Chapter 2

General View of New York City, showing the Bridge connecting it with Brooklyn.................................... Frontispiece. Offices of the _Tribune_, _Times_, and _World_............................ 8 Grand Central Railway Depot......................................... 9 First Settlement of New York........................................ 37 New York in 1664.................................................... 45 Broadway, looking up from Exchange Place............................ 53 The City Hall Park in 1869.......................................... 56 The Harbor of New York, as seen from the Narrows.................... 60 A. Oakey Hall, Mayor of New York.................................... 81 William M. Tweed.................................................... 82 The New County Court House.......................................... 83 The Robbery of the Vouchers from the Comptroller's Office........... 94 Richard B. Connolly................................................ 104 Peter B. Sweeny.................................................... 105 Broadway, at the corner of Ann street.............................. 124 A. T. Stewart's Wholesale Store.................................... 125 New York Life Insurance Company's building, corner of Broadway and Leonard street.............................. 127 Broadway, as seen from the St. Nicholas Hotel...................... 129 Saturday Afternoon Concert at Central Park......................... 132 A Fashionable Promenade on Fifth avenue............................ 137 The German......................................................... 165 Female Prisoners in the Fourth Police Station...................... 176 A Winter Night Scene in a Police Station........................... 181 The Bowery......................................................... 189 The City Hall Park................................................. 198 The Washington Statue in Union Square.............................. 201 Fifth avenue, near Twenty-first street............................. 205 Junction of the Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street, showing the new residence of A. T. Stewart, Esq.......... 209 New Palace-car for City travel, in use on the Third avenue line.... 213 Tunnel under Broadway.............................................. 223 Horace Greeley......................................................231 The Tombs.......................................................... 233 The Bridge of Sighs................................................ 234 Interior of Male Prison............................................ 235 The Prison Chapel.................................................. 237 Court of Special Sessions.......................................... 240 "Black Maria"...................................................... 243 Printing House Square.............................................. 246 The Herald Office.................................................. 249 Wall street........................................................ 259 United States Sub-treasury......................................... 261 The Stock Exchange................................................. 265 The New York Stock Exchange Board in Session....................... 267 The Park Bank, Broadway............................................ 278 Scene in the Gold Room--Black Friday............................... 291 Broad street on Black Friday....................................... 296 The Astor House.................................................... 305 St. Nicholas Hotel................................................. 307 Fifth avenue Hotel................................................. 310 The Soldier Minstrel............................................... 323 View from the Upper Terrace........................................ 333 Foot-bridge in Central Park........................................ 335 The Marble Arch.................................................... 338 Vine-covered Walk, overlooking the Mall............................ 341 The Terrace, as seen from the Lake................................. 344 View on the Central Lake........................................... 346 A Female Shoplifter................................................ 376 A. T. Stewart's Retail Store....................................... 382 Lord and Taylor's Dry Goods Store.................................. 384 A Five Points Rum Shop............................................. 399 A Five Points Lodging Cellar....................................... 407 The Ladies' Five Points Mission.................................... 413 The Howard Mission (as it will appear when completed).............. 419 Nassau street...................................................... 427 Fire Alarm Signal-box.............................................. 435 A Fire in New York................................................. 438 The Old Post-office................................................ 449 The New Post-office................................................ 457 Booth's Theatre.................................................... 471 Grand Opera House.................................................. 474 Academy of Music................................................... 477 The Old Bowery Theatre............................................. 478 Washington Market.................................................. 488 The New St. Patrick's Cathedral.................................... 496 Union Square....................................................... 505 Lafayette Place.................................................... 514 Clinton Hall....................................................... 517 The occasional fate of New York Thieves............................ 525 The River Thieves.................................................. 537 A Fence Store in Chatham street.................................... 541 The Rough's Paradise............................................... 543 The Atlantic Garden................................................ 552 James Fisk, Jr..................................................... 557 Jay Gould.......................................................... 560 Trinity Church..................................................... 569 New Year's Calls................................................... 575 The result of following a Street Walker............................ 592 Noonday Prayer Meeting at Water street Home........................ 599 Harry Hill's Dance House........................................... 602 Scene in the Magdalen Asylum....................................... 616 Residence of the Keeper of the Almshouse........................... 632 Small-pox Hospital................................................. 633 Charity Hospital................................................... 634 New York Penitentiary.............................................. 635 Guard-boats........................................................ 636 Almshouse.......................................................... 637 The Workhouse...................................................... 639 House of Refuge: Randall's Island.................................. 642 Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane................................. 649 St. Luke's Hospital................................................ 650 Institution for the Blind.......................................... 652 Henry Ward Beecher................................................. 657 A New York Free School............................................. 667 The Free College of New York....................................... 669 University of New York............................................. 672 Columbia College................................................... 673 The Cooper Institute............................................... 674 Cornelius Vanderbilt............................................... 679 A New York Tenement House.......................................... 684 An inside View of a Tenement House................................. 688 Chatham Square..................................................... 700 James Gordon Bennett............................................... 705 A Female Drinker................................................... 708 A First-class Gambling House....................................... 717 The Skin Game...................................................... 723 Peter Cooper....................................................... 733 Chinese Candy Dealer............................................... 736 The Newsboys....................................................... 739 Attack on a Swindler............................................... 746 A Stranger's Exit from a "Cheap John Shop"......................... 752 The Pocket-book Game............................................... 754 Robert Bonner...................................................... 758 The City Hall...................................................... 760 Tammany Hall....................................................... 763 National Academy of Design......................................... 764 Steinway & Son's Piano Factory..................................... 765 The High Bridge.................................................... 775 The Fifth avenue Reservoir......................................... 776 U. S. Navy Yard, Brooklyn.......................................... 779 West Point......................................................... 780 New York Seamen's Exchange Building................................ 786 The Ballet......................................................... 790 The Poor in Winter................................................. 797 The City Missionary................................................ 800 Young Men's Christian Association Hall............................. 812 The Library........................................................ 814 The Battery and Castle Garden...................................... 817 Emigrant Hospital.................................................. 819 The Sewing-girl's Home............................................. 823 Stewart's Home for Working Women................................... 829 Street Venders..................................................... 832 Shoe Latchets...................................................... 832 "Glass put in!".................................................... 832 Balloon Man........................................................ 832 Boat Stores........................................................ 836 The Morgue......................................................... 840 The Custom House................................................... 844 The Fate of Hundreds of Young Men.................................. 849

