USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 19
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provocation, and to exchange fire-arms for prisoners. He succeeded,
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
after a short time, in inducing the red-men to sue for peace, and then he promptly concluded a treaty with them.
About this time, one great source of misfortune to the province was removed. Van Tienhoven, who had gradually been falling into almost every known vice, was believed to have given serious cause -through imprudence when intoxicated - for the late terrible tragedies. Every honest heart and every honest face was turned against him. Having been suddenly detected in the perpetration of gross frauds upon the revenue, he was arrested. Stuyvesant clung to him to the last. He tried to palliate his misconduct, evidently blinded to the extraordinary profligacy and corruption which had ruined the miserable sheriff, body and soul. Before the time arrived for submitting his defense, Van Tien- hoven absconded, leaving his hat and cane floating on the river, to convey the idea of suicide. His wife begged that his property and papers might not be seized, and the execution was stayed. His brother Adriaen, the receiver-general, disappeared at the same time, and was subsequently recognized in the English service at Barbadoes, in the capacity of cook.
In the midst of these excitements, a few Lutherans attempted to hold religious meetings. Stuyvesant, with all his Christian virtues, was re- ligiously intolerant. He issued a proclamation, forbidding the people to assemble for any religious service not in harmony with the Reformed
Church. This penal law, the first against freedom of conscience 1656.
which disgraced the statute-book of New York, was rigorously en- forced. Stuyvesant claimed that its purpose was "to promote the glory of God, and the peace and harmony of the country." Any minister who should violate it was to be fined one hundred pounds. Any person who should attend such a meeting was to be fined twenty-five pounds. Com- plaints were sent to Holland, and the company rebuked the governor for his bigotry. The directors wrote : -
" We would fain not have seen your worship's hand set to the placard against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you oppressed them with the imprisonments of which they have complained to us. It has always been our intention to let them enjoy all calmness and tranquillity. 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."
The Lutherans in Holland soon after sent a clergyman, the Rev. Er- nestus Goetwater, to New Amsterdam, to organize a church. It was with the consent of the company, and the movement was thought very noble and tolerant in those dark days of the seventeenth century. There was, however, in the instructions sent to the governor a qualification which he
.
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THE LUTHERAN PERSECUTION.
interpreted according to his own arbitrary views. There should be no conventicles. The clergy of the Reformed Church in New Amsterdam re- monstrated against permitting the Lutheran minister " to do any clerical service whatever." They said it would encourage "heresy and schism," and that the established religion " was the only lawful, being commanded by the Word of God." Stuyvesant finally ordered Goetwater to leave the colony and return to Holland.1 He even went so far as to compel parents of Lutheran principles to assist at the baptism of their children in the Reformed Church. If they refused, they were imprisoned and fined. The law applied equally to all denominations. There were a few Baptists in Flushing. They met in the house of one of the magistrates of the town, and a man without license preached, administered the sacrament, and baptized several persons in the river. He was arrested, fined one thousand pounds, and banished from the province. The magistrate was removed from office, as a penalty for allowing the meeting to be held in his house.
The city fathers were unceasingly industrious. They enacted laws and ordinances with as much grace as their ruler assumed sovereignty. They condemned all " flag roofs, wooden chimneys, hay-stacks, hen-houses, and hog-pens," which were located on the principal streets. They ordered owners of gardens to either sell or improve them. The penalty for refu- sal was taxation. They compelled buyers of city lots by the terms of purchase to build upon them without delay. The average price of the best city lots had reached fifty dollars. Houses rented at from fourteen to one hundred dollars per annum. They surveyed and established the streets, seventeen in number. This occurred in July.2 The next July. year, they began to pave. The first street honored with paving- stones was De Hoogh, - what is now Stone Street, between Broad and Whitehall. In 1658, De Brugh or Bridge Street, so called from a bridge which had been built across the ditch at Broad Street, was improved in like manner. Within the next two years, all the streets most used were paved. These pavements were of cobble-stones, with the gutters in the middle of the street. Sidewalks were not as yet contemplated.
