he has styled the "New York Sys-
tem," was unanimously adopted by the convention of
superintendents held at the city of Indianapolis in 1871.
36 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
It has Bince been introduced into all the institutions for
the blind in this country, and also, I understand, into
some of the European institutions. Mr. Wait deserves
great credit for his skill and perseverance in devising and
perfecting this system.
State Certificates.
Under existing provisions of law, the Superintendent is
authorized, upon the recommendation of school-commis-
sioners, or other satisfactory evidence, to issue State cer-
tificates which license the holders thereof to teach any
common school in the State. While it is desirable that
authority to grant licenses of this character should exist,
under proper restrictions, I am of the opinion that the
law should be so amended as to render the exercise of
the power safer, and more just to the profession at large.
There are very many devoted and successful teachers
who are entitled to a permanent footing in their profes-
sion, as an inducement to continue therein, and as a
recognition of their abilities. But the present plan of
granting State certificates only upon recommendation,
besides being liable to abuse, operates unfairly, even
when conscientiously administered. The way to pro-
motion should be open to all teachers alike ; the standard
of qualification should be accessible to all, and the advan-
tage and distinction of receiving a State certificate should
depend not merely upon success in obtaining recommen-
dations, but upon the higher merit of success in teaching.
The Legislature will be asked to change the law on this
subject, so that such certificates may be granted only
upon the examination of applicants.
Superintendent of Public Instruction 37
Normal Schools.
The State has eight normal and training schools in full
and successful operation. They were but fairly estab-
lished and opened, when they were assailed by the pro-
fessed friends of education acting in the interest of private
academies. Formerly, when we had at first only one,
and, later, two normal schools, they were not molested.
However great the contrast may have been between them
and other schools, there was practically no competition
or conflict. They could not accommodate a sufficient
number of students to materially affect teachers' classes
in academies.
The first normal school was established, as an experi-
ment, in 1 844. For nineteen years it was the only insti-
tution of the kind iu the State, and was surrounded by a
multitude of academies professing to do similar work in
training teachers for the common schools. A patient
and protracted trial of the two plans through that long
period, and a comparison of results, led to the conclusion
a
that normal and training schools, organized and con-
ducted with special reference to the object in view, were
the proper institutions to educate teachers for the public
schools. Accordingly, provision was made for a second
normal school at Oswego, in 1863, and a law was passed
in 1868, authorizing and directing the Governor, Lieuten-
ant-Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Attorney-
General, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion, to act as a commission, on the part of the State, to
locate six others. That trust has been fully executed,
and the authorized number of schools has been estab-
88 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
lished. This was not hasty or inconsiderate action ; it
was deliberate, and was based on experiment. The
corresponding action of other States, and the manage-
ment of systems of education in foreign countries, confirm
the wisdom and expediency of the course here pursued.
It was admitted that our public schools needed teachers
possessing more thorough professional training than any
other institutions, then existing in this State, afforded.
But when the new normal schools were opened to the
public, and their superior advantages were eagerly
sought, mutterings of opposition were heard from those
interested as officers, stockholders, or otherwise, in the
private academies. This feeling of hostility was indus-
triously cultivated, ' and, enlisting all the elements of
opposition it could combine, manifested itself in the
Legislature of 1872, by an unsuccessful attempt to defeat
the usual appropriations.
There was no real provocation for this assault, except
the success of the normal schools. Their excellence and
popularity were such as to diminish the attendance at the
academies, and, consequently, lessen the profits of the
proprietors. That, in their estimation, was grievance
enough. The idle assertions, retailed by those selected
for that purpose, about a misappropriation of the income
of the Common School Fund, was refuted by the simple
fact that the normal schools were supported wholly out
of the Free School Fund. The accusation of extravagance
was un sustained, except by calculations charging the cost
of organizing and equipping the schools upon the first
few graduates. The complaint about maintaining, at
public expense, eight institutions to train teachers for the
Superintendent of Public Instruction 39
common schools, and which were free to students, having
the proper qualifications, from all parts of the Stat*, was
shown to be insincere on the part of those who used it,
by their contemporaneous action in voting a general tax
of $126,000 for the benefit of academies, more than one
hundred of which are not public schools, but charge
tuition that goes to their proprietors, as will their share
of the appropriation, referred to, if paid.
This controversy results from the bad policy of the
State, that not only tolerates, but partially supports, two
conflicting systems of education. One of them is the free
school system, which, by authority of law, and the pre-
ference of the people, has already absorbed many of the
old academies, and revived them as public schools. The
other consists of private academies and seminaries owned
and managed by individuals, corporations, or religious
denominations. Their proprietors prefer to keep them
outside of the free school system, to subserve their own
interests ; and ask pecuniary aid from the State, to enable
them to compete with the public schools. If all the
schools of every grade, whicli the State to any extent
supports, were associated in one homogeneous system,
and the appropriations of the State were confined to that
system, as heretofore xecomm ended by this Department,
and as repeatedly urged by the State Teachers' Associa-
tion, there would be no ground for conflict.
It is not pretended that professional training of teachers
is unnecessary. It is claimed, however, in behalf of the
academies, that they are better adapted for such work
than the normal schools which are organized for that
special purpose. If, in this matter, the State were pur-
40 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
suing a new and untried course of uncertain issue, it
might be proper to pause before sucb a pretension. But
experiments in this and other States, and the practice of
other nations which have successful systems of public
instruction, establish a different conclusion, which can-
not be reversed by the mere assertion of interested par-
ties. It the first influence of the new normal schools has,
among other good effects, already aroused the academies
■
to a determination and promise to do better work than
ever before, that influence should be continued.
Instead of considering pretexts for abandoning the
normal schools, their condition should be studied for the
purpose of improving them. It may be that the course
of instruction, ordinarily pursued, could be made simpler
and shorter, without diminishing their usefulness; and
the expense to students, and to the State, be thereby
reduced. As an experiment of this kind, special train-
ing classes have been established in several of the schools,
during the last year, for the accommodation of those who
cannot attend, or who do not need, the full regular
course. Perhaps other changes in their organization or
management might be made to advantage. But no sug-
gestions of this kind come from their opponents. The
existence and success of the normal schools are what
trouble them ; the abandonment of those schools is what
they desire.
Whether eight normal and training schools are needed
in this State, which has one and a half millions of chil-
dren to be instructed, and that constantly employs nearly
twenty thousand teachers, may still be a debatable ques-
tion in the minds of those who prate about higher educa-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 41
tion, which is very desirable in its place, but who have
little sympathy for free schools. It has been settled,
however, in harmony with the judgment of the world,
that they are essential to the improvement of our public
schools ; and it becomes the friends of our free school
system, while they consider carefully any suggestion
made in good faith for the improvement of the normal
schools, to reject and repel all propositions tending to
their overthrow, especially when dictated by rival interest.
The ordinary annual expense of maintaining all the
normal schools is about $150,000, payable out of the Free
School Fund. If this is an injudicious expenditure, it
should certainly be stopped. But a fuller statement of
the case shows that it is a part of more than ten millions
of dollars, annually expended by the people of this State,
to maintain a system of public instruction embracing
about twelve thousand free schools. Much less than
one-third of this aggregate amount is raised by a general
tax, and more than two-thirds of it by local taxation
voted voluntarily by the inhabitants in the several school
districts. Whether it is advisable to expend the sum
mentioned, to educate teachers who, although possibly
they may never occupy every school-room in the State,
will, nevertheless, cover the entire State with their influ-
ence, or to expend the whole great amount to pay poor
teachers, and to support poor schools, is not debatable
with those who believe that the improvement of our com-
mon schools is the first duty to the tax-payers who sup-
port them, and who use no others.
I commend all our eight State normal schools to liberal
and unfaltering support.
42 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Normal ScTiool at Albany.
This is the oldest of our State normal schools. Al-
though seven others have lately been established, there
has been a steady increase from year to year in the num-
ber of its students and of its graduates.
During the year ending September 30th, 1872, forty-
seven counties of the State were represented. The aggre-
gate attendance was five hundred and fifteen, and the
average daily attendance was two hundred and seventy-
five. The average of their ages was nineteen years.
Within the two terms ending July 2, 1872, two hundred
and twenty-two normal students were admitted. The
average time they had previously spent in teaching was
a little more than one and a half terms.
The number of graduates, during the year, was eighty-
two ; and, with scarcely an exception, they have already
entered upon the work of teaching. The whole number
of graduates, since the school was opened in 1844, is one
thousand nine hundred and eighteen, of whom seven
hundred and twenty-two are males, and eleven hundred
and ninety-six are females. Many of them have become
distinguished in their profession, and have done much to
elevate the character of instruction in our common
schools.
The model and primary departments, maintained for
the practice of normal students, are supported by the
tuition of pupils attending them. The income from these
departments, during the last year, was $5,014.26, and the
cost of their maintenance, for the same period, $4,000,
leaving a balance of $1,014.25 applicable to the general
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 43
9
purposes of the school. The attendance is limited to a
prescribed number, but, because of their acknowledged
excellence, patrons have been willing to pay liberally for
tuition.
Normal School at Oswego.
During the nine years this school has been in opera*
tion, four hundred and eighty-three students have
graduated, and many more, who had not fully completed
the regular courses of study, are engaged in teaching.
The number of graduates, last year, was sixty-six. Of
these, thirty-six completed the Elementary English
course ; twenty-two, the Advanced English course ; and
eight, the Classical course.
The whole attendance of normal-students was four
hundred and twenty ; the average daily attendance, two
hundred and twelve; and the average of their ages,
twenty-one years.
The position of professor of natural science was made
vacant by the resignation of Prof. E. A. Strong, at the
close of the summer term in July. The vacancy was
filled by the appointment of Dr. N. T. True of the State
of Maine, who entered upon his duties at the commence-
ment of the fall term in September following. Several
other changes have occurred in the faculty, and are
named in the accompanying report of the local board.
The school is furnished with a library and apparatus
valued at $9,000 ; and considerable additions have been
made to the collections in natural history, by means of a
system of exchanges recently adopted.
The special appropriation of ton thousand dollars for
44 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
beating apparatus, made by the Legislature of 1871, and
expended for that purpose as mentioned in my last
annual report, was not paid until after the commence-
ment of the last fiscal Jrear, and therefore is included in
the accompanying financial statement. A primary and
a junior department of the public schools of the city are
still maintained in the normal school building, for the
convenient practice of normal students.
Normal School at Brockport
The whole attendance of normal students, for the year,
was three hundred and twenty nine ; the average attend-
ance, two hundred and fourteen ; and the average of
their ages, a little more than nineteen years. The num-
ber of graduates was eighteen, making sixty-five since
the establishment of the school. Besides these, nearly
seven hundred of the under-graduates have engaged as
teachers in the schools of the State.
Additions have been made to the library and appara-
tus, at a cost of $882.48, making the total value nearly
eleven thousand dollars.
The improvements made to the buildings and grounds,
during the last two years, are valued at more than
$10, 000. The sum of $2,775.98 was paid, at the beginning
of the last fiscal year, for bills previously incurred for
these purposes under the special appropriation of $5,000
made in 1871.
In 1872, an additional appropriation of $3,000 was
made "for repairs, to be expended by the local board."
According to the accompanying report of the board, the
sum of $2,563.34 was drawn on the warrant of the Comp-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 45
troller, and expended during the last year. This special
appropriation, like several others to normal schools in
that year, was made and expended independently of
this Department.
In my annual report to the Legislature in 1870, mention
was made of a reduction in the amount appropriated the
preceding year, for the support of this school, in conse-
quence of a credit of $12,000 on the books of the Comp-
troller, afterward discovered to be erroneous. On account
of this deficiency, a special appropriation of $9,084.50
was made in 1870, which was sufficient for the payment of
bills then incurred, but not to meet the current expenses
of the school for the remainder of the fiscal year. An
appropriation of $5,169.13 is yet required to make good
former deficiencies.
In the academic department, the income from tuition
was $8,237.59, and the amount paid for instruction,
$1,045, leaving a balance of over $2,000 for the general
expenses of the school.
By a clause in the appropriation bill of 1871, the local
board, which originally consisted of thirteen members,
was reorganized with nine members ; and, again, by a
similar enactment in 1872, a change was made, increasing
the number to eleven, designating in both cases the per-
sons to constitute said board. The general management
of the school has been commendable.
Normal School at Fredonia.
The number of normal students in this school has
annually increased. Three hundred and five were enrolled
the last year, and the average of their ages was but little
46 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
less than nineteen years. The average daily attendance
was one hundred and seventy-six.
During the year, ten completed the prescribed courses
of stndy and received their diplomas, making the whole
number of graduates, since the opening of the school,
eighty-six.
The receipts for tuition, in the academic and practicing
departments, were $857.20.
Of the special appropriation of $5,000 made, in 1871,
"for repairs, improving grounds and fencing," the sum
of $1,800 was applied, before the close of the last fiscal
year, in partial payment of expenditures made for those
purposes. r
In my last annual report, the attention of the Legisla-
ture was called to the insufficiency of the steam-heating
apparatus originally provided, and the necessity of radi-
cal improvements in order that the school might not be
interrupted. An appropriation of $3, 000 was accordingly
granted for this purpose. Early last fall, repairs and
additions to the heating apparatus were made, which the
contractors guarantee shall be adequate to warm the
building.
Normal School at Cortland.
The sum of $1,000 was appropriated by the Legislature,
in 1870, for repairs and for improvements to the normal
school grounds ; but not having been expended, it was
re-appropriated for the same purposes in 1872. The pro-
posed improvements have been made, but the bills there-
for were not paid until October last, after the close of
the last fiscal year, and therefore are not included in the
financial statement.
Superintendent of Public Instruction 47
The cost of the additions to the library and apparatus,
referred to in the report of last year, amounted to
$4,623.12, of which the sum of $4,462.49 has been paid
from the special appropriation of $5,000, made for that
purpose in 1871.
Much interest has been awakened in the department of
natural history, and many valuable contributions to the
various collections have been made by the friends of the
school. The reference library is large, and well adapted
to the wants of th<> students.
Since the organization of the school, six hundred and five
normal students have been enrolled, of whom seventy-
four have graduated, and about four hundred have
engaged in teaching. The number of normal students,
connected with the school the last year, amounted to
three hundred and seventy. The average of their ages
was nineteen, and the number of graduates was thirty-
four.
The receipts for tuition of non resident pupils, in the
academic and practice schools, was $371.
Normal School at Potsdam.
The special appropriation of $3,000 made, in 1871,
for fencing the normal school grounds, and expended for
that purpose, as mentioned in my last report, was paid
after the commencement of the ensuing fiscal year, in
October, and is therefore included in the financial state-
ment herewith submitted.
The sum of $920.01, for insurance of buildings after
they were tendered to the State and before they were
accepted in its behalf by the Normal School Commis-
48 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
«
sion, was paid in December, 1871, to the building com-
mittee by whom the indebtedness was incurred, and is
included in the financial table of receipts and payments.
The sum of $600 was appropriated, in 1872, for supply-
ing the building with water, but no bills therefor have
yet been presented.
The receipts for tuition in the academic department
amounted to $2,139.60.
Three hundred and sixty-three normal students were
registered during the last year. The average of their
ages was over nineteen years ; and the number of gradu-
ates was fifteen.
A temporary training class, for the special benefit of
persons intending to teach the ensuing season, was organ-
ized at the commencement of the fall term on the fourth
day of September, and was maintained for a period of
ten weeks with an attendance of fifty five teachers. The
plan was also adopted in the normal schools at Buffalo,
Cortland, Fredonia, Gteneseo and Oswego ; and the results
have already justified the experiment, and give encour-
agement that it may be made a means of much practical
benefit.
Normal School at Buffalo.
This school was opened but three weeks before the
commencement of the last school and fiscal year for which
report is made. The number of normal pupils, for the
year, was one hundred and seventy-one ; the average
attendance, eighty ; and the average of their ages, over
eighteen. The present year shows a large increase, the
average attendance for the first term being one hundred
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 49
and forty-one. The advancement of pupils has been
commendable, and it is expected that from twenty to
twenty -five of those now in attendance will be prepared
to graduate at the close of the next summer term.
By the bequest of the J ate Jesse Ketchum, who donated
the spacious lot upon which the normal school building
is located, a memorial fund of ten thousand dollars has
been established for the benefit of the common schools of
Buffalo, the income to be expended for medals to be dis-
tributed as prizes for meritorious conduct and attainments
in learning. Two gold medals, one of the first class,
valued at iorty dollars, and one of the second class,
valued at twenty dollars, have been assigned to the nor-
mal school, and will be first awarded by the local board
to members of classes graduating in June next, on the
basis of scholarship, deportment, and skill in teaching.
The sum of $6,000 was appropriated by the Legislature
of 1872, to be expended by the local board in repairs
and improvements of the normal school building. The
annual report of the board states that the sum of $4,461.07
was drawn on the warrant of the Comptroller for these
purposes.
The sum of $1,615.22 has been expended during the
year for bookstand apparatus.
The amount received from tuition was two hundred and
forty dollars.
Normal School at Genesee
This school has been in operation but little more than
one year. The attendance of normal students, which was
seventy one at the opening, amounting to one hundred
4
50 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
and ninety-one during the year ending September 30,
1872, with an average attendance for that period, of
ninety-seven. The average of their ages was nineteen.
Ten of the number were sufficiently advanced in their
studies to graduate the first year, and all of them, beside
others who attended for a special term, are now engaged
in teaching in the schools of this State.
The library of text- books, and the chemical and philo-
sophical apparatus, are adequate to the wants of the
school. During the year, additions were made at a cost
of $508.96 ; and the total value is now about $6,000.
The Legislature of 1872 made a special appropriation
of $8,000, for this school, u to be paid and expended by
the local board for repairing and replacing the heating
apparatus.9' This is another instance in which an appro-
priation was made, to be expended by the local board
independently of this Department ; and I can only state
that the board report that $1,500 of this amount was
received from the State Treasurer, and that, out of it, the
sum of $188.07 was expended before the close of the
fiscal year, on the thirtieth day of September last.
The receipts for tuition, in the academic and practicing
departments, amounted to $1,919.85 ; of which the sum of
$755.38 was expended for repairs, $146.86 for apparatus,
and $360 for instruction, leaving in the hands of the local
board, from these two sources named, an unexpended
balance of $1,975.14.
SUPXRINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INBTRUCTION.
51
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56 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Educational Meetings.
The State Association of School Commissioners and
City Superintendents met at the court-house in Rochester,
on Tuesday, the 2 1 st day of May last, and continued in
session three days. Many leading educators, besides
school officers, from different parts of the State, were
present. In respect to the character and scope of the
subjects presented, the well-considered and practical
suggestions brought out in the discussions, and the
earnest and thoughtful interest in the exercises manifested
by all in attendance, this meeting was probably unsur-
passed by any of its kind ever held in the State, and
cannot fail to produce beneficial results in those sections
which were so fortunate as to be there represented.
It was decided to hold the next convention at Saratoga
Springs, May 20, 1873.
The State Teachers' Association held its twenty-seventh
anniversary at Saratoga Springs, during the three days
commencing July 23, 1872. The arrangements made by
the local committee for the meeting, and for the entertain-
ment of members, have rarely been equaled, and the
attendance of many from our own and other States, who
have become eminent in various departments of educa-
tional labor, gave character and interest to the pro-
ceedings.
The next meeting of the association will be held at
Utica, commencing July 22d, 1873.
Teachers' Classes in Academies.
The number of academies in which teachers' classes
were maintained, during the past year, was ninety. The
attendance of pupils, as reported, was one thousand five
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 57
hundred and eighty-nine, of whom five hundred and
ninety were males, and nine hundred and ninety -nine
were females.
Academies, for the instruction of these classes, are
annually designated by the Board of Regents in accord-
ance with the statute, which also provides that the sum
of ten dollars shall be paid for each pupil, not exceeding
twenty to each academy, instructed "under a course
prescribed by the Regents of the University, during at
least one third of the academic year, in the science of
common-school teaching."
A list of the academies designated for the instruction
of classes in the science of common- school teaching,
during the year 1873-3, will be found in the appendix,
(Document R).
■
Supervision.
The vital importance of thorough supervision, to the
success of any system of public instruction, has been so
folly discussed in my former reports, that it is unneces-
sary to dwell upon it here.
Its necessity seems to be conceded by all who have had
any experience in the work of popular education, or who
have intelligently observed it. This could hardly be
otherwise, since effective supervision, in some form, is
manifestly the principle of life in all property conceived
plans for general education. Without it, all expenditures
of money, no matter how liberal, will be ineffectual. It
is useless to build costly and convenient school-houses,
and to employ an army of teachers, if the system lacks
supervision.
58 NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
The only question is in respect to the best means of
securing it. None of the different plans suggested, which
have come to my notice, would, if adopted, be better than
that which has been adhered to so long in this State.
Most of those proposed as a substitute for it have already
been tried, and afterward abandoned because unfitted to
produce the desired results. The present system of super-
vision by commissioners having been in operation since
1866, there has been ample time to test its merits, and to
reveal any defects with which it may be justly charge-
able. That it has imperfections is indeed true ; but I am
not convinced that any other method would subserve the
purpose as well, or with less cost to the State. I would,
however, favor any modifications that are really calculated
to render it more effective.
Two changes, with this view, have been proposed : One
relates to the number of commissioners, and the extent
of territory over which they shall severally have jurisdic-
tion ; and the other, to the mode of selecting them. By
the first, it is proposed to increase the number of those
officers, and to reduce the size of their districts. The advo-
cates of this plan propose, as a part of it, that the services
of these officers shall be rendered gratuitously, but that
their expenses shall be paid. The objection to the system
of supervision by town superintendents, stated in my
report of 1870, that so large a number of officers, for this
service, distributed throughout the State, would render it
impracticable to conduct many of the operations of this
Department with requisite directness and precision,
applies with increased force to the plan under considera-
tion. In fact, it is objectionable on nearly all the grounds
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 59
which led to the abandonment of that system. Nor
would it, in my opinion, be less expensive. The sum
allowed to the one hundred and fourteen commissioners,
under the present system, would be found quite inade-
quate to meet the expenses which would be incurred by
the two thousand officers, whom it is proposed to sub-
stitute for them, in making the necessary inspections
of the schools under their charge, and in the perform-
ance of their various other official duties.
The other proposed change relates to the manner of
selecting commissioners. It is suggested that they be
appointed by some authority which shall be held respon-
sible for the choice of competent and faithful officers,
instead of choosing them by popular election. It is con-
tended that the office is frequently bestowed upon incom-
petent persons as a reward for political service, in disre-
gard of the requisite qualifications for an intelligent
discharge of its varied and important duties. In respect
to some of the commissioners elected at different times,
there is foundation for this charge. I cheerfully bear
testimony, however, to the ability and faithfulness of the
large majority of those who have held the office since my
connection with this Department.
Under either mode, improper selections would, without
doubt, occasionally be made. There might be less danger
of a bad choice were the office filled by appointment, and
it is, therefore, a subject well worthy the consideration of
the Legislature, whether the law should not be amended
to that effect. But, in whatever mode the school com-
missioner may be selected, he should be required by law
to give his undivided attention to the duties of that office.
60 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Special Appropriation for Academies.
The annual appropriation act for 1872 contains the
following clause :
uFor the benefit of the academies, and academical
departments of union schools, the sum of $126,000,
or so much thereof as may be derived from a tax of one-
sixteenth of one mill upon each dollar of the taxable pro-
perty of the State ; the sum thus arising to be divided as
the literature fund is now divided, which is hereby
ordered to be levied for each and every year."
Conceding the full value and importance that may be
justly claimed for academic instruction, I respectfully
submit that the taxation, authorized and directed by the
passage above quoted, is liable to serious objections.
Prior to 1853, the public-school system embraced no
provision for academic instruction. In that year an " act
to provide for the establishment of union free schools ' '
was passed, which authorizes districts organized under it
"to establish in the same an academical department," or
to adopt existing academies therein situated, and to sup-
port them by local taxation. The same act directs that
the public- school moneys, apportioned to such districts,
shall be applied to departments below the academic.
That is the extent to which* the public-school system had
gone in that direction, until 1872. Previously, quite a
large number of academies had been organized by indi-
viduals, stock companies and religious denominations.
These institutions have been aided by the State, by divid-
ing among them the income of the Literature Fund since
1818, and part of the income of the United States Deposit
Fund since 1838, which sums have never been reduced,
Superintendent ob Public Instruction 61
and, for several years past, have amounted to $61,000.
That amount the academies still receive, and the allow-
ance, rated per capita, has increased from $2.68 in 1862,
and $4.64 in 1867, to $10.08 in 1872, for each academic
scholar in attendance at the one hundred and ninety
academies which reported and participated in the appor-
tionment last year, while the public-school moneys
annually distributed by the State for all purposes, inclu-
ding teachers' wages, libraries, salaries of school com-
missioners, supervision in cities, support of normal
schools and teachers' institutes, and the supply of school
registers for nearly twelve thousand districts, amount
to but $2.84 per capita for all who attend our public
schools, and but $1.94 for each child of school age
residing in the several districts. The balance needed
for the full support of the schools is raised by local
taxation.
Of the one hundred and ninety academies so partici-
pating in the distribution, forty were originally organized
as academical departments in public schools, and forty-
one have been adopted by the districts, wherein they are
located, and thus converted into public schools, making
eighty-one academies supported mainly by local taxation.
The one hundred and nine others that participated, are
private academies outside of the public-school system,
and charge tuition.
Now the proposition is to raise an additional tax of
$125,000, for the special benefit of these public and private
academies. It will be remembered that it has never been
the policy of the State heretofore to maintain, or in any
degree to assist, these academies by a general tax. It is
62 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
first to be determined, therefore, whether it is right and
proper to adopt a new rule, and to tax the people of the
State, at this time, for that kind of education. Upon this
general question the following suggestions, made in the
report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for
1870, are deemed to be sufficiently pertinent to justify a
repetition here.
' 'Should the academies be made free? Having pro-
vided a way whereby this may be done by the voluntary
action of those directly interested, and who are willing to
assume that burden, ought the State to go further, and
support them by a general tax, or compel the commu-
nities where the academies are located to adopt and main-
tain them ? I do not make this inquiry concerning the
colleges ; for the most advanced reformer has not yet
suggested that character for those institutions. The free
scholarships in Cornell University, secured to the several
assembly districts, are exceptional. They are not a
charge upon the State, nor upon any of its citizens. In
establishing them, the State simply directed how the pro-
ceeds of the congressional grant of land-scrip should in
part be applied.
' i However great may be the personal advantage of an
education, the primary object of the State, in bestowing
it, is not to benefit individuals as such, but to qualify
them properly for their relations and duties to each other
as members of the same community. The true theory is,
I apprehend, that each citizen has an interest in the edu-
cation of all others, such as to justify the taking of private
property to support public schools. Public instruction is
a governmental measure, adopted to promote the security,
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 63
good order and common welfare of society, and thus to
preserve the integrity of the State. But for this com-
munity of interest, the State would have no better right
to take the property of one citizen to educate another,
than it would have to give it to him directly. Advanced
education is not, in my judgment, so essential to these
public ends as elementary instruction, and consequently
the obligation to provide for it is not so fundamental and
imperative. Nor is it clear to my mind that public con-
siderations would thereby be subserved in proportion to
the extent of instruction beyond the course now author-
ized, though in many cases not pursued, in the common
schools. What should be the proper limit of the effort
and expense of the State in this matter is, however, a
debatable question, which, for the purposes of this report,
it is unnecessary to settle more definitely than has already
been done by allowing local taxation for the support of
academic departments in union schools ; for I am satisfied
that the provisions of law on this subject should remain
as they now are, permissive, instead of being made com-
pulsory.
"However thoroughly the public mind may be con-
vinced that taxation to provide for rudimentary education
is justifiable, I am of the opinion that the time has not
yet arrived when it would be generally approved for the
sake of conferring what is technically known as higher
education. The most that can reasonably be asked or
expected at the present time is, that localities may deter-
mine the question for themselves ; and that, they now have
power to do. In any union free-school district, the
inhabitants may by vote direct the board of education
64 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
i
to establish an academic department, or they may adopt
an academy, situated in the district, as such department.
In all districts, trustees have power to prescribe the course
of study to be pursued, and to select teachers of such
grade of qualification as they may desire. Whenever,
therefore, they may wish to have the classics and higher
mathematics taught in the schools under their charge,
there is nothing in the law to prevent them from having
it done. That these things are not attempted is because
public sentiment would rebel against such an injudicious
exercise of this power.
"For years the academies have been surrounded by
conditions favoring their conversion to a free-school
system. While many have been absorbed in union
schools, the fact that a majority of them have not been
adopted shows that the sense of the communities where
they are located is adverse to such a course. Much more
certain is it that there is no disposition to support them
by a general tax, for the benefit of particular localities.
They cannot be universally established in connection with
our public schools, because of the well-founded conviction
that they are not commonly needed. As a mere piece of
legislation, a law might be enacted to that effect ; but if
that should be done, and if the academic departments
should be formally established, the law could not be
practically executed in a large proportion of the districts,
for want of scholars qualified to pursue an academic
course of study.
" As it is, therefore, in the power of any district to
establish and maintain a free high school, whenever it is
willing to incur the expense, and as comparatively few
Superintendent of Public Instruction 65
have yet ventured to exercise that power, it would seem
to be a measure uncalled for, to make the existing acade-
mies free by a general tax, or to charge their support
upon the communities in which they happen to be located,
without reference to their wishes or necessities."
But if, in opposition to these considerations, and con-
trary to the former policy of the State, it should be deter-
mined to levy, for academic instruction, a third tax in
addition to both the general and the local taxes now
raised for public schools, there is no reason or justice in
providing for that class of instruction more liberally than
for common-school education. Certainly, academies,
which only a comparatively small number of scholars
attend, have no stronger claim upon the people of the
State, than the common schools located in the several
districts, where a great majority of the people receive
their only education.
But the effect of this measure is to swell the amount for
each academic pupil to $30.74, as against $2.84 for each
common-school pupil ; and the proposed increase is
exacted from tax-payers all over the State, who, except in
the few districts where the academies are located, cannot
use them without sending their children from home, nor
then, without paying tuition after having paid three dis-
tinct school taxes. Such a discrimination in favor of
higher education, against those who cannot avail them-
selves of its advantages, is not only a wide departure
from the policy heretofore pursued, but is manifestly
unjust.
To levy a general tax to raise the State school moneys
annually apportioned to the several districts, and then to
5 ,
66 Nineteenth Annual Report of tsb
levy a local tax in the districts to make up the full
amount needed to support the public schools, would seem
to be all that could reasonably be demanded ; to levy a
third tax of $125,000 for academies, more than half of
which would be given to the proprietors of private schools,
to enable them to compete with the public schools sup-
ported by the first two taxes named, would, in more than
one sense, be an imposition.
There are, moreover, special objections to giving any
moneys, raised by tax, to those academies which are not
public, but which belong to stockholders, or companies,
or religious denominations, who manage them for profit,
and will receive for themselves this appropriation, if made,
as they do the tuition which they charge. How many of
them are sectarian in their character is not definitely
ascertained, as that fact is not reported, nor willingly
admitted. It is well-known, however, that a number of
them are institutions of strict sectarian character, and,
for that reason alone, are not entitled to support by gene-
ral taxation. But all of the private academies are
managed for the religious or personal interests of their
proprietors, and are no more entitled to be supported by
public taxation, in competition with the public schools,
than are the thousands of private elementary schools. If
they are to be supported at the public expense, let them
become public schools, as many of that class already
have, and as the law now provides. If, however, they
are to subserve any denominational or personal interests,
let those who own them, and who retain control over
them for such purposes, maintain them. They have no
claim to public support. The tax in question is, indeed,
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 67
asked for by those who expect to receive it, but it does
not appear that others ask the privilege to pay it.
A general tax for academic instruction, if proper in any
case, which is questionable, should be applied only to
such instruction in public academies.
The circumstance that teachers9 classes are maintained
in some of the academies is no argument in favor of
the appropriation in question, for it is not made in con-
sideration of such classes, but is to be divided, like the
income of the literatare fund, according to the number of
academic pupils. The usual appropriation of $18,000,
which they now receive for teachers' classes, is not all
nsed. A bill, No. 168, has been introduced in the Senate,
during the present session, to authorize the application
of $2,500 of an unexpended balance of the appropriation
madp, in 1871, for such classes, to the purchase of books
and apparatus.
Now that the State has developed a public-school sys-
tem, ample for the educational wants of the people, that
embraces eight normal schools to train teachers for the
common schools, and that authorizes the establishment of
academies, or the adoption of those already existing, in
districts where they are needed and the people are willing
to support them, which system has been made free to all
by general and local taxation, there appears to be no
necessity or justification for increasing that taxation, for
the purpose of giving to rival private schools more than
they have heretofore received and still receive from the
income of the Literature Fund and from the income of the
United States Deposit Fund, and vastly more, in propor-
tion, than the common schools receive.
68 Report of Superintendent of P oblic Instr uction.
The tax tinder consideration, if continued, would deter
private academies, though supported at public expense,
from becoming public schools, as the law provides, by
making it more profitable for their owners to keep them
as they are. It would tend to perpetuate the existence of
the two distinct and conflicting departments of education
in this State, instead of uniting them in one harmonious
plan. It would weaken our free-school system, and
encourage further assaults upon it.
It is respectfully submitted, that it would be better for
the cause of education generally, should the State devote
its energies and resources exclusively to its own system
of public instruction, with a view to render it so efficient
and acceptable to all classes, that none shall desire to
oppose it.
ABRAM B. WEAVER,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
D OCUMENTS
▲OOOMPAJmXtt TBI
REPORT
OF THI
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS
AOOOMPAJCTINO TMB
REPORT OP THE SUPERINTENDENT OP PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION.
Table No. 1. Statement of State tax, levied in 1867 and in 1872.
2. Statement of School tax paid, and School moneys received, by
each county.
3. Apportionment of School moneys.
4. Abstract of Statistical reports of School Commissioners. .
5. Abstract of Financial reports of School Commissioners.
6. Increase anddiminutionof the capital of the Common School
Fund.
7. Investment of the capital of the School Fund.
8. Comparative Statistical and Financial statements for the years
1867 and 1872.
9. Statistics of Teachers' Institutes.
10. Statistics of Indian Schools.
Document A. Report of the Principal of the New York Institution for the
Instruction of the Deaf anc1 Dumb.
B. Report of the Superintendent of the Allegany and Catta-
raugus Indian Reservation.
C/ Report of the Superintendent of the Oneida and Madison
Indian Reservation.
D. Report of the Superintendent of the Onondaga Indian
Reservation.
E. Report of the Superintendent of the St Regis Indian Reser-
vation.
F. Report of the Superintendent of the Shinecock Indian
Reservation.
G. Report of the Superintendent of the Tonawanda Indian
Reservation.
72 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
H. Report of the Superintendent of the Tuscarora Indian
Reservation.
I. Annual report of Thomas Asylum for Indian Children.
J. Annual report of the Normal School at Brockport
E. Annual report of the Normal School at Buffalo.
L. Annual report of the Normal School at Cortland.
M. Animal report of the Normal School at Fredonia.
N. Annual report of the Normal School at Geneseo.
. O. Annual report of the Normal School at Oswego.
P. Annual report of the Normal School at Potsdam.
Q. Normal School circular.
R List of Academies to Instruct Common School Teachers.
S. List of School Commissioners.
T. Reports of School Commissioners.
SuPBanrrsNDMHT or Public Iswravorios.
TABLE No. 1.
Statement of the Slate Tax of threefourths of a mill, levied
in 1867, and of the State Tats of one and one-fowrtk mills,
levied in 1872, for the support of Common Schools.
00DNTH8.
1867.
187*.
Valutlon.
AaxmntofUx.
TalsMlon.
Amount of tu-
H
H
m
40
M
46
a
00
■
»
n
71
so
IB
IT
66
M
OB
99
81
49
IS
n
80
OS
as
St
TS
3
80
SB
or
St
»
M
61
88
B
10
so
B0
ss
11
04
SO
41
se
OS
00
868.184 SS
to, vie et
10, Ml B7
0, 080 11
S6,*S8 66
18,47ft 3S
10,547 81
18.1S4 80
B, OSS 00
17.980 00
1l'8*B IT
88,743 81
41,444 SS
1800 84
8,016 08
4,714 77
17, SIS SB
o,msB
BS1 OS
18,801 SS
80,076 68
17* 896 »
6>1188
17, BOS IS
15, 010 84
80,408 SI
10.GSBS7
891,738 07
18.800 81
88,140 40
8S,B04SS
SS.711 SB
88,107 96
18,038 48
17,88107
16, 194 IB
7.S84 06
S0,7BB7S
88,411 IB
^806 87
7,077 04
S0,04BSS
16,167 87
7, MS 08
7,710 58
6,688 67
14.068 08
17.801 61
18,666 46
4,848 41
7,S01S4
10, 119 40
18,480 18
8.096 TO
18,480 08
10,041 80
00,188 00
11,144 00
10,181 SS
74
SS
BT
S4
18
41
OS
SS
08
IS
SI
87
84
SS
ST
40
38
80
17
08
«
SO
SB
88
4S
10
SS
08
SO
01
SI
SB
OB
07
BB
87
SS
IB
OS
48
08
ST
44
TT
IB
OS
SS
so
TS
00
SS
M
ST
84
•00,818 00
10.998 78
10.041 IT
10,781 48
86,165 M
10,888 14
11.040 08
14,141 IS
7.688 64
SB, 887 08
S.SS7BS
10,870 SB
43,107 44
64,186 00
— SO
SB
0*
88
SB
SB
1
74
OS
SB
88
S4
B4
1 a
80
B4
St 018 76
86,893 00
18,881 60
18,001 81
16,688 76
8,888 84
8S.SB7 00
87,678 11
10, IBS 04
11, IBS 17
17,417 46
16,6*1 40
8,808 89
6,084 00
B>1SS*
18,061 SO
18.491 18
14,770 36
8, Til 61
7,601 S6
10,107 07
18,688 46
8,768 84
10. 041 SS
18,604 88
74,071 11
11,606 8S
0,889 SS
CMttnagu..
CSastuqu
OolonbU
lilt...
JK
Bullion
Ln£
Sj2"g°
Sum™ .
Wjqoii...
«!,«B4,107,7*
sa, oeMM «6
$8,088,8*7,446
■X, 610,784 SI
74
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
TABLE No. 2.
Statement showing the amount of School Tax paid by each
County, the amount of Tax received back, the amount of Com-
mon School Fund received, and the total amount received by
each County.
COUNTIES.
Albany
Allegany
Broome
Cattaraugus
2*7*8*
Chautauqua
Chemung
Chenango
Clinton
Columbia
.Cortland
Delaware
Dutcheu
Erie
Bssex
Franklin
Fulton
Genesee
Greene
Hamilton
Herkimer
Jefferson
Kings
Lewis
Livingston
Madison
Monroe
Montgomery
New /York
Niagara
Oneida
Onondaga
Ontario
Orange
Orleans
Oswego
Otsego
Putnam
Queens
Rensselaer
Richmond
Rockland
St. Lawrence
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schoharie
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Suffolk
Sullivan
Tioga
Tompkins
Ulster
Warren
Washington
Wayne
Westchester
Wyoming
Yates
Indians
Contingent Fund Bal.
Total
School tax
paid.
$60,888 09
10,998 76
10,041 17
10,731 42
26,165 81
90,868 14
11,049 06
14,141 18
7,683 64
96,697 68
9,827 68
10,670 88
42,107 64
64,126 90
6,780 80
7,203 98
4, 712 02
17,756 88
7,294 29
988 96
12,091 28
18,866 74
948,922 98
4,910 77
18,884 95
18,986 68
88,028 24
9,588 84
1,801,567 04
18.891 48
87,107 89
48,899 64
24,018 76
86.892 00
18,881 60
18, 991 31
16,682 76
8,882 84
. 82,897 99
87,578 18
10,185 04
11, 169 17
17,427 46
16,524 40
6,908 89
0,984 06
6,518 88
12,961 90
18,491 18
14,770 86
8,711 69
7,601 26
10,107 67
16,628 46
8,758 84
19,041 69
18,604 86
74,979 12
11,505 82
9,889 28
School tax
received.
$9,610,784 81
$64,967 04
97,814 88
28,242 78
80,107 84
85,967 16
89,082 86
21,684 68
98,594 10
28,546 46
96,868 91
17,151 84
81,881 86
40,227 66
96,296 61
19, 695 75
19,799 19
16,822 67
18,776 84
20,039 17
2,541 94
94.889 16
43,147 97
198,066 06
20, 219 06
28,886 98
27,666 40
61,610 24
18.890 69
457,864 94
29,246 89
66,856 98
69,244 61
97,585 16
48,188 51
17,820 77
46, 768 11
83,384 68
8,980 69
86,994 69
62,996 46
16,566 61
12,886 42
56,634 58
81,093 35
12,084 97
92,034 36
12,554 98
16,384 42
44,994 80
26,868 16
21,898 60
19,428 66
90,897 87
46,128 99
14,750 29
81,446 61
80,034 12
67,172 87
19, 176 64
19,509 95
8,179 00
1,719 58
$2,448,784 81
Common School
rand received.
$7,196 94
2.448 47
2,521 57
9,649 11
8,958 68
8.468 08
1,946 86
9,601 64
2,590 90
9.469 00
1,511 19
9,767 49
8,782 49
10,458.08
1,782 08
1,764 28
1,477 06
1,706 11
1,796 41
214 27
2,285 49
8,827 68
98,078 41
1,769 11
9, 110 41
9,474 19
6,979 50
1,748 81
64,196 96
2,679 07
6,984 87
0,144 97
9,484 87
4,091 88
1,654 48
4,237 16
2.940 98
815 84
8,484 45
6.449 49
1,499 25
1,914 89
4.941 42
2,818 42
1,106 52
1,968 87
1,118 19
1,487 42
8,986 80
2,425 96
1,950 58
1,787 52
1,887 75
4,199 91
1,811 39
9,818 85
9,691 68
6,895 40
1,702 94
tll7 66
$948,800 00
Total
received.
$79*158 28
30,968 86
80,764 85
89,756 95
89,990 68
42,550 88
98,581 44
81,095 74
31,186 86
99,890 SI
18,669 46
84,689 86
48.060 07
106,740 64
91.857 88
91,476 42
17,790 65
90,481 95
91.897 58
2,766 31
97,194 04
46,075 65
991,158 46
21,938 17
95,408 84
80.140 59
67,889 74
90,680 40
611,561 99
81,917 89
71,290 80
68,889 48
80,090 08
47, 150 80
18,875 95
61,005 97
86,895 66
9,746 68
89,498 97
68,440 95
17,065 86
14, 100 81
60,576 00
88,906 77
18. 141 49
28,988 88
13,668 17
17,691 84
48,980 10
98,789 14
98.858 06
91, 166 18
92,985 19
49.898 88
18.061 68
34,258 96
82,795 80
78,498 97
90,877 78
18,697 61
8,172 00
1,712 58
$2,692,684 31
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102
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
(A.)
NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE INSTRUC-
TION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB.
Hon. Abeam 8. Weaveb,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Dbab Sib. — In compliance with your request for informa-
tion concerning this institution, it gives me great pleasure to
state that, on the 30th of September, 1872, there were remain-
ing in the institution five hundred and nine pupils, of whom
two hundred and ninety-four were males and two hundred
and fifteen were females. Of these, three hundred and twenty-
nine were beneficiaries of the State of New York ; one hun-
dred and thirty-one, of the counties in this State ; and thirty-
three, of the State of New Jersey ; fourteen were supported
by their parents or guardians, one by a scholarship known as
the Frizzell fund, and for one no provision had as yet been
made.
During the year preceding the date mentioned above, there
was an average of three hundred and fifty-three State pupils,
being three in excess of the number for which provision had
been made in the appropriation bill ; and it is probable that,
during the year ending October 1st, 1873, the number of State
pupils will not fall far short of three hundred and fifty.
Of the fourteen pay pupils, but five are from the State of
New York ; and of these, three are below the age of twelve,
and one is above the age of twenty-five ; and therefore only
one of the number would be eligible as a State pupil, if the
education of the deaf and dumb were made free to all between
the ages of twelve and twenty-five, now prescribed by law for
indigent deaf-mutes. This shows that the State would lose
very little if an amendment should be made to the school law
of 1864, simply striking out the word "indigent" where it
refers to the deaf and dumb. The argument in favor of this
is that parents will delay bringing their children to the insti-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 103
tntion, and will seldom keep them there long enough to enable
them to obtain a good education, if they are obliged to meet
the expense. It is in the interests of the deaf and dumb,
rather than in those of the parents, that I would plead with
you to recommend that all restrictions of a pecuniary nature
should be removed. I confess to much sympathy, however,
with parents who have the mortification of being obliged to
plead indigence before they can secure admission for their
children, and to some regard for the credit of the State of
New York, which ought not to be less enterprising and gene-
rous, in respect to the education of this unfortunate class of
children, than Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and other
Western States, and most of the Southern States.
The number of teachers is twenty-nine, of whom eleven
are ladies and eighteen are gentlemen. Of the ladies, seven
can hear and speak ; three can speak but cannot hear, and
one is a congenital deaf-mute. Of the gentlemen, six can
hear and speak ; six can speak but cannot hear, and six are
deaf and dumb from birth. This institution, established by
act of the Legislature in the year 1817, has enjoyed a corpo-
rate existence of nearly fifty-six years, and is the oldest insti-
tution of a benevolent character in the State. Originally sup-
porting its indigent pupils through private contributions, it
has grown, since this burthen was assumed by the State, to be
the largest school for the deaf and dumb in the world.
The year that has just closed has been one of continued
prosperity. The health of the inmates has been good, only
two deaths having occured, one by an accident and the other
as the result of a constitutional disease. The expenditures
have not exceeded the receipts, and the various objects sought
by the institution have been thoroughly accomplished.
The education imparted to the pupils has the three-fold
purpose of developing their physical, intellectual and moral
nature. Owing to the peculiar circumstances in which he is
placed by his misfortune, the deaf-mute comes to the institu-
tion with no more acquaintance with language than an infant
a few months old. The words and phrases by which thought
J*
■r
H
104 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
K
•
is expressed are entirely unknown to him. The beliefs, opin-
ions and principles, which form a part of the mental constitu-
tion of his fellow men, have for him no existence. The laws
by which other persons are deterred from the commission of
crime, or which define the relations which they may properly
hold toward each other, are for him as if they had never been
enacted. In the hopes, aspirations and consolations of religion,
he has no part. The past is to him a sealed book ; the future,
a blank page.
Received into the institution under these circumstances, he
is introduced into an altogether new phase of existence. In
the society of his fellows, he learns a language of gestures,
I ' « ] addressed to the eye, whereby he soon obtains new ideas and
Sa degree of mental development to which he has hitherto been
fjj a stranger. In the class-room, he is gradually taught the
J meaning, and uses of words, and how to combine them into
% sentences. He learns to attach ideas to what he sees written
|| or printed, and is thus enabled, by means of the pen, to
receive and impart communications in language. All this is
a very difficult undertaking, and has given rise to special pro-
cesses which constitute the art of deaf-mute instruction.
In the more recent visits made by yourself to the icstitn-
j.J| tion, I think you have observed improvements in these pro-
cesses, the effect of which has been to bring the pupil to a
practical use of language at an earlier period of his course.
In the class you visited in the month of November, you must
have observed the surprising progress made by those who had
been but two months under instruction. Not only were they
able to write in a fair and legible hand, but they were able to
obey a number of directions, written on the teacher's slate, in
language involving the use of the article, noun, adjective,
verb and preposition, and to state afterwards in writing what
they and others had done ; and all this without the use of a
single gesture of explanation on the part of the teacher.
The improvement in method consists in leading the pnpil
I to attach words directly to objects and actions, without die
f' intervention of signs, so that he shall be made to think in
t
i
i
i
i
-J*
i "™
t
r I
4
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 105
words from the first. It is the purpose of the principal to
carry this idea as far as possible, and he is not without hope
that he may be able to devise a course of instruction, whereby
the sign language may be entirely excluded from the school-
room. If he succeeds in accomplishing this, he will be able
to furnish a series of lessons with such full directions, that
any intelligent person gifted with a faculty for teaching, but
Dot conversant with deaf-mute instruction, can commence and
complete the education of a deaf-mute. This may lead to a
distribution of the pupils among small and inexpensive estab-
lishments scattered about the State, under circumstances that
will greatly reduce the expenditure at present necessary, and
bring the pupils much nearer their homes.
The question is agitated among the directors whether the
institution is not too large ; and, under the advice of the prin-
cipal, they propose, to erect a new building in some rural
locality where land is cheap, and place therein the children
under twelve years of age, now supported by the counties, in
entire separation from the older pupils.
The reasons, as stated in his report to the Board of Direc-
tors, are as follows : " The argument for this application of
the principle of classification is the same that has led to the
establishment of graded schools for hearing-children, and is
especially applicable to an institution like this, which is a
home as well as a school. The more homogeneous any com-
munity, the more simple, economical and effective the means
by which it is united and controlled, and the greater the
peace, quietness and happiness that exist among its members.
" In no two points can our smaller and larger children be
said to be homogeneous. The former need to be looked after
in every respect. Their supervision must be individual in its
minuteness. They must be washed and dressed and tended
with maternal care. The ailments to which they are liable
must be anticipated and guarded against. The food must be
purchased and prepared and served with special adaptation to
their age and physical peculiarities. The hours of study and
play must so alternate as never to produce fatigue of mind or
106
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
body. They must be amused at the same time that they are
instructed. Even their religions services and instruction must
be conducted in a different manner. Their attention cannot
be compelled to connected remarks, nor can they follow a
prayer that would properly express the sentiments and aspira-
tions of their seniors.
" The older pupils, however, can be governed by general
rules, and kept in order by a general system of supervision.
They can, in a great measure, take care of themselves and
their property. They can be assembled together for discourses
that would weary their juniors, and can be instructed and
delighted by means that would be a source of discomfort
to the latter. They can, moreover, come under a system,
which, for their age, is adapted to produce the best results;
namely, so dividing the time that they can have a number of
continuous hours in the best part of the day for regular and
systematic instruction and study, while other hours can be
devoted continuously to the acquisition of a handicraft by
which they may support themselves when they leave the
institution. The system, in fact, that benefits them most, is
the system most injurious to the younger pupils.
" There are other considerations, however, which have a
more important bearing upon the subject than those which
have already been adduced :
" 1st. It requires greater care to protect the younger children
from those physical injuries which are apt to result from asso-
ciation with older children. The larger boy, if circumstances
favor impunity, even if not of a depraved disposition, may
abuse a smaller one, especially if the latter has given him
cause of annoyance.
" 2d. There is also danger where both classes of children are
in the same school, that the younger, when found capable of
keeping up with the older ones in their studies, will be placed
in the same class-room with them, and thus gain a premature
intellectual development at the expense of their physical.
" 3d. It is in its moral aspect, however, that the most serious
objections to the association of the two classes of pupils are
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 107
to be discovered. The younger boy is apt to imitate only that
which is rough and unmannerly in the elder one, without
being able to adopt the more manly qualities whieh might
form a partial compensation. The younger must be established
in the habit of obedience and right conduct, while the older
most be confirmed in principle, and trained to act from higher
motives.
" There is yet another point of view, from which this whole
subject may be regarded. I allude to the stimulus which is
given to the mind by completely changing all its associations.
If a child should enter the institution at the age of six, and
remain until he is twenty, as is quite possible under existing
laws, he would have a long monotonous life in school, unre-
lieved by any change, while he would be less likely to be cured
of habits that needed correction, or aroused from listlessness
into which he might sink, than if at some point in his long
career he started, as it were, de novo, under a different body
of teachere, and a different set of regulations, as well as amid
new surroundings.
" The connection existing between the two schools, by reason
of their being under the control of the same board of direc-
tors, would be such as to benefit both. The system of instruc-
tion pursued in the school for the younger children would be
directly preparatory to the one intended for the older children,
and the latter would be raised to a higher plane by having so
much elementary work accomplished in advance."
During the year, the attention of the principal has been
repeatedly called to a system introduced by Prof. A. Graham
Bell, into the institutions for the deaf and dumb in Hartford,
Connecticut, and in Northampton and Boston, Massachusetts,
for the purpose of giving to the deaf and dumb the power of
correct enunciation. He has accordingly visited these institu-
tions and subjected the method to a searching examination.
This system, to which its author has given the name of
" visible speech," consists in suggesting to the mind, through
the eye, by symbols, the different organs concerned in the
utterance of particular sounds, and forms an independent basis
108 Nineteenth Annual Report of tse
of phonetic writing, adapted alike to all languages, and ena-
bling any person familiar with it to pronounce correctly, at
sight, any sentence in any language when properly written in
those characters.
The ordinary method of teaching the deaf and dumfi to
speak has been denominated the method of imitation, and
consists in teaching the deaf-mute directly, without the inter-
vention of symbols to pronounce, first, the powers of the let-
ters, and, after that, their combination in syllables. In this
way the pupil learns to recognize, by looking at the lips of his
teacher, what he is taught to utter for himself.
Pjof. Engelsman, who, for several years, has been connected
with our own institution, is the great exponent of the last
named system on this side of the Atlantic. Under his direc-
tion, articulation and lip reading have been successfully taught
to about fifty of our pupils, or one-tenth of the whole, which
represents the proportion who are capable of being benefited
thereby without seriously subtracting from the time required
to enable them to gain a good knowledge of written dis-
course.
A careful comparison of these two rival systems of teach-
ing articulation to the deaf and dumb has, as yet, failed to
convince me that Professor Bell can produce the more exact
and satisfactory results. I shall follow, with great interest,
the development of his system, and if I perceive that it is
accomplishing superior results, I shall unhesitatingly recom-
mend its adoption. It would be unwise for us to make expe-
riments in that direction now, when it is receiving such a fair
trial elsewhere, especially as Prof. Bell makes a charge of
$500 to each person whom he indoctrinates into his system.
It should be observed, however, that articulation is not, of
itself, a system of education, nor, like the sign language, a
means to an end, but is simply an incidental advantage given
to a deaf-mute whereby he may give expression to the English
language after he has mastered the language.
The classes of deaf persons who can be benefited by instruc-
tion in articulation are ;
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 109
1st. Semi-mutes who, having heard and spoken before
losing their hearing, have still a mental ear and a mental
speech, even though, from the circumstance of their deafness,
their pronunciation has become very defective. The correc-
tion of this pronunciations and the bestowal of an ability to
recognize words by watching the lips of a speaker, are very
important objects to be sought, and should never bp neglected.
2d. Deaf-mutes, in whose case a partial degree of hearing
exists, though not sufficient to enable them to acquire lan-
guage through the ear. In their case, this low degree of
hearing is of use in giving them an idea of voice.
3d. Peculiarly intelligent congenital deaf-mutes, whose
perceptive faculties are very highly developed.
For all others, the attempt to teach this acquirement is time
uselessly taken from that needed to acquire a knowledge of
the language itself. This, as has already been remarked, is
the direct and paramount object of instruction in the class-
room. Give a deaf-mute a mastery of alphabetic discourse,
and you give him the key to all knowledge ; you enable him
to stand on equal terms with all who can read and write.
In connection with this acquisition, however, all the pupils
have a course of instruction in geography, Scripture history,
the history of the United States, general history and arith-
metic, and most of them obtain a good knowledge of accounts.
Id the High Glass, which is selected from those capable of
making higher attainments, are studied algebra and geometry,
natural philosophy, astronomy and chemistry, mental and
moral philosophy, and grammar, rhetoric and logic. Latin,
as a foundation of etymology, a means of. comparing gramma-
tical forms, and a device for improving style by the processes
of translation, is also taught to a selected few.
Great attention is paid to forming a good moral character
in our pupils, and establishing in their minds principles of
rectitude. The general laws affecting crime are explained,
and an elementary idea is given them of the rights of pro-
perty. They are also taught those fundamental points of
religion in which all denominations of Christians agree, but
110 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
they do not receive a bias toward any particular form of wor-
ship and belief; and, hence, pastors of both the Roman Catho-
lic and the Protestant faith find in onr pupils a foundation on
which they can severally build the superstructure of their own
peculiar tenets. .
While the pupils are thus intellectually and morally devel-
oped, they receive also a mechanical education whereby they
may support themselves when they leave the institution. The
boys, if of sufficient age, spend three consecutive hours daily
under skillful artisans, who instruct thern in tailoring, shoe-
making, cabinet-making and horticulture. Within a short
time, printing has been added to the list, and will be a valuable
resource for quite a number. The girls, besides learning
different branches of household work, are taught plain sewing,
tailoring, dress-making and the art of operating on the sewing-
machine.
The arts of design have also been lately introduced, for
both boys and girls, under the skillful tuition of a graduate of
the institution, who spends three hours a day with successive
classes, and two hours with a special class of both boys and
girls selected from the most gifted.
From what has been said, it will be perceived that the
benighted, irresponsible and often dangerous deaf-mute is
transformed, under the beneficent influences of the institution,
into an intelligent, accountable, peaceful, law-abiding, self-
supporting citizen, capable of sustaining his part in the rela-
tions he bears to his fellow-men. In this view, the benevo-
lence to the individual is lost sight of in the benefit to the
State, which, in furnishing the means for this special educa-
tion, provides for its own security in the evil it averts, and
receives back more than it gives in the good it effects. The
sustaining of such an institution is, therefore, to be regarded
in the light of duty rather than of charity.
I cannot close this statement without adverting to an event
which, while it affects the institution directly, is regarded as
a calamity by all who are interested in the cause of deaf-mute
education throughout the country. I allude to the death of
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Ill
my father, Dr. Harvey P. Peet, on the first of January last,
after a connection of forty-two years with this institution.
Five years ago he retired from the active duties of principal,
which, as vice-principal, I had shared with him for the sixteen
preceding years, but he retained a nominal connection with
the office, under the title of Principal Emeritus. As a mem-
ber of the Board of Directors, of which he was at one time for
ten years the president, he contributed to the last to the wel-
fare of the institution. His counsel to myself, and the earnest
solicitude he manifested for my success, gave me both assist-
ance and encouragement in the arduous labors 1 assumed
when he vacated his post.
His contributions to the literature of the profession have
been more numerous and important than those of any other
man that has ever been connected with it. The course of
instruction he prepared has been used in every institution for
the deaf and dumb in this country; and the teachers whom he
has trained, and inspired with his own enthusiasm and devo-
tion, have further extended his personal influence, by accept-
ing the post of principal in very many of the states of the
Union.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,.
ISAAC LEWIS PEET,
Prinoipal.
lebriuvry 18, 1873.
112 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
■( B. )
ALLEGANY AND CATTARAUGUS INDIAN
RESERVATIONS.
Hon. A beam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — I confess to a feeling of satisfaction in being able to
report a degree of progress by the pupils in the Indian schools
upon these reservations during the past year, commensurate
with expectations. The average attendance was much better,
and the children were far more regular in coming together at
the morning session. This is attributable, in a great measure,
to the increased interest among the Indian people in regard
to the importance and advantage of having their children
receive the fullest possible benefit from these schools. Here-
tofore the parents have not generally seemed to care whether
their children attended the schools or not.
This most desirable change I attribute largely to the influ-
ence of the evening lectures, during the institutes held, for the
benefit of teachers, at the Indian council house during the two
preceding summers, addressed directly to the parents, with a
view of enlightening them upon their relations to the schools
and their duty to their children in the matter of education.
In their results I cannot but consider these lectures one of the
best features of the institute, and if continued, as I think they
should be, I would recommend the plan of devoting each even-
ing to plain practical talks to the people at different points,
so as to reach the largest possible numbers.
These institutes have also exerted a marked improvement
upon the character of the teaching in the schools, and I can-
not too highly commend the willingness and faithfulness which
characterized the teachers previously employed, in adopting
the new methods taught them by their institute instructors.
At the asylum school, I employed, as an experiment, two
normal graduates, a principal and assistant, with the under-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 118
standing that they were to use the object system. Their work
has been so satisfactory, the same principal and a normal
assistant have been employed during the present year. A
normal graduate is also teaching in School No. 5, on the Cat-
taraugus reservation, the most advanced of the Indian schools,
with pleasing results.
In teaching, as in all other vocations, to be successful, the
means used must be adapted to the nature of the material
with which you have to deal. It is a matter of history and
experience, that different races have their distinctive phases
of character. This is peculiarly so with the Indian ; his appa-
rently natural, stolid indifference to intellectual matters cannot
be overcome by any appeal to the intellect or mind, except
through the senses. It is because of this feature, that the
object-method is so peculiarly fitted, for these schools. I would,
therefore, recommend a more general introduction of small
globes and numeral frames, both of which are greatly needed
in nearly all of the schools, and of other modern simple con-
trivances for the aid of the teacher ; and also a continuation of
institute instruction. Instead, however, of a two weeks' insti-
tute, as heretofore, I am of the opinion that an institute for
one week, with the understanding that no teacher, unwilling
to attend its sessions regularly, would be employed in the
schools, would be more likely to accomplish the desired
results. I would further suggest the expediency of the Depart-
ment paying for the transportation of teachers to this institute
from the Tonawanda and, perhaps, other reservations more
remote. In doing this, those schools would also be benefited,
equally with those on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reserva-
tions, without the expense of, what is probably impracticable,
a separate institute.
The plan of requiring teachers of Indian schools to attend
the usual county institutes instead, as some suggest, would be
decidedly objectionable, because of the difference of teaching
required in our common schools and the Indian schools, which
are as unlike as are the two races — Caucasian and Indian.
8
114 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Because of this, the instructor of the institute should be expected
to first visit the schools while in actual session, and thus, in
some measure, acquaint himself with their peculiarities and
condition, and the special wants of scholars and teachers. It
was largely because of such visitation on the part of Prof. EL R.
Sanford, of the Fredonia Normal School, as he admits, that
the institutes of last summer, and of the preceding year, which
he conducted, were so successful.
The time of opening the schools has been changed from
May to the last Monday in March or the first Monday in
April, and from November to the first Monday in October,
each term continuing sixteen weeks, except at the Asylum,
where school is maintained forty weeks, divided into three
terms arranged for the convenience of the Asylum superin-
tendent. The change avoids the " blackberry season" and
the extreme heat of summer, and a portion of the severest
weather of winter, and is an admitted improvement. In
several of the schools on both reservations, the improvement
made was both encouraging and unexpected, and clearly
demonstrated the capacity of the Indian mind for education
when properly conducted.
In my report for 1871, I referred to the erecting of a
school-house in district No. 1, Cattaraugus reservation, partly
by Indian contributions. Last spring it was sufficiently
completed for occupation during the summer term, and
is creditable to the enterprise of the Indian people of the
district.
In conclusion, I would recommend that the plan of having
the Indians keep their school-houses in repair, so far as is
practicable, without State aid, be continued. In some of the
districts, as Nob. 2 and 6 on the Allegany reservations, and
No. 10 on the Cattaraugus reservation, the interest of the
people is not, as yet, sufficient to expect it. In the majority
of the districts, they are able to assist in the expense of main-
taining the schools, and will do so rather than have them
dispensed with. Too much assistance is a curse rather
than a blessing. The true plan is that happy medium (if
Superintendent op Public Instruction. 115
it can be found) which will stimulate the recipients to self-
exertion.
For statistical information, see table No. 10 in the appen-
dix.
Respectfully,
C. E. BENTON,
Late Superintendent of Indian Schools.
Fbedonia, February 14, 1873.
(0.)
ONEIDA AND MADISON INDIAN RESERVATION.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — I beg leave to submit the following report of the con-
dition of the schools for the Oneida Indians. During the year
ending September 30th, 1872, school was maintained on these
reservations for a period of thirty-three weeks.
The whole number of children between the ages of five and
twenty-one, residing on the reservation, is forty-seven ; and the
whole number of pupils, registered as attending school some
portion of the year, is thirty-nine.
The daily attendance is not what it should be. A portion
of the pupils are quite regular at school, and make good pro-
gress in their studies. The school-houses and apparatus are
in good condition. I would recommend a continuance of
your liberal policy with these schools.
Respectfully yours,
N. L. TILDEN,
Superintendent Oneida Indian Schools.
116 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
(D.)
ONONDAGA INDIAN RESERVATION.
Hon, Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction : '
Sib. — In obedience to the requirements of your Depart-
ment, " that a written statement showing the condition of the
schools nnder my charge should be sent to yon by the 15th of
December in each year," I submit the following :
The Onondaga Indians have had the advantages of a school
only about twenty-five years, and during much of that time
but a small part of the tribe have sent their children to school.
This tribe has long been divided into three factions : 1st.
Pagans, comprising about half of the population, who have
generally opposed schools, and kept up the customs and festi-
vals of the ancient Onondagas. 2d. The Methodist Episcopal
Christian party, who have generally sent their children to the
State school, more or less irregularly. 3d. The Wesleyans
(formerly), who of late have become merged with the attend-
ants upon the Protestant Episcopal Mission Church, and who
have withdrawn some of their children from the State school,
and send them to a parochial school under church care.
The existence of these two schools near each other, each
scantily furnished with scholars, and under patrons and
parents who are more or less hostile to the opposing school,
has a depressing effect upon education among the pagan por-
tion of the tribe. There may be children enough to give
employment to two teachers, but they should both be under
the same supervision, and not be employed in rival schools
jealous of each other.
Three hundred Indians, of whom one-half abjure Christian-
ity and books, are here made the victims of (perhaps well
intended) sectarian zeal, and the schools suffer from the
scramble.
The State school had been established more than twenty
years before its rival started, and the two should be harmon-
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 117
ized under State care ; nor should two Christian sects clash
with each other over so meagre a catch of possible converts,
the effect of their rivalry being to strengthen paganism in
the tribe. The State school has done the Onondagas good,
and could more children be brought to attend it, the tribe
would be better for it.
I have not dwelt in this report upon the subject of Indian
nationality, or petty tribalism, as an effectual hindrance to the
elevation and advancement of this tribe, having mentioned it
in so many former reports, and urged reasons for its discontin-
uance, and the substitution in its place of tax-paying, respon-
sible citizenship.
I remain your obedient servant,
J. KNEELAND,
Superintendent of Indian, Schools.
South Onondaga, Dee. 8, 1872.
(E.)
ST. REGIS INDIAN RESERVATION.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of PvbUo Instruction :
Sir. — In compliance with your request, I submit the follow-
ing statement in respect to the schools upon the St. Regis
reservation : The school-houses are in bad order ; No. 1 needs
re-shingling and No. 2 re-siding. In both cases privies are
needed, which I intend to build as soon as convenient.
The condition of the schools and the progress of the pupils
are not encouraging. The children are irregular in attend-
ance, often remaining away from the school for weeks at a
time. Some attend only in the summer, and it is a common
thing for pupils to come to school as late as ten and eleven
o'clock in the morning. They cease to attend school when
fourteen or fifteen years of age.
118 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Parents appear to have but little control over their children
or regard for their welfare. The Indians are a wandering race,
indolent and shiftless, and do not improve in any respect,
unless it is in dress, of which the young girls and boys, espe-
cially, are very fond, and in which they endeavor to imitate
the whites.
Your obedient servant,
HENRY BERO,
Superintendent of Indian Schools.
Hogansbubgh, Nov. 29, 1872.
(F.)
SHINECOCK RESERVATION.
Hon. Abb am B. Weaves,
Superintendent of PvbUc Inei/ruction :
Sib. — I would respectfully make the following report con-
cerning the Indian school on the Shinecock reservation, for
the year ending September 30th, 1872 :
The whole number of children on the reservation and
belonging to the tribe, between the ages of five and twenty-
one years, was forty-three. The whole number of pupils
registered as having attended school some portion of the year
is thirty-five, and the average daily attendance nineteen. The
school has been taught thirty-two weeks during the year. '
Although the number of children residing upon the reserva-
tion, during the past year, is not as large as that of the pre-
ceding year, it will be seen by a comparison with my last
report that the average attendance is considerably larger.
There is every indication that the members of the tribe fully
appreciate the importance of educating their children, and
they eagerly avail themselves of the privileges afforded them
through the just liberality of the State which extends to them
gratuitously the opportunity for intellectual improvement.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 119
At the request of the trustees of the tribe, who are ex officio
trustees of the school, I employed a female member of the
tribe to teach the summer school. The school, since its
organization up to that time, had been taught exclusively by
white teachers.
The experiment was eminently successful ; the teacher, being
thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of the pupils, and
in Ml sympathy with the tribe, manifested an earnest desire
to improve those under her charge. I think that it is advisa-
ble in all cases to select teachers from the tribe, when com-
petent persons can be found who will accept the position.
The school-house and the adjoining buildings are in good
repair. The interior of the school building has been thor-
oughly renovated during the past summer.
The Indians take commendable pride in having the school-
house neat and attractive in appearance, and have always
manifested a willingness to contribute their own labor when-
ever it became necessary to make any improvement either
upon the buildings or grounds.
Very respectfully,
GILBERT J. RAYNOR,
Superintendent Shmecock Indian School.
East Moriches, Dec. lOtfA, 1872.
(G.)
TONA WANDA INDIAN RESERVATION.
Hon. Absam B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sis. — The undersigned, superintendent of Indian schools on
the Tonawanda reservation, in addition to the statistical state-
ment made and forwarded the 17th of September last, would
respectfully submit the following report :
The two schools on this reservation have been taught nearly
the usual length of time, during the past year. In the early
120 Nineteenth Annual Report or the
part of last fall, I urged the Indians to repair the old houses
and have them ready for the winter term. But very few
Indians would even promise to help, and I found, on inquiry,
they were much divided, and that sharp contentions were fre-
quent in their councils, among their leading men. I still press
the subject upon them, that they do something for them-
selves towards the improvement of their school-houses, and
have also assured them that when they are ready to do their
part, they will receive the necessary assistance in building one
or two new houses, in case the labor school is not established.
I understand the subject has been considered in their coun-
cils, and that some of the old chiefs became so excited over the
subject, that they opposed all schools, and recommended the
stopping of the present schools and a return to their old Pagan
rule and worship.
I soon ascertained that the trouble and divisions were such
that it was impossible to get them to do anything, and, rather
than let the schools finally stop, I resorted to the Quaker fund
sent to help maintain the schools, and employed workmen to
make needed repairs. In one house I took up the old seats,
mended the floor and repaired the windows, and put in new
seats and desks of modern pattern. In the other house, the
windows and plastering were repaired, and a new stove was
placed, the entire expense amounting to nearly $100.
It is now thought by that portion of the Indians, interested
in religion and schools, that as long as the office of " chief " is
kept up in their tribe, no considerable improvement can be
made ; and some of them are making an effort to do away with
the office of " chief," and be ruled as they say they are on the
Cattaraugus reservation. They think, if they could get a vote
upon the question, they would have, at least, a majority of
twenty-five.
This fall, at their annual fair, their exhibitions of all kinds
of grain and vegetables were very good. The floral hall was
nicely decorated by the women. Ohoice fruits, bead work, and
almost everything usually exhibited at county fairs, were there
in good order ; also the display of farming utensils, poultry
Superintendent of Public Insthuotion. 121
and stock, was very commendable. Intemperance seems to be
the great curse of the Indians. In grain-growing, stock-rais-
ing, and in most respects, I think they are improving as fast as
could be expected nnder the circumstances.
All which is respectfully submitted.
H. CUMMINGS,
Superintendent
Dated Akbon, Dec. 2, 1872.
(H.)
TUSCARORA INDIAN RESERVATION.
Hon. Assam B. Weaves,
Superintendent cf Public Instruction :
Sib. — The undersigned, superintendent of Indian schools on
the Tuscarora Indian reservation, respectfully submits the fol-
lowing report in relation to the expenses and condition of the
schools for the year ending September 30, 1872 :
The whole number of children of school age, residing on
the reservation, is one hundred and seventy-two. The whole
number attending school some portion of the year was one
hundred and eighteen, an increase of seven over the preceding
year ; and the average daily attendance, at both the schools
located on the reservation, forty-four, or a little more than one-
fourth of all the children of school age. When we take into
consideration the fact that Indian children seldom go to school
before they are six or seven years old, and usually leave by the
time they are fourteen or fifteen, I think the attendance is
creditable.
Mis6 Peck taught school forty weeks in district No. 1, and
received $250. She will remain there another year, if her
health permits. She is an excellent teacher, and it would be
difficult to supply her place for any such pay as she receives.
122 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
MifiB Libbie Pletcher taught in district No. 2, thirty-two
weeks, and received $160. She succeeded well as a teacher,
and the Indians were well satisfied with her services, bat she
declined to teach longer, and Miss Mary McMaster takes her
place for the winter term at $6 per week.
It will be seen by the above that the State has paid for
teachers' salaries, during the year, $410. The cost of books,
stationery and superintendence, amounts to $89.41, making the
whole cost to the State $499.41. The Indians willingly fur-
nish fuel and do some little repairs on the buildings, but they
seem to think that nothing more ought to be required of them.
The general condition of the Tuscaroras is much better than
it was a few years ago. Their buildings are better, and they
work their land better, and are much less given to idleness and
intemperance. As I visit the schools from time to time, I can see
that the children improve as fast as could be expected of those
that not only have their lessons to learn, but our language also ;
for it is a fact that most of them, when they enter school, are
unable to speak one word of English. As a specimen of what
some of them are doing, I send a copy-book written by an
Indian girl thirteen or fourteen years old. It was taken from
Miss Peck's school, and she has several more quite as good.
After seven years of experience with the Tuscarora schools,
and watching closely the improvement of the pupils and the
general advancement of the people, I think the State could
not spend the same amount of money for a better purpose.
Tour obedient servant,
E. STOCKWELL,
Superintendent of Indian Schools.
Wilson, Nov. 30, 1872.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 123
(i.)
THOMAS ORPHAN ASYLUM.
Hon. Abram B. Weaver,
Superintendent of PubUc Instruction :
Sib. — The trustees of the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and
Destitute Indian Children respectfully beg leave to report
to yon the condition of the asylum for the year ending Septem-
ber 30, 1872.
The number of children reported in the institution at the
close of last year was eighty-nine. Six were then dis-
charged, leaving, to commence the current year, eighty-three,
of whom seventy-one remained through the year. There
were received during the year twenty-seven, making the total
number one hundred and ten, of whom sixty-four are boys
and forty-six are girls. Of these, fourteen have been dis-
charged, leaving the nnmber at the close of the year ninety-
six, of whom fifty-three are boys and forty-three are girls.
The average for the whole year is 91.7.
The financial statistics for the year are as follows :
Receipts.
From annuities of Indian children $266 52
From board of teachers and others 93 85
From articles sold and labor performed 39 58
From donations 7 00
From the State of New York for support of
children 7,608 64
From share of general appropriation to incorpo-
rated asylums 459 60
From XL S. Indian department 1 ,000 00
From cash in hands of treasurer at the end of last
fiscal year 517 16
Total $9,992 35
124 NlNBTBBNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
DlSBUBSEMENTS.
For meat $339 19
For bread and breadstuff , 1,617 71
For groceries and other provisions 563 16
For clothing ; 615 18
For labor, including salaries of superintendent
and matron 2,428 12
For house furnishing and repairs 689 98
For fuel and lights 108 03
For tools and blacksmithing 141 29
For stock and feed for stock 191 45
For rent of land, seeds and manure ^ 65 38
For traveling expenses 54 54
For medical and funeral expenses 118 68
For stationery and postage 10 65
For permanent improvement 3,369 70
For exchange - 1 60
For insurance 214 25
For fencing 125 00
For unclassified items 70 80
For cash on hand 6 84
Total $10,731 55
Of which remains unpaid 739 20
Which being deducted leaves total, as before, $9,992 35
In making these statements the trustees would gratefully
recognize that providential care which has preserved the lives
of all these children, and shielded them from fatal accident
and from all attacks of epidemic disease during the year
under review. This latter point is the more noticeable, inas-
much as small-pox, the so-called spotted fever, and cholera
infantum, diarrhoea and dysentery have prevailed extensively
in the surrounding country. Probably the exemption from
the latter class of diseases is attributable to important sanitary
measures about to be mentioned, as these constitute the chief
Superintendent of Public Instruction* 125
known points of difference between the condition of these
children and that of others among whom these diseases have
been very prevalent, and, among the white people especially,
very fatal.
At the close of last year's report, it was stated that
certain permanent improvements were in progress, of which
a full account wonld be given in the report for the next year.
These improvements having been completed, the trustees
desire to make the briefest explanation consistent with this
promise.
In seeking to practice the highest degree of economy in
carrying on the institution, it had been determined to bore
for gas as the cheapest practicable means of famishing fuel
and lights, good illuminating and heating gas being known
to be abundant in the rock underlying all this region. The
valley of the Cattaraugus, in which the asylum is situated, has
been formed by the erosion of this rock, which crops out
along the creeks on each side of the asylum, and was supposed
to form the floor of the valley at a slight depth beneath the
surface. Selecting the place most convenient for all the anti-
cipated uses of the gas, operations were commenced by driving
cast iron pipe into the soil, expecting, after a few joints had
been driven, that each successive joint would be the last
required to reach the rock, until at a depth of 220 feet a
powerful stream of very pure water forced itself up through
the pipe and arrested the driving. It was at once seen that
if this stream should prove permanent, it would be of far
greater value to the asylum than the attainment of the original
object ; for, in the first place, there was no living water upon
the premises, the only supply having been obtained from
wells, of which there were fonr in number, from thirteen to
twenty feet in depth, in a soil so gravelly that it was impossi-
ble to escape contamination from the surface.
A second consideration was, that, in so flat grounds, and
where so large a mass of humanity was congregated continu-
ally, the amount of effete animal matter mingling with the
soil and carried down through the gravel, must of necessity,
126 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
•
sooner or later, bo poison the water as to produce injurious,
and ultimately, to a greater or less extent, fatal effects upon
all who might be compelled to use it. These evil effects had
already begun to attract attention, and to occasion much
anxiety relative to the future prosperity of the institution.
A friend from New York city had already given sixty dol-
lars towards defraying the expense of introducing pure water
into the building, and search had been made on every side
where springs were to be found sufficiently elevated to admit
of being brought into the building, but none could be discov-
ered yielding permanently the necessary quantity of water,
except one at so great a distance, and with so many obstacles
to be overcome, that the expense would have been several
thousand dollars, and the quality of the water what is termed
very hard.
Happily this artesian well was all that could be desired as
to both quantity and quality ; and, having waited long enough
to become satisfied of its permanence, the boring for gas was
relinquished, a hydraulic ram procured, and the water intro-
duced into the attic of the main building whence it is distri-
buted to every place where it is needed, the wastage from the
ram being conducted into the pasture and furnishing a living
stream sufficient to meet all of the requirements of the cattle
kept upon the premises.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
LEWIS SENECA, President.
E. M. PETTIT, Treasurer. .
B. F. HALL, Clerk.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 127
(J.)
SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE LOCAL BOARD
OP THE STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING
SCHOOL AT BROCKPORT.
Hon. Abram B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — The Local Board of the State Normal and Training
School at Brockport, N. Y., in the county of Monroe, pursu-
ant to the requirements of section 3d of the Laws of the State
of New York, passed April 7, 1866, entitled "An act in regard
to Normal Schools," hereby transmit to the Legislature of the
State of New York, through the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the following report of the condition of said
School for the year ending December 31, 1872 :
I. Building and Grounds.
The special appropriation of the year 1872, amounting to the
sum of $3,000, has been expended in necessary repairs to the
building and grounds. The unfinished rooms in the fourth
story have been completed, and circular stairs built from the
third story to the fourth. Most of the rooms have been newly
painted and papered, and only ordinary repairs will be needed
for some time to come.
II. Other Property.
Library and apparatus have been increased during the past
year by the purchase of books and apparatus to the amount of
$882.48, the items of which are set forth in the accompanying
financial report.
128 Nineteenth Annual Report or tub
III. Valuation.
, The estimated value of property on 31st day of December,
1872, is as follows :
Value of building $110,000 00
" grounds 15,000 00
$125,000 00
" furniture, same as last year 5 , 795 56
Library and apparatus, reported
last year $9,936 54
Added 882 48
10,819 02
Total $141,614 58
IV. Financial Bepobt fob the Year ending Sept. 30, 1872.
No. 1. — Normal Department.
1871. Receipt*. Dr.
Oct. 1, To cash on hand $0 99
Oct. 21, To cash from State Treasurer on warrant of Super-
intendent of Public Instruction 8,091 77
Oct. 21, To cash from State Treasurer " 2,775 98
Dec. 1, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,884 28
Dec 1, To cash from State Treasurer " 17 99
Dec. 11, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,649 88
1872.
Jan. 18, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,784 98
Feb. 15, To cash from State Treasurer " ... 1,572 00
March 18, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,572 00
April 15, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,502 00
April 15, To cash from State Treasurer " 70 00
May 16, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,572 00
June 8, To cash from State Treasurer M 1,575 80
July 2, To cash from State Treasurer " 1,766 22
Aug. 10, To cash from State Treasurer on warrant of Comp-
troller. 1,108 75
Sept. 19, To cash from State Treasurer on warrant of Comp-
troller '. 1,459 59
$28,848 58
Superintend bnt or Public Instruction.
129
1871. DUburmmenU. Cr.
October 25, By paid Warren Millard for lime $17 50
October 25, By paid CD. McLean, salary 250 00
October 25, By paid C. D. McLean, postage, and expenses to
Fredonia 81 77
October 25, By paid P. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
October 25, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
October 25, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
October 25, BypatdMrs. W. C. 8ylla,salary 120 00
October 25, By paid C. M. Chriswell, salary , 70 00
October 25, By paid Miss N. L. Jones, salary 90 00
October 25, By paid Miss G. Roby, salary 70 00
October 25, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
October 25, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 00 00
October 25, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 00 00
October 25, By paid Miss S. M. Efner, salary 00 00
October 25, By paid Miss M. A. Cady, salary 00 00
October 25, By paid James Knox, salary 48 00
October 25, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 80 00
October 25, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
October 25, By paid W. Knowles, janitor 50 00
October 25, By paid Ivison & Co., books 109 10
October 25, By paid C. Scribner& Co., books 52 50
October 25, By paid Gas Co., gas 44 10
October 25, By paid A. S. Hamilton & Co., locks, etc 84 84
October 25, By paid A. K. Franklin, trucking...... 7 44
October 25, Bypaid Luter Gordon, coal 1,027 50
October 25, By paid Luter Gordon, lumber 586 85
October 26, By paid Thomas Spellman, plastering 15 75
October 26, By paid H. N. Beech, printing 9 20
October 28, By paid A. D. Mahon, printing 48 75
October 26, By paid O. B. Avery, express 10 90
October 26, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 61 18
October 26, By paid Brainerd & Wells, roofing, nails, etc ... . 1 ,547 08
October 26, By paid Whitney & Co., cloth for stereopticon. . . 2 25
October 28, By paid W. H. Fuller, painting 665 00
October 26, By paid S. Ketner, Van Slyke's order for work . . 15 50
October 26, By paid J. A. Latta, Van Slyke's order for work. . 6 00
October 26, By paid D. Holmes, Van Sly ke's order for work. . 21 50
October 26, By paid D. Holmes, Fuller's order for work 25 00
October 26, By paid D. Holmes, for drawing contracts 2 00
October 28, By paid Patrick Koen, work 80 00
October 28, By paid J. C. Van Slyke, work ' 17 88
Dec. 4, By paid J. Pendergast, work. . . 6 49
Carried forward 96,840 69
9
130 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $5,860 59
Dec. 6, By paid Chas. D. McLean, salary 250 00
Dec. 6, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
Dec. 6, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
Dec. 6, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
Dec. 6, By paid W.C. Sylla, salary 130 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss N. L. Jones, salary 00 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss C. Koby, salary 70 00
Dec. 0, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss 8. M. Efner, salary 60 00
Dec. 6, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 00 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss £. Richmond, salary 00 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
Dec. 6, By paid Mr. J. Knox, salary 48 00
Dec. 6, By paid Miss E. Brennan, salary 37 50
Dec. 6, By paid Miss F. C. Bamett, salary 80 00
Dec. 6, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
Dec. 6, By paid Wm. Knowles, Janitor 50 00
Dec. 6, By paid Gas Company, for gas 41 85
Dec. 6, By paid Underbill & Co., Pendergast's order .... 11 50
Dec 6, By paid Brainerd & Wells, repairing roof 215 25
Dec 6, By paid Wm. H. Benedict, brooms, etc. 88 14
Dec. 8, By paid R. W. Millard, cartage and freight 10 70
Dec 9, By paid C. D. McLean; expenses to Oswego 9 00
Dec 9, By paid J. D. Shears, tracking 13 60
Dec. 9, By paid F. B. Palmer, expenses to Utica 5 84
Dec. 15, By paid Gas Company, gas 65 08
Dec 15, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
Dec 15, By paid F. B: Palmer, salary ' 180 00
Dec. 15, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
Dec. 15, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
Dec. 15, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, salary 120 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss N. L. Jones, salary 90 00
Dec. 15, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
Dec. 15, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss S. M. Efner, salary 60 00
Dec. 15, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 60 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss E. 6. Brennan 50 00
Dec 15, By paid Mr. J. Enox 48 00
Dec. 15, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 30 00
Carried forward $9,333 00
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 181
Brought forward $9,888 00
Dec: 15, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
Dec. 15, By paid Win. Knowles, salary 50 00
Dec. 15, By paid O. B. Avery, express 12 80
1872.
January 24, By paid M. E. Baker, telegraphing and postage. . 18 77
January 24, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
January 24, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
January 24, By paid H. G. Bnrlingame, salary 140 00
January 24, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
January 24, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, salary .. 120 00
January 24, By paid Miss C. M. Criswell, salary » . 70 00
January 24, By paid N. L. Jones, salary 00 00
January 24, By paid Miss C. Boby, salary 70 00
January 24, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
January 24, By paid Miss 8. M. Efner, salary 00 00
January 24, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 00 00
January 24, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 60 00
January 2£, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 00 00
January 24, By paid Miss K. 8. Brennan, salary 50 00
January 24, By paid J. Knox, salary 48 00
January 24, By paid F. Barnett, salary..... ' 80 00
January 24, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
January 24, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 50 00
January 24, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 18 20
January 24, By paid Braman & Spring, stationery $7 25
January 24, By paid D. Holmes, postage 5 00
January 24, By paid A. K. Franklin, trucking 4 50
January 80, By paid Gas Company, gas 84 15
Feb; 21, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
Feb. 21, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
Feb. 21, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
Feb. 21, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
Feb. 21, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, salary 120 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss K. L. Jones, salary 00 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss K. 8. Brennan, salary 50 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary.. 70 00
Feb. 21, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 00 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 00 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 00 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss 8. M. Efner, salary 00 00
Feb. 21, By paid Mr. J. Knox, salary 48 00
Carried forward... $12,022 78
182
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
Brought forward $12,922 78
Feb. 21, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 30 00
Feb. 21, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary " 24 00
Feb. 21, By paid Wm. Enowles, janitor 60 00
March 23, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
March 23, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
March 23, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
March 23, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary , 140 00
March 23, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, salary 120 00
March 23, By paid Miss 0. M. Cbriswell, salary 70 00
March 23, By paid Miss K L. Jones, salary 00 00
March 23, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
March 28, By paid M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
March 23, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
March 23, By paid Miss S. M. Efner, salary 60 00
March 23, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 60 00
March 23, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
March 23, By paid Miss E. S. Brennan, salary 00 00
March 23, By paid Mr. J. Knox, salary 48 00
March 28, By paid Miss F. O. Barnett, salary 30 00
March 28, By paidR. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
March 28, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 50 00
April 20, By paid 0. D. McLean, salary 250 00
April 20, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
April 20, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
April 20, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
April 20, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, salary 120 00
April 20, By paid Miss N. L. Jones, salary 90 00
April 20, By paid Miss C. M. Chris well, salary 70 00
April 20, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
April 20, By paid Miss M, J. Thompson, salary 70 00
April 20, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
April 20, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary.. 60 00
April 20, By paid Miss S. M. Efner, salary 60 00
April 20, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
April 20, By paid Miss E. S. Brennan, salary 50 00
April 20, By paid J. Enoz, salary 48 00
April 20, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 80 00
April 20, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
April 20, By paid Wm. Enowles, janitor 50 00
May 21, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
May 21, BypaidF. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
May 21, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
May 21, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
Carried forward....* $16,580 78
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 133
Brought forward $10,680 73
May 21, By paid Mrs. W. C. Sylla, '.salary 120 00
May 21, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
May 21, By paid Miss N. L. Jones, salary. . . 00 00
May 21, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
May 21, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
May 21, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
May 21, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 60 00
May 21, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
May 21, By paid Miss 8. M. Efner, salary 60 00
May 21, By paid Miss K. 8. Brennan, salary 50 00
May 21, By paid J. Knox, salary 48 00
May 21, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 30 00
May 21, BypaidR. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
May 21, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 60 00
Jane 11, By paid A. S. Hamilton & Co., keys 3 30
Jane 15, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 260 00
Jane 16, BypaidF.B. Palmer, salary 180 00
June 15, Bypaid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
June 15, BypaidH. G. Burlingame, salary , 140 00
June 15, By paid Mrs. W. C. 8ylla,salary 120 00
June 15, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
June 15, BypaidMissN. L. Jones, salary 90 00
June 15, BypaidMiss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
June 15, By paid Miss 8. M. Efner, salary 60 00
June 15, By paid Miss E. Richmond, salary 60 00
June 15, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
June 15, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
June 15, By paid Miss ML J. Thompson, salary 70 00
June 15, By paid J. Knox, salary 48 00
June 15, By paid Miss K 8. Brennan, salary 50 00
June 15, By paid Miss F. C. Barnett, salary 80 00
June 15, By paid R. J. Gordon, salary 24 00
June 15, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 50 00
July 2, By paid C. D. McLean, salary 250 00
July 2, By paid C. D. McLean, mileage 194 22
July 2, By paid F. B. Palmer, salary 180 00
July 2, By paid H. G. Burlingame, salary 140 00
July 2, By paid W. H. Lennon, salary 140 00
July 2, By paid Mrs. W. C. 8ylla, salary 120 00
July 2, BypaidMissN. L. Jones, salary 90 00
July 2, By paid Miss C. M. Chriswell, salary 70 00
July 2, By paid Miss C. Roby, salary 70 00
July 2, By paid Miss M. J. Thompson, salary 70 00
Carried forward $20,342 26
134 NlNBTBBNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF TBS
Brought forward $20,843 35
July J3, By paid Mrs. M. A. Cady, salary 60 00
July 2, By paid Miss S. M. Efner, salary 60 00
July 2, By paid Miss B. Richmond, salary 60 00
July 2, By paid Miss J. E. Lowery, salary 60 00
July 2, By paid Miss E. 8. Brennan, salary : 50 00
July 2, By paid J. Knox, salary 48 00
July 2, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 50 00
July 2, By paid R J. Gordon, salary 24 00
July 2, By paid Miss F. O. Barnett, salary 80 00
August 15, By paid M. Hayken, painting 872 50
August 15, By paid S. F. Parker, Hayken's order 20 00
August 15, By paid J. I. Learnard, painting 106 88
August 15, By paid J. F. Peterson, painting 5 00
August 15, By paid W. H. Benedict, Peterson's order 10 00
August 15, By paid J. B. Vanderhoof , labor 8 50
August 15, By paid Patrick Eoen, labor 7 00
August 15, By paid Henry Bolt, labor 18 50
August 15, By paid A. B. Losee, labor 26 18
August 15, By paid Underhill, Braman & Co., lumber 117 48
August 15, By paid D. Holmes, Van Slyke's order 6 00
August 15, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 811 87
August 15, By paid L. J. Pease, Van Slyke's order 25 00
August 15, By paid Patrick Collins, labor 4 00
August 15, By paid Michael King, labor 14 88
August 16, By paid Wm. Welch, lime . . 12 00
August 17, By paid C. S. Wright, labor 28 75
August 19, By paid Patrick Mehan, labor 2 00
August 20, By paid J. C. Van Slyke, labor 2 68
August 21, By paid Patrick Eoen, labor 1 50
August 22, By paid E. Whitney, Van Slyke's order 0 00
Sept 4, By paidN.B. Bizer, labor 2 50
Sept 28, By paid J. L Learnard, painting 280 12
Sept 25, By paid William Welch, sand and lime 68 05
Sept 25, By paid William Welch, Brad t's order 5 50
Sept 25, By paid L. J. Pease, Van Slyke's order 15 00
Sept 25, By paid Thomas Spellman, Van Slyke's order. ... 7 75
Sept 25, By paid Henry Bolt, labor 58 50
Sept 25, By paid K. W. Bradt, labor 6 87
Sept. 25, By paid J. A. Latta, Van Slyke's order 5 50
Sept 25, By paid J. A. Latta, Bradt's order* 4 00
Sept 25, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 278 02
Sept 25, By paid Underhill & Co., lnmber 107 48
Sept 25, By paid A. B. Losee, labor .'. 71 50
Carried forward 122,784 16
SupsnnrrmmjBwr or Public iNSTnucrfoir. 135
Brought forward. $82,784 16
Sept 25, By paid E. Johnston, labor. 2 50
Sept. 25, By paid Patrick Eoen, labor 28 15
Sept 25, By paid P. Williams, labor 15 75
Sept 25, By paid Patrick Collins, labor 15 00
Sept 25, Bypaid J. B. Vanderhoof, labor 28 72
8ept 25, By paid W. Vanderhoof, labor 12 50
Sept 25, By paid S. W. Allen, labor 8 00
Sept 25, By paid J. T. Peterson, labor 21 88
Sept 25, By paid Michael King, labor 85 00
Sept 25, By paid A, K. Franklin, Van Slyke's order 2 68
Sept 26, By paid L. Cool ey & Co., brackets 84 98
Sept 26, By paid A. Coats, labor 8 50
Sept 26, By paid E. Whitney, Van Slyke's order 28 77
Sept 26, By paid E. C. Cook, labor 16 87
Sept 26, By paid M. B. Branson, labor 7 00
Sept 26, BypaidC. S. Wright, labor 57 50
Sept. 27, By paid L. B. Courtney, labor 1 18
Sept 27, By paid L. B. Courtney, labor <..» 15 75
Sept 27, By paid J. Raleighs, Van Slyke's order 11 50
Sept 27, By paid W. K Johnston, Bradt's order 3 00
Sept 27, By paid J. Doyle, labor 2 00
Sept 27, By paid Henry Rice, Van Slyke's order 8 85
8ept 27, By paid T. Henion, labor 41 25
Sept 27, Cash on hand 282 74
$23,348 58
No. 2. — Academic Department.
1871. RecripU. Dr.
October 1, To cash on hand $1,288 08
October 4, To cash of tuition 198 40
October 7, To cash of tuition 208 19
October 18, To cash of tuition 106 40
Nor. 4, To cash of tuition 56 90
Not. 25, To cash of tuition 140 00
Not. 27, To cash of tuition 250 40
Dec 4, To cash of tuition 819 00
Dec 8, To cash of tuition 168 00
Dec 16, To cash of tuition 142 40
Dec 28, To cash of tuition 81 20
1872.
January 6, To cash of tuition 48 80
January 20, To cash of tuition 26 10
Carried forward... ., $2,978 87
136
Nineteenth Annxjal Report of the
Brought forward $3,978 87
Feb. 5, To cash of tuition 22 80
Feb. 28, To cash of tuition 275 00
March 20, To cash of tuition 40 00
March 9, To cash of tuition 118 10
March 15, To cash of tuition 86 00
March 80, To cash of tuition ,.... 80 00
April 22, To cash of tuition ." 64 70
May 6, To cash of tuition 47 60
May 22, To cash of tuition 95 40
June 8, To cash of tuition 48 00
June 14, To cash of tuition 81 00
July 5, To cash of tuition 56 10
Sept 12, To cash of tuition 156 00
Sept. 18, To cash of tuition 90 00
Sept 17, To cash of tuition 105 00
Sept 18, To cash of tuition 95 60
Sept 21, To. cash of tuition 78 00
Sept 24, To cash of tuition 78 00
$4,475 67
1871. Disbursements. Or.
October 10, By paid James W. Queen & Co., apparatus $452 75
October 14, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware * 42 86
October 18, By paid Wm. Welch, plaster..... 54 97
October 21, By paid L. Cooley & Co., mouldings 50 89
October 25, By paid J. Knox, salary 52 00
October 25, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
Nov. 7, By paid James W. Queen & Co., apparatus 118 82
Dec 4, By paid J. Pendergast, labor 15 26
Dec. ' 6, By paid J. Knox, salary 52 00
Dec. 6, Bypaid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
Dec 6, By paid Wm. Welch, tile 8 98
Dec 6, By paid J. H. and E. Bennett, labor 22 00
Dec 8, By paid Tunis Henion, labor 5 00
Dec 9, By paid A. B. Losee, labor 59 50
Dec 15, By paid Tozier & Haight, stationery 88 08
Dec 15, By paid J. Knox, salary 68 00
Dec 15, By paid Miss K M. Johnston, salary 85 00
Dec. 15, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
Dec 15, By paid James Harper, labor 2 50
Dec 15, Bypaid W. H. Fuller, painting 88 82
Dec 15, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 117 85
Carried forward $1,288 68
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 187
Brought forward f 1 , 288 68
Dec. 15, By paid Underbill, Bramaa & Co. , lumber 40 85
Dec. 22, By paid L. Cooley & Co., inside blinds 152 00
1872.
January 0, By paid J. H. Atkins, sand 10 50
January 12, By paid J. W. Queen & Co. , apparatus 26 00
January 18, By paid W. H. Fuller, painting 17 88
January 18, By paid W. H. Fuller, painting 17 64
January 24, By paid H. McElwin, slating black boards 185 50
January 24, By paid Miss E. M. Johnson 70 00
January 24, By paid J. Enox, salary 52 00
January 24, By paid Wm. Enowles, janitor 25 00
January 24, By paid A. 8. Hamilton & Co., hinges 4 68
January 24, By paid Brainerd & Wells, glass , 27 55
January 24, By paid H. Casey, carting 8 00
January 25, By paid J. Pendergast, labor ' 4 50
Feb. 2, By paid A. B. Losee, labor 19 00
Feb. 8, By paid Chas. Schick, labor 17 00
Feb. 8, By paid J. W. Queen & Co., apparatus 108 00
Feb. 15, By paid C. G. Brewster, apparatus 18 00
Feb. 21, By paid Miss E. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
Feb. 21, By paid J. Enox, salary 52 00
Feb. 21, By paid Wm Enowles, janitor 25 00
Feb. 21, By paid E. Whitney, carpeting 25 25
Feb. 21, By paid D. Paine, repairs...! 51 18
Feb. 21, By paid Tozier & Haight, stationery 16 59
Feb. 21, By paid Gas Company, gas 89 25
Feb. 21, By paid Chas. Schick, labor 27 00
Feb. 21, By paid A. B. Losee, labor 27 00
Feb. 21, By paid J. Smith, lumber 19 51
Feb. 21, By paid O. B. Avery, express 4 75
Feb. 21, By paid Brainerd & Wells, hardware 72 84
Feb. 21, By paid Underbill, Braman & Co., lumber 20 68
Feb. 21, By paid Wm. H. Fuller, oiling blinds, etc. . . . ... . . 65 87
Feb. 21, By paid C. D. McLean, mileage 268 28
March 28, By paid Miss E. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
March 28, By paid J. Enox, salary 62 00
March 28, By paid Wm. Enowles, janitor 25 00
April 4, By paid Brainerd & Wells, glass 25 40
April 4, By paid A. E. Franklin, trucking 18 25
April 5, By paid C. H. Jenner, repairs 85 64
April 6, By paid O. B. Avery, express 5 90
April 20, By paid Miss E. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
Carried forward $8,178 12
j
138 Nineteenth Annual Report or tbe
Brought forward $8 , 178 12
April 30, By paid J. Knox, salary 62 00
April 20, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
April 20, By paid L. T. Beach, printing 26 00
April 20, By paid Oas Company, gas 98 08
April 20, By paid O. B. Avery, express 4 80
April 20, By paid Mahon & Brigham, printing 88 85
May 6, By paid A. B. Losee, labor 5 00
May 21, By paid Miss E. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
May 21, By paid J. Knox, salary 52 00
May 21, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
May 21, By paid L. Cooley, Jr., drawing specifications. ... 20 00
June 15, By paid Miss B. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
June 15, By paid J. Knox, salary 52 00
June 15, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
July 2, By paid Miss £. M. Johnson, salary 70 00
July 2, By paid J. Knox, salary 52 00
July 2, By paid Wm. Knowles, janitor 25 00
Sept. 80, By cash on hand 596 47
|4,475 67
Summary of Financial Rbpobt.
Beceipto.
Amount in hands of local board, October 1, 1871 (normal) .... $0 99
Amount in hands of local board, October 1, 1871 (academic) . . 1,288 06
Amount received from State for year ending Sept. 80, 1872. . . 28,847 59
Amount received from tuition, academic department 8,287 59
127,824 25
Dubttnementt,
Amount paid for instruction, normal department $15, 157 50
Amount paid for instruction, academic department 1 , 045 00
Amount paid for library, text-books and apparatus. 882 48
Amount paid for repairs and improvements 6,715 57
Amount paid for incidental expenses 8,194 49
Amount in hands of local board, October 1, 1872 (academic
department) 596 47
Amount in hands of local board, October 1, 1872 (normal de-
partment) 282 74
' $27,824 25
V. Faculty.
There were no changes in the faculty during the past year.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 139
VI. Local Board.
By a clause of the general appropriation bill for the year
1872 (chap. 541, Laws of 1872), the number of the local board
was increased to eleven, and Aaron N. Braman and Elijah 0.
Chriswell were added to the former number.
The following are the names and residences of the board as
at present organized :
Jerome Fnller, President, Brockport.
Daniel Holmes, Secretary, Brockport.
J. Durward Decker, Treasurer, Clarkson.
Eliphalet Whitney, President, pro tpm.9 Brockport.
Joseph A. Tozier, Secretary, pro tern., Brockport.
M. B. Anderson, Rochester.
Henry W. Seymour, Brockport.
Augustus F. Brainerd, Brockport.
John A. Latta, Brockport.
Elijah 0. Chriswell, Clarkson.
Aaron N. Braman, Brockport.
VII. Departments,
The school consists of a normal and a training school.
The normal school is organized and conducted with the
riew to give pupils a thorough knowledge of the subjects they
will be required to teach in the public schools of our State, to
instruct them in the philosophy of education, and to furnish
them with a knowledge of the best methods of instruction in
the different subjects taught, and skill in the use of them.
These ends are sought by requiring daily recitations on thor-
oughly prepared lessons throughout the entire course of
study ; by daily dictation, class discussion and recitation on
methods and the philosophy of education during most of the
course; and the daily use of the methods taught in the actual
instruction and management of classes in the training school
during the greater part of the course.
It is the object of the training school to furnish normal
pupils with the opportunity of teaching under competent
critics, in all the branches required to be taught in our public
140 Nineteenth Annual Report or the
schools. It consists of a primary, an intermediate and an
academic department, which represent all the various grades
of instruction required in district, union and high schools.
The academic department has held a high position from the
first, in point of numbers and in the character of its students.
Aside from its value as a constituent part of tho training
school, it has a direct value in its relation to the normal school,
in many respects which ought not to be overlooked. It is not
only self-supporting, but beyond this it is an important source
of revenue, as the financial report will show. It fits pupils
for the normal school, better than they are likely to be fitted
without such a place of preparation. It sends out yearly a
large number who attend school with no direct purpose of
becoming teachers, but who, for various reasons, teach a term
or more, and who teach better for even the slightest acquaint-
ance they obtain, through their connection with this school, with
improved methods of instruction. This class of teachers must
continue to be large for many years to come, as it has been
in years past. The academic department, if it does not do
all our schools require, does something for this large class of
teachers that would not be done without it, and that without
public expense. This department supplies a real want in the
community where the school is located ; and, in so doing, an
act of justice is performed to those who have furnished the
building and grounds to the State ; and also the sympathies
and interest of the surrounding community, without which
no institution can do its best work, are enlisted in behalf of
its good management and prosperity. It instructs yearly
many who enter upon business, who continue in study
through the higher college course, or who enter professional
life, and who go out prepared to give more intelligent and
hearty aid to the cause of education, whatever may be their
calling, for the links of association that have bound them to
the normal school.
While the number and character of those yearly gradu-
ating from this school are a token of direct good to the many
schools around, which wait for such aid, your board feel
SXJPSRTNTSNDSNT OF PUBLTO INSTRUCTION. 141
impressed with the fact that the list of graduates is a verj
inadequate measure of the actual value of the school to the cause
of education. The list of undergraduates who have gone out
to teach, and who do not feel that they can come back to com-
plete their course, is far greater. Since the establishment of
the school, not less than six or seven hundred of these have
actually entered upon the work of teaching. In order that
this class of teachers may be the better prepared for their
work, methods of instruction and practice in the training
school are distributed over the greater part of each of the
longer courses. But there is another element of value for the
cause of education, besides that which is measured by the num-
ber of terms which normal pupils give to the actual work of
teaching. It is the intelligent interest that all those who
come in contact with these schools, who draw something of their
spirit and views from them, will take in the cause of popular
education in the several localities where they may be settled.
Put a man of intelligence, and one who appreciates the wants
of our schools, in each school district in the State, and it would
accomplish almost as ipuch as the same number of teachers
could do without their support. Intelligent communities will
bring good teachers, quicker than teachers of the highest grade
can train communities to support good schools. In short, the
value of normal schools is not to be estimated by number at
all, but by quality. The question of their support should not
depend, in any degree, upon their availability immediately to
supply all the schools of the State. They extend their influ-
ence in many ways, and reach a number of schools many times
as great as those actually taught by their pupils. The ques-
tion should be, " Is the work they do good work ?" If it is,
the laws of nature will Bee to it that it is both duly intensive
and extensive in its results. An evidence, bearing on the one
question to be asked, is the almost universal call for teachers
from our normal schools in all parts of our State where they
have been tried. The higher wages paid to them, and the
rapidly increasing earnestness with which these calls are made,
are points of important interest. The number seeking to
142 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
avail themselves of the advantages of this school is as great as
can be well provided for with the means at the disposal of
your board, and, perhaps, as large as can be profitably placed
together in our school.
The normal courses of instruction and other important
information will be found in the Appendix (Document Q).
VIII. Attendance.
From September 30, i871, to September 30, 1872 :
Normal department 329
Academic department 289
Intermediate department 188
Primary department 210
Total 1,016
IX. Alumni.
Graduated during the past year :
Male 7
Female 11
Total 18
Whole number graduated since school was established :
Male 22
Female 43
Total 65
State of New York, )
Monroe County, \ ' '
Eliphalet Whitney, president pro tern*, and Daniel Holmes,
secretary of the local board of the Brockport Normal School,
being duly sworn, say, and each for himself severally says,
that he has read the foregoing report, and knows the contents
SUPMMJNTMNPMNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 143
thereof, and that the same is true according to his best judg-
ment and belief.
ELIPHALET WHITNEY, PresHpro tern.
DANIEL HOLMES, Secretary.
Sworn to and subscribed before me )
this 6th day of February, 1873. )
K. Chickebing, Notary Public.
List of graduates of Brockport State Normal and Training
School, from the beginning of the school to September, 1872,
with date of graduation:
Graduated June 23, 1868.
Sophia A. Graves. Susan Fisk.
Harriet E. Davis. 0. Louise Fisk.
Graduated July 13, 1869.
Coralin Bennett. Jennie Y. Miller.
C. Herbert Silliman. Harriet L. Oillett.
Henrietta M. Allen. George D. Olds.
Gbaduatkd July 1, 1870.
Ruth E. Newcomb. William H. Sybrandt.
Charles B. Fairchild. JaiAes W. White.
Emma J. Smith. Mina L. Shear.
Frsncelia P. Wood. Emma L. Warren.
Maria L. Allen. Mina A. Frye.
Louise M. Winslow. Martin L. Deyo.
Frances A. Richmond. Jane E. Lowery.
Esther L. Spink. Imogene P. Ferguson.
Stephen D. Wilbur.
Graduated Juke 30, 1871.
Harriet Harmon. Ella D. Barrier.
James Knox. Frank M. Goff.
Emma J. Ghriswell. Cora A. Smith.
Catharine M. Castle. Charles Cunningham.
1 44 NlNKfEEKTB ANNUAL REPORT OF VMS
Delia A. Fnller. Kittie Taylor.
Lizzie A. Sylvester. George F. Yeomans.
John D. Burns. John M. Milne.
Harriet A. Kerby. Mary F. Prndden.
A. JucUon Osborne. Ida L. Goodrich.
Frances A. Hicks. George T. Qaimby.
Gkaduated July 2, 1872.
Delbert A. Adams. Candace H. Norton.
Flora M. Bassett. Ettie Clark Reynolds.
Julia Byrns. Charles G. Smith.
Jennie S. Fnller. Edwin L. Warren.
William Goodell. Delia A. Chappell.
Amelia E. Hayes. Ida V. Miner.
Charles F. Hamlin. Delclath Pierce.
Fitz James Hill. Franc T. Quimby.
Jonas Minot, Jr. Sophia Bolard.
Special Announcement in Circular.
Location.
The village of Brockport is situated seventeen miles west
of Rochester, on the line of the Rochester and Niagara Falls
railroad. The buildings command a fine view of the village
and the surrounding country. The grounds are extensive,
embracing an area of more than six acres, handsomely graded
and adorned with gravel Walks, a circular drive and full grown
shade trees.
£xpe?i8es.
Board, including furnished room, fuel and light, can be
obtained in the village, in private families, at from $4 to $4.50
per week.
In the normal- school building, board, including furnished
room, fuel, light and washing, is provided for young ladies at
$3 per week. The accommodations furnished, and the general
plan of conducting the boarding hall, can be learned from the
following statements :
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 145
1. The building is large and commodious, affording the best accommoda-
tions for boarding one hundred and twenty students. All the rooms are
large, high and well ventilated, with a closet attached to each.
2. Each room is carpeted, and neatly furnished with everything necessary
for the comfort *of the student, and is occupied by only two ladies. The
. rooms are heated by good coal stoves. The coal is delivered in each room.
8. A servant, who does all the heavy work pertaining to the dining-room,
kitchen and study-rooms, is provided for every thirty boarders. Each young
lady is expected to work one hour per day. The work done by the boarders
and servants is under the immediate supervision of a matron, who has the
general oversight of the whole boarding-house.
4. The quality of the board is fixed by the boarders, subject to the appro-
val of the matron.
5. Each boarder is charged one dollar per week to defray the expense of
furnishing study-room, dining-room and kitchen, and to pay the wages of
matron and servants. All other expenses, including board, fuel, light,
and washing, will not exceed two dollars per week, as shown by the state-
ment of the secretary of the boarding-hall. Thus, the entire expense u
brought within three dollars per week.
6. Those who prefer not to participate in the risk will be received into
the boarding-hall by paying three dollars per week, and performing the
required work.
7. The room rent is payable quarterly in advance. Eight dollars is pay-
able each month, in advance, for board. Should the entire expense be less
than three dollars per week, the surplus which has been paid in advance will
bearefunded*at the end of the term.
8. AlljWho board in the boarding-hall are expected to furnish their own
towels, napkins, sheets, pillow-cases and one comforter, each of which, as
well as every article of clothing, should be distinctly marked with the
owner's full name.
9. No deduction will be made for absence during the first two weeks of
the term, nor for absence from any cause, after the time of entering, for a
period of less than five weeks.
State Normal School, Brockport, N. Y., July 1, 1871.
To the Local Board of the State Normal School:
Gxktlkmkn.— The books of the boarding-hall show that the average
expense per week for board, room rent, fuel, light and washing, for the year,
has been less than three dollars. I would further state that the general plan
and management of the boarding-hall, and the character of the board, have
grren universal satisfaction.
Yours very respectfully,
DELIA A. PULLER,
Secretary.
10
146 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
It will be seen from the above statements, that the whole
expense per annum, to young ladies attending the normal
school, will not exceed $120.
On arriving at Brockport, baggage may be left at the depot
until boarding places are selected, when it will be delivered
free of charge. Students, arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday
of the week in which the term opens, should proceed imme-
diately to the normal school building, where they will meet
some member of the faculty, who will render them all neces-
sary assistance.
Suvs hints nde nt of Public Instruction. 147
(K.)
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL BOARD OF
THE STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL
AT BUFFALO.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — The local board of the State Normal and Training
School at Buffalo, in answer to the requirements of the law,
submits its second annnal report as follows:
The local board and its officers remain as at the last report,
viz.:
Hon. N. K. Hall, Buffalo, Chairman.
Wm. H. Greene, Buffalo, Secretary.
Joseph Warren, Buffalo, Treasurer.
Thomas F. Rochester, Buffalo.
Francis H. Root, Buffalo.
Henry Lapp, Clarence.
Allen Potter, East Hamburgh.
Grover Cleveland, Buffalo.
Albert H. Tracey, Buffalo.
The executive committee of the board is composed of the
first five gentlemen named above.
Faculty of the School.
Two changes have taken place in the faculty during the
year, occasioned by the resignation of Miss Sarah Bostwick in
July, and of Miss Laura G. Lovell in November. The place
of the former was filled by the appointment of Miss Mary
Wright, and that of the latter by the appointment of Miss
Ellen Wiltse for the time being. The names, departments of
instruction, and salaries, are as follows :
148 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Names. Departments. Salaries.
H. B. Buckham, A. M., Principal, Philosophy and Didactics $2,500
Wm. B. Wright, A. M Ancient and Modern Languages. . 1 ,800
Calvin Patterson Pure and Applied Mathematics. . 1 ,800
DavidS. K;ellicott, M. 8 Physical Science 1,500
George Hadley, A. M Chemistry and Geology 1,000
Mark M. Maycock Drawing and Penmanship 600
CharlesW. Sykes Vocal Music 500
Mary Wright Elementary Methods and Critic. . 1 ,000
Mary J. Hannon Elocution and Rhetoric 1 ,000
Susan Hoxie General Assistant 750
Ellen Wiltse. , . . . General Assistant, pro tempore. . . 900
The teachers in the school of practice are paid by the city,
except that Miss Flora E. Crandall is paid a hundred and fifty
dollars for services outside of her regular duties as teacher of
the grades under her care. Each of these teachers is critic
teacher in her own room. Their names are as follows, the
salary of each, except Miss Crandall, being $650 :
Flora E. Crandall, first and second grades.
Ada M. Kenyon, third and fourth grades.
Isabella Gibson, fifth and sixth grades.
Kate Field, seventh and eighth grades.
Mary M. Williams, ninth and tenth grades.
Number in Attendance.
The number of students reported last year, as in attendance
at the opening of the school, namely, fifty-six, has increased
to one hundred and eighty-five. The average attendance
during the first year was seventy, the number registered being
ninety-four. The average attendance during the first term of
the second year, to the Christmas recess, was one hundred and
forty-nine, the number registered being one hundred and
sixty-seven. The average attendance would be, in both cases,
nearer to the number registered, if it were not necessary to
include in the count those who joined the school without due
consideration, and who, finding that its character and the
work to be done in it were misapprehended, withdrew after a
few days of unsatisfactory trial. During the first year eight
or ten such were registered, as a few have also been during
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 149
the present term. The board proposes to recognize in the
catalogue only those who have been members of the school for
at least one fnll quarter, or ten weeks.
Of these students one hundred and forty-six are residents of
Buffalo, twenty-two are residents of Erie county outside of
Buffalo, sixteen are from other counties of this State, and one
from another state.
Coubsks of Study.
The course of study most appropriate for the student-teacher
is not easily decided upon. The law, indeed, fixes a standard
of attainments for certificates of different grades, and trustees
of schools are, so far, restricted in the employment of teachers.
But this standard is, in the main, an intellectual one ; the
application of it is in the hands of a large number of persons,
and, therefore, liable to great want of uniformity ; and the
differing circumstances and demands of different districts
impose on those who grant licenses the necessity of making
certificates of similar tenor stand for qualifications of very
dissimilar grade. It is thus, in effect, left to the individual
student to determine, outside of this law, what kind and what
extent of preparation for teaching he will make. As a rule, he
can or will remain in the normal school but a short time; in
many cases there is want of a fixed purpose to teach long
enough to make thorough preparation good economy, and too
often a choice of teaching, as even a temporary work, from no
discovered fitness or liking for it. Among the students there is
a too prevalent want of recognition of the importance of little
things, such as spelling, penmanship, ability to write a page
of English without blunders, and an equally prevalent ambi-
tion to enter at once on studies thought to be more advanced.
Those who are to teach in mixed schools will need to know a
little of almost everything, and those who are to teach in
graded schools will need to know, as they think, only smaller
and well-defined parts of a few subjects.
In connection with this is another serious question. Shall
the study of methods be, in the main, joined with the study of
150 Nineteenth Annual Rbport of the
subjects, or shall subjects be studied first and almost exclu-
sively with reference to a thorough knowledge of their con-
tents, and then the general principles of teaching be learned
and applied to this knowledge in a distinct course of lessons!
If the former ; is not the student in danger of losing both, from
the obvious impossibility of joining the two in the instruction
of any ordinary class, except as the manner of the teacher and
an occasional and hurried excursion into the region of methods
may furnish a model for the student to imitate in his teaching
of others ? Would he not, by this education, become a mere
dabbler in methods, without the substance of' knowledge on
which to exercise them? If the latter; .will not the great
majority of students, as in fact they do, attend only the classes
studying subjects, and so practically make a knowledge of
sciences with a good model before them while they are learn-
ing their only preparation for teaching ? And, considering the
large number in attendance and the small number of graduates,
will not this tend to make our normal schools large academies
and small professional schools ?
Two points are held to be clearly established : That pupils
do not come to the normal school with sufficient knowledge of
subjects to justify us in graduating them as teachers; and that
philosophies and methods, considered to be essential to the
complete outfit of the teacher, are most successfully communi-
cated where the substance of education is gained. The acqui-
sition of knowledge, the study of methods, and the beginning
of practice, can all be carried on, with best results for all par-
ties concerned, in one and the same school and under a uniform
discipline, all whose efforts are directed to one result.
These considerations seem to furnish to the board the only
ground on which they can proceed in arranging their course of
study. Certainly, thorough education of the scholar ought in
all cases to be the basis of professional training; and with
equal confidence it is asserted that, in all cases, professional
training should supplement education as a scholar. Our nor-
mal schools must furnish the opportunity of this education
that they may properly complete their work ; the student must
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 151
acquire this, that he may, and before he can, answer the ques-
tion whether he can make of himself a teacher of others.
And this education, acquired with direct reference to the use to
be made of it in the professional work to follow, will be the
best substitute for that work, if it should, unfortunately, be
omitted, and will best prepare the teacher to acquire all his
skill by the daily experience ef the school-room, and at least
cost or risk to the pupil. The academic function of the
course of study must be based on this principle ; to select sub-
jects of study, and to use methods of presenting them, with refer-
ence to their being elements in the professional work to which
they all tend, more than with reference to their being elements
in a general education equally applicable to all sorts of pursuits.
In this way a good education brings a most important, indeed
an indispensable contribution, to the study of philosophies and
methods. So valuable is this tribute, that the ordinary gradu-
ate is worth double what he would be without it by the study
of methods alone, and the cost of bringing so many to the
point of entering the professional course, that a comparatively
small number may complete it, is more than repaid, inasmuch
as this education is at once the best introduction to studies
strictly professional, and the best preparation for teaching, pos-
sible without them.
The courses of study, tested by our experience so far, and
very carefully Veviewed and modified by the faculty for pre-
sentation in this report, are these :
KlIfETSSSTa AlTJfUAL Rxtort or 1
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ilil
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si
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ilfljllffi
SnPMSIWTEWDElfT OF PUBUQ INSTRUCTION.
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154 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
' Special Glass.
The board is well aware that these courses of study call for
a longer attendance at the school than the circumstances of
many teachers, and the demands of many school districts, will
either permit or justify. If all teachers in our public schools
were required to graduate at our normal schools before they
even begin to teach, these courses express our idea of what a
professional outfit should be. "We know that many who will
offer themselves as teachers of schools for the coming summer,
and who will be employed as such, would be frightened at
the suggestion of spending two years' time in preparation
for such schools as they propose to teach — frightened not from
teaching without such preparation, but frightened only from
undertaking it. Trustees and parents in many districts would
share the sentiment that their schools do not really need it ;
and the sad truth that so many are intending to teach for a
term or two only, with no preparation, to be succeeded in
their turn by others of like mind, makes the hope of sending
a trained teacher into every district of even a single county
seem desperate.
To meet this state of things and to carry out so far as pos-
sible our desire to influence schools of all sorts, and especially
schools near home, the board has authorized, and the newly
elected school commissioners of Erie county have cordially
approved, the forming of a special class at the opening of the
spring term, to continue five or six weeks, and to be composed
of those who design to teach in the summer schools. It is
hoped that many, who could not attend through a single year
even, would join this class, and that many trustees and parents
would insist on having a teacher with at least the limited pre-
paration which, in this class, he might obtain. A special
course, adapted, as well as the wisdom of the faculty can
devise, to the most obvious needs of small country schools, will
be arranged. This experiment (for in this light we regard it)
has already been tried with encouraging success in other
schools, and, if reasonably prosperous with us in the spring, will
be repeated in the autumn. We hope that many, who will
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 155
join the class for the short time indicated, will return to take
a fall course of study, and that many schools may be led to
see the profit of having teachers who recognize the necessity
of being trained for their work, and so, by and by, be led to
demand graduates of some normal school.
Preparatory Class.
By far the larger proportion of our students, as already
indicated, are residents of the city of Buffalo. It is not pro-
bable that this proportion will continue, but for the present
we may reasonably suppose that at least half will be home
students. Indeed, the board considers that its duty and inte-
rests alike point to the city and county, in which the school is
located, as its legitimate field of work. More than three hun-
dred teachers are constantly employed in the city, and four
hundred more during the year in the county. Located as our
school is, so near to three other normal schools, it would seem
that it should find its main work in schools at home.
A practical difficulty has arisen in this connection. Pupils
finish the course of study, in the grammar schools of the city,
at an average age of a year younger than is required for enter-
ing the normal school. If they are obliged to resort to other
schools for a time, many will finish their education in those
schools, unless it is seen that graduation at the normal school
is the direct path to employment. Many pupils, whose plans
to teach are as well formed and definite as the plans of persons
so young well can be, applied, during the summer, for admis-
sion to the normal school when, they should leave the gram-
mar schools. They were at first refused ; but when it became
evident that the coveted opportunity of educating teachers for
the city would thus, in many instances, be lost, the Superin-
tendent was requested to indorse recommendations of those
who would reach the age of sixteen before the first day of
December. This he consented to do; but there were still
quite a number who would reach that age at different subse-
quent dates during the year, and who were very anxious to
enter the school at once. Under these circumstances, the board
156 Nineteenth Annual Report of tee
authorized the forming of a preparatory class which should
embrace promising pupils who would be sixteen before the
beginning of the next school year, and those students from
abroad who have properly indorsed recommendations but
might fall somewhat below the required standard at the pre-
liminary examination. This was possible without any addi-
tional cost to the State, as a change in the school of practice,
in accordance with regulations of the city department of edu-
cation, released one of the teachers from part of her work for
the year. This class has numbered sixteen persons under age,
and its privileges have been confined strictly to such residents
of Buffalo as were able to pass a fair examination on the same
questions as are given to others, and who express their inten-
tion to go through one of its courses of study in accordance
with the pledge given below. It may be necessary, with the
consent of the Superintendent, to continue this class so long as
the number of more advanced students does not forbid. The
fact that pupils educated to the age of fifteen in the graded
schools of the city are, as a rule, more mature in some traits
of character and also in intellectual discipline than persons of
the same age educated in country schools, should have weight ;
but the main justification of such a course would be found in
the assured opportunity of educating the teachers of the city.
The Spirit of the School.
It has been the purpose of the board, and the constant
endeavor of the principal and faculty, to do full duty to the
State. We all recognize the obligation of using the appro-
priation made for the maintenance of the school in such a way
as to do the State best service. It is onr desire to make the
school contribute to the improvement of common schools by
the better education of teachers, and that all who receive the
bounty of the State in the form of free tuition, and other
special advantages, shall consider themselves bound to render
an equivalent to the State by better services in these schools.
To this end, none are admitted who are not properly recom-
mended and indorsed, with the exception explained above,
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 157
and all sign a statement of intention to teach in the schools of
the State. The forms of pledge are given below, and the
board will gladly consent to make them more definite and
binding if the Department will so instruct the principal.
Pledge of Intention to Teach.
We, the undersigned, having received appointments to the
State Normal School at Buffalo, hereby declare (1) that oar
purpose in entering the school is to prepare ourselves for
teaching ; and (2) that it is our intention, as we acknowledge
it to be our duty, to teach for a reasonable length of time in
the schools of the State.
Pledge of the Preparatory Class.
We, the undersigned, hereby state, with the consent of our
parents, that it is our intention to procure regular appoint-
ments to the State Normal School as soon as we reach the
age of sixteen, and to go oh with our studies in the school
as a preparation for teaching.
Graduation.
In pursuance of the policy announced in the prospectus and
otherwise, the faculty have not been anxious to push students
on to graduation. It would have been possible to graduate -a
email class at the end of the first year, but a school can better
afford to be without graduates for a year longer than to send
oat even a few imperfectly prepared for their work. It was
specially necessary, as we are situated, that the first class to
leave us should be well equipped with all the school can fur-
nish. The character and success of that class will do much
towards making our reputation for some years to come. The
faculty have, therefore, rather delayed than hastened the time
of the first graduation. At the close of the present term, four
or five will have finished their course of study and practice,
and at the end of the next term eighteen to twenty more.
The four or five first mentioned will teach, if they find oppor-
tunity, during the summer term, and will graduate at the end
158 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
of the year with the others. This will give us additional
opportunity of judging what use they can make of their train-
ing in the normal school, before they receive its diploma.
Indeed, it would be good policy in all cases, if it were practi-
cable, to send out those who have finished courses of study as
" probationers " for six months, so that to the estimate of
ability in the school of practice, under the eye of a critic
teacher, might be added the estimate of success in an indepen-
dent position.
At the beginning of the present term, several fragments of
classes, which the gathering of a new school had brought
together into classes imperfectly graded, were condensed into
one class, which will probably be prepared to graduate from the
highest or classical course at the end of the next year. The class
will, in fact, be able to do more work than is laid down in the
scheme of studies, and if all the class, at present twenty in
number, should remain together till that time, we may confi-
dently expect the members of it to be more than usually well
qualified to fill advanced positions. Besides, the probability
is that a class of almost or quite equal numbers will be ready
at the same time to graduate from the elementary course.
Should all these hopes be realized, the end of the third year
would find us with a list of alumni) or rather of alumna, num-
bering not far from sixty. If the sixty should be good teach-
ers, the character and fortunes of the school would be fairly
settled.
The Jessie Ketohum Prize Medals*
The late Jesse Eetchum, of Buffalo, was well known as a
friend and benefactor of public schools. He long cherished
the hope of seeing a normal school established in the city, and
gave for that purpose the lot on which the school now stands.
In honor of Mr. Eetchum, and to carry out his well-known
wishes, his son-in-law, B. H. Brennan, Esq., transmitted, in
September, 1871, to the mayor of the city "a deed of trust
designed to establish a memorial fund for the benefit of the
public schools of Buffalo/' together with the sum of $10,000,
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 159
the income of which is to be expended annually in the purchase
of medals as prizes for meritorious conduct, and attainments
in learning. Mr. Brennan expressly desired that the normal
school should be included among the public schools of the city ;
and, through the generosity of the trustees of the fund, a gold
medal of the value of forty dollars as a prize of the first class,
and a gold medal of the value of twenty dollars as a prize of
the second class, have been assigned to the normal school and
accepted by us as an annual gift. We were not called upon to
disenss the general question of prizes in school, and, in the cir-
cumstances, felt ourselves at liberty to do only as we did. The
fixing of the data on which the awards should be made was
left to the board, subject only to the approval of the trustees
of the fund, and the matter was referred by us to the faculty.
They have very properly determined that skill in teaching
shall be an important element in awarding the medals. The
main points in their plan of award are these :
1. The competition for the medals shall be confined, to the
members of graduating classes, thus giving the opportunity of
carrying off a prize to those only who go through the profes-
sional course of the school.
2. Scholarship, deportment and skill in teaching shall be
separate items, each Entering equally into the account.
3. Records kept in numbers shall not alone decide who is
roost worthy, bnt these modified by the judgment of the faculty
as to the character, ability and promise of the student, and
these specially with reference to merit and success as a
teacher.
The first of these medals will be awarded to the class gradu-
ating in June next.
Academic and Collegiate Depabtmentb.
The plan of the board did not at first contemplate any
academic department other than the collegiate. This would
be to invite a rivalry with schools of a properly academic
grade, which was not desired. A few, however, wished to
join the normal classes without pledging themselves to teach ;
160 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
and as the number in the normal classes would for the pres-
ent allow, permission* to join these classes has not been
restricted except on condition of paying tuition. These stu.
dents are allowed no special privileges of any sort, and all
receipts from tuition are devoted to the school. During the
past year, reference books and apparatus were purchased with
the money so received ; and it is proposed to purchase from
the same fund, as soon as may be, a telescope, a microscope,
and additional reference books for general use.
As reported last year, and as announced in the prospectus
and circulars of the school, the board hoped and in part
planned, with the consent of the Superintendent, to make this
one, of the eight normal schools of the State, a normal college.
Their idea was, that its course of study should be extended
three or four years beyoud the normal course, and that a
grade of scholarship, at least equal to that for which academic
degrees are usually granted, should be attainable in it, with
the intention that this highest grade of learning should be, for
the most part, given to the schools of the State. Their
thought was, that more advanced study in the normal school,
by even a small class, would elevate the spirit of scholarship
in the whole school, and would do much towards impressing
upon all, the truth, that sound learning is an inseparable
attendant, if not a necessary element, of fruitful teaching.
This was not to interfere with, but to supplement, the ordi-
nary course of study, and to furnish a continued example of
the culture and the ability which come with an extended
course of liberal studies. The wish was, not to make this
school out-rank the other schools, but, while not neglecting or
thinking lightly of the elementary work which the great
majority of students in all normal schools must do, to add to
this something which might distinguish it from other schools.
This hopfe is not abandoned, but is still cherished as capable
of realization. Circumstances have not given it the impetus
we had expected, but we still think the plan a feasible
one. It has not seemed best to lay down a four years9 course
of study without students for the first year's work, but the
SUPERINTENDENT Of PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 161
local board respectfully urges the Superintendent to give the
scheme such official aid as he can.
Wants of the School.
The greatest want is a suitable building under our control
for a boarding-hall. We have plenty of room for such a
house on the school lot, and if one could be built and
equipped plainly but comfortably for this purpose, board
could be famished at cost for all who attend school from
abroad. The greater cost of board in the city than in the
villages, in which the other normal schools are located, is very
much to our disadvantage with all pupils who do not live at
home.
The want of additional books of reference and of apparatus,
particularly chemical apparatus, can be gradually supplied
from the proceeds of tuition, but a small sum annually, above
what can be spared from the regular appropriation, would
add much to the efficiency of all departments.
The building is not in need of repair, except that, as
reported last year, cracks in the walls, occasioned by the set-
tling of the foundations and shrinking of the timbers, disfigure
maoy of the rooms. The walks leading from the street to the
building require new flagging, as a means of comfort and
cleanliness.
The sum of fifteen hundred dollars will probably cover all
necessary extra expenses for the year, and that sum the board
respectfully asks the Legislature to grant.
Detailed Statement of Receipts and Expenditures of the
Local Board of the Buffalo Normal School for the year
ending September 30, 1872.
Receipts.
Received from the State on account of annual appropriation . . $17,115 12
Received from the State on account of special appropriation . . 4,461 07
Receired from tuition in academic department 240 00
Total receipts $21,816 19
11
162
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
$12,750 oo
1,615 43
EXPENDITURES.
On account of teachers* salaries for the year :
H. B. Buckham $2,500 00
Win. B. Wright 1,800 00
Calvin Patterson 1,800 00
David B. Kellicott 1,500 00
Mark M. Maycock 600 00
Chas. Sykes 500 00
Geo. Hadley 750 00
Laura G. Lovell 900 00
Sarah Bostwick 900 00
Mary J. Harmon (part of year) 600 00
Susan Hoxie 750 00
FloraE. Crandall 150 00
On account of library, text books and apparatus :
Frank Hamlin, receiver, text-books $709 82
Martin Taylor, text-books 751 75
Frank Hamlin, receiver, text-books 2 70
Breed & Lent, and others, reference books 126 66
D. S. Kellicott, tools and sundries for laboratory, 25 00
On account of furniture :
Mead & Hunt, school desks and settees $150 00
Hersee & Sons, chairs for chapel 56 75
On account of repairs and improvements, main-
ly for fitting up principal's residence and chemical
and philosophical rooms :
W. A. Evans & Co., lumber $166 00
Hart, Ball & Hart, plumbing 1,000 00
D. W. C. Weed & Co, hardware 109 22
James Duthie, carpenter's work 148 04
James Dickie, lumber 864 55
Valentine Brothers, bells and gongs ... 102 25
John Keenan, mason work 51 95
Hart, Ball & Hart, gas-fitting 798 28
John C. Post, oil and paint 78 68
E. J. Cornell, painting 52 00
George Strobel, carpenter's work 45 42
John Spier, shrubs and labor for lawn 88 28
On account of janitor's wages:
Wm. Hopkins, from time of accepting building,
by State, to opening of school $482 61
Wm. Hopkins, balance to October 11, 1871 85 50
Carried forward $568 11 $17,516 75
206 75
2,944 57
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
163
Brought forward. $568 11 $17,516 75
Win. Hackett, from October 11, 1671, to August
31,1872 711 09
1,279 20
On account of contingent expenses :
FM quarter:
E. B. Backham, traveling and other expenses in-
curred in engaging teachers $74 70
Postage on preliminary circular 6 00
Postage on prospectus of school 15 25
Postage on circulars of school of practice 2 08
Letter postage 4 00
Express charges 8 75
Telegrams ! 1 00
Sundries 35
108 58
Second quarter :
H. R Backham, blank book for library $1 00
Postage 8 50
Paper ruled for records 1 75
L K Chester & Go., making carpet 3 00
Jewett & Co., coal shovel, hat hooks, screens, etc., 9 75
Mrs. Hogan, twelve days' house cleaning before
school opened 15 00
John Barns, putting coal into cellar 21 50
& English, brooms and brushes 7 50
J. Ormsby, one cord hemlock wood 6 50
Buffalo Gas Company, meter and gas to January
1,1872 20 85
H. B. Buckham, expenses in attending meeting of
principals 4 95
Warren, Johnson & Co., printing and stationery, 125 66
Lee&Loomis, coal 898 00
1,118 96
Third quarter :
•
H. B. Buckham, postage on annual circulars. . . . : $10 25
Postage on circular for city ... 8 12
Letter postage 2 08
Express charges 5 75
Cloth for covering reference books 2 16
Sundry small items 2 56
Jewett & Co., foot scrapers 4 00
Bnflalo Gas Company, gas, January and February, 31 15
Lee & Loomis, coal 626 01
687 08
Carried forward $20,710 47
164 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $20 ,710 47
Fourth quarter, and to September 80 :
H. B. Buckham, letter postage
Postage on circulars
Express charges
Cartage
Sundries
Buffalo Gas Co., March and April
J. Voltge, dust pans, etc
J. Castle, thermometers
Warren & Co., printing and stationery
Hart, Ball & Hart, repairing steam pipes
Lee & Loomts, coal
Lee & Loomis,«coal
A. Caspar, soap, mops and other supplies for house
cleaning
Cash on hand, September 30, 1872.
$1 50
4 85
1 02
2 87
4 68
20 30
8 10
15 00
878 80
215 05
228 82
299 00
18 43
1,188 27
55 11
Total $21,958 85
Summary of Receipts and Expenditures.
Total receipts from all sources $21 ,816 19
Due from State to balance 18766
$21,958 85
Paid on account of teachers' salaries , $12,750 00
Paid on account of books and apparatus 1 ,615 43
Paid on account of furniture 206 75
Paid on account of repairs and improvements 2,944 57
Paid on account of janitor's wages 1 ,279 20
Paid on account of contingent expenses, first quarter 106 58
Paid on account of contingent expenses, second quarter 1 ,118 96
Paid on account of contingent expenses, third quarter 687 03
Paid on account of contingent expenses, to September 80 1 , 188 27
Cash on hand, September 80, 1872 55 11
$21,958 85
Erie County, 88. :
Nathan K. Hall, chairman, and William H. Greene, secre-
tary, of the local board of the State Normal School at Buffalo,
being duly sworn, say, and each for himself says, that the fore-
going detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of
the said local board has been approved by the executive com-
Superintendent op Public Instruction. 1C5
mittee of the said board, and that he believes such statement
to be correct.
N. K. HALL.
WM.. H. GREENE.
Subscribed and sworn before me this )
3d day of January, 1873. \
Edward Gayer,
Notary Public in and for Erie County.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
WM. H. GREENE,
Secretary of Local Board.
Buffalo, January 1, 1873.
Special Announcement — Circular.
The next term of the Buffalo Normal School will begin on
Wednesday, September 4th.
The school is open to all applicants of proper age and quali-
fications, who desire to prepare for the work of teaching in
the public schools of the State. The plan of the school com-
prises the following particulars :
1. A thorough Education in Subjects of Study. — Three
courses of study are arranged : an elementary, an advanced
English and a classical. Students of ordinary ability can
finish the first in one year, the second in two years, and the
third in three years.
2. A thorough Study of the Theory of Teaching. — This is
intended to embrace the philosophy of education, methods of
instruction, principles of government, and, in short, all that
the teacher can learn outside of the school he is to teach.
This, for such as have finished one or other of the courses of
study (and no others can be admitted to it) requires one full
term or half year.
3. Practice under Vriticism in our Model School for
another full term. — Our school of practice is organized so as
to represent the system of graded schools in the city of Buf-
falo. The students will have the opportunity of teaching
166 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
classes of different grades, as well as of observing the manage-
ment* and instruction of a well-ordered system of schools.
To graduate, therefore, from the elementary course, requires
at the least two years, from the advanced English three
years, and from the classical four years. It is not imperative
that the study of subjects be pursued in this school. Students
who can pass a good examination in these subjects may be
admitted at once to the work of the professional year, but a
thorough knowledge of them must be insisted upon, whether
acquired with us or elsewhere.
Applicants must be at least sixteen years of age on entering
the school, and must obtain from a school commissioner or a
city superintendent a recommendation to the State Superin-
tendent, by whom all appointments are to be made. They
are further examined at the school when they enter, and must
show a fair knowledge of the common branches. When once
admitted to the school, they are entitled to its advantages until
they have finished any of its courses of study. Tuition is free,
and the necessary text-books are supplied without charge,
except for unreasonable wear. It is not required that students
shall finish the course without leaving the school for a time,
if circumstances make it necessary, but it is very desirable to
finish at least the work of a year without interruption. The
school can be responsible only for graduates, though we shall
be glad to assist, as far as is proper, all who attend it. We
strongly urge upon all young persons, who intend to teach,
that their own interest will be promoted by their graduating
at a normal school.
Board will be provided, for such as desire it, in private
families ; those who wish for this assistance should apply to
the principal as early as possible. The price of board is from
four to six dollars a week.
• Any further information, or copies of the circular containing
the courses of study in full, may be obtained by addressing the
principal*
WM. H. GKEENE,
Secretary of Trustees.
Hknbt B. Buokham, A. M., Principal.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 167
(L.)
FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE
NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL AT CORT-
LAND.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction ;
Sib. — According to the requirements of law, the local board
of the State Normal and Training School at Cortland, New
York, submit their fourth annual report.
The report is for the year beginning October 1, 1871, and
ending September 30, 1872.
Improvements upon the Grounds.
During the spring and summer of 1872, the grounds were
much remodeled in regard to the walks ; trees, deciduous and
evergreen, were planted, and some portions of the grounds,
not formerly so designed, were sodded. New fences were put
np on the west and south sides of the grounds. These improve-
ments were superintended by Mr. F. E. Knight, of Cortland.
The expenses of these improvements were about one thou-
Band dollars, which the Legislature reappropriated for this
purpose in May, 1872. This fund was appropriated two years
before, but not being used it lapsed to the State, April 28, 1872.
. Changes in the Local Board.
On the 27th day of June, 1872, Mr. Arnold Stafford, a
member of the local board from its first organization, was sud-
denly stricken down in death. Mr. Stafford, as a member of
the committee on building and grounds, had at all times faith-
folly served the interests of the school.
In accordance with the provisions of law, the Superintend-
ent of Public Instruction appointed Mr. Robert B. Smith, of
Cortland, as a member of the local board, to fill vacancy caused
by the death of Mr. Stafford. Mr. Smith's appointment bears
date September 11, 1872.
168 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Changes of Teachers.
Miss Emily E. Cole, of the class of January 31, 1871,
assumed charge of the primary department, February 14, 1872.
Miss Julia H. Willis, having resigned her position as critic
in the primary department, January 30, 1872, Miss Mary E.
Lester entered upon the duties of critic in that department
February 14, 1872.
Mrs. H. E. M. Babcock, having resigned her position July
2, 1872, Miss Clara E. Booth, of the class of July 2, 1872, was
appointed to fill the vacancy.
Miss Mary A. Hubbard, class of January 30, 1872, com-
menced her duties as principal of the intermediate depart-
ment September 4, 1872, in place of Miss Helen K. Hubbard,
who resigned her position July 2, 1872.
Salabies.
The salaries now paid in the several departments are as
follows :
Principal of the school $2,500 00
Department of Natural Science 1 > 700 00
Department of Latin and Greek 1 ? 600 00
Department of Mathematics 1,400 00
Methods and Superintendent of Training School, 900 00
Department of Elocution and Rhetoric 750 00
Department of Modern Languages and Geog-
raphy 700 00
Department of History and English Language, 700 00
Department of Vocal Music 300 00
Department of Drawing 250 00
Principal of Academic Department 800 00
Principal of Intermediate Department 700 00
Critic of Intermediate Department 700 00
Principal of Primary Department ,. . . 600 00
Critic of Primary Department 600 00
Total per year $14,200 00
:s
Superintendent .or Public Instruction.
169
Library*
Daring the year the text-book library was moved into the
office, where convenient cases had been prepared for it.
The former library room is now occupied almost exclusively
by the reference library. This library is, for its size, one of
the most valuable to be found in connection with any school.
Students have free daily access to the books, and the use
made of the advantages afforded demonstrates the value of the
collection to the school.
Attendance.
Attendance from October 1, 1871, to October 1, 1872.
Whole number in normal school 370
Whole number in training school :
Academic department 61
Intermediate department 205
Primary department 281
547
Total for the year 917
The School as a Normal School.
The following table shows the number of new students —
names not appearing upon the rolls before — for each term
daring the history of the school :
•
£
8
From March 8, 1809, to July 80, 1809
From September 8, 1889, to ffebroaryl, 1878 .
From February 18, 18T0, to July 1, 1910
From September 14, 1810, to January 81. 1971
From February 1ft, 1971, to Jnne 80, 1871
From September 6, 1871, to January 80, 1973 .
From February 14, 197*, to July 8, 1978
From September 4, 1971, to January 88, 1878 .
Totals— different names . v
•
§'
a
5
a
J
•3
|
&
a
£
88
89
57
48
68
116
80
40
TO
66
84
140
18
88
40
51
55
106
88
80
48
86
47
78
880
865
645
170 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Attendance bt the Year.
First year, ending September 30, 1869 57
Second year, ending September 30, 1870 822
Third year, ending September 30, 1871 401
Fourth year, ending September 30, 1872 370
Total, by years 1,150
Of the above, seventy-four have graduated and have since
rendered the State most valuable service in educational work.
Another class is near its graduation, and still another large
class will enter upon its graduating work at the beginning of
next term.
Of those undergraduates who have been in attendance, five
hundred and seventy-one in all, between three and four hun-
dred, or over sixty per cent of the whole, have done more or
less of educational work in the public schools of the State,
during and since their connection with the school.
A comparison of the two tables above brings out the fact
that the students have been very regular in their attendance
for a series of terms. This gives much value to the statement
that the work done in teaching by the undergraduates is most
excellent, from their having enjoyed so long the advantages
afforded by the school.
Whence the influential educational work accomplished by
this school for the State, during the three and a half years of
its existence, sums up as follows :
1. Seventy-four graduates, many of whom have been occu-
pying very prominent places in teaching; two more classes
near to their graduating work.
2. Over three hundred undergraduates- have done a vast
amount of teaching in the common schools of the State, during
and since their connection with the school, and have taught
much better because of this connection.
3. Last, but not least, the good that has been done to the
cause of sound education for the masses, by a school not
dependent upon individual tuition for support. This is no
Superintendent of Public Instruction. ] 71
small item in estimating the real value of any school to a
eommnnity.
Surely this is no unworthy showing for the brief history \>f
three and a half years of school work ; for nearly five hun-
dred intelligent and active minds have exerted an influence of
do mean importance upon the pupils under their tuition.
The State may well feel gratified at the work accomplished
by its normal schools; for years only add to. the vigorous
influence exerted by them.
Department of Natural Science.
The appointments of this department are superior with
regard to their practical utility. The additions during the
year have been many, among them one of Ritchie's large
rotary, automatic air-pumps.
There has also been added a large collection of stereopticoa
transparencies on the subject of natural history and physi-
ology. These views were made expressly for this school by
Mr. H. D. Bumsey, of Homer, N. Y., under the immediate
supervision of the professor of the department.
There is also added a large collection of transparencies upon
the following subjects : astronomy ; geology ; mineralogy ;
early art; ancient ruins ; physical geography ; historical
architecture.
It is expected that there will soon be added another valua-
ble collection, illustrating comparative anatomy. These
transparencies will be made by Mr. Bumsey expressly for this
department from original plates by B. Waterhouse Hawkins,
of Sydenham, England.
The alumni and other students who have been connected
with the school are doing much by their continued contribu-
tions to increase the value of the cabinets of natural history,
mineralogy and geology. Valuable donations have been
made by others, friends of general education.
172 NlNMTSMNTH ANNUAL REPORT Or THE
Financial Statement.
Receipts.
Amount on hand, October 1, 1871 (tuition, etc.), $1»334 63
Received from the State 22>976 30
Received from other sources (tuition and aca-
demic diplomas) 381 00
Total $24,691 93
Disbursements.
Teachers' salaries $14,200 00
Library and apparatus 4,623 12
Improvements on grounds 143 93
Contingent expenses : 4,009 25
Amount on hand, October 1, 1872 (tuition, etc.), 1>715 63
Total $24,691 93
Respectfully submitted.
HENRY S. RANDALL.
President
Wm. Newkikk, Secretary.
Detailed - Statement of Receipts and Audited Liabilities
made by the Local Board of the State Normal and Train-
ing School, at Cortland, N. Y.^for the year beginning with
October 1, 1871, and ending with September 30, 1872.
Receipts.
Amount on hand, October 1, 1871 (tuition, etc.) $1 , 884 68
Received from the State 22,976 80
Received from other sources (tuition and academic diplomas), 881 00
Total _J?±l!!!!!
Disbursements.
Teacher? 8aUme$.
James H. Hoom $2,500 00
ThomasB. Stowell 1,700 00
Norman F. Wright 1,000 00
Carried forward *5,800 00
Superintendent of Public Instruction 178
Brought forward $5,800 00
Prank 8. Capen 1,400 00
James H. Shnltz 800 00
Martha Roe 900 00
M. Frances Hendrick 750 00
Helen EM. Babcock 700 00
Sarah M. Button 700 00
Mary Marsh (part time) 800 00
Mary Morton (part time) » 250 00
Helen K. Hubbard 700 00
Amanda J. Hopkins 700 00
Mary E. Lester 000 00
Julia H. Willis (half year) 800 00
Emily E Cole (half year) 800 00
$14,200 00
Library and Apparatus.
Appleton &' Co., D., text-books $9 00
Bradford, G. W., text-books 18 00
Cowperthwaite & Co., text-books 80 45
Ginn Brothers, reference books 22 57
Gurley, W. & L. E, mathematical apparatus 211 50
Harper & Brothers, reference books 29 94
Irison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., reference books, 284 78
Irison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., text-books .... 96 48
Ledion, Julian, anatomical preparations 223 00
Lippincott & Co., J. B., reference books 82 44
Little, Brown & Co., reference books 216 81
Mahan & Wallace, text-books 89 50
Mather & Lyon, 114 plates for stereopticon 100 00
Mc Vicar, M., arithmetical apparatus 75 00
Pease & Flaisted, oxygen-gas holder, per T. B. 8., 50 00
Queen A Co., James W., apparatus, etc 1 ,156 84
Ritchie* Sons, E. 8., apparatus 841 25
Roe, Martha, reference books 7 50.
Schermerhorn & Co., J. W., apparatus and books, 1 ,448 59
Scribner, Armstrong & Co., reference books 210 97
Sheldon & Co., text-books 28 40
4,623 12
Improvement* on Ground*.
Holmes, deary & Co., planting trees and work on
grounds $47 29
McAllister, Robert, planting trees 71 00
Stafford, Arnold, lumber and labor. 25 64
148 93
Carried forward $18,967 05
J 74
NlNBTMSNTS ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
Brought forward. ; . $18,967 05
Contingent Expenses.
Bennett, L. H., janitor $600 00
Benton, H. F. , lumber, office secretary 204 45
Bradford, G. W., stationery and chemicals 182 12
Brewer & Son, H., wood, dusters, etc 27 26
Carmichael, J. C, repairs, library tables, etc 54 65
Chamberlain, Smith & Co. , supplies 573 06
Coon, H. W., piano rent 60 00
Darby, Miles E., janitor 150 00
Dean, W. 8., labor 20 60
Doud, T. H., book-binding 1 00
Freeman, James, labor 7 00
Ginn Brothers, music charts 8 00
Hanscoin, P. L., printing labels 2 25
Homer & Cortland, gas company 121 00
Hooker, Wesley, printing 25 00
Hoose, J. H., traveling expenses, freight bills, etc., 88 29
Hose Company, W. W., rent Taylor Hall 15 00
Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., stationery 26 00
Jarvie, H. A. , 500 government envelopes 16 80
Jones, B. B., printing 88 75
Kinney, F. G., printing 12 00
Livermore, W. H. , printing v 4 00
Mahan & Wallace, stationery. 118 68
Merton, Nelson, labor * 15 00
Molloy, Edward, printing >. . . 4 00
Newkirk & Smith, supplies , 2 81
Nye, Daniel, labor 15 00
Office sundries ; * 95 77
Pierce, Franklin, painting 41 00
Pomeroy, S. T., repairing organ . . . 2 50
Randall, H. S., postage 8 00
Return fare, per J. H. H. (three terms) 889 93
Roe, Martha, ribbons for diplomas 22 50
Rogers,H. L., freight 85 00
Stowell, T. B., traveling expenses, etc 40. 02
Sturdevant, Fish A Co., carpeting 8 25
Tisdale & Co. , W. D., coal 1,052 00
Wickwire & Co. , C. F., supplies 18 57
Wilson, P. A., labor 2 60
4,009 25
Total disbursements $23,976 80
Superintendent of Public Instruction 175
Recapitulation.
Teachers' salaries $14,200 00
library and apparatus 4,623 12
Improvements on grounds 148 93
Contingent expenses 4,009 25
* $22,976 30
Balance on hand, October 1, 1872 1,715 08
Grand total $24,691 98
We hereby certify that we have examined the within state-
ment of receipts and audited expenditures for the normal and
training school at Cortland, during the past year, and believe
the same to be correct.
HENRY S. RANDALL,
* President.
William Nkwkirk,
Secretary.
State of New York, )
County of Cortland, ( Um '
Sworn and subscribed to before me this 6th day of January,
A. D. 1873.
[l. s.] Howard J. Harrington,
Notary Public.
GRADUATES.
First Commencement, Friday, July 1, 1870.
Gentlemen.
Name. Post-office. County.
Fowler, Charles A Bingham ton .... Broome.
Pearne, Wesley U Oxford Chenango.
Vanderburgh, Fred. A . . Cortland Cortland.
Ladies.
Brownell, L. Annie Nyack Rockland.
Cole, Sarah M Elbridge Onondaga.
Northrop, Ada Homer Cortland.
Ratcliffe, Adaline A Liberty Sullivan.
Stewart, Kate R Parksville ...... Sullivan.
176 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Name. Post-office. County.
Willis, Mary L Tally Onondaga.
Willis, Julia H Tally Onondaga,
Gentlemen 3
Ladies . 7
Total 10
Class Organization.
Fowler, Charles A President.
Pearne, Wesley U Poet and Musician.
Vanderburgh, Fred. A. . . Vice-President and Historian.
Stewart, Kate R Secretary.
Willis, Julia H - Prophetess.
Class day — Planting of Ivy — June 29, 1871.
Second Commencement, Tuesday, Januaby 31, 1871.
Ladies.
Name. Post-office. Copnty.
Bentley, Jenney L Cortland Cortland.
' Cole, Emily E Elbridge Onondaga.
Finney, Madge M Binghamton Broome.
Lincoln, Alice L Virgil Cortland.
Lee, Mary E Marathon Cortland.
Lester, Mary E Binghamton Broome.
Pomeroy, Clara T . . Cortland Cortland.
Pomeroy, Anna C Cortland Cortland.
Perry, Mary Alice North Wilna .... Jefferson.
Smith, Hattie A Clark's Factory . . Delaware.
Stickney, Fanny Booneville Oneida.
Tillinghast, Mary N . . . . Marathon Cortland.
Ladies, total 12
Class Organization.
Cole, Emily E President.
Lester, Mary E Vice-Pres't, Poetess and Historian.
Lincoln, Alice L Prophetess.
Class day— Planting of Ivy— July 1, 1872.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 177
Third Commencement, Friday, June 30, 1871.
Gentlemen.
Name. Poet-offloe. County.
Knox, Stratton S Oqoago Broome..
Keeler, Melvin J De Ruyter Madison.
Robinson, William P. . . Cortland Cortland.
Shnltz, James H Virgil Cortland.
Ladies.
Ainsworth, Ella A East Lansing Tompkins.
Brainard, Ella F Cortland Cortland.
Bostwick, Sarah Newark . . Wayne.
Brown, Sarah Abbie Harpersville Broome.
Cately, Alice M Tully Onondaga.
Eels, Helen Freetown Cortland.
Fletcher, Sarah F Cortland Cortland.
Hall, Francelia A Scott Cortland.
Lewis, Ella M Lisle Broome.
Hiers, Amelia Howe's Cave Schoharie.
Mathewson, Ella L Geneva Caynga.
Potter, Helen L Union Valley. . * . Cortland.
Van Ness, Henrietta .... Greene Chenango.
Wright, Florence M . . . Greene Chenango.
Gentlemen 4
Ladies 14
Total > ; 18
Summary of Graduates to date.
Gentlemen 7
Ladies 83
Total 40
Class Organization.
Knox, Stratton S President.
Keeler, Melvin J Poet.
Shnltz, James H Secretary.
12
178 Nineteenth Annual Report of tee
Bostwick, Sarah Vice-president.
Fletcher, Sarah F Historian.
Wright, Florence M Treasurer.
Class day— Planting of Ivy— July 1, 1872.
Alumni Association, Organized June 30, 1872.
President pro tempore, Wesley XT. Pearne.
Secretary pro tempore, Mary E. Lester.
Stratton S. Knox, Wesley U. Pearne, Emily E. Cole, Sarah
Bostwick, Mary E. Lester, were appointed a committee to
draft a constitution and by-laws, for effecting a permanent
organization at the next meeting.
Fourth Commencement, Tuesday, Januaby 30, 1872.
Gentlemen.
Name. Post-office. County.
Murphy, Channcey P Perry City Schuyler,
Spencer, Wm. S Blodgetts' Mills . . Broome.
Ladies.
Gaffney, Emma Binghamton Broome.
Gilbert, Flora A Cortland Cortland.
Hall, Emily A Gulf Summit .... Broome.
Hawley, Helen Taylor Cortland.
Hubbard, Mary A ...... . Norwich Chenango.
Seacord, Mary K Cortland Cortland.
Tackabury, Libbie G. .... Canastota Madison.
Wiles, Emma A Freetown ....... Cortland.
Woodruff, Julia E . . Unadilla Otsego.
Gentlemen 2
Ladies 9
Total 11
Class Organization.
Wm. S. Spencer President and Orator.
Helen Hawley Vice-President and Prophetess.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 179
Libbie G. Tackabury Secretary.
Emma Wiles Treasurer.
Chauncey P. Murphy Historian.
Emily A. Hall Poetess.
Mary A. Hubbard Essayist.
Class day July 1, 1873.
GRADUATES.
FltfTH COMMENCJEMENT, JtJLT % 1872.
Gentlemen.
Name. Post-office. County.
Hermon S. Hopkins Groton Tompkins.
George E. Ryan Virgil Cortland.
Ladies.
Anna Black Cortland Cortland.
Clara E. Booth Perry Centre Wyoming.
Esther E. Baldwin South Cortland . . Cortland.
Frederica B. Camenga . . . South Brookfield, Madison.
Cassie R. Fowler York Livingston.
Flora A. Greene Groton Tompkins.
Ida Griswold South Cortland . . Cortland.
Libbie M. Hall Gulf Suratoit. . . . Broome.
Libbie L. Harris Fabius Onondaga.
Myra M. Hubbard Norwich Chenango.
Mary L. Hopkins Cortland Cortland.
Anna E. Kane McLean Tompkins.
Clara H. McGraw Binghamton Broome.
Edith H. McGraw Binghamton Broome.
Ella M. Maritt Cortland Cortland.
Elizaetta McLean Clark's Factory . . Delaware.
Julia F. Montgomery Marathon Cortland.
Carrie E. Richardson ..., Caroline Depot .. Tompkins.
E. Bertha Smith Cortland Cortland.
S. Marie Stillman De Ruyter Madison.
Mary B. Willey Sherburne ....... Chenango.
180 Nineteenth Annual Report of tMe
Gentlemen 2
Ladies 21
Total 23
Class Organization.
Clara E. Booth : President.
Libbie L. Harris Vice-President.
Herman S. Hopkins Secretary.
Flora A. Gredne Treasurer.
Cassie R. Fowler Prophetess.
F. B. Camenga Historian.
George E. Ryan . . . . Orator.
Mary B. Willey Essayist.
E. Bertha Smith Poetess.
Class day July 1, 1873.
Summary of Graduates to Date.
Gentlemen 11
Ladies 63
Total 74
Special Announcement in Circular or January 1, 1872.
Board of Trustees.
Hon. Henry S. Randall, LL.D., Hon. H. R. Duel.
President Henry Brewer.
William Newkirk, Secretary. F. Hyde, M. D.
Chas. C. Taylor, Treasurer. „ Robert B. Smith.
Hon. Horatio Ballard. Norman Chamberlain.
Faculty.
James H. Hoose, Ph. D., Principal, Mental Science, and
Philosophy of Education.
N. F. Wright, A. M., Latin and Greek.
Frank S. Capeif, A. M., Mathematics.
Thomas B. Stowell, A. M., Natural Science.
James H. Shultz, Professor of Academic Department.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 181
Martha Roe, Superintendent of Practicing Schools, Methods
and their application.
M. Frances Hendrick, Rhetoric, Elocution, Heading and
Superintendent of Gymnastics.
Clara E. Booth, English. French and German.
Sarah M. Sutton, Methods, English.
Mary Marsh, Vocal Music.
Mary Morton, Drawing.
Mary A. Hubbard, Principal and Critic in Intermediate
Department.
Amanda J. Hopkins, Methods, and Critic in Intermediate
Department.
Emily E. Cole, Principal and Critic in Primary Department.
Mary E. Lester, Methods, and Critic in Primary Depart-
ment.
Academic Department.
For those who purpose entering this department, the follow*
ing information is given :
Applications for admission should be made, either in person
or by letter, to the principal of the school, and should be
accompanied by a careful statement of the character, habits
and present attainments of candidates. No idle, ,insubordi-
nate or dissipated pupil will be tolerated.
Students will be received at any time, but in no case for
leas than a quarter except by special arrangement ; and no
deduction in price of tuition will be made for those who enter
within the first two, or leave within the last three weeks of
the term ; nor for absences during the term, except for sick*
ness.
Classes out of the regular course will not be organized for
the accommodation of students 'entering this department.
Cowrsee of Study.
First — The Advanced English Course. Second — The Classi-
cal Course. These are nearly identical with the same courses
in the normal department, except that they embrace no pro-
fessional training.
182 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Cost of Tuition.
Non-resident pupils will be charged the following rates of
tuition per quarter : English Course, $6.00; Classical, $7.00.
Graduation,
Students, graduating , from either of the courses in this
department, are charged a graduation fee of five dollars.
General Information.
Location.
The village of Cortland is noted for its pleasant situation,
the healthfulnees of its climate, and the beauty of its surround-
ing scenery. It is situated midway between Syracuse and
Binghamton, on the line of railroad connecting those places.
The Utica, Ithaca and Elroira railroad also passes through
the village, making connections with the Midland and South-
ern Central railways.
Board.
Board, including furnished room, fuel and light, can be
obtained in private families in the village, at prices ranging
from $4.00 to $5.00 per week. Rooms for self-boarding can
be easily obtained.
Pupils should reach Cortland at least one day before the
opening of the term, and go directly to the normal school
building, where they will be advised in regard to boarding
places. Baggage may be left at the depot until rooms are
secured, when it will be delivered free or charge.
The normal courses of instruction and other important
information will be found in the Appendix (Document Q).
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 188
• (M.)
FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE STATE
NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL AT PRE-
DONIA.
Id conformity with the provisions of chapter 466 of the
Laws of 1866, the following report of the condition of the
State Normal and Training School at Fredonia, for the year
ending December 31, 1872/ including statistical and financial
statements for the year ending September 30, 1872, is sub-
mitted:
Officeks.
The general management of the school devolves upon the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, as trustee.
Faculty.
Rev. John W. Armstrong, D. D., Principal, Moral Science
and Didactics.
J. M. Cassety, A. M., Principal of Academic Department,
Algebra and Astronomy.
H. R. Sanford, A. M., Natural Sciences, Civil Government.
0. R. Burchard, A. M., Mathematics.
Eev. J. N. Fradenburgh, A. M., Ancient Languages and .
German.
Miss Maria Swanger, Methods in Elementary course.
Miss Elizabeth Richardson, A. M., Physical Geography and
Objects.
Mrs. Kate B. Burchard, Composition, Rhetoric and English
Literature.
Mrs. Z. G. Carruth, French and History.
Miss E. Theodosia Hodgkins, Principal of Senior Depart-
ment.
Miss Kate A. Whitney, Principal of Junior Department.
Miss Mary A. Be mi 8, Principal of Primary Department.
184 . Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Miss Carrie Ferrin, Assistant in Senior Department.
Miss Ida R. Noble, Assistant in Senior Department.
Miss Annie S. Burroughs, Assistant in Junior Department.
Miss Clara S. Whitney, Vocal Music.
The courses of study, and other important information, will
be found in the general circular (Document Q).
The following table shows the receipts and expenditures on
account of this school, during the fiscal year ending Septem-
ber 30, 1872 :
*
RboeipIb.
Balance on hand, October 1, 1871 (tuition) $2,676 92
From the State, oat of annual appropriation .... 17,556 10
From the State, out of special appropriation. . . 1,800 00
From tuition in academic and training schools. . 857 20
Total $22,890 22
Payments.
For teachers' wagea $15,650 00
For library, text-books and apparatus 113 95
For repairs and improvements 2,116 26
For all other expenses 4,582 10
$22,462 31
Balance on hand (tuition), October 1, 1872, 427 91
Total $22,890 22
Detailed Statement of Receipts and Expenditure* far the
year ending September 30, 1872:
A Receipts.
Balance on hand, October 1, 1871 (tuition) $2,676 92
From the State, out of annual appropriation 17,556 10
From the State, oat of special appropriation 1,800 00
From tuition in academic and training schools 857 20
$22,890 22
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 185
Expenditures.
. Fbr Teacher? Wages.
John W. Armstrong $2,600 00
J.lLCassety 1,600 00
RRSanford 1,500 00
O.RBurchaxd 1,600 00
J. K Fradenburgh 1,200 00
Maria Swanger 1,200 00
Elizabeth Richardson 800 00
Mra. Bnrchard \ 760 00
Mrs. Z. G. Carruth 860 00
KlenWiltse /. 400 00
Kate A. Whitney 600 00
IdaRNoble 600 00
Carrie Ferrin 600 00
E. Theodoftia Hodgkins 700 00
MaryABemis , 600 00
Clara a Whitney 260 00
Annie Burroughs 800 00
Jeaunie Kinsman 200 00
$15,660 00
For Library, Text-books and Apparatus.
J. W. Armstrong, books and apparatus $62 00
J. C. Friabie, books 40 20
L. 8. Howard & Son, books 21 75
' 118 05
For Bepaws and Improvements.
J. M. Cassety, heating apparatus $87 00
McDougall & Avery, repairing boiler, steam fix-
tures, etc. 187 06
Bias Forbes & Co., gas fixtures 21 80
Lewis T. Parker, painting 9 31
R J. Skinner, fence 1,800 00
Porter Bros., repairs, etc 11 09
2,116 26
For all other Expenses.
Elias Forbes & Co., gas $800 60
W. McKinstry, printing and advertising 75 80
D. A. Clark & Co., chemicals 46 62
w\ W. Wright, janitor's services 088 48
8cott & McCluer, hardware, supplies, etc 86 11
J. D. Maynard, glass, chemicals, etc 17 95
J. W. Armstrong, sundry disbursements 109 95
Carried forward $1,675 60 $17,880 21
186 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $1,575 60 $17,880 21
J. W. Armstrong, mileage of students 225 82
J. C. Frisbie, stationery 184 45
Benton & Gushing, printing and advertising 88 00
N.J. Jackson & Co., coal .. 1,882 50
W. A. Adams, furniture 48 10
Wm. B. Archibald, rent of organ 46 00
Francis B. Parker, water 87 50
Clark Bros. & Marsh, cloth for caulking 12 75
Howard Bros., stationery ' 66 64
8. M. Hamilton, coal 987 50
D. L. Bhepard, hardware 21 01
D. W. Maynard, chemicals, etc. 6 55
D. C. Clark, chemicals, etc 20 80
Edward McGovern, inspecting boilers 11 00
Amon L. Barm ore, rustic window shades 64 16
Curtis & Shepard, hardware 9 22
: 4,582 10
Total expenditures $22,462 81
Repobt of Pbincipal.
Hon. Abram B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction:
The principal of the Fredonia Normal and Training School
begs leave to offer the following report :
The fourth year of the Fredonia Normal and Training School
has been characterized by an increased degree of usefulness
and influence. For this, it becomes us to return thanks to our
Heavenly Father " from whom all blessings flow."
The design of the State, in organizing and supporting such
schools, appeal's to have been more fully appreciated and more
completely met by both teachers and pupils, than ever before.
Growing out of the exigencies of the great educational system
adopted by the Legislature, and intended to supply a defi-
ciency not before provided for by the higher schools of the
State, it was necessary that there should be something peculiar
in their organization.
In establishing them, the State did not contemplate merely
the forming and supporting of several academies or high schools,
where the pupils might learn thoroughly the different branches
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 187
to be taught in the public schools. 'There were already many
such academies and other schools, where this work conld be
done as well as in the normal schools, and at far less cost to
the villages where they were located. The term training, con-
stituting a part of their title, indicates that, to a sound and
thorough scholarship wherever obtained, there Would be added
such a practical training in the art of organizing, teaching and
governing schools, as must greatly increase the efficiency and
usefulness of their graduates, and greatly elevate the tone and
character of the schools they would teach.
Earnestly laboring for the accomplishment of this design, it
is with no small pleasure that we can report the almost uniform
and triumphant success of oar graduates in the school-rooms
of the county and State. The attention, which these results
have attracted towards the "normal methods" of teaching and
training, is one of the evidences of a gratifying progress in
public opinion on educational matters.
• •
Changes in the Board op Instruction.
The only change, which has occurred in the board of instruc-
tion, is the resignation of Miss Kate Whitney, the principal
teacher and critic of the Junior practicing school. Identified
with the school from its reopening in 1869, she had brought
her department to a high- degree of advancement, and had
acquired deserved popularity. We were happy to be able to
secure, as her successor, Miss Jennie Kinsman, one of our
graduates of the fall term of 1872, who is ably discharging
the duties of the department.
Improvements Needed in Accommodations.
Originally, the normal building was constructed without any
adequate knowledge of the requirements of a normal school#
More practicing rooms are needed.
It would aid us much if a glass partition were erected across
each of the two large practicing rooms, cutting off fifteen feet
from the back end, and the. space subdivided into three prac-
ticing rooms for classes.
188 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Both the library and the apparatus rooms are very inade-
quately supplied with cases.
An appropriation for meeting these wants is very desirable.
■
Attendance.
The attendance of students in the several departments, dur-
ing the year ending September 30, 1872, was as follows :
In the normal department 305
academic department. 145
senior department 214
•junior department 200
primary department 85
Total *. 949
Graduates. — First Class, Term ending February 1st, 1870.
Elementary Course.
Miss Ellen Carter Laona, N. Y.
Mary Carlisle Malone, N. Y.
Second Class— tTerm ending July 1st, 1*870.
Miss Annie Burroughs Portland, ST. Y.
Mary A. Bemis ^ . Clymer, N. Y.
Ettie Cleland Cassadaga, K Y.
Hattie J. Gays Dunkirk, N. Y.
Mary Hart Fredonia, N. Y.
Henrietta B. Landon Fredonia, N. Y.
Nettie Pringle Fredonia, N. Y.
Hattie E. Sweet Fredonia, N. Y.
M. Pamelia Squires Chenango Forks, N. Y.
Lizzie M. Schaffer Fredonia, N. Y.
Luella Tinkham Fredonia, N. Y.
Classical Course.
■ * •
Ellen H. Clothier . . . Fredonia, N. Y.
Lacy M. Washburn Fredonia, N. Y.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 189
Third Class — Term ending February 7th, 1871.
Elementary Course.
Miss Ella J. Cumming8 Arkwright, N. Y.
Mrs. R. V. Lewis Dunkirk, N. Y.
Miss Ida R. Noble Canton, N. Y.
Mary A. Saunders Gowanda, N. Y.
Mary Wright Sinclairville, N. Y.
Higher English Course.
Mr. Barton C. Crocker Dunkirk, N. Y.
James E. Eaton Gowanda, N. Y.
Foitbth Class — Term ending Junb 30th, 1871.
Elementary Course.
Miss Ida Briggs * . . . . Stockton, N. Y.
Nellie Clothier Fredonia, N. Y.
Adista Coon Portville, N. Y.
Addie Daily Fredonia% N. Y.
Carrie Ferrin Ellington, N. Y.
• Anna Hayes Fredonia, N. Y.
Mrs. G. H. JIammond Fredonia, N. Y.
Miss Mary Morissey Sheridan Centre, N. Y.
Nettie Mark Frewsburgh, N. Y.
Nettie Piatt Horuellsville, N. Y.
Juliette Simmons Poland Centre, N. Y. '
Mary Simons Belmont, N. Y.
Belle Spink Fredonia, N. Y.
Nina Sheppard Buffalo, N. Y.
Luella Wheelock Fredonia, N. Y.
Clara Washburn Indianapolis, Ind.
Higher English Course.
Elizabeth Richardson Hamlet, N. Y.
Lillie Tabor Tuscola, 111.
Classical Course.
Hannah Enry . . Fredonia, N. Y,
r
190 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Fifth Class — Txbm ending Fbbbuaby 14th, 1872.
Elementary Course.
Miss Tilla Brown Fredonia, N . T.
Maria Everts. Auburn, N. Y.
Jeannie Kinsman Ellington, N. Y.
Alice Luther Fredonia, N. Y.
Abbie Mark Frewsburgh, N. Y.
Martha Mitchell \ Hartfield, N. Y.
Carrie McNaughton Sinclairville, N. Y.
Ida Pierce Fredonia, N. Y.
Hattie Shelley Fredonia, N. Y.
Sarah Stevens Fredonia, H". Y.
Joanna Toomey Dunkirk, N. Y.
Hattie Beck Sinclairville, N. Y.
Higher English Cowrse.
Miss Carrie Ferrin Ellington, N. Y.
Martha Mitchell Hartfield, N. Y.
Frank Stebbins Sheridan, N. Y.
Sixth Class — Term ending July 2d, 1872.
Elementary Course. ,
Mis8 Maria Blanchard Sardinia, N. Y.
Mary Buckley Wells Bridge, N. Y.
Mary Clizbe Galway, N. Y.
Margaret S. Cushing Fredonia, N. Y.
Hannah Cleaveland Olean, N. Y.
Mary E. Clarke Fredonia, N. Y.
Mary E. A. Clark Point Peninsula, N. Y.
Clara De Wolff Versailles, K Y.
Florence Dennison Forestville, N. Y.
Eva Eaton Gowanda, N. Y.
Orpha Griswold Brocton, N. Y.
Flora Hall Perrysburgh, N. Y.
Ell Vene S. Little Candor, N. Y.
Belle O'Neil Dunkirk, N. Y.
Ellen Porter Fredonia, N. Y.
Eva M. Parker Little Valley, N. Y.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 19 J
Mia Annie Smith ... Marehfield, N. Y.
Georgia Tillinghast Fredonia, K T.
Donna B. Thing Dunkirk, N. Y.
Theckla Thompson Randolph, N. Y. '
Estelle Warren Fredonia, N. Y.
Kittie Wheelock Groveland, N. Y.
Higher English Course.
Emma Bronson Aurora, 111.
Annie Burroughs Portland, N. Y.
Hattie Beck Sinclairville, N. Y.
Sarah Fay , Fredonia, N. Y.
Felicia Low Fredonia, N. Y.
Etta Partridge Dunkirk, N. Y.
Florence Taylor Portland, N. Y.
Theckla Thompson Randolph, N. Y.
Cornelia Willsie Kiantone, N. Y.
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Summary.
n 1st graduating class 2
n 2d graduating class 13
n 3d graduating class 7
n 4th graduating class 19
n 5th graduating class 14
n 6th graduating class 31
Total to July 2d, 1872, three years 86
Conclusion.
Nearly all of these graduates are teaching in this State at
salaries varying from $375 to $1,000 a year. Their uniform
success — not one has made a failure — and the excellent influence
they exert upon the schools vindicate the wisdom of the
normal school system, and justify the expenditure of all the
care and money necessary to secure their highest efficiency.
Your most obedient servant,
JOHN W. ARMSTRONG,
Principal.
192 Nineteenth Annual Report op the
Special Announcement in Circular of January 1, 1879.
Practicing Schools.
Persons, not living within the corporation limits of Fre-
donia village, may be admitted to the practicing schools as
pupils, on the following terms :
Tuition for one term of twenty weeks in the aca-
demic, common English $10 00
Academic, higher English and languages 12 00
Senior 8 00
Primary and Junior 6 00
Payment will be required in advance for each half term.
It is intended that each of the practicing schools shall be a
model school of its grade, and that the most approved methods
of teaching shall be employed in every department.
Location.
The school is located in the beautiful and thriving village
of Fredonia, about half an hour's ride on the street cars from
Dunkirk. Fredonia is noted for the mildness and salubrity
of its climate, and for the intelligence and refinement of its
people.
Boarding.
Good board can be obtained at about $4.50 per week.
The normal courses of instruction and other important
information will be found in the Appendix (Document Q).
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 193
(N.)
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL BOARD
OF THE STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING
SCHOOL AT GENESEO,
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
, Sir. — In accordance' with the requirements of section three,
chapter 466 of the Laws of the State of New York, pasted
April 7th, 1866, entitled "An act in regard to Normal
Schools," the local board of the State Normal and Training
School at Geneseo, N. Y., hereby transmits to the Legislature
of the State of New York, through the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, its first annual report.
This report covers the time from the opening of the school,
September 13, 1871, to October 1st, 1872.
This school was opened September 13, 1871, and, notwith-
standing some inconveniences and misfortunes, we are grati-
fied to be able to report it in a very prosperous condition.
The faculty have used every endeavor to advance the inte-
rests of the school, by faithful effort and thorough instruction,
and have been successful in inspiring the students with earn-
estness and zeal in study, and a spirit of self-control.
Heating Apparatus.
Twice during the year we were troubled by the failure of
our steam heating apparatus. On each occasion we were
obliged to replace a part of the boiler, and once to repair the
steam coils that had been frozen. We do not anticipate any
serious inconvenience from it hereafter, provided it be of
sufficient power to warm the building properly.
The Legislature, with a liberality worthy the honor and
dignity of that body, made adequate provision for the pay-
ment of the expenses incurred in making these unexpected
repairs.
13
J
194 Nineteenth Annual Report of tbb
Building.
The building is a beautiful brick structure of the modem
style of architecture, and has the modern improvements of
gas, steam and water ; yet it is not well adapted to our pur-
poses. We have no assembly room, nor any room capable of
seating more than one hundred and twelve persons. The
class rooms are so small that they must be crowded, and so
few in number that it has become, necessary to U6e cloak rooms
for the purpose of hearing recitations. With a continually
increasing attendance, it is easy to see that these difficulties
will be multiplied, and more room become an imperative
necessity. Hence, the local board desires an appropriation to
aid in constructing a suitable assembly room, and in making
the necessary alterations consequent upon such an addition.
Libraries and Apparatus.
The text-book library contains a sufficient number of works
to answer the present purposes of the school, and there are
also some books of reference.
There is no general library belonging to the school, but the
students have the use of the Wadsworth library free of charge.
This library contains about ten thousand volumes of standard
and popular works and books of reference, making it very
complete, and sufficiently extensive for the use of any student.
There are also free reading rooms, where students may find
all the prominent daily, semi-weekly and weekly papers ;
papers upon science, religion, literature, art and politics; all
the monthly magazines, and the American and foreign quar-
terlies and reviews.
The advantages to be gained from these two institutions
cannot easily be estimated, and the opportunities afforded for
literary culture are such as are seldom found in much larger
towns.
The chemical and philosophical apparatus is very complete,
and quite sufficient to illustrate all the elementary principles
and facts of these sciences.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 195
Valuation op Property.
The actual value of property at the date of this report,
October let, 1872, is as follows :
Value of lot and buildings $82,000 00
Valueof furniture 3,407 62
Value of library and apparatus 5,948 96
Total value $91,356 58
Financial Statement.
JSeceipts.
Received from State Treasurer from regular
appropriation $17,996 65
Received for tuition 1,919 85
Received from State Treasurer from special
appropriation to repair heating apparatus .... 1 , 500 00
Total receipts $21,416 50
Disbursements.
Expended from regular appropria-
tion, as per detailed statement. . $17,996 65
Expended from tuition fund, as per
detailed statement 1,261 64
Expended from special appropria-
tion, as per detailed statement . . 183 07
Amount in hands of local board,
October 1st, 1872 1,975 14
Total $21,416 50
196
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Detailed Statement of the Expenditures of the Local Board
of the State Normal and Training School at Geneseo, for
the year ending September 30, 1872.
Expenditures from Regular Appropriation.
Expenses for month ending October 10th, 1871.
Voucher No. 1, Wm. J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 75 00
Voucher No. 3, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, 8ara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
Voucher No. 8, E. 8. McMaster, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 9, Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M. Day, salary. 50 00
Voucher No. 11, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary. 40' 00
Voucher No. 12, M. E. Parks, salary 80 00
Voucher No. 14, C. G. Hudnutt, telegraphing 9 53
Voucher No. 15, W. W. Eillip, postage stamps 13 48
Voucher No. 16, Charles Jones, coal: 955 81
Voucher No. 17, W. R. Walker & Son, stationery 5 75
Voucher No. 18, L. W. Crossett, stationery 77 08
Voucher No. 19, Jacob Clapper, wood 57 50
Voucher No. 21, J. W. Clement, printing 73 80
$2,277 45
Expenses for month ending November 7th, 1871.
Voucher No. 1, Wm. J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 8, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher .No. 6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
Voucher No. 8, Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 9, E. 8. McMaster, salary ^ . . . 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M. Day, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 11, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
Voucher No. 12, M. E. Parks, salary 30 00
Voucher No. 13, H. Howe, janitor 166 67
Voucher No. 14, W. H. Whiting, gas 75 00
Voucher No. 15, A. W. Butterway, furniture 26 25
Voucher No. 16, John Richmond, clocks 72 50
$1,500 42
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 197
Expense* for month ending December 5th, 1871.
Voucher No. 1
Voucher No. 2
Voucher No. 3
Voucher No. 4
Voucher No. 5
Voucher No. 6
Voucher No. 7
Voucher No. 8
Voucher No. 9
Voucher No. 10
Voucher No. 11
Voucher No. 12
Voucher No. 13
Voucher No. 14
Voucher No. 15
Wm. J. Milne, salary $250 00
Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Helen Roby, salary 100 .00
N. L. Van Husen, salary .' 100 00
Sara P. Fletcher, salary 70 00
E. 8. McMaster, salary 60 00
Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Delia M. Day, salary 50 00
Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
M. E. Parks, salary 8000
H. Howe, janitor 66 66
W. H. Whiting, gas 107 00
P. R. B. Pierson, engraving 75 50
$1,400 16
=c
JBxpenseifor month ending January 9<A, 1872.
Voucher No. 1, William J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 8, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 5, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 6, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary *. 70 00
Voucher No. 8, E. 8. McMaster, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 0, Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M. Day, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 11, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
Voucher No. 12, Mary E. Parks, salary 80 00
Voucher No. 13, H. Howe, janitor..* 66 66
Voucher No. 14, Fohreck & Goebler, apparatus 164 75
Voucher No. 15, William H. Whiting, gas 108 00
Voucher No. 16, C. M. Vance, agent, express and freight ..... 60 37
Voucher No. 17, W. W. Killip, rent of piano and organs 40 75
toucher No. 18, H.Howe 88 57
Voucher No. 10, W. H. Whiting, gas fittings 16 17
Voucher No. 20, John Carson, photographs. 6 00
$1,665 27
Etpeneee for month ending February 6tA, 1872.
VoucherNo. 1, William J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Carried forward **00 00
198
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
forward * $400 00
8, R. A Waterbury, salary 150 00
4, J. ,B. Gorham, salary 100 00
5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
6, N. L. Van Husen, salary , 100 00
7, Sara F.Fletcher, salary 70 00
8, Glora F.Bennett, salary 60 00
0, £. S. McMaster, salary 60 00
10, Delia M. Day, salary .50 00
11, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
12, M. E. Parks, salary 80 00
18, H. Howe, janitor 66 66
15, Silas C. Green, repairs 67 15
16, Richard Champ, masonry 27 00
17, E. C. Ensign, labor on heating apparatus. ... 8 25
18, J. B. Gorham, repairing blackboards 5 10
10, C. M. Vance, agent, express charges 8 60
20, B. E. Ensign, labor on heating apparatus. ... 8 00
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.'
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Expenses for month ending March 12th, 1872.
1, William J. Milne, salary
2, Jerome Allen, salary
8, R. A. Waterbury, salary
4, J.,B. Gorham, salary
5, Helen Roby, salary
6, N. L. Van Husen, salary
7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary ,
8, Glora F. Bennett, salary
0, Emma S. McMaster, salary
10, Delia M. Day, salary.
11, M. E. Parks, salary
12, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary
18, H. Howe, janitor
14, H. R. Parish, coal ,
15, E. R. Andrews, printing and stationery. . .
16, E. A. Sheldon, charts
17, Silas C. Green, labor on water-pipes
18, H. L. Johnson, lumber ,
10> W. H. Whiting, lime and brick
20, F. Mates, blacksmithing
21, W. R. Walker & Son, stationery
22, John McCoy, teaming
$1,880 76
$250 00
150 00
150 00
100 00
100 00
100 00
70 00
60 00
60 00
50 00
50 00
40 00
66 67
71 11
53 47
36 00
85 85
24 18
10 65
7 70
6 15
300
$1 ,405 23
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 199
Expenses for month ending April $thy 1872.
Toucher No. 1, Wm. J. Milue, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 3, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
Voucher No. 8, Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 9, £. 8. McMaster, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M.Day, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 11, M. E. Parks, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 12, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
Voucher No. 13, H. Howe, janitor 66 67
Voucher No. 14, Clark & Maynard, books 12 00
Voucher No. 15, 8. Julia Beach, mileage 7 45
Voucher No. 16, F. E. Wells, mileage 5 50
Voucher No. 17, Maggie 0. Milne, mileage 1 88'
Voucher No. 18, F. A. Winne, mileage 1 16
Voucher No. 10, Cornelia Clute, mileage 50
Voucher No. 20, W. H. Whiting, gas 104 40
Voucher No. 2i, W. H. Whiting, gas .' 57 20
Voucher No. 22, W. H. Whiting, gas-pipe, etc 18 00
Voucher No. 28, W. H. Whiting, gas 45 60
Voucher No. 24, W. H. Whiting, fire-brick, lime, etc 8 42
Voucher No. 26, U. 8. Express Company, charges 05 85
Voucher No. 27, J. Siddons & Son, plumbing 57 67
Voucher No. 82, W. W. Killip, postage stamps and tele-
graphing 8 05
Voucher No. 83, M. Conway, masonry 7 80
Voucher No. 84, John Dennis, masonry 7 80
Voucher No. 86, Wm. Sax ton, teaming 5 25
Voucher No. 87, Chas. Goheen, water lime 1 66
Voucher No. 40, E. 8. Ritchie A Son, apparatus 100 44
Voucher No. 41, James W. Queen A Co. , apparatus 68 00
Voucher No. 42, F. L. Pope A Co., apparatus 10 20
Voucher No. 43, 8. C. Green, repairs 6 75
$1,881 75
Expenus for the month ending May 7th, 1872.
Voucher No. 1, Wm. J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 3, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Carried forward $550 00
200
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher. No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
Voucher No.
forward $550 00
4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
8, Glora F. Bennett, salary 00 00
0, E. S. Monaster, salary 60 00
10, Delia M. Day, salary ...\ 50 00
11, M. E. Parks, salary 50 00
12, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
13, Charlotte Dykeman, teaching 25 00
14, H. Howe, janitor 66 06
15, J. W. Clement, printing, etc 66 85
16, A. S. Barnes & Co., books 18 00
17, N. G. Hawley, binding 8 71
18, W. W. Eillip, rent of piano and organs 52 87
19, W. H. Whiting, gas 104 00
20, W. H. Whiting, gas \ 53 60
23, Samuel Carey, labor on heating apparatus. . . 29 54
24, Wm. H. Robinson, board of laborers 22 20
25, Patrick Burns, labor attending masons 10 06
26, Wm. J. Milne*, atlas 9 00
27, H. Crawford, drawing water 10 00
28, A. A. Cox, lime and sand 4 00
29, Jerome Stocking, repairing pump, etc. ...... 1 75
30, Warren Luce, planting trees. 4 19
$1,665 93
Expenses for month ending June 4tft, 1872.
Voucher No. 1, Wm. J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 8, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00*
Voucher No. 5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
Voucher No. 8, Glora F. Bennett, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 9, E. S. McMaster, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M. Day, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 11, Mary E. Parks, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 12, Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
Voucher No. 13, H. Howe, janitor 66 67
Voucher No. 14, Charles Jones, coal 700 00
Carried forward $1,946 67
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 201
Brought forward $1,946 67
Voucher No. 15, J. W. Chapman, slate and slating 68 90
Voucher No. 16, W. W. Killip, telegraphing 90
Voucher No. 17, L. W. Orossett, stationery 45 83
Voucher No. 18, J. W. Clement, printing 12 65
Voucher No. 19, Henner & Parker, trees 18 00
$2,082 44
Expenses for month ending July Zd% 1872.
Voucher No. 1, We J. Milne, salary $250 00
Voucher No. 2, Jerome Allen, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 8, R. A. Waterbury, salary 150 00
Voucher No. 4, J. B. Gorham, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 5, Helen Roby, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 6, N. L. Van Husen, salary 100 00
Voucher No. 7, Sara F. Fletcher, salary 70 00
Voucher No. 8, Glora F. Bennett, Balary 60 00
Voucher No. 9, E. 8. McMaster, salary 60 00
Voucher No. 10, Delia M. Day, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 11, Mary E. Parks, salary 50 00
Voucher No. 12? Delia M. Vanderbelt, salary 40 00
Voucher No. 13, H. Howe, janitor 66 67
Voucher No. 14, C. F. Doty & Co., hardware, stoves, etc 527 48
Voucher No. 15, J. C. Larwill, labor and material 815 00
Voucher No. 16, E. A. Pickard, labor and material 251 84
Voucher No. 17, M. W. Chase, ink-wells 80 00
Voucher No. 18, W. H. Whiting, gas 61 60
Voucher No. 19, W. W. Killip, rent of piano and organs 62 87
Voucher No. 20, Thomas Maloney, teaming 18 00
Voucher No. 21, Walter Yorks, boxing trees 5 00
Voucher No. 22, John McCoy, teaming 2 00
Voucher No. 23, C. O. Beach A Co., carpets and furniture ... 104 87
Voucher No. 24, John Siddons & Sons, plumbing 62 29
Voucher No. 25, E. A. Pickard, glazing 9 10
Voucher No. 26, H. Howe, making carriage-block 4 42
Voucher No. 27, J. B. Gorham, repairing blackboards 2 60
$2,688 24
Summary.
Expenses for month ending October 10th, 1871 $2,277 45
Expenses for month ending November 7th, 1871 1 ,500 42
Expenses for month ending December 5th, 1871 1 ,409 16
Expenses for month ending January 9th, 1872 1 , 665 27
Carried forward $6,852 80
202 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $6,852 80
Expenses for month ending February 6th, 1872 1 ,880 76
Expenses for month ending March 12th, 1872. 1 ,405 28
Expenses for month ending April 9th, 1872 1 ,881 75
Expenses for month ending May 7th, 1872 1,665 98
Expenses for month ending June 4th, 1872 2,082 44
Expenses for month ending Juiy 2d, 1872 2,688 24
Total $17,996 65
Expenditures from Tuition Fund.
Paid J. C. Larwfll for building privies, and repairs $755 88
Paid John M. Milne for teaching 860 00
Paid Stellar Tellurian Co. for apparatus 146 26
$1,261 64
Expenditures from Special Appropriation.
Paid C. F. Doty A Co. for use of stoves, etc $85 48
Paid H. Howe, boarding laborers 15 62
Paid J. C. Larwill for boxing air-draughts and coils 70 17
Paid J. W. McCone, labor 8 00
PaidF. W. Mates, blacksmithing 6 85
Paid P. Crystal, teaming 2 00
$188 07
We hereby certify that we have examined the foregoing
statement of receipts and audited expenditures for the State
Normal and Training School at Geneseo, N. T., for the year
ending September 30th, 1872, and believe the same to be
correct.
H. ALLEN,
President pro tern.
W. E. Laudebdalb,
Secretory*
Sworn and subscribed to before me, )
this 31st day of December, 1872. J
James J. Cone,
Notary Public.
SUTBRINTBNDXNT OF PVBLW INSTRUCTION. 208
Attendance.
"The whole number of students enrolled from September 13,
1871, to October 1st, 1872, was as follows :
In normal school 191
In academic department 157
In intermediate department 151
In primary department 183
Total 682
Graduates.
At the close of the first school year the following persons
received diplomas :
Classical Course.
John N. Drake, Frank A. Winne,
Frank £. Wells, Glora F. Bennett.
9
Advanced English.
Ella A. Chamberlin, Ava Wilkinson.
Elementary Training.
Mary P. Allen, Maggie L. McNaughton,
Julia M. Skinner, Sarah L. Watson.
All the above, and many others who dte not gradnates, but
who have attended the school during some portion of the year
are engaged in teaching in the schools of this State.
Special Announcement in Circulab of November 1, 1872.
Looal Board.
Gen. James Wood, President. Peter Miller.
Dr. W. E. Lauderdale, Secretary. Adoniram J. Abbott.
Hon. Hezekiah Allen, Treasurer. Daniel Bigelow.
John Rorbach. Hon. Solomon Hubbard.
James W. Wadsworth.
204 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Faculty.
William J. Milne, A. M., Principal; Didactics and Moral
Philosophy.
Jerome Allen, A. M., Natural Sciences.
R. A. Waterbury, A. M., Mathematics.
John M. Milne, Academic Department, and Ancient. Lan-
guage.
Miss Helen Roby, Preceptress ; Rhetoric and Composition.
Miss N. L. Van Husen, Elementary Methods.
Miss Emma S. McMaster, English Grammar.
Miss Glora F. Bennett, Mathematics and German.
Miss Ella A. Chamberlin, History and Geography.
Mrs. Sara Fletcher, Critic and Head Teacher of Interme-
diate Department.
Miss Delia M. Vanderbelt, Critic in Intermediate Depart-
ment.
Miss Delia M. Day, Critic and Head Teacher of Primary
Department.
Miss Mary P. Allen, Critic in Primary Department.
Miss Mary E. Parks, Yocal Music.
Mrs. Charlotte Dykeman Himes, Elocution.
Miss F. Melaine Goddard, Drawing and Painting.
Mrs. W. K. Walker, Instrumental Music.
Location.
The village of Geneseo is delightfully situated in the valley
of the Genesee, thirty miles south of Rochester, on the rail-
road leading from Rochester to Dansville. Students living on
the line of the New York Central railroad will take the cars
to Rochester, thence to Avon by Genesee Valley railroad, and
thence to Geneseo. Students coming by the Erie railway
take the cars to Avon and thence to Geneseo.
Advantages.
The school is supplied with a complete text-book library,
containing, besides the works used in the school, others for
reference. The students have free access to the Wadsworth
i
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 205
4
library, which contains nearly ten thousand volumes. There
is, besides, a public reading room where can be found all the
leading daily papers, papers on science, literature, art and
religion, and all the monthlies and quarterlies, making it one
of the most valuable aids to the student. The chemical and
philosophical apparatus of the school is all new, and extensive
enough to enable the student to perform all experiments of an
elementary course.
Boarding.
Board can be obtained in private families at rates varying
from $3.50 to $4.50 per week, exclusive of washing. The
boarding hall in the normal school building is designed exclu-
sively for ladies, in which board, including furnished room,
fnel, lights and washing, is furnished at $3.75 per week.
All who board in the boarding hall are required to furnish
their own towels, napkins, sheets, pillow-cases and comforters ;
each of which, as well as every article of clothing, should be
distinctly marked with the owner's name in full.
On arriving at Oeneseo, students should go immediately to
the normal school building, where they will meet some mem-
ber of the faculty who will render them all necessary assistance
in securing boarding places.
206
Nineteenth Annual Report or tbe
(O.)
8IXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE NOR-
MAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL AT OSWEGO.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — We have the honor of herewith submitting to you the
annual report of the State Normal and Training School at
Oswego, for the year ending September 30, 1872.
We have no suggestion to make, beyond what was presented
in the last report in regard to a Kindergarten department and
enlarged accommodations for the school. These additional
facilities would greatly enhance the usefulness of the school ;
and we desire again tp urge them upon your attention. The
school continues in as prosperous a condition as ever.
Attendance of Students.
Registered. Arerage.
Normal department 420 212
t> .. . ( Junior 204 155
Practicing. | Primary 249 139
Total 873 506
Average age of ladies in attendance 21
Average age of gentlemen in attendance 21
Number of graduates from normal department :
Ladies 60
Gentlemen 6
66
Changes of Teachers.
The following changes of teachers have occurred during the
year:
Superintendent or Pxtslic Inbtmuction. 207
Prof. E. A. Strong, on account of the ill health] of his family,
resigned his position at the close of the spring term, and Dr.
N. T. True, of the State of Maine, was appointed to fiirthe
vacancy.
Hies Mary Ryan, teacher of reading, resigned at the close
of the spring term, to take a more lucrative position in the
New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton. Miss Mary R.
Ailing was appointed to fill the vacancy.
Miss Eate Davis, teacher of primary methods and critic in
the primary department of the practice school, resigned at the
close of the spring term to take a more lucrative position in a
private school at Oak Park, 111., and Miss Defransa Hall was
appointed to fill the vacancy.
Mr. John G. Parkhnrst was appointed at the beginning of
the September term, to teach vocal music in the place of Miss
Mary Davis, resigned.
Mr. William M. Aber, who rendered assistance last year as
an undergraduate, has since graduated, and has been appointed
to do full work. The new teachers are doing good service and
all departments of the school are working to the entire satis-
faction of the board.
GILBERT MOLLISON,
President.
J. K. Post, Secretary.
Detailed Statement of Receipts and Expenditures of the
Local Board of the Oswego Normal and Training School,
for the year ending September ZOth, 1872.
Receipts.
Received from the State on requisition, being amount of annual
appropriation $18,000 00
Received from State on requisition, amount appropriated for
heating apparatus 10,000 00
Received from State, balance of last year's appropriation 281 89
Total receipts $28,28180
S08
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
D1SBUB8BHENT8.
Teacher J Wage*.
E. A. Sheldon $1,875 00
E. A. Strong. 2,000 00
LB.Poucher 1,37000
Herman Krusi 1 , 268 00
M. S. Cooper 1 , 140 00
S. J. Armstrong 1 ,000 00
E. S. Lane 250 00
Mary Ryan 650 00
E. S. Hutchens 600 00
Kate Davis 150 00
M. C. McCumber 250 00
Wm. M. Aber 450 00
Mary E. Davis * 275 00
C.L. Miller , 80 00
Isabella Parsells 10 00
D. H. Cruttenden 1,200 00
♦12,418 00
Furniture Account.
RBickford $201 61
J. Bickford, Jr .'. 39 55
Bickf ord & G illett 359 00
J. J. Hart, carpets and oil cloths 40 62
H. B. Smith & Co. , steam-heating apparatus 10,000 00
$10,640 78
Apparatus Account.
Bryant & Co., celestial indicator
Rohrbeck & Goebeler, chemical apparatus ,
M. McVicar, mathematical apparatus
Library Account.
Sheldon & Co., books ,
William Wood, chemistries
D. H. Cruttenden, grammars ; . ,
Ginn Brothers, Greek Lexicons
Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., books
I. G. Wynkoop, music books
Wool worth, Ainsworth & Co., books
$25 00
80 93
75 00
$180 93
$57 25
11 25
40 00
14 40
15 00
2 25
54 00
$194 15
1
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 209
CorUingerU Bsep&ntes.
P. Malone, janitor's service $400 00
Advertiser and Times, printing 84 00
Oswego Water-works, water rent 89 00
J. D. Hammond, music 11 65
Barrett, Calvert & Aber, stationery 130 5$
Kinyon, Smith & Co., hardware 80
A. G. Cooke, coal 500 40
C. H. Butler, chemicals 7 68
E. A. Strong, disbursements 27 81
L. Gordon, ribbon for diplomas 35 25
Lake & Co., mason work, etc *. 18 64
R. J. Oliphant, printing 288 48
P. Malone, cleaning and labor 77 25
Daniel Perry, trees 8 50
Lippincott & Kinyon, lumber 24 07
Oswego Gas Light Company, gas 140 59
Chas. Scribner & Co., parchment, diplomas 45 00
J. N. Collins & Co. , hardware 145 61
M. Sheridan, draining 250 40
Skinner & Colnon, painting 218 69
Ratigan & Culkin, mason work, etc 178 82
Gardner Bros., carpenter work and materials 697 26
E. A. Sheldon, disbursements 119 81
Hamilton, Coe & Co., stationery 26 78
Peter Collette, labor 64 75
John Hughes, labor 12 00
J. L. Poole, paper and papering 64 17
Wallace, Davis* Co., fixing stoves 7 68
K. M. Andrews, matches 3 98
A P. Williams, fixing doors 4 08
R Dempsey, labor -t 7 80
Parkhurst Bros., music 7 10
Oliver Peck, rent of piano and tuning 17 00
Sidney Van Buren , labor •• 1800
August Koehley, book-binding W 65
Thomas Donohue, labor -t M 68
William Aber, twine 3 35
City Board of Education, coal U2 20
Oswego Printing Co., printing 1^ 50
N. M. Rowe, charcoal » 55
Caleb Green, paper hanging • ** w
Mileage of pupils "6 61
$4,897 58
Total disbursements $28,281 89
.^
14
210 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Financial Statement — Summary.
Receipts.
Received from the State $28,261 39
Disbursements.
Teachers' wages : . . . . $12,418 00
Contingent expenses 4,897 53
Library account 194 15
Apparatus account . 180 98
Furniture account 10,640 78
Total $28,281 39
Liabilities.
Balance of requisition of June 29lh, 1872 $1,904 01
GILBERT MOLLISON,
President
J. K. Post, Secretary.
State of New York, )
County of Oswego, \88m •
Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 10th day of
January, 1873.
J. SHEPAED FITCH,
• Notary Public.
OFFICERS.
State Department of Public Instruction.
Abram B. Weaver, Superintendent.
Edward Danf'orth, Deputy Superintendent.
Local Board.
Gilbert Mollison, President. David Harmon.
John K. Post, Secretary. Theodore Irwin.
Daniel G. Fort, Treasurer. Alanson S. Page.
Samuel B. Johnson. Benjamin Doolittle.
Thomas S. Mott. Abner C. Mattoon.
John M. Barrow. Delos De Wolf.
Thomson Kingsfurd.
i
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 211
Faculty.
Edward A. Sheldon, A. M., Didactics.
Nathaniel T. Trae, A. M., M. D., Natural Sciences.
Isaac B. Poacher, A. M., Arithmetic and Algebra.
Herman Krusi, Geometry, History and Philosophy of
Education, French and German.
David H. Cruttenden, A. M., Lecturer on Languages.
William M. Aber, Latin, Greek, History, Botany and Book-
keeping.
Joha G. Parkhurst, Vocal Music.
Matilda S. Cooper, English Grammar, Methods of Teaching
Grammar, Number and Object-lessons.
Sarah J. Armstrong, Rhetoric, English Literature and Com-
position.
Mary R. Ailing, Gymnastics, Spelling, Beading and Elo-
cution.
Emma S. Hutchins, Drawing and Penmanship.
Martha McCumber, Geography and Methods in Geography
and Botany, and Principal of Junior Practice School..
Defransa Hall, Primary Methods, and Principal of Primary
Practice School.
Mary W. Hunt, Critic in the Junior Practice School.
Kate Whiting, Critic in the Primary Practice School.
Graduates fob the Term ending January 30, 1872.
Elementary English Class.
Balch, E. Alice. Reynolds, Myra M.
Bannister, Elvira. Eice, Emily J.
Cram, Ellen. Sheak, Elizabeth.
Ingraham, Lucretia F. Sikes, Almira E.
Jayne, S. Augusta. Stoddard, M. Louise.
Williams, Rose B.
212
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Advanced English Class.
Cusick, Mary.
Jackson, Margaret.
Miller, C. Lucretia.
Parsels, Isabelle.
Rice, Anna A.
Burt, Mary EL
Roberts, Amy J.
Southwell, Alfaretta
Steber, Emma A.
Trask, Adele.
Williams, S. Ida.
Classical Class.
Worthington, Eleanor.
Graduates fob Term ending July 2, 1872.
Elementary English Class.
Adriance, Julia L.
Backer, Amy A.
Bennett, Emeline M.
Blair, Charlotte M.
Bush, Arthine A.
Bretts, Melissa M.
Clubbs, S.Anna.
Davis, Mary E.
Edwards, Adeline S.
Gillespie, Mary A.
Green, Ella H.
Hubbard, Grace A.
Locke, Helen E.
Lynch, Helen.
Matheson, ■ Frances L.
Miller, Sarah H.
Moore, Adelaide G.
Morel, Sophia L.
Phair, Mary A.
Rollinson, Elizabeth G.
Sikes, Viletta G.
Sisson, Emma D.
Smith, Lena M.
Stbckwell, Frances C.
Wait, Susan A.
Advanced English Class.
Churchill, Octa G.
Crura, Taylor.
Dewey, Lola M.
Edwards, D. Sophia.
Houghton, Mary F.
McLellan, John W.
Aber, William M.
Barrett, H. Elbert.
Farnham, Le Roy D.
Ormiston, Julia E.
Payne, Augusta F.
Piersall, Josephine M.
Royce, Millicent A.
Smith, Cora A.
Stevens, Harriet E.
Classical Class.
Meigler, Mary J.
Stimete, Charles C.
Williams, M. Alice.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 213
Catalogue of Graduates.
Complete list of the names of the graduates, including dates
of graduation, and also the salary of each so far as known.
BtFKBtifOBS ussd in List.— * Graduated from Elementary English Department, t Gra-
duated from Advanced Snglish Department. $ Graduated from Classical English Depart-
ment. 1 Left the profession. 1 Not teaching. $ Married.
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Aber, William M. * f t July 2, 1872 $1 , 000
Adriance, Julia L. * July 2, 1872 600
Allen, John G. f January 80,1871 1,500
Allen, Margaret A. * a January 80, 1871 400
Ailing, Mary R * July 6, 1809 800
Anderson, Medora C* February 6, 1867 §450
Andrews, Esther A * Class of 1863 1,000
Andrews, Jane* Class of 1862 1,000
Andrews, Margaret L.* Class of 1864 f §
Aplin, K. Louise* July6, 1869
Armstrong, Clara J* July8,1868 ". 1,000
Armstrong, Sarah J.* £ February 6, 1867 1,000
Arnold, Fanny f July 8, 1868 550
Arnold, Helen M.* February 8, 1869 825
Arnold, Marcia A.f January 80, 1871 475
Avery, Jennie H.f e • July 1, 1870 800
Backer, Amy A.* July2,1872 |
Bailey, Alice F* July6, 1869 |
Balch, E. Alice* January 30, 1872 500
Bannister, Elvira* January 80, 1872 400
Barber, Mary 8* Classof 1862 400
Barker, Hannah J. f February 8, 1869 500
Barker, Mary* Classof 1862 .•... f §
Barlow, Mary E* July 10, 1867 |
Barrett, H. Elbert* ft July 2, 1872 900
Barstow, Ellen L * February 6, 1866 If §
Baxtti, Bella J .* July 1 , 1870 ,800
Bassett, Wayland G. S.f February 1, 1870 |
Becker, Helen.* Classof 1862.... f %
Beaman,MaryE.*t July 6,1869 700
Beeman, H. Augusta* f July 8, 1871 600
Benedict, Harriet N * July 10, 1867 400
Bennett, EmelineM* July 2,1872 500
Bennett, Ida W.\d July 6, 1869 400
Bettis, Addie F.*« February 8, 1869
Bishop, Electa R* July 10, 1867.. 600
a t July 8, 1871. e * January 80, 1871. « Died September 6, 1871.
ft t Jnly 10, 1887. <f * February 1, 1870.
