Excerpt from Jacqueline Bernard's
book, | ||||||||
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June 3, 1892 November 29, 1894 MORE BEDS THAN ARE LAWFUL June 5, 1895 HE IS CHARGED WITH CRUELTY June 6, 1895 ACCUSED OF CRUELTY TO BOYS February 19, 1896  NEW MANAGES FOR DEBORAH NURSERY February 19, 1896 BOYCOTTED BY THE GERRY SOCIETY An Agent Says It Does Not Commit Children to Deborah Nursery April 10, 1896 TO ACT AGAINST MANAGERS Those in Charge of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery Involved April 29, 1896 NURSERY ORDERED TO MOVE Complaint Against the Deborah Institution by Near-by Residents May 1. 1896 REPORT ON THE DEBORAH NURSERY Doctor Says Many of the Children Are Victims of Disease November 18, 1896 A BAD STATE OF THINGS: Board of Health After Deborah Nursery November 28, 1896 RECEIVER FOR A PROTECTORY December 4. 1896 TO SAVE DEBORAH NURSERY President Kaye Proposes Reorganization and A New Staff February 4, 1897 DEBORAH NURSERY PERMANENTLY CLOSED | ||||||||
OTHER NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
RE: LADY DEB | ||||||||
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1892 New York City Directory states:
95 East Broadway is Lady Deborah's headquarters.
87 Henry St. and 103 East Broadway were the male dept.
161st and Eagle Ave. was the female dept.
87 Henry was directly in back of 95 East Broadway so that people could actually
walk through the yards to go from one building to another.
1894 and 1895 New York Times articles list residences at:
162nd St. and Eagle Ave.
142nd St. and Southern Blvd., Morrisania
1889 - 1890 New York City Directory, it lists as having facilities
at:
95 and 103 East Broadway, New York, N.Y.
87 Henry St., New York, N.Y.
423 E. 83rd St., New York, N.Y.
NOTE: However, on Death Certs of children on Orphans and Foundling Burials Page, children were listed at 95 East Broadway and male and female were at Henry St.
In Jacqueline Bernard's book, The Children You Gave Us: A History of 150 Years of Service to Children (Jewish Child Care Association of NY, 1973), on p. 16, there is a reference to "The Ladies' Deborah Nursery" (in the 3rd paragraph).
"Once again [i.e. 1878-79] the Jewish community faced the old threat of Jewish children committed to non-Jewish institutions. And once again a public-spirited group headed by the former president of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Philip J. Joachimsen, and his wife, Priscilla stepped into the breach.
Philip Joachimsen and his wife are mentioned in the papers.
"Philip Joachimsen was throughout his life a remarkable public servant. An immigrant from East Germany at 14, he was assistant corporation counsel of New York City by 23 and later, as federal prosecutor, won fame for securing the first capital conviction against a slave trader. Disabled by a fall from his horse while leading his volunteer regiment during the Civil War, he was made a brigadier general by brevet order of the New York governor. By 1879, he was popularly known as "Judge" Joachimsen, having served from 1870-77 as a Judge of the Marine Court.
"His wife was no less interesting. For a woman of her time, Priscilla Joachimsen had demonstrated remarkable public initiative. In 1870, she had helped found the Home for the Aged and Infirm Hebrews, and for three years had served as its president. In 1878, she and her husband helped to found one of New York's first day care shelters for young children of destitute parents, the Ladies' Deborah Nursery. This nursery was unusual in having an all-woman board. Mrs. Joachimsen later resigned in a dispute over policies.
"Now, in 1879, she became president of the new Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, which would care for any "Jewish children of the submerged" committed through the courts, whether orphaned or not. With the help of an all-woman board of managers and an all-male advisory committee headed by Judge Joachimsen, the new society rented a former city councilman's home in a semi-rural, suburban section of the city at 57th Street and First Avenue, and prepared to admit children from two to 13. All the initial children--whether orphaned or not--came through the courts, because the HSGS could only bill the city for these. Not until 1888 was it chartered as an orphanage.
"It was with pride that its president proclaimed on the day of the opening: 'We have to take care and nurse the neglected and abandoned Jewish children because we are Jewesses.
"The New York Herald printed her speech in full. But the Jewish Messenger greeted the occasion with marked distrust. Women were not considered capable of managing money, much less the public funds on which the institution expected largely to depend."
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
of
THE LADIES DEBORAH NURSERY and CHILDS PROTECTORY
FILED 5TH OF MARCH, 1878
State of New York
City and County of New York
I.-----We the undersigned severally being persons of full age and citizens of and residents with in the State of New York desirous to associate ourselves together for the Benevolent and Charitable purposes herein-after stated and to be an incorporated society under the provision of the act of the Legislature of the State of New York entitled An Act or the Incorporation of Benevolent, Charitable, Scientific and Missionary Societies passed April 12, 1848 and the several acts amending to same do hereby make to present certificate in writing to be filed as required by Law and States.
-----The name or title for which such Society shall be known by Law is "The Ladies Deborah Nursery and Childs Protectory" and the business hereof is to be carried on in the County of New York.
II----The particular business and object of such Society are to be the "temporary nursing" and "taking care" of.........[rest of line missing]
III---The number of Managers to manage the said Society shall be Twenty Four
IV---The names of the Managers of such Society for the first year of its existence are:
| Mrs. Deborah Alexander, President | Mrs. Louise Geist, Vice President |
| Mrs. Julius Liester, Treasurer | Mrs. Max S. Davis, Honorary Secretary |
| Mrs. Priscilla J. Joachimsen | Mrs. Frederica Bennett |
| Mrs. Adelaide Lithauer | Mrs. Hannah Hart |
| Mrs. Isaac Rosenwald | Mrs. Celia Rosenstein |
| Mrs. Henrietta Hirshberg | Mrs. Clara Jacobs |
| Mrs. Anna Feinberg | Mrs. Morris Triska |
| Mrs. Emilie Simon | Mrs. Caroline Lichtenberg |
| Mrs. Minnie Harlem | Mrs. Ignatz Stein |
| Mrs. Emily Harlem | Mrs. Herman Koehler |
| Mrs. Israel J. Solomon | Mrs. M. Reiman |
| Mrs. Sophia Oppenheim | Mrs. Sarah Bennett |
"In witness whereof " we have hereto signed our names at the City of New York this 2nd day of March in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy Eight.
[Signed by] Philip J. Joachimsen, Deborah Alexander Joseph M. Alexander, William Bennett, Priscilla Joachimsen, Isaac Harlem, Elias Feinberg, James S. Auer, J. Simon and Mtax L. Davis
"Executed in presence of Abraham Levy"
"City & County of New York" On this fourth day of March
in the year One Thousand and Eight Hundred and Seventy Eight before me personally
came and appeared Philip J. Joachimsen, Deborah Alexander, Joseph M. Alexander,
William Bennett, Priscilla J. Joachimsen, Isaac Harlem, Elias Feinberg,
James S. Auer, J. Simon and Max L. Davis
Known to be the same persons described in and who executed the forgoing
instrument and certificate and they severally acknowledged to me that they
executed the same.
Ferdinand Levy
Notary Public (55)
N.Y. Co.
{SEAL}
I a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the First Judicial District do consent and approve of the filing of the within Certificate of Incorporation of the "The Ladies Deborah Nursery and Childs Protectory"
Given under my hand at the City of New York the 4 day of March in the year 1878
[Signed]........Abraham Levy
Seal} Supreme Court, Special Term Part B, Pittß Exhibit B, C.A.Moff....? (illegible)
Filed: 31 Dec 1878
Cash on Hand $226.69; Dues from Members $ 75.00 = $301.69
ANNUAL REPORT of
LADIES DEBORAH NURSERY and CHILDS PROTECTORY
of the CITY AND COUNTY of NEW YORK
made pursuant to Section 8 Charter 31 of the Laws of 1848.
City & County of New York} We the undersigned a majority of the Trustees of said Society do hereby certify under our hands and state as follows:
First: Names of the Trustees and Officers of said Association as follows:
Mrs. Deborah Alexander, President
Mrs. Isadore Geist, Vice d.
Mrs. Julius Leister, Treasurer
Mr. M. J. Lichtenberg, Hon Sec.
Mr Max J. Davis, ClerkMrs. P J. Joachimsen, Mrs. Caroline Lichtenberg, Mrs. Annie Feinberg, Mrs. Moses Lauterbach, Mrs. Henrietta Hirschberg, Mrs. M Rieman, Mrs. Celia Rosenstein, Mrs. Emilie Simon, Mrs. Hannah Hart, Mrs. Emily Harlem, Mrs. Wm. Bennett, Mrs. M S Davis, Mrs. I. Rosenwald, Mrs. Clara Jacobs, Mrs. Minnie Harlem.
Second: Inventory of the property and effects thereof, as appears in the annexed schedule marked No. 1 which is part of this certificate setforth in the original certificate on file.
Sworn to before me this 31st day of December, 1878 {SEAL}
Jacob Katz
Notary Public (57)
N.Y. Co.(SIGNED)
Mrs. Deborah Alexander, President
Mrs. Isadore Geist, Vice P.
