Bronx Style of Moving

Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 79

Bronx Style of Moving

Xea/y c\ery inhabitant of this city of tlat& and furniture ■vans considcis hiin-eif 0 qualified expert ill tho art of movm.;. But there is one kind of moving of which ihc d\\ell"r in Manhattan knows nothing. It is what might bs called a moving in (he rill-to^ctber, anj is peculiar to The Bionx. No furniture \an is needed, nor l- there any interruption of (he family's tipily life. Huus.o. furniture, and family all move together. Th s trans Harlem, peculiarity was re-f-outly d'-sco\Qiird by .'t Manhattanite nlio mot a frioiid. :i resident in Tho Bronx, who may ba called Jenkins. Jenkins asked him to call. "All right," said the Manhattanite. "Where Jo you live?" "That depends upon nhca you come. To-n:ght I uill be liviag at the* corner of W avenue and B street. To-mor-icuv night my residence will he one block awr.y. Tho following night it will be still ano+her bloc I; farther off. The next night it will b° permanently installed at 7 G street.'" A cloud .->f mystifica-ioii descended upon the brow of the Man'.mtta'iito. "I'm afraid I'm a litf.o ouL of touoh nith tl-ings up you- way; but am I correct in inferring ih <t you are moving?" "That's v.ba; we're doing" "I had better wait, then, until you ret scttlej in jour new home." •'Xo iw\: home at all: we are staying light in tho same old house. Wo are moving Bronx <-tylo."' "And what may that be?"' the ManhatUnlle ?sked "I'll" have to give you a small dose of ftati^tics " j-a'd Jenkins local piide glowing in his cyo. "During the ]-ast 13 years ov;r IBO,OCO people—more people than there arc in the ontirs city of Providence 1i.1.. the twentieth largest city in tho United Rales— have movod into Tho Bionx. '"Now you can't expect tl-a,t an immense boom io;vi like that na be dropped down or top of an established community suon as The Bronx wa? and thai the two wi'l fit nearly together. Buildings of all kind* end siies got in the way of the new street lines. We iveve too Ihrifty to tear them down, and we were ingenious enough In li^ovc them -iway and tuck them into oe'd corners. '"The v.-.ive of improvcmenl has ju~A rraclitd my neighbourhood. W avenue has been widened md now runs through ihe front half of my house. So lam having my house moved out of the way. ami we arc being moved with it. "The water and <jas are cut off, and some of Ihe bric-a-brac put sway, but otherwise we're just as much at home as eter. Come up dpy after TO-morr£gv and 1 can show you a city in ihe course of manufacture." On the appointed day the Manhattaaite journeyed up into that northern borough, until at 'b.sL the ragged end of the ci'.y wa<* reached. Tillage lanes iesoun:led with the chugchugchug ol steam rock drills and ti.e puffing and snorting of donkey engine. Old trees i-ad been cut down, and their piace taken by the gaunt outlines of swinging derricks, with their many cables and stay ropes. The rolling- meadows weie scarred by mounds of tumbled rock :>T.d dirt that eventually would be smoothed out into streets and avenues. Eveiywhere dirt, noi^e. and And !);<■ Jiouses • Few of them feemed to bs where they ought to be. The grading of the htreets had left =ome high up on rough -embankments, while the s-idewa'lis ii'.n 'evel with ihc second storey windows oF others. Some stood awi3 r back from the street line, wh'lo vacant and wrecked foundation walls showed vrher-3 others had trespas-od upon Ihc public way. Here and there the 1 rot-ess cv adajjtation was going on. Houses wore being 1 owe rod and hou«<?s were being booat-ad. Fiom all of these the foundations had been torn away, and they were i.o\v ctanding upon cribs of big sr.uare timbe-s, while gangs of husky men bts.ccl tL€m=ei\ei wit'i ciowbars and jaok screws. Tho neighbourhood vas unmarked by lamppost «i2ii or sisnboard. An inquiry as to ihe wh-ore'ibouts of Jenkins's rcs;•CKMice elicired this information: "Ho u^cd t-o livo over there" —one of the gaping foundation walls being indicated — '"but he .staitcd to move yesterday, and le oughr to be about a block and a-hnlf oft" Irv thi, t; m?. Take the fir=fc street to the left and you'll bunk light into his hou^e.' Sure enoiiyh, in the middle of the street, orciipying its entire breadth, stood ihe house of Jenkins. A irack of very big, ■\ery long timbers bnd been laid, and upon ihis the house was sliding along at a snail's vac c. "S'-cw up. "Bill." called the foreman, "there's a -nan hero that wants to get in.' The horse that \va- runnimg around the windlass which was winding up the tow iino \va* whoaed and a ladder run up to the kitchon door. As the Manhattanite iat in the company locker and listened 1o Jenkins talking to the children, playing on the floor, and to the -Ice^tle humming :ts cozy song on the stove, a eiuiri, even -vibration ran through th-e houjje, arc! the fences and telegraph poles be'jan to move in slow procession aeioss the windo\r. The Ma.ihatraniio started, then uneasily settled baok in hi* rhair again. '"This combination of home life and lailway travel is just a little disconcerting at first." said he, ''though I suppose it's fairly safe."' "Why. it's an everyday occurrence tip here. Only a t^horfc time ago I saw them moving a row of threa thiee-storey woodon flats, and all nine families continued 1" live in them during the transfer. The iov. was moved about 50ft. But when it com"? to brick buildings it is a little more nsky v.ork. and they are usually vacated, though I ha\e known of janitors and caretaker* who have stayed eion in them while the bhift /va-i taking place." "What," exd-iimed tile Manhattanite, •'you mean to tell me thai they juggle bi? brick houses around the same as they do these frame onci"' "Sure thing. They move anything that's v orih mo\ Ing. Four and five stor-ey flats beyond number have been fitted to the now street linos. K\en lows of brick buildings have been handled. "About the bi?sesl, job r-f tho kind was done when Fred Dainm -lifted four fivestoioy fiats that eot iv the v. «>y when Willis

