USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
The English appear to have been particularly vigilant in the adoption of precautionary measures against fires, and it would seem that there was every reason for them to be so. When they repossessed themselves of the city, in 1674, it contained three hundred and twenty-two houses ; and eight years after, the number is put down at two hundred and two,-a diminution which cannot be accounted for in any other way than by the fre- quent occurrence of conflagrations. t One of their first
* For an account of the judiciary in the Dutch period, written by Judge C. P. Daly, see Appendix VII.
+ In the early part of the Middle Ages, the dwellings of the common people in most countries of Europe were of timber ; and, from this cause and the want of efficient means to extinguish conflagrations, fires were of frequent occurrence, and were among the most dreaded of calamities. There are records of the destruction of whole towns, the efforts of the inhabitants being utterly power- less to arrest the progress of the flames. This condition of things gave rise to & custom which prevailed throughout Europe, and in many countries was enforced by law, by which, at the ringing of a bell at sunset in summer and eight o'clock in winter, all the inhabitants of a city, town. burgh, or village, raked the fire together upon the hearth, and put over it a brass cover, of a shape alapted to the purpose, which was called a curfois. The bell tolled for a quar.
572
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
public measures of this description, in 1677, three years subsequent to the re-occupation, was to order the con- struction of six public wells,-the principal part of the expense of which was imposed upon the inhabitants of the streets where they were severally located. This is the earliest measure recorded for assessing the cost of public improvements upon the owners of growing property,-a policy which has ever since been adhered to, though the fairness or justice of it may be questioned. In ·1687, seven additional public wells were ordered to be made in different streets. Eight pounds was contributed ' by the city for each well. The residue of the expense was imposed upon those found to be chiefly benefited by its establishment in their vicinity ; and they were debarred from the use of it until they had paid their proportionate part. These wells were placed in the middle of the street, and the water was raised by the old Egyptian · method of a balance-pole and bucket, a mode still in use in many parts of the country. All these were known by popular names, as De Remiers well, Janson well, De Kay
ter of an hour, to admonish every one that the time had come to put on the curfew, to extinguish the lights in each household, and for all to retire to rest. It was called the " curfew bell," and at the sound of it every occupation ceased, and all merriment was hushed : there was a solemn seriousness about it that _ecommended it as a fitting image to the poets. There are frequent references to it in Chaucer and in Shakespeare, and all will remember the opening line of Gray's celebrated Elegy,
" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."
The poets made use of it legitimately ; but it is a curious fact that English his- torians, and even legal writers, ignorant of its origin, and the fact that it was simply a precautionary regulation against fire, have perpetuated the belief that in England it was a badge of tyranny imposed, after the Conquest, by the Nor- mans upon the Saxons, to make them feel the extent of their subjugation. Even so celebrated a writer as Blackstone, after declaring that England at this period was governed under as absolute a slavery as it was in the power of a war- like and ambitious prince to impose, enumerates as one of the proofs of it, that in cities and towns all company was obliged to disperse, and fire and candle had to be extinguished at eight at night, at the sound of the melancholy curfew ; whereas the custom, or regulation, had existed long previously, in Saxon times, and has been traced up to the days of Alfred .- Judge Daly's Address.
573
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
well, &c .; and the water procured from most of them would in this day be regarded as very bad. Kalm, a Swedish traveler and naturalist, who visited the city in 1748, seventy years afterward, says: "There is no good water to be met with in the town; but a little way out there is a spring of good water, which the inhabitants take for their tea and kitchen purposes. Those, however, who are less delicate upon this point make use of the water from the wells in the town, although it is very bad. The want of good water bears heavily upon the horses of strangers who come into the town, for the animals do not like to drink the water obtained from the wells." The spring of good water to which Kalm refers, was the famous tea- water pump, a little west of the present line of Chatham Street, opposite Roosevelt Street, which was still in use forty years ago, standing in the middle of a large grocery-store,-all who dealt with the grocer having free access to it, and others, it is presumed, for a pecuniary con- sideration. In fact, down to the time of the completion of the Croton Aqueduct, the water-vender was one of the features of the city. With a hogshead mounted upon a cart, he traversed the streets, morning and afternoon, sup- plying his customers with pure and wholesome water at a small charge per pail.
