THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES HKXkV HL-DS(;.\ MEMORI \I be erected on the hU, on the nortk side of Spuyten DuyHl Creek S,te gi.en by Willia.n c: M^Z^::,:!:^' f'' ^"^ ^' ^"^'"'"- -'b^cription. CRADLE DAYS O F NEW YORK ( 1609-1825) By HUGH MACATAMNEY New York DREW & LEWIS, Publishers 1909 Copyright, 1909, by Hugh Macatamney. (All rights reserved.) Ml 11^ PREFACE "Cradle Days of New York" is. in its amended form, the series of articles which appeared in The New York Tribune under the title "Little Old New York." After its publication in The Tribune many requests came for it in book form, and the author has barkened to the appeals of those who wanted it in such form. It is a compilation of data regarding the little village of 1609, the town of 1725 and the city of 1825. The facts have been gathered from many sources — historical societies, city and state libraries, Trinity Church records, descendants of some of New York's old families, and from manuscripts loaned to the author by officials of Holland and England. The origin of present day conditions, of present day laws, of present day events has been traced and is explained to the reader. Every effort has been made by the author to keep away from the beaten paths of the historians, which necessarily must be heavy at times, and to present in as light a way as possible the, to us, peculiar ways in whicli our fore- fathers laid the foundation of this glorious City of New York. The book is compiled with the years in sequence, so that it is a handy reference book as well as a continued story of the growth of the city. In 1825 the city had stretched east and west to its limits, and north to the present Eighth street, and had become a strong, lusty youngster. It had left its cradle, had forsaken the apron strings and its sturdy legs were carrying it farther north, when the author bade it good-by and rood luck. Little New York had almost become a memorv. 1431117 CONTENTS Page PREFACE 5 CHAPTER I— (1609-1684)— Court of Assizes; The First Mayor; Tlie First Tax; The First Night Watch; Beginning of Property Condemnation and Street Paving; Religious Fervor of the Huguenots 11 CHAPTER II— (1684-1694)— Introduction of the Negro; Negro Plots; Tobacco Cultivation; Religious Dissensions; Worship by Jews Not Allowed; "In- viters to Funerals"; Ducking Stool Set Up 15 CHAPTER III— (1694-1700)— Old New York the Flour City; First Episcopal Place of Worship; First City Hall; First Hospital; Start of Shipbuilding Industry; First Lighting System; Law to "Hang Popish Priests" . . 19 CHAPTER IV— (1700-1711)— C4eologic History of New York; Beginning of the De Peyster Fortune; "The Great Sickness"; The First Schoolmaster; Pres- entation of King's Farm to Trinity; First Licensed Auctioneer ... 23 CHAPTER V— (1711-1729)— First Poundkeeper and Scavenger; Heathcote Hall; Home for Paupers; First Public Clock; Ropewalk Established; First Presbyterian Church; Irish Tuber Introduced; First Tax Law; The "New York Gazette" 29 CHAPTER VI— (1730-1734)— First Court of Common Pleas; First Fire De- partment; The "New York Weekly Journal"; First Criminal Libel Case; Stage Between Boston and New Y'ork 33 CHAPTER VII— (1734-1745)— Quakers Granted Right to Vote; First Poor- house; Law Regarding Riding on Shafts of Cart; Gaming Houses De- nounced by Law; Founding of New York Society Library . . . ' . 37 CHAPTER VIII— (1745-1753)— City Officials Watched the Drawing of Govern- ment Lotteries; First Reward for Firemen; Erection of First Tlieatre; Origin of Public Exchanges; Governor Osborne Succeeds Clinton and Kills Himself 41 CHAPTER IX— (1753-1758)— Old Burial Places; Founding and Early Annals of King's College; Magnificent Home of a Merchant Prince; First Staten Island Ferry; St. Andrew's Society Established; The Debtors' Jail . . 45 CHAPTER X— (1759-1765)— Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Do- mestic Servants Organized; Development of Chatham Street; First Bap- tist Church; Law Regulating Price of Meat; Sandy Hook Lighthouse . 50 ii CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER XI— (1765-1768)— Old State Prison; First Colonial Congress; Stamp Duties; First Lutheran Church; The Brick Church; Liberty Pole Erected; Disfranchisement of the Province; Scotch Presbyterian Church 54 CHAPTER, XII— (1768-1770)— Captain Kidd— New York Hospital Founded; Fourth, or North, Church; Marine Society Incorporated; Statue of George m Ordered Erected; Statue of Pitt 58 CHAPTER XIII— (1770-1776)— Landmarks of Old New York; Circular to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York; Battle of Golden Hill; First Record of a Boycott 62 CHAPTER XIV— (1776-1780)— Richmond Hill; Tom Paine's "Common Sense"; Death of Tom Paine; Great Fire of 1776; First Written Constitution of New York Framed at Princeton; Intense Cold in 1779 . . . .68 CHAPTER XV— (1780-1784)— Chelsea Village: Its Origin; Clement C. Moore; Treaty of Peace Signed; Reception to General Washington; Black Sam's Tavern; Reception to Lafayette; Proposition to Establish Waterworks 73 CHAPTER XVI— (1784-1785)— Trysting Place of New York's Belles and Beaux; Homes of Old New Yorkers; Fashionable Hotels in the Old Days; Formation of Political Parties; Tryon Row 78 CHAPTER XVII— (1785-1788)— Fair Greenwich; Origin of Abingdon Square; Bank Street; Second Jewish Burying Ground; Stage Line Between Green- wich Village and Pine Street; Monument to General Montgomery . . 83 CHAPTER XVIII— (1788-1790)— Broadway in the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century — Residence Streets; Business Streets; Country Seats; Brevoort Estate and Fight of Owner; Henry Spingler's Stubbornness . . ' . 88 CHAPTER XIX— (1790- 1791 )-Story of a Musical Event in 1850; Salary of the Mayor in 1790; Final Location of Seat of Government; Plague of Yellow Fever 93 CHAPTER XX— (1791-1794)— History of Education in New Y'ork; Work of Public School Society; Beginning of Board of Education; Revival of Public Improvements; Fresh Water Pond . 98 CHAPTER XXI— (1794-1795)— Origin of Street Names; First Sidewalks Laid; Houses Numbered; "Battle Oflf Sandy Hook"; City Refuge of French Emigres; Christ Church Built; First Diopensary 103 CHAPTER XXII— (1795)— First Newspaper; History of Newspapers Up to 1845; First One-Cent Paper; Beginning of the Newsboy; Origin of News- paper Distribution; The Moon Hoax . , , 110 CHAPTER XXIII— (1795-1796)— Bowling Green; Origin of "Gotham"; "The New York Gazetteer"; Cost of City Lighting; Beginning of Gas Com- panies; Burning of New Treaty 116 CONTENTS. iii Page CHAPTER XXIV— (1796-1797)— Theatres and Theatricals in New York from 1732; Introduction of Italian Opera; Old City's Opinion of the Derivation of tlie Word Drama; Theatre Receipts in 1827 119 CHAPTER XXV— (1797)— Opinion of an f^nglish Actor in 1797 of New York; The Potter's Field; State Prison at Greenwich ; First Superintenrent of Public 'Works; Treadmill 124 CHAPTER XXVI— (Religions— Dutch Reformed)— History of the Dutch Re- formed Church; First Members Worshipped in Loft in Mill; Customs Pre- vailing in Three Places of Worship; First Trial of Steamboat . . . 129 CHAPTER XXVII— (Religions— Protestant Epi.copr.l)— Advent of Protestant Episcopal Church; Support of Church of England ^lade Compulsory; The Establishment of Trinity; Its Baptism of Fire; Building of St. George's, St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels 134 CHAPTER XXVIII— (Religions— Lutheran)— The First Lutheran Church; Justus Falckner First Lutheran Pastor to Be Ordained in America; Ac- count of His Ordination; Four Congregations and One Hundred Communi- cants His Initial Charge 139 CHAPTER XXIX— (Religions— Presbyterian)— History of the Presbyterian Church in New York; "The Apostle of Presbyterianism in America," Rev. Francis Doughty; Arrest of Ministers by Order of Lord Cornbury . .143 CHAPTER XXX— (Religions— Baptist, Methodist, Jewish and Quaker)— Tlie Baptist Church; Meetings in Private Dwellings; Sacrament Administered in Rigging Loft; The Methodist Church; The Moravians; The Quakers; The Jews 147 CHAPTER XXXI— (Religions— Roman Catholic)— Advent of the Sect in the City; Great Intolerance Shown to It; Opening of a Latin School; Liberty of Conscience Granted to All Except "Papists" 152 CHAPTER XXXII— (1798)— Yellow Fever Scourge Causes Agitation for Drinking Water Supply; Aaron Burr's Scheme; The Tea Water Pump; Building of Croton Aqueduct, Central Park Reservoir and High Bridge . 158 CHAPTER XXXIII— (1798)— The First Steamboat; Monopoly of Hudson Trafllc Granted to Robert R. Livingston; His Craft a Failure; Fulton and the Clermont's First Trip to Albany; First Steam Ferryboats . . .162 CHAPTER XXXrV— (1798-1799)— History of Section from Ann Street to Pearl Street; Where Leisler and Milborne Were Buried; The Place of Execution; Catimut's Hill; First Day of Thanksgiving; Death of Washington . . 166 CHAPTER XXXV— (1800)— History of City Hall Park; A Few of the Occur- rences There; First Public Building Erected Within Its Limits; Building of the Pi-esent Citv Hall 171 iv CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER XXXVI— (1800)— Lower Broadway: Its Position as a Residential Neighborhood; Places of Historic Interest; Some of Its Residents; Oyster Pasty Alley; Bowling Green Inclose'd; The City at the Century's Dawn 17G CHAPTER XXXVII— (1800)— History of Wall Street; Speculative Instinct of Our Forefathers: Erection of First Presbyterian Church; Coffee House; The Bank of New York; Comparative Values ISO CHAPTER XXXVIII— (1800)— History of the "Heere Wegh" (Wall Street to City Hall Park); The Damen Plantation; The Van Tienhoven Planta- tion; The Shoemakers Pasture; The King's Arms Tavern . . .185 CHAPTER XXXIX— (1800)— Broadway from Vesey to Duane Street; Mon- tagnie's Garden; Cox's Garden; Contoit Garden; the Rutgers Farm; Origin of Chambers Street; First Dry Goods Storey Exhibition of Sewing Ma- chine 190 CHAPTER XL— (1800)— East Side of Broadway Between Duane and Pearl Streets; Masonic Hall; The Morgan Murder; The De Peyster Dairy; The White Conduit House; Another Conduit Garden 195 CHAPTER XLI—(1802-181G)— Academy of Fine Arts Founded; City Comp- troller Appointed; Period of Duelling; Yellow Fever Scourge; Death of Alexander Hamilton; Founding of New York Historical Society and Musical Society 201 CHAPTER XLII— (1817-1825)— First Line of Packet Ships Established; Ar- rival of the Great Eastern; Body of General Montgomery Transferred; Reception to Lafayette; Oi'ganization of First Savings Bank . . . 208 CHAPTER XLIII— (The City's Musical Life from 1825 to 1872)— The Garcia Family; "The Woods"; Mrs. Seguin; Madame Borghese; Havana Opera Company; Miss Clotilda Barili; Madame Anna Bishop; Madame Bosio; Madame Anna Thillon; Madame Alboni; Adelina Patti; Clara Louise Kellogg 215 CHAPTER XLIV— (History of Central Park)— Originally Shanties and Bone- Boiling Establishments; Land Cost $6,348,595.90; Site of State Arsenal; Used by Tweed for Political Power; Introduction of European Sparrows; Analysis of the Soil 222 CHAPTER XLV — Rump Board of Aldermen; Passenger Transportation; In- troduction of Croton Water; First Local Stage Lines; First "L" Road; Advent of the Flat House; Beginning of Central Park .... 227 CHAPTER I. (1609-1684.) Court of Assiaes, the First Mayor, the First Tax and the First Night Watch — Beginning of Property Condemnation and Street Paving — Religious Fervor of the Huguenots. Students of the history of New York City know that it derived its origin and commercial importance fi'om the colonizing and trading spirit of the Hollanders, and the thirst for adventure which characterized other maritime nations of Europe soon after the discovery of this Western Continent. The early troubles and civil commotions of the colonies were occasioned by the conflicting claims of England, France and Holland, arising from real or pretended rights from prior discovery of territory. Many facts might be outlined regarding these interior collisions from 1609, the advent of Hvidson, and the year which set whirling the competitive and ingenious brains of the adventurous settlers, but they are in the minds of most school- boys, and have no place in this compilation of events leading up to the pres- ent day. As one historian puts it, when speaking of the first ground given to the Dutch by the Indians, a classical knowledge of Queen Dido was turned to profitable account by the Dutch, and the first American got drunk on Hudson's whiskey, slept, awoke and called for more. According to manuscript documents antedating 1800, which yield the most curious particulars of local history and statistical information, some apparently trivial and unimportant at first sight, but all valuable in tracing the history and progress of the city and its unexampled growth and pros- perity, the earliest authentic record of population is in 1656. Then several new streets were laid out, and the first map of the city was sent to Holland by Governor Stuyvesant, who arrived in 1647, and was the last Governor under the Dutch dynasty. He held office for seventeen years, until the colony was taken in 1664 by Colonel Nichols, who arrived from England with four frigates and 300 soldiers, and afterward reported to the Duke of York, who had granted the patent for the expedition, that the town was composed of a few miserable houses, occupied by men who were extremely poor; but he foretold its greatness if certain immunities were granted. Colonel Nichols organized the first Court of Assizes, invested it with every power, collected into one code the ancient customs of the colony, added improvements, and made the laws of England supreme. Henceforth II 12 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. no purchase of land from the Indians was valid without his license. He confiscated all the property of the West India Trading Company, which, was established by Holland in 1620 to trade to the western coasi of Africa and the eastern shores of America, with power to make treaties with the princes of the land, to build fortresses for the protection of its commerce a,nd do everything for the preservation of good government. It was this company that settled a colony and called it New-Netherlands. Under its control frequent quarrels occurred as to boundary and trade, but the colo- nists managed to build the first street in the city — Pearl street — and to erect a fort at the junction of the North and East rivers, which contained houses and a church. The company failed in 1634. Governor Nichols, in 1664, altered the style and form of government in New York from Scout, Burgomaster and Schepen to Mayor, Alderman and Sheriff. The first Mayor of the incorporation, so called, was Thomas Willett, an Englishman. He had factories or Indian trading houses from Kennebeck, Me., to Delaware. The Sheriff was Allerd Anthony. Twelve hundred guilders ($1,000) was raised for the support of the ministry in New York, and permission was given to the Lutherans to send for and settle a minister of their persuasion in the city. He was Jacobus Fabriceius, who arrived in 1669. John Shute was licensed as the only English schoolmaster in Albany, to teach the Dutch the English language. Colonel Francis Lovelace, in May, 1667, succeeded Colonel Nichols, who re- turned to England. During this year a wagon road was constructed from New York to Harlem, and the next year, for the sake of promoting a good breed of horses, the Governor instituted races at Hempstead, Long Island, and subscriptions were taken from all willing to run for a crown in silver or a bushel of good wheat. The government of 1671 had its troubles about salaries withheld, for v/e read that Samuel Driscus, the Dutch minister, applied to the Governor and council to have tv/o years' arrears of salary paid; but as he had been sick one year they refused, and paid him only £100, though they recom- mended that the elders and deacons help him further. Such is the rela- tion of Church to State. In 1672 the first Friend preached in New York, and the following year the post rider began his trips to and from Boston, once in three weeks. In July of the same year the Dutch retook the city, but the next year it was restored to the English. The commander of the fort at the time of the surrender to the Dutch was tried for treachery and had his sword broken over his head, just for a little thing like surrendering to the enemy without firing a shot. In 1674 Nicholas de Meyer, Mayor, established the first valuation of citizens' holdings and laid the first tax, and from then to this day "kickers" and evaders have flourished. The name of Thomas Lewis, an Irishman, is found in the records for this year. He was one of four who mingled with the Dutch in New-Amsterdam, and was seventeenth in a list of inhabitants recorded in the order of their wealth. He was worth 6,000 florins, and had real estate. In 1675, with Edmund Andros Governor and William Duvall Mayor, a Court of Sessions was established; no liquors were to be sold to the Indians (for divers reasons), English weights and measures were established, rates CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 13 were levied for the support of the ministry, and "all persons on Long Island of an estate worth from £20 to £100 may keep one breeding mare and no more; and so for every £100 one, but as many working geldings as wanted." Magistrates were told to do justice to Indians as well as Christians! The colonists builded better than they knew in the following: "Janu- ary 11. — The watch set at 8 o'clock every evening, after ringing of the bell, and the city gates locked at 9, and opened again at daylight. No cursing or swearing permitted. Every citizen to have a musket and powder and ball constantly in readiness. No person allowed to sell or trade unless free burgesses of the city for one year, and they not to depart without giving six months' notice thereof; or, unless such person or persons so departing shall during that time keep fire and candle, pay scot and lot. And every merchant made free shall pay six beavers, and all handicrafts traders two beavers for being made freemen. All persons that keep public houses shall sell beers as well as wyne and other liquors and keep lodging for strangers." What a chance for the Governor and Mayor in 1675 in the following proposal: "That there be six houses appointed to sell all sorts of wyne and brandy and rum, with lodging, and eight houses to sell beers and syder, mum and rum, and to provide for strangers, to sell brandy, rum, strong waters and tobacco," and the following prices of wines, etc., were estab- lished: French wines Is. 3d. per English quart. Fayal wines and St. Georges Is. 6d. per English quart. Madeira wines Is. lOd. per English quart. Canary and Malaga 2s Od. per English quart. Brandy 6d. per English gill. Rum 3d. per English gill. Cider 4d. per English quart. Mum 6d. per English quart. Lodging at the wine houses was fourpence a night, and at the beer houses threepence a night. From the following regulation passed by the Council in 1675 we trace the present law of property condemnation for the purpose of improving the city: "Ordered, that the land in this city convenient to build on, if the parties who own the same do not speedily build thereon, their land may be valued and sold to those who are willing to build." Streets were to be cleaned every Saturday, or oftener, and cartmen forfeited their licenses if the dirt was not carried away. A public slaughter-house was ordered built outside the gate of the city. The first auctioneer in the city was Adolphe Peterson, who was ordered to sell four lots, containing 25 feet each in front, English measure, at a vendue or outcry. In 1676 the first street paving was done. The Heeren Gracht, or Broad street, was filled up and levelled. There were no asphalt companies then. With an eye to protection of home industries, the Governor, in consequence of a representation that wheat was lower in New York than in the neigh- boring colonies, fixed its price at 5 shillings a bushel for winter yield and 4s. 6d. for summer. 14 CKADlJi DAYS OF XEW YORK. The Council ordered "that it is uot lawful to sell liquor to Indians, and if they are found drunk in the street, without knowing at what house they obtained the drink, the whole street is liable to a fine." "Tanners and cur- riers to be selected by the Aldermen and approved, and no others allowed. No butchers allowed to be curriers or tanners or shoemakers, and vice versa." In 1677 Stephanus Van Courtlandt became Mayor, and the first tax rate for defraying and discharging city debts, incurred for bviilding docks, bridges, etc., was levied on 384 houses and 40 vacant lots, and at the same meeting the Council queried: "Whether attorneys are thought useful to plead in courts or not?" Answer: "It is thought not." Whereupon, resolved and ordered, "that pleading attorneys be no longer allowed to practice in the government, excepting in the depending cases." This was dated May 19. Here is something interesting to the people of New Rochelle: When the Huguenots first settled there the only place of worship they had was in New York City. They had taken land on terms which required the utmost exertions of men, women and children to clear. They worked hard till Saturday night, spent the night in trudging down on foot to the city, attended -vvorship twice the next day and walked home the same night, to be ready for work on Monday morning. They wrote to France of the great privileges they enjoyed. There was no Easter parade then, no fine musical attraction — just the worship of God. Thomas Delaval was Mayor in 1678 and Francis Rombolt in 1679. Forty-eight shillings was received from sixteen persons who were licensed to sell wines. A negro was valued this year at £42 10s. William Beekman was deputy Mayor until 1681, when the Duke of York's charter was granted, and Governor Dongan arrived in 1682. Through him a charter was granted which has continued to be the basis of New York's rights and privileges. His town residence was on Broadway, the ground extending from Maiden Lane to Ann street. He also had an estate at Castleton, Staten Island. Mr. Stenwick was made Mayor, and the follow- ing year the first House of Representatives convened. The first Recorder, James Graham, was appointed at the request of the corporation, and took his place on the bench on the right hand of the Mayor. The style was al- tered to Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen. On what slender threads hung the hopes and fears of our ancestors in 1683! On March 7 they noted a serious rival in trade on the opposite shores of the Hudson, and the Mayor of the city petitioned the Government and Crown to have East Jersey (which heretofore had been claimed as attached to the colony of New York, but had been separated) "reannexed to this province, as trade and revenue had suffered by the dismemberment, and fears were entertained in consequence that New York would be sup- planted by the diversion of trade." At this time New York had the ex- clusive privilege, by law, of bolting and packing flour and meal, and this was the sole support of at least two-thirds of its citizens, and was com- plained of by the country people as a grievance. In 1684 New street and Beaver street were ordered to be paved, and the first watch was appointed, consisting of eight persons, at 12 pence a night.. CHAPTER II. (1684-1694.) Introduction of the Negro — Negro Plots — Tobacco Cultivation— Religious Dissensions — Worship by Jews Not Allowed — 'Inviters to Funerals" — Ducking Stool Set Up. In the chronological history of New York mention is made of the valu- ation put on a negro in 1679. The old manuscripts in the possession of the New York Historical Society show that the negro was introduced forty years prior to 1679 by the Privileged Trading Company of Amsterdam. In a record of a lease in 1638, in the office of the secretary of the colony, of a certain tract of land near Fort Amsterdam, negroes are mentioned. The agreement is made in the names of "The Privileged Trading Company" and the "Honourable, wise and prudent Sir William Kieft, Director Gen- eral of New Netherlands." This tract of land was used for the cultivation of tobacco, as was a part of Pawles Hook, the whole of which was sold by William Kieft to Abram Isaac Planck for £75, and a plantation to Thomas Hall, "with the negroes thereon." The blacks lived a peaceable life with the Dutch and English until 1712, when an insurrection occurred among them, and they set fire to the city, killing several of the inhabitants. Nineteen of the negroes were exe- cuted. The celebrated negro plot of 1741, a full history of which is given un^er this date, occurred when there were about twelve thousand inhab- itants in the city, one-sixth of whom were negro slaves. Of this plot a book, published in 1810, says: "After the lapse of nearly a century, we look back with astonishment on the panic occasioned by the negro plot. To judge from tradition and the journal of the proceedings against the conspirators, no doubt can be had of the actual existence of a plot. The very mode adopted to discover abettors by mutual criminations and confessions tended in the progress of the trials to inculpate every negro slave in the city. As it was impossible to prove all equally guilty, the ringleaders only were executed, and those who plead guilty and threw themselves on the mercy of the court were transported." Suspicion of a plot among the negroes was first occasioned by frequent alarms of fires and robberies. The most famous robbery occurred at the house of a Mr. Hogg, in Broad street, where linen and silver coins, chiefly Spanish, to the value of i60, were taken. On Wednesday, March IS, 1740, a fire broke out in "his majesty's house, at Fort George. The citizens assem- bled promptly and assisted in saving the records and papers in the ofRce of the Secretary of State." The Governor's house and the venerable Dutch church, erected in 1640, were destroyed. Other fires occurring afterward, a panic followed among the colonists. Many negroes were arrested, and from the evidence obtained it appeared that the city was destined to be burnPd 15 i6 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. completely and the inhabitants massacred. Fifty-five of those arrested were convicted, and seventy-eight confessed. Thirteen were burned at the stake at a place then out of town, near the present intersection of Pearl street and Park Row; twenty were hanged, seventy were transported and fifty were discharged. In 1684 religious dissensions began to agitate the people of the Colony. Governor Dongan and some of the principal officers were Catholics, and had been appointed by the reigning Stuart family in England. It was feared, therefore, that the Protestant religion was in danger. To further increase the fear, a Latin school was opened under the management of a learned Jesuit. The colonists were not tolerant of the religion of others, however, for the Jews, having petitioned the Governor for liberty to exercise their re- ligion, and their petition being recommended by him to the Mayor and all Aldermen, and read in the Common Council, were told "that noe publique worship is tolerated, by act of Assembly, but to those that professe faith in Christ, and therefore the Jews worship not to be allowed." While bigotry is less rampant outwardly to-day, there are many visible signs of the objec- tions made by some as to the manner in which others worship. About this time the honest Quakers were not tolerated in Boston. The first House of Representatives was abolished by James II in 1686, during which year he forbade the use of printing presses. In 1687 the news of the revolution in England and the accession of William and Mary to the throne reached the colonies. On the arrival of the news a militia captain, Leisler, seized the fort, where he acted as Governor, and convened the As- sembly. Two years after, on the arrival of Governor Slaughter, Leisler and his secretary, Malborne, were tried and convicted of high treason in not promptly giving up the fort. They were executed, and the proceedings in Leisler's trial were printed in Boston, as there was no printing press in New York. May 1, 1690, witnesses the first meeting of Commissioners (called a Congress) from the several colonies, preparatory to the establishing of pro- vincial laws, which was done in 1691, when the Duke of York's laws ceased and the first General Assembly convened in New York, composed of seven- teen members, selected as follows: City and County of New York, 4; Ulster and Dutchess, 2; Westchester, 1; Richmond, 2; Albany, 2; Suffolk, 2; Kings, 2, and Queens, 2. In this year an important office was established by the council, that of "inviters to funerals." Richard Chapman and Cornadus Vandor Beeck were the successful candidates for the position, and their profits were to be equal. Amsterdam was the sponsor for this office and its duties. At a funeral the inviter was dressed in black, with a mourning crape on his hat reaching to the ground, and carried a scroll in his hand containing a list of the persons invited. A similar office is performed to-day by the undertaker's assistant, which doubtless is a survival of the old custom. Hogs were not "suffered to goe or range in any of the streets or lands, within the fire wards, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all such swine," etc., and "poysonous and stinking weeds within this city, before every one's door, to be forthwith pluckt up, upon the forfeiture of three shillings for the neglect thereof." CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ly "The poor ye have always with ye." "Ordered that Top-Knot Betty and another person and her children be provided for as objects of charity, and four shillings a week allowed." This was in 1691, and is so in 1909. We find that frequent grants of land were made by the corporation this year for trifling considerations. How true to history 218 years later! One wonders at the following, revealed by the old manuscript records of the council: "That the treasurer let Scarrbouch have a new suit, and assist him in what's wanting." In 1691 the public authorities sold all the land fronting the water, from Wall street to Maiden Lane, for 25 shillings a foot, and from there to ClifC street for 18 shillings a foot. From Cliff street to Beekman street it was sold for 15 shillings a foot. Water lots were sold at one shilling a foot. On December 8 of this year a piece of ground was granted for the Dutch church in Exchange Place, between Broad and William streets, "175 feet on the north and 180 feet on the south, for 180 current pieces of eight, at six shill- ings a piece, to be paid upon sealing the patents." The church first built on this spot was erected in 1693. The lot was not to be appropriated to any other use or assigned to any other person. About this time money was noticeably scarce, as the Recorder, Mr. Graham, was ordered to be paid half of i32 10s., which was the amount of the city's indebtedness to him, and the other half as soon as the fire money was received, "reserving in hand what may be sufficient to supply the poor." Benjamin Fletcher, the new Governor, arrived from England this year, to succeed Governor Slaughter, and at a meeting of the Common Council it was agreed "that there be a treat made to welcome him to this city, to the value of £20, Alderman William Merritt to provide the same accordingly." Surveyors were appointed in 1691 to lay out streets and lots, for each of which they were to receive six shillings. Of their work a chronicler of the history of New York says: "The moderate expectations of the founders of the city as to its future extent and influence, together with the European notions imbibed by them as to the compactness and n^arrowness of streets, as in the Continental cities, caused that closeness and irregularity in the ancient form and aspect of the city which has devolved on their posterity a full measure of vexation and ex- pense in remedying the mistakes of their ancestors." As early as 1614 the first street mentioned is Pearl street, which was near the south walls of Fort Amsterdam and under command of its guns. It was so located to protect its inhabitants from the savages. Other streets were soon after formed in the vicinity, with a similar precaution in view. In 1653 the great wall was erocted across the island, and stood until 1699, when the increase of population and the scarcity of building room within it forced its demolition. This wall was of earth and palisadoes, with two gates (or poorts), the so-called land gate in Broadway, corner of Wall street, and the water gate in Wall street, corner of Pearl street, then close to the water. Outside of the wall were six houses and one windmill on the highest land, and inside of it were 114 houses. Some of the streets assumed the winding shape of the eastern shore of the island. Pearl street began at the Battery and fronted on the water, and i8 CKADLE DAYS OF XEW YORK. other streets paralleled it. The cross streets were laid out where the least obstruction of hill or valley presented itself. There were uo steam shovels then, and the natives could not cut down and level the entire face of the island, as the builders of a later generation have done. Objection was made, indeed, by the directors of the West India Trading Company, when in 1656 the first plan of the city was sent to Holland, that the width of the streets was unnecessary and that too much space was allotted to gardens and open grounds. The colonists were preparing for family quarrels in 1691, as it was or- dered "that there be a ducking stool built forthwith upon the wharfe before the towne-house" (Coenties Slip, between Pearl and Water streets). Abram de Peyster became Mayor in 1692, and he recommended that the city make one wharf fronting King street (now Pine street), thirty feet wide, and tv/o other wharfs, twelve feet wide, one on each side of Maiden Slip (?), running to high-water mark. It appears that the tide entered up the street as far as William street. "Spuyten Devil" Creek bridge was built in this year. July 8, 1693 — "Ordered that the Mayor doe provide a coat of the city livery, with a badge of the city arms, shoes and stockings for the bellman, and charge it to the account of the city." Also, "ordered that the Recorder doe draw up an address to congratulate his excellency on his safe return from Albany." An historian of old New York in 1829, commenting upon this incident, calls attention with evident pride to the fact that methods of transportation had greatly improved in the interval, the trip from Al- bany requiring but twelve (12) hours, instead of four days as formerly. Further, it was ordered "that the Mayor doe provide a cup of gold to the value of one hundred pounds, to be presented unto his excellency on behalf of this city, as a token of their gratitude." The Mayor bought of Peter Jacob Marius twenty ounces of gold for the cup. at a cost of £106, for which he and others gave their bonds, and desired a fund might be raised to pay the same, and it was ordered that the revenue of the ferry between the city and Brooklyn, "which doth annually arise, be not converted unto any other use whatsoever until the said one hundred and six pounds be paid as above." John Arsoon, a farmer and the lessee'of the ferry mentioned, had com- plained of his inability to pay the rent (£147) of the ferry, and had it re- duced to £140 this year, and in the same old document which notes this startling information is this remark: "Thus nearly, a whole year's income from this source was absorbed in this expensive golden cup — the first of the kind ever presented by the corporation." In 1694 the colonists had "a chiel amang them takin' notes" in the per- son of William Bradford, printer. Further on a full history will be given of Bradford and his work. "Kid the pirate committed great depredations on the coast about this time." Lots of ground in Wall street in this year were ordered sold at 30 shil- lings a foot, and lots nearer the water at 24 shillings a foot. The market house in Broadway was let to Henry Crosby for a farm for £1 a year. James Graham, the Recorder, was granted in perpetuity a lot in Queen street (Pearl street), "thirty feet in breadth in front and forty-four feet in the rear." CHAPTER III. (1694-1700.) Old New York the Flour City— First Episcopal Place of Worship— First City Hall— First Hospital— Start of Shipbuilding Industry- First Lighting System— Law to "Hang Popish Priests." The name Flour City was given to old New York primarily, as she produced after 1683 a grade that had preference in all foreign markets. It engaged the services of two-thirds of her population in bolting and packing, and from it she derived a large revenue. Indeed, so steady was the increase in revenue and population from the furtherance of this in- dustry that in 1697, about eighty years after the beginning of the settle- ment, there were 4,302 inhabitants, and in 1699 there were 6,000. The framers of the law of 1683, by which this monopoly was given to the colony, compelled a rigid system of inspection of all flour made for export, and because of this it maintained its supremacy over the flour of the Old World and enriched its producers. In a petition to the Legislature in 1695, when an attempt was made to repeal the law, the Corporation of New York stated that when the bolting of flour began, in 1678, there v/ere only 384 houses, as against 983 in 1695; that the revenue for the three years after 1678 was £2,000, and in 1687 it had increased to £5,000; that in 1678 there were 3 ships, 7 boats and 8 sloops engaged in the traffic, as against 60 ships, 40 boats and 25 sloops in 1694. The law, however, had become odious and oppressive to the country people, and their growing influence with the Governor and the Legislature caused its repeal in 1699, but not without a long and strenuous resistance from the city authorities, who were loath to have such a lucrative monopoly taken from them. In 1696 Trinity Church was built, the Rev. Mr. Vesey holding the first service in it on February 6, 1697. It was originally a small edifice, but was enlarged in 1735 and 1737. The first place of worship in the old city used by the Episcopalians was the small church built by the Dutch in 1640 inside Fort Amsterdam. Its service was in accordance with that of the Church of Holland and prevailed until 1664, when the fort and everything within its wall was taken pos- session of by the British troops. It was destroyed by fire on March 18, 1741, as the result of the negro uprising. During the fire which destroyed the southwest part of the city on September 21, 1776, the venerable edifice of Trinity met its fate and lay 19 ^o CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. in ruins during the war and for several years after. The present structure was rebuilt in 1788 and consecrated in 1791 by Bishop Provost. It is not as long as the old church, but is the same width, with a steeple twenty feet higher. The ground was gratuitously ceded to the vestry by the cor- poration of the city in 1702, on condition that it should always be neatly fenced in, and burials in it granted to the citizens forever for the fee of 3s. 6d. for grown persons and Is. 6d. for all under twelve years of age. On June 26, 1696, a city hall was ordered built on the corner of Nassau and Wall streets, to cost i3,000. It was a modest, plain, substantial edifice, sufficient for those days of primitive simplicity, and continued, with occa- sional repairs and alterations, until after the War of the Revolution. Prior to the assembling of the Congress of the United States in this city in 1787 and 1789 the building was altered and enlarged for its accommodation by the corporation, and remained so until demolished in 1811. It had a spa- cious portico projecting into Wall street several feet and resting on arches, with arcades underneath, extending around into Nassau street. From the portico of the second story, facing Broad street, General Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States. That the readers of this chronology of old New York may know the inception of the City Hall it will be necessary to go back to 164 2, when the town was yet in its infancy. In that year, that the citizens might have a building in which to assemble, a "Stadt-Huys," or State House, was built on the corner of Pearl street and Coenties alley, fronting the slip, by the West India Trading Company, and called their tavern. In it strangers who could not be conveniently received under the hospitable roof of the Governor were entertained, and the most important affairs of the city and colony were transacted. It sheltered the first school in 1652, and the first court of admiralty, organized by Governor Nichols in 1665. Courts were held and transfers of sovereignty were made in it in 1664 and 1674. Here also was the first jail of the city. In front of the building the militia paraded, and the stocks, whipping post and ducking stools were there. In 1699 it was in such a decayed and dangerous state that at a public sale John Rodman, a merchant, bought it for £920. The second City Hall was erected in 1700 at the north end of Broad street, and was succeeded by the present building, which few know is of native white marble, from Stockbridge, Mass. Its foundation stone was laid on September 26, 1803, and it was finished in 1812 at a cost, exclusive of the furniture, of half a million dollars. Soil v/as valuable, apparently, in 1696, for Captain Teunis De Kay petitioned that "a carte way be made leading out of the Broad street to the street that runs by the Pye-woman's (now Nassau street), leading to the commons of the city (now the park) ; and that he will undertake to doo the same provided he may have the soyle." Complaints of a great scarcity of bread existed in this year. In 1697 Church street was laid out, and a city watch of four sober men was ordered by the Council. The simple and cheap method of first lighting the city is given under date of November 23, 1697, in a resolution: "This board, taking into con- sideration the great inconveniency that attend this city, being a trading CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 21 place, for want of having lights in the 'dark time of the moon' in the winter season; it is therefore ordered that all and every of the house- keepers within this city shall put out lights in their windows fronting the respective streets of the said city, according to such manner and rule as shall be directed by the Mayor, two Aldermen and two assistants, under the penalty of ninepence for each night of default." And on December 2 it was "ordered that every seventh houge do hang out a pole with a lantern and candle; and the said seven houses to pay equal portions of the expense." The Earl of Belamont succeeded Governor Fletcher. He received his commission in June, 1697, but did not arrive until April, 1698, when four barrels of powder were ordered purchased to salute him. A peculiar ceremony was instituted in this year. A pew was built in Trinity Church for the use of the Mayor, Aldermen and their successors, with the understanding that the Mayor-elect, accompanied by others in authority, should proceed in grand procession from the City Hall to the church, where divine service would be performed and a sermon preached by the rector, after which the party would proceed to Fort William Henry and wait on the Governor, and the Mayor on his return would be sworn in at the City Hall. This ceremony was regularly continued until the Revo- lution. Who would not be Enoch Hill, the first Mayor's marshal? On No- vember 9, 1698, Mayor De Peyster appointed him "marshall and messenger to the Common Council; and hitherto having found him very diligent in his duty, desires that for his encouragement he be allowed a coat, breeches, hat, shoes and stockings, and a cloak of the city livery, and a Boodle's staff, at the city charge." It was ordered that the Mayor purchase the same at the city charge; that "the livery be blew, with an orange list." Hawkers or pedlers of to-day should know that the beginning of their troubles was August 9, 1699. A penalty of twenty shillings was placed on them then each time they peddled their goods around the streets. The law, however, spurred them on to petition for the establishing of a market at Coenties Slip (then called Countess's Key), to be built at their own expense, which was granted by the Council. The movement for the establishing of the first hospital in the city took place on September 6 of this year in the following order to the Mayor: "Ordered that the Mayor agree with some person for the keeping of an hospital for the maintenance of the poor of this city, upon the most easy terms that may be; and also that he hire a house suitable for that occasion." And the inhabitants of Haarlaem were permitted to erect one mill, and no more, "provided they do not hinder the passage of sloops or boats round Manhattan Island!" Here is the basis of paternalism by the old city: "William Sharpas, town clerk, had a grant of land from high to low water mark of one hundred feet for his good and faithful services for seven years past, and his encourag- ment to continue so for the future." Many people will wonder whether Clement Ellsworth was the pioneer of that great industry, shipbuilding, which for years gave employment to thousands of New Yorkers. The only record of the establishment of a yard for the carrying on of this work, however, is that of October 16, 16 0D. It 22 CRADLE DAYS Of NEW YORK. fronted the East River and undoubtedly made that section of the city- reputed throughout the country as the shipbuilding centre. Isaac D. Dromer was Mayor in 1700 and witnessed the passing by the Legislature of a law to "hang every popish priest who entered the colony to entice the Indians from their allegiance." An historian of 1810 gives the cause for the existence of this law in the following extract taken from the "History of the Negro Plot": "Our Dutch forefathers, glowing with all the zeal of the early re- formers, emigrated to this country shortly after the emancipation of the United Netherlands from the Spanish yoke, and fostered all the rancor of their race against Papists and Spaniards. It was the policy of the English Government to cherish this animosity. The act of our Provincial Assembly against Jesuits and Priests, which continued in full force until our inde- pendence, v/as owing not only to those prejudices, but to the exposed situation of the colony, the northern frontier of which was bounded by Canada, at that time in possession of France, the natural and ever daring enemy of England. The intolerant spirit of this act shows the horror and detestation in which the Roman Catholics were held, and will account for the scarcity, before the Revolution, in this city and colony of those who professed this faith. "In estimating this singular event in our colonial history, the circum- stances of the times should be duly considered before we condemn the bigotry and cruelty of our predecessors. The advantage of a liberal, indeed of the plainest, education was the happy lot of very few; ignorance and illiberal prejudices universally prevailed, and their more favored and en- lightened posterity will therefore draw a veil of filial affection over the involuntary errors of their forefathers and endeavor to transmit a brighter example to their successors." The colonists were not lacking in uniformity of thought or fealty to ideals, as the following bespeaks: "Ordered that the Mayor provide firewood for bonfires on the fourth and fifth days of this instant month of November, being the birthday of our sovereign lord. King William, and gunpowder treason; and that the Mayor pay to the Rev. William Vesey the sum of five pounds for preaching a sermon before this court on the 14th of October last." CHAPTER IV. (1700-1711.) Geologic History of New York — Beginning of the De Peyster Fortune — ''The Great Sickness" — The First Schoolmaster — Presentation of King's Farm to Trinity — First Licensed Auctioneer. An outline of the geologic history of New York two hundred years ago may be of interest to the student of this science, as it makes a strong appeal to the imagination because of the vastness of time over which it extends. At some indefinite and distant age the present New York harbor was a mere expansion in the course of the Hudson River, which found its exit into the Atlantic Ocean some hundred miles seaward from where it de- bouches to-day. Manhattan Island presented then a far higher wall on the east side of the river and the Palisades a loftier escarpment on the west. The Hudson received the water discharged by the Housatonic, which en- circled the raised promontory of Governor's Island and mingled its tides with those of the Hudson along the shores of Ellis and Bedlow's Islands, then united to the mainland. Further south, at the opening of the present chg.nnel of the Kill van Kull, the Passaic, swollen by the waters of the Hackensack, united its floods with the two rivers, and the combined volume of water swept past Staten Island through the Narrows outward to the edge of the continent, where to-day eighty miles from the shore the floor of the coast plain sinks steeply to the abysmal depths of the ocean. As was mentioned before, the marble of which the present City Hall is built came from Stockbridge, Mass., while twelve miles from New York, near the mouth of Kingsbridge Creek, according to authoritative information, a range of this stone extended, with partial interruptions, as far as Ver- planck's Point. The inhabitants were not aware of the riches within their reach. Writing of this in 1815 the authority spoken of says: "This marble forms the most valuable building stone, and as it lies convenient to the river, and can be obtained of any size and form, it is a matter of surprise that it has not long ago superseded the unsightly red sandstone we are so fond of using. It only requires to be a little more used and it will become fashionable. Habits of long standing are difficult to eradicate, but it will not be long before the good sense of our fellow-citizens will discard the brick and sandstone and build all their houses of this material." In surveys made of the island early in 1700 it was declared to be essen- tially primitive. No transition or secondary rocks could be found in it. It was of one formation, granite, in some places overlaid by other rocks. At 23 24 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. the southern extremity from the Battery, reaching along the East River as far as Coenties Slip, and on the Hudson as far as Thames street, it is said there was a range of shaip and rugged rocks of schistose mica. Great quan- tities of garnets were gathered there, and further up the Hudson different varieties of minerals were to be found, such as black and brown tourmaline, beryl and actinolite. Near Harlem true granite and schistose mica existed. One geologist says that a compact, close grained black magnesian stone, with radiated spots of white asbestos, was found on the shore of the Hudson five miles from the city, springing from the granite rocks which surrounded it and not connected with anything of a similar nature. Porcelain clay has been found on the island in small quantities. L. P. Gratacap says: "The rock floor on which our city is built ex- isted in the earliest geologic age. Spurs from the archaean mountain range on the Atlantic border reached southward in Westchester county and in western Connecticut, and one of these formed the nucleal member of the geology of Manhattan, a peninsulated tract built outward by additions of sediments. This tract, elevated by a superficial contraction of the earth's crust, became modified by metamorphism, invaded by dike rocks and miner- alized by chemical readjustment of its elements. Except in so far as acted upon by atmospheric agencies and by the glaciers of the ice age, it has, however, undergone no geologic modification during the long periods of time since the close of the lower Silurian." We read that in 1700 the corporation sold two hundred acres of land in the vicinity of the city for £ 1 an acre, and that his majesty's Receiver General, J. De Peyster, farmed to old New York the whole revenue and excise of King's county, on Long Island, for one year for the sum of £40. The income from the two hundred acres in the vicinity of the city has no doubt in the last two hundred years been the source of enjoyment or the cause of misery; the foundation of a line of mere money owners, or the birth of a philanthropist; the egg from which a thinker sprung, or the chrysalis which let loose a careless butterfly of fashion. In 1701 Governor Bellamont died. Two months after his death, be- fore the arrival of Lieutenant Governor Nanfan from Barbadoes, the colony was in a confused state; the people were split into factions, and party spirit was raging. Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, eldest son of the Earl of Clarendon, was appointed Governor of New York and the Jerseys, and Captain General. He was a reckless adventurer and profligate, whose sole claim to this command rested on his kinship to royalty. So eager was he to acquire wealth, wholly regardless of the wishes or interests of his sub- jects, that he alienated their affections. A public dinner was given in' honor of his arrival, and he was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box. In honor of the opening of his administration, his first act v.-as to "order that all the soldiers of his majesty's garrison, Fort William Henry, in this city, that are his majesty's natural born subjects, be made freemen of this corporation gi'atis, any former law to the contrary notwith- standing, and that Mr. Mayor administer unto them the oath of a freeman, and grant unto them certificates of the same, under the seal of the city ac- cordingly." Those who were too poor to purchase their freedom were also made freemen. This gave them, as freemen, the right to trade, to vote and CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 25 to be voted for, and to share in all other municipal privileges. The docks and slips of the city in this year w^ere farmed for i25 a year. The months of June and July, 1702, caused much alarm to the natives of old New York, for they brought the first severe shock to the community. The Mayor, Thomas Hood, died, and so great was the sickness prevailing that the General Assembly was held at Jamaica, Long Island. Seventeen persons died in one day! The disease strongly resembled yellow fever, and was imported from St. Thomas. The epidemic was long remembered as "the great sickness of New York." On October 19 Philip French succeeded to the mayoralty, and during his term a grammar school was established. The corporation sent over to the Bishop of London for a schoolmaster, "as there is not any person within this city (with whose conveniency it would be agreeable) proper and duly qualified to take upon himself the office of schoolmaster of the said city." It was also recommended that "the Bishop of London send over hither a person of good learning, of pious life and virtuous conversation, of English extract, and of good and mild temper, and a part of the King's farm to be given for his support." It was not until 1705 that the school was estab- lished, with Andrew Clarke as master. This was before Yale College had begun to send forth its annual supply of teachers, and previous to the establishment of any college in this city. The charter of the city was first printed in this year. William Peartree became Mayor on October 4, 1703. This year the King's Farm was presented by Queen Anne to Trinity Church, and the foundation of immense revenues was laid. The French Protestants who fled from their country after the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685, which deprived them of their religious freedom, built in 1704 the Church du St. Esprit, which ' stood in Pine street, near Nassau. The worshippers, according to the old chroniclers, were "most industrious, most intelligent and most religious, and worshipped in their native tongue." Mention was made of the religious zeal of the American Huguenots in a previous article. The Church du St. Esprit was built in the plainest style, of stone, plastered outside; it had a very steep roof and a venerable looking tower. Annexed to it was a cemetery. The march of improvement caused its demo- lition in the middle of 1800. and Mammon now reigns where the Nazarene's example was preached and prayers of thanks were offered by the Huguenots for the liberty to worship extended to them in America. On April 3 of this year the "Widow Rombouts and several other persons on the west side of Broadway are leveling the fortifications, and about to fence in the street fronting to Hudson River." This was so im- portant then that "Alderman Hutchings and Mr. Laroux are ordered to forthwith warn them from so doing, upon pain of being prosecuted at law." On April 11a petition was made to the authorities "by sundry prin- cipal inhabitants of this city" to prevent retail and wholesale vendues of goods within the city ("except by the freemen thereof"), "the same having drained not only this city, but the whole province, of current cash, to the very great grievance of the citizens." At this early date it appears the auction system was an evil of magnitude, entailing hardships, on the people. 26 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. but legal restraint was not inaugurated, nor were they taxed in any manner. The population of New York in 1700 was 6,000, so far as can be ascer- tained, and the people went about their pursuits "in a stolid and God- fearing manner." On May 25, 1704, the city owned 8,925 feet of land "between Mr. Beeckman's and low water mark, which was ordered not to be sold at less than threepence a foot." This land was situated in the heart of the city, near the Battery, and a fair valuation now would be $150 a front foot. Wall street, from Smith street (William street) to the English Church, was paved on the south side in this year. The first site occupied by the Society of Friends as a meeting house was in Green street alley, between Liberty street and Maiden Lane. They held services here from 1704 to 1740, when they moved to Liberty street. In 1775 they erected a house in Pearl street. It gave way to the increase of population and the change of the residential quarter. In the autumn of 1705 considerable excitement was occasioned by the appearance of three English privateers, bringing a Spanish man-of-war of twenty guns as a prize into the harbor. The soldiers were elated with their victory, and during a quarrel which arose killed a young lieutenant. The year 1706 witnessed the first threatened attack on the city by a squadron of the French. War had been proclaimed by England against Prance and Spain, and the Assembly of 1703, deeming it expedient to in- crease the fortifications, voted il,500 for the erection of two batteries at the Narrows, with the provision that the money should be used for no other purpose. It was raised by a poll tax, each member of the council to pay 40 shillings; an Assemblyman, 20 shillings; a lawyer in practice, 20 shil- lings; every man wearing a periwig, five shillings and sixpence; a bachelor of twenty-five years and upward, two shillings and threepence; every free- man between the ages of sixteen and sixty, ninepence, and the owners of slaves, one shilling for each. The sum was raised, but regardless of the conditions the Governor drew it from the treasury and applied it to his own use, refusing to account to any one for its expenditure. The Assembly de- manded a treasurer, declaring they were Englishmen and had a right to control their own money. Cornbury dissolved the body with the remark, "I know of no right that you have, except such as the Queen is pleased to allow you." A new Assembly was convened by him, but it followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, and would not bow, and so the city was left defenceless. A French privateer had entered the harbor and terrified the inhabitants, and they had no security against other visitants. They had already paid for defence, and were not willing to make another invest- ment, to be appropriated as was the first. Necessity knew no law, how- ever, and £3,000 was voted, but the consent of Cornbury could not be ob- tained to have it disbursed by a person of the people's choosing. The French fleet was hourly expected, and the citizens were summoned to aid in the work of strengthening the town with the money appropriated. No attack was made on the city, however, and the people were happy. Water street was extended from Old Slip to John street, and Broadway was paved from Trinity Church to the Bowling Green in 1707. These pave- ments were of cobblestone, the curbs of wood, the gutters were in the CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 27 middle of the streets, and brick was used for the sidewalks. One of the markets established in 1691 by the Common Council in the following order was demolished: "That there be markets, one in Broadway over against the fort, the other under the trees by the Slipp; and that the butchers shall be obliged to keep flesh in both places, and that the country people shall bring flesh to each of the two places, and that no butchers' meat be killed within the city gates (or south of Wall street). Secondly, that eggs, butter and poultry be brought to said places for sayle. Thirdly, that fish be brought into the dock over against the City Hall (in Pearl street and Coen- ties Slip), or the house that Long Mary formerly lived in; likewise hearbs, fruite, rootes, E and B." Again we have an example of intolerance. Governor Cornbury pro- hibited Presbyterians from preaching in the city without his license, and two ministers were arrested and tried. On paying costs to the amount of $220 they were acquitted by the court. Ebenezer AVilson was Mayor at this time. The reign of Cornbury was short, for he made himself so odious in the eyes of the people that the citizens of New York and New Jersey petitioned for his removal. So many previous petitions had been sent to Queen Anne that she yielded, and revoked his commission. After his removal his creditors threw him into the debtors' prison in the upper story of the new City Hall, in Wall street, from which his father, the Earl of Clarendon, removed him. Cornbury was succeeded by Lord Lovelace in 1708. The latter died on May 5, 1709, and was succeeded by Richard Ingoldsby, who began to lay heavy taxes on the people. It seemed to be his desire to oppress the in- habitants from ulterior motives. They bent under the oppression, but did not break. Robert Hunter, of Scotch parentage, succeeded Ingoldsby, who had been removed because of mismanagement. Hunter was a young soldier of fortune, the friend of Addison and Swift, and the superior of his prede- cessors. Religious persecution in Germany in 1710 drove several hundred Palatinates to England, whence they embarked to the young city. Ten thousand pounds were appropriated by parliament to defray their expenses, and in return they indentured themselves for a term of years to Great Britain, to manufacture tar for the naval stores. Thus began German im- migration. "A scarcity of food was feared by the colonists" because of their invasion! They built a Lutheran church on the site afterward occu- pied by old Grace Church, corner of Rector street and Broadway. It stood until 1776, when it was destroyed by fire. In this year Jacobus Van Cort- landt was Mayor, and the council met at 9 o'clock in the forenoon. Preparations for war engrossed the attention of the people in 1711. Governor Hunter had joined the New England States in a project for the conquest of Canada — a favorite scheme of England at the time. On June 28 all the market houses except one were set apart for the building of bateaux to transport troops and stores to Canada, and on July 2 the General Assembly met in New York and issued bills of credit to the amount of £25,000 to defray the expense. The conquest was a failure, as the ships 38 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. were lost among the rocks and islands of the St. Lawrence, and 860 men were drowned. The corporation this year passed the first law for inden- turing apprentices, the term of indenture to be strictly seven years. The bartering in flesh — and to their shame be it said — began with the establishing of a slave market in Wall street, near the East River, in 1711, and led the following year to an insurrection among the negroes, who set fire to the city and killed several inhabitants. Nineteen of the negroes were executed. On May 27, 1713, the Assmbly passed the first excise law, and the next year the corporation raised the license to sell strong drinks to 30 shillings. "Cast your bread upon the waters," if only a ninepenny loaf, as wit- nesseth that "Abraham De Lancey had liberty to build an oven under- ground, opposite his house in Queen street, he paying for the same a nine- penny loaf of bread on the 1st day of May, yearly, for the use of the poor." RESIDENCE OP CAPT. WILLIAM KIDD, 1691. (Now corner Pearl and Hanover streets.) CHAPTER V. (171M729.) First Poundkeeper and Scavenger — Heathcote Hall — Home for Paupers — First Public Clock — Ropewalk Established — First Presbyterian Church — Irish Tuber Introduced — First Tax Law — The "New York Gazette." The City Fathers of ye olden time placed a peculiar estimate on woman's sphere. "A ministering angel thou" was poetic fancy; a working angel was more to their taste. The men and women of the old city were engrossed in not alone getting all the wealth they could — that is, as much as Queen Anne and her representative permitted them to get— but in hold- ing what they had. A record of June 1, 1711, tells that the widow of Andreas Donn was continued in the office of scavenger of Broad street, at a salary of 11 pounds sterling, and in the order of removal of the city pound in this year Rebecca Van Schaick, widow, is mentioned as poundkeeper, for administering which office she received one-half of the fees, the other half going to the city. The lack of smoothness in the course of true love brought Caleb Heath- cote to the new country to forget his disappoinment. He was the son of the Mayor of Chester, England, and on his arrival entered politics in old New- York. He was elected Mayor in 1711, and served four years; then retired to Mamaroneck, where he built Heathcote Hall. His administration was without note. Speculators in 1712 began to look forward to new valuations on land, just as their successors are doing now, and Broadway between Maiden Lane and the park, then considered uptown, was levelled, and the city v/atch in- creased to six. It was proposed this year, as paupers were beginning to be numerous and troublesome, to provide a building where they could be looked after at the public expense, but at the same time contribute toward their own living. The scheme was not successful then. Twenty years after, however, in the rear of the present City Hall, on the Commons, a house was built and supplied with spinning wheels and shoemakers' tools, with the idea of making the ne'er-do-well inmates self-sustaining. It lasted for some time, but was manipulated in the interest of others who were not paupers, and went to pieces. John Johnson, a shipping merchant, became Mayor in 1714. With his administration the first public clock made its appearance. It was the gift of Stephen De Lancey, and was presented to the corporation, to be placed on the City Hall for the use of the city. De Lancey was the American ancestor of the family, and had fled from the persecutions of Louis XIV to New York. He was a representative in the Assembly, and the money he received as such (£50) he invested in the clock. Historians of New-York agree that Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne were the first victims of the cause of freedom. The people had chosen Lels- 29 30 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ler to stand between them and a clique of ambitious men who desired to curb their civil and religious liberties, and his execution brought them closer together, and made it almost impossible for successive Governors to weaken the power of the people and strengthen that of the crown — the fixed policj"- of the English Government then. Assemblies were convened and dissolved from time to time, the representatives protesting against the acceptance of schemes suggested by the Governor. In May, 1715, one Assembly met, and was dissolved on July 21 by the Governor. In 1716 a new one met, and through persuasion granted a revenue for three years to render officials independent of the people. This year the Governor estab- lished a Court of Chancery and appointed himself Chancellor, and the next year raised a tax of £16,607 to extinguish the colony debt. On January 3, 1718, a ropewalk was established in Broadway, opposite the park (then called the Commons, a piece of ground bounded on the east and west by Nassau street and Broadway, and north and south by Chambers and Ann streets, and covered with brush and underwood). Others were established afterward, and formed the basis of a flourishing trade. The Presbyterians this year, through their representatives, Gilbert Livingston, Thomas Grant, Patrick MacKnight and John Nicolls. purchased a piece of ground in Wall street, between Broadway and Nassau street, and near the old City Hall, for the site of a church. They asked permission to use the hall to worship in until their church was built. The corporation acquiesced on condition that they would not interfere with the courts. The following year, 1719, they took possession of the newly built church, the first of their denomination in New York. What a change had come over the authorities in fourteen years! Lord Cornbury in 1702 aimed at the establishment of the Episcopal Church. A handful of Episcopalians in the village of Jamaica, envious of the prosperity of their Presbyterian neigh- bors, who controlled that village, sought the protection of the Governor, with the result that one Sunday the little church, which had been erected in the village by vote of the inhabitants, but without provision for secur- ing it for any particular denomination, was taken possession of by them. The Governor sustained the claims of the Episcopalians, and litigation fol- lowed, but they retained possession until 1728. The esculent Irish tuber was introduced in New England in 1718 by a colony of Irish emigrants, who settled in Maine, and had brought it from Europe, where it had been introduced from Virginia. Its cultivation rapidly extended to New York, and was a valuable boon to the colony. May they never grow less! On July 31, 1719, Governor Hunter left the colony in the command of Peter Schuyler, "who administered the province with great good sense and judgment. He was a faithful friend to the Indians, and many times saved the infant settlement from destruction." On the arrival of the newly appointed Governor, William Burnet, on September 17, 1720, Schuyler re- signed the direction of affairs. Jacobus Van Cortlandt had been appointed Mayor for the second time in 1719, but held the office for but one year, giving way to Robert Walton. Burnet v/as less avaricious than his prede- cessors. He married the daughter of a leading merchant of the colony, and thus coupled his interests with those of his subjects, but during his time CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 31 great complaints were made of an extortion, illegality and exorbitant fees in the Court of Chancery. On a petition to the Minister, after the death of Grcorge I, for his removal, Burnet was transferred to Massachusetts, and John Montgomerie succeeded him in 1728. In 1720 a tax of 2 per cent, was laid on European goods imported. This is the first mention in the old manuscripts of a tariff duty. Robert Walton, a Holland merchant, was Mayor this year. In 1722 it was ordered that all slaves be buried by daylight, and that "a ferry to Long Island from Burger's path (Old Slip) be rented for £71." Burger's path, which in- cluded land in the vicinity of Hanover Square and William street, took its name from its owner, Borger Joris, one of the early Dutch settlers. William street was known as Borger's, and was afterward corrupted to Burger's. "1723 — Captain Peter Solgard, of H. M. ship Greyhound, engaged two pirate sloops off this coast, commanded by Low, that had done much mischief, and killed many people, took one, and the other escaped in the night. Twenty-six of the pirates were executed at Rhode Island. Solgard was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box." On July 29 "great storm and hurricane, which ruined the docks and did much mis- chief, and caused the city to incur considerable expense for repairs." A religious dispute took place between Governor Burnet and Stephen De Lancey in 1724 regarding the dismissal of the pastor of the French Huguenot Church, in Pine street. Here is the record: "Rev. Louis Rou, dismissed on the charge that he had flagged in his duty and had introduced innovations into the Church discipline." The minister appealed to the Governor and Council from the decision of the congregation, and was sus- tained. Great excitement ensued, and when De Lancey was elected a Mem- ber of Assembly the Governor refused to administer the oath to him, alleg- ing he was not a subject of the crown. As De Lancey had left France for England before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and had received a patent conferring the rights of a citizen upon him from James II, on appeal to the Assembly his claims were sustained. And thus ended another of the troublous Church and State questions. In 1725 Johannes Janson became Mayor and saw the first newspaper printed in New York, on a small foolscap sheet, with the following head- ing: "New York Gazette. From Monday Oct. 16th to Oct. 23rd, 1725." The era of journalism began with it, and William Bradford was the printer. New York was the third of the colonies in which printing Vv'as introduced. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania preceded it. The first print- ing done was the laws of the Colony in 1694, and the next "A Letter of Advice to a Young Gentleman," in 1696, both by Bradford. Robert Lurting, a shipping merchant, succeeded Janson in 1726, and a corn market was established at the foot of Wall street. The income of the city the next year was £ 285 17s. 5d. With April 15, 1728, came John IMontgomerie, Governor and Chan- cellor of New York and New Jersey. A groom of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, afterward George II, was he, of a yielding and indolent temperament. On his arrival the Mayor and corporation presented him the freedom of the city in a gold box, and the Assembly granted him five years' revenue for his support. In the first year of his administration "a lot of 32 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ground was granted to the Jews for a burying ground near the cripple bush or swamp, 112 feet long and 50 broad, situated opposite Chatham Square, corner of Fayette street (now Oliver street), then a long distance out of the city." Part of this cemetery still exists. Jacobus Roosevelt purchased in 1728 ten lots of ground, 25 by 120 feet, for ilO a lot, in the swamp near the cripple bush (now the site of Roosevelt street). The city was gradually extending its limits, and the powder house which had been built a few years before on the Commons was considered in an unsafe place. A new magazine was determined on, and selected in the following: "Resolved, That a little island in the fresh water is appropriated as the most convenient place for building thereon a maga- zine or powder house." This "little island" was in Elm street. The Third, or Middle, Dutch Church, which fronted on Cedar, Liberty and Nassau streets, was built in 1729. For the first thirty years the ser- vices were performed exclusively in the Dutch language, after which Eng- lish was used half the time. It became the prison house of three thousand Americans in 1776, and was a riding school for the British cavalry. The rise and progress of the first public library of New York dates from 1729, when the corporation received notice from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in London that 1,642 volumes had been bequeathed to it by the Rev. John Millington, rector of Newing- ton, England, and would be presented to the city. "They arrived safely in the ship Alexander, Captain Downing, and the books were arranged and a room appropriated for their safekeeping in the City Hall, and the thanks of the Corporation were politely returned for this munificent gift." To these was added a collection presented in 1700 by the Rev. John Sharp, who acted as librarian. He died soon after his appointment, and the books were neglected and forgotten until 1754, when a number of citizens founded the Society Library. In 1772 George III granted a charter to it, under the name of the New York Society Library, and it flourished until the Revolution, v/hen the city fell into the hands of the British, and the library into the hands of the British soldiers. Through them the valuable collection was scattered, mutilated and destroyed. In 1783, when peace was finally de- clared, the society reunited and once more began to collect books. A library building was erected in Nassau street in 1793, but the collection outgrew its quarters and was removed temporarily to the Mechanics' So- ciety Building, in Chambers street, where it continued until 1840, when possession was taken of the new library on the corner of Broadway and Leonard street. Business rush forced it up to the Bible House and Astor Place until 1857, when it again moved, this time to University Place, be- tween Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. A varied career, the reader may well say, but the stuff our forefathers were made of should be a matter of pride with us. Threepence a foot was given for land on the west side of Broadway, near the Battery, in this year. To-day |150 a square foot would be laughed at, most likely, for the same ground as under price. Rector street and other streets south and west of it were laid out then. CHAPTER VI. (1730-1734.) First Court of Common Pleas — First Fire Department — The "New York Weekly Journal" — rFirst Criminal Libel Case — Stage Between Boston and New York. The more one delves into the manuscripts that tell of the heginning of New York, with four wretched huts, up to the time she held her head erect and proclaimed herself the commercial metropolis of the Western Hemi- sphere, the more one wonders how the transformation was wrought. Brook and rivulet babbled where are now large office buildings. Grapes and straw- berries grew where at the present time men rush to achieve success in busi- ness. Forests with abundance of game and ponds swarming with fish ex- isted where the Harlemites live. The lake over v\'hose waters the Indian guided his canoe is to-day the site of a municipal building. Ojie might enumerate similar changes that would include all the downtown district, but the student with an observing eye and persistence in research has a field before him, the tilling of which will reveal phases of the city's growth that are overwhelming in interest. The duty of picking here and there only those bits of information tucked away in voluminous and dusty old manuscripts for the amusement and instruction of the student devolves on the writer, but through them other vistas of surpassing interest will be revealed. To resume the chronology of the little city. The principal event in Governor Montgomerie's administration, in 1730, was the grant of an amended city charter. By it the sole power of establishing ferries about the island was vested in the corporation, all the profits accruing from them to go to the city. The market houses, docks, slips and wharves were also granted to it. A Court of Common Pleas was established. Provision was made for a new division of the city into seven wards, the limits to be de- termined by the council, each ward to choose its officers annually and whatever number of constables the council might direct, and to be the sole judge of their election and qualification. The justices of the peace for the city and county were to be the Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen. They were to be empowered to hear and determine all pleas of 40 shillings and under, to administer oaths to freemen and officers of the city, and to make as many freemen as they saw fit. The people were not allowed, however, to elect their principal officers, such as Mayor, Recorder, Sheriff, Coroner and Town Clerk. These were the Governor's so-called perquisites. The lower part of the city began to change after the charter went into effect. What was known before 1730 as the Strand, bounded by Whitehall, 3.3 34 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Pearl, Moore and State streets, and used as a market-place, became more valuable, and was divided into seven lots. Here is the old manuscript record : May 6. A great sale of 7 lots of ground, near the Custom-house, and east of Whitehall street, for the following sums, and to the persons named, viz.: Lot No. 1. — To Stephen De Lancey il55 Do. 2.— " " 151 Do. 3.— To David Clarkson 155 Do. 4. — To John Moore 275 Do 5. — To Stephen De Lancey 192 Do. 6. — To Robt. Livingston, Jr. (son of Philip) 175 Do. 7. — To Anthony Rutgers 239 Lots in the same quarter of the city in 1686 sold for £35, and in the beginning of the twentieth century for an average of $40 a square foot. On September 11, 173 2, "a small gore of land was given to Rip Van Dam, upon his petitioning for the same, at the present intersection of Lib- erty street and Maiden lane, of 103 feet in length, for the nominal sum of ten shillings, as being of little or no value to any one else but him." ^ The first steps in organizing a permanent Fire Department were taken in 1731. A few leather buckets, two fire hooks and poles and three or four ladders constituted the equipment of the old city for fighting fires. The corporation hearing that fire engines had been successfully introduced in the mother country, received permission to import two, and the next year they were brought to New York and placed in the City Hall. A few years afterward an engine house was built in Broad street, and in 1737 the first Fire Department, with twenty-five members, was organized. Its members were excused from performing military duty and from serving as con- stables or jurors. As facts are being chronicled, it would be well to state that in 1731 "William Sharpas, town clerk for the last forty years, was allowed i28 (extra) for his long and faithful services." This is the William Sharpas who, in 1699, received "one hundred feet of land for his good and faithful service, and his encouragement to continue so for the future." The fol- lowing may have something to do with William's extra i28: "A tax was laid on wigs this year." Governor Montgomerie died on July 1, 1731, and Rip Van Dam, the eldest member of the council, succeeded him. He administered the govern- ment for thirteen months, until the arrival of Colonel William Cosby, who "was testy, despotic, and rapacious." Cosby had rendered a service to the colonists while in England by opposing an obnoxious sugar bill, and they were grateful to him. When he came they presented him with £750 as a token of their gratitude. He was incensed at the smallness of the sum, and asked one of the council why the colonists did not add the shillings and pence. Cosby's first act was to produce a royal order for an equal division of the salary and perquisites of the office since the time of his appointment between Van Dam and himself, which Van Dam was willing to do, pro- vided Cosby would divide i6,000 in perquisites which he had received be- CRADLE DAYS Of NEW YORK. 35 fore coming. This condition was refused by Cosby, and he instituted pro- ceedings against Van Dam to recover what he considered his share of the salary. As Cosby was chancellor ex officio, and two of his intimate friends, James De Lancey and Adolphus Philipse, were the majority of the court before whom the case was tried, Van Dam lost. Chief Justice Morris, who supported the plea of Van Dam's counsel as to the non-jurisdiction of the court, was removed from office, and Van Dam was suspended from the council. The people of the old city became incensed at the Governor's action and also his evident partiality for English favorites. They had grown weary of the rapacity of the Crown's representative and the non-recognition of their appeals by the home government, and, looking around for some one to espouse their cause against the attacks of the "New York Gazette," which derived its support from the government and sustained Cosby, they found John Peter Zenger, a printer, then collector of the city taxes, ready to cross swords in their defence. Zenger was the son of one of the Palatinates, before mentioned, and had been apprenticed to the owner of the "New York Ga- zette" when young. When the people demanded a champion of their rights he set up the "New York Weekly Journal," the second newspaper pub- lished in New York, and in its columns violently opposed the Governor and his adherents. He spared none. He attacked the permanent revenue, the Court of Chancery and everything that was oppressing the people. His articles were caustic and satirical, and enraged those against whom they were directed. The Governor and council regarded them incendiary, and declared that the writer should be punished. The people, who up to this time had been delighted with the course of affairs, became indignant £(t this action of the Governor and council, and attempted to resist it. On No- vember 2, 1734, four numbers of the paper were ordered burned at the pillory by the hangman in the presence of the Mayor and Aldermen. When the order was presented at the quarter sessions the Aldermen protested against it, the court ^refused to enter it, and the common hangman was for- bidden to carry it out. A negro slave of the Sheriff, however, burned the papers in the presence of the Governor's supporters. Later, on November 12, Zenger, the editor of the paper, was arrested on the charge of criminal libel — the first case in the annals of New York — and thrown into prison in the City Hall, in Wall street, where, not being able to comply with the order of the court to give bail of £400, with two additional sureties of £200 each, he continued to edit his paper, "giving directions to his assistants through a chink in the door." In the beginning of the following year, the Grand Jury refusing to indict him, "information was filed against him for false, scandalous, seditious and malicious libel," and on August 4, 1735, his trial took place. The only three lawyers of eminence in the city were re- tained by the government, so that Zenger was left without able counsel, which was what the court desired. Zenger's friends, however, secretly en- gaged Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, then eighty years old, an able and eloquent advocate, who was imbued with liberal principles and opposed to the despotic tyranny which England, through her representatives, was be- ginning to exert over her colonies. At the trial he pleaded eloquently the cause of Zenger, and so cogent was his reasoning that the jury returned a 33 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. verdict of "Not guilty." Hamilton was lionized by the people, a dinner was given to him, and the freedom of the city was presented to him in a gold box, the money for which was subscribed privately. The freedom of the press was established by this trial, and the precedent for resistance arose which culminated in the Revolution. "The first stage between Boston and New York began to run in 1732." It made one trip a month, and was fourteen days doing it. In this year the vacant space in front of Fort Amsterdam "was leased to Frederick Philipse, John Chambers and John Roosevelt for ten years, at a yearly rent of a pep- percorn, to be used as a bowling green." Walks were to be made, and it was to be used for the recreation and delight of the inhabitants. The streets on each side were to be fifty feet wide. Dutch lads and lasses held their May Day festivities there, and later on Liberty's triumphant shout mingled with the crackling flames made by burning the stamped paper furnished by the British Government and by royal efhgies. To-day it is the first ground in the city the liberty loving foreigner sets foot on, marred a little, however, by the railroad on stilts. On May 5, 1733, Courtlandt street was opened by the proprietors and registered as a public street, and Alexander Malcolm, schoolmaster, was paid a salary of £40 a j^ear for teaching Latin, Greek and mathematics. With this last record we are told by the chronicler that, notwithstanding the success the colonists met in the suit for libel, and the position they had ' taken against the Governor, when the Duke of Grafton's youngest son, Lord Fitzroy, arrived they waited on him and presented him with a gold box and the freedom of the city. What obsequiousness and fulsome adula- tion these old New Yorkers possessed! The chronicler says, also, "that while £ 14 8s. was paid for this box, but £ 10 could be ill afforded for the quar- ter's salary of the public schoolmaster." The present City Hall Park in this year was a level plain, and known as the "Flat." It was the place of public execution, the gallows being near the old Hall of Records, lately demolished. North of it lay the Fresh Water Pond, which tradition declared to be bottomless, and its inhabitants, roach and sunfish, to be holy. The city authorities in 1733, "to preserve these fish," forbade any person to fish in it with a net or in any other way." The Tombs is now on its site. "All Beekman's swamp sold to Jacobus Roosevelt for £ 100." This was in 1734. The land was covered with tangled briars, and "lay on the east side of the city," in the vicinity of Ferry street. Roosevelt laid out the ground in fifty lots, and established eight tanneries on it. It is the leather district of the present New York. CHAPTER Vir. (1734-1745.) Quakers Granted Right to Vote— First Poorhouse — Law Regarding Riding on Shafts of Cart — Gaming Houses Denounced by Law — Pounding of New York Society Library. In their yearly celebrations the people of the present New York vary but slightly from the customs of their ancestors. The five national festivals of the Dutch — Christmas, New Year, the Passover, Whitsuntide and St. Nicholas Day— are still celebrated. The "Merry Christmas" greetings are heard; the interchange of visits on the first day of the year takes place among some of the people; egg rolling still goes on, and Christmas Eve, in the estimation of the little folks, and of some of the big ones, too, is the best festival of all. St. Nicholas, by the way, is the patron saint of New York. He presided as the figurehead of the first emigrant ship that touched her shores, gave his name to the first church erected within her walls, and is regarded as having especial charge of the destinies of the city. In social affairs some of the spirit of the ancient Knickerbocker re- mains, though the "quilting bees," "apple bees" and "husking bees" have passed away, giving place to musicals, bridge teas and kaffee-klatches. Late hours and dissipation were wholly unknown in the olden times, and those who joined in the social affairs of the colony partook of chocolate and waffles, instead of the dyspepsia breeding concoctions of the French, Italian or German cook. After a dance, which generally terminated the evening's amusement, the women, in their cloth jackets and short quilted skirts, and the men, in their long-waisted coats, knee breeches and low crowned hats of beaver, wended their way home at 10 o'clock, as befitted the staid de- corum of the city. To return to the chronology: In 1733, by an act of the legislature, the Quakers had restored to them the right to vote. This right had been taken from them early in 1700, when intolerance was rampant in the colony. In 1734, the number of paupers having increased to an extent which warranted immediate action by the authorities for their support, the first poorhouse was erected on the Commons. It was a two-story building, a part of which was given over later to the confinement of unruly slaves. The church wardens were ap- pointed overseers, with authority to punish the recalcitrant non-working pauper. Children were taught to read and write here, and instruction was given to them in some sort of employment which would be a future benefit to them. The inmates assisted in cultivating a large garden surrounding the building, the products of which were used by the institution. Here are two simple items which show the care exercised by our fore- fathers in the conduct of affairs of the city: "The Treasurer is ordered to 37 38 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. provide a suitable cloth to cover the table in the court-room, of blew or green cloth, not over 12s. per yard," and "John Peter Zenger is to print the charter for £ 7." With an eye to business, the authorities sold copies of this charter at three shillings each. Robert Lurting, who had served as Mayor for nine years, died in 1735, and was succeeded by Paul Richard, a merchant of French extraction, who retained office for three years. During the latter's term Governor Cosby made further attempts against the liberties of the people. "He refused to dissolve the Assembly, and, contrary to their own wishes and the petition of the citizens, he ordered a resurvey of the old grants and patents, in the hope of deriving a revenue from the fees. He also destroyed valuable docu- ments which had been intrusted to him by the corporation of Albany, and which v/ere obstacles in the way of his acquisitions." His schemes were checked, however, by his death on March 7, 1736, and George Clark, the second eldest member in the Council, succeeded him. Van Dam, who was legally Cosby's successor and the oldest member of the Council, had been removed by the Governor at a meeting of the Council held in his chamber prior to his death. Events leading up to the trial of John Peter Zenger for libel will explain this action of the Governor. Clarke's ap- pointment to the Governorship caused new dissensions among the people, and they rallied around Van Dam. It was confirmed, however, in dispatches from England on October 14, and the signs of hostility to him ceased. The aim of this Lieutenant Governor-^for such was his commission — was the securing of a princely fortune hurriedly, knowing that his appoint- ment would last only until the arrival of a new Governor. With this end in view, he ingratiated himself with both parties, but was unsuccessful in obtaining from the representatives of the people a greater revenue than any of the other representatives of the crown. During his incumbency an act disfranchising the Jews was passed by the Assembly, and met with his approval. "Ordered, that Servos Vlierboom, Jacob Pitt and Abram Blanck, three ancient and infirm cartmen, be licensed to sit upon the shafts of their carts, and drive the same for their ease and relief, and better support of them- selves and family, provided they drive not their carts faster than a walk or foot pace, and not a trot, but slowly and patiently." This was in 1736. A law had been passed on March 7, 1683, to this effect: "No cartman al- lowed to ride on his cart, and enjoined to behave civilly to all." What relief from excessive burdens could be given to the patient beasts by our Alder- men if they would take pattern after our forefathers! Gaming houses were denounced by law this year, showing that the enterprising Yankee had be- gun to operate among the Diedrich Knickerbockers. ' In 1737 the "Town of Brooklyn disputed the Corporation right to the ferry, and the city retained the Recorder, Daniel Horsmander, and Joseph Murray, Esq., as counsel for a doubloon each." Brooklyn Ferry, as it was called, in 1693 ran between Broad street. New Yor^;, and the foot of Jorale- mon street, Brooklyn, and was leased for £147 a year. As the city in- creased and extended eastward the "ferry stairs" were changed to Old Slip, Fly (or, correctly, Vli, the Dutch word for valley). Market and Fulton street. In 1698 it was leased for seven years at £ 165 a year, and in 1707 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 39 for £ 180 a year. In 1722 there was a ferry from Burger's Path, which was mentioned before, which was let for £ 70. The suit mentioned was not definitely settled for more than a hundred years after it was begun. The old ferry house in Broad street was torn down in 182.5. In 1706 all the real and personal estate of the town of Brooklyn was valued at £3,122 12s., the tax on which was £41 3s. 7d., and the whole county tax £201 16s. 6d. Five years previous a piece of land 100 feet square within the village was sold for £75. Old New York's "good debts due to her in 1737 were £387 15s. 7d., and the bad debts due to her were £1,240 3s. 6d.," showing her lack of discretion and opening the way for an argument on the side as to whether a bad debt is a debt at all. Water street, which had received its name the previous year, was extended four hundred feet from Fulton street to Peck Slip this year, and Trinity Church was enlarged on the north and south sides. June 28, 1738, "Quarantine laws were passed to prevent the importa- tion of the smallpox and 'spotted fever' from South Carolina, Antigua and Barbadoes." The smallpox was raging in South Carolina at this time, and the colonists, profiting by the experience of seven years before, insisted that all suspected vessels should anchor at Bedlow's Island and be visited and examined by physicians before permission was given to them to discharge their cargoes. Our old friend William Sharpas, after serving the corporation as Town Clerk for forty-seven years, died in 1739. The number of houses in the city was 1,416, sixteen only having been built in seven years. John Cruger, a merchant of the city, who in his young days was en- gaged in slave trading, succeeded Paul Richard as Mayor in 1739. During the first part of his term a large market house was erected in Broadway, op- posite Liberty street, and he officiated as clerk. These markets were valu- able as money makers to the city, and strict supervision was maintained over them by the municipal authorities. Rumors of England having declared war against Spain reached the colonists on October 23 of this year, through the captain of an English ship obtaining permission from the Governor and Council to impress thirty seamen. The old documents state that Mayor Cruger strenuously opposed such action on the part of the authorities, and "saved the country from disgrace in the future." The next year the New York Society Library was founded, and on March 18, 1741, "a dreadful fire broke out in the Fort, which destroyed the Secretary's office and the old Dutch Church. A reward of £100 was offered to discover the perpetrator of the same." This was the inception of the celebrated Negro Plot, a history of which has been given. There were about twelve thousand inhabitants at this time, one- sixth of whom were negro slaves. Historians place little credence in the so-called facts gathered regarding the Negro Plot. The witnesses exam- ined by the court were persons of the vilest character, the evidence was contradictory and was extorted under the fear of death, and, altogether, the plot's existence may be attributed to the blindness of religious intolerance and the disordered imaginations of the citizens of old New York, caused by fear of the Jesuits. .-o CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. The year 1742 was marked by the breaking out of a malignant epidemic resembling yellow fever. Two hundred persons succumbed to it. "A memoir of it was written by Lieutenant Governor Colden, for which the thanks of the Common Council of the city were voted to him." The winter of this year was known as the "Hard Winter." Intense cold continued from November, 1740, to March, 1741. The Hudson was frozen over, and snow was six feet deep on the level. Here is a trinity taken from the records of October 7, 1741: "Mothers or fathers of bastard children to pay a fine of £ 10 or suffer corporal pun- ishment." "Cards, truck or billiard playing prohibited under a penalty of $25," and "a bill passed to prevent clandestine marriages." On September 22, 1743, George Clinton, Captain General and Governor of the province, arrived, succeeding Lieutenant Governor Clark. The usual gold box, congratulatory address and freedom of the city were re- ceived by him in "an easy and indolent way." Affairs of the colony went on smoothly under him for a time, the Assembly having voted him a liberal revenue for the first year, and at the same time limiting its existence and the existence of all future Assemblies to seven years. In his anxiety to improve his fortunes he formed an alliance with Cadwallader Colden against his first friend, Chief Justice De Lancey, which occasioned opposi- tion and stirred up such a fierce contest that, fearing the dov/nfall of his administration, he counseled Colden to withdraw from the province. Wheat was quoted at 3s. 6d. a bushel in 1743, and coal was imported from Eng- land "as cheaper fuel than wood, which was 30s. N. York currency per fathom." "1744 — Land granted to Captain Peter Warren, for public services." On October 15 of this year Stephen Bayard was appointed Mayor, and in 1745 the first circulating library was established, with James Parker, printer, as librarian to the corporation. The books comprising the library had been bequeathed in 1729 by the Rev. John Millington, of Neurington, England, and the librarian had permission "to let them out to be read at sixpence apiece, those borrowing to give security for double the value of each set taken out, the corporation to have the preference." Parker was to keep the books in repair at his own cost, and to send for new books to supply the place of old ones lost. The scheme is a paternal one to-day, but the basis of it a few years ago was the system of 1745. CHAPTER VIII. (1745-1753.) City Officials Watched the Drawing- of Government Lotteries — First Rewar J for Firemen — Erection of First Theatre — Origin of Public Exchanges — Governor Osborne Succeeds Clinton and Kills Himself. The variability of the v/eather in and around New York occasions much comment from the strangers within her gates, and frequently causes wonder among many of her citizens. Were it not for the intense curiosity of the New Yorker, the weather's fretful moods would pass unnoticed. But when any unusual condition prevails he must have the opinion of the weather "sharps," the meteorologists and the "oldest inhab- itant," and the relation, if any, of seismic conditions in Timbuctoo with Old Sol's pranks. He is catered to by the newspapers every day, and yet is apparently not satisfied. For his further interest here is a history of weather conditions in New York over one hundred years ago from an old manuscript, by which he may draw as many comparisons as his years permit: " "The average temperature of our atmosphere throughout the year is 55 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer; and that is also the temperature of the deepest wells. The greatest degree of cold ever experienced is six or ten degrees below zero; but that is very rare, only one or two instances having occurred within a century, when the bay and harbor were partially closed with ice for a few days. In winter the thermometer rarely sinks lower than ten or twenty degrees below the freezing point, and in a few hours the cold always moderates. The vicinity of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream produces a perceptible influence on our atmosphere, and conduces to ameliorate the rigor of the winter. The snow seldom continues longer than two or three weeks in January or February, and early in March the winter breaks up. The highest temperature in summer is seldom more than 80 or 90 degrees, and is never of long continuance. The sultriness is frequently relieved by refreshing showers and winds from the north and west, accompanied by vivid lightning and loud peals of thunder. From the middle of September to about the last of October the atmosphere will gen- erally vie with any in the world for serenity and beauty; indeed, that period is by far the pleasantest of any season of the year in this climate. "Winter usually sets in about Christmas and continues for about two months. The first frosts appear about the middle of October, and the last are usually seen in April, and very rarely in May. Gardening in the vicinity begins in March, and the forests are in full leaf in the latter part of .\pril or the beginning of May. Sudden changes of temperature occur in summer 41 42 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. and winter which will cause colds and its concomitants, consumption and other diseases, but New York, generally speaking, is as healthy a spot as any city in the world." In 1745 Lady Murray was the possessor of the only coach in New York. It had been imported a short time before, and "had caused much comment among the citizens." On July 10 of this year "news arrived, and was com- municated to the Mayor and Corporation by the Governor, that H. M.'s forces had captured Cape Breton, and ordered in consequence, that a great bonfire be made at Spring Garden, and twenty gallons be sent there and be given to the people." As the chronicler failed to tell the important thing in this item, being ashamed, perhaps, we will "pass it on." The markets in 1745 were flourishing. From their old position, "under the trees in front of the fort," near the corner of Water and Whitehall streets, they were moved, as the city enlarged east and north, first to the foot of Broad street, then to Coenties Slip, and subsequently to Old Slip. It was necessary at this time to speak the Dutch language when marketing in them. Few people are aware of the part the lottery system played in the old daj^s of New York and in her upbuilding. Here is a memorandum of August 29, 1746: "Resolved, nem. con. dis., That this board attend the drawing of the government lottery in their turns, viz., the Mayor and Recorder the first day, and on the next the senior Aldermen and Councilman, and so on." At this date the drawings took place at irregular intervals, but after 1821, when the new consti*^ution of the State prohibited the granting of new lot- teries after the previous ones were fulfilled, they were drawn once in two or three weeks. At the time of their prohibition there were enough still un- drawn to continue the business for many years. ^ Lottery dealers were licensed by the Mayor at $250 a year, and this money was turned over in 1829 to the Orphan Asylum and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. "Within ten years," said an authority in 1828, "the number of ticket venders has multiplied to a great extent, and they display great ingenuity in their puffs, advertisements and other expedients to extend the sale of their tickets, and in coaxing the ignorant and careless out of their hard- earned money, and to dupe the credulous purchaser, by which immense sums are yearly sported with by the American public, to the great advantage of a few cunning individuals, but at a dreadful sacrifice of the morality and resources of the people." To go back to our events in sequence. On January 14, 1747, a fire occurred at the City Hall, and "the sum of £ 8 was voted to be given to two firemen, Duncan Brown and James Evetts, for their activity and exertions in extinguishing the fire." This was the first recognition of acts of bravery by fire fighters. In 1748 the scheme of making the Governor independent of the As- sembly by a permanent revenue was revived by Governor Clinton. A five years' appropriation was urged by him without result, though the vengeance of the King was threatened in case of non-compliance. This, with his re- fusal to punish the captain of one of His Majesty's warships who had fired on a party of colonists returning to Elizabethtown from New York, killing one of their number, exasperated the people and caused a powerful oppo- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 4,-? sition to rise against tiim. Ttie Assembly grew more refractory and was prorogued, and Clinton, worn with tlie unsuccessful struggle to obtain his demands, asked England to accept his resignation. Sir Danvers Osborne succeeded him. On February 19 of this year it was "Ordered, That every Common Councilman, on being summoned by notice left at his house by some white person, and not attending at half an hour after the ringing of the bell, be fined 2s. 6d., or if not attending at all that day, 5s." Another important request was agreed to by the Council on June 28: "Nicholas Bayard, owner of a strip of ground on the west side of the Broadway, adjoining the English churchyard and the Chief Justice's lot, offered, if the city would give him as much off from the south side as he owned on the north, he would leave a street twenty-one feet in width from Broadway to Comfort's Dock." This is the present Thames street. The number of houses this year was 1,834, an increase of 418 in eleven years; with a new improvement by Jacobus Roosevelt — the opening of Ferry street. An important event occurred in 1750, the erection of the first theatre in New York. The earliest plays in the city were given by amateurs in a store on Conger's Wharf, near Old Slip. The performances were of the light comedy order, and the actors in them the young men and women of the colony. The first regular theatre was a stone building, in the rear of the Dutch church, in Nassau street, with a Mr. Hallam as manager. The old records say "the company was tolerably good." Whether through lack of attendance or appreciation, or because of caustic criticism, Mr. Hallam removed his company to Jamaica, and the colonists went unamused, so far as theatres were concerned, until 1760, when one was opened in Beekman street, a few doors below Nassau, under the auspices of Cadwallader Colden. "The Assembly frowned on it, considering it detrimental to good morals, and the Mayor attempted to obtain the passage of a law prohibiting all dra- matic performances within the precincts of the city." His effort failed, and the theatre's manager, Philip Miller, continued to furnish amusement to the people until the days of the Stamp Act, when some insulting allusion in a play then being produced was the cause of its destruction by the Liberty Boys, of immortal memory. The third theatre was in John street, of which notice will be taken as the chronology proceeds. On April 26, 1750, Dey street was opened, regulated and paved. Men- tion is made in the manuscripts that from Broadway to the river at high water mark its descent was twenty-six feet two inches. Beekman street was also laid out and paved on August 16 of this year. Here is an im- portant item: "The markets were leased to Skaats for £106 per annum and the slips for £110. The Mayor claimed the rent of the markets as clerk of the same by charter, but the Council refused to allot him the same. ' That baneful business, the selling of liquors, kept march with the progress of the city up to 1750, as 196 persons were licensed, the sum paid for the licenses being £258 6s. The churches, however, began to raise their heads in New York and to act as deterrents to those with vicious tenden- cies. In 1751 the Moravian church was built in Fulton street, and in 1752 St. George's church, next to Trinity the oldest Episcopal church in this city. 44 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. was erected in Beekman street. By agreement it separated from Trinity and became a distinct parish in 1811. On January 5, 1814, it was destroyed by fire, but witli tlie aid of Trinity Ctiurch it was rebuilt and consecrated in November, 1815. With other churches in the downtown section of the city, it was forced uptown to make room for the city's increasing commer- cial life. Another interesting item: "Jacob Turk ordered to buy six small speak- ing trumpets for the Corporation." The first building for a public exchange was erected in Broad street, at or near the intersection of Pearl street, in 1752. "The Corporation gave £100 toward its erection, and the balance was raised by private subscrip- tion by John Watts and other respectable merchants." It was leased on February 11, 1755, for one year for £30, and in 1758 for £50 a year. It is mentioned as the place of frequent public meetings, when that part of the city was the chief seat of trade. In 1784 it was turned into a market place, and in 1785 the French Consul, Mr. St. John, asked permission to use it as a place of worship for Catholics. On March 15, 1799, it was ordered to be re- moved. The founders of the first exchange had peculiar ideas regarding its situation, as a pier extended in front of it as far as Water street, and an- other projected at right angles from the east and west sides, leaving suffi- cient space for the entry of vessels, and forming a spacious and secure dock. The successor of Governor Clinton, Sir Danvers Osborne, arrived in the city on September 7, 1753. He was welcomed warmly by the people, but underneath their exuberance a spirit of rebellion had been cultivated. He also was charged to maintain the royal prerogatives and to demand of the Assembly a permanent revenue, to be disbursed by the Governor alone, with the advice and consent of the Council. On Septmber 12 the new Governor convened the Council and laid his instructions before them. He was told by it that the Assembly would never yield obedience, the Chief Justice, De Lancey, who stood beside him, confirming the Council's information. Gov- ernor Osborne was cast down at the turn affairs had taken. The fractious- ness of the people over whom he had been sent to rule, and with whom, historians believe, he desired to maintain amicable relations, together with the derangement of his reason through the loss of his wife prior to his departure for his new post, caused him such suffering that he com- mitted suicide. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, though protest wan made by the rector, who, however, was overruled by the Council. CHAPTER IX. (1753-1758.) Old Burial Places — Founding and Early Annals of King's Collcse — Mag- nificent Home of a Merchant Prince — First Staten Island Ferry — St. Andrew's Society Established— The Debtors' Jail. On Fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread. And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead. New York's "bivouacs of the dead" within the old city's limits will re- quire a more substantial thing than glory to guard them during this cen- tury. Just now commercialism rampant and speculation couchant have eyes on at least one of these "unresting preachers of shadow and reality," and perhaps before the half of the century is over that reminder of an era of sterling virtues, of honest and patriotic lives, Trinity Churchyard, will have been swallowed by one of New York's never sleeping worshippers of the golden calf, and towering above her silent makers of history will be a sky- scraper whose occupants will care little for the hallowed ground on which the building stands. Millions of dollars have been offered at one time or another for old Trinity's site, but so far it has been guarded sturdily by the vestry of her parish against the desecrating touch of speculation. Why? Because Trinity is American, and, while New Yorkers are forgetful of the historical associa- tions surrounding her God's acre, there are thousands of visitors who pay homage to the knovv^n and unknown among her dead. ^ What a stretch of memory it is from 1G39 to 1909! And yet the earliest record of burial in Trinity — that of a young Holland maiden — is in the former year, more than half a century before the first Trinity Church was erected. At that time Trinity was the new burying ground of New Amster- dam, and was far away from the little dorp that clustered around Old Slip and the fort. The latest records of burial are of those who fought for the union of the States in the 60's. On Trinity's tombstones are cut the names of men eminent in professional and business life in the old and new city, and men who patriotically strove to leave "footprints on the sands of Time" — Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Indepen- dence; William Bradford, editor of New York's first paper; Colonel Marinus Willett, of Revolutionary fame; Robert Fulton, who launched the first steamboat on the Hudson; Captain Lawrence, whose last battle cry, "Don't give up the ship!" rolls down the ages; Captain Lawrence's widow, who was but twenty-five when her husband achieved immortal glory, and who 45 46 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. lived fifty-two years in her widowhood; Alexander Hamilton, who assisted in making the union of States possible; Charlotte Temple, with slag sunk in the turf which tells of a short life sadly ended, and many other notable ones rest beneath Trinity's greensward. The gates of the churchyard are always open, inviting the student of New York's past to visit the shrines of patriotism and be an addition to the few who treasuer memories of her illustrious dead. Lest we forget our chronology and that all absorbing topic, the weather, in 175 3 and the two years following, "the weather was so mild that sloops went from New York to Albany in January and February." James De Lancey, Lieutenant Governor, assumed direction of affairs in the colony in 1753. His legacy from Sir Danvers Osborne to insist on a per- manent revenue and to refuse to sign all annual appropriations until it was granted placed him in a difficult position, as he had endeared himself to the people by opposing the scheme when put forth by Osborne. He ful- filled his oath, however, by urging the Assembly to conform to the royal in- structions, while he pressed the claims of the people on the home govern- ment, and eventually obtained the concessions they desired. On June 19, 1754, the Canadians began their aggressions upon the frontier settlements, much to the discontent of the colonists, and a congress of deputies from the colonies met at Albany "to take measures for the com- mon safety." De Lancey presided, and an alliance with the Iroquois was made. It was at this congress that Benjamin Franklin presented his plan for the union of the colonies, which was never carried into effect, though it suggested the idea of a confederation which afterward matured into the federal union. King's College, Columbia College, Columbia University — such are the titles indicating the progress educationally of one of New York's institu- tions of learning. Columbia University was originally founded by royal charter in the year 1750, under the name of King's College, by which title it was known until the Revolution. Its first site was at the foot of Park Place, which at this time went only to Church street. The institution was established by lottery and incorporated by Governor De Lancey, who signed and sealed the charter on October 31, 1754, though, owing to internal dis- sensions in the management, it was not delivered until the following May. By the provisions of the charter none but Episcopalians were eligible as presidents — a regulation which occasioned ill feeling in other religious bodies, and resulted in attempts to break down the college by the Presby- terians. The newspapers of the old city, "The Weekly Mercury," a govern- ment organ, and "The American Magazine and Historical Chronicle," hav- ing fallen into the hands of the Episcopalians, sustained that party in the controversy, leaving the Presbyterians unsupported until 1753, when "The Independent Reflector" was established by them. The question of religious supremacy was argued in these journals, but the Episcopalian side rose superior, owing to the influence nf Governor De Lancey. and they retained control of the college for a long time. By the original charter the various rights and immunities enjoyed by the English universities were secured to this seminary. The president was required to belong to the Church of England, and a form of prayer collated CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 47 from the liturgy of that Church, with an appropriate prayer for the institu- tion, was to be used daily, morning and evening, in the college chapel. No religious test, however, was required of any of the members of the college or the professors, and all denominations were equally entitled to receive the benefits of education. In the year 1769 a faculty of medicine was an- nexed to the college, which existed until 1813, when the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, established in 1807, absorbed it. On April 6, 1726, an order was issued by the Committee of Public Safe- ty, "directing the college buildings to be prepared within eight days for the reception of the military. The students, in consequence, retired to their respective homes, and, the library and apparatus having been deposited for safekeeping in the City Hall, the college edifice was converted into a mili- tary hospital." At the close of the Revolution, by an act of the State legis- lature of May 1, 1784, a board was appointed to superintend the general in- terests of education throughout the State, under the title of Regents of the University, and also to act as trustees of the college. On April 13, 1787, by act of the legislature, the name King's College was changed to Columbia College, and a new board of trustees was appointed. The first public com- mencement of the reorganized college was held in 1786. In 1829 the num- ber of students was one hundred and fifty, and the tuition $90 a year. The number of graduates up to that year had been about eight hundred. What a roster of names of men who have graduated from her and achieved na- tional prominence Columbia has! Too many to name here. But one will be named, Alexander Hamilton, graduate of King's College. In 1754 the Walton house was built in Pearl street by William Walton, a merchant and son-in-law of James De Lancey. When Pearl street was known as Queen street and was the aristocratic part of the old city, this house was in its glory. Elegantly fitted up and furnished luxuriously, the fame of its splendor extended to England, and was quoted as proof of the extravagance of the Colonists. The existence of such splendor was also proof to the mother country that the people could stand unlimited taxation. The richness of its furnishings, its gold plate and Its superb entertainments were spoken of in Parliament in defence of the passage of taxation laws on the Colony. The house was of yellow Holland brick. It was encircled with balustrades, with a garden extending down to the river, and men notable in history passed their evenings in it. It was torn down years ago, and now the tide of traffic roars on the spot where once a future King of England danced a minuet. A ferry to Staten Isand was established in 1755, and all the streets in the North Ward (that part of the city lying between William, Nassau and Wall streets and the Collect) were paved. On September 20 of this year Sir Charles Hardy succeeded Governor De Lancey. At this time the French and Indian War was raging in the province, and the commander of the American forces attempted to quarter a thousand of his troops on the citizens of the city, who rebelled, regarding the act as an infraction of their rights. They lodged the soldiers, however, in Chambers street, but refused to take care of the officers. Word was sent to the general about it, and he hastened to the city to force compliance with his order as to quartering the officers. He threatened to bring all the troops in North America to the city 48 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. and billet them on the people. The citizens stood their ground, however, though the demand of the general was supported by the Governor. This was one of the chief grievances that culminated in the struggle for inde- pendence. Following is an extract from the manuscripts regarding the system pur- sued by the Mother Country, so-called, to oppress the people of New York: "One thousand stand of arms imported from England by the Corporation, at an expense of £3,000, and deposited in the City Hall; and the Corporation petitioned the Governor for a lottery, to raise money to pay off this excessive and alarming debt." An "armament was fitted out from New York for the French war in Canada, and batteaux built, near Dey street." April 2, 1756, "Council purchased fifty pounds of pistol powder, and fixed up the cartridge boxes in the City Hall." These all relate to the Canadian war. On May 5, 1756, "Ordered, That Mr. Lispenard and Mr. Van Ranst be a committee to remove the gallows from where it now stands to the place where the negroes were burnt, some five years ago, at the foot of the hill called Catiemut's Hill, near the fresh water" (Pearl and Centre street). What a grewsome undertaking! This year St. Andrew's Society was established, on November 19, by natives of Scotland and men of Scottish descent, for charitable purposes. The objects of this society were friendly intercourse between the natives of Scotland and their descendants, the relieving of deserving poor, the furnishing of implements and materials for domestic manufacture to the industrious poor, the giving of money, medicine, clothing and fuel to the needy. In some cases homes were provided for the destitute. While for a period of twenty years this society adhered strictly to the law regarding the holding of meetings and the dispensing of charity, in 1775 it suspended its meetings, but continued to distribute for benevolent purposes the capital accumulated during the Revolution. At the restoration of peace it renewed Its vigor, and from 17S4 until the present it has continued to sustain its original character. The reign of Sir Charles Hardy as Governor was short. While he was well thought of by the Colonists, the position palled on him, and his peti- tion to the Crown to restore him to his former command in the navy was granted in 1757. The control of affairs again fell to De Lancey. Mean- while the conquest of Canada occupied the attention of the citizens, and large bodies of militia went from New York to aid in the defence of the English forts. "The Corporation had barracks made for eight hundred men. It was built on the Commons, between the jail and Catiemut's Hill (in Chatham street). The sum of £3,500 was received from the Treasury of the Colony for the barracks and support of soldiers." Long Island Ferry, which was mentioned in a previous chapter, was leased in 1758 for £650 a year, and Bedlow's Island was purchased by the Corporation from Archibald Kennedy for £ 1,000 for the purpose of erecting a pesthouse on it. In 1758 the jail for the confinement of debtors was erected on the east side of the City Hall, nearly adjoining Chatham street, now Park Row. Cen- tre street had not been opened at the time, and City Hall Park extended to Chathatft street. It was a small stone building, nearly square, three CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 49 stories high, with a belfry rising from the centre. A chapel was fitted up on the first floor and prayers were read every Thursday. No settled allow- ance was made by the Corporation for the support of the prisoners, nor had they any bedding. The inmates were permitted to walk on the roof of the building at seasonable hours "for healthful purposes," and those who desired to reside outside the limits of the jail paid 50 cents, as well as finding proper security to satisfy the jailer, but only after judgment had been obtained. Those arrested for debt previous to the obtaining of a judgment were re- quired to find bail for their appearance. After the organization of the Hu- mane Society in 1787, each prisoner was given half a pound of meat, three pints of soup, two potatoes and an Indian cornmeal dumpling every twenty- four hours. The old Hall of Records was the site of the jail. CHAPTER X. (1759-1766.) Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Servants Organized- Development of Chatham Street— First Baptist Church— Law Regulating Price of Meat — Sandy Hook Lighthouse. The housekeepers of the early nineteenth century must have had an experience similar to those of the twentieth century in the employing of household help and the retaining of it, according to the record of the formation of a Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Ser- vants established nearly one hundred years ago, with headquarters in Chambers street. At that time the question of the autocracy of the upstairs girl and the downstairs girl, of the cook, the nurse and the maid and of all the rest of the nerve destroying, anger breeding household help no doubt had been thoroughly considered, resolving itself eventually into the forma- tioo of a society for mutual protection and the settlement of the question in an interesting way. Of course, a similar plan, if adopted to-day, would limit tne field of the caricaturist and cause the writer of jokes on the mis- tress and maid question much worry to find a hospitable place for his stock of hoary and wanton puns, but what relief would come to the house- holder when the servant raven disappeared from the door, and the cheery "Yes, ma'am," "No, ma'am," took its place, and the cook welcomed the mistress to the kitchen and the butler removed the shoes of the master from their telltale place at the foot of the stairs, etc. Oh, happy day! Here is the narrative of the society's formation: A committee of v/omen representative of New York's best families, finding it hard to retain servants, formed the association mentioned above, placing the fee for membership in it at $5. They chose as officers a presi- dent and eight managers, who were subscribers, and an agent, whose duty it was to keep a register of all persons applying for places as domestics oi servants of any description, and who could produce good written recom- mendations that they were entitled to have their names registered. As the primary object of the society was to offer liberal premiums to those domestics who conducted themselves well and remained longest in a family, the society adopted a graded list of awards, to be given annually to all nominated servants. Subscribers were the nominators for such premiums, and any of them who were found giving a false character to a servant were excluded from the society. Premiums were bestowed for one, two and three or more years of faithful service, and also a premium of 1 per cent, on all balances in the savings bank, the books to be exhibited to the agent. 50 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 51 "It is requested," says the document of organization, "that the certifcales of character be full and explicit as the servants deserve, as the yearly gratuity is a certain one to every nominated servant for perspective ser- vices, and on the servant bringing her certificate to the office, with a letter from her employer, stating her continuance in her place and her good con- duct, she is entitled to receive "A handsome octavo Bible, or in lieu thereof $2 "In two years thereafter 3 "In three years 5 "In four years 7 "In five years 10 "Any subscriber v/ho entices or inveigles away a servant from any other person, or who treats servants harshly or unjustly, shall be dealt with as the society directs, and under no consideration shall influence be per- mitted to swerve the officers from doing the duty which devolves on them through the society's order." The benefits of this institution were manifested in 1825, for among thirty thousand servants of all descriptions in the city only eight thousand were not enrolled on the society's books, and even among these peace reigned. On March 14, 1759, "Chathain street began to develop and a few houses were erected shortly after," and "several lots of ground were leased for twenty-one years, between the new jail and Captain Brown's house, near the palisadoes, where the windmill formerly stood, to commence on the 1st of May, at £ 3 10s. per annum." Some one is touring Europe, or sailing the seas on his yacht, or manipulating stocks, or doing the thing that millions of dollars permit him to do, from the rent of this land in 1909. After the war which secured to England the conquest of Canada the people of the colony, on the morning of July 30, 1760, met with a severe loss in the death of Lieutenant Governor De Lancey, who died suddenly in his library. "The popularity of the Lieutenant Governor had been so great that his remains were escorted by a large concourse of citizens from his house on the east side of the Bowery, a little above Grand street, to Trinity Church, where he was interred in the middle aisle, the funeral services being performed by the Rev. Henry Barclay." Cadwalader Golden, at this time seventy-three years of age, succeeded him, and, though he had been actively engaged in public affairs for many years and possessed po- litical talent of uncommon order, the old manuscripts say that "he wrecked his popularity by taking oaths which compelled him to sacrifice the rights of his countrymen upon the shrine of official duty." The first link in the chain of Baptist churches was made this year by building a house of worship in Gold street, near Fulton. It was of blue- stone and stood until 1840, when the stone of which it was composed was worked into the First Baptist Church, on the corner of Broome and Eliza- beth streets, to which the congregation removed. In 1761 "the steeple of Trinity Church was struck by lightning and consumed to the belfry," and in the same year General Robert Monckton, 52 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. who was then commanding his majesty's forces on Staten Island, was com- missioned Goveruor. The records say he was not distasteful to the people, as on October 26, when he published his commission at the City Hall, he declared that "he had no instructions, and hoped never to have any." This sounded like rebellion, but the English Government had tired of contesting with the Colonists regarding representative rights, permanent revenue and many other aggressions, and conceded them the right to tax themselves, not even insisting on the permanent revenue scheme. The city at this time had a population of 14,000, waste land was being utilized, public buildings were springing up here and there, and commerce was fast showing its hand, though with all the pervading calm the tempest of revolution was gathering. In 1762 "£102 were given by the Corporation to refugees from St. John's, Newfoundland," and "no rain fell from May till November, and this is recorded as the most remarkable drouth ever known in this country." Here is a scintillating record: "1763 — Complaints made by the citizens in a petition to the Cor- poration of the high prices of meat, etc., 'as considerably higher than other cities,' and in consequence a law was passed regulating the price of such things, which gave offence to the country people and to the butchers, as will be seen; for on the 23d of December 'John Carpenter, butcher, declared he would sell his beef for four pence a pound, in spite of all that the wiseheads could do,' or words to that effect, and in consequence his license was taken from him, he was turned out of the market, and also disfran- chised." "The following were the prices assessed by the Corporation for the most important articles in market to be sold for, viz., beef, 4i//d per pound; pork, .5d per pound; hindquarter of veal, 5d per pound; forequarter, 4i/^d per pound; mutton, 4i^d per pound; butter, Is 3d per pound; milk, 6 cop- pers per quart." The weight of bread had been established in 1684, varying, of course, with the rise or fall of flour — "a white bread loaf, of thirteen ounces, was assized to be sold for five stivers of wampum, or one penny halfpenny." In 1761 "a loaf of bread one pound twelve ounces in weight sold for four coppers." The colonists began "to sit up and take notice" in 1763. Sandy Hook lighthouse was lighted for the first time. And, by the way, the purchase price of the entire isthmus a few years later was $20,000. Ferries were established between Paulus Hook (Jersey City) and Miesier's Dock (Cortlandt street), and between Staten Island and Bergen, and packet boats and stages made the journey between Philadelphia and New York in three days— "a considerable improvement in travelling arrangements." These boats ran from the Battery to Perth Amboy, where stages conveyed •the freight and passengers to Burlington, N. J. At this point another boat was taken for Philadelphia. There were other routes, but this one seemed to be the most used. Mail went regularly twice a week between Philadelphia and New York. Methodism was first introduced in New York about this time by members of Wesley's Society from England and Ireland, who had previously settled in various parts of the country. In 1766 "two local preachers began to preach in New York and one in Mary- land, and made some converts. Mr. Webb, a lieutenant in his majesty's CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. S3 service, preached at New York and Philadelphia with great success." In 1767 Philip Embury and others erected the first church in John street, near Nassau, and called it Wesley Chapel. It stood until 1817, when it was replaced by a larger structure "built in modern fashion, with the pews sloping from the rear of the house down to the pulpit, which is low; the house is lighted with gas during evening service." A third structure was built, which still stands. The first president of King's College resigned in 1763, and was suc- ceeded by Dr. Cooper. It was his pleasure to receive a bequest of 1,200 volumes, made by Dr. Bristow, of England, as the foundation of a library for the college, though Joseph Murray, a member of the colony, in 1757 had bequeathed a collection to it. ■ 1764 — "Trial of Forsey and Cunningham, in a case of assault and battery; chiefly remarkable as it presents a case, till then unprecedented, of setting aside the verdict of a jury without granting a new trial." St. Paul's Chapel, Broadway and Vesey street, was erected in 1765. Here is a comment made by a New York paper in 1794 as to its spire, which was erected then: "The spire of this church is one of the noblest ornaments of the city, and is, with the entire building, justly esteemed one of the best specimens of architecture." It seems to have been growing smaller of late, because of the effect of the high buildings which surround It. Superstitious people in the early nineteenth century said that the marble figure of St. Paul, above the portico, when it heard the clock strike 12 at midnight of St. Paul's Day "came down and walked the streets." "Cliff street and Park Place were opened and regulated in 1766, and for the better prevention of fires an ordinance was passed directing that all the roofs in the city should be covered with slate or tiles." Tiles alone were used for some years after. CHAPTER XI. (1759-1768.) Old State Prison — First Colonial Congress — Stamp Duties — First Lutheran Church — The Brick Church — liberty Pole Erected — Disfran- chisement of the Province — Scotch Presbyterian Church. Many transformations have taken place in buildings which over one hundred years ago occupied prominent places in old New York. One worthy of mention was the old State prison. This institution was erected in 179G, on Amos street (now West Tenth street), and, while its outside walls still remain, reminiscent of the days of turmoil and trouble in the colony, im- provements have served to give it a modern appearance. The firm of brewers which until lately occupied this ancient structure changed its interior, but the inquisitive visitor may here and there be reminded of its former use. When it was erected the prison yard extended to the river, and all around it were fields, east and west, north and south. The locality now is recognizable to only a few old people, residents of Greenwich Village, and one of these pointed out to the writer the position of a sandy beach, where in the old days the effect of the summer heat was lessened by a plunge into the waters of the North River. No executions took place in this prison. In Dutch Colonial days, before Greenwich prison was built, outside the Battery on the beach was the place selected for rewarding the unforgiv- able evildoer, and under the English the present City Hall Park. Then the scene changed to Houston and Wooster streets, and afterward to Wash- ington Square, where the criminals of the Amos street prison were executed and buried under the gallows, as was the case in each place mentioned. A writer of these days says: "It is a curious fact that most of our smaller parks were not reserved as pleasure places, but for public use in the inter- ment of paupers." City Hall Park was at one time a Potter's field, and a negro burial ground adjoined it, the limit of which on the north was the present Stewart Building, at Broadway and Chambers street. Madison Square was also a resting place for the unnamed dead, as was Washington Square. In it in 1819 and 1822 yellow fever patients were buried. Who thinks of that now, or that the House of Refuge occupied a site then known as the junction of the Bloomingdale and Boston roads? This spot is now the site of the Worth monument. A story is told of an inmate of Greenwich prison who had been sentenced to die on the gallows, but at the last moment, through the influence of the Society of Friends, had his sentence commuted t6 life imprisonment, and was placed in charge of the shoe shop in the prison. 54 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 55 The Quakers worked for his release, and, having secured it, placed him in a shoe shop of his own. His business flourished, and he was prominently identified with the progress of the times. He had an itching palm, however, and after a time he forged the names of all his business friends, eloped with the daughter of one of his benefactors and disappeared from the earth, apparently. "Murder will out." A few years after the forger returned to the city and established himself under an assumed name in the making of shoes, forgetting, however, to maintain complacency, and thinking that no one would recognize him. In a passion at what he considered the care- lessness of one of his workmen regarding the time some work should have been delivered, he told the man he should not have promised it, as it caused disappointment. "Master," said the workman, "you have disap- pointed me worse than that." "How, you rascal?" "When I waited a whole hour in the rain to see you hanged." When Cadwallader Colden assumed authority over New York for the second time as Governor In 1760, succeeding Governor Monckton, who desired pleasanter pursuits, the contest between Great Britain and her colonies, which culminated in the Revolution, was in embryo. While the colony was poor and struggling Great Britain let it alone, but when, through indomitable perseverance and courage, the Dutch settlement had resolved itself into a flourishing province, the usual course at that time was pursued to wrest it from the hands of its builders. To do this it was necessary to incense the people, and rigorous restrictions were imposed for the purpose. Under cover of regulating the trade of the colonies. Great Britain levied heavy duties upon imports, and at the same time suppressed all attempts at home manufacture. Nor were the colonists allowed to trade with foreign countries or to send to England any merchandise unless it was carried by English vessels. It was a violation of law to manufacture an axe or a hammer, though the country was full of iron, and in order to limit the manufacture of beaver hats two apprentices only were allowed to each hatter, and hats could not be sold by one colony to another. No cloth could be manufactured except for private use, or exported from one town to another. The raw material must be sent to England for manu- facture, and then come back as imported cloth, with heavy duty, of course. Although the colony had been taxed heavily for the carrying on of the French and Indian wars, and had been left burdened with a heavy debt, the British Ministry was insatiable in its desire and proposed the pas- sage of a law to raise a permanent revenue from the colonies by direct taxation- — taxing various articles of foreign produce and establishing stamp duties. Every schoolboy knows how this action resulted; how in 1765 the Stamp Act was finally passed; how the news of its passage reached New York early in April of that year; how copies of the act were hawked about the streets with a death's head affixed to each, and under it the inscription, "The Folly of England and the Ruin of America"; how the citizens resolved not to use the stamped papers, etc. One James McEvers was the official stamp distributer for New York, and "much distrusted by the people, who resolved that this distribution never should take place." On October 7, 1765, a congress of delegates — the first Colonial Con- gress — from the several provinces met In New York in the City Hall, in S6 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Wall street, to consult in respect to a proposed confederation. Previous to the meeting a committee waited on Lieutenant Governor Colden, to solicit his aid and sympathy. His answer was: "Your congress is unconstitu- tional, unprecedented and unlawful, and I shall give you no countenance." He ordered the fortifications strengthened and proper provision made for the reception of the stamps. The record: "Great excitement existed in the city, and a civil war was feared. McEvers, the stamp distributer, had disappeared, fearing the fury of the populace. No official dared touch the paper when Captain Davis delivered it. The Corporation induced the Gov- ernor and commander in chief to deposit it in the City Hall for safekeeping, and on November 1 the Governor and the devil holding the Stamp Act were burned in effigy, after being paraded through the streets." "Archibald Kennedy, William McAdam and Cornelius Van Voorste petitioned for an exclusive ferry to the Jersey shore." Another record: "The library room in the City Hall repaired, and Mr. Thomas Jackson appointed librarian, and directed to let the books out for hire as follows, viz.: Folios, 2s. a week; quartos. Is.; octavos, 6d. His calary to be £4 per annum, and his attendance to deliver and receive books to be on Mondays and Thursdays, from half-past 11 till 1 o'clock." This record bespeaks a restful community, which at this time did not exist. Robinson street (now Park Place) was laid out and regulated in 17G5. ^ With the arrival of the second consignment of stamps came the newly appointed Governor, Sir Henry Moore, "who won the affections of the people by declaring he would have nothing to do with the obnoxious papers." Peter De Lancey, Jr., had in the mean time taken the place of the recreant stamp distributer, McEvers, but, on being warned by the people that it would be better for him to resign, did so, saying he was ignorant of the objections of the people, and would publish a disclaimer in the papers of the day, which appeared with a formal renunciation exacted from McEvers. Governor Moore "conciliated his subjects by ordering the discontinuance of the erection of the fortifications begun by Colden at the fort, and by declaring that he would not meddle with the enforcement of the Stamp Act, which was repealed on February 20, 1766." "Grant of ground to the Dutch Church of twenty-eight lots for a burial place, viz.: ten lots bounded north on Queen street (part of Pearl street), eight lots east and south on Thomas street, and ten lots west on George street (Spruce street), some larger and some smaller." The Presbyterian Church, through John Rogers and Joseph Treat, ministers, and John Morrin Scott, Peter R. Livingston and others, as trustees, this year "petitioned in a long and eloquent appeal for the angular lot, lately called the Vineyard, stating the great increase of that persuasion; and the land asked for was unanimously granted to them, at a rent of £40 per annum, as follows, viz.: 152 feet on the southwest, 214 on northwest, 62 on northeast and 200 on the south side; and the present Brick Church in Beekman street, erected thereon in 1767." The same year the Powles Hook Ferry v.^as let at £40 a year, and the "landing established at the lower end of Thomas street, or Thames street, at Roosevelt's Pier." The ferry over the East River "brought £660." On October 14 Whitehead Hicks, the last Mayor appointed by the CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 57 Colonial government, assumed office. He was regularly appointed until 1776. The Liberty Pole of historic import was erected on Jane 4, 17G6, George Ill's birthday, on the Commons, as tlie crowning event of a day of celebra- tions, at which Governor Moore, hoping to strengthen the loyalty of the citizens, "politically encouraged them in their rejoicings." It, or rather the ground on which it v/as erected, served as the rallying point for many a sharp contest during the succeeding years, and stood "for a principle as dear to the New Yorkers as that of personal taxation.' The first pole was cut down by the 28th British Regiment on the succeeding August 10, was again set up, and again cut down on the night of September 23. A third was erected on September 25, and by order of Governor Moore was permitted to stand. On March 18, 1767, it was again leveled to the ground, but the next day a more substantial one, "well secured with iron bands," was erected, and, though repeated assaults were made on it by the British soldiers, it continued to stand, a trophy of the victory of the people. In 1767 a Lutheran Church was built in the swamp, corner of William and Frankfort streets. It was of stone, and the service was performed in the German language. Another storm broke over the city — the immediate cause of the Ameri- can Revolution. With the news of the disfranchisement of the province came the enactment of a law by the Ministry under William Pitt — the im- position of the duties on tea, glass, paper, painter's colors and lead "which should be henceforth imported into the colonies." The rest is history. In 1768 the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar street was built. "The church was lighted with gas during evening service." The Governor, "who was really of a conciliatory disposition, and who endeavored in vain to restrain the demonstrations of the people and to bring them back to a sense of their loyalty," died suddenly on September 11, 1769, when Cadwalladei" Golden again assumed authority. CHAPTER XII. (1768-1770.) Captain Kidd— New York Hospital Founded — Fourth, or North, Church — Marine Society Incorporated — Statue of George III Ordered Erected — Statue of Pitt. The press teems with tales of treasure trove. Before the disasters attending a hunt for Montezuma's wealth on Cocos Island are forgotten, a treasure ship is discovered on the Florida coast. Then a citizen of New Rochelle returns from an unsuccessful hunt of two years among the South Sea islands for $50,000,000 supposed to have been hidden by pirates. Now comes the news that a number of New York business men are organiz- ing another expedition to hunt for the hidden hoards of our own Captain Kidd. They are supplied with maps, too, and have apparently authentic data on which to proceed. Some time in the early 70's there arrived here from San Francisco an old man whose name may not be mentioned here. He had made a fortune in mining, and invested extensively in real estate in Madison and Lexington avenues and Thirty-fifth street. He gave liberally to charitable and religious institutions. One of his benefactions was a church in that neighborhood, which he built and presented to the congrega- tion. He had numbered among his friends John Jacob Astor and President Zachary Taylor. A letter written to him by the latter, thanking him for efforts in securing Taylor's election to the Presidency, has been frequently read in some of the public schools of this city. The old man finally suffered business reverses, eventually becoming so old and poor that his friends had him admitted to a home for aged men. To recompense one of these friends he gave him a paper which purported to be a map of the place where Kidd's treasure was buried. This map was given by Kidd's colored cook to Thomas Clark-, of New Haven. When Clark died he gave the map to a daughter, aged fifteen. She married and moved to Vermont in 1799. Dying in 1840, she gave the map to her son, who was the Californian mentioned above. A search was made for the treasure, which proved unsuccessful, but the topo- graphical description was found to be accurate, so a second and more thorough search may be made. There is scarcely a spot on the coast between Cape Cod and Cape May. however, which does not possess data apparently as authentic as that given above, proving that Kidd's hoard is hidden somewhere near, and the ac- counts of Captain Kidd vary so widely that an authentic history of hi-m is of value. Most people think Captain Kidd was a pirate, that he was tried on that 58 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 59 charge, found guilty and was hanged. So he was — tried and hanged — but his guilt was not proved, according to modern historians who have delved for the information in the old manuscripts of this country and England. Plainly, Kidd was sacrificed that the reputation of those "higher up" should remain outwardly unsullied. England was disturbed in 1695 because of the increase of piracy. The King, William III, supposing the pirates were sup- ported by persons in the colonies, and especially in New York, selected the Governor of New York and Massachusetts, the Earl of Bellamont, to operate against them. Bellamont, according to the records, "was very grasping." The English Government in 1695 was deeply involved in war with France, and could not afford the money to equip an expedition to suppress piracy, so that under her warrant Bellamont and one Robert Livingston, of New York, planned to send out a private expedition, with Kidd, who at the time owned a house and lot in what is now Hanover Square, in command. Kidd had served with distinction in the war against the French, "was of good repute and an experienced Captain." On October 10, 1695, the King having sanctioned the plan, Bellamont entered into an agreement with Kidd to procure from the King and the Admiralty Commissioners the proper au- thority for him to fight the pirates, Bellamont to furnish four-fifths of the cost of equipping the expedition, the other fifth to be furnished by Kidd and Livingston. Kidd agreed to enlist the men he required on the understanding that the prizes were to be their compensation. Many officers of the crown, mem- bers of the Whig party, were Bellamont's contributors! The commissions granted to Kidd bear the dates December 10, 1695, and January 26, 1695- '96. The first gave him power to act against the French, and the second to apprehend and seize all pirates. When he sailed from Plymouth, England, for New York in 1696 his crew was composed of the most desperate, un- stable men. Indeed, Governor Fletcher, writing in October, 1696, to the Lords of Trade in England, said: "One Captain Kidd lately arrived here, and produced a commission under the Great Seal of England for suppressing piracy. . . . Many flocked to him from all parts, men of desperate fortunes and necessitous. . . . 