Til!! ODELL ICE Pd. 
What the Grand Jury present in the 
Bill of Indictment. 
AFFIDAVITS OF DISTINGUISHED PHYSICIANS AND EX- 
PERTS, SHOWING THAT THE WiLLSEA BROOK IS IN 
FACT AN OPEN “ HEWER,” AND THAT SEPTIC 
AND MALARIAL POISON IS NECESSARILY 
DEVELOPED BY THE OVERFLOWING OF 
THE ADJACENT MEADOW LAND. 
itettJ Dork: 
.1. W. Pratt, Book and .Job Printer, 75 Felton Street. 
1879. THE ODELL ICE POND 
The Grand Jury of the County of Westchester, (and it 
is rumored by a unanimous vote), have indicted Moses T. 
Odell, Henry Draper and Mrs. Fanny A. P. Haven for 
making, maintaining and continuing the dam and pond 
known as the Odell Ice-pond, and already so notorious as 
the cause of the malaria and zymotic diseases wdiich have 
prevailed in the vicinity since the making of the same. 
Dr. Draper and Mrs. Haven are the general guardians 
and representatives of the estates of the infant owners of 
the lands, now leased to Moses T. Odell, on which Odell, 
in the Fall of 1876, erected and now maintains, with their 
approval, and sufferance, the dam and pond in question. 
In the bill of indictment the Jurors on their oath pre- 
sent, among other things, “Tnat the pond and the lands 
flooded, especially when the water therein and thereon has 
been or may be withdrawn, lowered or evaporated, have 
produced and will again produce noxious, offensive and 
deleterious effluvia, miasma and malaria exhalations and 
smells, tainting, poisoning and corrupting the atmosphere 
so that the adjacent lands and dwellings have become 
unfit and unsafe for habitation, and so that those living in 
the vicinity have become and may again become sick, 
uncomfortable or otherwise injuriously affected with 
malaria, chills and fever and malarial diseases, etc., etc.” 
The following affidavits explain themselves. The salient 
points are: that the Willsea Brook, whose waters compose 
the pond, is, in fact, an open Seiver; that even were the 
water of the pond pure, malarial poison would, owing to 2 
the character of the pond, be necessarily developed, as 
along the banks of the Mississippi, where, by similar over- 
whole districts are rendered so infectious as to be 
uninhabitable in the early summer ; that no degree of cold 
known to this climate will destroy the germs of malarial 
poison ; as the seeds sown in the Fall are not destroyed by 
the severe cold of mid-winter, so, too, these germs of 
death simply lie inert until the warmer weather of Spring 
and Summer; ice is well known to have transmitted the 
germs of typho-malarial and typhoid fever; that the ice 
from portions of the pond, and the water resulting from 
its melting is impure, and contains decomposed or decom- 
posing matter, so as to be, when melting or melted, un- 
pleasant to the smell; and that the meadows flooded by 
this pond will, necessarily, produce septic and malarial poi- 
son. 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT. 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick J. Stone, 
vs. 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
City and County of New York, ss: 
Frederick J. Stone, Plaintiff and Attorney in person, 
herein deposes and says : 
That the Willsea Brook, whose waters compose the dam 
or pond described in the complaint herein, receives the 
drainage from an extensive hog-pen, in which there is going- 
on the wholesale fattening of hogs, the washing from those 
pens, from piles of decomposing filth stacked up around them and from enclosures where hogs are running and fed; 
the washings and drainage of a slaughterhouse where, 
until recently large numbers of beef cattle were slaughtered, 
and where hogs are now slaughtered; the drainage of a 
large swamp near its source on the lands of the defendants, 
Palmer, the washings of a road, the drainage of a hog-pen 
and of a barnyard, and of a stable where large numbers of 
cattle are kept, and that from a farm-house and privy—all 
these combine to pollute and defile the limited amount of 
water which this stream (to wit, the Willsea Brook) con- 
tains and render it in fact an open sewer; and all this 
accumulated filth and the wood brush, leaves and vegeta- 
ble and animal matter, and the surface drainage and other 
filth collected and brought down the channel of said 
brook by the natural flowing of its waters become, and is 
collected and accumulated in the channel of said Brook 
and upon the lands overflowed by the said dam and 
described in the complaint. Deponent further says that 
he was a few days ago, in the presence of Anne K. 
