CHAPTER XIII

BROOKLYN AFTER THE WAR

1866-1876

Administration of Samuel Booth. Metropolitan Sanitary District created. Cholera. Erie Basin Docks. The County Institutions and their Work. The Gowanus Canal and the Wallabout Improvement. The Department of Survey and Inspection of Buildings. Establishing Fire Limits. Building Regulations. Prospect Park. The Ocean Parkway. The Fire Department. The Public Schools. The East River Bridge. Early Discussion of the Great Enterprise. The Construction begun. Death of Roebling. The Ferries. Messages of Mayor Kalbfleisch. Erection of a Brooklyn Department of Police. Samuel S. Powell again Mayor. A New City Charter. Movement toward Consolidation with New York. Henry Ward Beecher. Frederick A. Schroeder elected Mayor.

When Samuel Booth entered the office of Mayor in 1866, the city of Brooklyn, in common with other communities throughout the country, was suffering from the results of the strain imposed by the war and its resulting incidents; and the fact that his own party was in the minority in the Board of Aldermen did not lighten the burden of the Mayor. Notwithstanding these political conditions no veto by Booth was overridden by the Board.

In February of this year the Legislature created a metropolitan sanitary district corresponding to the metropolitan police district, and a board of health composed of the police commissioners, four sanitary commissioners, and the health officer of the port of New York. Brooklyn was represented in this board by Dr. James Crane, as sanitary commissioner, and T. G. Bergen as police commissioner. Dr. John T. Conkling was made assistant sanitary superintendent, and Dr. R. Cresson Stiles was made deputy registrar of vital statistics for Brooklyn. To this force six sanitary inspectors were added.

This movement represented the practical beginnings of that interesting modern system of sanitary inspection and regulation by which the cities of New York and Brooklyn have in recent years attained such improved conditions. The movement had been urged by the prevalence of cholera in Europe, and the new board found occasion to make great exertions to prevent the entrance of the disease here. The disease appeared in New York in April, and Brooklyn's first case was reported on July 8. In spite of the precautions the disease gained considerable headway in sections of the city where the sanitary conditions were worst, and the total number of cases in Brooklyn reached 816. More than a quarter of the total number of cases occurred in the twelfth ward. The number of deaths in the city reached 573. The cholera hospital, opened at Hamilton Avenue and Van Brunt Street in July, was closed on October 1.

In October the completion of the large Erie Basin dry docks was the occasion of a celebration. These great docks, built by a Boston syndicate, have since been used by most of the large iron ships that are docked at the port of New York. The chamber of Dock No. 1 is 510 feet long, and 112 feet wide at the top. Dock No. 2 is 610 feet long and 124 feet wide at the top.

In this month occurred also the interesting occasion marked by the presentation of the medals ordered by the Common Council for each honorably discharged, or still serving, Brooklyn soldier who had done his share toward the saving of the Union.

Among the legacies of the war was a great deal of poverty that public provision had not obliterated. An exceptional degree of distress appeared during the decade following the war.

There were admitted into the almshouse during the year ending July 31, 1868, 5500 persons, and at the close of the year there remained 1995. The total number relieved by the commissioners during the year was 44,734. The amount expended was $464,800.61, being an average of $10.40 to each person relieved. Of the number relieved, 7273 were in the institutions. The population of the county at this time was 375,000. It will be seen that 11.9 per cent, of the population received aid from the public institutions. In addition to this, many others received assistance from the churches and benevolent societies.

Formerly the county was divided into districts, to which the poor would come to receive assistance. During the year ending July 31, 1870, 38,270 persons applied for and received aid. This was about ten per cent, of the population. The amount expended was $128,602.83.

This system has been discontinued, and the work is done by other agencies, notably by the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor. This society, officered by public-spirited and efficient men, has made a highly creditable record. Connected with the society is an effective advisory committee, selected from each ward. Every case is carefully investigated, and imposition is rendered almost impossible. In 1880 the number of cases investigated was 2755; of these 214, or about eight per cent., were rejected. The number relieved who were found worthy was about one fourteenth of the number receiving aid in 1870, while the disbursements were only $23,009.68, or 18.5 per cent. of the former expense.