Another important measure was introduced by the English in 1658, during the period of their first occupation, which was the lighting of the city by night; and, as the method adopted was a very primitive one, it is here given in the language of the ordinance: "Every seventh house in all the streets shall, in the dark time of the morn, cause a lantern and candle to be hung out on a pole, the charge to be defrayed equally by the inhabitants of the said seven houses ;" and upon very dark nights every inhabitant was required to have a lighted candle in his window.
Another of these measures was the employment of a
574
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
regular night-watch, composed of men who were paid for their services by the city, instead of imposing that duty, as the Dutch had done, upon all the citizens in turn. The watch was set at nine o'clock in the evening (when the city-gates were shut and locked), and was kept up until day-break. It was maintained, however, only during the winter months-that is, from the beginning of November to the end of March, that being the period when the greatest danger from fire was apprehended. At the ring- ing of the bell of the Fort at nine o'clock, a sergeant- major, with his halberd, proceeded, followed by the watch, to each of the city-gates, which he locked for the night. He then stationed each man at his particular post, and, to secure the vigilant discharge of his duty, each watchman was required to go, once every hour, through that part of the city which was allotted to him, and with a bell to pro- claim the time of the night and the state of the weather,- a regulation which, no doubt, secured a vigilant discharge of the watchman's duty. But it must have been somewhat disturbing to all but sound sleepers to have had their slumbers broken at regular intervals by the loud ringing · of a bell and a hoarse voice announcing such information as, " Past two o'clock, and a dark, cloudy morning." This practice was borrowed from Germany. In the German burghs or towns, it was at first the custom to station their guardians of the night in the steeples of churches or other elevated places; and, as a security against their going asleep, to require them every hour to proclaim the time of the night. When this was changed to a regular patrol- ling of the streets, the custom of calling the hour was con- tinued probably for the same reason; but, among the musical people, this duty was relieved by a very poetical feature, for the German watchman accompanied the call- ing of the time of the night by singing the verse of a song inculcating some precept of the Christian religion, the
575
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
words of which were so arranged or varied as to adapt it to the particular time of the night. A translation of a verse of one of these watchmen's songs is here presented as a specimen :
" Hark ye, neighbors, and hear me tell Ten now strikes on the belfry bell. Ten were the holy commandments given To man below, by God in heaven. Human watch from harm can't ward us; Yet God will watch and guide and guard us.
May he, through his heavenly might, Give us all a blessed night."
But, notwithstanding these precautionary measures, the want of efficient means for extinguishing fire was severely felt; and a stringent ordinance, passed in 1686, records the fact of their frequent occurrence, and of the great damage done from the lack of efficient means to arrest a fire after it broke out. This ordinance enacted that every house having two chimneys should be provided with a fire-bucket, and that those having more than two fire-places should have two buckets. This, however, did not suffice ; and it was enacted, in 1696, that every tenant, under a penalty, should procure the necessary number of buckets, and deduct the cost of them from the rent. The practice of having every house supplied with fire-buckets now became general, and was continued long after the introduction of fire-engines. If a fire broke out at night, the watchman gave the alarm with his rattle, and knocked at the doors of the houses, with the cry, " Throw out our buckets;" the alarm being further spread by the ringing of the bell at the Fort, and by the bells in the steeples of the different churches. When the inmates of a house were aroused, the first act was to throw out the buckets into the street, which were of sole-leather, holding about three gallons, and were always hung in the passage close to the door. They were picked up by those who were
------
576
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
hastening to the fire, it being the general custom for nearly every householder to hurry to the fire, whether by day or . by night, and render his assistance. As soon as possible, two lines were formed from the fire to the nearest well or pump ; and when that gave out, the line was carried to the next one, or to the river. The one line passed up the full buckets, and the empty ones were passed down the other. No one was permitted to break through these lines ; and if . any one attempted to do so, and would not fall in, a bucket of water, or several, were instantly thrown over him. Each bucket was marked with the name or number of the , owner; and, when the fire was over, they were all collected together, and taken in a cart belonging to the City Hall. A city bellman then went round, to announce that they were ready for delivery, when each householder sent for his buckets, and hung them up in the allotted place, ready for the next emergency.
