USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 19
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Contrary, however, to general expectation, during the fall and winter session, there were no collisions between ' the Executive and the Legislature, although the spirited resolutions of Virginia, of the preceding May, were unani-
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mously concurred in. On the first day of the session, a bill was introduced for emitting one hundred and twenty thousand pounds in bills of credit, to be put out on loan, as a means of revenue. The bill was at first hailed with delight by the leaders of the popular party, who thought they discerned in it a desire, on the part of the Executive, to gratify the wish of the people. When, however, it was followed, on the 15th of December, by a motion to grant two thousand pounds for the support of his majesty's troops in the colony, which sum was to be taken out of the interest arising from the loan bill, when it should become a law, a complete revulsion of feeling took place ; and they now saw only an attempt, on the part of the Lieu- tenant-Governor, to compel the Assembly into an uncon- ditional submission to the Mutiny Act. Accordingly, the . first sight that greeted the citizens on the morning of the 17th was a flaming placard, posted up in the most con- spicuous portions of the city, addressed "TO THE BETRAYED INHABITANTS OF THE CITY AND COLONY OF NEW YORK," and signed " A SON OF LIBERTY." This placard declared that the granting of money to the troops was implicitly acknowledging the authority that had enacted the reve- nue acts, which had been passed for the express purpose of taking money out of the pockets of the colonists with- out their consent ; that what made the granting of money the more grievous was, that it went to the support of troops kept, not to protect, but to enslave them ; that this was the view taken of the Mutiny Act by the Assemblies of Massachusetts and South Carolina-therefore, let not the Assembly of New York tell their disgrace in Boston, nor publish it in the streets of Charleston! The Assem- bly, moreover, had not been attentive to the liberties of tlfis continent, nor to the prosperity of the good people of this colony. This sacrifice of the public interest it attrib- uted to a corrupt source which it scrupled not to affirm,
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in plain words, was an infamous coalition recently entered into between the Executive and the De Lancey family for this very object. In conclusion, the placard advised all the people to assemble the following day in " the fields" (the Park), there to express their sentiments upon a point so vital to colonial liberty.
The large concourse of people gathered in "the fields" at the tiine appointed, clearly showed how in unison with the public feeling were the sentiments uttered in the placard of the previous day. The object of the gathering was set forth by John Lamb, one of the most prominent of the Sons of Liberty, and the question asked, whether the citizens would uphold the recent action of the Assem- bly. The emphatic " No" that at once arose from the vast throng was a sufficient answer to this question ; and a committee of seven were immediately appointed to carry this public expression of feeling to the Legislature. But however much that body may have regretted their partial committal to the loan bill, they did not choose to be dic- tated to by a meeting which they considered little better than a mob. Accordingly, the consideration of the placard having been made the first order of the following day, James De Lancey moved that " the sense of the House should be taken whether the said paper was not an infamous and scandalous libel." The question being put, all the members voted in the affirmative, except Colonel Schuyler, who, when his name was called, with admira- ble moral courage, fearlessly answered in the negative. A series of resolutions was then passed condemning the paper as false, seditious, and infamous, and requesting the Lieutenant-Governor to offer a reward of one hundred pounds for its author or authors. Immediately after the - passage of these resolutions, Mr. De Lancey laid before the House another hand bill, in which the late proceedings of that body were strongly condemned, signed " LEGION."
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Resolves were at once passed, similar in tone to those just noticed, and an additional reward of fifty pounds offered for the writer of this also.
Nothing worthy of special mention occurred during the remainder of this session. John Lamb, it is true, three days after the passage of the resolutions, was arraigned before the House on suspicion of being the author of the libelous hand bill; but, nothing being proved against him, he was immediately discharged. The General Assembly having now been convened more than two months, and its members being now anxious to return to their homes, Lieutenant-Governor Colden signed several acts, among them one for appointing commissioners from the 1773. neighboring colonies, to agree upon a plan for regu- lating the Indian trade; and, on the 27th of January, 1770, prorogued it to the second Tuesday in March, and, from time to time afterward, to the 11th of December.
