USA > New York > New York City > The story of the city of New York > Part 15
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The same act defined the firemen's duties. On the first alarm they were to drag the engines to the fire and there under direction of the magistrates, engineer, or overseer, "with their utmost diligence, manage, work, and play the said fire engines and all other tools and instruments, at such fire with all their power, skill, strength, and understanding, and when the fire is out shall draw the engine back." The city firemen were chartered in 1798 as the Volunteer Fire Department, and continued as such until 1865, when the present efficient system of a paid force took its place. In the early days of the volunteer force great care was taken in the selection of the men. They
0
Datede
Those are to Certify that
Dis pursuant to Law nominated and appointed
the Firemon of the City of
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passed an examination before being accepted, and were given a certificate of membership, which was framed and handed down as a precious heirloom.
We have so far omitted to notice a very numerous class-the servants or slaves. We meet them every- where-on the streets, bringing water, selling pies, giving the babies an airing, doing the family market- ing ; indeed they perform most of the menial work in the houses, stores, and fields. There are three classes of them-negroes held as slaves, Indians, and European immigrants. Most of the negroes are native Africans, imported direct from Angola and Madagascar in the colony vessels-a savage, brutal, and heathen race. We have not been able to deter- mine the status of the Indian slaves ; probably they were prisoners of war, or criminals condemned to servitude. The European servants were those "in- dentured " or bound out until such time as their wages should discharge their passage money. These three classes are proved to have existed from certain items in the newspapers of the day, as when we read in 1732 : "Just arrived from great Britain and to be sold on board the ship Alice and Elisabeth, Captain Paine, Commander, several likely Welch and English servant men, most of them tradesmen." Again in 1751: "Likely Negroes, men and women, imported from the coast of Africa, . . . to be sold by Thomas Greenell "; and in 1759: " On board the ship Charin- ing Polly, Captain Edward Bayley, Master, now rid- ing at anchor in the harbor of New York, are several Palatine and Switzer servants to be sold ; some are
re
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farmers and some tradesmen." Again, in 1747: " Run away on April the 25th, from Capt. Abraham Kip, in New York, an Indian man about eighteen years old, and speaks good English." Twenty shil- lings' reward was offered for his return. The servants, whether white or black, had a great propensity for running away, and it was rarely they went empty- handed. The Indian tribes and the colonies of Con- necticut and New Jersey on either hand offered safe refuge. Colonial newspapers did a thriving business in publishing advertisements of runaway slaves, and from their descriptions of the truants may be gained vivid pictures of colonial costumes and customs. Here are a few speciments :
" Run away from Richard Bishop, a servant man named John Farrant about nineteen years of age, of a fresh complexion, about five feet and a half high ; he had on when he went away a brown livery coat and breeches : the coat lined and cuffed with blue ; a blue shoulder knot, a black natural wig, and a pair of red stockings."
" Run away from Joseph Reade, of the city of New York, merchant, a likely mulatto servant woman named Sarah. She is about 24 years of age, and has taken with her a calico suit of clothes, a striped satteen silk waist- coat, a striped Calliminco waistcoat and petty-coat, two homespun waistcoats and petty-coats, and a negro man's light colored coat with brass buttons."
William Bradford advertises his " apprentice boy," James Parker, who had "a fresh complexion and short yellowish hair," and wore a yellowish Bengall coat, jacket, and breeches lined with the same, and
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had taken with him "a brown colored coarse coat with flat metal buttons, two frocks, two shirts, one pair of striped ticken jackets and breeches."
The number of these slaves owned in a family was considered an index of its wealth and social position. Thus, of the aristocracy of New York, in 1704, Col- onel De Peyster owned five male slaves, two females, and two children. Widow Van Cortlandt had the same. Rip Van Dam had three negroes, two ne- gresses, and a child. The Widow Phillipse, with but herself and child to be cared for, owned one man, three women, and three children. Balthazar Bayard had six slave domestics ; Mrs Stuyvesant, four male negroes and a negress. Captain Morris, with only himself and wife, maintained seven slaves. William Smith, of the manor of St. George, employed twelve.
