Old Taverns of New York. Bayles William Harrison
to the inclosed certificate and warrant, only this I must tell you, I sent yesterday the Commissioner of the Customes Mr. Hungerford to pray him to come to me and receive the King’s packetts, and he swore he would not for all the Governours in Christendom, and he would not be Post Boy to carry letters for any body; which refusal of his made me send a warrant to bring him by force. The angry merchants of this town had without doubt encouraged this man to be thus insolent, or he durst not have refused to carry the letters, after promising me faithfully, he would call for and carry them. This is another specimen of the rage and malice of these people, who I am satisfied nothing but fear keeps from rebelling against the Government; unlawful trade and Arabian gold brought in by Pirat ships from the Red Sea are the things they thirst after.”
On October 18, 1700, he wrote to Secretary Vernon, as follows:
“The Lords of the Councill of Trade direct me to make an experiment in working some navall Stores here, with the soldiers. I cannot go about it with such Officers who I believe would rather traverse me in such a design than further it; and would I fear stir up a mutiny among the sould’rs, if I should propose to ’em the working of Navall Stores for the King. I am not for breaking those Lieut’s, but exchanging them for honest, good Lieut’s in some of the Regiments in England. My first Lieut’s name is Peter Matthews, bred up from a child with Coll. Fletcher & ’tis at his house that the angry people of this Town have a Club and hold their cabals; my second Lieut’s is John Buckley; there is also another Lieut, in Maj’r Ingoldesby’s Company whose name is Matthew Shank, a most sad drunken sott, and under no good character for manhood. I desire also he may be exchanged for a better man from England.”
Colonel Fletcher, on his return to England, asked for an examination, which was accorded him by the Lords of Trade. Plausible explanations were made of his conduct, but they were not convincing, and the Lords of Trade recommended that the charges be referred to the Attorney-General for further action. The King, however, seems to have interposed, as there is no evidence of further proceedings against him. Of his subsequent career nothing is known.
III
The Coffee House
In September, 1701, a very exciting election took place in the city. Thomas Noell, the mayor, was commissioned and sworn into office on the 14th day of October, 1701. The returns of the election for aldermen and assistant aldermen, which gave the Leislerians a majority in the board, were contested in some of the wards and a scrutiny was ordered by the mayor, who appointed committees, composed of members of both parties, to examine the votes in the contested wards. Some of the Leislerians, who were appointed on these committees, refused to serve, claiming that it was irregular; nevertheless, the scrutiny was completed, and those declared elected, after much excitement and disturbance, finally took their seats at the board. Among those who were declared elected was John Hutchins, landlord of the Coffee House or King’s Arms, situated on the west side of Broadway, next above Trinity Churchyard, where the Trinity Building now stands. He had represented the West Ward as alderman in 1697. In 1698 he was returned as elected, but his election was contested, and his opponent, Robert Walters, was declared elected. He was now again alderman of the West Ward. He had come out with Governor Sloughter as a lieutenant in the regular service and had since then, for the most part of the time, made his residence in New York City. He was one of the signers of a petition stating grievances at New York in 1692 and 1693, during Fletcher’s rule. In this paper it is stated that Lieut. John Hutchins was imprisoned at Albany and sent to New York, and coming before Governor Fletcher, was suspended and kept out of his pay, because he had favored the cause of Leisler, and had endeavored to persuade Governor Sloughter not to order the execution of Leisler and Minhorne, it being contrary to his letter to the King for their reprieve and contrary to his commission from his majesty.
After being thus deprived by Fletcher of his pay as an officer, he had to seek some means of livelihood and he turned to the occupation of keeping a tavern. Previous to 1696 he was keeping a house on the southwest corner of Broad and Wall Streets. In this year he purchased a lot on the west side of Broadway, the deed bearing date, October 1, 1696, which is described as “lying and being next and adjoining to the North side of ye Buriall without the North Gate of the City.” It had a frontage of sixty feet on Broadway. At the western end of this lot, one hundred and thirty-five feet from Broadway was a street running from the churchyard to Crown Street (now Cedar Street), called Temple Street, a portion of which has since been vacated. Farther down, about ninety feet, was Lombard Street, where is now Trinity Place. The lot of land inclosed by Temple Street, Crown Street, Lombard Street and the churchyard, about ninety by one hundred and sixty feet, was also conveyed to Hutchins in the deed.
On the Broadway lot Hutchins erected a house, which he opened as the King’s Arms, more generally known as the Coffee House. It was not large, but for a time it was the most fashionable public house in the city, and was considered the headquarters of the anti-Leislerians party. Upon the roof was a balcony, arranged with seats, commanding a beautiful view of the bay, the river and the city. North of the tavern there were only a few scattered buildings on Broadway, the principal of which was the store of Alderman Jacob Boelen, north of Liberty Street. The extent of Broadway was only to the present postoffice, the road thence continuing on the present line of Park Row, then the post road. The Commons or the Fields, originally the pasture ground for the cows of the Dutch settlers, was at first nearly square, and this road cut off a triangular piece of land on the east side, a part of which, before the charter gave to the city all “waste, vacant and unpatented lands” on the island, was selected and appropriated by Governor Dongan to his own use, on which he built a house, with an extensive garden attached to it. This place, embracing about two acres of land, became known as the “Governor’s Garden.” After the Governor left the province it is said to have been converted into a place of public resort, and became known as the “Vineyard.” We can find no record of details of any particular interest connected with it.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century the use of coffee as a beverage had been introduced into England and on the continent of Europe. The first coffee-house in Paris was opened in 1672. Previous to this time coffee-houses had been opened in London, and in 1663 they were placed on the footing of taverns and a statute of Charles II of that year required that they should be licensed. In the English coffee-house the guest paid a penny for a cup of coffee. This gave him the privilege of sitting by the fire and reading the journals of the day, which the coffee-houses made a point of keeping on hand as one of their attractions, and he had also the opportunity of hearing discussions on political topics or to take part in them, if so disposed, or if he could find listeners. The sober, religious Puritan resorted to them in preference to the tavern. In the time of Charles II, they were places of political agitation-to such an extent that in 1675, the King, by proclamation, ordered that they should all be closed as “seminaries of sedition,” but the order was a few days later rescinded.
When John Hutchins came to New York coffee-houses had become very popular and numerous in London and he was, no doubt, familiar with the way in which they were conducted, so that when he built his new house on Broadway, in addition to its designation as the King’s Arms, he called it the Coffee House. As it was the first and, in its day, the only coffee-house in New York, it had no distinguishing title, but was simply called the Coffee House. In the bar-room was a range of small boxes, screened with green curtains, where guests could sip their coffee or enjoy their chops and ale or Madeira in comparative seclusion. The upper rooms were used for special meetings.
Although Hutchins had been favorable to the Leislerians in Fletcher’s time, he seems to have gone over to the anti-Leislerians, and had been elected alderman by the votes of that party. He had borrowed money from both Gabriel Minvielle and Nicholas Bayard, having mortgaged his house and lot in Broad Street to Minvielle and his house and lot on Broadway to Bayard. These two men are named by Bellomont as ringleaders in the party opposed to him. The mortgage to Bayard covered also the lot of ground between Temple and Lombard Streets, and the whole property subsequently came into the possession of Bayard, although, no doubt, Hutchins continued in charge of the house until his death or removal from the city.
In the election for aldermen there was great excitement in the East