The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 63

From Pete I fo Pete II Spans 300 Years off Local Politics STUYVESANT, Lone Rowboat Ferry Was Seed -A lbL. Cs (M IA4A It jfcwwtn I AvVGUINNESS-WOnA PAIR! Bj JOSEPH H. SCHMALACKEB History has suggested that gallant, well-remembered Gov. Peter Stuyvesant, for all his efforts to get things done in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, neglected one seemingly minor de tail. It was his failure sufficiently to woe his constituents and to cultivate the all-important political art of shaking hands.

The pages of history are bar ren of a single notation that the hot-headed, argumentative Gov ernor, as he stomped about the Breuckelen of old and other parts of his colony with the aid of his peg-leg, shook hands with his colonists to gain their support. "Hard-Kopping Pete," the colonists called him, a brave, ener getic and kindly old tyrant of a man, but never one to keep his temper under tight control. Stuyvesant loved his colony with a paternal affection and affirmed he would govern it "as a father does his children." He so announced in his first speech at the fort that was intended for the colony's defense. Plea to Dutch Went Unheeded This was a project dear to his heart, the fort, and needed strengthening. Without success Stuyvesant appealed to the Dutch burghers for taxes to do the job.

In the hope of persuading the thrifty, strong-minded Dutch to loosen their purse-string, Stuyvesant consented to a policy of granting the commonalty representation in the Colonial Council in return for the payment of the hoped-for taxes. But the Dutch insisted that paying for repairs the fort was the Dutch West India Company's affair, not theirs. History has told the rest In time an English fleet appeared off New Amsterdam. Other troubles between Stuyve sant and his colonists had mult iplied. Virtually alone Stuyve-jsant stationed himself in the angle of the fort and swore he i himself would shoot the first Englishman who dared to set foot on his colony.

In the end he capitulated and the colony passed into English hands. It becomes sheer fantasy to attempt conjecture what might have been New Amsterdam's fate, and with it that of the Breuckelen of old, if "Hard-Kopping Pete" had chosen different tactics toward his colo- jnists and had practiced hand shaking as it has been mastered in a later day, for instance, by another Peter Peter some- times called "The" McGuinness, of Greenpoint -McGuinness Remains Supreme The fact is that while Stuyve- I of control, McGuinness, after al-jmost 50 years of political activity, has remained supreme and appears destined inevitably to become a tradition in the politics of Brooklyn. The McGuinness has submitted his name frequently as a candi- jdate for public office and the I voters have rallied to his stand ard. A friendly soul, who has probably shaken hands with 'more voters than any other man Brooklyn's public and political life, McGuinness has behind him 111 years of service as an alderman; one term as Sheriff of i Kings County; two terms as Register and is now Assistant Commissioner of Borough Works. Above all, he is now in his 22d year of service as Democratic leader of Greenpoint and exercises political control over a do- Continued on Page 22A OfBoro Transit Brooklyn was first joined with the outside world by Cornelius Dlrcksen in 1642 when he set up a rowboat service from his farm at Peck Slip In New Amsterdam to the foot of what is now Fulton St.

Service was nothing any modern transit system would be proud of for the busy Dircksen Was rarely at the slip, tilling his field and tending his inn between customers. There was a norn nung on a nearpy tree anu i people desiring to cross the East River simply blew a lusty blast and hoped for the best. Then, if Cornelius turned up and the tides were right and it was not too windy and the ice not too thick, they got across. New Ferry Set Up in 1795 The old ferry ruled the roost for more than a century, until in 1795, the new ferry was set up, leaving Catherine St. in Manhattan.

By 1805 there was still another ferry running between the Fly Market in New York and Fulton this one having five horse, or cattle boats and six rowboats. In 1809 the Brooklyn terminus was moved to the foot of Jorale-mon St. temporarily because of the yellqw fever epidemic in Brooklyn which naturally enough Centered in the poor crowded area near the ferry rather than in the rural Heights. Horse Ferries Make Debut Shortly after this period ferry-riding froiin Brooklyn was revolutionized by introduction of the horse' ferries. Hitherto, conditions had ibeen pretty much as primitive is in the days of Cornelius, I)ircksen although the carrier rules did call for "two sober and discreet, able-bodied and experienced watermen" on each boat Tide and wind continued to be fickle and there was con stant uncertainty about arrival and departure.

The horse boats, formed by lashing two scows together with a waterwheel in the cqnter operated by horses on a treadmill, made the trip in 8 to 18 minutes. They were further improved by an invention of the father of Henry C. Murphy, one of ihe founders of the Brooklyn wmcft mane it unneces sary to turn the horses around on the return trip. Then Came Robert Fulton Then, in 1814, came Robert Fulton and steam. The State Legislature gave Fulton and his patron Robert Livingston a monopoly of steam navigation on all New York waters for three decades, a deed which served further to enrage loyal Brooklynites who for years had chafed over the ceding of rights to Brooklyn's own waterfront to New York.

The move helped solidify public opinion in Brooklyn behind its consolidation as a village, the better to stand up for its rights, but municipal mayhem between the two communities was averted by the real pride which Brooklyn felt in the two steamboats put on its run. There Were difficulties about prices, it is true, the Fulton company charging 4 cents for its horse boats on occasion although that high fee was authorized only for the Steamboats. But when Brooklynites rode on "the noble" Nassau on business by day or for pleasure at nightfall munching candy and cakes and keeping Continued on Fate 34A Ml 1 Ml jT 1 1 tS4VJ lit i 1 -Wl, 1 II 1 I a (U 1 A- ft Ai um Gitnrx i -y towns to a unified borough of nearly 3,000,000. KINGS COUNTY: THE SIX TOWNS Meehan gives a lively and grap'interpretation the growth of Brooklyn from a handful of isolated i I i i 1 i i 1 i ii. .1, iiiif Originally even cruder than the simple rowboat with sails portrayed, the manually-operated ferry was for long the only way of getting from Brooklyn to New York, spin.

It marked the inauguration of the Fulton Ave. and Bedford line. Above, right, shows the usual mode of travel to New York a century and more before that the Fulton Ferry. lyn of the stage Sewanhackey with members of the Common Council.lined up outside City (now Borough) Hall to take advantage of proprietor Montgomery Queen's invitation for a IT WAS FUN TO TRAVEL Especially the way citizens of eld Brooklyn used to. Nearly a century ago the horse stages Were the rage.

Above, left, shows the introduction to Brook.