Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-20
Especial to The Bulletin.)


 New London, Oct. 19.-When John e. Turner. now town clerk of New London, was in the newspaper game 1 in New London, some forty years ago,
 ferred to the shoe for the foot of State street, and was in keeping with a
 standing funny liner of George Chaney
 in the New London Star that told of
 the damp bad day. Speaking of the
 foot of State street of the old days got 1 an old fogy in a talking mood this week, and being old, naturally renin- | scent He was standing on the cor ner opposite the railway station, near l the Hotel Winthrop when he spoke something like this: "When I was a boy, half century or more a&a, this locality was no more like it is today, than Cohanzis is like the city of New York. Just take a peep at that mu- nicipal pier and. the ferry landing for instance. Now by actual count there are thirty-two automobiles right over
 there now, most of them just off the ferry and more waiting to get on: and see the big bunch of sailors, and the interrningling of soldiers and .ci- williams. In the half hour have stood
 here l have counted eight passenger
 and freight trains pass the station. and
 the depot platform has been crowded
 all that time, just as it is now. Just
 see the many boats that are at the
 present time in the slip and alongside
 the municipal pier and the public
 and tell you, my boy, that it is hard
 for an old cuss like me to believe that am really in New London.
 "When ! was a kid there was no
 hustle and hustle down here, on a Sunday like this, or on any other day of the week for that mattAr. o, yes, there used to be a little gathering bunch of church people used ec come down to the depot and hold meetings for the benefit of the few sinners along the water front, but that was all. running, no sailors soldiers in uni form no railroad trains, no big crowd no big nothing. in this now busy sec tion. The whole scene has changed single exception of the location of the railway station. now at the foot of State street, which takes the place of John Turner's shoe. This station cuts from State street, and put the kibosh on that original fan shape approach to the water front. Yes. there have been very radical changes down this way since I graduated from the wharf fraternity.
 "Yes. if you're interested, PII tell you of how the foot of State street has changed from the good old whal- l ing times, you young fellows often hear about but know not of. The present depot occupies the water frontage that was formerly occupied 1, ir part by the three story brick Holt l building, the ferry landing. the open foot of State street and the old rail read station. The ferry landing was | we'll to the north of the present To- | cation and just south of the Holt l building, then . large open space and 1 then the old depot On the water front 1 proper, between the old ferry slip and | the Hamilton and Powers fish market l located about at the approach to the | present municipal pier, was a wharf l sort of bulkhead, and also as bound 1 ary for the enclosure for the storage [ of the Hamilton and Powers fish cars, ! the spiles of the Groten and also the l other boundaries. with an open space l between the ferry Eips, big enough to permit the passage of a fishing smack to reach the market run. parallel to was before the construction of the | bridge and when the railroad | ears were ferried across the Thames.
 "Just a few words about that old city wharf that never had value as a berth for vessels a. there was no ap- oroach from the water front by req son Of the fish cars and the narrow en- rance to the enclosure. But let Us get back to the old wharf. While it was of no use for vessels it was a veri- able copper mine. and l was one of l he main operators, and as much as could I kept the find to myself, all hough Billy Frederick Mike Reardon, md Black Jim Justin, the fastest run 1er and the biggest jumper the city ever produced, barring, perhaps, Allen oenhallow, now a tax assessor of the .ity of New London got their share. The wharf was planked with blanks .aken from the coppered hull of some 'Id whaling ship. The sheet copper lad been torn off, before the blanks were used in the construction of this wharf. but parts of the copper nails in the blanks. Just as soon IS posters for circus appeared. we dds went down on the wharf, armed with nippers and extracted these cop ger nails, sold them to Williams. the insmith in Main street to get money O buy circus tickets. If we were shy he price of the tickets. and did not eel inclined to pick more copper nails we took our magnets and extracted ,iack sand from the gutters and sold hat. What was that used for you lsk. Why in those days, there was no ,lotting paper, and after writing with nk, it was customary to sprinkle black