'Twill not be in Kidd's power to govern such a hord of men under no pay." To keep the record of Kidd's position straight, it may be said that part of the first crew shipped by him in Plymouth Har- bor was composed of able seamen who had families in England, but who were impressed into the King's service before he left for New York, so that, with his expedition half equipped with unstable and desperate men, he oailed for this country, hoping on his arrival to secure full complement, which he did, but the men were the offscouring of the colonies, allured by the desire for gold principally. Kidd sailed for the Strait of Madagascar shortly after arriving at New York, and from that time, in July, 1696, until September of the year fol- lowing his acts of piracy consisted in the boarding of small Arabian coasters "and taking therefrom coffee, sugar, pepper and myrrh." Kidd's agreement with Bellamont was to take his prizes to Boston for condemnation, without touching at any other port, and when he captured, on November 27, 1697, a Moorish ship, which he was justified in doing under his commission, as he claimed she was sailing under French papers. 6o * CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. his cFew refused to sail to Boston, and what articles of value were taken were sold along the coast. When the Quedagh was captured, in January, 1698, his crew again refused to go to Boston. This vessel was also sailing under French papers, and had a valuable cargo, part of which was taken by the crew and sold in various places on the coast of India. The money which they received they divided among themselves, after which they abandoned the expedition, "to the number of one hundred," taking their gains with them. While the above was taking place Kidd's distinguished backers were in trouble in England, as the result of reports of his "dastardly work," which were used by the anti-government party to force an issue. Seeing that the political walls were about to fall on them, his supporters in the scheme to enrich themselves forced the Government, on December 16, 1698, to issue a proclamation offering pardon to those guilty of piracy who should surrender themselves before commissioners to be named for the purpose, but excluding Captain Kidd from such pardon. Kidd, no doubt, heard of the proclamation, for early in 1699 he arrived at New York on a small coasting schooner, having left the captured Quedagh somewhere in the West Indies, under a small guard, and opened communication with Lord Bellamont in Boston. In this he offered to turn over the Quedagh and whatever remained of her cargo, and such money as was in his hands from the sale mentioned previously if a pardon and indemnity against loss on his bond were given to him. To prove the legitimacy of his work as agent for Bellamont he inclosed in his communication the French papers found in the two ships taken by him. The Whig administration was in desperate straits regarding Kidd. His mutinous crew, one of whom Kidd in a passion had killed, were scat- tered over the globe, with no hope in the minds of the Government of being able to punish them, while the man they were after, Kidd himself, might be the possessor of information which, if made public, would throw opprobrium on themselves and their speculative enterprise. Bellamont at first agreed that Kidd's actions were right, that the enterprise was legiti- mate, but political animosities ran high, and he was compelled to order his arrest and send him to England, where he remained in prison for two years. According to the Whig party, Kidd was guilty before he was placed on trial — not of piracy, but of the murder of William Moore — on May 8, 1701. No counsel was allowed him, and even the judges shrank from the performance of their duty of trying the case. Everything was admitted as testimony by them whether relevant or not, and Kidd was prohibited from speaking in his own behalf. He was found guilty, and on May 20, 1701, was hanged at Execution Dock, Wapping. There is positive evidence, according to the best authorities, that the members of Kidd's crew who were tried and condemned with him were never executed. Once more to our legitimate chronology: The New York Hospital was founded in 1769 by private subscription, and incorporated by charter from Governor Dunmore on July 13, 1776. This charter was confirmed by an act of the Legislature dated March 9, 1810. In 177-5 the hospital was burned down by accident, and before another could be completed the war broke out, during which the British converted the unfinished apartment CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 6l into barracks. In 1791 it was reopened as a liospital for the sick and dis- abled, and afterward opened to infirm and friendless seamen. As the demands on the hospital increased the private subscriptions were found to be inadequate to pay the expenses. The Legislature was induced at vari- ous periods to confer grants upon it, and these were increased from time to time until March 14, 180G, when an act was passed authorizing the payment of $12,500 a year out of the duties on public auctions till the year 1857. The hospital stood in the center of a plot of ground bounded by Broad- way, Church street, Anthony street and Duane street. Fronting and sloping toward Broadway was an extensive lawn, with many venerable elms. From the cupola surmounting its three stories, says the record, "an extensive panoramic view of the entire city and of the harbor and country beyond to a great distance may be had. It is one of the most healthy places in the city, is quite distant from the limits of the populous parts, and, though there are a number of lofty houses in its neighborhood, the elevation of the building secures to the sick all the advantages of a free circulation." This was the beginning of the present hospital system. The Fourth, or North, Church was built in William street, between Fulton and Ann, this year. "It was of stone, with a handsome and lofty spire, about two hundred feet in height, in which is a gallery that com- mands one of the finest views in the city." How much of the city could be seen from this point now? In the year 1770, on April 12, the Marine Society was incorporated, and its funds limited to i3,000 a year. Its immediate objects were the im- provement of maritime knowledge and the relief of indigent masters of vessels, their widows and orphans. It is a noted society in New York to-day. "February 2. — The citizens, animated with the spirit of liberty, noti- fied the Common Council that they were determined to erect a liberty pole opposite St. Paul's Church, in Chatham street, but the corporation refused the spot, and it was erected on private ground near." The "cost of lamps, lighting the city, etc., was i760 a year in 1770," as per report of April 10. On May 17 of this year "a statue of his majesty King George III, ordered to be erected in the bowling green, and a statue of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, erected in Wall street, at the intersection of William street." The history of the statue first mentioned is familiar to every schoolboy, but that of the second is not so well known. This statue was erected by the people of New York on the steps of what was then known as the Royal Exchange, in gratitude for the services of William Pitt. When the statue of King George was destroyed by the citizens, the British soldiers, in revenge, pulled the Pitt statue down and broke off the head and one arm. It lay for a quarter of a century among the rubbish in the yard of the corporation, when it was discovered by the owner of a noted resort on the corner of West Broadway and Franklin street, known as Riley's Fifth Ward Museum Hotel. He erected it, sans head, sans arm, out- side of his place, and surrounded it with an iron railing. There the relic of the past stood until Riley's death, when the New York Historical Society secured it, and now has it in its collection. "The Council, who for some time past opened their sittings to the public, now closed them again on the citizens," CHAPTER Xm. (1769-1776.) Landmarks of Old New York — Circular to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York— Battle of Golden Hill- First Record of a Boycott. As an introduction to this chapter's part of the chronology here are twenty-six interesting landmarks of old New York for the guidance of the home student and the stranger visitor: (1) The site of Fort Amsterdam — where the new Custom House now stands on Bowling Green. (2) The site of the first habitations of white men on the island, erected by Adrian Block — No. 41 Broadway. (3) Stuy- vesaflt's "White Hall" — No. 73 Pearl street. (4) Stuyvesant's country resi- dence — Fourteenth street to Sixteenth street, Fourth avenue to the East River. (5) Stuyvesant's burial place — St. Mark's Churchyard, Stuyvesant street and Second avenue. (6) Stuyvesant's pear tree — Formerly corner of Thirteenth street and Third avenue. (7) First church of the Huguenots, erected in 1688— Where the Produce Exchange stands. (8) The first house of worship of the Dutch, erected in 1693 — Exchange Place. (The baptismal bowl made for this congregation in Holland is in the Collegiate Church, at Fifth avenue and Twenty-ninth street.) (9) Where Charlotte Temple ended her life — On the north side of Pell street, west of the Bowery, in one of two houses painted yellow. (10) William Bradford's (the first printer) shop — No. 51 Pearl street. (11) Second City Hall — On the site of the Sub-Treasury. (12) Slave market — Foot of Wall street. (13) The fash- ionable promenade of the old days — The Mall, in the neighborhood of Trinity Church. (14) The shopping center of the city in 1765 — Hanover Square. (15) Where New York's first newspaper was issued — The site of the Cotton Exchange. (16) The Kennedy House, of historic association — No. 1 Broadway. (17) Where the non-importation agreement in opposition to the Stamp Act was signed in 1765 — No. 115 Broadway. (18) Golden Hill, where the first blood in the War of the Revolution was shed — John street, near William. (19) Where the first Liberty Pole was erected to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act — The site of the Postoffice Build- ing. (20) Where Marinus Willett captured the arms of the British sol- diers — Broad and Beaver streets. (21) Where the Declaration of Inde- pendence was read and published — Near the west wing of the present City Hall. (22) The site of the Middle Dutch Church, dedicated in 1729 — Mutual Life Building, Nassau, Cedar and Liberty streets. (23) Where General Washington landed, on his way to Cambridge to command the 62 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 63 American Army — West street, near Laight. (24) Points fortified against attacks by the Britisli — On the East River, at Forty-fourth street. Fifty- fourth street. Seventy-fourth street. Eighty-fifth street. Eighty-ninth street. Mount Morris Park, back of Trinity Church, Jones's Hill, near Broome street; Bunker Hill, Grand and Mulberry streets. (25) Where Washington rallied his men against the attack of Clinton and Donop — Park avenue and Fortieth street. (26) Where Generals Washington and Putnam met during the movement of the American Army the day before the battle of Harlem, September 16, 1776 — West side of Broadway, between Forty- third and Forty-fourth streets. Events were shaping themselves for the final outbreak in 1769, as will be seen by the following extracts from a circular headed "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York," and signed "A Son of Liberty," in possession of the New York Historical Society: "My Dear Fellow-Citizens and Countrymen: "In a Day when the Minions of Tyranny and Despotism in the Mother Country, and the Colonies, are indefatigable in laying every Snare that their malevolent and corrupt Hearts can suggest, to enslave a free people; when this unfortunate Country has been striving under many Disadvan- tages for three Years past, to preserve their Freedom; . . . when the Merchants of this City and the Capital towns on the Continent, have nobly and cheerfully sacrificed their private Interests to the publick Good, rather than to promote the Designs of the Enemies of our happy Constitution; it might justly be expected, that in this day of Constitutional Light, the Rep- resentatives of this Colony, would not be so hardy, nor so lost to all sense of Duty to their Constituents . . . as to betray the Trust committed to them [in passing the vote to give the troops £1,000 out of the Treasury and £1,000 out of the money to be put out on loan, and which the colony would be obliged to make good]. And that they have betrayed the Liberties of the People. , . . And what makes the Assembly's granting this Money the more grievous, is, that it goes to the Support of the Troops kept here, not to protect, but to enslave us. ... Is this a State to be rested in when our all is at Stake? No, my Countrymen, Rouse! imitate the noble Example of the Friends of Liberty in England, who rather than be en- slaved contend for their right with the K — g. Lords and Commons. And will you suffer your Liberties to be torn from you by your own Repre- sentatives? Tell it not in Boston; publish it not in the Streets of Charles- ton! . . . Assemble in the Fields on Monday next, where your sense ought to be taken on this important Point." After the meeting of the following day, which disapproved the action of the Assembly, another handbill, signed "Legion," appeared, which "caused the Assembly much annoyance, was declared libelous, and a reward of il50 was offered for the discovery of the writer." Through information given by James. Parker, a printer, in whose office the printing was done, and who was threatened with the loss of his place as Secretary of the Post- office if he did not give the name of the writer, Alexander Macdougal was arrested and imprisoned. New York honors him by naming a street for him, and the historian names him as the first martyr to the cause of liberty. 64 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Hero is an extract from a letter sent to London from New York on January 22, 1770, which tells of the troublous times in the city: "We are all in Confusion in this City; the Soldiers have cut and blowed up Liberty Pole, and have caused much Trouble between the Inhab- itants. On Friday last between Burling Slip and the Fly Market, was an Engagement betv/een the Inhabitants and the Soldiers, when much Blood was spilt. One Sailor got run through the Body, who since Died. One man got his Skull cut in the most Cruel Manner. On Saturday the Hall Bell rang for an Alarm, when was another Battle between the Inhabitants and Soldiers; but the Soldiers met with Rubbers, the Chief est part being Sailors and Clubs to revenge the Death of their Brother, which they did with Courage and made them all run to their Barracks. What will be the end of this God knows!" The trouble referred to in this letter culminated in the two days' battle of Golden Hill, which has been glorified and perpetuated in history. The Liberty Boys were not to be balked by the action of Mayor Hicks and the Common Council on January 30, 1770, in refusing them a site on which to erect a fifth Liberty Pole; nor were they at a loss to find a house in which to meet when the owner of the property which they had previously used as a headquarters was won over to the opposition. To meet the first emergency, they purchased a piece of ground near where the fourth pole stood, and erected thereon what was destined to be the last rallying point previous to the Revolution. To meet the second emergency they purchased a house on what is now the corner of Broadway and Ann street, and christened it Hampden Hall. They consecrated it to the cause of liberty, and on March 19, 1770, celebrated the anniversary of the colony's triumph over the exactions of the mother country. Lord Dunmore superseded Colden as Governor on October 25, 1770. His instructions from the home government to the colonists, or rather their representatives, were similar to those of his predecessors — "to continue in welldoing and not to forget to make due appropriations for the troops quar- tered among them." During his reign the case of Macdougal was tried, George Clinton, future Governor of New York and Vice-President of the United States, defending him. Later he was released through the influence of friends. On July 8, 1771, William Tryon was appointed Governor, Lord Dun- more having been transferred to Virginia. This new Governor was voted an income of £2,000 by the complacent Assembly, but refused it, saying he was forbidden to receive any gifts from the Assembly — a new scheme by the home government for securing the submission of the colonies, as the salary of the Governor was to be paid from his majesty's treasury, and the treasury to be supplied from the colonial taxes. For the next two years — 1772 and 1773 — complete stagnation pre- vailed in New York. Few records of public improvements are to be found, commerce was only partially resumed, and the use of tea by the inhabitants was obsolete. The people thought only of resistance and awaited the day of deliverance from oppression. Only one street — Warren — was laid out and regulated in 1771, and an "iron railing made round the Bowling Green for £800." Murray street was regulated the following year. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 65 Much has been written of the Boston Tea Party. New York also had a Tea Party in 1773. In order to entrap the colonists and unguardedly gain their assent to the principle of Parliamentary taxation, the home Ministry passed a law permitting the East India Company to export tea to the colonies free of the duty which before had been paid in England, but re- taining the duty which was paid in America. This, of course, reduced the price of tea to the colonists. The bill was declared obnoxious, and meas- ures were decided on to prevent the landing of the large shipments ordered to America. England was alarmed, especially as her Tea Commissions in New York had resigned their commissions. Strong resolutions were passed on November 27, 1773, by the Sons of Liberty condemnatory of the Revenue Act relating to tea, and pledging fealty to one another in the maintaining of a strict quarantine against its introduction in the colony: "Resolved, That, whether the duties imposed by this act be paid in Great Britain or in America, our liberties are equally affected." Here is the first record of a boycott: "Resolved, That whoever shall transgress any of these resolutions, we will not deal with or employ, or have any connection with him." Such was the spirit of the colonists. The date of arrival of the vessel bearing the tea was uncertain, but the patriots did not relax their vigilance, now and then, through their committees of correspondence, receiving word of her being delayed by contrary winds. During the excitement Governor Tryon sailed for England, and again the Government was in the hands of Golden. On April 22, 1774, the ship London, commanded by Captain Chambers, a New Yorker, appeared off Sandy Hook, and was boarded by members of the Vigilance Committee. They were assured that no tea was on board, and no mention of it was found on the ship's manifest. The vessel was allowed to go to her dock, "where there was a scene of intense excitement." Another visit to the vessel was made by the whole committee, and, though the captain declared that no packages of tea were aboard, the committee decided on a thorough search, with the result that eighteen chests were discovered, which they confiscated. Taking the captain and the owners with them to the Coffee House, on the corner of Pearl and Wall streets, the committee called a meeting and decided to throw the tea into the river, which they did "at 8 in the evening." "The next day the city was in festal attire. Bells were rung, flags were hoisted and bands played 'God Save the King.' " Captain Chambers was escorted three leagues out- side of Sandy Hook and permitted to proceed. And this was New York's Tea Party four months after the Boston episode. The attempted punishment of the people for disobedience by King George cemented the bond of brotherhood, and on the evening of July 6 the "great meeting in the fields" took place on the Commons — Alexander Hamilton making his maiden speech at it— to ratify the action of the famous Committee of Fifty-one, and to elect deputies to the second Colonial Congress at Philadelphia. While the Committee of Fifty-one disavowed the proceedings of the "meeting in the fields" the following day, eleven of the members. Sons of Liberty, "seceded and issued an address to the people." ~ Polls were opened under the direction of the Mayor and alder- 66 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. men for the election of delegates, all who were taxpayers being allowed to vote. The representatives elected early in September assembled with those from the other colonies in Philadelphia. What they did the historians have noted. "Feb. 22. Fire in the fort. Governor Tryon lost his papers, furniture, &c., and the corporation addressed him a letter of condolence; he soon after went to England." About this time the names of the Common Council began to be entered on the minutes when voting on important questions, pro and con. "April 22. Christopher Colles proposed to erect a reservoir, and to convey water through the several streets. Read and referred." On this date "the street leading from St. Paul's Church toward fresh water was named Chatham street." The year 1775 saw constant excitement and restlessness in the colony. On March 5 "a battle took place in the city between the whigs and tories; the latter defeated," and on April 3 the Assembly adjourned, never to meet again. According to a resolution passed at the Philadelphia session, each colony was to organize companies of militia, and New York formed a corps called the Hearts of Oak. By orders of the Committee of Safety they were to remove the cannons from the Battery, and while doing so the seventy-four gun ship Asia, which was anchored off the fort, with her guns trained on the town, sent a broadside into them, as answer to a shot unthinkingly fired by one of the party, and killed a young militiaman. On April 24, 1775, a travel-stained horseman rode furiously into the city, and spread the news of the battle that changed the aspect of the Western world — the battle of Lexington. It required but little time for the Sons of Liberty on that peaceful Sunday to take possession of the City Hall, distribute the arms stored therein and in the arsenal among the citizens and form a voluntary corps "under the command of Samuel Broome." "They demanded and obtained the key to the Custom House, closed the building and laid an embargo upon the vessels in port destined for the eastern colonies." X provisional government for the city was formed on May 5 at a meeting held in the Coffee House, "and the people pledged themselves to obey its orders until different arrangements should be made by the Continental Congress." All was not plain sailing after the appointment of the Committee of One Hundred at the meeting in the Coffee House. Some of the committee were inclined to the Royalist side and created doubt in the minds of the patriots. Excitement ran high, however, and in a short time those who had been considered doubtful acquiesced in the action of their colleagues. "Everything wore a martial appearance in the city. The stores and work- shops were closed and armed citizens paraded the streets. Precautions were taken, however, to put arms in a serviceable condition and to survey for fortifications." Curiously enough, no opposition was made to the landing of British troops, the Continental Congress granting permission, but ob- jecting strenuously to the erection of fortifications. It was on June 6, 1775, that the Marinus Willett episode occurred, the designation of the spot being given in the introduction to this chapter. "June 24. Governor Tryon arrived in New York," and the next day CRADLE DAYS Oh NEW YORK. 67 "Washington entered New York on his way from Mount Vernon to Cam- bridge. While the Provincial Congress received him with a cautious ad- dress, they still clung to the shadow of loyalty, constantly protesting that they desired nothing more than to secure to themselves the rights of true born British subjects." The change in the disposition of the citizens aroused Governor Tryon, "who, while treated with respect, found them in a state of open rebellion, with only the semblance of loyalty and disposed to yield more obedience to the Provincial Congress than to him." "Aug. 22. The Asia, British man-of-war, fired upon the city in the night, and threw the inhabitants into the utmost alarm and dismay." This bombardment was occasioned by a party of Liberty Boys, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, executing an order of the Provincial Con- gress to remove the guns on the Battery because of their danger to the patriot cause. A barge of the Asia, reconnoitering, fired on the patriots. The fire was returned, killing one of the crew, when the barge made its way to the ship, which proceeded to cannonade the town, "riddling the houses near the Battery and severely wounding three citizens. Great excitement existed, the drums beat to arms and many of the people fled." In the face of the fire of the Asia the Liberty Boys continued their task until they had carried away the last of the twenty-one pieces from the Battery. On April 14, 1776, Washington arrived from Boston, and took up his quar- ters at Richmond Hill, on the corner of Varick and Charlton streets, an interesting description of which from old writings is given in the next chapter. CHAPTER XIV. (1776-1780.) Richmond Hill— Tom Paine's "Common Sense"— Death of Tom Paine— Great Fire of 1776— First Written Constitution of New York Framed at Princeton — Intense Cold in 1779. Fronting the Hudson, with nothing to obstruct the view, stood in 1776 Richmond Hill, the residence of Washington from the time of his return from Boston after the expulsion of the British troops until he retreated from the city and fixed his quarters at the house of Robert Murray, on Murray Hill. • From the latter place he issued his instructious to Nathan Hale regarding the information to be obtained by him when he penetrated the British lines on Long Island. Richmond Hill had been built by Major Martier, an English officer, in 1766, on what is now Charlton street, a few feet from Varick. At that time "meadows stretched up toward the little hamlet of Greenwich Village, and on the left the view of the little city in the distance was half hidden by clumps of trees and rising hills. There was a broad entrance to the house, under a porch of imposing height sup- ported by high columns, with balconies fronting the rooms of the second story. The premises were entered by a spacious gateway, flanked by orna- mental columns, at what is now the termination of Macdougal street. Within the gate and to the north was a beautiful sheet of water known as Burr's pond." The glory of Richmond Hill lasted for many years after Washington occupied it. It was the home of Vice-President Adams during the first year of the Constitutional government, and men and women eminent in the Old World were guests within its walls during its occupancy by Aaron Burr, "whose daughter, Theodosia, dispensed a charming hospitality." After her disappearance and his own fall from prominence prior to 1808 Richmond Hill's glory departed, and from a first class theatre it passed through the gradations of circus and menagerie, and was finally abandoned. It is now the site of a private residence. The idea of independence was fast gaining ground among the people in 1776, and arguments poised on the lips of many, and, through lack of courage, not uttered, were fearlessly projected after the appearance of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," published in Philadelphia. Through it the whole nation was electrified with the spirit of independence and liberty, and the link binding the colonies to the mother country was severed. So cogent was the reasoning of Paine that his conclusions were accepted, and on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced in Congress the resolution absolving the colonies from all allegiance to the British Crown and severing 68 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 69 their political connection with it. New York's delegates to the Congress had been uninstructed how to proceed when this question arose, and, "fear- ing a traitor's doom, they drew back shrinkingly from the perilous step." Thomas Paine died in 1809, in the house now numbered 59 Bleecker street. Bleecker street at the period mentioned was a road leading from Minetta Brook to Greenwich Village, and the house of Mme. Bonneville, in which Paine lived and died, stood near what is now Grove street. "September 21, 1776. A great fire commenced in a small wooden house on the wharf near the Whitehall Slip. It was then occupied by a number of men and women of a bad character. The fire began late at night. There being but a very few inhabitants in the city, in a short time it raged tremendously. It burned all the houses on the east side of Whitehall Slip and the west side of Broad street to Beaver street. A provi- dential and happy circumstance occurred at this time: the wind was then southwesterly. About 2 o'clock that morning the wind veered to the southeast. "^ This carried the flames of the fire to the north-westward, and burned both sides of Beaver street to the east side of Broadway, then crossed Broadway to Beaver Lane, and burning all the houses on both sides of Broadway, with some few houses in New street to Rector street, and to John Harrison, Esq.'s, three-story brick house, which house stopped the fire on the east side of Broadway; from thence it continued, burning all the houses in Lumber street and those in the rear of the houses on the west side of Broadway to St. Paul's Church, then continued burning the houses on both sides of Partition street and all the houses in the rear (again) of the west side of Broadway to North River. The fire did not stop until it got into Mortkile (now Barclay) street. The college yard and the vacant ground in the rear of the same put an end to this awful and tre- mendous fire. "Trinity Church being burned was occasioned by the flakes of fire that fell on the south side of the roof. The southerly wind fanned those flakes of fire in a short time to an amazing blaze, and it soon became out of human power to extinguish the same, the roof of this noble edifice being so steep that no person could go on it. "St. Paul's Church was in the like perilous situation. The roof being flat, with a balustrade on the eaves, a number of the citizens went on the same and extinguished the flakes of fire as they fell on the roof. Thus happily was this beautiful church saved from the destruction of this dreadful fire, which threatened the ruin thereof and that of the whole city. "The Lutheran Church being contiguous to houses adjoining the same fire, it was impossible to save it from destruction. This fire was so furious and violently hot that no person could go near it, and there were no fire engines to be had at that time in the city. "The number of houses that were burned and destroyed in this city at that awful conflagration were thus, viz.: From Mortkile street to Courtlandt street ''Vl67 From Courtlandt street to Beaver street ' 175 From Beaver street to the East River - 151 Total 493 70 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. "There being very few inhabitants in the city at the time, and many of those were afraid to venture at night in the streets, for fear of being talcen up as suspicious persons. "A Mr. White, a decent citizen and house carpenter, rather too violent a loyalist, and latterly had addicted himself to liquor, was on the night of the fire hanged on a tavern signpost, at the corner of Cherry and Roose- velt streets. Several of the citizens were sent to the provost guard for examination, and some of them remained there two or three days, until they could give satisfactory evidence of their loyalty. "Mr. Hugh Gain, in his 'Universal Register' for the year 1787, page 119, says: 'New York is about a mile and a half in length and half a mile broad, containing before the fires on the 21st of September, 1776, and 3d of August, 1778, about 4,200 houses and 30,000 inhabitants.' " The Sons of Liberty were accused by the British of being the incen- diaries, and a number of them were thrust into the flames in revenge for the supposed outrage. Several citizens were also arrested and imprisoned, but the charge of being accessories was not sustained, and they were released. So great was the distress among the inhabitants "that they tacked sheets of canvas to the remnants of charred walls and standing chimneys, thus forming a city of tents, in which they bivouacked." This fire occurred at the time when Howe's troops were stretched iu a cordon across the island, in readiness to fall upon the army of Washington, encamped upon the heights on the opposite side of Harlem Plains, Washington occupying as headquarters the Roger Morris house, which overlooks the Harlem a little below High Bridge, and is now known as the Jumel Mansion. The loyalist owner of the property. Colonel Morris, had married the beautiful Mary Phillipse, whom Washington at one time wooed in vain. In this house battles were planned, consultations were held with chiefs of the Indian tribes, "and secret instructions were issued to the 'spy of the neutral ground.' After the Revolution the estate was confiscated, and was then purchased by John Jacob Astor, who sold it to Stephen Jumel. After Jumel's death his widow married Aaron Burr, but he left her shortly after, and sought seclusion on Staten Island. Upon the keystone of an arch in the main hall is the date 1758, and from its piazza may be seen the lower city, Brooklyn Bridge, seven counties in two different States, three rivers and Long Island Sound. While at the Morris house Washington became acquainted with Captain Alexander Hamilton through General Greene, and established the friendship which linked their lives and fame together." New York City took title to this property in 1903 from the widow of General Ferdinand P. Earle, the consideration being $235,000. Cadwallader Colden, who had for so many years played a promi- nent part in the affairs of the city, died in 1776, at the age of eighty- nine. The historian says of Colden: "While a man of pre-eminent talent and of scientific attainments, and loved and honored by the people, he was ensnared to play a part in the Revolution which placed an indelible stain on his character, and caused him to sacrifice the welfare of his country to the arbitrary maintenance of the royal prerogative." During the latter part of 1776 "many Tories, who had been expelled CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 71 from the surrounding country by the vigorous measures of the Committee of Safety, now returned to New York." "The Royal Gazette" recommenced publication, while the owner of the organ of the Liberty party was driven from place to place along the North River. General Howe was in the saddle, the protector of the Tories and the oppressor of the lovers of liberty. Foremost among the Tories was Oliver De Lancey, brother of the former Lieutenant Governor of the province. He was haughty and imperious in manners, and possessed an almost diabolical knowledge of human nature. So disliked was he that on the night of November 25, 1777, a party of Lib- erty Boys burned his house at Bloomingdale, by way of revenge for his infidelity to his country. His estates, as well as those of James De Lancey, his nephew, were confiscated by the government after the Revolution. In April of the year mentioned above the first written constitution of the State of New York was framed at Kingston. With few changes, we are governed by it to-day. George Clinton, patriot and statesman, as first Gov- ernor, held the office for eighteen years. "A French fleet, consisting of 12 ships of the line and some frigates, with 6,000 troops on board, arrived off Sandy Hook, but declined an engage- ment with the British fleet, and repaired to Newport." This expedition was projected by the French Government through the efforts and eloquence of Franklin, Deane and Arthur Lee, commissioners dispatched to the European courts by the colonies to ask their sympathy and aid. It was the intention of the commander of the French fleet. Count d'Bstaing, to attack the city by water, while Washington was making a simultaneous attack by land. The pilots refused to take the French ships over the bar, and the assault was abandoned. The year 1777 is also memorable for the action of Pitt, the former idol of America, in whose honor the colonists had kindled bonfires and erected statues. When the strife was going on in Parliament against acknowledg- ing the independence of America, Lord Rockingham urging the ministry to abandon the struggle, Pitt rose in his seat and spoke against it with so much vehemence that he became exhausted and sank fainting to the floor. He was carried out of Parliament for the last time, though his words prevailed, and the war against the colonies was renewed with vigor, Howe being recalled and Sir Henry Clinton filling his place. "1778. — The winters of this and the following year were extremely mild." On August 3 of this year "another great fire happened on Cruger's wharf, in which there were about 50 houses consumed. The cause of many houses being burned at this time was the military officers taking the ordering and directing of the fire from the firemen. The citizens com- plained thereof to the commander-in-chief, who immediately gave out, in general orders, that in future no military man should interfere with any fire that may happen in the city, but leave the extinguishing thereof to the entire directions of the firemen and inhabitants. The military should place sentries over the goods that were saved from the fire." The fire commenced in Dock street, now Pearl, in the vicinity of Broad street. The fire companies had been disbanded during the Revolutionary struggle, and the military charged themselves with extinguishing it, with the result noted in the old manuscript. "Scarcely had the flames been quenched 72 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. when a new calamity occurred — the explosion of the powder ship Morning Star, which was anchored in the East River, during a violent thunderstorm. Houses along the shore were unroofed by the shock, windows were shat- tered and furniture demolished. A boy who had been left in charge while the crew were ashore perished." The end of the winter of 1779 and all of the winter of 1780 saw much suffering in old New York from the intense cold. "It exceeded in severity anything that had ever been dreamed of," says the old manuscript. "Wood was not to be had at any price, and many families would split up their chairs and tables to cook their breakfast, then go to bed for €he rest of the day to keep warm. The rivers about the city were transformed into a solid bridge of ice for forty days. Eighty cannon were dragged across to Staten Island from the foot of Rector street to repel the expected attack of Lord Stirling." "1780. — May 19. A celebrated and fearful darkness commenced in the atmosphere at 10 o'clock in the morning, which lasted for several hours." A coffee house was established this year, and the year is also memorable for the treason of Benedict Arnold, which is a matter of history. Arnold concealed himself in the Verplanck House, in Wall street, and at No. 9 Broadway. CHAPTER XV. (1780-1784.) Chelsea Village — Its Origin — Clement C. Moore — Treaty of Peace Signed — Reception of General Washington — Black Sam's Tavern — Recep- tion to Lafayette — Proposition to Establish Waterworks. "Dear old Chelsea Village," said one of its residents to the writer lately, "has nearly passed away. Its green fields and its gardens, redolent of the perfume of flowers, have given place to bricks and mortar. It is too bad that life is not perpetual. If it were, those who love the peace and quiet to be extracted from relationship with nature would be able to press back that unromantic fiend. Commerce, and retain, unmolested, their rus et urbe." It is no wonder that such sentiments are expressed. There are many people in New York to-day who strain to break the link of the commercial chain holding them, that they may have one day now and then to wander through the sections of country where echoes not the trolley bell nor pumps the elevated train, where money is not an all absorbing topic and where peace reigns. In Chelsea Village the searcher after relics of bygone days may find a few, though many have been crushed out of existence. Modern improve- ments have not entirely obliterated the green wooden shutters or the curi- ously designed iron fences, or the carved doorways, with brass knockers, or the diamond-pane windows, or the wide stairways with heavy posts, as, for instance, in ,the row of little houses west of Ninth avenue on Twenty- fourth street, known as the Chelsea Cottages. The old people of the section of New York where all that remains of old Chelsea Village is can tell you of the quaint little houses, with pretty gardens, that stood behind such and such buildings standing to-day. They will point out to you little alleys, black and gloomy, that were one time streets or short cuts from one place to another place. They will tell you that on the block between Twenty-second and Twenty-third streets, from Eighth to Ninth avenue, at one time stood the picturesque home of Clement C. Moore, son of the second Bishop of New York and writer of the nursery rhyme, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." "The kindliest of scholars, the most learned of college professors, the most assiduous of bookworms," composed this little rhyme in what the Old Chelsea resident will tell you was a cosey home surrounded by great oaks and elms. In the Church of St. Peter, in West Twentieth street, reminiscent of the old days, a memorial tells the simple record of Clement C. Moore's good works. Old St. Peter's has been touched up with modern ideas during the last few years, but it still retains its 7:i 74 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. solidity, evideuce of honesty in building and of simplicity, as befits its mission. To Captain Thomas Clarke, a veteran of the French and Indian wai's, is due the credit for establishing Chelsea. Far away in 1750 this American soldier built a house on a hill which stood opposite what is now London Terrace, on West Twenty-third street, and called it Chelsea, after a retreat of that name in England for old soldiers. At the time mentioned this house was the only one to be seen for miles around. Shortly after its erection a fire occurred in it, and it was burned almost to the ground. Captain Clarke, who was ill at the time, was carried from it, and died at the house of a friend. After his death his wife rebuilt it and lived in it, with her two daughters, until her death in 1802, when it became the property of the father of Clement C. Moore, and, after the former's death, passed to the son. From this old house is derived the name of the former village, also the name Chelsea Square. The present Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church stands on a part of the Moore Farm. What remains of London. Terrace and its deep gardens is also an evi- dence of the beauty and respectability of old Chelesa before the rush of population engulfed them. Another old landmark of Chelsea Village is at the corner of Twenty- eighth street and Ninth avenue, the Church of the Holy Apostles. The founding of this church is of especial interest. For disobeying his father's wish that he should not adopt the ministry as his calling, a young man was disinherited. The father, seeing the son consistently following his chosen religious path, made a new will leaving to him his entire possessions. With the death of the father, and the division equally by the son of the property among the heirs, his own share was given as a thank offering to build the church. Now, for the end of the Revolution and the reclamation of New York. Disaffection prevailed among the soldiers of Washington in 1781 because of the scanty fare and arrears of pay. Inducements to desert were offered by Sir Henry Clinton to the Pennsylvania troops, who had abandoned the main army and set out for Philadelphia to demand a redress of their grievances by Congress. His agents, however, were seized by the patriots as spies and delivered up to Congress. At Princeton a deputation from Congress met the disaffected soldiers, and immediately took steps to relieve them by levying taxes and requisitions on the surrounding country. The Southern campaign opened favorably this year for the Americans. On March 28, 1782, Lord North resigned as head of the British Cabinet, and Lord Rockingham succeeded him. Under his leadership Sir Guy Carle- ton, who had arrived in New York to succeed Clinton, after the reception in England of the news of the defeat of Cornwallis, was charged to negotiate for an early treaty of peace. On November 30, "after much correspond- ence and negotiation, preliminary articles of peace were signed at Paris, though intrigue was used by the British ambassadors to prevail on the American commissioners to accept a twenty years' truce, instead of an open acknowledgment of independence." On September 3, 1783, a definitive treaty on the part of Great Britain, recognizing the independence of the United States, was signed. On November 3, 1783, the Continental army CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 75 was disbanded by order of Congress, and on the 19th Washington arrived at Day's Tavern, corner of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and Eighth avenue. It was not until November 25 that the British and their sup- porters took their leave, and not openly or fairly, either. "Their last mo- ments were employed in the commission of base and unmanly outrages. Unreeving the halyarcfs at Fort George, they knocked off the cleats and greased the pole, to prevent the hoisting of the American colors; then evacuated the fort, sure that the Stars and Stripes would not be hoisted until they were far out of sight of their folds." Goelet's hardware store, in Hanover Square, however, supplied the indignant onlookers with the necessary tools to bore new cleats for the flagstaff, and, with a sailor boy tying the halyards around his waist and nailing the cleats above him to the right and left as he ascended, the flag was hoisted to its place with a salute of thirteen guns, heard by the British troops. At 8 o'clock on the evening of November 25, with General Knox at their head, the Continentals marched from McGowan's Pass down the old Post Road into the Bowery, and halted; then into Chatham and into Queen street, up Wall street to Broadway and Rector street. "As soon as the city was quietly in the possession of the American Army, General Knox, with a great number of respectable citizens on horseback, repaired to the Bowery to receive His Excellency General Washington and George Clinton, the Governor of the State, who, with their respective suites, and followed by the Lieutenant Governor and Senators, the officers of the army and citizens, on horseback, eight abreast, and citizens on foot, four abreast, entered the city through the Bowery, Chatham and Pearl streets, to the Battery." The meeting took place at the Bull's Head Tavern, where the present forlorn Old Bowery Theatre stands. Washington lingered a few days, fixing his headquarters at Black Sam's Tavern (called familiarly after Sam Praunces, the host, at that time known also as the Queen's Head Tavern and later as Fraunces' Tavern. Fraunces was afterward steward in Washington's household when Presi- dent), in Broad street, where at noon on December 4 his officers assembled to bid him farewell. "Washington could scarce restrain his feelings; his friends did not attempt to do so. Filling a glass for a farewell toast, he turned to the company and said: 'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, and most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable. I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each one will come and take me by the hand.' They did so, and he passed from the room to Whitehall, whence he was conveyed to Paulus Hook, thence to Annapolis, where Congress was in session and where he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, and then to Mount Vernon, to resume the duties of a private citizen." At this period there v/ere not more than twenty thousand inhabitants in the city, which did not extend further north than Murray street. All the churches but the Episcopal had been destroyed or used for military purposes, such as hospitals, barracks, riding schools, etc. There were no public moneyed or charitable institutions, no banks or insurance offices; trade was at a low ebb, education had been entirely neglected, and the 76 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. schools and colleges were shut up. Such was the gloomy condition of the city after the Revolution. "The books and accounts of the corporation during the Revolutionary War were taken away by Mr. Cruger (treasurer), who joined the British Army and left this country." In 1784 the civic authority again resumed its functions and endeavored to restore order out of confusion — "to collect the city debts and rents, which had fallen greatly in arrears, and were in a great measure totally lost during the war; to trace out and secure the public property of every description, such as leased ground, water lots, etc. The seat of the State government was removed to Albany, and the Council of Appointment vested with authority to name all civil officers in the State, which before the war was exercised by the Governor." James Duane, a native born citizen, who had wrecked his fortune in the Revolutionary struggle, and had returned to his farm near what is now Gramercy Park, to find his house burned and his property destroyed, became the unanimous choice of the people for Mayor, and on February 5, 1784, was so installed, holding the office for five years. ^ Richard Varick was made Recorder. Lafayette, on Septem- ber 11, "arrived in the city to embark for France, and was waited upon by the corporation with an address, and the freedom of the city voted him." October 2 — "John Jay arrived from Europe, and was welcomed by the corporation, who paid him the highest honors in their power." October 6 — "Baron Steuben arrived, and was addressed by the corporation, and the freedom of the city voted to him." December 2 — "General Washington arrived, and was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the citizens. The corporation made him an address of congratulation and thanks, and voted the freedom of the city." Elizabethtown Ferry was leased for £65 a year in 1784, and the streets were cleaned for il50, and wells and pumps were repaired for il40. Samuel Ogden this year proposed to establish waterworks for the city. His proposition was "referred" by the corporation, as was that of Christo- pher Collis in 1774. Two years after Ogden's proposition was made, or in 1786, Robert R. Livingston also proposed "to convey the fresh water into the city." He received the "direction and use" of the Bowling Green for the purpose, but his scheme was unsuccessful. On December 17, 1798, one month after an epidemic of yellow fever, which prevailed from July to November, with a mortality of 2,086, the authorities were compelled by public pressure to take up the various propositions which had been made to them to supply the city with pure and wholesome water. Bronx River was surveyed by an English engineer named Weston, but "the corporation shrunk from the immense expense anticipated ($1,000,000), and a private incorporation was started to accomplish the object, called the Manhattan Company." It received an unlimited charter from the legislature, "with a capital to be used for the purpose for which it was formed, the surplus to be employed in banking operations, and the exclusive privilege of using the springs on the Island for the supply of the city." For many years after the period mentioned the Manhattan Company supplied New York with water drawn from deep wells and springs, and forced up by a steam engine to a reservoir in Chambers street that was fifteen feet above the level of Broadway. This water was distributed CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 77 through every street in the city by means of wooden pipes running three feet under the level of the pavement. Lateral pipes extended into every house that paid the company the regular tax therefor, $10, but extra com- pensation was necessary to procure a larger flow than ordinarily. The works of this company were in Reade street, "a few rods northeast from the City Hall." Here is an extract from a report made to the city authorities as to what the Manhattan Company intended to do in the way of improvements in the early part of 1800: "They intend to discard the filthy wooden logs in which the water has hitherto been conveyed throughout the city, and to substitute cast-iron pipes, which are perfectly clean and ever durable. They have made several experiments in boring for water to a great depth in different places, but the result has not been very satisfactory." The cor- poration, however, seemed to have tried its hand in sinking shafts at the same time, for "it met with better success than the Manhattan Com- pany by sinking shafts in Washington and Pulton markets, and in the rear of the City Hall, where a pure soft water was obtained, which, coming from a great depth below all the impurities of the surface, will be of much benefit, if to be obtained in adequate quantities in the southern wards of the city." CHAPTER XVI. (1784-1785.) Trysting Place of New York's Belles and Beaux — Homes of Old New Yorkers — Fashionable Hotels in the old Days — Formation of Political Parties — Tryon Row. That the trysting place of New York's belles and beaux a century ago was the Battery— an oasis in the congested lower part of the city, and shamefaced because of its defacement by the elevated road — is known to few. It was, however. And even when the center of fashion of the youthful city was at Bleecker and Bond streets, the termination of an afternoon walk of Knickerbocker lovers and their staid elders was under the trees by the waterside at the Battery. The park was then half its present size, and with no formidable sea wall to stop the tide, which rippled decorously on a beach of rocks and sand, and Castle Garden was a frowning fortress, reached by a wooden bridge. Before Dame Fashion turned her magnet to this part of the city where the Dutch laid the first foundations of a metropolis for the New World, there clustered the homes of merchants of sterling qualities. In the neigh- borhood of Bowling Green was the home of Stephen Whitney, later one of old New York's millionaires. Robert Goelet lived in State street, and the Rhinelanders, Leroys and Schermerhorns on lower Broadway. When Dame Fashion laid her magnet temporarily aside, Washington Square, Great Jones street and Lafayette Place held her devotees, and the current of business buried their former abodes under its waves, the last Knickerbocker house to be engulfed being that of Stephen Whitney, which faced Bowling Green and looked up Broadway. At this period of the city's history fashionable hotels and boarding- houses a-plenty were to be found on Broadway. The Adelphi Hotel was on the corner of Beaver street; the Mansion House at No. 3 9 Broadway; the City Hotel occupied the entire block between Thames and Cedar streets, "and was the loftiest edifice of that kind in the city;" the National Hotel was at No. 112 Broadway; the Franklin House, corner of Dey street; the American Hotel, Broadway and Barclay street; Washington Hall, Broadway and Reade street; Park Place House, corner of Broadway and Park Place; Niblo's Bank Coffee House, Pine and William streets; Tontine Coffee House, Wall street, corner of Water. The principal book stores and libraries were also in lower Broadway. What was more natural, then, than to have "one of the noblest places of public recreation in the world" convenient to the business centre of the city — the Castle Garden, which was built as a place of defence in 1807, and retained for public purposes until 1823, when it was 78 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 79 ceded by the United States government to the corporation of New York? Immense sums of money, for that time, were expended in its erection, and the foundation, superstructure and bridge cost the government at different times several hundred thousand dollars. In 1824 it was leased for five years at $1,400 a year, and became a fashionable resort. Here is a descrip- tion of it worth reading in 1909: "The felicitous situation of this spot, projecting out from the line of the Battery into the deep waters of the harbor and commanding one of the noblest views in the world, caused at its opening a rush of genteel company during the warm season that was quite unprecedented before in our city. The illusions of the scene at this place during the pleasant evenings of summer are truly delightful, when the bridge leading to the Garden and the whole interior of the premises are gaily lighted with numerous lamps. A full band of music is always engaged, and fireworks and other exhibitions attract nightly a vast concourse of genteel citizens and strangers. The combination of objects that are here presented to the eye are frequently of the most gratifying description. The Hudson River, stretching far to the north; the near view of large ships of war and merchantmen moored off in the river or harbor; the arrival or departure of steamboats crowded with passengers and noisy with bells, steam and bugles, and smoky and foamy in their progress; the distant forts; the large and dry terrace and parterres of the Battery Walk, swarming with visitors; the fine trees and regular and handsome private dv/ellings around the east side of the Battery; the distant hills of Staten Island and New Jersey, covered with verdure — these are the attractions that cause the Castle Garden of New York to be the most favored place of public resort. A spacious ballroom, ninety feet long, is on the premises, and admission to the building may be gained by a yearly payment of $10 for a family, or $.5 for a single person, or by nightly tickets. Refreshments of every description are furnished, and the whole interior sometimes displays numerous groups and parties, seated around their tables, partaking of their delicacies, and presenting the appearance of a large and happy party of pleasure, while the enlivening strains of music and the constant and moving variety of dress, feature, language and action keep the attention constantly awake and gratified." What simple tastes were those of our forefathers! As the foregoing introduction is over forty years ahead of the chronol- ogy, we will go back to 1784, when a bill was passed in the Assembly dis- franchising all who had adhered to the British cause; also, an act per- mitting all patriots who had been obliged to leave the city to bring an action for trespass against such Tories as had entered or occupied their houses during the British occupation. A test case on the latter act, in which the brilliant Alexander Hamilton showed his forensic power, soon took place. Joshua Waddington, a Tory merchant, bought the confiscated estate of Elizabeth Rutgers, who had fled from the city on the approach of General Howe, abandoning her property. Under the Trespass Act Mrs. Rutgers, returning, claimed the estate, "much sympathy being enlisted for her." Hamilton's sense of justice led him to espouse the cause of the Tory merchant and win the case for him, which resulted in the formation of a conspiracy by a number of the Liberty Boys to challenge Hamilton to 8o CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. a duel with pistols. The conspiracy was not permitted to mature, how- ever, though a wordy war was carried on between "Phocian" (Hamilton's nom de plume) and "Mentor" (that of Ledyard, one of the Liberty Boys). The sense of justice prevailed among the people, and Hamilton was sus- tained. The act of the Assembly disfranchising the adherents to the British cause resulted in the formation of two political parties in New York, the federalists (the refranchised royalists) and the anti-federalists. The former strove to have the, to them, obnoxious act repealed, but were stoutly opposed by the Sons of Liberty. Hamilton and Schuyler seconded the efforts of the federalists, however, and on February 3, 1787, the loyalists were reinstated in their privileges of citizenship, and threw their support to Hamilton a few years afterward, when "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man" — the American Constitution — was presented to the people to be acted upon. Beginning with the year 1784, the spirit of public improvements was revived in New York. Steps were taken to improve the waste ground around the Collect, ^nd the barracks along the line of Chambers street, from Broadway to Chatham street, which had been built during the old French war, were declared useless, and were leased as dwellings for the benefit of the city. These barracks were rude log huts, one story high, surrounded by a high wall, with a gate at Broadway and one at Chatham street. The eastern gate was known as "Tryon's," and the present Tryon Row takes its name from it. In 1785 "the first Congress of the United States, after the Revolution- ary War, met in New York, and was organized in the City Hall, that stood in Wall street, corner of Nassau." This year a sale of corporation lots, the proceeds to be applied to extinguish the city debts, took place. Eight were sold near the Bear Market (now Vesey and Greenwich streets) for i2,879 8s., and one for £300, and Staten Island Ferry was leased for £20 a year. "Arrearages of quit rents from 1st May, 1776, to 24th November, 1783, were given up by the corporation to all who had left the city during the v/ar." On May 2 "General Washington made a reply to the address of the corporation." It is noted in the old manuscripts that "the Bank of New York is in operation." This was the oldest incorporated banking institution in the city. It was founded during the Revolutionary War, but was not incor- porated until March 21, 1791. The charter then granted was for twenty years, and "the capital stock was to consist of 950,000 dollars, divided into 1,900 shares, of 500 dollars each. It was rechartered in May, 1811, and again in May, 1820, and subsequently in 1832." It stood on the corner of William and Wall streets. , On October 5 of this year "Thomas Pool petitioned the corporation and prayed that he be permitted to exhibit some feats of horsemanship in the Bowling Green. It was read and rejected." On October 14 "a donation of £40 made to the corporation, for the use of the poor, by the company of Comedians, was by the Common Council ordered to be returned, with a note of disapprobation at the establishment of a Play House without having been licensed as unprecedented and offensive; and while so great CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 8i a part of the city was still lying in ruins, and the citizens still suffering: under distress, there is a loud call to industry and economy, and it would be unjustifiable in them to countenance expensive and enticing amuse- ments. That among those, a Play House, however regulated, was to be numbered, while, if under no restraint, it may prove a fruitful source of dissipation, criminality and vice." The salary of the Mayor was £250 a year in 1785. The Manumission Society, formed for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of the slaves in the State of New York, began its work this year, and was incorporated on February 19, 1808. Its affairs were managed by a committee of well known and responsible citizens, eager to obtain for the slaves "advantages already sanctioned by law, and to confer on them a virtuous education." Tho society administered its work successfully, and through its unwearied exertions the slaves gradually diminished in numbers and began to enjoy the privileges of freemen. The year 1786 opened crucially in New York. The loose confederation of the thirteen States was causing alarm. Independence had been gained, and with its advent and the freedom from control of Britain the States began to act separately, in accordance with the Article of Confederation. A thin cord in the hand of an impotent Congress was the only thing that held them together. New York passed a law compelling Connecticut sloops laden with firewood for the inhabitants to report to the customs authorities and to pay duties. New Jersey farmers were also compelled, according to law, to pay customs duties on their products as soon as they arrived at Whitehall Slip. Retaliatory measures were taken, of course, by these States, and affairs began to look ominous. The need of a closer union of the States and of an efficient general government soon became apparent. James Madison, of Virginia, noted the exigency, and on September 11, 1786, a convention "to mature trade regulations" between the States was held at Annapolis. Five States were represented. Alexander Hamilton represented New York, and prepared an address, which was adopted by the convention, in which he urged the States to appoint commissioners to a further convention, to deliberate not alone on commercial relations, but "to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." His work at this convention resulted in the Philadelphia Con- vention in the following May, at which George Washington presided.^ On September 17, 1787, the present Constitution of the United States was adopted by the delegates and submitted to the different States for approval. While New York State has the credit of having initiated the movement which resulted so gloriously, she was not the first to accept the result of the convention's work. Little Delaware holds that honor, and New York stands eleventh, not having adopted it till July 26, 1788, at Poughkeepsie, her inhabitants averring that it placed too much power in the hands of the Executive. Prior to New York's acceptance of the Constitution, demonstrations were held by the federalists and anti-federalists, and on July 23, three days before its adoption, a thirty-two gun frigate, christened "The Federal Ship Hamilton," manned by thirty seamen and marines, was drawn by ten 82 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. horses through the streets in procession from the Bowling Green to Bayard's Farm, in the vicinity of Grand street. "Between four and five thousand persons were feasted in the open air, and thousands flocked from the neighboring country to witness the spectacle." Sarcastic remarks on this demonstration in a paper called "The Patriotic Register" incensed the federalists, "and a spirit of mobocracy broke out, resulting in the breaking open of the office in Pine street, in which the paper was set, and the destruction of the one press and type." Another attack "was made on the house of John Lamb, in Wall street, between Pearl and William streets, but without ill effects." The city, however, soon subsided into a state of quiet, and on September 13, 178S, the adoption of the Constitution was publicly declared and the city of New York selected as the seat of the general government. CHAPTER XVn. (1785-1788.) Fair Greenwich — Origin of Abingdon Square — Bank Street — Second Jewish Burying Ground — Stage Line Between Greenwich Village and Pine Street — Monument to General Montgomery. Fair Greenwich Village, Slept by Hudson's rural shore, Two miles out from New York City, With its bustle, rush and roar! Then great Gotham's "eighty thousand" Filled the New World with amaze, And the City Hall was building "Out of town" in those "fast" da3's! Well named "fair Greenwich" by the poet is this part of New York, which, with the exception of the vicinity of the Battery, is said to have been the oldest habitation of white men on the island. Historians vary in opinion as to its origin, but most of them grant to Sir Peter Warren, K. B., the honor of founding it, if the term may be used. However, in a land conveyance of 1721, twenty-three years before the advent of Sir Peter, the name Greenwich is used as an alias, originated by whom the writer cannot say. Sir Peter Warren was "some pumpkins" in New York in 1744. He had then returned from Martinique, where he had captured many French and Spanish prizes with his squadron of sixteen sailing craft. These were sold for him by Stephen De Lancey & Co., and netted him a considerable fortune, and it is said he bought his Greenwich farm of three hundred acres with a part of the money. At any rate, the rise of Greenwich is at- tributed to the Wily Sir Peter, who married the daughter of his sales agent, Susannah De Lancey. Abingdon Square, with its little park, is a memento of the Warren farm, the oldest of Sir Peter's three daughters having mar- ried the Earl of Abingdon, for whom the square is named. Abijah Ham- mond became the owner of the farm after the death of the vice admiral, and in 1819 Mr. Van Ness purchased from him the mansion, with the square bounded by Fourth, Bleecker, Perry and Charlos streets. In 1865 the house was torn down, and most of the present houses were erected on its site. No more bewildering confusion of street formation exists anywhere than in this section of the city, where was once old Greenwich. An exam- ple is Fourth street, which crosses Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth streets 83 84 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. at very nearly right angles. Other streets start all right, run for a block or two with regularity, and then take unreasonable turns, or else bring one up before a brick wall. This condition may be attributed to the fantastic ideas of the owners of land in that section in the early period of the city's growth. When a short cut from one place to another was desired they cut a lane, and perhaps another to some part of the farm land, leaving, with what improved conditions the city has made in street making there, a tangled network of the old and the new that will not assimilate. Greenwich Road followed the line of the present Greenwich street, and led to Greenwich Village. While in dry weather most of the route was good ground, in wet weather, especially in the region of the Lispenard salt meadows, which then lay north and south of the present Canal street, and of the marshy valley of Manetta Creek (about Charlton street), it was difficult of access. An inland road was therefore approved in 1768 from the Post Road (the present Bowery) to what is now Astor Place, then to Waverley Place, then to Greenwich avenue. Two sections of this road exist to-day, Astor Place and Greenwich avenue, between Eighth and Fourteenth streets. The rest is obliterated. The open space at Astor Place is a part of the road to Greenwich known as Monument Lane, or "road to the Obelisk," because at its northern ex- tremity, or where is now Eighth avenue and Fifteenth street, General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, had a memorial erected to him. The lane extended from the Bowery to Washington Square, turned northwest and skirted Greenwich Village. At Jefferson Market, where Greenwich avenue joins Sixth avenue, the reader will find the last section of the inland road. A prominent physician told the writer a short time ago that no more healthful location exists in New York than what was once the site of the village. This was also true in the old days, for the epidemics of virulent diseases that attacked the old city found no lodgement in Greenwich — in- deed, they assisted in her development. This healthfulness is due to the fact that the underlying soil of the district to a depth of at least fifty feet is a pure sand, and provides excellent natural drainage. Bank street is reminiscent of the yellow fever epidemic of 1798, in that the Bank of New York and a branch of the Bank of the United States purchased two plots of eight city lots each in Greenwich Village — far away from the city proper — to which they could remove in case of being placed in danger of quarantine. In 1799 two houses were erected on them, and in September of the same year the banks were removed to the village, and gave the name to the present street, which was then a lane. The year 1822 saw another influx of population to Greenwich Village because of its healthfulness. "The town fairly exploded and went flying beyond its borders, as though the pestilence had been a burning mine. The city pre- sented the appearance of a town besieged. From daybreak till night one line of carts, containing boxes, merchandise and effects, were seen moving foward Greenwich Village and the upper parts of the city. Carriages and hacks, wagons and horsemen, were scouring the streets and filling the roads. . . . Temporary stores and offices were erecting. . . . Even on Sunday carts were in motion, and the saw and hammer busily at work. Within a few days thereafter (September) the Custom House, the Post- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 85 office, the bank, the insurance offices and the printers of newspapers located themselves in the village, or in the upper part of Broadway, where they were free from the impending danger, and these places almost instanta- neously became the seat of the immense business usually carried on in the great metropolis." This epidemic "caused the building up of many streets with numerous wooden buildings, for the uses of the merchants, banks, offices, etc," An old authority says "that he saw corn growing on the present corner of Hammond (West Eleventh) and Fourth streets on a Sat- urday morning, and on the following Monday Sykes & Niblo had a house erected capable of accommodating three hundred boarders. Even the Brooklyn ferryboats ran up here daily." Three remnants of the town when the Greenwich region for the most part was open country, says another authority, are the two old frame dwellings, removed from their former site, a few feet away, to their present one, at the southeast corner of Eleventh street and Sixth avenue, and the triangular graveyard near the corner, the second place of burial owned by the Jews on the island. In 1830, when Eleventh street was opened on the lines of the City Plan, almost the whole of the Jewish burial ground was swept away. The street went directly across it, leaving only the corner on its south side and a still smaller corner on its north side. A walk through the heart of this interesting locality — the American quarter, from Fourteenth street down to Canal, west of Sixth avenue — will reveal a moral and physical cleanliness not found in any other semi-con- gested part of New York; an individuality of the positive sort transmitted from generation to generation; a picturesqueness in its old houses, "stand- ing squarely on their right to be individual" alongside those of modern times, and, above all else, a truly American atmosphere of the pure kind. Please remember, too, that in 1816 Greenwich Village had individualism enough to be the terminus of a stage line from Pine street and Broadway, the stages "running on the even hours from Greenwich and the uneven hours from Pine street." Again we will retrace our steps to the chronology, beginning with 1786, when the annual expenses of the city were £10,308 4s. Mulberry street was opened and regulated this year, and a market house was estab- lished at Catharine Slip — the present one. On November 15, "Bakers not allowed to carry biscuit or rusk around the streets" — the why or where- fore is beyond the writer's pen. On December 13, "a great fall of snow." The only Catholic church in the city up to 1815 was St. Peter's, erected this year in Barclay street. It was a plain brick building, "of the size of 81 by 48 feet." It had a square tower, surmounted with a dome and cross. The interior was ornamented with paintings from sacred subjects, and had an organ and a select choir. The present church is the second structure, the first having been destroyed by fire. , \ In 1787 "ther^ were 364 tavern (or dram shop) licenses issued, at 30s. each, amounting to £546," and "Corporation lots at Peck Slip were leased for twenty-one years, for 35s. and 28s. per foot." This year is memorable for the establishment of the Humane Society, "an excellent institution formed by a few philanthropic gentlemen," who aimed to ameliorate the sufferings of distressed debtors. 