A small piece from the book
Maiden Lane The Story of a Single Street

Joseph Fahys, another war-time Maiden Lane occupant, arrived in this country at the age of 16, from Belfort, France, where he was born in 1832. He established a little shop at No 75 Nassau Street, in 1857, where he began to manufacture watch cases. About 1860 he moved to the second floor of No. 26 Maiden Lane, and there followed his craft, managing the business alone until 1889, when he took as a partner Henry F. Cook. In 1887 he admitted his son, George F. Fahys. Mr. Fahys, in recalling the exciting times of the war, remembered the entire collapse of business and the stringency of money. While the hostilities began, having no ready cash, he took some gold to the mint, had it converted into coin, and thus was enabled to pay his men. Upon the revival of trade after the first period of stagnation, he was called upon to furnish a dozen cases within a short time, to fit a corresponding number of movements. With the aid of a single helper, and by working all day and half the night, for a week, he completed the order on time. The customer, having no money, paid for the goods in the shape of umbrella frames. The story of the disposal of the frames is interesting. Mr. Fahys belonged to a baseball nine in Hoboken, one of the members of which was an umbrella maker who, fortunately, had sufficient money to buy the stock of frames received in exchange for the watch cases. Thus the barter was turned into cash. The time of the riots was a trying period. Maiden Lane closed it’s doors, locked it’s safes and appointed a vigilance committee. Happily the crowd turned westward at Barclay Street and left the jewelry district unaltered. Mr. Fahys made one trip during the war, going to Washington, where he disposed of some of his goods, and thence to Fredericksburg, where , with others forming a committee from New Jersey, he aided in distributing a large quantity of general merchandise.

A little piece of history.