"To the Hon. Board of Police Commissioners of New York.
"Gentlemen: I beg respectfully to offer my resignation as a patrol policeman, the same to take effect on Tuesday, October 18, 1870.
"This step has been rendered necessary for the following reasons: I have been prohibited by your representative, the late Superintendent, from employing my spare time in the fulfilment of a duty which, in common with all good citizens, I owe to the defenders of our country, the sick and disabled soldiers, and to the widows and orphans of those who perished in the late war; and being determined to fulfil that duty, I have obtained employment elsewhere, under circumstances that will enable me to continue to assist and advise these poor people.
"Respectfully asking your acceptance of my resignation, I remain, gentlemen, yours, &c.,
The public journals of the times made most complimentary allusion to Officer McWatters when noticing his withdrawal from the police force and acceptance of a post in the custom-house. They spoke of him—but perhaps it were well to let some of them "speak for themselves." We reproduce here the following (all we have space for in this article) from the New York Evening Post and the Daily Times. The former remarked thus:—
"The resignation of George S. McWatters deprives the police force of one of its most faithful and efficient members; but, on the other hand, it enables Mr. McWatters to continue his benevolent and gratuitous services in behalf of the wounded soldiers, and the widows and orphans of those who fell during the late war. Mr. McWatters proposes to open an office, under the auspices of the Ladies' Union Relief Association, and of General Butler, in his capacity of President of the Board of Managers of the National Homes for Disabled Soldiers, where, at certain hours each day, he can be consulted, and will offer relief and assistance. There is now no place in this city where this class of persons can get advice without paying roundly for it, and running the danger of falling into the hands of unprincipled claim agents. Mr. McWatters intends to give his service gratuitously in this good cause, as he has been doing for the last five or six years. He is now filling an office in the custom-house, and Collector Murphy has shown his discriminating good sense in making the appointment."
The Times said:—
"The appointment of Mr. George S. McWatters to the position of storekeeper, under the New York custom-house, was most judicious, and will be heartily approved by those who are familiar with the man and his good deeds. He has been connected with the police department of the city for the past twelve years, and never had a charge preferred against him in all that time. Since the war, in addition to his police duties, he has been an indefatigable worker for the interests of sick and disabled soldiers, and the families of those who died in battle. Hundreds of cases have been investigated by him, and relief obtained for the unfortunate in scores of instances. For these services Mr. McWatters received no remuneration whatever, save the gratitude of those who were the object of his beneficence. His merits were recognized by the collector, and hence the offer of an appointment, which was accepted a few days after."
Thus it was that Officer McWatters ended his connection with the Metropolitan Police, with the honor of the public for his faithfulness and efficiency as an officer, and the applause of all good people for his benevolence and laborious services in the cause of philanthropy. This brings us to the month of October, 1870; since which time Officer McWatters has been attending to his duties as an officer in the custom-house, and pursuing his career as a "Good Samaritan" as usual.
The Swindling Bounty Claim Agents.
In these biographical notes it has not been attempted to preserve chronological order throughout, as the reader has observed, and we now revert to sundry important facts in Officer McWatters' history, which have been passed over by us without allusion. Perhaps the chief service which McWatters has rendered to the soldiers is the successful war he waged against the Bounty Claim Agents in 1868-69. As the law regarding bounties then stood, the agents were able to grossly swindle the soldiers. And many of these agents, all over the land, and probably the most of them, did swindle them. To appreciate the full merit of Officer McWatters in circumventing the swindling agents, it is necessary to understand how they operated with poor soldiers; and as we find in the New York Times of March 21, 1869, a succinct explanation of their mode of operations, we transfer a portion of the article containing it to these pages. It will be found interesting as an item in the history of the times (as well as a comment upon the beauties of civilization in general). The article is headed "Bounty Swindlers," and goes on to say:—
"Herman, who is well known as a former claim agent in this city, is now at large, under forfeited bail of ten thousand dollars, for swindling discharged soldiers, who were credulous enough to trust him, out of their well-deserved bounties. It is estimated by the authorities that he made nearly twenty thousand dollars by these operations, which he has so carefully disposed of that it cannot be recovered by his unfortunate victims. There are, perhaps, fifty others of the same stripe in this city, who have gathered small fortunes by thus defrauding the soldier or his widow and orphans.
