Religious Toleration. Irish Feuds. Battle of
Boyne Water. Orangemen. Origin and Object of the Society. A
Picnic at Elm Park. Attacked by the Ribbonmen. The Fight.
After Scenes. Riot of 1871. Conspiracy of the Irish
Catholics to prevent a Parade of Orangemen. Forbidden by the
City Authorities. Indignation of the People. Meeting in the
Produce Exchange. Governor Hoffman's Proclamation. Morning
of the 12th. The Orangemen at Lamartine Hall. Attack on the
Armories. The Harpers threatened. Exciting Scenes around
Lamartine Hall and at Police Head-quarters. Hibernia Hall
cleared. Attack on an Armory. Formation of the Procession.
Its March. Attacked. Firing of the Military without Orders.
Terrific Scene. The Hospitals and Morgue. Night Scenes.
Number of killed and wounded. The Lesson.
In a free country like ours, where toleration of all
religions alike is one of the fundamental principles of the
Government, one would naturally think that open persecution
of any sect or body of religionists was impossible. But the
Irish, unfortunately, have brought with them to this country
not merely many of their old customs and national fetes, but
their old religions feuds.
Nearly two hundred years ago, William of Nassau, Prince of
Orange, or William the Third, a Protestant, met the Catholic
King, James the Second, of England, In deadly battle, in the
vales of Meath, through which the Boyne River flows, and
utterly routed him, and compelled him to flee to the
Continent for safety. According to old style, this was on
the first day of July, as the old ballad says:
"'Twas bright July's first morning clear,
Of unforgotten glory,
That made this stream, through ages dear,
Renowned in song and story."
According to new style, however, this has become the twelfth
of the month. The Ulster Protestant Society, known as
Orangemen, was founded in 1795. It was a secret political
organization, founded, it is said, to counteract the
Ribbonmen, or Protectors, as they were called. Its object in
this country, it is asserted, is entirely different, and
more in harmony with other societies that have their annual
celebration in New York City and other places.
It is not necessary to go over the bitter feuds between
these and the Catholic Irish in the old country. The hates
they engendered were brought here, but kept from any great
outward manifestation, because the Orangemen indulged in no
public displays. We believe that there had been only one
procession previous to this. In this year, however, an
imposing display was resolved upon, but no trouble was
anticipated, and no precautions taken by the police. It was
not proposed to parade the streets, but to form, and march
in procession up Eighth Avenue, to Elm Park, corner of
Ninetieth Street and Eighth Avenue, and have a picnic, and
wind up with a dance. As the procession passed Fourth
Street, in full Orange regalia, and about twenty-five
hundred strong (men, women, and children), playing "Boyne
Water," "Derry," and other tunes obnoxious to the Catholics,
some two hundred Irishmen followed it with curses and
threats.
Violence was, however, not feared, and the procession
continued on, and at length reached the new Boulevard road,
where a large body of Irishmen were at work. Beyond,
however, the interchange of some words, nothing transpired,
and it entered the park, and began the festivities of the
day.
In the meanwhile, however, the rabble that had followed them
came upon the Ribbonmen at work on the Boulevard road, and
persuaded them to throw up work and join them, and the whole
crowd, numbering probably about five hundred, started for
the park. The foreman of the gang of three hundred workmen
saw at once the danger, and hurried to the Thirty-first
Precinct station, corner of One Hundredth Street and Ninth
Avenue, and told Captain Helme of the state of things.
The latter immediately thought of the picnic, and,
anticipating trouble, telegraphed to Jourdan for
reinforcements. In the meanwhile, the mob, loaded with
stones, advanced tumultuously towards the park, within which
the unsuspecting Orangemen were giving themselves up to
enjoyment. Suddenly a shower of stones fell among them,
knocking over women and children, and sending consternation
through the crowd. Shouts and curses followed, and the
Orangemen, rallying, rushed out and fell furiously on their
assailants. Shovels, clubs, and stones were freely used, and
a scene of terrific confusion followed. The fight was close
and bloody, and continued for nearly half an hour, when
Sergeant John Kelly, with a force of sixteen men, arrived,
and rushing in between the combatants, separated them, and
drove the Orangemen back into the park. The mob then divided
into two portions, of between two and three hundred each.
