USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 27
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In the latter part of the seventeenth century Kidd was in command of a mer- · chant vessel trading between New York and London, and was celebrated for his nautical skill and enterprise. The first mention of him in authentic colonial history occurs in 1691, in which year the Journals of the New York Assembly tell us that on the 18th day of April much credit was allowed to be due him
for the many good services done for the province in attending with his ves- sels." But in what capacity, or for what object he thus "attended with his vessels" does not appear. It was also declared that he " ought to be suitably rewarded." Accordingly, on the 14th of May following. it was ordered by the same Assembly " that the sum of £150 be paid to Captain Kidd, as a suitable
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APPENDIX VI.
, acknowledgment for the important benefits wlrich the Colony had received from his services." The presumption is, that those services were in some way connected with the protection of the Colonial merchant vessels from the "attacks of the pirates, who were at that time hovering along the coasts of the Northern Colonies. Indeed, the harbor of New York was no stranger to the pirate vessels ; and the commerce between them and the " people of figure " in this city was not inconsiderable. It was no secret that the pirates were fre- quently in the Sound, and were freely supplied with provisions by the inhabit- ants of Long Island ; and, still farther, it was well known in the year 1695, that the English freebooters had fitted out their vessels in the harbor of New York. On the arrival of the pirate vessels from their cruises their goods were openly sold in the city, and the conduct of the Colonial Government was such that col- lusion, if not d rect partnerships, between them and the public authorities was not doubted.
Colonel Fletcher, a poor and profligate man, was Governor at that time. He was be A doubt concerned with the freebooters, as also was William Nicoll, a me .. of the Privy Council. Complaints upon this subject having reached Engla: , and the throne, in the year of 1695, Fletcher was succeeded by the Earl of Bellamont, the appointment being made in the belief that from his rank and the weight of his character, he would be able to retrieve the character of the Colonial Government. The King declared, in terms, " that he thought the Earl a man of resolution and integrity, and with these qualities more likely than any other he could think of to put a stop to the growth of
piracy." Immediately after his lordship had arrived in New York, and assumed the direction of the Government, he laid before his Council letters from Secretary Vernon and the East India Company, relating to this matter, informing the board that he had an affidavit asserting that Fletcher had per- mitted the pirates to land their spoils in the province, and that Mr. Nicoll bargained for their protections, and received for his services 800 Spanish dollars. Nicoll confessed the receipt of the money for protections, but pro- tested that it was in virtue of a certain act of the Assembly, for allowing privateers on their giving security-denying entirely the receipt of money from the pirates. However, on an argument before the Council, it was shown by the King's counsel that there was no such act in existence. The Council advised that Fletcher should be sent home for trial, and that Nicoll should be tried here. But in fact neither trial ever took place, owing, probably, to a want of evidence against the accused. On meeting the General Assembly, in his opening speech, Lord Bellamont adverted to the subject of piracy in these words :
" It hath been represented to the Government in England, that this prov- ince has been a noted receptacle of pirates, and the trade of it under no restriction, but the acts of trade violated by the neglect and connivance of those whose duty it was to have prevented it."
