USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 46
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had been accomplished. The cable suddenly snapped asunder, the end dropped to the bottom of the sea, and for another year those who de- rided the enterprise had the laugh to themselves. Even vet. how- ever, the men charged with its accomplishment refused to believe sue- cess impossible; three millions of dollars were soon raised again, a new cable was made with greater care than ever. every improvement that suggested itself to increase its strength of elasticity or durabil- ity being adopted. The Great Eastern was again put into requisition. Thinking that the transition from a dry abode on board ship to a watery bath might have something to do with rendering the cable less able to endure the strain, or that the coil would be less liable to get tangled if kept under water, three immense iron tanks were built in the Great Eastern's hold, which, with the water in them, weighed a
ARRIVAL OF THE GREAT EASTERN AT HEART'S CONTENT.
thousand tons apiece. The cable itself, two thousand and four hun- dred miles long (beside the seven hundred and forty-eight miles of the previous cable left aboard the ship), weighed four thousand tous. The start was made on July 13, 1866, from the same place on the Irish coast. Valentia Bay. The shore end of the cable was four times the weight per mile of the other portion. so as to fortify it against the greater wear and tear incident to the shallower water and the break- ers on the beach. This was carried and laid by a smaller vessel and its end spliced to that on board the Great Eastern. Her objective point on the American coast was not Placentia Bay. as in the expedi- tions of 1857 and 1858. but the little harbor of Heart's Content in Trinity Bay. Newfoundland. This obviated the necessity of going around the extremity of the island at Cape Race, and pro- vided a more direct line of connection with Valentia. Heart's Content was a little fishing hamlet. and Trinity Bay safe and
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capacious. Slowly did the great steamship proceed toward this then obsenre haven with its precious burden. Mr. Cyrus W. Field was himself aboard, and a telegraphic station was erected so that constant communication could be kept up with the outside world, as the work watched with such intense interest progressed. Before the final suc- cess now so near, however, he and those sharing in the expedition were doomed to pass through some more moments of anxiety, threat- ening the oft-repeated issue of failure. On the night of July 18, with a thick rain falling, making the darkness more intense. and a rising wind whistling dismally through the rigging, of a sudden something went wrong in the aft tank; two or three coils of the cable stuck to- gether, and rose from the bottom in their ascent to the paying-ont machinery. A hopeless tangle resulted, necessitating the stopping of the ship by a quick and full speed reversion of the engines, and orders were already given to be ready to cast out a supporting buoy in apprehension of the cable's snapping. But matters did not go to this extremity. By patient labor the snarl was unwound and the cable snecessfully paid out to the end of the journey. Heart's Con- tent was reached at nine o'clock on Friday morning. July 27. The distance covered was sixteen hundred and sixty-nine miles, and the length of cable laid eighteen hundred and four miles. Telegraphic communication having been kept up at every stage of the journey, the test was continued after the connection on land had been made, and proved to be entirely satisfactory. With a sense of joy and gratitude that may easily be imagined Mr. Field sent to his friends in New York the following dispatch : " Heart's Content. July 27. We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God the cable is laid. and is in perfect working order." To make the connection doubly sure, and less dependent upon any disasters that might happen to a single cable, the Great Eastern immediately retraced her course with the seven hundred and more miles of the cable of 1865. in order to make the attempt to recover the lost end and complete the circuit on a second line of wire. In 1865 she had caught the cable three times in her grapnels, but it had unhappily slipped from them. A fourth time she had seenred it when the grapnel fonled with its own chain. and the cable was lost again. But these experiments had proved that the cable could be picked up from the bottom of the ocean, and that sue- cess depended only on some improvement in the methods or instru- ments employed. Hence the attempt was now made again, but not till after a cruise of two months was the submerged cable located. It was now canght and held with sufficient force to be brought up from its bed under two miles of water, and spliced to the cable on board. The trip to Heart's Content was successfully accomplished. and thus a double line of telegraphic communication connected the two hemi- spheres. This double connection, secured or suggested partly by acei- dent, was made the regular practice in subsequent undertakings.
