CHAPTEE   XI.
 

(17d9-1768.)
 

Old State Friiott—Pint Colonial Coi^itsa—Stamp Satiea—First Lutheran

ChuToh-—Tbe Brick Chnroh—liber^ Pole Erected—Disfran-

ohisement of the Frovince—Scotoh Presbyterian Ghnroh.

Many transformations have taken place In buildings which over one
hundred years ago occupied prominent places In old Kew Vork. One worthy
of mention was the old State prison. Thia institution was erected In 1T9€,
on Amos street (now West Tenth street), and, while Its outside walls still
remain, reminiscent of the days of turmoil and trouble In the colony. Im¬
provements have served to give it a modern appearance. The firm of
brewers which until lately occupied this ancient structure changed Its
interior, but the inquisitive visitor may here and thore be reminded of Its
former use. When It was erected the prison yard extended to the river, and
all around it were flelds, east and west, north and south. The locality now
is recognizable to only a few old people, residents of Greenwich Village,
and one of these pointed out to tbe writer tho position of a sandy beach,
where in the old days the effect of the summer heat waa leosened by a plunge
Into the waters of the North Rlvor. No executiona took place In this
prison. In Dutch Colonial days, before Greenwich prison was bui1t» outside
the Battery on the beach was the place selected for rewarding tbe unforgiv¬
able evildoer, and under the English the present City Hall Park. Then
the scene changed to Houston and Wooster streets, and afterward to Wash¬
ington Square, where the criminals of the Amos street prison wore executed
and buried under the gallows, as was the case in each place mentioned. A
writer of these days says: "It is a curious fact that most of our smallor
parks were not reserved as pleasure places, but for public use in tbe Inter¬
ment of paupers.'^ City Hall Park was at one time a Potter^s Hold, and a
negro burial ground adjoined it, the limit of which on tbe north was the
present Stewart Building, at Broadway and Chambers street. Madison
Square was also a resting place for the unnamed dead, as was Washington
Square. In it In 181S and 1S22 yellow fever patients were buried. Wbo
thinks of that now, or that the House of Refuge occupied a site then known
as the Junction or the Bleomlngdale and Boston roads! This spot is now tbe
site of the Worth monument,

A story Is told of an inmate of Greenwich prison who had been
sentenced to die on the gallows, but at the last moment, through the
InQuence of tbe Society of Friends, had his sentence commuted to life
Imprisonment, and was placed in charge of the shoe shop In the prison.