Though not brought to trial, as already stated, yet the circumstances were so strong against Nicoll that he was suspended from the Council-board, and obliged to enter into a recognizance in £2,000 to answer for his conduct in regard to the protections. He, however, survived the scandal, and was after- , ward a successful demagogue in Suffolk County, by the people of which he was elected to the Assembly, and by that body to the chair of the speakership. 88
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But to return to Kidd. Justice to his memory requires it to be said, that he was not, at that period, so far as is known, a pirate himself. Before Lord Bellamont sailed from England for his Government, he met with Robert Liv. ingston, of New York, the ancestor of the Livingstons of Livingston's Manor, with whom he held a conversation respecting the pirates, and the best means that could be adopted to put them down. The project of employing a swift sailing armed ship of thirty guns, and one hundred and fifty men, to cruise against them, was spoken of ; and Livingston recommended his lordship to Kidd, as a man of integrity and courage, acquainted with the pirates and their places of rendezvous, and as one in all respects fit to be intrusted with the command of a vessel engaged in such a difficult service. He had indeed commanded a pri- vateer in regular commission, against the pirates in the West Indies, in which service he liad acquitted himself as a brave and adventurous man. The project not being entertained by the Board of Admiralty, a private adventure against the pirates was suggested by Mr. Livingston, one-fifth part of the stock of which he would take himself, besides becoming security for the good conduct of Kidd. The proposition was approved by the King, who became interested to the amount of one-tenth; and the residue of the expense was supplied by Lord Chancellor Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earls of Romney and Oxford, and Sir Edmond Harrison and others. The ship having been procured and equipped, Kidd sailed for New York, under a regular commission, in April, 1696, the direction of the enterprise being committed to the Earl of Bellamont and himself. For a time lie served faithfully, and with advantage to the commerce of the Colonies and mother country, for which services he received much pub- lic applause, and another grant from the Colony of 250 pounds. Tradition, moreover, says that, on visiting the Government House, he was received with public honors, and invited to a seat with the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
But on his next voyage he stretched away to the Indian Ocean, and turned pirate himself. Selecting the island of Madagascar as his principal place of rendezvous, and burning his own ship after having captured one that suited him better, his depredations upon the commerce of all nations were represented to have been great. He is said to have " ranged over the Indian coast from the Red Sea to Malabar, and that his depredations extended from the Eastern Ocean back along the Atlantic coast of South America, through the Bahamas, the whole of the West Indies, and the shores of Long Island." But it will presently be seen that this statement must have been an exaggeration, as time was not afforded for operations so extensive before his arrest.
It is beyond doubt true that Long Island Sound contained several of his hiding-places. "Kidd's Rock " is well known at Manhasset, upon Long Island, to this day. Here he was supposed to have buried some treasures, and many have been the attempts of the credulous to find the hidden gold. But it could not be found. There is also no doubt that he was wont to hide himself and his vessel among those curious rocks in Sachem's Head Harbor called the Thimble Islands. I have explored his haunts there, and the pirate's cavern. There is also upon one of those rocks, sheltered from the view of the Sound, a beautiful artificial excavation, of an oval form, holding perhaps the measure of a barrel, called " Kidd's Punch Bowl." It was here, according to the legends of the neighborhood, that he used to carouse with his crew. But it is a fact beyond controversy, that he was accustomed to anchor his vessel in Gardiner's Bay. On
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APPENDIX VI.
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one occasion, in the night, he landed upon Gardiner's Island, and requested Mrs. Gardiner to provide a supper for himself and his attendants. Knowing his des- perate character, she dared not refuse, and fearing his displeasure, she took great pains, especially in roasting a pig. The pirate chief was so pleased with her culinary success that, on going away, he presented her with a cradle-blan- ket of gold-cloth. It was a velvet, inwrought with gold, and very rich. A . small piece of it yet remains in the family, which I have seen. On one occa- sion when he landed at the island be buried a small casket of gold, silver, and precious stones in the presence of Mr. Gardiner, but under the most solemn injunctions of secresy.
Repairing soon afterward to Boston, where Lord Bellamont happened to be at the time, he was summoned before his lordship, and directed to give a report of his proceedings in the service of his company. Refusing to comply with this demand, he was arrested on the 3d of July, 1699, on the charge of piracy. He appears to have disclosed the fact of having buried the treasure at Gardiner's Island, for the same was demanded by his lordship, and surrendered by Mr. Gardiner. I have seen the original receipt for the amount, with the different items of the deposit. The amount was by no means large, and affords evidence of no such mighty sweepings of the seas as have been told of in story and in song. Of gold in coins, gold-dust, and bars, there were 750 ounces. Of silver, 506 ounces ; and of precious stones, about 16 ounces.
Lord Bellamont wrote home for a ship-of-war to carry Kidd to England for trial. The Rochester was dispatched upon that service ; but being obliged to put back, a general suspicion prevailed in England that there was collusion between the pirates and the ministers, and in fact, that they dared not bring the sea-robber home for trial, lest it should be discovered that the Lord Chancellor and his noble associates in the enterprise were confederates in the piracies also. Party spirit ran high, and the opponents of the ministers brought a resolution into the House of Commons for excluding from place all the partners of Kidd in the original enterprise. And although this resolution was voted down, yet the Tories contrived afterward to impeach several of the Whig lords upon the charge of having been concerned with Kidd. But the articles were not sustained. Meantime Kidd had been taken to England, tried on an indictment for piracy and murder, and hung in chains, with six of his crew. In addition to the indictment for piracy, he was indicted for the murder of one of his own subordinate officers, named Moore, whom he killed in a quarrel, by strik- ing him over the head with a bucket. He was convicted upon both charges, but protested to the last that he was the victim of conspiracy and perjury.
