"Finest" and "Bravest" revisited

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   My post on New York's Finest/Bravest/Strongest/Boldest appears to be missing from the old ADS-L archives.  I searched under "Finest" and "Matsell."  I sent it in 1996 or 1997.
   Full text of the NEW YORK TIMES gives us a little better answers.

FINEST

14 July 1875, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 8:  ..."the finest Police force in the World."
   (This is the full phrase for the first time on the database.  It's a little earlier than I had found it, which I believe was also in 1875, in the NEW YORK HERALD, in an obituary for former police chief George Matsell.  The phrase echoes "the finest army on the planet," used by Joseph Hooker during the Civil War and found on the Civil War CD-ROM--ed.)

17 November 1865, NEW YORK TIMES, "THE POLICE PARADE," pg. 4:
   "Up town, they were better received; but whether better or worse, the display proved the gratifying fact that the Metropolitan Police force is the finest, best organized, best disciplined and most efficient body of men for similar duty in the world."
   (I searched for "finest" and "police," but there's nothing for the gap between 1865 and 1875--ed.)


BRAVEST

5 October 1914, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 5:
   "The annual series between the bravest and the finest started ten years ago."
(A police vs. fire basbeball game--ed.)

28 September 1914, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 10 headline:
   "FINEST BEAT BRAVEST."
(The Finest are also called "Coppers" and the Bravest are also called "Smoke Eaters"--ed.)

25 May 1902, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 28 headline:
   "HONOR FOR FIRE HEROES: MEDALS FOR CONSPICUOUS BRAVERY BESTOWED BY MAYOR."
(The article uses the phrase that the firemen are "the bravest of the brave."  It's said here that this is what Napoleon called Marshal Ney.  So it appears that both "Finest" and "Bravest" have military echoes--ed.)

19 November 1892, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 5:
   "THE TIMES in describing those scenes said: 'Chief Engineer Decker showed himself one of the bravest of the brave.'"
(The article is "FIRE CHIEF DECKER DEAD."  The scenes are the New York Draft Riots--ed.)

27 August 1862, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 4:
   "'Our Guest,' the fourth regular toast, brought a dozen rousing cheers for Capt. JOHN DOWNEY, 'the bravest of the brave.'"
(Decker is mentioned in this story, but "the bravest of the brave" here appears to be Downey--ed.)


MISC:  In yesterday's post the "1996" dollars-to-doughnuts should read "1886."  The "1957" vichyssoise should read "1937."