Meanwhile, the hatred between the soldiers and the Sons of Liberty daily gained strength. The former had long writhed under the undisguised disgust with which they were treated by the latter, and only waited for an opportunity to repay this scorn with interest. Hitherto they had been restrained, through motives of policy; and, now that the supplies were granted, they threw off all restraint, and resolved to insult their enemies in the most tender spot. Accordingly, on the 13th of Janu- ary, a portion of the Sixteenth regiment attempted to destroy the liberty-pole, by sawing off its spars and blow- ing it up with gunpowder. A knot of citizens having gathered round while they were thus engaged, they desisted for the present from the attempt, and, charging upon the group with fixed bayonets, drove them into a tavern (kept by Montagne), a favorite resort of the Sons of Liberty, broke the windows, and demolished a portion of the furniture. Three days afterward, however, they
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succeeded in their design ; and having, on the night of the 16th, cut the obnoxious symbol in pieces, they piled its fragments in front of Montagne's door. Incensed at this daring insult, three thousand citizens assembled early the following morning at the scene of the outrage, and adopted, among others, a resolution that all soldiers found in the streets after roll-call " should be treated as enemies of the city ;" mutually pledging themselves to see that this resolve was vigorously enforced. Early the next morning, insulting placards were found posted up in various parts of the city, ridiculing the resolutions of the previous day, and daring the citizens to carry them into execution. In the course of the day, three soldiers were discovered by Sears and others in the act of posting up more of these hand bills; and a skirmish ensuing, the citizens, having obtained the upper hand, were conducting the offenders to the office of the Mayor, when they were met by a band of twenty additional troops. A general fight with cutlasses and clubs now followed, the military slowly retreating to Golden Hill .* At this point they were met by a party of officers, who immediately ordered their men to the barracks, and the riot was quelled. In this brush, several citizens were wounded and one killed, although the sol- diers were worsted. The following day witnessed a num- ber of frays, none of which, however, were attended with loss of life ; and on the 20th, the Mayor having issued a proclamation forbidding the soldiers to come out of the barracks unless accompanied by a non-commissioned officer, the excitement was quieted and order once more restored.t On the 5th of February another pole was
* John Street, between Cliff Street and Burling Slip.
+ " We are all in confusion in this city ; the soldiers have cut and blowed up the Liberty Pole, and have caused much trouble between the inhabitants. On Friday last, between Burling Slip and Fly Market was an engagement be- tween the inhabitants and the soldiers, when much blood was spilt ; one sailor
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erceted, inscribed "Liberty and Property," on ground pur- chased for the purpose, where it remained until cut down in 1776 by the British soldiery at that time occupying the city.
Meanwhile the Sons of Liberty were undaunted. In February, one hundred of them purchased of Colonel Mor- ris a house for six hundred pounds-each of them con- tributing six pounds-in which to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act ; and having, on the 19th of March, drank forty-five popular toasts, they proceeded to the jail, where Captain McDougall was confined for being the author of the libelous handbill of the previous December, saluted him with forty-five cheers, and quietly dispersed.
In Boston, the feeling between the citizens and sol- diery was even more embittered. The news of the recent occurrences in New York was not calculated to soothe this mutual animosity ; and when, on the 2d of March, an affray took place at Gray's rope-walk, between a citizen and a soldier, in which the latter was worsted, it required but a small degree of forecast to anticipate an approach- ing explosion. Three days afterward, on the evening of the 5th, a sentinel, who had wantonly abused a lad, was surrounded in King Street by a mob of boys, and pelted with snow-balls, made of the light snow that had just fallen. "They are killing the sentinel !" shouted a by- stander to the main guard. Instantly a file of six sol- diers, headed by a corporal and followed by Preston, the officer of the day, rushed to the rescue, at a double-quick
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 chiefest part being sailors with 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."-Letter from " New York, Jan. 22d, 1770," in St. James Chronicle, or the British Evening Post, March 5th, 1770.
