By Charles H. HaswellActive in NY's civic and cultural life a half-century, Haswell's meticulous notes on it were published in 1896, the same year Correction emerged as a separate agency. A century later Jackson Era devotee Hal Morris posted them on his Tales of the Early Republic web site, from where these passages have been excerpted with permission. | NYCHS posts
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Chapter IX: 1826 - Philip Hone, William Paulding, MayorsThis year was one of much commercial distress, the result of the failure of several spurious banks chartered by the State of New Jersey. Subsequently, by the failure of several insurance companies, was revealed an amount of venality that affected the commercial character of the city at home and abroad, and also that of a number of persons of character and respectability; resulting in the conviction of some by a court of justice; some of them being sent to the Penitentiary, while others appealed to the Court of Errors, and escaped by the casting vote of the Lieutenantgovernor. Jacob Barker, who has been already mentioned (1822), in
consequence of his connection with the Exchange Bank at a previous date,
and the Washington and Warren at a very late period, was very seriously
and generally censured in the public prints, and some years after this
he became a citizen of New Orleans. On March 20 the Common Council required hacks to have
lighted lamps at night. March 30. One Hewlett, a colored representative of "Shakespeare's proud heroes," as he himself termed it, gave illustrations of his talent at 11 Spruce Street. . . . June 24, St. John's Day, was laid the cornerstone of Masonic Hall, on the site of 314 and 316 Broadway, a Gothic structure of imposing appearance among buildings of the time.
It contained a fine saloon 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 25 feet high, richly decorated. Here the first fair of the American Institute was held. After the alleged murder of Morgan and the organization of the Antimasonic party, it was named Gothic Hall. Before this building was completed, William Morgan published his book purporting to reveal the secrets of Masonry, and then occurred his hidden and unexplained disappearance.
As it was alleged that he had been murdered by Masons and his body secreted, the charge was availed of by some politicians in the State, and an Antimasonic party was organized, which not only pervaded this State, but extended to contiguous States, and continued active for some time.
Thurlow Weed, of Albany, took a leading part in availing himself of the excitement against Masons, with a view to the organization of an opposition to the Democrats.
Upon being told that the body of a drowned man had been found in Niagara River and that some declared it to be that of Morgan, while others who had seen it denied that it was his, Weed is reported to have said: "It is a good enough Morgan until after the election."
In 1830 Francis Granger received one hundred and twentyeight thousand votes as Antimasonic candidate for Governor of New York.
Confession of the Murder of William Morgan, Abducted and Murdered, A.D. 1826, for revealing the Secrets of Freemasonry. W. J. Shuey, Publisher, Datton, Ohio. Price of a single copy, mailed, post paid, 20 centers or six copies for $1.00. In 1832 William Wirt was Antimasonic candidate for President of the United States, and obtained the electoral votes of Vermont, a State which was for several years wholly under Antimasonic rule.
During this excitement Masons were held to be so obnoxious to propriety and good citizenship that the order was measurably paralyzed; so much so that some lodges closed and others met but rarely,-in one case I know of, the lodge withdrew and donated its funds, exceeding six thousand dollars, to a charitable institution,-but in time the opposition lapsed and Masonry lifted its head, and was soon restored to popularity and usefulness. In the meanwhile the name of the hall was changed to Gothic Hall. . . . July 18 the project of cutting a canal from One Hundred
and Eighth Street at the Harlem River to Spuyten Duyvil Creek, was first
entertained and discussed. September 11 the Williamsburgh Ferry Co. petitioned the
Common Council to allow them to replace their horseboat with a steamboat, as a steamboat was not provided for in their grant. September 19 a family from the South arriving here with
several slaves as servants, a party of resident Negroes assembled soon
after and endeavored to incite a mob for the purpose of freeing the slaves,
but the general populace and the Courts resisted the design. The firm of Arthur Tappan & Co. was the largest silk
house in the city. Arthur and Lewis Tappan were the principal originators