214 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Black, Jenny* Class of 1862 |
Blackwood, Belle*. February 6, 1866 $525
Blair, Charlotte M* July 2, 1872 450
Blasdell, Susan* February 8,1869 f §
Blood, Eliza A* Classof 1862 550
Bloomer, Jennie* July 6, 1869 500
Bond, Maggie L* Classof 1865 400
Boyd, Andrew J.f February 5, 1868 |
Bradt, H. Amelia* February 6, 1866 T §
Brant, Alida R*/ February 6, 1867
Brant, Louisa H * Class of 1868 T §
Brennan, Kate S * July 8, 1871 600
Brewster, Sarah P *g Class of 1862
Brigham, ElvaM.* July 3, 1871 400
Brown, Ada B* February 6,1867 % §
Brown, Amelia* July 10, 1867 525
Brown, Manily T.f February 8, 1869 1 ,200
Bruce,EllenM* Classof 1862 525
Bruce, Ida.f February 1, 1870 1 ,500
Bryan,Mary* Classof 1865 450
Bryant, Marie E.* February 6, 1866 T |
Bunnell, Hannah E.* Class of 1868 600
Burchard, Oscar Rf July 6, 18&9 1 , 500
Burke, Ellen B* July8,1868 1 §
Burt,KateB.f February 6, 1867 § 750
Burt,KateM.* Classof 1865 7 §
Burt, Margaret M.* Class of 1864 425
Burt, Marion V.* February 6, 1866 425
Burt,MaryH*tJ.. January 80, 1872 1,000
Bush, Arthine A* July2, 1872 800
Butler, Mary L* February 1,1870 |
Butts, Melissa M* July2, 1872 400
Campbell, Anna* Class of 1868
Cajd, Florence * Classof 1868 Tf §
Card, George N.f February 8, 1869 1,500
Card, Milton H. j February 3, 1869. * 7
Carpenter, Mara E.* July 6, 1869 700
Carpenter, Marion K* July 10, 1867 500
Carpenter, Rosamond H.* February 3, 1869 |
Carpenter, Sarah * Class of 1868 |
Carrier, Mary E.f January 30, 1871 375
Carter N. Jane* Class of 1868 T §
Case, Pamelia C * Class of 1862 |
/ Died March, 6, 1871. g Died June 17, 1888.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 215
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Chalmers, Angeltne* Class of 1865 $450
Chalmers, Julia A* February 6, 1867 600
Champion, Anna* JulyS, 1871 500
Chandler, Eliza A.* Class of 1865 450
Chapin, Edward* July8,1871 1,000
Charles, Libbie 8.* July 10, 1867 450
Chase, Olive A.* July8,1871 600
Churchill, H. Jennie* July 6, 1869 f §
Churchill, Octa G.* f July 2, 1872 600
Clancey, Marie L.* Class of 1864 600
Clapp,EvaH* February 5, 1868 400
Clapp, Leonora T.* Class of 1862
Clark, Charles D* Class of 1862
Clarke, Fanny M.* January 80, 1871 |
Clark, Florence* Class of 1868 f §
Clark, Hattie * February 5, 1868 450
Clubb8,8. Anna* July 2, 1872 |
Coata,Ph<Bbe* Classof 1868
Cole, Ella J*. February 6, 1867 f §
Collins, Hannah J* July25,1866 800
Cook, Juliet A.*f J July 8, 1871 700
Coon,Emily* February 1, 1871 875
Cooper, Arthur*t July 8, 1871 |
Cooper.Fanny* Class of 1868 T §
Cooper, Matilda 8.* Class of 1862 1,200
Copley, Euphemia D.* Class of 1868 600
Crabb, Eugene M.f July 1,1870 600
Cragin, Lucy M.* Class of 1868 700
Crawford, Charles H. ft •. . July 1, 1870 1,800
Crooks, Helen A. f February 5, 1868 §700
Cross,Helen G,* February 6, 1867 400
Cnim,Ellen* January 30, 1872 600
Crum,Taylor*t July2,1872 |
Curtice, Delia* Class of 1865 700
Curtis, Hannah f July 6, 1869 f §
Cusick, Mary*f January 80, 1872 400
Cyrenius, Frances J* February 6, 1866 f §
Dalrymple, Harriet A.* July 6, 1869 500
Darrow, MaryE.* July 3, 1871 500
Davies, Adeline E* February 6, 1867 §550
Davis, Adaf January 30, 1871
Davis, AnnaK* February 6, 1867 f §
Davis, Hattie E. f January 30, 1871
Davis, Helen A.* Class of 1862 If §
Davis, Kate H* Class of 1862 650
216 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Davis,Maria E* July 1, 1870 , 1
Davis,Mary E* Class of 1862 1 §
Davis, Mary, E. J fc July 1, 1870 $1,000
Day, DeliaM.*' February 3, 1869 • 500
De Lano, Teen J * i February 5, 1868 520
Dempsey, Kittie L * July 6, 1869 425
Denton, Sarah L * j July 6, 1869 1,200
Dewey, Lola M* f .^ July2,1872 550
Dickerman, Emma* July 8, 1871 1,500
Dikeman, Charlotte N* February 8, 1869 If §
Dildine, Mary E * July 6, 1869 400
Dlnmore, Lizzie* Class of 1865 450
Dobbie, E. Talina* February 5, 1868 If §
Doris, Elizabeth L.* July 8, 1868 550
Douglass, Henry M.f J: July 8, 1868 1,000
Dowse, Harriet F.f July 1, 1870 500
Drew, Jeannette A.* February 6, 1867 If §
Dugane, Sarah D.* Classofl864 If §
Dunning, Georgef k * February 5, 1868
Edwards, Adelines.* , July2, 1872 500
Edwards, D. Sophia* f July 2, 1 872 450
Edwards, Eva 8*^ February 5, 1868 550
Edwards, Lindley M.f July 6, 1869 1 ,200
Eggleston, Henrietta M*f July 8, 1871 480
Ells, Amelia A. * February 6, 1867 T§
Fairchild, Fanny M.* July8,1868 450
Farnham, Le Roy D *f J July 2, 1872 |
Fenner, Emma J* '. July 10, 1867. 400
Ferguson, Sarah M.» I July 6, 1869 400
Fitzpatrick, Julia A * February 8, 1867 ......... |
Forbush, J. Estelle* July 8, 1871. . : 860
Foster, Mary F * February 6, 1867 If §
France, Aaron Rf . February 1, 1870 500
Franks, Maria B * July 1, 1870 550
French, Arminaf February 6, 1867 T §
Funnelle, Amanda P.* Class of 1862 1 ,500
Funnelle, LenaS.*m July 10, 1867 T §
Furman, G. Monroef July 6, 1869 1,200
Furman, John W.f January 80, 1871 1,000
Gage, L. Jennie* February 5, 1868 550
Gage, Mary E* Class of 1865 T §
Galloway, Eudora F. * February 6, 1868 700
Gaylord, Margaret K .* February 8, 1869 500
A * July 8, 1872. j t Feb. 8, 1809. / f Jolj 8, 1871.
{ t July 6, 1869. Jt Died Oct M, 1870. m t February 6, 1867.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 217
Nana*. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Gibbs, Frances M.* February 6, 1866 $550
Gibbs, M. Elizabeth* m July 10, 1867 475
Gilbert, Christina H* Class of 1863 700
Gilchrist, Augusta L* February 6, 1866 ........ . T §
Gill, Emily I .» February 6, 1866 |
Gillespie, Letitia J* July 6, 1869 460
GiBespie, Mary A * July 2, 1872 |
Gray, Laura M* February 6, 1867 IT §
Gray, May E.* July 6, 1869 400
Green, Cassius M.f July 6, 1869 I
Green, Ella H* July 2, 1872 |
Hall, Belle* February 8, 1869 I
Hall, Defransa A * July 10, 1867 700
Hall, Mary F* n , January 80, 1871 700
Hamilton, Anna E* Class of 1864 450
Hamilton, Mary L* Class of 1868 IT §
Hammond, Marcia C* July8,1868 |
Hanen, Anna M *o February^, 1866
Hanen, Mary J. * Class of 1862 |
Hanford, Marion K* Classof 1865 T %
Harkness, J. Warren f February 8, 1869 |
Harmon, Mary J.* Class of 1865 1,200
Haskell, Sarah M* February 6, 1866 f §
Hawkins, Hattie E. f July 1 , 1870 860
Hemenway , Jennie * f July 8, 1 871 600
Henry, Susan R* July 8, 1868 800
Hemes, Isabella f .. - July8,1868 IT 8
Hicks, Elvenia L f Februarys, 1868 f §
Hodgkins, E. Theodocia * February 1, 1870 600
Holbrook, Mary M. f February^ 1867 1 §
Hopkins, Amanda J. *p Julyl,1870 700
Hopson, Edla E.* July 25, 1866 % §
Houghton, Mary F. * f July 2, 1872 600
Howard, Ellen E. f January 80, 1871 |
Howard, James S. f January 80, 1871 1,000
Hubbard, Amelia E .* q Class of 1864
Hubbard, Grace A. * July 2, 1872 |
Hubbard, Maria H *r July 10, 1867 |
Hubbard, Zilpha 8* July 6, 1869 450
Hughes, EmUy L. * July 10,1867 f §
Hughes, Jennie E.f February 5, 1868 700
Hunt, Emma S. * February 8, 1869 425
m t February 6, 1897. o Died November 8, 1897. q Died June 1, 1871.
lit July ft, 1880. ' ptFtbraaryl, 18TO. rt February ft, 1897.
218
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
• • k • •
Salaries.
$eoo
1§
800
525
600
IS
I
700
900
1,500
IS
1,200
650
\ §
475
Names. Dates of Graduation.
Htmt, Mary W. * July 8, 1871
Hyland, Eliza J * Class of 1864
Ingraham, Lucretia F.* January 80, 1872
Jackson, Margaret * f .. . January 80, 1872. . . .
Jayne, S. Augusta * January 80, 1872
Jenkins, Helen M. * Class of 1862
Jennie, Amelia H * February 6, 1867
Johnson, Nancy P.* July 6, 1869
Jones, Eleanor E.* February 8, 1869
Jones, Ellen L. *. . July 8, 1871
Jones, Lewis H. ** February 5, 1868
Jones, Miriam P.* February 5, 1868 .
Jones, Rebecca* February 6, 1867 .
Joslin, Sylvia P.* July 6, 1869
Keeler, Esther J. * July 6, 1869
Kellogg, Corralinn. A. * \ February 1, 1870 .
Kendall, Harriet D. * t July 6, 1869
Kenific, Maggie * .• February 6, 1866 450
Kerr, Kittle* Class of 1865 § 875
525
700
1%
500
550
400
800
IS
2,000
TS
600
IS
500
1,500
f
400
§
425
500
400
IS
500
800
450
Ketchum, Angeline H* July 10, 1867
Keyes, Sarah L. \ February 6, 1867 .
Kilbourne, Mary A* .". Class of 1862 ....
Kiinber, Fanny C. * February 1, 1870,
King, Jennette C. * July 10, 1867
Kingsford, Elizabeth* July 1, 1870
Kriekade, Mary A. * January 80, 1871..
Lapping, Martha A * Class of 1865
Lathrop, Delia A. * February 6, 1868 .
Lawrence, Maria E. * February 5, 1868 .
Lawrence, Mary L.f : July 6, 1869 ,
Leach, Sarah H * February 5, 1868. ,
Leary, Jennie K.* Class of 1865
Lee,MaryT.* Classof 1868
Lee, Nellie* * Classof 1865
Lecte, Harriet R* ... January 30, 1871.,
Leffin.Lizzie .*« Class of 1865
Leonard, Mary A * July 10, 1867
Lester, Ordelia A* July 3,1871
Lewis,MaryE* July 3,1871
Lewis, Matilda* Classof 1862
Lines,AnnaM.* Classof 1863
Locke, Abbie E * February 6,1867. .
Locke, Helen E * July 2, 1872
#t July 1,1870.
t Died October 81, 1910.
u Died December 7, 1910.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 219
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Loughridge, Sarah F* January 80, 1871 $900
Lynch, Helen* July2,1872 |
Macken, Chauncey B. \ February 5, 1868 |
Manning, Delia.* Glass of 1862 525
Maraden, Frances M. * July 6, 1869 450
Martin, Fanny E* February 5, 1868 700
Matheson, Frances L* July 2,1872 400
Maxwell, Fanny C* July 25, 1866 600
Maybee, Sarah H* January 30, 1871 550
McAuley, Margaret L* July 1,1870 450
McBride, Mary E.*f« July 3,1871.-. 800
McBride, Ruth.f July 6,1869 700
McCool, Celia E * July25,1866 600
McCumber, Martha C* February 6, 1867 900
McDowell, Nora* Classof 1865 f g
McElroy, Alice E.*w February 6, 1867 500
McFarlane, Jennette* February 5, 1868 If §
McGonegal, Mary A* Classof 1863 1,200
McLean,IdaE* July 1, 1870 |
McLeiah, Anna* f July 3, 1871 700
McLellan, John W * \ July 2, 1872 |
Mead, Emma A* February 6, 1868 |
Mergler, Mary J * f t July 2,1872 800
Merriam, Emily M* x July 10, 1867 f §
Merriam, Eunice J* July 6,1869 f §
Merritt, Ellen J.* f July 6,1869 |
Miller, Adaline B.f July 6,1869 475
Miller, Catharine L.fy July 6,1869
Miller, C. Lucretia* \ January 80, 1872 1 , 000
Miller, Martha.* Classof 1862 f §
MHler, Sarah H* July 2,1872 500
Moody, Jennette L.f July 1,1870 328
Moore, Adelaide G* July 2,1872 |
Morey, Amelia* July 6,1869 700
Morey, Charles K\ July 1,1870 750
Morey,Helen* July 1,1870 425
Morgan, Abbie B * July 25, 1866 800
Morris, Frances M.* July 3,1871 462
Morris, Harriet K* Julyl0,1867 |
Morris, Sarah M* July 3,1871 420
Morrison, Emma 8 .* February 6, 1867 f §
Morrow, Alcinda L * July 8, 1868 1 , 000
Morton, Lizzie H* July 10, 1867 ... 450
*t July 1,1910. wt July 10, 1867. 8 1 February 6,1807. y Died October 8, 18751.
220 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
Mott, Elzina E.* July 6, 1860 $550
Moid, Sophia L* July 2, 1872 |
Mulliner, Mary L * February 6, 1869 |
Munson, Henrietta E * t July 1, 1870 800
Murray, Esther A.* February 1, 1870 400
Nelon, Bridget M.* July 1, 1870 450
Newby, Nathan f July 6, 1869 1,500
Nichols, Eliza J. * Class of 1868 525
Noble, Ida R. f July 1, 1870 600
Norman, Louisa* Class of 1862 700
North, Olive* July6, 1869 400
Ormiston, Julia E. * f July 2, 1872 800
Osborne, 8. Katharine * July 10, 1867 1,000
Paddock, Armada G. * Class of 1868 1,200
Palmer, Althea A.*f July 8, 1871 500
Parks,Minnie* July 6, 1869 550
Panels, Isabella * f January 80, 1872 800
Parsons, Alice M.* February 6, 1867 55.0
Parsons, Elizabeth * 1 Classof 1862
Parsons, Emma 8.* 2 February 5, 1868 500
Parsons, Flora T.* Classof 1862 1,200
Parsons, Jennie A.* February 5, 1868 1 §
Parsons, Laura 8* Classof 1862 700
Parsons, Mary A.* Classof 1862 T §
Payne, Augusta F *t July 2, 1872 600
Payne, Emeretta F.* January 80, 1871 500
Peacock, Anna R * July 10, 1867 500
Pease, Fanny W * Class of 1862
Penfield, Philomela* Classof 1865 T§
Perkins, Anna H* July 8, 1868 450
Perkins, Emily H. * Class of 1866 T §
Perkins, Mary E.* Classof 1865 T §
Perry, Sarah L .* * February 1 , 1870 800
Phair, Mary A.* July 2, 1872 |
Phillips, Emily E* July 6, 1869..... 600
Pierce, Ruth A * February 8, 1869 T §
Piersall, Josephine M.*f July2, 1872 |
Pike, Anna L.* February 6, 1866 f §
Pitman, Mary R.* February 5, 1868 1 §
Plumb, Louisa C. * Classof 1862 f §
Pond, Olive A.* February 8, 1867 T §
Porter, Lucretia * July 26, 1866 500
Potter, Harriet A * February 6, 1867 .....' 650
« t February 1, 1870. 1 Died April 21, 187*. S t July 10, 1807. •
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 221
Name*. Dates of Graduation. Salarie*.
Poocher, Florence M.f July 6, 1869 f §
Powers, Louisa A* Class of 1864 $500
Pride, Martha A. * February 6, 1866 f §
Pyne, Sarah J.* July 1, 1870... 600
Quackenbush, A. Cordelia* Class of 1864 f §
Ranger, Sarah A* Class of 1865 400
Ransom, George B.f July 6, 1869 |
Reynolds, Ellen f July 6, 1869 550
Reynolds, Myra M * January 80, 1872 450
Rice, Anna A.* f January 30, 1872 360
Rice, Belle O* 3 July 1, 1870 600
Rice, Emily J* January 80, 1872 |
Rice, Sarah E.* Julyl, 1870 400
Richards, Charles W.f July 6, 1869 1,000
Rider, Lucyf February 1, 1870 750
Riggs, Mary E * 4, 5 July 8, 1868
Riggs, Matthew B.f 6 July 6, 1869
Riley,MaryA* January 30, 1871 800
Robb, Jeannette A.* February 8, 1869 If §
Robbing, Delia* February 6, 1866 450
Roberts, Amy J.*f January 30, 1872 750
Robertson, Elizabeth * Classofl865 850
Rollinson, Elizabeth G* ... July 2, 1872 500
Romans, Mary A* July8,1868 500
Root, Emma L* February 6, 1867 Tf §
Root, Martha J* July8,1868 ^ §
Rope,KateE* July 10, 1867 |
Ross, Minnie A * July 8, 1868 ]... 475
Rowe,Martha* Classof 1862 800
Rowlee, Burdett D.f July3, 1871 800
Royce, MUlicent A * f July 2, 1872 450
Safford, Louise M.» February 6, 1867 ^f §
Salmon, Lizzie* 7 July 1, 1870 375
Salmon, Mary J.* February 6, 1866 500
Sanford, Emily 8 * February 1, 1870 050
Sawyer, Laura A.f July 8, 1868 f §
Sayre, Harmie J. * July 10, 1867 f §
Scott,MaryE* Classofl865 400
Scott, Tillie A.* Class of 1864 450
Beaver, Ellen M.* 8 Classofl868
Seeber, Martha A*' Class of 1862 750
Sexton, Ellenf July 1, 1870 475
8 1 February 1, 1870. 5 Died July 83, 1871. 7 1 Feb. 1, IffTO.
A t February 5, 1868. 6 Died September S6, 1870. 8 Died August 89, 1889.
222 NlNBTJSBNTH ANNUAL RSPOBT OF THE
Names. Dates of Graduation. Batata.
Sheak, Elizabeth* January 80, 1872 |
Sheldon, Edward A* Class of 1862. $2,600
Sheldon, Mary D. fl9 July 8, 1868 |
Sheldon, Phinie C .* February 8, 1869 400
Sherman, Auronett M * July 8, 1871 550
Sherman, Josephine I.f July 1, 1870 |
Sherwood, Henry W.f 10 July 1, 1870 1 ,500
Shippey, Seville B.f July 1, 1870 700
Sikes, Almira E* January 80, 1872 |
Sikes, Viletta G.* July2,1872 |
Simmons, M. Elizabeth* July 8, 1871 900
Sisson, Emma D. * July 2, 1872 450
Sisson, Eugene P.f July 8, 1868 1,200
Skinner, E. Avalinef July 1, 1870 475
Slater, Louisa* Classof 1868 875
Smith, Cora A* \ July 2, 1872 400
Smith, Cynthia R* January 80, 1871 420
Smith, Hannah M.f July 1. 1870 750
Smith, Helen M* July 6, 1869 |
Smith, Ida B* July 25, 1866. . 1%
Smith, Lena M. * July 2, 1872 400
Smith, Mary E* February 6, 1867 475
Smith, Mary H.* Class of 1868 |
Smith, Rhoda R* Class of 1865 T§
Smith, William A.f 11 July 1,1870 |
Southwell, Alfaretta* f January 80, 1872 425
Sowles, Mehetablef February 1, 1870 400
Spencer, Jane S. f t January 80, 1871
Sprott,Mary* February 1, 1870
Staats, Margaret J. * Class of 1864 525
Staats, Maria A * July 8, 1871 ; 500
Staats, Matilda C* 12 February 6, 1867 700
Starr, Ellen D. * .- February 6, 1866 |
Steber, Emma A .* f January 80, 1872
Sterling, Sarah C. * Class of 1865
Stevens, Harriet E.*t July2,1872
Stevenson, AgnesA.J July8,1868 1 §
Stevenson, Rosanna * Classof 1864 1 §
Stewart, Mary C* * July6,1869 550
Stickney, Jennie H.* Class of 1868 1,500
Stimets, Charles C.*tt July 2, 1872 1,200
Stocking, Ellen * February 1, 1870 450
Stockwell, Frances C* July 2, 1872 |
9 1 February 8, 1809. 10 1 February 1, 1810. 11? July 8, 18m. 11 1 July 10, 18«7.
500
600
450
500
875
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 223
Names. Dates of Graduation. Salaries.
. Stoddard, M. Louise* January 80, 1872 $600
Stoel, Martha W. * Classof 1865 600
Stowell, Alice * Classof 1866 §450
Strong, Anna EL* February 8, 1869 400
Bomner, Harriet B. * July 10, 1867 1 §
Sutton, Lucia * July 1, 1870 1 §
Sutton, Sarah M. f Julyl, 1870 700
Swan, MaryH.*12 February 6, 1867 f §
Swanger, Emma L f July 8, 1868 1 §
Swanger, Maria M.* 18 February 8, 1869 1,200
Taylor, Helen M. f February 8, 1868 400
Taylor, Sarah * Classof 1865
.Terry, N.Wesley f Julyl,1870 |
Terry, Sarah E*. July 8, 1871 400
Thunnan, Gertrude * 14 February 6, 1866
Tiftany, De Witt C * July 25, 1866 600
Tiffany, Helen A* January 80, 1871 500
Tiffiiny, Jane R * t July 8, 1871 500
Titus, Mary J. f February 1, 1870 I,g00
Town, Margaret A.* Classof 1865 400
Toxer, Mary J * f January 80, 1871 700
Trask,Adelle*t January 80, 1872 600
Trowbridge, Edward A. f February 6, 1867. 1,500
Trowbridge, Mary L.* ., July 6, 1869 800
Tubbs, Helen M.* Class of 1862 425
Tubbs, Rhoda A. * February 8, 1869 500
Tuttle, Helen A.* February 6, 1867 500
Tyler, Anna M.* 15 Classof 1865
Vanderbelt, Delia M* January 80, 1871 400
Van Husen, Nancy L * July 8, 1868 1 , 000
VanWagenen, CharlotteE* July 8, 1868 f §
Vaughn, Sena C. * July 25, 1866 550
Wait, Susan A. * July 2, 1872 600
Waitt, Mary G * February 1, 1870 650
Wales, Lucretia H.* February 5, 1868 600
Wallace, M. Louise* February 1, 1870 600
Watson, Jane S* July 10, 1867 675
Waughop, Maryette C. f February 1, 1870 |
Weed, Eliza H* Classof 1862 600
Weed, Frances E.* Classof 1862 ..' 525
Weller, Eugene D.* Classof 1862 T
Werner, Julia A.* July 8, 1868 600
Wheeler, Sopuronia M.* July8, 1868 T §
11 1 July 10, 1887. 18 1 July 8, 1866. 14 Died January 23, 18OT. 15 Died August 11, 1870.
224 NlNBTBBNTB ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
Nam*. Dates of Graduation. Salarto.
White, Franc E.# February 8, 1809 If §
Whitney, Emma H* Classof 1862 If §
Whitney, Kate A.* February 6, 1806 $500
Whitney, Rose* July 6, 1869 700
Williams, Florinda E.* July 8, 1871. 800
Wffliams, Helen M. f July6, 1869 700
WiMams, M. Alice* \% July 2, 1872 |
Williams, Mary * Classof 1868 f 8
Williams, Rose B.* January 80, 1872 425
Williams, S.Ida*f January 80, 1872 400
Wilson, Helen M* Classof 1862 T §
Wilson, Julia A.* February 8, 1869 400
Wiltsie, Ellen* 16. February 3, 1869 800
Woolworth, Clara N * February 1, 1870 500
Worthington, Eleanor* ft January 80, 1872 1,000
Yocum, JaneP* Classof 1866 |
Young, Melinda* % July 1, 1870
Total number of graduates since the school was established :
Ladies 440
Gentlemen 43
Total 483
Special Announcement in Ciboulab of February 1, 1S72.
Library and Apparatus.
Aside from a respectable library of text, miscellaneous and
reference books, the students have access to very large and
choice pnblic libraries, containing thousands of volumes of
valuable books. Large additions have been made to the chemi-
cal and philosophical apparatus. In short, the school is pro
vided with every needed facility for illustration and instruction.
Modd and Practicing Schools.
The practicing schools include about 400 pupils, and embrace
the primary and junior grades.
The model schools are designed to exhibit the highest order
of excellence in teaching, while the practicing schools afford
an opportunity for the normal pupils to manifest their natural
16 1 July 8, 1968.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 225
aptitude to teach, and to put into practice the principles and
methods they have learned both from observation and instruc-
tion.
Boarding.
All the ladies of the school, not residing in Oswego, will be
required to board in the boarding-house provided for their
accommodation, unless excused by the proper committee. Here
they will be under the immediate care of the teachers of the
school, who board in the building. The house is pleasantly
located in the central part of the town, but a short distance
from the school, and is capable of accommodating from one
hundred to one hundred and twenty-five pupils. Effort will
be made to make this a pleasant home, and, as far as is con-
sistent with this idea, to lessen the cost of living to the pupils.
The terms for room and board are as follows :
L There will be a charge of from seventy-five cents to one dollar per
week for rent of room, and thirty-five cents for fuel to each pupil, to be paid
in advance, at the time of entrance, for the whole term. All the rooms are
carpeted, and otherwise provided with the necessary articles of furniture.
No deduction will be made for absence during the first two weeks of the
term, nor for absence from any cause, after the time of entering, for a period
of less than five weeks.
These terms are on the supposition that not less than two occupy the same
room, and furnish their own sheets, blankets, comfortables, pillows, pillow-
cases, napkins and towels.
Any who prefer to room alone can do so by paying one-half the regular
rent additional, and by occupying the back rooms on the fourth floor ; and
where all the bedding and other articles enumerated, except napkins, are
famished by the house, there will be an additional charge of twenty-five
cents per week.
2. The other expenses of living (board, light, breakage and wear and tear
of kitchen and dining-room furniture), except washing, will be divided pro
rata among the boarders, each one paying a proportionate share. For the
past term they have been two dollars and seventy-five cents per week, to
each pupil. This will be required monthly in advance. Thus each pupil
will have to pay eleven dollars at the beginning of the term, and at the com-
mencement of every four weeks thereafter, for board. This is in addition
to the rent and fuel provided for above. If it is found at the end of any
month that the cost has been less than eleven dollars, the balance in favor
of the pupil will be refunded ; and if it is found that the cost has exceeded
that amount, then the pupil will be expected to pay the excess.
15
226 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
To the regular boarders of the house there will be a charge of forty cents
per dozen for washing. To those boarding themselves, or rooming out of
the house, fifty cents will be charged. All articles should be distinctly
marked with the name of the owner.
No deduction will be made for board in cases of absence less than one
week, either at the beginning or at any time before the close of the term, nor
for absence during the holiday week, as a large portion of the expenses must
be kept up, the same as during other portions of the term.
In accordance with the terms above stated, the cost of living will be, for
a term of twenty weeks, to those who provide themselves with the articles
enumerated, and where the rent is seventy-five cents per week, seventy-seven
dollars ; where the rent is one dollar, and other conSitions the same, eighty-
two dollars ; where eveiy thing is furnished by the house, five dollars must
be added to each of the above amounts. This makes the highest cost to the
pupil, when the most desirable rooms are rented, and everything is furnished,
four dollars and thirty-five cents per week ; and the lowest price, where the
pupils furnish themselves, three dollars and eighty-five cents. This estimate
does not include washing.
8. To those who desire to board themselves, rooms will be rented in an
adjoining building, connected with the boarding-house by a covered passage,
where every convenience will be afforded for this purpose. The charge for
furnished rooms will be one dollar per week, if the pupils provide their own
light bedding, as is required in case of boarders, and fuel. When the light
bedding is provided, twenty-five cents more will be added, making the entire
cost, where everything is furnished, one dollar and twenty-five cents per
week. Pupils may, in this way, reduce the expense of living to two dollars
or two and one-half dollars per week. Those who desire to have their wash-
ing done in the boarding-house laundry will be charged fifty cents per dozen.
A few gentlemen maybe accommodated as table boarders in the boarding-
hall, but none will be allowed to room in the building. The charge is three
dollars per week.
Board may be procured in private families for four and a half dollars per
week, including light and fuel.
On Arriving at Oswego, students may leave their baggage at
the railroad depot, retaining their checks, and report them-
selves at the boarding-hall, on the corner of West Second and
Caynga streets.
The courses of study and other important information will
be found in general circular (Document Q).
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 227
<
(P.)
FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL
BOARD OF THE STATE NORMAL AND TRAIN-
ING SCHOOL AT POTSDAM.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sis. — The local board of the State Normal and Training
School at Potsdam, New York, in accordance with the provi-
sion of section three, chapter 466, Laws of 1866, respectfully
submit their fourth annual report to the Legislature.
Attendance.
Whole number of pupils registered in each of the depart-
ments, respectively, during the year ending October 1, 1872:
Normal 363
Academic 203
Intermediate 136
Primary 146
Total 848
Average number of pupils in attendance for each of the
departments, respectively, during the year ending July 2,
1872:
Normal 180.20
Academic 87.14
Intermediate 116.50
Primary ... 113.37
Total _497 . 21
Faculty.
Malcolm McVicar, Principal, and Professor of Mental and
Moral Philosophy and Didactics. Salary, $2,500.
228 Nineteenth Annual Report 01 tbe
George H. Sweet, Vice-Principal, and Professor of English
Literature and Ancient Languages. Salary, $1,500.
Henry L. Harter, Professor of Mathematics. Salary, $1,400.
E. D. Blakeslee, Professor of Natural Sciences. Salary,
$1,400. •
Miranda S. Marks, Preceptress, and Teacher of Khetoric
and History. Salary, $1,000.
Ellen J. Merritt, Teacher of Methods. Salary, $700.
Lucy A. Leonard, Teacher of Composition. Salary, $700.
Emma L. Qua, TeacKfer of English Grammar. Salary, $700.
Amelia Morey, Principal of Intermediate Department.
Salary, $900.
Eleanor E. Jones, Principal of Primary Department.
Salary, $800.
Olive A. Chase, Critic in Intermediate Department. Salary,
$500.
Frances A. Parameter, Critic in Primary Department.
Salary, $500.
Changes m the Faculty.
George H. Sweet resigned his position as Vice-Principal
and Professor of English Literature and Ancient Languages
August 12th, 1872, and Henry L. Harter, Professor of Mathe-
matics, was appointed to fill his place as Professor of Ancient
Languages, and E. D. Blakeslee was appointed to fill his place
as Vice-Principal.
Warren Mann was appointed Professor of Mathematics, to
fill the place left vacant by the transfer of Henry L. Harter
to the department of Ancient Languages.
Miss Emma Li Qua, teacher of English Grammar, resigned
her position July 2, 1872, and Miss Juliet A. Cook was
appointed to fill her place.
Miss Olive A. Chase, Critic in Intermediate Department,
resigned her position August 19th, 1872, and Miss Helen D.
Austin was appointed to fill her place.
Miss Ellen J. Merritt, on account of poor health, was com-
pelled to suspend her work during the fall term. Miss Mary
Superintendent of Public Ixstruction. 229
F. Hall supplied her place for the remainder of the year, and
has since been appointed to the position of Teacher of Methods.
Financial Statement for the Tear ending Sefiember 30,
1872.
Receipts.
«
Amonnt in hands of local board, Oct. 1, 1871. . $693 52
Received from the State during the year 20 > 96 L 41
Received for tuition in the academic department, 2? 139 60
Amonnt due to the local board, Oct. 1, 1872 196 32
Total $23 1 990 85
Disbursements.
Contingent expenses of the school $3 > 517 91
Miscellaneous bills 6)031 44
Teachers' and janitor's salaries 14 > 441 50
Total $23,990 86
Detailed Statement of receipts and expenditures of the local
board of the State Normal and Training School at Pots-
dam, for the year ending September 30, 1872 :
Receipts. *
Amount in hands of local board, October 1, 1871 $693 52
Received from the State, on account of regular appropriation
for the school 17,961 41
Received from the State, on account of special appropriation
made by the Legislature in the Supply Bill of 1871 3,00000
Received from tuition in the academic department 2, 189 60
Amount due to the local board, October 1,1872 196 32
Total $23,990 85
Disbursements.
Contingent expenses for the quarter ending July 4, 1871, as per vouchers filed »
with the Department of Public Instruction.
Toucher No. 1, O. E. Bonney, Janitor $125 00
Toucher No. 2, Ira Ransom, work 8 25
Toucher No. 8, Emma L. Qua, rent of piano 12 50
Carried forward $145 75
230 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Brought forward $145 75
Voucher No. 4, Ellen J. Merritt, rent of organ 8 00
Voucher No. 5, Henry L. Harter, rent of piano 8 00
Voucher No. 6, Geo. N. Benedict, tuning piano 4 00
Voucher No. 7, Seeley & Brown, school supplies 84 49
Voucher No. 8, Watkins, Leete & Co., goods, etc. 24 10
Voucher No. 0, Ezra R. Andrews, diplomas 9 40
Voucher No. 10, H. D. Thatcher & Co., goods 15 56
Voucher No. 11, Mont. Tel. Co. and Am. Ex. , telegraphing, eta, 5 80
Voucher No. 12, Elliot Fay, printing 27 50
Voucher No. 18, Students, necessary fare 54 05
Voucher No. 14, H. F. Lawrence, school supplies 26 06
Voucher No. 15, A. N. Deming, coal, etc 186 80
Voucher No. 16, Elliot Fay, postage 11 42
Voucher No. 17, Geo. B. Swan, lumber 27 59
Voucher No. 18, Eastman & Johnston, labor and materials. . . 46 44
Voucher No. 10, O. G. Howe, ribbon for diplomas 6 60
Voucher No. 20, R & 8. D. Bridge, delivering baggage 8 80
$594 86
Contingent expenses far the quarter ending November 14, 1871, a$ per wuehen
fled with the Department of Public Instruction,
Voucher No. 1, O. E. Bonney, janitor $125 00
Voucher No. 2, O. E. Bonney, cleaning and oil 64 18
Voucher No. 8, Ellen J. Merritt, rent of organ 8 00
Voucher No. 4, Emma L. Qua, rent of piano 12 50
Voucher No. 5, Elliot Fay, printing 28 10
Voucher No. 6, EUiotFay, postage 10 00
Voucher No. 7, Baldwin & Co., coal 1,827 50
Voucher No. 8, G. B. Manley, wood 59 88
Voucher No. 9, H. F. Lawrence, ink and paper 32 80
Voucher No. 10, Seeley & Brown, books and supplies 88 60
Voucher No. 11, Duff & Foster, sheep pelts 8 25
Voucher No. 12, R. & S. D. Bridge, delivering baggage t 5 70
Voucher No. 18, H. D. Thatcher & Co., goods ' 47 62
Voucher No. 14, Geo. B. Swan, blockwood, etc 12 19
Voucher No. 15, Watkins, Leete & Co., goods « 25 07
Voucher No. 16, M. McVicar, cash paid 22 50
Voucher No. 17, P.D. Gorrie, goods 4 25
Voucher No. 18, N. E. Gary, carting 1 60
Voucher No. 19, Mont. Tel. Co., telegraphing and express ... 8 72
Voucher No. 20, Ira Ransom, work 1 25
$1,848 16
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 281
Contingent expenses for the quarter ending January 30, 1872, as per vouchers
fled with the Department of Public Instruction.
Voucher No. 1, O. E. Bonney, janitor $125 00
Voucher No. 2, Ellen J. Merritt, rent of organ • 8 00
Voucher No. 8, Emma L. Qua, rent of piano 12 50
Voucher No. 4, Ezra R. Andrews, diplomas 18 50
Voucher No. 5, H. F. Lawrence, paper and envelopes 27 60
Voucher No. 6, George N. Benedict, tuning pianos 12 00
Voucher No. 7, A. 8. Barnes & Co., books 7 50
Voucher No. 8, Cox & Herrick, ribbon 8 83
Voucher No. 9, Myron 8. 8 1 rat ton, cash paid 1 50
Voucher No. 10, N. E. Gary, freight and cartage 2 44
Voucher No. 11, Eastman & Johnston, goods and labor ....'.. 15 90
Voucher No. 12, Henderson & Abbott, work and fixtures .... 5 00
Voucher No. 13, W. E. Badlam, tuning piano 2 50
Voucher No. 14, A* N. Tupper, repairing locks 50
Voucher No. 15, R & S. D. Bridge, delivering baggage 8 40
Voucher No. 16, Burnham, Watkins & Co., lumber and wood, 28 48
Voucher No. 17, Watkins, Leete & Co., stove pipe and goods, 91 23
Voucher No. 18, H. D. Thatcher & Co., crayons, etc 68 45
Voucher No. 19, Elliot Fay, printing and postage 48 75
Voucher No. 20, George B. Swan, ash mouldings 1 44
Voucher No. 21, Ira J. Ransom, work 16 75
Voucher No. 22, Mont TeL Co. and American Express Co.,
telegraph and express 8 95
Voucher No. 23, Bachelder & Son, repairing chairs 4 75
$514 97
Contingent expenses for the quarter ending April 28, 1872, as per vouchers fled
uHth the Department of Public Instruction.
VoucherNo. 1, O. E. Bonney, janitor $125 00
Voucher No. 2, Emma L. Qua, rent of piano 12 50
Voucher No. 3, William Jennings, wood 55 50
VoucherNo. 4, George W. Bonney, oil 13 06
Voucher No. 5, A. 8. Barnes & Co., books 6 75
Voucher No. 6, Harvey J. Welch, keys 1 80
Voucher No. 7, George N. Benedict, tuning pianos 9 50
Voucher No. 8, Thomas Charter, carting and freight 1 03
Voucher No. 9, George Parkhurst, frames 3 75
Voucher No. 10, Seeley & Brown, goods 12 70
Voucher No. 11, H. F. Lawrence, ink, paper, etc 19 43
Voucher No. 12, Elliot Fay, printing and postage 13 00
Voucher No. 13, Cornelius Clark, sawing wood 19 84
Carried forward 9293 36
232 Nineteenth Annual Report of tse
Brough t forward $298 86
Voucher No. 14, 0. E. Bonney, kindling wood, etc. 2 10
Voucher No. 15, Mont. Tel. Co. and Am. Exp. Co., telegraph
and express 2 80
Voucher No. 16, H. D. Thatcher & Co., chemicals, etc 66 20
Voucher No. 17, C. "W. Leete, goods, etc. 44 86
Voucher No. 18, Baldwin & Co., coal 65 00
Voucher No. 10, R. & S. D. Bridge, delivering baggage 4 05
Voucher No. 20, Ira J. Ransom, work 20 50
Voucher No. 21, E. 8. Ritchie & Son, Siren 50 00
$538 86
\
Contingent expenses for the quarter ending July 2, 1872, as per voucher* fled
with the Department of Public Instruction.
Voucher No. 1, O. E. Bonney, janitor t $*25 00
Voucher No. 2, Emma L. Qua, rent of piano, v, 12 50
Voucher No. 3, Baldwin & Co., coal 92 17
Voucher No. 4, E. R. Andrews, diplomas 6 00
Voucher No. 5, O. G. Howe, ribbon for diplomas 6 60
Voucher No. 6, James Train, wood * 67 88
Voucher No. 7, O. E. Bonney, sawing and splitting wood. . . 19 12
Voucher No. 8, Seeley and Brown, goods 50
Voucher No. 9, A. N. Tupper, fitting keys 50
Voucher No. 10, Students' return fare 81 45
Voucher No. 11, Elliot Fay, printing and postage 88 50
Voucher No. 12, C. W. Leete, goods and work 9 14
Voucher No. 18, H. D. Thatcher & Co., goods 22 70
Voucher No. 14, George W. Swift, work, etc 42 00
Voucher No. 15, George N. Benedict, tuning pianos 8 00
$526 56
Teachers' and Janitor's Salaries.
Malcolm McVicar, principal $2,500 00
George H. Sweet, services as teacher 1,500 00
Henry L. Harter, services as teacher 1,400 00
E.D. Blakeslee, services as teacher 1,400 00
MirandaS. Marks, services as teacher 1,000 00
Mary F. Hall, services as teacher 687 00
Lucy A. Leonard, services as teacher 700 00
Emma L. Qua, services as teacher 700 00
Amelia Morey, services as teacher 900 00
Eleanor E. Jones, services as teacher 800 00
Carried forward $11,537 00
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 233
Brought forward $11,537 00
Mary L. Wood, services as teacher 600 00
Amelia A. McFadden, services as teacher 600 00
Frances A. Parmeter, services as teacher 500 00
Olive A. Chase, services as teacher 500 00
Elizabeth Hargrave, services as teacher 52 50
Kittie M. Kimball, services as teacher 45 00
Ellen J. Merritt, services as teacher 72 00
Alvinza B. Collins, services as teacher 35 00
O. E. Bonney, services as teacher 500 00
|14,441 50
Statement of expenditures for grading, improving and fencing ground*, pursu-
ant to chapter 715, Laws of 1871.
Voucher No. 1, Watkins, Leete & Co., goods $569 24
Vouch*:- No. 2, D. Parmeter, posts, flagging, etc 1 ,427 80
Voucher No. 8, Jesse Reynolds, labor, etc 1,002 06
$8,000 00
Miscellaneous bills, as per biUs with accompanying vouchers filed in the office of
the secretary of the local board, paid from moneys received for tuition in the
academic department during the year ending September 80, 1872.
Voucher No. 43, H. D. Thatcher & Co., goods $8 04
Voucher No. 44, Baldwin & Co., lime 5 00
Voucher No. 45, Geo. B. Swan, lumber 9 00
Voucher No. 46, Chas. Le Fevre, labor 22 50
Voucher No. 47, Henry Train, labor, etc 49 20
Voucher No. 48, Watkins, Leete & Co., labor and goods. ..... 6 88
Voucher No. 49, Watkins, Leete & Co., labor and material. . . . 149 62
Voucher No. 50, Burnham, Watkins & Co., lumber 17 50
Voucher No. 51, Eastman & Johnston, labor and goods 20 95
Voucher No. 52, N. E. Garey, carting 4 04
Voucher No. 53, O. E. Bonney, lumber 15 16
Voucher No. 54, W. 8. Patten, labor 11 40
Voucher No. 55, Ira J. Ransom, work 42 98
Voucher No. 56, Ira J. Ransom, work 14 26
Voucher No. 57, Watkins, Leete & Co., error in former bill. . 8 50
Voucher No. 58, Henry M. Train, labor 7 00
Voucher No. 59, Ira J. Ransom, constructing pipe 15 06
Voucher No. 60, Watkins, Leete & Co., stove-pipe 17 09
Voucher No. 61, Geo. B. Swan, horse hire 2 00
Voucher No. 62, Foster & Goggin, insurance 600 00
Carried forward $1,022 08
4
'234 NiNBTBBNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
Brought forward (1 ,022 08
Voucher No. 68, H. N. Redway, insurance 602 81
Voucher No. 64, Geo. W. Swift, plans and estimate SO 00
Voucher No. 65,- Hall & Gardner, balance for coal 24 50
Voucher No. 66, Asher & Adams, N. T. Atlas and Gaz 12 00
Voucher No. 67, M. Mc Vicar, two sets apparatus 150 00
Voucher No. 68, M. Mc Vicar, payment on house 605 00
Voucher No. 69, M. McVicar, payment on house 895 00
Voucher No. 70, Chas. C. Townsend, services 60 00
Voucher No. 71, Chas. C. Townsend, services 60 00
Voucher No. 72, Geo. H. Sweet, cash paid 60
Voucher No. 78, Mr. Gorrow, work %10 00
Voucher No. 74, Chas. C. Townsend, services 60 00
$8,081 44
St. Lawrence County, 88. :
Henry Watkins, president, and Charles O. Tappan, secre-
tary, of the local board of the State Normal and Training
School at Potsdam, being dnly sworn, say, and each for him-
self says, that he has examined the foregoing account, and
believes the same to be, in all respects, correct and jast.
CHARLES O. TAPPAN.
HENRY WATKINS.
Sworn and subscribed before me this )
6th day of February, A. D. 1873. )
John G. McIntybe,
Notary Pvblic.
The Working of the School.
The local board take this opportunity of expressing their
satisfaction with the general working of the school during the
current year, and with its results thus far. Since the organi-
zation of this normal school, in 1869, it has sent forth twenty-
two graduates, nearly all of whom are teaching in the State of
New York; one at a salary of one thousand dollars per year,
one at a salary of seven hundred and seventy-five dollars, and
others at salaries varying from six hundred to four hundred
dollars. At the close of the spring term of 1873, we shall
have graduated about twenty more. From the employers of
\
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 285
those already sent out, and from the principals of the schools
in which they are engaged, we have received the most
emphatic testimony to their practical efficiency in the school-
room, and the general satisfaction with which their labors are
received. It is onr aim so to instruct and train those now in
our hands that in doe time they may advance to an equal
success, and worthily perform their share in the work of
education in the Empire State.
We think our courses of study are somewhat too heavy,
though as yet there seems to be no available remedy. We
teach nothing more than teachers, of the rank which normal
school graduates are expected to hold, ought certainly to
know; yet there is an inconvenience in teaching them so
much in so short a time. A diploma is a license for life, con-
ferring valuable privileges upon the possessor, and opening
the doors to the more lucrative positions; and hence no
diploma should be granted except for tested ability and solid
acquirements.
It would be impossible to thoroughly prepare teachers for
principalships and the higher departments of union schools,
and the schools of the cities, if our course should contain less
than it does. At present it would be impolitic to lengthen
the time. Our highest classes are the smallest of all, and we
believe this is the uniform experience of all institutions which
have long courses. The addition of one year to the course
would probably reduce by half the number of the graduates.
Teaching is not yet so firmly established among the pro-
fessions, nor are its attractions so brilliant, as to induce
many to spend more than four years in preparing to engage in
it. It would greatly help us if we could raise the standard of
admission; and nothing would be easier than this, if the
quality of the instruction in the district schools were good
enough. But so long as the teaching of the common schools
of the country districts, from which we receive most of our
students, is what it is, we shall have no sufficient foundation
on which to build, if we raise the standard of admission.
Even as it is, we have been compelled to have a preparatory
236 Nineteenth Annual Report or the
class. In this class, many possessing the capacity have received
that fundamental instruction which enabled them to take high
rank in succeeding classes. Some who had taught two or
three terms in district schools have been obliged to enter this
preparatory class, because they lacked that knowledge of
the elementary principles of the common branches needed
to pass the regular entrance examination. When teachers are
so ignorant, what must their pupils be ?
There seems to be no immediate remedy for this defect of
the district schools. To elevate the character of these is a
work requiring time and patience and money ; the latter is the
one thing needful. It is all in vain to hold educational conven-
tions, and preach to teachers of the dignity and awful responsi-
bility of their calling, if the wages of the audience average
five dollars per week. It is hard to convince the young Ameri-
can man and the young American lady, that such vast responsi-
bilities accompany such a slender income. They do not like
to continue long in an occupation where the burdens and the
bounties are so unequally yoked together. Hence, many con-
tent themselves with superficial preparation and slovenly
work ; and many more make haste to escape from the ranks
in which the duties so heavily outweigh the emoluments.
One of the crying evils of our district schools is the frequent
change of teachers. Only in exceptional instances, is the same
teacher employed in a school for two successive terms. The
training of a mind should be a closely connected and harmoni-
ous process. It should not, twice in every year, be rudely
changed. What would be thought of any board of trustees or
building commission which should, once in a month, change
the architects of a great and important edifice, and attempt to
carry out their different plans? Yet very similar is the action
of many of the trustees of the district schools. Though the
mental development of the children is not so absolutely in the
teacher's power as is the structure of a building in the power
of its architect, yet the various methods of teaching, pursued
by different teachers, their divergent notions, and dissimilar
SUPSRTTfTBNBBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 287
characters, abilities and attempts, mast inevitably exert a hurt-
ful influence upon the budding faculties of childhood.
The authority of the school commissioners avails but little
for the correction of these evils. The people demand schools
of some sort ; and at prevailing wages, the supply of good
teachers is not large. Some districts, also, with a sparse popu-
lation, contain so little taxable property, that to maintain a
good school would be a severe burden. But numerous other
districts overflow with riches; the barns are filled with plenty,
the taxable property is counted by tens of thousands of dol-
lars; yet in these districts are seldom seen those excellent
schools which this wealth ought to support. Several young
men of this vicinity are now engaged in teaching common
schools in southern Illinois. This ought not to be so. St.
Lawrence county should not allow her competent teachers to
be drawn to Illinois, nor to any other State, east or west, by
higher wages. The youth of northern New York are every
way worthy of as good instruction as the youth of southern
Illinois. Patriotism ought to induce the people to keep their
best talent in their own midst; and their local and family pride
and in terests should induce them to give the best instruction
to their own sous and daughters. A judicious increase of
teachers' wages throughout the State, would enable the com-
missioners to demand higher qualifications, and to insist upon
better teaching.
Thus would the foundations of intelligent citizenship be laid
with greater security and strengthened, and all the higher
institutions of learning would rejoice in a policy which must
ultimately enlarge the boundaries and multiply the triumphs
of American scholarship.
The Discipline of the School.
The discipline of the school is administered in harmony with
the following
Principles of Government,
which are printed in the general regulations, and placed in
the hands of every student :
238 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
1. In seeking to develop a symmetrical character and the power of self-
government in each pupil, the Golden Rule, " Do unto others as ye would
that others should do unto you/1 is made the foundation of every require-
ment.
2. The relation of teacher and pupil involves a pledge on the part of both
to regard the interests of each other as sacred, which pledge is assumed as
given when the pupil enters the school.
3. From the very nature of the relation between teacher and pupil, the
teacher is always considered the proper judge of what is to be viewed, under
any given circumstances, as right or wrong, but before making any decision
all the circumstances are fully canvassed.
4. The highest good of the individual pupil, so far as it is compatible with
the highest good of the whole school, is made the starting and closing prin-
ciple of all discipline.
5. No requirements are made of any pupil that are not, under similar
conditions, made of every pupil in the school.
6. The spirit in which everything is done is considered more important,
in its effects upon the pupil and the school, than the form.
7. Deportment is considered as a study, and is placed under the head of
scholarship. Mental discipline alone is not the measure of success in prac-
tical life, nor is it the measure of the highest form of manhood and woman-
hood. The power acquired through the study of various subjects under the
guidance of teachers, will be effective in after life, just to the extent in
which strength of character and the power of self-control has been devel-
oped. In view of this fact, proper deportment is the crowning excellence
of true scholarship, and should receive the first attention both of parents
and teachers. The various regulations of the school are therefore not arbi-
trary rules, intended simply to secure order that the teachers may perform
their work successfully, but they are a course of study and instruction
designed to cultivate correct views of the relations of the governing to the
governed, correct habits, and the power of self-government
Special Training Glass.
Desiring to bring the advantages of the normal school to
bear more directly upon the district schools, a consultation was
held by a committee of the local board, several members of
the faculty and the school commissioners of St. Lawrence
county. At this meeting, which was held at the close of the
spring term in July last, it was urged, that the graduates of the
normal schools secured positions in union and graded schools,
that the nnder-graduates who taught district schools had
received no professional instruction, and, consequently, the
common schools of this and neighboring counties were not
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 239
receiving as much benefit from the normal school located in
their midst as the interests of popular education renders
desirable. It cannot be expected that those who have spent
three or four years in the normal school should afterward con-
fine their teaching to the district schools or seek positions
therein, while places much more desirable are offered to them
in school 8 of higher grade. Yet the local board and faculty
were desirous of doing whatever lay in their power to do, for
the immediate good of the district schools. The result of the
consultation was the adoption of a plan for the instruction of
a special training class, during the first ten weeks of the fall
term. Accordingly, the following circulars were prepared and
sent to all the school commissioners of the State for distribution :
SPECIAL CIRCULAR '
The local board, at a meeting held July 6th, 1872, after a fall discussion
and consultation, decided, with the approval of the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, to organize a class in the normal school, at the opening
of the next term (September 4th), for the purpose of giving special instruc-
tion for ten weeks to such persons as intend to teach in the public schools
of the State, one or more terms during the school year commencing October
1st, 1872.
The instruction in the class will be confined to arithmetic, grammar
geography, reading, school economy, composition and penmanship. All
however, who are prepared to pursue higher subjects, without interfering
with the work of the class, will be allowed to do so in the regular normal
school classes. It is proposed, during the ten weeks, to make a rapid review
of each subject, having special regard to practical methods of presentation
for common schools.
Coubse of Instruction.
Arithmetic.
The instruction in arithmetic will include a discussion of the best methods
of presenting all the principal processes, including the five fundamental
roles, both in whole numbers and fractions, greatest common divisor least
common multiple, percentage with its various applications to stocks insu-
rance, banking, exchange, etc., ratio and proportion, alligation, and extrac-
tion of square and cube root
QrdfMnat
The instruction in grammar will include a review of the subject, the ele-
ments of analysis, and a discussion of the best methods of giving elementary
240 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
instruction or first lessons, and the use that should be made of text-books in
advanced work.
Geography.
The instruction in geography will include a discussion of the best methods
of giving primary lessons, of topical recitation, of map drawing, of the use
of maps and globes, and of a general plan for the presentation of the whole
subject.
Beading.
The instruction in reading will include a drill in reading, and the discus-
sion of the elements of reading and elocution, and the best methods of con-
ducting class exercises in common schools.
School Economy.
The instruction in school economy will include the discussion of the best
methods of organizing and governing common schools, including classifica-
tion, examinations, the powers and rights of school commissioners, of trustees,
of teachers, pupils and patrons, and the appliances which should be used in
governing a school.
Composition and Penmanship.
The instruction in composition and penmanship will have special refer-
ence to work that should be done in common schools.
Appointments.
To gain admission to the class, an appointment must be obtained from
some school commissioner in the State. Commissioners will grant an
appointment to any person who has been licensed to teach, and who intends
to teach in the public schools of the State, one or more terms during the year.
Appointments will also be granted to persons, who have not yet been
licensed to teach, by giving satisfactory evidence to commissioners that they
are qualified to enter the class, and that they intend to teach in the public
schools during the year.
Before being admitted to the class, applicants must pass an examination
in the elements of arithmetic, grammar and geography. The examination
will take place September 4th.
Special Privileges.
Free instruction and the free use of text-books will be given, for ten
weeks, to all who are admitted into the class. Ample opportunity will also
be given to members of the class to witness the methods of instruction and
management in the training school.
By making an application to the commissioner of your assembly district,
he will inform you immediately if you can have an appointment
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 241
For further information you can apply to Dr. H. Mc Vicar, principal of
the school.
HENRY WATKIN8,
President of Local Board.
Chab. O. Tappan,
Secretary of Local Board.
•
The commissioners distributed the circular to those of their
acquaintance whorn they thought likely to improve the oppor-
tunities offered, and sent also the following letter :
The accompanying circular, from the local board of the State Normal and
Training School at Potsdam, will inform you in regard to a special training
class for common-school teachers, which is to be commenced at the opening
of the school in September.
You will see by the circular, that the instruction in this class will be such
as will greatly benefit any who intend to teach in the common schools dur-
ing the year.
Should you desire to attend the class, on the conditions named in the cir-
cular, you can inform me by return mail, and I will give you an appoint-
ment. The appointment will be sent to the principal of the school, and will
be there on your arrival at Potsdam in September.
Please extend the information in regard to the class to all whom you
know, who expect to teach during the year.
Yours respectfully,
School Cbmmimoner.
The following is the form of the appointment used by the
commissioners :
This is to certify that has given to me satisfactory evidence
of fitness for admission into the special training class in the State Normal
and Training School at Potsdam, N. Y., and of intention to teach, one
or more terms, in the public schools of the State, during the school year
commencing October 1st, 1872. ,
I therefore appoint to the class, for the ten weeks commencing Sep-
tember 4th, and ending November 13th, 1873, subject to the examination for
admission by the Faculty.
School Oommimoner, St. Lawrence County.
The result of these efforts was the organization of a class at
the opening of the fall term, September 4, 1872, numbering
16
242 XlNBTBBNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
fifty-five pupils. The instruction given conformed as nearly
as possible to the announcements of the circular, with the
addition of gymnastics. The example was followed by the
normal schools at Cortland, (ieneseo, Fredonia, Oswego and
Buffalo. Thus the plan is having a more extensive trial than
this school alone could give it.
In our class, many difficulties were met. The pupils came
with all degrees of qualification. Some were barely able to
pass the moderate examination prescribed by the commis-
sioners, and had never taught. Others could have passed much
higher examinations, ana had taught several terms. Some
came just within the requirements with regard to age, and
were not sufficiently mature to do the work which those of
riper years were able and desired to accomplish. Their expec-
tations and purposes were of great variety ; some desired to
thoroughly master the fundamental principles of teaching and
school management; others desired advanced instruction in
the various subjects which they had not completed to their
satisfaction ; some desired almost endless discussion on the con-
troverted points of grammar, and easy solutions of knotty
examples in- arithmetic ; others wanted to be taught how to
teach, regardless of whether they possessed sufficient know-
ledge of subjects to make such instruction of any value.
Among these conflicting desires, and the diversities of
ability, qualifications, purposes and expectations, the teachers
endeavored to strike that golden mean which, in such a case,
is the surest path to success. At the close of the ten weeks,
examinations were held, at which two of the commissioners of
St. Lawrence county were present. At the end of the second
day's examinations they addressed the class, stating their emi-
nent satisfaction with the work they had accomplished. The
commissioners also expressed a strong expectation that the
members of the class would testify by practical results in the
school room that this special training had not been lost upon
them. They promised to pay particular attention to their
schools that they might the better judge of the success of our
experiment. Nearly all of the fifty-five members of the class
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 243
are now engaged in teaching ; and the reports which we have
received concerning their schools are extremely gratifying.
The extra labor laid upon the faculty, in thus conducting
seven daily recitations of so large a class, was a serious draft
upon their resources ; but if the result of their attempt to con-
nect more closely with the common schools, should prove a
help in the solution of the normal school question in this State,
even those most heavily burdened will not regret the labor
they expended.
HFlNMTWMXTB AtfRUAL RsPOBT OF 1BJC
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Superintendent of Public Instruction. 245
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246 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
GRADUATES.
Fiebt Clabb — Term ending Febbuaey 7, 1871.
Amanda M. Martin. Alice C. Stevens.
Second Class — Term ending June 29, 1871.
Hannah B. Barnes. Amelia A. McFadden.
Joannas Haig. Mattie C. Carpenter.
Frances A. Parmeter.
Third Class — Term ending January 30, 1872.
Mrs. Joanna Anderson. Harriet B. Stearns.
Matilda Osier. Aldnla Stone.
Seraphina I. Howard. Celestia Blatchley.
Elizabeth Hargrave.
Fourth Class — Term ending July 2, 1872.
Anna M. Anderson. Herbert C. Adams.
Francene Swift. Martha I. Burt.
Alice M. Wood. Emily M. Dayton.
Eliza J. Wall. Hattie A. Fisher.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT IN CIRCULAR OF SEP-
TEMBER 1, 1872.
Local Board.
Henry Watkins, A. M., President Aaron N. Deming.
Hon. Chas. O. Tappan, Secretary. Eben Fisher, D. D.
Jesse Reynolds, M. D., Treasurer. Roswell Pettibone, A. M.
Hon. Noble S. Elderkin. John I. Gilbert, A. M.
Hon. A. X. Parker.
Faculty.
M. McVicar, Ph. D., LL. D., Principal, and Professor of
Mental and Moral Philosophy and Didactics.
E. D. Blakeslee, A. M., "Vice-Principal, and Professor of
Natural Sciences.
Henry L. Harter, A. M., Professor of Ancient Languages,
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 247
Warren Mann, A. B., Professor of Mathematics.
Giles P. Hawley, A. B., Teacher of Elocution and Vocal
Music.
Miranda S. Marks, Preceptress, and Teacher of Rhetoric,
Literature and French.
Lucy A. Leonard, Teacher of Language and Composition.
Mary L. "Wood, Teacher of Gymnastics, Reading and
German.
Mary F. Hall, Teacher of Methods and Geography.
Amelia A. McFadden, Teacher of Mathematics.
Juliet A. Oook, Teacher of Grammar.
Amelia Morey, Principal of Intermediate Department, and
Teacher of Methods.
Eleanor E. Jones, Principal of Primary Department, and
Teacher of Methods.
Frances A. Parmeter, Critic in Primary Department.
Helen D. Austin, Critic in Intermediate Department.
Academic Department.
«
For those who purpose entering this department, the fol-
lowing information is given :
Application for admission should be made either in person
or by letter to the principal of the school, and should be
accompanied by a careful statement of the character, habits
and present attainments of candidates. No idle, insubordinate
or dissipated pupil will be tolerated.
Students will be received at any time, but in no case for
less than a quarter, except by special arrangement ; and no
deduction in price of tuition will be made for those who enter
within the first two, or leave within the last three weeks of
the term, nor for absence during the term, except for sickness.
Classes out of the regular course cannot be organized for the
accommodation of students entering this department.
Courses of Study.
First. The Advanced English Course. Second. The Classi-
cal Course. These are identical with the same courses in the
j
248 NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
normal department, except that they embrace no professional
training.
Cost of Tuition.
Pupils will be charged ike' following rate of tuition per
quarter : English course, $6.00 ;. classical, $7.00 ; diploma and
graduation fee (extra), $5.00.
General Infoemation.
Location.
The village of Potsdam is situated in the town of Potsdam,
St. Lawrence county, on the railroad between Watertown and
Potsdam Junction. Pupils should reach Potsdam the day
before the opening of the term, and go directly to the normal
school building, where they will be advised in regard to
boarding places. Baggage may be left at the depot until a
boarding place is secured, when it will be delivered free of
charge.
Boarding.
Board can be obtained in private families, including wash-
ing, at rates varying from $3.50 to $4.50 per week. The
boarding hall in the normal school building is designed exclu-
sively for ladies. The plan upon which it is conducted is
explained in the following propositions :
1. Each room is carpeted and neatly furnished with everything necessary
for the comfort of the student, and is occupied by only two ladies. The
carpets and furniture in the entire boarding hall are new. The rooms are
heated by good coal stoves. The coal is delivered at the doors of the
students' rooms.
2. A servant, who does all the heavy work pertaining to the dining-room,
kitchen and study-rooms, is provided for every twenty-five boarders.
3. Each young lady is expected to work one hour per day. The work
done by the boarders and servants is under the immediate supervision of a
matron, who has the general oversight of the whole boarding-house. The
work done by boarders is arranged so as not to interfere with recitations or
study hours.
4. The quality of the board is fixed by the boarders, subject to the
approval of the matron.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 249
5. Each boarder is charged one dollar per week room rent, to defray the
expense of furnishing study-rooms, dining-room and kitchen, and pay the
wages of matron and servant.
6. Board, fuel, light and washing are furnished at cost, the whole expense
of which has averaged $3.10 per week during the past year.
7. Thirty-five dollars are payable quarterly in advance, ten dollars of
which are applied to the room rent, and the remaining twenty-five dollars
are deposited in the bank, to meet the current expenses of the boarding hall
for the quarter. Should the entire expense be less than three and a half
dollars per week, the surplus, which has been paid in advance and deposited
in the bank, is refunded to each student at the end of the term.
8. Each boarder in the boarding hall furnishes her own fork, teaspoon,
towels, napkins, two sheets, two pillow-cases and two comforters, each of
which, as well as every article of clothing, should be distinctly marked with
the owner's name.
9. The plan and workings of the boarding hall have given entire satisfac-
tion, and those who availed themselves of its advantages during the past
year reduced their expenses to the small sum of $8.10 per week, including
room rent, board, fuel, light and washing. It is important that all who
desire to secure rooms in the boarding hall should apply before arriving at
Potsdam.
The normal courses of instruction and other important
information will be found in the appendix (Document Q).
250 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
(Q.)
NORMAL SCHOOL CIRCULAR.
The following is the common form of circular for each of
the State normal and training schools, located respectively at
Brockport, Buffalo, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, Oswego and
Potsdam :
STATE OF NEW YORK :
Depabtment of Public Instruction, SupVs Office, )
Albany, August 1, 1872. J
To School Commissioners and City Superintendents of Schools :
Tour attention is respectfully invited to the following
announcement relating to the State Normal and Training
School at .
The design of the school is to furnish competent teachers
for the public schools of the State. *
Each county is entitled to twice as many pupils as it has
representatives in the Assembly. For the want of qualified
candidates the quotas of some counties may not be filled,
while the number of eligible applicants from other counties
may be greater than their quotas. Therefore, you need not
limit your recommendations to any prescribed number, bat
encourage worthy and aspiring young men and women, who
are qualified and intend to make teaching their vocation, to
attend this school.
To gain admission to the school, pupils must be at least six-
teen years of age, and must poesess good health, good moral
character and average abilities. They must pass a fair exami-
nation in reading, spelling, geography, and arithmetic (as far
as the roots), and be able to analyze and parse simple sen
tences.
All appointments for admission are made by the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to the required
examination, upon the recommendation of the several school
commissioners, or city superintendents of schools, whose duty
SUPBBLSTBNDBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 251
it is to use every reasonable means to secure the selection of
suitable candidates.
Ii is suggested that yon advertise where you will meet and
examine applicants for appointments, at a time not later than
fifteen days before the opening of the term. Recommenda-
tions should be made as early as practicable, and be mailed
promptly to the Superintendent of Public Instruction at
Albany.
FORM OF RECOMMENDATION.
To the Sup&rfat&ndsnt of Public Instruction:
hereby recommend of in the comity of
aged .... yean, as possessing the health, scholarship, mental ability and
moral character requisite for an appointment to the State Normal and Train-
ing School at
[Date.] ,
School Com'r. . of the County of.
Special Privileges of Pupils.
Tuition, and the use of all text-books, are free. Students
will be held responsible, however, for any injury or loss of
books. They are advised to bring with them, for reference,
any suitable books they may have. The amount of fare neces-
sarily paid on public conveyances in coming to the school will
be refunded to those who remain a full term.
Terms and Vacations.
The year is divided into two terms of twenty weeks each.
The fall term commences on the first Wednesday in Septem-
ber, and the spring term on the second Wednesday in Febru-
ary. There will be an intermission for a week during the
holidays.
All pupils should be present promptly at the opening of the
term.
The examination for admission and classification will com-
mence on Wednesday ; and a failure, on the part of candidates,
to be present at that time, will subject them and the teachers
to the inconvenience of a private examination.
252 NlN&TBBNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF TBS
COURSES OP INSTRUCTION.
Elementary English Course.
First Year.
First Term. — Arithmetic, grammar, geography, reading (last half ), spell*
log and impromptu composition, linear drawing (daily), penmanship (last
half), vocal music (first half), light gymnastics (daily).
Second Term. — Arithmetic, grammar and analysis (first half), botany (second
half), rhetoric and English literature, reading (first half), physiology and
zoology (first half), United States history (second half), object and perspec-
tive drawing, composition (semi- weekly), penmanship (first half), vocal music
(second half), light gymnastics (daily).
Second Yean
First Term.— Philosophy and history of education, school economy, civil
government and school law, methods of giving object lessons and of teach-
ing the subjects of the elementary course, declamation, essays and select
readings.
The object lessons include lessons on objects, form, size, color, place,
weight, sounds, animals, plants, human body and moral instruction.
Second Term. — Practice in training school, essays, select readings or decla-
mations.
Advanced English Course.
Students to be admitted to this course must pass a satisfactory examination
in all the studies of the first year in the elementary English course.
First Year.
First Term. — Algebra, natural philosophy, general history, light gymnas-
tics, geometry, compositions, declamations, botany (half term), select readings.
Second Term. — Algebra, book-keeping, physical geography, chemistry,
geometry and trigonometry, light gymnastics, compositions, declamations
and select readings.
Second Year.
First Term. — Same as the first term of the second year of the elementary
English course.
Second Term. — Moral philosophy, compositions, mineralogy and geology,
practice in training school, methods in higher studies, light gymnastics.
Classical Course.
Students to be admitted to this course must pass a satisfactory examina-
tion in all the studies of the first year in the elementary English course.
First Year.
First Term. — Algebra, geometry, general history, light gymnastics, botany
(half term), Latin, compositions, declamations and select readings.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 258
Second Term.— Algebra, light gymnastics, book-keeping, Latin, physical
geography, and astronomy, geometry and trigonometry, compositions, decla-
mations and select readings.
Second Tear.
First Term.— Latin, light gymnastics, natural philosophy, Greek or modern
languages, compositions, declamations and select readings.
Second Term.— Latin, moral philosophy, chemistry, light gymnastics, Greek
or modern languages, compositions, declamations and select readings.
Third Tear.
First Term. — Latin, philosophy of education, Greek or modern languages,
light gymnastics, methods of giving object lessons and of teaching the sub-
jects in the elementary English course, compositions, declamations and
select readings.
Second Term. — Latin, compositions, Greek or modern languages, methods
in higher studies, mineralogy and geology, practice in training school.
Diploma.
Students, who complete either of the above courses satisfac-
torily, will receive corresponding diplomas, which will serve as
licenses to teach in the public schools of the State.
It will be seen by the preceding courses of study, that stu-
dents who have thoroughly mastered the subjects named in the
first year of the elementary English course, can in two years
complete the advanced English course, or, in three years, the
classical course.
Students may be admitted to any class on examination ; but
no person can graduate from any one of the prescribed courses
without passing through the last two terms of that course.
Conclusion.
Allow me to urge you to use all proper means to extend
information in regard to this school, that young persons who
possess the requisite qualifications may be induced to partici-
pate in its benefits. Your experience must bear witness that
the greatest need of the common schools is the service of more
teachers who arc thoroughly qualified ; and I confidently trust
that you will give a cheerful and prompt response to this call
for your official action.
ABRAM B. WEAVER,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
254 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
ACADEMIES TO INSTRUCT COMMON-SCHOOL
" TEACHERS.
The following academies have been designated to instinct
Teachers' Classes daring the academic year 1872-73, nnder
the provisions of the statute (University Manual, page 38,
§3):
Counties. Names of Academies.
Allegany Alfred University, Academical Department
Friendship Academy.
Genesee Valley Seminary (2).*
Broome Binghamton Free Academy.
Deposit Academy.
Whitney's Point Union School.
Windsor Academy.
Cattaraugus . . Chamberlain Institute.
Olean Academy and Union School.
Ten Broeck Free Academy.
Cayuga Auburn Academic High School.
Moravia Union School.
Port Byron Free School and Academy.
Chautauqua . . .Ellington Union School.
Forestville Free Academy.
Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Inst.
Westfield Union School and Academy.
Chenango Afton Union School and Academy.
New Berlin Academy.
f Norwich Academy.
f Oxford Academy.
Sherburne Union School.
Clinton Champlain Union School.
Plattsburgh High School.
• Provisional appointment: the annexed figure denotes the numerical order of the
provisional appointment.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 255
Counties. Names of Academies. *
Colombia Claverack Academy and H. R. Institute.
Spencertown Academy.
Cortland Cincinnati Academy.
Cortland Academy.
Delaware Delaware Academy.
Delaware Literary Institute.
Stamford Seminary.
Walton Union School.
Erie Aurora Academy.
Clarence Classical Union School.
Griffith Institute.
Hamburgh Union School.
Essex Elizabethtown Union School.
Keeseville Union School.
Franklin Fort Covington Academy.
Genesee Gary Collegiate Seminary.
Genesee and Wyoming Seminary.
Rural Seminary.
Greene Greenville Academy.
Herkimer Academv at Little Falls.
Fairfield Academy.
West Winfield Academv.
Jefferson Black River Conference Seminary.
Hungerford Collegiate Institute.
Union Academy of Belleville.
Watertown High School.
Lewis Lowville Academy.
Martin Institute.
Livingston . . . Dansville Seminary (1).*
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary.
Geneseo Academy.
Mount Morris Union School.
Madison Canastota Union School (4).*
Central New York Conference Seminary.
• Provisional appointment : the annexed figure denotes the numerical order of the pro-
visional appointment.
256 Nineteenth Annual Report or the
ConntieB. ' Namei of Acutaniei.
Madison Evans Academy.
Oneida Seminary.
Yates Union School.
Montgomery.. Amsterdam Academy.
Niagara Lockport Union School.
Wilson Union School.
Oneida Borne Academy.
Onondaga .... Baldwinsville Academy.
Jordan Academy.
Munro Collegiate Institute.
Onondaga Academy.
Skaneateles Union School.
Syracuse High School.
Ontario Canandaigua Academy.
Geneva Classical and Union School.
Orleans Albion Academy.
Holley Union School.
Medina Free Aoademy.
Yates Academy.
Oswego Falley Seminary.
Mexico Academy.
Pulaski Academy.
Otsego Oilbertsville Academy.
Unadilla Academy.
Rensselaer Lansingburgh Academy (5).*
Nassau Academy.
St. Lawrence . . Canton Union School.
Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary.
Lawrenceville Academy.
Saratoga Halfmoon Academy.
Mechanicville Academy.
Waterford Union School.
Schoharie New York Conference Seminary.
Steuben Franklin Academy, Prattsburgh.
Rogersville Union Seminary.
Woodhull Academy.
SUTBRMTMNDBNT OT PUBLIC IfiTSTXtTCTION. f5~
Counties. Names of Academies.
Sullivan Liberty Normal Institute!
Monticello Academy (3).*
Tioga Candor Free Academy.
Owego Free Academy.
Waverly Institute.
Tompkins Oroton Academy.
Ithaca Academy.
Trumansburgh Academy.
Warren Glen's Falls Academy.
Warren&burgh Academy.
Washington . . Fort Edward Collegiate Institute.
Sandy Hill Union School.
Washington Academy.
Wayne Lyons Union School.
Macedon Academy.
Newark Union School and Academy.
Palmyra Classical Union School.
Bed- Creek Union Seminary.
Sodus Academy.
Wyoming .... Attica Union School.
Middlebury Academy.
Pike Seminary.
Yates Penn Tan Academy. 117
* Prorlslonal appointment: the annexed figure denotes the numerical order of the pio-
▼iatanal appointment,
17
258
NlMTBBNTH ANWUAL REPORT OF THE
LIST OP SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS IN THE STATE
OP NEW YORK,
Fob thb Teem Cohmehoino Januabt 1, 1873.
Oonntiw. DlsU. Whom. Bott-ollleM.
•
Albany .... 1. John F. Shafer Cedar Hill.
2. Zebediah A. Dyer East Berne.
3. Thomas Helme McKownville.
John O. Cole (City Supt.) . . . Albany.
Murray Hubbard (Pr. Bd. Ed.) Cohoes.
Allegany . . 1. Frank S. Smith Angelica.
2. Walter D. Ren wick Friendship.
Broome .... 1. Hiram Barnum Osborne Hollow.
2. George Jackson Bingbamton.
6. L. Farnham (Sec. Bd. Ed.) . Binghamton.
Cattaraugus. 1. Newton C. McKoon Ellicottville.
2. Henry M. Seymour Salamanca.
Cayuga .... 1. Hulbert Daratt Cato.
2. Charles H. Greenfield Niles.
3. Lauren M. Townsend Moravia.
B. B. Snow (Sec. Bd. Ed.) .... Auburn.
Chautauqua, 1. Henry Q. Ames Sherman..
2. Lucius M. Robertson Frewsburgh.
Chemung. . . Jonas Sayre Van Duzer Horseheads.
E.3. Yeoumans (Sec. Bd. Ed.), Elmira.
Chenango . . 1. Matthew B. Ludington N. Norwich.
2. David G. Barber Oxford.
Clinton .... 1. William B. Dodge Schuyler Falls.
2. Robert S. McCullough Chazy.
Columbia . . 1. John Strever Clermont.
2. Hiram Winslow Green River.
Cyrus Macey (City Supt.) .... Hudson.
Cortland ... 1. George W. Miller Marathon.
2. Rums T. Peck Solon.
Delaware. . . 1. George D. Ostrora Franklin.
2. Amasa J. Shaver Meredith.
SVPBRINTKyDBNT Of PVBLIO INSTRUCTION. 259
Counties. Distt. Name*/ Post-offlcet.
Dutchess ... 1. Derrick Brown Poughkeepsie.
2. Edgar A. Briggs (Box 88$) . . Poughkeepsie.
R. Brittain (Clk. Bd. Ed.) . . . Poughkeepsie.
Erie 1. Charles A. Young Ton aw and a.
2. George Abbott Hamburgh.
3. Rnssel J. Yaughan Springville.
J. A. Lamed (City Supt.) .... Buffalo.
Essex 1. William H. McLenathan Jay.
2. Thomas 6. Shaw Olmstead ville.
Franklin ... 1. Sidney P. Bastes Malone.
2. William Gillis Fort Covington.
Fulton John M. Dougall Johnstown.
Genesee .... Richard L. Selden Le Roy.
Greene .... 1. Samuel S. Mulford Tannersville.
2, Robert Halstead Greenville.
Hamilton . . . Isaac H. Brownell North ville. P. O.
Herkimer . . 1. John D. Champion Little Falls.
2. William W. Bass Jordanville.
Jefferson ... 1. Willard C. Porter Adams Centre.
2. Henry Purcell Watertown.
8. George H. Strough Lafargeville.
D. G. Griffin (City Supt.) .... Watertown.
Kings 1. C. Warren Hamilton New Lots.
Thos. W. Field (City Supt) . . Brooklyn.
Lewis 1. William D. Lewis Constableville.
2. Charles A. Chickering Copenhagen.
Livingston . . 1. John W. Byam Livonia Station.
2. Robert W. Green Dansville.
Madison .... l.J Joseph E. Morgan Earlville.
2. Paul S. Maine Perry ville.
Monroe 1. Edwin A. McMath (158 Pow-
ers I?lock) . Rochester.
2. George W. Sime Brockport.
S. A. Ellis (City Supt.) Rochester.
Montgomery George F. Cox Amsterdam.
New York . . Henry Kiddle (City Supt.) . . New York.
Niagara ... 1. William Gritman Lockport.
2. Esek Aldrich Johnson's Creek.
Jas. Ferguson (City Supt.) . . . Lockport.
260 Nineteenth Annual Rmfomt of ibb
Conntlet. Dteti. Name*. Foat-offic«a.
Oneida .... 1. John R. Pugh Utica.
2. Charles T. Burnley Clinton.
3. Henry S. Ninde Rome.
4. Horace O. Farley. Prospect.
A. McMillan (City Snpt.) .... Utica.
Onondaga . . 1. J. Warren Lawrence Plank Road.
2. James W. Hooper Geddes.
3. Parker S. Carr Fayetteville.
£. Smith (City Supt.) Syracuse. -
Ontario .... 1. Hyland C. Eirk Phelps.
2. Robert B. Simmons Allen's HilL
Orange 1. Oeorge E. Smith Monroe.
2. Asa Morehouse New Hampton.
R. V. K. Montfort (City Supt), Newburgh.
Orleans .... William W» Phipps Albion.
Oswego .... 1. Isaac W. Marsh Bowen's Corners.
2. William B. Howard Fulton.
8. John W. Ladd Mexico.
V. C. Douglass (City Supt.) . . Oswego.
Otsego .... 1. Nahum T. Brown East Worcester.
2. Warren L. Baker Portland ville.
Putnam .... John H. Spencer Farmer's Mills.
Queens .... 1. Eugene M. Lincoln Glen Cove.
2. Garret J. Garretson Newtown.
Alanson Palmer (City Supt.). . Long Island City.
Rensselaer . . 1. Amos H. Allen Petersburgh.
2. George W. Hidley Wynantskill.
David Beattie (City Supt.) . . . Troy.
Richmond . . James Brownlee Port Richmond.
Rockland. . . Spencer Wood Clarkstown.
St Lawrence 1. Dan. S. Giffin Heuvelton.
2. A. Barton Hepburn Colton.
3. Barney Whitney Lawrenceville.
R. B. Lowry (City Supt.) . . . Ogdensburgh.
Saratoga ... 1. Neil Gilmour Bailston Spa.
2. Oscar F. Stiles Saratoga Springs.
Schenectady, David Elder Van Vechten.
S. B. Howe (City Supt) ^Schenectady.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 261
Counties. Diiti. Name*. Ptwt-offlcea.
Schoharie. . . 1. John S. Mayhan Gilboa.
2. John Van Schaiok Cobleskill.
Schuyler. . . Charles T. Andrews Watkins.
Seneca Henry V. L. Jones Ovid.
Steuben .... 1. Zenas L. Parker Bath.
2. Reuben H. Williams Woodhull.
3. William P. Todd Canisteo.
Suffolk .... 1. Horace H. Benjamin Riverhead.
2. S. Orlando Lee Huntington.
Sullivan ... 1. Charles Barnum Monticello.
2. Isaac Jelliff Liberty.
Tioga Lemuel D. Vose Owego.
Tompkins . . 1. Orville S. Ensign Ithaca.
*2. Robert O. H. Speed Caroline.
Ulster 1. Cornelius Van Santvoord .... Kingston.
2. Ralph Le Fevre New Paltt
8. Harrison R. Winter Phoenicia.
Warren .... Daniel B. Ketch urn Glen's Falls. '
Washington 1. Ezra H. Snyder Argyle.
2. Edward C. Whittemore Adamsville.
Wayne 1. Joseph H. L. Roe Wolcott
2. Felix J. Griffen Marion*
Westchester, 1. Joseph H. Palmer Yonkers.
• 2. Casper G. Brower Tarrytown.
8. Joseph Barrett...* Katonah.
Wyoming . . 1. Edwin S. Smith Dale.
2. Edson J. Quigley Gainesville.
Yates Bradford ?. Wixom Italy Hollow.
* For term commencing January 1, WW.
262 Ninxtsentb Annual Report ot ths
(T.)
REPORTS OF SCHOOL' COMMISSIONERS AND OF
CITY SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS TO THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
CHENANGO COUNTY— Fibst Disibiot.
Hon. Abeah B. "Weaver,
Superintendent o/PtibUe Instruction :
i
Sir. — In compliance with your request, I most respectfully
submit the following report :
Were we to place side by side a school as taught ten years
ago, with one taught to-day, the efficiency of the latter over
the former would be very marked indeed. If we go back
twenty years, a more striking difference would be seen.
Opinion is often given and judgment rendered, without
weighing evidence. Thus it is with many men in regard to
our present school system. The same horizon that circum-
scribed their vision in years past, remains the limit to-day,
and they see nothing good only as it partakes of former times
and things obsolete. But notwithstanding such impediments
in the way of progress, our schools are marching forward, and
the system under which we are working is demonstrating 6ach
succeeding year its efficiency.
As time advances different circumstances control, new
wants appear and changes must necessarily be made. Among
the more important ones, earnestly advocated by many leading
educators, are compulsory attendance at the public schools,
uniform examinations of teachers throughout the State, and
the prohibiting by law corporal punishment, all of which, if
carried into effect, might result in good ; but they are ques-
tions that should be well considered before becoming law.
Much the larger number, proportionately, of children not
attending school is found in cities. A law to regulate the
attendance in such places, no doubt, would be salutary. But
for the rural districts the necessity is not so great ; proper
8UTSRINTBNT>BNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 263
persons elected trustees wonld, in a great measure, overcome
the evil. If allowed fair compensation for their labor (which
is no more than bare justice), they wonld feel it their duty to
look after the interests of schools more than they now do. A
comparatively small effort, in my opinion, on the part of trus-
tees, would bring into school nearly every pupil that should
so attend. A few dollars thus expended would remove much
of the delinquency, which, it is claimed, law should be enacted
to accbmplish. A* the matter now stands, trustees pay but
little or no attention to the question of attendance or non-
attendance at school, and it cannot be expected they will labor
much unless rewarded.
A uniform examination of teachers would remove much of
the responsibility now resting upon commissioners, just wherein
they fail in moral courage to bear such burdens. If every
commissioner would act in accordance with the dictates of his
own conscience, but little trouble would arise under the pre-
sent system of examination.
Unless corporal punishment is reformatory in our public
schools, it should at once be prohibited by law. Good as well
as evil has resulted from the practice. The evil is more
noticeable than the good, for almost every case of improper
punishment is brought before the public in some form ; on the
other hand, the good results come not so much from the exer-
cise of punishment as from the acknowledged right of the
teacher to enforce obedience by this means if necessary. Some
teachers pass through term after term without resorting to
it, because their pupils know they will, in case of necessity,
apply it in one way or another, which right vested in a teacher
commands obedience without the use of the rod. Whether
our common schools would be as well governed if positive law
prohibited the right to punish physically, is questionable.
My views in regard to the library question are the same as
stated in former reports. Libraries are of but little use, and
trustees' reports respecting them are vague and unreliable.
The necessity for such reading matter twenty years ago does
not exist now, hence their usefulness can never be what it was
264 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
then. Under these circumstances it seems unnecessary that a
portion of the public money should be apportioned for such
purposes. A fund for school apparatus would be more in
keeping with the wants of districts.
The teachers' institute held in September last, at Oxford,
compares well with those of former years. The number of
names registered exceeds that of some former institutes. The
interest exhibited and benefit derived were fully equal to*
expectations. Our instructors, Rev* J>Winslow and Prof.
A. J. Robb, are gentlemen well qualified for such work.
Moral worth was made a prominent feature in their instruc-
tion, presented as one of the most important requisites, with-
out which teachers could not be successful in their work.
Their aim was to excite the mind to a more noble bearing and
to higher aspirations in the great wprk of teaching. Long
and kindly will they be remembered for the good work done
while with us.
The academies in this district are doing a good work. A
large majority of the teachers of this county have been mem-
bers of the teachers9 classes, and the instruction received
has rendered many of them good, zealous workers. The one
at Norwich has been growing in popularity and stands well in
the line of such institutions. The one located at New Berlin
rests upon a firmer basis and commands a greater confidence
than ever before.
The union graded school at Sherburne deserves more than
a passing notice. From the time of its organization to the
present, there has been an increasing interest which places
the school second to none in the county. The new brick
building erected two years ago, notwithstanding some defects
which experience has shown, is worthy of commendation, the
aim having been to build for the wants of a high school, and
in keeping with the times and place. The prominent feature
of the school is not in a fine building, nor showy equipage,
but in a course of study, ample in its extent, reaching from
the primary to the classical, and in the thoroughness of its
instruction.
SUFMRIXTBNDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 265
.Eleven candidates have been recommended for admission to
normal schools daring the past year — to Brockport, six, and
Cortland, five — an evidence that teachers are seeking means to
better qualify themselves for the school-room.
Another faint effort has been made in the village of Nor-
wich to organize a high graded school. Many of the leading
inhabitants see the necessity and realize some of the advan-
tages derived from such a anion. At present there is one
academy, four district schools, and one or two private schools,
all of which are well attended. Bat for a growing and enter-
a
prising village of nearly six thousand inhabitants like Norwich,
the school facilities are far behind what they should be. Under
the divided interest now existing, it cannot be expected
schools can be built up to meet the wants of an intelligent
people. The merging of the whole school interest in one
central idea would produce beneficent results, unforeseen by
its warmest advocates. Before another twelve months shall
have passed, it is hoped that the good work begun will be com-
pleted.
In my round of visits thus far, it is gratifying to learn that
there is general satisfaction with the schools of this district.
The majority of them are as efficient as means and appli-
ances will admit. Were better wages paid, and school-rooms
furnished with only strictly necessary apparatus, it would
place them far in advance of what they are at present. Action
taken to force trustees to supply the school-room with these
necessaries, would be placing aids in the hands of teachers, of
which now they are sadly deficient. Some method devised to
relieve the weaker districts and place them nearer on an
equality with the more wealthy, would be an act of justice ;
for to support a school with an assessed valuation of from ten
to twenty thousand dollars, is much more burdensome than
where the valuation reaches from fifty to one hundred thou-
sand. As competent a teacher is required in the one case as
the other, and if that principle is carried out, the taxation is
twice or thrice greater in the former case than in the latter.
The liberal provisions made by the State for educational
266 NlNBTBPNTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THM
purposes, and the earnest advocacy of reforms and improve-
ments, are sources of gratification. Making the best use of
means placed within onr reach, to advance general intelligence,
is a moral obligation binding npon eveiy man. Efforts put
forth, that shall successfully grapple with the great questions
of the day, will soon render the school system of the Empire
State second to none in the world.
For favors rendered and forbearance shown on the part of
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, I shall ever feel
grateful. Trusting that future business relations may prove
as harmonious as they have been in the past, I am very
sincerely,
Tour ob't servant,
M. B. LUDINGTON,
School Commissioner.
North Norwich, December 81, 1872.
CLINTON COUNTY— First Dictbic*.
Hon. Abram 8. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — In compliance with your request, I have the honor to
report, in addition to the statistical and financial abstracts pre-
viously submitted, that the ninety-two school districts under
my supervision are all in fair running order, though a
large proportion of them are too small and weak to build suit-
able school-houses and support large and prosperous schools,
as will readily appear from the following statistics :
The whole number of days taught, as found from abstracts
of trustees' reports, is 12,878 ; but to this number should be
added, for districts which employed more than one teacher at the
same time, 5,544 days, making a total of 18,422 days actually
taught. The whole number of days of attendance divided by
the whole number of days taught gives a little less than
twenty-four pupils to each teacher employed, including sum-
mer and winter terms. But as tho seventeen schools in dia-
SUPMBTNTMNDBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 267
triet No. 1, Pittsburgh, the seven in district No. 1, Keese-
ville, and several other schools average over forty each, it is
evident that the general average, not including such larger
schools, must be much less, probably not exceeding fifteen to
each school. The attendance is much less in summer than in
winter. I find by reference to teachers' reports, that there were
fifteen summer schools that did not average six pupils each, and
ten others that fell short of ten each for the whole summer
term. Such small schools are usually maintained in winter
as long as a fair attendance can be secured, and then the sum-
mer term limited to the time necessary to secure the public
money ; and as every day beyond that diminishes the average
attendance, it is, consequently, financial policy to limit the
summer schools to the time necessary to complete the twenty-
eight weeks.
The valuation of the property in several of these districts
hardly reaches $5,000, and there are about thirty districts in
which it does not exceed $10,000 each. I have, during my
term of office, carefully rejected every application for the
formation of new districts.
I find it my duty to present another unfavorable aspect of
the schools of my district, one which I judge is not limited to
Clinton county, and leave it to others, who have the matter in
hand, to provide the remedy. I refer to the frequent change
of teachers. The abstract of trustees' reports does not furnish
the correct number of teachers employed. There were in this
district one hundred and twenty-one schools which intended
to maintain a school twenty-eight weeks or more. In these
schools were employed one hundred and seventy-eight teach-
ers, a number less by fifty-two than indicated by the abstract of
trustees' reports, fifty haviug taught in two districts and two
in three districts each, consequently reported two or three
time? each. Of this number thirty-eight were males ; and one
hundred and forty, females; one hundred and seventy-four
were licensed by local authorities, and four, as reported, by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Only four of the male
teachers were employed in the summer schools. Male teach-
S68 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
ere are generally employed only in each schools as it . is
thought females are incapable of teaching, and hence it seems
hardly correct to say that lady teachers receive less pay than
gentlemen for doing the same work. Of the one hundred
and seventy-eight teachers, one' hundred and fourteen, or
about sixty-four per cent, taught only one term each during
the year in this commissioner district, and most probably in
no other.
From what source are these small, short-term schools to be
supplied with teachers I No graduates from the state nor-
mal schools will want to spend their time in them, even if the
districts could afford to pay them a fair compensation. Most
of the teachers are obtained from the districts where they are
employed ; young persons educated in the same school. The
small wages paid, and the short terms of service in such
schools, give no encouragement to the teachers to attend
teachers' institutes and associations to learn the best methods
of teaching ; but they teach as their fathers were taught years
ago in the same schools! thus handing down, from age to age,
the same plans of organization and the same methods of teach-
ing, without any knowledge of modern improvements. By
reference to the last annual report of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, I find this frequent changing of teachers
is not limited to Clinton county.
In view of the great number of districts that are thus evi-
dently deprived of the advantages derived from improved
methods of teaching, as taught at our institutes and associa-
tions, allow me most respectfully to suggest one partial remedy
that has occurred to me, which is to require school commis-
sioners to hold, semi-annually, town institutes of one week
each, in each town, and to grant licenses only to such teach-
ers as attend punctually one of these institutes, limiting the
licenses given at the spring institute to six months, and ^at the
fall to one year ; also limiting the first grade to two years, to
be obtained only at the county institute, and holding no other
examinations. I think I can see many good results growing
out of such an arrangement.
SuTBEiNTsiWEtrr of Public Instruction. 269
The two union graded schools continue to be the schools
of this district. The prosperity of the one located at Pitts-
burgh was checked last fall by the loss by fire of the academy
building, in which were kept the grammar and academic
departments of the school. These departments now occupy
rooms rented for the purpose, but the inhabitants intend soon
to erect new buildings. Their schools ace well graded, employ-
ing seventeen teachers. Vocal music is taught in all the
grades by a highly qualified teacher. A tuition fee is charged
for tuition in the academic department. The union graded
school at Keeseville has an academic department, free to resi-
dent pupils.
Much attention, during this fall term, has been given to the
teachers' class ; and methods of teaching primary classes, as
well as a knowledge of all the branches taught, have received
special attention.
I believe only one graduate from the normal schools is now
teaching in this commissioner district, though this county is
continually furnishing them with pupils.
Many other large schools in this district employ first-class
teachers, and maintain good schools, benefiting in a high degree
all who patronize them, but they can never come up to the
highest point of usefulness resulting from a uniform course of
studies, uniformity of classification and uniform methods of
teaching, until they adopt the union graded school system.
The one is stationary, the other progressive.
The Clinton County teachers' institute was held at Platts-
burgh, commencing August 13th and continuing ten days, and
was conducted by Prof. I. B. Poucher, assisted by Miss M. S.
Cooper, both of the Oswego Normal and Training School. Not-
withstanding the extra efforts made by my associate commis-
sioner and myself to secure a general attendance, there were less
than one hundred teachers that were benefited by the institute.
The conductors met our highest expectations, and by their
untiring efforts maintained until its close a high degree of
interest among the teachers.
The seventh annual meeting of the Clinton County teachers'
270
Nineteenth Annual Retort or twe
association was held at West Chazy commencing December
26th, and con tinned three days. It was well attended by
nearly all the live teachers in the county, and was interesting
and profitable. A session of similar character was held one
year previous at Schnyler Falls, leaving a good and bene-
ficial influence npon all connected with it.
Permit me, in conclusion, to tender my thanks to teachers
and pupils for their respect, to town and school officers for
their cheerful co-operation, and to the Superintendent of Pub-
lic Instruction for his kind forbearance, and to conclude the
duties of this office by reverently asking that Heaven's bless-
ings may rest upon our common schools.
IRA D. KNOWLES.
Pkeu, December 31, 1872.
CORTLAND COUNTY— First District.
Hon. Abrah B. Weaver,
/ Superintendent of Pvblic Instruction :
Sir. — The following report is respectfully submitted :
The following financial and statistical tables present leading
items of trustees' reports for the years 1871 and 1872.
Statistical.
NAMES OF TOWNS.
Cortland villa.
Clnctnnatae .
Freetown . . .
Harford
Lapeer
Marathon
Vinrtl
Wlllet
Total
i
No. of children
between the
Number in
Average
S
age* of five and
attendance.
attendance.
•
94
twenty-one.
1871.
1879.
1871,
1879.
1871.
1879.
1,650
1,416
1,101
1,019
558
478
8
897
858
985
980
199
119
8
807
819
978
970
188
1«T
7
959
978
957
805
181
197
9
975
958
948
951
194
196
7
498
480
418
456
919
906
90
688
569
484
475
968
980
8
91
998
951
944
984
189
199
4,141
8,915
8,810
8.980
1,670
1,567
i
SUPEBTNTXNDXNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 271
It will be noted that the number of children of school age
for the year 1872 is less by 226 than for the year 1871, while
the whole number in attendance was bat thirty less.
Financial.
NAUBS OF TOWN8.
Corttandrflle
Cindnnatas
Freetown ..
Harford
Lipeer
Martthon ...
Virrfl
Wfflet .. ..,
Total...
Total amount
reeeired and expended.
1971.
$7,097 47
1,965 88
ft, 318 87
8,938 66
2, 016 68
2,876 14
8,880 06
1,670 89
$26,229 09
1872.
Amount fatted by tax.
1871.
$7,588 21
1,887 12
1.766 47
2,112 54
1,614 70
2,926 72
8.767 56
1,587 74
$28,160 06
$8,111 20
782 47
772 27
2,962 80
785 79
1,4)8 55
926 89
788 84
$11,22181
1872.
$8,269 60
752 57
888 55
1,287 74
482 74
1,520 80
981 20
691 48
$9,279 74
The total amount paid for teachers' wages, for the year 1871,
was $20,713.60, and for the year 1872, $19,739.92. The aver-
age weekly compensation of teachers, for the year 1871, was
$8.02; for the year 1872, $7.75. The average expense per
pupil for 1871, was $7.91 ; for 1872, $7.06, being eighty-five
cents less. .
The tendency of public opinion is to greater liberality in
building and repairing school-houses. In the village of Mara-
thon, where but a few years ago, a vote could not be secured
to raise comparatively a small sum for building purposes, one
of the finest school buildings in the county has been erected,
during the past year, at an expense of more than $8,000.
New school-houses have also been built in some of the rural
districts, and others have been thoroughly repaired.
The number of school districts having more than one trus-
tee has been reduced to six, and is gradually lessening year by
year. This class of officers, receiving no compensation for
services, and ofttiines being subjected to unreasonable fault-
finding and unfriendly criticism, as a whole, have done well.
. I have but a word to say of the teachers. With few excep-
tions they have done well, and are to be commended for their
273 Ninstmmnth Aniwal Rsport or TBB
earnest endeavors to discharge tbeir duties faithfully and effi-
ciently. I am glad to state that they are more fully compen-
sated than formerly. There are some persons, however, who
mournfully assert that teachers are paid too much, and even
blame the commissioner for his efforts to elevate their qualifi-
cations, for fear they will demand and receive higher wages,
thus incurring additional taxation. The business of teaching
is no sinecure, and there is no department of labor more worthy
of adequate compensation.
Another year's experience confirms me more fully in the
opinion, expressed in my last report, that young persons are
allowed to teach at too early an age. The enactment of a law
prohibiting persons under the age of eighteen from teaching,
would be the most immediate and efficient means of improv-
ing the condition of the schools. There are but few boys and
girls under this age that have the judgment and discretion so
essential to a proper discharge of the responsible duties of a
teacher.
Much has been said in regard to the qualifications of teachers
and with propriety too. But little, so far as my observation
extends, has been said as to the qualifications of school com-
missioners. It is a notorious fact that many have secured the
position through political machinery, who are incompetent ;
that is to say, they are put in a position to supervise, criticise
and instruct a body of teachers, a majority of whom are better
qualified, in all respects, than themselves. This condition of
affairs is humiliating to the teachers. How can it be remedied \
I answer, by introducing civil service reform in this particular.
School commissioners should be selected by competitive
examination, and not by intriguing, wire-pulling politicians,
regardless of qualifications. There should be selected by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, or other competent
authority, a committee of three or five distinguished educators,
in each senatorial district, to examine candidates for the office
of school commissioner, at stated periods ; and the names of two
or three sustaining the best examination should be presented
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, -who should
Superintendent of Public Instbuction. 278
appoint one of the number thus selected, school commissioner,
for three years. No one should be eligible to reappointment
until after having shown by another examination his superior
qualifications. A plan of this kind would doubtless aid mate-
rially, in elevating the standard of education, and prevent
presuming ignorance from usurping the place that should be
occupied by worth, intelligence and capability.
Since academies occupy a kind of anomalous relation to our
public school system, their interests being in a measure antago-
nistic to free schools, the propriety of sustaining them in part,
from the State treasury, is being seriously questioned, and freely
discussed. There is but one academy in this commissioner
district, and for some years it has had but a feeble existence.
I am fully aware that there are some academic schools that
are doing a much needed and useful work, and should be
liberally sustained; but when an academy becomes so far
reduced that the trustees are willing to farm it out, without
pecuniary consideration, to incompetent teachers — to teachers
even who are barely qualified to teach a district school, then
the propriety of its longer existence at public expense, is ques-
tionable. A person to teach any grade of district school must
obtain the necessary license ; but any one, competent or other-
wise, may take the position of principal or teacher in an
academy, without license. Teachers' classes thus fall, some-
times, into the bands of those who are wanting in most of the
qualifications necessary to a proper discharge of their duties
toward them. A half hour per day devoted to a teachers'
class, by an illy qualified principal, will not prepare a class of
teachers very rapidly or very thoroughly, for their work. The
ten dollars per capita, paid by the State for each member of
the class, seems to be the prominent feature in the case,
regardless of results.
It is obvious, in view of the foregoing, that the Regents
should require academic teachers to be licensed in accordance
with a fixed and elevated standard ; and, furthermore, they
should select such academies to instruct teachers' classes as are
in charge of teachers of undoubted qualifications.
18
274 Nineteenth Annual Report or the
•
Cortland Normal School continues to sustain its reputation
as one of the most efficient institutions of the kind in the
State. The attendance during the year has been larger than
during previous years. The wisdom of establishing normal
schools is becoming more apparent, and it is hoped that
measures will speedily be taken to free them from all encum-
bering, local obligations.
The examination of candidates for the Cornell free scholar-
ship was held at Cortland, in August last, by the school com-
missioners, under the amended law. The candidates exhibited
a higher grade of scholarship than at any previous examina-
tion. These free scholarships, connecting the institution with
the public schools of all parts of the State, must, in time, exert
a wide and salutary influence.
The last session of the Cortland County teachers' institute
was held at Homer. Prof. O. Morehouse, of Albion, acted
as conductor, doing his work well. Mrs. Mina Metcalf, of
Randolph, served as assistant, and both gained the confidence
of all as educators of intelligence and ability. The attend-
ance was large, being about two hundred. The session was
one of profit and usefulness to the teachers.
It is believed that in no part of the State have teachers'
associations and school conventions been reduced to system, so
fully as in Cortland county. During the past year, nearly all
the schools and teachers have been assembled in their respec-
tive towns for review, discussion and comparison of methods
of teaching ; and for the purpose of adding interest to these
occasions, the exercises were interspersed with essays by pupils
and teachers, prize spelling, addresses, vocal and instrumental
music. The attendance in many instances, by almost the entire
community, indicates the interest and influence that have thus
been awakened.
This day closes fifteen years' service as school commissioner.
A retrospective glance brings to view marked and decided
improvements in the condition qf the schools. During this
period, our wise and beneficent free school system has been
inaugurated throughout the State ; the basis of apportionment
SUPXRINTXNDBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 275
of the public moneys has been greatly modified for the better ;
normal schools have been established in various sections of our
great commonwealth ; teachers' institutes have become more
general and more efficient, and union free schools have sprung
up in every direction. . Cornoll University, which, at the begin-
ning of this period, had no existence, now stands in all its
magnificent proportions, literally a u light set upon a hill,"
beaming with kindly rays upon our public schools. In this
commissioner district, the Cortland Normal School has been
established ; an efficient union free school at McOrawville has
been instituted; school-house sites have been enlarged and
improved ; many new school-houses have been built in the rural
districts, and in several of the villages costly school edifices
have been erected. It is safe to assert, that at no previous
time have the schools been in better condition than at present.
I have striven for the single purpose of elevating the stand-
ard of teachers' qualifications, and of increasing the usefulness
of the schools; and I have the pleasant satisfaction of know-
ing that these efforts have, in a measure, been crowned with
success. There is no pleasant er field of labor than the cause
of education, and although the pecuniary compensation may
not always be ample, yet the consciousness of aiding in elevat-
ing the moral, social and intellectual condition of our fellow-
men, will ever bring the most pleasing rewards. *
D. E. WHITMORE,
School Commissioner.
Marathon, Dec. 31, 1872.
CORTLAND COUNTY— Second District.
Hon. Abram B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction ;
Sir. — In compliance with your request, I respectfully sub-
mit the following report.
In the following tables will be found some of the more
important statistical and financial items from my abstracts of
trustees' reports:
276
Nineteenth Annual Re poet or the
Statistical.
NAMES
OF TOWNS.
•
!
OB
•o
o
6
fc
17
90
19
9
10
11
14
No. of children
between the
ages of five and
twenty-one.
Number in
attendance.
ATerage
attendance.
Value of
school-houses
and sites.
1870.
1879.
1870.
1872.
1870.
1872.
1870.
1672.
Scott
460
996
886
884
806
861
665
486
1,0*29
874
891
888
860
529
401
688
819
807
299
884
497
878
084
815
979
804
817
480
189
818
186
148
184
168
249
168
841
188
180
186
161
206
5,715
10,880
4,840
4,780
2,896
8,000
4,696
4,860
10,476
8,940
2,626
8,460
8,940
Solon
8,410
8,879
2,783
2,707
1,887
1,284
86,206
88,865
It will be readily seen in the above table that the number of
children between the ages of five and twenty-one is thirty-one
less in 1872 than in 1870. The number in attendance, seventy-
six less ; the average attendance, fifty-three less. The number
of male teachers employed during the year faas forty-two ; the
number of female teachers, one hundred and twenty-five.
Financial.
JUMES OF TOWNS.
— •
Cnyler...
Homer...
Preble . . .
Scott ....
Solon....
Taylor...
Trozton.
Total
Total amount
received and expended.
1870.
$8,028 87
4,886 51
2,461 08
1,866 26
2,080 37
1,852 68
8,678 25
$19,552 92
1872.
$2,716 61
4,140 82
1,953 47
1,790 82
1,857 10
1,866 47
8,975 69
$17,529 88
Amount raised
by tax.
1870.
$911 91
1,660 18
1,000 56
688 06
865 77
514 47
1,129 65
$6,668 67
1872.
$927 67
1,488 86
748 68
668 40
687 97
674 47
1,999 94
$6,952 48
An examination of the above table shows that the amount
expended in 1872 was $2,023.04 less than in 1870; that the
amount raised by tax was $411.14 less. The amount expended
for teachers' wages was $25.62 more than in 1870. The
amount of public money apportioned to the districts was
$422.93 less than in 1870. The highest wages paid any male
teacher during the year was $15.00 per week ; the lowest, $5.00.
The highest wages paid any female teacher was $7.50; and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 277
>
lowest, $3.00 per week. The average expense of instructing
each pupil in attendance during the year was $6.48. Of the
whole number of districts under my supervision, only ten have
three trustees.
In respect to the condition of the schools, I am able to say,
that whereas three years ago it was the exception, upon enter-
ing the school-room, to find classes thoroughly drilled in the
work passed over in their various studies, now the exception
has become the general rule, and, I believe, the teachers of this
district, as a body, are earnestly laboring to make their
instruction thorough and efficient. The school associations
held in each town during the year have done much to inspire
both teachers and pupils with the necessity of doing Such work
in the school-room as they will wish to present to the public;
and, by these yearly convocations, a new impetus seems to *be
given to the cause of education. A majority of those who
taught in the summer schools found their way, at the close of
their terms, to the teachers' classes established in the Cortland
Academy and Normal School, showing a desire to better pre*
pare themselves fpr their work. With the present corps of
teachers in those institutions of learning, we look with bright
prospects to the higher standard which the teachers of Cortland
County must take in the future.
A teachers' institute was held in this county in October last
at the village of Homer, under the management of the com-
missioners. Prof. O. Morehouse, of Albion, N. Y.9 assisted by
Mrs. Mina Metcalf, appointed as instructors by the Depart,
ment, did good service. As conductor, Prof. Morehouse is a
very efficient worker, showing earnestness and decision at
every step, and laboring faithfully to secure to the teacher a
higher proficiency as a necessary qualification for the instruc-
tion of youth. Mrs. Metcalf introduced many useful methods
in primary instruction, and carried away with her the best
wishes of the institute.
In my previous reports I have urged the necessity of apply-
ing the library money to the purchase of globes and maps. In
this opinion I am more confirmed, as I pass from school to
278 Nineteenth Annual Export of tbe
m
school and find not one ont of twenty schools in possession of
a globe, and only a scanty supply of maps. The want of a
uniform series of text-books prevails to some extent in the
schools, making the labors of the teachers less effective, and -
thereby preventing suitable classification of pnpils for the
purposes of instruction. I hope the day is not far distant
when those in authority will devise means to compel the use
of the same series of text-books in every school in the State.
Then, and not until then, will one teacher be able to so classify
his pupils as to be able to instruct a school of sixty pupils
jnore easily than he can one of thirty now.
At present, tbe practical utility of the knowledge imparted
is made, "to some extent, the primary object of education,
instead of the expansion of the various faculties of the mind.
Parents usually appear to think, if they send their children to
school and never visit it themselves, they are doing all that is
necessary; and a general disposition prevails to throw all
responsibility upon the teacher. Both instructor and pnpils
require sympathy much oftener than they receive it. I know
of nothing which so animates and encourages the teacher as
the frequent visits of parents and others. Nothing can inspire
the pupils more than the presence of their parents, and nothing
can supply the place of their zealous co-operation and frequent
visits.
I believe investigation, and a few years' trial, have proved
that the free school system is the only one consistent with the
national character of our schools. This being so, neither the
parsimony of the selfish, the prejudices of the ignorant, nor
the insidious attacks of the enemies of liberty, will endanger
its permanency or impair its usefulness. To me it appears
consistent, that if the State has anything at all to do with
education, if it has a right to impose a tax either directly or
indirectly for the maintenance of schools, it must also have a
right *to prevent these means being ineffectual in educating
tbe people. By adopting a system of national education, we
declare that it is not an individual or parental duty, but a
State one ; and government has undoubtedly the same right to
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 279
compel the attendance of children, when they are not sent by
parents, that it has to compel the payment of school tax when
necessary. Nor would the rights of any parents be violated.
No one can claim the unenviable right of keeping his children
in ignorance, or the distinction of depriving them of the bene-
fits of instruction provided by the State. Every person living
in civilized society enjoys certain advantages as a social being,
and society has the power of demanding that he be quali-
fied to reciprocate those benefits. It therefore provides for
his education not merely on the ground of benefit to the
recipient individual, but to the country of which he is a citizen.
The parent cannot demand to do that which is obviously
wrong in itself, hurtful to his offspring, and opposed to the
interests of the country. Rendering attendance compulsory
would not at all affect those who are willing to send, and those
who are not would only be prevented doing an injury to their
children and to the State. The right of the parent to direct
every action of his child is not a natural one, and should not
therefore in this matter be made legal. We do not recognize
in the former a power to oblige his offspring* to steal, and in
this way injure the State ; then why recognize a right to keep
them in ignorance! The rights of the State are as much
natural rights as those of parents, and, having the same origin,
cannot be incompatible; neither can there be a just claim to
exemption from doing what is just.
I am confident, notwithstanding the many defects here and
there existing, that the school year just closed has been one of
much improvement, not only in the management of the schools,
but also in methods of instruction ; and, as I re-enter upon
another term, I fully resolve to discharge the duties of my
office with greater fidelity, if possible, and with a just appre-
ciation of the necessity of a higher standard of qualification
for all those who become instructors in the common schools.
R. T. PECK,
School Commissioner.
Solon, Deo. 28*A, 1872.
280 Nineteenth Annual Report or toe
DUTCHESS COUNTY — Second Distbict.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sis. — In this, my last report, I beg leave to state that the
schools in this district are in a promising condition, very
i^any of them making great improvement in the grade of
study and in the thoroughness of their work. The school
buildings have been very much improved daring the year.
Several entirely new ones have been erected, admirably fitted
for school purposes, and others are in contemplation. We
held a teachers' institute at Poughkeepsie, which was well
attended, but was not so fruitful in results as might seem to
be warranted by the outlay of time and money. I deem some
radical change in this matter necessary to preserve the unity
of trustees and teachers with reference to institutes.
I am more than ever convinced that very much depends
upon the commissioner to keep the general tone of the schools
under his supervison good, and to preserve the faith of the
people in the district schools. I beg leave to recall my sug-
gestion of last year, that some measures be adopted whereby
the taxation may be more completely and fairly adjusted, to
the end that greater harmony may prevail. If not outside
of my province, I would recommend your Department to
institute some inquiry, with reference to the number not
attending school who are of suitable age, as the schools, with
their present capacity, might do double the work with but
slight increase of expenditure.
I would like to commend again some of the high schools in
this district, under private management, which have greatly
contributed to improve the scholarship in the common schools,
foremost among which is our Bhinebeck Institute.
Thanking the Department for its courtesy and kindness
during my term of office, I subscribe myself
Yours, etc.,
ISAAC F. COLLINS,
School Commissioner.
Rhinebecx, N. Y., Dec. 3Ut} 1872.
Supnsintmnbmnt of Public Instruction. 281
ERIE COUNTY— Thibd District.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — Please accept this report for the last preceding school
year. The schools, as a whole, have been successful. Peace
and harmony reign throughout the entire commissioner dis-
trict. The prominent wants and needs of our schools are the
same as stated in a preceding report : more interest in schools
by the people, and a better grade of teachers. The lack of
these forms the great obstacle to success. Though some
advancement has been made, yet the field is left comparatively
unimproved. Trustees hire teachers, set them at work, and
then, seemingly, conclude their responsibility is done. The
teacher, being entirely alone, without outside help save a call
or two from the commissioner, struggles on to the middle of
the term, perhaps, and finds the interest waning. Patrons
complain, children are taken from school, and the result is at
least a partial failure, which may be attributed to one or both
of the causes previously stated.
I trust our Legislature will see that' all public money is
given to support our glorious school system, instead of foster-
ing institutions that war against our schools in more ways
than one. It has been truly said, " Why give aid to schools
of academic grade in which tuition is not free, when the law
provides for union schools in which tuition is free?"
The number of children, and the average daily attendance,
are nearly the same as for the previous year. Libraries con-
tinue to go the down-hill course, and in this section, at least,
have nearly reached the bottom. They are practically dead,
and of no value to any one.
One new school-house has been built in district No. 12, of
Collins. District No. 13, of Concord, will build another year,
and then we shall have comfortable, and, in many districts,
tasty houses, seated with improved seats and otherwise neatly
furnished.
282 NnmTMBNTR Annual Report of the
This closes my duties as school commissioner. For your
uniform kindness ever manifested toward me, I give to yon
my sincere thanks.
Youre truly,
S. W. SOULE,
Commissioner.
Collins Centbe, N. Y., Dec, 1872.
JEFFERSON COUNT Y— Second District.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — For statistics I would refer you to my abstract of
trustees' reports.
Of the one hundred and seven school-houses in this dis-
trict, about eighty are in comfortable condition for the health
of the pupils. We have all kinds of school-houses, from very
good to very bad ; three new houses have .been put up during
the past year. In several districts they are making arrange-
ments to build new bouses next season, and in some to thor-
oughly repair those they have. I have assurances that, in the
future, the people will pay more attention to the wants and
comfort of their children in these respects, than has been shown
in the past.
In some districts the books in the libraries are well preserved,
and are read more or less by children and parents ; in the
majority of districts, however, they are a thing of the past, no
interest whatever being taken in them. I think I am safe in
saying that not one trustee in twenty has known the number
of volumes in his school district library for the past ten years ;
and the number given 'in trustees' reports is generally guess
work. The one-trustee system is gradually gaining ground.
The business of a district with one trustee is done better and
much more promptly. There is one union free school (and
there should be at least three more), also one academy located
at Antwerp, both in a flourishing condition.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 288
Teachers' classes are instructed in both schools, and much
practical good to our common schools results from the moral
and intellectual training there received. Teachers, generally,
are principally deficient in practical teaching, application and
general information. The majority Jare strictly confined to
text-books. I have necessarily refused to license many.
Our institute was held this fall at the court-house in the city
of Watertown. It commenced August 25th, and continued
two weeks. The instruction was principally conducted by Prof.
Cruttenden, assisted by Miss Flora T. Parsons. The attend-
ance was not as large as in some previous years, yet the insti-
tute was a decided success.
As to norma] and training schools, I hear no objection to
increasing the number. All with whom I have conversed
acknowledge their superiority over other schools, and feel grate-
ful to the managers of our public educational interests that
such means are placed within the reach of all who will qualify
themselves for teachers.
Trustees9 reports are very imperfect ; their financial accounts
are often poorly kept, even when they have account-books.
Some, who in their own accounts make the entries Dr. and Or.
properly, when they come to enter them in the district books,
confuse their receipts and payments.. Would it not be advan-
tageous for the Department to provide a trustees' account-book,
with proper rulings answering to the separate specifications of
the blanks for trustees' reports ?
An increasing zeal is exhibited by most of the teachers.
Few, however, are fully aroused to the great importance, utility
and responsibilities of their work. Too many apparently teach
for pay merely, rather than from love of their work, and an
earnest desire to do the greatest amount of good in this field
of intellectual and moral culture. Teachers, who will be in
demand by the people, must seek to attain better qualifica-
tions and make teaching a profession:
Commissioners must also seek by example and precept to
infuse, this spirit into their teachers, be more thorough in their
examinations, more decided in denying licenses tq those of
294 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
The following are the items of this expenditure :
For teachers' wages $1,932,370 37
For school apparatus 152,603 86
For colored schools (all expenses) 41 , 646 31
For school-bouses and sites * 607,808 24
For all other incidental expenses, viz. :
For fuel $123,225 14
For janitors' salaries 110,578 59
For officere' salaries 73 , 878 71
For other expenses 50,486 78
358,169 22
For corporate schools - 103,519 75
Total.... $3,196,117 25
The whole number of schools under the charge of the board
of public instruction of this city, and superintended by the
undersigned and six assistants, is two hundred and eighty-one,
comprising forty-eight grammar schools for males, forty-four
grammar schools for females, ninety-five primary schools, ten
colored schools and departments, including the Saturday nor-
mal school for colored teachera, two other normal schools,
including the normal college for females, thirty-one evening
schools and fifty-one corporate schools.
The following table exhibits the number of pupils taught
during the year in such class of schools, as compared with the
preceding year :
18W. 18W.
Male grammar schools 31,271 81,907
Female grammar schools 28 , 062 27 , 807
Primary schools 128,173 127,651
Colored schools 1,832 2,046
Evening schools 20,979 19,526
Corporate schools 23,418 21,699
Normal schools 2,145 2,015
Total 235,880 232,651
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 295
By this it will be perceived that the number of pupils,
reported as taught during the year 1872, is more than three
thousand in excess of that reported the previous year, the
largest part of this increase being in the corporate schools.
Male grammar schools. . .
Female grammar schools
Primary schools
Colored schools
Evening schools
Corporate schools
Normal schools
Total
Average attendance.
Number of teachers.
1872.
1871.
1872.
1871.
16,080
14,028
64,028
707
0,860
8,267
1,446
16,424
14,068
68,844
782
8,814
.7,621
1,801
668
606
1,266
48
874
166
22
666
470
1,286
44
868
162
28
106,826
108.888
2,887
2,018
From this it will be seen that the average attendance of
pupils in 1872 is nearly four thousand in excess of that
reported last year.
Two new school edifices, in process of erection at the date
of my last report, have been completed daring the year, and
the schools opened therein are now in' successful operation.
These buildings together are adequate for the accommodation
of an attendance of about five thousand children, and the
number at present in daily attendance is about 4,500.
The examination of the schools by the deputy superintend-
ents of grammar and primary schools, during the year, has
resulted in showing in many respects a decided improvement
in the instruction given to the various classes, while the repu-
tation of the schools for good discipline has been quite satis-
factorily maintained.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY KIDDLE,
City Superintendent
296 NlNSTEMNTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
NIAGARA COUNTY— City of Lookpobt.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
State Superintendent of PvMic Instruction :
Sib. — In compliance with your request, I have now the
honor to present to yon a special report regarding the progress
and condition of educational matters in this city, with such
remarks as the subject has suggested. As the financial situa-
tion of our city schools has been already fully exhibited in
my annual report, it appears unnecessary to enter particularly
into further details on that head.
When I was appointed to the office of superintendent of
public schools in this place, Lockport was an incorporated
village. The principal school at that time, as now, was the
union school, first opened for instruction in 1848. It is a
substantial stone building, but, however, hardly large enough
for the increasing wants of the city. There were, besides, two
good modern brick school-houses, one containing four rooms,
and capable of accommodating with comfort about two hun-
dred and fifty children, although we have often been obliged
to crowd in many more ; the other containing two rooms, and
accommodating, perhaps, one hundred and twenty. The
other school-houses were gloomy, old-fashioned buildings, with
poor accommodations for the pupils, and by no means equal
in any respect to the requirements of the present day.
A few years ago the subject of building new school-houses
began to be agitated in our board of education. Some time,
however, as is generally the case, elapsed before action was .
resolved upon. At length, in the spring of 1868, it was deter-
mined to build, on a lot previously purchased by the board, a
school-house in that part of the city called East Lockport.
Two primary school districts and one secondary district were
consolidated for that purpose, and the school-house was accord-
ingly built. It is a substantial brick building, called the
Clinton-street School, and contains seven spacious rooms, one
of which is used as an assembly room. It was opened for
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 297
instruction in March, 1869. In the autumn of that year a
piece of ground was purchased on High street, and a contract
was entered into for the erection of another school-house.
Winter intervening, the building was not completed until the
following autumn. It is an edifice possessing about the same
accommodations as the other, but it is of higher architectural
pretensions, and the expense of erecting it was proportionably
greater. Occupying a commanding site, it is an ornament
not only to the neighborhood in which it is situated, but also
to the city at large. About a year ago another handsome
edifice was finished, named the Hawley-street School, which
will accommodate about the same number of scholars as each
of the other two.
The erection of these three school-houses has been attended
with considerable expense to the city; but our citizens, I
believe, consider the money as profitably expended ; and Lock-
port may now boast of being as well provided with good
primary school buildings as any city of the same size and
means in the State.
I need hardly enlarge here upon the beneficial influence of
comfortable and convenient school-rooms. On the plastic
nature of children impressions are easily made; but when
made, are often difficult to be effaced. If children fresh from
home are placed in dark, crowded, and ill-arranged rootm, the
feelings then excited may long associate the idea of school
with that of gloom and discomfort. If, on the contrary, chil-
dren on their first entrance into school find themselves seated
in convenient and commodious apartments, with all the sur-
roundings pleasant and agreeable, it is probable that the effect
produced on their minds will be highly favorable, and will be
manifested in a love for school, and their consequent improve-
ment. The aesthetic principle in their nature will be fostered
and strengthened ; a taste for the elegant and beautiful will
gradually be developed; and the place where they receive
their first lessons in learning will be remembered not as a
dreary prison-house, but will in after life be associated with
bright and happy images on which memory may love to dwelL
298 Nineteenth Annual Export of the
During my superintendence the number of teachers employed
in our public schools has increased from twenty-eight to forty.
Their salaries have likewise been considerably increased, being
nearly doubled in amount. Of the forty teachers employed,
three only are males, the work of instruction being principally
carried on by female teachers.
The increase in the number of scholars attending our public
schools has been steady, and the average attendance will not
compare unfavorably with that of other cities. But while this
is the case, it must be acknowledged with regret that the
attendance might and ought to be much larger. Many parents
do not appear to appreciate sufficiently the vital importance
of punctual and regular attendance on the part of their chil-
dren. Many parents are in circumstances that seem, at least
during a part of the year, to render the help of their children
necessary to the subsistence and comfort of their families.
Yery few, I am happy to think, are at the present day totally
indifferent to the education of their children. There is, how-
ever, a certain class of boys, here as elsewhere, over whom
parents seem to lose control, who unfortunately prefer the
license of the streets to the wholesome restraint of the school-
room ; and I regret that there does not exist some compulsory
means to stop them in a career, which, if not checked, will
inevitably lead to crime and infamy.
In the school system of this city the scholars pass by exami-
nation from the primary schools into the junior department of
the union school. This may be called a grammar school,
instruction being given in the branches usually taught in
grammar schools. One principal and live assistant, teachers
are employed, and the scholars number upwards of three hun-
dred. The instruction is thorough and efficient; the order
and discipline are excellent, and the school is highly and
deservedly popular. From the junior department the pupils
pass once a year, by examination and certificate, into the
senior or academic department. The course of study in this
department is similar to that of our best academies, embracing
the higher branches of English education, mathematics, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 299
Latin, Greek, French and German languages. It is provided
with a good mineral and geological cabinet, philosophical
apparatus and a library of about two hundred and seventy
volumes. It is in a prosperous condition, and its reputation
for scholarship and discipline is high in the city and county.
A majority, indeed, of the teachers in onr city schools have
heretofore received their finishing education in this depart-
ment Ever since its institution it has also been noted as a
nursery of teachers for Niagara county, and has, in this respect,
proved of signal service to the cause of education in this sec-
tion of the State.
During the past year there were only two of our teachers
that held diplomas from normal schools in this State, and one
of these was recently married and has left the profession of
' teaching. No one can entertain a higher opinion than I do of
the utility of these schools, and of the training and qualifica-
tions of the teachers that they send forth into the field of
education ; but it would seem that their graduates generally
look for and obtain positions where higher salaries are paid
than in this city ; and this remark will apply with still greater
force to the district schools in the country. When teachers
are better paid, and their situations become more stable and
permanent, a greater number of normal school graduates will
be found willing to take charge of district schools, and the
results in the great work of education will be proportionably
beneficial.
For more than five years, discipline in both departments of
our union school has been maintained without recourse to
corporal punishment. Appeals to the sense of duty and to
feelings and principles of honor, and the promotion of emula-
tion among the pupils, have hitherto been the agencies princi-
pally relied upon by our teachers, and have been found adequate
to the end proposed in the good government of the school.
The cases have been very few in which suspension or expul-
sion has been necessary. It has not yet been deemed expe-
dient to prohibit corporal punishment in the primary schools ;
but as the best public sentiment is now pronouncing strongly
300 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
against physical coercion, and as teachers themselves are begin-
ning to perceive that schools can be governed without resort
to this degrading mode of punishment, it is hoped that ere
long it may altogether be dispensed with. If teachers have
.the tact and ability to arouse and fix the attention of their
scholars, and to preserve an interest in their daily work, there
will be little need for the employment of such punishment in
the maintenance of order and the enforcement of study ; and
teachers who, at the present day, would rely upon the rod as
the chief instrument of discipline, have certainly mistaken
their calling. A resort to such punishment, except in extreme
cases, should, I think, be discountenanced and avoided.
We have been endeavoring of late to introduce to a greater
extent into our schools the method of object teaching, and oral
instruction in general. Much has been recently said in favor '
of this method of instruction, and some have thought that its
friends have gone too fast and far in its advocacy. It cannot,
however, be denied, that it is a powerful instrument in awaken-
ing and cultivating the perceptive faculties, and in training
the young both to think and to express their thoughts with
facility. It is, of course, necessary to proceed cautiously and
intelligently in its employment. To nse and not to abuse it
requires skill, intelligence and information on the part of the
teacher. In the hands of a weak, unskillful, or careless
teacher, it may fail in producing the expected results, and may
degenerate into an uninteresting round of descriptive adjec-
tives and a useless repetition of set phrases.
Unless this kind of instruction is well arranged and care-
fully considered, a loss of valuable time may ensue. It is
all-important in our primary schools, that the children shall be
well and thoroughly trained to spell, read and write; that
they should be made familiar with the principles and practice
of arithmetic, and with the main facts relative to geography
and the history of their own country. These elementary
branches must not be neglected, and their acquisition should
not be interfered with. They lie at the foundation of the
educational structure ; on them all future knowledge is to be
SUPMRINTXNDSNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 801
built ; and oral instruction, to carry out its design profitably,
must be so regulated as to assist, and not to hinder or embar-
rass the scholar in the mastery of these essential rudiments.
I am satisfied that oral instruction can be so regulated, and
may be so managed from almost the commencement of the
child's attendance in school, as to be productive of important
advantages, in famishing the young mind with objects of
thought, in encouraging inquiry, observation and reflection,
and in so ordering and exercising the mental powers as to
assure greater success in general study.
In the first stage of the school career, judicious oral instruc-
tion may thus be rendered eminently serviceable in awaken-
ing perception and inculcating morality and virtue ; and as
advance is made in knowledge, it will become still more
decidedly useful in preparing the mind to receive truth, to
retain it intelligently, and to grasp and acquire new informa-
tion. It is a matter of regret to think how much time is,
virtually lost in mere reproduction of the words of the text-
book ; and how many children go out from school into the
world without the development and cultivation of their facul-
ties, which it is the true province of education to provide.
The best system of teaching will always aim at a combination
of oral instruction with that based upon the text-book, and at
imparting such intellectual culture as will enable the diligent
pupil to master any new subject that may be presented in the
course of study. The permanence of free government depends
on the knowledge and morality of the people. How import-
ant then it is that the instruction supplied by our schools
should be such as will best accomplish the true ends of educa-
tion, by preparing the pupils for an intelligent and virtuous
exercise of their civil rights, and the performance of the duties
that devolve upon them as citizens, in a pure and patriotic spirit.
Whatever system of instruction is adopted, much of its
efficiency will, of course, depend upon the teachers to whom
the work of carrying it out is entrusted. Teachers may be
faithful, and may even labor hard in their vocation, and yet
not meet with the success that they expect. Custom and
802 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
routine throw barriers around many teachers, which they find
it difficult to surmount. To-day will see them do what they
did yesterday, and they would be at a loss to assign any better
reason for so doing than that they did it yesterday. One
great use of teachers' institutes, teachers' associations, and of
educational periodicals, is to help such teachers out of the dull
and barren path of habit and routine, by unfolding to them
their deficiencies, and pointing out appropriate remedies. It
is with teachers'as with scholars, though in a different sphere ;
they should be continually learning. The intellectual armor
must be polished, or it will be in danger of rust. It ought to
be the desire, as it is the duty, of teachers to qualify them-
selves for respectability in their profession ; and it would be
much better, both for themselves and their profession, if they
cherished persistent aspirations after excellence. Teachers
cannot become well informed and accomplished without sus-
tained effort and constancy of purpose.
I have the satisfaction of being able to state that the
teachers in the schools over which I have control appear to be
actuated by the proper spirit, and moving in the right direc-
tion ; that our young teachers seem desirous of qualifying
themselves for the intelligent and successful discharge of their
highly responsible duties ; and that our schools are, upon the
whole, in a prosperous condition, in a course of steady improve-
ment, and in the enjoyment of the support and confidence of
the community. .
The union school district library of Lockport, originally
formed by the consolidation of the several district libraries, now
contains upward of 3,700 volumes, among which are many
standard and valuable works. All possible pains is taken to
keep it in good condition. It is extensively used, not only by
the school children, but by the citizens at large, and may be
considered a public benefit.
I remain, with much respect and consideration,
Your obedient servant,
JAMES FERGUSON,
Lookpoet, Dec. 26, 1872. City Superintendent.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 808
ONONDAGA COUNTY— Third District.
Hon. Abram B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — In accordance with your request, I submit the follow*
ing brief report.
The schools under my jurisdiction are, in the main, in good
condition. I have endeavored, during the past year, to raise
the standard of teachers' qualifications; and, of all those
who attended the several examinations held by me, fifty-
seven per cent passed the required examination, and received
certificates, ranging as to time from six months to three
years. I believe that in no way can a commissioner do
more to improve the condition of the schools under his charge
than by a careful examination as to the qualifications, ability,
and moral character of those who seek the position of teacher ;
and there are now too many at the lysad of our common
schools who, by insufficient education, inability to instruct, or
lack of high moral sentiment, are robbing the children of the
aid, discipline and example to which they are justly entitled.*
Of those teaching during the present winter term, more than
three-fourths are females, there being a less number of male
teachers now employed in this district than at any time
before.
During the year just past, several school buildings have
been thoroughly repaired ; and there are now less than a dozen
school-houses in this commissioner district but that are in
excellent condition, and only three that are insufficient and
uncomfortable. During my next term I intend that all these
shall be improved, or new houses be erected instead.
Notwithstanding our admirable free-school system, there
are still many children, both male and female, who, having
illiterate parents or guardians that do not appreciate the
benefits arising from even a common-school education, are but
seldom seen in the schools. Such children should be com-
804 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
pelled to partake of the advantages which the property of the
State is compelled to furnish.
Very respectfully yours,
PARKER S. CARR,
School Commissioner.
Faykttevillb, December 28, 1872.
ONTARIO COUNTY— Second District.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
8nc — In compliance with your request of the 15th ult., I
cheerfully submit the following brief report of the condition
and want 8 of the schools under my supervision.
It is a. pleasure to me to be able to say to the Department,
that here in the second commissioner district of Ontario
county the good work of educating the rising generation is in a
healthy and prosperous condition. In this, my third annual
report, I am able, for the first time, to report a public school of
good condition in each of the one hundred and nine school
districts of this commissioner district. These districts have at
present in their employ one hundred and eighteen different
teachers. The people are becoming better acquainted with the
free school law, partly by a study of the same, and partly by
the good effect it has upon the schools of their respective dis-
tricts. I find that the better the people are acquainted with
the free school system, the more anxious they are to secure
good and efficient teachers, that they may thereby increase the
average daily attendance, and thus draw more money from
the public fund. I recommend to all teachers, who may chance
to read this report, that it is a good plan for teachers to vie
with each other in endeavoring to secure a high per cent of
daily attendance of their pupils. One of the great hindrances
to thoroughness in our district schools, is irregularity of attend-
ance. This can be somewhat overcome by the teachers, if they
will give it their attention.
Superintendent or Public Instruction 805
Tbe improvements in school buildings are going on as fast
as can be expected. There has been but one new school-house
bnilt the past year, but several have been thoroughly repaired,
making them as good as new. The people are beginning to
think that it is better and cheaper to build comfortable school-
houses for the accommodation of their children, than to pay for
fuel and doctors' bills. There are, aside from the one hnudred
and nine district schools in this commissioner district, three
academies and one seminary, located at Canandaigua, Naples
and East Bloomfield, all of which are first-class schools. If
these schools continue for the next three years in the condition
they are at present, I shall expect much good from them to the
district schools. I find that the tendency of every good insti-
tution is to enhance the interests of all other good institu-
tions.
I would call the attention of the Department to that portion
of sec. 66, title 7, of the " Code," which gives the trustees
power to assess each taxable inhabitant of a district on the
property owned or possessed by him situated partly in his own
district, and partly in an adjoining district. This has been
and is the cause of much pecuniary embarrassment to several
of my school districts. The inhabitants of a wealthy district
purchase the territory of an adjoining poorer district, which
joins their farms, thereby carrying the assessment of the weaker
district into the stronger one, bo that eventually the wealthy
district will control so much of the real estate of its neighbor-
ing district that it will be impossible for the poor district to
sustain a school. The following example is but one of several
which I might cite : The assessed valuation of district No. 11,
town of Richmond, is about $98,000 ; that of an adjoining
district, No. 10, of the same town, is $21,212; much of the
property that goes to swell the assessment of No. 11 lies within
the boundaries of No. 10. If No. 10 could hold all the pro-
perty lying within the boundaries of the district, it would sup-
port a much better school than it feels able to, under tbe
present state of affairs. Each district should have the power
20
806 NlNETEBNTM ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
to tax all the real estate lying within its boundaries. I would
suggest to the Department that the attention of the Legislature
be called to this point.
I would next call the attention of the Department to the
ten days' session of our institutes. Experience and observa-
tion suggest to me that this is not the most judicious way to
spend time and money. There are but few of the teachers
who lay their plans to attend the institute more than one
week. A few come the first week, and not the second. A
majority attend the second week only. It can be seen at once,
that this makes very it unpleasant for the conductors of the insti-
tute. Most of our instructors have a two weeks' course which
they wish to present to the members of an institute. They
are obliged to give a hasty review at the beginning of the
second week, for the benefit of those who attend only the
second week. This has a tendency to discourage those who
come for the entire session. This review is necessarily so
hasty that it is of but little benefit to the new members of the
nstitute, while the interruption detracts from the general
interest of the exercises, and serves to discourage prompt
attendance in the future.
I would suggest that our institutes be held semi-annually
for five and one-half days, the Department to furnish one
competent conductor, who shall have the general management
of the institute. This conductor shall so arrange the pro-
gramme for the entire session as to alternate with the commis-
sioner or commissioners and some of the older teachers, in the
exercises of each day. Teachers are not worked enough at our
institutes. Many of them have good ideas in regard to teach-
ing, and if they were assigned certain topics at certain times
each day, they would prepare themselves in such a way as to
do justice to the subject and credit to themselves. I think
that such a course would be attended with less expense to the
State, and be more beneficial to the teachers than the present
system.
In conclusion, allow me to express my heartfelt thanks to
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 807
the Superintendent for hie prompt and satisfactory answers to
all questions submitted for his consideration.
Kespectfnlly your obedient servant,
K. B. SIMMONS,
School Commissioner.
Bbistol, December 31, 1872.
QUEENS COUNTY — Long Island City.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — Of the present condition and wants of our public
schools I have the honor to submit the following report :
By an examination of the financial statements already for-
warded to the State Department of Public Instruction, it will
be seen that the whole amount of money paid for public
instruction in this city for the year ending September SO, 1871,
was $31,930.46, while for the year ending September 30, 1872,
there wag paid for the same purpose but $28,158.45. Of this
latter amount $937.50 was for salaries due the previous year,
so that properly the expenses for the former year were
$32,867.96, and those of the latter but $27,220.95. Notwith-
standing the reduction in expense, of our schools, I am happy
to state the salaries of teachers have been increased in the
aggregate by $1,200. The balance to the credit of the board of
education, for the support of public instruction, September 30,
1871, was $6,707.35, while the reported balances in the hands
of the several boards of school trustees, September 30, 1870,
the year before the schools were united under one general
management, amounted to $12,426.55.
In 1871, the total assessments for school purposes in the
several districts now included within the limits of Long
Island City amounted to $23,000 ; in 1872, the assessments
for the same purposes amounted to only $19,494.77. The
State apportionment for these two years was $5,713.35 and
$6,342.51, respectively. From these figures it will be seen
808 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
•
that from September 30, 1870, to January 1, 1872, the three
schools within the present limits of Long Island City were
entitled to $41,139.90, while one year later, as the schools were
coming nnder their present management, the board of education
had for the corresponding fifteen months at its disposal but
$32,544.63. When we take into the account an increase last
year of eighty in our average attendance, and when further,
we report a still greater increase than this in our present
attendance over that for the school year just ended, the finan-
cial condition for the support of the schools already established,
is that of not only comparative, but absolute embarrassment.
Two wards of the city, the third and fifth, represented
respectively by 651 and 574 children of legal school age, more
than one-fourth of the entire school population of the city, and
together paying for the support of public schools $7,340.24, or
more than three-eighths of the entire school tax, are yet with-
out such schools. The requirements of these wards for the
establishment of schools therein, and the equally urgent
requirements of all our grammar schools for an upward relief
in the establishment of a high school, must be met before our
system is general in its application or complete in its grade.
The adoption of a uniform list of text-books, besides being
a matter of economy to the tax-payer, has simplified the work
of properly grading the classes of the several schools. In clas-
sification, in discipline, in system, and methods of instruction,
we believe our schools are generally improving. Also the
improvement in the average and regularity of attendance is
very marked.
We are pleased with the general earnestness and good will
with which our teachers enter upon their class-work ; we can
but regret, however, that the limited qualifications of any, as
shown by their examinations, compel us to issue certificates of
a grade lower than our highest. To quote another, we are of
the opinion, that " a low grade certificate means, though it
does not so state, that its holder is not possessed of the required
literary qualifications to recommend him or her to a position as
teacher in our public schools." As compared with the exami-
8UP*R1NTKM>MNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 309
nation of classes made last February, the results of the second
semi-annual examination made in June, show most gratifying
evidences of thoroughness in instruction and class-drill upon
the part of the teachers, and attention and application on the
part of the pupils.
In concluding this report, we can but express our satisfaction
at the harmonious workings of all the details of this depart-
ment ; to this state of good feeling, seconded by the faithful
efforts of our teachers, are we indebted for whatever is excel-
lent in the character and extent of the work which is now being
done in our public schools.
Respectfully submitted,
ALANSON PALMER,
' Superintendent.
Long Island City, Dec. 31, 18T2.
RICHMOND COUNTY.
Hon. Abram B. Weaver,*
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sib. — There is not much that is new to report in this district.
The schools pursue the even tenor of their way, with slight
advances, on the whole, in the right direction. There has
been especially a noticeable increase in the attendance at the
annual school meetings, indicating an increased interest in the
schools, for which I have been earnestly laboring. The result
is seen in the addition of over $3,000 to the salaries of the
teachers, and more than $20,000 beyond the expenditure of
last year for schools and apparatus.
If it were possible for the commissioner to attend all the
district meetings, I am firmly persuaded that a decided impulse
could be given everywhere to the prosperity of the schools,
not otherwise to be obtained. In two instances, where an
adjourned or a special meeting was held, at my request, to
allow me to be present, difficulties were removed and supplies
310 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
were voted in a manner which equally surprised and gratified
the inhabitants. I desire again to record my conviction that
the inhabitants of the districts are more liberal in their views
as to school matters than trustees generally are willing to
admit. In no case has an increase of salary for the teacher,
or a fair appropriation for the school, been refused, where it
has been earnestly recommended by the trustees.
Of course, as all the district meetings are held on the same
evening, it is impossible to reach them in the way indicated,
and equally impossible to secure a full attendance at any
special meeting, and above all, in those districts where liberal
measures are most to be desired.
I have had to form a new district, by dividing No. 2, South-
field, much against my wishes, as concentration is everywhere
more desirable, affording as it does the opportunity of grading
the scholars. There were local reasons, however, in this par-
ticular case, rendering the division inevitable ; so that No. 4,
Southfield, is now added to our districts.
In No. 3, Castleton, a noble new school-house has been
finished, at a cost of $30,000, and is now occupied. It
affords an instructive illustration of what one man can accom-
plish, when he is intelligent, liberal and earnest in his efforts
to promote the cause of education. Two years ago that dis-
trict was very poorly provided with school accommodations,
when a gentleman, holding a prominent position in the press
of New York, set himself to work to remedy the deficiency.
He imbued some of the other inhabitants with his own spirit,
and with such effect that the new building is the result, a
model of comfort and elegance. As a contrast, in No. 6,
Northfield, where more room is needed, and where those, who
would have to furnish by far the greatest proportion of the
funds, are willing to build a new school-house, one man,
drumming up the voters of the poorer and least intelligent
class, succeeded in thwarting, for the second time, a plan
which would have given the district an ample and beautiful
edifice.
District No. 2, Castleton, has built an addition to the school-
SUPBBINTBNDJBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 311
house, coating $5,000, and furnishing accommodations for four
additional teachers, two being already employed. This dis-
trict is, in all respects, a model. The trustees are educated,
liberal men, always ready to act in the interest of the school.
As one instance of their judicious care, they direct their
teachers to go, in a body, one day in every month, to visit
some school in the city or elsewhere celebrated for its excel-
lence. The two gentlemen at the head of the school, who
have no superiors anywhere, enter heartily into the plan, and
carry their corps of young teachers here and there, wherever
a model school is to be found. The result is admirable. The
ambition of the teachere is stimulated. They see the best
methods of instruction in the best schools. In consequence
their own school rises to the level of the best to be found
anywhere.
This year the number of children of school age is 11,406,
as against 11,490 last year. The number in attendance during
some part of the school' year is 5,770, compared with 5,886
last year ; but although these figures indicate a falling off of
116 in attendance, the average daily attendance has slightly
exceeded that of last year. Still, an average daily attendance
of only 2,675 out of the whole number of 11,406, shows a sad
neglect, on the part of parents, of what is due to their chil-
dren. There are 884 children in attendance in private schools.
The expenditures, during the past year, show a gratifying
advance in the right direction :
1871. 1872.
Teachers' wages $44,478 $47,175
For school-houses 23,351 41 ,158
Total expenses 87,900 107,000
Our teachers' institute was highly successful and gratifying,
although we were deprived of the services of a conductor.
The gentleman appointed by the Department telegraphed to
us, after the institute was organized and in session, that illness
prevented him from coming. In this emergency, some of the
teachers, at my request, took charge of the exercises, and with
812 Nineteenth Annual Report of tee
such success that the universal opinion of those in attendance
was, that, in point of real, practical school work, in the
interest maintained and the benefit received, this institute was
in no degree behind any previous one.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES BROWNLEE,
School Commissioner.
Port Richmond, Dec. 1872.
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY— Second District.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Sir. — The schools in this district, during the past year, have
given increasing evidence of improvement in character. The
management, discipline, system and method of instruction
seem to be constantly improving.
The greatest evil, I have oberved in the general management
of our schools, is the hap-hazard way of conducting classes.
Teachers do not seem to know just what th6y want to accom-
plish nor just how they expect to accomplish it; instead of
presenting the subject analytically, each point in its proper
order, until the climax comprehending the whole principle
under discussion is reached, the matter is taken up indiffer-
ently, without a well defined plan or method. The result is
the inquisitive few may study out and master the principle,
but the indifferent many pass on no wiser than before.
In correcting this evil and in impressing upon teachers the
conviction that systematic labor and success are inseparable, I
think the normal school in this county is exercising a benefi-
cent influence ; and yet the only benefit the common schools
derive from the normal is through the teaching of undergradu-
ates. It is a notorious fact, that the meager wages of our com-
mon schools offer no inducement to the normal graduate ; they
take their diplomas and accept a position In some kindred insti-
tution, academy or graded school, and thus the primary object ia
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 818
establishing normal schools is, to a considerable extent, frus-
trated.
To correct this and bring the normal and common schools
into close 'and practical relations, should engage the earnest
attention of all zealous educators. This subject' was ably
discussed by Dr. lie Vicar, principal of Potsdam normal
school, at the last commissioners' association, and a practical
step has been taken towards effecting the above desidera-
tum, by organizing in the normal school at Potsdam a
special training class consisting of those who purposed teach-
ing the ensuing winter. The class consisted of between
eighty and ninety members, and was instructed during ten
yeeks in the following branches : arithmetic, grammar, geo-
graphy, reading, penmanship and school economy. Princi-
ples and methods of presenting them were made the objective
point, and the final examination, conducted in the presence of
the commissioners of this county, evinced the fact that the
discipline, the class bad received, was an advance towards
accomplishing what the welfare of our schools and the wants
of our teachers imperatively demand. The class was designed
to do, on an enlarged scale, the work usually done at institutes,
and therefore the holding of an institute in this county was
excused. The task of instructing this class was voluntarily
assumed by the faculty without additional compensation.
The success that has already attended their efforts, and the
success I believe to be in store for them, will, I trust, guaran-
tee the only remuneration desired— the enhancement of the
cause of education.
It seems to me that the laws regulating the use of text-books
are very much at fault. Reposing, in district trustees, the power
of determining what books shall be used, many of whom
are unlettered and still more indifferent, is in effect leaving
the matter open to the competition of publishing houses who
unscrupulously make their interest paramount to the real
educational interests of the community. Imagine a school of
twenty or twenty-five scholars using a series consisting of five
readers and a primer, Thus, in order to teach reading pro-
314 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
perly, twenty scholars are classified in Bix grades. In my
judgment this is absurd ; and yet it is the rale and not the
exception. Under the present system, I see no hope of estab-
lishing a nniformity of text-books, even in the same school. I
think the best educational interests wonld be consulted, by
reposing this power in the commissioner of each county.
Respectfully yours,
A. BARTON HEPBURN.
Colton, Dec. 14th, 1878.
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY— Thied District.
Hon. Abram B. Weavbr,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — Upon the completion of the work of another year and
of my third term of service, a review of the results gives me
much satisfaction, and encouragement to enter with renewed
zeal upon the labor of another term.
An examination of the abstracts of trustees' reports for this
period will show a material improvement in nearly every item
indicating the general condition of the schools of this district.
This will be especially seen in both the average and total
attendance, the length of school terms, and the amount paid
for teachers' wages. The amount expended for school par-
puses, excluding the amount paid for building school-houses,
is now double the amount expended for all school purposes
nine years ago.
At that time the condition of school-houses generally was
poor in the extreme. Now a large proportion of districts are
supplied with neat and commodious school buildings. Then
there was but a single school that could lay any claim to
gradation. Now we have two thoroughly organized and
prosperous union sehools, and several graded schools of two
and three departments. But the most marked progress is the
advance in public sentiment. The impulse imparted by the
Free School Act is universally acknowledged. The advan-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 815
tages of graded over ungraded schools is understood. There
is a demand for more thorough work on the part of school
officers and teachers.
The establishment of the state normal school at Potsdam
has contributed largely to the accomplishment of these results.
Several graduates of this school are employed in this commis-
sioner district. The schools are largely supplied with teachers
from the undergraduates. Although few of them have taken
the course of instruction in methods of presenting subjects,
or in organization and discipline, yet they catch the spirit
of the institution, go to their work with a more enlightened
view of their calling, have a more definite plan of work, and
generally succeed well.
One of the most urgent necessities of the times is an adequate
number of thoroughly trained teachers, sufficient to fill all the
schools. This, under existing circumstances, cannot be
secured. It is indeed strange, that while in all other profes-
sions schools for professional training are an admitted neces-
sity, for which high schools and colleges only afford the
requisite preparation, it has not generally been regarded of
equal importance to thus provide for the training of teachers.
The inconsistency of this view needs only to be stated to be
seen, and the necessity for an increased number of professional
schools to give suitable training to teachers requires no argu-
ment. The State has long recognized the necessity for this
training. For years appropriations have been annually made
to eighty or ninety academies in the State for instructing
teachers' classes. For nearly a quarter of a century, teachers'
institutes have been supported in all the counties of the State.
The normal school system is a recognition of this necessity.
The results in the first class of schools render a continua-
tion of this appropriation of doubtful propriety. Persons to
fill these classes are rarely selected for their fitness, but from
favoritism, or to secure a tuition bill. The time devoted to
these classes does not exceed one or two hours per day. The
character of instruction is sadly defective.
Teachers' institutes have done a noble work, and were a
816 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
necessity. But the time devoted to each annual session is
00 short, and the number in attendance so, large, that with the
increased number of normal schools, it may with propriety be
deemed expedient, in some cases, to do away with them, and
provide special training classes for teachers in the normal
schools. In this connection I desire to record my unqualified
approval of the views expressed in a paper read by Dr.
Mc Vicar before' the Association of School Commissioners and
Oity Superintendents, at Rochester, in May.
In July last the commissioners of this county were invited
to meet the faculty and local board of the state normal
school at Potsdam, to consider the expediency of organizing a
special training class for persons intending to teach one or more
terms, in the public schools of the State, during the year com-
mencing October 1, 1872. After a full discussion and consult-
ation, it was decided, with the approval of the State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction, to organize such a class, for ten
weeks' instruction, at the opening of the present term. The
time required in perfecting the arrangements, arranging a course
of study, etc., left less than two weeks, previous to the opening
of the term, for giving public notice. Although the time of
notice was thus limited, a class of sixty was formed. As was
anticipated many difficulties were encountered. It was deter-
mined to make the standard of admission to the class low. Of
necessity the class was mixed. Some did not fully understand the
nature and design of the instruction ; others were not properly
prepared to do the work. The instructors found difficulty in
determining the wants of the class, and of adapting instruction
to their necessities. Notwithstanding these and other embar-
rassments, the effort was a decided success. The fifth week of
the course I visited the class, examined carefully the methods
of instruction pursued, and the progress made. In connection
with Commissioner Hepburn, I was present at the examination
at the close of the term. It occupied two days, was thorough and
critical. The class acquitted themselves with credit. The
ability displayed in the presentation of subject's was especially
marked.
SUPERINTENDENT Of PfJBLIO INSTRUCTION. 317
An abstract of points discussed in several subjects taught is
herewith submitted.
Abstract of Points discussed ik Special Training Class under the
head of Grammar.
What is Required of a Teacfier.
I. A knowledge of the subject to be taught (which pupils belonging to
this class are supposed to have).
II. A knowledge of the principles of teaching as based on the human mind.
1. Design of human mind. (1.) Growth. (2.) Use.
2. Needs of; food — knowledge.
8. Avenues of knowledge — senses.
4. Use the mind makes of the knowledge it receives through the
senses — perceives, remembers, compares, reasons and judges.
The faculties to be cultivated and strengthened for use.
5. They are cultivated and strengthened by exercise.
Hence,
(1.) Ideas should precede words.
(2.) Objects should precede names.
(3.) Knowledge should precede definitions.
(4.) Instruction should proceed from the
(4) Known to the unknown,
(5.) Particulars to generals, '
(6.) Concrete to abstract,
(7.) Simple to complex,
(8.) Facts to principles.
6. Principles deduced.
IIL Knowledge of Arrangement.
1. Objective Course.
(1.) Object of— growth and development.
(Objective — begins with objects.
!HTTfl?n1? order"
Synthetic— builds up.
Inductive — leads to laws or principles.
(8.) Materials used — facts, objects.
(4.) Mental operation — comparison.
(5.) Result— definitions, principles, rules, laws — define.
2. Analytic Course.
(1.) Object of— growth of mind— use of knowledge.
Subjective— begins with the subject.
_ f Advanced— second in order.
* '' * Analytic— takes apart
Deductive— leads from principles (application).
(8.) Materials used— subject to be considered.
318
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
(4.) Mental operation— comparison (differences).
(5.) Result— Logical arrangement of scientific classification.
Applying these principles in considering the subject of Language, we
have two courses, Synthetic and Analytic ; the first to be used in gaining
knowledge, the second in arranging and applying. The first course is not
designed to be used in primary and junior grades, the second in the
senior, etc, but after gaming a knowledge of the noun by the objective
method — that is by taking sentences containing nouns, comparing and
examining them, learning the class, uses, properties, relations and inflec-
tions; then by the Analytic method arrange the knowledge gained in the
best form to be retained, recited, used or applied. Then take the adj. in
same manner, etc , with the other "Parts of Speech," the objective work
always preceding the subjective. "First catch the rabbit, then cook him."
The work in Grammar we divide into two courses, Primary and Advanced :
Primary, in which the teacher presents the subject objectively; when the
subject is mastered by the pupil, then arranged analytically, for recita-
tion and use, under the direction of the teacher.
Advanced, in which the pupil may have sufficient mental strength to gain
the knowledge of the subject from the text-books without the aid of the
teacher, and may then be arranged and applied under his direction. If
the pupil is not able to do this, however, the kind of work in the
Advanced will be substantially the same as in the Primary or First
course.
(unit
Primary Coarse.-
First Step.
Second Step.-
1. Sentence
gaige).
of Ian- ( 1. Del
- a.
S. Noun.
8. Adjective.
4. Verb.
5. Adverb.
6. Preposition.
7. Conjunction.
8. Interjection.
'l. Personal Pronoun.
3. Noons.
8. 'Adjectives.
4. Verbs.
6. Adverbs.
6. Preposition.
7. Conjunctions.
8. Interjections.
9. Kinds, ac to vm.
8. Parts— Sab. and Pred.
Giving (1) definition, and (t)
wet of each in sentences
(simple).
Reviewing; def. and uses,
taking classes, properties,
relations, inflections and
roles.
The whole course examined, discussing definitions, arrangement (arranged
in the order of dependence), etc., etc. Specimen lessons given.
SUPBRINTXNDBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. gJQ
1. ANALYTICAL AfiRAHGEMBHT OF SUBJECTS PRESENTED IN THE FlBST
COUBBE.
Advanced
Course.
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9. Classi-
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1. Member*.
9. Proposi-
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f 1. Declarative.
S. Interrog.
8. Imp.
4. Exclam.
itlon. l
1. Simple. <
8. Connec-
tives.
4. Classes.
1. Def.
9. Parts.
1. Similar.
9. Dissimi-
lar.
1. Def.
9. Classes.
1. Log. Bab.
9. Log. Pred.
Def
8. Ele-
ments.
1. Prin.
Leading.
9. Sabor.
Clause.
1
fl. Ac. to Bank.
9. Ac. to Modi-
fiers.
8. Ac. to Office.
4. Ac. to Form.
li
1. Co-ordinate— Conjunctions.
9. Snbor- ( -" QopJonctipns.
dinate.
UWAIC
RelatWe Pro.
. . , ~ Conjnnc. Adv.
1. Compound— A sentence consisting of two or
more members connected by coordinate con-
nectives is, etc.
9. Complex— A sentence consisting of dissimilar
propositions connected by subordinate connec-
tive is, etc.
Specimen Lessons Qvoen.
IV. Knowledge in regard to the presentation of a subject. Method.
1. Different methods of presenting a subject
(a.) Lecturing method.
(b.) Pupils memorizing from books.
(e.) Catechetical questioning.
(d.) Questioning to develop idea of the subject— objective
teaching.
Discussed advantages and disadvantages of each ; which should be rejected,
which preferred, and for what reasons.
2. Work of teachers in presenting a subject objectively. Questioning.
3. Order to be observed in obj. presentation.
(a.) Present the thing or object from which his conclusion is
to be deduced ; leading the child, by questioning, to
perceive and state the truth to be learned, keeping the
object before him until the idea is familiar.
(b.) Pronounce correctly and distinctly the term to be given,
and require individual and simultaneous recitation
until familiar.
(c.) Children spell, teacher write on board the matter
obtained, and children reciting until they can repeat
without hesitating.
(d\) Thorough review and testing— summary.
(«.) Reproduction— oral and written.
if.) Application— thorough drill.
Nisstkmhtb Annual Report or the
l. Rules foi questioning.
(1.) Questions should not include the idea to be obtained,
either by using word or words of answer, or by giving
idea in other words.
(2.) Questions must be to the point, (8) clear, concise, and (4)
adapted to the capacity of the children. >
(5.) In a series, questions should be logical or in the order of
dependence, based on previous answer and exhaustive.
(*.) Do not indicate answer by inflection of voice, emphasis,
or expression of countenance.
(7.) Do not ask questions which can be answered by ye* or no.
n Letson* Given.
V. Knowledge of work following presentation.
1. Topical recitation— how arranged, how conducted.
8. Test questioning — how conducted.
8. Application, parsing, analyzing, applying or using knowledge
obtained.
Specimen Leuont Owen.
VI. Knowledge of use of books.
Work op Spboiax Thjumiho Class lit Composition.
f J
a.? 1
I. Letter itself.
= II. Folding.
° TIL Snpemeriptlon.
irv. Stamping.
■"""•iiia: .....
)I, Style,
a. Position.
S. Body of Letter.
Signature.
. Long and Short
g S. Uni?j.
•5 4. Strength. 5
.M 1,6. Harmony. [£
TV. Practical work In Leltur- writing and Writing of Compositions on variooa n
Superintendent of Public Instruction. \ 821
Abstract or Points Discussed in Special Training Class under
THE HEAD OF GEOGRAPHY. .
I.
Objects of State in founding Public School*.
1. Culture, highest development of individual.
2. To give to masses rudiments of useful 'knowledge.
A. Teachers9 work, as appointed means of securing those
objects, should be as definite as the objects.
B. Definiteness in work, as involving purpose.
C. Purpose in work, as involving knowledge ; first, of materials
to be used; second, manner of using materials, or method.
D. Materials. 1. Being— Phys. Mental, Moral, etc.
2. Truth— Phyz. Mental, Moral, etc
E. Method. Mode of bringing the being and truth in contact.
True method must consult both the being and the truth ;
in so doing, certain unvarying, universal principles under-
lying method, are discovered.
F. Principles.
I. As regards the child.
1. Child begins with senses.
2. Child discovers for himself.
3. Child deals with individual (unit of subject) analytically.
4. Child builds Up whole subject (synthetically).
IL As regards the teacher.
1. Teacher should analyze truth (subject-matter).
2. Teacher should find elements-^present roots.
8. Teacher should present one thing at a time.
4. Teacher should be thorough.
5. Teacher should observe order of nature.
6. Teacher should proceed from simple to difficult — known to
unknown— concrete to abstract — individual to general.
n.
Principles stated above applied to Geography.
The class concluded that the fundamental ideas of Geography are position,
Exercises on Position, Form, Site.
1. Various exercises on schoolroom, building, grounds, children's
homes, and neighborhood where children live (which are specially
intended to induce quick, accurate perception). Children are
taught how to represent (draw) the same.
21
/
/
;/
§22' NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
2. a. Children study in detail their own town, constructing map of
the same.
b. Study county, constructing map.
c. Work introductory to continents, on the following points:
Shape of earth — Surface— coast forms of land and water —
elevations — inland waters — poles— equator— hemisphere,
etc.
III.
1 . Order of Topics in study of Continent given in detail, with reasons
for order ; also, illustration of each.
2. Order and kinds of class-work on each point. See " Forms A "
and " B."
'IV.
General discussion and practical suggestions with regard to — Exercises pre-
paratory to recitation — kinds — value. — Objects and Modes of Recitation. — What
constitutes perfect recitation. — Objects of study. — Tabular tiews and analyses;
value, when used, how used ? — Means of impressing on memory forms of
countries, continents, surface, etc. — Means of getting children to think of reali-
ties instead of the representation. — Reviews and Examinations, value of, modes
of, and value of each mode. — Apparatus. — Difficulties in map-drawing. —
Plan of taking up various topics in the study of the continent
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
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Superintendent of Public Instruction. 325
Subjects in Arithmetic considered in Special Training Class.
Notation, Numeration, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.
Properties of Numbers.
Greatest Common Divisor.
Least Common Multiple.
Fractions, Common and Decimal.
Longitude and Time.
Ratio and Proportion.
Percentage.
Stocks, Commission, etc
Profit and Loss.
Life Insurance, Insurance, Taxes.
Interest, Banking.
Application of Per Cent.
Discount
Exchange.
Partnership.
Alligation.
Square Root.
Abstract of Points Discussed in Special Training Class, ttndbb the
Head of School Economy.
I. Natural qualifications of teachers for school government.
1. Magnetism, power of impressing others, or personal influence,
(a.) Source of such power.
(ft.) Conditions which control its exercise in the school-room.
2. Ability to discriminate character.
(a.) By noticing acts. (1.) As to their origin, or cause which
gave rise to them. (2.) As to their direction, or chan-
nel in which they flow. (8.) As to the end or purpose
to be served by them.
(b.) By noticing personal appearance. (1.) General features
of face and head. (2.) Peculiarities of body, including
gestures, dress, etc.
8. Sympathy for others.
4 Amiable temper.
5. Easy manner.
II. Acquired qualifications of teachers for school government.
1. A knowledge of the elements which enter into good government.
2. A knowledge of the forces at work in society in forming char-
acter.
8. The habit of noticing the forces at work in the pupil, and the
tendencies to which they lead.
4. Self-possession, as regards temper, manner and execution.
5. An accommodating spirit.
326 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
III. The course which should be pursued by the teacher in the school-room.
1. In regard to personal appearance.
(a.) Positions of body ; (1) natural ; (2) affected.
(b.) Peculiar habits and treatment of the body,
(e.) Dress, (1) called for by the position occupied; (2) adapted
to work.
2. Dispositions manifested.
(a.) Decided, but not harsh and austere.
(b.) Pleasant, yet not light and frivolous.
(e.) Even/yet not monotonous.
(d.) Patient and gentle.
(e.) Active and energetic.
3. Discriminations made.
(a.) In regard to what ought to be overlooked in the conduct
of the pupil.
(b.) In regard to what ought to be censured in the conduct
of pupils.
(&) In regard to the peculiarities of pupils.
(d.) In regard to when, where and how censure and punish-
ment should be inflicted
IV. Organization of a school.
1. Temporary organization.
(a.) Classification; (1) examinations; (2) distribution of pupils
in^classes.
(b.) Programme; (1) opening exercises; (2) time for recita-
tion; (8) time for study; (4) recesses; (5) general exer-
cise; (6) time for business,
(c.) Seating; (1) by classes; (2) by age; (8) by choice; (4) by
conduct
V. Regulations for the government of a school.
1. In regard^to privileges.
(a.) Should be in accordance with acknowledged principles
of right
(b.) Should be such as can be given to each pupil under like
circumstances,
(e.) Should be such as will promote the objects for which
the pupil is in school.
2. Requirements.
(a.) Should be such as will do no violence to any part of the
pupil's nature.
(6.) Should be simple, definite and as few as possible,
(e.) Should be such as will promote the objects for which the
pupil is in school
{d.) Should be such as can in every case be enforced without
doing violence to the rights of the pupil. •
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 327
ie.) Should not be announced until demanded by something
in the order of the school-room.
8. Restrictions.
(a.) Should be such as necessarily grow out of the relation
of the pupils to each other and to their teacher,
(ft.) Should be such as will assist the pupil in the power of
self-government
((?.) Should be such as will do no violence to any part of the
pupil's nature.
VI. Appliances for the government of a school.
1. Time element.
(a.) Proper division of.
(b.) Promptness in regard to.
(e.) Proper use of, in cases of discipline.
2. Place element
(a.) Position of teacher in school-room.
(&.) Seating of pupils.
(e.) Condition of desks, floor, etc.
(&) Ornamentation of school-room.
(<?.) Plan and use of play-ground.
3. Exercises.
(a.) Opening of school, music, recitations, reading of Scrip-
ture, etc.
(b.) Music at intervals during the day.
(e.) Physical exercises.
4. Report by pupils.
(a.) Special, (1) daily, (2) at fixed intervals.
(b.) General, (1) by classes, (2) by whole school.
5. Standing, kept by teacher.
Tbst Questions in Grammar— Special Training Class.
1. Name and define all kinds of pronouns. State in what respects they
are alike and in what different
2. State in which course and in which step pronouns should be consid-
ered ; also, what should be taught first in regard to them, and when kinds
of pronouns should be given. State reasons in each case.
3. Mention the characteristics of an Objective or Synthetic course.
4. Mention the characteristics of an Advanced or Analytic course.
5. Compare the Analytic and Synthetic courses.
6. State in order the work of the second step, with reasons.
7. State the work of the first step Synthetic course, with reasons.
8. State the reasons for dividing the work into steps.
9. How does the order of presenting the subject — verb— compare with
the order you would require in a topical recitation ? Give reasons.
10. Give the order for a topical recitation of the verb.
328 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
11. State the difference between a verb and a verbal word. Mention the
classes of verbal words. State in what part of the work they should be
considered, with reasons.
12. How much of etymology and syntax should be taught objectively ?
Reasons.
18. In which course, in what manner, and to what extent should books
be used in teaching grammar ?
14. State the advantages, if any, of an objective course in grammar.
15. Under what circumstances, if ever, would you depart from the
arranged course in your text-books ?
16. How would you answer this objection " That those who made the
grammar knew more about the subject than we do, consequently we are
marring instead of improving by any changes we may make?"
17. Mention the different kinds of work which should follow the presmta-
Hon of a subject. State the object of this work.
18. How many, and which of the terms, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody
should be given at the beginning of the study of grammar ; also, how many
and which of the terms, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective, Conjunc-
tion, Preposition and Interjection should be given at the beginning t
19. How many of the principles of teaching will prove this position ?
State them.
20. Define adjective ; state what you understand by modify.
21. State definition of preposition, as given in book, and criticise it.
22. State what must be taught in regard to verb before definition of
regular and irregular verbs can be given.
28. State what must be taught in regard to verbs before "Principal
Parts " or " Principal Forms " of the verb can be given ; give reasons.
24. State the rules to be observed in giving or criticising definitions ; or
state all the characteristics of a good definition.
25. Define principle, definition and rule.
26. Give rule first in regard to questioning ; give an example in which it
is violated.
27. Give rules second, third and fourth in regard to questioning.
28. Give rules fifth, sixth and seventh in regard to questioning.
29. Why do verbs have the same number as their subjects 1
80. State the difference between questioning to develop an idea and test
questioning.
•31. State the advantages, if any, of a graded oral course for children over
the method usually pursued in books.
82. How will you meet this objection, " That more time is required in
teaching Grammar objectively than in memorizing from books?"
88. In analysis, give the classification of sentences and the basis of classi-
fication in each case.
84 State all ways in which the elements of simple sentences are frlamiflfld,
naming the basis of each classification.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 329
86. State all that must be taught in analyek, in regard to sentences
which are notMmple, before definition of complex and compound sentences
can be given.
36 Define a complex sentence ; give an example and analyze in full.
37. Define a compound sentence and give an example.
38. Define simple sentence. Give an example containing several kinds
of modifiers. Analyze in full.
39. Define conjunction.
40. State all the principles of teaching given.
41. Mention instances (perhaps from some text-book with which you are
acquainted) in which some or all of these principles are violated.
42. Define article. State the difference between an article and an adjec-
tive.
48. Criticise this definition, " A word used as the name of an object is
called a noun.1'
48. Give the uses of infinitives.
44. Give definition and kinds of connectives ; also, words used as such
and state in what part of the work connectives should be considered.
45. Define Mood; and state which of the terms mood or mode should
be used.
47. In beginning grammar, what subject will you take up flr*ty and how
much will you teach in regard to it in primary course ?
48. State the reasons why the teacher should not indicate the answer by
inflection of voice, emphasis or expression of countenance.
48. Criticise this answer which was given in examination yesterday.
" Ask the question so the pupil will not know what the answer is."
50. What faculties are most active in childhood ? To which of the facul-
ties then should the teacher most frequently appeal in teaching children?
51. State three reasons in favor of teaching language objectively, and as
many against
62. State objections, if you have any, to the catechetical method of con-
ducting a recitation.
53. State objection, if you have any, to the lecturing method of conduct-
ing a recitation.
54 Give your opinion of the rule " Questions should not be asked which
can be answered l)y yes or no.
55. What u Parte of Speech " must be taught before definition of adverb
can be given ?
56. Define tense. Give your opinion of this definition "Tense is that
accident of the verb which distinguishes the time of the action or state
affirmed."
57. State the different ways' in which participles are used.
58. Define grammar predicate, and state how many things it must include.
59. Give grammar predicate in this sentence " The sky is blue." State
the use of each word in the predicate.
880 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
00. Define attribute, and name the parts of speech which may be used to
express the attribute.
The class have gone into the schools (a large portion of them
in my district) ; I have visited some of them in their school-
rooms, and have learned of the success of others. The results
are truly gratifying, and I beg leave to earnestly recommend
the continuation of these special training classes in all the nor-
mal schools of the State.
I would suggest that teachers be required to leave with
the district clerk at the close of each term, for inspection and
use of their successors, a permanent record of their work, the
text-books used, classification, advancement of each class, order
of recitation and time devoted to each, and the standing of
each pupil in the school. To enable the teacher to carry out
this plan successfully, I would also suggest that the Superin-
tendent,of Public Instruction cause suitable blanks to be pro-
vided for the purpose, and attached to teachers' registers.
When the present normal schools assume their true relation
to the common schools of the State, as " an inherent part of
the public school system," when training schools are provided
sufficient to accommodate all the teachers of the State, when
by legal enactment all teachers shall be required to go through
a course of systematic training, then will public school teaching
take its proper place among the professions, and our schools
become justly our pride.
Respectfully,
BARNEY WHITNEY,
School Commissioner.
Lawbencevillb, Jan., 1873.
SARATOGA COUNTY— Febst Disteiot.
»
Hon. Abeam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Pvblic Instruction :
Sib. — In compliance with your circular of November 15,
1872, 1 submit this report :
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 381
In looking over the reports of commissioners from different
parts of the State, for several years past, I am constantly and
forcibly reminded that many of their statements are not
candid. Anxious to stand high in the opinion of the State
Department, and of their constituents, they are constantly
asserting that their schools are in a highly prosperous and
flourishing condition. Their reports are written on gilt edged
and perfumed paper. The truth, in all its plainness and start-
ling facts, is hidden by the brilliant colors in which they paint,
and the pains taken to varnish their reports. Were their
representations generally correct, the schools of this State
would, years ago, have reached a point far above that
attained by the schools under any other system. Perfection
would long since have been attained. The pratical workings
of our common school system must, of necessity, be better
known to and by school commissioners than by any other per-
sons. The defects of that system, and of the laws under which
it is conducted, they also know better than any other persons
can know them. The knowledge acquired by the State
Department, and by the Legislature, regarding our common
school system, its wants, and the proper legislation relating
thereto, must, of necessity, be mainly derived from this source.
Legislators may have beautiful theories respecting such mat-
ters, but the practical relation, in which the commissioner
finds himself placed toward our schools, shows to him the
defects of these theories. That commissioner is derelict in
duty, therefore, who fails to state fully the defects which
exist, however humiliating it may be to him personally, or
however painful and startling to. the friends of education. I
have no fancy picture to paint in my report; no glowing
description of the wonderful proficiency of my schools ; the
high attainments of my teachers and scholars. No wish, in
short, to class my district amongst those marvels of excellence
annually chronicled by commissioners, whose constituents will
have so much reason in the future (were their reports just) to
" rise up and call them blessed."
On the contrary, I find myself compelled, in pain and
332 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
humiliation, to admit that the schools under my jurisdiction are
in a deplorable condition. Extensive travel in nearly every
part of the State during my term of office, intimate acquaint-
ance with other commissioners and with large numbers of pro-
fessional educators, with persistent inquiry in all available
directions and upon all opportunities, force upon me the con-
viction that, as a rule, the schools throughout the State are in
an equally bad condition. There was a time, during the first
year of my term, when I fancied I had the worst possible dis-
trict in the State. I do not think so now, having modified
my opinion so far as to think my district as good as the
average. Oar schools could not be in this condition without
a reason, and this reason must be either a defective system, a
defective administration of the same, or both. Commissioners
can render no higher service than to search for these defects,
point them out and suggest remedies. Of course no commis-
sioner can be expected to devise a plan free from fanlt, but, in
the multiplicity of their counsel, there should be wisdom, and
if defects are found in our system that all condemn, it may,
with Teason, be concluded that legislation should at least
remedy such defects.
The great reason why our schools are so poor is that our
teachers are poor. Teachers are poor from two main reasons :
1st. They are not professionally educated.
2d. They are not thoroughly examined a»d supervised by
commissioners.
A poor teacher necessarily has a poor school. " The blind
cannot lead the blind ;" neither can a man teach what he does
not know. Teaching is a profession. It should be regarded
as a learned profession. As in all other professions, he who
seeks to follow it should be professionally educated. Who would
employ a lawyer who had never studied law! A physician
who had never studied medicine? An engineer without
knowledge of engineering ? Why should teachers be licensed
or employed without a thorough and profound knowledge of
what they are to teach, and with no knowledge of the science
of teaching? It is no light thing to train and mould the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 333
human mind, to quicken the faculties, to strengthen the intel-
lect, until it grasps the mysteries of nature and goes forth
with giant strength to drink at every fountain of knowledge.
A teacher's professional education should consist,
1st. Of a thorough knowledge of what he will be required to
teach.
2d. Of an ability to impart that knowledge.
No necessity exists for a common school teacher having a
knowledge of the classics, or of the higher mathematics. As
well ask an engineer to read medicine, or a lawyer to study
trigonometry. It is well to know all these things, but few,
however, have either time or capacity to be thoroughly fami-
liar with anything outside of their own special calling. If
the lawyer wishes to excel in his profession, let him eschew
mathematics and study law; the physician, medicine; the
teacher, teaching. More and more the business of the world
runs into special channels, and requires those with special
education to succeed in these respective channels. Our
teachers are taught wrong. They have a smattering of too
many things, and a profound knowledge of too few things.
A smattering of Greek, Latin, French, music, rhetoric, and so
on ad infinitum^ comprises their course of 6tudy in too many
instances. A mastery of the elementary branches taught in
common tchools, they never have. Too often they have been
assured by the principals of the schools which they attended,
"that they need not spend more time on these studies, bnt
must hurry along and get into the higher branches." The
very studies they are required to teach they know the least
of. If ambitions, 4C they study up lessons " a little ahead of
their classes, and stumble through terms of school, in this way
acquiring an apparent idea of the very knowledge they have
advertised themselves as possessing. But where is that fami-
liarity with the subjects they are teaching, which alone can
enable them to interest their pupils, and to clear from before
their eyes the fogs enveloping every new study? Years of
practice may qualify them, but in the meantime they have
been frauds upon the public whom they serve.
334 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Again, a man may possess all knowledge, bat if he fail in
the ability to impart that knowledge, he must assuredly fail as
a teacher. As the painter portrays npon the dead canvass in
bright and glowing colors, the picture which lives in his mind,
so should the teacher stamp upon the minds of his pupils these
living thoughts which alone comprise real knowledge. It is
a rare and wondrous gift, sent by nature to but few, that
enables one to be a true dispenser of light and knowledge ; but
many others may approximate towards it, by systematic cul-
ture. So far then as teachers in their respective spheres are
required to teach, just so far I would require them to be
masters of their profession, both in their knowledge of, and
ability to give instruction in, those subjects. A gradation of
teachers necessarily follows, and the gradation should depend
entirely upon proficiency, as measured by some fixed, well
known and impartial standard. Recognize teaching as a pro-
fession, admission to it depending upon, and to be attained
only by conforming to the standard, and at once teachers of
merit will be recognized and encouraged, and will receive a
proper compensation for their services ; and, on the other hand,
blockheads, and those who with knowledge cannot impart it,
will find themselves outside of school-houses, and in positions
where their capacity for harm is materially lessened.
How then shall teaching be made a profession, and teach-
ers be professionally qualified ? The normal schools of the
State are the great means towards these ends. A scholar
graduating at one of these institutions receives a diploma,
which is prima facie evidence of his qualifications and of his
admission to the profession. He has attained to a fixed stand-
ard, which standard is high enough to cover the probabilities
of his future professional employment. One thing at least is
a ssn red, his exact knowledge of the elementary branches
taught in common schools, and commissioners look in vain for
this assurance, if coming from any other quarter. Give us
normal teachers is the cry from every commissioner district
in the State. Why are comparatively so few of them in the
field? Because they are not recognized as professional teach-
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 385
era, as masters of their art, and are driven out of the field by
teachers who are non-professionals, and will teach for lower
wages for a few terms, "just to get a little money." Because
non-professional teachers have crowded down teachers' wages,
and the educated professional finds better compensation in
some other field of labor, where the same fundamental know-
ledge is needed and appreciated.
Not that I would require all teachers to take a normal
course, but only that I would require all teachers recognized
as professionals to conform to the normal standard. I care
not how they attain to that standard, simply that they do
attain to it. I simply wish to say, that I regard normal
schools as the best means yet devised* for properly educating
and fitting common -school teachers for the performance of
their duties. I would admit any teacher amongst those recog-
nized as professionals when they attain to the same standard,
and would grant them a diploma of equal rank, after having
passed a similar examination ; such examinations to be con-
ducted and diplomas granted by an examining board, con-
sisting of normal professors, appointed for that purpose by
the Department. I would give no commissioner or body of
commissioners the power of making these professionals;
merely the powers now granted by section seven, title two
of the Code.
This would relieve professionals from the annoyance of
annual or triennial examinations by commissioners, knowing
less, perhaps of their duties, than the teachers themselves. It
is right that an incentive should be held out to teachers to
attain to a certain standard, which, when attained, entitles
them to be recognized as professionals, as members of one of
the learned professions, and as such entitled also to certain
rights and privileges in distinction from non-professionals. I
have no favor to curry with any normal school ; no approval to
give beyond that which is merited. Yet I desire, in this con-
nection, to raise my voice in condemnation of the attempt
made at the last session of the Legislature to decry the merits
of the normal school system. I have never known a well
886 NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
informed and unbiased friend of education do otherwise than
eulogize the system and approve its workings. The man who
talks against it either is not informed or " has an ax to grind."
It is quite possible for a man to talk in the Legislature and
not know what he is talking about, and the effort made to talk
down " normals," in order to talk up " academies," is a strik-
ing illustration of the fact.
In connection with the examination and supervision of
teachers by commissioners, I have little to say in addition to
the views I have already presented in former reports. Such
examination to be useful should be " uninfluenced by friends
and unbiased by mercenary motives." The commissioner
should stand in a position, so that his examination and deci-
sion thereupon should be with the only motive of fulfilling
the law. A standard as inflexible as the decrees of fate should
guide him, and he should, in all cases, be compelled to adhere
to that standard. Candidates should be made to realize that
commissioners are not to be blamed for their ignorance. Let
them understand that if qualified they will be licensed, if not,
rejected ; that commissioners have no power to license them
if unqualified, and a great stumbling block in the way of
many commissioners will be removed. I do not see how com-
missioners can fail to be influenced 'more or less, according to
circumstances, until their office is made strictly a non-partisan
one. Remove commissioners from political influence, place
them where they cannot run their office with a view to future
re-election, and better examinations and supervision will at
once follow.
Make the office one of appointment by the Superintendent,
after competitive examination, and a great gain would be
made over the present plan. As well might the pastor of a
church be elected politically, as a commissioner of schools. It
is no objection to this plan to say that it increases the responsi-
bilities of the Superintendent, that it clothes him with too
much power. He is in any event the responsible head of the
system, and should have full power to appoint his subordi-
nates. Even now he has the power of removal for cause
SUPMRINTBNVENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 387
shown; why not appointment as well t Efficient supervision
would necessarily follow jndioions appointments. Compensa-
tion should correspond to the work done. A pecuniary
inducement would insure visitation. A prescribed fee for
each necessary visitation, with mileage for distances actually
traveled, the account to be verified in items and audited by
the- board of supervisors, would, in my opinion, be an
improvement.
I would also suggest, that commissioners might be saved
much embarrassment, if some limit were placed by law to
the age of teachers. No person is fit to teach a district
school under twenty years of age, and but very few succeed
after they are fifty. A young man or woman may possess a
knowledge of books sufficient to enable him or her to pass the
required examination, yet to succeed as teachers they should
and must possess a knowledge of human nature, character, etc.,
which age and experience alone can bring. We do not consider
a man wise enough to vote until he is twenty-one years of age ;
the law does not even permit his contracts to be binding, but
treats and terms him as " an infant." This limit is fixed, as
that at which the average of men can safely be intrusted to do
their own business. Should teachers be intrusted then with
public business at a still more tender age ! Teachers are pub-
lic officers, and receive compensation from public funds, but no
other public office can they hold until they have arrived at
what the law calls " years of discretion." I can safely say, I
have never known a teacher to do well, under that age. In
the absence of any legal limitation upon the subject, I estab-
lished a rule of not examining candidates under eighteen years
of age, and I found the result to be excellent. In the other
extreme, it is said many of our best educators are over fifty.
True, yet how few of them teach common schools. As a rule,
teachers do not succeed in district schools, after arriving at that
age. Glass legislation always works harshly upon a few, yet
the few should stand aside for the good of the many. District
school teachers, like Methodist preachers, are itinerant, and
itinerants succeed best when neither too old nor too young.
22
338 Nineteenth Annual Report or tbe
Having thus touched upon the recognition of teaching as a
profession, the education of teachers, their examination, super-
vision and limitation, and some of the necessary qualifications
of their examiners, I pass to the consideration of another rea-
son why so many of onr teachers are poor ones. I am now
entering upon what some call debatable ground. In what I
have to say regarding academies, I shall say only what I have
found to be true in my own experience ; I make no fight against
what is styled the " academic system." That it may have
merits I admit. That scholars may learn and teachers qualify
at academies, I also admit. Against those academies, however,
which are only leeches upon the public treasury, which delibe-
rately hnmbng the public by false representations, I wage war.
Other sections of the State may be more favorably situated
than my own. So far, however, as my observation and inquiry
have extended, I find the same sad state of affairs ; I have never
yet met a commissioner, a normal professor, an institute
instructor, or in fact any one with a practical knowledge of
the matter, except those connected in some way with acade-
mies, who did not denounce academies as one of the main
causes in filling the teachers' ranks with those who are incom-
petent. " By their fruits shpll ye know them." I judge them
by this alone. In the three years of my commissionership, I
have examined scores and hundreds of candidates who have
graduated at some academy. The number who passed a credi-
table examination could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Too many of them were a disgrace to the schools at which
they graduated. Most of them were in possession of " Regents'
certificates." It cannot for a moment be admitted that the
Regents of the University are other than men of the highest
character and integrity. They are not knowingly parties to
the gross frauds practiced at the so-called " Regents' examina-
tions ;" and no other conclusion can be arrived at than that the
Regents are deliberately deceived by the principals of these
academies.
The ignorance displayed by many of these graduates, upon
the most elementary subjects, is astounding. How can a
Super intends nt of Public Instruction. 389
graduate obtain 9 Regents' certificate who bounds the State
of New York on the east by Vermont and New Hampshire,
south by Connecticut and Rhode Island, west by Ohio and
Michigan ; or gives the Amazon as the largest river in Africa ;
or that has a north torrid and a south torrid zone ; or that
parses nouns as verbs, verbs as nouns ; or the article, a, as an
active, transitive verb ; or the verb, to be, as a preposition ; or
that answering three questions negatively, in writing, each
time writes, u know " ? How, unless by fraud ? Yet all these
instances, and hundreds of similar ones, occurred in my own
experience. Other commissioners, with scarcely an exception,
privately tell the same sad story. And yet, with such evi-
dences of the utter tmworthiness of academic management,
coming, as the evidence does, from every part of the State,
and from the very sources of all others that are impartial,
unbiased and practical, the Legislature can be induced to mis-
appropriate thousands of dollars from the public treasury in
sustaining such schools !
I do not say that teachers cannot qualify at academies. I
simply say they do not. I do not say that all academies are
bad. I simply say I do not know of one that is good. I
assert that the academies of to-day do not turn out as good
scholars as district schools did twenty years ago. Principals
can be found of such unblushing effrontery as to send, with
their graduates, letters of commendation to commissioners,
recommending, in the highest terms, candidates whom the
commissioner, by examination, finds utterly unqualified, and
whom the principal must have known to be so. If principals
will deliberately attempt to deceive commissioners, equally
so will they deceive the Regents. This honorable body has to
shoulder blame which properly attaches to the principals of
academies. The reason for this systematic deception is this,
it is a source of profit to the principals. They make^a specu-
lation by it. With their so-called "normal classes," they
deter many from going to the normal schools, making pupils
and parents believe that they can obtain the same course of
study at far better rates at home. "Teachers" are thus
340 Nineteenth Annual Report or ise
ground out by scores, whose only qualifications are a letter of
recommendation from their principals and a Regents' certifi-
cate. It may be said that this is strong talk, and that I am
not warranted in making such assertions. I present 6imply
facts, assert nothing but the truth, and if the truth hurts these
principals and their schools, they can blame only themselves
for it.
44 "Us true, 'tis pity,
Pity 'tis, 'tis true."
It is time the Regents were apprised of the gross frauds
practiced upon them as well as the public. It is time that the
intelligent and powerful public press, grappled with this evil.
It is time that the earnest educators of the State, painfully
aware of this evil, laid aside their modesty and prepared to
give it battle to the death. It is time that the Legislature was
informed upon the subject, and, instead of allowing them
longer to fatten at the public crib, should cut them off forever
and leave them to their own resources. It may, with safety,
be laid down as a cardinal principle in such matters, that no
private school should be sustained, wholly or in part, by the
public treasury.
I mean by private schools, those owned and managed by
private citizens, as a business speculation, and for private
emolument. I may print a newspaper ; it is private capital
which I invest, and I print the paper for my own private gain.
It is a private business speculation, and I have no right to ask
donations or help from the public treasury, because die public
reads, or is profited, or even educated by my paper. So with
schools ; I may invest an equal amount of capital in a school ;
I say who shall and who shall not be admitted as students ; I
lay down certain rules for the guidance of its inmates; I
prescribe a certain course of study. like the other, it is a pri-
vate speculation, established and conducted for my private
gain. Shall I, because it is a school, be allowed to fasten upon
the public treasury ? Must the public, in either case, be asked
to sustain my private speculation? 'A good private school is
not only always self-sustaining, but a source of profit and
Superintendent ot Public Instruction. 341
revenue to its owner. No private school is worth sustaining
that cannot flourish without .aid from the public treasury.
Cut off public aid from these schools, throw them entirely upon
their own resources and merits, and at once the most objection-
able features of the academic system will end. The country
will no longer be overrun with " teachers," graduated solely
as a speculation. Professionals will no longer be crowded out
of place by those possessing no qualifications, except such as I
have mentioned. A better class of teachers will be in demand
and will find employment at profitable wages, and at once our
common schools will improve. It is idle to say that the
remedy for all this is in the commissioner. He may do much
by strict examination and vigilant supervision, but no good
reason exists why his candidates should not be qualified, nor
why his supervision should not be over schools that are con-
ducted by intelligent, educated professionals.
My opinions as to our library system, and the application of
the library money, as given in former reports, have been
strengthened by another year's experience. My statistical
report will show how completely this fund is perverted in
disregard of the law.
The teachers' institute for the county, held this year at
Saratoga, with Prof. Sanford and Mrs. Himes as conductors,
was the best institute as yet held in the county. I trust the
future will witness a steady increase of interest in this valuable
aid to teachers. I repeat the recommendation made in a
former report, that attendance at institutes be m&de obligatory
upon teachers, unless, for cause shown, attendance is excused
by the commissioner. It seems to be the only way of bene-
fiting, by aid of institutes, those most in need thereof.
I would suggest that an amendment to the school law might
with great propriety be made, by which the Superintendent,
and also commissioners could enforce obedience to their orders.
It is often said that the law clothes the Superintendent with
arbitrary powers. In my opinion, his powers are not suffici-
ently so. He may in many instances issue orders, but unless
trustees or districts choose to obey them, they are of no effect
842 Nineteenth Annual Report of tbe
He cannot enforce them. It is a singular anomaly that the
law may authorize him to decide a case, and that so far as the
law goes his decision is final, not even the highest courts in
the State having power to modify or set it aside, and yet this
very order may be a dead letter. He cannot compel obedi-
ence to it. It is like the " dope's bull against the comet."
It reads well upon paper, but does not affect the comet
With commissioners it is even worse. One may find a school-
house wholly unfit for tenancy by human beings, the dis-
trict too penurious to repair it or build anew, and the supervisor
indifferent or too fearful of his popularity to risk a few votes
by joining in an order of condemnation ; the commissioner
makes an order directing the expenditure of two hundred dol-
lars in repairs, and the trustees either refuse point blank, or else
neglect to carry the order into effect. The school law points
out no way by which the commissioner can enforcethe order.
I had a similar case within the past year. It was only after I
had assured the trustees that I would present their case before
the grand jury of the county for indictment that the order
was carried into effect. Should a commissioner be obliged to
resort to such harsh measures? In this case two trustees
were in favor of the repairs and about half the district also,
the third trustee and balance of the district objecting. All
admitted the need of repairs, but a personal or political quar-
rel caused the dissension. I mention this case merely as a
strong illustration of the unpleasant position in which the law,
as it now stands, may leave an official striving only to do his
duty. I submit that a remedy might easily be found by
authorizing the Superintendent or commissioner in all similar
cases to withhold from districts in default all participation in
the public money until the order is complied with ; districts,
in all cases arising between themselves and commissioners
direct, having the right of appeal to the Superintendent for
redress as against any arbitrary or uncalled for order on the
part of commissioners.
I have, in former reports, offered suggestions as to other
defects in our present school law, with such proposed changes
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 348
as my experience has led me to deem advisable. It is unne-
cessary for me to repeat them here, or the arguments which
were advanced in their favor. I am strongly opposed to the
constant tinkering of fundamental law. On the other hand,
I believe the world to be progressive, and I would allow
nothing defective to stand in the way of its progress. Laws
regulating a system, be that system what it may, should be
jealously guarded and kept intact, until its defects are patent
and the remedies suggested. These remedies should be such
as experience pronounces advisable. Our free school system
can no longer be deemed an experiment. The State is com-
mitted to its policy. That policy in its general features is a
success and merits the approval it receives. In many of the
minor details of its administration it is defective. These
defects I would see remedied. Changes in the law must come
through the Legislature. The suggestions for such changes,
and their necessity, properly come to the Legislature by and
through the State Superintendent. He must, in a great
degree, depend upon commissioners for details. Those com-
missioners will be nearer their duty who, instead of report-
ing their districts as bordering on perfection, as being
"all right," will frankly tell him of that which is wrong.
Such defects as I have found in my official capacity, I have
pointed out in my reports. If it is said that my proposed
changes and remedies savor of coercion, I answer, that I seek
to make them effective. Kid gloves are not needed in a com-
bat with ignorance and cupidity.
Assuring you that I shall always look back upon the official
relation that has existed between us with pleasure, I submit
this report as my last official act, and thanking you for the
uniform courtesy received at the hands of yourself and assist-
ants, I am very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
SETH WHALEN,
School Cornmvwtioner.
Ballston Spa, N. T., Dec. 27, 1872.
844 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
. SARATOGA COUNTY— Second Distmot.
Hon. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Pvblic Instruction :
Sib. — I Bend yon the following in addition to the financial
and statistical report already forwarded to yonr Department.
The school districts in this commissioner district remain the
same as last year, except that one party has been set off from
one district to another. Several applications have been made
to be transferred to other districts, but trustees will not give
their consent, although, in some cases, it would be an advan-
tage to all parties.
Trustees who have thirty-six and even forty weeks* school,
complain because they receive no more public money than if
they maintained school twenty-eight weeks. I find the dis-
tricts having the longest terms are anxious to have the best
teachers, and, as a general thing, take pains to have the school-
house and its surroundings in good order. Two districts have
failed to have school the required twenty-eight weeks. There
is a general feeling, on the part of the inhabitants, to have
better schools ; consequently a demand for more good teachers.
My time is fully occupied with the duties of the office, and I
find it too short to do all that needs to be done. I have
visited nearly all the schools in my district twice during the
past year, and many of them three times. During the spring,
I meet teachers in the different towns for examination. In
the fall all are expected to attend the institute, where oppor-
tunity is given for examination. There is one continual round
of work, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that the
schools are improving. -
Thirteen pupils have been appointed to the normal schools
of the State from this commissioner district, during the year
past. Most of them are in the schools now, and I hear are
doing well. One from this district graduated at the Albany
Normal School last commencement, and is now teaching near
this place.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 845
According to trustees' reports, there is a falling off in the
number of children .between the ages of five and twenty-one,
but an increase in average attendance. The whole number
of children of school age in this commissioner district is eight
thousand five hundred and thirty-seven, and of these twenty-
two hundred and eighty-four are in the village of Saratoga
Springs. Of the whole number, six thousand three hundred
and ninety-eight attended school some portion of the year.
The whole number of teachers employed at the same time for
twenty-eight weeks or more is one hundred and forty. The
whole number of school-houses is one hundred and twenty-
two. Several districts are now building new houses.
Five private schools reported an attendance of one hundred
and eighty-three pupils. One of these is Temple Grove
Seminary, located in the village of Saratoga Springs.
The meeting of the State Teachers' Association in this place,
during the past year, did much good, not only among the
teachers, but the friends of education throughout this vicinity.
The first and second commissioner districts united in holding
a teachers' institute in the village of Saratoga Springs, begin-
ning the -26th of August and continuing ten days. The exer-
cises were conducted by Prof. Henry R. Sanford, of Fredonia,
assisted by Mrs. Himes, and were exceedingly instructive
and profitable. It is better to have the same instructors from
year to year, because they understand the wants of the
teachers. The whole number of teachers in attendance at our
institute was two hundred and twenty-three, with an average
attendance of one hundred and forty, a decided gain in num-
bers and average attendance.
Thanking you for the many favors received, I am, very
respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
O. F. STILES,
School Commissioner.
Saratoga Springs, Dec. 18£/t, 1872*
846 NlNXTBENTB ANNUAL REPORT Of THE
SENECA COUNTY.
Hon. Abeam £. Weaves,
Stipermtendent of PvbUo Instruction :
Snt.— There has been a marked improvement in the schools
of the county during the past year. The inhabitants of the
several school districts are fully aware of the advantages
derived from good schools, and they are in earnest in every
effort to improve them.
The value of school-houses and sites was, on the 30th day
of September, 1872, $120,845. Since that time the Collegiate
Institute property, situated in the village of Ovid, has been pur-
chased by union school district No. 1, Ovid, which raises the
above amount to $140,000. The inhabitants of districts, gene-
rally, are willing to raise any amount of money necessary for
building good substantial school-houses. A few districts have
poor school-houses yet, but the delay to build has been in con-
sequence of difficulty concerning sites or contemplated changes
in the districts.
The libraries of union schools are valuable and they are
appreciated ; but in the common school districts they amount
to but little and are generally neglected.
The schools are well classified, and good order prevails in
nearly every school. Teachers have had very little difficulty
in governing their schools in this county the past year, and a
resort to punishment of any kind has been seldom necessary.
The qualifications of teachers in Seneca county, as compared
with last year, are considerably better.
The teachers' institute held at Ovid, commencing October
7, 1872, was well attended by the teachers of the county, and
it was profitably conducted by Prof. K. E. Post, assisted by
Profs, fioughton and Gillett.
I have, as far as practicable, restricted the time for the exami-
nation of teachers to three days in the spring, and three days
SUPJBRINTBNDBNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 847
in the fall ; the result I think favorable to onr schools, and a
decided improvement in the grade of teachers.
Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM HOGAN,
School Commissioner.
Waterloo, Nvo. 26, 1872.
SUFFOLK COUNTY — Fiest Distkiot.
Hon. Abeam B. Weaves,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — The following report of the condition of the common
schools in the first commissioner district is respectfully sub-
mitted :
I* abstract the following from the financial and statistical
reports made to the Department in October last :
The amount apportioned to this district for the past school
year was $11,335.25 ; $11,104.93 for the payment of teachers9
wages ; $230.32, library money ; an excess over the year pre-
vious of $92.26. The different towns received as follows:
Easthampton, $923.87 ; Biverhead, $2,424.42 ; Shelter Island,
$292.54; Southampton, $3,858.92; Southold, $3,835.92.
The sum raised by tax in Easthampton was $1,077.08 ; in
Biverhead, $5,346.24; in Shelter Island, $813.83; in South-
ampton, $6,593.79; in Southold, $11,322.93; total, $25,153.87,
being $2,364.14 less than the previous year. A decrease in
this regard obtained only in the towns of Biverhead, Shelter
Island and Southampton, and was due to the smaller sum
expended in the repairing, enlarging and furnishing of school
buildings, while in the other towns there was an increase of
taxation.
The following was the assessed valuation of the taxable pro-
perty in the several towns : Easthampton, $567,301 ; Biver-
head, $868,945; Shelter Island, $205,508; Southampton,
$1,940,619; Southold, $2,339,090, making an aggregate of
$5,921,455. The average rate of taxation for school purposes
348 Nineteenth Annual Report of tbm
in the town of Easthampton was one and nine-tenths mills ; in
Kiverhead, six and one-tenth ; in Shelter Island, three and
nine-tenths ; in Southampton, three and four-tenths ; in South-
old, four and eight-tenths ; average rate for the district, four
and two-tenths.
There was expended for teachers' wages,*during the year,
the sum of $27,530.57, being $1,817.49 more than in 1871.
Shelter Island expended for this purpose $278 less than the
year before, while in the other towns there was an increase in
the amount paid for that purpose; The money expended for
school apparatus amounted to $287.08, exceeding the amount
of the previous year by the sum of $276.36. All of the schools
are sadly deficient in this respect, and many of them nearly
destitute. Forty school districts use the library money in pay-
ment of teachers' wages, $93.96 being so used. Were all
districts compelled to expend their share of this money in pro-
curing school apparatus I am confident a much greater benefit
would accrue, therefrom.
The total receipts and expenditures were, for Easthampton,
$2,153.43 ; Kiverhead, $8,455.11 ; Shelter Island, $1,106.37 ;
Southampton, $12,233.77 ; Southold, $17,2(2.75 ; for the entire
district, $41,201.43.
Schools were maintained in sixty school districts, employ-
ing at the same time eighty-one licensed teachers ; the average
length of time sohool was taught was thirty weeks. The
whole number of persons engaged as teachers in the common
schools of the district was 139, fifty males and eighty-nine
females. Of this number three held State normal school
diplomas, three State certificates, and the remaining 133 were
licensed by school commissioners.
There was no school in district No. 19 (Bed Greek), town
of Southampton, during the past year, nor the year previous,
in consequence of a lack of pupils. For a similar reason, there
has been no school in district No. 6 (North-west) town of East-
hampton, for many years, until last March, when a school was
started, continuing twenty-eight weeks, and in all probability
will be regularly maintained in the future.
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 849
In district No. 14, of the town 'of Southold, comprising
Plum island, and, on Gardiner's island, a district, at present
unnumbered, in the town of Easthampton, no school was ever
held so far as I am able to ascertain, nor are there any indi-
cations of a change in this respect, the only inhabitants being
the proprietors, their families and such other persons as may
be temporarily employed as laborers. The valuation of pro-
perty in these islands is considerable, and I am unable to
understand why said property should be exempt from all local
taxation for the support of schools more than many unsettled
and unimproved portions of other school districts. Bobbins'
island, by a decision of the Department, was constituted a
part of an adjacent district, and thereby made to contribute
its quota to the support of the school therein, and it appears
to me that the same rule would apply to these islands as well.
Considerable outlay has been made in some districts in
repairing, painting and otherwise improving the appearance
and convenience of their school buildings. The school-house
in district No. 2 (Orient), town of Southold, which was con-
demned during the year, has been removed, the site enlarged
and a new, commodious and attractive house erected thereon,
at a cost of $4,000. Although many of the inhabitants
severely denounced " the arbitrary proceeding," which
deprived them of their old school-house, I believe the con-
viction to be nearly universal, that it has resulted most favor-
ably, and I am certain that never was the interest in the
success of their school greater, nor the condition of the school
more thriving. An intelligent and devoted corps of teachers,
active and efficient board of trustees, appreciative and pro-
gressive popular sentiment, all combine to render this school
one of the most prosperous in this part of the county.
In view of the above, and many other facts which might be
adduced, I think it clearly obvious that the people of the
"East End" appreciate the advantages which education
secures, and are disposed to avail themselves of the manifold
benefits our system of common schools was intend to confer.
Those schools of which particular mention was made in my
850
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
last written report still maintain their rank, and, in many
others, evidences of improvement are manifest, reflecting great
credit upon the teachers in charge.
Prof. D. H. Crnttenden, assisted by his wife, conducted oar
institute, held at Riverhead in October, in their usual masterly
manner. Both were never more instructive or more success-
ful in the discharge of their duties. Mrs. Cruttenden's method
of teaching history and drawing, showing the application and
uses of the latter as an aid to the teacher in any and all the depart-
ments of learning, can scarcely be excelled, and must tend to
procure for those studies far more time and attention than has
customarily been given in too many of our schools. In addi-
tion to her class-work, Mrs. C. addressed a crowded house on
the last evening of the session, showing the relative position
of the various arts and sciences in the scale of human know-
ledge, and their influence upon society, and dwelling at length
upon the effect of those of an aesthetic nature on the individual
character. The lecture received the closest attention, and at
its close was highly eulogized.
With this report the term of office, to which three years
since I was elected, closes. During this time I have addressed
myself to the removal of what I considered the greatest obsta-
cles to the efficient working of our common-school system.
Where I have had the cooperation of teachers and school offi-
cers these obstructions have been materially lessened, and I
take this opportunity to express my obligations to such teach-
ers and officials; their zeal for the cause of education and
willingness to do all in their power for its promotion, will
ever be held in grateful remembrance.
Having been reelected to the office, and conscious of no
abatement of interest in educational matters, with three years
of experience I hope to achieve still more for the advancement
of a cause so essential to individual and national weal.
H. W. BENJAMIN,
School Commissioner.
Bivsbhead, Dec. 31, 1872.
Superintendent of Public Ixbtbtjction. 351
SUFFOLK COUNTY— Second District.
Hod. Abbam B. Weaver,
Superintendent of PvbUo Instruction :
Sir. — This district now comprises the towns of Babylon,
Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Smithtown. By an act of
the Legislature, passed in March, 1872, the town of Hunting,
ton was divided, and that portion lying south of a line one mile
north of the Long Island railroad and parallel to it, was estab-
lished as the town of Babylon, while the other portion remained
as the town of Huntington. This obliged me to number anew
the school districts in the new town of Babylon, and several in
the town of Huntington. Babylon has the school-houses of
seven districts within its limits. Joint district No. 22, formerly a
of Huntington, became joint district No. 8, of Babylon. The
house is in the town of Oyster Bay, in the county of Queens.
District No. 28, of the old town of Huntington, was, just pre-
vious to the renumbering of the •districts as above stated, con-
solidated with district No. 7, of Huntington.
My immediate predecessor, in his annual report to the Depart-
ment, made in November, 1863, in speaking of the attendance
of pupils, says, " Without any hesitation I affirm that not fifty
per cent of the children of school age in this assembly district,
have entered a school-house for the purpose of receiving instruc-
tion during the year ending September 30, 1863 ; and that, of
the number that have been so instructed, no more than twenty-
five per cent were in attendance for a longer period than two
months."