The great body of servants, as has been said, were Africans. They were rude, savage, lazy, and ineffi- cient, and a constant source of fear and uneasiness to their masters. Indeed, between the French and In- dians, Popish plots, and uprisings of his slaves, the colonial gentleman deemed himself in constant dan- ger of assault. In 1741, out of a population of twelve thousand, two thousand were negro slaves. The lat- ter had become very much disaffected at this time, partly, no doubt, because they were subject to such strict regulations. Not above four were allowed to meet together on the Sabbath, which was their holiday. No negro or Indian slave could appear in the streets after nightfall without a " lantern and a lighted candle in it," under penalty of forty lashes at the whipping-post. Gaming was visited by the same
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penalty. A slave must be buried by daylight ; no pall or pall-bearers were allowed at the funeral, and not more than twelve slaves were permitted to attend.
These restrictions, added to the hardships of their lot, led to several uprisings among them, one of which, that of 1741, we will consider somewhat at length, since it will introduce to us an interesting colonial court scene.
In February, 1740-1, numerous robberies were committed in the city, and several negro slaves, with one John Hughson, at whose tavern they were wont to congregate, were suspected of being concerned in it. Some of the suspected slaves were arrested and tried for the offence. This was on March 4th. On the 18th, the wind blowing a gale, the roof of the · governor's house in Fort George was discovered to be on fire. At once the church bells rang, and the people, with the fire engines and the twenty-four fire- men, hurried to the fort. It was soon seen, how- ever, that no earthly power could save the gover- nor's house and the chapel beside it, and the people turned their attention to the secretary's office over the fort gate, in which the records of the colony were kept. The office was consumed, however, in spite of their efforts. The barracks opposite caught next, and in an hour and a quarter every thing combustible within the fort was in ruins. The heavy timbers of the chapel belfry burned all night long, lighting town and bay with a fitful glare, while the hand grenades stored in the fort kept up a continual fusillade, as the flames reached them. The excitement in the city
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was intense. The wildest rumors were current. Some thought that a Popish plot to burn the city was on foot, others that it was a negro uprising. To quiet the people, Captain Cornelius Van Horne's militia company, seventy strong, was called out, and patrolled the streets until day broke. Wednesday, March 25th, another fire broke out at Captain Warren's, near the Long Bridge, in the extreme southern part of the town, but the fire engines put it out. A week later, fire was discovered in the store-house of the merchant Van Zandt, in the eastern end of the city, but the engines confined the fire to the building.
April 4th, at night, a fire broke out in a cow stable near the Fly Market, in the most thickly settled por- tion of the town. Everybody ran with their buckets, the fire engines rattled down, and the flames were quenched. On their way home the people were startled by another cry of fire, which proved to be in the loft of the house of Benjamin Thomas on the west side. When extinguished, it was found that an incendiary had been at work, for coals had been placed between two straw beds, on which a negro slept. The next day, Sunday, another attempt was discovered-coals had been placed under a hay stack near the coach house and stables of John Mur- ray, Esq., in the Broadway, near his house, and these coals, by cinders spilled in carrying them, were traced to the house of a negro near by. The same day a Mrs. Earle, remaining home from church, heard three negroes, walking by her house, threaten to burn the town, and recognized one of them "as Mr. Walter's Quaco." All doubt that a plot to burn the city ex-
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isted was banished when, next morning at ten, a fire broke out in the house of Sergeant Burns, and an- other, about the same time, in a cluster of buildings near the Fly Market. There were some Spanish negroes, recently captured, in the city, who had been muttering and threatening the whites ever since their arrival, and these were now seized and haled before the magistrates, who, after examination, com- mitted them to prison.
Other fires occurred, and many negroes, with sev- eral white people were arrested. On April 21, 1741, the Supreme Court of Judicature of the colony came in and sat in the City Hall, " His Honor James De Lancey, Esq., Chief Justice, absent, Frederick Phillipse, Esq., Second Justice, and Daniel Hors- manden, Esq., Third Justice, present." The pris- oners having been duly indicted by the Grand Jury, were brought before the court. A description of the trial, taken from an account by one of the judges, Mr. Daniel Horsmanden, we present, as giving the reader an excellent idea of the stately and solemn ceremonial of the colonial courts.
The judges sat on the bench in heavy black robes and full-bottomed wigs. The prisoners being mar- shalled before it, the court rose and Judge Phillipse said: "The King against the same on trial upon three indictments." They then sat down and the clerk said : "Cryer, make proclamation."
