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Our Police Protectors Chapter 9, Part 1 By Holice and Debbie |
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CHAPTER IX The City Saved from Pillage and Arson -- A Defiant and Unterrified
Mob -- Negroes hanged from Lamp-posts and Their Bodies Burned --
Station Houses and Private Dwellings Fired and Sacked -- Stones,
Bricks, and other Missiles Showered on the Heads of Policemen from the
Housetops -- Police Retaliation -- Arrival of the Military -- Col.
O'Brien's Frightful Death -- The Battle on Second Avenue and
Twenty-first Street -- The Mob Taught some Severe Lessons--Erecting
Barricades -- Fired upon by the Troops -- The Police Ply Their Clubs
on the Heads of Rioters with Unbounded Liberality -- Children from the
Colored Orphan Asylum Protected by the Police -- Hard Hand-to-Hand
Fighting -- Backbone of the Riot Broken -- A Reign of Mob law Averted
-- Valuable Services performed by the Detective Force and Telegraph
Bureau--Suppression of the Riot -- The Board of Police issue a
Congratulatory Address to the Force -- Governor Seymour bears Willing
and Appreciative Testimony to the Gallant Services Performed by the
Police -- Arraignment and Conviction of Rioters. Tuesday, the second day of the Riot, was no less a busy day in
other parts of the city. At two A. M. Drill Officer Copeland, with a
hundred men of the Fourth, Ninth, Nineteenth, Twenty-third, and
Twenty-eighth Precincts, marched from Headquarters to recover the body
of William Jones, a Negro, whom the mob beat terribly and hanged from
a lamp-post in Clarkson Street. The mob lit a fire under the body, and
held a saturnalia about it until Copeland and his men dispersed them,
and took the corpse to Headquarters. This duty was performed amid a
terrific thunder and rainstorm. On their way back the members of the
Twenty-third received intelligence that their station house, on East
Eighty-seventh Street, as well as numerous private houses in the
vicinity, was pillaged and burned by rioters. Doorman Ebling saved the
telegraph instruments, but all other property, public and personal,
was lost. On returning from the Clarkson Street expedition, the force of the
Twenty-eighth Precinct, under Captain John F. Dickson, kept guard at a
fire at Houston and Washington Streets, until five o'clock, when it
went to Leroy Street and rescued a colored man, named Williams, who
was attacked by a crowd. One ruffian, who had fled from Williams in
the most cowardly way, beat him after he was overcome by the crowd,
with a stone weighing twenty pounds. Captain Dickson placed the poor
fellow in a wagon, which the officers drew to Headquarters. Williams
died of his injuries next day. At six o'clock in the morning our old friend Carpenter re-appears
on the scene, and, as usual, his appearance beings with it a direful
combat, in which he gains his customary victory. At the hour named, he
started out with two hundred and fifty men, to suppress disorder along
Second Avenue. He and his force entered that thoroughfare at
Twenty-first Streets, and found it crowded with people who hissed and
cursed the Police, but suffered them to pass unmolested until the
block between Thirty-second and Thirty-third Streets was reached. Her
a sudden shower of bricks, paving stones, and bullets, from the
windows, of the houses, brought the columns to a halt. Many of the men
were hurt, a few were stunned. Inspector Carpenter instantly ordered
his men to attach the houses, go through them from cellar to roof, and
render every rioter who might be encountered incapable of further
mischief. The scene which ensued cannot be adequately described.
