The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-01-27 00:00:00

THE ASSASSINATION OF MR. FISK.

The following details of the assassination of Mr. Fisk
are taken chiefly from the New York Herald
.pf the
7th of January :
"Yesterday afternoon Mr. James Fink, jun., was shot in
the tirand Central Hotel, Broadway, by Mr. Edward Stokes.
Mr. Fisk had the misfortune some time ago to become in-
fatuated about a Mrs. Josephine Mansfield. He did give up
a great deal to her, for he not only enriched her hut made
her the confidante of his remarkable schemes of gigantic
speculation, and, it is said, of political manipulation. The
course of this infatuation and passion did not run smooth, and i
there was ultimately a disagreement which resulted n all
estrangement, and, under hostile influences, in something
that looked like vindictiveness and enmity. The conse-
quence of all this was that Mrs Mansfield was discarded. It
was said that jealousy brought this billing and cooing to an
untimely end, and that if Mr. Fisk had not favoured another
lady, with whom he became equally enamoured, Mrs.
Mansfield would have been his true love to this day. She
became acquainted with Mr. Stokes, and, woman like,
spited her old love, by taking a new one. This irritated
Mr. Fisk, and by way of obtaining the sweetness of revenge
he became mixed up with Mr. Stokes' mercantile concerns,
and eventually the latter was arrested for embezzlement.
-• • -

" Then commenced the tug of war, From the gilded
parlours and bowers of love in the Twenty-third-street
mansion the tierce fight was transferred to Law Courts, to
recriminations in the public prints, and to the threatened
publication of a compromising correspondence. In the en-
counter Mr. Fisk seemed to be getting the best of it, when
yesterday afternoon he was struck down by the cowardly
hand of his enemy, who played most effectually the idle of
an assassin."
'Colonel James Flak's private coach drew up at about
half-past four yusterday afternoon in front of the Grand
Central Hotel, on Broadway. It was about the time that
New York's great thoroughfare presents the pleasantest sight.
As Mr. Fisk's carriage dashed over the pavement before
reaching the hotel, guided dexterously through the tide of
other conveyances, a coupfi,' at some distance In the rear,
was observed following in a mysterious manner. On the box
of this ' coupe' sat an upright and sturdy-looking man. lie
held thegleins with a firm hand, and seemed to be looking
continually at the back of the head of the coachman,
who was perched upon the stylish equipage of the
Prince of Erie. All the way down Broadway this
curious proceeding was continued. A few blocks from
Becker-street the door of the ' coupg ' opened, and a man
sprang quickly out, reached the side-walk, and ran swiftly
through the moving throng of pedestrians in the same
direction in which the carriages had hitherto been going.
This man was Edward Stokaa, known to the world by this
time as the bitterest enemy of the man who had been riding
in advance of bins in his glitteringcarriage, and challenging
public observation of himself. irssting through a crowd,
lie ran for some distance until he reached the entrance of
the Grand Central Hotel. He passed into the main
corridor just as the carriage of Fisk stopped
in front ; then went up the stairs, and It was
observed by those who saw him that he was pale
and much agitated. NO one fancied, however, that there
was much significance in this fact, and so the mementos?
surprise at his hurried ingress passed only as a ripple over
the minds of those lounging near the door. Stokes ascended
the stairs to the first floor, and then went down the ladies'
private stairway. He reached the first landing. Fisk had
entered the vestibule, and was going up the stairs which
led into the hall. When he reached the last step Stokes,
above bins, standing near the balustrade, rested a revolver
on the rail and fired at Fisk. The shot struck him in the
left arm ; another immediately followed. It struck him in
the abdomen, and Fisk cried out, "Foe God's sake, will any-
body save me?" The impassioned Etekes glared at him fiercely,
tired two more shots, and then turned and ran up the stairs.
At the top of the staircase he was met by a gentleman,
who had heard the reports, anti was hurrying to find what
the matter was, lie passed Stokes and saw nothing singular
In his appearance. Fisk was still crying, "Foe God's sake,
will anybody gave me ? "rhis gentleman who is a resident
of Boston, and a surgeon, lost no time in putting his arm
under the head of the prostrate man, who was gasping. The
people its the hotel and those in the street at the time
crowded around in intense excitement, gazed and listened
breathlessly, and with some horror, at the sight of blood
that was running out of Mr. Fisk's sleeve on the floor. He
was lifted and-carried up the stairs and laid upon a bed, a
messenger was hurriedly despatched for a surgeon. The
shot had passed completely through the flesh, leaving a
large, ugly-looking hole, made like one by a bullet used In a
navy revolver. Fisk was asked if that was his only wound,
and he said no, he had another one, and pointed to his
stomach.
•

