EAL  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





Vol. XXVIII.





NEW YOKE, SATUEDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1881.





No. 716





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Kbcord Association

TERMS;
Oi\E YEAR, lu advance.....$6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY'Busmess Manager.





Although there is one day less to report,
due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the an¬
nexed official list shows an increase in the
number of conveyances, in the amount paid
and the mortgages taken over the previous
week. Still the figures show that there is
no boom under way in real estate.







Week




N.Y.




Am't.




No.




No. 23d




Am't.




No.





end




City




in-     Nom-




&24th




in¬




nom¬





mg.




Cons.




voived




inal




Wards.




volved.




inal.





Sept.









$














$










14




75




809.074




25




12




24,450










21




111




1,381,992




36




16




45.928




6





28




89




1,355,333




21




19




90,593




4





Oct.



































0




1.^7




3.200,444




34




15




15,400




8





12




157




2.007.448




39




21




.38.289




3





19




159




1,696.607




52




18




64,000




6





2n




146




1,720.325




44




21




213,871




6





Nov.



































2




192




3,103.469




44




20




25,725




4





9




151




2,953.416




37




14




71,300




1





16




185




3,078,525




45




35




! 6,9.53




7





•23




173




2,046,389




51




22




174,385




6





30




175




2,284,165




48




12




55,202




1





Week Mort-




Am't.




No.




Am't.




No. to




Am't





end-




gag¬




in¬




Five




in¬




T.&




m-





ing.




es.




volved, per ct.




volved.




nsCos. vol veil.





Sept.









$









$









$





14




108




79S.153




13




224,700




17




227.900





21




149




1,159,231




29




235,681




28




464.450





28




117




1,076.874




29




469,100




27




562,500





Oct.



































5




169




1,310,982




35




334,900




31




378.700





13




152




1,531,8.56




28




285.611




29




549,175





19




174




1,486.930




36




334,038




30




480,250





26




298




1,741,258




35




377,632




51




687,000





Sov.



































2




241




1,866,805




65




466.500




41




375,000





9




204




2,331,630




42




787.250




25




371.01)1





16




196




5.413.6,50




36




595,200




39     3,748,300





23




156




1,104,452




40




318,600




22




264,000





30




157




1,508,576




35




339,145




39




.543,872





It is a singular fact that vrhen such des¬
peradoes as Billy the Kid, Younger Boys,
the James brothers and others of that ilk, so
well known in Kansas and Missouri in con¬
nection with all kinds of. crimes, have killed
a man, that the victim nearly every time has
been shot in the back. These fellovi^s always
take their man at a disadvantage. One of
these characters, who in his time killed
sixteen men, started his career by killing a
teamster, who, feeling himself aggrieved at
an insult, drew a pistol and was about to
shoot, when the desperado called out, "You
are a pretty man to draw a pistol on an un¬
armed man!" The teamster, who was an
honest fellow, recognizing the force of the
remark, threw away his weapon, and doub¬
ling up his fists replied, "No; I'll give it to
you this way." As soon as the ruffian had
his man at this disadvantage he drew his
own pistol and shot the teamster dead. This
is about all the bravery that such men have;
if, fully armed, they can only get at an un¬
armed man, they are all right, and it is only
when cornered like a rat that they show real
fight.

The Eastern railroad desperado, represent¬
ed by such men as Field, Gould and Sage, is
a man of pretty much the same calibre. He
swaggers, blusters and threatens his victims,





calls out to them to throw away their weap¬
ons, then picks them up himself turns
on his prey and shoots. Gould, Field and
Sage called out to the Manhattan stockhold¬
ers, throw away your worthless stuff, it is
good for nothing. Then to heighten the force
of this appeal, Gould and Sage raade oath
(perjuring themselves) that in their opinion
this stock was worthless. Having once got¬
ten their victims to throw it away they pick¬
ed it up, and this worthless stuff is now
safely lodged in the boxes of the trium¬
virate.

-------«--------

HOW THINGS LOOK.
The country is undeniably prosperous,
about that there is no mistake whatever.
Railroad earnings, despite the war, are the
largest ever known; very few bad debts are
made, labor is fully employed and well
rewarded, i:nmigration is phenomenally
large, and all classes of the community are
making and saving money. True, our
export trade has fallen off, and yet some
gold continues to come from Paris and
London; then we are building new railways
ahead of the demand, and some time next
year it is possible that it may prove we are
over producing, but for the present there
seenis to be no cloud in the sky.

Ex-Speaker Randall has announced that a
3 per cent, funding bill will be introduced
early in the session and pressed to a vote.
This, of course, will help to cheapen money
and will stimulate speculation. Bonds and
good dividend paying stocks will advance
and the stock market will again become
buoyant. If there is any serious intention
of passing such a bill as that vetoed by
President Hayes last March, we may see a
rampant stock market in naid-winter. A '6
per cent, funding bill would have an un¬
wholesome effect upon prices, and a reaction
would follow that could not but be disas¬
trous. Still, the effect on real estate for the
time being would be stimulating. Natural
causes are, however, at work to advance the
price of realty. A real estate "boom" is
under way in several of the large Western
cities. This is due to the crowding of popu¬
lation to the centres of business, and as this
cause is at work here as well as in Chicago,
Kansas City and Denver, we shall have, in
time, as great a speculative furore here as
anywhere else on the continent. Recent
IDrices for New York property are very low,
in view of the competition for the limited
amount of land on this island, which is sure
to develop itself in time.

----------------<-•->----------------

The exchanges for the past few weeks
show an increase over the remarkably large
business of last year, when a vigorous stock
speculation was under full headway. While
stock speculation has fallen ofl, there is a
heavy gain in all the manufacturing centres,
such as Pittsburg, Cleveland, Providence,
Worcester and Lowell. There is a rapid
development of manufacturing industry all
over the country. Railway stocks had the
* call this time last year, the stocks of manu¬





facturing companies this year. Cleveland
shows an advance of 50 per cent, over last
year, and Pittsburg of 56 per cent., New
York, Chicago and Baltimore show a falling
off in the exchanges compared with the
corresponding two weeks business last year.
The steadiness and rise in the price of iron
and coal tells the story of the impetus given
to the manufacturing industry and the
building of new railways in all parts of the
country.





ANOTHER OLD LANDMARK TO BE

REMOVED.
The great tide of building that has been
sweeping over our city for the past year has
been reducing the landmarks of " ye ancient
time," until the Knickerbocker of three¬
score years can scarcely find the well-known
spots of his youth. The old family man¬
sions have one by one been torn down as the
march of improvement has been advancing.
Men that were boys less than fifty years ago
may recall the many old residences that
fronted on the East River, and which had
their entrances on the old Boston or Post
road. These mansions were the abode of
the wealthy, and form a striking contrast to
the homes of the rich of the present days,
who are satisfied to live and bring up their
families on a plot of ground 25x100, while
these old New Yorkers had theirs surround¬
ed by broad acres, containing groves of
superb trees, and magnificent drives extend¬
ing all the way from the Boston road to the
doors of their hospitable homes.

Let us glance back at the history of two
of the most famous of these old estates, and
see how they finally became blended into
one, which is now owned by the fourth
generation, who are about to remove the
last remaining vestige of their past grandeur
to make way for the inevitable brick and
mortar that must so soon cover every foot
of ground on this island.

The Hardenbrook estate consisted of about
18 acres of ground, commencing at what is
now Third avenue, between Sixty-third and
Sixty-fourth streets, and extending in the
form of a belt to the East River, gradually
widening as it approached the river front.
This property was conveyed by Ann Harden¬
brook, in the year 1817, to the New York
Hospital for $11,600, who in the following
year sold it to Peter Schermorliorn, Jr., for
114,000. Mr. Schermerhorn named his
newly acquired property the Belmont Farm,
and the title to the major portion of it is
retained by his descendants up to the present
time.

The Louvre Farm extended from what is
now Third avenue, between Sixty-seventh
and Seventy-fourth streets, to the East River.
As far back as 1743, the larger portion of this
farm, notably that part adjacent to the river
front, belonged to David Provost, and re¬
mained in the possession of his family until
about 1787 when the title to it was acquired
by John Jones. In the deed to him the
right to use the family vault and the
^ entrance thereto was reserved, and in this