One party went by way of Ninth Avenue, and, breaking down
the fence on that side, entered the park, and fell with
brutal fury on men, women, and children alike. A terrible
fight followed, and amid the shouts and oaths of the men and
screams of the women and children, occasional pistol shots
were heard, showing that murder was being done. The enraged,
unarmed Orangemen, wrenched hand rails from the fence, tore
up small trees, and seized anything and everything that
would serve for a weapon, and maintained the fight for a
half an hour, before the police arrived. The second portion
went by Eighth Avenue, and intercepted a large body of
Orangemen that had retreated from the woods, and a desperate
battle followed. There were only two policemen here, and of
course could do nothing but stand and look on the murderous
conflict. In the meantime, the force telegraphed for by
Captain. Helme arrived. It consisted of twenty men, to which
Captain Helme added the reserve force, with a sergeant from
the Eighth, Ninth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Nineteenth
Precincts, making in all some fifty men. These he divided
into two portions, one of which he sent over to Eighth
Avenue to protect the cars, into which the fugitives were
crowding, while the other dashed furiously into the park,
and fell on the combatants with their clubs. They soon
cleared a lane between them, when turning on the Ribbonmen,
they drove them out of the park. They then formed the
Orangemen into a procession, and escorted them down the
city. A portion, however, had fled for the Eighth Avenue
cars; but a party of Ribbonmen were lying in wait here, and
another fight followed. Huge stones were thrown through the
windows of the cars, the sides broken in, over the wreck of
which the mob rushed, knocking down men, women, and children
alike, whose shouts, and oaths, and screams could be heard
blocks off. The scene was terrific, until the arrival of the
police put an end to it, and bore the dead and wounded away.
About seven o'clock, Superintendent Jourdan arrived in the
precinct, accompanied by Inspectors Dilks and Walling, and
Detectives Farley and Avery. In the basement of the
Thirty-first Precinct station, on a low trestle bed, three
bloody corpses were stretched, while the neighboring
precincts were filled with the wounded. Two more died before
morning. The street near each station was crowded with
Orangemen inquiring after friends.
Although no more outbreaks occurred, the most intense
excitement prevailed among the Irish population of the city,
and it was evident that it needed only a suitable occasion
to bring on another conflict.
The Riot of 1871.
When the next anniversary of the Orangemen came round, it
was discovered that a conspiracy had been formed by a large
body of the Catholic population to prevent its public
celebration. The air was full of rumors, while the city
authorities were in possession of the fullest evidence that
if the Orangemen paraded, they would be attacked, and
probably many lives be lost. They were in great dilemma as
to what course to pursue. If they allowed the procession to
take place, they would be compelled to protect it, and shoot
down the men whose votes helped largely to place them in
power. If they forbade it, they feared the public
indignation that would be aroused against such a truckling,
unjust course. As the day drew near, however, and the
extensive preparations of the Irish Catholics became more
apparent, they finally determined to risk the latter course,
and it was decided that Superintendent Kelso should issue an
order forbidding the Orangemen to parade. This ludicrous
attempt on the part of the Mayor to shift the responsibility
from his own shoulders, awakened only scorn, and the
appearance of the order was followed by a storm of
indignation that was appalling. The leading papers, without
regard to politics, opened on him and his advisers, with
such a torrent of denunciations that they quailed before it.
Processions of all kinds and nationalities were allowed on
the streets, and to forbid only one, and that because it was
Protestant , was an insult to every American citizen. Even
Wall Street forgot its usual excitement, and leading men
were heard violently denouncing this cowardly surrender of
Mayor Hall to the threats of a mob. An impromptu meeting was
called in the Produce Exchange, and a petition drawn up,
asking the president to call a formal meeting, and excited
men stood in line two hours, waiting their turn to sign it.