Holmes, informed by John Loan who is the owner of the 
aforesaid slaughter-house and some of the said hog-pens, and 
verily believes that he, the said John Loan, intends before 
long to recommence slaughtering beef cattle, and on a 
more extensive scale than formerly, and that the said 
John Loan admitted to deponent that the said slaughter- 
ing establishment and the said hog-pens were a nuisance, 
and indictable, and that when the slaughtering was, or 
might be, commenced on said extensive scale, the 
same would be of a still greater nuisance; and that 
the drainage thereof now passed into the Willsea Brook, 
and that the rain swept and sweeps all the surface 
drainage into said brook. Deponent further says that he 
has examined some of the ice obtained from the pond set 
forth in the complaint, and that ice obtained from portions 
of said pond while melting, and the water resulting there- 
from, in deponent’s judgment, emitted unpleasant odors, 
like swamp gas or sewer gas or kitchen waste. 4 
Deponent further says that the said Willsea Brook is 
very small, and occasionally, in the dry summer season, 
almost if not wholly dried up, and the volume of the flow 
of the said Brook at or near said dam would not in depo- 
nent’s judgment be sufficient to fill a six-inch pipe, except 
in time of rain or freshet. 
FREDERICK J. STONE. 
Sworn to before me this 8th 
day of February, 1879. 
Rt. A. Adams, 
Notary Public, City and County of N. Y. 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick J. Stone 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
v.s 
County of Westchester, ss: 
James Wilde, Jr., being duly sworn, deposes and says: 
That lie has for upwards of 21 years resided and now 
resides in the town of Greenburgh, in said County of 
W estchester. 
That deponent is conversant with, and has personally 
examined the lands and dwelling of the plaintiff, and the 
dam or pond mentioned in the complaint herein, and has 
known the lands whereon the said dam or pond is now 
situated for the last 21 years. 
That the said lands, now flooded by the said dam or 
pond, were many years ago drained by S. D. Dakin, the 5 
then owner by a proper system of open ditches and tile 
drain pipes running into them, which said ditches and 
drains rendered the said lands dry, and, as deponent verily 
believes, in a good healthy sanitary condition. 
That by reason of the making of the said dam or pond, 
and the maintenance or continuance of the same, the 
adjacent lands to the extent of several acres are flooded 
periodically with a shallow depth of impure water polluted 
by slaughter-house refuse and the animal filth and excretions 
of large numbers of hogs, thereby choking and obstructing 
the natural course and channel of the Willsea Brook, and in- 
terfering with its action as a drain, and increasing and 
aggravating the natural marshy and swampy character of 
the ground. 
That the said dam or pond of water periodically flooding 
the adjacent lands, is in the judgment of deponent an 
active and virulent source and cause of malarious diseases 
and of a special nuisance to the lands and premises of the 
plaintiff, and injurious to the health of the plaintiff and his 
family. 
JAMES WILDE, Jr. 
Sworn to before me this 29th ) 
day of January 1879. f 
Charles Gf. Storms, 
Justice of the Peace. 6 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT. 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick J. Stone 
vs. 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
County of Westchester, State of New York, ss: 
George Jackson Fisher, being duly sworn, deposes and 
says: that he resides in the village of Sing Sing, County 
of Westchester, and State of New York; that he is a 
physician and surgeon, and has practiced medicine and 
surgery under the laws of the State of New York for the 
last thirty (30) years, and in the said village of Sing Sing 
for the last twenty-seven (27) years and over; that he is 
acquainted with the lands and dwelling of the plaintiff, 
and the dam or pond of water mentioned and described in 
the complaint, and has personally examined the same! 
that he has read the affidavits of Geo. E. Waring Jr., of 
Ward Carpenter, of Horace Caruthers, M. D., of C. Prince, 
M. D., of J. Foster Jenkins, M. D., and others, and be- 
lieves the contents thereof to be true and concurs therein; 
and that the substantial and general details of the same 
are true to his own personal knowledge. Deponent further 
saith that the said dam and pond of water, and the marsh 
and swamp, thereby formed and aggravated, is a special 
nuisance and detriment to the said lands and dwelling 
of the plaintiff, and renders the occupancy of the said 
dwelling hazardous to the health of its occupants. 
That deponent followed the Willsea Brook as far up as 
the slaughter-houses, and hog-pens, and bone-yards referred 
to in some of the above affidavits; that he found large 
amounts of highly offensive and putrid manure, the drain- 
age of all of which flowed into the ponds and stream lead- 7 
ing to the pond described in the complaint, whereby and 
wherewith the waters of said pond are polluted and 
rendered unhealthy, the organic matters being deposited 
in the grassy and spongy bed of said pond, would in the 
opinion of deponent, on the draining off of the water of 
the pond in the Spring give rise to poisonous exhalations, 
dangerous to the health of persons residing in its vicinity; 
that deponent has carefully inspected the dwelling of Mr. 
Frederick J. Stone and its surroundings, and found them 
in perfect sanitary condition, and that he cannot account 
for the ill health of the inmates in any other manner except 
the miasma from the pond and brook referred to, and that 
he believes that they stand in the relation of cause and 
effect. 
GEORGE J. FISHER. 
