Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Compliments of CURTICE p. BROS. CO. V Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection O OMETIME you may want to move, store or pack your household goods so don't forget that we have the largest and best warehouse outside of New York City. Also the largest and best moving vans and always keep experi- enced men to pack and handle your goods. Metropolitan Warehouse Co., A. R. Sheffer, Pres. 359 State Street ALLIANCE BANK ALLIANCE BANK BUILDING, CORNER MAIN STREET, EAST. AND STONE STREET, ROCHESTER, N. Y. Capital $ 275,000.00 Surplus and Profits 184,292.35 Deposits 5,222,721.06 INTEREST PAID ON SPECIAL DEPOSITS ....OFFICERS.... Hobart F. Atkinson, President; James G. Cutler Vice-President; Albert O. Fenn. Vice-President and Cashier; John P. Palmer, First Assistant Cashier; Charles A. Elwood. Assistant Cashier; Charles L. Barton, Assistant Cashier. ....DIRECTORS.... Hobart F. Atkinson, James G. Cutler. Hiram W. Sibley, George Eastman, Albert 0 Fenn Charles E. Angle. John C. Woodbury, Fernando E. Rogers, Abram J. Katz, James S. Watson, Thomas W. Finucane, Walter S. Hubbell. Henry A. Strong. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection ROCHESTER IN 1S27, SHOWING FIRST COURT-HOUSE Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection HISTORY OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT OF ROCHESTER, N. Y. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO MAY I, 1903 WITH A RECORD OF THE PRINCIPAL CRIMES COMMITTED A DESCRIPTION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS CONNECTED WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND LISTS OF THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE FORCE FROM THE BEGINNING AND OF OFFICIALS CONNECTED WITH THE DEPARTMENT BY WILLIAM F. PECK PUBLISHED BY THE ROCHESTER POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION 1903 Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Difficulty of Obtaining Information regarding the Early Police—The First Newspapers—The Tardy Settlement of Rochester—Unhealthfulness of the Locality—Preliminary History—The Phelps and Gorham Purchase — The Mill Yard—The First Buildings of Rochester. CHAPTER II THE SETTLEMENT OF ROCHESTER The One-Hundred-Acre Tract—Its Purchase by Rochester, Fitzhugh and Carroll—Efforts to Start Elsewhere—Naming of the Future City—The First Dwelling Erected -Fourth of July Celebrated—Town Constables of Gates. CHAPTER III ROCHESTER A VILLAGE The Village Charter—The First Board of Trustees—Other Officers Elected— The Street Patrol—The Night Watch -Birth of the Police Department - Formation of Monroe County—The First Court-House—The First Jail. CHAPTER IV CRIME IN ROCHESTER The First Burglary -The Evil of Intemperance—The First Homicide —Name of the Village Changed—Part of Brighton Annexed to Rochester -The Tread-Mill Advocated—Attempted J-iil Delivery -A Singular Forgery— Increase of Power of the Trustees—The Morgan Abduction CHAPTER V THE GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE Ordinances of the Board of Trustees—Morality Strictly Maintained—Village Constables—Basil Hall's "Travels in North America "—His Description of Rochester—Phenomenal Activity of the Village—Sam Patch's Leap to Death—Sabbatarian Agitation—The Second Jail Built. CHAPTER VI ROCHESTER A CITY The First Officers of the Municipality — The New Charter — The City Marshal — Organisation of the Watchmen — Location of Police Office and Lock-up—The Question of Licenses—Friction between the Mayor and the Common Council—Resignation of Mayor Child. CHAPTER VII THE NIGHT WATCH A Quiet City under Mayor Gould — Capt. Dana's Watch Book — Arrests Made by the Night Watch — Regulations for their Guidance — Their Duties-Lighting the Lamps—The Cry of the Watch—The Constables- Evolution of the Police Force. CHAPTER VIII THE FIRST MURDER The Slaying of William Lyman — Excitement in the Community — The Trial of Octavius Barron — His Conviction and Execution — Austin Squires Kills his Wife, and Pays the Penalty-Trial of Dr. Hardenbrook for the Murder of Thomas Nott—The Rochester Knockings—Riot at Corinthian Hall. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection HISTORY OF POLICE DEPARTMENT CHAPTER IX REFORMATORY, JURIDICAL, CORRECTIONAL The Western House of Refuge — The Second Court-House — Laying its Corner-Stone — Murder Trial of Maurice Antonio — Conviction and Execution —Monroe County Penitentiary—Home for Idle and Truant Children. CHAPTER X THE DEPARTMENT GETS A CHIEF Amendments to the Charter —The First Chief of Police — Increase of the Force — Disappearance of Emma Moore — Police Troubles in Know- Nothing Times — The Murder Trial of Martin Eastwood — Ira Stout's Murder of Littles—Full History of the Crime—Trial of John B. Robertson. CHAPTER XI THE DEPARTMENT REORGANISED Board of Police Commissioners — Their Powers and Duties — Clerk of the Board—Increase of the Force — Roundsmen Appointed — Captain of Night Police — Grade of Lieutenant Created — The Sunday-Closing Question —The Civil Service Law—The Board Declines to Act under It. CHAPTER XII THE HAND OF BLOOD The Orton Murder—The Messner Murder - The Montgomery Murder—Death of 'Squire Moore— The Heffner Homicide—The Howard Riot—The City Hall—The Front Street Building—Female Suffrage—The John Clark Murder — Three Murders in one Summer — Extensive Jail- Breaking— Death of Captain Sullivan —The Lutz Murder— The Semi-Centennial. CHAPTER XIII THE SECOND HALF CENTURY Changes in the Force — Mysterious Falsehood of a Suicide — The Bank Forgeries — Erection of the Present Jail — Murder near Avon —Alibi Established by Burglary - The Gorham Street Riot — The Stone Murder—The O'Neil Murder —The Street Car Strike — The Shooting of Stoddard—The Day Murder Plenty of other Murders - The Third Court-House—Laying the Corner Stone -Description of the Building- Police Headquarters—Dorthy's Career—The Jury Commissioner The Smith Murder. CHAPTER XIV UNDER THE WHITE CHARTER Police Provisions of the Charter — Ordinances of the Common Council — The First Commissioner of Public Safety —James D Casey Succeeds James G. Cutler — George A. Gilman Appointed Commissioner — A Record of Crime—The Keating Murder—The Orphan Asylum Fire— The Brown Murder—The Hickey Murder -The Ethel Dingle Tragedy— The McFarlane Murder—The Coal Famine-Statistics for the Past Year. CHAPTER XV THE PRESENT DAY The Departmental Staff —The Civil Service Requirements — The Pension Fund — The Police Benevolent Association — The Police TeletrraDh System—The Bertillon System of Measurement—The Card Svstem— Records at Headquarters—The Police Bulletin—The Book of Rules CHAPTER XVI THK CIVIL LIST BIOGRAPHICAL Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection CHAPTER I Introductory DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING INFORMATION REGARDING THE EARLY POLICE —THE FIRST NEWSPAPERS — THE TARDY SETTLEMENT OF ROCHESTER — UNHEALTH- FULNESS OF THE LOCALITY—PRELIMINARY HISTORY — THE PHELPS AND GORHAM PURCHASE — THE MILL- YARD— THE FIRST BUILDINGS IN ROCHESTER. It is well known to most of those who will read this book that Rochester is one of the youngest cities in this part of the United States, so youthful, in fact, that a daughter of the founder from whom it derives its name is still living among us. Therefore, a history of its police department, as extending over a much shorter duration of time, must necessarily be less voluminous than in the case of many smaller municipalities whose antiquity gives to the historian a wider scope for his researches. But the difficulty lies not so much in the scarcity of incidents, of events, in the early days, as in the indifference of those who might have recorded the facts near the time of occurrence and thus have preserved for use at this day, and up to this day, information that is now wholly lost or is obtainable only in disconnected fragments. One would suppose that the local newspapers of that age— the Rochester Gazette, published by Dauby & Sheldon, the initial number appearing April 3, 1816, and the Rochester Telegraph, established by Everard Peck & Co. July 7, 1818— would have kept a chronicle of the weekly happenings, the crimes, the accidents, the meetings, the new buildings erected, and other incidents that must have interested, and that almost vitally, the inhabitants of the little community. But, no; of all those things practically nothing, while both journals are filled, besides their advertisements, with long accounts of some trivial accident in Skaneateles or some ordinary fire in Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection HISTORY OF POLICE DEPARTMENT New Orleans, with verbose letters from the Burmese mission or minute descriptions of Arctic voyages, while the attractive personality of Napoleon Bonaparte, then in the evening of his life at St. Helena, furnished an inexhaustible theme of narration. The reason for this singular omission of what was most important and was " close to men's business and bosoms," while dilating upon the remote and the disconnected, is conjectural, but probably it lies in the fact that the journalists of those days considered that their readers must be already familiar with the home events, and so there was no need of describing them, while all would be benefited by the reception of information that could not possibly be obtained from personal observation or from gossip with their neighbors. The effect of this peculiar conception is permanent. The searcher of the present