At that time teachers were not, as now, required to make
oath to the correctness of their registers ; indeed, many had no
register, but kept their rolls of attendance on loose slips of
paper. The statistics were not otherwise as reliable as those
taken at the present time. The statement above quoted, how-
ever, is made with a clearness and a precision that do not
admit of a doubt that the writer himself had full faith in its
truth or correctness. He had been performing the duties of
school commissioner for many years, and was devoted to the
J
352
Nineteenth Annual Report or the
work, so that no one could judge more correctly than he in
such matters.
By the new mode of collecting statistics, which went into
operation in 1865, we are able to obtain a pretty correct know-
ledge, in these particulars, and the statistics for that year show
a very decided progress over 1863. In 1865, the number
attending school was 5,280, and the average daily attendance
was 2,107. The entire school population was 8,774. The
average time school was taught, throughout the commissioner
district, was a little more than thirty-three weeks, or over eight
months. Thus, in 1865, over sixty per cent of the school popu-
lation attended school some portion of the year, and the aver-
age daily attendance at school, for more than eight months, was
over twenty-four per cent.
This is not singular. The statistics, from 1865 to the present
time, give unmistakable evidence of very decided progress in
the cause of public instruction. The number of pupils attend-
ing school, in 1872, was 6,629, being an increase over 1865 of
1,849 ; of this increase the town of Brookhaven has 169 ;
Huntington (including the new town of Babylon), 866 ; Islip,
310 ; and Smithtown, four. The average daily attendance, in
1872, was 3,206, being 1,099 greater than in 1865, or an increase
of fifty-two per cent. For Brookhaven, 297 ; Huntington
and Babylon, 515; Islip, 246; and Smithtown forty-one.
Brookhaven had an average daily attendance of thirty-five per
cent of its school population ; Huntington, thirty-five and a
half per cent ; Babylon, twenty-eight per bent ; Islip, thirty-
one and a half per cent ; and Smithtown, twenty-eight and a
half per cent.
This increase in the attendance has been gradual, except in
1868, when, owing to the abolition of rate-bills, the gain was
larger than at any other time. The number of children of
school age in 1872 was 9,683, exceeding that of 1S65 by 909 ; for
Brookhaven, sixty-two ; Huntington and Babylon, 694 ; Islip,
116, and Smithtown, thirty-seven. The average time, school was
taught in 1872, was over thirty-five weeks. The attendance at
school, therefore, in 1872, was equivalent to one-third of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 358
whole number of children of school age being at school every
day for nearly nine months. The increase of attendance has
required an increase in the number of teachers. Twenty-five
more have been employed to instruct the extra eleven hun-
dred pupils in daily attendance.
The amount of pnblic money apportioned to this district in
1872 was $16,674.29, exceeding that of 1865 by $7,999.96.
Of this Brookhaven has $2,710.44; Huntington and Babylon
$3,878.14 ; Islip $1,461.94, and Smithtown $449.44.
The amount raised by tax in 1872 was $49,600.78, exceed-
ing what was raised in 1865, as tax and rate-bill combined, by
$31,636.14. This increase is, for Brookhaven, $10,369.55;
Huntington and Babylon, $12,346.26 ; Islip, $8,130.39 ; Smith-
town, $789.94.
The money expended for teachers' wages in 1872 was
$43,829.60, being $20,703.64 more than in 1865. Of this
increase Brookhaven furnished $7,384.10; Huntington and
Babylon $7,267.11 ; Islip $5,047.50, and Smithtown $1,004.93.
The total receipts and expenditures were, in 1872,
$76,791.85, being $47,680.31 more than in 1865. Of this
increase Brookhaven has $13,721.88 ; Huntington and Baby-
lon, $21,616.40 ; Islip, $10,903.38, and Smithtown, $1,438.64.
No one, certainly, will deny that these figures indicate remark-
able interest and activity in school matters.
In many districts the school-houses were too small to accom-
modate the pupils. In those cases some were enlarged, and
others were replaced by new ones. The estimated valuation
of school-houses and sites in 1865 was $47,551 ; in 1872 it was
$113,653, an increase of nearly 250 per cent. The amount
expended for school-houses, sites, fences, out-houses, repairs,
furniture and the like, in 1872, was $21,285.47. About $7,000
was for buildings erected during the year, and much of the
remainder was for payments on houses previously erected.
Seven new houses have been built the past year at Amityville,
Bay Shore, North Babylon, West Babylon, SoutlT;Haven,
Kidgeville and Ronkonkoma.
Since 1865, twenty-seven new school-houses have been built,
23
354 Nineteenth Annual Report of the
and eleven others enlarged or thoroughly repaired. In the
town of Brookhaveft, ten were bnilt and one raised a story
and enlarged. In the present towns of Huntington and Baby-
lon, twelve have been bnilt and fonr enlarged. In the town
of Islip, four have been built and three enlarged. In Smith-
town, one built, and three enlarged and thorough! y repaired.
Quite a number of these new buildings cost upward of $4,000
each ; one, $7,000, and one, $11,000. The cost of enlarging in
one instance, included above, was $6,000. These improve-
ments have been almost wholly voluntary on the part of the
residents. But six school-houses have been formally con-
demned.
The average wages for a teacher, in 1865, was $251.36 per year
of thirty -three weeks. In 1872, it was $374.61, for thirty -five
weeks. In 1865, $500 was considered a pretty fair salary for
our best male principals. Teachers then receiving that sum,
or less, left the county, and are now receiving elsewhere some
four times, others five times, that amount. The highest price
paid in 1872 was $1,300. Several male principals are receiv-
ing $1,000, and one female principal gets $750, which is the
highest. The teachers are generally persons of intelligence,
fully competent to instruct and to govern. They are earnest,
ambitious and faithful. Many possess much taste and refine-
ment.
We had an institute at Riverhead, commencing October 7,
and continuing two weeks. Prof. D. H. Cruttenden and Mrs.
Cruttenden officiated. My opinion of Prof. Cruttenden has
heretofore been fully given. Further knowledge of him con-
firms me in that opinion. Mrs. Cruttenden's instructions in
history and graphics possessed real merit, and were valued by
all. Mrs. Cruttenden gave an evening lecture upon " The
Unity of the Arts, Sciences and Religion," which contained
much original thought. Dr. James Cruikshank lectured upon
"The Structure of the Alphabet," and Commissioner Mount
upon " Civil Government." The Rev. Wm, Isaacs Loom is,
LL. D., lectured upon " The Natural Law of Motions," in
which he took the position that " a globe by a single motive
Superintendent or Public Instruction. 855
force could be urged in any conceivable direction ; that Sir
Isaac Newton, not knowing that a single motive force could
impress a globe with curvilinear motion, his views in relation
to the movements of the planets are not true to nature." The
lecturer had evidently thought much upon the subject, and
announced some startling propositions with a boldness and
force of speech that belong to a conviction ef newly discovered
truth. In this connection 1 should mention that in July last
Prof. Cruttenden held at Riverhead, for two weeks, what he
terms, " linguistic Conversations," at which he discussed the
Bcience of language. In an educational view the session was
a complete success.
Upon the subject of supervision, I desire to record my
approval of the views expressed by Commissioner Whalen, of
Saratoga county, in his report of December, 1870.
I take this opportunity to tender my sincere thanks to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction for the aid and encour-
agement he has rendered me, and for his uniform kindness and
courtesy. The office of school commissioner, which I have
held for the last nine years, I this day relinquish. Its duties,
its responsibilities, its powers, its opportunities for me, will
soon be among the things of the past. I assumed them,
impressed with their importance, and familiarity with them
has not lessened my respect for them. I assumed them,
firmly resolved to apply myself assiduously and perseveringly
to their faithful performance. How far I have been success-
ful others must determine. In this respect I am not troubled
by the remembrance of any serious dereliction of duty. I
have tried to do right ; I hope I have done well.
THOMAS S. MOUNT,
School Commissioner.
Sromr Brook, L. L, Deo. 31, 1872.
356
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
WASHINGTON COUNTY— Second District.
Hon. Abb am B. Weaver,
Superintendent of Public Instruction :
Sir. — The annual reports of the school trustees, for the year
ending September 30, 1872, furnish a variety of statistics
interesting to all having any concern for the welfare of our
public schools.
The number of school districts, reported in the second com-
missioner district of the county, is one hundred and eighteen.
The number in the respective towns is as follows : Dresden,
nine ; Fort Ann, nineteen ; Granville, eighteen ; Hampton,
six ; Hartford, thirteen ; Hebron, seventeen ; Kingsbury,
fifteen ; Putnam, seven ; and Whitehall, fourteen. Of these,
one hundred and fifteen are common, and four are union
school districts, organized under the general union school act.
The union schools are located, one at Sandy Hill, one at West
Hebron, one at Middle Granville, and one at Whitehall.
The amount received and disbursed in the several districts
reaches the large sum of $51,613.24.
The principal sources from which money is obtained are the
State funds, constituting what is called public money, and
taxation. The amount of public money apportioned to the
several districts was $17,576.39. The amount raised by tax
was $29,461.31. Of the remainder the sum of $1,152.41 was
on hand at the beginning of the school year; $2,727.50,
the estimated value of teachers' board; and $695.63, the
amount received from various miscellaneous sources, as tuition
bills of non-residents, legacies, etc. The principal items of
expenditure were for* teachers' wages, school-houses, repairs,
furniture, fuel, etc. The amount expended for teachers' wages
was $36,060.92; for school-houses, repairs, furniture, etc.,
$8,184.94 ; for fuel and other incidental expenses, $6,830.41 ;
for libraries, $18.90, and for school apparatus, $82.99. There
were $435.08 in the hands of trustees September 30, 1872,
available for school purposes.
The amount expended for teachers' wages by towns was as
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 357
follows: Dresden, $1,481.87; Fort Ann, $4,638.29; Gran-
ville, $5,261.37 ; Hampton, $1,073.10 ; Hartford, $2,562.27 ;
Hebron, $3,682.79 ; Kingsbury, $7,725.73 ; Pntnam, $914.02 ;
Whitehall, $8,721.48. Total, $36,060.92.
The whole number of children of school age, residing in the
several towns in this district, was as follows : Dresden, 289 ;
Fort Ann, 1,077; Granville, 1,340; Hampton, 297; Hart-
ford, 613 ; Hebron, 779 ; Kingsbury, 1,636 ; Putnam, 193 ;
Whitehall, 3,278. Total, 9,502.
The whole number attending some part of the school year
was as follows : Dresden, 223 ; Fort Ann, 850 ; Granville,
1,077; Hampton, 229; Hartford, 496 ; Hebron, 631; Kings-
bury, 1,389 ; Putnam, 141 ; Whitehall, 1,307. Total, 6,343.
The average attendance was as follows : Dresden, 108,934 ;
Fort Ann, 449,974 ; Granville, 525,215 ; Hampton, 97,266 ;
Hartford, 254,724; Hebron, 335,381; Kingsbury, 678,888;
Putnam, 77,858; Whitehall, 593,911. Total, 3,122,151.
From these statistics, it appears that one-third of the whole
number of the children of school age did not attend any part
of the year ; and that out of the whole number claiming to
attend at all, only one-half, on an average, were present every
day.
The whole number of teachers reported was 266 ; of which
eight were licensed by normal schools, ten by the State super-
intendent, and 248 by the commissioner of the district. Sixty-
two were males, and 204 were females.
The number of volumes reported in all the district libraries
was 9,699, valued at $2,901. Out of the whole 118 districts,
only eighty-six have book cases for their library books.
There were 120 school-houses reported, of which ninety-
seven were frame ; twenty, brick ; and three, stone. Of the
stone school-houses, two were in Fort Ann, and one in Kings-
bury.
The estimated value of school-house sites, was $19,675 ; of
school-houses, $107,020 ; making the total estimated value of
the school property $126,695. These were in the respective
towns as follows: Dresden, $1,850; Fort Ann, $11,320;
358
Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Granville, $21,780; Hampton, $1,825; Hartford, $5,060 .
Hebron, $11,660; Kingsbury, $34,650; Putnam, $1,185;
Whitehall, $37,365. Total, 126,695.
Kingsbury is the banner town in two respects; it reports
a larger average attendance than any other town, and, also, a
greater number of weeks taught during the school year. Of its
fifteen districts, one had forty weeks of school, five had thirty-
two weeks each, one had thirty-one, three had thirty each, three
had twenty-nine each, and only two restricted themselves to
the shortest possible time of twenty-eight weeks each.
The banner common school district, as regards length of time
in which school was actually taught, was district No. 5, on
Morris Hill, in the- town of Hampton. This district had
thirty-six weeks of school. We call attention to this, because
it deserves commendation on its own account. In addition, it
is composed mainly of Irish families, the trustee himself being
an Irishman. It effectually refutes the slander, that the Irish
in this country are opposed to education or are unaware of its
benefits.
One hundred and one districts have one trustee each, thir-
teen have three trustees each, and there are four boards of
education, of nine members each. One hundred and thirteen
districts own their school-house sites ; five do not. Only five
school-houses are separated from the highway by a fence ; one
hundred and fifteen are not separated. One hundred and two
school districts have privies, sixteen do not I In fifty districts
the teachers boarded around ; in sixty-eight they did not.
In all the districts, school was taught only five days in the
week. Six districts, one in each of the towns of Dresden,
Fort Ann, Granville, Hampton, Putnam and Whitehall, paid
the teachers' time while attending the teachers' institute.
One hundred and thirteen districts used all their library money
in payment of teachers' wages ; only five did not use it. Two
districts have built new school-houses this year ; to wit, dis-
trict No. 17, in Fort Ann, and district No. 10, in Granville.
One of the most conspicuous instances of irregularity, on
the part of school officers, is the neglect to keep a record of
860 RbFOBT OF SUPEBItTFXNDBltT OF P UBLIO Inbts UCTIl
sb wages in other departments of industry are, what can
expected of teachers at that rate of compensation.
But we must have a higher standard of qualification on
part of teachers. This has been the objective point of the «
going commissioner, in all his school work. The idea has b
in examinations to make teachers aware of their imper
tions, and to awaken in them a desire to remove them,
very soon became satisfied that we could not at present ex]
professional teachers in our common schools. What he labc
to accomplish was, to secure a corps of teachers from the t
and daughters of well-to-do farmers, who would naturally h
a few years, more or less, between the time of their fioist
their education and that of their settling down in life, in wl
to devote a portion of the year to teaching. He encoura
those, who were going to spend a year or bo away from he
at school, to go to the State normal schools, where they wo
not only receive just as good instruction as at other inst
tions, but would also be instructed in methods of teach:
His labors in that direction have not been wholly with
result ; and he has recommended a larger number for appo
ment to the State schools during the past year than dm
the whole former period of his commisBionerehip. Let thii
continued for a few years longer, and we shall have teacl
worthy of the vocation, and our common school system
realize the purpose it was intended to accomplish. An<
this, we are sure all the people will say, amen.
WILLIAM H. TEFFT,
School Commiwumet
Whitehall, Dec, 1872.
362 Index.
Am situs,
need or, In rnral districts.
payment* tor. Indtlee
la cooo Met
total payment :u Win: WW
APFOBtlomiDT.
of school mooeys
•opprWslon In cltlee
salaries of eehool commissioners..
yean IBgTand 1971
tabular ■tatamrati
New York Statu Convention of School Commlialone r* and City Superintends"
Teachers' A
proceedings, character of . .
aggregate nnmber of day of. In cities
Sum.
average dally. In lBHTand 197S IcomparalliO
of pnplle Id cities
counties
raial districts
perteecher. In cities
rum! dlatrlete
Increase in aggregate and average dally.,., ..........,.,,.,.. .................
number of children of ecbool age. (See Children.)
per cent of average attendance of pnplle on number of children between 5 and
In cities, rural district* and State
per cent or dally attendance on whole number attending In cities, towns and SU
table showing nnmber in attendance for but tan yean
whole nnmber of poplin for each qualified teacher In cltlee
rural districts
rural dletrlcta
State
city superintendent
financial and statistical tables .... ... IS, 78, 78, 8
city » npcrintendent
financial and statistical tables - 18,75,78,81,
Blihd, N*w Yorx Isbtitutiob ron THS
attendance of pupils
condition
864 Index.
Cirtii COOWTT,
financial mod statistical table* it, TO, 78, SI
school commissioners
teacher*' Institute
ClUBTiiriJUA COCUTI,
financial and statistical tables It, IS, IB, 6
taudil and statistical tables It, TO, 78,8
school commissioner
teacher*' institute..
Chihamoo Codbtt,
financial and statistical table* 11,15,78,8
■pacta] report, first district,
number of, between Sand II In cities 9. V
In rani district* p, »
In mantle*
In 1887 Slid 187*
for each tocher. Id cltlai, rural districts and Stall
nambat of, In attendance at school. (See Attendance.)
amount expended for houses and sites, .,
libraries and apparatoe
amount raised by local tax
apportionment of school moneys, 1878... ,. .. ...........
children, number between fire and twenty-one
perteacber.
colored schools, coat of.
commissioner* end euperlnteiident*
financial tables (summary) 91
llbrarle*, number and value
moneys received from Stat*
nnmberof district* -
parcantaga of attandanca
proceeds of Oospel and school lands
pupils, number In arerage dally attandanca
whole number attending
school-house* and »H*a, vahte
•pedal report*
State Ui paid
statistical table* (summary) 78,81
teacher*' lnatltat**, stattetle* of
***•» ■■ ■
time school w*» kept
Nobsul School,
ooutM or study lor
department*
eatabllahed
expenditure* ... .
graduate*, nm of —
Dumber of
library end apparataa, addition* to
local board
repair* and Improvement*
report of local board..
Dur mo Iicm. laartTDTioa fob
clanlflcatlon of pupil* .. ..
eatabtlahad.. ...... -
acuity ...
Instruction In trade* —
language ol eigne and artknlatluo ...
new building, additional room proposed
nam her of pnplle In attendance
report of principal
Dair-Mura, Imnrano* ran th» Ibtbotbd lair aoorios ■>.
financial condll Ion
number In attendance
Dbuwabb Cotmrr,
financial and Mntialkal table*.... It, IB, 7B. 61.
■ebool comml*ttouer*
teachers' institute
Dutbiots,
aggregate nnmber of. In count!**
■ I ral district* 0, H. IS,
Boil* ..., IB, -IB,
Dibtbict LiBBiHiKs. (Beo Libraries.)
DllTBICT QUOTSS,
1. Slate tax and ralnatioo percounlle* 1n ISSTand Wit
a. Bcbool tu paid and recalled breach county
Apportionment of Common School Food .
J. Apportionment of School Moneys tor 187* ,, ...
4. Abstractor tttaiistleal Reports from Cotntnistloner*
5. Abetract of Financial Rapoiuftom Com miss loner*
B. Statement of Condition of Common Sohool Fund fu: tbe yeat endlsg Septem
1. Investment of capital of Common Bcbool Food . . .
8. Compsratli* Buttstlee tor the year* 1SBB-1 and I8TM . .
». KttlttM of Teacher*' loMltntaa In J81t
Funosii Nouul School,
cooreeof ilady tor
department*
eipendilarae
(■catty
financial uid KatlftleaJ tablet
KltilUUor. same* of.
nnmberof
report of principal
■pedal appropriation tar I a>n rote man u
Ultloo collected
wbeu established
proporod amendment of lav
statement of
operation of
Fnn Schools,
academical department* In
nnmberoT 0, 8t
Tultoh ComrlT,
financial and etatiftlcal tablet 14, 75, 7S, 81, Be
acbool commlsaloner
teacher*' iMtttota . ,
GlIEIII COOHTT,
financial and ataHetlcal table* H, TS, TO, 81, 84.
acbool commietloner
l School,
hi lor beating a]
saof pupils - .- SO,
coai» of study tor — -
departmental . . .
endowment* . . -
fccnltj
graduates, name* nf
number of... ...................... .. .- .- ..... .,..., .......
local board appointed ,
report of local board ... - ......,,,...
acbool opened .......................... .. ........... .............. .... . £&,
tuition collected 00,
Qotpm. ifd School Lanoa,
proceed! o I »
nummary, compuMlTe, (Or 1897 and 199
872 Isdxx.
Onancleland statistical taMe* 1», 78, TS, (B, », I
rddlMrlct...
OBOBDiSi hoiK RlJlll
report of, financial
•tatletlcal..
school -booses, appropriation for saw bnlldlng
Obtiiuo Couutt,
fnMltute, teacher*' 1
financial and statistical tables IS, To, TO, Bt. 8fl, !
special report, second district
Ohinoe Copsir,
financial and EtnHstiCfll tablee IS, 74, 79, BS, 88, 1
school commissioner*
financial ana statistical tablea IS, TO, 71, Bt, H, f
teacher*' lutitaM
Oemsa Cut,
cltj bonds, common *ehool l*.nd 1
city superintendent
financial and statistical table* It, 78, 79. 83, 66, (
Oswsao Comrr,
flnanclaland statistical table* IS, 18, 79, St, 68, I
school commissioners . . .. .. ,, . ....................
teachers' Institute
OawBoo Nobxil BCBOOI^
apparatus and library •
financial statement* 6S, I
graduate*, name* of
number of papll*
report or local board . , .
schools for practice. . . ,
value or property - -
when established...-
remoo Couhtt.
tlnandal and statistical table* It, 78, TV. Bt, &
Fm, Fnor. Isaac Luna...
Pbbi, Da. Habtb-t P
374 Index.
dlatrict ....
how determined
locreue and diminution of.
Kxqbnti of CmrramTT,
academies appointed by, to In stmct common-tcnool teacher*
•MUM of study, prescribed bj
□ amber of papils attending teachers- classes
RissanuB Couhtt,
financial and statistical tables IS, TO, 7», 8S, 85
school commissioner*
abstracteof, financial and statUtkal. 18, 81. M.
from commissioner*, written
of Indian school* 100,
of normal schools.
Richmond Co nun.
financial and statistical tablet.. tt, 70, IB, M, 80
school commlMlooer.
special report
teachsnV Institute.
city snparintendent >
flnanclal and statistical tablei it, TO, TO, 83, 86
wnxun Oourtt,
financial and etatltrkal tables 18, TO, 10, 83, 86
•cbool commiaaloDer
St. Lin-Risen Couktt,
flnanclal and •tatisttcnl table* It, 70, 78, 8a, 80
■pedal report, lecond district
third district
special training class 48, MB,
T. RaOU IKDUH ItlSIRTiTJOH,
report of, financial
superintendent ,
•chool-bouMi, appropriation fcr new balldlng
BaUToea Coojtrr,
flnandal and statistical table* 11, 70, TO, 88, 80
•cbool commlHtonera
•pedal report, first district.
teachera' Institute DO,
fk'BJlNIOTirjY ClTT,
cltj superintendent
flnandal and itatlttlcal table* 18, 77, 79, 88, 8S
Index. 375
JOCTTTT. fW-
table* IS. 77. TO. ss. 8*, 88, w
d Matlstlctl tab]** 18,77,79.88.85.88. 01
r.in»!.ilpir* ........... ,.,....--..--...-..--------------.. Ml
d •tatiaUcal tabic* IS. T7. TO. 88. SB, f
*, (8m App*r»tna.)
(8m District*.)
;■: of. In 1686. 1888, 1887. 1888, 1888. II
■ tor, tod HIM, eW.. In title* 8.80. M
rural dlatricta 8.80, 81
In1887andl871.il. Stat* BT
, brtdt. 7
ipe ndllqn (Or .. ... 8, 87
'. [l***18c*rlon . f . 7.18,81,88, 98
idtlort for, •nrfitUa, etc., In 1878 g, as
l**l ten year* . S
idaltmfn title*. ., 7,8*. 88
"OOBtl** M, 88
roraldlttrltt*.. ,v 7,94, gg
1.88.81,88, I
• ■ . 18, 80
'••••■ 80, 7B
'«» a
-•■- 18,17,80.74. TO
e oftcnnnof. for 1S7S. In r.ltien. rnnil district*. State .. .10.18, 78
l**t tan rear* .... . M>
'Instruction In (g
(srunrar, ^ M
STerage attendance upon in (14
»Pem.... 78,81.88, 100
* ' 14
f«, 1887 and 1ST! gg
fott«n»**r* %%n, 19
:h county 7^ T4
reaehconntj 74
. . is, 77. m n. m. a
SlFlBATI NnBBIHiaBOOM.
report of, fin*;. -. '-*■
itv .• : a! . .
taf- ■; -•::• ■■■■:■■■ : .
propriety of .. . 80, ttt, 481, 8U
Burs Cunnuni,
•athorltj' to grant
present plan nnJoM
proposed snwmiinBiiU 10 Uu law -
Bute School Tax,
BTATI YlLOlTION,
STATISTIC*! RBPOKTC.
W.8I
HdibcUI tad (UUellcal table*
18, 77. 80. 88. 86, »
Sellitaw Codwtt.
... M, 171, SM
BurasrooB*,
878 Ibdxx.
Tompkjh* CotJHTT,
financial ami statistical tables IS, 11, 80, St, 86,
school CO mm! Mia tiers
teachers' Institute
TOHaWAXtU K*S«BVlTIOH,
report o(, financial
statistics.!
stipe rlnteu dent
■chool-houaea, now building to be erected
flnvicUl and statistical tables 18, T7, 90, 88, 86,
iuperlntend»nt of schools
Tsui, Dr, N.T
TiTSCiEom Rmibvatios,
report of, flrmdaj
Ulsteh Cochtt.
financial and statistical tables IS, 77, 80, St, 8
school com mi 8»ionnra '. :
teachers' Institute ..
L'nittD Btath Dmkmit Praro,
monejs recelTed from, and apportioned to public acnoola
city superintendent
nnmber of qnotaa— special act
statistical and financial tables IB, 77, W, 83, SS
VanraTioH, BraTB,
ccnntJeain 188T
counties In 1871
Yum or ComneBioaote,
nnmber of .-
Wiiant Coinm,
financial and sJatisUcal tables 13, 77, 80, SB, 85,
school commissioner
financial and statistical tahle. 18, 77. SO, BS, 86.
sell ool commission en
special report, Becond district
financial and statistical tablea 18, 77, 80, 88, 88,
schoul commissioners
Wmnonni CotFHTi,
financial and statistical tables la, 77, 80, 88, 38,
1
Tl
Index. 379
Wtomuto Couhtt, % Paob.
financial and statistical tables 18, 77, 80, 88, 86, 88, 9*
school commissioners Ml
teachers' institute 99
Yatss Couhtt,
financial and statistical tables 18, 77, 80, 88, 88, 89, 99
school commissioner 961
teachers' Institute , 97
i:
I1
STATE OF NEW YORK
No. 167.
IN ASSEMBLY,
April 3, 1873.
REPORT
OF COMMITTEE ON CLAIMS, ADVERSE TO CLAIM OF
GEORGE CHAMBERLAIN.
Mr. Lincoln, from the committee on claims, to which was referred
the bill entitled " An act in relation to the claims of George Cham-
berlain, for damages occasioned by the partial construction of the
Genesee Valley canal," having taken up the same, and examined
the affidavit of said George Chamberlain thereon, the said committee
conclude that there is not sufficient evidence in said affidavit to
warrant it in recommending its passage; and said committee has,
therefore, reported adversely thereto.
C. S. LINCOLN,
Chairman*
[Assembly No, 167.] 1
JOURNAL
American Geographical Society
NEW TO BK.
EDITED BY THE RECORDING SECRETARY.
M.DCCC.LXXIII.
VOL. IV.
pbhted for tee booiett by the state of hew yofx
london: trwbner & co.— paris: gust. bossanqe.
1874.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 168.
IN ASSEMBLY,
March 88tlx, 1873.
/
i
ANNUAL EEPORT
or
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW
YORK FOR THE YEAR 1872.
Rooms of the American Geographical Society, '
Cooper Institute,
New York, March 28th, 1873.
Hon. A. B. Cornell,
Speaker of the Assembly :
Sir, — I have the honor to transmit herewith the
annual report of the American Geographical Society
of New York for the year 1872.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Dr. E. R. STRAZNICKY,
Recording Secretary.
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
OFFICERS AND COUNCIL, 1873.
President,
CHARLES P. DALY, LL. D.
Vice-Presidents,
F. A. CONKLING, FRANCIS A. STOUT,
T. BAILEY MYERS.
Honorary Secretary,
Rev. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D. D.
Foreign Corresponding Secretary,
JAMES MUHLENBERG BAILEY.
Domestic Corresponding Secretary
W. H. H. MOORE.
Recording Secretary,
E. R STRAZNICKY, M. D., Ph. D.
Treasurer,
HENRY CLEWS.
Council,
WILLIAM REMSEN, GEORGE W. CULLUM, U. 8. A.,
W. TILDEN BLODGETT, GEORGE CABOT WARD,
WILLIAM E. CURTIS, ELIAL F. HALL,
THEO. W. DWIGHT, LL. D., THEODORE ROOSEVELT,
WILLIAM JONES HOPPIN.
CONTENTS.
List of Officers and Council v
Charter of Incorporation 2
Amended Charter. 4
By-laws 6
Honorary, Corresponding, and Resident Members 16
Transactions of the Society for 1872 86
Alphabetical List of Donors to the Library and Map-room 57
Pafeb8 Read befobb the Society:
L Annual Address, by Chief- Justice Daly, the President. Subject —
The Geographical Work of the World in 1872. Delivered
February 17th, 1873 68
£L Annual Address, by Daniel C. Gilman, President of the University
of California, at Oakland. Subject — Geographical Work in the
United States during 1871. Delivered January 30th, 1872 119
HL The History and Authority of the Verrazano Map, with a reduced
copy of the same, by J. Carson Brevoobt. Read November
28th, 1871 145
IV. Physical Geography of the North-western Boundary of the United
States, with twelve illustrations, by George Gibbs. Read
November 11th, 1869. Continued 298
V. North-western North America: Its Resources and Its Inhabitants.
By J. T. Rothrock, M. D. Read December 17th, .1873 898
VL On the Paleogeography of North America, by Prof. T. Sterry
Hunt, LL. D., F. R. S. Read November 12th, 1872 416
VR On Martin Behaini's Globe and his Influence upon Geographical
Science, by Rev. Mytton Maury. Read March 19th, 1872 . . . 482
VIII. Report of the Reception tendered by the American Geographical
Society to Henry M Stanley, Esq., on the evening of Novem-
ber 26th, 1872 458
ANNUAL REPORT
or THB
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
7b the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New
York:
The undersigned beg leave to present this their second
annual report, for the year 1872, in accordance with the
provisions of the act of April 8, 1871. It contains the
list of officers of the present year, the Society' s receipts,
expenditures and financial condition up to the present
time ; the annual report of its Council, the reports of its
various officers, the state of its library, and the papers
read before it, which embrace a large amount of new and
valuable geographical and statistical information, espe-
cially in relation to our own country.
Respectfully submitted.
CHAS. P. DALY, President.
F. A. CONKUNG,
Chairman of the Council.
HENRY CLEWS, Treasurer.
Dr. R R. STRAZNICKY,
Recording Secretary.
Charter of Incorporation,
CHARTER OF INCORPORATION.
Grafted Apbil 18th, 186*
Tke People of the Stale of New York-, represent
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows ;
Section 1. George Bancroft, Henry Grinnell, Prai
Hawks, John C. Zimmerman, Archibald Russell, J
Leavitt, William C. H. Waddell, Ridley Wat
De Witt Bloodgood, M. Dudley Bean, Hiram Bi
Alexander J. Cotheal, Luther B. Wyman, JohD
J. Calvin Smith, Henry T. Poor, Cambridge Livin
Edmund Blunt, Alexander W. Bradford, and the!
ciates, who are now or may become hereafter assc
for the purposes of this act, are hereby constitt
body corporate by the name of The American Geo$
ical and Statistical Society, for the purpose of coll
and diffusing geographical and statistical inforraati
§ 2. For the purposes aforesaid, the said Society
possess the general powers and privileges, and be e
to the general liabilities, contained in the third title
eighteenth chapter of the first part of the R
Statutes, so far as the same may be applicable, ant
not have been modified or repealed ; but the re:
personal estate which the said Society shall be autb
to take, hold and convey, over and above its li
and maps, charts, instruments and collections, sht
at any time exceed an amount, the clear yearly i
of which shall be ten thousand dollars.
§,3. The officers of the aaid Society shall be' a
dent, three vice-presidents, a corresponding sec]
a recording secretary, a librarian, and treasure;
Charter of Incorporation. 3
such other officers as may from time to time be provided
for by the by-laws of the said Society.
§ 4. The said Society, for fixing the terms of admission
of its members, for the government of the same, for
changing and altering the officers above named, and for
the general regulation and management of its transac-
tions and affairs, shall have power to form a code of
by-laws not inconsistent with the laws of this State or
of the United States ; which code, when formed and
adopted at a regular meeting, shall, until modified or
rescinded, be equally binding as this act upon the said
Society, its officers and its members.
§ 5. The Legislature may at any time alter or repeal
this act.
§ 6. This act to take effect immediately.
Statk of New Yoke, \
Secretary's Office. )
I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office,
and hereby certify the same to be a correct transcript therefrom and of the
whole of said original law.
Given under my hand and seal of office, at the city of Albany,
[l. &] this thirteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
A. Q. JOHNSTON,
Deputy Secretary of State.
Amended Charter.
AMENDED CHARTER.
Passed Aran. 8th, 1871.
State of New York, No. 337, in Senate, Ma
1871. — Introduced by unanimous consent by Mr. Br
read twice and referred to the Committee on Liter
reported favorably from said committeej and com
to the Committee of the Whole.
Chap. 973.
An Act in relation to The American Geographic
Statistical Society. Passed April 8th, 1871.
The People of the State of Neui York, represen
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
Section 1. The name or corporate title of th
Society shall hereafter be, "The American Gteogra
Society of New York."
§ 2. The objects of the said Society shall be the ad
ment of geographical science ; the collection, clai
tion and scientific arrangement of statistics, and
results ; the encouragement of explorations for tht
thorough knowledge of all parte of the North An
continent, and of other parte of the world which i
imperfectly known ; the collection and diffusi
geographical, statistical and scientific knowled.
lectures, printed publications, or other means; the
ing up of a correspondence with scientific and L
societies in every part of the world, for the collect*
diffusion of information, and the interchange of
charts, maps, public reports, documents and vb
publications ; the permanent establishment in the ■
Amended Charter. 5
New York of an institution in which shall be collected,
classified and arranged, geographical and scientific works,
voyages and travels, maps, charts, globes, instruments,
documents, manuscripts, prints, engravings, or whatever
else may be useful or necessary for supplying full, accu-
rate and reliable information in respect to every part of
the globe, or explanatory of its geography, physical and
descriptive ; and its geological history, giving its clima-
tology, its productions, animal, vegetable and mineral ;
its exploration, navigation, and commerce; having especial
reference to that kind of information which should be
collected, preserved, and be at all times accessible for
public uses in a great maritime and commercial city.
§ 3. The power given by the act hereby accorded to the
said Society, to take, hold, convey, manage, and make
use of its real and personal estate, shall be understood
as authorizing said Society to take and hold by gift,
grant, bequest, devise, subject to all provisions of law
relative to devises and bequests by last will and testa-
ment, or purchase real estate to the value of three hun-
dred thousand dollars, and to invest its income or its
personal estate generally so as to produce a regular
annual income sufficient for the accomplishment of the
purposes set forth in the first section of this act ; but said
annual income shall not exceed twenty-five thousand
dollars annually.
§ 4. The said Society shall make an annual report of
its proceedings to the Legislature.
State of New York, I
Office of Secretary of State, ]*'
I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office,
and do hereby certify that the same la a correct transcript therefrom and
of the whole of said original law.
Given under my hand and seal of office, at the city of Albany,
[i* a.] this twenty-second day of May, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-one
D1EDRICH W1LLERS, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary of State.
BY-LAWS.
Bbvuskd Dzoekbrb 9th, 1889.
CHAPTER I.
TITLB.
The titlo of the Society is, ' ' The American Geogra]
and Statistical Society." *
CHAPTER n.
OBJECTS.
The objects of the Society are, "the collecting
diffusing of geographical and statistical information
CHAPTER Hf.
MEMBERS.
The Society shall consist of resident, non-res
honorary, corresponding and ex-ojflcio members.
1. Resident members are those residing in the c
New York, or its vicinity.
2. Non-resident members are those residing at
twenty-five miles distant from the city.
3. Honorary members shall be chosen on accot
their distinction in the science of geography or stat
and not more than twelve of them shall hereaft
elected in any one year.
4. Corresponding members shall be chosen from
who have aided the advancement of geograpl
statistics.
5. Ex-oTfficio members shall be foreign diplomatic :
sentatives and consols resident in the United States
• Changed by net of April 8, 1971.
By-Laws. 7
tates diplomatic representatives and consols in
rantries.
dent, non-resident, corresponding, and honorary
shall be elected as follows : All nominations of .
e shall be openly made in writing at a meeting
ciety, or the Council, by a member thereof, and,
with the name of the member making them,
a the minutes. The persons thus nominated,
■roved by the Council and elected by the Society,
payment of the initiation fee, if nominated as a
ir non-resident member, and without such pay-
nominated as a corresponding or honorary
become members of the Society accordingly.
ions entitled to become ex-officio members of
by shall, on the recommendation of the Council,
i Society constituted and declared to be snch
name of any member of the Society may, on the
ldation of the Council, and by a rote of two-
the members present at a stated meeting of the
>e dropped from the roll of its members.
CHAPTER IV.
INITIATION FEE AND ANNUAL DUBS.
initiation fee, including the dues for the current
11 be, for a resident member, ten dollars ; and
■resident member, five dollars ; in both oases to
immediately on election.
annual dues thereafter shall be, for a resident
five dollars ; and for a non-resident member,
rs and a half ; both to be paid in advance,
member of the Society, not in arrears, may
for life all dues for membership, by the payment
one, if a resident member, of fifty dollars ; and,
resident member, twenty-five dollars,
name of any resident or non-resident member
ciety, neglecting for two successive years to pay
10 . By-Laws.
proposition thus presented, when seconded, and the
tion thereon stated from the chair, shall be deemed
in the possession of the Society, and open for discus
but may be withdrawn by the mover at any time I
amendment or decision.
3. No member shall speak: more than once npoi
same question until all the other members pr*
desiring to speak, shall have spoken ; nor more
twice on any question without leave of the Society.
CHAPTER IX.
QUORUM.
At all meetings of the Society, nine members pr*
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of bnsi
CHAPTER X.
COMMITTEES.
All Committees authorized by the Society shall, u:
otherwise specially ordered, consist of three men
each, and be appointed by the presiding officer.
CHAPTER XI.
PBEfllDIHG OFFICER.
At all meetings of the Society, on the arrival o:
appointed hoar and the presence of a quorum, the p
dent, or, in his absence, one of the vice-presidents
in the absence of both, a chairman pro tern., i
immediately take the chair, call the meeting to o:
and preside. He shall have only a casting vote,
shall preserve order and decide all questions of oi
subject to an appeal to the Society.. He shall
unless otherwise specially ordered, appoint all commi
authorized by the Society,; and at every annual elec
before the opening of the polls, he shall appoint
tellers of the election.
IS. By-Laws.
of the Society entitled to rote, to be handed to the tel
before the opening of the polls at each annual electi
He shall officially sign and affix the corporate seal of
Society to all diplomas, and other instruments or do
mento authorized by the Society or Council. He si
have charge of the corporate seal, charter, by-la
records and general archives of the Society, except
far as they may be expressly placed under the charge
others. He shall certify all acts and proceedings of
Society, and shall notify the Council of the death, res
nation or removal of any officer or member of the Socii
He shall have charge of the rooms of the Society, >
shall perform all such other and further duties as m
from time to time, be devolved upon him by the Soc)
or the Council. He shall receive for his services s
salary or pecuniary compensation as shall be determi
by the Society or the Council ; bnt neither in the Soci
nor the Council shall he have a vote on any quest
relating to or affecting his salary or pecuniary comj
sation. He, together with the Council, shall have
charge and arrangement of the books, mape, and col
tions belonging to the Society. He shall cause to
kept in the rooms of the Society a registry of all dc
tions to the library or collections of the Society, acknc
edge their receipt by letter to the donors, and report
same, in writing, to the Society at its next stated meeti
7. All documents relating to the Society, and un
the charge of the secretaries respectively, shall be pla
in such depositories in the rooms of the Society as
Council may provide and designate for that purpose.
CHAPTER XHI.
The treasurer shall have charge of and safely keep
contracts, certificates of stock, securities, and maninu
of title belonging to the Society. He shall collect
dues and keep the funds of the Society, and disburse
By-Laws. \%
ier the direction of the Council ; and so often as
funds in the hands of the treasurer shall amount
indred dollars, he shall deposit the same, in the
the Society, in some incorporated bank in the
lew York, to be designated for that purpose by
cil ; and the said funds, tjius deposited, shall be
it of the said bank on the check of the treasurer,
igued by the chairman of the Council, and only
tgitimate and authorized purposes of the Society,
mrer shall, previous to the annual meeting of
ty, prepare and submit to the Council, for audit,
1 account of his receipts and disbursements for
>f the Society during the past year ; and which
scount, duly audited, he shall present, with his
eport, to the Society, at its annual meeting.
CHAPTER XIV.
COUNCIL.
Council shall have the management and control
fairs, property, and funds of the Society ; and
ignate an incorporated bank in the city of New
lere the said funds shall, from time to time as
rue, be deposited by the treasurer,
lay frame its own by-laws not inconsistent with
er or by-laws of the Society,
■ay, from time to time, determine the salary or
y compensation of the recording secretary ; and
> appoint the necessary agents, clerks, and ser ■
Jie Society, with such powers, duties, privileges,
pensation as it may from time to time determine,
' at pleasure revoke such appointments, and
ters in their stead.
hall have power to fill, for the unexpired term,
ncy that may occur in any of the offices of the
.hall have power, at its discretion, to declare
le seat of any member of its own body (except
By-Laws. 15
extinction shall have been set apart for that
CHAPTER XVI.
ALTERATION OF THE BY-LAWS.
oration in the by-laws of the Society shall be
less openly proposed at a stated meeting of the
entered on the minutes, with the name of the
proposing the same, and adopted by the Society
sequent stated meeting, by a vote of two-thirds
imbers present.
CHAPTER XVII.
ADOPTION OF THE BY-LAW^.
■egoing are hereby adopted and declared .to be
ws of the Society ; and all by-laws .of the Society
e adopted are hereby rescinded, and declared to
id void.
HoNOSAsr Members.
HONORARY, CORRESPONDING, AND RESIi"
MEMBERS.
HONORARY MEMBERS.
His Imperial Highneaa the Grand
Duke Constacttne of Russia, Presi-
dent of the Imperial Geographical
Society, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Frbmoht, John Chas., LL. D., New
York.
Grtkskll, Henry, New York.
Latabd, Austin. Henry, D. C. L.,
London, England.
IiiYHiaflTORB, David, D. D., LL. D.
McClintock, .Francis Leopold,
LL. D., London, England.
HlDDENDORFF, Adolph Theo. von,
Secretary of the Imperial Academy
of Sciences of Russia, St.
burg.
Pbtkrmahh, Prof, Augustus,
Gotha, Germany.
Qcbtelbt, Lambert 1
Jacques, President of the
Commission of Statistics
gium, Brussels.
Rawlikbon, Sir Henry Ore
D. G. L., President Roy
graphical Society, Londoi
Stbute, Otto Wllhelm t.
Petersburg, Russia.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
Abbe, Prof., Cleveland, Cincinnati
Observatory, Ohio.
Alexander, John Henry, Balti-
more, Md,
Ar.TAMTRABO, Befior Don Ignaclo,
Mexico.
Altord, Benjamin, U. 8. A., Port
Vancouver, Washington Territory.
Akchbald, Andrew B., Paris,
Barantja, SeDor Joaquin, Got. of
Campeche, Mexico.
Barclay, James T., M. D., Jerusa-
lem, Syria.
Baukabd, Henry, LL. D., Hartford,
Conn.
Bahtlett, John Russell, Proi
R.L
Bastian, A., H. D., Preside
graphical Society, Berlin.
Baz, Befior Don Juan Jos', G
of the District of Mexico.
Becker, M. A., General Si
Imperial Geographical I
Bkhm, Dr. E., Gotha.
Bradley, Rov. Daniel B., Sil
Bright, John, M. P., London, !
Bdshnrll, Rev. Albert, (
Equatorial Africa.
Carlos, Befior Don Jose, VI
ton, D. C.
CORRSSPOITDINB Membebb.
17
Paul, Genera, Switier-
Hon. Wm., Edinburgh,
W., P. R. G. a, London,
or Marine], Governor of
Hon. J. B., Bio Janeiro,
88 W., San Francisco,
as B. , Rome, Italy.
, Geo. P., Madfaoii, Wis.
James, Hartford, Conn.
nan, Madison, WU.
K., Lieut U. a N.,
n, D. 0.
liam H., Hanover, N.H.
H.,U. 8. A., Washing-
Franz, late Secretary of
al Royal Geographical
Vienna, Austria.
r. T., Commissioner,
d, D. C.
liel Coit, LL.D.,Presi-
raity of California, Oak-
ias J., Washington, D.C.
Flalsey, M. D., Micro-
Arnold Henry, LL. D.,
S.J.
'., IT. a Commissioner,
a,D. C.
Illiani Neilson, LL. D.,
eographicnJ and Btatis-
y, Dublin.
a. f. v.,0. aGeoiogi-
of the Territories.
Friedrioh von, Member
erial Royal Geographi-
Vienna, Austria.
b. Curtis, M. D., Biam.
HUH, Wm. XL, TJ. a Consul, Zan-
zibar, Africa.
Hitchcock, Prof. C. H.. Ph. D., Han-
over, S. H.
HoOBsnTTaB, Dr. Ferdinand vo n
Professor in the University of
Vienna, Austria.
Hough, Franklin B. , M. D., Albany,
N. V.
Humphreys, Brig. -Gen. A. A., U. B.
A., Chief of Engineers, Washing-
ton, D. C.
Host, Prof. T. Stony, LL. D., Boa-
ton, Mass.
Jamison, Wm., H. D., Quito.
Julian, Alexis A., Island of Som-
brero, W. L
Kkhnkdi, Jos. Camp. Griffith, late
Superintendent of the D. B. Census,
Washington, D. a
rao, Clarence, Commissioner .Wash-
ington, D. C.
Lachlan, B., Cincinnati, Ohio.
amambky, Eugen tod. Imperial
Russian Geographical Society, St.
Petersburg, Russia.
Lafhuc, Increase A., Milwaukee,
Wis.
Lbavbnwobth, Bliae W-, Syracuse,
N. Y.
LK8BHPS, Ferdinand de, Suoe, Egypt
Long, Stephen H., Colonel D. a A. ,
Louisville, Ey.
Ltoh, Hon. Caleb, Idaho.
McCabtbb, Divio Bethune, M. D.,
Hong Eong, China.
McClellakd, Robert, Wash., D. C.
Maclat, Wm. W., TJ. & N., Annap-
olis, Md.
Malts Bans, V. A. , Honorary Bec-
retary of the Geographical Society,
Paris, France.
Mansfield, Edward D., Gctnmav
aioner of Statistics of Ohio, Oo-
'no Members.
Ptnhkiro, J. G. Fernanda
Brazil.
Pobbchb, Tbeo., Waahingt
Rax, John, H. ])., F. R. Q.
don, England.
Rio db Li Loza, Befior Don ]
President Geographical sj
tical Society, Mexico.
Roberto, Gen. W. Milni
Engineer Northern Pac
Rodoebs, John , Rear- Admit
Romero, Hon. Hathiaa, Hi
Finance of Meiico.
Rotkbock, Dr. J. T., WU
Pa.
Saint-Haktih, Vivien d
President Geographical
Paris.
Sapuoacbt, M. le VIscoi
Janeiro, Brazil.
Bchadb, M. D., Louis, Wa
D. C.
Bchlaowtwbit-Bakuhlur
Herman von, Munich.
BcHLAOIRTWBIT-SAKUNI.iJM
Robert von.
Sewabd, Hon. Wra. H.,
Auburn, N. Y.
Sbtmoor, Hon. Horatio,
Utlca, N. T.
Skanbund, Thomas, V. 8
Island of Mauritius.
Simmons, D. B., M. D., Yedc
Smith, Edward R., Washing
Btbtbhb, Henry, F. R. 8.;
England.
Tbjaija, Don Sebastian J
Mexico.
Yak Btjkex, General Tbomi
Commissi oner-General, Y
position, New York.
Warns, Joseph, Oxford, E
Wheeler, G. M., Lieu
Corps of Engineers, Wi
D.C.
80 Rbswrut Members.
i Benedict, Erastus C, 64 Wall street.
Bennett, James Gordon, 435 Fifth avenue.
Bergh, Henry, 438 Fifth avenue.
Bernbeimer, Adolph, 101 Franklin street.
Beraheimer, Isaac, 320 Broadway.
Bembeimer, Leopold, 146 West Forty-second sti
Bernneimer, Simon, 218 West Fourteenth street.
Berry, Richard, 301 Broadway.
Bickmore, Prof. Albert 8., M. A., Museum, Cei
Bierstadt, Albert, 01 West Tenth street
Bill, Edward.
L. H. Bishop, T. Alston, 55 Fifth avenue.
Bixby, John H., 461 Fifth avenue.
Black, William, 565 Broadway.
Blake, Charles F , IS Park place.
Bleecker, T. B-, Jr., 61 William street.
Blodgett, Daniel C., 01 Fifth avenue.
Blodgett, William T., 353 Pearl street.
Bloomfield, William, 1S3 Nassau street.
Boardman, Andrew, 833 Broadway.
Body, John B., 1 Btate streeL
Bolton, Henry U., Pli. D., 50 West Fifty-first stn
Boorman, J. M., Cliff House, Tarrytown, N. Y.
Booth, Wm. 'A., 100 Wall street
Booth, Wm. T., 100 Walt street
Botta, Ylncenzo, 35 West Thirty-seven th street
Bradford, William, 51 Weat Tenth street
Brady, Hon. John B-, 19 West Thirty-third stm
Brevoort, J. Careon, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Bridgham, 8. W., 40 West Twenty-third street
Bristed, C. Aster.
Brooks, Sidney, Newport, R. I,
Brown, Ebenezer H. , 131 Nassau street.
L. M. Brown, James, 59 Walt street
Brown, James M., 09 Wall street
Brown, Stewart, 09 Wall street.
Brown, Walston H., 09 Liberty street
L. M. Bryce, James, 119 East Eighteenth street
Burden, Charles P., 174 Water street.
Butler, Ben]. F., 45 Exchange place.
Butler, Charles, 13 Wall street.
Butler, Cyrus, 24 Cliff street.
Butterfiold, Gen. Daniel.
Carter, James a, 60 Wall street
Rbsidxkt Membkrs.
Carter, Robert, 080 Broadway.
Cary, Lucius &, 00 Pine street.
ML Caiy, William F., 90 Pine street.
Casey, Joseph J., 2 Irving place.
Casserly, Bernard, Manhattan Club.
M. Catlin, N. W. Btuyvesant, 45 William street.
Ohapin, Key. E. H., D. D., 44 East Thirty-third street.
Chapman, Jos. H., 51 Wall street.'
Charllck, Oliver, 351 West Thirty-fourth street.
Choate, William 0., 40 Wall street.
Churchill, Franklin H., S3 Pine street
Cisco, John J., 50 Wall street.
Clark, E. V., Century Club.
Clift, Smith, 15 West Twenty-ninth street
Clews, Henry, 83 Wall street.
Colligate, Charles C, 55 John street.
M. Colton, Joseph H., 73 Beekjnan street.
Conger, Hon. Abraham B., 132 Nassau street
Conger, Clarence R, 10 West Twentieth street
Conklin, Eugene E., 432 Canal street
Conklin, William A., Museum, Central Park, N. Y,
M. Conklin, Hon. F. A., 170 Broadway.
M. Cooley, James E., 78 Fifth avenue.
Cooper, Edward, 17 Burling slip.
Cooper, Peter, 17 Burling slip.
Cone, Israel, 104 Fifth avenue.
Coulter, Samuel, 88 Chambers street.
Cowdin, Hun. Elliot C, 98 Grand street
Cox, James F., 02 William street.
Cox, Hon. Samuel a, 18 East Twelfth street.
Cram, Dunham Jones, 81 Irving place.
Crawford, S. W., Maj.-Gen. U. B. A., Ohamberaburg, Pa.
Crooks, Ramsey, 07 Front street
Cnuckshank,Jas.,IJL.D.I164S. Oxford st, Brookryn.N.Y.
M. Cnllum, Geo. W"., HaJ.-Qen. U. 8. A., corner Greene and
Houston streets.
Carrie, GUbert E., 153 Broadway.
Curtis, Lewis, 40 University place,
Curtis, Hod. William E., 300 East Fifteenth street.
Daly, Chief Justice Charles P., LL. D., 84 Clinton place
Daly, Hon. Joseph F., 214 West Twenty-fifth street
Darling, William A., 69 West Forty-fourth street
Dash, John IS., 47 East Nineteenth street
Davies, Hon. Henry E., 120 Broadway.
Davis, Alex. J., 34 Waverley place.
Resident Members.
Davison, Edward P., 138 Pearl street
Dawson, H. B., Horrisania, N. T.
0 De Costa, Rev. B. F., 42 East Nineteenth street.
Delano, Franklin H., 86 Broadway.
L. M. Dennis, Charles, SI Wall street.
L. M. De Peyster, Frederick, 67 University place.
Detmold, Christina E., Ill Broadway.
Detmold, William, M. D., 38 East Ninth street
De Voe, Col. Thomas F., 104 West Thirteenth st)
Dickerson, E. N. , 83 East Thirty-fourth street.
Diehl, Israel 8., 68 Reade street
Dinsmore, Wra. B., 59 Broadway.
0 Dodge, Robert, 12 Wall street
Dodge, Hon. William E., 18 Cliff street
Dodge, William 15. , Jr., 18 Cliff street
' Doremua, R Ogden, M. D., 227 Fourth avenue.
Douglas, Andrew E., 89 Wall street.
Draper, Henry, M. D., 271 Madison avenue.
Drone, Eaton &, 807 East Eighteenth street
Drowne, Henry T., 62 Wall street.
Du Chaillu, Paul B., 48 East Thirtieth street
Duncan, Wm. Butler, 11 Nassau street
0 Dunshee, Henry W., 142 West Tenth street
Durant, Thomas C, H. D., 20 Nassau street
Duyckinck, Evert A., 30 Clinton place.
Dwight, ProE Theo. W., LL. D., 43 Lafayette pi
t, Hon. J. W.,27l Broadway.
Edwards, Jonathan, 304 West Thirty-eighth stree
EHinger, Moritz, 11 Ann street
Elliott, 8. M., M. D., 82 Waverley place.
Elsworth, HeDry, 228 West Fourteenth street.
Emmet, Thomas Addis, M. D., 91 Madison aveni
Emott, Hon. James, 20 Nassau street.
Evans, Walton W., 47 Exchange place.
Evarts, Hon. Wm. M., 52 Wall street
Eyre, Henry 8. P. , 174 Pearl street "
1884 Fails, Thomas H., 180 Water street
Fembach, Henry, 846 Broadway.
L. M. Field, B. H., 137 Water street
L. M. Field, Oyrus W., Qramercy place.
Field, David Dudley, 4 Pine street
Field, Dudley, 4 Pine street
1860 170 Field, Rev. H. H., S Beckman street.
RsSIDSlfT MSUBSBR.
1858 L. M. Griawold, George, 73 Booth street
1871 Groom, Wallace P., SCO Pearl street
1856 Guernsey, Egbert, M. D., 18 West Twenty-third U
1864 Guernsey, R. S., H. D., 1B0 Broadway.
1669 Hablcht, C. E., London.
1869 Hadden, John A., 88 Chambers street
1871 Hall, Hon. A. Oakey, 13 West Forty-second street
1868 320 Hall, Elial P., 87 Nassau street
1869 Hallock, His. Frances, 140 East Fifteenth street
1869 Halsted, William M., 878 Broadway.
1872 L. M. Hamersley, John W., 255 Fifth avenue.
1871 Hamilton, Alexander, Jr., 17 Washington square 1
1861 Hammond, Henry B., 30 Nassau street.
1871 Hand, Clifford A., 51 Wall street.
1870 Harris, R. Duncan, 91 Madison avenue.
1868 L. M. Harris, Hon. Townaend, Union Club, Fifth avenu
1870 Harrison, Prof. Thomas F., 146 Grand street
1868 SS0 Hartt, Prof. Chaa. F., M. A., Ithaca, N. Y.
1850 L. H. Haremeyer, John C, 835 West Fourteenth street.
1870 Havens, Charles G. , 20 Exchange place.
1870 Hawkes, Prof. W. Wright, 37 8. William street.
1873 Hawkins, Dexter A., 5 West Thirty-fourth street.
1873 Hawley, E. Judson, 47 Fifth avenue.
1866 Hayes, Isaac 1., H. D., 51 West Tenth street
1869 Hays, William J., 51 West Tenth street
1869 Hazard, Rowland R, Jr., 110 Broadway.
1866 Hegeman, William, 303 Broadway.
1868 340 Hegeman, William A. Ogden, 66 Pine street.
1850 Henderson, John C, 464 Broome street
1856 Herring, Silas C, 351 Broadway.
1870 Hess, Julius, 30 Exchange place.
1856 Hewitt, Abram 8„ 17 Burling slip.
1868 Hewlett, John D. , 51 Wall street
1873 Hoffman, William B., 48 West Twenty-second str
1860 Hoffmann, Friedrich, Ph. D., 64 Sixth avenue,
1868 Hoguet Robert J., 113 Dnane street
1873 Holbrook, Levi, P. O. box 686.
1870 350 Holmes, William H., 69 Bookman street
1858 L. M. Holtoo, Darid P., H. D., 148 East Seventy -eighth
1666 Hoppin, William J., 69 Pine street.
1683 Hoyt, David, 386 Cherry street
1865 Hull, Amos G., 31 Park row.
1856 Hunt, Wilson G., 63 White street.
1856 Hunter, James, 330 East Tenth street
Resident Membebs.
Huntington, Daniel, 48 Hut Twentieth street.
Hnrlbert, William H., World office.
Hatchings, Hon. Robert 0., 48 West Thirty-eighth street
Hutchias, Waldo, 40 Wall street
nuyshe, Wentwoith, 69 Wall street
Ireland, John R, 900 Broadway.
Jackson, H. A., S3 Wall street.
Jacob, Ephraim A. , 322 Broadway.
James, Frederick P., 400 Fifth avenue.
Jarvis, Nathaniel, Jr., 124 West Twenty-third street
M. Jay, Hon. John, U. B. Ambassador, Vienna, Austria.
Joechunsen, Jos. P., 240 Broadway.
Johnson, Bradish, 117 Front street
Johnson, Hezron A., 20 Pine street.
Johnson, Henry W., 22 East Thirty-fifth street
Johnston, James B., 90 Broadway.
Johnston, John T., 119 Liberty street.
Jones, Charles C, Jr., 61 Wall street
M. Jones, John D., 01 Wall street.
Jones, Walter B. T., «S Wall street.
Joy, Prof. Chas. A., Columbia Oollege.
Kane, J. Granville, 340 Broadway.
Knufmaun, Sigismund, 89 Nassau street
Kearny, Edward, 189 Front street
Kelley, Lieut J. D. J., U. a N., New York.
Kelly, Eugene, 87 West Thirty-fourth street
Kendrick, CoL Henry L., U. 8. A., West Point, N. T.
Kennedy, John A., ISO West Twenty-second street
Kennedy, Robert L,, 26 Nassau street.
King, George, 5 Mercer street
King, Oliver K. , 81 Broadway.
Kingsland, A. C, 114 Fifth avenne.
Kirkland, Hon. Charles P., 21 Nassau street
Klamroth, Albert, 04 St Mark's place.
M. Knapp, Shepherd, 88 Wall street
Kuhne, Frederick, 118 Broadway.
Lambert, E. W., M. D. , 130 Broadway.
M. Lane, Smith E., 109 Broadway.
Lanier, J. F. D., 29 Pine street
Larremore, Hon. Richard L., LL. D., 89 East Sixtieth *
Rsbidbut Mehbbsb.
1859 L. H. Lathers, Richard, 89 William street
1868 Lawrence, Abraham R. , 26 Nassau street
1869 L. M. Lawrence, John a, 117 William street.
1871 300 Lee, Ambrose, 877 Broadway.
1864 Lefferu, Marshall, 81 Broadway.
1 1859 Lenox, James, 58 Fifth avenue.
1868 Leonard, William H. , 67 East Fifty-third street
1868 Leslie, Frank, 637 Pearl street
1871 Letson, Robert S., 68 South street
1872 L. M. Libber, William, 361 West Twenty-third street
1853 L, H. Livingston, Cambridge, 145 Broadway.
1870 Loew, Hon. Frederick W., 618 Lexington avenu
1857 Low, A. A., 81 Burling slip.
1878 310 Lydtg, David, 63 Seventh avenue.
1870 Lyman, Edward H. R. , 31 Burling slip.
1863 Hackle, Robert, 24 Beaver street.
1868 MacKellar. William, 164 Nassau street
1871 Maclay, Robert, 432 Canal street.
1869 Maclay, Hon. William B., 08 Second avenue.
1873 N. R. Macmillan, Frederick.
1866 HcClnre, George, 16 Union square.
1871 HcCreery, James A., 202 Broadway.
1868 McLean, James M-, 156 Broadway.
1868 390 McLean, Samuel, 133 Duaue street
1870 McMillan, Charles, M. D., 4 East Thirty-fourth *
1869 McMnllen, John, 1212 Broadway.
1866 Manners, David S„ Jersey City, N. J.
1870 Marbury, Francis F. , 64 Wall street
1873 L. M. Marie, Peter, 48 West Nineteenth street.
1868 Marsh, Luther R., 170 Broadway.
1808 , Marshall, Unas. H., 38 Burling slip
1870 .Marston, Charles E., 7 New street
1868 Martin, Isaac P., 31 Nassau street
1873 880 Martin, William R., 70 West Thirty-fifth street.
1869 Martine, Randolph B., 31 Nassau street
1868 Harquand, Henry G., 43 Wall street
1868 Matsell, George W., 164 Nassau street
1873 L. M. Matthews, Edward, 4 Broad street.
1873 Maury, Rev. Mytton, Fordham, N. T.
1863 May, Lewis, 1 New street
1871 Mayo, William 8., M. D., 308 Fifth avenue.
1873 . Meeker, H. G., 454 Lexington avenue.
1870 Menzies, William, 81 Nassau street
1863 840 Merrick, John a, 805 Broadway.
86 Transactions of the Society for 1870.
On motion the letter was referred to the record!
retary to be filed.
The president then introduced to the Societj
William Newcomb, of Cornell University, Ithac
read a paper on "Hispaniola: its Past, Preset
Future."
After the conclusion of the paper, and on mo
Jndge Kirkland, seconded by Mr. Hall, the thanki
Society were presented to Prof. Newcomb for hi
eating and instructive paper, and a copy of it ret
for publication in the Journal.
On motion the meeting then adjourned.
Regular monthly meeting of the American U-eogr;
Society, Cooper Institute, New York, March 19tl
In the absence of the president, Chief-Justice Chi
Daly, Professor Theodore W. 1) wight, LL. D., pi
The minutes of the last annual meeting, Januar
and of the regular monthly meeting, February 20t1
were read and approved.
Mr. Stout, on behalf of the Council, reported the
of the following candidates as having been appro
election as
Resident Members — J. H. Van Alen, Jacob 1
Bernard Roelker, Thomas Rigney, Albert Klamro
James R. Trueheart ; as
Life Members — Edward MatthewB and James
Alen ; and as a
Corresponding Member — By Mr. Francis A. i
Prof. Herrmann von Schlagintweit Sakilnlunski,
dent of the Geographical Society in Munich.
By Chief-Justice Charles P. Daly, as a correaj
member, Charles Van Benthuysen, Albany, N. Y
No ballot being called for, on motion these get
were declared duly eleoted members of the Societ
Mr. Moore, on behalf of the treasurer, Mr. Henry
reported a cash balance in the treasury of $849.49
88 Transactions of the Socibtf for 1872.
less little band who were with as here 8 few months since,
eve of the departure to grapple, amidst the icebergs, th
tic-ability of the problem of a North-west Passage, — it
natural that we should be deeply interested in such par
as have been afforded as, this evening, of the appliances, n
and surroundings of the men who contemplated a westei
age to India four centuries ago. The address to which v
listened this evening has been delivered by one whose i
not unfamiliar in scientific circles or amongst studen
whose labors, in his professional sphere, have been appi
by many who have listened to him to-night, and who c:
bear witness how gracefully he can unite the labors of the
with those of the scholar. In following him through hi
esting details of the researches and the explorations of
Behaim, we cannot but appreciate anew our debt of grati
the men who performed the thankless task of develop
appliances and conceiving and propaganding the explorat
which others were enabled to execute the voyages which
culminated in the acquisition of a world, and conferred
ishable glory on their names. The application of the asl
and the abandoning of the time-honored route of expl
along the African coast, for Bteering a bold course westi
pursuit of Cathay and fabled lands as yet unexplored, i
in the addition of a continent, in the greatness and prog
which the Old World, while admitting a sister in the fa
nations in the present, is already looking for a rival in intel
wealth, and progress. Whether to Toscanelli, to Behaii
Columbus we are indebted for this bold departure fn
beaten path of exploration, it has been instructive to he
relative actions recalled, where each is worthy of our gr
and participated in a course producing so brilliant a reaul
appreciate the value of the discovery of the mariner's c
more fully when we have recalled to us the faults which n
the astrolabe of so little value when it did not please th
to shine, or the sea to be still; and wo sympathize with t
who rose superior to the temptations which their eurroi
and vocations in life held out to them to devote their entir
tion to their daily duties, and what was then, as now, pc
considered the greatest achievement, — the acquisition of m
40 Transactions or the Socibtt for 187S.
Mr. Robert Dodge seconded the motion Trith
interesting remarks, describing his own inspection
globe at Nuremberg, and suggesting a hope that a
might soon be added to the collection. He also i
that the paper be printed.
The resolutions were adopted, and the meeting
adjourned.
Regular monthly meeting of the American Geog
cal Society, held at the hall of the New York His'
Society, corner Second avenue and Eleventh street
York, April 18th, 1872. Chief-Justice Charles P. '.
the president, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting, March 19th, 1875
read and approved.
Mr. Stout, on behalf of the Council, report*
names of the following candidates as having
approved for election as
.Resident Members — Eugene E. Conklin, Hora
Poote, S. W. Bridgham and Prof. Frederick Steng.
No ballot being called for, on motion these gent
were declared duly elected members of the Society
Mr. Paul B. ))u Chaillu proposed as an
Honorary Member — His Majesty Charles XV,
Eugene, King of Sweden and Norway ;
And by the same as a
Corresponding Member— Pr<ft. A. E. Nordenskj<
Stockholm.
On motion it Was
Resolved, That His Majesty the King of Sweden an<
Nordenekjold be declared duly elected members of the S
without reference to the Council
Which was unanimously adopted.
The recording secretary read, in the absence <
Clews, the treasurer's report, exhibiting a cash b
in the treasury of $853.67.
Mr. Hall, the librarian, read Mb monthly report,
42 Transactions or thb Boomer ros 187t.
Resident Members — Peter Mari6, B. L. Goulding,
Olark, Gen. 8. W. Crawford, U. 8. A., Rev. H
Maury, E. Steiger ;
And by Chief-JuBtice Charles P. Daly, as
Corresponding Members — Charles Maunoir, G
Secretary Geographical Society, Paris; Dr. A. Bs
President of the Geographical Society, Berlin ;
By E. R. Straznicky, recording secretary, as
Corresponding Members — M. A. Becker, Genera
retary of the Geographical Society of Vienna ; I
Behm, of Justus Perthe* s Geographical Institute in C
and assistant editor of Petermann's MiUheilungen.
No ballot being called for, on motion these gent
were declared duly elected members of the Society
Mr. Remsen, on behalf of Mr. Clews, read the treas
report, exhibiting a cash balance in the treasu
$1,301.80.
Mr. Filial F. Hall, the librarian, read his monthly r
showing that eighty-nine items had been added ;
library of the Society by donation.
On motion both these reports were accepted
ordered to be placed on file.
The president then announced, with appro
remarks, the death of our late associate, John D. A
On motion of Mr. Stout, seconded by Mr. Kerns
was unanimously
Resolved, That a special committee of three be apj
by the president to draft suitable resolutions on the di
Mr. Wolfe, and to report the same to the next Council m
The president accordingly appointed Messrs. ;
Remsen, and Drowne as suoh committee.
The president called the attention of the Society
donation of rare Mexican books by Mr. W. H. Hm
accompanied by the following letter 'to the recordin.
retary:
44 Transactions or the Society fob 187SS.
Regular monthly meeting of the American Gee
cal Society, held at the hall of the New York Hi
Society, corner of Second avenue and Eleventh
New York, November 12th, 1873. Chief-Justice C
P. Daly, the president, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting, May 21st, 181
read and approved.
Judge We E. Curtis, on behalf of the Council, r
the names of the following candidates as havk
recommended for election as
Resident Members — Jonathan Edwards, Rol
Grinnell, Gen. James H. Simpson, U. S. A. ;
And by Francis A. Stout, Esq., as
Corresponding Members — Monsieur Vivien de £
tin, Vice-President Geographical Society, Paris ;
By Prof. Hartt, of Cornell University,
W. Chandless, Gold Medallist of the Royal Geo
cal Society, London.
No ballot being called for, on motion these get
were respectively deolared duly elected resident a:
responding members.
In the absence of the treasurer, Mr. Henry Cle
recording secretary presented his monthly report, t
ing a cash balance in the treasury of $482.68.
Mr. Klial F. Hall, the librarian, presented his a
report, showing that since the last report ha<
rendered (on the 21st May, 1872), in all, six hundt
fifty-one additions were' made' to the library, b
purchase and donation.
On motion both these reports were accept*
ordered to be placed on file.
Mr. Remsen, on behalf of the Council, presented
lowing report of the special committee appointed
21st of May, 1872, relative to the death of Mr. Ji
Wolfe, as one of our associates.
The Council respectfully presents the following i
On the 1st of June, 1878, a meeting of the Conn
46 Transactions ok the Society for 1812.
a. Baron Osten -Sacken, late Imperial Russian
General — A collection of the Russian Imperial cc
or survey-maps, of the Russian Empire.
b. Admiral Inglefield, of the British Navy — Th
collection of mapB and charts of the British coat
bering over one hundred and fifty.
c. Major Constable — A collection of Chinese a
anese maps.
On motion of Judge Wm. E. Curtis, seconded
Stout, it was
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be p
through the recording secretary, to the various donors :
vain able donations.
The president then introduced to the Society I
Sterry Hunt, of Boston, who read a paper on the
Geography of North America.
After the conclusion of the reading of this paj
on motion of Judge Wm. E. Curtis, seconded
Remsen, the thanks of the Society were prese
Prof. Hunt for this very interesting and insi
paper, and a copy of it was requested for publics
the Journal.
On motion the meeting then adjourned.
Regular monthly meeting of the American Geo
cal Society, held at the hall of the New York Hi
Society, New York, December 17th, 1873. Chief-
Charles P. Daly, the president, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting, November 12tl
were read and approved.
Col. Oonkling, chairman of the Council, report
the names of the following candidates had been aj
for election as
Resident Members — Frederick Macmillan, '
Prime, Samuel S. Cox, Levi Holbrook, Dexter A
kins, Morris S. Miller, Dunham Jones Grain ; and
48 Transactions or tbs Society for 187$.
Rothrock, of WilkeBbarre, Pa., who read a papt
" Our North-west : its Resources and its Inhabitant*
After the conclusion of the paper, and on motio
the Hon. Hiram Barney, seconded by Mr. Stout
thanks of the Society were presented to Br. Rothroc
his very interesting and instructive paper, and a oo]
it was requested for publication in the Journal.
On motion the meeting then adjourned.
Annual meeting of the American Geographical Son
Cooper Institute, New York, January 38th, 1873. ]
absence of Chief-Justice Daly, the president, CoL C
ling, one of the vicerpresidents, occupied the chair
The minutes of the last meeting, December 17th,
were read and approved.
Col. Conkling, as chairman, presented the annual r
of the Council, which on motion was accepted and on
to be placed on tile.
Mr. Henry Clews, the treasurer, read his annual re
exhibiting a cash balance in the treasury of $08. OS
stating that the Society is now entirely out of debt.
On motion the treasurer's report was accepted
ordered to be placed on file.
Mr. Elial F. Hall, the librarian, read his annual it
showing that during the past year one thousand
hundred and fifty-six items had been added b
Society's library and map-room.
On motion the librarian's report was accepted
ordered to be placed on file.
Col. Conkling, as chairman of the Council, then rep
the names of the following candidates an having
approved for election as a
Resident Member — John J. Casey;
And by Mr. Francis A. Stout, aa a
Corresponding Member — General Thomas B.
Buren, U- B. Commissioner- General to the Vienna 1
sition.
Transactions of the Society fob 1812. 49
y Mr. Robert Bodge, as a
ponding Member — Dr. J. T. Rothrock, Wilkes-
i.
(lot being called for, on motion these gentlemen
dared duly elected resident and corresponding
wording secretary then read the amendments to
wb of the Society as proposed at the last monthly
on December 17th, 1873.
tion these amendments were accepted, and the
so amended declared to be in force.
shards, as chairman of the Nominating Commit-
reported that the names of the following gen-
re recommended for election, as officers of the
for the ensuing year :
U — ClIAKLKB F. Dalt, LL. D.
•eaident* — F. A. Conkling, Fbancis A. Stout, T.
!ybbb.
Corresponding Secretary — Jab. Mithlbnbkrg Bailby.
ie Corresponding Secretary — W. H. H. Moobz.
ng Secretary — E. R. Stbaznicky, M. D., Ph. D.
er — Henry Clews.
-Wm. Rkmbbk, W. T. Blodqbit, W. E. Cubtis,
Dwight, LL. D.; Gso. W. Cullum, U. S. A.; Geo.
abd, Elial F. TTat.t., Thbodobb Roosevelt, Wll.
esident then appointed Messrs. John W. Ham-
Clinton Gilbert as tellers, who reported that the
the gentlemen as recommended on the ticket
nimonsly elected.
tion they were then declared duly elected officers
■ciety for the year 1873.
ssident then introduced to the Society Dr. Augus-
longeon, who read a paper on "The Coincidences
52 Transactions of the Society for 1878.
On December 17th, Dr. J. T. Rothrock, of Wilkesl
read a paper on " Our North-West: its Resources and :
tauts."
The roll of resident members has continued to it
will be seen from the following statement : .
Number of resident members on January 30, 1872
Number since added
Total
Deduct for deaths and resignations
Number remaining January 28, 1873
Among the names of those who will be painfully mi
the rolls of the Society, especial mention is due to 1
most steadfast friends and generous benefactors, Prof, i
B. Morse and John David Wolfe, Esq. The former, wl
is bo intimately connected with the earliest geograpl
United States, has left to the Society a legacy of one
dollars for the endowment of a medal to bo awarded I
guished services in the field of geographical science an<
lions.
The annual report of the treasurer, Henry Clews, Esq.
a satisfactory condition of the finances of the Society,
tiou to the regular income, a special, private subscrij
been set on foot, which promises to yield a further sura
hundred dollars per annum for the next two years.
From the annual report of the librarian, Elial F. Hal
will be seen that considerable and valuable additions h
made both to the library and to the department of i
charts, amounting in the aggregate to one thousand ll
dred and fifty-six items.
The donation of the Royal Hydrographic Office in
embracing the whole collection of maps and charts of
ish coast, and numbering one hundred and sixty sheets,
particular mention. This valuable addition to our collet
made through the instrumentality of Admiral Inglefiel
Royal Navy.
At the request of the proper authorities the Society h
54 Transactions of tee Society fob 187%.
DUibunemmt*.
Salaries for 1871-72 *
Purchase of books, maps, etc
Furniture
Stationery
Printing
Sundry expenses for meetings, advertising, reporting,
postage, etc
Travelling expenses to lecturers
Gas bills
Loan oanoelled ,
*
Leaving a cash balance on band of
If to this sum is added :
a. The uncollected dues of 600 resident members at $S,
b. The guaranteed subscription for 1873
The available resources for the coming year will
then be %
There are outstanding abont $1,000 of back dues for
1872, of which a considerable amount, perhaps one-hall
collected in the coming year. Besides this amount ther
initiation fees of prospective new members, which also
on an average to about $600 per annum.
Respectfully submitted.
HENRY CLEW
Trt
New Tore, Jan, 2fftf
The undersigned, a committee appointed to audit i
orer's account, have this day compared the above aoot
the books of the treasurer, and have verified the payi
comparison with the vouchers, and find the same to be coi
the balance on hand to be therein fifty-eight dollars and t
WILLIAM REHSEN,
GEORGE CABOT WAR
Com
Transactions or tbs Society for 187X. 55
AL REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN FOR 1872.
Rooms of tbb American Geographical 1
Society, Cooper Institute, V
New York, Jim. 26th, 1873. J
rdance with the existing by-laws, the librarian respect-
Biite the following report for the period commencing
luth January, 1872, and ending on the 31st December,
ie book of donations shows that daring that period fire .
md eighty-one entries have been made, and that they
' following description ;
-Folios 7
Quartos 17
Octavos 220
Duodecimos ., 9
i — Quartos 114
Octavos 708
sheets 187
by donation 1,243
ok in which the purchases are recorded shows
r-fonr entries have been made, and these com-
bllowing :
-Folios 88
Quartos 0
Octavos 60
Duodecimos 0
i— Quartos 3
Octavos 18
sheets 7
by purchase 114
J total by purchase and donations 1 , 358
the donors, the Royal Hydrographioal Office of the
i, in London, deserves special mention. Through the
is of Admiral Inglefield, of the Royal British Navy,
f>6 Transactions of tux Society fob 187S.
the whole collection of the charts of tbe British coast,
ing one hundred and sixty sheets, was presented to the
The names of all the other donors, institutions, and
that have contributed to the library and map-room of the
will appear in the printed list attached to the librarian')
report.
Respectfully submitted.
ELIAL F. HAL!
Zibr
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO B
KATE OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 1873.
American Geographical Socie
New York, Jan. lia\ 1873.
The undersigned, a special committee appointed at
monthly meeting of this Society, on the 17th of Decemb
for the purpose of preparing nominations for the elet
officers on the 28th of January, 1873, respectfully rep
they would recommend the names of the following gentl
be elected as officers of the Society for the year 1873 :
President — Charles P. Daly, LL. D.
Vice-Presidents ~~ F. A. Conkltng, Fbancib A. Si
Bailey Myers.
Foreign Corresponding Secretary — Jab. Muhlenberg
Domestic Corresponding Secretary — W. H. H. Moore
Recording Secretary — E. R. Straznicxy, M. D., Ph.
Treasurer — Henby Clews.
Council — Wm. Reuben, W. T. Blodgett, W. E.
Theo. W. Dwight, LL. D.; Geo. W. Cdllum, U. 8. A
Cabot Ward, Elial F. Hall, Theodore Roosevei
Jones Hoppin.
Respectfully submitted.
J. W. RICHARDS, Choi
SAMUEL D. TILLMAN.
HORATIO M. ALLEN.
60 Donations to Library.
Kais.-KOnig. Geologische Reichsanstalt, Wien.
Lyceum of Natural History, New York.
Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society, Mexico.
New York Association for Improving the Condition of tbi
New York.
New York State library,' Albany.
Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, Mass.
Pulkowa Observatory.
Royal Academy of Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.
Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Cornwall, England.
Royal Danish Society of Sciences, Copenhagen.
Royal Danish University, Lnnd, Sweden.
Royal Geographical Society, London.
Royal Societies of Sciences, TTpsala.
Royal Society of Sciences, Gfittingen.
Royal Society, London.
Royal Statistical Bureau of Sweden, Stockholm.
Secretary of State of the Argentine Republic, Buenos Ayi
Statistical Bureau of the Free City of Pesth.
Statistical Society, London, England.
United States Coast Survey Office, Washington, D. C.
Yerein fur Erdknnde, Darmstadt.
Yerein fur Erdkunde, Dresden.
Yerein fur Geographic und Statistik, Frankort-am Main.
Vermont, State Library, Montpelier, Yt.
I
64 Annual Address,
Among the most prominent of tl
may name the earthquake inCa
which extended over 1,600 miles o
the three days of the continuum
seven thousand shocks were fel
the unfortunate city of A ntioch, i
loss of two thousand lives ; the oc<
of violent shocks at Accra, on the
contemporaneous with which was 1
destroyed every vessel but one in t
and earthquakes, more or less se
New Zealand, in Java, in the Fl
macha in the Caucasus, in Englar.
places in Europe, at Valparaiso, 1
Islands, Oaxaca in Mexico, in Tei
on the North-east coast of Ameri
land States, and as far north as Q
earthquakes upon our Western la
The continuous passage, from
of immense ice fields along the c
from Baffin's Bay and Smith's S
Mount Vesuvius, last April, the n
centuries ; the great February stoi
the United States, during which «
cars were blocked and numerous 1
ble enow drifts in Nova Scotia, th
nado in Ohio, blowing down oi
houses ; and the great galea inva
of property on our Western lakes
in Bombay ; the violent cyclone in
the terrific gales and hurricanes c
Sea, by which one thousand mile
the water rising higher than had e'
the inundation of the River Po,
square miles and rendering sixty t
less ; the inundations of the lib:
Loire, and toward the close of t
ixsRicAS Explorations and Su&vxyb. 65
rricane, and floods in England, and the extraor-
lirlwind in Ireland ; the intense cold in the begin-
le year, by which many persons in onr North-
Itates perished ; the excessive heat daring the
' May, June, July, and August ; the phenomena
rdinary electrical convulsions throughout the
ates, during this heated period, and the appear-
uge sun-spots, which were discovered and seen
days toward the close of July ; the excessive
e present winter, one of the accompaniments of
i been the terrific snow-storm that recently over-
e State of Minnesota, during which hundreds of
sposed to it, and unable to escape, were frozen
to which enumeration, by no means a foil one, 1
the terrible earthquake which occurred a few
o at Somghee, in India, a town 114 miles north
■y, involving the loss of 1,600 lives,
urrenoe of physical events of this character, so
ad and so numerous, within the limited period
3 year, adds weight to the theory maintained by
other geologists, that causes now in operation,
ti may have been acting over long periods of
adequate to account for all the disturbance and
hat have taken place upon the earth's surface.
kerioah Explorations and Surveys.
leneral survey of the geographical work accom-
iring the past year, I will first call attention to
been done in our own country. It comprises
lb labors of the Coast Survey, under the admir-
rintendence of Prof. Peirce ; of the Engineer
Lie U. S. Army, under the direction of its accom-
lief, Brig. -Gen. A. A. Humphreys, whose report
ear is one of unusual extent and exceeding
the explorations in the Territories of Utah,
d Montana, under the direction of Prof. F. V.
lie chief of the Geological Survey of the United
66 Annual Address, 1873.
States Territories ; the continuation of the survey
fortieth parallel, under Mr. Clarence King ; the e:
tions west of the hundredth meridian, under
tenant George M. Wheeler, of the Engineer Cc
reconnoissance of the basin of the Upper Yello
River, in Wyoming and Montana Territories, eml
the head -waters and sources of that river, by Capt.
Barlow, assisted by Capt. D. P. Heap, of the Co
U. S. Engineers ; explorations and surveys in the
Mountains in Utah, by Capt. W. A. Jones, of th
corps ; the determination of the difference of lor.
between Detroit, Mich., and Port Leavenworth in B
by Lieut. E. H. Ruffner, likewise of the same
and the reconnoissance and cartographical labors,
the direction of that officer, for a series of maps
scale of an inch to four miles, embracing Eansat
of the sixth principal meridian, Colora
the Indian Territory, Chickasaw Nai
of New Mexico ; the continuation of
exploration of the Colorado River and its
exploration by his associate, Prof. T
region north toward the Wahsateh Mow
ration and scientific investigation, by V
upon the geography, hydrography, and
tions of the Aleutian Islands, and th
surveys, explorations, and reconnoissan
with the building of the North Pacific I
head of Lake Superior to Puget Sound,
Engineer, Gen. W. Milnor Roberts ;
cal observations of the Signal Service Bt
Department, under Brig. -Gen. A. J.
pletion of the scientific voyage of the "
the Continent of South America, organi;
Survey for the more particular observat
lines of South America, for deep-sea dredging throi
the voyage, and the making of Zoological and oth
lections in natural history,. to which should be add
VOTAGJB OF TBB "HA8SLJ5B." 07
continuation of the geological surveys of the States of
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,
Illinois, Louisiana, and California, embracing an amount
of work, which, in extent and value, will compare with
that of any previous year.
Before proceeding to give a brief account of the nature
of these respective labors, I must express my acknowledg-
ments, particularly to Prof. Hayden, Lieut. Wheeler,
Gen. W. Milnor Roberts and E. R. Esterbrook, Esq., of
the Signal Service, all of whom have most kindly, upon
request, furnished me with the latest information in their
respective departments.
Coast Survey.
The year was unfavorable for surveying operations
along our coast ; but the labors of the Coast Survey have
been in other respects active and important. They have
embraced the scientific voyage of the steamer " Hassler "
around the Continent of South America, which was
organized for the more particular observation of the coast-
lines of that continent, for deep-sea dredging through-
out the course of the voyage, and for the making of
zoological and other collections in natural history. The
temporary occupation of points upon the Rocky Moun-
tains for scientific purposes ; an expedition for the more
exact determination of the difference of longitude between
Washington and Greenwich, which, under the direction
of Prof. J. E. Hilgard, was brought to a successful con-
clusion last September ; the continuation of the survey
of the harbor of New York, in which considerable prog-
ress was made during the year, and observations relat-
ing to the hydrography of the Gulf of Mexico.
Voyage of tbte "Hassleb."
The voyage of the " Hassler " lasted nine months. The
chief scientific result has been the observation by Prof.
Agassiz of the evidence of post-glacial action on the coast
of South America, both on the Atlantic and the Pacific
68 AlfJfUAL Addbsbs, 1873.
side, below the thirty-seventh parallel of south la
with the detection of existing glaciers in the Sti
Magellan and on the coast of Chili, and an in
zoological collection, embracing 100,000 specimei
fish in which alone amount to 80,000. Hie deep-sea
ing, a very important object, was not pursued
extent, from some defect in the apparatus or other
Agassiz found a strong resemblance between
parts visited and regions of the Alps with whicl
familiar, which resemblance, he says, is not snpe
bnt extends to the geological structure of the
region. What he saw, he says, was the evide
glacial action, or, as he expresses it, terrestrial ma
ice moving upon the solid ground, a
which as floating bodies could not hi
abrasion which he saw ; the planing, g
rowing of the rocks. He found the c
a glacial-worn aspect as far north as tl
in Chili. His conclusion from what
during the glacial period both hemis
each been capped with an enormous she
ing northwardly from the Atlantic, and
wardly from the Arctic toward the e<
from what he saw in South America,
that ice has been the great paring mach
rocky surfaces of the globe have bee
that the great geological agents have n<
and water, but that ice has had a gret
ing the earth's surface. The profes
knows that his observations will be que
pleasantly : "An old hunter does not t
fox for that of a wolf; and I, an old
tracks, know their foot-prints when i una tne:
should perhaps here mention that Prof. Hart
accompanied Agassiz in the exploration of the A
in a paper read before this Society during the
pointed out mistakes which the professor had n
Prop. Ha wen's Exploration. (S9
the observation in South America of what he Bupposed
to be the result of glacial action ; and that eminent geolo-
gists, such as Lyell, Dawson, Br. Steny Hunt, and Home,
do not admit that there ever was such a glacial period as
Agassiz believes to have existed, or anything at any time
but glaciers in particular localities; and the opinion of
these geologists has been somewhat strengthened by
recent observations of M. C. Grad in North Africa,
especially in the Atlas range and in the Desert of Sahara.
On the other hand, Lieut. -Col. Drayson, R. A., has just
published a work in which he gives not only a formidable
array of evidence in proof of a glacial epoch, but assumes
it to be a necessary consequence of the change which
takes place in the direction of the earth' s axis, whereby
the whole earth is affected. This change, Col. Drayson
argues, would, in about 16,000 years, cause a decrease in
the obliquity of thirty-five degrees, which, he says,
would bring about climatic changes quite sufficient to
produce Agassiz' s glacial epoch.
Surveys and Exploration of the United States
Engineer Corps.
The labors of the Engineer Corps during the past year
have been very extensive in the geographical work of the
improvement of harbors and rivers, a matter of the high-
est importance and value in our country, so large a por-
tion of which is as yet but partially developed. The
survey of our great lakes by the corps has also been car-
ried on; that of Lake Superior being completed, and that
of Lake Michigan carried so far that it will probably be
completed in another season. With this work have also
been connected astronomical and meteorological observa-
tions, and lake-surface observations, extending over the
entire lake region.
Prof. Hayden's Exploration in Utah, Idaho, and
Montana Territories.
The result of Prof. Hay den's expedition during the
70 Annual Address, 1873.
year in Utah, Idaho, and Montana, I prefer to give in the
language of the communication he has courteously sent
me:
" The report of the exploration of the valley of the
Upper Yellowstone, and the head-waters of the Madison,
during the season of 1871, by theU. S. Geological Survey
of the Territories, created such an interest in the public
mind all over the country that Congress was led thereby
to pass a law forever withdrawing from the public lands
intended for sale, or occupancy by settlers, a tract com-
prising 3,575 square miles. This reservation was called
the Yellowstone National Park, and was intended to pre-
serve and protect the wonderful curiosities of nature
within its borders for the benefit and instruction of the
people. To complete this exploration, so successfully
commenced, a second expedition was made into that
region during the past summer (1872). The appropria-
tion for the survey by Congress, during the session of
1871-73, was so liberal that the geologist in charge was
enabled to organize two separate parties. To each of
these parties there were attached a geologist, an astrono-
mer, topographer, and meteorologist, with the necessary
assistants for each. One of the parties, under the imme-
diate direction of Mr. James Stevenson, surveyed a route
from Ogden, Utah, to Fort Hall, Idaho Territory, where
full preparations were made for a pack-train with sup-
plies to proceed up Snake River. The party passed up
the west side of Snake River valley, making a careful,
detailed survey of all the branches of that stream,
located the Great Teton range, and then passed up the
valley of Henry's Fork, and entered the Madison Valley
through the Targee Pass, and reached the Geyser Basin,
August 14.
"The second party, under the direction of Prof. Hay-
den, proceeded to Bozeman, Montana, in the valley of
the Gallatin, and made that its point of departure. The
valleys of the Yellowstone, Madison, and Gallatin, with
Prof Eatdei^s Exploration. 71
their numerous branches, were all carefully examined,
and the materials secured for a map of the country in
contour lines of one hundred feet each.
"The event of the season was the ascent of the Grand
Teton. There is no tradition that any white man has
ever reached its summit. A party of thirteen began the
ascent ; but only two succeeded, Mr. Stevenson and Mr.
Langford. They found upon the summit a rude structure,
which appeared to be an inclosure, and which must have
been built several hundred years since, and is supposed
to have been used as a protection from the wind.
i i The elevation of the Grand Teton was found to be
13,762 feet above the sea, thus making it one of the mon-
arch peaks of our continent.
"The examination of the four remarkable passes at
the head of Henry's Fork was another of the interesting
and important results of this Survey. Here are four
passes across the water-shed of the continent, connecting
the Atlantic with the Pacific Slope. These passes repre-
sent the four points of the compass. The Targee, or East
Pass, is 7,063 feet above the sea, and opens into the
Upper Madison, forming the most important gateway to
the Yellowstone National Park. The Madison, or North
Pass, leads into the Lower Madison Basin, thus connect-
ing the North-west with the great interior basin of Utah,
as well as the Pacific Slope. The Bed Bock Pass, with
an elevation of 7,271 feet, leads to the valley of Jefferson
Fork, and thus to any portion of Montana. Henry's
Lake, which gives origin to Henry's Fork, is located in
the centre of these passes, and has an elevation of 6,443
feet.
"This wonderful region, which seems to form the apex
of the continent, was carefully explored and mapped.
Here, within a radius of fifty miles, the snows that fall
upon the mountain-tops give origin to the largest rivers
on our continent, forming one of the most remarkable
water-sheds, in a geographical point of view, in the
78 Annual Address, 1878.
world. On the north side are the sources of the Yellow-
stone ; on the west, those of the Three Forks of the Mis-
sonri; on the south-west and south, those of the Snake
River, flowing into the Columbia, and thence into the
Pacific; and those of the Green River, flowing southward
to join the Great Colorado, and finally emptying into the
Gulf of California; while on the east side are the numer-
ous sources of Wind River. We thus see that this
water-shed gives origin to three of the largest rivers in
North America — the Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado.
The general elevation of this portion is from 7,000 to
8,000 feet; while the mountain-peaks, which are very
numerous, average from 9,600 to 11,000 feet. From one
lofty peak at the source of Snake River 470 mountain-
peaks were counted within the circle of vision.
"About the sources of Snake River it was found that
the existing maps were quite incorrect. Madison Lake,
which was previously supposed to be the source of Madi-
son River, was found to give origin to Snake River. It
is a beautiful body of water, about eight miles wide and
twelve miles long. From it flows a stream about one
hundred feet wide, which, after flowing a distance of five
miles, empties into another lake, about four miles long
and one and a half miles wide. The first of these, was
called Lake Shoshonee, and the latter Lake Lewis, in
honor of the great explorer of the North-west
"At the upper end of Lake Shoshonee a new geyser
basin' was discovered, containing over one hundred
springs, several of which ranked with first-class geysers.
The ornamentation about these springs is peculiar, and
even more beautiful than that around the springs in the
geyser basins on the Madison.
" Careful observations were made by both parties for
latitude and longitude at every available point, and seve-
ral localities, as Fort Hall, Virginia City, Fort Ellis, and
Helena, were fixed with a good degree of precision.
"Six of Green's best cistern barometers, and a dozen
Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. 78
aneroids, were in constant use. The observations and
collections in geology, mineralogy, botany, and the vari-
ous departments of natural history, far exceeded those
of any previous year.
"Besides the two principal parties mentioned above,
five small parties have been operating in different parts
of the West, under the auspices of the Survey, with
great success. Prof. Joseph Leidy spent about two
months examining the ancient lake basins of Wyoming
for vertebrate remains, and Prof. E. D. Cope occupied
most of the season in various parts of the West, making
most important discoveries.
"The relations of the great Cretaceous and Tertiary
groups of the West to each other have become a question
of the highest interest; and Mr. F. B. Meek, the distin-
guished paleontologist, spent the summer along the line
of the Pacific Railroad, studying these formations and
collecting the evidence from invertebrate fossils; while
Prof. Leo Lesquereux, our great authority on fossil
botany, took up the coal groups in the West, and made
the plants a subject of special investigation ; and Prof.
Gyrus Thomas devoted the summer to the agricultural
resources of the North-west.
"All these gentlemen are now busily engaged in pre-
paring their reports for publication by Congress."
Survey of the Fortieth Parallel.
The geological and topographical exploration of the
territory between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky
Mountains, under Mr. Clarence King, has, .during the
year, embraced the completion of the field-work of the
geological exploration of the fortieth parallel; an illus-
trative series of the studies of the geology and topog-
rapy of the extinct volcanoes, and further studies in
glacial action. A third volume of this most interesting
survey is now in the course of publication by the Gov-
ernment.
74 Annual Address, 1878.
Lieut. Wheeler's Expedition in Nevada, Utah,
and Arizona.
Prom notes kindly famished me by Lieut. Wheeler, I
am enabled to give the result of the year's work of the
expedition under his charge. There have been three
seasons of field-work in 1869, 1871, and 1872; the areas
embraced being Eastern California, nearly the entire part
of Nevada south of the fortieth parallel, Western and
Southern Utah, and Northern and Western Arizona.
Some idea of the vastness of this field of exploration
-may be inferred from the fact that these surveys covered
a belt of country equal in area to the whole of the New
England and the Middle States, and that the reconnois-
sance lines of these surveyb reach, at the least, fifteen
thousand miles. They have been made in conformity
with an act of Congress, the object of which is to estab-
lish an astronomical base, and the continuance of military
and geographical surveys and explorations West of the
hundredth meridian. Before the passage of this act, a
comprehensive plan of surveys was submitted to the Engi-
neer Department, which was ratified and adopted as the
basis on which future surveys by Lieut. Wheeler should be
made. The plan was, briefly, to divide the territory lying
west of the hundredth meridian into eighty -five equal rec-
tangles, and to work up each of them with rigorous exact-
ness, and publish the results from time to time, in connec-
tion with an index-map of the whole area embraced, each
small map being thrown up to ten times the size in the
index-map, so that, by turning from one to the other, a
complete knowledge of the country in its relative and
detailed character can be obtained. The " importance,"
says Lieut. Wheeler in the communication he has sent
me, " of accurate and frequent maps in connection with
Western surveys has long been apparent to my mind,
not only for their obvious convenience as maps of refer-
ence for the traveller and the emigrant, but as being the
essential ground-work on which all explorations and
Lieut. Wheeler's Expedition. 75
investigations should rest, and to which the after-labors
of the geologist, the miner, and the capitalist should be
referred." In connection with the perfected Engineers'
map, a series of maps or charts might easily, he says,
be arranged, covering a variety of topics, and exhibiting
an epitome of all researches and scientific observations
in the regions embraced. "In which service," he con-
tinues, " I may mention an historical map on which, with
appropriate markings and colorings, the lines of the
earliest explorers, and the area of each and every survey
that has been prosecuted, should be carefully designated;
a map of climatology, covering a multitude of features;
an agricultural map, showing the lines of demarcation
between different belts of country in their adaptability
to cereals and fruit ; a mineralogical map, necessarily
fluctuating in accuracy and completeness, detailing the
most recent and well-established specifications in regard
to mining areas, either by itself, or in connection with the
agricultural map ; a map of mountain, desert, and arable
land, with diagrammatic exhibition of areas where irriga-
tion and Artesian wells are necessary and considered
practicable ; and so on, through quite an extended series.
The amount of information which would be easily imparted
by such a system of charts, and which could be extended
at will to cover an increased variety of topics, would be
very great."
As an important factor in the accurate making of maps,
" astronomical observations," he writes, "have been
employed to a large extent, and I am happy to state that
I have been enabled to collect a measurably complete
and valuable set of observations from a corps of trained
assistants, stationed not only at different points in the
territory surveyed, but at more distant points, such as
Cheyenne, Fort Steele, and Green River Station on the
Union Pacific road, from which communication was
established with the main observatory in Salt Lake City,
76 Annual Address, 1873.
the Mormon observatory at the latter place being placed
at my disposal by Brigham Young."
" The importance of these observations," he says, "in
perfecting a survey, where so many physical obstacles
prevent accurate geodetic work, can hardly be overesti-
mated. Whilst regarding map -work as the first in the
line of the surveyors' and explorers' work, and as the
basis for all that accompanies it, I have not allowed the
various departments of meteorology, geology, natural
history, mining, and other industries to be dwarfed in
importance or restricted in action. Besides constant and
valuable work; in all these departments, much attention
has been given to numerous allied topics, such as irriga-
tion, routes for roads and railways, and the needs and
possibilities of the different regions traversed. An
attempt has thus been made, as should always be the
case, £o connect the work of the survey with the indus-
trial interests and special development of the Western
country, where science, pure and simple, can hardly be
expected to take root as yet, but should go hand-in-hand
with practical utility and the needs of the peculiar stage
of development of the civilization' which covers it"
The main office-work of the expedition is at present
concentrated on the preparation of the five volumes which
are to cover the season's field labors. These volumes are
to be condensed to the greatest brevity possible, without
the sacrifice of valuable material, and will comprise about
one hundred and seventy-five pages quarto each, if pos-
sible. The result of the season will be segregated into
appropriate departments, and the volume issued accord-
ingly. The greater part of the thirteen of the projected
eighty-five rectangles are in process of compilation, five
having been added during the last year, and their publi-
cation in map-form, with an index-map, will be made as
speedily as tie careful mechanical execution of the work
can be effected. "
Capt. Barlow's Expedition. 77
Capt. Barlow's Expedition to the Source of the
Yellowstone River.
The reconnoissance of Captain Barlow has been in the
basin of the Upper Yellowstone River, and was made in
the months of July and August, 1871, for the purpose of
examining the source of the Yellowstone; the result of
which, in the form of an official report, was laid before
Congress last April by the Secretary of War. The
report is one of exceeding interest, giving a detailed
description of the region traversed, being in part oyer the
same field of operations covered by the geological expe-
dition of Prof. Hayden. It embraces the general geo-
graphy of the region, the mountain forms, the peaks
and heights, the streams that connect with the Yellow-
stone, the waterfalls and canons ; an elaborate descrip-
tion of the basin of the Great Geyser, or hot spring, "a
thorough solution of the wonders of which," says Capt.
Barlow, " is to be attained only by long and patient obser-
vation by a corps of observers at different points;" the
thermal springs ; the calcareous deposit known as Soda
Mountain ; the mud volcanoes and the lakes which are
tributary to Snake River. From the summit of a moun-
tain 10,400 feet above the level of the sea, which Captain
Barlow named Mount Hancock, he and his party
obtained what he calls an unparalleled view of a vast
extent of country, bounded by the Gallatin Mountain
and Elephant's Back on the north, the Yellowstone range
on the east, the Wind River range on the south, and the
Great Teton range on the west. To the report is attached
a most valuable map of the region traversed, delineating
the curvatures of the mountain forms, the position and
shape of the Yellowstone Lake, and the course of the
great canon of the Yellowstone. The meteorological
records and the numerous and interesting specimens col-
lected in this reconnoissance were unfortunately destroyed
by the great fire in Chicago.
78 Annual Address, 1818.
Capt. Jones' 8 Exploration in the Uintah Moun-
tains.
The exploration and surveys of Capt. W. A. Jones
have been in the Uintah Mountains in Utah ; the Uintah
range is a spur of the Wahsatch Mountains, beginning in
lat. 40° 80' N., with an altitude of about 12,500 feet,
and thence tending north-easterly to Green River, where
the spur terminates. The extreme elevation of the range
is in the vicinity of Gilbert's Peak, where the mountains
reach to about 18,500 feet, and the whole region is one
hitherto comparatively unknown. The object of this
expedition was to ascertain the character and extent of
the valleys through which the streams run flowing from
these mountains; the nature of the timber, and the
adaptability of the valleys for cultivation and settlement,
and especially the examination of the country in the
vicinity of Green River, with reference to the supposed
existence there of large mineral deposits. He found the
mountain-slopes covered with extensive forests of young
growth, showing that extensive fires have ranged there for
long intervals. The valleys were numerous, deep, and
narrow, extending quite to the summit. The enormous
basins that range along either side of the summit-line,
he thought, from their position, must be filled in the
winter with great drifts of snow, furnishing in the summer
a continuous supply of water to the numerous mountain-
streams. The whole region, mountain and plateau, he
says, is especially adapted for grazing, grass being found
everywhere, even to the mountain-summit ; and, as there
is always water, he thinks that a pastoral people could
live quite comfortably in these mountain-valleys. He
speaks highly of the region watered by the North Uintah
River, having everywhere a superabundance of grass,
wood and water, and a climate incomparably fine. The
mineral deposits were found to be unimportant, and a
noticeable feature of the whole region was the scarcity of
birds, reptiles, and insects.
Surveys for the Northern Pacific Railroad. 79
Prof. Powell's Exploration of the Colorado
River.
Prof. J. W. Powell has, during the year, continued
his survey of the Colorado River, under the auspices of
the Smithsonian Institution, and has made his second
preliminary report. He has continued the examination
of the wonderful series of canons along the course of the
Colorado, and has visited a group of volcanic mountains
north of the Grand Canon, to which he has given the
name of the Uinkaret Mountains. The work done during
the year has developed a most remarkable series of faults
and folds in the earth's crust, which, in the opinion
of Prof. Henry, will be of the highest interest to the
geologist.
An extensive series of faults running northerly and
southerly across the Grand Cafion were examined ; some
of them, as far as the Wahsatch Mountains. The fissures
of these faults have been vents for volcanoes, and are
from 60 to 200 miles in length. Discoveries were also
made of coal, salt and metals. The number of the houses
found of the prehistoric inhabitants of this region has,
by the discoveries of this year, been increased to about'
one hundred ; one being situated on the crater of a vol-
canic cone. The collection of rock-inscriptions, or pic-
ture-writing, has been much enlarged. The Seven Cities,
called by the Spaniards the Province of Tusayan, were
revisited for ethnological purposes, and the passage of
the Grand Canon, in boats, was again successfully accom-
plished, although attended, at one time, by great peril
in consequence of the sudden rising of the river during
the night.
SURVEYS FOR THE NORTHERN PAOIFIO R AIL ROAD.
The Northern Pacific Railroad has, dui^ng the year,
been extended from Moorhead on the Red River of the
North, to the Missouri River,. opposite the mouth of the
Heart River, a distance of 198 miles, making, so far, a
80 Annual Address, 1878.
continuous line from Dnlnth, at the head of Lake Supe-
rior, of 450 miles, showing the energy and celerity with
which this great work has been carried on. The surveys
in connection with the work have been very extensive,
embracing a reconnoissance upon the Missouri River of
2,300 miles ; a preliminary survey east of the Rocky
Mountains of 360 miles ; one of the like character in the
Rocky Mountains of 700 miles, and upon the Pacific Slope
and over the Cascade Mountains of 1,727 miles. There
have been, east of the Rocky Mountains, amongst the
mountains, and along the Pacific Slope 1,165 locations,
the railroad surveys and locations amounting to 3,843
miles, or about twice the length of the main line between
Lake Superior and Puget Sound. The data, from these
surveys made during 1872, chiefly between latitude 45°
and 49° N. will, when elaborated, add greatly to our
geographical knowledge of this most important and inter-
esting region.*
♦As this survey is one of great interest in this country the following
account of it, in detail, is given, from the communication received from
Gen. Roberts:
During the season of 1872, the Company extended their road across the
Territory of Dakota, on a nearly east and west line, from Moorhead, on the
Red River of the North, to the Missouri River opposite the mouth of Heart
River, a distance of 198 miles, making a continuous line from Duluthat the
head of Lake Superior, of 450 miles.
Additional surveys were made from the mouth of Heart River to the
western boundary of Dakota Territory, and beyond into Montana Territory,
crossing the Little Missouri River and extending to the Junction of the
Powder River with the Yellowstone ; a distance of 260 miles. This survey
was conducted in the field under the direction of D. C. Linaley, Assistant
Chief Engineer, and Gen. T. L. Rosser, Division Engineer, with a Gov-
ernment escort under the command of Gen. Stanley, U. S. A.
A survey was also made along the Musselshell River, from a point near its
great bend to its sources in the Belt range, a spur of the Rocky Mountains,
and thence over by a favorable pass, and down Sixteen Mile Greek to the
Missouri River, and connecting at the ** Three Forks" of the Missouri with'
the initial point, " departure point one,1' a distance of 178 miles. This
survey was conducted in the field by Col. John A. Haydon, Assistant
Engineer, with a Government escort under the command of Col. E M.
W. H. Ball's Explorations. 81
W. H. D all's Explorations in the Aleutian Islands.
Mr. W. H. Dall's investigation in connection with the
geography and hydrography of the Aleutian Islands
has been carried on during the year under the auspices
of the Coast Survey, his headquarters being at Ulnluk,
Oonalaska. He has discovered in these islands the remains
of a people antecedent to the race that now inhabits
them. Around the sites of ancient villages he found
burial-caves in which the dead bodies had been placed,
Baker, U. 8. A. This survey disclosed an additional practicable railroad-
line by the Sixteen-Mile Greek Pass, which connects advantageously with
the several lines surveyed in 1871, across the main range of the Rocky
Mountains.
A reconnoissance of the Missouri River was made during the season of
1872, extending from the proposed crossing of the Missouri at Heart River
to the head of the Missouri River, at " departure point one," above men-
tioned, embracing about 1,300 miles — including a survey for a railroad
around the Great Falls of the Missouri (21 miles). This examination also
covered the reconnoissance of the River from Sioux City to Heart River. It
was made for the purpose of ascertaining the character of the navigation in
detail, and the work required for its improvement. It was conducted by
Mr. Thos. P. Roberts, Assistant Engineer.
A survey was made on two additional routes crossing the main range of
the Rocky Mountains ; one by an extension of the survey of 1871, up the
Wisdom River to its sources in the Bitterroot range of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and across the summit to the head-waters of the Salmon River, and
down the Salmon River to its junction with the Snake, or Lewis' Fork of
the Columbia River ; and thence down the Snake River to Lewiston at the
mouth of the Clearwater, one of its tributaries, where it connects with the
surveys of 1871. The surveys up the Wisdom River were conducted by
Mr. M. T. Burgess, Assistant Engineer, and the surveys down the Salmon
River were conducted by Col. W. W. de Lacy, Assistant Engineer.
The unfinished surveys on the Missoula River were resumed, and a line
was located from the town of Missoula, in Montana Territory, down
Clarke's Fork of the Columbia River to Lake Pend d'Oreille, a distance of
207 miles. This work was conducted by Mr. James Beltner, Assistant
Engineer. A survey was also made by him from the Fishery Creek, over
the Bitterroot range, down to the North Fork of Clearwater, connecting
with the survey of Col. East wick made in 1871, from Lewiston up the North
Fork,
An additional route was also traced over the main range of the Rocky
Mountains in the vicinity of Mullan's Pass, passing in the vicinity of Helena,
6
82 Annual Address, 1873.
and gayly dressed, some being encased in wooden armor.
The bodies were so placed and arranged as to indicate
their ordinary occupations ; — men in canoes, as in the act
of rowing ; women dressing skins, holding children, etc.,
etc. This method of burying in canoes was common
among the South- American Indians, but had not hitherto
been known to have been practised by the North- Ameri-
can tribes. Mr. Dall is preparing an Arctic flora and
fauna, and his forthcoming work will be of interest
alike to the geographer, the archaeologist, and the
naturalist. This very capable and industrious young
by Mr. T. P. Roberts, Assistant Engineer, making a shorter line than the
route via Ten-Mile Pass, surveyed in 1871.
In addition to these, a large amount of surveying and location of lines
was accomplished during 1872, on the Pacific Slope, westward of the region
already referred to, under the immediate direction of Thomas B. Morris,
Division Engineer.
A line was located along the Columbia River, by James F. McCabe,
Assistant Engineer, from Ealama to the mouth of Snake River, 350 miles;
another by R A. Habersham, Assistant Engineer, from the Cascades of the
Columbia to Portland, on the Willamette River, 42 miles; the track of the
main line from Ealama northward toward Puget Sound was extended 40
miles, to within 15 miles of Olympia, which is at the southern extremity of
the Sound; while a location was made along the eastern side of Puget Sound
to Sehome, on Bellingham Bay, 282 miles from Ealama. These locations
were made by R A. Habersham and Geo. H. Birnie, Assistant Engineers.
Lines were also run from the main line to various points on Puget Sound.
Preliminary surveys were made between the mouth of Snake River and
Lake Pend d'Oreille, by Mr. Hubert C. Ward, Assistant Engineer. The
line was afterwards located over the same general region by Col. P. G.
Eastwick, Assistant Engineer.
Mr. Ward made a survey from Lake Pend d'Oreille across the Columbia
Plains to the Wenatchee, and up the river to the summit of the Cascade
range of mountains, where he was met by a line surveyed by Mr. J. T.
Sheets, Assistant Engineer, from Puget Sound up the Skagit River. These
surveys give the shortest practicable line between Lake Pend d'Oreille and
Puget Sound.
Mr. Ward surveyed several passes in the Cascade range, bringing them
into connection with the lines just mentioned; so that much has been added
to our topographical and geographical knowledge of the Columbia plains,
and of the Cascade range of mountains.
The Darien Expedition. 88
explorer has been recently engaged in hydrographio
explorations in the Northern Pacific, and has just
returned to San Francisco, where he is preparing the
report of his latest labors for the Government.
The Hydrographio Bureau's Survey of the
Northern Pacific.
An expedition has been organized by Commander
Wyman, Chief of the Hydrographio Bureau of the Navy
Department, for a more complete geographical explora-
tion of the seas between our Pacific coast, China and
Japan, and for the construction of more accurate charts;
our increasing and important commerce in this direc-
tion demanding a more accurate survey of this part of
the Pacific. An observer has been stationed during the
year at St. Paul, in the Aleutian Islands, by the Signal
Service Bureau, which observer, in addition to his
meteorological duties, is to examine as far as possible the
temperature of the sea in that vicinity, to note the tides,
the passage of ice through Behring Strait, the movement
and temperature of the Japanese current, if arrested and
thrown upon the American coast by the blocking-up of
the Strait, and to preserve specimens of the drift that
may be picked up.
The Darien Expedition.
In the winter of 1870, .the Government of the United
States sent out an expedition, under Commander T. O.
Selfridge, U. S. N., to explore the practicability of the
several routes suggested for an interoceanic canal
through the Isthmus of Darien. He surveyed the several
proposed routes, commencing at Caledonia Bay and the
Gulf of San Bias, and found them to be totally imprac-
ticable. In the winter of 1871, another expedition was
sent out under the same commander, to explore the
route by the Atrato and Tuyra rivers, which was
done, and was likewise found impracticable. Another
84 Annual Address, 1873.
route was also surveyed by the way of the Atrato and
Napipi rivers. This route the exploring party were
unable to examine as fully as had been desired, in conse-
quence of the coming-on of the rainy season ; but they sue-
ceeded in completing a line of survey from the Pacific to
the Atrato, and the indications were so favorable that the
Government sent out another expedition at the close of
last year, under Commander Selfridge, to complete the
survey. Commander Selfridge is to begin on the Pacific
side in the Bay of Oupica, about ten miles below the
former points of exploration, where he expects to find a
depression. Very favorable expectations are formed in
respect to the result of this survey ; and if a canal by this
route be practicable, and should be constructed, it would
reduce the distance for sailing vessels between New York
and Hong Kong from 110 to 83 days, making a difference
of twenty-seven days. There is also an expedition for
the survey of the Nicaragua route, under the direction
of Commander Lull, U. S. N., which our member, Mr.
Body, who is familiarly acquainted with the different
parts of the isthmus, thinks will prove to be the most
practicable. In a few months we shall have definite
information in respect to both of these routes.
The American Palestine-Explobing Expedition.
The American Palestine-Exploration Society has
recently despatched an expedition to Syria, under the
charge of Lieut. E. Z. Steever, of the U. S. Engineer
Corps, for the exploration of the country east of the
River Jordan, and of the northern part of Syria. The
expedition consists of Lieut. Steever and three associates
from this country, with whom will be united, in the field
of exploration, a certain number of educated and trained
natives of Syria, making together a very effective body
for the prosecution of the geographical and archaeological
labors of the expedition, which will extend over a period
of three years. The expedition is one of great interest to
Tee Signal Sebvicm. 85
the geographer, the Biblical scholar, and the archaeolo-
gist, as the region to be explored is almost unknown,
and is one to which the attention of those interested in
these respective fields of inquiry has long been directed.
The Signal Service.
Nothing in the nature of scientific investigation insti-
tuted by the National Government has proved so accept-
able to the people, or has been productive, in so short a
time, of such important results, as the establishment at
Washington of the Signal Service Bureau. It has been
in operation only since November, 1870, and in this
limited period it has become, through the efficiency of
Brig. -Gen. A. J. Myer, the Chief Signal Officer, and
his three able assistants, Profs. Cleveland Abbe, Thomp-
son B. Maury, and the Acting Signal Officer, Lieut.
R. Craig, one of the most complete organizations of the
kind in the world.
At the commencement of 1871, the territory occupied
by the stations of observation was mainly that of the
United States, — to the east as far as Portland in Maine,
thence along the Atlantic coast and the Mexican Gulf,
very nearly to the Bio Grande, and along the southern
shores of the great lakes, and throughout the interior, as
the interests of the Service required. During the year
reports were also received from stations located at wide
intervals on the elevated plateau lying between the
Missouri valley and the Pacific Slope, and from three
points upon or near the Pacific coast.
During the past year the Service has been extended
within the United States by the addition of several
stations lying between those which were already estab-
lished, and of several points of observation located in the
valley of the Bed River of the North, the peculiar mete-
orological conditions of which furnish an interesting
source of study.
Beyond the United States, through the cooperation of
86 Annual Address, 187S.
the Canadian Government, the Service has been extended
northward, in the valley of the Red River, to Port Garry,
in Manitoba ; thence along the northern shores of Lakes
Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and down the valley of the
St. Lawrence as far as Quebec.
Reports are also received from Halifax, Nova Scotia,
and it is thought that arrangements will be made by
which reports may be had from the islands of Cape Bre-
ton and Newfoundland. From the localities enumerated,
telegraphic reports are received daily at the Chief Signal
Office at Washington, and from them are deduced the
daily forecasts of the weather. This branch of the Ser-
vice has proved especially valuable, a comparison of the
daily forecasts or probabilities with the meteoric condi-
tion, as afterwards ascertained, having given up to
November 1st, 1871, an average of sixty-nine per cent*
and from that date to October 1 st, of last year, an average
of verification of seventy-six per cent.
The summit of Mount Washington, N. H., has been
occupied as a signal station for the past two years, and
Gen. Myer expects to obtain reports from some of the
loftier summits of the Alleghanies farther South during
the present year. It is also probable that reports will be
received from some peak of the Rocky Mountains during
the ensuing Bummer.
As soon as it is practicable it is the intention of the
department to establish a station of observation in the
Sandwich Islands, from which, it is hoped, warning may
be received of any meteoric disturbance originating
perhaps on the coast of Asia, and destined to reach the
Pacific coast of the United States.
It is also expected by the Chief Signal Officer that,
during the present year, arrangements will be made for
the receipt of telegraphic reports from various points in
the West India Islands, which, it is hoped, may enable
the department to announce the approach of many of
these cyclonic storms, the presence of which is now only
The Signal Sbbvice. 87
known when they strike the southern coasts of the United
States. As an additional aid in the tracing of . these
storms, regular observations are made upon several of
the steamships plying between New York and the Isth-
mus of Panama, and it is thought that arrangements will
be made whereby it will be possible to obtain a con-
tinuous record between this country and Europe by
means of regular observations upon the transatlantic
steamships.
Gen. Myer remarks in his report that sometimes obser-
vations made in Great Britain seem to indicate the
presence there of disturbances traced out to sea from our
shore ; and, if the arrangements anticipated should be
carried out, there will be from our remotest stations on
the Aleutian Islands to Great Britain a connected line of
observation, extending over nearly half the circumference
of the earth. It is impossible to estimate too highly the
importance of regular observations of this nature, in con-
nection with those which have now been extended over a
considerable portion of Europe. Humboldt, in treating
of magnetic observations, has especially dwelt upon the
greater value of those which have been regular and con-
tinuous over those that are taken at intervals, no matter
how widely, over the earth's surface, and this remark
applies with equal force to meteorological observations.
"The Signal Service," says a writer in the New York
Herald, "has given timely forewarning of the heavy
storms upon our sea- coast and lakes, of the heavy rain-
falls and floods, of the early arrival of frosts, and of the
cold tidal air- waves which cover the land with snow;"
and this kind of information has become so varied,
extensive, and valuable, that it is in contemplation by Mr.
E. R. Esterbrook, of the Signal Service of this city, to
establish a monthly meteorological journal for the more
regular and general diffusion of the facts, the deductions
to be drawn from them, and the advancement of the
88 Annual Address, 2878.
science of meteorology generally, which, I trust,
receive, as it deserves, a wide public support.
Meteorology.
At the anniversary meeting of the Meteorological
Society of London, last August, the president, Mr. Tripe,
in his annual address, called attention to the valuable
results obtained through meteorological observation upon
the course of epidemics and the influence of high and
low temperatures upon the public health* He said that
the conclusion among meteorologists was tolerably uni-
form that very oold and very hot weather induce an
increase in the number of diseases and deaths ; that a
cold, wet summer always coincides with a less amount
of sickness and fewer deaths than a hot, dry summer ;
that very oold weather causes a great increase in the
sickness and mortality of any given population ; and
that the increase extends to all kinds of diseases. That,
for instance, small-pox increases as the temperature
sinks below, and soarlet fever as it rises beyond, certain
points ; and that the influence of all other meteorologi-
cal elements upon disease is almost inert as compared
with temperature. He expresses the opinion that statis-
ticians will eventually be enabled to determine the precise
relations which exist between the state of the public
health and meteorology ; so that, in addition to the
knowledge which these observations give us of the move-
ments of the atmosphere and of the law of storms, we
have also the expectation that they will shed additional
m
light upon diseases and their causes.
American Geographical Papers.
In closing this record of our own labors during the
year, I would call attention, finally, to the many valu-
able papers that have appeared in the course of the year
in various periodicals, among which may be especially
named the paper of Prof. J. Le Conte, of California,
American Geographical Papers. 89
entitled, "A Theory of the Great Features of the Earth,"
in Silliwian's Journal, — a paper of great interest and
value, — in which the professor does not assume to give
an entirely satisfactory theory (for he concedes that the
state of our knowledge does not yet admit of it), but
claims to direct attention to what he insists is the true
direction of inquiry. The paper of J. W. Foster, LL. D.,
in the Naturalist, on the mountains of Colorado, their
topographical features, geology, vein-phenomena, cli-
mate, the effects of electrical phenomena in their vicinity,
and the evidence of post-glacial action ; and Mr. Muir's
observations in the Overland Monthly, on the glaciers
of the Sierra Nevada. Dr. J. P. Widney's paper, in
the same periodical, on the Colorado desert, which he
supposes, at a past period, to have been a portion of the
Gulf of California, which then, he thinks, extended
about 200 miles above its present limit. This upper
portion, in his opinion, was cut off, upon the east side,
by the Colorado River, depositing quicksand in its
thick floods and a deposit of red mud from the great
plateau of Northern Arizona, until the upper part, with
an area of 180 miles in length and an average of thirty
miles in width, was completely' separated from the
Gulf, and elevated into a barren desert, becoming, as
he says, a disturbing element in the climate of South-
ern California. It is now, to use his own language,
"a huge furnace, from which withering blasts make
forrays upon the favored territories around ; " and he
calls attention to the importance and possibility of turn-
ing the river into it, and converting what is now a desert
into an inland lake. And, lastly, Prof. T. B. Maury's
paper, in the Popular Science Monthly, upon the Law
of Storms, as developed by the collected observation
of the XT. S. Signal Service.
90 Annual Address, 1878.
Population of the United States.
The Government published during the year the results
of the census of 1870, by which it appears that the total
population of the United States is 38,589,377.
The mixed population of the city of New York con-
sists of: Native-born, 523,198; foreign-born, 419,094,—
the excess of the native over the foreign being 104,104.
The foreign population of the city of New York is thus
distributed :
Irish 201,999
Germans 151,216
Austrian* 2,787
English and Welsh 26,026
French .' 8,265
Scotch 7,562
Canadians 4,419
Poles 2,398
Bwisfl... 2,178
Swedes and Norwegians 1,930
Dutch 1,287
The largest foreign population in proportion to the
whole is in the city of New York. In this order Chicago
stands next, then St. Louis ; after St. Louis, Cincinnati,
and then Philadelphia. In New York and Philadelphia
the Irish outnumber the Germans. In Chicago, St. Louis,
and Cincinnati, the Germans outnumber the Irish. In
Cincinnati they are nearly three times as great ; in St
Louis, nearly double ; and in Chicago, about one-third
more. In Philadelphia the Irish are nearly double the
number of the Germans, and in New York they are about
one-third more. The foreign population concentrates
chiefly in the commercial cities, and in the manufacturing
and mining districts of the eastern portion of the United
States, and is largely distributed over the Western States.
In the Western States the foreign emigrants are mainly
found in the vicinity of lakes and rivers. They rarely
settle in the mountain-districts, and prefer the wooded
Aectio Exploration. 91
country to the prairie. The Scandinavians seek the far
States />f the North-west, three-fourths of the Swedes
and Norwegians being in Minnesota. The Irish are in
the large cities, and in Massachusetts, in Connecticut,
in North-western New York, in Northern Illinois, and in
North-eastern Ohio. The Germans are largely repre-
sented in the cities, are widely extended over the Western
States, and have avoided New England. The English and
Welsh are found chiefly in or about the cities pf New
York, Boston, and Philadelphia, or wherever there are
coal-fields or great iron-works. The Latin races, so-
called, are relatively small. They do not, including
Mexicans and South-Americans, equal the emigration
from the kingdom of Bavaria alone. The Italians are
but 17,149, and the Spaniards only 3,701, and of this
small number one-third are in New Orleans.
Arctic Exploration.
In the beginning of the year great interest was mani-
fested in the subject of Arctic exploration, for, apart from
the geographical achievement of reaching the North Pole,
it has now become apparent that Arctic exploration is of
the highest importance in a scientific point of view, when
it is accompanied with meteorological, barometrical, and
astronomical observations, and an investigation of ihe
Arctic fauna, flora, geology, and paleontology, in the
latter of which departments of knowledge it has proved
to be one of the most instructive of fields for the light
which it sheds on the past physical history of the globe.
It was hoped that this year would be especially propi-
tious, as the summer of 1871 had been very favorable to
exploration. The inhabitants of the most northerly set-
tlement in Greenland told Dr. Bessells, of Capt. Hall's
expedition, that there had not been so warm a summer
for fifty years, and the effect of it was seen in an enor-
mous drift of ice-fields southward from Smith's Sound
and Baffin's Bay along the coast of Newfoundland from
92 Annual Address, 1873.
February to May. " It may be affirmed, without exagger-
ation," says a writer from St. John's, Newfoundland, in
May last, "that a river of ice, varying from 60 to 200
miles in breadth and 2,000 miles in length, has been for
three months incessantly pouring its contents into the
tepid waters of the Gulf Stream."
The experience of the two preceding years, 1869 and
1870, also gave great encouragement, especially in
respect to that region of the Arctic between Spitsbergen
and Nova Zembla. Capt. Palliser, a walrus-hunter,
reached, in 1869, half a degree beyond Cape Nassau, and
in his opinion, could then have sailed entirely around
Nova Zembla. Capt. E. H. Johannsen, without any
difficulty, traversed the entire Carian Sea twice, follow-
ing its east and west coast without being disturbed by
ice or seeing any considerable quantity of drift-ice in the
entire sea. In 1870, the Norwegian fishermen reached the
north-east coast of Nova Zembla, and remained on the
coast until the latter end of October. During the same
year Captain Johannsen sailed around the whole of
Nova Zembla, which had never been accomplished
before, and, in 1871, Captain Mack sailed along the west
coast of Nova Zembla, 500 nautical miles, arid reached
Cape Nassau in the beginning of July, finding upon the
islands violets, buttercups, and other flowers.
All this was very encouraging, so much so that the
eminent geographer Petermann confidently expressed the
conviction that a stanch steamer could pass from the
Scandinavian coast through the Arctic Ocean to Beh-
ring Strait and return the same summer, to which should
be added, that the result of the inquiries made at the
Helder a century ago was, that the Dutch fishermen had
always penetrated farther north in this part of the Arctic
than in any other. Great expectations were consequently
formed of what would be accomplished during the past
year in this particular locality, which, I regret to say,
have not been realized. A Russian expedition was talked
Arctic Exploration. 93
of, but nothing came of it. The long-projected French
expedition for the exploration of the region between
Nova Zambia and Behring Strait, which was to be
commanded by Captain Mack, an officer experienced in
Arctic exploration, it was anticipated, would sail; but, for
some reason, the expedition was indefinitely postponed.
Five expeditions, however, started, — Mr. Leigh Smith, in
his yacht the " Samson;" two Norwegian expeditions, a
Swedish expedition, and the Austro-Hungarian expedi-
tion. To this should be added explorations and discov-
eries by Capt. Nils Johnson, in Norwegian vessels upon
the east coast of Spitsbergen.
Mr. Leigh Smith sailed in his yacht, toward the close
of July last, with the intention to push his way to the
east coast of Greenland, but was stopped by the ice.
He then determined to attain the highest latitude possi-
ble, and afterward to attempt the examination of Spits-
bergen. But it proved to be an unusually close season
both on the western and the northern side. He reached
only to 80° 30' N. lat., less than he had attained the pre-
vious year. The yacht was beset by ice, sprung aleak,
and Mr. &mith was compelled to return.
The Norwegian expedition consisted of two vessels,
commanded by Capts. Jensen and Hansen. Its object
was the circumnavigation of Spitsbergen. It was equally
unsuccessful. One of the vessels damaged her screw,
which disabled her ; and the other, from inability to find
an entrance through the masses of ioe, was compelled to
return to Bergen.
The Swedish expedition is one of great interest. It
consisted of three vessels, — the steamer " Polhem," the
steamer " Gladen," and the brig " Ouke Adam " — the
expedition being under the general superintendence
of Prof. Nordenskjdld, the eminent Swedish savant
and Arctic explorer. This expedition was mainly
equipped by funds subscribed in Gothenburg; and, from
the accounts which I have read of its fitting out, it is, I
94 Annual Addrkss, 1873.
should think, for the combined purpose of scientific
investigation and geographical discovery, the most thor-
oughly equipped expedition that has ever entered the
Arctic seas. It started last summer, and the plan agreed
upon was to pass the summer and autumn in explora-
tions upon the east coast of Greenland, to winter in
Mossell Bay, and next spring to reach the pole by sledge-
travelling, for which every preparation had been made.
Whether the expedition succeed in this or not, its further
work will be to explore the Eastern Spitsbergen Sea, and
to map the whole of the eastern lands, including the mys-
terious Gillies land ; and a material part of the labors
of these Swedish scientists will be to take meteorological,
thermometrical, and magnetic observations, and do what
they can for the science of zoology.
The steamer uPolhem" is the principal vessel. The
other two were to have returned at the close of the sum-
mer ; but as they failed to do so, great anxiety was felt
in Sweden, for these two vessels had not been equipped
to pass an Arctic winter. For this purpose a steamer —
the " Albert" — was despatched with supplies, the hope
being entertained, notwithstanding the lateness of the
season, that she would be able to communicate with
them. I am happy to say that news was received two
months ago that the three vessels were in Mossell Bay,
where they were to pass the winter— a point at which
the succor brought out by the "Albert" may possibly
reach them. Another expedition sailed from Sweden
during the year to establish a colony on the southwest
coast of Spitzbergen, the object being mercantile, — the
obtaining of phosphates for artificial manure. If such a
colony be established in Spitzbergen, it will be of great
use in explorations, like the Danish settlement in Green-
land, as a point to keep up communication and a depot
for supplies.
The An stro- Hungarian expedition consisted of two
vessels, — the steamer "Tegethof," the chief officers of
Arctic Exploration. 95
which are Lieutenants Weyprecht and Payer, and the
yacht "Isbjorn," of Count Wilczek. It will be remem-
bered that Weyprecht and Payer, in the preceding year,
made an exploration of the sea between Spitzbergen and
Nova Zembla, in the yacht " Isbjorn," which was pre-
liminary to the present expedition. The object of the
expedition, which was to be mainly carried out by the
steamer "Tegethof," was to penetrate the sea east of
Nova Zembla, and proceed, if possible, as far as Behr-
ing Strait, the main object being to explore the land
lying to the north in that direction, which, it was sup-
posed, would be facilitated by the warm currents of the
Siberian rivers that terminate in this portion of the
Arctic basin. If no land should be discovered at the
North, then the "Tegethof" was to winter at Cape
Tscheljuskin, the northernmost point of the continent of
Asia. If it should prove impossible to reach Behring
Strait or to return, then the yacht " Isbjorn" was to be
abandoned, and Count Wilczek, his scientific associates
and crew, were to return in boats by way of one of the
Siberian rivers. The vessels reached Tromso in June,
whence the u Tegethof" proceeded and sailed along
the western coast of Nova Zembla, encountering very
thick ice; and Count Wilczek sailed to Spitzbergen,
where, to the north and east, the sea was tolerably open.
He attempted to ascend the Horn Sound, but, being
unable to do so, sailed southward, where he encountered
heavy masses of ice in the vicinity of Hope Island ; upon
which he sailed for Cape Nassau, Nova Zembla, and had
great difficulty in forcing his way through the ice. On
the 12th of August the two ships met, in about lat. 76°
N., and after keeping company two days they parted,
as the ice was everywhere forming; the " Tegethof" to
proceed to the North and Count Wilczek sailing for the
mouth of the Petchora River, which he succeeded in
reaching after great difficulty. Here he and his party
abandoned the yacht and ascended the Petchora with
96 Annual Address, 187$.
their boats for six weeks, when they reached Perm, and
from there they found their way to Moscow, about two
months and a half ago.
Count Wilczek, in his communication to the Vienna
Geographical Society, regrets that the season was so
short, considering the rich material they found in Spitz-
bergen, in a geographical point of view, and says that
both it and Nova Zembla yielded a rich harvest of botani-
cal and zoological matter. Having with them good
instruments, they made meteorological observations and
coast and inland surveys. The "Tegethof" was heard
from last on the 16th of August. The weather was excep-
tionally severe, but still Lieut. Weyprecht thought that
they would be able to work round the northern part
of Nova Zembla, and winter on the Siberian promontory,
Cape Tscheljuskin, or as it is otherwise spelled, Cheljus-
kin. He says that they found the modern charts of the
coast of Nova Zembla utterly untrustworthy, and that
the old Russian charts were the best. He was,, unfortu-
nately, unable to make any corrections, as the continued
prevalence of fogs and clouds prevented astronomical
observations.
The unfavorable character of last summer for explora-
tion, as shown in the result of these several expeditions,
which may be attributed to the nature of the preceding
winter, which was exceedingly cold, and the fact of the
intense cold of the present winter, give rise, very natu-
rally, to some anxiety respecting Capt. Hall and the
u Polaris," which has not been heard from since August
5th, 1871. He was then off Tossak Tussuissuk, lat 73°
21' N., Ion. 56° 5'. W. All on board were well.
The sea-going qualities of the vessel had been tested
and found favorable ; his complement of sixty Esqui-
maux dogs had been obtained, and Hans Christian, the
well-known dog driver, with his fiimily, had joined the
expedition. He met, at Hollensburg, Baron Yon Otten
returning from the Swedish expedition, who furnished
Arctic Exploration. 97
him with maps, copies of his log, deep-sea soundings,
etc. I earnestly urged Capt. Hall, before he left, to
abandon the attempt he proposed making by Jones's
Sound and to go by Smith's Sound and Kennedy's Chan-
nel, following up the route of Kane and Hayes, which, I
was convinced, was the route that offered the most ad-
vantages for an attempt to reach the pole, and he con-
cluded to defer his decision until he should reach the
Arctic. It appears from the communications received
that Baron Yon Otten advised him to go by Smith's
Sound : and when last heard from he had concluded to do
so, and on the 24th of August, 1871 , with a full roster of
thirty-eight persons, he sailed in his little vessel for Smith's
Sound. . The advantages of this route over all others, in
an attempt to reach the pole, was earnestly advocated
last April before the Royal Geographical Society of Lon-
don by Capt. Sherard Osborn, R. N., upon the grounds
that the nearest approach to the pole had been made in
that direction, that it was attended with less risk than
any other, and offered greater opportunities than the
other routes for scientific observation; and this distin-
guished Arctic explorer and author was supported in
these views upon that occasion by the eminent Arctic
explorers Admiral Back and Sir Leopold McClintock.
Admiral Back said that he approved of every word that
Capt. Osborn had uttered ; that the Arctic Committee
had seriously considered the question, and had come to
the conclusion that the route which offered the greatest
probability of success was by Smith' s Sound, or, as he
expressed it, the route taken by the gallant American,
Dr. Kane; and Sir Leopold McClintock said that he
believed that that route afforded the best chance of reach-
ing the North Pole, and also the safest retreat in the event
of a reverse. It is the route which our own eminent
explorer, Dr. Hayes, has persistently advocated for years,
and is also the one recommended towards the close of the
year by the various scientific societies that united in an
1
98 Annual Address, 1878.
application to the British Government to fit out another
polar expedition.
It is gratifying, therefore, to feel that Oapt. Hall is
at least in the right direction, and that the summer of
1871, when he sailed for Smith's Sound, was one of the
most favorable seasons that have been known for many
years. Still, the severe winter that followed, and the
severity of the present winter, very naturally make as
anxious, as his vessel was not specially built for service
in these northern regions and is provisioned only for the
year 1873; and it is very much to be regretted that the
British Government, which has achieved so much in the
field of Arctic exploration, did not respond to the call
made upon it to send out an expedition this spring.
Whilst upon the subject of the safety of Capt. Hall's
expedition, I may mention that Mr. Howarth, in some
recent views upon the temperature of northern climates,
calls attention to the impression prevalent among
whalers, that excessively severe winters in more temper-
ate latitudes are generally accompanied by an unusual
degree of mildness in polar regions. .
In the year 1594 Barentz, the Dutch navigator, sailed
around the north-east point of Nova Zembla, where, find-
ing his further progress blocked by ice, and being unable
to return, he and his crew built a hut in a little bay,
where they passed the winter and underwent an amount
of suffering that is almost without a parallel in
the history of Arctic exploration. There is no record
that any navigator since has passed the north-east point
of Nova Zembla until the year 1871, when Capt. Karlsen,
the master of a small Swedish sloop, of sixty tons, called
"The Solid," succeeded in doing so and sailing into the
little bay. He found the hut still standing, with everything
remaining exactly as Barentz had left it 276 years ago. Its
interior corresponded exactly with the old engraving of
it attached to Gerard De Veer's narrative of the voyage,
published in Amsterdam in 1508. The sleeping-berths,
!
Arctic Exploration. 99
the halberts, the muskets, the clock upon the wall, were
in the same place. The hut had evidently never since
been entered by man. Upon the outside were several
large puncheons, and heaps of the bones of the bear, the
reindeer, the seal, and the walrus. In the interior were
the instruments and books used by the inmates, one of the
books being a Dutch copy, in excellent preservation, of
Mendoza's Description of China, the country they had
hoped to reach by a supposed north-east passage around
the pole. A flute was found that still gave out a few
notes ; a pitcher of Etruscan shape, exquisitely engraved,
and drinking-vessels, recalling the touching incident, men-
tioned by De Veer, of these poor fellows, in the midst of
their intense sufferings, asking their captain to let them
make merry on Twelfth Night with a little sack and two
pounds of meal,— an indulgence bringing to their minds
the assemblage of friends, wives, and children, then in
the enjoyment of that festive night in their far-off homes
in Holland. The articles, about 150 in number, consist-
ing, in addition to those named, of working-tools, cook-
ing-vessels, pictures painted upon tin, an iron box, etc.,
were brought by Gapt. Karlsen to Hammerfest, where
these interesting relics were purchased for £600 by an
English gentleman named Bay, then on his way to Lap-
land, who transferred them to the Dutch Government for
the price he had paid for them, and during last year they
were received in Holland, and are at the Foreign Office at
The Hague until the final place of their deposit shall have
been settled. All who have read the thrilling account of
this early voyage, and of the fate of the intelligent, perse-
vering, and brave commander, whose name has been
given to the great bay that washes the western shores of
Nova Zembla, will feel an interest in the recovery and
preservation of these humble memorials of one of the most
heroic of Arctic explorations.
100 Annual Address, 1873.
General Geographical Labors.
In leaving' the Arctic and our own country, I may
enumerate, among the matters of general geographical
interest, the Government surveys that are in progress
and which are connected with the publication of maps
in Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium,
Italy, and Austria. The Russian surveys in the Cau-
casus, in Eastern and Western Siberia, and in Turkestan,
and the great survey in India, trigonometrical, topo-
graphical, and geological, which has been instituted
by the British Government, the results of the two first
years of which have recently been published in India.
Observations upon changes that have taken place in the
earth' s level upon the northern shores of Africa, upon the
coasts of Patagonia, and evidences observed of the past
depression of a large part of South Africa. The pro-
posed new measurements of arcs of the meridian, one to
be measured by Gen. Bayer, from Christiania to Palermo,
and a proposed prolongation of the French measurement
of 1797 across the Mediterranean in the vicinity of
Algiers. The fact observed by Mr. Hornstein, of Vienna,
that terrestrial magnetism affords a measure of the
period of the sun's rotation upon its axis, the observa-
tions of Mr. Hornstein leading him to believe that the
three elements in terrestrial magnetism— the declination,
inclination, and horizontal intensity — run in a cycle of
26.33 days, corresponding with the time of the sun's rota-
tion upon its axis, which is also 26.33 days. Discussions
carried on during the year respecting ocean-currents and
the general laws of ocean-movements, chiefly between
Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Croll ; the former maintaining
that the oceanic circulation and currents arise from
causes produced by the difference of the temperature of
the ocean at the equator and at the poles, and the latter
disputing this hypothesis, and believing that the oceanic
movement is due to other causes. Speculative discus-
sions as to whether the interior of the earth is solid or
Archaeological Discoveries. 101
fluid. The exploration of the group of islands in the
South Pacific known as the New Hebrides, in 1871 and
1872, by lieutenant A. H. Markham, an interesting and
valuable account^ of which was communicated by him
during the year to the Royal Geographical.. Society.
The expedition of the "Challenger," fitted out by the
British Government at the instance of the Royal Society,
for the examination of the great ocean basins of the
world, in which will be embraced the contour and form
of the ocean's bed, its currents and temperature at
various depths ; the animals, plants, and other objects
found in it in different regions; the transparency of
its waters in different parts of the world ; the philosophy
of the tides ; and the geology, ethnology, biology, and
botany of those parts of the earth above the waters
which may be visited by the vessel. With all of this are
to be connected determinations in respect to longitude,
daily magnetic observations, hourly meteorological obser-
vations; and the relations of barometric pressure to
latitudes are to be carefully elucidated. The Atlantic,
Pacific, Antarctic and Arctic oceans are to be visited in
the course of this voyage, which it is supposed will occupy
three years and a half ; an expedition, that, in the large-
ness of its conception and the completness of its equip-
ment, is worthy of the scientific character of the nation
that organized it.
An Italian expedition for a voyage around the world
has also been instituted, consisting of two vessels, the
" Garibaldi " and the " Corvelli. " I am unable to state the
nature of the investigations contemplated, but infer from
what is said respecting it that attention will be especially
paid to the hydrography and to an improvement of the
cartography of the Pacific Ocean.
Archaeological Discoveries.
Amongst the archaeological results of the year may be
named the discovery of additional lake-dwellings, or, as
102 Annual Address, 1873.
they are called, lacustrine villages of the prehistoric
inhabitants of Europe at Bienne, in Switzerland, and in
other parts of Europe. The discovery of the skeleton of a
man at Mentone, in France, which is supposed to be of
great antiquity. The exploration, by Mr. J. Stevens, of
pit-dwellings or tent-circles, at Finkly, near Andover, in
England. The discovery, by Col. W. T. Roberts and a
party of explorers, of the ruins of what was once a popu-
lous city, covering an area of about three square miles in
an uninhabited and desolate part of Arizona, beyond the
San Juan River, southward and westward, about ninety
miles from the boundary lines between Arizona and Utah,
and about the same distance westward from a prolongation
of the western line of Colorado. The ruins were sur-
rounded by a wall of sandstone about ten feet thick, neatly
quarried and dressed, which had crumbled away in many
places and was partially buried in the sand that had
drifted around it. The entire area within the wall had
formerly been covered with houses, built of solid sand-
stone, without mortar, and which exhibited excellent
masonry in their construction. The ruins consisted
entirely of stone, not a stick of worked timber having been
seen. On the north-west coast of Asia near the Hellespont
or Dardanelles, excavations were carried on in the years
1871 and 1872, by Dr. Henry Schliemann, north of the
village of Burnarbaski, and to the east of the River Sea-
mander, which have resulted in the discovery, in his opin-
ion, of the site and the remains of ancient Troy, the fall
details of which were communicated by him to the New
York Herald, and fill six columns of the issue of that jour-
nal of December 21st, 1872 ; a discovery, which, whether it
has or has not revealed the site of Homer's famous city,
is of great interest as disclosing the ruins of successive
settlements, one above the other, upon the same site, in
strata of comparative regularity ; the upper part exhibit-
ing the remains of wooden structures, below which were
the ruins of the dwellings of a people who built with
Asia. 108
unburned brick, and who from the religious symbols, the
utensils, the implements and the pottery found, are sup-
posed to have been an uncivilized people of the Arian
race ; and at the lowest depth of all Were the ruins of struc-
tures built with massive stones, where a wall was found
of huge stones joined together with clay, and the ruins
of a colossal tower of solid masonry, forty feet thick,
built upon the primitive rock which Dr. S. thinks may
have been a tower on the wall and the one which Andro-
mache ascended to sweep the plain in search of Hector.
The pottery in the lower strata showed an advanced
knowledge of art, and a taste and opulence very far
beyond those of the people whose remains were entombed
in the successive layers above. Lastly, I may mention
Gen. Di Cesnola's discoveries in the tombs in the Island of
Cyprus, a collection gathered from the exploration of
more than 8,000 tombs during the last three years, and
embracing more than 10,000 distinct and different articles.
Glass of all forms, fabrics, and varieties, terra-cotta, statu-
ary of various kinds, sizes, and periods, in bronze and in
stone ; vases, gems, and carved stones, jewelry, lamps,
mirrors, weapons, utensils, implements, etc. Before this
discovery few, if any, products of Phoenician art or manu-
facture were known, whilst here they are very numerous,
combined with objects exhibiting the different stages of
Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian art. As a collection
representing the progressive development of ancient art,
nothing like it has ever been obtained ; and it is gratifying
to know that the collection has been purchased by John
T. Johnson, Esq., of this city, and is to form a part of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.
Asia.
A great deal has been done during the past year to
enlarge our knowledge of Asia, and especially of that
part of it from which the civilized world has been so long
cut off through the jealousy of the local Mahometan
104 Annual Address, 1878,
rulers. The advance of the Russians in Turkestan has
been followed by geographical explorations and surveys
on their part, with which have been connected baromet-
rical and meteorological observations, and the advance
during the year of a Turkish force into Arabia Felix, and
the occupation by it of Sanaa, the ancient capital of
Arabia, and the modern capital of Yemen, will lead
to a more extended knowledge of this fertile portion
of Arabia, of which we know comparatively little
since the visit of Niebuhr in 1763. In 1870, Capt.
Miles and M. Werner Munzinger, 0. B., explored a
portion of the interior of the southern part of Arabia,
extending from Aden over three degrees of longitude,
and Baron Yon Maltzan has since been engaged in
making researches upon the geography of the western
part north of Aden, between the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb
and 48° E. Ion., the results of which he has communi-
cated in an interesting paper to the Royal Geographi-
cal Society. A corps of English engineers, under Major
St. John, in exploring routes in Central Asia for a
telegraph, have traversed portions of Persia, upon the
eastern boundaries of it, hitherto almost unknown;
and Mr. Stanford, in connection with this expedition,
has been examining the geology of the coasts of Persia
and of Beloochistan, on the Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea. The Russian Government has had under
consideration a plan for connecting the Caspian Sea with
the Black Sea by a canal, which, though it will be but
the length of a German mile, is a work of such gigantic
magnitude that it will require the labor of 32,000 work-
men for six years to complete it. It is doubtful, how-
ever, whether the advantages, commercial or otherwise,
that would result from connecting the two seas are of
sufficient importance to justify the enormous expenditure
that would be requisite for the execution of the work. A
railroad is also projected eastwardly from Scutari on the
Bosphorus, and south of the Black and Caspian seas, to
Asia. 105
Teheran, in the north-eastern part of Persia ; thence to
Herat, in Afghanistan, and from there south-easterly to Shi-
kapore, in India. This project is one in the interest of the
British Possessions in India, and if undertaken would
doubtless be an English enterprise. A much more feasi-
ble and practical railroad route across Asia, it is sup-
posed, would be one to be built in the interest of Russia,
from Moscow through Nizhnee Novgorod to Tomsk, thence
to Irkootsk, and from thence south around Lake Baikal,
and across the Khalkas desert to Pekin, in China. Well-
informed Russian gentlemen, with whom I have con-
versed, regard this route as a very important one in
respect to the country through which it would pass. They
consider it feasible, and anticipate no serious difficulty in
carrying the road across the Mongolian desert in its
approach to China. Mr. Prjevalski, a Russian traveller,
has been engaged in the exploration of the south and
south-eastern portions of Mongolia to the northern bound-
aries of the Chinese province of Hansu. He designs to
explore the Aliakhan Mountains, and expects to make
his way to Russian Turkestan, across the western portion
of Thibet. Mr. Fedchenko made an important journey
through Khokan as far as Gulcha on the east, and to
the Ala'i Plateau, and has collected a mass of informa-
tion that will throw great light on the geography of that
part of Asia. His journey in Southern Mongolia occu-
pied ten months, and embraced a general survey of the
country, meteorological observations, the collection of
zoological and ornithological specimens, and a great
variety of plants, insects, and specimens of minerals.
Mr. Staritzi, who has been engaged for five years in
investigating the hydrography of the Sea of Japan, has
returned during the year, and laid the results of his
labors before the Russian Imperial Geographical Society.
He has determined the longitude of thirty-eight diflTerent
points within an area embraced between 15° N. lat.,
and 120° and 160° E. Ion. His labors embrace observa-
106 Annual Address, 1873.
tions on the coasts of Manchuria, the Island of Sega
lien, the Okhotsk Sea, Kamtchatka, Japan, and the
Chinese waters ; an examination of the temperature of the
Sea of Japan at different depths ; the measurement of
various heights in Kamtchatka, in which was included
the volcano of Koriah, which he found to be 11,000 feet
high, and a large number of meteorological observations.
Oapt. Fisler, a Russian officer of engineers, has explored
the River Hi from the extreme eastern limit of the
Khanate of Kuljah to the Balkash Lake, in Asiatic Russia,
into which the river flows.
The results of the expedition under Maj. Sladen, insti-
tuted by the British Government in 1869, to explore the
trade route between Burmah and China by the River Irra-
waddy to Bhama, and thence to Momien, in China, have
been published at Calcutta by Dr. Anderson, a member
of the expedition. It is a work of great geographical
interest, chiefly for the information it contains respecting
the Irrawaddy and its sources, a river of the magnitude of
the Ganges, which had remained hitherto unexplored.
Capt. Burton, the well-known Asiatic and African
traveller, has just published a work on the unexplored
portion of Syria, and during the past summer he has
been engaged in exploring certain parts of Iceland, of
which we have little knowledge ; collecting during his
trip much geographical and anthropological information.
A. Vamb&y, the traveller in Bokhara, has given in Mr.
Bates's Illustrated travels an account of Dzungaria, or, as
it is called on the maps, Soungaria, in the north-west
corner of the Chinese empire, — a country recently con-
quered by the Russians, which extends to the north of
-Eastern Turkestan, and to the east of the Russian fron-
tier, between 42° and 48° N. lat. And in the same
work Mr. A. M. Cameron has begun the publication of a
three years' journey in Borneo, the first part of which is
especially interesting for a comprehensive account of the
great Archipelago, of the islands of Sumatra, Luzon,
Dr. Livingstons. 107
Celebes, Borneo, and Paqua, or New Guinea, written par-
tictilarly with the view of calling attention to them as a
new and vast field for exploration ; where, he says, repu-
tation can be achieved as great as that of Livingstone.
Signori Beccaria and D'Albertes are now engaged in an
exploring expedition in Papua, or New Guinea, under
the auspices of the Italian Geographical Society. It
appears that they have been advised to attempt the west-
ern side as the most accessible, but have determined to
adhere to their orginal plan of beginning with the explo-
ration of the River Outanata. The corvette "Vittoria
Pisani" has since sailed from Japan to Papua, to com-
municate with these Italian explorers, and to supply them
with additional funds sent by the Italian Geographical
Society.
Apbioa.
The African results of the year have been the rescue of
Dr. Livingstone and the knowledge of the explorations of
Dr. Schweinfurth in the regions west of Khartoum and to
within three and a half degrees of the equator. The
account of the extensive explorations of M. Alfred Gran-
didier, the French naturalist, in the Island of Madagas-
car, and the explorations and discoveries of Karl Mauch
in the regions north-west of the Trans- vaal Republic.
Dr. Livingstone.
The rescue of Dr. Livingstone, through the energy,
intrepidity, and capacity of Mr. Stanley, in the successful
carrying-out of the expedition instituted by our fellow-
member, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, for the deliverance
of the great African traveller, and the extensive nature
of the discoveries he has made, have been so folly pub-
lished in the journals of this country and of Europe as to
dispense with the necessity of my doing anything more
than to unite in the common congratulation interchanged
throughout the world at this happy event The limits of a
106 Annual Addr&ss, 1878.
discourse embracing so wide a survey will not enable me
to enter into any extended observations upon the Doctor's
discoveries. I can only say that I share in the general
impression that the great water-system he has been fol-
lowing up is not, as he supposes, connected with the
Nile. This belief is founded upon Baker's measurement
of the elevation of the Mwutan Nzigi, or Albert Nyanza,
and Livingstone's account of the Lualaba River ; the dis-
coveries of Dr. Schweinfurth in the White Nile region ;
the fact that from Dr. Livingstone's account the Lualaba
carries nineteen times as much water as the Bhar-al-Ghazel,
the chief western tributary of the White Nile, and three
times as much as the White Nile. These and other rea-
sons advanced by Dr. Behm and Clements R. Markham,
C. B., would seem to warrant the conclusion that the water-
system which the Doctor has been exploring constitutes
the chief source of the Congo, a river, at least as it
approaches the Atlantic, of great volume, depth, and vel-
ocity. But this conclusion is disputed by Dr. Beke, a
very competent authority on all African matters; and
indeed it is a very hazardous thing to express any opinion
upon the geography of the unexplored portions of
Africa, as was found after the discovery of the curious
course of the Niger. The southern part of the Mwutan
Nzigi, or Albert Nyanza, has yet to be explored ; and we
must wait until Dr. Livingstone has completed his
explorations, which will probably be accomplished in
two or three years, for the solution of the problem.
The last intelligence respecting the Doctor is that the
supplies forwarded to him by Mr. Stanley had reached
him, and that he had left Unyanyembe to complete his
discoveries ; also that his observations, which were brought
to Zanzibar by Mr. Stanley, have arrived at the Cape,
and are in the hands of Sir Thomas Maclear; that they
contain some things that are new and interesting, are
very voluminous, and that it will take two or three
months to reduce them.
DR. 8CMWEI2fFURTRyS EXPLORATIONS. 109
Db. Sohweinfubth's Explorations West off the
White Nile.
Dr. Ghistav Schweinfurth has been engaged, since 1868,
in exploring Africa west of the White Nile, and has
traced to its source the Bhar-al-Ghazel, the most impor-
tant of the western branches of the White Nile. This
gentleman, who appeared before the Berlin Geographical
Society last May, has brought back a large amount of
geographical information, which will go far towards set-
tling, if it do not completely settle, the question of the
sources of the Nile. He penetrated west as far as Ion.
26° and south to within 3° 30' of the equator ; and, as
Livingstone has penetrated to nearly an equal distance
towards the equator, the space of this unknown region
has been materially diminished, and will ere long be
explored. Dr. Schweinfurth found that a spur from those
Blue Mountains of the Balegga which were seen by Sir
Samuel Baker formed the water-parting between the Nile
and a river which the Doctor has discovered called the
Uelle or Welle ; and that the streams which have been
explored either by himself, or, previously, by Petherick,
rise on the northern side of this spur, or water-parting,
and unite to form the Bhar-al-Ghazel. This water-part-
ing, he says, lias a uniform slope to the north and west,
broken only by granite masses which rise to a height of
3,000 feet above the sea-level. This range seems to sink
gradually to the west, and has, the Doctor says, a very
different character from the Nile valley to the north, or
the valley of the river at the south which he discovered,
the Uelle. This river he found to be 800 feet wide and
twenty feet deep ; along its valley was a luxuriant growth
of vegetation, oil palms, sugar-cane, and tropical fruits,
and he thinks that this river continues westward and
northward to Lake Tschad. In the Mombuttu country he
found in the vegetation and in the animals indications of
the affinity of that region with the western coast ; amongst
which may be instanced the existence of the gorilla.
110 Annual Address, 1818.
like Livingstone, he found tribes that are cannibals, and
to the south of the Mombuttu country there exists a dwarf-
ish race, or pigmies, known by the name of the Acca, which
Herr Bastian, the president of the Berlin Geographical
Society, supposes to be the Baccabacca, a dwarfish race,
in the east of Central Africa, mentioned by early writers.
Dr. S. brought one of these pigmies back with him nearly
as far as Khartoum, who died and was buried at Khar-
toum. The discovery of this dwarfish people is a confir-
mation of the pigmies mentioned by Homer, Aristotle, and
Herodotus as living near the sources of the Nile. The
Dokos, or pigmies of Dr. Krapf, are placed by him about
the same parallel of latitude, but further to the east;
whilst the Obongos, the curious little people described
by Du Chaillu, dwelt in Ashango Land, on the western
coast, near the equator.
The people of Niam Niam or Sandeh, that inhabit the
region where these western sources of the White Nile rise,
and where the River TJelle flows, are described by Dr.
Schweinfurth as totally different from the Nile tribes. He
found them gluttonous, skilful in pottery without the
use of the wheel, in basket-making, carving, carpenter-
work, and in the forging of their weapons. They exhib-
ited, also, great taste for music, having a national instru-
ment, which is a kind of cross between the harp and the
guitar. Their burial-rites resemble those of the Arabs,
and their language is a Nubian dialect, without gram-
matical inflections or any words to express abstract ideas.
This very interesting and important journey embraced a
period of three years and four months, and Dr. Schwein-
furth has now gone upon another African expedition, the
expense of which is to be borne by his brother, a mer-
chant of Riga.
M. Geakdedieb's Explobations in Mad aga scab.
M. Alfred Grandidier, a French naturalist, has been
engaged for five years in exploring the Island of Mada-
Ancibnt Rums Discovered by Karl Mauvh. Ill
gascar. He says that hardly any of the accounts that
have been published respecting Madagascar, no matter
in what language they have been written, are reliable ;
and that the interior of this great island upon modern
maps is filled with false rivers, mountains, and places
altogether imaginary. My limits will not allow me to go
into the details of this most interesting exploration.
Between the years 1865 and 1870 M. Grandidier fixed
the latitude of 188 different points, the longitude of
twenty-four towns; made a very large number of observa-
tions, barometrical, thermometrical, and astronomical,
and examined the coast-line for 1,260 miles, and when to
this are added ethnological investigations, the taking of a
large number of photographs, and his collections in
natural history, some idea may be formed of the extent
and value of the labors of this indefatigable explorer.
Ancient Ruins Discovered by Karl Mauoh.
Karl Mauch, the discoverer of the gold-fields in South-
east Africa in 1871, and who made the perilous descent
of the Vaal River alone, in a wretched flat-bottomed
boat, for 350 miles, to its junction with the Orange River,
has made an interesting discovery of a ruined city lying
160 miles due west from Sofala, a town on the east
coast of Africa. These ruins, which are named Zim-
babye (in Portuguese Zimbaoe), and which he places
in lat. 20° 14', and Ion. 31° 48', consist of two different
parts, separated from each other by a distance of 800
yards; the one part being upon a granite rock 400
feet high, and the other upon a terrace of lesser ele-
vation. The heavy growth of vegetation and heaps of
rubbish prevented him from examining them as fully as
could have been wished. He found ruined walls, thirty
feet high and varying from ten to fifteen feet in width,
formed of stones of hewn granite, put together without
mortar. In several places ornamental stone pillars pro-
jected eight or ten feet beyond the mason-work, and the
112 Annual Address, 1873.
zigzag direction of the walls and labyrinthine passages
connected with them seemed to indicate the ruins of a
great fortress. He particularly examined a tower, thirty
feet high, built also of blocks of granite, which was well
preserved. It was cylindrical in form for the first ten
feet from the base, the base being fifteen feet in diameter ;
and the rest of the tower was of a conical shape, being at
the top eight feet in diameter. The presumption is that
these ruins are of high antiquity. It is inferred, from
their structure and general character, that they were not
built by the Portuguese, the Arabs, or by any of the black
tribes that inhabit the part of Africa in which the ruins
where found. According to the account given by the
inhabitants in the vicinity, they have occupied the country
only for about forty years, and they say that when they
came there the country was uninhabited. It was assumed,
however, by all of them, that the region was once inhabited
by a white race, which seems to be confirmed by traces of
habitations, and by implements found, which never could
have been made by the blacks. The country between the
ruins and the east coast is of a most pestilential character,
which will probably account for its remaining so long
unknown. The country, however, where the ruins are
situated is a fine one. It is a high plateau, 400 feet above
the level of the sea, well watered, fertile, and thickly
inhabited by a very industrious people, who are agricul-
turists and cattle-raisers. The existence of ruins of this
nature so far inland from the coast is certainly very sin-
gular. It is conjectured that they were built by the Phoe-
nicians ; and Petermann, to whom Karl Mauch sent the
account of his discovery, thinks, from their proximity to
the newly discovered gold-fields, that the locality of these
ruins is the Ophir so long sought for, to which Solomon
sent for gold, ivory, and precious stones. The locality
of the Ophir of the Bible, however, is a question that has
been much discussed by archaeological scholars and geog-
raphers, and there are many grave objections to be con-
Suppression of tub African Slave-Trade. 118
sidered before entirely assenting to Dr. Petermann's con-
jecture. The intelligence has just been received that
Karl Mauch has returned to Europe, I regret to learn,
very much enfeebled by the African fever.
Suppression of the African Slave-trade.
Whilst the slave-trade has entirely ceased on the west
coast of Africa, it is maintained with great activity upon
the east coast, and in the countries watered by the streams
which flow from the west into the White Nile ; the point
of concentration or the emporium of the latter traffic
being at Khartoum, on the White Nile. It has been for
the suppression of the latter trade that, with the aid of
the Viceroy of Egypt, the expedition of Sir Samuel Baker
was undertaken, and that distinguished traveller was of
the opinion, towards the end of 1870, that the traffic upon
the White Nile had been entirely suppressed; but informa-
tion from Khartoum, during the present year, is to the effect
that this is far from being the case. Dr. Schweinfurth is
of the opinion that the military expedition of Sir Samuel
Baker into the countries of the Bhar-al-Ghazel, which,
he says, has already cost £400,000, is, as he expresses it,
" an awful mistake." He says that the best the Viceroy
can do with these negro countries is to let them alone ;
that they are not productive, and that if they were, their
distance from navigable streams is too great to admit of
the exportation of anything less valuable than ivory. In
his opinion, the slave-trade can be stopped in this direc-
tion only by cutting off its sources, and closing up its
outlets ; which he regards as a difficult and very expen-
sive undertaking. Baker left Gondokoro in 1871, and
nothing definite has since been heard from him. Fearing
that he might be cut off by intervening hostile tribes, the
Viceroy of Egypt has recently decided to send an expe-
dition for his relief, the command of which is to be
intrusted to Col. Purdy, an American officer. Sir Bartle
Frere, at the head of an expedition for the suppression
8
114 Annual Address, 1878.
of the slave-trade upon the east coast of Africa, has
arrived at Zanzibar. From the capacity of this eminent
man, supported as his expedition is by the governments
that have cooperated to farther its objects, there is reason
to hope that he will be able to destroy the means that
have hitherto sustained the slave trade upon the eastern
coast, through the open support of it by the Sultan of
Zanzibar, and the secret encouragement given to it by the
Portuguese officials. The opening of the large region of
Central Africa to civilization — a country the great value
of which is now becoming apparent— depends more upon
the suppression of this infamous and debasing traffic than
upon anything else.
The Livingstone East Coast Expedition.
In connection with the expedition of Sir Bartle Frere
is what is known as "The Livingstone East Coast Expe-
dition," for the prosecution of which Sir Bartle Frere
has received £1, 500 from the Livingstone Fund. The com-
mand of this special expedition has been intrusted to
Lieut. V. L. Cameron, R. N., who will be accompanied
by Dr. Dillon. What is to be undertaken is to be settled
at Zanzibar, and is, probably, now determined upon.
Mr. Clements E.. Markham, C. B., is of the opinion that
the expedition will proceed to Lake Tanganyika, and from
there attempt to communicate with Dr. Livingstone, who,
it is thought, may be then upon the western shore exam-
ining the underground dwellings of Kabogo ; that it
will supply the Doctor with the watches and instruments
he needs, and then undertake any work he may suggest.
It is supposed that he will desire that these officers should
examine the region of Lake Ukerewe, or Victoria Nyanza,
and explore the country between the southern end of the
Mwutan Nzigi, or Albert Nyanza, and Lake Tanganyika.
Livingstone's Congo Expedition. 115
Livingstone's Congo Expedition.
There is also a cooperating expedition upon the west
coast, called u The Livingstone Congo Expedition," com-
manded by Lieut. W. J. Gandy, R. N., an officer who
has had experience as an African explorer, both upon the
western and the eastern coast. This expedition is fitted out
by the Royal Geographical Society, a fund of £2,000
having been generously contributed for that purpose by
Mr. J. Young, Livingstone's old and tried friend. This
expedition has gone to Sierra Leone, where the Africans
who are to accompany it are to be obtained, and from
thence it will proceed to St. Paul de Loando, south of the
mouth of the Congo. From this place the expedition
will make its way by San Salvador to the banks of the
Congo, and, ascending this great river, will attempt to
reach its head- waters and source, which is supposed to
be one of the great lakes recently discovered by Living-
stone. Lieut. Gandy, before his departure, published an
admirable paper on the Congo, in Mr. Markham' s Ocean
Highways ', embodying all that is known respecting this
important river, accompanied by a map giving an outline
of the country from the west coast to the region of Liv-
ingstone' s discoveries ; upon which Lieut. Gandy has
indicated his conjectures as to the. upper tributaries and
sources of this long-known and mysterious river. The
Congo, under the name of the Zaire, has been repre-
sented upon maps since the days of Ortelius as one
amongst the greatest of African rivers, as an immense
stream running westwardly into the Atlantic, and deriving
its waters from a great chain of lakes ; and yet, with the
exception of the exploration of it for 280 miles by Capt.
Tuckey, in 1816, we know as little about it now as was
known in the sixteenth century. This is, therefore, a
most important expedition ; and, if successful, there is
every reason to believe that it will, in connection with the
recent discoveries of Livingstone, clear up what is now
the greatest of African problems.
116 Annual Address, 1878.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, I may say, after this survey of the
labors of the year, that the spectacle it presents is one
of earnest and wide-spread activity in the prosecution
of geographical inquiry. This is due in no inconsider-
able degree to the formation in different countries, within
the last forty years, of geographical societies that have
gradually impressed upon the age the importance of
exploring the unknown regions of the earth, and of obtain-
ing more accurate and scientific knowledge of the parts
that aro known, — as a means alike of bringing about a
more extended intercourse amongst mankind, and of
enlarging our knowledge of those great physical laws, as
yet but imperfectly understood, which affect the earth
and everything existing upon it.* This activity is due
* There are now throughout the world, as far as I have been able to
ascertain, thirty-one (8l) geographical societies. I give their names and
where situated. Belgium : Belgian Geographical Society, Antwerp. Eng-
land: Royal Geographical Society, London. France: Geographical
Society, Paris; the Geographical Circle, Lyons. Russia. : Imperial Russian
Geographical Society, Si. Petersburg; Geographical Society, Irkootsk;
Society of Explorers of Western Siberia, Omsk; section of the Imperial
Russian Geographical Society, Orenburg; Caucasian Geographical Society,
Tiflis; section of the St Petersburg Society, YUna. Germany : Geog-
raphical Society, Berlin; Imperial Royal Geographical Society, Vienna;
Geographical Association, Dresden; Geographical Society, Munich; Asso-
ciation of the Friends of Geography, Levpsio; Committee of the Norm-
Polar Expedition, Bremen; Association for Geography and Kindred
Sciences, Darmstadt; Association for Geography and Natural Sciences,
Kiel; Geographical Institute, Gotha. Hungary: Association for the
Exploration of Transylvania, Eermannstadt ; Geographical Society, Psslh.
Holland : Royal Institute for the Philology, Geography, and Ethnography
of Dutch India, The Hague. Italy: Italian Geographical Society, Fhrenee;
Italian Geographical Circle, Turin. Spain : Royal Spanish Academy of
Archaeology and Geography, Madrid. India : Geographical Society, Bom-
bay. United States: American Geographical Society, New York.
Mexico : Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society, Mexico. South
America : Imperial Geographical Society, Bio Janeiro; Historical Geog-
raphical and Ethnographical Institute of the Empire of Brazil, Bio Janeiro;
Historical and Geographical Institute of the Rio de la Plata, Buenos Ayr*.
Conclusion. 117
also to the establishment during the last few years of
periodicals devoted either exclusively or in part to the
advancement of geographical science. I would espe-
cially refer to Dr. Petermann's Mittheilungen, and
Mr. Markham's Ocean Highway w, periodicals distin-
guished for the marked ability with which they are con-
ducted, and the extent and value of the information they
supply. I should also mention the monthly Illustrated
Travels, edited by H. W. Bates, Esq., the Assistant
Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society; the
weekly publication of Nature, conducted by Mr. J,
Norman Lockyer, the eminent astronomer, which as a
general scientific journal furnishes much information
upon geographical subjects ; the Annvmre Qiograqphique,
published at Paris ; and Le Qldbe% a geographical journal,
published at Geneva.
The stimulus given by the geographical societies, and
by these periodicals, is very essential ; for no branch of
knowledge has been so slow in its development, or has
had so many obstacles to evercome, as geography. The
world has had to unlearn a great deal believed in for
centuries upon the tales of travellers, and the imaginary
knowledge of cosmographers. It took a long period of
time to convince men of what was opposed to the evidence
of their senses, — that the earth, instead of being flat, was
round; that, instead of being stationary, it was con-
stantly in motion ; and that, instead of the sun' s moving
around it, it moves around the sun. The spherical form
of the earth, its diurnal motion upon its axis, and its
annual revolution around the sun, were known to Eudoxus
800 B. C. ; and 450 years afterwards, in the second century
of our era, Ptolemy, in his principal work, brought
together a body of reasons, many of which are incoih-
prehensible to us, upon which he came to the conclusion
that the alleged diurnal and annual movement of the
earth were untrue, and the world accepted his decision
for 1,300 years. Within twenty years after Galileo
118 Annual Address, 1878.
demonstrated the diurnal motion of the earth, Bernard
Varen, or, as he is called, Varenius, the physician of
Amsterdam, published the celebrated work which revo-
lutionized the science of geography, and laid the founda-
tion of a separate science, that of physical geography;
and yet it is only within, the last half century that
physical geography has assumed the character of a dis-
tinct branch of inquiry. Even at the present period the
progress of geography is slow, for if we use the term
" knowledge " as expressing what the science of geography
demands, the world is not more than half known ; and
though there are not now, as in the days of Prince Henry
the Navigator and of Columbus, great continents or vast
islands to discover, let it not be forgotten that a consider-
able portion of the earth is yet unexplored ; that a very
large part is known but imperfectly, and that physical
geography presents an immense field for the future labors
of mankind.
IL
ANNUAL ADDRESS
By Daniel C. Oilman,
fete Profefltor of Physical Geography in the Sheffield Scientific School of Tale College,
now President of the University of California, at Oakland.
Subject— GEOGRAPHICAL WORK IN THE UNITED
STATES DURING 1871.
♦
Dxlitbbkd Jahuabt 80th, 1873.
Mb. President and Gentlemen, — At the last annual
meeting of the American Geographical Society, your
attention was invited to a review of the last decade of
geographical researches within the territory of the United
States. This evening, in compliance with yonr invitation,
I bring before yon an account of the geographical work
of our countrymen daring the past twelve months. At
first it seems to be a familiar and an easy task, bat before
I have concluded you will surely be impressed with the
variety, the magnitude, and the success of the various
enterprises which have been in progress under the aus-
pices of American explorers, geographers, and men of
science ; I trust you will also appreciate the difficulty
which there is in collecting and discussing the results of
such investigations. It is only by occasional reviews
like this that we can appreciate the great importance of
maintaining, with vigor and liberality, in the national
metropolis, an association, with its officers, its rooms,
its collections, its bureau of charts, its library, and, above
all, its publications, as the centre to which all important
122 Oilman's Animal Address, 1872.
the work of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
which, while actually constructing the railroad line, at
both the eastern and the western extremity, is also carrying
forward important surveys upon the lofty regions of the
North-west, Similar work, of which I have less definite
knowledge, is in progress in the South-west.
5. Our various journals abound in minor essay s illus-
trative of American geography, among which should
be especially noted the studies of Prof. James D. Dana
in respect to the glaciers of New England ; the elaborate
inquiry of Prof. Hilgard in respect to the formation of
the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi Delta; .the essays
upon Earthquakes a nd Volcanoes, published in the North
American Review, by Prof. J. D. Whijjney ; Clarence
King's lively sketches of mountaineering in the Siena
Nevada, which appeared in the Atlantic ; the contribu-
tions of Eev. James Condon, and others, to the Overland
Monthly; the Border Sketches of Gen. Marcy, which
belong to the lively pictures of frontier-life ; the various
studies of the earthquakes of 1870, and the historical
survey, by W. T. Brigham, of the earthquakes known
to have occurred in New England from 1638 to 1809.
6. Our countrymen have also been more or less at work
in foreign lands. A new survey of the Isthmus of Darien
lias been made by Capt. Selfridge. The head of an
important department of the Government, Mr. Capron,
has been called by the Government of Japan to inves-
tigate the resources and capacity of that empire; Dr.
B. A. Gould has successfully established the observatory
at Cordova ; Prof. W. D. Alexander has begun a survey
of the Sandwich Islands, upon the method of the Upited
States Coast Survey ; Mr. Squier has been publishing his
observations in Peru ; Prof. Hartt has returned from a
new visit to the Valley of the Amazon ; Mr. Gabb has
been led, by the action of our government, to print a sum-
mary of the observations he has for several years been
prosecuting in San Domingo; Dr. Habel has returned
Work of the Corps of Engineers, U. 8. A. 128
from a seven years' residence in Central and South
America, to work up, on the banks of the Hudson, his
observations ; a party of students from Williams College
have been at work under the charge of H. M. Myers, in
researches in Spanish Honduras, and a committee of
American gentlemen, all of whom have travelled in the
Holy Land, has been organized to codperate with the
Palestine Exploration Committee of England in the sur-
vey of Biblical lands. This review would not be complete
without an allusion to the party of American astrono-
mers who visited the South of Europe, to observe the
solar eclipse of December 23d, 1870, and who have been
publishing their researches.
Such are the topics which suggest themselves in a rapid
survey of the progress of geography, by the labors of
Americans, during the year 1871. It is obvious that we
can dwell upon only a very few of the undertakings of
which I have given you a list. The selection I make is
based upon the general interest which may be felt upon
the subject; for often the most patient and elaborate
work is ill fitted to be brought forward for discussion in
a popular address.
n. The Wobk of the Cobps of Engineers, U. S. A.
Under the engineers of the army, of whom Maj.-Gten. A.
A. Humphreys is chief, a vast amount of skilful labor is
performed, pertaining to the improvement of our harbors
and rivers, as well as to the construction and repair of
fortifications on the sea-coast and upon the frontier. But,
besides these services, several works have been lately in
progress, which are of national interest and of geographi-
cal significance, directed by this accomplished corps. I
refer especially to the survey of the great interior lakes,
which has been for many years in successful progress,
the survey of the fortieth parallel, the survey of Arizona
and Eastern Nevada, and the noteworthy reoonnoissanoe
of the Yukon River, in Alaska. For all these matters
124 Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
of general interest, besides a vast amount of important
details in respect to the astronomical, geodetic, meteoro-
logical and engineering work of the corps, reference
should be made to the report of Maj.-Gen. Humphreys,
one of the most comprehensive and satisfactory of ail the
reports which are annually prepared for Congress.
1. The prosecution of the survey of the great lakes is
entrusted to Gen. C. B. Comstock, of the Corps of Engin-
eers, under whose direction in the past year the work
was carried forward on Lake Superior, Lake Michigan,
Lake St. Clair, Lake Champlain, and on the St Lawrence
River. Among the interesting points in his report may
be mentioned the determination by telegraph of the
longitude of Detroit, Duluth, and St. Paul ; the careful
measurement of a base-line, not far from three miles in
length, on Minnesota Point, near Duluth ; the introduc-
tion of plane-table work on the shore of Lake Michigan ;
the institution of an inquiry into the tides and seiches of
the lakes (the latter of which, it is suggested, may be due
to tornadoes) ; the prosecution of deep-sea soundings in
Lake Superior, with an investigation of the organic life
at low depths, by Prof. S. I. Smith; and the diligent
elaboration of the ordinary details of the survey by
triangulation, topography, hydrography, and the publi-
cation of maps. A commencement has been made of a
survey of the River St. Lawrence, from the northern
boundary of New York to the east end of Lake Ontario ;
and the southern end of Lake Champlain for thirteen
miles has been surveyed.
2. The survey of the fortieth parallel, which is also
under the guidance of the Chief Engineer of the Army,
has been vigorously prosecute^, during the past year, not
only by observations in the field, but also by the publica-
tion of two of the elaborate reports. Mr. Clarence King,
the well-known leader of the expedition, with the title of
United States Geologist, has published, in the American
Journal of Science, an account of the glaciers of the
Work of the Corps of Engineers, U. 8. A. 125
Pacific coast within the territory of the United States,
and he has contributed to the Atlantic Monthly a series
of vivacious articles illustrative of his experience in " high
mountaineering." As the scientific results of this expe-
dition begin to appear, and attract attention at home and
abroad, it may be well to recapitulate the outlines of this
great survey.
The survey was organized under Mr. King's direction,
in the spring of 1867, for the purpose of making a geo-
logical and topographical examination of the country
bordering upon the Union and Central Pacific railroads,
as for to the north and south of the fortieth parallel as
practicable. In the first season the survey was carried
from the western boundary of California as far east as
the second Humboldt range. A detailed examination
was also made of the Washoe silver region. The next
summer (1868) the survey was carried on in three divis-
ions as far as the western limit of the Great Salt Lake
Desert. The Toyabe silver-bearing mountain-range, the
White Pine silver district, and some of the metalliferous
deposits of Colorado, were also examined. In 1869 the
survey was carried eastward as far as the Green River
divide, the belt measuring, as before, 100 miles from
North to South. A. short campaign, in the autumn
of 1870, was devoted to a study of the sources of the
lava-flows which have poured eastward from the axial
line of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade ranges into
the Great Basin. During the summer of 1871 the field
work was still in progress, one party having entered
the Uintah Mountains from Fort Bridger, working
eastward toward the Green River canon, and the other
going from Fort Sanders into the North Park and the
Elk Head Mountains. Both parties found the wide-spread
smoke a great obstacle to topographical work. The
character of the work performed has been, first, topo-
graphical, a system of triangnlatione having been carried
from summit to summit over the whole country traversed.
126 Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
Minor triangles have been measured, the elevations
approximately determined upon a system of 300 foot
grade-curves located by the barometer, and the altitude
of all prominent mountain-peaks and localities upon the
plains has also been determined. Careful and actual
geological sections have been made over the whole area ;
the climatic conditions of the Great Basin have been
studied ; the botany and geology of the region traversed
received special attention, and the mining industry has
been elaborately investigated.
The two portions of the work which have been pub-
lished within the year lie before you ; one is the report
on the mining industry, a volume of text with an atlas ;
the second is the report of the botany, the illustrations
of which are inserted with the text.
It would lead me beyond the limit of this discourse
were I to give a particular account of the two reports ;
but they are too interesting to the geographer to be passed
by with mere mention.
The first chapter of the volume on mining districts
relates to their geographical distribution and geological
mode of occurrence. After a brief description of the
Great Basin, and a reference to the one prominent law of
arrangement of the Cordilleras, that they wend from north
or north-west to south and south-east, Mr. King affirms
that all the structural features of local geology are in strict
subordination to this longitudinal direction of ranges.
So, likewise, the localities of the precious metals, as
originally noticed by Prof. W. P. Blake, appear to arrange
themselves in parallel longitudinal zones. After this
introduction there are geological descriptions of the most
famous of the mining districts of Nevada, an investiga-
tion of the Green Eiver coal-basin, and an inquiry into the
mines of Colorado, by Mr. J. D. Hague, especially the
gold district of Gilpin county and the silver district of
dear Creek county.
A novelty in subterranean geography or cartography
Work of the Corps of Engineers, U. 8. A. 127
is presented in the atlas which accompanies this volume,
in which many miles of hidden roads and passages are
carefully delineated.
The Botany has been prepared by Mr. Sereno Watson,
the chief collector, with the cooperation of Prof. D. C.
Eaton, in whose herbarium and library the description
of the plants was perfected. Somewhat more than 100
species new to science are described, and much light is
thrown upon the distribution of timber and on the fami-
lies of the desert-flora. The work is prefaced by a clear
and compact account of the region traversed, with an
excellent outline map, and with a very striking general
description of the vegetation of the country, — the moun-
tainous and desert region of Northern Nevada and Utah, —
the northern portion of what used to be called "The
Great Basin." The vegetation, like the country, should
be considered in its two chief aspects, — that of the moun-
tain, and that of the valley. No portion of this whole
district, however desert in repute and in fact, is destitute
of some amount of vegetation, even in the driest seasons,
except only the limited alkali flats. But the vegetation
is monotonous in aspect by want of trees and grassy
greensward, by the wide distribution of a few low shrubs,
and by the universally prevalent gray or dull olive color
of the herbage. " The everlasting sage-brush" (Artemi-
sia tridentata\ familiar to all travellers, is everywhere
present. To the general absence of trees the Truckee
Valley presents an exception, where two varieties of poplar
grow freely in the river-bottom. So on the mountains,
which are usually treeless as the valleys, a few scattered
varieties of trees are found, mostly within the canons,
ajid probably never exceeding forty or fifty feet in height.
The mountain-flora includes a larger number of shrubby
species than that of the valleys, though many of them
are very sparingly distributed. The number of Alpine
and sub- Alpine plants are proportionally large. The total
number of indigenous, phaenogamous species enumerated
128 Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
4
in the report is 1,235, representing 489 genera, and eighty-
four orders, — about one-third of which belong to the
mountain flora, one-fourth to the desert flora, and the
remainder to the "alkaline" and "aquatic" groups.
The essay, from which these particulars are gathered, is
a very interesting exhibition of the geographical distri-
bution of the plants of the region.
The agricultural resources of the basin are quite
restricted. Even were the rivers and streams most econo-
mically distributed, it is estimated that of 34,000 square
miles examined in Northern Nevada, not over 1,000 square
miles could ever be brought under cultivation. Some
investigations were made as to the possibility of culti-
vating certain forms of vegetation without irrigation,
but on a scale too limited to be conclusive.
3. Besides the exploration of the fortieth parallel, there
is another important survey in progress, under the direc-
tion of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, of the corps of engineers,
covering a district considerably to the south of the Cen-
tral Pacific Railroad, and including sections of South-
western Nevada, South and Eastern California, South-
western Utah, Northern, North-eastern, and Eastern
Arizona. The party, who numbered some eighty-five
persons, took the field in May, 1871, and continued at
work till December, when they returned to winter quar-
ters. Their purpose has been to attain a thorough topo-
graphical knowledge of the country, to determine the
latitude and longitude of important points, to observe the
geology and vegetation, to inquire into the numbers and
condition of the Indians, and the facilities for road-con-
struction, etc. Those who are familiar with these regions
will observe that this work is a continuation of that which
was carried forward in 1809 by the same officer of the
engineers.
From unofficial statements we learn that the success of
this great undertaking has been all that could be desired.
The months of September and October were devoted to
Work of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. 129
the Colorado cafton, which was penetrated to a distance
of 226 miles above Camp Mohave. The topographical
data, the zoological specimens, the photographs and
drawings, the facts illustrative of the ancient civilization,
and the mining information, are said to be full and impor-
tant.
But one grievous occurrence has saddened this brilliant
record. The chief topographer of the party, Mr. P. W.
Humel, and that accomplished young writer, Mr. Loring,
of Boston, were cruelly murdered by the Apaohe Indians,
on the Wickenburg stage, as they were homeward-bound
with the results of their observations, after haying
encountered, without molestation from the Indians, all the
perils and hardships of the exploring party. The notes
of the chief topographer have been recovered in a con-
dition for use ; those of the volunteer observer, from
which an entertaining book might have been expected,
can hardly be made use of.
4. Within the last twelve months we have also had
from the engineer corps an important contribution to our
knowledge of Alaska. The reconnoissance of Capt. C.
W. Raymond upon the Yukon River, which was com-
menced in the spring of 1869, was completed in the sum-
mer ; and the report, with a map, which hangs before
you, was submitted to Congress in April last.
The chief point to which Capt. Raymond's attention
was directed was the determination of the latitude and
longitude of Fort Yukon. Incidentally, the trade of the
region was to be examined, and the condition of- the
native tribes investigated. He was also directed to ascer-
tain as much as possible in respect to the resources of the
Yukon and its tributaries.
The delicate and responsible duty intrusted to Capt.
Raymond (which was performed in a highly creditable
manner, according to the published endorsement of the
chief of his corps Gen. Humphreys), will quickly be
comprehended from a single statement. Fort Yukon, the
9
130 GiLMAifs Annual Address, 1872.
most northern point of the river of that name, for several
years past has been the extreme western trading-station
of the Hudson Bay Company. It was supposed to be
west of the boundary between Russian and British
America ; and, if so, its establishment was contrary to the
terms of a treaty between Great Britain and Russia. The
Russians, however, had been quite indifferent in the
matter ; but not so the Americans, who, after the acqui-
sition of Alaska, began to push up the Yukon River for
purposes of trade. This made it very important to deter-
mine the exact locality of the fort, and Capt. Raymond
volunteered to undertake the difficult and hazardous
duty. Launching a little steamer near the mouth of the
river, he set out, on the 4th of July, 1869, to make the
ascent ; reached Fort Yukon, a distance of over 1,000
miles, traversed wholly by the steamer, on the 31st of the
month; determined the latitude to be 66° S3' 47', and
the longitude 145° 17' 47'; set at rest the question at issue ;
informed the traders that they were in American territory.
and, on the 9th of August, took possession of the build-
ings, and raised the flag of the United States over the fort.
The map which hangs before you embodies, in a carto-
graphical form, the result of this reconnoissance. The
maps of a previous date have been based on that of the
Russian lieutenant, Zagoskin, which was made in 1842-3,
with the corrections and additions of Dall, Whimper,
Smith, and other explorers of the telegraph company.
The journey of Messrs. Ketchum and Labarge, of the
telegraph company, in 1866, first established the fact that
the Kvichpak River of the Russians, and the Yukon of
the English, were the same streams. These travellers, to
whom Capt. Raymond expresses his thanks, have not
published their narrative.
The report of Capt. Raymond, extending through 110
octavo pages, is very clear and comprehensive, and throws
much light upon our new acquisitions. This reconnoifl-
sance, with the work of Mr. Davison, of the Coast Survey,
Survey of California. 181
on the coast, and the volumes of Messrs. Ball and
Whymper, are the geographical fruit of the Alaska pur-
chase.
III. The Survey of California.
Since the publication of the Natural History of New
York, and the Geology of Pennsylvania, there has been
no survey of one of the United States at all comparable
in fulness and in importance with the survey of Califor-
nia, now in progress, under the direction of Prof. Josiah
D. Whitney. Everybody talks about the wonderful
natural resources of the Golden State ; but few people,
even within its borders, have any adequate conception of
the admirable inquiries into, or presentation, of these
resources which have been made by the State Geologist
and his associates. We presume that the word " geology,"
while it has had a charm for some persons, has to others
conveyed too restricted a meaning. The people of the
State cannot have appreciated that under this designation
they were securing elaborate and accurate maps of the
entire State, and (on an enlarged scale) of certain impor-
tant localities ; a comprehensive study of the physical
structure of the country, as a basis for investigations into
the climate, agriculture, facilities of communication, and
sanitary conditions of a new and undeveloped region ; an
original investigation of the geology, both in its general
and its economic aspects, and a full study of the animals
and plants which are native to the region. The size of
the State, its wonderful capabilities, its variety of attrac-
tions, its marvellous growth, its prospective wealth and
influence, are circumstances which render it very desir-
able that the original survey of the State should be on a
good plan, by good methods, and by competent observers.
AH these conditions have been secured. Only one other
element wps necessary, — liberal financial support. In
this the State has wavered, but now gives signs of a
determination to see the work completed as it should b&
182 Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
However costly the* outlay, we are sure it will never be
regretted. The strictest principles of economy require
that such a work should be vigorously prosecuted and
thoroughly performed.
The results of the survey, thus far, are as follows :
(a) The publication of a map of the Bay of San Fran-
cisco, and its vicinity, on a scale of two miles to an inch,
of which a copy was shown to the Society last year. Two
other maps are also in the engraver's hands, (ft) The
first is on a scale of six miles to an inch, embracing about
60,000 square miles in the central and most thickly set-
tled part of the State. Of the four sheets which this map
will cover, the two southern are almost ready for publi-
cation, and the two northern will be ready in about two
years, (c) A general map of the State, on a scale
of eighteen miles to an inch, to be issued both as
a topographical and as a geological map, will also be
ready before spring. Only one corner of the central
map remains to be surveyed topographically, (d) Pour
volumes of illustrated text have also been printed,
v besides the Tosemite Guide, and various brochures.
One of the volumes is a preliminary report on the
structure of the State, two are devoted to paleontol-
ogy, and one to ornithology. The last has been pub-
lished within the year, and is devoted to the birds, not
only of California, but of the North- American continent
north of Mexico, and west of the Rocky Mountains. The
second volume of the birds is nearly ready. Prof. Baird
and Dr. Brewer are its editors. Prof. Baird and Dr.
Cooper have prepared the first. During the last year
Prof. W. H. Brewer has been engaged in the herbarium
of Dr. Gray, in Cambridge, upon the description of the
plants of the Pacific slope, collected by him as the bota-
nist of the survey. A volume of conchology is also
nearly ready. The geology proper is also to be pushed
forward with vigor. Men of science everywhere hail with
satisfaction the progress of this publication as honorable,
The Northern Pacific Railroad. 183
i
not only to California, but to American science, and which
is published with a degree of typographical and carto-
graphical accuracy and beauty which is worthy of the geo-
logical work. Those who would learn more of the nature
of the survey may turn with advantage to a fresh and
trustworthy article in the Overland Monthly for Janu-
ary, 1873.
IV. The Nobthern Pacific Railroad.
The attention of the public is often directed to the
financial attractions of the Northern Pacific Railroad,
and to the immense advantages which will accrue to the
country from the completion of a second railroad line to
the Pacific, shorter, lower, and easier than the central
route. The central route has already modified the com-
merce of the world by making this country a common
highway from Western Europe to Eastern Asia; and every
additional facility for transcontinental communication
which is secured increases our national commerce and
power. It is not long since I heard one of the high officers
of the government, officially informed upon the matter,
declare that the solution of our Indian troubles in the
North-west depended upon the rapid prosecution and
completion of the second Pacific Railroad ; for, however
jealous the North-western tribes may be of the approach
of a party of engineers, they cannot resist the influences
of power and civilization which the locomotive brings
with it.
But, while some of these general aspects of the Pacific
railroads are familiar to us, we are in danger of failing
to notice how great a contribution is quietly making to
our knowledge of Western geography by the parties of
engineers who are persistently carrying the level, the
transit, and the barometer into obscure and almost inac-
cessible parts of the national territory. These surveys
have been extended from the Pacific to the Mississippi,
on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, there being
134 Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
at the present time, as I am informed, but a short space
of seventy miles which remains undetermined by the leveL
Gten. W. Milnor Roberts, the chief engineer of this
road, has recently returned to New York, and with refer-
ence to this lecture has been so kind as to give me much
information in respect to the surveys of which he has been
both superintendent and participant. He mentioned inci-
dentally the great service which the telegraph had ren-
dered in the conduct of parties in the field, so widely sep-
arated. By its aid he has been able personally to direct
the work which has been in simultaneous progress upon
both the eastern and the western slope of the Cordilleras,
sending his orders and receiving information freely by
the telegraph.
The work of his parties last summer is of the greatest
interest, from the fact that a large part of it was concen-
trated upon the question as to the most favorable route
for crossing the Rooky Mountains in Western Montana,
with the subordinate consideration of the Yellowstone
Valley on the east as a mode of approach to the summit,
and on the west of the relation of the railroad route to
the lofty Bitter Root Mountains, which have hitherto
been quite inadequately explored.
Those who are familiar with the history of Rocky
Mountain explorations are well aware that the earliest
crossing of the Divide took place in the region which
was so carefully examined last' summer. Here it was
that, in 1806, Lewis and Clark, those intrepid pioneers,
attained the highest waters of the Missouri, crossed over
the water-shed, and descended, first of white men, into
the tributaries of the Columbia. We may well, in this
connection, refresh our memory by turning to their nar-
rative.
Since the days of Lewis and Clark our maps have borne
the names which they attached to the mountain-streams
—Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin, and Dearborn, the presi-
dent and secretaries of the National Government in the
Ths Northern Pacixtc Railroad. 135
time of these explorations ; and the map which they gave
us (poor as it now appears) remained for half a century
our most complete, I may almost say our only 6riginal
portrayal of the region. Then came, in 1863, the Pacific
Railroad surveys of the General Government, conducted
in this part of the country by Gov. I. I. Stevens. A
little later, one of his chief collaborators, Capt. Mullan,
U. S. A., was detailed to construct a military road from
Fort Walla- Walla, on the Columbia, to Fort Benton, on
the Missouri, — a work which occupied him from 1868 to
1862, — and now the actual construction of a railroad has
already been begun. The task of Capt. Mullan occupied
him four years, when a wagon-road of 624 miles was
completed across the Rocky Mountains.
The summer of 1871 has thrown a vast amount of light
upon the Montana passes ; four parties, besides that of
the engineer-in-chief, Gen. W. M. Roberts, having been
engaged in investigating this group of mountain-entrances.
To understand their work, two points of departure must
be kept in mind, — the town of Helena, Montana, or, better
yet, a point a little south of it, where those two well-
known streams the Gallatin and Jefferson come together.
The second point of departure is the junction of the Deer
Lodge and Little Black Foot rivers, on the western slope
of the Rocky Mountains. We may term these departures
One and Two.
One of the parties of the Northern Pacific Railroad
last summer went up from Departure One, along the
easternmost of the three Missouri affluents, — the Gallatin,
over the Bozeman Divide, and so into the Yellowstone ;
a second from the same departure went up the western
affluent, the Jefferson, over the Deer Lodge Pass,
and so down to the Departure Two ; a third party, start-
ing from Departure Two, proceeded down the Hell Gate
and Missouri Rivers, into the Bitter Root Mountains, and
so to the Jocko river; a fourth party examined the
Lower Dearborn valley to its union with the Missouri,
186 GiLMAifa Anmtal Advbbss, 1872..
and then westward np the Dearborn valley, examining
the passes known as Cadotte's, and Lewis and Clark's,
and going over the mountains to Departure Two.
Gen. Roberts made a personal examination of eight
passes between Cadotte's, on the north, and Deer Lodge,
which is about eighty-five miles south in an air-line;
and his observations led him to order an instrumen-
tal survey of the most promising pass, " Ten-Mile Pass,"
from the initial point on the Deer Lodge, over the pass,
and so down to the Missouri, a few miles north of Helena.
Meanwhile other parties were at work between Montana
and the Pacific, farther west ; one going up the Clear
water toward the summit of the Bitter Boot range, and
afterward, going down the Snake River from Lewiston ;
a second party surveyed from the summit of the Cascade
down the Yakima to the Columbia ; a third party were at
work on the "Forty Miles," beyond the Cowlitz residency,
and a fourth was engaged to make a reconnoissance from
the Columbia River, near Lake Chelan, towards the Pend
d' Oreille country.
Besides all this work, the engineer-in-chief made an
instrumental reconnoissance of the Yellowstone valley.
The results of such a number of investigations are
obviously important. They involve several points of
interest. First) the best approach from the east to the
Rocky Mountains, is it the Missouri or the Yellowstone !
Second, in either case, what is the best way over the
Rocky Mountains ? or, in other words, which one of eight
passes, in a region of nearly 100 miles long, is to be pre-
ferred? Third, what is the best way down the Pacific
slope to the valley of the Columbia, — is it the Mullan
wagon-road or some other way ? Fourth, the best route
down the Columbia valley, and, finally, the structure of
the Cascade Mountains? On all these points the com-
pany has secured, by the work of last summer, detailed
information (for which in due time the world will be
wiser) ; but it is not quite ready to publish it.
Tbjs Northern Pacific Railroad. 137
Gen. Roberts comments on the productiveness of Mon-
tana like most other persons who have been there. He
says that the soil in the valleys and on the slopes of the
foot-hills exoels in productiveness any region where he
has dwelt, excepting Oregon and Washington.
He anticipates that the road will be open to the
Missouri in the fall of 1872; that it may be extended to
the Yellowstone in 1873. During 1875 the line could be
graded, and the track laid over the Rocky Mountains to
meet there the line from the Pacific, if that end of the
track should be completed with equal despatch.
One of the subordinate surveys carried on, under the
auspices of this great corporation, during the past year,
was conducted by Gen. T. L. Rosser, from the Missouri
River, at Fort Rice, to the Yellowstone, by the way of
Heart River and Glendive's Creek, a distance of 226 miles.
As it happened that I was at Fort Wadsworth, D. T., on
that lofty plateau which is called the Coteau of the Prairie,
when a part of the escort for Gen. Rosser's party went
forth last summer, and thus heard from the leader of the
expedition an account of the problems to be settled and
the difficulties to be encountered, I have looked with
much interest for the publication of the results of their
summer's work, and have been favored with an early
copy of it. Much apprehension was felt lest the Indians,
who watch with jealousy what we call the advance of
civilization, should attack the survey, and so a strong
escort was fitted out under the command of Gen. Whist-
ler. No trouble was given by the Indians, except the
burning of the grass, which would have been useful as
forage.
The party reached the mouth of Heart River September
11th, and proceeded at once to survey it. They soon
reached the Heart Butte, the deserted seat of Black Feet' s
empire, and, a few miles west, came upon a field of coal
which was thence continous to the Yellowstone. In several
places the coal was burning, and appeared to have been
138 GiLMAtfs Annual Address, 1872.
. doing so for years. At the top of the ridge which divides
the waters of the Heart and the Little Missouri, the Man-
vaises Terres were first seen, and appeared to be an insur-
mountable obstacle ; bat soon a water-course descending
into the valley was discovered. The stream running
through this valley he named Dave's Creek; its waters
are strongly alkaline, the timber chiefly cotton- wood, and
"very scattering." Prom Dave's Creek the party went
over into the valley of the Little Missouri, a tortuous
cafion, the walls of which are some five or six hundred feet
high. The bluffs in many places show advantageously the
peculiar geology of the Mauvaises Terres. Running down
this stream five miles, he reached Andrew's Creek, and
ascended it to the prairie level, from which he descended
again to Inman's Fork, one of the tributaries of the Little
Missouri. Beyond this fork is the divide between the
little Missouri and the Yellowstone. Glendive's Creek
led the party down to the valley of the Yellowstone ; the
stream being here 1,000 feet wide, the valley about two
miles. A map and profile of the regions were prepared
by the topographers, Messrs. Meigs and Eastman.
It is greatly to be desired that the gentlemen who are
in charge of this national undertaking will find an oppor-
tunity to give to the public the scientific results of their
recent surveys, and especially that the measurement of
altitudes and distances in regions where a road is not
finally located will be preserved and published for the
benefit of future inquirers.
V. The Yellowstone Geyseb Region.
No portion of our national domain has of late been
regarded with so much curiosity and surprise as the
region of geyser and hot springs, which has been brought
to light near the sources of the Yellowstone and Fire
Hole rivers, just east of the divide between the Missouri
and the Columbia. So remarkable are the narratives of
the visitors to these regions that a bill is now pending in
Tee Ntntm Census of the United States, 1870. 139
Congress to reserve from settlement, under the name of
a national park, the tract in which the most surprising of
the phenomena appear. It is satisfactory to know that
the bill will probably become a law.
On the latest-published maps of the Engineer Depart-
ment, the courses of the Upper Yellowstone and the Fire
Hole rivers are faintly delineated ; but on the map of Mr.
De Lacy, Surveyor- General of Montana, the local nomen-
clature and the approximate courses of the rivers are
more fully brought out ; and on the two maps which, by
the courtesy of the engraver, Mr. Julius Bien, of New
York, I am able to bring before you, the exact position
of the principal geyser and hot springs is indicated.
These two maps were drawn by Mr. E. Hergesheimer, of
the United States Coast Survey, at the instance of Dr.
F. Y. Hayden, to illustrate his report upon the region.
The substance of this report, with reduced copies of the
map, will be found in the American Journal cf Science
for February and March, 1872.
In connection with this report of Dr. Hayden' s, refer-
ence should be made to the early story of the Wash-
burne-Langford party, which was printed in Scribner's
Monthly for 1871, and which gives a very graphic account
of the region ; to a narrative by Walter Trumbull, in the
Overland Monthly; and to the report which has been
published in full by various newspapers, within the last
few days, of the expedition of Capt. Barlow, of the United
States Engineers, which visited this region in the summer
of 1871. The survey of Gen. W. Milnor Roberto, already
referred to, began at a lower point upon the river, east of
Bozeman's Pass, and continued towards the Missouri, and
Gen. Bosser touched the river at a much lower point.
VI. The Ninth Census of the United States— 1870.
During the past twelve months the publication of the
results of the ninth census of the United States has been
commenced, and we have before us now the advance
140 Prop. &ilmai?s Annual Address, 1872.
sheets of the Statistics of Population by States and Terri-
tories, both in the aggregate, and as white, free-colored,
slaves, Chinese and Indian, at each census. We have
also the Report of the Superintendent of the Census,
Gen. F. A. Walker, on the conduct and results of the
work entrusted to his charge. Although the law of
Congress under which this decennial enumeration was
taken is for behind the requirements of modern statistical
science, its execution was entrusted to an excellent officer,
and the results may be received with great satisfaction
and confidence.
But as this Society no longer recognises the statistical
side of geographical inquiry, I do not feel at liberty to
dwell at length upon this topic, and indeed I should
hardly have introduced it at this time were it not for the
sake of presenting to you some of the results of the
census in a very clear and instructive cartographical
aspect. It is fair to presume that you are still interested
in the geographical side of statistical inquiry.
The manuscript maps which I now hold before you
were prepared under Gen. Walker's direction in the cen-
sus office, as examples of the mode by which the results
of the census may be exhibited on maps. These very
maps are soon to be presented to the appropriate com-
mittee in Congress, in the hope that their publication
will be commended, and that other kindred maps will be
prepared and given to the public under the supervision
of the Census Bureau.
These maps are seven in number.* I hold' up first a
map of Alabama, which shows at a glance in what part
of that State the Africans preponderate, a series of tints
being employed, as you observe, which are darker in
proportion as the number of Africans increases. Now, it
would take a long time to discover from a column of
* This portion of the Address was given extempore as the speaker turned
to the maps, and was reported with difficulty.
The Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. 141
figures the feet which yon here see at a glance ; that
through the middle of the State, from East to West, there
is a black belt where the colored people are most numer-
ous. No alphabetic list of counties would suggest that
fact, or enable ns to surmise the reason. It would per-
haps have been better if the structure of the country had
been more fully delineated, for here we have only the
water-courses. An exhibition of the altitudes of the
State would have been a desirable feature.
Here is a similar map for the entire Southern sea-board,
which exhibits the distribution of the Africans, not
county-wise but State-wise. You see here at a glance
that the blacks preponderate in South Carolina. Louis-
iana stands next. Then comes Virginia, North Carolina,
Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, and
so on. Underneath this map hangs a map of the same
series of States, exhibiting the same class of facts ten
years previous, when the census of 1860 was taken, and
these two maps, if compared, will show the effect of
emancipation upon residence. Here you see South Caro-
lina, in the present census, is the darkest. So it was in
1860. Georgia and Alabama stood second ten years ago.
They stand third now. Louisiana stands second, and
Mississippi has entered the same grade as South Carolina,
when, ten years ago, it stood below. Texas, which was
ten years ago fourth in rank, is now the fifth.
Here is another map which exhibits the distribution
of foreigners at the South ; on it we see that the foreign
born population is thickest, where the Africans are not,
and vice versa. South Carolina, which was darkest
before, is lightest now. Missouri, where the Germans
have so largely gone, stands foremost. West Virginia
and Kentucky are alike. Texas corresponds with Dela-
ware. In the South-east is a region where very few
foreigners have gone ; more to Florida than Georgia, more
to South Carolina than to North Carolina. Here we have
the Northern States, a map of the former free States,
142 Prof. Oilman's Annual Address, 1872.
showing the proportion of foreign to total population.
Yon observe how the line of emigration has been through
the North ; and it is very curious that of people coming
in from Europe, the densest population is found farthest
from the sea-coast. They are pressing into Minnesota,
the State which has the largest proportion of foreign born
people. Wisconsin stands second. New York third,
corresponding with Nebraska, and with Massachusetts ;
Connecticut is fifth ; then comes Illinois and New Jersey,
and Iowa ; and Maine is eighth, corresponding with New
Hampshire and Indiana. Here we have another map,
exhibiting the proportion of blacks in the Northern
States. You see that a State where they cling ' most
decidedly is Kansas. New Jersey next. Ohio next. The
Southern tier, you see, has their company more than any
other. The last in rank is Minnesota, where we saw
before that the foreigners most abounded.
This map (showing another), although you can hardly
see it across the room, is to me the most interesting of all ;
first, because it is a map of the whole country; and
second, because it is prepared with special study and care.