Barricaded doors were smashed in, and the Police began their attack
with irresistible fury. Their opponents' resistance was like that of
so many pigmies. Some fled to the roofs, only to be overtaken and
terribly beaten by the officers; some leaped from upper windows and
fell shockingly maimed on the flags below; men were hurled
down-stairs, others were clubbed into insensibility. The few who
gained the street unhurt or nearly so, fell into the hands of the
reserve which Carpenter posted there, and fared no better than their
fellows. The gallantry shown by individual officers was great; and
some of them paid dearly for it. Captain Warlow, of the First
precinct, in heading the charge of his men had two toes crushed by a
stone, but continued on duty though badly crippled. Sergeant Babcock,
though on leave, returned in time to take part in this fight. Sergeant
Snodgrass led the platoon of the Second precinct. Officers Watson and
Cole entered into a rivalry as to who should fist reach the roof of a
house from which a galling fire had been kept up on the Police. Watson
won the contest, and was attacked by a scoundrel armed with an iron
bar. Watson soon quieted the fellow. Cole and he won equal distinction
in the melee that followed. Sergeant Robinson headed the men of the
Third Precinct. He and Sergeant Finney, Roundsman Farrell, and others,
forced their way into a liquor saloon, and rapidly cleared the house.
The full force of the Tenth Precinct was present under Captain T. C.
Davis. Four men were badly wounded, including Officers Rothschild and
Sandford. Sergeant Wemyss and Roundsman hart won especial praise.
Captain Mount, of the Eleventh Precinct, led the entire storming
party. He was bravely seconded by his men, among whom Sergeant Polly,
Ahearn, and Reed, Roundsman Warmsley and Donohue, and patrolmen ?
Warren, Beattie, Gass, Bogart, McMahon, and McCarty were singled out
for commendation of the Twenty-third, under conspicuous courage. A
portion of the contingent of the Twenty-third, under Captain Henry
Hutchings, took part in the attack; the rest were stationed below to
deal with fugitives from the houses, and keep the crowd in check. The
Twenty-fifth's squad attacked the liquor store at thirty-first Street,
from which the rioters were firing pistols and hurling stones. One
man, who had been using a gun, was flung out of a window and killed. Captain Speight, of the Twenty-ninth Precinct, with his command,
had been in the rear of the battalion as it marched up Second Avenue,
and therefore sustained the first brunt of the cowardly attack. The
officers instantly faced about. Captain Speight led the charge on the
mob; but was brought to the ground by the blow of a brick. he sprang
to his feet, and still encouraged his men by voice and example. When
the crows was driven off, the men joined in the attack on the houses
with great effect. The men were nearly all more or less hurt, but they
placed thirty rioters hors du combat in the houses they attacked.
Sergeants Van Orden and Young were mentioned for bravery. A detachment
from the thirty-first Precinct was also present in this affray under
Captain James Z. Bogart. Sergeant Ten Eyck and officers Thompson,
Stevenson, and Stoddard distinguished themselves for courage and
energy. While the fight was still in progress, Colonel H. J. O'Brien, of
the Eleventh New York Volunteers, arrived on the scene with about
fifty men and two howitzers. For a time the mob was overawed, but
after the Police had marched off, an attack was begun on the soldiers,
who fired a volley in reply. Several people, including a women, were
wounded, and the crowds became panic-stricken and scattered. O'Brien
and his men marched away. An hour or two later the ill-starred colonel
returned to the spot alone. He was recognized, and set upon by the
rioters, thirsting for vengeance. Atrocities too terrible for
description were committed upon his body. It was the awful plaything
of a thousand maddened wretches for several hours. It is related that
the wretched man lived through a long series of horrors, and only
expired when subjected to the fury of some frenzied women, late in the
evening. The remains, utterly unrecognizable, were recovered after
nightfall. When he had defeated the rioters at thirty-third Street, inspected
Carpenter continued his march. He patrolled all the disturbed
districts in the uptown portions of the eat side of the city, only
returning to Headquarters at one P. M. Meanwhile, stirring scenes had
been in progress elsewhere. With two hundred men, including his own
precinct force, Captain Petty, of the Fifth, had gone early in the
morning to protect a soap factory on Sixteenth Street between Eighth
and Ninth Avenues. The men were filled with contempt when the rioters
fled at the mere approach of the Police. This body marched through the
whole region, breaking up all gatherings, and got back to Headquarters
just in time to be transferred for the most part to the command of
Inspector Dilks, who, with a portion of them and other precinct
details--in all two hundred men--marched at ten o'clock a. m., to the
protection of a wire factory at Second Avenue and Twenty-first Street,
where four thousand carbines were stored. The march to the factory was
rapidly made. The building was found in possession of the rioters,
thousands of whom were congregated in the avenue. The arms were being
passed out of the building by the marauders who had entered. The crowd
hailed the Police with yells of defiance. The odds were, indeed,
fearful, but the Inspector did not hesitate a moment. He and his brave
boys rushed on the mob. This was one of the bitterest fights of the
whole riot wheel. The mob made a stubborn resistance. The causeway was
literally strewn with stunned, and bleeding men. At last discipline
prevailed, the great crowd wavered, fled and dispersed. Then the
factory was attacked. It was a repetition of the scene in the houses
at thirty-fourth Street. The building was recaptured foot by foot, and
the wounded covered the floors. The punishment of the rioters was
fearful. One doctor said that after that fight he dressed the wounds
of twenty-one rioters--all in the head, and all of a fatal character.
When the fighting was over, the Police gathered up all the arms they
could find and marched with them to Headquarters, getting there only
at three o'clock in the afternoon. In the fighting, Sergeant Wright
and Officer Warner, of the Sixteenth Precinct, received injuries from
which they were disabled. Captain A. S. Wilson, of the Thirty-second,
and Sergeants Huff, Whiteman, and Castle took leading parts in the
fray. Sergeant Groat, of the Twenty-eighth, had a desperate man, who,
though one-armed, proved a perfect Hercules. Groat at last put him to
flight, and pursuing him, stunned him with blow from his club. But the mob, though checked, was not yet beaten. The Police had
hardly left the neighborhood of the factory when the crowd
re-assembled. The building was once more invaded, and a quantity of
arms that had escaped the notice of Inspector Dilks' party was
discovered. But before the rioters had time to effect a distribution
of the weapons, a fresh force of Police assailed them. Capt. John C.
Helme, of the Twenty-seventh precinct, had been sent out from
Headquarters some time before with his own men and details from other
precincts, to disperse a crowd that was besieging Mayor Opdyke's house
on Fifth Avenue. This work was speedily accomplished, and some piles
of building material, which might serve as ammunition for the rioters,
were removed to places of safety. Then Captain Helme, hearing of the
trouble at the wire factory, marched thither, arriving just as the mob
re-assembled--after Inspector Milks' departure--and had for the second
time spread through the building. The Police approached from
Twenty-first Street. They waited for no parley, but rushed on the mob
as they wheeled into the Avenue. For the second time the rioters
fought stubbornly, but were driven back after a short struggle. Fifty
of them remained disabled on the pavement. The men of the Fourteenth,
under Sergeant Hughes, were among the most active in this fight;
several of them were severally wounded. Sergeant Blakelock, of the
Fifteenth, had a narrow escape from a bullet which grazed his check.
He had left a sick bed to take part in the fight. Officer Wetmore, of
the Twenty-seventh, also showed great bravery. The mob being dispersed, Captain petty with ten men from the Fifth,
Captain Sebring, with a detail of the Thirteenth, which had already
given a mob a severe lesson at Spring and Crosby Street, Sergeants T-
seventh under Sergeant Wilson, entered the factory. On every floor the
rioters--unconscious of the fight in the street--were ransacking the
place for arms. They were taken by surprise, pursued to the very roof,
and beaten in detail. It was said that not one man who was in the
factory escaped punishment. Officer Follis, of the Twenty-seventh, was
badly wounded in the attack with an iron bar. When all were quieted,
Captain Helme dispatched sergeant Laflin and Officers Seymour and
Osborn, of the Thirteenth, to seize a cart, which was laden with all
the arms the Police could find. Escorting it, Captain Helme's
battalion started for Headquarters; but by this time the mob was
reinforced by those who had engaged in the butchery of colonel
O'Brien, and, with renewed confidence, it crowded around the Police,
whose position became very critical. Not a man flinched, but it is
hard to tell how the impending contest would have resulted but for the
timely arrival of Inspector Dilks with a fresh force of two hundred
men, with whom he had started for the scene the moment rumors of the
fresh outbreak of the mob reached the Central Office. The fight which
followed was very short. The mob had received two fearful lessons, and
hardly waited for a third. The united forces of inspector Dilks and Captain Helme now made a
tour of the neighborhood, engaging in several sharp fights, in which
they were much aided by the military. The battalion turned down
Twenty-second Street towards First Avenue, when a galling fire was
opened on them from windows and roofs. The solders were sent to the
front, and, by a well-directed fire, they soon cleared away the
