A tour around New York, and My summer acre; being the recreations of MrFelix Oldboy . ed to reach down to the river, and outsidewere sunny fields and a wide stretch of beach. Now,streets have been extended west of the prison site andfar into the river, and buildings cover them, while be-yond the new river line the great iron steamships ofmodern commerce nestle against the wharves. It ishalf a century since the inmates of the old prison weretransferred to Sing Sing ; and the city, excepting a fewold people born in Greenwich Village or Chelsea, haveforgotten all about the former home of the conv
A tour around New York, and My summer acre; being the recreations of MrFelix Oldboy . ed to reach down to the river, and outsidewere sunny fields and a wide stretch of beach. Now,streets have been extended west of the prison site andfar into the river, and buildings cover them, while be-yond the new river line the great iron steamships ofmodern commerce nestle against the wharves. It ishalf a century since the inmates of the old prison weretransferred to Sing Sing ; and the city, excepting a fewold people born in Greenwich Village or Chelsea, haveforgotten all about the former home of the convict. I never pass by the old prison walls but I thinkof a little episode that had its scene there, whichdeveloped a great deal of human nature. A youngman had committed forgery and had been sentenced to A TOUR AROUND NEW YORK 39 death. The preparations were all made for the execu-tion, which was to take place in Washington Square,and a large crowd had gathered, when news came thata reprieve had been granted at the last hour. Therewere many bitter expressions of disappointment from. THE STATE PRISON the sight-seers, among whom was a boy who subse-quently told me the story. It appeared that some be-nevolent and active members of the Society of Friendshad become interested in the criminal; and had securedthe commutation of his sentence to imprisonment forlife. Overjoyed at his escape from the gallows, theyoung man made himself a model prisoner, and wassoon placed in charge of a shoe-shop, where he paradedup and down, rattan in hand, between the benches, andproved himself a terror to his fellow-convicts. Virtuehas its reward. The kindly Quakers left no stone un-turned until they had secured his pardon, and then thedevout convert was set up in a shoe-shop of his own,where he handled the thee and thou and thecash to perfection. At last he had become a man ofconsequence among the Quakers and a man of markin the business community, and then he saw his op- 40 A TOUR AROUND NEW YORK port
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnewyorknybuildingsst
