but here's a better reason why thousands -- william l. hall called the painting the biggest single advertisement any of the hotel in this country or the world ever had. they can charge triple or quadruple because of this.

the massive canvas seemed to invite viewers into the lush landscape. never has a luminous backside been reviewed so adoring we buy 70 men with cottontails and the end. new york in the 1890s had two name brothel districts and no one could walk far at night without running -- being propositioned by a prostitute. one reporter doing the bash estimated each of the prostitutes had four clients a day so in most cases one of every six adult males in new york city visited a prostitute. staggering, right? you have to realize the nightlife of that era was just very different. respectful women simply did not -- there was no alert and get lucky. some nights as many as 200 street walkers walked on 13th

street between 3 and fifth avenue taking clients that sleazy hotels registered mr. and mrs. smith. during the trial of a police captain a magazine illustrator was asked what he could see from his studio overlooking 13th and he replied fortification -- fornication three windows at a time. he admitted to staying up late at night looking down. the police captain's lawyer tried to discredit him. is it not offensive to you to see those couples going in and fornicating? the artist replied sometimes of the bristol but sometimes very amusing. the cheapest brothels were located in what was then the east side. we are in the section of with cheapest brothels. it is the lower east side of new york city in the 1890s, nostalgia clear revered for jewish immigrants. more than 150 -- operated south

and east of the division. including 12 and 14 polanski street. creaking floorboards, foreign-born women, standard rate was a bargain. poverty bread desperation. sweatshops' because the worker, a seamstress might earn $5 a week selling hundreds of church and the prostitute could earn that a couple of hours. the back of 81 eldridge street brothel was not only down the block from the police station but -- and poland. congregants complained they are interrupted by rhythmic exuberant sounds of a very different character. and the second largest was in

washington square park, you can see french on one side and english on the other. the district was named for french prostitutes who were willing to -- don't know how to do it, certain things -- chesney later what they were willing to do. the area was also known for circuses and not a circus where you saw comes. you saw several women performing sex acts to get there. reverend parker, i will get to theodore roosevelt, i promise. he always believed his way onto the stage. reverend parker -- the women performed nude high kicking and

leapfrog. a detective named surely gardner was asked what his role was in this part of the investigation and he replied i was the frog. the third main brothel in the 1890s was the tender line which struck from blocked half from either side of broadway. high energy dance halls and gambling casinos, police captain alexander williams said he had been living on a rump steak but now is excited for the tenderloin. that names stock for half a century. tenderloin had dance halls like the starring carter in oklahoma and stephen crane was a hot young novelist, william randolph hearst, who was the hot new newspaper mogul hired to write a piece for the new york journal.

the tenderloin was an old timer, told him somebody blowing champagne to the house. diamonds, girls, lights, music over sixth avenue. wasn't room enough. it held the side streets. it was great. so what were the dream girls of the 1890s like? this is lillian russell, star of the stage. any engineer will tell you that about any like that needs support. the brassiere had not yet been invented and women's dependent on horses -- corsets. these instruments of torture compacted waste and lifted the bosom. what pretty ideal measurements of women of the 1890s? this surprised me. this woman, posed as american venus is 5 foot 5 inches tall, weighs 151 pounds and the tablet

announces her bust was 35, waste 32, hips 38. the dream girl of that era was 35-32-38 which is not like 36-24-36 playboy or anything. yesteryear's goddess would be going to wait watchers today. when she got dressed she was supposed to have an 18 inch waist. -- fashion was insane. besides sex new york city offered gambling. yorker's played illegal bets at places called pool halls which were billiards. and hitting over a bar or a hotel. there were hundreds of these and resources came in by telegraph ticker. london, hotel on the outside, to

the clubhouse turn, they are breathing it of of the ticker. gambling was much more posh. chandeliers, ivory chips. the key point of all that i have shown you up to this point is illegal gambling and illegal prostitution did not exist in new york city without the book the other way of the new york city police department. is simply not possible. i am not saying every police officer was corrupt but there was an attitude that it was ok to take some bribes and overlook vice. most new yorkers wanted vice. a veteran detective summed it up. there are cops who have never taken a dollar. at least i heard about them. but i never saw one. however they exist. i give them credit for being so good. so cops took bribes over all aspects of new york life.