riotous sharpshooters. As the Police wheeled into First Avenue they
were confronted by a body of rioters, who hurled a tempest of missiles
upon them. The military again advanced, and silenced the rabble with
several sharp volleys. The rioters retreated slowly, however, and
several more volleys were fired at them as the troops and Police
advanced. At Twenty-first Street the mob broke and fled; then the
forces returned to Twenty-second Street, and through it to Second
Avenue. Sergeant Devoursney, of the Twenty-sixth, remained too far
behind, reconnoitering, and narrowly escaped a bullet aimed at his
hear from a window. At Twenty-first Street and Second Avenue, the mob
was again encountered, and only dispersed after several more deadly
volleys. During the fight Inspector Dilks and Sergeant Garland, of the
Seventh, had both a happy escape from a rifle ball which cut off the
branch of a tree just by the Inspector's head while the two were
speaking together. Another incident of the fighting at Twenty-second
Street and Second Avenue calls for special mention. A young man who
had led the rioters with great courage, staggering under a blow of a
club, fell upon the spike of an area railing which run under his chin
and impaled him horribly. When his corpse was taken down, it was found
that he was a youth of refined appearance, and under greasy overalls
he wore a suit of fashionable clothing. He was not identified, and the
body was secretly removed with those of the other rioters. After the
battalion had withdrawn the mob re-assembled and repaired to the
Eighteenth Precinct Station House in East Twenty-second Street. the
place was in charge of Sergeant burden and three men. A defense was
out of the question. So the building was barricaded, and the officers
retreated through a rear window. The rioters speedily broke in and
burned the building. Captain George W. Walling, of the Twentieth Precinct, had a day of
great excitement and danger. he began it by marching early in the
morning to Pitt Street, to quell a disturbance. He arrived too late, a
military detachment having already done the work. On his return he
paraded through the Bowery and other streets with his men for the
purpose of intimidating evil-doers. Inspector Carpenter made a similar
tour a little later. On the latter expeditions a section from the
Twelfth precinct formed part of the patrol. A man named Patrick Carle
was seen brandishing a sword and threatening general destruction.
Officer Banfield, of the Twelfth, seized the weapon, and dragging its
possessor into the ranks, marched him off to Headquarters. On returning from his first expedition, Captain Walling was sent
with a large force into his own Precinct, the Twentieth, where the
rioters were making some headway, having beaten a body of solders and
taken away their guns at Allerton's Hotel, Eleventh Avenue, between
Fortieth and Forty-first Streets. When he arrived in the neighborhood,
the Captain learned that marauders were sacking the private residences
on Forty-seventh Street. Thither he hastened with his men. A band had
just broken into Dr. Ward's house, and parties were bearing away
valuable from other houses. As the Police appeared the thieves took to
their heels. The Police chased in parties of three or four. Every man
armed with a club or other weapon was soundly beaten by officers. The
only purpose of the mob had been robbery, and this whole section of
the city was terrorized by similar bands. The Police next repaired to the station house on Thirty-fifth
Street, and the military were telegraphed for to aid in overcoming a
new movement of the rioters, who had cut down the telegraph poles all
along Ninth Avenue, from Thirty-second to Forty-third Streets, and
with these, and carts, and wagons, bound together with the telephone
wire, had formed barricades across the avenue at Thirty-seventh and
Forty-third Streets, and across all the intervening streets. They had
also set fire to and burned down the Weehawken Ferry house. At six p.