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These followed at intervals of a few years. In 1875 the " Direct Cable Company " laid a cable between Ballinskellings Bay, a few miles south of Valentia, and Rye, New Hampshire. In 1884 the Commer- cial Company (Mackay-Bennett) laid a duplicate cable, connecting Havre, France, directly with New York City. Another cable, across Channel to Waterville, south of Valentia, connected Havre with the original lines. In later years progress in electrical science has made it possible to detect the exact point in the cable where a break occurs,
BROADWAY ABOVE THE POSTOFFICE.
so that steamers can be sent direct- ly to the spot to repair it.
Telegraphic communica - tion with Europe was now at last an accomplished fact, not again to be interrupted. The tantalizingly brief success of the project in 1858 had excited the people of the whole country to the greatest en- thusiasm. There was cause now far beyond the former occasion for the Nation and its metropolis to con- gratulate them- selves upon the
final establishment of this miracle of communication. In Novem- ber, 1866, a banquet was tendered Mr. Field and his fellow pro- jectors at the Metropolitan Hotel by the New York Chamber of Commerce. Congress at its session in December voted him a gold medal with the thanks of the Nation, and European governments deeply felt the regret that they could not ennoble the plain citizen of the great Republic. America had now on three different occasions startled the world by the inventions of her sons. Nay, our good city of New York is entitled to claim all of these three-the steamboat, the telegraph, and the ocean cable .- as originated by men who thought and labored and succeeded here, under the influence of that spirit of enterprise ever encouraged where commerce wins her greatest tri-
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umphs. The President and the Queen again exchanged messages of congratulation, breathing the hope of continued peace. But perhaps the most striking evidence of the rapidity of communication made possible by the cable was that furnished by a congratulatory dispatch received by Mr. Field on Monday, July 30, 1866, from M. de Lesseps, then busy with the great project of the Suez Canal. It was dated that same day, at Alexandria, Egypt, at half-past one in the afternoon: it reached Heart's Content three hours earlier by the clocks there, or at half-past ten A.M .! Thus it was vividly realized that the telegraph was swifter than the sun. A laudable desire to keep the Sabbath was frustrated by this circumstance. It had been the intention to close the cable for business on Sunday : but Sunday was not simultaneous over all the world. When it was Sunday in New York it was already Mon- day in Calcutta, or still Saturday in Japan; hence the observance of Sunday here would keep business dependent upon the telegraph at a standstill on Monday to the East of us and on Saturday to the West of ns, thus necessitating an observance and consequent interference with business of three days instead of one. Hence the plan had to be abandoned. At first the charges for telegrams were enormous: $100 for twenty words or less. In 1867 the price had been reduced one-half; in July, 1871. it had fallen to $10 for ten words or less, and in May. 1875, to fifty cents per word. It is now twenty-five cents per word, counting everything, including address and signature, whence we have those curious combinations of firm names into one word of less than ten letters in order to cut down the expense. But comparison with what cabling cost those who first enjoyed the commercial ad- vantages of it makes one feel that the present rates are ridiculously cheap. The first news message of any importance transmitted was unfortunately something quite out of harmony with the new achieve- ment as a triumph of peace: namely, the speech of the King of Prussia just before the breaking out of the war between that country and Austria. Its transmission cost $3.000.
It was of course inevitable, in the progress of the establishment of rapid communication between every part of the world, that conquest should be made of that vast distance separating the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the United States. It would never do in this age of the world to keep on going around Cape Horn to get from New York to San Francisco, or even to break the journey into half by way of the Isthmus of Panama. There must be a transcontinental railroad. The length of track was indeed enough in itself to appall the boldest. As finally accomplished between New York and San Francisco, it meas- ures 3.337 miles, via Chicago and Omaha and Ogden and Sacra- mento. But even the enormous distance was well matched as an ap- palling difficulty by the mountain ranges to be overcome in the far West and near California. Nevertheless, as early as 1859, engineers had studied and solved the problem with such effect that a bill was
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prepared and passed by Congress authorizing the gigantic enter- prise. The plan comprised three great lines, a northern, a central, and a southern, subsequently carried out. The first blow of the pickax was struck on December 2, and the first shovelful of dirt dislodged on December 3, 1863, both by distinguished hands, at Omaha, Ne- braska. Added to all the engineering difficulties were those of con- struction itself, as the Indians showed the fiercest hostility, and several battalions of United States troops had their hands full in keeping the braves from killing the operatives and destroying the material for laying the road. Work was carried on in two sections, east and west, approaching each other, and on May 10, 1869, opera- tions were completed and the long line made one at Promontory Point, Utah. The laying of the last rail and the driving of the last spike were naturally made the occasion of elaborate ceremonies. Ari- zona presented a spike composed of iron, silver, and gold to occupy this place of honor in the great construction. Two engines stood face to face at the two extremities of the road as thus far carried. Every stroke of the sledge upon the spike was telegraphed all over the Union, and men breathlessly awaited the signal that the work was done. When the news reached New York, the Mayor ordered one hun- dred guns to be fired, and sent across the intervening three thousand miles, to the Mayor of San Francisco, a dispatch of congratulation in which he said: " Our flags are now flying, our cannon are now boom- ing, and in old Trinity a Te Deum imparts thankful harmonies to the busy hum about her church walls." A great congregation had gath- ered in the church, special prayers were read, besides the regular service, after the singing of the Te Deum the organ pealed forth strains of triumph, and as the audience was leaving the church the chimes took up the refrain with the " Ascension Carol," the National airs, and the Old Hundred. The New York Chamber of Commerce sent a message of congratulation to the Chamber of San Francisco, which rightly expressed the significance of the event, as one that would " develop the resources, extend the commerce, increase the power, exalt the dignity, and perpetuate the unity of our Republic." And looking to wider results, beyond the mere selfish consideration of National benefit, these enlightened merchants of the metropolis of the Republic also saw in the enterprise just finished something that " in its broader relations, as the segment of a world-embracing circle, directly connecting the nations of Europe with those of Asia, would materially facilitate the enlightened and advancing civilization of our age."
If the visits of princes are worthy of record in the annals of a repub- lican metropolis, the period now under discussion may be noted as having seen two of these representatives of European royalties. As facilitating an exchange of courtesies between nations, as indicative of the desire of these countries or their monarchs to cultivate friend-
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ship and promote relations of mutual profit with our land. these visits are of course of great importance. Evidently England and Russia must have placed a value upon such relations with the United States. In 1860 Victoria had sent her eldest son to see the Republic, and in 1869 she sent Arthur, later Duke of Connaught, her youngest. His reception was not as brilliant as that accorded to the Prince of Wales, but it was made clear that New York appreciated the friendliness of the visit, so important a circumstance after the agitations of war, and the misunderstandings between the two countries that had so often led them to the very verge of conflict. Even now there was left pending the painful question of reparation for the unfriendly action of England in regard to the Alabama and other Southern crnisers fitted out in her ports. The sending of a member of her own family to the United States was therefore regarded as the harbinger or token of a reconciling spirit on the part of the Queen, whatever the attitude of her ministers might be. The other royal visitor was a son of the Russian autocrat. the Grand Dnke Alexis. In 1867 the United States had bought Alaska from Russia for seven millions of dol- lars, and the relations then were and since have ever been of the most friendly character, an anomalous condition of affairs. as between the most despotic and the freest states of Christendom. fully as much so as that between ACADEMY OF DESIGN. Russia and the French Republic, to be explained only as the result of the consummate diplomatie skill of Russian statesmen. Alexis possessed personal qualities of an attractive nature, and for these as well as for the country he represented he was fêted with great celat. He came to New York in November, 1871. On two successive nights balls were given in his honor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and in the New York Academy of Music. He was entertained at the Brevoort House, at Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue, a grand review of troops was held in Tompkins Square, and a painting of Far- ragut at Mobile was presented to him at the Academy of Design.