The building was thronged, and the vice-president called the
meeting to order, and informed it that the rules required
twenty-four hours' notice for such a meeting. The members,
however, would listen to no delay, and with an unanimous and
thundering vote, declared the rules suspended. The action of
the city authorities was denounced in withering terms, and a
committee of leading men appointed to wait on them, and
remonstrate with the Mayor. One could scarcely have dreamed
that this order would stir New York so profoundly. But the
people, peculiarly sensitive to any attack on religious
freedom, were the more fiercely aroused, that in this case
it was a Catholic mob using the city authority to strike
down Protestantism. The Mayor and his subordinates were
appalled at the tempest they had raised, and calling a
council, resolved to revoke the order. In the meantime,
Governor Hoffman was telegraphed to from Albany. Hastening
to the city, he, after a consultation with Mayor Hall,
decided to issue the following proclamation:
"Having been only this day apprised, while at the capital,
of the actual condition of things here, with reference to
proposed processions tomorrow, and having, in the belief
that my presence was needed, repaired hither immediately, I
do make this proclamation:
"The order heretofore issued by the police authorities, in
reference to said processions, being duly revoked, I hereby
give notice that any and all bodies of men desiring to
assemble in peaceable procession to-morrow, the 12th inst.,
will be permitted to do so. They will be protected to the
fullest extent possible by the military and police
authorities. A police and military escort will be furnished
to any body of men desiring it, on application to me at my
head-quarters (which will be at police head-quarters in this
city) at any time during the day. I warn all persons to
abstain from interference with any such assembly or
procession, except by authority from me; and I give notice
that all the powers of my command, civil and military, will
be used to preserve the public peace, and put down at all
hazards, every attempt at disturbances; and I call upon all
citizens, of every race and religion, to unite with me and
the local authorities in this determination, to preserve the
peace and honor of the city and State."
Dated at New York, this eleventh day of July, A. D. 1871.
John T. Hoffman.
It was thought by many that this would counteract the
effects of the cowardly order of the police superintendent.
But whatever its effect might have been, had it been issued
earlier, it now came too late to do any good. The
preparations of the Roman Catholics were all made. A secret
circular had fallen into the hands of the police, showing
that the organization of the rioters was complete the
watchwords and signals all arranged, and even the points
designated where the attacks on the procession were to be
made. Arms had been collected and transported to certain
localities, and everything betokened a stormy morrow.
Consequently, General Shaler issued orders to the commanders
of the several regiments of militia, directing them to have
their men in readiness at their respective armories at 7
o'clock next morning, prepared to march at a moment's
warning. His head-quarters, like those of General Brown in
the draft riots, were at the police head-quarters, so as to
have the use of the police telegraph, in conveying orders to
different sections of the city. Meanwhile, detachments were
placed on guard at the different armories, to frustrate any
attempt on the part of the mob to seize arms.
The night, however, wore quietly away, and in the morning
the Governor's proclamation appeared in the morning papers,
showing the rioters the nature of the work before them, if
they undertook to carry out their infamous plans. It seemed
to have no effect, however. Early in the morning sullen
groups of Irishmen gathered on the corners of the streets,
where the Irish resided in greatest numbers, among which
were women, gesticulating and talking violently, apparently
wholly unaware that the authorities had any power, or, at
least, thought they dared not use it. Other groups traversed
the streets, while at the several rendezvous of the
Hibernians, many carried muskets or rifles without any
attempt at concealment. In the upper part of the city, a
body of rioters began to move southward, compelling all the
workmen on their way to leave work and join them. One or two
armories were attacked, but the rioters were easily
repulsed. The demonstrations at length became so
threatening, that by ten o'clock the police seized Hibernia
Hall.