m. Captain Wesson, with a force of regulars, joined Police at the
station house, and both bodies sallied forth to attack the barricades. Captain Slott, of the Twenty-second precinct, advanced with a body
of Police to remove the barrier at Thirty-seventh Street. They were
driven off by a volley of stones and bullets. The military advanced,
and with a steady fusillade, cleared away the rioters. Then the Police
returned and removed the obstruction. The mob rallied and attacked
them a second time, but were again beaten off by the fire of the
troops. The police then advanced again, and, one by one, all the
barricades were demolished. The Police at length returned to their
station, but they were allowed only a brief rest. At nine o'clock a
roving gang attacked a gun and hardware store on Thirty-seventh
Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenue. Captain Petty speedily
appeared on the scene with a squad, and very quickly dispersed the
roughs, laying many of them senseless on the pavement. At midnight
there was a new alarm. A great crowd gathered in Thirtieth Street,
between Seventh and Eighth Avenue, vowing the destruction of the
colored church there. Captain Walling hastened to the spot with his
entire force. They charged on the mob unexpectedly, but were received
with a shower of bullets from the alleys and doorways of either side.
The fire was returned; then the officers rushed in, plying their clubs
with unbounded liberality, so that in a few minutes only prostrate
rioters were to be seen. This practically ended the riot in this quarter of the city. the
state of things had, at one time, been very bad. The children from the
Colored Orphan Asylum in fifth Avenue had been taken to this station
and cared for until sent to the Island., Captain Petty, who was in
charge of the station, had, at times, as many as four hundred refugees
to provide for. He had, besides, to provide--by arming and
barricading--for the possible event of an attack on the station house. While the scene just related were in progress about Thirty-fifth
Street, similar ones were enacted at Twenty-ninth Street and Eighth
Avenue, where a mob, which was pillaging the house of Mr. J. S.
Gibbons, No. 19 Lamartine Place, was attacked by a battalion drawn
from the Broadway Squad and Thirty-first Precinct, commanded by
Captain James Z. Bogart. As the officers, accompanied by military,
passed the house in patrolling, the crows gathered before it retired;
but when the force passed the crowd re-assembled, broke down the
doors, and began the work of robbery. Meantime Sergeant Devoursney and
Officer Gardner, of the Twenty-sixth, had been stoned while acting as
scouts, but had learned of the attack on the house, and bore the news
to Captain Bogart. The Police returned on the run, and the crowds in
the street ran at the first shock. The house was full of rioters and
robbers; and several officers entered to drive these out, while the
main body remained outside to give them a warm reception. As they came
rushing to the street, Sergeant Burdick of the Broadway Squad felled
to the ground a gigantic fellow laden with booty. As he did so, a
score of bullets whistled through the aid, two of which struck the
rioter, while on entered Officer Dipple's thigh, and breaking the bone
passed up through the marrow, causing inflammation, from which this
excellent officer died in a few days. It appears that the military
arrived suddenly on the scene, and noticing the rush of the rioters
from the house, had fired wildly, and without orders, doing more
injury to friend than foes. Officer Hodgson received in this volley a
ball and three buckshot in the arm; Officer Robinson was wounded in
the thigh. A rioter, as he rushed out, was caught and clubbed by
officer Hill of the Twenty-sixth Precinct. He drew a pistol and shot
the officer in the thigh. The next moment he fell riddled with
soldiers' bullets. Officer Rice, of the Twenty-sixth, was shot in the
groin and thigh; a bullet passed through Sergeant Pell's sleeve.