The census of the city was taken in 1656. The inhabitants were found to number one thousand, of which a large proportion were negro slaves. The adjoining cut is a copy of Augustine Heerman's sketch of New York in 1656, which was widely copied and circulated in Europe.
1 This harsh decree was suspended, out of regard to the feeble health of Rev. Mr. Goetwater. 2 The names of the streets were : Tc Marckvelt, De Heere Straat, De Waal, Te Water, De Perel Straat, Aghter De Perel Straat, De Browner Straat, De Winckel Straat, De Bever Graft, Te Marckvelt Steegie, De Smee Straat, De Smits Valley, De Hoogh Straat, De Brugh Straat, De Heere Graft, De Prince Graft, De Prince Straat.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
There was, on the line of Moore Street, one small wharf running out from Pearl, but extending a little farther into the stream than low-water mark. Ships usually moored in the East River, and sent their cargoes ashore in scows, which were compelled to come up to the head of the pier. The increase of the shipping rendered it desirable that this wharf should be elongated about fifty feet, and it was accordingly done. A market-stand for country wagons was established, the same year, on an uninclosed space near the Bowling Green. Allard Anthony opposed the measure in the board of schepens, because the selected site was in front of his own house, and his wife and daughters would object. But he was overruled
View of New York, 1656.
by the majority. Three years later a yearly fair for the sale of cattle was instituted, and the exchange for buyers and sellers was located beside this market-stand. The cattle were fastened to posts, driven for the purpose, on the west side of Broadway, in front of the graveyard.1 The fair com- menced October 20, and closed late in November. It brought strangers to the city from all parts of the country, even from New England, and threw business constantly in the way of the merchants. This fair existed for more than sixty years.
Dominie Drisius lived in a pretty cottage on the north side of Pearl Street, below Broad, - the lot was twenty feet front, extending through to Bridge Street. He exerted a healthful influence over the church, and also took an active interest in political affairs. In 1653, he was sent as ambassador to Virginia, and concluded an important commercial treaty with Governor Bennet, including the concession to New Netherland .
1 The first burial-ground in New York was on the west side of Broadway, near Morris Street. Just north of it was the large stone house of Paulus Van der Grist, before mentioned (pp. 161, 177). The orchards and gardens of the latter were highly cultivated, and extended to the very edge of the North River. Some years later this fine property was owned and occupied by Hon. Francis Rombouts.
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BURGHER RIGHTS.
merchants of the power to collect debts due them in Virginia.1 When the dominie first arrived in New York, he was a middle-aged widower. He subsequently married Lysbeth (Elizabeth), the widow of Isaac Gre- veraet. She held a large property in her own right, and is often mentioned upon the tax-lists as " Mother Drisius." Dominie Megapolensis owned a small, comfortable house in the vicinity of Beaver Street. The most pretentious house in the city had recently been built by Pieter Cornelisen Vanderveen, a rich merchant, who was described as "old and suitable " for a great burgher. He was for a time one of the schepens, and he had held many offices of trust in the church and community. He married, in 1652, Elsie Loockermans, who, after his death, became the wife of Jacob Leisler. Pearl Street was the favorite locality for building, and was well lined with dwellings.2 On Bridge Street lived Hendrick Kip. His house was small, but his lot was ninety feet front and seventy deep. His nearest neighbor, Abraham Verplanck,3 the ancestor of the Verplanck family of New York, was one of the oldest citizens; he also owned a farm near Fulton Street. Thomas Hall lived on a hill in the vicinity of Peck Slip.
On the site of Trinity Church and churchyard there was a fine gar- den belonging to the company, between which and the Van der Grist estate on the south, Governor Stuyvesant granted to each of his two sons, Nicholas William and Balthazar, a lot containing ninety-three feet front and two hundred and forty-eight feet deep, to the North River shore.
The effort to sustain a good public school appears on nearly every page of the records. As the children increased in numbers, a larger building than the one on Pearl Street was procured. William Verstius was suc- ceeded as teacher by Harmen Van Hoboken, who was also a famous singer and acted as church chorister. Five years afterward, he was superseded by Evert Pietersen, because of alleged inattention to his pupils. The salary was then fourteen and one half dollars per month, with a margin of fifty dollars per annum for board.
About this time, the system of great and small " burgher rights " was introduced into the city. Metropolitan immunities were constantly in- fringed by peddlers, who sold goods and departed with the proceeds. Stuyvesant's new law required every man to open a store within the city limits and pay a fee of eight dollars before commencing trade. In this way he obtained the small burgher right. All natives of the city, resi- dents of a year and a half, salaried officers of the company, and husbands
1 Albany Records, IX. 59.
2 There were on Pearl Street forty-three houses and a few shops.
3 Abraham Verplanck had two sons, Gulian and Isaac.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
of the daughters of burghers, were entitled to the same privilege. The great burghers comprised burgomasters, schepens, governors, councilors, clergymen, military officers, and all their male descendants. The city officers were, from that time forth, to be chosen from this class. They were to be exempt for one and a half years from watches, expeditions, and arrests by inferior courts. The great burgher right could be secured by the payment of twenty dollars ; but not many were disposed to buy a right which all disregarded. The system proved a failure in New Am- sterdam as it had done in old Amsterdam, where it originated.
Some of the laws of that period were strikingly unique. It was ex- pressly enjoined upon women that they should not scold. The penalty for this fault was arrest, imprisonment, and fine. In aggravated cases, the grave law-givers resorted even to public whipping.
One Wolfert Weber, the proprietor of a small tavern near the Fresh Water Pond, entered this curious complaint against Judith Verbeth :-
" The defendant has for a long time pestered him; she came with her sister Sara over to his house last week, and beat him [the plaintiff] and afterwards threw stones at him. He pleads that said Judith be ordered to let him live quietly in his own house."
On the 8th of May, 1657, we find Nicholas Verbeth complain-
1657. ing of Wolfert Weber about a pile of stone. Verbeth stated his case thus : -
" If anybody removes what belongs to another without his knowledge, it is thieving ; my father deposited some stone by the Fresh Water Pond, before his own door, and Weber removed it; whereupon we had words, and Weber promised to deliver other stone instead; we want Weber ordered to bring back to the place the same stone." The court decided for the plaintiff, and ordered the stone returned within eight days.
Hon. Nicasius De Sille prosecuted a man for stealing "three half- beavers, two nose-cloths, and a pair of linen stockings." The court sen- tenced the offender to be whipped within the Council Chamber and banished from the city. Slander was esteemed a rank offense. A certain Jan Adamzen, for slandering certain respectable persons, was condemned to be "stuck through the tongue with a red-hot iron, and banished from the province."
The severity of sentences, the peculiar modes of punishment, etc., were but a feature of the times. They originated on the other side of the ocean. The city magistrates seem to have had a conscientious regard for equity and justice, and set themselves like flint against Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, and all the popular vices. It was a mixed population they were trying to control, and the task could have been neither easy nor
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UNIQUE LAWS.
agreeable. The governor treated his subordinates with profound respect, so long as they were directly in the line of their duties. In his commu- nications to the city magistrates he was exceptionally courteous, always preceding his signature with "Your High Mightinesses' affectionate Friend and Director." But he curtailed their power in all directions. One day, some common people appeared before him, much aggrieved because he had forbidden the servants of the farmers "to ride the goose " at the feast of Shrovetide. He told them " it was unprofitable and unne- cessary and criminal to celebrate such pagan and popish feasts, and though it was tolerated in some places in Holland, and connived at by magis- trates here, he should enact such ordinances as would tend to the glory of God without the consent of a little court of justice "; adding, "I under- stand my quality and authority, and the nature of my commission, better than others, and hope you will not vex and trouble me continually." 1
In 1658, a law was enacted forbidding the whipping of negro slaves without first obtaining permission of the city magistrates. Anoth- er remarkable law forbade men and women to live together until
1658. legally married ; for it had been an ancient custom - of much longer standing than the young city - to " bundle " after the publication of the banns.