Mrs. Julius Leister, Treasurer
M. J. Davis, Clerk
Mrs. P J. Joachimsen, Mrs. Caroline Lichtenberg, Mr. & Mrs. M . Lauterbach, Mrs. D. Feinberg, S. E...?, Celia Rosenstein, Mrs. H. Hirschberg, Mrs. Isaac Harlem
Third: Liabilities of the said .......... as appears in schedule marked No. 2 which is part of this certificate.
Sworn to before me this 31st day of December 1878.
Jacob Katz
Notary Public (57)
N.Y. Co.(SIGNED)
Mrs. Deborah Alexander, President
Mrs. Isadore Geist, V. P.
Mrs. J. Leister, Treas.
M. J. Lichtenberg, Hon. Sec.
M. J. Davis, Clerk
City and County of New York ss
On this 31st day of December 1878 before me personally came Deborah Alexander, Isadore Geist, M. Davis, Mrs. P. J. Joachimsen, Caroline Lichtenber, M. Lauterbach, S. Feinberg, E. Simon, Celia Rosenstein, M. Hirschberg, Mrs. Isaac Harlem, J. Leister, Managers being duly sworn say that the written named association have not been engaged directly or indirectly in any other business than such as is.
NO. 1 - Schedule of Inventory
| Bedsteads Pillows Blankets White Counterpans Towels Kitchen Stoves Boilers Coal Shovel Tin Pots Scrubbing Brushes Washboard Cups & Saucers (pcs) Soup Bowls Milk Pitchers Spoons Tin Cups Brooms Tables Benches Shoes (new) Girls Dresses Socks Boys Pants Chemises Pocket Hdks. Marine Shirts Girls Hoods Aprons Night Gowns Large Book Case Looking Glasses Sewing Machines |
24 |
Mattresses Pillow Cases Quilts Sheets Shoes Heating Stoves Coal Scuttles Iron Pots Water Pails Wash Lines Bread Basket Plates Vegetable Dishes Sugar Bowls Knives & Forks (pcs) Curtains Chairs Window Blinds Pairs of Stockings Petticoats Boys Shirts (white) Waists Boys Jackets ?? Caps Flannel Shirts Girls Drawers Bibs Boys Shirts,Flannel Writing Desk Pictures Overcoats |
24 |
NO. 2 - Schedule of Liabilities
| Groceries Dry Goods Officers Services Shoes Gas Coal & Wood Io ? |
$ 111.15 $ 89.43 $ 18.00 $ 35.65 $ 20.00 $ 39.00 $ 11.00 |
NEW YORK TIMES - June 3, 1892 (Page 9):
ROBBING THE CITY: False Reports from Institutions Caring for Young Delinquents.
For every child committed to any of the twenty institutions in the city caring for juvenile delinquents by the police magistrates the city pays $2 per week out of the excise moneys. These institutions make sworn monthly reports to the Controller, and these reports are depended upon to show the exact number of children cared for during the month in each Institution.
The Board of Estimate and apportionment in distributing the excise moneys, accepts these reports as the basis upon which the amount to be given each institution in determined.
Controller Myers recently began an investigation to ascertain if these monthly reports were all accurate and for a few weeks past he has had two of his clerks making a careful examination. As each child reported has to be identified, the work has been necessarily slow.
Thus far nine of the institutions have been examined, and it has been discovered that two out of these nine have made incorrect reports during the year 1891, which is the only period covered by the investigation. In these two cases children were carried on the lists and represented as being cared for in the institutions long after they were discharged therefrom and after they had ceased to become a charge upon the city.
In one of these cases one institution received $4,600 from the city during the year more than it would have received had the reports been accurate and the other institution received over $3,600 in to same way.
Controller Myers absolutely refuses to divulge the names of the institutions until his investigation is completed.
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NEW YORK TIMES - JUNE 4, 1892 (Page 8):
UNINTENTIONAL ERRORS: Explanations of the Discrepancies Found by Controller Myers
Controller Myers said yesterday he had concluded that the discrepancies he had discovered in the accounts of the two public institutions---one Catholic and the other Hebrew--arose from a lack of conformity between the commitment papers of the children made out by the police magistrate's clerks and the papers made out by the officials of the homes.
It was learned yesterday, although the Controller positively refused to give out the names of the homes of which the accounts were wrong, that the Hebrew home was the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory, in East Broadway. Mrs. Davis who has for many years been the mistress of this institution, had not heard anything of the matter, but she gave a satisfactory explanation of how such errors might have arisen.
"We have had the papers of children sent here by police magistrates make it appear that a child was eight years old, when as a matter of fact, the child was only four. Thus, in making the investigation, the city officials may have found the names of children who are, according to the police magistrates' papers, twenty years old when as a matter of fact, they are only sixteen. the city officials therefore immediately determine that they have unnecessarily supported these children for four years.
"There is another way in which such mistakes as seem to have caused this talk could have been made. The clerks of the police court magistrates are very careless in the registering of names of children sent to the homes. When the children arrive at the homes their right names are ascertained and a comparison with the books of the magistrates might make it appear that there were false entries somewhere and that the homes were receiving $2 a week for the keep of 'dummy' children."
It was said that the Roman Catholic Institution discovered its error of several thousands of dollars after Controller Myers began his investigation into the accuracy of the city's distribution of money to the home, and that the home had offered to make restitution by having its allowance of money for the children curtailed to the extent of the discrepancy
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NEW YORK TIMES - May 5, 1893 (Page 11):
CHILDREN IN SORRY PLIGHT: Charges Against the Management of Deborah Nurseries
The Society's Three Houses Inspected by Gerry Society Agents---Report Concerning the Girl's Department Read by the Mayor and Referred to the Controller---The Inmates Said to be Underfed, Overcrowded and Covered with Sores--Payments from the City Ordered Stopped.
"Our God and our Father, have pity on us and our children."
This is the motto adopted by the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory Society. Concerning this society mayor Gilroy read a report at the meeting of the Sinking Fund Comptrollers yesterday which had been forwarded by G. S. Haven of the Gerry Society, complaining of gross neglect, ill-feeding, and filthy habitations provided for the children under its charge.
On March 17 last Henry S. Allen and M Tuska, agents of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, visited the girls' department of the Deborah Nursery, at One Hundred and Sixty-first Street and Eagle Avenue, and reported as follows:
"There are 160 girls, 32 of whom are babies two to four years of age. The place is in charge of Mr. Preiss as Superintendent, Mrs. Preiss as matron, two governesses, two nurses, eight women helps and one porter. There is no watchman. The little children and babies play about the halls. They have but one room for their use in the daytime, which will seat about twenty children, in the little chairs, and all of which are broken and without backs.
"This room is in a very unsanitary condition. It is used for their meagre meals and for other purposes too disgusting to mention.
"The remaining 125 girls dine in one room. Which will accommodate at the most 75 on the benches which cover the whole floor.
"The dormitories, such as they are, are clean, but overcrowded much beyond the permit of the Board of Health. Their printed instructions are only in two or three rooms on the third floor.
"I found the rooms in a most dangerous condition, liable to fall in at any time. In one room particularly, there were twenty beds. The gas brackets on the walls in all dormitories, halls, &c., are inovable, with no protection in the way of shade or wires.
"The dining room in the basement is so crowded that it is almost impossible for the children to use their hands for eating purposes. The kitchen, furnace, and washroom are all in the same basement. The dinner for the day consisted of fried fish and potatoes, eaten out of cups which had been used at first for what they call milk soup. Other days they have meat which is of the commonest kind, and comes up from ludlow Street, and the Superintendent says that they never have any change. No mutton, veal, or anything different. Saturday dinners are always chopped meats. They are only provided with thirty-five pounds of this meat for 160 children and the helps, each day.
"It is seldom, if ever, that any of the officers visit the place. There is no moral, or religious education and not a teacher comes to the building.
"I would advise that the officers of this society be called to immediate account for the state of affairs and that no more girls be committed to that institution for the present."
After this report had been read to the Board of Sinking Fund commissioners, the Mayor said:
"This matter properly belongs to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. My reason for having it read to you is that it seems to me that the time has come to call public attention to the disgraceful state of such institutions. These places are supported by public money, $2 a week being paid by the city for the support of each child committed to their charge. Moreover, a bill was passed last year providing that this very institution should be exempted from taxation. Such exemption is costing us about $20,000 a year. I have already given order that payments shall be stopped.
"Last year the Controller found that this institution had been drawing money for children no longer under its care. I shall now refer the matter to the Board of Estimate and apportionment and ask the Controller to make an investigation of the whole matter to ascertain whether there has been any criminal violation of law."
The officers of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery are Moses Alexander, President, and Moses J. Lichtenberg, of 64 John Street, Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Alexander lives at the quarters of the male department, 95 East Broadway.
On April 17 Assistant Superintendent Stocking, accompanied by Officers Schultes and Pringle, visitedd the three homes and made a long report, generally condemning all three as unfit for habitation.