bribes overnight, wagon parking. you could not leave your wagon on the street overnight. bribes for street walker quarters, bribes. what was the police officer of . what was the police officer of the 89s mike? they ate for free which they did. irish cops are resting irish crux. more than half were for drunk and disorderly. one of the biggest differences is the police officers slept together. that is a quarter of the force was on reserve duty every night. between reserve duty and regular duty labor putting in 110 hours a week.

it was a dog's life said one reporter. they pulled pranks on each other. at an irish fraternity. one guy said he couldn't sit on a toilet and read the newspaper unless he -- somebody would set it on fire. they hazed rookies by stripping them naked and painting them green, but they had each other's back and it was very much the blue wall of silence in the 89s. a very corrupt police officer -- we are getting closer to roosevelt. he was not on a police force because he had not closed more than 15 brothels where we are standing. this and was fighting -- roosevelt said this man represented everything i word against. this is captain william beverly who was born in new york into an irish family on east 24, bartender and boxer.

he once grabbed a young reporter by the shoulders and said have you seen anything running around that i might have missed? he called across genders degenerate. he spoke in new york and ordered his patrolman not to be in the bar in uniform, go to a bar with the buttons on don't look nice. so when he took over the lower east side he and his back man -- got to love the nicknames, the spinks. he didn't say anything. they showed up at 13450 street and demanded money. the captain also ordered their to be no loud music because this is when reverend parker was on a crusade investigating. roosevelt -- you got to understand characters like him, do-gooder's like the society fort mention of charles parker. this is the rev. charles parker

said --parhurst. this led to the left committee. we all heard of serpico, this was the granddaddy of them all. the final report concluded every citizen was dominated by overshadowing dread of the police. new york's finest were accused of being new york's filthiest. enter theodore roosevelt. on may 6, 1895, after the reformers won another election william strong appointed roosevelt to the board of police commissioners and he was elected president. he was addressed president roosevelt. on the left that is his main booster, bicycling enthusiast avery andrews. next to him is andrew parker who really fought roosevelt. on the right is the son of late

president ulysses s. grant and you can see the resemblance. roosevelt would later call him a muttonhead. roosevelt hit the ground running. the board was unified at first and within days roosevelt vowed to have a smarter, more honest police department and change the culture from bullying pot -- to politeness. he let it be known corrupt officers had better retire or they would be prosecuted. he set of new civil service guidelines for hiring. he hired a woman stenographer to replace two men. he forced out -- i am of all of roosevelt -- he was always a man in a hurry. at harvard club the other night, raise speech like this and they had the roosevelt coffee. coffee cup twice the size of a regular one because roosevelt couldn't stand to be left waiting to refill the cups of a college roosevelt cup. he was always in a hurry.

he forced out trevor williams and thomas burns, williams endorsed the idea of a red light district and thomas burns was basically sherlock holmes of the united states and had an incredible reputation but he had made himself quite rich by taking gifts, roosevelt was -- could not tolerate that behavior. roosevelt wanted harsher punishment. he wanted all promotions based on merit. he began telling reporters he wanted all was enforced and call police conduct rules and forced. he was a whirlwind trying to street -- sweet the corrupt area. you can't imagine the courage of the man to come into a city this corrupt intent on turning around. arthur brisbane wrote a front-page item ten days into

roosevelt's tenure for the new york world saying we have a real police commissioner named theodore roosevelt. think what must be the policeman's feelings when he comes up for trial before a man like roosevelt. roosevelt speak english accurately. he does not say i'd done it for i seen it. he talks like a boston man or and englishmen more than a new york police commissioner. roosevelt's voice is the policeman's hardest trial. an exasperated she -- sharp voice. a voice that comes from his teeth and seems to say what do you amount to any way? in the gold they is the owner of such a voice would have been clubbed on general principle. now bravest policeman must listen to that voice, obey it and seem to like it. the world in all the daily's treated roosevelt very well. a month into the job roosevelt did something unusual. i think he did it out of genuine

