Part 9

In the midst of this excitement his majesty's ship, The Sphinx, arrived with the new governor, Sir Charles Hardy. About ten o'clock on the morning of September 3, 1755, the people of New York heard the booming of cannon from The Sphinx, which had arrived the night before and was lying in the harbor. Sir Charles was on his way to the city in the ship's barge and the discharge of cannon was in his honor on his leaving the ship. This was soon answered from Fort George, when Lieutenant Governor De Lancey, the members of the council and the assembly, the mayor and aldermen, the clergy and the principal gentlemen of the city, at the Whitehall Stairs, welcomed him to the province, and through lines of militia, mustered for the occasion, escorted him to the Fort. After going through the usual ceremonies he was conducted to the City Hall, where his commission was published. He then returned to the Fort to receive the congratulations of the officials and the public. The new governor was then conducted to the New York Arms, where, by invitation of Lieutenant Governor De Lancey, he dined with the council and the assembly, and many other gentlemen, "and where repeated Healths of Loyalty, Success to His Majesty's Arms, both in Europe and America, Prosperity to the English-American Colonies, a speedy Defeat of the French from off the borders, and a total Extinction of their very name in America went round with great Unanimity and Dispatch." The newspapers state that "at night the Windows in the city were ornamented with lights and two large bonfires were erected on the Common where several hampers of good old Madeira (which proved brisker than bottled Ale) were given to the Populace and where Sir Charles' Presence, about eight o'clock in the Evening closed the joyful and merry Proceeding." The Sphinx not only brought to the province a new governor but she brought also something that was very acceptable and very much needed, good hard money to the amount of twenty thousand pounds for the use of the forces in America.

[Sidenote: The Assembly Balls]

While Willett was landlord of the New York Arms, the dancing assemblies, which for a great many years were a feature of the life of the city, were commenced at this house. These were not new, for meetings for dancing had been customary for many years, but no tavern before had been able to afford a room so well suited for the purpose. These assemblies were held fortnightly on Thursday, during the winter season, and the subscription to each meeting was eight shillings. The ball was opened at eight o'clock and closed at midnight. In 1759 the managers were Messrs. Duane, Walton, McEvers and Banyer, names which convey to us the conviction that the company was quite select. Notice was given that "Strangers will not be admitted unless they apply for tickets before 5 o'clock of every assembly night at the Directors Houses."

[Sidenote: Reception of Colonel Peter Schuyler]

Colonel Peter Schuyler, of New Jersey, who was taken prisoner at Oswego, had distinguished himself by his generosity to his fellow prisoners in Canada and by his kindness and assistance to all of his countrymen in distress, making no distinction between Jerseymen and those from other provinces, spending money freely, which his captors were willing to supply on his personal drafts, knowing him to be wealthy. He had been released at Montreal on his parole to return in six months, unless an exchange had in the meantime been settled for him. Making his way through the forests to Fort Edward and thence to Albany, he arrived in New York on Saturday afternoon, November 19, 1757. He had many relatives and friends in the city and the people were so sensible of the services which he had rendered to the province of New York that, to honor him, the public buildings and most of the houses in town were illuminated, a bonfire was made on the Common and at the King's Arms Tavern an elegant entertainment was given in celebration of his return from captivity and there was great rejoicing at his safe arrival.

[Sidenote: Privateers]

The profitable business of privateering, broken up by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, was resumed with renewed vigor by the adventurous merchants and ship-owners of New York at the commencement of the war. The whole coast, from Maine to Georgia, was soon alive with daring, adventurous, some among them, no doubt, unscrupulous privateers, who, failing of success against the enemy did not hesitate, when a good opportunity offered, to plunder the vessels of friendly nations. In 1756 there were over twenty ships from the port of New York carrying nearly two hundred and fifty guns and manned by nearly two thousand men scouring the seas, and before January, 1758, they had brought into New York fifty-nine prizes, besides those taken into other ports for adjudication. So popular was this business that Lieutenant Governor De Lancey, in 1758, complained "that men would no longer enlist in the army," and "that the country was drained of many able-bodied men by almost a kind of madness to go a-privateering." The old captains of the previous war again hoisted their flags and were joined by many younger men. Alexander McDougal and Isaac Sears, whose names became prominent in the history of the city, commanded the Tiger and Decoy and Thomas Doran, who kept a tavern at the Fly Market, in the fast-sailing pilot-boat, Flying Harlequin, with fourteen guns, and armed to the teeth, made rapid and successful trips.

