EXCLUSIVE: Crimes of Old New York live on in dusty criminal clerk’s safe

The history and drama of Old New York is alive and well in a downtown courthouse.

An ancient, dust-caked trove of handwritten indictments and warrants, many about 135 years old, have been stored for a lifetime in a walk-in safe in the Manhattan Supreme Court criminal clerk's office, where they are rarely seen.

But the treasures, in the custody of the clerk, provide a fascinating view of the lives of residents in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

There's Richard Fleming who had gone to "see his sweetheart Maggie Ryan" on E. 17th St., when he learned a gent down the block insulted her, according to a version of events in a letter by his concerned brother-in-law.

When Fleming stepped up to confront the foe, a "gang" surrounded him and he was forced to draw his "common pen-knife" and stab Thomas Coleman in the thigh.

"Fleming's mother has been sick ever since this occurred and should he be sent to prison the shock will doubtless send her to the grave," the relative, Thomas Carley, wrote to a judge on Nov. 11, 1879, pleading for mercy.