Evening journal., 1914-11-30
New News Of Yesterday
The PathOS of a Shattered
Dream
By Holland

hooul bhitt years DeiOIc the late /
c. c. Clarke retired from the Office |
Of. vice president of the Vanderbilt |
system of railroads, he invited me
10 drive with him one summer after
noon, promising to show me points
OF interest in Tarrytown, N. Y, where
his country home was established,
and particularly those places which
we're Of historic interest We drove
by the monument erected to COM
memorate the capture of Mai Andre
in Revolutionary times, and also the
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the
spots which Washington Irving made
traditional in his romances. At
last, Mr.. Clarke said that he would
take me to a place which for him
had a pathetic interest, although
there is no record of the incident
which caused that interest in any
published work. We drove to a
place near the Philipse manor house,
which is associated with the romance
of Washington's unsuccessful court
ship of the young lady who dwelt in
that house. From that point there
was a fine vista of the Tappan Zee,
which is the name Of that broad
expansion of the Hudson River, lake
like in its appearance, whose eastern
front Is bounded by the shores of
Tarrytown.
81 will tell you the story OF the in
cident which centers in this spot or
near here" Mr.. Clarke said. "There
was no more enthusiastic promoter
of the Erie Railroad project that
man of some capital named Isaac
Brown. ! think it was in great
measure due TO his agitation and
perseverance that the State of New
York granted the charter for the
construction and operation of the
railroad whose western terminal was
to be at the harbor of Dunkirk on
Lake Erie and whose eastern ter
minal was to be at some convenient
point on the Hudson River. One OF
the obligations was that the railroad
should be entirely constructed within
the boundaries of New York State.
at was expected that the building
of the railroad and the placing of its
terminal at Dunkirk would make that
town the great distributing point for
traffic which passed through the
lakes to and from the West.
But had il not been for the obll-
cations of the charter the eastern
terminal Of the Erie Railroad would
have heen from the first at some
point on the New Jersey side directly
opposite New York City.
"Mr Brown was among those who
selected a place. at Piermont, n Y,
ms the eastern terminal of the Erie.
He supervised the construction Of
piers and arranged for barges and
towhoats by means of which traffic
could be brought to or from New
! York City. He expected to see a
great city grow up at this place, and
he used to come to a spot nearby
and look across the river. picturinf
forth in his imagination the growth
of the big town.
ct was early discovered, however
that Il was vital for the success o
the Erie Railroad that it should hay
n terminal opposite New York City
and by some rather skillful strateg
that terminal was secured at tn
point between Jersey City and Hobo
ken. The first terminal of the Fri
was practically abandoned. Their
were a few dwellings and shacks an
that was all The great pier did no
resound to the movement OF truck
more than two or three times
week
"This almost broke Mr.. Brown
heart. He lost all interest in tn
Erie road, and he used TO come {
this point and sit here by the hou
looking sadly across the Tappan Ze'
dreaming of what the city he bad /
mind might have been, and With sa
patience submitting TO the fact this
il was not to be. In that way h
passed his time day after day, an
there was real pathos for those
us who saw the old man thus dream
ing of what might have BEEN
Copyright. 1914. by f. ]. Edward
All rights reserved).
Tomorrow MIR. Edwards will te
OF "An Early Ancestor of the Aut'
mobile"