In 1677, the city contained three hundred and sixty- eight houses. In 1693, the number was estimated at five hundred and ninety-four. In 1696, it was put down as seven hundred and fifty; and when the two fire-engines arrived from London, in 1731, the population of the city, by an enumeration made that year, was 8,628; and it must have contained 1,200 houses. Up to that time, there was no means for extinguishing fires except the convey- ing of water to it in buckets, and the use of ladders and fire-hooks. The buildings, however, were not very high. Originally, they were chiefly of one story ; and few at this time exceeded two-the first three-story house, which is still standing in Pearl Street, opposite Cedar Street, having been built by a member, of the De Peyster family about the year 1690.
It seems to us at the present day a very simple matter for the corporation to have ordered two fire-engines from London . but it was a momentous affair in 1731. In the
577
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
first instance, an act of the provincial legislature had to be passed to enable the city to raise money for the term of three years to purchase the engines. This having been done, the Common Council, on the 6th of May, 1731, resolved to purchase, in the language of the record, "two complete fire-engines, with suction leather-pipes and caps, and all materials thereunto belonging, for the public serv- ice, to be the fourth and sixth series of Mr. Newsham's fire-engines." A committee of three aldermen was ap- pointed to carry out the resolution; and they contracted with two merchants, Stephen Delancey and John Moore, then the principal mercantile firm of the city, to import at the rate of one hundred and twenty per cent. on the foot of the invoice, exclusive of commission and insur- ance, the money to be paid within nine months after the delivery ; which shows that the merchants of that day knew how to charge for their advances, especially when the city was the paymaster.
Thomas Newsham, the person from whom the two engines were to be forwarded, was then one of two nail- makers in London, the other being a maker named Foroke. Each of them claimed to have surpassed all others in the construction of what is .ermed in their advertisement, "constantly steamed engines." Newsham, however, was the more successful, and vanquished his competitor. He had invented nothing new, for all the essential properties of the fire-engine had then been discovered, and the supe- riority of his machine consisted simply in the ingenious mechanical adaptation of principles already known. In form it resembled the machine in use when engines were worked by hand. Indeed, Newsham's engine, with very little modification, continued in use in London down to I'S32, and in this city after that period. The old engine which Colonel Myers has secured to be preserved in this city as a relic is Newsham's engine; and in form and 73
578
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
structure it is in no respect different from the kind made by him in 1740. He made two kinds. One of this structure, and another called a Treddle, the treddle being a platform placed above the body of the machine, upon which twelve men could stand, six abreast, who, by tread- ing alternately on each side of the fulcrum of the lever, imparted to it the requisite ascending and descending motion. This treddle-engine, Newsham claimed, had thrown a stream of water over the Royal Exchange, in London, to an elevation of one hundred and sixty-five feet, in the presence of many thousand spectators; and being the one of the greatest power, it was the kind ordered by the corporation of New York.
Ewbank, a competent authority in hydraulics, says that Newsham was certainly mistaken; that the height of the jet from his engine could not have been more than fifty feet; and that Ewbank is right, is to be inferred from the fact, that, when Trinity Church was on fire in 1753, the stream from the engines did not reach the steeple, which had ignited in several places. “We ob- served with universal terror," says a writer in a newspa- per of the day, " that the engine would scarce deliver the water to the top of the roof," a height of about sixty feet ; " and we want," says this writer, "at least one engine of the largest size, which will throw water one hundred and seventy-five feet high, discharging two hundred gallons in a minute, to cost about sixty-five pounds sterling ;" indi- cating by this passage that there were then (1753) engines of that power.
The two engines arrived in December, 1731. A room was fitted up for them in what was then the New City Hall, at the corner of Nassau and Wall Streets. A com- mittee of two aldermen was appointed to have them cleaned and put in order for use, and immediate use was soon found for them. A paragraph in the Boston Weckly
-
L
F
II
II
II
II
II
2 This is a fair copie Trim Son indon and now
V. ingen arrived 0. in y ? City Hall I feet wide on y board and 9 feet on world poole. 13 fecte long in ye whole. marmed by, 12 lugmen eleven bucket.
ses and I hate man (In the Year 1790.)