At 87 Henry Street they found overcrowded dormitories, pillow cases stained with sores on the children's heads, and rooms very much out of repair.
At 95 East Broadway they found a dirty, close, and ill-ventilated dining room, 28 feet by 21 and 8 feet high, made to accommodate 125 children. there were no mattresses on the beds at any of the branches. They were steel spring beds covered with a blanket. Mr. Alexander said to the officers: " It is healthier to sleep on a sparing with a blanket over it than on a mattress."
Assistant Superintendent Stocking reported that the sanitary arrangements were in a shocking state. The closets smelled so strongly that he advised that the doors be left open or some child might be suffocated within.
On a playground on the roof of 103 East Broadway, which is a continuation of 95 ; 46 children were found under the charge of two women. Of theses, 23 had sore heads and 21 had eyes more or less sore. All, in fact, on this roof had either sore heads, eyes, or noses. Up here also was a filth and leaking closet. The house at 87 Henry Street the officers characterized as an old rookery, greatly in need of repairs or demolition.
At One Hundred and Sixty-first Street and Eagle Avenue, he girls' department, the officers found on the fourth floor five beds in excess of the number allowed for the size of the rooms, and on the fifth floor eleven in excess.
A NEW-YORK TIMES reporter visited the girls' department yesterday, and found that much had already been done since the visit of the officers of the Gerry society. There are no no beds beyond those allowed by the Board of Health and certificates hang in every room. Supports have been fixed to many of the ceilings to prevent them falling in, and the walls have bee patched up with plaster.
Many of the chair backs are a broken set of spikes. The children looked clean and well, with the exception of a few who had ugly sores on their heads or eyes. Six have bee sent away to Randall's Island Hospital, and there were none sick in the home. Several of the children expressed satisfaction with the food provided for them. The children are now admitted to the dining room in two batches, so that there is not so much overcrowding.
Monthly reports are prepared by the Superintendent. That for April showed 162 children on hand, 4 admissions, and 9 discharges, leaving 157 at the end of the month. Of these 5 were in hospital, 18 attended the grammar school, 85 the primary school; and 45 infants remained in the home day and night.
In reply to questions, Mr. Priess, the Superintendent, said:
"I have been here eleven months. I came from the Hebrew Sheltering Guardians' Society, now at One Hundred and Fifty-first Street, but then at Eighty-seventh Street and Avenue A. I was there seven years, and never had a complaint made. When I came here the children were in a terribly bad condition, about forty having sores on them. At Eighty-seventh Street I had to attend board meetings every week, but here there are no meetings at all, and the officers very seldom come here.
"I do not buy the food. I send an order down to Mr. Lichtenberg for what I want, and all comes through him. He supplies all, and takes all the money.
"The beef comes from Ludlow Street. I think they pay 10 cents a pound for it. I cannot get mutton or veal. I have asked for it, but for some reason or other it is never sent. Until three months ago the food was very bad, but it is all right now. The children get meat twice a week and soup every day. On Fridays they get fish and potatoes.
"When Messrs. Allen and Tuska came, everything was certainly in a worse state. Since that time the society has been putting things right. There is little now to complain of, except the building. The society also owns the frame house adjoining. It should be pulled down and a new building erected. There is plenty of ground. The Board of Health certificates have been put up and the excess of beds removed since the visit of the officers. I didn't know until then that there were too many in the rooms. Nobody comes to give me instructions, and I do the best I can. fourteen, all told, is a small staff anyway to look after 160 children."
Three thick slices of bread, with a thin coating of molasses, were given each girl yesterday for supper, wit;h tea or coffee. A lot of coarse beef was found in the larder, and a brace of plump chickens, which were for the superintendent's table.
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NEW YORK TIMES - May 11, 1893 (Page ?)
DEBORAH NURSERY CHARGED: Hearing on Them by the Controller-Many Things Complained of Are Remedied.
A public hearing was given yesterday to the officials of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory by Controller Myers, upon the charges preferred against the society by the agents of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which were filed with mayor Gilroy last week. The hearing was held in the Controller's office. there are three of these Deborah Nurseries. The one chiefly complained about is the one at One Hundred and Sixty-first Street and Third Avenue.
Henry S. Allen was examined by the Controller and lawyer Greenbaum, who appeared for the Nursery. Mr. Allen, besides being a Director in the Gerry Society, is Vice President of the United Hebrew Charities and a Director of the Hebrew-Half Orphan Asylum.
He said that at the time of his investigation the institutions were overcrowded, there was a lack of fire escapes, and sufficient precautions were not taken to prevent the spread of contagious troubles among the children. The condition of the girl's nursery at One Hundred and First Street and Third Avenue was very bad.
Secretary Lichtenberg said in reply to Mr. Allen's testimony that the nursery up town had been made safe, and tat to relieve the overcrowding a building adjoining, capable of holding thirty-eight beds, had been rented. the society, he said, was preparing to erect a new brick building on lots in One Hundred and Sixty-second Street, and then he whole institution would be moved up town.
Vice President Tuska of the United Hebrew Charities, who went to the up-town nursery with Mr. Allen, corroborated his story.
"We have done all that was required by the Health Board," said President Alexander of the Deborah Societies. "there is no overcrowding now."
He pointed to the fact that there had been only three deaths in a year among the 400 children cared for, as indicating that the children were well cared for.
Dr. Morris of the Health Board made a report showing that most of the grounds of complaint is the reports of Mr. Allen and the agents of the Gerry Society had since been removed. He said that the East Broadway institutions were not provided with proper facilities for isolating newly-admitted children from the others, as required by law.
Superintendent Jenkins of the Gerry Society said that of the forty-six children found at play on the roof 103 East Broadway by his agents when they made their examination of the premises, forty had trouble with either their eyes or heads. he said that this condition of affairs was no new thing and that his society had repeatedly reported against it during the last eight years.
"Those East Broadway buildings," said Mr. Jenkins, "are unfit for the uses to which they are put. They are in a tumble-down condition."
Mr. Allen said that President James Weil of the Lebanon Hospital had offered to take 200 children at the hospital until the proposed new building was ready for them, but Mr. Lichtenberg explained that Mr. Weil made this offer after he has been erroneously informed that the society had 500 children in the up-town nursery, whereas they only had 160.
Controller Myers took the papers, and will make his report at the next meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
It has been averred that this investigation is the result of a quarrel between the orthodox and reformed Hebrews, but this is vigorously denied.
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NEW YORK TIMES - May 17, 1893 (Page 10):
APPROPRIATIONS AND NEW BONDS: Money for City Schools, Teachers' Salaries, and Other Purposes.
Plenty of business was transacted yesterday by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
The deficiency in the teachers' salary account, the complaints against the DEBORAH NURSERY, the plans for the new easterly wing for the American Museum of Natural History, and various other matters were up for consideration.
As to the complaint against the LADIES DEBORAH NURSERY AND CHILD'S PROTECTORY, Controller Myers reported that there had been an investigation, and that most of the abuses in the management had been corrected since the examination made early in March, on which the complaints were based. Some of the abuses still exist, but a written promise has been given that they will be promptly corrected.
On motion of the Controller, a resolution was admitted asking the Police Justices not to commit any more children to the institution until they receive further instructions.
After the board had authorized the Controller to issue bonds for various school purposes, the application of the Board of Education for a transfer of $16,000 to the account for teachers; salaries was brought up. School Commissioner Lummis, asked that it be granted in order to prevent cutting of teachers' salaries.
"In the budget of this year," said Mayor Gilroy, "We gave you $3,128,000 for teachers' salaries, which was $33,000 more than you were able to spend for that purpose last year. But your board goes on spending money apparently regardless of the amount of the appropriations. This board might as well go out of existence if the departments are to continue exceeding their appropriations and then be constantly coming in here asking for transfers."
Mr. Lummis replied that it was a very difficult matter to tell the exact amount needed for teachers because new schools are constantly being opened.
"Provisions were made for the new teachers in the budget," said Controller Myers.
Finally the matter was referred to the Controller to see from what accounts in the School Board's funds the transfer can be made.
Speaking of the school ship the Mayor said: "I will not vote for another penny for the for the ship while I am in office. That's one of the frills on our public school system which ought to be abolished. We tried to get the State to take the school ship off our hands, but it would not touch it."
Controller Myers was authorized to issue bonds to pay the thirteen-thousand-dollar net municipal expense of the moral review celebration. He was also authorized to issue $10,000 in bonds for reindexing the records in his own office.
The recent special election in the Ninth Senatorial District cost $33,652.18 and a transfer of the amount was made from the Election Bureau's accounts.
The plans for the new easterly wing for the American Museum of Natural History, which were recently approved by the Park Board were approved yesterday by the Board of Estimate and the Controller was authorized to have $350,000 in bonds to pay the expense.
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NEW YORK TIMES - November 29, 1894 (Page 1):
MORE BEDS THAN ARE LAWFUL: A Discovery About Charitable Institutions; Controller Fitch Learns of the Violation by Extra Demands on the Excise Fund.
