USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884 Volume II > Part 48
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848
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
as a philanthropist of the highest type and a self-sacrificing benefactor of mankind. His labors for the comfort of dumb beasts have reflected incalculable benefits, economically and morally, upon human society at large.
The association of which Mr. Bergh is president has effected most salutary changes, in the condition of domestic animals especially, far and wide. " Similar associations have been organized in many places in
Bergh could not endure the climate of a Russian winter, especially in-doors; and Mr. Bergh resigned his office. While there a circumstance called his attention to the suffer- ings of brutes at the hands of men, and methods for their protection, which, as we have seen in the text, resulted in the formation of the notable society of which he is president. Since that time Mr. Bergh's life has formed an essential part of the history of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Of the scores of stirring events which have marked the career of Mr. Bergh in connec- tion with the society of which he is the founder and head, we have space to notice only one, which is characteristic of this good citizen and his methods, and shows his active sympathy for every suffering creature. It is related as follows, by C. C. Buel, in Scribner's Monthly for April, 1879 :
"One day he saw from his window a skeleton horse scarcely able to draw a rickety wagon and the poverty-stricken driver. Mr. Bergh hastened out and said :
"'You ought not to compel this hor-e to work in his present condition.'
" ' I know that,' answered the man ; ' but look at the horse, look at the wagon, look at the harness, and then look at me, and say, if you can, which of us is most wretched.' Then he drew np the shirt-sleeve of one arm and continued : . Look at this shrunken liuih, past use ; but I have a wife and two children at home, as wretched as we here, and just as hungry.'
"' Come with me,' said Mr. Bergh ; ' I have a stable down this street ; come and let me give one good square meal to your poor horse and something to yourself and family.' He placed oats and hay before the stay of the family, and a generous sum of money in the hand of the man. Mr. Bergh has often pleaded in court for some person arrested for cruelty whose miserable poverty and the dependence of wife and chil- dren were made to appear by the testimony."
Nearly ten years ago Mr. Bergh rescued two little girls from the hands of an inhuman woman. The ciremastanco excited much public attention and led to the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, of which his earnest coworker in the cause of humanity, Elbridge T. Gerry, is president. Shrinking from notoriety, and wholly devoted to the great cause in which he is engaged, Mr. Bergh prefers to make his personality subordinato to his high mission. When, a few years ago, several influential citizens proposed to erect a bronze statue in his honor, he said : " No, gentlemen, your well-meant kindness wouhl injure the cause." It was only after earnest and repeated solicitations by the author of this work that Mr. Bergh consented to allow lis portrait to appear in it.
, In person Mr. Bergh is tall, sinewy, and well proportioned, and of dignified and com. manding presence. He is quiet and courteons in manner, os refined sensibilities and tenderness of feeling, and of persistent and dauntless courage in the performance of what he conceives to be his duty. He has fought and won a great battle for justice and humanity that assigns him a place among the heroes of history, and he enjoys the respect and even reverence of the vanquished. It has been justly remarked that Mr. Bergh has almost invented a new type of goodness.
* In the year 1842 protection was given to 1400 horses found at work and disabled by sickness, lameness, sores unler harness, old age, overloading and overcrowding, etc. ;
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
thirty-six of the States of the Union, in the District of Columbia, in Canada, and in Cuba. Each of the societies has adopted the seal of the parent society designed by Mr. Bergh-a human brute beating a horse attached to an overloaded dray and fallen to the ground. By the side of the horse stands the Angel of Mercy with a drawn sword restraining the cruel man. The substantial sympathies of many friends have been manifested by munificent gifts to the society for its benefi- cent use. *
Side by side with Mr. Bergh, as a valiant champion of justice and morality, stands Anthony Comstock, the secretary of THE NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF VICE, which was incorporated in May, 1873.+ Its object is the enforcement of the laws of the State of New York and of the United States for the suppression of the trade in and circulation of obscene literature and illustrations. advertisements, and articles of indecent and immoral use. Its charter required the police force of the city of New York (as well as all other places where police organizations exist), as occasion shoukl require, to aid the society, its members or agents, in the enforcement of all laws which now exist or which may hereafter be enacted for the suppression of acts and offences specified in the charter. One half of the fines collected through its instrumentality for the violation of the laws accrue to its benefit.