"To protect the soldiers from these sharks, Mr. French, Second Auditor of the Treasury Department at Washington, has, from time to time, suspended all business transactions with them. This had the effect of stopping the frauds for a while, but the swindlers soon found a method of overcoming the obstruction. This they did by procuring willing tools through whom they operated as successfully as ever.
"There are said to be thousands of dishonest agents all over the United States, who are continually engaged in this nefarious business. They are principally lawyers who have no reputation to lose, and who, therefore, are indifferent to public opinion.
"The modus operandi by which these swindles are carried on is as follows: A. is a discharged soldier, B. the claim agent. A. calls on B., and requests him to procure his bounty money for him. A. is informed that, in order to enforce his claim, it will be necessary for him to intrust B. with his certificate of honorable discharge, to be forwarded to Washington as a voucher. Thus far the transaction is legitimate; but now comes the trickery. B. further informs A. that there is another paper to be forwarded with the discharge, a blank, which he (A.) must sign. It is merely a matter of form, B. says, which the government requires, for some reason best known to itself. The signature is given, and the soldier goes away, assured that within a few days his check will be ready for him. The paper to which, in his ignorance, A. signed his name, turns out to be an absolute power of attorney conferred upon B., not only to enforce the claim, but also to indorse the draft when it is received, and to collect the money therefor at the bank. Thus authorized, B. draws the cash at the proper time, puts it into his own pocket, and keeps it there. A. calls for his money at the appointed time, but is put off with the excuse that the return has not yet been made by the department at Washington. This explanation is repeated each time that A. calls, until, finally, he becomes suspicious of unfair dealing, and peremptorily demands either his certificate or the bounty. As a rule, this demand leads to the speedy unfolding of the base villany. B. acknowledges that he has collected the money, and adds that he has spent it, but that he will refund it as soon as he is able to do so. The claim agent having acted by full power of attorney in the matter, cannot be prosecuted criminally, and the only remedy open to the victimized soldier is a civil suit for the recovery of the amount of his claim. The remedy is ineffectual, however, by reason of the fact that the swindler has no property out of which to satisfy judgment, and the soldier being too poor to prosecute the case, the affair ends at this point.
"There are now in the Second Auditor's office as many as sixty-five thousand unsettled bounty claims, representing about four millions five hundred thousand dollars, and by the recent passage of another bounty act, that sum will soon be augmented by nearly five hundred thousand dollars. It will thus be seen that, unless some measures are taken by the government to prevent it, five million dollars more will pass into the hands of swindling agents, to the great loss of those for whose benefit it was intended."
But long before this article appeared in the Times, Officer McWatters had been reflecting upon a measure for rescuing the poor soldiers from the despoiling grasp of the agents. He had laid his plans before the Ladies' Union Relief Association, and the good ladies, at once appreciating it, commissioned him to go, in the name of the Association, to Washington, and procure, if possible, the immediate carrying out of his plan, which consisted of certain changes in the law. He went at once to the Capital, and called upon President Grant, who kindly received him, and to whom he unfolded his plan. The Military Committee of the Senate were also visited, and they, as the President had likewise done, gave Mr. McWatters assurances of their sympathy with his designs, which they proceeded to directly express, by a proposed change in the law, which was in due time made. Messrs. Wilson and Howe of the Senate, General Butler and General Logan of the House, were particularly earnest and active in aiding Officer McWatters to accomplish his great aim in this matter. A resolution "for the protection of soldiers and their heirs," according to Officer McWatters' plan, after passing both Houses of Congress, received the approval of the President, and became a law on the 10th of April, 1869, and thousands of soldiers have since blessed their ever warm and judicious friend, McWatters, for one of the very best deeds that has been done in their behalf since the war. Lodges of the Grand Army of the Republic, in all parts of the country, passed votes of compliment and gratitude to him; and the press, also, was everywhere laudatory of him.