Controller Fitch has discovered that several charitable institutions have been breaking the law. Incidentally it is explained why there has been an increased demand of late on the excise fund. The moneys of this fund are divided up among the charitable institutions. They are allowed $2 a week for every bed occupied.
The Board of Health is supposed to keep a strict supervision over the institutions, and see that only the allowed number of beds are used. The Board of Health has evidently not done so, and it remained for Controller Fitch to discover that to obtain the city's money the charitable institutions have ran the risk of incurring a heavy fine and also endangering the health of inmates.
The Female Branch of the LADIES' DEBORAH NURSERY AND CHILDREN'S PROTECTORY, at One Hundred and Sixty-second Street and Eagle Avenue, made a demand on Controller Fitch for money upon 216 beds in the institution. Controller Fitch found that the permit from the Health Board only allowed 104 beds.
The St. Elizabeth Industrial School wants money for two more beds than it is entitled to. The Health Board permit reads fifty-four, but the institution has fifty-six beds.
Controller Fitch yesterday afternoon wrote to Mrs. Theresa Lambert, Treasurer of the latter institution, asking for an explanation before taking any proceedings in the matter. He also wrote to M. J Lichtensburg, Secretary of the DEBORAH NURSERY.
Morris Alexander, President of the LADIES' DEBORAH NURSERY AND CHILDREN'S PROTECTORY, was seen by a reporter for The New York Times last night, and he explained that the whole matter, so far at his institution was concerned, was due to a mistake on the part of his Superintendent.
"We are placed in a peculiar predicament," he said, "and the matter can easily be explained. When Police Justices commit children to our institution we are compelled to take them in, otherwise we would be held in contempt of court. To Make places for these children, who are thus admitted, we have to put in more beds than the Board of Health has allowed us.
"In order to overcome this difficulty our Superintendent was instructed to make application to the Board of Health for a permit to carry more beds, and until the present moment I thought that our Superintendent had followed his instructions."
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NEW YORK TIMES - June 5, 1895 (Page 8):
HE IS CHARGED WITH CRUELTY: B. Abrams of the DEBORAH NURSERY says the Statements are False.
The examination of B. Abrams, Superintendent of the DEBORAH NURSERY, One Hundred and Forty-second Street and Southern Boulevard, who is charged with treating some of the children in the institution in a cruel manner, will take place in the Morrisiania Police Court today.
Mr. Abrams appeared for examination yesterday in response to a summons procured by Agent William H. King of the Gerry society. Fifteen boys, and John Mendoza, a teacher, were present to testify. Police Justice martin was called away and the hearing was postponed.
Agent King said he had been informed that boys had been severely punished by Abrams for trivial offenses. Abrams said the statements against him were instigated by malice.
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NEW YORK TIMES - June 6, 1895 (Page 2):
ACCUSED OF CRUELTY TO BOYS: Bernard Abrahams Held for Trial in Special Sessions; He Is ex-Superintendent of the LADIES' DEBORAH NURSERY---Charged with Beating Three Youths.
Bernard Abrahams, ex-Superintendent of the LADIES' DEBORAH NURSERY AND CHILDREN'S PROTECTORY, at One Hundred and Forty-second Street and Southern Boulevard, was held in the Morrisania Police Court yesterday in $300 bail for trial in the Court of Special Sessions on charges of assaulting Joseph Bernstein, thirteen years old, of 25 Pitt Street, Louis Prager, ten years old of 313 Rivington Street, and Charles Polowetsky, twelve years old, of 332 Cherry Street.
Rabbi Morris Epstein, who was appointed on June 2 to succeed Abrahams as Superintendent, presented a letter to Justice Martin, signed M. Alexander, President of the Finance Committee, notifying him of his appointment. The letter stated that Abrahams no longer had any authority over the children, and directed him to prevent Abrahams taking any of the boys from the Institution for any purposes.
Abrahams said in reply that he had received no notice of his removal and was still in charge.
Joseph Bernstein, testified that he had been in the institution for four years. He was picking flowers in a lot near the institution on May 24 with Prager and Polowetsky, and failed to hear the breakfast bell. When they went in they joined the other boys at breakfast. A few moments later Abrahams beat them with a stick, and locked them up in a coal bin in the cellar, after tying them by the hands to a gas pipe. About an hour later, Bernstein testified, John Mendoza, a teacher, and the watchman, Samuel Brachfeld, let them out and took them to the kitchen, where they were given their breakfast. Later in the day Bernstein said he and Prager ran away. Mendoza corroborated young Bernstein and said he found marks of the beating on each of the boys' backs and red marks made by the rope on Bernstein's wrists.
Brachfeld and Annie Kovitch, a servant, corroborated the previous testimony. When the servant was put on the stand Epstein was asked to interpret.
"I won't have that man!" shouted Abrahams, "he is a conspirator. This whole thing is a conspiracy."
Finally a man named Marcus, who said he was a friend of all concerned, was procured, and the examination proceeded.
The Kovitch girl said she did not see the boys whipped, but saw the marks on them and testified to removing the rope. When cross-examined by Justice Martin, young Bernstein said the rope was not tied tight enough to hurt him, but that the beating bruised him badly. He also said Abrahams had beaten him twice before for trivial offenses, leaving marks on him each time.
Here Abrahams protested against the charge of cruelty, and asked leave to question the boy. Justice Martin objected, but the defendant persisted and asked:
Do you know what I am?"
"You are the Superintendent," was the reply.
"What are my duties toward you?"
"To whip me when I am bad."
Justice Martin interrupted Abrahams, and accused him of cruelty and brutality.
"I have never cruelly or willfully punished a boy in my life," Abrahams shouted.
"You have no right to treat this boy or any other boy cruelly," Justice martin said, severely.
"It was not cruel," Abrahams shouted again. "I had to maintain discipline."
"You are paid by the city to teach these children, and yet you put them in the public schools," the Justice continued.
"Yes, I do, and teach them too.:
"What do you teach them?" asked the Justice.
"Morality," Abrahams shouted in answer.
"You do? I admire your methods," observed the Justice.
Abrahams began a long harangue, but was interrupted by the Justice, who said:
"You are not here to make speeches."
"I want to vindicate my character," cried Abrahams.
"You can do that in the court where you will be tried.:
Justice Martin then ordered a formal complaint be taken.
Prager and Polowetsky were called and gave testimony similar to that of Bernstein, and were corroborated in every detail by Mendoza, Brachfeld, and the Krovitch girl. Menoza testified further to having seen Abrahams strike one of the boys in the breakfast room, but could not tell which one of them it was.
Rabbi Epstein said he saw Abrahams enter the breakfast rom with a stick, and after beating the boys, drag them from the room saying, "Come down in the cellar. Don't you cry in here."
After further testimony, Abrahams was fully committed, and the boys were turned over to William H. King of the Gerry society, who had investigated the case and instituted the proceedings.
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NEW YORK TIMES, February 19, 1896 (Page 8)
NEW MANAGERS FOR DEBORAH NURSERY
At a meeting held last night the following additional members were elected to the Board of Managers of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory: H. K. Sarahson, the Rev. Morris Wechsler, S. Scharling, Mrs. S. Scharling, the Rev. A. S. Newmark, P. Krause, Mrs. P. Krause, Edmund Kohn, Dr. Leo G. Goldberg, Dr. David Brekes, Nathan Hutkoff, and Mrs. Annie S. Martus. An auxiliary composed of several ladies has been formed, and meets on Thursdays at the female department, Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street.
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NEW YORK TIMES, February 19, 1896 (Page 19)
BOYCOTTED BY THE GERRY SOCIETY: An Agent Says It Does Not Commit Children to Deborah Nursery
The trouble in the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Childs' Protectory, at One Hundred and Forty-third Street and Forest Avenue, which was aired in Morrisania Court last week, and at which the deposed Superintendent, M. A. Goldstein, accused Lawrence Howard, a teacher, with disorderly conduct, came up again yesterday before Magistrate Wentworth.
Max Katz of 347 Forest Avenue, took eleven-year-old Philip Pitsky, an inmate of the Deborah Nursery, to the room of the Gerry society last Sunday, as he boy said he had bee brutally beaten by Howard. Katz said he was eating his breakfast at his home, and on hearing the boy's screams ran into the street and found him running to escape Howard.
Katz told awful tales about the institution, and asked that an investigation be made at once. On Monday morning Agent Watson of the Gerry society visited the nursery and made a thorough investigation of the establishment, and as a result ordered Katz, Howard, and Goldstein to go to court yesterday afternoon. Katz did not appear, however, and could not be found.
Agent Watson took the stand, and said that he found from the boys in he nursery that the story which Katz and the boy told was false in every particular, and Howard, instead of being a tyrant, was a favorite, and that Goldstein was hated for his cruelty. Goldstein, on the other hand, accused Howard and said that the Gerry society was backing Howard. Watson then said to Magistrate Wentworth: " Your Honor, the Gerry society has not committed a child to that institution for fifteen months, and never proposes to in the future. I was instructed by the society to state to the court that the Deborah Nursery is a disgrace to the city, unfit for any child to stay in, and ought to be wiped out of existence."