The society had its origin in a movement of the Young Men's Chris-
and under the direction of the agents of the society, 1858 horses and 260 dogs, goats, cats, cows, sheep, and other animals were humanely killed. From the organization of the society, in 1866, to 1883, it had prosecuted in the courts nearly 10,000 violations of the Immane laws of New York, and its officers had interfered in more than 22, 700 cases in New York, Kings, Queens, and Richmond counties alone. The office of the society is at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street.
The officers of the society in 1883 were : Henry Bergh, president : T. C. Acton, H. B. Claflin, Peter Cooper, the Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D., Elbridge T. Gerry, E. S. Jaffray, Benjamin D. Hicks, John T. Hoffman, W. C. Schermerhorn, and Aitred Wagstaff. vice- presidents : Charles Lanier, treasurer : J. W. Edwards, assistant treasurer : Henry Bergh, Jr., secretary ; Elbridge T. Gerry, counsel : Charles H. Hankinson, superintendent.
* A Frenchman from Ronen, who had accumulated a fortune and had watched with interest the work of Mr. Bergh. sent for the latter to visit him while he lay sick and dying in the hospital of St. Vincent de Paul, in 1871. He made a will leaving his entire property-$150,000-to the society, believing he had no living relative. It is known that provision is made in wills for bequests to the society aggregating fully half a million dollars.
+ The corporators named in the charter were : Morris K. Jesup. Howard Potter, Jacob F. Wyckoff, William E. Dodge, Jr., Charles E. Whitehead, Cephas Brainerd, Thatcher M. Adams, William F. Lee, J. Pierpont Morgan. J. M. Cornell. W. H. S. Wood. Elbert B. Monroe, George W. Clarke, Cornelius R. Agnew, M.D. and R. B. MeBarney, of New York City, and Moses S. Beach and Henry R. Jones, of Brooklyn.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
tian Association of New York. An investigation made early in 1866 revealed a fearful evil to which the young of both sexes were exposed. Chiefly through the untiring and fearless exertions of Anthony Comstock, a citizen of New York, the Legislature of the State of New York and the Congress of the United States had passed laws for the suppression of obscene literature and its concomitants. In 1866 a com- ·mittee of the Young Men's Christian Association, with the powerful co-operation of Mr. Comstock, attempted to enforce these laws, but the castle to be assailed seemed almost impregnable. Bad books and obscene articles were sold openly in defiance of laws. Perceiving this. Mr. Comstock assumed the often perilous work of a voluntary detective and complainant. Ile has pursued this task with increased diligence and fidelity ever since, and has conferred an inestimable boon upon society at large.
When the Society for the Suppression of Vice was formed, at the house of Morris K. Jesup, Mr. Comstock was made its secretary and chief agent. For a long time it attacked obscenity only. At length, fully armed with legal power, Mr. Comstock assailed huge frauds and swindles of every kind-bogus bankers and brokers, and medical insti- tutions, lotteries, gift schemes, gambling-houses, etc. Clothed with the power of special agent of the Post-Office Department and of his society, he has successfully waged a relentless war upon the peculiar strongholds of Satan's kingdom. One by one their buttresses have crumbled bencath his blows, and there seems to be a bright promise that the " good time coming" is near at hand when these fortresses shall lie in hopeless ruin. The Society for the Suppression of Vice, which is engaged in this holy war, stands pre-eminent among the insti- tutions in New York formed for the promotion and defence of private and public purity and virtue, and Anthony Comstock is the Great- heart of the association .*
* In a volume entitled " Frauds Exposed ; or, How the People are Deceived and Robbed, and Youth Corrupted," Mr. Comstock has given a vivid picture of the character of the evils assailed. This book and the reports made to the society present a most " alarming picture of the fearful virus which has permeated and still permeates the social life of our people.
- Chief among the poisons which were infused into the fountains of purity was licentious literature and pictures of every kind. Under the sanction of law tons upon tons of books, stereotype plates, and photographs have been destroyed. When the warfare was begun there were 165 different obscene books published. The society seized and destroyed the stereotype plates of 163 of these. It has suppressed in the State of New York fifteen lotteries, and to-day there is not a lottery office in the city of New York where the general public can buy a ticket. According to the annual report of the society
851
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
A SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRIME Was formed in 1876, having for its specific object the enactment and enforcement of laws against illegal venders of intoxicating liquors and other violations of the excise laws, the proprietors of disorderly houses of every kind, lottery offices, pool-selling, immoral newspaper advertisements, dance-houses, concert- saloons, and other corrupting social evils. Through the exertions of this society salutary laws for the suppression of these evils have been passed, and with the power of the new penal code the society will be enabled to do much good. The officers for 1852 were : the Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D .. president ; Lloyd Aspinwall and Benjamin N. Martin, vice-presidents ; Benjamin Tatham, treasurer ; Charles E. Gildersleeve, secretary, and a board of eighteen directors.
