HORSEWHIPS, HARLEYS & HEROES ON CLASSON
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** “Every house has a story to tell.” That is how the Brownstone Detectives visualizes every structure, building, and house – as historical repositories for their human narratives. And the Brownstone Detectives, a for-hire historical research team, has investigated many of the stories that are a part of these narratives. And Brownstone Detectives has literally seen them all – from accounts concerning a house’s residents (unrequited love, murder, discrimination, &c.) to those involving the buildings themselves (explosions, fires, hidden rooms, &c.). “If you’re sitting in an old house right now – anywhere in this country – the human drama that’s taken place all around you would surprise the heck out of you,” said lead detective Brian Hartig. …NOW TO THOSE HORSEWHIPS… To give an example of the veritable goldmine of stories linked to every Brooklyn house, the detectives recently scratched the surface on a row of four connected tenement buildings in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn. The brick and brownstone tenement buildings at Nos. 820-832 Classon Avenue display a cross-section of the colorful tales that newspapers used to cover in their beats. In fact, due to the transient nature of the residents of these specific buildings over the 120 years of their existence, these structures hold an even larger number of the […]
A CHILD SNATCHING ON CLASSON (1875)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** He was “large.” He was “repulsive looking.” And he wanted to steal a child. And so, when Michael Kelly, of No. 22 Franklin Avenue, heard the joyous amusements of a number of young children upon a stoop at No. 208 Classon Avenue, he was resigned that he should have one. Ascending to where they were, he seized little Josephine Carter, aged 3 years, and “despite her cries of alarm, began a hasty retreat.” As he reached the bottom step and turned to flee down the walkway, little Josephine’s head knocked violently against the iron railing, causing her to cry all the more loudly. The children who remained on the stoop, “their playmate having been removed so from their midst, were all terrified, and began to cry in concert.” This crying attracted the attention of a Mrs. Hartley, who resided next door at No. 206 Classon. She, “supposing there had been an accident of some sort, hastened to the street just in time to see Kelly running off with the little girl.” THE CHASE “Very pluckily she followed him for nearly half a block and finally overtook him. Demanding the instant release of the child, she wanted to know why he was carrying it away.” Kelly, though, pretended to be deaf and […]