Sworn to before me this 7th \ 
day of February, 1879. j 
G. C. Insler, 
Justice of the Peace. 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick J. Stone, 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
vs. 
City and County of New York, ss : 
Alfred L. Loomis, being duly sworn, says: that he re- 8 
sides in the City of New York; that he is a physician, and 
has practiced medicine in the City of New York for twen- 
ty-three years; that he is a Professor of the practice of 
Medicine and Pathology in the University of the*City of 
New York ; that he is consulting physician to the Charity 
Hospital, and has been visiting physician to Bellevue Hos- 
pital for nineteen years; that he has written and published 
a work on “Fevers,” and papers on the origin and effect 
of malarial poison. Deponent further says that he is ac- 
quainted wTith the lands and dwelling of the plantiff, and 
the dam and pond mentioned and described in the com- 
plaint aforesaid, and affidavits herein, having personally 
examined these premises, including the stream called the 
Willsea Brook, from its source to the lands that have 
been overflowed with the waters derived from it, by in- 
tercepting their flow in the meadows south-west of the 
premises of the plaintiff in this action, by the said dam. 
That deponent finds, as the result of this examination, that 
this Brook, near its source, receives the drainage of an 
extensive hog-pen and slaughter-house, and that in its 
course it also receives the drainage of a barn-yard and 
privy; that its waters so contaminated are collected on 
the meadow referred to, by means of an artificial dam, 
which is described and more fully set forth in the Com- 
plaint in this action. 
Deponent further says that the direct effect of such 
flooding of marsh-meadow lands is to infiltrate its surface 
with decomposing animal and vegetable matter, which 
remains innoxious so long as the surface of the marsh- 
meadow is covered with water, but when the water is re- 
moved, and this infiltrated soil is exposed to the direct 
rays of the sun at an atmospheric temperature above sixty 
(60°) Fahrenheit, septic and malarial poison is necessarily 
developed. Along the banks of the Mississippi River 
there are Districts rendered so infectious, by similar over- 
flows, that in early summer they are rendered uninhabit- 
able. 9 
Deponent further says that, in his opinion, the diseases 
of a septic and malarial type which have prevailed in this 
region are due to the flooding of these meadows. 
ALFRED M. LOOMIS, M. D., 
42 W. 25th St., N. Y. City. 
Sworn to before me this 7th 
day of February, 1879. 
Judson P. Wilds, 
Notary Public, N. Y. County. 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT. 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick J. Stone, 
vs. 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
County of Westchester, ss: 
H. E. Smid, being duly sworn deposes and says: 
That he resides in the Town of White Plains in the 
County of Westchester; that he is a physician and has 
practiced medicine for 21 years, and that he has given 
special study and attention to the cause, prevention and 
cure of malaria and malarial diseases. 
Deponent further says that he is acquainted with the 
lands and dwelling of the plaintiff, and the dam and pond 
mentioned in the complaint herein, and the stream known 
as the Willsea Brook, from its source to the said pond, 
and the lands overflowed by means of said dam, and has 
personally examined the same. 10 
That deponent finds as the result of this examination 
that the said Willsea Brook receives near its source the 
drainage of an extensive hog-pen and a slaughter-house, 
and that in its course it also receives the drainage of a 
barn yard, and privy and farm house; that its waters so 
contaminated flood the adjacent meadows by means of the 
said dam described in the complaint. 
That the direct effect of such flooding of the lands so 
flooded is to infiltrate its surface with decomposed and 
decomposing animal and vegetable matter, so that when 
the water covering the surface of the same is removed or 
has evaporated therefrom, and this infiltrated soil is ex- 
posed to the direct says of the sun at a temperature above 
fifty-eight (58°) degrees Fahrenheit, septic and malarial 
poison is necessarily developed. 
That even should the causes of the contamination of the 
brook, feeding said pond, be removed, the peculiar nature 
of the bottom of said pond, described in the complaint 
herein, would still develop malarial poison. Deponent 
further says that in his opinion the diseases of a septic and 
malarial type which prevail in the region of this dam and 
pond, must be due to the effect of the flooding of the 
adjacent meadows as described in the complaint herein. 
II. ERNEST SMID. 
Sworn to before tne this 8th \ 
day of February, 1879. i 
E. B. Long, Justice of the Peace. 11 
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, 
County of Westchester. 
Frederick ,1. Stone, 
Moses T. Odell, et al. 
vs. 
