USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 53
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tration. a banquet tendered him by leading citizens of every party as a mark of their approbation of his condnet of affairs. Mr. Smith Ely. Jr., who assumed the Mayoralty on January 1, 1877, was prominent as a leather merchant. Antagonism to Tweed was still the badge of merit. As County Supervisor. Mr. Ely had fiercely opposed the County Court House job, the chief mine of the robbers' wealth. He had been State Senator twenty years before, and at the time of his election as Mayor was a member of Congress, resigning his seat to accept the mmunicipal office. In the years 1879 and 1880, Mr. Edward Cooper, son of the philanthropist and merchant. served as Mayor, his father still living at the time to enjoy the distinction put upon him. Ile. too. had been a member of the Committee of Seventy, who humbled the Tweed Ring. No name stands higher among Mayors or citizens for high-toned character, integrity and ability of administration in business or offi- cial position, than that of Mr. William R. Grace, born in Ireland and a distinguished member of the Church prevalent in his country. He was twice elected Mayor, serving in 1881 and 1882, and again in the years 1885 and 1886. Since that time. although immersed in the im- mense interests of a great shipping business, having connections mainly with South America, his voice has often been heard in support of clean and upright goverment, whatever party was most likely to provide it for the people, entirely regardless of his own party affilia- tions, which are perfectly well known. Mr. Franklin Edson. Mayor in the interval between Mr. Grace's terms, or during the years 1883 and 1884, was a native of Vermont, started in business at Albany in 1852. bnt came to New York after the war. He became prominent in com- mercial circles, being three times made President of the Produce Exchange. During his term. in 1884. the charter which Tweed had bribed through the Legislature in order to get a control still more absolute of the funds of a helpless public, received the final touches which made it a very excellent measure, being based upon a reason- able recognition of the right of the people to home rule. For purposes entirely sinister. Tweed had so framed its provisions that all control of the city from Albany was to be abolished by it, the heads of depart- ments to be appointed by the Mayor and to hold office longer than he; the Comptroller and Corporation Counsel were also to be the Mayor's appointees, and all salaries altogether dependent on his will. " After being changed and amended for ten years, it finally, in 1884. was restored on substantially the old basis, namely, the placing of responsibility for the government of the city in the hands of only one set of officials, instead of so distributing it that it could easily be shifted. by bestowing great executive power on the Mayor, and by making the heads of departments responsible to him alone." Toward the close of Mr. Grace's second term. the Mayoralty contest presented a curious three-cornered fight. in which an element. little suspected to have such power, developed an uncommonly large vote. The labor
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agitations, awakening hostility to capitalists and the existing parties as both equally under their control, had given rise to a Labor Party, and it made Mr. Henry George the candidate for Mayor. It was de- sired that regardless of party the friends of stable government should present a united front against the anarchistic tendencies of the new party, but the Republicans refused to heed the suggestion, and nomi- nated Mr. Theodore Roosevelt on a strictly-drawn partisan platform. Tammany was thereby driven to make an unexceptionable selection for their candidate, on whom wiser Republicans could unite with them for the good of the city. They, therefore, made Mr. Abraham S. Hewitt their standard bearer, who had never had any kind of asso- ciation with the Hall before, nor has had since, and who actually served on the Committee of Seventy of 1894, having for its aim Tan- many's overthrow. The election proved a surprise, Mr. Hewitt having 90,512 votes; Mr. George, 68,110, and Mr. Roosevelt, 60,435. Mr. Hewitt's candidacy, no doubt, alone saved the day for the Democratic party. He was the son-in-law of Peter Cooper, and with the latter, and his brother-in-law, the ex-Mayor, formed the great iron firm of Cooper, Hewitt & Company. At the next Mayoralty election, how- ever, one of Tammany's own, Hugh J. Grant, got firmly into the Mayor's seat, keeping it a second term, and preparing for the succes- sion of another Tammany man, until by excess of revelry in the power enjoyed things came to a pass, soon to be related, which again over- threw Tannany, as it had been in 1872. Grant had been Tammany's candidate in 1884, when the better element in the party rallied around William R. Grace. Ile was defeated. In 1888 Tammany had no special use for Hewitt any longer, and the Republicans must have their own man again, the result being that Grant received 114,111 votes; L.r- hardt, the Republican candidate, 73,037, and Hewitt 71,979.