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. step, with fixed bayonets. A crowd gathered round, and, the musket of a soldier being hit by a stick thrown from the throng, Preston gave the order to fire. Montgomery, the man whose musket had been hit, immediately fired ; and Attucks, a mulatto, who had been quietly looking on, fell dead on the spot. Six others, thereupon, taking delib- erate aim, fired in succession at the crowd, who were already beginning to disperse. Three of the citizens, including the mulatto, were instantly killed ; and of eight others who were wounded, two died shortly afterward, from their injuries.
' It has usually been asserted by historians, that the first blood in the war of the American Revolution was shed at Lexington; but such is not the fact. THE BATTLE OF GOLDEN . HILL, on the 18th of January, 1770, was the beginning of that contest, so fearful in its commencement, so doubtful in its progress, and so splendid in its results. The storm had now been gathering for several years, and the public mind had become exceedingly feverish, not only in respect to the conduct of the parent Government, but in regard to the language and bearing of the officers of the Crown stationed in the colonies. The destruction of the liberty-pole increased the mutual exasperation ; and the fight that followed was but the natural consequence. To the CITY OF NEW YORK, therefore, must ever be given the honor of striking the first blow. The town was thrown into commotion, the bells rang, and the news, with the exag- gerations and embellishments incident to all occasions of alarm, spread through the country with the rapidity of lightning. Everywhere throughout the wide extent of the old thirteen colonies it created a strong sensation, and was received with a degree of indignant emotion which
- very clearly foretold that blood had only commenced flowing. The massacre in King Street, two months later, added intensity to the flame; and, although five years
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intervened before the demonstration at Lexington, there were too many nervous pens and eloquent tongues in exercise to allow these feelings to subside, or the noble spirit of liberty that had been awakened to be quenched. "Such stirring orations as those of Joseph Warren were not uttered in vain; and often were the people reminded by him, or by his compatriots of kindred spirits-' The voice of your brethren's blood cries to you from the ground !' The admonition had its effect, and the resolu- tions of vengeance sank deeper and deeper, until the fullness of time should come !"
CHAPTER VII.
Ov the 18th of October, 1770, John, Earl of Dunmore, arrived in New York to occupy the gubernatorial chair, ·1770. left vacant by the lamented Sir Henry Moore. The new Governor is described, in a letter to Sir William Johnson, as "a very active man, fond of walking and riding, and a sportsman." This description affords a clue to the character of the man-easy in his disposition, and one who preferred the delights of the chase to contro- versies with his Legislature. There was little likelihood, however, of his being troubled with a body that had of late grown very subservient. The news, moreover, which he brought with him, of his majesty's consent to the bill authorizing the emission of a colonial currency, increased the spirit of loyalty ; and when, in his opening speech on the 11th of December, he expressed his pleasure that the example of the loyal subjects of the province had been the means of restoring friendly feelings and confidence between the parent country and the colonists, the address of the Assembly, in reply, was a simple echo. During the entire session, therefore, the wheels of government rolled 1771. smoothly ; and at its close, on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1771, the loan bill was passed, as was also the - one for appropriating two thousand pounds for the sup- port of the troops. The crown had seemingly triumphed ; but the end was not yet.
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On the Sth of July, 1771, Sir William Tryon, Bart., having rendered himself odious to the people of North Carolina by his petty tyranny, arrived in New York, bearing his majesty's commission as Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief, in the place of Lord Dunmore, who was transferred to the government of Virginia.
The year 1771 was also marked by the founding of the New York Hospital. The first regular meeting, after its organization, was held on the 24th of July, 1771. The hospital began by the reception of lunatics, and patients who were suffering from small-pox and syphilis. Fractures and maniacs appeared together on the reports of diseases. In 1798, the governors announced that the hospital was, properly, an infirmary for the reception of such persons as require ' first, medical treatment; second, chirurgical management ; third, for maniacs; and fourth, for lying-in women. Two hundred pounds were voted as the begin- ning of a library. The meetings of the governors were held for a long time at Bolton's tavern, or at the Coffee- house. Bolton's was celebrated for fifty years as a place of resort, like our modern Delmonico's, and was still better known as Sam Francis's tavern. Here Washington bade farewell to his officers, December 4th, 1783. The building is still standing on the south-east corner of Broad and Pearl Streets. The Coffee-house, sometimes called " The Mer- chants' Coffee-house," stood on the south-east corner of Wall and Water Streets, recently occupied by the Journal of Commerce. The slip near it was known as " Coffee-house Slip," at the foot of Wall Street. The meal or flour mar- ket was close by. . The river then came up to Water Street. When the governors purchased the five acres on which they built in 1771 (a part of the Rutgers farm), the spot selected was upon a spur or hill, surrounded on three sides by marshes.
