Old Taverns of New York. Bayles William Harrison

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Sarah Knight, who was in New York in 1704, that this was so. She had come from Boston to New York on horseback, and the quaint and humorous way in which she has told the story of her travels has made her little book a gem for the antiquarian. She says of the New Yorkers: “Their diversion in the winter is riding sleys about three miles out of town, where they have houses of entertainment at a place called the Bowery.” On an excursion with Mr. Burroughs, she says that she believes that she met that day as many as fifty or sixty “sleys,” which, she says, “fly with great swiftness, and some are so furious that they’ll turn out of the path for none but a Loden cart,” which surely indicates the enthusiasm with which the sport was enjoyed, and John Clapp, at such times, was, no doubt, a very busy man.

      John Clapp seems to have received an education which made him a prominent man among the settlers. In the time of Governor Leisler he was a resident of Flushing, when, “at a town meeting upon Long Island where divers of the freeholders of the Towns of Hamsted, Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown wer mett and assembled, to consult on the lamentable state and condition that Theire Maj’ties liege subjects lay under; by the severe oppressions and Tyranical usurpations of Jacob Leisler and his accomplices, it was desired by the freeholders aforesaid that Capt. John Clapp should write an humble letter to Their Maj’ties Secr’ty of Stat in all there behalves and signify to there Maj’ties in what a sad condition we are all in. – Nov. 7th, 1690.” This is followed by a long letter.

      He was clerk of the New York Assembly, in session in New York during the year 1692. He was also a tavern keeper at that time, and must have been a man to win the esteem and good will of those who became his guests. Lucas Santen, who was at one time collector of the port of New York, and a member of Governor Dongan’s Council, when he died, in 1692, left “to my landlord, Captain John Clapp, £40 to buy him a mourning ring, in consideration of the trouble I have given him.” The next year Clapp succeeded Cornelissen as landlord of the tavern in the Bowery village. Here all the travel to the north and east passed his door and we can hardly believe that any traveler would, without stopping, pass the door of such a genial and jovial landlord as we are convinced was John Clapp, and we have reason to believe that his house was a favorite resort for the people in the city. He was undoubtedly residing here in 1703, and at some time between this date and 1710 removed to Rye, in Westchester county, for in the latter year John Clapp made returns of the names of men from 16 to 60 in the County of Westchester, and he was interested there in large grants of land.

      Towards the close of the seventeenth century there were two features in the local history of New York City which attract attention. For many years before the close of the century it was regarded by the maritime countries of Europe as a protecting port for pirates, and the political disturbances which resulted in the execution of Jacob Leisler and Jacob Minhorne continued to divide the community into two contending factions composed of many bitter partisans.

Trade With Pirates

      Respected merchants from New York sent out ships to the coast of Africa for slaves, loaded with liquors, arms, ammunition and other articles, just such as would be desired by pirates, which they exchanged at tremendous advance in prices for the plunder of these robbers of the seas, and returned to New York with slaves and the valuable goods they had thus obtained. One successful voyage was often sufficient to make the owners of the vessel wealthy, and they claimed that they were doing nothing wrong; that they had a perfect right to buy goods of any kind wherever they could purchase them to the best advantage. With some this trade in the plunder of pirates was, no doubt, incidental, but it was profitable, although they ran the risk of being the victims of pirates themselves.

      Pirates came into port and were received not only in a friendly manner, but were even honored by unusual attentions from the governor, who was apparently interested in their ventures.

      William Mason went out of the harbor of New York in 1689 with a commission as a privateer. He turned pirate, made war on East India commerce, and reaped a rich harvest of gold and East India goods, with which he filled his ship. When the ship returned under the command of Edward Coats, she put in on the east end of Long Island, where Coats and his crew found a friendly reception, and learning that they might be favorably received in New York, came into this port. Coats and his crew, by making valuable presents to the Governor and his family, and also to members of the Council, were unmolested. The ship was presented to the Governor, who sold it for £800. Coats said that his exemption from prosecution cost him £1,800.

      Captain Thomas Tew, who was known as a pirate, and had been the subject of complaint from the East India Company, came to New York in November, 1694, and was received by Governor Fletcher on terms of intimate companionship; was invited to his table, and rode by his side in his coach and six. He gave elegant presents to the Governor and his family, and left with a commission as privateer against the French, agreeing to discharge his cargo in this port. He went directly to his former field of activity and made his name still more notorious by his depredations upon the East India commerce.

Bellomont’s Difficulties

      About this time, John Hoare came to New York and received the usual commission from Governor Fletcher to act against the French. He openly avowed that his destination was for the African coast and recruited for that purpose. From the sequel we can not avoid the conclusion that there was some kind of an understanding with some of the merchants of New York, for after he had been absent about a year they sent out the ship Fortune to Madagascar, loaded with goods suitable for pirates, where she was met by Hoare’s ship, filled with valuable plunder. The goods were transferred to the Fortune, and with a part of Hoare’s crew she returned to New York. At this time Governor Fletcher, whose dealings with pirates had been brought to the attention of the British government, had been superseded by the Earl of Bellomont, whose instructions were to put a stop to this illegal trade. The cargo of the Fortune, when she arrived in New York, was secretly gotten ashore in the night, and stored. By order of Bellomont the goods were seized and officers were about to remove them, when a large number of merchants interfered to prevent them from doing it, using violence and locking the officers in the house, who, after three hours, were only released by the appearance of the lieutenant-governor and three files of men. The ship Fortune was forfeited.

      Frederick Phillipse, one of the Governor’s Council, and reported the richest man in New York, expected a ship from Madagascar and to prevent her arrival in the port of New York with goods that might subject her to forfeiture, sent out his son Adolphus, on a vessel ostensibly bound for Virginia, which laid off the port until the expected vessel arrived, when the East India goods on board were transferred to her and carried to the Delaware, leaving the Madagascar ship to enter with only slaves as her cargo. The East India goods were sent to Hamburg, where they were seized.

      In taverns of medium and even in some of the better class, could have been met at this period men who had taken part in captures on the African coast, and who, over their mugs of ale, entertained their companions with stories of their adventures, modified somewhat as suggested by prudence. They were not men of swarthy complexion and ferocious features, with knife and pistol in belt, as pictured by the imagination of writers of tales of the sea, yet they were, nevertheless, as genuine pirates as ever sailed the sea.

      For some time, in the latter part of the year 1694, Thomas Tew, the notorious pirate, was a well known and picturesque figure on the streets and in the taverns of New York, where he spent money lavishly, ordering brandy, ale and other beverages for whoever would drink with him. He was a man about forty years of age, of slight figure and dark complexion; richly and strikingly dressed. He wore a blue cap with a band of cloth of silver, and a blue jacket bordered with gold lace and ornamented with large pearl buttons. Loose trunks of white linen extended to his knees, where they were joined by curiously worked stockings. From his neck hung a rich chain of gold, and in his belt, curiously knit, he carried a dagger, its hilt set with the rarest gems.

      The exciting events of the Leisler period had left in the body politic a festering sore that would not heal. The Leislerians believed that the execution of Jacob Leisler and his son-in-law, Jacob Minhorne, had been nothing less than murder, and their relatives and friends were active in England in endeavors to revive the СКАЧАТЬ