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From a photograph. CoUecHon of Pack Bros.

THE DEWEY ARCH.

Temporarily erected at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in honor of Admiral George Dewey at the time of his reception by New York.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

'iA brief ^Account of some

of the most Interesting Events

yphich have Occurred

on the lAvenue

'■^4

^ I

Vrinted for

The Fifth Avenue Bank

of New York

1916

f^i-

Copyright, 1916,

BY

The Fifth Avenue Bank of New York

67

.•• -< -•<

Written, designed and printed under direction of the

Walton Advertising and Printing Company Boston, Mass.

FOREWORD

50 MUCH interest was shown by the clientele of The Fifth Avenue Bank of New York in its recent monograph on the I History of Fifth Avenue, that the Bank, which for over forty years has been peculiarly the bank of Fifth Avenue, whose name it bears, has ventured the publication of another brochure. This narrates some of the most interesting events that have occurred on the Avenue. The Bank hopes that it will prove as interesting as was the first.

The author desires to acknowledge the assistance given in the preparation of this book by Clarence S. Brigham, Librarian American Antiquarian Society; New York Public Library; Harper & Brothers; Mrs. Robert W. de Forest; Philip Baer, Librarian City Clerk's Office, New York City; Michael B. Abrahams, Librarian New York Times; John D. Crimmins; J. Clarence Davies; E. N. Tailer; G. L. Gilham; P. B. Boden; Dr. F. M. Clendenin; John S. Billings.

He is also indebted to the following authorities: New York Tri- bune; New York Times; New York Herald; New York Daily Express; Harper'' s Weekly; "History of New York City," Lossing; "History of New York City," W. L. Stone; Morning Courier and New York Enquirer; "New York and its Institutions"; "Story of the Volunteer Fire Department," Sheldon; King's Handbook of New York; Maga- zine of American History; "Fires and Fire Fighters," John Kenlon; "New York by Sunlight and Gaslight"; the Peterson Magazine.

To those not familiar with The Fifth Avenue Bank a few words here about its history and scope may be interesting. The Bank, which commenced doing business October 13, 1875, opened in the basement of the old Sherwood house at 531 Fifth Avenue, across the street from its present location. Its purpose was to furnish a place of deposit for those who resided or did business in this part of the city; and it was thought at least 50,000 people were in the vicinity of the Bank who needed adequate banking facilities.

The first president was Philip Van Volkenburgh; the first vice- president, John H. Sherwood, a prominent builder who was the pioneer in the erection of high-class residences north of 42d Street, and did much to establish upper Fifth Avenue as an exclusive residential section. The first cashier was A. S. Frissell, long president of the Bank, and now chairman of the Board of Directors, having recently been succeeded as president by Theodore Hetzler. The original Board of Directors was, in addition to the officers, James Buell, John B. Cornell, Jonathan Thorne, Gardner Wetherbee, William H. Lee, Russell Sage, Webster Wagner, Joseph S. Lowrey, Charles S. Smith, and Joseph Thompson. The original rental of the office in the base- ment of the Sherwood house was $2,600, including gas and heating

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FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

the rooms — a ridiculously low rate considering the present range of Fifth Avenue prices.

About 1890 the Bank moved to its present site on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, then the residence of John B. Cornell, which had been built in 1866. It later bought the adjoining residence of Manton Marble, former editor of the World.

An interesting feature in connection with the history of the Bank is that from 1626, when Peter Minuit bought the whole of Manhattan Island from the aborigines for about ^24 in cheap trinkets, there have been but four transfers of the corner on which the Bank stands.

In periods of financial distress The Fifth Avenue Bank has always been able to ofi'er its patrons the support needed to tide them over many a difficult situation. Its growth has been steady, and among its large number of depositors may be found the names of some of the best-known firms in the city and many of the families which have long been prominent either socially or financially in New York City.

No small part of its success has been due to the especial attention it gives to personal and family accounts, of which it has an unusually large number. Among other banking institutions to which many of the young men it has trained have gone to accept ofl[icial positions, it is often spoken of as "the kindergarten of bankers." It offers, in addition to its banking facilities, a thoroughly equipped safe deposit vault with every modern convenience for the individual as well as the corporation. Should you contemplate the establishing of banking relations, it hopes you will give its officers an opportunity to explain some of the advantages it has to offer.

Reproduction of a silk badge (actual size) worn at the lay- ing of the corner stone of the Washington Monument, in what was then Hamilton Square. The Square ex- tended from Fifth Avenue to Third Avenue, 66th to 68th Streets.

The crooked appearance of the monument is due to the silk threads that run across the badge pulling when the emblem was printed. The original is in the collection of John D. Crim- mins.

A'eH- y^'^ -^'^-^ ^^^ ^''^■'

iSVt.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

IFTH AVENUE has had its part in making history. The history has not been the kind that lives in school-books or furnishes chapters to a Bancroft or a Rhodes, but that which is buried in the transient columns of ephemeral publications. It is of wide interest, however, for many of the social, civic, and military events which haVe taken place on the Avenue have a national as well as a local aspect. Most residents of New York, as well as those who live elsewhere, conceive of Fifth Avenue as wholly given up to palatial homes, exclu- sive shops, and great business interests. Few realize that the Avenue has become the national banquet hall where heroes and statesmen have been feted, or the parade ground toward which a nation has turned to witness great demonstrations in celebration of national events of a civic or military or mournful nature. Along it have gone to the music of dirges and the sound of mournful drums the funeral corteges of many of the country's leading statesmen and greatest men, and here, too, have occurred riots and disastrous fires which have startled the city and shocked the nation.

It is the purpose of this book to present some of the most interest- ing events of which the Avenue has been the scene, and to gather together many occurrences that have either been forgotten or linger as dim recollections in the minds of old residents.

Space does not permit an inclusion of all the interesting events, for a large volume could not contain them. Here, however, may be found, the compiler hopes, most of the events worth recording.

RECEPTIONS, BANQUETS, AND WEDDINGS

If all of the nation's guests who have come to New York and been entertained on Fifth Avenue were named and the particulars of their

8 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

stay enumerated, these pages would be insufficient to tell the story. Representative social events of a national rather than a local nature, therefore, have been selected.

One of the earliest and most notable visits was that late in i860 by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and heir to the throne of England. Less than a decade later Charles Dickens, master of Brit- ish humor, was feted at Delmonico's; and here in 1871 was tendered a banquet to Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch of Russia by the New York Yacht Club. Later occurred the visit of Li Hung Chang, the Chinese statesman who was a guest at the Hotel Waldorf, and still later came Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the Kaiser, who was entertained at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The coming to New York, in October, i860, of the future Edward VII of England, son of Queen Victoria, at that time the nineteen- year-old Prince of Wales, was the occasion of great festivities on Fifth Avenue. On Thursday, October 11, the revenue cutter Harriet Lane The Prince brought the Prince and his suite to New York from South Amboy. of Wales' The landing at Castle Garden was made amid the booming of can- Visit to New j^Qj^^ |.j^g blare of bands, and enthusiastic demonstrations of wel- ^^ come from a vast crowd that packed the water front and adjacent streets.

At the Battery Mayor Fernando Wood, attended by a throng of city officials headed by Alderman F. I. A. Boole and the committee of reception, formally welcomed the Prince to New York. With two troops of cavalry attached to the Seventh and Eighth Regiments as an escort, the carriages containing the Prince and his party moved up Broadway. In the procession were the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Brigades of New York Militia, with the Kings County Military. The route of the parade was from Broadway along the east side of Union Square, west on 17th Street to Fifth Avenue, and up Fifth Avenue to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where the royal party was to put up. The sidewalks, roof-tops, and windows along the way were jammed with the greatest crowd that New York's streets had ever seen, a throng estimated at 250,000. On all sides the Eng- lish and American flags blended in a tangled drift of color; brilliantly hued decorations and mottoes — "Welcome, Victoria's Royal Son," "God Save the Queen," "Welcome, Albert Edward," "Welcome, Lord Renfrew," etc.^covered many buildings; and the crash of martial music, the heavy tramp of the marching soldiery, and the cheers of the applauding thousands mingled in one deafening outburst of sound. To the noisy but kindly greeting of the crowds the Prince replied good-naturedly with bows and smiles, and his graceful courtesy, pleasant face, and slender, boyish figure instantly won their warm ap- proval. There was nothing in his manner by which a casual observer could have told him from thousands of other well-dressed young New Yorkers.

In front of the City Hall the Prince and his suite reviewed the parade from a raised platform and then he resumed his place at the head of

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

From an engraving. M : achusetts Historical Society.

H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES AS HE APPEARED WHEN HE VISITED

AMERICA.

the line. As the column swung into Fifth Avenue the fall afternoon was drawing to a close, and the gathering dusk partly obscured the faces of the royal party from the crowds.

At length, about 6.30 p.m., the royal barouche drove around the corner of 23 d Street to the private door of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and the Prince quickly entered. "A fleeting vision of a scarlet coat,

lO

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Gardner Wetherhee* s Remi- niscences of the Prince of Wales ' Visit

and a white plume nodding gracefully, and he was gone. For this thousands had stood six to eight hours."

Many persons had objected to the Prince's stopping at the Fifth Avenue Hotel because it was "so far up town." The proprietors, Messrs. Hitchcock and Darling, had spared no pains to make the Prince's apartments as comfortable and luxurious as possible.

The Prince said good-night to the Mayor and Civic Committee in his room, but although night had fallen the open space between the front of the hotel and the railing of the park across the Avenue was still black with a mass of shouting, cheering humanity. Preceded by the Duke of Newcastle and followed by Dr. Ackerman, Sir Henry Holland, General Bruce, Lord Lyons, Hon. Mr. Eliot, the Earl of St. Germans, and others of his suite, the Prince went out on the balcony of the hotel and bowed his thanks to the plaudits of the crowd, retiring amid wild cheers.

The late Mr. Gardner Wetherbee, who was one of New York's prominent hotel-owners, was at this time a clerk in the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He said that the jolly young Prince was much bored at the fuss and feathers made over his coming and the endless ceremony and red tape which hedged his every act, and related that the future monarch was so relieved upon reaching his apartments after the conclusion of the parade that he gleefully threw all dignity to the winds and played leap-frog in the corridor with his retinue.

At midnight the Prince, who had retired with a bad headache, was called to the window of his room to acknowledge the salutes of the Caledonia Club. Headed by Dodworth's Band, this organization, most of whose members belonged to the Scotch Regiment commanded by Colonel McLeay, marched up Broadway to the Fifth Avenue Hotel and drew up opposite the Prince's apartments. A serenade was given in the Prince's honor, the band playing "God Save the Queen," "Hail, Columbia," and other national airs, and a roar of applause from the crowd before the hotel greeted the tired young visitor's appearance.

The morning of the following day, Friday, October 12, i860, was spent by the Prince and his suite in visiting the buildings of New York University, the Astor Library, Cooper Union, the Free Academy, and Central Park.

From the Free Academy the four carriages containing the Prince and his suite were driven to Central Park, escorted by Police Superin- tendent Kennedy. On the way other carriages joined the line, so that there were some forty in the procession by the time the Park was reached, soon after noon. The royal party entered Central Park at the corner of 59th Street and Eighth Avenue, and found Messrs. C. H. Russell, R. M. Blatchford, T. C. Fields, A. H. Green, H. G. Stebbins, and W. Hutchins of the Central Park Commission waiting to greet them. A short distance southeast of the Terrace ground had been broken for the planting of two trees by the Prince, one an English oak, the other an American elm.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS ii

Here the Prince and his suite left their carriages, and Major-General The Prince Sandford presented Mr. Blatchford to the Prince. After an address plants Trees by Mr. Blatchford, a crowd of workmen about two hundred in num- ^^ Central ber formed a circle about the place to keep back the throng, Mr. "^^« Green brought forward the elm tree, and the Prince shovelled dirt on the roots amid the cheers of the spectators. Then the party re-entered their carriages and were driven along the southern side of the lake, around the Circle and across the Terrace to the carriage step near the Cedars, where the Prince alighted and was escorted by Mr. Green through the Ramble, past the rustic summerhouses, by the iron bridge and the cave, under the arch and over the oak bridge to the driveway on the west of the Ramble, where the others of the party were awaiting them in the carriages. After driving along the western shore of the lake, the Prince and his suite left the Park at 72d Street.

A luncheon at Mayor Wood's residence on Bloomingdale Road was followed by visits to the *Deaf and Dumb Institution at Fort Washington, and the Century House up Kingsbridge Road; after which the party boarded a steamer and were shown the city institu- tions on the islands. The day closed in a finale of splendor with a grand ball to the Prince given at the Academy of Music.

Saturday, October 13, was spent by the visitors in visiting Brady's photographic studios, corner of loth Street and Broadway; Barnum's Museum on Broadway; General Scott at his 12th Street residence; and the Broadway store of Ball, Black & Co. On Saturday night The the New York firemen gave a great torchlight parade in honor of the Torchlight Prince. Five thousand uniformed men, comprising one hundred and Parade four companies, with apparatus and many bands, poured like a river ^ ^^^ ^^"^ of fire past the balcony of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, on which stood p^^ the young Prince with his suite and several city officials.

It was nearly half-past nine before the parade reached the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The appearance of the Prince on the balcony was the signal for a great discharge of fireworks from the advancing column, the crowds packing the sidewalks before the hotel burst into a roar of applause, and the men of Hook and Ladder Company No. 12 threw the brilliant beams of the calcium light, lent them by Pro- fessor R. Ogden Doremus — a novelty at that time — full upon the Prince, outlining his boyish figure in a dazzling glare of white light, while the bands crashed out the British anthem and thousands of flaring torches danced and waved against the inky blackness of the beautiful October night. It was a wonderful scene, and the Prince was openly enthusiastic.

As the first steam fire engine rolled by the balcony a torrent of shells shot skyward from its smokestack and burst into a thousand jewelled points of gold and blue and green and crimson. One steamer went past with its stack belching fire like a volcano, in imitation of a blazing urn. The old "Hay Wagon" rolled by, covered with flags and drawn by Exempt Engine Company, led by Mr. Zophar Mills.

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FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

While passing down the Bowery opposite the Cooper Institute, the fireworks in the box of Columbian Engine No. 14 exploded, the ma- chine caught fire, and before the flames were extinguished much of the beautifully carved panelling on the engine was destroyed.

The next morning, Sunday, October 14, i860, the Prince with some of his retinue attended services in Trinity Church and heard a sermon by Rev. Dr. Vinton. The Prince and his suite sat in the first three pews on the south side of the aisle. Near him sat General Winfield Scott, while Hon. George Bancroft stood in the aisle. He passed the afternoon quietly at the hotel, and dined in the evening with Consuls Archibald and Cartwright.

On Monday morning, October 15, at half-past nine, the Prince said farewell to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and, entering a plain two-horse carriage with Mayor Wood, the Duke of Newcastle, and the Earl of St. Germans, was driven down Fifth Avenue on his way to the harbor, where the cutter Harriet Lane was waiting to take him to West Point and Albany. His visit to New York, brief as it was, had yet done much to cement the bonds of friendship between the two great Eng- lish-speaking nations, and New York bade him Godspeed with genu- ine regret. Grants At the close of the Civil War in 1865, General Grant came to New Reception at York, and the people of the city were enthusiastically agreed that a Fifth Avenue testimonial of their gratitude must be given to the General who had Hotel preserved the Union. At the Fifth Avenue Hotel a number of prom- inent business men of the city met and decided that a public reception and banquet to the great soldier would be a fitting way in which to demonstrate New York's feeling toward him, and $100 was subscribed by each of a hundred and fifty gentlemen to defray expenses.

The reception was held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on November 20, 1865. Unfortunately, it seems to have been poorly managed, and there was much dissatisfaction among those who attended. The guests began to arrive in droves early in the evening, and soon the halls, corridors, and reception rooms of the hotel were jammed with a perspiring, pushing, jostling crowd numbering some twenty- five hundred persons. Having by their own negligence got this throng on their hands, the committee in charge of the reception added to the general confusion by rushing here and there shouting orders which no one could obey.

One of the hotel parlors was used as a reception room for General Grant, and against one side of it was a dais with chairs. The room was undecorated save for a beautiful floral piece furnished by Brower and valued at $500, composed of jasmines, heliotropes, forget-me-nots, camellias, and tuberoses arranged in the design of an American flag with the initials U. S. G. General Grant stood in front of the flowers surrounded by the committee, with Mrs. Grant and other ladies to his right, and on his left Generals Wool, Cook, and Hooker, Messrs. John Van Buren, Ethan Allen, and others.

The names of those with sufficient courage and muscle to break

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

13

through the throng and approach the General were announced to him by a little man who got most of them wrong, and the affair took on an air of farce-comedy. Prayers were offered up for the General by some religious fanatics as they passed him, and the verbal offerings of other persons were grotesquely amusing: —

trom d print. Harper's Weekly.

RECEPTION TO GENERAL GRANT AT THE FIFTH AVENUE

HOTEL.