86 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. When this society was founded, on January 26, it was named the "Society for the Relief of Distressed Debtors," but in 1803 the name was changed to "Humane Society." In 1806 it extended its original plan so as to include the recovery of persons apparently dead from drowning. On February 4, 1814, the society obtained a charter of incorporation, and at the time the "Collector of the laws of New York" said: "This is the first institution of the kind in this State which has for its avowed object the relief of imprisoned debtors. A society of a similar title in the city of Albany has been instituted for the resuscitation of drowned persons, etc., but it is not blended with the other humane object of relieving imprisoned debtors." For a considerable period the institution was supported by casual donations, but afterward depended on annual subscriptions. These, with a donation of $600 from the corporation and a lot of ground in Tryon street, enabled it to erect a souphouse. For several years debtors in jail were supplied not only with soup, but with blankets and fuel. Each person received "three pints of good soup per day, with a due proportion of bread, meat and potatoes." In seasons of public calamity, "by sickness or by the severity of cold in winter, upward of 1,000 quarts of soup per day have been given by the souphouse." "The views of the Humane Society," says the record in 18 29, "are now directed to the following branches: 1st. The support and clothing of debtors in prison, and maintenance of a souphouse. 2d. The liberation of such debtors as are by law entitled to be discharged, and of such as are confined for small sums, and are peculiarly deserving of assistance. 3d. The distribution of soup to the poor in general, especially in cases of general public calamity. 4th. The resuscitation of persons apparently dead from drowning, and the discouraging the practice of street begging." ^ On April 3 "a monument to General Montgomery, made by order of Congress 25th January, 1776, was ordered to be placed in front of St. Paul's Church." The remains of the hero of Quebec were transferred from their Canadian resting place to the city and deposited with military honors beneath the mural tomb, on July 11, 1818. "As Montgomery, though of Irish parentage, was allied to many of the prominent families of the city through his marriage with the sister of Chancellor Livingston, the transfer of his remains occasioned a lively interest among the people." Here is a note from the old manuscript that will give food for thought: "This State, from its first settlement till this year, presented no instance of divorce, in any case whatever." What a preventive to the revealing of closet cadavers! What moral cleanliness and patience among the people! The most exciting event, probably, that ever took place in New York occurred on April 13, 1788. During the winters of 1787 and 1788 a number of bodies were dug up from private cemeteries in the city. When the fact became known "a violent excitement arose among the people, which awakened a great prejudice against the medical profession.", Absurd re- ports were circulated regarding the affair, and the New York Hospital was in the zone of superstition. To increase the excitement, some students of the hospital on April 13 exposed the limb of a body from the window of the dissecting room in sight of a group of boys playing around the grounds. The boys spread the news, and in a short time an immense multitude CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 87 assembled and besieged the hospital. The doors were burst open, and the terrified physicians, who had attempted to secrete themselves, were dragged out. To save them from the fury of the crowd the magistrates interfered and lodged them in jail for safety. The next morning an attempt was made to search the houses of suspected physicians, but prominent men, such as Clinton, Hamilton and Jay, remonstrated, and for a few hours the mob was quiet. In the afternoon the city was the scene of intense excitement. The infuriated people had gathered about the jail and demanded possession of the students. When refused they assumed a hostile attitude and at- tacked the building, tearing down the fences and breaking the windows. The Mayor ordered the militia out, and himself led a large party of armed citizens to the relief of the besieged. Eloquence was of no use to allay the tempest surging around the hospital, and a volley of stones and brickbats which felled John Jay and Baron Stuben to the ground caused the Mayor to order the militia to fire on the crowd. At the first volley a number of the rioters fell and the rest dispersed. Five persons were killed and eight wounded. It was some days before quiet was restored and the militia removed from the grounds of the hospital. The offending students were sent away, but "the venerable hospital was henceforth invested by the populace with a sort of horror, and became the scene of many a fearful resurrectionist legend." CHAPTER XVIII. (1788-1790.) Broadway in the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century — Residence Streets — Business Streets — Country Seats — Brevoort Estate and Fight of Owner — Henry Spingler's Stubbornness. Few, if any, of the thousands who cross Broadway at Fourteenth street every day have any knowledge or give thought of the position this spot held in the long ago as the extreme limit of the city. It. was "far uptown" in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and to the extreme south and southwest of it the ancestors of the present day Knickerbockers carried on business and had their dwelling houses. The "pleasantest streets for the residence of private and genteel families" in the old days were State street, fronting the Battery; Bridge street. Bowling Green, Greenwich street, from the Battery to Cortlandt street; Broadway, from the Battery to Rector street; Bond street, Hudson street. Park Place, Chambers street. Liberty and Cortlandt streets, west of Broadway; Dey street, Vesey street, Barclay street, Murray street, Warren street, Bleecker street. Prince street, Lafayette Place, Broome street, Spring street. Grand street, Franklin street. White street, and Walker street. Other streets that were more within the vortex of business, such as Beekman, Pearl, Cliff, John and Cherry streets, were also pleasant, but were not considered to be in quite so fashionable a quarter of the town. Madison street, after its improvement in 1824, was "built up with neat and spacious houses, and was a very convenient and respectable street." As to business. South street, as now, was occupied by shipping mer- chants, but only from the Battery to Roosevelt street, and Front and Water street with wholesale grocers and commission merchants. Pearl street was "the peculiar and favorite resort of wholesale drygoods mer- chants, earthenware dealers, etc.," from Coenties Slip to Peck Slip. The auction stores were also here, as well as in Wall street, between Pearl and Water streets. Broadway was the "handsomest street and the greatest thoroughfare." It ran from "the Battery to Tenth street, was three miles in length and eighty feet in breadth," and contained similar businesses to those of the present day, with four Episcopal churches, a hospital, the Masonic Hall, two museums and the City Hall. From the City Hall Park to Astor Place was called St. George street, or Great George street, up to the close of the last century, and was later commonly spoken of as the Middle Road. Maiden Lane, from Broadway to William street, and William street, from Liberty street to Beekman street, and Chatham street, from 88 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 89 the park eastward, were occupied principally by retail dry and fancy goods stores, as was Canal street, west of Broadway. Ferry and Jacob streets to-day fulfil the same mission as in 1825, but Water street was the fur district, and Broad street that of cabinet and chair makers. When the century had attained middle age, people of wealth began to build their homes away from the encroachment of business, and Bond, Bleecker and Great Jones streets became fashionable centres. Later Wash- ington Square became a centre of social activity, instead of what it formerly was, a place of death, and one finds among its inhabitants the names of people of substance, such as the Alsops, the Rhinelanders, the Leroys, the Minturns and the Robinsons. An exclusive set gathered around St. John's Church, in Varick street, and here Alexander Hamilton, General Schuyler, the Delafields, the Lords, the Lydigs and other notables built substantial houses and converted the waste land and sand dunes into St. John's Park, "a spot beautiful to behold." But as to Broadway. As was told in a previous chapter, the hotels were all at the lower end of this thoroughfare, with the City Hall Park as their centre, and there was nothing to speak of above Union Square. Coun- try seats of exclusives adorned Sandy Hill, at the upper end of Broadway, and solid brownstone and brick mansions clustered around the little park at the junction of Bowery Lane and the Middle Road, now Union Square. From University Place and Thirteenth street an unobstructed view could be had of the East River or of the Hudson. Where the Wanamaker store is to-day was the Elliot estate, afterward the property of Captain Randall, who deeded it to the Sailor's Snug Harbor. Adjoining it to the north was the Brevoort estate, the owner of which resisted "with Dutch stubbornness a contemplated cutting through of Eleventh street from Broadway to the Bowery, and won his fight, leaving Eleventh street ending at Fourth ave- nue and beginning again west of Broadway." When the farmhouse of Henry Spingler, with its twenty-two acres west of the Bowery Road, stood within the limits of the present Union Square, an attempt was made, so the writer was told by an old New Yorker, to have Broadway meet in a straight course the Bloomingdale Road at the north of the square. So much resistance was offered to the scheme by the holder of the property that the direction of the thoroughfare was changed at Tenth street, and still further deflected at Fourteenth street. Broadway was an accident, anyway, according to all authority. "Orig- inally it was supposed that the city's main artery of travel would turn to the east of the Commons and follow the old Boston Road, and provision was made to that end. Business for a long time insisted upon turning to the east of the street at City Hall Park, and owners of property were deter- mined to keep the west side sacred to residences. But it was not to be so. Pearl street ceased to absorb the drygoods trade over half a century ago, and when A. T. Stewart spread his drygoods nets on the 'shilling side' of Broad- way that settled it." The chronology: In 1788 Trinity Church was rebuilt, and the New York Society Library was kept in a room in the City Hall. On June 17 the New York State Convention, called to consider the adoption of the federal Constitution, met at Poughkeepsie, Among the delegates from New York were Hamilton, 90 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Jay, R. R. Livingston, Isaac Roosevelt and James Duane. Through the work done by these men at the convention federal union was declared by a majority of three against confederation on July 26, 17S8. The city did not v/ait until this date to celebrate the establishment of the federal Re- public, but three days before it became a fact "held a monster demonstration to illustrate emphatically their sentiments." September 13, 17S8, saw the adoption of the Constitution publicly de- clared and the city selected as the seat of the general government. The City Hall, in Wall street, was falling into decay, and the exhausted city treasury was unable to furnish the means to make the necessary alterations. But willing purses were opened by a number of New York's wealthy men, and $65,000 was advanced to put it in order. Major L'Enfant, a French engineer, M^as engaged, and under his direction the old building became practically a new structure, and was reported ready for the occupation of Congress on March 3, 1789, one day before the date set by the new Con- stitution for it to meet. The members were dilatory, however, and on March 4 "only a handful of them made their appearance, severely testing the patience of those who attended." The roads were bad in those days, railroads and steamboats were unknown, packets and stages few, "and punctuality was regarded as a thing of minor importance." Unable to transact business through lack of a quorum, those present issued a circular letter to the absentees, imploring them to attend. It was not until April 6, however, that a quorum was procured, when both houses assembled in the Senate Chamber, opened and read the votes, made out two Itsts, and, the House of Representatives withdrawing to its chamber and counting the votes, declared George Washington unanimously elected as the country's first President, with John Adams as Vice-President. Adams arrived in New York on April 21, and was met at the boundary line by Governor Clinton, with a military escort, and conducted to Kingsbridge, where he was re- ceived by the Senate and House of Representatives, and accompanied to the City Hall by several companies of militia. Here he delivered his inaugural address. He resided at No. 133 Broadway, the house of John Jay, until the completion of his Richmond Hill residence. On April 23, 1789, after a triumphal journey of seven days from Mount Vernon, Washington arrived at Elizabeth Town. A barge, handsomely decorated and rowed by thirteen pilots, commanded by Captain Thomas Randall, took him on board, and, escorted by other barges filled with eminent personages, a committee of Congress, Chancellor Livingston and Recorder Varick, landed him at Murray's Wharf, at the foot of W^all street. Salutes were fired and cheers rent the air as Washington stepped ashore, and, refusing the use of a carriage which had been provided for him, walked with Governor Clinton up Wall street to Pearl street (then Queen), and to the Franklin House, on the corner of Cherry street, which had been prepared for him as a residence. This house was formerly occupied by Samuel Osgood. In the old De Peyster house, in Queen street, opposite Cedar, Governor Clinton resided, "and here Washington was dined and entertained. In the evening the streets were crowded, and demonstra- tions were held in his honor. The city was splendidly illuminated, and brilliant displays of fireworks took place. CRADLE DAYS OF NEfV YORK. 91 The Federal Hall was not yet finished, and a week elapsed before the arrangements for the inauguration could be completed, so that exactly seven days after his arrival, or on Thursday, April 30, 1789, Washington was inaugurated the first President of the United States, and with the ceremony the "capstone was placed on a superstructure of independence whose foundation stones were laid in the blood of patriots." Where the colossal bronze statue of Washington stands on the steps of the Sub-Treas- ury Building, the first President of the United States took his oath of office. "It was one of the most august and interesting spectacles ever exhibited on this globe," says a spectator. "It seemed from the number of witnesses to be a solemn appeal to heaven and earth at once." After the inauguration and the reading of his Inaugural Address in the Senate Chamber, the Presi- dent and Congress attended services in St. Paul's Church. A month later Mrs. Washington arrived, escorted from Elizabeth Town by the same barge and crew of pilots that had accompanied the general. She landed at Peck Slip. On May 28 the President gave his first dinner, and the next day Mrs. Washington held her first reception, "a. simple and unostentatious cere- mony." During the first session of Congress the President occupied the Cherry street house, the new Presidential mansion, to make room for which the old fort had been levelled in 1787, not being completed. Indeed, Con- gress had removed when it was completed, and it became the residence of Governor Clinton, and was afterward transformed into the Custom House. In 1790 Washington occupied the Macomb house, at No. 3 9 Broad- way, his last place of residence in New York. Custis, in his "Recollections and Private Memoirs of the Life and Character of Washington," says that the chief tendency toward luxury in the whole executive establishment was shown in the horses, "which were remarkably fine, and were groomed with scrupulous care." In all else "the establishment savored of republican simplicity." In the evening Washington visited at intervals the theatre in John street, the only one in the city at that time. It had been erected during the occupation of the British, and was used by the officers for amateur theatricals. This theatre "was so small that the whole fabric might easily have been placed on the stage of some of our modern theatres," says Custis in the recollections and memoirs above noted. "Boxes were set apart for the President and Vice-President, and the playbills were inscribed 'Vivat Repub- lica.' Among several players of. merit was Morris, an associate of Garrick in the beginning of his career." An authority says that the national air of that day, "Hail, Columbia," composed by a German musician named Fyles in compliment to the President, was first played here. Before leaving this interesting part of the city's history, let it be known that the citizens of New York in the old days, unlike the citizens of to-day, were grateful to the person who performed properly any work of the municipality. For superintending the enlarging and repairing of the City Hall for use of the Congress "Mayor L'Enfant received the thanks of the corporation, the freedom of the city, and was offered a lot of ten acres of the public land near Provost's lane, or street (now Franklin street), but politely declined the same." Twelve years after, on January 26, 1801. "Major L'Enfant, who had declined any pecuniary compensation or the 92 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ten acres of land, . . . now applied for a sum, and the corporation awarded him $750, which was refused." Broadway was "opened through the Fort to the Battery" in 1789, and the market fees were ^580. Here are interesting items for real estate men: "Ninety-one acres of the Commons sold for £2,409 to T. Buchanan and others," and on December 4 "a house and lot, corner of Broad and Wall streets, was purchased by the corporation for £450." Richard Varick became Mayor on October 14, and continued so until August 24, 1801. Sam- uel Jones, afterward Chancellor, assumed the office of Recorder. The salary of the Mayor "vv^as commuted for £600 per annum." Colonel Richard Varick was made City Recorder after the evacuation of the British. He was a popular lawyer of the city, and had won the title of colonel in the service of Schuyler in the Northern army. After witness- ing the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga and the defeat of Burgoyne, he had been aide-de-camp to Benedict Arnold until the discovery of his treason, after which he had served Washington as secretary until the close of the war. The young city was struggling this year to establish a financial credit, and as a first move the corporation issued £1,000 of paper money for public accommodation, in one, two and three penny bills. Money was also raised by lottery, the system for the carrying on of which was given in a previous' chapter of this chronology. Since the close of the war Indian affairs had been in an unsettled state along the Western and Southern frontiers, and on July 15, 1790, twenty- eight Creek Indians arrived to confer with Congress regarding a new treaty. The Indians, led by a halfbreed named McGillivray, who had been educated by his father, a Scotchman, in the best schools of Charleston, complained of the encroachments of the whites upon their boundaries. They formed an alliance with the Spaniards in Florida, and carried on war with great success, severely harassing the whites. Congress at its first session dispatched commissioners to the scene of the contest to adjust the boundaries in dis- pute, but, while they were well received by McGillivray, they effected nothing but a temporary suspension of hostilities. Marinus Willett, dis- guised as a trader, was sent the following year by Washington to open new negotiations. After sounding the disposition of the natives, he threw off his disguise and avowed his errand, with the result that McGillivray con- sented to come to New York with selected chiefs and warriors of the nation. The Tammany Society, arrayed in Indian costume, met them and escorted them to a tavern on the banks of the North River, afterward known as the Indian Queen. After six weeks General Knox, the commissioner appointed by Washington, negotiated the terms of a treaty with them, which was afterward ratified in Federal Hall, in Wall street, on August 13. The visit of the Indians closed the official career of New York as the capital city of the nation. Shortly after the present capital was selected. CHAPTER XIX. (1790-1791.) Arrival of Jenny Lind — Narrative of Her Reception and Success — Salary of the Mayor in 1790 — Final Location of Seat of Government — Plague of Yellow Fever. In the crowded Metropolitan Opera House, when the season for 1908-1909 was opened, the writer was asked by an octogenarian patron of music if he could estimate the number of persons present who, on September 12, 1850, heard "the greatest singer we have ever had," Jenny Lind. Believing ten to be a fair estimate, the writer was greatly aston- ished when told by his informant that there were not five individuals known to him in that vast assemblage who had listened to the Swedish nightingale upon her first appearance in this country. As that occasion marked an epoch in the annals of America's musical history, a brief descrip- tion of the arrival and reception of this famous queen of song is here given. In these days, when the fashions change with every season; when the phrase "goes like the wind" implies a snail's pace; when the mile-a-minute record has been eclipsed, a period of fifty years is as yesterday. And yet it is safe to say that there are very few New Yorkers alive to-day who in 1850 were old enough to appreciate what that welcome to Jenny Lind on September 12, 1850, meant. She was called the "Fair-haired Saga-Singer," the "Child of Valhall" and "Blue-eyed Vala," in a "Norranic welcome" to her, written by F. J. Ottarson, which appeared in The New York Daily Tribune of Monday, September 2, 1850, the first verse of which is here given: Blue-eyed Vala! Bragi's daughter! Sped from Cambria's bardic shore, Ymer's azure tears of slaughter Proudly blush to bear thee o'er; On thy great heimskringla going Trolla before thy path shall flee; Agir's children, homage showing. Smooth the throbbings of the sea; Himmiglaefa down from heaven Bows her cloud invading head, Drifa now to slumber given Keeps the night watch of the dead; Blothughadda, Hefring, Hravnn, Hush the surging of the main; Bylga, Uthr, Kolga, Drafn, Laugh and dimple in thy train. 93 94 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Jenny Lind sailed from Liverpool on the steamer Atlantic on August 24, 1850. For upward of two miles the docks and piers were crowded to excess with all classes to witness the departure of their great favorite. It was estimated that not fewer than sixty thousand people were assembled. Salutes were fired from the batteries and piers, all the vessels in the river were dressed in gay flags, and every demonstration imaginable was dis- played on the occasion. On the voyage the singer gave her services at a concert for the benefit of the sailors and firemen, which netted a large sum. On Sunday, September 1, she arrived at the Canal street pier, in this city, and found a triumphal arch, hung with flags, a silent greeting to her from the people of New York. It was 1 o'clock in the morning when P. T. Barnum and Theodore Eisfeldt, who were awaiting her arrival at Quaran- tine, heard two guns in the direction of Sandy Hook, and shortly after saw the signal flag of a steamer run up at the telegraph station at Clifton. Amid the firing of salutes from the Atlantic, they, with Dr. A. Sidney Doane, Health Officer of the Port, boarded her, and were greeted by Jenny Lind, Jules Benedict, a distinguished composer, and Signor Giovanni Belleti, a celebrated basso. Jenny Lind was then about twenty-nine years old, slightly robust in face and person, with light blue, joyous eyes and pale brown hair. Her companions were men between thirty and thirty-five years old; one, Mr. Benedict, a German, and the other a Genoese. As the vessel neared the Canal street pier between thirty and forty thousand persons were congregated on the adjacent piers and on the roofs. The spars and rigging of vessels, the bulkheads along the wharves and every spot com- manding a sight were crowded. Noting the respectability of the thousands of people assembled, Jenny Lind turned to Mr. Barnum and asked: "Have you no poor people in your country? Every one here appears to be well dressed." The diva, as she walked down the gangway, passed under tri- umphal arches of evergreens and flowers. The first arch fronting the water bore the inscription, "Welcome to Jenny Lind," and the second, "Jenny Lind, Welcome to America," in large letters around the span. "The enthusiasm of the people as the singer took her seat in the carriage provided for her by P. T. Barnum has never been surpassed," said the writer's opera acquaintance. "The people literally heaped the carriage with flowers as she passed along, and bouquets were thrown into the windows." Once clear of the throng, the carriage was driven rapidly ta the Irving House, at Broadway and Chambers street, where the great flag of Sweden and Norway greeted her from the flagstaff. After 11 o'clock that night the crowd began to gather again to witness the serenade of the Musical Fund Society at midnight. Two hundred musi- cians made their appearance at the appointed time, and played national airs under the singer's window. A company of firemen, in their red shirts, stationed themselves, with their tall lanterns, on Broadway, fronting Jenny Lind's apartments, and made a picturesque part of the scene. The singer's appearance at the window was the signal for a storm of shouts and cheers that has never been equalled. On the day following her arrival Jenny Lind received more than five hundred of the guests of the Irving House, and, while the demonstra- tion was less boisterous than that of Sunday, it was not lacking in warmth. CRADLE DAYS OF NE\'V YOkiK. 95 "The magnetism of a warm, true and benevolent heart was never more strikingly shown than on this occasion," says the writer's acquaintance. Invitations, visits and gifts of all kinds were showered upon Jenny Lind to an embarrassing degree. Hats, gloves, handkerchiefs, bouquets "two feet high;" a riding habit, gloves and whip; a handsome lithograph containing her portrait and those of Benedict and Belletl, surrounded by an emblematic border, the work of Napoleon Sarony, at that time in Fulton street, were a few of the evidences of the esteem in which she was held by the people. On Thursday, September 5, 1850, a new contract v/as ratified between P. T. Barnum and Jenny Lind, according to which the singer was to receive $1,000 a night for one hundred and fifty nights, in addition to which the net proceeds of every night were to be divided equally. As an equivalent for this offer on the part of P. T. Barnum, Jenny Lind agreed to sing in any part of Europe or America, and bound herself to give concerts in New York City until the price of tickets should be brought down to the minimum rate of $3, "so that the fairest opportunity of hearing shall be afforded the public." At Castle Garden on Saturday, September 7, the auction sale of tickets for Jenny Lind's first concert was held. Henry H. Leeds was the auctioneer, and the first ticket was bought by John N. Genin, a hatter at No. 214 Broadway, for $225. Fourteen hundred seats were sold at this day's auction, at an average of $6.50 a seat. It was estimated by this day's sale that Jenny Lind's manager would realize $30,000 on the first concert in America. The first rehearsal took place on Monday, September 10, and following is the description of an eye-witness: "I arrived too late to hear the "Casta Diva,' but heard her singing with Signor Belleti the duo from 'I Turchi in Italia.' Before it was over I had almost entered another world. I hardly believed that the human voice could accomplish what the Swedish vocalist made palpable to my ear. Such perfect execution, such invariably true, even correct intonation, such natural expression in all the middle and lower register of her voice, I never heard before. The nightingale did not pour out its melody with more ease, its notes did not gush forth with more freedom and correctness, according to Nature's pitch and scale, than did Jenny Lind's according to Art's strictest rules. In the 'Trio Concertante,' for two flutes and voice, the orchestra came to a dead stop. They had been listening to the vocalist and forgot their parts and all else." Another incident occurred during the "Trio" which is worth notice, says an authority. "At a pause the bell of a steamboat at the landing near by struck thrice, and happened to strike at the exact pauses in her song. At first the people thought it was an orchestral effect, so perfectly did its clear tones harmonize with the voice of the songstress. The bell happened to be exactly in tune and striking the same note with her, and the echo at first deceived all the listeners." In order to p-revent confusion on the night of the concert, Wednesday, September 11, 1850, the Inspector of Hacks ordered that carriages enter "the large gate at the corner of State street and Whitehall, and pass out through the gate in Battery Place, at the head of Greenwich street." At the close of the concert the same order was to be preserved. 96 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. "The first concert is over, and all doubts are at an end," says a New York paper of September 12, 1850. "She is the greatest singer we have ever heard. When Jenny Lind, clad in white, came forward through the orchestra, the vast assembly rose as one man, and nothing could be seen but the waving of hands and handkerchiefs, nothing heard but a storm of tumultuous cheers. The enthusiasm was at last subdued, and the divine songstress, with half trembling womanly modesty blended with childlike simplicity, addressed herself to song as the orchestral symphony prepared the way for the voice in 'Casta Diva.' If it were possible, we would describe the quality of that voice, so pure, so sweet, so fine, so whole and all per- vading in its lowest breathings and minutest florituri, as well as in its strongest volume. We never heard tones which in their sweetness went so far, and the whole air had to take the law of their vibrations. Hers is a genuine soprano, reaching the extra high notes with that ease and cer- tainty which make each highest one a triumph of expression purely and not a physical marvel. All the points one looks for in a mistress of the vocal art were eminently hers in 'Casta Diva.' Her whole soul and being goes out in her song, which has won the world to Jenny Lind." - The "National Prize Song," written by Bayard Taylor and set to music by Jules Benedict, was sung that night, and was loudly encored. After the performance cheer after cheer rent the air, and amid the enthu- siasm P. T. Barnum appeared on the stage and announced that Jenny Lind had informed him on the Monday preceding her first concert that she would give her share of the receipts to various charities in the city; that as her share of the net proceeds of the concert just ended amounted to $10,000, he would read a list of her donations, which he did. So ended the night of Jenny Lind's first concert in America — the greatest triumph of her life. This is a long introduction to the chronology, but it is of interest as show- ing the musical enthusiasm of 1850, compared with that of 1909. In 1790 the salary of the Mayor was made $700 a year and a census of the city ordered taken. On its completion on December 11 it showed 29,906 persons. The expense entailed in taking it was £155 5s 6d. In this year the country was in a ferment regarding a permanent location for the seat of government. The Eastern States preferred New York, Pennsylvania clamored for its return to Philadelphia, the people of New Jersey petitioned for its removal to the shores of the Delaware, while the Southern States urged the banks of the Potomac as the central location. An amicable arrangement was finally effected, and December, 1800, was fixed as the date of the opening session of Congress at the capital city of Washington, in "tlie new District of Columbia." On August 30 of this year President Washington and his wife left New York without ceremony, embarking on their barge at Macomb's Wharf, on the North River. It was the last time the general looked upon the city. "January 2, 1791 — Severe winter. Supplies of wood given to the poor." The exports this year from New York to foreign ports amounted to $2,505,465. On February 25 "the freedom of the city was awarded to Major General Horatio Gates, the hero of Saratoga and the capturer of Burgoyne." CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 97 The corporation on March 21 ordered a further issue of paper money, "and one, two and three penny notes were placed in circulation for city change." It also ordered that "the city lamps be 114 feet apart, angu- larly," and "that Bedlow's Island he leased out for twenty-eight years, at £10 per annum." On October 4 the city was divided into seven wards. In the autumn of 1791 yellow fever broke out in the vicinity of Burling Slip. "Though soon checked in its ravages by the approach of frost, it excited a panic among the inhabitants, and several well-known citizens died, among them General Malcolm, of Revolutionary fame." In 1795 it again made its appearance, and raged with virulence from August until the end of the season. Seven hundred and thirty-five citizens died from its effects. The worst visit of the plague was in 17 98, when most of the churches were closed, and for "many weeks the hearses were undisputed possessors of the city's streets." Neighboring States came to the relief of the city, and contributions of money, provisions and fuel poured into her. Over 2,100 deaths occurred in a population of 55,000. The fever broke out with violence at different periods for several years, but the government mastered it eventually in new sanitary regulations. CHAPTER XX. (1791-1794.) History of Education in New York — Work of Public School Society — Begin- ning of Board of Education — Eevival of Public Improve- ments — Fresh Water Pond. The history of education in New York dates from 1629, when the West Indies Company, under whose charge the first Dutch colonists came to the city, enacted a law which required the establishment of schools. Four years later the first school was opened, and in 1652 the first public school came into being, and was established in the City Hall. After the English obtained possession of the colony education suffered for a few years because of the conflict in languages, the Dutch adhering to the language of their_ mother country. The English established many schools, and church and state united in their support. No charge was made directly for tuition. In 1704 a society for the propagation of the Gospel began the work of establish- ing schools in the English language, and in 1732 an act was passed to establish a public school in the city. Early in 1748 two schools were erected, one by Trinity, in Rector street, and another by the Dutch Reformed Church, in what is now Exchange Place. Many private educational institu- tions existed, some of them under the jurisdiction of religious bodies and depending on them for support. "It may be stated," says an authority, "that, so far from retrograding toward barbarism, the people of the colonies previous to their independence were securing for their children more educa- tion than the people of any other contemporaneous country, and this v/as exceptionally true of New England, whose population was better educated then than any other in the world." In educational force New England antedated New York by nine years, as the first act of the Plymouth colonists was to provide a meeting house for religious purposes and a schoolhouse for the children. In 1754 King's College, now Columbia University, was founded. New York at first encouraged private schools, and when the Board of Regents of the University of New York was created, in 1784, its chief function for many years was to encourage academies and colleges. It is to the credit of that board, however, that it presented to the legislature many propositions for the founding of a school system which would tend to the establishment of common schools. In 1795 Governor Clinton urged the creation of the New England type of common schools, and through the legislature a fund was created for the successful carrying out of the scheme. In 1797 free schools were established in the State. The progress of the free school movement toward New York City was 98 CRADLE DAYS OF ^NEW YORK. 99 slow, however, and old ideas of teaching only children whose parents were affiliated with the different religious bodies caused the education of many of them to be neglected. Public-spirited citizens desirous of providing means for the education of neglected children called a meeting in 1805 to consider the question, and shortly after petitioned the legislature for per- mission to incorporate a society having for its object "the establishment of a free school for the education of poor children who do not belong to or are 'not provided for by any religious society." On April 9, 1805, the petition was granted by the legislature and the society duly incorporated. Money was needed for carrying on the project, and was to be sought privately, so that it was not until May 19, 1806, that the society saw the fulfilment of its benevolent scheme, when apartments were rented in a house on what is now Madison street, and the school begun. So anxious were the people to take advantage of the work of benevolence for the education of their children that it was only a short time after the school's establishment when it was overcrowded, and larger quarters were sought. Through the generosity of Colonel Henry Rutgers, two lots in Henry street were given to the society, and a portion of the excise moneys was set aside by the legislature for the erection of a building on them. Pending the completion of the Henry street school, the corporation presented to the society a building in Chambers street, and donated $500 to put it in repair. By 1809 it had become too small to accommodate the pupils, and a new school was erected in Chatham street. In 1810 the cornerstone of the Henry street building was laid. The necessity for more schools became apparent, and in 1811 the Trinity corporation gave two lots on the corner of Hudson and Grove streets for a third school. In 1815 and 1819 two "African schools" were built, one on ground in William street given by the corporation, and the other by the Manumission Society on ground in Mulberry street, "which cost $2,400." At this time the population of the city was 119,657, and in 1820 had increased nearly 3 per cent, so that an impetus was given to the building of schools. In 1820 the Hudson street school (No. 3) was ready to receive pupils, and in 1821 No. 4, in Rivington street, corner of Pitt street, was opened. In 18 24 No. 5, in Mott street, between Spring and Prince, was erected, and No. 6 was occupying the Almshouse. The follow- ing year No. 7, in Chrystie street, between Pump and Hester streets, was built, and in 1826 No. 8, in Grand street, between Laurens and Wooster streets, was opened to pupils. In 1827 three more schools were opened, one (No. 9) at Bloomingdale, one (No. 10) in Duane street, and one (No. 11) in Wooster street. In 1825 the society that had done so much for the youth of old New York changed its name to the Public School Society, with the object of eliminating the idea of charity and giving to the citizens that education which was considered theirs by right. Through the operation of the State law passed in 1805, by which the proceeds of 500,000 acres of land were to be accumulated until the income should reach the sum of $50,000, which should be applied to the uses of the schools of the State, new measures were adopted for extending the common school system of the State. In 1819 the fund had reached the 100 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. sum of $1,200,000, and in 1822 a change of the constitution made the school fund "inviolable and inalienable to other purposes." In 1842 Gov^ ernor Seward recommended to the legislature in his message that a law- be passed extending the common school system of the State to the city, resulting in the forming of the Board of Education and the establishment of a wise system — the separation of church and state schools so far as the bestowal of State moneys went. The existence of the old Public School Society ceased in 1853, and all its rights and belongings passed to the Board of Education. The chronology: The spirit of public improvement began to revive and the city to grow apace in 1790. The first progressive step was made in 1791, when "Rutgers' right to fresh water pond (the site of Canal street) was pur- chased by the corporation for il50." Two hundred years after the Dutch traders landed on the island that part of the downtown district bounded by Broadway and Centre street and Duane and Worth streets was a lake of clear water. The traders gave it the name Kalch, which was afterward corrupted into Collect, and later called the Fresh Water Pond. It was the fishing ground of the old New Yorker, as has been mentioned in a previous chapter. A swamp west of the Collect and stretching away to the Hudson River v/as held in lease by Anthony Rutgers on condition that he should pay for it "a moderate quit rent," and that he should "clear it and drain it within a year." It was a dangerous quagmire to man and beast, and the city officials never dreamed that Rutgers could fulfil the second condition of his lease. Rutgers, hov/ever, persevered, and drained the ground by cutting a ditch from the Collect to the Hudson River. The ditch aftervv'ard formed itself into a c;:nal, which was the source of much trouble to the present day city when improvements were making. Tov/ard the close of the eighteenth century, when the city was extending northward, the putting of the Collect to some use by the people was considered. Its surface had been lowered by the cutting of the drain, and its natural outlet had been dried up, leaving it, some thought, an ideal centrepiece for a park. Plans with this end in view were frequently proposed, but never carried out, and by the year 1810, with the onward march of the city, it disappeared. Some trace of it may be found in the cellars in Canal street. Property on Broadway in 1791 was not so valuable as it is to-day, for "one hundred lots of ground, in Broadway and adjacent streets, in the vicinity of the New York Hospital, 25 by 100 feet, were offered for sale at i;25 per' lot." This year yellow fever prevailed in the vicinity of Burling Slip. March 14, 1792, marks the incorporation of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. The object of this society originally was "the relief of decayed and distressed mechanics and tradesmen." In 1821 the society erected the Mechanics' Institute in Chambers street, between Chatham street and City Hall Place, and a school and library were estab- lished for the education of its proteges. Later it erected a building on the corner of Broadway and Park Place, part of which was occupied as a hotel in 1829. The charter of the society was renewed on April 3, 1811. This year the Tontine Association began the erection of its coffee house on the corner of Wall and Water streets. The organization was CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. loi founded in 1790 and incorporated in 1794 by a company of merchants for the purpose of providing a centre for the mercantile community. "By the plan of the association each shareholder selected a nominee, during whose life he was to receive his equal proportion of the net proceeds of the establishment, but upon whose death his interest reverted to the owners of the surviving nominees. The original shares were assignable, and held as personal estate, and the whole property was vested in five trustees, who were to hold the property until the number of the surviving nominees was reduced to seven, when the whole was to be divided among the fortunate seven shareholders depending upon them." Two hundred and three shares were subscribed for at $200 each, and with this sum a lot of ground 100 feet square was purchased in the location named above. The building was completed in 1794, and the Merchants' Exchange was removed from the place it occupied since the Revolution — a dilapidated old building in the centre of Broad street, below Pearl — to the new structure. When the old Exchange in Wall street was erected in 1825 the building of the Tontine Association was put to other uses, and in May, 1855, was demolished to make room for another Tontine Building. On September 29, 1792, State street, with "a great many other streets in the eastern and northern parts of the city, which was increasing with amazing rapidity," was laid out, and on October 8 "an apparatus for boring water, imported by Abijah Hammond, Esq., from Boston, at his own ex- pense, was presented to the corporation, who ordered an experiment to be made on the lot adjoining the City Hall." There were 484 licensed taverns in the city in 1793, from which a revenue of £721 5s was derived. The fees from Fly, Peck Slip, Catharine, Oswego and Hudson markets were £1,343. The Mayor's salary this year was £800, an increase of £200 since 1789. On May 27 "a museum was allowed in the City Hall," presumably Scudder's Museum, "an immense collection of rare and valuable articles of every description." It was afterv/ard trans- ferred to a building behind the City Hall, on the north side of the park and fronting Chambers street — the Almshouse, which had outlived its usefulness in 1816, when the paupers were removed to Bellevue. On September 16 "the yellow fever prevailed in Philadelphia and caused great alarm in New York. Uncommon precautions were used to guard against its importation and to prevent all intercourse with that city. The sum of $5,000 was given by the corporation to the distressed citizens of Philadelphia, and the Bank of New York loaned them the money at 5 per cent." With this scare came another — "a battle off Sandy Hook between the British frigate Boston and the French frigate Ambuscade, in which both were severely crippled." On January 20, 1794, "the new almshouse in Chambers street was contemplated, and a grant for a lottery to raise £10,000 for that purpose was given by the legislature." A few days after the meeting at which action on the almshouse was taken the patriotic members of the corporation decided to extinguish as much as possible the reminders of royalty in Street names, and on January 24 "the various parts of a certain street called Smith street, William street and King George's street, was ordered to be called William stre^ The light was admired, but the city authorities shrank from the expense of lay- ing the requisite iron pipes, etc., which it was estimated would cost for the whole city several hundred thousand dollars." In April, 1823, the corpora- tion granted to the New York Gas Company "the exclusive privilege for thirty years of laying castiron gas pipes in the streets south of Grand street, and reserved the privilege of using the gas for the street lamps, on the same terms and cost as oil." On May 11, 1825, the company began the proposed improvement by laying gas pipes in Broadway, on both sides of the street, from Canal street to the Battery. From these they were gradually extended over the southern part of the island, though for years the city pre- sented a checkered appearance, with one block dimly lighted by the ancient oil lamps and the next brilliantly illuminated from the works of the new gas company. In 1830 the improvement was extended to the northern part of the island by the incorporation of the Manhattan Gas Light Company, with a capital of $500,000, for the purpose of supplying the upper part of the city not included within the limits of the New York Company. When gas was introduced into the city below Canal street opposition arose to the innovation. Many of the citizens were afraid to have it in or near their dwellings. All sorts of catastrophes were predicted. Had it not been for the sterling qualities possessed by Samuel Leggett, who introducd gas into his own residence in Franklin Square, and invited the public to witness the utility of the new source of light and comfort, its introduction would have been delayed longer. Leggett founded and was president of the first gas company in New York in 1823. It would not be proper to leave this subject without giving the opinion of an authority on the gas works as a "place of interest, an object of great importance, and highly curious in all its details." - "The manner in which Broadway and many of the public buildings and shops in the principal streets are now lighted with gas," says the record of 1829, "and the effect it has upon the eye of a stranger is as novel as it is CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 117 gratifying, and forms one of the principal modern improvements, especially when contrasted with the first attempt at lighting the streets made by our ancestors in 1697. "The establishment for the making of gas is one of the largest edifices in the city, and is situated in Rhynder street, corner of Hester, near the east part of Canal street. The gas, formed from oil, is conducted into the great reservoirs, or gasometers, which contain each 5,000 barrels, and are equal in size to a large brewer's vat, being 50 paces in circumference and 20 feet in depth. The gas is measured by a curious machine called a meter, and passes out into all the principal streets south of Grand street through pipes of cast iron, of various sizes, from 6-inch to 2-inch bore, and by lateral pipes into the private houses, where the company pipes end, and the whole interior fitting is done at the expense of the person using the gas. The company supplies the public with oil gas by the meter only. The charge for every cubic foot registered is $1. The meter is a patent machine made in London, and is sold or rented to each customer, as they may prefer, the cost being from $16 up, according to size." For a ten light meter in the old days 44 cents a quarter vv"as charged; fifteen light, 62% cents; thirty light, $1.50. Those purchasing meters from the company kept them in repair at their own cost. Here is a scale showing the comparative quantity of light given out by each burner generally: The one jet burner gave a light equal to one mould candle; the two jet burner, 2 1-12 mould candles; the three, 4 2-3. A ten hole argand gave a light equal to ten mould candles. And here is an interesting end of the record: "By regulating the cock, the quantity of light given out, and, consequently, the gas consumed by each burner, may be reduced at pleasure. The comparative cost of the oil gaslight is consid- erably less than the cost of that produced from mould candles or from oil lamps. But the cleanliness, the beauty and the convenience of the gas over any other light is the principal cause of its being preferred, without reference to expense." In 1829 the company had laid fifteen miles of castiron pipes in the principal business streets. The pipes were imported from England, and "were subjected to a severe proof to test their quality before being used." On April 20, 1795, "Rickett's Amphitheatre offered to exhibit one evening for the benefit of the poor, to purchase firewood, which was accepted by the corporation, and the sum of $340 was collected ou the occasion." Bakers this year were allowed a profit of 12 shillings on one hundredweight of flour, and the Powles Hook ferry was leased for £250 a year. Hoboken ferry was not so prosperous, as it leased for £95 a year. In the summer of 1795 John Jay, the newly elected Federal Governor of New York, arrived from England with a new treaty. Jay was in Eng- land when he received the nomination for Governor, and the opposition in his absence used all kinds of arguments to excite distrust in him. At the April election he was elected Governor by a large majority over the opposing candidate, Robert Yates, and Stephen Van Rensselaer was elected Lieutenant Governor. Both branches of the legislature were also carried by the Feder- alists. After his arrival from England Jay was welcomed heartily by the people; all the bells in the city mingled with the roar of cannon. He was conducted to his house from the wharf by an excited multitude, eager to ii8 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. testify their gratitude for his successful mission of peace. The new treaty- bound the United States to a strict neutrality in all wars between England and other nations, and was denounced by the anti-Federalist or Republican party "as a shameful repudiation of the obligations due by the country to France," and efforts were nsed to induce the President to refuse its rati- fication. No sooner had the provisions of the new treaty become public than an anonymous handbill appeared in the streets of New York, calling on the citizens to meet in front of the City Hall on July 18 to express their oppo- sition to the treaty. "On the day appointed," saj^s the record, "an immense concourse assembled in front of the City Hall. Aaron Burr and Brockholst Livingston, the brother-in-law of Jay, who, with Chancellor Livingston and the rest of that influential family, had espoused the cause of the Republican party, appeared as the leaders of the opposition. Alexander Hamilton and Richard Varick stood for the Federalists and the treaty. The latter party succeeded in electing a chairman from among their number, and then pro- posed to adjourn. Motions and counter motions were made, and a scene of violence ensued. Hamilton mounted the stoop of an old Dutch house which stood on the corner of Wall and Broad streets, with its gable end to the street, and attempted to speak in defence of the treaty, when he was rudely thrown from his place and dragged through the streets by the excited mul- titude. The tumult soon increased to such a degree that business became out of the question. When a proposition was made by some one from among the mass to adjourn to the Bowling Green and burn the treaty, a thunder of 'Ayes!' shook the watchhouse on the south corner of Broad and Wall streets to its foundation, and to the Bowling Green they adjourned, shouting and huzzaing, where the treaty was burned to the sound of the 'Carmagnole,' beneath the folds of the French and American colors." On August 15, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the treaty was signed by the Presi- dent, and its immediate effect was to avert a war from which the United States could have derived no possible advantage. ^ While the city was in political throes a British frigate entered New York Harbor with several cases of yellow fever on board. The disease spread rapidly. Here is the record: "The yellow fever prevailed to an alarming degree in this city during the summer and fall. Seven hundred and thirty- two persons died with it during the season." On October 6, "$7,000 remitted from the citizens of Philadelphia by Matthew Clarkson, Mayor, for the relief of the distressed citizens of New York, and also $505.25 from the citizens of Southwark." The year 1795 is memorable for the completion of the first edifice of the New York Society Library, which stood on the corner of Cedar and Nassau streets, on a lot thirty feet wide and of irregular depth. The struc- ture was imposing. It was built of brownstone, with three-quarter Corin- thian columns, resting on a projecting basement, with ornamental iron balustrades forming a balcony. The membership of the society at this time was nearly one thousand, and comprised leading citizens of all occupations. In 1836, owing to the advancing tide of commerce, the society moved to Broadway and Leonard street. CHAPTER XXIV. (1796-1797.) Theatres and Theatricals in New York from 1732 — Introduction of Italian Opera — Old City's Opinion of the Derivation of the Word Drama — Theatre Receipts in 1827. The history of the New York stage dates back to September, 1732, when a company of professional actors arrived from London and secured a room in a building near the junction of Pearl street and Maiden Lane, capable of seating four hundred persons. With a slight intermission they continued their performances here until February, 1734, when the com- pany was disbanded. Some of their productions were "Cato: A Tragedy," and "The Recruiting Officer," "The Beaux' Strategem," and "The Busy- body," comedies. Individuals and minor companies entertained the old citizens up to the winter of 174 9, when a company crossed the Atlantic and began a season of eight months' entertainment. On the estate of Rip Van Dam the first Nassau Street Theatre was built. It stood between John street and Maiden Lane, a two-story house, with high gables. The opening bill, on March 5, 1750, was "Richard III," with Thomas Kean as Richard. It was in this house on December 21, 1751, that "Othello" was played for the first time in America. September 17, 1753, in a theatre on the east side of Nassau street, Lewis Hallam, who had, according to the record, been refused a license in the early part of the year to perform in New York, received permission to present the "Con- scious Lovers" and "Damon and Phillida" in the theatre mentioned. Here also "Romeo and Juliet," on January 28, 1754, had its first representation. The corporation of the old city seemed to look with disfavor on the- atricals, as the record says they refused permission to another company to open a new playhouse erected on Cruger's Wharf, between Old and Coenties slips, by David Douglass, and known as David Douglass's Theatre. The corporation relented, however, and the theatre was opened on Decem- ber 28, 1758, with the tragedy of "Jane Shore." In 1759 the company left New York on tour, and on its return in 1761 occupied a new theatre on the corner of what is now Nassau and Beekman streets. "Henry IV" was given for the first time on the American stage here, and "Hamlet" for the first time in New York. On the north side of John street, near Broadway, on December 7, 1767, a new playhouse was opened. Seasons of entertainment were given in it up to October 24, 1774, when Congress recommended "that all places of public amusement should be closed." A short list of the plays given will 119 I20 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. be interesting to the student of old New York affairs, as Indicating tlie tastes of tlie theatregoers then: "Richard III," "Hamlet," "Cymbeline," "Romeo and Juliet," "King Lear," "The Merchant of Venice," "Macbeth," "Cato," "She Stoops to Conquer," "The Beggar's Opera" and "The Irish Widow." During the occupation of the city by the British in 1777 entertain- ments were given in this house by the British officers. A play written by Major Andre in 1781 was also produced here. Here is something interesting for those who "want to see a man" be- tween the acts of plays in New York theatres to-day: "It is customary to have a dramshop in the neighborhood of theatres (as is the case in this city), where the audience, exhausted by attention to the performance, may recruit their spirits by taking a glass of gin, or some- thing equally exhilarating, between the acts; and as it often happens that immediately upon drinking a dram the person emits a sound similar to the letter 'a,' the dram and the sound have been united, and thus dram-a, or drama, is found." The foregoing is from an advertisement in Gaine's paper. The last performance occurred in the John Street Theatre on January 13, 1798. ^ / Rickett's Amphitheatre vv'as situated in Greenwich street, near the Battery, and in 1796 was known as the Pantheon. "Venice Preserved" was the opening production in this year, with Thomas Abthorpe Cooper as Pierre. On January 29, 1798, the Park Theatre, situated on what is now the site of the Syndicate Building, in Park Row, was opened. It had a frontage of 80 feet and a depth of 165 feet. The plan for its construction was fur- nished by the builder and engineer of the London Thames tunnel, Mark Isambard Brunei. Managerial quarrels hindered the work on the structure between the time it was designed, in 1793, and the year building operations began, in 1795. On the opening night it was in an unfinished state. "All in a Bustle; or. The New House," was the curtain raiser, and "As You Like It" and a musical entertainment called "The Purse; or, American Tar," completed the bill. "The doors will be opened at five, and the curtain drawn at a quarter past six," says the programme. "Ladies and gentlemen are requested to be particular in sending servants early to keep boxes," and "will please direct their servants to sit down v/ith their horses' heads to- ward the New Brick Meeting, and take up with their horses' heads toward Broadway." For the first performance boxes were 8 shillings, the pit 6 shillings and the gallery 4 shillings." Four nights were given to per- formances, and the first night's receipts were $1,232, with many unable to get in. The regular admission price was: Gallery, 25 cents; pit, 50 cents, and box, $1. In the summer of 1798 the house was in complete order and beautifully furnished, says the record. For a company of twenty-six persons and an orchestra of fourteen, the salary list of the Park Theatre amounted to $1,161 weekly. Food for thought in this when compared with the salaries of to-day m our metropolitan theatres. Indeed, in 1798 the highest salary paid in America was $100 a week. The Park Theatre continued as the playhouse of New York, of course with varying fortunes, until May 25, 1820, when, after the performance CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 121 of the "Siege of Tripoli," for the benefit of Major Noah, the theatre was discovered to be on fire. It was entirely consumed, the actors losing their effects. The proprietors at this time were John Jacob Astor and John K. Beekman. After the fire building operations were immediately begun, and on September 1, 1821, the New Park Theatre rose from the ruins of the old one. It was 165 feet deep, running through to the present Theatre Alley, and 80 feet on Park Row. Junius Brutus Booth made his Ne-vV York debut here on October 5, 1821, as Richard III, and Charles Mathews, the elder, played Goldfinch, in "The Road to Ruin," on his first appearance in New York, on November 22, 1822. When Edmund Kean — who, during his first engagement in New York, had excited the ire of theatregoers by his con- vivial habits and appearing on the stage in an unfit condition — after an absence of four years, reappeared in New York on November 14, 1825, as Richard III at the Park Theatre, he was repaid for his previous misconduct by "such a powerful and unexpected burst of catcalls and shov/er of hisses that he for a moment quailed. After standing upon the stage fully a quarter of an hour he was compelled to retire. He made a second attempt, but was again driven indignantly off. Notwithstanding the uproar, it was decreed in the greenroom that the play should go on. And on it went, 'Richard III' in pantomime." On January 4, 1826, Kean appeared at the Park The- atre as King Lear, "and was loudly and flatteringly received by every part of the house, with cries of 'Bravo, Kean!' " "* Italian opera was first introduced to America in this theatre on No- vember 29, 1825. The orchestra consisted of twenty-five instruments — seven violins, two tenors, two bassos, three clarinets, two horns, two trum- pets, a bassoon, a kettledrum and a piano. The opera was "The Barber of Seville," and admission prices were advanced during its presentation. "Semiramide" was also first heard in this country at the Park Theatre on April 25, 1826. On December 16, 1848, the new theatre was destroyed by fire. The first summer theatre in New York was Mount Vernon Garden, at the northwest corner of Broadway and Leonard street. Performances were carried on by a portion of the Park Theatre company, who were disengaged during the summer. It v/as opened on July 19, 1800, with a light comedy. Tickets of admission were 4 shillings, and the performances began at 7 p. m. sharp. Another theatre, though not of the summer variety, was the Grove Theatre, which stood in what is now Madison street, east of Cathe- rine, and was opened on March 9, 1804. T. Abthorpe Cooper played there, and "The Honeymoon" had its initial presentation in America at this house on May 29, 1805. The New York Theatre, in the Bowery, or the Bov>rery Theatre, as it is known to most New Yorkers, was opened for theatrical representations on October 16, 1826, under the management of Charles Gilfert. The founda- tion stone was laid by Philip Hone, the Mayor of the city, in May of that year. "As one of the modern public ornaments of this city," said Mayor Hone in his address, "this building stands pre-eminent." As the old Bowery Theatre still stands, though lustreless and forgotten by most persons of the present day, it will not be out of place to describe it as it was in 1826: 122 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. "The building has a front on the Bowery of 75 feet, is 175 feet deep and 50 feet high to the cornice; thirty-three feet of the front in the centre recedes sixteen feet, the entablature of which is supported by two Grecian Doric columns and two ant« of corresponding proportions; the diameter of the columns is 5 feet, their height 30 feet and the height of the entabla- ture 10 feet. The whole front, and all its ornaments except the cornice, is finished with cement on hard brick in imitation of marble a little shaded. The entire front is the boldest execution of the Doric order in the United States, and is also more exactly according to the true spirit and style of the best Grecian examples in the detail than any other specimens yet exe- cuted. Had there been six columns in front, as was originally intended by the architect, but prevented by a wish on the part of the proprietors for greater economy of room, this would unquestionably have been the most perfect as well as the boldest specimen of Grecian Doric in this country. The basement and walls are massive, and constructed of bluestone and brick." The interior of the theatre in 18 26 was elegant, chaste and classical in its design, the groundwork being of a light color, with ornaments in the Grecian style. The scenery was painted by Messrs. Coyle, Inman and others, and was considered beautiful. "The whole is lighted with gas," said an authority, "in the most brilliant and effective manner, and by means of globular ground glass shades the light is softened and the effect is highly agreeable to the eye." The prices of admission in the old days were: Boxes, 75 cents; pit, 37 ^^ cents, and gallery, 25 cents. It was in this theatre that Signerina Garcia performed in Italian and English opera, and received what was then considered an enormous salary, $600 a night. The prices v/ere doubled on the nights of her appearance, but the authority says "the house was filled and the receipts fully justified the manager's liberality, and established the fashionable character of the house." In the spring of 1827 the French opera dancers, Mme. Hutin, M. and Mme. Achille, Mile. Celeste, Mile. Heloise, M. Barbiere and others were introduced to the American public and drew crowded houses. Many Eng- lish performers v/ere brought forward on the boards of the old Bowery — Messrs. Holland, Chapman, De Camp and Pearman and Mesdames George and Rock and Mr. and Mrs. Young. Our ovv'n Forrest made his appearance there. To-day the old playhouse is lost in the shadow cast by the Third avenue elevated road, and characters Hebraic on its billboard tell what goes on within. Memories of "The Seven Charmed Bullets" and "Mazeppa" cluster around it for the early day New York theatregoer, but they are fleeting, as are most memories of New York of the last century. ^ The La Fayette Theatre, in Laurens street (now West Broadway), near Canal, was first opened in 1824 as a circus and riding school, and on No- vember 6, 1825, was occupied for the Grand Canal Ball, "and fitted up for that occasion with great splendor." The Grand Canal Ball was the con- cluding festivity incident to the opening of the Erie Canal and given by the oflicers of the militia. Melodramas and other productions were pre- sented in the La Fayette at low prices of admission — 25 to 75 cents. Charles Sandford was the proprietor, and his manager was Mr. Burroughs, the CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ' 123 principal performers being Mrs. Sandford, Mrs. Duff, Miss Riddle, Mr. Bur- roughs. Mr. Keene, a vocalist; Mr. May wood and Mr. Thayer. The building covered a space SO by 200 feet. A Catholic church is on the site now. Another place of amusement in the city was The Theatre, in Chatham street. From a small building fitted up in 1823 for summer performances, with a large awning to cover the spectators, was evolved in 1824 a neat and commodious brick building. It was opened on May 10 "by a poetical prize address." "The entrance to the theatre was forbidding in appearance, being from Chatham street through a long, narrow entry leading into an open garden ornamented with shrubbery and a fountain, but in the rear of the buildings on the street was a large, plain edifice, occupying the whole interior of the block and quite imposing in appearance." The Circus vvas in Broadway, between Canal and Grand streets, in 1828. It was a large wooden building, occasionally occupied as a theatre and for equestrian performances, principally during the warm season. In the fall of 1826, "in a conspicuous situation in the eastern part of the city, and quite remote from the populous part of New York." Mount Pitt Circus was erected in Grand street. The record says it was finished and occupied before the public was generally aware of its existence. When the La Fayette was discontinued for circus use its company exhibited at the Mount Pitt. Here is an interesting paragraph for theatre managers: "The amount of receipts of all the various places of recreation in this city (18 27), such as theatres, circuses and gardens, may be estimated, from the best data, as rather over than under $500,000 per annum, which is far more encouragement in theatricals, in regard to our population, than is given by any other city of equal size in Europe or America. In the busiest seasons of the year New York has within it from five to ten thousand strangers, all eager for amusement, and rushing to the various spectacles with avidity. This, together with the moderate prices and the increased population of the city, explains the cause of the liberal encouragement received by all the places of amusement; and it is certainly due to the various managers to state that they are extremely zealous in acquiring, and liberal in remunerating, the best talent of English and American per- formers. No city in the United States supports a greater number or variety of public exhibitions; and merit and originality in every department are sure to be well rewarded." CHAPTER XXV (1796.) Opinion of an English Actor in 1797 of New York— The Potter's Field- State Prison at Greenv/ich — First Superintendent of Public Works — Treadmill. As we are now within four years of the opening of the nineteenth century, it will not be inopportune to quote the opinion of an English actor, John Bernard, regarding New York in 1797. In "Retrospections of America," published by Harper & Bros, in 1886, from manuscript notes in the possession of Mrs. Bernard, said: "It resembled a large fair or a cluster of inns rather than an abiding city, all its inhabitants looking like birds of passage, with the exception of the few aboriginal Dutch who had not been swept away by the European flood to their yellow brick dwellings on the banks of the Hudson. But these kept themselves distinct even from the other natives, regarding the entire body as a variety of Arabs who had been expelled from Europe for their robberies. They maintained their houses like fortifications, their doors and v.andows were closed and barred, their garden walls armed with glass bottles in a bed of mortar, and they sitting on their 'stoops' so dilated as not to leave room for a cat to pass, and rolling waves of smoke from their melancholy pipes to warn the stranger off. They were a marked contrast to the spare but muscular proportions of the other residents, the eternal restlessness of the foreigners, or the splashing, sprawling progress of the Yankees. The world seemed to be standing still with the one; the others seemed to be carrying all the world before them. "The habits of the New York merchants reminded me of my friends at Guernsey. They breakfasted at eight or half past, and by nine were in their counting houses, laying out the business of the day; at ten they were on their wharves, with aprons round their waists, rolling hogsheads of rum and molasses; at twelve at market, flying about as dirty and as diligent as porters; at two back again to the rolling, heaving, hallooing and scribbling. At four they went home to dress for dinner; at seven, to the play; at eleven, to supper." In 1796 "a potter's field v/as bought for a burial place, and a keeper appointed at six shillings a day." This ground was then at the junction of the Greenwich and Albany roads, but in 1800 the city authorities, "deeming it too near the public thoroughfares," selected what is now the site of Washington Square for a new potter's field, "on account of its retired location." Strong protests were made by the property owners in the vicinity to the change, and they offered to present a piece of ground in 124 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 125 another part of the city to the corporation, but the officials remained firm, and it was not until 1823, when a new burial ground was laid out between Fortieth and Forty-second streets, on Fourth and Fifth avenues, containing ten acres, at a cost of $8,449, that the old Potter's Field was levelled and Washington Square was formed on its site. One-third of the ground com- posing this square was purchased for $80,000 in 18 24. The appointment of the first Superintendent of Public Works and Re- pairs and the surveying and laying out of West street, also the completion of the State Prison at Greenwich — the second of its kind in the United States and "designed for convicts of a higher grade" — occurred in 1796. Here begins an interesting history. In the old days breakers of the law were confined in the Stadt Huys, though prior to its erection Fort Amsterdam contained a dungeon, in which Indians taken in skirmishes between their tribe and the burghers were confined, and perhaps Hendrick .Tansen, who was convicted of having slandered Governor Kieft in 1G38, was confined in it. We are certain, however, that he was compelled to "stand at the gate of the fort at the ringing of the bell and ask the Governor's pardon," and that others, after a similar confinement for greater crimes, were compelled to "ride a horse with a razorlike back for two hours, while weights and chains were hung on their feet." But to our story of prisons. In 1642, when the Stadt Huys was erected in Dock street (now Pearl), at the head of Coenties slip, a small room on the first floor was set aside for prisoners, with the Provost Marshal as keeper. The Provost received one shilling for every prisoner committed, and was paid