Mr. Watson also said he learned that Pitsky's mother, who is married, has a shoe store at 396 Seventh Avenue, and is able to take care of him. On learning this, the Magistrate refused to commit the boy to the nursery again, and directed the woman to take her son home. Watson said that during the last five years the Gerry society has prosecuted thirty cases of various nature against the institutions, and fifteen months ago decided to boycott it.
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NEW YORK TIMES, April 10, 1896 (Page 8)
TO ACT AGAINST MANAGERS: Those in Charge of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery Involved
***State Board of Charities Will Proceed in Accordance
with the Recommendation
of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Institution---The Officers
Are
Much Disturbed and Say they Will Demand the Usual Public Allowance.***
Proceedings will be taken by the State Board of Charities against the managers of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory of this city, in accordance with the recommendation of the committee appointed to investigate the institution, as soon as the necessary papers can be prepared for presentation to the Supreme Court.
The law under which this action is to be taken is Chapter 771 of the Laws of 1895, which empowers the State Board to investigate any institution of a charitable nature in the State, and further provides:
If it shall appear, after such investigation, that any inmate of inmates of the institution are cruelly, negligently, or improperly treaded, or inadequate provision is made for their sustenance, clothing, care, supervision, or other condition necessary to their comfort or well-being, said board is empowered to issue an order, in the name of the people, and under it's official seal, directed to the proper officer or managers of such institution requiring them to modify such treatment, or apply such remedy, or both, an shall therein be specified; before such order is issued. It must be approved by a Justice of the Supreme Court after notice to them and hearing thereon had, and any person o whom such an order is directed who shall willfully and unlawfully refuse to obey the same, shall upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor.
The State Board of Charities will also request the Board of Estimate and Apportionment act to appropriate any more money from the Excise Fund to this institution until it is reorganized and the reforms which the investigations committee therein necessary are carried out.
The City Magistrates will also be requested not to commit any more children to the Institution until these conditions are complied within. Controller Fitch will be asked not to pay any money to the Institution until the Supreme Court passes on the matter.
Mrs. Deborah M. Alexander, who founded the Institution, and who with the assistance of her husband, her son, and daughter-in-law, and other members of the family, run the establishment, was greatly disturbed yesterday over the report of the committee's investigation. She said that any attempt to interfere with the Institution would be resisted in the courts.
"All the children in the nursery have been committed by the courts, and their commitments are until they are sixteen years old," she said. "and the city is therefore, bound to support them. We will certainly claim from the Excise Fund our share per capita until the last child is sixteen."
Morris Alexander, who is President of the Institution of which his wife is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said that the report of the committee which made the investigation was a vile slander.
"The statement that any member of my family has made money out of the management of the Institution is false," he said. "We propose to hire a lawyer and have a public investigation. there has been no extravagance in the management of the nurseries, and none of the officers receive any salary. the complaints against our society have their origin in the United Hebrew Charities. There is a person there who is jealous of our success, and has been for years endeavoring to destroy us."
At the office of the United Hebrew Charities the statement made by Mr. Alexander that some person in that organization was responsible for the attack on the Deborah Nursery was said to be absurd. Manager Rosenau of the United Hebrew Charities had been summoned as a witness before the State Board, and gave testimony as to his knowledge of the management of the establishment which was under investigation, and that is all the United Hebrew Charities had to do with the matter.
Complaints as to the management of the Deborah Nursery had been made to the officers of the Charities, and these had been invariably referred to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
President Gerry of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said yesterday that the Deborah Nursery had been a source of trouble to the society for the past ten years. the complaints against it has been frequent and the Board of Health had bee called on to interfere a number of times. The last complaint, on which the State board of Charities had reported Wednesday, was made by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to children and the further prosecution of the matter now rested with the State Board.
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NEW YORK TIMES, April 29, 1896 (Page 14)
NURSERY ORDERED TO MOVE: Complaint Against the Deborah Institution by Near-by Residents
Sanitary Superintendent Roberts of the Health Board announced yesterday that the board had ordered the male department of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory to move out of tits building at One Hundred and Forty-first Street and the Southern Boulevard, on account of the bad sanitary surroundings. This action was taken by the board a week ago, but was withheld from publication until the State Charities Department could be communicated with.
The building is on higher ground than that occupied by a number of private houses in the neighborhood, and as the city has no sewer pipes there the drainage from the place has for a long time disturbed these residents.
The Health Board has tried in vain for several months to see if some remedy could not be had, and as a last resort has ordered the building vacated. A cesspool has been in use at the nursery, but it is said that this has overflowed, and that the place is in a deplorable condition.
The board's action does not apply to the female department, which is at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street, although there has also been some complaint about this. In the male department there are 149 boys. the State Charities Department placed the matter in the hands of the local Charities Department, and this has found that fifty of the boys can be sent back to their homes. The board does not know what the nursery will do for shelter for the rest of the boys.
Morris Alexander of 97 East Broadway is the President of the organization. The complaint comes principally from those living in Convent Avenue, and from the estate of F. F. Brugman.
The nursery management promised last Fall to try to make connection between the building and a private sewer, but claimed not to be able to get the privilege of putting a pipe across some private property.
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NEW YORK TIMES, May 1. 1896 (Page 9)
REPORT ON THE DEBORAH NURSERY: Doctor Says Many of the Children Are Victims of Disease
Dr. George Lindenmeyer at the request of Controller Finch, recently made an examination of the Deborah Day Nursery and Child's Protectory, at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-second Street, and of the children abused there. he made a report to the Controller yesterday, in which he said that among 102 inmates he found 44 cases of parasitic affections and eye disease, and most of the cases were contagious.
The doctor says, further, that what struck him as remarkable was the fact that only eight of the older inmates had been infected with the diseases prevalent among the children, and he can hardly explain, other than as an act of providence, the fact that an epidemic has not broken out in the nursery.
A large number of the cases came from the down-town branch of the nursery, in East Broadway. The indications were, said the doctor in his report, that every inmate has been infected as some time o other with the contagion in one form or another.
The doctor added, in is report, that the building was in good condition, and that the day he examined them the beds were clean. the Controller will confer with the Trustees of the Instititution.
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NEW YORK TIMES - November 18, 1896 (Page 12):
A BAD STATE OF THINGS: Board of Health After Deborah Nursery; The Inmates Suffering from Lack of Proper food and Clothing, and Many of the Children Are Afflicted with Ophthalmia.
The Board of Health has ordered that unless certain-reforms are carried out in the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory, at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street, with in five days, it will order the institution vacated.
The management of the nursery says that this will be done.
Frequent complaints have been coming to the Board of Health regarding the nursery. The trouble in the institution has recently been caused by the prevalence of, ophthalmia. This disease was general in the institution last March, when eighty cases of the eye trouble were reported among the children.
Dr. H. Freeman of 354 East Fiftieth Street, who had been the nursery physician for ten years, had forty of the children removed to Randall's Island, and the remaining forty children were isolated in a frame cottage owned by the nursery.
They were placed in charge of Miss Lobliner, a nurse. Gradually the disease was reduced, until only twelve were ill. Then Miss Lobliner, because of some trouble, left the institution. Ten days ago Dr. Freeman made one of the complaints to the Board of Health.
Dr. Moreau Morris was sent by the Board of Health to inspect the institution. He made the following report yesterday:
"I visited and inspected on Nov. 3 the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory, at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street. At that time I found the institution in fair sanitary condition. In the cottage annex were twenty-seven children, suffering from ophthalmia in various stages, who had been placed in isolation therein. They were in charge of a special so-called trained nurse.
"Upon an inspection made Nov. 13, ten days after the previous inspection, I found the isolation broken up and the diseased children mingling with the well. This had been done at the instance of Dr. Martens, one of the attending physicians of the institution, (there being two, the other being Dr. H. Freeman.) The latter having special charge of the eye disease.
"Dr. Martens does not evidently recognize the gravity of the disease, and has ignored the quarantine isolation established by your officers. Upon his diagnosis that the isolated cases were well, he discharged them from quarantine, and sent them all to the main building, in community with the well.
"Upon careful examination of these discharged children, I found twenty-two still suffering with various forms of infectious eye diseases. These were immediately ordered into quarantine in the cottage isolating building, and a nurse placed over them, but they are under no special medical treatment.
"I was informed by the superintendent that no member of the Board of Managers had visited the institution for months; that for want of money to pay the tradespeople their bills for necessary supplies they decline to continue furnishing supplies. Clothing and shoes are needed and the hired help is clamoring for wages.
"The Controller of the city declines the per capita allowance for committed children without the legal certificate of the State Board of Charities. As a consequence the institution is in a state of demoralization and collapse.
"Unless speedy relief is afforded, the children, now numbering 162, will son be in a suffering condition for food, clothing and attendance."
