The corner in question was the intersection of Second and Diamond streets--Diamond Street, of course, now being Columbia Street. On October 21, the Daily Evening Register reported the disturbing story of a baby falling into the sewer.
Two days later, on October 23, the Daily Evening Register reported on a resolution before the Common Council to install a street lamp--an arc lamp--at the corner of Diamond and Second streets. The resolution failed because providing a street lamp at Diamond and Second streets required taking it from where it was already installed, on East Court Street, "between the Reformatory and the Court House." The majority of the aldermen believed that a street lamp was a necessity "on the avenue leading to the State House of Refuge."
The House of Refuge, a reformatory for women, had been established just two years earlier, in 1887, at the southern end of East Court Street, where the Hudson Correctional Facility is located today.
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| Photo source: Prison Public Memory Project |
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK
A mother was bathing her baby one night
ReplyDeleteThe youngest of ten, and a tiny young mite
The mother was poor and the baby was thin
Only a skeleton covered with skin
The mother turned round for the soap off the rack
She was but a moment, but when she looked back
Her baby was gawn and in anguish she cried
'Oh where is my baby?' The Angels replied,
Chorus: 'Your baby has gone down the plug-hole
Your baby has gone down the plug
The poor little thing was so skinny and thin
It should have been washed in a jug
Your baby is ever so happy
He won't need a bath any more
Your baby has gone down the plughole
Not lost but gone before.'