twelve stivers a day for the support of each prisoner. As he was a combined sheriff, warden, policeman and jailer, his duties became complicated with the growth of the colony, so that an ofl^icial called a schout v/as appointed to relieve him of those outside of the prison. Until 1700 the Stadt Huys figured in prison annals. When the new City Hall, on the site of the present Sub-Treasury Building, in Wall street, v/as built in 1700, the pris- oners were confined in dungeons in the cellar, while the debtors were imprisoned in the attic apartments, "from the dormer windov/s of which they used to hang out old shoes and bags to solicit alms of the passersby." Another penalty incurred by evil-doers was that of being the chief figures in a whipping procession, From Broad street below Wall a cart, to the tail of which criminals were tied, started around the town, while sturdy arms plied whips on the backs of the unfortunates as it proceeded. The punishment of riding on a razorlike back of a horse was improved on in 1700. Plorse and rider were placed on a cart and trotted up and down the streets. Mary Price was the first person treated to the new form of pun- ishment, and the horse was known as "the horse of Mary Price." The City Hall was the only prison until 1760, and in it Zenger was confined during his struggle for the freedom of the press, which has been previously mentioned. In 1758 the first real jail, on what was until a short time ago the site of the Hall of Records, was built. At first named the New Jail, it afterward became known as the Debtors' Prison. It was a small stone building, nearly square, three stories high, with a belfry rising from the centre. There was no settled allowance in this jail for the prisoners, nor had they bedding. The Humane Society, before men- 126 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. tioned, and donations from friends and tlie public were all they could rely on. Its limits extended to the whole city and island south of Love Lane (Twenty-first street). In "The Gazette and Mercury" of July 27, 1772, is an advertisement showing the condition of the prisoners in the Debtors' Prison and the attitude of the public regarding them: "The Debtors confined in the Gaol of the City of New York, impressed with a grateful sense of the obligations they are under to a respectable publick for the generous contributions that have been made to them, beg leave to return their hearty thanks, because they have been preserved from perishing in a dreary prison from hunger and cold." In 1775 the Debtors' Prison was too small to accommodate all classes of prisoners, and a building, known as the Bridewell, was built in the park on the west side of the City Hall. It was a small structure of gray stone, two stories high, besides the basement. On the first floor, on the right, was the afterward famous Long Room, occupied entirely by females, in which there was a division to separate the whites from the people of color. On the second floor there were two wards, called the Upper Hall and the Chain Room. The Upper Hall was occupied by the higher class of convicts, and the Chain Room by the lower class. Except when a prisoner was under sentence of death, no fetters were applied, and even then only a light iron chain was fastened to one leg. On August 27, 1776, when the British took possession of the city, they found the Debtors' Prison and the Bridewell empty, and placed the former in charge of Cunningham, the brutal Provost Marshal of the Revolution, from whom its later name, The Provost, was derived. Cunningham had not forgotten the injuries he had received the preceding year at the foot of the Liberty Pole, and, the opportunity having arrived when he could be revenged on the patriots, he took advantage of it. Through the influence of General Gage he had succeeded to this post on the retirement of William Jones in 1775, and so pleasing, we are told, was his conduct to his superiors that he retained his place until the evacuation. Of his treatment of prison- ers an authority says: "The cruelty practised toward the inmates of the Provost rivals all that maj^ be found in the annals of Christendom. Not content with seeing them die a slow death from cold and starvation, he poisoned many by mingling a preparation of arsenic with their food, and is said to have boasted that he had thus killed more of the rebels with his own hand than had been slain by all the King's forces in America." After the Revolution the Debtors' Prison was again put to its proper use, but in 1817 the debtors' law was amended "to confine only those who had incurred debts for amounts larger than $25," thus doing away with an excess of misery. In 1830 it ceased to be used as a prison, and in 1835 became the old Register's Ofl!ice, and served the interests of the people until it was demolished to make way for rapid transit improvements. The Bridewell was scarcely finished at the time mentioned, the windows were yet unglazed, with nothing, says the historian, but iron bars to keep out the cold. Yet, despite the excessive inclemency of the weather, more than eight hundred of the unfortunate patriot prisoners of Fort Washington were thrust within its walls on the day of the capture, and left there for three days without a mouthful of food. "Every indignity which human CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 127 Ingenuity could invent was heaped upon the wretched prisoners in the furtherance of the policy which hoped thus to crush the spirit of the army by disabling those that had been taken prisoners for future service, and terrifying the remainder by the possibility of a similar fate." This prison, after the Revolution, or, rather, after the War of 1812, for many English captives were confined within its walls during that time, resumed its career as the general city jail. The prisoners picked oakum or were employed on public works, at the discretion of the Mayor, and were allowed each day half a pound of beef, half a pound of bread and as much Indian meal porridge and potatoes as they could consume. The expense of supporting the convicts was considerable, as at first trials took place only four times a year, and those held for slight infractions of the law had to await examination for nearly three months. Early in 1828 the day of trial was set for the first Monday of every month, and the number of prisoners arraigned was 170, on an average. The Bridewell was de- stroyed in 1838, and some of the stones used in building it served in the erection of its successor, the Tombs prison, on the Elm street side. The Greenwich State Prison was described as "an extensive, convenient and strongly built structure of the Doris order, situated at Greenwich, about a mile and a half from the City Hall, and occupying one of the most healthy and pleasant spots on the banks of the Hudson." When the act appropriating $208,000 to relieve the crowded Bridewell and the New Jail was passed, it provided for two buildings, one at Albany and one at Green- wich. It was decided that Albany was too far removed from the city, and the entire fund was devoted to the Greenwich building. It was opened for the reception of convicts in August, 1796, and seventy prisoners were transferred to it from the other prisons. It stood at the "head of Amos street, now Tenth street, on the banks of the Hudson," and was surrounded by a high wall, on which an armed sentry was constantly pacing. Beyond this wall was the wharf, where convicts were landed from points up the river. Though the prison was situated in what was then the exclusive village of Greenwich, no resentment was offered by the inhabitants to the authorities for placing it there; they rather looked on the scheme as one promising a future rise in value of their holdings, and, besides, it gave a stately air to the rural scenery. However, it was a handsome prison in those days, and profitable to the corporation, as weaving, spinning, shoe- making, brushmaking, locksmithing and carpentry were carried on. The working hours were twelve, and the convicts looked forward to the time of their release when they might profit by the knowledge acquired of the trades taught to them while in prison. The ration of each prisoner cost about eight cents a day, consisting of Indian meal mush and molasses, pork, black bread, ox heads and hearts. Three persons were lodged in each of the fifty-two cells, which caused more communication between them than was safe, and resulted in attempts to escape, corruption of morals and weariness among the officials in their attempts to maintain discipline. An inferior class of keepers supplanted the dishearted ones, and the prisoners were herded together to a greater extent, even children being thrust in with them. Reading of books was discontinued, inhuman wliippings were administered, and it was said at the time that bodies 128 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. of dead convicts were buried wittiout ceremony in Potter's Field or turned over to dissectors. Anyway, chaos reigned in Greenwich Prison and called for immediate action by the authorities, who decided to erect another prison to reduce the strain on it caused by overcrowding. Greenwich served as a prison until 1829, when it was sold, and a part of it destroyed. The building designed to relieve the strain on the State Prison at Greenwich was called the Penitentiar3^ and stood in the rear of what was then the Almshouse at Bellevue, "on the shores of the East River."' It was for the imprisonment of minor offenders, and was opened on May 18, 1826. It was a bluestone building, 825 feet in front, with two wings of 150 feet in depth each. In the year it was opened for prisoners Bellevue Hospital and the New Almshouse were built near by, and the three build- ings were inclosed with a stone wall, including tv/enty-six acres, known henceforth as the Bellevue Establishment. The criminals in the peniten- tiary were employed in picking oakum and breaking stone and at labor on public works. In 1822 Mayor Allen had the treadmill introduced into the prison, but it was abandoned after a few years' trial. The treadmill was a deterrent from the committing of future crimes, and was found highly salutary in its operation. It was in a two story stone house, sixty feet long, near the prison. In one part of the building were the wheel and apparatus and in the other was the machinery for working it. The wheel was similar to a common water wheel, 25 feet long and 6 feet in diameter. On the external part of this wheel, on a level with the axle, the prisoners were obliged to tread, moving up together as the wheel went round, and at the same time edging off gradually to one end. Every two minutes a bell sounded, and one prisoner stepped off and was permitted to sit still for a iew minutes while another took his place. In this manner the operation continued incessantly for several hours. As well as receiving punishment, the prisoners ground the corn or grain for the supply of coarse food to the establishment. When the wheel was in operation each person ascended a distance equal to 2,500 feet in an hour. "> The present State Prison at Ossining was opened in 1828, and to it were removed the harder convicts from the prison at Greenwich, and their places supplied by the minor offenders from the Bridevv^ell and the New Jail. In 1825 the penal institutions of the city were increased by the establishment of a House of Ftefuge for juvenile offenders. It was incor- porated in 1824 and opened on January 1, 1825, in the United States Arsenal, in Madison Square, with nine inmates — six boys and three girls. In 1839 the building v/as destroyed by fire, and the institution was transferred to the fever hospital at the foot of East Twenty-third street, where it remained until 1854, when a new building v/as erected on flan- dall's Island, and the inmates were removed to it. CHAPTER XXVI. Religions — Dutch Reformed. \ History of the Dutch Reformed Church — First Members Worshipped in Loft in Mill — Customs Prevailing in Three Places of Worship — First Trial of Steamboat. To tell the history of the entrance into New York and the growth of each of the present religious denominations would require more space than can be given to it in this book. What follows, therefore, is a skeleton history, prior to the opening of the nineteenth century and beginning with the first religious denominations, the Dutch Reformed Church, with events set down as they were found in various records. When Peter Minuit, the first Director General appointed by the West India Company to assume charge of the new Dutch colony, and his council and secretary sailed from Amsterdam in the Sea Mew on December 19, 1625, they had with them two lay readers, or Consolers of the Sick, Sebastien Jansen Crol and Jan Huyghen, the latter a brother-in-law of the Director General. After the arrival of the expedition at Manhattan Island on May 4, 1626, and the acquisition of the land upon which they were to settle, the organization of the government of the province began, and, while it had been undertaken with no higher aim than commercial speculation, the moral and spiritual necessities of its people were not entirely overlooked. Services consisting of the reading of the Bible and an occasional sermon were conducted every Sabbath morning by the two Consolers of the Sick already mentioned, in the loft of what was then considered a notable building as well as a useful one — a mill for the grinding of corn, operated by horse power, located in what is now South William street, near Pearl. On April 7, 1628, the Rev. Jonas Michaelius arrived at Manhattan to assume the position of spiritual director and schoolmaster at the request of the directors of the West India Com- pany. In a letter sent four months after his arrival to the Rev. Adrianus Smoutius, at Amsterdam, he says: "Our coming here was agreeable to all, and I hope, by the grace of the Lord, that my services will not be unfruitful. The people, for the most part, are all free, somewhat rough and loose, but I find in most all of them both love and respect toward me. . . . We have first established the form of a church (gemeente), and, as Brother Sebastien Crol very seldom comes down from Fort Orange, because the directorship of that fort and the trade there is committed to him, it has been thought best to choose two elders for my assistance and for the proper consideration of all such ecclesiastical matters as might occur." The elders appointed were Director Minuit and his brother-in-law, Huyghen, and partly to their care and consideration were confided the fifty communi- 129 136 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. cants wlio constituted the first regularly organized church society on Man- hattan Island. The loft in the horse mill was used as a place of public worship until the arrival of the second Director General of New Netherland, Wouter Van Twiller, in April, 1633. With Van Twiller came Dominie Bogardus, "a man of a certain order of talent in large measure, and honored for his piety." The dominie, seeing the inconvenient place of public worship in the loft of the horse mill, and knowing the value put by the West India Company on the proper religious observances of the people, requested that a new and more commodious structure be built. It was a plain wooden edifice, located on a high point of land fronting the East River, near what is now No. 33 Pearl street. As the river front came up as far as Pearl street at that time, the structure was a conspicuous object to vessels coming up the bay. This was the first church building on Manhattan Island. In 1642, during the administration of the third Director General of the colony, the "church in the fort" was built, to supplant "the mean barn" in which the Dutch worshipped their Creator. It was of stone, seventy-two feet long, fifty wide and sixteen high, and cost to erect 2,500 guilders. It stood within the guadrangle of the fort, to the south of the Governor's house, and against the east wall. This situation protected it from Indian depredations. The roof was covered with oak shingles, which, from exposure to the weather, became blue, like slate. Over the front door Governor Kieft caused to be erected a marble slab with the inscription: Anno Domini, 1642, Wilhelm Kieft, Directeur General, Heeft de gemeente desen tempel doen bouwen. The service of the Church of Holland was performed in this structure until 1664, when, the city having changed masters by the arrival of an English force under Colonel Nichols, the fort and its buildings were taken possession of by the English troops. In 1656, under Stuyvesant, who, with all his Christian virtues, was religiously intolerant, a few Lutherans attempted to hold religious meetings in the colony, but were proclaimed, and the people were forbidden to assemble for any religious service not in harmony with the Reformed Church. Complaints were sent to Holland regarding the affair, and the directors of the company notified Stuyvesant as follows: "We would fain not have seen your worship's hand set to the placard against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you oppressed them. ... It has always been our intention to let them enjoy all calmness and tran- quillity. Wherefore you will not hereafter publish any similar placards without our previous consent, but allow all the free exercise of their religion in their own houses." Soon after the Lutherans in Holland sent a clergyman, the Rev. Ernestus Goetwater, to New Amsterdam, to organize a church, but the company, in the instructions sent to Stuyvesant, put in a proviso that there should be no "conventicles." The Governor, however, used his own interpretation of the instructions he had received, with disastrous results to the followers of Luther. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 131 In 1658 a ship arrived, bringing some Quakers who had been expelled from New England. Two of the Quaker women began to preach through the streets. They were arrested and taken to the prison in the fort. After their examination by the authorities they were placed on board a ship and sent to Rhode Island. Many other punishments were meted out in this year to the Quakers, but persecution seemed to make them stronger in their faith and increase their confidence, and as the years rolled on they obtained their rights, and in 1704, in Green street alley, between Liberty street and Maiden Lane, they occupied the site of their first place of wor- ship. During 1670, when the British Governor Lovelace controlled the destinies of the city, he offered "1,000 guilders per annum, with a dwelling house free of rent, and firewood gratis," to any minister from Holland who would come and take charge of the New York church. Dominie Wil- hemus Van Nieuwenhuysen accepted the proposition, and in 1671 was installed. This was the first Dutch Episcopal service in New York. In 1676 ecclesiastical troubles broke out in the colony. The new dominie took exception to the clerical conduct of Dominie Van Rensselaer at Albany, and declared that he was not qualified to administer the sac- rament in the Reformed Dutch Church, having been ordained in England by a bishop. He forbade him to baptize children, "occasioning much ill feeling." Jacob Leisler also accused Dominie Van Rensselaer of "false preaching" and of "uttering dubious words." The latter was brought to New York for trial, but was acquitted, and the plaintiff was ordered to pay all costs "for giving the first occasion of difference." In 1680 "the church in the fort" became too small to accommodate the congregation, and a meeting was called to consider the best measures for building a new one. The Dutch and English clergymen attended, and, with the members of the Council and other leading citizens, voted to raise money by "free will or gift," and not by public tax. Certain fines were appropriated by the Mayor and aldermen toward the fund. The movement languished until December 19, 1691, when Abraham De Peyster was Mayor. Then "a lot in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated garden belonging to Mrs. Dominie Drisius and fronting on a picturesque little lane called Garden Alley" (now Exchange Place) was selected as the site of the new church. The work of building "was pushed forward with dis- patch," so that in 1693 the structure was ready for use. The South Dutch Church, in Garden street, was of an octagonal form, with a brick steeple large enough to afford space for a consistory room. The windows were large, with very small panes set in lead and curiously emblazoned with the coats of arms of the Church digni- taries. Several escutcheons also hung against the wall. In 1766 it was enlarged and repaired, but was not open for service. In 1S07 it was rebuilt, with an open balcony on the tower, in which was a bell which had been brought from Holland, and which was used at the time the first church was built to convene all public meetings of the civil authorities and citizens. In 1835, during a great fire in the city, this church was destroyed, and from its ashes arose Dr. Hutton's church, which stood on Washington Square, and the South Reformed Dutch Church, Dr. Macauley, 132 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. pastor, which stood on the corner of Fifth avenue and Twenty-first street. In 1729 the Middle Dutch Church was built in Nassau street, without pillars or gallery, the ceiling forming an entire arch without support. In 1784 the pulpit was removed from its original place on the west side to the north end of the church, and galleries were built on the east, west and south sides. In 1844 it was purchased by the United States for the site of the old Post-office, and on the Sunday evening before it was turned over to the government farewell exercises were conducted in it in Dutch and English, a sermon was preached, an historical sketch of the structure given, a psalm sung and the benediction pronounced — "the last words of prayer in the old building being in the language of the ancient Knicker- bocker." The Fourth, or North, Dutch Church, founded in 1769, stood in William street, between Fulton and Ann. It was a substantial building of brown- stone, built originally with a tiled roof, for which shingles were after- ward substituted. Its spire was two hundred feet in height, and from the gallery in it "one of the finest views of the city could be had." Other churches of the Dutch Reformed denomination built before the nineteenth century were the Harlem and the Greenwich Village places of worship. "Although many independent congregations of the Reformed Dutch Church have since been formed," says an authority, "the Collegiate Church still exists — the mother Church of the denomination in New York and the oldest ecclesiastical organization in the country." Before leaving this subject a quotation from the same source as the foregoing regarding the customs that prevailed in the Reformed Dutch Church is of interest: "Unlike the plainly attired Puritan preachers, the dominies invariably appeared in the high circular pulpit clad in a gown of black silk, with large flowing sleeves. The pulpit was canopied by a ponderous sounding board. The first psalm was set with movable figures suspended on three sides of the pulpit, so that every one on entering might prepare for the opening chorus. Pews were set aside for the Gov- ernor, Mayor, city officers and deacons, and the remaining seats were held singly by the members for life, then booked at their death to the first appli- cant. The clerk occupied a place in the deacon's pew, and prefaced the exercises in the morning by reading a chapter from the Bible, and in the afternoon by chanting the Apostles' Creed, to divert the thoughts of the people from worldly affairs. All notices designed to be publicly read were received by him from the sexton, then inserted into the end of a long pole, and thus passed up to the cagelike pulpit where the minister was perched, far above the heads of the congregation. It was his business, too, when the last grains of sand had fallen from the hourglass, which was placed invariably at the right hand of the dominie, to remind him by three raps with his cane that the time had come for the end of the sermon. "Before entering the pulpit the dominie raised his hat before his face, and silently offered a short prayer for a blessing on his labors. After uttering the concluding word of his text, he exclaimed: 'Thus far!' before proceeding with his sermon. When the sermon was over the deacons rose in their places, and, after listening to a short address from the dominie, took each a long pole with a black velvet bag attached to the end, from CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 133 which a small alarm bell was suspended, and passed about the church to collect alms for the poor. At the Lords Supper the communicants, in- variably dressed in black, stood round the communion table at the foot of the pulpit and received the emblems from the minister's own hands, while the clerk read a suitable selection from the Scriptures." Many of these customs still exist among the denomination, and the traditions of none are wholly lost. The last sermon in the Dutch language was preached in 1803. Between 1786 and the sequential year of the chronology, 1796, the population of New York City had nearly doubled, and with this increase came a desire on the part of the people to obliterate what they considered old conditions — among them slavery, which still existed. The newspapers of the period, some of which are before the writer, contain advertisements of rewards for the capture of runaway slaves, notices of slave sales, offers of exchange of slaves who had grown old, etc. The efforts of the Manu- mission Society already referred to were having a good effect, however, so that Governor Jay, while himself a slave owner, had a bill introduced in the Assembly for the gradual abolition of slave-holding. It may be said to Jay's credit that he manumitted his slaves at an age when he con- sidered they had repaid him for whatever expense they had caused him. The bill for the gradual abolition of slavery in New York was fought with bitterness by many of the slaveholders, who insisted on the insertion of a riause giving them compensation for the release of their slaves, and was lost by a vote of 32 to 30. The Manumission Society still persevered, however, and gradually, year after year, reduced the number of slaves, until in 1825 many of them were enjoying the privileges of freemen. Another problem, but of a civic nature, engaged the attention this year of the people — the condition of the Collect, or Fresh Water Pond. Surveys of streets had been made about it, but the water in it was sixty feet deep. While in the winter a favorite resort of skaters, pleasure was, as it should be, a secondary consideration to the New Yorkers, and the increasing population of the city urged them to improve it. Committee after com- mittee reported measures to this effect, and negotiations were entered into with the owners of the swamps to reduce the width of the Collect and make a street on each side of it, but it was not until 1799 that improve- ments were begun, nor until 1805 that the condition of the pond was declared dangerous to public health. This pond, which occupied the site of the Tombs, is memorable as having been, in the summer of 1796, the water on which the first trial of a steamboat with a screw propeller took place. Its inventor was John Fitch, to whose genius is due the first double acting condensing engine, v/hich transmitted power by means of cranks. The boat was eighteen feet long and six feet beam, with square stern and round bows. The boiler was a twelve-gallon iron pot. The trial was successful, the little boat circling the pond at a speed which it was said would develop six miles an hour. Fitch died in 1798, after unsuccessful attempts to prove the priority of his inventions, it was said, though history gives him credit for priority in most of them. A model of his boat may be seen at the rooms of the New York Historical Society. CHAPTER XXVII. Religions — Protestant Episcopal. Advent of Protestant Episcopal Church — Support of Church of England Made Compulsory — The Establishment of Trinity — Its Baptism of Fire — Building of St. George's, St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels. The advent of Benjamin Fletcher, on August 29, 1692, as Governor of New York, and also of Pennsylvania and Delaware, by royal warrant of William and Mary, may be said to have been the advent also of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the colony. Next to his personal ag- grandizement — and this was always the first consideration in the minds of England's representatives in the old days — Governor Fletcher's chief aim was the introduction into the province of the English church and tie English language. '' Early in the government of one of Fletcher's predecessors, Dongan, the first act of the first Assembly elected by the people, in accordance with the instructions of Dongan's superior, the Duke of York, was to frame a Charter of Liberties, one of whose ordinations was "that no person pro- fessing faith in God, by Jesus Christ, should at any time be in any way disquieted or questioned for any difference of opinion in matters of re- ligion." But this was before the Duke of York succeeded to the throne under the title of James II. With his accession, Dongan received new instructions to favor the introduction of the Roman Catholic religion into the province — a policy which he was reluctant to adopt, though a Catholic himself. The citizens of the province were mostly Protestants, many of them Waldenses and Huguenots, who had fled from the religious persecu- tions in Europe to seek protection under the tolerant Dutch government, and Dongan, despite his creed and the new instructions, desired to preserve their religious freedom. He also saw the increasing influence of the French in Canada over the Iroquois in matters Catholic, and believed it was necessary, in order to preserve the province to the English govern- ment, to exercise a judicious policy in interpreting the orders of his royal master. His apathy displeased James, whose settled purpose was to encourage the growth of Catholicism in his dominions, rather than adhere to the ordination of the Charter of Liberties, and Dongan was recalled. He afterward returned as a private citizen, and took up his residence on an estate on Staten Island, for which he had previously procured a patent, and which for many years was in the possession of his family. It is not to be wondered at that with the accession to the throne of the Prince and Princess of Orange, stanch Protestants, an overturning of religious affairs should occur in the colony. On March 19, 1691, Governor 134 I CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 135 Sloughter arrived, and brought with him the royal authority to tear down old laws and substitute others in conformity with the wishes of the new sovereigns. Sloughter was a weakling in character, but his orders to crush every symptom of popular liberty in the colony and to rule it with a rod of iron were carried out to the letter by his assistants. The greatest evidence of his weakness was when, overcome with wine, the enemies of Leisler, the last Dutch Governor of New York, cajoled Fletcher into signing Leisler's death warrant. Under Sloughter the Charter of Liberties was declared null and void, and thus was the way made for Benjamin Fletcher, his successor, to make the Church of England the established church of the land. This was contrary to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants, who still spoke the Dutch language and adhered to the Dutch Church, which they regarded as the established church of the province. When the first Assembly was convened after his arrival Fletcher moved to have the Church of England made the established church, on the ground that the Dutch Church was attached to the Classis of Amsterdam, and therefore not within the control of the crown. The Assembly refused to listen to any such intimation. The next Asembly, which convened in the latter part of 1693, was more compliant, however, and passed an act which provided for the building of six churches — one in this city, one in Richmond, two in Westchester and two in Suffolk — each to have a Protestant minister, with a salary of from i4 to ilOO, to be paid by a tax levied on the inhabitants. This act was sent to the Governor for his approval, and, being less than he desired, was returned, with an amendment granting him the power of inducting every incumbent. The Assembly refused to pass the amendment, and was called before the Governor. He broke into violent abuse, and told the members that he would collate or suspend any minister he chose, and while in control of the government would see that heresy, schism or rebellion was not preached among them. He then dismissed them with angry threats. The Assembly would not be forced to accept the amendment, however, and the bill subsequently was passed without it, the word Protestant in it being construed to mean Episcopal. Through this construction all the inhabitants were compelled to support the Church of England, no matter what their religious opinions. In 1694 the freeholders of New York City elected two wardens and ten vestrymen, who met and voted to raise £100 for the support of a minister. At their second meeting they decided that "a Dissenting minister be called to have the Care of Souls for this City." The Governor intervened, de- claring that this office was already provided for, and that the chaplain of the garrison was by right minister of the city and entitled to the place. The Council refused to concur with the Governor, and it was not until late in 1696 that William Vesey, a dissenting clergyman, received the call. In 1696, under the provisions of the act of the Assembly mentioned above, a building for religious worship was begun, and was completed and opened on February 6 of the following year by the Rev. William Vesey. In the charter granted to it on May 6, 1697, by act of the Assembly, and approved and ratified by the Governor and Council, "a certain church and steeple lately built in the city of New York, together with a parcel of 136 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. ground adjoining," was to be known as Trinity Church. The "parcel of ground" was what was Ivnown as the "King's Farm," which had been set apart for the use of the Governor, and "consisted of a garden, an orchard, a triangular graveyard in one corner, and pasturage for cows and horses." It had been leased for twenty years, at sixty bushels of wheat a year, by Governor Andros, and at the time when a church site was being sought it was recommended to Governor Fletcher that, as the lease was about to expire, the ground should be turned over to the churchwardens for seven years without fine. This marked the real beginning of the Established Church in the province of New York. Trinity's charter was not the first issued in the colony. The Dutch Church, through Dominie Selyns, was granted a charter by Governor Fletcher some time prior to that of Trinity. With the arrival of Lord Bellomont, in 1698, as the successor of Governor Fletcher, wholesale condemnation of all the acts of his prede- cessor occurred. The vacating of the grant of land to Trinity Church by Fletcher was taken up, and appeal was made by the churchwardens and vestry to the Bishop of London to urge the Lords of Trade to prevent Bellomont from wresting from them their property and rights. So ag- grieved was the Rev. Mr. Vesey that he left the names of the Governor and his family out of his prayers. The Lords of Trade, however, laid the act for breaking the grants on the table, and peace reigned for a time. With the ascendancy of the youngest daughter of King James to the throne of England came Lord Cornbury. as Governor of the colony. He was an Episcopalian, and believed that the establishment of that church in the colony would be a safeguard against "popery." Under the Governor- ship of Cornbury the Queen gave her attention to the condition of Trinity Church. The "King's Farm," before mentioned, was augmented in 1705 by the Anetje Jans estate, and formally presented by deed patent to the church. This estate had been granted to Roelof Jansen by Van Twiller in 1636, and comprised 62 acres of ground, beginning a little south of the present Warren street and extending along Broadway as far as Duane street, thence north- westerly a mile and a half to Christopher street, forming a sort of unequal triangle, with its base upon the North River. Jansen died a few years after the grant, leaving four children, and his widow, Anetje Jans, became the wife of Dominie Bogardus. After the dominie's death the grant was confirmed by Stuyvesant to the widow. When the province was captured by the English government the grant was again confirmed to her heirs, who sold it in 1671 to Colonel Lovelace, one of the heirs, however, failing to join in the conveyance. Every now and then the validity of the title to this estate is attacked, but the estate continues to increase in value, though at one time it was of comparatively little worth. The ancient Trinity was enlarged in 1737, but during the fire on September 2, 1776, which destroyed the southwest part of the city, it was entirely burned, and lay in ruins during the war and until 1788, when it was rebuilt. It was consecrated in 1791 by the Right Rev. Bishop Provost. To this church two chapels were attached — St. George's, in Beekman street, built in 1759, and St. Paul's, in Broadway, erected in 1766. A third was added in 1807 — St. John's, in Varick street, opposite Ihe centre of Hudson Square, which at the time was the mos^ admired. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 137 fashionable and retired part of the city. It was so large and situated so far uptown that the people wondered when the time would come that a congregation would be found to fill its pews. In Ann street was Christ Church, a stone edifice, built in 1794; St. Mark's, in Stuyvesant street, built in 1795; Zion Church, in Mott street, built in 1801, and the Eglise du Saint Esprit, in Pine street, near Nassau, erected by the French Protestants in 1704. The present Trinity was consecrated in 1846. St. George's was de- stroyed by fire on the night of January 5, 1814, but with the prompt aid of Trinity Church it was again rebuilt, and consecrated in November, 1815. Another of the Episcopal churches was St. Thomas's, at the corner of Houston street and Broadway. A few years prior to the time it was built, 1826, the city had extended northward and a great number of the genteel families had removed to the vicinity, "so that it became necessary to erect a church that would correspond with the taste and wealth of the people." It was of stone, in pure Gothic style, and dis- tinguishing features of the structure were two large angular, projecting towers at the northeast and southeast corners, which rose in diminished proportions to a height of eighty feet and ended in pointed turrets of a dwarf size. Among the interesting things that occurred In the old city in 1796 were the purchase of a lot by the corporation on the southwest corner of Broad and Wall streets for £800, which to-day is worth £300 a square foot, and of Bedlow's Island by the State for the nominal sum of eight shillings, for use as a lazaretto. The school money received from the State this year was £944, £110 of which sum went to the Episcopal Free School, £200 to the Presbyterian, £250 to the Dutch, £54 to the German-Lutheran, £100 to the Scotch Presbyterian and £230 to the African churches. Fifty-eight lots of common land above Canal street were sold for £ 17,600 and "four bushels of wheat each forever." On De- cember 5 of this year a bill for £35 was rendered by John Morton, pro- prietor of "The Daily Advertiser," for printing done for the city corporation for twelve months. The incendiary was abroad during the month mentioned, as the old record tells of a reward of $500 for his apprehension, as repeated attempts had been made to fire the city. In 1797 Presbyterian churches were built in Rutgers street and in Pearl street, South street was being filled in rapidly, and in the early part of the year the laying out of Hudson street was begun. On October 17 John Adams, who had been elected President of the United States the preceding year, .was welcomed by the corporation, and another man of distinction, fresh from the rigors of a St. Petersburg prison, arrived in the autumn of 1797, and was feted by the citizens of New York — the accom- plished Pole, Kosciuszko. The Count Niemcewicz, who had fought with him and shared his imprisonment in Russia, accompanied him. Here is a record of October 30, 1797: "A menagerie of wild beasts on the corner of Pearl and State streets." On December 11 Goerck and Mangin were appointed to make a map of the city, and at the same meeting of the Council at which this action was taken "cartmen were arranged in classes, with a foreman." The law governing cartmen, porters, carts and hand barrows was strict in those days. Stations were allotted to cart- 138 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. men in nearly every street in the city, but principally in the vicinity of the wharves, piers and slips. The porters' stations were in Coffee House Slip, Pearl street and Maiden Lane. Each cart was numbered and registered as to-day, and paid for the first license $2, and for a renewal 12 1^ cents. To receive a license the applicant had to be a citizen of the United States and of the city for six months preceding his application, at least twenty- one years old and the owner of a good horse and cart. If found driving without a license a penalty of $15 was levied on him. SCENE IN BILLOPP HOUSE, STATBN ISLAND. (Committee from Congress, headed by Benjamin Franklin, rejecting Lord Howe's overtures for peace in 1776.) CHAPTER XXVIII. Religions — Lutheran. The First Lutheran Church — Justus Falckner First Lutheran Pastor to Be Ordained in America — Account of His Ordination — Four Congre- gations and One Hundred Communicants His Initial Charge. The history of the Lutheran Church in New York in the early part of the seventeenth century is extremely meagre. Whatever records were kept of the struggle of the sect to obtain a foothold in the colony are in the keeping of the authorities in Amsterdam, Holland. It is known, how- ever, that Dutch Lutherans came to America with the first settlers on Manhattan Island in 1623, and that the first German Lutheran arrived in 1644. The followers of Luther had the same trouble with Governor Stuyvesant as other religious denominations not of his belief, for in 1660 he refused them permission to build a church in New Amsterdam, and was supported by the West India Company on the ground that so dangerous a precedent would soon be followed by the other dissenting sects, and thus would the established relisiou of the province be destroyed. This refusal of Stuyvesant is considered by historians to be the first manifestation of religious bigotry in the provinces. ' When the English had succeeded in expelling the Dutch from their American possessions, in 1664, and the affairs of the province were in the hands of Colonel Nicolls, as Deputy-Governor, the Lutherans were per- mitted to erect a church and to send to Europe for a preacher of their own denomination. In February, 1669, Jacob Fabricius arrived, and was the first to preach to them in their own language, in what was known as the first Lutheran Church, which stood outside the fort, about where Bowling Green now is. When the town came once more into the possession of the Dutch, in 1670, this building was razed for military purposes, and a lot was given to the congregation at what is now the southwest corner of Broadway and Rector street. The religious zeal of the Lutherans in the seventeenth century was confined more to Pennsylvania than to New York, as in 1694 a band of German Pietists settled on the Wissahickon, a short distance from Ger- mantown, and proved a powerful factor in upholding the orthodox Lutheran faith in the province of Pennsylvania. In 1701 Andreas Rudman arrived in New York from Pennsylvania and began to gather up and organize the German, Dutch and Swedish Lutherans, who were scattered over a large territory, including parts of Long Island and East Jersey. In the latter part of the year Dominie Rudman and his family were stricken with yellow fever, which broke out with fury in the fort and in the town. The 139 I40 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. dominie's second son died from the scourge, and an urgent appeal was sent to Pennsylvania in August for assistance. Dominies Biorck and Sandel were sent to aid him, but because of the imperfect means of communication at the time it was the middle of September before they reached New York. The dominie was recovering from his illness, but concluded that on account of the rigor of the climate it would be impossible for him to continue in charge another winter. Not wishing to leave the field uncovered, he wrote to Justus Falckner, one of the Lutheran community in Pennsylvania, that he had decided to leave the province, and that he considered him more suitable than any one else to safely "commit his sheep to." He told him he would try to persuade the Ministerium to initiate him into the ministry. Falckner had not been ordained at the time, but was a devout member of the little band of German pietists on the Wissahickon. He consented to receive the Swedish ordination and to take charge of Rudman's flock. On October 27, 1703, the church council of New York wrote him to come and preach a trial sermon, but as the congregation were not insistent in the matter of a trial sermon, a formal call was sent to him to serve them as pastor. The Ministerium evidently granted the appeal of Dominie Rudman, as on November 24, 1703, Falckner was ordained in the old Swedish Lutheran Church, Gloria Dei, at Wicacoa, in Philadelphia, German, Swede and Hollander combining to furnish a regularly ordained pastor as missionary among the scattered Lutherans in the province of New York and East Jersey, and assisting in the first regular ordination of an orthodox clergyman in the Western world. The ceremony, we are told by his biographer, Julius Friederich Sachse, Litt. D., to whom the writer is indebted for most of the information regard- ing the development of the Lutheran Church in New York, "was enacted upon that bleak November day within the bare walls of the Swedish church on the banks of the Delaware. The sacred structure, as yet bare and unfinished, lacked both tower and side projections. Earthen floors and hard benches in the interior well matched the unadorned altar. "Upon this occasion no pealing organ, with a multitude of stops and pedals, vestured choir or elaborate music made melody for the service. No long procession of robed clergy, with mitred bishop surrounded by acolytes and led by the cross bearer, were present to add dignity to the scene and impress the beholder with awe. The Theosophical Brotherhood, partly clad in the habit of the German University student, others in the rough pilgrim garb of unbleached homespun, occupied the front benches, while the rear of the church was filled with a number of Swedes and a sprinkling of English churchmen and Dissenters. It is said that even a few Quakers and Indians were attracted to the church, and enhanced the picturesqueness of the scene. The service was opened with a Voluntary on the little organ (the earliest reference to a church organ in any Protestant church in America) in the gallery by Jonas, the organist, supplemented with instrumental music by the Mystics on the viol, hautboy, trumpet and kettledrum. After this they intoned the 'Veni Creator Spiritus.' " The ceremony of ordination was very impressive, says the biographer the Apostolic Creed being slowly read, each word being carefully repeated by the candidate before the next following one was ut- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 141 tered by the secretary, the Rev. Andreas Sandel. After the questions and answers of the ordination ceremony had been put and received, and the obligation was administered upon the Holy Evangels, the candidate kneeled, while the Brotherhood intoned the "Veni Sancto Spiritu" and two clergy- men invested him with the chasuble and stole. The Theosophists then intoned the "Non Nobis Domine," during which the little procession re- formed, and, as the last verse was sung, slowly left the church, and the first regular ordination of a Protestant clergyman in America was at an end. "After the ordination services were over a diploma, such as was used in the Swedish Lutheran Church at that day, was filled out in due form and laid upon the altar, before which the ordination had taken place, and there was signed and sealed by the three officiating clergymen, after which it was handed to the newly ordained presbyter." Thus was the new dominie sent out to minister in the adjoining provinces, and labor, not alone among those of his own kith and kin, but among people who used a European tongue foreign to his own. Dominie Palckner arrived in New York City eight days after his ordination, and, after preaching on the third and fourth Sundays in Advent, was accepted as their regular pastor by the oldest Lutheran con- gregation in America. His first official act was to send a report and copy of his ordination to the Lutheran Consistory at Amsterdam, under whose patronage the church in New York was established, and to whom they looked for assistance and encouragement. The Lutheran church as Dominie Falckner found it "was more like unto a cattle shed than a house of God," as he stated in a letter to the Am- sterdam Consistory. "Only two windows are in the building, one is back of the pulpit and the other directly opposite. As the church is not paved, but merely floored with loose boards, some long, others short, one cannot pass through it without stumbling." In another letter sent to Amsterdam in 1705 he says: "It is well known to you that since the death of the sainted Mr. Bernhardus Arentius we have been many years without a pastor. Hence it is that our congregation has become dispersed, the young people and many of the older ones have gone over to the so-called Reformed Sect. . . . Our congregation here is very small, because its members are dispersed far and near throughout the country; the majority of them are poor, and many, especially the young people, ignorant on account of the lack of Bibles, Catechisms, Psalm and Hymn Books, and it would be of great service here to have a pamphlet in which by means of short questions and answers the difference between the Lutheran and the so-called Re- formed opinions were exposed, every point thus concluding, 'Therefore the Lutheran opinion is the better one.' " This divine's activity extended along the whole valley of the Hudson from New York to Albany, and the four small Lutheran congregations which he served consisted of one hundred constant communicants. To his untiring zeal is due the keeping together of the Lutheran sect in the colony. In 1710 three thousand Palatines, driven from their homes by the inhuman command of Louis XIV, were financially assisted by the English government in seeking homes in the New World. Many of them remained 142 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. in New York, where, with the assistance of the small communion then existing, they built a Lutheran church on the site given them when the first church was razed. It was called the Trinity Lutheran Church. This church served the congregation until 1729, when a new building was erected. In 1776 the Lutheran church in Broadway was destroyed by fire, and the only remaining place of worship of the sect was the German Lutheran Church in Frankfort street, corner of William, which had been built in 1767. On July 6, 1784, the Trinity Lutheran congregation, hav- ing substituted the German for the Dutch tongue, united with the German Lutheran Church known as the Swamp congregation, and assumed the name "The Corporation of the United German Lutheran Churches of New York," and the services were transferred to it. About 1826 the united congre- gation moved to Walker street, near Broadway. By special act of the legislature, passed on March 29, 1866, the name was changed to "The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew," and a spacious church was secured at the northeast corner of Broome and Elizabeth streets, where the congregation now worship. The church register of this congregation, from the time of Justus Falckner, is interesting as showing the work done by him as a missionary in the province. We find that on February 27, 1704, baptism was ad- ministered in a barn at Hackensack, with the following: "O Lord! Lord, let this child, together with the three above written Hackensack Children, be and remain engrossed upon the book of life." Another record is of the baptism of a negro slave at Albany: "Anno 1712, January 27, baptized at Loonenburg, in Albany, Peter Christian, a Negro and slave of Jan Van Loons, of Loonenburg, about thirty years of age. He has promised among other things that he will hereafter, as well as he has done before, faith- rully serve his master and mistress as servant. Grant, O God, that this black and hard Negro-heart be and remain a Christian heart, and he may be numbered among those who are clothed with white raiment before the throne of the Lamb, through the merits of the Lamb of God, who bore the sins of the world. Amen." At the beginning of the nineteenth century two Lutheran churches existed in New York, the one in Frankfort street and the German Reformed Church, in Nassau street, near John. CHAPTER XXIX. Religions — Presbyterian. History of the Presbyterian Church in New York — "The Apostle of Presby- terianism in America," Rev. Francis Doughty — Arrest of Ministers by Order of Lord Cornbury. "The arm of the civil government was constantly employed in support of the denunciations of the Church, and, without its forms, the Inquisition existed in substance, with a full share of its terrors and its violence." So wrote Justice Story of the religious intolerance in the New England settle- ments in the middle of the seventeenth century, and to this religious intol- erance is due the advent of Presbyterianism in New York City in 1642, when the Rev. Francis Doughty, dragged from an assembly at Cohasset for saying that "Abraham's children should have been baptized," was obliged to flee, and found a refuge on Manhattan Island. Doughty was, therefore, the first Presbyterian minister of New York City, and, according to Dr. Charles A. Briggs, "the Apostle of Presbyterianism in America." To be accurate, Doughty's first place of refuge was Maspeth, Long Island, where he purposed establishing a Presbyterian colony, but Indian wars broke out and the colonists were forced to flee for safety to Manhattan. Here he ministered for five years as the pastor of a congregation which later became the First Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Francis Doughty had his own troubles with Governor Kieft, for the record says that "a dispute having arisen between the minister and his associates regarding the control of the Maspeth colony, the director and Council decided the case against the minister and took the control of the colony out of his hands, and upon his threatening to appeal to the court of Holland fined him tv/enty-five guilders and imprisoned him twenty-four hours for contumacy." This conflict with the Dutch Governor made it nec- essary for him to leave the city. He went to Maryland, where he labored until his death. The second Presbyterian minister to preach in the colony was the Rev. Richard Denton, an Englishman, who arrived in 164S from the Presbyterian settlement at Stamford, Conn. He divided his time between Hempstead, Long Island, and New Amsterdam, and seemed to have been persona grata with the Dutch ministers, as they permitted him to occupy the building in which they worshipped — but twice only. He returned to England in 1658. Religiovis tolerance existed in the colony at this time, and tended to pro- duce greater breadth of view and liberality of sentiment than was to be found in the New England colonies. At the time of the cession of the province to the English in 1664 there 143 1^4 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. were few Presbyterians in the city, and these few were without a definite place of worship, but they courageously kept together, and awaited the bursting of the religious intolerance bubble brought into the colony by the English. And it did burst, but the effect was of no benefit to them, for suc- ceeding Governors, at the behest of their royal masters, played battledore and shuttlecock with the religious beliefs of their subjects. Their action, however, spurred the different sects to obtain supremacy. The Presbyterians were in the ascendancy in Jamaica and obeying to the letter the laws of the land. In New York, as was said, they were few in number, and assembled in private houses on the Sabbath to conduct worship. With the coming of Lord Cornbury as ruler of the colony new instructions regard- ing religious worship were issued, and an event occurred in Jamaica which showed to what straits the Presbyterians were put in order to hold what belonged to them. Soon after the Governor's arrival yellow fever was sweeping over the city. He hastened to remove his family to a place of safety, and took up quarters for the summer at Jamaica. There were few good houses in that village, and the Rev. Mr. Hubbard, the Presbyterian minister, offered his new parsonage to the Governor, while he sought less convenient accommo- dations. The hospitality was accepted, and requited in a peculiar manner. A handful of Episcopalians in the village were envious of the prosperity of the Presbyterians, and, knowing that Cornbury had for his aim the estab- lishment of the Episcopal Church in the province, were determined to wrest from the successful sect their sacred edifice and parsonage, which they con- sidered, according to the Ministry Act passed in 1693, they held simply by virtue of priority of possession. Cornbury countenanced the scheme of the Episcopalians, and between the morning and the evening services on a Sunday afternoon a few of them obtained the key of the church and took possession of the sanctuary. The following day the outraged Presbyterians gathered around the building and forcibly entered it. A scene of violence ensued, several persons were wounded, and, assisted by Cornbury's own ser- vants, the Episcopalians became the victors, if victory there was in such a disgraceful act. Tedious litigation followed, many of the Presbyterians were prosecuted for damages to the building, and several were heavily fined and imprisoned. Cornbury gave the parsonage to the Episcopacy before he re- turned to the city at the end of the summer, and the glebe he turned over to the sheriff, who laid it out in building lots and farmed it for the benefit of the Church. In 1728 the colonial courts, however, decided that the church edifice belonged to the Presbyterians, and it was restored to them. Another act of the Governor's is of interest. The Rev. Francis Ma- kemie, an Irishman, who laid the foundations of organized Presbyterianism in this country, journeyed from the Carolinas to New York in 1706, accom- panied by the Rev. John Hampton, to preach the gospel to the few of his sect who were without a minister. He sent a message to Cornbury, asking for an interview, and received a courteous invitation the meet the Governor. The two ministers were well received by the Governor, especially as they made no mention of their intention to preach. Since they had the Queen's authority to preach anywhere in her dominions, they thought it unnecessary to trouble the Governor in the matter. Invitations were extended to them CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 145 to occupy both Dutch and French pulpits, but they had made other arrange- ments, and Makemie preached at a private house, while Hampton occupied the sacred desk of a little Newtown (Long Island) church. The Governor ordered their arrest the following day, and had them brought before him. He questioned them gruflBiy, and told them the law would not permit the countenancing of strolling preachers. They must first qualify themselves by satisfying him that they were fit to occupy the pulpit before they could be permitted to preach. Makemie referred him to the work he had performed in the South, and said he had qualified himself there. Ignorance of the law by the ministers was construed by the Governor as contumacy and inten- tional fraud, and they were held for trial. It was nearly seven weeks before it took place, and during the time the community was aroused to a deep sense of the injustice being perpetrated. The trial was attended with considerable excitement, but the ministers were acquitted by the jury, though they were obliged to pay all the expense of the prosecution, amount- ing to more than £83. Fourteen years of the eighteenth century had passed before the growth of Presbyterianism was noticeable in the colony. With the close of Lord Cornbury's administration at that time and the increase of dissensions in the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterians, relieved of civic disfavor and of the aggression of the Episcopacy, determined to establish a church. The Rev. James Anderson was called from Newcastle, Del., and was favorably received. In 1716 the Church was organized. In 1718, the sect having gained sufficient strength, a lot was purchased in Wall street, near the City Hall, from the heirs of Gabriel Thompson, who had originally purchased it from the "De Peyster Gardens," and the erection of a church was begun. The lot was 124 by 88 feet, and the purchase price was £350. During the building of the church the congregation, by special act of the corporation, were allowed to hold their services in the City Hall. Owing to the opposition of Trinity, which still claimed to be the Church of New York, the Presbyterians were unable to secure a charter for the church, so the pastor and a few members held the property in fee simple until 1730, when it was transferred to the Church of Scotland, and held by it until 1766. The First Church was enlarged in 1748, and entirely rebuilt in 1810 of brownstone. In the conflagration of 1835 it was de- stroyed, but was rebuilt soon after, and occupied for eight or ten years, when, tempted by the Increasing value of the ground, the congregation disposed of it for secular purposes and removed to their new edifice in Fifth avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. The old church was taken down, stone by stone, and put up again in Jersey City, where it was a conspicuous object for many years. The Second, or Brick, Presbyterian Church, in Beekman street, was built in 1767 on the angular lot known as "The Vineyard," which had been granted by the corporation at a rental of i40 a year to John Rogers and Joseph Treat, ministers, and John Morin Scott, Peter R. Livingston and others, trustees, for an indefinite period. More fortunate than its neigh- bor, the Brick Church escaped the great conflagration, and remained a landmark of olden times until the widening of Beekman street demanded its demolition, when the congregation began the erection of a new edifice 146 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. on the corner of Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh street. The iron railing which had surrounded the church for so many years was taken down and removed to South Brooklyn, where it was set up about the residence of the late J. S. T. Stranahan. These were Associated Churches, and were under the care of the Rev. Drs. Rogers, McKnight and Miller. The Third, or Scotch, Presbyterian church stood in Cedar street, between Broadway and Nassau street, and was founded in 1758. "The church is lighted with gas during evening service," says a record of 1829. It was under the charge of Dr. Mason. The Fourth Presbyterian Church, a wooden building, stood in Rutgers street, and was founded in 1797. It was in charge of the Rev. Dr. Milledollar. The Fifth, in Pearl street, near Broadway, was also founded in 1797. The Sixth Reformed Scotch Presbyterian Church stood in Chambers street. The home of the Seventh, in 18 28, was in a room in Hud- son street, corner of Christopher. The Eighth, built of stone in 1867, stood in Cedar street, between Nassau and William. Dr. Romeyn was the pastor. It was the ancestor of Dr. Pott's church in University Place and of Dr. Alex- ander's, at the corner of Nineteenth street and Fifth avenue. The Ninth was in Orange street, now Baxter street, and was built, in 1808, of wood. The Tenth, in Spring street, was founded in 1810, and was also built of wood. The Eleventh, in Murray street, was built of stone in 1812, "with a tower rising to the height of two hundred feet, and pews receding amphitheatri- cally from the pulpit." At the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century there were twenty-one Presbyterian churches in New York City, as against eighteen Episcopal, thirteen Dutch Reformed, thirteen Baptist, fourteen Methodist, four Catholic, three Unitarian, three Lutheran, one Moravian, two Uni- versalist and three Friends' Meeting Houses. BILLOPP HOUSE, STATEN ISLAND. (Oldest house in City of New York. Built in 168S.) CHAPTER XXX. Religions — Baptist, Methodist, Jewish and Quaker. The Baptist Church — Meetings in Private Dwellings — Sacrament Admin- istered in Rigging Loft — The Methodist Church — The Moravians — The Quakers — The Jews. The history of the organization and growth of the Baptist Church in the old city is of more than ordinary interest. Prior to 1750 the members of this sect were few in number, and these few maintained prayer meet- ings for several years in private dwellings. In 1755 they held services in a rigging loft in -William street, and a sermon was occasionally delivered to them by a minister from Scotch Plains, N. J., of the church at which place they were considered a branch. Once in three months Elder Miller, the pastor of the Scotch Plains church, administered the sacrament to them in the William street rigging loft. In 1760 a small church was founded by the sect in Gold street, between Fulton and John, and in 1762 the First Baptist Church was opened, with twenty-seven members, the Rev. John Gano, a scholar Of rare culture, becoming the first pastor. The infant church flourished under his ministry for sixteen years prior to the War of the Revolution, the membership in- creasing from a mere handful to over two hundred communicants. With the breaking out of hostilities, the Rev. John Gano became a chaplain in the army. The little congregation was scattered, and their house of worship was turned into a stable by the British troops. When peace again reigned the minister returned to the city to take up his charge, but could find only thirty-seven of the former two hundred and fifty members of his church. He valiantly set to work to re-establish the body, and in a short time the house of worship was rehabilitated and the membership was increased to nearly three hundred. In 1788 Mr. Gano resigned his charge, and was suc- ceeded by the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Foster, who was the minister for ten years. During the pastorate of his successor, the Rev. William Collier, the church in Gold street was rebuilt of stone, and in May, 18 02, was dedicated, one of the sons of the first pastor of the church, the Rev. Stephen Gano, deliv- ering the sermon of dedication. This church was taken down in 1840, and it is said the stone of which it was composed was worked up into a Baptist church on the corner of Broome and Elizabeth streets, to which the con- gregation soon after removed. Two other churches of this denomination were founded near the end of the eighteenth century, one in Oliver street, in 1795, and rebuilt in 1819, afterward known as the Third Baptist Church, and another in Rose street, built of brick in 1799, and afterward known as the Fourth Baptist Church. 147 148 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. With the breaking of the century the denomination began to increase in numbers, so that from 1805 to 1824 ten more churches were built, and numbered. Tlie Fifth Baptist Church was founded in 1805, in Anthony- street (now Worth); the Sixth, in 1806, in Broome street; the Seventh, in 1809, and rebuilt in 1817, in Mulberry street; the Eighth, in 1810, in Vandam street; the Ninth, in 1818, in York street; the Tenth, in 1819, in Delancey street; the Second, in 1824, in Nassau street, between John and Fulton streets; the Eleventh, in 1825, in Provost street (now Franklin); the Twelfth, in the Bowery, opposite Spring street, and the Thirteenth, in Broome street, between Lewis and Cannon streets. The Methodists were unknown in New York until 1766. Early in this year a few families came, and with them a local preacher from Ireland, the Rev. Philip Embury. Soon after his arrival he began to hold services in his own house, and afterward rented a room in the soldiers' barracks. During the early winter Thomas Webb, a captain in the British Army, and also a Methodist minister, stationed at Albany as barrack master, came to New York and preached in uniform in the street. It was such an unusual occur- rence that a large number gathered to listen to him, and it also increased the desire of Embury to procure a plac« in which to hold services. A loft in Horse and Cart Lane (now William street) was rented, and here the Methodist Church in New York had its foundation. For two years this place was occupied by the disciples of Wesley. In 1768 the society outgrew the humble tenement, and a lot was purchased in John street, near Nassau street, on which a little edifice was built 62 feet long a^d 4 2 wide. It was the first Methodist church in America, and was christened Wesley Chapel. When the first Methodist conference in America was convened at Philadel- phia, in 1773, it was reported that the New York church had one hundred and eighty members. In 1784 the Methodist Episcopal Church was regularly established in New York. In 1817 Wesley Chapel was removed to Harlem, and a neat, substantial building of stone, 78 by 62 feet, was erected on its site. The record says: "It is built in the modern fashion, with the pews sloping from the rear of the house down to the pulpit, which is low and separated by a mahogany railing." The Second Methodist Church was founded in 1789, in Forsyth street, and was built of stone; the Third, in 1797, in Duane street, also of stone; the Fourth, in 1800, for Africans, and rebuilt in 1820, in Church street; the Fifth, in 1806, in Mott street; the Sixth, in 1809, in Allen street; the Seventh and Eighth, in the same year, the first in Bedford street and the second in Elizabeth street, for Africans; the Ninth, in 1818, in Broome street; the Tenth, or Bowery Village, Church (now the Seventh Street Church), in 1818, in what was known as Nicholas "V^illiam Street (once parallel with Stuyvesant street, but now blotted out); the Eleventh, or Wesleyan Seminary, in 1820, in Crosby street; the Twelfth, in 1821, in Chrystie street; the Thirteenth, in 1825, in Delancey street; the Four- teenth, in 1826, in Willett street. The Moravians antedate the Baptists and Methodists in New York City. In 1736 two Moravian bishops from Germany, on their way to Penn- sylvania, visited the city, and were invited to hold services in the house of John Noble, an elder in the Wall Street Presbyterian Church. The elder CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 149 became interested in the work of the bishops, and offered to enlist in their cause. They acquiesced, and Noble withdrew from the Presbyterian Church, and began to organize a society of believers in the work of the Moravian Church. Worship was held privately among those he gathered, but on the return of the bishops from Pennsylvania public services were held by a congregation of nine persons. About 1741 a colony of Mora- vians, on their way to Pennsylvania in charge of the founder of the Mora- vian Church in Germany, landed in New York and gave an impetus to the work of Elder Noble, so that the organization was in a permanent and flourishing condition when Count Zinzendorf and his party left the city. In 1751 a church 44 by 34 feet was built in Fulton street, with a cemetery in the rear, but was taken down and rebuilt in 1829. In 1833 the work of widening Fulton street was begun, and it was found necessary to cut off eight feet of the building. In 1843 a new edifice was erected on the corner of Houston and Mott streets, and the Fulton street structure was removed and the lot sold. The first Friend, or Quaker, preached in New York in 1672, though in 1658 two women of a party of Quakers who had been expelled from New England earnestly gave vent to their belief in the streets, and were arrested and taken to the prison in the fort. After being examined they were placed on board a ship bound for Rhode Island. The Quakers fared poorly under Stuyvesant, according to their records. One of them, Robert Hodgson, went to Hempstead, intending to preach. He was arrested, and a message was sent to Stuyvesant, who ordered him brought before him. After being examined his Bible and papers were taken from him, and he was tied in a painful position for twenty-four hours. Two women who had entertained him were also arrested and tied into a cart to the back of which the preacher was fastened with his head downward, and in this position the three were conveyed through the streets to prison. "Hodgson was tried and sentenced to two years' hard labor with a negro at the wheelbarrow, or to pay a fine of £50. Unable to pay the fine, he was ordered chained to the wheelbarrow; but, being unused to work, could not comply with the order to move. A tarred rope was then plied on his back by a negro until he fell exhausted. He was lifted up, and again beaten until he fainted, and was then thro\yn into his cell in the dungeon. The third day he was brought before Stuyvesant, who told him he must work; that he would be whipped every day until he did. The preacher asked what law he had broken to warrant his being punished in such a brutal manner. For answer he was again confined for three days without anything to eat or drink. No symptoms of surrendering being apparent, he was taken to a private room, stripped to the waist and suspended from the ceiling by his hands, with a heavy log of wood fastened to his feet, and was again lashed by a negro until his flesh was cut to pieces. He begged to see some person of his own country, and an Englishwoman was sent to him, who bathed his wounds, and then informed her husband of his condition. He interceded for the preacher and offered to give a fat ox to the sheriff if he were per- mitted to remove Hodgson to his house. The sheriff refused his offer and told him the whole fine would have to be paid before mercy could be shown to the preacher. The story of the brutal work was noised around, and. 150 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. reaching the Governor's sister, Mrs. Bayard, caused her to interfere, with the result that Hodgson was released, but in an almost dying condition." In 1661 a proclamation of "conditions and privileges" was scattered through the British Kingdom at the instance of the Holland States Gen- eral, telling the glories of New Netherland and assuring "persons of tender conscience" that they would be protected in their right of worship. But this was not for the Quakers. They were still to be persecuted. It was not until 1685 that they obtained recognition, and then only through the advo- cacy of Penn, who found gracious treatment at the hands of King James. During Cornbury's administration of affairs in 1702 "liberty of con- science was granted to all persons except papists, and the solemn affirmation of the Quakers was to be taken instead of an oath," but special care was to be exercised by him "that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served." Two years later the first meeting house of the Quakers was established in Green Street Alley, between Liberty street and Maiden Lane, and was afterward removed to Liberty street. In 1775 they erected a house of brick in Pearl street, between Franklin Square and Oak street, which was taken down in 1824 to make room for other buildings. At the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century they had three places of wor- ship — in Hester street, built in 1819; in Rose street, built in 1824, and in Manhattanville, built in 1825. Market and Orchard streets were at one time occupied wholly by the Quakers. The latter street was then the garden spot of the city, with com- fortable houses, set in with trees and shrubbery. As George street in the old days. Market street had an evil repute, and became an eyesore to the Quakers. Appeal was made to the city authorities to change its condition, but it received no answer. The Quakers adopted their own measures of reform of buying the entire property, rebuilding some of the houses and purifying all of them. They then changed the name of the street to Market, and made it a haven of social rest in whose vicinity refinement reigned. ^ A record of two hundred and twenty-four years ago says: "The Jews' petition to the Governor [Dongan] for liberty to exercise their religion, being by him recommended to the Mayor and Aldermen, was read in Com- mon Council, and they returned their opinion thereupon, 'That noe pub- lique worship is tolerated, by act of Assembly, but to those that professe faith in Christ, and therefore, the Jews' worship not to be allowed.' " The foregoing is the first mention of the Jews in the old city, though they were, no doubt, a part of its life twenty years prior to the date of the record. At that time, as to-day, their worship was devoid of ostentation. Even when an attempt was made to draw them into the maelstrom incident to religious intolerance with the promise of recognition for themselves, it was met with rebuffs. In 1728 is a record of "a lot of ground granted to the Jews for a burying ground, near the cripple bush or swamp, 112 feet long and 50 broad, situated opposite Chatham Square, corner of Fayette street" — then a long distance out of the city — and two years later a record of the building of a synagogue in Mill street, near the junction of the pres- ent Beaver and Broad streets. In 1738 they were disfranchised in a peculiar way. Adolph Philipse had been Speaker of the House for twelve years, but lost his seat in the general election of 1737. The following year, at a special CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 151 election held to fill a vacancy caused by the death of one of the members, Philipse contested the election with the son of the deceased member, and was elected. The opponent entered a complaint against the sheriff of dishonesty in counting the votes, and his examination was ordered. He was acquitted of fraud, and the candidates were directed to exchange lists of questionable electors. The qualification of the Jews as electors was denied by the attorney for the complaining candidate, and the opposing counsel urged the "authority of the law which gave the suffrage to all free-holders of competent estates, not excepting 'the descendants of Abraham, according to the flesh.' " The debate lasted for three days, but the House, before which the proceedings took place, decided that Jews could not vote, and it was some years after that that the right to vote was given to them. At the time the Mill street congregation was established few of the members lived above Wall street. In the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury, with the increase in the commercial growth of the city and the continued arrival of Jews from Europe, the erection of a new temple be- came necessary, and a building formerly used as an African church, in Elm street, north of Canal, was purchased and fitted up by the German and Polish Jews. These were the only places of worship up to 1830. "X Plan oS.ilu- ( ii\ (if Ts r.w^ORK from an .a.c\:ii:i I .Suixcv^ :e ,- ' , \ ■^m •1 HJ'-""*^ , r "^ ^MJ ^!'^m-^ tiA I ..to 1^ ■■yssgy-' ., ■ •A f inSiii CHAPTER XXXI. Keligions — Roman Catholic. Advent of the Sect in the City — Great Intolerance Shown to It — Opening of a Latin School — Liberty of Conscience Granted to All Except "Papists." It would be easier to write the history of the Catholic denomination in the city of New York after 18 25 than prior to that date, as the Church has been wofully lax in the keeping of records. This may be attributed to two causes: First, the non-toleration, under the Dutch, of any religion but the Calvinist, and, second, the proscription, under British rule, with the exception of the period of the Dongan adminis- tration, of Catholicity and Catholic worship under penalty of the law. Other religious bodies were subject to certain intolerant rules during both administrations, and, as has been told in the short histories of the denomina- tions, members of them were punished for the infraction of these rules, but no statute law existed prohibiting the entrance into the colony of any other sect but the Catholic. As far back as 1643, twenty-eight years after the settlement was founded, it is recorded that the Dutch ransomed from the Mohawks one Father Isaac Joques, who had been a slave in the tribe for nearly a year, and brought him to their settlement, and that there he found two of his own faith; that after the departure of this priest for Holland, another, the Rev. Francis Joseph Bressani, who had also fallen into the hands of the Indians, was rescued by the Dutch and brought to New Amsterdam. No record exists, however, of either having performed priestly functions. Under the administration of the Duke of York in 1664 no person who professed Christianity was "to be molested, fined or imprisoned for differing in opinion on matters of religion," and the new colony was opened to the Catholics, but few of the sect were in New York to avail themselves of the new order of things. In 1674 Governor Andros arrived, and with him, as Lieutenant Governor, came Anthony Brockholls, a Lancashire Catholic. The Lieutenant Governor interested himself in the affairs of his religion, and sought to increase the number of its worshippers in the colony. Through him a few Catholic settlers arrived, and petitions were made to the Jesuit missionaries on the Chesapeake to extend their mission to New York, which they did for a time. With the advent of Governor Dongan, a Catholic, in 1683, religious toleration was still further extended, and a Catholic mis- sion was organized, consisting of Father Henry Harrison and Father Charles Gage, with two lay brothers. They were to minister to the Catholics in the province and to replace the French missionaries among the Indians. For 152 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 153 the use of the Governor and his household and the small body of Catholics in the city a room was fitted up as a chapel in bis house in the fort, and here the first worship took place. In 1G84, on the grounds now occupied by Trinity Church, a Latin school was opened by the Jesuits — the first edu- cational institution of the kind in the city, and presumably under the con- trol of Father Thomas Harvey, who accompanied Dongan from England. The peaceful exercise by Catholics of their religion was destined to be of short duration, however, a religious ferment took possession of the English people when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, in 1685, and they began to scrutinize the acts of King James in officering with Roman Catholics, in defence of law, a large military force which he had ordered to be organized. New York caught the alarm, and a rumor was started, based on the establishment of the Latin school, that Governor Dongan had been ordered to establish the Roman Catholic re- ligion in the colony. The citizens became alarmed, removed many of their children from the school and sent them to schools in New England. Don- gan's Catholic officers were closely watched, and all confidence in the Governor was passing away. A change, however, was taking place at this time in the affairs of New England and New York, at the instance of James, v/hich served to abate the suspicion of the people. He resolved to unite his colonies under one viceregal government, with either Dongan or Andros, who in 1686 had been commissioned to the supreme command of New England, in control. Dongan, "who had given more advice and shown more official zeal than was agreeable to the politicians surrounding James," was retired and offered a major generalship of artillery in the British Army, which he refused, and Andros received the appointment. New York was deeply humiliated with the loss of her provincial individuality, but those of her citizens who were Protestants rejoiced in the change of Gov- ernors, as Sir Edmund Andros was of the Church of England. No change of note occurred in the religious affairs of the colony under the Governor- ship of Nicholson, who was Lieutenant Governor under Andros, until the news arrived of the downfall of James and the accession of William and Mary to the throne. Rejoicing over the severance of the bond between New England and herself, which occurred in May, 1689, New York plunged headlong into intense devotion to a Dutch prince and became again intol- erant of Catholicism and intrenched in prejudice. The Lieutenant Gov- ernor, even, though a consistent Episcopalian, was suspected to be a tool of the dethroned James and secretly at work in his interest, and many sup- posed that the leading Dutch citizens were going over to Catholicism. On May 15 it was reported that ex-Governor Dongan was the instigator of an infernal plot to destroy New York, and shortly after an unsigned petition was presented to Colonel Bayard asking that the Roman Catholics in the city be disarmed, though at the time they were few in either city or province, and there were not twenty among the soldiers. Mayor Van Cort- landt, suspecting who the authors of the petition were, sent for them to come and sign their names. They refused, and demanded an answer in writing or the return of their petition. The answer was given to them ver- bally "that their wishes would be respected," and the petition was re- turned. Then followed the Leisler incident. 154 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. In 1691 William ordained a government for New York which continued substantially in operation for nearly a century. To the new Governor, Sloughter, orders were given to grant liberty of conscience to all peaceable inhabitants "except papists," and to annul the "Charter of Liberties," by which religious tolerance was given to the people. Catholics were no longer safe in the city, and those of the faith who had means removed to other parts of the country, while those without means found it necessary for their safety to show no outward evidence of their faith. In a report transmitted to England in 1696 by Governor Fletcher it was stated that there were nine Catholics in New York City, and, "that these as well as other members of their faith in other parts of the colony should be away from priestly inter- vention," in 1700, under the Governorship of Lord Bellamont and through his influence, the New York Legislature passed a law prohibiting the entrance of any Catholic priest "within the colony of its limits, as claimed by England." A heavy punishment was set down in the law for violation of it. Enactments were also made prohibiting Catholics holding office or voting for any civil or other position in the colony. From this time for a large number of years the history of the Catholic Church in New York is lost in darkness or, on account of the penal laws, was never written. In 1741 the Negro Plot occurred, and as some Irish Catholics had ar- rived a short time previously to it, it was supposed that they had lent their aid to the negroes in the plot to burn the city. "Ignorance and illiberal pre- judice universally prevailed," says the historian of the event, "and it is hoped that the veil of filial affection will be drawn over the errors of our forefathers." In 1756 Bishop Challoner, of London, describing the condition of his transatlantic flock, said of New York: "If there be any straggling Catho- licks, they can have no exercise of their religion, as no priests ever come near them; nor to judge by what appears to be the present disposition of the inhabitants, are ever like to be admitted amongst them." At the time written of the Catholic settlements of America were looked upon as "appur- tenances or appendixes of the English mission," and the "Vicars-Apostolic of London since the time of James II always had authority over the English colonies and islands in America." In 1764 we find that on the death of the Rev. Theodore Schneider, founder of the German Catholic congregation in Philadelphia, the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, of the Catholic mission in Pennsylvania, was appointed to take charge of his field and also to minister to the Catholics in New Jersey, and that he extended his labors to New York and ministered to a little congregation worshipping in the house of a German co-religionist in Wall street. At what precise date he labored in the city it is impossible to tell. His work was carried on secretly, however, as an act was in existence up to and during the Revolution prohibiting the presence of a Catholic priest within the limits of the colony. In the New York convention of 1777, for the framing of a constitu- tion, Catholicism was attacked by John Jay in an amendment offered by him to the section on naturalization, as follows: That the person applying for naturalization be required to "abjure and renounce all allegiance and subjection to all and every foreign king, prince, potentate and state in all CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 155 matters ecclesiastical and civil," and, though earnestly opposed, was car- ried. By it Catholics could not be naturalized until they renounced subjec- tion to the Pope in ecclesiastical affairs. Another amendment was offered by Jay when the section on toleration came up — "that the Legislature have power at any time to deny toleration to any sect or denomination." This excited so much debate that he withdrew it and offered another, "except the professors of the religion of the Church of Rome, who ought not to hold any lands or be admitted to a participation of the civil rights enjoyed by the members of this State, until such time as the said professors shall appear in the Supreme Court of this State, and there most solemnly swear that they verily believe in their consciences that no pope, priest or foreign authority on earth hath power to absolve the subjects of this state from their allegiance to the same. And further, that they renounce and believe to be false and wicked the dangerous and damnable doctrine that the Pope, or any other earthly authority, hath power to ab- solve men from their sins, described in and prohibited by the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and particularly that no pope, priest or foreign authority on earth hath power to absolve them from the obligation of this oath." This amendment was defeated, though another one introduced by Jay and not so broadly put was carried, which contained these words as an introduction to the free exercise of worship within the State: "And whereas, we are re- quired by the benevolent principles of rational liberty, not only to expel civil tyranny, but also to guard against that spiritual oppression and in- tolerance wherewith the bigotry and ambition of weak and wicked princes have scourged mankind, this convention," etc. The legislature adopted Jay's idea, and worded the oath of office in conformity with his suggestion, so that Catholics from abroad were prevented from becoming naturalized as citizens of New York State. The prohibition of citizenship and the exercise of priestly functions was also extended, before the Revolution, to the printing of Catholic books in the State, which at that time contained a little over a thousand worshippers. But with the establishment of peace a change occurred, and the Catholics of the city resolved to worship publicly. The Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, who left after the fire of 1776, came openly to the city and organized a little body of eighteen communicants, holding services in the house of one of the members. In October, 1784, the Rev. Charles Whelan, who had been a chaplain in the French service, arrived in New York, and was invited by the Catholics to minister to them. He consented, and, without waiting for faculties, took up the burden which the venerable Ferdinand Farmer had borne so long. A place in which to worship permanently was sought, but the little community at the time were without sufficient money to purchase anything suitable, and had to be satisfied to meet wherever they could. In April, 1785, application was made to the city authorities by the French Consul, Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, for permission to use the Exchange, in Broad street, then occupied, as a temporary place In which to worship. It was not granted, and the Catholics resolved to secure ground and erect a church. On June 10, 1785, the consul and three other persons formed a corporation known as "the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church in the City of New York," under the law for the incorporation of religious societies, 156 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. which had been passed a short time previously, and proceeded to obtain a site for a church. During the summer they secured a lease of five lots in Barclay street, extending to Church street, on which a carpenter shop stood, and established a temporary church building for the Catholics of New York City. In August Trinity Church, which owned the fee, agreed to sell them the reversion on easy terms, and on October 5, 1785, the corner- stone of a church was laid with appropriate ceremonies. They were -not able, through lack of funds, to proceed with the work of building, so that it was not until November 4, 1786, that the church was dedicated, the Rev. Andrew Nugent, a Capuchin, offering the first mass in it. Father Whelan having retired in the preceding February. In 1787 the Rev. William O'Brien succeeded Father Nugent, and continued as pastor for many years. It was apparent in 1809 that this church, St. Peter's, was not adequate for the continually increasing number of Catholics, and a movement was started to found a church in honor of the patron saint of Ireland. The project was entered into warmly, and a subscription list was opened to buy ground and to pay for the erection of a church. The site selected was outside the city limits at the time, and surrounded by hills and meadows. On June 8, 1809, the cornerstone was laid of old St. Patrick's, in what is now Mott street. The work on the building went on slowly, and it was not until 1815 that it was ready for divine service. On May 4 of that year it was dedicated with impressive ceremonies, and was considered the finest church edifice in the United States. The first ordination of a priest in the city took place in the church in 1815, that of the Rev. Michael O'Gorman. In 1827 Christ Church, in Ann street, was purchased and rededicated as a Catholic church. From authentic sources the Catholic population at this time was about twenty-five thousand, composed mainly of persons who had emigrated from Ireland, though there were enough of German extraction to require services in the German language. The next twelve years saw a great addition to the growth of the church in New York City, as out of a total of 343,517 persons arriving at New York from foreign countries 151,- 672 were from Ireland alone, and then the "Irish vote" began to count in politics, which resulted in the repeal of the obnoxious religious intolerance laws, the historical remembrance of which has almost been swept away through the advance of education and enlightenment. New York City was made the see of a Catholic diocese in 1808," and the Rev. Richard Luke Concanen, of the Order of St. Dominic, was conse- crated bishop at Rome on April 24 of that year to preside over it. The bishop left Rome on June 3, for Leghorn, where he hoped to find a vessel for some port in the United States. The French were in possession of Leghorn and had sequestered American vessels because they had been visited by English cruisers, so that it was impossible for him to start for his new see. He returned to Rome, and in April, 1810, made another attempt to reach the colonies. He arrived in Naples, and succeeded in securing passage on a vessel bound for Salem, Mass., which was to start on June 17. His passports were declared unsatisfactory by the Board of Police at Naples, and he was ordered not to embark. This action depressed him greatly, and caused an attack of fever, from which he died on the following CRADLE DAYS OF XEIV YORK. 157 day. Father Anthony Kohlmann was appointed to administer the affairs of the diocese until his successor was appointed. On November 6, 1815, Bishop Concanen's successor, the Right Rev. John Connolly, was conse- crated at Rome, and arrived in New York eighteen days afterward, finding in his new diocese nearly seventeen thousand Catholics. ^^..s« Again the people had to return to the Tea Water Pump, whose water appeared to taste sweeter than ever, and in emergencies to the brackish water of the other wells on the island. But new schemes were not wanting for supplying the city with water, such as cutting an open canal to the Housatonic River, in Connecticut, or obtaining water from the Passaic River, in New Jersey, or boring artesian wells. None of them was adopted, however. Some one called attention to the Croton River, flowing into the Hudson near the old Van Cortlandt Manor House, forty miles above the city. It offered special advantages, as it traversed a region where ten or more natural lakes might at any time be brought into service. In 1834 surveys were ordered of this region and estimates made of the cost to the city of supplying it with water from this point. Among the commissioners was an alderman from the Second Ward named Samuel Stevens, who, after the report of the commission was made public, persevered intelligently for the fulfilment of his idea to bring good water in abundance into every home. Some of the other commissioners favored the Bronx scheme before spoken of. At last a board of engineers reported in favor of an aqueduct fifteen miles long to take Croton water near the mouth of the river, and deliver thirty million gallons daily at a distributing reservoir on Murray Hill. It was a much bolder plan than the one proposed in 1798, but the principle was the same — an aqueduct to the Harlem River; across this by a lofty bridge; then to the distributing reservoir. As the cost of such a system CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. i6i would run into the millions, the legislature ordered a vote of the people in 1835 to decide whether the work should be done. A large majority favored the scheme, but a few murmured at the cost. At the end of the year, however, the great fire occurred, and was an object lesson to the grumblers of the imperfect condition of their so-called water system. Every one agreed that the work should be started at once, and engineers staked out Croton Lake and laid the course of the aqueduct from the dam to the Harlem. They then built a dam across the Croton River and made a basin capable of holding five hundred millions of gallons, covering four hundred acres of land. "An aqueduct was constructed down to the Harlem River, carrying the healing streams by tunnels through rocks and hills and upon embankments across valleys and intervening streams, and across the Harlem was thrown the present High Bridge. This bridge struck the island at the present One Hundred and Seventy-fourth street. Later a small reservoir was built here for Harlem houses. The water was brought to the open air for the first time after its journey of forty miles in a reservoir placed at what was supposed would be Sixth avenue and Eighty-sixth street, but which location was taken in by Central Park, where it may be seen." On June 22, 1842, the work was practically completed from the Croton to the distributing reservoir at Fifth avenue and Forty-second street, except that. High Bridge not being finished, the water was carried for the time being by syphon pipes under the Harlem River. Celebrations by the people were now the order of the day. On June 22 water was for the first time let into the canal, or conduit, and a little boat of special design, called the Croton Maid, holding four persons, was sent through its entire length for the purpose of a thorough inspection. On June 27 water was admitted to the receiving reservoir, at Eighty-sixth street, in the presence of the Governor of the State and the city dignitaries, and on July 4, with suitable ceremonies, into the distributing reservoir on Murray Hill. On October 14, 184 2, a monster celebration took place, the like of which was not surpassed in the city's history up to that time. The whole population was given a chance to express its delight at the work which man had bestowed on it. The State officials were again present, with foreign consuls, mayors of other cities and dignitaries of the nation. In that part of City Hal] Park given over to the postoffice a splendid and ingeniously arranged fountain had been placed, with a large pipe and eighteen smaller ones in its centre, through which, by shifting the plate of the conduit pipe, the water could be made to assume different shapes. After the president of the water commission had made a formal transfer of the aqueduct to the city, and artillery thundered in honor of the event, the fountain was set playing sixty feet into the air, and for two hours a procession indicating by floats the interest which each trade or profession took in the enterprise completed passed the reviewing stand. It may be well to mention that nothing but Croton water was served at the reception given by the city authorities at the City Hall. CHAPTER XXXm. (1798) The First Steamboat — Monopoly of Hudson Traffic Granted to Robert R. Livingston — His Craft a Failure — Fulton and the Clermont's First Trip to Albany — First Steam Ferryboats. The second movement inaugurated in 1798 for the benefit of the people was the application of steam as a propulsive power on water. At the first session of the legislature held that year Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, who had sailed around the Collect the previous year in Fitch's boat, appeared before the body with a plan for "applying the steam engine in such a way as to propel a boat." As the experiment would be expensive, he wanted the assurance of the legislature that in the event of its proving successful he would be protected in whatever advantages were derived from the operation of his scheme. While the members of the House listened with apparent interest to the Chancellor's views on steam propelled boats, when the bill to protect him in his rights was introduced by his friend. Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, they received its reading with laughter, and some of them with ridicule. The bill's sponsor was as much interested in the ulti- mate success of Chancellor Livingston's experiment as the Chancellor was, and persisted in pushing the bill until it was either accepted or rejected. The House played with it for a while, and made sport of Dr. Mitchell, but eventually, believing in his sincerity, passed an act which gave to Judge Livingston "the exclusive right and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be propelled by the force of fire or steam, on all the waters within the territory or jurisdiction of the State of New York for a term of twenty years from the passing of the act — upon condition that he should within a twelvemonth build such a boat, the mean of whose progress should not be less than four miles an hour." The Chancellor prior to the passage of the act had made an agreement with Nicholas Roosevelt, of the old New York family, and Colonel John Stevens to build a boat on joint account, the engines for which were to be constructed by Roosevelt at his shop on the Passiac, the propelling agency to be planned by Livingston, with the co-operation of Stevens. It was because of the promising signs of success that the protection of the legislature was sought. However, on October 21, 1798, the craft was completed and ready for the trial trip. It proved a failure. Later Stevens persuaded the Chan- cellor to put a set of paddles in the stern, with the result that the craft on which Livingston had built his hopes was shaken to pieces and was abandoned. The Chancellor was not easily beaten, however. A few years later he was the accredited minister plenipotentiary of the United States 162 CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 163 to France, and became acquainted with Robert Fulton. Fulton in 1785 was known only as a miniature portrait painter in New York, and had gone over to Europe to study art with Benjamin West. In his trips among the rural mansions of the nobility to study, at West's suggestion, the master- pieces possessed by many of them, he made the acquaintance of the Earl of Bridgewater, then interested in England's canal system. During his intercourse with the earl Fulton found that his tastes lay more toward civil engineering than toward art, and adopted the former profession. His successful experiments began to be mooted throughout the Continent, and one of them, with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats, created so much anxiety in the minds of the officials of the English government that they hastened to acquaint themselves with all his doings. When Fulton called upon Chancellor Livingston he found him receptive regarding his scheme to construct a steamboat, whose trial trip was to take place on the Seine. Work was begun on the craft, and it was completed in 1803. The first trial resulted in the boat going to the bottom of the river because its hull was not able to sustain the weight of the machinery. It was taken up and reconstructed, and another trial proved successful. The Chancellor saw at once that Fulton's idea or model was better than Fitch's or his own, and agreed to enter into partnership, Joel Barlow, a man of moans, guaranteeing Fulton's share of the finances. In the mean time Livingston wrote home and procured an extension of the legislative act granted in 1798 by the State of New York, and thus secured the monopoly of the Hudson for a few years longer. He was convinced that a boat could be successfully moved by steam over the waters of New York, and from his large wealth was willing to give enough money to accomplish the result. Through his aid an engine was ordered built in England from plans which Fulton furnished, and in 1806 Fulton returned to New York to build the boat to contain it. The Chancellor could not stay in France while the work was under way, and resigned his mission in 1805, traveling for a few months on the Continent and reaching New York about the time the engine arrived at the shipyard of Brown Brothers, at the foot of East Houston street. The building of the craft created great discussion, the possibility of its success was denied, and those who watched its construction were filled with incredulity. And it was a strangely constructed affair, 130 feet long, 18 feet beam and 7 feet in depth, of 160 tons burden, with two masts, rigged for the purpose of carrying sails; a deckhouse pierced by windows and fitted up with twelve berths, the space at both ends of it open to the sky. When the machinery arrived it was put up piece by piece within the boat, the last of the fittings being a great iron pipe, which rose from the centre of the boat to the height of the masts, and two great wheels hung on either side like those in use in mills. The day for the trial trip arrived, and it was with evident reluctance that the persons invited by Fulton to participate were present. "Very few believed the boat would ever reach its destination, and dire disaster was predicted by others. "Silent and uneasy, they stood around in groups when the signal was given to start. When the great, uncouth wheels, without any wheelboxes, stirred the water into a white foam and the boat moved i64 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. forward, many closed their eyes and v/aited for the moment when they would be either sent skyward or go down to the bottom of the river. The boat stopped suddenly, and the crowd lining the river bank shouted deri- sively to those on board. Fulton was evidently perplexed, and asked the indulgence of the passengers for half an hour, promising that if he could not remedy the trouble he would abandon the undertaking. He hurried below, found the cause to be the improper adjustment of some of the machinery, and quickly remedied it. After going a short distance the craft was headed homeward, and the trial trip was successful." On Friday, August 4, 1807, an advertisement appeared in the New York newspapers which astonished every one who read it. Fulton's craft, christened the Clermont, after Livingston's country seat on the Hudson, was announced to sail from the foot of Cortlandt street at half past 6 o'clock on Monday morning, August 7, and would take passengers to Albany at $7 each. On the day of sailing all the berths had been taken, and thousands of people lined the shore in the vicinity of the dock to see the boat depart — some with hope, some with despair. When she moved out of the dock and reached mid-stream a burst of applause rent the air. On her way north she presented a strange spectacle, with immense columns of black smoke issuing from her tall smokestack, mingled with sparks and a cloud of ashes, and every now and then flames rising far in the air from the pine wood fuel she was being fed with. At dark this spectacle appalled the crews of other vessels, and many bowed the knee in prayer for protection. It surely presented to the uncouth mind of the farmer "the devil on his way to Albany in a sawmill." Fulton enjoyed his triumph as the speed Increased and the new power which he had chained to his bidding bore him, in defiance of wind and tide, far from the city. At the country seat of Chancellor Livingston he stopped to take on wood, and continued his trip to Albany, which he reached in thirty-two hours, and thus secured the monopoly of steam navigation over the waters of New York. On Friday, August 11, the citizens were amazed to see the Clermont coming back again. They didn't believe she had made the trip to Albany, but Fulton published an official and sworn statement in the newspapers that he had reached Clermont in exactly twenty-four hours, had rested there over night, and proceeded to Albany, which he reached in eight hours on V/ednesday; that he started from Albany on Thursday at 9 A. M., stopped one hour at Clermont and proceeded to New York, accomplishing the trip of a hundred and fifty miles coming down in just thirty hours, fulfilling the terms of the act of the legislature. Within four years the Clermont was improved and enlarged, and its name changed to the North River. Two other boats were also added to what now was designated the Albany Line, the Car of Neptune and the Paragon, each larger than its predecessor and abounding in improvements. But Fulton's success was too marked, and his prosperity was watched by envious eyes. Legal difficulties touching his right exclusively to navigate the Hudson beset him. New Jersey claimed that it was too wide a privilege to be given by the legislature of a single State, and other inventors denied his having originated the idea of steam as a propulsive force on water. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 165 Every kind of argument was used to invalidate Fulton's pretensions as an inventor of the steamboat. But he earned his fame justly, and all authori- ties agree that, at the time the trial trip of the Clermont took place, in no other part of the globe was another steamboat in successful operation. In the mean time one of the two associates of Chancellor Livingston, Colonel John Stevens, of Hoboken, was not idle. While Fulton was in Europe in 1804, Stevens built an open steamboat sixty-eight feet long, with a screw propeller, and the next year another one, with twin screws. So successful were the trial trips of these boats that he set about eclipsing the Fulton boat. He built the Phoenix, and launched her a few weeks after Fulton was hailed pioneer of steam propulsion on water. She made regular trips between New Brunswick and New York, but was prevented from showing her work in New York waters on account of the legislative act passed to protect Chancellor Livingston. To prove her capability, hov/ever, Robert Livingston Stevens, the colonel's son, made the passage with her from New York to Philadelphia by sea in the early summer of 1808, and ran her on the Delaware for a short time. With protests being constantly made to the courts against the monopoly held by Livingston and Fulton, it was not wondered at when the work of the legislature was nullified, and the field of steam navigation opened to all who had inventive talent. The Stevenses were not slow to take advantage of the new order of things, and a few years after some of their finest pro- ductions plied on the Hudson. A new method of communication between the islands adjacent to New York began to engross the attention of Fulton and Stevens in 1809. At this time the ferryboats, with two exceptions, were barges propelled by oars. The exceptions were boats which had been recently constructed, with wheels in the centre, turned by a horizontal treadmill v/orked by horses, and called horseboats. In October, 1811, Stevens put into operation the first steam ferryboat, which plied between New York and Hoboken, and was the first used in any part of the world. In 1812 Fulton built a small steam ferryboat for the Paulus Hook ferry, and before the following year had ended two other ferryboats were built to connect New York with Brooklyn. Here is an interesting question for historians: Was the name of Ful- ton's first boat the Clermont or Katherine of Clermont, so-called, it is said, in honor of Fulton's wife, who was a niece of Chancellor Livingston? CHAPTER XXZIV. (1798-1799.) Eistory of Section from Ann Street to Pearl Street — ^Where Leisler and Mil- borne Were Buried — The Place of Execution — Catimut's Hill — First Day of Thanksgiving — Death of Washington. A most interesting history surrounds the locality bounded by Broad- way, Ann street, Pearl street, and the east side of the present Park Row. The first section, from Beekman street to Ann street, and from Park Row to Nassau street, was owned by Governor Dongan, and was known as the Governor's Garden, subsequently as the Vineyard. It was a place of public resort, or pleasure garden, until 1762, when the Dongan heirs sold it to Thomas White, who divided it into building lots. The first building occupied the lot on the corner of Ann street. It had a frontage of 49 feet on Park Row and a depth of 81 feet on Ann street, the occupant being Andrew Hopper, who had purchased it for £328 in 1773. The following year the street, "beginning at the house of Andrew Hopper, nearly opposite St. Paul's Church, and leading to the fresh water," was by ordinance named Chatham street, in compliment to the British earl for his advocacy of American interests. Up to the end of the war several small frame buildings were erected on this portion of Chatham street, and it was commonly known as Chatham Row. After the war footwalks were first laid upon it, and be- tween 1786 and 1796 sixteen parcels of property between Ann and Beek- man streets were sold at prices ranging from £200 to £1,250, the parcel of three lots on which the Park Theatre was afterward erected, with the building thereon, being sold for £ 1,000. "The most elegant building for that purpose in America," as a writer of 1798 described the new place of amusement for New Yorkers, cost $179,000, and was sold at auction soon after to Messrs. Astor and Beekman for $50,000. After its second destruc- tion by fire in 1849 no attempt to re-establish a theatre "so far downtown" was made, but on the site Mr. Astor erected five brownstone stores. Some of these stood until late in the last century. Park Row, between Beekman and Spruce streets, was originally part of the city commons, lying open in the same manner as the present park did in the beginning of the last century. Beekman street and other streets contiguous to it were opened in 1749, the former being laid out and paved the following year. The increasing population moved in their direction rather than westwardly, and aroused the ministers and elders of the English Presbyterian Church to petition the city corporation for addi- tional church accommodations, as the membership had increased and the cemetery attached to the Wall street church had become too small. They ]66 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 167 particularly favored the triangular plot of ground between Beekman and Spruce streets. The corporation was favorable to the application, but pre- ferred to give the Church ground belonging to the city in a locality east of Chatham street, between the present Chambers and Pearl streets. The Church authorities objected to the location proffered, on the ground "that access to the lots was inconvenient, as the street leading to them (probably Duane) was so narrow that two or three carriages would fill up the passage, and it was not likely that that part of the city would be paved for many years; that the Dutch Church [which had obtained the grant in fee of twenty-eight lots, ten of which fronted northeasterly to Queen (Pearl) street, eight southeasterly in Thomas (now Rose) street, and ten westerly in George (William) street, at a rent of £70 per annum] and the Presby- terian Church, if erected at such little distance apart, would interrupt each other in service, and that a church in that locality would not be an ornament to the city, hidden, as it would be, by sur- rounding buildings." Their arguments in favor of the location they sought were that it was near the populous part of the city, that in its existing con- dition the 'locality was a nuisance, and that it would never be suitable for building purposes, the form being a triangle. They finally offered £40 a year for the ground, and after some deliberation the city authorities made them the grant forever at the sum offered. The property embraced about eight or nine city lots. In 1767 they built their church and opened it for service the following year. It remained one of the most popular churches in the city until 1856, when it was closed to religious service and soon after demolished, the property having been sold for the erection of business build- ings. Office buildings now occupy the site. The second section, east side of Chatham street, from Spruce to William, was a part of the plantation originally granted to Govert Loockermans, a merchant of New Amsterdam, in 1642. Loockermans was the father-in-law of Jacob Leisler, who, after the death of the former, purchased the property from his heirs. The southerly line ran about sixty feet north of Spruce street, and the northerly line began about the present junction of William street. Near the southerly line of this property, it may be remarked, not far from the present Park Row and Spruce street, Leisler and his son-in-law, Milborne, after their execution, were first buried, the gallows being nearly opposite the place of burial. After the restoration to the heirs of Leisler's estate, by act of Parliament, it was divided into lots and sold, two of them, in 1749, on the northeast corner of what is now Nassau and Frankfort streets, bringing £ 300, and four, extending through from Nassau to William street, 59 by 100 feet, bringing £400 in 1762. In 1761 the streets in this vicinity were first regulated. The grade of Frankfort street was fixed and the inhabitants were ordered to pave it. In 1811 a great fire destroyed all the buildings in this neighborhood. It broke out on the northwest corner of Chatham and Duane streets, and swept the buildings on both sides of Chatham street to the number of one hundred. Immediately after this fire Tammany Hall erected a building (still standing, at Frankfort and Nassau streets) as the headquarters of the Democratic party, which had formerly been on the corner of Nassau and Spruce streets. In early times "the park along Chatham street" was known as the place i68 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. of execution, the common gallows being the only structure within its limits. The third section, the vicinity of Chatham street south of Pearl, was once called Catimuts Hill, then Windmill Hill, then Fresh Water Hill. The first name was of Indian derivation; the second explains itself, the mill having been erected in 1662 by Jan de Witt, who sold it two years later. The deed of sale, which still exists, says that the mill was "under mortgage to the West India Company, under condition, when required to do so, to grind weekly for them, when there was wind, twenty-five schepels of grain." It was in existence for nearly a century, and may be found on the city map of 1729. On the summit of the hill was a public house, with a pleasure garden, known up to the period of the Revolution as Catimuts Garden. The road on the present line of Park Row v.^as in existence from the earliest times, but was so steep for laden vehicles as to render a circuitous route around the eastward boundaries necessary. In 1734 an attempt was made to cut the bill down, but it was abandoned until 1740, when "several gentlemen, at their own expense, undertook to finish the street already be- gun through the hill by the windmill." They succeeded only in making a road of easy grade around the base of the hill. In 1756 the gallows was removed to the foot of the hill, at what is now City Hall Place, midway between Pearl and Duane streets. Here some of the negroes supposed to have been in the plot of 1741 were burned. The west side of Chatham street, from William to Pearl, and extending east to Rose street, was originally a part of the city common lands, and lay waste, used only by lime and charcoal burners, until 1762, when it was surveyed and the lots leased for twenty-one years. Soon after small houses were put up in the vicinity. About the beginning of the last century that portion of the street between Tryon Row and Duane street was fully built up, one of the leading business houses being that of Peter and George Lorillard, tobacconists. Between Duane and Pearl streets were also several business places, dwelling houses and a large pottery belonging to one George Crolius. On the opposite, or east, side of the street the whole extent to Pearl street was occupied by brick and frame houses, in which were stores and mechanics' shops. On the corner of Pearl street stood the Boston Stagehouse and Livery Stables, a place of public interest, owned by Benja- min Powell, and afterv/ard by James Tyler, and one block west of Park Row were several large tanneries. At Pearl and Roosevelt streets was a stream called the Fresh Water Killetje, or little creek, which crossed the highway, and was itself crossed by a bridge on the line of the road. It formed for many years the limits separating the line of city and country in the municipal regulations of early times. It was originally the only outlet of the large pond which lay west of Chatham street, and appears to have been a considerable stream. In ancient deeds this stream is referred to as the "ould kill." The bridge was erected in 1699, as the stream at times was not fordable, and was known in Colonial times as the Kissing Bridge. This appellation may be found in public records now extant, and springs from an ancient custom. The Tea Water Spring was on the west side of the road near the Kissing Bridge. It is said there probably was no spot having more agreeable associa- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 169 tions in connection with early habits and customs in the city than this locality. It was romantically situated in the city suburbs, sur- rounded by woods and hills and near the borders of a beautiful lake, whose refreshing water and agreeable vicinage were sought by the people of the city. In course of time, however, these beauties passed away before the march of improvement; the hills were graded, the fresh water stream dried up, and the famous bridge gave place to pavements. The Tea Water well, however, which had been sunk later, was a necessity, and called for the making of several city ordinances regulating the passage and standing of the carts engaged in carrying it to the people. In the last half of 1800 the old well broke bounds, and it is said its water was used for a time by the occupant of a liquor store in the neighborhood. A map of 1757 shows that streets around this neighborhood were laid out and regulated before similar movements were begun near what was a part of the city, Beekman street. In the middle of 1798 war murmurs were heard. The American envoys in France, who had been sent thither in 1795 to adjust the complications which had arisen upon the ratification of the Jay treaty, and to ask amends for the seizure of American vessels by the French, announced the failure of their mission. They had been informed that negotiations would remain in abeyance until money was paid into the French Treasury, and that the penalty of refusal would be war. Congress at once adopted vigorous meas- ures for the raising of an army, and Governor Jay convened a special ses- sion of the New York Legislature to take measures for fortifying the harbor of the city. The sum of $1,200,000 was appropriated for the purpose. On June 13 the Chamber of Commerce and citizens petitioned the corporation to fortify the city, and $50,000 was appropriated and expended for that purpose. In this year auction duties were granted to the city by the State to support foreign poor, and the first Street Commissioner was appointed. In 1799 Richard Harrison became Recorder, at a salary of $500 a year, and on March 15 the old Exchange, in Broad street, was ordered to be taken down. On July 20 "a great riot occurred at the corner of Greenwich and Murray streets and the military v/ere called out," and nine days later the yellow fever again paralyzed the city. On December 16 "a day of thanks- giving was appointed (the last Wednesday in December), the first observed in this city by recommendation of the city authorities since the Revolution." Gloom pervaded the city on December 20, when the news arrived of the death of General Washington, which had occurred on the 14th of the month. Public testimonials of grief and reverence were displayed on every hand, and the corporation ordered "the bells of the various churches to be muffled and tolled every day from 12 to 1 o'clock until the 24th, and that the citizens wear crape for six weeks." The vestry of Trinity Church assembled at the house of Bishop Provost to give expression of sorrow, and "Ordered, That in consideration of the death of the late Lieutenant George Washington, the several churches belonging to this corporation be put in mourning." t FIRST CITY HALL (DUTCH), OR STADT HUYS. BUILT 1642, DEMOLISHED 1699. ALSO A WAREHOUSE AND TAVERN AT 71 PEARL STREET. THIRD AND PRESENT CITY HALL^ IN "tHE FIELDS, NOW CITY HALL PARK; BEGUN IN 1803; FINISHED 1812. SECOND CITY HALL (ENGLISH), BUILT 1699-1700; DEMOLISHED 1834; SEAT OF COLONIAL, FED- ERAL AND CITY GOVERNMENTS, AT WALL AND NASSAU STREETS. 170 CHAPTER XXXV. (1800.) History of City Hall Park — A Few of the Occurrences There — First Public Building' Erected Within Its Limits — Building of the Present City Hall. Freedom's Acres would be a more appropriate name than City Hall Park for the piece of ground fronting Printing House Square, as in the old days every foot of it breathed the spirit of patriotism, and to it, in the new era, the citizen possessed of civic pride repairs when that patriotism is threatened. The history of these few acres, which at one time included the land on which the present Postoffice stands, is full of local interest to the New Yorker. Originally a portion of the common lands granted to the city by its charter, its character for many years was that of an open pasture or cattle walk. In the time of the Dutch it was known as the Vlacte, or Flat, and at a later period as the Commons. Still later it was called the Fields, and after its inclosure the Park. From an entry in the city records in 1699 one would conclude that a fortification had been erected near its south boundaries, and that at its northern limit was a "burial place for ne- groes, slave and free." The negroes were, both in the Dutch and English times, a proscribed race. Many of them were native Africans, who had been brought over in slave ships, and who retained their native superstitions and burial customs, among them one of burying their dead by night, with various incantations. The locality appropriated by them for burial pur- poses was, in the early settlement of the tov/n, a desolate spot, descending, according to a map of the period, toward a ravine which led to the Kalk- hook pond, and, though within convenient distance of the city, still far enough away from it to impress on them the fact that they had nothing in common with the whites. No consideration was given by the authorities to the use to which this place was devoted, and not even a dedication of their burial place was made by the church authorities. Indeed, in 1673 the Dutch Governor, Colve, granted the land to a private citizen, not dis- tinguishing it from vacant lands. The new owner, however, allowed its continued use as a burial ground for many years. It ran about four hun- dred feet along the east side of Broadway, near Chambers street, and was about six hundred feet deep. In the early history of the city the celebrations of the burghers were held "on the plain before the fort," but with the inclosure of the Bowling Green a new location was selected, and the Commons became the rallying ground for the people on such anniversary days as the birthday of the King, Coronation Day, Gunpowder Plot Day, and at other times when the spirit 171 172 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. moved them to celebrate. Some years prior to the Revolution the name "the Fields" was substituted for its original name, without intent, apparently, and is famous in the song and story of the city. From the public character of the Fields as the place of open air meetings and of celebrations sprang public houses, ball alleys and other resorts for entertainment, so that the locality was of considerable note in the eighteenth century. With the birth of patriotism came its important period, and during the few years preceding the beginning of the Revolution public meetings of a po- litical character were held there, the results of which thundered around the world. Here are a few of the things which occurred on or near the spot which hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers cross every day:" "1764 — Seizure of a press gang's boat by a mob, which carried it to the Common and burned it. "November 1, 1765 — First popular meeting on the Commons in oppo- sition to the Stamp Act; a gallows was erected, and the Lieutenant Governor burned in effigy. "November 2, 1765 — Another popular meeting on the Commons, held with a view to seize the stamps; action deferred. "1765-'66 — Other meetings of similar character until repeal of Stamp Act, in March, 1766. "June 4, 1766 — Meeting on the Commons to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act. A flag staff erected on the occasion inscribed 'King, Pitt and Liberty.' An ox roasted, and twenty-five barrels of ale, with a hogshead of rum punch, consumed on the occasion. "August 10, 1766 — A party of soldiers from the barracks along Cham- bers street cut down the pole erected in June. "August 11, 1766 — Meeting held on the Commons to raise another pole. The people were attacked by the soldiers, and several were wounded. A few days after, however, another pole was raised. "September 23, 1766— -The second pole was cut dov/n by persons un- known. Within two days a third pole was erected. "March 18, 1767 — The third pole was destroyed. "March 19, 1767 — A fourth pole erected and secured by braces and iron bands, and a watch set to guard it. "March 21, 1767 — An attempt renewed by the soldiers to destroy the pole, but they were repulsed by the citizens. "December 17, 1767 — Meeting held in opposition to the Mutiny Act. "January 13, 1770 — The liberty pole again assailed by the soldiers, who were repulsed. "January 16, 1770 — Another attempt made on the pole, which was successful. It was sawed up and piled in front of Montagnie's door (the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty), in Broadway. "January 17, 1770 — Meeting of upward of three thousand citizens on the Commons. Another liberty pole soon after erected, strongly Ironed, and surmounted with a topmast and vane, on the latter of which the word 'Liberty' in large letters was conspicuous. "March 26, 1770 — A party of soldiers attempted to unship the top- mast; a contest ensued between them and the citizens, without fatal results. CRADLE DAYS OF KEW YORK. 173 "May 10, 1770 — Meeting in opposition to the importation of British goods. "June, 1770 — A quantity of British goods seized by the Sons of Lib- erty and burned on the Commons. "July 6, 1774 — Great meeting in opposition to the act of Parliament called the Boston Port act. At this meeting Alexander Hamilton, then sev- enteen years old, first appeared as a public speaker. "1775 — Various meetings on the all absorbing public affairs. The affair at Concord and the Battle of Lexington occurred, and the people began vigorously to prepare for momentous events. "July 9, 1776 — The Declaration of Independence published to the troops paraded on the Commons at 6 o'clock in the evening. A hollow- square was formed at the lower end of the Commons, in which was General Washington on horseback. The Declaration was read by one of his aids. At its conclusion three hearty cheers were given. "1776 — Cunningham, the British Provost Marshal, had the liberty pole cut down." After the Revolution, when the city had recovered itself, the locality of the Fields began to show progress. Broadway was assuming the char- acter of a fashionable place of residence, and it was meet that the roving spirit of the cattle of the citizens should be curbed, especially when it took them in the neighborhood of the Fields. Many protests were raised against what was considered spoliation of the green when improvements, which in- cluded the fencing of it, were spoken of. The cattle should be allowed to rove at large upon it, the people thought. The improvements were made, how- ever, and a post and rail fence was put around the sacred ground in 1785, transforming it into a park, which, it is hoped, it will always continue to be, and leaving its ancient titles in the minds of the lovers of the history of the city as synonymes for patriotism and liberty. It was not long, however, before the post and rail fence gave place to wooden palings, which remained for a score of years, and finally in 1816 these were succeeded by an iron railing, which was set with due ceremony and public commemoration of the event. The first public buildings erected within the limits of the Park were a poorhouse, in 1736, on the site of the present City Hall, and in Colonial times a jail and a bridewell, with graveyards inclosed near by. These three were the prominent buildings in the Park at the time of- the Revolution, though other structures stood in the vicinity of Chambers and Chatham streets, erected at different times as soldiers' barracks. They were rude affairs, one story high, and built of logs. A few, built in the time of the "old French war," remained in a ruinous condition for many years after the close of that war, and, it is said, were now and then tenanted by families of roving Indians, who hovered around the abodes of civilization, living by the sale of baskets and beadwork. The poorhouse of 1736 was found to be inadequate a half century later, and a new one was erected extending along the north side of the park and fronting on Chambers street. It soon became manifest to citizens that this almshouse was not appropri- ately located, and in 1810 a site of seven acres at Bellevue was purchased and the erection of a new structure was begun, which was ready for occu- 174 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. pancy in 1812. The old building was transformed by the city authorities into the New York Institution, with the design of encouraging several enter- prises of a public character which had recently been started. Some of these so-called enterprises are at the present time the noblest institutions of the city. The New York Historical Society was located there; so also were the Academy of Arts and the Lyceum of Natural History. In 1818 the Deaf and Dumb Institute opened its school in the New York Institution with four pupils, and at various periods an Academy of Painting, the First Bank for Savings, the Lyceum, Scudder's American Museum, the American Insti- tute and other public institutions occupied parts of the building. In 1802 a new City Hall (the present one) was designed, to cost $25,000, and a premium was offered for the best plan, which was subse- quently awarded to Macomb & Mangin. "Much doubt was expressed as to the character of building which could be erected for so small a sum, and after hesitating for a time as to the expense the sum of $250,000 was finally voted, and contracts were entered into." The foundation-stone was laid on the site of the first poorhouse on September 20, 1803, by Mayor Edward Liv- ingston and by the Corporation, but it was July 4, 1810, before the latter first met in the building, in the Mayor's office, and not until 1812 was it fully completed. At various times ^n the old days, as in tne new, the eye of the poli- tician has rested greedily on City Hall Park. In the early part of the eighteenth century a movement was set on foot to erect a City Hospital near the old bridewell, and land was voted by the corporation for the pur- pose, but the public voice was raised in protestation, and the scheme was abandoned. At another time it was proposed to erect a reservoir in it for supplying the city with water to be brought from The Bronx, but this project also fell through. A short time ago the latter-day politician at- tempted to confiscate for alleged public purposes this historic spot, but the ever watchful press silenced, it is hoped forever, any further attempts to despoil it. The twilight of the eighteenth century saw New York City plunged in mourning over the death of General Washington. On December 26 the Chamber of Commerce had taken steps to honor the dead patriot, and every other society and association in the city had joined with it. The last day of the year was fixed for the ceremonies, and in the forenoon a funeral procession wound along the streets on its way to St. Paul's Church, com- posed of civic and military dignitaries, with mounted troops and infantry and artillery, members of social, political and national associations, repre- sentatives of banks and other financial institutions. Regents of the Uni- versity, the trustees of Columbia College, members of the bar, ministers of religious denominations, the Lieutenant Governor of the State and the foreign consuls in the city. In the place of honor was Major General Ham- ilton, with his suite. Immediately preceding the funeral urn, which was carried upon a bier, in the form of a palanquin, supported by eight soldiers, v;ere twenty-four girls in white dresses. A horse, caparisoned in mourning, was led behind the bier. The members of the Cincinnati followed as chief mourners, with the corporation of the city behind them. On arriving at the vhurch Bishop Provost read the office for the dead, and Gouverneur Morris CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 1/5 delivered the eulogy. It was at the services held on February 22, 1800, in the Dutch Church in Nassau street, that Dr. William Linn, one of the pastors of the Collegiate Reformed Church, said: "That calumny which has sought to tarnish the fame of Washington will soon become dumb, and his name will be revered until the fashion of this world has wholly passed away." BOWLING ON BOWLING GKKiiliN. (Dutch Period.) CHAPTER XXXVI. (1800.;> Lower Broadway — Its Position as a Residential Neighborhood — Places of Historic Interest — Some of Its Residents — Oyster Pasty Alley — Bowling Green Inclosed — The City at the Century's Dawn. It requires considerable imagination on the part of the New Yorker of the twentieth century to remove the cloud capped buildings of lower Broad- way and substitute therefor the silent solitudes of tangled forests, weedy creeks and sluggish ponds which were there in the seventeenth century. Yet such was the place early in the Dutch occupation, except that here and there was a furrowed field or rolling pasture. With the arrival of Van Twiller in 1633 this portion of the island was divided into farms, carefully measured and numbered, to which the name known to every one was given — bouweries (land to be cultivated). There were six of these bouweries. The first included the ground on the west side of Broadway, between Wall and Chambers streets; the second, fourth and sixth included the ground on the east side of the same thoroughfare up to City Hall Park; the third and fifth comprised the territory north of Chambers street and west of Broad way up to the borders of what later became Greenwich Village. South of all these tracts of land was the "Company's Garden," stretching from the fort to Wall street on the west of Broadway. It is of this section we will treat, but particularly of the part surrounding Bowling Green. In the times of the Dutch the first section of this world known thor- oughfare was laid out as far north as Wall street. It was next extended to the park, and it may be said that it took nearly a century before it was built up to that point. About the time of the Revolution its development had reached Duane street, and toward the beginning of the nineteenth century it was opened as far as the Meadows, or Canal street. In the first quarter of the century it had crept to Astor Place, and then to the "Tulip Tree," above the present Union Square. With rapid strides it afterward advanced to its present extent. That section of Broadway which faces the Bowling Green from the west was a popular part of New Amsterdam. It was the court end of the town, for here was the Parade in front, which also served as the market place, with the fort on one side, two leading popular taverns, a fashionable store, the residence of the provincial secretary and the home of the Dominie, Megapolensis, on the southerly corner of the present Morris street. The buildings in the neighborhood were substantial two story affairs, with two to four chimneys in each. Some of them were built of brick and stood the ravages of nearly a century and a half of time. On the westerly side of 176 CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 177 Broadway, north of the Parade and near the present Morris street, were four small buildings, and adjoining them the first burial ground established in the city, which ran along Broadway for nearly two hundred feet. North of the burial ground were several residences, with large gardens and or- chards attached, which extended to the shore of the river. In one of these lived Burgomaster Vandiegrist, and after him other chief magistrates of the city, the last one Mayor Johnston, in 1715. Further north was the resi- dence of the Schout-Fiscal, Van Dyck, and adjacent to it an orchard and a garden in v/hich vegetables were raised for the use of the public officials, and which afterward became a burial ground. Crossing this garden diagon- ally toward the river shore was the city wall, or palisades, erected in 1653. A different condition of affairs existed on the east side of Broadway during the Dutch times. Though it became thickly populated, the buildings were of an inferior character, some of them mere hovels, with not more than one room and a fireplace. The lots attached extended back nearly two hun- dred and fifty feet to the marsh along Broad street, but that portion front- ing on Broadway was used for gardening purposes. At this period it was known as the "Heere-straat." In 1664, when the English acquired the country, and when an attempt was made to obliterate everything with a Dutch derivative, the present name was adopted, and shortly afterward the middle of the street was paved with pebble stones, and the inhabitants were permitted to plant trees in front of their grounds. In 1707 the sidewalks were paved. Many places of historic interest clustered around the street facing the Bowling Green. No. 1 Broadway was the site of the tavern of Mrs. Kocks (originally erected by her husband, Peter Kocks, an officer in the Dutch service), and afterward of a building which in colonial times was the seat of the highest fashion in the colony. During the Revolution it was the headquarters of the British General, Clinton, and at various periods it was occupied by leading citizens. It afterward became the Kennedy House, taking its name from its owner, a former Collector of the Port. The "King's Arms," or, as it was known at one period of the colonial times, Burns's Coffee House, stood at what is now No. 11 Broadway, on the site of Burgo- master Crigier's tavern. It was quite a place of amusement in the old days, when musical entertainments were given in the large garden attached to it. During the British possession it was a sort of lodging house, and became afterward the Atlantic Garden, a name which it bore to 18G1 or 1862, when it was torn down and the ground used by one of the city railroad com- panies. The parsonage of Dominie Megapolensis became the property L,nd residence of Balthazar Bayard, who erected a brewery on the premises, near the river shore, access to which was by a lane on the present line of Morris street. After his death the heirs sold the property to Augustus Jay. Among the noted people of New York who lived on Broadway opposite the Bowling Green in colonial times were members of the Livingston, Ver- planck and Van Cortlandt families, and up to nearly the middle of the last century its ante-colonial appearance was preserved, as it had escaped in the great fire of 1776, when other houses in the vicinity were burned. Before the beginning of the last century the following were residents of the block: No. 1, Mrs. Loring; No. 3, John Watts; No. 5, Chancellor Livingston; No. 7, 178 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. John Stevens; No. 9, Elizabeth Van Cortlandt; No. 13, Mary Ellison. No. 11 was the Atlantic Garden. Little is known of the appearance of Broadway abo-e Morris street in the English colonial times, as every vestige of its former appearance was obliterated by the fire of 1776. It was a fashionable quarter of the town, however, and in it was the residence of Governor Clarke, on the west side of the street, south of Exchange Place, which in the English period was known as "Oyster Pasty Alley," and was a path leading to a small redoubt connected with the city fortifications. In 1785 the temporary structures erected in Broadway after the fire were still standing, and it was only a short time after this date that the street took on again its previous semblance of a select locality. In 1790 the frame buildings Nos. 37 to 73 were demolished and elegant private residences were built in their stead, which were owned and occupied by leading citizens, one of them as the Presidential mansion of General Wash- ington. In 1830 four of these residences were converted into a hotel known as Bunker's Mansion House, a hostelry of considerable importance, "possess- ing much of the retirement and quiet of an elegant private residence." Here are the names of a few prominent citizens who occupied these build- ings previous to 1855: No. 37, Brockholst Livingston; No. 43, Edward Liv- ingston; No. 47, Alexander McComb; No. 59, Jacob Morton; No. 61, Isaac Clason, and No. 67, John R. Livingston. The prejudices of the Dutch to the east side of Broadway below Wall street seem to have been handed down to their successors. For many years after the English came into possession of the city the principal building erected below Exchange Place was a tavern, and the prices paid between 1725 and 1750 for property in the locality are further evidences of the infe- rior position it held in the investment field. In 1725 one house and lot, 31 feet front and 60 feet deep, were sold for £100. In 1737 a house and lot 34 feet by 75, on the southeast corner of Broadway and Exchange Place, brought £95. In 1750 a house and lot, 24 by 80 feet, were bought for £201. The houses, of course, were mostly frame structures, and the locality was not distinguished above the more retired parts of the city as a place either of business or residence. The improvements on the west side of Broadway below Wall street began about 1790, when first class buildings took the place of the temporary one and two story structures that had stood there. Toward the close of 1800 the following were occupants of the new buildings: No. 16, George Scriber; No. 24, Nicholas Low; No. 23, Alexander Hamilton; No. 30, John Delafield; No. 34, Dr. Charlton; No. 36, Peter Jay Munro; No. 44, Robert Troup; No. 66, Herman Le Roy; No. 68, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and No. 70, Cadwallader Colden. Governor Jay in after years erected in this vicinity a large stone house, then considered a great ornament to the street. An authority says: "In respect to the general topography of Broadway below Wall street it was found that the original surface was followed in the first buildings on the street, and that there were no alterations of the grade until a period shortly subsequent to the Revolutionary War. The occasion of an alteration of the original grade arose apparently from the incon- venience of carrying off the surface water. In 1786 a surveyor appointed CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 179 for the purpose reported a plan, by making the street descend from Wall street to Verlettenberg (now Exchange Place), at which latter point the street was to be lowered three feet; and so, ^.Iso, below Verlettenberg, a sim- ilar descending grade was to be established 157 feet south, thus bringing the water from both directions to Verlettenberg hill, thence to flow down to Broad street. The residents objected to the adoption of this plan, and the permanent grade was established by lowering the hill near the Bowling Green to an extent which afforded a gradual descent." In 1732 Bowling Green was inclosed, "with walks therein, for the beauty and ornament of the city and the recreation and delight of the in- habitants thereof." In 1806 an order was made removing the old wells and pumps, several of which stood in the middle of Broadway, and establishing others at the sidewalks. They had been in existence about one hundred and thirty years. Very little of note seems to have occurred in New York in the begin- ning of the year 1800. As now, she was the metropolis of the Western world, though only a village compared with her magnificent proportions of to-day. The city proper was bounded on Broadway by Anthony (Worth) street, on the North River by Harrison street, and on the East River by Rutgers street. Within these limits the houses were scattered and sur- rounded by large gardens and vacant lots. Bowery Lane's farmer population extended as far as Broome street, with fields and orchards reaching out on either side from river to river. From the Battery to Cedar street the river front street was Greenwich. At Cedar Washington street had begun, and Vv^as partly built on one side to Harrison street, where it terminated abruptly in the river. "Above Broadway," says the record, "was a hilly country, sloping on the east to the Fresh Water Pond, not yet quite filled in from the surrounding hills, and descending on the west to Lispenard Meadows, near Canal street." Of the leveling of the high hill at the junction of Broadway and Worth street mention was made in a previous chapter. Above the arched bridge in the valley at Canal street. another high hill rose, fall- ing off abruptly to a pond in the space between Broome and Spring streets, through which Broadway was filled up and prolonged. At Astor Place, where Broadway ended, a fence across the road denoted the southern boun- dary of the Randall Farm, afterward the endowment of the Sailor's Snug Harbor. The Boston Post Road ran eastward from Madison Square along the Rose Hill Farm, which prior to the Revolution was the property of John Watts, and covered twenty-five blocks of ground in what was then the Eighteenth Ward. By a circuitous route it wound its way to Harlem. The Bloomingdale Road, which was a continuation of the Bowery Lane, formed a junction with two roads, the Fitzroy and Southampton, and extended to Kingsbridge by way of McGowan's Pass and Manhattanville, and then con- tinued to Albany. Love Lane, now Twenty-first street, ran westward to the North River from the Bloomingdale Road. CHAPTER XXXVn. (1800.) History of Wall Street — Speculative Instinct of Our Forefathers — Erection of First Presbyterian Church — Coffee House — The Bank of New York — Comparative Values. Few persons, if asked where The Cingel was in old New York, would answer Wall street. Yet that was the common Dutch name of the principal financial thoroughfare of the present day. It signified "ramparts" in the language of the first settlers. What an interesting and curious history surrounds this mart of finance of the Western continent, where Mammon reigns