curiosity. i don't think it was a publicity stunt. it turned out to be massive good publicity. he and his good friend jacob riis began to take midnight rounds and checked up on the police force. the aristocrat police commissioner willing to stay up all night and if he caught any cops not doing their duties legal told them of. this really caught the imagination of new york city and the nation's imagination. you got to picture many of these irish cops were huge guys, roosevelt is 5 foot 8 or 9. absolutely willing to lecture anyone that he can lecture basically. he can freeze went out -- roosevelt couldn't take the guy was chatting. is this the way you attend to

your duty? the policeman snapped back what are you looking for, trouble? you see that street? run along or i will fan your hide. he brandished his nightstick and roosevelt didn't move. connors turned to the woman. and roosevelt cut him short. you will neither can be hard or easy. i am police commissioner roosevelt and your report to headquarters and 9:30 tomorrow morning. so roosevelt clearly relished hunting and defying police. and he earned an reputation for yelling at cops. this is interesting. the favorite detail i have is these two. the cops had a little game they liked to play. could they land a perfect blow on the bottom of the feet of a sleeping tramp so he would literally with up and hit the ground running before he even woke up?

they were thrilled to see roosevelt nailing a sleeping police officer. six weeks into the job he has extraordinary momentum, political goodwill, press popularity, what did he decide to do with this power? make a fateful decision to and force the set of blue law against selling alcohol on sundays. of all the choices of all the crusades he shows that one. you might say that was a disastrous choice. it was technically illegal throughout new york state, but new york city was ignoring the law since the civil war. bar owners paid police to look the other way. they pulled the shade down, everyone felt a little naughty and sold more food on sunday than any other day because it was a monday of. they liked to drink too.

chief pretty women and manual popular song and wooed jokes, she is a ballet dancer. she dances on one leg, then another. between the two gene makes a living. if you bought a drink you can enjoy the free lunch counter. standard price was a nickel. shot of whiskey was a dime. they like -- sending your kids to fetch beer. basically in senator dad getting drunk alone, and family experience too. avery and crews, discovers low and behold they are open. everybody knew that. and decides to shut down saloons

on sunday. t r makes it his crusade. he went from popular public official to hated puritan in the new york minute. was astounding. six weeks into the job. he tried to claim not as a crusade against liquor but enforcement against blackmail. he would say loudly and repeatedly he did not make the law. he and forced them. enforcing what was right and ignoring them is wrong. black and white, good and evil. any new yorkers didn't care to think about roosevelt's reasoning. roosevelt was roasted for his back down. after -- i skipped one catch. they pervade all kinds of things. couldn't go to a baseball game or football game.

sunday's -- on the saloon, and family picnics. desperate times call for desperate measures and they came up with a clever dodge. medicinal alcohol. going to drug store and asked for rainbow sir up. and if you lay down you will die. i know a man who drank some of it. go to jersey city and stay all day. when a man goes to new jersey his mind is failing. roosevelt was roasted for his crackdown. he made a tour of the local beer and took himself to the union league club and bought a drink and that was the problem.

the private clubs could still serve and here is roosevelt enjoying himself at a private club. the newspapers delighted in showing the contrast emphasizing the contrast. the east side ready tenements were, at the harvard club, the east side into a russian bath and sapped of the moisture from the overnight water column. eating a meal in the restaurant if the hotel had ten rooms or more. roosevelt was typically defiant. he was merely enforcing laws and would be enforcing all the was. he said it is true i may never be heard of again but i will have kept my oath of office. he got two bombs sent to him in this time period.

the newspapers dug up every forgotten what. there is a law against -- may to september. why haven't you arrested the chef at del monaco. there is a law against beggars. a law against kite flying on fourteenth street. it is illegal to have the deck of playing cards in college or a ship. the law concluded the average citizen has been leading a life of crime. the newspapers wouldn't let up. the police force was accused of being so overzealous they were arresting innocent women as street walkers. here is a cartoon of the statue of liberty arrested for being a, quote, and accompanied female out at night. that is the front page. a close friend of roosevelt became so worried that he wrote the cabin lodge roosevelt looked worn and tired and lost much of

his natural snap and buoyancy and only a question of time before he has a breakdown and when he does it will be a bad one. pause to make bad manners worse republicans of state asked for liquor law. hotels serving a meal could serve all paul on sunday. what did new york saloon owners do? they won't be able to serve on sundays, they conferred a thousand saloons. steve brody known for jumping off the bridge, said i couldn't get the tenth room so i had to use a coal been. andy put this in an attic and said the a midget could stand at