But after all, suspicions were entertained by the public that the execution was a sham-that the Government dared not to put him to death-and that, to avoid disclosures, a man of straw was hung in his place. In proof of this asser- tion, it was gravely and strongly alleged that Kidd had been seen alive and well, many years afterward, by those who could not be mistaken as to his iden- tity. There is little doubt, however, of his having been honestly hung at "Execution Dock." in London, on the 12th of May, 1701. Yet, when compared with the nobler buccaneers, Solonois, Morgan, and De Grammont, Kidd must have been a pirate upon an insignificant scale-a mere bottle-imp by the side .of Satan, as portrayed in stupendous grandeur by Milton !
The following old ballads were favorite ones for several years after his death :
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APPENDIX VI.
BALLAD I.
I'll sing you a song that you'll wonder to hear, Of a freebooter lucky and bold. Of old Captain Kidd-of the man without fear -- How himself to the devil he sold.
His ship was a trim one as ever did swim, His comrades were hearty and brave --- Twelve pistols he carried, that freebooter grim, And he fearlessly ploughed the wild wave.
He ploughed for rich harvests, for silver and gold, He gathered them all in the deep ; And he hollowed his granaries far in the mold, Where they lay for the devil to keep.
Yet never was rover more open of hand To the woodsmen so merry and free ; For he scattered his coin 'mong the sons of the land Whene'er he returned from the sea.
Yet pay-day at last, though unwished and unbid, Come alike to the rude and the civil ;
And bold Captain Kidd, for the things that he did, Was sent by Jack Ketch to the devil.
BALLAD II.
My name was Captain Kidd,
When I sailed, when I sailed ;
My name was Captain Eidd,
And so wickedly I did,
God's laws I did forbid,
When I sailed, when I sailed.
I roamed from sound to sound,
And many a ship I found,
. And them I sunk or burned,
When I sailed, when I sailed.
Farewell to young and old,
All jolly seamen bold ;
You are welcome to my gold,
For I must die, I must die,
Farewell, for I must die ; Then to eternity, In hideous misery. I must lie, I must lie.
APPENDIX VII.
THE JUDICIARY IN THE EARLY DUTCH PERIOD.
BY CHIEF-JUSTICE DALY. -
PETER STUYVESANT came out as Governor in 1647. Van Dinclage, who had acted as schout fiscal under Van Twiller, came with him, in the capacity of vice-director, and Hendrick Van Dyck as schout fiscal. Immediately after his arrival, Stuyvesant established a court of justice, of which Van Dinclage was made the presiding judge, having associated with him occasionally others of the company's officers. The new tribunal was empowered to decide "all cases whatsoever," subject only to the restriction of asking the opinion of the Governor upon all momentous questions, who reserved to himself the privilege, which he frequently exercised, of presiding in the court, whenever he thought proper to do so .*
The desire for a popular form of government became so strong after Stuy- vesant's arrival that he found it necessary to make some concession. He allowed the commonalty to elect eighteen persons, from whom he selected nine, as a permanent body to advise and assist in public affairs. This body, who were known as the board of the nine men, had certain judicial powers conferred on them. Three of their number attended in rotation upon every court day, to whom civil cases were referred as arbitrators, and their decision was binding upon the parties, though an appeal lay to the Governor and Council, upon the payment of one pound Flemish. These tribunals, with the manorial courts before referred to, constituted the judicial organization of the colony for several years afterwards.
The government of Stuyvesant but increased the popular discontent Though a man of capacity and integrity, he was unfitted for the place assigned him. or his duty as the careful guardian of the pecuniary interests of a com-
* Breeden Raedt, extracts in 4 Doc. Hist. of N. Y., 69. Albany Rec., 20, 28, 20, 38. 56 to 61. 2 O'Call., 21 to 31. Brodhead, 467, 523, 532.