During the year ending July 31, 1869, there were remaining in the lunatic asylum of the county, 557. The whole number under treatment during the year was 818. Of those remaining, 225 were males and 322 females. There were admitted, during the year, 286. The whole number admitted into the almshouse in 1869 was 2090.

The number treated in the hospital in 1863 was 2023; in 1864, 2601; in 1866, 3505; in 1867, 2828; in 1868, 2613. In the hospital there were treated, in 1876, 4270 persons.

By an act of the Legislature in May, 1867, the Inebriates' Home for Kings County was incorporated. A movement led by A. E. Mudie resulted in the establishment of a Brooklyn branch of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The Legislature provided at this session for the dredging and docking of Gowanus Canal, and for the "Wallabout Improvement," under the direction of a commissioner. Another provision of the Legislature was for a department for the survey and inspection of buildings in the Western District of the city. A section of this law provided that the chief officer of this department should be called the "Superintendent of Buildings." He was to be appointed by the board of trustees of the fire department, and confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. He was to have been an "exempt fireman" for five years, a fire underwriter for ten years, and was to be, ex officio, a member of the board of trustees of the fire department.

Concerning the duties of inspectors the law said:--

"It shall be the duty of the inspectors to examine all buildings whereon violations are reported, and all buildings reported dangerous or damaged by fire, and make a written report of such examinations to the superintendent, with their opinion relative thereto; to reëxamine all buildings under applications to raise, enlarge, alter, or build upon, and report to the superintendent the condition of the same, with their opinion relative thereto; and in the absence of the superintendent they shall be empowered to act with all the powers enjoyed and possessed by said superintendent. And the said inspectors shall perform such other duties as the superintendent of buildings may from time to time require of them.

"The inspectors of buildings shall be under the direction of the superintendent, and shall attend all fires occurring in their respective districts, and report to the chief engineer or assistant engineer present, all information they may have relative to the construction and condition of the buildings or premises on fire, and the adjoining buildings, whether the same be dangerous or otherwise, and report in writing to said department, all such buildings damaged by fire or otherwise, with a statement of the nature and amount of such damages, as near as they can ascertain, together with the street and number of such building, the name of the owners, lessees, and occupants, and for what purpose occupied; and said inspectors shall examine all buildings in course of erection, alteration, and repair throughout their respective districts, at least once every day (Sundays and holidays excepted), and shall report in writing, forthwith, to the superintendent, all violations of any of the several divisions of this act, together with the street and number of the building or premises upon which violations are found, and the names of the owners, agents, lessees, occupants, builders, masons, carpenters, roofers, furnace builders, and architects, and all other matters relative thereto, and shall report in the same manner all new buildings in their respective districts, and the clerk shall perform such duties as may be assigned him by the superintendent. All the officers appointed under this act shall, so far as may be necessary for the performance of their respective duties, have the right to enter any building or premises in said city."

The fire limits of the city were then fixed to "comprise all that portion of said city beginning at the East River at the northwest corner of the United States Navy Yard, and running thence southwesterly and southeasterly along said Navy Yard to the centre of Navy Street; thence southerly along the centre of Navy Street to the northerly side of Flushing Avenue; thence easterly along the northerly side of Flushing Avenue to the centre of Washington Avenue; thence southerly along the centre of Washington Avenue to the southerly side of Warren Street; thence westerly along the southerly side of Warren Street to the easterly side of Vanderbilt Avenue; thence southerly along the easterly side of Vanderbilt Avenue, and across Flatbush Avenue in a straight line, to the southeasterly corner of Union Street and Ninth Avenue; thence southerly along the easterly side of Ninth Avenue to the northerly side of Fifteenth Street; thence easterly along the northerly side of Fifteenth Street to the centre of Tenth Avenue; thence southerly along the centre of Tenth Avenue to the centre of Twenty-first Street; thence westerly along the centre of Twenty-first Street to a point distant one hundred feet west of the westerly side of Third Avenue; thence northerly and parallel with Third Avenue, and one hundred feet westerly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet southerly from the southerly side of Hamilton Avenue; thence northwesterly and parallel with Hamilton Avenue, and one hundred feet southerly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet easterly from the easterly side of Columbia Street; thence southerly and parallel with Columbia Street, and one hundred feet easterly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet southerly from the southerly side of Nelson Street; thence westerly and parallel with Nelson Street, and one hundred feet southerly therefrom, in a straight line, to a point distant one hundred feet easterly from the easterly side of Richard Street; thence southerly and parallel with Richard Street, and one hundred feet easterly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet southerly from the southerly side of King Street; thence westerly and parallel with King Street, and one hundred feet southerly therefrom, to the East River, and thence along the easterly shore of the East River to the point or place of beginning at the said northwest corner of the United States Navy Yard; and also extending from the centre of Washington Avenue along both sides of Fulton Avenue, one hundred feet on each side, to the easterly side of Bedford Avenue, and such further portion of the Western District of said city as the Common Council of the city of Brooklyn by ordinance may from time to time, as hereinafter provided, include therein."