[Picture: OFFICES OF THE TRIBUNE, TIMES, AND WORLD.]

I. THE CITY OF NEW YORK

I. HISTORICAL.

On the morning of the 1st of May, 1607, there knelt at the chancel of the old church of St. Ethelburge, in Bishopsgate street, London, to receive the sacrament, a man of noble and commanding presence, with a broad intellectual forehead, short, close hair, and a countenance full of the dignity and courtly bearing of an honorable gentleman. His dress bespoke him a sailor, and such he was. Immediately upon receiving the sacrament, he hastened from the church to the Thames, where a boat was in waiting to convey him to a vessel lying in the stream. But little time was lost after his arrival on board, and soon the ship was gliding down the river. The man was an Englishman by birth and training, a seaman by education, and one of those daring explorers of the time who yearned to win fame by discovering the new route to India. His name was HENRY HUDSON, and he had been employed by "certain worshipful merchants of London" to go in search of a North-_east_ passage to India, around the Arctic shores of Europe, between Lapland and Nova Zembla, and frozen Spitzbergen. These worthy gentlemen were convinced that since the effort to find a North-_west_ passage had failed, nothing remained but to search for a North-_east_ passage, and they were sure that if human skill or energy could find it, Hudson would succeed in his mission. They were not mistaken in their man, for in two successive voyages he did all that mortal could do to penetrate the ice fields beyond the North Cape, but without success. An impassable barrier of ice held him back, and he was forced to return to London to confess his failure. With unconquerable hope, he suggested new means of overcoming the difficulties; but while his employers praised his zeal and skill, they declined to go to further expense in an undertaking which promised so little, and the "bold Englishman, the expert pilot, and the famous navigator" found himself out of employment. Every effort to secure aid in England failed him, and, thoroughly disheartened, he passed over to Holland, whither his fame had preceded him.