It is intended to show us in what parts of every State
the German element is most abundant, and then by mak-
ing a deduction for this preponderance in certain regions,
to show what is the average distribution in the remainder
of the State. Notice, for example, in Missouri the pre-
ponderance of Germans in the St. Louis region, and their
comparative scarcity in South-western Missouri. See in
New Jersey the marked ascendancy of this element in
Hoboken and Jersey City, and their vicinity, while in the
State, as a whole, the German element by no means pre-
ponderates.
But I will not dwell longer upon these instructive dia-
grams, for they were not designed to be shown to so large
an assembly. The interest, however, which you mani-
fest in them, leads me to express the hope that the Soci-
ety, as individuals and as a body, will exert what influ-
Proposed American Explorations in the East. 143
ence they can rightly bring to bear upon Congress, to
Becure the publication of some such diagrams as those
which you have before you.
As an example of what may be done in this graphic
mode of representation, let me call your attention to a
beautiful series of printed maps, which the Prussian gov-
ernment has recently printed. I refer to the atlas entitled
Der Boden und die IcmdvyirUchqftliehen VerhSltnisse
des Preu88i8chen Staates, nach dem Gebietswmfange vor
1866, von A. Meitzer, — a work in which, with great clear-
ness, accuracy, and beauty, the territorial divisions, the
geographical and geological structure of the country, the
density of the population, the wealth, taxation, distribu-
tion of industries, etc., etc., are cartographically pre-
sented.
VII. Proposed American Explobations in the East.
It is a little beyond the scope of this discourse to speak
of work projected by our countrymen, especially in other
lands, bat the great importance of the plans to which I
am about to refer will certainly justify the reference.
The admirable purposes and results of the Palestine
Exploration Fund of London are well known in this
country, but hitherto very little effort has been made to
enlist the cooperation of our countrymen in their impor-
tant efforts to thoroughly investigate the land of the Bible.
At first this seems a little strange, for the Americans were
pioneers in the field of inquiry, and since those epoch-
marking researches of Dr. Edward Robinson, and his
learned associate, Dr. Eli Smith, several of our country-
men have made important contributions to the geography
of the East In Palestine alone the researches of Lynch,
W. M. Thomson, Barclay, Osborn, Hackett, Wolcott,
Johnson, and many others, are especially noteworthy.
A plan of cooperation has lately been proposed by which
Americans can help forward the work of Syrian explora-
tion more effectually, it is thought, than by contributing
144 Prof. Oilman's Annual Address, 1812.
to the English fund. A committee has been formed in
New York, made up to a great extent, of persons who
have travelled in the East ; and it is purposed to collect
a sum of at least $10,000 to be expended by this com-
mittee upon some limited region where the English are
not at work, thus supplementing their investigations.
The Archbishop of York has written to the president of
the American committee, Dr. Jos. P. Thompson, express-
ing the satisfaction felt by the English committee of which
he is chairman, at the formation of a committee in New
York, so that no apprehension of rivalry or reduplication
need be anticipated. Dr. William M. Thomson of Bey-
rout, has made a recommendation which the New York
committee adopts, that the field of exploration be the
region east of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea ; if
possible also, Hermon, the Lebanon, and the plains and
valleys of Northern Syria. He suggests Eerak, south-
east of the Dead Sea, as the first station for the Moabite
region, and thence he would have the survey continue
through Gilead and Bashan into the east region of the
Hauran.
No one can doubt the fruitfulness of this field in
geographical and archaeological respects. To secure the
harvest, only money is needed ; services of competent
men will then be engaged as explorers, equipped with all
the resources of modern science. Certainly in a plan
like this, the American Geographical Society must take
a deep interest.
Mr. President : My hour is gone ; my task is done.
Let us hope that the current year will be as full of good
results as that which we have reviewed.
I
\
\
s
A
.11
4 an
J
in.
NOTES ON GIOVANNI DA VERRAZANO AND ON A
PLANISPHERE OF 1629, ILLUSTRATING HIS
AMERICAN VOYAGE IN 1524, WITH A
REDUCED COPY OF THE MAP.
By Jambs Carbon Breyoobt.
READ NOVEMBER 28th, 1871.
Introductory.
The discoveries made in the great ocean by Columbus
at the close of the fifteenth century, gave to the Spaniards
a supposed claim not only to coasts and islands which
they had seen, but also to all the unknown lands and
seas beyond and to the west of a certain meridian of
longitude. This demarcation line, however, was not
based on any better right than the partition of the
heathen and undiscovered countries of the globe between
Spain and Portugal, confirmed by the Pope, Alexander
VI, in May and September, 1493,* and further, but not
definitely settled between these two nations in June, 1494.
As time passed on, the hopes entertained by the Spanish
sovereigns were dispelled by the assurance that the
western waters did not anywhere, as supposed by Strabo,f
afford a clear seaway to the eastern shores of Asia, for a
♦See Humboldt, Examen Critique and Cosmos; also Oscar Peschel, Die
Tkeilung der Erde, etc., 1871.
f While the mathematicians teach that the circle passes behind it (the
earth) and returns into itself, so that did the magnitude of the Atlantic not
prevent, we might navigate on the same parallel from Spain to India.
[Lib I] 1()
146 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
new continent interposed itself, which up to 1524, had
been found continuous from Florida to the distant
southern strait discovered by Magellan.
In 1513, Balboa discovered the South Sea, thus reveal-
ing a probable division of the New World into a southern
and a northern continent, which last was, however, sup-
posed to be a part of Asia until 1540. The South Sea
was thus named, because it was supposed to lie to the
south of this eastern extremity of Asia, and on many
maps of the time, it was thus represented. The proba-
bility, however, of the existence of a narrow strait or
water communication between the South Sea and the
Atlantic, just north of Mexico, was a favorite theory
among geographers, long believed in, leading to many
voyages for its detection, and which, as a search for a
north-west passage, survived to this day, when having
been found, it turns out to be impracticable.
It was the hope of making such a discovery that
impelled the navigator, whose voyage we are about to
examine, toward that part of the New World which still
remained unexplored, and we shall briefly review the
geographical discoveries which, up to the year 1524, had
been made from the north and from the south, along the
coast of the present United States of America.
In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the mainland
of Florida, and afterwards sent out exploring expeditions
along its Atlantic coast, which do not appear to have got
beyond the mouth of the Rio de Chicora, or Savannah
River, in latitude 32°. He died in 1521 from a wound
received on his last voyage while fighting with the natives.
The Licentiate, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, in 1520 and
1521, explored the coast north of the Savannah, and
appears to have reached Cabo Santa Helena, or Cape
Fear, in latitude 34°, and somewhat beyond it. It is
claimed by some that his vessels had reached to the Bahia
Santa Maria, or Chesapeake Bay, before 1526, the date of
his last expedition. The coast-line of the Gulf of Mexico
Oceanic Explorations. 147
was slowly explored from 1498 to 1518, when the hope of
an opening into the Mar del Sur was abandoned.*
The coasts of Newfoundland, or Baccalaos,f and of
Nova Scotia, or Terra de Bretones, had been explored by
the French and others on fishing voyages, at least as far
south as Cape Sable, or to the Penobscot (Bio de Noruin-
bega), in latitude 43° 20', before 1524. These explorations
from the north and from the south left a gap between lati-
tudes 34° and 43° north, which the geographers of the
Congress of Bajadoz, in 1524, seemed unable to fill, having
discovered that no official examination of the coast between
Florida and Terra Nova had ever been made.
The hearsay report of Sebastian Cabot, who was said
to have followed the coast from Newfoundland to Florida
without finding an opening to the west, does not appear
to have had any influence on the question. He was him-
self one of the members of this Congress, and could have
cleared up this point if he had really coasted these shores
in 1497 or 1498, as told by Peter Martyr. %
Estevan Gomez, § a Portuguese, in Spanish employ,
who had accompanied Magellan as far as the strait, a
member of the Congress, and who had proposed a search
along thiB unexplored coast, was therefore officially com-
missioned to look for a passage westward between these
parallels. He sailed in February, 1525, and was absent
about ten months, coasting from north to south, having
distinctly ascertained that a continental shore filled the
void, thus completing the line of an impenetrable barrier
across a westward route to the Spice Islands, extending
from latitude 53° north, to the Straits of Magellan, in 54°
south.
The return of the Vittoria in 1522, under Sebastian
Del Cano, the only ship left of the five which had sailed
* See note, Oulf of Mexico. f See note, Baeealaoa.
\ See note, Cabot.
§ A fall account of the voyages of this navigator has been prepared, and
will soon be published, by the Hon. Henry C. Murphy.'
148 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
in 1519 with Magellan, led to much speculation concern-
ing a nearer way to the Moluccas than the one thus
opened by the Spaniards. Many minds were excited,
both* by this great feat, and by the reports of the rich
empire which Cortes was then conquering, to new geo-
graphical enquiry. Cortes himself offered, in 1524, to
search both oceans for the supposed northern strait lead-
ing to the west, though it appears that he confined him-
self to exploring the South Sea only.*
Meanwhile the attention of Francis the First was turned
in the same direction, whether from the report that such
a blank was to be filled in the maps, or that the French
king had learned as much trom his own cosmographers.
That he hoped to find a short passage to the Moluccas,
we know from the letter of Giovanni de Verrazano of
1524, who had been directed to search for it. Perhaps
among the crews of the vessels captured by this naviga-
tor on previous corsairial expeditions, there were men
who had revealed to him the state of Spanish geographi-
cal knowledge, and the probability of a western passage,
to be found between the parallels above mentioned. It
was also no doubt the desire of the king to discover a
rich empire like Mexico, which the Spaniards were then
plundering, and which might open to him also a supply
of the precious metals. Verrazano seems to have failed
in a first effort to sail, with four vessels, as he says, north-
wardly, but with one vessel only he started again, and
after an exploration of some months, between the paral-
lels of 34° and 50° N. accordi ng to his own estimate, he
returned with information that no passage could be found.
The explorations of Verrazano and of Gomez on the
eastern shores of North America, and those directed by
Cortes on the west, closed all hopes of a short sea-way
to the Indies. But the entire disconnection of Asia with
America was not positively proved until Behring dis-
covered in 1728, the strait to which his name was given.
* See notes, Cortes and Zuazo.
The Planisphere op 1529. 149
Discovert of the Vebrazano Planisphere of 1529.
The interesting discovery by Mons. R. Thomassy, an
experienced archivist, author of interesting geographical
papers and of the geology of Louisiana, among the maps
of the College de Propaganda Fide in Rome, of a Mapu-
mundi, made by a certain Hieronimns de Verrazano,
dating from about the year 1529, was first made known
in a paper entitled Les Popes Geographes, published in
the Annales des Voyages, Paris, 1852.* Mons. Thomassy
could hardly have been aware of the keen interest that
such a discovery would awaken among those interested
in early American explorations, or he would have given
a less meagre account of this precious map. He deserves
our sincere thanks, however, for drawing attention to
this and other valuable geographical monuments pre-
served in Rome, and which seem to have escaped the
active research of Humboldt and Jomard. A study of
this map by the author of the Examen Critique de la
Geographie dn Nouveau Continent, would have been
fruitful of results, and we can hardly venture to tread a
path which he first opened, without great diffidence, and
the hope that the investigation which we may only sketch
out, will by others be prosecuted to definite results.
Our remarks are based upon a study of two photo-
graphic copies of the original map, which, after long and
repeated attempts, have at last, through the kind offices
of Mr. Thos. E. Davis, been procured from Rome by the
President of this Society. f
Thege photographs are now before you, but are unfor-
tunately not distinct enough to enable us to read the
names inscribed along, our coast, between the points
which limit the explorations of our navigator. This is
most unlucky, and another copy must be procured before
the critical examination of the subject can be properly
* See TLOteiThomasay.
t See page 80 of the Report of this Society for 1871.
150 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
undertaken. We have deciphered a few of the names,
and have prepared a careful copy of that part of the
Mapamondi which more specially interests us as Ameri-
cans.
The original map is on three large skins pasted together
forming a sheet, according to Mons. Thomassy, the first
describer of the map, 260 centimetres long and 180 high,
say 102.36 inches by 51.18 inches, or with a width twice as
great as the height. It is a general map of the world, as
known to the designer of it, Hieronimus de Verrazano,
but it bears no date. From the remark written under the
name Nova Gallia, that this land was discovered five years
before, we infer (supposing the date of Giovanni de Ver-
razano's voyage, as given himself, to be 1524), that the
map was made in 1529. There is good reason to believe
that Hieronimus (Jerome) was a brother of John, and
that he put down the coast here alluded to from authentic
data furnished by his brother.
There are certain coast features drawn on the map,
which are not alluded to in the letter, seeming to prove
that Jerome had his brother's charts before him. The
plain indication of Long Island Sound, and of Cape Cod,
is of itself sufficient proof that it was compiled from
original drafts or notes. The latitudes, however, differ
entirely from those given in the letter. The truth, per-
haps, cannot be developed until this chart, which is open
to examination, has received a closer study. New copies
of it are needed, which may more faithfully render the
coast names and minor details.
Further remarks on the map will be found in the notes
to this paper.* The great interest that attaches to it, in
our eyes, is the fact of its being the earliest known tracing
of our coast, as made from actual exploration.
The only account of Verrazano' s voyage left to us is in
the form of a letter, written from Dieppe, July 8, 1524, to
* See note, Verraeano Planitph&re.
Life and Voyages of Verrazano, 151
the French king, in which he gives a short and sketchy
report of his explorations, withont naming any points,
and in such general terms that many have doubted the
genuineness of the letter. It was not published in Prance,
but first appeared in Italian, in Venice, 1556, in the third
volume of the Collection of Voyages, edited by Ramusius,
which was prepared in 1553, but no document positively
confirming the letter has since been found.
No serious doubt, however, had ever been raised
impugning the truth of this letter until the late Bucking-
ham Smith attempted, in two critical articles, published
in 1864 and 1869, to disprove its genuineness.
Life and Voyages of Verrazano.
Geographers, as well as historians, meet with many
historical riddles. Even concerning Columbus, much
remains to be explained, and of the early voyages of
Sebastian Cabot just enough is known, in the lack of fur-
ther documentary evidence, to render the search for truth
almost hopeless. The voyages of Americus Vespucius
present a wide subject for controversy, and the few facts
concerning Verrazano, whose voyages more closely than
any other early navigator relate to our own coast, invite
the most searching criticism of geographers.
We have, in this case, to deal with an individual who
was known under two characters, as a privateer and as
an explorer. On this account we must treat of him in
each character separately, in order not to confuse the
narrative of his career. In later times, a Hawkins or a
Drake, a Cavendish or an Anson, united these opposite
occupations and were famed in both, but Verrazano' s
exploits as a corsair have been hitherto only alluded to
in scattered notices, and uncertainty rests on the time and
manner of his death. He was the first to show h6w the
growing power of Spain could be crippled, and Spain, in
return, has not honored his memory.
We have collected many detached notices of his core-
152 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
airial employments, and have endeavored to partly clear
up the mystery of his death.
Family of Verrazano.
The Verrazano family belonged to Florence, and our
navigator, according to Giuseppi Pelli,* was the son of
Pietro Andrea and Fiametta Capelli. From the letter of
Annibale Caro, quoted by Tiraboschi,t we learn that he
had a brother, probably Hieronimus or Jerome, who com-
posed the map before us. According to Prof. Geo. W.
Greene, the Cavaliere Andrea, the last one of the family
died at Florence in 1819.
Pelli supposes that Giovanni de Verrazano was born
after 1480. This date, together with the lact that he had
resided several years in Cairo and Syria, % form the sub-
stance of all that can be ascertained about him in Italy.
Engaged in the trade of spices, silks and the precious
commodities Of the east, which were slowly brought, after
numerous barters, to the ports of the eastern Mediterra-
nean, where vessels from the trading cities of Italy
awaited them, our navigator learned what a gain it would
be, if these necessary commodities could be procured by
a direct sea voyage to the Moluccas.
At what time he became a seafarer and on what seas
he sailed previous to the year 1521, we have no informa-
tion, unless we accept the vague indications contained in
Carli's letter. The late Buckingham Smith ascertained,
from Portuguese authorities, that he was in the East
Indies in 1517, probably making the voyage in a Portu-
guese vessel. Possibly, after an experience of some
years in the Mediterranean, the cradle of European nau-
tical enterprise, he may have entered the service of Spain,
who at that time was drawing soldiers and sailors from
every part of Europe, and in her service must have
* See note, Pelli, Elogio de Verrazano. f See note, Oaro.
J See note, OarW* letter.
Verrazano as a Corsajr. 153
learned the track followed by her vessels for trade or con-
quest to the West Indies.* Nay, he may himself have
sailed to the West Indies, as it seems he did with the
Portuguese to the Moluccas. The route to the latter by
the Cape of Good Hope, was discovered in his time, and
the quite recent oceanic discoveries of the Spaniards,
seeking the far east by the west, must have further
excited his ambition, and increased his desire to open a
still shorter water communication with Cathay and the
lands of the great Khan.
In 1521, Verrazano appears as a French corsair off the
southern shores of the Iberian peninsula, and thence-
forward Spanish historians make frequent mention of him
undivr the name of Juan Florin or Florentin, never, how-
ever, adding the surname Verrazano.
Verrazano as a Corsair.
As a corsair, his exploits have hitherto been known
only from a few passages in Barciaf and Herrera, while,
curiously enough, the letters and decades of Peter Mar-
tyr % and the history by Bernal Diaz, § which contain ,
dates and interesting details relating to these incidents,
seem to have been overlooked. The late Buckingham
Smith, who wrote several notices of him, and was engaged
upon another at the time of his death, was about to
explore this field.
A distinct reference to his predatory cruises against the
Spaniards is made by Juan himself, in the heading of his
letter to Francis the First, which identifies him with the
feared Juan Florentin, the corsair. |
We might otherwise hesitate to accept the fact, which
* See note, Routes to the Indies.
\Bnsayo Oronologieo para la Hist. gen. de la Florida. Madrid, 1728.
\Opus Bpistolarum, Compluti (Alcala), 1680, and Paris, 1670; Decades de
Orbe Now, Alcala, 1530. Paris, 1587. ■
§ Eistoria Verdadera, etc. Madrid, 1632.
| See Appendix, Identification of Florin as Verrazano.
154 Notes on the Verraza.no Map.
is stated by Barcia alone. Other Spanish authors, such
as Herrera, speak of the explorer Verrazano, as if he
were a distinct character. "
Soon after the gold-producing islands of the sea had
been discovered and made productive by the Spaniards,
corsairs of various nationalities began actively to dispute
the rich spoil of these new Indies with their grasping
conquerors. These corsairs watched the south-western
coasts of the peninsula, and no doubt many a rich capture
was made by them before Juan succeeded in his daring
project of lying in wait to seize the treasure- ships of
Cortes.
The first gold from Mexico, together with curious speci-
mens of the handicraft of the natives, collected by Juan
de Grijalva in 1518, was sent to Diego Velasquez, the
governor of Cuba, in charge of Pedro de Alvarado ; and
the king's share was received in Spain early in 1519.
The first treasure collected by Hernando Cortes, who
landed in Mexico in 1519, was despatched direct to Spain,*
the vessel sailing from Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, July 26,
1519, in charge of Alonzo Hernandez de Puertocarrero
and Francisco de Montejo, and arriving at San Lucar in
October, f after a short stoppage in Cuba.
The king, however, was at that time #in Flanders, and
the treasure was not presented to him until March, 1520,
at Tordesillas. % No doubt, the news of this rich arrival
was at once noised abroad, and led to the fitting out of
corsairs by France, in order to share in the golden harvests
of the Spaniards.
* The vessel was carried by Alaminos, her pilot, through the Florida chan-
nel (reconnoitered by him in 1518, while accompanying Ponce de Leon), in
order to avoid passing near Cuba. It was the first voyage to Spain made by
this route.
f See Peter Martyr's letter of December 2d, 1519.
J A more correct account, by an unknown hand, given in the Dowmentc*
Ineditos vol. i, 1842, p. 421, says that the first things sent by Cortes were
presented to the emperor, in Yalladolid, during holy week (April 1-6), 1520.
Verrazano as a Corsair. 155
Another consignment of gold from Hispaniola, accord-
ing to Peter Martyr,* fell into the hands of Juan Florentin
in 1521, being his first recorded capture of treasure.
Peter Martyr estimates the value of this prize at 80,000
ducats, besides a large quantity of pearls and sugar, f
As Cortes despatched his vessels directly home, with-
out permitting them to stop at any of the West India
islands, and as this vessel was from Hispaniola, it seems
certain that it was not sent by the conqueror of Mexico.
Barcia gives the same date, but the ship he speaks of was
taken in 15234 Bernal Diaz does not speak of this
vessel's capture, as it was not one sent by Cortes.
Herrera I gives, perhaps, the most reliable account of
the doings of the French corsairs in this year. He says
that these corsairs were cruising on the coasts of Anda-
lusia and the Algarves, watching for vessels from the
Indies. Pour or five vessels were therefore ordered to
be fitted out at the cost of the foreign merchants, and the
command of them was entrusted to Don Pedro Manrique,
brother of the Conde de Osorno. Two of them were com-
manded by Estevan Gomez and Alvaro de la Mesquita.
The first of these was a pilot under Magellan, and had
abandoned his commander October 8, 1520, when partly
through the strait, imprisoning Mesquita, his nephew,
captain of the San Antonio. They had reached Seville,
May 6th, 1521, and while awaiting the issue of their dis-
pute were thus ordered into service.
Just as they were about to sail, news was brought that
the French corsairs had taken two out of three caravels
coming from the Indies. The third, with the smaller
part of the treasure, was said to have escaped. It was
* See his letter of November 19, 1522, and decade v, chap. 8.
fSee notes, Martyr, Dec. v, chap. 8. His letter of March 6, 1521, men-
tions the arrival of a despatch, and speaks only of treasure expected.
t Bhuayo, 1728, page 8, see note, Bard*
| Dec. in, Lib. I, Cap. XIV, 1581
3
156 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
added that the corsairs were watching to make the cap-
ture of five expected Portuguese vessels.
A light vessel was therefore sent to the Azores to wan
these of the danger they were in, and the convoy then
started in pursuit of the corsairs. It found, on the 24th
of June, seven French vessels anchored under Cape St.
Vincent, which came out to meet it and gave battle.
The French retired at last, and were chased all night,
but in the morning turned on their pursuers. Manrique
got the wind of them, when they again fled, and were
chased forty leagues. He recaptured a prize loaded with
wheat, and another with artillery and arms, and took all
the small boats of the French.
Manrique returned to San Lucar to repair damages,
hastening matters by a forced levy on the merchants, as
he wished to join a Portuguese fleet, going to the islands
to convoy the vessels from Calcutta.
Having waited at the islands until August, it became
certain that the five ships would not arrive this year from
the east, so Manrique left the Portuguese fleet there, with
supplies for the expected vessels, and cruised on the
Spanish coast, having learned from a vessel plundered
near Gtolicia, that twenty-six corsairs had been seen in
one place and twenty in another.
It appears, therefore, that the French corsairs were
very active in this year, but Herrera does not mention
Florin as a commander of any of them. Martyr alone
names him, and we depend upon his authority only.
No captures of treasure-vessels are reported as having
been made after the month of May. No doubt the
treasure taken early in the year was at once sent home,
probably to La Rochelle, which appears to have been
the place where Juan had been fitted for the cruise.
The coast of Andalusia, between Gibraltar and Cadiz
is high and indented by wild and sterile valleys, then
almost uninhabited, and the pirates would lie there,
watching from the heights for approaching vessels, which,
Verrazano as a Corsair. 157
habitually sighted Gape Trafalgar on their return from
either of the Indies. On this account homeward-bound
vessels, about 1 524, were ordered to make for the port of
Corunna.*
During the rest of 1621, or in 1522, Verrazano may
have attempted the first voyage of discovery alluded to
in his letter to King Francis, but of this we shall speak
further on.
On this first cruise he says he had four vessels, and the
expression in the preamble to the letter, " that which had
been accomplished by the four ships" alludes, no doubt,
to the rich spoil he had taken from the Spaniards in 1521,
as well as to the attempt to sail to the north-west. This
supposition finds confirmation in the same heading of
the letter, where, in allusion to another cruise, the words
"what we did with this fleet of war " seem to refer to
his great capture of 1523. He was not making open war
on the Spaniards, and had, no doubt, been instructed to
conceal all mention of any aggressive acts toward them.
In 1522, he seems to have made an unsuccessful cruise,
at least if we can believe Viera, the historian of the
Canaries,! who, writing in 1772, seems to have neglected
the authors we have quoted, but derives his information
on the subject of Verrazano from the MS. history of Don
Pedro Augustin del Castillo, preserved in Teneriffe. In
this year, as he says, the governor of these islands, Pedro
Suares de Castilla, ordered a squadron of five small ves-
sels to seek for the corsair. It met him off the Punta de
Gando, with seven captured emigrant vessels, which he
had taken while on their way from Cadiz to the islands.
He was chased and forced to release his prizes, which
seem to have been of little value. Viera adds that he
betook himself to the Azores, and there captured two
treasure-ships of Cortes, but this occurred, as we shall
see, in 1523. It is uncertain whether he returned in 1522
* See notes, Martyr \ Dec. 8. I See notes, Viera.
158 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
to France, or remained in Spanish waters. Martyr,* in
1522, records a rumor that the French pirates had fifteen
ships, and that many of them were cast away on the
coast of Africa. This report may have been a garbled
version of the story told by Viera.
On the 15th of May, 1522, Cortes despatched his third
letter to the king, dating it from Cuyoacan, near Mexico,
after the capture of the capital. The consignment accom-
panying this letter comprised in treasure, jewels, rarities
and live animals, the most valuable collection hitherto
sent from the Western Indies to Spain. It included the
emperor9 s fifth, a present from Cortes and his men to the
monarch, and consignments to individuals. Two of the
three vessels bearing this precious freight were in charge
of Antonio de Quinones and Alonzo de Avila, Diego de
Ordaz and Alonzo de Mendoza, while Juan de Eibera, the
secretary of Cortes, was made the chief envoy, and
entrusted with the despatches and the presentation of the
imperial share of the treasure, borne on the third vessel, t
A glowing description of the treasure and curiosities can
be found in some detail in Martyr, Oviedo, Gromara,
Herrera and other Spanish historians.
According to Bernal Diaz, these vessels left Vera Cruz
on the 20th of December, 1522. This date is erroneous,
and although we do not know the exact day of their
departure, it was made, probably, in June, 1522. They
passed into the Atlantic through the channel of the
Bahamas, piloted, as before, by Antonio de Alaminos,
the discoverer of this passage.^ One notable event of the
voyage was the escape from its cage of a tiger, which
killed and wounded several sailors. The little fleet put
in at the Azores, where two of the vessels, fearing corsairs,
concluded to remain, and actually stayed, over the winter,
♦Dec. 5th, chap. 8.
t According to Martyr. Herrera, Dec. Ill, Lib. Ill, Cap. I, is confused on
the subject.
| See notes, €hdf of Mearico.
Verrazano as a Corsair, 159
but the third, bearing Juan de Bibera and a small part
of the treasure, continued the voyage and reached Spain
in safety. The treasure had been long expected, and
Peter Martyr says, iu a letter of July 14th, 1522, that the
vessels had been sighted off the coast, but this proved a
false report. In his letter of November 19th,* he speaks
of Juan de Bibera' s quite recent arrival. Tired of wait-
ing at the Azores, Diego de Ordaz and some others also
reached home safely, in a Portuguese vessel.
In 1523, | the Council of the Indies, either of its own
accord or acting on a decree of the emperor, had instructed
Capt. Domingo Alonzo to convoy a fleet of East Indian
bound vessels as far as the Canaries, \ and then repair to
the Azores, with his three caravels, and convoy the Mexi-
can vessels home. The rich convoy sailed from Santa
Maria, of the Azores, about the middle or end of May,
1523. It consisted of the three vessels of war, the two
treasure-ships of Cortes, and of another treasure-ship
from Espanola. When the fleet were just about to sight
Cape St. Vincent, and were thirty-five geographical miles
(ten Spanish leagues) from it, a fleet of six vessels was
descried coming to meet them. Probably they were mis-
taken for Spanish vessels, and were allowed to come
close aboard; at any rate, the strange fleet attacked them,
proving to be armed French corsairs, fitted out from La
Rochelle, and under the command of the dreaded Juan
Florin himself.
One of the Spanish caravels took to flight ; the others
fought bravely, but were overcome and .forced to surren-
der with their convoy, Antonio de. Quinones being killed
during the action. § The date of the capture is not given,
* See notes, Martyr, Contarini.
t See notes, Martyr, Dec. VII, Cap. IV; and also Cortes de VaUadoHd, 1523.
% These were the first Spanish trading-vessels bound there, the Vittoria,
under Sebastian del Cano, haying returned a few months before, viz., Sep-
tember 6th, 1522.
§See note, Htrrera, 1528.
160 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
but Martyr's letter concerning it was written June 11th,
1523, and Contarini' s on the 7th, probably within a week
of its occurrence.* Curiously enough, there is no distinct
mention of it in the decades of Peter Martyr, though he
speaks of it in 1525 as an event that happened three years
before. The two treasure-ships were taken, and Herrera
and Gtomara include the ship from Espanola, also. With
this great prize, perhaps the largest made up to that time,
and with Davila a prisoner, Florin got safely home to
La Rochelle. Davila was kept a prisoner there for three
years. A portion of the treasure was laid at the feet of
Francis the First.
Charles felt the loss deeply, and soon afterward issued
a second order, f of wider application than the first one of
1523, and the Council ot the Indies thereupon ordered
that all homeward-bound vessels should rendezvous at
Hispaniola, in order to be convoyed safely home. Conta-
rini says, that he ordered pursuit to be made from several
ports, offering the pursuers one-half of the treasure if it
could be ivcaptured4
The disappointment of Hernan Cortes, when he learned
of this loss, may be imagined, but drawing a lesson from
experience, he took measures also, in order to avoid such
mishaps in the future.
The Spaniards complained bitterly of these depreda-
tions, committed by vessels countenanced and perhaps
sent out by a friendly sovereign, but. the neutrality obli-
gations of those days were almost as lax as those of some
modern maritime powers. The Greeks, Moors and Nor-
mans had been leading piratical nations, and the Norse
taste for predatory expeditions developed the race of
buccaneers, which inflicted so much loss and damage on
the Spaniards in the seventeenth century. The jealous
* See note, Martyr, Contarini; see Oviedp, for an estimate of the value of
the capture,
f See Cortes de Toledo, 1525, and Herrera, Dec. Ill, Lib. VII, Cap. IV.
\ See note, Contarini,
Verrazano as a Corsair. 161
colonial policy of Spain encouraged in other nations a
desire to partake in the rich harvest, and in the end,
impoverished her. Had the colonies been thrown open
to foreign settlement and to a trade at least partially
free, instead of being treated as they were, as part of the
royal patrimony, a widely different result would have
ensued.
Verrazano, who probably reaped a large share of the
treasure and spoils derived from this capture, was again
fitted out with a stronger fleet than before, and, accord-
ing to Barcia, who is not always reliable in his accounts,
made innumerable prizes in Spanish waters. He may
have made another piratical trip in 1523, but if so, there
is no particular mention of him in connection with it.
Herrera says, that Pedro de Manrique was sent out,
probably after the decree of 1523 had been issued, with
a strong fleet of five vessels to convoy, from the Azores,
five vessels from Puerto de la Angra, in the island of Ter-
ceira, known as the Armada de Averias,* and carrying
an immense treasure of gold, pearls, sugar, etc. This
was brought safely to Seville, and half the treasure was
borrowed by the emperor to pay for the outfit of his army
against Francis the First, f Perhaps Verrazano had
watched the armament of Manrique, and finding it too
strong to be attacked, resolved to make a second attempt
at exploration, refitting in Madeira, and starting with
the Dauphine alone early in 1524.
After his return from this last voyage, under date of
July 8th, 1524, he writes to the French king, reporting
what he had accomplished, and seems to have repaired
to court % in August, the king being at Lyons. We
incline, however, to the opinion that he made other and
successful piratical expeditions to his previous field of
•One fitted out by the custom-house authorities,
t Herrera, Dec. Ill, Lib. IV, Cap. XXI.
J He was expected there, according to Fernando Carlis' letter, first pub-
lished in 1853: see notes.
11
162 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
adventure. The story that ie was taken and hung in
this year has been told by two Spanish chroniclers, but
it cannot easily be maintained in the face of recorded
facts to the contrary, which we shall presently bring for-
ward.
We learn by a letter of Peter Martyr, dated August 4,
1524,* that Florinus had captured, but a short time before
this date, a richly laden Portuguese ship, bringing from
the Indies a freight valued at 180,000 ducats. If this
prize was taken at this date by Verrazano, he must have
fitted out for the cruise in great haste, if we are to accept
the date of his letter of July 8th from Dieppe as a true
one. Martyr was, no doubt, using Florin' s name in this
case without proper authority.
The Council of the Indies, acting on the royal decree
of 1523, fitted out some well-armed Biscayan vessels,
which encountered and captured, in 1524, a piratical
French fleet, and the pirates were taken to Seville to be
tried. That pirates were taken is probable, but that
Florinus was taken with them, as stated by Bernal Diaz
and De Barcia, f seems unlikely. Viera does not speak
of such a capture, but as he writes only of the Canaries,
he may have omitted any reference to it, as not being
within his subject-matter. Herrera, the most reliable
authority, is also silent about the matter, which in an
author otherwise so minute and careful, is significant
Peter Martyr, too, so very communicative on all such
matters, says nothing about the capture and hanging of
French pirates. The only authors who mention such a
capture, and who name Florinus as the captain of the
pirates, are the ones above mentioned.
The first of these, Bernal Diaz, says that the pirates
were taken to Seville, and that Florinus, with other pirate
captains, was forwarded to Madrid, but that the king sent
an order to hang them on the spot, and Diaz adds that
* See note, Martyr. f See notes, Bernal Diaz and De Barcia.
Verrazano as a Corsair. 163
the hanging took place in the Puerto del Pico. This port
is on one of the Azores of the same name, and opposite
Fayal, where criminals had from a very old date been
hung, and until quite recently was still the scene of such
executions. Bernal Diaz did not, perhaps, know that
Pico was a small mountain village on the road to Madrid,
and naturally made the above mistake. He, however,
was in Mexico at the time, and his authority, in regard to
the identification of Florinus with the person hung as
leader of the pirates, is not of great weight.
The only other authority for the same facts is Gonzales
de Barcia, who, writing in 1723 in his Ensayo de Florida*
under the year 1534, says that four Biscayan vessels took
Florinus and carried him to Seville, with his companions.
He adds that they were sent, or were about to be sent, to
Madrid, but that to satisfy an influential and angry clamor
he was hung in the Puerto del Pico, together with the
other pirate captains. Barcia, who seems to have copied
Bernal Diaz and made his confusion still worse, seems to
have made another mistake, for it is improbable that the
corsair chiefs, once in Seville, should have been sent to
the Azores for execution.
The late Buckingham Smith assured us that he had
been to the village of Pico, and "that he had seen and
copied the order for the execution. Unluckily, as he
stated, the order, signed by the king, was given at Lerma,
where the court then was, but bore no date. These docu-
ments of Mr. Smith, which are soon to be published, and
to which, on that account, access has been denied us,
would prove that some pirates were executed at Pico,
while the king was at Lerma ; but the name Florinus,
even if it appears in the judge's order, would not prove
that the career of the corsair ended here.
Notwithstanding such evidence, we hazard the conjec-
ture that the indignant Spaniards did not get hold of the
right man, but that either they assumed they had him (for
it seems that the commander in question had never been
164 Notes on the Verraza.no Map.
seen by the Spaniards), or that the chief so mentioned
was a delegate or lieutenant, perhaps a relative, of our
herb, commanding his vessels while he was on his explor-
ing voyage or attending the king. This is not an improb-
able explanation of what appear to be contradictory
statements, for we have very strong and positive testi-
mony that our navigator was alive after the year 1524.
Upon comparing the accounts left us by these two
authors, it is almost certain that the last copied the first
in most of the particulars relating to Juan florin; and if
so, the reported death of the corsair at the hands of the
Spaniards must be taken as founded on hearsay only.
We learn from Peter Martyr that the French corsairs
were actively and successfully cruising for Spanish prises
in 1525,* but he does not again name Florinus as one of
their commanders. A French document of 1526-7, to be
spoken of presently, would seem to show that Verrazano
was still disposed to pick up a prize, if possible, and
perhaps he did so, but this is merely conjecture. Let
us however proceed to that part of his career which more
nearly concerns us, namely his voyage to the American
coast in 1524.
Verrazano' s Voyage to America.
We shall now speak of our navigator in his character
of explorer, though he is only known as such by a letter
addressed to Francis the First, just after his return from
a voyage across the western sea. That other papers con-
cerning this voyage were written, we know from the state-
ment of Verrazano himself, and from Ramusius, but
these papers are not now to be found. The letter to
King Francis, dated at Dieppe, July 8th, 1524, proposes
to give an outline only of his doings as an explorer. By
a singular chance, this letter or a copy of it, found its
way to Florence, the home of its author, and the diligent
•See notes, Martyr, Dec. VIII, Cap. IX.
Verrazano's Voyage to America. 165
•
Ramusio, or as he Latinized his name, Ramusius or
Rhamnusius, secured it for the third volume of his col-
lection of voyages and travels (published in 1556), and
prefaced it with a eulogy of the navigator. Without
omitting anything of importance, Ramusius, as it will be
seen, has amended the style of the original letter.
Were it not for this narrative, thus saved from oblivion
by the Italian geographer, the name of Verrazano would
have been an enigma to after ages ; for the meagre notices
of him elsewhere found, would have afforded little to
gratify curiosity. For three hundred years this letter
was the only document attesting the fact of his voyage,
and it seemed hopeless to expect that any chart, authen-
ticating it,though such an one had been seen by the English
geographer, Hakluyt, in 1582, should have been preserved
to our times.
The letter of the Florentine, as it first appeared in 1556,
unaccompanied by any confirmatory document, might
well appear to be of doubtful authenticity. Such a letter
might easily have been composed, either from oral or
written information, by a clever writer familiar with the
general results of the voyage of Estevan Gomez, in 1525,
and it would of course be antedated, in order to establish
a French claim to the hitherto unknown coast, from lat.
30° to 45° N, one thousand geographical miles in extent ;
from Florida to Bacalaos. No doubts of this kind, how-
ever, appear to have been raised, perhaps because Verra-
zano and his voyage were too well known at the time, to
permit such doubts to be entertained. The exploration
is confidently spoken of by Pierre Orignon, in 1539,* as
having been made fifteen years before this date. Ramu-
sius publishes Crignon's Memoir in 1556, f in the same
volume which contains the. Florentine's letter and no
doubt was ever raised against the voyage until recently.
A map similar to the one described below, seems to have
* See notes, EskmceUn. \ See notes, Bamuriw.
166 NOTES ON THE VERRAZANO MAP.
been generally known to geographers about 1530, for the
great western sea, which is depicted on the map found in
Rome, appears on oharts after that date, and the name
New France was given to our coasts, by all except Span-
ish geographers,* even before Car-tier's voyage of 1534,
and before the third volume of Ramusins was published.
Verrazano wap probably familiar with all previous
explorations of the New World, inoluding the recent
return of Magellan's last vessel, and had learned also
that the only unexplored gap in the line of the new con-
fluent was comprised within eertain limits, say from lati-
tude 84° to 45° North. The avowed object of his voyage
was, therefore, the discovery of a strait or passage within
these parallels, to Cathay and the Spice Islands, shorter
than the one discovered by Magellan in the far south.
Finding the New World as a great barrier to the
approach of the rich East, and realising after the dis-
covery in 1513 by Vasco Nufiez de Balboa of the South
Sea, near Panama, and the long voyage across it by
Magellan in 1521, that Asia was not connected with
America, within the tropics, the Spaniards had almost
abandoned the search for a nearer passage by sea to the
Moluccas, Cipango and Cathay. Just at this time, Verra-
zano made his adventurous voyage, unsuccessful as to its
primary object, but most interesting to Americans, as the
first account of our coast by a European.
A close and critical analysis of this letter has not
yet been made. The late Buckingham Smith doubted its
authenticity, and sought to prove, from the letter itself,
as also by contemporaneous evidence recently brought to
light, that it was fictitious, and was probably composed
by some Italian, anxious to heap laurels on the brows of
his countrymen. Mr. Smith's "Inquiry" of 1864, is
ingenious but not exhaustive, f Shortly after its appear-
*See Munster's Ptolemy of 1530, and other maps given by Kohl; Maine
Hist. Soc., PI. XIII-XV. Also notes, Maps after V&rrasano.
f See notes, B. Smith.
Verrazano's Voyage to America. 167
ance, he learned that a map by Jerome Verrazano
was preserved in Rome. In 1866, he published some
remarks on M. Thomassy' s account of it, still doubting
whether it would serve to prove the genuineness of the
letter. His idea of the original map seems to have been
that it was on a very small scale, for he translates the
modern label "carta pecora" (parchment map) as
"small map.99 He endeavored, but in vain, to procure
a copy of it, though, had he been successful, his opinions
would have been materially altered.
Dr. J. Gh Kohl, the most able comparative geographer
of our day, has also examined the letter,* and finds no
reason to reject it. He examines the narrative closely,
presenting his views concerning the exploration, which
are entitled to great consideration, although he had also
been unable to procure a copy of the chart now before us
to compare with the letter.
If the letter of 1534 had been fictitious, and had been
written with the intention of supporting a prior claim by
the French monarch, it would have been heralded forth
and great efforts would have been made to circulate it as
widely as the despatches of Cortes, which appeared about
that time. Documents giving the instructions or patent
to the explorer would have accompanied this manifesta-
tion, and a map would have been given or spoken of as a
proof of the actual exploration. It may be urged that
the disasters which overtook France, and the capture of
the king, prevented this publication, but these being past,
no attempt was made to wrest from the Spaniards the
claim acquired by the voyage of Gomez. The main
object of the voyage, besides the discovery of a strait or
passage to the Indies, was, no doubt, the further hope of
finding another Mexico to conquer and plunder.
Disappointed at the poor results of the voyage, the
French gave it no further thought, and similar indiffer-
* Op. cit., p. 248-70 and p. 290, note; also in notes.
168 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
enoe attended the Spanish voyage of Gomez. These
explorers brought home no gold, and reported but little
that was inviting to Europeans. The notion that the pre-
cious metals were only to be sought for under the tropics
was deeply rooted in the minds of men of that day, and
the failure of the Cabots and Cortereals to discover rich
countries in the north caused these early explorations to
be neglected.
The learned and painstaking Italian editor, in his pre-
fatory remarks to the letter, * expresses most distinctly
his belief in the person and exploit of Verrazano, saying
that he had received from many persons who knew him,
the views entertained by the explorer respecting further
voyages to be made to these coasts for settlement and
discovery. Ramusius also had seen or heard of other
letters, which he says were then lost, apparently stating
it as a fact known to others besides himself. Pierre Crig-
non, writing in 1539, speaks of the voyage as having been
made fifteen years before, without having, apparently,
any knowledge of the letter to the king, first printed in
1556.
Hakluyt is another witness to the truth of the voyage,
though of a much later date ; but his statement is very
explicit, and confirms the fact that Verrazano had pre-
pared a map, which he had seen. In another memoir of
Hakluyt, which is about to be published by the Maine
Historical Society, this map is again spoken of.f
The existence of Verrazano, and of a map prepared by
himself or by his direction, is thus put beyond doubt,
and it will hardly be necessary to refute the arguments
of the late Buckingham Smith in greater detail. %
Sir Humphrey Gilbert* who was a diligent collector of
charts in support of his views respecting a north-west
passage, makes, however, no mention of Verrazano9 s map
*
* See notes, Bamusius. f See notes, HakfayL
% See notes, B. Smith.
Vmrbazanc?8 Voyage to Amebic a. 169
either in his discourse or map of 1566, although he speaks
of the voyage as an accomplished fact.
This map, prepared, most probably, by Juan himself,
(for his brother or relative Jerome is nowhere named by
Haklnyt), was, no doubt, a duplicate of the one which he
must have sent to the French monarch. It is nowhere
stated that Juan was in England, and the story told by
Hakluyt of his having made offers of discovering new
lands to Henry the Eighth, has, so far, not a document to
support it, though such an one may yet be found.
Who this Hieronimus di Verrazano, designer of the
map now before us, could be, is uncertain. He is not
mentioned anywhere, unless the allusion to Giovanni's
brother, in Garo's letter, may have reference to him.
Researches made in the proper quarter may explain his
connection with the navigator. Possibly, he had accom-
panied his relative on the exploring voyage. He must
have been an experienced cartographer, for his work is
quite equal to anything of the kind at that date, and
duplicates of it may yet be found.
We shall not attempt to criticise this newly revealed
.Mapamundi in detail. Any study of its general construc-
tion, and of its merits, would carry us too far away from
the main point' of interest to us, namely, its representation
of our coasts as explored by Juan, in 1524, being the
earliest authentic representation of them hitherto found.
The letter in question is given in the Collections of the
New York Historical Society, Vol. I, New Series, 1841,
with a translation of it, prepared by the late J. GK Cogs-
well. This translation was made from a manuscript copy
which had been procured by Mr. GK W. Greene, in 1837,
in Florence. Tiraboschi, in his History of Italian litera-
ture, Yol. VII, page 261, had mentioned this text, and
also a cosmographical treatise by Verrazano, as preserved
in the Strozzi library in Florence. The Hon. Gteorge
Bancroft drew attention to this notice in his History of
the United States, Vol. I, page 20.
170 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Mr. Greene, then U. S. Consul in Tuscany, found the
MS. in the Magliabecchian library, which shared with
the Laurentian, the old Strozzi collection, the former
library receiving all the historical documents. The MS.
is contained in a volume of miscellanies, marked class
XIII, Cod. 89, Verraz. The letter and the appendix, Mr
Greene says, are " written in the common running hand
of the sixteenth century, tolerably distinct, but badly
pointed," and the rest of the volume, containing miscel-
laneous pieces, chiefly relating to contemporary history,
is evidently the work of the same hand.
The text, however, although the same in substance,
was found in point of style to be quite different from that
given by Bamusius, who appears to have " worked the
whole piece over anew," correcting and improving the
sailor's rough language. The manuscript was fall of
Latinisms and barbarous forms intermixed with pure Tus-
. can. The appendix, not given by Ramusius, " does not
appear to be free from errors, some of which may be
ascribed to the copyist"
It is not known whether the letter was first written in
French or Italian. The subscription is a Latinized name,,
but it could hardly have been written in Latin. Nor is
the original mentioned anywhere by any immediate
cotemporary but the one to whom its preservation is due.
This letter is followed, in the Strozzi volume, by the let-
ter of a young Florentine, Fernando Carli, addressed from
Lyons to his father in Florence, portions of which we
give in the appendix.
Carli was in Lyons when the letter reached the King,
and it seems to have been circulated and talked about.
Carli, who appears to have had a taste for the sea, and
who had before given accounts of the doings of a fleet
fitted out to pursue Moorish pirates, saw the letter, and
writes August 4th, 1524, to his father, about Verrazano' 8
voyage, which he knew would interest the Florentines as
compatriots of the explorer. He says that he has added
Verrazano* 8 Voyage to America. 171
a copy of Yerrazano's letter to his own, and Mr. Greene
thinks that these were circulated and copied in Flor-
ence ; the Strozzi manuscript being probably one of these
copies.
Carli' s letter, however, was not published Until 1853,
when it appeared in the Archivo Storico Italiano, etc.,
Tome IX, Firenze. Mr. Buckingham Smith had it trans-
lated for his paper, read before the New York Historical
Society, October 4, 1864, in the printed copy of which
both texts of it are given. Mr. .Smith treats this letter as
a fiction, simply because it does not allude to any other
event besides this voyage, which fact we consider to be
the best proof of its genuineness. In fact Carli says that
he has written about other news before.
As a confirmation of Yerrazano's letter, .we give Mr.
Smith's version of Carli' s letter, slightly corrected, in
the appendix. It will be noticed that a distinct allusion
is made to the cosmographical portion of Yerrazano's
letter. The mention of a disastrous beginning of the
voyage, is owing to his confounding the first attempt
with the second one. Near the close, he gives a clue to
the fate of one of the two vessels, which from Verra-
zano's letter, might be supposed to have been lost.
Ramusius found them in Florence, and copied the Verra-
zano letter only, omitting the cosmographical appendix
and Carli' s letter.
Mr. Greene, in his article on Verrazano, which appeared
in the October number of the North American Hevieto,
and in his Historical Studies, which we have freely used
in this memoir, mentions the researches made by himself
elsewhere in Florence, in order to glean some facts con-
cerning Verrazano, but that none were found. An
examination of the family library, left by the last of the
race, then recently deceased, had been made by an Italian
bibliographer, who stated that he had found nothing
about Giovanni, except "a manuscript bound up in the
family copy of Ramusius, and a few loose papers. These
172 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
last added nothing to what was already known. The
former was purchased by Capt. Napier, R. N., and is
now in England.' 9 Mr. Greene presumes that the MS. in
in the bound volume, was the cosmographical appendix,
or perhaps a copy of the same text as the one in the
Magliabecchian library. He expresses a wish that Capt.
Napier would publish it, if it should prove to contain
anything not hitherto printed. As this has not been
done, it is to be supposed that the surmise of Mr. Greene
was correct.
Let us first take up the heading of the letter, which we
translate, giving also the original texts of it, both from
Ramusius, and as published by Mr. Greene, in a note to
his paper above quoted.* The text as given in the New
York Historical Society Collections, varies slightly from
it. Paraphrasing it afterwards, according to our sense
of its meaning, is, perhaps, the readiest way of criticis-
ing it.
"The Capt. Giovanni da Verrazano, Florentine from Nor-
mandy to the most serene orown of France, says:
" After the luck met with on the Northern coasts, most serene
Lord, I did not write to your most serene and most Christian
Majesty, about that which had been accomplished by the four
ships, which it had ordered on the ocean to discover new lands,
thinking that it would have been kept informed of all, how by
the impetuous force of the winds we were constrained, with only
the ships Normanda and Dalfina damaged, to run bax5k to Brit-
tany, where refitted, your sacred Majesty must have received
the report of what we did with this fleet of war along the coasts
of Spain, afterwards the new plan to pursue the first navigation
with the Dalfina only, from which being returned, I will give an
account to your sacred Majesty of what we have found."
Verrazano was not a ready penman and had neglected
making any direct report to the King before this one, an
* See note, Heading qf Letter.
VkrrazancPs Voyage to Amerjca. 173
omission, or neglect which he seeks to excuse or palliate
in the above awkward manner. We now offer a para-
phrase of this heading, as explained by what we have
gathered together in the earlier part of this paper.
We made a first attempt at discovery (no date given,
but probably 1522) with four ships, but were driven back
by storms. The two ships If ormande and Dauphine, ran
back to Brittany (probably to Brest) damaged, where we
refitted. (He does not speak of the fate of the two
others, but as Garli states that a certain Brunelleschi
turned back at the first untoward obstacle they encoun-
tered, it is probable that both came back safely.) I did
not write about the ill-success of this voyage, knowing
that you had been otherwise informed about it. After
refitting and gathering a fleet of armed vessels, we cruised
in Spanish waters and made prizes, as you well know.
(He refers no doubt to his capture in May, 1523, of one
of the treasure-ships of Cortes.) I then determined to
sail from the Desiertas direct, with the Dauphine alone,
(this was in the spring of 1524), and have now just
returned from this voyage, &c.
Yerrazano, as we have seen, was generally in the
Spanish waters from May to November in the three con-
secutive years 1521, 1522 and 1523. As we have shown
in the first part of this paper, he captured a vessel with
a large amount of gold early in the year 1521. In 1522
he cruised near the Canaries, according to Viera, and was
driven thence toward the Azores, and brought home no
prizes. Perhaps, after taking some months to refit, he
sailed on his first exploring voyage late in one of these
years, which would account for his ill-success and return
in distress early in 1523. We know that in May or June,
1523, he captured the best of the three treasure- vessels
sent out by Cortes in that year. He then may have sent
his prize, with other vessels home, and sailed January
17th, 1524, on his voyage to our coasts, the account of
which is contained in the letter. It is hardly possible, as
174 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
suggested by Dr. Kohl, that he could have made the first
voyage in the autumn of 1523, and made another just
after it, in 1524.
We now give translated extracts of the most important
passages of the letter, omitting the long accounts of the
natives and selecting those which bear directly on the
exploration of the coast. In doing this we have found
it necessary to make a new translation, which is more
literal than the one given in 1841, and which we believe
to be a more strictly accurate rendering of the original.
Verrazawo's Exploration op the American Coast.
1. From the Desiertas rocks, near the Island of Madeira
of his serene Majesty the King of Portugal, with the said
Dauphine, on the 17th of the last month of January, with
fifty men, furnished with victuals, arms and other warlike
instruments, and naval ammunition, for eight months,
we started, sailing westward with an easterly wind, blow-
ing with gentle and moderate lightness.
1. 1524 was Bissextile.
The true date was January 27th, new style.
The Desiertas are in latitude 32 deg. 30 min., long. 16 deg. 30
miii., thirteen miles £. S. E. from Madeira.
Appears to have sailed for over three weeks with the north
trade-winds.
2. In twenty-five [ 27 % ] days we ran 800 leagues, and on
the 14th of February we encountered a tempest as severe
as any one that sails ever experienced, from which, with
divine aid and goodness, and to the praise of the glorious
name ( of the ship % ), which, fortunately, was able to stand
the violent billows of the sea, we were delivered, and
resumed our navigation, continuing towards the west,
inclining somewhat to the north, and in twenty-five [21 ?]
days more we ran 400 leagues, when there appeared a
new land never seen by ancient or modern.
Exploration of the American Coast. 175
2. He changed his course to W. N. W. in about long. 56 cleg.
W., and must have passed well north of the Bermudas,* which
appear to have- been unknown to him, although they were known
to the Spaniards long before, for they appear on the map in Peter
Martyr's works in 1511. He well knew the extent of the Spanish
and French explorations, and is confirmed in his statement by
Hen-era, who says that no Spanish vessel had been along this coast
before the voyage of Gomez, in 1525.
3. It showed itself somewhat low at first, but on
approaching it, within a quarter of a league, we knew by
the great fires which they were making on the coast that
it was inhabited. We examined it, running to the south,
seeking to find some port in it where we could anchor the
ship to investigate its nature.
3. Drifted northwardly by the Gulf Stream, of which he seems
also to have been ignorant, his course must have been almost N.
W. after the storm, and he could not possibly, as he claims, have
made land in latitude 34 deg., but must have struck it about 39
deg. 30 min:, off Little Eggharbor beach. 4
He sighted land about March 6th, O. S. The fires were made
by the Indians, who then flocked to the shore in the spring, to
feast on shell-fish and manufacture shell money. His most south-
erly point after this vas in 39 deg. 5 min., for if he had made
his landfall in a lower latitude he would have seen and placed on
his chart the great gulfs, known as Delaware and Chesapeake
bays. Of these there is no trace on the map.
His most southerly point must have been, therefore, in 39 deg.
05 min., a few miles north of Cape May. He says nothing about
the great inland or western sea depicted on his map, separated
by a narrow isthmus from the Atlantic, and near which is the
inscription given elsewhere.
He may have learned from the Indians that there was a great
sea to the west (the Delaware), or his sailors may have sighted
what they took to be such from the mastheads.
4. For the space of fifty leagues we could not find a
suitable port of any kind where we could safely stay, and
* See note, Examination of the Voyage.
176 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
seeing that the land continued ascending (scendeva)
towards the south, we determined to turn and examine it
towards the north, where we found the same [difficulty]
in landing on the coast. Ordering a boat to land, we saw
a number of people, who came to the shore of the sea,
and who fled as we approached, sometimes stopping and
turning around, gazing with much admiration ; but reas-
suring them with various signs, some of them came near,
showing great pleasure on looking at the wonders of our
dress and figure and white complexions, making divers
signals (to show) where the boat could most easily land,
and offering us their food. We could not learn many
details concerning their customs on account of the short
stay which we made on shore, and the distance (of the
ship) from the shore.
We found, not far from these, other people whosp mode
of life we thought to be the same, and the shore was
covered with fine sand fifteen feet high, extending in the
shape of small hills some fifty paces broad.
4. The description of the coast applies very exactly to the
shores of New Jersey. Hudson, in 1609, describes it in almost
the same terms, and saw so many fires, even in September, that
he called one of the inlets Bamende gat, now Barnegat.
His vivid and flattering description of the country and of its
forests is exaggerated, in order to heighten the value of his dis-
covery. But few trees in leaf could have been observed as early
as March. The earliest flowering tree is the dogwood or Cornus
floriday which opens about May 10th. .
5. Then ascending we found some arms of the sea which
entered through some inlets washing the shore on one and
the other side, as the coasts run. (Poi ascendendo si
trovana alcuni bracci di mare che entrano per alcune
foci rigando il lita dall una all. altra parte come corre il
lito de quello. [This should, perhaps, read " channelling
the beach from side to side as the coast runs. " ] When
near by, the land shows itself broad, and so high that it
rises above the sandy coast, with fine landscapes and a
Exploration of the American Coast. 177
country full of very great forests, partly open and partly
dense, dressed in various colored trees of as great a size
and agreeable appearance as it is possible to express.
5. This is the only description in the letter that we believe can
be applied to the harbor of New York. He probably anchored
outside of Sandy Hook or in the outer harbor, and saw Shrews-
bury river, the Kills, and the Narrows, observed the bar and
rapid tides, thus satisfying himself, without penetrating to the
inner bay, that there was no strait here leading to the South sea.
The expression " washing the shores on both sides as the coasts
run " would apply to several parts of these coasts, but taken in
connection with the " several arms of the sea" it applies especially
to the two long sandy spits known as Sandy Hook and Coney
Island, which form the entrance of New York harbor.
His mention of land rising inland makes it almost certain that
he was in New York harbor. No such feature is seen south of it.
He would have in view from his anchorage, Long Island, rising to
about 100 feet, Staten Island to 307, and the Navesink Highlands
232 feet, these last being close to the shore.
6. It [the land] has many lakes and ponds of living
water, with numerous kinds of birds adapted to all the
pleasures of the chase. This land is in 34°, the air
wholesome, pure, and tempered as to cold and heat.
The winds do not blow fiercely in these regions, and those
which prevail most are north-west and west.
During the summer season in which we were there, the
sky is clear, with little rain ; and when sometimes the
southern winds bring in suddenly some fog or mists, they
do not last, and are dispersed, it becoming pure and clear.
The sea is gentle and not boisterous, its waves being
gentle. Although all the coast is low and devoid of ports,
it is not dangerous to navigators, being all clear and with-
out any rock. The depth, as near as four or five paces
from the shore, at high or low water, is twenty feet,
increasing with such uniform proportion to the depths of
the sea, with such good holding ground, that any ship,
however tossed by a tempest in those parts, cannot perish.
12
178 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
provided the cable does not break, and this we have
proved by experience. This we positively tested, for in
the beginning of March, the winds blowing with great
force, as in other regions, we were riding with the ship on
the open sea, and found that the anchor must break before
it would drag or make any movement.
6. This paragraph in the letter, including a part not here
given, forms a reaumdoi all that he had observed up to this time,
with general remarks that apply to the whole of our coast.
Notices, the prevalent north-west winds, a peculiar feature
in our climate. Also the absence of fogs, the absence of all out-
lying rocks, and the good anchorage along the coast, with the
shelving bottom. He exaggerates, however, the boldness of the
coast, as forty or fifty paces would be the nearest distance for
such a depth as he notes. This may be due to an error of the
copyist. He could hardly have invented the combination of all
these features, so different from any part of the European shores.
Comparing the narrative with the chart, it will be seen that
there is an indentation of the coast which is, no doubt, meant to
indicate New York harbor, for the trend of the coast here
changes, as represented on the map and described in the letter.
7. We started from this place, continuing to run along
the coast, which we found turning to the west [east],
observing along the whole of it great fires from the num-
ber of its inhabitants. Approaching the shore to get
water, there being no port, we ordered the boat on shore
with twenty-five men [ a large boat ? ]. On account of the
very heavy surf beating on the shore, which was quite
exposed, it was not possible, without peril of losing the
boat, for any one to put foot on shore. We saw many
people coming to the shore making various friendly signs,
pointing out where we might land.
7. Leaving New York harbor, he finds the coast running vest
(evidently a mistake for east), and runs down the south shore of
Long Island. There are but three or four practicable inlets along
this coast, and they are not readily discovered when a few miles
at sea.
j
Exploration of the American Coast. 179
Long Island, and particularly Rockaway bay, was a great
resort for the purpose of manufacturing wampum or seawan,
the money currency of the natives. Numerous shell beds
line the shores of the bay where the manufacture was carried
on. The incident related here probably happened on Rock-
away beach, where the land meets the narrow and barren outer
sand-bar, which for over seventy miles separates the ocean from
the bay or lagoons behind it. It must have happened at some
point where there is no outer beach.
8. Leaving here, and always following the shore, which
turned towards the north (meaning somewhat to the north),
we came, in the space of fifty leagues, to another land
which seemed very beautiful, and full of the largest for-
ests. Landing on it, twenty men went about two leagues
into the land, and found that the people, from fear, had
fled into the woods. We saw many of their boats, made
from a single log twenty feet long and four feet wide,
which are manufactured without [the help of] iron or
stone, or any kind of metal, for in the space of the whole
200 leagues which we had coasted of this land, no stone
of any kind was seen by us. By the aid of the fourth
element they take out enough wood to serve for the hollow
of the boat, and do the same for the bow and stern, so
that in navigating it may cut the water.
The land, as to site, richness and beauty is like the
other, full of forests of various kinds of woods, but not
so odoriferous, from being more northerly and colder.
8. The south coast of Long Island has a general trend to the .
E. N. £., and there is but one conspicuous inlet (Fire Island inlet)
along its whole extent of 115 geographical miles. The first third
of the island lies nearly east find west, the rest turning to about
E. N. E. by N*. Thus his course, first east and then north, may
be understood as applying to Long Island. By the expression
u stretched to the north," he means that the land was to the north
of him. He appears to have landed again near Quogue or Bridge-
hampton. His remark that this is another land, distinguishes
Long Island from New Jersey distinctly.
180 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
9. After remaining in this land three days, riding on
the coast, from the paucity of harbors, we resolved to
depart, running always along the coast, between north
and east, and only sailing [by day] and dropping anchor
at night.
9. The navigator certainly repeats himself here, that is, writing
carelessly or hurriedly, and having made digressions, he means
that after leaving either New York harbor or the Rockaway
shore he sailed rather more to the N. £.
10. At the end of a hundred leagues, we found a very
pleasant site placed among some small rising hills, in the
midst of which there ran towards the sea a very large
river, which was deep at its mouth, and from the sea to
the hills there, on the flood tide, which we found eight
feet [rise], there might have passed ships of any burthen.
Being, however, anchored on the coast in a good berth,
we did not wish to venture in without a knowlege of the
entrance. We proceeded with a boat to enter the river
and land, which we found very populous, and the people
much like the others, dressed with birds' feathers of divers
colors. They came towards us joyfully, emitting very
great shouts of admiration, showing us where, with the
boat, it was safest to land. We ascended the said river
into the land about half a league, where we saw a tine
lake about three leagues in circuit, through which there
were passing from shore to shore about thirty of their
boats, with numbers of people who were crossing over to
see us. In a moment, as often happens in navigating, a
violent contrary wind from the sea blowing up, we were
forced to return to the ship, leaving the said land with
much regret, considering that from its convenience and
pleasant aspect it could not but have some valuable
quality, as all the hills there showed minerals.
10. Passing around Montauk point, the easterly extremity of
Long Island, he would find a great contrast awaiting him, for
whereas he had hitherto sailed along a sandy coast without rocks,
Exploration or the American Coast. 181
and, excepting New York, with only low hills in the distance, he
now would find in front of him the rocky coast of Connecticut,
and the outlying rocky islets known as Gull or Fisher's islands,
while in the distance, on the right, he saw Block island, the only
really detached island along our coast, from the Bahamas, near
Florida, in latitude 26 deg. 30 min., to this island, in lat. 41. deg.
10 min. Some have considered that either Nantucket or Martha's
Vineyard were here described, but there can be no doubt that
these islands were not noticed by him as insular.
The " pleasant situation among steep hills, etc.," is probably
the mouth of the Thames, which he reached, passing through the
race between Fisher's and Gull islands. The tidal current
through the race was observed by him and is alluded to here.
The vessel was anchored in the roadstead behind Fisher's
island, fearing to enter, and a strong southerly gale might well
have induced his boat to return to the ship.
The distinct indication on the map of a large inlet, resembling
Long Island sound, was put down while here. He may have
explored it sufficiently to be satisfied that it was not a strait such
as he was searching to discover.
11. Weighing anchor, we sailed eastward, as the land
turned that way, running eighty leagues. [Ramusius
says fifty.] We saw, always in sight of it* (sempre a vista
di quella discoprimmo), an island of triangular form,
distant ten leagues from the continent, in size like to the
island of Rhodes, full of hills, covered with trees and
thickly inhabited, [judging] from the series of fires
which we saw them making all along the shore. We
baptized it with the name of your illustrious mother
[Louisa].
11. The fifty or eighty leagues is an overestimate, and the
island he saw, and which was certainly Block island, must have
been noticed before. It has no harbor, and the shores are gravel
and sand cliffs, the interior being hilly, and at that time covered
with trees, which may have made it appear higher.
* The punctuation may alter the sense here so as to read, " running eighty
leagues, always in sight qf it" i.e., the land; the island being discovered after*
wards.
182 Notes on tbe Verrazano Map.
12. Not coming to anchor there on account of the con-
trary weather, we came to another land, distant fifteen
leagues from the island. We found a very fine port, into
the mouth of which we entered. We saw about twenty
boats with people, who came with various cries and
wonder around the ship, not approaching nearer than
fifty paces, stopping to consider our build, our looks,
and dress. Then they altogether sent up a loud shout,
signifying pleasure. Reassuring them somewhat, and
imitating their gestures, they came so near that we threw
to them some bells and mirrors and many trinkets, which
they took laughing, and carefully looking around the
ship. * * * We struck up a great friendship with them,
and the day after, we entered the port with the ship, we
having been anchored a league out at sea on account of a
contrary wind. * * * They came with a number of their
boats to the ship, their faces painted and daubed with
various colors, showing real signs of pleasure, bringing
us some of their provisions, making signs where we should
anchor in the port for the safety of the ship, keeping with
us until we had dropped anchor, in which we stayed
fifteen days, refreshing ourselves in many ways. * * *
They would rest on an island a quarter of a league from
us. * * * We, several times, went inland five or six
leagues, finding it as pleasant as is possible to be
described ; all kinds of cultivation going on, corn, wine,
and oil. There are spaces of twenty-five or thirty leagues
of bare, open country, and devoid of any impediment of
trees, of such fertility that any kind of seed in it would
yield its utmost.
12. He entered Narragansett bay only fourteen miles from
Block island, and at first he seems to have anchored at its mouth,
but afterwards between Goat island and the present town of
Newport. Throughout the letter we have refrained from criti-
cising the notices of the natives, confining our remarks to geog-
raphical points only, but it would be impossible to describe the
Exploration or the American Coast. 183
inhabitants of these shores with such accidental precision, were
the letter a mere fiction.
Dr. Miller, in the New York Hist. Coll., Vol. I, applied this
description of Narragansett bay to the harbor of New York.
Dr. Cogswell, in the New Series, Vol. I, of the same, corrected
him, but we think erred in making the description of the Thames
adapt itself to New York.
Our opinion, however, of the letter, in a geographical point of
view, is that the navigator penned it in haste, and was more
anxious to please the king, by a favorable report of the coasts
explored, than to describe them correctly. The letter mast not
be strictly accepted as detailing all the courses sailed, and as
describing all the harbors visited.
As he was here in April, he could not have found ripe fruit on
the trees, but the Indians, as we know, laid in stores of dried
fruit and nuts for the winter. The boats made from single logs,
called dug-outs, are still made and use4 by the white people. The
Indians used fire to hollow out their boats, applying the fire to a
tree left standing, from which the bark had been removed a year
beforehand. The fire could be easier managed on the upright
log, so as to control the process, and make a neat finish. The
broad-bladed paddle used by the two arms, without a rest,
describes the Indian mode of rowing exactly.
The round Indian lodges, thatched with marsh flags, were not
peculiar to these tribes. The pulse was the maize or Indian corn,
of which they had several varieties, and as stated, the planting
and the harvesting were preceded by various ceremonial observ-
ances.
The most remarkable omission in the description of the natives
is that of the habit of smoking tobacco, which prevailed among
them as far north as Maine.
13. This land is situated on the parallel of Rome, in
41f °, but somewhat colder by accident and not by nature,
as I will relate to your Majesty elsewhere. Describing
now the site of the said place [posto, query porto^] it
looks towards the south, half a league wide, then enter-
ing, it extends to the east and north twelve leagues, where,
widening, it forms a most ample basin, with a circuit of
184 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
twenty leagues, in which are five islets of much fertility,
and pleasant, full of high and spreading trees, among
which islands any number of fleets might remain without
fear of storms or of any other chance obstacles. Turning
towards the south, at the entrance of the port, there are,
on both sides, gentle hills, with many channels that pour
clear water from the hills into the sea. In the midst of
the mouth [of the harbor], there is a reef (scolio) of free
stone, of a kind fitted to build any kind of machine or
fort for its production.
13. The latitude given here is nearly oorrect, the entrance of
this bay being in latitude 41 deg. 27 min., which coupled with
the notice that the harbor looks south, leaves hardly a doubt as
to the identification of this position.
He was able, here, to observe the latitude at leisure, and repeat-
edly. With the instruments then used, the altitudes taken at sea
were not trustworthy, being liable to an error of several degrees;
but with a large wooden quadrant of some four feet radius, fitted
with a plumb line, and on which the degrees were an inch long,
it would be possible to read altitudes to within ten minutes. The
rock is evidently meant for Goat island, which is admirably
adapted to defend Newport harbor. This, it will be observed,
was the only sheltered port into which he took his ship during
the cruise. He was here from May first to sixteenth, new style.
14. Having refreshed ourselves at our leisure, we left
the said port on the sixth day of May, following the
shore, never losing sight of the land. We sailed 150
leagues, finding it of the same nature, and a little higher,
with some mountains, which all showed minerals. We
did not stop there for fear that the favorable weather
might not last ( per la prosper ita del tempo ne serviva).
Looking at the coast, we thought it was like the last.
14. Leaving Newport, his course was first east-south-east, and
then northerly. The one hundred and fifty leagues include the
fifty mentioned just after; in fact, the last paragraph is a general
sketch of the land north of Cape Ood, which he was about to
explore.
Exploration of the American Coast. 185
15. The shore ran to the east ; in the space of fifty
leagues, holding more to the north, we found a highland
fall of dense woods, the trees in which were pines,
cypresses, and snch like, which grow in cold regions.
The people [were] quite different from the others, and in
proportion as those before were gentle in behaviour, these
were in roughness and appearance the more barbarous ;
so that no matter how many signals we made to them, we
could hold no conversation with them. They were dressed
in the skins of bears, wolves, marine lynx (cervieri marini,
seals f), and other animals.
15. He passed around south of Martha's Vineyard and Nan-
tucket, considering them as the main land, and must have been
made cautious of danger by the tide rips and soundings on Nan-
tucket shoals. These he indicates on the map as a long sand spit,
which seems to be named Cap Arenosus on the map; and steering
well clear of Gape Cod, he probably made Cape Ann and the
rocky coast of Maine. The change of scenery and of the people
are noted.
16. Twenty-five men went inland, against their [the
natives] will, two or three leagues, and when they returned
to the shore they shot at us with their bows, shouting
loudly, and escaping into the woods. We found nothing
of any value in the land, except immense forests, with
some hills. They may have some metals, as we saw
many of them with copper (rame) rings in their ears.
16. It is uncertain where this landing was made, but it was
probably between Nahant and Cape Ann.
17. We departed, running along the coast between east
and north, which we found more pleasant, open and bare
of woods, with high mountains back in the land, sloping
towards the shore of the sea. In [the space of] fifty
leagues, we discovered thirty-two islands, all near to the
continent, small, and of good appearance, following the
outline of the land (alte tenendo la verzura della terra),
from which were formed the most beautiful ports and
186 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
canals, as they do near Ulyria and Dalmatia, in the
Adriatic sea. We had no intercourse with the people,
bnt supposed them to be, in their customs and nature,
like to those we had left.
17. The distant mountains may well have been the White
Mountains in New Hampshire, which, on clear days, are visible
from the sea, and would at this season still be covered with snow.
His remark that therd are no mountains near the coast is a cor-
rect one.
The rocky islets of the coast of Maine, which he so well com-
pares to those on the Illyrian coast, prove that he had really been
here, for no map of the time could have suggested this feature.
18. Sailing between east and north for the space of
150 leagues, and having already consumed all our naval
stores and victuals ; having discovered 502 leagues, that
is 700 more of new land, supplying ourselves with water
and wood, we determined to return to Prance.
18. In the appendix, he gives his departure from the coast as
in latitude 50 deg., which would imply that he visited the east
coast of Newfoundland. This we doubt, as he merely wished to
connect his own coastwise explorations with the well-known
Terra de Bretones and Terra Nova, and would hardly extend
his voyage to points frequented by the Portuguese and Spaniards.
His map shows no trace of the Bay of Fundy, and he does
not describe any point, towards the close of his coasting, that
can be identified. It is probable that he turned away in about
latitude 44 deg., being confident, from the easterly trend of the
coast, that he had traced the continental barrier to a point already
visited. The map shows a large river estuary, which is, perhaps,
the Penobscot, whence he started homewards. He may have
sighted Cape Sable, but probably missed it by having taken an
E. S. E. course from the point of his departure. His estimate of
500 leagues of new discovery is nearly correct, if we assume that
he struck the coast in latitude 39 deg. 30 min., and left it in
latitude 44 deg.
His own estimate of the length of a degree is 62£ Italian miles,
and he coasted, from our estimate below, some 540 geographical
miles. His expression " 500, that is 700 leagues," is explained in
Exploration of the American Coast, 187
the appendix, where he says that he made 300 leagues in latitude
(about five degrees), and 400 in longitude.
He oould, as we believe, not have ooasted an extent of more
than five degrees of latitude, and about six degrees of longitude.
The dates appear to be as follows, old style:
January 17th, leaves the Desiertas.
March 6th, reaches land.
March 15th, probably reaches New York harbor.
April 21st to May 6th, in Newport harbor.
May 6th to 20th, probably coasting.
July 8th, arrives at Dieppe; twenty-eight days voyage.
Upon an attentive examination of the courses and distances
sailed, some of which are given twice, we come to about the same
result as his own.
1. From landfall, coasts south ...,.' 50 leagues.
•*^m
2. Coasts north to New York, say 100 "
3. Thence east and north to Thames B 100 "
4. To Newport (overestimate ?) 80 "
5. Newport to Cape Ann 150 "
0. North-east 150 "
580
§. The navigator must have meant to use the term miles of 62£
to a degree, for he would otherwise quadruple the true distances.
In the case of the third course and of part of the fifth, he cer-
tainly repeats himself. His estimates must be mere guesses in
round numbers.
A measurement from a U. S. Coast Survey chart of the coast,
dated 1864, gives the following result:
Latitude 39 deg. 05 min. to New York 90 miles.
New York to Montauk point 110 "
Thence to Thames and Newport 60 "
Newport to Cape Ann 170 "
Cape Ann to Penobscot river 110 "
540 miles.
188 Notes on ths Vbrrazano* Map.
Old navigators were very prone to exaggerate the distance*
sailed. See instances quoted by Humboldt, JEnamen Critique,
Y. 161, who says that the direction is more important than the
distance.
Letter and Map Compared.
With the aid of the map newly discovered, we can
follow Verrazano's track along our shores with some
confidence.
First, the Jersey coast is shown trending too much to
the N. E., but the variation of the compass to the west-
ward would cause it to appear so to him. Then the har-
bor of New York shown as a river only, because he
probably did not penetrate far into it. Next the Long
Island coast, correctly shown, inclining more to the east-
ward, with the interesting and correctly-indicated feature
of a sound behind it. He passes Fisher's island, which
he seems to have supposed to be connected with Point
Judith, of the mainland, just east of it, which appear on
his map as a promontory, beyond which he places Narra-
gansett bay, with his /. Luisa, or Block island, off its
mouth.
The E . S. E. trend of the coast from that point on his
map is due, as observed before, to his having taken
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket as part of the mainland.
The long sand-bar to the east of this is a rough draught of
Nantucket shoals, or Gape Cod, as they presented them-
selves to him.
It will be noticed that the parallels of latitude on the
map are very different from the observations recorded in
the letter. These parallels are all full five degrees too
much to the south of their proper position. Hieronimus,
who made the map, must have committed this mistake,
and we can offer no explanation to account for the dis-
crepancy. On the charts of those times, we do not expect
that the longitude can be more than guessed at, but the
latitude is generally within much narrower limits of error.
VI . II
A j*C*4 *—[<$** 12
rtfa
Sis Occupations after Vota qb to America. 189
*
Columbus, also, was very wrong in his data for the
latitude of the island of Cuba, and does not seem to have
ever corrected himself. Perhaps the latitudes on thu
map were made expressly incorrect in order to mislead
the uninitiated, or in order to avoid appearing to encroach
on the Spanish discoveries, which, under Matienzo and
Ayllon, had been carried, in 1520, to lat. 34°. Giovanni
was, no doubt, aware of the fact that the Spaniards had
reached this altitude before his voyage hither, and Hier-
onimus in 1529 had, perhaps heard that lat. 37° had been
reached by Ayllon in 1526.
Perhaps the indication of a western sea, separated by
an isthmus from the Atlantic ocean, appearing on maps
after 1529 as Mar de Verrazano, was an attempt to place
the great Baza de Santa Maria (Chesapeake bay) on his
chart, thus giving to Nova Gallia the appearance of a land
distinct from the Florida of the Spaniards. This would
account for the absence of all mention of it ill Giovanni's
letter of 1524.
For some remarks on the cosmographical portion of the
letter, we must refer to the notes at the end of this paper.
His Occupations after the Voyage to America.
After the dispatch of the letter to the king, we learn
from Carli that Verrazano was expected at Lyons, where
he may have gone to report in person to the king, but
there is no mention of his appearance there. Afterwards
we almost lose sight of the adventurotis explorer, who
offered to the French monarch a vast province in a tem-
perate latitude, on which France might well have concen-
trated her enterprise, and which would have repaid her a
hundred-fold as a colony, and as a school for her maritime
forces. But at that time, France was nearer annihilation
than during her recent struggle with Germany, and all
thought of colonization beyond the seas was out of the
question. The king was a prisoner in the hands of the
emperor, his army had been dispersed, his treasury
190 Notes on tub Verrazano Map.
emptied, and the prospect was such that without heip
from abroad France would have become a province of the
empire. England, at this juncture, lent her assistance to
her distracted neighbor in her traditional form, a loan
of money. As Mr. Biddle well suggests,* Verrazano,
finding no response to his offers to make further explora-
tions, may have laid before Henry the Eighth his newly
made discovery, for we find Hakluyt, in 1582, f saying
that " John Verazauus, which had been thrise on that
coast, in an old excellent mappe which he gave to King
Henrie the eight, and is yet in the custodie of master
Locke, doth so lay it out as it is to bee seene in the mappe
annexed to the end of this boke, beeing made according
to Verazanus plat." Hakluyt is advocating a renewed
search for a north-west passage to China, and colonization
of the coasts visited by Verrazano. His statement that
he had been thrice on that coast is probably taken from
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's little treatise of 1566, X published
in 1576, who only says, Cap. X, "Also divers have offered
the like unto the Frenche king, who hath sent two or three
times to have discovered the same," meaning the north-
west passage. Gilbert was, no doubt, familiar with the
work of Ramusius, and names Verarsannus, a Florentine,
several times, though in one case (Cap. Ill, § 7), the
name of Cartier is intended. In a paragraph just before
this, he states that " Jacobus Cartier made two voyages
into those partes." He does not seem to have been
acquainted with Roberval' s voyage, so that he evidently
meant to include Cartier' s voyages of 1584 and 1586 in his
expression above quoted.
Hakluyt has left another notice of the "excellent
Mappe," contained in an unpublished manuscript belong-
ing to Sir Thomas Phillips, and which this gentleman
has kindly allowed to be copied for the Maine Historical
♦Biddle'a Cabot, 1881, p. 376. \ Divers Voyages* Epkt d**ic
\A discourse of a Diseouerie for a new, passage to Oataia; London, 1570,
4th. This rare tract is given in Hakluyt.
Bis Occupations after Voyage to America. 191
Society. This manuscript will be published at an early
date, with notes ; but, meanwhile, in the first volume that
was prepared for this society by Dr. Kohl, we find an
extract from it, added to a foot-note at page 391, by the
late Gov. Willis, who edited the volume. This manuscript,
prepared in 1584 for Sir Walter Raleigh, and covering
over sixty-two large folio pages, makes, in Chap. 17,
§§ 10, 11, an interesting reference to "a mightie large
olde mappe in parchmente, made, as it should seme^by
Verrazanus, now in the custodie of Mr. Michael Locke"
and also to "an olde exceUerU globe in the Queends
privie gallery at Westm'r, vfch also seemeth to be of
Verrazanus makinge"
It will be observed that in neither of these passages
from Hakluyt is the map positively said to have been
made by John Verrazanus, but that it was derived from
him, and that it seemed to be of his make. This careful
absence of an assertion that it was by John, was, no
doubt, owing to the name " Hieronimus de Verrazano
faciebat" appearing on it. Hakluyt could not probably
explain this difference of name, and therefore makes a
carefully-guarded statement concerning it.
He describes, however, the map now preserved in Rome
in these few words so exactly that we are led to suppose
that it was the very one that was presented to the English
king about 1529, and still to be seen in the queen's
gallery in 1584. Sebastian Cabot's great mapamundi of
1544 was also in this gallery, and we should be rejoiced
to find in some old document a list merely of the maps
that hung there.
That Verrazano may have made a proposal for discovery
to the English king is possible, but there is not a scrap of
evidence to prove it, excepting Hakluyt' s assertion above
quoted. If he made such an offer, it was not for the sake
of emolument, for he seems to have been provided with
ample fands/as we have just shown, and as might be
expected after the rich captures he had made.
;192 Note8 on the Verrazano Map.
In 1526, or perhaps later, his name is included as the
commander or pilot of a squadron of three vessels fitting
out, apparently for a mercantile venture, but in reality
for another cruise in Spanish waters. We find proof of
this in a document discovered and quoted by the indefa-
tigable Mons. Margry, in his Navigations JFrangaiseSj
etc.* Paris, 1867, p. 194, and given in a partly abridged
and translated form in the notes to this paper.
This document is an agreement for a voyage to the
Indies for spices, including prospective predatory cap-
tures, which last were, no doubt, the chief incentives to
the enterprise. Nothing is said about discovery, or the
search for a western route to the Moluccas.
The agreement is made between Philipe Chabot,
admiral of France, Preudhomme, the general of Nor-
mandy, several merchants, among whom is the notable
and famous Jean Ango, and "messire Jehan de Varesam,
principals pilote. ' '
This was indeed a partnership of distinguished men ;
two royal officers of high rank, three rich merchants,
and a pilot who is able to venture a sum equal to that of
Jean Ango, the great merchant-prince of Dieppe. There
can be but little doubt that this pilot was our successful
corsair, who must have reaped a fair share of the prize
taken from the Spaniards. The paper, unluckily, is not
dated, but, as Mons. Margry remarks, it must be posterior
to 1525, as Chabot was not appointed admiral of Prance
until 1526.*
The enterprise was hardly meant to be a purely com-
mercial one, when the character of three of the partners
is taken into account. Commanded and guided by a
successful corsair, who five years before, had captured
most valuable prizes from the Spaniards and Portuguese,
and who, three years before, had taken the spoils of
*His appointment, according to Pere Anselme, YoL IV, p. 571, dates
from the 23d of March, 1525. As the legal year began March 25th, he was
really appointed in 1526.
His Occupations after Voyage to America. 193
Mexico when just about to be laid at the emperor's feet,
it is not likely that he should be contented with a distant
and uncertain trip to the Spice islands.* This new
venture was* no doubt, to be another corsairial one, and
the paragraph of the agreement which alludes to possible
prizes to be taken, and which we give in full, explains the
animus of the undertaking.
Giovanni de Verrazano was therefore alive and prosper-
ous in 1526. That the French were able to fit out vessels
in spite of the national distress, we have sufficient proof.
But a slight impression could have been made on the
towns of the Atlantic coast by the war with the emperor
in Italy. The armies were small, the French Mediter-
ranean fleets were fitted out on the southern coasts, and
only the people along the line of march of the armies
could have suffered much.
Whether this voyage was undertaken, and if so, what
happened during the course of it, is unknown. If the
vessels reached the Bast Indies, they would have been
absent two years. Perhaps a careful study of the plani-
sphere of 1529, as recording what was then known about
the south-eastern regions of Asia, might throw some light
on the question whether Verrazano was there in person.
A cursory study of it will show that it contains some
discoveries of the Portuguese, then recently made ; but
these may have been copied from charts taken from prizes,
and do not prove anything.
If the execution of onr navigator took place in 1527, t
and the late Buckingham Smith stated to the president
of our society that he had proofs to that effect, which are
shortly to be published, it is possible that Verrazano was
captured while on this cruise. His previous success may
*See notes, Admiral Chabot; also Buckingham Smith,
fSee Transactions of this Society for 1871, p. 82. Also the Rev. B. F.
De Costa's "Northmen in Maine/' etc., 1870, p. 61, note, who states, on
Mr. Smith's information, that the execution took place at El Pico, in New
Castile, in October, 1527.
. 13
194 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
have led to the fitting out of the armament above described,
the mention of the East Indies in the agreement having
been inserted in order to conceal the real objects of the
enterprise.
The uncertainty that hangs over his death, both as to
its manner and date, may be cleared up, but at present
his name disappears from history after /the proposed
voyage to the East Indies.
Ramusius, in the preface to the letter of 1524, states
simply that on the last voyage which he made, naming
no time or locality, he was taken by " tJiose people" when
landing with some companions, and was roasted and
eaten in the presence of those who had remained on the
ship. Having just spoken of his voyage to Florida,
Ramusius, no doubt, meant by " those people" American
savages, who however, never killed and eat captives
unless they were prisoners of war. Supposing, however,
that the story came to his ears in that form, whence or
from whom did he derive it %
Ramusius was in correspondence with Oviedo, the
Spanish historian of the Indies, and may have learned
the story from him, as we shall presently show, though
Oviedo could hardly have told it as having happened to
Verrazano. Ramusius himself, as we suppose, inserted
the Italian navigator's name as the victim of the butchery.
In order to understand clearly what we are to believe,
it will be well to say that no exploring voyage to the
American coast, between Terra Nova and Florida, is
known to have been made between the years 1524 and 1534,
excepting the Spanish ones of Estevan Gomez, in 1525,
and of Ayllon, in 1526, and one by John Rut, or Root,
sent out in 1527 by Henry the Eighth. The French, most
certainly, did not undertake one, and the above are the
only ones of which there is any record.
The voyage of Gomez, who explored the coast from
Bacalaos to Cuba, was planned in 1523, but was delayed
until 1525 by his having to attend the Council of Bajadoz,
Hia Occupations after Voyage to America. 195
and it was then possibly hastened by the report that
the French had undertaken a similar one. Ay lion's
voyage was made northwards from the West Indies, and
is fully described by Oviedo ; but he certainly did not
get further north than Cape Fear, in north lat. 34°.
The English voyage to which we have alluded was
made in 1527, but very little is known about it. It appears
to have been an attempt to accomplish the discovery of a
north-west passage by some strait north of Newfoundland,
and like all others before and since, it failed in its object.
It is not certain at whose instance it was undertaken,
Hakluyt giving Robert Thorne, an English merchant
trading in Seville, as its projector,* while Biddle hints at
the possibility of its having originated with Verrazano. f
If he sailed for the East Indies about this time, he could
not have been in England to propose such an expedition.
We find, however, that a certain learned Italian, Albert
de Prato, was with the expedition, and it is possible that
he was the active agent who induced the English monarch
to send it forth. De Prato was a Florentine, perhaps a
friend or agent of Verrazano' s, who may have supplied
him with the arguments to lay before the king in favor of
the enterprise. Jerome, the author of the map before us,
may have accompanied him to England to forward the
views of his relative, but all this is mere conjecture.
Hakluyt, in 1582, and in his later works, speaks of an
expedition of 1527, about which he could ascertain but
very little. %
Samuel Purchas, in Vol. Ill of his " Pilgrimes," 1625,
p. 809, has a letter, written from Newfoundland, August
3d, 1527, and some authentic details concerning this
voyage, made nearly a century before. We learn that its
commander was John Rut ; that two vessels, the Mary of
Guilford and the Samson, were under his command, and
* See note, Voyage of 1537. t Biddle, Cabot, p. 276.
J See note, Voyage of 1527, and HaUuyt, on same.
196 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
that they sailed from Plymouth June 10th9 and attempted,
to pass to the north of Newfoundland. The Samson
parted company in a storm, and was not heard of again,
while the Mary, two days afterwards, on the third of July,
met with ice, and, giving up the main purpose of the
voyage, put into St Johns, Newfoundland. Here But
addressed a letter, dated August 3d, to the king, accom-
panied by one from Albert de Prato to Cardinal Wolsey.
Purchas, unluckily, does not give this last one, and the
originals of both have disappeared. But declares his
purpose to reach certain islands, to which he has been
ordered, whether the Moluccas or West Indies is uncer-
tain. Purchas says nothing about the return of But, but
Hakluyt, in his work of 1589, informs us that he had
heard that he reached home in October.
This is all that is positively known about this voyage,
from English sources, but we find in two Spanish authors
a notice of the visit of an English corsair to the West
Indies in this year, whose commander gave such an
account of his adventures that, as first suggested by Mr.
Biddle in 1831, we must believe the vessel to have been
the Mary of Guilford.*
The story was told by the English commander to a
certain Ginez Navarro, captain of a caravel in the harbor
of San Juan (Portorico), in November, 1527, and it agrees
well with the details recounted in the letter of August 3d,
but has the additional mention of the death of his pilot
This, he said, had happened between Newfoundland and
Bio Chicora f (Savannah B). The pilot, a Piedmontese,
had landed to speak to the Indians, who had killed him.
His name is not given, nor is it said that he was roasted
and eaten, together with those who landed with him.
Mr. Biddle, % with much ingenuity, placing the above
* See note, Oviedo and Berrera en the BngUih vend qf 1587.
f This name was given by Ayllon in 1590.
t Biddle, Cabot, Chaps. IX, XIV.
His Occupations after Voyage to America. 197
facts together, concludes that the Piedmontese pilot was
Verrazano, thus confirming the account by Ramusins,
and giving its true date. It will be noticed that the name
of Verrazano is nowhere associated with this voyage, and
that Mr. Biddle's conjecture is founded on the fact related
to Navarro that the pilot was a Piedmontese, and that
his fate was somewhat similar to the one recounted by
Ramusius as having happened to our navigator.
Prom this theory, plausible as it may appear, we must
dissent, for the following reasons : Verrazano was a
person of too much consequence, supposing him to have
been the pilot of the expedition, to have remained without
mention in Rut's letter. Neither was his name recorded
in De Prato' s letter, else Purchas would have quoted it,
for it was familiar to the author of the " Pilgrimes" and
he would have eagerly published the fact.
Again, had Verrazano been with Capt. John Rut, it is
not probable that he would consent to repeat his explora-
tion of our coast while the north-west passage remained
to be attempted. This would have converted an enter-
prise which had a noble object into a mere trading voyage,
while we know that Verrazano' s favorite idea was the
•
discovery of a short sea-way to the Moluccas. He had,
to be sure, proposed colonization to the French king, but
Rut seems to have had no such instructions. As Navarro
relates, he wished to reach the territory of the Grand
Khan, but was easily turned aside from his purpose, and
sought a market for his wares in the West Indies.
Verrazano, further, was the very last person to have
consented to a West India voyage only, for his name was
in every Spaniard's mouth as having captured several of
their treasure-ships, and he would not have deliberately
put his head into the lion's mouth.
If Rut did lose his pilot in the manner told by Rut, it
may well have been Albert de Pratq who was killed. We
know nothing about this Florentine, but he appears to
have been the companion and associate of Rut, no doubt
198 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
his pilot, as sailing masters were then called, and he was
probably in possession of a chart of the exploration of
1524, Ignorant of the savage nature of the tribes inhabit-
ing the coasts of Maine, who appear to have been made
more hostile by the French fishing vessels, who from an
early day frequented those coasts, he may have been
massacred on attempting to land among them. Verrazano
knew their nature better, and would not have exposed
himself to such risks.
The stubborn- fact, however, remains that Ramusius
should himself have ascribed such a fate to Verrazano.
The Italian historian may have, perhaps, learned from
Oviedo, that the Italian pilot of an English vessel was
killed on our coast, and thus supposed the victim to have
been Verrazano.
Oviedo, however, in his account of the visit of the
English vessel, as quoted in the appendix, does not say
a word about the death of its pilot, and has it that the
vessel came from Brazil. It is however certain that it
was the same vessel which is mentioned by Herrera, from
the attendant circumstances being described exactly as
told by Navarro. Oviedo places the visit in the year 1527,
while Herrera erroneously puts it in 1519.*
As alcade or commander of the fort of the city of Santo
Domingo after 1538, which had fired on the Englishman,
he must have gathered many details on the spot, though
his account is less full than Navarro' s report, which was
first published by Herrera in 1601, and which Ramusius,
probably, never saw.
It might be suggested that the Italian historian was
also a correspondent of the veteran navigator, Sebastian
Cabot, and learned the story from him. But Cabot was
engaged from 1525 to 1531 on his expedition to the La
Plata river. He may have heard of the voyage of Rut
•The Rev. B. F. De Costa dissents from this supposition, but he had no*
teen the account in Oviedo. See Northmen in Maine, p. 54.
His Occupations after Voyage to America. 199
afterwards, and of the death of his pilot, and learned his
name. * Had it been Verrazano, and had he written to
that effect to Ramusius, he would have added some
authentic facts, which the latter would have recorded,
leaving no uncertainty as to the date of his disappearance.
One more remark, and we close this part of our subject.
If Verrazano had lost his life after his capture by the
Spaniards or in the manner suggested by Ramusius, it
would seem remarkable to find no allusion to his death on
the planisphere of 1529. This map contains several
legends on the American coast relating to him, and if he
had died meanwhile, they would have been, no doubt,
differently worded ; or if he had been killed on that coast,
Hieronimus would have added a legend to that effect
The voyage of 1537 was so recent that the mapmaker
could have easily ascertained from Rut or his companions
the precise locality where the scene had occurred.
From a consideration of all the above data, we must
conclude that if Verrazano lost his life on our coast, it
was not on the voyage made by the Mary of Guilford in
1527. Ramusius may be right in his account of it, but
then it must have happened at a later date, which is pos-
sible, although no record has been preserved of voyages
Mther, by exploring vessels of any nationality, until 1534,
when Jacques Cartier sailed around the Gulf of St. Law-
rence, and in 1536 wintered on the river of the same name,
near Quebec.
After the positively authentic appearance of Verrazano
as a subscriber to the French expedition to the East
Indies, and as its chief pilot, we lose sight of the Floren-
tine completely. He may have died in the course of it,
If it ever left the shores of France, but all speculations
as to his occupations after this must be mere guesses,
♦ Jk. tale was told in Spain, concerning Cabot himself, somewhat similar to
tills one, namely, that he had been killed in a conflict with the natives, for
wMch see Biddle's Oabot, p. 107.
200 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
though future researches may bring to light, as in the
case of Sebastian Cabot and Jean Alfonse, some papers
that might help to clear up the doubts which now sur-
round his career. His name appears but once after the
year 1526, and then in such a manner that no satis-
factory inference can be drawn from it.
Tiraboschi, the author of a most valuable history of
Italian literature, who was the first, as before stated, to
draw attention to the Strozzi manuscript, also referred to
a letter, printed in 1581, * among the collection of the
epistles of Annibal Caro, as having a reference to Giovanni
di Yerrazano.
This, the seventh of the collection, is dated from Castro,
October 13th, 1537, and is addressed to the inmates of the
household of Mgr. Giovanni Gaddi at Borne, Caro being
at that time the secretary of the Cardinal, and already
distinguished for his literary and artistic tastes. It is
written in a playful vein, and is of considerable length,
describing the little journey he was making, in humorous
terms. In the beginning, he speaks of having been left
at home while his friends have gone to visit some oaves,
and to pass the time, he now addresses them, each in turn,
in this epistle. The first one addressed is a Yerrazano,
in the following terms :
" To you, Yerrazano, as a searcher (cercatore) of new
worlds and of their wonders, I cannot yet tell anything
worthy of your map, for we have passed no lands which
have not already been discovered by you, or by your
brother (fratello)."
The rest of the letter is meant to be amusing, but in the
passage above quoted he is certainly addressing a real
personage. Mr. Smith, in his Inquiry, assumes that
*The editions of 1573 and 1574, printed by Manucius in Venice, we have
not seen. We quote from the one issued by the Giunti in Venice, Vol I,
pp. 6-9, entitled, " Be lettere familiom del Oommendatore Annibal Cairo. In
VeneUa, oppress* Bernardo QiunH, e FrateUi, M.D.LXXXL" 2 vols. 8°, pp.
176 and 272.
His Occupations ajpter Voyage to America. 201
Caro was at this time a tutor in the family of M. Gaddi,
an opulent Florentine, and that he was addressing his
pupils, and sportively referring to their studies. Anni-
bal Caro was born in 1507, and coming of a poor but good
family, he was compelled, after completing his studies,
to become a tutor to the children of Ludovico Gaddi, in
Florence. The cardinal, a brother of Ludovico, noticed
him, and took him to Rome as his secretary. This was
in or before 1537, consequently Caro was not addressing
his pupils in Florence, but a household composed of men
of considerable intelligence and learning. Hieronimus
was, no doubt, one of the cardinal' s proteg£d, and was,
therefore, playfully addressed by Caro. It is hardly
possible, now that we have the mapamundiof 1529 before
us, to doubt but that the author was the mapmaker of
the letter. The fraiello may have been Giovanni, but,
so far, no evidence to corroborate his being still alive in
1537 is known. Had he not been then in existence, how-
ever, the terms of the letter would probably have been
differently worded.
In time, some proofs settling the vexed question of
Verrazano' s death may be discovered, but at the present
time we know nothing that is convincing and satisfactory.
Verrazano was certainly alive in and after 1526, and
was then only forty-six years old. He had been success-
fa] as a corsair, was an experienced navigator, and must
have been a man of some mark and influence. Had he
been captured and hanged, or had he met with the death
described by Ramusius, the occurrence would certainly
have been noted somewhere, and a document may yet be
found, attesting the mode of his death, whether fortuitous
or from natural causes. The discovery of this mapa-
mundi, so long unknown, shows that we may yet hope
to learn further details concerning the first explorer of
our coasts. The land that can pride itself on having
produced a Columbus, a Vespucius and a Verrazano, is
no longer divided into petty states, rivals and jealous of
202 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
each others fame, but is a great and united empire. The
memory of deeds done in the past by a Genoese or a
Florentine, a Venetian or a Neapolitan, ought to be
recorded as done by an Italian, and thus induce a more
active inquiry into what is now obscure and neglected.
Contents. 203
NOTES TO PAPER ON VERRAZANO.
L Bacalaoa.
TL Explorations for a Western Strait North of Florida, up to the
year 1527.
IH. Explorations of the Atlantic Coast of Florida from the South,
1510, 1526.
IV. Explorations for a Strait to the Westward in the Caribbean Sea
and within the tropics.
V . Explorations in the Gulf of Mexico.
YL Sebastian Cabot.
Y1L Alonzo de Zuazo on a Strait to the Moluccas.
V1LL Hernando Cortes and his proposal in 1524 to search for a Strait
IX. Eetevan Gomez.
X. Identification of Juan Florin as Giovanni di Yerrazano.
XL Decades of the New World , by Peter Martyr.
X I i. Letters of Peter Martyr.
Xlll. Contarini on the French corsairs.
XTV. Herrera's Decades.
XV. Bernal Diaz del Castillo.
XVL Oviedo on the capture of 1523.
XVII. Gomara on Florin.
XVUL De Barcia on Juan Verrazano.
XIX. De Viera on Juan Florin.
XX. Cortes de Valladolid, 1528.
XXL Cortes de Toledo, 1525.
XXIL Corsairs in the West Indies after 1527.
Xxiil. Routes to and from the Indies.
XXTV. Suppression of geographical knowledge by Spain.
XXV. Family of Verrazano.
XXVI. Crignon, Parmentier, Estancelin.
XXVIL Desmarquets.
XXVm. Ribault
XXIX. Tavannes Memoirs, 1586.
XXX. Andre Thevet, 1557.
XXXL Francois de Belle-forest, 1570.
AXXlI. Italian versions of the Heading to the Letter.
XXAUL Cosmographies! portion of the Letter.
XXXXV. Notes on the cosmographies! portion of the Letter.
XXXV. Examination of the Voyage across the Atlantic.
204 Contents.
XXXVL Thomasey.
Yxxyn. Description of the Mapamundi by Hieronimus de Verrazano,
XXX VIII. Charts after Verrazano.
TYYTY New France, of Verrazano.
XL. Gastaldi, 1548, Mercator, 1560.
XLL Ramnsins.
XLIL Admiral Ghabot and Yerrazano.
XLEH. Oviedo on the English voyage of 1537.
XLIV. Herrera on the voyage of 1537.
XLV. Hakluyt on Rut's voyage of 1527.
XL VI Tiraboschi.
XLVII. CarlTs letter.
XLYIIL Jean Alfonse, and his death.
XTJX Buckingham Smith's notices of Yerrazano's voyage.
L. Dr. J. G. Kohl on Yerrazano's voyage.
Baoalaos. 205
NOTES.
L— BACALAOS.
Numerous derivations have been suggested for this word,
which is simply an old Mediterranean or Romanoe name, given
to the preserved Codfish, when it has been dried and kept open
and extended by the help of a small stick. This was the Stock-
fish of the North, and from the word baevlum, it became the
JBacalao and JBaccalieu of the South of Europe. The baculum
or rod was .an attribute of the Gods Bacchus and Mercury,
being perhaps a synonym of the first, in allusion to the rod sup-
porting the grape-vine. Many words of Latin origin can be
traced to this and the Greek pdxxos.
Another root, the Sanscrit cad or gad9 a stick, is found in the
Greek and Latin name of this fish as Gadus. The English word
goad shows the same root, and gives the English name Codfish.
The Holland word Gabel, a fork, Latin gabalus, is the root of
the word Cabelyau, the Batavian name of the Codfish.
Other varieties of the dried Cod are known as Dunfish,
because dried on the downs or dunes/ Klipftsh when dried on
the cliffs or Jdippen: Tusk or Torsk when dried by the help of
fire, from dorren, Norwegian to dry, past part, gedorr.
The French name Monte, for the Codfish, is of uncertain ori-
gin. It may be from Mor, a Gothic name for the sea, having the
same root as Mare, Mer9 etc. The French name for wet salted
Cod is Morue verte, perhaps from its being procured from the
Isle Verte, which is, as we believe, one of the earliest names given
to Newfoundland, and may be found there still in the name
Banc au vert, or green bank, South of the Island. We shall
endeavor to show at another time that the Banks were visited
for their fisheries, and were well known in the early part of the
fifteenth century.
206 Notes on the Vbrrazano Map.
EL— EXPLORATIONS FOR A WESTERN STRAIT TO
THE NORTH OF FLORIDA, UP TO THE YEAR 1527.
«
The early explorations of the Northmen from Greenland, and
the fishing voyages of the Bretons and others, were not made in
search of a strait, and are not here noticed.
1476. Jbhann von Kolno or Scolnus said to have been sent by
Christian II of Denmark, to search westward, and to have reached
land west of Greenland.
1490-96. Bristol men attempt at various times to sail out west-
ward, but find no land.
1497. Sebastian Cabot leaves Bristol in May, with one vessel ;
passes to the South of Isle Yerte or Bacalaos, and enters the
gulf behind it June 24th, searching for a strait to the West;
sails around the gulf, passing out through the Strait of Belleisle,
and reaches home about August 10.
1498. Cabot is said to have made another voyage with uncer-
tain results. Probably coasted north of lat. 52 deg.
1500. Juan Dortielo8, said to have been sent from Spain to
explore to the Northwest.
1500. Gaspar Cortereal leaves Lisbon with one or two vessels,
in May, and sails North of Bacalhaos to Labrador, but does not
land there, being absent about ^ve months.
1501. Gaspar leaves again, May 15th, with three vessels and
lands in Labrador. He is lost, but the other two vessels reach
home about the middle of October, bringing seventy of the
natives.
1501. An English expedition said to have visited Terra Nova,
guided by Portuguese.
1502. Miguel Corterealy brother of Gaspar, leaves May 10th
with one vessel for Bacalhaos, and is not again heard o£
1503. Two vessels said to have been sent to search for the
Cortereals, which perhaps survey the coast from Cabo Raso to
Bonavista.
1504-6. Jean Denis leaves Honfleur with Qamart of Rouen
as pilot, and explores the Island of Newfoundland, North oC
Bonavista.
1508. Thomas Aubert, of Dieppe, in the Pensee, visits New-
foundland.
Explorations of A tlantic Coast of Florida. 207
15J 2. Juan de Agramonte, commissioned by Queen Jnana of
Castile, to explore to the Northwest, with two Breton pilots.
1524. Giovanni di Verraaano, in the employ of Francis the
First, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1522, leaves Madeira
January 17th with one vessel, sights the New Jersey coast of
the United States, and explores these shores from lat. 39 deg. to
44 deg., and reaches Dieppe July 4th.
1525. Estevan Gomes, a Portuguese in Spanish employ, leaves
Corunna with one vessel, traces the American coast from North
to South, from lat. 44 to 34, and reaches Corunna in December,
bringing home a number of the natives.
1526. Nicolas Don (D'aunis?), a Breton fisherman, is driven
by gales Southwest from Cape Breton, and believing that he
has discovered new coasts, offers to explore them for the
Emperor.
1527. John' Rut, with Albert de Proto as pilot and cosmographer,
leaves the Thames, May 20th, with two vessels, the Mary of
Guilford and the Samson, to search for a strait westward. The
Samson is lost in June, and her consort puts into St. Johns, New-
foundland, where they found Norman, Breton and Portuguese
fishing vessels, and then coasted to Florida, visited Hispaniola
and Porto Rico, reaching home in October.
UL — EXPLORATIONS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST OF
FLORIDA, FROM THE SOUTH, 1510-1526.
1510 or before. Terra or Isla de Bimini (Bahama or perhaps
Florida) discovered.
1513. Juan Ponce de Leon, with the pilot Alaminos, discovers
the mainland of Florida, coasting its gulf shore to lat. 24 deg.,
and the Atlantic shore to near lat. 30 deg. On his return he has
to stem the Gulf Stream, gets entangled among the Bahamas,
and finds the pilot Diego Mirueio the elder exploring them.
1520. The Licentiate Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, one of the
Auditors of Hispaniola, sends two vessels from Puerto de Plata,
on the North side of Cuba, to capture slaves along the coast of
208 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Florida. One of his vessels said to have been commanded by
Captain Jordan, with Diego Miruelo as pilot, the other by the
pilot Pedro de Qnejo. This last one reaches in lat. 34 deg.,
August 18, Cabo de Sta Elena (Cape Fear) and probably farther
Still.
In company with the last one of Ayllon's vessels there went a
small vessel, sent by another of the Auditors, Juan Ortiz de
Matienzo, under the pilot Fernando Sotil, for exploration, which
went as far as lat. 84 deg. also.
1521. De Leon having a royal grant to colonize Bimini and
Florida, makes an expedition with two vessels from St. Juan
(Porto Rico).
1521. Ayllon said to have again sent two vessels to Chicora,
which appear to have coasted as far as Bahia Santa Maria (Chesa-
peake Bay).
1523. June 26, Ayllon obtains a royal grant to colonize Chicora
and other provinces, between 35 deg. and 37 deg., but delays
acting under it
1526. Ayllon takes the command of a large expedition, con-
sisting of one large and three smaller vessels, with two boats,
manned or carrying 500 men and 80 or 00 horses. Leaves Puerto
de Plata with Pedro de Quejo as pilot, in middle of July. The
larger vessel is lost entering the Rio Jordan (Cape Fear R),
winters at Guadalpe, some 40 or 50 leagues to the S. W. (Pedee
R., Georgetown?). Ayllon died October 18, leaving his nephew
Juan Ramirez as Governor. The dissensions that arose after his
death and the many deaths from disease and cold, cause the
abandonment of the enterprise, and 150 men only get back, the
body of Ayllon being lost on the way by the foundering of one
of the small vessels.
A careful and close analysis of the Maps of 1527 and 1529, of
Hernando Colon and Diego Ribero, was published in 1860, by
Dr. J. G. Kohl. The names on the Maps are compared by him
with the known documents that illustrate their origin. We
must refer to this able work for critical details which lie beyond
the scope of this paper.
Explorations fob a Strait in tub Caribbean Sea.209
IV.— EXPLORATIONS FOR A STRAIT TO THE WEST-
WARD, IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA AND WITHIN
THE TROPICS. .
1492. Christopher Columbus, sailing westward, discovers
islands, and reaches to Nuevitas on the north side of Cuba.
1493-96. Columbus sails on his second voyage, but only
reaches the Isle of Pines on the south side of Cuba.
1498-1500. Columbus on his third voyage discovers the main-
land of South America, near the Island of Trinidad, coasting to
Margarita.
1499-1500. Alonzo de Hoyeda, with Juan de la Cosa and
Americus Vesputius, touches S. America, and coasts it to lat.
3 deg. North.
Alonzo Nino and Christoval Guerra: uncertain as to point
reached*
Vicente Yanez Pinzon reaches to lat. 8 deg. 20 min. South of
the Equator, on the coast of S. America.
1500. Diego de Lepe searches South of Cape St. Augustine.
1500. Pedro Alvarez Cabral, with a Portuguese fleet, on his
way to the East Indies, discovers the East coast of Brazil
1500-1502. Rodrigo de Bastidas with Juan de la Cosa, coasts
the mainland of S. America, to Cape San Bias on the isthmus.
. 1502-3. Hoyeda, with Juan de Yergara, follows the same coast
to Curacao.
1502-4. Columbus on his fourth voyage explores the coast of
the Caribbean Sea from Guanaza and Ruatan Is. to near the Gulf
of Darien.
1504-5. Juan de la Cosa visits the Gulf of Uraba.
1505. Hojeda visits the coast near Caquibacoa.
1506 or 1. Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Soils sail
west from Hispaniola, and explore the coast of Yucatan, from
Golfo Dulce to the Rio de Lagartos on the North shore.
1508-9. Pinzon and De Solis reach lat. 40 deg. S., on the coast
of Brazil.
1511. Peter Martyr's map appears: the first Spanish one of
the West Indies published up to that date. It contains all the
West Indian discoveries up to the year 1508.
1513. De Balboa discovers the Mar del Sur.
14
210 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
1524. Gil Gonzales Davila sent from Hispaniola to search for
a strait about Golf o Dulce.
V.— EXPLORATIONS IN THE GULF OP MEXICO.
Columbus on his first voyage in 1402 was steering along the
parallel of 28 deg. directly for the coast of the United States,
and if he had not turned to the Southwest, would have made
land about Cape Carnaveral in Florida. On this voyage he
explored part of the North coast of Cuba, which he believed to
lie Northwest and Southeast.
On his second voyage in 1494 he sailed along the South coast
of the same Island as far as the Isle of Pines. Here he paused
and prepared a declaration, which he forced all his companions
to sign, to the effect that Juana (as he called it) was a long penin-
sula jutting out from Asia.*
The Map which he presented to the Pope and to Rene of Lor-
raine about 1498, is now lost, but it was no doubt copied by
Johann Ruysch in his Mapamundi attached to the Roman edition
of Ptolemy of 1508. Much altered, it was copied by Hylaoomilus
as the Tabula Terrae Novae in the Strasburg Ptolemy of 15)3.
In this last Cuba appears twice, the St. Die geographer having
inserted Isabella between the Cuban peninsula of Columbus and
Espanola, its insular character being then recognized. Johann
Schoner on a globe of 1520 has also a oopy of the Columbus
Map of 1498.
Of the names attached to the Cuban peninsula on these three
sketches, which are a part of the hundreds, which Columbus
gave to points on the coast,f we have identified nearly all, as
names which were familiar to the discoverer from his Mediter-
ranean experience. Thus we find names altered by copyists, but
which can be recognized, such as Fin de Apulia, Cabo del Gato,
Cabo Melle, de Lucca, de Livorno, d' Aries, de Como, de Parma,
d' Alicante, etc.
* Navarrete. Coleccion de loe Viages, Ac., II, 148.
f See third voyage of Columbus.
EfPL OB A TI0N8 IN TBS 6 ULF OF MEXICO. 211
It soon became known that Cuba was an Island, apparently
from what Peter Martyr says, before 1500, though it was not
circumnavigated officially until ,1608, by order of Sebastian de
Ocampo.
The last voyage of Columbus in 1502, completed the explora- .
tion of the shores of the Caribbean sea to Guanaja or Roatan I.
Vincente Yanez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis, on a voyage of
adventure in 1507, sailed along the East coast of Yucatan from
the Golfo Dulce to the Rio de Lagartos, and this last limit of
northern exploration in this quarter is given on Peter Martyr's
little Map of the West Indies, accompanying his first Ocean
Decade of 1511.*
4
In 1513 (not 1512) Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida.
Alaminos was his pilot, and together they coasted the Atlantic
shores of it, to near the mouth of the present St. Johns river, in
lat. 30£ deg. The fair open channel, with the swift current run-
ning through it from the South, was observed by the pilot an<J
used by him, as will be seen below.
Vasoo Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus and discovered
the Mar del Sur in the same year last mentioned, and it would
seem a natural supposition to have at once sought for a passage
into it North of the Rio de Lagartos, but this was not done.
Francisco Hernandez- de Cordova, February 8th, 1517, accom-
panied by the pilot Antonio de Alaminos, who as a boy had been
with Columbus, and to Florida with De Leon, sailed west from
Havannah and struck Cape Catoche; then coasted west and
southwest to the Bahia de Malapelea in Campeachy, where the
natives repulsed him and he turned back. He gave to Yucatan
its present name, but considered it an Island. On his voyage
home he landed in Florida. .
In 1518, Juan de Grijalva, by order of Diego Velasquez, his
uncle, the first Governor of Cuba, explored the coast with
Alaminos, beginning with the Island of Cozumel, and ending
apparently at Cabo Rosso in lat. 21 deg. 45 min. near Tampico.
He brought home a large amount of gold, and exciting
accounts of a vast and rich empire in the interior of the land he
* See Martyr, Dec. II, Cap. 7; Herrera, Dec. I, Lib. VI, Cap. 17; Docum
Ined, 1842, 501.
212 Notes on tes Verrazano Map.
had discovered; and in the following year (1510) the famous
Hernando Cortes, burning for its conquest, with Alaminos again
as pilot, undertook the expedition which resulted in the subjuga-
tion of Mexico.
The first vessel despatched to Spain, with treasure, by Cortes
from Vera Cruz, July 26, 1519, passed into the Atlantic through
the Florida Channel Afaminos, her pilot, the discoverer of this
passage,* in 1513, was the first who led a vessel through it to
Spain.
In the same yearf Francisco de Garay, .Governor of Jamaica,
and the rival of Cortes, either in person or by his deputy Alonzo
Alvarez de Pineda, ran along the coast to the Rio de Panuco or
Palmas, in lat. 23 deg. 45 min.
In 1520 De Garay sent Diego de Camargo north, in the gulf,
with three or four caravels, and the exploration of the coast
appears to have been begun somewhere about Pensacola, so as to
very nearly connect it with the Florida of Juan Ponce, and was
carried westward to Panuco, if the Map and memoir that he pre-
sented to the Emperor, can be trusted. (See Navarrete HI, 147-8,
and Martyr Dec. V, cap. L)
In 1523 De Garay went in person to the Rio Panuco, with
Diego Meruelo the elder as his pilot. J It would appear, how-
ever, that De Garay's explorations remained unknown to Cortes,
for in his letter to the Emperor of 1523, he is uncertain whether
Mexico and Florida were joined together.
The short unexplored coast line, from Pensacola to Apalachi-
cola, appears not to have been traced until the unfortunate
Pamphilo de Narvaez landed on the coast of Florida in 1527,
* Hen-era, Vol. I; Descripcion, p. 4; Barcia Ensayo, p. 154.
f Gomara II, cap. 25, says 1518, which is improbable. Pineda was one
of the malcontents accompanying Cortes in 1518, and who conspired to
abandon him. Two of them were sentenced to death; the pilot De Umbra
to have his feet cut off; Pineda, another pilot, and his brother to receive two
hundred lashes, etc. De Umbria seems to have remained after this in the
service of Cortes, but Pineda got away and entered the service of De Garay.
t Diego Meruelo had been sent by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon in 1520 to
the Rio de Chicora, and, according to Barcia, lost his life there with Ayllon
m 1526. His nephew, of the same name, went as stated, with Narvaez to
Apalache.
Sebastian Cabot. 213
and his pilot Diego Meruelo the younger had coasted in search
of him, finding the land running East and West, thus positively
connecting the above provinces. The exploration of the Gulf of
Mexico was therefore spread over a period of twenty years,
while it might have been accomplished in as many days. *
VL-SEBASTTAN CABOT.
It is now certain that Sebastian Cabot never sailed along the
coasts of the United States South of Nova Scotia. The English
have often claimed that he did so in 1497 or 1498, and upon this
shadowy basis founded a right of possession by discovery. Cabot
himself never published any statement to the above effect, but
his papers, which Hakluyt says were in the hands of a certain
William Worthington, as late as 1582, are now lost. Had he
made such an exploration, Hakluyt would not have been satisfied
with the meagre parade of hearsay reports, on which he claims
such discovery. A very important note by a friend of Cabot,
given below, and published during his lifetime, is suppressed by
Hakluyt, while he attaches weight to the perhaps ill understood
report made by Cabot to Peter Martyr in 1515.f
Had Cabot really thus visited this coast, from Newfoundland
to Florida, he would of course have been appealed to as an
authority by the Congress of Bajadoz in 1524, of which he was
a member when the question of searching for a strait about there
was considered. His silence at .that time is of itself conclusive
on this point.
We have carefully investigated the older and the more recently
published accounts of Cabot's voyage of 1497, and shown that
his land-fall was Cape North on Cape Breton Island, that he got
embayed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and came out of it through
the straits of Belleisle, whence he sailed back direct to England. J
* See Oscar Peschel's excellent resume on the discoveries in the Gulf of
Mexico, ZeUalUr der Bntdeckungen 1858, Cap. 7.
t Martyr Dec. m, Lib. VI.
\ Historical Magazine, New York, March, 1868.
214 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Over-estimating the distances sailed inside the Gulf, he meant to
inform Martyr that he had sailed West to the meridian of Cuba,
and the good historian no doubt added that he had reached
South to the Latitude of the straits of Gibraltar, misunderstand-
ing the range of the voyage. That Cabot himself did not claim
to have sailed so far South is also definitely proved by a passage
hitherto neglected because unfavorable to the English chums
in the preface to Richard Eden's Decades, 1556, sig. c. i.
" These regions are cauled Terra Florida and Regio Baccalearum or Bac-
challaos of the which you may reade sum what in this booke in the vyage
of the woorthy owlde man yet lyuing Sebastiane Cabote, in the vi booke
of the thyrde Decade. But Cabote touched only in the north corner and
most barbarous parte hereof, from whense he was repulsed with Ise in the
moneth of July."
Written under Cabot's own eye, and perhaps dictated by him-
self in order to rectify Martyr's misstatement of his claims, it
would seem to set the question at rest most completely. Hakluyt
in his passages, gathered after Cabot's death, to back the English
claims, omits this distinct limitation of Cabot's discoveries, and
even Richard Biddle, in 1881, does not seem to have observed it
Cabot corresponded with Ramusius, and perhaps had corrected
the statement made by Martyr, for in the Somario of Martyr's
three first Decades, made and published by the Italian historian
in 1534, it is not repeated. That Ramusius was aware of the
real extent of Cabot's explorations is also evident from the Intro-
ductory "Discorso" to his third volume of 1556, written in 1553,
while Cabot was still living, in which no mention is made of his
explorations South of New France. Hakluyt, of course, did not
notice these omissions, as they would have led to the plain infer-
ence that we here point out.
Cabot's own planisphere, of which but one copy, discovered in
1843 by Yon Martius, is now known, preserved in the French
National Library, shows distinctly his Prima Vista to be Cape
North, and he places no other name of his own on this coast,
excepting to the Island of St. John (Prince Edward's ?), just west
of the cape and inside the Gulf.
Verrazano was therefore the first one that we know to have
sailed along our coast, and his name deserves to be attached to
some prominent point of it.
Alonzo Db Zuazo on a Strait to the Moluccas. 215
VIL— ALONZO DE ZUAZO ON A STRAIT TO THE
MOLUCCAS.
Although the following passage more directly belongs to
another subject, we quote it to show how intelligent minds were
a,\ a certain period of time endeavoring to solve a problem which
was not fully answered until Magellan's ship had circumnavigated
the globe. It has but recently appeared in Spanish (Doc. Ined.,
1864, .p. 296), copied from the Archives of the Indies in Seville.
The Licentiate Alonzo de Zuazo, the legal adviser of the three
Jeromite friars who were sent by the Regent, Cardinal Cisneros,
in 1516, to Hispaniola to govern the West Indies, and who is
best known as the mediator between Cortes and Narvaez, wrote
to the Emperor, January 22d, 1518 :
" In another matter there is a great mystery [teeretd]. The concession of
Pope Alexander is known ; the partition of the world as If it were an orange
between the King of Portugal and the grand parents of Your Majesty by
certain imaginary lines which were not drawn, because although they sent
certain pilots to mark a boundary and fix those lines at the points where
they ought to be, as this wad a division by longitudes, of which the pilots
know nothing and practise nothing, they could not and knew not what to
do with certainty, and therefore returned without accomplishing anything.
"While drawing the lines, I found that your Majesty was much wronged
in the Tierras Firmes of Brasil. From Cape St. Augustine thirty leagues at
best may belong to the King of Portugal, and he possesses more than two
hundred, from which he yearly receives more than twenty thousand ducats
in brasil [wood] and slaves. I, to make sure of it, sent a pilot at my cost to
the said Cape, and I found that its position on the Maps was more than a
hundred and thirty leagues too much to the East.*
" There is another mystery. In the East, Portugal possesses much which
belongs to Your Majesty. The City of Malaca itself, which has 25000 inhab-
itants, belongs to you, as it would appear, from that Mapamundi which
Americo caused to be printed, who went to those parts : the [same] which
the Senor Infante f has in his chambers, in a circular form.
* The good Zuazo deceived himself on this point. See " Die TheUung
der Erde, <fc>., by Oscar Peschel, Leipzig, 1871. Bulletin de Geographic,
ind Kohl's text to Die dltesten general karten von Amerika, Weimar, 1860.
f The Spanish editors, in a note, say that this must have been Don Fer-
nando, brother of Charles the Fifth and afterwards Emperor of Germany.
A printed Map of the world, compiled by Americus Vespuccius, is not
now known. Zuazo may probably have seen a Map drawn by hand for
or by Vespuccius.
216 NOTSa ON THE VSRRAZANO MAP.
" That Tour Majesty may not mourn over this, as did Alexander to call
himself master of other worlds, you must first order the division to be made:
and secondly fit out two small fast sailing vessels to examine it all (mean-
while the strait which I have heard of in Tierra Firme may be verified, and
Diego Alvitez, recently from there, has said it was so), and they can sail
along the coast to the South, * or reach that which comes from the North
ifiooerm en la Gotta del Sur o Uevaree a eUa de lade Norte) as Vasco Nunez
has been doing."
VIIL— HERNANDO CORTES, AND HIS PROPOSAL, IN
1524, TO SEARCH FOR A STRAIT.
The letter, known as the fourth carta^relacion9 sent by the
Conqueror of Mexico to the Emperor, contains an interesting
passage relating to a proposed search for the strait, between
Florida and Bacalaos. From the date of the letter, October 15,
1524, it appears that Cortes had heard of the geographical con-
gress met at Bajadoz, and wished to please the Emperor by
causing explorations to be made in both oceans for it. A good
version of the extract may be found in Biddie's Cabot, Chap.
VII, copied by Conway Robinson, in his work, " An account of
discoveries in the West until 1510, and of voyages to and along
the Atlantic Coast of North America, from 1520 to 1573. Rich-
mond, 1848," page 300. f
We give below an abridged version from the Spanish text in
Gayangos.
" I have informed you in the earlier part of this letter of the parties sent
by sea and by land, which I hope may meet with success, as I wish to serve
your Majesty in every possible way. All that I see remaining to be done in
that way is to learn the secret of the coast remaining to be discovered,
between the Rio de Panuco [Lat 28 deg. 45 min.] and La Florida,}: which
last was discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon ; and thence along the North-
* Zuazo does not seem to have heard of the voyage of Joan Diaz de
Bolls in 1516 along the coast of South America.
t This work deserves wider circulation and notice. Robinson consulted
many original authorities, and gives an admirable resume* of the subject
X Cortes had not learned of the explorations of Alonzo de Pineda in 1519,
and of Francisco de Garay in 1520, by which the Gulf Coast had been com-
pletely traced.
CORTBSy AND SIS PROPOSAL TO SEARCH FOR STRAIT. 217
erly coasts of said Florida as far as the Bacallaos. * It is certain that along
those coasts there is a strait that passes through to the South Sea. If found,
it will be seen that it comes out very near to that archipelago which Magel-
lan discovered,! according to a certain Map [figure] which I possess % of
those parts. Should a strait be found about there, it would be of great
value in reaching the Spice Islands by a route shorter than any other by two
thirds, and also because it would pass through lands now owned by your
Majesty. Although much in debt for the cost of the expeditions already
sent out, and for the expenses of this Government, I have resolved to send
three caravels and two brigantines out on this undertaking, but it will cost
me over ten thousand gold pesos. This will be the greatest service of the
kind I have done, if as I say the strait should be found, but even should
none be met with, it must happen that many great and rich lands will be
discovered, which will increase your Majesty's possessions.
"There is also a negative advantage in case no strait be found, in that
your Majesty can then determine what measures will be best in regard to
the use of the Spice Islands and lands adjacent to them. In such a case I
offer my best services, which will cost your Majesty but little, in carrying
out your orders. Please the Lord, the strait may be found, and I will do all
I can towards that end.
44 1 mean to send the vessels on the South sea to explore the coast, simul-
taneously with those in the North sea.g The first will follow the coast until
they find the strait or connect the shore line with that discovered by Magel-
lan, and the last until they come to the Bacallaos."
Cortes at this time conceived Nova Hispania to be a part of
Asia, bat by the year 1540 he had explored the ooast so far
North as to make it nearly certain that North America was a
continent by itself.
Oviedo, lib. xxxiii, Cap. xli, Ed. Acad. 1853, p. 456, remarks
on this letter:
" I take Cortes to be better as a Captain, and more versed in warlike mat-
ters, such as we have been describing, than as an expert cosmographer, for
all what he says ; for the strait of Magellan is very far from the point he
speaks ot, and very far from being placed where Cortes, according to his
* Neither had he heard of Leon's and Ayllon's undertaking on the Atlantic
coasts, which had reached to about 84 deg. N. Lat.
f Probably Magellan's I. de Ladrones (the Marianas?) or the Philippines.
He could hardly mean the Desventuradas.
X No map by any of the companions of Magellan is now known. Their
track was perhaps copied by Agnese, on Maps described in this Note.
§ It does not appear that Cortes sent out these last vessels. His explora-
tions in the Pacific, actively pursued, do not bear on the subject.
218 Notes on the Verkazano Map.
say or his Map, which he sayB he has, wishes to make it, and there can be
no doubt about this now" [1541].
Oviedo in this sneer displays much ignorance, for Cortes was
speaking of an undiscovered strait that might be found in the
North, and whose Westerly opening might not be far from the
Philipines or Ladrones; a plausible conjecture, which the Map
recently described by Prof. Peschel explains quite clearly.* This
little Mapamundi, which is preserved in Munich, seems to be the
work of Baptista Agnese, and a duplicate of it from Dresden, is
given by Dr. Kohl (Maine, No. XIV), who had seen still another
in the British Museum ; this last one signed by Agnese and dated
1536. Another Map from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, given
by Dr. Kohl (Maine, XV, c), drawn, perhaps, by Agnese also,
shows a Northern strait between Terra de los Baccalaos and
Terra de los Bretones, much as Cortes may have imagined it to
he. § There is a small Mapamundi, which may best illustrate the
geographical views of Cortes, prepared by Gaspar Vopellius, and
inserted by Hieronimus Girava in his Cosmographies which
appeared in Spanish at Milan, 1556, and again at Venice in 1570.
On this Map, in which Nueva JEkpana is joined to India Oriental^
the Malucas are placed on the Equator, some forty degrees West
of the longitude of Mexico, and close to the American coast,
which is made to run almost East and West from Panama to the
Ganges.
IX.— ESTEVAN GOMEZ.
Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, entered the service of the
King of Spain, offering to discover a western sea way to the
Spice Islands, but Fernan Maghalhaens was preferred to the
command of the expedition, with Gomez as his first officer.
When half way through the Strait, Gomez, who had been made
pilot of a vessel commanded by Alvaro de la Mesquita, abandoned
the expedition, arrested Mesquita and returned to Spain. Pend-
ing the settlement of their dispute, the two were sent out in
1528 with a fleet fitted out to pursue the French corsairs. Later,
* Ratienitche Wdtkarte, etc., Leipzig, 1872.
Estevan Gomez. 219
Gomes prevailed upon the Emperor to fit oat a vessel for the
discovery of a Strait North of Florida, between lata. 87 deg. and
44 deg. He was detained by having to attend the Geographical
Congress of Bajadoz, appointed to determine the mutual claims
of Spain and Portugal to the Moluccas, and also, it is said, by a
remonstrance against his enterprise from the Portuguese King,
who claimed Newfoundland as falling within the demarcation
line of 1515. The Congress sat from March 1 to May 1, 1524,
and perhaps longer. The commission to Gomez was not signed
until February 10, 1525, and he probably sailed within a few
days after that date, leaving Corunna with one vessel. No trust-
worthy account of his voyage has ever appeared. Spanish authors
treat of it in general terms, and the Iterra de Gomez appears on
Spanish Maps afterwards, but it is uncertain what extent of coast
was explored. It appears that he searched it f roni Newfoundland
to Florida, being absent ten months, returning in December,
unsuccessful in the main object of his voyage.
A paper entitled " Hernando Magallanes and Estevan Gomez,
pilots who sought a Western strait to India," was read June 5,
1866, before the New York Historical Society, by the late
Buckingham Smith, which is briefly reported in the Historical
Magazine, Yol. X, 1866, p. 229. Mr. Smith appears to have
learned that a full account of the voyage was to be found in an
unpublished work by the geographer Cespedes, who wrote near
the close of the sixteenth century, containing full details of it,
but was unsuccessful in finding it, nor had Munoz or Navarrete
seen it.
Andres Garcia de Cespedes was the author of several geograph-
ical or mathematical works, enumerated by Leon y Pinelo in his
Epitome of 1629, pp. 140, 148 and 184. One of these is entitled
Regimento de Navegaoion que mando hazer et Reg. N. S. por
orden de su Consejo real de las Indias. Madrid, 1606, folio.
This work does not contain the full voyage of Gomez. Another
one, perhaps containing it, is his " Isolario general" in manu-
script, present owner unknown. *
820 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
X— IDENTIFICATION OP JUAN FLORIN AS GIOVANNI
DI VERRAZANO.
In the Spanish accounts of his exploits as a corsair, he is always
called Juan Florin or Florentin. Peter Martyr first mentions
him as Florin, in the sixth chapter of his eighth Decade, written
1525, bnt first printed in 1530. Though mention is often made
of the French pirates, from the eighth chapter of the fifth
Decade (written in 1521), to the end of the work, and especial
stress is laid (Dec. VIII, cap. IX) on the safe arrival of the
treasure ships at the end of July, 1 525, guarded by the fleet sent
out to convoy them, he omits any allusion to the capture of Juan
Florin. Such a matter would hardly have escaped his notice, nor
does he mention it in his letters.
These letters were first printed in 1530. The first notice of the
leader of the pirates by name, is in one dated November 10, 1522,
where he is simply called Florinus, a French pirate. In June,
1523, he speaks of Jbannis Florini, the French pirate, and he is
last mentioned by name in August, 1524, though the French
pirates are spoken of later in the year.
All that can be negatively inferred concerning the capture of
Florin, from Peter Martyr, is that in this last letter of November
1 8th his name does not appear.
Ramusius does not appear to have seen the full edition of the
Decades, of 1530, nor the letters either, for in the Italian Somario
of 1534, which, as Mons. Davesac* has recently shown, was pre-
pared by him, he had only the three first Decades (as published
in 1516 in Spain, in Basle in 1533, and Cologne 1574) before him.
Nor does Ramusius appear ever to have seen these last five
Decades. Had he seen them, he would perhaps have recognized
Verrazano under the names which Peter Martyr uses, when speak-
ing of him. The full editions of Martyr's Decades and Letters
do not seem to have left Spain for many years, and were perhaps
jealously guarded from general circulation for more than fifty
years, since in 1574 but three Decades were reprinted, and not
till Hakluyt published at Paris in 1587, the whole eight, do they
seem to have been quoted by authors generally.
* Davesac Buil. de (Uog.y July, 1873, p. 10, note.
Decades of the New World. 221
Oviedo does not, but Gomara does name Florin, and as a
pirate his name does not appear in any published Spanish or
other work "until Herrera (Dec. Ill, Lib. IV, cap. XX), in 1601,
speaks of him as Florin de la Hoehela, captain of six armed ves-
sels. In the same Decade (Lib. VI, cap. IX), he gives the voyage
of Juan Verra9ano Florentin, from Ramusius, without a suspicion
that these names belonged to one person.
The next printed reference to him as a corsair, is in Bernal
Diaz del Castillo, whose narrative of the Conquest of Mexico,
written in 1568, was not printed until 1682. He calls him Juan
Florin and Florentin, a French corsair, and gives* the first pub-
lished account of his capture and execution.
De Barcia, in his Ensayo Cronologico de Florida, 1723, was
the first to identify the corsair with the discoverer. He calls him
Juan Verrazano Florentin, Corsario de Francia, and gives a very
brief notice of his exploring voyage, from Ramusius, and of his
exploits under the name of Juan Florentin, alludes to the report
of his death in America, and then gives the story of his capture
and execution, apparently from Bernal Diaz.
Thus two centuries had elapsed before this identification was
made, during all which period no one had even suspected it.
The heading of his own letter, first published in 1556, might
have awakened a surmise to this effect, and possibly the Spanish
Government knew the truth, but it is curious that the fact should
have been so slow in finding its way into print.
XL— DECADES OF THE NEW WORLD, BY PETER
MARTYR.
Translated Extracts from the Decades of Peter Martyr concerning French pirates.
Dec. V, Cap. 8 [1532 ; and written about' the same time as his
letter of November 19]. " Of these two w* [hidalgos who had served
under Cortes], "Benavides, leaving his companions, returned
recently in one of the two ships sent by Cortes. In them gifts
are brought, which are said to be far more precious and beautiful
than those which came in the year when his Majesty went to
Belgium, and seen by your Reverence. They estimate these
222 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
treasures to be worth about two hundred thousand ducats, bat
these ships have not yet reached us. They have stopped at the
Cassiterides, called the Azore Islands by the Portuguese, the
sovereigns thereof, to avoid falling into the hands of French
pirates, as happened to one coming last year from Hispaniola
and Cuba loaded with Gold of the weight of Seventy-two thou-
sand ducats, of precious pearls six hundred eight ounce pounds,
and two thousand arrobas of sugar. The Spanish arroba con-
tains twenty-five six ounce pounds. Many brought individually
much besides, all which became the booty of the pirates. An
armed fleet ha's been sent, which is to bring these two safely from
the Azores. These ships bring, as Benavides reports, three tigers.
Two gentlemen, captains in the wars in those countries, remain
in charge of these ships, Alfonso de Avila and Antonio Quig-
nones, carrying the gift to the King from the people, but the
share of Cortes is entrusted to Juan Ribera, private Secretary of
Cortes, and his companion in all his labors from the beginning.
News has recently been brought that fifteen ships of the French
pirates were seen cruising on the Ocean, expecting to lay hands
upon these ships as they did with the other, but that. they were
driven by storms on the Coast of Africa, and that many of them
were drowned."
Cap. X (1522)., " . . . .but there is a rumor of uncertain origin,
that the French pirates have already got scent of those ships ;
may God bring it out aright."
Dec. VI, Cap. X (1524). "The troubles of these times, due to
the various pirates and the hostilities with the French King, have
put a stop to our communications both by land and by sea."
Dec. VII, Cap. IV (1524). " They say that Cortes has 300,000
pesos ready to send to Caesar. . . . .but learning of the capture of
so many laden ships by the French pirates, hardly ventures to
despatch these. Thus, while in our Council of the Indies, coun-
sel was being held on the measures to be taken for the safety of
these ships, it was resolved, and provided by Caesar upon our
petition,* and ordered that they should gather, as fast as each
one was laden, at Hispaniola as a rendezvous. The ships being
gathered from all those lands, a strong fleet would thus be formed,
* See Cortes de Valladolid.
Decades of the New World. 223
which would be safe from the attack of pirates if they had to
defend themselves. What fate is to befall the armament is to be
determined by Divine Providence."
Cap. V (1524). w While I am writing of these things, word is
brought that four, ships from 4he Indies have arrived on our
Spanish coasts. What treasures they bring we have not heard."
Dec. VIII, Cap. IV (1526). "They say that Cortes is still deplor-
ing the loss of those great treasures, captured by. the French
pirates about three [two ?] years ago, which he was sending to
Caesar. But what shall we say concerning the gems and precious
stones ? Passing over the rest, there was a pyramidal emerald,
whose base was nearly as broad as the palm of a man's hand. It
was told to us in the Council and to Caesar that such an one had
never seen by human eye before. It is said that the French
Admiral purchased it at an incredible price from the captor of
this booty. But they treat Alfonso de Avila with inhumanity.
He is a young man of noble family, but not rich. They keep
him a prisoner in a foul dungeon, upon the sole pretext that to
him were entrusted . this jewel and the other treasures. They
think that they can exact from him twenty thousand ducats if
he wishes to ransom himself."
Cap. VI. " Cortes, by reason that the French pirate named
Florinus, took his fleet with many precious things, which he and
the other officers in New Spain, partners in hi* conquests, were
sending to Caesar, has from grief over so great a loss, sent no
letters either to Caesar or to our Council. He has thus allowed
a suspicion to arise from this and from the sayings of many who
frequently return from those Kingdoms, of a defection from
Caesar."
Dec. Vlll, Cap. IX [writing about a large fleet bound to the
West Indies, on which there went a retainer of his, Juan Mende-
guren, he says, November, 1525], "From him I have received
letters from Gomera, one of the Fortunate Islands, where all
vessels crossing the Ocean stop for refreshments. He writes that
they had got thus far prospering, in the space of ten days, and
that fast ships could do it in less, but that it was the duty of the
convoy to wait for the slow sailers, lest they should fall into the
jaws of the French pirates, who watched them for some time
224 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
m
under sail, that they might fall upon the laggards. I do not
remember whether I have said or not, that two ships sent by
Fernando Cortes from New Spain, the latest new lands known to
as, had arrived at the Azores. I will tell you how it was arranged
that they should not fall into the wide spread jawB of the pirates,
who had long waited for them cruising around, and how they
avoided them and what they bring. One of them, having dis-
charged her cargo, determined to try her luck, and by the help
of Providence, did not fall among the robbers, escaping safely.
This news being heard, a fleet of six ships was hastily prepared,
of which four are two hundred tons burthen, and also two cara-
vels completely equipped for fighting, in case they met with
pirates. The King of Portugal added four others, good sailers
and well furnished with all kinds of guns. They sailed on the
25th of June, took in the cargoes left behind, and returned safely
about the end of July. Thanks were offered to God in Seville.
We expect the chief captains every day. There were only two
small ships from Cortes. They ascribe the little treasure in the
ships to the poverty of those regions. They bring to Caesar only
seventy thousand gold pesos." [He gives the reasons for ordering
the spice laden vessels from the East Indies to start and to land
at Corunna, among which is the fear of pirates along the South-
ern coasts, for, as he says], " there are in those shores between the
high mountains many desert valleys, which are not much peopled
on account of their sterility. These are the hiding places of
pirates, who signalled by their men watching on the top of the
mountains, attack the passing ships. On this account it was
ordered that business should be carried on there " (at Corunna).
- This Chapter is dated November 19th, 1525.
Martyr completed one more Chapter of this eighth Decade
and died in October, 1526. There is some confusion in his
accounts as given in the Decades, and they must be compared
with his Letters in order to understand them. It will be noticed
that in the Decades he only names Florinus once and that he
says nothing about his capture.
♦ Letters op Peter Martyr. 225
XIL— LETTERS OF PETER MARTYR.
The letters of Peter Martyr cover a most interesting period of
European history, namely, from 1488 to 1525. They are full of
details which can be found nowhere else, and abound with gossip
of all kinds. He wrote them in fluent but not very classic Latin,
to persons in Italy or Spain, and often in haste, as he himself
admits. We find in them many passages concerning the New
World, taking, as he did, a vivid interest in the progressive dis-
coveries made there. As a member of the Council of the Indies
and as an attache' to the royal court he had opportunities of
learning all that was happening there. He gathered these details
into Decades, the first one, written before 1500, being published
in 1511, two others appearing in 1516, and the whole eight in
1530, after his death, which occurred in 1526.
The letters, 812 in number, were first published at Alcala in
1530, and again at Paris in 1670, but have not been translated.
In Ep. 634 (Paris Ed.), dated January 30th, 1519, he mentions
treasures expected to arrive from islands near the Continent.
This was the consignment of gold collected by Juan de Grijalva
during his expedition to Yucatan and the lower Mexican coast in
1518. This was forwarded by Velasquez, Governor of Cuba, and
got safely in to Seville.
In Ep. 650 (Paris Ed.), dated December 2d, 1519, he announces
the arrival of the first treasure sent by Cortes.
In Ep. 686 (Paris Ed.), dated September 13th, 1520, he says
that all Gold from the Indies must pass through the Casa de
Contratacion, and in Ep. 715 (same ed.), of March 6th, 1521, he
alludes to treasure expected, as he says, from the lands West of
Cuba. Verrazano, a few weeks after this last date, took one or
two vessels from the Indies according to Herrera, but they were
not sent by Cortes.
The next four letters are full of details oonoerning the pirates
and their captures.
Epist. 774 (Ed. 1530), 771 (Ed. 1670).
Valladolid, November 19, 1522.
" These vessels from Fernand Cortes the conqueror of the
Yucatan and other newest lands, have arrived at the Cassi-
15
226 Notss on the Verbazano Map.
terides, Portuguese Islands, commonly called- the Azores. Con*
oerning the treasures thereof, but particularly the ornaments and
vestments consecrated to their deities, and how far they differ
from those sent by the same, and which you saw in Valladolid,
they speak with great animation and say that those brought in
one of the three ships exceed the former greatly in beauty and
value.
The other two vessels, however, fearing the French corsairs,
have remained at the said islands. They pretend to say that car-
goes to the value of eight hundred thousand ducats are brought
in them. There they will stay, consequently, until another fleet,
which has been ordered to be fitted out, can be sent from Seville
to convoy them, for we have been taught by a very bitter exam-
ple, which ought to make us more vigilant, unless fortune blinds
us.
For last year one Florin, a French pirate, captured a ship
coming from Hispaniola with gold to the amount of eighty thou-
sand ducats, six hundred eight ounce pounds of pearls and two
thousand arrobas of sugar. As Commander of these three ves-
sels came Juan Ribera, as private envoy of Fernan Cortes, who
in the name of his Master, Fernan Cortes, is to present half of
those gifts to Caesar, and the other half is to be offered by the
two representatives of the magistrates and soldiers of those lands
in their name to Caesar. These two are still with the ships.
Juan Ribera resolved to tempt fortune with one of the ships
and came in. What he brought you shall learn elsewhere. He
has not yet landed the cases he brought, which, however, are all
his own, nothing for the King himself.
In the three ships they brought over three tigers, reared from
whelps, each in his cage. By the violence of the storms, one of
the cages was opened a little one night. By great exertion the
tiger burst the planks asunder and attacked the men as fiercely
as if it had never seen one. Five of those it met were badly
wounded (each) by one blow. Their comrades, roused by the
noise, disabled the quadruped with spears and drove it into the
sea. To avoid the same happening again they shot the second
one in its cage with darts. So they only bring one, which God
grant may, with the other things, escape the jaws of the pirates,
for they have become so greatly allured by that booty, by means
Letters of Peter Martyr. 227
■
of which they have gathered fresh strength, that we can no longer
safely navigate our ocean."
Epistle 782 (Ed. 1530), 779 (Ed. 1670).
Valladolid, June 11, 1523.
"This very day more bad news is brought. I have already
written about three ships which Fernan Cortes sent with immense
treasures from the most remote lands, two of which for fear of
pirates stayed at the Cassiterides, the Azore islands, until a new
fleet could be sent to convoy them. A little fleet of three cara-
vels was sent for their protection, but in vain. The larger vessel
laden with those precious things, attacked by two ships, fell into
the hands of John Florin, the French pirate. The other ship
escaped, with only one of the twelve large cases, and one of the
tigers of which I have already spoken. These few thus escaped,
immensely excel in richness and elegance of the dresses, the gifts
seen by you, before the Emperor's departure from Valladolid to
Galicia on his way to the Low Countries. And no wonder.
Those came from tiibes in the provinces, these were brought from
the treasury of that great King Muteczuma, and the other gran-
dees of his court and their famous temples. Those who had
handled the articles aver that those lost by this mischance exceed
in value 600,000 ducats. There was a large quantity of gold dust,
and the robes dedicated to their Gods were richly trimmed with
gold. I took the Venetian Ambassador* and several nobles to
see them at the house of those who are taking care of this box,
until it is presented to Caesar. These enable us to judge of what
was lost. They admired the beauty and richness, the designs
wrought with wondrous skill, and figures intermingled with all
kinds of flowers, plants, animals, snares and birds. They are a
strong proof that these people are polished, of acute minds and
industrious."
Ep. 804, Ed. 1530.
Ep. 800, Ed. 1670.
Valladolid, August 3d, 1524.
"To turn to other matters; a courier of the King of Portugal
comes hither with the complaint, that Florinus the French pirate
had captured a ship of his King, coming from the Indies, in
Bee
228 Notes on the Verbazano Map.
which the freight they brought was taken, amounting to a sum
of one hundred and eighty thousand ducats of gums and spices."
Ep. 806, Ed. 1530.
Ep. 802, Ed. 1670.
Valladolid, November 18th, 1524.
" The sea is also hostile to us. Of the many carracks wrecked
and damaged by storms you know most fully, for they were all
Italian. Jacob de Veer, distinguished in Spain in your day,
built one.
This fell into the hands of the French pirate, with a thousand
five hundred bags of Spanish wool, and with other things which
were going to the fairs of Belgium and Antwerp, amounting in
value to seventy thousand ducats.
Xni.— CONTARINI ON THE FRENCH CORSAIRS.
The Venetian envoy in Spain, at this time, was the well-known
Gaspar Contarini, and we find several allusions in his despatches
home to the captures by the French corsairs. These papers are
now in the Marciana (library) in Venice, bequeathed to it by one
of his descendants, in 1843. Mr. Rawdon Brown, the able
editor of several volumes of Calendars of Venetian State papers,
relating to English affairs, pointed out these letters to Mr. Henri
Harrisse, author of the Biblioteca Americana Vetustissima, 1866,
and of other works showing great research. We give such
extracts from them as bear upon the treasure of Cortes, from his
Supplement to the work just mentioned, Paris, 1872.
The first extract, not dated, speaks of the new empire dis-
covered by Cortes.
The second, from Carte 27, dated November 18, 1522 (one day
previous to a similar one of Martyr's, both written after the
arrival of Juan de Ribera), mentions the treasure, but says
nothing about corsairs.
The third extract, from Carte 29, dated June 7, 1523,
announces the capture of two out of three treasure-vessels by
French vessels, and the escape of the third. He then adds:
" His Majesty, here, has written to all his ports that as many as
Herrera's Decades. 229
possible should go out and pursue the said French vessels, and
desires that half of the gold and vestments which may be recap-
tured should remain to them; for they hold that these French
vessels cannot have yet reached a place of safety."
The other extracts are not dated, and speak of still richer trea-
sures expected, etc.
XTV.— HERRERA'S DECADES.
Decade III, Lib. IV, Cap. XX, 1523. Alonzo Davila,
Antonio de Quinones, Diego de Ordaz and Alonzo de Mendoza
were waiting at Santa Maria, in the Azores, to be sent for, and,
becoming tired of waiting, Diego de Ordaz resolved to come on
with other passengers, in a Portuguese ship, and landed in Lis-
bon. Capt. Domingo Aldnzo left the vessels bound to the Indies,
that he was convoying, at the Canaries, and went to the Azores
with his three caravels. Coming back to Spain with Davila,
Quinones and their fellow passengers, with the gold and things
they were in charge of, at ten leagues from Cape Saint Vincent,
six armed French vessels came out against them,* whose captain
was Florin of Rochelle. Of the three Spanish caravels, one took
to flight, two prepared for battle, and, although they fought
bravely, were captured. Antonio de Quinones was killed, and
Alonzo Davila was carried to La Rochelle, whence those vessels
came, and was a prisoner there for three years. Almost all the
treasure was lost, which Cortez was sending to the King, not
only as a present, but also his fifth, and a vessel, which was
coming from Espanola, with sixty-two thousand ducats, six hun-
dred marks of* pearls, and two thousand arrobas of sugar.
Cap. XXI. The Emperor felt deeply the loss of the two cara-
vels which the French captured, and of the ship, and with so
much the more care he ordered that care should be had to protect
the Armada by a fleet fitted out by expending the custom duties
(averias).
Lib. VII, Cap. IV. (The Emperor) sent instructions to all the
Governors of the Islands and Tierra Firme to assure the safety
♦This is probably an exaggeration; Florin had, probably, four only.
230 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
*
of the inward and outward voyage, and directing them what
course to follow to avoid the corsairs.
Dec. IIIy Lib. Xy Cap. XIy 1526. And as the French were
still continuing to cruise (as corsairs), it was ordered that all
vessels from the Indies should be well armed, and that they
should gather at the Island of Hispaniola, and should sail together
for mutual protection, for it was reported that the corsairs had
captured a ship and taken from it the pilot and compass [chart ?]
in order to learn the navigation and help to look for the ships of
the Indies, where they might be taken with greater safety to
themselves.
The same arrangement was made for vessels sailing to the
Indies, and that a Captain-General should have authority over
the fleet, who, with experienced pilots, might save much loss,
punish the mutineers, and repress the bad practice of the crews,
who maltreated passengers and committed offences in the places
where they stopped.
Revised maps were to be prepared under the supervision of
Hernando Colon, etc.
A magazine of artillery and ammunition was also ordered to
be established in Seville for arming the India-bound veselfl.
XV.— BERN AL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO.
Cap. CLIX (CLXIX), fols. 163 and 164. Let us leave the
letters and speak of the good voyage which our Procuradoret
pursued after they started from the port of Vera Cruz, which
was on the twentieth day of the month of December [?], one
thousand five hundred and twenty-two,* and they happily
passed through the channel of Bahama, f and, on the way, two
of the tigers out of the three which they carried escaped and
wounded some sailors, and they determined to kill the remaining
♦This date appears only in Bernal Diaz, and is certainly erroneous.
f The vessels were piloted by Anton de Alaminos, the discoverer of this
channel, who accompanied Cortes to Mexico, and took his first vessel to
Spain by this route. Bee B. Diaz, Cap. UII; also note, Gtdf of MM*, to
this paper.
Bernal Diaz Del Castillo. g31
one, because he was very wild and they conld not manage him, *
and continued their voyage to the island called la Tercera; and
as Antonio de Quinones was captain, and considered himself
valiant and in love, it appeared that he was returning to that
island with a woman, and a quarrel arose about her, and they
gave him a sword cut on the head, of which he died after some
days, and Alonzo de Avila remained sole commander; and while
Alonzo de Avila was steering, with the two ships, towards Spain, f
not far from the island, Juan Florin, a French corsair, fought
with them, and he took all the gold and ships, and Alonzo de
Avila, and took the prize to France. And, in the same manner,
Juan Florentin pillaged another ship coming from the Island of
St. Domingo, and took from it twenty thousand pesos of gold
and a great quantity of pearls and sugar and ox hides, and, with
all this, he returned to France very rich, and made great presents
to his King, and to the Admiral of France, of the articles and
pieces of gold which we brought from New Spain, so that all
France was marvelling at the riches which we sent to our great
Emperor, and the desire took the said King of France also to own
a part of the Islands of New Spain, and he said, at the time, that
with the gold only that was going to our Caesar from those lands
he could wage war with his France, and although at that time
Peru was not known or conquered, but, as I said, he only had
that from New Spain, and the Islands of St. Domingo and St.
Juan and Cuba and Jamaica, and it is told that afterwards the
King of France said, or sent a message, .to our great Emperor
that as he and the King of Portugal had divided the world
without giving him a portion of it, that they should show to him
the testament of father Adam, whether they were named as his
sole heirs, and lords of those lands which they had taken between
the two without giving him any of them, and that for that
# Herrera, Dec. Ill, Lib. Ill, Cap. I, says there were two, and that the
one which escaped wounded eight men and killed two. These animals were
American jaguars.
f Bernal Diaz is the only authority for this scandalous tale, which may he
only soldiers' gossip. Herrera, better informed, says Quinones was killed in
the action with the corsairs. Diaz omits all reference to Juan de Ribera, the
secretary of Cortes, who, according to Peter Martyr, was the chief of the
deputation.
282 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
reason it was lawful to rob and take all that he could on the sea;
and forthwith he ordered Juan Florin that he should return with
another fleet to seek his living by the sea; and on that voyage
which he undertook, and on which he made another great prize
of all cargoes between Castile and Canary Islands, he met with
three or four strong ships manned by Biscayans, and some of
them attacking him on one side and the rest on the other, they
fought with Juan Florin and destroyed and disabled him, and
captured him and many other Frenchmen, and took their ships
and clothing, and carried Juan Florin and other captains prison-
ers to Seville to the Casa de Contratacion, and despatched them
prisoners to his Majesty; and after he knew it, he ordered that,
on the way, they should be executed, and in the Puerto del Pico
they were hung, aud thus made our gold safe, together with the
captains who carried it, and Juan Florin who took it Now let
us return to our story, which is that they took Alonzo de Avila
prisoner, and they put him into a fortress, believing that they
would get a great ransom, because he carried so much gold in his
charge— -guarding it well — and Alonzo de Avila, <fcc, Ac.
XVL— OVIEDO ON THE CAPTURE OF 1523.
Lib. XXXIII, Cap. XLI, Ed. Acad. Madrid, 1853, Vol. 8,
p. 407-8.
This historian does not name Florin, although he mentions the
loss of the vessels. After speaking of the despatch of the trea-
sure and curiosities, he adds :
44 They were taken at sea by French corsairs, and many who I have heard
speak of this, and who saw those things, estimated their value at more than
one hundred and fifty thousand ducats of gold, and that of the money which
they took besides, or rather the gold and silver, at as much more. And
although he [Cortes] regretted what had happened, he said that on the other
hand he was pleased that they had taken them, because they would not he
missed by His Majesty, as he would labor to send others much richer and
more curious, according to the news received from certain provinces, which
he had then sent to conquer. And that he was also satisfied with such a
loss, because the French and other nations to whom these things became
known, would know that besides the great and extensive kingdoms and
0 OMAR A ON FlOBIN—Db B ARC I A ON VSRRAZANO. 233
seignoralties which Their Majesties held in Spain and elsewhere, one of the
least of their vassals could perform such a service in so remote a region as
these Indies, gaining so many kingdoms for the increase of the royal sceptre
of CastffiV'
Oviedo arrived in Spain from Espanola November 5, 1523, and
was with the Court during 1524 and 1525, starting again for
America April 30, 1526. If, therefore, Florin had been taken or
hung during that time, Oviedo would certainly have chronicled
the fact.
XVH.— GOMARA ON FLORIN.
La Conquista de Mexico, §arago£ a, 1553, fol. lxxxvii.
After describing the things sent in the three caravels from
Mexico, and giving the names of the officers in charge of their
precious freight, all which seems to be taken from Martyr's
Decades, he continues :
4 'But Florin, a French Corsair, took the two caravels which carried the
gold, this side of the Azores. And he took at the same time that which was
coming from the Islands with seventy-two thousand ducats, six hundred
marks of mother of pearl (aljofar) and pearls, and two thousand arrobas of
sugar."
Francisco Lopez de Gomara became the Chaplain of Cortes
after the conquest, and is generally considered a most reliable
though sometimes partial historian. He may have been in Seville,
a young man, at the time of Florin's capture of the treasure, and
is the first author, after Martyr, who mentions Florin's name.
That he, like Martyr, should be silent about the taking and hang-
ing of Florin, is significant of the groundlessness of the story.
XVIH— DE BARCIA ON JTJAN VERRAZANO.
Eneayo Gronologico para la SRstoria General de la Florida:
por Don Gabriel de Cardenas y Gano. Madrid, 1723, folio.
This is one of the numerous works of the indefatigable Don
Andres Gonzales de Barcia, whose name is concealed under the
above anagram of it.
284 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Fol. 8, year 1524, "Juan Verrazano, a Corsair of France,
coasted the Eastern shores of Florida for more than 700 leagues.
Having sailed on the 17th of January from the uninhabited rock
of Madera, he arrived at the mouth of the river of Canada or St.
Lawrence, noting the lands, its people and their customs, as he
himself writes* to Francis the First, King of France, from
Dieppe, on the 8th of June [July]," whose narrative is abridged
by Antonio de Herrera, who believed that he returned to France,
although some say that he did not, having died on the way ; and
others that on attempting to land he was eaten by Indians the
following year. If he did not return to Florida afterwards, it
would not be easy to agree about it The truth is, that at that
time, there infested our Seas Juan Florentin, a French pirate,
who made himself famous from having taken, in the year 1521,
the Ship in which Hernan Cortes was sending to the Emperor
Charles V, a present of gold, silver and other precious things, in
the charge of Alonzo de Avila, whom he took a prisoner,! and
another ship coming to Spain from the Island of Santo Domingo,
of great value, with which, and others, he returned to France
very rich, and made great presents to the King Francis, and to
those of his court, who was astonished to see such riches."
"He took again to the sea, much honored and favored, and
with greater forces and preparations; did great damage, and took
innumerable prizes; and retiring to France with them, he was
met near the Canaries this year by four Biscayan vessels, who
took his ships and what they carried, carrying him a prisoner to
Seville, with others. Thence they were sent to Madrid, but those
who had influence and had been damaged through his violence,
clamored for justice : so he and the other Captains were exe-
cuted, being hung in the Puerto del Pico as pirates, public
enemies of nations."
Barcia* erroneously places the first capture in 1521. We have
shown that Florentin took a Santo Domingo ship in this year,
* The Spanish reads, "como se dice, que el mismo lo eecrivio a Fran-
cisco, <fcc.;" but he cannot mean to say that he was not acquainted with
the letter itself in Ramusius.
t Who (Avila) having recovered his liberty went afterwards with Francisco
Montejo to the conquest of Yucatan as Royal Treasurer, keeping the rank
he held in New Spain. (Parenthesis in text.)
De Viera. 285
but the Cortes treasures, with another West India vessel, were
taken in 1528. In 1522 he was driven away from the Canaries,
according to Viera, and also from the Spanish coast,, according to
Herrera,* without carrying off any prizes. The conflict with the
BiscayanB is the story told by Bernal Diaz. This is therefore a
very confused account, and palpably incorrect as to dates. His
story of the execution is evidently taken at second hand from
Bernal Diaz, leaving but a slender hearsay report as a foundation
for it. As before stated, these two writers alone mention the
execution of Juan Florin.
It will be noticed also that he makes him sail along our coast
from north to south.
XIX.— DE VIERA.
Notices of the general History of the Canary Islands, by Don
Joseph de Viera y Clavijo. Madrid, 1772. 3 vols. sq. 8vo.
Vol. n, Cap. Xn, p. 294 (Castillo MS., lib. 8).
Action of the Governor of Canary, Pedro Suarez dd Castilla,
Ac. (abridged).
" In the sixth year of his government, which was in 1522, he sent out
vessels to recapture seven boats with emigrants for the Islands, and made
Juan Florin, the corsair, release them.
" He then betook himself to the Azores, and captured two vessels return-
ing from America, sent by Cortes, with the Ransom of Montezuma, with
over 88m. Castellanos in bars of gold and plate, precious stones, pearls," Ac.
There are two Castillo manuscripts mentioned by de Viera, in
his Prologo. The above extract is probably from the one by
Don Pedro Agustin del Castillo of Tenerife, being a history of
the Islands. It would be interesting to look at this manuscript
carefully, as it may oontain further details about the above occur-
rence.
• Dec in, Lib. I, Cap. XIV.
236 Notes on the Verrazajxo Map.
XX.— CORTES DE VALLADOLID.
Las Cortes de Valladolid del ano do 1523.
Printed 1551.
Peticion LXXIII.
" Item that the seas of the Kingdom of Granada and Andalusia,
and also those of Castille, being full of Moorish, Turkish and
French corsairs; so that no one can traffic, and every da y they
attack the forts and capture persons and effects, and also other
damage, therefore your Highness is begged that the fleet may
cruise in said seas, and that another fleet may be prepared, if neces-
sary, so that the seas may be cleared in such a manner that com-
merce can be carried on, that the galleys may be equipped and
entrusted to a person of experience and accustomed to maritime
matters, and that your Highness would provide in such a way
that these Kingdoms may not suffer such damage, disgrace and
affront that no one dare leave his house, and merchants dare not
come to Castille, from* fear of the corsairs, and from this reason
the goods that are brought and enter the Kingdom are twice as
costly as they used to be.
To this we answer, that we appreciate what you tell us, and it
is right that measures should be taken, and we charge you to
arrange among yourselves the manner and method which is to be
followed to remedy it, and advise us thereof ; because what can
be provided according to our means shall be done, and in the
providing of the galleys we have already entrusted them to a
person experienced in the sea."
Peticion LXXII.
" Further ; that a guard of the coast of Granada be provided,
as it was in the time of the Catholic Kings.
To this we answer, that it shall be done."
This is probably the petition alluded to by Peter Martyr, as
having been presented by the Council of the Indies, in Decade
VII, Cap. IV. It is, however, uncertain whether the sending of
an armed fleet under Domingo Alonzo to -the Azores, was an
independent act of the Council of the Indies, or in accordance
with this decree.
Cortes de Toledo. 237
XXI.— CORTES DE TOLEDO.
Las Cortes de Toledo del ano de 1525.
Printed 1550.
Peticion XXII.
" Also we entreat your Majesty that since all the Kingdom and
the coasts of Castile, as well as those of Andalusia, are much
cursed (damnifioada) by the robberies which the French and
Moors have committed, and continued to do daily, of many ships
and merchandise of great value, and of the gold from the Indies,
which they have taken because our coasts are not guarded ; by
which your Majesty is much injured, because the French provide
themselves with our ships, and the Moors take them also, and
with them carry on war, and the coasts will remain without ship-
ping, from which great damage will ensue to the whole Kingdom,
may your Majesty be pleased to order that in the Cities and places
in the land of Biscay and of Guypuscoa those who may wish to
do so may arm, your Majesty ordering and aiding them to do
this, and further providing thus for the sea coast as may be
required ; and also in the ports of Andalusia and the Moorish
coast, may your Majesty order this to be remedied and provided
for ; in such manner that the French and the Moors may not do
mischief as they have done hitherto ; all which your Majesty has
promised many times for the peace of your Royal mind and for
the honor and profit of these Kingdoms ; and towards this his
Holiness has granted and grants many Bulls and Indulgences.
To this we answer that we hold it a service for all those of our
Kingdoms who desire it to arm for the above purpose ; and to
aid in the outlay they may make, we have ordered and now order
that during our Royal reign the fifth belonging to us in all prizes
taken shall be granted; in furtherance of which we order our
Council to make the required regulations ; and as for the coast-
guard, we have ordered our Council of War to issue orders, to
provide that the coast be made safe and well watched, that our
subjects may not suffer loss."
This decree was perhaps issued in 1528 or 4, after the great
captures of the Mexican treasure vessels, and the Biscayans, who
met and captured a fleet of French Corsairs, probably fitted out
under its authority.
238 NOTES ON THE VSRRAZANO MAP.
t
XXBL— CORSAIRS IN THE WEST INDIES AFTER 1527.
Continual complaints of the ravages by French and English
corsairs were made by the officials in the West Indies after the
year 1527. The thirst of the Spanish monarchs for gold, and
the rapacity of individual adventurers, left the colonies poor, and
productive of little besides articles of intrinsic value. So little
had been expended for the defence of these rich islands and
provinces, that as late as 1535 there had been constructed but
one fort for their defence,* the poor one in the port of Sto.
Domingo, of which the historian Oviedo was alcalde from 1533
to 1554. His complaints of its poor condition, with its ten
soldiers, a few small cannon and small supply of powder, were
unceasing. This fort, and some minor defences at other points,
are said to have been constructed for defence against the Indians
only, and not as a protection to the ports.
The only naval armament consisted, in 1541, of galleys at a
few ports, f and the sea was quite open to any daring foreign
adventurer. This defenceless condition became known to the
French and English, who soon took advantage of it, and their
privateers roamed in the Gulf and Caribbean Sea, entering ports
and seizing laden vessels in them, sacking towns or levying ran-
som, and refitting in places which dared not refuse supplies.
Some of the English vessels had French pilots, who were
better acquainted with the routes to the islands and the coasts
there than their own, the French having been the first to inaugu-
rate privateering at the sources of the supply of precious metals.
From this time the pursuit of Spanish treasure became unceas-
ing, and was continued for a century and a half by the French
or English, the Dutch also entering the lists after shaking off the
Spanish yoke. The history of the early buccaneers has not been
written, but many tales of the exploits of their successors have
been gathered. Spain paid dearly for her colonial policy of
exclusion, and reaped no lasting benefit from her possessions in
the New World.
•Doc In., 1864,581.
t Bee in reference to the above : Oviedo, Herrera, and Documentoe Inedttoa,
particularly the volume for 1864, pages 12, 15, 511-13-48-70-72-75-81-88.
Routes to and from the West Indies. 239
XXIII.— ROUTES TO AND FROM THE WEST INDIES.
No settled route from Spain to the West Indies had been
pursued until Pedrarias Davila, in 1514, going to Castilla del Oro
(Darien), with a fleet, took advantage of all that could shorten
the navigation, and his path across the ocean was thenceforth
adopted as the regular one to be followed. Oviedo, Herrera,
Cespedes and others describe the route outward and inward
circumstantially.
The first course outward from Spain was to Gran Canada,
Gomera or Falma, occupying eight or ten days, where supplies
were taken in. Taking a departure from Ferro, a course was
made W. S. W., £ S., toward the Northerly windward Islands,
favored by the Brisas or trades, endeavoring to sight La Deseada
and Dominica. This course, occupying about twenty-five days,
was estimated at 750 leagues. On a great circle, it measures 721
Spanish leagues, or 2,470 nautical miles. Vessels badly steered
wo.uld go wide of the mark, and first make the leeward islands,
or even the coasts of Honduras. From Dominica they would
generally make for the city of Santo Domingo, on the south side
of Hispaniola, unless bound for Tierra Firme. The whole voyage
was made in about thirty-five to forty days, and the vessels bound
to the Northerly Islands would sail in April or May, but if for
Tierra Firme, in August or September.
The return voyage was made in a higher latitude, in order to
avoid the trades and meet the north-west winds. At first, vessels
passed out into the ocean through the old Bahama channel, but
after the Florida channel had been discovered by AJaminos, and
the corsairs became troublesome, they were ordered to rendezvous
at Havannah, and sail in fleets for mutual protection. Thence
they kept well to the north, sometimes sighting the Bermudas,
and generally stopping at the Azores. If the Azores could not
be made, a course was made to Cape Blanco. From either of these
points the course was taken toward Cape St. Vincent, in Portu-
gal. In the winter season the lower course, in lat. 33 deg., was
preferred. Twenty or thirty days was the average time of the
voyage to the Azores, and fifteen or twenty thence to San Lucar,
though much better time was sometimes made, while others were
240 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
three or four months on the way. The start from New Mexico,
or Havannah, was generally made early in May.
We give the above in order to indicate the stations which the
corsairs would most likely select to waylay Spanish vessels, and
the seasons at which they might expect them. About 1527, the
French and English corsairs found that by following the trades
to the West Indies, they could better attack the treasure-laden
vessels of the Spaniards before they had gathered at their ren-
dezvous in Cuba. The precautions taken to guard them after
they had thus met together almost put an end to the watch of
the corsairs around the Azores and Cape St Vincent, which had
proved so profitable to Verrazano.
XXIV.— SUPPRESSION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOW-
LEDGE BY SPAIN.
The jealous secretiveness of Spain regarding her marine charts
has been noticed in another note, and therefore the appearance
of a chart of the West Indies in Martyr's Decade of the Ocean,
in 1611, must have been unauthorized and probably distasteful
to the government. Curiously enough, the King, in this very
year, forbids the communication of Spanish charts to foreigners,
and it may be that this measure was dictated by the publication
of this chart as much as by the Portuguese attempt to get mape
from Vespucius. Possibly this may have led to a suppression of
the book, for but very few copies of it are now known. The
next editions, of 1516 and 1580 (this last, the fullest one, and
published after his death) have no maps at all
No maps by Columbus or by the Spanish explorers of America
were ever published. We have none by Cortes or Pizarro,
Magellan or Gomez, but they all prepared draughts of their dis-
coveries, no doubt, that served the JPMotos Mcyores in the com-
pilation of the fine manuscript charts preserved in European
libraries. In fact, we find many references to such charts, but
very few of them are now known.
No official general charts of the Americas were published in
Spain until 1 790, but several sketches, such as Pedro de Medina's
Family of Vsrrazano. 241
of 1545, appeared in Spanish works after the middle of the six-
teenth century. The first general map of the new continent,
published from Spanish authorities, is that by Sebastian Cabot in
his Mapamundi of 1544, of which but one copy, found by the late
Von Martins of Munich, and sent to the Royal library in Paris,
in 1843, is now known. Cespedes, in 1606, speaks of it as having
been presented to the King of Spain. Its rarity can only be
explained by the desire to suppress it by. Spanish authority; and
the loss of Cabot's papers and memoirs after his death, in 1556,
was, no doubt, the result of the same jealous desire to suppress a
general knowledge of the Spanish colonial empire. The attempts
made to represent the New World by Hylacomilus, in 1513, by
Schoner and Apianus, in 1520, and Gemma Frisius, in 1525, were
mere guesses at the real outlines of America, until the general
interest taken in the Spanish discoveries after the conquest of
Mexico, and the wonderful voyage of Magellan, brought out the
tolerably accurate map of Oronoe Fin6, of Dauphine in 1531.
Severe penalties were threatened, and death was to be the punish-
ment of those who allowed strangers to get copies of Spanish
charts. These charts, however, must have fallen, at times, into
the hands of foreigners, and our navigator, no doubt, had found
several such in his prizes, and thus the routes to the Indies
became known to the English and French. Spanish pilots may
have entered foreign service, but if so they probably assumed an
aliasy and but one such is named up to the year 1530,
XXV.— FAMILY OF VERRAZANO.
Two Eulogies of Giovanni de Verrazano appeared in Florence
about the same time. One, which we have not seen, was included
by Giuseppe Allegrini, a printer in Florence, in the second
Vplume of the work entitled JRitratti ed JElogi degli TTomini
Ittustre delta To8cana, 1768. The other was prepared by Giuseppe
Pelli for the same work, but was for some reason, not accepted,
and was printed separately by the author, with a preface men-
tioning the above facts, in 1769. It is signed G. P., but we learn
the name of the author from Tiraboschi. Pelli also published
16
242 ' NOTXB ON THE VERRAZANO MAP.
Memoirs for the life of Dante, a work of some value, and which
was republished in 1823.
The notice of Verrazano is entitled Elpgio \ di Giovanni da
Verrazano \ fflorentino | Seopritore deUa Nuova Franda nd
Secolo XVI. | [Colophon.] In Mrenze MDCCLXIX. | N&a
Stamperia di Giuseppe AUegrini, e Comp. | Square octavo,
pp. zi.
The copy we have consulted, perhaps the only one in this coun-
try, was purchased at the Kirkup sale, London, December, 1871,
and was kindly loaned to us by the Hon. Henry C. Murphy.
The family of Verrazano is considered by Pelli, to have
come from Verrazan,* a place in the Yal di Grfcve, a few miles
South of Florence (which in the twelfth century belonged to
the De Bertoldis e da Panzano), and at the time of his writing
still held property there. The same writer says that the Gon-
falonierate was twice held by members of the family, and the
Priorate about forty times. He names Ludovioo di Francesco
di Baocio da Verrazano, as having distinguished himself when
Governor of Leghorn and Commander of the galleys of San
Stefano.
His eulogist states that his parents' names were Piero Andrea
di Bernardo [di Bernardo] da Verrazano, and Fiametta Capella.
Giovanni was certainly born after 1480, and had a brother, who
was of the Priori in 1529, (possibly the Hieronimus who made
the chart, now preserved in Borne, which Mons. Thomassy has
described.)
The biographer adds that he had seen, in the possession of the
family, a copy of Ramusius with a MS. treatise on navigation
added to the letter, which was no doubt a copy of the one
seen in the Magliabechian Library, by Mr. Greene in 1887, and
given in Vol. I of the Proceedings of the New York Historical
Society, New Series, 1841. Besides the above, Pelli gives some
* There is a place, whose modern name is very like that of our navi-
gator's, viz., Verraea, the ancient Voragina or Y<vragioy a few miles west
of Cogoletto, one of the places which claims to be the birthplace of Colum-
bus. Verraza is on the Riviera de Ponentey some eighteen miles west of
Genoa, a place where much shipbuilding is done, and the birthplace of
Jacopo di Yoragine, a Dominican, Archbishop of Genoa in 1292, and the
compiler of the carious collection of stories known as the Golden Legend.
Family of Vbrrazano. 243
other details, not immediately relating to onr Navigator, and
notices in a brief manner the voyage of 1524, from the text of
RamusiuB, without a suspicion that a copy of perhaps the origi-
nal letter was preserved close at hand, in the city where he was
writing.
No doubt the family history could be traced with greater cer-
tainty by a modern Italian scholar, versed in such studies. We
can add one or two names to the family, that may assist investi-
gators. A fine Manuscript sermon, written in the neatest style
of Italian script, signed at the end "Alexander Verrazanus
escripsit MCCCCLXXXXIIII," was procured by us from the
above mentioned sale of Baron Eirkup's library, lot No. 4085.
This may have been an uncle of Giovanni's, who had taken holy
orders.
We find the same Christian name mentioned in Coronelli's
Epitome Cosmographica, published in Cologne in 1693. At page
263 we read, after a short notice of the voyage of 1524, " that
one of the same family, named Ale&sandro, was living at that
date in Florence.''
In the letter of Annibale Caro, of October, 1587, the Verra-
sano who is addressed as a Mapmaker and traveller, and as hav-
ing a f brother also a navigator, was probably Hieronimus, author
of the Mapamundi. Mr. Smith, however, in his Inquiry of 1864,
treats this letter as a fiction and literary jeu d' esprit, but we are
of a contrary opinion.
Mr. Greene says that the family became extinct in Florence by
the death of the Cavaliere Andrea da Verrazano, who died there
in 1819.
Since the above was written we have seen the work first men-
tioned and find that it adds nothing to what was already known,
concerning our navigator, though some details may be gleaned
from it not contained in Pelli's Eulogy. The work in which this
Eulogy appears is entitled, " Serie di Bittrati dy Vomini Ittitstri
Toscatni con gli Elogi istorici dei rnedesimi" Ac. [title engraved,]
fflrenze, appresso Giuseppe AUegrini. In four large imp. folio
vols, with engraved portraits, Ac. Many of these are engraved
by Francesco AUegrini. The dates of the vols, are 1766-68-70
and 73. The Eulogy, with portrait of Verrazano, is under No. 30,
in the second volume. It is signed A. C. N. and in the "avver-
244 - Notes on the Verrazano Map.
timento" the author of it is not named, but is said to be a relatire
(agnato) of the jurist Antonio Maria Rosati. Pelli is here acknow-
ledged to be the chief editor of the work. The present Eulogy,
as before said, was substituted for the one he had prepared, in
consequence of some unexplained misunderstanding.
The name is here spelt Verrazzano. On the authority of Cosimo
della Rena, the family is said to be of Lombard origin, to have
settled in the Val di Greve, and acquired citizenship in Florence
in 1190. One of them in 1260 was a Guelf leader, another in
1428 was a general of the Duke of Milan, and Francesco, the
Governor of Leghorn, is said to have been much honored by
Philip the Fourth of Spain. His mother is farther identified as
Fiametta (di Barone, di Giovanni, di FUippo) CapeUi. With
Pelli, the author assumes that he was not born before 1480, as his
name is not found on certain Registers ( Catasto) that close with
that year.
This Eulogist then speaks of the voyage to America, from the
letter as given in Ramusius, referring to Charlevoix, Ac., but
adding nothing to what we already know except that he draws
attention to the manuscript copy of the letter, with its cosmo-
graphical appendix, in the Strozzi library. (Pelli saw this appen-
dix in MS. in the family copy of Ramusius.) It was therefore
from this reference that Tiraboschi was probably enabled to refer
to this version of the letter in its first form, which Mr. Greene
copied for the New York Historical Society, who published it
in 1841.
In a closing note, the author speaks of a portrait of the navi-
gator, hanging in the Real Galleria Medicea, in the Series of
Illustrious Men, and as among the famous Seamen, under
No. 37. He also mentions a medal struck in his honor, as
described in the " Tramoggia del finale Secondo deUa Acade-
mic* Colombaria" under No. 139.
The Portrait accompanying this Eulogy is probably of very
doubtful authenticity. It represents a good looking man in
armor, with a baton in his right hand. Under the portrait there
is a coat of arms, which if it really represents the bearings of the
family, is curiously suggestive of nautical pursuits. It has a large
eight pointed star, gules, with a small shield on the dexter chief
bearing a double fleur de lis, all on a field party per pale, or and
C'RIGNON9 PARMENTIER, E STANCE LIN. 245
argent. This seems to be an attempt at a marine compass, and
recalls the arms of Amalfi, where that instrument is said to have
been invented or improved by Flavio Gioja.
Under the Portrait is the following Inscription, Giovanni di
Pier Andrea di Bernardo da Vbrrazzano \ Patrizio
FiorP° gran capit™ comandante in mare per I IL RE
cristianissimo Francesco primo, \ s discopritore della
Nuova Francia. nato circa U MCDLXXXV morto nel
MDXXV. | Dedicate al merito ring" dell III"*, e Be&*> Sig*4
Lodovicoda Verrazano \ Patrizio, e Ganonico JBlorentino Agnato
del med° \ Preeo dal Quadro Originals in Tela esisente presso la
*uda NobU Famiglia. \ G. Zocchidel: F. AUegrini inci: 1767 |
XXVL— CRIGNON, PARMENTIER, ESTANCELIN.
L. Estancelin published at Paris, in 1832, in 8°, his "Recherche*
sw Us Voyage* et Deconvertes des Navigateurs Nbrmands. He
was the fortunate discoverer, among the papers of Mons. Tarb6 of
Sens, of an account of the voyage of Jean Parmentier, of Dieppe,
to Sumatra, in 1529, which was prefaced by a cosmographical
treatise.
This last was given in Italian by Ramusius, in his collection,
Vol. Ill, 1556, folios 423 to 431. Ramusius regrets not being
able to give the name of the author of this " Ditcoreo" and had
apparently not seen the second part, which is the Voyage to
Sumatra in 1529.
The manuscript discovered by Estancelin, is considered by him
to be of a contemporaneous hand. He gives it in full, adding
the Italian part as found in Ramusius. The first part, however,
alone interests us, as containing perhaps the first written evidence
alluding to the voyage of Verrazano.
Mons. Margry, in his Navigations Francaises, etc., pages 130,
199, considers Pierre Crignon, the companion of Parmentier, to
have been the author of the Discourse and Narrative. Parmentier,
the commander of the expedition, died December 3, 1529, in
Ceylon. There is no evidence that Crignon was the author of
the £H8cour8e9 although he was a good navigator, and wrote a
treatise on the variation of the magnetic needle.
246 Notes on the Vsbbazano Map.
This first part, or Discorso as Ram agios well calls it, though a
very brief one, gives the author's ideas of the coasts, and of the
distances along them, of the known world. It is written in a
clear and sketchy manner, and we should like to dwell upon it in
greater detail, but shall confine ourselves to the passage in which
he alludes to Verrazano.
This discourse appears, from internal evidence (and is admitted
by Mr. Margry), to have been written in 1539, and is interesting
as presenting the first notice of the voyage of 1524, written by a
person who perhaps had known its commander.
" The land of Norumbega. Following the direction of Gape Breton [from
E. to W.], one meets with a land contiguous to this cape, and whose coast
extends westwardly, one quarter south-west [W. by 8.], to the lands of
Florida, embracing a space of about five hundred leagues. [Our author had
clearly not been along this coast himself.]
" This coast was discoverd, fifteen years since, by Measure Jean de Terra-
zano, who took possession of it in the name of the King, Francis the First,
and of Madame, the Rigente. Many navigators, and even the Portuguese,
call it the Terre Franc,aise. It ends towards Florida, at the 78th degree of
longitude West, and 80th degree of latitude North. The land is very fertile
in all kinds of fruits; it grows orange trees, almond trees, wild grape-vines,
and a great variety of odoriferous trees. This land is called Hurumbega
by the natives.**
About the name Nurumbega, here first mentioned, much has
been written without any satisfactory derivation having been
suggested, except that it seems to be a native name with the
termination eg or ek9 sometimes found farther south as ogy ok,
or ogue9 which is an adverbial addition, meaning the place
where, or the place of. It is also a common Breton or Norman
termination to the name of many places, and thus perhaps its
origin may be traced to the early fishing expeditions to these
coasts, about which so little is known.
Another suggestion has been made, that the name may date
back to the time of Ayllon, for Peter Martyr, in giving the details
of the Licentiate's explorations, in the second book of his Seventh
Decade of the New World, written in 1524, but not published
till 1530, says, " The Spaniards travelled through many of the
great provinces of these little Kings, among which they named
Arambe, Quacaia, Quohathe, Tanzacca, Pahor, all the natives of
which are dusky? As no such name as Arambe or Arambee
Desmarquets. 247
«
appears on lie Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529 by Colon and
Ribero, which were made up from the very reports of Ayllon and
Gomez, and as Peter Martyr's work was probably unknown to
the author of the Memoir of 1539, it seems that we have here a
mere verbal coincidence. One might as well make Powhattan
and Tennessee out of two of the other names.
On the copper globe of 1542, by TJlpianus, (preserved in the
New York Historical Society), we find, in the position generally
assigned to Norumbega, an attempted latinized form of it as
NbrmanviUa. This seems to be its first appearance on a map.
The map of Hieronimus Verrazano shows, Tiowever, in the photo-
graphic copy of it before us, a trace of a name like Norumbega.
XXVH.— DESMARQTTETS.
Jean Antoine Desmarquets, author of the M&moires Chronolo-
giques de Dieppe, etc., Paris, 2 vols., 12°, 1785, (Vol. I, page 100,)
gives to Thomas Aubert, on his voyage to Newfoundland in 1508,
a companion named Jean Veraesen. He pretends to have found
this fact in the old archives of Dieppe, but from the tenor of a
foot note on the subject, he does not consider this Verassen to be
the same person as Verrazano, the Florentine.
He adds that in the year 1508 these two captains, in two vessels,
ascended the St. Lawrence River for more than 80 leagues (240
geographical miles), naming it thus because they began to ascend
it on that saint's day, the 10th of August.
This remarkable statement is entirely isolated, and has not
since been verified and confirmed. As the archives of Dieppe
were destroyed in the bombardment and conflagration of 1694,
and the author of these memoirs had little else to consult but
private records, his early history of Dieppe is not considered
reliable. There is good evidence that Thomas Aubert did make
such a voyage in that year, but the name of Yerrassen is not
elsewhere mentioned.
The evident desire of Desmarquets to lessen the merit of
Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, a rival seaport, as having discovered
the St Lawrence in 1584, has perhaps led him into putting faith
248 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
in some indications of such a previous discovery among the
papers he consulted.
Estancelin, a Dieppese himself, and a olose student of what is
left of the early history of his native place (and whose family
papers were used by Desmarquets, as that author states in his
preface), found no such name as Verrassen associated with that
of Aubert Compare, op. cit., p. 43 and 222.
XXVEX— RIBATTLT.
Ribault, who sailed for Florida from Havre de Grace on the
18th of February (O. S.), 1562, but did not leave the coast near
Brest till the end of February, determined to cross the ocean in
a direct line, supposing that he was the first one to attempt it,
forgetting or not knowing that Verrazano had done it before.
(See Hak. Soc; Div. Voy., edited by F, Winter Jones, pp. 95-98.)
He says: "I determined to prove a newe course which hath not
beene yet attempted, etc., to make the furthest arte and traverse
of the seas, that ever was made in our memorie or knowledge, in
longitude from the East to the West."
They sighted Florida on the last of April, having been delayed
by storms, being, therefore, two months on the voyage, which is
a fair run, considering the unfavorable season of the year, and
the imperfect build of the vessels of those days.
Verrazano was fifty days on the voyage from Madeira to
Florida,
XXIX.— TAVANNES' MEMOIRS, 1536.
There is to be found in the Memoirs of Gaspard de Saulx,
Seigneur de Tavannes, of 1536, a curious passage * (whioh we
translated for the Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, 1862, p. 157),
in which the author dwells on the rise of prices, caused by the
• ■ —
* First privately printed; republished, 1657, and included in Petitot's col-
lection, Tom. 23, Ser. I, p. 288.
TAVANNB& MEMOIRS^ 1596. 249
influx of the preoious metals from the new Indies, and the power
conferred by gold on nations possessing it. He also anticipates
the use of paper money by proposing the use of tokens of iron,
coined " in such a way that it could not be imitated." He closes
thus: " This conquest of the New World, proposed to the French
and despised by them, is a proof of the little talent of their
counsellors, who lost empires for their master, and let their
enemies conquer them instead."
There seems always to have been a vague tradition relating to
the object of the stay of Bartholomew Columbus at the French
court about 1490,* and also of the undertaking of Verrazano,
in 1524, circulating in France, but without positive evidence
concerning the success of either.
Montesquieu, for example, says (Esprit des Lois, book XXI,
chap. XXII), " I have frequently heard people deplore the blind-
ness of the court of France, who repulsed Christopher Columbus
when he made the proposal of discovering the Indies."
The general rise in the prices of all the necessaries of life after
the conquest of Peru, became so noticeable that it attracted the
attention of the government. One of the reasons to which this
advance in values was attributed was the exportation of such
articles to the Indies. This forms the subject of several petitions
to the Emperor, in 1548, with the prayer that such exportation
may be stopped. The emperor's answer to one of them, praying
that woolen, cotton and silk goods may not be exported to the
Indies, is that he has referred the matter to the Royal Council
and to the Council of the Indies jointly, and that he will. act on
their advice, f
The result of this reference is not given, but such a prayer
shows how little Spain understood the management of her colo-
nies. As mere producers of 'the precious metals, the value of
these fell as they became more plenty, and no one was the gainer
by such a trade.
* See Noticias de D. Bartolome Colon, por D. E. F. de Navarrete, in the
Ooleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, Tomo XVI,
1850, pp. 485-574
f Bee Pragmatica* de VaUadoUd, Ano de 1548, peiicion 214; printed In that city
by Fernandez de Cordova, 1549.
250 Notss on tbic Verrazano Map.
XXX.— ANDRE THEVET, 1557.
Thevet does not, in his "SingiUartiez de la France Antarctique?
1557, allude to Verrazano's voyage. This work is generally
supposed to have appeared in Paris and at Antwerp, 1558, but
we have a copy with the imprint Paris, 1557. In his " Covno-
graphie UhiverseUe" 1575, he speaks of him, but only from the
published letter. Thevet, however, is a poor authority, for his
statements are often 'false, and his omissions many. Jean de
Lery does not hesitate to call him a superlatively impudent liar.
XXXI.— BBLLEFOREST, 1570.
Frangois de Belief orest, in his "Mutoire UniverseUe du Monde?
1570, writing, book 4, about the New Lands, gives details, taken
from. Ramusius, concerning Verrazan (as he calls him), but in a
marginal note, gives the correct name, Loise, to the island off the
coast, which Verraeano said was named after the King's mother.
It does not appear, however, that he had any map of the explora-
tions before him, while he expressly adds that he had not met
with any other aooount, in books, concerning the Florentine,
except in his Memoir, meaning the letter to the King. He
appears to have misunderstood Ramusius, for the death of Verra-
zano is noted by him as having occurred about the year 1524.
XXXII.— ITALIAN VERSIONS OF THE HEADING TO
THE LETTER.
L Extracted from Collections New York Historical Society, Now Series, Vol. 1, 1841, p. B.
Punctuated from Greene's quotation in North American Review, October, 1887, p. 994.
II Capitano Giovanni da Verraznano, fiorentino di Normandia
alia Serenissima corona di Francia dice:
Da poi la fortuna passata nelle spiagge settentrionale, Ser*°
Signore, non scrissi a vostra serenissima et cristianissima Maesta,
Cosmo graphical Portion of the Letter. 251
quello ohe era seguito delli quattro legni, che qnella mandd per
lo oceano ad inscoprir nuove terre, pensando di tutto sia stata
certificata come dalle impetuose forze d6 venti fnmmo oonstretti,
eon sola la nave Normanda e Dalfina affliti, rieorrere in brettagna,
dove restaurati avr& V. S. M. inteso il disoorso facemmo con
quelle annate in gaerra per li lidi di Spagna, di poi la nuova
disposizione con sola la dalfina in seguire la prima navigazione,
dalla quale essendo ritornato, dard adviso a V. S. M. di quello
abbiamo trovato.
IL Extracted from Ramuslnft, Vol. Ill, 1666, fol. 490.
Non scrissi & V. Maest& chbistianibs. be dopo la fortnna
havuta nelle parti Settentrionali, di qnanto era delle quattro Navi
seguito, da Y. M. mandate & discoprire nuove terre per l'Oceano,
credendo che di tal successo convenientemente la fosse stata
informata. Hora per la presente le daro & quella notitia, come
dalP impeto de venti con le dne Navi, Normanda, & Delfina,
fummo constretti cosi mal conditionate come si ritrovavano scorrere
nella Bretagna. dove poi che furono secondo il bis6gno racconciate,
A ben armegiatte, per i liti di Spagna ce nandammo in corso. il
che V. M. haver& inteso per il profitto che ne facemmo. Dipoi
con la Delfina sola si fece deliberation scoprir nuovi paesi, per
non lasciar imperfetta la gia mindata navigatione: II che intendo
hora a Yostra Maestft raccontare, agcioche di tutto il successo sia
consapevole.
XXXIIL— COSMOGRAPHICAL PORTION OP THE
LETTER.
[ 1.] It remains for me to narrate to your Majesty the order
of the said navigation as regards cosmography. As above said,
starting from the before mentioned rocks, which are placed on
the bounds of the West as known to the ancients, and from the
meridian drawn through the Fortunate Islands, in 82 degrees of
latitude from the equator of our hemisphere, sailing to the West,
unto the first land, we found 1,200 leagues, which contain 4,800
miles, counting four miles per league according to maritime usage,
252 Notes oh the Verrazano Mat.
[The following passages are obscure, and we have paraphrased
them as we understand them ]
[ 2.] The proportion 8} of the diameter to the circle, would
make the above distance 924$££, degrees, in lat. 84 degrees, that
of the land first discovered by us. The chord or diameter of a
great circle [of 360 j being 114£ [A?], would make this 952 de-
grees at the equator, in degrees of 62£ miles each, as fixed by
many who have determined it. Thus we have 18759& miles [in
lat. 34°] which, divided by 860, makes each degree in lat. 84*
equal to 62JS5 miles. Besides this, we have reckoned that 1,200
leagues in a straight line from West to East, from the meridian
of those rocks, which are in lat. 32° to lat. 84° would also give
those 924S?» degrees, and thus much more have we sailed to the
West than was known to the ancients.
[3.] This distance was noted by us as to longitude with various
instruments, sailing without lunar eclipses or other observation
for the movement of the sun. Seeking always the height [of the
sun] at the time that was proper, the ship was run geometrically
[the distance estimated], by the difference between the [midday]
horizons, the interval from one meridian to the other being fully
noted in a little book, together with the rise of the sea [current] in
every climate at different times or hours, which, we think, will
m
not prove useless to navigation. With the best wishes for
[advancing] learning, I present it to your Majesty.
[4.] My intention was to reach [pervenire] by this navigation
to Cathay, in the extreme east of Asia, expecting [however] to
meet with new land such as was found as an obstacle, but I had
reason to suppose that it was not hopeless to penetrate to the
eastern ocean. This opinion was held by all the ancients, and it
was positively believed as certain that our ocean was one and the
same as the eastern one of India, without any interposition of
land. Aristotle affirms this, arguing by various comparisons,
which opinion is much opposed to the modern one, and by expe-
rience proved false, because land is already found, unknown to
those ancients, another world as regards the one known to them.
It appears really to show itself to be larger than our Europe,
Africa, and even Asia, if we rightly judge of the size of it, as I
will briefly show it in a short discourse to your Majesty.
[5.] The Spaniards have sailed on a meridian 20jjJ£ degrees
COSMOGRAPHICAL PORTION OF THE LETTER. 253
West of the Fortunate Islands, towards the South, to 54 degrees
[South] beyond the equator, where they found the land without
a termination; then turning North to the equinoctial, following
the shore to 8 degrees from the equator, then [the land ran] more
to the West, inclining to the North [N. W.] as the said meridian
runs, the shore continuing to 21 degrees [N. lat.], finding no end
to it. They have sailed 892JS degrees, which, added to the 203m
[comp. ante], make HOJSSa degrees, and so much they have sailed
more to the West, from the said meridian of the Fortunate
Islands, in the parallel of 21 degrees of latitude. This distance
has not been verified by us, not having made this navigation. It
may vary a little more or less. We have calculated it geometri-
cally from the notices of many nautical men who are familiar
with it, who affirm that it is 1,600 leagues, judging by the esti-
mate of the run of the vessel according to the nature of the
wind. In the succeeding voyage I hope that, in a short time, we
shall have further proof. On the other hand, we in this our
navigation made by your Majesty's order, besides the 92 degrees
which we made from the said meridian towards the West, to the
first land found in 84 degrees, sailed 800 leagues to the East and
400 leagues to the North, the shore of the land continuing to the
East, until we reached 50 degrees.
[6.] We left the land which in past times was found by the
Portuguese, which they followed farther to the north, reaching
to the Arctic Circle, leaving its termination unknown. Therefore,
putting the Northern with the Southern latitude, that is the 54
degrees with the 66 degrees, they make 120 degrees, which is
more than is contained in the latitude of Africa and Europe.
For measuring from the extreme of Europe, which are the limits
of Norway standing in latitude 11 degrees [71° 12'], to the extreme
of Africa, which is the Cape of Good Hope in latitude 85
degrees [84° 61', both nearly correct], it only makes 106 degrees.
If the breadth of the said land corresponds in proportion with
its maritime front, there can be no doubt but that it exceeds the
size of Asia. In such a shape we find the globe of the earth
much larger than it was held to be by the ancients, contradicting
the mathematicians in regard to the sea being smaller, for we
have seen the contrary by our own experience, and as to its land
area, this is, we judge, not less than that of the water. As things
254 Notes on the Vebrazano Map.
appear, I have better hope and with more reason to exhibit to you
Majesty all this new land or new world of which we have de-
scribed the size as above. We know that Asia joins Africa, and
are certain that it is united with Europe by Norway and Russia,
and thus know that it is false, according to the ancients, that
they could have sailed from the promontory of the Cimbri to the
the eastward along the whole north reaching to the Caspian Sea*
They likewise [falsely] affirmed that it [the world] was enclosed
between two seas only, situated to the East and West, and that
these two did not meet each other, for beyond 54 degrees from
the equator, towards the South [the land] extends to the east
through a great space, and to the North, passing beyond 66
degrees, turning then towards the East till it reaches 70 degrees.
I hope to have within a brief period more certainty about it,
with the assistance of your Majesty, whom may the omnipotent
God favor with lasting glory, in order that we may see the best
results of this our cosmography accomplished in the holy words
of the Evangel.
On the ship Delfina in Normandy, in the port of Dieppe, the
6th of July, 1524.
Humilis servitor,
JANUS VERRAZANUS.
XXXIV.— NOTES ON THE COSMOGRAPHICAL PORTION
OF THE LETTER.
1. This oosmographical appendix, if entirely the work of
Verrazano, shows him to have been well versed in the cosmo-
graphioal knowledge of the time. He had probably acquired all
the cotemporary information that was to be had from the imper-
fect treatises on the sphere by Ptolemy, Sacro Bosco, Apianus,
Gemma Frisius and others, that were studied then.
The first regular treatise on Navigation was that of Raymond
Lullius of 1294. Pigafetta, the companion of Magellan, com-
posed a small one about 1530, and Francisco Falero wrote on the
longitude; but the first works of general authority on this subject
were Pedro de Medina's Arte de Navegar, of 1545, and Martin
COSMOGRAPHICAL PORTION OF THE LETTER. 255
Cortes9 of 1561, which were eagerly translated into other lan-
guages.
2. The proportion of 114£ [114A misprint] to 360, whioh he
seems to assume as the ratio of the diameter to the ciroumferenoe,
is a convenient but not very correct one, as it fails on the third
decimal.* The curious proportion discovered by Metius of 118
to 355 [11, 33, 55; so easily remembered], is correct to the sixth
decimal. However, he assumes an equatorial degree to be 62£
Italian miles, or 15.625 leagues, and thus finds that in latitude 34°
it would measure about 522 miles, which is nearly true, for it
would be exactly 51m 815,
At 60 geographical miles to a degree, in latitude 39*, the de-
gree of longitude is 46 m 63; in latitude 41° 30', 44* 94, and in
latitude 44°, 43"1 16.
It will be observed that he assumes to have sailed 92m* degrees
from Madeira to the coast of America. On his estimate of 62£
miles to a degree at the equator, and that in latitude 34° a degree
will contain 52.22 miles, he makes his voyage to have been 4,804
miles. This is a great overestimate, for there are only 46° 36'
great circle degrees from Madeira to Cape May. This equals
2,433 of his miles, or 2,796 nautical miles, for the true distance
from Madeira to Cape May. He, of course, knew nothing of great
circle sailing,! and steered as due west from Madeira as possible,
and the storm, with deviations from his course, may have made
his voyage perhaps one-third longer, say 3,244 of his miles, or
3,728 nautical miles.
On the chart of 1529, the difference of longitude between
Madeira and his landfall is only 63°, therefore much less than this
estimate, but no measurement is possible or charts of that pro-
jection. However, adopting as a scale the Spanish estimate of
750 leagues from the Canaries to the Windward Islands, the
•Archimedes showed that the proportion was comprised between 8 10-70
and 8 10-71. Yerrazano uses the first fraction.
f Pedro Nunez, or Nonnius, the inventor of the scale for reading subdi-
visions of small lines and arcs, first proved in 1587 that oblique rhumb lines
are spirals. Great circle or middle latitude sailing was first introduced in
1628.
The log line invented by Bourne in 1577, was not generally used until long
afterwards.
256 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
chart would make his voyage half as much more, say 1125 Spanish
leagues of 1 7| to a degree.
Some correction, therefore, of his estimate was made by him-
self or by the mapmaker on the chart. This is proved by an
inspection of it, for the difference of longitude between the Can-
aries and Guadalupe is given as 43°, being very near the real
difference, 41° 11'. The difference of longitude between Ireland
and Newfoundland is drawn as 31°, the truth being 28' 04.
3. He says that no eclipse occurred during his voyage. In
1523, there was an eclipse of the moon, March 1; total; 8 p. m.,
Paris time; but in 1524 the only one was February 19, f digits,
at 1 1^ a. m. In the position he was then in, this slight obscura-
tion happened just before sunrise and could not be observed. In
1525 there was a total eclipse of the sun, at 3 p. m., Jan. 23,
which he would have observed if the voyage had been made in
that year. His statement fixes the date of the voyage as of 1524.
He estimated the longitude, as he says, by a reckoning from
day to day. As he was, of course, not aware of the strong cur-
rent known as the Gulf stream, he was carried much more to the
noith than he expected. The little book he speaks of, which
must have been a kind of log-book, is lost.
4. His intention, like that of Columbus, Cabot, Cortereal and
others, was to discover a seaway to Asia,' and he must have been
keenly disappointed at his failure to find a strait leading in that
direction. He appears to have heard of Ayllon's voyage in 1520,
from his evident desire to make land in latitude 34°, and was well
informed concerning Terra Nova, but the unexplored gap offered
a last hope for discovery, which was frustrated.
This short passage about Cathay embodies a volume of thought
which is left unrecorded. It was a fate that other noble adven-
turers before and since have bowed to, while the search for a
seaway, even an impracticable one, is still a goal for ambitions
spirits.
The wonderful tales about the Grand Khan had led Columbus
to the discovery of the western Indies, which turned out to be
auriferous, and Cortes had lit upon a barbarous empire, whose
riches were much exaggerated, making men think that the New
World was perhaps the equal or perhaps a part of that fabled
Cathay, first described by Carpini and Rubruquis.
COSMOGRAPHICAL PORTION OF TBS LETTER. 257
It was natural, therefore, to suppose that other rich empires
might be found in these regions, and this caused Hernando de
Soto, in 1539-42, to seek for one in the vast and unknown land
known as Florida.
5. The remarks on Magellan's voyage, if penned in 1524, prove
that he was well informed on that subject. The first circumnavi-
gation of the globe was completed by the return of the Vittoria,
under Sebastian El Cano, September 7, 1522. Peter Martyr at
once prepared an account of the voyage, which was sent to the
Pope, but it was lost at Rome in the riots of 1527, and no copy
of it is now known. The first printed account of it, as prepared
by Maximilian of Transylvania, secretary of the Emperor, in the
form of a letter, addressed to the Archbishop of Salzburg, dated
Valladolid, October 24, 1522, appeared in Rome, November, 1523,
and again in February, 1524.
Yerrazano, in January, 1524, could hardly have seen this before
sailing, but may have read it after his return. Among the
various papers taken by him, before 1524, from Spanish prizes,
he may have learned of the departure of Magellan, and had,
perhaps, conversed with soine of the companions of Gomez, and
of El Cano.
His expression, therefore, " that he had calculated the distances
sailed by Magellan, from the observations qf many navigators"
proves him either to have been very well informed about that
voyage, or else that the appendix was written some time after
the date of the letter itself.*
The 300 leagues run northwardly, and 400 eastwardly, along the
coast, make up the 700 spoken of at the close of the letter. He
does not mean that he sailed 700 leagues along the coast, but
that by rhumbs he had estimated the coasts discovered to be 500
leagues, and that his latitudes and departures made up 700.
. By his own estimate, therefore, supposing his leagues to mean
miles of about 60 to the degree, he had run five degrees of lati-
tude, and about eight degrees (of 'fifty miles each) of longitude.
This is very near the probable extent of his range.
6. By the explorations as far as the Arctic Circle, made by the
Portuguese, he alludes to the discovery of Greenland by them,
♦Compare, however, with Carlis* letter, who, in 1524, refers to it
17
258 Notes on the Vebrazano Map.
a fact which is now admitted, for Gaspar Cortereal no doubt
sighted it in 1600, and it was represented on the early Portuguese
charts as Terra del laboratory or Terra Corterealis, though this
first name is now restricted in its application. We have good
reason to believe that Newfoundland, under the name of Ida
Verde and Man de Satan, was known and visited by the Portu-
guese as early as 1445, and soon afterwards by the Bretons, but
that question cannot be discussed here.
Verrazano's speculations on the extent of the New World is
the first one of its kind, and as an original suggestion is very
remarkable. He does not distinctly aver, his belief in the separa-
tion of Asia from America, but infers, from the fact that the
three great divisions of the Old World are joined together, that
America may be also joined to them. By the land of the South-
ern Hemisphere, he designates the land left to the south by
Magellan, which, until the actual doubling of Gape Horn by
Oornelison Schouten, of Horn in Holland, in 1619, was considered
as a vast continental land, and was represented on maps as
extending entirely around the Antarctic regions, in about latitude
50 to 60 deg. south* The Spaniards soon discovered the insular
nature of the Terra del Fuego, but did not publish this fact, and
Sir Francis Drake, in October, 1578, had done the same, calling
its most southern cape Terra nunc bene cognita. Schouten's
name, however, was the most widely published, and has thus
remained attached to it.
XXXV.— EXAMINATION OF THE VOYAGE ACROSS
THE ATLANTIC.
He was 25 days making the three-fifths of his voyage or 1200
leagues of the 2000 that he estimated the whole to be, and was
sailing due West. This without allowance for currents or devia-
tions from his course would place him in long. 55 deg. on the
11th of February.