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APPENDIX VII.
mercial corporation was inconsistent with the just and politic rule of a people like the colonists, who had their own views as to the manner in which a com- munity should be governed. It was natural that they should desire to live under institutions to which they had been accustomed in Holland, and which, whatever might be their advantages or defects, had to them the merit of nationality, and were associated with their earliest recollections. This Stuyvesant did not, or would not, see. Strongly conservative himself by nature, and long used to military rule, he saw in a demand so just and reason- able nothing but a desire to break loose from the restraints of lawful authority. Though not an unjust man, he felt himself warranted in resorting to any means to crush everything in the shape of popular encroachment, and, as he was both prompt and energetic, his government became insufferably oppres- sive. Before the end of two years he was in open collision, not only with the board of nine men, but with the schout fiscal, Van Dyck, and the vice-director. Van Dinclage, an enlightened and learned man, and the most influential member of his Council. The Council he was enabled to control, but not so with the popular body. In one of its members, Adrian Van der Donck, he had . to cope with a man whose ability and energy was equal to his own. Insti- gated by Van der Donck, the board of nine men resolved to send a delegation to Holland, but they had no sooner decided upon this step than Stuyvesant arrested its projector, seized his papers, and procured a decree of the Council removing him from his position as one of the popular representatives. But this violent and arbitrary measure did not produce the effect expected. The nine men met together, a spirited remonstrance was prepared to the States- general, and three of the number, of whom Van der Donck was one, went with it as a deputation to Holland.
This mission was so far successful, that in 1650 a provisional order was made by the States-general, which, among other things, decreed, that a Court of Justice should be erected in New Netherland, and that a burgher govern- ment should be established in New Amsterdam, to consist of two burgomasters, five schepens, and a schout, and that in the meantime, or for three years, the nine men should continue to exercise judicial powers in the trial of civil causes .* This order was resisted by the Amsterdam chamber as a violation of the privileges granted by their charter, and Stuyvesant, no doubt under instructions, refused to obey it.t When it was known at New Amsterdam that Stuyvesant would not comply with the order, the nine men again appealed to the home government, and Van der Donck, who had remained in Holland, appeared as their advocate before the States-general. A long struggle ensued.
- during which Stuyvesant grew more violent and unreasonable. He impris- oned Van Dinclage for uniting with Van der Donck in a protest to the States- general, dismissed the schout fiscal, Van Dyck, from office, for co-operating with the nine men, and followed up these arbitrary and illegal acts by equally violent measures against other leaders of the popular movement .; The Amsterdam chamber, who regarded the establishment of a burgher court as likely to prove detrimental to the interests of their commercial monopoly, em- ployed every means to counteract the efforts of Van der Donck ; but after
* Brodhead, 514.
+ 2 0'Call., 210; Brodhead. 540; 2 Doc. History of N. Y.
; Brodhead, 523. 592.
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APPENDIX VII.
maintaining the contest for two years, they at last thought it prudent to yield, and signified to Stuyvesant their assent to the wishes of the colonists. The inhabitants of New Amsterdam were to be allowed to elect a schout, two burgomasters, and five schepens, " as much as possible according to the custom of old Amsterdam," and the magistrates thus elected were to compose a muni- cipal court of justice, subject to the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the province.
" We have resolved," they wrote to Stuyvesant, " to permit you hereby to erect a Court of Justice (een banck Van Justitie) formed as much as possible after the custom of this city, to which end printed copies relative to all the law courts here, and their whole government, are transmitted. And we pre sume that it will be sufficient at first to choose one schout, two burgomasters, and five schepens, from all of whose judgment an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Council, where definite judgment shall be pronounced."# It was evi- dent, from the order of the States-general, that these officers were to be elected by the commonalty, as was customary in the cities, towns and villages of Hol. land, and such would seeni to be the direction in the dispatch of the Amsterdam Chamber. The language of the dispatch was, perhaps, a little ambiguous, and Stuyvesant, putting the construction upon it that conformed most with his own views, and which, if erroneous, he perhaps felt would not be unpalatable to his employers, resolved to appoint the new magistrates himself. He not only determined thus to keep the power in his own hands, but he practically defeated the provision that had been made for a city schout, by appointing to that office Cornelius Van Tienhoven, a man of depraved and dissolute life, 'exceedingly obnoxious to the colonists, whose only recommendation was the ability he had shown in carrying out the measures of his headstrong and arbi- trary superior.