of the abolition of slavery movement. Arthur was a zealous bigot of a pronounced type. He issued to the clerks of the house, and submitted to all applicants for employment, the following requirements and rules for their government and manner of living: "Total abstinence; not to visit certain proscribed places nor remain out after ten o'clock at night; to visit a theatre, and to make the acquaintance of an actor precluded forgiveness; to attend Divine service twice on Sundays, and on every Monday morning to report church attendance, name of the clergyman, and texts; prayermeeting twice a week, and must belong to an antislavery society and essay to make converts to the cause." . . . . September 27 Henry Eckford, George W. Browne, Mark Spencer, and Jacob Barker, who had been indicted for a conspiracy upon the allegation of irregular transactions in the operation of certain banks and financial companies, were arraigned in the Court of Oyer and Terminer held by Judge Edwards; they were prosecuted by Hugh Maxwell and Peter Augustus Jay, and defended by Thomas Addis Emmet, William M. Price, Murray Hoffman, David C. Colden, and William R. Williams; Mr. Barker defending his own case. The Court forbade the publication of the current testimony. Stenography was not practiced then. On the 23d of the following month the jury was discharged, having failed to agree upon a verdict; their decision was reported to be seven to five for a verdict of guilty, against all; and eight to four for all but Henry Eckford. . . . The first of the stone buildings of the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea Square (Ninth and Tenth avenues, Twentieth and Twentyfirst streets) was completed in this year, the cornerstone having been laid by Bishop White, July 28, 1825. This was the one afterward termed the East Building, removed in 1892 to make way for new houses for the professors. The present Dean of the Seminary, the Very Rev. Dr. E. A. Hoffman, writes in a recent article published in the Trinity Record:
"The site was then far removed from the city and extended down to the banks of the Hudson, being surrounded on the other sides by green fields, enclosed by postandrail fences. The grounds, which now stand above the street, were then an apple orchard, which was situated near the corner of what is now Ninth Avenue and Twentyfirst Street. Professor Clement C. Moore's country residence -- extending from Nineteenth to Twenty-fourth Street and from Eighth Avenue to the river, and known as Chelsea -- was the only house in the vicinity; and with this exception, save a few straggling houses in the village of Greenwich, there was scarcely a good brick house to be found between it and Canal Street. The only approach to the grounds was through a narrow road, called Love Lane, running easterly to the Bloomingdale Road, now Broadway; while the water was at times so deep immediately around the new building as to make it inaccessible during a great portion of the winter, except on horseback or in a carriage."
This fine property had been given to the Seminary by Clement C. Moore, immortalized among children by his verses, "'Twas the Night before Christmas"; being a part of his patrimony, formerly attached to the countryhouse of his father, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore, Bishop of New York. . . . In December of this year it was first thought necessary
to pave the sidewalk in Canal Street, and then only on one side. Waltzing
was first introduced this season as an element of evening entertainment,
this occurred at the house in Franklin Street of a member of a leading
French shipping firm. I was present. . . . Lithography was first introduced. . . Lafayette Place was opened on the 4th of July in this year, one hundred feet in width and through Vauxhall Garden. Bancker, which was a street notorious for the objectionable character of its dwellers, and a byeword, was changed to Madison Street. The State prison at Christopher Street was purchased of
the State by the Corporation for one hundred thousand dollars. . . . In consequence of a rupture in the relations of the Professors and Trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a second college was organized, termed the Rutgers Medical College, which was located in Duane near to Church Street. Antoine Malapar, who in 1825 had been a bartender
at Castle Garden, associated with George I. Pride and others, advertised
the formation of the Marble Manufacturing Co., assumed the province of
a Bank of Deposit, and issued notes. The enterprise was viewed with such
general suspicion that it existed but for a brief period, failing within
the year, and in its failure the Franklin Bank, the Jefferson Insurance
Co., and a bank in New Jersey in some manner were involved, and they also
failed. Malapar had descended upon the public in great force, and for a
time was a noted figure in Wall Street, standing prominently on the steps
of banks and the Exchange, displaying a gold pencilcase wherewith
to note his operations-gold pencils were scarce in those days. For a year
or more his local renown was nearly equal to that of the leading speculators of the day. He, however, gradually disappeared from the public gaze and was quite forgotten until, a few years afterward, it was learned that he had died in the Almshouse. The Almshouse at Bellevue which had been commenced in
1823 was completed in this year, and were it not that it would awaken mournful recollections among families and friends of unfortunates, I could recite a number of instances of meeting, in my official visits to Bellevue and the "Islands," schoolmates, youthful companions, bright intellects and promising men, that were there awaiting that early dissolution ever attendant upon debauched dissipation. . . . |
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