the inspectors said it was fine. just weeks after the new york, but, drinks all you want, sold liquor yesterday and they were all called hotels. most were very backward about renting their rooms and by the following week it was rules of city. the east side, a beer. some joints serve the same sandwich over and over again. eugene o'neill mentioned seeing a mummified ham and cheese sandwich. not unreasonably roosevelt expected the same interpretation of hotel and meal and guests and announce the police will be on the outlook for fake hotels but judges did indeed rule 17 beers = emil. the republican legislature bungled the new law and it was turning into bottoms up on

another round and it was becoming the city that never sleeps. roosevelt had created a lot -- hoops. roosevelt certainly hadn't created the reins law but with the demise of roosevelt, a slap in the face. new yorkers were drinking openly. and at 3:00 in the morning. they were not only drinking. unmarried young women, shop girls and factory world's worst putting to walk or stagger. roosevelt described sunday's, was not amused and began secretly looking for a new job. he would eventually alienate every newspaper including reform papers and is the republican party and two fellow commissioners and police chief. it got ugly and exciting and --

it turned out okay. the job of police commissioner did as much for him as he did for the job in two years and launched a lot of the national stage. he learned occasionally to silence himself to carry the republican manner and other day. roosevelt certainly earned a national reputation as a tough law and order reformer but some cities refused reform. thank you very much. [applause] >> you have -- it is off right

now. [inaudible conversations] >> all right. thanks very much for that. a reminder what a horse inundated town new york used to be. anybody know what the most common crime on the lower east side used to be 100 years ago? poisoning of horses. the way gangsters would extort money from peddlers. the street peddlers. they would threaten to poison the horse and do so if they didn't come across. >> i was surprised there was a ten minute we met on push carts. you could only stay in place for ten minutes. they couldn't all move. there was no way. so they just paid off a cop in

order to stay in place. >> we will do a little talk and the q&a after that. just to start, it strikes me it is more relevant because 120 years later in the middle of another burgeoning police scandal, one a little different from the past. police in queens dragged a fellow officer to an insane asylum for 6 days because he dared to point out, knowledge which is the police don't report crimes because they want to keep statistics down. it is up to the massive stock at first program, directed solely at minority youth as it was an response commissioner kelly went to the city council and yelled at it for daring to question this but by the police

incorrigible? you mentioned a long list of investigative committees and commissions over the years. the current committee, the seabury investigations, the mollen commission, on and on. are police above any effective civilian supervision in new york or is it something that has to be chopped back every now and then? >> mustard thomas had on today -- is more about human nature. the system offers too much power and too many temptations. like to said judgment of human nature. >> the police are much less corrupt than they have been in the past.

probably less violent. >> they were violent in the 89s. -- 1890s. they brought 100 of them day. the nightstick was fearsome. >> so that was -- >> roosevelt introduced it and taken away by commander burns before roosevelt and roosevelt wrote about a detective being brought up and had a big night stick this never would have happened and roosevelt -- one of the longest and longest lived roosevelt reforms was 100 years. >> let's talk about carrying a big stick. [talking over each other] >> a nightstick in those days -- >> 24 inches long and 1-5/te in diameter made of locust wood and granite and burns made the

news of 15 inch tapered one, it was more of a baton type thing. this steak was a weapon and roosevelt brought it back. >> is there a lesson here about the limits of reform? we would not accept the police force today we had then but by going so far overboard by insisting on enforcing every law particularly solutions, that was one way the cops made money. >> also how they ran their political network out of the solutions so they thought he could not -- the democrats -- family democrats by doing that. he had his agenda as well. you want to enforce a law against throwing fruit in the market, he wanted signs posted at every fruit market which reminds you -- not furrowing banana peels. the new york times was one of his staunchest backers and took

him to task for the banana peel while. >> in comes off as a parade which is not the way americans think of tele -- teddy roosevelt. >> he was a dynamic man and i respect the many things about him and try to be fair but he really did have a problem -- he was fiercely against the brothels and he thought they should be whipped. we should go back and physically whipped them. landlords owning brothels should be prosecuted in the full extent of the law and men and women should be of arrested. he was very adamant. >> we end because of these misguided reforms with brothels on just about every corner in some neighborhoods. >> he is playing a long, helping me out. anyway, it was unbelievable.

