Hence resulted the bitter feeling which first caused a lunatic to assassinate the president, and subsequently brought the

WILLIAM

H.

ROBERTSON.

the Democratic party back to power. Judge Robertson's part inwith political strife of those memorable times has been reviewed great fairness and discrimination in a public address by the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew.1 In theVear 1880 works for increasing New York City's water supply from Westchester County were commenced, which are still in progress; for although the new Croton Aqueduct was completed in 1891, 1 See Smith's Manual of Westchester County,

95.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

the great dam, which is to convert the present Croton Lake into a body eleven miles long', is not yet finished. Complaints about the insufficiency of the old aqueduct began to be expressed as early as 1875, but the city officials were slow to embark upon the necessarily elaborate and costly enterprise required -- a new aqueduct from the Croton River. In 1880, however, the ancient project to obtain a supply from the Bronx watershed and the Rye Ponds was revived, leading to the construction of the socalled Bronx River Conduit from the dam near Kensico Station to the receiving reservoir at Williams's Bridge. This work was concluded in 1881. The quantity of water thus provided, however, afforded only incidental relief, and it was recognized that a grand new aqueduct was indispensable. On the 1st of June, 1883. the legislature authorized the construction of the necessary works, and on the 21th of June, 1891, the second aqueduct was finished and turned over to the department of public works of New York City. Since 1888 the building of subsidiary basins and reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam Counties has been steadily prosecuted. It was originally proposed to construct the new Croton Dam at Quaker Bridge, but that plan was abandoned, and in August, 1892, the contract was awarded for the Cornell Dam, now approaching completion, about a mile and a half above the Quaker Bridge site.