The new law forbids the Treasury and Pay Departments paying bounties due the soldiers to any claim agent, or upon "any power of attorney, transfer, or assignment whatever;" but provides that the money due shall be sent directly to the soldier or his heirs, by draft, on their order, or through the Freedman's Bureau, or state agents appointed specially for that purpose, etc., at no cost to the soldier or his heirs. The law also provides, that the government shall retain in its hands such proper fees as may be due to the claim agents for their services in procuring bounties, which fees are subject to the agents' order; thus securing to them all that is justly their due, while also, in a truly Christian or motherly way, shielding them from the temptation to rob the poor soldier or his heirs of everything. (One object of governments, we are told by sundry "great writers on Law," is to protect the morals of the people; which we are very glad to be assured of—sometimes. It is refreshing to be told that a divine power has a hand in the governmental institutions of the world; for if we were not so informed by the great writers, we might not always be able to discover the fact.)
But this victory over the claim agents was not won without much hard fighting on Officer McWatters' part. The rascally agents harassed him, threatened him, and attempted to bribe him, etc. But without going into details, we will content ourselves with transferring to these pages an article which we find in The Sun, of April 10, 1869:—
"The thanks of hundreds of soldiers who have been defrauded by the bounty thieves, are due to General John A. Logan, for pushing through Metropolitan Policeman McWatters' bill, requiring that all moneys due them shall be paid to the soldiers direct, the government reserving to itself the fees. While Officer McWatters was in Washington, the bounty thieves pretending to enjoy influence with the Metropolitan Police Commissioners, threatened him, and tried to buy him off, one of the fellows offering him five hundred dollars to 'go home and mind his own business.' We reproduce two of their threatening letters, as follows:—
"'Mr. McWatters. Dear Sir: You are in a business that don't suit you—something you have no right in. The men you are working against are a large and influential class; have power where you least expect it. You have a good position on the police. As you value it, quit your present action. Let the soldiers take care of themselves; it don't pay you, nor will it. You can't afford to play philanthropist. Leave that to men of means, and women, if you like. A word to the wise.
"'New York, March 27, 1869. H. B. L.'
"'Mr. McWatters. Dear Sir: Your visit to Washington will do you no good, but may possibly result in great harm to yourself. You have a good position now, and I think you had better let the soldiers' matters alone, as you are interfering with the business of those whose power and influence can be used against you to disadvantage. If you think anything at all of your own welfare, leave Washington immediately, and pursue the matter no further.
"'New York, March 29, 1869'"
But Officer McWatters' labor for the soldier and his family, in regard to the laws regulating payments thereto, did not stop here. In 1870, in conjunction with others (he being the proposer of the same, we believe, as he was surely the most active mover thereto), obtained a change to be made in the time and frequency of the payment of pensions; the same theretofore being paid only semi-annually. There were evils attending these semi-annual payments. Some recipients getting so much of their dues at a time, were led to improvidence, spending the same more freely than they would have done smaller sums; and their families often complained about the matter. Officer McWatters urged the proposition of monthly payments, but was unable to secure his object; but the law was changed, making the pensions payable in quarterly instalments. This was a great improvement over the old law. Officer McWatters received numerous letters of gratitude on the passage of the law. We clip the following in relation thereto, from the Tribune of December 9, 1870:—
"The first payment of pensions under the new law making the payments quarterly instead of semi-annual, began last Monday, and many grateful letters, illustrating the beneficial working of the new plan, have already been received by Mr. G. S. McWatters, who was instrumental, in conjunction with the Ladies' Union Relief Association, in procuring the passage of the bill."
The payments were made formerly in March and September; and how the pensioner welcomed a quarterly payment coming on the first Monday of December, is perhaps as feelingly told, in its own homely way, as it well could be, in the following extract from one of those letters to which the Tribune refers. A pensioner, writing to McWatters, says: "Nobody but a poor man can appreciate the feelings a poor man enjoys in the consciousness of having a clean rent bill, a ton of coal, and a barrel of flour, in the first month of winter."