This is a The picture of now@ngon (In the year )730.)
579
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Newsletter of January 6th, 1732, gives, under the head of news from New York, an account of a fire which occurred in the city on the 7th of December preceding. It is in these words : "Last night, about 12 o'clock, a fire broke out in a joyner's house in the city. It began in the garret, where the people were all asleep, and burnt vio- lently, but by the aid of the two fire-engines, which came from London in the ship Beaver, the fire was extin- guished, after having burnt down the house and damaged the next."
Some person, little apprehending that it would de- scend as a memorial to our day, made a rough pen-and- ink sketch of one of these engines, which, though rude and badly drawn, is sufficient to indicate its structure, and the manner in which it was worked. The sketch, having been put in the hands of a mechanical draughts- man, he has skillfully reproduced it in a proper draw- ing, which will convey an exact representation of what may possibly have been the first fire-engine in America. By the resolution of the Common Council, the engine was to be complete, with suction-pipe and all materials thereunto belonging. The suction-pipe was then known, and both Newsham and Foroke state in their advertise- ments that their engines feed themselves " with a sucking pipe ;" but, if we judge by this pen-and-ink sketch, these engines had no suction-pipe, or the use of it had been given up, as persons are represented in the act of passing buckets of water by hand to supply the engine.
Beneath this pen-and-ink sketch is the following de- scription of the drawing: "This is a fair copie of ye ingen, arrived from London, and now in ye City Hall, seven feete wide on ye board and nine feete on worke- poole, thirteen feete long in ye whole, manned by twelve tug-men, eleven bucket-men, and one pipe-man."
The experience of the fire of the 7th of December
- 580
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
had doubtless pointed out the necessity of putting them in charge of some competent and skillful person; and accordingly, on the 21st of January following, the Mayor and four aldermen were appointed a committe to employ workmen to put them in good order, and to engage per- sons by the year "to keep them in repair, and to work them when necessary." Anthony Lamb was accordingly appointed "overseer," or, as the office was afterward called, chief-engineer, at a salary of £12 a year; and he and the persons employed by the year under him may ' be said to have been the first regularly organized Fire Department .*
The room fitted up for these two engines in the City Hall would seem not to have been sufficiently commodious; and accordingly, in 1736, the Corporation ordered a con- venient house to be built, " contiguous to the watch-house in Broad Street, for their security and well-keeping." This building, the first engine-house in the city, was in the middle of Broad Street, half-way between Wall Street and Exchange Place. The watch-house stood at the head of Broad Street ; and immediately behind it, in the middle of the street, this engine-house was built, as appears from an indication of it upon a map of the city in 1742, made by David Grim.
Lamb held the office of chief-engineer until 1736, when he was succeeded by Jacob Turk, a gunsmith, who appears to have been an ingenious man; for, in the year
* Anthony Lamb was an Englishman, who had come to the city and estab- lished himself in business as a mathematical-instrument maker and general worker in wood, ivory, and brass. He kept for many years a well-known estab- lishment at the sign of the Quadrant and Surveying Compass, in the vicinity of Old Slip, where he fabricated, repaired, and sold surveying and nautical instruments, and many other things, and at the same time practiced as an ocu- list, from which combined occupation he realized a substantial fortune. He was the father of General Lamb, of Revolutionary memory, one of the princi- pal leaders in the formation of the Sons of Liberty in 1776 .- Judge Daly's Address.
581
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
after his appointment, the city voted him £10 to enable him to complete a small fire-engine which he was making as an experiment. In this, however, it seems, he was not alone; for one William Lindsay advertises in the New York Gazette, May 9th, 1737, a fire-engine made by him, which, he says in his advertisement, will deliver two hogsheads of water, in a continuous stream, in a minute.