The same year, the first fire company was organized. It was called the " Rattle Watch," and consisted of eight men, who were to do duty from nine o'clock in the evening until morning drum-beat. Two hundred and fifty fire-buckets, with hooks and ladders, were imported from Holland, reaching New Amsterdam on the 12th of August.
Long Island was one continual source of anxiety to the men in power at New Amsterdam. George Baxter returned from New England the next year after he was dismissed from the magistracy at Gravesend (he crossed Long Island Sound on the ice), and was arrested in the course of a few days for hoisting the flag of England and "reading seditious papers to the people." For more than a year, he lay in the dungeon of the fort. He was almost forgotten, when Sir Henry Moody and others petitioned so earnestly to have him removed to a more comfortable apartment, that he was released on bail. He immediately drew up a petition to Cromwell to be emancipated from Dutch rule and taken under his protection; and, after obtaining a large number of signers, he left the country. He soon after appeared in England, and was active in trying to vindicate the right of that nation to the entire territory of New Nether- land. He was the mortal enemy of Stuyvesant, both at home and abroad. Cromwell's secretary wrote to the English residents of Long Island a long
1 New Amsterdam Records.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
letter, which Baxter sent to Gravesend by one of his emissaries, with in- structions to have it publicly read. Stuyvesant seized the man and the document. The former he imprisoned; the latter he forwarded to Hol- land, unopened. It seemed particularly necessary to crush every symp- tom of rebellion on Long Island, as it was a noted resort for robbers and pirates. "The scum of New England is all drifting into New Nether- land," said the venerable Dominie Megapolensis. "Why do you harbor persons who are driven from the other colonies as worse than a pestilence ?" asked Dominie Drisius of the governor.
Just at this critical moment, a ship arrived, bringing some Quakers who had been expelled from New England. Of these, two women, with more zeal than discretion, went preaching through the streets. They were arrested, and taken to the prison in the fort, where they were confined in separate apartments. After being examined, they were placed on board a ship bound for Rhode Island. Robert Hodgson, one of the Quakers, went over to Hempstead, intending to preach there. He was arrested while walking in an orchard, and examined by the Hempstead magistrates. A message was sent to the governor, who dispatched an armed party for the poor man, the same evening. His Bible and papers were taken from him, and he was pinioned in a painful position for twenty-four hours. Two women who had entertained him, one of whom had a nursing infant of four months, were also arrested. The latter were tied into a cart, to the rear end of which Hodgson, still pinioned, was fastened with his head downwards ; and thus were they conveyed over the bad roads to the city, where they were placed in separate dungeons. Upon trial, Hodgson was sentenced to two years' hard labor with a negro at the wheelbarrow, or to pay a fine of two hundred and forty dollars. Being destitute both of money and friends, he was, a few days afterwards, brought forth and chained to the wheelbarrow. In vain he argued that he was unused to labor, he was ordered to proceed; but he refused to move. A tarred rope some four inches thick was then put into the hands of a strong negro, who beat the Quaker until he fell exhausted. He was lifted up and again beaten until it was estimated that he had received one hundred blows. All day, standing in the heat of a broiling sun, his body bruised and swollen, he was kept chained to the wheelbarrow. At last he fainted. He was thrown into the cell for the night, and the next day again chained to the wheelbarrow. A sentinel was placed over him, to prevent any conversation with his companion. As before, he refused to work. The third day, he was led forth chained, and was still indomitable in his re- sistance. Finally, he was taken before the governor.
Stuyvesant told him that he must work; that he should be whipped
185
THE QUAKER PERSECUTION.
every day until he did. The prisoner looked up boldly and demanded to be told what law he had broken. He was not answered, but sent away in contempt, and chained again to the wheelbarrow. He was now confined to his dungeon for two or three days, without even bread and water; but, as this brought no symptoms of surrender, a new torture was tried. 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. He was then lashed by a negro until his flesh was cut to pieces ; and, after two days' respite in his dungeon, this barbarity was repeated. He begged to see some person of his own nation ; and at last a poor Englishwoman came and bathed his wounds. She thought he could not live until morn- ing, and informed her husband of his terrible condition. The man hurried to the sheriff, and offered a fat ox to be allowed to remove Hodgson to his house until he recovered; but he was informed that the whole fine must be paid before any mercy could be shown to the prisoner. By this time, the pitiful story, having got well noised about, reached the ears of Mrs. Bayard, the governor's sister, who resolutely interfered in behalf of the sufferer, and obtained his release.
