USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Essex county, N.J., illustrated > Part 23
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A person has only to run over the police records with even a moderate degree of care to see with what faithfulness every man has performed his duties, as all over its pages stand recorded acts of personal cour- age, heroic effort and unselfish devotion which have won for the actors encomiums in the successful drama of a successful capture, of which any man can feel proud. The burglar and the prowling villian have learned to dread the night " squad."
CAPTAIN J. II. UBHAUS, FOURTH PRECINCT.
150
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
NEWARK BOARD OF HEALTH.
Nº public body in the great industrial city of Newark is of grander import to its people than what is termed the Board of Health. This body hold in their hands to a large extent the health and sickness, the life and death, the brevity or longevity of the human family domiciled within its bounds. To say that in all these all-important essentials the Board of Health answers to every call of duty imposed in a manner satisfying indeed to the most exacting, is patent to every one. This body. or department, as it is termed, of the city government, consists of ten members, quite a large percentage of whom are medical gentlemen standing high in the profession, the balance being citizens selected for their ability and sound judgment on such questions as are likely to come before the department for con- sideration. The following well-known citizens made up the roster of the board in 1897: Dr. H. C. H. Herold. president ; Dr. D. L. Wallace, Dr. C. M. Zeh, Dr. F. W. Becker. Dr. M. S. Disbrow. Counsellor William B. Guild, ex-Allerman J. A. Fur-
a man of large experience, and being the possessor of a large fund of practical common sense, is bringing the weight of it to bear in assisting the standing committee in carrying on their important and exacting task. To those of our citizens who de- sire to know how well the board does its thankless work, or those who wish to domicil in Essex County, they have but to examine the sickness and death reports to find how favorably the results compare.
NEWARK CITY AND ITS GOVERNMENT.
NJO history of Essex County would be complete without a sketch of its capital city and county town, situate along its easterly border and on the banks of the Passaic river, which form the eastern boundary line of Essex County, from the point where Passaic County joins her on the north and to the south- east, till the beautiful stream is lost in the sluggish waters of the Hackensack, and where both are lost in Newarh bay. This capital city, now the Birmingham of America, with a teeming
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THE NEW CITY HOSPITAL, ON FAIRMOUNT AVENUE.
man. cx-Alderman A. H. Johnson and Moses Straus. The Health Officer of the board is David R. Chandler, a mian thor- oughly copable and of large experience in this line.
Besides looking closely after the negligent and filthy malaria and germ-breeding places within the city limits, this body has charge of the City Hospital, and that this beautiful charity of the city is in competent and faithful hands none who know them will have the least desire to question or will attempt to deny. The committee having the hospital under their direct care con- sists of the following named members; Dr. C. M. Zeh. chair- man: Dr. D. I. Wallace, John A. Furman. A. H. Johnson and Moses Straus, er-officio, Dr. H. C. H. Herold.
Is the city is engaged in the truly laudable enterprise of building a new hospital building and hilling a want long felt, this committee has its hands pretty full in looking after the de- tails of its construction. There is not the shadow of a doubt but this building when completed will take rank with the very best and most thoroughly complete elexmosynary institutions in the lind. Dr. Heroll, the president of the Health Board, is
population fast approaching the three hundred thousand mark, was settled by a sturdy band of farmer patriots who little dreamed as they felled the giant trees with which the ground was encumbered, or whistled or sang their pioneer songs as they followed the plough over the cleared acres, or swung the scythe through the low meadow grasses, that the whirr of thou- sands of steam engines would become the refrains that would be heard by their children. The ideal spot that the pioneer hand had found upon which to plant their homes and " provide for their outward wants and gain a comfortable subsistence and with an unchallenged right to seek their soul's welfare," had another destiny just out of view, of which they little knew. As in a previous chapter we have said all that need he said of the city's growth and progress, we can have but little to do with its distant past.
As naturally as the crystal waters from the bubbling springs on the mountain tops turn toward the great oceans and seek through the rills, brooks and rivers a home in their mighty bosoms, so do our thoughts turn to the government and gov-
151
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED
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DR. H. C. H HEROLD, PRESIDENT BOARD OF HEALTH.