[Sidenote: The Press Gang]

Much more dreaded than the enemy by the privateersmen were the press gangs sent out by the men-of-war. The captain of a British man-of-war did not hesitate, when in need of men, to board colonial vessels and take any number required or even to kidnap them from the city for service in the British navy. The privateersman was pressed with peculiar satisfaction. Attempts at impressment resulted in several bloody encounters. In 1760, the crew of the Sampson of Bristol, who had fired on the barge of H. M. S. Winchester, on attempting to board her, killing a number of men, were protected and concealed by the people from the reach of the sheriff and the militia ordered to his assistance. On July 10, 1764, four fishermen were taken from their vessel in the harbor and carried on board the tender of a man-of-war. The next day, when the captain of the tender came on shore, his boat was seized by a number of men, and with great shouting dragged through the streets to the middle of the green in the Fields, where they burned and destroyed her and then quickly dispersed. Meanwhile the captain publicly declared that he was not responsible for the seizure of the men, and, going into the Coffee House, wrote an order for their release. The order was carried on board the tender and the fishermen brought ashore. The magistrates, as soon as they had notice of the affair, sent out men to disperse the mob and secure the boat, but the mischief had been done. The court met in the afternoon, but were unable to discover any person concerned in the business, and the probability is that there was no great effort or desire to do so.

[Sidenote: Sales of Prizes]

We find continuously in the newspapers issued during the war notices of sales of prize ships and cargoes at the taverns, at the Coffee House and on the wharves near by. The Merchants' Coffee House, where the inventories were posted, had become the recognized place with the merchants for the transaction of all kinds of business, and many sales of ships and prizes taken by the privateers were made here. It had become a sort of maritime exchange. In 1758 Luke Roome was its landlord, and was also the owner of the house, which he offered for sale. It was purchased by Doctor Charles Arding, who retained possession of it until 1792, when it was acquired by the Tontine Association, who built on it and other contiguous lots the Tontine Coffee House. Luke Roome was afterwards assistant alderman and for several years leased the docks and slips of the city. How long he was landlord of the Merchants' Coffee House we do not know.

It was customary in colonial times and even a good deal later to build market houses in the middle of streets. For a great many years in the middle of Wall Street, between Queen Street or Hanover Square and the river, had stood the Meal Market. In the course of time, as the building grew old, the merchants and those living in the neighborhood came to consider it as a nuisance, and in 1762 petitioned the authorities for its removal. They say in their petition: "It greatly obstructs the agreeable prospect of the East River, which those that live in Wall Street would otherwise enjoy; and, furthermore, occasions a dirty street, offensive to the inhabitants on each side and disagreeable to those who pass to and from the coffe-house, a place of great resort." Garrat Noel, the most prominent bookseller in New York, moved his store in 1757 and, in his announcements in the newspapers, gives its location as next door to the Merchants' Coffee House, opposite the Meal Market; but, in July, 1762, he announces his store as "next door to the Merchants' Coffee House, near where the Meal Market stood." This is pretty good evidence that it had been taken down very soon after the petition was presented for its removal.

[Sidenote: The Crown and Thistle]

Down near the water at Whitehall Slip stood the Crown and Thistle, a tavern kept by John Thompson, who preferred the cognomen of Scotch Johnny, by which he was familiarly known. Here good dinners were served to merchants, travellers and army officers, and here travellers could make arrangements for transportation in Captain O'Brien's stage-boat to Perth Amboy on their way to Philadelphia or by boat to Staten Island or Elizabethtown Point, which was the route taken by a large majority of travellers going south. Those landed on Staten Island passed along on the north shore to a point opposite Elizabethtown Point, where they crossed the Kills to that place by ferry. Scotch Johnny was not only the landlord of the Crown and Thistle and lodged and entertained travellers who landed near his house or waited there for boats to carry them across the bay, but was himself, in 1755, interested in transportation of travellers to Staten Island, and the next year to Perth Amboy, on their way to the south. On November 30, 1753, the anniversary of St. Andrew was celebrated at the Crown and Thistle by the gentlemen of the Scots' Society, where an elegant dinner was provided, the colors being displayed on the ships in the harbor, particularly the ship Prince William.

