The times., 1899-11-19
The City of New Amsterdam,

''Nooks and Corners Of Old New York,
by Charles Hemstreet, is a late addition TO
the small library Of books which have late
Iy appeared dealing with the early history
of the metropolis The first thing which
strikes one in the volume is the beauty of
the Illustration and press work. Without
being in any. sense a handsome or elabo-
rate edition, it is undeniably a fine one.
Every detail has received careful attention,
and the result is a delight to the book lover.
The illustrations are by e. c. PeiXottO.
1t begins with description Of the JOpOg-
Taphy and general appearance Of New
Amsterdam under Dutch rule, particular at
tention being paid TO landmarks which are
still standing, so that the book would be
valuable guide TO travellers visiting the city,
One could walk from one end of the city
to the other and find i'm this not very cum
bersome work something about almost every
street corner in the older part of the great
human hive. All the information is con-
densed. a few paragraphs taken at ran
dom will show how minute and how inter-
esting this Information is:
Directly through the block from this point Css
Pearl Street Is Huycrs Alley. a narrow way
between houses running off Water Street. Al
though it is hundred years old the only incl
dent connected with its existence that has crept
into The cltEs history Is a murder. In leZ3,
Boston merchant was waylaid and murdered for
his money and dragged through this street
Tor hHal disposition in the river, hut the muir
derer made much noise in his work that the
constable heard him and came upon the aban
GOned corpse.
The Five Points stin exists where Worth, Bax-
ter, and Park streets ntersect. but II is no long
er the centre of a community of crime that gath
cred international notoriety. 1t was once the
gathering point for criminals and degraded per-
sons OF both sexes and all nationahties. a rookery
tof thieves and murdereTs. Its history began
more than a century and half ago. During the
sO-called Negro inSuTeCtiOn Of 174l. when many
negroes were hanged, the severcst punishment
the burning at the stake Of fourteen negroes in
this locality IN single block OF the
city was there ever such record for crime as in
the old Mulberry Bend block. Set low in
hollow, II was a refuge for the Outcasts Of the
city and OF half a dozen countries. The sum
took It's name, as the park does now, from Null
berry Street, which on one side Of it makes a
deep and sudden bend. In this slum block the
houses were three deep In places with scarcely the
suggestion OF a courtyard between them Narrow
alleys, hardly wide enough to permit the pas
sage of man, led between houses to beer Gel
lars, stables, and tme-blackened tumbIedown
tenements. Obscure ways honeycombcd the
tire block-ways that led beneath houses over low
sheds through fragments Of wall-ways that
known only to the thief and the tramp. There
Bottle Alley Bandits RoOst - and "Rag-
pickers Row. were the scenes of many wild
fights, and many time the ready siletto ended
t,-:.-- - ~ ~ ''N'''' N4'" No94iSH OuI
There IS a rift in the walls between the tall
buildings at Ne 55 Broadway, near Rector Street
a cemented way that is neither alley nor street
II was green lane before New Ans eriam became
New York, and for a hundred years has been call
ed Tin Pot Alley. With the growth Of the city
the little lane came near being crowded out and
the name, not being OF proper dignity would be
forgotten bat for terra Gotta tablet fixed in a
building at It's entrance This was placed there
by hev Morgan Dix, the pastor OF Trinity Church
One reason for the extreme condensation
Of material in this book is that the matter
Is printed in separate paragraphs. with no
attempt at a connected narrative or a COM
plete history Of the city, though one might
make out Of it quite comprehensive
record. This absence of connecting links
makes it possible to be very brief
A curious fact in connection with Barrow
Street-neaT Bleecker-is that 1t was once
one of the few streets which have been
named from books Thomas Paine died in
Greenwich Village, at 293 Bleecker Street;
and when another street was opened close
by 1t was called Reason Street. in compli-
ment TO the author of The Age Of Rea-
son. The name was corrupted to "Raisin."
and IN 1928 the street was given its present
designation
Altogether the book is very fascinating
to anyone who loves the big. overgrown.
picturesque, tragic, careless, delightful city
which, to Americans, still stands for all
that is urban and cosmopolitan. It is the
best book yet issued in this line Of histor-
cal record. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. $4,000