Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-04-25
Famous Riots Of the Past.
THE ASTOR PLACE DIFFICULTY AND TIE
sANaUINARY STRUGGLE OF '63.

THE AsToR PLACE DIFFICULTY AND THE
sANaUINARY STRUGGLE OF '6S.
New York city has been rich In riots.
The first outbreak was negro uprising
in 1712. Since then there was negro
riot in 1741, which was very dangerous
! one, as the proportion Of slaves to whites
was very great. After that came the
stamp-act riot of 1895, patriotic deter
minatioR not to use British government
stamps as ordered by the crown. Body
snatchlng caused a riot In 1888. which
was only quelled by hegira Of physi.
clans and medical students.
Many old citizens remember the spring
election riots Of 1884, which ended in .
victory for the rioters by the peaceful bal
lot. at the announcement of which result
Daniel Webster made speech TO 1000
people. The abolition riots followed close
lily, being in turn followed by the -four
riot, a senseless uprising, resulting only in
the destruction of lot of -four when that
necessary product was very scarce.
None of these riots were extensive.
either in destruction OF property or life,
and it was not until 1849, when the Astor
; place difficulty occurred that the city was
divided against itself. This riot grew
out of a personal quarrel between two &C.
tors, Forrest and Macready, the two pop.
ular tragedians on either side Of the At.
lantic, corresponding to Booth and Irving
of the present day. It was reported that
when Forrest was in London, Macready
went to see him act and publicly Missed
him. Many Americans awaited Mr.. Mac
ready's coming in order to make things
pleasant for him. He came over In the
spring of 1S40 and made an engagement ct
the Aston Place Opera House. At the
same time Forrest was ct the Broadway
Theater. Their rival placards adorned
the same bill-boards. Niblo, one of the
managers of the opera house. gave out
more tickets tina n there were seats or
standing room. The result was crush.
Macready, as Macbeth, was welcomed
with eggs and Kisses. From this arose
the riot of few days later in which twen-
| ty-two men were killed and thirty wound
ed in and around Astor place.
In 1857 there were three separate out.
. breaks-the police riot, between Mayor
Fernando Woods police and the Metro
politan police, the Dead Rabbits riot and
the bread riot. The most serious was tho
fight between the Dead Rabbits and the
Bewery Boys, in which eight men were
killed and thirty wounded
The riots Of 1858 were the most desper-
ate ever known In the city. These were
occasioned by the draft. and were put
down by the police force after weeks
hard work. These riots were supposed by
some to be the result Of deep.laid con-
spiracy on the part of those opposed to the
war. But from the manner of its begin
ming and it's total absence of leadership.
it is evident that it was not the outcome
of general well-understood plan. Those
who started the movement desired to
break up the draft in some Of. the upper
districts of the city, and the movement
got too big for them. The number of
killed, directly or indirectly, was put
down by the authorities at 1900. There
was no direct way of getting at the exact
number, but the excess of deaths for that
month, July, exceeded the number for
either the preceding or the subsequent
month by that figure.
The Orange riot of 1870 was the proge-
nitor of the big Orange riot of 1871-such
recent history as to be we'll known. 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 12s victims. This
is the latest riot to date, the railroad war
of 1874 having spared the metropolis.-N
Y. Journal.