---••••-••••
"The physician, who had arrived, discovered the wound,
and found it a large one like the other, with very little blood
visible. After the doctor had finished his examination, Mr.
Fisk asked for some brandy and water. After he had drunk
it, the doctor probed the wounds, but found that he had no
instruments long enough to reach the bullet, flit could be
reached at all. While the operation was proceeding, and a
large number of persons was around him, Fisk maintained
his composure, the muscles of his face never wavering, and
watching the movements of the surgeon with the greatest
coolness. The gentleman who had first found Mr. Fisk after
lie was shot, asked him who it was who attacked him, lie
answered, 'Stokes.'
"Captain Burns inn few minutes entered the room, and
after saying a few words to the doctor went out again, when
he returned with Edward Stokes, well guarded between two
policemen. He was made to approach the bed. He bore a
rigidly dignified look, and a face perfectly immovable, ex-
pressive only of intense 1:14,9F11011 strongly suppressed. lie was
asked by the Captain, 'ls that the man who shot you 1'
Fisk locked at Stokes and said, 'Yes; that is the loan who
shot me to-night.' Fisk was soon surrounded by a bevy of
doctors, and the corridor which opens into the ante-room of
the chamber in which he was lying was quickly filled by his
friends and associates. The news of the assassination had
circulated very rapidly, and nearly all of the directors and
officers of the Erie Railway Company were there.
•

. -
"To return to the time of the occurrence of the assassina-
tion Mr. Edward Stokes, who had been the cause of this
misery, ran down the stairs that he ascended a few minutes
before, and went up to Mr. Powers at the desk, saying,
" There's a man shot at the ladles' entrance.' When he had
said this be seemed to have lost all control oyes himself, and
to have been overcome by a panic. Ile looked about
wildly, as if to escape, and then suddenly ran towaids
the barber's room, front which ho knew there were
doors opening into Mercer-street. Mr. Powers had
been watching him suspiciously after hearing his start-
ling announcement, and gave the alarm; he shouted
'Stop that man Stokes was seized with the as-
sistance of several persons, and Captain Burns and
Officer Mecadden soon arrived and took the prisoner into
their custody. Vigilant search was then made through the
halls and parlours for the revolver or pistol which Stokes had
used, as it was not found in his possession. Mr. Crockett
and all the servants looked anxiously in every imaginable
place until, just after the identification of Stokes by Fisk, a
young lady discovered it in the parlour near the head of the
stairs lying under a chair, where Stokes had flung it in his
haste and excitement. The prisoner was then taken by Captain
Burns and the officer to the statim-house. lie walked calmly
up to the desk and gave his name, residence, and occupa-
tion; he was then taken to a cell below, in which he was
placed. Coroner Young hurried from the station-house
back to the hotel. The excitement there was far greater
than immediately after the tragedy, and the crowd in Hit
lower corridors had much augmented. The friends of Mr.
Fisk stayed at the hotel all night, and the halls and ante-
rooms wore scenes of long anxious waiting. Very late in the
evening Mr. Stokes" coupe ' stood in front of the New York
Hotel. After a while a stout dark man entered it said drove
away. This man is said by some person to have accompanied
Stokes when he drove down Broadway ; but who, then, is
the unknown? The following is the statement of the hotel
doorkeeper
- - •- • - • •

About 4 p.m. Mr. Stokes arrived at the hotel, passing
through the private entrance and ascending the stairs. Soon
after Mr. Fisk arrived in a coach, and enquired if Mrs. Moss
was at home. Answering him in the negative, he inquired
if her daughter was at home, and upon my assenting, we both
passed up the stairs. Fisk in advance When about half
way up, a shot was tired, and Mr. Fisk fell on the stairs,
crying 'Oh !' Looking up I saw Mr. Stokes standing at
the head of the stairs with a revolver in his hand. Mr.
Fisk regaining his feet he was shot again, and on Mr. Fisk
falling he slid to the bottom of the stairs. Rising to his
feet again he ascendel the stairs, and friends assisted him
to the reception room. A gentleman who was passing the
Grand Central Hotel at the time of the assassination states
that his attention was attracted by the sound of two shots,
apparently pistol shots, fired in almost immediate succes-
sion. Fisk had just alighted from his carriage, and entered
the hotel, when he was met and shot by his dastardly
assassin."

