USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 114
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The committee heretofore appointed on the subject of reformatory measures in the expenditures of the poor, reported the draft of an act to be submitted to the Legislature for enactment at the coming session, which effected radical changes in the management of the Poor Establishment of the county. We shall refer to this act hercafter.
On the 10th of January, 1856, $25,000 was appro- priated to the Superintendents for Alms-House purposes, This appropriation, however, was not made
without strong opposition, inasmuch as the Superin- tendents had failed to make the report called for by the resolution of the Supervisors.
By the annual report of the Keeper of the Penitentiary, January 10th, 1856, it appeared that there had been, during the year 1855, 1,054 prisoners committed to the Penitentiary, of which 417 were committed for habitual drunkenness ; 101 for being drunk and disorderly.
February 5th, $15,000 was appropriated to the Superintendents for Alms-House account, and $7,000 for account of temporary relief. The new Peniten- tiary was reported to be " in a state of forwardness," indicating completion as early as August next. The money expended on this building down to date amounted to $24,990, and it was decided to borrow $50,000 for the purpose of completing the samc.
James Voorhees, elected at the general election in November as Superintendent of the Poor, took the oath of office on December 27th, 1855.
By an order of the Superintendents of the Poor, the prisoners in the Penitentiary were directed to be em- ployed, in bad weather, in breaking stones for macadam- izing the roads.
On March 14th, 1856, $20,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor for the bene- fit of the Alms-House.
On April 9th, 1856, $20,000 was deposited to the credit of the Superintendents for Alms-House support, and $5,000 on account of temporary relief.
The 30th of April a report was presented, showing that the amount levied in the taxes for the support of the poor for the fiscal year was $206,108.10 ; for de- ficiency in the previous year, $25,000 ; Penitentiary account, $17,000. Total, $248,108.10.
On June 11th, $25,000 was appropriated to the Super- intendents of the Poor on Alms-House account, and $9,113 for Penitentiary account.
At the annual meeting of the Supervisors, August 5th, 1856, the Superintendents of the Poor presented their annual report (by far the ablest, most interesting and satisfactory of any of its predecessors), aecom- panied by that of Dr. Thomas Turner, Resident Physician of the Alms-House and Lunatic Asylum.
Report : Number of paupers admitted to the Alms-House for year ending July 31st, 1856, was 4,477 ; discharged, 4,222 ; died, 342 ; bound out, 4; put out on trial, 96 ; the number remaining July 31, 1856, 1,347 ; of these were males over six- teen years old, 383 ; under sixteen, 291 ; females sixteen years old and over, 541; under, 132; 495 were natives, 852 foreigners. The number of persons temporarily relieved, 18,625 ; of these 10,603 were from the Western District of Brooklyn ; 7,599 from the Eastern District; 351 from Flat- bush, Flatlands and New Lots ; 72 from Gravesend and New Utrecht. Recapitulation : Number remaining in the Alms- House July 31, 1855, 1,533 ; admitted during the year, 4,477 ; temporarily relieved during the year, 18,625. Whole number relieved and supported during the year ending July 31, 1856, 24,635. Expenditures during the year : Alms-House, $61,602 .- 75 ; Nursery for Children, 41,397.67; Lunatic Asylum, $48,888 .-
482
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
11; Hospital, $78,320.02. General common account of the Poor Establishment, $8,637.43.
Dr. Thomas Turner, Resident Physician of County Hospi- tal, reports total number treated during the year ending July 31st, 1856, to be 3,360, 1,746 males, 1,614 females ; 2,207 recoveries ; 433 improved ; 275 died ; 298 discharged ; remain- ing July 31, 1866, 372. The daily average of inmates in Hospital, nearly 453.
Dr. Robert B. Baiseley, Resident Physician of the Lunatic Asylum, reports 330 patients treated during the above year, of whom 93 recovered ; 16 improved ; 2 escaped, 16 died.
Dr. Baiseley called attention to the crowded state of the Asylum, it having at that date fifty patients more than could be properly accommodated. He strongly recommends the building of another wing for the female patients. He closes his report by regretting that this is the first satisfactory report he has been able to make in two years.
On the 19th of November, $25,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents on the Alms-House account.
About the 1st of December, 1856, the question of letting out the labor of the convicts in the Peniten- tiary to contractors began to be a very important one with the Board of Superinten dents.
December 3d, 1856, H. E. Ripley and Charles W. Church, reeently elected Superintendents, took the oath of office. The bonds of the Superintendents of the Poor were fixed at the sum of $7,000 caeh.
December. 26th, 1856, $30,000 was appropriated to the Superintendents for the Alms-House Aeeount. The manner of purchasing supplies for the support of the Poor, and the inmates in the other institutions of the county, had become a matter of great importance to both Supervisors and Superintendents. Both Boards frequently met in conference, and various means were devised to perfect an order of business un- der this head, but nothing conclusive was effected, as the various statutes regulating the Poor Laws were deemed insufficient. At last, on the 27th of Dec., 1856, the draft of an act regulating the purchase of supplies for the Poor, containing 11 different sections, was re- ported to the Board, to be reported to the Legislature for enactment; and on April 15, 1857, the said proposed act passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law, see Chapter 511 of laws, 1857. This is a very important enactment, in all its bearings upon the County of Kings.
On Dee. 30, B. N. Booth was elected a Superinten- dent by the Board of Supervisors (they having power under the statute to fill vacancies by election), in place of Wm. Rushmore, resigned.
On January 6th, 1857, the Keeper of the Penitentiary and Work-House reported that the number of prisoners com- mitted was 1,454, viz. : 990 males, 464 females, an increase of 400 over the number, being committed during the preceding year. 885 of these were committed for drunkenness, 38 being drunk and disorderly.
January 20th, 1857, an interesting report was pre- sented to the Board, showing conclusively that the County of Kings contributed larger amounts yearly for the support of the poor, than any other county in the State, except, perhaps, the County of New York.
Feb. 17th, $35,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents for the Alms-House Account. On the same day, a committee of conference of the two Boards met, and considered the question of erecting a store house on the county farm, uniting in a report rec- ommending such a building.
March 17th, $25,000 were appropriated to the Ac- count of the Superintendents for the benefit of the Alms-House.
A draft of a law for contracting the labor of convicts in the penitentiary, was submitted and forwarded to the Legislature for enactment. On the same day, plans and specifications were submitted for a store house on the county farm, at a cost of $3,000, and the committee ordered to proceed immediately with its erection.
June 2d, 1857, a proposition received from the Aldermen of Brooklyn for leave to use the old Peni- tentiary, when vacated, for Truant and Vagrant chil- dren, was favorably considered, but not definitely acted upon.
Under the Act of the Legislature passed April 15th, 1857, entitled " An act relating to the purchase of sup- plies for the support of the Poor, and other inmates of the Public institutions of the County of Kings," the Board of Supervisors, on June 16th, 1857, proceeded to establish the "Contract System," for furnishing sup- plies for the said institutions. These resolutions are in the form of enactments, divided into 19 sections, the 1st section of which provided that, from and after the 1st Tuesday in August, 1857, all supplies for the insti- tutions aforesaid should annually be purchased by contract; that ten days notice at least, shall be given before the 1st Tuesday in August of each and every year by the Superintendents in the daily papers pub- lished in the county, specifying the probable amount of each article, which will be required, the place of de- livery on the county farm, what articles shall be delivered separately or included together ; the prob- able time at which payments were to be made; the securities to be given, etc .; that sealed proposals were to be received at the county Treasurer's office.
Section 3d provides that no proposal shall be con- sidered valid unless made in such forms, and in ac- cordance with sueh regulations as the Board of Super- intendents may adopt.
Section 6 provides that nothing shall be construed as forbidding the superintendents from purchasing from some one or more of their body, or by an agent to be designated by them, in open market, such articles as may be needed for the support of the poor and the inmates of the other institutions on the County Farm,
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483
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE POOR.
whenever necessary, during sueh period as contraetors may negleet to comply with the provisions of their contraets. The enaetments then proceed to regulate the prices of articles, and their relations to the markets, and the quality of the artieles, designating what shall be regarded as necessary and appropriate.
Seetions 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 provide for the office of Store Keeper and his assistants, and his and their duties, the manner of their future appoint- ment, and the amount of security each shall give, &e.
August 25, 1857. The annual report of the County Peni- tentiary shows that there had been expended for that institution during the year, commencing August 1st, 1856, and ending July 31st, 1857, $40,772.39; that the number of prisoners in the Penitentiary, August 1st, 1856, was 92 males, 72 females; total, 164; the whole number received during the year ending July 31st, 1857, 675 males, 394 females; total, 1,233; number discharged, 770; deaths, 3; on hand at date of report, 191. Average number during the year ending August 1st, 1853, 53}; for the year ending August 1st, 1854, 89; for 1855, 152; for eight months, April 1st, 1856, 166; four months, August 1st, 1856, 159.
The whole cost for food during the year ending August 1st, 1857, was $6,857.90. Add the estimated number of 8 persons, officers of the institution, permitted to use articles of food furnished for the prisoners free, to the 184}, the average num- ber of prisoners, and it gives 192} persons provided with food for one year at the cost of $6,857.90, or of .09-774. 1006 cents per day.
The report further shows there had been expended for land in 1846-1847, $9,584,76. The cost of the old Penitentiary buildings to January 1st, 1851, was $3,704.37. For building expenses of new Penitentiary, January 1st, 1857, were $190,- 414.55. Deduct cost of land and old buildings, $13,355.28, leaving disbursed for new buildings $177,059.27.
October 6, 1857. The annual report of the Superintendents was taken up and considered, which shows that the total receipts for the benefit of the Alms-House, Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, during the year ending July 31st, 1857, was $243,899.40. The total expense, or total aggregate net costs of supporting the poor, was $233,212.57. This amount, by certain credits, was reduced to $201,461.86. The number of persons supported at the public institutions was largely diminished during the said year by the decreased number of foreign immigrants; and by the great vigilance exercised over the applicants for admission. The average number sup- ported or relieved during the year ending July 31st, 1857, was 1,340; the cost of supporting these persons was, as we have seen, $201,461.86, which, divided by the average number of inmates, gives the cost per person per year, $150.34}; per week, $2.89; being an increase over the previous year for each inmate, per year, $13.04}; per week, 25 cents.
The report also shows a decrease of 402 in the number of persons supported this year.
November 17th, 1857. Proposals for the ercetion of a dormitory building on the Alıns-House Farm were favorably received and referred to a committee for aetion. On the 8th of December plans and speeifiea- tions, and estimate of expenses, for the erection of a three-story and cellar briek building, 124x34 feet, for a dormitory for the inale paupers, was reported favorably; with recommendations to proceed immediately with the work.
December 22d, 1857. A draft of an Aet providing for the election of the Superintendents of the Poor by Districts was presented and approved, and ordered sent to the coming session of the Legislature for the enaet- ment of a law to that effeet. December 29th, the official bonds of B. N. Booth and J. J. White, elected as Super- intendents of the Poor, were presented. The penalty in the bonds of the said gentlemen was fixed at $10,000 each, and they took their oath of office.
On April 1st the salaries of B. N. Booth and J. J. White were fixed at $1,200 per year.
May 19th the sum of $85,000 was appropriated to the use of the Superintendents of the Poor. June 2d. A recommendation favorable to the purchase of addi- tional grounds, and the creetion of a Small-Pox Hospital thereon.
August 3d, 1858, annual report shows the aggregate costs of the poor (including out-door relief) for the year ending August 1st, 1857, was $233,212.37 ; for the year ending Au- gust 1st, 1858, $192,079.77-the difference, $41,132.60. The expense of supporting the poor at the Alms-House for the year ending August 1st, 1857, as per report of that year, was $201,461.86 ; ditto for the year ending August 1st, 1858, $158,604.66-difference, $42,857.20. The average number of inmates for the year ending August 1st, 1857, was 1,340 ; Au- gust 1st, 1858, 1,495.
The above amount ($158,604.66) for supporting the poor for the year ending July 31st, 1858, divided by 1,495, the yearly average, shows the yearly cost of each person was $106.09 ; the weekly cost of each person was $2.04-being a decrease from the previous year for each inmate per year of $44.25 ; per week, 85 cents.
This report shows that the Poor Establishment was, on the year ending as above, in a most prosperous and satisfactory condition, with a few exceptions, such as the necessity of a Small-Pox Hospital, and a Dormitory for the male paupers; and for these there was a good prospeet of an early relief. It states that the gradual inerease of patients in the Lunatie Asylum points to an over-erowded state of that department. The report was signed by Superintendents James Voorhees, Henry E. Ripley, B. N. Booth, Charles W. Church, John J. White.
Edwin R. Chapin, M.D., elected Resident Physician to the County Hospital, reports as in that institution on the 1st day of August, 1857, 873 patients-169 males and 204 females. Admitted during the year, 2,299 1,226 males and 1,073 fe- inales ; recovered, 1,498 ; improved, 440 ; unimproved, 149 ; died, 257 ; total discharged and died, 2,344; remaining July 31st, 1858, 3271=59 males, 168 females.
The report showed an increase of small-pox in the institu- tion ; that from August 1st, 1850, to August 1st, 1857, there had been 265 cases of small-pox, 35 of which were fatal. Of the diseases in the Hospital for the said year, there were 30 cases of delirium tremens, 2 of them fatal. Number of patients in the Hospital July 31st, 1858, 268=108 men, 160 women ; 187 foreigners, 81 natives ; and 57 employees.
The first annual report of the Matron of the Nursery, Mary Luscomb, was also presented, and is full of interest. It showed that in her department there were on the 1st of Au- gust, 1858, 111 boys and 103 girls ; that there had been dur-
484ª
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
ing the year ending July 31st, 1858, 575 girls and boys. The condition of this institution was satisfactory beyond the most ardent hope of its friends.
The Keeper of the Penitentiary reported the expenses of the establishment for supplies of all kinds and repairs, ex- clusive of expenditures for new Penitentiary and salaries, at $24,896.98. The number of persons in the institution on August 1st, 1857, 791 ; the number received during the year ending July 31st, 1858, 1,517, of which 1,008 were males, 509 females. There were 1,336 discharged during the year, 1 death and 6 escapes.
October 6th, 1858, the main building and wings of the Penitentiary were reported completed at a total expense of (ineluding lands) $200,531.53 ; deducting cost of land and old building, $13,355.28, absolute eost of new building, $187,175.25. The indebtedness of the supply account was $1,275.02; on the building aeeount, $499.51-total floating debt, August 1st, 1858, $1,775.53.
In December, John C. Vanderveer was elected one of the Superintendents of the Poor.
January 12th, 1859, Hiram Helmes was elected Keeper of the Penitentiary. On the same day, an aet in relation to the commitment of lunaties and va- grants, and to provide for the appointment of a person to take affidavits in certain cases, was presented and ordered sent to the Legislature for enactment. The matter of seleeting lands to be purchased for Alms- House purposes, from the Cortelyou estate, was sent to a committee, with directions to proceed with the purchase.
April 12th, a proposition was made and favorably reported upon for ereeting a temporary building on the Alms-House Farm, to be used as a Pest Hospital, at an expense not to exceed $2,000.
On the 13th of April, 1859, James C. Rhodes, late a Superintendent of the Poor, was charged with collect- ing monies in his official eapaeity, which he had not paid into the county treasury. The report recom- mended that an action be brought against him to reeover the money in his hands, and that he be re- moved from office, which report was accepted.
August 2d, 1859, Dr. J. L. Zabriskie was appointed Physician to the Penitentiary for the ensuing year.
October 5th, 1859, annual report for the year ending July 31st, 1859, gives the total amount drawn by the Superintend- ents on the County Treasury for the year ending July 31st, 1858, was $192,079.77 ; for the year ending July 31st, 1859, $113,942.07 ; showing a decrease of $78,137.70. The average number of inmates for the year ending July 31st, 1858, was 1,495 ; for the year ending July 31st, 1859, 1,085. Decrease, 410. The cost of each inmate supported during each year was : for the year 1858, $106.09 per year, $2.04 per week ; for the year ending July 31st, 1859, $90.43 per year, or $1.74 per week, showing a reduction of supporting each inmate of $15.66 per year, or 30 cents per week.
The amount expended for temporary relief during the year ending July 31st, 1858, was $33,260.91 ; for the year ending July 31, 1859, was $15,821.04. The whole number temporarily relieved during the year ending July 31st, 1858, was 32,940 ; for the year ending July 31st, 1859, was 19,972.
Dr. Thomas Turner, Physician of the County Hospital, for the year shows a total under treatment during that year, of 1,789 ; of these 229 died ; total discharged and died, 1,552 ; remaining July 31st, 1859, 237. Of the 229 deaths, 71 (or nearly one-third) were caused by pulmonary consumption, a disease which has always largely prevailed in the hospital with unusually fatal results. There were 22 cases of delirium tremens, 4 of which were fatal.