can you imagine -- i have been married a long time but the rest of you people going to a bar, you could have ten bedrooms and after your third drink, that change -- some people think it changed the morality of the city and the country. this what was quite -- >> you have a great joke in the book about the sandwich. >> very funny. bartender yells to the owner we got to stop serving and the owner yells back we run out of beer? the bartender says some full paid the last sandwich and there's not another one on the whole east side. >> the sand which consisted of a break between two pieces of bread. >> it opens with a description of the sandwich. it's that there for years sometimes. sat there in the middle of the

table. >> the other pole you have a great description of mr. every including my favorite quote in which he wrote he was no worse fit to be chief of police than the fish man was to be director of the aquarium but as a work of art he was a masterpiece. [talking over each other] >> he was something. i had 60 more cases in the first draft of the book. it just didn't fit. he ran for mayor and got a big crowd and was running against tammany. i will tell you how charlie murphy got his money. no, i won't tell you. he just had fun. >> he had a wonderful slogan for the campaign which was you can trust the thief but you can't

trust a liar. >> he was famous for see here, say nothing, pay nothing. >> on patrol, say nothing and get paid nothing and told the life style committee at one point, pertaining to that matter i don't remember. he described himself as the most specific policeman in the history of new york city. i could stand there and produce fresh air from the me custody highest no matter who comes along. >> when he gets appointed police chief the first thing he announces is i intend to enforce all the laws. it was hilarious. later claiming he was not enforcing all the law he fixed the law against orchestras performing lunge in fancy hotels

and shutdown -- face a he picks this law, he knew what he was doing. >> what would you say his top salary was? >> i think it was $6,000. >> he ended up with $1 million? >> $177,000 worth of real estate when he retired which makes him richer than roosevelt. >> his most famous acquisition? >> kevin knows more about this than i do but he was fighting against tammany hall so tammany hall ruled the monopoly for the new york giants for the national league. so devery and his partner bring in a club from baltimore that doesn't have a name. overtime the team gets a name that become the new york yankees. big bill devery's adversary was

co-founder -- >> that was the way taminy would operate. he atoned the new york giants -- andrew friedman, he owned the new york giants and was head of transit. >> if anyone wanted to put a stadium somewhere they couldn't get any transportation because of friedman. this is a story that if you -- >> i don't want to police the story of like those that. the interlocking, and based on louis tiffany ballard award for the police in the 1870s. the guy who got it was mcdowell and he was the bad man who was

on a bender and was drunk and sleeping off in a saloon when three i received dropped through the skylight. he was carrying -- you don't want to be robbed of all the illegal money so he fights three crooks and gets shot in the line of duty. so a bad man getting shot in at tenderloin saloon was the first award for valor that led to louis tiffany. >> a great story. no red sox fans will be surprised by that. and the historian david tells us perhaps the most successful operator of gambling establishments in the country before the rise of las vegas after world war ii roading two racetrack in an estimated 300 pool balls this guy was a major league kind of crime guy. a major-league gambler and here he is with the former police

chief. >> two years after new york was so corrupt. >> the first big pennant race the team has to interrupt the five game series with the red sox because they rented out hilltop park and have to go to college football games. >> doing a history of new york city in the contract. >> this is how they operated. the flip side, it was kind of like forget about it. >> what is the life -- how many hours? >> they knew everybody on the block. the story i like around them,

and watch the officers and made rounds. and a legendary one was a guy -- the kid runs in and says there is no side of it and can finalize. and five minutes later, trying to see where the guy is. he taps him on the back and figures how could they have done it? and they took the wheel of of the coffin and walked around the block. >> and the flop houses kept in the basement. >> roosevelt shut those down. his biggest mistake was he will leave the lot -- had brought it upon themselves.