Ay! there is an eloquence in those words—an eloquence which touches the softer chords of the heart,—"The poor man enjoys"! Nobody more than Officer McWatters, the philanthropist, could appreciate the poor pensioner's letter. But is there not in that letter that which touches other chords than those of sympathy—the chords of justice in all decent souls? a sense of justice which regards with horror, and burns with indignation over, the wretched order of things, or disorder the rather, which creates these suffering poor? Very likely that pensioner, who tells us so touchingly of "a poor man's feelings," has done more for the world, created more for the good of his fellow-men, through his labor, in the form of agricultural products, necessary work of one kind or another, etc., etc., than all the millionnaires of New York together,—the mere cormorants, who fatten upon the toil of the laboring classes. Is it not a shame to our common humanity that a barrel of flour should, in any family, become a subject for their rejoicing? "How a poor man feels!"—in this world of wealth! in this age of Christian teaching! in this era of churches! Bah! it is enough, one would think, to make the apostles of the Nazarene arise from their graves, and seize the sword of Peter, to put an end to the villany which still enslaves the masses and keeps them poor. But we do not hear that they are disturbed, nor do we learn that there is pity anywhere in the universe for the poor, save in the souls of the poor themselves, and in those of a few philanthropists here and there. But that is well, for it is not pity which is to work the good reformation which must some time be wrought; it is justice, the justice which shall yet demand rights, and banish even the name of privileges; justice, with science as its means. All else has signally failed to achieve any great good.
Froude and other great writers admit that but little real progress has been made under our social institutions. Changes have come along the line of the centuries, it is true, but the "poor man" (and the term generically comprehends the vast majority of the race), the poor man suffers as much in these days as in those of Moses, or in Caligula's, or in the dark ages, or any period of feudal times; and yet we boast of "progress." In no period of the world's history has anything more reprehensible than the suffering of the Irish people at home, in these days, occurred; and there is no reason found in the organic structure of our government why our own poor suffer less, or shall suffer less in the future, than the Irish people now, save that there is a little more mercy in the laws which the tyrant or governing classes of this country make for the laboring classes, in the matter of certain household goods, for example, exempt from levy of attachment or execution; (but this is true only of the laws of certain States, not of the national laws). And this very hour, as we write, the National Congress is contemplating putting millions of acres of the public domain into the hands of the tyrant forces, thus robbing the future millions who will need the soil to live upon.
"The poor man's feelings"! But we dismiss the subject here, with the simple words,—eloquent enough to stir every decent soul to indignation over the wrongs of the laboring classes,—"The feelings of a poor man"!
But more work for the soldier and his family remained for McWatters to do, and he is at this writing (February, 1871) attempting, with the support of the ever noble and active Ladies' Union Relief Association, to get an act passed by Congress, by which an honorably discharged soldier, too poor to buy his own grave, may console himself, in his last moments, that his family will not be obliged to follow him to a pauper's last resting-place. Now, only such soldiers as die in actual service have a right to be buried in the National Cemeteries. The veriest villain may have enlisted in the service yesterday, and died, and be buried to-day in the National Cemeteries. But the honorably discharged soldier, who served through the war bravely and nobly, is not entitled to be buried therein, and if he dies poor, goes to the potter's field. Such is the nation's gratitude!
There's an awful sarcasm in this last work of McWatters. We do not know whether, in the overflowing kindness of his soul, he sees it or not. Memorializing "The Honorable the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives in Congress assembled" to provide a place to bury the nation's heroes in, by a sort of legal fiction, which, while they do fill paupers' graves, technically, obscures a little the fact of their abject poverty, by giving them graves "free of cost." Poor fellows! After death they get more rights than they had when living! The government takes away the soil from the living man, robs him of his right to it,—a right, the true title to which is in the fact of his existence,—his being born, if you please,—and makes restitution with six feet of subsoil to the dead man!
But the merit of Officer McWatters' work is not decreased by this consideration. He does the very best thing he can do under the circumstances. But the nation—the community—civilization—what of them?
