EIOTS IN NEW YORK, BOSTON, ETC. 



813 



slaught upon the principal streets, the hotels, 

 and other public buildings. 



Against the negroes there seemed to exist a 

 peculiar animosity, and incidents of barbaric 

 cruelty occurred. The restaurants and hotels 

 vrhose servants were of this class, were taken 

 possession of by the rioters, who broke win- 

 dows, smashed furniture, maltreated guests, 

 and sought to kill the fleeing and terrified 

 servants. In the afternoon, by which time the 

 whole city was in alarm, the crowd had in- 

 creased to great numbers, when some one sug- 

 gested that the Colored Half Orphan Asylum 

 was not far from their immediate neighborhood. 

 The asylum was a substantial edifice, erected a 

 few years since, on Fifth avenue, between For- 

 ty-third and Forty-fourth streets, and afforded a 

 home to between 700 and 800 children. Its de- 

 struction was at once resolved upon, and headed 

 by a gang of half-grown men, the crowd rapidly 

 moved on the asylum. Entering it by doors 

 or windows, they ransacked every room, drove 

 the women and nurses out, and flung the children 

 hither and thither, kicked and cuffed the little 

 ones without regard to humanity, and after 

 throwing everything they could lay their 

 hands upon into the street, deliberately set 

 fire to the building. Here, too, Chief Decker 

 interfered. "With one hand he extinguished 

 the flames, with his person barred the progress 

 of the rioters, and strove by the force of words 

 to deter them from their purpose. But his 

 efforts were in vain. "With fearful yells and 

 screams, the boys set fire again to the doomed 

 building, while the men looked sternly on, and 

 the women walked off laden with the spoils. 



About the same hour, an attack was made 

 upon the armory in Second avenue, corner of 

 Twenty-first street. The object was to secure ri- 

 fles and muskets which it was known the Gov- 

 ernment had stored there. Early in the day, the 

 police authorities had placed a squad of men 

 in charge of the building, with instructions to 

 guard it and to prevent the entrance of any 

 one. Against an army of three or four thou- 

 sand rough men it was no easy task to defend 

 the building. Sledge hammers and stones soon 

 broke open the doors, when a grand rush was 

 made, and the men began to push in. The 

 police knew their duty, and did it; their first 

 volley killed two men, and a subsequent dis- 

 charge three others; but then the crowd pushed 

 on more vigorously. A severe hand-to-hand 

 fight ensued among those at the door, while the 

 crowd outside stoned the windows, breaking 

 every pane of glass in the building. Finding 

 resistance useless, the police retired and effect- 

 ed an escape through a rear door. The build- 

 ing was instantly fired, and soon fell a mass of 

 blackened ruins. 



In the lower part of the city, the evidences 

 of riotous demonstrations were confined to at- 

 tacks upon colored men, and a threatened demo- 

 lition of the Tribune newspaper office. Toward 

 five o'clock, the Forty-sixth street crowd 

 made its way to the park, where they joined a 



smaller gathering of boys and men, who had 

 been hooting and sneering at the establishment 

 of the New York Tribune, and subjecting its 

 inmates generally to an unpleasant inquisition. 

 After some delay, the more venturesome ap- 

 proached the doors of the office. These were 

 locked, but a few vigorous pushes broke them, 

 and the crowd rushed in. The counters and 

 desks were broken up, and preparations were 

 made for a grand illumination, when a detach- 

 ment of police suddenly made its appearance, 

 and charged full upon them. So sudden was 

 the attack that a panic seized them, and tney 

 fled like chaff before the wind. 



The assaults upon negroes were among the 

 most fiendish features of the proceedings. It 

 was estimated that, during the twenty-four 

 hours, at least a dozen unfortunate colored 

 persons were brutally murdered, while some 

 were beaten, forced to jump into the river, 

 or driven from the city. A colored man 

 residing in Carmine street, was qaught by a 

 mob of about four hundred men and boys, 

 as he was leaving his stable in Clarkson 

 street. Instantly an attack was made upon 

 him, and he was beaten and kicked until life 

 was seemingly extinct, and then his body was 

 suspended to a tree, a fire kindled beneath it, 

 the heat of which restored the sufferer to con- 

 sciousness, while the smoke stifled him. 



Several fierce batfles were fought between 

 the police and the mob, in which the former 

 were invariably the victors. During the day 

 and night, the city was protected solely and 

 only by this arm of the civil service. 



The office of Provost-Marshal Manierre was 

 on Broadway near Twenty-eighth street. At 

 nine o'clock drafting was begun there, but in 

 consequence of the disturbances in the 9th dis- 

 trict, at twelve o'clock it was suspended. Short- 

 ly afterward the mob arrived and entered and 

 sacked the office, set fire to the building, and 

 destroyed the entire block, of which the office 

 was the centre building. The famous Bull's Head 

 Hotel, on Forty-fourth street, between Lexing- 

 ton and Fifth avenues, shared the fate of other 

 fine structures, and was burned to the ground, 

 because its proprietor declined to furnish liquor. 

 The residences of Provost-Marshal Jenkins and 

 Postmaster "Wakeman, the 23d precinct station 

 house, and two brown stone private dwellings 

 on Lexington Avenue, were totally destroyed 

 by fire; several members of the police were 

 killed and many badly wounded, some twenty 

 negroes were murdered, and a number of ma- 

 rines stoned to death. 



The Board of Aldermen of the city met at 

 half past one o'clock, P. M., but a quorum not 

 being present, that body adjourned. 



It was the general belief, that a decided ac- 

 tion on the part of the board in providing 

 means whereby poor men, who should be draft- 

 ed, would be furnished with substitutes, would 

 at once check the riot ; and to meet this view, 

 Alderman Hall had proposed this resolution : 



Whereas, It is apparent that the three hundred doU 



