CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK.                               229

modore Vanderbllt finally bought all these exc^t the Erie along about '63
or '64, and consolidated thsm Into the New York Central. The New Haven
road was opened shortly after the Harlem—certainly before 1860."

"As for Croton water. It dates only from 1843. An agitation for pure
water began In 1831, and when tbe vote was taken as to Introducing it^ in
1832. two wards—the poorest and most densely populated, and whero It
was most needed, of course—gave a majority againat it. This was before I
came from Qimlra, hut I remember that George Low built the aqueduct at
High Bridge, and the colehratlOD of'the introduction of the water was lu
1844.

"The first 'flathouse.' or *model house.* as it was called then, was built
lu lS4d. Tho firm of James Reeve ft Co., of which my father was the 'Co./
furnished the lumber for IL Where would we put all the people uow. If we
hadn't the flatsT

"It might Interest you to know thst the flrst New York policeman to
wear a uniform was Swayne Lindsay. Ho was a fine looking man, fully
6 feet 2 iuches tail, and regulated traffic at Broadway and Pulton street,
which in my day was almost as crowded and noisy as now. The police wero
mainly Irish, and considered it servile to wear a uniform. Besides, if neces¬
sary, the star badge could he hidden eaelly, and thus save Ita wearer any
possible inconveoleDce. Lindsay was the first policeman to be pensioned,
too. I believe. He was run over, and, one leg becoming shorter than the
other, a bill pensioning him passed the legislature.

"Speaking of policemen, 1 recall the Dead Rabbit rlot^ t>etween sym¬
pathisers of the old municipal police and the metropolitan, or State, force.
The municipal force had become so corrupt that a law was passed giving
the Governor control of tbe police of the metropolitan district. One of the
local police commissioners, Draper, I believe, was bis name, carried a case
to the Court of Appeals, which doclded that the legislature had not the
constitutional right to take tbo power to appoint policemen away from tho
local authorities.

"The first street In New York to be paved with anytblng but cobble¬
stones was Broadway, which was paved with 10-lnch granite blocks. This
was called the Russ pavement, after Its Inventor. On account of the large
smooth surface of the blocks this proved too slippery, and channels were
afterward cut crosswise in each block.

"It was not until after 1857 that wo had parks that could be called
such. The only two broathing plaeea for us wero the Battery and City
Hall Park. The agitation for parks began in 18C1. and two yeara later the
legislature authorised the city to take the land between Fifty-ninth and
One Hundrod and Sixth streets and Fifth and Eighth avenues for a public
park. The boundary was extended later to One Hundred and Tenth street.
What a wilderness it was then, and how wearily 1 tramped to It one Sun¬
day morning, to see nothing but swampland, stagnant pools and rocky
ravines, with unsightly hovels dotting itf Along o^bout April, 1867, tbe
legislature by act named the proposed breathing place Central Park, and a
board of eleven commissioners was created to lay It out. Plans wero ad¬
vertised for, and out of tbirty-three submitted two only were chosen, those
of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.   1 romember the day work