Honorable Testimonials to Officer McWatters.
We have somewhere said that Officer McWatters has received not a dollar for his years of constant, active benevolence. This is literally true: but it is not exactly true in the interpretation which some readers might give it; for Officer McWatters has not been wholly without substantial rewards other than those of the joys of his own happiness in well doing. But we have not space to notice all of these. The one which we presume is most dear to the gallant heart of Officer McWatters, is a testimonial of his benevolent services given him by the Ladies' Union Relief Association, in July, 1868. We copy the following article regarding it from the New York Times of July 31, 1868:—
"Testimonial.—The well-known services of Officer George S. McWatters on behalf of disabled soldiers and of the widows and orphans of fallen ones, received a handsome acknowledgment, a few days since, at the hands of the Ladies' Union Relief Association, with whose invaluable labors he has closely identified himself since the organization of the institution. Mrs. John A. Kennedy, who is President of the Association, presented Mr. McWatters with a very valuable gold watch, purchased for him with private contributions of the ladies of the Association, as a testimonial of their appreciation of his energetic labors in the work they have so much at heart. The watch is richly chased and bears on one side of the outer case the monogram 'G. S. McW.,' and on the other, also in monogram, '1868.' The inner case has the following inscription:—
"'Presented to George S. McWatters by the members of the Ladies' Union Relief Association, in appreciation of his services to the families of Union Soldiers. 1868.'
"It is pleasing to note this handsome recognition of the quiet energy and modest worth of Officer McWatters, who has in many ways and frequently, during the war and since, given remarkable evidence of how much good work, in a humble and unpretending way, is within the compass of a single individual, impelled by a spirit of true philanthropy."
We also append a notice of the same testimonial, taken from The Sun of the same date, since it very succinctly sets forth Officer McWatters' great worth as a philanthropist.
"Handsome and Well-deserved Compliment.—A few days ago Officer G. S. McWatters was surprised by a request to attend at the residence of Mrs. John A. Kennedy, the President of the Ladies' Union Relief Association. There he was presented with a beautiful gold watch, as a token of recognition of the valuable work done by him in assisting the objects of the society. Ever since the war Officer McWatters has devoted all his spare hours to the benefit of Union soldiers and their families. We could fill columns with stories of his work and its good results, but have only room to say that no man of equal means has worked so hard and so successfully. To the assistance and encouragement of that noble institution, the Ladies' Union Aid Society, he has given every moment that could be spared from his official duties. It is a fitting and graceful compliment, when such ladies as Mrs. Wm. F. Havemeyer, Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts, Mrs. Kennedy, and others of similar standing, so generously recognize the faithful services of their co-laborer. Of course Mr. McWatters has official permission to accept his well-earned present, and long may he live to wear it."
We also subjoin the following from the Tribune, inasmuch as it makes allusion to certain benevolent acts and plans of Officer McWatters, to which we have not referred in these biographical notes, but which are most worthy of record. So good a summary is the Tribune's article of Officer McWatters' claims upon the public esteem as an active philanthropist up to the period of its date, that we copy it entire, though it embraces several matters upon which we have descanted more or less extendedly in these Notes:—
"It is always gratifying to see genuine and unpretending merit recognized and honored. We are therefore specially glad to record the fact that the Ladies' Union Relief Association of this city have recently, by the presentation of a valuable and appropriate gift, so recognized and honored the services rendered by Officer G. S. McWatters to the peculiar cause of benevolence to which they are devoted. The gift is a handsome gold watch, and the presentation was made on Thursday evening, the 23d inst., by the President of the Association, Mrs. John A. Kennedy, at her residence, No. 135 West Twenty-Second Street. The Ladies' Union Relief has been established two years. It was instituted with a view to the relief of sick and disabled soldiers, their families, widows, or orphans, from the evils of extreme poverty. Great good has been accomplished by the Association; and, in its peculiar charity, it has had no ally more