The act provided in detail rules for building within the fire limits, and regulations appertaining to building in general. Thus it was provided that "no timber shall be used in the front or rear walls of any dwelling, store, or storehouse, or other building hereafter built or erected within the Western District of said city, where stone, brick, or iron is commonly used; each lintel on the inside of the front or rear wall or side walls shall have a secure brick arch over it, and no wall strips in any wall thereof shall exceed in thickness one half of one inch, and in width two and one half inches; and no bond timber in any wall thereof shall in width and thickness exceed the width and thickness of a course of brick; and no bond timber shall be more than six feet in length; and such bond timbers shall be laid at least eighteen inches apart from each other, longitudinally, on either side of any wall, and the continuous line thereof shall be broken every six feet by inserting a brick of eight inches; and no front, rear, or other wall of any such dwelling, store, storehouse, or other building now erected, or hereafter to be erected, as aforesaid, within the fire limits, or as they may hereafter be extended as aforesaid, or any brick or stone building or buildings in the Western District of the city of Brooklyn, shall be cut off or altered below, to be supported in any manner, in whole or in part, by wood, but shall be wholly supported by brick, stone, or iron; and no wood or timber shall be used between such wall and such supporters; but it shall be lawful to insert a lintel of wood over the doors and windows of the first story of stores, of oak or Georgia pine, of such length and size as shall be first approved and determined by the superintendent of buildings."

An important movement, begun before the war, culminating in 1860, and bearing fruit soon after the close of the war, resulted in the establishment of one of Brooklyn's chief objects of pride,--Prospect Park. The actual construction of the park began in 1866, and was steadily continued until 1874.

The laying out and adornment of the park was placed in the hands of a commission, of which J. S. T. Stranahan, always a leading figure in the park movement, was the president. This commission, originally constituted under an act of the Legislature for the laying out, adornment, and management of the park, had its powers and duties increased by succeeding laws, until it had under its control Washington Park, City Park, Carroll Park, the Parade Ground, and all the public grounds appertaining to the city.

In their report for 1868 the commissioners said: "The propriety, if not the absolute necessity, of an extension of Prospect Park at its western angle, so as to allow the principal drive in that direction to be carried out according to the original design, has been repeatedly urged in former reports of the board, and the Legislature was on more than one occasion applied to for permission to make the desired acquisition; but without success. The commissioners have now, however, the pleasure of stating that an act was passed at the last session, authorizing this extension, and directing the board to apply to the Supreme Court for the appointment of commissioners to estimate the value of the land so taken."

The ground under treatment during the year covered by this report represented over two hundred acres. "The finished drives," says this report, "now amount to nearly three miles and a quarter, being a little more than two miles in excess of that which we were able to report last year. Of bridle paths, we have nearly a mile and a half finished or well progressed; and of walks three miles and three quarters are completed, and nearly five additional miles in progress. The very large and continually increasing number of delighted visitors show how thoroughly these walks and drives are appreciated by them. A fine specimen of rustic work has been erected near the main entrance to the park for a summer house; and a vine-covered trellis-work, with seats overlooking the children's play-ground, commands a beautiful sea and island view, and, when covered with the foliage and flowers of climbing plants, will afford grateful shelter to all such as may be disposed to linger in its shade."

The arrangement of the park steadily advanced until it has become one of the most beautiful in the world. Covering 525 acres, its meadows, woodland, lakes, and drives combine to create a picture of remarkable beauty. The lakes cover 50 acres; the woodland, 110 acres; the meadows, 70 acres; the gardens and shrubbery, 200 acres; and there are over 60 acres of water-way. Five and a half miles of main drives were laid out, and minor drives and walks covering a distance of thirteen miles.

The later creation of the Ocean Parkway was a desirable movement, resulting as it did in a driveway running southward from the park to the sea,--a distance of five and a half miles. This magnificent drive is 210 feet wide for its entire length, being subdivided into a main and two minor roadways, with lines of shade-trees to mark the receding lines.

The Parade Ground, adjoining the park on the east, was a popular device. The broad field has contributed an important factor in the summer life of the city, its acres being in constant demand during the out-door season for all manner of sports.

These improvements and others associated with the minor parks of the city have placed heavy obligations on the park commissioners.

A permanent board of water and sewerage commissioners was created by an act of April 2, 1869. The board received exclusive power to cause streets to be repaved, regraded, and repaired; to cause cross-walks to be relaid and sidewalks to be reflagged; and generally to have such other improvements, in and about such streets so to be repaved, regraded, or repaired, to be made, as in their judgment the public wants and convenience shall require. The board held other authority, afterward vested in the board of city works.

The charter of the Nassau Water Company was obtained in 1855. In 1857 the city had acquired all the contracts, property, and rights of the Nassau Company. The thirty-six inch main laid from Ridgewood in 1858 was followed by an additional forty-eight inch main laid in 1867. Three mains have since been added, giving the city water from a drainage area of seventy-four square miles.

The act of 1869, by which the fire department of the city was reorganized, called upon the Mayor, the street commissioners, the president of the Board of Aldermen, the city treasurer, and the comptroller, to appoint four citizens as fire commissioners: "Said commissioners, on being qualified, shall meet and reorganize the fire department of the city of Brooklyn, by electing one of said commissioners to be president, and appointing a person to be secretary; whereupon they shall possess and have all the power and authority conferred upon or possessed by any and all officers of the present fire departments of the city of Brooklyn, and of each division thereof, except such power and authority as is now vested by law in the trustees of the fire departments of the Eastern and Western districts of the city of Brooklyn, which said divisions shall continue distinct from each other, so far as relates to the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of each district, but for no other purpose; and the persons elected and now acting as the trustees of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of the Eastern District, and those elected and acting as trustees of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of the Western District, shall remain and continue to have and exercise, each division respectively, all such powers and duties as are now vested by law in said boards, with regard to the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of each district" (sec. 2).

By the report of School Superintendent Buckley, issued in July (1869), it appeared that the whole number of pupils attending the public day schools numbered 70,000. In the evening schools 10,000 more were taught, while the private schools received 22,142 scholars. At this time the value of the schoolhouse sites in the city was placed at $276,386; that of the buildings at $709,727.

Building throughout the city became very active. The widening of Broadway in the Eastern District materially affected the prosperity of that section of the city, to which Broadway became the leading business artery. Grand Street developed into a busy thoroughfare, and Fourth Street, now northern Bedford Avenue, became the third important street of this section. For a site for a new building on Broadway at Fifth (now Driggs Street), the Williamsburgh Savings Bank paid the then enormous sum of $210,000. The superb structure afterward erected on this ground is one of the most imposing in the city, its classic dome rearing itself among those objects in the city which command first attention from Bridge spectators.

In 1869 it was estimated that Brooklyn had 500 miles of streets, and 150 miles of sewer. Mayor Kalbfleisch's message reported a total of 3307 buildings erected in 1868. The assessed value of real and personal property in the county was $199,840,551.

But most momentous of the movements of this period was that looking to the building of the first East River bridge. The possibility of a bridge over the East River had been discussed early in the history of the two cities. General Johnson[35] had discussed the feasibility of the suggestion, and had argued that the plan was quite within the possibilities of engineering science. Thomas Pope, in a volume published in 1811, by Alexander Niven, 120 Duane Street, New York, describes his idea of a "flying pendent lever bridge," which was intensely original as well as impossible.

In 1836 General Swift proposed the erection of a dike over the river. The dike was to have a central drawbridge, and was to give foundation to a broad boulevard, running between the two cities. At a later day Colonel Julius A. Adams of Brooklyn, while engaged upon the bridge of the Lexington and Danville Railroad, over the Kentucky River, conceived the idea of an East River bridge, to extend from Fulton Ferry on the Brooklyn side to a point near Chatham Square, on the New York side. The intention was to have the main body of the bridge built of two elliptic tubes, placed side by side, and supported by ribbons of steel. There were to be three platforms for travelers, and it is claimed by its projector that the capacity would have been greater than that of the present structure. Colonel Adams communicated his plan to Mr. William C. Kingsley, who was largely engaged in the contracting business in this city. Mr. Kingsley entered heartily into the spirit of the enterprise, and carefully examined the diagrams submitted by the engineer. He spent several months in a thorough and exhaustive examination of the entire question, studied the needs of the two cities, and finally became thoroughly impressed with the practicability and feasibility of the scheme. In connection with the project he consulted with some of the eminent and public-spirited citizens of Brooklyn, among them James S. T. Stranahan, Henry C. Murphy, Judge Alexander McCue, Isaac Van Anden, Seymour L. Husted, and Thomas Kinsella.[36] The more these gentlemen talked and thought about the matter, the deeper interest they felt in it. Mr. Kingsley in particular continued undisturbed in the belief that the time for bridging the river had come, and he persisted in this view until the enterprise was carried beyond the region of remote speculation into the clear atmosphere of intelligently directed and practical effort. The Hon. Henry C. Murphy at the time represented Kings County in the state Senate, where he wielded a vast influence, and was regarded as one of the leaders of his party in the State. Upon the basis of Colonel Adams's plans a bill was prepared providing for the construction of a bridge across the East River. Copies of the original drawings were taken to Albany and exhibited in the Senate and Assembly Chamber. The project received Senator Murphy's unflagging support, and through his endeavors and the energetic and untiring aid of its projectors, it became a law.

The act incorporating the New York Bridge Company was passed by the Legislature on April 16, 1867. It named as incorporators the following citizens of New York and Brooklyn:--

John T. Hoffman Edward Ruggles Samuel Booth Alexander McCue Martin Kalbfleisch Charles A. Townsend Charles E. Bill T. Bailey Myers William A. Fowler Simeon B. Chittenden Smith Ely, Jr. Grenville T. Jenks Henry E. Pierrepont John Roach Henry G. Stebbins C. L. Mitchell Seymour L. Husted William W. W. Wood Andrew H. Green William C. Rushmore Alfred W. Craven T. B. Cornell Isaac Van Anden Alfred M. Wood William Marshall John W. Coombs John H. Prentice John P. Atkinson Edmund W. Corlies Ethelbert S. Mills Arthur W. Benson John W. Hayward P. P. Dickinson J. Carson Brevoort Samuel McLean William Hunter, Jr. Edmund Driggs John Morton

By this act power was given these incorporators and their associates to acquire real estate for the site of the bridge and approaches; to borrow money up to the limit of the capital, and to establish laws and ordinances for the government of the structure upon its completion. The capital stock was fixed at $5,000,000, in shares of $100 each, and the directors were given power to increase the capital with the consent of the stockholders. It was further provided that the incorporators already named should constitute the first board of directors, holding their places until June 1, 1868, and that after that the board should have not less than thirteen nor more than twenty-one members. The officers were to consist of a president, secretary, and treasurer. The cities of New York and Brooklyn, or either of them, were empowered at any time to take the bridge by payment to the corporation of the cost and 33.33 per cent. additional, provided the bridge be made free. An additional provision was made that the structure should have an elevation of at least 130 feet above high tide in the middle of the river, and that it should in no respect prove an obstruction to navigation. In conclusion, the law authorized the cities of New York and Brooklyn, or either of them, to subscribe to the capital stock of said company such amounts as two thirds of their Common Councils respectively should determine, to issue bonds in payment of these subscriptions, and to provide for the payment of interest. It was subsequently determined that the city of New York might subscribe $1,500,000 of the total capital; the city of Brooklyn, $3,000,000, and $500,000 to be paid by the private stockholders.

An enterprise of such magnitude was not carried forward without extraordinary struggles. To keep the work, so far as possible, out of politics required much ingenuity and persistence on the part of those who were actuated by the most public-spirited motives. It was not possible to wholly eliminate politics and self-seeking. An act of the Legislature in 1859 provided that New York city should be represented by its Mayor, comptroller, and president of the Board of Aldermen, and Brooklyn by the commissioners of the sinking fund. The company was authorized to occupy land under water on each shore to the distance of 250 feet.

Meanwhile, operations were begun in the direction of an effort to raise the required $5,000,000 by private subscription, but they were not successful, and it was determined to apply to the cities for aid. Application was made to Brooklyn, through the Common Council, for $3,000,000. After many months the incorporators were successful, and later, in 1868, the city of New York subscribed the $1,500,000 required, and the stockholders made up the additional $500,000.

The shares, as has been shown, were fixed at $100 each. The list of the original subscribers, as revealed by the original minute-book still in the possession of the trustees, is very interesting. It is as follows:--

SUBSCRIBERS SHARES.

Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of New York 15,000 The City of Brooklyn 30,000 Henry C. Murphy 100 Isaac Van Anden 200 William Marshall 50 Seymour L. Husted 200 Samuel McLean 50 Arthur W. Benson 20 Martin Kalbfleisch 200 Alexander McCue 100 William M. Tweed 560 Peter B. Sweeny 560 Hugh Smith 560 Henry W. Slocum 500 J. S. T. Stranahan 100 Grenville T. Jenks 50 Kingsley & Keeney 1,600 John H. Prentice 50 William Hunter, Jr. 50 John W. Lewis 50 ------ Total 50,000

After the subscriptions were all made, several of the subscribers withdrew or failed to make good their promises, whereupon Mr. Kingsley took up their stock and advanced the amount necessary to cover their deficiencies. In fact, he and the firm he represented took in all over $300,000 of the entire $500,000 subscribed by the New York Bridge Company.

John A. Roebling, who had made a brilliant record as a bridge engineer, was chosen for the responsible post of chief engineer. His son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, was made first assistant engineer. The plans of Roebling having been duly approved by the War Department engineers, the United States government commission,[37] the Secretary of War, and lastly of Congress itself, the company was formally organized in the summer of 1869, with the following directors: Henry C. Murphy, J. S. T. Stranahan, Henry W. Slocum, John W. Lewis, Seymour L. Husted, Demas Barnes, Hugh Smith, William Hunter, Jr., Isaac Van Anden, J. H. Prentice, Alexander McCue, William M. Tweed, Peter B. Sweeny, R. B. Connolly, Grenville T. Jenks.

At this juncture a distressing accident darkened the opening days of the great work. "One morning in June, 1869, Mr. Roebling, in company with Colonel Paine and his other engineering associates, was engaged in running a line across the East River, making the first survey of the site for the Brooklyn foundation. Colonel Paine crossed to the New York side and made the necessary signals, while the chief engineer stood on the Brooklyn side. Just as the operations were approaching completion Mr. Roebling was standing on the rack of one of the ferry slips taking a final observation. At the moment a ferryboat entered the slip and bumped heavily against the timbers, pressing them back to the point where the chief engineer was standing. His foot was caught between the piling and the rack. Colonel Paine, who was on the boat, noticed that his chief started suddenly, and, while he made no outcry, an expression of agony overspread his countenance. The first person to reach the side of the injured man was his son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, and Colonel Paine quickly followed him. The chief engineer was assisted to a carriage, remarking, as he went, 'Oh, what a folly.' He was quickly driven to his residence on the Heights, and a surgeon was summoned. The surgeon found that the toes of the right foot were terribly crushed. It was at once decided that amputation was necessary. Mr. Roebling rejected the suggestion of an anæsthetic, and personally directed the operations of the surgeon. Nearly all of his toes were taken off at the joints, but he maintained his composure throughout, and endeavored to soothe the apprehensions of his family and friends. During his subsequent illness he preserved intact the use of his mental faculties, exhibiting indomitable will power. Eight days elapsed before fears were entertained of a fatal result. Then the patient complained of a chill, and it was soon discovered that lockjaw had set in. He lived eight days longer, and toward the close suffered the most excruciating agonies, but without complaint, and steadily insisted upon directing the method of his treatment. Even after the muscular contraction precluded the possibility of utterance he wrote with a pencil directions for his attendants. He died of lockjaw just sixteen days after receiving his injuries."

For a time work on the bridge was paralyzed. As soon as possible the directors chose Colonel Roebling to succeed his father, and the great undertaking proceeded.

The mechanical difficulties of the work were enormous. The history of the labors, by which one difficulty after another was overcome, is one of the most absorbing in the annals of engineering enterprise. Huge wooden caissons were sunken on the diving-bell principle to a depth sufficient to assure firm foundations for the piers, which were built over them. The Brooklyn caisson was launched on March 19, 1870; the New York caisson, in September, 1871. The greater difficulties existed on the New York side, where an area of quicksand made it problematical whether bed-rock could ever be reached. The foundation on the New York side was required to be begun at a depth of seventy-eight feet. On the Brooklyn side brick was used under the caisson. On the New York side the space remaining after the lowest point had been reached was filled with concrete.

The most perplexing problem having been solved by the sinking of the foundations, the work advanced steadily. Difficulties with anchorages, materials, contracts, expenditures, and appropriations made the work necessarily slow, and there was a proportionate degree of public impatience. The distant possibility of a completed bridge was the permanent theme of newspaper jest and popular song. But the Brooklyn tower, containing 38,214 yards of masonry, and rising 278 feet above high water, was completed in the spring of 1875, and by the summer of 1876 the New York tower had also been finished.

During this period the pressure on the various city ferries was demonstrating the necessity for some relief to the strain of travel between the two cities. During the year 1869 the Union Ferry Company carried 42,720,000 passengers; the Roosevelt, Grand, and James Slip ferries, 7,028,000 passengers; the Greenpoint, 1,622,250; and the Thirty-fourth Street, 2,250,550. The terms of the new lease of the Union Ferry Company included a provision that the fare between five and half-past seven o'clock, morning and evening, be one cent. It was a few months later that the Brooklyn City Railroad Company reduced its rate of fare to five cents.

Mayor Kalbfleisch was reëlected Mayor. In his message of January 3, 1871, he places the population of the city in 1870 at 400,000; the taxes levied during the year at $8,000,000; the city debt at $36,000,000. The period was active in building operations. The foundations of the still unfinished Roman Catholic Cathedral were laid in 1868. The Twenty-eighth Regiment armory was completed in 1870. The Brooklyn Theatre was begun early in the following year, shortly before the finishing of the new wing of the Long Island College Hospital, and the laying of the corner-stone of the Church Charity foundation at Albany Avenue and Herkimer Street.

Brooklyn acquired a police department distinct from that of New York in 1870. The management and control of this new department was vested in a board of commissioners, known as the Board of Police of the City of Brooklyn, composed of the Mayor and two other persons nominated by him, and appointed by the Aldermen. The first two commissioners thus chosen were Daniel D. Driggs and Isaac Van Anden. Patrick Campbell was appointed chief clerk. Henry W. Van Wagner was placed at the head of the detective squad. The following provisions were embraced in the law establishing the department. "The commissioners shall divide said city into precincts, not exceeding one precinct to each thirty-six of the patrolmen authorized to be appointed. They may also establish sub-precincts and assign two sergeants, two doormen, and as many patrolmen as they may deem sufficient to each sub-precinct, and shall appoint a telegraph operator who shall be assigned to duty by the chief of police. They shall appoint as many captains of police as there may be precincts, and assign one captain and as many sergeants and patrolmen as they shall deem sufficient to each precinct. The police force shall consist of a chief of police, captains, sergeants, and patrolmen, who shall be appointed by the commissioners. The number of sergeants shall not exceed four for each precinct, and one for each special squad; and the number of patrolmen shall not exceed the present number now doing duty in said city, unless the Common Council of the city of Brooklyn shall, by resolution, authorize a greater number, in which case they shall not exceed the number fixed in such resolutions; and such resolutions may be passed by the Common Council from time to time as that body may deem expedient. The commissioners shall fill all vacancies in the police force as often as they occur."