Cryer-"Oyez ! Our Sovereign Lord the King doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons to keep silence upon pain of imprisonment. If any one can inform the King's Justices or Attorney-General for this
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province on the inquest now to be taken on the behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King, of any treason, murder, felony, or any other misdemeanor committed or done by the prisoners at the bar, let them come forth, and they shall be heard, for the prisoners stand upon their deliv- erance."
Clerk-"Cryer, make proclamation."
Cryer-"Oyez ! You good men that are impanelled to inquire between our Sovereign Lord the King and John Hughson, Sarah his wife, Sarah Hughson the daughter, Margaret Sorubiero, alias Kerry, the prisoners at the bar, answer to your names."
Clerk-" John Hughson, Sarah the wife of John Hugh- son, Sarah the daughter of John Hughson, Margaret Sorubiero, hold up your hands :
"These good men that are now called, and here ap- pear, are those which are to pass between you and our Sovereign Lord the King upon your lives or deaths ; if you, or any, or either of you challenge any of them, you must speak as they come to the book to be sworn and before they are sworn."
Judge Phillipse-"You, the prisoners at the bar, we must inform you that the law allows you the liberty of challenging peremptorily twenty of the jurors, if you have any dislike to them, and you need not give your reasons for so doing ; and you may likewise challenge as many more as you can give sufficient reasons for ; and you may either all join in your challenges or make them separately."
John Hughson, for the prisoners and himself, challenged sixteen. The twelve selected were then sworn.
Clerk-" Cryer, make proclamation" ; after which the clerk, turning to the jury, continued :
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"You gentlemen of the jury, that are sworn, look upon the prisoners and hearken to this charge."
Three indictments were then read, and the clerk, turning to the jury, said: "Upon this indictment they have been arraigned, and hath pleaded them- selves 'not guilty,' and for their trial hath put them- selves upon God and their country, which country you are."
The Attorney-General then opened for the king, and the trial proceeded. It is not necessary to follow it in detail. After hearing the testimony and the pleadings, the jury returned a verdict of "guilty," and Judge Phillipse, after a solemn and impressive address, sentenced them as follows :
"I must now proceed to the duty the law re- quires of me, which is to tell you that you, the prisoners now at the bar, be removed to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and there you, and each of you, are to be hanged by the neck until you are severally dead ; and I pray God of his great goodness to have mercy on your souls."
Sarah, the daughter, was finally respited and par- doned. Many others were tried and punished. In all eleven negroes were burned, eighteen hanged, fifty transported, and many more imprisoned. Several white persons were also executed. Business for four months was prostrated. It was a fearful and dramatic chapter in the city's history, and, by general verdict of historians, a quite unnecessary one-that is, it is not now believed that any serious plot to burn the town really existed.
--
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These men, whose public acts we have been con- sidering and who have perhaps impressed us with being cold, stern, stately, unapproachable beings, had also their social and domestic life-loved, sor- rowed, hated, went the round of fashionable follies and amusements, dressed well, danced well, enter- tained well, in some respects
" Lived in a nobler way With grander hospitality,"
- than do the men of to-day. The hurry and fever of . our modern life was unknown to them. England was two months distant. It took five days' steady travelling to reach Boston, and nearly three to go to Philadelphia. The newspapers came out once a week. There was greater opportunity for social in- tercourse and interchange of courtly ceremonial. The governor and his lady, the officers of the garri- son and of his Majesty's frigates, with visiting noblemen and the resident gentry, formed a minor court circle, that adopted, in a measure, the fashions and amusements of that at home.
Theatre-going, card-playing, horse-racing, dancing, horseback-riding, sails in Captain Rickett's " pleasure boat " were the popular amusements. There was a play-house in the city as early as October, 1733, ref- erence being made to it in an advertisement in the New York Gasctte of that date. Perhaps it was to this play house that the following play-bill, cut from the Weekly Post Boy, of March 12, 1750, referred :
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BY HIS EXCELLENCY'S PERMISSION. AT THE THEATRE IN NASSAU STREET, This Evening will be presented THE HISTORICAL TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III.