Hodgson was by no means the last of the Quakers of that epoch. Per- secution seemed to multiply their numbers and increase their self-confi- dence. Rumors that they were creeping about among the Long Island towns led to the strictest watchfulness on the part of the magistrates, and any one who ventured to lodge or feed a Quaker, man or woman, was promptly arrested and imprisoned. Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Weeks, having been accused of "absenting themselves from public worship on the Lord's day, to attend a conventicle in the woods where there were two Quakers," were imprisoned. At their examination, they justified themselves, declar- ing that they had broken no law and done no wrong. Nevertheless, they were compelled to pay a heavy fine. There were a great number of similar instances. Three men, suspected of being Quakers, were brought before the governor and council, and at once confessed themselves such. But the tide of feeling had, by this time, become so strong against the tarred rope and wheelbarrow, that the prisoners were only sent back to Communipaw, whence they had come, with an admonition to remain there. The good dominies wrote to the West India Company of the alarming spread of sectarianism in New Netherland; but the only answer was a quiet recommendation to allow the people to indulge their various religious beliefs.
All at once, the Indians were again upon the war-path. This time, Eso- pus was threatened. A messenger came in haste to the city for assistance. The governor responded in person, accompanied by fifty soldiers under
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Govert Loockermans. On Ascension Thursday, the settlers, to the num-
ber of sixty or more, assembled at the house of Jacob Jansen Stol May 28. for religious services. Stuyvesant was present, and took the oppor- tunity to urge the farmers to unite in a village, instead of living so far apart from each other. It seemed almost impossible to accomplish this, as their crops were already in the ground and in need of constant care and protection. They were but just recovering from their previous losses, and could ill afford the time necessary for removal and for the con- struction of defenses. They begged that the soldiers might remain until after harvest. "No," said Stuyvesant, with emphasis; "but they shall remain with you until the extra work is done, if you will agree at once upon the site of your village."
Meanwhile, messengers had been sent to all the great Indian sachems within easy distance, to invite them to an interview with the " big white sachem from Manhattan." They came, sixty or more, including women and children. The interview took place under an immense tree, just outside Mr. Stol's garden-fence. Stuyvesant went out to greet them, without any guard, and attended only by Govert Loockermans, who acted as interpreter. One of the chiefs arose and made a speech. He detailed in full the wrongs practiced upon the Indians for the last twenty years. When the sachem sat down, Stuyvesant was on his feet. His reply was a masterpiece of concentrated eloquence. He said he had nothing to do with events which had occurred before his time; that such remembrances were buried when peace was agreed upon. With his bold dark eye emitting flashes which seemed to penetrate the red skins of the stalwart warriors around him, he demanded, "Has any injury been done you in person or property since the conclusion of peace, or since I came into the country ? " They were silent. He paused a moment, and then rapidly enumerated the murders and affronts, the burning of houses and the killing of cattle, which he and his subjects had received at their hands. " You are overbearing and insolent," he said. " I have come to make war upon you, unless you surrender the murderer,1 and make good all dam- ages. We have not had a foot of your land without paying you for it. You came and asked us to buy this land and make a settlement here ; and now you vex and threaten us."
An old chief responded. He said the late murder had been committed by a Minnisinck Indian, who was skulking now at a great distance away. He complained of the selling of fire-water to his tribe, which had made great mischief. He said they had no malice against the white men, but the young men wanted to fight.
1 An Esopus farmer had been killed, and two houses burned.
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WHITEHALL.
Stuyvesant sprang to his feet, and hurled defiance at the young braves. " Let them step forth," he shouted, "I will place man against man ; yes, I will place twenty against forty of your hot-heads. Now is your time. But it is unmanly and mean and contemptible to threaten farmers and women and children, who are not warriors."
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