Many people in New York are yet accustomed to date events in their personal history or in the larger sphere of the general history of city, state, country, or the world, by reference to the " blizzard " of 1888. And it certainly was a unique occurrence, full of startling lessons. It fell on Monday, March 12, but covered parts of days before and after. On Sunday afternoon and evening there was a heavy downpour of rain, so that the streets were submerged under an inch or two of water. Suddenly into this descended a heavy fall of snow, so thick and so persistent that it made with the rain water a complete covering of slush. Again, as suddenly, there came a severe frost, which froze the slush into one solid cake of ice, and the snow continuing and the gale increasing, citizens, when they awoke upon Monday morning, found mountainous drifts filling the streets. Not a horsecar could move, and even the elevated railways were paralyzed. Snow plows were utterly impotent to clear the tracks. They might remove the hills of snow, but the firm cake of frozen slush beneath was perfectly unyielding. Pretty soon it began to appear that other traffic had been
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paralyzed. No milkmen or grocers or butchers came to the doors with their supplies. In fact. people learned all at ouce what it meant to supply a million of souls with the common necessaries of life. what a small matter conld reduce a city full to inconvenience, and even to some degree of suffering. And it was equally impressive to observe how all modern appliances for locomotion and communica- tion, which had become men's boast, were momentarily helpless be- fore a slightly peculiar combination of such common phenomena of the weather, as rain, snow, and frost. following in quick snecession. A great city was tanght in a few hours its human limitations.
Fatal results, not always recorded, followed the distressing con-
THE VANDERBILT RESIDENCES.
ditious under which the city found itself. The blizzard, among its list of victims, claimed one mark especially shining. Roscoe Conkling. ouce Senator from New York, the able lawyer, domineering politi- ciau, and brilliant orator, had made New York City his home, after his unhappy controversy with President Garfield had consigned him to private life, attended thither by his satellite, who was then wont to be irreverently referred to as " Me too " Platt. Previously Conkling's home had been in Rochester, but he obeyed the impulse of so many men after they have once moved in a large sphere in this country. As Grant and Sherman came to live in New York; as Mr. Cleveland
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did in 1889 when he retired from his first term as President; so Conk- ling exchanged New York for Rochester in 1881. One writer easily ex- plains " this well-marked tendency of prominent men throughout the country "-i.e., they select our city because " its life is so intense and so varied and so full of manifold possibilities, that it has a special and peculiar fascination for ambitions and high-spirited men of every kind." The blizzard cost Mr. Conkling his lite. He struggled through the drifts in the morning and reached his office. He did not wish to repeat that experience in the afternoon, and wished to engage a cab. The driver charged him $50, which he deemed a little too steep. and therefore once more addressed himself to labors which have made arctic explorations so perilous. The over-exertion, made worse by a cold contracted in the head, proved too much for the ex-Senator, and a few days later he died. He was overcome in Madison Square, and on the spot a statue of him has been since erected.
In December, 1885, death removed another prominent figure from among New York citizens; the richest man in the city. in the country, nay, in the world, William H. Vanderbilt. He was the oldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who laid the foundation of the colossal fortune. At first the old Commodore did not put much faith in the abilities of his oldest son, and left him to struggle along the best he could on a farm on Staten Island. But after a while his sterling though not perhaps brilliant quali- ties convinced the father of his mistake, and now he gave him all his confidence. The younger Vanderbilt more than doubled the great for- tune left him, and at the time of his death was supposed to be worth $200,000,000. His wealth was legitimately earned by railroad enter- prise of the safest and most beneficial kind, and in no way by specula- tions which brought ruin upon others. The two handsome private residences he erected for himself and daughters on the block from Fifty-first to Fifty-second Street on Fifth Avenue, while not so showy as Stewart's mansion, were at once more elegant and more homelike. He was a patron of art, owning at least $1,000,000 worth of paintings. His private benevolences were great, but, of course. unrecorded. He paid for the bringing of the Obelisk from Egypt to New York, as was noted previously. His large gift of half a million to the College of Physicians and Surgeons will not soon be forgotten.
