In 1819 he bought a plot
of ground from one John Ireland, and erected a small frame house,
where he lived and where he stored the tools of his rather grim trade.
For three years he dwelt there, smoothing the resting places in the
Field of Sleep; then, in 1823, a new Potter's Field was opened at the
point now known as Bryant Park, and the bodies from the lower cemetery
were carried there. Megie, apparently, lost his job, sold out to
Joseph Dean and disappeared into obscurity. It is interesting to note
that he bought his plot in the first place for $500; now it is
incorporated in the apartment house site which is estimated at about
$250,000!
There is a legend to the effect that Governor Lucius Robinson later
occupied this same house, but the writer does not vouch for the fact.
The Governor certainly lived somewhere in the vicinity, and his
favourite walk was on Amity Street,--why can't we call it that now,
instead of the cold and colourless Third Street?
I find that I have said nothing of Monument Lane,--sometimes called
Obelisk Lane,--yet it was quite a landmark in its day, as one may
gather from the fact that Ratzer thought it important enough to put in
his official map.
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