[30] The statue was unveiled in October, 1869. A. A. Low presided, and the presentation address was made by James P. Wallace, on behalf of the War Fund Committee. The oration was by Dr. Storrs.
[31] Mr. Beecher was appointed chaplain of the Thirteenth Regiment in 1878. Dr. Storrs had already occupied this post.
[32] Colonel Meserole was made brigadier-general in 1868.
[33] The same name had been chosen by Colonel Roehr's father, Edward Franz Roehr, for a newspaper first issued in 1854, and running for one year. Edward Roehr's Williamsburgh printing office and bookstore also sent forth a Masonic journal called Der Triangel, which flourished for twenty-five years.
[34] In connection with the cupola of the City Hall, a very interesting incident occurred in 1852. It was noticed that this feature of the building swayed, and needed to be strengthened. The necessary steps were taken to render it firm and secure. At the time the men were engaged in the work the court of oyer and terminer was holding a session in the room known and distinguished as the Governor's room, Judge N. B. Morse presiding. One day while the court was engaged in a criminal trial, a beam which was being raised slipped from the rope, and fell upon the roof above the court-room, causing the plaster and ceiling to give way. At once the court officers, jurors, and spectators became alarmed; some ran for the door, some for the windows, and others sought refuge under the tables. Judge Morse took a position by one of the windows, and, shaking his fist at the audience, exclaimed, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." A few of the frightened ones got on their knees and fervently prayed. The prisoner at the bar was the only one unmoved.—S. M. O.
[35] Manuscript history.
[36] Brooklyn Eagle, May 24, 1884.
[37] The single exception to Roebling's plan offered by the commission was that they demanded a central height of 135 feet, instead of 130 feet, in the central span.
[38] Samuel T. Powell had occupied the Mayor's chair for two terms, closing in 1861. He again entered the office in 1872.
[39] Mr. Beecher came to Brooklyn in 1847, and died at his post forty years later, on March 8, 1887. His relations to the city of Brooklyn were exceptional, and in many respects marvelous. No other single personality in this city ever won a prominence so significant, so salutary, so momentous. One of Brooklyn's most brilliant thinkers, writers, and speakers, the Rev. John W. Chadwick, D.D., has spoken of Mr. Beecher as 'the most unique and splendid personality of our civic history; one of the most unique and splendid in the history of the United States and their colonial beginnings.' The homage to Beecher's genius as a teacher and leader of men has come from thinking men wherever the English language is spoken. The homage which belongs to him as a citizen, as a pastor, as a humanitarian, as a patriot, has been enthusiastically offered by his fellow-countrymen, and particularly by his neighbors in the city of Brooklyn. The bronze monument to Mr. Beecher, designed by John Q. A. Ward, was placed in front of the City Hall in 1891.