Churches were steadily going up in the wake of population, north- ward, leaving the poorer districts rather bare of Protestant places of worship at least, according to the complaints of some: these being replaced however by numbers of Mission Chapels, and benevolent en- terprises of various sorts. The population had passed the million mark in 1880. the Federal census accrediting us with 1.206.500. The Board of Education was hard put to it to keep pace with this rapid growth in providing school houses, which had now reached very nearly, or passed, the number of a hundred. besides its two colleges for
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young men and young women. In 1886 there was established for the benefit of children an institution quite unique of its kind. This was a "Children's Library," at 436 West Thirty-fifth Street. Here were provided a library and reading-room, open to children twelve years of age and under, admission to which was secured by tickets from teach- ers or friends. It began operations in January, and then had 300 vol- umes, as well as a store of children's magazines, games, etc. Boys were admitted on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and every even- ing, and girls on afternoons of other days. During the first year there was an average attendance of sixty-fom per day, and at one time there were only eight volumes left on the shelves. The cost of running it was only $120, during that first year.
It must not be omitted in a record of social life in New York that the bicycle in the " safety " form made its advent in 1889. Previously
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BATTERY PARK, WASHINGTON BUILDING, PRODUCE EXCHANGE.
it had been of the high-and-low wheel pattern, sadly addicted to " headers." The forerunner of all was a ehmmusy affair attracting at- tention first in 1868. In the centennial year the high wheel came to the country; but no such conquest was made by it as fell to the lot of the " safety " that dawned upon the world in 1889. Every improve- ment of the original design has but served to make the machine more and more popular, till to be no " wheelman " or " wheelwoman " is to be quite behind the age. It has revolutionized habits of life, and improved country roads and city streets. People had forgotten all about the topography of their own city or land, by reason of railroads and horse-cars. Now they learned again where hills and dales and rivers and meadows and woodland
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prevailed and what street pavements were like. Whatever thor- oughfare is lacking in excellence in city or country is apt to be heard from; and the interest of towns and counties is deeply involved in keeping things in good trim. Besides, a genera- tion is coming to the fore with muscles braced and limbs well rounded by exercise; with lungs expanding under the influence of vigorous draughts of good air; and with habits of eating, sleeping, and drinking, that forbid injurious excess, but yet demand a generous supply of what is wholesome.
The history of trade was signalized in New York during this period by the opening of the new Produce Exchange, on Bowling Green, in May, 1884, lifting its campanille tower high above surrounding build- ings. The orator of the day was Chauncey M. Depew. Just before the exercises commenced whispers went about that Ferdinand Ward's bank, with his Government-contract schemes, had gone to pieces. This involved General Grant in ruin, having been induced to form a sort of partnership with Ward, who wanted his name as an article of trade. The unscrupulous financier was alone responsible for the fail- ure, and Grant himself personally untouched by any suspicions of wrong doing. He had been induced by Ward to make a loan to him of $150,000, shortly before the crash in 1884. It was secured by a mort- gage, and the payment of this sum robbed Grant of nearly all his sav- ings. Mr. Vanderbilt at once offered to cancel the mortgage, but it was twice declined by the General. Mr. Vanderbilt then offered to pay about that sum for Grant's relics or souvenirs secured during his tour of the world. This offer being in a shape that the General could accept without the loss of self-respect, the purchase was effected, and the collection immediately presented by Mr. Vanderbilt to the Govern- ment at Washington. This sad event doubtless hastened Gen. Grant's end. He now addressed himself to the task of writing his memoirs. for which a large sale was assured; he labored at this beyond his strength and amid his great sufferings, completing the task a few weeks before his death, a year later. The rascally proceedings of Ward involved many others in ruin, and caused a mild panie during some weeks in the late spring of 1884.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REMEMBERING THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
Y a judicious choice Tammany Hall had succeeded in placing their candidate in the Mayor's chair in 1886. It was neces- sary to rally voters against the platform of the Labor Party under the leadership of Mr. Henry George. The fifth plank of their platform declared " that the enormous value which the pres- ence of one and a half million of people gives to the land of the city belongs properly to the whole community." The great capitalists and real-estate owners did not like this doctrine; neither did the poli- ticians who were in politics for busi- ness. They wished the wealth of the city. pouring by taxation into the public purse, to ac- erue to the benefit of a very limited portion of the com- munity only. Again another idea altogether too radical was the plank in the Labor Party's platform POSTOFFICE AND PARK. that the city take charge of transit