By the message of Mayor Powell[38] in January, 1872, it appears that there were 450 men on the police force, supported at an annual expense of $500,000. The total liabilities of the city were then over $30,000,000, and the total county debt nearly $4,000,000. During 1871 twenty miles of streets were graded and paved, and 2,596 buildings erected. In his second message, a year later, the Mayor reported that the water department was self-sustaining.

The pressure of opinion in favor of a new charter for the city resulted in the appointment of a committee of one hundred, whose report appeared in 1872, shortly before the death of ex-Mayor Kalbfleisch. In May the charter was passed by the State Assembly. By this charter the offices of Mayor, auditor, and comptroller were made elective; the excise and police departments were consolidated; the appointment of heads of departments was placed in the hands of the Mayor and Aldermen, the departments being as follows: Police and excise, finance, audit, treasury, collections, arrears, law, assessment, health, fire and buildings, city works, parks, public instruction.

In November, 1873, John W. Hunter, who had represented the third district in Congress, was chosen Mayor. The Mayor's message in the following January shows that the city debt rose from $30,669,768.50 in 1872, and $32,012,884 in 1873, to $37,431,944.

It was in February of this year that a largely attended meeting of the Municipal Union Society urged the consolidation of Brooklyn and New York. Meanwhile the town of New Lots, known as East New York, had voted for annexation to Brooklyn. The city's growth continued at a remarkable rate. In the decade between 1864 and 1874, 19,660 buildings had been erected. Of this number 1786 had been built during the year ending 1874.

Perhaps the most sensational incident of the year 1874 was the announcement of Theodore Tilton's action against the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Brooklyn's foremost preacher and orator. The news that the pastor of Plymouth Church was to be sued by his former friend upon charges assailing the integrity of Mr. Beecher's relations with Mrs. Tilton, created intense excitement in the city, and throughout the country.

The action was opened in the City Court before Judge Neilson, and the trial began on January 5, 1875. The public interest aroused by this extraordinary trial has no parallel in the history of the county. During the months of the progress it remained the chief topic of public and private talk in the city. The court room on trial days presented an historic spectacle, and excitement reached a great height when, at the end of June, the case was at last closed, and the fate of the great preacher was placed in the jury's hands. It was on July 2 that the jury reported its inability to agree. The case was never retried, and the painful drama thus came to an end.

That such an incident should cast a cloud over Henry Ward Beecher's life was inevitable. But the cloud passed away. Mr. Beecher remained at his post, his fame and influence growing; and the celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday drew to the Academy of Music one of the most remarkable gatherings ever witnessed in that place. Mr. Beecher's sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," occupied a seat in one of the boxes.[39]

In 1875 the population of the city was estimated at 483,252; that of the county at 494,570. In November of this year Frederick A. Schroeder was elected Mayor. Schroeder represented the staunch German element, which had begun long before this period to form an important proportion of the city's population. He was the founder of the Germania Savings Bank. In 1871 he was elected comptroller. His opponent in a heated mayoralty contest was Edward Rowe.

The most extraordinary incident of the year 1876 was the burning of the Brooklyn Theatre in December, and the loss of 295 lives. This tragedy caused intense excitement throughout the city. The temporary morgue on Adams Street presented the most ghastly spectacle the city had ever witnessed. After all possible identification had taken place, 100 unclaimed bodies were publicly buried at Greenwood.