" ' I'm so glad to see you, General. God bless and preserve you many years!'

'"General, this is my eldest son, William Mason. — Willie, tell General Grant the little prayer you say for him every night.' (Willie attempts to do so, but is moved on suddenly by the active Committee- men.)

"'I had a brother in the Twenty-ninth Connecticut. I wonder if you knew him.'"

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No doubt the worthy General felt immensely relieved when the ordeal was over, and he sat down to a banquet in his honor. Dinner to "The Master of Humor and Pathos," Charles Dickens, was tendered Charles sl banquet at Delmonico's on April i8, 1868, by some two hundred Dickens at members of the American press, just before he left for England. Delmonico s American and British flags adorned the walls of the banquet hall, which bore on one side the British arms flanked by "Old Glory" and the red cross of St. George, and on the other the arms of the United States supported in the same way. Beautiful vases of many- colored flowers and elaborate pieces of confectionery illustrative of English and American literature covered the tables, and even the bill of fare had a literary taste, for on it were "consomme a la Sevigne," "agneau farci a la Walter Scott," "creme d'asperges a la Dumas," "cotelettes a la Fenimore Cooper," "les petites Zimballes a la Dick- ens," and like succulent dishes. Covers were laid for a hundred and eighty-seven guests. Fine music was given by a band in an adjoining room.

The company assembled about five o'clock, but Mr. Dickens had become suddenly indisposed and did not appear until after six. Hon. Horace Greeley, who presided, met the great author at the head of the stairway, which the latter climbed slowly and painfully, limping badly and leaning on a cane, as he was suffering from the gout.

Led into the parlor by Mr. Greeley, Mr. Dickens was helped to a seat between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Henry J. Raymond. Hungry after their hour's wait, the party fell to upon the "literary" bill of fare. Then Mr. Greeley rose and opened the speech-making. He told how, years before, he had chosen a story called "Delicate Inten- tions" from the old London Monthly, by a then unknown author writing under the pen-name of "Boz," to print in the very first weekly newspaper he published, — "Boz" being Dickens' nom de plume and the story now being entitled "Mr. Watkins Tottle."

Mr. Dickens then answered the toast in his honor. Dickens' "Gentlemen," he began, "so much of my voice has lately been Speech heard among you, that I might have been content with troubling you no further from my present standpoint, were it not for the duty with which I henceforth charge myself, not only here but everywhere, and upon every suitable occasion, whensoever and wheresoever, to ex- press my high and grateful sense of my hospitable reception in America, and to bear my honest testimony to the national generosity and magnanimity. Also to declare how astounding and amazing have been the changes that I have seen around me upon every side."

He ascribed his early success to his hard training in newspaper work, and declared that his sons would be witnesses to the fact that he had always been proud of the ladder by which he had climbed to fame.

"But what I have intended and what I have resolved on," he con- tinued, "and this is the confidence I am about to place in you, is on my return to England, in my own English journal, manfully, promptly.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

15

From a rare photograph. Collection of Charles L. Ritzmann.

CHARLES DICKENS AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER.

and plainly in my own person, to bear for the behalf of my country- men such testimony of the gigantic changes in this country as I have hinted at here to-night. Also to record that wherever I have been, in the smallest place equally with the largest, I have been received with unsurpassed politeness, delicacy, sweet-temper, hospitality, and consideration. . . . This testimony, so long as I live, and so long as my descendants have any legal right in my books, I shall cause to be re- published, as an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine in which I have referred to America. And this I will do and cause to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, but because I regard it as an act of plain justice and honor."

These words were greeted with enthusiastic applause, for they went

i6 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

far toward removing the sting left in many of those present by Mr. Dickens' previous written references to this country. He continued: — Dickens on " I was asked in this city, about last Christmas, whether an American Americans y^^^s not at some disadvantage in England as a foreigner. The notion ^^ of an American being regarded in England as a foreigner at all — or wg «^ gygj. being thought of, or spoken of, in that character — was so un- common and egregious and absurd that my gravity for the moment overpowered me. . . . Points of difference there have been — points of difference there are — points of difference possibly there will be between these two great peoples; but broadcast in England prevails the one great sentiment that these two peoples are essentially one — and that it rests with them jointly to uphold the great Anglo-Saxon race. ... If I know anything of my countrymen ... I say the English heart is stirred by the flutter of the Stars and Stripes as it is stirred by no other flag that flies besides its own. ... I believe that from the majority of the honest men on both sides there cannot be absent the conviction that it would be better for this globe to be riven by an earthquake — fired by a comet — over-run by a sea-break — than to present the spectacle of these great nations, each of which has in your way or in ours striven so hard and successfully for freedom, ever again being arrayed one against the other."

As Mr. Dickens sat down amid wild applause, the band struck up "God Save the Queen," and in an instant every man present was on his feet singing lustily. The next speaker was Henry J. Raymond, who brilliantly responded to the toast, "The New York Press." Then came a succession of toasts, which, with their respondents, were as follows: —

"The Weekly Press," George William Curtis; "The Monthly Press," William Henry Hurlburt; "The Boston Press," Charles Eliot Norton; "The New England Press," Joseph R. Hawley; "The Northern Press," George W. Demers; "The Western Press," Murat Halstead; "The Southern Press," Edwin de Leon; "The South- western Press," T. B. Thorpe; and "The Scientific Press," E. L. Youmans.

The festivities continued late into the evening, and before he de- parted each gentleman present shook hands with Mr. Dickens. Banquet to The banquet tendered to New York's distinguished visitor. Grand Grand Duke Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch of Russia, by the New York Yacht Alexis at Club at Delmonico's on December 2, 1871, was a most magnificent Delmonico's affair. Some seventy were present, including the Grand Duke and his suite, Mr. Catacazy, the Russian Minister, General Gorloff, Admiral Poisset, Admiral Rowan, members of the Russian legation and the New York Yacht Club, and Russian naval officers.

Commodore James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the club received the Grand Duke at seven o'clock in Delmonico's parlors, and a half-hour of agreeable conversation ensued. Then the party filed into the banquet hall, led by Commodore Bennett with the Grand Duke on his arm. The company sat down to the strains of "The Poet and

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17

From a print. Harper's Weekly.

PROCESSION IN HONOR OF GRAND DUKE ALEXIS PASSING THE GRAND

STAND.

Peasant" overture, played by Julien's Orchestra; the Grand Duke on Mr. Bennett's right and Minister Catacazy on his left, the club officers at the same table with the ducal party. The walls of the banquet hall were ablaze with brilliant decorations. The blue St. Andrew's Cross of Russia blended with the Stars and Stripes, the American and Russian coats-of-arms hung side by side, and on all sides flags, streamers, and yacht club pennants mingled in a riot of color. The ducal party were in handsome naval uniforms, jewelled decorations flashed on the breasts of the Grand Duke and many of his officers, and the club officials were in full evening dress. In a place of honor on the table, amid a galaxy of trophies won by yachts of the club, stood the "Queen's Cup," won by the America in 1851. Rare flowers were woven upon a framework in a beautiful model of a yacht under full sail, and among the confectioners' triumphs was a representation of the Grand Duke with elaborate Russian and American naval insignia. A beautifully engraved monogram of the Grand Duke topped the menu card, and on its border were naval emblems and yacht club pennants.

Commodore Bennett opened the speech-making with a tribute to the Grand Duke's father, closing with a toast to the Czar. To this toast General Gorloff responded, while Mr. Bennett answered that to the President of the United States. Then the President of the New

i8 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

York Yacht Club announced that the Grand Duke had been admitted to honorary membership, and to the ensuing toast the Grand Duke responded: —

"I am sure, gentlemen, that it would be but ingratitude on my part to refrain from immediately thanking you for the honor you have conferred upon me. I am well aware what a magnificent yacht club yours is. I know that it is the finest in the world, and am fully conscious it could not be surpassed even with great efforts on the part of other countries. I am a man of the sea myself, and can appreciate the enthusiasm with which you enter into all that regards yachting. Once more I sincerely thank you."

In conclusion the Grand Duke spoke of his gratitude for the hospi- tality and courtesy shown him by Americans of all classes, and de- clared that he would never forget their kindness.

Minister Catacazy personally responded to a toast in his honor, and Admiral Rowan proposed "The Army and Navy of Russia," which was answered by Admiral Poisset. Other toasts followed, and not until midnight did the company break up. Banquet to Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Kaiser Wilhelm, and admiral Prince of the German Navy, came to New York on February 23, 1902, as a Henry of special envoy from the German Emperor to the President and people Prussia of the United States. at Waldorf- Q^ the evening of February 26 the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung gave Astoria ^ grand banquet in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria, which was attended by more than twelve hundred editors and publishers, states- men, financiers, and other public men. The great ball room of the hotel looked like a gorgeous garden with luxuriant bowers of roses, palms, smilax, lilies, and ferns; hundreds of electric lights cast soft beams of rosy radiance through shades of pink silk; and back of the dais upon which stood the Prince's table were crossed two great American and German flags, covering half the side of the wall, with the eagle of Prussia standing out in electric light bulbs of red, white, blue, and yellow from bowers of smilax and lilies. Nine tables ran the length of the room and were nearly smothered in red roses, and on each plate lay a handsome white rose.

When Prince Henry arrived he was escorted through a lane be- tween hundreds of cheering guests by Herman Ridder and Edward Uhl to his seat on the dais, while the orchestra played "America." The Prussian eagle on the wall flashed into a myriad of jewelled points of blazing electric light as the Hohenzollern sat down at the right of Mr. Ridder, the toastmaster. Whitelaw Reid sat beside the Prince, and on the toastmaster's left was Ambassador von Holleben. Among others at the Prince's table were Bishop Potter, Assistant Secretary Hill, Mayor Seth Low, Rear Admiral Evans, General von Plessen, Admiral von Seckendorff, Adjutant-General Corbin, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Woodruff, Consul-General Buenz, Senators Lodge and Depew, Admiral von TIrpItz, Edward Uhl, and Admiral Count von Baudissin.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 19

The banqueters moved about the hall between the courses, greeting acquaintances, while the orchestra rendered popular airs. "Die Wacht am Rhein" was cheered loudly. Mr. Ridder opened the speech-making with toasts to President Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Editor Reid of the Tribune. Mr. Reid spoke and was followed by Mr, Ridder, who at the conclusion of his remarks toasted Prince Henry and presented him to the banqueters. As the Prince rose to speak the hall rang with deafening applause and the orchestra burst into "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow!'-' The Prince read his speech slowly. He said: —

"Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: I am fully aware of the fact Prince that I am the guest and in the presence of the representatives of the Henry of press of the United States, and in particular the guest of the New Prussia's Yorker Staats-Zeitung, both of which I wish to thank for the kind ^^^^^« invitation and reception I have met with to-night. . . . Undoubtedly m^ / j / the press of our day is a factor, if not a power, which may not be jj^Q^iJ neglected, and which I should like to compare with ever so many submarine mines, which blow up in many cases in the most unexpected manner; but your own naval history teaches us not to mind mines, should they ever be in our way. The language used on the memo- rable occasion was stronger than ever I would venture to use to-night. I need only mention the name of Farragut. Another comparison might be more to your taste, gentlemen, and is, in fact, more com- plimentary; it is one which His Majesty the Emperor used before I left. He said: *You will meet many members of the press, and I wish you therefore to keep in mind that the press men in the United States rank almost with my generals in command.'

"It will interest you, I know, to learn something about the nature of my mission to this country. The facts are as follows: His Majesty, the Emperor, has minutely studied the recent and rapid development of the United States, and His Majesty is well aware of the fact that yours is a fast-moving nation. His sending me to this country may, The therefore, be looked upon as an act of friendship and courtesy, with Kaiser's the one desire of promoting most friendly relations between Germany Message to and the United States. Should you be willing to grasp a proifered -^'"^^^tca hand, you will find such a one on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean."

When Prince Henry sat down, Melville E. Stone read a cable de- spatch to the Kaiser giving him cordial greetings from the newspapers of the United States, and amid loud applause it was moved to send it. Then Ex-Postmaster-General Charles E. Smith described how much the United States owed Germany for her inspiration in music, poetry, art, and thought. The last speaker was Editor Charles W. Knapp of the St. Louis Republic. He declared that the Kaiser ranked high as a preserver of international peace and friendship, notwith- standing his rapid building up of the German navy. At quarter of twelve Prince Henry and his retinue left the banquet hall, bowing repeatedly to prolonged cheering.

20

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Dinner to

President

Hayes at

Delmonico's

Presidents Eliot and Porter exchange ''Compli- ments^''

A notable dinner at Delmonico's was the annual banquet of the New England Society on December 22, 1877, at which President Hayes was the guest of honor. The decorations were most artistic. Among those present were President Hayes; Secretary of State William M. Evarts; Presidents Porter of Yale and Eliot of Harvard; W. W. Story, the artist; Rev. James Freeman Clarke of Boston; General Horace Porter; Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; ex-Governor Morgan; Robert L. Stuart, President of the American Museum of Natural History; Governor Horace Fairbanks of Vermont; Marshall Jewell; Edward L. Pierce; and Dr. Henry W. Bellows.

Secretary of State Evarts was the first speaker. He answered the toast, "The Day We Celebrate," speaking at first with a droll humor, which roused the company to merriment, and then concluding in a more serious vein, praising New England and emphasizing as the three most important questions confronting the nation — the public peace, the public faith, and the public service. President Hayes spoke very briefly, merely thanking his hosts for the reception tendered him and saying that he would not touch upon national questions, as it was contrary to the rule upon such occasions.

Rev. James Freeman Clarke made a long address, lauding Boston and emphasizing the fact that the ancestors of those present had not been influenced even by hard times to settle their debts at the rate of ninety cents on the dollar. Toasts to Yale and Harvard were answered by Presidents Porter and Eliot. Both good-naturedly "knocked" the other's institution and showed the contrast between them, but agreed that passing years were making the two universities more and more alike. President Eliot declared that if the national university suggested by President Hayes was to be controlled by a Congress "which knew little Latin and less Greek, and was not yet convinced of the unchangeableness of the laws of arithmetic," he was strongly opposed to it.

President Porter cleverly " got back" at Dr. Eliot for his " knocks " at Yale, saying that in the old days "when they found a man in Boston a little too bad to live with, they sent him to Rhode Island, and when they found him a little too good to live with, they sent him to Connecti- cut, where, among other things, he founded Yale College; while people of average respectability and goodness were allowed to remain in Massachusetts Bay, where, looking into each other's faces constantly, they contracted the habit of always praising each other with special emphasis — a habit which they have not altogether outgrown."

"The Church" was responded to by Mr. W. W. Story. He made no reference to the church, but declared that Salem, not Boston, should have the most honor among the Massachusetts cities, for she had produced a Hawthorne, a Story, and a Rogers to grace the fields of literature, jurisprudence, and sculpture. He also spoke of America's rapid advance in the arts, begun in recent years. America's progress in science was described by Professor O. C. Marsh, and then, for a

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 21^

change, General Horace Porter with his delightful humor convulsed the company with side-splitting mirth.

The reception to General Grant at the Union League Club on Gra^it October 23, 1880, was one of the most brilliant social affairs in the Reception club's history. The club-house was filled to overflowing, and many ^^ Union famous men were present, among them Messrs. Joseph H. Choate, League Club William Dowd, Peter Cooper, Chauncey M. Depew, General Chester

A. Arthur, General Adam Badeau, General Horace Porter, Colonel Fred Grant, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Rev. Dr. Newman.

The reception took place in the theatre of the club-house. General Grant entered with Mr. Choate, followed by Generals Badeau and Arthur, and Colonel Grant, through a door covered with flags. The party passed quickly through the crowd to the anteroom, where President Fish, General Grant's former Secretary of State, was wait- ing. The two shook hands warmly, and President Fish said, "General, allow me to welcome you to the club." At once there was a general handshaking and buzz of congratulations and greetings. There was no formal address of welcome; everything was delightfully informal.

A feature of the evening was the entrance of the aged Thurlow Weed, famous Abolitionist and Republican statesman. Two club members supported the tall, bowed figure of the octogenarian, and his appearance was the signal for a deafening ovation, which did not die away until he had been introduced to General Grant. Another Grand Old Man present who received a hearty reception was Samuel

B. Ruggles. Following the reception, supper was served.

The Saturday Night Club gave a dinner to General Grant and Grant- Roscoe Conkling, May 5, 1883, at the Hotel Brunswick, which is Conkling peculiarly interesting to Americans to-day because of the remarks Dinner at concerning Mexico made by the Ex-President and Mr. Conkling. the Hotel

Besides General Grant and Mr. Conkling, the guests were Senator Brunswick J. N. Camden, Charles A. Sumner, Professor Doremus, Henry Have- meyer, Carl Formes, Charles F. March, James S. T. Stranahan, H. F. Dimock, Howard Carroll, Judge Edgar M. Cullen, and Douglas Taylor. Mr. Clark Bell presided. Mr. Formes sang two baritone solos after the repast was finished, one of them being in Grant's honor and entitled "The Warrior's Song," and then Mr. Bell offered a toast to the distinguished guest. General Grant said in part: —

"I have been conversing to-night on the cultivation of friendly relations with our neighbors. I have thought of our treatment of a neighbor capable of an amazing power of development and possessed of great resources — Mexico. I trust that this nation will take this neighbor under its wing and cultivate the closest relations with it, and make its people believe that we are its best friends. It is our interest to do so; for, taking this continent as far south as our neighbor's lines extend, we have every element of prosperity above the soil or dug out of it. If we are friends, we shall be so strong that if in future a war should arise we could shut ourselves in our

From a photograph. Courtesy of McClure's Magazine.