efficient and indefatigable than Officer McWatters. Indeed, from the very beginning of the late civil war, this officer has consistently and faithfully devoted himself to the cause of the Union soldiers. In 1861 he was associated with the late Daniel Carpenter in the mission of raising money from the police force for the support of the families of policemen who had gone to the war. In 1862—an assessment having been levied on the police force for the purpose of raising and equipping the Metropolitan Brigade—Officer McWatters subscribed more money to this fund than any other patrolman on the force. In 1863, when our military hospitals around Washington and elsewhere were in great need of lemons for the wounded and suffering victims of battle, Officer McWatters collected six hundred dollars from among the police towards supplying this want; and the lemons so procured were gratuitously forwarded to the hospitals South and West by Adams Express Company. A letter of thanks from Dr. Bellows, representative of the Sanitary Commission, was, on this occasion, addressed to the Police Commissioners. In 1863, also, Officer McWatters was a member of the little band of police officers that rescued and defended our building from the miscreants who attacked it during the July riots, and in that affray he was badly wounded. In 1864 he was one of the originators of the New York Sanitary Fair, and he served as one of its committees, with so much devotion and success that he won a letter of thanks from Mrs. Lane, the President of the Fair, Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont, and Colonel Le Grand Cannon. Officer McWatters, it should also be mentioned, is the originator of the Police Mutual Aid Society, a very useful institution, founded on the principle of fraternal benevolence. The society has served as a model for similar societies—of firemen, post-office clerks, and other bodies of men all over the country. A plan of practical benevolence has likewise been formed and matured by Officer McWatters in the Masonic Fraternity, and has won the commendation of some of the highest officials in that organization. These facts strongly attest the humane spirit, active intelligence, and earnest devotion to duty which have characterized Officer McWatters in a highly creditable career of practical benevolence. The ladies of the Union Relief Society have no less justly than gracefully acknowledged the worth of his character and services, in making the gift we have recorded. Every lover of this country, we may add, and every friend of mankind, will naturally wish the amplest success to all these workers in the good cause of charity."
The Bellevue Hospital Iniquity.
Charity, holy though the poets sing her, and beautiful the painters picture her lineaments, is, after all, a hag, if real; or only an ideal being, at best, if we are to judge her by her precious, favored children, the almoners she sometimes employs to dispense her bounties. In New York a great many vulgar wretches are, from time to time, officially connected with the charitable institutions under control of the city government. Bellevue Hospital was, in 1869, the theatre of some of these base fellows' operations.
These men were protected by the "Citizens Association," so called,—a self-constituted body of very respectable gentlemen, whose business it is to see that everything in the city is properly conducted; gentlemen of high moral tone, the hems of whose phylacteries (made of invisible or abstract "great moral worth," "solid character," "piety," "good standing in society," and visible and real amounts of greenbacks, all interwoven in some mysterious way, and which together constitute "dignity," we believe), are broad enough to out-Pharisee those marvelous gentlemen in Christ's time who made Jerusalem such a genial place of residence, with their "long prayers."
In July, 1869, the Citizens' Association published, through the newspapers of the city, what they called the result of an investigation of the several institutions under the control of the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, in which they assured the public that these institutions were all properly and well conducted, and felicitated the said public that the said institutions were in charge of such high toned and efficient gentlemen as they named.
But there was a man in New York, who, when he read the Citizens' Association's manifesto, thought it a most astonishing falsehood, either of the kind known as a lie, or of that kind which people tell sometimes when they are talking of things about which they know nothing; for his duties had called him to Bellevue Hospital on sundry occasions, and he had there witnessed, with his own eyes, sundry things which made his blood boil with indignation; and when he read the manifesto of the Citizens' Association, he determined to correct it.