The water of two ponds, of " kolcks," frequently over-
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Howed meadows where now is the corner of Pearl and Chatham Streets, so that ferry-boats were used. Rutgers had suffered so lamentably with fever and ague that he had some years before prayed the King for a better title to his marshes, so that he might sell them to somebody willing to make drains, because the inhabitants lost one- third of their time by sickness. Governor George Clinton complained, in 1746, to the Duke of Newcastle, that his son had an ague and fever about ten months, which had worn him to nothing. Where the Astor House stands, there was; in 1780, an encampment of negro slaves who had been enticed by Lord Dunmore from Virginia. They died in large numbers of small-pox, and were buried where Stewart's store, corner of Broadway and Reade Street, now stands. John Quincy Adams saw New York in 1785 for the first time, and found the city had then but 18,000 inhabitants. He says that while he tarried at John Jay's, that gentleman was laying the foundation of a house on Broadway, a quarter of a mile from any other dwelling. Mr. Jay lived nearly opposite the hospital. In 1780, a duel was fought behind the hospital, as the most retired spot for the purpose. The cow-pastures extended from Grand Street down to the hospital, which adjoined the Raneleagh Gardens. Beyond St. Paul's church were fields, orchards, and swamps. G. W. P. Custis, who was a mem- ber of Washington's family while the President resided in New York, spoke of St. Paul's church as quite out of town, and of playing on a fine green common where the Park Theater stood.
William A. Duer, in his reminiscences that began after the war, in 1784, speaks of having often passed on skates from the " kolck" under the bridge at Broadway and Canal Street ; and, pursuing the outlet to the meadows, he would proceed over them to the north beyond Hudson Square, and to the south as far as Duane Street, then
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Barclay Street, in the rear of the hospital. Our predeces- · sors were men who had faith in the growth of New York. They knew that malaria would disappear with drainage; and so they ventured, in 1771, to build their hospital out of town, on elevated ground, having eight beds in a ward, as John Howard proved to be right, in Europe, fourteen years afterward. The lands purchased a century ago still remain unsold, and are not unlikely to yield a rental which may enable the society largely to increase its use- fulness, while so. responsible a trust imposes upon the governors the duty of careful inquiry into the manner of establishing the best possible hospital, for it will be in their power to afford every means of cure that science shall point out.
Three years were employed in selecting the place and choosing the proper kind of buildings for the Asylum for the Insane. "Beginning in July, 1815, various sites were chosen and abandoned. Long Island, Great Barren Island, lands on the East River and on Harlem Heights, were ex- amined. Twenty-six reports of committees were noted in the minutes of as many meetings before the buildings were begun. Seventy-seven acres were bought. Thirty-seven of them were sold. A debt of $137,000 was incurred, and a sinking-fund established, which finally discharged, in 1845, the entire debt, leaving the asylum, with nearly forty acres of land, free of incumbrances, as it now remains. So favorable to longevity has the locality proved, that four patients who died there had been in- mates fifty-eight, fifty-three, fifty-one, and forty-four years, respectively. The pressure of the city has compelled the asylum to seek ampler space elsewhere. Created by the enlightened exertions of eminent surgeons and physicians, the New York Hospital has always honored them and their successors. The oldest names that have shed luster . upon American science have been connected with our 30 .