Surgeon John Reach, onexamination of Mr. Fisk's wounds,
reports that he found Mr. Fisk had received two wounds,
one in the right arm by a hall, which, striking just above
the elbow, passed inside the bone and out at the back of the
arm: the ether by a ball which entered the abdomen about
three inches above and two inches to the right of the um-
bilicus, and passing downwards and inwards beyond the
reach of the longest probe.
•

-,-, -
An "inquest" was held at Room 1,114 of the Grand Cen-
tral Hotel, befere Coroner Nelson, W. Young, and jury. I
James Fisk, jun., being sworn, testified as follows f—
"ylhis afternoon, about half-past four o'clock, I rode up to
the Grand Central hotel. Nentered by themrivate entrance,
and when I entered the first door I met a boy, of
whom I inquired if Mrs. Moss was in. He told me
that Mrs. Moss and her youngest daughter hal gone out,
but lie thought that the other daughter was in her grand-
mother's room. looked him to go up and tell ,the daughter
that I was there. I came through the other door, and! was
going upstairs, and had got up about two steps, when,
looking up, I saw Edward S. Stokes at the head of stairs. As
soon as I saw him T noticed he had something in his hand,
and a second after I saw a flash, and heard the report. I
felt the ball entering my abdomen on the right side. A
second was fired immediately afterwards„ which entered my
left ann. When I received the first shot I staggered and
ran towards the door, but noticing, a crowd gathering in
front I ran back on the stairs. I was then brought upstairs
into the hotel. I knew nothing more of Stokes till he was
brought before me by an officer for identification. I fully
identify Edward S. Stokes as the person who shot me
James Fisk, pm."

The inquest on Mr. Fisk lasted three days and resulted in
the following verdict:—

"The jury find, upon the testimony submitted at the
inquest, that the deceased, James Fisk, jun., came to his
death at the Grand Central Hotel, in the city of New York,
on the 7th of January, 1872, at the hour of ten minutes be-
fore eleven o'clock, in consequence of a wound or wounds
Inflicted by a ball or balls from a pistol in the hands of
Edward S. Stokes, discharged by him in a deliberate manner
at the said James Fisk, jun., at the Grand Central Hotel,
about four o'clock p m , on Saturday, the 6th of January,
1872."
The prisoner, who declined to say anything in answer to
the charge, was then committed for trial by order of the
Coroner.
- - - - - - - -

Never since the memorable night that Abe Lincoln was
An was there such excitement throughout tho city. In the
streets, in the bars, in the hotels, everywhere in the entire
city, nothing was talked Of but the attempted assassination.

The New York Herald, commenting on the crime, Bays :
"Those who have marked the career of Fisk will have re-
garded it from different points of approval, or otherwise.
There have not been wanting men who stigmatized him as
a great public evil; others have denounced him as a dete-
riorator of public morals in his theatrical and social con-
nexions; a still larger class have looked on him as a bad
example to youth. We enumerate these things to point a
moraL"

The New York Times of the Bth of January contains
the following account of Colonel Fisk's Last mu
!Dents :

"James,Fisk, just, died in the bedroom attached to
parlour 'Co. 213 bsetlie Grand Central Hotel, of the mortal
wound inflicted dr 4 o'clock of the previous afternoon by
Edward S. Stokes. The surgeons hod int faint hopes of his
recovery after their consultation on Saturday night.
Still all the experience of the eminent surgeons sum-
moned to his bedside could suggest was done to aid him
Feeling himself that his case was almost hopeles.
lie bore the knowledge patiently, speaking to Dr
Fisher who was bending over his bedside about 10 p.m
He asked him, 'Doctor, is there an even chance of my
petting well again?' The doctor responded with kindly
assurances. The business-like phraseology of the query
would indicate that he was charaetmistically regarding his
living or dying from a spectulative point of view. Mr. Fisk's
will was drawn up by an amanuensis under the direction of
his counsel, Mr. David Dudley Field. About four um. Dr.
Fisher asksd him how he felt, and he replied that he was
doing nicely,' asked for a drink of water, and seemed to
recognise everybody in the roonl. The opiates which had
been administered now began to have their effect, and the
dying man sank into a profound slumber. He remained in a
heavy death-like sleep from half-past four um, until nine
a.m. Mrs. Fisk receiveg the telegram sent to her shortly
after the shooting, and arrived at the hotel at seven am.
She remained at his bedside until his death, except fora few
minutes when she went away to breakfast.
"Growing worse, at about nine o'clock his breathing be-
came more heavy and laboured. A consultation of his
medical attendants had been held from eight o'clock till
nine, and at its close a bulletin was posted on the grand
staircase of the Hotel reading, '0 um. Colonel Fisk is sink-
ing ' Drs. Wood, Sayre, Fisher, White, and Tripler were
the consulting surgeons. Dr. Caruochan was also present,
having been recommended by Mr. William M. Tweed on the
night previous. Their examination had proved that the
ball producing death had entered the abdomen five and a
half inches above the umbilicus, and one and three-quarter
inch to the right of the median line, the ball taking a

downward course and to the left. The ball could not be
found. Fisk was sleeping quietly and was not in pain ; with
pulse 130, respiration 20, the prognosis was unfavourable,
and peritonitis was feared. All coneurredin recommending
stimul4ions, but remedies goosed unavailing, audit...wee
seen thine. was rapidly sinking. ,
" Face to Lee at last with a death that seemed strangely
in keeping waiting-career, Jams Fink. junior, appeared in a
new character. During this whole hour there was about him
scarcely a reminder of his life. The associates who with him
achieved unenviable notoriety had kept aloof, and nothing
was secant Win. M. Tweed, J. Cleuld, or of any other member
of the Tammany or Erie Eings. In their stead was the
stricken wife of the sufferer and her friend Miss Harrot
and two brothers-in-law of the dying man. They bad
been summoned by Or. Fisher when he saw the unmis-
takable signs of approaching dissolution, and there was uo
person near the bed who was unmoved. Mrs. Fisk was
especially uncontrollalibs in her pie, and her anguish was
the greater from the fact that she had reached her h asband
only after he had fallen into the comatose condition, and
had not been able to recognise her. The silence being broken
only by the sobs of the sorrowing group, and the laboured
breathing of the dying man, which every instant became
fainter and more fitful, the moments slipped away until the
watch of Dr. Fisher, who sat with his hand on the pulse
of the wounded man, pointed to twenty minutes to ii. All
could see that the end was at hand. Then the mys-
terious change came, and the breathing became only short
convulsive gasps ; but there was no sign of agony in the un-
conscious man there Ives no contraction of the Nee, no
twitching of the museles, no movement of the limbs. Calmly
and peacefully tins life, which had been no turbulent, ebbed
away, and at five minutes to eleven, James Fisk, jun., was
dead. Unconscious to the last, he was spared the pain of
looking-back upon his past, or of contemplating his future.
The news passed quickly, anti in a few minutes was known
far and wide.

'When life was gone, Airs. Fisk was assisted to her room,
where she remained in strict seclusion. Afterwards, Cap-
tain Blanes, entering, took possession of the body to await
the arrival of Coroner Young, for whom a mes.enger was
Immediately sent. Before the body was removed from the
bed, James Fisk, junior, seemed only asldtp. The colour
was indeed gone from the massive face, but it had lost none
of its fulness. The eyes were closed, as when he died, and
all marks of the violence of which he was the
victim were bidden under the bed covering. Even after
the body was placed in the coffin, and exposed to view in
the parlour attached to the bedroom, there was hardly a
sign of death en the smooth, placid face. Hundreds
viewed it as it was thus exposed and while
they went and came, Jay Gould sat a few feet
from to coffin, without showing the least sign of the
emotion he must have felt at this sudden sundering of the
Erie King, which had so long resisted all the efforts to break
it made through the law. Just before the coffin was
closed Wm. M. Tweed furtively entered the room. The
crushed Chief of Tammany gazed upon the dead and
retired to a corner of the room. Then the coffin was
closed, and taken up by the men of the undertaker, and
borne from the room. Tweed followed the coffin, which
/was carried up a narrow private stairway to the floor
above ; through the corridors of this floor it was borne
to the stairs on the other side of the building, and
down these to the Southern Alercer.street entrance. To
this point Tweed had followed upstairs and down-
stairs, and through all the winding corridors, with his
head bowed and uncovered, but arriving at this point he
paused, gazed a moment at the coffin which contained all
that was mortal of his friend, at the turning retraced his
steps; then the body of James Fisk, jun., was taken through
the kitchen door, out of the house In which he had been
slain, placed in a hearse, and carried hastily to No. 313,
West Twenty-Third-street. But meantime there had been
some show of official respect for the dead. As the deceased
had been a colonel in the National Guard the occasion de-
manded some action, and the following order was issued at
110011

GENERAL 0.117,R.

...... -
" Headquarters 3rd Brigade, First Division,
New Yolk, Jan. 7, 1872.
"No. 1. It is with the deepest regret that the Brigadier.
General Commanding announces the death of Colonel Jas.
Fisk, jun., 9th Regiment Infantry. His loss will be sincerely
felt, and his place in the National Guard not easily filled.
I. The 9th Regiment Infantry is hereby detailed to act as a
funeral guard mid will assemble at their armoury, January
S. at twelve o'clock meridian, by order of Brigadier-General
J. N. Varian, commanding; William Seward, LB., Assistant
Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff."