Railroad Wages Cut Down

New York, 1895

After the recent reduction in fares on the north shore of the Long Island railroad the company decided to reduce expenses. On Wednesday the ticket agents and brakemen in the employment of the road were notified that they would have to submit to a reduction of $5 per month in their salaries, to take effect on April 1. The ticket agents' wages will be reduced from $60 to $55, and that of the brakemen from $50 to $45.


Will Close the Track

It is a settled fact that the affairs of the Amityville Fair and Driving Park association will be closed up within a short time, and the association cease to exist. Three judgments against the association have been filed and the lease on the grounds, the track and other possessions will be sold by the sheriff.


Wallace Was Beaten

HIS CASE WAS NOT PROPERLY PRESENTED TO THE COURT.

Judge Cullen Decides that the Kings County Penitentiary Need Not Take Our Tramps Under the Conditions Outlined by Counselor Wallace.

Justice Cullen on Monday denied the application of Martin V. Wood and others, Supervisors, for a writ of mandamus to compel the Kings county charity commissioners to receive into the penitentiary all vagrants or tramps sentenced by Queens county magistrates. Justice Cullen says that in the absence of a contract between Kings and Queens counties the commissioners are right in their refusal to receive the vagrants and tramps. Justice Cullen holds that the act of 1885, chapter 490, which says that the tramps on conviction may be sent to the nearest penitentiary at the expense of the State, does not apply to persons roving about in the county in which they reside, but to non-residents.

Judge Cullen delivered the following opinion:

The application is for a writ of mandamus to compel the respondents to receive into the Kings County Penitentiary all vagrants or tramps who may be committed thereto by the justices of the peace in the county of Queens.

The affidavits on the part of the relator show that the offenders whom the respondents have refused to receive have been convicted of vagrancy. I think respondents were right in their refusal to receive these prisoners. The only authority for a sentence of imprisonment in the penitentiary instead of the Queens County jail is, when a contract has been made between the county authorities and the commissioners for the support of such prisoners. None such exists at the present time. By the act of 1885, Chapter 490, tramps on conviction are authorized to be sentenced to imprisonment in the nearest penitentiary at the charge of the state. But in law a vagrant is not a tramp. Tramps are defined by the statute cited to be "all persons who rove about from place to place begging, and all vagrants living without visible means of support, who stroll over the country without lawful occasion." It is further provided, that an act of vagrancy by a person not a resident of the state shall be evidence that such person is a tramp, and it is also further provided that the act shall not apply to persons roaming within the county wherein they reside.

Vagrancy as defined by the code of criminal procedure, section 887, may consist of very different and distinct offenses, such as abandoning the offender's family, appearing in a public highway with ones face painted, covered or disguised. It would seem that under the act of 1885, it may be that any such act committed by a person not a resident of the state, would constitute the person a tramp. But in such case it would be an essential element of the offense that the person should be a non-resident of the state. The two offenses are therefore in law wholly distinct. The other questions raised by the parties can be determined when a case arises that presents them. Motion denied with ten dollars costs. The Supervisors should cause the case to be properly presented to Judge Cullen. If they do, they will win. THE FARMER knew before the argument that Mr. Wallace would be beaten on his own papers.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 22, 1895, p. 1.