GENERAL GRANT AS HE APPEARED AT THE CLOSE OF THE

CIVU. WAR.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

23

shell and be self-sustaining long enough for the people outside to learn to do without us and we without them."

Mr. Conkling spoke next. He declared that it was right and proper that close intimacy should exist between the United States and Mexico, and that the commercial, political, and social interests of the two countries ought to be made one. He suggested that General Grant might become the leader of a great movement to aid Mexico in developing its resources and in forming a commercial union with the United States, and said that it would be a greater honor than any that the General had yet gained if he should be the means of bringing about a Mexican-American alliance. Among the other speakers were Courtlandt Palmer, Professor Doremus, and Messrs. Carroll and Stranahan.

A most brilliant social affair was the reception to President Arthur given by the Union League Club on January 23, 1884. Nearly two thousand guests were present, two orchestras furnished by Bernstein rendered splendid music, and the luxurious club-house looked like a wonderful garden with its banks of ferns, tropical plants, lilies, tulips, roses, primroses, and azaleas, while banners, streamers, and national and state flags were draped and festooned upon the walls.

President Arthur arrived soon after nine o'clock. With him were Secretaries Teller and Folger of his cabinet and others. The orchestra struck up "Hail to the Chief" as the presidential party entered the building. Mr. Arthur shook hands with the reception committee, and then was escorted upstairs to the ball-room by President William M. Evarts of the club. The President stood with Messrs. Jesse Selig- man and Salem H. Wales on his right, and Mr. and Mrs. Evarts, Secretaries Teller and Folger, and Attorney-General and Mrs. Brewster on his left, and for an hour shook hands with the stream of people that filed past him, his never-failing courtesy, affability, and dignity making a most favorable impression.

It was a remarkable gathering of distinguished men from business, professional, political, judicial, religious, military, and social life, including, among a host of others. Dr. Lyman Abbott, Mayor Edson, General and Mrs. George B. McClellan, Whitelaw Reid, Henry Ward Beecher, Parke Godwin, Mr. and Mrs. John Bigelow, Cyrus W. Field, Lionel Sackville West, the British Minister, Elihu Root, and Reginald H. Newton. The crowd was so great that it was almost impossible to move in some parts of the building, and outside on Fifth Avenue a solid line of carriages stretched for five blocks.

Supper was served at midnight, and not until then was there much chance to dance. One of the features of the reception was the unique confectionery pieces. On a great table in the main dining room were twelve baskets of rare flowers, two seals of the United States, and four fortresses garrisoned by soldiers, made of confectionery. A tall monument supported statuettes of the President and his cabinet, and in gleaming white sugar stood a beautiful model of the Capitol. An interesting work of art was a twenty-four-foot model of the Brooklyn

Reception to

President

Arthur at

Union

League

Club

Dis- tinguished Men present

24 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Bridge, with the President and troops crossing as on the opening day. The ices, game, and other dishes were also arranged in artistic designs. Many people found their chief enjoyment in the art gallery, which was filled with choice paintings loaned for the occasion. The gorgeous dresses of the women, gleaming white stat- uary, beautiful masses of flowers, shining bronze and marble, rich paintings, bright uniforms, carved woods, and mosaic panels, all combined to make a dazzling spectacle impossible to forget.

The banquet to Lieutenant A. W. Greely, explorer of the Arctic, tendered by the Lotos Club on January i6, 1886, drew together a hundred and fifty gentlemen. Dinner to Vice-President General Horace Porter presided. President Whitelaw Lieutenant Reid being unavoidably absent. Besides Lieutenant Greely, Chief Greely Engineer Melville and Commander Schley, who headed the expedition to relieve Greely, were guests of the club, and among the merry party were Colonel C. McK. Leoser; Robert Kirby; Dr. Pardee; Chief Justice C. P. Daly; Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore; Frank Robinson; Colo- nel Thomas W. Knot; James Bates; C. H. Webb; George Masset; James Heston; Henry Gilsey, the philanthropist; Herman Oelrichs; Douglas Taylor; Chandos Fulton; E. H. Scott; and J. O'Sullivan.

At seven o'clock the dinner began, amid a buzz of talk and laughter and hearty praise for the bravery and unflinching perseverance of Greely and his men. Finally the cigars were passed around and General Porter presented the guest of honor. Lieutenant Greely rose amid wild cheering. At the heartiness of the reception his serious face broke into smiles, and he stood kindly smiling through his spec- tacles until the applause died away. Then simply and frankly, with at times a pathos that moved his hearers, he told the story of his expedition to the Far North and explained the reasons for every Greely action. He declared that he regarded Arctic exploration as a success tells his when eleven nations combined to offer the lives of their men for the Story cause of science. Only $25,000 was available for the expenses of the expedition; not enough, he said, but with true American willingness to make the best of unfavorable conditions they set out to make their work a success. He spoke of England's mighty navy, and, while the rapt audience applauded, declared that the American navy probably equalled that of England in men and officers if not in number of ships. He described the sufferings of his men with touching ten- derness, lauded their noble spirit under adversity, and graphically told the harrowing story of the dreary months passed at Cape Sabine. In conclusion he declared, while the company rose and wildly cheered him, that in the African forests, the Lena Delta, and at Cape Sabine Americans had proved themselves the peers of any nation on the globe.

When he sat down Frank Robinson led the enthusiastic company in "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," while Patrick Gilmore merrily beat an accompaniment with spoon and plate. Then came Justice Daly with an interesting speech, followed by Commander Schley and other speakers. Later two master fun-makers were added to the

From a photograph.

Collection of Charles L. Ritzmatin.

HENRY M. STANLEY.

26

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Banquet to

Henry M.

Stanley

Remi- niscences of Stanley

party In the persons of Messrs. Thorne and BlUington, "Poo-bah'* and "Ko-Ko" of the Fifth Avenue "Mikado" company. At a late hour the guests departed, having had a jovial as well as an instructive evening.

Henry M. Stanley, the famous African explorer, was tendered a reception November 27, 1886, at the Lotus Club on Fifth Avenue. Whitelaw Reid presided. It was a night of rejoicing and good-fellow- ship, for it was on that day that Stanley had returned to New York, after over a dozen years' absence, fresh from completing Livingstone's explorations in Central Africa.

The explorer sat at Mr. Reid's right hand, with Chauncey M. Depew upon his right. At the left of Mr. Reid were Horace Porter, Lieutenant Greely, and Algernon S. Sullivan. Some of the others present were General E. F. Winslow, Henry Gillig, Colonel Thomas W. Knox, Excise Commissioner W. S. Andrews, James M. Francis, Justice Gedney, Abraham Kling, Lieutenant Hickey, George Fawcett Rowe, Colonel Richard Lathers, Bruce Crane, Major Pond, General Alfred Townsend, and Daniel E. Bandmann.

President Reid introduced Stanley in a warmly congratulatory speech, and when the explorer rose to thank the club for the honor shown him he was most heartily applauded. For over half an hour he held the rapt attention of the company with an account of the work being done by King Leopold's government in the Congo, and told of the vast expanse of African territory waiting to be opened to civilization and to the world's trade. He spoke in a fluent, easy, and most graphic manner, and the club members and guests who packed the rooms and corridors listened enthralled by his glowing descriptions of the mysterious Dark Continent. He sat down amid an enthu- siastic outburst of applause, and Lieutenant Greely, the explorer of the frozen North, rising, declared that Stanley's achievements con- stituted an epoch in African history, that his devotion would be the means of lifting the Dark Continent into the light of civilization and Christianity, and that future generations would more fully realize the greatness of his work than the present age could do. Greely suggested that Stanley should be honored in the Roman way with the name of "Stanley Africanus," and the proposal was heartily acclaimed.

Chauncey M. Depew then said: —

"There have been great explorers, but Stanley is the first to mingle frontier romance with history and solid achievements. I welcome Stanley. He has shown what a reporter can do. We all know how they are the last to leave battlefields and scenes of pestilence, and the first to give us the news. Stanley's career typifies the great principle in this country that creates greatness out of nothing."

Horace Porter was the next speaker, others followed, and until late into the night the party paid warm tribute to the foremost of African explorers.

One of the most brilliant banquets ever held at Delmonico's was

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

27

that given on December 20, 1889, by the Spanish-American Commer- Pan- cial Union to the visiting delegates to the Pan-American Congress. American Mayor Hugh J. Grant, Andrew Carnegie, Elihu Root, Horace White, Banquet at and Chauncey M. Depew, were some of the prominent Americans Delmomco s present, a Hungarian orchestra rendered fine music, rich wines flowed in abundance, and the hall was most beautifully decorated. South American relations and international arbitration as a preven-

From a print. Harper's Weekly.

RECEPTION TO PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS AT THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB.

tion of war were touched upon in a brilliant address by William M. Ivins.

Portraits of George Washington and Bolivar, the hero-patriot of South America, hung upon the walls, from the gallery hung the flag of the President of the United States, and around the hall were dis- played in a bewildering galaxy of vivid colors the picturesque banners of the Spanish-American nations, interspersed with the Stars and

28 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Stripes. From the ceiling hung a six-foot globe bearing on a field of evergreen the American continents outlined in a design of flowers, and silk streamers stretched from it away to all corners of the hall, which were filled with palms, ferns, and plants. The menu was a beautiful work of art, with a cover of tinted silk, exquisite de- signs in water colors, and the coats-of-arms of the American re- publics.

Mr. William H. T. Hughes was chairman, his perfect mastery of both English and Spanish making the selection ideal. Senor F. C. C. Zegarra of Peru sat at his right and Mayor Grant at his left. Rev. Dr. Charles H. Hall said grace. A charming incident occurred at the conclusion of the meal. Bearing armfuls of flowers, the dark-eyed womenfolk of the delegates poured on to the orchestra platform and merrily cast showers of beautiful blossoms down on the heads of the banqueters. A lively scene ensued. Cheer after cheer rang out from the delighted men, who caught up handfuls of roses from the tables and tossed them up to the gallery, while laughter and applause echoed through the hall.

The address of welcome was delivered by Mr. Hughes, who spoke first in English and then in Spanish. Senor Zegarra answered. Mr. Hughes, in toasting Mayor Grant, presented him with a gold badge as a token of the visitors' gratification at his courtesy, and the Mayor, in replying, dwelt on the cosmopolitanism of New York and other large cities. The toast, "Our Next Neighbor," was responded to by Senor Matias Romero of Mexico. Other toasts and their respond- ents were: —

''International American Commerce," William M. Ivins; "Inter- national Justice," Elihu Root; "Our Homes," Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton; "American — All Republican," John B. Henderson. Chauncey M. Depew spoke from the gallery, and Judge Jose Alfonso of Chili made an address. Pan-Americanism was the keynote of the speeches. Mr. Henderson urged the establishment of an international court to settle disputes between nations, declaring it was the surest means of securing universal peace, and Mr. Ivins said: — William M. "We must forget that such a thing as war is possible. Let us Ivins on recognize that modern society exists on industrial bases, on the com- Pan- mon brotherhood, and not the common enmity, of man. As we have American shown the world a successful democracy, let us teach it by our own Relations example that, as between American states, war for the future is abol- ished. Let us, as the active initiators, organize our half of the world, so far as international relations are concerned, in such a way that all international disputes shall be submitted to arbitration, just as in each of our countries disputes between individuals are submitted to the courts."

Three days before, the delegates had been tendered a reception at the Union League Club which was attended by many distinguished statesmen, representatives of the army and navy, clergymen, profes- sional and business men. Among those present were Elihu Root,

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

29

Chauncey M. Depew, General William T. Sherman, Theodore Roose- velt, Andrew Carnegie, William M. Evarts, James G. Blaine, Joseph H. Choate, Benjamin F. Tracy, Hugh J. Grant, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Horace Porter. The reception was held in the theatre-hall of the Club House, which was magnificently decorated. Dancing followed, and supper was served at eleven o'clock. The whole aifair was carried out on a most brilliant scale and was greatly enjoyed by all present.

General William Tecumseh Sherman was tendered a memorable reception at the Union League Club on April 17, 1890. The old soldier was seventy years old on the 8th of February preceding, and the club had wished to give him a birthday party then, but his other engagements prevented.

The club-house was beautifully decorated. American flags be- decked the entrance lobby and main stairway; everywhere were stream- ers, banners, and festoons of bunting; before the library windows were banks of flowers, and ferns and geraniums covered the mantel. Red, white, and blue flowers were banked before the stage, which was draped with the Stars and Stripes. A portrait of General Sherman in uniform, painted by Daniel Huntington in 1875, occupied a place of honor, draped with flags and a victor's wreath. A body of regulars of the Fifth United States Artillery lined the stairway leading from the lobby to the reception hall, every man in parade uniform and with fixed bayonet.

General Sherman arrived promptly at half-past eight. Messrs. James Otis and J. Seaver Page and General S. Van Vliet met him in the lobby and after a cordial greeting escorted him up the stairway, while the regulars came to present arms with a rattle and clash that made the old hero start. He was conducted to a place beneath his own picture and there, surrounded by President Chauncey M. Depew of the clut. Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble, and General Van Vliet, greeted for over two hours an almost interminable line of admirers and friends. About seven hundred invitations had been issued. A noteworthy assemblage it was, the army, navy, clergy, bench, business, professional, and political life all being represented. Among the guests were Vice-President Levi P. Morton, Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble, Senators William M. Evarts and Nelson W. Aldrich, Generals John M. Schofield, A. W. Greely, O. O. Howard, J. C. Breckenridge, Horace Porter, Forsyth, Grosvenor, and Nelson A. Miles, and foreign diplomats from Russia, Chili, Brazil, and Peru.

The reception over, the weary old General sat down to supper at a table with President Depew, Secretary Noble, Senator Evarts, and Generals Porter, Van Vliet, Grosvenor, and Forsyth. Speech-making on such occasions was contrary to the custom of the Union League, but such a storm of approval burst when Rev. John R. Paxton rose and begged that the gathering might hear the old hero, that President Depew bowed to the demand.

Union League Club Reception to General Sherman

Prominent Guests

30

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Mr. Depew in his introductory remarks lauded General Sherman's career and declared that the club was delighted to do him honor. Speaking of the March to the Sea, he said: "It was a feat which captured the imagination of the country and of the world, because it was both the poetry of war and the supreme fact of the triumph over the Rebellion. Sixty-five and Ninety — the years have passed by with many questions coming up which have divided the men who stood together at that period and who are to-day politically in hostile camps. But the guest of '65 finds the same greeting, no matter what camps the men are in to-day, that he did then."

A deafening roar of cheers greeted General Sherman. Clad in full uniform and wearing his sword, the old commander was a most imposing and martial figure. His, speech was partly humorous, partly serious, and was punctuated with laughter and applause. Gen. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart," he began, "for this Sherman's response to Mr. Depew's handsome tribute to me. Every man loves Speech his neighbor nearly as well as himself. Dr. Paxton well knows that it won't do to be too good in this world, for the millennium would come when we were not prepared for it. . . . The first way to reform the community is to reform yourselves. But you have to take the world as it is. It is a good world. It is the best we have now. I don't see any who are anxious to depart from it. Of those who are gone, we sing their praises aloud. They don't hear them. I am will- ing to have a little during my life. . . . Let us all continue doing our own work in our own spheres, trusting to the common Master, who will reconcile all troubles and guide us on to the future, which I am sure will be better than the past. Let us labor to make the people of the United States not only the most prosperous, but the most contented people on the face of the globe."

When the old General finished, Mr. Depew jumped to his feet. "Gentlemen," he called, "may we give him a reception on his cen- tennial!" And enthusiastic cheers echoed through the rooms.

St. Thomas's Church was the scene of a notable Easter wedding on April 6, 1896, when Ex-President Benjamin Harrison was wedded to Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmick. A wedding as private and simple as possible was desired, so the hour of the ceremony was not disclosed to the public; but in some way the news leaked out, and when Mr. Harrison reached the church soon after five o'clock a crowd was assem- bled on Fifth Avenue outside the church, requiring a hundred police- men to keep the curious ones at a respectable distance. Harrison- Only thirty-six persons, including two newspaper men, were ad- Dimmick mitted to the ceremony. Admission was by cards written and signed Wedding by Mr. Harrison's secretary, Mr. E. F. Tibbott, which said merely,

"Admit to St. Thomas' Church, Monday afternoon,

April 6." Mrs. Dimmick was a niece of Mr. Harrison's first wife. Mr. Tibbott and General Daniel M. Ramsdell were the ushers and received the guests as they arrived.