The Dutch, who were more enterprising, and more hopeful than his own countrymen, lent a ready ear to his statement of his plans, and the Dutch East India Company at once employed him, and placed him in command of a yacht of ninety tons, called the _Half Moon_, manned by a picked crew. On the 25th of March, 1609, Hudson set sail in this vessel from Amsterdam, and steered directly for the coast of Nova Zembla. He succeeded in reaching the meridian of Spitzbergen; but here the ice, the fogs, and the fierce tempests of the North drove him back, and turning to the westward, he sailed past the capes of Greenland, and on the 2nd of July was on the banks of Newfoundland. He passed down the coast as far as Charleston Harbor, vainly hoping to find the North-_west_ passage, and then in despair turned to the northward, discovering Delaware Bay on his voyage. On the 3rd of September he arrived off a large bay to the north of the Delaware, and passing into it, dropped anchor "at two cables' length from the shore," within Sandy Hook. Devoting some days to rest, and to the exploration of the bay, he passed through The Narrows on the 11th of September, and then the broad and beautiful "inner bay" burst upon him in all its splendor, and from the deck of his ship he watched the swift current of the mighty river rolling from the north to the sea. He was full of hope now, and the next day continued his progress up the river, and at nightfall cast anchor at Yonkers. During the night the current of the river turned his ship around, placing her head down stream; and this fact, coupled with the assurances of the natives who came out to the _Half Moon_ in their canoes, that the river flowed from far beyond the mountains, convinced him that the stream flowed from ocean to ocean, and that by sailing on he would at length reach India--the golden land of his dreams.

Thus encouraged, he pursued his way up the river, gazing with wondering delight upon its glorious scenery, and listening with gradually fading hope to the stories of the natives who flocked to the water to greet him. The stream narrowed, and the water grew fresh, and long before he anchored below Albany, Hudson had abandoned the belief that he was in the Northwest passage. From the anchorage, a boat's crew continued the voyage to the mouth of the Mohawk. Hudson was satisfied that he had made a great discovery--one that was worth fully as much as finding the new route to India. He was in a region upon which the white man's eye had never rested before, and which offered the richest returns to commercial ventures. He hastened back to New York Bay, took possession of the country in the name of Holland, and then set sail for Europe. He put into Dartmouth in England, on his way back, where he told the story of his discovery. King James I. prevented his continuing his voyage, hoping to deprive the Dutch of its fruits; but Hudson took care to send his log-book and all the ship's papers over to Holland, and thus placed his employers in full possession of the knowledge he had gained. The English at length released the _Half Moon_, and she continued her voyage to the Texel.

The discovery of Hudson was particularly acceptable to the Dutch, for the new country was rich in fur-bearing animals, and Russia offered a ready market for all the furs that could be sent there. The East India Company, therefore, refitted the _Half Moon_ after her return to Holland, and despatched her to the region discovered by Hudson on a fur trading expedition, which was highly successful. Private persons also embarked in similar enterprises, and within two years a prosperous and important fur trade was established between Holland and the country along the Mauritius, as the great river discovered by Hudson had been named, in honor of the Stadtholder of Holland. No government took any notice of the trade for a while, and all persons were free to engage in it.

Among the adventurers employed in this trade was one Adrian Block, noted as one of the boldest navigators of his time. He made a voyage to Manhattan Island in 1614, then the site of a Dutch trading post, and had secured a cargo of skins with which he was about to return to Holland, when a fire consumed both his vessel and her cargo, and obliged him to pass the winter with his crew on the island. They built them log huts on the site of the present Beaver street, the first houses erected in New York, and during the winter constructed a yacht of sixteen tons, which Block called the _Onrust_--the "Restless." In this yacht Block made many voyages of discovery, exploring the coasts of Long Island Sound, and giving his name to the island near the eastern end of the sound. He soon after went back to Europe.