City and County of New York, ss : 
Egbert L. Yiele, being duly sworn says : that he resides 
in the City of New York; that he is a consulting engineer, 
and Honorary Sanitary Engineer of the New York Board 
of Health, and has, for more than twenty-five years, been 
professionally engaged, to a very large extent, in detecting 
the causes of malarial disease and providing measures for 
their removal; that he has resided in Westchester County, 
and has, for many years, been familiar with the several 
localities in that County, including “Dobbs Ferry” and 
“ Irvington ; ” that he is acquainted with the premises re- 
ferred to in the complaint and affidavits herein ; that he 
has personally and critically examined these premises, in- 
cluding the stream called Willsea Brook, from its source 
to the lands that have been overflowed with the waters 
derived from it, by intercepting their flow in the meadow 
south-west of the premises of the Plaintiff in this action. 
Deponent finds, as the result of this examination, that this 
so-called Brook is, in fact, an open sewer, which receives 
and conveys an enormous amount of animal refuse. It 
receives the drainage from an extensive hog-pen, in which 
there is going on the wholesale fattening of hogs from 
refuse matter. The washings from these pens from piles 
of decomposing filth stacked up around them, and from 
enclosures where hogs are running and fed, are all received 
into this sewer. The washings from a slaughter-house, 
until recently in use, the drainage of a large swamp near 
its source, the wrashings from a road-way along its North- 12 
erly bank, the drainage of a barn-yard and hog-pen borne 
down in its course, and that from a farm-house and privy 
on the Southerly bank, all combine to pollute and defile 
the limited amount of water which this stream contains. 
This accumulated defilement is intercepted in the meadows 
south-west of the premises of the plaintiff, and about three 
hundred yards distant therefrom; and by reason of the 
artificial dam or obstruction erected in the meadow, and 
which is described and more fully set forth in the Com- 
plaint in this action, a large mass of decomposition, both 
animal and vegetable, has been spread over and mingled 
with the vegetation of the meadow, to the extent of eight 
to ten acres ; the water for the greater portion of this ex- 
tent being barely sufficient to cover the grass. The result 
of all this is the generation of an enormous volume of 
health-destroying miasma, of a virulent type, sufficient for 
the propagation of malaria in neighboring localities that 
would otherwise be free from it. 
Deponent is informed and believes that the Plaintiff and 
his family have been grievously afflicted with malarial dis- 
eases; that deponent avers that the malaria generated in 
the overflowed meadow-land referred to, in close proximity 
to plaintiffs house, is, in his opinion, the sole cause of the 
disease and affliction from which the plaintiff has suffered, 
and deponent further avers that no human ingenuity could 
devise a more effective hatching-ground for malaria, and 
that no degree of temperature known in this climate will 
destroy the germs of disease that have their habitat in this 
pestilential deposite, and that it is a matter of little conse- 
quence what season of the year these meadows are flooded 
or the waters drained off, so long as the soil is permitted 
to receive these elements, to which are due the malarial 
exhalations that arise therefrom. 
EGBERT L. V1ELE. 
Sworn to before me this 31st) 
day of January, 1879. \ 
Randolph Hurry, 
Notary Public, N. Y. Co. 13 
The above affidavits, as will be seen, are given in a suit 
brought by our neighbor, Mr. F. J. Stone, to compel the 
removal and abatement of the dam and pond, and to enjoin 
the defendants (Moses T. Odell, the lessee, and Richard 
S. Palmer and John A. Palmer, the owners of the property 
on which the same are situated), from renewing or continu- 
ing the same. 
On the 20th day of January, 1879, the plaintiff on the 
Summons and Complaint, duly verified, and, on the affi- 
davits of distinguished physicians and experts, obtained a 
mandatory injunction, ordering “that the defendants, 
and each of them, be, and they hereby are, enjoined and 
commanded to remove the said dam, and pond of water, 
and all obstructions to the running of the water in said 
stream or streams, whose waters compose said pond, and 
that they and each of them, their agents, attorneys, ser- 
vants, and all other persons, be, and they hereby are, en- 
joined and restrained from making, maintaining, continu- 
ing and renewing the said dam or pond, by means of a 
dam or otherwise.” 
The order further directed the defendants to show cause 
before one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, at a time 
and place therein mentioned, why this order be not contin- 
ued during the pendency of this action. On the hearing of 
the motion, on the 15th of February, the Counsel for both 
parties being heard and approving the form of the order, 
the Court ordered that the injunction heretofore granted be 
continued during the pendency of this action. The Coun- 
sel for defendants stated to the Court that the defendants 
were obeying the injunction, and had already opened the 
dam, and were drawing off the waters of the pond as fast 
as could safely be done. 
The Plaintiff has already noticed the cause for trial, and 
stated to the Court that he was ready and anxious to pro- 
ceed to trial at the earliest possible day. The injunction 
will prevent the renewal or continuance of the nuisance 
until the final determination of this action; but it is 
too late to prevent the evil and mischief already done this 
winter, which, in the warmer weather of spring and summer, 
must produce, as heretofore, suffering and disease, if not 
death. a i 
iy i