The floral decorations were centred about the altar, and, while

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

31

simple and unpretentious, were arranged most artistically and effect- ively. The color scheme was green and white, Easter lilies, tropical plants, wild smilax, palms, and Genista trees, making a beautiful ensemble. Above the altar was a Latin cross of lilies.

The organist. Professor George W. Warren, rendered some prelimi- nary music, and at half-past five the doors were opened at the middle aisle and the ushers appeared side by side. Rev. Dr. J. Wesley Brown, the rector, came from the vestry garbed in a white cassock, entered

From a print. Harper's Weekly.

MARRIAGE OF PRESIDENT HARRISON TO MRS.

DIMMICK AT ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH.

the sanctuary, and knelt in prayer for a moment. The strains of "Lohengrin" pealed forth from the organ, and Mr. Harrison with Ex-Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, his best man, appeared in the vestry door at the left of the altar.

For a moment there was a slightly awkward pause while the guests craned their necks at the rear door, looking for the bride. Then she

32 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

appeared behind the ushers, escorted by Lieutenant Parker, U. S. N., her brother-in-law. Instead of a bouquet she carried a prayer-book of white silk with a gold cross embossed on its cover. Mr. Harrison descended the chancel steps to meet her, and together they went up the stairs and knelt at the centre of the altar, General Tracy and Lieutenant Parker following.

Dr. Brown read the service to the soft music of the intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" and pronounced the couple man and wife. Lieutenant Parker giving away the bride. Mrs. Dimmick spoke in clear and musical tones, but Mr. Harrison's voice could hardly be heard. At the conclusion of the ceremony Dr. Brown shook hands with bride and groom and congratulated them heartily, and then the couple walked down the centre aisle while the organist played the wedding march from "Tannhauser." Entering a waiting carriage, they were driven to the home of Mr. Gifford Pinchot at No. 2 Gramercy Park, where a reception was held. At its conclusion the bridal couple left for Indianapolis. Li Hung Li Hung Chang, the famous Chinese statesman, subtlest of diplo- Chang's mats and shrewdest of ministers, and one of the greatest men whom Visit the Orient has produced, came on August 28, 1896, to New York as special ambassador from the Chinese Emperor. He stopped at the Waldorf Hotel on Fifth Avenue.

General Thomas H. Ruger was sent by President Cleveland to welcome the great Chinaman to America. The latter received the welcoming delegation in his cabin on board the steamship St. Louis in New York Bay. His appearance was most striking. Over six feet tall, with a slight stoop, he wore the bright yellow jacket denoting his high rank, a viceroy's cap with a four-eyed peacock feather at- tached to it by amber fastenings, and a beautifully colored skirt of rich material. His finger nails were polished till they shone, a huge diamond flashed on his right hand, and he peered out benignantly over the tops of a pair of gold-bowed spectacles. Dignified in bearing, Li's he looked every inch the statesman and scholar. His gracious manner Appearance won him friends during his stay in New York, and his indefatigable propensity for asking questions — some of them rather embarrassing to those questioned, as when he politely inquired the ages of the ladies whom he met and the salaries of the officials who entertained him — aroused much merriment. He spoke in a very low voice, and while at times appearing to notice little, no doubt with true Oriental inscrutability took in everything worth noticing.

The city gave him an enthusiastic reception. Cheering crowds lined Fifth Avenue as the aged Prime Minister with his numerous suite was driven to the Waldorf Hotel, escorted by United States cav- alry as a guard of honor.

The Waldorf was handsomely decorated, and over it fluttered from a lofty pole the golden imperial banner of the ancient empire, with its great blue dragon snapping at a crimson ball. While at the hotel three Chinese cooks in Li's retinue prepared their lord's meals. His imme-

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Prom a photograph. Collection of Charles L. Ritzmann.

LI HUNG CHANG AS HE APPEARED WHEN HE VISITED NEW YORK.

diate suite comprised eighteen Chinese of rank, and there was a staff of twenty-two servants, including a barber, five valets, and three cooks. Many of the visitors were tall, burly men, splendid speci- mens of their race, and very little escaped their keen, restless black eyes.

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Reception

to Li at

Ex-Secretary

of the Navy Whitney's

Li's Speech

The following day, August 29, Li was received by President Cleveland at the home of Hon. W. C. Whitney, Ex-Secretary of the Navy, Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. The reception took place in Mr. Whitney's ballroom and lasted less than half an hour. The President stood beneath a cluster of Chinese flags, with a gilded American eagle in the centre, and with him were the Secretaries of State, War, and the Treasury, the Attorney-General, and other officials. Mr. Richard Olney, Secretary of State, presented the great mandarin to President Cleveland, and Li delivered to him his credentials from the Emperor of China. A brief exchange of addresses followed, and the meeting ended.

In the evening a banquet was given in Li's honor at the Waldorf, by former American diplomats in China and others who had lived there. The great dragon banner and the Stars and Stripes adorned the dining hall, with plants, flowers, and streamers of many colors. The tables ran around the walls, and the whole centre of the room was like a blooming garden with green palms, rhododendrons, and golden-hued ferns banked in a beautiful mass of verdure. Beside each guest's plate lay a boutonniere of roses.

Li desired to retire early, so the banquet began at six o'clock. Hon. George F. Seward, ex-Minister to China, presided, sitting opposite Li, who sat between John E. Ward, also ex-Minister to China, and Rev. W. A. P. Martin, President of Hamlin University, Peking. The Chinese Minister, Yang Yu, and General Thomas H. Ruger sat on Mr. Ward's right, while on Li's left were General Nelson A. Miles and Hon. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State. Li ate but little of the sumptuous spread, and when he had finished smoked a cigar in genuine Occidental style. Mr. Ward began the speech-making with toasts to the Emperor of China, the President of the United States, and Li Hung Chang. He was followed by Mr. Seward, who in the principal address of the evening lauded Li's long and distinguished service to his country and his many achievements as a statesman.

Li's interpreter read the Prime Minister's answer, which was, in part, as follows: —

"Your Excellencies and Gentlemen: In acknowledging the cordial welcome and kind entertainment offered to me by the American government and its citizens, I find it impossible to refrain from ex- pressing my gratitude and thankfulness to the great nation which represents the best type of the modern civilization of the Western world. During my official career for the last forty years in China I have been brought in constant contact with the most accomplished scholars, soldiers, sailors, statesmen, theologians, and merchants of the West. I have been, therefore, convinced that the Western modern civilization, though, superficially speaking, different from our own, will prove in the world of evolution as the fittest to sur- vive."

Li left the dining hall when his answer was completed, about half- past eight, and soon retired for his night's rest. Rev. Dr. S. L.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 35

Baldwin, Secretary of the Methodist Board of Missions, and Rev. Dr. Martin spoke, and were followed by Ex-Secretary of State Foster, who told how as Viceroy and Prime Minister Li had ever been the friend of the United States. China's friendly relations with America were dwelt upon by Dr. J. B. Angell, and Generals Horace Porter and Miles spoke.

On Sunday afternoon, August 30, the Prime Minister visited the Li at tomb of his old friend, Ex-President Grant. A detail of mounted Grant's police acted as escort and Colonel Grant, Generals Porter and Ruger Tomh and others accompanied him. A great crowd of some 20,000 people gathered about the tomb. Li stepped from his carriage into his chair of state and was carried into the tomb by four burly policemen. There was a sharp ring and clash of steel as a detachment of regulars presented arms as the great man was borne past, and at the head of the stairway leading to the tomb Li left his chair and with slow and stately tread entered his friend's last resting place. A beautiful gar- land of bay leaves tied with a broad yellow ribbon and dotted with white and mauve orchids lay on the sarcophagus. It was the gift of Li. He stood over a minute with head sunk upon his breast, evi- dently filled with deep emotion. Then, with long silences between his questions, he asked how the tomb was guarded, how General Grant died, whether his end was painful, and inquired into the details of the tomb's construction, even asking how the grounds were to be graded and the walks laid out. He showed great surprise when General Porter told him that 80,000 persons had contributed toward building the tomb.

There was silence for some moments, and then Li said solemnly that his visit to the hero's tomb was one of the chief things he had had in mind when planning his visit to America, and that he had thought of it continually on the journey. General Porter replied that Li's contribution of $500 toward the tomb, one of the first received, had won him the deep gratitude of the American people. Another silence, and then Li turned and slowly left the tomb. The iron gate swung to behind him, but on the platform outside, the great Oriental faced about and halted. A deathly hush fell upon the thousands gathered around the tomb. Every head was uncovered save Li's. For several moments his tall, gaunt, impressive figure stood motion- less, outlined against the setting sun. Then slowly, reverently, the venerable statesman bent his head and body and bowed low before the tomb till the peacock feather on his viceroy's cap nearly swept the ground. Thus did the Grand Old Man of China say farewell to the sleeping victor of a hundred battles.

Another notable incident of Li's visit was his reception of a delega- tion of thirty representatives of American missionary societies. He received them in a corner room of the Waldorf, looking out on Fifth Avenue, seated on a divan smoking a silver water-pipe, with Ex- Secretary of State Foster on one side and an interpreter on the other. Through their spokesman. Rev. Dr. F. F. Ellenwood, the missionaries

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Li thanked Li for his support of their interests in China and congratu- commends lated him upon his progressive ideas. He replied in a friendly manner,

the Mission-

commending the work of the missionaries, whose disinterested motives he said he fully appreciated, and declaring his particular gratification at the good work done by the medical colleges. He dignifiedly de- fended his adherence to the faith of Confucius, saying that Christianity and Confucianism had much in common, both teaching ideal truths, the golden rule being expressed in both, in a positive form in one faith, in a negative in the other. He concluded by declaring that the great curse of the Chinese people was the use of and trade in opium.

The rest of the day Li spent in visiting various places of interest in the city, Chinatown among them. September 2, the last day of his visit, he spent in Brooklyn. A banquet in his honor was given at Delmonico's in the evening, but so tired was the old statesman by the whirl of functions he had attended that he did not go to the banquet, but sent a member of his suite to represent him.

PARADES AND FUNERAL PROCESSIONS ON FIFTH

AVENUE

An aspect of Fifth Avenue which the nation at large has not seen is Fifth Avenue as a national parade ground. One of the greatest parades was the Dewey parade in 1899, when the hero of the Spanish- American War was tendered a brilliant welcome, and viewed from a stand that faced the Worth Monument the procession in his honor.

Industry and patriotism have, also, received their share of recog- nition in the impressive processions that have been formed as an exemplification of what united organization can do. Funeral dirges and solemn corteges have cast their pall many times over Fifth Avenue. Some of America's greatest men have been borne between silent masses down the famous thoroughfare to their last resting- places. Along it the body of Abraham Lincoln passed between rows of silent, bareheaded people, and was escorted to the Hudson River depot, whence it was taken to Illinois. The remains of Admiral Farragut, of Horace Greeley, of Ulysses S. Grant, of Chester A. Dewey Arthur, and of General Sherman have received the homage of a people Parade massed on Fifth Avenue.

The parade in honor of Admiral Dewey's victory at Manila moved down Fifth Avenue from 59th Street on September 30, 1899, passed under the Dewey Arch, erected in the Admiral's honor at Worth Square, and on to Washington Square.

Major-General Charles F. Roe and staff led the procession, followed by Sousa's Band and the sailors of Dewey's flagship, the Olympia. Then came Admiral Dewey himself, seated beside Mayor Van Wyck in a carriage, at the head of a line of carriages containing Governor Theodore Roosevelt, Rear Admirals Schley and Sampson, General

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Nelson A. Miles, Senator Chauncey M. Depew, governors, naval officers, and many other prominent men.

After the carriages came West Point Cadets, detachments of United States regulars. New York national guardsmen and naval militia, troops from fourteen other states. Union and Confederate veterans, and veterans of the Spanish War. Admiral Dewey and the Olympia bluejackets received deafening applause, while the crowds packing the sides of the Avenue went wild over Schley, the hero of Santiago Bay, and cheered loudly for Governor Roosevelt. The cheers were silenced for a moment when Admiral Dewey caught sight of his relatives in a stand before the Waldorf-Astoria and, standing, waved his hat to them while they stood and toasted him with upraised glasses.

At 34th Street the Olympia jackies halted and drew up at the side of the Avenue while the Admiral left his carriage with a party of dis- tinguished officers and entered the reviewing stand that faced the Worth Monument. For four hours the gray-haired hero stood watching the brilliant procession that flowed past him, Sampson on his right and Schley on his left, with Generals Miles and Merritt and a group of naval officers, including Captains Chadwick, Coghlan, Woods, Wildes, Lamberton, and Dyer. Dewey was very punctilious in acknowledging the salutes given him and in saluting the flag, and delayed accepting a bouquet from a girl until he had saluted the Stars and Stripes just then approaching at the head of a regiment. Roosevelt reviewed the New York troops and then hurried back to his rooms in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, greeted on the way with shouts of "Here's to you, Teddy!" and "Long life to the Rough Rider!" The "Fighting Tenth" Pennsylvania Infantry, fresh from the Philip- pines, received a great ovation.

An incident commented upon at the time was the high price paid for positions of vantage. Stands were built at many places along the Avenue, and seats sold at big prices. One room in a house on the Avenue near 26th Street was hired for the afternoon for $500, and ^300 was paid for other rooms on the Avenue having only one window. Speculators offered the owner of one four-story building on the Avenue ^3,000 for the use of his windows.

The Hudson-Fulton Celebration of September 25-October 9, 1909, was notable for its beautiful pageants and parades, and for the elab- orateness of the decorations on Fifth Avenue and in other parts of the city.

On September 28 a great civic procession that was noteworthy for the number and beauty of its floats, depicting a great variety of his- torical incidents, moved down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square. The huge reviewing stand was packed with nearly five thousand people, and from it Governor Charles E. Hughes, Vice-President Sherman, Ex-Judge Parker, Rear Admiral le Pord of the French Navy, Admiral von Koester of the German Navy, Rear Admiral Schroeder of the American Navy, and many other notables reviewed the parade.

Thunders

of

Applause

greet

Admiral

Dewey

and the

''Olympia'

Sailors

Hudson- Fulton Parade

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39

Ireland held the place of honor in the procession, for the Ancient Order of Hibernians and other Irish societies headed the long column. Behind them marched Italian organizations and sturdy Polanders, and English, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, Scotch, Bohemian, Hun- garian, Syrian, and numberless other societies of many nationalities were mingled with the hundreds of floats in a bewildering riot of color and costume. Tribe after tribe of painted and befeathered warriors of the Order of Redmen escorted the floats depicting Indian scenes; "The Storming of Stony Point," "Washington Taking the Oath of Office," and countless other scenes comprising a veritable panorama of history were unfolded by men and women of many races before the eager eyes of the vast throng lining the Avenue. Loud applause greeted the strangely garbed and oddly mounted Syrians, who by some queer chance followed closely behind the float representing "The Publishing of the State Constitution"; and even an East Indian Rajah would have opened his eyes at the gorgeous costumes of the Hungarians, who "discovered a few combinations that made the aurora borealis look like a Quaker bonnet"!

Mayor McClellan, marching on foot with Herman Ridder, was cheered loudly all along the line. The division of school children was a most interesting feature of the parade. Governor Hughes seemed to be very popular with them, and as they passed the reviewing stand they gave him cheer after cheer while he smilingly bowed his thanks. The sharp bark of college yells winding up with a snap of "Hughes! — Sherman!" rang out lustily as the boys from Columbia, New York University, and the College of the City of New York swung with springy tread past the governor's box. All the time that the parade was passing Mr. Hughes stood hat in hand, and his interest and pleasure were very evident as he stared eagerly up the Avenue to see what was coming next and enthusiastically pointed out the interesting floats to Vice-President Sherman.

One of the most picturesque sights that Fifth Avenue has witnessed was the parade of the League of American Wheelmen on May 28, 1883. About nine hundred bicyclists were in line, representing some forty-five different clubs of the League, and an interested and applaud- ing crowd of over ten thousand persons lined the Fifth Avenue side- walks four and five deep from i6th to 75th Streets to see the procession start.

Two great tents were pitched on 57th Street to shelter the hundreds of machines until the time of the parade, and shortly before two o'clock the members of the League, having taken their bicycles from the tents, began to form in the shade on the Central Park side of Fifth Avenue, the head of the line resting on 60th Street and its rear extending nearly to 80th Street.