Wrote originally by Shakespeare and altered by COLLY CIBBER, Esq. To which will be added a farce called THE BEAU IN THE SUDDS AND On Saturday next will he presented A TRAGY-COMEDY CALLED THE SPANISH FRYAR, OR THE' DOUBLE DISCOVERY, WROTE BY MR. DRYDEN. Tickets to be had of the printer hereof. Pitt, 5s. Gallery, 3s. To begin, precisely at half an hour after 6 o'clock, and no person to be admitted behind the scenes."
On September 10th, a comedy called " The Re- cruiting Officer" is announced for the same place, and on the 17th the " tragedy called Cato, wrote by Mr. Addison." Quite a long list of "tragedys, comedies, ballad operas, and pastoral dialogues," enacted in the old play-house, might be made from these play bills. There were many other entertain- ments open to the pleasure-seeker, however. Thus, in the Weckly Post Boy, of December 25, 1749, John Bonnin informs the curious of either sex that he begins that day to exhibit his " Philosophical Optical Machine," " which had given so much satisfaction to all those that had already favored him with their company. He has sundry new additions which he proposes to show all the winter season : to begin at
-
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8 o'clock in the morning and continue showing till nine at night, at the house of Mr. Victor Becket, opposite Mr. Hayne's new buildings in Crown Street. Price, I shilling for grown persons and a sixpence for children." Next is Punch's company of comedians,- which never palls,-with the inevitable "wax figgers." There are fourteen of the latter, comprising the effigies of the royal family of England and the Empress, Queen of Hungaria and Bohemia. "The company will act this week the play of Whittington and his Cat, and next week the Norfolk Tragedy, or the Babes in the Wood. Price, 2 shillings for each ticket."
In " Mr. Holt's Long Room," again, we have the " New Pantomime Entertainment in Grotesque Char- acters, called the Adventures of Harlequin and Scaramouch, or the Spaniard Tricked"; to which is added an "Optic," wherein is " represented in Perspec- tive several of the most noted cities and remarkable places in Europe and America, and a new Prologue and Epilogue addressed to the town. Tickets, five shillings each." There is also a concert of "vocal and instrumental musick at the house of Robert Tod, to begin precisely at five o'clock. Tickets at 5s." The wonder of its day, however, and the great- est attraction, was the new electrical machine, which was thus announced in the Weekly Post Boy, of May 16, 1748 :
" FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE CURIOUS. TO BE SHOWN :
The most surprising effects or Phenomena on Electricity of attracting, repelling, and Flenemies Force, particu-
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larly the new way of electrifying several persons at the same time, so that Fire shall dart from all Parts of their Bodies, as has been exhibited to the satisfaction of the Curious in all parts of Europe. Electricity became all the subject in vogue. Princes were willing to see this new fire, which a man produced from himself, and is tho't to be of service in many ailments. To be seen at any time of the day, from 8 o'clock in the morning till 9 at night, provided the weather proves dry, and no damp air, (a company presenting,) at the House of Mrs. Wilson, near the Weigh House, in New York, where due attend- ance is given by Mr. Richard Brichell."
The Englishman could not be long in America without importing his own race-horse and hunter. Announcements like the following are often met with : "On Wednesday, the 13th of October next, will be run for on the course at New York, a plate of twenty pounds' value, by any Horse, Mare, or Geld- ing carrying ten stone (saddle and bridle included) the best of three heats, two miles each heat." The entrance fee was half a pistole each, and the great crowds that " came on horseback and in chaises" were obliged to pay sixpence each as gate money to the owner of the grounds.
There were famous courses too at Greenwich, and on Hempstead Plains, as well as at New York. Thus the Weekly Post Boy of June 4, 1750 :
"Last Friday a great horse race was run on Hemp- stead Plains for a considerable wager, which engaged the attention of so many of this city that upwards of seventy chairs and chaises were carried over the ferry from hence the day before, besides a far greater number
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of horses ; and it was thought that the number of horses on the Plains at the race far exceeded a thou- sand."