uncurbed! The purchasers of the island of Manhattan, according to a Dutch his- torian, were liberal in allotting to settlers suitable parcels of land for their habitations, gardens and farms, but below the present Wall street no con- siderable tract for farming purposes was granted. This part was appropri- ated to the city proper. When occasion offered for the establishing of some small business to enhance the comfort of the settlers, and the applicant for land could guarantee to improve it, a suitable plot was given to him within the so-called city limits, but he had to live up to his contract in order to hold it. For twenty-five years these building sites were confined to a few lanes or thoroughfares adjacent to the fort on the south point of the island and along the East River, in the same vicinity, the ungranted land lying in common, under the name of T'Schaape Waytie, or Sheep Pasture, with boundaries according to the present streets as follows: New street, on the west; Beaver street, from New to William, on the south; William, from Beaver to Wall, on the east, and Wall, from William to New, on the north. Its extent was about fifteen acres. This parcel of land was reserved for many years as pasturage, even after the growth of the settlement fore- shadowed its appropriation for im.provement purposes. During the administration of Governor Stuyvesant the Sheep Pasture began to lose its identity as such. Along the line of the present Broad street tanneries were established, which took in the meadow land of swampy char- acter, and to persons of influence was granted the remaining ground. To Dominie Driscius was given the lion's share, apparently, for it was a great part of the northerly portion, extending along the line of Wall street and from the present line of New street to William street. It lay "south of the land of Jan Jansen Damen, which ran parallel with the present northerly line of Wall street, from Broadway to William street, and formed an oblong projection extending along the easterly bounds of the present William street, to near Beaver street, then eastward some distance along the latter, i8o CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. i8i and then along the rear of the company's gardens, fronting on the present Pearl street as far as Maiden Lane." The original grantee of the land through which Wall street runs was Cornelis Groesens, one of the early- settlers. These persons, therefore, were the original grantees of the greater part of the land in which is comprised the present financial district of the city. The entire year of 1646 found Governor Kieft, the predecessor of Stuy- vesant, much harassed by what he styled the "impudent encroachments" of the New Englanders, and by difficulties with the Swedes on the Delaware River. The advent of Stuyvesant the following year did not seem to lessen these difBculties, but brought on others. The Indians exhibited signs of un- easiness, because their promised presents were in arrears, and they de- manded, too, firearms of the Dutch. As for the people of New England, they were growing stronger in numbers, and were disposed to take, without much regard for technical rights, what territory their progress required. On February 26, 1653, Stuyvesant learned that military preparations were going on in New England to force the city to yield in the so-called boundary dispute or to end it by an attack upon the capital of the Dutch province. He called a joint meeting of the Council and City Fathers, and they resolved to erect a line of defences along the suburbs, extending from the North to the East River. About forty of the principal men of New Amsterdam subscribed a loan of $2,000 to prepare the city for the siege. The fence which Kieft had built across the island for the protection of the cattle still remained, and it was decided to inclose the city by a ditch and palisades, with a breast- work, on about the same line. Proposals for the construction of the work were issued in March, 1653, and by May 1 the defence wall was completed, with a ditch two feet wide and three feet deep dug on the inside, and the dirt thrown up against the fence to make a platform sufficiently high to permit the assailed to overlook the stockade. The whole length of the work from river to river was 2,340 feet. During the whole summer the citizens remained under arms, expecting an attack, but, while war upon the Dutch colonists was actually in contemplation in New England, the General Court of Massachusetts refused to sanction any invasion of the Dutch territory. In 1656 it was resolved "to erect a large and suitable gate at the wall near the East River, according to the plan of Captain Coninck," an officer in the service of the company than stationed in New Amsterdam. This struc- ture crossed the present Pearl street at its junction with Wall street, and was known in its time as "T'Water Poort," or the Water Gate, to distinguish it from the one situated in Broadvv^ay and known as the "Land Gate." At the same time the East River shore in the vicinity was first improved by the construction along its natural shore at high water mark of a wharfi elongated about fifty feet, so that ships, which usually sent their cargoes on shore in scows, could deliver at the wharf. The wall was, nevertheless, kept in tolerable repair for some years, and when the Dutch Captain Colve recap- tured the city from the English in 1673 it was added to and strengthened materially. Soon after its completion buildings were erected along the southern line of the street, but they were humble alfairs, and mostly tap- rooms or beershops. The speculative instinct seems to have entered materially into the i82 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. erection of this wall across the island, or perhaps was a consequence of it, for investigation reveals that the first considerable plot of land divided into parcels and offered at public sale in this city was the Jan Jansen Damen farm, before spoken of, which fronted 300 feet on Wall street, from William to Pearl, ran 260 feet along the present William street, 320 feet easterly, nearly along the present Beaver street, and thence to Wall street, one hun- dred feet of it covering the site of the old Custom House. Damen at the time this plot was sold in 1656 to Jacob Flodder, of Fort Orange (Albany), was dead. The purchaser divided it into parcels with a frontage of thirty feet, and extending generally to the depth of the plot, and sold them, one of the buyers being Jacob Jansen Moesman, a merchant trader, who on his lot, 30 feet front and 200 feet deep (a portion of it being the site of the old Custom House), erected a building which was considered the best in the street. Soon after this sale improvements in the vicinity were begun, and among these so-called improvements in 1664 were the following: A shanty belonging to Dirck, the wool-spinner; a shanty belonging to Grietze, the chimney sweep; a taproom belonging to Jan Tunison; a general store belong- ing to Jacob Jansen Moesman and a small building belonging to Dirck Van Clyff. Another interesting example of the speculative instinct of our fore- fathers may be mentioned. When the wall was built it was thought neces- sary to have a space of about one hundred feet between it and the line of buildings within and parallel to it, for the evolutions of troops and other purposes not mentioned in the old documents. This space during the time of Governor Dongan, when it was contemplated that the wall would have to be demolished, was found to be of insufficient width for a street, and it seems he appropriated about forty feet within the ramparts for his own use, Captain Knight, one of his subordinates, purchasing from the Damen heirs nearly one thousand feet frontage, with a depth of 128 feet. This land soon after 1685 became the property of the Governor, and was sold by him in 1689 to Abraham De Peyster and Nicholas Bayard. Preliminary to this sale, the survey of the line proposed to be established on the north side of Wall street, leaving the street thirty-six feet wide, was ordered in 1685. In 1688 Dongan determined to enlarge the city, and ordered an exami- nation of the wall for the purpose of placing it further out. It was reported to him that "the Water Gate was completely decayed and had fallen down; that the Artillery Mount (on what is now the northwest corner of Wall and William streets) was in a state of decay; that the curtain palisades be- tween the Artillery and the Land Gate Mount (between the present William street and Broadway) were in ruins, and the gate across Broadway was ready to fall down." It was not until 1699, however, after a petition of the Common Council was presented to the provincial authorities stating "that the former line of fortifications in Wall street, from the North River to the East River, had fallen to decay, and the encroachments of buildings which have been made adjacent thereto will render the same useless for the fu- ture," that action was taken for its demolition. Another reason given to his excellency why their petition should be granted was that "they proposed with all speed to build a new City Hall at the end of one of the principal streets fronting to the aforesaid line of fortifications;" and the stones of the CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 183 bastions (one on the corner of the present William street and the other in Broadway) added to the fortifications in 1692, on the occasion of the French War, were asked for, to use in building the said City Hall. It was the erection of the City Hall, opposite Broad street, in 1700, during the Governorship of the Earl of Bellamont, and its use afterward, in 1789, as the Capitol of the United States, which settled the character of the street as the centre of interest of the city. A description of the building as the Capitol has been given in a previous chapter. In 1816 the site of the old City Hall was divided into lots, and brought, on an average $8,000 a lot. Plain brick buildings were erected on the site, one of which, on the corner of Nassau street, was occupied for some years as a book store and reading room, and afterward was used as the Custom House. The old Treasury building, originally erected for a Custom House, at one time occupied the site. The first sale by De Peyster and Bayard of any part of their property was in 1701, when a lot on the northwest corner of Wall street and the present William street was conveyed to Gabriel Thompson, innkeeper, for £120. In 1718 they sold to trustees of the Presbyterian Church "all that piece of land to the westward of the City Hall, on the north side of Wall street, 88 feet in breadth by 124 feet in depth," for £3 50. On this ground, in 1719, the First Presbyterian Church was erected, a history of which was given in the chapters on the beginning of the churches of the old city. It was enlarged in 1748, and in 1810 was entirely rebuilt. In 1844 it was sold to a Presbyterian congregation in Jersey City, and was taken down, the material of which it was composed being used in the erection of substantially the same building on the corner of Washington and Sussex streets, in that city. The site of the ancient half-moon fortification and blockhouse of the Dutch times, at the foot of Wall street, served as the first established slave market in 1709. While in after years it was used as a meal market, and was commonly known as such, it continued to be known particularly as the place "where slaves stood for hire." Twelve years after the middle of the eighteenth century "the agreeable prospect of the East River, which those that live in Wall street would otherwise enjoy," was greatly obstructed by the slave mart, which occasioned a dirty street, "offensive to the inhabitants and disagreeable to those that pass to and from the Coffee House," and its removal vv^as asked for and granted. Another disagreeable feature of the street, according to the records, was a sugar house which occupied the whole front on the north side of Wall street, between the present Nassau and William streets. It had been erected by Samuel Bayard in the early part of the seventeenth century, and was used until after his death, in 1745. It was an unsightly structure, standing back from the street, in the centre of the block, inclosed by a high fence. Its existence marred the neighborhood and precluded the possibility of improving its architecture. Protests were made against it, and the authorities ordered its demolition. Fine dwelling houses were erected on its site at about the time of the War of the Revolution, and the street be- came famous for its elegant and fashionable homes. A noted building which adjoined the old City Hall was the Verplanck l84 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Mansion, which, after its use as a dwelling house, became the home of dif- ferent financial institutions. It stood on one of three lots which were sold by the trustees of the De Peyster estate to Samuel Verplanck for £260 in 1773. It was earlier than this, however, when the erection of fine dwellings took place on the north side of the street, between William and Pearl streets. The centre of mercantile affairs in the city prior to the Revolution was the lower part of Wall street, which had been built up with stores as far as Front street. In this section was the Coffee House, or Merchants' Exchange, which in colonial times seethed with politics. In it the most important commercial and public affairs had their origin. It stood on the southeast corner of Wall and Water streets, and after the birth of the new Tontine Coffee House was known as the Old Coffee House. The new one v/as located on the northwest corner of Wall and Water streets, and cost $43,000. At the junction of Wall and William streets stood the Pitt statue, which was unveiled on September 7, 1770, "as a public testimony of the grateful sense the colony of New York retains of the many eminent services he rendered America, particularly in promoting the repeal of the Stamp Act." The statue was of fine marble. The figure was in a Roman habit, the right hand holding a scroll, with the world "Articuli Magnae Chartae Libertatum," the left being extended, in the attitude assumed in de- livering an oration. The statue passed through various vicissitudes after it was torn down by a frenzied mob, and what is left of it is in the keeping of the Nev/ York Historical Society, which rescued it from a junk heap in the corporation yard. With the end of the Revolutionary War the financial history of Wall street may be said to have begun, and with rt the change in its architectural as well as business character. The Bank of New York was the first institu- tion established. It began operations in 1791, on the corner of William street. Eight years later the Manhattan Company was incorporated, and took up its quarters at No. 23 Wall street. The Merchants' Bank, incor- porated in 1805, followed, at No. 25; the United States Bank, in 1805, at No. 38, and the Mechanics' Bank, in 1810, at No. 16 Wall street. These were the pioneer banking institutions of the city. In 1815 there were thir- teen insurance companies established in the street, but it may be said that companies of this character antedated the banks in the city. The street at the beginning of the last century was in a heterogeneous business state, as banks, private residences, boarding houses, porter houses, grocers, schools, merchants, newspaper ofRces, auctioneers and insurance offices were a part of its life. Between 1700 and 1800 lots were sold in different parts of it for from £110 to £2,510. In 1909 the prices range from $40 a square foot to $400. CHAPTER XXXVIII. (1800.) History of the "Heere Wegh" (Wall Street to City Hall Park)— The Damen Plantation — The Van Tienhoven Plantation — The Shoemakers' Pasture — The King's Arms Tavern. As the history of the old city below Wall street and of the outlying part to the east of Broadway has been told, we will follow the line of the "Heere Wegh," as it was called in Dutch times, or highway beyond the city wall. This name distinguished it from the "Heere straat," which was within the town limits. The "Heere Wegh" followed the present line of Broadway as far as the Commons, or present park, passing a portion of the West India Company's garden, the Damen and Van Tienhoven planta- tions, a part of the West India Company's farm and a section of the Com- mons, and then diverged on the line of Chatham street. The Company's Gar- den occupied the site of the present Trinity Churchyard, but on the abandon- ment of the old churchyard in the latter part of the seventeenth century a portion of the garden lying north of the city gates vv^as devoted to burial pur- poses. In the old days it was proposed to erect a parsonage on the site of the present Trinity, and build the church within the walls of the bastion, on the northwest corner of Wall and William streets, but some farsighted citizen, according to the record, protested on the ground that the location selected was low, and that the church should stand on high ground,. so Broadway was selected for its site. The Damen plantation extended on the west side of Broadway from opposite Pine street to Fulton street, and on the east side from the present Maiden Lane south to the line of Pine street. It was patented to its owner, John Damen, in 1644, and after his death, in 1651, reverted to his widow. In 1660 a partition of the estate was made among Mrs. Damen's heirs, who sold their portions. Two of the largest parcels of this land were conveyed early in the eighteenth century to O. S. Van Cortlandt and Tunis Dey. The Van Cortlandt parcel was later apportioned to two daughters of the burgo- master. In 1733 the heirs of these parties, Philip and Frederic Van Cort- landt, partitioned the property and laid out Cortlandt street to the river, which was accepted as a public thoroughfare the same year. The first sale of a lot here took place in 1737. It was on the north side of the street, 25 by 126 feet, and extended to the land of Tunis Dey. The price paid was £2G. The Dey parcel was five acres in extent. Its owner was a gardener and miller, his windmill being situated near the river shore. It was not until 1730 that partition was made of this estate, though the old miller had made his will in 1688, leaving half of his property to his wife and half to his i8s . i86 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. children. It was brought into the market as building lots in 1743, and two years later the first record of sale of one of them occurs, on the south- west corner of Broadway and Dey street, for which £75 was paid. A quarter of a century later, and ten years before Broadway had been regu- lated from Dey street to Fulton street, a lot on Broadway near Dey street brought i380. The first suburban tavern of fashionable resort was estab- lished in 1670 on the east side of Broadway near the present Liberty street, and was known as the Blue Boar. The Van Tienhoven plantation before-mentioned extended along the east side of Broadway, from the Maagde Paatje (Maiden Lane) to a point about 117 feet north of Fulton street. In 1676, during the Governorship of Edmund Andros, all owners of vacant lots or ruinous buildings were di- rected to "at once build upon or improve them under penalty of seeing them sold at public auction." This order opened the way for the sale of the Van Tienhoven land, and likewise provided a location for the tan-pits, which had been considered a nuisance, and were ordered removed from Broad street to beyond the limits of the town. The land was purchased by a company of five shoemakers, who were also tanners, who established themselves along Maiden Lane, which was then a marshy valley. Their property embraced about sixteen acres, their tannery being located near the junction of Maiden Lane and William street. This section of the old city was commonly known as the Shoemakers' Pasture. In 1696, when Maiden Lane was regulated and the land surveyed and divided into town lots, it still retained its original title. In 1715 the tannery owners, "finding the said land to be suitable for building of houses for an enlargement of the city, projected and laid out said lands into one hundred and sixty-four lots," and moved their business to the "Swamp," in the vicinity of what is now Ferry street. A part of the history of the division of their property by the members of the Shoemakers' Association is worthy of record. John Harberding, a venerable craftsman, and one of the original members of the association, emigrated to the colony about 1660, while it was under Dutch rule. He was a wild youth, it was said, but in his mature years became a pillar of the church. He plied his trade as a shoemaker on Broadway, near Maiden Lane, for many years, and so wedded had he become to the locality that when the division of the property occurred he petitioned to be allowed to remain in the neighborhood. His fellow members granted his request, and allotted to him 580 feet of ground along Broadway by 160 feet in depth. At his death in 1723, it is said, he left a portion of a large fortune, which included a part of this land, to the Dutch Reformed Church. The streets as laid out originally through this property still exist — John street (after the owner) and Fulton street (formerly Fair street) — though they were widened in the early part of the last century. The homestead of John Harberding, on the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, was sold after his death for il20. The northerly part of the Shoemakers' Pasture lay above the present Fulton street, 117 feet on Broadway, and taking in the block now bounded by Broadway, Fulton, Nassau and Ann streets. For many years it was a famous public resort, known as Spring Garden, the public house on the CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 187 premises standing on the corner of Ann street. "Breakfast from 7 to 9; tea in the afternoon from 3 to 6; the best of green tea and hot French rolls, pies and tarts drawn, from 7 to 9; mead and cakes," were served by John Elkin, its proprietor, says a newspaper of 1761. A short time before the Revolution the "Sons of Liberty" acquired this property for their headquar- ters, and changed its name to Hampden Hall. Many of the riots and public disputes of the Revolutionary period occurred within the walls of Hampden Hall, but after the close of the hostilities it was occupied as a private house until its conversion in 1830 into Scudder's Museum. In 1840 P. T. Barnum acquired it for museum purposes. It is now occupied by the St. Paul Building. Trinity Church farm, which was apportioned into lots about 1760, lay on the west side of Broadway, north of Pulton street. The front of it extended between Partition street (Fulton) and Vesey street. This part was given over to the erection of a church, which was completed in 1765 and called St. Paul's. It links to-day the past with the present. One can hardly think, looking at that portion of Broadway around Liberty street, that for thirty-three years from 1738 there stood in the middle of Broadway, opposite the street mentioned, which was then called Crown street, a building 156 feet long and 23 1/^ feet wide, used as a market. "It was an eyesore to the neighborhood and prejudicial to the elegance of the street," says the record. With taverns, lodging houses and small stores clustered around it, and market and country wagons backed up at its entrances, it was a busy mart of the old city, but withal a nuisance, as on either side of it a space barely twenty feet wide existed for other commer- cial purposes. Frequent appeals were made to legislative authority for its removal, without apparent effect until 1771, when its indictment as a public nuisance was obtained, causing its obliteration. A new one to take its place was erected on the southeast corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, with its front on the latter thoroughfare. Though its new position removed it from the centre of the business life which had grown around it, it estab- lished for itself a new field. In 1776, when the great fire occurred, all the taverns, lodging houses, small stores and dwellings on the west side of the street were swept away, among them the King's Arms Tavern, a popular resort for country people and of notable local reputation, which stood oppo- site the new market. It was constructed of gray stone, with narrow arched windows in front, and from its rear piazza a view of the river was afforded. In it General Gage had headquarters, and from its garden, which extended to the river, it is said the chivalric Champe proposed to abduct Benedict Arnold, who resided in the house after the discovery of his treason, and carry him off to the American lines in the Jerseys. ^ Broadway, from Rector street to the park, was ordered surveyed in 1790 for the purpose of repaving it. The work was begun in the middle of the year, and when finished the street had brick sidewalks, "which enhanced its value as a thoroughfare" and led to the establishment on it four years after of the first building in the city with a slate roof. It was known as the City Hotel, and its erection was considered quite en- terprising in the old days, as it occupied the entire block between Thames and Cedar streets, "and was the loftiest edifice of the kind in the city." i88 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. It was the scene of public balls, dinners, concerts and festivities; in fact, the fashionable resort of the town. It stood long into the first half of the last century, with the result which usually follows progress. A stage estab- lishment, standing on the block between Cedar and Liberty streets, fol- lowed the erection of the City Hotel, and on the next block, extending to Cortlandt street, fine buildings and stores were erected, among them those of John Jacob Astor, fur merchant; James H. Kipp, merchant; Jacobus Bogart, baker, and John B. Dash, Jr., iron merchant. These buildings were not superior to those standing between Cort- landt and Fulton streets, it is said, and some of them were less preten- tious. During the years between 1796 and 1815, however, the character of the locality had changed, and some of the old gave way to the new when the retail and shopping trade had obtained a foothold, and the character of the structures was made to conform to the business rather than the resi- dential idea. The valuation of property about 1815 from No. 123 to 207 Broadway is of interest. It ranged from $90,000 for the City Hotel at No. 123 to $10,000 for the dry goods store which stood at No. 207. The fashionable shopping side of Broadway in the beginning of the last century, and, indeed, well into the middle of it, was the west, and the improvement in architecture was also more rapid there. On the east side the buildings first erected were mainly two story structures, but after the Revolution these gave place to first-class buildings, which were occupied for commercial purposes, among them Barnum's Hotel, which in 1851 was named the Howard House; the Tremont Temperance House, which stood at No. 110 Broadway; the New York Atheneum, on the corner of Pine street, and the National Hotel, at No. 112 Broadway. It is only within the last sixty or seventy years that all the cross streets leading into Broadway in this section have been v/idened and improved. In 1813 Liberty street was widened to Greenwich; 1834, Pine street (originally King street) from Broadway to Nassau, and Fulton street, from Broadway to Rider's Alley; 1836, John street, from Broadway to Pearl street; 1851, Dey street, from Broadway to Greenwich; 1852, Liberty street, from Broadway to Greenwich, and 1854, Wall street, from Broadway to Nassau street. From Vesey street to Duane street, Broadway was improved but little until the inclosure of the Fields and their establishment as a park, in 1785-. When it was first surveyed in 1760 from "the Spring Garden House to the grounds of the late Widow Rutgers," it was named Great George street, and for thirty years thereafter was so called. On its west side was the church farm, and on its east the Fields and the burying ground for negroes. The church farm extended from Fulton street to near Duane, and west to the North River. The Dutch West India Company in the early days set apart this ground to be tilled for the uses of their public officers and the garrison in the fort, and it was so used until the overturning of the government of the colony by the English, when it became their prop- erty, and was called the King's Farm. Lord Cqrnbury, when Governor iii 1705, to encourage the Established Church, granted the ground to the corporation of Trinity Church, which, when Broadway was opened, divided it into streets and lots and ceded the former to the city. The names of CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 189 these streets, with the exception of Parlt Place, originally called Robinson street, are the same as at the time the cession was made. On the site of the present Astor House stood the farm house of the King's Farm. Its vicissitudes were many, it is recorded. After its original use it became a private dwelling, then a drovers' inn, and then a public garden. About 1794 it gave place to the home of John Jacob Astor, and in 1838 the Astor House was built on its site. "Where the two roads meet," v/as the designation given by the occupant of one of the old farm houses, Cornelius Vandenberg, in his advertisement in December, 174 7, notifying the public "that I design to set out as Albany post, for the first time this winter, on next Thursday. All letters to go by me are to be sent to the postoffice, or to my house near the Spring Garden." A record of 1760 shows the lease of four lots on the southwest corner of Murray street, for twenty-one years, at a rental of £8 a year — the first lease of Trinity Church property along Broadway. SURRENDER OF NEW AMSTERDAM BY PETER STUYVESANT, 1664. CHAPTER XXXIX. (1800.) Eroadway from Vesey to Duane Street — Montagnie's Garden — Cox's Garden — Contoit Garden — The Rutgers Farm — Origin of Chambers Street — First Dry Goods Store — Exhibition of Sewing Machine. More than half of the eighteenth century 'had passed when Mr. Marschalk surveyed the present Broadway from Vesey street to Duane street, and slow, indeed, was the growth of this section after the street had been opened. The Fields, as has been said, was the rallying point of the citizens on occasions momentous and otherwise, and to this may be attributed the establishment opposite them, in the days preceding the Revolution, of sev- eral public gardens, which were the principal features of the neighborhood. Near the northerly corner of Murray street was Montagnie's Garden, and on the block above Cox's Garden. The former was for a time the head- quarters of the Liberty Boys, and directly opposite it they raised their suc- cessive poles, which were as often demolished by the soldiers and the Tory faction. In 1770 a party of soldiers who had failed to demolish a liberty pole drove the onlookers into the Montagnie house at the point of the bayonet, and destroyed its doors and windows. The owner incensed the patriots a short time afterward, however, by renting his rooms to members of the opposite faction, and the patriots removed their headquarters to a building which they purchased at the lower end of the Fields, Hampden Hall, before written of. Montagnie continued to occupy the premises, but changed the name to the United States Garden, until 1802, when John H. Contoit, a confectioner, became the owner. He conducted it until 1805, afterward removing to near Park Place and establishing the New York Garden, which he transferred in 1809 to No. 355 Broadway, the Park Place site giving way to private residences. The old Contoit Garden passed into the hands of Augustus Parise in 1805, and some years after was suc- ceeded by a building called the Parthenon, which in 18 25 was occupied as a museum under the auspices of Reuben Peale. The museum occupied the second, third and fourth stories, says an advertisement of the date mentioned, and "has a terraced roof commanding a capital view of the park and all the neighboring streets, together with the city and harbor." These gardens and a few scattered small buildings were the only im- provements existing opposite the Fields until the period when the name of the street was changed to Broadway for its entire distance north of Vesey street, and when it was extended to the Rutgers farm, near Duane street, in 1794. After this year the march of private improvement began on the block between Vesey and Barclay streets, and fine residences, built I go CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 191 and occupied by leading citizens, gave an increased value to the surround- ing section. The Rutherfords, the Kings, the Roosevelts, the Harrisons, and the Hammonds resided here. No. 221, next to the corner of Vesey street, was the property of the State, and in 1802 was the official residence of Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States. No. 223, owned by John Jacob Astor, was the home of Edward Livingston, mayor of the city from 1801 to 1803. The portion of the street lying north of Barclay street was not so progressive, however, and it was some years before the inferior class of buildings occupying it gave way to residences of a sub- stantial character. After 1815 the block between Barclay street and Park Place began to assume an air of respectability, which afterward pervaded the block between the latter thoroughfare and Murray street. Among the residents here were William Rhinelander, Daniel Boardman, John Hag- gerty and Samuel Hicks. Between Murray and Chambers streets new buildings were being erected, and with their completion the Fields became a thing of the past, to be referred to as at present. By 1827 two hotels had been established on this section of Broadway, the American, on the corner of Barclay street, "occupying the most eligible situation in the city, and being in the vicinity of the City Hall and theatres," and the Park Place House, "opposite the park and in the street that leads to Columbia College." The Irving House, a fashionable hostelry, which stood on the northwest corner of Chambers street and Broadway, was erected later, and was a point of popular interest for a time. In it John C. Colt had his office, and there he murdered a printer named Adams, who was getting out a work on bookkeeping for him. By a curious chain of cir- cumstances the vessel on which the body of the printer had been shipped to South America by Colt was driven ashore by adverse winds, and the authorities in some way discovered that a murder had been committed. It was traced to Colt, who was tried and sentenced to be executed. On the morning of the day set for the execution the murderer committed suicide, though rumor had it that the body of a pauper convict had been substituted, and that Colt had escaped to France. A report of the Common Council in June, 1796, is of interest as show- ing the origin of Chambers street and the establishment of the boundaries of the park. "The committee on the memorial of Henry Kip and others, on adjust- ing boundary lines between the negroes' burial ground, report and recom- mend: "1. That the measure mentioned in the patent to Cornelius Van Borsum for said land, dated October 16, 1673, be, so far as this corporation is concerned, deemed English statute measure. "2. That a street sixty-five feet wide, to remain a public street, be laid out opposite Chambers street, and to extend from Broadway to the east side of George street, and thence to Augustus street, as delineated on map annexed. "3. That the claimants to the burying ground release to the cor- portation their interest in the land so laid out for a street, and also of all land to the south of said street, and the corporation will release to said claimants all their interest in land north of the said street. 192 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. "4. To compensate the claimants for the difference in extent of lands conveyed by them and those conveyed to them by the corporation, the cor- poration vi^ill convey to them lands bounded southeast by Augustus street, south by the street to be opened (Chambers), northwest by the negroes' burial ground, and northeast by land of Janew^ay, and also certain lots on southeast side of Augustus street. "Agreed to." It was some years after the Revolution that this land was improved. According to a map of the locality of the year mentioned, the descendants of David Provoost, mayor of the city in 1699-1700, owned the three build- ings next to the corner of Chambers street, the only ones on the block. On the southeast corner of Reade street a temporary one-story structure stood until the erection of Washington Hall on its site in 1812. From an architectural point of view this building was one of the handsomest in the city. It was erected under the auspices of the Washington Benevolent Society, who were the Federalists of that day, and was the Federal head- quarters at about the time that old Tammany Hall was built by the opposi- tion party. The political problems of the young city were thrashed out within its walls, and many exciting scenes of the period antedating the last war with Great Britain occurred in its assembly hall. In 18 28 it was altered and repaired by Chester Bailey, of Philadelphia, to serve as a hotel, but was ill adapted for the purpose, and finally in 1848 it became the prop- erty of A. T. Stewart, who erected on its site the present marble building, which was the pioneer of that class of structures on Broadway. He gradually added to the territory and building he possessed, until a store of astonishing size for that period covered the entire block from Chambers street to Reade street, and 200 feet back from Broadway. It became the wholesale house after its owner purchased his uptown property. It is an office building now. The pioneer dry goods merchant first began business on the west side of Broadway directly opposite the present Stewart Building. This block was first improved by William Alexander, who in 1796 erected a handsome residence on the corner of Reade street. With the exception of a three-story brick house which stood in the middle of the block, the other structures were of wood. In one of these, with its gable end to the street, A. T. Stewart established two stores, each about twelve feet wide, and started on his road to fortune. Its owner was Anthony Steenbach, a brewer. The west side of Broadway, from Chambers to Duane street, was first improved, if the term may be used, by the erection of a brewery on the corner of the latter street. It continued in existence until Duane street was improved in the middle of the last century, and from its term of exist- ence, which antedated the Revolution, was known as the Old Brewery. Between Reade and Duane streets stood a pottery, erected late in 1700, and belonging to an alderman of the city, who afterward sold the site to Isaac Lawrence. On it the latter built a row of brick buildings, some of which stood as relics of the past until a short time ago. The first dry goods store above St. Paul's Church was opened on the corner of Broadway and Chambers street, in a row of small one-story build- ings built on ground purchased by Steenbach, the brewer, mentioned above, CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 193 who was said to have been a venturesome real estate operator of that day. The buildings fronted on Chambers street, and their erection was considered a risky undertaking by those "in the know," but the descendants of the brewer profited by his investment, as in 1830 the ground alone brought nearly ten times the amount of the purchase price. A well known and popular resort of the days of the youthful city stood on the corner of Reade street, Palmo's Cafe. Its owner afterward forsook his occupation to erect an opera house in Chambers street, which later became Burton's Theatre, a history of which was given in another chapter. Three doors south of Duane street, on Broadway, the first sewing machine was exhibited. People watched the operation of the rather primitive machine with surprise, coupled with much distrust as to its utility for household use. It was an impossible thing, and, even if perfected, would be injurious to the needlewoman who must work in order to live. The matrons would have none of it — handwork was good enough for them. But the little machine kept clicking each day, and what it produced was exhibited, despite the unbelief of the women, and the men, too. Meetings were held in some quarters to support the handworkers, and protests were raised against its introduction. It had come to stay, and stay it did. The history of Broadway is now verging on a section the origin of which the historian knows little about. It is "Kalckhook," or lime shell point, which began at a vale near the present line of Duane street, and rose gradually to an elevation of forty or fifty feet above the surrounding meadows. A pond an acre or more in size lay at its summit. According to the early maps of the colony, what was known as "The Kalckhook" embraced about forty acres, and was granted to Jan Damen in 16 46 by Governor Kieft. It was a useless piece of ground, apparently, as an exten- sive cretaceous deposit covered nearly its whole extent and precluded the possibility of cultivation. What it once was is a matter of conjecture, though the information gathered from its location and from the fact that the pond on its summit was well supplied with fish, as well as the existence of Indian tribes on the island, points to the spot as at least a temporary set- tlement of aborigines. It is only conjecture, however, as from no source can evidence of its use at all be gleaned. In 16S5 the partition of this part of the Damen estate occurred, and it became the property of four men, two of whom were Jacobus Van Cort- landt and Anthony Rutgers. It lay in common, however, for many years afterward, as the public pound was established on it. The Van Cortlandt portion of "The Kalckhook" remained in the family for over a century, unimproved, while the Rutgers tract to the west in 1730 began to evidence its owner's prodigality in its reclamation. On it a hand- some residence was built, which he occupied until his death in 1750. "Sur- rounding it," says an old chronicler, "was elegant shrubbery in the geo- metrical style of rural gardening of those days, with long walks, bordered with boxwood and shaded and perfumed with flowering shrubs, extending in various directions in the parterre fronting the house. The orchard ex- tended along the southerly side of the mansion, while the pasture lands and cultivated fields extended toward the north. It was a charming rural resi- 194 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. dence, and even in after years, when its quiet and domestic characteristics had given place to the festive incidents attached to a public resort, it was considered the most rural and pleasing retreat near the city." Very much like the people of the present New York were those of the eighteenth century, in the matter of suburban pleasure seeking, and to Ranelagh, as the former residence and garden of Colonel Rutgers was called by its new proprietor after the colonel's death, the best citizens repaired to feast, dance and listen to music on Monday and Thursday evenings during the summer, "where everything," according to an advertisement of the year preceding the Revolution, "is conducted under the auspices of Mr. John Jones." In 1770 the Rutgers estate was offered for sale, and was purchased in 1772 by an organization of citizens who designed to build a hospital on the ground — an institution then unknown in New York. It was at first pro- posed to establish it in the park, but the project was abandoned because of its proximity to the heart of the city, and the Rutgers orchard was fixed upon. Most of the fund had been subscribed in 1771 for the purpose, and in lieu of the land which had previously been set apart for it the corporation added fl,000. In 1774 the building was completed at a cost of nearly $18,000, and the following year was partly destroyed by fire. During the occupation of the British it had been sufliciently repaired to serve as a barracks for the soldiers. After the return of peace it was reopened for its original purpose. This is the beginning of the history of the present New York Hospital. The improvement of this section was undertaken shortly after 1783 by the regulation and opening of streets. Because of the natural unevenness of the surface much filling and excavating were required in various parts, as, for instance, when sidewalks were first proposed, in 1791, to extend from the Bridewell in the park to the hospital, it was reported by the surveyor that Broadway at Warren and Chambers streets would require to be lowered three feet, while at the depressed portion through which Duane street was laid out it would be necessary to raise it about eight feet. Nearing the hospital ten feet would have to be taken away. The work was begun in 1792, and the sidewalks stopped opposite the house of David M. Clarkson, which was across the way from the hospital. It was designed, however, to proceed with the digging of the street as far as the Meadows at Canal street, though it was some years before the work was completed. The deepest cutting down of Broadway was between the present White and Walker streets, twenty-three feet of the hill having to bo taken away to meet the valley at the Meadows. A few of the streets in the section have retained their original names, as White, AValker, Canal, Catharine Lane and Leonard. Duane street was once known as Barley street, after a brewery west of Broadway; Pearl street at Broadway was originally Magazine street, as it led past the old powder house on the little island in the Collect Pond; Worth street had two changes — Catherine street and then Anthony street, and Franklin street was in the old days Sugar-loaf street. CHAPTER XL. (1800.) East Side of Broadway, Between Duane and Pearl Streets — Masonic Hall — The Morgan Murder— The De Pnyster Dairy— The White Conduit House — Another Conduit Garden. It was well toward the beginning of the nineteenth century when the improvement of the east side of Broadway between Duane and Pearl streets was begun, but before its dawn the whole front had been built upon. Most of the structures were of wood, with the exception of two which had been erected by a Mr. Nichols. These were of brick and considered of an excel- lent class. Among their occupants in after years were William Cutting, a forebear of the present New York family; John C. Stevens, John Tonnele, Jr., and Mr. Rapelje, whose present descendants are prominent in New York business and social life. About 1819 John McKesson, and afterward H. H. Schieffelin, resided in No. 366, a house which at that period surpassed any of its neighbors. Several of the frame buildings stood until near the middle of 1800, while others- were demolished in 1826 to supply the site for old Masonic Hall, an edifice of the pure Gothic style, its front built of east- ern gray granite, with the sides and interior walls of brick, and its upper windows commanding a view of the city, harbor and adjacent country. An apartment in this building which became a favorite resort of assemblies of citizens was considered the finest in point of beauty of any other for a similar purpose in the United States. The cost of constructing Masonic Hall was $50,000, quite a sum of money at that time, which was raised by the fraternity in the city. The prosperity of Masonic Hall began to wane soon after the building was completed, as the following short history of the anti-Masonic excite- ment which started in 1826 will show. One William Morgan, a recreant Mason of Batavia, N. Y., threatened to expose the secrets of the fraternity because of some fancied wrong done him. He suddenly disappeared, and it was charged that he had been abducted and afterward murdered by the fraternity. Political strife in the city was strong at the time, and the charge was soon converted into a political weapon. A combination was formed against the Masons, who at this time were a large and flourishing body, extravagant rumors of diabolical practice in their conclaves were cir- culated, and at the elections of 18 27 the people threw aside previous party allegiances and ranged themselves as Masons or anti-Masons at the polls. A number of prominent papers opened a crusade against the society, public meetings were held at which members v/ho had withdrawn from it de- nounced it as a bed of wickedness and intriguing, and it was persecuted in 195 196 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. a way almost fanatical. So great was the prejudice throughout the com- munity against it that its existence was threatened. Its success, though, was paralyzed for many years, and the society became almost a dead letter. The fate of Morgan was never positively known, though a body found in Lake Ontario was declared to be his by the anti-Masonic party. The expres- sion "a good enough Morgan till after election," based on this incident, originated with the friends of the Masons, and was used during the election excitement. It was at this period the name Gothic Hall was given the building, and as late as 1844 a city paper recorded the fact that it had changed hands, its stockholders having received neither principal nor in- terest on their investment. It was torn down about 1855, and on its site, Nos. 314 and 316 Broadway, improved and what were considered at the time elegant structures were built. Between Pearl and Worth streets stood a brewery, built shortly after the Revolution by a man whose widow married the brewer Steenbach, and their residence was on the southeast corner of Broadway and the present Worth street, and on the northeast was that of Steenbach's partner. The entrance to the brewery and malt-house was on Worth street. Fronting Broadway and attached to each of the dwelling houses were large kitchen gardens, which were afterward built upon by Stephen Conover, executor of Brewer Steenbach. The Broadway Theatre was the principal building on this block in after years, but a short time after 1850 it gave place to marble stores erected by James R. Whiting. The block north of this one had but one house on it two or three years prior to 1800. The land was the property of the brewery owners. Within a few years, however, residences of a good class were erected on it and were occupied at different periods by such well known leading New York citizens as John Griscom, Gilbert Robertson, Ed- ward Laight and J. R. Beekman. About 1836 the Sixth Free Presbyterian Church, with the largest accommodation of any then in the city, was erected here between Worth street and Catharine Lane. It stood upon lots in the rear of those on Broadway, with its entrance on this thoroughfare at No. 340. Some time about 1840 its name was changed to the Tabernacle. Its history is identified with many gatherings of the people on important occa- sions. In it Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith and Lucretia Mott thundered forth their opinions on slavery. An interesting business history surrounds the block between Catharine Lane and Leonard street. Before the grade of the street was lowered two small frame buildings stood on it. In one of them, after the grade was made, Stephen Conover established his hardware store, the first in that sec- tion of the city. It stood on the corner of Leonard street, and afterward gave place to the building of the New York Society Library Association, which had previously been located in Nassau street, opposite the old post- office. This institution was the oldest of its kind in the city. In 1836 it sold its Nassau street property for $44,200, and with this and other monies derived from the New York Athenaeum, which had merged with it, it pur- chased the site on Broadway, 60 feet front and 100 feet deep, for $47,500. The building was completed in 1839, at a cost of $70,000, and was occupied by the association until 1853, when it was sold to Appleton & Co., pub- CRADLE DAYS OF XEJV YORK. 197 lishers, for $110,000. The New York Life Insurance Building stands on the ground. What was before the Revolution the private dairy farm of Mrs. Mar- garet De Peyster is now the block between Leonard and Franklin streets. Originally a portion of the Kalckhook south of the Van Cortlandt property, it had passed into the hands of the De Peysters, who used it as pasture land to supply themselves with home-made butter and fresh milk, as was the custom among the wealthy families at the time. After the death of Mrs. De Peyster and the partition of the estate this ground was put on the market and sold by the heirs, one of whom married David M. Clarkson, a New York merchant, who soon after the Revolution erected a residence about midway between the two streets, on the east side of Broadway. The house stood fifty feet back from the street, and was surrounded by a large garden, which extended along the present Leonard street to about the line of Elm. Early in 1800 the owner of this property, which was about 160 feet on Broadway and 380 feet deep, sold it to Rufus King and John Law- rence for $30,000. In 1813, three years after the partition of the various lots had been made by King and Lawrence, houses of a superior class were constructed on this block, and toward the middle of the last century the Carlton House was built on the site of two of them, Nos. 350 and 352. Old newspaper advertisements of 1796 tell us that "Rickett's Amphi- theatre is to rent for circus and theatrical performances and for panoramic exhibitions." It was situated on Broadway, north of White street, and its site many years before was used by itinerant circus performers who found their way to New York "and were accustomed to exhibit on the hill above the Collect." North of Franklin street improvements were deferred some years. A great part of the property was held by old Van Cortlandt representatives and some by the Corporation, especially the lots which had been used for reser- voir purposes. The few disconnected cottages occupying the east side of Broadway, between Franklin and Canal streets, went down before the march of improvements in 1816 or 1817, and handsome residences took their places. Some of these were between Franklin and White streets, and were owned and occupied by William M. Cutting, John M. Bradhurst and Richard Kingsland. The Cutting residence was occupied later by John Jacob Astor and remained until the middle of the century. Between the two streets north the first improvement was made by the widow of Goldsborough Banyar and by Peter A. Jay. The site occupied during a part of the last century by Florence's Hotel, on the northeast corner of Walker street, was ihe beginning of the permanent improvement on the block between Walker and Canal streets, George Bruce afterward improving the corner of the latter street. Many buildings of a public character were later erected in this neighborhood — the Minerva Rooms, at No. 404; Enterprise Hall, at No. 410, and the Apollo Gallery, at No. 412. Before the opening of the last century the weet side of the thoroughfare in this locality had twenty-two houses, beginning with the public house and garden of Conrad Vanderbeck, on the northwest corner of Duane street, and ending with the tannery of Thomas Duggan, near the stone bridge which was afterward the line of Canal street. 198 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. The White Conduit House had a history all its ov/n. It was one of the old city's suburban gardens, and stood on the top of the Kalckhook hill before Broadway was cut through, with an extensive view from its high stoop of the surrounding country. It was the scene of many quiet gather- ings of the middle class citizens, it appears, until near the beginning of the year 1800. It occupied what is now the west side of Broadway, between Leonard and Worth streets. Another public garden may also be mentioned, which stood near Leon- ard street in 1796, and was kept by a Frenchman, M. Corri, a pioneer seller of mead and cakes on the Battery, who afterward obtained the permission of the corporation to illumine his stand with colored lamps — a novelty to the citizens of the old town. In 1805 it was known as Mount Vernon Gar- den, and, not having been displaced by the cutting through of the street, stood high above the neighboring structures. Flying horses and other amusements were furnished by M. Corri to his patrons. It was near this house that John H. Contoit, in 1809, established his second New York Garden, after leaving the site opposite the park. Its plain wooden entrance was overshadowed with trees, and inside were shady nooks, dimly lit by colored lanterns. An old New Yorker says: "Many a match was made in these old gardens, v/hich to-day would seem to the eye but the acme of rural simplicity, but to the older city offered all that was enjoyable on a moonlight night in the island of Manhattan." The famous Taylor's restau- rant, frequented by all the society belles of the day, stood on the north corner of Franklin street in the early forties. Up to 1815 the limit of improvements of Broadway was the section written of. Five years afterward, however, the street was almost entirely lined with a fair class of buildings, which remained until the middle of 1800. The introduction of gas south of Canal street in 1825 gave an im- petus to business in the thoroughfare. At this period its west side was extensively patronized as the fashionable shopping mart, and many of the dry goods stores had been transferred from the section below St. Paul's Church, and were following the population which was filling up the cross streets below Canal street, so that it became the busy part of the city. The one thing that causes the delver into the city's history more con- cern than any other is the inactivity displayed by the citizens of old New York in the draining of the Fresh Water Pond and filling up the meadows extending to the North River. Soon after the Revolution measures were taken for the improvement, and commissioners were appointed under an act of the legislature, but it was wen on to 1810 when a street one hundred feet wide was formed, with a ditch or open canal in its centre, bordered with shade trees, and on either side a broad drive lined with habitations. No puzzle half so formid- able as the proper course to be pursued with the swamp in this region was encountered by the corporation. Broadway was graded below the stone bridge, and for some distance above. Spring street was even marked out and houses built in certain parts of it, and yet nothing but a small, slug- gish stream of water marked the site of the present Canal street. At some seasons of the year the Lispenard Meadows were overflowed with water, and in winter they were used as a skating pond by the sport loving citizens. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. iq9 Scheme after scheme was proposed to drain them, but the nineteenth cen- tury had well advanced before any of them were put into operation and the work was completed. It is the opinion of many that the stone bridge which crossed the drain at Canal street and Broadway was built by the authorities of the city. In no record, however, is mention made of any action by them in the premises. It was of a very substantial character, and the first evidence of its existence is a map executed during the War of the Revolution, leading to the belief that it was constructed for military purposes, as there were extensive fortifications on each side of it, on the Kalckhook and on Bayard's farm. The Middle Road, as Broadway above Canal street was commonly known before its regulation as far as Astor Place in 1809, was not wholly unimproved prior to the beginning of the last century. Several adventur- ous pioneers, despite the protests of the inhabitants, erected a few one and two story houses on it, the oldest standing at what is now the corner of Grand street, and becoming in later years the site of the Broadway House. The regulation of this thoroughfare above the stone bridge to Astor Place, which was originally the line of a road leading from the hamlet called "the Bowery," from its vicinity to Governor Stuyvesant's farm, to Sapokanican, or Greenwich, was a matter of grave concern to the citizens, chiefly from the diSiculties arising out of the discordant action respecting the plan of regulating Canal street, and the conflicting interests of the owners of land, who even at that day were considering how its value could be increased by accepting certain city improvements. The greater part of the land lying east and west between the present Astor Place and the meadows at Canal street was what was known as the Bayard farms, their dividing line being the middle of Broadway. The portion to the west extended from the meadows to near Bleecker street, and the eastern portion to a point between Prince and Houston streets. North of the west farm was the Herring estate, and of the east, adjoining a small tract of land belonging to Alderman Dyck- man, was the Anthony L. Bleecker farm, through which the street of that name was afterward run. The Bayard farm was bounded on the east by the Bowery and on the west by an irregular line extending to Macdougal street. In 1751 its owner, Nicholas Bayard, erected his Mansion House on this farm, at what is now the block bounded by Grand, Broome, Crosby and Elm streets, and established an avenue called Bayard's Lane, which led up to the house, the entrance gate being at the Bowery Road. The present Broome street is laid out on nearly the same line. The property was cut up by military works during the war, defensive lines on the outskirts of the city running across it. After the close of the Revolution its owner found him- self financially embarrassed, it is said, and mortgaged the west farm, which contained one hundred acres, for £7,000. This was afterward placed in the hands of trustees, who divided it into parcels of various sizes and sold them. At a point on Broadway near the present Spring street was the junc- tion of two private lanes through the Bayard farm, one of which led south- westerly to the North River shore at Lispenard's Meadows, and the other in a westerly course, terminating near Richmond Hill. At the present Third street was another lane, which led from the Bowery to Richmond Hill, along the southerly side of the Herring land. 200 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. The Middle Road in 1802 was ordered surveyed from Canal street to the southwest corner of the present Prince street, and the Street Commissioner was directed to report as to "the best method of turnpiking it." He recom- mended that it be paved forty feet wide, with sidewalks ten feet wide, and that a row of trees be planted on each side, ten feet apart. While this plan was at first adopted, it was afterward repealed on account of the hesitancy of the authorities regarding the improving of Canal street. Some regulating of the street was carried out, however, a short time afterward, and in 1805 the recommendations of the Commissioner were put in force, and the follow- ing year the improvements were extended to Great Jones street. The next year saw them carried as far as Art street, the present Astor Place. The laying of pavements and construction of sidewalks soon followed, so that by November, 1809, the corporation was in a position to accept the offer of Samuel Burling, one of the citizens, to furnish as many poplar trees as might be necessary to line Broadway from Leonard street to Art street, pro- vided they would move and set them without expense to him. Property owners were also anxious to add to the beauty of the street, which was considered the pride of the city, and offered to supply carts to move the trees, so that in a short time Broadway became renowned both as a dwelling and business locality, and remained so until the young city tore away the barriers and pushed further north. CHAPTER XLI. (1802-1816.) Academy of Fine Arts Founded — City Comptroller Appointed — Period of Duelling — Yellow Fever Scourge — Death of Alexander Hamilton — Founding of New York Historical Society and Musical Society, Though the opening of the nineteenth century saw an obstinate po- litical struggle for the supremacy of a national party being fought in the city, the growth of New York was still on the increase. In rapid ratio its inhabitants and institutions multiplied, the former numbering 60,000. Shipping was also increasing, the leases of the wharves, piers and slips bringing to the treasury of the city between $12,000 and $13,000 a year. On February 12, 1802, the Academy of Fine Arts was founded by Chancellor Livingston, and a suite of rooms for exhibition purposes was opened in the old government house facing the Bowling Green. In after years it was located in the New York Institution, in Chambers street, a free lease having been given to the society by the city. Through Chancellor Livingston a collection of pictures was presented to it by the First Consul of the French Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte. This month the city was in a political ferment. The returns of the electoral votes had shown the triumph of the Republican ticket, but an equal number had been received by Jefferson and Burr, which was any- thing but agreeable to the party. The decision rested upon the House of Representatives, voting by States. There were sixteen then in the Union, and a majority of these was necessary to a choice. For seven days the bal- loting went on, and on the thirty-sixth Jefferson was found to have received the votes of ten States, while four adhered to Burr and two cast blank bal- lots. Jefferson was thereupon declared President, and Burr, by law, became Vice-President. On March 4 the bells of the city were rung in honor of the event. In April the New York election for Governor occurred, and was spirited and rancorous. Rumors were circulated that thousands of tenants on the Van Rensselaer estates were to be prosecuted for non-payment of rents unless they voted for the owner. The stories were denied, though they had the desired effect. His opponent, Clinton, was chosen by more than 4,000 majority. In August of this year Edward Livingston was appointed Ma-yor of the city, a post at this time of great dignity and importance, as he not only presided over the deliberations of the Common Council, but was the presiding judge of a high court of record, with both civil and criminal juris- diction. Liberal fees and perquisites and a few years' incumbency tended to the acquiring of a handsome fortune in the office. 