About the same time, the Orangemen who on the issue of
Kelso's order had determined not to parade but on the
appearance of the Governor's proclamation changed their mind
began to assemble at Lamartine Hall, on the corner of Eighth
Avenue and Twenty-ninth Street. Their room was in the fourth
story, and the delegates from the various lodges brought
with them their badges and banners, which they displayed
from the windows. This brought a crowd in front of the
building, curious to know what was going on in the lodge
room. Soon five hundred policemen, ten or fifteen of them on
horseback, appeared under the command of Inspectors Walling
and Jamieson, and occupied both sides of Twenty-ninth
Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Several policemen
also stood on Eighth Avenue, while the door of the hall was
guarded by others. Inside the hall there were probably some
seventy-five or a hundred Orangemen, discussing the parade.
Some stated that a great many, concluding there would be
none, had gone to their usual work, while others, alarmed at
the threats of the Hibernians, would not join it. But after
some discussion, it was resolved, that although the number
would be small, they would parade at all hazards; and at
eleven o'clock the door was thrown open, and the Orangemen,
wearing orange colors, were admitted, amid the wildest
cheering. An invitation was sent to the lodges of Jersey
City to join them, but they declined, preferring to
celebrate the day at home.
Two o'clock was the hour fixed upon for the parade to begin,
and the authorities at police head-quarters were so advised.
In the meantime a banner had been prepared on which was
inscribed in large letters,
"Americans! Freemen!! Fall In!!!" in order to get accessions
from outsiders, but without success.
The line of march finally resolved upon was down Eighth
Avenue to Twenty-third Street, and up it to Fifth Avenue,
down Fifth Avenue to Fourteenth Street, along it to Union
Square, saluting the Lincoln and Washington statues as they
passed, and then down Fourth Avenue to Cooper Institute,
where the procession would break up.
About one o'clock, a party of men came rushing down Eighth
Avenue, opposite Lamartine Hall, cheering and shouting, led
by a man waving a sword cane. As he swung it above his head
it parted, disclosing a long dirk. The police immediately
advanced and swept the street. Eighth Avenue was cleared
from Thirtieth Street to Twenty-eighth Street, and the
police formed several deep, leaving only room enough for the
cars to pass.
In the meantime, around police head-quarters, in Mott
Street, things wore a serious aspect. From six o'clock in
the morning, the various detachments of police kept arriving
until Bleecker, Houston, Mulberry, and Mott Streets were
dark with the massed battalions, ready to move at a moment's
notice. Rations were served out to them standing. Early in
the day, Governor Hoffman and staff arrived, and were
quartered in the Superintendent's room, while General Shaler
and staff were quartered in the fire marshal's office.
Commissioners Manierre, Smith, and Barr were in their own
rooms, receiving reports from the various precincts over the
wires. A little after nine a dispatch came, stating that the
quarrymen near Central Park had quitted work, and were
gathering in excited groups, swearing that the Orangemen
should not parade. Immediately Inspector Jamieson, with two
hundred and fifty policemen, was despatched in stages to
Forty-seventh Street and Eighth Avenue, to watch the course
of events. Another dispatch stated that an attack was
threatened on Harper's building, in Franklin Square, and
Captain Allaire, of the Seventh Precinct, was hurried off
with fifty men to protect it. A little later came the news
that the Orangemen had determined to parade at two o'clock,
and a police force of five hundred, as we have already
stated, were massed in Eighth Avenue, opposite Lamartine
Hall. About noon, a body of rioters made an attack on the
armory, No. 19 Avenue A, in which were a hundred and
thirty-eight stands of arms. Fortunately, the janitor of the
building saw them in time to fasten the doors before they
reached it, and then ran to the nearest police-station for
help, from which a dispatch was sent to head-quarters.
Captain Mount, with a hundred policemen, was hurried off to
the threatened point. He arrived, before the doors were
broken in, and falling on the rioters with clubs, drove them
in all directions. During the forenoon, Drill-captain
Copeland was given five Companies, and told to seize
Hibernia Hall, where arms were being distributed. As he
approached, he ordered the mob to disperse, but was answered
with taunts and curses, while the women hurled stones at his
face. He then gave the order to charge, when the men fell on
the crowd with such fury, that they broke and fled in wild
confusion. Meanwhile, the detectives had been busy, and
secured eighteen of the ring-leaders, whom they marched to
police head-quarters.
