XI.
 

i^ T was not until 1741 that any notable fires occurred in
^2 this city. During that period the Negro Plot broke out,
-^.iAand the insane idea prevailed that the slaves in the city
; were conspiring to massacre the whites, burn the town,
and upon its ruins build a government with one of their own race at
its head. To lend strength to this rumor, a number of fires broke
out in different sections of the city, and before the excitement conse¬
quent upon these occurrences had subsided, half a dozen white men
were hanged, twenty negroes were burned at a stake, twice that
number hanged, and over one hundred transported to the West
Indies.

The next notable fire was the burning of the "Fighting Cocks,"
a low groggery and brothel, situated on the wharf near Whitehall
Slip, in 1776. From this house the fire spread until it had embraced
in its fiery arms over seven hundred houses. Ex-Judge Joseph
Henry of Pennsylvania, now deceased, has left the best record ex¬
tant upon this disastrous conflagration. Of the fire he writes: "A
most luminous and beautiful but baleful sight occurred to us,—that
is, the city of New York on fire. One night (September 21) the
watch on the deck gave a loud notice of this disaster. Running up¬
on deck, -we could perceive a light which, at the distance we were
from it, was apparently of the size of the flame of a candle. This
light to me appeared to be the burning of an old and noted tavern
called the " Fighting Cocks," to the east of the Battery, and near