New York knew what it was to be desolated by a great fire. al- though more than a generation had passed since the " great fire " of 1835, and not many of the younger business men of the town could even recollect that of 1845. These disasters had entailed frightful losses, running up into the tens of millions of dollars. In 1871 a Western city, that had hardly an existence in 1845, and was but a hamlet, or a military ontpost in 1835, was swept by a fire which laid
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in ashes five square miles of her choicest portion, and produced a loss in money valuation of two hundred millions of dollars; by that alone showing to what magnificent proportions she must have arrived in so short a period. On Sunday and Monday, October 8 and 9, 1871, this awful disaster visited Chicago, Illinois. The enormity of it cast a hush over life and activity in distant New York. On Monday busi- ness was almost at a standstill. But from this sympathetic paralysis the people woke to the most splendid munificence in the contribution of aid. Public meetings were held, at which appeals were presented for the relief of the distressed Western city, and inside of two weeks about three millions of dollars in money or articles of food and cloth- ing were raised and forwarded to Chicago. Some New York men whose reputations had been blackened by the financial transactions to be described further on. redeemed themselves somewhat by the energy and generosity wherewith they hastened to supply the wants of the hundred thousand people reduced to beggary and threatened with starvation.
New York City had a special interest in the Presidential campaign of 1872, because one of her own denizens long identified with her best life, was the " standard bearer " of one of the parties as candidate for the occupancy of the Executive Chair. We have met Horace Greeley in the early days of newspaper enterprise, when he printed the " pen- ny paper " for the young medical student who first hit upon the idea of a cheap journal and its sale by newsboys. Some years later the Tribune began its career, and Greeley and it together had risen to prominence and reputation throughout the Republic. Devotedly loyal to the Union, Greeley had always been independent and free in his criticisms of his own party-leaders. He had not hesitated to point out what he deemed faulty in Mr. Lincoln's policy during the war. At its close he had dismissed from his own heart and from the pages of his journal all sentiments of rancor against the South; and he had given practical evidence of the sincerity of his feelings by boldly com- ing forward as bondsman when Jefferson Davis was indicted for trea- son. and no one else would go bail for him. Grant as President had not by any means come up to the magnitude of Grant the soldier and general. Much was done during his first term for which the men he trusted too much were really responsible, but which gave occasion to serious criticisms of the President himself. Abuses there had been, and Greeley's paper exposed them in no gentle manner, rendered more pointed by the fact that the editor had no very great notion of the aptitude of military men for the presidential position. There had been enough in these exposures to arouse a good deal of feeling against the popular idol of four years before; and the opposing party imagined that by a fusion with disaffected men of the President's own party, they might carry the day against Grant. if nominated for a second term, a's he was sure to be. To secure the adherence of these
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malcontents the Democrats put Greeley at the head of their ticket. and during the summer and autumn of 1872 a curions and energetic campaign was carried on with Grant and Greeley opposed to each other. The latter threw himself heart and soul into the contest. and he paid for his efforts with his life. He was sixty-one years of age. and the physical exertions he made were in themselves carried to the extreme of imprudence. On the top of all came a crushing. heart- breaking disappointment. The chances of success had seemed fair enough, and therefore the final results must have been dne largely to political treachery, which was keenly felt by Mr. Greeley. New York State gave Grant a majority of 53,456; and in the Electoral College, Greeley's vote with all other candidates combined made only 66. while Grant alone had 300. Even before the College met to aunonnce that result officially Mr. Greeley, broken down in mind as well as in body, had been removed by death. It was so clearly and so closely connected with the circumstances of the campaign that its effect was exceedingly tragic. Two statues of a man so unique and interesting in all his career express the esteem in which he was held by his city. One appropriately adorns the entrance to the noble building which is now the home of the great newspaper he founded. The other. erected in 1894, stands at the junction of Broadway and Sixth Ave- nue, south of Thirty-fourth Street, and the Corporation of the City has named the space surrounding it Greeley Square as a tribute to the memory of so worthy a citizen.