M. S. Davis, superintendent of the Deborah Nursery, said that the Board of Health had reconsidered an order to close the nursery because of the prevalence of ophthalmia, and had granted them an extension of five days in which to provide proper medical treatment for the children in obedience to this order. Dr. M. L. Foster, one of the surgeons of the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, had been engaged as visiting physician, and Mr. Davis says that before the expiration of the time limit things in the nursery will be in proper condition.
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NEW YORK TIMES - November 28, 1896 (Page 14):
RECEIVER FOR A PROTECTORY: Sol L. Kaye to Look
after the Affairs of the Deborah Nursery
Justice Smyth of the Supreme Court has appointed Sol L. Kaye temporary receiver for the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street on the application of Goldfogel, Cohn & Lind, representing the Directors of the institution. Mr. Kaye is the President, and his appointment were requested by the Directors. His bond was fixed at $50,000.
It was stated that the principal business was the maintenance education and care of children which might be committed to its care, for which it received a per capita allowance from the city. For seven months the Controller of the City of New York has refused to pay any money to the corporation on the ground that certain requirements of the State Board of Charities have not been complied with.
The corporation owns some real estate which is unproductive of revenue and is encumbered by mortgages on which the interest is accruing. There is no ready money at hand with which to pay for the services of the nurses and attendants at the institution, or to pay for food and clothing for the inmates. Liabilities for food and clothing and other necessaries have accumulated. In relation to some of the claims suits are pending and will shortly come on for trial, and if judgment is obtained by any creditors they will have an undue preference. It is impossible at the present time to obtain further financial aid, without which the institution can no longer be run, and it would result in the suspension of its ordinary and lawful business.
It is the belief of the managers that if the assets are marshaled under the supervision of the court at the present time it will result beneficially to all creditors of the corporation, more beneficial than if the corporation continues. The liabilities are $44,406, of which $26,994 are secured by mortgages. The nominal assets are $48,725, consisting of real estate at Eagle Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street, 225 feet front by 12 feet deep, which cost $37,675; amount due from the city, $10,499; beds, furniture, &c., $500; cash, $51.
The liabilities secured by mortgage are to the Citizens' Savings Bank, $17,500; Van Buren estate, $5,000; Mechanics and Traders' Bank, $3,394; Henry Oxford, $1,100; The principal other creditors are Herschman & Bieler, $4,380; Austin Nichols & Co., $3,417; M. Freeman & Sons, $2,388(contested); Morris & Denbensky, $1,050; George W. Steele, $1,000(contested); M. Kugelman, $900; J. Clarence Davies, $600(contested); Paul G. Decker, $403(contested); Frank G. Sauvan, $330.
There is a branch at One Hundred and Forty -first Street and Forest Avenue which it leases. The corporation was formed in 1878, and of late has cared for about 400 children.
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NEW YORK TIMES, December 4. 1896 (Page 9)
TO SAVE DEBORAH NURSERY: President Kaye Proposes Reorganization and A New Staff
The affairs of the Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory, which have been complicated by litigation in the courts and various adverse reports officially made by the State board of Charities and the local Board of Health, reached a climax yesterday when Solomon L. Kaye, President of the Institituion, appeared before the investigation committee of the State Charities Board, at 55 Liberty Street, with propositions for reorganization.
Mr. Kaye is receiver of the Institution. With the aid of Ferdinand Levy and several officers of other Hebrew charitable organizations, he purposes to reincorporate the institution with new officers and attendants and provide for its maintenance by popular subscriptions from Hebrew philanthropists. This plan was sanctioned yesterday, by Chairman Tunis G. Bergen, Dr. Stephen Smith, and Mrs. Brekman de Pevater, members of the Investigation committee.
Since May, Controller Fitch, acting on the recommendation of the State Board of Charities, has refused the per capita allowance. its Inmates have dwindled from 400 in May to 168.
An ultimatum issued by the State Board yesterday, was in effect that the nursery would no longer be allowed to exist at the city's expense. Its records show that until last May it drew $40,000 a year from the city as its per capita allowance, while but $200 or $300 a year was actually donated. Its active Trustees were Mrs. Deborah Alexander and Maurice Alexander, her husband and J. M. Alexander, their son, and his wife, Mrs. J. M. Alexander; Mrs. L. Burger, their daughter, and her husband, L. Burger, and Mrs. F. Meyer, their adopted daughter. One of its buildings were rented from a member of the family, its purchase of merchandise were all made from relatives in trade, and its medical, educational and disciplinary staff was made up of connections. Among the charges officially made against it were cruelty to inmates, misuse of funds, and general mismanagement.
Chairman Bergen of the Investigating committee said yesterday:
"In this case the State board has made another good use of its strong Constitutional powers of control of charitable institutions. As formerly conducted the Deborah Nursery was in no sense a charitable institution and it has been for years condemned by the leading Hebrew philanthropists.
"The board does not believe in the charity of an institution which draws substantially all its revenue from the Municipal Treasury. We desire to see the Deborah Nursery supported by philanthropists. When so-called charitable institutions have from the city a fixed revenue in excess of their needs they are merely business enterprises, and very soon fall into greedy ways of increasing their income.
"During the past eighteen months the decrease in the per capita allowance in charitable institutions has amounted to $200,000. that sum represents substantially inmates whose support had bee heretofore improperly charged against the city."
Within a few days President Kaye will call a meeting of Hebrew philanthropists who are interested in the reorganization of the nursery. There is some opposition to the plan among the contemporary Hebrew organizations, among which the present inmates will be distributed in case the nursery is closed.
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NEW YORK TIMES - February 4, 1897 (Page 12):
DEBORAH NURSERY PERMANENTLY CLOSED
After an existence of twenty years the Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory, at One Hundred and Sixty-first Street and Eagle Avenue, has been closed for good. Early in November last the Health Board found the health of the children of the institution endangered. They ordered certain reforms, and about the same time Solomon Kaye was made receiver. He found the institution $20,000 in debt, he says, and the property mortgaged for $27,000. One hundred of the children have been sent to their parents, a few to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and sixty to Randall's Island.
Division of Old Records of the Surrogates
Court Building of the NY State Supreme Court,
31 Chambers St., 7th Floor.
New York, NY
---Trustees Jacob P. Solomon and Ephraim M. Kantrowitz were 2 of 13 trustees. They got permission to sell 423 and 425 E. 83rd St. to Louis Lese and Mark Blumenthal who sold their contract for the purchase of that real estate to Jacob Jung on 3/19/1892.
---4/6/1892 in front of George P. Andrews, Justice, application of Ladies Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory permission to sell its real estate.
---Moses Esberg, Esq. Warranty deed executed and delivered by Ladies Deborah to Louis Lese and Mark Blumenthal.
---Note Dated 4/2/1896 M. Alexander, president, M. J. Lichtenberg, honorary secretary, 109 - 113 Wooster St., Nathan Hautkoff, treasurer, secured by mortgage of real estate recorded in the office of the Registrar of the city and county of NY, block series liber 1, section 10 of mortgages, p. 261, 4/2/1891, index in block index of mortgage under section 10, block 2620 on the land map of the City of New York.
---10/25/1896 Board of Directors had a meeting.
---Mathias T. Foster, M. D., 22 E. 41st St., Doctor for Ladies Deborah
---M. S. Davis, employee, Sept., Oct., Nov., 1896
---Ladies Deborah Nursery and Child's Protectory owed money to Mechanics and Traders Bank, Fernando Baltes, Cashier - $3294 plus interest from 8/2/1896 to 4/2/1897 $3473.76 on a promissory note.
---1/7/1898 Isaac A. Hourwich, attorney, 212 East Broadway to Messrs. Golfogle, Kohn and Lind, 271 Broadway. Hourwich is attorney for Joseph Ringler, assignee of the claim of Max Davis.
---Austin Nichols in the person of William H. Buckman members of Austin Nichols, Ladies Deborah, Eagle Ave. owes $3,600. 11/4/1892
---Voluntary Dissolution in NYS Supreme Court account of Paul G. Decker in the Male Dept. 141st St. and Forrest Ave. from 8/28/1895, various dates in 1895. Fixed plumbing $604.67.
---1/1/1896 Ladies Deborah to Goldfogle, Cohen and Lind, lawyers,
to legal services rendered
1894, 5, 6 $350 prior to appointment of receiver.
---Proof of claim of Fannie C. Lyon, sole surviving trustee of the trusts created by and under the last will and testament of Samuel E. Lyon, deceased, in account with the Ladies Deborah Nursery. J. Clarence Davis, agent of Fannie C. Lyon, statement of account of Ladies Deborah at premises known as Rockwood, 141st and Concord Ave., NYC owing to Fannie C. Lyon, trustee under indenture of lease, 3/29/1895, from Ladies Deborah for rent payable in advance for the premises known as Rockwood from 5/1/1896 to 8/1/1896 $250 with interest from the first day of May and the sum of $250 from the first day of August, 1896, $250 from 8/1 to 11/1 with interest.
---9/18/1896 American Watchmans Time Detector Co., 234-235 Broadway, Ladies Deborah owes $76.39 141st and Southern Blvd., East Broadway and Henry St. 8/18/1895 to 10/1896 $76.39 East Broadway, Henry and 162nd and Eagle.