Often individual races and trials of speed were ar- ranged on a wager. Thus we read, under date of April 29, 1759, that "Oliver Delancey's horse ran from one of our Palisade gates (Wall Street and Broadway) to King's Bridge and back again, being upwards of thirty miles, in one hour 473 minutes." Horseback riding through the embowered lanes and by-paths of the island was a favorite amusement. The lady and her escort did not then ride coldly apart, however, but shared the same steed, the fair rider being mounted on a pillion behind, and main- taining her position by passing an arm about her companion's waist ; both saddle and pillion were elegantly made and lavishly ornamented. What is now Second Avenue was then, according to a naughty chronicler, the favorite drive, the reason being that at the corner of the present Fiftieth Street, a quaint stone bridge, famed as the " Kissing Bridge," spanned a little, clear-water brook that went babbling down to the East River. On cross- ing this bridge the favored swain was privileged to claim a kiss from his companion-a curious survival of an old Danish custom. If the lady was disposed to be ungracious, however, there were parallel roads she might choose.
Dancing in colony times grew to be one of the fine arts. No merry-making was thought to be complete without one of the stately dances of the day. We have seen how all the king's birthdays and
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fête days generally concluded with a grand ball in the evening. Sometimes people danced for sweet charity's sake, as they now do. For instance, in the Weekly Post Boy of December II, 1752, we read :
"A ball on Thursday evening is proposed to be held at the house of Mr. Trotter, in the Broadway, for the benefit of Jacob Leonard, who, by reason of the late sickness in this place, is reduced to low circumstances. Tickets to be had at Mr. Trotter's, or at the said Leonard's, opposite the Presbyterian Church. Price, four shillings."
The dances were mostly those introduced from England, and were, without exception, of a lively character, involving swift motions of the limbs and flying movements of the feet. The modern round dance was unknown. The " country dance " (con- tra dance ?) was the favorite.
These were the duties and diversions of the gen- tlefolk. The commonalty, too, had their favorite modes of recreation. Athletic sports figured largely in these-foot-racing, jumping, quoit-pitching, climb- ing the greased pole, " pulling the goose," and oth- ers. " Shooting-matches " would seem to have been the favorite, judging from the great number of an- nouncements like the following :
"To be shot for : a lot of land belonging to Robert Bennett, in Sacketts Street. It is to be shot for on Eas- ter Munday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the 7th, 8th, 9th, and roth of April next, with a single ball at roo yards distance, at the sign of the Marlboroug's Head, in the Bowery Lane. Every person that inclines to shoot
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for the above-mentioned lot of land is to lay in 5s. before he fires, his price for every shot, and whoever makes the best shot in the four days mentioned shall receive a good and warrantable bill of sale of the afore-mentioned lot of land from Robert Bennett."
Lotteries were popular with all classes, and were generally organized in aid of some charity, church, or benevolent work. Snuff-taking seems to have been the prevalent vice among ladies, and formed a favorite subject for the lampooners of the day. This example, from a newspaper of 1731, shows how forced and heavy was colonial wit :
" This silly trick of taking snuff is attended with such a cocquet air in some young (as well as older) gentlewomen, and such a sedate masculine one in others, that I cannot tell which most to complain of ; but they are to me equally disagreeable. Mrs. Saunter is so impatient of being without it, that she takes it as often as she does salt at meals ; and as she affects a wonderful ease and negligence in all her manners, an upper lip, mixed with snuff and the sauce, is what is presented to the observa- tion. of all who have the honor to eat with her. The pretty creature, her niece, does all she can to be as disa- greeable as her aunt, and if she is not as offensive to the eye, she is quite as much to the ear, and makes up all she wants in a confident air by a nauseous rattle of the nose when the snuff is delivered, and the fingers make the stops and closes on the nostrils. This, perhaps, is not a very courtly usage in speaking of gentlewomen ; that is very true, but where arises the offence ? Is it in those who commit, or those who observe it? As to those who take it for pretty action, or to fill up little in-
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tervals of discourse, I can bear with them ; but then they must not use it when another is speaking, who ought to be heard with too much respect to admit of offering at that time from hand to hand the snuff-box. But Florilla is so far taken with her behavior in this kind, that she pulls out her box (which is indeed full of good Brazile) in the middle of the sermon, and to show that she has the audacity of the well-bred woman, she offers it to the men as well as to the women who sit next her. But since by this time all the world knows she has a fine hand, I am in hopes she may give herself no fur- ther trouble in this matter. On Sunday was sevennight, when they came about for the offering, she gave her charity with a very good air, but at the same time asked the church-warden if he would take a pinch." .
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