Читать книгу The New York Tombs Inside and Out!. Scenes and Reminiscences Coming Down to the Present. A Story Stranger Than Fiction, with an Historic Account of America's Most Famous Prison онлайн

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In the year 1830 the Common Council again took up the matter of erecting a new prison. The population of the city had increased by this time to over 200,000. The old Bridewell which had been erected before the Revolution, situated west of the City Hall, had become a nuisance and was unfit any longer for use as a prison. For several years the agitation was kept up without any definite results. At last in 1835 the erection of the Tombs Prison on a part of the old Collect Pond was decided upon and work begun.

For over a year the construction of the new building was slow, as the filling in of the pond had not been properly done. The ground was so wet and “springy” that the foundation of the new prison had to be laid on pine logs fastened to the ground by spiles.

The old Tombs was said to contain the purest specimen of Coptic architecture outside of Egypt and was admired as a splendid work of art.

The style of this prison was decided on soon after the publication of a new book of travels by John L. Stevens, of Hoboken. Mr. Stevens had just returned from a visit to Egypt and the Holy Land and had given to the public the result of his impressions abroad in a handsome volume. As the author was well known in New York, his book became widely popular. On the front page was a picture of an Egyptian Tomb. Some suggested that the new city prison be built after this design. The Common Council accepted the suggestion. Ever since the city prison has been called “The Tombs.”