City that never sleeps; What up?

[Grant Barrett]

On Sunday, October 03, 1999, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>    How can the "Brooklyn Bridge Waltz" be in 1875, when the
Brooklyn Bridge
>opened in 1883?  Shulman pointed out that "A Nam Foh" may be
"A. Hoffman"
>backwards.

Easy. The bridge wasn't built in a day, or a year. Searching the
beloved Making of American database turns up at least a couple
articles from 1873 that mention the bridge, and at least two from
1872.

...

One of the more interesting bits, from Scientific Notes: vol. 7,
iss. 165, pp 584-585, May 25, 1872, May 25, 1872:

"The recent death of two workmen engaged upon the Brooklyn
bridge suggests the necessity of a more thorough medical examination
of this class of laborers than has heretofore been demanded. These
men, having been at work for to hours and a half in the caisson,
one hundred feet below the surface, and where the atmospheric
pressure equals thirty-two pounds to the square inch, on ascending
to the surface, became insensible at once, and died in a few
moments. Post-mortem examinations disclosed the fact that the lungs,
liver, and kidneys of one, were all diseased, while the other was
afflicted with 'Bright's disease.' Since the opening of this
work, on which two hundred and fifty laborers are employed, there
have been four cases of partial paralyisis, and three deaths."

The 250 workers was only for the caissonsMy reading at some
point in the past turned up an article about Alfred Smith and how as
a child he, and the rest of the city, saw this great public-works
boondoggle as a sign of the future, and took a great personal
interest. Smith was later governor of New York for two
non-consecutive terms.

--
Grant Barrett

World New York
http://www.worldnewyork.com/