From this point he followed a rather more Northwardly course,
doing so from a desire probably to avoid the coast explored by
the Spaniards, which as he must have known, had reached to lat
Voyage Across the Atlantic. 259
34 deg., for he connects them with his own on the Map. He was
also forced, as we shall show, to follow such a course by the Gulf
stream, of which he apparently knew nothing.
From long. 56 deg. to the eastern edge of the Gulf stream,
which in winter lies in long. 65, on the parallel of 83 deg. 30 min.,
he may not have drifted much out of his course, though he
encountered a gale on the 14th of February that may have driven
him to the South of it. But in crossing the Gulf stream from
long. 65 deg. to 74 deg., he was exposed, for at least 12 days, out
of the 25, which he occupied in running the latter two-fifths of
his voyage, to its influence. Its greatest velocity is here about
l£ to 2 miles an hour, but allowing only \\ miles as its average
set, he would have drifted in these 12 days just 360 miles to the
Northward. These six degrees would carry him North of lat.
33 deg. 30 min., the point where he probably first entered the
stream, and place his landfall in 39 deg. 30 min., as we make it.
He must therefore have passed the Bermudas in lat. 35 deg. (they
lying in 32 deg. 20 min.) or 160 miles North of them. This is
but a moderate allowance for his drift by the Gulf stream, and
we do not see how he could have made our coast in a lower lati-
tude.
This Northwesterly drift caused a vessel seeking our coast,
with the Pilgrim fathers, a century later, to land far to the North
of the point aimed at, and planted on the rocky shores of New
England a colony designed to have been established very near
the point where Yerrazano sighted it in 1524.
The voyage may therefore be summed up as follows.
January 17 to February 11 — 25 days due West — 1200 leagues
by his estimate, or three-fifths of whole distance, in fact 1700 geog.
miles of 60 to the degree.
February 11, in long. 55 deg., lat. 32£ deg., steers a little N. of
W. — on the 14th encounters a storm, February 18th enters the
Gulf Stream in lat. 38-J deg., long. 65, leaving it March 4th in
long. 74, lat. 39 deg. and making land March 7. The distance
sailed since February 11, 25 days, being estimated by him as 800
leagues, probably 1150 geog. miles.
The great circle distance, the shortest possible one between his
point of departure and arrival, is 2796 nautical miles, as noted
elsewhere, but by the courses be followed, his track, which is
260 Notes on the Vbrrazano Map.
much to the south of that, cannot therefore have been less than
2850 nautical miles, and was no doubt much longer.
XXXVL— THOMASST.
Lea Papee Geographer et la Cartographic da Vatican. Par M. B. Thomaaey. Paris, 1851
8to., pp. 140. Sztralt aea NonreUea Annalea dee Voyage*, 186*.
After an interesting and carefully prepared essay on early
chartography and the progress of Geographical knowledge during
the middle age, the author describes the topographical frescoes
on the walls of the galleries of the Vatican, and in an appendix
notices a few of the most remarkable documents of the same
kind, preserved in the GoUegio de Propaganda fflde on the Piazza
di Spagna. This College was founded in 1622 by Gregory XV,
during his two years' Papacy, for the purpose of educating foreign
students as missionaries. Its printing office, established by his
successor Urban VIII, (1628-44) who caused its present building
to be erected, is able to produce books in every known written
character.
The geographical documents gathered here are from the col-
lection of Cardinal Stefano Borgia and are collectively known as
the Museo Borgiana. Mons. Thomassy describes in the appendix
to his essay, sixteen of these, including the great bronze enam-
elled planisphere of the first half of the fifteenth century, of
unknown authorship, and of which an account was published by
the Cardinal in 1707.
The next article, pages 112-115, describing one of the drawn
maps, is the one that interests us especially. We extract the
chief points relating to it.
" This planisphere is on a roll of parchment (three skins joined) 2 metres
60 centim. long, and 1 metre 80 centim. wide.
" It is a marine chart, bearing on its back in a modern hand the meaning-
less title : Carta peeora di una gran parte del mondo " (a parchment map of a
great part of the world).
" On the upper part one reads Hieronimus de Verrazano faciebat"
" The date may be deduced from the following inscriptions. Under the
word Nova Gallia ewe Jucatanety is found : Verrazano rive Nova Gattia, quale
dtecopn, 5 anni fa> Giovanni da Verrazano florentino, per ordine, e common
damento del erietianerimo re di Francia."
Description of the Mapamundi of Verrazano. 261
Mr. Thomassy adds that, "as the' letter in Ramusius is dated
1523 or 1524 this would give to the Map the date of 1528." (The
date of the letter is however, most distinctly 1524, which places
the Map in the year 1529.)
" The prime meridian passes near the Island of Ferro, which is in lat. 27°
and some minutes."
"The equator passes through the Island of St. Thomas, the straits of
Sunda and the mouth of the Amazon River."
"This Jerome, author of the map, must have been a relative and very
probably the brother of Giovanni, who wrote the letter to Francis I."
He quotes, to support this opinion, the letter of Annibale Caro,
elsewhere mentioned, and says that Tiraboschi speaks of this
brother, otherwise unknown, not naming him, but as one well
versed in geography.
A copy of the scale is then given, and he proceeds to describe
some features of the Map.
" At e. deBretton the shield and ermines of Brittany are seen, and North-
east of this, Terra laboratoris. Questa terra fu discaperta da InghUesi, the
most northern point in this direction."
" In the East it ends with the Instils Mduco and Borneo" (Burnei.)
"On the meridian of the Moluccas is seen the Gulf of Canton, with the
legend: In guesto Odfodi Caitan, stan le navi che vengono <f lndia% a queste
region*, del Gastaio." (Of Cathay.)
After indicating some European and African points, he closes
his description thus :
"Terra del Fuego is vaguely drawn as the beginning of an extensive
Australian continent. All the western shores of North America are want-
ing" (except about the Isthmus) "and are designated only with tbr&b
mcooNiTR. Finally Greenland is not shown at all, in which point this Map
differs from others of this date."
XXXVn. — DESCRIPTION OF THE MAPAMUNDI OF
HIERONIMTJS DE VERRAZANO.
The interesting mapamundi drawn by Hieronimus de Verrazano,
which is now preserved in the Museo Borgiana at the Collegio de
Propaganda Fide in Rome, and to which attention was first
drawn by Mons. Thomassy in 1852, is not accompanied by any
262 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
record of its history prior to its ownership by the late Cardinal
Stephano Borgia. It is remarkable that the Cardinal himself
should not have noticed its value as a document confirming the
discovery of a portion of the American coast by an Italian, for
he was an intelligent judge in such matters, and the owner of
several other geographical monuments, of which two have been
specially described. •
One of these was a Cufic celestial globe of copper, made in the
year 622 of the Hegira (A. D. 1225), which was described by
Simon Assemann in 179a The other was a bronze circular table,
twenty-seven inches in diameter, with a map of the world
engraved in niello, made at the beginning of the 15th century.*
The Cardinal, in 1794, corresponded with the learned De Murr,
author of a life of Martin Behaim, on the subject of this map,
and his nephew, Camillo, printed an account of it, for private
circulation, with a full sized copy of it, in 1797. It was again
described and copied by Heeren in 1808, and Santarem in 1852,
and several treatises on it in manuscript are preserved in the
Museum.
As regards the time when the Cardinal became the owner of
the Verrazano chart or whence he procured it, we can furnish, as
above stated, no information. The first notice of it appears in
a letter to De Murr, dated January 31st, 1795, in which the
Cardinal informs him that besides the two geographical monu-
ments above mentioned, he had thirteen maps on parchment,
most of them nautical charts, of which four were mapamundis.
Among these he enumerates a few, one of which he speaks of in
these words: "AUra porta U nome de Oirolamo Verrasano,
frateUo di Giovanni, che scopri una parte doll America Setten-
trionale, e cori altre" The Cardinal here assumes that the two
Yerrazanos were brothers, perhaps from the passage in the
letter of Annibale Caro. He must have mentioned this map in
another letter to De Murr, who, in giving a list of the Cardinal's
maps, attaches the date 1528 to its title. The first notice of the
existence of the Verrazano map was published at Gotha, in 1801,
in De Mutt's revised edition of his life of Martin Behaim, which
was translated by Jansen and published at Paris in 1802.
* Bee Santarem : Gosmographie du Moyen Age, III, 247.
Description of the Mapamunbi or Verrazano. 263
The Cardinal was seoretary of the Propaganda for eighteen
years, from the year 1770, and became a cardinal in 1789, dying
at Lyons in 1804 (while accompanying the Pope to Paris), at the
age of 73. His palace at Velletri, on the Via Appia, a few miles
south of Rome, was a complete museum, in which he had gathered
together works of art of every description, which were freely
exhibited to visitors and students. He bequeathed the collection
to the Propaganda, but it does not appear to have been imme-
diately removed to Rome, for Lord Kingsborough refers to a
valuable Mexican pictorial manuscript which he had copied, by
Aglio, about 1828, for his great work, as being still in Velletri.
We cannot here furnish farther biographical details concerning
this amiable and accomplished prelate, which may be found in
the eulogies of him published shortly after his decease.* Of
these, one may be cited as containing a short description of his
museum, in which there is a second mention of the map we are
describing. This was penned by the learned Cancellieri, author
of the Notizie di Colombo, \ who, in 1802, was appointed director
of the printing office of the Propaganda, and it was printed in
several forms in 1805. We have not been able to consult this
eulogy, nor one of the same date by the P. Paulino de S. Bartol-
ommeo, his intimate companion for fourteen years, but it was
doubtless the first of these that contains the notice in question.
The next reference to it is to be found in Millin's Magazin
Enoyclopedique (Vol. 68) for March, J 807. Millin, the learned
archaeologist, corresponded with the Cardinal (who was a contri-
butor to his periodical); and published a short biography of him,
chiefly made up. from the above eulogies, at the close of which
(page 25), he enumerates a few of the most precious articles
contained in his museum. Among these, four maps are named,
the third being "de Jerome de Verraeano Pan 1528." These
short references appear to have passed unnoticed, and the map
was left in repose for another half century, until examined and
briefly described by Mons. Thomassy in the Nouvelles Annales
des Voyages for 1852. \
The map is on three sheets of parohment, and according to
* Bee also the BiograpMe UnneneUe. \ Roma, 1809. See note page 187.
\ Lelewel. Qtogr. du Moytm. Age, 1852, Tom. I., § 256, copies De Mutt's
notice of it.
264 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Mons. Thomassy is two metres 6 cent long, and 1 metre 30 cent,
wide, or 102 J by 5l£ inches, that is, the length is twice the height
Jf, is well preserved, being somewhat stained near both ends, bnt
no part of it is indistinct. The drawing is sharp and clear,
though the reduced photographs before us have not been taken
with sufficient care to enable the smaller text to be deciphered.
The larger photograph is £ the size of the original chart, but is
very indistinct; the smaller one is &, and is in places as sharp
and distinct as could be desired, but in others is quite illegible.
On this account we cannot undertake a close analysis of this
interesting document, in order to fix its date more positively, or
to ascertain what materials were used in compiling it.
We can, however, from the chart itself, determine some points
that connect it with our navigator. It is the work of an Italian
hydrographer of considerable skill, and is in many respects
superior, as a ^ork of art, to any Spanish or Portuguese chart
of that time. The designer had before him materials such as no
hydrographer up to that date had been favored with. His
draught of the Spanish coasts of America appear, however, to be
from a different pattern than those used by Diego Ribero in his
chart of 1529, but in many other respects it is much in advance
of it. His work seems to include and embody discoveries made
by sea up to the year 1524, the date of Verrazano's voyage. No
chart outside of Spain for many years after this date contains
what is to be found here. The voyage of Magellan, the discover-
ies of Cortes, the opening of the East Indies by the Portuguese,
are all laid down in a way that is surprisingly accurate, and lead
to the conclusion that no one but Verrazano could have prepared
it. He had captured charts from the Spaniards and Portuguese,
had conversed with the sailors of the discovery vessels, and was
thus better prepared than any navigator of his day to attempt a
general resume of the state of cosmographical knowledge then
existing in Europe.
The projection of the map is the simple cylindrical square one,
in which all the degrees of latitude are made equal to each other
and to the equatorial ones. * This is the earliest marine projeo-
* For an interesting and careful analysis of the projection of geographies]
maps, see Daussac; Bulletin de GiograpMe^ 5th series, Yol. V, 1868, p. 357.
Description or ths Mapamundi or Verrazano. 265
tion of which we have any record, and was used by Mediterran-
ean sailors in the oldest known charts, which, however, do not
reach back of the early part of the 13th century. Had the sim-
ple conic Ptolemaic projection been adopted by the constructors
of such charts many nantical mistakes would have been avoided,
and navigators would have made shorter voyages from point to
point.
Like most of the maps of the world at that time, it has the
equator drawn below the middle of the map, and shows 90° of
latitude north and 64° south of it. In breadth it represents about
820° of longitude. Its western, or left, side is 46° west of Temis-
titan, or the city of Mexico, and its eastern, or right, side is 85°
east of the peninsula of Malacca. There is no graduation for
longitude, but the meridians that cross the centres and sides of
the two great circles of windroses appear to be drawn seventy
degrees apart
Until quite a recent date all nautical charts were covered with
a net work of cross lines radiating from windroses, the centres of
which were generally symmetrically arranged to suit the taste of
the designer. On this map there is one great central rose in N.
lat. 16 deg. in the western part of Africa Two great circles of
roses, 140 deg. in diameter, touch each other at this point, each
circle bearing fifteen other and smaller roses, equally spaced
around their circumference. From the centres of each great
circle and of each rose there are drawn thirty two lines to each
point of the compass, and these lines are prolonged to the mar-
gin of the Map. This construction was intended to facilitate the
pricking out of a ship's course on the chart 8>nd save the use of
a protractor.
The lines that in this manner appear parallel and at right
angles to the equator are not, as in modern charts, parallels and
meridians. The tropic lines appear with their names on the map.
The meridian that passes through the third roses from the great
central one, on the left great circle, is divided into degrees of
latitude of equal size, each one numbered. Close to the upper
margin and to the left of this graduated meridian there is a small
scale under which is a legend explaining that from point to point
there are ten leagues, which are each of four miles. The scale
which is equal to 18 deg. of latitude in length, is subdivided into
266 Norma on the Vbrrazano Map.
•
six parts, each part having four divisions or points. This gradu-
ated meridian lies about three degrees to the West of Iceland
and of Africa, passing between the Canaries and Cape Verd
Islands. It is about twelve degrees east of Cape St. Augustine
in South America. In Ribero's map of. 1529, and the one believed
to be by Hernando Colon of 1527, as also in others, it occupies
the same position.
Near the upper margin and above the coast explored by Verra-
zano, there appears written in small Italian capitals hiebonimus
de verbazano faciebat, the last word being below the others.
There is no date written anywhere, but it is assumed to be of
1520, from one of the legends on the coast mentioned below.
Europe is well represented, excepting Scandinavia, which last
is copied from the Ptolemies of that date. Africa is remarkably
well drawn and its coast is fringed with closely set names and
Portuguese shields. On Madagascar we read insula sancti
LAVBBNTn and a legend near Socotra. The Red Sea is nearly as
large as the Mediterranean, but without a fork at its northern
end. The Nile takes its source south of the equator from two
lakes. The Persian gulf is nameless and Hindostan with Ceylon,
are shown more correctly than on any map of the time drawn
outside of Portugal. Cambalv is on the west bank of the Indus,
at the mouth of which there is a legend of four lines. At the
base of the peninsula appears regno di narsinga,* described at
great length by Duarte Barbosa in 1516. Near the West side
of the mouth of the Ganges appears Twrnasari (Tenasserim).
Further south a church with a steeple, and on the point of the
peninsula begno di calicut. On the island is zailon insula,
but a legend near it is illegible, as well as the coast names on the
peninsula. The Maldive Is. are indicated, but without a name.
There are no Portuguese shields on the coasts of India or Asia.
The peninsula of Malacca is represented as broader and longer
than the Indian one, ending close to the equator, and in longitude
150 E. of the above mentioned graduated meridian, or 180 deg.
E. of the mouth of the Amazon river in Brazil. At its base is
begno di bongala, (Bengal, much displaced.) Further down a
* Probably from Nahry JSankatr, a province of Thibet, once supposed to
be the place where many rivers of Hindostan had their source.
Description of the Mapamunbi op Verrazano. *267
huge mountain under which is the legend, In questo moteagna
Se trovano e diamante, then bbgno di pbou, and qui se trovano
HuMs in gran quantita, then a city and under it malaooa and a
long legend, of which we can only decipher the words conquista
i portogesi * * * dispagloli.
There are a few coast names on the west and some unnamed
islands in the sinus gangeticub. Southwest of Malacca is a very
large Island with its western shore ill defined, on which is tapbo-
bana insula stve SAMATBA, with no coast names. The eastern
coast is quite well represented.
S. E. of Sumatra two smaller nameless islands appear, faintly
traced, and a group of very small ones South of Malacca. East
of the two unnamed islands, which are S. of the equator, there is
a square island, smaller still, on which we read timor, and there
are two large banks with small islands E. and N. of it. N. E. of
these, on the equator, is a group of seven small islands marked
Inside maloque8. East of these is a large and faintly defined
island marked burnbi. North of these last, and nearer to the
coast, is an unnamed group intended perhaps for' the, Philippines.
The East coast of Asia is from the Ptolemies of that date and
it would be useless to give the names of the provinces indicated,
except that of lacina and to observe that a legend of four lines
appears in a gulf North of it, which according to Thomassy
reads In questo golfo di eaitan stem le navi ehe vengono cP India
a queste regioni del Gastaio.
These data show that the designer of the Map had drawn his
information from the most recent Portuguese and Spanish sources,
and circulated it in spite of a prohibition by these nations against
its publication under penalty of death.
.The following dates will confirm the above statement. Lopez
Sequeira reached Malacca in 1509, and Alfonso de Alboquerque
took it July 5, 1511, and sent expeditions to Siam, Tenasserim,
Cingapoura Ac. Anton de Abren reached the Moluccas, Pegu
was heard of, and Sumatra and Java were visited in the same
year, but the southern coasts and general conformation of these
last were not known for some years afterwards. Simon d' Andrade
in 1518, first visited the Maldives, and not until this same date
did Portuguese vessels navigate the Red Sea and Persian gulfs.
Borneo, already mentioned by Ludovico di Varthema as JBornei9
268 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
was first reached in 1513, but was not fully explored. On the
Map it is placed east of the Moluccas. In 1516 Ferdinand Perez
first visited China at Canton by sea, and sent an embassy to the
Emperor. In the same year Portuguese vessels sailed to the
Ganges and in 1518 entered Bengal.
Luzon of the Phillippines is spoken of in 1511,* but was proba-
bly not visited till later. Celebes, which must have been passed
in going to the Moluccas, though known to Barbosa, was not
officially examined until 1525 by Garcia Henriques. New Guinea
was discovered by Don Jose de Menezes in 1526. The Spaniards
soon began their explorations also, and Verrazano as we know,
had heard of the return of El Cano, but the map contains nothing
in this portion of it which would appear to have resulted from
them. Nor does it contain any discoveries made by the Portu-
guese after 1520.
There is nothing in the Eastern portion of this Map to prove
that Verrazano had been there in person, but we cannot affirm
this positively. It seems however, in regard to this portion
alone, to be a very remarkable document, and deserves close
study on the part of those who can best appreciate its value.
In many points it is not as full as Diego Ribero's mapamundi of
1529, as described by Sprengel in 1795. Both Verrazano and
Ribero ' appear to have used Odoarte Barbosa's description of
Southern Asia prepared in 1516, of which several manuscript
copies seem to have been in circulation, though the partly incom-
plete Italian translation given by Ramusius in his first volume,
was its first appearance in print. Barbosa had. been to the
Moluccas by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and accompanied
his brother in law Magellan, on his voyage in the other direction.
He was killed by the side of Magellan at Matan, being the first
man who had actually circumnavigated the globe.
Turning to the Western portion of the Map, that is the part
west of the graduated meridian, there is much to interest an
American, and were the photographs distinct, and the coast
names at all legible, we might examine it in detail, and compare
* Barbosa does not seem to have heard of the Phillippines, though be
mentions OTwnfa, which corresponds to Formosa, and the Lequ**t or
Lieu-choo Islands.
Description of tbs Mapamundi of Vsrrazano. 269
it with the well known chart of Diego Ribero of the same date.
The coast lines vary sufficiently from the known Spanish charts
of that date, to lead one to suppose that Yerrazano copied from
a pattern map unknown to us.
In some parts it is more correct than Ribero's, but a fatal
error, originating perhaps with Columbus, deforms the tropical
portion of it and affects the parts adjoining these. This error
arises from placing the Islands of Cuba, Espanola and Jamaica,
north of the Tropic of Cancer. The whole of the Gulf of Mexico
is thus displaced about six or seven degrees in latitude too far
northwardly. The northern coast of Cuba is more than seven
degrees north of the position assigned to it by Ribero, and by
modern geographers.
The northern coast of South America at Santa Marta is oyer
five degrees out of place, but it declines thence rapidly to the
Eastward, so that Trinidad is only two degrees from its true
position. From this point the coast resembles Ribero's map, both
of them being deficient in not exhibiting the prominence formed
by the Guiana's. The mouth of the Amazon is directly under
the equator. The Bahia de todos los Santos is placed, as it ought
to be, at the bottom of a shallow but extended depression of the
coast line, not indicated in Ribero's map. The mouth of the La
Plata river is correctly shown under lat. 35 deg. The Strait of
Magellan is indicated, but not with the same accuracy as in
Ribero, and the south shore of it is faintly drawn out towards
the East and South east, two thirds of the way towards the
graduated meridian, as an Antarctic continent. The longitudes
vary but little from Ribero's chart.
There are numerous coast names along the whole continent,
beginning at the strait, where we read C. detta victoria, and so
on, but many of them differ from those given on the Spanish
maps. Four Portuguese shields are on the present Brazil, which
is marked terba sancte crvcis and yerzino. Four small, named
Islands are in the ocean, to the east of it. A legend west of the
La Plata reads Hie Eispani gigarU H * * ; appearing incom-
plete.
In the interior of the continent is a range of mountains, run-
ning east and west, and under them hxjndus novus. The north-
err, portion, west of the Maranon, has three Spanish shields.
270 % Notes on the Vsrrazano Map.
Under the coast of Oaraocas is tkrra America, beneath it
dabajba, and to the right under the Guiana's, and near the line,
PARIAS.
A curious feature of the map is a western ooast line, completing
the continent from the strait to the isthmus, along which appears
terra incognita, the last word being repeated. There is no
trace of Peru ; the name of which, with a long legend, is fpund
in Ribero's but not on Colon's chart of 1627.* Johann Schoner
on his globe of 1520 had represented a Western coast to the
Southern continent, which was also mere guess work.
We cannot decipher the whole series of names along the coast,
but have read enough of them to induce the belief that they were
not taken from the same padron or pattern as Colon's and Ribero's
maps of 1527 and 1529, which were prepared as standards for
the use of Spanish sailors. The details of the coast line vary
also from the above charts, and sometimes are more correct than
either of them, but we cannot here compare them without occu-
pying too much space.
Ivcatana is represented, as on many maps of the time, as an
island, though its southern coast line is not quite closed. In
Colon's and Ribero's maps it is .made completely insular, but in
the last separated by a narrow strait only from the mainland.
The isthmus of Darien is made too wide, and the Pacific out-
line of it seems to be a random draught, without names or legends,
and the Mar del Sur bears no title. In the charts of 1527 and
1529 the names are numerous, the Pacific coast lines ending in
both of them at the Sierras de Gil Gonzales Davila, the limit of
the explorations of this gallant explorer in 1523, in N. lat 16°,
being the present province and Sierras of Soconusco.
Verrazano's coast line, however, is boldly continued West-
wardly, Northwardly, and then Easterly, ending at his supposed
isthmus north of Florida. A large crescent-like land is thus
formed larger than Europe, and which bears the name nova
hispania. The parchment is damaged along the westerly part
of this land, but the line can be traced, and terra incognita is
twice inscribed along its shore. Seven Spanish shields are drawn
* A province or rich Empire called Biru was described to the Spaniard!
in 1522. See Herrera III. V. XI. p. 169.
Description of tjele Mapamunvi of Verrazano. 271
on this land near to and following the easterly coast line. Cozu»
mella is shown, but not the Gaanasa Islands. Along the isthmus,
beginning West of Tuoatan, is the legend culvacaxa. Although
partly misapplied, it is remarkable that this name should appear
on a map made by a stranger, for it is not to be found on the
two Spanish maps above mentioned. This, with other indications,
show that Verrazano was thoroughly well informed about the
movements of Cortes, having no doubt found charts and
despatches in the prizes he captured, besides conversing with men
on their way home from Mexico. The want of names along the
shores of the Mar del Sur is explained by his want of informa-
tion touching the explorations of Balboa, Davila and others,
accounts of which had not .fallen into his hands.
The coast of the Gulf, round to Florida, and to the isthmus
north of it, is lined with names, which are almost all illegible.
In the interior of New Spain, and in the same latitude as the
north side of Cuba, a large city appears with the name temistttan,
the earliest name by which the City of Mexico was known. A
little below is galatta pbovincia, showing that Verrazano was
better acquainted with his Bible than with the inland geography
of Spain.
The outlines of the Gulf are remarkably accurate for the time,
far better than the tracing which accompanies Francisco de
Garay's Cedula of 1521, as given in Navarrete's Collecion, Vol.
HI. They are even more correctly given than on Colon's or
Ribero's maps.
The greater and lesser Antilles, or the Leeward and Wind-
ward Islands as sailors call them, are very correctly drawn,
though the first are placed much too far to the north. The last
are entitled insulb di canibali, and the first anthjb insulb.
About twelve names appear* on the lesser Antilles. On the
greater ones we read Isabella sive cuba insula, ispagnola sivb
bancto domenigo, Jamaica, S. Joannes, this last appearing very
faint on the photographs. The Bahamas are nameless. The
Bermudas are not shown, although known to the Spaniards before
1511, since they appear on the map in the first edition of Peter
Martyr's first Decade of that date.
The Peninsula of Florida bears the inscription terra Florida,
Verrazano restricting it to this only, while the Spaniards applied
272 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
this name to all the land north to Bacalaos. The outline of the
peninsula is not like Ribero's, but is made square at the end, as
found in some older charts, and its southern termination is in
88£ deg. N., of his scale. Ribero has it correctly in lat. 25 deg.
N. This error, derived in part from the false position assigned to
Cuba by Columbus, influenced and no doubt puzzled our chartog-
rapher, who in the very portion of the Map most interesting to
us, has been forced to alter the draughts supplied by Giovanni,
and thus deformed the general bearings of the coasts explored
in 1524.
The coast names cease near the westerly base of the peninsula,
and reappear at its easterly base. Here are seven coast names
almost illegible, and then follows the isthmus, which no doubt
marks the land fall of Giovanni in 1524. To the right of this we
read Da questo mare | orientate si vede | il mare occidentale. \
Bono 6 miglia di terra \ infra Vuno a Valtro. | . (From this ori-
ental sea is seen the western sea. There are 6 miles of land
between one and the other.)
This isthmus is about two degrees of latitude long, and its
western shores decline respectively to the West and to the North.
The southerly extension runs parallel with the shores of the Gulf
of Mexico, some five degrees of latitude distant from it joining
the imaginary westerly boundary of Nova Hispania above men-
tioned, while the other shore curves to a due northerly course
and terminates in lat. 65 N.
This western sea is nameless, though it appears on many sub-
sequent charts as the Mar di Verrazano. As there is not a word
about it in the letter of July 8th, 1524, all that relates to its
appearance on the chart must be conjectural.
Since there are none but Spanish names south of the isthmus,
it is very probable that the new explorations of Giovanni begin
at this point. Another feature on the Map confirms this view.
Along the coast from this point North are drawn three square
standards whose staffs rest on the coast, .the first one resting ou
the north end of the Isthmus. The second one rests on the point
where Verrazano made a fortnight's stay, and the third one pro-
bably indicates the point where he left the coast. These flags
are almost black in the photographs before us, but there appears
Description of the Mapamundi of Verrazano. 273
to be a circle of perhaps flew de lis on them. In the original
they are probably colored blue.
This Isthmus, which Verrazano meant to be in lat. 34 cleg., is
in lat. 42 deg. according to the chart before us, and in restoring
the true draught of Verrazano, the scale of latitudes must begin
from this point as 34 deg. N.
For the courses from this point to Bacalaos, we must refer to
the enlarged sketch of the chart, copied as best we could from
the photograph at our disposal. At first, after turning a cape
near the Isthmus, the coast has a Northeasterly trend past one
river, probably Barnegat inlet, to a river, which we believe is
meant for the Hudson. Thence it runs E. N. E. returning sud-
denly North for a short distance. This is probably intended for
Long Island. At this point there appears to be a deep indenture
of the coast, left open, which is doubtless a representation of
Long Island Sound and the Thames at New London.
Beyond this the land again trends Easterly, and there appears
a broad promontory, probably the result of considering Fishers
Island and Point Judith as united, and then we find a deep curve
inwards and northwards with three deep bays and a triangular
Island off the coast in the bight of the curve, placed very like
the I. of Rhodes, and west of the bays. The Island is distinctly
named JJuisia or JJuisa, after the Mother of the King. The inden-
tures represent no doubt the three entrances of Narragansett
Bay, where Verrazano made a stay of fifteen days. Here another
flag is placed.
East of this the coast drops a little to the Southward, and runs
out in a long point represented by dots, and on which we read
arenosa punta, signifying a sandy cape. This point is probably
intended for Nantucket shoals and Cape Cod taken as a whole,
and as a first attempt to represent this striking feature of our
coast is most remarkable. Neither Estevan Gomez, who, in the
following year, traced this coast from North to South, nor any
subsequent navigator who has left any record of his voyage,
describes this prominent peninsula so as to positively identify it,
until Champlain's time. After turning Cape Cod the coast is
represented with a general trend to the East-North-East, with no
important projections or depressions, excepting one river with-a
wide mouth, and a bay just east of it, forming a rather wide
18
274 Notes on tbm Verrazano Map.
.
estuary, whioh may well represent the Kennebeck or Penobscot
Rivers in the present State of Maine. The islands which charac-
terize the broken coast line of this State, and which number
over three hundred, do not appear on the map, although Verra-
zano says in his letter that he counted thirty-two in the space of
fifty leagues. This statement, with the account of the rugged
shores seen here, identify the coast as that of Maine, and could
hardly have been invented by one who had never sailed along
these shores.
A little East of this larger river appear two small ones entering
a shallow bay, and just east of the second one we read distinctly
monte. These features may be intended as a rough representa-
tion of the apparently double mouth of the Penobscot, with
Mount Desert just east of it.
On another river, further on, we read Vendome, and the fifth
name east of it is either aranbega or very much like it, the initial
a and final bega being quite distinct. There is no river near it,
nor anything to distinguish it from the other coast names, and
the mapmaker may have inserted it here, copying from some
draught now lost. We have spoken of JVbrumbega in another
note, but would remark that this seems to'be its first appearance
on a map, and that not until 1539 did Pierre Crignon describe
this part of the coast under the name as last written. Back of
these notices no mention of such a name for a land river or town
has been found, except that Peter Martyr, in his seventh Decade,
enumerates Arambe as one of the provinces visited by Ayllon
in 1525, but he was speaking of places in Chicora (Cherokee),
much to the south of this one. The resemblance of this name
to the one of Crignon's deceived Hakluyt at a later date, who
combined them to form the word Arambec, which he identifies
with Norumbega. As the seventh Decade of Martyr was not
published until 1530, Crignon could not have derived it from
that source.
The third French flag is placed on the River Vendome, pro-
bably indicating the point of Verrasano's departure from the
coast, which would thus be near Mount Desert, or a few miles
north of the parallel of 44° N. On his return he, no doubt, pro-
cured a chart of the coasts of the land of the Bretons, and of
Terra Nova, and thus completed his tracing of our coast.
Description of the Mapamundi of Verrazano. 275
Over the three flags appears, in capital letters, the inscrip-
tion nova oalua | siYB iycatanbt | and the following legend:
Verrazano sine noua gattia quale discopri | 5 anni fa Giouanni
di Verrazario JiorerUino | per ordine et comandameto dal Crys-
tianissimo \ He difrancia | (Verrazano or new Gaul which was
discovered 5 years ago by Giouanni di Verrazano the florentine
by the order and command of the most Christian King of France.)
This is the only cine to a date for the chart, which cannot
have been drawn later than 1529. Verrazano, in his letter, does
'not propose the name New France, but no doubt, did thus apply
it shortly after writing to the King. How the name iycatanbt
came to be applied to it would be difficult to answer, and we
cannot discuss that question here. The third name, Verrazano,
was probably a suggestion by the draughtsman, the relative of
the explorer. If Giovanni had died before 1520, the fact of his
demise wonld most probably have been recorded in this legend.
' There is little to add to complete our notice of the map. There
is no indication of the Bay of Fundy, or of the peninsular char-
acter of Acadia. The name, of Cape Breton can be distinctly
read, and there is a broad opening drawn between it and the
land east of it. In this opening there is an island, and the words
G. de 8. loanni and Z de S. loanni, just above which appears
the shield of Brittany.
These names recall Cabot's Island of St. John, discovered by
him on the 24th of June, 1497, and distinctly laid down on his
Mapamundi of 1544, although he there seems to have raised it
slightly in latitude, perhaps because he took Cartier's group of
the Magdalen Islands, which he places just east of it, to be a part
of his own Island. If laid down on the map before us from
Cabot's data, it would be the first known indication of his dis-
coveries. If this were so, however, we ought to find the Gulf
inside, in which he got imbayed on that voyage, and the ice-
bearing Straits of Belleisle, by which he left it to return to
Bristol* It is not known who gave to this Gulf the name it
here bears, nor that of Golfo Quadrado, by which it was known
to Gomara in 1552. The southern entrance into the Gulf has no
name at this day, and Cabofs Strait would be a very appropriate
one for it.
•See Hist Mag., N. Y., VoL m, Ber. H, p. 129.
276 Notes on thb Vkrrazano Map.
East of this opening is a land entitled tbbba nova btto lb
molvb, bearing along its easterly coast the usual well-known
names, C raso, C. de spera, bachalaos. Ilia de San Imxs^ Monte
de trigo, Ilia dos aves, etc., of Portuguese, Basque and Breton
origin. The southerly coast bears no names. It is uncertain
who first gave the name Terra Nova to this Island, which first
appears nameless on a map made by Pedro Reinel,* without date,
preserved in Munich. We confidently believe that this map, or
the original of it, was drawn for Prince Henry the Navigator,
who died in 1460, for it contains his possessions only, beginning
with the newly found Cape Yerd, in Africa. Back of the land
meant for Terra Nova are painted two shields, one bearing the
arms of Portugal, five white balls on a blue ground, and the
other a red Maltese cross on a white ground. The Prince was
the Grand Master of the Portuguese Order of Christ, which, in
that kingdom, succeeded the Order of Knights Templar, after it
had been uprooted elsewhere. This ascription of the land to the
Prince, and the total absence of any trace of the Spanish dis-
coveries in the Atlantic after 1492, would seem to give a pre-
Columbian character to this map, which entitles it to much more
notice than it has hitherto received at the hands of Dr. J. A.
Schmeller and F. Kunstmann, who have described it as not
anterior to the supposed discoveries of the Cortereals, in 1500
and 1501. Reinel's map bears a trace of even an earlier know-
ledge of Newfoundland, for in the same parallel, but further
eastward, there is drawn a large island, with a bank or shoal
around it, which is named Iverde.
We cannot pursue this subject now, but a comparison of Verra-
sano's with Reinel's map will prove that the former was copying
the latter in this portion of the map. On the map of Juan de
la Cosa of 1500, drawn before Gaspar Cortereal's return from his
first voyage, we find an Y. Verde in a similar position, as shown
on the copy of it as given by Humboldt,f though on Jomard's
fac-simile it is named 8. Grigor. From these and other indica-
* Pedro and his son Jorge were in the service of Spain in 1519, as map-
makers; Navarette CoU., Ill, 155. A Pedro Reinel is mentioned, in 1487, by
Barros, Dec. I, liv. 8, cap. 12.
f Examen Critique, Yol. V, and Ghillany's Behaim. The name, howerw,
will probably be found on the orignal map, now in Madrid.
Description of the Mapamukdi of Verrazano. 277
tions we are led to believe that Newfoundland, under the name
of Isla Verde or JBaealaos, and others, was known to fishermen,
if not to geographers, long before Cabot's time. Baealaos, the
Iberian name for the codfish, would be translated by the French
Jtfokief from the Latin Molva, and thus it appears on Verrazano's
map.
North of Terra Nova there is a broad but nameless estuary or
opening of a strait, separating it from a great peninsular land,
whose broad southern termination, in lat. 59£°, is east of and
opposite to the north end of this last, while its easterly outline
runs towards the North, ending in lat. 76° N. On this land, the
map being reversed, we read terra ulbobatobis, and with the
map upright, the legend "quetta terra fu discoperta da inghileH?
and over all a shield bearing the cross of St. George.
The Strait is no doubt meant for the Rio Neoado of the Portu-
guese maps, and is probably, the representation of the ice loaded
current separating North America from Greenland. One of the
Gortereals appears to have sighted Greenland, not recognizing it
as the Greenland of the Northmen, which perhaps they had never
heard of, and it has probably been added on Reinel's map after
1500, but without a name, just as Verrazano has it here. At
that time Greenland was supposed to be connected with Europe,
and this Terra laboratoris of our map is a Mapmaker's attempt,
and perhaps a successful one, to locate the land from which Cor-
tereal took his staves in 1501. The true position of the coasts
seen by the CortereaPs remains a problem, which can only be
solved by the discovery of further documentary evidence. Jerome
was not well informed when he attributes the discovery of this
land to the English. He was perhaps endeavoring in this instance,
to bring in the shadowy discoveries of Sebastian Cabot.
This completes our sketch of the Verrazano map of the World,
which we regret to have been unable to decipher more completely
owing to the imperfect copies of it at our disposal.
* The French Marrhus has a different root, although it is synonymous with
MOue.
278 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
XXXVIEL— CHARTS AFTER VERRAZANO.
Dr. I. G. Kohl m the first part of his History of the discovery
of the East Coast of North America, Ac., published by the Maine
Historical Society in 1869, Chapter Vni, treats of the voyage of
Verrazano in much detail, and gives notes on several charts which
seem, as respects the East coast of the United States, to have been
based on one drawn by that navigator. He had not however
been able to procure a copy of the one seen in Rome by Mods.
Thomassy, which he regrets, while mentioning it in a note at page
290. His remarks on Maps which probably were in part con-
structed from it, are so full that we can add but little to them,
although he had not the advantage of being able to consult the
original.
We must observe however that we cannot find one chart made
after 1524, on which onr coast is represented as on the one before
us. The only feature which Mapmakers seem to have noticed
and copied was the Western sea separated by an isthmus from
the Atlantic. The coast however that he explored was always
copied from Spanish charts containing the surveys of Gomez and
others, which appear to have been spread over Europe shortly
after they were prepared. The Spanish Maps remained the sole
authority for the outlines of our coast from Florida to Nova
Scotia until the English in 1583 began their settlements in
Virginia.
Jacques Cartier and Jean Alfonse must have prepared charts,
now lost, but the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland were
represented correctly soon after their explorations. They were
perhaps less ambitious than Verrazano, and did not construct a
Map of the World in order to show their own limited explora-
tions. Had our navigator left a chart of his own discoveries
only, it would have perhaps attracted more attention among
geographers.
. Most of the charts after 1524 which show the Western sea,
call it Mar de Verrazano and the land is sometimes called Verra-
zano, but after 1583 his name disappears from every chart. One
of the last of this kind was made by Michael Locke in 1582. (See
Hakluyt's Divers Voyages 1582. Rep. by Hakluyt Soc. 1850.)
It is noteworthy that the narrow isthmus which is said, on the
Charts after Verrazano. 279
chart before as to be only five leagues wide, was never sought
for by any other explorer. It was a strait that was desired, one
that all nations could navigate and that would shorten the way
to Cathay and the Moluccas.
The first published Map containing traces of Verrazano's explo-
rations is in the Ptolemy of Basle 1530, which appeared four
years before the French renewed their attempts at American
exploration. It shows the Western sea without a name, and the
land North of it is called Francisea.
In Bordone's Isolario of 1528, fol. vi, verso, is seen a map with
a sea west of Labrador, with a strait at the height of the Azores
leading into it, probably all guess-work.
Several geographers and chartographers such as Ruscelli and
Agnese, show the Western sea on their Maps, and Dr. Kohl care-
fully enumerates those he has met with, but the most interesting
document of the kind is probably the copper globe of Euphra-
sy nus Ulpianus of 1542, found by the late Buckingham Smith in
Italy, and now in the possession of the New York Historical
Society. It contains the only allusion to Verrazano's discovery
recorded on a Map, previous to the publication of the letter in
Ramusius of 1556. The earliest notice of the voyage as marked
elsewhere, is in the account of Norumbega of 1539, supposed to
have been written by Crignon.
Mr. Smith in his Inquiry, Ac, read before the New York His-
torical Society in October, 1864, mentions this globe, and gives
a copy of the part that contains the North American coast. An
inspection of this portion of the globe will at once show that the
author had seen neither the letter of 1524 nor the chart of 1529.
He must have learned of the discovery elsewhere and from a
source unknown to us. He represents the Western sea, name-
less, and North of it appears the legend " Verrazana sive Nova
Gallia a Verrazano, Florentine, comperta anne sal M. D"
There is an unfilled blank after the date, proving that the author
had not seen the letter of 1524. Of the names along the coast
there are some which may date from Verrazano's voyage, but as
the photographs before us contain no legible names we cannot
venture to assert their identity. The names " Go de S. Germano
and LungaviUa^ (St, Germain and Longueville) on the globe, are
decidedly French and we believe appear on no other Maps,
280 Notes ok the Vmkrazano Mat.
NormanviUa may be a translation of Norumbega, and if so is
interesting as being its first mention on a map.
The chart of 1529 was probably preserved in England or on
the Continent for some years, and was then inspected by geog-
raphers, but no close copy of it. appears to have been made.
About the middle of the 16th century it seems to have disap-
peared, having probably been sent to Rome, where it has lain
dormant and unnoticed for three centuries, until notioed by
Mods. Thomassy in 1852. Had it remained open to public exam-
ination Verrazano's name would have not required our tardy
recognition of his exploit as an explorer. We must however
thank the preservers of this chart for having rescued it from the
fate that has befallen so many charts, valueless when a few yean
old, but which would be almost priceless now. Perhaps the
charts of Columbus may be stored somewhere in like manner
and yet be discovered.
XXXIX.— NEW FRANCE, OF VERRAZANO.
In the letter of 1524, Verrazano does not propose any name
for the land he had discovered, but on the Mapamuadi of 1529,
by Hteronimus, we find it inscribed nova oalejul arve ivcatanet,
from Florida or the shore of the supposed Western sea to the
Terra des Bretons. This name must have been, therefore, pro-
posed by Giovanni, and the name Yucatan**, was, perhaps, added
by the mapmaker, though without any apparent reason, for the
land of Grijalva is represented as doubtfully insular, and with its
right name, Yucatan. He also has Nueva Hispania properly
placed.
The Spaniards never recognised this name, but carried their
Florida up to lat 45p, which was officially deolared to be the
limit of Spanish territory by Philip the Second. It will be
remembered that the name America was also not recognised by
them until a very recent date.
Crignon, in 1589, had not seen Verrazano's chart, but says that
many navigators, and even the Portuguese, call this Terra Fran-
fatse. Jean Alphonse, who coasted South to Massachusetts Bay
Jaoopo Gastaldi, 16J&. 281
about 1542, says, in Ms Routtier, that these lands may well be
called New France. Ramuaius, in 1653, calls it Nova Gallia,
and Ribault, in 1562, called it New France. Father Biand, in
1614-16, is of the opinion that Verrazan was the godfather of
this name. Rocols, in 1660, (Descript. dn Monde, 3m* partie,
Tom. Y, p. 27,) explicitly says that Jean Verrazan gave this
name to it.
On many maps after 1530, it was designated as Verrazana, or
as Nova Gallia and Iflraneisca, the name New France being
finally restricted to the lands first explored by Jacques Cartier,
although he did not apply that name to them. The Mapmakers,
-who had followed the draughts of the discoverer, did not hesitate
to place the name where it was first imposed, while historians,
with the letter of 1524 only before them, were in doubt as to the
origin and proper application of the name.
XL.— JACOPO GASTALDI, 1548.
There was published at Venice in 1548 an octavo edition of
Ptolemy, in Italian, containing- modern additions, taken from
* Sebastian Munster, and newly designed maps prepared by Jacopo
Gastaldi, the well-known mapmaker. Among these, the one
entitled Tierra Nueva, representing the coast from Labrador to
Florida, is from a draught entirely different from any previously
published. The materials for it were probably derived from
Ramuaius, who had collected original maps to illustrate his col-
lection of voyages, but who published very few of them. In
this particular map we find indication of Portuguese and French
tracings, with but little from Spanish ones. Labrador, confounded
with Greenland, stretches far to the East; Newfoundland is
divided into Islands, as in the Map of Sebastian Gabot of 1544
(which, however, Gastaldi does not appear to have used), and
from Cape Breton to C. de S. Maria, the tracing appears to be
a combination of Thomas Anbert's and Verrasano's charts. We
cannot here further analyse this map, which has been well
described by Mr. Kohl (Maine, p. 225 and 233), though he copies
282 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
it from Ruscelli's Ptolemy of 1561, not having seen the earlier
edition of 1548, which he, however, quotes in a foot note. •
The only point to which we wish here to draw attention is,
that perhaps an attempt has been made to lay down Verrazano's
Isui&ia, which is misspelt firisa, and is placed not far from Cape
Breton. It is doubtful whether the other portions of the coast
to the S. W. are from Verrazano's explorations. They appear
rather to be from the sketches of Jean Alfonse. Had he seen
Verrazano's chart he could not have omitted, as he does, all
mention of him in his text.
MERCATOR, 1569.
Gerard Meroator (or Kremer), the great reformer of Charto-
graphy, in his Planisphere of 1569, first named the island off the
coast Claudia, being confused in his historical data, and this error
was copied by Hakluyt and others. Mercator also commits, in
his legends, the mistake of making him sail from Dieppe March
17, 1524. Ribault led him into this error.
XLL— RAMUSIUS.
Extract from fha 8d vol. of fha collection of Voyages by B*murius. Pint edition.
Venice, IBM.
FoL 417. Discourse on the mainland of the West Indies,
called the land of Labrador, of Bacchaiaos and of New France.
There sailed also along the said land in the year 1524, a great
Captain of the most Christian King France, called John da Ver-
razano of Florence, and he ran the whole coast unto Florida, as
by one of his letters written to the said King may be seen more
particularly, the only one we could procure, because the others
were destroyed during the sack of the poor City of Florence,
and in the last voyage which he made, having landed with some
companions, they were all killed by those people, and in the
presence of those who remained on the ship, they were roasted
and eaten. This unfortunate end befell this worthy gentleman,
who if this death had not prevented, with the great knowledge
and understanding which he had of marine matters, and of the
art of navigation, combined and favored by the great liberality
Admiral Chabot and Vbrrazano. 283
of the King Francis, would have discovered and made known to
the world, all that part of the earth unto the Arctic pole, and
he wonld have not been satisfied with the sea only, but would
have tried to penetrate farther into the land and as far as he
could have gone, and many who knew him and conversed with
him, have told me that he had determined to persuade the most
Christian King to send to those parts a good number of people
to settle in some points of the said coast, which are of a temper-
ate climate, and with a most fertile soil and very fine rivers, and
harbors that can hold any fleets. Much good might be done to
the inhabitants of these places such as turning these poor rough
and ignorant people to the worship of God and to our most holy
faith, and to show them how to cultivate the earth, taking the
animals of our Europe to those spacious tracts, and lastly with
time we shall have discovered the inland countries, and if among
so many islands as there be there, whether any passage exists to
the South sea, or if the mainland of the Florida of the West
Indies continues unto the pole. This and many other things
were said to have been alluded to by this valiant gentleman, of
whose works and efforts we have wished to publish this little
that has reached us, that the reihembrance of him should not be
buried or his name be forgotten.
XLEL— ADMIRAL CHABOT AND VERRAZANO.
Fontotte MS. XXI, 770, f oL 00, National Library, Parla.
We translate the agreement given by Mons. Margry, with
some abridgment. .
"Philippe Chabot, Baron d'Apremont, Chevalier de l'ordre
du Roy, son Gouverneur et lieutenant General de Bourgoingue,
Admiral de France et de Bretaine.
" Has determined to fit out two french gallions now in Havre
de Grace, together with a ship belonging to Jehan Ango of
Dieppe of about seventy tons, for the voyage of the spices to
the Indies.
" Have concluded with those below to put in a sum of twenty
thousand livres toumois, i. «., we, the Admiral, four thousand;
284 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Master Guillaume Prendhemme, general of Normandy, two
thousand; Pierre Despmoiles, one thousand; Jehan Ango, two
thousand; Jacques Boarsier, the same; Meesire Jehan de Vare-
8am, principal pilot, the same. The above sums amounting
together to twenty thousand livres [which is not so, but perhaps
the value of the ships made up the rest].
" The Admiral and Ango are to furnish the ships, with tackle
and armament complete, and to have one-quarter of all merchan-
dise brought home in return. The moneys above to pay for
victualling, venture and wages.
" The said Messire Jehan, pilot, to furnish two other compe-
tent pilots for the other two ships, and to receive for himself and
the two pilots, one-sixth of the merchandise brought in, after
one-quarter has been taken out as above.
" Should any of the above ships be lost or not be able to sail,
the apportionment to hold good as above, and the ship not sail-
ing to participate at the rate of a mark to the livre.
' " And should any prize be made at sea from the Moon or
other enemies of the Faith and of the King, Monsieur P Admi-
ral will take a, prior part of said prize of one-tenth, and the rest
of the proceeds of said prize will be divided like the other mer-
chandise, excepting such part of .ft as nay be apportioned to the
partners as agreed upon.
" And the Sieur Admiral will procure letters patent to license
and expedite the said voyage, and that no obstacle shall be put
in the way by any allied friendly or confederate nation of the
King our Lord."
[Endorsed] " For the voyage of Messire T~k-% n
XLIIL— OVIEDO ON THE ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1527.
Oriedo. Hirtoria general da las India*. Seitila, 1685. Book 19, cap. IB, loL ML
Academy edition, Madrid, 1851, toL 1, p. 611.
Of certain Btranger corsairs that have passed to those parts
and the Indies, and what happened to them for their evil designs.
In the year 1527* an English corsair, under the pretence thai
*2fomMfet, Vol HI, foL 904, hae. copied thk datejerrauoialy as 1517.
Herrera on the Votaqr of 1687. 285
he had gone out on discovery, came with a great ship, retaining
from Brazil41 on the coast of Tierra Firme, and from thence he
crossed to this Island Espanola, and came near the month of the
port of this City of Santo Domingo. He sent his boat full of
men and sought license to come in there, saying that he came
with merchandise and for traffic. At this moment, the Alcalde,
Francisco de Tapia,f ordered a blank charge to be fired from the
Castle at the ship, which was ooming right into port. When the
English saw this they retired outside, and those in the boat
embarked and went back to their ship.
In truth the Alcalde committed an error in what he did,
because if the ship had entered, it would not have gone out
again against the will of the City and the Castle. Thus seeing
the manner in which they were received, they took the direction
of the Island of Sant Juan, and entering the bay of Sant Ger-
man, they spoke to the people of that city, <fcc.
XLIV.— HERRERA ON THE VOYAGE OF 1627.
Hernia, Hlstorla general de los heehoe de loa Cutellanoten las Islas 7 Tierra Firme del
Mar Oceano. Madrid, 1601. Decada II, Libra V, Cap. m.
(The following extract is placed in the Spanish work, under the
year 1519, but in Navarro's own manuscript, J as we were informed
by the late Buckingham Smith, the date of the report is, St. Juan,
November 19th, 1527. We know also, from Oviedo, that this is
the correct one.)
Cap. HL Of an English ship, which came to the Indies ; and
of the state in which the Islands were.
The ships which carried the gold, the pearls and the common
merchandise having sailed, a caravel of Santo Domingo being in
•The account in Herrera, that the ship had come from Newfoundland,
seems to be the correct one.
f Tapia died in .January, 1588, and Oviedo himself was appointed as his
successor, holding the appointment until 1554, though several times cross-
ing the Ocean to Spain. In 1549 he became also Regidor of St. Domingo
City; resigned his office 1556, returned home and died in 1057, aged 79.
X Entitled ** A copy of a letter authorized by Domo. Cavallero, escrivano of
the Audiencia of Espanola," Ac., &c. MS. in Seville.
286 < Notes on the Verrazano Map.
the Island of San Juan, loading with Caoabi [Cassava], there
oame in a ship of three top sails of £he burthen of two hundred
and fifty tons. The master of the caravel went to her in his boat,
believing that she was a Spanish ship. He discovered a pinnace
with twenty-five men armed with breast-plates, cross-bows and
bows, with two pieces of Artillery in the bow. They said they
were English, and that the ship.was from England, and that this
and another one had been fitted out to go and seek for the land
of the Great Elian,* and that they had been parted in a storm.
That this ship, pursuing her voyage, they got into a frozen sea,
and found great islands of ice. That having taken another
course, they got into a different warm sea, that boiled like water
in a caldron,* and that to avoid having the pitch melted, they
went to make the Bacallaos (Newfoundland), where they found
fifty ships, Spanish, French and Portuguese, fishing, and that they
wished to land, to speak to the Indians, and they killed the Pilot,
who was a Piedmontese. That from thence they had coasted to
the Rio de Chicora. That from that river tney had crossed to the
Island of St. John.
And asking them what they sought in these Islands, they said
that they desired to see them, to give an account of them to the
King of England, and load up with Brazil wood. They requested
the master of the Caravel, who was named Ginez Navarro, that
he would come on board their ship, and that he would show them
the route to Santo Domingo. He saw in the ship a quantity of
wine, flour and other victuals and many cloths, linen, with many
other articles for traffic. They carried much artillery, and a
forge, and had ship-carpenters, and an oven to make bread, and
there might be sixty men. The said Ginez Navarro said further
that the Captain of this ship wanted to show him the Instructions
he carried from the King of England, if he could have read them,
and that at the Island of Mona, they put men ashore, and in the
Island of St. John they trafficked some tin. This ship went to
•When Gilbert was fitted out with two barks of forty and thirty tons
each in 1608, to search for a passage, where Hudson, in 1610, discovered the
Straits that bears his name, there is a charge in the outfit of £6 18b. 4d.
to Mr. Seger for writing her Majesty's letter to the Emperor of China and
Cathay. Columbus, as we know, was always provided with a similar letter,
and died in the belief that he had reached Asia only.
Herb era on the Voyage o* 1527. 287
the port of Santo Domingo, and sent a boat ashore, saying that
the traffic was desired, and it stayed there two days. The Alcalde
of the Castle, sent on its arrival to ask the Auditors that they
should give him orders what to do, and beoause they did not
answer, he fired a piece of cannon against the ship ; after which
it hastened to get its boat back, and soon went away, and returned
to the Island of St. John, where it lingered a short time traffick-
ing with the people of the City of San German, and was not seen
again. The Auditors, saying that the Alcalde ought to have
waited their answer, arrested him, and informed the King of the
case, and of the bad state of the fortress, in order that in its
fortification some system should be followed, and that orders
should be given to supply it with men, artillery and ammunition.*
This English ship f led to much thought, because, until then,
not one from that nation had been seen in those parts, and there*
fore the King, as well as those in the Island, were anxious about
it. The King would have desired that another course had been
followed in Santo Domingo, and that the ship ought to have been
taken by force or by cunning, because it was held as a perilous
matter that the French, who already caused so much damage in
Spain, | should have begun to find the way to the Indies. On
this account it was considered what remedy could be used against
the inconvenience of having that nation § learn the way of navi-
gating to the Indies.
As for the imprisoned Alcalde, the King ordered the Auditors
to release him, that he might assist in the fortress, and that in
his case they should proceed by a trial and let him know what
they determined. If other ships should come to the Island, they
were always to have an interview with them, and keep them
guarded so that they might not escape, as this one had done. At
the very least, they should seize the crew, or a part of it, or make
such demonstrations, even of the most severe kind, that they
would take care not to come again.
* Navarro's report ends here. The rest is by Herrera from other sources.
f Finding her way to the Islands.
% This is an allusion to Verrazano and the French corsairs.
§ The Spaniards at that time feared the French more than the English.
Within a quarter of a century they were to suffer in their own seas of the
West Indies from Buccaneers of both nationalities.
288 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
Farther, because of the number of French Corsairs who fre-
quented the coast of Andalusia, and,it became necessary to guard
it, the Count of Osorno Asistente de Sevilla, was ordered to fit
out a fleet of five or six ships, and that it should be arranged that
the (Casa de) Contratacion should assist in the expense of it, as it
was done for its protection. Artillery was to be borrowed to
arm the ships from the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Aroos, and
from the MarquesseB of Tarifa and Ajamonte.
XLV.— HAKLUYT ON RUT'S VOYAGE OF 1627.
Hakluyt (Divers Voy., 1582) says that Robert Thome's letter
written from Seville in 1527,* to Henry the Eighth, led to the
fitting out of two vessels on discovery westward, which sailed,
according to the Chronicle of Hail and Grafton, May 20th of the
same year from London, but this, as Mr. Biddle remarks, could
hardly have been received in time to influence the despatch of
this expedition. He adds nothing concerning the results obtained,
but in his work of 1589, p. 517, he had gleaned from Sir Martin
Frobisher and Richard Allen, a few facts, but could not learn
the name of the commander, and that one of the ships was called
the Dominus Vobiscum, which was not correct. He also heard
that a learned Canon of St. Pauls, a mathematician, took part in
fitting out the expedition and accompanied it, that one of the
vessels was lost near Labrador, and that the other had coasted
along Cape Breton and Norumbega and got home in the begin-
ning of October.
In his great work, Vol. HI, 1600, p. 129, the same statement
is repeated, with the regret as before, that no writer had pre-
served a record of the voyage.
Curiously enough, at page 499 of the same volume, he quotes
Oviedo's account of the English voyage of 1527, from Ramusins,
and assuming the erroneous date 1517 for it, supposes that this
expedition was commanded by Sebastian Cabot.
* From a note in Hakluyt, 1600, Vol. HI, p. 500, we learn that he had a
ledger, once belonging to Nicolas Thorne the elder, In Bristol, and that he
found evidence in it to show that in 1526, this Thorne had sent a certain
Thomas Tison (Tyson) to reside and traffic in the West Indies.
Tiraboschi — Oarli's Letter. 289
XLVL— TIRABOSCHI.
The first edition of the "Storia della Letteratura Italians,
antica e moderna; del. Cay. Abate Girolamo Tiraboschi,"
appeared first at Mantua, 1771-82, in 13 vols, in 4to- We conld
not verify our reference by consulting this edition, but have
copied it from Vol. VII, part 1, p. 260, of the Florence edition
of 1819.
After speaking of Verrazano's earlier career, and referring to the
notice in the " Elogi degP illustri Toscani. Tom. 2, No. 30," and
giving a brief sketch of his voyage of 1524, he says : "Nella
libreria Strozziana in Firenze, oltre la Relazione sopraccenata, con-
servasi manoscritta una Narrazione cosmographica assai bene-
distesa di tutti i paesi ch'egli avea in quel viaggio osservati, e
da essa raccogliesi ch'egli ancora avea formate il disegno di ten-
tar per quei mari il passagio all' Indie orientali."
He then mentions the uncertainty hanging over his fate, and
gives the reference to the letter of Annibale Oaro of 1539, which
he first discovered.
XLVIL— CARLI'S LETTER.
Archlvo Storico IUllano ossia raccolta di opere e document! finora Inedltl o divenuti raria-
siinl risguardanti la Storia d' Italia. Appendico. Tomo IX. Firenze. Gio. Pietro Vieai-
■eux, direttore-editore al suo Gabinetto Scientiflco Letterario, 1868.
Letter of Fernando Carli to his Father.
In the name of God.
4th day of August^ 1524.
Honored Fatheb. — Remembering that when I was in the
Barbary fleet at Garbieh,* the news which were daily given you
from the illustrious Sig. Don Hugo de Moncada,f captain-general
• Charles had been outbidding Francis for the Imperial Crown, and in
order to signalize himself, he prepared in 1510, an expedition against the
Barbary powers.
f Hugo de Moncada, Viceroy of Sicily, sailed April 15, 1520, with 6,400
infantry, 820 light horsemen and 560 men-at-arms, besides officers and vol-
unteers, on 56 vessels for Garbieh, an Island between the Damietta and
Bosetta mouths of the Nile, and gained a signal victory there in June. See
Documentos Ineditos para la Hist, de Esp. Vols. 28, 24
19
290 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
of his Imperial Majesty in those barbarous parts, while pursuing
and fighting the Moors of that Island, it appears pleased many
of our patrons and friends, and that you were congratulated by
them on the victory achieved; so, there are news again, recently
received here of the arrival of the Captain Giovanni da Verra*-
zano, our Florentine, at the port of Dieppe, in Normandy, with
his ship, the Delfina, with which, at the end of January last, be
went from the Canary Islands (Madeira) in search of new conn-
tries for this most serene crown of France, displaying great and
very noble courage by engaging as he did in. an unknown navi-
gation with a single sail, hardly a caravel of tons, having
only fifty men, with the purpose, to the best of bis ability, of
discovering Cathay by taking the way through climates different
from those in which the Portuguese are accustomed to make dis-
coveries toward Calicut; but going toward the Northwest and
the North, holding on his way so as to find some country or
other. Although Ptolemy, Aristotle and other cosmographere
laid down, that no land was to be found in the direction of such
climates; and thus by God has he been permitted to do, as he
distinctly describes in a letter to this sacred Majesty, a copy of
which is inclosed in this. After many months spent in naviga-
tion, he was obliged, as he states, for want of provisions, to
return from that hemisphere to this, having been seVen months
on the voyage, indicating a very great and rapid passage made
in the performance of an admirable and extraordinary feat, to the
mind of those who understand the navigation of the globe.
The commencement of that voyage was marked with disaster,
and many thought that there never would be news of him, or of
the ship; that it must be lost about the height of Norway, by
reason of the huge ice in that Northern ocean; but, as that
Moor said, the great God, to give us every day more evidences
of his infinite power, and to show us how admirable in this
earthly machine, has discovered to him an extent of land, as you
will observe, so vast, that according to the good reasons and
degrees by elevation of latitude, it appears and shows itself to
be larger than Europe, Africa, and a part of Asia; ergo mtmdus
novus : and this is without what the Spaniards have these many
years found in the West; for it is hardly a year since Ferrando
Magaghiana. [Magalhaens] having discovered an immense conn-
Cabli's letter. 291
try, returned in one ship of five with which he went out, bring-
ing back cloves that are much better than common; and of his
other ships in five years no news has been heard. They are sup-
posed to be lost. What our captain brought, he does not men-
tion in his letter, except a young man of those countries made
captive, but it is believed that he has brought a specimen of
gold, in that region of no value, of drugs and other aromatic
liquors, to confer with many merchants here, after having been
in the presence of his Most Serene Majesty, where he should be
at this hour; and from there to come here soon, for he is much
desired for his conversation, the more because he will see his
Majesty, our Sire, who is expecting to arrive within three or four
days;* and we hope that his Majesty will once more give him
half a dozen good vessels to make the voyage again. And if
our Francisco Carli shall have returned from Cairo, be assured
he will adventure himself with him on said voyage, and I believe
they knew each other at Cairo, where he was some years since
and not only in Egypt and Soria [Syria] but nearly' throughout
the known world; and therefore on account of his merit, he is
esteemed another Amerigo Vespucci, another Ferrando Magag-
hiana and even more; and we hope that by providing himself
with other good ships and vessels well built and victualled as
requisite, he will find some profitable traffic and business; and he
will do, our Lord sending him life, honor to our country by
acquiring immortal fame and memory. And Alderotto Brunel-
leschi, who went with him, and unfortunately turned back,
unwilling to follow him farther, when he there hears of it will
not be well pleased. Nothing else now occurs to me; since by
others I have advised you of what is doing. I commend myself
to you continually, praying you to mention me to our friends,
not forgetting Pierfranoesoo Dagaghiano,f who being a studious
person does not idle much time, and to him recommend me; also
to Rustichi, who will not be displeased (if he should take delight
as formerly) in hearing of matters concerning cosmography.
May God guard you from all evil.
Tour Son,
FERNANDO CARLI,
in Lyons.
• Bee also, Doc. Ined, vol. 28. f Perhaps Gagliano.
292 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
9
XLVUI.— JEAN ALFONSE.
Jean Alfonse de Saintonge, the pilot of Roberval, who was in
Canada, 1542-1543, and who appears to have sailed along oar
Coast about that time, left a manuscript cosmography, completed
in 1545, which is in the Nat. Library, Paris (MSS. f. fr. 676), in
which no mention is made of Verrazano's voyage, 1 8 years before
his own, nor does he appear to have had a knowledge of any early
charts of the coast. The confused sketches of the coast which
accompany the MS. are in detached sections (perhaps not of his
own compiling), from Nova Scotia to Florida. Editions of his
work, under the title of " Voyages avantureux da Capitaine Jean
Alfonce, Saintongeois," appeared in 1559, about twelve years after
his death, and again in 1578 and 1598. The published work,
however, is not as full as the MS., which is deeply interesting to
American students, in those parts that profess to describe oar
coasts. Although a portion of his printed work is given by Hak-
luyt (Voyages, Vol. Ill, 1600, fol. 239), it seems never to have
occurred to any one that be ought to be considered as an explorer
of our coast, until Mons. Margry, in " Navigations Francaises,"
<fcc, Paris, 1867, p. 323, drew attention to the passage (also given
by Hakluyt), in which he distinctly avers that he had entered a
bay in lat. 42°. The Rev. B. F. De Costa has treated this subject
in detail in his "Northmen in Maine, 1870."
We believe that neither Mess. Leon Guerin, Davesac or Margry,
who have noticed this experienced navigator, were aware of the
mode of his death. We may therefore be excused for drawing
attention to the following account of it, and also because Verra-
zano's fate may have been somewhat similar, and perhaps now
lies recorded in some document not hitherto consulted.
The poet, Melin de Saint Gelais, in the verses which accom-
pany the first edition of the "Voyages avantureux," of 1559,
refers vaguely to some passages in the life of this forgotten pilot
and corsair, and says of his death :
" La mort aussi n'a point craint son effroy,
Ses gros canons, ses darts, son feu, sa fouldre,
Mais l'assaillant l'a mis en tel desroy
Que rien de luy ne reste plus que poudre."
Jean Alfonse. 293
We quote these lines from Harrisse's " Notes sur la Nouvelle
France, Paris, 1872," p. 8, who adds that Alphonse appeared to
have been killed in a naval combat, which must have taken place
l>efore the 7th of March, 1547, the date of the Imprimatur of the
edition of 1559, which contains the verses of Saint Gelais.
Barda, Misayo cronologico para la Hiatoria General de la
Florida. Madrid, 1723, fol. 58.
" This and other like deeds brought him [Menendez] into such
credit that in the following year he was ordered by the Emperor
Maximilian,* who then governed in Spain, to go against Juan
-Alphonso, the Portuguese f (who was called the Frenchman by
the Spaniards), a Corsair, who had taken, near Cape St. Vincent,
10 or 12 Biscayan vessels, loaded with iron, iron work and other
valuable merchandise. He had hardly received the order, when
he proceeded straight to the coast of Brittany and to La Rochelle,
recaptured five of the vessels taken, and entering with one near
the reef of La Rochelle, where he anchored, he fought with Juan
Alphonso, and wounded him ; and when he wished to go out by
the way he came in, he could not, having wind and tide against
him. The magistrate of the Port ordered him to land; which he
did, showing his commission, and giving the reasons for taking
those prizes which they had made, breaking the peace. But the
magistrate would not let them go ; placing them in deposit
(deposited as), so that those interested would seek to recover them.
Not being able to do otherwise, he obtained certificates, sending
one to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who was in Flanders, and
the other he took himself.
Juan Alphonso died of his wounds, and his son, Antonio
Alphonso, was so indignant about it, that, with his patrimony,
he inherited the art of piracy of his father, and sent to defy
Pedro Menendez, notifying him that he should put to sea after
two months, and he did so, with three ships, very good ones. He
sailed towards the Indies, where he learned that Menendez was
•Barcia is mistaken here. This Maximilian was the eldest son of Ferdi-
nand of Austria, and his wife was the Princess Mary, daughter of the
Emperor. The Emperor left Spain in 1540, and his son Philip left it in 1548.
f He was certainly a Frenchman, from Saintonge, near Cognac, but had
been in the Portuguese service, and was familiar with the navigation to
Brazil Barcia, p. 24, mentions him .as AUmsto [gaUego o Portugue»\
294 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
going. He went to await him at Teneriffe^ and there attacked
two ships to capture them, but a ball from the Spaniards cut him
to pieces, sinking the ship afterwards ; and shortly after that
Pedro Menendez took the two others."
Pedro Menendez de Aviles wis born 1519. Took to the sea
when quite young, distinguished himself, was made Adelantado
of Florida, and died aged 56, in Biscay, when just about to lead
the Great Armada of three hundred sail, against the English.
It is said that he had made over fifty voyages to the Indies.
XLIX.— BUCKINGHAM SMITH'S NOTICES OP VEERA-
ZANO'S VOYAGE.
The late Buckingham Smith of St. Augustine, Florida, was
deeply interested in all that related to the early discovery, explo-
ration and settlement of his native State. He printed several
documents from the Spanish Archives bearing on this subject,
and also annotated the narratives of De Soto and Cabeza de
Vaca, but in such limited editions that they are not generally
known.
He left some manuscripts, copied in Spain, a selection from
which may at some future time be edited and published by those
who have charge of them. Among these were some documents
or notes relating to the supposed death of Verrazano at the
hands of the Spaniards.
Mr. Smith, in his zeal to establish the claims of the Spaniards
to the discovery of our coasts, was wont to discredit all that
interfered with them, and thus endeavored to prove that the voy-
age of 1524 by Verrazano, was a fiction. He first expressed this
theory in a paper read before the New York Historical Society,
October 4th, 1864, followed by a resum4 of it in the Historical
Magazine for June, 1865.
We met soon afterwards, when he was shown, as confirming
the voyage of 1524, the almost cotemporary statement of Crig-
non, as given by Estancelin, and the notice of the Mapamundi
of 1529, discovered by M. Thomassy in Home. He gave a trans-
lation of this last notice in the Historical Magazine for October,
J
Smith's Notices of Vbrrazano's Voyagb. 295
1866, but mistook the sense of the Italian words carta pecora,
supposing they meant small Map, and expressed no confidence
in the Map as a document confirming the letter.
Soon afterwards he read the agreement between Admiral Cha-
bot and Verrazano, given by Mons. Margry in his Navigations
JFrancaises, and gave it translated, in the Historical Magazine for
January, 1869, with some prefatory remarks which we quote
here.
""*■
" The following draft for a Charter party, with promise of
the approbation of Francis I., for a voyage to India, was discov-
ered in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, and first published last year,
in the original, by M. Pierre Margry, in his work, Les Naviga-
tions Francoises du XI Ve an XVIe, Steele. The enterprise
contemplated, as may be seen by reference to the volumes of
Francisco d' And rade, Cronica do Muyto alto e muyto podiroso
JRey destes Reynos de Portugal Don Jbas a III deste nome,
printed at Lisbon, in 1613, was to form a settlement in Brazil,
and was defeated in France by the Portuguese Minister, Silveyra,
in whose time, we read, a period of nine years, from 1528, dur-
ing his continuance at Paris, no other attempt appears to have
been made from France, at a voyage of like character.
The author of Les Navigations observes that this Document
could not have been drawn up earlier than 1526, the year in
which Cabot received the office of Admiral, and the Government
of Burgundy, in recompense of his services in delivering the
King from the prisons of Charles V. The date is subsequent to
that of the Letter of Verrazzano, 1524, giving account of his
discovery of the Northeast coast of America, and proves the
assertion of some Spanish writers not to have been exact, that
his jBxecution took place in that year. — B. S. n
We cannot here attempt to refute or criticise Mr. Smith's
doubts more fully than we have done, in the course of the above
paper and notes. His opinions, when analyzing early Spanish
narratives, are of great weight, but he paid little attention to
the early French or English ones, which did not interest him.
The following are his published notices on Verrazano:
The globe of Euphrosynus Ulpianus, 1542. Historical Maga-
zine, 1862, p. 202.
An Inquiry into the authenticity of documents concerning a
(,
296 Notes on the Verrazano Map.
discovery in North America, claimed to have been made by Ver-
razano. Read before the New York Historical Society, Tuesday,
October 4th, 1864. By Buckingham Smith, New York, 1864 (8°
pp. 81, with copy of part of the globe of 1542). Contains quo-
tations from Caro's, and the whole of Carli's letter.
Verrazano as a discoverer. Hist. Mag., 1865, pp. 169, 175.
(Contains a review of his Inquiry, <fcc.)
Remarks on Mr. Smith's paper on Magallanes and Gomez. (By
Mr. Smith.) Hist. Mag., 1866, p. 280.
Map of the World, containing the discovery of Verrazano,
drawn by Hieronimus de Verrazano. Hist. Mag., 1866, pp.
299-300. Contains only Thomassy's notice of the Map.
Verrazano. (Charter party for a voyage to India, Ac., with
prefatory remarks.) Hist. Mag., 1869, p. 28.
L.— J. G. KOHL ON VERRAZANO'S VOYAGE.
No critical examination of Verrazano's voyage along our coast
had been attempted by a geographer until Dr. J. G. Kohl, in his
interesting " History of the Discovery of Maine," in 1869, gave
it especial attention. He had not seen the chart by Hieronimus
(see op. cit. p. 290, note), or his opinions would have been mate-
rially changed. The absence; in the letter, of any definite descrip-
tion of our coast (which description was probably minutely
given in the " little book? alluded to), makes it impossible to
trace Verrazano's exploration with certainty.
Dr. Kohl is also disposed to accept Verrazano's claim to have
coasted from lat. 84 deg. to 50 deg. We have shown that his
landfall could not have been South of lat. 39 deg. 05 min., as he
had been swept North by the Gulf stream (whose history Dr.
Kohl has published), and that the chart shows no geographical
features which could permit any other assumption. It must be
remembered that no correct observation could be taken at that
time on board ship, and his landings were too hurried to permit
the setting up of his larger instruments, so that the only reliable
observation was the one taken in Newport harbor, where he
tarried for a fortnight.
Kohl on Verrazano* s Voyage. 297
Dr. Kohl, as others have done before him, by assuming the
landfall to have been in lat. 34 deg. has, of course, to make the
landings of the explorer fall so much more to the South of the
points where we place them. This has always prevented a proper
understanding of the letter. We shall not, therefore, undertake
to correct Dr. Kohl, who, with others, agrees upon Newport
harbor as the place where Verrazano stayed two weeks.
Dr. Kohl has not observed that in at least two places, that is
in the paragraphs we have numbered as 9 and 14, the writer of
the letter repeats himself, thus leading one to suppose that he
had coasted more than was really the case.
His observation that the people of the more northerly lands
visited by Verrazano, were acquainted with the use of iron, and
opposed to the landing of strangers, is ascribed to its true cause,
the visits to their coasts by fishing vessels.
The voyage of Gomez, in 1525, and Rut's expedition of 1527,
are also carefully treated by Dr. Kohl, who deserves the thanks
of all American students for the many geographical memoirs he
has published.
J
IT.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH-WESTERN
BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES.
By Gbobge Gibbs.
WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS.
HEAD NOVEMBER 11th, 1889.
Geology of the Coast Region — Changes of
Elevation.
Dr. Newberry, who has carefully studied the geology
of the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and the Coast range,
both in California and Oregon, has arrived at the follow-
ing conclusions : That, in the earlier stages of elevation
of the continent, the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades of
Oregon formed its western limit, and that long before the
elevation of the Californian and Willamette valleys, or
of the Coast mountains, the ocean broke against their
sides ; that this was the case prior to the tertiary epoch,
as no rocks so recent as the tertiary are found upon their
summits, or high up on their flanks ; but that, as the
elevation of the continent and of these ranges progressed,
the rocks of the miocene were deposited, the edges of
which rest against their base ; that the upheaval of the
Coast range was still subsequent, those mountains being
formed by the protrusion of igneous rocks through the
miocene, which yet partially crowns and skirts them on
either side ; that the elevation proceeded until the glacial
epoch, during which the great erosions of the valleys, the
Lower Columbia River. 299
straits, and river bottoms, as well as of the northern fiords,
took place, after which a Subsidence commenced, when
the drift was deposited ; and that finally a new upheaval
commenced, and is still progressing.
These deductions are fully borne out by the facts col-
lected in Washington Territory. From the Columbia, at
the mouth of the Cowlitz, tertiary sandstones line the
basin included between the Coast and Cascade ranges,
as far as Bellingham Bay oil the east and Port Towns-
bend on the west, and have been traced consecutively
along the Pacific, from the mouth of the Columbia to
Cape Flattery, and through the southern shore of the
Strait of Fuca. These rocks are almost everywhere .
greatly disturbed by intrusions of trap, and, except along
the edges, are covered with drift. They abound in coal,
of which seams of various thicknesses have been found in
many localities. None of the earlier stratified rocks
have as yet been detected below the tertiary, upon the
mainland of Washington Territory ; but the occurrence
of cretaceous and carboniferous fossils elsewhere in the
*
neighborhood will presently be mentioned.
Lower Columbia River.
The features of the country on the Lower Columbia
have been described by Mr. Dana in the Geology of the
Exploring Expedition, and by Dr. Newberry and myself
in the Pacific Railroad Reports,* and little can now be
added to the facts there stated. The estuary of the
Columbia River extends to Cathlamet Point, about
twenty -five miles from Cape Disappointment. Its
greatest width is seven miles. Much of this space is
occupied by sand, the deposit of its freshets, and these
extend to some distance seaward outside of the heads, '
forming the dangerous obstructions to its entrance.
During the freshets, which commence ^about the middle
* P. R. R. Reports, vol. i and vi.
800 The North-western Boundary.
of May and continue till near the end of July, immense
quantities of this deposit are bronght down. The bulk
in each gallon of water is perceptible, and so vast is the
flood, that the water on the bar is drinkable at low tide.
The northern point of the entrance, known as Cape
Hancock or Disappointment, is- a precipitous, rocky
bluff, connected with the main by a strip of land elevated
but slightly above the sea, which divides the Columbia
from Shoalwater Bay. The southern, Point Adams, is
of sand, and forms the extremity of the so-called Clatsop
Plains, These are rather a series of parallel valleys,
inclosed between ridges of sand, which extend from the
mouth of the river to Tillamooks Head. The extensive
sheets of water, north of the Columbia, known as Shoal-
water Bay and Gray's Harbor, resemble the estuary of
that river, in their general character. Both are protected
from the sea by shelter beaches, probably formed in great
measure from the matter swept down by the waters of
the Columbia, and are in great part silted up by deposits
of sand and mud.
At Astoria the sandstones and shales of the tertiary
are intersected by dikes of basalt, and a similar dike
occurs on Shoalwater Bay. Fossils, ascribed by Mr.
Conrad to the miocene, are common, chiefly occurring in
calcareous nodules washed from the banks. They com-
prise cetacean bones, fish, mollusks, echini, and one
species of abies. * Above Astoria the rocks exposed on
both shores of the river are chiefly basalt, and basaltic
conglomerate in horizontal beds, and interstratified. The
basalt is generally compact, and in places assumes
columnar and nodular forms, though less distinctly so
than east of the Cascades.
The conglomerates vary greatly in composition from
tufaceous and pebbly rocks to one imbedding large frag-
ments of basalt. Mr. Dana has shown that they are
* Geology Bxpl. Exp., App., p. 722.
Cowlitz and Chihalis Basin. 801
sometimes interstratified with, and even merge into, the
tertiary sandstones.
Cowlitz and Chihalis Basin.
Leaving the Columbia for Paget Sound, the rocks
bordering the Cowlitz and Upper Chihalis are again
tertiary, interrupted as before by dikes of basalt, which
become, however, less extensive and frequent. Several
outcrops of coal occur in the neighborhood. One seam
of eight feet in thickness was recently discovered upon a
creek emptying into the Columbia below the Cowlitz. On
the Cowlitz River, near the landing, and again about half
a mile above the upper forks, are others. Upon the
" Skookum Chuck," an easterly branch of the Chihalis,
still another seam was opened some years ago, but the
coal, though abundant, proved of inferior quality. The
exact limits of this formation, owing to the broken and
heavily-timbered face of the country, have nowhere been
defined. It undoubtedly extends west, with interruptions
of basalt, through the Willopa hills to Shoalwater Bay
and Gray's Harbor ; but its eastern border does not prob-
ably reach beyond the foot hills of the Cascade range.
As in the Willamette valley, it has evidently been much
denuded.
The soil on the Cowlitz River, where the face of the
country is not too broken for agricultural purposes, is
among the richest in the territory, consisting of a light
sandy loam of great depth, with interrupted beds of clay,
wet and excessively tenacious like those of the Willa-
mette. On reaching the Skookum Chuck, a series of
gravelly prairies intervenes, which extends along the
eastern side of the sound to beyond Steilacoom. On the
Lower Chihalis and Gray's Harbor, and upon the
streams entering Shoalwater Bay, tracts of great fertility
again occur.
802 The North-western Boundary.
Mound Prairies.
The gravelly prairies between the Skookum Chuck and
Olympia are characterized by the occurrence, in great
number, of small elevations, which have given to them
the descriptive name of the mound prairies. They occur
elsewhere, but more sparingly in different parts of the
country ; always, so far as my observation has extended,
in gravelly deposits, and in such situations as maybe
supposed to have been lake bottoms, for I presume those
upon the hills, above the Dalles of the Columbia, to be
of a different character, as they are different in size and
shape. The prairies upon which these mounds occur
lie upon both the Chihalis and the Tenalquet, the former
emptying into Gray's Harbor on the Pacific, the latter
into Budd's Inlet, an arm of Puget Sound, their valleys
being separated by low, rolling hills. There is every evi-
dence of their having once been lakes. The hills bordering
them exhibit sloping banks, such as generally surround
tranquil waters, and upon several there are more or less
distinct lacustrine terraces.
So strongly, indeed, do they suggest this origin; that the
Indian legends tell of their being dried up by supernatu-
ral means. A noticeable feature among all of them is,
that the ground is rather lower around their edges, or
immediately under their banks, than in the centre, as is
the case sometimes with marshes.
The first prairie of the series is that known as Ford's,
situated on the north bank of the Skookum Chuck, and
here the mounds are first observable. On this tract they
are low, and not sufficiently numerous to attract particu-
lar attention. It is nearly a dead level, and raised but
little above the freshets of the Chihalis. At Luark's,
along the edge of the woods, on the east side, numerous
" oak stubs " grow on small hillocks, which seem to have
been raised partly by their droppings, partly from the
pushing up of the soil by their accumulated roots ; but
these are not to be classed with the true mounds. On the
Mound Prairies. 803
" Grand Mound prairie," there are low, scattered mounds
between Cooper's and Goodell's, the most distinct being
those nearest the woods. What is called the " Grand
Mound" itself, is an isolated hill about sixty feet in
height, on which are a number of oaks and large firs.
Its most gradual slope is to the north-west. No rock is
visible on any part of it, but there is a spring on one
side, about two-thirds of the way up. It is, of course,
entirely distinct from the mounds in question, though its
form has doubtless been modified by water. Around and
to the north of the Grand Mound the lesser ones are very
indistinct ; but through the middle of the prairie they
become more numerous and better defined. They seem
most so, however, near the edge of the prairie, at least
on the south east side, where the road passes, and toward
the eastern end they are well developed. They are
generally covered with fern, denoting a better soil than
that of the prairie level, which is very gravelly and poor.
Boulder stones begin here to be common, between the
mounds. Crossing "Scatter Creek," a stream which
wanders over the level of the prairie, often during the
dry season disappearing and rising again ; the next,
called the "Long prairie," is pretty well covered with
mounds. It is more unequal in elevation than the last ;
and at the eastern end there is a terraced ridge in the
middle, about twenty-five feet high, having a steep bank
to the south. On this there are some few mounds of an
exceptionally large size, the highest, about fifteen feet,
having been the site of an Indian house, or perhaps
Kamass cellar, several holes being excavated in the
summit. The ground is here very stony, the boulders
being sienite, trap, green-stone and trap conglomerate.
The ordinary mounds are pretty distinct, say four or five
feet high.
On Hodgden's prairie the mounds are obscure. A
terraced ridge runs through its middle, and there are a
great many boulders of a foot or eighteen inches diameter
304 The North-western Boundary.
scattered through it. At Hennesey's a well of fifteen feet
was dug entirely through boulder stone, no walling being
required. The little "Round prairie" beyond is more
sandy than gravelly, and quite free from mounds. The
two prairies on Black River, known as Baker's and the
Mimee prairie, I did not visit, but received satisfac-
tory information from others respecting them. On the
first,' the mounds are comparatively few and low. The
southern end of Mimee prairie is said to be terraced with
but few mounds ; the northern end thickly covered with
mounds about six feet high. The country on Black
River is in great part swamp, caused by beaver dams.
The most remarkable development of this formation,
however, is on Rabbison's or " Stony prairie, " which
lies on the Tenalquet. Nearly the whole extent is so
thickly, studded with mounds, that the bases touch one
another. The average height is six feet, and they are
generally twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, being
sections of a sphere. Quite a number of them have been
opened from curiosity, and in every case with the Bame
result. They are composed of a light soil, with inter-
spersed gravel, being perfectly homogeneous through the
whole mass. 1 caused one of them to be trenched down
to the level of the prairie. There was no appearance of
stratification. The soil and gravel were equally inter-
mixed throughout. This prairie is of generally uniform
level, though with some swales running across it, and
the intervals between the mounds are, as it were, paved
with boulder stones ; the appearance presented being as
if the superficial soil, down to this bed, had been shovelled
up into piles. The mounds are covered with grass and
fern, the intervals, as mentioned, being stony, barren, and
destitute of vegetation. Beyond this prairie they extend
a short distance into the woods, a fact which I have
observed nowhere else. They have, however, no resem-
blance to the hillocks caused by fallen timber. " Bush's
prairie" is sandy, and exhibits few or no traces of
i
Mound Prairies. 305
mounds, so far as I noticed. The above constitute the
district of the mound prairies proper, but there are also
traces on some of those lying between Olympia and the
Nisqually River, and on parts of the Nisqually or Steila-
coom Plains. These are generally low and indistinct,
but characterized by the same superiority of soil.
Captain (now Admiral) Wilkes, in his journal of the
United States Exploring Expedition, speaks of the
44 Butte prairies'' as covered with tumuli, or small
mounds, at regular distances asunder, conical in form,
about thirty feet in diameter at the base, and six or seven
above the general level. He opened some of them, but
found nothing except a pavement of round stones. They
seemed to him to be grouped in fives (thus *%), and, he
remarks, had evidently been constructed successively,
and at an interval of several years, and were formed by
scraping the surface-soil together.
Among the various theories respecting their origin, I
had met with none that appear to me satisfactory. Capt.
Wilkes, as shown above, is decidedly of opinion that
they are of artificial, and, inferentially, human, construc-
tion. To this there are many objections, however. The
Indians themselves have no tradition of their origin, and
clearly do not recognize any marks of human labor, or
they would doubtless have referred them to the ancient
or demon race, whose handiwork is apparent in every-
thing anterior to their own traditional recollection. The
solution which occurred to the minds of those of whom
I inquired was that they were made, like the waves of
the sea, by winds. That they are not properly tumuli is
apparent from the fact that they contain no bones or
relics of any kind, or evidences of fire. Their number
also contradicts the supposition, as does likewise the
other fact, that there are none conspicuous above the rest*
which would have been the case with the graves of chiefs.
Except for sepulchral purposes, I can conceive no object
in their construction. There is no trace of design in
20
306 The North-western Boundary.
their arrangement, no distinguishable features or relative
position. In frequent rides through the prairies, I have
looked carefully, but in vain, for a disposition in quin-
eunxee, and called the attention oi' others to the point,
without ever succeeding in detecting it. Neither could I
see any marks of labor upon them, beyond the fact that
their material was homogeneous. As regards succession
or interval in construction, the only possible evidence
that can exist is that, in some prairies and parts of prai-
ries, they are larger than elsewhere. As respects the
pavement, it bears no evidence of artifice. It is simply
the substratum of the whole district, the mass of under-
lying boulder of the drift.
Farther : the mounds cover so great an area that a
population much larger than could have been subsisted
in the country would have been required to construct
them, unless a great length of time were occupied ; and
the process would, at least temporarily, have destroyed
the onlyv land from which subsistence could be derived.
Now, it would be contrary to all experience of Indian
character to persist for generations in heaping up these
piles unless for purposes of burial, which they clearly
are not ; defence they never could have been applied to.
Again, they seem to be confined to the gravelly and stony
prairies, and those where sand or light soil prevails are
generally, if not entirely, free from them. If they had
been the work of Indians, the easiest ground would natu-
rally have been selected. Among other speculations, one
is that they are the product of denudation, or rather that
the mounds themselves have been protected by vegeta-
tion, such as fern, bushes, etc., while the intervals have
been washed away. I examined particularly whether
there was any arraugement in reference to drainage, but
found that there were no continuous lines, nor any such
slopes as would admit of this explanation. Only in one
or two swales did the mounds seem to me parallel to the
general course. Usually they are as numerous in these
Mound Prairies. 307
hollows as on higher ground. As to the protection
afforded by bushes, it is very certain that clumps of the
scrub oak do surmount small hillocks on the skirts of
the wood ; but, on the other hand, the mounds proper
are too large and too equidistant to admit of this expla-
nation.
Again, they have been attributed to the pushing up of
the soil by the roots of the wild cucumber vine (Megarrhiza
Oregona), which frequently reach the size of a half barrel,
and are very commonly found in them, or that these have
at least formed a nucleus about which the soil has collected.
But, independent of the fact that these roots are only
occasionally thus found, and that they as often grow in
level ground, it is much more probable that the vine has
here obtained the soil requisite for its growth. That they
are not the remains of a burned or overturned forest is
clear from comparison with the ground beneath existing
woods, where large trees have been overthrown. The
piles of earth and rock upturned with the roots always,
of course, leave a corresponding depression.
There is again no indication that they are the work of
burrowing animals. They exhibit no depressions where
holes can have existed, nor, as before remarked, do they
contain bones, or evidences of occupation. Instead of
being thrown up from within, the mounds have been
clearly piled up from without.
Finally, it has been surmised that they are thrown up
by springs, at the bottom of the lakes. To this, the same
objections of regularity of size and uniformity of distance
may be offered, while there are still greater ones, in the
equal distribution of gravel through the mass, and the
light and open quality of the soil.
To Mr. Agassiz is due the only explanation consistent
with all the facts. On exhibiting to him the drawings
and description of the mounds, he unhesitatingly declared
them to be the work of fish of the sucker family, accu-
mulated in successive years during the lake period, for
308 The North-western Boundary.
the protection of their eggs. A similar process, he states,
is going on in Jamaica pond and other little lakes around
Boston, and that on a scale which causes no wonder at
the size of thpse of Washington Territory.
In accepting his views, I have thought that their full
force could but be given by presenting the facts relating
to the mounds, and the various speculations and objec-
tions that have occurred to myself and others, notwith-
standing their prolixity. As to the era of their forma-
tion, it must be of a date geologically modern. It was
long subsequent to the deposit of the drift, because a
large amount of organic (vegetable) matter has entered
into the soil of which they in part consist.
Drift of Puget Soukd.
The basin of Puget Sound consists, as already
described, of slightly-rolling table land, intersected in
various directions by deep canals and bays. The whole
of this plateau country, extending on the eastern shore
from the gravelly prairies of the Chihalis to Burrard
Inlet, in about lat. 49° 20', taking in the peninsula
between Admiralty Inlet and Hood's Canal, Whidbey
Island, and a strip bordering the southern shore of the
Strait of Fuca as far as Observatory Point, is one vast
mass of modified drift, almost unbroken by the occur-
rence of rock in place. Prom this, however, is to be
excepted the group of islands lying between the Strait of
Haro and Bellingham Bay, which will be hereafter
described. The height of the deposit above the sea level
exceeds 300 feet, and, judging from the character of the
bottom in the included canals, its depth below that point
is in places still greater. Burrard inlet forms the dividing
line between the drift and the mountain country which,
beyond it, comes down to the water. It will therefore be
noted that the inlets of Puget Sound differ from thoee
north of Burrard in this, that the former are excavations
in the deposited drift, while the latter are proper fiords.
Drift of Puqst Sound. 309
The general constituents of this drift formation are sand,
or rolled stone, and gravel of different sizes, mixed with
sand and interstratified with beds of clay; the latter
usually occupying a low position in the exposed cliffs.
There is some variety in the lithological character of the
pebbles in different parts of the sound, trachyte and
volcanic tuff or grit being more abundant in the drift at
the upper or southern end than lower down, and sand-
stone predominating both on the Strait of Fuca and in
Bellingham Bay — facts consistent with the idea of neigh-
boring derivation. For the rest, a great variety of plutonic
and metamorphic rocks, identical with those of the North-
ern Cascade range, the Olympic group and Vancouver's
Island, form the mass of detritus. It is observable that
micaceous rocks are almost wanting, and that soda takes
the place of potash feldspars. The stratification is some-
times quite distinct, and for the most part horizontal.
The sections presented by the bluffs indicate that the
unevenness of surface is generally due, not to subsidence
or upheaval, but to partial denudation, the lines running
out where the ground slopes away. These lines are, it
is true, not always continuous, but, after extending some
distance, often rise or drop suddenly a few yards, and
again resume their former altitude. A very good instance
of this may be seen on the western shore of Whidbey
Island, opposite Port Townshend. The horizontality is,
of course, not universal. In some parts of the sound
local subsidences have taken place, which cause a sag,
creating an intermediate valley. In others, fractured
strata are observable, arising from the same cause. The
bluffs are almost always abraded on their water-faces,
either by the undermining of waves, or by the wash of
rains, which often bring down slides of earth and trees,
and their steepness depends in great measure upon the
adherence of their constituents. On the inside of Pro-
tection Island, however, and near Point Partridge, on
Whidbey Island, as also at several points farther up the
310 The North-webtbrn Boundary.
Bound, faces occur with regular slopes, and covered with
vegetation, which have not been destroyed by recent modi-
fication. The prairie country around Steilacoom, or
between the Nisqually and Puyallup rivers, forms a series
of levels, rising in well-marked terraces, which not only
border the intervals of water-courses running toward the
sound, but face the "bound itself. Similar terraces are
observable at other points, as near Port Townshend.
I have observed no mollusks in the drift above the sea-
level, but beds of infusorial earths occur in various
places. These were submitted to the examination of Mr.
Edwards, whose report upon them is appended. Very
unexpectedly, they prove to be of fresh- water origin;
the late Professor Bailey having arrived at the general
conclusion, from the specimens examined by him, that
all those deposits from the country west of the Sierra
Nevada and Cascade range would prove to be of marine,
as those from the east are of fresh- water, origin. So far
as California is concerned, this seems yet to be true ; but
the earths from Puget Sound appear, on the contrary,
to be fresh- water also. Some specimens from Simiahmoo
Bay, on the forty-ninth parallel, which are of more recent
character, may be supposed to be the deposit of the creek
at that place ; but others from Port Ludlow and Colseed
Bay, and from the banks of the Skookum Chuck, are
properly fossil. As I obtained these from other persons,
and did not see them in place, I am unable to assign
their geological position. The clays, interstratified with
the drift, according to Mr. Edwards, do not contain infu-
soria. In this connection it may be noticed that most,
if not all, of the streams which head in the volcanic peaks
of the Cascade range are ladened in their freshets with
earthy matter, and that these deposits may possibly
consist of vapillse, which it is known are frequently
infusorial.
Below the sea-level the borings of two Artesian-wells
at Port Gamble afford a means of determining the char-
Drift of Puqst Sound. 311
acter of the deposits to a depth of 230 feet. A section
with specimens was furnished me by Mr. Henry C. Wil-
son, of Toekalet, as follows :
let. Quicksand 65 feet.
2d. Small boulders 10 "
3d. Cement of gravel, sand, iron, and clay 20 "
4th. Blue clay 25 "
5th. Quicksand containing water and gas 10 "
6th. Blue clay 100 w
In the last stratum, as in those above, were found pieces
of decayed wood and shells. Unfortunately, the speci-
men sent did not exhibit any of them. The gas is said
to be carburetted hydrogen, and to burn with a white
light.
Elephantine remains have been discovered in the
swampy land overlying the drift. Near Port Townshend
two large fragments of tusks were ploughed up ; and Dr.
Kennerly, of the Survey, obtained another fragment from
New Dungeness. Dr. J. Gh Cooper also obtained pieces
of teeth near Penn's Cove on Whidbey Island. Thin
seanis of lignite occur in various places, as along the
eastern side of Whidbey Island, and at what is commonly
called Volcano Point, on Admiralty Inlet. At this place,
a seam about twenty feet from the top of the bluff has
for many years been on fire, spontaneous combustion
having probably taken place from decomposing pyrites,
as it is most active during the rainy season.
No general order can be given of the stratification of
the bluffs, which varies everywhere; but the following
will serve as examples :
Strait of Mica, near New Dungenete.
4. Sand and gravel, in beds covered with slides, say 100 feet
3. Stratified blue clay 3$ "
2. Brownish clay, impure, with some oxide of iron. . 3 "
1. Gravel and sand, coarse 3 "
Beach of rolled pebbles.
812 The North-western Boundary.
Point 'Wilson, Strait of Fuca.
6. Sand and gravel stratified, bnt chiefly compact
sand, say 100 feet
4. Vegetable matter ; 2 u
3. Sand 6 ' «
2. Vegetable matter 2 u
1. Blue clay, containing vegetable traces and imbed-
ded fragments of wood 4 "
Beaoh of rolled pebbles.
This section extends for some hundred yards along the
shore. The vegetable matter is in a highly compressed
bed, running nearly horizontally, of very even thickness,
and in almost every stage of carbonization. The upper
seam is less regular, thinning out to the westward to four
inches. The wood is apparently spruce. One stump,
found imbedded in the sand, was about six inches thick
and four feet long. It seemed somewhat compressed, but
the wood was nearly unchanged. In this seam was
found a blue earth, identified by the analysis of Dr.
Wolcott Gibbs as phosphate of peroxide of iron, which
occurred in small masses imbedded in the sand, and also
with the wood. It was noticed only at this locality. At
Point Roberts the bluff on the inside, or bay, is, by esti-
mate, about 200 feet high. It consists chiefly of sand,
stratified with small gravel, and colored in places with
iron. Interstratified with this are seams, a foot or so in
thickness, of fine clay. Where intermixed with sand,
the latter sometimes segregates itself, showing a disposi-
tion to concrete in rounded masses. According to my
observation, boulders of large size are seldom seen
iifibedded in the bluff, although very common at its
foot, and sparsely distributed over the surface of the
country, indicating a transportation more recent than the
deposit of the general mass of drift. Sienite is the most
common material of these blocks. Pudding-stone ^nd a
hard gray quartzite occur, though less frequently. Some
Tbrtiart of Puqet Sound. 813
of the boulders on the beach between Segnina Bay and
Port Townshend were from twelve to fifteen fret in
length, and one in the woods between Fort Steilacoom
and the Puyallup is of still greater dimensions.
As might be expected from the general prevalence of
these gravelly deposits, the Puget Sonnd district presents
but a limited amount of arable land. The strictly allu-
vial tracts are, however, of great fertility, and the roots
and smaller grains are of fine quality and very pro-
ductive.
Tebtiaby of Puget Sound.
The tertiary rocks of Puget Sound have not been
merely tilted by the elevation of the Coast range, but
greatly dislocated on the side of the Cascades by local
eruptions. It would seem, likewise, that a genera) subsi-
dence has taken place in this basin, and in the Gulf of
Georgia, as it is very unlikely that so extensive a depres-
sion should be due to erosion alone, where protected
from the encroachment of the sea by an exterior wall.
In fact, that local oscillations have occurred in the north-
ern coast, not extending to Oregon and California, is
highly probable. The gap in the outer line of islands,
between Vancouver's and the Queen Charlotte group, and
that known as Dixon's entrance, independent of the
chasm between those islands and the mainland, can
hardly be ascribed to any less powerful causes.
Outcrops of tertiary rocks occur along the edges of the
drift on either side of the basin, but rarely protrude
through it. The coal or lignite in which they abound
appears also in various places ; as on the Skofcomish
River, a stream emptying into Hood's Canal; on the
Nooskope, a branch of the Dwamish or White River ; on
the outlet of Dwamish Lake ; upon Bainbridge Island,
opposite the village of Seattle, and on the Stoluk-
wh^mish. The only place where any working has been
carried on is at Bellingham Bay, and it is there that the
814 THB NORfR-WBSTBRN BOUNDARY.
i
tertiary rocks are most extensively exposed. No- lime
stone has been observed among them, and none of the
calcareo-argillaceous concretions common at Astoria and
other southern tertiary localities. The sandstones and
conglomerate, or rather grit, line the eastern shore of the
bay for some eight or ten miles, extending back eastward
to Whatcom and Samish lakes. The trend of the bay is
north and south ; the apparent strike of the rock about
east and west ; and the dip, where any is visible, is to
the north, at various and generally very great angles.
It is, therefore, evident that foldings and dislocations
have taken place here to an extraordinary extent. The
measurements made by Lieut. Trowbridge, United States
Engineers, published by Prof. W. P. Blake in the fifth
volume P. It. It. Reports, comprised but a small portion
of the entire shore, and even in that distance exhibited
unmistakable foldings. He found, in a section of only
2,000 feet, seams of coal amounting to 110 feet in aggre- .
gate thickness. It is true that in this portion the greatest
number of beds occur, but others are found some miles
below, having the same direction, and it is probable that
even here they are duplicated. The examination that I
made of the shore line was a very superficial one, con-
ducted chiefly in a canoe, and the results are far less
satisfactory than could be wished ; but the confusion of
these rocks is such that a much more careful study might
foil to disentangle it.
Three seams were opened some years ago ; but, owing
to various discouragements, among others the great im-
portation of foreign coal into San Francisco, two of them
were abandoned, and the other has but lately been worked
to advantage. This is the mine of the "Bellingham Biy
Coal Co." at Sehome, about half a mile below the village
of Whatcom. The width of the seam here is fifteen or
sixteen feet, the dip northward is 42°. The first drift
carried in was horizontal, on a level about twenty feet
above high- water mark. This was abandoned, and a shaft
Tertiary of Puqbt Sound. 815
sunk fifty feet below it, with an inclined plane, from
which other drifts have been worked. The coal seems to
be somewhat displaced, rising and falling, but without
actual fault, and the bed has been traced back two miles
to Whatcom Creek. The cover of the mine is a soft
greenish sandstone or arenaceous rock, very similar to
that imbedding some of the fossils at Nanaimo. The
engineer in charge stated that there were five layers of
coal separated by thin seams of fine clay, and differing
somewhat in quality. Like all the lignites of the Pacific,
it is bituminous. Dr. Newberry's analysis gives for its
constituents, fixed carbon 47.63, bitumen 50.22. It
exhibits a very clear fracture, and bright appearance
when recently excavated, but does not bear exposure to
the weather, like the older coals. It has been largely
used on the sound by steamers, and considerable quanti-
ties have been shipped to San Francisco for the same pur-
pose ; but is, as may be supposed, very inferior to true
coal, as it consumes with greater rapidity, and gives
less actual heat, while the amount of ash is in excess.
Mr. Fitzhugh, the agent of the mine, informed me that
at the outcrop he found cones and leaves of firs (proba-
bly taxodium) in the shale, but no other fossils. Some
400 feet down the slope, a slab of coal was taken out,
some three or four feet square, having a distinct branch
of fir with, twigs and cones upon it ; but it was, unfortu-
nately, broken up by the miners. A very line specimen
of fossil resin or amber, forming a seam in the coal, is
among the collections of the Survey.
Immediately in front of the mine, upon the beach, be-
tween high- water and low- water marks, are the upturned
edges of a stratified sandstone, entirely unconformable
to the rocks of the bank, as it dips westward under the
bay at a moderate angle, and has a strike north and
south It is noticeable in connection with the occurrence
of a similar rock having the same strike, but with a
much greater dip, in the small cove within Bellingham *
818 The North-western Boundary.
though inclining to the opinion that it is of the latter
age, in which belief the locality sustains him.
Archipelago of Haro.
The group of islands lying between the Canal de Haro
and the mainland, including Fidalgo and Lummi Islands,
consists almost entirely of erupted rocks, trap, and ser-
pentine, bearing upon their sides altered slates and con-
glomerates. As in the case of the coast mountains, they
have been thrust up through sedimentary strata, and
remains of sandstone are yet visible, unaltered, though
greatly dislocated, on their northern shores. Thus, the
northern end of Lummi Island, the portion of Orcas
which includes Point Thompson and Point Doughty,
the whole, of Waldron Island, and the small islands in
the Canal de Haro are of sandstone and conglomerate,
while the rest of Lummi and Orcas, and all the others,
are of erupted or metamorphic rocks ; a line drawn from
a little above Point Francis, about W. S. W., to the
Sannitch peninsula being that of separation Whether
these sandstones belong to the tertiary, like those of Bel-
lingham Bay, or to the cretaceous, like those of Nanaimo,
and form the southern limit of that basin, no absolute
conclusion was- arrived at, the fossils collected being
chiefly new ; but Dr. Newberry, to whom they had been
submitted, was inclined to the latter opinion, the more
especially as the small islands known as the Lucia Group,
a little to the north of Orcas Island, are undoubtedly
cretaceous. It is noticeable that along the shores of these
islands, slates, which in other parts of this district are
rare, occur in abundance. They are greatly altered and
contorted, and, in places, beds of several yards in thick-
ness are included in the ejected rocks. These slates, I
presume, are of older formation than the tertiary, and
perhaps belong to the carboniferous era. Of the same
age is, I suspect, the metamorphic limestone of San Juan
Island, and that of Esquimalt, on Vancouver' s Island. It
Archipelago of Haro. 319
is well known that carboniferous rocks exist in the Sierra
Nevada, and, although they have not yet been detected
in the Cascades south of the forty-ninth parallel, there is
reason to belWe that the limestones and slates of the
Chiloweynck, hereafter noticed, are of this age. lime-
stone is said to abound to the northward, on Malaspina
Island, in the Gulf of Georgia, but of what character I
have no information. The limestone of San Juan Island
occurs in great abundance on its western side. It varies
considerably in structure, from compact to crystalline,
and is associated with an altered slate. In point of eco-
nomical value it is of the highest importance, as no other
locality of this material exists in this part of the terri-
tories of the United States. All the lime heretofore used
on the Sound has been imported from San Francisco or
Vancouver's Island. Dr. Kennerly, who visited the
quarry, observed boulders which had been dug up from
beneath the surface, planed and grooved as if by glacial
action.
The only locality among these islands, excepting Lucia,
at which fossils were obtained, was on the western side
of Oroas, between Point Doughty and the Sannitch fish-
ery. The rocks here consist of sandstones and conglome-
rates, with interstratified beds of shale, and have a dip
to S. E., varying from 36° to 50°. The shales are of very
considerable thickness, one bed being sixteen paces
across. Vegetable impressions are numerous, and a few
shells were also obtained, as also a fragment of a crusta-
cean. The plants are described by Dr. Newberry, but
the shells, unluckily, were lost or destroyed. A bed of
coal was observed on the beach, beneath the sand, but,
from want of tools, was not explored. It is said to be a
very extensive one. Large quantities of petrified wood
were also noticed. My visit here was made in a canoe,
during a very stormy period of the winter, and was too
much hurried to make any thorough examination. The
Lucia Islands I was unable to reach, and for the speci-
820 The North-western Boundary.
mens collected from there I am indebted to Mr. P. C.
West, of the United States Coast Survey. They consist of
baculites, ammonites and inocerami, and were described
in the report of Mr. Meek, who refers them to a newer
member of the cretaceous than the beds of Nanaimo, or
to that of No. 4 of the Nebraska series.
This archipelago, to which so much attention has been
directed by the claim set up to it by Great Britain, is of
considerable interest apart from its strategic importance.
It consists of three principal islands, Orcas, Lopez, and
San Juan, and of a number of smaller ones grouped
around, and covering the several entrances. Within,
the landlocked bays and* passages afford sea-room for
navies, their only foult being the inconvenient depth of
water. Fisheries of the greatest productiveness occur
along their shores, where the Indians, with their rude
nets, catch an abundance of salmon. As regards agri-
cultural advantages, San Juan is the most valuable, about
one-third of its surface being arable land, and another
fitted for pasture. Upon Lopez Island there is also a
considerable tract suited for settlement. Orcas and some
of the smaller ones are mountainous ; Mount Constitution,
on the former, reaching the height of 2,400 feet, and
others, on Cypress, Fidalgo, and Lummi, ranging from
1,200 feet upward. The date of upheaval of these islands
seems to have been contemporaneous with that of the
coast range, or, at any rate, to have preceded the glacial
epoch. Very well marked scratches and grooves are
observable on the serpentine rocks at the south-eastern
end of San Juan Island, apparently running from N. E.
to S. W., and it may well have been that the interior
basin was, during that period of elevation, filled with a
mass of ice.
The terrace formation, which is of a later date, is not
so remarkable among the islands as on the main. There
are, however, two or three very well characterized ter-
raced hills, one of which, on the inner shore of San Juan,
North-west Coast. 821
called Park Hill, is about 450 feet high. This is of sand
and gravel, not cohesive, and a large part of the face has
been excavated by water, and slid down. The southern
face, which is free from, timber, is terraced ; but the lines
are neither so distinct nor so horizontal as the other. A
number of sienitic boulders are scattered over it, and
lodged on the bare rocks beneath. It is evident, there-
fore, that their transportation was subsequent to the
drift, and that they were brought from a distance is
shown by the fact that no sienite exists on any part of
this group. Floating ice, therefore, must have come
down from the northward after the subsidence, during
which the drift deposited took place. Similar hills
front the Strait of Fuca, on the south-east end of the
island. The terraces follow their curves in horizontal
lines, the benches being narrow and somewhat sloping,
the banks inclined about 30°. The easternmost is about
260 feet in height, with three benches or terraces, besides
its flattened summit. A swale separates this from another
to the west, declining, as well as the hills, most steeply
northward, on which side, and its ridge, numerous boul-
ders have also lodged. These, like the blocks on Park
Hill, are of light-colored sienite, and some of them of
great size. A circular excavation in the swale may have
been formed by the grounding of an iceberg.
.
North-west Coast.
In contrast with the almost unbroken coast of Oregon
and Washington Territory, that of British and Russian
America, as already observed, is deeply indented with
sounds, and complicated arms, or fiords, and the same is
true of the western or Pacific shore of Vancouver' s Island.
Mr. Dana, in his Gteology of the United States Exploring
Expedition, first pointed out the* restriction of this phe-
nomenon to high latitudes, and its occurrence there upon
both sides of the North American Continent, in Patagonia
and Norway, and very forcibly reasoned that it must have
2]
322 The Nortb-westkrn Boundary.
been effected by sub-aerial denudation, at a period when
the continent was more elevated than at present, perhaps
assisted by glacial action. The probable co-operation of
this latter agency is strengthened by the existence of
glaciers in some of the northern fiords, where even now
they come down to the sea.
Governor Simpson, in his " Overland Journey,' * speak-
ing of Wrangel's Strait and Prince Frederick's Sound,
says : " The valleys were lined with glaciers down to the
water's edge, and the pieces that had broken off during
the season filled the canals and straits with fields and
masses of ice, through which the vessel could scarcely
force her way."
The fiords have a remarkable parallelism among them-
selves, but run diagonally to the course of the mountain-
chains, dnd to those valleys which occupy their interior
troughs, pursuing, in fact, the direction which the drain-
age of the mountains would assume in seeking the ocean.
The exemption of the north-eastern coast of Vancouver's
Island from these erosions, I presume, arises from the
fact that the watershed is nearest it.
Vancouver' a Island.
The interior of Vancouver's Island is comparatively
little known. It is mountainous, and, besides being
deeply indented on the coast-side, abounds in interior
lakes. The mountains rise apparently to an equal alti-
tude with those of the Olympic peninsula, of which they
are a continuation ; and are probably of the same con-
stituents, or with a greater prevalence of granitic rocks.
Around Victoria, at the south-eastern end, are sienite,
greenstone, and serpentine' ; and at Esquimalt is also a
limestone similar to that of San Juan Island. Among
the boulders of Nanaiino River and Mill Creek, sienite,
greenstone, and porphyries were common. Many of the
rocks in place at Victoria are striated by glacial action,
and sienite boulders of large size are scattered over the
<6D.
Cowitchin Archipelago, 328
ground. The grooves were north and south. Gold has
been found on the island in small quantities, but so far
has not repaid the search.
The soil about Victoria, off the immediate shore, is
good, with a clay substratum, but it is confined to small
valleys and glades, among the outcrops of rock. This
portion of the island, the only part settled in 1869, in
character of scenery, more nearly resembles the New
England coast, — Rhode Island, for example, — except in
the prevalence of timber, than any other section of the
Pacific coast with which I am acquainted.
Cowitohin Archipelago.
The line of islands bordering the shore of Vancouver's,
north-west of Orcas Island, which may be thus desig-
nated, together with a portion of the Sannitch peninsula
and a strip of the main island, consists almost entirely
of sedimentary rocks, sandstones, and conglomerates,
with some shales, and but an occasional dike of trap,
A cursory examination was made of these as far as
Nanaimo.
The islands are high and broken, almost entirely of
rock, with but a thin covering of soil, and the trees are
Btunted and unfit for timber.
The general dip is to N. N. E., or perpendicular to their
trend, the upheaval being from the Vancouver side.
Their inner walls are abrupt, and the included channels
very deep. As regards the thickness of the formation,
no definite conclusion was arrived at A hill, which I
ascended, on Galiano Island, was estimated at 1,000 to
1,200 feet ; but if the one on Salt Spring Island is of the
same materials throughout, it must reach twice that in
elevation above the water. The rock on Galiano Island
was a coarse conglomerate of rounded pebbles, underlaid
near the water by sandstone. Conglomerates of this
description, but varying in the size of the pebbles, are
the predominating rock throughout. The sandstone is
824 The North-western Boundary.
generally 'in thick beds, and the shales, when they occur,
are often several yards in thickness. I saw no indications
of coal or any fossils.
Nahaimo Goal Mines.
This place is a small bay, on the eastern side of Van
conveys Island, in latitude 49° 10', longitude 123° 67' W.
It is the place marked Decanso on the old charts, a name
given by the Spanish discovers, Galiano and Valdez;
that of Nanaimo is the appellation of the Indian tribe
inhabiting the vicinity.
It is here that the principal mining operations of the
Hudson's Bay Company have been carried on. A con-
siderable amount of coal has been got out, but the works
have been conducted with but little system, and in great
measure by Indian labor.
The coal lies in two seams ; the upper, termed the
Douglas seam, four feet sis inches in thickness; the
lower, called the Newcastle, six feet. Both are accessible,
being exposed at different points by the inclination of the
strata, and the local destruction of the rocks overlying
the latter. The two seams have been worked ; the upper
at the village, and to the south of it ; the lower, on the
small island called Newcastle Island, and now, also, in
the northern part of the village, where a shaft has been
«unk to meet it.
This latter is considered rather the best coal, as well '
as the most abundant and easily worked. The rocks
accompanying both seams are sandstone, and a pebbly
conglomerate, with shales, and a soft, green sand-rock,
containing fossil remains. The coal is bituminous,
makes a great flame, and consumes rapidly, leaving
much less ashes than that of Bellingham Bay, and, in
place of a friable slag, deposits a black and very adhesive
olinker. Although somewhat superior to the tertiary
coal, it is yet, owing to its light weight and rapid com-
bustion, estimated, as I am informed by Mr. Davis,
Douglas Bjbam. 325
Assistant Engineer, United States Navy, as thirty-three
per cent inferior to Welsh coal for steaming purposes.
It is, however, used extensively on the neighboring
waters, and also exclusively for the production of gas at
Portland, Oregon, and at Victoria, in both of which
places works have been erected. The gas burns with a
very white light, and is more fluid than that produced
from the true coals. The amount of gas manufactured
from a ton of coal is 8,000 or 9,000 feet.
The limits of this field are not determined. The extent
already explored is considerable, and, if properly worked,
would furnish a large supply for a large number of
years, even if it should not be found to extend beyond
the immediate vicinity.
Douglas Seam.
A more detailed section of the rocks overlying the
Douglas seam, on the same authority, is as follows : It
is that of the Nanaimo mine.
Feet Inches.
Arenaceous, laminated rock of a grayish color, con-
taining a small proportion of argillaceous matter,
with occasional irregular seams and nodules of
limestone 25 10
Indurated brown shale 25 6
Conglomerate 0 6
Coal 0 6
Shale 11 6
Coal 0 6
Clay 2 6
Coal 0 9
Carboniferous shale 0 6
• • ■ »
Coal, principal seam 4 6
Above the Douglas seam, at the present mine, Mr.
_ * « *
Robinson states there are five fathoms of conglomerate,
where not denuded, as ascertained by boring, over which
there are sandstones and shales.
826 TSB NORTH-WESTBRN BOUNDARY.
Where already worked, there appears to be of the last
not over one fathom ; but, nearer the shore, and probably
interstratified with conglomerate, fifty fathoms.
There is no shale immediately over the coal. The dip
of the bed at the village of Nanaimo is eastward, the
angle varying from 36° inland to 46° near the shore ; on
Newcastle Island it is south and south-east, but these
inclinations are apparently local, there being no uni-
formity for any distance.
The Douglas seam has not been worked at Newcastle
Island, though a shaft was sunk to meet it This was
opened near the level of the water, and struck the coal
at three fathoms. From appearances it would seem to
be covered by sandstones and conglomerates to the thick-
ness of thirty or forty fathoms at the southern end of the
island.
On Douglas Island, near Newcastle, a seam somewhat
thinner, and of still better quality, is said to have been
found, which is supposed to be superior in position to the
Douglas coal.
Newcastle Seam.
A shaft has very recently been sunk at the village,
where there is a local denudation of the superior strata,
striking the Newcastle seam at a depth of fifteen fathoms.
The rock was here chiefly conglomerate, fine and coarse,
interstratified with sandstone! Of the latter, the seams
were comparatively thin. The coal was four feet six
inches in thickness, disposed as follows :
Feet Itata.
Sandstone rotff, with parting?, .v ........... 2 0
Coal v.* ; 1 S
Earthy Y.V.V. ...... . . v. 1 8
Coal 0 t
Shale 0 •
Coal , 1 0
Shale 0 I
Coal 1 0
Fossils. 327
The most extensive work has been done on the western
side of Newcastle Island, a drift of about 250 yards in
length having been carried in, nearly east, with seven
oblique taps, making in all about 1,000 yards. The dip
here is south at an angle of 20°.
The northern outcrop of the coal is in a bluff, border-
ing a sort of valley or ravine, beyond which the island is
made up of similar rocks, but greatly disturbed. The
following is a section of the bluff, the thickness being esti-
mated:
Feet.
1. Conglomerate bedded 36
2. Sandstone disposed to concrete in rounded masses 48
3. Sandstone more regularly stratified 12
4. Sandstone compact 4
5. Coal 5 ,
6. Covered with debris, but probably consisting of coarse
conglomerate 40
Level of bay.
It is from this mine that the largest amount of coal has
been got out, perhaps 8,000 tons, but it has been aban-
doned in favor of the shaft at the village.
The principal difference between the rocks here and at
the latter place is that the conglomerate is thinner, with
fewer pebbles and better stratified
«
Fossils.
A few vegetable remains have been formed above the
Douglas coal at Nanaimo village, which are said to have
been similar in character to those below the Newcastle.
I obtained two or three specimens, but they crumbled
before they could be compared. On Newcastle Island,
near the waters edge, and superior to both seams, vege-
table impressions and shells, of which a number of speci-
mens were collected, occur in shale ; among the latter
were Dosinia tennis, Meek, Pholadomya subelongata,
MeeTc, and a species of Tanoredia, the two former being
328 The North-western Boundary.
identical with the specimens obtained on Nanaimo River,
in connection with an inoceramus.
The only fossils yet found between the two seams were,
it is said, very small marine shells, resembling in form
the common cockle, now found in these waters. I was
not fortunate enough to obtain any of them.
Some vegetable impressions, including "aspidium
Kennerbyi," Newberry, were obtained from the seam of
clay, interstratified with the Newcastle coal, in the new
shaft at Nanaimo village, the first instance of any being
found in the coal.
They are numerous below that seam, and, where I
examined, consisted for the most part, of ferns and a
taxodium.
This place, which is a steep bank bordering the ravine
behind the village, presents the following section, the
heightp. being estimated.
1. Conglomerate 30
2. Coal dip 2.25, perhaps the Newcastle seam thinned out. . 1
3. Conglomerate 15
4. Greenish sand-rock containing plants 4
5. Conglomerate 10
Level of marsh covered at high tide.
On the north side of Mill Creek an opening has been
made, near the foot of the high bluff, in a stratum of soft
sand-rock, also containing vegetable remains. The
impressions resemble those above the Douglas coal, on
Newcastle Island. No shells were observed. The shale
dips in the direction of the island, about N. E., at an
angle of 20°. The relative position of this I could not
determine. A salt-spring has been found on the border
of this creek, and preparations were making to work it
Newcastle Island bears marks of a recent elevation in
the sandstone on the western side, which has been cut
into holes and irregular cavities by water at a height
several feet above the present tides, the edges and parti-
Nanaimo River— Komooks Fossils. 329
tions being very sharp and apparently new. The same
excavations were noticed on the inside of Galiano Island.
Nanaimo River.
I ascended this stream for about two miles. The rock,
in places where it was visible, along the banks, was sand-
stone and conglomerate, the prevalent dip being to the
east, at various angles ; but this direction was not uni-
form, there being frequent displacement. At the point
mentioned, shells were found in the shale upon the right
bank, principally Dosinia tennis, Meek, Fholadomya
subelongata, Meek, and an inoceramus not sufficiently
perfect to identify.
The river here ran east and west, and the strata dipped
into it at an angle of 20°. It was impossible to obtain
any satisfactory section, from the fact that the bank was
mostly covered.
The bed of this stream is of sandstone, and its depth
very irregular, being excavated here and there into deep
holes. The rock, when near the surface, exhibited very
good examples of the manner in which cavities of irregu-
lar and singular shapes are worn by the attrition of two
or three stones, their channels running into one another.
From the above facts, it would seem that the entire
group of Nanaimo rocks is cretaceous, at least so far as
includes all the coal heretofore exposed.
Komooks Fossils.
The locality from which these were derived I do not
know, except that it is some distance to the north-west
of Nanaimo. They have, I believe, been brought down
only by Indians, who find the calcareous nodules, in
which they are contained, washed out from clayey banks.
The specimens in the collection of the survey were pre-
sented by Mr. Robinson, to whom I am also indebted for
various others from Nanaimo, and for many of the above
facts. The genera obtained from this locality, including
830 TSE NORTH-WBSTBRN BOUNDARY.
also some in- the Smithsonian collection, embrace area,
inoceramus, cardium, dentalium, baculites, helioceras,
ammonites (four species, of which one is identical with
a Lucia Island ammonite) and nautilus.
• •
Beaveb Harbor.
At Beaver Harbor, near the eastern extremity of Van-
couver's Island, an extensive bed of surface-coal was
formerly worked by the Hudson's Bay Company, who
thence procured the fuel for their trading steamer. 1
have seen no fossils from there, and have no information
as to its probable age.
The existence of cretaceous rocks on Vancouver's Island
was, I believe, first made known by Mr. Meek, in a paper
read before the Albany Institute in 1866, and published
early in 1867,* based upon specimens received through
Dr. Newberry, from the Smithsonian Institution. The
collection, as rightly conjectured by Mr. Meek, was
derived from two different members of the formation,
though both were described as from Nanaimo. I have,
however, very little doubt that those contained in the
argillo-calcareous concretions were from Komooks, and
only those found in the brown or greenish sandstone
from the Nanaimo beds. Mr. Meek's first impression
was, as appears in the paper referred to, that all were
cretaceous, though as to the latter he expressed some hesi-
tation. Subsequently he was inclined to the view that
the Nanaimo fossils might be Inrassic, and so stated to
Dr. Newberry in a letter quoted by him in his report.to
Lieut. Williamson. On receiving, in 1868, the specimens
forwarded by me, in which the plants of Nanaimo were
found associated with inoceramus, goniomya, etc., both
these gentlemen agreed in the conclusion that the forma-
tion at that locality also was cretaceous. The equivalent
to the Komooks beds, to which is now added those of
* ■ iii ■ , .— — — i— ^»
♦Transactions Alb. Inst, vol iv.
. Quebn Charlotte Islands. 881
■
Lucia, was recognized by Mr. Meek in 1866, as to be
found in No. 4 of the Nebraska series, described T>y him-
self and Prof. Hall,* and in other papers by himself and
Dr. Hayden, and believed to be synchronous with the
white chalk of the Old World.
The Nanaimo sandstone fossils he considers as older
in the series. It is noticeable that the plants of this
locality are of types believed by many to be no older than
the tertiary.
Queen Charlotte Islands.
But few notices of the geology of the northern coast
appear in any work to which I have had access. The
Queen Charlotte Islands, which are represented on the
ordinary charts as a single island, form in reality a
group, and, as before stated, are, like Vancouver' s, a con-
tinuation of the Coast range. Very little is known of
them, as the number and ferocity of the inhabitants have
hitherto prevented any examination. As early as 1863,
attempts were made to pursue the search for gold, which
was found to exist there, but they resulted disastrously.
It was found in quartz at Mitchell' s Harbor, in lat. 52°
25'. Capt. Stuart, of the Hudson's Bay Co.'s service,
informed me that specimens of antimony and arsenic,
probably arsenical pyrites, were brought by the Indians,
it was supposed from Kummeshaw, and that copper was
found on the small island off Ft. Frederick.
The slate from which pipes, dishes, and ornamental
articles are made by the natives, is, according to them,
found near the canal separating the two largest islands,
not far from Skittegets ; and specimens of lead ore, black-
lead and arsenic were reported as from the same neigh-
borhood.
The north-east end of the group is said to be level and
heavily timbered,1 with marshes and lakes interspersed.
•Trans. Am. Acad. A* and S.v voL t.
332 FHE North-western Boundary.
#
Brown coal is found in several places, one on the
north end, another on the east side ; which renders
probable the northerly extension of the tertiary rocks
of California and Oregon.
Skagit River.
This is the largest stream entering the Bound, and the
only one, between the Columbia and Frazer River, which
cuts through the main range of the Cascades. It has its
source in what I have called the Eastern Cascades, near
that of the Similkamen, and the small stream entering
Frazer River below Fort Hope.
In company with Mr. Grennan, of Utsaladdy, I
ascended it in a canoe, at the end of July, 1868, as far
as its exit from the canon, about seventy-five miles above
its mouth. The river was then in fall freshet, and for a
long distance a quarter of a mile wide, very deep and
rapid. At its mouth is a delta of low alluvial land, inter-
sected by numerous channels, and for some miles farther
the banks are subject to overflow. A little above, where
the mouths diverge, commences a series of rafts of drift-
timber, three in number, and in the aggregate a mile and
a half in length, immovably fixed and utterly stopping
the navigation.
But for this obstruction, light-draught steamers could
navigate it for a distance of nearly fifty miles. A large
body of very rich land lies on the lower part of the river,
much of which is, however, heavily timbered. About
fifty miles up, a branch enters, having one of its sources
in Mt. Baker, and ten miles beyond is the south fork, or
Sakumihu, up which is an Indian trail to the Columbia
by way of Lake Chelaun. Near the former, called the
Hukullum, the river becomes narrowed, the hills setting
in and rapids commencing, though there are still long
stretches of smooth water.
The canon of the Skagit, by which it passes through
the Cascade range, is by report some eighteen or twenty
Skagit Rtver. 333
miles in length. Rapids and falls of some height occur
in it. The scenery is exceedingly picturesque, the moun-
tains rising directly from the river in abrupt and rugged
forms, but covered with forests.
The general range of the mountains bordering the
Skagit seemed to be from N. B. to S. W., not running in
continuous chains, but attached parallel ridges placed in
echelon. On the lower and middle parts of the river they
exhibited long sweeping lines, with pretty steep declivi-
ties, say from 30° to 40°, and very generally capped with
regular cones. Higher up they were more broken, and
snow peaks were frequently visible.
One very remarkable mountain, called by the Indians
Hugweht, apparently overhangs the water on the right
bank, some miles above the Hukullum.
It was apparently of basaltic conglomerate. Mt. Baker
is seen from only two or three points, and presents an
entirely different form from that seen from the sound, its
summit being roof-shaped, instead of pyramidal.
At the time of my visit, reports of the existence of gold
on the Skagit, and the hope of finding a route to the
Frazer- River mines, had led quite a number of persons
to ascend it.
The color of gold was found in one or two places, but
no favorable indications.
The height of the water was, however, an obstacle to
any thorough prospecting. Bluffs of drift, overlaid with
blue clay, occur at intervals along the river, correspond-
ing to those on the sound, and in one of these I noticed,
near the level of the water, a seam of ligneous matter,
about a foot in thickness, having a slight easterly dip.
The bluffs are sometimes 300 or 400 feet in height, and
very uneven on the surface, but the general stratification
is horizontal, or nearly so, and no great changes have
taken place since their deposit.
The first rock in place occurs some twenty-five miles
from the mouth, a little above the crowning of the pro-
834 The North-westjb&n Boundary.
posed military road to Bellingham Bay. It consists of
argillaceous and mica slates, the latter with reins of
quartz, very much tilted and often contorted, having a
general strike of N. E. and S. W., in conformity with the
apparent range of the hills.
In the bed of the Hukullum I obtained specimens of
vanon, colored porphyrinic trachytes and scoriae, brought
down from Mount Baker, and which may probably form
th§ sharp and ragged spurs which break off from that
mountain.
The color of the water here is a dirty white, caused, I
presume, by volcanic ashes held in suspension, contrast-
ing with that of the Skagit, which, though itself discolored
by the freshet, was of bluish hue.
Some miners, also, had ascended it, for a couple of
days, to within a short distance of the snow, described it
as passing through a canon, narrowed at one point to
twenty feet. Its heads were in the gorges which score
the sides of Mount Baker.
At the foot of the mountain was a level plain two or
three miles wide, of black volcanic rock and sand, upon
which were vast piles of half-burned timber, apparently
swept down by a current of, as they supposed, lava, but
more probably water.
A stream of lava was visible on the side of the moun-
tain, and also on this plain, and sulphur was found
scattered over its surface. They saw smoke ascending on
the eastern side, about two-thirds the distance above the
snow line. The Indians living on the river told me of an
eruption of Mount Baker, many years since, doubtless the
same which Mr. Tale has referred to, as elsewhere
mentioned.
I noticed no trachytic boulders above this stream. The
slates continued for some distance, when they were suc-
ceeded by sienitic quartz ore and felspathic rocks. The
boulders consisted of the usual variety of crystalline
and porphyritic rocks, serpentine, actdnolite, and slates.
Frazer River. 385
In crossing the mountains, during the subsequent sea-
don, I had an opportunity of examining this river, above
the canon. It presents, on a small scale, a very remark-
able parallelism to Frazer. River. Heading, as before
mentioned, east of the true Cascades, in about the lati-
tude of Fort Hope, it pursues, at first, a southerly course
in a trough between the two ranges, and, . cutting diagon-
ally through the main range, runs westerly to the sound.
Its valley above the east fork, where the passage through
the mountains commences, is narrower, not exceeding a
mile in width, and consists of level tables or terraces,
rising to the mountains on either side. This bottom,
which is twenty or twenty-five miles in length, and sepa-
rated into two basins, is stony, with but little soil, except
here and there on the bank, and most of the timber is
thin and scrubby.
Frazer Rives.
Frazer River, which, down to Fort Hope, in longitude
121° 30' and latitude 49° 27', somewhat over 100 miles
from the coast, pursues a general southerly course,
there turns suddenly westward, emptying into the Gfulf
of Georgia, in about latitude 49° 6'. Its volume of water
is nearly as great as that of the main or north fork of
the Columbia above Walla Walla. Besides several
minor tributaries, it receives, below Fort Hope, two large
ones, both entering from the north, — Pitt River, about
twenty-five miles from its mouth, and Harrison River,
some thirty-five miles further, each being the outlet of a
large lake. Pitt Lake is said to be about twelve miles in
length ;' Harrison is about twenty-five or thirty. They
both fill deep gorges in the mountains, which rise abruptly
from their banks, and in many respects bear a strong
resemblance to the fiords of the coast.
The latter is fed by the Silowat* on the upper waters of
which is another similar expansion, connecting by a por-
tage, and another chain of lakes, with Frazer River, about
^
886 The North-western Boundary.
100 miles north of Fort Hope. These two add, of course,
a considerable part to the ultimate volume of the main
stream.
The entrance of Frazer River into the Gulf of Georgia
is marked, as might be expected, by shoals, the deposit
of its freshets. An extensive tract of alluvial land, for
the most part wet and unfit for cultivation, lies between
its mouths, and, on the south, reaches to Siniahmoo Bay.
Another mouth would seem, indeed, formerly to have
entered that bay, leaving Point Roberts as a separate
island.
The immediate banks of the river are chiefly alluvial
for a- distance of fifty or sixty miles, and are overflowed
in the summer season. They are covered with cotton-
wood and a thick growth of willows. Back from the
water are a few small prairies, of whiGh the largest are
around Fort Langley, and on the Sumass and Chilo-
weynck. The low lands much resemble those on the
Lower Columbia.
The prairies are rich, having about a foot of black
mould, with a subsoil of clay and sand. As they also
are, to a great degree, subject to flood, the amount of
land fit for cultivation is to be measured rather by acres
than miles. .
It is here, between Burrard Inlet and the Nook Sahk,
and extending from a little above the Chiloweynck to the
mouth of Frazer River, that the only level country in
British Columbia is to be found.
The river, for a great part of the distance to Fort Hope,
spreads out into numerous channels, some of them dry
at low water, having extensive "bars" of sand and
gravel, and low islands between them. It is often, in
fact, two or three miles between the extreme banks. The
influence of the tides is felt as far as the Sumass, fifty-
five miles up, where the first rapids occur. Thence to
Fort Hope the average fall is from sixteen to eighteen
feet per mile.
Frazer River. 337
• The valley becomes permanently narrowed at eighty
miles, mountains setting in on both sides.
Above Fort Hope the river itself is contracted in its
passage through the gorge of the mountains.
Here the rapids become much more frequent and diffi-
cult, and near Fort Yale the first falls occur, beyond
which, even canoe navigation is highly dangerous, and
at times impracticable.
The freshets commence, according to the season, from
the middle of April to the beginning of May. The water
reaches its height toward the end of June, and remains
up until some time in August. As near as I could judge
from the water-marks, the rise at Fort Hope must reach
twenty-five feet.
Our first visit to this river was in March, 1858, where
a canoe party, consisting of Mr. Gfardner, Dr. Kennedy,
Mr. Peabody, and myself, ascended as far as Fort Yale,
fifteen miles above Fort Hope. At this time reports of
the discovery of gold upon its banks had just reached
the lower country, and we met, on our return, the earliest
parties who were proceeding to explore it. The only
whites then resident were those belonging to the Hud-
son's Bay establishment of Fort Langley, and the small
post at Fort Hope. We had amused ourselves, as we
paddled round the bends of the river and coasted the
shores of Harrison Lake, in speculating upon the time
when the stroke of the axe, or the dash of wheels, should
awaken unknown echoes among the mountains, little
suspecting that in a few months steamers would run in
opposition-lines upon those waters, that the tongue of
half Christendom would be heard there in chorus, and
the uncouth utterances of the Indian be rivalled by those
of the Chinese.
The country on the Upper Frazer, or that above Fort
Yale, was not examined by any of our parties, but from
the description of others it is not such as to invite settle-
ment.
22
338 The North-western Boundary.
On the west side of the river there are high rocky
mountains, covered with snow in June.
On the east side, above the great canon through which
it passes the mountains, it consists of table-land 1,000 to
1,500 feet in height, timbered only in the ravines, unfitted
for agriculture, but affording good grazing.
The cold in winter is intense, but the amount of snow
not very great. Ice does not disappear altogether until
April.
Farther north, the winters are represented as almost
Arctic in severity and duration.
The whole country between Frazer River and the coast
consists of mountain-ranges extending in a direction N.
N. W. and S. S. E.
These, where they do not reach into the region of per-
petual snow, are, as in the Cascades, covered with forest.
They present the aspect of heavy masses, with steep
slopes down into narrow valleys, or rather gorges, their
crests being often surmounted by sharp and angular bat
sometimes mamillary points.
The passage of Frazer River through the mountains,
though perhaps inferior to that of the Columbia, is still
a scene of rugged and desolate grandeur. The forms of
many of the summits are singular in the extreme. The
forests which hang on their sides are broken by escarp-
ments of rock, and the river, itself compressed within
narrow walls, rushes through as if impatient for the
liberty of the ocean.
The common rocks throughout these mountains are
granitic, sienite being most abundant, true granite, as usual,
less so. Diorite and eurite were occasionally noticed.
Quartz alone, however, is the constituent of even moun-
tain-masses. Almost all of these contain pyrites, giving
them, when exposed, a general sombre hue. Talcose
slate occurs on the east side of Harrison Lake, at the
peninsula, pudding-stone at a single locality near Fort
Hope.
Frazer River. 339
■
I have elsewhere spoken of Burrard Inlet as constitut-
ing the northern boundary of the drift. This formation
is not conspicuous on Frazer River, but still shows itself
at various points, as in a range, of up and crossing it
below the mouth of Pitt River, and again at Fort Lang-
ley. It occupies much of the country between Frazer
River and the Nooksahk. Point Roberts is a detached
mass of it. As a general thing, the constituents of the
drift here are finer, containing more sand and les3 gravel
than farther up the sound.
I saw nowhere any tertiary rocks, though doubtless
they underlie the lower basin of Frazer River. Since the
commission left this part of the country, coal has been
reported on Burrard Inlet, but whether it belongs to the
miocene or cretaceous I have not heard. Its geographi-
cal situation would point to the latter. Metamorphic
slates were noticed at several points on the river, seem-
ingly resting against the sienite ; as, for instance, at the
foot of the isolated mountain near the mouth of the
Sumass.
The mineralogy of Frazer River, apart from the gold, is
uninteresting. Native copper has been found in small
quantities, and a silver-mine was reported to have been
discovered above Fort Hope ; but the specimens furnished
me for examination contained nothing but galena. The
gold placers have been so largely developed since our
visit that I do not venture to describe them.
The history of exploration here, as well as in California
and Australia, is one to which new chapters are daily
added. The metal found below the canon was in fine
particles, showing the distance of its origin, and was soon
exhausted by the swarms of miners who poured in dur-
ing the earlier excitement.
Amidst many discouragements, the search has been
extended up the river to its remotest sources, until, in the
extreme north, where the severity and duration of the
winters is appalling, and all transportation is on the backs
340 The North-western Boundary.
of the Indians, it has been found in an amount and in
such large masses as to recall the palmy days of Cali-
fornia and Australia. As usual upon the Pacific coast,
platina is found associajfed with it.
At the lower end of Harrison Lake, near the outlet, a
hot spring bubbles up among 1;he rocks, close to the
water's edge, emitting a very perceptible odor of sulphur,
and having its peculiar taste. Having no thermometer
reading over 130° Fahr., we were unable to ascertain the
temperature, which much exceeded this, being probably
not less than 180°. Some of the water was brought off
for analysis, but the bottles containing it were unluckily
broken. A qualitative analysis of the deposit, made by
Dr. Wolatt Gibbs, gave oxide of calcium, anhydrous
sulphuric acid, and a tolerable quantity of binoxide of
silica and chloride of sodium, with smaller parts of sea-
qui-oxide of alumnium, sesqui-oxide of iron and oxide
of manganese.
The changes occurring on the bars and low islands of
this and other similar rivers present many points of geo-
logical interest.
In places a recent deposit of sand or silt, a foot thick,
covers the sod or vegetable accumulation of previous
years, willow and brushwood protruding through it.
Elsewhere trunks of trees are seen in the banks, imbed-
ded to the depth of several feet. Sometimes large piles
of driftwood, including immense trees, lodge upon the
bars, and the eddies caused by the freshets excavate
beneath them deep hollows, into which they settle down.
At the time of our ascent, masses of ice were lying
upon these flats, melting in the sun or rain, and leaving
deposits of earth and stones, which they had brought .
with them, as well as deep furrows ploughed up in their
progress.
The surface of many of the gravelly bars, in fact, looked
like a potato-field after harvest. Ascending the river,
the change in the size of the detritus was noticeable.
Western Slope of Cascade Range. 341
Above the Sumass, the bars, which had been exclusively
of sand, became gravelly; farther up, the gravel was
succeeded by pebbles and cobble-stones, and on entering
the mountains, near Fort Hope, irregular masses of rock,
often of large size, line the banks; some fallen from
above, others transported by ice. Immense numbers
of the skeletons of salmon, which had drifted down
exhausted by spawning, were scattered over the bars,
the vertebra sometimes connected, sometimes broken up,
and the bones perhaps lying in piles, where birds had
been feeding. Leaves of various trees were also plastered
over the stones. On the sand and mud, besides these
remains, were footprints of men, dogs, and birds, and
cracks produced by drying in the sun. All these were
in store for the geology of times to come.
Western Slope op Cascade Range.
Them Chiloweynck and Nooksahk, secondary streams,
run in transverse troughs between spurs, and do not serve
any range. It is noticeable that the upper and middle
course of these streams are exactly parallel to each other,
and the Skagit, and some of its branches opposite, and
likewise nearly parallel, make, as it were, acres of concen-
tric circles around Mount Baker. Another point observ-
able is, that Frazer River, the Nooksahk, and Skagit, as
they approach the coast and enter upon the lower table-
land or alluvial bottoms, all deflect- from their westerly
course and turn south-west at nearly the same angle.
The cause of this uniformity, for cause there must be, I
have failed to detect, unless it be in the tendency of rivers
to conform their course toward the point of ultimate
debouchement.
Thus, the Strait of Fuca being/ , the common outlet of
all these waters, and the ebb, aided by the river-current,
being stronger than the flood, the mouths of the streams
have," where from the nature of the ground they could
be affected, varied in that direction. The course of the
342 The North-western Boundary.
Skagit, at a superficial view contradicting tins, really
corroborates it, as its waters pass round to the south of
Whidbey Island. In like manner the Swohomish, and
other streams emptying farther up the sound, run toward
the north-east.
The mountains nearest the coast appear to hare been
fbrmed by the intrusion of igneous rocks through the
sedimentary strata of the Paget- Sound Basin, slates
being prevalent to a height of at least 4,000 or 5,000 feet,
or to that of the main divide between the Chiloweynck
and the Nooksahk. Mr. Ouster found slate and lime-
stone on the summit of Signal Peak and dolomite on that
of Layoinesan.
Following up the Chiloweynck, limestone and slates
are the prevalent rocks.
These are usually much altered and upturned at vari-
ous angles. I saw no fossils in place, but two fragments
of limestone were found in the river, including organic
remains; one crinoid, the other a coral, which, in Mr.
Meek's opinion, were either Devonian or carboniferous,
but they were not sufficiently characteristic to identify
them with certainty. I suspect that the latter hypothesis
is the true one, and that they here represent the carbon-
iferous rocks of the Sierra Nevada; the crystalline lime-
stones of the Chiloweynck, like those of San Juan, being
merely altered forms of this epoch.
On the Nooksahk, near the mouth of the Cowap Creek,
Mr. Custer found numerous fragments of slate containing
vegetable impressions in a high bank, which Dr. New-
berry recognized as tertiary, and similar to those of
Bellingham Bay.
The mountains between the Chiloweynck and the Nook-
sahk were explored by Mr. Ouster. The average eleva-
tion of the general divide is about 5,000 feet, the peaks
reaching 6,000 to 7,000, with a few as high as 8,000 or
9,000 feet.
It is noticeable that the highest are not situated upon
Western Slope of Cascade Range. 848
the main divide, but upon spurs. The watershed is near-
est to the Nooksahk, and the streams running into it
are, of course, short and excessively rapid.
The affluents of the Chiioweynck are themselves tor-
rents, their descent being from four to five feet in a
hundred.
The scenery of this region, as might be supposed, is
wild and picturesque to a degree. The higher peaks rise
in almost acicular points of naked rock, accessible only
to the foot of the mountain goat; broad snow-fields,
which hardly yield to the last heat of summer, are inter-
spersed on the more level summits, or lie in sheltered
basins; precipices of tremendous height overhang the
heads of the streams, among which are inclosed small
but deep lakes; cascades leap down the sides of the
mountains, and spread over the lower ranges is the deep
forest of evergreens.
On the south peak of the Tummeakai, just at the line,
a fall of forty or fifty feet in height marks the boundary,
and others above it make in all some two hundred feet.
On the west side, a few miles below, are two cascades fall-
ing into it, from the mountain, one of 100 the other of
1 60 feet.
A still grander scene is at the Putlushgohap Lake, on
the eastern fork of the same stream. There the moun-
tain overhangs the water in an almost perpendicular
bluff of 1,000 feet; cascades, some of them nearly
half that height, fall in spray from its sides ; the lake
itself , towards the end of June, was still sheeted in ice
and snow, and its outlet was a continuous fall of nearly
1, OOO feet in half a mile. Above the noise of the stream
the roar of avalanches was heard at intervals.
344 The North-western Boundary.
Chiloweynck River and Lake.
«
The boulders in the lower part of the Chiloweynck were
chiefly gneiss, sienite, greenstone, felspathic porphyry
and earthy jasper, with a finer gravel of slate. The first
granitic rocks noticed, on ascending the river, were on the
Senehsai, about half-way between the bend of the river
and the lake.
The rock there was on the south side sienite ; on the
north, quartzite, gneiss, and sienite, with some slates ; and
upon a high peak, ascended by Mr. Custer, sienite,
quartzite, and diorite. Around the lake the mountains
are almost entirely sienite, externally blackened by the
decomposition of pyrites.
In its feeders, however, were pebbles of argillaceous
and felspathic porphyry.
The Chiloweynck constitutes the most favorable access
to the parallel through the mountainous region south of
Frazer River, one of the tributaries of the lake from
which it issues heading in the Chuchchehum Pass, in the
immediate neighborhood of the line. .
This stream enters Frazer River near the point where
the level country ceases, turning suddenly from its west-
erly course northward round the foot of a range of hills.
At its mouth is a tract of prairie-land, of some extent
compared with the rest of this region ; but, as usual, it is
liable to flood. Above its bend it has no valley, the hills
coming down close on either side, and leaving only occar
sional bars. Throughout, it is a bold and rapid torrent,
though without any actual falls, the water running over
a bed of boulders with an average descent of about fifty
feet to the mile.
Camping on its banks, one hears at night the noise of
these stones moving over one another, often resembling
the human voice, and can hardly wonder that imagina-
tive races have peopled such streams with spirits and
demons.
The lake is about five miles long, 'and its height above
Chiloweynck River and Lake. 345
the sea over 2,000 feet. It is environed by mountains,
the peaks of which reach an elevation of 5,000 or 6,000
feet above its level, and are covered with snow-fields and
glaciers. Its waters are very deep, clear, and transparent,
and the views it presents are almost unequalled, even in
this region of wild and solitary grandeur.
While stationed at the depot, near the upper end of the
lake, I carried a line of soundings across to the opposite
shore. Its width here was 1,200 yards, and the depth
was found to increase gradually for about a third of that
distance, where it attained thirty-five fathoms.
This was maintained to within a short distance of the
western bank, where forty fathoms were found. Its
depth is doubtless much greater farther down the lake,
where it is wider and less affected by the detritus of the
streams. At either end a beach of coarse white sand, of
quartz and felspar, was thrown up, the result of disinte-
gration, as the sienite and small patches of sand, brought
down by its two affluents, extend out to some distance.
Below the lake, stretching like a dam across the valley,
is a high plateau or terrace, cut through on the south side
by the outlet.
At Chiloweynck Lake the pass of the Cascade range
commences, following up one of its feeders to the sum-
mit, a distance on the parallel of about nine miles.
Upon the creek is a small lake, or enlargement of the
stream, caused by a slide from the mountain, which has
blocked up its course, the sides being steep slopes of
rocky debris.
This pond presents an interesting phenomenon in the
beautiful color of its water, arising from a deposit on the
bottom. In the deeper parts it is a pure azure ; where
shallow, of a light milky or verdigris bluei The deposit
is gelatinous, and covers the entire bottom, clinging to
stones and sunken logs, strewed over it, to the depth of a
tenth of an inch. When first taken up it was of a milky,
opal hue, but becomes gray when dried. The water itself
846 The North-western Boundjlrt.
is perfectly transparent and tasteless, and the deposit has
merely a slight earthy taste. It is evidently brought
down by the brook. The lake becomes dry in the late
snmmer and fall.
The divide at the head of this pass forms, as it were,
a bridge or level plateau, perhaps a quarter of a mile
wide, connecting the mountains on either side. I had
not time, in crossing, to ascertain its identity with the
drift, though, like the terrace at the foot of the Chilo-
weynck Lake, its conformation suggests such an origin.
The height of this divide is 4,533 feet above the sea.
A corresponding ravine, one of the sources of the Man-
selpannik, a stream emptying into the Skagit, heads
under it on the east. The pass, therefore, though on the
summit of the true Cascade range, is not a watershed
between Frazer River and the Columbia, but only between
two streams debouching through the Strait of Fuca.
A noticeable feature of nearly all these mountain
streams is that, on their upper waters or directly under
their principal sources, they run through narrow bat
flat valleys, having a comparatively gentle slope, once
undoubtedly the bed of what may be called fluviatile
lakes or expansions of the rivers, and that their lower or
middle course, according to the length of the stream, is
more rapid and broken.
Thus Mr. Custer found, on the Upper Nooksahk, a
level bottom of some fifteen miles in length and a mile
wide, heading in marshy lakes, below which the river
resumed the character of a mountain-torrent, until it
reached the drift and alluvial lands of the sound.
The elevation of this valley is about 2,000 feet above
the sea. On the Chiloweynck, the principal feeder of the
lake, called by the Indians Elahadhu, in like N manner
carries a level valley to almost its very source. The same
is true of the Upper Skagit, and, in fact, of nearly every
stream of considerable length, and measurably so of the
great branches of the Columbia itself.
MOUNTAIN ON KLAHA.1HU CREEK.
Cascade Mountains. 847
The larger rivers frequently present a series of these
basins. It is not only through districts easily eroded
that the lower rapids occur, but frequently among rocky
hills through which they have excavated canons.
I have used the phrase fiat valleys to designate those
which present no visible concavity in their sections, but
where deposits have created a level surface between the
inclosing mountains. The occurrence of this form, as
distinguished from the shape assumed in erosion, is
exceedingly common.
Cascade Mountains. (General Features.)
The geological features of the Cascade range, north of
the Columbia River, so far as exhibited on their eastern
declivity, were described at length in a previous report.*
From Mount Rainier, the rocks observed were chiefly
trachytic or basaltic, with eruptions of lava of various
ages, some of those of Mount St. Helen' s being of very
modern date. Interstratified with the basalt is a volcanic
conglomerate, generally of a reddish color and very
harsh texture, containing often masses of basalt and lava,
but at other times assuming a tufaceous character.
North of Mount Rainier, crystalline and metamorphio
were mingled with volcanic rocks in the boulders of the
streams, until reaching the Winatsha, when the two
former. alone prevailed. I have since had an oppor-
tunity of crossing the mountains by the Nahchess Pass
to the north of Mount Rainier. The rock, in places, from
Mount La Tete to the summit, and thence some distance
down the eastern side to Edgen's Rook, was volcanic
conglomerate, and this, judging from appearances, con-
stitutes the elevated points from Mount Rainier north-
ward.
That portion of the chain exhibits a very marked
difference in profile from the more southern, ragged and
* VoL i, P. R. R. Reports.
348 The North-western Boundary.
broken peaks replacing the flowing lines and broad sur-
faces of the latter.
In ascending the Ohuchchehum Pass, from the west
the rocks noticed were a fine-grained lamellar feldspar,
quartzite, and diorite. On the mountain, to the north,
sienite, quartzite, and slates, the former most prevalent ;
and in descending, to the eastern side, gneiss and slates,
and a dark-colored quartz rock. On the mountain,
south of the pass, I observed chiefly slates, with seams
of quartz, greatly inclined and sometimes vertical. Still
farther south, Mr. Cluster, who took a route up the
Klahaihu, crossing the range and descending to the Skagit
valley by a branch which he named Glacier Creek,
found sienite and a rock consisting of quartz and felspar
without hornblende. The sienite appears to form the
highest peaks of the range. In the Skagit valley, sienite,
diorite, and quartz predominated. The summits of this
portion of the range rise into sharp and serrated ridges,
or peaks, of which a characteristic feature is, that on all
the highest, nearly perpendicular walls, either of sienite
or slates, inclose sloping basins, conveying the idea of
craters, one side of which has broken down. These are
generally the seat of snow-fields, or glaciers. Mr. Custer's
observations, which were very extensive, led him to the
conclusion that most, if not all, of them faced to the west
or north, the greater number to the west.
Line of Perpetual Snow.
As is everywhere the case in temperate zones, the alti-
tude of the line of perpetual snow is too variable to be
stated with certainty. On the northern sides of the
mountains, in deep and sheltered gorges, and the crater-
like basins, snow often lies all the year round, at points
comparatively low down, while the summits themselves
are bare. The sharp and precipitous crests of the higher
peaks are unfavorable to the retention of snow, which
slides in avalanches into the gorges beneath.
Line of Vegetation. 349
Of the true snow-peaks, the isolated volcanoes which
rise far above the general range, Mount Baker, 10,800
feet high, and Mount St. Helen's, probably 12,000, are
sometimes almost entirely denuded of snow, while even
on Hood and Rainier it disappears to a great extent. On
these, much of the melting is indeed probably due not to
the heat of the sun, but to the warmth of the rocks
beneath, under which the fires are not yet extinct.
The altitude of the more considerable snow-fields on
the 49th parallel, which, on the north and west sides of
ordinary suminit-peaks lie all the year round to a con-
siderable depth, may be stated generally at 7,000 feet
Some of the glaciers come down lower, though none, at
present, extend into the valleys proper. They are all of
De Saussure's class of summit-glaciers.
Line of Vegetation.
This is not much more clearly marked, for it seems
limited rather by the existence of soil than by elevation.
Mr. Custer found Alpine plants and mountain grasses as
high as 8,000 feet. The forest-line, however, is more
distinguishable, and his observations and measurements
lead to the conclusion that the line where timber, properly
speaking, ceases, is remarkably uniform throughout the
whole western Cascades.
The disappearance is very rapid, the trees retaining
quite a large size to within a short distance of the point
where they dwindle down into shrubs. It is noticeable
that they extend farther up the western and northern
than on the other sides of the mountains. The elevation
of this forest-line may here be placed at 6,500 feet.
Lieut. Kautz, as mentioned below, found pines at a
much greater height on Mount Rainier, viz., 7,268 feet ;
but this was probably due to local circumstance*. East
of the Skagit River, and thence through the interior basin,
it attains, I think, a higher point than the average above
given, notwithstanding the increased cold.
350 THB N0RTH-WB8TBRir BOUNDARY.
Prairie-Gxades.
The distinguishing feature of the eastern slope of these
mountains is the number of prairie-glades covered with
grass, and, in the summer and early fall, blooming with
a great variety of flowers. On one of the summits which
I ascended, overlooking the valley of the Skagit, and
elevated about 6,000 feet above the sea, these open tracks
extended for a considerable distance, bounded only by
the ragged crests and ridges of the interior range, in
which were inclosed snow-basins and glaciers, the heads
of numerous torrents tributary to that river. From an
elevated point, a sea of mountains stretched in every
direction as far as the eye could reach. To the south
and south-west was the great mass of the Cascade range,
Mount Baker being distinct among the rest.
Eastward, beyond the Skagit, the mountains presented
a different aspect. They were of far more uniform
height, with very few prominent peaks, and a general
elevation of perhaps 5,500 to 6,000 feet.
They are also more bare of timber than in the western
or main range. This equality of elevation, however, did
not extend south of the parallel where Hozumeen and
other naked serrated points reared themselves to a level
with the summits of the Cascades proper.
Glaciers.
Separated from this standpoint only by a deep gorge
was a glacier, which formed, at the same time, the head
of the Manselpannik and of another stream running to
the Skagit. It seemed to be a half mile in extent, occu-
pying the northern slope of a walled basin, and having
an apparent inclination of 30°.
The termination Was abrupt, and, as I judged, at about
5,500 feet above the sea-level, or 1,400 feet over the Man-
selpannik, to whiclr a steep talus of d6bris led down.
The field was. mostly covered with snow, the blue ice
showing chiefly at its edge. Numerous fissures ran
Glaciers. 351
across it and divided it vertically. There was no arched
opening for the water which ran down the rooks and
gathered into a rapid stream below. Of the thickness
of the ice I could form no opinion.
Mr. Custer saw on the Wailagonahoist Mountain, at
the head of his Glacier Creek, a much larger one. The
mountain itself he estimated at about 9,000 feet, on the
side of whioh the glacier, somewhat interrupted, extended
for about three miles. Its slope appeared to be as much
as 70° and the vertical height covered by it 3,000 feet. It,
in fact, reached entirely down to the valley. The stream
here issued from a single vault and of considerable size,
the water being of a whitish or milky blue. Numerous
cascades from the adjoining mountains added to its
volume.
In this neighborhood, also, the open glades oocurred
on the summits. They were rolling with gentle slopes,
and inclose basins and shallow depressions, or extend
down into the heads of gulches, from which arise small
streams.
The glacial region has here undoubtedly been of almost
Alpine extent, for these glades, in their surface, give evi-
dence of the action of ice, at a period, geologically
speaking, not very remote.
The snow, which falls to the depth of twenty or thirty
feet, still lay in the middle of August in patches, especi-
ally in the basins.
Elsewhere it had so recently disappeared, that the
grass was either dead or just recovering its verdure. I
noticed in one of the depressions where a very distinct
though small moraine had evidently been ploughed up.
On this mountain the first red snow was noticed, after-
wards also seen on the mountains east of the Skagit.
The coloring matter, probably hematococcus invalis, was
so abundant that, in crushing a handful, the water exud-
ing was reddened, as if with blood. On examination
with a pocket-lens, the organisms which furnished it
352 The North-western Boundary.
appeared of a tadpole shape, or with a large rounded
head and attenuated tail.
It is probable that at least the tributary valleys, such as
those of the Chuchchehum and Manselpannik, have been
the seat of more extended glaciers, though the dense for-
est might conceal the moraines which they would have
left.
As, however, the level and terraced bottom of the
Skagit, in the valley below here, where, from the more
scant vegetation, the existence of moraines would be
traceable, does not indicate their having reached it, anA
as no boulders are scattered over the surface, another
proof is afforded that, since the glacial period, a subsi-
dence of the land has admitted the entrance of the sea
into the interior valleys, and, in modifying and arranging
the drift, has covered also the debris of the glaciers.
Volcanoes.
The only ascertained volcanic mountain in the Coast
range of Oregon or Washington Territory is Swalalahos,
or Saddle Mountain, about fifteen miles south of the
Columbia River.
Its height, as compared with those of the Cascade
range, is insignificant, and it has apparently been long
extinct. It is composed almost entirely of conglomerate,
and no lava streams appear to have issued from it, though
it contains dikes of basalt. The crater is said, by Prof.
Dana, who examined it, to be about two miles wide,
and apparently 500 feet in depth, and is now covered
with forest.
In the Cascades, the line of snow-covered summits
which crown the range, and all of which are or have
been the seat of volcanic action, has attracted the attention
of every Western traveller. Of those south of the Colum-
bia, Mount Hood only will be here referred to. Several
of the others have beien described by Dr. Newberry in his
report on the geology of Lieut. Williamson' s expedition.
Volcanoes. 353
In crossing the mountains by the emigrant-trail, some
years ago, I made a sketch of the crater of Mount Hood,
which accompanies this report. It faces the south, the
wall on that side having been broken down, and is occu-
pied by a snow-field. This mountain was first ascended
by Capt. Gordon Granger, of the Regiment of Mounted
Riflemen (now Major-General), in 1850, who reached the
crater, but not the highest1 pinnacle. 4- second ascent
was made in 1864. Of a number of persons composing
the party, Mr. Thomas J. Dyer, of Portland, Mr. Wells
Lake, and an Indian named "Cockup," alone reached
the summit. The last was excessively proud of his
exploit, as having overcome a superstition of his tribe.
Steam was visible in many places, escaping from small
blow-holes in the crater, and ashes of a reddish color
were collected, which, from their dry and pulverulent
substance, were apparently recent. No glaciers were seen
in the deep ravines which form the heads of the streams.
Stumps of trees, weathered but undecayed, were abun-
dant above the line of present vegetation, a fact very
probably connected with the cooling of the mountain.
Mount Hood, though undoubtedly the highest of the
range, is not visible from the ocean, owing to the inter-
vention of the Coast range. Prom the plains to the
east, and from Fort Vancouver below, it is a conspicuous
landmark. Its general form is pyramidal, its sides
exhibiting prominent ridges or foldings, but not so regu-
lar as those of Mount Rainier. The great discrepancy
in the elevations assigned to these mountains by different
writers is noticed by Humboldt.* Those familiar with
all of them assign the supremacy to Mount Hood. Its
probable elevation is 14,000 feet.
North of the Columbia River, and nearly equidistant
from it, are two peaks, for a long time confounded with
each other, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helen's. Of
* Cosmos, voL v.
23
354 The North-western Boundary.
»
these, the former is nearly on the line of the general
range, the latter some forty miles to the west. Both are
situated on a broad plateau of mountains, the Cascade
range having here its greatest width. The two peaks
have nearly an equal height, and are probably not under
12, 000 feet. Mount St. Helen' s is visible for a considerable
distance off the mouth of the Columbia, and at various
points on the river as far as the Cascades ; Mount Adams
from the plains, and in most situations they bear a con-
siderable resemblance to each other. St. Helen' s is, how
ever, much the more regular in outline, having a dome-
shape, as exhibited in one of the accompanying sketches.
Views of these two, and of Mount Hood, taken from the
summit of the pass at Chequoss, give an excellent idea
of their surroundings. No modern eruption of Mount
Adams is recorded, but its former discharge of lava must
have been copious, from the streams seen by Capt.
McClellan's party, in crossing the range, near its foot.
Mount St. Helen's is still active, though it has ceased to
emit lava ; its flow of this material was, however, appar-
ently much later than that of its fellow, for one very
extensive field, evidently proceeding from it, was seen,
as clear and sharp in its fractures as if but just cooled.
Smoke and steam are seen frequently to arise from near
its summit, and considerable eruptions of ashes have
occurred as late as 1842 and 1843. Fremont mentions
that in November of the latter year "two of the great
snowy cones, Mount Rainier and St. Helen's, were in
action. On the 23d of the preceding November, St.
Helen's had scattered its ashes like a light fall of snow
over the dalles of the Columbia, fifty miles distant.'*
Other travellers put the dates at 1841 and 1848. Fremont
is, however, in error concerning MouAt Rainier. It was
Mount Baker that was then in action. Mount St Helen's
was ascended by Mr. Dyer in 1863.
The most prominent mountain, in going northward, is
Mount Rainier. It is situated on the western side of the
Volcanoes. 355
range, and is visible from the east only on the lower part
of the Yakama valley. In other directions, it can be
seen from the mouth of the Willamette, from the coast
of Shoalwater Bay, and from Port Townshend. It is,
however, from the plains near Steilacoom, on Paget
Sound, that it exhibits its full grandeur.
It seems to spring from the very level of the table-land,
and though sixty miles off, "as the crow flies," appears
at times, in that pure atmosphere, as not distant an hour's
ride.
The probable height of Mount Rainier is between
13,000 and 14,000 feet ; that of the general range being
from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and the adjacent mountains rise
towards it in an easy curve.
The outline is bell-shaped, modified on the summit
into three rounded prominences, which perhaps inclosed
the ancient crater.
The sides are deeply striated by ravines of immense t
depth, separated by rugged and precipitous spurs. Like
all the others of that range which I have seen, it has
upon one side a shoulder, probably marking a former
lateral opening or crater ; of this, the most noticeable
instance is on the Shaste Butte of California, where it
takes the form of a truncated cone, engrafted upon the
side of the mountain. Mount Rainier seems to have
been extinct for a long period ; at least no recent lavas
have been observed in its neighborhood, and there is no
tradition of its having been seen to smoke.
It has never been ascended to the summit; but an
attempt was made in 1857, by Lieut, (now Major-
General) A, V. Kautz and Dr. R. O. Craig, United States
Army, who reached an altitude of 12,000 feet, as calcu-
lated by the boiling-point of water. They estimated the
line of perpetual snow at 8,000 feet. There were no dead
trees above the present line of vegetation as described
by Major Haller on Mount Hood, and they saw no evi-
dence of modern eruption. On its side Lieut. Kautz dis-
356 The North-western Boundary.
covered a glacier, the source of the Nisqually River, of
which he gives the following account :
" The glacier from which the Nisqually rises is formed
by the filling-in of an immense mass of snow and ice in
a ravine on the south side of Mouut Rainier. Prom
where the river emerges to the head of the ravine the
distance is four or five miles, and the latter varies in
widtli from half a mile to a mile. The upper end is cov-
ered with snow, having immense chasms running across
it. The lower end is principally ice, with much debris of
rocks, sand, and gravel. It is about fifteen miles to the
summit of Mount Rainier, from the foot of the glacier.
The ravine narrows near its foot, and there is no terminal
moraine, but there are lateral moraines, and a straggling
medial one.
" The latter is not at all marked, but the lateral ones
are very perfect, formiug a ridge on each side 200 feet
above the ice, with a slope of 60° or 70° next to the
glacier, and about 45° on the other side. It is composed
of the d6bris of the mountain, almost entirely of basalt
rock.
" There is a large vein of granite at the foot of the gla-
cier, through which it had evidently worn a passage, as
the bed of the stream, for a mile and a half or two miles
below, was white with granite boulders.
"The Nisqually came out from beneath the ice in a
stream twenty-five or thirty feet wide, a torrent so muddy
and rapid that we would not have dared to ford it The
cavern was not much wider than the stream, and about
fifteen feet high. The ice was, in places, clear and blue,
but in others mixed with debris."
The foot of the glacier was steep, but higher up it had
a more gentle slope of perhaps one foot in five. We
ascended about half-way and crossed over to the moraine
on the west side, finding, with much difficulty, a camp
I
Volcanoes. 357
among the pines. . Here the water boiled at 199° Fahr.,*
and the thermometer stood 34°. The glacier made a ter-
rific crushing and grinding noise during the night. We
had snow all around us, but afterwards found that we
could have gone 100 feet higher and obtained wood.
From this camp we started at eight in the morning, and,
travelling steadily till six, we had to return without the
triumph of standing fairly on either peak, though we
were on the top of the mountain. The summit of Mount
Rainier is a ridge forming two sides of a triangle, with
a peak at each end and one in the angle. We made the
south peak nearly, and I could have easily reached it but
for want of time. There is no indication of any recent
eruption, and we satf no crater. If there is any, it is
filled up with snow.
Mount Baker, the next most prominent peak, and the
northernmost in Washington Territory, is fully twenty-
five miles to the west of the water-shed of the Cascade
range, upon a spur or offset, and about in a line with
some other peaks to the southward, as Pitt Mountain and
Mount Shaste. Its height is given by the United States
Coast Survey approximately at 10,800 feet. It appears
from the westward as a conical peak, less simple in form
than any of the others.
From Frazer River, above Fort Langley, and also from
the Skagit, it is seen to be truncated, or rather roof-
shaped. It would seem to have only recently resumed
its activity; as I am informed, both on the authority of
* Altitude, Kautz's encampment, by Loomis's formula:
Barometric pressure, corresponding to 199° 22.971
Assumed sea level 80.042
Assumed altitude 7011.4
Correction for temperature 284.0
7246.4
Correction for decrease in gravity 28 . 0
7268.4
358 Th* North-western Boundary.
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and also of
Indians, that the eruption of 1843 was the first Known
It broke out simultaneously with St. Helen' s, and covered
the whole country with ashes.
The natives told Mr. Tale, chief trader at Port Lang-
ley, that the Skagit River was obstructed in its course,
and all the fish died. This was, in substance, what they
assured me on my visit to the river, adding that the
country was on fire for miles round.
The fish, undoubtedly, were destroyed by the quantity
of cinders and ashes brought down by the Hukullum.
Since the above date, smoke is. frequently seen issuing
from the mountain.
Between Mount Baker and Mount Rainier a number of
lesser peaks, presenting from the Strait of Fuca the form
of a broken sierra, rise to the limits of perpetual snow.
They have never been explored, but they appear, from
some points of view, like the skeletons of formerly more
elevated volcanic mountains.
I have heard of no volcanic peaks as existing in the
Cascade or Marine range of British Columbia, but this
development in the Russian dominions is extraordinary.
Sir George Simpson states * that eighty-four different
volcanoes have been in operation, in the country under
the jurisdiction of the Russian American Company,
within the recollection of many of the inhabitants.
Eaethqtjaxes.
These have evidently been of frequent occurrence, as
they do not excite much astonishment among the Indians.
Duflot de Mofras mentions one which was felt at Fort
Vancouver, December 2d, 1841, at 4 p. m. They experi-
enced these oscillations, of a second or more, and in a
direction north and south. Mr. Tale, in a letter to me,
says : " We had two that might have attracted the atten-
tion of the geologist. Both occurred after the eruption
* Overland Voyage.
Eastern Cascade Ranges. 359
of Mount Baker. The first was tremulous, and caused
some dilapidation of tottering things; but its greatest
peculiarity was perhaps the loud report that preceded or
attended it, and the roaring noise, which continued. for
some time. The adjacent mountains being composed of
tremendous masses of solid rock, we almost expected to
behold them and ourselves sinking into an abyss. The
other was undulatory, and did some injury to the foun-
dation of our house. It seemed to have come from the
westward, and to have left in its trail a cold, disagree*
able, smoky vapor. Both occurred in winter. That of
the 26th of December was felt here, but I believe slightly,
having escaped my perception."
This last was one of December 26th, 1856, which was
very perceptible at Port Townshend, where I then was,
jarring the house like the fall of some heavy body. It
was felt by Mr. Warbass at Whidbey's Island, and the
Indians told him, in reply to his inquiry if they knew
what it was, " that the earth was rising."
A very distinct shock was noticed at Olympia on the
2d of April, 1859, at 2:30 a. m. Mr. James Tilton, Sur-
veyor-General of the Territory, describes its force as
about equal to the effect of a sixty-mile-an-hour gale
upon a frame house.
The crockery rattled, and many persons were awak-
ened. There was but one shock, which lasted eight or
ten seconds. The night was calm, and the tremor well
defined, undulatory, and suggestive of the motion erf a
ship at sea.
A lady living in Olympia informed me that a pivot
glass in her bedroom was made to swing so much as to
attract her notice.
The direction was S. W.
Eastern Cascade Ranges.
The mountains lying between the Skagit and Okina-
kane, I have distinguished on the profile as the Skagit
360 The North-western Boundary.
and Similkameen ranges ; but, excepting that each forms
a watershed, more or less continuous, they do not possess
the character of true ranges, but rather a confused assem-
blage of ridges with no perceptible arrangement or
direction.
North of the parallel, they have a pretty equal height,
not exceeding 6,000, or at most 6,500, feet above the sea,
and on the summit and southerly exposures they are
thinly wooded and covered with grass. South of the
line, however, they are much more elevated, rising in
high and ragged peaks, of which Mount Hozomeen,
standing almost exactly upon it and overlooking the
Skagit, is an example.
Between that stream and the forks of the Pasayten,
the rocks generally were of the same character as in the
Cascade range.
The divide between the ,two rivers was of felspar,
interstratified with slate and quartz. Descending the
west fork of the Pasayten, they were granitic, sienite, as
usual, prevailing over true granite.
Quartz, felspar, diorite, and various porphyries also
occur. In a small branch of this fork, boulders of sand-
stone, containing some vegetable traces, were observed;
and on the mountain opposite the Chuchuwanten the
rocks were sandstones, of various degrees of fineness, and
conglomerates.
It is not improbable that tertiary deposits of some
extent have existed here, as Lieut. Parke found lignite,
in a micaceous sandstone upon the Similkameen, a little
above the mouth of the Pasayten; but, if so, they have
been mostly denuded or greatly altered.
The valley of the west fork has quite a gradual descent,
but nowhere exceeds a mile in width. It is divided into
basins, irregularly lined with terraces, some of them level
and rising in benches, others resembling rather slides
from the mountains, subsequently modified by water,
than original deposits. The soil is of fine sand, mixed
Eastern Cascade Ranges. 361
with gravel and boulders. The south fork is more rapid,
and with a narrower bottom, and below the junction the
river enters a canon, which continues to near the mouth.
Crossing from the Pasayten to the Similkameen, porphy-
rinic and altered rocks formed the mountains dividing
the former from the Naisnuloh, and prevailed for some
distance down the last-named stream. Below these,
sienite, quartz, and blue slate were observed, sienite con-
stituting the prevalent boulders in the stream. The
quartz, in many instances, breaks into polyhedrons, huge
modified crystals, often weighing over a ton. In one of
these, which had been fractured, I noticed three sides of
an interior hexagonal prism. In places, steep escarp-
ments of the mountains overhang the Naisnuloh, a talus
of debris resting against their sides, the fragments of
which were often of great size.
The terraces on the Naisnuloh were a strongly-marked
feature, occasionally attaining a height of 300 feet above
the stream. They occur sometimes on one side only ; at
others, on both, and of equal elevation. Longitudinally,
they appeared perfectly horizontal, but with a slope from
the mountains towards the water. In its lower course,
the Naisnuloh, as is so generally the case with these
rivers, becomes more rapid, and the valley narrows.
The canon continues till within two or three miles of its
mouth, from whence to the Similkameen is a level-
terraced plain.
Mr. Ouster, who crossed from the Skagit on to the head
of the Similkameen and thence descended the latter,
found- the divide to consist of sienite and slates, and
these rocks prevailed along his route. From the Campe
des Femmes to the mouth of the Haipwil the river is
nowhere very rapid ; but its valley, down nearly to the
mouth of the Naisnuloh, is narrow, not exceeding from
half to three-quarters of a mile. From the junction of
the Pasayten fluviatile terraces line the bottom.
Below the Naisnuloh the prevalent rocks were sienite,
862 The North-western Boundary.
hornblende, and lamellar quartz, all greatly disturbed in
their position. At the mouth of the Haipwil, alkaline
deposits were first noticed in the residuum of a shallow
lake which had recently dried up. There were no crystals,
but the salt covered the ground in a thick effloresced crust,
which at a short distance presented, as on the Sweet-
water River, precisely the appearance of water, or rather
of ice, surrounded by an edging of snow. The Boil gener-
ally throughout the lower valley of the river seems more
or less impregnated with it. This basin is nearly desti-
tute of timber, and of but little value except for grazing.
A few patches of wet and rich bottom occur, but for the
rest it is all sandy ;' and the presence of the artemesia
and the cactus would alone be sufficient proof of its
worthlessness.
The mountains are sparsely timbered, and, where not
denuded of soil, are covered with fine bunch grass, as are
also the terraces and much of the bottom. Their slopes
are generally steep, deeply furrowed by ravines, and
broken by rocky escarpments, from which masses of
debris extend down to the valley.
The district suitable for settlement, therefore, is of
very limited extent, and that lies altogether north of the
parallel. For summer grazing it is admirably fitted; but
although the snow, according to Indian report, does not
lie as deep here as it does on the Columbia, and their
horses can contrive to subsist, it is evident that in this
climate no considerable number of animals could be win-
tered without an artificial supply of food.
The terraces on this part of the river, and for some dis-
tance below, do not exceed thirty or forty feet in height,
and extend in long level lines for miles at a stretch, the
faces curving with the course of the stream.
They are not always found on opposite sides, but some-
times alternate. The normal surfaces seem to have been
almost fiat, but the wash from the mountains has left
long sweeping slopes, sometimes extending to the edge,
Eastern Cascade Ranges. 363
sometimes but part way, according to the width of the
plateau.
Upon some of the hill-sides are partially terraced
banks, frequently extending to a considerable height, as,
for instance, at the junction of the HaipwiL
A little below that stream, the terraces are .greatly
modified, both by erosion and by increment of detritus
from the hills. Deep arroyos have been formed, the
level bottom ceases altogether, and a few miles farther
dowb, the river becomes canoned, and presents a succes-
sion of rapids and falls, one of which is some twenty-five
feet in height.
Approaching the mouth, the Similkameen valley again
widens out into terraces or plateaux, which are conspicu-
ous where it unites with the Okinakane.
The general rock of the hills, between the bend of the
Similkameen and the Okinakane, are sienite and lamellar
quartz, interstratified with slate. Mica schist was also
noticed. In the canon of the river, slate and quartz pre-
vail, having a general dip to west and south-west at vary-
ing angles.
Overlying the sienite, on many of these hills, is a coarse
conglomerate, containing large imbedded fragments of
granite.
There are also some sandstone and indurated clay rock,
which appear to be the remains of a tertiary deposit, as
in a fragment of sandstone I found a dicotyledonous leaf,
which Dr. Newberry has recogufized to be of that age.
Unfortunately I had. no opportunity of extending the
search at this place.
It was in the canon of the Similkameen that the dis-
covery of gold, by some of the party, created one of
those epidemic excitements common on the Pacific.
During the halt of the commission at Camp Similka-
meen, some of the men, in prospecting, struck diggings
on a low bar in the river, only a few rods long. The fol-
lowing day a sergeant belonging to the escort obtained
364 The North-western Boundary.
six dollars and twenty-five cents from nine pans of dirt,
and one of the employes about ten dollars in an hour.
Subsequently two men washed thirty-five dollars in
about half a day, and others various amounts, many of
them approaching the above. All this was got merely
by panning. The bar soon presented an amusing scene;
soldiers, employes and Indians being engaged together,
and all sorts of implements, from a tin cup to a frying-
pan, being brought into requisition. The gold was in
coarse scales, sometimes in pellets and pieces weighing
several dollars. After our departure one piece was found
weighing twenty-two dollars and fifty cents. The gold
had every appearance of being washed down from the
neighboring gulches, and the probability of this seems to
have been confirmed. It may be remarked that in 1853
Capt. McClellan's party found "the color" in small par-
ticles, in surface-sand, upon all the streams emptying
into the Columbia from the Cascades, and at the mouth
of the Similkameen in perceptibly sharp and unwashed
points, indicating a neighboring origin.
During the winter and spring of 1859-60, a considerable
number of miners flocked to this neighborhood, and
extended the search to the Okinakane and the Nehoial-
pitkwa. Owing to the physical features of the country,
perhaps, more than to a deficiency of the metal, the
Similkameen district was soon abandoned. The want
of water upon the hills prevented sluice-washing, which
alone could be permanently productive. Scattered dig-
gings which were found upon the Okinakane likewise
failed, and the only ones occupied for any length of time
were those of Bock Creek, a branch of the Nehoialpitkwa,
presently to be noticed. Native copper is said to have
been found by the Indians in the mountains near the
forks, but I could procure no specimens of it. Stains of
blue carbonate of copper, in seams of quartz, were found
near Lake Osoyoos, and a fragment of quartz containing
galena was picked up on the Similkameen.
Okinakane Valley. 365
The geological character of the country above described
prevails, according to the observations made in the expe-
dition of 1853, through the whole of that between the
Cascades and the Columbia, as fax south as the Winatsha
or Pisquouse River. Granite rocks, gneiss, slates, and
various porphyries continued, so far as I saw, to the
exclusion of basalt and basaltic conglomerates, and also
to that of unaltered sedimentary deposits, except as here
mentioned. I have made no attempt at their arrange-
ment in order of supposition, though I presume the
granites to be the lowest part I have seen; almost every
one passes, by invisible gradations, into others.
A striking change in scenery appears in descending the
Similkameen. The valley of the river, as already men-
tioned, is almost destitute of timber, a few scattered
pines alone appearing upon the terraces, with an occa-
sional skirt of willows along the stream. The lower hills,
particularly their southern faces, are also bare of for-
est. The whole of the eastern Cascades, in fact, present
a dry and arid appearance, as contrasted with the moist
fertility of the western range.
Okinakane Valley.
Sienite, gneiss, and granite are the prevalent rocks of
the Okinakane below the mouth of its principal tribu-
tary. Above that point, the same rocks were capped
with the coarse conglomerate noticed on the Lower
Similkameen.
At the lower end of the great lake, claystone por-
phyry was noticed. Very little of this valley is fitted
for cultivation, as the soil is sandy, with alkaline deposits.
Timber is confined to the mountains, except a few cotton-
woods and willows in the bottoms.
The Okinakane, as well as the Upper Columbia and
Prazer rivers, is remarkable for its fluviatile lakes, for-
merly still more numerous through this northern coun-
try, but the most of which have been drained by the
866 The Northwestern Boundary.
gradual wearing down of the river-beds. These, indeed,
were but the remains of those arms of an interior sea
which extended up into Hie narrow and trough-like val-
leys between the mountain-ranges.
The largest of the Okinakane lakes is over sixty miles
in length. Between it and the forks of the Similkameen
are four smaller ones, and its valley, below that point, is
divided into basins, where others onoe existed.
I have assigned all the mountains west of this river to
the Cascade system, as will be seen hereafter. The
trough or valley of the Okinakane is nearly 400 feet
lower, on the forty-ninth parallel, than the Columbia
River at the same latitude; and the difference in altitude
between the great lake and the upper Arrow Lake of the
Columbia, a degree to the northward, is probably as
much. This stream, therefore, forms the true trough of
the interior basin. Its course, which is from north to
south, is continued by that of the Columbia, from the
junction to the mouth of the Snake, near Walla Walla.
As usual, the descent of the Okinakane is more rapid on
its lower than its upper portion.
The terraces of this valley are among the most notice-
able features of the region, and it is in this neighborhood
that the coulees, or, as termed by Lyell, landstraits, are
almost strikingly exhibited.
As they will be noticed in a separate chapter, I shall
not particularly describe them here. The general height
of the lateral or river terraces was from 250 to 300 feet.
Nehoialpitkwa River.
From the first summit of the divide between the Okin-
akane and the Nehoialpitkwa, elevated about 2,200 feet
above the former, a view opens to the south-west and
west, as far as the range bordering the Methow River,
and the Tchopahk Mountain on the Similkameen. The
scenery has a desolate character from the barrenness ot
the hills and the yellow hue of the herbage. Exoept
Central Range. 867
where escarpments of rock project, the slopes of the
mountains near the river are gradual and the lines of ter-
races well marked. The actual summit is about 1,000
feet higher, being over 3,000 feet above the Okinakane, or
4,067 above the sea. It maintains the same character of
grassy slopes and plateaux with skirts of timber, and, tin
the highest points, forest. Terraces and knolls continue
to the top, the former having an amphitheatrical arrange-
ment.
The divide between the two rivers, like that between
the Skagit and Similkameen, is very narrow; the
Schainks, the western branch of the Nehoialpitkwa,
heading within a few miles of Lake Osoyoos.
The character of the Nehoialpitkwa, a secondary
stream, is a miniature of the larger ones. The main
river runs southerly to the neighborhood of the parallel
at the junction of the Schainks; thence, turning easterly
through a valley formed of a series of basins, it receives
its two principal feeders also from the north, and, then
bending suddenly nearly south, reaches the Columbia
opposite Port Colville.
The lowest of the two main tributaries is the outlet of
a long fluviatile lake. None of any consequence come
in from the south. As usual, it is canoned at its lower
extremity.
Central Range.
The mountains between the Okinakane and the Colum-
bia, on both sides of the Nehoialpitkwa, rise to an
average height of 6,000 and 6,500 feet, with occasional
peaks 1,000 feet higher. Their summits are broad and
flat, the ascents very gradual, though broken by escarp-
ments of rock. On the right bank of the river they are
often denuded of soil, but still show in horizontal lines
of the larch, or tamarack, the remains of elevated terraces.
These trees are, in the autumn, conspicuous among other
conif erae by the yellow hue which their leaves assume
868 The North-western Boundary.
before falling; and, perhaps from their requiring a greater
depth of soil than the firs, seem particularly to affect the
terraces and summits. The southern and eastern slopes
are less timbered and more grassy than the others.
The terraces throughout the valley are well marked.
The descent to the Schainks is by four of these benches,
the heights of which, above the crossing of that creek,
were, of the first, 767 feet, of the lowest, 363 feet ; or,
respectively, 3,462 and 2,686 feet above the sea. In the
basins of the main stream they are lower and more
extensive ; but at the mouth again, where the fall is more
rapid, they regain their height. Modified terraces are
visible in various places at from 600 to 600 feet above the
river. The debris and wash from the hill** form slopes
towards the river, sometimes at a pretty steep angle,
extending to the edge, or crossing midway in the terrace,
according to its width. Large masses of rock are scat-
tered over them, but evidently all derived from the
neighboring mountains. Almost every form of modifi-
cation is to be found well marked along this river.
The rocks on the mountain-sides, to a great height,
appeared often to have been smoothed by water or ice.
If by the latter, it was possibly the ice of the arms or
bays, and not of glaciers, though these may have been,
as elsewhere, covered by detritus.
Many of the appearances of glacial action, attributed
to fixed glaciers, may, it appears to me, be rather due to
ordinary winter-ice, at a period of greater elevation of
the water or. depression of the land. I saw no trans-
ported boulders in this valley, though the terraces are
often strewed with blocks rolled down from the adjacent
hill-sides.
The geology of this range, which, following Prof.
Dana, I have considered as a continuation of the Blue
Mountains, is singularly confounded. Leaving Lake
Osoyoos, we found, at the foot of the divide, sienite
cropping out beneath quartz rock. The summit was of
Central Range. 369
a dark-colored granite, decomposing rapidly on expos-
ure, and descending to the Schainks; besides the granite,
boulders of blue altered slate and a porphyrinic trachyte
were abundant in the stream. In following the Nehoial-
pitkwa down, a great variety of rocks were observed,—
granite, trap, porphyry, gneiss, and laminated quartz, tal-
cose actinolite and mica schist, as also limestone. A
short distance above the southerly bend of the river, on
the right bank, the granite breaks through the gneiss,
forming, as it were, dikes or long hogbacks running down
the side of the mountain, and conspicuous by their lighter
color.
Gneiss enters much more largely into the constituents of
these mountains than it does into those of the Cascades.
In particular, it forms the walls of the canon near the
mouth of the river, where it is nearly horizontal. The
limestone, which becomes more abundant in approaching
the Columbia, is thickly bedded, crystalline, and appears
to overlie the others.
The search for gold upon this river, consequent upon
its discovery upon the Similkameen, resulted in finding
"diggings" upon Rock Creek, a stream coming in from
the north, near the first crossing of the parallel, and to
the foundation there of a village, or miners' settlement.
The excitement was of somewhat longer duration than at
the first-mentioned locality, but has since subsided in
favor of the mines more recently discovered in the Nez
Perc6 country.
The Nehoialpitkwa valley contains some land suitable
for cultivation in the basins and low plateaux, but its
chief value is for grazing. The best part of it lies north
of the parallel. The timber in the valley itself is mostly
the red or Columbia pine (P. ponderosa), larch, and yellow
fir ; on the mountains, the larch, pinus contorta, yellow
and balsam firs. The line of forest reaches a greater
elevation here than on the western Cascades. Mr. Custer
found pines and balsam firs in full vigor at 7,000 feet.
24
370 The North-western Boundary.
Columbia Kjveb.
The fells of this river near Fort Colville (generally
known as the Shwoyelpi, or Kettle Palls, from the " pot-
holes" worn in the rocks) are about twenty-five feet in
height. The obstruction is formed by a thick bed of
laminated quartz, which here crosses the river, having an
easterly dip of 20°. This spot is one of the great fishing-
grounds of the neighboring Indians, who annually assem-
ble, in the summer, in large numbers. The falls are not
sufficiently perpendicular to stop the passage of the
salmon, but check them enough to enable the Indians to
secure incredible numbers.
Following the Columbia from Fort Colville to Port
Shepherd, a little above the forty-ninth parallel, slates
and limestone prevailed, with intrusions of trap, and an
occasional outcrop of granite. The slates were much
broken up and altered, and no general dip could be
recognized. The limestone was of various quality, the
prevalent form being a fine-grained and compact black
rock. It was also found breaking up into wedge-shaped
fragments and splitting into large plates. This last was
of various colors, pink, white, and dark gray. Near the
mouth of Clarke's Fork the boulders were sienite.
Gold was found several years ago in Clarke' s Fork, and
in the Columbia* at its mouth, and this discovery led, I
believe, to that of the Frazer-River mines. It was chiefly
obtained from th& bank, or lower terrace, and was very
fine, requiring mercury to collect it. Farther up Clarke's
Fork it was rather coarser. The prospects, however, were
not flattering, and in 1859 the placer was already nearly
abandoned.
Excepting the terraces, which are seldom of any width,
the Columbia has no valley above Fort Colville. From
there to the mouth of Clarke' s Fork it is lined on both
sides by hills of very uniform elevation, which sometimes,
for miles, present an almost unbroken wall.
In the whole distance no tributary larger than a brook
Columbia River. 371
enters from the east, and on the west but a single stream,
a creek called the Yornetsin, or White Sheep.
In the wider parts of the river-bed extensive flats and
stony bars occur ; elsewhere it runs through a trough of
sloping boulders.
At Fort Shepherd, about a mile above Clarke's Pork,
the rise of the river, as indicated by this trough, is twenty-
five to thirty feet, and the boulders range from a foot to
three feet in diameter. The tremendous force of the
sand-laden water, during the freshets, is shown by the
rocks, in litter, which are polished and worn into deep
kettle-holes, as they are at the falls below Colville.
About twenty-five miles above Port Colville are the
"Little Dalles," a narrow canon in the slate rock, where
the river is compressed to a width of perhaps fifty yards.
This word dalles, by the way, which occurs frequently
on the maps of Oregon, is a Canadian term, signifying a
trough, and is usually applied to cations in the bed of a
stream, not to the great fissures or excavations through
which its course lies.
The width of the Columbia at the mouth of Clarke's
Pork is about 300 yards. That branch enters at right
angles through a gorge in a wall of hills some 1,200 feet
high.
Its course for many miles above its mouth is that of
a roaring torrent, and it falls directly into the main river
by a cascade of twelve or fifteen feet in height.
The terraces of the Columbia are well marked and con-
tinuous for considerable distances. At one camp below
the mouth of Clarke's Fork the base was elevated about
eighty feet above the river. Prom the opposite and cor-
responding one, the second rose to the height apparently
of 500 feet, and still above that a line of larches indicated
the remains of a third.
■
The lower terraces are wooded with pine, larch, and fir,
and the two latter line the hills. The fact that these
terraces do not slope with the river, but descend by
372 The North-western Boundary.
steps, is well illustrated between Fort Colville and Fort
Shepherd.
FfiOM Colville to Singawateen.
The valley of the Slawntens, or, as it is locally called,
Mill Greek, which enters the Columbia just below Fort
Colville, and of the Chemakane, a small stream heading
with it, and emptying into the Spokane, form another of
the coulees before mentioned, of which there are a num-
ber running through these hills. The first rises from the
base plain of the Columbia, by a terrace, to a height of
some 380 feet above the river, and the divide between the
two is between 500 and 600 feet, the Chemakane valley
dropping by another terrace to the level of the Spokane.
Of, course these streams excavate deep cuts at their exit.
The Mill Creek valley has been for many years occu-
pied by employ6s of the Hudson's Bay Company, chiefly
Canadians and half-breeds, and is, in fact, the only settle-
ment in the central part of Washington Territory. Since
the establishment of the depot by the escort of the
Boundary Survey, however, quite a number of Americans
have come in, and it would require the protection and
encouragement of a military post, for a few years only,
to give a character of permanence to the population.
The soil of the valley is rich, consisting of a deep, sandy
•loam, with a subsoil of sand. That of the terraces is, as
usual, gravelly, underlaid by blue clay at a depth of ten
or fifteen feet, but the hill-sides are also capable of pro-
ducing grain. The best crops, at present, are oats, barley,
peas, and roots.
The wheat hitherto raised has been summer wheat, and
the seed, as indeed that of everything else, has been
suffered to run out. The new seed brought in by the
troops, consisting of potatoes, beets, and other vegetables,
produced abuhdant crops.
Winter wheat would probably succeed well, as the
snow lies continuously, and would prevent freezing out
From Colville to Sinqawateen. 373
Of the fruits, apples alone could thrive here. The nights
in summer are said to be warm; but the season is very
short, early and late frosts occurring.
The Ghemakane valley, which was, at one time, the
seat of a mission, also contains some very good land.
The limestone, which forms so prominent a constituent
in the mountains west of the Columbia, appears to find
its limit in the range of hills bordering It upon the east,
none having been observed beyond the Slawntens and
Chemakane. It here overlies quartz rock, which is, on
the other side of the river, frequently laminated.
Around the depot, the quartz was chiefly visible in the
western and north-western escarpments of the hills; and,
at the mill at Peptahshin Creek, the dam is formed by
a ledge of quartz dipping northward at a steep angle.
Boulders of sienite, some of them ten or twelve feet
long, were noticed scattered over the hills east of the
depot, a fact remarkable in connection with their scarcity
through this country generally.
The explanation, I presume, is to be found in the fact
that the valley of the Columbia, and the coulees which
intersect these hills, admitted the passage of transporting
ice, which the mountains elsewhere intercepted.
East of the Slawntens and Chemakane, and between
them and Clarke's Fork, the rocks observed were a light-
colored granite, sienite, gneiss, and quartz, the latter very
generally either laminated or bedded. The granite itself
was frequently divided by parallel planes, in such wise as
to present the appearance of stratification, and in places
separated into cuboidal blocks, so as to resemble a wall
laid up in horizontal courses.
Upon the Spokane the basalt of the great plateau
makes its appearance. This stream has been mentioned
as the dividing line between the trap and the granite and
other associated rocks, and substantially it is so; but the
skirts of the former, nevertheless, cross it in places, over-
lying the granite.
874 The North-western Boundary.
The bluffs of basalt are often eroded into large rounded
masses, and the rock, still farther disintegrating, falls
apart in irregular pieces, forming mounds, from the sum-
mit of which points or chimneys of still coherent material
project.
The terraces of the Spokane are conspicuous for their
elevation rather than their number. They are formed
almost altogether* from the white quartz and felspar of
the decayed granite.
Between the Little Spokane and the Ooeur d'Alene
prairie, upon a plateau of trap elevated some 500 feet
above the latter, an outcrop of argillaceous slate was
observed overlying the basalt. The Cceur d' Alene prairie,
which is situated on the main Spokane, here called the
Cceur d'Alene River, is about twenty miles in length by
three to five wide.
This valley, which is one of the most beautiful in the
territory, is the favorite resort of the Indians of both
tribes, who pasture their horses on the bunch-grass with
which it abounds, and have their patches of grain and
vegetables under the hills which border it. No great
portion, however, is capable of cultivation.
The prairie is slightly terraced, and, in places covered
with rolled gravel, precisely like that of sea-beaches. Its
elevation is approximately 2,200 feet above the sea.
In the valley of the Little Spokane there is a consider-
able body of arable land, and wheat and potatoes both
thrive well. The climate of the Spokane is much milder
than that around Colville or on Clarke's Fork, and the
season proportionately longer. The grass on the 3d of
April was already becoming green, and early spring
flowers were appearing, while at" Colville depot the snow
had hardly left the ground.
Prom the prairie, the Coeur d' A16ne Mountains, on the
south, and Bitter Boot, on the east, bound the river, both
at this season topped with snow. The river, which,
emerging from the lake; winds through the whole length
From Golvills to Slngawatbbn. 875
of the prairie, a little below it, makes a fall of 100 feet,
the obstruction, according to Dr. Cooper, being gneiss
lying horizontally, through which, it has cut a narrow
canon, with vertical walls, a mile in length. Gneiss,
granite, and pegmatite form the principal rocks on the
north side of the prairie also, where they run into one
another in the most confused manner.
The valley of the Cceur d' A16ne is connected with that
of Clarke' s Pork by a wide coulee, the greater part of
which is a plateau, elevated some 600 or 700 feet above
the former. It bears indubitable evidence of deposit or
arrangement by water, and unquestionably, at some for-
mer period, opened a communication between the two.
This plateau is thickly wooded, and snow lay to a depth
of two or three feet, deepest as we approached Clarke's
Fork. On reaching Pekoula Lake, the route to Clarke's
Fork descends an abrupt terrace of 225 feet, and follows
a lower bench some fifty feet above the water. Beyond
this the descent of the outlet was gradual to the Singa-
wateen crossing. The ranges on either side of this valley
rise to a considerable height, the shape of the mountains
being in general of the rounded outline common to gran-
ite formations, in many instances with dome-shaped
summits and crowning knobs, all wooded except on the
highest peaks. On the west side, or towards Colville,
one summit called Chekolesum, probably 7,000 feet in
height and destitute of timber on the top, is the Ararat
of the neighboring Indians, to which they fled in the
great rising of the waters. Mr. Angus MoDonald, of the
Hudson's Bay Company, informed me that a petrified
tree, said to be Cottonwood, lies upon its summit.
Clarke's Fork, from the Katispelm Lake to Singawa-
teen, a distance of fifteen miles, has itself almost the
character of a lake, especially in the freshet season, its
channel being wide and deep, and its current compara-
tively sluggish. From there to the old mission of St.
Ignatius, thirty-five miles, it is swifter, and below that
376 Tee Nobtb-wbbtbmn Boundary*
point it runs through a canon broken by falls and rapids,
and impassable for canoes. Even the salmon do not
ascend it. The only alluvial land below the lake is an
ocoaataud strip of Lrtow, Hooded d^ ft. «unmor.
The terraces are composed of a very stiff and refractory
whitish clay, utterly unfit for cultivation. The country
is everywhere timbered and vegetation exceedingly late,
frost and snow not entirely disappearing from the woods
until the end of May.
The rise of the south branch, at the junction of the
Bitter Root and Hellgate forks, commences about the
1st of April ; that of the north branch, on Flathead River,
I could not learn, but it is undoubtedly later some-
what.
At Singawateen the rise commenced about the middle
of April, and the water reached its stand-point June
17th, the height being sixteen feet. On the 17th August
it had fallen to within four and a half feet of its spring
level.
The rocks between the crossing and the lake were
almost entirely granite, composed of light-colored fel-
spar in large crystals, white quartz, and a small pro-
portion of mica. Some gneiss and diorite were also
observed.
Katispelm, or, as it is also called, Pend' Oreille Lake, is
not an expansion of the present river, but fills a con-
siderable valley transverse to its course. It is forty miles
long by seven in greatest width, very deep, and lined on
both sides by mountains.
A depression, or coulee, similar to that between Singa-
wateen and the prairie, extends from its head, south
toward the Coeur d' Alene Lake, and another north from
its lower end to the Kootenay, at Chelemta. This last is
drained in either direction by streams which interlock
with one another. It is continued directly north by the
course of the Kootenay River as far as Flatbow Lake.
Barometric measurements give the following as the
From Colvillb to Sinqawatsbn. 377
approximate relative heights of these rivers and their
connecting valleys on north and south lines:
Elevation of CcBur d'Alene Lake 2,280 feet.
Elevation of Katispelm Lake 2, 210 "
Height of former over latter 20 "
Elevation of Spokane River at the prairie 2,170 "
Elevation of Clarke's Fork at Singawateen 2, 140 "
Height of former over latter 30 "
Elevation of Katispelm Lake, as above 2,210 "
Elevation of Kootenay River at Chelemta 1 , 770 "
Height of former over latter 440 "
Elevation of divide between Coeur d'Alene prairie
and Singawateen 2,580 "
Elevation of Spokane River 410 "
Elevation of Singawateen 440 "
Elevation of terrace opposite Chelemta 2,360 "
Elevation of terrace above Katispelm Lake 150 "
Elevation of terrace above Kootenay River 590 "
It will thus be seen that the elevation of the rivers
decreases as we proceed northward, and that a com-
paratively slight erosion would direct the water of Katis-
pelm Lake into the Kootenay. On the other hand, the
terraced deposits, so far as observed, are higher at the
northern than at the southern end of the coulees, as, for
instance, at the Kootenay than on the Katispelm Lake, and
this not merely in comparative, but in actual height. On
the supposition of recession southward of the sea, this
would be naturally the case.
From the configuration of the country, it would seem
probable that other similar depressions, running in con-
formity with the mountain-chains, connect the Kootenay
with the waters of Clarke' s Fork above the points here
mentioned, and these would appear to be natural valleys,
878 Tbb Nortb-wrstern Boundary.
formed during the original upheaval of the mountain-
ranges, and filled up by detritus during the submergence
of the country. The remarkable feature is, that the
rivers should have cut out channels through these ranges,
instead of following the troughs.
Mr. Darwin has noticed similar facts in some of the
mountain-basins of South America.
Passing from the lake to Chelemta by this valley, we
found the bottom-land heavily timbered, and the upper
terraces, which are sandy, exhibiting the open grooves
peculiar to the Red River. The mountains on either side
are granitic; but in the bed of the creek, running through
the Kootenay, were large boulders of sandstone, probably
tertiary.
Kootenay River.
The valley opens upon the Kootenay at a point where,
having broken through a range of mountains in a course
from east to west, it turns suddenly northward, as it
were in continuation of the coul6e. Looking down the
river, from the high terrace in which the latter termi-
nates, a superb view presents itself in the early summer ;
the entire valley, from mountain to mountain, being
flooded, leaving only strips of more elevated timber-land,
small islands, and the tops of trees above water. On the
opposite or right bank, the course of the stream can be
followed by the balsam poplars, and willows, which bor-
der it on either side, as it crosses nearly to the farther
side of the valley, and there winds down in a serpentine
course, presenting the curious spectacle of two parallel
rows of trees rising in a broad expanse of water and
inclosing a canal.
It is such immense reservoirs for the melted snow of
the Rocky Mountains that supply the body of water
which continues to pass through the Columbia and Fra-
zer rivers until late in the season. * The accompanying
views, one taken from the point of our first approach
during the freshet, and the other some twenty miles
Kootenay River. 379
below, after its. subsidence, will give a better idea, how-
ever, than mere description. The valley is from two to
five miles wide. The terrace, which here borders it, is
single, and rises to a height of 500 or 600 feet, but on the
right bank is greatly modified and broken by the protru-
sion of the rock on which it rests. The mountains reach
an elevation of about 4,000 feet above the river, or 6,000
above the sea, some higher points being above the
forest-line. Patches of snow are visible upon them till
the beginning of July. They are massive, with moulded
summits and sweeping outlines, but their sides present
many abrupt and deep ravines. Except the river-bottom
or interval, which is meadow, the whole country is
timbered.
The river had already commenced to fall, and, as esti-
mated from the banks, the subsidence had been about
nine feet. The difference at Ghelemta between the high-
est and lowest stages, as indicated by a gauge, is little
short of thirty feet. As might be supposed, there is no
arable land in the valley, those portions where the soil
might admit of cultivation being overflowed during the
early summer. The terraces are sandy, but afibrd good
grazing in the open timber.
Following down the right bank of the Kootenay to the
parallel, the rocks were chiefly granitic, varying in the
proportions of the material at different localities, mica
being always sparingly distributed. Some gneiss was
also noticed. Leaving the river and crossing to the
Moosyie, a change in the geological character of the
country is at once perceptible.
The range which is cut through by the Kootenay in its
great bend, as will hereafter more particularly be .noticed,
is a northerly continuation of the Bitter Root chain, and
as such the true axis of the Rocky Mountain system,
though not its watershed.
It forms the divide between the crystalline and meta-
morphic rocks of the western side and the stratified rocks
380 The North-western Boundary.
of the eastern ranges, though here the latter are them-
selves much broken up, and, to a great degree, metamor-
phosed. Of their age and relative position I could form
no positive opinion. I found no fossils whatever, but in
lithological character they resemble those of the eastern
mountains. Stratified quartz, blue and green slates, sand-
stone and limestone, — the last, apparently, uppermost,—
now overlie granite and diorite.
All these are greatly upturned, and no consistent dip
could be ascertained. This character prevailed to the
head of Moosyie, in about lat. 49° 30' .
The valley of this stream is very narrow, and lined with
rocky-timbered hills. It has the character, so often
referred to, of being flat and sluggish at its source, with
marshy ponds, — lower down rapid, and canoned at its
mouth.
The terraces are marked throughout, and, which is rare
to the westward, strewed with boulders and irregular
blocks. The Moosyie Lake is simply an expansion of the
stream, pretty, but with no marked features, and divided
by marshes. The hills on each side are some 1,300 or
1,500 feet above it, rising in rocky benches, sandstone
being the prevalent constituent.
On the right bank are very regular walls of strata,
varying in thickness from an inch to several feet, com-
posed of sandstone, greenish slate and limestone. The
divide between the head of the Moosyie and the Eootenay
is not over 600 feet above the former.
In descending to the Kootenay the country again
becomes open, gently undulating table-land, with gradual
slopes, and grassy spots on the hills. At the foot is a
prairie of some extent, level and surrounded with lacus-
trine terraces and low-timbered hills, "from which the first
view opened of the Rocky Mountains.
The range seen from here is that which separates the
Kootenay from one of its branches, known as Elk River.
