Other feuds marked the middle period in Albany's history, the transition stage between a somewhat overgrown village and the cit>- of a hundred thousand inhabitants. For instance, there was the great battle on State Street, in which the |)rinci])al actors were John Ta\der and General Solomon Van Rensselaer, a number of lesser combatants participating. The fray occurred in 1807, and was occasioned by some caustic resolutions presented at a RepubHcan meeting and aimed at General Van Rensselaer and his fellow Federalists. Mr. Elisha Jenkins was the secretar}' of the meeting, and as he walked the next dav on State Street the angry General overtook and caned him. Later in the day the Governor and the General met, almost in front of the former's house, and the ci\-il officer took

An Old Dutch Town 545

the other severeh* to task for his assault upon Mr. Jenkins. In a moment the two irate partisans had squared off for an encounter in which e\'ery one within sight or hearing seems to have taken a hand. Dr. Cooper and Mr. Frank Bloodgood, l)oth connections of the Governor, were in the thick of the fracas, the lastnamed dealing a blow from behind that com|)letely felled Van Rensselaer. Even Tayler's daughter, Mrs. Cooper, was numbered among the combatants. When the opposing forces were at last separated, the i;)arties began to think of legal redress for the hurts they had received, and a number of lawsuits was the outcome of the matter. It is interesting to note how im]:)artially the arbitrators in the case -- Simeon de Witt, James Kane, and John Van Schaick -- chstributed the damages for assault : Jenkins against Van Rensselaer $2500 Van Rensselaer against Tayler 300 Van Rensselaer against Cooper 500 Van Rensselaer against Bloodgood 3700