As the hour for the procession to form drew near, the most
intense excitement prevailed at police head-quarters, and
the telegraph was watched with anxious solicitude. The
terrible punishment inflicted on the rioters in 1863 seemed
to have been forgotten by the mob, and it had evidently
resolved to try once more its strength with the city
authorities. Around the Orange head-quarters a still deeper
excitement prevailed. The hum of the vast multitude seemed
like the first murmurings of the coming storm, and many a
face turned pale as the Orangemen, with their banners and
badges, only ninety in all, passed out of the door into the
street. John Johnston, their marshal, mounted on a spirited
horse, placed himself at their head. In a few minutes, the
bayonets of the military force designed to act as an escort
could be seen flashing in the sun, as the troops with
measured tread moved steadily forward. Crowds followed them
on the sidewalks, or hung from windows and house tops, while
low curses could be heard on every side, especially when the
Twenty-second Regiment deliberately loaded their pieces with
ball and cartridge. The little band of Orangemen looked
serious but firm, while the military officers showed by
their preparations and order that they expected bloody work.
The Orangemen formed line in Twenty-ninth Street, close to
the Eighth Avenue, and flung their banners to the breeze. A
half an hour later, they were ready to march, and at the
order wheeled into Eighth Avenue. At that instant a single
shot rang out but a few rods distant. Heads were turned
anxiously to see who was hit. More was expected as the
procession moved on. A strong body of police marched in
advance. Next came the Ninth Regiment, followed at a short
interval by the Sixth. Then came more police, followed by
the little band of Orangemen, flanked on either side, so as
fully to protect them, by the Twenty-second and
Eighty-fourth Regiments. To these succeeded more police. The
imposing column was closed up by the Seventh Regiment,
arresting all eyes by its even tread and martial bearing.
The sidewalks, doorsteps, windows, and roofs were black with
people. The band struck up a martial air, and the procession
moved on towards Twenty-eighth Street. Just before they
reached it, another shot rang clear and sharp above the
music. No one was seen to fall, and the march continued. At
the corner of Twenty-seventh Street, a group of desperate
looking fellows were assembled on a wooden shed that
projected over the sidewalk. Warned to get down and go away,
they hesitated, when a company of soldiers levelled their
pieces at them. Uttering defiant threats, they hurried down
and disappeared. As the next corner was reached, another
shot was fired, followed by a shower of stones. A scene of
confusion now ensued. The police fell on the bystanders
occupying the sidewalks, and clubbed them right and left
without distinction, and the order rolled down the line to
the inmates of the houses to shut their windows. Terror now
took the place of curiosity; heads disappeared, and the
quick, fierce slamming of blinds was heard above the uproar
blocks away. The procession kept on till it reached
Twenty-fourth Street, when a halt was ordered. The next
moment a shot was fired from the second-story windows of a
house on the north-east corner. It struck the Eighty-fourth
Regiment, and in an instant a line of muskets was pointed at
the spot, as though the order to fire was expected. One gun
went off, when, without orders, a sudden, unexpected volley
rolled down the line of the Sixth, Ninth, and Eighty-fourth
Regiments. The officers were wholly taken by surprise at
this unprecedented conduct; but, recovering themselves,
rushed among the ranks and shouted out their orders to cease
firing. But the work was done; and as the smoke slowly
lifted in the hot atmosphere, a scene of indescribable
confusion presented itself. Men, women, and children,
screaming in wild terror, were fleeing in every direction;
the strong trampling down the weak, while eleven corpses lay
stretched on the sidewalk, some piled across each other. A
pause of a few minutes now followed, while the troops
reloaded their guns. A new attack was momentarily expected,
and no one moved from the ranks to succor the wounded or
lift up the dead. Here a dead woman lay across a dead man;
there a man streaming with blood was creeping painfully up a
doorstep, while crouching, bleeding forms appeared in every
direction. Women from the windows looked down on the ghastly
spectacle, gesticulating wildly. The police now cleared the
avenue and side streets, when, the dead and wounded were
attended to, and the order to move on was given. General
Varian, indignant at the conduct of the Eighty-fourth in
firing first without orders, sent it to the rear, and
replaced it on the flank of the Orangemen with a portion of
the Ninth. The procession, as it now resumed its march and
moved through Twenty-fourth Street, was a sad and mournful
one. The windows were filled with spectators, and crowds
lined the sidewalks, but all were silent and serious. Not
till it reached Fifth Avenue Hotel were there any greetings
of welcome. Here some three thousand people were assembled,
who rent the air with cheers. No more attacks were made, and
it reached Cooper Institute and disbanded without any
further incident.