avenue was widened a few years ago. Th<s low was moved 75ft sideways and then back 35ft. They were also lowered 4ft to mit the -loping grade of the -trcet. '"The ov.nor could not secure qu'ie enough land to accommodate ail four bouses, so the rornei' house was in Uv<r. The front half was mo\ed with the row, and had a new back wall added to it.

"Tho rear half was left standing in it* Giigmal pdsitiou. and had a new fiont put on. It is row the corner building."

"A job like th it rnu-t take a long time," said tho Manhattanite. "'Strikes me as being pretty near as -treuuous as the building of the Pyramids." '"Well, Damm finished the "Willis avenuo job in three months. Frame buildings are a much easier proposition, and they ar« moved at a more Ihely gait. A horse and •Wjiidla^s .will pull O'U-e at the rate of a block a day." "Spectacular, very spectacular.'' commented the Manhattanite; ! but ho\> doea it all figure out in dollars and cents?'' "So well that it lias become a recognised form of Bronx realty speculation. Tho speculators, mosl of nhom arc seooixJ-hancl lumber dealers, get their opportunity whenP the condemned property that abuts out into the new street line is fold at auction.

"It may be only a front fence, or a. =toop, or a section of the hoa-o itself. Ar.«J it is in these last instance* that the pics thickens, for the owner i* frequently outbid at the auction, and the unique spectacle is then presented of a man living in a hou*e the front part of which belongs to a stranger. '"Of eorrse, no one e\er buys with the intention of tearing down the condemned portion of the house ; its value as secondhand material would be almost nil. The plan is to obtain possession of ihe entire building, and then either move it bade or move it to a ueu site. When the auctior results in two people om ning the samo house, it siniply boco'ves a question as to which one will bluff the other follow out.

•'The day of tha (motion is ps good as a comedy <lra.ua. Fua and pathos follow closo upon each other "Lc-rjcf before? the auctioneer i« due, -the people begin tc- gather along The =id\? walks. I; is easy to pick our tho&o v, ho havo a etako in tko gan.e. They are grim-fdccci and anxious, usually standing in their fronS yards like soldiers on guard. Their wives and often thei. rhildren are with them, and frien r U and neighbour^, too, are on haixl to see whether tho luck shall be gooes or ill. *

'"I he condemned buiM'ngs are plastered) with big posto-s: To Be Sold at Public Auction, etc. It looks like a sheriff's sale of an entire community. '"The auctioneer has already started at one end of the street, pe.-haps a mile or I iwo away, and i^ working along fiora hou=e, to house. Suddenly someone cries out:" 'Here they come !' ''From far down the street comes the. clatter of horses' hoofs &ncl a whirling dnsfc, cloud, out of wh''ch emerges a seedy vie- 1 toiia, -with hordes on the gallop, .follower?? ck-selv by buggie*. runaboats, gigs, andbicycles. In the vicrona is tho auctioneer — I'ig. iolly. reel-faced Jim "M-Caiiler : inihe medley of other -\ chicles ai-c the speculator?.

"Th 3 clerk read* ihc description of K;o, property to bo sold: and M'Caulev waved! aloft his moriino; paper, now tightly roltecj and com erred into his official hammer, anil inoui'-e-. how much i« lrJ. In less tiina

ithan it 'would take to tell it a whole con.'demnecl block" front is sold; the horses arc • whipped up ; and the auctioneer and bis escort have xattlecl off down the street." "But -what happens," inquired the Manliaitanite "when a speculator buys in the ' front portion of a house, and ho can neither , 4jluff nor te bluffed?" | "It is then!up to the purchaser, replied 'Jenkins, "to saw off the part of the house *hat he lias bought and cart it away. It is a -lo=<irig_ operation for him, but he bas «ot to do it* if he wants to preserve his business reputation. ', "You see, terrorism is a large part of his j •working -capital. "When an owner refuses j /rto buy or ceil, that owner must immediately j }/b« made ».n example of to the end that all ' I other owners may take due warning. "The law allows the purchaser 50 days ; •in which to remove nfe part of the buildinDg, and the removal is done on £be most ~ {inconvenient instalment plan that can Le . Mfevwed. The front stoop will be carted *way one day, then the 'doors and windows vili be taken out, and some c"aya later the ♦c-of will bs ripped off, . "If the cold and wet do not reduce the owner to a state of submission, the plaster as pulWd. down and the boards and frameswo'rk hammored apart. In all this work tre i •ihief aain is io make tHe greatest possible -Amount of inconvenience, noise, and out "•for .the Tccaleitrant owner. You may be Bure that it takes very few examples of this kind to induce a proper respect for Ithe business methods of th> speculators. "Yes, yes," murmured ifie Manhattanito ; "it .oeri-a'inly is all very rovel, very spectacular."