Shortly before three o'clock a bugle call rang out, and President N. M. Beckwith of the League rode slowly along the line with his staff from front to rear. Returning to the head of the column at 60th Street, he gave the signal, and with a flourish of bugles the nine

Nationali- ties and Floats in the Parade

Parade of League of American Wheelmen

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hundred bicyclists mounted and got Into motion. Riding two abreast, they pedalled slowly around the circle In Central Park at 59th Street and countermarched up the Avenue, while the Seventh Regiment Band struck up a lively march. Six mounted policemen led the way, then came President Beckwith and his staff, followed by pair after pair of uniformed riders. It was a pretty sight as the long line moved noiselessly up Fifth Avenue, with flags and streamers fluttering and the bright sun flashing upon the glittering nickel of the machines and lighting up the multi-colored uniforms of the riders with a blaze of vivid color.

The New York Club headed the procession, every man dressed In gray with a splash of red and black on his chest and cap. The Massa- chusetts delegation followed, with the Boston Ramblers. The Bay State men looked about the smartest of any club In line, In their handsome dark blue uniforms, white caps, and silver buckles, each cyclist wearing a red-and-white carnation in his buttonhole. Then came the New Haven Club In white trousers; Philadelphia In blue-black with a golden line in the cap; Yonkers, all a-flutter with many-colored ribbons; Buckeye In dark green, save for a lonely rider in gray and white; Albany In black relieved by a cherry badge; and other clubs.

After East Bridgewater rode a solitary cyclist a-glltter with flashing badges, and following him the green and gold of Springfield appeared; then the Brunswickers In chocolate-brown and violet and primrose badges; the Ixion Club, with bright yellow plumes waving in the breeze; and Alpha in sage-green livery with claret-hued stockings. The Penna Club was distinguished by its sky-blue Insignia; the Capi- tal, by Its white caps; while Buffalo bore a black-and-red banner and the Providence men wore blue and gold. Troy flaunted badges of old gold and red, and Kings County was clad in brown.

Following the uniformed clubs pedalled an army of unattached cyclists garbed In all the colors of the rainbow, each according to his fancy. Loud applause greeted the little youngster who, clad in a "Joseph's coat" of many hues, led this motley division. It took the procession over three-quarters of an hour to pass the circle at 59th Street, whence it pedalled up Fifth Avenue to ii6th Street, to Seventh Avenue, through Central Park to the West Drive, to 59th Street, back to 72d Street, and to Riverside Drive, where the cyclists dismounted and stacked wheels. They massed themselves upon Mount Tom, and with General Viele, the Park Commissioner, sitting In their front rank, were photographed e7i masse while the band rendered lively music. This ceremony concluded the afternoon's festivities, and the tired wheelmen broke up to seek rest and clean clothes before attending the banquet held at the Metropolitan Hotel at eight o'clock that evening.

Fifth Avenue rioted In color and echoed to the deafening cheers of a vast_ multitude on April 30, 1889, when there marched by the great military parade celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of Washington's inauguration.

Localities represented in the Parade

Washington Centenary Military Parade

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 43

The parade started from Wall Street and Broadway about half-past ten in the morning. In all 50,000 men were in line, arranged in three divisions. The first division was composed of West Point Cadets, United States regulars, bluejackets, and marines; the second, of militia from twenty-two states; and the third, of 8,000 Grand Army veterans. General Schofield was marshal of the parade. At Madison Square, extending from the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue to just opposite the Hotel Brunswick, was a reviewing stand from which President Harrison, Ex-President Cleveland, General Sherman, Mayor Grant, General Tracy, and other distinguished men reviewed the procession.

The West Pointers and regular soldiers and sailors swung by in splendid style and were followed by the state militia, each body headed by the state governor. The Delaware troops led the way, the states appearing in the order in which they ratified the Constitution. Of all the state troops the Pennsylvanians looked the most efficient, being soberly uniformed like the regulars and in heavy marching order. Many of the other state troops were most gaudily attired, and the result was an everchanging stream of rainbow hues. The famous Seventh New York Regiment received its usual ovation and distinguished itself by its fine bearing. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston won an outburst of applause from the crowds by the dazzling assortment of brilliant colors it presented.

During a half-hour halt in the procession, fruit was thrown from windows on lower Fifth Avenue to the waiting soldiers, and at other places sandwiches and flowers were tossed out.

President Harrison punctiliously answered every salute, until the blue ranks of the Grand Army veterans, their torn battle flags flutter- ing proudly in the April breeze, passed slowly by. Not until two o'clock did the head of the parade reach its goal at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, where the tired marchers broke ranks.

The military parade of April 30 was followed the next day by a Washington vast civic procession which moved down Fifth Avenue from 57th Centenary Street and disbanded at Broadway and Canal Street. The crowds ^^^^^ were not quite so numerous as on the previous day, but the thousands "^^^"^ that lined the sidewalks were greatly interested in the endless variety of the parade, which was reviewed by President Harrison, Ex-Presidents Hayes and Cleveland, General Sherman, and other notables.

General Butterfield led the column down Fifth Avenue. First came students from Columbia, the College of the City of New York, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and eight public school battalions, whose fine marching won applause. Then came French societies, their bands playing the "Marseillaise"; Knights of Temperance, Sons of Vet- erans, Italians in blue and green, Scotch Highlanders in kilts and bonnets, and the Continental Guards of Yonkers uniformed in blue and white. The aged General Abraham Dalley of Yonkers, ninety- four years old and a veteran of the War of 181 2, was helped up to the

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^^..Jii

From a print. Harper's Weekly.

COLLEGE STUDENTS MARCHING IN THE WASHINGTON CENTENARY PARADE OF MAY i, 1889.

reviewing stand and shook hands with the President, occupying a seat in his box.

A broad river of red filled the Avenue for over a mile and flowed past the stand as the veteran firemen marched by with their apparatus. Loud applause greeted Chief Decker and the old Ex-Chief Harry Howard, who marched with head up but with faltering steps, sup- ported by two firemen. The Tammany division marched in files of twenties led by General John Cochrane and Chamberlain Croker, each man in a shiny silk hat. The Italian organizations were followed by the Scandinavians, the Irish, and the Germans. The latter turned out in great numbers with many beautiful floats, and made a fine showing. Representatives of countless trades and many nationalities, with floats of every description, went down the Avenue in endless succession, until finally the rear of the huge column was brought up by the religious societies. President Harrison appeared to enjoy the varied procession thoroughly, and the crowds shared his good humor. Columbian New York celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the dis- Military covery of America by Columbus upon a magnificent scale. The prin- Parade cipal event was the military parade of October 12, 1892. Sixty-five thousand men comprised its ten divisions, which passed up Fifth Avenue to 59th Street, and took five hours and thirty-five minutes to pass the reviewing stand at Madison Square, from which Vice-

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 45

President Levi P. Morton and Governor Flower, cabinet officers, and a host of high military and civic officials witnessed the great spectacle.

A cavalcade of forty mounted police headed the vast procession, followed by Grand Marshal Martin T. McMahon and his staff. Then came the first division with gray-uniformed West-Pointers marching smartly at the head, and detachments of United States Regulars tramping heavily behind them. After the Regulars there swung along with easy strides nearly four hundred jackies and marines from the ships-of-war in the harbor, their brown leggings matching the color of their bronzed faces. Then came a division of national guardsmen from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and the District of Columbia. The Brooklyn troops bore up most martially under the weight of their heavy marching equipment of knapsacks and blankets. A remarkable contrast to the deadly ma- chine guns and plain white uniforms of the Naval Reserve were the obsolete equipment and gorgeous uniforms of the City Troop of Philadelphia, resplendent in gleaming helmets, white trousers, long- tailed black coats covered with gold lace, and red saddle-cloths.

The Pennsylvania guardsmen made a fine impression by their soldierly appearance, and deafening cheers greeted the Grand Army men, who bore proudly up the Avenue their shot-torn battle flags. General M. Corcoran Post 427 carried a ripped and faded banner which had waved over every battlefield before Petersburg and Chancellorsville, while the renowned Alice streamer which had tossed in the breeze over countless thrilling scenes was borne by Judson Kilpatrick Post 143. Sixteen abreast, New York's letter carriers marched up the Avenue in splendid order, and the twenty-three companies of firemen with their glittering apparatus and beautiful horses won loud applause all along the line.

Then came rank after rank of foreign societies in a bewildering con- fusion of vivid colors. The Italians wore particularly gorgeous uni- forms and bore a dazzling profusion of rainbow-hued banners. Some 5,000 German-American society members were in line, many in military uniforms. Knights of Pythias clad in blue-black with gleaming white helmets and nodding crests of crimson, Russians in dark green and black wool skullcaps, red-sashed Austrians uniformed in blue with black fur shakos topped by the double-headed Austrian eagle, spir- ited French infantrymen proudly bearing the handsome Tricolor, and countless other organizations of nearly every land went by while the vast crowds packing the sidewalks, windows, and roofs of the Avenue shouted in enthusiasm. So through all the beautiful fall afternoon the 65,000 marchers poured up Fifth Avenue in the glory of the dazzling October sun, and not until night had fallen did the tired rear guard reach the end of the march at 59th Street.

Two days earlier, the schools and colleges of New York had their The show-day. October 10, 1892, was declared Children's Day, and on Children's it there marched down Fifth Avenue from the Columbian Arch at Columbian 59th Street, designed by a twenty-one-year-old Columbia student ^^^^^^

+6 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

named Henry B. Herts, to the Washington Arch, a procession that made the fathers and mothers of the city proud and happy.

Mounted poHce headed the parade; then came the Grand Marshal and his staif on horseback, followed by Mayor Hugh Grant marching alone. Hearty cheers greeted the mayor, and when there followed the Seventh Regiment Band heading 10,000 public school cadets, formed in twenty regiments, the applause was thunderous. The second division of the parade was 7,500 strong, and included boy regiments from Long Island City and Jersey City, pupils from Cath- olic schools, little negro boys in uniform and carrying small muskets, and boys and girls from the Carlisle Indian School. Six hundred .students from the College of the City of New York led the college division, which was heralded by sharp college yells. New York University students and husky youths bearing the pale blue and white of Columbia followed, and medical students from the College of Physicians and Surgeons made a hit by wearing tiny skeletons on their hats and carrying human bones, — a somewhat gruesome spectacle which contrasted strikingly with the delegation from the Art Students' League.

On a stand before the reservoir at 4.26 Street was a solid mass of pretty young schoolgirls, looking in their freshness like a bed of nodding flowers. As it passed this stand every band stopped playing, while national songs rang out in silvery tones from the sing- ing girls. The Vice-President of the United States, Levi P. Morton, reviewed the procession with several governors and other prominent men. Columbian Fifth Avenue witnessed an unprecedented spectacle on April 28, Naval 1893, when there marched down it to the blare of bands and the cheers Parade of a great crowd the sailors and marines of ten different nations, 4,000 strong. The occasion was the Columbian Celebration preceding the opening of the World's Fair in Chicago, and the naval forces had been landed from the visiting foreign war-vessels lying in the Hudson River.

It was probably the first time in history that armed forces from so many different nations marched through a city in time of peace. Never before had British, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Argentinian, Brazilian, American, and German sailors paraded to- gether.

The parade started from the Hudson River front at 426. Street about eleven o'clock, passed through 42d Street to Fifth Avenue and down the Avenue to Washington Square, where it turned off and marched down Broadway to the City Hall. At the City Hall it was reviewed by the commanding officers of the foreign men-of-war, the governors of several states, the mayor, and other dignitaries.

The sailors were escorted by a body of the United States Engineering Corps, detachments from the Massachusetts and New York Naval reserves, and the First Brigade of the New York National Guard.

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From a photograph. American Sttidio.

BRITISH BLUEJACKETS MARCHING IN THE COLUMBIAN NAVAL PARADE

OF APRIL 28, 1893.

Fifth Avenue was packed with thousands of enthusiastically cheering people occupying the sidewalks, windows, roofs, balconies, and the top of the reservoir at 42d Street. From the balcony and windows of the Fifth Avenue Hotel many prominent men witnessed the parade, among them Senators Morrill of Vermont, Gray of Delaware, Gibson of Alabama, and Gorman of Maryland, Ex-Senator Hiscock of New York, Governors Smith of New Hampshire and Brown of Rhode Island, and a number of foreign naval officers.

American marines and jackies from the White Squadron, 2,500 strong, led the procession, with the United States Marine Band at their head playing splendid music. Then came the British sailors, fine, husky fellows, with a solemn billy-goat adorned with a bright red blanket trotting majestically ahead — the mascot of H. M. S. Tartar. Laughter and cheers greeted the goat, and a deafening roar of applause rose from the crowd as the British man-of-war's men swung by with a rolling gait to the tune of "A British Tar is a Roving Blade." The rollicking air and swing of the Britishers caught the throng in an instant. Their sailors wore straw hats, blue uniforms, and yellow leggings, while their marines brought up the rear in a vivid blaze of flaming scarlet.

The blue cross of Russia followed, fluttering over a magnificent-

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS ^

w wwwwwim

From a photograph. American Studio.

RUSSIAN SAILORS IN THE COLUMBIAN NAVAL PARADE OF APRIL 28, 1893.

looking body of huge men, all over six feet tall, marching in solid squares eight deep and wearing streamers of ribbon on their white caps. The Russians were by far the most imposing-looking men in the parade, and the crowd, impressed by their powerful bearing and disciplined marching, gave them cheer after cheer. Next came the Italians, a striking contrast to the giants of the Czar, small, light, active, marching with quick, nervous tread. They wore straw hats and carried their rifles horizontally. The Germans were mostly young, with fresh, smooth faces. They marched with splendid pre- cision, keeping ponderous step in perfect alignment and time.

The French swung gracefully along with alert, sprightly tread^ the gay tricolor waving jauntily over a forest of flashing sword-bayonets and red topknots. Men of many races followed the golden sun of Argentina, — Latin, Saxon, Celt, Mongolian, and Nubian, — and the green banner of Brazil waved over many swarthy, sinewy men of African or Indian blood.

The sailors presented a delightful contrast to the stiffness and rigid pomp seen in military parades. Most of them swung along with an easy, rolling tread, and their loose-fitting shirts and trousers and rakish hats gave free play to their splendid bodies. The stiff march- ing and tight uniforms of the New York National Guardsmen who paraded with them lost by comparison, and the pale faces and white

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hands of the citizen soldiers and naval reserve contrasted strongly with the sailors' bronzed coats of sea-tan.

Before Colonel Waring brought efficiency and neatness into the First Parade street cleaning department a parade by its members would probably of the Street have been the signal for ridicule. Despite the sorrowful protests of Cleaning certain aldermen who vehemently claimed that such new-fangled and Department unheard-of notions as uniforming the street cleaners would only dispirit and utterly degrade them in the eyes of their fellows, the spirit of progress won the day in our city, and made possible — with- out a chance for the satirists and jokers to get in their jabs, that hitherto undreamed-of marvel — a parade of the street cleaning de- partment.

It occurred May 26, 1896, and for an hour and a half sturdy men neatly uniformed in white coats passed down Fifth Avenue, with carts and sprinklers creaking and rumbling and Colonel Waring riding proudly at the column's head. A reviewing stand had been built upon the slope of the reservoir at 42d Street, and from this the Mayor, city officials, and many prominent citizens witnessed the parade, while the crowd lining the Avenue applauded lustily. Prizes were offered for the men, carts, and horses making the best appearance, and the display was well calculated to fire the New Yorker's heart with civic pride.

A hundred thousand citizens from all callings and walks of life The Sound marched, October 31, 1896, up Fifth Avenue to show their belief in Money the sound money principles advocated by the Republicans and sound P^^^^^ money Democrats. In size the parade was one of the greatest polit- ical turnouts ever held anywhere, and its enthusiasm was proportionate to its bigness.

From eleven o'clock in the morning until six-thirty in the evening rank after rank of cheering men marched sixteen abreast past the reviewing stands at Madison Square, which contained Garrett A. Hobart, Republican candidate for the Vice-Presidency, Governor Levi P. Morton, Timothy L. Woodruff, Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel Ashley W. Cole, Mayor Strong, and Ex-Mayor Abram S. Hewitt, Ex-Senator Thomas C. Piatt, Cornelius N. Bliss, Powell Clayton, Joseph H. Manley, N. B. Scott, Colonel H. L. Swords, and other prominent political leaders.

The Avenue was crowded, and windows from which to see the parade had been rented days before. Gold bugs and other emblems were carried by the marchers, and when the blare of the bands died away "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys," "John Brown's Body," and other patriotic songs burst in deafening choruses from thousands of lusty throats.

During the eighties one of the most picturesque sights to be seen The on Fifth Avenue was the annual parade of the New York Coaching Coaching Club. Coaching at that time was a favorite diversion of the wealthy Parades people of the city. It was introduced from England in 1876 by Colonel Delancey Kane, who for his amusement started running a

1^u/t^ ^

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51

coach line from New York to Pelham Bridge, using a handsome old- fashioned English coach imported from London.

