The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-02-13
ToAULEYs WATER STREET MISSION.

MCAULEY'6 WATER STREET MISSION.
RIVER THrEF AND PRIZE FIGHTER TRANS
FORMED INTO CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY
SKETCH OF THE MAN AND HIS WORK.
Few thoughtful persons can pass through Water
street after sundown when tho lamps are lighted and
the dance houses and other dsrepulable places arc
decked in all the blazonry and shamelessness Of
vice, without being conscious OF two things-namely
that heathendom presents inviting missionary
field than is found here and next that IL thore be
earth any place nearer hell than smother that place is
probably Water street, between Beekman street and
the Williamsburg ferry. II used DO supposed that
the Five Points was tho most God-forsaken spot on
Manhattan Island but trade and commerce and street
improvements long since cleared that region of very
much that formerly vicious and degrading thereln
that II is relatively safe for visitors there
In any other part of the city. City missionaries have
operated there for a quarter Of century, and Of
course not without eIecting somo moral results
But until recently little nothing was dono
for the debased and debasing donizens OF Water
street. The 'Dover street mission" sustained
precarious existence for time, and then a
few years ago It discovered that the ''wickctest
in New York; kept dance house Water street
feeble attempt made TO convert tho man and his
house to God and His service, but 1t is still probemat-
that effort The Rev. W. H. Boolc subsequently took
up the dfrncut task of sustaining mission in that
vicinity, and with such remarkable success that, with
any special appeals to the bouovolont and Christian
public but depending solely upon the ability of Jeho
yah in answer to prayer to give him all needed help,
he has kept this mission going for several years. 1t
was in Water street that Frederick Bell, ex-prze
fighter and now ''snging preacher OF Brooklyn,
made for himself the and reputation that called
him to the ministry OF the Primitive Methodsts OF
Brooklyn. But there was room still In Water street
for the workers. and especially Tor such as understood
the character and tho calling Of the psopo who
to be benefited One Of thor own number,
RIytR THIEF, A PRIZE FIGHTER,
a drunkard, and everything bad but murderer, was
raised up for this. work, and for more than
mission in that morally forlorn OF all for
lorn districts In this great city. Scores, If not
hundreds have thero found redemption in the blood OF
the Crucned ono even tho forgiveness of their sins
have been held there at No 3lo Water street.
overy day in the year since Thanksgiving Day, 1872
It's sign "Helpng Hand for Men," expresses in four
words what has been done and Is being done daily
side 1t has been resort for the forlorn wayfarers
and sailors oil the neghborhood and the guide OF many
a poor soul to tho cross and to salvation
Tho man 'Jerryr McCauley has Just given to the
nation by the power and grace of God from child of
the devil TO servant Of Christ 1t reads like ro-
nance and apty illustrates the old proverb that
truth Is stranger than fiction Born in Ireland and
brought up Catholic at the ago Of thirteen he
to New York and lived for awhile with married sister,
His father countcrfeiter in his native land and
became a voluntary exile before Jerry knew him. But
the "trail of the serpent'' was over the son as
we'll as tho father, and Il did not require
an expert thief He and another youth about his
own age purchased boat and became partners river
thieves boarding vessels and stealing whatever they
could lay their bands upon. Sometimes the spoil So
cured worth the labor and risk taken 10 obtain
it, Oft and again he fired at by captains and
guards OF boats. Once he was saved rom drowning
and frequently from death by other means. Being
large, rough fellow, though youth, his narrow
escapes only served TO make him moro reckless than
ever, and he became
TERROR IN THE FOURTH WARD,
SO that "a job put up for hun by the rumseers
of that ward and he arrested for highway robbery
convicted and sent TO Sing Sing for fifteen years He
was then only nineteen years Of age He served
Governor McCauey besides learning something
about weaving and hat making while in prison, had
also learned to read and write there Ono day his old
associate in sin, but at this time converted man.
"Awfulr Gardner visited Sing Sing Prison and ad-
dressed the prisoners endery and alphabetically
that while the tears rolled down his own cheeks he
spoke the eyes OF McCauley and other prisoners
wsted and when Gardner finished with prayer there
was not dry eye in that striped crowd. One Bible
quotation which he made impressed his old chum an
to lead him 10 take his Bible down and read from
Genesis to Revelation in search OF It. But in this
process he found many other strange sayings In that
Book he forgot that which he started TO tnd, and by
the blessing OF God he became, while In that prison,
converted man and working Christian among his con-
Wet associates Soon after Jerry McCauley's
sion Jack Dare and othor hardened criminals were con-
verted Also and some of them living respecta
BILE and consistent Christian lives In this city and else
| where But, for want OF helping hand whom thoy
released from the clutches of tho law, some OF
them fell away and became sevenfod worse than they
had been, il that possible. McCauley was among
this number but after running his round Of sin for
few years ne again restored and three years ago,
already stated, he opened his mission In water
street TO help such as he had been and scarcely sin
glo meeting has passed since that time when one or
more OF those rough men and lewd women who hang
around the docks and dwell in the dens OF the neigh
borhood and whose character and mode OF life he is
thoroughly familiar with, hav5 not been converted TO
God. Especially since this winter began the interest
seems to have increased and Jcrrys visits to the
eral prayer gatherings In the city has led many a
fashionable lady and wealthy gentleman to visit tho
Helping Hand and what II is doing for the fallen
and the lost Such visits will be we'll repaid And