---Voluntary Dissolution of Ladies Deborah in Supreme Court, NYC, John Leffler claim for $4756.18 against Ladies Deborah assigned by Herschman and Bleier, 54 and 56 Ave. C corner 4th St. 11/26/1896 Herschman and Bleier sold dairy products. Some went to 161st St., some to 141st St. and some to East Broadway.
---W. C. Dickerson, architect, 3rd Ave. and 149th St., 12/21/1896 Ladies Deborah owed $50 for plans. $50 is for Ladies Deborah St. Marks St., 141st St., Wales and Concord Ave.
---Frank O. Sauvan, 12/21/1896 $313.99 paints, etc.
---12/21/1896 Joseph Corbett sold wines, liquor and cigars to Ladies Deborah at 6th Ave. and Central Park. Owed $4.
---Seiffert and Hoffman bell hangers and locksmiths, 3156-3rd Ave. 12/2/1896 Ladies Deborah, Eagle Ave. and 161st St. $28.94
---Dr. Sigfried Martus, 1652 Lexington Ave., 12/22/1896 doctor for Ladies Deborah
---103 East Broadway owed $36. 12/22/1896 to New York Mutual Gas Light
---Austin Nichols and Co., wholesale grocers, Hudson, Jay and Staples St., New York 12/23/1896 to Messrs. Goldfogle, Cohen and Lind, 271 Broadway reply to letter of 12/18 the amount of claim against Ladies Deborah is $3,600.47.
---Maunsell Van Rensellaer, Jr., Secretary of National Ice Co. of NY, Ladies Deborah owes $200.18. 12/28/1896
---161st and Eagle Ave., Bloomingdale's, $43.53, 10/29/1897 $86.19 from attorney Ludvigh and Ryttenberg, 320 Broadway
---Kantrowitz and Esberg, Lawyers, 12/15/1897, represent M. Lubelsky and Son, 83 Mott St., owed $57.56 by Ladies Deborah. Lubelsky sold paints, varnishes and colors.
---Henry Freeman, attorneys are Wasserman and Jacobus, 132 Nassau St., Ladies Deborah, 163rd and Eagle Ave. owed $325.40 with interest 1/27/1897 and 12/27/1897 $100 from 12/1.
---12/10/1897 Duparquet Huot and Moneuse, Co., 43 and 45 Wooster St., ranges owed $25.84
---Moritz Kugelman, boots and shoes, 223 E. 58th St., New York, N.Y. was owed $851.21 1/23/1897 with interest $997.20 for shoe repairs at 103 East Broadway, 141st St. and Forrest and 161st and Eagle.
---Receiver Sol L. Kaye, 5/13/1897 according to American Watchmans, East Broadway had a watchman's clock of 6 stations. it was taken to Port Morris and reestablished, this was dated 5/13/1897. They moved 6 station clock a year ago. They had 2 station clock put in at 162nd St., repaired for $76.39.
---12/21/1896 David H. P. McCutcheon, lithographers, 25 W. 3rd St., $7.50 ; 2/27/1897 $7.50; 12/1/1897 $7.50
---9/8/1897 O'Connor Printing Co., 93 Liberty St., printed 100 catalogs for receiver's sale for 9/13/1897 at 141st St. and Forrest Ave. $9.70 ditto for Eagle Ave. address
---Ladies Deborah, 331 Forrest Ave., female Dept. 8/12/1896 321 Forrest Ave.
---12/15/1897 permanent receiver of Ladies Deborah Sol L. Kaye office of Goldfogle, Cohn and Lind, 271 Broadway
---Ladies Deborah premises at Eagle Ave. and 161st St. and 162nd St. and Forrest Ave. and 141st St.
---4/17/1899 Justice Honorable Leonard A. Giegerich Supreme Court Special Term Part 7
---Final accounting filed 4/7/1902 according to Goldfogle, Cohn and Lind.
Following information was taken from photostats of the Ladies Deborah Nursery:
Supreme Court in the voluntary Dissolution of the Ladies Deborah Nursery and Child Care
Petition and notice of Motion 3/4/1897
Motion to be made at Special Term of Supreme Court of NYC 3/5/1897 to permit Sol L. Kaye, temporary receiver of Ladies Deborah Nursery and Child Protectory to pay to himself in order to reimburse himself for money spent for maintenance and care of the children (inmates during November and December, 1896 and January, 1897 $3679.70 plus $100 to American Surety Co. for his bond plus Goldfogle, Cohn and Lind, Esqs. his attorneys $15.00.
Sol L. Kaye, temporary receiver, Voluntary Dissolution began 11/24/1896 Took charge immediately. About 175 children at nursery. Justice Truax ordered that Sol Kaye was permitted to maintain the children for three months. Dated 11/27/1896 Impossible to close the premises because
1) return many children to their homes
2) find shelter for remainder at other institutions
Sol L. Kaye spent own money for care of children when he took over. Children were sent away by 2/5. Over 100 went to parents and relatives. Remainder to other institutions.
Comptroller of NYC paid Sol L. Kaye 2 checks for the last 4 days of November and December, 1896 amounting to $1294.85, check for January promised (about $800) within a week or 10 days.
Sol L. Kaye paid out of pocket $679.70.
Ladies Deb owned considerable real estate encumbered by mortgage and under foreclosure proceedings. by Sol L. Kaye, 11/9/1896
Henry L. Goldfogle said gross mismanagement of Ladies Deb's affairs caused the problems. Board of Charities withheld certificate necessary to pay the claims agains the city for management of the children. He requests $2,750 for his services. Dated 4/21/1899.
Notices published in Law Journal, Albany Argus and Jewish Messenger
Mortgage on Eagle Ave. and 161st St. $17,500.
In the matter
-of-
The final accounting of Sol L. Kay,
permanent Receiver of the
Ladies' Deborah Nursery and Childs Protectory
FINAL ACCOUNT
GOLDFOGLE, COHN & LIND,
Attorneys for Receiver,
Office and Post Office Address,
271 Broadway,
Borough of Manhattan,
N. Y. City.
Filed April 7, 1902 - (written by hand on typed document)
SUPREME COURT, COUNTY OF
NEW YORK.
----------------------------------------------------------x
In the Matter
- of the -Final Accounting of Sol L. Kaye,
Permanent Receiver of the Ladies
Deborah Nursery and Childs' Pro-
tectory.
----------------------------------------------------------x
TO THE SUPREME COURT, COUNTY OF NEW YORK:-
I, SOL L. KAYE, of the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, do
hereby make and render the following account of my proceedings as permanent receiver of the Ladies Deborah Nursery and Childs' Protectory, a corporation, to wit.On June 22nd, 1897, by an order of this Court, made at Special Term Part III, Honorable Roger A. Pryor, Justice presiding, I was duly appointed permanent receiver of the property of the Ladies Deborah Nursery and Childs' Protectory, and thereafter I duly qualifed as such permanent receiver and gave and giled the bond which I was directed to give, in and by the Order appointing me.
Shedule A, hereto annexed, contains a statement of the moneys which came in my hands aspermanent receiver by the order heretofore made on December 5th 1900, settling and determining my accounts as temporary receiver tofether (sic) with the interest accrued thereon, and also of property which came to my hands since the filing of my accounts as temporary receiver as aforesaid.
Schedule B, hereto annexed, contains a list of all claims presented to me by creditors of the Ladies Deborah Nursery and Childs' Protectory, the general nature of the claim, its amountand whether judgement, if any, was rendered.
Schedule C, hereto annexed, contains a statement of all moneys paid out by me as permanent receiver.
Schedule D, hereto annexed, contains a statement of all debts due to the insolvent corporation, together with reasons why the same have not been collected.
Schedule E, hereto annexed, contains a statement of nny other facts affecting my administration as permanent receiver, my rights, and those of others interested therein.
On or about the 18th day of October 1897, I caused a notice to be published pursuant to law, which notice together with due proof of the publiction thereof, is hereto annexed and made a part of this account.
[SIGNED] Sol L. Kay
***************
Amount Found by Decree $7778.74
Commissions to temporary receiver, allowed by decree, 300.00
$7478.74
Net amount of personal property realized at auction sale, 816.04
Interest on deposits as allow by
The Farmers Loan and Trust Co.,398.81
Amount due from Comptroller of the City of New York (see note on Schedule E), 445.45
$9139.04
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
***************
Name
Residence
Amount
Consideration of Indebtness
The East River Fish Company 59 Hester St. $118.97
Goods sold and delivered J. Clarence Davies 149th St. & 3rd Avenue 750.00
Rent The Central Gas Co. 350 Alexander Avenue 202.05
Gas furnished S. Solomon 101 Allen St. 81.50
Repairing shoes W. C. Dickerson 3rd Avenue & 149th St. 50.00
Services as architect Joseph Corbett 3197 Third Ave. 4.00
Goods sold and delivered Rosenbaum & Weberlowsky 4 Ludlow St. 6.00
Goods sold and delivered M. Kupfer 1016 Park Ave. 31.69
Work, labor and services M. Lubelsky, & Sons 83 Mott Street 57.56
Goods sold and delivered Austin, Nichols & Co. Hudson & Jay Streets 3600.47
Goods sold and delivered John Loeffler
as assignee of
Herschman & Bleier56 Avenue C 4756.18
Goods sold and delivered Maxwell Davidson and Moses Esberg, assignees of Meyer Freeman 305 E. 50th St. 2402.17
Goods sold and delivered (judgment for $2929.67
N.Y. Supreme Ct.)