The four-in-hand left the Brunswick Hotel at half-past ten every morning and reached Pelham Bridge at noon, passing through Harlem, Mott Haven, Fox Corners, Union Port, West Chester, and Middletown. The return trip began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and the Hotel Brunswick was reached at half-past five. Colonel Kane did not expect to make money out of the venture, but charged three dollars a seat per round trip, box seats costing fifty cents extra and no charge being made for passengers' baggage up to eighty-five pounds. The venture aroused lively interest among the fashionable set of the city, and a coaching club was formed on the model of the London Four-in-Hand Club, Messrs. James Gordon Bennett, Delancey Kane, Thomas Newbold, Frederic Bronson, Leonard Jerome, A. Thorndike Rice, William Jay, William P. Douglas, and S. Nicholas Kane being the founders. The club increased in membership, and coaching was much in vogue among the leisure classes for some ten or a dozen years. On any bright summer afternoon prominent members of New York society could be seen driving their handsome four-in-hands through Central Park and along Fifth Avenue, and the sight never failed to arouse interest.

"Coaching Day" on Fifth Avenue was always the occasion of a grand turnout of the wealth and fashion of the city. It came the last Saturday in May and was the day when the New York Coaching Club held its annual parade. The line of four-in-hand tally-ho coaches formed before the Brunswick Hotel, handsomely decorated in brilliant colors, and with the president of the club leading, moved up Fifth Avenue to 59th Street, and drove through Central Park to Mt. St. Vincent; then returned to the Avenue and down to Washington Square, driving back to the Brunswick for the club's annual dinner.

The smart coaches were a beautiful sight as they rolled along the Avenue with their handsome horses prancing with arching necks, their boxes filled with richly dressed women flashing in silks and jewels, the club members in bottle-green cut-away coats with brass buttons and tall white hats, while the Avenue echoed with the sweet, mellow call of the tally-ho horns. All the social world lined Fifth Avenue to applaud or envy the glittering pageant, while windows and balconies were filled with pretty faces and the sun shimmered on gay parasols, sparkling gems, lavish bouquets of choicest flowers, and costly dresses of a thousand rainbow hues.

The body of Abraham Lincoln was borne through Fifth Avenue from 14th to 34th Streets, on its way from the City Hall, where a hundred and twenty thousand people had seen it lying in state, on April 25, 1865. It was conveyed to the Hudson River depot, whence it was taken to Springfield, Illinois.

The great procession that escorted the body numbered fifty thousand men and was the largest that New York had then ever seen, requiring

Founders of the New York Coaching Club

Lincoln's

Funeral

Procession

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four hours to pass and extending for five miles. Business was sus- pended before the cortege left the City Hall at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the entire city was draped in mourning. The Governor of New York, the Mayor, city and state officials, distinguished men from difi^erent parts of the country, regiments of soldiery, marines, and bluejackets, civic organizations, societies, and foreign consuls, passed slowly along Fifth Avenue between lines of silent, bareheaded people and buildings decked in black to the tolling of bells, the solemn strains of dirges, and the dull booming of cannon fired at minute intervals.

The funeral car was beautifully constructed, decked with black and silver and draped flags and strewn with flowers, and drawn by sixteen gray horses covered with sable drapery, each led by a groom in mourn- ing. Many heads were bowed in tears as it passed, and New York well bespoke that afternoon the loving tribute of the nation to its great departed President. Farragut's Through Fifth Avenue on September 30, 1870, in a heavy down- Funeral pour of rain, moved a splendid procession escorting the remains of Admiral Farragut to the Harlem depot. The body had been brought by sea from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the Admiral died, and was landed from the naval tug Catalpa at Pier No. 39, at the foot of Canal Street.

The funeral procession was two miles long, and 12,000 troops were in line, each regiment marching behind its band playing a dirge. There were over two hundred carriages in the procession, carrying relatives, naval and military officers, clergymen, judges, business men, and state and national dignitaries, among them President Grant, Secretary of War Belknap, Postmaster-General Creswell, Secretary of the Navy Robeson, and several governors. Military and civic organizations and noted men from many cities and states were in line, and the whole made up a solemn spectacle the sombreness of which was increased by rain. Route The route was Canal Street to Broadway to 14th Street to Fifth of the Avenue, and up the Avenue to 49th Street and Fourth Avenue, where Procession the funeral train was waiting to take the body to Woodlawn Cemetery. The flags on all the ships in the harbor and on public buildings hung at half-mast, many hotels, club-houses, and private residences were draped in black, and the solemn tolling of countless bells mingled with the slow music of the dirges and the dull booming of the minute guns. A platoon of police led the way, followed by Grand Marshal General Alexander Webb with his staff, the marine band from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a detachment of marines. Behind the marines came the coffin, carried on the shoulders of eight sailors. It was of rosewood, covered with a pall of black velvet heavily fringed with gold and embroidered with silver anchors and the name "Farragut." A flag was thrown over the pall, and on it rested the dead sea-lord's uniform, admiral's hat, sword, and insignia of rank.

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53

'■?%^ ^"

From a print.

Harper's Weekly.

ADMIRAL FARRAGUT'S FUNERAL PROCESSION.

The long line of carriages followed, and then came, plodding slowly through the mud and rain. United States regulars from the forts in the harbor, the First and Second Divisions of the New York National Guard, 3,000 veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, a brigade of the New York Fire Department, a hundred boys from the Union Home and School for Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans, and other organizations. And so the long procession wended its way slowly up the Avenue between lines of silent people, to the Harlem depot.

Marked honors were paid the great editor, Horace Greeley, after Horace his death on November 29, 1872, at the home of his friend. Dr. George Greeley's C. S. Choate, near Tarrytown. The body was conveyed to the house F^'f^^ral of Mr. Samuel Sinclair on West 45th Street and the day before the ^^''^J^^^^ 4, funeral it was brought to the Governor's Room of the City Hall, ^ ^^ and there lay in state. Mr. A. S. Frissell, who at the time was em- ployed across the street from the City Hall, recalls vividly the great crowd of rich and poor which thronged to see the body. The old and

54 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

the young, fathers with their little children, maimed soldiers on crutches, generals, merchants, lawyers, and beggars came to take a last look at Greeley's face. It was not so much the greatness of the multitude which made this demonstration impressive, but the purely spontaneous character of the tribute to a good man's memory. Un- affected sorrow stamped the countenance of every one.

Dis- Nearly three thousand persons passed through the room every hour.

tinguished Men known far and wide composed the body's guard of honor. They

Men in the were: Messrs. William CuUen Bryant, William B. Astor, Peter

Body's Cooper, Moses H. Grinnell, William M. Evarts, A. T. Stewart, John

Guard of j^ j3jx, Thurlow Weed, William F. Havemeyer, George W. Varian,

^^°^ William Butler Duncan, Abraham R. Lawrence, William J. Hoppin, Henry Nicol, Thomas E. Stewart, Horatio Seymour, Samuel Tilden, John McKean, Sheppard Knapp, John T. Hoffman, A. Oakley Hall, Charles O'Conor, Emil Sauer, Augustus Schell, William C. Prime, Charles P. Daly, Edward J. Carpenter, and John B. Stuart. Flags all over the city hung at half-mast and signs of mourning were every- where.

Services were held in the Church of the Divine Paternity, corner of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street, and were attended by a great throng of reverent mourners. Among them were President Grant, Vice- President Colfax, Vice-President-elect Wilson, and many other noted men. The church was draped in black, and the clock had black drapery around it and a white floral cross within a green wreath above. It was stopped at the hour of Mr. Greeley's death, ten minutes of seven.

A hundred and twenty-five carriages were in the funeral procession which moved down Fifth Avenue to 14th Street, without music or military guard, mounted police leading the way, followed by Mayor Hall, Superintendent Kelso, detachments of police and firemen, five carriages of pallbearers. President Grant, Vice-President Colfax, and Vice-President-elect Wilson in an open landau. Governor Hoff- man and other governors, Editor Manton Marble of the World, the Tribune staff. Typographical Society, Union League Club, Common Council and other city officials, representatives of the Liberal Re- publican Committee, Union Republican General Committee, Tam- many Hall General Committee, Lincoln Club, Simon Cameron Association, Sons of Temperance, members of the Lotos, Arcadian, Farmers', and Rural Clubs, and the American Institute. Despite the lack of banners, music, regalia, and military pomp, it was one of the most impressive processions that ever passed along Fifth Avenue.

Evening shadows had begun to creep about the vault on Locust Hill at the Greenwood Cemetery when the cortege reached it. A great crowd was gathered about. While relatives wept and the throng stood motionless in silent reverence, a short prayer was said, a blessing given, and the earthly remains of Horace Greeley were lowered into the vault.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 55

How Riverside Drive was chosen as the last resting place of General How U. S. Grant is told by John D. Crimmins: "The morning after the Riverside death of General Grant at Mount McGregor," said Mr. Crimmins, Drive was " I was called from my bed at Great Neck where I was staying at chosen as the time, a short distance from the residence of Mayor Grace, by a ^^^ ^^-^^ reporter from the New York Times, Mr. Riley, who had called on ^^^'^"'S the Mayor and had been directed by him to me. Mr. Riley advised q^^^j.^i me that Colonel Fred Grant had been asked where his father was jj ^ Crant to be buried and had replied, 'Either in Washington, Springfield, or New York where the people treated my father so generously.' It appealed to me as an opportunity to have the remains of the great General placed within our city, and the question was 'where.' We telegraphed Colonel Grant and he replied, 'In the vicinity of the Mall.' The Park Board was called together and a resolution was passed practically prohibiting any monument within Central Park such as might be expected would be raised to the memory of the General.

"Without advising Colonel Grant of this action, he was requested to come to the city, which he did the following day, and I conveyed him and Major-General Winfield Hancock and Hon. Henry R. Beek- man and Mr. M. C. D. Borden, my associates on the Park Board, to a site opposite the Cancer Hospital at io6th Street and Eighth Avenue.

"Realizing that it was not a desirable location, in consequence of it overlooking the Cancer Hospital, the General having died of cancer, we drove to Riverside Drive, where I pointed out the advantages of the present location, that it was in the vicinity of the field where the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought, that it was opposite to Fort Lee, and that a short distance away was Washington Heights, and other Revolutionary forts. The Colonel said the site was satisfactory to him and that he would report to his mother. From him we re- ceived a telegram shortly after his return to Mount McGregor, that everything was perfectly satisfactory, provided Mrs. Grant might finally rest beside her husband.

"To this we consented and, having the cordial support of Mayor W. R. Grace, we immediately began the preparation for the temporary tomb, which, through my connection with the building trades and contractors, we were able to have ready for the funeral, although there was at the time no appropriation for the .work. Everything was in readiness on time, which was due to the mechanics employed working every hour of the day. The funeral practically for the last time brought together the famous generals who fought opposite sides, on the Union and Confederate. The ceremonies lasted until the late afternoon and after the funeral Mr. Beekman, Mr. Borden, and myself, entertained the invited guests from out of town for luncheon at the Claremont which we had reserved for the occasion. General Hancock and also generals on both sides renewed their army associa- tions. And those from out of town spoke of the excellent selection and when the historical associations were pointed out were enthusi-

From a pholograph. Collection of John D. Crimmins.

FUNERAL PROCESSION OF GENERAL GRANT PASSING BRYANT PARK.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 57

Fifth Avenue echoed to the solemn strains of dirges played by many Grant's bands, and to the slow tramp of thousands of marching feet on August Funeral 8, 1885, the day on which the great military and civic procession Procession escorted the remains of General and Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant to his tomb overlooking the Hudson. For two days and three nights the body of General Grant had lain in state in the vestibule of the black-draped City Hall, while a constant stream of people, estimated at 250,000, flowed by his coffin.

Entering Fifth Avenue from 14th Street, the procession moved up to 57th Street and then west to Broadway. The clock in the spire of the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue pointed to half-past ten in the morning when Major-General W. S. Hancock, heading the pro- cession with his staff, rode past the church. Not until half-past three in the afternoon — five hours later — did the rear guard of the proces- sion pass by.

Major-General W. S. Hancock and his staff led the procession and following came rank after rank of soldiery, twelve thousand strong. Looking down Fifth Avenue from the crest of Murray Hill, as far as the eye could see stretched a moving mass of blue, the sunlight flash- ing in a million golden points from rifle-barrels and sword-blades, while regiment after regiment, their colors draped in mourning, tramped slowly by to the measured music of many dirges.

The first division of the procession was composed of regular troops, Description marines and sailors. New York State Militia, the Old Guard, the of the Governor's Foot Guards of Hartford, Connecticut, Zouaves, and Procession Italian Guards. It took an hour to pass, and was followed by the second division, composed of militia from different states commanded by Major-General E. L. Molineaux. The division was headed by the Brooklyn regiments. The crack Seventh New York and First Penn- sylvania distinguished themselves by their fine bearing.

By this time the head of the procession was out of sight, and now appeared score upon score of carriages bearing distinguished mourners. First came clergymen and General Grant's physicians, then the pallbearers, two in each carriage, their carriages being driven two abreast. Following the pallbearers marched members of George C. Meade Post No. i, G. A. R., the Philadelphia post to which General Grant belonged, bearing sixteen battle flags torn with shot and shell. Directly behind these was the catafalque, drawn by twenty-four black horses with sable trappings, each horse with a black-garbed groom holding its bit. The body's guard of honor, a detachment from Gen- eral U. S. Grant Post of Brooklyn, walked on both sides of the cata- falque, with two companies of regulars as a bodyguard.

The casket was in plain sight, resting beneath a black canopy. As it passed a hush fell upon the crowds lining the Avenue and every head was bared in silent tribute. More carriages rolled by, and then President Cleveland appeared. He was applauded heartily as he drove by, but he gravely refused to acknowledge the applause. Other carriages contained Secretary Bayard and other cabinet officers.

58 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

General Grant's old staff, United States senators and representatives, ex-cabinet officers, supreme court judges, members of the diplomatic corps under President Grant, Ex-Presidents Hayes and Arthur, and state governors with their staffs.

Following the carriages of the state dignitaries drove General

Sickles, at the head of a division of members of veteran associations,

18,000 strong, who marched with a splendid swing. The fourth and

last division was composed of civic organizations, having some 8,000

men in line.

President The funeral of Ex-President Chester A. Arthur was held at the

Jrthur's Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue, November 22, 1886.

Funeral His family desired a quiet and so far as possible a private funeral, but

the ceremonies, while free from undue pomp, were very impressive.

Famous men from all over the country gathered to pay honor to the dead statesman, among them President Cleveland, the only living Ex-President, Hayes, justices of the supreme court, cabinet officers, senators, representatives, etc. The body was taken from No. 123 Lexington Avenue to the Church of the Heavenly Rest at nine o'clock in the morning. Outside the church on Fifth Avenue was a military and naval guard of honor composed of six batteries of the Fifth United States Artillery from Governor's Island, and five companies of bluejackets and a company of marines from the navy yard. When the services were ended, a procession was formed and moved down Fifth Avenue to the Grand Central station, the soldiers and sailors leading. A special train carried the body to the cemetery at Albany. General Seldom has so dense a mass of humanity packed the sidewalks, Sherman's roof-tops, and windows along the Avenue as on the afternoon of Funeral February 19, 1891. Even the spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral were filled with sight-seers. The occasion which drew thousands to Fifth Avenue was the funeral of General Sherman, who had died on Feb- ruary 14 and whose body, lying in state at his 71st Street house, had been viewed by great multitudes.

The military and civic procession included over eleven thousand marchers, many of them the General's old soldiers. Strangely enough, the route traversed was almost exactly the same, only in the opposite direction, over which the dead commander had passed in the Wash- ington Centenary parade, of April 30, 1889, but this time the build- ings along the way were draped in mourning.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, its roof lined with spectators and its windows filled, was most handsomely draped in mourning, while the display on the Hoffman House near by was also very elaborate and artistic. The mourning decorations were also very striking on the Union League Club house, the Century, the Knickerbocker, the quarters of the Seventh Regiment Veterans and the Ohio Society, the Buckingham, Langham, Victoria, Brevoort, Berkeley, and Bruns- wick Hotels, and the Sickles, Butterfield, Wilson, Vanderpoel, Whitney, Goelet, and Vanderbilt houses.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

59

From a print.

THE SHERMAN FUNERAL PROCESSION.

Showing the funeral cortege passing the Fifth Avenue Hotel.

Harper's Weekly.

The General's body was borne in military style on a caisson in a casket draped with flags. The grounds of the Catholic Orphan Asylum next to the Cathedral on 50th Street were filled with people, and on a little eminence was drawn up the institution's cadet corps in full uniform at present arms. None of these youngsters was over twelve years old, and they were an impressive sight as they stood rigidly there with solemn faces.

As the procession moved toward its destination, the Pennsylvania ferry, many of the older G. A. R. veterans were forced to drop out of the line, the tramp proving too much for their years, so that it was with lessened numbers that the procession was finally disbanded.

DISASTERS ON FIFTH AVENUE

Fifth Avenue has had its share of disasters, riots, and fires. Even a wind-storm came in for some attention when it destroyed the half- completed residence of William R. Martin, located then in what was comparatively a rural section of the Avenue. The event is recalled by Mr. John D. Crimmins: "The first building for a residence on Fifth Avenue north of 57th Street was started by William R. Martin between 62d and 63d Streets. The building had reached about four stories and it was exposed in every direction. A violent wind storm blew the walls completely off the foundation. Mr. Martin was a Park Commissioner and a man of taste and education. He started the

6o FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

house as an illustration of the value of a Park front for residential purposes." The Stone- For four days and four nights in August, 1834, peaceful Washington 4:uUers' Riot Square — then called Washington Parade Ground — presented a warlike appearance. The Twenty-seventh Regiment, New York National Guard, commanded by Colonel Stevens, lay encamped on the Square with loaded rifles, ready for instant action.

Convict labor had been introduced in the state prison at Sing Sing, and for some time great discontent had prevailed among the me- chanics and artisans of New York, because the State sold its convict labor cheaper than the prices demanded by free labor. The build- ings of New York University were under construction on the east side of Washington Square. Westchester marble was being used, and the contractors, to save money, hired Sing Sing labor to dress the stone.

At once the resentment of the stonecutters and masons burst into action. Excited meetings were held and addressed by leaders who in impassioned speeches denounced the employment of cheap convict labor as "taking the bread out of our mouths," and crowds of workmen paraded the streets carrying placards and banners bearing inscrip- tions assailing prison labor and the contractors and demanding the rights of the workingmen. Feeling rose so high that the houses of several persons were mobbed and citizens assaulted. Mayor Cornelius W. Lawrence, fearing that the workmen at the University buildings would suffer violence and the civil authorities would be unable to con- trol the rioters, called out the Twenty-seventh Militia Regiment to disperse the tumultuous crowds marching about the city.

The sight of the troops acted like a balm upon the parading stone- cutters, and the rioters broke their ranks and went home. No more trouble ensued, but the city was so wrought up by the turbulent scenes that the soldiers were kept under arms near the University buildings for the four days, to guard against further outbreaks.

The building of the University and of the houses on the north- west corner of Fifth Avenue and i8th Street, which were built by Robert C. Townsend and Henry H. Elliott, of marble cut at Sing Sing, was delayed by the disturbance, and no more buildings were constructed of convict-dressed stone. The The House of Refuge fire, June 20, 1839, was a spectacular episode. Burning of The building stood at Madison Square near where the Farragut the House of statue now stands, then the junction of the Eastern Post Road and Refuge the Bloomingdale Road. The neighborhood was quite rural, and adjoining the House of Refuge was a cherry orchard. The House of Refuge was opened in 1824 by the Society for the Reformation of Youthful Delinquents, the first American society whose object was the care and reformation of juvenile offenders. The fire broke out late in the afternoon in the workshop of Stephen C. Demarest & Co., who carried on a brass nail, mat, and whip factory, and over whose shop was a chair-seat factory run by one Captain Seaman.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 6i

Bursting out in the centre of the brass nail factory, the flames quickly ignited the upper story of the House of Refuge.

An alarm was promptly given, and the inmates were safely led out and secured so that none could escape. No hose was, however, at hand. The flames were rapidly spreading amid a wild scene of helpless confusion, when up to the blazing building dashed spectacu- larly Ex-Alderman Bunting of the Fourth Ward, who had built the structure. He had driven his galloping horse up the main road that Fighting led to Madison Square, and, jumping from the gig, took command the Fire of the situation. Calling upon a dozen men to follow him with water buckets, he rushed to the wing of the building, on which flames were rapidly licking up the shingles, and, stripping to his shirt-sleeves, began to throw water on the roof as fast as the buckets could be handed to him. He soon had the fire on the roof under control.

Meanwhile the fire engines, with a crowd of citizens, had arrived upon the scene, and began playing streams of water upon the con- flagration. The whole of the House of Refuge, except the women's wing, which had been saved by Mr. Bunting's efforts, was by this time a roaring furnace.

A turbulent gang of roughs from all over the city overflowed into the orchard by the blazing building and began destroying the trees and stripping them of fruit, threatening violence to those opposing them. A riot had begun when the Mayor with a posse of police arrived and rushed the mob. Blows were struck, and there was a general melee. Justice Taylor of the upper Police Court had a set-to with a rough bent on having his fill of cherries, and the Justice lost his coat-sleeve in mastering his opponent. But the police shortly got the upper hand of the gangsters, and order was restored.

The entire building excepting the women's wing was soon a heap of ruins, but no one was hurt. After the fire the institution was trans- ferred to the foot of East 23d Street, where it remained until about 1854, when it was moved to Randall's Island. _

One of the show places off Fifth Avenue from 1853 to 1858 was Crystal the Crystal Palace, which stood west of the old reservoir, in what is Palace Fir now known as Bryant Park. This building, which was designed somewhat after the model of the famous Crystal Palace in London, in the shape of a Greek cross, was built of glass and iron, with broad aisles, arched naves, and a graceful dome. It cost about ^650,000, and was opened by President Franklin Pierce on July 14, 1853, ^s an exhibition hall for a display of the world's industries and arts. Finan- cially it was not a success. It was the scene of a great reception in 1858 to Cyrus W. Field when the Atlantic cable was laid.

About five o'clock in the afternoon of October 5, 1858, when the annual fair of the American Institute was being held in the building and it was filled with a valuable collection of costly goods,, many the property of prominent merchants of the city, fire broke out.

62

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

From a print. Collection of J. Clarence Davies.

INTERIOR OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

Some two thousand visitors were in the building at the time. The entrance on 40th Street was closed and the panic-stricken crowd rushed madly for the Sixth Avenue entrance. Ex-Captain Maynard of the Municipal Police and several Directors of the Institute threw themselves into the midst of the terror-stricken mob and by heroic efforts succeeded in guiding every one safely to the street. The whole northern part of the building was soon ablaze, and the flames leaped up and swept along the galleries, which by this time were fortunately deserted. Some one foolishly or with deliberate intent opened the doors at the 40th Street entrance, and with a strong draught circulating through the building its whole interior was a roaring furnace in less than three minutes. The The fire department was shortly on the scene, and twenty or thirty Building streams of water were thrown into the building, but it was seen that consumed [i was doomed. Several pieces of fire apparatus were on exhibition, and the firemen made desperate attempts to rescue them, finally succeeding in saving two hose wagons. Some of the exhibitors bravely rushed into the burning building to save their property, but the terrible heat and strangling smoke drove them out, and hardly anything was saved. The loss was estimated at about ;S2,ooo,ooo.

The rumor was widely circulated — and generally believed — that the Crystal Palace had been purposely set on fire. The theory that the conflagration was due to leaking gas which was accidentally ignited was not believed by most people.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

63

From a print.

Collection of J . Clarence Davies.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE FIRE.

On Fifth Avenue between 43d and 44th Streets was staged July 13, Colored 1863, a terrible scene of rioting and fire. Measures had been taken Orphan several days previously to draft men from New York City into the Asylum Fire Union Army, and on Monday, July 13, a mob, goaded to wild passion ^^.^ Draft by hatred of the draft and by the harangues of demagogues, started ^^^^ to riot and destroy anything and every one that stood in its path.

Some twenty names had been called in the drafting office at Third Avenue and 46th Street, when a crowd of five hundred men and boys hurled a shower of stones and brickbats through the windows and rushing in drove the draft officers out the back entrance, destroyed all the books and papers, and set the building on fire. The flames caught the adjoining buildings, and the whole block was burned to the ground. Police Superintendent Kennedy was seized by the mob and nearly killed before he could be rescued. The armory at Second Avenue and 21st Street was attacked by three or four thousand men and boys, the doors were broken in, and the mob was rushing in when a volley from the body of police garrisoning the building dropped a half-dozen of the leaders upon the threshold. For a few moments the mob drew ofi", but then, doubly furious at the killing and wounding of their comrades, the rioters charged the building madly, hurling paving stones and firing pistols as they came. The police fought desperately to keep them out, but orders came to evacuate the armory and they abandoned it to the mob, which set it on fire.

A detachment of fifty men of the invalid corps under Lieutenant Ried hurried from the Park Barracks to disperse the rioters. They fired a volley, but the mob, seeing that they used only blank cartridges,

64 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

rushed them furiously, broke their ranks, disarmed them, and chased the soldiers through the streets. Many were caught and beaten and kicked nearly to death. Bodies of police were routed and the officers horribly mauled by ruffians. The office of the New York Tribune was gutted and set on fire, but the police drove ofi" the rioters and put out the flames. Soldiers of the Eleventh New York Regiment com- manded by Colonel O'Brien broke up a mob in Second Avenue, but the Colonel, getting separated from his men, was seized by the mob and beaten to death. Several rufiians used his head as a target for pistol practice as he lay dead on the sidewalk, and then hung the corpse from a lamp-post. Violence of The rioters singled out negroes as especial objects of their hatred, the Mob and all over the city black men, women, and children were hunted, beaten, and murdered. A negro teamster was brutally pounded with clubs and paving stones until he died, and then the bloodthirsty mob strung his bleeding body from a tree, set fire to it, and danced howling, singing, and cursing about the blazing corpse. A reign of terror held possession of the city, and fire, murder, pillage, and violence stalked abroad almost unchecked. After wrecking property elsewhere and overpowering the police and soldiers who tried to disperse them, the rioters, several thousand strong, started up Fifth Avenue to plunder and destroy the Colored Orphan Asylum.

The Colored Orphan Asylum was a large brick building with four stories and two wings occupying the block on Fifth Avenue between 43d and 44th Streets. Built in 1842 by the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans, it contained at this time two hundred and thirty- three negro children who were being cared for and taught useful trades.

Nearly all the occupants had been taken to a place of safety — the police station of the Twentieth Precinct — before the howling mob arrived, about four o'clock in the afternoon. Swarming over the grounds and up the stairs they rushed through rooms and corridors, smashing and pillaging. In a short time the building was stripped clean from basement to attic, even the clothing of the children being stolen by the pillagers. Having wrecked the interior of the building and taken everything of value, the mob, many of whom were women and children, prepared to complete their evil work by burning it.

Waving a white flag of truce from the sidewalk opposite the build- ing, those in charge of the institution pleaded with the rioters not to burn it, but only jeers and threats answered them. Fires were started in several places on the first floor, when a party of firemen led by Chief Gallantry John Decker rushed into the building and put them out. Infuriated

of Fire by his brave action, the rioters threatened Decker with death, but he Chief kept on extinguishing the fires as fast as they were started. Standing

Decker on the front steps he called in the name of humanity upon the mob, drunk with passion and whiskey, that raged and howled and cursed about him, not to disgrace their city by burning a charitable institu- tion. They answered by making a rush up the steps to kill him, and

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

65

From a print,

Collection oj J . Clarence Da:i(

DESTRUCTION OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM, 44TH STREET AND

FIFTH AVENUE.

only the gallantry of some firemen, who threw themselves in front of the charging rabble shouting that their chief could be injured only over their dead bodies, saved his life. Another story goes that Decker was seized by the mob and was about to be hanged upon a near-by tree when his ready wit saved his life. Making an expressive gesture toward his throat, he said coolly to a ringleader of the mob who was tying a noose in the rope: —

*'What good will it do you to hang me.^ You will only stop my draft, not the Government's!"

The jest and the nerve shown by the gallant fireman took the fancy of the rioters, and Decker was not injured.

After trying for an hour and a half to set fire to the asylum, the mob finally succeeded, and soon the whole building was ablaze. About a score of the negro children who had not escaped with the rest were seized by the drunken rioters, who had already captured several colored men and hanged them to lamp-posts. Some of the ruffians were inciting the mob to do the children violence, and the terrified little orphans were being roughly handled, when through the clamoring throng that surrounded them burst the crew of Engine Company No. 18 with four stage-drivers of the 426. Street line and a young Irishman named Paddy M'Caff"rey.

The resolute bearing of the fearless little band cowed the mob, and the children were conducted in safety to the police station of the

66 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

Thirty-fifth Precinct. Thus all the inmates of the asylum received shelter for the night at either the Twentieth or Thirty-fifth Precinct police stations. Many of them were not two years old, and none over twelve. The asylum was totally destroyed, and several persons were injured by falling walls. The fire loss was estimated at $35,000. The Windsor As the St. Patrick's day parade swept up Fifth Avenue, on the Hotel Fire afternoon of March 17, 1899, a bareheaded man, his clothing, face, and hands blackened with smoke, ploughed wildly through the throng in front of the Windsor Hotel in his effort to reach the other side of the Avenue. An alert policeman grabbed him and hauled him back to the sidewalk, gesticulating and stammering incoherently. The noise of a passing band drowned his words, and the policeman, be- wildered, was holding him tightly, when he stabbed the air with his hand in the direction of the Windsor Hotel right behind. Looking around, the officer saw great clouds of smoke and flame belching from the windows on the second floor. The hotel was on fire!

The alarm then given was the prelude to the most terrible fire which has occurred on Fifth Avenue. Fourteen persons were killed and fifty injured.

The Windsor Hotel, a dignified building of seven stories, occupied the whole block on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets. About 3 p.m. many of the hotel's windows were filled with interested spectators of the parade. It was said that one of the front parlors on the second floor was occupied by a man who was alone and who lit a cigar and carelessly tossed the match out the open window. It hit the window curtains while still burning, and instantly they were ablaze. The man lost his head completely and bolted from the room without trying to put out the fire or give the alarm. When the head waiter happened to go by the door a few minutes later, the smell of smoke attracted his attention, and, looking into the parlor, he saw the curtains and window casing a mass of flame, while the tongues were rapidly licking up the side of the room. Rushing in, he strove to put out the blaze, but it had too much headway. After severely burning his hands, he jumped into the corridor and leaped down the stairs yelling "Fire!" Reaching the crowded sidewalk, he started across the Avenue for the nearest fire alarm box, only to be seized by the policeman, as told above.

By the time an alarm was rung the whole street and interior of the hotel was in an uproar. Four alarms were sent in, and brought a big force of fire apparatus. Crowds of paraders and spectators impeded the work of the firemen, and an inadequate supply of water hampered them still more. The peculiar construction of the hotel made it a veritable fire trap. The fire mounted by the wide halls and in and out of the windows until the whole interior of the building was a seething mass of writhing, crackling flame. The hoarse shouts of the firemen, the clanging of gongs, the rumble of the engines, and the frantic screams of those caught within the burning building made a

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

67

horrid medley of sound, while the tragic scenes enacted in the windows of the hotel were never forgotten by those who witnessed them.

Many of the windows of the hotel were jammed with screaming Incidents guests. Now and then a yellow sheet of flame would shoot up like a of the Fire devouring monster over a window filled with blanched faces, and they would disappear into the furnace. Many tried to slide down fire escape ropes, which were in every bedroom, but the friction burned the skin from their hands, and they fell into the street. Others lost their heads and in wild panic jumped from the windows. Some were caught in nets, others were fatally crushed or maimed for life on the flagging.

A woman with a baby in her arms stood at one window imploring help, while the flames were leaping up to the sill from the lower floor. Finally she lost her reason and, hurling the infant into the street, jumped after it. Another richly dressed woman lifted her arms helplessly heavenward from a window on the fourth floor and then leaped, turning several times in the air before she struck the iron rail- ing below. A trained nurse stopped two men frantically hunting for a fire escape, telling them there was one in her room. They rushed after her, but when they were inside they saw no fire escape but a crippled old woman in a wheel-chair, and the brave nurse, backing against the closed door, demanded that they help her rescue her patient. Roused by her spirit, the men took hold, and the quartet reached the open air safely.

Worked to a frenzy by such scenes, the firemen labored like heroes, and many gallant rescues were made. The loss -of life would have been much smaller had those at the windows kept their heads and refrained from jumping. Before dark the hotel was a blackened heap of smoking ruins, with but one wall standing, which soon "slid down to its base like a closing fan." And not until seven in the evening was the fire fully under control and near-by property out of danger. Palatial business structures, among which is that of W. & J. Sloane, now occupy the site.

Though much less spectacular than the Windsor Hotel fire, that which occurred at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on December 10, 1872, was even more fatal, for twenty-two people were suffocated before the fire was extinguished. It started about 11. 15 p.m., December 9, 1872, in the upper story on the 23d Street side, and by midnight the entire 23d Street side was ablaze.

The cause was unknown, but it originated in the elevator or stairs leading to the laundry on the top floor. Many of the guests were in bed when the fire broke out, and the appearance of firemen dragging hose up the stairs and through corridors was the first inkling many had of the danger. A panic ensued. The guests, throwing on their clothes, hastily gathered their belongings and rushed downstairs. Only by great efforts did the firemen save the hotel.

Having the fire nearly all out, they made a room-to-room inspection of the building. Entering a room known as "the cock-loft," high

Fifth Avenue Hotel Fire

68

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

St. Thomases Church Fire

From a print. Leslie's Weekly.

THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL FIRE.

Showing the discovery of the victims in the servants' dormitory by the firemen.

up under the roof, where slept the maids and laundry women, one of the firemen tripped over something on the floor and fell. Throwing the dim rays of their lantern about the room, the firemen saw that the floor nearest the only window was piled with charred and blackened bodies. With the stairs leading to the twelve-by-twelve sleeping room on fire, the only way of escape had been the window which opened on the hotel roof, and this window was barred. Evidences were every- where of the frightful struggle the women had made in their frantic endeavors to escape. They had fought and screamed to force the bars on the window, but one by one they had dropped, overcome by the deadly smoke and heat, and were slowly strangled and burned to death. At half-past two in the morning, twenty-two corpses had been removed by the firemen and police. The bodies were taken out the 23d Street door to the morgue. And yet not two years before, the attic room had been inspected by the New York Superintendent of Buildings and pronounced safe! The loss was estimated at from ^75,000 to ^100,000, mostly caused by water.

St. Thomas's Episcopal Church at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 53d Street — the predecessor of the church now standing — was destroyed by fire on August 8, 1905. Poor insulation of the electric wiring which supplied power to the great organ was supposed to have caused the fire. Fifty fire companies labored to save the

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 69

church, but despite their efforts it was practically ruined, while the residences of Dr. Seward Webb and H. McK. Twombly, which adjoined it to the north, suffered much damage from water. Both of these, as well as John D. Rockefeller's house at 4 West 54th Street, were in danger of catching before the fire in the church was under control.

Four alarms were sent in, bringing a lot of apparatus to the scene; but the firemen were handicapped by scarcity of water and hydrants, and Chief Croker stated that delay in sending in the alarm by the police made it impossible for the church to be saved.

A weird incident of the fire occurred when the big tenor bell of the Dirges peal chimes given the church by Thomas W. Walter suddenly began to ^1^°^^ ^^^ toll a mournful dirge high above the raging flames, as if bewailing the ^^^'"^^^ destruction of its home. The cause was a powerful stream of water thrown from the top of a ladder upon the bell. The distress of the pigeons which for years had nested in the spire was plainly evident, as they circled and wheeled distractedly, crying around the blazing tower.

The fire loss was about ^300,000, two-thirds covered by insurance; but the world of art suffered an irreparable loss in the destruction of John LaFarge's two masterpieces of painting, "Christ Healing the Sick" and "The Resurrection," and Augustus Saint-Gaudens's famous • bronze bas-relief, "The Adoration of the Cross."

The church was built in 1870 and was one of the most imposing buildings in the city. The famous architect, Upjohn, was the designer, and he considered it his masterpiece. It was of Gothic architecture, built of brownstone, and cost almost a million dollars. Its congrega- tion was one of the wealthiest in New York and numbered over three thousand persons. In this church Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt wedded the Duke of Marlborough, and Miss May Goelet the Duke of Rox- burghe, while among other noted marriages held within its walls were those of Senator Clarke's daughter Catherine and Lewis R. Morris, and Miss Pauline Whitney and Almeric Paget. The rector at the time of the fire was the Rev. Dr. Ernest M. Stires.

OTHER EVENTS ON FIFTH AVENUE

Events that have been worthy of note include the opening of an amusement place — Franconi's Hippodrome in 1853; the dedication of the Worth Monument the following year; the dedication of St. Patrick's Cathedral, one of the most impressive religious ceremonies ever performed in New York City; and the opening in 191 1 of the New York Public Library, on which occasion President William H. Taft and other distinguished speakers assembled to observe the occasion.

A great amusement place known as Franconi's Hippodrome, the Opening of forerunner of Madison Square Garden, was opened by a syndicate of Franconi's American showmen on May 2, 1853, at the corner of Fifth Avenue Hippodrome and 23d Street, where the Fifth Avenue Building now is. This was

yo

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

The

Tournament

_ 0/ " The

Field of the

Cloth of

Gold''

Laying of

the Corner

Stone of the

Washington

Monument

an arena enclosed by brick walls twenty feet high, three hundred feet by two hundred In Its Interior dimensions, containing an oval race- track forty feet wide, of eight laps to the mile. Ninety thousand square feet of canvas roofed the arena, and a thousand gaslights Illuminated It by night. Parterres of verdure were laid out In the centre of the arena. Inside the track, and Illuminated fountains and beautiful vases of flowers were scattered amid the green parterres. The Hip- podrome seated about 6,000 people, and 3,000 could find standing room.

Before half-past seven In the evening of May 2, every available bit of space In the Hippodrome was jammed with a crowd of nearly 10,000 people; according to a contemporary paper the greatest crowd that had ever assembled In a building In the city up to that time. There was a wild stampede for seats, and many people were knocked down and hurt In the crush. The performance was given by a com- pany of one hundred and forty people. Including thirty women. Eighty horses were used, ten ostriches, five camels, four deer, two elephants, and a swarm of monkeys. There were hurdle races be- tween monkeys riding ponies, steeplechase races between ostriches, a six-horse race driven by young women, performances by a "dancing horse," chariot racing with women drivers, a grand tournament rep- resenting the days of chivalry, and a pageant.

The tournament was dubbed "The Field of the Cloth of Gold," and ninety characters appeared In It, representing Kings Henry VHI of England and Francis I of France and their nobles and retainers. The array marched around the track and then halted, the heralds sounded their trumpets, and the gallant knights after challenging each other to combat charged with levelled lances or engaged with sword and battle-axe. A most clever performance was that of a horse, which, feigning death, was borne off the field on a hurdle. Finally a knight In black armor who had unhorsed all his opponents was awarded the victor's prize by the "Queen of Beauty," and the tournament ended with a flourish of trumpets.

"A grand fete procession In honor of Ceres" was another feature of the performance. The goddess sat upon a car decorated with figures of the Muses and cast golden grain to right and left as she was borne along In stately procession. Four Muses grouped about her re- volved on a pedestal as the car rolled along. Loud applause greeted this novel spectacle.

Although the great crowd attending the opening night gave every promise of the venture's being a success, the management lost money steadily, and In 1855 the Hippodrome was razed to make room for the Fifth Avenue Hotel.

One of the early processions In New York about which few New Yorkers know anything, was that In celebration of the laying of the corner stone of the Ill-fated Washington Monument In Hamilton Square on October 19, 1847. Hamilton Square extended from Fifth to Third Avenues, 66th to 68th Streets, but at the time of the celebration

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

71

mk

••* «l AT

From a print. Collection of the late Amos F. Eno.

THE INTERIOR OF FRANCONFS HIPPODROME.

Fifth Avenue had not been carried through to Hamilton Square. The foundation of the Washington Monument was laid near the Third Avenue side of the Square. Ill success attended the monument; it was never built beyond the foundation, and the contributions toward its erection were returned to the donors.

The parade was composed of military and civic organizations, including societies, the fire department, foreign diplomats, and promi- nent men from difi'erent parts of the country; numbered 15,000 to 20,000 persons, and took two hours and three-quarters to pass. Led by Major-General Frederick Pentz as marshal, it started from City Hall Park and went up Broadway to 14th Street to Third Avenue to Hamilton Square. The Mexican War was then raging, and the crowd was greatly interested in a mountain battery known as Captain Thistle's Mounted Artillery, "consisting of guns on the backs of horses. . . ."

A float drawn by six white horses carried a bust of Washington on a pedestal. Thirteen young women, in white dresses and liberty caps and carrying star-tipped wands, were grouped around it to represent the thirteen original states. A canopy of American flags surmounted by an eagle covered the float.

It had been ordered that the fire department should turn off at 23d Street and return via Fifth Avenue and Hudson Street to its quarters.

72

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

"in order that, from prudential motives, the apparatus might not be taken so far from the city as yid Street." A mob of hoodlums gathered at the corner of 23 d Street, cheering the companies that refused to turn off and hooting, jeering, and offering forcible resist- ance to the firemen who obeyed the regulation. Blows were struck, and for some time there was a disgraceful scene of turmoil and confusion. Dedication The Worth Monument, which stands on a triangular plot bounded o//A^ by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, 24th and 25th Streets, was dedicated frorth November 25, 1857, to the memory of Major-General William J. onumen -y^orth, the Mexican War commander who had distinguished himself at Cherubusco and Chapultepec, and died on June 7, 1849, at San Antonio, Texas.

The designer and builder of the monument was James G. Batter- son. November 25, 1857, was chosen as the day of dedication, it being the seventy-fourth anniversary of the evacuation of New York by the British. President Buchanan and his Cabinet, Governor John A. King, and other notables were invited to be present, but the President could not accept. Rev. Francis Vinton, D.D., of Trinity Church assisted in the ceremonies.

A procession of national guardsmen. Masonic organizations, and distinguished citizens moved up Broadway about noon from the City Hall, where the remains had lain in state under guard of a detachment of the Seventy-first New York Regiment, and passed through Fifth Avenue from 13th Street to the monument at 25th Street. Mayor Fernando Wood delivered an oration at the monument, after which Grand Master Robert Macoy of the Grand Lodge of New York Masons gave the dedicatory address.

Curiously enough, the programme of the dedication ceremonies announced that "All persons desiring to have relics placed in the box . . . can do so by forwarding them to Alderman Blunt, No. 8 City Hall." This box was placed in the corner stone, and among the articles it contained were General Worth's commission on parchment; newspaper articles on Washington's funeral procession, December 14, 1799; a fragment of the iron chain that was stretched across the Hudson at West Point; many newspapers and printed documents, such as Valentine's "History of New York," 1853, and Valentine's Manual for 1857; Masonic emblems made from the Charter Oak; a medal struck to commemorate the union of the Atlantic with the Erie Canal; a Colt revolving pistol; and a piece of stone from old Fort Putnam.

A view of the ceremonies published by the New York Common Council shows that the General's remains were placed in a receptacle in the base of the monument. The monument was the first one in New York to be completed at the city's expense. It is a granite obelisk, upon which is a high relief of General Worth on horseback. Inscriptions descriptive of his career, and handsome reliefs in bronze adorn the four sides of the monument.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

73

Lithograph by A. Weingariner. Collection of the late Amos F. Eno.

DEDICATION OF THE WORTH MONUMENT.

One of the most impressive religious ceremonies ever held in New Dedication York was the dedication of St. Patrick's Cathedral on May 25, 1879. ^ „ . , The corner stone of this great building had been laid by Archbishop ^^' ^^j^j ^ Hughes twenty-one years before, on August 15, 1858. Cathedral

Before nine o'clock in the morning a great crowd began to gather about the cathedral, but a squad of a hundred and twenty-five police kept perfect order, and only those with tickets were allowed to enter the building. About ten o'clock Cardinal McCloskey with a retinue of bishops and priests marched into the chancel at the rear of the cathedral, the Catholics in the crowd kneeling as he passed. Every pew in the cathedral was filled, but only the dull murmur of the crowd outside broke the silence. Then from the gallery above the Fifth Avenue doorway the great organ pealed forth, and a thurifer with swinging censer advanced into the sanctuary from behind the high altar, followed by a cross-bearer carrying the processional cross.

From either side of the sanctuary appeared a boy garbed in red cassock and white surplice. They met and advanced side by side down the sanctuary and into the middle aisle, followed by pair after pair similarly dressed. The cross-bearer slowly led the way down the aisle to the deep peals of the organ, and then a long line of priests appeared, clad in black cassocks and white surplices, with here and there a Carthusian in brown or a Dominican in white. Two by two the column filed slowly down the aisle toward the Fifth Avenue entrance, and then a sudden burst of bright color broke the monotony of the sombre line. The sanctuary chorus of the Church of St. Paul

74 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS

the Apostle appeared, — boys dressed in purple cassocks with bright

scarlet buttons and white surplices.

Solemn And now the bright sunlight glittered on the cross at the Fifth

Brilhancy Avenue entrance, and still the procession filed from the sacristy.

of the n^Yit bishops came into view, in pontifical robes of gleaming cloth of

eremony ^^^^ ^^^ white mitres, nearly forty in number, with Archbishops

Purcell of Cincinnati and Gibbons of Baltimore at the end of the

line. Next the scarlet cappa of the Prothonotary Apostolic and the

jewelled Episcopal cross of the Cardinal flashed into sight, and then

came the Cardinal himself in gorgeous robes and golden mitre and

bearing a crosier. Attending the Cardinal were seven small boys

in white cassocks and surplices, who closed the procession.

A kaleidoscope of gleaming colors flashed in the sun as the glittering pageant poured out of the main doorway on to the Fifth Avenue sidewalk. Reaching the portal, the Cardinal stopped, said a prayer, and then solemnly blessed the great doorway and sprinkled it with holy water, while the chant of the "Miserere" arose from the chorus. Led by six policemen and the trustees of the Cathedral, the procession passed around the south side of the building and along the east and north sides. The Cardinal walked close to the walls, sprinkling upon the foundations holy water from a golden basin carried by the sexton. The circuit of the cathedral took some fifteen minutes, and then the procession re-entered the Fifth Avenue doorway and moved up the central aisle while the chorus chanted the "Litany of the Saints."

The candles on the altars were lit, and the golden light flashed from polished marble, gleaming precious stones, and shimmering silks of a hundred hues. As the line approached the altar it divided to right and left, each man taking his appointed seat. Soon the side chapels and front of the sanctuary were filled with a solid mass of priests, while the bishops took their seats in double row on either side further up the sanctuary. The Cardinal made the sign of the cross and blessed the Cathedral and the altar, and then to the solemn chant- ing of the choir he walked with his attendants slowly around the inside of the walls, blessing them and sprinkling holy water as he went. This ended the dedication ceremonies, and the regular services were then held. Bishop Ryan of St. Louis preaching the sermon and Cardinal McCloskey singing the mass. Opening of The formal opening of the New York Public Library on May 23, the New York 1911, was attended by some five or six hundred persons, including Public many people of eminence. A small crowd gathered outside on Fifth Library Avenue to watch the arrival of the dignitaries, but the occasion did not attract the public notice it deserved.

President Taft and the other speakers arrived before two o'clock and assembled in the trustees' room on the second floor. A half- circle of seats had been erected in the main vestibule facing a tem- porary platform, and on these the invited spectators took their seats. It was quite an exclusive gathering such as might have graced a college commencement ceremony. The general public was not admitted.

FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS ' " ">5

Soon after two o'clock "The Star-Spangled Banner" crashed out from a band in the rotunda, and the music rolled in deafening waves through the huge deserted corridors. The audience stood, and down the stairway on the left of the vestibule slowly came a double file of men. The librarian, Dr. John S. Billings, and his assistant, Edward H. Anderson, headed the procession. Next came Governor Dix and Trustee George L. Rives, Mayor Gaynor and Morgan J. O'Brien, Bishop Greer and Archbishop Farley, Andrew Carnegie, and other noted men. President Taft and John Bigelow, President of the New York Public Library, closed the procession, walking arm in arm. At the sight of the nation's head and the venerable Mr. Bigelow, the oldest man in public life at that time, the audience broke into loud applause.

The speakers took their seats in a double row on the platform. In Speakers the front row sat Park Commissioner Stover, Mayor Gaynor, John L. at the Cadwallader, President Taft, John Bigelow, Governor Dix, Bishop Opening Greer, Archbishop Farley, George L. Rives, Thomas Hastings of Carrere & Hastings, the building's architects, and Dr.' Billings. Prayer was offered by Bishop Greer. Mr. Bigelow presided, and in- troduced Mr. Rives as the first speaker. The latter sketched the history of the public library, and was followed by Architect Hastings, who formally turned over the keys of the building to Park Com- missioner Stover. Mr. Stover delivered them to Mayor Gaynor, who handed them to Mr. Bigelow. Each made a brief address as he re- ceived the keys.

Mr. Bigelow spoke of the period, then sixty years ago, when the Astor Library was established, saying: —

"This was the first free library ever established in New York. To illustrate the library poverty of our city in the decade of that cen- tury which the Astor Library was destined to distinguish, I may here mention an experience of my own. In the study of an article I was preparing for a magazine of the period I needed to consult a Greek authority, not strictly a classic. I could not find it in any bookstore nor in private or public collection. The only copy to be found in this city or state was in the library of Columbia College, then flourishing in Warren Street. ..."

Governor Dix spoke briefly in praise of the Library, and President Taft concluded the addresses in clear tones which made his the only speech of the. occasion which the furthest-distant auditors could hear in entirety. He specially congratulated the library oflftcials upon the excellent book circulation system, declaring it unrivalled any- where.

The exercises closed with a benediction by Archbishop Farley, and then the doors were opened to the public.

Fifth Avenue has been the scene of recent events of world-wide importance. Among these are the Suflfrage parade, the demonstration in favor of Preparedness and the recent departure of the State Troops either to various training camps or to the Mexican border. But

i^^^^'-^'-'-' ^FfFTH AVENUE EVENTS

these have occurred so recently, that they are still fresh in the mind of every one. An account of them, therefore, has been omitted. In years to come. Fifth Avenue, which we have learned has been the scene of so many interesting events of national importance, will no doubt be the setting of future events of civic importance and perhaps of even greater national interest than these herein narrated.

I

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14 DAY USE

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on the date to which renewed.

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