Newark, which has earned the title of the Birmingham of America, every eye may turn with pride, and the reflection of her greatness will be an all-sufficient proof that her government and governmental policy had very much to do in caressing the forces which had elevated her to the proud position she occu- pies to-day, and have given birth to the promise of a great and prosperous future.
Strange as it may seem, when the city of Newark was first laid out it was without the most distant hope or thought even that she would ever become the mighty industrial centre that she has grown to be, the great manufacturing city of the Amer-
ernmental policy of the cap- ital city of the county, whose history has so environed them that they have become of undying interest to the writer, and as the facts arise like inspirations as we ap- proach them, it becomes a pleasure indeed to write them. instead of a labor. In an- other chapter the character of the earlier history of the great industrial city having found reeord, this chapter will only deal with its gov- ernment, as connected with growth and prosperity in the earlier part, of its marvelous work in the present, and its bright promises as they lend a halo of grandeur for its future. Every Jerseyman takes an honest pride in the chief city of the laurel- wreated little State of the grand confederacy of States which make up the Union, "One and inseparable." To
FAMES \ FURMAN, MEMBER OF HEALTH BOARD
ican realm, Farming in the rich soils which the down-reaching spade brought up or charmed the fancy of the ploughman as it quit the side plough, handled by stalwarts and glistened in the beautifully turned furrow, was the ideal occupation of the first settlers inspirations.
To speak well of those who deserve well is ever a delight to the well wisher of mankind, and thus as we speak of the people of Newark, the masses of whom rank with the skilled labor classes, as an easily governed community, it requires no stretch of imagination when we say that the city is " well and cheaply governed." Thus it is that her credit is A No. 1, in the money marts of our own country as well as those away over the ocean. No speckled beauty of the mountain stream ever dashes from his rocky court with more eager spring for the dainty morsel which comes siding near on the water swirl all intent for the mornings's meal, than cloes the creditor classes who watch for her outcoming bonds, grappling one with another in wordy strifes, as to which shall capture the all alluring prize, yielding only when, perhaps by agreement to equally divide, they may clip the coupons and feast upon the gain of the very best securities of the market. We hazard little or nothing in making the assertion that the people of Newark, taken as a whole are as law abiding and thrifty as can be found quartered in any other city on the face of the globe, and we know that none can be found anywhere under the canopy of Heaven who pay their taxes and improvement assess- ments with more equal readiness, a significant proof of the latter is seen in their haste to deposit the amount of their taxes when the season of pay-
DR. L. M. AKH, MEMBER OF HEALTH BOARD.
DR. W.M. S. DISBROW, MEMBER OF HEALTH BOARD.
162
ESSEX COUNTY, N. I., ILLUSTRATED
DR. J H. ( LARK, POLICE SURGEON.
mechanics and laborers to apply their callings, to find a demand at remunerative wages in their calling. The very first act of incorporation was under the title of the Mayor and Common Council of the city of Newark, and it has thus remained ever since, through all the mutations and changes which time with great adroitness seldom fails to present.
The Mayor and chief executive officer of the city is elected by the people at the election held in the month of April, and bolls office for a term of two years, and is eligible to re-election so long as the people of his party shall believe in him, for it may as well be understood just here that party politics enter largely into the questions of his election and retention.
During the decade ending 1894 Hon. Joseph E. Haynes occu- pied the position of Mayor. The Mayoralty chair was then occupied by a young jewelery manufacturer of German birth - Julius Liebkuecher who had defeated the opposition nominee, but who in turn was vanquished by the same man whom he had beaten before. Hon. James M. Seymour, the present occu-
ALDERMAN J. B FINGER.
ment is at hand. Having dealt with the question of the growth and prosperity of the city, its low tax rate on a modest valuation, in another place, it is not necessary that we should repeat, even to the extent of a simple rehearsal of the charming facts which are so abundantly satisfying to the people. Both great political parties always have vied with each other in plac- ing officials in charge and both having presented a fairly clean sheet for inspection, there has been found little opportunity, for those, if any there be, who stand ready to taunt the opposition over any short comings which unfortunately there might be. This beautiful state of affairs of which every Newarker should feel an abundant pride, has its root and foundation in the facts of the general thrift, brought about WM C. M'CHESNEY, CHIEF OF THE ORANGE POLICE. by ample opportunities for skilled pant of the office, a leading manufacturer who had been honored with an appointment as Prison Inspector and had been a faith- ful representative of the city on the Water Board, was elected to the Mayoralty at the city election of the spring of 1896. The deep interest which Mr. Seymour had taken in educational affairs bad led to his appointment by Governor Werts to a seat in the State Board of Education, and by Covernor Abbott as a Trustee of the State institution for the care and education of the deaf and dumb.
The fact that James M. Seymour had always taken a deep interest in the cause of labor and was a firm promoter of the rights of laboring men, gained for him the lasting friendship of those who "work to live." He long had and still retains a warm place in the affections of those who live by the " sweat of their face," and it was this warm affection of labor which no doubt, to a large extent, turned the balance in his favor and helped to place him in the mayoralty, in which he is acquitting himself with honor to himself and credit to the city, and little doubt exists of his triumphant re-election in the spring. As the Mayor is allowed by law a private secretary, His Honor has called to his side young Matthew Ely, a journalist, who is doing right royal good service and manfully helping to hold up the Mayor's hands. In the performance of his duty he has given abundant proof of his ability to fill the post most acceptably, and his acts, speaking for themselves, show him to be a worthy successor to the venerable ex-Congressman, Hon. Thomas Dunn English, the author of " Ben Bolt," who filled the position under the adminis- tration of Mayor Fiedler.
There is every prospect that Mayor Seymour will continue as he has began to discharge the duties of his office with- out fear or favor from any quarter, for the best interest of the citizens whose confi- dence he has ever retained, and whose verdict is supreme.
It is a well demonstrated fact that the man in position who tries to please every- body, in the end quite often fails, therefore every citizen in authority should aim for the greatest good to all.
EX-TAX RECEIVER A. JUDSON CLARK.
153
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED,
PEQUANNOCK WATER.
U l' from the granite beds of iron bound Sussex rush the pure waters from the fast flowing rivers established in earth's throbbing bosom, to join hands with the streams from rock ribbed channels of Warren, and by the outlets of ten thousand living springs scattered all over their broad acres and along their mountain and hill sides to join in holy wedlock their sweet waters wherever they ran, on their errands of mercy to man and singing the songs in such bewitching strains as to entrance, while they passed under the title of Pequannock or Passaic.
For ages unnamed and ages untold these waters rolled on to old ocean. the gormant never yet filled, used it only to delight the sportive fishes, play- FRANKLIN MARX, PRESIDENT EXCISE BOARD. ing "hide and seek" in its crystal depths. This all went on in the gloom of the primeval forest where the wild animals and little less wild Indians roamed, feeding the fish in the cool depths of the lake of the mountain, while in the pools of their gathering the wild animals and the Indian together might bathe. But as the ages went on and the soul of God's best creation, went on in its developings, the husbanding of the fount of the Almighty's grand resources found stored away in earth's recesses all divined for man's purposes, and to satisfy his needs, began to occupy humanity's attention. Now began the husbanding of God's treasures and the founts of the depth, in the fastness, where was garnered pure water and was no longer permitted to caper and play the hours away and seek rest and retirement where the porpoise sluggishly rolls and the wonderful Leviathan, un- molested, plays. Little thought had the millions of the needs of their future, when, as a warning, as it were, came the scarcity " now and then " of that abundance of water provided by the Almighty for man's necessities, but which had been permitted to slip unmolested away.
JAMES JOHNSTON, EXCISE COMMISSION K
To waste its power and thought
In rolling and rollicking Where the sea foam each day, Was spending it's time in boisterous play,
and giving proof, for man's use, of how dangerous it is for the pure and good bad company to keep.
When the cry of necessity was first heard, going up from the thousands for a larger and better supply of pure water, whose business or taste, had induced to gather in the dry little nooks, close by where once ran so sprightly, the brook or the rivulet, from whose bosom the wee little trout with specks on his skin so beautiful and bright, leaped through the sunlight in pursuit of his unwary little fly or the barbed steel hook, on his way to the basket hanging by the side of an Isaac Walton scholar and thence to the frying pan.
Scarce two years has run the gauntlet of time since the water supply of Essex County was drawn from the well polluted springs of Branch Brook, alone, where young America in easily
constructed pools was wont to learn to dive and swim and yet Newark had a population then, close up to, if not beyond, the fifty thousand line. The conduits used to guide the water throughout the city the major part of it was not o'er pure as it had been husbanded from the good old State thoroughfare known as the Mor- ris canal, and had previously done duty in floating the boats heavily laden with coal.
As the years flew by and the Branch Brook " now and agin " went so very near, that the good old wells, faithful assistants, out of pure sympathy, went dry, the people began to think, and as the fisherman with his well stocked basket of mountain trout stepped from the Morris and Essex Railroad cars, each year as the fishing season went by, talked much of the Pequannock's purity and other streams hard by. But the heavy weights and home stayers not wont to travel so far, and seeing little entertainment in
DR. THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH.
CARL SCHWARZ, EXCISE COMMISSIONER.
154
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
tramping mountam, hill and brook for the purpose of catch- ing in an all day stride, what an old-fashioned English six pence would buy saw the plan for a water supply in the grand old Passaic which crept back and forth twice every twenty-four hours close to their door. The flirt once settled, it didn't take long to give a rest or quietus to the North Jersey water shed and pure mountain spring plan, and so soon up went the great Belle- ville reservoir and pump station on the bank of the good old Passaic, on whose sweet scented bosom had floated the first settlers of Essex and innumer- able boat loads of " Rockaway oysters and Little Neck clams "
I told you so, shouted in chorus, ten thousand, more or less. of the people in not utilizing the spring water from the mountains and curbing the race horse spirit of the beautiful Pequan- nock. their outlet, by building just a few dams for reservoirs and also water storage far from the polluting haunts of man. This was the case ere the first summer, with her season of droughts long drawn out, and the floods of spring, fall and winter, which bid the mink. beaver and musk rat "get out." Even the most powerful of the advocates of the plan of drawing a water supply from the Passaic by an intaking from a point from below the falls and the village of Passaic, but finding it to be an undisputable fact that Passaic alone could supply pollut- ing material enough, undisturbed and alone to pollute every single drop. The works were finally abandoned and the sup- ply of pure unpolluted Pequannock water, which now places the city of Newark in the fore front of cities with an abundance of pure water dripping from every pore. But thereby hangeth
ENGINE COMPANY NO. 5, ON PROSPECT STREET,
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T-S.
HOOK AND LADDER COMPANY NO. 2, ON PLANE STREET.
a tale. During all the time that Newark was halting between two opinions and multiplying fool hardy operations, some wide awake gentlemen, who had fished every brook, whipped every stream and trolled every lake where the finny tribe do congre- gate, put their heads and purses together and organized what is termed the East Jersey Water Company, and it is from this company that the Newark people are being supplied, for all purposes, a full supply of as good and pure water as is to be garnered by any people or company, or dispensed by any water company or individual in the world.
For the securing of this spring water from this company, Newark, owing to its dalliance, is compelled to pay handsomely for the same, but its contract with the company is of such a character that the plant in fee simple comes into the hands of the people and the wonderful product of the Pequannock watershed will be their's forever. Had that good judgment possessed by many men, who foresaw the result of to-day, been permitted to have full swing and fair play early in the nineties even millions, we may say, might have been saved to the treasury.
Better late than never is an adage to good purpose, when faithfully applied. Now, if we may judge of what is the transpariancies of to-day, as what may be in store for the future, there is positively no scintilla of danger that Newark will ever have to face the horrors of a water famine or the danger from any manner or form of pollu- tion to the water her people shall drink. With entire control of the outlets of those vast underground rivers and brooks and the thousands of springs bubbling from the hillsides of Morris, Warren and Essex counties, and the keys to unlock them in the hands of the fathers of the great city of the future, which will be built on the soil of Essex County, will hold along with this ruby of price in a pure water course and her mighty resourse, not alone of marvellous in purity, but of remarkable abundance,
155
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
T HAT those among the citi- zens of Newark, who had as it is termed, tied up to the old volunteer fire department. felt the sun of her glory had gone down permanently and her effulgent rays would be seen no more and forever when the change was made from the volunteer to the pay system. is true, few who are well acquainted with the circumstances will not attempt to deny. It having been generously acknowledged that the Newark fire laddies beat the world, there was no shadow of doubt. The leading young men of the city, who in all things else during their progressive years were tenderly nurtured and cared for, went rough while ADAM BOSCH, SUPT. FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH. getting into their garments when the old fire bell struck in the night and their very own machine went rattling over the stones slow until their own sweet voice sallied round the sweetest words that ever fell on a fireman's ears : " Hit er-up b-o-y-s ! l't-er-up !" And then, oh how quick the boys would make the old beauty leap, as the sympathizers with that veritable machine, lent a hand at the rope until the mad rush began and the mighty race was on between two crack engines in order to see which should reach the fire first and get the best of the resultant fight. Many a volunteer, after they figured up, have thought it best to go with the machine into the shop for repairs. Although the machine had its regular number of members to its company it had often double the number of attachees who made the house, or home of the machine, their place of resort, and among these old attachees memory holds in place ready for rehearsal call, lots of larks and innocent fun, whether quiet or rollicking in its nature, there's little odds in the matter. Whatever it might be, the machine was the meat wherever the nut was cracked. Arguments strong and full of logic on great questions of the day oft times became
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
JAMES HODGKINSON, FIRE MARSHALL OF ORANGE.
heated and must needs be referred to some one supposed to be more gifted, to settle upon. About the engine house there was generally an oracle to whom all difficult or abstruse problems and questions were referred for settlement or decisive solutions, on all occasions, when not engaged in the mightier concerns and graver affairs of manifestations of his power he was engaged usually in the delectable business of tobacco chewing, smoking the weed and in practicing the art of ejaculating small volumes of saliva at some particular mark or spot, whether his practice was designed for some particular meet to see whose oracle could do his part the more complete or whether his ejaculations were for his own and the younger attachees delec- tations, the writer of this was never able to find out, but one thing he did learn was that his decisions on questions referred were irrevocable and as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians are said to be. Just one in demonstration. Once upon a time when a race was on a few bricks had fallen athwart the machine, with as a resultant, the disturbance of hose and abrasion of a bit of paint, After the repairs then
2
CAPTAIN LOUIS M. PRICE.
EX-CHIEF WILLIAM H. BROWN.
came the painting of the same. The argument grew warm and it was thought would prove lasting, for one member of the repairs committee thought she ought to be painted blue and another yellow, another a brown would be a heap more lasting. so not agreeing by a vote of two to one, the opinion of the oracle should fix it and be lasting. His reply came somewhat on this wise : " Well, gentlemen, I don't care a d- what color you paint her if it is only R-e-d," and red she was painted. The introduc- tion of the steam fire engine was a revolution in the methods and manners of fighting the fire fiend and it was not without some tears of regret did the hand engine get from the chief the order to take up and go
156
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
ENGINE COMPANY NO. 9, ON SUMMER AVENUE.
home for " Old Minnie" had come. The Newark Fire Department, as now made up. consists Chief Engineer Robert Kierstead, Assistant Chief William C. Astley, Secre- tary Horace H. Brown, Super- intendent Fire Alarmı Telegraph Adam Bosch. There are four- teen steam fire engines and four hook and ladder companies with a captain and nine and ten men each. One chemical engine with a captain and five men, making a total force on January 1. 1897, of 18i men, constitute the working force (all permanent men), at a salary of $750, for the first year; $900, for the second year ; $950 for the third year and $1,100 for the fourth and all succeeding years. Cap- tains receive $1,200 a year. The fire engine houses are models of perfection and are furnished with all the latest discovered improvements, paraphernalia and scientific methods in use anywhere in cutting down a fire in its infancy. Gamewell fire alarm boxes are scattered all over the city and each alarm box is so connected that the engines are on their way toward a fire as soon almost as the alarm is given. It is gratifying indeed for us in being able to say that while other cities may be blessed with departments equally as good, we can say without the least fear of gainsaying, there is no better department in the world than the city of Newark can boast. The Fire Commissioners, who are a non-partisan body, having full charge of fire matters, consist of the following named gentlemen selected for their fitness for the positions : Henry R. Baker, Henry C. Rommell, Hugo Menzel and John Illingsworth.
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