In the meantime, the scene at the Bellevue Hospital was a
sad and painful one. The ambulances kept discharging their
bloody loads at the door, and groans of distress and shrieks
of pain filled the air. Long rows of cots, filled with
mangled forms, were stretched on every side, while the
tables were covered with bodies, held down, as the surgeons
dressed their wounds. The dead were carried to the Morgue,
around which, as night came on, a clamorous crowd was
gathered, seeking admission, to look after their dead
friends. A similar crowd gathered at the door of the Mount
Sinai Hospital, filling the air with cries and lamentations.
As darkness settled over the city, wild, rough looking men
from the lowest ranks of society gathered in the street
where the slaughter took place, among whom were seen
bare-headed women roaming about, making night hideous with
their curses.
A pile of dead men's hats stood on the corner of Eighth
Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street untouched, and pale faces
stooped over pools of blood on the pavement. The stores were
all shut; and everything wore a gloomy aspect. The police
stood near, revealed in the lamplight, but made no effort to
clear the street. It seemed at one time that a serious
outbreak would take place, but the night passed off quietly,
and the riot was ended, and the mob once more taught the
terrible lesson it is so apt to forget.
Two of the police and military were killed, and twenty-four
wounded; while of the rioters thirty-one were killed, and
sixty-seven wounded making in all one hundred and
twenty-eight victims.
There was much indignation expressed at the troops for
firing without orders, and firing so wildly as to shoot some
of their own men. It was, of course, deserving the deepest
condemnation, yet it may have saved greater bloodshed. The
fight evidently did not occur at the expected point, and
doubtless the result here, prevented one where the mob was
better organized, and would have made a more stubborn
resistance.
That innocent persons were killed is true; but if they will
mingle in with a mob, they must expect to share its fate,
and alone must bear the blame. Troops are called out to fire
on the people if they persist in violation of the peace and
rights of the community. Of this all are fully aware, and
hence take the risk of being shot. Soldiers cannot be
expected to discriminate in a mob. If the military are not
to fire on a crowd of rioters until no women and children,
can be seen in it, they had better stay at home.
To a casual observer, this calling out of seven hundred
policemen and several regiments of soldiers, in order to let
ninety men take a foolish promenade through a few streets,
would seem a very absurd and useless display of the power of
the city; and the killing of sixty or seventy men a heavy
price to pay for such an amusement. But it was not ninety
Orangemen only that those policemen and soldiers enclosed
and shielded. They had in their keeping the laws and
authority of the city, set at defiance by a mob, and also
the principle of religious toleration and of equal rights,
which were of more consequence than the lives of ten
thousand men. The day when New York City allows itself to be
dictated to by a mob, and Protestants not be permitted to
march as such quietly through the streets, her prosperity
and greatness will come to an end. The taking of life is a
serious thing, but it is not to weigh a moment against the
preservation of authority and the supremacy of the law.
One thing should not be overlooked the almost universal
faithfulness of the Roman Catholic Irish police to their
duty. In this, as well as in the draft riots, they have left
a record of which, any city might he proud. To defend
Protestant Irishmen against Roman Catholic friends and
perhaps relatives, is a severe test of fidelity; but the
Irish police have stood it nobly, and won the regard of all
good citizens.
Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873, Including a Full and Complete Account of the Four Days' Draft Riot of 1863