201 202 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. Many things of interest occurred during 1801, among them the estab- lishment of the United States Navy Yard in Brooklyn, and of a ferry be- tween "Hurlgate" and Hallett's Cove; also the sale of fifteen lots of the common land for $8,050, "and the ordering Broadway to be continued and opened through Thomas Randall's land to meet the Bowery road." The total valuation of the city and county at this time was $21,964,037, and a tax of one mill on the dollar was laid. A City Comptroller was appointed, and the piers, beginning at the Battery and going east and north, were numbered. The year 1802 foreshadowed an event in history known to the student. The hollow position of Vice-President was unsatisfactory to Aaron Burr, and he saw many obstacles to his becoming the next Republican President. He was using every means to create a party of his own, so as to be an inde- pendent power in politics. Through him dissatisfaction was increasing and party strife was apparently solidly imbedded. Duels were the order of the day between his friends and those who opposed him. One of these took place at Weehawken between George L. Eacker, a partisan of Burr, and a friend of the eldest son of Alexander Hamilton named Price; another between young Hamilton and Eacker, from the wounds received in which Hamilton died, and another in Love Lane (Twenty-first street) between the brother of Jeremiah Thompson, once Collector of the Port, and William Coleman, editor of "The Evening Post," which about this time first made its bow to the public. Indeed, it seemed to be a period of duelling. A Board of Health was established in 1802, as was also a Vaccine, or Kine Pock, Institution, the first of the kind in the city. In 1803 Edward Livingston resigned the office of Mayor, and De Witt Clinton was appointed to succeed him. The latter had been a resident of the city from early youth, and had the honor of being the first graduate of Columbia College after its change of name. The Historical Society was founded under his auspices and the Public School Society was instituted by him. He held office for twelve years, when he resigned, and afterward became Governor to mature the gigantic scheme of canal navigation. An appalling visitation of yellow fever about the middle of the year spread consternation throughout the length and breadth of the city, and so great and universal was the public alarm that all who could leave the city fled to places of safety. Mayor Livingston, who had not resigned at the time, remained at his post, bound, as he declared, by a sacred contract to face the terrible enemy and alleviate suffering to the extent of his power. He went about the streets at night to see if the watchmen were doing their duty, and visited the hospitals every day, his presence encour- aging the nurses and physicians. In the latter part of September he succumbed to the fever, but recovered after a severe illness, the news- papers announcing the fact and the whole city hailing it with joy. During his illness and while the pestilence was raging his confidential clerk em- bezzled a large portion of the public funds, and he found himself indebted to the United States, without means to liquidate the debt. He bravely sur- rendered all his property for the security of the government and then re- signed. From July 26 to the end of November 670 died from fever. The Merchants' Bank began oiperations this year, and some time after the stock- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 203 holders presented to the State one thousand of its shares as a fund for the support of public schools. The political storm that had been brewing in New York from 1801 broke in March, 1804. In February of the latter year Jefferson was unan- imously chosen for re-election, and Clinton was substituted for Burr as the Vice-Presidential candidate. The latter, finding himself left out of the national nomination, resolved to seek the nomination for Governor of New York through an appeal to the people. His supporters had become a recog- nized power in the State, and announced him as an independent candidate against Judge Morgan Lewis, the Republican nominee. Newspaper person- alities became rampant on both sides, and Burr's private character was as- sailed in the most obnoxious manner up to the day of election. Much exultation existed among his supporters when it was found that he had received a majority of nearly 100 votes in the city, but it was short lived when the returns from the country showed a clear defeat of Burr and the election of Lewis. The former attributed his defeat mainly to the powerful influence of Hamilton, especially as in one of two letters published during election times, from the pen of Dr. Charles D. Cooper, General Hamilton said: "Burr is a dangerous man and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government." The purport of these letters came under Burr's notice some weeks after the election, and the duel of July 11, 1804, with v/hich every student is familiar, was the result. The news of the wounding of Hamilton stunned the entire city and business was practically suspended. With the announcement of his death "a cry of execration upon his mur- derer burst from the lips and hearts of the multitude." It was a sorrowful city that witnessed Hamilton's funeral. The cere- monies attending it were conducted by the Cincinnati, whose chief the dead statesman had been, and the oration was made by Gouverneur Morris. When the parting volley had been fired over his grave the vast crowd which had attended the services in Old Trinity carried to their homes a sense of profound sorrow and bereavement. With the death of Hamilton, Burr ceased to be a political leader, and on March 2, v/hen he took formal leave of the Senate, vanished from the arena of politics, never to reappear. The great fire in this year occurred on the night of December 18, breaking out in a grocery store in Front street. "The whole block from the west side of Coffee House Slip, in Water street, to the next door to Gouver- neur's lane, and including all the buildings in Front street to the water, were swept away. The fire crossed Wall street and destroyed the buildings on the east side of the slip. About forty stores and dwelling houses were consumed, entailing a loss of about $1,500,000. The fire was supposed to have been the work of eleven combined incendiaries, from an anonymous letter sent to a merchant previous to the event." "A priceless inheritance to all future generations," the founding of the New York Historical Society, was given to the city on the afternoon of November 20, 1804, through the instrumentality of Judge Egbert Benson and John Pintard. Its foundation was laid in the picture room of the City Hall, in Wall street, and active measures were at once taken to secure books, manuscripts, letters, documents, statistics and newspapers relating directly or remotely to American history, and pictures, antiquities, medals, 204 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. coins and specimens of natural history. The association soon grew in favor, and its numbers increased slowly but steadily as the work went on of ran- sacking garrets and trunks in the city for letters, papers and documents which had been cast aside as worthless, and which were records and data of the city's history. By action of the legislature the archives of France, Holland and England were examined, and important and long lost documents of value to the State government were unearthed. Indeed, the work of the society will challenge comparison with institutions of similar character fostered by older civilizations. The New York Historical Society occupied its first meeting place from 1804 to 1809, and was then removed to the Government House, opposite the Bowling Green, which it occupied until 1816. In this year it found quarters in the New York Institution, remaining until 1841, when it removed to the New York University. In 1857, after struggling with pecuniary difficulties and coming out triumphant, it celebrated its fifty-third anniversary by taking possession of a building on the corner of Eleventh street and Second avenue. Its present home is 170 Central Park West. It is an institution worthy of its founders, and New York should be ever grateful to those who carry on the work, as they represent the highest culture of the city. The subject of common schools engrossed the attention of the citizens in 1805. New York had not been entirely destitute of the means of educat- ing her youth, however, up to this time, for opportunity had been afforded for universal education. Nearly every church aided in this matter, and private schools abounded. In this year one hundred and forty teachers were actively employed. Measures were necessary for the establishing of a per- manent system of education, as the population was increasing rapidly, and the incoming European multitudes were in danger of growing up hopelessly ignorant. Members of the Historical Society saw the drift of affairs, and on February 19 a meeting was called at the house of John Murray, in Pearl street, and a society was organized. The result was the institution of a free school, independent of and in nowise interfering with the schools already provided by churches, corporations and charitable bodies. In May, 1806, the first school was opened in Madison street. "The first two months of the year saw great distress among the people of the city. Great quantities of snow encumbered the streets, and extraor- dinary expenses were incurred by the corporation and by benevolent people in relieving the wants of the poor." A ferry between Corlears Hook and Bushwick was established, and Norfolk, Essex, Fourth and Hester streets were ordered regulated and paved. North street was opened to the East River and the upper part of Broadway was also ordered paved. In March the bells of the city rang out and military parades took place in honor of the second inauguration of Jefferson as President. The Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, and the New England Society were formed in 1805. "This [1805] summer and autumn the yellow fever again prevailed, and one-third of the citizens left their dwellings. Over 280 persons died. December 18 was given over to a day of humiliation and prayer for the recent visitation." Coal, that necessity of the cultivated and uncultivated, was the subject of concern in the meeting of the corporation on July 29. "A premiuna of CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 205 $500 was offered by it for the first quantity of good pit coals, not less than ten chaldrons, which shall be brought to this city, having been taken from any pit or mine in this State, within ten miles of the seashore, or of any part of Hudson River, below the town of Waterford, in the county of Sara- toga." The year 1806 is memorable for the first successful attempt at steam- boat navigation, a full history of which has been given, and for the establishment of the New York County Medical Society and the founding of the Orphan Asylum Society, at Greenwich, under the auspices of Mrs. Sarah Hoffman, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton and Mrs. Bethune, wife of the celebrated divine, author and poet. The first building of the society stood in Bank street until 1840, when a nev/ site was purchased in West Seventy-fourth street. On April 7 "the corporation recommended the citi- zens to plant trees in all the streets forty feet wide, the trees to be not less than twelve feet apart," and ordered the regulation of Rivington street and the changing of the name of Bullock street to Broome, after Lieutenant Governor Broome. The wharves, piers and slips were let this year to William Johnson for $17,000 a year, and "a sale of corporation lands took place at Incklenbergh (Murray Hill), of 59 half-acre lots, for $61,990, subject each to an annual rent forever of twenty bushels of wheat." Some things of interest occurred during this period which should not be passed over. A literary fair was held every year, either in New York or Philadelphia, in order to promote acquaintance of publishers and to encour- age the art of printing and bookbinding, also to facilitate the circulation of books through the country. England's high taxes and her higher price of paper were favorable to the American publisher, in that celebrated works of Old World authors were reprinted and sold for one-fourth the original price. The demand for these was such that the publishers themselves established circulating libraries. "There was no dearth of literary talent in the city," said an historian, "but it had been almost exclusively directed to political subjects and to organizing theories and testing untried institu- tions." The trepidation of one publisher, when the reprinting of Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel" was being considered, is amusing now. A volume had been sent by the author to the wife of a noted divine in the city. It was circulated widely, and an American reprint was suggested. The pub- lisher who was spoken to called together a number of literary experts, who pronounced the poem "too local in its nature and its interest obsolete. It was without the harmony of the tuneful Pope." It was rejected, but was printed shortly afterward by a more farseeing publisher. Toward the middle of 1807 news reached the city of the capture of Aaron Burr and his trial for treason in Richmond, Va. Much excitement was caused, but New York was well represented at the trial, which resulted in his acquittal because of the difficulty of the prosecution in proving overt acts. Burr came to New York and lay concealed in the houses of friends until, under an assumed name and with money borrowed for his passage, he sailed for Europe. War's alarums resounded through the country at the end of 1807, when Congress passed a bill prohibiting American vessels from sailing for foreign ports, and all foreign vessels from taking out cargoes. All coasting vessels 2o6 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. were required to give bonds to land their cargoes in the United States. Im- portant measures were adopted for the defense of the city. The old Potter's Field, at the junction of the Bloomingdale and Post roads (Madison Square), was ceded to the national government, which erected an arsenal upon it; also ground "under water 400 feet," on which the Castle Garden, off the Battery, was soon after erected. The batteries at the foot of Hubert street and Fort Gansevoort were also established. The city suffered severely from the embargo. The trade of the whole world was interdicted. Ware- houses were in many instances closed and ships lay idly at anchor. The farmer was badly affected, as he had no market for his produce, and to sell meant a great reduction in price. Measures were being taken by the na- tional government to remedy the condition of affairs, but without effect, and so it continued until 1809, when Jefferson consented to a compromise, and non-intercourse was substituted for embargo, all nations except France and Great Britain being relieved from the arbitrary provisions of the former act. Business began to revive. Marinus Willett v/as Mayor in 1807, and during his term many im- provements were inaugurated. One of these, and the most important, was the adoption of a plan of the future city, to v/hich we owe the parallel streets and broad avenues of the upper part of the island, in contrast to the crooked lanes of the downtown locality. The whole island to Kingsbridge was laid out and surveyed by commissioners appointed by the legislature, Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton and others. The streets, beginning with the first oh the east side of the Bowery, above Houston street, were numbered upward to the extreme end of the island. Twelve avenues inter- sected these, and were numbered westward from First avenue, the continu- ation of Allen street, to Twelfth avenue (there is now a Thirteenth ave- nue), on the shores of the North River. When avenues were afterward laid out to the eastward of the former the letters of the alphabet were used to designate them. Public parks for the adornment of the city were made from the squares and triangles which were formed by the junction of the thoroughfares. Everything was done to make every inch of the island habitable. Hampering these improvements were the war threats of England and France. On March 1, 1809, the embargo, as was mentioned before, was removed by Congress, and a system of non-intercourse was substituted. In August non-intercourse with England was again proclaimed, while in the following March commercial intercourse was renewed with the French nation. England continued her aggressions, and stationed ships of war before the American ports, to intercept the outward bound vessels and take possession of them as lawful prizes. As no satisfaction was to be obtained from the British government, Congress resolved to bring matters to a head, and on May 19 the President proclaimed war against Great Britain. This declaration caused the city to retrograde for a time in population and wealth. The history of the war is well known to every reader. When tranquillity was restored the population of the city, according to the census taken in 1814, was over 92,000, including nearly 1,000 negro slaves. The hum of industry began to be heard on every side, and New York commerce girded herself for peaceful battle with other countries. The CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 207 war had interrupted public improvements, but with the ratification of the treaty of peace on February 17, 1815, leading citizens began to urge the city forward on her career of prosperity. The 19th of the month was set apart for thanksgiving by the various churches, and on the 22d "a brilliant and costly display of fireworks took place, when the City Hall and all in- habited dwellings" were illuminated. Shortly after a "superb ball" was given in honor of the joyful peace. And so the old city started out to re- habilitate herself and become again powerful. The following year was memorable among commercial men for the enormous importation of merchandise of every description from Europe. Through it a new impulse was given to business. It is also memorable as the year in which the commissioners of the Erie Canal were appointed and as the year in which was adopted the immortal recommendation of Gover- nor Tompkins — that slavery should cease forever in the State of New York on July 4, 1827. CHAPTER XLII. (1817-1825.) First Line of Packet Ships Established — Arrival of the Great Eastern — Body of General Montgomery Transferred — Reception to Lafayette — Organization of First Savings Bank. Two events of importance were evolved in 1817. One may be said to have been foreshadowed from the start of the city by the fact that ample channels of communication with the interior by water existed, and the other to have been the result of a demand for the extension of a great busi- ness already soundly established. The first of these events was. the forming by Isaac Wright & Son, Francis Thompson, Benjamin Marshall and Jere- miah Thompson of the first regular line of packet ships to Liverpool, known as the "Black Ball Line," which sailed regularly on the first day of every month throughout the year. They were named the Pacific, the Amity, the William Thompson and the James Cropper, and were vessels of between 400 and 500 tons — large ships as ships went in those days. Four years later a second line, the Red Star, was established by Byrnes, Trimble & Co., with four ships, the Manhattan, the Hercules, the Panthea and the Meteor, which sailed on the 24th of each month. The business of the country was in an unusually flourishing condition at this time, and the competitive instinct forced the Black Ball Line to add four more ships, to sail on the 16th of each month. A little later the Swallow Tail Line was established by Messrs. Fish, Grinnell & Co. and Thaddeus Phelps & Co. Four ships were in this service, sailing on the 8th of each month. Thus, communication was established between New York and Liverpool by a fleet of sixteen vessels, making from each end of the line weekly departures the year round. The honor of first demonstrating the feasibility of navigating the ocean by steam belongs to this country, as in 1819 the Savannah, of 300 tons, which had been built the previous year in one of New York City's shipyards, sailed from here to the city in Georgia for which she was named. Two months later, on May 26, she left Savannah direct for Liverpool, accomplishing the trip in twenty-two days. The sensation she created extended into court circles, and it was suspected that her errand was to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena. From Liverpool she went to Copen- hagen, and thence to St. Petersburg and to Norway. She returned to Savan- nah in twenty-five days. It was not until April 23, 1838, that the first English steamship — if she may be so called, as she was a sailing vessel fitted up as a steamer — arrived at Jones's Wharf, Pier 14, East River. She was named the Sirius, and sailed from Liverpool, bringing over forty-four ( 208 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 209 passengers. Her trip from Cork, at which point she had touched, was made in fourteen days. Three days after her arrival the Great Western, the first English steamship distinctly built as such, and intended for the American service, arrived in the Lower Bay. She had sailed from Bristol on April 8, and made the trip in eighteen days. Her passenger list was seven persons. After docking at Pike Slip, she was opened for inspection to the public. It was a great day for the citizens, and the newspapers the following morning had extended accounts of the event. It was the begin- ning of permanent ocean steam navigation. The Collins and Cunard lines soon followed, in 1841, and in less than twenty years there were fifteen lines of steamships between the two continents, forty-six ships in all, thirty-seven of which ran out of this harbor. The Collins Line met with misfortune, two of its steamers being lost at sea, in one of which, the Arctic, the family of the owner and nearly every one on board perished. In 1858 it was discontinued. The second event of importance in 1817 was the solidifying into a legislative act of the whole plan of the Erie Canal on April 17. This project was an evolution. Under the presidency of General Philip Schuyler, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was incorporated in 1792, for the purpose of opening a communication by canal to Seneca Lake and Lake Ontario and of improving the Mohawk River. Later, at the suggestion of Gouverneur Morris, a plan grander in scope was considered — the opening of a canal from the liudson River to Lake Erie. The project was brought before the Assembly in 1808 by Joshua Forman, and an appropriation was granted for a preliminary survey, which was made by .lames Geddis. The matter was dropped for a year, but was revived in March, 1810, Senator De Witt Clinton becoming associated with it and remaining its most efR- cient promoter until the end. The war with England and the consequent disorder in the finances of the country prevented the prosecution of the work for several years. On April 17, 1817, funds were provided for its construc- tion, and nearly three months later ground was broken at Rome, N. Y., on the middle section. The canal was opened for traffic in little more than eight years. A great celebration took place along the line of the canal between the day of the letting in of the waters of Lake Erie, on October 26, 1825, and the day when Governor Clinton, from the deck of the Seneca Chief, poured from one of two elegant kegs, painted green, with gilded hoops, fresh water brought from Lake Erie into the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean, thus typifying the joining of the inland and the outland seas, on November 4. An extended account of this celebration is given in nearly all histories, and is known to all readers. Shortly after the event the corporation of New York prepared and sent to Buffalo a superb keg, bearing the arms of the city, over which were the words "Neptune's Return to Pan," and containing "water of the Atlantic." An interesting occurrence in 1817 was the seizure by the high con- stable of the city of a quantity of gunpowder belonging to the United States which was being carted through the streets unguarded and im- properly packed. The government sued for its return and recovered, but the corporation appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and its right 210 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. to seize was sustained. In this year also "the Mayor made a report of the income and estate belonging to Captain Randall's legacy, and called the Sailor's Snug Harbor, as follows: Rents of ninety-five lots and five houses, $3,523.06; interest on stock holdings, $1,660.92; dividends on bank, fire and insurance company stock, $1,476. Total, $6,659.92." Those who know may compare this with to-day's income, and find much that is interesting. Another record is the division of the city into ten wards and the change of the name of St. George street to Franklin Square. Likewise, the giving of the streets east of the Bowery, from First to Sixth, the names of Chrystie, Forsyth, Eldridge, Allen and Ludlow, after the names of "military and naval heroes of the late war." On July 11, 1818, the remains of General Richard Montgomery, the hero of Quebec, were transferred from their Canadian resting place to the city, and deposited with military honors beneath the mural monument in the front of St. Paul's Chapel, which had been erected to his memory in 1776 by order of the Continental Congress. t Cadwallader D. Colden was appointed Mayor this year. "He was indus- triously active in the interests of humanity and viewed men and things from a philosophical standpoint." Through him the Society for the Preven- tion of Pauperism was established in 1818, and with his aid the Asylum for the Insane was begun at Manhattanville. This institution was later an appendage to and under the government of the managers of the New York Hospital, and received an endowment from the State of $10,000 a year for forty-four years. The report of the Mayor in November, 1819, regarding the foreign emigration to the city startled the people. He said that during the preceding twenty months 18,930 foreigners had arrived in the city and been reported at his ofiice. They were not all of the desirable class. Many of them were of the lowest and most ignorant, who paid no particular attention to laws of any kind, and were satisfied to live in sheds, cellars or rookeries. The patience of the citizens was sorely tried for a time. From No. 27 Cherry street, in this city, in April, 1818, was forwarded to Washington the first flag in which the stripes were not correspondingly increased with incoming States. It was made by the wife of Captain Samuel C. Reid, the hero of Fayal. The history of its making is interesting. As originally instituted by Congress, June 14, 1777, the flag bore thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. Pursuant to an act of the same body in 1794, with the admission of each new State a star and a stripe were to be added to the flag. The increase in States necessarily lessened the width of the stripes and correspondingly decreased the historical significance of the flag. A new design was proposed by the New York Representative in the House, Peter H. Wendover, who had called attention to the fact that the flag of the United States did not represent all the States, and moved for its altera- tion. The design which combined the glory of the past with the progress of the present — the thirteen stripes as a memento of the original Union, alternate red and white, and a new star, white on a blue field, added when- ever a new State was admitted, to indicate the nation's growth — was the work of Captain lleid at the suggestion of Wendover, who succeeded in having it adopted by Congress on April 4, to be effective from and after July 4, 1818. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 211 "A clash between the civil and military power in the city was averted this year by the President of the United States." Major General Winfield Scott, in command of the military district in which the city was, with headquarters at Castle Clinton (the circular stone fort which stood in front of the Battery), attempted to erect two small offices on the Battery, one on each side, leading to the bridge, in violation of the rights of the city and of the spirit of the grant made to the government. The citizens v/ere aroused, and the Mayor called the attention of the general to the fact that he was violating their rights. Scott was obdurate and refused to be criti- cised. An appeal was made to the President, and the v/ork was ordered discontinued. A sale of lots belonging to the city, in the vicinity of Leonard and Worth streets, brought $25,325 — an average of $900 a lot — and "Mr. John Kenrich offered to the Corporation to plough and harrow a channel on the bar, outside of Sandy Hook, ten rods wide and four fathoms deep, for the sum of $100,000 — which was not accepted." An- other sale of fourteen corporation lots, "at the New Albany Basin, in Greenwich street," brought $47,800. In 1819 the first Savings Bank was organized, under the auspices of Thomas Eddy, Dr. John Griscom, John Pintard and others, and opened in the basement of the New York Institution, in Chambers street. It was afterward located in Bleecker street, William Bayard being its first presi- dent. "January 21. Sale of lots, at auction, between Dey and Fulton streets and Washington and West streets, belonging to the Corporation and for- merly bought of Richard Varick: No. 1-7, on Dey street, bought by Leonard Kip, Philip Brasher, Philip Hone, W. H. Ireland and William Howard, at an average of $4,000 a lot. No. 8-13, on West street, bought by John Suydam, John Van Bussum, George Lorillard and Isaac Conklln, the first five at about the same average, the sixth bringing $11,000. No. 14-21, on Fulton street, by Philip Hone, Joseph Newton, Charles Dennison, Abraham Valentine, Peter Embury, Garrit Storm and Philip Brasher, at an average of $7,000 a lot." On February 19 General Jackson arrived in the city. An extra meet- ing of the Common Council was called, at which the freedom of the city and a gold snuffbox were voted to him, and he was requested to sit for a full length portrait, to be painted for the gallery. A ball was given in his honor at the City Hotel. The Mariners' Church was built in Roosevelt street, the Dutch Church in Market street, and the Friends' Meeting House in Hester street later in the year. On September 13 the yellow fever broke out at Old Slip, its first appearance since 1805. Twenty-three deaths occurred. The year 1820 was memorable to the citizens for a few things. The burning of the old Park Theatre occurred on May 25, and so rapid was the conflagration that not an article of wardrobe or scenery was saved. The New York Infirmary, for curing diseases of the eye, was founded this year. "At a meeting of citizens at the City Hall to take measures to relieve the sufferers by the late dreadful fire at Savannah, the Corporation was appealed to, but declined making any appropriation from the city treasury, for want of power. A committee was appointed and $12,000 was collected 212 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. and sent to the Mayor of Savannah, who, taking offence at a part of the resolution voted in New York to be sent, returned the whole amount in disgrust. It was refunded to the subscribers." The salaries of the city officers were reduced this year 16 per cent., the Mayor's from $7,000 to $5,500, and the first balloon asceusion ever made in America took place from Vauxhall. M. Guille was the balloonist. For the first time since 1780 the Hudson River and the harbor were entirely closed by ice in January, 1821. "The citizens crossed in great numbers on the ice to Powles Hook and back, and some to Staten Island. Comparative measurements of distance were made upon the ice across the Narrows and from Cortlandt street to the Jersey shore, and it was ascer- tained that each was one mile and a few feet wide. The thermometer registered 14 degrees below zero at the coldest, and for three days not more than 10 degrees above zero." Later in the year John Randell, Jr., reported to the corporation that he had furnished his surveys and maps of the island, on which work he had been engaged for ten years; that all the avenues and cross streets north of North street and Greenwich Lane had been laid out, the total expense to the city being $32,484.98. In February the iron railing which three years before had been put around that part of the park fronting Chambers street and Broadway was ordered to be continued all around the park, and in a pillar of the prin- cipal gateway at the southern extremity coins and articles of interest for future generations were to be inserted. Dr. Mitchell addressed the people when they were deposited. It would be of interest to know where they are now. The Court of Common Pleas was established this year, and John T. Irvin was appointed first judge. The Mayor's Court was abolished, or, rather, he was not required upon the bench, the Recorder afterward presid- ing. The former's salary was fixed at $3,000 a year, and his duties were defined and altered principally to those of police and finance. On May 28 a constitutional convention was held at Albany, at which the Council of Ap- pointment was abolished and the appointment of most of the officers was given to the people. St. Luke's Church, in Hudson street, and the Presby- terian churches in Vandewater, Broome and Christopher streets were built this year, and the North River Bank chartered, a bonus of $60,000 being paid, on a compromise with the Swartwouts, to assist them in reclaiming the Jersey Meadows. Beekman street was ordered opened through Pearl, Water and Front streets to the river. While the year 18 22 opened auspiciously for the city, with an increase of business over the previous year and a brighter outlook for the future, a setback was given to it in the summer by the appearance of yellow fever in Rector street, near the river. The first case occurred on June 17. By the middle of July it had spread with fearful rapidity. Business was suspended for the next two months, and the only sounds t© be heard were the rumbling of hearses and the footsteps of nurses and physicians. High fences shut off each infected street or district below the City Hall, stores and dwellings were closed and deserted, and the Custom House, Postoffice and all the banks, insurance offices and other public places of business were removed to the upper part of Broadway and to Greenwich Village. The disease utterly desolated the lower portions of the city, and thousands sought pro- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 213 tection in flight. The dead numbered nearly four hundred, and it was not until ^arly in November that the citizens returned to their homes. Charles Mathews, the noted English actor, arrived from England while the pesti- lence was at its height. He was greatly agitated, and insisted on finding shelter in some remote spot. The managers of the Park Theatre, which was rebuilt in 1821, took him to a gardener's cottage on the road to Hack- ensack, where he remained until assured of the disappearance of the fever. Burials in Trinity church yard were discontinued this year. Many churches and institutions were built or founded in 1822, among the former being St. Matthew's, in Walker street; the Bowery Presbyterian Church, St. Thomas's, in Broadway, corner of Houston street, and the Uni- versalist Church, in Prince street. Among the institutions were the Appren- tices' Library and the Mercantile Library and the United Domestic Mis- sionary Society. On January 6, 1823, the Mayor, in accordance with the new constitu- tion, was appointed by the Common Council, Stephen Allen being re-elected. The celebrated interment law wat; passed in the same month, forbidding burials south of Canal street, and a "new burial ground was laid out be- tween Fortieth and Forty-second streets, on Fourth and Fifth avenues, con- taining ten acres and costing $8,449." The Fulton Bank and the New York Gaslight Company were incorporated later in the year, the latter having granted to it by the corporation the exclusive privilege for thirty years of laying castiron gas pipes in the streets south of Grand street. On June 16 Castle Clinton was given up as a military post and relinquished to the city. In the beginning of 1824 news from Liverpool of a great rise in the price of cotton reached the city. "Pilot boats and expresses were dis- patched to all the Southern cities and ports to purchase the commodity, which rose instantly from 15 to 30 cents a pound. Vast sums were lost and won, and the speculating mania extended to all kinds of merchandise. A strong impulse was given to business for a time. The reaction set in, and prices fell below the former standard, prostrating respectable and estab- lished houses, and giving the mercantile community a shock from which it did not recover for many years." During the year sixteen hundred houses v/ere built in the old Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh wards. They were mostly two story structures. A correspondingly great increase took place in the value of real estate, especially in the northern part of the city. The city was honored on Mondaj\ August 16, by the presence of General Lafayette, who had arrived on the Cadmus the preceding day, and landed on Staten Island, where he stayed at the residence of Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President of the United States. From the Battery he was escortefd to the City Hall, where he was welcomed by the corporation and congratulated by Mayor Paulding on his safe arrival. "An immense and most enthusiastic gathering of the people proclaimed the warmth of its affection for the friend of Hamilton, the adopted brother of Washington, and the man who had won golden opinions from all ranks and parties by his frankness and valor in the American Revolution." Men in all walks of life vied with one another to do him honor. After the ceremony he was con- ducted to Bunker's Mansion House, the guest of the city. He visited the 214 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. navy yard, fortifications and public institutions, and on his departure was escorted by a large detachment of troops to Kingsbridge, whence he set out for his proposed tour through the States. On his return in September a fete was given to him at Castle Garden, "which for grandeur, expense and entire effect was never before witnessed in this country, six thousand persons being assembled in that immense area." The Chamber of Com- merce and merchants resolved this year to adopt the new measure of buying and selling by the quintal of 100 pounds, instead of 112, as heretofore, be- ginning with January 1, 1825. Anthracite coal from Pennsylvania was introduced into the city the latter part of the year, but was not universally used. The year 1825 found a large and mixed population in New York, transportation facilities into the heart of the continent and a foreign trade diffused over the whole globe. The population numbered 16G,000, and was straining at the leash in its efforts to achieve more strength and prosperity. The Erie Canal, gaspipes, joint stock companies, the opera, the Sunday paper, the Merchants' Exchange and marble as a building material all made their advent in the great metropolis in the course of this year, and New York's evolution was a fact. CHAPTER XLIII. The City's Musical Life from 1825 to 1872. The Garcia Pamily — "The Woods" — Mrs. Seg^iin — Madame Borghese — Ha- vana Opera Com.pany — Miss Clotilda Barili — Madame Anna Bishop — Madame Bosio — Madame Anna Thillon — Madame Al- boni — Adelina Patti — Clara Louise Kellogg. The meagreness of musical entertainment in this country before 1825 seems incredible. Tliat New Yorlcers then were content with the existing condition of the arts, and particularly of music, can only be ex- plained by understanding the general absence of money and leisure at that period. In 18 25 there were brought to New York the Garcia family and their associates, an Italian opera company of a total of nearly thirty persons, of which the brilliant star was Miss Garcia, who later mar- ried a New York v/ine merchant, Mr. Malibran. To speak the name Mali- bran tells the story. About five years after the Garcia troupe, another Italian opera company, wih an excellent prima donna named Pedrotti, arrived; and by 1834 the American cities, even in those days of sailing ships, had grown to be considered a good harvest field for European artists. In 1834 (September 9) appeared Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wood. He was a first-rate, robust, dramatic English tenor and a fine actor, and she, as Miss Paton, and afterward Lady William Lennox, the best operatic artist the English stage had records of. The Malibran and Pedrotti troupes had brought an exclusively contemporary Italian repertoire from the works of Rossini and Bellini. The Woods had not only these, but the best French works, translated into English. They brought out "Fra Diavolo" and kindred operas. Mrs. Wood was then a woman of 35, of impressive, rather than handsome mein, with a soprano of beautiful quality, very flexible, of wide extent and perfect schooling. Her ability was equal to any opera, and in those days vocal development seems to have reached the high-water mark that the public have ever since exacted. This lady could sing "Norma" or "Semiramide" as thrillingly as "Amina" or "Zerlina." "The Woods," as the newspapers chronicled them, remained in this country nearly seven years, held the palm against all comers and were the standard of excellence for a generation after their departure. In 1830 Miss Sherriff, Miss Poole, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Giubeeli were here. They introduced "Fidelio" in English. Miss Sherriff was the third English prima donna of rank in her profession to visit New York. Her acting was admirable, but her musical capabilities did not equal those of Mrs. Wood, and her repertoire was not so extensive. Miss Sherriff brought out for 215 2i6 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. the first time Adam's "Postilion." Wiiile the men .of the company were excellent, the contralto, Miss Poole, excited an enthusiasm for her lovely- voice and her fascinating delivery that captured some of the honors from the prima donna. Miss Poole became subsequently the most renowned con- tralto of England. Miss Sherriff soon after returned to England. In 1841, while the veteran tenor, Braham, was singing with stentorian voice to crowds in the Atlantic cities, his sea songs of the previous cen- tury, there entered New York a modest English opera troupe. It was in every detail excellent, and was, in its sphere, for ten years the most popular and worthy musical organization of the Union. It introduced to the public many new works in admirable English adaptations. March 29 Mrs. Seguin made her first appearance with her husband (bass) and Mr. Manners (tenor) in a version of "Zampa" that delighted the public. Mrs. Seguin was born in London, the daughter of a physician. She was an excellent and well-schooled soprano, an acceptable actress and sang charmingly every part she essayed. She was the aunt of Parepa Rosa, who appeared twenty-five years later. Mr. Seguin was a fit partner, an excellent actor and impressive singer. As an actor his work in "Fra Diavolo" and the "Bohemian Girl," which opera the Seguins introduced, has never been surpassed. They produced "Don Pasquale" in English in 1846, the tenor being Mr. Frazer. In these days New York needed an Italian opera house, and a small auditorum called "Palmo's" was opened February 3, 1844. Mme. Borghese was the prima donna. The rest of the company were not notable except Mme. Pico, the contralto, who became a pet of the public and held that position for several years. Borghese was young and handsome, but her vocal work was unequal, and the New York public had the voices of Mali- bran, Pedrotti and Wood in their memories for purposes of comparison, and, having become accustomed to the greatest, the career of the Palmo house became checkered. On November 25, 1844, the "Lucrezia Borgia" of Doni- zetti was first heard at Palmo's. The years after 1844 seem to have been lean, musically, in this city. In 1847 there was a shaking up. On April 15, the Havana Opera Company played for two nights. This organization grew out of a unique civic bar- gain worthy of repetition. The town authorities of Havana conceded to one Tacon or Marti the monopoly of the fish markets of that Catholic city, on condition that he provide the town with the best Italian opera at moderate prices. The time favored the project, for Europe was too busy singing the "Marseillaise" to listen to other strains. There were thus gathered together the best artists of the world, combining a company of seventy-two, including Arditi as first violin and leader and Bottisini, the first living contra-bass player. Other members of the orchestra were chosen players, and New Yorkers heard for the first time exactly what the composer of an opera had written. The principal singers had the best European reputations. Except the great quartet of Her Majesty's, Grisi, Rubini, Tambourini and Lablache and Duprez of Paris, the Havana com- pany held the cream of the opera stage. Its first work was "^rnani." The singers were Perelli, Vita, Novell!, Candi and Madame Tedesco. Perelli was only a fair actor, but had a beautiful tenor voice and was a perfect CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 217 singer; he was, besides, a composer. The rest of the men were good and Tedesco was the first rank. His brief appearance (two nights) did not introduce the leading attractions. These were heard June 9, 184 7, when a season began with Verdi's "I Due Foscari," and the incomparable barytone Badiali made his debut. He was considered the peer of Tamburini, who never strayed from Paris or London and was the admired of the Queen. Badiali was a majestic personality, had a voice of power, sweetness, flexi- bility, perfect culture, and (as can be permittedly said in French) tears. This season, ending July 8, one month, gave Pacini's "Saffo," "Norma," "Sonnambula" and a revival of "Mose in Egitto." There was an interesting reopening on January 4, 1847, in Palmo's Opera House, under the management of Sanguirico (an admirable buffo) and Patti (a trustworthy tenor and father of the immortal Adellna). It was for the appearance of Miss Clotilda Barili, a beautiful girl and good singer. She was the daughter of Madame Patti by a previous marriage. This young lady afterward married into a fashionable and wealthy New York family and became daughter-in-law of Colonel Thorne. The opera was "Linda" and the tenor Benedetti, a remarkably attractive artist, only ex- celled then and for a generation by Salvi and Bettini. Beneventano for this occasion was the barytone. His voice was robust, but the vocal finish was absent, and he soon lost his popularity. About this time Castle Garden grew to be acceptable for summer per- formances, and on August 18, 1847, the Havana Opera Company revisited New York and performed there. They gave "Ernani," "Norma" and "Son- nambula," the tickets being 50 cents. On the 4th of August, 1847, a great English artist made her debut at the Park Theatre, Madame Anna Bishop. She sang "Linda di Chamounix" in English, with an adequate support and with Bochsa, the composer, and greatest living virtuoso on the harp, as her conductor. Madame Bishop was then at her best and should then be judged, not as when in more recent years, as an old lady, she lagged upon the stage. Her voice was alwaj^s what may be described as veiled. Yet that is all that could be said to its disadvantage. It was a high soprano, musical, ample, flexible to the last degree, and cultivated to its widest possibilities. As an artist she was most satisfying. On November 22, 1847, undoubtedly a musical year, the Astor Place Opera House, just built, opened under the management of Sanguirico and Patti. The soprano who was the mainstay of the company was named Truffe. She was a young and beautiful woman whose voice easily filled that moderate-sized auditorium. Yet, while a correct and entertaining singer, she had little of the authority or magnetism that seems essential to awaken enthusiasm and hold the public. On December 1, 1847, Bellini's "Beatrice di Tenda," an inferior work, however, was given with the sisters Clotilda Barili and Amalia Patti. Soon after, that was December 8, a Madame Biscaccianti, who was a Miss Osti- nelli, of Boston, made her debut here, but none seemed to have saved the day or brought fortune to the new house. However, on January 28, 1848, Madame Barili-Patti appeared in "Romeo" (another of the lesser works of Bellini), but the lady, although a regulation artist of an earlier day, failed 2i8 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. to make the season successful. Her youngest daughter, Adelina, was four j-ears old. In 1848 the business of the world began to revive. On March 11 the renowned artists, Steffanone, the prima donna, and Marini, the bass, only second to Lablache, opened in "Norma" with the Havana Opera Company, and on March 18 the beautiful Madame Bosio appeared. Steffanone was a grand and ponderous artist of the highest rank, and while Bosio was equal to all that Steffanone did, she also would exalt the light or comic characters like Zerlina, Amina, Rosina and the rest to the leading place. Her voice was most beautiful, her acting piquant and, when needed, noble. Her place was soon first in the hearts of the public, a place which she enjoyed until her lamented death, ten years later, at the age of 35. Salvi now debuted in "La Favorita." As a tenor he was then as much of a revelation as Caruso is to-day. With a voice of tenor quality, pure, smooth, even, highly musical, used with the best intelligence and cultivation imaginable, he carried his audiences with him. The quintet of Bosio (or Steffanone), Badiali, Salvi, Marini and the contralto Nantie Didiee, with an orchestra of Arditi's, in an opera house of normal dimensions, was a musical happening on which the enthusiasm of memory always lingers. On the 11th of September, 1850, Jenny Lind gave her first concert at Castle Garden. A full history of the event has been told in Chapter XIX. An unequal but very popular artist appeared November 4, 1850, in Teresa Parodi. Her Norma had merit, but not so much beyond that of the several prima donne then before the public as to cause marked enthusiasm. Jenny Lind had sung "Casta Diva," at her own concerts, and the great Norma in her entirety was to come with Grisi. On October 8, 1850, the Astor Place Opera House had reopened with a most valuable prima donna, Madame Rose de Vries, and her husband, a painstaking tenor. All of her impersonations were good, beginning with the exacting and popular Norma and reaching the lightest roles. On the 4th of December Bettini appeared for the first time as Edgardo, and immediately became a prime favorite, sharing the public enthusiasm with Salvi. These fine artists seem to have occupied public attention for many months. On the 18th of September, 1851, there appeared at Niblo's Garden Theatre an admirable prima donna of lighter opera- — Madame Anna Thillon. She v/as of English birth and married to a French musician. Her brilliant career had begun in Paris. She was young, pretty, naive and piquant as an actress, and an excellent musician, with a flexible and culti-» vated voice of moderate power. She began v/ith Auber's "Crown Dia- monds" and was soon most popular. On December 7, 1852, after a long season of no opera to speak of, the great Madame Alboni appeared. There are a few matters — not arithmetical — upon which there are no differences of opinion. One of these is the rank of primacy of this wonderful contralto. She was hugely fat to be tol- erated in operatic costume. She had an intelligent face, and when she opened her mouth there issued a voice that may be described as smooth as oil, sweet as sugar, flexible as a clarinet, perfect as to intonation, cultivated to the utmost possibilities of a human organ and musical as is rarely heard. Then she used, as regards phrasing, declamation and all the refinements CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 219 of the art of the singer, every art that the most exacting criticism could demand. The florid, difficult, but singable music of Rossini seemed to have been written expressly for her most ravishing and exact voice and perfect method. The art of Alboni has never been overestimated. It stands alone. On September 27, 1852, another great artist first appeared in concerts. This was Madame Henrietta Sontag. A better idea of this great artist, of this era of artists, can be had to-day by comparing her to IMadame Sem- brich. This great lady, for she shone in society as on the stage, began her operatic season January 10, 1853, in "La Figlia del Reggimento" of Doni- zetti. The tenor was Pozzolini, an excellent singer and attractive man, and the barytone the popular Badiali. The verdict was that never before had such delightful impersonations been given as Sontag's. A comic actress, amusing and arch, she could be also an impressive and most pathetic Norma. After her season in Nev/ York her company went to Mexico, where she died the next j^ear at the age of 4 9. Sontag was married to the Count Rossi, who had been the Italian minister to Russia. She was, like Lind and Alboni, an ornament of brilliancy for the traditions of her profession. June 30, 1854, there appeared at Castle Garden a barytone named Graziani. His support v/as inferior and his advent and departure were unnoticed. Yet his rank was of the highest, and later he was a popular favorite, if not an idol, of London. September 4, 1854, Castle Garden was crowded to hear the first notes of Grisi and Mario. Susini (bass) and Mme. Amalia Patti-Strakosch were of the company. Grisi had been a long time getting to his country. Super- stitious of the water and being alv-^ays in demand in England and France it was only a not-to-be-refused sum that lured her to New York at the age of 43. She was four years older than her husband, and was a beautiful, statuesque woman, the tragedy queen, or Siddons, of the lyric stage. Mario was one of the handsomest men "on the boards," and the owner of a voice which the word delicious alone describes. Susini was a noble bass, but Madame Strakosch shared little of the wonderful family gifts of the Pattis. Of course Grisi played "Puritani," which had been written for her, and "Norma." Since Pesta, for whom "Norma" was written, all Normas had to bear comparison with Grisi. The weather shortly grew cool and the company was transferred to the Academy of Music, Fourteenth street and Irving place, which was finished October 2, 1854. Grisi's voice was now at its best, yet needed a little husbanding. Its beauty, breadth, majesty and charm de- manded no musical education to appreciate. Mario differed from all tenors in vocal refinement, distinction and sheer beauty. His style was noble if not so robust as Salvi's, but a quality of voice and a delivery more divine than Mario's are not conceivable. When he returned to this country many years after, the lost voice with which he sought to recover his lost fortunes, had the piteousness of the wind wailing through broken harp strings. October 9, 1854, was the first appearance of the Pyne-Harrison troupe. Louisa Pyne caught the public heart from the initial performance — a pretty, bright, pure looking blonde, an excellent actress with a soprano of excep- tional beauty and the highest cultivation, a prima donna of the very first rank, although singing in English. Some one asked Grisi about her own "Sonnambula," that growing embonpoint was making less frequent and less 220 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. illusive. She said, "Go hear Louisa Pyne. She is la Sonnambula!" Mr. Harrison had been a very successful tenor, but his voice was worn. Their success was complete. They played 125 times. March 12, 1S55, heard the debut of Brignoli, who became for so many years the pet of the public. No stage experience or teaching could have made of him an even passable actor; but the public cared alone for hia voice, which, in quality, was the counterpart of Giuglini's, who with Titiens was some years later the favorite of London. Brignoli's voice was a pure tenor, even and beautiful, but the same natural, unplastic disqualification for acting retarded his progress as a vocal artist. Nevertheless, the public cherished him as its favorite. Salvi's voice was going; Bettini had dis- appeared; therefore why not? On May 2, 1855, the "Trovatore" was first heard. Interpreted by Steffanone, Vestrale — the contralto — Brignoli and Amodio, it seized the public once for all. Vestrale was tall, majestic, with a powerful voice and good schooling for the fiorid male parts of the Italian operas. She became a favorite, and for her height, figure, authority and heavy contralto voice was awarded the sobriquet of the Majestic Vestrale. Amodio might be compared to Madame Alboni for excessive fat, and for the great sweetness it seemed to confer upon his voice. It was a barytone — fresh, young, high, even, powerful and melodious. His success continued many seasons at the Academy of Music. On May 8 of this year a most valuable artist came to succeed Steffanone. It was Madame La Grange. This lady did admirably every task she attempted, and although her voice had hardly the beauty of Bosio's or Sontag's, for it always showed the tremolo, yet her certainty as an artist was never at fault. She has left a delightful memory for thousands. On April 13, 1857, Madame Gazzaniga appeared, and "Traviata" was first heard. This lady's earnestness atoned for what might to-day be passed over for vocal shortcomings. Yet she never sang out of tune or phrased unintelligently. Her Traviata was, all the same, a delight- ful performance, and the last act has been rarely so pathetically delivered. On November 2, 1857, came Madame D'Angri, a Greek lady, a contralto who rivalled the peerless Alboni. Her voice had not quite the beauty of Alboni's. It was more reedy, a quality frequent in contraltos, but in the matter of vocal method there was no difference discoverable and her ad- vantage as an actress was incomparable. These names filled the musical world till October 20, 1858, when a pretty, petite prima donna appeared named Signorina Piccolomini. She was a Roman, and was said to be of the historical family of that name, and a niece of the living cardinal. These were then greater aids to popularity and social success than now. Nevertheless Piccolomini became popular, although with an incomplete equipment of some of the essentials for a prima donna. She sang for seven months in this city. On September 14, 1858, Madame Pauline Caulson, late of New Orleans, made her first appearance — a prima donna of perfect attainments, an admirable voice and a lady of much distinction. Her repertoire was exten- sive, and through her was brought out "I Vespri Siciliani" of Verdi on No- vember 7, 1859, in which were included Brignoli and the excellent bass Junca. On November 24, 1859, Adelina Patti, at the age of 16, appeared first. CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 221 She sang Lucia, all its vocal difficulties melting into air under her phenom- enal faculties. An amateur between the acts said, "She is going to be the greatest artist in the world." His hearer replied: "Going: to be? She is!" On December 3 she sang Amina, in "Sonnambula," and on February 6, 1860, Elvira, in "Puritani." She followed with Rosina, in the "Barber," and "Martha." This wonderful singer was born February 16, 1843, in Spain, and was brought to New York a baby in arms. Her name is a synonym for the highest achievements in the art of singing. Her brother-in-law, Maurice Strakosch, was one of her teachers. It is said that while hearing her sing Aida for the fortieth time he had taken notes during the performance, to aid his pupil in her untiring toil after perfection. The Civil War now broke out and musical matters were silenced in degree. Nevertheless, a charming young prima donna of New York birth appeared at the Academy of Music and held the first place for many years with the public, creating many characters and giving delight in all she attempted. This was Clara Louise Kellogg. There was now an interregnum of new operas. It is true the war was ended when the great Christine Nilsson appeared and introduced Ambroise Thomas's "Mignon" and the very fine scene of Ophelia by the same com- poser, but the Italian primate Verdi was silent and would not be heard from till 1872 with "Aida." All the best old Italian works had been listened to till known by heart. It was then that the perseverance for Wagner met its reward. The public had been slowly reached. The new generation could accept his musical forms, and so it was that with the war of 1861-65 there had seemed to come with the other vast changes, material and physical, the appreciation of Wagner that has moved, if not stirred up, the musical world to its depths, perhaps accomplished a revolution, which, unlike those musi- cal mutations of past centuries, has done its work without bloodshed or bitterness, CHAPTER XUY. History of Central Park. Originally Shanties and Bone-Boiling Establishments— Land Cost $6,348,- 959.90— Site of State Arsenal— Used by Tweed for Political Power — Introduction of European Sparrows — Analysis of the Soil. In the year 1849 a letter was written from London by Mr. Downing, addressed to the "Horticulturist," a periodical of that date. This letter attracted considerable attention. The importance of parks in the growing city of New York was the main subject. Fernando Wood became a strong advocate of the necessity of a park to be located in upper New York. He was nominated for Mayor in 1850. He made the necessity for a park a part of his campaign issue. He was defeated by Mr. Kingsland, who took office January, 1851. May 5 of the same year Mayor Kingsland was convinced of the importance of a park, and wrote a letter to the Common Council urging the selection of a site. He had not advocated a park up to this time, the credit being due to Mr, Wood. The Common Council appointed a committee on lands and places, which selected Jones Wood, a natural piece of woodland situated on the East River above Sixtieth street. It was necessary for the Legislature to take action before anything could be done, which it did on July 11, 1851, approving of the selection of Jones Wood for a park. Mr. Wood was opposed to the selection of Jones Wood, as not being properly located, and advocated the selection of a piece of laud above Fifty-ninth street. The Common Council became convinced of its mistake and appointed another committee August 5, 1851, who chose the present site of Central Park, from Fifty-ninth street to One Hundred and Sixth street, from Fifth avenue to Eighth avenue, 776 acres. The extension to One Hundred and Tenth street was obtained afterward. July 23, 18 53, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the purchase of the land now occupied by Central Park. The act creating the park of Jones Wood was repealed November 17, 1853, through the efforts of Mr. Wood. Five commissioners were appointed by the Supreme Court to appraise the land and purchase the same, under the act of July 3, 1853. They finished their work during the summer of 1855 — Washingon Irving serving as one of the Commissioners. Fernando Wood was again nominated for Mayor and was elected and sworn in January 1, 1855. At the time of the commencement of the work on plans that had been approved for Central Park, the municipal government became involved in legal complications by reason of a defective charter, which was adjusted by an appeal to the Supreme Court. On May 19, 1856, the Common Council passed an ordinance creating the Mayor and Street Commissioner and a member of the Park Commission. 2.22 CRADLE DAYS OP NEW YORK. 223 The land now constituting Central Park was occupied by shanties, bone- boiling establishments, piggeries and pools of offensive stagnant water which rendered the neigliborhood anything but park-like. The first full year's report of the men who were given the work of turning this ground into a park contains the following description of its condition: "It was already a straggling suburb, when purchased by the city, and a suburb more filthy, squalid and disgusting can hardly be imagined. A considerable number of inhabitants were engaged in occupations which are nuisances in the eyes of the law and forbidden to be carried on so near the city. They were accordingly followed at night in wretched hovels half hidden among the rocks. "During the autumn of 1857, 300 dwellings were removed or demol- ished by the commissioners, together with several factories and numerous 'swill milk and hog feeding establishments.' Ten thousand loads of stone were also taken off the land and used to build a rough inclosing wall." This description helps one to appreciate the vast amount of work and artistic planning which has been necessary to bring the park to its present state of beauty and attractiveness, and it is interesting to see how fully the prophecy of a park commissioner, who wrote in 1868, has beenfulfilled: "But we who are in the middle of life," he says, "can never know all its beauty. That is reserved for those for whom we have planted these shrubs and trees, and spread these level lawns. These trees will arch over many happy generations, and thousands \\\io are not yet born will enjoy the sweet green of the grass; and it will ever habitually serve to keep the memory of its founders green." The central site was finally selected, despite its unpromising topog- raphy, in preference to the one first proposed at Sixty-sixth street on the East River — the Jones's Wood site — because it was central and spacious. It was also thought that the great expense of turning it into building lots — the extensive filling of low, swampy ground, and blasting away of ledges — would enable the city to purchase the land at a low figure. Including a number of acres of water surface, comprising the two reservoirs belonging to the Water Department, the cost was about $7,500 an acre. The total acreage, including the subsequent extension to 110th street, was 843, and the price paid $6,348,959.90. There has been spent in bringing the park to its present condition somewhere between $30,000,000 and $35,000,000. The special committee appointed by the* Board of Aldermen to select the most desirable park site pronounced emphatically in favor of "the Central Pai:k," stating their opinion that "it could be made to compare favorably with the most celebrated public grounds of the chief cities of Europe, not excepting Hyde Park of London, the Champs Elysees of Paris, the Prater of Vienna, the Cascine of Florence, the Corso of Rome, the Prado of Madrid, or even on the American continent with the spacious plazas of Havana or the lovely botanical gardens of Rio de Janeiro. It was freely predicted by the opponents of the park that it would prove a white elephant on the hands of the city; that it could never be made into a decent-looking park, and was an unnecessary extravagance which the city did not need and could not afford. 224 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. The largest settlement of the park seems to have heen along the Eighth avenue side. Mount St. Vincent was included within the park borders, situ- ated just west of Fifth avenue at 105th street, on the old Boston post road, which ran diagonally through the park. The land and buildings forming the State Arsenal were subsequently purchased by the city and added to the park in 1867, the price paid being $275,000. Owing to the lack of funds no work was done in Improving the land until 1857. In April of this year the legislature authorized the issuance of bonds, and in the following June a tentative beginning was made on the park. Preliminary surveys had been carried out by Egbert L. Viele, the first engineer to the commissioners, but they soon decided that it would be desirable to offer a series of prizes to outside architects for designs for the formal laying out of the land. In 18 57 such an announcement was made, and on April 1, 1858, thirty designs were submitted. That of Messrs. Olm- sted & Vaux was chosen, and they were awarded the first premium of $2,000. In 1857 Mr. Olmsted had been appointed superintendent to the board; George E. Waring, agricultural engineer; Samuel I. Gustin, nursery- man, and several other landscape offices had been created and filled. In 1858 Mr. Olmsted was promoted to architect in chief at a salary of $2,500 a year, and the other offices abolished or subordinated to his. The work of putting the successful design into execution was begun by Mr. Olmsted, Calvert Vaux and J. W. Mould in June, 1858. The original plan has been pretty closely adhered to, during the forty-odd years of the park's existence, although there have been times when strong efforts were made to alter it, and even to remodel some of the previous work. In 1871, when the Central Park commissioners were legislated out of office, and a board of public parks for the whole city instituted, such an attempt was made, one of its features being an extensive thinning of the trees. ,In the National Quarterly Review for March of that year Edward J. Sears, LL.D., made some interesting, because extremely personal, com- ments on the lethargy of the press in connection with the "vandalism" of the new park administration: "Has the Times become indifferent to what was so dear to poor Mr. Raymond? Has Mr. Greeley no protest to make even as an agriculturist? Must the World remain dumb because he [Mr. Peter B. Sweeney, who was then president of the park board] is a very smart fellow at election time, and carries the Irish vote in his pocket? No one has less excuse than the Express, for few visit the park more than Mr. Brooks and his handsome cream-colored ponies. He and Mr. Hastings would be much better occupied in exclaiming, 'Ringman, spare that tree,' than in going to law with each other. As to the Post, we fear it is too busily occupied eulogizing all books and pamphlets bearing the imprint of wealthy publishers." Until 1871 the history of the park was an uneventful one. Most of the commissioners had served on the board since its first year, and except for family squabbles over the details of management and construction, the Improvements were carried on without interruption practically in the entire charge of Mr. Olmsted. The difficulties which began to interfere with the efficiency of the department after its political organization in 1871 are indi- cated by the following extract from a pamphlet by Mr. Olmsted, who was • CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 225 subsequently made a commissioner and president of the board shortly prior to his dismissal: "As superintendent of the park," he says, "I once received in six daya more than 7,000 letters of advice as to appointments, nearly all from men in office." Delegations from various political organizations came to find, out "what share of his patronage they could expect," and in order to make him as little trouble as possible in its parceling out "they took the liberty to suggest that there could be no more convenient w^ay than that you should send us our due quota of tickets, if you please, sir, in this form, leaving us to fill in the name." Here a pack of printed tickets was produced, which proved to be blank appointments, bearing the signature of Mr. Tweed. "That," continued the spokesman of the delegation, "was the way we ar- ranged it last year, and we don't think there can be anything better." There seems to have been some misconception during the early years of the park as to its real purpose, and considerable jealousy of its regulations. In April, 1864, for instance, one of the regiments of the first division of the National Guard, despite the vehement opposition of the park keepers, marched through one of the gates and proceeded to drill upon the green. Another regiment subsequently attempted to do the same thing. An interesting item in the report for 1863 is the announcement that fourteen European sparrows, "moineau of France," were let loose in the park in the spring of that year. This original fourteen, apparently the pilgrim fathers of the present local settlement, must now be represented by several million. The paving of Fifth avenue up to the park was completed in 1863. Previous to this, especially in wet weather, the approaches had been ex- tremely bad, and the completion of the Fifth avenue paving led to an im- mediate increase in the use of the park for driving. In its early days guards were stationed at each of the park gates, and a part of their duty was to count the number of persons passing in. In 1861 the result of the count was 1,863,263 pedestrians, 73,548 equestrians, and 467,849 carriages, the total number of visitors being estimated at 2,404,659. i "For the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the existing vegetation,'*' says the first annual report (1857-58), "a botanical survey of the park has been made. First to learn how far it can be made available in the projected improvements and to ascertain what plants will prove most flourishing if transplanted to this ground, and second to discover what alterations the; soil will require in order to admit of an increased variety." This report details about seventy species of trees, shrubs, and vines: Among the trees were included maples, beech, dogwood, chestnut, catalpa, red birch, persimmon, ash, locust, black walnut, red cedar, sweet gum, sycamore, poplar, American aspen, oak, and elm. All told there were about 150,000 trees and shrubs. Regarding the present vegetation there seems to be no available data, no continuous record of the planting having been kept nor any detailed botanical study of it made during recent years. In 1859 Prof. Charles A. Joy, of Columbia College, made analyses of soil from various portions of the park. These are given in the following table, an while nowadays the agricultural chemist depends more on actual 226 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. tests of what a given soil will grow than upon chemical laboratory analysis. Prof. Joy's figures will give some idea of the condition of the ground when first taken in hand by the park commissioners. The five samples were taken from the following locations: No. 1. At Seventieth street, near Fifth avenue. No. 2. Between Seventy-eighth and Seventy-ninth streets, at Seventh avenue. No. 3. Between Eighty-third and Eighty-fourth streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues. No. 4. Between 102d and 103d streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues. No. 5. At 104th street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues. 12 3 4 5 Sand and mica 71.63 81.36 82.67 75.58 79.44 Water and organic matter 2.89 2.93 3.44 3.05 3.51 Soluble silica 4.58 3.51 1,79 5.86 3.56 Peroxide of iron 10.11 6.13 2.48 11. 10. Alumina 6.4 3.80 5.42 3.25 1.25 Phosphoric acid 2.5 0.50 1.94 trace 0.08 Potash and traces of soda 0.1 0.87 0.45 0.35 1.25 Magnesia 0.08 trace 1.50 .50 0.07 Lime 1.25 0.15 trace 0.10 0.31 Sulphuric acid 0.10 0.50 trace trace 0.31 Loss 0.27 0.25 0.31 0.31 0.28 The soil question is evidently an old one in the park. This one would naturally expect when the rocky, barren waste on which it was built is remembered. CHAPTER XLV. Rump Board of Aldermen — Passenger Transportation — Introduction of Croton Water — First Local Stage Lines — First "L" Road — Advent of the Flat House — Beginning of Central Park. While "Cradle Days of New York" was being compiled requests came to the writer from three old citizens for information regarding the progress of New York between 1835 and 1875 — the period, they say, "when she began to sit up and take notice" of the progress of her sister cities, and when she doffed her swaddling clothes. One of the old citizens agreed to give his knowledge of occurrences, and, with the readers' permis- sion, we will digress once more to make room for an interview with him. He was the President of the Cromwellian Board of Aldermen, William E. Demarest, who died a short time ago. This board got its name because it suggested to 4ome misguided news- paper man Cromwell's Rump Parliament. The Cromwellian board had its origin in the legislation passed in 1873 establishing minority representa- tion in the Board of Aldermen. Then, as now. New York was Democratic, and a law was enacted electing three aldermen from each Senate district, for which no voter could vote for more than two. As the State Constitu- tion gives every citizen the right to vote for all officers elected in his dis- trict, Mr. Demarest headed a movement which elected an aldermanic ticket under the law existing prior to 1873. These aldermen organized regularly, and reported to the Mayor that the board was ready for business on the date specified in the law, with the result so well known. "Speaking of New York," said Mr. Damerest, "it wasn't so much of a place when I came here to live, in 184 9. It was a two days' drive from Elmira to Binghamton; there we took the New York and Erie Railroad to Piedmont, and from there the steamer Thomas Powell. This boat was named after its owner, and shortly afterward he built the Mary Powell — named after his daughter — which has been a feature of the landscape ever since. The only alternative route was by line boat to Albany, and from there by steamer. Horace Greeley and I had the same opinion of these 'line boats,' whose 'cent-and-a- half-a-mile, mile-and-a-half-an-hour,' I haven't forgotten yet. You slept in the cabin, and in the morning you had to leave the wooden slab that answered for a bed, and go on deck, in all kinds of weather, while the cabin was being fixed for breakfast. Walking was more to my fancy. "It was the very matter of passenger transportation, together with the introduction of Croton water, the establishment of sewers, and the invention of the flathouse, that made New York a metropolis. You wouldn't believe it, but there was a considerable opposition to all of these at the start. 227 228 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. "The first local stage line was started by Kipp & Brown in 1838. It ran from the South Ferry to Charles street; it was afterward extended to Twenty-sixth street, and finally ran to Thirty-fourth street. Then followed the Dry Dock line, and afterward Johnson & Shepard ran a line from where the Grand Opera House now stands down Eighth avenue to Bleecker street, to Broadway, and by Whitehall street to South Ferry. "The Third avenue line, the Phoenix line, the Yellow Bird line and half a dozen others came in quick succession, all within about three years after Kipp & Brown's line. In these stage coach days we had no near side laws. The stage would pull up to either side, or stop at any house on the block; and, so far as climbing up the steps being unpopular, why, just recall that the women wore hoopskirts in those days. "The first horsecar line was the Eighth avenue line. This paralleled the stage line, and Kipp & Brown were reputed to have spent $75,000 to prevent the legislature granting its charter. The merchants along the line, too, opposed it, particularly R. L. Stewart, who was the first great sugar merchant, because it was claimed that it would interfere with traffic. The road was finally completed in 1851, and the Sixth avenue and Third avenue lines followed within a short time. The odd thing was that Kipp & Brown refused to build the horsecar lines themselves, but after Oliver Charlick and George Law put the Eighth avenue line through successfully, most of the remaining stage line proprietors secured charters, and, after the three lines mentioned above, quickly constructed car tracks. "But the opposition to the horsecar wasn't a circumstance to the fight made on the 'L' road. Oliver Charlick and George Law opposed the Ninth avenue 'L' even more bitterly than the stage line people fought them; but this line, from Battery Place to Ninth avenue and Twenty-first street was finally built, and it began running in 1869. It was operated by cable until 1870, but the cables wouldn't work successfully, and in that year 'dummies' were introduced. It took a hard winter and the epizootic to make this mode of travel popular. In 1874 I think it was, this combination struck town; the stage and horsecar lines were paralyzed by the epizootic and the deep snow made walking bad, so those business men who came to town every morning by the Hudson River line were forced to take the 'L,' and by the time normal conditions were resumed the superiority of this mode of travel was recognized. The Sixth avenue 'L,' or Gilbert road, was the second line built — in 1871, I think. This style of 'L' structure is the one now in general use. The Third avenue line was the third to be built, and then followed the Second avenue 'L.' They were all running in '76. "The first railroad out of New York was the New York and Harlem, built about 1836. It ran from White, Elm and Centre streets to Dover Plains. It depended on the milk traffic. The New York and Erie did not run trains from Jersey City until about 1854, depending upon steamboat connection on the Hudson River at Piermont until then. The Hudson River road was started in 1849. Oliver H. Lee was the first president, and John N. Wells dug the first shovelful of earth. Its first New York terminal was Thirtieth street and Tenth avenue; its tracks were extended down Tenth avenue, through West street to Canal and dowm Hudson to Laight street, at St. John's Park, which the road bought from Trinity Corporation. Com- CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. 229 modore Vanderbilt finally bought all these except the Erie along about '63 or '64, and consolidated them into the New York Central. The New Haven road was opened shortly after the Harlem — certainly before 1860." "As for Croton water, it dates only from 1842. An agitation for pure water began in 1831, and when the vote was taken as to introducing it, in 1832, two wards — the poorest and most densely populated, and where it was most needed, of course — gave a majority against it. This was before I came from Elmira, but I remember that George Low built the aqueduct at High Bridge, and the celebration of the introduction of the water was in 1844. "The first 'flathouse,' or 'model house,' as it was called then, was built in 1849. The firm of James Reeve & Co., of which my father was the 'Co.,' furnished the lumber for it. Where would we put all the people now, if we hadn't the flats? "It might interest you to know that the first New York policeman to wear a uniform was Swayne Lindsay. He was a fine looking man, fully 6 feet 2 inches tall, and regulated traflJic at Broadway and Fulton street, which in my day was almost as crowded and noisy as now. The police were mainly Irish, and considered it servile to wear a uniform. Besides, if neces- sary, the star badge could be hidden easily, and thus save its wearer any possible inconvenience. Lindsay was the first policeman to be pensioned, too, I believe. He was run over, and, one leg becoming shorter than the other, a bill pensioning him passed the legislature. "Speaking of policemea, I recall the Dead Rabbit riot, between sym- pathizers of the old municipal police, and the metropolitan, or State, force. The municipal force had become so corrupt that a law was passed giving the Governor control of the police of the metropolitan district. One of the local police commissioners. Draper, I believe, was his name, carried a case to the Court of Appeals, which decided that the legislature had not the constitutional right to take the power to appoint policemen away from the local authorities. "The first street in New York to be paved with anything but cobble- stones was Broadway, which was paved with 10-inch granite blocks. This was called the Russ pavement, after its inventor. On account of the large smooth surface of the blocks this proved too slippery, and channels were afterward cut crosswise in each block. "It was not until after 1857 that we had parks that could be called such. The only two breathing places for us were the Battery and City Hall Park. The agitation for parks began in 1851, and' two years later the legislature authorized the city to take the land between Fifty-ninth and One Hundred and Sixth streets and Fifth and Eighth avenues for a public park. The boundary was extended later to One Hundred and Tenth street. What a wilderness it was then, and how wearily I tramped to it one Sun- day morning, to see nothing but swampland, stagnant pools and rocky ravines, with unsightly hovels dotting it! Along about April, 1857, the legislature by act named the proposed breathing place Central Park, and a board of eleven commissioners was created to lay it out. Plans were ad- vertised for, and out of thirty-three submitted two only were chosen, those of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. I remember the day work 230 CRADLE DAYS OF NEW YORK. began on it, and saw the plans in Olmsted's hands. They showed roads and paths winding in and out amid lakes, forests and meadows. I look on the park to-day with wonder when I compare it with its former condition. Riverside was acquired in 1871, and Morningside, I think, about 1873. "I remember the great mass meeting held in Union Square in April, 1861, when Mayor Fernando Word in an eloquent speech declared that 'the Union must and shall be preserved,' though in January of that year he sent a message to the Common Council proposing the secession of the city of New York from the rest of the State. "An improvement which I originated is the putting of the street names on the gas lamps. When I came here the names were on the corner houses, and could not be seen at night. Being, a stranger, this confused me, and a letter in the papers and an interview with Mayor Kingsland had the desired result. I also introduced the game of euchre in New York. It was popular in the western part of the State, but no one here knew it when I came here to live. I am not so sure that this is an improvement, however. But, then, neither am I sure that the city of to-day is an improvement on Old New York. You have more people, but in the old days we were neigh- bors — at least if we had the same politics and religion. We were conserva- tive then. Why, before the war no one with any claims to respectability dared wear a mustache! Do you know that General Grant was the first President to wear his upper lip covered? I remember going through the Navy Yard with a foreign visitor while the man-of-war Niagara v/as build- ing; this man wore a mustache, and every workman on the Niagara knocked off to see the hirsute adornment. And what a storm the new style trousers aroused. You may remember the old ones, with the big iiap in front. Well, even the ministers preached against the innovation." Drew & Lewis. New York. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. CD REi.., mi i^Ov ^0\' / +, a m •• OCT ■ Form L9-Series 4939 ^A 000 F L28.. •1119' 525 976 7