Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

“An express arrived a few days since from the Earl of Waldegrave which Occasioned the holding of a Council which sat till 2 the next Morning. The Dispatch brought by the Courier occasions great Matter of Speculation among the Coffee House Politicians and some since talk of Peace while others say the French will no longer remain Neuter.”

When, in 1744, war was declared with France an additional impulse was given to the privateering business. For the five years preceding 1748 no less than thirty-one vessels, each carrying from ten to twenty-four guns, are named in the newspapers, and there is continually mention made of prizes being brought in, of cases before the court of admiralty, of sales of the captured ships and their cargoes and of the adjustments of disputes over the division of the spoils. In 1745, we find that arbitrators were to meet at the house of Robert Todd every Friday evening “for settling the Differences between the four Privateers formerly arrived here with six French Prizes.” This continued from January to May. In September, 1744, a New York newspaper stated that, “’tis computed there will be before winter 113 Sail of Privateers at Sea, from the British American Colonies, mostly stout Vessels and well manned. A Naval Force equal (some say) to that of Great Britain in the Time of Queen Elizabeth.” In 1745 it was stated that at that time there were thirteen privateers at sea from the port of New York. The men for these vessels were not all supplied by New York City. The alluring promises of gain drew volunteers from all the neighboring country. Governor Hamilton, of New Jersey, complained that the privateers-men were sweeping into their ranks the flower of the youth of his province.

In 1745 Captain Bevan, of the privateer sloop Clinton, brought into the port of New York a French prize, which he had taken after a short engagement, without the loss of a man. Her cargo, consisting of sugar, indigo and cotton, was valued at £40,000, and each man of the crew received £160 prize money. As a reward for complying with his request not to plunder the passengers, officers and sailors of the captured ship, Captain Bevan gave his crew a handsome treat of a hogshead of punch and an ox roasted whole in the fields at Dominie’s Hook, which was quite handsome in Captain Bevan. The cargo of the prize ship Le Pomone (La Pomme), brought in by Captain Bevan, was sold at the house of widow Thomas. The prize ship Joseph of Egypt and cargo were sold in April, 1746, at the house of the widow Susannah Lawrence, on the Dock, near the Meal Market, at the lower end of Wall Street.

When news came of the capture of Louisburg the common council, to celebrate the victory, ordered that Mr. DeJancourt, whose house was near the Meal Market, be directed to prepare a handsome dinner for the board and that the governor, the members of the council, the assembly members of the city, with the field officers, be invited to dine with them and that a bonfire be made “without the Spring Garden” in the evening. They also ordered that twenty gallons of good wine be sent to the bonfire for the people.

The Negro Plot

In 1741, during the Spanish war, New York City was thrown into a panic of excitement by the so-called negro plot. Each week the newspapers gave accounts of the numerous executions and of the trials resulting from the confessions of the victims, each one of whom was induced to accuse another in order to save himself. It seems to have seized on the inhabitants of New York in the same way that witchcraft overwhelmed the people of Salem, Massachusetts. In the intense excitement persons of better and better standing in the community were being accused until a halt was found necessary. Thomas Croker, at this time, was landlord of the Fighting Cocks in Dock Street, and it was at his house that John Ury, who was tried for complicity in the plot, lodged. Although Ury, the most prominent victim, was, no doubt, innocent of any criminal act, he was, nevertheless, convicted on the evidence of those who had been urged to accuse somebody to save themselves or to gain a reward. He was a stranger and fell a victim to the panic which pervaded the community.

The sign of the Fighting Cocks had hung in Dock Street, next door to the corner of Broad Street, for many years. In 1736, the tavern was kept by Edward Eastham, who met with the loss of a silver quart tankard, marked on the handle with an E, taken from his house, for the recovery of which he offered a reward of three pounds. The next year a silver watch was taken from this house, “of a size rather larger than midling, Regmaiden at Dublin the Maker,” for the return of which a reward of ten shillings was offered, “and no questions asked.” Although though the Fighting Cocks Tavern, as its name implies, may have been the scene of many cock-fights, we do not think that at that time this would detract from its standing and respectability.

The King’s Birthday

In March, 1748, in celebration of the King’s birthday, it is stated that a Jack was displayed all day from the flagstaff on the southwest bastion of Fort George. The city regiment of militia and troops were under arms and were reviewed by the governor from the piazza of the City Hall, as they passed from Broadway, where they had been drawn up, and, it is said, made a very handsome appearance. The governor and some of the gentlemen of the council who attended him were entertained by the mayor, corporation, and officers of the militia with some extraordinary wine (“such as is rare to be met with in any private house”) from Hugh Crawford’s, ford’s, near at hand, and there they drank the health of his majesty and other royal healths under the discharge of twenty-one guns at the Fort.

In honor of the day there were two halls, one at the Fort and another at Ramsay’s tavern in Dock Street. We give an account of these two balls as it appeared in a newspaper of that period.