The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-06-20
WHERE HAMILTON FELL
Exact Location of he Fa-
nous Duel with
Aaron Burr.
D0WNEON TIE palisades.
John Reid of Hoboken Finds That the
Residents Never Heard of the
Il Great Historic Tragedy.

John Reid, writing in the Hoboken
gEtentng Neaos, has preserved for the
future historian Il recor | of the exact
spot where the duel between Alexander
Hamilton and Aaron Burr to ok place.
He writes as follows:
In the summer of 1855. Thomas Farley.
an old schoolmate OF niue, VIII, still
lives ia Philadelphia. at No. 205D Catha-
rine street. paid me a visit. He rem lined
with me several weeks. We chstted tails
Hamilton-Burr matter over frequently,
aud would look out of our windows over
toward Weshawksn. wondering all the
time where the exact nj ice could be.
Finally. we resolved that on the next
Sunday we would go over and hunt for IL.
We had au early breakfast aud crossed
over the ferry to Weehawken from Forty
second street, New York. The old ferry
landing on the New Jersey sid WAS
north OF both the new tunnel of the West
Shore Railroad and the present new
ferry houses. From there to The Hoboken
ferries there WAS not on the riverside
any where at that time any sign of i'm
provemenJ innovations. no docks, no
steamships, no railroads-the whole shore
wa in Il state of primitive wilderness.
OAth 41OSL . iltblC Id4E u dtAA % tOb'O
or TWO besides were the ouly signs OF life
or settlement in the vicinity. The fam
GUS s.Elysian Fields,n about Il mile below
The duelling ground, were then in their
glory as Il Sunday resort for New Workers.;
they were III great requisftion. toughs OF
all kinds felt at home there and did about
rs they pleased; those halcyon days pre-.
-eeded he organization of the present
efficient police foice of the City OF Hobo
KEN. The Fields were filed with a heter-
ugepeous and motley crown every fair
Sunday in the sumner time; indeed. car
ryiug those crowds back aud forth COZ
stituted the principal business of the
three ferries. which run from Barclay,
Canal aud Christopher streets. New YORK.
10 the terry slips in Aonoken. which were
then located very near where Hudson
street and the elevated road cross each
other.
KNEW NEITHER HAMILTON NOR BURR.
My friead and myself searched nearly
all uay. up aud down, backward and for
ward, and all across the face of the hill
up to dutterDerg. We climbed up rocks,
over Doulder5, aud loose angular stones.
pulling hanging branches out OF the way.
We came across several snakes, whether
+. poisonous or not we did not know, they
usually hid among the loose stones, get
ting out of our way. We finally becaine-
} very tired aud hungry, sat down upon a
stoue aud talked IL over. We concluded
!, Llat we had searched our share; and that
it would be Impossible for strangers TO
/ fiuu the place sought. unless some kind
of directions were previously obtained.
/: We had calculated that we would fnd
the remains Of the old 81. Andrews So
. clety monument. We could not get our
selves 10 think that all traces of it had
long ago disappeared. ltneyer occurred
10 Us ~ Inquire at the village. We found
Rewards that they didn't care a rap
bur either Hamilton or Burr, most OF
t4enl did uot either know or ere VINO or
Wat they were. They would look up in
blank astontshuient at finaiug m cue so
foolish as to "snooking" around to find a
place where two men mad settled q quar-
rel eifty years before that time. We
probably did not lose much by not in
quirlng in the villaRe.
We started for home tired and dis APP
pointed. AS we meanderad back to ard
the ferry, over the PLANK road across the
mua fiat. from teTra-nrma to the deep
wafer fer ferry boat landing, we met a
well dressed gentleman. who told us
that he lived gu Top of the hill; we re-
luued 10 him how we had searched all day
in the hot sun trying TO locate the histori-
cal dneiling ground; he smiled, and beiug
evidently a cultivated man, he expressed
his sympathy for as at being disnp-
pointed after sucn u perseveriug search.
Being SUNDAY. a.td out for u stroll In the
shadow OF the cliff. he said, she wouldn't
mine showing US the very place, rs he
knew it wsit.p He almost apDiogized
Tor asking us, trad, rs he could see we
were, to come back more than half Il
mile. We thanked him, and asked him
10 kindly lead the way.
DEAs' POINT.
We were soou back To che foot of the
cliff. We turned sharply To our left and
weut south. making a line among the
trees aud the triangle of vegetables IN
dergrowth as straight as circumstances
would permit, 1 remember passing a
welI-kept trucg-garden under the hill, at
a place known as IDEAS Point" and
which is now the switching ground OF
the West Shore Railroad. south OF the
tunnel. We raveled along a consldera-
BILE way south OF this truck garden. There
was not u trace of even aApath. Under
the hill from the talus of the cliffs above
TO the river bank there was a level strip
Of ground of various widths: at no place
Twas 1T mora than 100 feet. IDEAS Polut"
aud the duelinR ground were slightly in
excess OF that width. Some places were
not fifty feet wide.
AT last we emeged upon q place where
the bank and hill swelied out crescent
SNAPPED into the river. 1t was about $50
feet long, aud rs feet wide It was level
and partly wouded. ESPECIALLY by the