186 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



sense of the word and they are proud of a well-earned record for 

 promptness and efficiency in cases of emergencies in summer, win- 

 ter, night and day. 



Tho time and space will not permit the writer to name all Old 

 Timers whose fellow citizens have honored with official prefer- 

 ments, he would not willingly omit to mention its Vice-President, 

 Ex-Justice Julius Heiderman, nor that able jurist, Hon. John J. 

 Brady of the Supreme Court. Again my narrative would be in- 

 complete did I not allude to the Berrians and the Briggs families 

 whose ancient pedigree and homesteads go back to dates whereof 

 the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Josiah A. Briggs 

 recently Chief Engineer of the Borough of The Bronx, is always 

 to be seen in his familiar seat in the front section of Washington 

 Hall, the present Headquarters of the Old Timers, an interested 

 partaker in the deliberations of the Association. Also, on the 

 platform, gracing his position as one of the officials of the Old 

 Timers, Theodore Weberg, a natural born orator, commands more 

 than ordinary attention. His thrilling description of his campaign 

 under Grant during the last years of the Civil War vividly brings 

 back to the memory of all his hearers a critical period in the 

 history of the world. More than this, he has done much to im- 

 mortalize the heroic bravery of many of his fellow townsmen, whose 

 unknown graves lie somewhere on the banks of the Potomac and 

 Appomattox Rivers. 



One great benefit will accrue from the incorporation of this 

 unique organization and it will result in the reunion of old com- 

 panions who, while living in the vicinity of one another, were, 

 singularly enough, not aware of the fact, for in all large cities fre- 

 quently intimate acquaintances ignorantly and unconsciously as 

 it were, reside in immediate proximity until some accidental meet- 

 ing reveals the truth that they were residents of the same street or 

 neighborhood. Very recently the writer himself met his former 

 friend James Lyon of Tremont, a well-known citizen of The Bronx. 

 Circumstances had separated us for over a score of years, and yet, 

 our homes were but a short distance apart. 



Be this as it may, the Old Timers, at their monthly meetings, 

 discuss in an amicable spirit the strange vicissitudes and changes 

 that time and fortune have wrought in the various destinies of their 

 lives. A few who were running around bare-footed and coatless 

 for lack of better clothing when The Bronx was comparatively a 