May 10,1898The East River Mill and Lumber Co. 92nd St. and East River 118.12
Goods Sold and delivered Paul G. Decker 3204 Third Ave. 403.92
Work, labor and services Duparauet, Huot, Monsuse Co. 43 Wooster St. 48.12
Repairing range. National Ice Co. 10 W. 23rd St. 200.19
Goods sold and delivered Frank O. Sauvan 3191 Third Ave. 313.99
Goods sold and delivered Bloomingdale Bros. 59th St., & 3rd Ave. 86.19
Goods sold and delivered M. Kugelman 223 E. 58th St. 900.48
Goods sold and delivered
(Judgment for $997.20
City Ct. of New York,
Jan. 13, 1897American Watchmans
Time Detector Co.231 Broadway 76.39
Work labor and services and materials Bramhall, Deane Co. 262 Water St. 126.39
Goods sold and delivered Wesley Brown 3191 Third Ave. 52.88
Work, labor and services and materials A. Haight Forest Ave. and 141st St. 8.61
Goods sold and delivered Mutual Gas Co. 16th St., & 4th Avenue 36.00
Goods sold and delivered Seifert & Hoffman 3rd Ave. & 126th St. 28.94
Goods sold and delivered Henry Stellman 1013 E. 136th Street 22.12
Goods sold and delivered David H. P. McCutcheon 25 W. 3rd St. 7.50
Goods sold and delivered Morris Osmansky 91 E. Broadway 30.76
Goods sold and delivered Saul Glasser 3092-1/2 3rd Avenue 22.92
Work labor and services Joseph Rubenstein 43 Bowery 59.00
Goods sold and delivered James Prior 486 Pear St. 9.50
Goods sold and delivered John J. Flommer 3rd Ave., & 164th St. 251.49
Goods sold and delivered Bunke & Cording 5 W. 136th St. 199.50
Goods sold and delivered Knickerbocker Ice Co. N. Y. City 64.16
Goods sold and delivered George Heyman 103 Mott St. 14.00
Goods sold and delivered Harris Dembinsky 67 Henry St. 1125.07
Goods sold and delivered J. L Mott Iron Works 90 Beekman St. 1.50
Repairing range George W. Steele 2590 3rd Ave. 1076.49
Work labor and services Sol. Simm 1068 2nd Ave. 27.63
Goods sold and delivered William Sohmer 9 Third Ave. 14.80
Insurance on building Simeon Nauheim Lex. Ave., & 5th St. 135.85
Drugs Goldfogle, Cohn & Lind 271 Broadway 350.00
Legal Services Mechanic's & Traders Bank 565 Broadway 3473.76
Promissory note H. A. Geist 25 Broad St. 326.00
Goods sold and delivered Dr. M. L. Foster 22 E. 41st St. 100.00
Professional services P. J. Cooney & Bro. 709 E. 165 St. 87.00
Goods sold and delivered [Signed] Sol L. Kaye
The following is a list of employees who claim to have done and performed work, labor and services for the Ladies Deborah Nursery & Childs Protectory, and who claim a preference under the statute, for the full amount of their respective claims:-
Dora Greenberg
Julia Lazek
Mary Stasky
Sophia Schennitz
Susan Necowitz
Sophia Howill
Anna Peyser
Mary Swaddon
Mary Cotten
Henrietta Mintz
Leno Presnowitz
Amy Rend
Gussie Abrahams
Tessie Lubliner
Jack Grotel
Herman Oernstein
Abraham Rieser
Jacob Mendoza
Mrs. Hasbrouck
Dr. Martus
Robert Hamburger
Dr. M. L. Foster
M. J. Lichtenberg
M. S. Davis
Dr. Henry Freeman$48.00
36.00
36.00
36.00
24.00
26.00
36.00
36.00
45.00
24.00
36.00
55.00
16.00
36.00
24.00
20.00
75.00
15.00
1.00
225.00
51.65
75.00
450.00
253.00
325.00The claim of Dr. Martus is for services rendered to the inmates of the institution under an agreement made by the officers thereof on a per annum basis.
The claim of Robert Hamburger is for stenographer's fees, he having be on employed as a stenographer in and about the institution.
The claim of Dr. M. L. Foster is for medical services rendered to the inmates of the institution under an annual agreement.
The claim of Dr. Henry Freeman is for services rendered to me inmates of the institution as a physician under an annual agreement.
The claim of M. J. Lichtenberg is for salary as Secretary. The said Lichtenberg, while nominally an officer of the institution, kept the books and accounts, for which he received a salary.
The claim of M. S. Davis consists of two items, one being $175. salary as superintendent and the balance $78. being moneys advanced for the benefit of the institution while such superintendent.
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
***************
Costs to Attorneys $140.00
Paid watchman and caretaker of property up to time of auction sale, July to Oct. 15th 175.00
Fees to Goldfogle, Cohn & Lind for services to permanent receiver, and all services to and including accounting and final distribution 500.00
$815.00
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye***************
The following debts are due to the corporation which have not as yet been collected.
A claim against the City of New York for $145.45 being the balance
of a per capita allowance made by the Corporation Authorities to the
institution for the maintenance of its inmates which claim s now in
process of adjustment by the comptroller of the City of New York,$145.45
A claim of $300.00 against the corporate authorities of the City of
New York, being a balance of the per capita allowance paid by the
corporate authorities to the institution for the maintenance of the
inmates pursuant to law, which claim is now under investigation by
the Comptroller of the City of New York, and is in process of
settlement,$300.00
A claim for money deposited in some banking institution in the City
of New York but which banking institution the receiver has as yet,
been unable to learn; the moneys were deposited by Mrs. Deborah
Alexander before the formation of the present corporation under the
name of some other society out of which the present corporation sprung
and was formed and which funds properly belong to the Ladies Deborah
Nursery and Childs Protectory. No trace of these funds has as yet been
discovered.A claim against the City of New York being for taxes and assessments
claimed or alleged to have been paid by the Ladies Deborah Nursery and
Childs Protectory upon real estate held by them prior to the appointment
of the Receiver herein, which real estate was occupied, used and employed
by the said corporation for the purposes of the corporation, to wit, for
charitable purposes, and which real estate it is claimed, was exempt from
the payment of taxes and assessments under the Statute, and which claim
amounts to about the sum of Three thousand dollars,$3000.00
Inasmuch as the moneys were paid by a Referee in foreclosure proceedings,
the Receiver is of opinion that the City may be compelled to refund the
moneys so paid, for the benefit of the creditors.[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
***************
The receiver charges himself with the sum of $445.45 as being moneys due from the Comptroller of the City of New York. While this money has not actually been collected and is in process of adjustment, the receiver at the suggestion of several of the principal creditors, has charged himself with this amount so as to avoid a subsequent accounting if before final distribution these moneys are collected by the receiver, it being expressly understood that if the Controller declines to pay this money to the receiver or any part thereof, the receiver will be credited on his account for the whole or such part of said moneys as are not paid over to him by the Comptroller.
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
***************
The receiver charges himself with amount of Schedule A,
$9139.04
The receiver credits himself with amount of Schedule C,
$ 815.90
________
The receiver has in his hands applicable to be distributed among the
creditors subject, however, to deductions for commissions to be
allowed by the court,$8324.04
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
CONTENTS
***************
SUPREME COURT, COUNTY OF
NEW YORK.
----------------------------------------------------------x
In the Matter
- of the -Final Accounting of Sol L. Kaye,
Permanent Receiver of the Ladies
Deborah Nursery and Childs' Pro-
tectory, a corporation.
----------------------------------------------------------x
CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, SS:
Sol. L. Kaye being duly sworn deposes and says:-
I am the permanent receiver of the above named corporation. The foregoing
account truly states the moneys by me received, the amounts disbursed by
me, the claims presented to me, the balance now remaining in my hands as
such permanent receiver, and all other matters and facts affecting my administration
as such receiver.
[Signed] Sol L. Kaye
Sworn to before me this)
3rd day of April 1902 )
[Signed] A? Kohn, Com. of Deeds, City of New York
A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Steve Siegel, former president of the NYJGS and NYJHS and the archivist of the 92nd St. Y, Florence Marmor and David Priever for finding information on this institution.
Florence Marmor and David Priever who with the help of New York State Senior Court Analyst Joe Van Nostrand and Assistant Senior Court Analyst Bruce Abrams who are archivists in Special Proceedings provided the Index/Files information on Lady Deborah from the Division of Old Records of the Surrogate Court.
David Priever for providing the photostats of the New York Times articles.