Of what this man had seen at Bellevue Hospital, some faint conception may be formed from the following facts: There was scarcely a bed there, in any of the wards, which was free from vermin; patients who took most care of the beds, were always liable to get lousy in the water closets; only a single clean sheet a week was allowed, no matter how filthy a bed might become through the poor patient's weak misfortunes; the blankets were dirty; to keep the coverlets clean, for "whited-sepulchre" purposes, when visitors called, they were taken off nights; the cooking of the institution was done by a drunken, filthy cook, and was served to the patients on what had once been tin dishes, but had been so often polished "clean" that they had became rusty sheet-iron plates; the "orderlies," who were paid to attend to the sick, were tyrannical, and little or no attention was paid to the complaints of the sufferers. The only thing a poor sick man had to sit on was a stool, with a seat of about twelve inches by fourteen inches in size, without a back (and most of the sick had weak backs). The sick poor, picked up in the streets, for example, and carried there, had their outer garments taken off, and were put to bed without washing, with their under clothes on, and had no "change of raiment" till they died! The wards were cold in winter, and the poor were glad of even their filthy rags to keep them warm. Generally the bed in which a poor fellow died remained as he left it, unchanged, for the comfort of the next occupant and corpse! But this is quite enough, we opine, for the reader's entire satisfaction.
Of course this "Augean stable" needed cleansing, and the Citizens' Association needed enlightening, or reforming, whichever is the proper term in the case, and that man to whom we have alluded knew how to do it. The Tribune and Evening Post, when informed of the true state of affairs, cheerfully gave space in their columns for the facts, and appealed to the Citizens' Association to revise their work of voluntary report-making. We have before us a copy of the Evening Post of date September 1, 1869, containing a long editorial article on "Bellevue Hospital," mostly made up of a letter (which was written by a poor, disabled soldier, then "confined" in Bellevue Hospital), setting forth some of the luxuries, conveniences, the neatness, etc., enjoyed at Bellevue Hospital. (It appears that the only decent thing connected with the hospital then, was the medical care which was pronounced excellent.)
The article alluded to, called on the Citizens' Association "which, by a recent publication, has made itself in some sort responsible for the good management of the city charities," to "investigate" the matter (out of courtesy it ought to have said, "re-investigate," but it didn't).
The secretary of the Citizens' Association visited one of the editors of a city paper, and stated that Bellevue Hospital was the only institution under the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections which he had not personally visited! and after two weeks' delay, the Citizens' Association sent a committee of investigation to the hospital, and found everything all right, of course, and drew up a report, which, however, was never published; for when they presented the same for publication, the wary editors required that the report, if it were to appear in their columns, should be followed by affidavits of proper parties, showing that the iniquities complained of existed at Bellevue Hospital when the complaints were made.
The result was, that reforms so much needed at Bellevue Hospital were made there; for which hosts of patients have since been grateful. It is said that the authorities of the hospital offered a hundred dollars reward for the person who wrote, or instigated the writing, of the various letters to the press, exposing the state of things there, and which wrought the reform. But they were not successful at the time in discovering their enemy, and the poor patients' friend; for the bringing to light, and subjecting of these outrages at Bellevue Hospital to public condemnation, was one of Officer McWatters' many silent Good Samaritan deeds, and he did not intend to have them or the public know who wrought it. Besides, the officials were powerful, and might do him great harm, in their indignation at his exposure of their wickedness, and it would not have been wise in him to act too openly. But time enough has passed now, we presume, to calm their animosity; and having possessed ourselves of the facts without Officer McWatters' knowledge, we think it proper that the credit due him in this matter be acknowledged here.
Conclusion.
In these meagre Biographical Notes we have done but partial justice to Officer McWatters. Our readers were duly assured that no attempt would be made by us to write a fitting biography of the man; and we have only, in a hasty way, and in a manner wholly unsatisfactory to ourselves, alluded to certain incidents in our subject's life, which serve to stamp him as a man far above the average of even good souls, in his active, practical benevolence. But it is often in little things that the generous soul demonstrates itself most eloquently—in the usually unremarked, quiet acts of a man; and, in our judgment, a letter from Officer McWatters, which, in our search of the public journals for most of the material of these Notes, we found in the Evening Mail of October 23, 1869, bespeaks for him as much respect from the good and charitably inclined as anything he ever did.