It is steep and rugged, with crests of bare rock, and des-
Kootbnay River. 881
titrate of timber, and the lines of stratification are visible
from the western bank of the river.
Snow was seen only in patches (August 21st), though
the higher points were some 8,000 or 9,000 feet above the
sea.
The soil at Joseph's Prairie, so called from its Indian
owner, is good, but very wet in the spring. We saw here
some patches of wheat, which looked well for Indian
cultivation. The natives had a large band of horses and
cattle, including cows, which they milked.
The route hence down the Kootenay at first ran some
distance back from the river, in a sort of lateral valley,
dotted with ponds and small lake-basins, but afterwards
approaching the bank more nearly, as the country became
broken. The same general character of rock prevailed
throughout, greatly disturbed, and dipping in various
directions. Eruptions of trap and porphyry have, in
places, broken through them.
The valley of the Kootenay, in the neighborhood of
the parallel, is of considerable width, but of very
irregular surface, as indicated by the accompanying pro-
file, constructed by Mr. Hudson.
On the western side, a series of parallel ridges rise
gradually in succession to the base of the mountains.
They appear to have once constituted a series of terraces,
resting upon outcrops of rock, which have been eroded
by currents in the direction of the stream. On the
eastern side of the river, the Country is more open and
less disturbed, but with some of the same features .
Between the parallel and the mouth of the Akonoho
are quite extensive level plateaux, terraoed, constituting
the Tobacco plains, so called, if the name can really be
given to anything but a small patch. It is said to have
been originally on a small tract of land near the Hudson's
Bay trading post, on which some tobacco was once
planted ; as generally applied on the maps, it is simply
absurd.
882 The North-westbrn Bound amy.
There is, throughout, very little land available for
tillage, the terraced country being sandy or gravelly.
The Indians of the neighborhood raise some wheat,
turnips, potatoes, and parsnips, generally selecting
recesses of the foot-hills, or other favorable spots. Bunch-
grass covers the open country, and the grazing is veiy
good.
As at Joseph's Prairie, we found the natives in posses-
sion of numerous horses and some very good cattle.
The terraces bordering the Kootenay here are distinct,
two, or sometimes three, in number, and reach a height
of 600 feet. The highest are generally modified, and
far from continuous.
Terraced slopes, in some instances, run up into the
recesses of the mountains to a much greater height. Mr.
Hudson counted, on one of these, fourteen different
levels.
Kootenay Range.
The valley of the Akonoho is quite wide near its open-
ing into the Kootenay, and, like that of the latter, terraced,
the plateaux extending up it to an elevation of 4,000 feet
above the sea. Ascending the stream, the pass narrows,
and is shut in by mountains. The summit is about 5,300
feet. In the lower valley the rocks were chiefly sand-
stones, with some slate, in some places rendered meta-
morphic by the intrusion of trap. Upon the summit
they were a red micaceous sandstone and red shale,
interstratified with green slates. These latter are some-
times glazed on the surfaces of lamination, sometimes
separated by their partings of mica, and occasionally are
calcareous.
Ripple-marks and sun-cracks are abundant and exceed-
ingly distinct. Another class of marks, frequently seen,
is of parallel lines sharply cut, as if with a graver's tool,
and sometimes crossed at right angles, but of inconsider-
able depth. They probably indicate that joints had
Kootenat Range. 383
commenced to form. Descending on the east side, the
sandstones prevail for some distance down ; and among
the fragments rain-marks, and some very obscure forms,
conjectured by Dr. Newberry to be fucoids, were
abundant.
These rocks were succeeded by limestone, which forms
in one place a precipitous wall of 700 feet in height above
the creek. At the foot of this the first distinct organic
remains were seen in a species of coral zaffrenites, and a
little farther a number of casts were collected of spirif er,
athyris and productus.
All these were found in loose fragments of limestone,
and, although their neighboring origin was unquestion-
able, nonp were detected actually in place. An exami-
nation by Mr. Meek refers them, without doubt, to the
carboniferous period, as will be seen by his report ; but
their exact place in the series is uncertain.
No traces of coal or coal-plants were discovered.
Lower down the stream, and apparently below the lime-
stone which contains these fossils, is an outcrop of sand-
stone, said by Dr. Newberry to be the exact counterpart
1 of the Potsdam sandstone, as it occurs farther south in
the Rooky Mountain ranges.
As regards the dip of these rocks, taken as a whole, no
general rule could be ascertained. They are hori-
zontal, or nearly so. At the summit they dipped N. E.
26°, and elsewhere they are inclined in various directions.
The upheaval of the range is undoubtedly from the east-
ward, but there seem to be several foldings. The red
sandstones and slates appear to overlie the limestone.
The valley of the Akinesahtl, or Upper Flathead River,
near the parallel, though of some width, has no interval
land, being occupied almost entirely by the terraces.
The uppermost of these consist, instead of rolled gravel,
almost entirely of angular fragments, the debris of the
adjacent hills.
The first view of the eastern range of the Rocky
384 The Northwestern Boundary.
Mountains, as presenting itself on emerging from the
pass into the valley of the Flathead, is that of a number
of detached masses rising above a line of foot-hills.
These are, in fact, the ends of spurs or ridges which break
off from the watershed, or in some cases of almost
isolated groups. The highest points of this range, which
here are about 10,000 feet above the sea, are not upon the
divide, but upon these outliers. Their general shape is
ragged and precipitous, with sharp crests or points.
Their altitude, their striking forms, and the various colors
displayed in the rocks which compose them, unite in
these mountains the highest elements of beauty and
grandeur.
The pass through this range leads up a creek which
heads, in the main divide or watershed, with one of the
feeders of Belly River, the southern branch of the south
fork of the Saskatchewan. Two remarkable mountains, —
Kisheneton, on the north, and Rishenehu, on the south,
the latter a double peak, — form its western portals. The
general material of these mountains is, on the western
side of the range, sandstones and shales of various colors,
from yellow to deep-red, greenish slates and limestone.
Mr. Alden, who ascended one of the peaks, describes
the alternations as follows : The base was covered with
debris to the estimated height of 1,500 feet above the
level of the creek, where the rook was red sandstone.
Over this was a belt of the same rock, metamorphic, and
in waved or contorted strata, 150 feet thick, succeeded by
500 feet of green slates and red sandstones interstratified;
then again by red sandstones 500 feet, the summit, to a
thickness of 1,500 feet, consisting of an ochre-yellow
earthy shale.
The other peak of the same mountain, on the contrary,
was of a light-drab sandstone at the base, and above
composed of green and red strata to a thickness of 600
feet, and then of red sandstone to the summit.
The foldings, or plications, of the strata through this
Kootbnat Range. 385
range are evidently on a vast scale, and it would be idle
to attempt unravelling them in a single and hurried pas-
sage. As a general thing, it appeared to me that the
limestones occupied the lowest position, and the earthy
red and yellow shales and sandstones the highest.
In ascending the pass, I found a thick bed of trap and
greenstone porphyry, intercalated between strata of sand-
stone, upon one of the mountain-sides, and elsewhere
noticed curved and contorted .strata, evidently the result
of other intrusions. Ripple-marks were everywhere
abundant. I met with no fossils ; but at Camp Akaminia,
on the southern fork of Kishenehu Creek, Mr. Hudson
discovered the singular impressions figured by Dr. New-
berry, which cover large slabs of rock. Their character,
however, is not sufficiently determined to afford any
indication of the age of the foundation. Low terraces
bordered the valley almost to the foot of the divide.
The summit, or watershed proper, is here continuous
for at least several miles, and its dip is uniform to the
S. S. W., or perpendicular to the trend of the range, in
which direction it presents a gradual slope, while to the
N. N. E. it plunges at once into the valley. The eleva-
tion is about 6,000 feet. A few stunted pinus contorta
and balsam firs only grow on the summit, but their
diminished size seems to be owing to scanty soil and
exposure to wind, as they reach a height at least 500 feet
greater on the adjacent mountains.
The divide is but narrow, and the view to the west
extended down the valley of the Kishenehu to the Flat-
head, and on the east through the gorge of another creek
to that of a larger stream, of which it is a feeder.
It embraced, on either hand, a vast area of mountains
of the most picturesque forms, and singular for their
variety of coloring and the linear marks of stratification.
Several glaciers lie upon the summits of the higher
peaks, the most conspicuous of which, on Mount Kintla,
is apparently some two miles in extent.
25
386 The North-western Boundary.
No valley glaciers exist so fax south as the forty-ninth
parallel.
Descending the pass to the eastward, the mountains
rise on either side with steep slopes of debris, crowned
by precipices.
Greenstone was mixed with the boulders in the stream,
and large masses lay scattered through the ravine. Its
origin I could not trace.
The stratification of the other rocks was but little
affected; but it was, in many places, metamorphic.
limestone prevailed to a much greater extent than west
of the divide, apparently beneath the sandstones ; and,
towards the foot of the pass, quartzite seemed to underlie
that also.
Emerging from the gorge of the creek, between two
remarkable and precipitous cliffs, the pass enters a small
valley, terraced, and lyith fine grass. Its course was at
first southerly, and then eastward for about three miles,
when it opened at once upon the plains of the Saskatch-
ewan. On the north, the mountains here terminate
abruptly, rising at once in steep, rocky declivities from
the prairie. Southwards, an outlier is separated from
the main range by a long, narrow and very picturesque
lake, the waters of which also enter Bow River. The
elevation of this is about 4,000 feet above the sea.
Terraces run along the eastern base of the mountains,
from fifty to seventy-five feet above the creek. No tim-
ber is visible, except in the bottom, where there were
stunted aspen and poplar, willows, and the service berry ;
and thus suddenly does the scene here change from the
mountains and forest of the Pacific to the vast, treeless,
and almost level expanse of the central region.
On so imperfect an examination of these great mountain-
ranges, and without fossils, from numerous localities, it
would be presumptuous to attempt any positive establish-
ment of their geological age, or to unravel the complica-
tions of their structure. No crystalline or even true
From Tobacco Plains to Cmelemta. 387
hypozoic rocks were seen in place in the two eastern ranges,
upon which to found a basis of reasoning.
The opinions arrived at, from such study as I was
enabled to make, are chiefly conjectural. A much better
judgment could be formed on a route from east to west
than in the contrary direction, as means of comparing
their lithologic&l character, at least, with known forma-
tions, could thus probably be found.
I suppose the range crossing the Eootenay, at the falls,
and continuing northward through its great bend, which
I have termed the Moosyie range, to be azoic, and that
the quartzitee and highly quartzose sandstones of the
Kootenay and watershed ranges are also of that forma-
tion.
The existence of carboniferous rocks in the Kootenay
Range has been shown, and it is highly probable that
both the Silurian and Devonian systems are embraced
between that and the azoic, while the earthy shales which
crown the water-shed are probably triassic.
From Tobacco Plains to Chelemta.
Descending the Kootenay River from the parallel, the
valley narrows, and rocky escarpments occasionally show
on either side. The route led down the left bank as far
as the great bend of the river, sometimes over elevated
terraces, sometimes over broken country covered with
slides from the mountains.
The general dip here seemed to be to the N. E., often
at a very low angle. Limestone formed- the material of
some of the bluffs, and in one place I noticed it smoothed
and worn, as if by the action of water. Crossing to the
right bank, no general ' dip could be detected. Ripple-
marks and sand-cracks were observed in abundance as
far down as the falls.
The falls of the Kootenay occur at its passage through
the range of mountains which I have assumed as the
continuation of the Bitter Root range. The bed-rock
388 The North-western Boundary.
here dips easterly, at an angle of apparently five or ten
degrees, the water rippling over the edges of the frac-
tured laminae ; and then the main body, sweeping diago-
nally across to the right, plunges into a chasm, producing
a very pretty effeot. The river, for some distance below,
is canoned.
The rocks are of the same character as above, but
metamorphic and greatly contorted. Against the west-
ern side of the mountains lie terraces elevated some 300
feet above the river, and apparently stretching back for
some distance. At the crossing of the Yakh, a very
tough hornblendic rock appears, for the first time, among
the boulders, probably underlying the others.
Approaching Chelemta, the bottom widens out into
flood-lands, and the terraces reach a height of 700 or 800
feet above the river. The rock there, as before mentioned,
is granite.
Spokane Riveb to the Dalles.
The great plateau inclosed between the Spokane,
Columbia and Snake rivers, and extending eastward to
the base of the Coeur d' Alene and Bitter-Root mountains,
is composed entirely of basalts and lavas, overlying
granite, which is visible on its northern skirt in the
.bluffs bordering the Columbia.
Its surface is greatly broken and intersected by coulees
and canoned valleys. The most noted of these, the Grand
Coulee, was not on the route of the party. It has been
described by Lieut. Arnold, U. S. Army, in volume 1 of
the Pacific Railroad Reports. No timber is found on
these plains, except along the northern skirt of the Grand
Coul6e. The soil is generally thin and poor, without
arable land, though there are tracts of good grazing;
but the exposure to winds and the depth of snow com-
pel the withdrawal even of the Indian horses to more
sheltered situations during the winter.
Spokane River to the Dalles. 389
The plateau seems to have been formerly covered with
drift to a considerable depth, of which remains exist in
some rolling country on its northern edge, and elsewhere
in low table-topped hills, but the greater part is almost
wholly denuded.
Basaltic walls, rising in steps, line the canons, and here
and there crater-like basins and rifts on the surface indi-
cate the sources from which the lava was emitted.
As a general thing, the upper beds are more vesicular
and less massive than the lower, and the columns and
nodules smaller. The lower form large irregular blocks
and large pillars, often shaly in structure. Throughout
all this country the general position of the beds is
apparently horizontal. The elevation of the plateau is,
at the crossing of the Spokane River, about 2,500 feet
above the sea, whence there is a gradual falling off
southward to the Snake River.
The mountainous country lying west of the Spokane
plains, or between the Columbia and the Cascade range,
was described in my report to Capt. McClellan in 1863,
and was not revisited by the expedition.
Below the Winatsha or Pisquous, the rocks are exclu-
sively volcanic, basalts and lavas, over which, in places,
lie thick beds of tufaceous deposits and infusorial earths.
Some of them are described in the accompanying report
of Mr. Edwards. All which have been examined prove
to be, as indicated by Professor Bailey, of fresh- water
origin.
South of the Columbia, the high basaltic plateaux con-
tinue intersected by the valleys of the streams emptying
into it, of which those of the Des Chutes and Mahagh, or
John Day's River, are the principal.
The former has been fully described by Dr. Newberry
in his report to Lieut. Williamson, and will serve as a
type of the whole. Between the Snake River and Fort
Walla Walla, however, the basalt does not attain the
usual elevation, but is only visible in the ravines.
390 The Wor^h-western Boundary.
The country is there a sea of rolling hills, which in their
uniform height and contour, and the color imparted to
them by the bunch-grass, resemble the sand dunes thrown
up on coasts, though they are much more eroded.
The valley of the Walla Walla is here broad and
level, the general soil sandy, like that of the hills, but
along the streams there is a very productive black
mould. All sorts of vegetables thrive well, and Indian
corn ripens ; but, from . the limited extent of first-class
land, it is better suited to gardening and grazing than to
farming. The lower part of the valley is sterile and
worthless.
The route down the Columbia from the Snake is a pic-
ture of desolate grandeur. High basaltic bluffs, or hills
of drifting sand, destitute of trees, wall it on either side.
The shores are lined with black reefs of basalt, their
surfaces ground by the passage of ice, or the wear of the
sandy waters in the freshet. The course of the river is
broken by rapids, which are not, however, impracticable
to light-draught steamers, but below the mouth of the Des
Chutes a perpendicular fell of ten or twelve feet effectu-
ally bars passage, as does also the shoot at the Dalles.
From these to the Cascades, the stream is deep and
still. This last obstruction is obviously recent, and
caused by a slide of rocks from the mountain, which has
dammed back the water, overflowing its banks and sub-
merging skirts of timber, the stumps of which are still
visible beneath the surface.
Several members of the party, on the conclusion of the
survey, ascended the Snake River in a small steamer from
Walla Walla to the mouth of the Kooskooskie, and that
stream to its first ftwrks, about forty miles.
Gold had recently been discovered in the mountains
forming the western series of the Bitter-Root range, and
the influx of miners into what has since proved a very
productive country had already commenced.
The metal has since, it is reported, been also found in
Spokane River to the Dalles. 891
*
Burnt and Powder rivers, which drain into the Snake,
from the eastern side of the Blue Mountains.
The country lying on either side of the Snake has been
almost entirely unexplored, nor has any survey been
made of the river itself between the mouth of the Koos-
kooskie and the Malheur, a distance of two degrees and
a half of latitude. The formation is everywhere basaltic,
and of the most desolate and forbidding character.
The Snake pursues its foaming course through a canon
which attains from 1,000 to 1,500 feet in depth, the walls
resembling, though on a far grander scale, the Pali-
sades of the Hudson ; on either side, a steep talus of
fragments being surmounted by a vertical precipice of
black rock.
Standing on the brink, the eye sweeps a vast plain
yielding no other vegetation than the artemesia and its
associated shrubs, and sees the windings of this great
excavation narrow, in the distance, to a line.
Here are some of the grandest features of natural
scenery on the continent. The "American " and " Fishing "
falls have been described by various travellers; but, as the
usual trails avoid the river in places, others, and among
them the Shoshone Falls, second to Niagara only in
volume, and possessing features to which that can lay no
claim, have escaped notice.
Crossing the country in 1849, I was one of the first
party, Indians and trappers excepted, who ever# visited
them. They are situated eight miles above Rock Creek,
or about 100 miles below Fort Hall. The river here
bends round a vast isolated mass of basalt, and falls, by
two or three cascades, into a wide and still basin, pausing,
as it were, before it takes its final and unbroken plunge.
So deep is the chasm in which it flows that the sound of
its fall is barely heard upon the level of the plain.
We led our horses, by a steep and difficult path, to the
margin of the basin, and thence succeeded in reaching the
river at its foot. The height we calculated, by the cedars
392
The North-western Boundary.
which cling to the crevices of the rocks, at 180 feet ; its
width was estimated at 200 yards. The rock over which
it poured was of argillaceous porphyry, upon which
rested the basalt of the desert.
Y.
NORTH-WESTERN NORTH AMERICA: ITS
RESOURCES AND ITS INHABITANTS.
By J. T. Rothrock, B. B., M. D.
READ DECEMBER 17th, 197S.
Of all the strange events of this century, nothing is
half so wonderful as the growth and increase in material
prosperity of the United States. It seems as though the
latent unrest of all the races, which now blend in one
composite race, had suddenly become awakened, and
with a new energy undertaken to redeem, by a mighty
effort, this entire continent from barbarism. In the true
spirit of prophecy, a poet long since told us —
" Westward the course of empire takes its way."
It was but history to assert
V
*' The four first acts already past."
■
To-day Berkeley' s prophecy is as true as was his history
in the year 1700. The years elapsing since (with almost
divine forecast) the prediction was made have delivered
themselves of their great burden, and the world now
may well stand amazed in contemplation of such a prog-
eny.
To leave the remoter past and come down almost to our
own day, who has not read the story of Astoria ? We
may dwell over the recitals of sufferings, so vividly por-
trayed there, as over the pages of Ivanhoe, half convinced
that though there might be much of truth, there was
more of romance in the volume. Yet those of us who
894 North-western North America:
know something from personal experience of frontier
life can tell you that Irving did not overdraw the picture ;
that even within half a century the perils from Indians,
from starvation, from the storms and streams, encountered
by those whose hardihood led them to cro§s this con-
tinent, were all terribly real. But how changed to-day !
The same great expanse of prairie still sinks in the dim
distance below the horizon, and the same lofty peaks still
mark the limits at which all westward rovers might well be
content to stop ; but the weary miles are transformed into
pleasure-jaunts, and the most secluded and inaccessible
mountain-retreats are opened to every sight-seer whose
curiosity leads him thither. While we are shaking the
dust of the eastern coast from our clothing, we are carried
to the golden gate of California, and can watch the son
disappearing in the Pacific Ocean.
This, then, ladies and gentlemen, must be my apology
for asking your attention during the hour in which I shall
try to tell you something of that portion of our conti-
nent to which public attention is being so largely drawn.
In 1592, San Juan de Fuca, following our western
coast, entered the broad strait that now bears his name
At its eastern end a magnificent bay stretches off far to
the south. Its shores are covered with timber of fabulous
size and in immense quantity. On either side (east and
west) rise mountain-ranges on which, in cooler spots, the
snow lingers all the year. Rivers, draining fertile val-
leys, come down through the mountain-gorges to empty
into this bay. Here and there islands dot its quiet sur-
face, and between them are deep, safe ship-channeb
which would float the navies of the world. The whole
bay is one splendid harbor. It is now before the public
as Puget Sound.
Being well known, let that be our starting-point Going
north along the valley of the Prazer, after leaving the flat
grounds which have been reclaimed from the ocean by
the sediment deposited by the river at its month, we entff
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 395
the mountains ; spurs at first of the Cascade range, then
the gorges in the main chain, through which the river has
worn out a channel for itself. On either side high cliffs
tower overhead, and shut off the sun, except when at high
meridian. Add to this the deep monotonous green of the
pine-trees, which predominates over every other color, and
the scenery is. gloomy enough to impress one sadly.
Such an impression, however, can only be momentary, a
passing shadow, that soon gives way to a sense of the
absolute grandeur of the immense mountain-masses,
which tower from 1,000 to 4,000 feet directly above.
The traveller may well wonder at the long- continued
power exerted by the rapid current of the Frazer in this
gnawing down of the channel to its present level. Imagin-
ation falls back in any attempt at grasping the mechanical
equivalent which the force would represent, if for geologi-
cal ages we substitute a day or a year, or any other
period our minds can really and truly grasp. Hundreds
of feet above the present river-level, we may see the same
frettings and groovings that the water is wearing out
in the solid rock under our eyes to-day. In the
comparative calmness and quiet of its older age the
current will drift, on the average, 100 miles a day
from its head-waters to the ocean, and in the nar-
rower gorges and rapids it fairly rushes along. We
have, on this coast, no river that can at all compare with
the Frazer, either in the grandeur of its scenery or the
force of its current. With flat, fertile plains, equal in
area to the State of New York, draining through num-
berless tributaries into the main stream, and with immense
bodies of snow on the mountains at the heads of these tribu-
taries, to melt away rapidly before an intense spring sun,
you can understand why, in the gorges nearer the ocean,
the difference between high-water and low-water marks
is from forty to ninety feet, when this tremendous volume
of water is thrown into the narrower channels. Yet,
with, all its present velocity of current, there was a time,
896 North- western North America:
I have reason to think, when the Frazer, in common with
the Nasse, Skena and Stukine rivers, was larger, and
flowed at even a more rapid rate to their destination.
Here and there along their valleys, tentace rises after ter-
race from the water's edge back to the mountain, and
each terrace has its exact counterpart in height on the
opposite bank. Every one of these elevations marks
time when the rivers stood at a high level. To-day, over
these grand accumulations of past ages, plants well
known to the botanist bloom in a wonderful profusion.
"Wild-pea vines" twine themselves through the dense
grass until travel becomes tedious, as, hour after hour?
one forces his way through the dense resisting mass. At
intervals, over these terraces, are clumps of service-berry
bushes, which furnish a fruit prized alike by Indians,
birds, and bears ; and here and there the cedars and
twisted pines rise to the dignity of fully-grown trees.
Even yet, the Frazer is wearing its rocky channel lower.
Year by year new ledges of rock show themselves on the
surface of Stuart's Lake, and prove convincingly that
the outlet of the lake is being worn down by the unceas-
ing flow of water over it, whilst on the lake-shores the
willows are making their gradual inroads towards the
vacant ground left by the receding water. These simple
facts connect the present in a continuous line with the
earliest terrace that skirts the mountain-foot, and show,
amid all the changes impressed upon the landscape; the
operation of one long-enduring law.
The river I have named rises among the Peak Moun-
tains, which are hardly yet known by name even to
inquisitive geographers. The mountains seem to fill up
the valley left between the Rocky Mountains and a north-
ern prolongation of the Cascade range. Imagine, if you
will, an elevated plateau covered with here and there a
clump of dwarfed, gnarled conifers, from the branches of
which hangs the long lichen eaten by the Caribou ; here
and there a swamp, amid the cool waters of which thrive
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 897
plants belonging to a Bub-arctic flora ; here and there a
diminutive lake, that shines, in the clear air of a great eleva-
tion, like a diamond, and the rest of the surface sprinkled
over with high mountain-peaks, as though Nature had
assigned them their positions in one of her most lawless
moods. Between the bases of these peaks wind, hither
and thither, narrow valleys, which represent the moiety
that is left of the original plain, after mountain and
swamps have claimed their shares. These valleys are
intersected in every direction by great gulches, worn out
deeply by the melting snows during the warm days of
spring and summer, and all of which terminate at last in
one common water-course that receives the accumulated
product of sun and snow, to carry it off ooeanward.
Imagine a country in which these physical features are
markedly grouped, and your ideal will resemble the heart
of the Peak-Mountain region, where mere physical force
has for all time seemed to run riot, and to shape the
country without any regard to the future wants of civilized
man ; a region of warring elements, where sunshine and
storm, clear skies' and cloud overhead, perfeot repose and
the overwhelming onset of avalanches, are allowed to
reconcile themselves as best they may. No one band of
Indians regularly occupy the land, though many claim
it; and when the wild tribes meet there during the hunting-
season, whether they fraternize or fight depends entirely
on their whims. Universal ruggedness has left its stamp
on the region and its inhabitants.
Within a day's walk, here rise the tributary streams
of theFrazer, Nasse, Skena and Finlay's branch of Peace
Uiver, — the three first constituting a triad which make
their way to the Pacific Ocean ; and the fourth, by reason
of the mere accidental interposition of a water-shed,
must wind a tortuous course, through one of the roughest
mountain-regions on the globe, down to Athabasca Lake,
east of the Rocky Mountains, and thence north, through
Mackenzie River, to the far-off Arctic Ocean. For mile
898 North-western North America:
after mile all of these rivers fall from precipice into chasm;
now churning themselves into foam, now rushing along
swiftly, but in comparative quiet, to an easier channel
nearer the ocean-level. Much of the land on the banks
of those emptying into the Pacific, and in their valleys, is
fertile and well adapted to farming or grazing purposes,
more especially so as they approach the- ocean.
Almost every sand or gravel bar will yield a trace (how-
ever small it may be) of gold. There can hardly be said to
be a dividing ridge to the Peak Mountains ; such as there
is being lower by far than many of the scattered peaks
on either side. The northern mountain-sides are, as a
rule, precipitous, and, in many cases, show an absolute
front hundreds of feet high: On the other hand, the
southern declivities are as constantly more gradual.
North of this mountain-system, the broad Nahanni
plains stretch away far off, unbroken by any con-
siderable ranges.
It is not a little remarkable, with all the other analogies
existing between the western coasts of the Old and New
worlds, that the similarity of mere coast-line should be so
strongly marked, even in its minuter details. The fact is
highly suggestive as an element in any speculations on
the probable future of our western shores. It, indeed,
almost amounts to more than a mere analogy, and is what
a comparative anatomist would call a homology, *. <?., aa
essential identity of structure. To illustrate my mean-
ing, allow me to remark that, under 60° of north
latitude, we have at once the fiords of Alaska and of
Norway. At latitude 80° N. are the western prolongation
of the sandy sahara of Africa, and the equally barren
wastes of Lower California. There comes a dropping-off
to the eastward, in the Ghilf of Guinea, just as our coast
trends eastward, from Mexico to Panama. The Engfisk
islands lie between latitudes 50° and 58° N., as do
those of Vancouver' s and Queen Charlotte' s, while, as if to
complete the analogy, we have the Baltic Sea of Europe
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 399
•
well represented by the Frazer River, and the Baltic is
prolonged southward in the Gulf of Lubeck, just as the
Strait of Fnca is prolonged south into Puget Sound, and
the Peninsula of Denmark finds its exact counterpart in
the three most north-western counties of Washington
Territory; the North Sea, in some points, being the
homologue of the strait intervening between Vancouver' s
Island and the main-land. To say the least, these resem-
blances are striking.
The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic has also its equivalent
in the Pacific. Grossing this ocean in a north-easterly
direction from the Island of Formosa, in latitude 22 N.,
is found the Japan current, a portion of which sweeps
northward through Behring Strait, and another portion,
near the &ivule Islands, trends eastward under the name
of the North Pacific Swift Current, which eventually gets
turned southward along the coast of North America. It
probably imparts to the air surrounding it and to the land
it comes in contact with, as much heat as the Gulf Stream
does to Western Europe. The influence of this current
will be seen farther on when we come to consider the
vegetation of the coast.
About seventy per cent of the winds which pass over
Vancouver's Island come from the south or south-west.
Being, as they must, high in temperature, and carrying
much moisture absorbed in warmer latitudes, when they
reach the mountains south of Vancouver's Island, and
ascend their southern slopes, this temperature is lowered,
and much of the moisture that can be is wrung from them,
A still more remarkable instance is found in the western
ghauts of India, where the abrupt character of the moun-
tain-sides and their short distance from the ocean com-
bine to produce the enormous rainfall of twelve to fifteen
inches in a single day. Statistics show that the southern
part of Vancouver's Island has fifty-one per cent of its days
clear. New Westminster, in British Columbia, and but
fifteen miles in from the coast, has thirty days' more rain
400 NORTH-WESTBRN NORTH AMERICA:
in the year than Victoria. It (New Westminster) is not
ao thoroughly protected by mountains on its south, and
has more immediately north of it On Vancouver s Island
snow seldom falls more than twelve days in the year, and
the thermometer is not often lower than the freezing-point
Flowers make their appearance in March. Canada has
an annual range of temperature of 138° ; at Esquimault
harbor (near Victoria) it is only 48° 5', showing thus an
immense preponderance of equable temperature in favor
of the latter over the former. In London, rain falls once
in two days; at Esquimault, but once in ttu^e. From
these facts we conclude that, in general salubrity, the
climate of Vancouver' s Island ranks high. Further north
the contrast between the climate of the Frazer- River val-
ley and that of the coast under the same latitudes is a
wonderfully marked one. As an illustration, I may state
that in November, 1865, I saw the mercury in latitude 56 3
N. in the Frazer valley stand at 15° in the morning and at
90° in the heat of the day, making thus the unusual diur-
nal range of 75°. On starting in February of the same
year for Rocher de Bouller, west of the mountains, 1
found the snow in the Frazer valley, on the average, six
feet deep, and gradually increasing until in the placet
higher up among the mountains it was from eleven to
twelve ; the thermometer meanwhile standing at or below
zero. The peaks, in their more elevated portions, were in
great part bare, from the snow having been driven by the
wind into the valleys or more sheltered rocks. Yet after
crossing the mountains and reaching their western, or
oceanic, side, in two days' time I had reached a place
where the snow was hardly over six inches deep, and H»
air was as bland as that of March or April with us. These
points were under nearly or quite the same latitude. As
might be supposed, fearful storms of wind come sweepuur
through these mountain-gorges down to the lakes. Navi-
gation is hence always more or less dangerous on th*:
account. At Bulkeley House or Lake Tatleh (the extreme
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 401
northern lake of the Frazer River), the mercury often rises
to over 90° in summer, and for days at a time I have
known it range from 30° to 50° below zero in winter.
Within a few days of this very time they were having a
rain-storm at Fort St. Michael's on the shore of Norton
Sound, several degrees further north.
The valley of the Frazer has some five lakes, which
serve, however, more to diversify its landscape than they
probably ever will to add to its commercial importance;
the larger ones being in regions where cultivation of the
soil offers but little prospect of profit.
What are the mineral resources of the North-west %
Silver and gold are reported from Vancouver's Island ;
though not, I believe, in large quantity. In British Col-
umbia valuable gold-diggings have been opened. The com-
panies alone shipped 5,140,819 dollars between the years
1858 and 1861 to San Francisco. This is exclusive of that
carried off in private hands. The largest nugget taken
daring that time weighed seventeen ounces, and came
from the Caribou region. The quality of the gold is
good. Peaoock copper ore has been taken from the river
in Queen Charlotte's Island. It yielded from twenty to
sixty-eight per cent of copper. Along the main-land, and .
on Vancouver's Island, coal has been discovered in large
quantity. That from Nanaimo, on Vancouver's Island,
yields sixty-eight per cent of carbon against eighty-four
per cent of the best Welsh coal. It is of fair quality, and
answers well for marine purposes. The fact of its having
about two per cent of sulphur is unfortunate. In view,
however, of the remoteness of other sources of supply,
the chances are that this coal will soon drive competition
from the market there. There is no question as to the
existence of coal, and that of good quality, in Alaska.
In how large quantity it may be found remains unsettled.
It is not unlikely that it will be discovered in accessible
localities in paying quantities. Many facts lead to the
supposition that most of the enterprise devoted to coal-
26
402 N0RTH-WE8TBRN NORTE AMERICA:
mining will first concentrate itself about the more southern
mines, before going to those of Alaska. Petroleum,
white marble, native copper, and sulphur are reported by
Mr. Dall in his work on Alaska.
The vegetation of this region has long been one of its
most remarkable features. Trees averaging from 150 to
200 feet in height, and with a diameter ranging from ten
to thirteen feet, are quite common. To avoid any seem-
ing overestimate of the timber of the region, I will con-
tent myself with some brief abstracts from my botanical
report, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1867,
and from them a just conclusion may be formed as to the
real commercial value of the timber.
Abies Douglasii, LindL (Douglas spruce), from 235 to
250 feet high; diameter often twelve to thirteen feet
Makes good spars, and has a fine, clear grain. The tall
flag-staff, in the royal gardens at Kew, is made from a
single trunk of this tree. It, of all the trees of the coast,
stands, perhaps, first in size and commercial importance.
Abies Menziesii (Menzies' spruce) is somewhat smaller,
though still a giant.
Abies Mertensiana (Mertens' s spr ace) is 125 to 200 feet
high, with a fine straight trunk, which frequently grows
seventy feet before giving off a single limb. It grows as
far north as Norfolk Sound, in latitude 57° N.
Abies Canadensis (the hemlock of our forests) is also
reported as far north as latitude 57°. There is, I believe,
some doubt as to the specific identity of this tree.
Pinus contorta (twisted pine) is found, throughout
the valley of the Frazer, on high grounds. It is from
twenty-five to fifty feet high, and about a foot in diameter.
It forms extensive forests. In the spring months the
Indians strip off the outer bark, and then scrape away
the newly-formed cambium layer, which is either eaten
fresh, or dried into compact masses for winter use.
Thuja gigantea (giant cedar) grows as high as 170 feet,
and has a diameter of ten feet. It extends, I think, about
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 408
to latitude 51° N. The timber is light, easily worked, and
durable, except when exposed to the sun it is liable to
split. I hare seen the Indians split boards of it, twenty
feet in length. They also use the single trunks of this
tree, from which to "dig out" the celebrated northern
canoes, which are the most perfect models of boat-beauty
afloat. The wood, they also make into boxes, dishes; and
canoe-paddles, some of which are of exquisite finish.
From the inner bark, mats, hats, and baskets, and ropes
of great durability, are made.
Acer macrophyllum (large-leaved maple) is found, in
most of the interior valleys, as* far north as latitude 55°.
It is, to a certain extent, a substitute there for the
hickory of our coast, and is a favorite fuel of the Indians
inhabiting the valley of the Skena during their long win-
ter nights. The Atnahs weave mats and baskets from
the inner bark of this tree which will hold water.
Cottonwood trees appear to be ubiquitous over the
entire north-west, and are largely used by the Indians of
the interior in making their canoes, and for fuel. I have
never anywhere seen such beautiful forests as those of the
Lower Skena, where conifers, maples, and cottonwood
trees were mingled into the densest of groves. On the
less elevated prairie-lands, as far north as the Stukine
River, various species of grasses, of great value as forage
plants, grow in wonderful profusion, and are mixed, in
about equal proportions, with the wild-pea vine.
Even at Fort St. James (latitude 54° 410, horses thrive
well during the entire winter on the forage they find
under the snow, and need absolutely no care. The
swamps are thickly set with sedges, which are, however,
of no great value to stock, except in extremity. The
high grounds afford, in abundance, the highly-prized
"bunch-grass," so famed for its nutritive qualities.
Mules and horses will thrive on it alone (even when it is
dead and dried), and undergo, at the same time, great
hardships.
404 North-western North America:
From the mouth of the Frazer to its extreme head-
waters, and along its tributary streams, are immense
stretches of as fertile land as can be found on this con-
tinent, and before the end of this century they will sup-
port an active civilization. The same may be said of
portions, at least, of the Skena and Nasse valleys. Fine
crops of wheat, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, turnips, are
grown at Fort Alexander, in latitude 53° N. ; on the
southern prolongation of Alaska the timber is of immense
value. The islands of the Sitkan archipelago are densely
covered with cone-bearing trees, and have a wonderfully
diversified flora (for the latitude), the extreme humidity,
combined with high temperature and deep shade, leading
to an unusually disproportionate development in the
specific forms of the ferns. The snow has hardly melted
before the ground is covered with a mass of growing
plants, which, under the long-continued sunshine of a
sub-arctic day, push into flowers and fruit with amazing
rapidity. Even on the banks of the Yukon River, trees
are reported with a diameter of eighteen inches or two
feet, and during the winter of 1865 and 1866 Mr. Bannis-
ter saw fifteen hundred feet of boards sawed at Fort St.
Michael's, almost as far north as Behriug Strait. On
the western side of the continent the forests reach almost
seven degrees nearer the north pole than on the eastern.
I have enumerated within the limits of Alaska 732 species
of plants, of which 560 are flowering and 172 are flower-
less. The area of Alaska, as comphted by the United
States Coast Survey, is 570,000 square miles, including
the islands. Chester county of the State of Pennsylvania*
with but 738 square miles, has just about double that
number of indigenous flowering plants. This, howrerer.
only implies for Alaska a poverty of specific forms, and
not a sparse vegetation, for we find the country has.
during its short summer, a luxuriant growth of vegetation,
only not of so diversified a character as that of tnon
favored regions.
Its Resources and Its inhabitants. 405
In certain portions of North-western America animal
life is abundant. Daring the spring and fall months the
rivers and lakes absolutely swarm with water-fowl.
Grouse are abundant over almost the entire country.
Beavers, martens, minks, otters, and bears go to swell the
list. The caribou is quite abundant among the Peak
Mountains, and on it most of the Indian tribes depend for
much of their winter supply of food. During the sum-
mer months the rivers are literally alive with salmon.
No words can convey any adequate idea of the numbers
in which these magnificent fish ascend the streams. The
Indians, after having speared or taken them by wholesale
in wicker-work baskets, dry them for winter use. The
taste is then not unlike that of the hardest and driest
birch-bark. A glance at the list of fishes enumerated in
Mr. DalPs book on Alaska shows for that region no mean
array of piscatorial life. Among the marine fishes are the
cod, small-cod, true-cod, halibut, flounder, ulikon, And
herring. In fresh- waters are found salmon-trout, salmon,
white-fish, pike, sucker, blackfish, and a multitude of
others. Of these species there seems to be no scarcity of
individuals.
Indians — what shall I say of them ? It has often been
remarked that those who have spent most time among the
Indians have given the most discouraging accounts of
them. The inference has hence been drawn that the
observers were all prejudiced against the red races. This
view, I admit, is certainly the one best adapted to the so-
called humanitarian notions; but whether it is so lqgical
as to suppose that these uniform disparaging statements
might be due to some mental defect, a moral obliquity on
the part of the Indians themselves, I leave others to
decide. It might, however, be well to remember that
ignorance in the woods is not more apt to engraft virtues
on itself than it is in civilization, and that aesthetics are
extremely unlikely to be engendered by savage surround-
ings. Some of the most accomplished rogues I have ever
406 North-western North America:
met were some unsophisticated members of tribes that had
never seen half a score of white men. To their inherited
original sin I think the best of them have some actual
transgressions of their own to add. A gentleman, not
less known as a philosopher than as a botanist, remarks
that ' ' ignorance is not per se a crime. Its heinonsneas
depends on the use that is made of it." I am inclined to
accept Ihis concise statement of intellectual and moral
relations; but still, even with this light, the Indian is nut
made any more immaculate, for I could readily show
what shockingly bad use they are accustomed to make of
their ignorance.
I have no desire to disparage or to underrate our Ameri-
can races ; but, as much of our sympathy for them is the
outgrowth of some overdrawn estimates of their character,
it is only just that they should be fairly judged before we
are influenced in conduct by these estimates. That there
have been some Indians of real intellectual power, I will
not be unjust enough to deny. I think, however, a fair
analysis of the list of worthies will shorten it greatly.
Some have been pre-eminent simply by contrast with the
herd of educated savages around them ; others from over-
whelming uncurbed passion and mere physical courage,
qualities a pugilist may possess. We have too often
regarded their orators eloquent, when their expressions
were the natural and uncontrolled utterance of some fierce
emotion. They felt, with all their rough natures, all they
said, whether that was good or bad ; but there is an elo-
quence depending on high culture which is chaste,
pathetic, and convincing, to which a happy selection of
similes, derived from an abounding knowledge, is subser-
vient. Of this the Indian knows nothing. His eloquence
is not peculiar to himself, but is simply the product of a
certain stage of barbarism. It has, truly, the merit of
being natural, and borrowed from the forms and forces of
nature about him; but it is not so from choice. His igno-
rance has imposed this upon him. When he tells you his
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 407
fathers were as numerous as the flowers on the prairies,
he does so, not because he appreciates the aesthetic ele-
ment involved in the comparison, but because each flower
to him counts one. He cannot .appreciate the abstraction
we call thousands, which is equally eloquent and vastly
more definite. Or he may tell you of the roar of the
cataract, or of the lightning playing from peak to peak];
but does he deliberately choose these similes ? Rather is
it not because, from the poverty of his language, he is
compelled to call in the lawless forces of nature to aid
him in the expression of his ideas ? He never attains to
any conception of his own mental operations. His views
are all retrospective, never introspective. Even his
spiritual ideas are so that it is equivalent to destroying a
pleasant illusion to say just what they are. All asser-
tions to the contrary, notwithstanding, I am convinced
there are some tribes who entertain no ideas at all of a
postmortal state or of any overruling divinity.
Practically we are all believers in manifest destiny, and
it is with a poor affectation of modesty that we doubt
whether this entire continent will ever belong, or ought
to belong, to Anglo-Saxon races.
The recital of our dealings with the Indians does, I
confess, make a black page in history against us, if we
admit that territory of necessity belongs to those who
first occupy it ; but when we think of the millions from
overcrowded Europe and Asia who are now seeking a
home upon our shores, where they and their children
may develop to the fullest extent all their mental and
physical powers, the products of which are to add to
the wealth, health, and happiness of all mankind, does
it not seem as though the greatest good to the greatest
number, which is the perfection of political science,
demands that to mere possession of a domain we shall
add, to constitute a perfect title, improvement of that
domain t In this latter clause onr red races have signally
failed .
408 North-western North America:
I am told they are here first in the providence of Gtod;
to which I reply by asking are they, then, here more under
Providence than we, or are the instincts of barbarism,
which demand so large a territory for their gratification,
more heaven-implanted than the instincts of civilization
which demand the same territory on which to reap greater
public benefactions % I use numbers guardedly when I
ask whether three hundred Indians, who are ignorant
and destructive in all their propensities, have any right,
divine or legal, to shut off from the occupation of a fertile
country three millions of intelligent, producing white
men, who would develop its resources, and send the pro-
ceeds into commercial circulation? Shall we lay an
embargo on that civilization, before the heavy tread of
whose great ideas and magnificent plans our rivers and
prairies become tributary to the well-being of all man-
kind % Shall we cease belting the continent with railways,
or stop extracting the ribs of silver from the mountain-
sides of Nevada, lest we limit the range of the buffalo,
or trench on the traditional rights of a race that is con-
tent to live for itself alone I
There do sometimes arise emergencies when all those
minor aggregations of individuals which we designate as
races are lost in the one greater, all-comprehending bond
<of a common humanity; where the more powerful interest
not only may, but must, say to the weaker: "You must
conform to our modes of life, to our habits of thought; yon
must cease to stand in the way of the universal progress
with which we are identified ; nay, more, yon must aid
us. We leave you no alternative. We no longer regard
you as aliens of another tribe, with whom we will have no
friendly intercourse, but we force you into our brother-
hood ; acknowledging your manhood, we demand your
active cooperation in our beneficent designs. If yon
refuse to join this broadest of all alliances, you must pay
a penalty, the greater because of the high privileges yon
fail to accept. Great as is the responsibility incurred in
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 409
exterminating you, and your opposition to our mission,
we assume even that, if it must be, rather than fail to do
our share in the age's work." This emergency, I think,
now faces us, and I also think the spirit of our rulers is
to offer first, fairly, the olive-branch in good faith ; and if
this last, best measure fail, then to relentlessly sweep out
every opposing element of barbarism. The world can
no longer afford to the Indian an independent existence,
with the privilege of roaming over tens of thousands of
square miles, at the cost which that entails to our better
civilization. Mankind at large is no more bound to toler-
ate a race of vagrants than one nation is to tolerate an
individual vagrant. The principle involved in both cases
is the same. Within memory of most of those now
living, our government compelled the Japanese to throw
open their ports, and to break the seclusion they had
maintained for centuries, and Christendom approved the
act. Do I strain the point when I say the law involved
in both cases is the same? However inhuman it may
seem, I scout the idea that this broad domain belongs
any more to barbarism than to civilization.
There is, however, one more aspect in which we may
view our Indian relations. Whilst we are responsible in
part for their disappearance, and criminal in our neglect
of what does legitimately belong to them, we anay also
well remember that, over and above all this, a Higher
Power has willed their melting away. It is purely a
work of supererogation to place any sin at our doors
which does not belong there. Broad as are our national
shoulders, they already groan beneath the load of iniquity
they cannot shift elsewhere. In one word, I think mere
human form and a minimum of brain power have accom-
plished their work on this continent, whatever that work
was; and that the Creator is now allowing the red races
to disappear, just as He allowed the mammoth and masto-
don to go before them. Their vanishing looks like a con-
tinuation of the eternal scheme in which lower beings
410 NORTH-WBBTBRN NORTH AMERICA :
have always made way for the higher. The very breath
of an approaching though still distant civilization seems
to destroy them as certainly as the Assyrian host
melted before the destroying angel of the Lord.
Father Ifyegert, a Roman Catholic missionary, who
lived seventeen years on the peninsula of Lower California
during the latter half of the last century, writes : " It is cer-
tain that many of their women are barren, and that a great
number of them bear not more than one child. Only a
few, out of one or two hundred, bring forth eight or ten
times, and if such is really the case, it happens very
seldom that one or two of the children arrive at a mature
age. I baptized, in succession, seven children of a young
woman, yet £ had to bury them all before one of them
had reached its third year. The unmarried people of
both sexes and the children generally make a smaller
group than the married and widowed."
Boss and Mackenzie reiterate the same ideas. Now,
these statements are distinct and unequivocal, and what
gives them a peculiar value is, they come from men who
have spent years among tribes remote from any pos-
sible injurious contact with whites. They were the repre-
sentatives of interests striving to protect, from motives of
religion or policy, the aborigines from any of the destruc-
tive influences which have so often followed civilization.
History, more or less reliable, tells us what fearful
plagues decimated the Indians at the very spot at which
our pilgrim ancestors afterward landed ; a fact, by the
way, which the humility of the Puritan band did not pie-
vent them from interpreting into a special interposition
of Providence in their behalf. I have travelled down the
valley of the Skena and seen whole villages falling into
ruin, fisheries deserted, and extensive camping-grounds
overgrown with weeds and underbrush, and no corre-
sponding later ones. The most numerous memorials of
large tribes were the rude boards they had placed to mark
the burial-places of their friends. In times of sadness,
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 411
those who still linger on their traditional hunting grounds
will tell you of their waning forces. In the summer of
1866 I saw more than half of one large village die from a
disease simulating Asiatic cholera. I know of another
tribe which within ten years has been reduced from eight
hundred men to less than half that number. Infanticide
is common among certain tribes, especially of the female
children. AU of these facts come to us from tribes to
whom civilization has never come. Does it not seem as if
their mission were accomplished, and that they were
doomed to go, irrespective of us % It still does remain for
ns to cast about them every protection which is not
inconsistent with the general good of humanity.
Resoubobs of the Nobth-west.
I am probably not far from the truth in asserting that, in
British Columbia, there are 50,000 square miles of terri-
tory capable of supporting a large agricultural commu-
nity. Over a large portion of this region wheat, rye,
oats, barley, with potatoes, turnips, onions, and cabbages,
may be grown with reasonable certainty that they will
mature. Fruits will undoubtedly do well. Some of the
largest and best-flavored turnips and potatoes I have ever
eaten were raised on land that, for sixty years, had been
used by the Hudson's Bay Pur Company's men, with
hardly an idea as to the value of rotation of crops or the
use of fertilizers. We can all remember when it was said
that the State of California could never be self-support-
ing. Yet to-day it is, of all others, the one garden-spot
of our nation. Its incomparable climate does much for
it ; but much of the soil in British Columbia is just as
fertile, and in some small portions of its surface, where
the drought has hitherto been dreaded, the Chinese have
shown how much may be done by civilization. The
luxuriant crops of grass show what the soil is capable of.
I need not again allude to its timber. In the rougher
portions of the country grazing may be profitably fol-
412 NORTH-WSSTBRN NORTH AMERICA :
lowed. As a future manufacturing centre, 1 anticipate
much from certain portions of this region. The presence
of coal of good quality and in sufficient quantity, and the
great water-power of the region, can hardly fail to be
made subservient to large manufacturing interests.
The future must, of necessity, make much of its
marine and fresh- water fisheries. Probably.no fish-mar-
ket in the world is better stocked than that of Victoria,
on Vancouver's Island. The salmon of the Columbia have
a reputation which has already reached this coast ; and I
should probably be stating the truth were I to assert that
those from the Frazer, Nasse, Skena, and Skeekine rivers
are as much superior to those from the Columbia as those
of the latter are to our eastern salmon. At a certain
season of the year a small fish, known as the olihan, is
taken in incredible numbers in the Skeekine River. They
are so absolutely saturated with oil, that when dried and
lighted they may be used as candles. The natives express
the oil in considerable quantities, which, after being kept
until it has reached a ripe old age, with sufficient ran-
cidity, is used by them as a special delicacy on state
occasions. This oil has been seriously proposed as a
substitute in medicine for cod-liver oil. I can aver that
it is equally as loathsome. I think it not improbable
that, at no distant day, the fisheries off the Alaskan
coast will yet become as important to the west as those
of Newfoundland are to the east.
Few of us here have any idea of the real value of the
fur trade, or how much it has proved a source of wealth
to those engaged in it. The endless bickerings, the open
aggressions and the actual warlike encounters of the
rough, lawless, but generous-hearted servants of the old
North-west Fur Company and the Hudson's Bay Fur Com-
pany have passed into history, and may serve to indicate
what estimate the traders themselves placed upon their
vocation. I think I do not exceed the truth when I assert
that, for an outlay of $50,000 a year, the Hudson's Bay
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 413
Company reaps an income of at least half a million
dollars a year (rating the furs at London prices) from the
New-Caledonian district. Yet this is, by no means, the
best-paying district under control of this company.
Quoting from Ball's Alaska, I find that, during seventy-
six years, Alaska has yielded 8,838,403 skins of for- seal,
which, at an average price per skin during that time,
would be $11,600,206. Besides this, we have of sea-otter
skins, 262,546; beaver skins, 800,972; black and silver
fox, 66,081 ; marten skins, 46,911. These are simply the
more important furs, and, after making the proper allow-
ance for the thieving propensities of the Russian officials,
show conclusively that the fur-trade alone is a source of
immense revenue.
Now, these statements as to the resources of the North-
west are founded on what has been developed by the
comparatively small demand of a distant -market, and a
sparse population near at hand. Under the stimulus of a
completed Northern Pacific Railroad, we may fairly
expect an immense development of the resources, and
a corresponding increase of demand, or vice versa. The
whole future of British Columbia, with all its prospective
resources, lies in the completion of that grand enterprise.
Who may tell what population the broad prairies and
fertile valleys of that region will be supporting half a
century hence, or what will be the products of its looms,
its mills, and its mines, before even this generation shall
have passed away f Less attractive regions, under a less
onerous system of taxation and a greater encouragement
to individual enterprise, are now the homes of millions.
Remove the burden of taxes from British Columbia and
Vancouver's Island, support the hands of their citizens,
and it will give a new life to a new north-west. Compare
the thrift south of the Strait of Puca with the stagnation
north of it, and remember the general fertility of re-
sources in both, and the conclusion is unavoidable that a
difference in government must have something to do with
414 North-western North America:
the diverse condition we Bee in British Columbia and in
Washington Territory. As for Alaska (with its similar-
ity, so striking in many respects, to the Scandinavian
peninsula), may we not fairly hope its future will, in
good degree, be comparable to the present of Sweden and
Norway? Its resources are, for the most part, still
lying fallow. Time, and time alone, can decide how
much it is to be worth to us from a financial standpoint
Enough, I think, is known about the region to make us
suspend, for the present, at least, any adverse judgment.
There is, however, still one more aspect in which we
may view our occupancy of that territory. In taking a
retrospective view of the doings of our race, we find its
mission has been to civilize. It has ever been a catalytic
element, whose presence has produced a fermentation
among the other national elements. It has broken up
the unstable compounds and replaced them by more
staple ones, which, from fixedness of character, were
better fitted to play some important part in the world's
history. More than three thousand years ago our Aryan
fathers left their early home, north of the region we now
know as India, and began their beneficent migration. The
race developed in India a civilization we are only now
learning fully to appreciate. It peopled Greece, where
its language flooded out in blind Homer's recitals, and
it gave Thermopylae to the world. It overflowed Italy,
where its great, ever- varying, ever-fitting yet ever-constant
character produced the poetry of Horace and Virgil, the
histories of Tacitus and Iivy, the Theodosian and Jus-
tinian codes. " There was a time," says Mailer, " when
the ancestors of the Celts, the Germans, the Slavonians,
the Greeks, the Italians, the Persians, and the Hindoos
were living together beneath the same roof." Our dearest
terms, "God, father, mother, son, daughter, heart, tears,
and home, can be traced to that starting-point." Saturated
(if I may be allowed the expression) with the constant
instinct of conquest, to be followed by civilization, it has
Its Resources and Its Inhabitants. 415
alwayB adapted itself to the ends it was unconsciously
striving after. It found a way open, or it made one, and
from every bloody field left in the track of its wanderings
have sprung up the compensating fruits of an improved
morality, and a greater mental activity than existed
before. Its every footprint on a soil has been a blessing ;
and it is remarkable that the one common feature, the
best and most fruitful feature, in all the races that have
an infusion of its blood, is just the one in which they most
resemble the parent stock, — a constant striving after better
things, which is so utterly unlike the self-satisfied condi-
tion of other nations. Hawthorne says, with truth, " The
world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease.
The happy man invariably confines himself within the
ancient limits."
Having received so much, we are now called upon to
shoulder the burden of bringing Alaska under the domain
of law, civilization, and increased usefulness to the world.
It is manifest destiny. It is the working out of our
inherited instructive traits. It is.duty, and, perhaps, the
grand finality of our national existence, as it may prove
the last and most difficult task left for us to accomplish.
416 The Palboqeography op thb
VI.
THE PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH-AMERICAN
CONTINENT.
By T. Btbbby Hukt, LL. D., F. R. S.
READ NOVEMBER 1*th, 1918.
The fitness of bringing before the American Geograph-
ical Society a theme which seems to belong rather to
the province of the geologist will be admitted, if we con-
sides that geography is in fact but a branch of that com-
prehensive study to which we may give the name of
geology, and which, in its wider sense, includes the whole
natural history of our earth from the earliest times to our
own. To the geographer belongs the study of the pre-
sent condition of the globe, its oceans and lands, its
mountains and rivers, its soils and climates, and its plants
and animals. Past and present astronomical and meteor-
ological agencies, and the action of internal forces, have
combined to produce the results which are the object of
the geographer's study. The structure and arrangement
of the materials of the earth's crust, its architecture, as
it were, give rise to geognosy, while the theory of the
origin and development of the globe constitutes geogeny.
Geogeny, geognosy, and geography are thus three great
divisions of the earth-science, or geology.
To the geological student the world of modern geog-
raphers is not the only one. In the distribution, arrange-
ment, and varied nature of the rocky strata of the earth,
and in the extinct races of plants and animals which they
North-American Continent. 417
■
envelop, he finds authentic evidence that each past geo-
logical period has had its own geographical history.
Parts of the present ocean' s bed cover the ruins of conti-
nents submerged, and our own continental areas included
at times fresh-water lakes, seas with verdant islands, salt-
water basins in the midst of a dry and desert land, or
coastal regions swept by great marine currents, often
charged with ice ; and these varying conditions were in
turn exchanged for "the stillness of the central sea."
The record of animal and vegetable existence is traced
backwards through all this varying succession until the
dawn of plant-life is dimly seen in the oldest known of
our rocky strata, those of the eozoic age. The student
of organic fossils constructs from their history the sciences
of paleophytology and paleozoology ; and we may also,
from the records of the attendant physical changes, con-
struct what may be appropriately named pcdeogeography,
or, the geographical history of these ancient geological
periods. -
This study is one which has often engaged the attention
of geologists, and maps have been made to show the dis-
tribution of land and water on the European and North-
American continents in various geological periods, based
upon the distribution of the sedimentary rocks. Other
principles may, however, serve to guide us to a further
knowledge of these periods, of the rain-fall and evapora-
tion over certain areas, of ooean-currents, and of the dis-
tribution of organic forms ; principles which have not yet
received all that attention which is their due, and which
may be, to some extent, illustrated on the present occasion
in a sketch of certain phases in the history of the North-
American continent.
The period in which were deposited the various crystal-
line rocks of the Laurentides, the Adirondacks, and the
Appalachians, offers in its greatly disturbed and con-
torted strata but very obscure data for its geological his-
tory. That the deposition of mechanical sediments went
27
418 The Palsoqeoqrapht of the
on under conditions not altogether like those of later
periods, but still so much resembling them as to admit of
the existence of both vegetable and animal life, seems
clear, and justifies for them the name of eozoic.- That
the long eozoic age was marked by several breaks is also
evident from the fact that in these crystalline rocks have
been included three or four distinct and unconformable
series, if not many more, all of which are found developed
alike in the Lanrentian and the Appalachian regions. Of
these series, however, over great areas, only the oldest
and most resisting, the Laurentian, remains.
What Prof. Dana has called the azoic, but which may
rather be called the eozoic, nucleus of the North- Ameri-
can continent includes portions of all of these ; but, as
defined by him, represents but a small portion of the
land which in this part of the globe appeared above the
ocean at the beginning of the paleozoic age ; since besides
the crystalline rocks of the Laurentides and the Adiron-
dacks must be included the similar ones of the Appala-
chians, which now stretch from the Gulf of St. Lawrence
nearly to that of Mexico, and in their present extent
represent but a small portion of a great continent of
whose former outlines we can form but an imperfect
notion. Connected to the north-eastward with the Lauren-
tide region, it must have extended far into the Atlantic,
and formed the eastern limit of a great paleozoic basin,
the western boundary of which was the Rocky Mountains.
Within the basin were deposited the sedimentary forma-
tions of the New York system, including the Cambrian,
Silurian, Devonian, and carboniferous rocks. The region
in the vicinity of the Adirondacks, and to the west of
them, was at the commencement of the paleozoic period
a great plateau, which, at one time, was but partly sub-
merged, and presented wide tidal flats, the sands of which
are marked by ancient ripple-marks, wind-marks, and
tracks of the animals belonging to the time of the Pots-
dam sandstone.
North- American Continent. 419
About this period, however, great thicknesses of sedi-
ments, differing widely in volume and in mineral charac-
ter from those of the plateau, and in part made up of the
ruins of the crystalline rocks of the eastern land, accu-
mulated along the eastern shores of the basin. Mean-
while the plateau was, during a part of the time, above
the level of the sea, and in parts cut off from the great
oceanic circulation, and exposed to the influence of
a very dry climate. The conditions which exist at
the present day in the interior of our own and
other continents, and give rise to deserts and salt
lakes, were present at that early period over the great
continental plateau already indicated. These conditions
are dependent on mountain-barriers, causing the precipi-
tation of a great part of their moisture from the currents of
air which traverse them, so that the regions beyond, with
a great rate of evaporation, have a scanty rain-fall, from
which results the drying-up of saline waters and the
generation of deposits of gypsum and rock-salt ; in simi-
lar conditions, as I have endeavored to show, the magne-
sian limestones, which are the general associates of these,
can alone be formed. The history of this great paleozoic
basin affords ample evidence that between the limits of
the Appalachians and the Mississippi considerable areas
occupied by evaporating sea-basins existed at several
periods in the paleozoic age; the first known example
appearing in the subordinate Ottawa basin at the time of
the deposition of the so-called calciferous sand-rock of
the New York series, which is really a dolomite, inclosing
in some parts gypsum, and impregnated with strong
brines, which, from their great density, can be nothing
else than ancient bitterns. To this local formation (fol-
lowed by the Ohazy) succeeded the wide-spread Trenton
limestone, which, by its chemical characters, not less than
its fauna, shows an open sea, and points to a movement
of subsidence which disturbed the former levels, and
made a partial break in the paleozoic series. This is
420 The Paleooeoorapby of the
shown alike in its partial discordance with the underlying
formations, the wide invasion by the Trenton sea of the
adjacent land, and the noticeable break in the succession
of organic life. The gradual filling-up of this sea by the
influx of mechanical sediments, the ruins of older rocks,
apparently from the north and east, and the accumula-
tion from this source of the Utica, Hudson River, and
Oneida formations, mark the close of this order of things,
and serve to divide the rocks of the second fauna, or
Upper Cambrian (Lower Silurian of Murchison), from the
succeeding period, or Silurian proper (Upper Silurian of
Murchison).
Following this disturbance there reappeared over large
areas of the continental plateau conditions similar to
those of the calciferous time, in which the marine fauna
of the Clinton and Niagara formations became overlaid
by the dolomites of the Salina group, which, with their
interstratified gypsum and rock -salt, occurring over more
than one area at this horizon, show that evaporation was
carried to such an extent as to produce in Central New
York and in Western Ontario great Dead Seas, whose bit-
ter and saline waters were destitute of animal life. Over
the deposits of this period, and beyond them, over the
Upper Cambrian rocks, which formed the eastern shore
of these inland Silurian seas, the waters of the ocean
again flowed, and we find in the limestones of the Lower
and Upper Helderberg divisions reproduced once more
the conditions of the Trenton period. The movement
which permitted this must have depressed considerably
the mountains of the eastern shore, and for the first time
in the paleozoic period permitted the ocean's waters to
invade the Appalachian hill-country, in which, while no
evidences of earlier paleozoic deposits are met with, strata
with organic remains belonging to this period (the close
of the Silurian and the commencement of the Brian or
Devonian) are found. These deposits, often themselves
much disturbed, are met with among the valleys of
North-American Continent. 421
Maine, New Hampshire, and Quebec, resting unconform-
ably upon the older crystalline rocks, while they occupy
similar positions upon the Upper Cambrian rocks of the
Hudson and St. Lawrence valleys.
This submergence, which spread over wide areas the
marine deposits of the Helderberg limestones, was, like
the corresponding event of the Trenton period, followed
by a silting-up of the sea, and the deposition of the argil-
laceous beds of the Hamilton formation then took place,
followed by the great mass of sandstones and shales of
the Erie division, the so-called Devonian or the Erian
series of Dawson. These sediments, which came from
the north-east, and thicken rapidly in that direction,
marked the commencement of that great influx of mate-
rial which continued into the carboniferous time and built
up on a subsiding ocean-floor the great volume of later
paleozoic sediments which is seen alike in Nova Scotia,
and in New York and Pennsylvania. Made up of the
ruins of older rocks, they show the results of the wasting
and wearing-down of a great area of solid land of which
the eozoic regions of New England and the British mari-
time provinces are the vestiges. That the shores of the
sea in the corniferous period already bore a vegetable
growth is shown by the remains of ferns found by New-
berry in the marine limestones of that date in Ohio. A
little later, in the time of the Hamilton formation in New
York, there was an abundant growth of tree-ferns on its
eastern shore, while farther to the eastward, in Gasp6,
the struggle between sea and land is shown in the pres-
ence of terrestrial vegetation in marine limestones prob-
ably of the Oriskany age.
As might be expected from the source of the land-
making sediments, the whole of the Erian series in Gasp6
is made up of them, to the exclusion of limestones, while
to the westward the limestones of the lower part of that
series, and later those of the carboniferous, are overlaid
at both periods by these sediments, which, gradually
422 The Palsooboqrapbt op the
encroaching upon the sea, made a soil for the vegetation
of the coal. That even at this period the meteorological
conditions producing great dryness recurred at times over
portions of this region, is shown by the gypsum and salt
deposits of the carboniferous age, which are found not
only in Pennsylvania and Michigan, but far eastward in
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is not necessary
here to recall the story of the carboniferous period, with
its great development of terrestrial vegetation over low
marshy plains, in which appear, for the first time, the
remains of terrestrial mammals and air-breathing mollusks.
The close of the paleozoic age in our eastern basin was
succeeded by movements which raised above the sea the
vast accumulations of sediments whose history we have
sketched, and exposed them, contorted and dislocated,
to that process of erosion which, operating down to our
own time, has given its present relief to the continental
area now occupying the place of the former paleozoic
basin. Unlike the Old World, this eastern portion of the
New has little to show for the long mesozoic period, during
which so much of Western Europe was submerged. Along
the Appalachian line, however, were formed in this age
the remarkable sandstone deposits, of which those of the
Connecticut and the Delaware are examples. These
accumulations, many thousand feet in thickness, and
made up in great part of the ruins of adjacent rocks,
were formed in the lakes or estuaries, and exhibit in their
character evidences of rapid deposition in subsiding
basins, a process which was accompanied by great volcanic
activity in and around these areas. Somewhat later the
deposits of cretaceous and tertiary time were laid down
beneath the waters of an ocean which stretched along the
eastern, southern and western shores of the now elevated
paleozoic area. Sediments of these periods, moreover,
occur in Greenland, Spitsbergen, and elsewhere within
the arctic circle, where strata, including coal and the
remains of an abundant terrestrial flora, indicate as late
North-American Continent. 423
as the middle tertiary a climate in these far northern
regions as mild as that now prevailing in Pennsylvania
and Ohio, and a vegetation not dissimilar. Did time per-
mit, we might trace, with Dr. Gray, the probable south-
ward migration of this ancient northern flora into our
Appalachian region. That similar climatic conditions
had existed in the arctic zone at a much earlier time, is
apparent from the remains of an abundant vegetation in
the carboniferous period ; nor is it certain that the present
rigorous climate was ever known there until the miocene
age was succeeded by that change which ushered in the
present order of things, and, from the great part that ice
played therein, is called the glacial period. To explain
this changed condition of the arctic climate three classes
of agencies have been invoked; viz., astronomical,
chemico-physical, and geographical. While the former
are supposed to have produced variations in the amount
of heat received from the sun, I have shown that the
chemical changes which have been effected in the atmos-
phere have served to render it less and less fitted to
retain terrestrial and solar heat, and to protect the earth's
surface from cooling by radiation, until a point was
reached where we may suppose that changes in the areas
of sea and land, and consequently in the distribution of
warm equatorial currents, would suffice to produce over
extreme northern and southern regions a temperature like
that which in Greenland succeeded, after a considerable
but unknown interval, to the mild climate of the miocene
time. While these latter are doubtless true causes, ade-
quate, either conjointly or separately, to produce a great
refrigeration, it is by no means improbable that astro-
nomical agencies may have cooperated. Even with the
atmospheric conditions of earlier times, we may conceive
glaciers to have existed in elevated regions and at higli
latitudes, and probable evidences of ice-action have been
pointed out in the strata of paleozoic times.
The phenomena which in eastern North America and
424. Tbs Paleogeographt of the
elsewhere are referred to the glacial period are the erosion
of valleys and lake-basins ; the rounding, grooving, and
polishing of rock-surfooes ; the accumulation of great
masses of unstratified clay, sand, and pebbles; the so-
called boulder-drift, together with the formation of ridges,
moraines, etc. To these succeeded the stratified marine
clays and sands of what Dana has called the Champlain
epoch, containing a fauna identical with that of our
present northern seas. That these post-pliocene deposits
show a temporary depression of the previously-uplifted
continent far below its present level, and that ice in some
form played an important part in the phenomena of the
period, or of one immediately preceding, are points upon
which all are agreed ; but beyond this, wide divergences
of opinion are met with, which concern primarily the
time at which this submergence took place ; and, second-
arily, the mode in which the ice-action was exerted to
produce the striation and the accumulations of unstrati-
fied material. On the one hand, it is asserted by a large
school that these were produced when the region was at
its present altitude, or even much higher above the level
of the sea, and was exposed to a wide-spread glacier-
action. But among this school opinion is again divided.
Thus, Agassiz maintains the existence of one immense
continental glacier or ice-cap extending over the arctic
and a great part of the temperate zone, moving downward
from the polar region, and of such immense height as to
surround and overflow the summits of our highest hills,
which he supposes may have required a vertical thickness
of two or three miles of solid ice. This great glacier,
having its under side filled with fragments of rock, is con-
ceived to have acted like a rasp, cutting, grinding, and
shaping the underlying rocky surface ; and, when th€
period of the gradual melting came, to have left behind it
the glacial drift which we now discover. Dana, on th e othet
hand, while maintaining that these phenomena are due
to terrestrial glacial action, regards the motion of a central
Nortm-Americjln Continent. 425
or common glacial source, or, in other words, a universal
glacier, as unfounded, but supposes, nevertheless, the
existence of distinct glaciers of enormous magnitude.
Such a one, according to him, had its origin along the
watershed between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's
Bay ; but, recognizing the necessity of an elevated source
to give motion to the glacier, he supposes that this region,
which is not more than 1,600 feet above the sea, was then
raised many thousand feet above its present level, form-
ing a mountain-plateau from which an immense glacier
spread south-eastward to the ocean, filling the St. Law-
rence valley, and covering, with its icy mantle, both the
Green Mountains and the White Mountains, precisely
like the continental ice-cap of Agassiz. The movement
of such a glacier, however it may serve to explain the
south-eastward striation of the Ottawa valley and of New
England, leaves unaccounted for the not less distinct evi-
dences of glacial action in a transverse direction, which
are seen from Labrador up the St. Lawrence valley, as
far as Lake Erie. These evidences consist alike in the
Btriation everywhere visible, and in the forms of isolated
hills of eruptive rocks, which, rising from the champaign
country in the vicinity of Montreal, have bold and
rounded fronts on their north-east sides, while their
ruins form a talus to the south-west, and have even been
transported long distances in this direction. All of these
facts combine to show a long-continued eroding action
from the north-east. Prof. Dana would explain this by
a supposed southrwestward flow of the lower part of the
great glacier in this direction, along the St. Lawrence
valley, while its upper portion was moving in a transverse
course, across the mountain-ranges of the Appalachians,
towards the sea. But this, even if we admit its adequacy
to explain the phenomena of the St. Lawrence valley,
leaves unaccounted for the extension of the same south-
western striation around the basins of the great lakes, as
far as Michigan and Superior, to explain which would
426 Thx Paleoosoorapht of tkb
require the creation of another great glacier in the north-
ern regions.
In both of the above theories of glacial action, a great
depression of the surface is supposed to have succeeded
the glacial period, effacing, in the one case, the great
mountain-plateau to the northward, and submerging the
glaciated region so as to permit the deposition above its
surface of the stratified clays and sands which so often
overlie the boulder-drift, from the rearrangement of
which they appear to have been, in part, derived.
Besides these theories, which seek to explain the various
glacial phenomena by the action of ice upon solid land,
there is a third view, which, while maintaining the inter-
vention of local glaciers, supposes that by far the greater
part of the results which we have described was produced
by sea-borne ice, during a period of submergence. This
earlier view, which has lately been ably advocated by
Dawson, endeavors to explain the phenomena in question
by causes now in operation, rather than by supposing a
condition of things which it is at once difficult to conceive
and to explain, and is thus more in harmony with the
principles of modern geological science. It maintains
that at the beginning of the glacial time, whose record is
written in such marked lines over the surface of north-
eastern America, the region was already under water,
and was slowly rising, though with minor oscillations of
level, from the ocean, the more western portions first
Along the eastern border of the land, over its still sub-
merged plains, and through its valleys, then flowed the
arctic current, as it now does along the coast of Labrador
and the shores of Newfoundland, bearing great quantities
of floating ice, by the combined action of which, with
the current, the rocky strata were eroded, and the valleys
and lake-basins excavated. At an early period in this
order of things, the great arctic stream, pursuing, in obedi-
ence to the force impressed upon it by the earth's rota-
tion, a south-western course, passed over the region of the
♦ North-American Continent* 427
lakes, and excavated the basins of Superior, Michigan,
Huron, and Erie ; while at a later time, diverted further
eastward by the emergence of the Laurentides, it would
pass along the present St. Lawrence valley, and thence
south-westward to that of the Mississippi. To quote, in
this connection, the language of Dawson, " The prominent
south- western striation and the cutting of the upper lakes
demand an outlet to the west for the arctic current. But
both during depression and elevation of the land, there
must have been a time when this outlet was obstructed,
and when the lower levels of New York, New England,
and Canada were still under water. Then the valley of
the Ottawa, that of the Mohawk, and the low countries
between lakes Ontario and Huron, and the valleys of
Lake Ghamplain and the Connecticut, would be straits or
arms of the sea, and the current, obstructed in its direct
flow, would set principally among these, and act on the
rocks in north and south, and north-west and south-west,
direction. To this portion of the process I would attri-
bute the north-west and south-west striation."
As the process of elevation proceeded, and the north-
ern current found its passage to the sea by channels
further and further east, the conditions became such as
to permit the deposition, from seas comparatively undis-
turbed, of the stratified clays and sands which, in many
cases, rest directly on the boulder-clay. Such beds, with
marine fossils, are found in the St. Lawrence valley, at
heights nearly 500 feet above the sea, and others, though
without fossil remains, at much higher levels. Portions
of floating ice, however, still dropped, from time to time,
the rock-masses with which they were freighted, in the
midst of these stratified clays; nor are there wanting
evidences, in the Lower St. Lawrence, that a second inva-
sion of icebergs may have given rise to a new accumula-
tion of boulder-drift, after the deposition of the stratified
clays, which there overlie, at Trois Pistoles, a still older
deposit of the same kind, as noticed by Dawson. Such
428 The P ale o geography of the
a result might readily follow from a small local and
temporary depression of level during the general ele-
vation.
That some oscillations of the kind took place during
this period may be inferred from certain facts in the his-
tory of the great lakes. The basins of these, according.
to Dr.. Newberry, are so connected with each other and
with the sea, by channels now filled with drift-deposits,
that were these removed and the continent slightly ele-
vated, the waters of the great lakes would be discharged
through each other into the ocean, by the valleys of the
Hudson and the Mississippi. The lake -basins of Michi-
gan, Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, in fact, occupy a great
depression, which was first excavated in the nearly
horizontal paleozoic strata, and then filled up with
stratified clays, in which the present basins were sub-
sequently fashioned, so that from alternations of level
the process of lake-erosion has been repeated over this
region.
I have elsewhere pointed out that the base of these
clays, beneath the south-western part of Lake Erie, of
Lake St. Clair, and in much of the adjoining country, is
far below the bottom of these lakes ; so that it would
seem that these present lake-basins have been excavated
from the post-pliocene clays, which, in this region, fill a
great ancient basin previously hollowed out of the paleo-
zoic rocks, and including in its area the south-west part
of the peninsula of Ontario.
The valleys of the hills and the shores of the islands,
which then rose above an icy sea, would be filled with
local glaciers, of which the marks still remain, which gave
their tribute to the northern current, already charged, as
now, with immense icebergs from the polar region, and
these in great part submerged and half -stranded masses,
urged by wind and tide, would plough and furrow the
bottom, there piling up the unstratified heaps of boulder-
drift, to which the earth and rocks, borne by the melting
Nortr-Amrrican Continent. 429
ice, would contribute. It is a point of great significance,
insisted upon by Dawson, that this glacial drift through-
out the St. Lawrence valley often contains marine shells,
and that the included masses of rock are frequently
incrusted with barnacles and with polyzoa, showing that
these materials must hare been gathered not from the
surface of a long-emerged continent, but from the bottom
of the sea.
I have thus endeavored to set forth briefly the very
different views which have been advocated in explana-
tion of the phenomena of the glacial period in the history
of our continent. These, according to the views of the
land glacialists, were limited to a definite epoch, and
operated simultaneously over a vast area, which, accord-
ing to one hypothesis, was not less than an entire hemi-
sphere. Those, on the other hand, who restrict the action
of land-ice to local glaciers, and call in the aid of floating
ic$ and the polar current, maintain that the process of
glaciation is one limited rather by place than by time.
Ever since the conditions of the earth have been such as
to give rise to the formation of polar ice, the shores and
the shallow seas, to which the arctic current flowing south-
ward had borne it, must have been subjected to glacial
action such as we have endeavored to describe. From
the days in which the glaciation of our valleys was
effected the process has not ceased, but has been trans-
ferred to other regions ; and we conceive that the banks
of Newfoundland, if now raised above the ocean's level,
would present striations and glacial drift, which, but
for the presence of remains showing its formation to
belong to the historic period, would be indistinguisha-
ble from the ancient boulder-clays of the St. Lawrence
valley.
The attempt which I have made, to-night, to set before
the Geographical Society some phases in the physical
geography of a portion of our continent, from paleozoic
times downward, might be made more complete by fcrac-.
480 The Paleoobographt of the
% ing the development and spread of animal and vegetable
life over the upraised continent. The migrations of the
present flora, especially, present many questions of great
interest alike to the botanist and the geologist, but the
adequate discussion of this question, even did time per-
mit it, is one beyond my powers.
The view which I have announced above, that the
crystalline rocks of the Appalachians represent btU a
small portion of a great continent, of whose form and
outlines we can form but an imperfect notion, but which
formed the eastern limit of the great paleozoic bcusin, is
not a new one. So long ago as 1843, H. D. Rogers
concluded that the sediments of the paleozoic age in the
Appalachian Region must have come from a continent,
which, however, he placed to the south-eastward. Hall,
in the introduction to the third volume of his Paleon-
tology, has well shown the distribution of our carbo-
niferous and still older paleozoic sediments, and their
rapid increase in volume and in coarseness towards the
• north-east ; and in my review of this work, in 1861, these
sediments were spoken of as 4 c evidently derived from a
wasting continent/ 9 Hall, himself, having said, " We may
have had a coast-line nearly parallel to and coextensive
with the Appalachian chain." I have, in the present
lecture, insisted still farther upon this view, and advanced,
in favor of an elevated eastern continental area, an argu-
ment adduced from the climatic conditions which, as I
have long since shown, must, throughout the paleozoic
times, have prevailed at intervals in the basin to the west-
ward. It was not until this address had been delivered
and written out, as above, that I received the American
Journal of Science for December, 1872, in which Prof.
Joseph Le Oonte announces, in language almost identical
with my own, that the eastern part of the basin received
its sediments ' ' especially from a continental mass to the
eastward." He admits that the gneissic region of the
Atlantic slope of the Appalachians is Laurentian ; but I
North-American Continent. 481
had already, in 1870, asserted the eozoio, and, in part,
the Lauren tian age of these rocks, hitherto regarded, in
great part, as altered paleozoic strata. While it is grati-
fying to find my views on these points (and, in fact, my
entire scheme for "reconstructing the whole foundation
of theoretic geology on the basis of a solid earth")
adopted by Prof. Le Gonte, I deem it but right to call
attention to the priority of my own conclusions.
432 On Martin BssAnts Globs, and His
VIL
ON MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLOSE, AND HIS INFLUENCE
UPON GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE.
By Rev. Mttton Maubt.
BBAD MARCH 19th, 187t.
As early as the first half of the twelfth century the city
of Nuremberg had attained a position of importance
among the cities of Central Europe. Her internal com-
merce was prodigious. In her relations to the East India
trade she might be called an inland Venice. To her mart
flocked merchants and traders from the surrounding
region to supply themselves with the costly products of
the distant East. Here were consigned silks and shawls
of exquisite texture, wrought by the deft and delicate
hands of the children of the sun — jewels from Golconda's
mines — spices that grew by Ganges' stream ; and from
her teeming magazines these articles of Oriental luxury
were dispensed to enhance the comfort and gratify the
taste of the barbarians of the west.
The tolls that are levied at her gates make her revenue
more than regal : magnificent churches arise, their shrines
embellished with the costliest gems of art ; palaces liter-
ally crown her well-stored warehouses ; wealth multi-
plies ; power grows. Six thousand warriors are equipped
by her citizens to serve in the Imperial armies. Once and
again she is deemed worthy the presence of the national
Diet. Laws for the empire issue from the market-town.
Prominent among the merchant-princes who contributed
to the prosperity of this commercial metropolis, we find
INFLUENCE UPON GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 483
the family of Behaim. Originally from Bohemia, as their
name imports, they had been driven thence by religious
persecution, and found refuge in a city large-minded and
large-hearted, where divergence from ecclesiastical ortho-
doxy was deemed a less flagrant enormity than diver-
gence from practical honesty, and where it was not
considered an essential part of the service of God -to
augment the annual death-rate by the concremation of
heretics. Here the Behaims attained no inconsiderable
wealth, and maintained a position of high regard in the
community.
The acquisition of money, however, is not the solitary
object whereon the family concentrates its energy.* To
members of a modern geographical society, such as I now
have the honor of addressing, one of the Behaims, who
lived in the second half of the fifteenth century, and was
glorified by the name of Martin, is a personage of singu-
lar interest.
In the first place, he furnishes us with authoritative
data for ascertaining the condition of geographical science
in his day. Among the archives of the family is pre-
served a token at once of Martin's regard for the city of
his nativity, and of his own proficiency in geographical
studies. The relic in question is a globe, representing the
world as he and his contemporaries supposed it to be con-
stituted. This Martin manufactured in 1492, and pre-
sented to the city of Nuremberg.
The map of the globe consists of papier-mach6, over
which is a crust of gypsum, and over this again parch-
ment is stretched, upon which the drawing is executed.
In size, this work of art alone was not imposing, its
diameter being only about twenty inches. But it pos-
sessed, in the days of its youth, divers other attractions.
With a degree of scepticism regarding the interest felt by
* Mathematically speaking, they may be said to have left the multiplica-
tion-table and advanced to the process of division — a stage not always reached
by men of wealth.
28
434 On Martin B eh aim's Globe> and His
the burgomagisterial mind in geographical studies, Martin
sought to popularize the somewhat hard features of
Mother Earth by a ruse not altogether unknown to beauti-
fiers of the present day. The old lady was gotten up right
handsomely ; Neptune rejoiced in a domain of brilliant
ultra-marine ; the lands were brown or green, according,
we presume, to their supposed sterility or productiveness ;
the snowy mountain-crests were of glistening white. The
multitudinous and multifarious inscriptions, which render
the globe a miniature gazetteer, were made to present a
still more popular appearance. Gold and silver, red and
yellow letters, impressed even the untutored eye with an
idea of the inestimable value of the information imparted.
Gabriel Nutzel, Paul Volkamer, and Nicolaus Groland,
the chief men of the imperial city, who, as Behaim
informs us, in an inscription at the north pole of his
globe, urged him to construct this elaborate monument of
geographical science, must have congratulated themselves
upon its goodly appearance.
Time, on the whole, has treated Martin's labor with not
a little partiality. True, the gorgeous coloring hath some-
what lost her original glory ; the mellowness of antiquity
supplants the lustre which bedazzled the eyes of our
worthy burgomasters when the distinguished savant pre-
sented to their official body this fac-simile of Mother
Earth.
But although the ocean of glorious ultramarine is con-
verted into one immense black sea, and the gold hath lost
its glittering identity, still the lines which show the sup-
posed position and configuration of continents and islands
are altogether intact ; and the several portions of land
and sea retain their names. All is, therefore, preserved
which serves in any way as an exponent of the general
condition of geographical science in 1492.
We say general with some degree of emphasis ; for on
examining the globe we find that its constructor represents
himself as, in the main, a compiler ; and states that his
I
\
Influence upon Geographical Science. 435
guides have been Ptolemy, Marco Polo, and Mandeville.
And inasmuch as unwarranted assertions have been offered
in regard to the geographical discoveries made by Behaim,
it is as well explicitly to state that this is what he says
himself.
While, therefore, the globe of Behaim is not to be taken
as an index of its constructor's achievements in geo-
graphical discovery, it has extraordinary interest, con- *
sidered as a fair exponent of the geographical knowledge
possessed by himself and his contemporaries.
A glance will show us what this knowledge was, and
will reveal the fact that,, in some particulars of geographi-
cal detail, the darkness supposed to characterize the age
of Behaim is more imaginary' than real. It is true th.ere
is a large amount of romance intermixed with Behaim' s
incotitestible facts.
In regard, for example, to tne Island of Zanzibar, Mar-
tin borrows from Marco Polo some very poetical items.
These are of the greatest interest to the physiologist, and
serve also to illustrate in a very striking manner the
intrepidity of the missionary to whose efforts the Zanzi-
barians owe their acquaintance with Christianity. The
reverend advetiturer, seated conveniently upon the apex
of one of their mountains, is encouraging the idolaters
at its base to unite with him in prayer. His must needs .
have been an heroic soul; for his auditors, we are assured, '
have four times the strength of Europeans, are glorified
with great long ears, wide mouths, and appalling eyes, -
and have hands four times the size of those of ordinary
mortals.
Pliny lends a charm to the dry details of geographical
fact by supplying our cosmographer with illustrations of
the natural history of the globe. Some of the specimens
depicted, if judged by zoological adepts of the present
day to be somewhat difficult to classify with species
now recognized, are nevertheless strikingly picturesque. •
Not far from the equator, mermaids, with golden tresses
436 On Martin B eh aim's Globs, and His
and azure eyes, are floating tranquilly upon the waters ;
in their neighborhood appears a sea-lion, which,
with a locomotive apparatus but poorly calculated
to give his very terrestrial carcass support upon
fl» W «"*-? never*** tm^T^JL
his position ; while not very far hence a sea-horse, hall
submerged, is endeavoring to effect a landing at Cape
Verd. A small craft, heading for Antilia, seems threat-
ened with demolition by a parti-colored sea-serpent ; while
another specimen of more alarming mien is balancing
himself upon the convolutions of his tail, a little to the
south of the "circulus equinoccialis," and preparing to
engulf one of Martin' s inscriptions. Besides these are
other variations from strict geographical fact, which
readily appear on inspection.
With all its errors and defects, however, the globe
of Behaim presents a large proportion of correct detail.
We, of course, are nowhere. The place of the western
continent is occupied by Cathay and adjoining provinces,
supposed to be made up, in a large measure, of golden
mountains and pearly strands. Setting aside this
glaring omission, it is interesting to notice that Africa
is represented as being circumnavigable. Importance
attaches to this point, inasmuch as the globe was
constructed as early as 1492, five years before Vasco de
Gama had accomplished the passage to India via the
Cape of Good Hope. Behaim had obtained his knowl-
edge of this fact from ancient authorities. Phoenician
navigators, inA the service of Pharaoh Necho, King of
Egypt, had circumnavigated this continent ; and Xerxes
had given orders to one Sataspes to do the same thing.
Failing to perform the king1 s behest, poor Sataspes was
impaled, a calamity showing at once the inflexible rigidity
of Persian laws, and the certainty felt by the king that
the exploit in question could be achieved. Another point
of very great interest is that Behaim, who was in Nurem-
berg, constructing his globe, at the very time at which
Influence upon Geographical Science. 437
Columbus was making his first voyage, and before his
return from that voyage, represents nothing in the shape
of land larger than Gipango, or Japan, as intervening
between Europe and Cathay. This at once involves in sus-
picion the idea that Columbus was in any sense the origi-
nator or exclusive possessor of the idea that steady west-
ward sailing would bring one from Europe to the native
country of pearls, gold, and frankincense.
I may perhaps be excused the momentary digression if
I add that the suspicion thus suggested by the globe of
Behaim is completely divested of all doubtful character
by the celebrated letters of Toscanelli to Columbus.
These bear date 1474, and contain directions as to the
course which Columbus should pursue.
To resume, however, our proper subject. Not alone does
Behaim commend himself to our regard as one who was in
possession of all the best geographical knowledge of his
day. He was not a mere compiler, but indirectly and
directly a producer. First let us see how, in an indirect
manner, he contributed to enlarge the field of geographi-
cal science.
Conspicuous among the extraordinary men of the world
figured one, in the fifteenth century, named Miiller, and
designated, by the piety of his parents, John. Born at
Konigsberg, or King's Mountain, his is commonly known
by a Latin adjective, which commemorates this fact,
Regioinontanus.
John of Konigsberg (to turn him into respectable
English) was one of those mediaeval personages who
rescue their age from the obnoxious epithet dark. He
was a star of no mean magnitude in the intellectual
heavens. In the department of mathematical science he
may not unfairly be ranked with Des Cartes and Newton.
He clearly saw that an absolute prerequisite in his day,
for the advancement of scientific investigation, was greater
accuracy in the instfuments employed.
Those very respectable heretics, the Arabians, had, it
• *.
438 On Martin BssAnts Globs, and His
is tnfle, reached some degree of excellence in this line.
Among the sins of which they were guilty, during their
domination in Europe, was not that of contemning or
thwarting scientific pursuits. It appears in the highest
degree probable thkt they made the Castilians acquainted
with the use of an instrument called the astrolabe, or
star-catcher. What establishes this, with little room for
doubt, is that Raimund Lullius,*aCastilian author, writ-
ing in 1295 on the arte de navegar, describes such an
instrument as one of those in use among mariners.
Without entering into details at once unnecessary and
unpopular, this apparatus may be described as the
- modest progenitor of our quadrant and sextant. It enabled
the observer on land to determine, with tolerable accu-
racy, the altitude of the heavenly bodies ; for this pur-
pose it had long been in familiar use among the Arabians.
• u An observatory, in the gardens of the Caliph of Bagdad,
contained a quadrant of fifteen cubits in radius and a sex-
tant of forty," while at Samarcand instruments of even
greater size were employed.
The Arabians, moreover, we have good reason to sup-
pose, had advanced beyond the mere terrestrial use of
this apparatus. The geographer Edrisi, an Arabian,
born at Ceuta, in Afri9a, in 1099, gives in his Geography a
description of the Azore Islands, under the name of
Hawk or Vulture Islands. It is altogether likely that
some of the miscreant navigators had made their way to
the islands in question. Possibly the cross-staff, but
more probably the astrolabe, had given them the triple
casing of brass, which Horace deemed requisite to fortify
the adventurous seaman' s heart.
As used by the Arabians, however, and introduced by
them among the Castilians, the astrolabe did not, and could
W)t , altogether justify its somewhat pretentious title of
star-catcher. Sometimes the stars refused to be caught,
* See Humboldt, KriL Union., i, 285.
I
Influence upon Geographical Science. 439
and were not in the field when they should have been
meekly captured. Such was the construction of the
astrolabe that its accuracy depended on the stillness of
itself and the observer. Its action was least unsatisfac-
tory when it was suspended from an immovable support.
Without much difficulty, therefore, o&n we appreciate
the fact thajb if such an instrument were affixed to the
mast of a moving vessel, the maximum of steadiness and
the consequent minimum of error could scarcely be
expected. For let us imagine the situation and efforts
of an observer on a vessel in a moderately stormy . sea.
The night is clear, but the waves run high. The craft of
the mariner is executing a movement too impressive in
its effects upon the delicate human organization to pass
from memory or to need description here. What is its
influence upon the should-be taker of stars I Those brill-
iant points, that seem so imperturbably calm, so unutter-
ably dignified, as well-nigh to exclude the idea that they
move, are executing" a veritable fandango. Not unfairly
may even the stars called fixed be stigmatized as ignes
fatui. Each plunge of the vessel gives them a different
apparent altitude. Now they are exalted above, now
depressed below their true position, and the perplexed
observer has almost to guess where his horizon is, and
where the star whose height above that horizon he fondly
hopes to determine.
In describing the experiences of Vasco de Gama in
his passage round the Cape of Good Hope, Barros
quotes, from Pigafetta, an amusing account, which
aptly illustrates the inconvenience which that ancient
mariner experienced from the cause under consideration.
De Gama reaches the Bay of St. Helena, on the coast of
Africa, and makes a landing there, partly, said Barros,
for the purpose of getting a supply of water, but partly,
also, with the idea of getting an accurate determination
of the altitude of the sun. " For," he says, in explana-
tion of so singular, so amphibious, a piece of seamanship,
440 On Martin B eh at its Globe, and His
" the Portuguese had only a short time before this availed
themselves of the astrolabe in navigation ; and the ships
of Vasco were small, so that, on account of their plunging,
he could place no reliance upon observations made on
board." The instrument, therefore, was but poorly
adapted to the purposes of the mariner. Regiomontanus
well understood its defects, and, in his workshop at
Nuremberg, applied himself to its improvement ; and what
is specially to our present purpose, on turning to the
earlier history of M. Behaim, we find that worthy acquir-
ing from the master-spirit of Johann Mttller a knowledge
of the theory and practice of the astronomy of his age.
This is an epoch in Martin's career. In the workshop-
study of Regiomontanus is laid the foundation of his
after-notoriety.
But the cultivation of science is, alas t not so lucrative as
the sale of English and Flemish cloths, which has served
hitherto to replenish the family-exchequer ; and the
fortunes of Martin require that he shall devote himself
to the bread-and-butter sciences. To prosecute this not
so noble but more needful vocation, he betakes himself
to the preeminently commercial kingdom of Portugal.
Here he at once achieves distinction as the pupil of Regio-
montanus, a mathematician himself of no mean skill,
and in course of time he holds rank second to none
among the promoters of geographical investigation. Let
us see how he attains it. All maritime Europe (Venice
alone excepted) was anxious, at the time when Martin
betook himself to Portugal, to discover a pathway by sea
to the East Indies. For a period of about sixty years
Portugal had been conspicuously active in her efforts in
this direction. The general method of her discoverers
had been to attempt the circumnavigation of Africa.
Progress, however, was slow, and we may, perhaps, not
unfairly conclude, from the facts in the case, that they
were not altogether unprepared to try some other more
promising plan. We reach this conclusion from a veiy
Influence upon Geographical Science. 441
interesting piece of history already alluded to. It was
as follows : In 1474, the Canon Fernando Martinez, under
instructions from his majesty Alphonzo the Fifth (then
sovereign of Portugal), addressed a letter to the too little
celebrated Italian philosopher Toscanelli, to ascertain his
views in regard to a seaward passage to the Indies • Under
date Florence, June 26, 1474, Toscanelli writes, " Although
I have frequently discussed the advantages which this
course ' ' (of sailing westward) ' ' must of necessity present,
yet inasmuch as his majesty expressly requests it, I will
again enter into a detailed explanation of it." He then
refers to an inclosed chart, whereon he has indicated the
proposed course and marked the islands (many of them,
doubtless, Marco Polo's imaginary ones) at which the
voyager can conveniently land. In a letter addressed at
the same time to Columbus, and referring to the plan
which he has proposed to King Alphonso, he observes
that it is far less difficult than is usually supposed. " On
the contrary," he urges, "the chart inclosed demon-
strates that the transit from the west coast of Europe to
the Indies can be successfully accomplished by the course
which I have indicated." Toscanelli was, of course,
right, if we substitute America for Cathay, and the West
for the East Indies.
To carry out, however, the plan which he had thus sug-
gested to the somewhat discouraged Portuguese, something
more than a clearly-drawn and accurate chart was required.
The navigator who should follow the sailing directions of
Toscanelli must be possessed of some trustworthy means
of ascertaining his position at sea. True, the considerate
philosopher had indicated on his chart certain insular
resting places where the voyager, if distrustful of the
accuracy of his instruments, could, like Vasco de Gama,
land, and, under pretext of taking water, take also the
sun ; but who could fix with any degree of certainty the
distances of those islands one from another, — nay, worse
442 On Martin Behai^s Globe, and His
than this, who could even give solid assurance of their
bare existence ?
As far, indeed, as the Azores and Madeira, a distance
of about 1,600 miles, the course was not unfamiliar to the
Portuguese ship-masters. On the contrary, a commerce
of no inconsiderable magnitude was constantly being
carried on between these islands and the mother country.
As early as 1419 the vine had been transplanted from
Cypress to the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira. In
1449, Prince Henry of Portugal had conducted a colony
of Flemings to the Azores. In 1460, forty-two years
before the sailing of Columbus from Palos, we find
Terceira, one of the group, under the control of a Flemish
hereditary governor, while sixteen years later a further
accession of Flemish colonists established themselves in
the Azores. Thus far, then, the course suggested by
Toscanelli was quite familiar to European navigators.
But beyond these islands, no unwary mariner, save the
long-forgotten Icelandic navigators, had as yet allowed
himself to venture. And even in executing the passage
to them, the voyager, doubtless, had frequent experience
of Ijhe unreliability of his instruments, and was led to
yearn for some measurer of altitudes that should, more
successfully than that which he employed, catch the
vagabond stars, and give results equally correct in a
stormy or a tranquil sea.
The Portuguese navigators, though discouraged by ill
success, were not disposed to abandon their own and
their forefathers' plan of reaching India by hugging the
coast of Africa, and to adopt Toscanelli' s bold suggestion
of venturing upon unknown waters, unless they were
first put in possession of some trustworthy means of
determming their whereabouts. To attain this practical
object, and thus facilitate the discovery of the seaward
passage to India, John the First of Portugal organized
a royal commission, composed of the ablest mathemati-
cians and geographers in his kingdom. Of this associa-
Influence upon Geographical Science. 443
tion, the most conspicuous and efficient member was our
worthy friend, Martin Behaim. Not in vain had he
watched the processes by which the grand master Regio-
mon tanus, in the workshop at Nuremberg, sought to attain
superior accuracy in his instruments. Although prob-
ably in use among the Arabian seafarers who had, as I
have suggested, made their adventurous way froift the
ports of Western Europe, or of Northern Africa, to the
Azores, and although, as appears from the testimony of
Raimund Lullius, one of the instruments used by Castil*
ian navigators in 1395, nevertheless the famous astrolabe
seems to have been entirely forgotten or to have been
designedly laid aside. Explain it as we may, the fact of
its disuse appears well-nigh indisputable ; for Barros, in
giving the account, already quoted, of Vasco de Gama's
experience, prefaces what he has to say by observing that
the Portuguese had only a short time before the date of
De Gama's voyage availed themselves of the use of the
astrolabe for the purposes of navigation. Now, the royal
association of mathematicians, of which Behaim seems to
have been not alone a prominent member, but the facto-
tum, is credited, by all who have written on the subject,
with having introduced this instrument to the notice of
the Portuguese.
What the influence of this event upon maritime dis-
covery was, is strikingly suggested by a singular historical
coincidence.
Prom the extant letters of Toscanelli to Columbus, bear-
ing date 1474, it is clear that as early as that date Columbus
was thinking of putting the theory of Toscanelli to a practi-
cal test. But no proposition is made by Columbus to carry
out his desire and try the unknown deep until about 1488.
When we bear in mind the profound anxiety felt through-
out maritime Europe, s,nd particularly in Spain and Por-
tugal, about the seaward passage to India, the delay of
Columbus appears very extraordinary. The question
forces itself upon us, why did Columbus, knowing that
444 On Martin B&BA&fa Globs, and His
every commercial nation of the day was putting forth
its utmost effort to secure the benefits expected from
the discovery of the seaward passage, postpone for
about ten years informing the Portuguese sovereign
that he was prepared to carry out Toscanellf s views i
It certainly appears not very unreasonable to conjec-
ture that Columbus did not, up to the date of 1483, feel
himself fully prepared to do this. And, furthermore, it
does not appear very unreasonable, but the reverse, to
conjecture that the thing which induced him to make bis
proposition at all was that Martin Behaim and his col-
leagues put into his possession a means of ascertaining a
vessel' s position at sea, which hitherto was unknown to
him. About 1483, probably as early as 1481, the royal
commission was organized; in 1483 Columbus offers to
undertake his voyage. The coincidence is not devoid of
significance.
It strongly suggests that, indirectly, our Martin exer-
cised no inconsiderable influence in bringing about the
discovery of America, and. otherwise furthering nautical
investigation.
This conclusion receives corroboration from the fact that
Vespucci, a companion of Columbus, has left it on record
that he owed it to the astrolabe that he had been able to
direct his course upon the ocean. If the friend of Colum-
bus employed the instrument, we are not altogether
unwarranted in concluding that Columbus himself was
not unacquainted with its value.
We are in the habit of glorifying the heroism of the
navigators who have ventured upon the untried waters
in search of unknown lands. Columbus, Vasoo de Gama,
Cabot, Magellan are all heroes of nautical and geographi-
cal history. It is well ! Yet, perhaps, there are other
some who should have their meed of glory. Small is the
justice done to the quiet, thoughtful men of science, like
Toscanelli, Begiomontanus, and Behaim, whose labors
actually rendered possible the achievements of the heroes
Influence upon Geographical Science. 445
aforesaid, and stripped their voyages of almost every-
thing resembling extraordinary hazard ; who distinctly
projected the mariner's conrse for him, upon charts (with
some imaginary items of geographical science, it must be
confessed, bnt still, in the main, with remarkable
truth); and whose instruments and almanacs, the
results of patient labor and profound calculation,
enabled him to follow the indicated course with unde-
viating accuracy.
It should furthermore be remembered, in awarding the
meed of merit, that the men of science wrought with
nobler aim than did the men of the sea. Mediaeval voy-
ages of discovery were eminently speculative in their
character. Every mariner expected to reach the Indies.
His vessel should plough the waters which rolled upon
golden shores ; pearls and gems should freight his return-
ing craft ; and, more than this, annual tribute of all the
treasures of Eastern luxury should make his revenue
more than princely. Columbus, with inflexible tenacity,
insisted that he should be viceroy of all lands discovered
by him, and should have a large proportion of the profits
of every species of traffic that should be carried on
between those lands and Portugal. Magellan made simi-
lar judicious stipulations. Verily was there somewhat
of the sublunary and the carnal in the heroism of these
ancient mariners.
All glory, say we, to those men, who, if they were not
actually engaged in the work of discovery, yet made it
possible for others of inferior ability to accomplish that
work ; who resemble the artist, when, having detected in
the shapeless stone a form of life and beauty, he leaves
it to a rude artisan to develop what his dull thought could
not possibly have devised.
Actual Discoveries.
The question naturally occurs whether Martin, having
thus rendered signal aid to the geographical researches of
446 On Martin Bsh aim's Globb, and Bm
others, ever directly engaged in the work of discovery.
He did. Circumstantial evidence, of a very strong charac-
ter, leads to the belief that he was actually the discoverer
of the straits called after Magellan. The facts in the case
are these : Herrera, a celebrated Spafiish historian of the
sixteenth century, narrates that when Magellan made
application to the Spaniards for means to carry out his
plan of reaching India by sailing westward, he asserted
that he felt confident of finding a strait which would con-
duct him through the newly discovered continent of
America, and thus to the pearly shores of India and
Cathay. The alleged ground of his confidence was that
he had seen such a strait depicted upon a chart made by
the distinguished navigator Martin Behaim. Herrera
wrote in 1596, only seventy-five years after the return of
the surviving companions of Magellan, so that it is not
at all unlikely that he may have derived his information
directly from some one who took part in the expedition.
What, however, so augments the probability of Martin
Behaim' s having discovered the strait as to render it a
moral certainty, is the statement of Pigafetta. Piga-
f etta, it will be remembered, was a nobleman of Vicenza,
who accompanied Magellan and kept a diary of the
adventures of the expedition. This composition is unfor-
tunately, as the sailors would say, gone to Davy Jones's
locker.
In response, however, to a request from Pope Clement
VII, Pigafetta prepared a brief narrative of the expedi-
tion, and this still tells its tale. It is preserved in MS. in
the Ambrosian Library at Milan. Now, what light does
Pigafetta throw upon the question under discussion I
Under date October 21st, 1520, he writes : " We discov-
ered a strait to which we gave the name of the Eleven
Thousand Virgins, to whom that day was sacred. This
strait is 110 miles long ; and sometimes more, sometimes
less, than half a mile wide. It opens into another sea
which we named the ' Still.' But for the knowledge of
Influence upon Geographical Science. 447
our leader we certainly should have found no outlet to
this strait, for we all believed that at the other end it was
closed. Our commander, however, knew that he could
steer through by following a channel of considerable
intricacy, which channel he had seen represented upon a
chart that is preserved in the royal treasury of Portugal,
and constructed by the celebrated Martin Behaim."
Additional confirmation is given to the idea that our
hero was the discoverer of the strait in question, by the
fact that for a considerable period it actually bore his
name.
In 1561, just forty years after the return of the relics
of Magellan' s expedition, William Postel, a writer of so
much character as to have been expelled from the order
of the Jesuits, and to have been persecuted by the Inquisi-
tion, wrote a compendium of geographical instruction.
Therein he informs his readers that the New World is con-
tinuous from pole to pole, save where it is severed at the
fifty-fifth degree beyond the equator by the strait -of
Martin Behaim.
Taking all the evidence into consideration, it would
seem that the facts in the case not simply allow, but com-
pel, us to regard Martin as the original discoverer of the
strait.
In another and even more important field, Martin
Behaim contributed, by personal exertion, to the advance-
ment of geographical investigation. It has already
been suggested that of the two proposed plans for
reaching India by sea, that by sailing perpetually west-
ward and that by circumnavigating Africa, the Portu-
guese were specially enamored of the latter. Their
preference had strong ground of support. It was matter
of history that Phoenician navigators, in the service of
Pharaoh Necho, had performed the feat. To those accus-
tomed to ocean-telegraphs and steam-freights it may not
be uninteresting to note the style of navigation indulged
in by these ancient men of the sea. Herodotus says they
448 On Martin Bebau£b Globe, and His
sailed out of the Red Sea and pursued a southerly course.
At the close of the year they landed, cultivated a suita-
ble portion of ground, waited for the harvest, gathered
the fruits of their agricultural efforts, and proceeded on
their way. At the end of four years they passed through
the Pillars of Hercules, and so through the Mediterranean
Sea back to Egypt once more. It was, therefore, matter
of fact that the circumnavigation of the African conti-
nent could be accomplished.
Owing, however, to want of .skill or courage, or per-
haps to want of sufficiently reliable instruments of
observation, the progress made by the Portuguese was
exceedingly slow. Perseverance, nevertheless, was not
deficient. Successive expeditions were sent out, with
instructions to explore the western coast of the continent
as far as possible. The possibilities in the case were
usually very limited, until, in 1441, a novel impulse was
given to the exploring energy of the Portuguese. In that
year Tristano Nano proceeded as far south as Cabo
Branco. His fame, however, does not rest altogether
upon this achievement. He added to his nautical reputa-
tion the somewhat questionable distinction of having been
the first to bring marketable negroes into Portugal. This
invoice appears to have stimulated the spirit of geographi-
cal enterprise not a little. The dusky cargo of Tristano
was the first-fruits of a goodly harvest, in whose yield
our noble mariners and self-denying discoverers would
fain participate.
Accordingly, other navigators are employed, and other
expeditions deplete the royal treasury, and occasion dis-
loyal sentiments to be felt, if not uttered, respecting the
methods adopted to replenish the national exchequer.
The work goes on; Cadarnosto reaches the mouth of the
Rio Grande. Prince Henry, surnamed the* Navigator,
from his large capacity for spending money in the prose-
cution of geographical enterprise, ceases to voyage upon
the tempestuous sea of mortal existence, yet the -ardor
Influence upon Geographical Science. 449
for nautical adventure is unquenched. The work has its
reward.
Already, in 1469, after a lapse of only thirty years, a
lucrative trade has been established in negro slaves and
other indigenous products, more or less valuable. Fortu-
nate Portuguese! The national conscience is endowed
with elasticity proportioned to the expansion of the
national exchequer.
The profits accruing are so considerable that Alphonso, '
the Most Christian King of Portugal, farms out the dark-
some traffic to Fernando Gomez, and, in addition to
m
pecuniary tribute, exacts as a condition of the monopoly
that the said Gomez shall carry on explorations every
year 100 leagues farther down the African coast.
Fernando is faithful to his engagement, and becomes an
illustrious contributor to geographical science. His
expedition crosses the liae and brings back important
information, most encouraging to future explorers. He
has ascertained that the heat experienced in equatorial
regions is not sufficient to ignite ships like so much
tinder, and that specimens of the Caucasian race are not
at once transmuted by it into negroes.
The removal of these apprehensions, which had, per-
haps, deterred preceding adventurers from proceeding
so far to the southward, deserves honorable mention
among contributions to practical science ; and we are at
a loss which to commend more highly, the sagacity of
Alphonso who stipulated that 100 leagues of progress in
the circumnavigation of Africa should yearly be made,
or the honesty, and, withal, courage, of Gomez, who
adhered to his bargain, and carried out the stipulation.
However we decide this point, the fact remains that the
experience of Gomez greatly emboldened future navi-
gators.
Not alone by his correction of geographical errors, and
the removal of unfounded nautical fears, however, didv
Gomez contribute to the advancement of truth. That
29
450 On Martin Bbuau£s Globe, and His
meritorious captain had experience which falls not, alas! '
to the lot of every man; viz., that virtue brings its own
reward. In the regions of heat, whither he ventured in
fulfilment of his bargain with Alphonso, he found gold-
dust and ivory. These alone might have proved no con-
temptible amelioration of the hardships which his integ-
rity had led him to encounter ; but they were not the only
mitigation of his perils. The incorruptible Gomez found
negroes, also ; and, with the same intensely conscientious
desire for their conversion to Christianity which stimu-
lated the worthy forefathers of New England to wage
war upon the Indians and enslave them, mingled, perhaps,
with a vague impression that they had a certain market-
value, the Portuguese navigators, for the greater glory of
God, and the salvation of the souls of the negroes, pos-
sessed themselves of a cargo of their bodies.
Gomez had done a good work. Whether the glory of
God was particularly advanced, or the souls of the dusky
savages specially advantaged by the corporal toil to
which they were subjected, it is not the time now to
inquire.
Certain it is that the valuable returns, secured by
Gomez in his progress down the African coast, must have
had an effect* upon the work of exploration, of a highly
stimulating nature. Fears were dispelled ; bright, not to
say dazzling, expectations were created by his very
successful voyage as fir as Cape Santa Catharina, a few
degrees below the equator.
The Portuguese are encouraged to prosecute the effort
to circumnavigate Africa, rather than attempt the plan
suggested by Toscanelli, and now proposed afresh by
Columbus. Accordingly, in 1484, 1485, 1486, two
expeditions appear to have been sent out, under com-
mand of Diogo Cano, but under the scientific direction
of Martin Behaim, who held the position of astronomer
and cosmographer to the expedition. Under Martin's
guidance, decided progress is made. The achievements
Influence upon Geographical Science. 451
of Gomez himself are surpassed ; the equator and Santa
Gatharina are left far to the north, and on the first voy-
age the eighth degree of south latitude is reached ; on
the second, the twenty-second degree. In other words,
the voyagers proceed about 1,500 miles further than their
predecessors. In token of the success thus attained, a
pillar of stone is erected upon the shore, bearing upon
it the royal arms of Portugal. On his return to Portu-
gal, in 1486, Behaim is treated with marked distinction.
He is made Knight of the Order of Christ, the king
himself girds on his sword, the crown prince buckles on
his spur.
And there was justice in this. Progress of the most
important kind had been made. These two voyages of
Behaim and Ms companion were grand steps in the solu-
tion of the grand commercial and geographical problem
occupying the attention of European savans and states-
men.
In making this statement we are justified by historic
fact. The voyage of Bartholomew Diaz, which resulted
in the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, was evidently
suggested by the success achieved by Diogo and Behaim.
Bartholomew Diaz is despatched, without loss of time,
immediately upon the return of the former expedition.
He follows so closely in their wake, that he takes with
him, as guides, some negroes whom Behaim and his com-
panion had carried home to be christianized. Not
unfairly, then, may we assign to Behaim a conspicuous
position among those who carried forward, through per-
sonal energy and hardship, the work of exploration in
the fifteenth century. It is to be considered that what he
accomplished so bore upon the final triumph of Vasco de
Gama as to be justly entitled the beginning of the end.
And when we recollect that the end in question was the
resolution of a geographical problem which, in an unpar-
alleled manner, has influenced the destinies of the world ;
when we reflect that the final consequences of the resolu-
452 On Martin Be ft aim's Qlobk.
m
tion of that problem were the temporary transfer of the
East India trade to Portugal ; the final destruction of the
monopoly long enjoyed by Venice, and the opening of
Oriental traffic to the competition of all maritime Europe ;
the removal of the seat of commercial and political power
from the shores pf the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
coasts ; the enrichment of Holland and England ; the
investing of these Teutonic nations with naval and com-
mercial supremacy and political ' predominance ; the
development of the ideas of political and intellectual
freedom which conspicuously belong to those nations ; —
when we bear all this in mind, then, I say, as Anglo-
Saxons, as determined enemies of monopoly in thought
or in merchandise alike, as strenuous upholders of sys-
tems which afford an opportunity to every man's enter-
prise, we shall feel abundantly willing to render honor to
one who prominently shared in bringing about the mag*
nificent result alluded to.
As a geographer, then, who by his globe gives us accu-
rate information as to the state of geographical science in
1492 ; as one who, indirectly and directly, exerted no
inconsiderable influence in advancing that science, I
invite you this evening to do honor to Martin Behaim, of
Nuremberg.
Yin.
REPORT OP THE RECEPTION TENDERED BY THE
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY TO HENRY
M. STANLEY, Esq., ON HIS RETURN FROM
CENTRAL AFRICA, AT THE LARGE HALL
OF THE COOPER INSTITUTE, ON THE
EVENING OF NOVEMBER 26th, 1872.
Address of Chief- Justice Chablbs P. Daly, the President.
Ladies and Gentlemen, — I am sorry to begin the
evening by announcing a disappointment, and I shall
have to give it to you in the writer5 s words. It is a let-
ter just received this moment from Mr. Stanley:
Fifth Avenu.e Hotel, )
Tuesday, Nov. 27th, 1872. j
My Dear Sib, — It is with the utmost reluctance that I have to
inform you that, owing to sudden and severe illness, consequent
upon the fatigue attending meetings since my arrival, I am quite
unable to have the honor of meeting the members of the Geo-
graphical Society to-night.
I need hardly say how deeply I regret being unable to attend,
and how deeply sensible I am of the honor your Society has
done me.
Owing to the excessive strain of the last few days my physician
has absolutely insisted upon an interval of rest to-night, but I
trust that your Society will give me another opportunity of
meeting them and their friends.
I have the honor to remain, dear sir,
Tours, very truly,
HENRY M. STANLEY.
To Hon. 0. P. Daly, etc., etc.
454 Jfe* Stanley's Reception.
I know haw great the disappointment will be, but you
will, no doubt, excuse it, when you know Mr. Stanley
suffered twenty-three attacks of the malarial fever of
Africa in his expedition for the discovery of Livingstone,
and that he should be suddenly rendered unable, by this
attack of illness, to be present with us this night, is a
matter which, I think, you will excuse. We propose,
therefore, to go on with the ordinary exercises of the
meeting, that you may not be disappointed, having come
out on this inclement night. Ladies and gentlemen, it
will, in some degree, compensate for the absence of Mr.
Stanley when I inform you that in the course of the
evening we will introduce to you the respected brother
of Dr. Livingstone. His presence will, in some degree,
compensate for the absence of the deliverer of the great
traveller. The circumstance which we are met to-night to
mark our appreciation of will hereafter be regarded as one
of the most romantic incidents of geographical discovery,
— I mean the sending-out of an expedition to search for
the greatest of all African travellers, through the munif-
icent liberality of a private individual, and the success
of it, through the capacity and perseverance of the gen-
tleman we hoped to welcome here to-night. During the
last quarter of a century more has been done to explore
and open up the great continent of Africa than had
occurred during the same period in the past hiBtory of the
world. No person has done so much in that great work
as Dr. Livingstone. His explorations, in 1849, on Lake
Nagami and the country surrounding it ; his discovery,
in 1861, of the stream flowing to the eastward, and which
was afterwards found to be the Zambesi, and his following
it up by the still more important discovery of the great
network of water in the interior plains of Central Africa
flowing eastward and westward ; his great journey north-
west, I think in 1864, to St. Paul's, on the western coast,
until he came to the shores of the Indian Ocean ; his
explorations of the eastern coast, in 1868, and Bix years f ol-
Address of the Prbsjdent; 455
lowing ; and, finally, the extent, interest, and value of his
explorations in the vicinity of the equator, constitute, in
the aggregate of exploration and discovery, a most won-
derful history, and place him at the head of all African
travellers. Before his time Central Africa was a blank
on the map, as it is so still south of the equator', except
in regard to those regions that he has brought to the
knowledge of mankind and the world. We feel a deep
interest in such a man after twenty years' exploration of
the great continent. After six years had transpired from
the commencement of his last journey, and several years
having elapsed without anything being heard from
him, and doubts having been expressed as to whether he
was living, it was greatly to the honor of Mr. James Gor-
don Bennett, who, single-handed and alone, had organized
an expedition' to search for him, to ascertain his fate,
and to rescue him, if alive. How Dr. Livingstone him-
self appreciated that expedition, the act of Mr. Bennett,
and the services that were rendered by Mr. Stanley in the
execution of it, he has informed us, by a letter written in
Unyanyembe, after Mr. Stanley's return. It will be
remembered, ladies and gentlemen, that Mr. Stanley, I
think, parted with Dr. Livingstone on the 14th of March
last and in the succeeding July, four months afterwards,
and while Mr. Stanley was in London, Dr. Livingstone
sent a letter from Unyanyembe to his daughter, which
was published in the London Times of the 23d of last
month, the concluding portion of which I will take the
liberty of reading. After telling her that he has entrusted
his journal to Mr. Stanley, he adds : i * He has proved
himself a good Samaritan to me in my sore distress, and
I felt, and I still feel, truly grateful. I have written two
letters to the New York Herald. I meant to keep most
of my matter for publication myself ; but the very great
expense which Mr. Bennett went to in sending Mr. Stanley
induced me frankly to give him what would enable him
to write a book. It will in his hands do no harm, because
456 Jfe- Stanley* s Reception.
the Americans are good and generous friends." When
it is remembered, ladies and gentlemen, the peril that
the traveller undergoes, the value that he attaches to his
writings, and the pecuniary benefits that follow their
publication,— I say, when all this is considered, you will
appreciate the magnificent liberality of this heroic travel-
ler. I may say, ladies and gentlemen, in respect to his
deliverer, that Mr. Stanley, had he lived in the middle
ages, his gallant exploit and deliverance of a Christian
gentleman in a Pagan land would have found their way
into some ballad, and he would have descended to pos-
terity as one of the heroes of romance. In this age he
meets the fate of many travellers. He has come back
with something new and unprecedented to relate. I say
unprecedented, because a large number of gentlemen had
made up their mind that Livingstone was dead, and it
is a delicate thing to disturb the pride of those who had
formed their opinions or deprive them of the value of
their judgments. I might add that Mr. Stanley was not
a scientific man; he was not a geographer, not a member
of the Geographical Society; I assume this, because he told
me he had never heard of the American Geographical
Society until he heard of it in the wilds of Africa from
Livingstone himself. After adverting to the fact that the
researches of Mr. Stanley in Abyssinia and Africa had
confirmed the statements of Bruce and other travellers,
»
Judge Daly observed, that it gave him great satisfaction
to state that if the Royal Geographical Society of London
were anticipated in the worthy work of finding Dr. Liv-
ingstone by the greater promptitude of Mr. Bennett, and
the marvellous energy of Mr. Stanley, there would be
no cause of exclusive triumph here, or of complaint
abroad, for Mr. Bennett was a member of their society,
and the Royal Geographical Society must, in common
with them, rejoice that the heroic old traveller had been
found. A year before Mr. Stanley found Dr. Livingstone —
while he was engaged in his act of exploration, while he
Speboh op William 8. Stbabnsl 457
was pursuing that great network of waters which, he sup-
poses to have connection with the source of the Nile, and
while he was reposing on the banks of one of those great
rivers which he alone has seen— out of the fragments of
an old check-book in his possession he sat down and
wrote a letter to a Mr. W. S. Stearns, then a merchant
of Bombay, and his personal friend, giving an account
of his explorations up to that period, and he requested
Mr. Stearns to furnish the information to our Society, and
was pleased to say that we had always honored him, and
that he attached value to our good opinion. In connec-
tion with which I may state that I believe the first letter
he ever sent, or certainly one of the first, in respect to
his explorations in Africa as missionary and traveller,
was a letter sent, in 1851, to this Society, and which is pub-
lished in the first volume of its Transactions. We have
the pleasure to-night, as I have said before, of the presence
of his brother, and the happy incident of the appearance
also of Mr. Stearns, of Bombay, the gentleman to
whom that letter was addressed ; the one a relative, the
other a personal friend, of the distinguished traveller ;
and I have asked Mr. Stearns, for our gratification as
well as for yours, to appear before us this evening and
read the letter himself. After that has been done, I will
take occasion to call, in an impromptu manner, upon
two or three of the gentlemen of the Society present to
make up the evening by a few remarks, in the absence of
Mr. Stanley, hoping that you will be charitable under the
circumstances, and with that we will close the business
of the evening. It affords me great pleasure, therefore,
to introduce to you Mr. W. S. Stearns.
Speech op William S. Steabns.
Ladies and Gentlemen, — I have been requested to
read to you, this evening, a letter which lies before me,
and also to make a few remarks upon my connection and
acquaintance with Dr. Livingstone. I do not propose to
458 Mr. 8tanlby*s Reception.
occupy your time with any lengthy remarks, but simply
to state to you that in 1864 Dr. Livingstone was as much
a myth to me as he is to you to-day. You have heard
of him ; some of you, perhaps, have seen him. Many
of you never have seen him, and, perhaps, never will see
him. But in 1864, the latter part of it, I first became
interested in him. In 1865, in June of that year, Dr. Liv-
ingstone arrived in Bombay, in the little steamer "Lady
Nyarson," which had been sent out, in sections, from Eng-
land to assist in the exploration of the lakes in the interior
of Africa. After performing this work the steamer was sent
to Zanzibar for sale. It was afterward thought advisable
to bring the vessel to Bombay, and so it came about that on
the 6th of June, 1866, the little steamer " Lady Nyarson,"
scarcely ninety feet in length, sailed into Bombay harbor,
under the command and under the guidance of the engi-
neer-in-chief, Dr. Livingstone, the only other men on board
being a stoker and a carpenter, with a crew made up of
several coolie boys. The same indomitable energy and
courage that had enabled him to explore the interior of
Africa had guided him, under God and Providence, over
a wide waste of 500 miles. In 1865 I found myself in the
steamer "Peonellies," and among those present, of our
fellow-passengers, was Dr. Livingstone. I made his
acquaintance, and formed a friendship which I shall
never forget as long as I breathe the breath of life that
is in me. On our arrival in Bombay, and during his
residence in Bombay, I had the pleasure of offering him
a place under my roof. He remained in Bombay about
four months, and. then early in January, in 1866, he
started for Zanzibar and the mouth of the Ruanago
River. I will not attempt any personal description of
the Doctor, because I am glad to say that his duplicate
(pointing to Mr. John Livingstone, who occupied a seat
by the side of the chairman) is sitting here. I am also
glad to state, for your information and satisfaction, that
in a letter which was sent me early last year circum-
Spbbom of William 8. Stearns. 459
stances known only to myself and Br. Livingstone were
referred to, which stamped them as genuine, and as
beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt. There are a
.great many who ask this question. I hare heard it
many times. It has been put to me a gi^at many times,
and there are those here who have, doubtless, heard the
same. What purpose is all this waste ? Why bury him-
self in this dark region of Africa i Why refuse to return
again to the civilization he has left? It is the same ques-
tion of old — the question that was put in the days of the
Saviour by Judas. We are living examples of what has
been brought about by this so-called waste. A question,
almost identically the same with this, was asked by the
ancient Britons. Dr. Livingstone has done a great and
noble work, a work in which he should have every sym-
pathy and every prayer that could be given him. He is
opening up a country not only to our knowledge, not
only to you, who are interested in geographical progress
and geographical discovery, but open, also, to Christian
civilization.
The two nations, too, are going hand-in-hand with him
in a burning desire to bring the terrible traffic in slavery
to an end. Many and many a time have I heard him,
. with burning lips and flashing eyes, tell the story of the
wrongs and frightful cruelties which he had seen enacted
under his eyes, and the destruction that had been brought
about in that country by the connivance of the Portu-
guese authorities. By the same means, village after
village has been laid waste, and thousands upon thou-
sands of people destroyed. I am glad to see that the
English government, and that England, has taken this
matter vigorously in hand, and I hope that thife land of
freedom will assist in this great and noble work, and in
exterminating this last great vestige of slavery.
460 M&- Stanley's Rbcmption.
Mr. Steams then read the following letter : —
Naw York, Sept. 23d, 1872.
Hon! Charles P. Daxt,
President, American Geographical Society.
Dear Bra, — I have much pleasure in handing you the following
extracts from a letter reoeived, through Henry M. Stanley, Esq.,
the indomitable agent of the Herald, from Dr. Livingstone. The
Doctor has requested me to furnish you with snch extracts as I
may think proper to give.
The letter in question was written in Manyema country, in
November, 1870. In a late letter, dated Unyanyembe, March
13th, 1872, he says:
" The inclosure was penned long ago, among cannibals, where
I had no paper. I give you an idea of matters there; but my
own knowledge has been increasing, and perhaps the inclosed
statements do not tally exactly with what I have to say now,
and much of which will be published in my despatches."
The following portions are those to which he seems to refer in
his request:
Letter to Mr. Stearns.
Manyema Country, Central Africa, /
November, 1870. f
My Dear Stearns, — I have not a scrap of paper, and there
are no stores to buy any within a round 1,000 miles, so I cut a
leaf out of my Bombay check-book, to offer thanks for all your
kind services, and give you a little information about the work
that has detained me so long. When I left in 1866, to examine
the watershed of South Central Africa, I thought that I could
easily do that, though it involved the solution of the problem of
the sources of the Nile, in about two years, and then begin a
benevolent mission on the slope back to the sea. This last is
greatly needed ; for our fine, promising mission, begun by good
Bishop Mackenzie, has dwindled into the missionary bishop of
Central Africa, dawdling at Zanzibar, and taking a peep at his
diocese on the main-land, some forty miles off, with a telescope,
then becoming sick and going to the Seychelles Islands to
* recover. He seems to act on Bunyan's {sic) principh
" He that fights and runs away
"May live to light another day." «
Speech of William S. Stearns. 461
He blames me for his dawdling ; says he was connected with my
expedition on the Zambesi, and when I left he had to follow. It
must be failure of memory, for he never was connected with me
on the expedition in any way whatever. Make me the Bishop of
Central Africa, and see how long the fear of death would keep me
out of my diocese.
The watershed is in latitude 10° 12' south. Here stand
" Ptolemy's Mountains of the Moon," of no great height, how-
ever, between 6,000 and 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
never clad with snow, .at least since the last glacial epoch. And
here also the springs of the Nile do unquestionably arise.
The length of the watershed from west to east is between
700 and 800 miles. The springs are innumerable, but all flow
away to the north by three lines of drainage ; and these which
we may call the head-waters of the rivers of Egypt are lakes,
with the currents and forms of rivers. If not too pedantic, they
are lacustrine rivers. Tanganyika is one, and from twenty to
thirty miles broad. I write on the banks of the central one,
called Webb's Lualaba, at first eight or ten miles broad, and
then holding a width of from two to six miles, as far as it is
known. It was long ere I gained a clear idea of the drainage.
I had to feel my way, and every step of the way, and was gen-
erally groping in the dark, for who cared where the rivers ran ?
The Portuguese made two or three slaving visits to Cazembee ;
but they inquired for slaves and ivory alone, and heard of nothing
else. Had I left at the end of two years, I could have told little
more of this country of dense forests and running rills than they
did. I inquired about the waters till I was ashamed, and almost
feared that I should be set down as afflicted with hydrocephalus.
Many a weary foot I trod ere light shone on the ancient problem.
Had I known all the hunger, hardships, toil, and time involved, I
might have preferred a straight waistcoat to undertaking the
task ; but when I had engaged to do it, I could not bear the
thought of being beat by difficulties, and I stuck to it with bull-
dog tenacity.
Native wars were a great hindrance. Illness and medicine lost
caused serious delays ; unsuitable, cowardly attendants an intol-
erable drag. By mistaken kindness my liberated slaves were not
forced to work, and learn as you and I were. They had all been
468 Mr. Stanley's Reception.
slaves, and of the criminal class, in their own country, and feared
nothing so much as being caught and made to work again. Some
deserted six times over. I look with great anxiety to your freed-
men, but they were never of the criminal class in America. I
am reduced to inactivity by these worthies, some of whom
became eager slave-hunters of their own countrymen when, from
fear of guns, there was no danger to them.
I could finish all that remains of the exploration in four or five
months if I had men and a canoe. It is the western drainage
alone that detains me for work. West of this there are two large
rivers, each called Lualaba. These unite and form a large lake,
which I am fain to call Lake Lincoln, in honor of him who, by
passing the amendment to the United States Constitution, gave
freedom to 4,000,000 of slaves. Looking south from this Lake
Lincoln, we have a remarkable mound or hill on the watershed
that gives out four full-grown, gushing fountains, each of which
becomes a large river. One fountain on its south is broad enough
for a man not to be seen on the other side. This is the source of
the Liambai, or Upper Zambesi. A smaller one on the same side
becomes Lucrize, and far down Kafue, where it falls into the
Zambesi I wish to name the large fountain, the source of the
Zambesi, after good Lord Palmerston, one on the northern side
of the mound after Sir Bartle Frere. Lincoln, Palmerston, and
Frere (in Scinde) have done more to abolish slavery and the
slave-trade than any of their contemporaries. Lincoln and Pal-
merston are no longer among us, but in using the names of these
great and good men I am fain to place, as it were, my poor little
garland of love on their tombs.
Those remarkable fountains, not ten miles apart, are probably
the fountains of the Nile mentioned to Herodotus by the secre-
tary of Minerva, in the city of Sais, from which, he said, half
the water flowed northward to Egypt and the other half to inner
Ethiopia.
The Manyema country is covered largely with forests, from
which even the fierce vertical sun is all but excluded. No trader
can come here, so the tusks have lain rotting with the other
bones where the animals felL Hordes of half-castes now collect
this ivory for a mere trifle. The Manyema are reputed to be
cannibals, and had I believed a tenth of what was told by adja-
Speech of William S. Stearns. 468
cent tribes, I might not have ventured among them. My mother
never frightened me in infancy with "«bogie," etc., bo I am not
liable to bogiephobia, to which awful disease everything horrible
is credited if only imputed to the owner of a dark skin. It raged
as an epidemic lately in Jamaica, and the mothers of the Jamaica
planters have much to answer. * * * The Geographical
Society of New York have always honored me. I need not say
that I value their approbation highly. Will you give them
extracts from this ?
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
P. S. — If you give extracts to the Geographical Society of New
York, it may be right to add that I feel a little regret in being in
a manner compelled to speak disparagingly of the opinions of
my predecessors. But the claim of discovering the sources of
the Nile was put forward so positively, and withal so honestly,
that some explanation is necessary in making a similar claim
Poor Speke's great mistake was the pursuit of a foregone con-
clusion. When he discovered Okara, or Victoria Nyanza, he at
once leaped to the conclusion that therein lay the sources of the
river of Egypt. When he and Grant afterwards went to prove
this conclusion to be correct, no sooner did they look toward
Okara, than they turned their backs on the Caput JVili, the
fountains being 500 miles further up the Great Nile valley than
the most southern point of their lake. Three lakes, separated by
wide spaces from each other, were run into one huge Victoria
Nyanza. When they saw that the little river, the so-called White
Nile, that comes out of it, would not account for the river of
Egypt, but for devotion to the " foregone conclusion," they would
have come west, here, into the trough of the Great Valley, and
found this Lualaba, not eighty or ninety yards broad, like their
little White Nile, but from 4,000 to 8,000 yards ; and another,
the united stream out of Lake Lincoln, of equally gigantic pro-
portions.
A Dutch lady explorer awakens my sympathy more than Baker,
who turned when 700 miles short of the sources, or the second
Egyptian expedition that fell short of the same by 1,000 miles.
She proceeded with such wise foresight for both land and water
exploration, and nobly persevered up the stream in her steamer,
in spite of the severest domestic affliction, — the loss of her two
464 Mb. Stanley's Reception.
aunts by fever, — and showed such indomitable pluck, that, bad
she not been assured, honestly enough, no doubt, by Spe^e and
Grant, that they had already found in Okara the source she
sought, she must inevitably, by boat or land, have reached the
head-waters. I cannot conceive of her stopping short of Bang-
weolo Lake. We men say explanation was not becoming her
sex. Well, considering that more than 1,600 years have elasped
since the ancient travellers or traders came in here, and emperors,
kings, and philosophers all longed to know the fountains whence
flowed the famous river, and longed in vain, explanation does
not seem to have been very becoming the other sex either. She
came further up than the centurions sent by Nero Csesar. I
know nothing more about her. Many and hearty thanks for
your most kind services about the buffaloes. All came safe to'
Zanzibar, but were entrusted to an ill-conditioned wretch of a
Persian. Arab, who literally killed them — drove them in a hot
sun ; then, on reaching a village, tied them up, allowing them
neither to eat nor drink. Blood flowed from their nostrils, and
they perished. This he wished. Tying them was to avoid all
trouble in herding them." He was prepared, and got money to
buy grass and water. It was like spending money to buy the
light of heaven or the air we breathe. But At Zanzibar they did
not know better. I have got no letters for years, save some three
years old, at Ujiji, in March, 1868. I don't know my affairs, if
I have salary or not. Lord Russell was to give me £500 a year,
if I settled, and I don't look like settling anywhere or anything
but the sources of the Nile. The expedition-money was for two
years, and is all expended long ago. It is, therefore, not without
anxious care that I strive to make a complete work of this explo-
ration. * * *
I may say, before I close, that, had I known when writ-
ing this letter that I should have been called upon to read
it before you this evening, I should have added a few
words from another letter, brought me at the same time
through Mr. Stanley, and which inclosed this letter which I
have been reading, dated Unyanyembe, March 13th, 1873.
In it he says : " This letter will be handed you by Henry M.
Stanley, Esq., travelling correspondent of the New York
$peeoh of Mr. Livingstons. 465
Herald, sent out by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., to aid
your servant, and right nobly he has fulfilled his task."
Mb. Livingstone Introduced.
The Chairman said it now afforded him great pleasure
to introduce to them Mr. John Livingstone, the brother
of the great traveller.
Speech of Mb. Livingstone.
Ladies and Gentlemen, — I am very sorry for the
disappointment we have met with this evening in not
having Mr. Stanley with us. A few minutes before I
came here I saw him, and he was quite indisposed and
unable to come out ; in fact, his medical attendants for-
bade him to come here to-night, but he hopes before long
to have the pleasure of meeting you all here.
The Banquet.
The Chairman said a number of the members of the
Society would give a banquet to Mr. Stanley to-morrow
(Wednesday), when,they hoped,he would be well enough
to be present ; but he could only say to those gentlemen
who intended going to the banquet that they would pro-
ceed with it whether Mr. Stanley was there or not, as a
good dinner was not a thing to be abandoned. As it had
been impossible to reach all the gentlemen of the Society
in the limited time which they had had to make their
arrangements in, if there was any gentleman of the
Society who desired to be present at the banquet and who
had not been invited, he could leave his name with the
Secretary. The evening papers had an important despatch
with respect to Dr. Livingstone, and, being short, he
would read it. It was headed " Another Search for Dr.
Livingstone," and ran thus :
London, November 26tA, 1872.
A despatch from Cairo says the Khedive is about to send a
force of 5,000 troops, under command of one of the American
80
466 Mr. Stanleys RBcspmoif.
officers doit serving in the Egyptian army, to aid Dr. livmgstoae,
and search for the source of the Hirer Nile.
He would now introduce Dr. Bellows, who would make
a few remarks, and then the meeting would adjourn.
Speech bt Dr. Bellows.
Dr. Bellows, who was received with considerable
applause, said the only improvement which he could
suggest to the chairman's remarks was that they should
adjourn before listening to him. Still, as they seemed
determined that evening to prove a remark which Timo-
thy Titcomb had lately thrown before the public, that the
Americans were the best-humored people in the world,
he would like to take the opportunity of proving the
truth of the observation by referring to the admirable
attention which they had given on the occasion under such
very exacting circumstances to a meeting made in honor
of and to the honor of their absent guest, but which they
had been kind enough to accept in so generous a spirit,
when those who had been there to present Mr. Stanley
to them were prevented at the last moment from carrying
out their desire. He thought the admirable equanimity
which had prevailed evidenced the carefulness with which
they had preconcealed the pain which was in their bosoms,
and the patience with which they had listened to these
addresses proved that they, as Americans, were the best-
mannered people in the world. He had the pleasure of
seeing Mr. Stanley, like the other gentlemen who had
addressed them, and he assured them they did not know
how much they had lost in not having had the chance of
looking on the man who so recently stood face to face
with Livingstone. They would see in him that resolution
and that persistency which had carried him through that
critical trial ; they would see in his face that Abyssinia
and Africa had left their marks on him in a very conspic-
uous manner, and they would then have understood with
what determination and success he had carried out that
\ Speecb by Dm. Bmllowjl 467
undertaking. He appreciated in the American people
that " hero warmth" to which they were sometimes dis-
paraged by stupid people, who did not like to see others
who had done great things in this world recognized.
He thought the enthusiasm which they were so willing
to display on all such occasions, and for which they were
sometimes reproached in the old country lor receiving
those whose works they had previously heard of, and
that the ointment which they poured on their heads was
creditable to the people, and it was better to be mistaken
and overdo admiration and generosity towards strangers
than it was with a coldness to be considering only what
was to be done, and to take care they did not overpay
them a cent.. Great souls made great room for men that
were supposed to have great souls, and if little souls
came in at the door it did not make the place less splendid
or the heart that received them less noble. Now, they all
had a natural curiosity to see Mr. Stanley — they desired
to take hold of the hand that last held that of the noble
Livingstone, and they also wanted to honor the pluck
that went after him and found him. It was not Africa
that gave to Livingstone his importance ; there was some-
thing better than the discovery of the source of the Nile,
and that was the sense of devotion that lay within his
soul. Livingstone was greater than the source of the
Nile, and what he had done to assist humanity was in
itself worthy of all his efforts in all that he could da
But there was another thing, which was worth reflecting
upon. Perhaps there was no other country in the world
where any one but a body of savans, or men of sense, or
men who had made special investigation into such mat-
ters, would have come together and heard so much about
the heart of Africa ; but what was it in the American
breast — that cosmopolitan nation, that nation made up of
the kindred of every other nation and of every clime,
that was made up by adoption from other countries, what
was it that gave that breadth of sympathy to the Ameri-
468 Mb. Stanley's Reception.
can people) He rejoiced in the universality of the
American people and in their desire to know what was
going on wherever man was found. It was not of Asia
nor Europe, nor America ; it was of the common soil oJ
this common world, generally inhabited by the common
image of God made out of the earth and blessed with Hi?
divine spirit, and man was held dearer here than in any
place on the face of the world. Why was it that God
kept that quarter of the world (Africa) shut up? He
supposed it was for the same reason that Asia was so long
shut up after it had once been opened; for the same
reason that China and Corea were shut up. But these
places would all have to be opened, and the gates oi
humanity and civilization could never be closed until the
vast world and all its inhabitants were able to be conned
and understood by all those under the planets. Africa
had still her great contribution to make to humanity ; she
was one of those great colonies who were to be kept i»
reserve, probably, and brought out at the last moment,
like some general in reserve. It might be that Africa had
contributions in her bosom to make for the general use oi
humanity ; perhaps had connected with her history char-
acteristics which in the end might prove essential to the
rounding-out of that impartial form of humanity which
had been represented in the civilization of the world
hitherto. And if there was a place in the world that
ought to have an interest in Africa, a place which had
been the bone and sinew of the principal wealth to another
country, and conceded at the same time the opportunity
of doing the principal wrong ever committed against a
most innocent set of conscripts, it was America. What
were we going to do to show that we were not forgetful
of these two or three millions of people of whom we had
had the use, and whose lives had been the road to our
wealth and to the wealth of this country 1 That was a
question which he left them to consider.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
No. 169.
IN ASSEMBLY,
April 5, 1878.
TESTIMONY
OF THE COMMITTEE ON GRIEVANCES ON THE PETI-
TION OF STEPHEN ENGLISH, IN THE MATTER OF
THE INVESTIGATION OF THE MUTUAL LIFE INSU-
RANCE COMPANY.
Committee met at Metropolitan Hotel, New York, April 4th
1873.
Present — Hons. 0. W. Herrick, chairman, E. 8. Whalen, Elbert
Townsend, Frank Abbott, A. Blessing, T. J. Campbell.
J. Thomas Davis, Clerk.
Mr. O. T. Atwood appeared as counsel for committee.
The Clerk read as follows :
"Petition of Stephen English, of New York, asking for the
investigation of certain affairs connected with the New York Mutual
Life Insurance Company.
a To the honorable body the Assembly of the State of New York :
u Your petitioner humbly represents that he is suffering imprison-
ment for the faithful performance of a duty he owed himself and his
fellow policy holders in the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New
York.
" This company is the largest institution of the kind in the world ;
its accumulated assets amount, at present, to over $58,000,000. The
writer is a public journalist, and being profoundly impressed with
the beneficence of life insurance, has, tor many years, exerted him-
[ Assembly No. 169.] 1
8 [
Belf to the utmost of his ability to increase and spread its blessings;
and, regarding the Mutual Life as a representative life company,
availed himself of every opportunity to enhance its reputation and
promote its prosperity. He was, with the general public, completely
deceived by the specious and artful representations of the manage-
ment, and proved himself its voluntary aud zealous champion until
his eyes were opened by reading the sworn testimony taken by the
insurance superintendent and presented to the Legislature of 1872.
" He examined the evidence with astonishment, but could not resist
its force, although it established the truth of the charges of corrup-
tion which had for seven or eight years been openly preferred against
F. S. Winston, the president of the company.
" The subscriber, being editor and proprietor of the Insurance
Journal, intended to serve as an instructor and guide in all matters
relating to insurance, was bound in duty to its readers and his
brother policy holders to denounce and to employ every legitimate
means at his command to remove the evils of the existence of which
he had received so clear and indisputable a proof. Upon further
investigation, not only was the truth of this evidence corroborated,
but additional facts were brought to light, which demonstrated that
President Winston, in league with a clique composed of trustees and
lawyers, was mal-appropriating the company's funds for the private
aggrandizement of himself, his family and those in collusion with
him. The petitioner being determined to act with perfect candor
and fairness towards the officers of the Mutual Life Insurance, called
promptly upon the vice-president (in the absence of the president
on a tour in Syria, pending the Miller examination), and frankly
informed Mr. McCurdy that he could no longer conscientiously snp-
f)ort the present administration, and that he, McCurdy, was at
iberty to withdraw his patronage from the Insurance Times, as the
misconduct of the management would be freely criticised in that
journal.
" The subscriber then proceeded to fulfill the obligation devolved
upon him by his position, and from month to month demonstrated
the necessity ef effecting a complete change and thorough reform in
the administration of the official department of the Mutual Life
He examined and sifted all the charges that had been publicly
brought against Mr. Winston's conduct of the affairs of the company,
and republished such as he found to be truthful and just.
" In these Mr. Winston is accused of violating the regulations, by-
laws and charter of the company, in reviving surrendered and dead
policies for the benefit of his family, his friends and others willing
to conspire with agents, and share with them in the proceeds of such
fraud upon the true policy holders ; the procuring, in direct violation
of the charter, from a suborned body of trustees, and the acceptance
of large bonuses to himself and family, in addition to extravagant
salaries, and the cloaking of this illegal transaction from the public
by charging the expenditure under the head of dividends to policy
holders ; the illegal employment of the company's funds, by making
loans thereof to trustees, agents and others, and the concealment of
No. 169.] 8
such accommodations, by making no corresponding record in the
books, and by patting such amounts down as ' premium receipts '
or ' cash in the cashier's drawer ;' the illegal and needless expendi-
ture of vast sums of the company's money in various States, to pro-
cure the passage of partial and unjust acts of legislation, and falsely
charging the outlay to office rent and taxes ; the imposition on bor-
rowers of unlawful and oppressive rates of interest, in addition to
the legal rate and ordinary charges; the collecting, retaining and
employment of so large a number of proxies, by himself and fellow
officer, as enables him to elect such trustees as he thinks proper, and
thus insure his perpetuity in office, and the assent of the elected to
any measure he chooses to introduce.
" For these delinquencies, licenses and assumptions of arbitrary
power, Mr. Winston had been arraigned at the bar of public opinion by
some few of the trustees of the company, by several influential policy
holders, who made the charges the subject of open discussion in public
meetings in Boston, Baltimore and this city, and finally by the press,
long before the petitioner's condemnatory strictures were published.
" Not only was he anticipated in bringing these accusations by the
authorities here enumerated, but also by the accused himself, F. S.
Winston, who published them all in the report of Superintendent
Miller's examination, and had it copyrighted as well as printed in an
incomplete and inaccurate form, at the expense of the policy holders.
The subscriber has only collected these charges, and endeavored to
render them of avail in promoting the purification and reform of the
administration of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, to protect
its policy holders from continued injustice and spoliation.
" The evidence thus adduced against the principal manager of this
company has, however, been strengthened by fresh developments,
which demonstrate the necessity of subjecting the affairs of this
gigantic corporation to an investigation so searching, impartial and
thorough, as to put the Legislature, the. policy holders and the public
in possession of the real facts bearing on the aforesaid charges.
" The petitioner respectfully represents that the commission that
may be appointed to make the proposed investigation should be
constituted of persons best calculated to render it complete and satis-
factory to all parties interested. The important point should be borne
in mind that the present managers of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, who have had entire control of its business for many
years, have made it a close corporation, have pursued an artful
system of falsifying the accounts, and being in the fiduciary possession
of $58,000,000, an annual income of $17,000,000, besides the profits
by usury and other illegal transactions, have been and are enabled
to buy advocates and abettors in Legislatures, in State insurance
departments, in courts and the press, so that the examination of the
company hitherto made, and the suits against these officers hitherto
brought, have been, by these means, rendered nugatory and abortive.
The officers and trustees, -by the profits of their connection with this
company, with assets bordering on $60,000,000, are amassing large
fortunes, and are tenaciously eager to retain their grasp on the
t [Assembly
savings of the insured. It is, therefore, imperatively necessary that
the policy holders should be duly represented in such commission,
in order that the prospective widows and orphans of 80,000 members
may be shielded from further spoliation of the portion set by and
maintained for them by conjugal and paternal love, solicitude and
providence.
" New York, March 15*A, 1873.
« STEPHEN ENGLISH.
" Mr. Beebe moved that said petition be printed immediately, and
referred to the Committee on Grievances, with instructions to investi-
gate the subject mentioned in the petition.
" Committee — Messrs. Herrick, Whalen, White, Townsend, Bless-
ing, Abbott, Campbell.
" By order of the Assembly.
" J. O'DONNELL, Clerk"
On motion, adjourned to meet at Ludlow-street Jail to-morrow
morning, at 10 o'clock, to take testimony of Stephen English.
April 5th9 1*73.
Committee met at Ludlow-street Jail.
Present — Hons. C. W. Herrick, chairman ; E. S. Whalen, E.
Townsend, Frank Abbott, A. Blessing, T. J. Campbell.
Mr. Thomas Darlington appeared as counsel for Mr. Stephen
English.
Stephen English, being duly sworn, testified as follows: My
name is Stephen English ; I reside in New York city, at No. 53
West Twenty-fifth street; my business is editor and proprietor of
Insurance Times; started my own paper in 1868, the Insurance
Times ; since that time it has been published until this time ; know
Frederick S. Winston ; was recognized organ of Mutual Life Insur-
ance Company up to March 4th, 1872 ; during Miller examinations,
I was convinced of errors in the management of said company; prior
to that time, Mr. Winston had endeavored to induce me to withdraw
my opposition to Mr. Miller ; I made about that time examinations
of written testimony, taken before Mr. Miller, of Mutual Life Insur-
ance Company ; that written testimony was filed with Legislature
March 1st, 1872.
Q. What were your motives in making the publications com-
plained of by Mr. Winston as libelous ? A. Protection of my own
No. 169. J 5
interests as a policy holder and the interests of the policy holders
generally, from mal-appropriation of the company funds by the
president, vice-president and a certain clique of the trustees.
Q. Had you any personal animosity against Frederick S. Winston ?
A. None whatever.
Q. Where was Mr. Winston at that timet A. He was somewhere
abroad.
Q. When had you last seen Mr. Winston, and what were your
personal relations with him at that timet A. I saw him last, Janu-
ary 17th, 1872, and shook hands with him when he left New York
to go abroad.
(At this stage of proceedings reporters having appeared, Mr.
Whalen moved to admit reporters and such others as committee
think proper. Carried.)
Q. At that time, were your personal relations with him friendly ?
A. Very friendly, and had been for years.
Q. Have you seen him from that time to the present t A. No.
Q. When was you arrested, in the suit in the Supreme Oourt of
Frederick 8. Winston? A. On the 28d day of January, 1873;
prior to that time I had heard that orders of arrest had been obtained
against me.
Q. Prior to this time had you been sued by George T. Hope t
A. I had, about two weeks before.
Q. On that had you been held to bail t A. I had, in the amount
of $10,000, with two sureties.
Q. Did Mr. Winston know of this t A. Winston knew this faot^
as I am informed.
Q. Did you deposit securities to secure sureties t A. To secure
my bail in that suit of Hope I deposited $11,000 in registered
bonds of United States ten-forties with Charles Stanton, one of my
sureties.
Q. When you heard these two orders of arrest were against you,
did you remain in this vicinity t A. I did ; I was absent in Jersey
City three days.
Q. When did you employ Mr. Darlington t A. About January
19th, 1873, to appear in said new actions, and moved to reduce the
bail; I was informed by Mr. Darlington that such motion could not
be made, because attorney for plaintiff denied that any suit had been
commenced ; I returned to the city and was arrested on January
23, 1873. (Counsel produced order of arrest, which was served
6 [A
January 23, 1873.) My counsel informed me that it waa obtained
January 13th, when Mr. Winston made affidavit ; it is dated Jan-
uary, 1873, in Supreme Court, for $20,000.
(Counsel produced order of arrest from Superior Court, dated
January 13, 1873, and alias order dated January 24, 1873, for
$20,000.)
Q. Did your counsel obtain order for examination of Mr. Winston!
A. On the 27th of January, my counsel obtained an order for
examination of Frederick S. Winston ; this order was obtained upon
affidavit made by me on the 24th January, 1873, in which affidavit I
state that I desired the examination for the purpose of enabling me
to frame my answer, so that I might prove the facts and circumstances
in justification of the said allegations, or in mitigation of damages ;
I further state, in that affidavit, that I expect to prove, by the
examination of the plaintiff, the substantial truth of all the allega-
tions published by me concerning Mr. Winston ; I believe the truth
contained in the Insurance Times of all the articles published therein,
in regard to the Mutual Life Insurance Company ; my only motive,
in the publication of said articles, was for the public benefit and of
policy holders ; there has never been any personal difficulty between
Mr. Winston and myself; in the attempts made by my counsel to
procure the examination of Mr. Winston, they were made under my
direction and with the sincere expectation that I could prove the
truth of every allegation out of his own mouth, and thus avoid the
long delay which must take place before the action could be regularly
tried.
Q. Has it been your belief that Mr. Winston would submit to an
examination as to the truth of the charges made against him ? A.
I have never believed that he would submit to a public examination ;
that on the contrary, he would discontinue the suit, because develop-
ments will arise that will astonish the world, that have never been
brought to light.
Q. In making the charges, did you suppose that you were making
new charges against him, or were they merely repetitions of charges
heretofore made publicly against him by others! A. They were
merely repetitions of charges that were made against him for years
by others* and by public journals, and in legislative proceedings.
Q. Prior to the publication in the June, 1872, number of'Ineurance
Times, which is the first publication complained of, had you not seen
the same charges concerning the plaintiff published with his consent
No. 169.] 7
and copyrighted by the Mutual Life Insurance Company? A.
I had.
Q. In the comments made by yon npon the admitted facts in that
publication, were any unjust inferences made to yonr knowledge t
A. None whatever; I believe them to be just and reasonable.
Q. With what ultimate hope were they published ? A. With the
object of remedying the evils complained of, drawing the attention
of the Legislature to the proxy system, and benefiting the general
interests of the company.
Q. When was the mismanagement brought to your notice f A.
Many years they had been discussed, but was not myself convinced
■
of their truth until March, 1872, during Miller's examination.
By Mr. Whalen :
Q. During the time yon was advocating the interest of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company and Mr. Winston, and up to
March, 1872, did you ever receive, or did any one in your behalf,
from said insurance company or Mr. Winston, or from any other
person for said services, any pay or emoluments beyond what was
your just dues for advertising or for the sale of your charts? A.
Never one cent; on the contrary, in 1868, Mr. Winston endeavored
to induce me to advocate the mutual system exclusively, and that
they would give me a handsome income from any losses I might sus-
tain from the withdrawal of patronage from other companies ; at that
time I understood that $80,000 was raised by a certain class of
companies to crush out other companies, meaning stock and other
companies; in 1871, $20,000 was raised by the Mutual Life and other
companies for the purpose of passing Miller's life bill ; the object of
that bill was to crush out all the small life companies, and grant a
monopoly to large companies ; during the progress of that bill in the
Legislature, Mr. Winston endeavored on several occasions to induce
me to withdraw my opposition to that bill.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Did you, or any one in yonr behalf, ever apply or ask for any
compensation besides your legitimate fees ? A. Never.
Q. In your opposition to the Miller life bill, and your efforts to
remove Mr. Miller from* the insurance department, were they made
at pecuniary benefit or expense to yourself? A. At a great sacrifice
to myself; I lost by the withdrawal of patronage of one company
alone twenty -three hundred dollars per annum permanently ; I paid
8 [AflBKMBLT
all my own expenses and the traveling expenses of the witnesses to
Albany, amounting to abont $2,000 (two thousand dollare).
Q. By whom do you expect to prove the charges contained in the
petition and in your publications I A. By James W. McCulloh,
Sheppard Homans, Frederick 8. Winston, William S. Brown, Sey-
mour L. Husted, William Phoebus Sands, Charles F. Wreaks, John
H. Bewley and others.
By Mr. Campbell :
Q. What reason have yon to suppose that the gentlemen named
will substantiate your charges? A. Because. they have personally
given evidence, under oath, of the facte embraced in my petition, and
one of them, Mr. McCulloh, has published the results of his exami-
nation in the New York Herald.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. What relations exist between Mr. McCulloh, Mr. Homant
and yourself, or have existed for some time past? A. I have
known Mr. Homans for the last eight years, and we are very
friendly; Mr. McCulloh has always refused to give me any infor-
mation in relation to Mutual Life,* and has never been on friendly
terms with me ; but he has furnished my counsel, Mr. Darlington, with
particulars of the facts relating to the Mutual Life, and the manage-
ment thereof by Mr. Winston, since my imprisonment ; there has
never been any arrangement or collusion between myself, Mr. Mo-
Culloh or Mr. Homans to prosecute this company for any wrongs
they complain of.
By Mr. Campbell:
Q. Have you, since your imprisonment, applied formally to the
Supreme Court by counsel for a reduction of bail I A. I have not,
because I was informed it would be useless.
On motion of Mr. Whalen adjourned to Metropolitan Hotel, Mon-
day morning, at 10 o'clock.
Metropolitan Hotel, )
New Tobk, April 7, 1873. J
Before the Assembly Committee on Grievances.
The following members of the oommitttee were present :
Hons. 0. W. Herrick, chairman, A. S. Whalen, E. Townsend,
Frank Abbott, T. J. Campbell, A. Blessing.
Mr. J. Thomas Davis, clerk ; O. T. Atwood, counsel for the com.
mittee ; Thomas Darlington, counsel for Mr. English ; Robert Sewell,
counsel for Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Charles P. Young was duly sworn as the official stenographer.
Mr. James W. McCulloh, called and duly sworn.
Examined by Mr. Atwood :
Q. What is your name ? A. James W. McOulloh.
Q. Your residence ? A. Englewood, Bergen county, New Jersey.
Q. Your place of business ? A. 60 Beaver street, New York.
Q. Your business i A. Provision broker.
Q. And your age t A. Forty-six.
Q. Do you know Stephen English ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What relations, if any, have you had with him in a business
way! A. None.
Q. Have you read his petition ? A. I have ; since I entered the
room.
Q. Not before } A. 1 may have seen it before ; I think I did ; I
think it was distributed through the mail ; but I did not read it
carefully.
Q. Have you read it over t A. I have read it ; yes, sir.
Q. What were your personal relations with Mr. English, prior to
his arrest by Winston ; friendly or unfriendly t A. They were not ;
Mr. English, in 1869, had been guilty of gross rudeness to me in the
office of the Mutual Life ; threatened me with personal violence,
because I was then present opposing the ticket that was nominated by
the trustees of the company for the trustees in the election of 1868; I
was compelled to call the attention of some of the officers to Mr.
English's conduct; I had very little to do with him, and refused all
intercourse with him ; he very frequently applied to me for informa-
tion in regard to certain facts which I had ascertained during aft
investigation in that company, and which I had always declined to
give to him.
Q. It might be well enough here for you to state what relatione?
you formerly had with this company ; were yon an officer of this
company ? A. Never; I have been a policy holder in the company
since 1868.
Q. You heard of Mr. English's arrest t A. I did.
Q. Previous to that time was there ever any conspiracy, agreement
or consultation in regard to making a mutual war upon this Mutual
10 [AflSKMBLT
Life Insurance Company! A. Never, sir; I should say that prior
to Mr. English's arrest, he came to the ferry to meet me in the morn-
ing, at that time being in New Jersey, and I stated to him that I
considered he was doing a very foolish tiling to keep himself ont of
the way, and advised him to return to New York and surrender
himself.
Q. Previous to the time of his arrest, or previous to the time yon
saw him, had you ever furnished him with any of the matters that
are set forth in that affidavit of Mr. Darlington 1 A. On one occasion
Mr. English banded me an article that he had written in regard to
the bonuses distributed amongst the officers, and asked me if that
was correct ; I stated to him that in the main it was correct ; he had
made some flaws, but it was not for me to point that out ; but in the
main it was correct ; with that exception he never consulted me, and
that was an interview of probably three or four minutes.
Q. Do you know Frederick 8. Winston ? A. I do.
Q. He is and has been for a long time the president of the Mutual
Insurance Company ? A. A great many years.
Q. Do you know anything of his relations, as president, with the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and how did you become acquainted
with the facts in regard to his business relations with the company !
A. I first became acquainted with some facts connected with the
company and Mr. Winston's relations from information imparted to
me by individuals ; I subsequently- became better acquainted with it
by a personal examination that I made of the books and records of
the company in 1871.
Q. 1870 or 1871 f A. It may be 1870 ; I think it was in 1871.
Q. Have you got a memorandum of the time ? A. Yes, sir ; I
can give you the exact date, 1870.
Q. About what time ? A. It commenced in March ; I will give
you the exact date.
Q. We don't care to a day ) A. It commenced in the early part
of the month of March, 1870 ; on the 21st day of March, 1870, it
commenced.
Q. Under what authority did you make that investigation ! A.
On that day I had no authority ; that 21st.
Q. Did you subsequently ? A. I received that authority a day or
two afterward.
Q. State what it was ? A. I entered upon the examination of the
affairs of the Mutual Life in connection with George W. Miller,
No. m] 11
the late superintendent of the insurance department, under an
arrangement which I had made with him, he understanding that I
had received an appointment from the Assembly committee — the
Insurance Committee of the Assembly — and would be properly
authorized within a day or two to make the examination ; and,
under that arrangement made with him, I entered upon the examina-
tion on the 21st of March ; on the 26th of March two of the
members of the Insurance Committee appeared in the office of the
Mutual Life, and administered to myself and Mr. Thomas Hand,
who was my assistant, an oath to perform the duty, and handed me
the document, which reads :
" Albany, March 26, 1870.
" Resolved, That James W. McOnlloh and Mr. Hand are hereby
appointed to examine the books, papers, records, proceedings and
minutes of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, under a resolution
of March 25, 1870.
" DENNIS BUKNS,
"ChoMrirwn,P
It was under that authority.
Q. In pursuance of that authority, did you make an examination
of the books and papers and affairs of the Mutual Life % A. I did,
until the Legislature adjourned ; immediately upon the Legislature
adjourning, the doors were closed againt me, and I was not permitted
to make any further examination.
Q. Did this investigation continue after you were not permitted
to take part in it? A. I believe Mr. Miller went on, on his own
authority ; I have no positive information except his own statement
to me that he had done so.
Q. You may state what yon discovered there upon the examination
of the books and papers of the office, in regard to Mr. Winston's
reviving surrendered and dead policies for the benefit of his family,
his friends or any others.
Mr. Sewell :
I suggest that the committee ask if the testimony taken by Mr.
McCulloh was in writing ; it would be better to produce it.
Mr. Atwood :
That, perhaps, would be so, if we hadn't already got the better
evidence of the party himself.
12 [Ambeblt
Mr. Sewell :
What party t
Mr. At wood;
Mr. McOalloh ; I understand him to say he made the examination
personally, himself.
Q. Did yon examine the books yourself I A. I shall only swear to
what I examined myself; the greater part.
Q. Have yon the record of that examination ? A. I have it ; the
stenographic record.
Q. Yon can refer to that, if yon see fit ? A. I have not that with
me ; that is at home.
Q. Was that examination taken by the stenographer here present !
A. Yes, sir ; this gentleman did not take the whole of it ; there
were others.
Q. Yon may go on and answer the question I ask you, as to what
yon ascertained there in regard to the action of the president reviv-
ing surrendered and dead policies } A. I ascertained from a record
of the books that Mr. Winston's son, Frederick M., the former cashier
of the Mutual Life, bad taken a. policy upon his life for the sum of
$9,500 ; I will explain to the committee what it is I hold in my
hand, so that they will know why I refer to it. After the examina-
tion was made, the Mutual Life Insurance Company copy-righted
the testimony taken before Mr. Miller, and sent a communication, or
directed Mr. Sewell to send one, threatening me with prosecution if
I published any portion of it I have that record which was sent to
me by them, and which I have carefully collated and examined;
because it is more convenient for me to refer to it than the steno-
graphic copy. I shall use their own record, which I have checked
off, to see if it is correct, and where it is wrong I have made the cor-
rections.
Q. Have yon the communication which they sent, threatening
you? A. I have.
Q. Have you it with yout A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you produce it ? A. (Reading)
" Office of Sewell & Pierce, )
" New Yobk, July 21, 1870. )
"James W. MoCulloh:
*
" I beg to present you herewith with a copy of the examination of
witnesses before George W. Miller. You will please take notice
No. 169.] 18
that the same has been duly entered in the Clerk's office of the Dis-
trict Court of the United States for the Southern District of New
York, by the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and that a copy-right
therein has been secured by the company. T am instructed to inform
you that any violation of the copy-right, by the publieation of the
whole or any part of the said examination, will be prosecuted by the
company to the full extent of the law.
" Very respectfully,
"KOBERT SEWELL."
By Mr. Abbott:
Q. Did the company ever publish these proceedings t A. This is
the publication ; I, myself, afterwards, applied for a duplicate copy,
and was refused ; and I sent other poliey holders there to get them,
and they were refused.
Q. Have applicants for these proceedings ever been able to obtain
them ? A. None, to my knowledge ; I sent three or fonr there, and
never could get one.
Q. Did they suppress the publication ? A. As far as I am informed ;
the policy holders that I sent there to get them were unable to
obtain them.
Q. Yon think they endeavored to suppress them ? A. I have no
doubt of it in my own mind ; and that was the object of the copy-
right.
By Mr. Darlington:
Q. You were going on with a statement as to what yon ascertained
in regard to surrendered and dead policies ? A. I have ascertained,
by an examination of the policy record of the company, that Mr.
Frederick M. Winston, the son of the president, had taken out a
policy.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Give us the number? A. No. 22,146.
Q. What date? A. In April, 1861.
By Mr. Dabungton :
Q. You ascertained it ? A. And know that he took the policy out
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Was not that in October, 1862 ? A. He surrendered it in
1862; that policy was for $2,500; it was surrendered on the 2d of
14 [Assembly
October, 1862 ; and its surrender value was paid for it ; on the 22d
of September, 1862, he took out another policy for $4,000.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. The number ? A. No. 27,286.
Q. What was done with that ? A. That policy was surrendered
on the 15th of February, 1864.
Q. And its value ! A. $4,000.
Q. Its surrendered value! A. The surrendered value was paid
for it.
By Mr. Atwood:
Q. Have yon the amount paid ? A. I can refer to it ; it is later
on in this.
Q. Any other policies! A. On the 15th. of February, 1864, he
took out policy No. 80,964, for $5,000.
Q. What became of that! A. That policy was forfeited for non-
payment of premiums, on the 28th day of November, 1864.
Q. These three policies were all taken out by Frederick M. Wins-
ton ! A. Frederick M. Winston.
Q. The son of the president ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he subsequently die ! A. He died in July, 1866.
Q. After his death, what action was taken upon these policies by
the company! A. They were restored, and an installment policy
was issued for $12,000 ; I should explain to the committee that the
Mutual Life Company is not a stock company, but a company com-
posed entirely of shareholders or co-partners, and that every policy
holder is a partner and a member of the concern, and entitled to all
the equities and all the rights of every policy holder, barring the
simple fact that a policy holder for less than $1,000 has no vote for
trustees.
Q. By the by-laws of the company, every policy holder for over
$1,000 has a right to vote for the officers of the company ! A. Yes,
sir, for the trustees ; so that every policy holder, whether he is the
president himself or is the most humble policy holder in the company,
is entitled to the same rights and the same equities, and no more.
Q. You have spoken of a policy being issued for $12,000 ; to whom
was it issued ! A. To Frederick 8. Winston and Gnstavus S.
Q. The father ! A. The father and brother.
Q. Father and brother of the deceased f A. Yes, sir ; as trustees
for the children of the deceased.
No. 169,] 15
Q. Yon may state what kind of a policy this was that was issued ;
a policy payable ? A. It is a policy payable in semi-annual install-
ments for twenty years.
Q. To these children ? A. To the trustees, for the benefit of the
children.
Q. Do you know Alexander W. Bradford ? A. I did.
Q. What relation did he, or has he, sustained to Mr. Winston, or
the company, in his lifetime ? A. He was a trustee of the company.
Q. What was his business? A. He was a lawyer ; former surro-
gate of the city of New York.
Q. State what you know, if anything, in regard to the policy
obtained by him for the benefit of his wife? A. I searched the
record and found a policy, No. 30,080; my impression is that is a
misprint, and that it is 3,080. It was an early policy ; it was in 1846.
Q. Yon can give the policy by its date, then, rather than by its
number? A. Yes, sir; it was taken out in 1846 ; my impression is
that the number was 3,080, and this record is incorrect; that num-
ber lias not been altered.
Q. How much, and for whose benefit ? A. It was taken out for
the benefit of Mrs. Bradford, the wife.
Q. What was done with that, if anything? A. The facts with
regard to th&t are what Mr. Winston himself swore to, as beyond
and above the record ; the record shows that on the 14th of June,
1867, Mrs. Bradford was paid $3,000 for that policy.
Q. As the surrendered value? A. As the surrendered value ; that
policy was surrendered in violation of the law ; Mr. Winston had no
right to buy that policy.
(Objected to by Mr. Sewell ; the question is as to the facts, and
not as to the law.)
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. What was the law which you say was violated ? A. I will
read from the last statement of the Mutual Life itself: " Policies on
the life of a husband or father, and in favor of his wife or minor
children, cannot, by law, be surrendered, transferred or alienated in
any way whatever."
Q. Are you reading from the by-laws of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, as published by them? A. Their last publication.
Q. You are reading from the printed by-laws of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company, as published by them ? A. No, sir ; this is a
publication by them but a very short time since. -
16 [
By Mr. Sewbll :
Q. Tell us the date of it ? A. This is a publication made since
the 1st of January, 1873.
By Mr. Abbott :
«
Q. Was this rule in force at the time of the surrender of that
policy; had it been adopted at that time? A. I am informed it was
under decision of the Court of Appeals.
By Mr. Sewell:
Q. When was it surrendered ? A. On the 14th of Jane, 1867,
Mrs. Bradford was paid $3,000 for the policy ; the value of that
policy, by the standard used for other policy holders, was $2,572.26.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. And she received how much ? A. $3,000.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Now 6tate whether that policy was subsequently revived, and,
if so, when, and what became of it ? A. That policy was restored
on the 24th of September, 1867.
Q. In whose favor ? A. That I will have to refer to my record at
home, but it was paid as a death claim to the executors of Judge
Bradford.
Q. It was paid as a death claim to the executors of Alexander W.
Bradford ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. When? A. In December.
Q. Can you give the date? A. Yes, sir; 23d day of December.
Q. 1867? A. 1867.
Q. When did the death of Alexander W. Bradford occur ? A. I
am not able to give the exact date.
Q. Do you know whether there was any new consideration paid
for the restoration of this policy at the time it was restored ? A.
The $3,000, with interest, was refunded.
Q. Do you know what the condition of Mr. Bradford's health was
at the time of the restoration of this policy, either from your own
knowledge or from the admission of Mr. Winston ?
Mr. Sewell : •
I respectfully suggest that that last sentence ought not to be added
to that.
No. 169.1 IT
Mr. Atwood >
I suppose a man's admissions are evidence against him.
Mr. Sewell :
He is not on trial, that I am aware of; he will be a witness, and
will be able to tell yon himself.
By Mr. Atwood.
Q. Do yon know, of your own knowledge, what his condition was
at the time this policy was restored t . A. I do not.
Mr. Sewell :
I do not understand it to be the object of this committee to try
Mr. Winston.
Mr. Atwood :
That is just what we are doing.
Q. How long after the restoration of this policy did this gentleman
die ? A. According to my information, he died in October.
Q. It was restored on the 24th of September f A. Yes, sir ; the
statement of Mr. Homans, the actuary, under oath, was
Mr. Sewell :
Objected to unless they are in writing ; my objection to this evi-
dence is not about this particular time ; Mr. Bradford may have been
in bad health or may not have been ; I merely make the objection,
because if we begin this questioning as to what people said, the com-
mittee will be in a whirlpool ; we can get all these gentlemen and
have the truth told.
The Chairman :
I think the objection should be sustained, in regard to hearsay
evidence.
Mr. Seweli*:
I want to say here that nobody has a higher appreciation of Mr.
McCulloh'8 character than I have, and I know he will say nothing to
the committee except of his own knowledge ; nobody will be more
particular to keep it out than Mr. McCulloh, as soon as the committee
rule to keep out hearsay evidence.
Q. Were these three policies you speak of as being restored,
[Assembly No. 169.] 2
18 [A
restored by the action of the trustees of this insurance company, or
by the direction of the officers, or by the direction of Mr. Winston ;
did you ascertain anything about that fact? A. My knowledge of
that fact is gathered from an examination of the records of the
company.
Q. What did they show ! A. They were restored, in the first
place, upon a recommendation in the shape of a resolution passed by
the insurance committee in July, 1866, and the recommendation of
that committee approved by the board of trustees on the 16th, I
think, of August following, if those dates are correct.
Q. When was this Bradford policy paid ? A. It was paid on the
23d of December, 1867 ; in regard to that restoration, I could find
no record whatever.
Q. Of any action of the committee ? A. Of any action of the
committee.
Q. How much was paid on the Bradford policy? A. The
pamphlet before me has it $9,418.20 ; ray own record is $8,914, 20 ;
I think this is a reversal of the figures.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Will you be kind enough to read the ninth by-law ? A.
(Reading) " New York Life Insurance Report of 1868 : Whenever
policies are to be purchased by the officers, on surrender, the actuary
or his assistant shall first ascertain their value, by the standard fixed
by the company, and attach the said value to the policy, duly certi-
fied, which sum shall, in all ordinary cases, govern the officers in said
purchase ; whenever, from extraordinary causes, any departure is
made from the usage of the company, the consent of the insurance
committee shall be obtained therefor, and the same shall be duly
reported on its minutes." The restoration of the policies on the life
of Mr. Winston's son was acted upon by the insurance committee.
Q. How about Bradford ? A. On Judge Bradford's I could find
no record.
Q. Nothing attached to the policy ? A. No, sir ; Mr. Winston's
own testimony on that subject you will find if you call for a copy of
these publications.
Mr. Atwood:
It has been suggested that you furnish the committee with a copy
of that.
No. 169.] 19
Mr. Sxwell :
With great pleasure.
Q. Do yon know anything about a policy on the life of />ne J. B.
Houston ; if so, what ? A. There was a policy on the life of Mr.
Houston. ,
Q. Can you give the number and the date of the policy first
issued ; we have the date of the surrender of it, the 11th day of
March, 1869 ? A. No ; there is a question of veracity in. that
matter.
Q. What other policies, if any, were paid greater than their sur-
render value ? A. There was one paid on a policy to J. B. Houston.
Q. Do yon know the number of the policy? A. 56,476.
Q. The amount ? A. The amount of the policy was $10,000 ; the
amount of premiums paid on it was $1,529.45 ; the amount paid him
for it was $1,529.45.
Q. What had been the actual surrender value ? A. The actual
surrender value would have been much less than that ; I would sug-
gest that, in all these matters the committee will find in this publica-
tion, they will discover there is a question of veracity between Mr.
Law ton, the assistant actuary, and Mr. Houston ; I think, if you will
call for that publication, you will get the evidence there yourself, and
make your own conclusions from it.
Q. Upon the examination of the books of this company, did you
ascertain what bonuses had been paid to the president and his family,
besides his regular salary ? A. I did.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Commence with the action of the committee on the 7th of
June, 1865 ; what was done with reference to his salary? A. The
subject of the salary of the president, according to the records, was
referred to a committee on the 7th of June, 1865.
By Mr. Atwood : 0
Q. Name the committee ? A. The names of the gentlemen of that
committee were Alexander W. Bradford, Isaac Green Pierson and
John P. Telverton.
Q. What was the action of the committee on the 7th of June f
A. There was no report ever made on the subject of the president's
salary, until November, 1867.
Q. What was then done? A. The committee then reported —
BO [AflUOCBLY
Judge Bradford in the meantime had died — and the committee that
reported was Henry E. Davies and Seymonr L. Rusted; they
recommended the fixing of the salary of the president at $30,000 a
year, to commence and be paid from the 1st day of February, 1865;
u Resolved^ That the salary of the president be fixed at the sum
of $20,000, to commence and be paid on and from the 1st day of
February, 1865," is the wording of the record.
Q. vYon may go right on and state what was paid to Mr. Winston,
and what bonuses i A. I have stated that I examined the books of
the company with regard to that interregnum, and found that all the
money drawn during that time by Ml\ Winston was charged to
suspense account.
Q. How much? A. He drew at about the rate of $12,000 a year;
about $1,000 a month. I have the exact amount, if it is of any con-
sequence; but it is about that. At the same time that the committee
reported upon the salary they recommended that they unhesitatingly
approve of the views expressed by the committee of which Mr.
Bradford was the chairman in June, 1865. By that approval it
authorized Mr. Winston — this recommendation of the committee
with regard to salary, and the adoption of the views of the committee
of 1865, were approved by the board of trustees, and under that
authority Mr. Winston drew the bonuses on dividends.
Q. State what they were, and how they were entered when paid !
A. There was a bonus of one per cent paid upon the dividend of
1865, and one-half of one per cent on that of 1866 and 1867; these
two together amounted to the sum of $37,471.60.
By Mr. Sewbll :
Q. Do you mean that Mr. Winston received itf A. I will give
the exact amounts that he received ; the amounts paid to Mr. Win-
ston were paid 20th February, 1868, and on the 23d day of February,
1869, and on the 20th January, 1870, making a total of $56,250.42
paid to Mr. Winston.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. In addition to his salary ? A. Yes, sir ; over and above his
salary.
Q. Did you notice how that account was entered on the journal,
and, if so, how was it entered? A. All, with the exception of the
last $5,000, was charged up to dividend account.
No. 169.] 81
Q. Dividend of what! A. Precisely the dividend charged np
and paid to policy holders ; the memorandum in my possession here
is in the handwriting of the book-keeper, and was made dnring that
time, handed to me, and checked and found to be correct; the
bonuses that were paid in 1866 were charged to suspense account;
during that year, 1866, there was no bonus paid to Mr. Winston ; he
didn't take it ; the bonus paid in February, 1867, was charged up to
dividend account — 1868 dividend account and 1869 dividend account,
bo that all that was paid to Mr. Winston was charged up to dividend
account.
Q. I think that you will find that there was another bonus of the
next year ? A. The next year there was a bonus of twenty per cent
on the salaries, and that was charged originally to dividend account,
but subsequently transferred to suspense account.
Q. When was the first dividend to Mr. Winston paid? A. In
January, 1868, $25,620 ; the whole of Mr. Winston's drawings had
been charged to suspense account of the company, and, after the reso-
lution of the board, that portion which exceeded the $20,000 per
annum salary was charged up to the dividend account as a portion
of his bonus, and the balance of $23,993.20 also charged to bonus
accoumt ; that was on the 18th of January, 1868 ; on the 20th of
February, 1868, he. received $11,851.60.
Q. Was this a bonus ? A. Yes, sir ; and then, in 1869, $13,778 ;
all those items together make the $56,250.92.
Q. That he received as bonuses ! A. Yes, sir ; over and above
his salary.
Q. From what fund was this bonus paid t A. It is charged up to
dividend account.'
Q. From what moneys ; moneys in the possession of the Mutual
Life f ' A. Certainly ; it ought to have been a charge to the expense
account of the company ; it was an actual expense to the policy
holders ; it was their money, and it was divided amongst the officers.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Was there any resolutions or preambles about this bonus, set*
ting forth any reason why Mr. Winston was paid this extra amount f
A. Yes, sir ; there was a long report drawn by Judge Bradford,
giving the reasons and policy of such a transaction.
Q. Alexander W. Bradford 2 A. Yes, sir ; I should state here, in
fairness, that that action appears on the records to have been taken
22 [Assembly
upon an application made by Mr. Sheppard Homans, actuary, and
Dr. Post, the medical examiner.
Q. What was Mr. Winston's salary, previous to 1865 ! A. Just
previous to that it had been $12,000; it had been gradually increased
from year to year, according to the increase of the company.
Q. You have spoken of the report of that committee being
delayed about two and a half years, and Mr. Winston's salary being
suspended ; was there any other officers' salaries suspended during
this time ! A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know the reason of his salary being suspended or of
any reason why his salary was suspended during this period of
time, the interregnum of the report of this committee! A. I do
know a reason, but unless it is pertinent here, I would rather not give
it.
Q. It is pertinent! A. Mr. Winston was a bankrupt, and was
under examination at that time, upon supplementary proceedings, in
order to make discoveries, and an effort was being made to reach his
salary by his creditors ; from an examination of the records, and an
examination of his own testimony in that order to make discovery,
and from other matters which came to my knowledge, it was apparent
to me, as a reasonable man, that the whole action was intended to
put his salary beyond the reach of his creditors.
Q. Done to protect Mr. Winston! A.. I have no doubt of it; I
don't think any reasonable man can doubt it.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Will you give us the names of the committee who acted on
these surrendered policies! A. The insurance committee ?
Q. Yes! A. William H. Popham, William Betts, Henry A
Smy the; there was one other ; " July 16, 1866, appears Bradford,
Betts, Smythe and Popham ; " it was Judge Bradford.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Mr. Winston was the president of this company ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he have any sons in the company, acting as clerks, or in
what capacity ! A. This one that I have alluded to was the cashier ;
he has another son who is a medical examiner, and another son who
is a clerk, and a son-in-law who is an agent.
Q. Yon may give the names of these parties, if yon can : the son-
in-law !
No. 169.] 28
Mr. Sbwbll :
We will give the names : Harvey B. Merrill ; and the medical
examiner is Gustavus S. Winston, and the other son, who is a clerk,
is James Winston ; that is all.
Q. From this examination, did yon find that any bonuses had been
paid to any other of Winston's family ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. If so, what, and to whom, and on what date ? A. My atten-
tion was called particularly to the bonuses paid them, by reason of
the fact that it was asserted that the cashier died in poverty, and that
the restoration of those policies was justified for that reason ; I will
give that one first, Cashier Winston received, March 9, 1866, $3,750.
Q. Was that a bonus or salary i A. Bonus.
Q. What was his salary ? A. At that time it was $3,000 ; you
will find in this statement here that Mr. McCnrdy testifies that that
salary was $2,750 ; you will find that Mr. Lucius Robinson, in a letter,
also states the same fact, that it was $2,750 ; the records show that it
was $3,000 ; that salary was continued after his death, until the 1st of
February following, by order of the board of trustees, and paid to his
family, and a bonus of $600, in addition was paid on the 21st of Febru-
ary, 1867 ; I would state, with regard to the payment of that salary after
his death, that it would appear to have been a fair and proper thing
to do, and in accordance with previous actions of the company, had
the trustees been aware of the fact, or had they not been ignorant of
the fact of the restoration of those policies, to the extent that they
were done ; I would like to say to the chairman, in making such
explanations as these, I do it for' the reason that it is asserted and
proclaimed that I am a bitter opponent and enemy of the Mutual
* Life Insurance Company ; for that reason, I make explanations where
I deem that they are proper ; you, gentlemen, must judge the animus
of my testimony as I give it.
Q. In regard to these bonuses, how did that appear upon the
books of the company; what account was that charged to ? A. That
in March, 1866, was charged to suspense account; all the payments
of 1866 was charged to suspense account ; the subsequent years were
charged to dividend account ; this young gentleman died in 1866, so
that he had no bonus subsequent to that.
Q. Now, you may state as to what other bonuses were paid ! A.
The medical examiner received $2,296.49 in February, 1869, which
was charged to the dividend account, and $1,400 on the 20th of
• January, 1870.
34 [A
Q. Those were in addition ? A. That was in addition to his salary ;
his salary in 1869 had been fixed at $7,000 a year.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Do yon know anything about the purchase of the son-in-laws t
A. I was examining that account when the doors were closed against
me, and I had no opportunity to finish that examination ; I had par-
tially done it, but not satisfactorily.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Did yon go so far as to ascertain that any bonuses had been
paid to him? A. He was not entitled to a bonus ; he was not an
officer ; he was simply an agent of the company.
Q. What effect would it have in charging these bonuses to dividend
account instead of expense account ? A. It would have the effect
upon the ratio of expenses, of diminishing it ; it also served to con-
ceal it from the policy holders ; they had no means of ascertaining
that such payments were being made; according to the evidence
here, they concealed it from some of the trustees themselves*
Q. You /have no raeaus of knowing what the difference in the
ratio would be between the dividend as declared, than it would have
been had these extra sums not been taken ? A. No ; such an enor-
mous amount of money as they are handling this very year, it would
make but a slight difference to the policy holders ; the difference
would be small.
Q. You have spoken of the ignorance of some of the trustees as
to the effect of their action upon this policy of Winston's that was
revived ; what do you know about that? A. I know from the testP
mony of the trustees themselves.
Mr. Sewell :
That testimony I will furnish.
Witness — It is here ; you will find Mr. Popham testified that he
had no idea
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Yon may state who they are? A. The only two that were
examined were Mr. Popham and Mr. Betts ; Mr. Smith being away
from the country at the time, and Judge Bradford dead.
No. 169.] 95
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Their evidence is found on what page of the book ! A. Mr.
Popham's evidence commences on the seventy-fifth page ; his testi-
mony there is that he derived the impression that the amount to be
restored was about $1,200, and gives his reasons. %
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Ton have stated that this being a mutual insurance company,
the policy holders all have a right to vote for trustees ; how many of
them generally voted ? A. Well, up to the election of 1869, 1 think
there were very few policy holders that took any part in the election,
personally.
Q. What regulations were made by the company, in 1869, in
regard to those policy holders voting ? A. The time of election was
the same as it always had been, and the doors were thrown open.
Q. Was any regulation made in regard to their voting and
indorsing their names? A. Those who voted personally were
required to put their names on the back of their ballot ; Mr. Jewell
was one of the inspectors of election at that time.
Q. What do you know about proxies being obtained to further
the interests of Mr. Winston, as an officer of this company ? A. I
knew they had a very large number of proxies ; I could not ascer-
tain the. quantity ; and they were used at that election.
Q. How were they obtained, and at whose expense ? A. 1 can't
answer that from knowledge ; only from information.
Q. What information have you upon the subject 2 A. My infor-
mation is, that they were obtained through the agents of the com-
pany.
Q. Can you tell the committee who has any information upon that
subject, so that we can examine them i A. Mr. McCurdy and Mr.
Winston, themselves both knew where they got them ; and I pre-
sume that clerks in the office knew ; I know that they held enough
to control all the elections.
Q. I see that the petition of Mr. English states the mal-appropria-
tion of funds, and the use of funds of the company at Albany
and other places to influence legislation and other matters ; what do
you know about that ? A. I know that that appropriation of money
to pay the restored policies of the president's son is a mal-appropria-
tion of money, which never would have been done to any other
policy holder.
26 IA
Mr. Sewell :
That hardly led to the influencing of legislation.
Witness — He asked me about the mal-appropriation of money.
Q. We will ask you. directly in regard to any other mal-appro-
priation of 'any other kind; do yon know of any other mal-
appropriation of the funds pf this company ; you understand the
general meaning of mal-appropriation of funds ? A. Every dollar
of money expended improperly there was used illegitimately and
mal-approprfoted, in my opinion ; the moneys that were paid for
illegally-restored policies were mal-appropriated ; and the money
that belonged to the policy holders, and was distributed amongst the
officers of the company as bonuses, in addition to salaries that were
amply sufficient to remunerate them, were certainly mal-appropria-
tion 8 ; moneys that were spefnt accordiug to the records at Albany
and elsewhere.
Q. Give us the particulars of what was spent at Albany f A- I
discover that, among the payments, the company charged up aft taxes
some $6,000 paid to B. F. Man niere during the years 1868 and 1869;
he was commissioner of police, I believe, at that time.
Q. For this city ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. Mention some of the other names and amounts ? A. Moneys
paid to William A. Bailey for services at Washington.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. How much ? A. I find one item of $1,000 on the 10th Decern.
ber, 1968, and another $1,000 on the 6th January, 1869, and another
one of $1,000 on March 20th, 1869 ; these items were claimed to have
been expended in order to relieve the company from taxes.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Does it appear, or did it appear on this examination, what this
money was paid to Manniere for ? A. No ; it was not disclosed.
By Mr. Dabungton :
Q. What taxes was it they endeavored to get relieved from ? A.
I couldn't ascertain.
Q. How were those payments entered ! A. They were charged
up as taxes, and some of them to Manniere as legal expenses.
Q. Can you tell me about the money paid for rent to Boston offi-
ces ? A. I can only tell you what the record shows.
Wo. 169.] 27
Q. State it ? A. The record shows that there was $2,250 paid to
Mr. Hyde of the Equitable Insurance Company, which is charged
up as rent of office.
Q. Of the Boston office, at the Boston agency ? A. Yes.
Q. Was that charge a proper charge ; was there any such expense
or liability incurred by the company ? A. That I can only answer
on information.
Q. What is your information I A. My information is that it was
spent at Albany.
Q. From whom did you derive the information? A. I derived it
from several parties, but I put the question to Mr. Hyde under oath,
directly, and he refused to answer it ; from Homans I understood
that Mr. Hyde informed him that he had used it at Albany.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. What year was that ? A. The 7th of May, 1869 ; it was one
of the items in an account which caused Mr. Shepherd Homans, as
actuary, to refuse to audit the account.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. When was that refusal ; didn't he refuse to audit the Novem-
ber quarterly and the January annual statements? A. Yes.
Q. What was the amount of money that he claimed was expended ?
A. $2,250 in that item.
Q. Can you give us the amonnt that you have there in reference
to what was expended in legislation prior to that examination ? A.
I can only state this — about this account I was refused any explana-
tion other than that they were paid.
Q. One of the committee asks for the items of expense ? A. I can
give you the total of them: April 4th, 1868, Benj. P. Manniere,
$500; May 2d, to same, $500; 11th, Benj. F. Manniere, $1,000;
February 3d, 1869, $1,000; May 14th, $1,500; June 11th, $1,500;
in 1868, in March and April there was paid $1,100, charged up as
legal expenses.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Does it appear by the books of the company that those trustees
received any pay ; do they receive any pay to your knowledge ?
A. To my knowledge they only receive pay for attending meetings —
as trustee meetings or committee meetings.
Q. Is there any price fixed ? A. I believe there is a fee fixed j
38 [Amkkblt
probably five or ten dollars ; ten dollars for committee meetings and
five dollars for trustee, I think, in gold, or something of that kind ;
that is an ordinary, customary thing in all corporations.
Q. Is there any of the trustees that derive any other benefits than
these fees that are allowed them ? A. There are a number of them
that derive benefits in connection with the company.
Q. In what way f A. By their connection with it, as the lawyers
of the company.
Q. Are thq attorneys of the company trustees, any of them I A
Mr. Davies is, and Mr. Betts is.
Q. What benefit do they derive t A. I can't tell you the exact
amount.
' Q. State in what way they derive a benefit f A. They derive a
benefit through fees for services as lawyers, counsel of the company,
and they derive a very largo income from the examination of titles.
Q. Who is that paid by! A. That is paid by the parties, as I am
informed, who make the loans from the company.
Q. Persons borrowing the money? A. Parties borrowing the
money ; that income must be very large.
Q. About how much is annually loaned by this company f A
That, I have not the figures at hand to give ; it is a very large amount
Q. Several millions of dollars? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What percentage is charged the borrower, or do they receive
from the borrower ? A. I never borrowed a dollar from them, and I
don't know.
Q. Does anything appear from the records? A. No, sir; the
company's records would not show it.
Q. It comes out of the borrower ? A. i es, sir.
Q. This company is constantly receiving cash, and has large amounts
of cash on hand ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is done with it ? A. It is by law required to be invested
on bond and mortgage, or in public securities of the United States
government, State, or incorporated cities of New York.
Q. Do you know of any investments being made outside of that?
A. None, except upon hearsay ; that is, now I have none.
Q. You have stated about this " cash on hand ;" now, what is done
with it, and where is it deposited ? A. It is deposited in bank
temporarily.
Q. You don't know about how much they usually have on hand,
or on deposit in the bank, do you ? A. No, sir ; I have not exactly
No. 169.] 29
had the opportunity to know what they do have ; they most have a
large amount, naturally ; their own statements will show it
Q. What do you know about the interest on these deposits ? A.
That I don't know ; in a corporation of this kind, where the premiums
are coming in very heavily, and especially on quarter-daysj their
deposits must be very heavy.
Q. Do you know of this money being loaned or deposited in banks
or corporations in which any of the trustees of this company are
interested ? A. Only from information ; not from examination of
the books.
Q. Information derived from whom? A. From parties them-
selves ; some of them connected with the banks, and from outside
parties ; I never had the opportunity to examine into that.
Q. Do 'you know of a company here, known as the Indemnity
Company ? A. Yes, sir ; the New York Guarantee and Indemnity
Company.
Q. That is the title of the company 1 A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who was president of that i A. Mr. James B. Wallace was
president of that, I believe.
Q. Who was the president a few years back ; was it Babcock f
A. I don't know whether it was or not; his brother was vice-
president.
Q. Samuel D. Babcock' s brother was vice-president ? A. He is
now, I believe.
Q. And is Mr. Babcock interested in the Indemnity Company ? A.
Mr. Babcock, I understand, is one of the largest stockholders and
controllers of the affairs of it; the most influential director or trustee
of it.
Q. Of this Indemnity Company ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And what relation does he bear to the Mutual Life ? A. He
is a trustee ; and I think he is chairman of the finance committee ; I
think so ; I am not certain ; he is one of the members of the finance
committee ; he has been, but may not be at this moment.
■
Q. Do. you know what rate of interest the company receives on
these deposits, if any ? A. From the bank ?
Q. From this Indemnity Company, or from anybody ? A. No, sir;
I do not ; only from what I am told ; I am told, but I do not know
from my own knowledge; I have not had the opportunity to
examine.
80 [Ajbsemblt
Q. Do you derive any of this information from the officers of the
company ? A. No, sir.
Q. Or from parties borrowing f A. From parties who profess to
know where they do put their money.
Q. State who those parties were ; if it is simply hearsay, we will
bring the parties themselves ! A. I hear it currently reported.
Q. What other companies than this indemnity company are they ;
do yon know whether they keep any deposits in the Bank of Com-
merce ? A. They may have kept one in the American Exchange
Bank, and in other banks, as a matter for temporary accommodation,
which they mast have.
Mr. Sewkll :
I suggest that the officers of the company will give the committee
accurate and particular information on this subject.
' By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Have the trustees of this company violated the charter by hold-
ing private property to any amonnt ? A. In what way ? I don't
understand that there is any provision of the charter that prohibits
the trustees from holding property.
Q. Do you know whether they have appropriated money to boy
private property ; is there any provision prohibiting them from
buying private property ? A.I have not been able to find that out.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Do yon know of loans to trustees ? A. Yes, the books show
that.
Q. Was Seymour L. Hasted a trustee ? A. Yes, 6ir.
Q. State what you know about any return of money in July, 1864;
did he pay any money to the Mutual Life Insurance Company t A.
The records show that Mr. Hii6ted received from Mr. Winston, on
the 30th of June, 1864, $30,000.
Q. And on the 15th of July ? A. On the 15th of July he returned
the money with interest.
Q. Was any property left with Mr. Winston at that time ? A.
There is nothing on the records to show that there was anything.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Any security taken ? A. There is nothing on the records to
show it. The proper records show nothing of the kind.
No. 169.] 31
Q. What representation was. made to the finance committee as to
thie money which was received from him on the 15th of July ? A.
When the money was paid to Mr. Husted, it was charged as U. S.
stocks.
Q. As if it were a purchase ? A. As if it were a purchase ; the
president had authority from the finance committee to invest surplus
funds in TJ. 8. securities.
Q. Had he any authority to sell them ? A. He had not.
Q. When the money was paid back how was the entry made ? A.
The entry in the book was, received from Seymour L. Husted,
$30,000 and interest ; the money was credited, when it was returned,
on the cash-book of the company as Veceived for U. S. securities, or,
received from Seymour L. Husted, U. S. securities ; in the statement
that was prepared for the finance comraitte, by William P. Sands,
that amount was originally entered as received for TJ. S. securities ;
by direction of the president, that entry was erased, and the money
was included as having been received from premiums ; and in that
way it was concealed from the finance committee.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Do you know of any loans made by the president, to others
than directors, not entered upon the tjooks? A. Yes, sir.
Q. State the amount of those ? A. During the year 1864, Mr.
Winston made advances to Colonel Sam'l North and John F.
Seymour. '
Q. Upon what arrangement? A. Upon an arrangement he made
with Governor Seymour.
Q. Did they draw drafts? A. They drew drafts upon Mr.
Winston.
Q. As president, or individually ? A. No, Sir ; in his individual
capacity.
Q. Give us the amounts of those drafts, and the dates, as near as
you can ? A. Between the 14th day of June, 1864, and the 12th
of September, 1864, the amount was $18,491.86.
Q. Which had been advanced? A. Yes, sir; there was no record
on the books of the company of this ; the schedule that 1 hold in
my hand was furnished to me from the Comptroller's office at Albany ;
" schedule of drafts paid by Frederick S. Winston, according to
accompanying vouchers," running through, and sworn to and certi-
fied by him at the end ; and certified to as having been paid by him ;
it is an abstract from the Comptroller's record.
[
Q. How was it repaid, and when f A. It was paid by Comptroller's
warrant No. 6,336, dated the 16th of September, 1864 ; " State of New
York, to Frederick S. Winston, for moneys advanced by him to agents
of the State of New York, on drafts, in pursuance of arrangement
made by the Governor nnder chapter 224 of Laws of 1863, as per
abstract annexed, $18,491.86."
By Mr. Skwbll :
Q. Was that paid in one warrant ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What date ? A. On the 16th September, 1864 ; the money
had been all that time in use by Mr. Winston, withont the knowledge
of the finance committee or of the trustees, with the exception of
Lucius Robinson ; he appears, by the record, to have been a party
to the transaction ; I would call your attention to the provision of
the law under which that money was expended ; that law authorises
the Governor of the State to advance to these agents whatever sums
might be required to carry out the purposes of that law, first having
taken from those agents ample security for the proper disbursement
of the money ; and authorizing the accounts to be passed at Albany,
in the same way that other war accounts were passed ; after being pro-
perly audited, they were then to be paid by the State ; that ample
security does not appear to have been taken by the Mutual Life, nor
any other security, excepting the individual responsibility of Colonel
North and Mr. Seymour, upon those drafts.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. What was this money used for ? A. It was used at the front,
for the benefit of eick and wounded soldiers ; the draft was drawn
on Mr. Winston, and he paid it.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Was that drawn by him as president, or individually ? A. No,
sir; individually.
Q. During the time this money was so loaned or advanced on
those drafts, how was it kept on the books of the company f A It
was represented as cash in the cashier's drawer.
Q. In a little slip or memorandum kept there f A. I could not
find that book ; that was kept by the cashier, the president's son.
Q. But, in the meantime, there was nothing on the books! A.
No, sir.
Q. Neither the committee nor the trustees knew anything about it i
No. 169.] 33
A. No, sir ; nothing to show it at all (except it was knpwn by Mr.
Robinson), as far aa I could ascertain ; yon will find on the records
of the company a record of those facts, drawn np and signed by five
of those trustees in 1864.
Q, Have you the minority report of 1864? A. I have a copy of
it.
Q. Will you be kind enough to furnish the name of the trustee f
A. William Smith Brown.
Q. Will you produce the report ? A. The report is dated the 15th
February, 1865 ; William Smith Brown.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Bead it.
Witness reads report, as follows :
'' The undersigned, a member of the committee of five appointed
by resolution of the board November 16th, to examine the affairs
of the company, and for other purposes, as therein stated, begs leave ,
to report that ne is unable to concur with the majority of the com-
mittee in a statement made in their report, in the following words,
to wit : < In respect to the management of our affairs with integrity,
fidelity and efficiency, the.committee have found nothing to condemn,
and much to please.
" Judge Bradford was the chairman of the committee, and the one
who drew up the report.
"By the report presented, signed by all of the committee, contain-
ing a brief recital of the evidence which came before the committee
in reference to the charges made by J. G. Pierson, Esq., it will be
seen that
" 1st. That the essential facts charged by Mr. Pierson, in regard to
the use of the funds of the company for some length of time to pay
certain drafts made by or on John F. Seymour, Esq., or Col. North,
are admitted. It appeared in evidence that these drafts were paid
by order of the president, from time to time, out of the cash belong-
ing to the company ; that no checks were drawn for the money, but
that cash from the cashier's drawer was used, and the amounts so
?>aid kept by him as cash on hand, in his drawer, and so represented
rom week to week to the finance committee, in the regular weekly
statement of the finances of the company prepared for the use of the
finance committee, until the total reached an accumulation of several
thousand dollars, and that no evidence or trace of these transactions
appear upon the books of the company. In fact thev were concealed
from the finance committee ana from your board as long as they
could be.
" It appears to me that such use of the funds of this company
secretly by the president, without authority, and without any plea
for necessity, as tne money could easily have been obtained elsewhere,
is highly improper, and that the weekly representation to the finance
[Assembly No. 169.] 3
34 [Assembly
committee, by the knowledge of the president, that the unpaid drafts
held by the cashier was cash on hand, was a known deception and
incorrect report.
" 2d. The report referred to admits, as proven, that the president
did pay a trustee $30,000 for United States securities, and did subse-
quently allow said trustee to take back the same securities upon repay-
ment of the amount he received with interest. Also that the clerk
who prepares the weekly report of finances for the finance committee
did prepare his report, when the money was returned, in accordance
with the fact, and by the order of the president he erased the proper
entry on his return, and entered the amount as received from pre-
miums. To understand this correctly, it must be borne in mind that
the Husted transaction had never been reported to or was known by
the finance committee) and, with a full knowledge of all the facts, the
president directed the clerk to change his return and enter the sum
of $30,000, paid back by Husted to redeem or repurchase his secu-
rities, as money received from premiums.
" I am unable to view this in any other light than an incorrect
statement and an intentional and designed deception, and the whole
transaction as one deserving of serious condemnation.
44 Believing, as I do and must, that both of the transactions referred
to are morally wrong, a violation of duty, integrity and fidelity, as I
understand the meaning of these words, to the trust committed to
the charge of the president of a company holding millions of dollars
that eventually are to be paid to widows and orphans, I regret my
inability to concur with the majority in saying that we found nothing
to condemn.
" All of which is respectfully submitted.
"(Signed) WM. SMITH BROWK.
"New York, February 15, 1865."
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. What action was taken on this report ? A. This was a minority
report ; the majority report was adopted.
Q. They did. not take any action on this f A. They approved the
majority report ; they found " nothing to condemn, and much to
approve " in Mr. Winston's misrepresentations, and suborning* his
clerk to the same.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. After this investigation, and in the month of May subsequent,
and at different times since that investigation, have you made these
charges, at different places, publicly ? A. I have.
Q. State when and* where? A. First at Boston.
Q. In what way ? A. At a public meeting in the board of trade
rooms.
No. 169.] 35
Q. Who was present? A. Mr. Alexander Rice presided at the
meeting, and Mr. George Richardson was present; both of those
gentlemen have since been made trustees of the company ; Mr.
Sewell, Mr. John V. L. Pruyn, were present, and Judge Henry E.
Davies ; I went there at the request of the policy holders of Boston ;
an effort was made to forestall any remarks I might make there, by a
false statement that was telegraphed from New York, over the
authority of George W. Miller.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Yon made these statements there, substantially ? A. I did.
Q. And also at Baltimore? A. I did the same thing in Baltimore.
Q. About how long afterward ? A. About three weeks, I think ;
the same gentlemen accompanied me at Baltimore, and we were all
there.
Q. Mr. Sewell, and Mr. Davies and Mr. Pruyn i A. Yes, sir.
Q. Afterward in New York in what month ? A. It was prior to
the election in the month of May ; in June ; that was in the board
of public stock-brokers ; the room of the stock-brokers' board.
Q. In Broad street ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. State about that meeting; was it a public meeting! A. Yes;
it was called by the policy holders ; at the request of the policy
holders the meeting was called ; I was present there then, and Mr.
Sewell and Mr. McCurdy, the father of the Vice-president ; and the
company was also represented by Mr. Husted, now of the Assembly.
Q. James Husted 2 A. James Husted.
Q. And were those the same charges as yon understand are com-
plained of in these articles, on which Mr. English is now arrested f
Mr. Sewell:
Mr. McCulloh cannot possibly know upon what it is Mr. English
is arrested.
Witness. — I will reiterate what I said ; it is short.
By Mr. Atwood : *
Q. Do you know what charges Mr. English has been arrested on ?
A. I understand he has been arrested by Mr. Winston upon a charge
— I believe for having charged Mr. Winston with malappropriation
of some —
Q. The same charges which yon had, in substance, already made
36 [
at these different places? A. Charges based upon the same facts, I
understand ; yes, sir.
Q. Give the substance of jour statements at these places? A.
My statements were that policies of insurance had been illegally
restored for the benefit of the president's family — the members of
his family, and of others ; at that time I did not mention the fact of
Judge Bradford's policy ; I didn't wish to be any more personal than
was absolutely necessary ; I considered that, also, as a flagrant out-
rage; and that one, of Winston's policy, as especially so; I stated
that that was obtained through a withholding of the facts, and mis-
representations by the vice-president, Mr. McCurdy; I reiterated
the facts with regard to the bonuses, and the manner in which it was
charged ; the large amount paid in addition to the salaries ; some
violations of the by-laws ; the illegal loan to Mr. Husted ; and the
advances of money to Messrs. North and Seymour ; I feel, as a policy
holder in this company, that the property is partly mine ; I have
contributed to its support ; and I hold that I haye a right, as a policy
holder, to criticise and to condemn, if it is necessary, the action of
these officers.
Q. You are now a policy holder? A. I am now, and I propose
to stay there and fight it out.
By Mr. Abbott :
»
Q. How large a policyholder? A. I have policies there to the
extent of nearly $15,000 ; and the property of that company is partly
mine; when I find that policy holders can obtain — the friends and
family of the officers —what other policy holders cannot get, and can
obtain it in violation of law and equity, I hold it my right to con-
demn it ; I do it publicly, and without hesitation.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Has Mr. Winston, the president of this company, made any
threats to you in regard to your conduct in exposing these things \
A. He has.
Q. State what ? A. He stated to me — his remark was that I was
the most malignant person that he ever saw ; and he would use the
whole power of that company but what he would crush me.
Q. When ? A. Two years ago.
Q. Who else knew of that remark ? A. Some of the trustees have
spoken to me about it.
No. 169.] 37
Q. Is Mr. Popham one ? A. Yes, sir ; Mr. Popham has spoken
to me about it ; he has endeavored to induce me to believe that it
was a mere threat, and did not mean anything ; I have also been
told lately that Mr. Sewell is now engaged in ferreting anything out
that he can ascertain to attack me on.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Who told you ? A. Mr. Green and Mr. Vm. H. Davidge.
•
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Do you know anything about the payment of money by the
.Mntual Life to Mr. Miller! A. I know from the evidence that he
was paid $2,500 for his services in this examination.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. While Mr. Miller was superintendent of the insurance depart-
ment ? A. Yes, sir ; he was the superintendent.
Mr. Sewell:
It was entered publicly on the books.
