(No. 18.)

CITY AND COUNTY of New YorK, ss.-Thomas Harper, being duly sworn, deposes and says as follows:

I reside in Eleventh avenue, between Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh streets; I am foreman on Campbell & Moody's saw mill. About a year ago, I was employed drawing lumber for Mr. Phillips, from the Thirty-ninth street dock, North river, to the yard on the Eleventh avenue, between Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth streets. 'I here was a scow, at that time, lying at the wharf; I have seen carts come down there and dump over the stringpiece the contents of their carts, but whether it went into the boat or into the river, I am unable to say; but I soon after saw offal floating about, which led me to believe that it was dumped immediately into the river, or that the boat had some sort of arrangement by which the offal was let into the river immediately after it was dumped; I am unable to say which. The smell was very offensive, and so much so, that I was obliged many times to leave the dock in consequence. I was engaged on that dock, off and on, for upward of two months, and my business carried me there from early in the morning until late in the afternoon, down to night; during the whole of that period, I never saw any steam, or other boat, come to take the contents of that scow from it, or remove that scow from the place where she lay.

Sworn before me, this 22d day of June, 1853.

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THOMAS HARPER.

F. R. TILLOU, Recorder.

(No. 19.)

CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, ss.-Thomas McClelland, being duly sworn, deposes and says as follows:

I reside in Thirty-ninth street, near the North river; I keep a grocery and liquor store there; I have resided in this place since a year ago last November. At the time I came there, there was a sloop lying at the Thirty-ninth street pier, for the reception of offal, as I understood. In the spring following, a canal boat was brought there, and at said pier, near the sloop, which was sunk in about a month afterward; the sloop was raised and sold and taken away; Riddle had offered to sell her to me for thirty dollars; the canal boat continued to lay there, a roof having been built over it, on the deck. During the day the carts of butchers came, with offal and blood, and dumped it on the house on the deck of the canal boat, and at night the two men belonging to this boat, would throw it off the boat into the river; I have seen the offal floating in the river, and the smell from them was very offensive in the neighborhood; I have seen putrified offals on my own float, in the neighborhood of the canal boat; it was so of fensive that persons would not go near it. There were two men employed; there was one, a Dutchman, who could speak no English, and the other was an Irishman; I spoke to the latter about throwing these offal in the river, and he said he could not help it, as he was bound to please his employers. The boat remained at this place until the pier at the foot of Fortieth street was built, which was about a year ago, when the boat was removed to that place. During this time, the canal boat remained at the

foot of Thirty-ninth street; her position was never changed, and I never saw any steamboat or any other boat come to take the offal from it. After the boat was removed to the foot of Fortieth street, I continued to see her every day; for a month or so after this, they continued as they had done at the foot of Thirty-ninth street, to receive the offal in the boat, and at night to throw it over into the river; then the Irishman was taken away from there, and the Dutchman left alone in charge; then the carts of the butchers would come down, bringing their of fals in barrels, back their carts to the string-piece, and dump the contents of the barrels at once into the river, without putting any of it into the boat; I have seen six or eight carts there at one time, and the river covered with floating offal and blood, carried up and down with the tide. This practice continued until about a week ago, when, for the first time, I saw a two-horse wagon come, having boxes on it; these boxes were empty, and were left on the dock, into which the butchers' carts would dump their offals; these boxes, when full, would be carried away, where, I do not know; I have not, at any time, seen a boat of any description come to take these boxes away; I live so near that if a boat had come I must have seen it. My house is within two hundred and sixty feet of the pier where the boat lays, which is right in front of my door, so that I could see every thing that passes. Until about a week ago, these offals were very offensive to the neighborhood; the blood has continued, up to the present time, to be thrown into the river, and even this morning I have seen offals floating in the river, close up to my float, near the dock. The Dutchman, who has charge of the boat, was very little there until within the last week, as the

boxes now give him more work to do; I have seen the offals dumped in the river, in the way I have described, in the presence of the Dutchman, many a time, and he made no objections. I have, for the last two months, seen Mr. Riddle very little there, but during the last summer I have seen him there very frequently; he would come and stay a little while, and then go away. The way in which the depositing of the offal is managed, is a great nuisance to the neighborhood, rendering it almost impossible to live there; we have been compelled, very often, to take poles and push the floating offals away, so that they might be carried away with the tide. I have never seen any dead animals delivered there.

CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, ss.-John J. Duryee, being duly sworn, deposes and says as follows:

I reside in Fiftieth street, between Broadway and the Eighth avenue. I was engaged in the stage business, and am now engaged in the manure business, and for upward of a year past I have observed the dock, at the foot of Fortieth street, built about the line of the Twelfth avenue, North river. The land on each side of the street, which has been recently filled in, is mostly covered with water to the Eleventh avenue. The water reaching on the

north side nearly to the Eleventh avenue, and the south side nearly half way, and knowing that the wharf was advertised to be leased, and that it was very little used, I applied to the Comptroller to lease it. Upon my second ap plication to the Comptroller, which was some time in May last, I was informed that the wharf had been set apart as a place at which the blood, offal and dead animals of the city were to be discharged. For upward of a year past I have been in the habit of being in the vicinity of that wharf, where I could see it nearly all the time, and I was frequently on it. During the whole of that time, I never saw any dead animals brought there. I have seen butchers go there, or persons I supposed to be such, and back their carts up to the string piece, on the opposite side of the dock to where the boat lay, and dump the contents of the barrels on their carts, into the river, which I believe to be offal, from the fact, that I have crossed the river and have seen the offal floating about there, and have seen the string piece, on the dock, stained with blood. I have seen the Dutchman, whose name I have understood to be Smith, who was in charge of the boat lying there, leave the boat, go to the cart, and aid the persons to discharge. their contents into the river. I have seen James Riddle, who told me he was interested in the Reynolds' contract, pay the Dutchman money for his services, alleging that he was in his employ. The boat in the fall of 1852, and I think in September, was sunk along side of the dock, and lay so for a long time; I should think a month. She was afterward towed up to Forty-eighth street to be repaired. She was absent some time, and was brought back again. boat, about a fortnight since, I saw lying sunk there, and believe her to be so now. During the whole period I

The same