We judge from the opening sentence of the letter, that some "good enough" fellow, "S. W. H. C.," soft of heart, perhaps, but limited in judgment, had found fault, through the columns of the Mail, with the poor organ-grinders' "plying their vocation" on the public streets. Of course there was nobody in all the great metropolis to come to their defence, except some man like Officer McWatters. And so he came, it seems, seasonably. The letter shows not only the tender, generous spirit of the man, but his ripe good judgment and comprehensive view of things as well, and is worthy of preservation here in these pages, along with the masterly efforts of his pen, which, in "Knots Untied," have not only given us,—his present readers,—the liveliest gratification by the mysteries they unfold in a lucid style, but have made one of the best possible records of certain phases of now current life, for the information of the future historian.
The old Romans (as well as other peoples) had their secret police service; and how interesting it would be to us, in these far off centuries, to read of their deeds in the empire, or during the kingdom of Rome. History, for the most part, is made up of the deeds of great conquerors, etc. We know too little of the domestic and "hidden life" of the past. But the future historian of these times will have all the materiel his ambition can desire for weaving the thread of his story. And what a resumé of crimes and outrages of all kinds will that of the 19th century be for the historian of the 40th century to make!
The letter to which we refer above, regarding the organ-grinders, will be found appended hereto, together with some other matters of interest regarding Officer McWatters, which we have collected in our examination of the public journals. We place them in connection with these biographical notes, as in some respects presenting our subject in a more graphic manner than we are able in this hurried writing, to make him known to the great reading public of his adopted country.
The concluding paragraph of the letter referred to regarding the organ-grinders, as will be seen by reference to it, is, "Until the country has reached out her helping hand to all to whom she owes assistance as a right, it is in bad taste to find fault with the mode in which the disabled soldier tries to earn a living for his family." In these words, so just and wise, is embraced more than the casual reader will be apt to perceive. They are, in our opinion, very remarkable, and involve a great principle, one which Officer McWatters, as a student of social science, as we have remarked him, must clearly understand.
"To all to whom she owes assistance as a right," are words eloquent with the great truth of social statesmanship which they suggest; which is, that a country, a government, should recognize the right of its subjects (or component parts, to speak more decently, for there is a hateful sound in that word "subjects") to life; and the great moral duty of all these parts to assist each other; a duty which is clear and imperative in the nature of things (but we cannot here go into the subtleties of the matter, and show why); a duty, however, which can never be fitly performed till some nation or people are so organized, politically and socially, that each shall receive all he merits therein; till the labor forces, the creators, the only really worthy, are honored and protected; and not, as now, when the chief villains and the worthless tyrants live upon the fat of the land, enjoy all the honors, and are shielded by the laws in robbing from and exploiting upon the poor, the laboring classes.
Healthful and buoyant of spirit, Officer McWatters doubtless has many years of active life yet to enjoy. The record of his past is abundant assurance that his future will be just, generous, brave in good deeds, sternly and patiently laborious, and benevolent to all mankind; and when he ceases to be, when the organized atoms which make what we call the man, and are discriminated by us from all other organized atoms as "McWatters," shall have been resolved into their original conditions, and his individuality is lost forever in the ceaseless processes of continuing creation, his good deeds shall live on still, and make for him a place in the reverence of those who honor good works far above that of most men; above that of all the talkers, the self-elected teachers, who heed not their own doctrines, however noble these be. One such man as Officer McWatters is worth more than an army of self-proclaimed saints, who do nothing but prattle about virtue, and preach, to use their own figure of speech, but live not out in their lives, nor exemplify in their deaths, "Christ and Him crucified;" but who think more of Christ on the Cross, in the "triumph of faith," than of the nobler Christ-come-down-from-the-Cross, and still battling, with untiring spirit, against the wrongs which men do to one another.
With this hasty sketch, and the appendices which we may see fit to make (as before indicated), we leave Officer George S. McWatters,—the kind of heart, the merciful, the dutiful, the intelligent and honest man; the patriot of the true type; the practical and great philanthropist,—in the hands of our readers, trusting that some able biographer will yet write his history, in a style and with a particularity commensurate with Officer McWatters' nobility of character and multifold great good works in the cause of humanity.