6/25/2021 - American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Ledger for the 27th Precinct, New York. 10 x 15.5, marbled paper boards, tape replacing leather corners, newer leather stitched to spine. 341pp. (340 numbered, 4 unnumb., 1st page blank). Tuesday, Nov. 15, 1864 to Friday, Dec. 30, 1864. First pages have neatly written "Day Beats, Special Duty, Night Beats." Beyond those pages, each day has a "running" account of each day, who is coming, who is going, who is in command. As arrests are made there are paragraphs for each including Name, Age, "Race", where born, occupation, married/single, whether or not the person can read and/or write and the charge. If there is anything else, it is usually added later. For example, a couple of people had larger sums of money on them which the police took for safe keeping. At the end of each day there is a summary which includes how many lost children they had, how many "lodgers" (residents in jail), male and female, and total force that day, usually just over or under 60. Nov. 25 was a bad day for children. Three were lost that day.

The majority of the charges are "GL" (Grand Larceny?), "PL" (Petit Larceny), intoxication, "Dis" (disorderly?), "Con" (conduct? - does not always appear with the former), A&B, vagrancy. On Nov. 21, Henry Stull, born in Germany, was charged with "attempt to take a life." Later that evening there was a person charged with smuggling and another with felonious assault - what a Monday! There are a few other felonious assault charges, including one on Nov. 23 by another German. There are a few smuggling and habitual drunkenness charges as well. One entry in Dec. 12 is a bit unusual: Ca 1 am - Fire in Jersey City - members of the #40 & 55 "Commenced a fight in which Pistols was freely used wounding a number. Two Parties was arrested both being wounded. John Grimes was injured by a blow from Firemens Trumpet."

Although the 27th precinct has not existed since the fire service was reorganized in 1926, it was in existence in 1864, just at the end of the Civil War. From the arrests, this seems to have been an Irish and German neighborhood. Only a few who were arrested were noted as born in the U.S. It may seem like a stereotype, but many of the arrests for intoxication were Irish, including women, but most of the population seems to have been Irish. There are two cases of women arrested for intoxication one evening. They are both described as prostitutes, but that information is where the occupation generally is. They were not arrested for prostitution, but for intoxication. There are certainly many other elements of 19th century culture embedded in these 340+ pages.