Witness — It came out on the Miller investigation.
By Mr. Dablirgton :
Q. Do you know of the payment of $8,500 made subsequently to
him f A. From the testimony in that investigation I know it.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Whose testimony does it appear in f A. Mr. McCnrdy's and
Mr. Stewart's.
Q. Formerly vice-president of the company f A. Now vice-
president, and Mr. Stewart.
Q. Was not that an investigation into the conduct of the officers
of the company as to whether they had been faithful or not ? A.
That investigation was brought about by reason of a suit that I
instituted against the company in 1870.
Q. You went where ? A. I went to Albany ; I had the complaint
prepared in the name of the People of the State of New York,
having been assured by Mr. Champlain that he would bring that
suit ; it had frequently been said to me, " why don't you bring these
gentlemen into court ?" I have always endeavored to bring them
there, and I commenced that proceeding for the purpose of bringing
them there ; I had my attorneys, Martin & Smith, prepare the com-
38 [
plaint ; I took the affidavits which verified that complaint! and took
them to Albany.
Q. To Mr. Champlain ? A. Yes, sir ; and in the presence of
Judge Allen, who was then retained as counsel of the Mutual Life,
and John V. L. Pruyn, both, those papers were submitted to the
Attorney-General, and after hearing both of us, they on behalf of
the company, and I advocating the signing of that complaint, be
announced the fact that he would sign it ; he sent it to me a short
time afterward by Mr. Hammond.
Q. He was the deputy ? A. Yes, sir ; and I verified that com-
plaint, and Mr. Hammond pocketed it and disappeared with it; I
never doubted what he did with it, although I have no information ;
but immediately Mr. Miller announced his intention to make an
examination of the company, as I understood, at the request of the
trustees of the company and its officers ; I then asked to be allowed
or authorized by Mr. Miller, under the power vested in him by the
laws, to enter into that examination ; before he gave me his answer
in regard to that, I received the appointment from the legislative
committee to make the examination ; I should state that that appoint-
ment was accepted by me, with the knowledge and approval of one
of the trustees, who was then in Albany, and with the knowledge of
Judge Allen at the time it was to be conferred ; it was entered upon
in the presence of the officers of the company and Mr. Miller himself;
it was the desire, at that time, of a large number of policy holders
and myself to have these matters finally settled, and settled in a court
that had authority and provided with proper remedy, that our funds
should not be squandered thereafter.
Q. That suit was never commenced, was it? A. No, sir; he
never brought the suit : he pocketed all the papers, and it was ended.
Q. You have never been able to get your complaint back, have
you ? A. No, sir ; and never able to get any satisfactory answer ot
what was done with it.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Who held these papers ? A. Mr. Hammond, the last that I
saw of them.
By Mr. Daelington :
Q. Do you personally know anything about the policy that was
issued on the life of Mr. Ganston ? A. I know it from information
that I had derived.
No. 169.] 89
Q. Will you give us the name of the person t A. Mr. James
Edward Ganston.
Q. That was a policy on his life f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know who represented him in the application to the
company ? A. Represented the heirs ?
Q. Yes. A. Mr. Sewell, I understood.
Q. Prior to Mr. Sewell's being retained, do you know to whom
their interests were committed ? A. Mr. Perry and Mr. Cole.
Q. What were their first names; how can we find them? A.
They are both of them residents of Jersey City — Perry and Cole.
Q. Had Mr. Charles F. Seeks, 60 Wall street, have anything to do
with it I A. I believe Mr. Reeks acted as the friend of Mrs. Gan-
ston.
Q. You have stated, in this letter which appears over your signa-
ture, other charges were made, such as the withholding of post-
mortem dividends from the representatives of deceased policy
holders ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you know about that f A. That is a fact ; they were
withheld.
Q. Have you the names of the parties ? A. There were a number
of them.
Q. Do they appear ? A. Some of them do, but not all of them ;
the charter requires that a dividend which is earned by the payment
of premiums just preceding the death shall be ascertained subsequent
to the death and paid ; and that was withheld ; and that formed one
of the items of objection to the auditing of the account by Mr.
Homans ; they were withheld by order of the president, as was testi.
fied.
Q. Have you any knowledge of the amount so withheld from policy
holders f A. No, sir ; I did not go into that ; my object was to ascer-
tain whether, in violation of this express direction of the charter,
such things had been withheld, and I ascertained that such was the
fact ; the object in making the investigation was to ascertain to what
extent the officers of the company would violate the charter, and the
by-laws and regulations of the company, and when I found facts I
didn't care to go into details; I got enough to fortify them.
Q. Do you know anything about a Mr. Little, an agent who was
imprisoned ? A. I knew a Mr. Little.
Q. I mean pat in the asylum f A. I knew of a brother-in-law of
Mr. McCurdy.
40 [AfSEKBLT
Q. What was his name f A. Francis H. Little.
Q. Will yon tell the committee the facts in respect to the commis-
sions paid to him, in your own way ? A. He was the agent of the
company, and there was a very large amonnt of commissions paid to
him as agent ; the gross payments to him —
Q. Was about how much ? A. Out of which he defrayed office
expenses and so on —
Q. Where was his nominal office f A. I believe it was next door
to the company.
Q. Where was he during this time when this money was paid ?
A. During a large portion of the time he was in the Bloomingdale
Asylum.
Q. Will you give us the dates of his several commitments to and
discharges from the asylum, and the amonnt of money paid during
that time ? A. I have got the record ; in making the examination
in regard to Mr. Little, I was drawn to it by charges made that Mr.
Little had been continued as an agent #f the company at the time
that he was insane, and I examined the records of the Bloomingdale
Asylum, and found that he was admitted there on the 18th Decem-
ber, 1867 ; he was discharged at sundry times, and back again ; for
instance, discharged 16th January, 1868, and back the 30th of May,
1868 ; discharged in June, 1868, and back in January, 1869 ; dis-
charged 27th February, and back in April ; discharged 7th of May,
and back again in June, and finally removed on the 2d July, 1869.
Q. Removed as cured? A. The statement made to me there,
which I have here — he was never discharged as cured, but was
removed from time to time by his relatives ; I regarded Mr. Little
as a totally unfit agent to be kept in such a corporation as the Mutual
Life; or that any officers were justified in retaining him in their
employment, even though it was a nominal employment, made whilst
he was a lunatic.
Q. Will yon give us the amounts that were paid to him during
the time, from the commencement of his imprisonment there, by the
Mutual Life, down to his discharge ? A. During the time that he
was actually in the asylum, in his own account, it was about $26,000.
Q. Paid him ? A. About $26,000.
Q. Paid him out of the funds of the Mutual life ? A. Yes, sir ;
that is the gross payment.
Q. And part of that — ? A. That is the gross commissions, and
part of that would necessarily go to the expenses of his office.
No. 169.] 41
Q. And to the sub-commissions ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you tell the committee if there were any other amounts ?
A. There were subsequent amounts paid, but they are mixed up
between his account and his brother's account.
Q. I don't care to go into the details about that ; will you be kind
enough to tell the committee if policies have been altered, so as to
give commissions to the president's family ? A. Not polices.
Q. Applications ? A. There were of applications.
Q. Donald G. Mitchell; can you tell us about his policy? A.
There were two applications made by Donald G. Mitchell for policies
of insurance, which applications had been altered in such a way as
to give the commissions to some member of Mr. Winston's family ;
Mr. Winston's son James appears ; his name appears as the person
who procured the insurance, and is entitled to the commissions ; he
testified that he did not himself get it, but that the alteration of the
application was in the handwriting of his brother, the former cashier.
Q. The one who died ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you be kind enough to tell us as to the practice of allow-
ing commissions to officers on their own policies? A. Commissions
were taken on their policies by Mr. Winston-:— on his own policy —
and also by Mr. McGurdy.
Q. Commissions as if they had procured them as brokers ? A.
Yes, sir ; that is claimed to be a custom of the trade, as Mr. McOurdy
expressed it, in the insurance companies.
Q. Have you any means by which you can tell us what policies
were issued on Mr. Winston's life? A. I didn't see Mr. Winston's
policies ; you will find that evidence here.
Q. Will I find the number of his policy, or the amount of it, in
the book ? A. No, sir ; only the fact that he had taken commissions;
on Mr. JtcCurdy's I had a memorandum of the policies, and the
brokerages that he received as commissions.
Q. I have here a copy of the Insurance Times extra, .containing
some articles that purport to have been published by you ; I want to
know if you published an article in the Herald of December 10th ;
I will produce these as exhibits before the committee ? A. Yes, sir ;
I will say about this that this is not correct in some respects ; I have
copies of letters, which were probably — which are correct.
Q. Will you be kind enough to produce them ? A. Yes, sir ;
there are two ; one on the 10th of December, and one on the 18th ;
there is one on the 29th of January ; here is one that is addressed to
Mr. Frederick S. Winston personally on the 15th February.
42 [AflOBGBLT
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Is that 1873 1 A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Darlington :
I wduld like to have these marked, and produced as a part of the
minutes of the committee.
The letters of December 10th and 18th, 1872, were marked
" Exhibit 1, April 7th, 1873."
The letter of February 15th, 1873, is marked " Exhibit 2, April
7th, 1873 ; " letter of January 29th, 1873, marked " Exhibit 3, April
7, 1873."
They are as follows :
From ths New York Herald of December 10th, 1872.
MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YOKE
To the Policy Solders :
It is well for you that the late action of the Mutual Life, in reduc-
ing its rates, has become a subject of public discussion, and aroused
the attention of its policy holders throughout the country, for it is
time that you looked after your interests there with fidelity to your-
selves, and the determination to discharge your own duty in the
premises. The temple was built by the policy holders ; should be
dear to them, and they should not allow it to be profaned by unclean
things. There is work to be done, and yon are the ones to do it ;
and as a fellow policy holder who has striven earnestly against what
he knows to have been mismanagement and infidelity in that Com-
pany, I hope by this communication to arouse your energetic co-
operation in proper efforts to rescue our interests from the control of
unworthy custodians.
I shall speak to you only of that which I know ; that which has
been proven from the records of the company and by witnesses under
oath ; that of which I possess the undoubted evidence, and which
can be established in any fair tribunal in the land.
In the Herald of Saturday last appeared a letter over the signature
of Mr. George S. Coe, a trustee of the company, wherein he uses the
following language in relation to charges of infidelity against Presi-
dent Winston :
They have all been long since made the occasion of the fullest
investigation by the trustees and by the legislative committees, and
have resulted in nothing sufficient to impair confidence in his
character as a safe custodian of so high a trust. The trustees have
again and again expressed this opinion of his fidelity. The present
eminent position of the Mutual Life Company is, in their opinion,
the most unanswerable testimony of his zeal, fidelity and efficiency
as an officer. I can only reaffirm, in the strongest terms, as an indi-
vidual member, what the trustees have unitedly done under their
No. 169.] 48
signatures, that the company is in the best possible condition for the
security of its members."
The " eminent position of the Mutual Life" is far better evidence of
your liberality ana prosperity than of President Winston's eminent
ability or fidelity. W itnout you it would have been nothing ; with-
out him you would have been better off, as you will presently see :
and being informed of some of the facts which the " investigations
referred to have disclosed, you will be able to determine for yourselves
what must be the standard of fidelity and probity by which these
trustees have measured the character *of President Winston.
President Winston was charged with having illegally loaned a
trustee of the company $30,000, and that he had concealed the loan-
ins by a false statement to the finance committee.
It was proven that the $30,000 was furnished to the trustee, June
30, 1864, and returned by him, with interest, July 15, 1864, and that
the transaction was, for a time, concealed by means of a false state-
ment, prepared by a clerk, under the direction of President Winston,
and delivered to the finance committee. President Winston claimed
the transaction to have been a purchase and resale of government
securities; but the weight of evidence shows that, from its inception
to its liquidation, it was a temporary and illegal loan, and its con-
cealment gave evidence of conscious guilt.
It was cnarged that he had furnished certain State agents with
large sums of money without authority, and illegally, and had con-
cealed the fact by falsely representing the funds so used to be
" cash in the cashier's drawer."
The facts that he made such use of the funds of the company in
his individual capacity — at one time to the extent of $18,491.86 ;
that he had no security other than the individual responsibility of
the persons whose drafts he paid : that no record of any kind appeared
on the books of the company relating to those transactions, but that
they were concealed in the manner charged, were all fully established.
When these things first became known, they were investigated by
a committee of trustees. The facts were proven or admitted, yet the
majority whitewashed them. One member, however, with courage
and fidelity, denounced them as " intentional and designed decep-
tions," and fc< deserving of serious condemnation."
When unauthorized, illegal and secret transactions were thus
brought home to him ; when he not only made false representations
himself, but induced his subordinates to do so, the trustees should
surely have found therein evidence of something other than " fidelity,
as the custodian of a high trust."
President Winston was charged, together with other officers, with
having received large sums as " bonus," which were illegal, and a
grievous wrong upon the policy holders, and concealed from them
by charging the payments to " dividend account."
The statement in my possession, made and sworn to by the book-
keeper of the company, shows the total payment of such bonus during
the years 1867 to 1870, inclusive, to have been $189,822.94; and it
was proven that thiB enormous sum was charged as dividends paid to
44 [AS8EMBLT
policy holders, thereby concealing its payment from them ; from
many, if not most, of the trustees; making an actual expense to the
policy holders appear to have been a distributed profit to them, and
falsifying the ratio of expenses of the company. Of this sum, Mr.
Winston and his sons^ received (63,696.89. Kemembering that all
this amount was superadded to the ample salaries paid the officers,
can you believe that any commensurate service was rendered, or can
you absolve the trustees from severe censure for permitting your
money to be thus lavishly bestowed t
It was charged that three policies of insurance on the life of presi-
dent's son were illegally restored and paid, after his death, and that
their restoration was procured by Vice-president McCurdy, through
a concealment of the truth.
The facts, stated briefly, are these : F. M. Winston, formerly cashier
of the company, insured his life July 1, 1859, for $2,500 (policy No.
22,146). On the 2d of October, 1862, he surrendered it, and received
its cash surrender value.
On the 22d of September, 1862, he insured again for $4,000 (policy
No. 27,286), which he surrendered February 15, 1864, receiving the
cash surrender value.
Thus both of these policies were surrendered, paid for, and no
longer binding in law or in equity.
Again, on the same 15th February, 1864, he procured a policy
for $5,000 (policy No. 30,964). On this policy not one cent of pre-
mium was ever paid, for the first quarterly premium was simply
credited by cash-book entry to " premiums," and offset by a debit of
the precise amount to " brokerage," and no other premium was ever
paid. This policy was forfeited, as the record shows, on the 28th of
November, 1864, for non-payment of premiums, and so entered in
the policy register.
On this 28th day of November, 1864, all his rights as a policy
holder ceased, by his failure to pay his premiums. In the month of
July, 1866, nearly two years after the forfeiture of this last policy,
he died. Vice-president McCurdy, by withholding the facts from the
members of the insurance committee, as two of them were forced to
admit under oath, procured the passage of a resolution restoring all
three of these policies, amounting to $11,500, with additions of
$733,83, upon payment of " back premiums and interest." And a
policy (No. 56) for $12,000, payable in semi-annual installments, was
issued, and is now being paid to the heirs.
The gross illegality of this transaction, and its outrage of the
rights ot the policy holders, need no comment from me. xhe plea
of poverty and eminent services, since advanced in justification of
this transaction, is not only a pitiable excuse, but it is unfounded.
Some other policies were shown to have been illegally restored, or
improperly purchased, but the above is probably the most glaring
abuse ever perpetrated upon the policy holders of a mutual company.
It was charged that large sums of money were used at Albany and
elsewhere to influence legislation, and falsely charged as "taxes. It
was shown from the books that over $15,000 was so charged to taxes,
No. 169.] 45
out of which one noted politician of this city received $6,000, and
that $2,500 so used was charged to " office rent " of an agent. But
the officers strenuously and successfully resisted all efforts to ascer-
tain the true objects and purposes for which these expenditures were
made, pretending that it was to prevent taxation. Some of it may
have been, but the report of the chairman of a legislative committee
would seem, from the following extract, to have had reason to think
otherwise :
" Tour committee believes that at no time, since the Insurance
Department was organized, has it been necessary to use money to
secure the passage of just and proper laws to further the best interests
of insurance, whose humane purposes, when rightly carried out,
commend it to the good-will of all. The fact that such large sums
have been thu6 used in an illegal manner discloses not only corrupt
and selfish motives, but an abuse of the various trusts reposed, which
must sooner or later destroy all confidence and effect the overthrow
of the entire insurance interest as at present administered."
Other charges were made and proven, such as the withholding of
post-mortem dividends from the representatives of deceased policy
holders, thus depriving them of thousands of dollars to which they
are legally and equitaoly entitled. But I have probably given you
enough already, and I therefore pass on to a matter of the greatest
importance to you; one, as I believe, involving the safety of your
interests in the company. I refer to the proxies held by President
Winston and Vice-President McOurdy. Every holder of a policy
' of $1,000 or over is entitled to one vote for trustees. Through
the agents selected by themselves, these officers have gathered
and hold enough proxies to prevent the possibility of electing
any trustee not of their own selection, and to turn out any who
oppose or thwart them. This is a most dangerous power to pos-
sess, and, where millions of dollars are involved, no two men living
should be so intrusted and so tempted. They have used the
power before, and will most certainly do it again. True, it has
been done skillfully, shrewdly, and with professions of disinterested
devotion to your best interests ; but do you believe that any set of
men, even those so high in social and business life as many of the
trustees of the Mutual Life are known to be, when thus at the mercy
of those whom they should direct and control, can act with that inde-
pendence and firmness which alone can insure the safety of your
interests? I- know that they cannot, and that they do not. I also know
that many of them perform their duty in a most perfunctory manner ;
and I also know that some in that board are not worthy of your con-
fidence. These are hard things to say, but they are true. I have been,-
and shall doubtless again be, soundly abused, called blackmailer,
accused of improper motives, warned not to publish the evidence in
my possession, and which the officers sought to suppress by copyright-
ing it ; but I believe that the day is now dawning that will arouse you
to the performance of your duty, and by the light of which you will
see things in their true colors : that you will erelong insist and enforce
that the affairs of that corporation shall not be examined by com-
46 [Ass
mittees of trustees appointed to whitewash ; not by a corrupt State
superintendent, who pockets his $2,500 fee for not seeing ; not by a
committee wined, dined and entertained to a proper degree of faith
in their entertainers ; but by those of your own selection — capable,
honest and fearless — sent there to get at the truth, and the whole of
it, and make it known to you all. When that is done, I dare assert
that you will not indorse the opinion of Mr. Coe, nor consider that
the " eminence of the Mutual Life " is sufficient guarantee of the offi-
cers' fidelity, but rather that you will agree with me that it has become
" eminent " in spite of them.
It is your imperative duty to revoke at once the proxies you have
given these officers, and to resume the control of the election of
trustees by placing your proxies in the hands of those whom you
know to be trustworthy, and independent of all connection with the
officers, their agents or coadjutors. Then to replace those whom
you find derelict and unfaithful by trustees who are not afraid to see
things as they are, nor to call them by their true names ; who will
brook no unfaithfulness and tolerate no wrong, and who will con-
scientiously labor to place the u Mutual Life " above reproach. Then,
and not till then, will you have performed your duty to yourselves,
and to those whom you are striving to protect from want when you
shall have been called from this world.
JAMES W. MoCULLOH,
60 Beamer street.
• New Tobk, December 9thy 1872.
From the New York Herald of December 18th, 1873.
THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NEW YORK MUTUAL.
Fellow Policy Holders :
During the past week hundreds of you united in the protest
against the reduction of rates by the Mutual Life, and the remon-
strances are still coming in large numbers. No action had been
taken upon them, but so great was the pressure brought to bear upon
the officers of the company, by the opposing life companies, that
after frequent and earnest conferences, what we may call the a Del-
monico Treaty " was finally arranged and executed by the high con-
tracting parties on Friday last ; and on Saturday, after a protracted
meeting, the board of trustees decided to suspend, for the present,
the contemplated reduction in rates ; and you have in the daily
v papers of to-day the announcement of the capitulation of the Mutual
Life, couched in the language of the adept insurance diplomats who
negotiated the treaty. W ithout pausing to discuss the alleged reasons
for this action by the Mutual Life, and merely calling your attention
to the fact that it suspends, and does not finally determine the mat-
ter, I pass to my present purpose of preparing you for the efforts
which will doubtless now be made to frown down criticism, and
divert your attention from matters of mismanagement in the affairs
of that company.
No. 169.] 47
It has been said, with much truth, that " one of the greatest dan-
gers connected with the management of life insurance companies in
this country has been immunity from criticism on the part of the
policy holders." This arises in no small degree from the fact that the
influence of these wealthy corporations has become so powerful and
widespread that most policy holders shrink from incurring the
hostility which adverse criticism inevitably arouses, and acquiesce in
or submit to that which they would otherwise unhesitatingly condemn
and oppose. Furthermore, those upon whom such criticism bears,
are ever ready to torture it into an attack upon the business, princi-
ples and vast interests involved in life insurance, and thereby to
alarm the policy holder and divert his attention from their oWn mis-
deeds. None understands this mode of defense better, or can use it
more adroitly, than the chief officer of the Mutual Life. But,
through your liberal contributions, the solvency of the company
is so well assured, and its position so well established — despite
the shortcomings of those who control its affairs — that you may not
only safely dismiss all fears that it can be injured by criticism
or investigation, but it is your duty to yourselves and to those
whom you seek to protect by the insurance of your life, to root
out everything that is corrupt and wrong in its management,
and to evince your determination that, unless its affairs are conducted
honestly, and in full accord with the spirit of the trust which you
have created, you will fearlessly and thoroughly expose those who
are derelict, and award them the full measure of punishment they
may deserve. Two years ago, when an effort was made to arouse
you to a just appreciation of the infidelity of the officers of the
Mutual Life, corruptible men controlled the State offices, and the
public feeling had not yet ripened ; but the spirit of reform has been
so awakened by the disclosures of corruption in high places, and of
the evils which have wielded such baneful influence in matters of
public trust, that I believe your minds are now disposed for the
reception of the truth with regard to some of those who have con-
trolled the affairs of the Mutual life ; and that you will unite in
$very proper effort to eliminate from that management everything
that tends to endanger its safety or to impair its fair fame and credit.
In a previous letter, I gave you, in brief, some of the well-established
facts, inculpating the officers in transactions inconsistent with fidelity
and morality, and can give you more. I can show you how applica-
tions were altered by members of President Winston's family to
secure brokerages they had not earned ; how a lunatic brother-in-law
of Vice-President McCurdy was placed in a most lucrative agency of
the company, and his employment continued, and thousands of dol-
lars paid for his alleged sevrvices, when he was actually confined in
the iloomingdale Lunatic Asylum ; how, by a fiction of book-keep-
ing, millions of dollare previously credited as income in the books of
the company, were again included as " actual cash " receipts of sub-
sequent years, to affect the apparent ratio of expenses of the com-
5>any, and of other acts ; but my present object is to show you, by a
ew brief examples, how the trustees have dealt with these transac-
48 [Assembly
tions, to enable you to determine for yourselves how far you may
safely rely upon the trustees to correct similar abuses.
I have told you of the $30,000 loan to a trustee, and the false
statements resorted to by President Winston to conceal it from the
finance committee. The committee of trustees appointed to inquire
into that transaction were, Lucius Robinson, Alexander Bradford,
John Wadsworth, David Hoadley And William Smith Brown. All
of them. signed the "statement of the facts," in which it is stated
that when the $30,000 was returned, u the clerk making the weekly
statement to the finance committe at first entered it separately as eo
much received for United States certificates. He subsequently, by
drection of the president, erased the entry, and placed the amount
with tne general statement of receipts from premiums." Thus, by
direction of the president, the clerk falsified the weekly statement ;
and yet, with the fact so distinctly stated by themselves, all, save Mr.
Brown, reported that, "in respect to the management of our affairs
with integrity, fidelity and efficiency, the committee hare found
nothing to condemn, and much to praise." Mr. Brown found evi-
dence of intentional deception, and refused to join the others ; and
it will doubtless be surprising to all who know the pre-eminent posi-
tion in social and religious lire which Mr. Hoadley has attained, that,
with this evidence of the utterance of a deliberate falsehood by
President Winston for the concealment of an improper transaction,
he did not concur with Mr. Brown.
With regard to the restoration of the policies on the life of Presi-
dent Winston's son, the testimony of Messrs. William Betts and
Willam H. Popham — both honorable and truthful men — plearly
shows that Vice-President McCurdy, partly by withholding and
partly by misrepresenting the facts necessary to guide them in the
proper performance of their duty, procured the passage of a resolu-
tion which accomplished a purpose entirely at variance with their
understanding, and donating ten times the amount that was intended.
Yet, with the evidence that they were thus deliberately deceived by
him, both acquiesce in his retention in office. And with regard to
this transaction, Mr. Lucius Robinson, in a letter written and widely
distributed by the officers, after the truth was fully established with
regard to these policies, states, " as facts in the case," that young
Winston was compelled to abandon his policies from poverty; that
" he supposed his salary (only $2,750 at the highest point) would
enable him to keep his policies up," but that the " insurance com-
mittee, finding that he had been forced to abandon his policies
because we did not pay him a salary sufficient to support him," at
once recommended the " restoration of his policies upon payment of
back dues and interest." Now, the testimony of the two members
of the insurance committee above named shows that they acted upon
no such information, and the records of the company show that
instead of being paid " only $2,750 at the highest, his salary had
been $3,000 per annum, and was continued to be paid after his death
in July until the end of the fiscal year on the 1st of February
following, with twenty per cent .additional ; and that on the
No. 169.] 49
9th day of March preceding hie death he was paid $3,750 " bonus,"
and that over $200 as " brokerages " was paid him by the company in
1864 and 1865, which would have served to have kept his $5,000
policy alive. Furthermore, the acconnts of his administrators show
that they received, August 16th, 1866, from the Mutual Life Insur-
ance Company, $3,727.95, amount of insurance on life of said F. M.
Winston, and which was not derived from the restored policies in
question. Thus the evidence completely invalidates Mr. Robin-
son's statements. And when President Winston, on the 12th of July,
1869, requested a committee of trustees, composed of J. V. L. Pruyn,
William JE. Dodge, Henry E. Davies, Oliver H. Palmer and David
Hoadley, " to ascertain whether any injustice or wrong has been done
the company, or any departure has, in this case, been made from the
fixed policy of the company in cases of similar nature," the chairman
of that committee reported that the " action of the insurance commit-
tee and board had been unanimous in this case, and in conformity
with many other precedents." You will be, doubtless, greatly sur-
prised that such a transaction was in " conformity with many prece-
dents," and also that a most energetic effort subsequently made by the
officers utterly failed to produce a single one of such " precedents."
Great surprise has been expressed that Mr. William £. Dodge should
have concurred in that report, and it can hardly be possible that he
had fully informed himself of the facts ; yet his name has again and
again been given as authority that this transaction was justifiable, and
in accordance with the practice of the company.
And now hear what a trustee testified to with regard to the
$189,000 bonus business to which 1 alluded in a previous communi-
cation in the Herald. Mr. William Smith Brown testified that when
the report of the committee was made, recommending the payment
of the bonus to the officers:
" It produced considerable discussion in the board, but was adopted
at that.meeting, if I remember right, with the strongest minority
vote that I had ever seen up to that time in the board. It was to
my mind perfectly apparent who the men were who voted for and
voted against it, although the yeas and nays were not taken. Every
man who received payment for his services, through the officers of
this company, every attorney, every man who had a bank account,
with perhaps one exception, all men who were deriving benefits,
voted for it. The men who had no connection of the kind with the
company, who were perfectly free and independent, were those who
voted against it Still it was carried. Subsequently I proposed
its repeal, and, if my memory serves me right, I was induced at the
request of Judge Bradford to postpone the matter — to let. it lie ovar.
I asked Judge Bradford whether the bonus was intended to be put
upon the February divided ; and told him that, if it was continued
to run with the dividends, I should agitate its repeal. He pledged
me his word that it should not. I therefore paid no more attention
to it. I knew that it was in his power, if he chose, to stop it. I was
for two or three years in entire ignorance of the fact that it was con-
[Assembly No. 169.] 4
50 [Asa
tinued, for it was charged to ' dividends,' and buried up entirely !"
And he gives the following account of its final repeal :
" Happening to be here at the annual meeting previous to the repeal
of this, I w$s struck with the motion of Mr. Brady, moving that
twenty per cent be paid upon the salaries to clerks. I said to a friend,
after we left the board * why were not the officers included I ' That
led to my investigation, and I found that these bonuses had been con-
tinued. I then determined to secure their repeal, and I waited until
I saw a chance to get my motion in. I didn't dare to agitate it, for
if I had it would have been killed dead. I therefore produced my
resolution without consulting. I think there were but two members
of the board who had any knowledge of my intention to offer it. It
led to a motion from Mr. Sproulls to lay my resolution on the table.
A vote was taken on that motion, and notwithstanding that the
president and vice president both sat there and voted upon that motion
of Mr. Sproulls, we carried it by one, I think. Had there been another
officer there, we would have lost it. That led to the appointment of
a committee, who reported in favor of its repeal unanimously, and their
recommendation passed with but one dissenting vote, and that vote
was Luciii6 Robinson's I believe !"
This evidence gave rise to bitter feeling against Mr. Brown, but it
was not invalidated by all that was produced in rebuttal.
These facts will give you some insight into the internal arrange-
ments of the Mutual Life, which will doubtless be very distasteful to
those who have heretofore been successful in their efforts for conceal-
ment, and who concur in President Winston's opinion that <c there
has been far too much leakage " as to the conduct of its affairs.
I may also have trespassed so far as to hazard the enforcement of
Mr. Attorney Sewell's threat to me that " the publication of any
part of said ' examination ' will be prosecuted by the company to
the full extent of the law." But you now can form some opinion as
to the correctness of my belief that the affairs of that company are
too greatly controlled by a small minority of active, shrewd self-
seeking men, "who are receiving benefits," and whose tenure of
office can only be curtailed by the vigorous and united efforts of the
policy holders.
To rid ourselves of such men, and to arouse those reliable gentle-
men in that board who, I believe, can and will unite in bringing
about the needed reform in the Mutual Life, is now the problem
before us, and upon which I next propose to address you. •
JAMES MoCULLOH,
60 Beaver street
Nbw York, December 16, 1872.
No. 169.] 51
From the New York Herald of February 15th, 1873.
THE MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
Another Scathing Letter from Mr. McCulloh.
To Frederick S. Winston, Esq. :
My Dear Sir. — In all my publications and public addresses con-
cerning your connection with the Mutual Life, I have hitherto spoken
as one of its policy holders dealing with its official head. But I am
now justified in addressing you personally, by reason of the charge
contained in your affidavit submitted by counsel in your libel suit
against Stephen English, editor of the Insurance Times, wherein you
use the following language : " And this deponent, on his oath,
charges that the defendant, English, has entered into an illegal con-
spiracy with one James McCulloh (meaning me) and other persons
unknown, to annoy, vex, harass, defame and libel this deponent, and
that said McCulloh has furnished to the defendant the principal part,
if not all of the matters" about which you were to have been
examined under oath, upon the order granted by Judge Barbour.
If I am correct in believing that the natural concomitants of such
a conspiracy, and those by which it would be most certainly indi-
cated, are cowardly stealth and concealment, I may safely rely upon
a statement of facts and a recital of the occurrences of the past four
years to establish the groundless nature of your charge.
When Stephen English was your friend and champion, my oppo-
sition to you brought upon me his threats of personal violence, and
up to the hour you caused his arrest and imprisonment in default of
excessive bail, I was not kindly disposed toward him, and had
repeatedly refused to furnish him the details of your malfeasances.
Neither am I now his advocate nor defender ; but I am, and I trust
I ever shall be, ready and willing to furnish the ends of justice and
the cause of truth, and to permit my head to yield something to my
heart when power, opposing weakness, savors of oppression.
Hence, when after the arrest of Mr. English his counsel applied
to me for information to aid in eliciting tne truth from your own
mouth, I gave what was requisite ; and I shall continue to do so to
the full extent that it can be honorably, manfully and legally done.
And I will add that in this matter I much prefer my position to
yours; for your resort to legal formalities to evade the order to
examine you on oath betokened a want of confidence in the truth
and justice of your cause, and an unwillingness even to intrust its
maintenance to evidence sought from self exonerating and self justi-
fying lips.
And now let me recall the occurrences of the past four years, in
answer to your charge of a conspiracy to annoy, vex, defame and
libel you.
In the early part of 1869 I first became aware of infidelities which
forced the conviction upon my mind, and upon that of able legal
advisers, that both Vice-President McCnrdy and yourself lacked that
53 [AflgnraM
high order of integrity and moral rectitude which your trust demanded,
and that you were therefore unfit custodians of its funds. I, also,
then first learned that you had possessed you reel ves of proxies suffi-
cient to control, at will, the selection of trustees of the Mutual Life;
a power, in my opinion, far too dangerous to be intrusted to any two
men, and much less to those whose record showed an inappreciation
of their sacred obligations to the beneficiaries of their trust:
Impressed with such convictions, and strengthened therein by
competent advisere, my interests as a policy holder gave me the
right, and my obligations, as well to my fellow policy holders less
informed than myself as to those for whose benefit my own life is
insured, imposed upon me the duty to maintain my convictions and
render them effective. Fully aware that reform must act as a punish-
ment to you, and that I should not only incur the enmity of your-
self, but of many of your advocates and friends, and that your
enmity would be all the more bitter because obliged to conceal the
true cause of your resentment, I, nevertheless set about my work,
and have wrought wherever and whenever I believed my labors
would prove effective.
In March, 1869, I commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court
of New York against the Mutual Life Insurance Company and
Kichard A. McCurdy. At first, the allegations of my complaint
were denied in toto, and an effort made to induce my counsel to dis-
continue. Failing therein, I was then approached by gentlemen
well known fo me, one acting as the representative of the Mutual
Life, and the other as the friend of Mr. McCurdy, and urged to desist,
lest I might damage the fair fame and welfare of the company.
After protracted interviews, in which the truth of some of my
allegations was admitted, and that of others qualified, I consented to
discontinue the suit upon conditions which those gentlemen acknow-
ledged were honorable and ju6t. Mr. McCnrdy's friend paid all
counsel fees and costs, and the suit was discontinued. But tne faith
of that settlement was not kept, and I shortly learned of other mat-
ters justly censurable.
Before the election of June, 1869, I called on you, in company
with Mr. Trustee Popham, and urged you to permit the policy holders
to nominate four of the nine trustees to be chosen at that election,
such nominations to be submitted to and approved by you. Ton
refused, alleging, in substance, that you did not intend to permit any
changes in a board which you knew to be friendly to your manage-
ment. In that election 1 took a prominent part in opposition to you,
aided by many policy holders ; not anticipating success, but expecting
to establish the nature of your control over the elections. In this
we succeeded, for in that election you required every voter to put his
name upon the back of his ballot, an outrage upon the freedom of
election by ballot, which even caused some of the trustees to hesitate
and reflect upon their votes in anticipation of subsequent scrutiny,
and the instant that the opposition appeared to be gaining on yon,
Vice-President McCurdy placed your success beyond contingency by
depositing, without objection from your inspectors of election, and
No. 16fc] 48
in one batch, more proxy votes in five minutes than your opponents
could have cast in as many hours ; and you know to whom I allude
when I remind you that in that election you forced upon us one
whom you have since admitted was unworthy of the trust.
Immediately after that election of 1869, a committee of trustees
was appointed to examine and report upon the affairs of the company,
and I then asked that a policy holder, to be chosen at a public meet-
ing, be permitted to unite in that examination. This was refused.
That committee of trustees declined to inquire into the charges
against you, and reported — what no well-informed person had ever
questioned — the assured solvency of the company, and concluded
with an eulogy of your great ability, and devotion to the interests of
the company. That report was handsomely printed and widely dis-
seminated at our expense, and for a time accomplished its intended
mission.
In August, 1869, I was requested, and consented, to unite with
others in obtaining the intervention of the' Attorney-General of this
State, and furnished to legal gentlemen of high standing in this city
information whereupon to base a complaint, and also gave the attor-
ney employed an affidavit of facts then within my knowledge Learn-
ing of my action, you sent for me, and denounced that attorney —
whose character was, until then, unknown to me — and urged me to
withdraw. I immediately made inquiry, and, being satisfied of the
truth of your denunciation, I instantly withdrew, and informed you
of the fact.
In February, 1870, my own counsel prepared a complaint against
yourself, Vice-President McCurdy and some of the trustees of the
Mutual Life, in behalf of the people of the State of New York, which
complaint, together with accompanying affidavits, I submitted to
Attorney-General Ohamplain at Albany. After a careful examination
and protracted interview (in the presence of Mr. John V. L. Pruyn,
the oldest and one of the ablest trustees of the company, and of Judge
Allen, the then Comptroller of the State, and retained as counsel of
the Mutual Life) the Attorney-General signed that complaint, con*
sidering "the papers placed in his hands' officially such as to justify
proceedings against the company." He subsequently sent the com-
plaint to me by his deputy, Hammond, and I verified it. Hammond
pocketed it ana disappeared, and it was never again seen by me.
The newly appointed Superintendent of Insurance, Miller, was then
induced by the representatives of the company to undertake an
examination of its affairs ; and I immediately requested that, by virtue
of the power vested in him by the laws of this State, he would
authorize me to unite in that examination. But before he decided
upon my application, I was requested to act as the representative of
the Insurance Committee of Assembly, then inquiring into the affairs
of the Mutual Life, and I accepted the duty with the knowledge and
approval of one of the most worthy trustees of the company, and
with your own subsequent unofficial concurrence.
I entered into that investigation with the determination to elicit
the truth, if possibly; and, as you know, I spared neither time, labor
64 [A
nor feeling to accomplish that object. I then obtained information
which strengthened, intensified and justified my opposition to your
retention of office. Upon the adjournment of the Legislature, my
power ended, and the records were closed against me; but I had
obtained evidence of such a character that, in the name of the
Mutual Life, yon attempted to suppress it by copyrighting the
superintendent's copy of the testimony, and threatening me with
prosecution for infringement if I dare publish the whole or any part
of mine. But upon the last day of that examination,.! had declared
my purpose to " make such use of it as any honorable man would make
of testimony, and that I was under no obligation to close my mouth
as to the truth I found therein." And believing that the intent and
purpose of the copyright law is to induce and protect publication,
and not to aid in the suppression of valuable information, and failing
to discover how the Mutual Life could obtain such proprietary right
as that law requires, over fruits of my labor, I have heretofore, and
shall hereafter, disregard your warning, and hazard your prosecution,
by using that evidence wherever and whenever it will, in my opinion,
accomplish good results.
I have done so in publications, and in public addresses in Boston,
Baltimore and New York, in the presence of your trustees, advocates
and counselors, and have commented upon your official conduct
openly, frankly and freely, striving to be fair and just, and meaning
" nothing to extenuate, nor set down ought in malice." And thus for
four years have I openly and avowedly opposed you in the interest
of a reform which you have naturally, and in a great measure,
successfully resisted, and I have done it despite the great power yon
wield, and your repeated attempts to torture my opposition into an
attack upon the company ; despite the opinions of that vast majority
who naturally adhere to the powers that be ; despite the frequent
certificates of good character put forth in your behalf by the board
of trustees ; despite the disgraceful evasion and perversion of facts
in the report of Superintendent Miller (for which you paid him
$2,500, and wanted to give him more of our money, and which yon
advertised, at heavy expense to us, to bolster up your reputation) ;
despite the readiness with which some worthy men have accepted
misrepresentations and published them as facts ; and with an abiding
confidence that the day would come when the truth would assert
itself, vidicate my action, and wrest the policy holders' interest from
your grasp. If such opposition as this is characteristic of " conspi-
racy, then, and then only, am I a conspirator.
Thus much I deem it due to myself to have said, and due to my
fellow policy holders, whose interests are identical with my own ;
and I snail presently state the facts which justify my opposition to
your official relation to the Mutual Life, and which you must success-
fully refute, or allow moral judgment to be entered a gainst you by
default.
Respectfully yours,
JAMES W. MoOULLOH,
60 Eecwer street.
New Souk, Feb. 11, 1873.
No. 169.] U
From the New York Harold of January 29, 1873.
THE MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
Fellow Policy Holders :
The Mutual Life, by temporarily abandoning the contemplated
reduction in rates, has, for the time, quieted the opposition of the
other life companies ; and now, to allay apprehensions of its policy
holders with regard to the fidelity of the officers, it has taken the
initiatory stepB for the rehearsal of a performance neither new nor
patent to that company.
It is customary therein to have annual audit made by a committee
of trustees, and thiB year a committee of four gentlemen, from
among those termed by President Winston " outsiders," have been
invited to unite with the four trustees in making this audit, and to
examine into the affairs of the company, and their report to be duly
published for your edification and tranquilization.
If we may judge fropi past experience, there is little to hope from,
in the way of reform, from any committee of trustees ; and if it is
true, as I am informed, that Mr. John Wadsworth is one of the
present committee, we can readily conjecture what his report will
be. He was one of the trustees who investigated the charges made
against President "Winston in February, 1865, by Mr. Isaac Green
Pearson, and, after stating over his own signature that a clerk, "by
direction of President Winston," had prepared a false statement for
the finance committee, to conceal the illegal loan of $30,000 to
Seymour L. Busted, and that the charge of W. Pearson that Presi-
dent Winston had " secretly used a large amount of the company's
money in paying drafts of State agents, and had concealed such use
by representing the money to be cash in the cashier's drawer " was
admitted to be true, he, nevertheless, united in a report that " nothing
could be found to condemn, and much to praise, in such conduct
of President Winston.
Neither does the result of the examination by the special commit-
tee of trustees in 1869 give us any better assurance of benefit from
the present investigation. That committee failed to correct abuses
then existing and still continuing; deemed it unnecessary to inquire
into charges of wrong-doing, ana whitewashed the officers in a most
artistic manner.
And, as a general rule, in all corporations such examinations are
seldom other than a solemn farce. When Fisk and Gould were
charged with grave acts of malfeasance, they asked for a " searching
examination " by a committee of Erie directors, who, in April, 1871,
reported that, after thoroughly examining into the affairs of the com-
pany, their u confidence was undiminished," and they had found
nothing wrong. Viewed in the light of present information, of what
value was that examination ?
When Tweed, Connolly and company were accused of grave offenses,
they invited a committee of most estimable gentlemen to examine
the city finances. None can doubt the integrity and sincerity of
56 [A
those gentlemen, yet how completely they failed to discover the
astounding frauds which have since become so notorious! I cite
these instances, not to charge that wrongs of proportionate magni-
tude exist in the Mutual Life, but to remind you by marked exam-
ples how futile such attempted investigations have been. And
without any purpose to disparage the character, capacity or integrity
of the gentlemen " outsiders " who may be prevailed upon to unite in
the present examination, I hazard the assertion that their labors will
prove equally fruitless. In the nature of things, it must be so. They
are strangers to the affairs of the company, and cannot know where
to look for or how to discover the irregularities which such adepts
as Messrs. Winston and McCnrdy too well know how to cover up and
conceal. My own experience in examining into its affairs disclosed
how difficult it was to get hold of the right end of their tangled
threads ; how skillful they are in that manipulation which Mr. Trustee
Brown testified was one of his " most serious objections to the manage-
ment of the company ;" how fluent they can be upon all things deemed
meritorious ; how halting and staggering in statement, ana defective
in memory about all things unclean ; how fruitful of fine distinctions
to save the integrity of their acts, and seduce to that easy acceptance
of exculpatory statements which was more creditable to the heart*
than to the heads of the Boston examiners of 1870.
But let us suppose these gentlemen " outsiders" to have accepted
the invitation to examine, and to have entered the portals. They
will be most courteously received, well entertained in the hospitable
lunch-room, shown through each department, introduced to its chief
officers, and told of " admirable system of accounting ; " shown the
Seat clock, and assured that the " Mutual " now proudly rears its
ansard-head full eighteen inches above the " Equitable ; " and
finally, they repair to the elegant apartment in which the trustees
hold their meetings. Here, surrounded by the imperial photographs
of the past and present trustees, they seat themselves around the
spacious table, and commence the labors of the " joint committee.11
The gentlemen "outsiders" will be waited upon with a civility
bordering on servility, and abundance of explanation, sought and
unsought, be given them about the work upon which they are
engaged. If I mistake not, they will soon attempt to master, within
the time they can afford, the technicalities and abstractions of the
actuarial department, and will conclude to take its statements on
faith. But they will carefully count the public securities, collate all
the bonds and mortgages, test the accuracy of the statements of
" cash in bank and trust companies," etc., etc. Everything intended
to be there has, of course, been found ; no clerical errors have been
discovered in any of the statements carefully prepared in anticipation
of this "searching examination," and they nave reached the "net
result " fully impressed with the magnitude of the company, and
assured of its entire solvency. And now, methinks, I see approach
that well-known and affable gentleman, Judge Henry E. JJaviee,
trustee and counsel of the company, accompanied by Mr. Robert
Sewell, counsel, inspector of elections, and " general utility man " of
No. 169.] 67
the company. The genial judge cordially shakes hands all around —
shakes twice with the gentlemen " outsiders " — expresses his great
joy that they have taken so much interest in " our affairs," and then
lie asks :
" And now, gentlemen, what will you have next ? Anything and
everything is at yonr service. We assure you that we desire this
examination to be thorongh and exhaustive, don't we, Mr. Sewellf
Charges of infidelity have been made against our. most estimable
president and accomplished vice-president, in whom it gives me the
greatest pleasure, gentlemen, to assure you the trustees have the
freatest confidence, haven't they, Mr. Wadsworth ? You, of course,
now that our president is connected with the Bible Society and
deeply interested in missions; that — well, in fact that he is so widely
and favorably known for his charity and benevolence, that I am sure
the evidence you have just had of the eminent success of ' our com*
pany,' under his able management, has fully satisfied you that the
charges against him are the offspring of malignity, and utterly
unworthy of your consideration."
Well, what will the gentlemen " outsiders " ask for i They have
a "sincere desire to do their duty, and to satisfy the policy holders
that it has been done. Let us suppose the examination to have been
made a few years ago, and that these gentlemen " outsiders" deemed
it proper to make a critical examination of the expenses of the com-
pany. Running over the items, their eye rests upon this one :
" Office rent of agency, $2,250."
This is a very natural item of expense for an insurance company*
But can any one suppose that the gentlemen " outsiders " would ever
suspect that that item was in reality money used at Albany for pur-
poses which required concealment, and which impelled Mr. Actuary
Homans to refuse his certificate of audit even at the imperative com-
mand of President Winston: "Now I order you to audit that
account ; if you will not do it I will find some one else that will ;"
and which refusal to certify to a falsehood finally cost the actuary
his position, the trustees electing between the imperious president
and the upright actuary} Or do you believe that the gentlemen
" outsiders" would have suspected that there were items in the
# account of " taxes" for 1868 and 1869, amounting to thousands of
dollars, which were also spent at Albany or elsewhere in that ques-
tionable manner which required the Assembly committee of last year,
when speaking of the acts of the Mutual Life and other implicated
companies, to use the following language :
" The officers and managers of these companies seem, in the minds
of your committee, to have willfully misconceived the purposes of
insurance. * * * The prodigality of many of the companies in
proffering large fees for examinations, in expending large sums for
' counsel" and upon outside parties in the performance of doubtful
and unwarrantable services, and in contributing to large funds, as in
the case of the ' Miller Life Bill ' — (the Mutuars contribution to that
being $3,500 of your money) by which to secure unwise and injurious
legislation and to corrupt legislators, should receive the most
emphatic condemnation."
51 [A
Yet such is the fact.
And when these gentlemen " outsiders " turned to the account of
salaries paid to the officers, would they have discovered that the sums
charged therein were but a moiety of the sums actually paid ? And
would they have dreamed that in the account of " dividends paid to
policy holders " would be found over $189,000 paid to the officers
and " buried up entirely, " as sworn to by Mr. Trustee Brown ? Yet
such is the naked truth. Could such facts as these, and many of
similar character, ever have been obtained by invited investigators
or by any other than an adverse examination ? And with such results
from limited and embarrassed opportunities of examination, is it a
violent presumption that, with fall power, many more equally repre-
hensible can be discovered ?
Do not the times and the circumstances demand that, if there is to
be an investigation, it shall be such as will command respect and
inspire confidence ; that it be made by those who justly appreciate the
rigid legal and ethical requirements which good law and good morals
exact from the custodians of trust funds, and who will ascertain the
truth, no matter at what cost of labor, and careless of whose feelings
may be hurt by damaging disclosures ? Must it not be made by the
aid of experts, with proper guidance, with power to compel attendance
and enforce answers from witnesses who will not or dare not volun-
teer information or speak the whole truth, excepting under compul-
sion i
Such an investigation, I grant you, will be an anomaly in our
days, but such alone can effect a radical cure. And we need have
no fears for the life of the patient. Its constitution is strong and its
vitality is great, and we need not shrink from seeing the scalpel
freely used by bold and steady hands for the eradication of that
which mars its beauty and impairs its health.
An impression seems to have obtained with the officers and some
of the trustees of the Mutual Life that they are the masters, and not
the servants, of the policy holders ; that theirs is the right to
arraign any who dare question the propriety or integrity of their
action. Realizing that private honor is the foundation of public
trust, they threaten prosecution — at your expense — for libel upon
their personal reputation, ignoring the fact that their fiduciary
character is our property, and that ours is the right to criticise,
approve or condemn their official conduct. There are, fortunately,
now not a few, and will doubtless soon be many more, who dare
challenge the infallibility and fearlessly condemn the shortcomings
of these officers and trustees, and who will unite in requiring from
them an account of their stewardship, and who do not believe that
anything in the management of the company is too delicate to be
divulged with safety to our interests.
Let us not await the fruitless instruction of calamity, but earnestly
enter upon our work while we yet possess the power of avulsion.
JAMES W. MoCULLOH,
60 Beaver street
New York, Jcmvtiry 28th> 1873.
No. 169.] 59
"Witness — These letters were called out by the controversy that
arose in regard to the redaction of rates by the Mutual Life ; it was
a matter which aroused the policy holders, and caused a very large
number of them to take exception to it.
Q. Have you seen a newspaper called the Baltimore Underwriter f
A. I have.
Q. I believe it was edited by a Dr. Bombaugh ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you look at the two exhibits now shown you, and see if
they are extracts from the Baltimore Underwriter ? A. I can only
testify by the papers themselves.
Q. Where did you see the papers f A. Dr. Bombaugh sent them
to me, originally, when he published these things; this one is a
simple recapitulation of the facts in regard to the policies of Mr.
Winston.
<
Mr. Darlington :
It has something more, just below, in regard to a general allusion
to other facts ; if the committee will allow me, I would like to have
these marked, with permission to supply others.
Witness — This publication is erroneous in its details.
Q. There is some little items of details? A. Yes, sir; for
instance, he says that the restored policy was $15,000 ; it was only
$12,000.
Q. Was not there a payment of some money besides ? A. Yes ; a
small payment ; there was an adjustment of the cash ; at the time
these policies were restored, there was an adjustment made by Mr.
Actuary Homans, showing what the back premiums would have
amounted to if they had been paid, as they should have been, to keep
the policies alive ; and then an allowance made.
Q. They were published about 1869, were they not; before the
investigation ? A. I don't remember the time of the publication.
Q. Will you be kind enough to produce them on the next meeting
of the committee ; I want to have them to fix the date ; I see there
is a reference here to the examination in supplementary proceedings
of Mr. Winston ; also in the suits of Dale and Wright ? A. Yes,
sir ; that is an allusion to the pamphlet publications of Mr. Win-
ston's examination.
Q. I will ask you to look at this little paper called Sartor Kesar-
tus ; have yon seen that before ? A. I have seen that before ; yes.
Q. It is signed with the initials, " J. H. B ? " A. John H. Buel.
60 [
Q. He was a secretary or officer of some other company, was he
not ? A. He is the secretary of the Universal Life Insurance Com-
pany.
Q. What was this Universal Life Insurance Company — a child?
A. No.
Q. Was it not originally started with the same directors f A. I
believe some of the gentlemen connected with the Mutual Life are
also connected with the Unwerstd. Yon are thinking of the Widow?
and Orphans'.
Q. The Universal is a stock company, is it not I
Mr. Sbwell. — Yes.
Witness — This Mr. Buel was formerly a book-keeper of the
Mutual Life.
Q. Can you tell me about when that publication was made f A.
It is dated March, 1870.
Q. Was that about the time of this investigation f A. My impres-
sion is that it came out just previous to the examination — speaking
from memory ; yes, sir ; it came out just before the examination com-
menced ; it makes a charge with regard to the falsification of the
accounts of the company, for the purpose of affecting the ratio of
expenses.
Mr. D Arlington:
I would like to have these three papers marked.
The papers referred to are marked respectively " Exhibits 4, 5 and
6, April 7th, 1873," and are as follows :
SARTOR RESARTUS.
In an advertisement of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of
New York, F. S. Winston, president, recently published, ana exten-
sively distributed as a handbill, there appears a table pretending to
exhibit the ratio of expenses to income of the various life companies
on their total cash receipts and total cash expenses since their respec-
tive organization to the 31st of December, 1868.
The object of the table is, of course, to show the great superiority
of the Mutual Life over all other companies on the point named ; the
ratio in its case being given as 12.21. That this exhibit should be
untruthful will surprise no one who has any acquaintance with the
documents of that company ;
" Fear not to lie, 'twill aeem a sharper bait,"
being, apparently, the controlling idea in their compilation —
especially when contrasts are drawn with other companies on pre-
sumed points of excellence.
No. 1«9.] 61
As the exhibit in question tends to the disparagement of other
companies, it would seem proper to enlighten the public on one or
two points which do not appear to have been taken into consideration
by the compiler of the table alluded to, and which, if understood in
their full significance, will greatly moderate the admiration of the
public for the oft-claimed immaculate integrity of the management
of this concern.
First. — It has been the practice of the officers of the Mutual Life,
for several years, to add nearly the entire surplus of one year to the
premium income of the succeeding year, on the plea that it is a single
premium received for paid up insurance. Now, as this sum has been
yearly from two to three millions of dollars and over, and has not
cost the company one cent in the way of commissions or otherwise, its
addition to the income of the company, of course, tends greatly to a
reduction in the apparent ratio of expense. Indeed the question may
very reasonably be asked whether this large 6ura can airly be con-
sidered as income at all, since it is merely the retention 01 moneys
which should have been paid out, and which had previously been
credited as income on the books of the company.
It seems, too, a little strange that it is only within a very few years
that the managers of this institution seem to have become aware that
they possessed this important and convenient source of income, as
their published statements, for twenty years or more, make no men-
tion of it at all. Of course, having made the discovery that it was
income, and having treated it as such on one side of the account, it
became necessary to balance it by a corresponding outgo. Accord-
ingly, we find the item, " Paid dividends in cash," so much ; the
fact, however, being that only an exceedingly small proportion of this
large amount ever left the exchequer of the company. This is one
illustration of the ingenious device noticed by Professor Wright, of
" dividing and holding on at the same time." The object of this
little trick: in "double entry" book-keeping is to deceive the policy
holders as to the cost of managing the business.
Secondly. — It has also been the practice of this company, for
several years, to appropriate, annually, many tens of thousands of
dollars of the surplus belonging to the policy holders as bonuses to
the officers, in addition to their salaries ; and as these large sums
have never been charged to the expense account of the company, to
which they honestly (or dishonestly) belong, but, in accordance with
the unique system of book-keeping practiced in that office, have been
charged to the account of dividends to policy holders, they thus, in
a " duplicate ratio," assist in lowering the apparent expenses of the
company. Of course the officers were duly authorized by the board
to take the money : but the credit of so ingeniously abstracting the
amount as to actually make it appear to the real owners of the tunds
that they not only had lost nothing at all, but positively gained by
the transaction, is clearly due to the executive tact* and financial
ability of the managers.
Now, if in estimating the ratio of expense to income, as expressed
in the table, proper allowance has not been made for the foregoing
62 [A
little eccentricities in keeping the accounts of the company, their
rectification must materially modify the flattering exhibit.
Will the compiler of the table enlighten the policy holders on this
point, or must they wait until the truth is developed through the
agency of the Hon. Dennis Burns and his committee-men now sitting
in Albany 1
When this point is cleared up, it is the intention of the under-
signed to look into the item of " Commuted Cora missions," which
figures so conspicuously in the statement of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, that is, if the committee aforesaid do not forestall him in
the task.
New Yobk, JfarcA, 1870.
J. M. B.
Exhibit 5 — April 7, 1873.
From the Baltimore Underwriter.
AN UNMITIGATED FALSEHOOD.
We are compelled once more to refer to the case of Mr. Winston,
in connection with assurance on the life of his son. This is made
necessary in consequence of an article in the Underwriter's Weekly
Circular, of the 24th of July, in which the editor of that paper uses
the following language in reference to our statement : " As 6tated in
the Baltimore Underwriter, the charge, we are assured, is an unmiti-
gated falsehood."
In prompting the editor of the Weekly Circular to charge us with
" unmitigated falsehood," Mr. Winston has committed a very grave
error. It was rather ungenerous, too, to make a cat's-paw of a cre-
dulous old gentleman anxious for his patronage. We say Mr. Win-
ston has committed an error, because he affords us another and a very
fair opportunity to refer to a subject, the agitation of which it is
impossible can be agreeable to him. In all attacks on his character
ana actions, the awkward predicament of being obliged, in vulgar
parlance, to " grin and bear it," has been his disagreeable necessity.
Reply, he knows to a certainty, will provoke rejoinder, and this he
dare not hazard, being painfully alive to the conviction that much of
decent reputation in his case depends on the charity or indifference
of those who are not his friends. His persistent silence hitherto to
adverse criticisifl has been of vital service to him. A shield so effec-
tive he should not have discarded. In warfare a " masterly inactivity "
has often effected more than a free and vigorous use of the musket or
the bayonet ; and likewise, as a defense against the " paper pellets of
the brain," an invulnerable reticence in the party assailed has often
more virtue in it than the most indignant rejoinder. Mr. Winston
has abandoned the tactics which heretofore have served him so well,
and he shall smart for his impudence, and for the insolent bravado
with which it is accompanied. Our statement was as follows :
" Mr. F. M. Winston, son of F. S. Winston and i cashier ' of the
No. 169.]
63
Mutual Life, took out policies as designated below, and surrendered
or forfeited them on the dates given :
Number of
policies.
Date.
Amount
Remarks.
22,146....
27,286....
30,964
July 1st, 1859 . .
Sept.22d, 1862..
Feb. 16th, 1864..
$2,500
4,000
5,000
Surrendered Oct. 2, 1862.
Surrendered Feb. 16, 1864.
Forfeited Novr. 28, 1864.
u Thus there was no insurance upon his life after November, 1864.
In July, 1866, Mr. Winston died. Soon afterward the above policies
were restored, and, with additions or i installments,' amounting to
$15,000, made available for the benefit of his family."
This statement is substantially true. We again assert that there
was no assurance by the Mutual Life in force on the life of F. M.
Winston at the time of his death. We again assert that the policies
enumerated above (two of which had become extinct by actual sale
to the company) were restored after Mr. Winston's death, by the
payment of the back premiums, which were duly entered on the com-
pany's cash book. We again assert that these policies were con-
verted into one of the new fangled installment policies of the com-
pany, together with the dividends which would have accrued on
them, had they been kept regularly in force. We again assert that
the face of the installment policy was $15,000; and further, that,
according to the plan of such policies, the amount, together with the
dividends annually accruing, is to be paid in installments for the bene-
fit of the children of the deceased ; so that, before the payments cease,
the amount so disbursed will probably exceed the sum of $20,000.
We have heard that these installments are about $1,200 a year, and
that their payment will continue until the majority of the recipients.
These are the material points in our statement, and its sum and sub-
stance, and we again assert that they are true. We also assert that
Mr. Winston has admitted their truth, and offered, in order to
appease the indignation of certain influential policy holders in New
x ork at 6uch a dishonest appropriation of other people's money, to
return the installments already paid, and have tne transaction can-
celed on the books of the company. We regret, however, that we
are not also in a position to assert that this decent act of resti-
tution has been accomplished. The books and employes of the
company are the competent witnesses in this case, and to them we
appeal for confirmation of our assertions in all important particulars ;
and we challenge and defy Mr. Winston, by their testimony, to estab-
lish his insolent charge of a unmitigated falsehood." His chosen
champion and mouthpiece, the venerable editor of the Weekly Cir-
cular, says, with an astonishment and a naivete truly refreshing, that
our " charge is one of fraud ! " Be it so ; we say that it is true, call
it what we will. Mr. Winston's champion further says : " It were
pleasant to hear of something new by way of charge against the
6* [As
Mutual, meaning, we presume, against the fidelity of its management
This, under present circumstances, is really a little too defiant. Well,
if the editor of the Weekly Circular will only have a little patience,
his craving for " something new " in this line may possibly be grati-
fied. If he be a policy holder in the Mutual, we cannot, in that case,
however, promise that it shall be " pleasant." We make this remark
in view of the statement which has reached us that a committee of
policy holders — not one of these convenient whitewashing arrange-
ments of Mr. Winston's own creation, with whose reports, eulogistic
of his management, he periodically favors us — are about to exercise
their right under the charter of the company, and inspect the books
for their own satisfaction. In this, it is stated, they will be assisted
by a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with the routine of the office.
We understand that they desire particularly to look into the working
of the official bonus system of the company, and the method in which
the large sums paid on their account have been disposed of on the
books of the company, as well as to examine into the purchases of
future commissions, in which a thriving business seems to have been
transacted for several years past. Possibly the amicable relations
existing between the vice-president of the company and one of its
counsel (not Mr. Betts, however) might engage the committee's
attention, with a view to a saving of expense to that class of the
company's patrons who seek loans on real estate. These and other
matters, searchingly inquired into, may possibly develop a something
new " to satisfy the craving of our excellent and quixotic contempo-
rary. But we are content to leave these matters to the policy holders
for the present.
We return to our own grievance. We are charged " by authority"
in the columns of a contemporary, with u unmitigated falsehood."
It is not our intention to sit down quietly under this accusation.
Neither will it serve our purpose to go off into heroics and say that
we fling back the audacious insult in the teeth of our accuser, and
the like. This is not our view at present. We intend to treat the
matter in a more practical fashion. We intend to examine into the
character for veracity which the man who charges us with falsehood
is entitled to bear. We mean to enlighten the public as to what
reliance it is safe to place on the assertions — nay, the solemn oaths of
our accuser. This we shall assuredly do if this insolent charge is
not withdrawn. We have abundent material ready to our hand.
Item — two pamphlets, entitled
SUPEEME COUKT.
Ebenezer Date, etc., agadnst Frederick S. Winston.
John S. Wright, etc., against The Same.
An examination of these precious documents, although a task
repulsive to the candid mind, we will essay ; and we venture to
assert that in them will be found an amount of disreputable subter-
fuge, meanness and deliberate lying, on the part of this man — aided
No. 169.] 65
and abetted in it all by many of his co-directors in the Mutual, and
particularly by the vice-president of the company — that is positively
amazing. Is Mr. Winston prepared to meet this ordeal ? Is his
conscience so seared, his reputation so spotted, his hide so tough, that
he can calmly contemplate the moral vivisection with which we
threaten him? The task to us', we assure him, is not contemplated
with pleasure ; but once commenced, the scalpel shall be used with
a steady and unsparing hand, and the work thoroughly accomplished.
Yet we are not so cruel as to deny him all chance of escape from the
pain of our dissecting table. These, for the present, he may avoid
by the withdrawal of his offensive accusation. Our terms are
moderate and just ; but our demand is peremptory, and in case of
non-compliance therewith the penalty is as sure as fate.
Exhibit 6— April 7, 1873.
From the Baltimore Underwriter.
THE MUTUAL ,ON THE WITNESS STAND.
The " report of a special committee upon the assets, liabilities and
management of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York "
will be found in the present number. This document has called
forth, as might be expected, eulogistic notices of the company and .
its management in all of the newspapers in whose advertising col-
umns it appears. The unanimity with which the soothing influence
of what our Chicago contemporary, the Spectator, calls a " sesquipe-
dalian advertisement" is acknowledged, by the press, is remarkably
illustrated in this case. The " editor and proprietor" yields to its
gentle " pressure," while the "Commercial" becomes ecstatic at the
bidding of his chief. We, too, are amongst the favored ones, and, of
course, must have our " say " with the rest of them.
The occasion of a necessity for this (; report " does not appear from
the document itself. It contains no hint why, at this particular time,
when the policy holders (supported by the public press) are so justly
complaining of the inordinate expenses of the company, they should
be subjected to the great additional outlay involved in the production
of this report. This is a curious and remarkable omission on the part
of the committee. Surely the policy holders are entitled to know the
reason why their affairs need reporting on in this expensive fashion ;
why they should be called upon to pay for tons of pamphlets scattered
broadcast over the country; why a necessity should exist— as nothing
short of a necessity could justify it — for such a lavish expenditure of
their money in advertising, to say nothing of the personal expenses
and fees to the members of the committee; for it is ridiculous to sup-
pose that these gentlemen would spend weeks of their valuable time
during the heat of summer, in the service of a wealthy corporation,
without receiving ample compensation. We say the committee
should have informed the policy-holders on this point. What they
have failed to do, however, we shall perform for tnem.
For a considerable time there has existed much discontent with the
[Assembly No. 169.] 5
66 [AfifiKKBLT
management of the company ; certain facts have leaked out, from time
to time, giving the impression that the affairs of the company have
not been fairly and honestly administered. It became known, for
instance, that the president had made loans of the company's money
to oblige his private friends, and without any security being given, so
far as shown by the books of the company ; that large 6ums of
money had been donated to the officers, and paid from the surplus
belonging to the policy holders ; that provision for certain members
of the president's family had been also made from the funds of the
company, without a shadow of legal claim therefor ; that since the
appointment of Mr. McCnrdy as vice-president, the expenses of the
company have been materially increased by a lavish and ill-judged out-
lay to acquire new business ; that competent and faithful agents,
who had served the company with zeal, ability and astonishing suc-
cess, had been compelled to discontinue their connection with the com-
pany through the influence and exactions of the vice-president, in
order to advance the interests of his own relations. These and other
circumstances of a kindred nature becoming matters of public scan-
dal, and giving rise to the general impression that the funds of the
company, chiefly through the influence of the vice-president were
being constantly used for corrupt and selfish purposes, finally took
the shape of active opposition to the management at the last election
of trustees in June. The attempt to change the management was, of
course, unsuccessful, as the president and his friends in the board
hold sufficient proxies to render their tenure of office temporarily
secure. The facts of opposition and contemplated inquiry, however,
were alarming, and hence the present u report," as an attempt to
soothe the troubled waters, and demonstrate the unreasonableness of
the grumbling malcontents. Here we have the animus of the docu-
ment under review.
On behalf of the policy holders we protest against the personnel
of this committee no less than against the incompleteness — we should
rather say the irrelevancy — of their report. If any inquiry into the
assets and liabilities of the company was really necessary, it seems
to us a very silly, not to say impudent, proceeding to refer that
inquiry to the very persons to be compromised in ca6e of serious
deficit in or malappropriation of the funds — namely, the trustees.
The committee was composed exclusively of trustees. They are the
staunch personal friends of the president, and hold their offices as
trustees in virtue of being so, and solely on that account. Suppose
Mr. Jay Gould should take it into his head to appoint a committee
of his friends in the Erie Railway board of directors to report on the
" assets, liabilities and management " of that company, and should
appoint Mr. James Fisk, Jr., as chairman of the committee, would
it not be considered an excellent joke 4 And would not " the street
laugh consumedly ? " We are really at a loss to see any distinction
between this and the little joke just perpetrated by Mr. Winston in
his committee's report.
An examination into the condition of the company, we maintain,
would much more properly have been intrusted to a committee of
No. 169,] 67
policy holders, as the principals in the concern, and most properly of
all to a committee composed of those who complain of the manage-
ment. We know that amongst the malcontents are gentlemen emi-
nently qualified for this task. A satisfactory report from a committee
so composed would have effectually silenced all scandal and triumph-
antly vindicated the managers of the company. Did the officers of
the company fear the scrutiny of a committee so composed ? We
must say that their action strongly favors such a supposition. Do
they feel certain that the present report will forestall an examination
by such a committee? If so, we think they will find themselves
grievously mistaken.
The report itself is a perfect farce, so far as it is intended to allay
the discontent amongst the policy holders, or satisfy them and the
public on the points to which their complaints have reference. The
real points at issue are not touched upon at all — namely, a denial or I
explanation of those charges against the board of trustees and the
officers to which we have adverted; which have directed public
attention in so unenviable a manner to their management of the
company, and which reflect so severely upon their fidelity. No one
has doubted the existence of the thirty-three million of dollars ;
although, possibly, some may have complained that there should not
be even more. Still this fund is implicitly believed in. Its adequacy
to meet the maturing liabilities of the company has never been
doubted. The ability of Mr. Sheppard Homans to hold the actuarial
scales in testing the sufficiency of this immense fund, and in dis-
tributing "in an equitable manner" the surplus amongst the policy
holders is univei sally conceded. Yet these are the points — and the
only points — which this "special committee" have vouchsafed to
illumine with the light of their criticism. It certainly is " a lame
and impotent conclusion " at which they have arrived. This is the
satisfaction which the policy holders have received for the tens of
thousands of dollars of their money squandered in pamphlets and
advertising; in fees to West Point professors, and tne members of
the committee — yet let them be thankful. The thirty-three millions,
which Mr. Winston says are there, are there, and Mr. Homan's
footings have all been found correct ! And have they not in addition
an elegant " report," drawn up in the choicest language of eulogy and
congratulation ?
Looked at in its true light, this report is an outrage on the policy
holders and an insult to their common-sense. The officers of this com-
pany are personally charged with what, for politeness' sake, we shall
call mismanagement and selfishness. They endeavor adroitly to
mould the complainings of policy holders against their individual
malpractices into the iorm of an attack on the solvency o£ the com-
pany and a slur upon the correctness of the mathematical basis of its
operations. The impudence of this "dodge" — for it is not worthy
of a more diguified name — is amazing ; but, nevertheless, eminently
characteristic. Anything said against Mr. Winston has always been
cunningly accepted by him as an attack upon the Mutual Life.
Under the guise of demonstrating to the policy holders the entire
68 [Am
soundness of the institution — a labor entirely supererogatory, for it is
annually substantiated by the independent examination of the insur-
ance commissioners of Massachusetts — but in reality for the purpose
of diverting attention from the charges against themselves, the offi-
cers of the company thus squander the money of the policy holders.
The labors of this committee, we assert, give the policy holders no
better guarantee of their security than is annually afforded by the
Massachusetts commissioners. Nay, not a tithe as good, for the
latter gentlemen are entirely free from official influence, and are
thoroughly practiced and grounded in the peculiar knowledge
required for such a task.
We assert that this labored eulogy of Messrs. Winston and
McOnrdy — misnamed a report on management of the company over
I which they preside — is not made in the interest of the policy holders,
and cannot by any possibility result in any satisfaction or advantage
to them. It is got up for purely selfish purposes. The wholesale
subsidization of the public press, through profuse and costly adver-
tising and paid editorial notices, is an attempt to manufacture public
opinion in favor of the managers, and stifle the just complaints of
policy holders. How is this enormous expenditure to benefit the
company? Why should the policy holders' money be thus lavishly
and brazenly squandered for purely personal and selfish motives I
It is well that Mr. Winston should know that this eternal business
of periodically whitewashing him by committees of his personal
friends has spent its force, and has become not only a farce, but a
nuisance. In this instance his tactics are thoroughly understood by
those who will not fail to expose their drift and their hypocrisy,
Already comment is general and complaint indignant at the unscru-
pulous and disgraceful expenditures in which he is indulging at the
expense of the policy holders, to divert public attention from his
previous malfeasance. His present tactics will not, however, effect
nis purpose. We do not believe that the trustees of the company
will much longer submit to be considered his dupes or his tools, or
that he himself will be permitted by public opinion to retain a posi-
tion of trust for which he has proved himself utterly unworthy.
In our next number we shall make a further examination of this
report.
Mr. Dablington:
I read from the complaint in the suit in the Supreme Court.
The first article is from the June number of the Insurance Times.
That is the first publication complained of by him. It is in reference
to a petition to the Governor or a letter to the Governor. It is headed
in the article of the June number of the Insurance Times, on page
359, — " The Superintendency ; the right man for the place. To his
Excellency John T. Hoffman " — and it takes about one column of that
page. The part complained of is this.
" I am induced to urge these points, because it is reported that the
No. 169.] 69
officers of the Mutual Life of this city" (meaning Richard A.
McCurdy, the vice-president of said company, and the plaintiff herein,
the president of said company) " are making strenuous efforts to pro-
cure the appointment of a person who would shield them from the
consequences of their malappropriation of the company's funds as
effectively as did the recent superintendent."
Then it skips a part of it, and goes on with a further quotation
from the same article.
" Of course they are anxious to keep their places. They have been
squandering the company's money most extravagantly, and as a legis-
lative investigation of their management will take place next session
they are eager to foist some friend of theirs upon the department as
superintendent."
The question is, whether or not, prior to the publication of that,
which was in the latter part of June, 1872, these charges had been
publicly and openly and currently spoken of throughout the city of
New York.
Mr. Sewell:
I desire to address the committee on that question, very respect-
fully, for a few minutes. I am sure that the committee — the
chairman and gentlemen who are here engaged in this investiga-
tion— will bear witness that I have not objected, except once, when I
thought the course of questioning Mr. McCulloh would lead us per-
haps into the repetition of stories from mouth to mouth, and get in
here a little hearsay evidence and matter that could not be relied
upon as evidence ; I then brought the attention of the committee to
the fact. With that exception, I have allowed this examination to go
on just as the counsel for Mr. English wished it. I now ask the com-
mittee to bear with me for about five minutes while I call their atten-
tion to this case and its present aspect.
There is a case pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New
York. Our Constitution divides the governmental capacities of this
State into three distinct and independent bodies. There is the exe-
cutive, the legislative — of which you are honored members, and you
are here discharging the functions attaching to your positions as
legislators — and there is the judiciary ; each in its place independent,
and each in its place allotted certain specific duties.
Now, the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of common
law and equity jurisdiction of this State, the great ultra legit to
70 [Assembly
*
which we all look for the preservation of our lives and our property
and our honor, has jurisdiction in this case ; has cognizance of this
case. There has just been read to you a portion of the complaint of
the plaintiff in the case. Mr. Winston has gone to the Supreme
Court and he has complained of the defendant that he has said these
very words which Mr. Darling has just read to you ; and the defend-
ant has put in his answer to the Supreme Court and has said, as one
of his defenses to that charge made by the plaintiff, that this matter
had been often publicly spoken of before.
Now, that raises an issue of fact and of law for the Supreme Court to
judge upon. In the first place it raises an issue of fact : "Were these
things ever before publicly spoken of ?" " Was it before ever publicly
said that Frederick S. Winston was using improper means to have a
Superintendent of Insurance appointed who would conceal his mal-
appropriation of the moneys of his company ?" And if he did, is that any
defense in a libel suit ? That is the question of law. Because three or
four men may have said that I am a thief, am I not to have my action
of damages against Mr. MeCulloh for saying that lam a thief! and is
it any excuse, when I bring him before the court and charge him
with doing so, that somebody else has said it, and he has only repeated
slander? Why, the maxim of the law is that the man who repeats
the slander is just as guilty as the man who gives it birth, and par-
ticularly the man who multiplies it by millions through the aid of the
steam-press, and scatters it broadcast over the whole country. There
is an attempt now made to make this committe try an issue which is
pending before the Supreme Court of this State, to try an issue of
fact and to try an issue of law ; to say whether or not these things
were said before, and to say, if said before, whether or not they are
an excuse for Mr. English. I have great respect for this committee
and great respect for the members of it personally, but I know too
much about the laws of this State to be led for a moment to suppose
that this tribunal can give Frederick S. Winston what he asks for in
this suit; and are you going to try a cause where yon cannot do
exact justice to both parties ? Are you going to be led into the
trial of an issue where, if we prove the facts to your satisfaction,
that we are right, you cannot give us the justice that we demand ?
We are in the Supreme Court, asking for the protection of a simple
right. We say we have been damnified, and can claim damages in
money. Can you give us the damages if we prove it before yon to-day !
That question shows this whole difficulty, and shows the impro-
No. 169.] 71
priety of the question that has just been put, and shows the impro-
priety of any such evidence. You are infringing upon the jurisdic-
tion of a co-ordinate tribunal. You are taking out of the Supreme
Court that which the Constitution says shall be tried there, and not
by the Legislature. . I say this with the utmost respect. I say it,
not as opposing your jurisdiction, if you see fit to go into this
examination, but in order that it shall not be said that I, as a counsel
of the Supreme court, supposed to be, if I am not, versed in the laws
of thie State, sat silently by when issues in that tribunal were dragged
out of it to be tried before a committee of one house of the Legisla-
ture.
Mr. Dablington. — The gentleman has well spoken of the division
of authority in this State ; and it is in reference to that that we come
before the Legislature. The Supreme Court acts under the authority
of laws framed by the Legislature. This investigation is to ascertain
whether there have been any abuses of the laws which you have
enacted, and whether those laws are wrong, and whether they ought
to be corrected. I take up, as I understand it, substantially the
order of business adopted by the committee. The committee is to
inquire whether there is anything radically wrong or unjust in the
law or laws under which Mr. English is arrested and imprisoned.
If this publication has been made openly, publicly, over the names
of responsible citizens, in a paper of much larger circulation than
the Insurance Times — the New York Herald — if they have been
published by Mr. Winston or by the Mutual Life itself, shall a citi-
zen who subsequently takes these facts and publishes them be arrested
and held to bail in this enormous sum — a sum which Mr. McCulloh
and many others could procure, without difficulty, but which he can-
not— or shall the law be corrected ? In other words, is the law wrong
or hard the judges misinterpreted their duties and committed an
injustice? We desire to bring out the fact that Mr. English — taking
facts known, publicly commented upon and admitted to be true —
published them with nothing but ordinary, reasonable and fair criti-
cism ; that he has been selected out to be crushed — for, as I said, he
cannot give bail in such a sum as Mr. McCulloh could — and Mr.
McCulloh and others are allowed to go scot free. They have not
sued the Herald or Mr. McCulloh. What we want to show is, that
before this publication by us, this whole matter was known. We
want to ascertain whether the law permits a citizen to be thus
arrested before trial, put in prison and punished, and rendered help-
73 [.
less to aid himself. If there is such a law, ought it not to be taken
from the statute book ?
The Chairman — I suppose we were sent here merely to get out
the facts in the case. We do not decide any of these points. We
are merely sent here to get the facts and report to the House.
Mr. Blessing — So long as this has been published in other papers,
previous to its being published by Mr. English, I think the evidence
is very fair and we ought to go on and admit it. They had the same
right to sue the Herald as they had to sue Mr. English.
The Chairman — I decide that is a proper question.
Mr. Atwood — I suppose Mr. Sewell will agree that whatever this
committee may do, it will have no effect upon the final action of the
Supreme Court; so that it is immaterial what the committee do ; 1
don't suppose you care much about it.
Mr. Sewell — Except I have stated just what I did it for. Of
course I am perfectly satisfied with the decision of the committee.
Mr. Blessing — All we desire to know are the facts and report
them to the House.
Mr. Abbott — If it is a fact that these publications were made
before, I think it is proper that this committee should know it, and
report it.
Mr. Sewell — Of course, in what I have said, I refer to the charges
just spoken of, in the first count of this indictment.
Mr. Darlington — I mean to refer to all the charges. I read that
because it was the first in order.
Mr. Sewell — Has Mr. McColloh read all of the complaint ? He
cannot answer unless he has.
Mr. Darlington — I think he has read the complaint
Witness — No, sir, I have not.
Mr. Darlington — There has been an abstract of it published in
the Herald alongside of one of your arguments.
Witness — I read that publication in the Herald, dividing it up
into heads, but I cannot remember it.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Ton can give your own answer as to what has been publicly
spoken of? A. Suppose you run them right down and ask me.
Q. I will read the first: "I am induced to urge these points,
because it is reported that the officers of the Mutual Life of this city
are making strenuous efforts to procure the appointment of a person
No. 169.] 73
who would shield them from the consequences of their malappropria-
tion of the company's funds as effectively as did the recent superin-
tendent. Of course they are anxious to keep their places. They
have been squandering the company's money most extravagantly,
and as a legislative investigation of their management will take place
next session, they are eager to foist some friend of theirs upon the
department as superintendent." They have used the term u embez-
zlement" here. Those are the facts? A. I don't know that the
exact terms were used of malappropriation and squandering ; but the
fact that they had been extravagant in the bestowal of the money of
the policy holders, and that their expenses were heavy and falsified
by the statements of the company, had all been spoken of.
Q. How long before June, 1872 ? A. 1869, 1870.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Had these statements been published in any leading papers!
A. The matters about which I have testified to-day were all in pub-
lications, publicly spoken of in newspapers of Boston, Philadelphia
and New York.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. I will read the next : " These servants " (meaning the plaintiff
herein and others) " have aspired to the entire mastery and control
of thq company " (meaning the Mutual Life Insurance Company
aforesaid), w and, ignoring the rights of their actual employes, have
handled the funds as if they were their own property " (meaning
thereby, that the plaintiff herein had made use of the moneys of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and trusted to his care, for his own
personal advantage, and had converted ,the said funds to his own
use) ; " the intimations we have dropped of their mismanagement
and malappropriation was only the commencement of a series of
revelations that will astonish the life insurance world ?" A. Give
me one at a time.
Q. " These servants have aspired to the entire mastery and control
of the company, and, ignoring the rights of their own employes,
have handled the funds as if they were their own property." Have
you heard anything about that ? A. I understand that to refer to
the proxies ; the matter of the company having accumulated a large
amount of proxies was spoken of constantly, and the facts with
regard to it published in 1869, and an opposition made to the officers
of the company in consequence of it.
74 [AfiSKMBLT
•
Q. Open and public ? A. Open and above board ; and that oppo-
sition disclosed the fact that they had possession of proxies, and that
the j meant to use them to pat whoever they pleased in office.
Q. Then, the next is : " The intimations we have dropped of their
mismanagement and malappropriation was only the commencement
of a series of revelations that will astonish the life insurance world T
A. I considered, and it was publicly spoken of — of course in a con-
test of this kind there has been a very wide difference of opinion
between the friends of the company and those considered as its
opposers ; but a very large body of them considered that there was
gross mismanagement on the part of the trustees to permit sueh
large amounts of money to be taken and expended in ways that they
deemed to be questionable.
Q. The third article is this : " Thus does Mr. Winston ride the com-
pany and subject it wholly to the tyranny of his will. He uses its
funds as if they were his personal property. He turns the company
into a bank, and cashes drafts for his friends, and allows them to
remain for a year or more in the drawers, till they accumulate to
heavy totals, reckoning them as cash on hand, and keeping no record
whatever of the transaction ; and thus uses and misuses the funds of
the company without the sanction of the trustees, and contrary to
the provisions of the company's charter." A. That has reference to
the Seymour and [North drafts.
Q. They had been openly spoken of and commented on ? A. Yes;
and defended on the ground of its patriotism.
Q. The. next article is this : " Who would not be president of &
purely mutual life insurance company f Consider and admire the
happy life led by the president of our colossus. Think of $30,000 a
year for a bankrupt and incompetent merchant, with pickings and
gleanings, in the shape of commissions, etc, probably more than triple
his salary. * * * During his sojourn by the Euphrates he dis-
covered not only the mysterious writing on the wall that once startled
Nabuchadnezzar, but also the still more important fact that the
mystery of his own abuse of trust, and mismanagement of the funds
of the widow and orphan, was coming to light.", I will leave out
that about Nabuchadnezzar, because I don't suppose that has bees
spoken of. "Like the recreant king of Babylon, his mind was filled
with dismay at the contemplation, and he hied over land and sea
until he reached the tower of Babel, on the corner of Broadway tad
Liberty street." What do you know about that}
No. 169.] 75
Mr. Sewell:
We don't want any of that left out ; we1 would like to hear
whether that has been spoken of before.
Q. The words " abuse of trust," and " mismangement of the funds
of the widow and orphan ; " had they been spoken of before ? A.
Yes, sir.
Q. " Here he was met by his brother in spirit, and fellow-officer
and sinner, Richard A. McCurdy, who recounted all that had been
said and written by that man of strife, Stephen English, touching
the worship of mammon, which was, like a Moloch, swallowing up
the widows and orphans of the land. ' Why did you not threaten
to take our advertising from him ? ' said Winston. ' I did threaten
him in that, sir ; but he told me to take my advertising to the d — V
replied McCurdy. Winston — 'The man must be mad; any man
that would sacrifice a $300 a year advertisement for principle must
he mad V McCurdy — ' So say I !' Winston — (meaning the plain-
tiff) ' We will give it out that he is really mad, for, to tell the truth,
it is the only way in which we can meet his charges. I therefore
vote that he is mad ?' McCurdy — ' I second the motion.' Carried
unanimously."
I don't know that that is libelous on Mr. Winston. Had you
heard any publications to that effect ?
i
Mr. Sewell :
That is not fair. Had you heard any publications, saying that
Mr. Winston said he was mad? A. I know nothing about it.
Q. Did you know anything about the publication in the Newark
Review ? A. No, sir.
Q. This is the fifth one : " But Mr. Homans, who was a man ot
science and a gentleman of honor, was not a fit associate for Messrs.
Winston and McCurdy ; they are mere schemers ; they do not care a
fig for life insurance beyond the facility it affords them to make
money faster than they could gain it in merchandise or law." Will
you be kind enough to tell us if you ever heard anything of that
kind spoken of? A. The contest between Winston and Homans ?
Q. Yes ? A. That was publicly talked of.
Mr. Sewell :
That is not the clause there. Did you ever hear it said before,
publicly, that they did not " care a fig for life insurance beyond the
76 [Absemblt
facility it affords them to make money faster than they could gain it
in merchandise or law ?"
Mr. Darlington:
Or anything to that effect? A. No publications of that kind.
Q. Has it been a matter of remark ? A. Of course men would
talk about such things.
Q. You had heard it remarked ? A. I had.
Q. About how long before ; during all this period ? A. This con-
test has been going on, more or less, for four or five years, and, of
course, you hear constantly remarks made ; but they are not matters
of evidence.
Q. " Mr. Homans, however, cherished a love for its principles and
beneficence, and found it impossible, after years of forbearance and
ineffectual protest, to remain in an organization of which the great-
ness was only a convenient shield to hide venal corruption and per-
sonal aggrandizement." What do you know about that ? A. I can
only say with regard to that, as a matter of my own knowledge, that
Mr. Homans and Mr. Winston — and Mr. McCurdy sided with Mr. Win-
ston— were opposed to each other, and that it ended in Mr. Homans
being required to leave the company.
Q. Do you know anything about Mr. Homans being ordered to
audit an account and refusing to do so? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Ordered by Mr. Winston ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And he refused to audit it on what ground ? A. Because it
contained statements that he considered to be incorrect, and he
refused on that ground.
Q. After giving Mr. Winston his reasons, was reordered to audit
it ? A. He was.
Q. It goes on further : " It is a rich mine, but not inexhaustible.
Mr. Winston and company have worked it diligently to their own
advantage, with little regard to the rights of the policy holders, and
although the ravages that they have made do not, by reason of its
greatness, conspicuously appear, they are gradually sapping its whole-
some vitality and undermining its substantial greatness." I do not
ask you if you have heard those precise words, but in reference to
the use of the company by Mr. Winston & Co., and so on, or to that
effect, have you heard anything ? A. I have heard remarks made
publicly, and I made them myself publicly.
Q. Have you seen such statements published? A. They were
No. 169.] W
published in the papers, in repeating what was said in speeches,
charging that the officers were recreant to their duties as trustees,
and paying more regard to their own personal interests than the
interest of the policy holders, in matters which I have related here.
Q. We will skip to the seventh : " The Mutual Life Insurance
Company of New York — Mr. Winston is not only surrounded by an
insatiate family, but has al6o a snug little ring about him, who help
to cover up and authorize his irregularities, and, of course, share in
the gain.9' Have you heard anything about there being a ring in
the board ? A. I have heard it very frequently.
Q. And that they had received personal benefit from it f A. Yes,
6ir ; you will find such a statement as that here; when I say you will
find such a statement, not to the extent that that goes; there is a
statement made here, that parties who were receiving benefits from
the company were those who enabled this bonus business to be car-
ried through and paid ; the gentleman who made that statement, I
understand, has since attempted to withdraw it.
By Mr. Sewbll :
Q. Who is the gentleman ? A. Mr. William Smith Brown; the
trustees of the company themselves have made statements in my
presence, to the effect that the company was managed by a few who
were deriving benefits from it ; others than Mr. Brown.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Then it reads : " The proxy system enabled him to constitute
the clique of his old cronies, and most subservient creatures. The
business of investing the company's funds yields a vaet source of
profit, whose cohesive power keeps this conclave in harmonious
unity. When the financial market is stringent and money is
required on mortgages at any rate demanded, this ring reaps its
golden harvest?" A. Mr. Winston made the declaration to me
himself, that he did not allow any changes to be made in that board
that were unfriendly to him ; I knew what he meant ; he meant he
should use the proxies to defeat any attempt to put men there that
he didn't kuow were friendly.
Q. Was that publicly spoken of, which speaks of the business of
investing the company's funds and its keeping this conclave in harmo-
nious unity ? A. I have seen such publications in the newspapers, and
amongst them the New York Times, several years ago, commenting on
78 [Ai
the benefits derived from persons concerned with the companies, and
speaking of some as the dummy trustees, and others as the workers
and reapers of the harvest, and such things as that ; you will find the
New York Times making such statements for the last two or three
years.
Q. It says further : " At this point legislative investigations most be
minute and exhaustive, as the mine for development here is rich in
the most extensive and festering forms of corruption. The control of
the investment of $15,000,000 a year is a dangerous power to intrust
to unprincipled men, and our readers will infer, from what we have
shown of Mr. Winston, that it has been shamefully abused." A. The
committee will understand, I have no doubt, that these matters of
insurance have been matters of public discussion, and charges have
been made from time to time, and denials, constantly in the papers,
of such things as those ; and the matter is of common discussion.
Q. Haven't you heard them discussed over dinner-tables at Del-
monico's and other places ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you hear them called at dinner-tables " extensive and fester-
ing forms of corruption!" A. Yes, sir; I have heard words used at
dinner-tables — not exactly those words — probably those are not the
proper words to use at dinner-tables.
Q. The last article in that complaint is: "Mr. F. S. "Winston, the
president of this company, is resorting to various devices to neutralize
the effect of our exposure of his mismanagement; in the first place
he thought it most prudent to ignore the writer in his charges ; finding
that our revelations of his misconduct were producing the effect
inseparable from just and truthful statements, he concocted the
ridiculous report that the writer was insane, and induced a drunken
editor in Newark to publish it." Did you hear that? A. No.
Q. It goes on as follows : " The editor must have been well paid
for the insertion of this calumny, for he has not since been sufficiently
sober to get out another number of his paper. That article may
prove fatal to Mills, as well as to the Newark Review. Winston's
next dodge was to solicit insurance officers, with tears in his eyes, to
help him kill the Insurance Times, by stopping their advertisements.
But they did not see it." Did you hear anything about that! A.
No, sir.
Q. "It is Winston, and not the Mutual Life, we assail; but one of
the charges which we shall prefer against him, when his trial comes
on, is the expenditure of vast sums of money, under the pretense
No. 169.] 79
that they were needed for the defense of the company, which had not
been attacked by anybody. He thus, and then, diverted the atten-
tion from himself and Mr. McCurdy, the only parties complained of
by the policy holders, and made a shield of the company to shield
himself from their righteous indignation." In other words, that Mr.
Winston has diverted attacks from himself by making it a defense
of the company, and not of himself? A. It has been a matter of
common comment in the town, that the company was always tbrnst
as a bulwark between Mr. Winston and any attacks made npon him ;
he has always thrust the company forward to defend himself; it has
been a universal mode of defense.
" Q. In this manner he protected himself, at an enormous cost to the
company, and he is now pursuing the same policy at a prodigous
outlay. It is evident the trustees have no control over this bad man,
and the company's expenditure. * * * Winston is again squan-
dering the policyholders' funds to purchase friends, but, 'Mene,
mene, tekel, upharsin.' Cannot the trustees be aroused to a sense
of their duty, and their obligations to protect the company's funds
from this unwarrantable and wasteful extravagance ?" In regard to
that, by the way, I will ask you if you can give me, from the record
there, what amount was spent for advertising this company? A.
There was a report made in July, 1869.
Q. Can you tell me what difference there was in the third quarter
of that year and the third quarter of the preceding year ? A. That
report was made by a committee of trustees appointed to examine
into the affairs of the company.
Q. That last report in June — were not the expenses for that third
quarter about $17,893.52 ? A. I have a memorandum of the state-
raont; there was a bill of $4,377.48 paid for printing that special
report ; the advertising for the third quarter for which that report
was published, was $17,893.52; the quarter previous, $5,800.
Q. Give us the third quarter of the preceding year? A. The third
quarter of 1868, was $5,369; we will leave the cents out; on the
fourth quarter it was $4,821 ; the first quarter of 1869, was $7,625 ;
that would increase naturally, by reason of the regular annual state-
ment ; the second quarter $5,853 ; the third quarter in which this
report came, wae $17,893 ; and for the next quarter after that, $2,602 ;
the memorandum that I hold here is for 101,990 copies of the special
report, printed at a cost of $4,377.48 ; the reports were very widely
circulated and published through the country; I should say that
80 [Asi
amongst the policy holders these matters of expenditures have been
a matter of common comment and condemnation, amongst a large
class of policy holders who knew the facts ; the majority of the policy
holders are totaly ignorant of anything connected with the company j
life insurance is a mystery to most of them.
Q. This Mr. Brown of whom you spoke, was he formerly a mem"
ber of the auditing committee, or what committee? A. He was a
member of a committee appointed in 1864 to investigate the charge
made by Isaac Green Pierson against Mr. Winston.
Q. After that, didn't they propose to put him on one of the com-
mittees! A. Yes, sir; there was a nominating committee that
suggested Mr. Brown as one of the auditing committee.
Q. Was he put on ? A. No, sir ; he was not.
Q. Do you know why he was not put on ? A. Yes, sir; I gathered
it from the trustees of the nominating committee.
Q. What statement did the trustees make! A. It was in conse-
quence of the objection of Mr. Winston to having him there.
Q. He had made a dissenting report ? A. And was considered,
as in a measure antagonistic to Mr. Winston.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Do you think of any further irregularities on the part of the
officers of this company, at the present time ? A. There were sundry
acts disclosed in that examination, where they had disregarded the
regulations of the company and the by-laws ; irregularities committed ;
also a failure to secure the assent of the Superintendent of Insurance,
as required by law, to allow a premium or dividend to be used in
diminution of premiums, all matters showing a lax system of manage-
ment.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. You spoke once about some portion of this investigation being
suppressed or kept out of this report ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know what it was ? A. There are none of these state-
ments of the bonuses ; there are none of these statements here with
regard to the reports of the committees ; they are not iu them.
Q. Those were all brought out on the investigation ? A. Yes, sir;
and made a part of the reports, you will find.
Q. But they are not in the published reports ? A. No, sir.
No. 169.] 81
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. At the time the resolution was passed by the trustees of that
company, to raise the salary of Winston to $20,000, do you know
whether at any time a bonus was awarded to the officers of the com-
pany, amounting in three years to $189,000 ? A. That was the sum
total paid to the officers as bonuses ; the bonus was stopped in 1869 j
after the payment in 1869 that was stopped ; you will find in this a
full account of the repeal of that bonus business ; there is no state-
ment here with regard to the amount.
By Mr. Dablikgton :
Q. Is that amount, $189,000, correct, is what Mr. Blessing means ;
wasn't that in direct violation of the by-laws ? A. The question was
in regard to the compensation of their officers ; I presume no man
can have any doubt of the right of the trustees to fix that compensa-
tion ; they may fix it at an inordinate sum if they see fit, but at the
same time we could not question the propriety of it; this bonus was
made in the shape of a commission upon this dividend made by the
company ; they gave him $20,000 a year ; they had given other
officers sums th&t had been fixed ; and.the bonus or dividend — or com-
mission rather, upon the dividends of the company, over and above
their salaries ; their salaries were ample, and I have no doubt in my
mind that, as trustees handling trust funds, they were bound to make
a specific rate of salary for those officers ; I have no doubt in my
mind that this bonus business was nothing more or less than a device
that was intended ultimately to supply Mr. Winston with the means
to settle with his creditors.
Q. Under their charter rights, ought not this surplus to go to the
benefit of the policy holders ? A. It belongs to the policy holders, and
they have no right to take a dollar of it ; the dividend is nothing
more or less than a refunding to the policy holders of the excessive
charge of the year previous ; for the company finds out the net
amount that is necessary to insure the risk of life, and they then load
the charge with what will cover the contingent expenses, expenses of
the company, unforeseen expenses and unexpected deaths, or other
contingencies ; when the business of the year is finished, the differ-
ences between that loading and the actual expense and outlay is
determined, and an equitable share of it is returned to the policy
holder in the shape of their dividend ; it was out of that fund that
these moneys were paid to the officers.
[Assembly No. 169.] 6
82 [Assembly
Q. Will you be kind enough to tell us about that act of 1872, requir-
ing the consent of the Insurance Department ; that had escaped me
altogether ; there was an act, was there not ? A. Yes, sir ; there
was an act ; there is a Jaw of the second of April, 1862, which pro-
vides that the corporation may appropriate its dividends either to
(the purchase (that is, the members) of additional insurance, payable
with the policy ; or, at the option of the insured, in reduction of or
toward the annual payment of premiums on policies ; and that such
dividends may be declared every five years, or oftener, at the option
of said company, provided said company shall not make such appro-
priation in reduction of any annual premium without the consent
first had and obtained of the Superintendent of the Insurance
Department.
Q. How had this company done from 1862 down to 1869 1 A
I don't know ; the dividends were charged ; but for dividends pre-
vious to 1869, they had not obtained that consent ; it was obtained
after the charge was made.
Q. Then they went and got the consent dated back? A. I never
saw the consent ; I know they got the consent after it was charged
by me that they had violated the law ; I would state, in regard to
that matter of the diminution of premiums, it is an account which
the policy holders have paid a good deal of attention to lately, as it
is used in the last report of the company to effect a ratio of the
expenses of the company.
Q. I will produce the last report ; I want to ask you if that ifi
correct i A. As a matter of fact, it is not correct.
Q. Why is it not ; will you tell the committee f
Mr. Sewell :
I don't know what this has got to do with the case. That has
occurred long since all these charges.
A. That was a charge at the time that it was used in the same way,
and it was all discussed here.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. The report of 1873 was not discussed in 1870? A. No; I say
this matter of accounting that is used in the present report of this
year was discussed at the time of that examination ; I think it brings
it down to a point to state shortly that the ratio of expense as stated
this year is not correct ; I state that as an expert, or as an account-
ant.
No. 1690 88
Q. What ratio is stated ? A. Six and ninety-eight one hundredths ;
that is not true ; six and ninety-eight one hundredths of one per cent,
the proportion of the expenses to income ; the income is overstated
several millions of dollars.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. In the last report ! A. Yes, sir ; the actual cash income is
overstated over $2,000,000.
By Mr. Sewill :
Q. Explain to the committee how it is so t A. The law that I
have just read to the committee, as yon see, authorizes the company,
after having obtained the consent of the superintendent, to permit
the policy holders to use these dividends in diminution of the pre-
miums of the next year ; if I have earned a dividend of $100, and I
have got $150 to pay at the anniversary of my policy, I can surrender
that dividend and get its surrender value credited in part payment
of my premiums, I paying the additional amount.
Q. Fifty dollars ? A. Yes, sir ; now, these portions which have
been surrendered in the statements of the company are charged up
as disbursements actually made, and credited as actual cash premiums,
and included in the income, the effect of that being to show the
income as large as possible, and reduce the ratio of expenses to income ;
the company claimed in 1870 that it was done by consent of Mr.
Barnes, but it was admitted by Mr. Homans that it was done for the
purpose of making as good a*show as could be by the company ; it is
a fiction of book-keeping, and it is not a fact, and in a strict account-
ing among policy holders, in the opinion of a very large number of
merchants and gentlemen, it is wrong ; it is a misstatement of the
income.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Does the Insurance Department admit this ; do they allow it ?
A. They approved it, according to the statement of 1870 ; what they
have done since I do not know, but they must have approved it, or it
would not have been continued here.
Q. They must have approved it on this last statement ? A. I
suppose they did; I don't know anything about it, though; we
claim, as policy holders, that the Mutual Life — that its solvency is so
undoubted, and that its prominence is of such a character, that it
ought not to falsify anything ; it needs no resort to any fiction of
84 [A«8HMBT,T
book -keeping, or any shifts, to make its position appear any different
than what it actually is.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. You were stating that it was claimed by others that this ground
iq not tenable ? A. The company and their advocates very natural! j
claim that they have a right to make such disbursements and such
expenditures, while it is admitted by every one actually, that it did
affect the ratio of expenses, and it was made for that purpose ; in
other words, it was made to deceive the policy holders as to what
was the actual ratio of expenses that the company was under ; that
was undoubtedly the object — to place it in as good a position as pos-
sible ; Mr. Homans' testimony in regard to that is full in this book.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. That statement affecting the ratio would affect the company in
its business, wouldn't it? A. If the company can induce the public
and policy holders to believe that its expenditures are only six and
ninety-eight one hundredths of its receipts, as a matter of course it
would put it in a very favorable light.
Q. The average expense of life insurance companies is beyond
that, is it not? A. Yes, sir; I don't believe there is an insurance
company in New York that tells the truth about these matters, and
I know the Mutual don't.
Q. How many trustees does this company have by its by-laws? A.
they have got thirty-six.
Q. Are those trustees scattered around the United States among
the policy holders ? A. Outside the city of New York, there are
only a few ; I believe there are two in Boston ; Mr. Rice and Mr.
Richardson ; Mr. Starr of Philadelphia, and Mr. Babcock of San Fran-
cisco.
Q. The majority of them are in New York ? A. Yes, sir ; the
majority of them are in the city of New York ; I think they ought
all to be here ; it is represented that the company, having strong
friends amongst policy holders, with trustees at points like Boston
and San Francisco, would be for the benefit of the company ; if we
only carried that out to its rational result, we would put a trustee in
every important place and we would have nobody here to watch the
officers.
Ne. 169.] 81
Cr<m-excmimation ly Mr. Sewbll :
Q. You went on to Boston, you say, at the request of the policy
holders of Boston ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Didn't yon ask the policy holders of Boston to request yon to
come ? A. I did not.
Q. How was it brought about that you went there ; did you write
to somebody there to tell them it would be a good thing ? A. There
is a Mr. Geo. B. Baldwin, a prominent merchant of Boston, who has
a policy in the Mutual Life, and Mr. Barton, his partner, and several
other gentlemen that I was acquainted with in business there ; they
became interested in the fact that such an investigation was going on,
and they asked me if I would come there after I had finished the
examination, and attend a meeting of the policy holders ; and I told
them I would ; I gave them some information in regard to the facts
which had been developed during that examination ; I should say
Mr. Baldwin was a customer of mine, and had been for a number of
years ; and from time to time, while the examination was going on
amongst the policy holders, I was asked questions, and would very
frequently show what had been ascertained ; and I was requested by
him — asked whether I would come, and I said I would at any moment
that they were ready ; and he requested me to name what time would
be most satisfactory to me, and when I could come, and he would
arrange a meeting for me ; I did that, and they sent me the request.
Q. That meeting heard your statements of facts ? A. They did.
Q. And appointed a committee to examine into the matter ? A.
Yes, sir.
Q. And that committee came to New York, and made an exami-
nation, did they not? A. I don't know what they did.
Q. Did you never hear? A. I did, from a report that they made
afterward.
Q. You saw then a published report of the committee which was
appointed by the meeting in Boston, which asked you to address
them ? A. Yes, sir ; I have got a copy of them.
Q. What was the name of the chairman of that committee? A.
Mr. Baldwin was one member of that committee; but having been
called away to Sant Francisco, he was obliged to leave.
Q. That committee was composed of B. T. Nourse, William Hil-
ton and Alexander Rice, was it not? A. No, sir; it was composed
of Nourse, Hilton and George Richardson.
Q. Mr. Richardson did not attend in New York, in consequence
86 [A
of his absence in California ? A. No, sir ; Mr. Baldwin was absent,
and Mr. Richardson came here and voted himself into office.
Q. There were intrusted to that committee, by the policy holders
of Boston, a lot of proxies of the Boston policy holders? A. Yes,
sir; I don't know where they got them; I think they were sent to
them after they got here.
Q. Did that committee not publish this report which I hold in
my hand? A. I believe the Mutual Life published this.
Q. Did the committee furnish it to the Mutual Life to publish !
A. That I don't know.
Q. You have seen it published ! A. Yes, sir ; I got it from an
officer of the Mutual Life.
Q. You never heard that the committee of gentlemen whose
names were signed to it repudiated it t A. No, sir.
Q. You have no doubt in your mind but they made that report !
A. None in the world ; I have no doubt, either, of its inaccuracy ;
I can show these gentlemen falsehoods enough.
Mr. Sewell. — I will furnish the committee a copy of the report
Q. Did not Mr. Miller make a report on the subject of those verj
charges that you have been testifying about to-day f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you got a copy of that report f A. Yes, sir.
Q. That was made out about the same time, or a little before the
Boston report I A. Yes, sir.
Q. None of these matters that you have testified to to-day are
matters occurring since the date of that Boston committee's report,
are they I A. Yes, sir.
Q. Which ones ? A. The matter of payment to Mr. Miller of
$2,500, which was paid to him for this report ; the matter of $3,500
that was sent to him to forward what was called the " Miller life
Bill."
Q. I thought that you testified that you didn't know anything
about it ? A. Except from the evidence ; I was in the room when
it was given ; and the matter of a policy that is spoken of here; the
Ganson policy.
Q. These are the only matters which you have testified on to-day,
which are not in these examinations which have been passed upon
by the Superintendent of the Insurance Department, and by the
committee of the Boston policy holders? A. Yes, sir; I would
state to the committee, that as far as this Boston policy holders'
report is concerned, it is so inaccurate in some of its statements, that
No. 169.] 8Y
knowing those gentlemen in Boston to be men of truth, I am satis-
fied they never would have signed the report if they had proper
information ; I said so to some of them ; they make one statement
here that is a direct falsehood, and I know they would not have
done it.
By Mr.*DABUNOTON :
Q. What statement is that! A. This copy, which I suppose was
a full one, in some articles, and in letters which I have written — using
this, I have cut it ; so that accounts for the mutilation of this copy ;
there is one statement here, that Mr. McCulloh charges that the loan
by the company to Seymour and North was, in fact and in substance,
a temporary fiscal agency by this oompany for the State of New
York ; the company had nothing in the world to do with it ; Mr.
"Winston did it in his personal capacity ; I take that statement of
fact from the trustees' report themselves, and from the record that
such was the fact, that he did it secretly and in his private capacity ;
I take it also from the record of Albany, which shows that it was
Frederick S. Winston individually, and not the Mutual Life.
By Mr. Sswell :
Q. Do you mean to say that the record in Albany says Frederick
S. Winston individually ? A. It says Frederick S. Winston ; we
know Frederick S. Winston, and we know Frederick S. Winston,
President of the Mutual life Insurance Company.
Q. When you talked about the records of Albany, you went on
and said that it said Frederick S. Winston, individually, and not
Frederick S. Winston, president? A. I am speaking of Winston
personally.
Q. Do you mean to say that it is silent as to his individual
capacity? A. I do.
Q. You don't say, not in his official capacity? A. No, sir.
Q. You testified that it said individual and not official capacity ?
A. I simply mean —
Q. Will you please to tell me whether prior — A. Allow me to
finish this ; these gentlemen in Boston also stated that this is
entirely in accordance with the charter ; now, it is a direct violation
of the charter.
Mr. Sewbll. — That is a difference of opinion between you and
the gentlemen in Boston ?
88 [A
A. Yes ; in another matter which these gentlemen adopted and
published, yon will find that young Mr. Winston was $2,750 at the
highest point.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. You have shown it was $3,000 ? A. Was $3,000 ; and that in
March previous to his death he had received $3,750 as bonne, I think,
and that at the time of his death he actually had policies on his life
for a considerable amount, as the accounts of his executors show;
and I know that if this examination made by these gentlemen in
Boston had not been an ex parte examination, without the proper
opportunity to men who had been opposing the company to get at
the facts, that they never would have committed themselves to make
the statement in that report.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. I want to ask you whether yon had ever seen it published prior
to the publication in January, 1873, by Stephen English — which is
one of the charges against him in this action — that the committee of
the Legislature of 1870, which had appointed yon to make thii
examination, and which had at its head Mr. Thomas Fields —
Witness — Dennis Burns.
Mr. Sewell :
This says Thomas Fields, — " was pliable in Mr. Winston's hands,
and was a corrupt body of men ;" and that Mr. Winston succeeded
in paying them money, and submitting to a successful stroke of black-
mail on their part. I will read the charge to the committee.
Mr. Abbott :
Who makes that charge f
Mr. Sewell :
Mr. Stephen English ; he is now in prison on account of it.
" This manly effort to effect a reform was met and defeated by the
interested trustees subsidized by Winston, who possesses the art of
using other people's money to accomplish his own purposes. * * *
The excitement created by this movement drew upon the company,
about twelve months afterward, the penalty of a visitation from the
Legislative Insurance Committee, with the disreputable Tom Fields at
its head. The quality of its members may be readily inferred from
No. 169.] 80
the notorious character of the Legislature for corruption at that time,
and Mr. Winston found himself quite in his element in dealing with
men of this stamp. The committee was exceedingly pliable in his
hands, and, to oblige him, sat in secret conclave, and permitted no one
to report or criticise its proceedings. The New York daily press
denounced this " Star Chamber " arrangement as a successful stroke
of black-mailing. What was investigated, what was found out, and
how much was paid for the nothing that was done, outsiders have
never been told, for no report was made, and Tom Fields & Oo.
departed richer, if not wiser men. This was Mj;. Winston's second
success in suppressing the revelations of his delinquencies. * * *
But the man who has the control of upward of fifty-five millions of
dollars is a great power in himself, and he has not scrupled to employ
the money intrusted to his guardianship to shield himself from public
exposure and just condemnation." I ask you whether yon ever saw
that charge in the public prints before you heard of its being pub-
lished by Mr. English ? A. No, sir ; the newspapers, at the time,
contained squibs about this committee ; Tom Fields was attacked by
the papers ; I have heard of it in private circles, but not in news-
papers.
Q. Did you ever, in any of your public attacks upon the adminis-
tration of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, charge that Mr.
Winston had used the money of the company for the purpose of pay-
ing black-mail to this insurance committee? A. No, sir; I never
charged, in any publication I ever made, anything but what I knew
to be a fact of my own knowledge ; I have ignored stories that came
to me ; I thought I knew enough facts to show that he was an unfit
man for president, and enough to make me unwilling to leave my
interests in his hands.
Q. Did you ever hear this charge made publicly, that Mr. Wins-
ton said to Mr. English, " Mr. English, do you think that a profess-
ing Christian, like myself, wo aid be guilty of such acts as are alleged
against me by Mr. McCulloh?" A. No, sir, I never did.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Didn't he make a similar statement to you about his being a
professing Christian ? A. My relation to Mr. Winston — I had known
him a great many years, I suppose nearly thirty years — my relations
were very kindly to him until 1869 ; I have no personal feeling what-
ever towards Mr. Winston ; I did everything I could in the com-
92 [
»
Q. Then they retain this money to the policy holders ? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. As having been in excess of what was needed f A. Yes, sir;
they place it to their credit on the books.
Q. It is in the shape of a dividend ? A. Yes ; called a dividend.
Q. It may be applied to purchase farther insurance, iu which cae
a larger sura than the dividend is added to the policy, and it is only
paid at death ; or it may be applied to the payment of the premium
as they fall dnef A. Yes, sir; to the diminution of the premium*.
Q. Where it is applied in diminution of the premiums, it reduces
the premium receipts — the actual premium receipts — by so much as
the dividend? A. Yes, sir; he has the value tf the dividend for
that purpose.
Q. Where it is applied to purchase additional insurance, it take
the place of money which would be furnished for that purpose ! A.
Yes ; and increases the risk or liability of the company.
Q. Then, instead of being paid out as a dividend, and taken away
by the policy holder, he is allowed to make use of it in payments to
the company % A. Yes, sir ; nominal payments ; they are not actual
payments.
Q. He is allowed to make use of it in what, except for this divi-
dend, would have to be paid to the company ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. If he did not have this dividend to make payments with, it
would have to be in cash ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And this dividend reduces the amount of cash he would have
to pay ? A. That is just my point exactly.
Q. You consider it is wrong to charge this as paid out as a divi-
dend, because a great portion of it is received back in payment of
premiums I A. There is none of it paid back ; it never leaves the
company.
Q. It is called hwing been paid out f A. There is the simple*
solution of it. [Witness uses three five-dollar bills in illustration.]
I have got in my hand now fifteen dollars, and that is my premium
this year, and that I am obliged to pay in cash ; I will assume that I
have commenced my transaction with the company, and there is the
amount of my premium ; it is fifteen dollars ; now, that is actual
cash receipts; at the end of the year the company finds that they
should not have charged me but ten or eleven dollars, or any other
sum,* but we will make it ten dollars even- money, and that that five
dollars was charged in excess ; and therefore the next year they per-
No. 169.] 98
mit me to use that five dollars, or credit it in the books as the excess
of the year previous, and I pay ten dollars in to make good my fifteen-
dollars premium. 0
Q. And the company call that cash received ? A. Yes, sir, and
put it cash income ; it is five dollars twice over, in order to diminish
the ratio of the amount that they have expended ; that is what they
are doing precisely ; it is a simple fiction of book-keeping to make it
appear like an actual cash receipt in both years.
Q. It does not put anything in the pockets of the officers ? A.
No, but it deceives the policy holders, because they suppose it is
being very economically managed, when it is not ; that is the effect
of it.
Q. Do you know who first devised this method of book-keeping in
the Mutual Life Insurance Company ? A. My impression is, from
Mr. Homan's testimony, that he was the one who suggested it.
Q. He was an eminent actuary, was he not ? A. Yes, sir ; but I
have no faith in actuaries in these matters of account ; I would not
want to keep my accounts that way ; I should denominate them as
mathematical theorists.
Q. Do you think it is possible to carry on the life insurance business
without actuaries ? A. No, sir ; to a certain extent, they are required
to make mathematical calculations, which must be reduced to practi-
cal use in the companies ; that is the object of their employment ;
Mr. Homans and I have had this matter over a great many times ;
and you will find, in this, the whole matter discussed.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. What is the actual cost of running that life insurance company?
A. I cannot tell.
Q. Have you never seen it stated in the New York Times, in
July, 1872, where it says it cost $1,000,000? A. Their legitimate
expenses must be very heavy ; and their salaries and advertising
that are proper ; and there are legal expenses that arise inevitably ;
and contingent expenses, that the company must pay.
Q. Bent and clerk hire? A. Yes; I think the last statement
gives that pretty definitely ; it is a mammoth concern ; and, as a
matter of course, the expenses must be large ; that is natural ; they
give them here — advertising, taxes, medical examinations, salaries, law,
printing and stationery, sundry expenses, office furniture, profit and
loss, taxes on real estate ; and then the company has taxes to pay in
other States where they do business.
94 [
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. I would like to ask what their average rate of premium is I A.
It depends altogether upon the life, and all the surroundings of it
Q. As compared with other companies, do they charge higher cr
lower premiums ? A. That was the whole subject of the last discis-
sion and fight — the diminution of the rates of the Mutual Life ; the
other companies claimed that it should not be done, and a large
number of the old policy holders objected to the change, and that
change the company finally suspended ; they did not -carry it out ; it
is a question between the companies, which one can do the business
the cheapest ; as a matter of course, the one that does it the cheapest,
does the business.
The committee here adjourned to Saturday, April 12th, 1873, st
10 A. M.
Metropolitan Hotel, N. T., April 12, 1873.
Present — Hons. C. W. Herrick, chairman, N. A. White, E.
Townsend, Frank Abbott, T. J. Campbell, A. Blessing.
J. Thomas Davis, Esq., clerk.
O. T. At wood, Esq., counsel for the committee.
Thos. Darlington, Esq., counsel for Mr. English.
Robert Sewell, Esq., and Judge John K. Porter, counsel for Mutual
Life Insurance Company.
James W. McCulloh, recalled ; cross-examination continued iy
Mr. Sewell :
Q. About what time did you first begin to agitate the subject of
change in the administration of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany » A. In 1869.
Q. About what part of the year ? A. Just previous to the elec-
tion.
Q. In June ? A. Yes, sir ; unless you refer to a suit commenced
in March, 1869.
Q. In March, 1869, you commenced a suit ? A. I did ; against
Richard H. McCurdy and the Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Q. What was the cause of action embodied in that suit! A. I
have the complaint at home ; the cause stated was the bonuses paid
to the officers, irregularly restored policies, and some other matters
which I don't recollect at the moment.
No. 169.] 95
Q. Then the cause of action stated in that complaint was the same
application of the moneys of the company in bonuses to the officers
of which you complained at the last meeting} A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the same restoration of the polices ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that was in March, 1869 ? A. March, 1869; yes, sir.
Q. You sued as a stockholder ? A. As a policy holder.
Q. On behalf of yourself and all other policy holders ? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. The papers were served on Mr. McCurdy ? A. They were.
Q. And on the Mutual Life Insurance Company ? A. I believe,
as an officer, and in his individual capacity, they were served.
Q. Who were your attorneys and counsel in that suit) A. Mar-
tin & Smith.
Q. Sow long prior to March, 1869, had you known of the appli-
cation of these bonuses, and the restoration of these policies of which
you complained in that suit ? A. Probably about a month or six
weeks ; that is, I speak now of knowledge ; previous to that, I had
seen statements in the newspapers and paid no attention to it.
Q. Your first knowledge, then, of these irregularities of which
you complained, was obtained from publications in newspapers ? A.
No, sir; I had no knowledge obtained from newspapers.
Q. Your first information, then, of the existence of amy irregulari-
ties ? A. I will state that, like many other policy holders, everything
of that kind that was said about the Mutual Life I disbelieved ; I
saw such statements made, but didn't believe it was possible that it
would be done ; I read them and passed them aside as mere gossip.
Q. You remember about that time having some relations with a
Mr. Rhodes, who was then, or had recently been, an agent of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company % A. I do.
Q. Mr. Rhodes had had a difficulty with the officers of the Mutual
Life Insurance Company, had he not % A. Yes, sir ; they had refused
the settlement of his accounts, and changed the agency, I believe.
Q. And he resigned his agency, and Was very bitter in his opposi-
tion to the officers ? A. I think he was forced to resign his agency.
Q. The fact is, that he did resign it % A. I believe he did.
Q. And was very bitter about that time in his denunciation of
Mr. McCurdy and Mr. Winston % A. Yes, sir.
Q. On account of matters arising out of his treatment as agent of
the company ? A. Not entirely so.
Q. For what other reasons than for reasons personal to himaelf
•0 [AsSMBLT
was he bitter to Mr. McCurdy ? A. Shall I assign the reason he
gave me ?
Q. Yes ? A. The reasons assigned to me by Mr. Rhodes was, that
he considered both Mr. Winston and Mr. McCurdy as dishonest, and
that they were not only depriving him of the moneys he waa entitled
to, bat also taking moneys from the policy holders that they wen
entitled to; I give yon now the substance of conversations and state-
ments running throngh some time.
Q. Did he at that time tell yon that Mr. Winston threatened to
put him in Ludlow-street jail if he did not pay the money he owed
the company ? A. He did not ; I think he made the statement that
at one time they had threatened to arrest him, but there was nothing
specific.
Q. Was not this suit brought by you for the purpose of forcing i
settlement with Mr. Rhodes of some matters in dispute between him
and the company ? A. No, sir; I had no doubt it would accomplish
that object ; it did do it, too.
Q. Was not that one of the objects ? A. Yes, sir ; and the other
was to remedy what I considered wrongs in the company.
Q. As soon as you accomplished the object of settling Mr. Rhodes'
claim, you abandoned the suit, did yon not? A. I abandoned the
suit at the urgent request of Henry M. Alexander, acting as the
friend of Mr. Richard H. McCurdy and Mr. Shepard Homans, the
then actuary of the company, and upon their statements that an;
action of that kind on the part of the policy holders would be seri-
ously detrimental to the interests of the company ; on that ground
I discontinued it, and Mr. Alexander paid all expenses ; and I dis-
continued on the further understanding and representations made to
me that Mr. McCurdy would, of his own volition, soon leave the
company.
Q. Who told you that Mr. McCurdy would soon leave the com-
pany? A. I understood it in my intercourse there three or four
days with the gentlemen Who represented Mr. McCurdy and the
Mutual Life ; Mr. McCurdy was contemplating going to Europe as
soon as Mr. Winston returned from California, and would sever hi*
connection with the company ; I was given to understand that that
was his purpose.
Q. All through this period when you brought this suit against the
company, and during these negotiations, was not Frederick S. Wio-
ston absent from this side of the continent ? A. He was in California.
Ho. 169. J VI
m
Q. Will yon please to state, with some degree of precision, who it
was that told yon that Mr. MeCurdy would soon leave the company I
A. It was in intercourse with those two gentlemen that I was given
to understand that that was his purpose.
Q. What two gentlemen ? A. I have named them ; Mr. Alexan-
der and Mr. Homans ; bow what their precise language was four
yean ago I cannot tell you.
Q. I do not ask for that ; but I want to know which of the two
told you that Mr. MeCurdy was going to leave 'the company ?
A. That I cannot answer; there were two interviews of two or
three hours, on two or three successive days, between one or another,
or both of these gentlemen, in which a great deal of discussion took
place with regard to matters in the Mutual Life ; and during that
intercourse I was given to understand that Mr. MeCurdy intended
to leave the company.
Q. But you cannot, at this distance of time, tell which of the two
told you so) A. No, sir, I cannot; I can only give you the impres-
sions on my mind with regard to those interviews.
Q. Did you demand the resignation of Mr. MeCurdy as a condition
precedent to you withdrawing the suit? A. I considered Mr.
McCurdy*s conduct —
Q. I beg your pardon ; I ask you if you demanded his withdrawal ?
A. I stated most unequivocally to these gentlemen that as a policy
holder I objected to Mr. MeCurdy 's continuing any longer an officer
of the company, and assigned the reasons for doing it.
Q. Did you make that a dondition of your withdrawing the suit!
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you waive that afterward ? A. Yes, at the request of
these gentlemen.
Q. Then you did not persist on the withdrawal of these gentlemen
as a precedent to withdrawing the suit I A. I did not.
Q. Did you at that time insist that Mr. Frederick S. Winston
should resign ? A. I did not ; I did not think he was as deep in the
mud as Mr. MeCurdy was in the mire.
Q. Did you know about the bonuses then ? A. Not to the fullest
extent ; Mr. MeCurdy at the time denied to my counsel that there
was any truth in the allegations.
Q. What Mr. MeCurdy told your counsel is not evidence ; it is
certainly not evidence that you can give ; you say that he told your
[Assembly No. 169.] 7
98 [Assembly
counsel ; were yon present ? A. No, sir ; I had it from their repre-
sentations.
Q. This committee on their last sitting specially ruled to keep out
hearsay evidence ; and I then pledged myself that you would be guided
by that ; let me suggest that you do not tell us what anybody said,
except of your own knowledge I A. Very well,
Q. Then, I understand that you voluntarily abandoned that suit!
A. I did, upon their payment of all expenses, and settling Mr.
Bhodes' claim ;* which they did.
Q. Upon whose payment of the expenses t A. Mr. Alexander's.
' Q. Mr. Henry M. Alexander was counsel for the Equitable Life
Insurance Company ? A. He was acting as the counsel for Richard
H. McCurdy ; and so stated to me.
Q. He was at that time con nsel for the Equitable Life, was he
not ? A.I don't know whether he was or not.
Q. Did you know that he was connected with that company ! A.
Yes, sir, as a trustee or director.
Q. Was not a part of the representation that he made to you with
respect to withdrawing this suit, that it was damaging very mucli
the Equitable Life and other companies) A. It was not.
Q. It was not put upon that ground t A. It was not, because I
would not have cared whether it would damage them or not.
Q. When did yon next present any charges against the adminis-
tration of the Mutual Life ? A. I would like, if you will follow up
the date, if you have no objections ; you have asked me with regard
to my opposition to the company ; I would like to state what occurred
subsequent to that.
Q. That was in March, 1869 t A. Yes, sir.
Q. Subsequent to that what occurred ? A. Prior to the election
of 1869 I, with a large number of policy holders,, held a meeting and
nominated nine trustees, to serve as trustees for the ensuing four
years, to be elected at the election in June ; I called upon Mr. Wins-
ton, and stated to him that a large number of policy holders had
become aware of facts connected with the company, and were dis-
satisfied, and especially so with his holding so many proxies, and
urged him to make an arrangement with the policy holders who were
dissatisfied, by which they might name a portion of the trustees to
be re-elected, who should be approved by him, and that the ticket
should be elected then without opposition ; Mr. Winston refused, on
the ground that he did not intend to permit any one to be elected, or
No. 169.] 99
" the harmony of the board," was his precise words, to be disturbed
by the introduction of those that he was not satisfied were friendly ;
I opposed at the election of 1869, with a large number of others, the
election of the trustees nominated by the board of trustees, or the
company's friends ; not with any expectation of succeeding, but for
the purpose of establishing the fact that the proxies of the company
would be used by the officers, or the proxies, not of the company,
but of the policy holders' proxies, would be used by the officers to
defeat any attempt to place there persons not of their own selection ;
that fact was established by the proxies voted by Mr. McCurdy.
Q. How many votes were cast for your ticket at that election ?
A. I have not the record ; the opposition naturally caused a much
larger attendence, as far as I am informed, than ever was at any other
election, and of course brought out the full strength of the friends
of the company ; at one time during the election the opposition
appeared to be gaining such strength that Mr. McCurdy settled the
question beyond all contingency by voting on four or six hundred
proxies, which was more than could have been obtained by the oppo-
sition if they had been allowed the whole day ; and during that day
several gentlemen objected to voting, on the ground that they were
compelled to put their names upon the back of the ballot.
Q. Who objected to voting on that ground) A. There were
several persons came to me during the day, and asked me if that
thing could not be stopped.
Q. Name one ) A. I cannot at this distance of time ; I will state this,
that I called the attention of Mr. George S. Goe to the fact, who was
one of the trustees.
Q. When ? A. At that time ; and he said to me that it was cer-
tainly an unusual proceeding, and it had caused him to hesitate before
voting.
Q. Did you see anybody who was required to sign their name on
their ballot) A. I was required to put mine on.
Q. Did you object to doing so ) A. No, sir ; I held a ticket up
to you, and said that as far as I was concerned I had no objection to
showing what I was voting for ; I thought the whole thing was wrong.
Q. Did you see anybody who objected to it? A. I was told by
several that they did object.
Q. You did not see them object ) A. I was not present ; I was
down in the room.
Q. Did you hear of anybody who objected to the board of election
100 [As&MBLT
on that day, againgt their name being put on the ballot? A. I don't
know of any.
Q. Don't you know that the name was put on the ballot by the
board, on account of the larger number of attendance, in order to
facilitate voting? A. I did not ask the reason; I considered it an
ribuse of the privilege of the election by ballot ; the fact was enough
for me.
Q. Were you not told, without asking, that it would expedite your
votes, and prevent the necessity of examining the votes to see if they
had policies or not ; and that, if anybody contested the election, it
would be easily ascertained ? A. I recollect the fact that I beard
you make the statement.
Q. Do you know of anybody who was deterred from voting at
that election by reason of that requirement of the board ? A. I
stated that there were three or four persons who came to me and
stated they would not vote on that account.
Q. You cannot tell the name of any one of them ? A. No, sir,
not at this time ; the day was an exciting day.
Q. That was the election of 1869 ? A. Yes.
Q. Do you know whether that regulation has ever been made use
of since? A. I don't know that.
Q. Do you not know that it was not? A. I don't know that.
Q. Have you ever voted since ? A. Once.
Q. On that occasion were you required to sign ? A. I was not.
Q. Was it not the fact that at that election your ticket was beaten
without any proxies? A. I have stated that fact.
Q. I didn't hear you ? A. I believe I had already.
Q. The personal voters who came there outnumbered the persons
in opposition ? A. Yes, and we anticipated that they would.
Q. Did you prefer to the board of directors of the company, or the
trustees of the company, any of those charges that were embodied in
your suit against the company? A. Immediately after the election
of 1869, a committee was appointed, of which Mr. John V. L. Pruyn
was the chairman.
Q. Was that committee appointed at your request ? A. No, sir.
Q. Appointed to examine your charges? A. Not by the resolu-
tion, it was not; yon have a copy there.
Q. Which one is it ? A. The report of 1869 ; I will read the reso-
lution ; appointed ostensibly to examine the assets of the company
and other matters.
Ho. 169.] 101
Besdved, That Messrs. J. V. L. Pruyn, David Hoadley, O. EL
Palmer, fienry E. Davies and William E. Dodge be and are hereby
appointed a committee to examine the assets of this company, and
the amount and character of the same ; and also to ascertain its lia-
bilities on its policies, or otherwise, and report the result of such
examination to this board."
Immediately I became aware of the appointment of that commit-
tee, I called upon Mr, Winston, and requested that a committee of
policy holders should be selected to make an examination with these
trustees,. to inquire into the facts which I had charged against the
officers of. the company; Mr. Winston stated to me, a short time
afterward, (hat he had preferred that request to the committee, and
that they had declined to acquiesce in it.
Q. When, then, did yon first get an examination of the matters
that you complained of! A. The first examination that I got was
in 1870, wasn't itt
Q. The Miller examination! A. Yes, sir; the Miller examination.
Q. In that Miller examination you testified to having commenced
another action ? A. Yes, sir; in February previous.
Q. It was commenced in February, 1870 ? A. I think the date is
February ; yes, sir ; it was either in February or the very early pfirt
of March ; that is the suit to which I testified the other day in direct
examination.
Q. Between those two suits, was not a suit started, based upon
affidavits made by you, in which the relief sought was the appoint-
ment of a receiver of the Mutual Life Insurance Company ; and the
application made to Jndge George Q-. Barnard, ex parte, for the
appointment of the receiver? A. Not to my knowledge was any
application made ; I will state the whole of the facts ; in August,
1869, 1 was requested to cajl upon Mr. Aaron Yanderpoel, with
regard to a suit that was about to be commenced against the officers
of the Mutual Life.
Q. Who requested you! A. I was requested by Mr. James H.
Rhodes.
Q. That is the same gent whom you took up this quarrel for ? A.
The same ; I went to Mr. Yanderpoel and he requested me to give
the information upon which he might draw a proper complaint, and
stated to me the object of that suit, which was to force these matters
into court for a settlement ; I gave him, without any hesitation, the
information, as he was a gentleman standing very high at the bar ; I
was also requested to consult with Judge Porter, who sits by the side of
102 [A.
me now, on one occasion, with regard to the same suit ; the complaint
was drawn by Mr. Yanderpoel ; I was then requested to go to the
office of Thomas Fields, to make an affidavit, which I was informed
was to accompany the complaint ; I went, and the affidavit was given
to me ; it was incorrect ; I altered it and verified it, and gave it
to Mr. Fields ; on the same day, or the day subsequently, Mr. Wins-
ton sent for me, and asked me if I was aware of the fact that Mr.
Fields was a rascal, and that the whole object of that suit was to
force the company into the hands of a receiver ; I told him then —
which was the fact — that I was utterly ignorant of the character of
Mr. Thomas Fields ; but, if his representation with regard to the
character of the man was what he represented, that I should imme-
diately withdraw from all connection with the matter ; I made the
inquiries, ascertained that Mr. Fields was anything but what he should
be in reputation, and I insisted upon the return of my affidavit; it
was given to me, and Mr. Fields, in error, handed me the complaint;
I pocketed that, and refused ever afterward to give it back to him ;
in the hands of Mr. Porter and Mr. Aaron Yanderpoel I was satis-
fied, but Mr. Fields, I was not ; I will state that in that complaint
there was a prayer for a receivership, and that I asked my counsel,
Martin <fe Smith, as to the effect of that prayer, and was informed
that it was a usual form, or a usual thing to insert, but that it need
not be moved for ; as 1 understood, its being in the complaint was
not a matter of necessity that the receiver should be applied for,
and much less granted ; that an application was made afterward to
Judge Barnard, I was not aware.
Q. Who was the plaintiff in that action f A. The People of the
State of New York, through the Attorney-General, Mr. Ohamplain.
Q. Is that the one yon spoke off A. Yes, sir; I have the docu-
ments all at home.
Q. Why did you not go on with that suit, in the hands of some-
body else ? A. I had no power over that; I at that time determined
to have nothing to do with any suit which I did not myBelf control
entirely ; and for that reason I myself requested my counsel, on
behalf of myself and those policy holders who were working with
me, to form a proper complaint, and to bring suit in a proper manner,
and in such manner as I conceived to do the least damage to the true
interests of the company.
Q. You were aware, undoubtedly, that any suit of the kind that
you would bring would damage the interests of the company more
No. 169.] 103
or less f A. I had no doubt it would damage the reputation of the
company temporarily, but I always separated the officers from the
institution, believing that we could better afford to lop them off in
the infancy of abuses than to wait until we could not control it.
Q. Do you not know that all your actions and efforts were made
use of by rival companies to affect the standing and credit and busi-
ness of the Mutual Life ? A. I don't know it, except as I gathered
it from ttie papers, in which there is a constant warfare between all
corporations.
Q. Those papers in which that warfare was conducted seized
eagerly the charges against the officers of the company, and made
arguments against the company themselves ? A. I am not aware of
that.
Q. Did you never see that ? A. Oh, yes ; I see constantly charges
that the sole purpose of the reduction of rates was to injure the com-
panies, and so it is bandied about from one to the other.
Q. That brings it down to the time of the complaint in which you
yourself was the relator? A. No, sir, the people were the plaintiff.
Q. The people themselves, and you being the relator ? A. Yes ;
I didn't understand you ; I delivered it at Albany, in the presence of
Mr. Pruyn and Judge Allen, to Mr. Champlain ; it was on Tuesday,
I think.
Q. You testified that that was the last you heard of it, and yon
don't know anything about it ? A. Mr. Hammond brought it to me
for verification, and was very urgent that I should immediately verify
it; I stated to him that Mr. Champlain had promised me that it
should be sent to Martin & Smith, whom he had agreed should repre-
sent him ; he urged me very strenuously to verify the complaint
immediately ; and I stated I would do it if he would go with me to
Martin & Smith's* office ; we went to this office, and Mr. Martin
happened to be out ; Mr. Hammond urged very much not to delay
him, as he was in a great hurry, and to go and get a notary ; we
went into the adjoining room, found a notary, and I verified the com-
plaint, and Mr. Hammond slipped it into his pocket and- started ; he
would not wait to see Mr Smith ; and I never saw the complaint
afterward.
Q. Did you not know that the Attorney-General delivered the com-
plaint to the Superintendent of the Insurance Department, and asked
him to make a preliminary examination of the affairs of the company,
to ascertain if such an action on behalf of the Attorney-General was
101 [A
justified? A. I have no such knowledge; and should doubt its
correctness, for the reason that Mr. Miller himself requested me to
famish him with a copy of the complaint, which I did.
Q. Mr. Miller, then, when he made the examination of the com-
pany as Superintendent of the Insurance Department, had a copy of
the complaint which yon made to the Attorney-General, furnished by
yourself, as the basis of that examination I A. Not as the basis of
the examination ; but as a guide or for his use.
Q. As an indication of the charges which he was to examine! A.
Yes, sir ; and of which I made a brief.
Q. He did examine, according to your brief, seriatim, charge for
charge ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Yon were there during the examination ? A. I was.
Q. Cross-examined witnesses I A. I did.
Q. Produced witnesses and examined them on behalf of yourself I
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was the character of the examination, in regard to full-
ness and minuteness of the whole of it? A. I will state that all the
examination of books and accounts, as far as my knowledge goes,
were made by myself and Mr. Hand ; Mr. Miller made no examina-
tion of books whilst I was there, to my knowledge ; he may have
done it afterward.
Q. I speak of your knowledge t A. Yes, sir ; the examination
of the witnesses was as full as I could make it, in the absence of any
compulsory power on my part to compel attendance or to enforce
answers.
Q. Did anybody connected with the company refuse to answer any
questions you asked ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who ? A. Mr. McCurdy and Mr. Winston, both.
Q. What did Mr. McCurdy refuse to answer f A. The question
to Mr. Winston was as to proxies, and to Mr. McCurdy ; I will turn
to the question, if you will let me have that book.
Q. They refused to tell you how many proxies they had of the
policy holders J A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was not that the only question they refused to answer ; that is
the only question, isn't it, with regard to the proxies ; it is not worth
while to waste the time looking for it ? A. Yes, sir ; and I would
state to the committee, that not being a lawyer myself —
Mr. Sewell. — You are a pretty good lawyer.
— and inexperienced in cross-examinations, that it was with
*0;:169.«] 106
difficulty that I got information that I wanted ; and as an adverse
party to the company, it was not natural that any help should be
given to me by anybody there.
Mr. Sewell:
You know enough of the legal art, at any rate, to argue your
case as yon go along, and not to wait for the summing up.
A. I don't understand that this is my case at all; it is not; you
asked me about the fullness of this examination ; I would state here
that when I was in an account, to me that was one of peculiar
interest, the door was shut upon my face, and I was refused any
longer to go there and examine the accounts ; there was an old reso-
lution, passgd some years previously, that was resurrected and stuck
upon the door the morning after the Legislature adjourned ; I wish
I had brought my own copy, for I have it indexed.
Q. No matter about that; the only question was as to the number
of proxies they had ; what ground did they give for the refusal to
answer that? A. I will find that in a minute; I can very easily
define the reason ; they did not intend that I should know.
Q. Don't let us define anything! A. They simply refused to
answer the question ; you spoke of the fullness ; have you furnished
the committee with a copy of this ? I want to call their attention to
page 210; there is a mistake in regard to remarks that were made
at said meeting, that the superintendent had corked me up ; indi-
cating that I should not use any information there, when I declared
my purpose to make any use of it that any honorable man might
make ; it was evident to me that there was no intention to permit
me to know anything more than could not be helped.
Q. The charges you made against the company were undoubtedly
examined at that time, were they not ? A. They were.
Q. And the decision of the Superintendent of Insurance—the then
superintendent — was given in writing, on the examination, was it
not?
- Mr. Dablinotoh :
That is one of our charges.
Witness — The copy is correct.
Mr. Sewell :
I am going to hand it to the committee, as evidence in the case.
Q. That is a copy of the report of the Superintendent of the Insu-
106 [A
ranoe Department made upon those charges ? A. Yes, sir ; and I
would be most happy, before the committee, at any time, to collate
the charges and Mr. Miller's conclusions.
Q. At some other time, perhaps ; but life is too short to do it no*.
A. I would like to show the character of that report.
Mr. Sewell :
I ask that that be marked by the committee. It is offered in evi-
dence at this point. (Marked Exhibit A.)
Q. After this report was rendered, or while the report was ii
abeyance, and it had not been rendered, you were agitating consider-
ably, among the policy holders of the company, with respect to t
change in officers, were you not ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Yon repeated all these charges against the officers of the com-
pany, did you not ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. Both in private speech — A. And in public.
Q. You went to Boston and addressed a meeting of the policy
holders there, did you not f A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that meeting appointed a committee to visit New Yorl
and examine into the matters ? A. That is all in the direct exami-
nation.
Q. I know it is in ; is not that the report of the committee of the
Boston policy holders t A. Yes, sir ; this is a copy of it —
(A copy of the report of the committee of Boston policy holden
is here offered in evidence. Marked Exhibit B.)
— this is a report to which I would also like to call the attention of
the committee ; I gave the reason for it the other day.
Q. During this time that you were engaged in fighting the battle
of the discontented stockholders t A. Policy holders ; there are no
stockholders.
Q. Mr. English was on the other side of the fence, was he not !
A. If I can judge of his remarks to me, he was.
Q. Were you in the habit of seeing his paper, The Insurance
Times! A. Not at that time; no, sir.
Q. You did not know that his insurance paper, at that time, sus-
tained the officers of the Mutual Life Insurance Company against
these charges ? A. No, sir ; I did not see the paper ; I don't think,
until within the last year.
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
I have his statement in the papers at the time, which show that
that was so ; I am perfectly willing to produce it myself.
No. 169.] 107
Witness — I only know it from his own declarations to me.
Q. Mr. English was in very constant attendance in the room daring
the examination in regard to the Mutual Life Insurance Company,
was he not ? A. Yes, sir ; I saw him half a dozen times coming in
and ont.
Q. Did he, or not, hear those charges I A. I really don't know ;
I paid no attention to him.
Q. What is yonr best remembrance on that point ; was he not
there, sitting, a listener and spectator of these proceedings ? A. My
recollection of it is, that he was in and oat every day ; almost every
day, if not every day, daring the examination.
Q. He conversed with you on the subject of your charges, did he
not? A. No, sir; not a word during the examination.
Q. Did he, afterward! A. It was evident to me at that time
that he was there to do me all the damage that he could.
Q. Did he do you any damage ? A.I have heard him make a
remark to one of the trustees, from which I gathered his purpose.
Q. What trustee f A. I don't know, but I believe it was Mr.
Cornell ; I was not positive about it.
Q. What was the remark ? A. The remark was, as I heard it,
that I might push away at that as long as I liked, I could make
nothing; that was the remark that I heard him make; I was enter-
ing the room, and I heard him.
Q. What tone of voice was it made in ? A. That that a man
would naturally use that was inimical to a person.
Q. Was it indignant ? A. To me, it was.
Q. You had an altercation with him, had you not ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. In 1869 ? A. Yes, sir.
By the Chairman :
Q. What Cornell was that ? A. I do not know ; there was a
number of the trustees ; I knew several of them.
Q. Was it A. B. Cornell ? A. No, sir ; you will find the name ;
if it was Mr. Cornell, it is in that ; I asked some one present if he
knew who it was, and my impression is that they said it was Mr.
Cornell.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. Samuel M. Cornell, if it was a Cornell at all f . A. Yes, sir ;
there was quite a number there ; it was after we had been down in
the lunch room, and came up stairs.
108 [
Q. Was that on the election day! A. No, sir; that was on the
examination.
Q. The election day happened afterward ? A. I^o, sir, it did not;
it preceded it.
Q. It was at the election in June, 1869, that he had been so violem
to you, was it f A. Tee, sir.
Q. State what his conduct was on that occasion t
Mr. Darlington :
There is no question as to that fact. The only bearing it has, is a*
to whether there was any collusion between Mr. English and thi
witness in bringing these charges. I don't see what relevancy it has
in this examination.
Mr. Sewell :
I am, I believe, cross-examining this witness upon matters whicl
he has testified to in chief. He testified in chief — for what purpose
I cannot tell ; that is his own look out — that Mr. English and he had
had a personal encounter. I want to get at it particularly. If the;
had not brought it in I would have no right to bring it in now ; but
as they have, I imagine I have a right to cross-examine on that point
Q. Tell us just exactly what occurred between you and Mr. English !
A. I was present hear the door, watching each person who approached,
and soliciting their votes for our ticket ; Mr. English approached me
— I didn't know who he was — and he said I had better mind what I
was about, or something of that kind ; I paid no attention to him;
he came to me again, and I said to him, " Now, I wish you would
go away and mind your own business ; " and he said to me, " If yon
ain't careful, I will smash your face," or something of that kind, and
I asked then who this man was, and I was told ; he evidently was in
a passion ; and I said then to him, " If you don't behave yourself, I
will report you to the officers, and if they don't remove you, I will
have you removed by a policeman ; he then repeated the threat again,
and I said to him he was not big enough to do what he threatened ;
I stepped up and asked Mr. Elliot or one of the clerks to please go
to Mr. Winston or Mr. McCurdy, and say that this man English was
behaving himself like a blackguard, and I would have measures taken
to stop him, as we were gentlemen, and presumed to know oar rights ;
I think I made the remark to him that he seemed to think he was
in the sixth ward, amongst politicians; I give the words as near as I
can give them.
#o. 169.] 109
Q.« Was that the first time yon had ever seen him ? A. Yes, sir ;'
the first time I had ever seen him.
Q. What tone of voice did he first address yon inj A. He was
angry when he came to me ; I had evidently been pointed ont to'
him ; as, I suppose, a good many other persons said to him that I was
the leader of the opposition.
Q. Did he not advance toward yon in a very threatening attitude
and in a denunciatory tone of voice ? A. He did.
Q. Did he not make upon you the impression then of being a very
violent person ?
Mr. Darlington :
I object to the question. It seems to me that all the good that can
be gained by cross-examination on this point has been obtained. I
asked the witness his personal relations with Mr. English, to show
that there had been no such personal relations between them as to
induce any idea of collusion and conspiracy. It seems to me that
they have followed it up as long as any benefit can be derived from it.
Mr. Bewell :
If I rightly understand the object of this inquiry, it is to ascertain
whether Stephen English, now in jail in Ludlow street, is there pro-
perly, under a process of the courts of this State, issued regularly ; or
whether he is there, being imposed upon by the power of the plain-
tiff in this case, or of the corporation of which he is president. That,
I believe, is the subject-matter of this inquiry. I propose to show,
by this witness on the stand, that Stephen English is a violent scoun-
drel and blackguard, as the witness has testified ; that that is his
character and was his character four years ago ; that, consistent with
that character, he has reviled the plaintiff in this action, in book after
book and jonrnal after journal of his obscene publications ; that he
has not been limited to free speech or free commentary upon the acts
of the plaintiff in this action, but that he has gone outside of every
decent regard for the feelings of this community and of this indivi-
dual, and has made himself an outlaw. I submit that the question
is a proper one ; and that if I can show, by their own witness upon
the stand, that Stephen English is of this character — a wild, a violent
man and blackguard, as Mr. McCulloh has characterized him — that
I have laid the foundation to show you that he is properly in jail and
ought to stay there. I submit that, to rule out this question, would
110 [
be to violate the dearest rights of the plaintiff in this action, and to
violate justice and to set aside equity.
And here now I ask, in the name of freedom ; I ask in the name
of the personal liberty of Frederick B. Winston, that this question
be put, and that you get at the truth of this matter. What sort of a
man is in jail, and what he has done to place himself in jail, and
what his character has been that has led him to jail, is what we want
Let us have it all.
Mr. Darlington :
Before the committee decide (perhaps I may be in error as to the
question to be decided here), allow me to say a few words. I had
not supposed that it was the question of the personal liberty of Mr.
Winston that was being investigated. I had not supposed that he
was the person who had made the petition to the Legislature, and Jt
was to investigate any charges as to his imprisonment. What I had
supposed was before the committee was the statement that Stephen
English, by an abuse of process of law, has been arrested and impris*
oned for publishing, not blackguard and obscene statements, but
temperate, moderate, unvarnished statements of fact in regard to Mr.
Winston, which Mr. Winston has himself published concerning him-
self, which had been open and notorious matters of remark through-
out the community ; and that for merely repeating these statements
— common property of all men — which we wish to show to be true,
and which we home shown to be true, by the testimony of Mr.
McOulloh before this committee. A charge having been made by
this plaintiff that Mr. McCulloh, our witness, was in collusion, com-
bination or conspiracy with Mr. English, to defame Mr. Winston,
I- asked the witness in regard to that charge which they had made,
as to what his personal relations were with Mr. English. Now, I
apprehend, that so far as that was a legitimate subject of inquiry, to
ascertain whether that statement wa£ true or false, it was a legitimate
subject of cross-examination, namely, to show whether the relations
between Stephen English and the witness on the stand were such
that the witness might be suspected of undue bias or prejudice in his
favor. To that extent they had the right to make this cross-exami-
nation, and I made no objection. But when they attempt to bring
up other things against him, for which he is not imprisoned, and
make this from being an investigation into the alleged wrongs com-
mitted by Mr. Winston, to be a general investigation in regard to
No. 169.] Ill
Mr. English's habits or private life — while I am perfectly willing to
meet that when that is the proper subject of discussion — I am not
willing to have this investigation led off in that direction.
The Chairman :
The committee decide to sustain the objection, as it is not exactly
pertinent to the examination, as we look at it.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. After this altercation with Mr. English, when did you next
have any personal relations with him 1 A. My impression is that it
was about some time during the month of September or October of
last year ; that was the first time that I saw him ; it was during last
fall.
Q. In the meantime, from the time of the election in June, 1870,
which followed the examination of Mr. Miller and of the Boston
policy holders, you had had no further agitation of these subjects!
A. As far as I am concerned ?
Q. I say, you ? A. No, sir ; I found that a large majority of the
policy holders considered it as hopeless ; that whilst the proxies were
held in such numbers, and the trustees not willing to meet the thing,
as we considered, fairly and squarely.
Q. These proxies that you speak of, are proxies of policy holders f
A. 5Tes, sir.
Q. Intrusted to Mr. Winston ? A. Obtained by the agents.
Q. How do you know that they are obtained by the agents? A.
Only from information received by me; I received a letter from
Providence stating that they had been got by agents.
Q. State the gentleman's name ? A. I don't know.
Q. Did it state his name ? A. No, sir.
Q. It was an anonymous letter? A. Yes, sir; it was a letter
which I showed to the brother of the agent and asked him to ascer-
tain who wrote it.
Q. And that knowledge that these proxies are obtained by the
agents comes to you only by means of that anonymous letter ? A.
No, sir ; I was told in Baltimore.
Q. State by whom ? A. By Mr. Nicholas Pennyman, and Mr.
Mayor, and a large number of gentlemen, that Mr. Brazie had applied
to them for proxies, and a number of them had given them ; I also
ascertained that it was the habit in Boston to give proxies to the
1U [
agents ; I also learned it from Mr. Harry Homans, who was formerly
agent at San Francisco ; he always obtained them where he coold
and sent them on.
Q. In September of last year, when yon met Mr. English, what
was the snbject of yonr conversation, if it had any relation to these
matters ; of coarse, if it does not, I don't want it f A. He came to
me with an article he had written in regard to bonuses, and asked
me if that was the correct amonnt.
Q. That was the same conversation yon have testified to here, wat
it t A. Yes ; I had met him in the street, and he asked me ques-
tions, bnt I always avoided interviews with Mr. English; naturally
would do so, after what occurred.
Q. Was there any other reason, except what had occurred between
you personally for that ? A. I didn't wish to become identified with
him ; I regarded my own action, from the start, as that of a policy
holder of the company, and I had a right to make objections unless
they were proper, and use every legitimate effort to correct what I
considered abuses.
Q. Why did you not join with Mr. English in his action against
the officers? A. I had lost all faith in joining newspapers in regard
to the company ; I thought they could all be bought ; perhaps in
making that expression I go too far when I say "all bought up;*
they are all liable to be controlled and influenced by the use which
the company makes of the money in advertising, and in paying for
the insertion of articles publishing these reports, and paying large
sums for them ; it is natural that a newspaper, under such circum-
stances, would not care to place itself in antagonism to those from
whom they receive the favors ; some may be bought out directly.
Q. Were you mainly impressed with this idea that English coold
be bought ? A. I had the impression that he belonged to the Mutual
Life, from his whole conduct.
Q. Did yon continue to have that impression, after he commenced
attacking the officers ? A. No, sir.
Q. After that interview that you speak of, when did you commence
seeing him ? A. I can't state the dates, but I saw him occasionally.
Q. How long afterward ? A. Probably a month ; before his other
paper came ont.
Q. Did you see him along about December, 1872? A* I can't
say ; I think it is very likely I did.
Q. Did you see him just prior to his arrest in January f A. Yes,
sir.
No. 169.] i 13
Q. Did yon meet him by appointment f A. No, sir ; oh, wait a
moment ; I saw him, bat not by appointment ; he sent me a message
that he would like very mnch to see me, and I stated that I could not
go ; he was in Jersey City ; I sent word that I could not go there ; if
he wanted to see me he could find me any morning at the ferry.
Q. He met yon at the ferry, did he? A. I think two or three
days afterward he met me at the ferry in New Jersey.
Q. Did he then state to you anything about orders of arrest being
out for him in New York ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he state how he got the information ? A. No, he did not ;
if I remember, he stated to me that there were two orders for arrest.
Q. Did he ask you to become his bail? A. No, sir; he asked me
if I could assist him in getting bail.
Q. What did you tell him ? A. I told him that I thought if he
was illegally and improperly arrested, there would be no trouble in
getting bail ; I presumed it would be a moderate amount.
Q. Did he tell you what the bail was fixed at? A. No, sir.
Q. Are you sure of that ? A. No, sir ; I went to Jarvis' office
to find out what the amount of the bail was.
Q. Who did you see there ? A. I did not see anybody but a boy
there ; Jarvis was not there.
Q. Mr. English was at that time under bail for $10,000 to answer
in another suit, was he not? A. I don't know that.
Q. Didn't he tell you so? A. No, sir.
Q. He did not converse with you about that? A. No, sir; we
didn't talk more than two or three minutes; I was standing on the
boat and he on the pier, as the boat was going out..
Q. When did you next see him ? A. Some time after that I saw
him in Mr. Darlington's office.
Q. Did you then furnish him with information on which Mr. Dar-
lington drew an affidavit, asking for a discovery? A. No, sir; I
think that was framed before I got there.
Q. What is your best memory ? A. I will tell you what I did do :
I stated to Mr. Darlington at the time, that as far as any information
that I had in my possession, that he could properly ask for, he should
have it.
Q. Didn't you then tell him what questions yon wanted to put to
Mr. Winston upon the stand, upon our ex parte examination? A.
That I wanted to ?
Q. Yes ? A. I had no wish about it.
[Assembly No. 169.] 8
114 [AsftBMBLT
Q. You had none? A. None whatever.
Q. Did they ask yon what question they onght to put ! A. Mr.
Darlington may have asked some questions.
Q. Did he or not? A. I can't tell yon; I gave him informatioi
without hesitation.
Q. Yon furnished him with matters pertinent to this action f A
I did, of what I considered abnses in the company.
Q. This was after the arrest f A. Yes, sir ; I felt and I thought he
had a perfect right to ask them ; I will state that before I went U
Mr. Darlington's, I went to repatable lawyers to ask whether Mr.
Darlington was a reputable lawyer ; I only want to show the com-
mittee that I was cautions not to place myself in an improper position.
Q. Have you contributed anything to the defense, in this suit!
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you paid Mr. Darlington nothing! A. No, sir; I paid
some expenses of my own ; I propose to pay this gentleman (indi-
cating stenographer).
Q. To pay the stenographer's fees ? A. Yes, sir ; and some copies
of papers I had made.
Q. You gave no money to Mr. Darlington ? A. I gave him $250,
to be ii Bed for any purpose connected with it.
Q. How long ago? A. About a month ago; Mr. Darlington
stated to me that Mr. English had no money, and there were necessary
expenses to defray for which he had not the money, and I gave bin
$250, and stated to him that I was under no objections to paying ; I
am paying for this, too (stenographer's copy), as I propose to keep a
correct record of it, as far as I am concerned.
Q. You have visited Mr. English in jail, have yon not ! A. The
dav after we left here I did.
Q. The last day f A. The last day.
Q. Have you before that ? A. No, sir, never ; and I went then at
the request of his counsel.
By Mr. Darlington:
Q. T asked you a good while before f A. Yes, sir, you had ; you
asked me half a dozen times, and I refused to go.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. With respect to the restoration of the Winston policies, does
your examination of the matter show that Frederick 8. Winston,
No. 169.] 115
:he president of the company, in any way interfered to influence the
notion of the committee which restored those policies! A. The
record shows me, most unmistakably, that the thing was brought
%bout by Mr. Richard H. McOnrdy ; it was initiated by him ; and
:hat Mr. Winston subsequently made himself a party to it.
Q. Mr. Winston accepted the trusteeship for the children ; is that
what you mean by making himself a party to it? A. No, sir.
Q. State what you mean by making himself a party to influencing
the committee ? A. I don't say that ; I say he made himself a party
:o the transaction.
Q. He accepted, as a trustee, what the committee granted, didn't
be ? A. The committee recommended.
Q. And the board adopted? A. The board adopted, and Mr.
Winston, with the full knowledge of all the facts, acquiesced in what
was a wrong, when his duties as a custodian of the trustee funds
should have prompted him to inform the board of trustees what they
were really doing; no other policyholders ever could get such a
thing done.
Q. I don't know about that f A. I know it.
Q. You testified here that such a thing was done for Judge Brad-
ford himself? A. I testified that in the case of Judge Bradford, that
an irregularity and wrong was committed in his case, and as far as I
sonld ascertain, from the whole record, and from Mr. Winston's own
ad missions there, in his testimony, it was done by an arrangement
between Mr. Winston and Judge Bradford ; where the law was vio-
lated in the first place in buying the policy, and more was paid for it
than it was worth, and it "was reinstated when Judge Bradford was
approaching his death.
Q. If it was illegal to purchase the policy in the first instance, as
you claim it to have been in the Bradford case — A. Yes, sir.
Q. The company had no right to purchase it ? A. That is Mr.
Winston's own sworn statement.
Q. I am assuming it ; now, were they not bound to make restitu-
tion of that to the estate of Bradford, if it was demanded, the
purchase being illegal?
Mr. Dablingtok:
I object, unless he says the restitution to the persons to whom it
belonged ; it does not appear that the restitution was made to Mrs.
Bradford, but to the executors of Mr. Bradford.
oU6 . [Ai
Mr. Bewxll :
As long as Mrs. Bradford don't claim that she has been wronged—
Mr. Dablington:
I object to that.
Mr. Sewell :
I will alter the question : if it was purchased illegally, it was n«t
a proper thing to rescind the purchase and give back the money aid
restore the policy % A. You want me to state the facts just as I
gathered them f
Q. I want your construction of this transaction ; the committee
can read them from the book themselves ; Mr. McCnlloh has gi va
us his construction of all those transactions and we want this one 1
Mr. Dablington :
I am perfectly willing that he should give his construction as to
any facts in the case ; but not on a hypothetical case ; they may ai
him whether it was right to restore this policy to Mr. Bradford's
executors; about that I am perfectly willing he should give i»
opinion.
Mr. Sewell:
That was the question I asked.
Mr. Dablington ;
I am perfectly willing to take his answer to that.
Witness — I will state that the purchase of the policy from Mis.
Bradford was in violation of law, and that she was paid more for tke
policy than she was entitled to receive for it.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Was not that money received back by the company and the
surrender of the policy canceled \ A. That policy was surrendered
for its surrender value, be it more or less ; it was therefore null and
void ; it was dead.
Q. Not if it was illegally surrendered \ A. In equity and in jus-
tice, as far as the other policies were concerned.
Q. It could not be ; you see we are going into deep waters when
. you get to expounding the law ? A: I am not expounding the lav;
I am stating the fact that that policy was surrendered and paid for.
"No. 169.] 117
Q. Yon say illegally snrrendered and paid for ? A. I do.
Q. It was illegally surrendered and paid for ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. And then it was restored ! A. It was restored.
Q. The money paid back and the policy restored ! A. The money
was refunded by Judge Bradford, under circumstances which was a
wrong to the policy holders.
Q. What circumstances 1 A. He was known at that time to be
stricken with a disease of which he died within a very short period.
Q. Do you know that to be the fact ? A. I know that from the
sworn statement of Mr. Sheppard Homans ; he was then on his death-
bed when that policy was restored, and it was paid as a death claim ;
if I should surrender a policy as a policy holder, no matter whether
illegally or legally, and wanted it restored, that company, very justly,
would demand that I should be passed by the medical examiner.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. That is the rule of all cases ! A. Yes, sir ; to restore the policy
of a dying man is a fraud upon the other policy holders.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. I find here, in yonr answer to a question asked by Mr. Atwood,
counsel for committee, this language : " Mr. Winston was a bank-
rupt ? " A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know what a bankrupt means! A. Yes, sir.
Q. State your definition of it? A. A man who is unable to pay
hi^ debts — insolvent.
Q. Were you ever insolvent yourself 1 A. Yes, sir ; I speak from
experience of what a bankrupt is ; it makes no difference ; I have no
objection to answering it ; they published it in the papers in St. Louis ;
the same fact.
Q. Mr. Winston never took the ' benefit of the bankrupt act, that
yon know of! A. Not that I am aware of.
Q. When you say that he was a bankrupt, you don't mean that he
had taken the benefit of the bankrupt act, or had been legally declared
to be a bankrupt, but that he was in insolvent circumstances, and
could not pay his debts ! A. That he was an insolvent debtor ; I
gathered that information from his own testimony, of which I have
a copy.
Q. You have never made it one of your public charges against Mr.
Winston and lyis relations to the company, that he was a bankrupt?
US [AflBfcMBLT
A. No, sir; I have always endeavored to confine myjaelf strictly U
the relations of policy holders to officers.
Q. Yon never went into the private relations of Mr. Winston, ii
any ot your charges against the company, to persons outside of tfc
company ? A. I never wished to do that.
Q. Ton never did that, then ? A. You know as well as I do.
Q. I know it ; I want to get at the fact; but Mr. English did? A
That is in my statement.
Q. Agents of the companies, as yon are aware, are paid by com
mission upon the business done ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. They do not receive any commission unless they do the business!
A. No, sir.
Q. They are not paid salaries f A. They are paid commission
or brokerages.
Q. Then this Mr. Little, who was in bad health, and was obliged
to be placed in the asylum, and was paid certain amounts while he
was there in the asylum, was not paid a salary for the time he was ic
the asylum, but was paid a commission upon the business that wai
done, either by himself or by persons in his employment ! A. Done
through his office.
Q. He had competent persons, while he was in the asylum, to cant
on business for him at his office f A. That, I don't know.
Q. He had persons who were able to do a large amount of busi-
ness ? A. That, I don't know.
Q. Don't you know that it was a large business that was done,
from the amount of commissions that were paid f A. Yes ; I knqv
it was a large business, bnt how it was obtained, whether through his
agents or other influences, I don't know.
Q. Do you know that a dollar was paid to Mr. Little for work
that was not done ? A. I don't know anything about that.
Q. Do you know that a dollar more was paid to Mr. Little thai!
was paid to other agents of the company} A. That, I don't know.
Q. Do you know whether or not the agents of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company are paid as large commissions as the agents of
other companies? A. That, I don't know.
Q. Do you know that one dollar of the funds of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company were lost or malappropriated by these payments
to the agent, Mr. Little ? A. I do not ; my whole objection to that
was
Q. That he was an improper person to remain an agent! A. Yes;
No. 169.] 110
and that no one else bat a brother-in-law of the vice-president ever
would have been retained, with the mental capacities and difficulties
that that roan had.
Q. There was no charge tha£ the money was squandered on him,
was there? A. I consider him as entirely an imbecile.
Q. He was able, as an imbecile, to do a very large business ? A.
I don't know that he did it.
Q. Was not a very large business done in his office? A. Yes, sir;
the company could itself divert the very large amount of business
into his hands.
Q. Do you know of its being done ? A. No, sir, not of my own
knowledge.
Q. Did he not have a large number of sub-agents under him t A.
I never went into his relations at all— in his office.
Q. You know that he could not have got the business without
sab-agents, don't you ? A. Yes ; I preferred not to mix myself in
that contest between Mr. Little and the former agent, which was a
contest ; it was none of my business ; I didn't care anything about it.
Q. Mr. Rhodes, with whom you are intimate, and Mr. Little, had
been or were in partnership as agents of the company? A. All I
have any knowledge of, that is from the statement —
Q. Of Rhodes made to you ? A. Yes ; and from statements made
in the office by Mr. McOurdy and others.
Q. There was a bitter personal fight between Mr. Rhodes and
Mr. Little ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Growing out of their relations as partners in business as agents?
A. I think more upon the manner in which he was foisted upon Mr.
Rhodes and the amounts that Mr. Rhodes was compelled to disgorge
to him in order to keep the business himself; he was put as a quarter
upon Mr. Rhodes.
Q. Who said that, did you say ? A. I think Mr. McOurdy did.
Q. Do you know anything about that ? A. No, sir ; only from
information gathered here and there.
Q. Only from hearsay evidence ? A. No, sir ; not entirely.
Q. Tell us what, except hearsay evidence, you have to show that
Mr. McOurdy quartered his brother-in-law upon Mr. Rhodes ? A.
The character of their action at the time of the snit in March, 1869,
and the efforts then made to compromise the difficulty, in which I
was a party attempting to settle the difficulty betweeu Rhodes and
his partner.
120 [Assembly
Q. Mr. Winston was not mixed up in that, was he ? A. No, sir ;
he was then in California.
Q. He had nothing to do with the Little or Rhodes embraglio,
that yon know oft A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. These bonuses that have been spoken of as baring been paid
to the officers of the company, were a percentage upon the dividends}
A. Yes.
Q. I think you testified the other day that the bonuses were paid
by the board of directors in the regular way in which all the other
business of the company was done, upon the application of the actuary
of the company and the medical officer of the company ? A. That
was the initiation of thp business ; yes, sir.
Q. Do you know whether Mr. Winston had anything more to do
with this bonus business than any other officer or director of the
company t
Mr. Dablington :
Do you mean by the director, the trustee f
Mr. Sewkll :
Yes, the trustee.
A. From such knowledge as I have, my belief and my conviction
is, that it was intended more for the benefit of Mr. Winston than any
other officer, or all the others put together.
Q. Was it not stated by Mr. Ho mans, tbe actuary? A. It was
initiated upon a request of Mr. Homans and Dr. Post for an increase
of salary.
Q. You think they intended, when they made that request, that it
should be for Mr. Winston's benefit more than their own ? A. No,
sir ; I think Mr. Homans was prompted to make the request for the
increased salary, and I think the scheme of a bonus upon the divi-
dend was a very shrewd device of Judge Bradford.
Q. You do not think it was a device of Mr. Winston's, then ; there
is no evidence that has been brought to you, to show that it was a
concoction of Mr. Winston, originally devised by himf A. I stated
that I believed it was an invention of Mr. Bradford.
Q. Isn't it a common thing among* life insurance companies to pay
the officers a percentage, either on the business done by the company,
or on the profits of the company f A. I have no knowledge of any
other company whatever.
No. 109.] . 121
Q. Yon don't know anything about the course of business among
life insurance companies in that respect ? A. No, sir ; I never made
it my study.
Q. You said that- Mr. Babcock, one of the directors, a member of
the finance committee of this company, is a large stockholder in the
Indemnity Company ? A. I said I believed that was so.
Q« And that the company kept a balance of cash there ? A. To
my belief they do.
Q. Do you think that is done, or was done, by the action of the
board of directors and finance committee, or by the individual action
of Frederick S. Winston? A. The information that I have on the
subject is, that a discussion arose in the finance committee, and pos*
sibly in the board, with regard to the propriety of making a deposit
of funds in that corporation.
Q. It occurred in the board ? A. Or finance committee.
Q. Did not the board or finance committee order it ? A. I really
cannot tell you to what extent it went ; the question being asked as
to the propriety of making a deposit without security, taking the
responsibility of the Indemnity Company, without further security.
Q. Yon do not mean the committee to understand you as saying
that Frederick S. Winston, the president of this company, arbitrarily
puts money in that company, of his own will, without sanction of
the board of trustees or finance committee, do you ? A. I do not ;
I think there are a certain set of gentlemen there who go through all
the regular forms to accomplish their own personal objects.
Q. This Huested loan that so much has been spoken of, was it not
the fact, as developed upon the investigation before Mr. Miller, that
Mr. Huested left $40,000 of United States bonds with the company
when he obtained the $30,000 ? A. The exact amount could not be
fixed by Mr. Huested or Mr. Winston, either one ; it was claimed by
them both that he had left there certificates of indebtedness.
Q. To the extent of $40,000 ? A. He thought about $40,000, 1
think.
Q. The subject of that loan has been investigated by the board of
trustees at least once since, has it not i A. Since this examination f
Q. Since it occurred ? A. It was examined in November, 1864,
by a committee appointed by the board.
Q. They found nothing irregular in the matter, did they t
Mr. Darlington :
We have the report of the minority here.
123 [A;
A. This is a statement of facts in which all the committee joined ;
the whole five signed a statement of facte, in which they make the
statement that the money, when paid to Mr. Hnested, was charged
to United States stocks, and that when it was returned it was pro-
perly entered as received from Seymonr L. Hnested for United States
stocks ; but, in the report made by the clerk, for the use of the
finance committee, the proper entry was erased by direction of the
president, and the money inclnded as a receipt from premiums.
Q. Does it state that it was inclnded as a receipt from premiums,
by direction of the president? A. Yes, sir; those are the exact
words ; if you have the letter, I have quoted the exact language; it
struck me very peculiarly that the trustees should themselves say
that, by direction of the president, the clerk made a false entry ; and
" subsequently they found nothing to condemn, and much to praise."
Q. This slip of paper that you spoke of, was a mere memorandum
laid upon the table? A. It was a weekly statement that was
required to be prepared in the company, showing all the money
received during the week, and from what sources, and all the expen-
ditures, and for what purposes, and the balance on hand, to guide the
finance committee in their disposition of the funds.
Q. Do yon know John H. Bewley ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. He was at that time book-keeper for the company ? A. Yes,
he so stated.
Q. Were you present when he was examined in this Miller exami-
nation ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was he examined by yourself? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he not use this language in answer from a question from
yon, asking him to state what he knew about the Hnested loan : "A.
Mr. Sands first brought the matter to my notice, by stating that he
had made out the usual financial statement for the finance com-
mittee — which is furnished every week, I believe — and that he hsd
put in that $80,000 received for U. S. securities, of indebtedness
redeemed ; he entered that as received on the debit side of that
statement; showing the balance on hand the previous week, and the
receipts during the week, the payments, and then the balances, as s
basis for the committee to loan upon ; among the receipts during
the week, were $30,000, collected U. S. securities redeemed ; Mr.
Sands stated to me that he had laid that on Mr. Winston's
desk, and that he objected to this entry being made, stating
it was incorrect, and stating there were no U. 8. securities
No. 169.] Ifi8
redeemed, and he asked me what I would advise him to do ;
I told him — to the best of my belief, I recommended him at
the time — to do what he was instructed in the matter ; he stated that
Mr. Winston did not want them to come into the receipts in this
form, and asked me in what other form it could come in ; I told him
it might be thrown in among the premiums ; that it should come in
in some form, and it didn't much matter in what ; Mr. Sands, I
understood, a little to demur to that, saying that it was not very
regular ; I recollect very distinctly relating the anecdote of the
soldier who said he thought, he thought ; and the officer said he had
no right to think, he was to act ; so he went and crossed the entry of
the payment of bonds, and added $80,000 received as premiums, and
put the very same statement, not a new one made out, before Mr.
Winston ; and in that form it went into the finance committee, and
returned ? " A. I believe that is his statement ; yes, sir.
Q. Mr. Bewley occupied, immediately before this, the position whidh
Mr. Sands then occupied, did he not f A. Yes, sir ; I believe he did.
Q. And it was quite natural that Mr. Sands should go to Mr.
Bewley for instruction ? A. Yes, sir ; I suppose so ; if you will look
on page 82, you will there find the testimony of Mr. Sands himself,
which, if the committee will permit me to do so, I will read.
Mr. Sewell :
I have no objections to your reading it.
Witness (reading) — " William P. Sands duly sworn, examined by
Mr. McGulloh.
Q. Were you a clerk in this office in July, 1864 ? A. I was, sir.
Q. Was it your duty to prepare a statement for the use of the
finance committee, showing the weekly balances, the receipts during
the week, the sources from which obtained, and the net balance at
the end of the week ? A. It was.
Q. Did you prepare such a statement during the month of July,
which contained the item of $30,000, money returned from Mr.
Huested ? A. I did, sir.
Q. When you prepared that statement, did you credit it to U. S.
stocks ? A. I did not, sir.
Q. How did you credit it ?
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Mr. Sands, have you got the statement ? A. I have*
Q. Produce it ? (Statement produced.)
184 [Assembly
By the SuPBBnrrBNDBNT :
Q. In what item is that $30,000 included there, if in any ? A.
Under the head of ' Premiums.'
Q. This $54,000 item f A, Yes, sir.
Q. It is embodied in that ? A. It is embodied in that.
By Mr. McCulloh :
Q. This is the original, is it ? A. That is the original.
Q. And that $80,000 is in there ? A. It is in there.
Q. Did yon know that it was not received from premiums at the
time t A. I did, sir.
Q. Yon knew that that statement was false f A. I don't acknow-
ledge that that was false, precisely.
Q. Was it a true statement that that was received from premiums f
A. No, sir ; it was not.
^ Q. Then it was false, was it not f A. Well, you might call it so
in that sense.
. Q. Why did you make it ? A. I had it on the statement at first,
as you will see ; there is an erasure ; the figures themselves have not
■
been erased.
Q. You had entered it to ' stocks ?' A. I had precisely as it is
on the cash-book which you have seen.
Q. Why did you make that alteration ? A. I was requested to
make the alteration by the president.
Q. And to change it to ' premium,' as having been received from
'premium?' A. No, sir; he didn't request me to put it in any
shape.
Q. Only to change it from the shape in which it was? A. He
told me it was not in a correct shape ; 1 couldn't understand what he
meant precisely ; the committee were waiting, and there was no time
to make another statement ; and it went to ' premium,' because that
was the last item — it was put to that.
Q. Did you go to Bewley and ask him what shape it was to be put
in ? A. I can't say I did.
Q. Will you say that you didn't? A. No, sir, because I can't
remember.
Q. The president requested you to put it in some other shape other
than what was the fact? A. No, sir, he didn't ; he didn't give me
any directions.
Q. You had put it in correct shape at first ? A . Yes.
No. 169.] 125
Q. And then he directed you to alter it f A. He directed me to
alter it.
Q. Then as the statement left your hands, it was an incorrect
statement? A. Yes.
Q. And you knew it ? A. I knew it.
By Mr. Sbwbll :
Then the superintendent interrupted him, and said :
' You mean to say that the president merely suggested to you that
that should be put in some other form ?' A. As near as I can recol-
lect, that was about what he intimated ; I can't remember that he
gave any positive instructions.
Q. And that you put it under the item of ' received from pre-
miums ' without any intimation from any one that that should be
done ? A. Yes, sir ; I put it in that shape, simply from not knowing
to what else to put it.
Q. Did you know that the item, as you had entered it in the
report, was objectionable for any reason ? A. No, sir ; I did not.
Q. Did you know of any reason why it should not appear in the
report in that form f A. I did not, sir.
Q. And none was given to you ? A. None was given to me,
beyond the fact that it was improper in some way.
Q. It was what? A. It was incorrect or improperly put down.
Q. Transaction ? A. Oh, no ; nothing of that, sir.
Q. It appeared by the entry to be money received from stocks, did
it not ? A. It was so on the cash-book ; yes, sir.
Q. You knew of no authority by which the stocks had been sold ;
was that it ? A. Well, I can't recollect whether I knew anything
about it.
Q. Have you ever made any entry that you knew was not strictly
correct since ? A. No, sir.
Q. Any other instance of this nature ? A. No, sir ; none whatever.
Q. Have you been employed here ever since? A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. MoCulloh :
Q. Did you ever do it before, Mr. Sands ? A. No, never did.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. At the time you exhibited this statement to Mr. Winston,
what was on that line where the erasure appears on ? A. I could
not repeat it word for word, but it was taken from the cash-book.
Q. It referred to that ^30,000 ? A. It referred to the sum of
$30,000 received from 8. L. Hasted.
126 [Assembly
Q. When you saw that item on the cash-book, did yon, from any-
thing that yon saw abont it, consider that it was an item, the
existence of which was meant to be concealed f A. I cannot say
that I did.
Q. Had yon any instructions from anybody to conceal it f A. No,
sir ; I had no positive instructions. f
Q. When this paper was made out, was the amonnt $30,000
entered in there \ A. It was, sir.
Q. The footing was not made up ? A. No, sir.
Q. The item, ' received from premiums, $54,433.51,' has that
been altered ? A. It has not been altered.
Q. What time was it that Mr. Winston spoke to yon abont this f
A. What time of day, do yon mean ?
Q. Yes? A. That would be very difficult for me to answer; the
meetings of the finance committee are usually held at ten o'clock ;
they might not have been held at that time then.
Q. I understand you to say that the committee were in session at
the time ? A. They were about sitting.
Q. This memorandum they wanted for immediate use f A. Tes.
Q. Now, try and recollect, if you can, what the exact words were
that Mr. Winston made use of when he told yon that this item was
not right ; as near as yon can remember % A. I don't know that I
can attempt to repeat his words.
Q. You are quite positive, though, that it was only an expression
of an opinion that it was incorrect ; and not a direction to include
it in any other item ? A. That is my recollection, sir.
Q. I see here items, ' received for interest,' ' account bonds and
mortgages,' etc. ; is it not the way you made this out, to put opposite
the specific items the amounts that came properly under them;
and then the whole balance of receipts, from every other source, is
included in the item ( received from premiums f ' A. Undoubtedly,
sir.
Q. That was the way f A. That was the way.
Q. That was done in that case ? A. Yes.
Q. Then the only reason why this $30,000 appears on this state-
ment as ' received from premiums,' was because you were told that
the statement was not correct as it was, and it was yonr custom to
put in as ( received from premiums' all amounts that did not come
under some specific heading in that statement! A. That is what I
have said ; in the absence of any instructions.
No. 16».] 127
87 Mr. MoOulloh :
Q. You say it was your custom to include as ' premiums ' every-
thing that you didn't know where to pnt to anything elset A. It
would natnrallv come under that.
m
Q. Wonld United States stocks naturally come under 'premiums?'
A. No, sir.
By the Superintendent :
Q. ' 1135, Amos Otis, $3,100;' what does that item mean ? A.
That is an item of receipt on account of bond and mortgage.
Q. Is this all in your writing ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was the actual amount received for premiums ? A. Pre-
cisely as it is there, less $30,000, and the interest that was credited
with that $30,000.
Q. Did you make that memorandum in the order in which it is at
present, commencing at the top and writing down? A. With the
exception of the premium, I did ; that was obtained after all the
rest was ascertained ; the balance is struck, and then the premiums
are shown ; I will explain it to you, if you wish ; we first ascertain
the amounts received from all sources for the week, excepting pre-
miums ; then taking the payments during the week, deducting them
from that amount, they have the actual cash balance, excepting the
premium item : take that balance from the true balance that is on
the cashier's memorandums, and the difference would be the amount
of premiums received during the week.
Q. Then you put that in last? A. Last, as premium.
Q. Had you not completed this in the form in which you first
had it before Mr. Winston saw it ? A. No, sir.
Q, It was while you were making it ? A. Yes, while I was making
it.
Q. Before you had put that in— ' $54,438.51 V A. Yes.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. That is a mere memorandum for the committee in weekly ses-
sions ; they are not on the records of the company ? A. Not at all ;
they are mere memorandums from the books.
By Mr. MoCulloh :
Q. They are prepared for the guidance of the finance committee,
I believe, are they not ? A. I don't know what use they make of
them.
138 [
«
Q. Thej are prepared for that committee ? A. I believe they are."
That is the whole of that examination.
Wrrarass — On page 88 you will find a question where it was
attempted to examine Mr. Brown on this subject, and it was objected
to, and the superintendent makes this remark :
" I don't think that that changes the responsibility ; 1 think Mr.
Winston is responsible for that statement."
And the Boston policy holders, whose report you quoted here,
make the remark that there was a technical irregularity on the part
of the president in canceling and returning the bonds without the
sanction of the finance committee,
Q. That transaction is entered on the cash-books of the company
exactly as it happened, is it not f A. Yes, sir.
Q. The money is charged as paid to S. L. Huested, and it is
credited as returned by S. L. Huested ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. The finance committee had access to the cash-books of the
company at all times, didn't they? A. I don't suppose they looked
at them once in a year.
Q. I don't ask you that ; I ask you if the finance committee did
not have access to the cash-books of the company at all times ? A.
I have no doubt they have; but I say that if they performed all their
duties in the manner in which they do some others, it makes but
but little difference whether they have access to the books or not
Q. You said in your evidence, that Mr. Miller, the Superintendent
of Insurance, was paid $2,500 for his services in this examination,
did you not ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You said that you knew, too, that there was never any attempt
to conceal that fact, and that it was a payment made in the ordinary
course of business ? A. I do not ; I know it was testified to before
the investigating committee of the Assembly; I had never any
doubt but that he was paid /or his report.
Q. Did you ever hear that there was any concealment of any
amount having been paid to him f A. Yes, I have heard such state-
ments ; I will say that before that examination was finished, I was
told by a gentleman who knew Mr. Miller to look out ; the thing
was fixed.
. Q. You think it was fixed for $2,500 ? A. I do not ; I think more
was paid.
Q. Do you know of anything more being paid ; I would like to
know the exact amount if you know; do you know of any others!
A. That and the $3,500 also testified to.
Ko. 169.} x 129 .
Q. That was sometime afterward ? A. It was the following year.
Q. That was in respect to some legislation t A. Yes, sir ; I don't
remember now whether the $500 paid to Briggs for going to Eluiira
was outside of it or not ; Mr. Briggs went up with your interroga-
tories.
Q. .To examine Mr. Robinson ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do yon know of any other money paid for this report ? A.
At that time f
Q. Yes. A. I don't know of any ; no, sir.
Q. Have yon any reason to believe that there was any paid ? A.
I think Mr. Miller's expenses were all paid ; I don't know anything
about it.
Q. You have nothing but surmises ? A. That is all.
Q. It has been said here that you had made these same charges
that Mr. English is arrested for having made, and that you have
made them publicly in the newspapers.
Mr. Darlington:
Some of them.
Q. I asked you the other day whether you had ever made the
same charges which I then specified ; did you ever charge that Mr.
Winston had paid money to Tom Fields and other members of the
committee which employed you to examine the books of the commit-
tee, in order to prevent them reporting adversely to the company,
and did you ever charge that publicly or privately ? A. No, sir ; I
never made any such charge ; I never made any charge that I have
not information of myself.
Q. I want to get these facts before the committee, that there are
other charges ? A. Mr. Winston was the first one who told me what
Tom Fields' character was, and he cautioned me that the objects and
intentions of Fields and others were to abuse the opportunity to
injure the company.
Q. These postmortem dividends that were withheld by the com-
pany, that yon have spoken of, you do not charge or mean to insinu-
ate that they were held for the purpose of private gain by any of
the oflicers, do you ? A. I believe — and I found that belief upon the
evidence and testimony obtained — that the post-mortem dividends
were withheld by the order of the president, by reason of some
question with regard to the distribution of dividends.
[Assembly No. 169.] 9
130 [AunmsLi
m
Q. Some actuarial question? A. Some actuarial question, in which
the president made the order.
Q. You do not charge, or intend the committee to believe, that
they were withheld by him corruptly? A. I don't think it was
intended to be corrupt; I considered the offense in that matter
was a violation of the express directions of the charter.
Q. You considered it a mistake rather than a crime f A. It was
in inj views an offense, by reason of the fact that the president was
not bound by law.
Q. Didn't you know that the president was advised by counsel
that the charter allowed it? A.^I think, in fact, that he was not so
*
advised until afterward.
Q. You think he was afterward ? A. Yes ; it gave rise to a con-
troversy.
Q. There was a sharp controversy in the company among the law-
yers and actuaries ? A. Yes, in which both sides got opinions.
Q. In which both sides did get legal opinions ? A. Yes, sir ; there
was a hardship in the matter upon those who wore entitled to receive
those post-mortem dividends, and they ought to have been paid to
them, and then the question raised as to the future policy of die
company.
Q. Prior to the election of 1870, and after the examination by Mr.
Miller, and by the Boston policy holders — while the examination by
Mr. Miller was being conducted, partly by Mr. Miller and partly by
yourself, in the offices of the company, the reporters of the daily press
were present, were they not? A. I never saw any of them there;
my impression was that there was none of them there.
Q. The matter was published in the newspapers, was it not? A.
I don't think it was ; I am not attare of the fact;
Q. Did not the insurance papers contain the facts? A. Yes; but
I don't think there is one man in a thousand, in New York, ever saw
these insurance papers.
Q. .What are they for ? A. Their principal object seems to be to
devote themselves to the insurance interest and make t heir own living
by advertisements, or taking a part in the discussions with regard to
matters concerning life insurance ; and I believe their chief patron,
age is amongst the officers and agents and others directly interested
in life insurance as a business.
Q. Among the policy holders and others this report of Mr. Miller's
had been very widely circulated, I think you said ? A. I think you
No. 169.] 131
distributed, at the meeting in Broad street, some seven or eight
hundred of these.
Q. The report, but not the testimony ? A. None of the testimony ;
nobody was ever able to get that, amongst the policy holders.
Q. Was that so to your knowledge ? A. I tried it by sending
policy holders after it.
Q. You mean that the persons you sent did not get it ; you do not
mean to say that others did not ? A. I applied myself, for one, and
was refused by Mr. Winston ; I sent Mr. Pennyraan there and he
was refused by Mr. McOurdy ; I sent Mr. Mayer and he was refused,
and Mr. Newman, and he was refused; and I asked one of the trus-
tees to get me a couple of copies, one for Mr. Guion and one for —
Q. What trustee was that! A. Mr. Popham; I subsequently
asked another gentleman if he could not get me one, and he said no.
Q. You think there were 800 of these reports distributed ? A.
There was a large pile of them.
Q. I think you testified before that they were very thoroughly dis-
tributed ? A. I ascertained that they were by intercourse with per-
sons in Ohicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.
Q. Was not the report of the Boston policy holders also distributed
very widely? A. Yes, and by the company.
Q. And those two reports were distributed very widely prior to
the election of 1870, were they not? A. Yes, sir.
Q. At that election of 1870, was or was not Frederick S. Winston
, re-elected trustee ? A. Yes, sir ; it would have been impossible to
prevent it.
Q. Let me ask you a question ; if all the policy holders, or half
the policy holders, whose proxies he had, should have revoked their
proxies to Frederick S. Winston, and given them to you, would it
not then have been possible to prevent his election ? A. Yes, sir ;
that would have been possible, but it is such an extraordinary suppo-
sition that it is beyond human probability. ''
Q. Then it depended entirely upon the action of the policy holders
in this company, in keeping their proxies where they were, that he
was elected ; give us a square answer to a square question now ; you
say it is impossible to prevent his election, now isn't it possible if
the policy holders want it ? A. Yes ; now, if I can make my own
explanation, I will do it.
Q. Do as you please about that ? A. It is utterly impossible for
any person in the city of New York, who is aware of what is going
18$ [
on in that company, to reach the policy holders with the same
facility, and to bring the same influence to bear upon them that the
agents of the company can do ; and, therefore, they can forestall any
attempt on the part of the policy holders here to get those proxies ;
they could beat as ten to one; and they can do more than any
policy holder ever can do ; they can have them examined the day
previous, or at any time previous to .the election, and all ascertained
to be correct , and tie them up, as was done in 1870, tied in bundles
of four or five hundred, and vote them all at once.
Q. Have you ever tried to do that, and been refused I A. No, sir;
I never did.
Q. You never had 400 proxies to vote ! A. No, sir ; I never had
one in my life ; I never asked for one, and refused to take them ; but
to attempt to beat them by getting proxies is simply absurd.
Q. You urged upon the policy holders the withdrawal of the
proxies, did you not 1 A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you think that is an absurd thing for you to ask them to
do! A. No, sir.
Q. What do you mean by saying that an attempt to defeat them
by proxies was absured ! A. I say the hope to obtain a sufficient
number to defeat them would be absurd in the present condition of
affairs.
Q. When you presented these letters to the Herald, and had them
published, it was not with any expectations that the policy holders
would obey your suggestions, and withdraw their proxies? A. I
presented them, in the hope that such a statement would arouse some
or more of them, and that in time public opinion would force things
there to be corrected.
Q. You have undertaken the job, haven't you, of getting Mr.
Winston and Mr. McGurdy out of this company J A. I have not.
Q. Haven't you often stated that it was your intention to work at
it continually until you got them both out 1 A. No, sir ; I have
stated that it was my purpose, as long as I had an interest there, to
defend it and protect it, as far as I could ; and also I have stated that
knowing those two as I do, and with my opinion about them, I never
should willingly consent to allow them to remain, or ever forego
efforts to get them out.
Q. When the Mutual Life Insurance Company proposed to lover
its rates, this fall, there was great excitement in the insurance world,
was there not ? A. There was.
No. 169.] m
Q. Yon took part in the discussion, did yon ? A.I did.
Q. Yon were opposed to the project of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, to furnish cheap insurance to the community ? A. No,
sir ; I was opposed to then putting people there at a lower rate than
I had been put there myself.
Q. You were not in favor of the reduction of the rate, because
they did not reduce the rate that you were paying! A. I was
opposed to the whole movement, as I believed conscientiously that
the whole meaning of it was an attack upon the other companies,
and not for the benefit of the policy holders.
Q. What did you do to prevent it f A. I did all I could to obtain
signatures against it.
Q. Did you employ counsel to see whether you could not stop it ?
A. I employed counsel to see whether we could not stop it.
Q. Who did you employ ? A. My own counsel have always been
Martin & Smith.
Q. You employed other counsel in this case, did you not ? A. I
also, together with others, employed Mr. Thomson.
Q. Foster & Thomson ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What others were with you, who employed them ? A. There
were a great many others who had employed them ; they first carried
me to them.
Q. Were the managers of some of the other companies connected
with you in that matter? A. No, sir; I have not been connected
with any company ; my first connection with Mr. Thomson was
through one of the policy holders, Mr. King.
Q. Did you pay Mr. Thomson anything? A. I have not, yet; I
expect to pay him ; I usually honor a lawyer's bill ; I have no doubt
Mr. Thomson will tell you where he gets his fees, if you want it,
although he would probably avail himself of this privilege, and not
answer the question.
Q. The Baltimore Underwriter, that you speak of, published all
these charges at the time you made them, and at the time of the
investigation? A. I don't think they did.
Q. Before ? A. They published the matter of the restoration of
Winston's policies previously.
Q. That was very thoroughly published all over the United States ?
A. I don't know how far it was published ; I don't think it was as
thoroughly published as it was whitewashed.
Q. I call your attention now to some of the policies that you com-
184 [
i
plain were restored, or too much money was paid for them ; Mr.
Houston, you claim, had too much money paid ; do you know whether
Mr. Winston authorized that ? A. I believe he did not ; the evidence
shows he had nothing to do with it.
Q. Will you explain to this committee what you stated here, in
this examination, when the question asked you was what you knew
about Mr. Winston having anything to do with the illegal practices!
A. I answered the question upon the direct question of the counsel
whether I knew anything about a policy of J. B. Houston.
Q. Now, you say that Mr. Winston had nothing to do with that
policy t A. Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Sewell :
I move that all the testimony given by Mr. McGulloh on this
subject be stricken from the minutes.
Mr. Darlington :
It will be time enough when we get through our testimony ; I may
connect it with other testimony.
Mr. Sewell:
I make the motion now ; the stenographer may take it, and the
committee may rule upon it at any time they please.
Mr. D Arlington:
If I don't connect it I shall have no objection.
The Chairman :
We will reserve that until the testimony is in.
Q. Also John H. Bewley's policy was spoken of; do you know
whether Mr. Winston had anything to do with the payment of that
policy ? A. It was by his direct order.
Q. He had been a book-keeper of the company ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. For how many years ? A. I don't know ; he was forced to
quit by reason of his antagonism to Mr. Winston.
Q. And yet Mr. Winston paid him more than his policy was
worth ? A. Yes, sir ; it was a good way to shut his mouth.
Q. But it didn't shut it, did it? A. No, sir ; I don't think it ever
will ; I think he would have considered it rather a good joke that the
company bit so quickly ; he is a man that is honest, and one that
won't lie.
No. 169.] 135
By Jndge Pobteb :
Q. You think that he took this money honestly, do you ? A. His
own testimony said he didn't see why he shouldn't take all he could
get, if they thought it was right to give it.
Q. Is that the ground upon which you think he was an honest
man ? A. No, sir ; they tqke the ground that they had the right to
pay that amount ; although they testified that other policy holders
could not have got it.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Did they pay that money as a bribe? A. The policy was
worth a little over $400 ; and Mr. Bewley made the proposition to
sell the policy, and asked what they would give for it, and they gave
$600.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Do you know how much he paid in premiums on that policy ?
A. No, sir.
Q. It was more than $600, was it not ? A. I don't think it was ;
it was more than any other policy holders could obtain ; and it was
done without the authority that the by-laws required ; the insurance
committee didn't so consent, and knew nothing about it; and the
money was paid to him direct, and he surrendered it.
Q. What was the amount paid him? A. Six hundred dollars;
this is in his own statement ; you had better get him, and he will
tell you dll about it.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. What was the amount of the policy due? A. About $450 is
whal he is entitled to.
Q. They gave him more than was due ? A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Did you state how long it had to run ? A. No, sir.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Did not Sheppard testify in respect to the Bewley policy in
this wise :
"The true value on the books ?f the company was $696.29 .
about that $600 I recollect now distinctly ; the rule of the company
is to give .one-half the reserve and all the dividends ; this of $600
186 [
was allowed in consequence of a consultation between Mr. Winston
and myself; the $600 was within the amount held by the company,
and $600 was agreed upon by Mr. Winston and myself? " A. Just
above it you will see there —
Q. Answer this question first f A. I believe this book to be cor-
rect.
Q. Now call my attention to it f A. You will see by turning to
the record of Mr. Bewley's policy ; I have it.
Q. Whose testimony is that ! A. Mr. Law ton's; he is the assist-
ant actuary ; " the value of the policy, as made out, was $452.54 ; the
value paid was $600 ; my memorandum states $600, allowed by Mr.
Homans ; the policy itself is here, bearing Mr. Homans' indorsement
for that amount."
Q. For that amount f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Mr. Homans was then the chief actuary of the company, was
he not ? A. Yes, sir; he is here to give you aU the facts himself; if
you will turn to Mr. Bewley's testimony, he states the circumstances
for which he offered to sell it. /
Q. Well, that is all I want ; Mr. Isaac Green Pierson and Mr.
Smith Brown were members of the trustees, who somewhat
sympathized with you in your complaint ? A. I never spoke to Mr.
Piereon in my life.
Q. You have spoken to Mr. Smith Brown ¥ A. Yes, sir.
Q. But don't you know, as matter of fact, (hat Mr. Smith Brown has
become convinced that those charges have no ground t A. I do not ;
I have communications about that, that his son has been made coun-
sel to the company ; and since that he has withdrawn his opposition,
Q. Where does the son reside ? A. I believe he resides with his
father.
Q. What is his name ? A. I cannot tell you ; I understand he is
in Mr. Henry £. Davies' office.
Q. Who told you so ? A. I cannot recollect at the moment ; I will
try and think who it was that told me ; I really cannot remember now
who it was ; I will fell you who told me more distinctly than any
one else in regard to his withdrawal ; and I will tell you who made
the remark to me, presently, about his son ; I will probably be able
to recollect the person ; one of the gentlemen who made your last
examination told me that papers had been submitted to them, in
which Mr. Brown had endeavored to retract what he bad testified to
here.
No. 160.] 187
Q. Mr. Smith Brown t A. Yes, sir..
Q. That left you,' then, without any support in the hoard 1 A. I
never had any support in the board.
Q. I thought yon said that Mr. Brown supported yon f A. No,
sir ; I said Mr. Brown was opposed to certain acts of Mr. Winston ;
I regarded Mr. Brown as one of the fairest men that I had ever seen,
and that while he opposed Mr. Winston's conduct in a great many
respects, he nevertheless supported him in everything he deemed
right.
Q. Do you think it is a fair thing for a gentleman to withdraw his
opposition because his son is made counsel? A. I do not.
Q, You still think that Mr. Brown's course is fair ? A. I think
Mr. Brown has been brought under influences, as a good many others,
by the officers of that company.
Q. I understand you testified that you did not know about the
comparative results of the company — other mutual life companies
with the Mutual Life, with regard to dividends f A. No, sir.
Q. Have you any testimony to give to-day, as to whether you com-
pared the dividends in the Charter Oak with the Mutual Life ? A.
I have never made any such comparison.
Q. You have no idea of the comparison between them ? A. No,
sir.
Q. Or the ratio of expenses ? A. No, sir.
Q. Your attention has been given, for a series of years, to the dis-
covery of irregularities in the management of that company, since
1869 ? A. That is where my business was — to look for them, as an
interested party.
Q. You have given yourself to that study pretty thoroughly 1 A.
Everything concerning my own interest in it, I have.
Q. Everything concerns your own interest that relates to the com-
pany, does not it ? A. Yes, sir, in that company.
Q. It concerns your own interest to know whether the funds of the
company are invested with care, and free from loss ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then you have necessarily an interest where any part of the
$55,000,000 of the company was invested badly ? A. I never had
an opportunity to investigate that.
Q. Did you ever hear that they had lost a dollar by investment,
either in bonds or stocks ? A. I think at the time of this examina-
tion there was a loss of $5,000, and Mr. McCurdy assumed the respon-
sibility of it ; it was one of Mr. Pierson's charges.
138 [Assembly
Q. That the company lost $5,000 by that investment f A. Yes,
sir ; Mr. McOurdy assumed the responsibility of it, I think ; but I
have not investigated that matter ; I think the company, as far as
their investments are concerned, are careful.
Q. Did you ever know a company that used the same care in its
investments, and everything relating to its investments, as the Mutual
Life Insurance Company ? A. I have no source by which I can
make a comparison.
Mr. Dakungton :
You will find that in the ninth charge of Mr. Pierson.
Witness — It ain't worth while to go back to that.
By Mr. Sewxll :
Q. You went, prior to the election of 1870, to Boston ; yon went
to Baltimore to address a meeting of the policy holders there, and
urge them to action in the matter % A. Yes, sir ; at the request of
Judge Davies, I intervened and stopped a vote of censure.
. Q. You did f A. Yes.
Q. You refrained from putting a resolution of censure f A. No,
sir ; I got some gentlemen who were apparently trying to put a vote
of censure, to desist ; I interfered and stopped it, at the request of
Judge Davies.
Q. Yon are aware that corporations are in the habit of having
agents at Albany during the winter, to look out for legislation t A.
Some corporations ; yes, sir.
Q. Do you know, with the life insurance companies, especially for
the last four or five years, that it is a common thing for them to have
an agent there to watch the course of legislation f A. Only by
general repute I know it ; not from my own knowledge.
Q. Don't you think that it is necessary that there should be some-
body there to see what bills are introduced, and how it would affect !
A. I think that every life insurance company in the State of New
York can get all the information that they need, and get all the
proper legislation that they need, and can defeat any improper
legislation, without the use of means which I believe to be now
generally employed by life insurance companies.
Q. You say the use of means t A. Yes, sir.
Q. What facts have you upon which you base your belief that
means are used by the life insurance companies to prevent legislation f
No. 169.] 139
A. Upon the fact that persons are employed who are politicians,
known to be in and around the Legislature, and holding a particular
relation to lobbyists, or to the parties controlling its action.
Q. Don't yon concede that it is necessary that somebody outside
the Legislature should represent corporations, life insurance^ corpora-
tions, so as to report promptly to the companies what bills are intro-
duced affecting their interests f A. I think that can all be obtained
at a vory small expense.
Q. I don't ask yon that; don't yon think somebody ought to
attend to that business f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you, in the. course of your business, know anybody who
is willing to attend to that business for nothing t A. I never have
any trouble in getting any bills I want ; I get nearly all the bills
that are introduced ; I never have any trouble.
Q. Did you never pay anything ! A. Never a dollar in my life ;
I think, though, I paid one of the clerks to copy and send me a bill
that was not printed ; when. they are printed I can get them without
difficulty ; I dont think there is a life insurance company in New
York which has not some friend in the insurance committee, who
would keep them posted.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Do you think they have more than one f A. It is very natural ;
and that they should be very careful to examine into the committees,
to see who is there, and find out the pedigree of each one ; I think
that whole system at' Albany invites attack upon them constantly ;
if they were to spend some few thousand dollars in fighting legisla-
tion after it has passed, and not try to stop it, it would be better.
• By Mr. Dablinoton :
« Q. You said that you wished to collate Mr. Miller's report with
the evidence; will you be kind enough to take that report and
state — A. I cannot do it now ; it will take too much time ; I will
prepare a collation and give it to Mr. Sewell, if they want it ; 1 will
collate the facts.
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
Is there any objection to that ; of the two reports )
Mr. Sewell :
Very well ; give a copy to me.
140
Mr. DAjtuNGTON :
We will submit them to the committee.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. In .regard to these proxies, what, in your opinion, was the
object of requiring policy holders to indorse their tickets in voting
for officers f A. What is my opinion ?
Q. Yes f A. I had but one opinion about it ; I considered the
statement that it was done in order to examine the ballots afterwards
was a pretext ; and that the real object was to know who voted for
and who against the officers of the company.
Q. That is, who was friendly! A. Yes, sir; I think it was
intended to deter some " weak sisters," and it did do it ; I had no
doubt myself that that was its real intent.
Q. When you were employed to examine the accounts, what pro-
gress had you made when you were refused admittance I A. I was
examining at the time the account of Mr. Winston's son-in-law, Mr.
Merrill, about which there had been a great many statements ; I was
engaged in examining that, in the books of the company, at the time.
By Mr. Atwoop :
Q. How far through the books had you got f A.I would state
that in coming in there — in such a corporation as that — without any
one to guide you, it took me some time, first to get the hang of the
books, to find out where to get things ; as a matter of course there
was nobody there that was going to volunteer me any information.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. You did not progress very far ? A.- 1 had gon^ a short distance
in it ; there are matters in connection with the company which I had
intended to investigate thoroughly — their advertising, their legal
expenses, law contingent expenses, and other matters, I had intended
to go into thoroughly, and ascertain whether these expenses were
economical and correct, or exorbitant.
Q. You hadn't made any considerable progress ? A. No, sir ; the
door was shut before I got half through.
Q. Had you reason to believe that other developments of an
important character might be made ? A. I have no doubt of it; I
have no doubt that by critical examination of that company by experts,
that they will find that the funds of that company, which are trust
funds, haven't been handled with the care and economy that they
No. 169.] 141
ought to have been, as far as expenses are concerned, and particularly
ae regards the expenditure of money in ways which the policy holders
might properly take exception to.
Q. Yon think a further investigation would produce further proof!
A. Yes, I have no doubt in my own mind that as far as the invest-
ments of the company are concerned, that they are fully protected by
security ; I have no doubt in my own mind that the company is
abundantly solvent; I have no doubt in my own mind that upon a
proper examination, that matters will be discovered which ought not
to have been done ; in the limited examination that I did make ; I
did discover things that I think were reprehensible ; that was simply
my opinion ; others have differed with me.
By Mr. Blessing:
Q. What was the matter, that you didn't go on with your investi-
gation ? A. The Legislature adjourned ; and I had no power; and I
was perfectly satisfied at that time that it was useless for me tq
attempt to obtain any assistance from Mr. Miller.
Q. As a policy holder, haven't you a right to examine the books I
A. No, sir ; the books are required to be open for thirty days prior
to an election ; such books as are required to be open in other moneyed
corporations.
Q. Why didn't you avail yourself of that opportunity t A. If
you can get through it in six years, and start ignorantly at it without
knowing where to get out —
Q. You could not do it in thirty days ? A. No, sir, not in ninety
days ; that is, in the time I had to get at it ; I had other business at
the same time ; if you give me plenty of time, and the power to
enforce attendance, and get answers, I can do it.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. What I understand was, that was a partial examination, not
extensive? A. It could not be extensive, as a matter of course;
upon charges which I had made, and which I had reason to believe,
I want to be understood distinctly — about that matter — as not wish-
ing to do anything to damage that corporation; I believe the cor-
poration to be perfectly solvent, and I believe its investments to
be well made, but I believe, upon a fuller investigation of its affairs,
that the expenditures of the company will be found to be unjustified
in more instances than one ; and that other things of irregularity will
be discovered.
US [A
Q. Which would sustain these charges ? A. These charges sus-
tain themselves, on the evidence given before.
Mr. Sewell :
Do yon expect to find any other evidence to sustain these chaiges!
Mr. Darlington :
That is, of the charges of malappropriation I
Mr. Sewell :
The qnestion is with me ; the charges which he made, and which
were examined by Mr. Miller ?
Mr. Abbott :
The charges which were given to this committee to investigate;
charges made by Mr. English ?
Witness — I want to be understood distinctly as not being a party
to Mr. English's charges.
Mr. Darlington:
The qnestion is whether yon think further testimony cannot be
adduced to sustain the charges contained in Mr. English's petition
to the Legislature, upon a farther examination ; we can hand yon the
resolution, if you don't know without.
Witness — Why do you go into that ! It is nothing but an opinion,
any way.
Mr. Sewell :
< Yon have no right to give that opinion ; and I ask you why yon
did give it afterwards !
Mr. Abbott:
The committee are in search of light on the subject, and want to
know whether it is necessary to make a further examination,
9 Mr. Sewell :
Look at that, and say whether you mean to state that the books of
{he company will throw further light on those charges; light we
haven't already seen ?
Mr. Atwood:
• I believe that appears already ; that by a further and more ex-
tended examination than he made, those things would appear.
No. 169.] 143
Witness— I have no doubt, upon a farther investigation, that some
evidence will be obtained that will be of nse in those charges.
Mr. Sewell :
, I have nodonbt of it either ; bnt don't you think that the evidence
which will be obtained will be of nse to others than Mr. English I
Witness — I think it would be useful to both sides, and to the
policy holders.
By Mr. Blessing:
Q. Do you know of Mr. Miller receiving any money illegally for
the examination of the books of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany ? A. I know that he received $2,500 for making this examina-
tion ; now, whether that was an illegal claim or not, was the question
that you gentlemen had to decide at Albany, last winter.