Edward R. Chapin, M. D., Physician to the Lunatic Asy- lum, for the year, shows at that date 290 patients and 56 em- ployes. Of the patients, 122 males and 168 females ; whole number under treatment during the year, 455; discharged recovered, 86 ; improved, 49; unimproved, 10; died, 20 ; 213 of these patients were foreigners. The report shows that although it was found necessary to occupy the old Asylum, not only that, but the new one was already too full for com- fort ; because of the crowded state of both Asylums, it had been necessary to discharge a large number of the paying patients to make room for the steadily increasing number of beneficiaries. The Doctor therefore earnestly urges a larger extension of the Asylum according to plans which he re- commends.
The report of the Matron of the Children's Nursery states that there were in her department on July 31st, 1859, 89 boys and 77 girls-total, 166. There were also 17 employes. This report is one of the most satisfactory of any of the reports presented this year.
December 20th, William Bennet and Henry E. Ripley, who had been elected Superintendents of the Poor, took their seats as sueh.
February 23d, 1860, plans and specifications for the extension of the Lunatic Asylum were presented.
August 6th, 1861, $15,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor .*
August 6th, 1861, annual report, for the year ending July 31st, 1861, shows the total number born and admitted in the Alms-House 2,896: in the Hospital, 2,232; in the Asylum, 190; in the Nursery, 558, making a total 5,876. Total number boarded out, 83; the total number temporarily relieved, 21,023 ; the total number relieved and supported wholly or in part during the year ending July 31st, 1861, 28,082. The amount of temporary relief granted for the support of the poor for the year ending July 31st, 1861, was $16,051.69.
Edward R. Chapin, Physician to the Lunatic Asylum for the year ending July 31st, 1861, reports the number of per- sons in the Asylum July 31st, 1860, at 190 ; under treatment, 498 ; discharged, 70; improved, 41; unimproved, 12; died, 45 ; whole number discharged, 168; patients remaining in the Asylum July 31st, 1861, 330; number of employes, 64 ; total number of foreigners, 237.
During the last year the Asylum was fully completed by the addition of the two wings contemplated. As it is now complete, a brief account of this building seems proper and necessary. " It stands on a riehly eulti-
*From the time of the organization of the Superintendents of the Poor in 1827, and the organization of the County Poor Establishment, down to August 5th, 1860, the whole department was in a compara- tively unsettled condition; the erection of numerous edifices, the changes incident thereto, and to the institution of new departments, improvements on the old, etc., rendered the history of the whole estab- lishment interesting, aithough voluminous. It shows the gradual growth by which the present admirable Poor Establishment was reached. After the year 1861 the details will be brief, incidents less frequent, and the history will be confined to abstracts from the annual reports of the various departments.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE POOR.
485ª
vated plain four miles southeast from the City Hall in Brooklyn, and one mile east of the village of Flatbush. The edifice comprises the center building and four wings, and presents a front of 450 feet. The wings are each composed of an extension and transverse por- tion and transept. The transept is 86 feet deep, and forms considerable projections in front and rear of the extensions, which are 38 feet wide. The eenter build- ing and the four transepts are five stories; and the connecting extensions are four stories high, including the basements. The buildings are constructed of brick, with brown stone water-tables, window-eaps and sills, and are roofed with tin. A large dome sur- mounts the center building, and upon each of the four transepts there is a handsome eupola. A heavy eor-
munificent, enlightened and charitable people have added to it sinee that time will be referred to here- after.
The report of Rachel A. Newton, the new Matron of the Children's Nursery, for the year ending July 31st, 1861, shows that the total number remaining at date (July, 1860) was 216-115 males, 101 females ; received up to date of present report, 558-254 boys, 304 girls. Total remaining at date of last report, and since received, 774-369 boys, 405 girls ; left the nursery, 483 ; died, 65-31 boys, 34 girls ; remaining July 31st, 1861, 226.
Annual report of the Superintendents of the Poor, ending July 31st, 1862, shows that the number of persons remaining in the institutions at date of last report (July 31st, 1861) was ; in Alms.House, 505 ; Hospital, 296 ; Asylum, 336 ; Nursery, 219-1,356. Total number born and admitted during the year in the same institutions, 429 ; total number of foundlings, etc.,
LUNATIC ASYLUM.
nice of galvanized iron, ornamented with square dentals of the same material, painted in imitation of brown stone, surmounts the entire structure, contributing much to the architectural effect. The entrance to the eenter building is protected and ornamented with an iron portico. The chapel is 46x24 feet and 25 feet high, with fixed seats or slips for 140 patients, and also an elevated gallery containing an organ and seats for strangers."
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