[Sidenote: The Black Horse]

All the travel to the north and east went out of the city over Bowery Lane to Harlem or King's Bridge. This was the Boston post road. In 1750, at the upper end of Queen Street, near Alderman Benson's, stood the Black Horse Tavern, kept by Jonathan Ogden, "where the Boston post puts up." This tavern in the suburbs was a convenient and suitable place for taking a parting glass with friends about to set out on a journey and wishing them godspeed, as was then the custom. Ogden and his successor, besides furnishing entertainment for travellers and stabling for horses, made it their business to supply travellers with horses, chairs, harness, saddles, etc., either for short drives on the island or for more extensive trips. In 1753, after the death of Ogden, John Halstead became the landlord of the Black Horse. At the public vendue of the household goods belonging to the estate of Ogden, there was offered for sale an article called a "Messacipia Table." We leave it to the reader to conjecture what it was for. In 1756 there was a Black Horse Tavern in Fair (Fulton) Street.

[Sidenote: The Bull's Head]

Just after entering the Bowery Lane the traveller would come to the Bull's Head Tavern, which in 1755 was kept by George Brewitson. This was the great resort and stopping place for the farmers and drovers who brought in cattle for the city market and where they were met by the butchers who purchased their stock. Thus it was not only a tavern but a sort of market for live stock or for the meat supply of the city and continued such for a great many years. The Bull's Head market survives to the present day, only a little further uptown. Three or four miles out was the Union Flag, and not far from this was a house which was described as a noted tavern where lived John Creiger, four miles from New York and ten miles from King's Bridge.

At the northwest corner of the present 66th Street and Third Avenue stood the Dove Tavern. From this point the road continued northward for some distance, and then to avoid the swamps and inlets, turned to the westward, entering the present bounds of Central Park, and ascended the hill at the top of which was a large stone tavern. This had been built by Jacob Dyckman, Jr., near the year 1750, who, about ten years after, sold it to the Widow McGown, who, with the assistance of her son Andrew, kept the house, which became known as McGown's Pass Tavern. That the old stone tavern was a house of generous capacity is evident from its being selected as the place for the meeting of the colonial assembly, while the City Hall was being repaired, in October and November, 1752. Just a little south, on the opposite side of the road, was a tavern, which, shortly before the Revolution, was known as the Black Horse. It is thought to have been the headquarters of General Cornwallis during the battle of Harlem Heights. Dyckman's or McGown's Pass Tavern was about half way between New York and King's Bridge and there was doubtless a natural demand by travellers on this part of the road for entertainment, which induced Dyckman to build a capacious house. Once a week it received a visit from the post rider going out and once a week on his return. It must necessarily have received considerable trade from passing travellers, farmers and drovers, for it was on the one road which led out of the city, and its capacity to entertain attracted many a dinner party of those who followed the hounds, for fox-hunting was a sport indulged in by many New Yorkers at that time.

McGown's Pass was the scene of some activity in the first year of the Revolution, and was fortified and occupied by the British troops during the whole seven years of the war. Early on the morning of September 15, 1776, the English ships lying in the East River opened fire for the purpose of silencing the American battery at Horn's Hook and to cover the British landing at Kip's Bay. Washington had a few days previous removed his headquarters to the Roger Morris house, from which could be had an extensive view to the south, including the East River shores. Warned by the bombardment that something important was about to take place, Washington, in haste, mounted his horse and dashed down at utmost speed over the road past McGown's to the scene of action. This ride was something like that celebrated ride of General Phil Sheridan about ninety years later, but not with similar results. Before he arrived at Murray Hill, the British troops had landed, and the Americans were in full retreat. Two months later a sad spectacle was witnessed at McGown's Pass as the twenty-eight hundred prisoners taken at the surrender of Fort Washington filed down over the hills to New York. Many had been plundered by the Hessians, and all of them showed the effects of the desperately fought battle through which they had passed. They were on their way to years of suffering, many on their way to death in English prisons, which, happily for them, they did not then understand.

[Sidenote: The Blue Bell]

On the road about a mile further north after leaving McGown's there was a tavern standing near where the present St. Nicholas Avenue crosses 126th Street, which, about the time of the Revolution and for many years after, was known as Day's Tavern; and about three miles further was the Blue Bell, which, although a small house, seems to have been well known at a very early period and to have continued its existence down to quite recent times. From the Blue Bell to King's Bridge was about two and a half miles.

[Sidenote: King's Bridge]

At the most northern point of the island was the only place in its whole circumference from which, in early days, the mainland could be reached by a ford. It was called the Wading Place. Near this a ferry was established, but as early as 1680 the governor's council ordered "Spiting Devil" to be viewed for a bridge. Action was delayed. Governor Fletcher in 1692 recommended its construction by the city, but the city declined on account of the expense. In January, 1693, Frederick Flypsen offered to build a bridge at his own expense, if he were allowed certain "easy and reasonable toles," and he was accordingly granted the franchise for ninety-nine years. A bridge was constructed by him the same year. It was to be twenty-four feet wide, with a draw for the passage of such vessels as navigated the stream; to be free for the King's forces and to be named the King's Bridge. This bridge was in possession of some member of the Philipse family, descendant of Frederick Flypsen, until the Revolutionary War, and was, no doubt, before the free bridge was built, a profitable investment. A tavern was opened on the northern side for the entertainment of travellers. Madam Sarah Knight, in returning to Boston in December, 1704, set out with her companions "about one afternoon, and about three came to half-way house about ten miles out of town, where we Baited and went forward, and about 5 come to Spiting Devil, Else King's Bridge, where they pay three pence for passing over with a horse, which the man that keeps the Gate set up at the end of the Bridge receives." The half-way house, spoken of by Madam Knight, stood at the foot of the hill on the Kingsbridge Road on a line with the present 109th Street. We find that in 1746 there was a public vendue of lots of land at the Half-Way House, near Harlem, which was very likely the same place.

On account of the barrier gate and the tolls demanded, the King's Bridge, as travel increased, became unpopular and, in 1756, a project was set on foot for building a free bridge by voluntary subscriptions. When sufficient had been secured, Benjamin Palmer, who was active in the undertaking, began the work of building the bridge a little below the first bridge, from the land of Jacob Dyckman, on the island, to that of Thomas Vermilve on the Westchester side. Colonel Phillipse, the owner of King's Bridge, tried in every way to prevent its construction. Twice in one year he caused Palmer to be impressed "as a soldier to go to Canada," which compelled him to procure and pay for substitutes. Nevertheless, in spite of all opposition, the bridge was finished, and the celebration of its completion was announced as follows:

"These are to acquaint the public, That to-morrow the Free Bridge, erected and built across the Harlem River, will be finished and completed. And on the same day there will be a stately Ox roasted whole on the Green, for and as a small Entertainment to the Loyal People who come."

[Sidenote: The Best Taverns]

The following memoranda from the manuscript diary of Paymaster General Mortier, of the royal navy, indicates the taverns of New York that were probably most patronized by the fashionable gentlemen of the day, for the few years preceding 1761:

1758 Jan. 1 At the Assembly 2. 6 Feb. 18 Dinner at the Glass House 3. 5 Mar. 1 " " Black Sam's 1.10 28 " " Scotch Johnny's 5. 6 30 Willett's Assembly 8. June 10 To the Band of Music of the 46th 8. 18 Dinner at the Coffee House 5. 6 1759 May Supper at Farrell's 9. Farrell Wine 1. 1. 6 1760 Jan. Towards a ball at King's Arms 1. 0. Subscription to the Concert 1.12. Subscription to a ball at Byrnes 12. To one week at the Coffee House 2. Feb. 2 To one week at the Coffee House 2. 19 To one week at the Coffee House 2. Mar. 28 Dinner at the Fountain 8. Apr. 4 Supper at Byrnes' 8. 5 " " the Fountain 6. 18 " " the Fountain 8.

The piece of land, now the block inclosed by Broadway, Fulton, Nassau and Ann Streets, or nearly so, was, in the early part of the eighteenth century, a public resort, and known as Spring Garden. There was a tavern or public house on the premises known as Spring Garden House, standing on the site of the present St. Paul's Building, corner of Broadway and Ann Street, which in 1739 was occupied by Thomas Scurlock, who may have been in possession of it for some time. In an administration bond given by him in 1718 he is styled _vintner_. Spring Garden House appears to have been a well-known landmark, used as such in records and in the newspapers.

After the death of Thomas Scurlock in 1747 the tavern was kept for some years by his widow, Eve. When the house was advertised for sale in 1759 it was described as "in Broadway at the corner of Spring Garden, now in use as a tavern, Sign of the King of Prussia, and next door to Dr. Johnson's" (President of King's College). In 1763 the landlord of the house was John Elkin. After about 1770 we hear no more of it as a tavern.

VI

TAVERN SIGNS

[Sidenote: The Comforts of a Good Inn]

Samuel Johnson, born in 1709, was in his prime about the middle of the eighteen the century. His description of the advantages afforded by a good inn has not yet been surpassed. Here it is:

"There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever so much desire that everybody should be easy, in the nature of things it cannot be; there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him; and no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can freely command what is in another man's house as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern there is general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome, and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servant will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good inn."

Another writer, whose name is unrecorded or lost in the sweep of time, has said that the tavern "is the busy man's recreation, the idle man's business, the melancholy man's sanctuary, the stranger's welcome."