Officer Morris, of the Broadway Squad, was the first man to enter the
house; Roundsmen Benson Sherwood and Jerome H. Ferris were especially
noticeable for bravery. In the entire affair the women gave more
trouble than the men. Many of them were in the house plundering, and
it took a smart application of the locust to the fleshiest portions of
their persons to mark many of them relinquish their ill-gotten
treasures. Tuesday night closed downtown with another bloody battle, waged
about Brooks Brothers' clothing store in Catharine Street, /there had
been a good deal of disorder all day. Sergeant Rede and a squad from
the Fourth, had protected Godfrey's gun store from a riot. At duck the
crowd began to gather about Brooks Brothers; establishment. Patrolmen
Platt, Kennedy and Davis, mingled with the mob, in citizen's clothes,
but were recognized and terribly beaten. Then the whole force of the
Fourth precinct, with twenty men from the First under Sergeant
Matthew, and twenty-five from the Third under Sergeant Finney and
Roundsman Farrell, repaired to the place and dispersed the mob. They
had scarcely reached their station again when they heard of further
rioting in Catharine Street and returned there. They cleared a boot
and show store after a sharp fight, and halted while Captain Bryan
went forward to ascertain, personally, the state of affairs about
Brooks' store had been entered and was being pillaged. A charge of
ordered, and was made in gallant style. The mob gave way, many being
badly beaten; the officers entered the store, and after a fierce
combat from floor to floor, cleared it, beating severely some hundreds
of the rioters. In the fight, Sergeant Finney, of the Third, was shot
in the face. Sergeant Delaney had his hat knocked off by the wadding
of a pistol fired at him by a rioter only a few feet away. Officer Van
Ranst, of the First precinct, received a bullet in his hat, where he
found it next morning. While the fight was still in progress,
Inspector Carpenter arrived with a detachment from Headquarters. He
rushed upon the rioters with his men, and contributed in no small
measure to their punishment. A guard was kept in Brooks' all night.
Sergeant Rode and office Irvin, of the Fourth, found some roughs
trying to break into Lord & Taylor's store, and fired on them from
their revolvers; the fellows ran. After this night quiet reigned in
the neighborhood. The next day the officers of the First and Fourth
Precincts began a search of the low rookeries, and recovered over five
thousand dollars' worth of goods stolen from the Brooks' and other
stores. After the dispersion of the mob on Tuesday night, Inspector
Carpenter and his command made a tour of the downtown districts,
meeting the scattering parties of rioters at several points. Patrolman
Regan, of the Fourteenth, being separated from his comrades, was badly
beaten, and narrowly escaped with his life. Later in the night,
Captain C. W. Caffry, Roundsman Thacher, and six officers of the
Fifteenth, patrolled Broadway, and arrest three highwaymen. During
this night, Sergeant Slott, of the Seventeenth, and ten men, were
ordered to duty as guides to the military, Sergeant Robinson, and
fifteen men of the Third, defeated a mob which approached Printing
House Square, where he was on guard, singing, "We'll Hang Old
Greeley from a Sour Apple Tree." After the affair in Catharine
Street, the men of the Thirteenth returned to their Precinct, where
their station house, though courageously defended by Sergeant
Woodward, was threatened with destruction. All gatherings in the
Precinct were at once broke up, the colored population were quieted,
and by noon next day the men had begun the work of recovering stolen
property. Among other incidents of Tuesdays was an attempt by a mob to
burn the Fifth Precinct Station House, No. 49 Leonard Street, in which
four hundred colored persons were sheltered. Sergeant Huggins and
Doorman Pallister armed the refugees, and all were ready for a
desperate defense, when the arrival of Inspector Carpenter on one of
his patrols, rendered the preparations needless. Officer Field, of
this precinct, earned great praise by performing valuable detective
work among the rioters, though he was well known to many of them. On
Tuesday evening Officer Hector Moore, of the Fifteenth, saw two men
garroting a returned soldier in City Hall Park. He pluckily arrested
both. Sergeant Roe, of this precinct, had the tip of one of his
fingers carried off by a bullet. He and Sergeant Dilks were highly
praised for their energy. The backbone of the riot was broken on Tuesday, yet there was some
very lively fighting on Wednesday, the 15th. In the
"wee small' hours" of that morning, Captain S. Brower, of
the Seventeenth Precinct, patrolled the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and
Seventeenth Precincts with a hundred and fifty men, suppressing all
tendency to disorder. At nine A. M. he went with a considerable force
to thirty-second Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenue, where
outrages had been perpetrated on Negroes, and one had been hanged. The
body was recovered and taken to headquarters. The rioters were
dispersed and punished. The hottest fight of the day was about
Jackson's Iron foundry at Twenty-ninth Streets and Second Avenue.