Meanwhile, a small settlement had clustered about the trading post and the huts built by Block's shipwrecked crew, and had taken the name of New Amsterdam. The inhabitants were well suited to become the ancestors of a great nation. They were mainly Dutch citizens of a European Republic, "composed of seven free, sovereign States"--made so by a struggle with despotism for forty years, and occupying a territory which their ancestors had reclaimed from the ocean and morass by indomitable labor. It was a republic where freedom of conscience, speech, and the press were complete and universal. The effect of this freedom had been the internal development of social beauty and strength, and vast increment of substantial wealth and power by immigration. Wars and despotisms in other parts of Europe sent thousands of intelligent exiles thither, and those free provinces were crowded with ingenious mechanics, and artists, and learned men, because conscience was there undisturbed, and the hand and brain were free to win and use the rewards of their industry and skill. Beautiful cities, towns, and villages were strewn over the whole country, and nowhere in Europe did society present an aspect half as pleasing as that of Holland. Every religious sect there found an asylum from persecution and encouragement to manly effort, by the kind respect of all. And at the very time when the charter of the West India Company was under consideration, that band of English Puritans who afterward set up the ensign of free institutions on the shores of Massachusetts Bay, were being nurtured in the bosom of that republic, and instructed in those principles of civil liberty that became a salutary leaven in the bigotry which they brought with them.

[Picture: First settlement of New York]

"Such were the people who laid the foundations of the Commonwealth of New York. They were men of expanded views, liberal feelings, and never dreamed of questioning any man's inalienable right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' among them, whether he first inspired the common air in Holland, England, Abyssinia, or Kamtschatka. And as the population increased and became heterogeneous, that very toleration became a reproach; and their Puritan neighbors on the east, and Churchmen and Romanists on the south, called New Amsterdam 'a cage of unclean birds.'"

The English, now awake to the importance of Hudson's discoveries, warned the Dutch Government to refrain from making further settlements on "Hudson's River," as they called the Mauritius; but the latter, relying upon the justice of their claim, which was based upon Hudson's discovery, paid no attention to these warnings, and in the spring of 1623 the Dutch West India Company sent over thirty families of Walloons, or 110 persons in all, to found a permanent colony at New Amsterdam, which, until now, had been inhabited only by fur traders. These Walloons were Protestants, from the frontier between France and Flanders, and had fled to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution in France. They were sound, healthy, vigorous, and pious people, and could be relied upon to make homes in the New World. The majority of them settled in New Amsterdam. Others went to Long Island, where Sarah de Rapelje, the first white child born in the province of New Netherlands, saw the light.

In 1626, Peter Minuit, the first regular Governor, was sent over from Holland. He brought with him a _Koopman_ or general commissary, who was also secretary of the province, and a _Schout_, or sheriff, to assist him in his government. The only laws to which he was subject were the instructions of the West India Company. The colonists, on their part, were to regard his will as their law. He set to work with great vigor to lay the foundations of the colony. He called a council of the Indian chiefs, and purchased the Island of Manhattan from them for presents valued at about twenty dollars, United States coin. He thus secured an equitable title to the island, and won the friendship of the Indians. Under his vigorous administration, the colony prospered; houses were built, farms laid off; the population was largely increased by new arrivals from Europe; and New Amsterdam fairly entered upon its career as one of the most important places in America. It was a happy settlement, as well; the rights of the people were respected, and they were as free as they had been in Holland. Troubles with the Indians marked the close of Minuit's administration. The latter were provoked by the murder of some of their number by the whites, and by the aid rendered by the commander at Fort Orange (Albany) to the Mohegans, in one of their forays upon the Mohawks. Many of the families at Fort Orange, and from the region between the Hudson and the Delaware, abandoned their settlements, and came to New Amsterdam for safety, thus adding to the population of that place. Minuit was recalled in 1632, and he left the province in a highly prosperous condition. During the last year of his government New Amsterdam sent over $60,000 worth of furs to Holland.

His successor was the redoubtable Wouter Van Twiller, a clerk in the company's warehouse at Amsterdam, who owed his appointment to his being the husband of the niece of Killian Van Rensselaer, the patroon of Albany. Irving has given us the following admirable portrait of him: