Law & Disorder: The Chaotic Birth of the NYPD

by Bruce Chadwick

Overview

Nineteenth-century New York City was one of the most magnificent cities in the world, but also one of the most deadly. Without any real law enforcement for almost 200 years, the city was a lawless place where the crime rate was triple what it is today and the murder rate was five or six times as high. The staggering amount of crime threatened to topple a city that was experiencing meteoric growth and striving to become one of the most spectacular in America.

For the first time, award-winning historian Bruce Chadwick examines how rampant violence led to the founding of the first professional police force in New York City. Chadwick brings readers into the bloody and violent city, where race relations and an influx of immigrants boiled over into riots, street gangs roved through town with abandon, and thousands of bars, prostitutes, and gambling emporiums clogged the streets.

The drive to establish law and order and protect the city involved some of New York’s biggest personalities, including mayor Fernando Wood, police chief Fred Tallmadge, and journalist Walt Whitman.

Law and Disorder is a must read for fans of New York history and those interested in how the first police force, untrained and untested, battled to maintain law and order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250082589
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

BRUCE CHADWICK is the author of more than twenty-five books. A noted historian, Chadwick taught at Rutgers University and New Jersey City University. He covered crime for many years as a reporter for the New York Daily News. He holds a PhD from Rutgers and he lectures on the history of crime and forensics all over the world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Author's Note xi

Chapter 1 Riot! 1

Chapter 2 The Gruesome Murder of Helen Jewett 26

Chapter 3 Extra! Extra! The Penny Press Chases Crime 41

Chapter 4 The Magnificent City and the Malignant Crime Wave 54

Chapter 5 Crime Everywhere 68

Chapter 6 Lydia Child, Grime, and Chaos 97

Chapter 7 Faith in the Constables Frays as the City Implodes 106

Chapter 8 Amateur Police Walk the Beat of a Raucous City 119

Chapter 9 Prostitution, Gambling, and Drinking: The Backbone of the Crime Surge and Downfall of the Police 133

Chapter 10 Five Points and the Boundaries of Hell 170

Chapter 11 The Brutal Murder of the Beautiful Cigar Girl 179

Chapter 12 Out with the Old, In with the New 190

Chapter 13 Police Brutality Raises Its Ugly Head 219

Chapter 14 Blood in the Streets 244

Chapter 15 The Fabulous Fernando Wood 263

Chapter 16 Blue Blood: The 1857 Police Riots 288

Epilogue 306

Notes 313

Bibliography 343

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

Anyone like me who relishes New York history will enjoy this highlight reel. All the big stories, places and characters of those days are here—James Gordon Bennett and the penny press, the Five Points, Walt Whitman, Horace Greeley, the Astor Place riot, Boss Tweed, the Helen Jewett murder, the death of "the beautiful cigar girl," to name a few.

The New York Times Book Review - Wendell Jamieson

Bruce Chadwick has brilliantly presented a Dickensian picture of a corrupt, violent, and lawless antebellum New York City and the efforts to rein it in through the creation of what eventually became the viable and dedicated NYPD. A terrific read.” —Michael Aaron Rockland, professor of American Studies, Rutgers University, and author of The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel

"Bruce Chadwick brings to life the untold story of the violent, chaotic, and colorful birth of one of the world’s most-famous police departments. This book is chock full of incredible characters and events that make it read like a novel, but it’s all true and it’s all based on the author’s deep knowledge of policing, crime, and the real-life battle that took place on the streets of New York a century and a half ago."
—Terry Golway, author of Machine Made: Tammany Halland the Creation of Modern American Politics

"Bruce Chadwick gives us an epic, richly anecdotal history of crime and law enforcement in New York City from the 1830s to the eve of the Civil War. Along the way, he shares a cornucopia of outrageous, violent, hair-raising, and sometimes darkly comic stories of human misbehavior among both criminals and the supposed guardians of law and order as the city tried desperately to become a civilized metropolis—a goal it wouldn't begin to achieve until the late 1800s."
—Mark Caldwell, author of New York Night: The Mystique and Its History

"Chadwick brings New York’s past back to life via infamous crimes and the colorful people who crusaded for the city’s modern police force." —Dan Kaplan, Booklist

"Colorful...Chadwick tells the story of New York in those murderous decades through the prism of how it policed itself, or at least tried. Anyone like me who relishes New York history will enjoy this highlight reel." —New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

05/01/2017
Historian Chadwick (I Am Murdered) illustrates how the New York City Police Department (NYPD) evolved to become what it is today. Prior to the NYPD's founding in 1844, the city of New York was wild and dangerous. Crime was rampant and policemen (known as constables) were essentially nonexistent as they were often bribed to look the other way. It was the 1841 murder of "beautiful cigar girl" Mary Rogers that brought the issues of violence and police reform to the forefront. Prior to this, crimes were not reported in newspapers for the fear of turning away visitors to the city. Thus, coverage of this murder changed the way crimes were reported and spurred the rise of tabloid newspapers. Slowly, reforms were made within the police force. However, reform was difficult because of the corruption of city government. By the late 1870s, the NYPD finally gained control of the city and saved its positive image. VERDICT Highly recommended for public libraries with a strong true crime collection and all academic libraries. Readers can appreciate the challenges faced by the NYPD through this well-researched time line of how the department was formed.—Michael Sawyer, Daytona Beach, FL

Library Journal