There being a rumor abroad that the rioters meant to destroy it, a
regiment of soldiers was sent to guard it, under the guidance of
Officers Sutton, Riley, Dubnar, and Cannon of the Fourteenth Precinct.
A mob was encountered; the soldiers fired several volleys, and killed
and wounded many men. When the party was safely entrenched in the
foundry, a committee approached to ask the commanding officer for the
surrender of the Policemen. It is needless to add that the deputation
got short notice to put themselves out of rifle range. In the morning
Drill Officer Copeland, with Captain Sebring and a large squad from
the Fourteenth, visited the disaffected portion of Second and Third
Avenues to overawe the rioters. In the evening the Fourteenth aided in
protecting a block of dwellings known as "The Arch," on
Sullivan Street, and occupied by colored persons. At eleven o'clock
Wednesday forenoon, Captain Jourdan, of the Sixth, with Sergeants
Quinn and Kennedy, encountered and routed a mob in Centre Street near
Worth, which had been ill-using colored people. Sergeant Quinn, with
one platoon, despite a bold resistance, beat off a mob that was
endeavoring to sack a building at Mott and Centre Streets. In this
fight patrolman Charles McDonnell was knocked down and terribly cut
about the face, but, nevertheless, rejoined his comrades and repaid
the rioters in their own coin. Among the officers of this precinct
especially commended by the Captain were Roundsmen Ryan and Hopkins.
The Sixteenth Precinct men dispersed several don-town mobs during
Wednesday, particularly one which attacked the bonded warehouses on
Greenwich Street. Sergeant Wright and ten men were made guardians of
the United States Marshal's office. In another fight, on First Avenue, the military met with a reverse
on Wednesday night. They were, at the time, under guidance of
Patrolmen McCort and McVay, who fought gallantly in the melee. All
Wednesday and Thursday were days of terror in the Twenty-first
Precinct, and on the latter day Officer Chandler was so badly beaten
that he had to be taken to the hospital. Sergeant Brackett was placed
in command, Captain A. M. Palmer being seriously sick. His admirable
arrangement prevented a fresh outbreak of the riot. On Friday,
Sergeant Brackett, Sergeant Hastings, and thirty-five men, visited the
block bounded by First and Second Avenues, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth
Streets. The Seventh Regiment attended to protect them. The spot was
then one of the worst in the city. Every corner of every shanty was
searched, and quantities of stolen goods were recovered. Sergeant
Vaughan and Roundsman Moore, with small parties, discovered quantities
of good in other parts of the precinct. The force of the Nineteenth returned to its precinct on Thursday,
Sergeant Decker had taken care of the station house alone. The last
service of the men in the field was the defeat of a mob at Bleecker
and Thompson Streets, at noon on Wednesday. Sergeant Bumstead headed
the men on this occasion. Sergeants Fulmer and Holmes of this precinct
did excellent service. On Wednesday the Twenty-second closed its riot service brilliantly.
Captain Slott dispersed a mob at Twenty-second Street and Tenth
Avenue, and Sergeant Aldis another at Twenty-seventh Street and
Seventh Avenue. The latter then accompanied a party of military to
Forty-second Street and Tenth Avenue, where the crowd has re-assembled
and were about to burn the residence of a Mr. Campbell. General
Sandford, who was in command, tried to persuade the mob to disperse.
The reply was a volley and a chorus of yells. Then the soldiers opened
fire with deadly effect, and the rioters scattered instantly. The men
of the Twenty-third Precinct returned thither just in time to put an
end to a reign of mob law. No excesses were attempted after their
return. The arrival of the Twenty-seventh's men had the same effect.
They recovered a quantity of stolen goods in the following day or two.
On Thursday officers Hey, McClusker, and Darrow rescued a colored man
from under a North River pier, where he had take refuge from rioters,
who had beaten him. The fellow was half insane from fear. |
| Our Police Protectors, History of the New
York Police, Published for the benefit of the Police Pension Fund, by
Augustine Costello, Published by Author, 1885.
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