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Fosdick’s Third Report to Mayor Tells of Borough Head's Confer ence Over Dummy Inspector. CHECK MARKED “GRAFT” Men Who Signed Inspectors’ Reports Admit They Never Did Any Work In Return for City Pay. Commissioner of Accounts Fosdick, in a third preliminary report to Mayor Gay nor, sent to the Mayor yesterday, makes open’ charges of graft. Involving Borough President Gresser; Cornelius Burke, form erly Superintendent of the Sewer De partment; James M. Cragen, formerly Gresser’a secretary and now Justice of the Second District Municipal Court; Jo seph Nelson, the former Sewer Depart ment bookkeeper, and Alfred Denton, Justice of the Third District Municipal Court. The men named are declared to have been present at a private conference in the office of Borough President Gresser, at which it was decided to recall a check for “ graft, ’ issued to one dummy sewer Inspector and saloon keeper and district captain, and send out a duplicate in its Place to another dummy Inspector. That the check was for ‘graft’ was indicated by the frank wording of the stub made out to the first payee by Joseph Nelson, this stube having been ob tained by Commissioner Fosdick and in corporated in his record. To ‘obtain much of the most material evidence in the matter it was necessary to break a wit ness down upon the stand and obtain a confession including a statement that his testimony up to the point of breaking down was false. ‘An examination of Kelly's reports,” Mr. Fosdick sets forth, ‘discloses the fact that those which he filled out for the weeks ending March 13, March 20, and April 3, and which he had turned in unsigned, bear the signature of one Thomas Brown, in a handwriting entirely distinct from the body of the report. Furthermore, three affidavits certifying to the work set forth in the three re ports above mentioned were discovered among the records of the department, signed by Thomas Brown of Elmhurst, L. L. and witnessed by Paul B. Zenner, a notary public. “In our attempt to unravel this mys tery we called to the stand Cornelius Burke, who resigned the superintendency of sewers on Feb. 28, 1910. Mr. Burke testified that he had appointed as an In spector upon the Channel Avenue sewer s man by the name of Thomas Brown, who is now employed as a meter reader by the Newtown Gas Company, and whom he was able to describe minutely. He identified the signatures on the reports and affidavits as those of his appointee. s stated that after Brown had been appointed and had done considerable work, Nelson at his (Burke's) request, and in accordance with the custom of the Sewer Bureau, gave him a check to cover the sallary of the Inspector, after he, as Superintendent of Sewers, had turned in the three reports and affidavits, above mentioned, which he had obtained from Brown. His testimony on this point was corroborated by that of Nelson and the stub in the latter's check book, whic we subpoenaed some two months ago. The stub bears this entry, ehpril 24, 1909. Thomas Brown, Graft, “The word ‘graft’ has been penciled over, but is still plainly visible. Over this entry on the stub is written the word ‘ Void. It appears from the testimony both of Mr. Burke and Mr. Nelson that after the appointment of Thomas Brown a discussion arose in the Sewer Bureau as to the right of the Superintendent to appoint Inspectors on private sewers. This discussion was apparently precipitated by the demand of the Commissioner of Pub lic Works, Alfred Denton, now Justice of the Third District Municipal Court, that Robert Kreuscher should receive the money for its fr oe sewer in Chan nel Avenue. Judge Denton testified that President Gresser had instructed him to appene Mr. Kreuscher, a saloon keeper and a District Captain living in Far Rock away, upon the work In question, and that when he attempted to comply with the direction he found that the money for in spection had already been turned over to the Superintendent of Sewers to pay to Mr. Brown. “A conference was thereupon held in the private office of the Borough Presi dent, at which were present, in addition to Mr. Gresser, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Burke, Mr.Denton, and James M.Cragen, pri vate secretary to the Borough President, now Justice of the Second District Mu nicipal Court. All these gentlemen testi fied before me that at this conference the Borough President decided that Mr. Kreuscher was to receive the money for the inspection. There seems to have been no concern in the minds of these officials at this time as to the identity of the man actually performing the work of I inspec tion. President Gresser, in his testimony, failed to remember any of the circum stances in connection with this matter. He stated that, while he was acquainted with Robert Kreuscher, he did not know that he had ever been appointed as an Inspector upon a private sewer. “As a result of this decision in the Bor ough President's office, Burke handed back to Nelson the check for $96, and a new check was issued in the same amount, payable to Robert Kreuscher. This check was dated May 7, 1909. A second check dated June 15, 1900, for $72, was paid to Kreuscher for the work of inspection. The second check, for $72, was indorsed by Kreuscher to H. A. Rydiill, a personal friend of Mr. Gresser and a district lead er, who, according to his own testimony and the testimony of Denton and Kreus cher, was instrumental in obtaining an inspectorship for the latter. Thomas Brown, whom Burke claimed to have appointed as an inspector upon the Channel Avenue sewer, was subpoenaed and placed under oath. His apvance agreed exactly with the description fur nished by Burke. At first he stated that he had been appointed upon the work in question and had signed the reports and affidavits which he showed him. When a comparison of his handwriting was
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New York Times
New York, New York, US
Sat, May 07, 1910
Page 7
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USA 22 Jun 2026
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