The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-11-20
A NEW YORK MOB.
ACCOUNT or THE ATTACK ON THE
TRIBUNE OFFICE IN 1868
A Set OF Alarmed Typos Rioters 10 cking
the ONCE -BarricadIne the Docrs-
Charge OF the PoIice-Navy Yard
Bombs.
THE Journalist


q participant in that fight saw the whole
thing from the beginning to the end. Ga
tho day before the riot had been mustered
out of service from the Twenty sixth New
Jersey volunteers at Newark, N. j. / had
left compositor's case In The Tribune Office
to join the regiment, AMI had served my
time in the field. On receiving six molths
pay and my discharge papers, / felt like
bird loosed from a cage.
"On the morning of the 18th I went to
The Tribune Office and was surprised to see
quite crowd collsctel around the count
ing-room. The building where the draft
was being made had been burned down on
the preceding night and there was much ex-
element All the militia had been sent to
Pennsylvania to stop Gen. Lees advance,
and there was no regiment In the citS. l
went upstairs into Ths Tribune composing
room to talk with the boys. Smith " Brien.
en- oil Tribune compositor, off rel me $40
to sub for him, or work at his casa that
night. / took him up on tn, instant All
the competitors werS aiarn,I, All II
I had waited / coull probably have
got $50 bonus Every man suppo*el that
the Office was going to he mobbsd, AMI stood
In fear of his life. / had hardly begun to
distribute type when my brother who had
served in the army with me. came in and
accepted a bonus Of $50 to work for another
regular compositor.
sACKING THE OFFICE.
"The crowd in front of the offics grew
greater, and the air was fllel with curses
and imprecations A few compositors de-
serted their cases early in the afternoon.
Tho.e who remained were extremely nerv-
Gus, and did but littls work At
twilight / went to the corner win
dow on the top floor and looked
odt into Park place. The mob had
grown until it reached across the street,
and stopped over into the park. It was COM
posed Of boys AMI many nan, who ap-
pearel to be respectable. The day was
very hot, AMI many were in their shirt
sleeves. Tue sidewalk was packed SO that
pedestrians could not pas. Tne doors OF
the counting-room were closed, but the gas
wa lighted, and Old Ephraim X Jenny All
fow Of the clerks stood at their desks.
The Hing and confusion was indescriba-
II, Learl jin2ling of glass on the
ravem ,nt / saw u ru h AMI | knew that
the doors had been broken open, and that
the office was being sacked. / saw in the
twilight bundles of newspaper ledgers and
stationery, hurled through the windows. A
bundle OF newspapers was caught By a man
u Hueu cOht, "uOso was no
great that lie tore the loo g Tribunss in bits
with his tseth.
"The mob had possession OF tbs counting
room fully ten minutes The affrightsi
composi iors climbed up q narrow rickety
stairwa leading TO the of Of the building.
and male their escape through the scuttls
on Tammany hall. Oaly four OF them rs-
manned ia the composing-room. Tns four.
were: Peter Haclsett now dead: Sylve ter
Bailey, now a compo Iitor on The Sun lay
Democrat, my brother, also dead. an my
SELF. After what ! hal ssen ut Frsd tricks
and Chancellorsville, this row SCENE to bo
only farce. ] coull conceive of nothing
more ridiculous A. TO leaving the build
ing, never thought OF it. We got the old
printing "turtles, for thsrs was no stereotyp-
ing then, together an barrica led tina door
Of the composing-ro Dm with them had a
revolver and the three men with me armei
themselves with lead i H. tick. w, knew
that we could holl tho narrow iron stair
way against 1908 msI' II necessary.
b ,iley AM my brother hal Lesa
In the army with me and ware oil | soldier.
Peter Hackett had learned military tactics
at Irish faira
"After barricaling the doors | went to
the front windows. The mob had set the
counting room on fire, and many OF them
were in the street shouting to me to come
down and avoid being burned with the
building. | drew the revolver ami was
about to fire at the crowd when Myron
Rocker. now editor of The Albany Press
al KnickerboCk2r, and then night editor
o. Tie tribune, caught mo by the arm ami
said:
"'DJn't shoot, for Gods sakei 1t is bad
enoug as IL isr
ala had come up stairs from the editorial
room and climbed over the turtles took
his advice. A part OF the mob stood
arouni the Spruce street entrance TO the
composing room, aui several Of ths COM
positors, editors AMI reporters, who had
tried to escape in that way, had besn
roughly handled.
SQUAD OF POLICE.
"While was stan ling at ths window /
saw a dark line Of men coming m
Spruce street Very few gas lamps had been
lighted. The upper windows o. Toe Times
building were filed with competitors AMI
others watching the scene. The line of men
proved TO be a squad of poles hea lei by
Capt Thomas Thorne, a warm friend OF
Horace Greeley. i could see them advanc-
ing with a steady front by the light In The
Times building. Mr.. Greeley was not in
the Office when the attack was made. He
had left early In the afternoon and had mar
rowly ESCAPED violence at tbs hands of the
mob.
"Thorne's force came upon the rioters
like tornado. Clubs alons were used, but
there was an occasional fash OF pistols In
the hands Of the riotsra In one minute the
plaza was cleared. Probably. fifty men
were writing on the pavement, and it
looked as though some Of them had been
killed. AL, however, were wounded The
most Of them were suffering from blow In
iicted by the billie4 1t NUT have been
about o'clock In the evening when Thorns
made his charge.
Il went over 10 the Park barracks and got
some old soldiers who were qnartsred there
to come over to The Tribune Office and stand
guard. Among them was Tom Holmes, Of
the Fifth Wisconsin regiment brother Of
Ned Holmes, now managing editor of The
New York Dispatch. / remember that In
walking through the debris Of the counting
room Tom picked up roll Of sreenbacks,
aggregating over $780, which he atterward
returned to Sinclair, the publisher OF the
paper. Thorne's assault had proved effect
i've There were no rioters In sight. AMI the
square was entirely cleared. Not long
afterward two guns were placed In front OF
The Times building.
WORK OF FORTIFYING.
1T was not until near . o'clock that FL
mund Kirke and Col Julius Adams, who 10
still alive, came to The Tribune Office and
assumed charge OF the defense. Meantime
/ had organized the on from this barracks,
and few Of the returned compositors,
into reliefs and had posted guards In every
part Of the building. Then the work OF for
flying began Barricades Of paper taken
from the press room were piled around the
counting room. and a steam pipe from the
press rooms was made ready for use in case
Of renewal Of the attack With this pips
the attacking party could have been scaldsj
with hot water
@Befure Col Adams cnmo urgent appeals
for aid hal been sent IN the BROOKLYN navy
yari About IL o'clock wagon load Of
immen.c bombshell. were sent over from
a W o .sI box Wooden spou.s shaped like
v, wcrs rent WITH them TIE sp..uts
were he placed Ia the win low. OF the ell
itor al nnd composing rooms anil. In case Of
a second attack. the shells were to DO put
In them and rolled out upon the heads
OF the mob below. They we're
round iron Shells about three times
the zig, Of a football. and were evidently
made r use in mortars The oil soldiers
lau ;hei outright when they saw them II
one Il those shells had been rolled out OF the
window and had fallen TO the pavement
and ex,loisd IL would have probably blown
out the whole front of the building.
1All night long we stood ON guard. At
times there were reports that the rioters