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institution. The most wonderful triumphs of surgery have been achieved within its walls and by members of its staff .. The fame of Mott, Stevens, Rogers, Hosack, Post, Smith, Gordon Buck, and many others, belongs to the his- tory of our hospital, and is our proudest possession. The old hospital will ever seek to derive its chief honor from such supporters, and to afford them the widest field for the exercise of their talents and for gathering fresh laurels."*
Connected with the history of the New York Hospi- tal is an episode which may not be omitted, as it also forms a portion of the history of the city. It was on the 12th of April, 1788, that a riot occurred, which, although afterward facetiously called "The Doctor's Mob," yet, at the time, was no laughable matter, and, indeed, threatened to be very serious in its consequences. The public mind had a few weeks previously been thrown into great excite- ment by the discovery that a number of dead bodies had been stolen from the different cemeteries of the city by medical students. This circumstance had considerably agi- tated the public mind; "and it was further provoked," says Judge Duer, "by the reckless and wanton imprudence of some young surgeons at the hospital, who from one of the upper windows exhibited the dissected arm of a subject to some boys who were at play on the green below. One of them, whose curiosity was thus excited, mounted upon a ladder used for some repairs, and, as he reached the win- dow, was told by one of the doctors to look at his mother's arm. It happened, unfortunately, that the boy's mother had recently died, and the horror which had now taken the place of his curiosity induced him to run to his father, who was at work as a mason at a building in Broadway (no doubt on Saturday, April 12th), with the information
* Address of Mr. James W. Beekman, delivered before the New York His- torical Society on the 24th of July, 1871, on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the founding of the New York Hospital.
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of what he had seen and heard. Upon receiving the intel- ligence, the father repaired to his wife's grave, and, upon opening it, found that the body had been removed. He returned forthwith to the place where he had been at work, and informed his fellow-laborers of the circumstances : their indignation and horror at the relation were nearly equal to his own. Armed with the tools of their trade, they marched in a body to the hospital, gathering recruits by the way, in number amounting to a formidable mnob." On arriving at the spot, the hospital itself was surrounded by the excited crowd, who, bursting open the doors, de- stroyed a remarkably choice collection of specimens in the anatomical museum, which had been brought from abroad. The physicians themselves were dragged from their places of concealment, and would have been hung up on the spot, had they not been rescued and lodged in the jail for safety. This, however, although it saved the lives of the physi- cians, only exasperated the populace still more. Accord- ingly, in the afternoon of the next day, upon their demand for the surrender of the physicians into their hands having been refused, they attacked the few military that had been called out to defend the jail, broke the windows, tore down the fences, and swore to take the lives of every physician in the city. Matters at length became so serious that the citizens armed themselves, and, accompa- nied by the Mayor, turned out in a body to relieve the party defending the jail. Before proceeding to violent measures, however, Clinton, Hamilton, Jay, Baron Steu- ben, and other prominent citizens, endeavored to appease the popular fury, but in vain. Still, the Mayor hesitated to give the order to fire; and it was not until John Jay and Baron Steuben had both been severely wounded by stones (the latter, indeed, felled to the ground), that the order was given. Five rioters fell, mortally wounded, at the first fire; several were wounded, and the remainder
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quickly dispersed .* The brigade under General Malcom and Colonel Bauman's artillery were out several days and nights after in detachments; but the mob did not again collect, and the peace of the city was restored.
The General Assembly, which had been prorogued to the 7th day of August, 1771, was now further prorogued
from time to time to the 7th of January, 1772,
1772. when it again met, and, on the 8th, the session was opened for business by a speech from the new Gov- ernor, of a mild and conciliatory character. His arrival had been greeted by affectionate addresses of congratu- lation, to which he referred with apparent warmth. His recent cruel conduct in North Carolina was then justified as a meritorious effort to preserve the constitution and the laws; and, in seeming mockery, his late wonderful achieve- ment in that province-of dispersing with over one thou- sand armed troops an unarmed and inoffensive crowd- was attributed to the special favor of a kind Providence. The necessity of passing a good militia bill was then pointed out ; and the thorough repairing of the fortifica- tions of the city, which had become greatly injured by the weather, was also recommended as worthy of immediate attention. "Influenced only," he added, with consum- mate flattery, "by principles that flow from an honest heart, I feel an ardent desire to co-operate with you in every measure that will best promote the honor and dig- nity of his majesty's Government, and advance the real felicity of a people eminently distinguished by their loyalty to the best of sovereigns, and affectionate dis-
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