We have observed that an act of Mr. Bergh led to the formation of the New York SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN. Benevolent persons had long felt the necessity of some organized power to protect children from the cruelty of intemperate parents and other guardians of minors, and sufferings incident to extreme poverty or positive neglect. The incident alluded to powerfully stirred the public mind and heart. The State Legislature passed a general law in 1875 authorizing the incorporation of societies for the purpose of pre- venting cruelty to children, and giving them full power to prefer and prosecute complaints against violators of the law. Under this the New York society, of which Elbridge T. Gerry * is the president, was
in 1883, twenty-four tons of obscene matter and six tons of gambling implements were destroyed during 1882, and 700 persons were arrested. The fines imposed upon violators of the law amounted to $65,256, and bail bonds to the amount of $53,400 were forfeited, making a total of $118,656 sent to the public treasury through the efforts of the society. So vigorously has the warfare and the purification gone on that the evil is largely sup- pressed, but there is much yet to be done, as a recent occurrence indicates. A package of sixty obscene pamphlets intended for a student in a college in a neighboring city reached the hands of Mr. Comistock, who traced out the publisher and had him arrested. He then visited the college, and found four boys in the preparatory department and one in the senior class who had the grossest obscene matter in their possession. The principal of the girls' high school in the same city had found similar matter in the hands of his pupils, several of whom, daughters of respectable parents, had beenexpelled, suspended. or reprimanded. This is only a glance at the great evil which the society is fighting in a special field of conflict. It presents a subject for the most anxious thought and decisive action on the part of every parent or guardian of the young.
The officers of the society for 1882 were : Samuel Colgate, president ; A. S. Barnes, William E. Dodge, Jr., and Morris K. Jesup, vice-presidents ; Killian Van Rensselaer, treasurer, and Anthony Comstock, secretary,
* Elbridge T. Gerry is in the prime of life, having been born in the city of New York on Christmas day, 1837. His father was an oficer of the United States Navy, and his mother was a sister of the late Peter Grelet, of New York. Mr. Gerry's grandfather was
852
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
organized in 1874 and incorporated in 1875, and has worked with zeal and efficiency ever since. In 1876 the Legislature passed a more comprehensive law, restricting the industries in which children may be employed, and protecting them against exposure.
With enlarged powers the society is doing a most beneficent work for the unfortunate little ones. It has never received one dollar from the State or city authorities, while it pays its taxes even for the water with which the children picked from the gutters are washed. The institution is supported by the benevolent citizens of New York, who never allow a worthy object to be neglected. The society co-operates with the Board of Health in exposing and closing up fraudulent estab- lishments for the pretended care of children, and in promoting the health and comfort of the young in tenement-houses or worse habita- tions. It gathers from the dark recesses of the city suffering little ones and places them in asylums or good homes. It guards children from the grasp of men and women who seek to employ them for selfish purposes. Already its labors have borne rich fruit," and the promises of glorious results in the future are bright and abundant.
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of the State of Massachusetts, and Vice-President of the United States.
Mr. Gerry graduated at Columbia College in 1857, studied law with the late William Curtis Noyes, and became one of the law firm of Noyes & Tracy. On the death of Mr. Noyes he formed a law partnership with the late William F. Allen, judge of the Court of Appeals, and Benjamin B. Abbott. On the dissolution of this firm Mr. Gerry continued the practice of law as counsel, and has appeared in many very important cases. Having ample means at his command, he has gathered one of the most complete and extensive private law libraries in this country, comprising about 12,000 volumes, many of which are very rare and costly. It is specially rich in works on canon and ecclesiastical law. Mr. Gerry was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York in 1867. In 1870 he became counsel for the Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Animals, and holls that position now -- 1883. He is regarded by the founder of that society as its corner-stone. Mr. Gerry naturally took a lively interest in the movements which resulted in the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The legislation on the subject was secured by his carnest efforts, and was fashioned by his legal ability. When its first president, John D. Wright, a preacher among Friends or Quakers, died, Mr. Gerry was appointed to fill his place. Like Mr. Bergh and Mr. Comstock in their respective spheres of action, he performs its anties fearlessly, conscientiously, faithfully, and most efficiently.
In 1867 Mr. Gerry married Miss Louisa M. Livingston, daughter of Robert J. Living- ston, and great granddaughter of General Morgan Lewis, who, in the course of a long life, held the important offices of attorney-general, chief-justice, and governor of the State of New York, and at the age of eighty-one years was president of the New York Historical Society.
# Since the society began its work. in 1875. to the beginning of 15-3. no less than 10,450 complaints hat been received and investigated, involving more than $1, 335 chil.
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
A great work has recently been completed by the society. By per- sistent efforts it has induced the city authorities to establish a hospital for victims of contagious diseases. No more important result than this was ever accomplished for the prevention of physical pain, suffering, and death to the helpless children of the poor, living in tenement- houses and necessarily exposed to contagions of every kind. It will afford a safeguard against the spread of such discases from their centres of contagion among the children of the rich and poor alike.
The home and reception place of the society is in a spacious building five stories in height, at No. 100 East Twenty-third Street."
dren ; 3068 cases had been prosecuted, 2818 convicted, and 5949 children had been relieved and placed in homes or institutions. In the reception-rooms, which had been in operation only two years, there had been sheltered, clothed, and fed 696 children, and 6339 meals furnished. During the year 1882 there were prosecuted 1035 cases, 1009 con- victions secured, and 1853 children relieved and placed in homes or in over thirty of the different institutions in the city. These prosecutions have been conducted under the charge of Lewis L. Delafield, the counsel, and John B. Pine, the attorney of the institu- tion. It is the province of the society to rescue children, of the other institutions to care for them afterward. Both are working for the same happy result.
* The officers of the society for 1883 were : Elbridge T. Gerry, president ; Jonathan Thorne, Henry Bergh, Samuel Willets. Lewis L. Delafield, Benjamin D. Hicks, William H. Macy, Benjamin H. Field. Benjamin B. Sherman, Thomas C. Acton, and Sinclair Tousey, vice-presidents ; William L. Jenkins, treasurer, and F. Fellows Jenkins, super- intendent. There is a board of fifteen directors, composed of Charles Haight, John H. Wright, R. R. Haines, William H. Webb, William H. Guion, Henry L. Hoguet, Harmon Hendricks, Ambrose C. Kingsland, Jr., Wilson MI. Powell, Nathan C. Ely, J. W. Mack, George G. Haven, F. D. Tappen, J. H. Choate, and Henry S. Allen.
CHAPTER IV.
.
A T the close of the fifth decade (1880) the whole of Manhattan Island and a portion of the southern part of Westchester County included in the city of New York was quite densely settled. The island was nearly covered with buildings, excepting in its parks and squares, Trinity Cemetery, and a rough region beyond Washington Heights toward Kingsbridge. There were then sixteen public parks or squares, of which Central Park was the chief .*
The northern part of the city beyond Fifty-ninth Street presented broad avenues used for fashionable drives outside of Central Park. These were the Boulevards, Central, St. Nicholas, and Riverside avenues, and the Kingsbridge Road. Central Avenue begins beyond the Harlem River, at the end of Central (formerly Macomb's Dam)
* These were : Abingdon Square, Battery Park, Bowling Green, Central Park, City Hall Park, Gramercy Park, Jackson Square, Madison Square, Morningside Park, Mount Morris Square, Reservoir Square, Stuyvesant Square, Riverside Park, Tompkins Square, Union Square, and Washington Square. Several of these have already been noticed.