By this means, the two offices of city schout and schout fiscal were united in the same person. Stuyvesant even went so far as to refuse to allow the new magistrates to appoint their own clerk, though it had been the usage in Amsterdam from the time that that city had had a burgomaster, and, as a crowning act, he informed the new tribunal that its establishment, or the scope of its authority, did not in the slightest degree diminish the power of himself and his Council to pass whatever laws or ordinances they pleased for the municipal government of the city.t
On the second of February, 1653, he issued a proclamation appointing as burgomasters Arent Van Hatten and Martin Krieger, and as schepens Paulus L. Van der Grist, Maximilian Van Gheel, Allard Anthony, Peter W. Cowen- hoven and William Beekman. Five days afterwards, the newly appointed magistrates assembled ; Van Tienhoven, the schout fiscal, attending in his additional capacity of city schout, with Jacob Kip, who had been appointed secretary or town clerk, a station he continued to fill for many years after- wards. No business was transacted, other than to give notice that the Court would meet for " the hearing and determining of all disputes between parties, as far as practicable," in the building heretofore called the City Tavern, near the Stadt House (City Hall), on every Monday morning at nine o'clock.
* 1 N. Y. Doc. History, 387.
+ 1 N. Y. Rec. of Burgomasters and Schepeng, vol. i. Brodhead, 518.
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APPENDIX VII
The Stadt House not being ready on the day appointed, the next meeting took place four days afterwards at the Fort, where the Court was duly organ- ized for the dispatch of business, and the proceedings opened with prayer ; the following eloquent extract from which will show the sense entertained by these new magistrates of the duties and obligations of the judicial office :
" We beseech thee, oh ! Fountain of all good gifts, qualify us by thy grace, that we may, with fidelity and righteousness, serve in our respective offices. To this end enlighten our darkened understandings, that we may be able to distinguish the right from the wrong, the truth from falsehood, and that we may give pure and uncorrupted decisions, having an eye upon thy Word, a sure guide, giving to the simple wisdom and knowledge. Let thy law be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths, that we may never turn away from righteousness. Deeply impress on all our minds that we are account- able not to man, but to God, who seeth and heareth all things. Let all respect of persons be far removed from us, that we may award justice unto the rich and unto the poor, unto friends and enemies, to residents and to strangers, according to the law of truth, and grant that not one of us, in any instance, may swerve therefrom ; and as gifts do blind the eyes of the wise and destroy the heart, keep, therefore, our hearts in judgment. Grant unto us, also, that we may not rashly prejudge any one, but that we patiently hear all parties, and give them time and opportunity for defending themselves, in all things looking up to Thee and to thy Word for counsel and direction."*
It was the intention that the municipal government conceded to New Amsterdam should conform, as far as practicable, to that of the parent city. How essentially Stuyvesant departed from this in the outset has been already shown, and his resolving that the burgher government did not diminish the right of himself and his Council to regulate municipal affairs, left the precise powers of the new tribunal very indefinite and uncertain. It led, at the com- mencement, to an organization of the municipal government in many respects different from that of Amsterdam, and to great unwillingness at first on the part of the burgomasters and schepens to interfere at all in municipal matters. In Amsterdam there were four burgomasters, each of whom attended three months of the year, in rotation, at the City Hall, for the dispatch of public business ; and the schepens, who were nine in number, held the regular court of justice, having civil and criminal jurisdiction, which was almost unlimited. The duties of the schepens were especially judicial, while those of the schout and the burgomasters were chiefly executive, and the three bodies, when assem- bled together, constituted a "college," for the enactment of municipal ordi- nances and laws, under the title of "The Lords of the Court of the City of Amsterdam." There was also a permanent council, composed of thirty-six mem- bers, the nature of which need not be explained.t Though this division of duties and labors was highly essential in a city of the magnitude of the Dutch commercial metropolis, it was not so necessary in a small community like that of New Amsterdam, which, at the period in question, could not have embraced
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