he shut down the police lodging houses in february, march of 1896. a pretty bad time. one of the worst blizzards ever occurred the night he shut them down and only two kerri places on either side of the aisle and the precinct houses had the virtue of being scattered on twenty-third street on the east railroad. >> really brutal. this was a terrible period economically, maybe as bad as the great depression. a lot of work. >> reporter: they wanted you to have to buy a ticket because they thought the direct charity

-- you got a ticket to a charity lodging house your clothes were fumigated and no money on you. you had to do three hours of work. different attitudes. >> people we think we're progressive at the time, sometimes harder than we think they are now. teddy comes as almost in sane at this point. description of shooting a spanish officer at san juan hill. >> roosevelt is so passionate. he spent his life trying to control his emotions and energy and i give him the benefit of the doubt but he did agree to a duel. somebody annoyed him so much and challenged him to a duel and roosevelt accepted and everyone was shocked. they didn't know if it was a joke or not.

jacob run we recommend both men go to the city plaza and use fire hoses. >> the most remarkable ride in american history after this in three years. >> staggering. when i researched the book i didn't allow myself to do anything past 89 day. what did you know more about? i really tried to capture who he was then. and a loud mouth frank, never predicted the outcome. >> and the spanish american war. the war hero -- >> in combat. >> and vice president and

president. >> youngest -- about the least important job in american politics. he did nothing. roosevelt took the first few months off because he had nothing to do. then he becomes president and history changes. >> let's switch to some questions. wait for the mike to get to you. we are on national tv. >> an interesting variation shortly before he married his second wife he wrote a letter telling her earnestly how much -- a question about what is going on the side bar, how people were approaching. and also must have been

anarchist's walking around and read a looking at the possibility of legalizing prostitution and gambling? >> the first question you mentioned the letter. and of the phrase conjugal reciprocity. not just a husband, he really did want to cut down on prostitution. as for the legalization issue it was very much considered. it was openly debated. venereal disease was running high. it had been tried in st. louis. most prostitution was legal in most cities so they were studying that, whether we should emulate that. it hadn't much emerge.

it hasn't come up in the police log. i read elsewhere it was starting stronger but it is not important. >> still a time when politicians controlled the gang is. >> it organized the cops. the cops organized -- they said you could have a gambling thing. >> sold them [talking over each other] >> sir? >> my question was about young people in this area. we all assume later, and bringing it back to wall this, running a protection racket to protect people on the street. what about the young kids in all this going on? >> i don't have so many details but the one detail was they were called white houses because they gave up the cards to the

brothels. their remit named timber merchants because they were selling matches. it was growing up pretty fast. i am always looking for the significant details like swimming in the east river and you have these pictures. maybe kevin can handle that question. >> you had a baxter street -- these street thieves who organize their own computer-the election day tradition of stacking the election day fire. >> this was big tim sullivan who was one of the best taminy guys reaching outside the community. he recruits a lot of these young

guys -- putting people -- they were going to be like he feels the next generation of guys coming up in the machine leading to other scandals down the road. new york is having to be changed by different people. of every nationality. >> here is somebody. >> thank you. did he accomplish anything? were there any longer lasting accomplishments? >> yes. he showed what it was like to make this experiment and never backed down. it astounds me the courage he had in the face -- one man against -- staggering was he went against.

he ran two of the fairest elections that were ever run in new york city. took the election bureau and made a separate bureau because someone like roosevelt running fair elections, he did reintroduce the nightstick. i am trying to think of some of the other -- i mean -- they like to credit him with founding the first police academy but talking about it, he endorsed the first shooting range. they already had a school of instruction in the building and a shooting range didn't directly lead to the police academy. it is tough to put your finger on. unbelievable effort. >> how few lessons were learned from the hole disaster in prohibition. >> a little clue that it doesn't

work. but not really. roosevelt didn't favor prohibition. he said 1920s population would oppose it and the rule wouldn't work. he drank one or two glasses of white wine and champagne. he did not like red wine or beer or hard liquor but he also said he preferred dinner parties that weren't sober. >> who doesn't? >> you mention south village being famous for the french specialty brothels. i am wondering -- where did it derive from? the old french quarter south of washington square? >> it was south of washington square and i will talk to you after word about what they did. not to be too specific, but let's say euphemism. if you brush your teeth you