Abingdon Square is formed by the junction of Hudson Street and Eighth Avenne and several cross streets. It is a triangular inclosure of trees and grass. It was formerly in a fashionable quarter. Jackson Square is a small triangular opening at the junction of Hudson and Thirteenth streets and Greenwich Avenue. Morningside Park is an irreg- nlar piece of land extending for about 500 feet from the north-western corner of Central Park at One Hundred and Tenth Street. It extends northward to One Hundred and Twenty-third Street, with an average width of about 600 feet. Riverside Park is also an irregular and narrow strip of land lying between Riverside Avenue and the Hudson River from Seventy-second to One Hundred and Thirtieth Street. Its average width is about 500 feet, its entire length nearly three miles, and its area about 178 acres. Mount Morris Square is on the line of Fifth Avenue, between One Hundred and Twentieth and One Hundred and Twenty-fourth streets, and contains about 20 acres. In the centre is a rocky hill about 100 feet in height. Fifth Avenue is here broken by this rocky eminence. Reservoir Park lies between the Reservoir and Sixth Avenue and Fortieth and Forty-second streets. The Crystal Palace, in which the first international exhibition in America was held, ocenpied a portion of this ground. Stuyvesant Square is between Fifteenth and Seventeenth streets. It is intersected by Second Avenue and occupies about four acres. It once formed a part of the farm of Governor Stuyvesant. Trinity Cemetery is between Tenth Avenue and the Hudson River and One Hundred and Fifty-third anl One Hundred and Fifty-fifth streets. It belongs to the corporation of Trinity Church, and was established when interments in the city were prohibited.
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
Bridge over the Harlem River, extends to JJerome Park, and thence to Yonkers. It is a favorite resort for persons owning fleet horses, espe- cially on Sunday, when the avenue is thronged with wealthy men with fast trotting-horses, untrammelled by the social restraints of the Knickerbocker period. On the line of the road are many houses of " refreshment" as famous as was Cato's in the olden time.
The Boulevard begins at the junction of Fifty-ninth Street and Eighth Avenue, extends across Ninth and Tenth avenues, and runs be- tween Tenth and Eleventh avenues to One Hundred and Sixth Street. where it enters Eleventh Avenue and continues to One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Street. It is laid out with great taste, with two wide roadbeds separated by small parks of grass and trees in the centre. The Southern Boulevard starts from the north end of Third Avenue bridge over the Harlem River, and turning eastward follows the line of the Westchester shore of Long Island Sound some distance, when it turns westward and joins Central Avenue at Jerome Park. At its southern portion it commands some fine views of Long Island Sound.
St. Nicholas Avenue was formerly Harlem Lane. It begins at the northern end of Central Park at the junction of Sixth Avenue and One Hundred and Tenth Street, extending north-westerly along the grounds of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and thence to Fort Washington. There it joins the picturesque Kingsbridge Road, which leads across the Harlem River and thence to Yonkers.
The Transval (across the valley)-happily so called by General Viele -comprises all the region of the island north of Manhattan Valley at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street. That valley is a depression of a high ridge almost to the sea-level. Beyond this valley, and stretch- ing northward, is a long elevated plateau sloping in a series of natural terraces (now largely covered with forest trees) to both rivers. This whole suburb of the city is very picturesque, affording at many points magnificent views of land and water. It is clustered with historie asso- ciations of the old war for independence. It is already dotted with elegant private residences. This region will undoubtedly become. in the near future, the favorite dwelling-place of wealthy and fashionable citizens. Improvements already begun and in contemplation prophesy this. It is proposed to have the streets and avenues conform to the topography of the original surface, avoiding straight lines and arbitrary grades. A series of broad. longitudinal avenues have already been laid out, connected by lateral streets, leaving large tracts of ground to be subdivided in accordance with the views of the owners, without dieta- tion from the authorities. This will afford an opportunity for the cul-
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
tivation of the picturesque and beautiful. Harlem River is destined to speedily become the bearer of vast ships of war and of commerce .*
New York has undergone a complete revolution in the style of its architecture, domestic, commercial, and ecclesiastical, within a very few years. In the extent of ornamentation, in spaciousness, in height, and in interior decorations and furnishings, the dwellings of the very wealthy in New York now surpass those of any other city in the world. The extravagance of all past times seems to have been ex- ceeded in this city in the opening years of the sixth decade. We have not space to present even a single example. Suffice it to say, the most elaborate stone carvings without, and the most elegant and costly carved woods, mosaics, paintings, sculptures, tapestries, rich hangings, rare embroideries, stained glass and luxurious upholstery, with the rarest curiosities of the arts of design from all lands, are everywhere displayed in the dwellings of the rich which have been built since the centennial year. We are told of a $10,000 chimney-piece, a $33.000 bronze railing, a stained-glass window that cost 860,000, and a house that has 8200,000 worth of upholstery and decorative art in it.+ The cost of these things is the monument of the man who builds for present purposes. The horoscope of the future is clear to the mind's eye of a wise observer.
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