THE SECRETS OF THE GREAT CITY

A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices,
the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City

BY

EDWARD WINSLOW MARTIN








CHAPTER I.


THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

The City of New York is the largest and most important in America. Its
corporate limits embrace the whole of Manhattan Island, on which it is
situated, and which is bounded by the Hudson, the East and Harlem
rivers, and by Spuyten Duyvil creek, which last connects the Harlem
with the Hudson. Being almost entirely surrounded by deep water, and
lying within sight of the ocean, and only sixteen miles from it, the
city is naturally the greatest commercial centre of the country. The
extreme length of the island is fifteen miles, and its average breadth
a mile and a half. The city lies at the head of New York Bay, which