The voluntary Fire Department was established in the city in 1738, under an act of the Colonial Legislature, and lasted for one hundred and twenty-seven years. A
high compliment, and one that was, no doubt, deserved, was paid to the city in the preamble to this colonial act, in these words-" The inhabitants of the City of New York, of all degrees, have very justly acquired the reputation of being singularly and remarkably famous for their diligence and services in cases of fire ;" and it was, no doubt, this fact which led to the institution of the voluntary system. This act empowered the Corporation to appoint a certain number of freemen, or frecholders, not to exceed forty-two, to be selected in cqual proportion from the six different wards of the city, who were to be known thereafter by the designation of " The Firemen of the City of New York," who, in con- sideration of their voluntary service, were to be exempt from se ving as constables, surveyors, or jurors, or in the militia, except in case of invasion or other imminent dan- ger. This statute was passed in 1737, and in the follow- ing year the Corporation selected five firemen from each ward, or thirty in all, and passed an ordinance for their regulation, or government. The firemen, divided into companies, chose their own foreman, assistant, and clerk, from their own number. The firewardens wore a hat, the brim of which was black, the crown white. The city arms : were blazoned on its front. They also carried a speaking- trumpet, painted white, with " Warden," in black letters.
-
582
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
When a building took fire in the night, notice was imme- diately given .by the watchmen to the members of the Corporation, firewardens, and bell-ringers. They also called out " Fire," and the inhabitants placed lighted can- dles in their windows to aid the engines in their passage through the streets. Watchmen neglecting their duties were liable to a fine of one hundred dollars. When a chimney took fire the occupant of the house was fined five dollars. The same fine was imposed upon carpenters who did not carefully remove their shavings at the end of every day's work. A person using a lighted lamp or · candle in a store-house, unless secured in a lantern, for- ' feited ten dollars. Jacob Turk became the head of this new organization; and that he was an efficient super- intendent," or chief-engineer, may be inferred from the fact that he continued in the office for twenty-five years. Among other things, he introduced the well-known leather cap worn by the firemen to the present day.
Turk was succeeded in 1761 by Jacobus Stoutenbergh, who was, like Turk, a gunsmith. He was one of the thirty firemen originally appointed in 1738, and he con- tinued to be chief-engineer down to the time of the Revo- lution. When he was appointed, in 1761, the city had largely increased, and, in consequence, the force in the fol- lowing year (1762) was augmented to two assistants and sixty men. After the breaking-out of the Revolution, it was converted into a military organization, consisting of two battalions, commanded by Stoutenbergh, and was composed of one adjutant, one captain, five lieutenants, and one hundred and thirty-four men. It retired, neces- sarily, as a part of the military, with the retreat of the American army from the city in 1776; and the extent of the ravages of the dreadful conflagration which followed immediately after the entrance of the British troops was mainly owing to the want of firemen in the city.
583
1
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The Fire Department was reorganized after the Revo- lution ; and, in 1793, the Legislature granted an act of incorporation by which the firemen of the city were "constituted and declared to be a body politic in fact and in the name of the Fire Department." This was the origin of the system nearly seventy years ago. This act continued until April, 1810, and was renewed from time to time until the Common Council appointed a " chief- engineer, with a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum," to whom was confided the sole control of this department. He reported twice a year to the Common . Council the condition of the engines, buckets, houses, and apparatus. He also reported all fires and their accidents, with the number of buildings destroyed or injured, the names of the sufferers, with the probable cause of the burning, &c. The firewardens were also appointed by the Common Council, but none were eligible until they had served as firemen five years. They acted as over- seers at all fires; and, during the months of June and December, examined all fire-places, chimneys, stoves, ovens, and boilers, and, if found defective, ordered the owners to repair them; and if neglected, a fine of twenty- five dollars was imposed. They also examined all build- ings; and would often order hemp, hay, gunpowder, and other combustible articles to be removed to safe places, under a penalty of ten dollars. The Fire Department then consisted of twenty engines, two hook-and-ladder companies, twenty-two foremen, thirteen assistants, and three hundred and eighteen men; and, in 1825, Mr. Cox, the chief-engineer, reported forty-two engines in good order, five hook-and-ladder trucks, and one hose-wagon, with 10,256 feet of good hose: also, two hundred and fifty-five buckets, and twenty-eight ladders and thirty : hooks. The total number of men belonging to the Fire Department was 1,347.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.