By Mr. Atwood:
Q. You don't know what the regular fees would have beeu ; what
his proper and legal fees would have been, of your own knowledge ?
A. I only know that if I had been in Mr. Miller's official position
that the company could not have paid me anything for it ; I did not
consider it was a proper thing for him to have done under the cir-
cumstances ; I should have felt myself — although it is not a very
likely thing that they would have done it — that I should have done
very wrong to have accepted any pay for any work I did there ; I
think Mr. Miller was in his official position ; and if he made any
examination he was bound to do it without charge, or for a very
small charge.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Don't you know that it has been the universal practice of the
Insurance Department, from its first institution, for the Superintend-
ent to make a charge? A. Yes, sir ; as I gather from the testimony,
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars used to be the
regular rates.
Q. For fire insurance? A. I don't know of any life insurance
companies having been examined.
Q. The fire companies had $200,000 to $300,000 of assets to
examine? A. I don't know anything about that; this examination
of Mr. Winston had nothing to do with the assets of the company.
144 [Ambeblt
Q. Wasn't it done afterwards I A. I have my own impressions
that it was done.
Q. We don't want yonr impressions, unless they are based on evi-
dence f A. I will take that book itself.
Q. I 'think it is dne to this committee and Mr. Winston and to
me, although you may feel very inimical to Mr. Winston, that you
should state broadly and squarely whether you mean that this pay-
ment of $2,500 to Mr. Miller for his services in making this exami-
nation was paid by the company, and received by Mr. Miller, with
the intent of its being a surreptitious payment ; or whether it was
paid openly and above board as the fee for the examination; I want
that to appear before the committee ? A. I only know that from the
evidence.
Q. You know there was no attempted concealment of the amount f
A. The evidence is that Mr. Winston paid Mr. Miller the $2,500,
and volunteered to pay him more if he would take it, and that it was
properly charged upon the books of the company as a payment to
Mr. Miller.
Q. For what ? A. For, the examination which he made in the
company, brought about by charges.
Mr. Sbwkll :
That is all I want to get before the committee ; the way it has
been before them before, would seem as though it was a surreptitious
thing.
Witness — I never said that
Mr. Sewell :
Ton conveyed that impression.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Was it known before the investigation that it had been paid 1
A. No, sir ; it was not known to the policy holders ; there is no
question that anybody who renders a service to that company will
get payment for it ; it was natural the company should pay liberally
for that.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Was the action of the legislative committee, at that time, com-
mented on as being influenced improperly by the company f A.
When t Do you mean at the time of this examination ; it was public
No. 169.] M5
rnraor here that the committee was rotten ; and when the offer was
made to me to act for them in the examination, I was cautious about
it — about receiving the appointment — till I saw Mr. Brown, who was
then in Albany, and was urged by him to take it, on the ground that
if I didn't take it they would send somebody there who would go to
work and give them trouble, and was advised by him to go and
accept it, and I did it with the understanding and purpose to get at
the truth and the facts, and protect the company from any improper
action of Tqm Fields ; I refused ever afterwards to make an improper
report.
Q. You say that it was reported that the committee " was rotten ;"
what do you mean by that ? A. I mean that Tom Fields was at the
head of it, and the whole thing could be bought ; it could be handled
by money ; I don't think it was much out of the way.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Did you ever see it charged, in print, that Mr. Winston had
bought up that committee, or had used money to purchase any favor-
able action by the committee ! A. I don't remember anything of
the kind ; I think it was most unmistakably, at the .time, understood
that the committee was in favor of the Mutual Life, and that if they
were in any way influenced, it was by the company.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. If Mr. Sewell or Mr. Pierce were examined, could they say
how much Miller received for making that report, do you think ?
Mr. Sewell :
You know they were examined on the Miller investigation, don't
you?
"Witness — Yes, sir.
Mr. Sewell :
You know we were both examined, and we swore —
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. (Interrupting.) If Mr. Sewell or Mr. Pierce were examined, do
you think they could tell ? A. I can't tell ; they were examined by
the legislative committee previously.
Q. And on the Miller investigation ? A. Yes, sir ; I know there
is such an examination bearing upon their connection with the Mutual
Life.
[Assembly No. 169.] ' 10
146 [Assembly
Sheppabd Homanb called ; sworn, examined.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Where do yon reside ! A. My home is in Englewood, New
Jersey.
Q. Your business ! A. My business is that of consulting actuary.
Q. Your age ! A. My age is 42.
Q. Do yon know Mr Winston ! A. I do.
Q. Were you formerly connected with the Mutual Life Insurance
Company of this city? , A. I was for fifteen years the actuary, and
for a little over a year afterward the consulting actuary.
Q. When did your relations terminate with this company! A.
My relations with the company, as actuary, terminated on the 1st of
February, 1871 ; as consulting actuary in the year 1872.
Q. For what reason ? A. My connection as actuary with the com-
pany was terminated, because of the want of harmony between the
officers of the company and myself in regard to the performance of
my duties.
Q. Were you in accord, or was it in want of accord with Mr.
Winston ? A. J was in decided want of accord in some respects.
Q. State what f A. It was made a part of my duties, as actuary
of the company, to audit the receipts and payments of money.
Q. Was that a part of your legitimate duty as actuary! A. Yes,
sir; and I have on several occasions found reason to object to the
accounts as rendered, and have objected to them ; more particularly
the account for the portion of the year 1869 ; and by reason of my
refusal to audit that account, my relations were so unpleasant that I
gave up my position there.
Q. Were yon ordered by the officers, and if so, which one, to audit
the accounts that you refer to ! A. There was an account during
the year 1869—
Q. Wait a moment ; you were ordered to audit certain accounts !
A. I was ordered to do 60.
Q. What account was that! A. It was, I think, the quarterly
statement.
Q. For November ! A. It was the two quarterly statements for
the six months ending the 1st of November, 1869 ; I had taken
exceptions to some of the items ; I thought they were wrong, and
had explained my objections to the president ; and was satisfied that
they were wrong, and had modified my usual form of audit ; my
usual form of audit was to say that "I have carefully examined
No. 168.] 147
the items contained in the foregoing account, and find the same cor-
rect ; " not wishing to criticise too severely the action of the senior
officers of the company, I modified the form of audit by saying that
" I have carefully examined the items contained in the foregoing
account, and certify they are in accordance with the entries on the
books of the company ; " thinking that that would call the attention
of the trustees to. the fact that there were irregularities, if they
wished to examine them, and at the same time would avoid the
necessity of criticising the action of the older officers of the com-
pany.
Q. Do you mean, by the older officers, Mr. Winston ? A. I mean
the president and vice-president ; Mr. Winston objected to my
modified form of audit ; I told him it expresses the exact facts of
the case, and he said it should never be submitted in that form ; and
I told him I would be very glad to modify it in any way consistent
with my duty, but the account was incorrect, and could not be pro-
nounced correct by any competent and honest auditor ; and, there-
fore, I had done what I supposed was my exact duty in the matter,
but would be happy to modify it in any way consistent with my duty ;
he became r&ther violent, and insisted on my auditing the account;
and when I declined to do so in the usual form, he said he would
get some one else to do it for him ; and intended to get the assistant
actuary to audit it, but he was not in the office at the time; was
absent ; and lie came back to my room and ordered me to audit the
account which I had previously told him I thought was iucorrect ;
and when I declined to audit it fully, which I could not do as an
honest man and understanding my business, he erased the audit that
I had given, and said that it should not be presented in that form ;
and then, thinking it was time to assert my manhood, if ever, I
declined to have anything further to do with it ; the account was
sent in to the trustees unaudited, and ordered to be laid upon the
table ; subsequently, I understand —
Mr. Sbwell:
Q. Just speak as to your knowledge? A. Subsequently, then,
to my knowledge, after a meeting of the finance committee, who had
no authority in the matter, three of the trustees, being present,
authorizod Mr. Winston, at his request, to allow the account to be
audited by the assistant actuary, who did so.
Q. State who that assistant actuary was? A. L. 0. Lawton, the
present assistant actuary.
148 [Abskmblt
Q. You eay he is the present assistant actuary ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. In this account referred to by you, what were the items whicl
you refused to audit? A. There were several items; one was ai
item of $2,250, which was stated as having been paid as office rent
to an agent, when it was ascertained it was used to defeat the proxj
bill at Albany ; another item was $400 that was paid to an agent— s
former agent — of the company, as his proportion of the bonuses to
be awarded at the end of the year; now, the rules of the compam
provide that all extra payments should be authorized by the finance
committee; this was an unusual payment, and although perhaps
perfectly proper, it was in violation of the rules of the company :
another item in the account, or rather consisting of a great manj
items, was in consequence of an order by the president of the com-
pany to withhold the payment of post-mortem dividends in the future .
each one of those would have prevented a full approval of the account
by the auditor ; in consequence of my refusing to audit that account
or my having audited it in an altered form, my relations with the
cempany were rendered so unpleasant that I preferred to withdraw.
Q. Was there any threats made to you by Mr. Winston, or am
one, in regard to your withdrawing from the company ; if you did not
withdraw that he would turn you out, or words to that effect, in sub-
stance ; what did Mr. Winston say to you about withdrawing % A
The only threat was, that if I did not audit that account, somebodj
else would.
Q. You inferred that you would be turned out, and somebody eke
put in } A. No ; I could not make that inference.
Q. What did yon understand by that phrase ; that the assistant
actuary would audit it, or Mr. Winston would audit it? A. Yes,
sir; that the assistant actuary would audit it.
Q. You were acquainted with quite a number of the trustees, were
you not? A. Yes; I knew them all, probably ; I think I knew
them all.
Q. Were you informed by any of the trustees that your removal
was insisted upon by Mr. Winston, because you would not audit these
accounts ; or any reason f A. No, sir.
Q. Did any of the trustees ever inform you that your removal
was insisted upon by Mr. Winston ? A.I have been informed since,
that had I not resigned, that the question would have been put to a
vote, and there were enough parties there in adherence to Mr. Win-
ston who would vote it.
No. 1«9.J 14»
Mr. Sewbll :
I object to that ; it does not appear that he was informed before
he resigned ; he says he has been informed since, and what he was
informed, unless Mr. Winston told him so, could not be evidence, in
this case, of any effect it may have had on Mr. Homans' mind.
Witness — My informant was the vice-president of the company.
Mr. Da&lington :
We have got to get from him the names of the parties.
Mr. 8™.:
I submit that it is immaterial ; if there is any materiality to this
question at all, the materiality is limited by the effect that it had on
Mr. Homans' mind to cause his resignation ; but what he was told
yesterday, or the day before, or the day after his resignation, cannot
be any evidence to show what the motives were in resigning.
Mr. Atwood :
If we show that Mr. Winston ordered these false accounts audited,
it shows that the facts alleged in this petition are in part true ; that
he was privy to the malappropriation of the funds of this company.
Mr. Sewell:
This question has nothing to do with that.
Mr. Atwood :
It may have, in connection with something else.
Mr. Darlington:
We will modify it.
Q. Prior to your resignation, were you informed by any of the
trustees that your resignation would be accepted ? A. No, sir.
Q. Were you offered or promised any other situation, such as con-
sulting actuary, in case you resigned as immediate actuary i A. I
should like to relate that in a proper form, as it may be misconstrued
if I answer your question directly.
Q. State in your own form what occurred t A. One item, as I
have stated before, in the accouut which I had declined to audit
fully, was the refusal to pay postmortem dividends to the policy
holders; now, the post-mortem dividends had been determined by a
plan approved four or five years previously, and had always been
150 [Assembly
paid by the company ; there was no question about that whatever ;
and without any reason given, and without my knowledge, the presi-
dent of the company directed that in future no postmortem divi-
dends should be paid in any case ; the agents of the company were
officially informed by letters, which may be found on the letter-book
of the company, and the post-mortem dividends were withheld; five
years previously, I think it was, that same question came up and was
referred, with power to a committee, consisting of the president, the
actuary, the counsel of the company, and Professor Anderson and
Professor Wright, as experts ; they decided that the post-mortem
dividends were required by the charter, specifically, and must
be paid, and if they were withheld in any case, they could be
recovered,, with costs and interest, from any court in Christendom ;
I recollect the word particularly, because my attention was called
to it particularly; they had been paid for some five years; as I
have stated before, without any reason being given, and without
my knowledge, the order was given that in future they should not
be paid in any case, and that order came to my knowledge first by a
letter which I received from the president of the New England Mutual
Life Insurance Company, Mr. Benjamin F. Stevens, who stated that
his medical examiner had died recently, and his widow had claimed
a dividend on the last premium paid, and had asked his advice, and
being an expert himself he knew that it was equitably due, and the
company had always paid it ; he wrote me a friendly letter to know
why it was not done, and told me that the company was in danger
of a hostile lawsuit if it were withheld ; that was my first intimation
that they were withheld ; I showed the letter to Mr. Winston, and
he agreed with me that we had better pay that and settle the question
afterward ; when the time- came for me to audit the account, I had
had long talks with Mr. Winston about it, and he had acknowledged
that he had given that order, and he thought that they ought not to
be paid, and they should not be paid ; when I had modified my audit
it was referred to the insurance committee, and they decided that the
charter was specific, and that there was no getting out of it; those
postmortem dividends were legally and equitably due, and they must
be paid, and the president was ordered to pay them ; they haven't
been paid, and are still due in many cases, and the policy holders are
wrongfully treated in that respect ; moneys equitably and legally
belonging to them are still withheld ; when the question came up
in the insurance committee, the vice-president had a long argument
No. 169.] 151
to try and prove that they ought not to be paid, but the committee
decided, when he showed them the decision made five years pre-
viously by the counsel, that they must be paid, and so ordered it ;
having been shown ill the wrong in refusing to to have these paid,
the question then came up for the first time, that those dividends
were not properly calculated ; and then- Mr. McOurdy wrote a letter
to the counsel of the company, who gave a decision that the divi-
dends were not properly calculated ; that decision was in direct con-
flict with the decision of the counsel five years previously, when the
very point at issue was presented to them as a defect ; they saw it as
a defect, and the dividend system was then inaugurated and after-
ward carried out ; and there was no reason for the change except
to shield Mr. Winston from the consequences of his illegal action ;
the counsel recommended the change in the dividend system ; it was
carried through the board, and they insisted upon a plan of their
own, and I, in order to be right on the record, wtote officially that
it was wrong, at the same time expressing my willingness to carry
out my instructions ; and they insisted on carrying out their plan ;
and the surplus was divided in the most absurd way that has ever
been done by any company in the world, to my knowledge some
$800,000 was given in excess to persons who were not entitled to it,
and of course at the expense of those who were entitled to it ; the
error was pointed out, and they were convinced of it, and they found
themselves in the position of being obliged to take back what they
had illegally divided in excess, or else -to get rid of me ; not wishing
to injure the company, or to injure the cause of life insurance, I
titated to the committee the facts ; and also stated that I was perfectly
willing, if it would save any exposure of this terrible mistake that they
had made, to withdraw ; on their recommendation the trustees created
the position of consulting actuary, to which I was appointed, w^th
the understanding that it was to bo a permanent office ; I was warned
at the time, that at the first moment they would terminate it, but I
supposed it would be a permanent matter ; it was terminated, as I
had been warned, without notice to me, and I have no connection
with the company at this time.
Q. For how long a period have you not had ! A. The resolution
terminating the position, named the date of the 31st of December,
1872, as the time when the position of consulting actuary would be
abolished.
Q. How long had you been consulting actuary f A. Something
152 [AsfiKKBLY
less than two years ; but before the Slst of December came around,
this attempt of the Mutual Life to decrease the rate of premium
was attempted, and I found that in order to take an independent
stand in regard to it, it would be well for me to resign my position,
which I did on the 6th of December, I think it was.
Q. You yere examined in the other investigation, the Miller
investigation, wore you not ? A. Yes, sir ; I gave testimony there.
Q. What do yon know about the restoration of the policy to Mr.
Bradford ; Alexander W. Bradford f A. The facts are correctly
stated there ; the policy was surrendered by Mrs. Bradford.
Q. You knew Judge Bradford f A. Very well.
Q; Well, more particularly at the time of the restoration of this
policy by the company, do you know what the condition of Mr.
Bradford's health was ; and if so, what ? A. He, was then in a
moribund condition ; died a short time afterward.
Q. How long aft&r ! A. Some few weeks ; he was affected with a
mortal disease at the time, and was hopelessly ill.
By the Chairman :
Q. Was there an Examination by the physician at the time it was
restored ? A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. You said he was in a moribund condition at this time ? A.
Yes, and had been for some months.
Q. Was that fact known to the company ? A. Oh, yes, sir ; known
to all connected with the company.
Q. It was paid as a death claim in December, 1867 ; that word
there should be September ; that is a misprint in the testimony ; on
the 24th of September, they restored the policy, and he died in
October, and they paid it as a death claim in December.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. That death claim was not paid to Mrs. Bradford, was it ! A.
My impression is that it was not, but I conld not state positively
without reference' to the records.
Q. Don't you remember that it was paid to the executors t A. I
think it was paid to the executors.
Q. The executors of Bradford ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. You were with this company in 1865 ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And did you make an application, or was an application made
No. 16».] 153
on your behalf, for an increase of salary ? A. Yes, sir ; I spoke to
Mr. Winston in regard to salary — Dr. Post and myself spoke to him —
and he requested or suggested that we should make an application,
which I did ; and at his request I obtained the rate of compensation
and the method of compensation paid to the officers of some of the
other companies ; my application was for an increase of salary.
Q. What do you kuow, in your official capacity there, about
charging this dividend account; state the whole matter about
that ? A. The trustees awarded to the officers what is called a bonus,
in addition to their salaries, and the first year it was debited properly
to expense account, but the second year it was put in as a dividend
to policy holders ; to that I made some objection, and consulted
with some of the trustees about it, as not being the correct entry
for it. ,
Q. Did yon consult with Judge Bradford ? A. No ; I think not.
Q. You say the first year it was debited to expense account, and
the second to dividend account f A. Yes, sir.
Q. What effect would that have upon the ratio of the expense of
the company ? A. It would make the ratio of expenses smaller, and
that of dividends larger than really was the case.
Q. It would conceal the actual expenses of the company ? A. It
would.
Q. And materially increase or be supposed to increase the benefits
of the company, by showing the small ratio of expenses ? A. The
whole amount was made to appear as a benefit to policy holders
instead of a charge to the expense account. '
Q. How long did that continue ? A. The bonus, do you speak of?
Q. Yes ; and this method of charging dividends t Ai I think it
was continued for two years longer.
Q. Until this Miller investigation? A. No; it was terminated
before the Miller investigation.
Q. There was an investigation previous to that, was there not ; how
did it come to terminate, and what terminated that method of
charging ? A. Mr. Smith Brown objected to it ; he said he had
understood it was to be for one year only, and he found that it had
been for more than one year; and the question came up and it was
terminated.
Q. For a specific reason ? A. Merely by vote of the trustees.
Q. Soon after that termination was there not an investigation;
the one previous to this Miller investigation? A. I don't know
what you refer to, particularly.
154 [Ai
Q. Yon don't know the facte in regard to the investigation by the
policy holders in regard to the directors; in regard to keeping thoee
accounts? A. I have no knowledge; I don't know what yon refer
to ; I can't recollect any investigation.
Q. Did you know where the moneys, cash on hand; were deposited
at that time yon were there ? A. As auditor of the company, it
was my business to verify the deposits.
Q. Do yon know of deposits being made with the Indemnity
Company f A. Yes, sir.
Q. To about what amounts t A. My impression is that tbey
would average between three and four hundred thousand dollars.
Q. • What were the benefits to the company t A. They received
interest ; it was on call ; they received interest at sometimes four
and sonetimes five per cent ; at that rate.
Q. Do you know whether Mr. Babcock was interested in that
company ? A. Yes, sir ; he is a permanent director.
Q. And was also a trustee of the Mutual Life? A. He is a trustee
of the Mutual Life ; yes, sir.
Q. And one of the finance committee ? A. He has been at different
times ; I am not sure that he is now.
Q. He had been f A. He had been ; yes, sir.
Q. Do you know about the restoration of young Winston's policies ?
A. I do. .
Q. State the facts in regard to them ? A. Young Winston had
been insured on several occasions by policies which he had, one at a
time, sold to the company ; for instance, he was insured for $5,000,
and after it had run —
By Mr. Daelington :
Q. Shall I hand you this book to assist your recollection as to dates!
A. It is all stated there ; the policies were surrendered to the com-
pany and a consideration given for them.
Q. Canceled absolutely ? A. Canceled absolutely.
Q. The last one was not forfeited ; there were three? A. Ye6,sir;
they were restored at the instance of Mr. McCurdy, the vice-president ;
very wrongfully, I think, for they were restored in the aggregate,
whereas the young man had never been insured for more than one
at a time ; $5,000 was the maximum amount that he was ever insured
for and paid premium on ; and they were restored for the sum stated
there, which I think was some $14,000, at the instance of the vice-
president, and on the recommendation of the insurance committee.
No. 160.] 155
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Do you know what his salary had been or what it was ? A*
I think his salary was $3,000, at the time of his death.
Q. Had he also received a bonus with the other officers f A. Yes,
sir ; bonus was awarded to all the officers of the company, with one
exception.
Q. Do yon remember how much his bonns was ? A. It was, I
think, $3,750, the beginning of the year in which he died.
Mr. Sbwell :
It was all stated in the evidence last Saturday, and we concede
that the amounts are right. There is no use going over the same
thing.
Mr. Darlington :
This testimony is only a repetition of Mr. McCalloh's, of course ;
I do not desire it, unless there is to be some additional testimony to
contradict it.
Mr. Sewell :
These figures are all in our books.
Mr. Atwood :
For the purpose of evidence, we will consider admitted that the
amounts are correct.
Q. Tou were examined at the Miller investigation, were yon not t
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know anything of the publication of the testimony in
that case, and at whose expense it was published ? A. The testimony,
as published there, was at the expense of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, and the copy-right taken in the name of the company.
Q. What was that done for ; what was the object of it ?
Mr. Sewell :
Does he know ?
Mr. Atwood :
He will probably tell ; if he don't know, he cannot tell. *
Witness — There is no question about it ; the intention was to pre-
vent its being published by some one else.
Q. Did Mr. Winston know of its publication by the Mutual Life ?
166 [A
A. That I don't know ; I have no certain knowledge of that ; he must
have known it
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Were you applied to by Mr. Wreaks in regard to the policy on
Mr. Winston's life ? A. Mr. Wreaks did call upon me in reference
to that policy.
Q. Are yon personally acquainted with the facts in regard to it ?
A. My information is entirely from Mr. Wreaks.
Mr. Darlington :
In reference to the other policies, as I understand, yon proposed to
produce this book to the committee, so that they can have the whole
of it ; there were a number that I didn't ask Mr. McOulloh about!
Mr. Sewell:
Certainly.
Mr, Atwood:
And what is in the books is to be taken as true ?
Mr. Sewell :
Taken as printed, and as it is there.
Mr. Darlington :
As a part of this investigation f
Mr. Sewell :
The whole testimony is to be taken ; if there is contradictory tes-
timony, it is to be taken as contradictory testimony ; I cannot limit
the committee in regard to its conclusions ; I offer to produce this
book, and I will hand it to the committee to show what was investi-
gated at the time ; what its effects upon the committee will be, I
cannot stipulate. *
Mr. Darlington :
I ask if the facts therein are the same as if we had given them in
evidence now ?
*
Mr. Sewell :
Of course they are the same ; some of them are not true ; some
are contradicted by other evidence ; it is to be gathered from the
whole thing. '
No. 169.] 157
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Do you know anything about the resolution of the committee,
suspending the president's salary ? A.- 1 was aware of the suspen-
sion of the salary account of Mr. Winston for some considerable
time.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Did you then know the reason why it was done, or do .you
know why it was done, either through Mr. Winston or any one else ;
state what yon know in regard to the facts ? A. I cannot answer
that specifically, because it is only an opinion of mine.
Mr. Sewbll :
I object to it, then.
Q. State what facts you have in regard to it ? A. The facts are
that the salary was suspended for some time, and Mr. Winston drew
odd amounts at irregular times, for family expenses, as stated in his '
evidence.
Q. Did he draw at his own pleasure ? A. Yes, sir ; those amounts
were charged to him, and after his settlement with his creditors his
salary was fixed and determined by a committee who were appointed
some two or three years previously.
Q. And how was this acconnt charged during the time he was
drawing the funds from the company ? A. To suspense account.
Q. Have you read the petition of Mr. English } A. I read it at
the time it was printed ; although I have not read it for some weeks.
Q. I would like yon to look at that petition, and see if there are
any facts that you can state in reference to the subject-matters con-
tained in that petition ; you understand the subject-matter of the
petition ? A. I do.
Q. Any wrong committed upon the part of the officers of this com-
pany ? A. Some of the statements made are not new to me ; they
are what I have myself charged ; some of them I think are not true,
and some I have no knowledge of.
Q. You may state what, in the petition, you have charged your-
self? A. This loan to Mr. Hnsted; this amount paid to Mr. Husted
was unquestionably a loan of $30,000, and a loan in violation of the
by-laws of the company ; and when it was made I objected to it, as
auditor, or rather I called attention to it; and I went to Judge
Bradford, who was then the counsel of the company, and stated the facts,
158 [Assembly
and asked his advice about it, and the result was that he promised to
investigate it fully, and I said if he would do so I would be guided
by his judgment ; a committee was appointed to investigate it, and
the facts were proved that it was a loan to Mr. Hnsted, in violation
of the by-laws of the company.
Q. By Mr. Winston ? A. By Mr. Winston, and at the same time
I think there was no risk in it ; the criticism was that it was an
attempt to conceal what was an improper transaction ; to conceal
from the trustees, by reason of this wrong entry — I may call it a false
entry — of this clerk ; I was cognizant of it at the time, and objected
to it when the committee made their report; I recollect asking
Judge Bradford how it was possible to make a report contrary to the
evidence, and his reply was, " The interests are too vast to do other-
wise ;" I also asked the same question of General Wadsworth, a
trustee, and his reply was, " The pressure is too great."
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. In regard to that advance of moneys to Col. North ; what about
that? A. They were sums of money that were advanced to the
State agent by Mr. Winston, on his personal responsibility ; and they
were erroneously reported as being cash in the cashier's hands ; there
is no question about that.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Will you look over that (the petition), and see if there is any
other matters in the petition that you are cognizant of? A. There
is a statement here of the collecting, retaining and employment of a
large number of proxies by himself — that is, Mr. Winston and his
fellow-officers— 1to enable him to elect such trustees as he thinks
proper.
Q. What do you know about that? A. I know that the agents
are in the habit of collecting proxies in the name of Mr. Winston
and Mr. McCurdy, to enable them to use the power at the elections.
Q. Was there any expense attendant upon it? A. Yes* sir; there
is the expense of the notary — the notarial tee in this action.
Q. By whom are those fees paid ? A. In some cases they have
been paid by the company.
Q. Blanks are sent out and prepared? A. Blanks are sent out
by the agents, and they request the policy holders to fill them up,
and they are transmitted to the officers.
No. 169.] 159
" Q. And those blanks are prepared at the expense of the company,
in the company's office ? A. Yes, sir ; the possession of these proxies
enables the officers of the company to control, beyond any peradven-
ture, the 'elections ; the havo more proxies probably at this moment
than conld be cast personally in twenty-four hoars; whereas two
hours is the time which the polls are open ; so that, practically, they
have the full power to put in and put out whom they choose.
Q. The present officers of the company ? A. The present officers
of the company.
Q. About how many thousand ? A. That I cannot say ; but to the
extent of thousands.
Q. A number of thousands? A. Several thousand, without doubt.
Q. Do you know of there being public comments made upon the
conduct and management of this company by Mr. Winston ? A.
Yes, sir ; they have been criticised in the papers very freely, the last
six months particularly.
Q. And had these acts been referred to and spoken of prior to
June, 1872? A. Yes, sir.
Q. They have been for the last two years ? A. Yes, sir ; tor the
last four or five years.
Q. In the public press of the country? A. Yes. "
Q. Not only in the Insurance Journal, but in the leading daily
papers of the country ? A. In both.
Q. And with insurance men, and persons outside the press ? A.
Yes, sir. • \
Q. You spoke a little while ago about the opinion of the counsel
in regard to the manner of making these dividends ; you are an
expert in insurance matters, are you not ? A. That is my profession.
Q. Is it rulable for counsel to fix the manner of declaring divi-
dends, or for the actuaries ? A. It is the custom, of course, for the
counsel to define the legal requirements of the charter, and it is the
duty of the actuary to make lite plans accord with such decisions.
The point I made was this : That in 1865, 1 think it was, the method
of dividing the surplus was brought before the attention of a special
committee appointed for that purpose, and the plan adopted was
submitted to them by myself, at their request, in writing ; and when
I did so, I mentioned as a defect the point which the counsel of the
company, five years afterward, decided was illegal ; and that the
first committee had this point, as a defect, brought before their
attention, and they decided it was of no moment; my statement was
160 [Absemblt
that the decision of counsel three years ago, in 1869, four years ago,
was in direct conflict with the decision of the counsel of the company
five years prior, when the point at issue was submitted to them
directly as a defect ; so there could have beeen no excuse for not
seeing it ; it was seen.
Q. What is your judgment about being retained by this company,
if you had continued to audit this account as directed!
(Objected to by Mr. Sewell, as being outside of any possible line — )
Q. I will ask if your relations had always been friendly with the
company until this time ? A. I had, in the course of duty as auditor,
frequent occasions to speak of items; and on more than one
occasion I had felt it my duty to criticise the payments, and
I had invariably been prevented from bringing the point to a
proper consideration; I recollect one instance particularly,
the first that ever occurred; it must have been as far back
as the year 1859, the payment to the Auditor of Pennsylvania
of taxes for six years in advance ; there was no guarantee that they
could not exact the same amount the following year, and the pay-
ment was in violation of the rule of the company, which was that
all unusual payments should be authorized by the finance committee ;
I mentioned the subject to Mr. Winston, and in a very courteous
and proper way, as I thought, urged some objections against it, and
asked his advice what I should do; Mr. Winston was very much
offended and spoke very harshly, and I suggested that it should be
sanctioned, both for his protection and for minef for while I wished
to perforin my duties thoroughly, I wished to take no responsibility,
or assume any extra powers ; and Mr. Winston's remark was that I
should never sit in judgment on him, and he refused point-blank to
have it referred to a committee ; I suggested one committee as the
one to be referred to, and he very quietly had it referred to another
committee as a new subject, and it was authorized, and, of course, the
matter ended.
Q. Is Mr. Winston rather of a hasty, passionate temper I A. I
consider him a very arbitrary man.
Q. By looking over the petition, are there any other matters you
wish to refer to ? A. There are none others that come to me that I
have positive knowledge of.
Q. Are there any other matters there that have been commented
on by the press ? A. They have all been commented upon in the
public journals, I think.
No. 169.1 161
Q. All the charges in the petition ? A. AH the charges.
Q. What remedy have these policy holders while the president
holds these proxies ? A. No remedy whatever ; the proxies enable
him to pat whomsoever he chooses in as trustees, and pat whomsoever
he chooses oat of office.
Q. As an insurance man, would you advise the passage of a law
forbidding officers of a company holding proxies ?
Mr. Sewell :
I object to that.
«
Mr. Atwood :
I understand it is a part of the duties of this committee to inquire
what legislation is necessary to protect these policy holders.
Mr. Sewell :
I don't understand that to be one of the functions of this com-
mittee; this committee, as I understand it, is the standing committee
of the house on grievances ; they are here to examine what grievances
Mr. English has sufferred at the hands of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company or Mr. Winston ; we are not here to recommend legislation
on the subject of insurance, which is within the particular division
of labor of another standing committee of the1 House of Representa-
tives ; it would be a very extraordinary thing, indeed, if the com-
mittee on grievances are to leave the consideration of their own sub-
ject, to which they are appointed, and take up railroads, or cities, or
insurance —
Mr. Atwood :
But the grievances of these policy holders, as appears by the evi-
dence, is very great.
Mr. Sewell :
There is no one here complaining.
Mr. Darlington :
Mr. English is a policy holder.
Mr. Sewell:
He is here in jail, and he brings a complaint —
Witness (interrupting) — I am a policy holder.
[Assembly No. 169.] 11
16» [,
Mr. Sewell :
So am I ; if this committee desire to examine into the functions
of a sister committee, not left to them, they most do that over my
protest recorded on these minutes ; there is a limit at which this
investigation most stop ; there is a circle that will inclose all the
investigation here, and I say that circle has been reached ; we are
not going to examine whether or not it is best to pass laws on insur-
ance ; the committee has the power to do it, of course ; but at the
same time I must discharge my duty in calling the matter to their
attention.
Mr. Dablington :
I will only call the attention of the committee to one or two facte
which appear upon the petition ; the first sentence is that Stephen
English is a policy holder in the Mutual Life Insurance Company
of New York ; the petition sets forth the fact that because he has
made those publications he has been arrested and is in prison ; as I
understand the functions of the committee, they are to inquire
not only whether he has been arrested in accordance with judicial
form, but whether there has been any abuse of the process of the
law, and whether any remedy in the law is necessary as to the matter
set forth by him in his petition ; not only his imprisonment, but the
other matter set forth in his petition.
Judge Porter:
I desire to submit, Mr. Chairman of the committee, that there is
no pretense that Stephen English has been deprived of the right to
vote ; there is no allegation in this petition which justifies the com-
mittee in initiating a movement to disfranchise 75,000 out of
80,000 of the policy holders of the Mutual Life ; as the law now
stands, every policy holder is entitled to vote, and by proxy ; the
complaint is made by a single policy holder that, by violating the
laws of the State, he has been, subjected to duress; that he has
exercised his right to libel a citizen, and that he ought not to be
imprisoned for it, although the courts order such imprisonment;
that is the complaint, and the only complaint that is before
this committee ; incidentally the question arises whether Mr.
Winston, the party whom he libeled, has been guilty of certain
malpractices as an officer of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany; certainly it is not and cannot be alleged that Mr.
No. 169.] 168
v
Winston was guilty of any malpractice towards Stephen
English, in exercising his legal right to represent any policy holder
who chose to make him his representative for the purpose ; the affairs
of the Mutual Life Insurance Company are only so far involved here
as Mr. Winston is charged with having embezzled the funds or mis-
appropriated the property of that company, in the justification set
up by the libel ; as a matter of course, I know this committee does
not desire to usurp a jurisdiction not conferred on them by law ;
I know that they can have no desire to extend this investigation
beyond the purpose and the topics to which it is appropriately
limited ; it is entirely true that by our acquiescence, and not otherwise,
hours and hours have been occupied to-day, as they were' occupied
before, in taking testimony which is wholly irrelevant to the issues ;
but it is because we choose to give the amplest latitude for the purpose
of preferring all the charges that baffled and disappointed malice
could invent, before we come to reply to them, and call upon you to
pronounce the same judgment which has been pronounced by every
tribunal hitherto that has had occasion to pass upon these questions ; it
is not to be considered that, by the fact that Stephen English and
Frederick S. Winston have a controversy in the courts, the powers
of this committee are extended to reform the life insurance system
of the State of New York, or to revolutionize the administration of
the Mutual Life Insurance Company. That constitutes no part of
their duty, and, most certainly, they would not assume the burden
of an investigation which would cover more than a quarter of a
century of successive administrations connected with this Mutual
Life Insurance Company.
I submit to the committee, as commending itself to their judgment,
that the extraordinary feature has been presented here, of these libels,
streaming with malice against a corporation which stands to-day at
the head of the life insurance companies of the world ; and that,
among all those charges, there is not one of infidelity to their trust —
of corruption in the discharge of oflicial duty — not one but that can
stand the test of investigation even upon the evidence already
adduced ; you have before you a company more prosperous than any
other which exists under the laws of New York ; and it is a prosperity,
not in the interest of stock holders, as in the ordinary cases of corpora-
tions, but it is in the interest of 80,000 citizens of the United States —
a large portion of them in our own State, a large portion of them
without it — and every one of whom is to be affected in his interest by
164 [Assembly
having these libels receive even passing credit at the hands of any-
body ; the 80,000 are on trial here ; it is not Frederick 8. Winston
or Mr. McCurdy ; yoa are called upon now to deal with the rights of
80,000 ; and the mode in which it is proposed to deal with them is
to submit to a gentleman of undoubted respectability, and who may
think himself competent to make laws for the State of New York,
the question whether it would not be better to disfranchise 75,000 of
them at a single blow.
Was it ever contemplated that any such question should be sub-
mitted to this company ? Is the right of a party owning pro.
perty, to be represented oo that property, to be struck out in this
manner ! Is it on the ground that one libeller cannot get bail that
it is proposed to remedy the grievance by striking at the elective
franchise of 75,000 property owners ? Why, I should think that
such a thing is not to be tolerated for a moment. If such a matter
were to be proved, could anything be more ludicrous than for the
law-givers of New York to leave the Capitol and hold a session at
the Metropolitan Hotel, to have a discarded official of the Mutual
Life Insurance Company tell them what laws they should make ; to
have him give them his opinion as to their duty. I object to the
mode of proof. I understand it to be a universal rule that judges
deem themselves competent to discharge their duties, and legislator*
deem themselves competent to discharge theirs. The judge does
not call upon any officials of at*y corporation to advise them what
decisions they are to pronounce in causes. Neither do legislators take
roving commissions to gather opinions from men here and there as
to what laws they shall enact. The facts are before you. The reso-
lution conferring your powers is before you. The issue is between
the man charged with this grave tort, and lying in jail because he is
unable, in a city of 1,00,000 people, to find anybody to become his
bail, and Frederick S. Winston, who stands to-day at the head of the
greatest of living corporations, who has the confidence of the policy
holders of that corporation, the confidence of its trustees, the confi-
dence of the community, but who has not the confidence of its discarded
officers or of those whose grievance is that they have not been elevated
to the position of holding office in that company.
I therefore respectfully submit to the committee that any such
inquiry as this is wholly inappropriate, and the mode of proof is just
as objectionable as the subject-matter to which it is directed.
No. 169.] 165
Mr, Atwood:
If this question proposed to this committee to disfranchise one
man, there would certainly be some weight in the gentleman's
remarks; but, sir, it does not propose to disfranchise any one of
80,000 policy holders ; it proposes to respect them ; it proposes to pro-
tect them ; and instead of placing them in the hands of a man with
80,000 proxies, it maybe, in his pocket, and many millions of dollars
at his back, it proposes to put them beyond the machination of such a
man, and put them in the hands of a man whose interests are not to
keep him there at the expense of the policy holders ; it is in the
interest of these men to put their proxies in the hands of a man that
will not take their dividends to pay his own salary.
I submit, gentlemen, that it is a proper subject of inquiry for you
to ascertain what will protect these policy holders ; almost the first
line of this petition is that Mr. English endeavored to protect him-
self and his fellow policy holders ; and if this committee can see that
it is for the protection of Mr. English and thtfse 80,000 policy holders
to put these proxies in the hands of some other man than Mr. Win-
ston, I submit, gentlemen, that there is no clearer duty, no higher duty,
that this committee can perform, than to recommend the passage of
such a law ; and I submit that there can be no better evidence to
guide you than the evidence of this man upon the stand ; and, sir,
I believe that his evidence will carry to your minds, not the convic-
tion of a discarded official, but that he stands there as an honest man,
refusing to obey the dictates of this prince ; and because he does so,
lie is discarded ; it is the very reason why we ask this power to be
taken away from this man — because he abuses it to the policy holders,
as he abuses it to his trusted official.
Judge Porter :
My friend is under a great misapprehension if he supposes that
the tendency of this question is not to disfranchise the great bulk of
the shareholders; the right which the law gives to every policy
holder of this company is to select for himself a person to cast his
vote ; and of that right my friend proposes to have the Legislature
deprive them. The right of suffrage is to vote as the Voter pleases ;
and the right in the case of voting by proxy is to select his proxy,
and not another man's, to exercise in his behalf the discretion and
power which the voter chooses to confide to him. Now, on what
ground is it proposed to deprive 80,000 men — except such a small
166 [Assembly
number of thew as reside in the city of New York, and within con-
venient distance to atteud elections — of this property right, a right
which lies at the foundation of the contract, constituting a part of
the scheme on which this association was incorporated, by which
each policy holder should have the rights which, in another corpora-
tion, each stockholder has ? When he paid his first premium and
took his first policy, he bought his right to vote — through Winston or
any other man whom he might select ; and the gentleman now pro-
pose to submit the question to this gentleman (the witness) as to
whether the right thus bought shall not be taken 'away without
compensation. Mr. English's mistake is in supposing that this com-
mittee is to redress his grievances by inflicting a tenfold greater
grievance upon multitudes of men who are here unheard. If
he wants to vote by proxy, let him. If he chooses to vote per-
sonally, let him. But this man in jail is not in a position to con-
stitute himself the champion of all others, and to say, " I will
deprive them of their rights for the purpose of advancing my own
interests, and punishing my enemy." He is the conceded enemy of
Mr. Winston. You are not. He claims to have grievances against
Mr. Winston. The Legislature does not. The Company does not
It is absurd to suppose that every one of these policy holders is to
vote for the 80,000 ; and yet Mr. McOulloh's complaint is that a
minority of one or ten or fifty cannot control the rest of the company.
And he insists upon it, therefore, that the right of every one of this
minority is to arrest the prosperity of this company, which has been
great up to the present time, and to inaugurate a new theory which
he is now to put forth, and by which the prosperity of the company
in the future is to depend upon the correctness of his theories and
those of Mr. Homans. But I wish to bring the committee back to
the single question — why, did you come here to find out from this
gentleman what laws you ought to pass ? No. You came to investi-
gate certain facts bearing on this petition. Those facts being before
you, you will execute your own judgment as to whether a case is made
for redress, and, if there be such case, what is the appropriate redress.
This gentleman may be an expert as an actuary. He has no experi-
ence as a law-maker.
Mr. Atwood :
All I wish to say is that if the committee believes it protects these
80,000 policy holders to have 'such a law passed, it is their duty to
advise it.
No. 169.] 167
Mr. Abbott :
As I understand the province of this committee, it is to search for
facts and not arguments or opinions. I don't think it is proper to
take any opinions. *
The Chairman :
We are sent here for the purpose of getting facts, and from those
facts we would decide what to recommend.
Mr. Abbott:
The question simply asked for an opinion, and we don't want to
get that.
The Chairman :
The witness can state any facts in the case. We sustain the objec-
tion.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Have you any knowledge of the motives of Mr. Winslow, in
his late attempt to reduce the premiums of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company f A. I have.
Q. State what ?
Mr. Sewkll :
I object to that as not pertinent to the question of Mr. English's
imprisonment, and it is not mentioned in the commission, that I
know of. As I said before, there must be some limit to this matter.
It is not one of the libels charged in any of the complaints. It is
not in the petition to the Legislature by Mr. English, and it is some-
thing that, as yet, we have heard nothing of. It is in no way before
the committee in this controversy, and cannot be. It does not form
any allegation in the complaint on which Stephen English is arrested.
It does not form any of the allegations which he makes to the Legis-
lature.
Mr. Darlington :
We will state what we expect to prove. We propose to prove by
this witness that the reason of attempting to reduce the rates of
premium was to attack other life insurance companies.
Mr. Sewxll :
I take that exposition of the proposed proof, and I say that you
cannot admit it. Is there anything in Mr. English's petition to the
168 [AfiUHBLY
Legislature complaining that our company have attacked other com-
panies, and therefore he has suffered grievances ? Is there anything
in our complaints against Mr. English alleging that he has published
a libel to that effect f There is not in any way in any of those
publications of Mr. English's, or these affidavits to the courts, or his
petition to the Legislature, a word about the subject ; and it is
opening wider the door to let in all the gossip about life insurances
that can be heard of.
Mr. Atwood :
It affects his standing as president of the company, if we show
that he did it through certain motives.
Mr. Sewsll:
You are not here to try the standing of Mr. Winston as president
of this company, except so far as it is involved in the charges made
against him by Stephen English ; and that is not one of the charges.
There is no charge against Mr. Winston about this particular matter
of reducing the rates.
Mr. Abbott :
If it is not in the petition, I do not think we should go into it.
Mr. Atwood :
There are many specific things that are not mentioned in the
petition, but there is a complaint as to his general misconduct as an
officer. The only way is to get at the facts ; and the committee can
judge of the facts better than anybody else.
Mr. Darlington :
One of the allegations is that he has money in the Mutual Life
Insurance Company, without reference to the interests of the policy
holders, but for his own personal gain and selfish aggrandisement.
Judge Porter :
Does that affect the allegations as to his acts ?
By Mr. Darlington:
Q. When was that attempt to reduce the rates ? A. November,
1872.
No. 169.] 169
Mr. Darlington :
This was in reference to an article published since November ; the
first of January, 1873, the article was published.
Mr. Atwood:_
I think it is very material, in covering the term " mismanagement."
Mr. Darlington :
Our proposition is this : I propose to show that he said that the
company supported Mr. English in the articles which hq wrote, and
he made this proposition, of reducing the rates, to punish the com-
panies which he supposed were supporting Mr. English.
Mr. Sewell :
Do you mean to prove that Mr. Winston said so to Mr. Homans!
Mr. Darlington:
Mr. Homans can tell what he knows ; my intention is to prove
that Mr. Winston made that declaration.
Mr. Sewell :
To whom f If you offer to prove that he made that declaration
to this witness, that is one thing ; he would then be competent
proof of such a declaration ; but if you offer to prove by him that
Mr. Winston made that statement to a third party, I object to it as
hearsay evidence.
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
•I have the testimony of a man —
Mr. Sewell:
Where is he !
Mr. Darlington:
>
He is in England ; I will state to the committee what I propose to
prove, exactly, by this affidavit ; I propose to prove that, in a conver-
sation between Frederick S. Winston and Harry S. Homans, Mr.
Winston stated — the conversation being in reference to the several
attacks that had been made and were being made by the Insurance
Times, the defendant's paper, upon the company — that Mr. Winston
stated that in his opinion these attacks originated or were encouraged
by some life insurance companies, and that, if they did not cease, he
170 [ASSEMBLY
would retaliate by carrying oat a plan that he had had in contempla-
tion for some time, which was the redaction of the premiums of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company some twenty or twenty-five per
cent, and he would then see how the companies liked that
This is an affidavit sworn to before a commissioner in London, on
the 19th of December, 1872, who had authority to administer oath
according to common law, and certified to before the American
consulate.
Judge Poeteb:
We object to that, on the ground that we desire to croaB-examine
any witnesses sworn in this case. Mr. Darlington proposes to intro-
duce before this committee an affidavit sworn to before this case was
referred to this committee, and deprive us of the right to cross-
examine.
Mr. Sewell :
And sworn to before this Legislature had a legal existence ; before
it had convened and elected a speaker.
Mr. Darlington :
This committee is appointed to gather information. If it was a
court of law we would either have to produce him, or have a com-
mission issue, so that the opportunity could be had to cross-examine
him; but I do not understand that the committee is limited by
those rules in this matter. The testimony which I offer, I deem
materia], in showing that this plaintiff undertook this plan of reducing
his rates to punish some unknown adversary, because he supposed
they were supporting Mr. English in the Insurance Times. In that
light I consider the testimony important. I cannot produce the
witness for cross-examination, because he is not in this country.
Judge Poster:
The committee has power to administer oaths, to take depositions
and issue commissions. This is neither. We have a right in every
case, to cross-examine.
The Chaieman:
The committee has decided to receive the evidence. We will give
it such weight as we think it should have.
Mr. Sewell :
Do you mean the affidavit will be accepted ?
No. 189.] 171
The Chairman :
The- question put to the witness on the stand.
Q. Have you any knowledge of motives of Mr. Winston in his
late attempts to reduce the premiums of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, and if so, what ? A. Mr. Chairman, when the subject
came up of reducing the rates of premium, I remembered a conver-
sation I had had some month or two months prior with a relative of
mine, Mr. Harry S. Homans, now of London, who was formerly
general agent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, in which he
stated —
Mr. Sewbll :
I object to that as hearsay. I object to any irregular methods to
get in statements of third parties here.
Witness — I am merely stating the fact.
The Chairman :
This gentleman that you speak of, who is now in London, you say
was an agent of the company ! A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Darlington:
And he remembered the conversation and now states it.
Judge Porter:
We object to the declaration of Harry Homans to the witness, as
hearsay.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. He was not an agent then, when you had that conversation
with him, was he ? A. He had business relations with the company.
Q. Was he an agent of the company! A. No, sir; not then.
Q. What business relations had he with them ? A. He states in
his affidavit.
Q. To your knowledge, what business relations had he ! A. Con-
nected with his agency in California.
Q. His former agency f A. Yes, sir.
Q. He was not an employe or agent or officer at the time yon
speak of? A. No, sir ; no connection.
Mr. Sewell :
We renew the objection on the ground that it is mere hearsay of
the statement of a third person, who had no connection with the
company, and whose declarations cannot bind the company.
172 [Assi
Mr. Darlington :
I don't suppose that the committee are bound by the rules of
evidence which wonld prevail in a lawsuit. I suppose they are
entitled to get facts, and that they may use other methods than those
known to the regular courts of common law. I wanted Mr. Homans
to give the facts. He was going on to state what facts he had found
out.
Mr. Sewkll :
He was going on to state what another gentleman said.
Mr. Darlington :
He was going on to say what he wrote, as I understand.
Mr. Sewell :
I object to his stating what he wrote.
Mr. Darlington :
Do you want us to bring out what he wrote, and if he got an
answer, then to put the answer in.
The Chairman :
The committee decide that we have no particular rules. In regard
to this matter, we want to draw out what facts we can that bear upon
the case, and then we will give it whatever weight we think it
deserves. We decide that he may go on and make this statement.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. State as briefly as you can ? A. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Harry
Homans, who was in New York in the months of September and
October last, stated to me at that time that he had a conversation with
Mr. Winston, who threatened to reduce his rates of premiums, and
gave his reasons for it ; and when the threat was carried to execution,
or attempted to be, I wrote to Mr. Homans in London, asking him
to put in the form of an affidavit the subject of his conversation
with Mr. Winston ; and, in reply, he sent me this affidavit, which,
with your permission, I will read.
Mr. Sewell :
We renew our objection to this affidavit, and we want it put in
the form of a protest, as a violation of the fundamental rules which
guide this committee, and as an abrogation of the power of the com-
No. 169.] 173
mittee with respect to it. We say you have no power to read in
evidence a paper executed before that officer without giving as notice
of the time and place of its execution. We desire that that should
be entered at large upon the minutes of this committee.
Mr. Darlington :
The name of the officer is Josiah Nunn.
Witness (reading the paper) :
" City of London, England, ss. :
" Henry S. Homans, being duly sworn, doth depose and say : I am
the manager for Europe of the New York Life Insurance of New
York, residing in London, and I was for several years the general
agent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, for the
Pacific coast. During the month of October, A. D. 1872, I had an
interview, in the office of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of
New York, with Frederick S. Winston, the president of that com-
pany; the subject of conversation between us was in relation to the
attacks that had been and were being made upon him by the Insur-
ance Times of New York. He stated that, in his opinion, those
attacks were originated or encouraged by some life insurance compa-
nies, and that if they did not cease he would retaliate by carrying
out a plan that he had had in contemplation for some time, which was
that of a reduction of the premiums of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company to the extent of twenty or twenty-five per cent, and that
lie would then see how they (the companies) would like that, or words
to that effect. His manner of speaking was undoubtedly of a threat-
ening character as to the companies that he stated were encouraging
the attacks on him ; and he did not state any other reason or justifi-
cation for making the reduction of premium, except that he con-
sidered that * the Mutual Life Insurance Company could stand the
reduction better than most other companies,' aud further deponent
saith not
(Signed) HARRY S. HOMANS.
"Sworn, at No. 1 Dunster court, Mincing lane, in the city of
London, this 19th day of December, 1872, before me,
(Signed) J. NUNN,
A London Commissioner to administer oath* in common law."
174 [A
" Conciliate- General of the United States of America^ London.
" I, Adam Badeau, Consul-General of the United States of America
for Great Britain and Ireland, at London, do hereby make known
and certify to all whom it may concern, that Joshua Nunn, before
whom the annexed affidavit of Harry S. Homans was made, as
appears by his signature thereto, is a London commissioner to admin-
ister oaths in common law, practicing in the city of London afore-
said, duly commissioned and authorized to receive affidavits and
that to all acts by him so done, full faith and credit are, and ought
to be given in judicature and thereout.
"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and affixed the seal of the Consulate-General of the United
States at London aforesaid, this nineteenth day of Decem-
[l. s.] ber, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two, and in the ninety-seventh year of the
Independence of the said United States.
(Signed) ADAM BADEAU."
The committee here adjourned to meet at the Metropolitan Hotel,
at 10 a. m., Monday morning, April 14, 1873.
Metropolitan Hotel, N. Y., April 14, 1873.
Committee met pursuant to adjournment.
Present — Hons. 0. W. Herrick, chairman; Frank Abbott, A.
Blessing, E. Townsend.
J. Thomas Davis, clerk.
O. T. Atwood, Esq., counsel to committee.
Thomas Darlington, counsel of Mr. English.
Robert Sewell, Esq., counsel of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany and Mr. Richard A. McCurdy, the vice-president.
Sheppabd Homans, recalled.
Examined hy Mr. Atwood :
Q. You spoke the other day of some mismanagement on the part
of this company ; you may state what yon referred to, and what
points you complained of in the mismanagement of the company f
A. The principal objection that I have to the management of the
company is the fact that the minutes are kept by the vice-president,
No. 16».] 175
and are under the control of the president and vice-president ; and that
facts which the trustees should know are withheld from them and
sometimes misrepresented. .
Q. Tou spoke the other day about a large number of proxies
being held by this company ; will you state whether these proxies
are voted on more than once, or are they continued by the company
without obtaining new ones ? A. The proxies which the officers
hold have been in their possession for a number of years ; and they
are, I presume, voted on whenever there is occasion for it.
Mr. Sbwell :
I object to that answer ; we don't want Mr. Hotnans' presumptions ;
if he knows whether they were voted on at all or not, we will take
his answer to the question ; but when he says "I presume " they are
voted on, it is not evidence ; let him state what he knows; and not
what he " presumes."
Mr. Darlington :
I may as well make the point now ; and that is, in examinations
taken before investigating committees we are not confined to the
rules which govern investigations in courts of law ; in investigating
committees, very frequently it is the case that you have to ask
" "What did you hear about this, and from whom did you hear it f "
And then get the names ; and ask this man "Did you know," and
" Whom did you hear it from," and so on ; I have been perfectly
willing, in regard to the main facts in this case, to have them just
such facts as should be elicited, and in the same manner as in courts
of law; but when we come to investigating new facts, we are
obliged often, especially in committees of this kind, to make what
are called " leading questions," and calling for the persons who
originated the stories, so that we may find out and trace whether there
be truth in them, and trace it to the person from whom it originated.
Mr. Sbwell :
I don't object at all to the line of investigation made or sketched
out by the learned gentleman, provided it is adopted by this com-
mittee ; but I don't see what that has to do with this ease. Mr.
Homans is not asked whether he knew they voted on them ; but he
is asked a question in which he answers that he " presumed." Are
you sent here to find out Mr. Homans, presumptions, or my presump.
tions, or any member's of this committee ? You are sent here to
176 [Abumblt
discover/oofr, and not presumptions. If anybody told him that they
were voted, lot us have it. That we won't object to, if you say that
is the right way to investigate it. There mast be an end to fishing ;
there mast be a depth to which the " bob and sinker " won't go
down, and I respectfully submit that we have reached that when yon
reach presumptions. If he was told by anybody that those proxies
were voted on at an election, let us have it ; I won't object to that.
But when he says, 44 1 presume " they were voted on when they were
wanted, that is not evidence ; it is not evidence on which to hang a
cat. He said he presumed, and I object to that. There is no one
that likes fishing excursions better than I do, but I object to this.
I move to strike out the last words, " are, I presume, voted on when-
ever there is occasion for it."
Mr. Atwood :
It may be evidence upon his future explanation. He may say he
knows it, and then it is material evidence.
Mr. Sewell :
He does not say that he knows it. If he says that, it is all right ;
but at the present it is an improper answer to have on the record.
Mr. Atwood :
We may make it material by connecting links.
The Chairman :
Let him go on. If they have the connecting links that will make
it proper, we will allow it. If not, we will have it stricken out
Witness — These proxies were used in the election of 1869, when
the largest number I have ever known to vote in person, voted what
is called the opposition ticket ; and it is a fact within my own know-
ledge, that the officers do hold a large number of proxies, and are
ready to cast them whenever it is needed ; and that those proxies are
not limited to one year, or any number of years.
Q. Is Mr. Wadsworth one of the trustees of this company ? A.
Yes, sir.
Q. What do you know about his receiving any pay for services
rendered for the company, and for what % A. I have no knowledge
of any compensation to Mr. Wadsworth.
Q. It has been remarked during this investigation that this com-
pany possesses the largest amount of assets of any company doing
business ; is that true ? A. That is true.
No. 169/| ' 177 *
Q. How about their liabilities; have they not also the greatest
amount of liabilities of any company ? A. That is also true.
Q. How great is the margin between their liabilities and their
assets I A. An estimate, or rather a calculation, is made each year
of the liabilities, and all the assets over and above that amount is,
by the charter, required to be divided among the policy holders each
year; each year, now; formerly, once in five years only.
Q. Is that done? A. It was done whilst I was there; I have no
knowledge since I left the company.
Q. In this petition there are complaints made of this large number
of proxies being held by the officers, and putting themselves in place,
and keeping themselves there by these proxies ; now, how do you
propose to remedy this ?
Mr. Sbwbll :
I object to that question. The question objected to is the same
question exactly that you heard a long discussion on, on Saturday.
The same principle is involved in it which you then decided was an
objectionable one. You will remember that my learned associate,
Judge Porter, argued that the committee was here to hear facts and
not to get opinions as to those facts ; and after a very full discussion
the committee decided that they were here to find out facts, and that
they did not want people's opinions as to the best remedy. This
question now asks Mr. Homans how he is going to remedy a state of
facts which the other side claim to be an evil.
Mr. Atwood :
I don't propose to argue this question. I simply find by this petition
that this is one of the evils complained of; and I take it that it is a
part of the duty of this committee to report in what manner these
wrongs can be redressed, if there are wrongs ; and the committee
have a right to receive this evidence for their own light and benefit.
The Chairman :
The committee decide that whatever information we can get, in
regard to this matter, we will take ; we can weigh it in our own minds
when we come to make our report, and see what there is of it. We
were sent here to get all the information, and ascertain what correc-
tions are necessary, if there are any ; I think there can be no harm
in that. This seems to be the opinion of the committee.
[Assembly No. 169.] 12
178 [A
Witness — I will submit my views, with considerable deference, to
the committee, and very briefly. The Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany is a mutual corporation, in which there are no stockholders,
and each person exercises his right of voting by proxy, if he chooses ;
and it is claimed, very justly, that those who are at a distance would
not be able to give their vote, excepting by proxies ; but a prolific
source of evil in that corporation and in others is the use of proxies
for an indefinite length of time. A large number of proxies have
been gathered by the officers and are held. In my judgment, if the
Legislature should see fit to limit the use of a proxy to the election
named in the instrument, or within a period of twelve months, as is
the case now in Massachusetts, by law, it would be the means of
righting whatever evil may exist, and would be in all respects
beneficial.
Cross-examination by Mr. Sewell :
Q. Was the Mutual Life Insurance Company the first life insurance
company that you were connected with ! A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you went into the service of that company about the year
1858 ? A. 1856 I entered the service of the company ; the com-
mencement of the year 1856.
Q. At that time yon had had no special life insurance training ?
A. No, sir.
Q. You had studied the higher branches of mathematical science,
and were selected to fill the position of actuary in that company,
then vacant,; but you had no experience of the application of mathe-
matical science to life insurance, as I understand ? A. No particular
experience.
Q. Can you tell us what the assets of the company were, in round
numbers, when yon went into the office? A. I think they were
about $2,000,000.
Q. There were about how many policies in existence! A. My
impression is that there were not more than 5,000 or 6,000.
Q. Insuring about how much, if you remember ; I mean in round
numbers ? A. About $15,000,000, 1 think.
Q. And the company now has how much of accumulated assets?
A. They had on the first of the year some $58,000,000.
Q. And how many outstanding policies? A. 78,000, 1 think.
"Q. Insuring about how much, if you remember? A. I think the
amount of risk is something like $275,000,000.
Uo. 169.] 179
Q. Has the course of the company, since yon first went into it, to
the present time, been constantly and continuously years of pros,
perity, or otherwise) A. It has had a very prosperous career.
Q. Unexampled in the annals of life insurance ? A. In some
respects.
Q. In respect to the volume of its business? A. It has always
had the largest volume of business in this country.
Q. With respect to the secure investment of its assets, how does
it stand with relation to other life insurance companies in America
and the rest of the world, that you know of? A. I think the invest-
ments are as secure and prudently managed as that of any company
of which I have any knowledge.
Q. Did you ever know of any losses in the investments of the
moneys of the company, except the one that was spoken of on
Saturday ? A. Yes, sir ; there have been some few losses in invest-
ments. .
Q. Amounting to how much in the aggregate ! A. A very small
amount in the aggregate, compared with the amount invested.
Q. Trifling, is it not? A. Trifling compared with the amount
invested.
Q. Your views on the subject of proxies have undergone a change,
have they not, in the last three or four years ? A. Never.
Q. Have you always advocated the limitation of the right to
appoint a proxy to one year? A. I have always had that opinion,
bnt never had cause to advocate it.
Q. Did you not go to Albany, one year, to advocate ttte rejection
by the house of a bill limiting the time in which proxies were to be
used ? A. No, sir.
Q. You never went before a committee on that subject, or made
an argument on the subject? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever know an instance of any proxies being voted upon
by Frederick 8. "Winston in the Mutual Life Insurance Company ?
A. 1 have never known proxies to be cast personally by Mr. Winston ;
I have known of proxies in Mr. Winston's name being cast.
Q. Proxies authorizing Mr. Winston to vote, voted by some one
else? A. Proxies authorizing Mr. Winston or Mr. Richard A.
McCurdy to vote, and those proxies cast.
Q. By whom ? A. By Mr. McCurdy.
Q. At the election of 1 869 ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. At any other time that you know of? A. I have never attended
any election, and only know of that accidentally.
180 [A
Q. You are a policy holder in the company ? A. I am.
Q. Why did yon not attend the election ? A. I never thought it
proper for an officer of the company to take any part in the election.
Q. Did you never vote in any election 1 A. Never have voted at
any election.
Q. Did you ever hear that Mr. McOurdy or Mr. Winston had
voted proxies at any other election than the election of 1869 ? A.
I heard at an election some years ago that Mr. Winston had his
proxies ready to vote, and would have cast them had there been
necessity to do so.
Q. Who told you so f A. Mr. Winston.
Q. When was it ? A. It was at the time of the election of Mr.
Child, who is now a trustee of the company ; he had collected proxies
himself, and cast them, by which he himself was elected ; and Mr.
Winston consulted with one or more of the trustees in regard to the
propriety of defeating him, as he stated he easily could, or of allow-
ing him to be elected.
Q. What did he do f A. He allowed him to be elected.
Q. Did the trustees request him to allow him to be elected f A.
I don't know.
Q. He had the power in his hands to defeat this gentleman, but
declined to use it ; is that what I understand ! A. He did.
Q. You know of no other instance, then, in which he used the
power which he had, by those proxies, to influence the election, except
the election of 1869 ? A. I do.
Q. Another case f A. Mr. William Moore, one of the corporators
of the company, named in the act of incorporation, and a trustee
from the commencement of the company, was left off, because he
was in opposition to the management of the company.
Q. Left off the ticket by the nominating committee ! A. Left off
the list of trustees by Mr. Winston.
Q. Do you know whether, or not, Mr. Moore resigned his position
before that election ? A. He did not resign it.
Q. Mr. Winston's holding the proxies had nothing to do with that,
had it? A. Certainly.
Q. Howf A. Mr. Winston had the power to put any one in that
he chose, at that time.
Q. By voting on the proxies f A. If it was necessary.
Q. But he didn't vote ? A. I have no knowledge whether he voted
or not.
No. 169.] 181
Q. Have you any knowledge whether he ever left Mr. Moore off
the nominating committee ? A. It was hs who left him off.
Q. How do yon know? A. Because he wrote to him.
Q. Who did? A. Mr. Winston.
Q. Wrote to Mr. Moore ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Telling him of that fact? A. Telling him that he had heard
some objections ; inasmuch as he was not a policy holder.
Q. Was he a policy holder? A. He was not.
Q. Wasn't that sufficient to disfranchise him, and prevent him
from being elected as a trustee ? A. No, sir ; trustees have been
elected by Mr. Winston who are not policy holders.
Q. That was the objection, however, that was presented to Mr.
Moore ? A. It was the ostensible objection ; the real objection is
that he was in opposition.
Q. How do you know that ? A. I know it of my own know-
ledge ; he opposed the dividend system, which was insisted npon by
the officers of the company.
Q. What was the method of dividing the surplus in the company,
when you went into it ? A. It was known as the percentage plan,
by which the surplus was divided in proportion to the premiums
paid.
Q. Without respect to the ages of the parties paying them, or
without respect to any consideration, but merely the amount? A.
Without any.
Q. How often was this distribution of the surplus made? A.
Three times.
T
Q. At what period ? A. In 1848, 1853 and 1858.
P. When was there a change in the method of distributing the
surplus? A. The change was adopted in 1862, and applied in
1863.
Q. What was the change ? A. The change was to a plan known
as i( the contribution method " of dividing the surplus, by which
each person received an amount in proportion to that which he had
contributed to the formation of the surplus.
Q. That plan, as I understand, was invented or elaborated by you?
A. It was.
Q. And was first applied by the Mutual Life Insurance Cempany
to the distribution of dividends ? A. It was.
Q. Will you explain to the committee how there comes to be a
surplus distributed in the business of mutual life insurance? A.
182 [A HflKMBT.T
The surplus arises chiefly from four sources ; one, the excess of inter-
est over four per cent, which is the rate assumed by the company
for the future ; another, in the saving from the mortality called for
by the tables; the third is that portion of the margin added for
expenses and contingencies which has not been used ; and the fourth
is from lapses, or policies given up.
Q. Please explain to the committee the constituent elements of the
premium payable by a party assured on a life insurance policy, and
how those premiums are prepared by an actuary, and the principles
upon which they are prepared ? A. The premiums for life insurance
are deduced by the mathematical process in which the contingencies
of the future are estimated, it being necessary to assume a rate of
mortality for the future, and a rate of interest ; and a margin is
added to the net premiums so determined, in order to cover expenses
and guard against adverse contingencies.
Q. What rate of mortality is assumed in the preparation of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company's tables, as distinguished from the
rates of mortality assumed in the preparation of tables in other
' countries and in this country ? A. The rate of mortality which forms
the basis of the premiums in the Mutual Life Insurance Company,
and in almost all the other companies in this country, is that known
as the American Experience Table, which is the standard adopted
by the State of New York.
Q. That table is the result of the observance of the mortality of
various life insurance companies in America, is it not ? A. It is a
table prepared by myself from the experience — the results of experi-
ence chiefly in the Mutual Life Insurance Company, but affected by the
experience of all the other companies, as far as I could ascertain
them.
Q. State what you assumed to be the rate of interest that the
company will get for its money, in making up these tables 1 A.
The rate of interest assumed by the Mutual Life Insurance Company,
in estimating these liabilities —
Q. Not that; I mean now, when you are making the premiums —
A. In the determination of the premiums then, it is four per cent.
Q. And how much margin — I believe it is technically called " load-
ing," is it not — how much margin, or "loading," is added, to cover
expenses ? A. The loading to cover expenses and contingencies
together — they are not separated — varies, it being in the highest forty
No. 169.] 183
per cent ; and varying from that, down to a margin of about twenty-
one or twenty-two per cent.
Q. On what class of policies is the margin of twenty-one or twenty-
two per cent I A. On endowments.
Q. And the forty per cent is on the whole-life policies ? A. On
the ordinary life policies.
Q. What expenses and contingencies is that forty per cent meant
to cover? A. Expenses of all kinds, and contingencies of all kinds.
Q. What are the expenses of a life insurance company ; classify
them 1 A. The expenses chiefly are commissions paid to agents for
procuring business, and the ordinary expenses of conducting the
business when it is once obtained.
Q. Contingencies, I suppose you mean to be variations from the
rates assumed ? A. And also losses of all kinds.
Q. In the twenty-six years that the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany has been in existence — A. The thirty years.
Q. Thirty years that it has been in existence, has it not always
received more than four per cent for money i A. It has.
Q. What has been the average interest rate per cent, per annum,
for its invested moneys during that time ? A. A fraction over six
per cent.
Q. Has its expenses and its contingencies — its average expenses
and contingencies — during the period that it has been in existence,
amounted to anything like the amount which has been added to the
premiums for loading ? A. The expenses during the first year —
Q. Of the Mutual Life t A. The first year of insurance —
Q. I say of the Mutual Life Insurance Company ? A. Taking the
company as a whole — I understand your question — the expenses and
contingencies have never yet, in a single year, to my knowledge,
equaled the loading.
Q. There was always, then, in every year, an amount saved from
the assumed amount of the premiums ? A. Taking the company as
a whole, yes.
Q. Which are to be returned to the policy holders ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Will you explain to the committee ; you can do it much better
than I can, in framing the question ; will you explain to the com.
mittee the fact that, although called dividends, these divisions of sur-
plus in the Mutual Life Insurance Company are not by any means the
profits of the business ; but are, in fact, the amounts which the uncer-
tain nature of the business has required the company to take from
184 . [ Assembly
»
the policy holder, in the first instance ; and whieh they then return
to him ; you understand my idea; and you can express it to the com-
mittee much better than I can ? A. I think you have stated it very
clearly ; the fact is, that there is no such thing as profits in a mutual
life insurance company.
Q. In a mutual life insurance company? A. In a mutual life
insurance company; the dividends, so called, are simply the restitu-
tion of the surplus or savings of the policy holders, from the amounts
which prudence seems to demand should be charged.
Q. The addition of an amount to the premium, more than is
necessary, more than prudence demands, causes an addition to the
expenses of the company, does it not f A. Not necessarily.
Q. Is not the agents' commission based upon the amount of the
premium paid! A. It is the practice; but it is not in accordance
with true principles, I think.
Q. Do you know of any life insurance company that does not pay
its agents upon the principle of the amount of premium paid f A.
Some companies in England pay a commission in proportion to the
amount insured.
Q. Do you know any case in America! A. I do not
Q. It is the universal practice in America, is it not, to pay the
agents a certain percentage of the premium paid to the company f A.
A variable percentage ; some kinds of insurance larger, and some
smaller.
Q. Certain on some kinds of policies, but variable as to the variable
condition of the policies ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. That is to say, there is a rate for endowment insurances, and a
rate for life insurances ? A. Tea, sir.
Q. In all cases it is a percentage upon the amount of premium, is
it not f A. It is.
Q. I understand you, now, that the system in vogue in the Mutual
Life Insurance Company, when you went there, atid sometime after-
wards, for three periods of distribution of surplus, was the return of
this amount of surplus to the various parties contributing to it, pro
rata, as to the amount contributed t A. On the contrary, it waapro
rata to the amount of premium they had paid.
Q. That is what I meant to say; you see a' meaning in my
question which I do not ? A. Tes, sir.
Q. You advised the plan of returning it to them in accordance
with the amount which each person had contributed to the surplus I
A. I did.
No. 169.} * . .185
f
Q. How many dividends were made upon that plan ? A. There
was one in the year 1863 ; the next was in 1866 ; and from that time
to this, one has been made each year.
Qv According to the old system, the division of surplus you calcu-
lated upon the first of January — the amount which it was necessary
to reinsure all the outstanding risks of the company — and you took
account of the assets of the company, and you deducted the liabili-
ties from the assets, and the balance was divisible surplus, was it not?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, state how you arrived at the divisible surplus when yon
made the change to the contribution plan! A. The surplus was
determined in precisely the same way as it had always been ; that iB,
by a careful estimate of each liability ; and the aggregate liabilities
were deducted from the aggregate assets, and the difference was the
surplus.
Q. You divided, then, that surplus which was found upon the day
upon which you made up the accounts ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then, as I understand it, upon the first of January a dividend
would be made — say a percentage of ten, fifteen or twenty per cent —
upon the amount of premium which had been paid by the policy
holder ; that was not paid to him in cash, was it? A. It was not paid
in cash in the early history of the company.
Q. That was, however, applicable to the reduction of his premium
at the next premium-day, was it not ? A. At first it was not ; it was
applied simply to the purchase of additional insurance.
Q. It was applied to the purchase of additional insurance ? A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Explain to the committee what that means ; they do not under-
stand it, probably ? A. In the early history of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company, which is the early history of life insurance in
this country, the surplus was ascertained ; instead of allowing it to
be used as cash to reduce the premiums, more insurance was bought
with* it, thinking that would be the safer plan; that plan was fol-
lowed until the year 1853, when a slight modification was made, by
which the policy holders had the option of having more insurance
or of purchasing an annuity, which would act as a reduction of all
future premiums ; in 1865, on my recommendation, the surplus was
allowed to be used by policy holders as part payment of the premiums
next falling due.
186 [Assembly
By the Chaikmak :
Q. You said to buy other insurances ; what was that — to pay the
expenses ! A. No sir ; to increase the amount of insurance to be
paid at death, or the maturity of the policy.
Q. You spoke 4»out the profits accruing from lapsed policies ; about
what would that amount to yearly in the company, while you were
in it f A. It would be very difficult to estimate it ; it is the gain
from policies which are dropped or discontinued ; and also the gain
from those policies which are purchased by the company ; it is far
less than has been estimated, or is popularly considered to be the
amount.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. While we are on that point, we might as well follow it to its
conclusion ; policies that are lapsed or surrendered to the company
break the mathematical average, and interfere materially with the
calculations of the actuary, do they not, with respect to risks outstand-
ing f A. It is breaking the contract which the individual had entered
into with the company.
Q. I do not mean that ; I mean, only healthy lives surrender their
policies, or allow them to be lapsed ; isn't that the experience of the
company — if a man is sick, he don't allow his policy to lapse, and
don't surrender it t A. That is a subject upon which there has been
a great deal of argument, and some difference of opinion ; my own
opinion is that men in unsound health would be very careful to keep
up their insurance, and not allow it to lapse.
Q. Therefore, the apparent profit upon a lapsed policy is not a real
profit ? A. No sir ; not by any means.
By the Chairman :
Q. I would like to ask you a question for one of the committee,
who wants to know if there was a large amount of policies lapsed at
the time of the breaking out of the rebellion ? A. A large number
of policies lapsed, nominally ; but the company kept the reservation,
as it is called ; that is, the equity owned by the southern policy hold-
ers, until the closing of the war ; and at the close of the war a very
large amount was paid to them ; the southern policy holders were
treated with even more consideration than our own men were — our
own northern residents — if there was any discrimination.
No. 169.] 187
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Was there any considerable amount of profits realized by the
company by the lapsing of the southern policies daring the war ? A.
There was no doubt some profit realized ; but far less than is popu-
larly supposed ; in fact, I think, the Mutual Life Insurance Company
would be better off to-day if they never had a lapse.
Q. They would be better off if they had no lapse, you think 2 A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Is not that the general opinion with well-informed actuaries ?
A. I think so.
Q. It is more profitable to the companies for persons who have
policies in them to continue to pay their premiuns, than it is for
them to fail in their contract and oblige the company to forfeit them f
A. It is in a well-managed company ; forfeiting the policies is like
killing the goose to get the golden egg.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Have you any knowledge that any money was ever loaned at
a higher rate of interest than seven per cent per annum ? A. No,
sir ; the company have never lent money at a higher rate than seven
per cent, required by law.
Q. They have no outside agents who receive a bonus ? A. They
have realized more than seven per cent on their government securi-
ties ; but to my knowledge there never has been a loan made —
By the Chairman :
Q. That was legitimate ; the seven per cent ? A. That was per-
fectly legitimate. k
By Mr. Townsend :
Q. The man that makes this loan gets a large per cent for doing
the business, doesn't he! A. That would bean individual matter
with the agent ; I have no knowledge, myself, of any agents having
been employed.
By the Chairman :
Q. As I understand it, the actuary don't know anything about it ;
he does not have the handling of the funds ? A. No, sir.
By Mr. Sewrll :
Q. We will go back to the matter of the distribution of surplus on
your new plan. •
188 [Assembly
Mr. Atwood:
I would like to ask how this is material.
Mr. Sewell :
You expressed yourself as desiring light ; we want to give yon a.
the light possible ; it is very evident, on your side, that yon dorr
know anything abont life insurance ; we want to exhibit the whet
business of the company ; yon gave a partial, one-sided explanation
of it ; and I want the committee to understand it.
Mr. Atwood :
yfe knew enough to get out what we wanted.
Mr. Sewell :
We know enough to get out what we want ; I don't think it i
possible for you to understand this investigation, unless you have Mr
Homans' views on the subject ; and he is the only witness who i
capable of giving them. Besides, I want to correct a great man;
misstatements and absurd reflections of the last witness upon tb
stand — Mr. McCulloh, who pretended to gfve you views of life aast
ranee, which were crude, undigested and erroneous ; and which W'
will correct by Mr. Homans, who knows all about it.
•
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Under the old system of dividing the surplus, the dividend was
made on a certain date ; and if a person died after that date, during
the year, he was entitled, was he not, to what was called a " post-
mortem dividend;9' explain that subject? A. The dividends have
always been made on the first day of February, till a change was made,
some four or five years ago, to the first day of January, which is a
mere change in the date of the fiscal year ; and persons are, by the
charter, required, or the company, by the charter, is required, to pai
post-mortem dividends.
Q. Explain to the committee what a post-mortem dividend is f A.
A post-mortem dividend is that which is equitably due to a policy
holder after his death ; if I pay a premium to-day to the Mutual
Life Insurance Company, included in that premium is the germ of
surplus of more than is necessary ; and if I die to-morrow, the com-
pany will charge against my premium my assessment for the claims
by death, and the expenses ; and then, if there is anything left, it is
as much due to my heirs as it would be due to me if I had lived;
No. 169.] 189
and the charter provides, first, that the surplus should be equitably
divided, and, secondly, in the case of death, the equitable amount
was to be paid to the person entitled to receive the same.
Q. After the method of distributing the surplus, which you
devised, was there not a dividend made m futuro upon policies
whose anniversaries arrived after the dividend day during the current
year ; was not a part of that dividend a dividend to be earned after
the date of the calculation, and up to the anniversary of, the policies ?
A. When the plan which I devised, which is called the " contribu-
tion plan," was suggested to the company, they very properly
employed the best experts they could find to give opinions in regard
to it ; Mr. Elizur Wright — probably the first actuary in the world —
and Professor Anderson, a very eminent mathematician, were
employed to give their opinions in regard to the soundness and the
equity of this particular plan of dividing surplus ; and their opinion
being favorable, the company adopted it ; it was applied to the sur-
plus as it existed on the 1st day of February, 1863 ; the post-mortem
dividends — that is, the amounts due to persons who had died insured,
were determined in that way by this same plan ; the question arose
then, in 1864, as to what the post-mortem dividend should be ; and
it was referred, with power, to a committee, consisting of the presi-
dent of the company, the counsel, the actuary and these two gentle-
men that I have named ; and they decided, with the counsel, that
those post-mortem dividends must be paid ; the charter required it ;
and the committee decided unanimously that the plan pursued with
respect to post-mortem dividends was the proper one ; it was the
plan pursued for several years, until 1869, when, as I stated on Satur-
day, an order was given by the president of the company, that in
future no dividends should be paid ; that order was repeated in official
letters to agents aud policy holders — probably to aU the agents —
and no post-mortem dividend was paid for some nine months in the
year 1869 ; I considered that rather illegal — to withhold the payment
of post-mortem dividends — and that view was sustained, afterward,
by the counsel ; although the vice-president of the company had pre-
pared a long and learned argument, to the effect that that action was
illegal, and that they should not be paid.
By Mr. Blessing:
Q. Did they commence to pay it after 1869 ? A. The committee
said it should be paid ; they were equitably and legally due, and
ordered them to be paid.
• 190
Q. Did they pay those that were withheld during the nine months ?
A. There are some now, I notice by the last report, that are with-
held ; they were ordered by the company.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. What do you mean by the report of the company showing that
there are some still withheld ? A. The only report of the company.
Q. May it npt be that they have not been called upon by the pro-
per persons ? A. I suppose, in some cases, that might be the case.
Q. Do you know of any case where the officers refused to pay
them ? A.I did at that time ; I have no knowledge of the company
now.
Q. Haven't those been all paid since f A. No, sir.
Q. What cases are they ? A. There is one that I know of— the
case of Hopkius, in Baltimore, I understand has not been paid*
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. How much does it amount to ? A. Perhaps $150, or some-
where in that neighborhood.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. You don't know of any others ? A. I know there are others ;
I have no knowledge of the names.
Q. And these, you say, are ordered paid f A. They were ordered
paid at the time.
Q. Do you know whether Mr. Hopkins, of Baltimore, has ever
applied for the amount since that order was given ? A. Mr. Hopkins
wrote to me before his death, asking me if I would act as the guardian
of his children with respect to his insurance ; I replied that it would
not be proper for me to act as guardian, being an officer of the com-
pany ; but I would be very glad to do anything that I could ; and it
was on that case that the question of post-mortem dividends came
up particularly.
Q. After the account was settled — evidently from your own testi-
mony there was a great deal of discussion on the subject, and it
was left to the committee — after the account was settled, and the
order made, did you demand this dividend of Mr. Hopkins! A.
Yes, sir; I stated, myself, that it was ordered to be paid.
Q. Did you ask for it afterward ? A. Yes, sir ; I did.
Q. Were you refused its payment? A. There was no definite
answer given to me.
No. 169.] 191
Q. Had you authority to receive the money? A. I should 'not
have assumed the authority ; I supposed, from Mr. Hopkins' letter,
I would have been fully authorized to receive it.
Q. Did you make the demand as the person who had 'authority to
receive the money ? A. I showed Mr. Winston the letter, and asked
that it should be paid.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. What was Mr. Winston's answer ? A. It is a long time ago,
and my recollection is not very distinct, except that his answer was
not specific.
Q. He didn't pay the post-mortem dividend ? A. No, sir; and it
was not paid when I left the company.
Q. Were you present during the evidence of Mr. McCulloh before
this committee? A. I was present a part of the time, on Saturday.
Q. I will call your attention, then,'to the matter of the charges made
by Mr. McCulloh, that false entries were made in the books of this
company for the purpose of imposing on the policy holders and
making them believe that the expenses of the company bore a smaller
ratio to the receipts than the fact would warrant; Mr. McCulloh tes-
tified that the return of surplus, called dividends, which was applied
by the policy holders to the purchase of additional insurance, was
treated by the company as if it were cash received in payment of
such additional insurance, and that that entry was a fraud upon the
policy holders; I ask you, as an expert in life insurance, first,
whether, upon principle, such an entry is not in itself absolutely
correct, and the only true, correct method of stating it ; secondly,
whether it is not the custom of all insurance companies to make their
entries similarly?
Mr. Darlington:
I only want to correct you or suggest what I think is a correction ;
the place that I think you refer to is that where he produced the
bilk; I don't find the word " fraud." [The words "was a fraud,"
in the question, were changed for the word " deceived."]
Witness — My answer is, that the method adopted by the company
to represent the total income and the ratio of expenses is calculated
to deceive the public ; it is not correct ; secondly, I know of no other
company that adopts the same.
Q. Did you not recommend the adoption of that principle f A.
19B [
No, sir ; I recommended that the payments, that the dividends used
to purchase premiums should be an entry on the books of the com-
pany, but I never recommended that they should be used to misre-
present the ratio of expenses.
Q. The entry of the premiums used as a cash receipt was recom-
mended by you, was it not! A. No, sir; I recommended that it
should be a book-keeping entry, in order that the transaction might
be known such as it was.
Q. Didn't you testify, in the examination before the Superintendent
of the Insurance Department, in his examination of the afiairs of
this company, that this method adopted by the Mutual Life Insu-
rance company was the proper method of keeping the books of the
company I A. I testified the item should be entered on the books
of the company ; should be a book-keeping entry, in order that its
nature should be determined ; previous to that time, no notice had
been taken of the account of dividends ; and I thought it was a
defect in the system of book-keeping.
Q. You recommended, then, that the dividends which were
applied to purchase reinsurance should appear as cash received by the
company on its books, didn't you ? A. No, sir.
Q. What did you recommend ? A. I recommended that it should
be an entry by the book-keeper on his books, in order that the trans-
action might be clearly apparent ; the account in that testimony is,
by some reason or other, not correct that I gave.
Q. There is an error in the printed book, as to the testimony you
gave in the Miller examination ? A. My recollection is —
Mr. D Arlington:
Don't call it the examination before Mr. Miller; we have the exami-
nation of Mr. Miller in another way.
Witness — My testimony in that book — I will just read it — I know
that my impression —
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
Mr. McOulloh has the stenographic notes taken by this stenographer.
Witness — My impression is that it was not correct in many par-
ticulars.
Mr. Sewell :
It is printed from the stenographic notes ; so that, if it is incorrect,
the stenographer's notes are incorrect
No. 169.] 198
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Yon believe that is not a proper report ? A. I think it is
incorrect in many respects.
Q. Can yon point ont any defects from it t A. Yes, sir.
.Q. Who was the stenographer that took down these remarks ? A.
I don't recollect the gentleman.
Mr. Darlington:
This gentleman (Mr. Yonng) took the testimony which was not
printed, there having been two separate reports.
Witness — I have never had a chance of comparing this, for I have
never seen the original notes ; but in reading this over, I saw a great
many inaccuracies.
Q. Your answers are incorrectly reported ? A. Yes, sir ; it is
incorrect in many particulars.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. State the particulars in which your answers are incorrectly
reported ; because we will have it corrected, if it is incorrect ? A.
I can hardly do so, without reading them over.
Mr. Darlington :
You will find he was called half a dozen times.
Witness — Yes, sir ; I was called repeatedly.
Q. I call your attention to pages 88 to 92 in your examination
before Mr. Miller.
Mr. Sewell read the testimony as follows :
Sheppard Hobcans recalled) examined by Mr. Miller :
Q. What has been the custom in the company in regard to
including as actual cash receipts the dividends of the preceding
year ? A. It has been the custom to include them.
Q. The general custom? A. The general custon, since we have
been making annual dividends, or within one year thereafter ; the
first annual dividend was made on the 1st of February, 1867, for
the year preceding ; previous to that we had made dividends only
quinquennially, with the exception of the three years ending the
1st of February, 1866.
Q. That was triennial f A. It was then we were making a change ;
in 1865 it was decided by the board to make a dividend for the three
years ending the first of February, 1866, and annually thereafter.
Q. Since the commencement of the annual dividends, the prece-
ding year's dividend has been included in the actual cash receipts ?
A. With the possible exception of the first annual dividend ; I am
[Assembly No. 169.] 13
1W [A
•
not sure it was then, but, with that exception-, it has been included.
Q. Was that subject a matter of discussion among the officers of
the company ? A. Yes, sir ; by the committee and by the superin-
tendent at Albany ; the argument was, there was no other way in
winch we could get the entry in onr books of that transaction ; the
rationale is this, we pay over the dividends to the policy holders at
one window, and they go to another window and pay them back to
us, either for the purchase of additional insurance or for the purpose
of part payment of the premium then falling due ; and there was no
other way, it was thought, we could have a proper boo£ entry of the
transactions, except to include them, where I think they legitimately
belong, in the premium account ; as I said before, the transaction
was brought by the president before the insurance committee, and it
was discussed and approved by them, and I am quite certain it was
approved by Mr. Barnes in writing, but where that writing is I have
no recollection ; but he certainly aid approve of it.
Q. Your own view upon the subject is what ? A. My own view
is, that it is a proper transaction.
Q. That it is proper! A. Perfectly proper, with the possible
qualification that it should be openly expressed, exactly what it
means; I think it is only a fair way of taking advantage of the mag-
nificent position this company holds, and if we neglect that advan-
tage it would be greatly detrimental to us, in comparison with the
note companies.
Q. Does it, in any way, have the effect to conceal the true ratio of
expense to income ! A. If it were decided it was not a proper entry,
it would have, but by deciding in this case it was a proper entry,
then it would not conceal the true ratio, but be the only means of
getting at the true ratio ; the motive which governs me in approving
it, as I do fully, was that a portion of these dividends enter directly
into the cash, as so much premium paid, and in order to get a com-
plete entry, the balance of the dividend, which is, in reality, paid
over, that is, not in reality, but in effect, paid over to the policy
holder, is returned to us and applied to the purchase of additional
insurance; and nothing can buy additional insurance, or insurance
of any kind, except premiums, and that is a proper entry as I con-
ceive it.
Q. What was the effect, with regard to the amount of dividend
which was already carried in as cash received? A. The exact
amount, as nearly as we could get at it, after deducting the amount
which had already gone into cash receipts as direct payment for
premiums.
Q. In 1867 what was the. dividend amount; have you any state-
ment showing it ! A. Yes, sir ; we have statements fully showing it
Q. You don't mean to say that the whole dividend for the pre-
ceding year was carried into the cash receipts of the next year!
A. Not in . that way ; part of it had already been received, as part
payment T)f premiums, and went in as premium ; the other portion,
that is the balance, was applied to the purchase of reversionary addi-
tions, and the addition was carried in by a single entry as so mnch
cash in payment, paid by additions to premium account.
No. 169.] 195
By Mr. Hand :
Q. By part t)f it you don't mean that if a dividend ^oes to one
person, that the same person drew a check to other persons, but that
you made the transfer and regarded it as if he had received the divi-
dend in a check, taken it away, and brought back the same amount?
A. Precisely, sir ; and the whole of the dividend was divided into
two parts ; one portion of it was received by the company a& so much
cash in payment of th^ current premium.
By Mr. Miller :
Q. There are no premiums paid out in cash which are not rein-
Tested in insurance in some way ? A. No, sir ; as far as I know ;
there may be possibly a few exceptions where the dividends are over
100 per cent, but they are few in number, and would not affect the
answer to your question ; I do not know a single instance.
Q. Why should it be divided at all ; why is not the whole dividend
carried into the account ! A. It is only divided because some per-
sons use their dividends to pay premiums; it is not divided by us at
all ; and others use it to buy insurance.
By Mr. MoOulloh :
Q. The object of this is, as I understand it, to put the company
in as favorable a position as possible in comparison with the note
companies, who treat their notes as cash ! A. That is one object ;
and another object, both of which governed me in my approval of
it, was to make a correct entry in the books.
Q. As a matter of book-keeping? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is not the effect of that, the actual effect, to decrease the
apparent ratio of expense as far as the public or the policy holders
have been informed ? A. Certainly ; 'the effect is to diminish the
ratio of expense, and so intended.
Q. It is intended for the purpose of making your expenses appear
more favorable than they would have done if this had been in any
other shape, and to keep your books straight ? A. Certainly ; that
was one object ; to make as favorable an appearance as possible.
Q. Have you made your statement for this year in the same way ?
A. You mean for 1869 ; it has been made in the same way for the
last four or five years.
Q. That is the statement which will now go in to Mr. Miller ? A.
Yes, sir ; with the exception that in our statement to the insurance
department, this year, we have separated these two items and stated
distinctly what they were.
Q. So that a policy holder, in taking your statement for this year,
can form his own opinion as to whether that entry was correct, and
could make his own calculation of your ratio of expense ? A. Cer-
tainly.
Q. Which he could not do before ? A. He would not have means
of doing it correctly unless he made an estimate of what part of the
amount divided was applied to the purchase of reversionary insu-
rance.
196 ' [Abb
Q. There was nothing in your statement to indicate to him that
any such thing was done ? A. I am not prepared to sajr that ; I don't
think any mfeans were taken to conceal it.
Q. I don't pat it in that shape ; I ask whether a policy holder
taking up your statement would have been able by means of the pro-
visions of that statement to have ascertained what was the actual
cash money received, and \vhat were these additions treated as cash ?
A. The items were never separated in the public statement.
Q. With regard to the dividends of 1867 and 1868— were those
dividends made by raising your rate of interest above the four per
cent, at which you had been accustomed to calculate it ? A. No, sir.
Q. Were they made by reducing the cash value of the accumulated
additions? A. No, sir.
Q. I understand that statements have been given out upon policies,
showing the amount applicable to the payment of premiums, and
that when afterward these statements have been brought to the
company, the policy holders have been told that they .could only use
seventy-five per cent of the amount which these statements had
credited to tnem? A. There is no foundation for any such state-
ment as that, that 1 know of.
Q. You know of no such thing ever having been done ? A. No,
sir; we have uniformly used the basis of four per cent interest.
Q. I mean with regard to this cutting down of these statements?
A. There is no truth in it whatever, as far as I know.
Q. Is there anything in that report of your testimony that is erro-
neous ? A. That appears to be correct, as far as I can recollect
Q. To the best of your memory ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Didn't you, correcting your memory by this testimony, write
a letter recommending this method of making these entries? A. I
should like, by means of comparison, to have ray answer read over
again there ; I see now there are some things which I had overlooked
and forgotten.
Mr. Horn an s desires to revise his answer to the question commenc-
ing on page 46 of the record of this day, by striking out the words
" it is not correct," so that the answer will read, " My answer is, that
the method adopted by the company to represent the total income
and the ratio of expenses is calculated to deceive the public.
Secondly, I know of no other company that adopts the same."
Witness continues — My recommendation to the company was to
make an entry of those dividends paid to purchase additional insu-
rance, but I have never recommended that the ratio t)f expenses
should be improperly stated, as, in my judgment, they are improperly
stated in the reports of the company.
Q. Now as to those dividends ; the whole sum of the dividends
appears in the accounts of the company, and in its statements, as a
No. 161.] 197
total sum paid out by the company as its dividends, does it not?
A. Tes, sir. •
Q. The dividend, as I understand it, is never paid in cash, bnt is
available to the assured in one of two ways ; either by applying it in
payment of the premium, or by leaving it all with the company and
purchasing what is called areversional insurance, which is a sum added
to his policy, payable with his policy, either at bis death, or with the
maturity of the policy, otherwise ; now, is it not the correct method of
keeping the books to enter these dividends, when they have been paid
in this manner, as premiums received ? A. They should undoubtedly
be placed among the entries of the company; but to state they
are cash receipts, without stating the nature of the transaction, is
calculated, whether so intended or not —
Q. That is not an answer to my question ; my question is, to use
your own language, can anything buy insurance but premiums, and
if these dividends are used as premiums, is it not correct that they
should appear among the premiums of the company as premiums
received? A. They should certainly be separated from the cash
receipts of the company.
Q. But should they not appear as premiums received ? A. Not
necessarily.
Q. 1 ask you this question, and the stenographer will take it : in
1870, 1 believe it was, I asked you this — it is the latter part of the
question by me on page ninety-two — u Is it not, speaking as an
accountant, the correct method of keeping books, to enter these divi-
dends, when they have been applied in this manner (that is, to pur-
chase insurance), as premiums received ?" you answered that ques-
tion thep, " I think so ;" do you mean the committee to understand
that you do not think so now ? A. No ; I think it is —
Q. I asked you then, " Is there any other way of doing it cor-
rectly ? " And you answered* " I think not, sir ; that is my testimony
already; but I made an exception in. one case." Is that still your
testimony and your opinion? A. Now, that is exactly what I
think ; it is proper to make it a book-keeping entry, and as these
dividends are used to buy additional insurance, it is proper to call
them premiums ; but my point is, and there is the exception that I
name there, and which I still think, that it is improper to state that
the ratio of actual expenses to actual receipts is what was stated in
the reports of the company.
Q. It is always made use of by agents and others, is it not, that
198 [
the ratio of expenses of the company were smaller ; it was always
a method of urging people to take policies in this company, was it
not f A. The ratio of expenses of the Mutual Life are small, and
there is no occasion to make them smaller than they really are.
Q. When you testified here that one of the reasons for making
these entries was that it made the expense smaller —
Mr. Darlington :
On the J)lst page, " It is intended for the pupose of making yonr
expenses more favorable ? " It is that part that yon read to him.
Mr. Skwkll :
The question was this : " Is not the effect of that, the actual effect,
to decrease the apparent ratio of expenses as far as the public or the
policy holders have been informed? A. Certainly; the effect is
to diminish the ratio of expense, and so intended." a
Witness — Yes, sir.
Q. It was so intended, was not it ? A. Yes ; and when properly
explained to the public, there is no impropriety in it; on the
contrary, it ought to be done.
Q. Yon then thought it was right, and yon think so still ?
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
With that qualification.
Witness — With that qualification.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. What do yon mean in yonr answer to the question on
page 89 in this examination, when yon said : " I think it is only
a fair way of taking advantage of the magnificent position this
company holds, and if we neglect that advantage it would be
greatly detrimental to us, in comparison with the note companies!"
A. I think it should be done, but I think it should be explained pro-
perly ; it is a means of showing what immense dividends the com*
pany has been paying and the large surplus they have, by reason of
the economy in the management and the small mortality.
Q. Didn't you mean to take advantage of the fact that it made the
ratio of expenses smaller ? A. Not at all.
Q. You didn't mean that! A. No, sir ; I did not ; I said distinctly
here in that statement that it ought to be properly explained to the
public, so that there should be no question about it ; and it was pro-
No. 169.] 199
perly explained in the report of the twenty-seven years' experience
of the company, made in October of last year ; that is the way it
should have been ; it is properly explained there in that lithograph.
Mr. Sewkll:
Report of the Mutual Life Insurance Company produced by the
witness.
Witness — Don't state it that way.
[Report of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, dated 1872, last
year, is produced and handed to the witness.]
WrrNKSS — This is a statement of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany of the business of that company for twenty-eight years and
eleven months. An entry of the receipts are stated as follows :
"Premiums received in cash $64>677>770 23
Premiums received, surrender of dividends 23)152,560 01."
Now, there it is properly stated. The dividends are used to pur-
chase additional insurance, and in order that the Mutual Life should
take the maximum benefit of their position, it is very proper to
include it in that way ; but to put it in as a receipt in cash, and
then compare it with the statement of the cash expenses, has a
tendency* to deceive the public in regard to the ratio of expenses.
In other words, the statement that the actual expenses, in comparison
with the actual rati* of receipts for the year 1872, was 6.98 of one
per cent, is, in my judgment, calculated to deceive.
Q. Didn't you, very often, while you were in the company, pre-
pare statements for publication, in which you made use of these very
arguments — that the ratio of expenses were small, produced by thus
calculating these dividends as premiums f A. I may have done so,
but at the same time I stated I considered the proper method was to
state specifically that a part of that premium income was produced
by the surrender of dividends.
Q. While you were in the company, did you ever see any state-
ment in which the ratio of dividends was .given and the riiethod
complained off A. Yes, sir; I have prepared the statement myself
in this way.
Q. Did you ever protest against it f A. No ; I don't think, I have
ever objected ; I protested on very frequent occasions and found that
protests were of no avail.
Q. Not on this subject? A. I don't recollect making a protest on
this subject, but, Mr. Sewell, I am on record there that the proper
200 [Abbkmblt
method of stating the receipts would be to state specifically that that
portion of the receipts was for surrender dividends, and was not
actually a cash receipt ; and I am on record also in this testimony,
and on the books of the company, that, in my judgment, the ratio
so divided was not correct
Q. Don't you know that the statement which you now hold in
your hand, and which you say is correct, that all the statements
made to the Insurance Department were made in that way I A. No,
sir ; I do not.
Q. Were not all the statements that were made to the Insurance
Department, when you were there, made dividing those items in the
manner you speak oft A. All of them were not.
Q. From what time ? A. I have no recollection ; my impression
is that they were not divided.
Q. Do yon know whether a time came when they were divided,
and what the practice of the company is now ? A. No ; I have no
recollection of it ; that could easily be ascertained by reference to
the Department.
Q. Look at page 91 of your testimony, and refresh your memory ;
that was in 1869 yon separated the items ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Didn't you in 1870 ? A. I don't recollect, I am sure.
Q. You don't recollect what the course was afterward ? A. No,
sir ; my recollection is very distinct, that in preparing the statements,
the amounts were invariably separated.
Q. Do you recollect, in 1870, whether they were separated t A.
In preparing the statements, they were, invariably, in all the years.
Q. In the statements which went to the Department? A. No;
in preparing my statement of the receipts and payments of the
company.
Q. You have no memory with respect to the statement that went
to the Department f A. I have never prepared the statements ; at
least it was not my custom — hold on a moment — I have prepared
some of the statements, but it was not my custom invariably to pre-
pare them.
Q. Were they not prepared in your department; the actuary's
department ? A. No, sir ; they were prepared in the book-keeper's
department ; the bond and mortgage department.
Q. Were you not obliged to audit the statement f A. Yes, sir.
"No. 169.] 301
Q. Did you not audit the statement of 1810! A. For the year
ending December 31st, 1870!
Q. Yes ! A. My impression is that I did not.
Q. Yon do not remember about the year ending December 31st,
1871 ! A. It was either in 1870 or 1871 that my duties were changed,
if my recollection is right ; and I was not afterward required to
audit — although I am not sure of that ; they were changed before I
left the company ; but when, I could only tell by reference to the
books.
Q. Coming back to the use of proxies— you gave your opinion
that it was necessary, for the protection of the persons in the insur-
ance companies, that proxies should be limited to one year ; what is
your experience regarding the number of persons who vote at elec-
tions in mutual life insurance companies in New York ; or have you
any knowledge . of it ! A. Almost the only election which I ever
attended, and the only one to my recollection, with the exception of
1869, was one in which there were just seven votes cast.
Q. In what company! A. The Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Q. How many voters were then members of the company — about !
A. There were a great many thousand policies, of course ; probably
thirty thousand.
Q. In 1869, when these proxies were used which you speak of,
your name was on the opposition ticket as a director, was it! A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Do you remember how many votes were cast for that ticket !
A. My impression was that there were some four hundred votes cast
in person at that time.
Q. Altogether, you mean ! A. I have forgotten ; I don't know
whether it was cast for that ticket.
By Mr. MgOurdy :
Q. Altogether! A. Altogether; yes, sir. •
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. Do you remember whether or not the personal votes cast would
have elected the opposition ticket ! A. I had no means of knowing
that — not being an inspector of elections, or being present.
Q. Did you hear the result of the election declared ! A. My im-
pression is that the personal votes cast — the votes cast in person —
were larger for the opposition than for the regular ticket- ; I may be
202 [Absmcblt
in error ; I have no positive knowledge about that ; I know there
was a much larger vote cast- for the opposition ticket at that time
than I had ever heard of being cast before — if there ever had been
an opposition ticket before.
Q. Was there ever an opposition ticket before ? A. No —
Mr. Darlington :
He has already said he was never present at any election before.
Witness — I am not aware that there was.
Q. Is not the Mutual Life Insurance Company the only one in
New York which is a purely mutnal company ? A. No, sir.
Q. State another ? A. The New York Life Insurance Company.
Q. Have they no capital stock ? A. No capital stock.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. You stated that of the number of personal votes cast at that
election a majority was in favor of the opposition ticket? A. The
opposition vote at that time, in person, was very large — so large that
proxies were used at that time.
Q. Who were the proxies held by ? A. The president and vice-
president.
Q. They overbalanced the amount of personal votes ? A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dablington:
I think that that personal vote at that election, so far as the
information I have goes, exceeded the opposition.
By Mr. Sewbll :
Q. Don't you remember that the opposition ticket got just ninety-
nine personal votes- at that election? A. No, sir; one member of
the opposition, I recollect, got a great many more than that.
Q. Who was that ? ^ A. Myself.
Q. How many votes did you get ? A. I don't know ; I think it
was 400.
Q. That is a lamentable mistake? A. I know it was over 100; it
ran into the hundreds.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. And you had an opportunity of getting a correct list of the
number of votes cast there? A. I have never had Buch an oppor-
No. 169.] 203
tunity, bat it was given, I believe, to the inspectors of election, of
which Mr. Sewell was one.
Q. You didn't get a copy of that ? A. No, sir ; I have never seen
a copy.
Q. Did you apply for one ? A. No.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Haven't you seen certificates of the inspectors of election
entered upon the minute books of the company, certifying the number
of votes cast f A. My recollection is that such were on the books,
and I probably saw them, and perhaps they are entered every year, but
I was not in the habit of reading the minutes of the board always ;
sometimes I saw them.
Q. In other companies the directors are elected by the stock-
holders almost entirely, are they not? A. No, sir; I think in the
majority of companies the policy holders have a vote, or votes.
Q. Do they ever exercise the right of voting, to your knowledge ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. In what companies do the policy holders exercise the right of
voting, where it is a stock company? A. They do so fn the Guardian
Life Insurance Company, and the United States Life Insurance Com-
pany.
Q. To what extent do they vote ; how many voters generally are
there? A. I have never been present at any election in any insu-
rance company but one, and that was the Widows and Orphans ; I
was an inspector of election in that company once, and the policy
holders voted there as well as stockholders.
Q. To what extent ? A. I really cannot say.
Q. There are some companies in the city where the policy holders
have no vote at all ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. It is managed entirely by the stockholders ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What companies are they ? A. I could not state without a list
of them.
Q. How about the Equitable; is that so? A. The Equitable has
a provision in which the voting shall b$ by the stockholders, and in
which the policy holders may have the right of voting if it is
accorded to them.
Q. " If the directors accord it to them ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know whether the directors have ever accorded the
right ? A. I have never heard that they did ; but I have no posi-
tive knowledge.
804 [A
Q. You testified in your direct examination that you were ordered
to audit an account by Mr. Winston, and you refused to do bo ; do
you not remember, upon that occasion, that Mr. Winston told you
that it was your duty, and your privilege, to address a communica-
tion to the board upon any matter of difference between yon and
him ? A. No, sir.
Q. Or language to that effect f A. No, sir.
Q. He never told you so ? A. No, sir.
Q. Upon any of these Occasions when you had these differences ?
A. I have no recollection of its ever being told to me ; certainly it
was not on that occasion.
Q. In your direct examination you testified, that you had been
informed since, that if you hadn't reeigned the question would hare
been put to a vote, and there were enough parties there, in adherence
to Mr. Winston, who would vote it ; and you testified, a little further
down, that your informant was the vice-president of the company —
do you mean Mr. McCurdy I A. I do.
Q. Please state upon what occasion Mr. McCurdy gave you that
information ? JL The occasion was in your office.
Q. At a meeting between you and Mr. McCurdy? A. I did not
mean to convey the idea that that was a formal statement, that such
would have been the fact ; it may have been an opinion of Mr.
McCurdy's.
Q. Was not that a confidential and private interview between Mr.
McCurdy and yourself? A. I didn't consider it so.
Q. Was the statement made casually, in a conversation ? A. The
statement was made casually ; I s* intended to state it.
Q. You did not consider that interview, then, in any way confi-
dential or private ? A. The private interview —
Q. I mean by " private," confidential, in which the results of it were
not to be disclosed ; we had the impression — but I only want to know
your impression ? A. It was a private interview, but not necessa-
rily confidential.
Q. You testified, in your direct examination, that some change
was made in the management of the company, with respect to divi-
dends, and that there was no reason for the change, except to shield
Mr. Winston from the consequences of his illegal actions ; to what
illegal actions of Mr. Winston did you refer to ; which was I A. I
referred particularly, then, to his order, which I considered illegal,
directing that in future no post-mortem dividends should in any case
be paid.
No. 1«9.] 205
Q. What was the action of the company, changing the system of
making dividends, which would shield him from the consequence of
that action ?
Mr. D ablington :
In the way he brought it in, he gave the reason right before it ; he
bad better look at the testimony.
Witness. — I can state it ; the point that I had reference to was
this, that this illegal order bad been given, both in official letters to
the general agents and agents, and to individual policy holders, that
in future no post-mortem dividends should be paid; and they were
withheld for the period of some nine months ; and I was not aware
of the order, and was not aware of the fact until I was made aware
of it by a letter from the president of the New England life Insu-
rance Company, as I have stated ; there had been no discussion of
the principles upon which the post-mortem dividends had been made
for several years ; they had been settled, and had been calculated in
accordance with the instructions of the insurance committee, who
had charge of those matters ; I considered the order, directing that
in future they should not be paid in any case, to be illegal ; and the
fact that they were withheld, rendered the statement incorrect,
and that was one of the reasons, and perhaps the principal reason
why, as an auditor of the company, I felt it my duty to withhold my
approval of it ; and I considered then, and I consider now, that in
ordering me to audit that account, which I didn't approve, was an
attempt at coercion ; and although I knew the probable consequences
of it, yet I was determined not to audit that account, and declined to
do it ; and after having shown that the order was illegal, and the
post-mortem dividends should be paid, then, and not until then, the
question of the method of dividing the surplus was brought up ; that
is the meaniug of my direct testimony there.
Q. A change was made, then, in the method of dividiug the sur-
plus, was there not ? A. No, sir ; not necessarily ; a change was
subsequently made.
Q. Were not these post-mortem dividends, commonly so called ;
were they not in fact ante-mortem dividends? A. No, sir; not
at all.
Q. Were they the post-mortem dividends which were made pre-
vious to the time when you changed the method of dividing the sur-
plus into the contribution plan % A. No, sir.
806 [Assembly
Q. They differed, then, from the poet-mortem dividends which
were spoken of in the charter, and to which you have referred!
A. Not at all ; when we made a change in the system of dividing the
surplus — as I have stated before, and endeavored to state it fully,
how it would apply — poet-mortem dividends were made a subject of
discussion, and referred with power to a special committee, and they
approved the method of awarding these post-mortem dividends, which
had been followed from the time of the adoption of the contribution
plan to the year 1869 ; and in that time — four or five years after-
ward— the principle had been adopted, and had been applied, and
had been in practice ever since, and then the order was given to
withhold them in future.
Q. Were not those dividends declared before the death of the
party payable upon the anniversary of his policy f A. All the divi-
dends of the company were made payable on the anniversary of the
policy, and that point —
Q. That dividend was payable upon the anniversary of the policy t
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that was declared I A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, if a man died after the anniversary of his policy, would
there be any post-mortem dividends ? A. Certainly.
.Q. In case he died after the first day of February, and before the
anniversary of his policy ? A. Then having received his full equity,
his full share of the surplus, there was nothing more to be given him ;
and that very point was brought before the committee, who had the
power, as a possible defect or an obstacle, and that is on the minutes
of the committee.
Q. To what did you refer, in your testimony, when you said " the*
surplus was divided in the most absurd way that has ever been done
by any company in the world ; to my knowledge, some $800,000 was
given in excess to persons who were not entitled to it)" A. I mean
to say that upon being criticised by the actuary of the company, the
president and vice-president thought, first, to condemn the method
of dividing the surplus, as an after-thought ; that they insisted on a
change ; there was one change of making the fiscal year end on the
31st of December, instead of on the 31st of January ; but the prin-
cipal change was in adopting a new method of dividing the surplus;
if the committee would like to hear it, I will relate it as briefly as
possible.
No. 169.] 207
The Chairman :
We would like to hear it.
Witness. — The facte are these : Mr. McCurdy prepared a long state-
ment, by which he endeavored to explain that our dividend system
was wrong ; that was referred to the counsel of the company, and
they recommended a change in it ; upon a point which had been
decided four or five years previously by the counsel of the company,
their opinions were in direct conflict ; the counsel of 1865 and the
counsel of 1869 were in direct conflict.
Q. Who were they? A. Judge Bradford, William Betts and
Lucius Robinson were the counsel in 1865.
Q. And they agreed in their statement then ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And who were the counsel afterward ? A. Judge Davies,
Lucius Robinson and William Betts were the counsel in 1869 ; daring
the discussion of the principle which would govern the distribution
of surplus, I stated that I was perfectly willing, as it was my duty,
to divide the surplus as I was directed by the trustees of the com-
pany ; but that I felt it due to myself to say that what I had done
up to that time was not only right an,d proper itself, but in strict
accordance with the instructions which I had received ; whereupon
one of my friends, as I supposed to help me out, said in the com-
mittee: "Suppose we had that question decided by competent
experts, whether Mr. Homans had done what was right and proper
in itself, and in accordance with the instructions of the committee ; "
on his suggestion Professors Bartlett and Church, of West Point,
were appointed a committee to examine those facts, whether what
had been done was right in itself, and in accordance with instruc-
tions ; they came down, and I was present when Professor Bartlett
came into the president's room, and he said : " Mr. Winston, I have,
after a careful examination, come to the conclusion that what Mr.
Homans has done was right in itself, and in accordance with his
instructions ; " Mr. Winston said : " That is not the point, Professor
Bartlett ; we have determined to make a change, and we wish yon
to devise a method of dividing surplus different from that which we
have been practicing;" and although outside of the resolution
entirely, and without authority, Professor Bartlett did prepare a
method of dividing surplus, and in the course of a few days it was
brought down aud submitted to the insurance committee; I was pre-
sent, and a motion was made by Mr. Wadsworth that the method of
Professors Bartlett and Church for the distribution of surplus be
306 [
adopted ; Mr. William Moore, a member of the committee, objected ;
he said it would be better that the professors and the actuaries of the
company should confer together, and unite in a recommendation as
to what would be the better plan of dividing surplus, but he was
overruled, and Mr. Wadsworth 's motion was adopted ; the plan pro-
posed by Messrs. Bartlett and Church was adopted for the distribu-
tion of surplus, and the actuary was instructed to carry it oat ; I
listened to the explanations of the professors and studied it over very
carefully for some two or three weeks, made some objections which
were not considered of any consequence, and finally, when I became
convinced that the method was not only inaccurate, but actually
unsafe for adoption for use, in order that I might be right on the
record, I addressed a letter to Mr. Winston stating that the method
was incomplete, inaccurate and unsafe for use by the company.
Q. You mean this method devised by Professors Bartlett and
Church, and adopted by the committee ? A. I do.
Q. Who was Professor Bartlett at this time? A. He was pro-
fessor at West Point Military Academy ; my letter stating that the
plan of the professors was not correct was sent to them ; they tele-
«
graphed within a day or two that they were all right, and the com-
mittee met and ordered me to go ahead, and I spent 6ome six weeks
more in making the necessary calculations, more and more
convinced every day that the method was incorrect and unsafe,
when suddenly a letter came from the professors to the presi-
dent, in which they stated that after a more careful investi-
gation— I quote now their words — " our method is not as cor-
rect as we had anticipated ;" and they urged that another method,
which they then submitted, should be substituted for the one
which had been adopted by the committee ; fearing that that would
not appear, I went to two of the trustees and asked that tliat letter
should be read ; at the meeting of the board, which took place the
next day, Mr. McCurdy, the vice-president, who is also, ex^jjvcio, the
secretary of the company, in reading the minutes, had this commu-
nication from the professors, and stated that it was mathematical
hieroglyphics, and probably not necessary to be read ; and, unless
otherwise wished, he should pass it over ; when my friend, whom I
had asked that it should be read, asked Mr. McCurdy to read it; and
it was read, and the statement was read, also, that the plan was not
as correct as they had thought it was ; then, I understand, Mr. William
E. Dodge got up and stated that here was a difference of opinion —
No. 160.] 209
the professors on the one hand — men of national reputation — said
that it was all right ; and the actuary of the company, who had been
with them fifteen years, and in whom they had every confidence,
said it was unsafe and incorrect ; and he insisted that some referees —
experts — should be appointed, who would see which was right ; that
resolution was carried ; three experts, consisting of Mr. Justice Brad-
ley of the Supreme Court of the United States, Professor Elizur
Wright of Boston, and Professor Newtown of Tale College, were
appointed referees to decide which was right; after a thorough
investigation they decided that the method proposed by the
professors was incorrect, and that in the ascertainment of
surplus it was best to leave the matters to the actuary of the
company ; they suggested a slight modification of my own
formula— -of my own method — to suit the altered circumstances
occasioned by the decision of the counsel, which was that every
man should get his surplus on the first day of January ; that was the
ruling of the counsel ; I proceeded to carry out and calculate the
dividends, and divide the surplus in accordance with the decision of
the referees and the action of the trustees, and reported the results ;
when the results were reported, Mr. Winston and the insurance com-
mittee insisted on altering them, and in doing so they made a distri-
. button of surplus which I characterized in my testimony of Saturday
as being the most absurd, the most unjust, that had ever been made
by any company within my knowledge; in doing so, according to
my judgment, they violated the charter of the company, which
required that the surplus should be divided equitably among the
members ; it was a mistake which they have since endeavored to
rectify at an expense, or at an outlay of some $2,000,000 ; that is
the explanation of the extra dividend made a few months ago ;
$2,000,000 were appropriated to correct the mistake which was made
by the president of the company, and against which my protest is on
record.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. Was this a loss of $2,000,000 ? A. No, sir ; there was no loss
at all.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. How much surplus was there to divide, this time, when you
had this difficulty about how it should be divided f A. The surplus
to divide, under the ruling of the counsel, was $1,200,000.
[Assembly No. 169.] 14
210
Q. How much did your first figures foot up, when you returned
jour distribution of surplus f A. That was the entire amount of
surplus applicable for distribution on the first day of January.
Q. How much money did the board direct the actuary to dis-
tribute as surplus ? A. At a sum not exceeding $2,000,000, before
the sum was ascertained.
Q. How much does that estimate foot up ? A. Twelve hundred
and odd thousand dollars, I think it was. .
Q. How much surplus was over i A. Nothing.
Q. No more surplus ? A. No more surplus to be divided.
Q. Was it then known that there was to be no more surplus? A.
There was no undistributed surplus, Mr. McCnrdy ; there was a sur-
plus unearned and immature, which, under the ruling of the c#unsel,
could not be distributed.
Q. How much did that amount to f A. About $1,000,000.
By Mr. MoCttbdy :
Q. Didn't you report that as surplus to be carried over to the next
year ? A. No ; it was not surplus ; it would be surplus before pre-
miums would be paid by individuals ; but, by the express ruling of
counsel, it could not be touched.
Q. Didn't you agree to distribute fifty per cent of that ? A. No,
sir.
Q. Didn't you say you didn't understand how it arose at the time )
A. No, sir ; I understood it fully.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. You were ordered to make an addition to your dividend of
eighty per cent ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you say when you were ordered to make that addi-
tion f A. My expression was that it would derange the equities of
policy holders ; it would violate the instructions of the trustees and
the recommendations of the referees, and make the distribution
absurd ; my opinion to that effect is on record in the books of the
company.
Q. Did you not at that time agree with the committee that a cer-
tain addition might be made to the amount distributed ; twenty or
thirty per cent ? A. I did not.
Q. Of any sum? A. I did not; I did say that if any percentage
was added a smaller per centage would be a lesser evil than a larger j
No. 189.] 211
but any alteration would be a violation of the instructions of the
trustees and the recommendations of the referees.
Q. What time in the year was this ? A. That had got to be along
in the month of July, I think.
Q. And it was with respect to a dividend that ought to have been
made on -the previous February or January, was it not! A. YeB,
sir.
Q. A great many complaints had been made about the dividends
from agents and others? A. A great many; great dissatisfaction
existed.
Q. It was of the utmost importance that something should be done
in the way of a dividend at once ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you make any proposition to make a new calculation at
this time — in June or July — to divide a larger sum than the
$1,200,000? A. I did not; the distribution was the result — the
arithmetical result — of the principles and facts laid down by the
trustees and referees ; and there could be but one result to it.
Q. This subject of bonuses was testified to by Mr. McOulloh ; you
know all about that subject, don't you ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know of anything wrong or improper about that mat-
ter of giving a bonus to officers? A. I considered the placing of
bonuses to officers to the account of dividends to have been wrong ;
and stated so at the time.
Q. To whom did you state it at the time ? A. Mr. Wadsworth.
Q< Did you ever state it to any of the officers of the company ? A.
I have no recollection.
Q. Did you ever make any effort to have the charge of bonuses,
which was made to the dividend account, taken from the dividend
account and put to expense ? A. I knew nothing of it until after
it was done.
• Q. When did you first know of it ? A. Toward the end of the
first three months after it had been done ; when I came to audit it.
Q. It was done more than once ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. It was done for three years ? A. I have forgotten how many
years.
Q. You saw it every year ? A. I did.
Q. Did you, after the first entry was made, refuse to audit it ? A.
No, sir ; I did not refuse to audit it at any time.
Q. You didn't think it was wrong ? A. I did ; yes, sir.
Q. Why, if you thought so, didn't you refuse to audit it? A.
218 [AfiflOOfBLY
Because I was advised, in consulting with several — among others,
Mr. Wadsworth — I was advised to audit the payments of money as
they were stated on the books of the company ; and if they were
stated there, my duty ended ; it was not my function to criticise the
entries or criticise the action of the president and other officers.
Q. When did yon change your views as to your dutic* in that
respect ? A. I never have.
Q. You did refuse to audit I A. I know, when what I considered
was erroneous — '
Q. But they were entered on the books of the company f A. I
know ; but these were incorrect, obviously incorrect.
Q. The payment of six years' taxes was entered on the books of
the company f A. Yes, sir.
Q. In what does that differ, in principle, from the erroneous charge
of bonuses to dividend account? A. It was partly in consequence
of my asking for instructions and advice in regard to that, that I
came to the conclusion that my duty was to state that the items were
as stated in the report ; and not to criticise the entries themselves.
Q. You made no comment at all, then, about this charge of
bonuses to dividend account; and yet you knew it was wrong!
A. I did make a comment.
Q. I mean to say you made no public comment to the officers, or
objection to the auditing of the account f A. I spoke of it very
freely at the time; I have no recollection of speaking to Mr.
McCurdy ; I don't know that he was there at the time.
Q. Did you ever speak to Mr. Winston about it? A. I don't
know.
Q. Do you know who put it into the account ? A. I do not ; it
was done by Mr. Winston, I think ; that is my recollection.
Q. Have you any recollection on the subject ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is your recollection ? A. It was put there by order of
Mr. Winston.
Q. Don't you know that it was put there after discussion by a
committee, and report upon the subject by a committee ? A. I am
not aware of it.
Q. I call your attention to pages 96 and 97 of the printed book,
to this language, used in the report on page 95 : " Some of the
reasons of this increase may thus be stated briefly :
" 1st. It extends the same principle of compensation as the com*
pany has adopted in employing all its agents. For ten years it has
No. 169.]' 213
declined to pay any salaries to its agents, but has given them,
instead, a commission on the business they have brought to the
office. These commissions last year were $125,000. Our large busi-
ness has been built up in this way.
" 2d. It incites to greater efficiency and economy as a rule. Few
are governed by motives so high and controlling that the spur of
interest will not quicken their efforts in duty.
" 3d. It is a recognized principle among practical men, that busi-
ness is most successfully conducted when the managing and executive
departments are in the hands of those who are compensated directly
from the business of the profits itself.
"4th. It promotes fidelity and contentment in such managing and
executive officers ; they have something to look for as a reward of
extraordinary ability or exertion, beyond a bare fixed compensation ;
they would not then listen to offers that are now constantly being
made to our competent and experienced officers to join other rival
companies and enterprises.
a 5th. Our officers are, or ought to be, men of such ability and
character as to command positions where, with proper application,
they could provide a competency for their families, which cannot be
done, as a rule, upon the salaries paid by this company.
" 6th. The commission proposed is a mere fraction of the profits
made and cared for by the office for the policy holders, diminishing,
by a scarcely perceptible amount, the profit allotted to each, and a
small compensation only for the care of these profits after they have
been set apart to these policy holders after each dividend by the
company.
" 7th. Our most prosperous marine and fire insurance companies,
and some of our life companies, have adopted this principle of com-
pensation with most favorable results ; and it is not known that any
who have adopted it have ever abandoned it.
" 8th. Bank presidents and cashiers can and do hold many lucra-
tive trusts and offices, as agents for other banks, railroad companies,
and for other States, etc. ; while private operations of a profitable
character are constantly brought to their notice, and in which they
often participate, greatly to their advantage ; the officers of this
company hold no such agencies or positions, as their whole time and
attention are claimed and demanded to carry on successfully the
largest moneyed corporation in this country, which may be made, if
properly conducted, the largest in the world, before the close of this
century.
214 [Assembly
" Bat viewing this subject more at large, and in its broader relations,
it would seem to be the part of wisdom to secure, not only the entire
service, bat the greatest attachment of our officers to the prosperity
and the interests of the company. There should be no division of
time, or of labor or attention. Take the actuary for example ; he
should never be placed in a conflict of interests, bat always be enabled
to feel that his lot is cast here with as ; and that no offers whatever
tempting, can detach him from his post. To fill with success and
ability the offices of this company, requires the possession of faculties
which, in another sphere, would command large compensation. There
can be no reason why an officer should be limited to a mere support,
and be cut off from the hope which animates the exertions and labors
of every man to accumulate something to leave his wife and children.
" The committee have, for these reasons, adopted the rule of giving
to the officers a rate per cent of the dividends, the charge instead of
falling on expense account, being placed upon the profits of the com-
pany, and varying according to their amount.
" The committee have had in view, in recommending these allow-
ances, the past history of the company, its great success, and the labor
and services of those who have conducted its affairs ; and they feel
that much is due to the gentlemen who have, by their fidelity and
ability, conduced to this result.
"In making this recommendation, the committee deem it but rea-
sonable and proper for the board to forbid any agency for policies by
officers in the employment of the company.
" In respect to the actuary and the examining physicians, the board
is entitled, in the judgment of the committee, to their constant daily
service, and to all their experience. The latter should, at his early
convenience, prepare a record, containing in fall all rules for practical
guidance in the examining department; and other information
respecting the class of service in his charge. The former should
also prepare a similar record of formulas, mathematical processes,
and the principles upon which various calculations are made, as well
as in the administration of the ordinary business of the company, as
an ascertainment and distribution of dividends. These should be
the property of the company, and accessible to the president and the
board. It is also of vast importance that the actuary should be con-
stantly training persons in his department to the comprehension and
understanding of the system of life insurance, and the mathematical
rules involved in our tables, so there may be always a person, in case
N0.169.] 215
of sickness or other contingency, competent to administer that
department.
" All which is respectfully submitted.
(Signed.) A. W. BEADFOED.
T. GEEEN PIERSON.
JOHN P. YELVEETON.
"New Yobk, June 6, 1865."
Q. Was it not in consequence of that report, that that charge was
made ? A. I have seen that report before, bat I have never noticed
that suggestion before.
Q. I will show you that you have, by turning the page over, and
calling your attention to page 98 ; there you were asked by Mr.
McCulloh :
" Q. That was a per centage on the salaries 1 A. Yes, sir.
" Q. When these bonuses were paid, they were charged to dividends
to the policy holders % A. They were, sir.
" Q. Charged to the account of the policy holders' dividends, were
they not I A. Yes, sir ; I was unaware of the reason or authority
for that until this moment ; it never occurred to me before ; but it
seems to be in the report of the committee that the board authorized
that." A. I stand corrected ; I had forgotten it.
Q. You say there, it is called to your attention in 1870 ? A. Yes,
sir ; I explain that by saying I have not read this since it was taken ;
I had forgotten it ; it was authorized by the committee.
Q. I want to know if you did not, at the time, entirely approve
of this report of the committee on the subject of bonuses, and of
the principle of giving out of the dividends of the company a bonus
to the officers ? A. I don't know that I can say I approve of it.
Q. Where should it come from ; it must come out of the profits 1
A. In one respect it would come out of the profits, as any expenses
must come out of the profits ; I will say this, that I applied for an
increase of salary, which I thought I was entitled to, and it was
given to me ; and given me in this form ; and 1 think the principle
of compensating officers of large corporations, in part, by a fixed
salary, and in part by a per centage on the results, beneficial result,
whether profits or surplus, or whatever they are called, is a correct
one ; I had no scruples, Mr. Chairman, of taking my share of that
bonus, feeling that it was fully earned by devoting the best years of
my life to the service of the Mutual Life Insurance Company.
216 [At
Mr. Darlington :
Get in what he does not approve of, namely, the peculiar method
of charging it.
Witness — I would like to modify that ; I ought not to say now
that I disapprove of it, as it has been approved by the committee of
the board ; my own judgment wonld be that it should appear in
expense account, just as salaries should ; but it was authorized by a
committee of the board, and approved by the board, a fact which I
had forgotton.
Q. Then, it was the duty of the president and all other officers of
the company to carry it out, was it not ; didn't you consider it your
duty to carry out the instructions of the board ! A. Certainly.
Q. Wasn't it the duty of Mr. Winston, and the vice-president also,
to carry out the instructions which it was your duty to carry out, in
their spheres t A. I should not like to say " yes " without modifi-
cation of that fact ; if I had been a trustee of the company, and any-
thing had occurred which I thought was wrong, I should certainly,
at least, have stated my reasons or objections.
Q. But, as an officer of the company, your duties were to carry
out the instructions I A. Yes, sir ; and I don't know that Mr. Wins-
ton and Mr. McCfurdy did not state their views on it ; they may
have been asked.
Q. They may have voted against it 1 A. I know nothing of that
Q. Then you say it was undoubtedly their duty to carry out the
instructions of the committee, as approved by the board f A. Yes,
sir.
Q. Did this question of the first bonus — I call your attention to
page 95, the first bonus that was ordered —
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
I think that was not charged.
Mr. Sbwell :
Mr. McOulloh charged distinctly that the whole plan was got up
for the benefit of Mr. Winston.
Q. Was this whole plan of bonuses got up merely for the purpose
of benefiting Mr. Winston ; got up by Mr. Winston's machinations
for that purpose ? A. I can hardly answer that question ; certainly
he was not the only one that did benefit by it.
Q. All the officers benefited by it, did they not t A. With one
exception, I think.
No. 16fc]; 217
■
Q, Who was that V A. Mr. Abbott, the secretary, was not in-
cluded.
Q. Did Mr. Winston benefit by it at that time; he was not
included in this first resolution of bonuses, was he ; I call your atten-
tion td the report of the committee ? A. He was not included in the
fiftat resolution, but he received a bonft, unless I am entirely wrong.
Mr. Atwood:
No ; I think it was not given at tuat time.
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
We have proved the date exactly ; it was after the 21st of Novem-
ber, 1867, I think.
Witness. — Subsequently awarded.
Q. When was this bonus business terminated I A. Tou have the
date here ; I have forgotten the exact time.
Q. It lasted for two or three years, didn't it ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You have testified with regard to the moneys being deposited
in the Indemnity Company ; was it not absolutely necessary in the
conducting of eo large a business as the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany's is, to have a large amount of money in hand from time to
time, waiting for opportunity for investment, and as a fund out of
which to pay losses? A. It is certainly usual in all cases to have a
greater or less amount, but, not being a financier, I can hardly answer
the question.
Q. The company is limited, in the kind of securities upon which
to loan money, to one or two kinds ? A. You may reduce them to
one or two kinds ; bonds and mortgages, and stocks of different
kinds.
Q. What different kinds of stocks are they allowed to invest in
A. United States, and stocks of the State of New York.
Q. Public stocks of the State itself? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And those of any incorporated city ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Or county? A. Or county; and the stocks created by the
laws of different States, where it is necessary to do so, in order to
transact business.
Q. As a matter of fact, has the Mutual Life Insurance Company
ever invested any in that description of securities? A. I am not
aware that they have.
Q. You speak of companies being allowed to invest in stocks of
218 [
other States ; does that apply to the Mutual Life Insurance Company,
or only to companies organized under the general insurance laws f
Mr. MoCuedt :
Tour answer refers to the companies organized under the general
laws. •
Witness — Well.
Q. Then the bonds and mortgages in which the funds of the com-
pany are required to be invesftd are bonds and mortgages upon real
estate in the State of New York, and adjoining States, within fifty
miles of the city of New York, which must be in value double the
amount of the loan, must it not ? A. The wording is : u worth fifty
per cent in each case more than the amount of loan."
Q. You are now talking about the general law t A. Yes, sir.
Q. But is not the Mutual Life Insurance Company's charter differ-
ent from the general law ? A. Yes, sir ; it is a special charter.
Q. Does it not provide that it shall only lend fifty per cent of the
value ? A. Yes, sir ; I think it does — in the charter ; the practice is
never to exceed fifty per cent of the value.
Q. In such a state of limitation, in respect to the investments of
the company, it does not need an expert to answer the question ; is
it not necessary that a large amount of money should be on hand
from time to time, waiting for investment, and to meet drafts for death
claims, and for other purposes, as they come due 1
Mr. Dablinoton :
That is a mere question of inference ; the committee can determine
that, as well as the witness, I suppose.
Mr. Sewbll :
No ; the committee never were as conversant with the working of
the company as he was.
Witness — I have sometimes thought there was more cash on hand
than there was any necessity for ; but a considerable amount must,
of necessity, be always kept on hand awaiting investment.
Q. You testified that the testimony taken in the investigation of
the company, made by George W. Miller, was published at the
expense of the company, and was copy-righted, with the intention of
preventing its publication by anybody else; I desire to ask you
whether, if it had been published by anybody else, other companies
would not have used the publication — the agents of other companies,
No. 169.] 219
at least — would not have used the publication for the purpose of
depreciating the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and inducing
persons about to take out life insurance to take it out in the com-
panies they represented f A. They might possibly hare done so.
Q. Do you not know that it was to prevent that, which was reason-
ably apprehended by the officers of the company, that this publication
was made and copy-righted ? A. I never heard that reason given
until this moment — or suggested.
Q. How do you know that the intention was to prevent its being
published by some one else ? A. I can only say that my judgment
led me to that inference.
Q. It was a matter, then, of inference, and not a matter of infor-
mation by any of the officers of the company to you ? A. No, sir.
Q. How long have you known Stephen English f A. I should
say four or five years.
Q. Was he not, at the time of the investigation of the company
before George W. Miller, present at the investigation very often,
when you were there ? A. My impression is that he was present at
different times ; although I have no recollection of seeing him there
more than once or twice.
Q. He was at that time known as a person who advocated the
policy of the then management of the company, and was opposed to
Mr. McCulloh and his friends ? A. I never knew of any opposition
to Mr. McCulloh or to his friends, whoever they may be.
Q. You were not present at a personal altercation between him
and Mr. McCulloh, in the office of the company ? A. I was not. '
Q. Was the investigation before Mr. George W. Miller an open
investigation, or was the room kept locked or closed 1
Mr. ,t> Arlington :
Those words, I suppose, are too general. Open, do you mean, to
the press ?
Mr. Sbwell :
Open to the public; to anybody that chose to come in.
Witness — I am not aware whether it was kept strictly private or
not ; I think persons were admitted.
Q. Ton were always admitted whenever you chose to come in ?
A. Yes, sir; always.
220 [Assembly
Q. And you were there quite often ? A. I was there on different
occasions; I .don't recollect how often; I was called before them
several times.
Q. Besides being called there as a witness, were you not there on
several occasions while the evidence was being taken f A. I was in
and out frequently.
Q. Did you ever hear of anybody being prevented from being
present ? A. No, sir.
Q. This Hasted loan, as it is called, did any loss accrue to the
company from that loan ? A. No, sir.
Q. The president had authority to purchase stocks of the United
States at that time, had he not ? A. No, sir ; not by any general
resolution, as I ever heard, or particular resolution.
Q. He claims to have had authority to purchase stocks of the
United States, and certificates of indebtedness; the securities are
mentioned under the authority of a resolution of the board of trus-
tees ? A. I had never heard of it ; it is quite possible that there may
have been such a resolution.
Q. These stocks of the United States upon which this loan was
claimed to have been made were abundant security for this amount
of money, were they not? A. I have never seen the amount of
security deposited there ; I have no knowledge of it.
Q. Would not $40,000 of United States stock be an abundant
security for a loan of $30,000 1 A. Undoubtedly.
Q. This matter of the alleged exercise of authority illegally by
Mr. Winston, in making this loan of $30,000 to Mr. Hosted, was the
subject of an investigating committee of the board, appointed for
the purpose of ascertaining the facts of the transaction, was it not!
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that committee exonorated Mr. Winston from all blame in
the matter, did they not 1 A. Not fully ; the report of the com-
mitte is before you, I think.
Q. Didn't the committee say there was much to praise in the
action of Mr. Winston, and nothing to condemn ? A. There were
words to that effect by the majority of the committee.
Q. And that majority report wad adopted by the board, was it
not ? A. Yes, sir.
No. 168.] 221
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Was there a minority report on that ? A. There was a minority
report.
Q. Was it ever printed? A. No, sir; I have never seen it in
print.
Q. Did they stop the publication of it ? A. 1 don't think there
was ever any call for the publication of the minority report.
Q. Who appointed this investigating committee ? A. That I am
not aware of; it was appointed at a meeting of the board of direc-
tors at which I was not present.
Q. How many members of the board of directors are there ? A.
There are thirty-six when the board is full, including the vice-presi-
dent and president.
The Chairman :
Of course the majority can act f
WrrNB88 — Oh, yes, sir ; the majority govern.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. How many of those majority directors do you think are friendly
to Mr. Winston 1 A. That is very hard for me to say ; I suppose
they are all friendly to him.
Q. He appointed the whole committee, I suppose ? A. I don't
recollect by whom the committee was appointed at that time.
Mr. Sewell :
I call Mr. Blessing's attention to page eleven of that book, which
will answer his question as to which members of the board were
friendly to Mr. Winston ; it is signed by every member of the board ;
will you be good enough to read it ?
"At the usual quarterly meeting of the board of trustees, held on
the 16th October, 1872, on motion it was unanimously
" Hesolvedj That in accepting the statement of the actuary and
auditor at this meeting, the trustees deem it their duty, and the pre-
sent a fitting occasion, to express their continued confidence in the
watchfulness, ability and integrity with which the business has been
conducted by the executive officers, and their appreciation of the
faithful performance of their duties by those employed in other
departments of the institution.
"Hesofoed, That we, the undersigned trustees of the Mutual Life
222 [A
Insurance Company of New York, do express our entire confidence
in the accuracy of the preceding statement.
" JOHN V. L. PRUYN, JOHN E. DEVELIN,
I. GREEN PETERSON, H. 0. VON POST,
R. H. McCURDY, JOHN WADSWORTH,
. WILLIAM BETTS, ALONZO CHILD,
S. D. BABCOCK, EZRA WHEELER,
MARTIN BATES, WM. SMITH BROWN,
SAMUEL M. CORNELL, LUCIUS ROBINSON,
SAM'L E. SPROULLS, ALFRED EDWARDS,
WM. A. HAINES, JAS. C. HOLDEN,
HENRY E. DAVIES, FRANCIS SEIDDY,
WM. H. POPHAM, O. H. PALMER,
GEO. S. COE, ALEX. H. RICE,
DAVID HOADLEY, GEO. C. RICHARDSON,
W. E. DODGE, WM. M. VERMILYE,
RICH. PATRICK, S. L. HUSTED,
F. R. STARR, J. ELLIOT CONDICT,
W. P. BABCOCK."
Mr. Sewbll :
The minority report is put in evidence by Mr. McCuIloh.
By Mr. Blessing :
Mr. Homans says they made a minority report ; and it has never
been published.
» Mr. Sewbll:
It was put in evidence by Mr. McCuIloh ; it is in evidence, signed
by Mr. Brown, who, as Mr. McCuIloh said, was very anxious to get
his name off of it now.
Mr. Dablington:
Give the reason why.
Mr. Sewbll:
" Because his son was appointed, as counsel, fey the company," or
something of that kind.
By Mr. Sewbll :
Q. I call your attention now to this matter of the return of this
Husted loan ; there had been some entry made on a slip of paper by
the clerk ; this slip of paper was no part of the books or records of
the company ? A. The slip of paper was no book ; it was an official
No. 169.] 223
paper, however, prepared by the direction of the finance committee,
for their use and information.
Q. It was intended to be a transcript of the books of the company,
was it not, or to condense information that was on the books of the
company! A. The object was very clearly to indicate the amount
of receipts and payments during the week, in order that the finance
committee might know how much was available for investment.
Q. This piece of paper that was presented on that occasion, showed
that perfectly, didn't it ? A. It showed correctly —
Q. It made no difference as to the result of that piece of paper,
and the information that the finance committee wanted from what
source those receipts were obtained, did it ? A. Not as to the aggre-
gate amount ; no.
Q. The books of the company showed the transaction as it was,
didn't they t A. The cash-book of the company showed the trans-
action correctly.
Q. There has been no attempt made to alter the record in that
respect t A. No, sir.
Q. This question of the advance of money by Mr. Winston, on
drafts of Colonel North and Mr. Seymour ; the company lost not a
dollar by that, did they $ A. Not to my knowledge ; not one dol-
lar.
Q. Was Mr. Lucius Bobinson, at that time, comptroller of the
State of New York 1 A. I have forgotten whether he was at that
precise time or not
Q. He was then, as now, a counsel, and one of the trustees of the
company, was he not ? A. He was.
Mr. Darlington :
That all appears from Mr. Robinson's examination in the book ;
we have all of it.
Mr. Atwood :
That book, entire, is in evidence before the committee.
Q. Do you know anything about that matter that convicts any of
the officers of the company of malappropriation of the funds of the
company ? A. The transaction was not one authorized at all ; it
was on the individual responsibility of Mr. Winston.
Q. Afterward ratified ? A. It was afterward ratified; the criticism
to be made on it was that the money reported to be in the hands of
the cashier, was not there.
284 [Assembly
Q. Well, was there not, in place of the money, a draft upon the
State Treasurer of the State of New York, which was good for the
amount t A. The war drafts were in the cashier's drawer; but in
the interim, between the transmission of the money and the receipt
of the draft, there was nothing, I presume.
Q. There was no payment made till the draft was received, was
there t A. The precise nature of the transaction I can scarcely
recall, with accuracy.
Mr. D ARLINGTON I
That would be no security, however ; the State law provides that
there must be security given.
Witness — There was no question of the fact that the money was
reported to be in the hands of the cashier, and the transaction was
not authorized.
Q. Suppose a man comes into your office in the afternoon and gets
you to cash a check for him — yon put that check in the drawer —
would you consider it a false statement to call that cheek cash on
hand, in the drawer, if you were called upon the next day to make a
statement of the financial condition of the institution !
Mr. Darlington :
Would it not depend upon whether the check was good or not ?
Mr. Sewell :
That was good.
Mr. Daelington :
Oh* no ; that was not good ; it* was paid four months afterward,
and was in violation of the law.
Witness. — In answer to your question ; if the cashier had cashed a
check for an individual, he would have done it on his own responsi-
bility.
Q. Would it be a false statement to call it cash on hand, the check
being there to represent the cash? A. It would not be a correct
statement to say that there was so much money on hand, unless the
check was certified.
Q. Are not premiums constantly being paid by checks ; individual
checks f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Not certified ? A. Undoubtedly.
No. 169.] 225
Q. Was it a false statement to call those cheeks " cash on hand ?"
A. No.
Q. How much more is it cash on hand, if it is certified, than if it
is not? A. It would be this : If the cashier used the money of the
company in cashing a check, which he was not authorized to do,
whereas the receipt of premiums is his proper duty—
Q. Nevertheless, the falseness of the statement is the same,
whether it is his duty or not ; I ask you if that would be a false
statement? A. It is not necessarily a false statement.
Q. Isn't it the constant usage of mercantile houses and insurance
establishments to call checks " cash " ? (Objected to by Mr. Darling-
ton.)
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. "Was the check certified by the bank ? A. A check certified
by the bank would be, undoubtedly, the same as money, if the bank
were good ; but I should make a distinction ; I don't know whether
I can make it clear ; if the cashier should cash a draft or check for a
private individual, and in the ordinary course of business, and as an
accommodation or favor, and would state that that piece of paper
in his drawer was " money on hand," it would not be a correct state-
ment.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. On his own responsibility ? A. On his own responsibility.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. All the criticism that you can make upon this transaction is,
as I understand, that the president, during war time, for the purpose
of expediting the transfer of moneys of the State of New York to
the battle-front, to aid the soldiers of the State, took some responsi-
bilities upon himself which the letter of the charter did not allow;
is not that the whole of the criticism ? A. No, sir ; it would be of
a different character.
Q. What is your criticism ? A. My criticism is that the moneys
were advanced to the State agent without the authority of the com-
mittee or of the board, and that an attempt of concealment was
made, by stating that the money was in the hands of the cashier.
Q. Do you know as to whether the finance committee did or did
not understand all about that transaction ? A. They did not at the
time ; they afterward investigated it, and it was approved, I think.
[Assembly No. 169.] 16
226 [Assembly
Q. How do you know that they didn't know it at the time, or a
majority of them ? A. I know that the finance committee didn't
know it ; whether any individual members may have known it, or
not, I can't say.
Q. Do yon, or not, know, whether each and every individual mem-
ber of the finance committee did not know or approve of the transac-
tion ? A. I do.
Q. What one of them didn't know it f A. Mr. Pierson.
Q. Isaac Green Pierson ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he disapprove of it ? A. Yes, sir ; he has disapproved
of it ; my knowledge is chiefly gathered from the report of the com-
mittee itself ; the committee appointed some one to examine this
matter.
Q. You have been asked by Mr. .Darlington or Mr. Atwood
whether the trustees and officers, or particularly the officers and
Mr. Winston — have not been freely criticised in the newspapers for
the last six months, and you said "yes." —
Mr. Dablington :
Prior to the last six months t
— Prior to the last six months, and you answered "yes; " I now want
to ask you whether you ever saw any charge in the newspapers, until
Mr. Stephen English made the charge, that Mr. Winston and Mr.
McCnrdy were making use of improper efforts to influence the
appointment of a person as Superintendent of the Insurance Depart-
ment, for the purpose of shielding themselves from the consequences
of their malappropriation of the company's funds ? A. I had seen
it stated, and I had been informed by persons who were posted —
insurance men — that the officers of the company were endeavoring to
get certain individuals appointed as Superintendent.
Q. Who are the individuals ? A. Mr. Lucius Robinson was one,
in particular,
Q. Was the charge, that it was for the purpose of shielding them-
selves from the consequences of their malappropriation of the com-
pany's funds ; did you see that in print ? A. No, I never saw that
in print ; I have seen it commented on very freely that the officers
were using very great exertions to retain Mr. Miller in office.
Q. That is not the point ; it was somebody in his place that I
asked about ; did you ever see, or do you know, or did yon ever hear
it charged, that Mr. Winston had cashed <fra>fo for his friends, and
No. 1«».] 227
allowed them to remain for a year or more in the drawers, until they
accumulated to heavy totals t
Mr. Dabllngton :
That is a misprint ; not a year ; it is for half a year, I think ; at
any rate, it is not a copy of the paper.
Mr. Sewell :
That is the complaint in this action.
Mr. Dablington :
It is not a copy of the publication ; I have a copy of the publica-
tion here ; which count is it ?
Mr. Sewell :
It is the 17th folio of the complaint ; the third count.
Mr. Darlington :
" Thus does Mr. Winston ride the company and subject it wholly
to the tyranny of his will ; he uses its funds as if they were his per-
sonal property ; he turns the company into a bank, and cashes drafts
for his friends, and allows them to remain for a year or more."
That is the article, I suppose, in point.
Q. Did you ever hear of this charge ever having been made, in
print, that he cashed drafts for his friends, and allowed them to
remain in the drawers of the company for half a year and more, till
they accumulated to heavy totals, reckoning them as cash on hand,
and keeping no record whatever of the transaction, and thus using
and misusing the funds of the company, without the sanction of the
trustees, and contrary to the provisions of the company's charter t
A. I have never heard of any charge like that, unless it be the one
we were speaking of just now, as the advance to the State agent.
Q. That is the only one you have ever heard of? A. That is the
only one.
Q. Did you ever see it charged in the public prints, or heard it
spoken of commonly, that Mr. McCurdy and Mr. Winston had
entered into a conspiracy to give out to the world that Stephen Eng-
lish was mad, and thereby account for his attacks upon the company ?
A. I have heard something to that effect, but I really don't know —
Q. Whom did you hear it from ? A. I don't recollect.
Q. Was it before or since English's publication f A. Yes, sir ; I
228 [.
saw it, I think, in the insurance paper, published in Newark, of
which Mr. Mills was the editor.
Q. Yon saw that Mr. Winston or Mr. MeCurdy had done so ? A.
Mj impression is that I saw that Mr. Winston had stated that Mr.
English was insane, and that is the paper I saw it in ; I saw it in
some paper.
Q. Did you see anything in that paper, or any other, that Mr.
Winston and Mr. MeCurdy had come to an agreement between them-
selves ? A. No, sir.
Q. That was the question —
Mr. Darlington:
Onr information is that Mr. McCnrdy wrote the article.
By Mr. Sewkll :
Q. Was the reason of your leaving the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, the fact that you did not consider Mr. Winston a fit asso-
ciate ? A. I never 6tated that.
Mr Sbwell :
That is one of the libels.
Mr. Darlington:
Not that Mr. Homans said so.
Q. Was that the fact ; I ask you, quoting from the complaint :
" But Mr. Homans, who was a man of science, and a gentleman of
honor, was not a fit associate for Mr. Winston and Mr. MeCurdy ;
they are mere schemers ; they do not care a fig for life insurance
beyond the facility it affords them to make money faster than they
could gain it in merchandise or in law; Mr. Homans, however, cher-
ished a love for its principles and beneficence, and found it impos-
sible, after years of forbearance and ineffectual protest, to remain in
an organization of which the greatness was only a convenient shield
to hide venal corruption and personal aggrandizement ;" I ask you
if that is a fair statement of the cause of your leaving the Mutual
Insurance Company ? A. It certainly should not be the way that I
would put it.
Mr. Darlington :
Suppose you let him put it in his own way. He won't say but
that he has a love for the principles of insurance.
No. 169.] 229
Mr. Sewell :
Tee, I will let him state that.
Mr. Darlington :
Which article is that in ? I want you to show him the paper, so
that he can state it in his own way. I only want to confine him to
that subject, as to whether he did not cherish a love for its principles.
Mr. Sewell :
I won't show him the papers. Yon asked him to state it in his
own way.
Witness — It is a very difficult question to answer, the way it is
propounded.
Q. Was there not a very long controversy between you and Mr.
Winston before you left the company, about a variety of matters ?
A. No, sir ; I can't say that ; we were never in very full accord, I
think ; personally we were, but officially not very full accord.
Q. Were there not some matters with respect to your discharge of
the duties of your department, in which yon and he had an irrecon-
cilable difference of opinion ? A. No, sir ; not at all ; I never heard
any criticism on the way I discharged my duties, or had any contro-
versy with Mr. Winston in regard to it.
Q. Mr. Winston was of opinion that the Mutual Life Insurance
Company required all your talent and all your time, was he not ?
A. Not always.
Q. And hadn't it been, prior to your leaving there, a cause of
difference between you) A. No, sir; not until just the moment of
my leaving.
Q. Was there not a complaint made by some of the agents of the
company that you, as an actuary, had given certificates to other
companies, which interfered with the business of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company ? A. No, sir ; just before I left, a letter appeared
in a St. Louis paper, a private note which I had written, speaking
well of another company, and given on the condition that it was not
to be published, which, without any wrong intention, was published,
and most amply atoned for, and explained by the officers of the com-
pany ; and that was the charge, that I had spoken too favorably of
another company ; but the charge was not sustained, and was dropped
most completely, as I was assured at the time.
Q. Was there not more than one such charge ? A. No, sir ; after-
ward, after this had been disposed of, there was a letter I wrote to
280 [As
Mr. Barnes, which I considered a personal letter, which he published,
bat which had no reference to any individual company ; that, I sup-
pose, you allude to ; but that was also withdrawn.
Q. Was not the fact that complaints had been made of your acting
as actuary for other companies the immediate cause of your resigna-
tion f A. Not at all ; I never heard that it had been a cause of
complaint until just before I left.
Q. Was it not a condition of your resignation that these complaints
should be withdrawn ? A. Not at all ; they were withdrawn before
I would listen to any terms or speak of leaving, in any way or shape.
Q. Did you not make it a condition that they should be withdrawn
before you would speak of leaving ? A. No, sir ; I assumed, if they
were withdrawn at all, they were withdrawn as baseless ; without any
cause at all ; and unless they were withdrawn, I would not speak of
leaving in any way or shape; and they were withdrawn uncon-
ditionally before I spoke of resigning.
Q. Did you ever see any charge made in any newspaper or other
publication, before Stephen English charged it in his paper, that Mr.
Winston had corrupted the Legislature, and paid to Tom Fields and
other members of it money to prevent their investigating into his con-
duct of the Mutual Life Insurance Company ? A. There were state-
ments in the daily press at the time of this investigation, called the
" Dennis Burns " investigation, to the effect that the officers of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company had paid this committee.
Q. Was there any statement that Frederick S. Winston had paid
the committee f A. I don't recollect how specifically his name was
mentioned, but I think it was mentioned.
Q. What paper was it published in f A. The Evening Poet,
among others.
Q. Did it publish the fact that Mr. Winston had paid them f A.
Not the fact ; the rumor that the committee had been bought, I
think, the expression was.
Q. You must be entirely mistaken about that ; was not the publi-
cation, in the Evening Post, a publication saying that they were a
black-mailing committee, and hoping the insurance companies would
not pay them ? A. The publication I allude to was a rumor that the
companies had paid, I think it was $30,000, to this committee.
Q. The companies had ? A. The companies or company had, and
warning them that such would be ruinous, and speaking in terms
against it.
No, 169.] 231
Q. Did they implicate Mr. Winston in any way, any more than
any other president of a life insurance company 9 A. Only as the
most prominent man in the profession.
Q. Did it mention his name! A. I think not.
Q. While yon were actuary of the Mutual Life, and receiving a
salary from them, what other companies were you acting for as con-
sulting actuary, or otherwise, as an actuary t A. I had at different
times given some personal advice to the companies, a list of which is
printed before yon there.
Q. The Universal, the Washington, the Widows' and Orphans',
the National, the Standard, the Massachusetts, Mutual of New York
and the Home? A. Those were, in general, the companies where I
had given information in regard to the distribution of surplus, and
the method adopted by the Mutual Life, first, and since followed by
all the other companies ; they naturally sought for information from
me about it, and in some few cases that information was paid for, but
generally it was not ; I will state also, since you have asked the ques-
tion, in regard to the Widows' and Orphans' and Universal, my con-
nection with them was by votes of some of the trustees of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Q. You testified that it was a private letter of yours that was
written to a St. Louis company, which was published ; were not you
paid $150 for writing that ? A. Not a penny.
Q. Ton never received a cent for it? A. No, sir; I got a civil
letter from a gentleman who said that he had been solicited to insure
in the St Louis Mutual Life Insurance Company ; and he had heard
that I was insured there, and had taken the liberty of asking my
opinion ; I had never heard of him before ; I wrote back that the com-
pany was a good one ; I had known of the officers since I was a boy,
and my life was insured there ; but I thought it might be an agency
dodge, and I took the precaution of going to the managers in New
York, and asked if that man was an agent, and they replied no ; I
said if this is a bona fide inquiry and will not be used as a public
document, I will send the letter ; and that pledge was given me that
it sh&uld be never published or used as a canvassing document ; and
some months afterward an officer newly appointed in the company,
happened to see it, and he put it in the daily print ; and the president
and secretary and vice-president made the most ample apologies and
said it was an inadvertence, and there was no intention to do so; the
letter was a simple answer to a simple request ; I never received any
233 ' [AflffiOCBLY
compensation in any way ; I paid my premium by a check, just as
any other person would do ; and that was the charge npon which a
committee was appointed, and which was shown to be entirely base-
less, and was withdrawn completely before I would listen to any
suggestion about resigning, or changing my position in. any way.
Q. Did you know that Mr. Winston had written a letter to that
committee, in which a great many other charges were made f A.
Never, until informed by Mr. McCurdy two years afterwards ; I never
had seen the charges ; I was told explicitly by Mr. George 8. Coe
and by other members of the committee that any charges that had
been made were withdrawn in tato ; that there were no charges what-
ever against me ; and I said, before I would listen to any idea of resign-
ing, that they must be withdrawn.
By Mr. Abbott :
Q« Where did you see it charged that the committee of the Legis-
lature received $80,000 1 A. In the Evening Post, there was some
rumor.
Q. It was a rumor merely ? A. Merely a rumor ; this was four
or five years ago, at the time of the Denis Burns investigation here ;
Tom Fields was a member of it.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. You don't know the names of the members of the committee
at that time i A. I don't recollect who the other members were ; I
think Mr. Jacobs was one ; I am not sure ; the names were given at
the time. -
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. What date was that ? A. This must be some five years ago ;
Mr. Dennis Burns was chairman.
By Mr. Sbwbll :
Q. You continued as consulting actuary of the company down to
a date in December last, didn't you f A. I did.
Q. An arrangement was entered into, or some change was made
by the company, in which they dispensed with that office after the
first of January, and you were notified of it ; did you hold office
until the first of January or did you resign ? A. I resigned on the
sixth of December.
Q. Was that the same day on which you attended a meeting of
No, 160.] 983
twenty-four other companies oppoeed to the Mutual Life Insurance
Company f A. I attended no meeting of any insurance companies ;
the meeting you refer to was called at my office ; I asked a number
of prominent gentlemen who had consulted with me in regard to this
proposed change, if they would not come around and have a little
talk.
Q. That was the meeting at which you became employed as one of
the three actuaries employed by the company opposed ? A. I never
was employed, or received a penny of compensation for anything I
did in connection with the ^reduction of rates.
Q. Did you sign a paper in connection with Mr. Fackler and Mr.
Elizur Wright f A. I wrote my views of it, and then the other
actuaries wrote their views of it.
Q. Didn't you, while you were actuary of the Mutual Life, recom-
mend, on various occasions, a reduction of the rates ? A. Never ;
they never were reduced.
Q. Didn't you, in conversation, say that they could be reduced, or
ought to be reduced f A. Never.
John Oliver, sworn.
Examined by Mr. Darlington :
Q. You were the foreman of Bradstreet & Co. f A. Yes, sir.
Q. Printers ? A. J. L. Bradstreet & Son.
Q. For years past you have been engaged in printing the Insurance
Times, haven't you i A. Since 1868.
Q. For Mr. Stephen English i A. Yes, sir.
Q. In January last, did you receive any threats if you continued
the publication ? A. We received letters from Messrs. Sewell and
Pierce, and other counsel, that if we continued to print libels —
Mr. Sewell :
Wait a moment ; where are the letters f
Mr. Darlington:
I have got copies of them.
Mr. Sewell :
Where are the original letters!
Mr. Darlington:
I have not got the original.
284 [Asuhblt
Mr. Sewbll j
Yon don't suppose yon are going to pnt in copies, unless the origi-
nal is shown to be lost, destroyed or ont of the control of the party
offering them.
Mr. D ARLINGTON :
The committee are entitled to get information even without that ;
they can even ask him of whom he heard it, and have it that way ;
I have copies here of three of the letters, and I propose to prove a
fourth one. «
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Have yon the original letters f A. They are in the possession
of the firm, and those copies I wrote at the request of Mr. English ;
he took exceptions to our discontinuing printing the paper, and I
sent the copies to him to let him know why we did discontinue it
By Mr. D Arlington :
Q. There was another one, was not there ? A. There was another
one.
Q. Those three are copies made by you of letters received by
Bradstreet & Co. ? A. Yes, sir ; I copied them from the originals.
Mr. Darlington :
I offer those three copies in evidence.
By the Chairman :
Q. You stated that those are exact copies ; did you copy them
from the original? A. Yes, sir; I copied them from the original.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Can you furnish the original letters from which you copied
them f A. The firm I suppose could ; they are in the possession of
the firm ; they are not in my possession individually.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Whose letters are those f A. The firm's.
Mr. Sewell:
I will read the one that we wrote, and if it is correct I have no
objection to allowing it to go in ; how does this man know who
No. 169.1 235
^wrote the letters ? That I will admit as written by as (after reading
the letter), and I will read it.
Exhibit 7, April 14th, 1878, and copied as follows :
(Copy.)
" New York, January 14, 1873.
" Messrs. J. M. Bbadstbeet & Son :
" Gentlemen. — We have been informed that yon have printed the
Insurance Times for Stephen English. Thq columns of that sheet
for six months past have been filled with libels of a most malicious
and defamatory character upon our clients, Mr. F. S. Winston and
Mr. R. A. McCnrdy. We yesterday commenced two civil actions
against English, and orders of arrest have been issued to hold him
to bail. Our good friend, your counsel, Mr. Bird, will tell you that
the printer of a libel is as responsible as the writer, and our clients
have the same cause of action against you that they have against Mr.
English.
"This communication is intended to call your attention to the
facts, and to say, on behalf of our clients, that while we do not waive
any claim for damages which they have against you for the libels
heretofore printed by yon, we are instructed if, after this notice, you
print any more defamatory matters, to commence legal proceedings
against you.
" Hoping you will avoid forcing such a course upon us,
" We are your obedient servants,
" SEWELL & PIERCE."
Mr. Sewell:
That letter we wrote, and we avow every word of it ; we will do
it just as sure as they do what we tell them not to do ; these two
letters I will not admit, and will object to them as having nothing to
do with ns, one of them relating to parties with whom we have
nothing to do.
Mr. Darlington :
We, propose to show that these two other letters were received
about the same time ; and to connect Mr. Savage and Mr. Phipps
and Mr. Winston in attempting to stop the publication of the paper.
Mr. Sewell :
On the whole, I think that though it is entirely irregular and
improper, and my brother ought to know better than to offer these
papers, I will allow them to come in, as it proves that Stephen English
is a common libeler ; and that there are other people who complain
S36 [Assembly
of him. It seems there are other people whom he ie blackguarding
all the time.
Copy of letter, dated January 22d, 1873, marked "Exhibit 8,
April 14th, 1873 ; " and letter dated January 8th, 1873, marked
" Exhibit 9, April 14th, 1873." They are as follows :
" New York, January 23d, 1873.
" Messrs. J. M. Bbadstbeet & Son :
" Gentlemen. — I am instructed by George W. Savage, Esq., Presi-
dent of the New York Board of Underwriters, and late President of
the International Insurance Company, to call your attention to the
{rross libels upon him in recent issues of the Insurance Times, pub-
ished by you. If these libels are continued, I am directed to com-
mence a suit against you for damages. In the meantime he reserves
his right to take such action in relation to the libels heretofore pub-
lished as he may be advised.
" Respectfully yours,
WARREN G. BROWN."
" New Yobk, January 8th, 1873.
" Messrs. J. M. Bradstbeet & Son, Commercial Agency and Printers,
279 Broadway and 57 Reade street"
" Gentlemen. — We have been retained by Mr. Wm. F. Phipps to
1)rosecute an action for libel against the editor, proprietors and pub-
ishers of the Insurance Times. We were not aware until yesterday
that you were the printers and publishers of that journal. We have
advised Mr. Phipps that he has a good cause of action against you
for all the libels published in that paper, as against himself. He
desires lis to inform you, before taking any against you, of our
intentions.
" Who is to inform you, therefore, that Mr. Phipps will hold you
to a strict account, as printers and publishers of the said papers, for
all the libels and slanders in regard to himself, published therein,
and for whatever damages he may be entitled to.
" Yours truly,
« OH ASE, BESTOM & HOLT."
By Mr. Abbott :
Q. You propose to connect them with Mr. Winston i
Mr. Darlington:
Yes, sir.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. In consequence of these letters, did you decline to print his
paper ? A. Yes, sir.
No. 169.] 237
John H. Bewley, sworn.
Examined by Mr. Darlington :
Q. What is jonr business % A. I am an officer of a life insurance
company.
Q. Were yon formerly in the employ of the Mutual Life ? A. I
was. %
Q. Do you know Mr. Frederick S. Winston ? A. I do.
Q. Ton left that company J A. Yes, sir.
Q. About what time? A. In the year 1864; in the end of
December.
Q. You were book-keeper of the company ? A. Yes, sir ; in the
latter part of my services I was.
Q. You were there at the time of this transaction, when Mr.
H usted got some money from the company ? A. Yes, sir ; I was.
Mr. Sewell :
Let me read that testimony, and ask him if it is correct (the tes-
timony in the printed book).
Witness — I read that to-day ; it is substantially correct.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. The testimony yon have given here from pages 117 to 122,
inclusive ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did yon know of any other facts in regard to malappropriation
of funds by Mr. Winston ? A. Of my own knowledge I do not.
Q. Do yon know of the publication of charges against him ? A.
Yes, sir ; I have read those in Mr. English's paper, and those in the
Herald.
Q. Prior to that, in the Baltimore Underwriter ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Didn't you, yourself, publish an article about it) A. I have
written some articles in the Baltimore Underwriter.
Q. And besides that in the Baltimore Underwriter, did you not
publish some pamphlets or slips? A. I published a slip, now that I
remember of, called Sartor Resartus.
Q. You have read the charges published in the Insurance Times?
A. Oh, yes sir ; from time to time I have read some of them, and
some I have not ; I have taken very little interest in this question
lately; I have had my own business to attend to; that Sartor
Resartus was written as smarting under an unjust statement of our
affairs put forth by the Mutual Life, as an attempt to injure the com.
pany that I am now connected with ; this was done as retaliation.
288 [
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. It was an agent's document, as I understand it ? A. They
were distributed largely by our agents ; and I believe by the agents
of the companies ; and I thought it was quite a respectable retort.
Q. This paper which has been produced, marked as an exhibit, is
/the one, isn't it)
Mr. Sewell:
Well, we won't fight about it ; I will admit it.
Q. These articles in the Underwriter ; look at those and see if yon
ever saw them before f A. I have seen that article before, and that
(Exhibits 5 and 6).
Q. Hadn't these charges, in reference to malappropriation of funds
by Mr. Winston, been a matter of common notoriety amongst insu-
rance people, and in insurance papers? A. Yes, sir; I have heard
them frequently spoken of.
Q. Long prior to the publication by Mr. Engligh ? A. Yes, sir ;
but yon must specify charges there, because Mr. English has made
charges I never heard before.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. He has made charges you never heard before! A. Yes, sir;
but I don't question their truth ; I don't mean to say anything about
that.
Mr. Sbwell :
Oh, no ; we never questioned their truth.
Witness. — I only want to be square on my own record.
By Mr. D Arlington :
Q. I see you refer to the item of paid dividends and cash, so much,
in your article, and to the appropriation of surplus,, in addition to
their salaries, and have it charged " dividends to policy holders P
A. I remember it all distinctly.
Q. I see you refer to the Dennis Burns committee; at that lime
was it a common remark in reference to this committee and their
action, as to Mr. Winston's connection with it f A. Yes, sir.
Q. State what the rumors were ? A. The rumors were that the
committee had been "seen."
No. 169.] , 289
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. What does that mean? A. I don't know; Been by some
agents.
Mr. Abbott :
That is a legislative phrase.
Mr. S swell-:
That, I suppose, is an active intransitive verb, and it is proper to
say who " saw " them ; isn't it ?
Witness — I suppose so ; I don't know whether I have a right to
suggest it; bnt the manner in which the committee suspended its
examinations, and never gave forth its report, gives some sort of a
color to the idea that an influence was exerted to smother it.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Did you hear of the Mutual Life, or any of its officers, having
contributed money to influence legislators or legislation ? A. Oh,
that has been said of every company in the city almost ; there are
very few companies — of course my own is one exception ; we do not
do it.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. Yon never do anything of that kind t A. Never ; we can't
afford it.
By Mr. Abbott:
Q. It was pretty generally understood at that time that the com-
mittee was captured f A. Oh, yes, sir ; I had better state that my
company is the Unwerml Life Insurance Company; I want that
distinctly understood — that we never give anything.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. Let me ask whether his company has been investigated f A.
No, it never has.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Will yon be kind enough to state the general nature of the
charges which you heard commonly and openly made in respect to
the officers of this company f
240 [A
Mr. Sewell :
I object to the " general nature."
Q. The specific charges that you heard made about it ; state it
fully in your own language ? A. Oh, my ! too much.
Q. Those -charges that you had heard against the officers of this
company —
Mr. Sewell:
Mr. Winston's. *
Q. Mr. Winston's chiefly ?
Witness. — State all the charges I have heard against it ?
Q. Yes ; the public charges 1 A. In the newspapers ?
Q. Yes ; or in any insurance papers.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. How long would it take t A. A week,
Mr. Dabungton:
You can condense that.
«
Mr. Atwood :
I can tell him in brief what the charges are.
Mr. Sewell:
You are not on the stand, and I object.
Q. State the general nature of the charges I A. I heard it charged
that he loaned Mr. Husted — I made the charge myself, I will say, in
this case — that he loaned Mr. Husted $30,000 of the company's
money without authority, and that he, either directly or by implica-
tion, certainly with' his knowledge, the statement furnished to the
finance committee every week was falsified with his knowledge, and
partly by his direction, to cover up that transaction.
Q. That is one $ A. That is one ; it was stated — he states that
Mr. Winston gave him — I will make this explanation in view of the
fact that my testimony on this point before has been ignored and a
different coloring given to this transaction by Mr. Winston and his
defenders, and which, in a measure, reflects upon the integrity or
truthfulness of my statement ; I was in office at the time, and 1
know the charge against him ; perfectly familiar with it ; I will say
I was security clerk at that time, previous to Mr. Sands ; I kept the
accounts of bonds and mortgages and the bonds and stocks held by the
No. 169.] 341
company ; there was a book in which the stocks of different kinds,
including certificates of indebtedness, which you all remember were
issued during the early part of the war, were entered in this book as
soon as received ; Mr. Winston, I should say, had a standing order to
buy a certain amount of these certificates of indebtedness, according
as he could- get them, on good terms.
By Mr. Sbwell :
Q. He had that authority ? A. He had that undoubtedly ; but of
no other description of stock ; he bought some from Mr. Hnsted, or
stated that he bought them ; it was charged by Mr. Frederick S.
Winston, who was cashier of the company at that time, on the cash
book, as so much paid for certificates of indebtedness ; and on the
statement made to the finance committee on the Thursday or Tuesday,
when they met, following that transaction, that transaction was stated,
to my certain knowledge, as certificates of indebtedness purchased ;
when the loan was repaid by Mr. Hnsted, it was credited to certifi-
cates of indebtedness redeemed, or words to that effect ; that, Mr.
Winston had no right to do ; and when Mr. Sands, who made out
this weekly statement to the committee, put it before Mr. Winston,
he objected to that item, and said it was wrong, and that it should
not go before the committee in that way; Mr. Sands came to me,
being young in the office, and more or less under ray direction, and
as I was acquainted with it, and he stated this fact ; and I told him
he would have to put it in with premiums, or something else ; Mr.
Winston would not do it in that form ; he did put it with premiums,
and laid it again before Mr. Winston ; and it was put before the com-
mittee in that form ; now, to my certain knowledge, it has always
been the custom of the company, as soon as stocks of an}7 descrip-
tion were bought, to inscribe them with the name of the company,
or indorse them with the name of the company and to put them by
immediately on their purchase, for security's sake ; no such certificates
were ever presented to Mr. Sands or to me as those said to have been
bought from Mr. Husted ; my own conviction is that he never deposited
a dollar ; Mr. Husted came in afterward, and paid off* the loan, with
interest on it, and it was credited.
Q. That is one transaction ; now, you sold your policy back to the
company at a pretty high price ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. They gave you $600 for it, I believe ? A. I think that was
the amount ; I am pretty sure it was.
[Assembly No. 169.] 16
243 [A
Q. What other facts — the question was a broad one! A. Id regard
to that other point that you were examining Mr. Homans on, and
this cash in the drawer; I was cognizant of that to a certain extent ;
I knew that certain doenments were carried over as cash.
Q. For months ? A. For a considerable time ; yes sir ; I dare say
months.
Q. That is, drafts made on Mr. Winston ? A. I don't know what
they were ; I never saw them ; I knew that there were certain amounts
said to have been cash iu the cashier's hands, which was not cash ; if
it was checks, or anything of that kind, they were deportable as
other checks.
Q. In regard to other charges yon have heard publicly made, what
other charges had yon heard made against him prior to those charges
of Mr. English's ? A. I heard charges as to the restoration of Mr.
Frederick S. Winston's policies; those I had myself on very good
authority ; and I believe I was the first to bring public attention to
them.
Q. Who did you get them from ? A. It was imparted to me con-
fidentially ; I would prefer not to mention the name ; but it was a
party whose truthfulness I never for a moment doubted; and the
truth of his statements have been since established.
Q. Did you hear anything about the restoration of Mr. Bradford's
policy? A. Yes, sir; I have heard about that frequently/; I heard
it through the publications of Mr. McCulloh.
Q. And in reference to the suspension of Mr. Winston's salary
from 1865 to November, 1867? A. Yes, sir; I have heard of that.
Q. In regard to the proxies, and Mr. Winston's power, by the use
of proxies ; did you hear of that public remark? A. Oh, yes, sir;
that was a matter of public remark for a long time ; it was well
known and currently stated, and has been ever since I was connected
with the company, almost, that Mr. Winston had a reserve of proxies
that could surmount all opposition ; I have seen them produced on
an occasion, in connection with Mr. Blunt.
Q. What was that ? A. There was some opposition, I believe,
anticipated ; but there was none shown, and the proxies were pro-
duced ; I think that was before yowr day, Mr. Sewell ; it was when
Mr. Dey, and somebody else —
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. It was a time when the memory of man runneth not to the
contrary ? A. No ; you will find it in the minute-book — the deposit-
No. 169.] 243
book made of the proxies, in my handwriting in the minutes of the
board of directors.
Cross-examined by Mr. Skwell :
Q. "Who was it told yon — that made these charges which you say
were confidential — the same information which you say you would
rather not mentioa personally I A. I have stated my reasons for not
mentioning the name.
Q. If it was stated publicly, why have you any objection to name
it } A. The fact was stated publicly.
Q. Who stated it publicly ? A. I did.
Q. Who stated it publicly before you ? A. I stated expressly that
I was the first who made it public ; that was when Mr. English was
the petted defender of the Mutual Life.
Q. Was he the petted defender of the Mutual Life ? A. I under-
stood so, and I believe he was.
Q. Was he a petted defender of the Mutual Life I A. I think so;
but I don't know it of my own knowledge ; newspaper editors, at all
events, have the reputation of working for money like everybody else ;
your own estimation of English don't raise him above that, does itf
Q. How long have you known Mr. Stephen English ? A. Almost
ever since I have been in the insurance business, off and on ; I knew
him slightly when we used to go around from the Monitor, when he
was associated with Tom Jones.
Q. Do you know Mr. English's character for truth and veracity in
the community where he lives I A. I have heard very hard things
said about Mr. English.
Q. Won't you answer the question ; do you know his character for
truth and veracity in the community where he has lived for the last
three or four years ? A. I have not moved sufficiently among the
general community to know what the general opinion is ; I have
heard people say that Mr. English was a pretty hard case ; I have
heard some people say that he is a man more sinned against than
sinning, particularly in the present transaction ; that is my own
conviction, I can tell you plainly, in this case.
Q. What is Mr. Stephen English's character among the insurance
companies in the city of New York ?
Mr. Dablington :
The witness has already stated he does not know his general
character.
244 [A
Mr. Sbwsll :
I am limiting it to the insurance companies ; I will go through a
few companies that I happen to know ; that is the only way I can do
it fairly.
Q. Don't yon know his general character in business f A. I am
acquainted with but very few insurance companies in this city.
Mr. Atwood :
That is hardly proper to ask him.
Mr. Sewell :
I concede that it is not proper to say specifically —
A. I am not in a position to say ; I am not competent to speak on
that subject with justice to Mr. English ; I can state that it is thought
that the Mutual Life Insurance think him a pretty hard case.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. They didn't use to think him so, did they ! A. No, they did
not ; I don't know about that, sure.
By Mr. Sbwsll :
Q. Well, do you know that of your own knowledge, that they didnt
used to think sot A. No; I stated that I withdrew that-; they used
him, and favored him.
Q. Did you ever hear charged against Mr. Winston, or either or
any of the officers of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, except by
Stephen English, that they had taken into their pay the expelled
superintendent, Miller, at a salary of $5,000 a year; and that they
did pay him $416.66 a month, because he had secrets in his posses-
sion which would be damaging to the officers of the Mutual life
Insurance Company, if they were made public ? A. I heard it stated
that he had a salary of $5,000 a year in the Mutual Life.
Q. Who did you hear state that ? A. I cannot exactly state that ;
but I think if you go to any life insurance man, and ask him if he
heard it, he would say the same thing — that he had heard it.
Q. Don't you allude, now, to the publication of Mr. English ? A.
No, I never knew it was published by Mr. English ; has it been f
Q. Yes ; it is one of the charges ? A. I don't know it ; I heard it
was one of those rumors ; and it is currently reported, and very
generally believed, so far as I am aware, or* my knowledge goes.
No. 160.] 245
Mr. D ARLINGTON:
That is the way he published it.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. What charges has Mr. English made ; you stated that he has
made charges yon never heard of before ; what charges are they that
you allude to ? A. I don't know ; they occurred to me when you
were reading them to Mr. Homans ; and I stood there.
Q. Did you ever hear it charged that there was a deficit of many
millions of dollars in the funds of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany, that the officers hadn't accounted for? A. No, sir; never
seriously made ; I have been asked if it was possible that such a
deficit could exist.
Q. After the publication of the charge by Mr. English ? A. I
don't know what time.
. Q. The charge is that the company got rid of $11,113,239 ; you
never heard that charge before specifically f A. No, sir.
Q. Nor seriously I A. No.
Q. You have been in opposition to Mr. Winston for a good many
years, have you not; you and he have been at swords' points? A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Both before you left the company and since ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. There was no very good feeling existing between you ? A. I
presume not.
Q. There is not on your side, any way, is there ? A. Not very ;
at least there used not to be ; it is a matter of indifference to me now
altogether.
By the Chairman :
Q. I would like to ask him what was the cause of that ; what
first started it? A. It was entirely a personal matter; it was an
injustice done to me when I was in the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany, and subsequently falsehoods spread regarding my character by
Mr. Winston ; falsehoods under oath.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. How long since yon left the Mutual Life Insurance Company f
A. In the year 1864 — the end.
Q. Do you know of any irregularities during the time of your
services in the company? A. The Hasted one.
246 [Asskh<
Q. Nothing outside of tlioee two transactions- that yon mentioned f
A. No, sir ; nothing outside of those two transactions.
Mr. Darlington:
That article, where he speaks abont the the Mutual Life, com-
mences, " It is currently reported that Mr. George W. Miller is in
the employment of the Mutual Life;" he does not say that he was.
Mr. Sewell:
Mr. Bewley says that it was so.
By Mr. Sewell :
Q. What charges did Mr. Winston make? A. He said I stole
a private account-book belonging to him for the purpose of creating
him annoyance and inconvenience ; when he stated it, he knew he
lied ; I had the pleasure of telling him so to his face.
Q. The finance committee was in session that morning when young
Sands asked him what he should do about it f A. They were abont
assembling.
Q. The little slip was a printed slip, was it not ? A. Yes, sir ; a
printed slip ; I had it printed myself.
Q. But containing the sources of. the incomings of the company —
and one of those heads was premiums? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was it not the object of putting everything under the head
of premiums that was not under some other head ? A. No ; well,
the thing didn't pretend to be a correct statement at all ; the main
items of expenditure were put down correctly ; for instance, the
account could be, of each loan paid off as a source of income ; the
amounts received for any stocks that can be sold, and it was balanced
by putting in the premiums; that was understood by everybody;
it wa6 merely to get at the result, as a basis for the finance com-
mittee's action.
Q. That slip was not kept as a part of the accounts of the com-
pany? A. That was kept a very long time; kept by Mr. Sands,
under my direction, until the examination was made before Mr.
Miller.
Q. And you told him to keep it, lest the question should come up
again, for your own purposes ? A. Certainly.
Q. These slips were no part of the record of the Mutual life
Company ; they were not kept as accounts ? A. They were kept
No. 169.] 247
occasionally, for two or three months, and then the book was closed
and thrown away.
Q. Do you know whether that ever really did come into the com-
mittee, of your own knowledge t A. Well, it was put on Mr. Win-
ston's desk, and he took it with him ; whether he exhibited it to the
committee, or not, of course I cannot say.
Q. You say that Mr. Winston said that item was incorrect 1 A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Was not that the fact, that it was incorrect ? A. What t
Q. The item of certificates redeemed ? A. Of course it was incor-
rect.
Q. Then the criticism that Mr. Winston made upon the statement
as presented to him was a correct criticism, was it not ? A. No, sir ;
it was not a correct criticism.
Q. In what was it incorrect ; the criticism that Mr. Winston made
upon the statement presented to him was a correct criticism, was it
not ? A. His criticism of the statement was not correct because
unless it was — but, of course, the committee sees the double entendre.
James Alexander Mo watt, sworn :
Examined by Mr. Darlington :
Q. Look at the article now shown you, on page 757 of the Octo-
ber number of the Insurance Times — the $11,000,000 article. A.
Pages 662 and 663.
Q. Who collated and obtained the facts set forth in that number ?
A. Yes, sir ; I wrote the article.
Q. You did ? A. Yes, 9ir.
Q. What did you obtain them from t A. From a tabulated state-
ment published in the Insurance Times, at page 442, for June, 1870,
called the financial history of the Mutual Life, and folded up like a
map — not in the size of the paper, but folded up as a map, doubled
up to go in like a map in a railway guide — and from the Massachu-
setts Report of the succeeding year; those documents showed the
total receipts of the Mutual Life for the twenty-eight years, then, of
its existence ; the total moneys paid for death claims to policy holders,
with all dividends upon them ; and the difference between these sums
amounts to $11,113,239 ; it is a mere matter of calculation of plain
figures from the statements ; Mr. English never saw this until collated
by me, and never suggested it ; it is my own, entirely.
Q. There is just that difference, is there not ? A. Yes, sir, which
348 [Assembly
I will show to Mr. McCardy, if he likes ; and the paragraph whiqh
is said to be libelous, is asking him to explain it ; it does not refer to
Mr. Winston: "How did the presidents and officials get rid of
$11,113,239, not shown under any heading of disbursements in all
the returns of the company for twenty-eight years ? We hare nar-
rowed the question down to this. What is the answer ? Where is
the money gone? Who has received it? It must be clearly shown,
without any more shuffling of figures, what has become of the entire
$97,468,034, of receipts of the Mutual Life; and how these
$11,113,239 can be accounted for in its disbursements or in its assets.
Did the company lose this sum by bad investments ? If so, when and
how ? Messrs. Winston and McCurdy " — the present officers — " will
Require to clearly and satisfactorily account for this discrepancy of
$11,113, 239." It is merely put as a discrepancy in the figures, for
which the present gentlemen ought to be able to account. Mr.
Sewell knows it is not a libel perfectly well, and he would not argue
the question on the other side, in a court, with me, I know.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. Where did you get the statement from, as published at that
time ? A. From their own published statements, collated for twenty-
seven years into a document folded as a map ; aud then from their
sworn statement in the Massachusetts Report of the succeeding year ;
on this question, I can produce the whole documents to the committee,
it they wish it.
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. Have you that tabulated statement? A. Yes, 6ir; it is bound
up in the volume for 1870, page 442; the figures are exact; you
would not get more from the documents ; I dare say Mr. McCurdy
could explain the thing in an hour's time, if he went into the figures ;
that is all I asked him to do in the article ; he could have done it the
next month if he chose.
Gross-examined by Mr. Sewell : •
Q. Have you ever been connected with a mutual life insurance
company ? A. Fes, sir.
Q. What one ? A. The Whittington Life Insurance Company.
Q. Where? A. Of London.
Q. How long were you there? A. Six or seven years; I was
manager of the business in Ireland.
No. 169.] 249
Q. Hare yon had any special mathematical training? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. Do yon consider yourself an expert in life insurance affairs f
A. I do.
Q. As such an expert do you now testify to the committee that
the accounts of the company, that you have spoken of, do show a
deficit unaccounted for of that $11,000,000? A. I do ; I think it
could be explained ; I don't say that they are not explainable ; but
they are not explained in the accounts.
Q. Don't you know that the accounts have the explanation upon
their face? A. No, sir; I don't think they do; not the three dif-
ferent accounts that are set forth in the article.
Q. Where did you get those accounts ? A. One is the account*
bound up as a sheet, entitled " The financial history of the Mutual
Life from its commencement until Jannary, 1870;" and is bound up
in the June number, page 442, of the Insurance Times.
Q. Published by Mr. English ? A. Yes, sir ; it is collated by the
insurance company, evidently ; Stephen English could not get that
without the assistance of Mr. McCurdy.
Q. This statement, in my hand, shows that the receipts of the
company for twenty-seven years were $105,317,088.03 1 A. Yes,
that is just the difference added to tMs, of the next two years' busi-
ness.
Q. Does that statement contain that ? A. No, because you have
two years' business added ; this statement ends in 1871. '
Q. This is the same, with the difference of the two years' business ?
A. It is the same, with that difference.
Q. The disbursements in this statement show $56,052,466.86?
A. I dare say that that was published as an answer to this article ;
but it did not account separately for the $11,000,000 as it should
have done, if it had been wisely drawn up ; if I had drawn that up
I would have explained the $11,000,000.
Q. How are they explainable? A. I think they are explainable ;
if I got at the books I dare say I could find it out.
Q. Don't you know, from the published documents from which
you collated the article, what the item is that is omitted there. A.
I suspect, myself, that a large amount of money paid as dividends
and transferred in that kind of muddle and bungle of entering as
cash, or in some other way, is omitted ; and it is that confusion of
two entries like that that has made the $11,000,000; if it was
properly found out every cent of it would be accounted for, I dare say.
250 [AflOMHLT
Q. You knew that when yon wrote that article! A. I suspeeted
that, bnt it was not my business to find it ont for them.
Q. Was it not your business, as a fair journalist, to state the facts t
A. So I did ; I believe I said it was a discrepancy ; I would have
been glad if they had explained it the next month ; and so would
Mr. English.
Q. Did you write any more articles that contained libels! A. No
others that contained libels are mine.
Q. How long have you been connected with the Insurance Times!
A. Since February, 1872.
Q. You were not connected with it when it was lauding the com-
pany ? A. No, sir, 1 was not ; I would not laud a company that has
one dollar and eight cents of assets on the dollar of liabilities under
any circumstances ; that is, its assets for its liabilities ; and I would
not put my pen upon the paper to laud a company that had only one
dollar and eight cents of assets on the dollar to meet its liabilities ;
I would not insure in a company with only one dollar and eight cents
assets to meet its liabilities.
Q. Isn't that a fair amount for a man in business ! A. Yes, where
he knows his liabilities that night ; but where your liabilities won't
be known for thirty or forty years to come it is too close a margin ;
and, besides, your assets of one dollar and eight cents are loaned to
the extent of thirty-four millions odd on house property, in the
State of New York, and within fifty miles of the city of New York ;
if a conflagration, such as occurred at Chicago or Boston, they would
have nothing to meet that liability but the policies of the fire com-
panies, that might themselves be made bankrupt by the conflagration,
and could not pay more than twenty-five cents on the dollar.
Q. Don't you know that the company does not loan more than
fifty per cent on the value of house property ! A. I dare say it does
not ; but a fire won't respect that half in its depredations.
Q. Would not the site of the building be security for the money
so loaned ! A. The clearing away of the rubbish after a fire would
cost as much as the value of the site in many instances.
Q. Do you submit that as an expert of the value of property in
the city of New York ? A. No, sir ; but it is so in many places.
Q. What places ? A. In small towns.
Q. What places ? A. I can't tell you. ,
Q. Do you know of any such loans in America! A. No; but I
know that in Europe there is no money loaned by life insurance com-
No. 169.] 251
panics od house property, because it is so risky ; not a cent ; no Eng-
lish or Irish company has a penny loaned on house property, because
it is a risk.
Q. Do you know that it is an invariable rule of this company, in
loaning money on property out of the city of New York, to lend
only fifty per cent of the valuation of the land, leaving out of account
entirely the value of the building ? A. I think that is a wise thing
to do.
Q. Do you know that that is the rule f A. I don't know that, of
course ; how would I know that ; I know that money is loaned very
riskily on property.
Mr. MoOuedt :
t That is the rule of the company.
Witness — You had better be sworn on that.
Mr. MoOubdy :
On all country property — all property outside of cities ; in the
cities, of course, the loan is on the value of the lot.
Witness — That shows that the company believe that lending on
buildings is imprudent.
Q. Your deliberate opinion is, then, that it costs as much to take
the rubbish of a burned house from a lot in the city of New
York as the lot is worth ? A. No, sir ; I didn't say that ; I said in
some places.
Q. Do you know of any loans of the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany upon lots where it would cost as much to clear the lot as the
lot is worth ? A. I believe the place where I live would cost that
much — in Putnam avenue, Brooklyn ; I believe you would have to
pay workmen as much to clear the lot, to get at the foundation, as
the whole site is worth.
Q. What is the value of the lot? A. I suppose the sites would
sell at something like $300.
Q. Do you know whether the Mutual Life Insurance Company
has a loan upon that lot? A. I don't know but that they have on
some quite as bad.
Q. What else have you to say ? A. They have $58,000,000 loaned
in New York, and within fifty miles, and they must have a fearful
lot of bad property ; the very fact of loaning $58,000,000 inside of
that narrow circle is a fearful risk ; the $58,000,000 ought to be
loaned all over the United States, to get good security.
258
Q. Do yon know that the loans of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company extend all over the great State of New York, and some of
the loans are on property 300 miles away from the city of New York f
A. I suppose they are up at Buffalo and Rochester.
Q. Do you know that a large portion of the loans of the Mutual
Life Insurance Company is on fanning lands situated in forty coun-
ties in the State of New York ? A. I should expect that they would
have.
Q. What do you mean by saying that it is loaning only within fifty
miles of the city of New York ? A. They can go only fifty miles out-
side of the city of New York ; if they go into Jersey or Connecticut,
they can go only fifty miles.
Q. You are of the opinion that the money of this corporation
ought not to be reserved in the State of New York for the benefit of
its citizens, but ought to be scattered all over the United States I A.
I do, certainly.
Q. That is your opinion I A. That is my opinion ; only I thought
you didn't want opinions.
Joel O. Stephens, moorn.
Examined by Mr. Darlington :
Q. You are the under-sheriff of the city of New York ? A. I am.
Q. This defendant, Stephen English, is in your custody I A. He
is.
Q. Under what process ? A. Under an order of arrest issued out
of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, by Judge Barrett,
for $20,000 ; and also under an order of arrest granted by Judge
Barbour of the Superior Court for the same amount.
Q. Will you be kind enough to look and give me the dates of these
orders ? A. The arrest was on 23d of January ; the orders must
have been dated prior to that.
Mr. Darlington :
The order of arrest in the Supreme Court has no date, but it is
evidently the 13th, as you can see by the affidavit of the same date.
Q. The sheriff's books show the date, do they not ? A. Yes ; I
merely took this date from the jail book — the date of the arrest
Mr. Darlington :
The two orders of arrest, which I present to the witness, then, are
admitted to be issued on the 13th of January, 1873.
No. 169.] S58
Q. Prior to that, yon had arrested the defendant in the suit of
George T. Hope against Stephen English } A. I presume so, from
these papers, although I did not refer to anything except our jail
book; I supposed that was all your subpena called for.
Q. He is not held under any other process } A. This is all we hold
him under, these two orders of arrest, in which Frederick S. Winston
is plaintiff in each case.
Mr. Dajklhtgton:
This copy of the bail bond was made by myself —
Mr. Sewell :
I admit that he is out on bail on the suit in which George T. Hope
is plaintiff and Stephen English is defendant, and that Mr. Freeman
and Mr. Stanton are his bail ; and that he has indemnified those bail
by. a deposit in their hands of a like amount of bonds.
Cross-examination by Mr. Sewell :
Q. You have no personal knowledge of tne incidents connected
with Mr. English's arrest, have you} A. No, sir.
Q. You know nothing of how long the deputy was looking for him ?
A. I have a general knowledge that there was a good deal of trouble
to find him, — not of my own knowledge ; I never attend to sufch
matters.
Q. We have had something here about what people have heard ;
now what did your deputy tell you about it} A. He told me I think
that he had gone to New Jersey and that he had a great deal of diffi-
culty in getting him, and only by some finesse on the part of some
parties was he able to proenre him ; I think that the proposition was
made to him that he could either go to jail or to State prison in New
Jersey, or the debtor's jail in New York ; this 1*6 what he told me ;
I know nothing about it personally.
Q. How long between the time when the process was received in
your hands and the time when he was made prisoner } A. About
ten days.
By Mr. Blessing :
Q. This is only hearsay, and you do not know anything about it }
A. Nothing, except the fact that we have got him in custody ; that
is all I know about it.
254 * [Assembly
Mr. Sewell :
Before the committee leave here I should like to have an oppor-
tunity to cross-examine Mr. English ; the committee will remember
that upon the day we were first notified of this investigation we
were here ; and, through a mistake of a clerk, we were waiting here
while yon were taking the examination.
Mr. Atwood:
If not at this time it can be done at some other time.
Mr. Abbott :
We will have another meeting here probably.
Adjourned to meet at Albany in the committee room.
Albany, N. Y., May 1*$, 1878.
Before the Assembly Committee on Grievances.
Present — Hone/ C. W. Herrick, chairman; Frank Abbott, A.
Blessing, A. S. Whalen, N. A. White.
J. Thomas Davis, Esq., clerk.
Charles P. Yonng, stenographer.
O. T. Atwood, Esq., counsel to committee.
Thos. Darlington, Esq., counsel for Mr. English.
Henry Gallien, sworn.
Examined by Mr. Darlington:
Q. What is your business ? A. I am the Second Deputy Comp-
troller.
Q. And have been in that office how long;? A. Since the 1st of
January, 1860 ; that is, in the Comptroller's office, but not in that
position.
Mr. Darlington :
I read chapter 224 of the Session Laws of 1863 : " An act pro-
viding additional means of relief for the sick and wounded soldiers
of the State of New York, in the United States service. Passed
March 24th, 1863 ; three-fifths being present.
" Section 1. The Governor of this State is hereby authorized to
appoint suitable persons as agents of the State, whose dnty it shall
be to provide additional means of relief for the sick, wounded, fur-
No. 169.] . 266
longhed and discharged soldiers of this State, who shall have been,
are now, or may hereafter be engaged in the United States service,
while being transported to and from their homes ; to ascertain the
names and condition of all patients belonging to this State, in the
United States hospitals, within such limits as the Governor may desig-
nate; to keep a register of the same, and to furnish information to
all who may inquire concerning them ; to facilitate the removal of
the bodies of deceased soldiers to the friends of 6uch deceased, when
such action is desired, and to perform such other duties for the relief
of the sick and wounded soldiers of this State as the Governor may
designate and require ; to make reports to the Governor of his or
their transactions and expenditures, with vouchers duly verified on
oath. The compensation of said agents to be fixed by the Governor.
" § 2. The Governor may appoint such number of surgeons, or
other agents, as from time to time may be required, for the care, com-
fort and removal of the sick and wounded soldiers belonging to the
State of New York. The compensation of such agents shall be com-
mensurate with the services rendered, and to be fixed by the Governor.
'* § 3. The sum of two hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof
as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carry-
ing this act into effect, and the same shall be paid out of any moneys in
the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid on the order of the
Governor and disbursed under his directions, for the purposes afore-
said; the Governor to account to the Comptroller for the money
that shall be expended in pursuance of this act
u § 4. The Comptroller of this State, on the order of the Governor,
is hereby authorized and directed to pay such accounts for services
rendered, or disbursements made under this act, as, after being verified
on oath, and audited in the same manner as other military accounts,
shall be approved by the Governor ; and he is further authorized, on
the written order of the Governor, to place in the hands of the agents
of the State such sums of money as may be required to meet the
foregoing requirements, at the discretion of the Governor, first requir-
ing the said agents to give ample security for the proper disbursements
of the funds.
" § 5. This act shall take effect immediately."
Q. Have you the records of the Comptroller's office here ? A. In
regard to bonds, I have ; yes, sir.
Q. "Was any bond given by John F. Seymour or Samuel North,
under that section ? A. There was not.
256 [AttKMBLT
Q. As I understand yon, there was but one bond ever given under
this section ? A. Yes, sir.
Q. That was for a thousand dollars ? A. The advance was for a
thousand dollars ; I don't know the penalty in the bond ; this was
the anticipation of an advance which was made to an agent, which
was subsequently refunded, and the bond canceled.
Q. No other bond was ever given to the Comptroller of the State,
under this section } A. No, sir.
Q. Will yon be kind enough to give us the name of the person
who gave that bond I A. Yes, sir; the name was Charles £. Stauring.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. Have you got his residence f A. It is not here ; but to the
best of my knowledge he was appointed to go to New Orleans ; I
remember the transaction perfectly welL
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. That was the only bond that you had under this act! A. That
was the only bond ; indeed we haven't it now, because it was imme-
diately surrendered and canceled.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. That is the only one ever made or filed? A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. Have you the section of the book which shows the firat pay-
ment made to Mr. Winston by the Comptroller's office ? A. Yes,
sir; there was a payment made on the 16th of September, 1864, to
Mr. Winston, of $18,491.86.
Q. That was to repay moneys which he had advanced ? A. Yes,
sir.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. How was it paid ; was it audited ? A. Yes, sir ; it came to us
audited, in pursuance of that act ; I presume audited by the Com-
mander-in-Chief, as all military accounts were paid on his certificate.
*
By Mr. Darlington :
Q. So far as appears by your books, in June and July the Comp-
troller of the State was not indebted to any person on this subject ;
there was then no existing liability ? A. No, sir ; perhaps I ought
No. 169.] 257
to say in regard to what makes me feel certain in regard to the bonds
not ever being filed — we never made any advance to these gentlemen,
Mr. North and Mr. Seymonr ; the accounts were audited, and paid to
them, as they were presented, for services and disbursements, thereto-
fore made, from month to month ; and I am perfectly sure there was
no necessity for the filing of the bond for any acts done during their
terms of office.
By Mr. Whalbk :
Q. Was this money paid to Mr. Winston as President of that
Mutual Life Insurance Company ? A. No, sir ; it don't appear to
be ; it is F. S. Winston, " for moneys advanced by him to agents of
the State of New York on drafts, in pursuance of arrangements made
by the Governor, under chapter 224 of the Laws of 1863."
By Mr. Dablington :
Q. If they had presented to the Comptroller's office a proper bond
for the payment of this money, and the account had been audited,
there was always money in the State to pay such ? A. Undoubtedly.
By Mr. Atwood :
Q. The Comptroller could have furnished this money on proper
bonds being furnished f A. Yes, sir ; at any time, with the bond
being filed.
Testimony all in.
Adjourned, subject to the call of the chairman.
[Assembly No. 169.] 17
INDEX TO ASSEMBLY DOCUMENTS, 1873.
A* No.
Adjutant-General, annual report of 13
American Geographical Society, annual report of 168
Assembly, list of members of 1
rules and orders of 8
joint rules of Senate and 9
standing committees of 14
rules, report of special committee on 21
list of. members and officers of 27
chamber, report of committee on ventilation of 80
statistical list of members and officers of 40
Attorney-General, reply of, in answer to resolution of the Assembly relative
to expenditures for maintenance and repair of the canals 46
report -of, relative to attaching part of the county of Hamilton to any
other county 50
opinion of, relative to issue of fraudulent stock by Erie Hallway
Company. * « 164
Auditor of Canal Department, financial report of 4
on expenditures on the canals 5
reply of, to resolution of the Assembly 107
on tolls, trade and tonnage, annual report of 71
in answer to resolution of the Assembly 96
reply of, to resolution of • the Assembly relative to damages by recent
floods to Genesee Valley, Chemung, Chenango, Crooked Lake and
Black River canals 181
B.
Banking Department, annual report of .... 7
annual report of, relative to savings banks '. 48
Bloomer, Elisha, jeport of committee on claims on act for relief of 122
Bonds and mortgages, resolutions relative to taxation of 78
Brooklyn Institute, annual report of 124
Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, annual report of . 08
0.
Canals, resolution of Chamber of Commerce relative to tolls on 19
amendment to Constitution relative to tolls on. . 20
reply of Attorney-General relative to the power of the legislature to limit
its appropriations for the ordinary maintenance and repair of the, .... 46
ii Index.
Canals, eastern division of, communication from Canal Commissioner Barkley
relative to structures on * 57
Canal, resolution relative to government aid to improve the Brie 58
Canals, annual report of Auditor on tolls, trade and tonnage of 71
communication from New York Produce Exchange relative to 136
Canal Appraisers, communication of, relative to certain awards for canal
damages 39
Canal Commissioners, annual report of 6
communication of, relative to Oneida Lake canal 88
Alexander Barkley, communication from, relative to structures on the
eastern division of the canals 57
CoggBwell, Theodore J., testimony taken before committee on privileges and
elections in the matter of petition o£ contesting seat of James M, Oakley, 51
Commissary-General and Chief of Ordnance, annual report of 49
Commissioners of Land Office, communication from, relative to lands released
to the State by the Oneida Indians 44
communication from, in answer to a resolution of the Assembly relative
to treaty of 1795 with the Oneida Indians 59
reply of, to resolution of the Assembly relative to Oneida Indians 66
reply of, to resolution of the Assembly relative to Congress Hall 68
resolution calling upon, for copy of contract for residence, etc., of Health
Officer at Quarantine 76
communication from, in reply to resolution of the Assembly Ill
Commissioners df Emigration, memorial of, asking for reimbursement for cer-
tain expenditures 113
Commissioners of Pilots, reply of, to resolution of the Assembly relative to
proposed new site for a boarding station 125
Commissioners of Quarantine, annual report of 18
Committees, standing, of Assembly . 14
Comptroller, annual report of 3
reply of, to resolution of Assembly relative to Military Record Fund. .... 80
communication from, relative to moneys expended for State Natural
History 91
Constitution, amendment to, relative to canal tolls 90
relative to elective franchise 114
report of Joint committee relative to consideration of. 144
Cooper Union, annual report of. 45
Congress Hall, reply of Commissioners of the Land Office relative to rental of, 68
Court of Appeals, reply of clerk of, relative to Chancery and Library Fund of, 81
Credit Mobilier, concurrent resolutions relative to 54
Criminal statistics, report of Secretary of State on 10
D
Deaf-mutes, annual report of Institution for Instruction of 19
Deaf and Dumb, annual report of New York Institution for Instruction of . . . 96
E.
Elective franchise, concurrent resolutions proposing amendment to Constitu-
tion relative to.. ,....,.,,........... ,,..,...,,..,, ,. .,.. 114
IxihuL iii
No.
Emerson, William M., adverse report of committee on claims on act for
' relief of 123
English, Stephen, petition of, relative to New York Mutual Life Insurance
Company 105
report of committee on grievances on petition of 155
minority report of committee on grievances relative to petition of 158
Erie Railway Company, concurrent resolutions reiative to fraudulent issue of
stock by , .* 53
report of, testimony taken before select committee, to investigate misman-
agement on the part of the. 98
opinion of Attorney-General relative to issue of fraudulent stock by the, 164
G.
General orders, list of, 22, 29, 31, 41, 48, 55, 61, 62, 69, 77, 82, 88, 97, 113, 117, 127, 135,
187, 141, 146, 148, 154, 161, 162
Governor, annual message of 2
H.
Hamilton county, report of Adjutant-General relative to attaching part of, to
any other county , 50
I.
Insurance Department, annual report of 102'
International Penitentiary Congress of London, report of commission ap-
pointed to 11
Intoxicating liquors, minority report of committee on cities on the act rela-
tive to sale of • - 85
J.
Judiciary committee, report of, as to whether provisions of a certain law of
1868, have been complied with 83
K.
Kings county, report of committee on local and special laws relative to act
authorizing sheriff of, to appoint certain court officers 86
M.
Manhattan Company, statement of balances and dividends remaining unclaimed
inBankof 16
Members of Assembly, list of . 1
Members and officers of Assembly, list of 27
statistical list of 40
Message, annual, of Governor . 2
Military Record Fund, reply of Comptroller relative to 80
N.
Natural History of the State, communication from Comptroller relative to
moneys paid out of treasury on account of M
iv Index.
New York Asylum for Idiots, annual report of 24
New York, Chamber of Commerce, resolution of, relative to canal tolls 19
memorial of, in favor of amendment to the Constitution relative to
canal,, tolls - 128
Board of Health, report of, in answer to a resolution of the Assembly. . . 35
Board of Police, reply oi, to resolution of the Assembly relative to amounts
expended in cleaning streets of city of * 65
Comptroller of, reply of, in answer to resolution of the Assembly 34
Department of Public Parks, annual report of. 9f
Fire Department, reply of, to resolution of the Assembly relative to rebel
and mutual aid funds. 74
Institution for the Blind, annual report of 63
Ludlow street jail, petition of persons confined on civil process in 93
local government, minority report of the committee on the affairs of cities
on bill to reorganize the, of the city oi 49
Mutual life Insurance Company, communication from board of trustees of, 133
petition of Stephen English asking for investigation of certain affairs
connected with the 105
Produce Exchange, communication from, relative to the canals 136
Sheriff of; report of, in answer tt resolution of the Assembly 106
o.
Oakley, James M., testimony on petition of Theodore J. Coggswell, contest-
ing seat of 51
Oneida Indians, communication from the Commisioners of the Land Office,
relative to lands released to the State by the. 44
relative to treaty of 1 795 with 59
reply of Commissioners of the Land Office to resolution of Assembly
relative to 66
adverse report of committee on Indian affairs relative to treaties with ... 101
Onondaga Salt Springs, annual report of ... , IS
Oswego City Library ^ report of trustees of . 47
p.
Pacific Steamship Company, reply of, in answer to resolution of the Assembly, 67
Phillbrick, Joseph, and.Milo M. Spicer, report of committee on claims on bill
relative to claim of . 87
Poppenhuscn Institute, annual report of 110
Potter, George R, report of committee on claims on bill for relief of 109
Prison Association, annual report of 89
K.
Report of, annual, Adjutant-General 13
American Geographical Society, annual 166
Attorney-General relative to attaching part of county of Hamilton to any
other county • 50
Auditor on expenditures on the canals 5
Canal Department, financial 4
on tolls, trade and tonnage, annual 71
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