A faithful record must relate the shame as well as the glory of our city; yet is it with a natural relnetance that we approach the episode belonging to this period which has justified the heading of this ehap- ter. but which we have put off mentioning until now. It has been shown in previous chapters how a change came over the character of our municipal officers, when immigration began to assine formidable proportions, finally making possible the elevation of a Fernando Wood to the office of Mayor. Yet Wood was not himself a foreigner. The acme of corruption was reached after the war, and enlminated in the shameless proceedings of the notorious Tweed Ring; yet, again. the man who has given a name to that blot upon our municipal his- tory because he was the moving spirit of the stupendons thievery then committed. was a native of New York City, and not even of foreign parentage. His creatures and heelers, however, nearly all bore cog- nomens of unmistakable foreign connections. The plague spot of political corruption, which had already insinuated itself into the municipal life of New York before the war. had the opportunity to spread itself insidiously while men's minds were bent on outside events. Besides, the ravages of battle had eliminated the better ele- ment of the masses, artisans, laborers, and smaller tradespeople, leav- ing those who dared not or cared not to go to the front, and who there- by showed they had but little feeling for the country to which they had
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come to better their condition. When they found that their votes would pave the way to fortune, or at least to easy jobs with little work and much pay, it was but natural that they should adopt poli- ties as a profession, serving masters who manipulated their votes to mutual advantage. This state of affairs made possible the political boss, leading droves of heelers to the polls. By the simple device of universal and irresponsible suffrage, he could obtain what positions he wanted, and distributed the benefits thereof in place oremoluments as he pleased among the creatures whose votes had given him power. The funds that necessarily accrue for purposes of government are always a peril to the integrity of a free system like ours. Its enor- mons quantity tempts the unscrupulous, and methods of access to it and subsequent peculation are easily contrived when people of the lowest moral status with no responsibility whatever, nor any interest in the welfare of the State, can be herded together and by their com- bined and skillfully marshaled votes, neutralize the suffrages of peo- ple of weight in character or means, overwhelming them by greater numbers, and reducing them to a helpless minority.
William Marcy Tweed. " by merit raised to that bad eminence " which requires singling him out in this story of our city's shame, was born, as a recent chronicler relates with great partienlarity, at 24 Cherry Street. It was a more desirable neighborhood then than now. His parents were Americans and evidently admirers of William L. Marey, who in 1833 became Governor of the State, since they called their child after him. Tweed's birthyear was 1823. He had a com- mon school education, and began life as a respectable artisan, a manufacturer of chairs, the only honest thing he ever did. But very early he gave signs of an innate dishonesty; a gentleman who knew him in early days has often told the writer that no one would trust Tweed with a quarter around the next corner. He soon saw in the politics of the city a chance to pursue dishonest schemes with profit and with safety, for he had not the courage of the common thief of burglar. In 1850, when but twenty-seven years old he was already an Alderman. At this time street-railway franchises were freely sold by the Council, and the city fathers were familiarly called the " Forty Thieves." As he and his fellow members were arrested for these pro- ceedings, Tweed, who escaped conviction, determined to try Con- gress for a while; his wish in that line ouly needed to be known to make nomination and election by the hordes that voted at his beck a mere matter of course. Congress afforded no chance for peculation and was therefore altogether too uninteresting. Meanwhile the qualm of reform had departed from the New York public and it need- ed only a little more careful manipulation to make stealing easier and to leave it undisturbed. In 1857 Tweed was made a School Com- missioner, and his fingers began at once to rummage around for dol- lars in the public crib. It was not much that he could realize in this
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