operations by railways, elevated or ou the surface. drawn by horses, cables, steam, or electricity, because private corporations provoked strikes. But then there were other kinds of " strikes " which a city government might organize against corporations. resulting in " boodle" for franchises, which the city could not well get out of itself. Hence, Mr. George must be beaten at all hazards, even though Mr. Hewitt had to be asked to lead the Tammany forces to victory. In spite of Mr. Hewitt's entire " aloof- ness" from the power that had carried him into the chair, that same vietory had intrenched Tammany to a sufficient degree to en- able them to cast loose the uncongenial leader forced upon them by circumstances in 1886, and an out-and-ont man of their own obtained
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the Mayoralty prize in 1888. Two years later (in 1890) a desperate effort was made to get rid of the Tammany power in municipal poli- ties. The independent Democrats, nominated Mr. Francis M. Scott, a Democrat, and the Republicans were wise enough to forego the mis- take of former years. They cast party considerations to the winds, and indorsed the nomination of Mr. Scott. The People's Municipal League, organized in the interest of purity in city politics, also gave their adherence to Scott. Against this one candidate of the better ele- ment of citizens Tammany did not hesitate to pit their former stand- ard bearer, Grant. A noble fight was made by Mr. Scott, spending evening after evening making speeches in every part of the city. He was a lawyer of fine abilities and eloquent address, and in this respect alone far superior to his opponent, who was a man of little education. There were idle rumors that he could not even write his name, or compose a letter; and some of the newspapers were impudent enough to offer to give $500 for charity, if the Mayor would write an auto- graph letter in order to prove his ability to do so. At last came elec- tiou day, November 4, 1890. It was a good " Republican " day, cloudy or hazy in the morning but without rain, and clearing in the after- noon to fine weather. Thus there was no hindrance to the bringing out of the biggest vote of the better element. On this day, too, the Aus- tralian ballot first went into effect, promising to secure the utmost possible purity of the ballot, by preventing or nentralizing the pur- chasing of votes, since by its provisions there could be no certainty that what was bought would be delivered. Nevertheless Mr. Scott was hopelessly beaten, and Ingh J. Grant carried the day by a major- ity of twenty thousand. A study of the figures later developed the secret of the Tammany victory. It was estimated that there were at least forty thousand citizens who had neglected to vote, either from indifference to their duty and privilege as citizens, or because as Re- publicans they would not vote for even so respectable and high-toned a gentleman as Mr. Scott, because he was a Democrat. The stay-at- homes were not residents of the districts which gave Grant their suf- frages. It is more than likely that a little more patriotism would have turned the scale against him. The people needed, it seems, rousing up, before they could be marshaled in solid phalanx against the power of Tammany. That rousing came in due course of time. Thomas F. Gilroy was put up as Mayor in 1892, and continued the ascendency of the forces that had again obtained a hold upon the public offices, after the long interval of a score of years since the downfall of Tweed. Continuance of power made the politicians of this stripe heedless of results, and abuses began again to creep into the administration of municipal affairs. The So- ciety for the Prevention of Crime was now under the Presidency of the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, the successor of Dr. Howard Crosby. It was suspected by the society that the police were in collusion with
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houses of ill-fame, and in general derived a revenue from various forms of law-breaking by a system of bribes where offered, or the levy- ing of deliberate blackmail from those reluctant to pay. Acensations to that effect were freely made. Places where debauchery and licen- tiousness were boldly carried on were pointed out to the police, but the ery was, no arrests without positive proof. By a bold stroke, de- manded by the necessity of the case, yet which must have been dis- gustingly repugnant to his feelings, and for which unthinking men roundly condemned him,-Dr. Parkhurst secured the proof positive thus blandly required, so that he could himself go upon the witness stand and swear to his charges against the Police Department. Pub- lie sentiment was roused by the revelations made, and the Legisla- ture was induced to order an investigation of the Department, at the instance of the Chamber of Commerce. Thus came into being the now famous Lexow Investigation Committee, appointed in January. 