Officer McWatters is an active member of several charitable
organizations; but that under which the greater share of his benevolent
deeds have been done for the last five or six years during which he has
been connected with it, is the Ladies' Union Relief Association. This
is an organization, under the directorship of several benevolent ladies
of distinguished social position in New York, such as the wives of
Messrs. Marshall O. Roberts, Ex-Mayor Havemeyer, Dr. Joseph Worster,
Henry Dwight, J. A. Kennedy (President), William E. Churchill, etc.,
with Miss Evelina S. Hamilton, as Corresponding Secretary, Miss
Madeline McKibben, Recording Secretary, and Miss Marianna Hale,
Treasurer of the Association. This organization has an advisory board,
composed of Generals Dix, Van Vliet, Butler, Rev. Drs. Chapin and
Thompson, Hon. W. F. Havemeyer, Drs. Herrick and Worster, Messrs.
Theodore Roosevelt, George Bliss, Jr., William E. Dodge, Jr., and many
other distinguished gentlemen. But the chief and most active man of the
board is our subject, Officer George S. McWatters, with whom, and his
constant aid, this benevolent Association would not willingly part.
The Ladies' Union Relief Association undertake to assist the sick and
disabled veteran soldiers and their families, and the families of
deceased soldiers; and their self-imposed duties are very onerous, and
a vast amount of charitable work do they, visiting the sick and taking
to them the necessaries of life, paying their rents, clothing the
children; finding places of employment for the ex-soldier, or his
widow, or family; furnishing this or that one means of transportation
to the far West, for example, when offered a home there with some
relative, etc., etc. These duties are constant. The field is always a
large one; and in a season like that of 1870-71, when business is dull,
and employment is scarce, the poor of New York suffer extremely. It is
in such a season that the relations of poverty to the wealth which its
labors have created (for the workers are ever the poor), is seen in
painful relief upon the face of society.
In the performance of his voluntarily assumed duties under this
Association, Officer McWatters found nearly all his time, aside from
that strictly required by his official duties, occupied, nights as well
as days. At the police headquarters, where he held a detailed position,
the poor and suffering flocked to him during the day for advice and
succor; and when off duty as a policeman, he gave his time to visiting
and aiding them in their squalid homes.
The Ex-Superintendent Kennedy cordially seconded Officer McWatters in
his benevolent work, and gave him every facility for receiving the poor
at the police office. In this way he was enabled, while fulfilling his
duties as a policeman, to gratify his heart with kindly attention to
the poor. But eventually Superintendent Kennedy was superseded by Mr.
Jourdan. Jourdan was, it would appear, an unfeeling man. He refused to
let the soldiers visit the headquarters in search of Officer McWatters,
and declared that they were "dirty, and smelled bad," and that he would
no longer suffer them to come. Thus Officer McWatters' mendicant
clientage was prohibited consulting with him during the hours of police
duty, and he felt that his dearest, most cherished "occupation," was
almost "gone." His sphere of pleasant, though onerous duties, was
limited, and he fretted under the restraint of the rule which prevented
the poor to approach him--a man whom the Rev. Dr. Bellows declares,
when referring to the poor soldiers, to be "one of their few steady,
laborious, and judicious benefactors."
But death came, and laid Superintendent Jourdan in the grave--the
common earth--as lowly as the graves of the "dirty," poor soldiers whom
he despised. It is a significant fact that this man Jourdan's remains
were followed to the tomb by many distinguished citizens of New
York,--politicians, men of wealth and professional good standing, and
others. But perhaps it is not so strange after all that he should have
been so honored in New York, for Fernando Wood has been mayor of the
city; and many who have grown rich by political thieving are kept in
office, and Jim Fisk, Jr., is not only suffered to live within the city
limits, but has been elected to the post of colonel of the Ninth
Regiment, and is actually extolled by great numbers of the people.
Crime is no great stain to any man in New York if he but have money, or
is in the "line" of making it fast. The city's moral worth reposes, for
the most part now, with the few members of the churches who are what
they profess to be, and with the benevolent and Christian
women,--comparatively few in number,--like those of the Ladies' Union
Relief Association, and the few Howards, whose best representative is
Officer McWatters.
Jourdan's death, however, did not abate the unjust rule he had made,
forbidding the poor to seek their friends at the headquarters of the
police, and Officer McWatters, unwilling longer to follow for a
livelihood a calling by which he was prevented from honoring the
dictates of his heart by doing all which he might do in some other
vocation for the poor soldiers and their families, determined on
resigning his post. While he was casting about for such a position,
some of his friends, among whom were Rev. Dr. Bellows, President of the
United States Sanitary Commission (and who cheerfully says of Officer
McWatters, "The evidence is overwhelming that few private persons have
given so much time and effectual aid to the friendless class as he"),
Wm. Cullen Bryant, and other gentlemen of high character; and the
ladies of the Relief Association, who were unwilling to part with his
invaluable coöperation, sought, for Officer McWatters, a place in the
custom-house, where the lingering sway of no heartless Jourdan would
oppress him. Officer McWatters' desire being made known to Collector
Murphy, he, be it said to his honor, immediately and generously offered
him a situation which would enable him to earn his living, and continue
his benevolent work; and on the 17th of October, 1870, Officer
McWatters tendered the resignation of his place as policeman to the
Commissioners, by the following letter, a copy of which we take from
the New York Dispatch of the 23d of that month:--
"NEW YORK, October 17, 1870.
"_To the Hon. Board of Police Commissioners of New York._
"GENTLEMEN: I beg respectfully to offer my resignation as a
patrol policeman, the same to take effect on Tuesday, October
18, 1870.
"This step has been rendered necessary for the following
reasons: I have been prohibited by your representative, the
late Superintendent, from employing my spare time in the
fulfilment of a duty which, in common with all good citizens, I
owe to the defenders of our country, the sick and disabled
soldiers, and to the widows and orphans of those who perished
in the late war; and being determined to fulfil that duty, I
have obtained employment elsewhere, under circumstances that
will enable me to continue to assist and advise these poor
people.
"Respectfully asking your acceptance of my resignation, I
remain, gentlemen, yours, &c.,
"GEORGE S. MCWATTERS."
The public journals of the times made most complimentary allusion to
Officer McWatters when noticing his withdrawal from the police force
and acceptance of a post in the custom-house. They spoke of him--but
perhaps it were well to let some of them "speak for themselves." We
reproduce here the following (all we have space for in this article)
from the New York Evening Post and the Daily Times. The former remarked
thus:--
"The resignation of George S. McWatters deprives the police
force of one of its most faithful and efficient members; but,
on the other hand, it enables Mr. McWatters to continue his
benevolent and gratuitous services in behalf of the wounded
soldiers, and the widows and orphans of those who fell during
the late war. Mr. McWatters proposes to open an office, under
the auspices of the Ladies' Union Relief Association, and of
General Butler, in his capacity of President of the Board of
Managers of the National Homes for Disabled Soldiers, where, at
certain hours each day, he can be consulted, and will offer
relief and assistance. There is now no place in this city where
this class of persons can get advice without paying roundly for
it, and running the danger of falling into the hands of
unprincipled claim agents. Mr. McWatters intends to give his
service gratuitously in this good cause, as he has been doing
for the last five or six years. He is now filling an office in
the custom-house, and Collector Murphy has shown his
discriminating good sense in making the appointment."