would be using the same body part. >> the french were usually in new york and french flats, racine name. >> they were french women. they spoke french and got long documents. whenever, all of these brothels beat the six to ten girls with usually higher prices. it cost double of a regular because it was taboo and it was a different world. >> somebody up here. >> how long did this model with ten tiny rooms upstairs i recall seeing things in the 1950s. >> i worked on that and

fascinated to see. the definitive model. they had cutback and come back with a few different rules and got an down from 1500 to 400 but some of the investigators really think the range law change morals if not in a city than wide. >> thinking about teddy roosevelt and his family, his family wasn't particularly known for being sober. what do you think or discover that would do him being this -- >> you hit on it ironically because roosevelt's brother had just died of alcohol-related death in august of the previous year and roosevelt gets the job in may of 1895. he never much talked about

elliot's issues but it has to have played in his mind with thousands of empty liquor bottles. elliott was the father of the future eleanor roosevelt. a tough story. elliott father a child out of wedlock. roosevelt was deeply ashamed of the brother's behavior. >> you do a great job describing that. you were not generally known -- >> there were some issues. there was another relative that diet. father-in-law -- with these issues. last question if there is one or else we are going to call it a night. >> curious if you can imagine,

police commissioner or mayor of new york considering our current issues of human trafficking and homeland security and what would be the big issue to go after today? >> good question. that would be one of his many issues. i had dinner at the harvard club with top police lt.s and they never mentioned that and they were saying 80% of what the general public doesn't understand is 80% of crime has to be ignored. you can do anything by the book or the entire system grinds to up halt. if you nail somebody for begging, you can miss the big crime that happened in the next block. i am evading the question a little bit but roosevelt would

try to enforce the entire manual and maybe would have learned his lesson from this but if you take the 1895 roosevelt the whole thing would blow up. >> i jaywalked a few times. >> lock him up! where are the cops? >> one last thing. [inaudible question] >> did you investigate any crimes in that era and do you know where the archives here in new york were with actual evidence from those old crimes? >> of course. the municipal archives downtown, the department of records is loaded and district attorney papers and physical evidence too. you have to be nice unless you want to touch it. there is a lot -- it was very cool.

i forgot what it was. all kinds of little fangs. the artifacts make history come alive. i love to touch those. [inaudible] >> we will talk later. >> i've provided not only an evening's entertainment but you sweated out -- we apologize for that but it is great to see you all. to quote the labor leader john lewis, he tooted not his own harm, the same will not be tooted. richard spoke the device for sale we will gladly autograph them. dreamland and paradise alley. thank you so much for coming out. [applause] >> for more information visit the author's web site,

richardzacks.com. >> what did these two huge missing pieces of titanic's over -- double bottom hole tell us? at the time john and i were wreck divers. we know how to search on the bottom. we know the difference between different parts of the ship but the individual components, the edges tell story that was beyond our ability. we were not metallurgists or naval architects or engineers so what we did was documented the edges of these two huge pieces carefully so that we could bring that evidence to the experts and they could look at it and tell a story and the story starts to unfold, not necessarily two miles down but months later in laboratories, they were drawing these pictures out and where

they actually fit into the whole of titanic. they start to tell a time line and start to tell us things about that night that don't exactly lined up with what we have come to know about the story of titanic. most of us have seen james cameron's wonderful film and we are drawn to that horrible moment when two main characters are holding on to the back of this huge ship as the stern readers out of water and breaks in half. and then titanic sank. that is pretty much what i thought was the story of titanic when i got into that submersible but the steel that we found says that simply didn't happen. the ceo says the ship broke apart at the very gentle angle. nothing like 45 degrees. more like 11 degrees. what is the difference that

night? 1500 people stayed on board titanic. they did not get into the lifeboats. the lifeboats pulled away very calm lee with 500 empty seats. people made decisions that night as the ships slowly sank into the water. do i stay here on board titanic and wait for the rescue ships or do i get into the lifeboats? when you are on a ship that is only bending at 11 degrees it seems like you have a long time to go before the ship will break apart or sink. the idea of the ship breaking apart was never in their minds but that is exactly what happened. while the ship was flooding she started to break apart. if we look at it most people understood the story of titanic to be that titanic set sail on her maiden voyage in them on a clear calm night struck an iceberg, saying and broke apart.