1894. They began their sessions in February. continuing them with intervals until December, and engaged as counsel Mr. John W. Goff, a gentleman of Irish birth and of the Catholic faith, a lawyer of re- markable ability, who as Assistant District-Attorney had had con- siderable experience in dealing with the criminal classes. As the pro- ceedings went on facts of the most disgraceful and sensational nature were constantly brought to light. Some six hundred policy-shops. the lowest kind of gambling hells, were actually running under police protection. A keeper of a house of ill-fame had found it worth while to pay the exorbitant sums asked for in order to be left undisturbed. till the aggregate of $25,000 was reached. People doing honest busi- ness were muleted on some pretext or other, to save themselves from annoyance, or to get the protection they were entitled to. Push-cart venders upon the street were not considered victims too petty to be fleeced. Ignorant foreign shop-keepers were robbed of nearly all their income, on some trumped-np threat of exposure of wrongdoing. The indignation and disgust of the public of New York exceeded all bounds. The wings of Tammany seemed to have brooded as much cor- ruption, although in a new and more contemptible shape, as in the heyday of the Tweed Ring. The Lexow Committee's work. besides this effect upon public opinion, resulted in establishing the compli- city with these abuses of two Police Commissioners, two ex-Commis- sioners, three Inspectors, one ex-Inspector (who managed to sport a private steam-yacht), twenty Captains, two ex-Captains, seven Ser- geants, and six Detective Sergeants, But nothing so sadly illustrates the devious course of the law as the fact that, when indictments were brought against these offenders, the trials actually conducted resulted as follows: one conviction, which was reversed; one conviction after two trials, an appeal pending subsequently; two disagreements of juries. Forty indictments were dismissed, and thirty-five not even brought to trial. The cost came to $76,534.
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But one effect could not be averted. The anger and disgust of the citizens aroused them thoroughly to the necessity of ridding them- selves of Tammany, and at the next municipal election, which fortu- nately fell in this very year while the people were still hot for reforni, -there was a thorough and extensive municipal honse-cleaning. As in the days of Tweed, a Committee of Seventy was organized, who nominated a ticket regardless of party. Their nominee for Mayor was Mr. William L. Strong, indorsed by the Republicans, the State Democracy, the Independent County Democrats, the Anti-Tammany Democrats, and the German-American Reforin Union. A feature of the campaign, occasioned by the revelations of municipal corruption,
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INTERIOR VIEW OF TRINITY CHURCH.
was the establishment of the Good Government Clubs, whose branches in various parts of the city were designated by letters of the alphabet. These confederated elnbs also indorsed Mr. Strong's nomi- nation. Tammany imagined that luck might turn their way again if they put in nomination the one who had led them twice to victory. and who had once before foiled the clamors of reformers. But Hugh J. Grant could not prevail this time. Mr. Strong was elected Mayor by a majority of 45.187, and Tammany power for the time being was swept out of existence. John W. Goff was elected Recorder by a still larger majority. At the election of 1894, the people also voted for
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Rapid Transit on a larger scale, and on the question of the Greater New York.
In July, 1890, the New Aqueduct, conveying an increased quantity of water from the Croton River to New York City, was first used. The old system was becoming painfullyinadequate to the needs of the city, so immensely augmented in population since 1842. Finally in 1883 the Legislature authorized the construction of a new condnit issuing 350 feet above the Croton Dam, and running directly to the large, cir- cular reservoir in Central Park, passing under the Harlem River. It is in the form of a horseshoe 15 feet high and 23 feet wide, being capa- ble of discharging 318 millions of gallons every twenty-four hours. In June, 1891, when it was completed, its cost was estimated at over twenty-five millions of dollars. A little over a year later, in August, 1892. another dam on the Croton was contracted for, to add 21 square miles to the drainage area, and to afford storage for thirty thousand millions of gallons. It is expected to be finished in 1898. In June, 1893, preparations were made for constructing a new storage reser- voir for the nse of the city above the Harlem River, with a capacity of fifteen hundred millions of gallons, much larger therefore than the circular reservoir in Central Park. When it is considered what multi- tudes of souls now needed to be abundantly supplied with water, these provisions would appear none too ample. In 1890 the Federal Census made the population of New York 1.513,501. It was claimed by the Democratic politicians who then ruled the city that the Repub- lican administration had tampered with the figures, and the police of the city were directed to take another censns: they made the figure 1.710,715. In 1892 the State Census occurred and put the city down for 1,800,891. In 1860 the population was abont 814,000; thus in thirty-two years it had increased one million. In 1880 Chicago had. by a series of annexations of contiguous villages miles apart, become . possessed of a population of 1.099.850. This made it the second city of the land, which put Philadelphia in the third place, while Brooklyn became number four.
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