Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-05

the press OF this country have made him
out TO be, and that he has 10 bear burdens
not his. AT all events his present posi-
ton is certainly unenviable.
NOBLE OLD ROMAN.
One OF the notable figures TO be seen
daily on upper Broadway is Thomas G.
Acton. He is one OF the noble old
Romans OF the metropolis. OF about
medium height, he has kindly features,
a prominent nose, thin, firm lips, which
can be compressed in unmitigable resolu-
ton. a bushy head Of white hair, court
ly manner, and an ardent, almost boyish
flow of spirits, even in his sixty-fifth year,
when Time has begun TO tell slightly
upon his not very robust physique. A
banker pointed him out the other day
and remarked:
of it had not been for that man New
York, in 1863, would have been pillaged
and burned. All his life he has been
known as a man Of unhinching courage. "
This was strictly true.
Thomas G. Acton was born in New
York in 1923, and as mere youth enter
ed politics and held several minor mu-
nicipal Offices. Twenty-eight years ago
he was appointed Police Commissioner
by Governor f. d. Morgan, who after
wards was the political sponsor for
young man named Chester A. Arthur,
who by historic crime became Presi-
dent of the United States.
A HEROIC ACT.
Mr.. Acton served nine years as presi-
dent of the Board of Police. 1t was in
this responsible office that he performed
services which clearly marked him as a
hero. 1t was in 1863 that the Draft Riot
broke out in New York. All the militia
troops were in Pennsylvania for the pur-
pose of resisting the invasion of that
State by General Lee and which culmi-
mated in the battle of Gettysburg on the
first days of July. During the absence
of the troops the Provost Marshal at
tempted to enforce the draft which had
been ordered by President Lincoln. A
mob quickly gathered and began the
work Of destruction. They destroyed
the Provost Marshars Offices, plum
dered stores, hanged or shot ne
groes, burned the Colored Orphan Asy-
lum, smashed the windows of the Irj-
bune old building and attempted to set
it on fire, cut off the gas on the streets
that darkness might favor the Saturnalia
of crime, and fought the police with
bricks, paving-stones, clubs, knives, re-
volvers, and guns. The rioters were par
ticularly bitter against the negroes,
whom they believed to have been the
cause Of the war, and whom they hanged
TO the lamp-posts or shot down like dogs
while fleeing for their lives well-dressed
and respectable colored men were seized
while walking with their families without
"A suspicion OF danger, and in few mo-
ments were lifeless objects swinging un-
der neighboring street-lamps.
DOWN on THE TRIBUNE.
The mob showed bitter hatred of the
Tribune, which was then n power in
American politics, and was regarded as
the special friend of the negro. They
gathered in great numbers before the
Tribune building and demanded the life
of Horace Greeley, the famous editor,
who, with the rest Of the staff, however,
shouldered musket and seemed by no
means averse to fight. A squad Of po-
lice hurried up Spruce street on the
southern side of the building. and falling
suddenly on the rioters, dubbed them
into panic. The New York Times build
ing was threatened, and Henry j. Ray
mond, its dapper and intrepid little
editor. who united the polish of
D'Orsay with the courage of lion, had
several pieces Of artillery drawn up on
the Park Row side, with orders to give
the mob his compliments in grape and
canister, and expressed his intention OF
himself manning a gun. The mob let
him alone. They cheered the World,
which was then uniustly suspected of
being unfriendly to the Union. For
three days and three nights the mob
held reign of terror in the city. Then
the Secretary of War ordered the New
York city regiments back from Penn
sylvania, and the outbreak was finally
suppressed.
ACroN's WORK.
On the first day of the riot John A.
Kennedy, the superintendent OF police,
was disabled by the mob, and Thomas
c. Acton stepped promptly to the front
to command force of more than 1000
police. In his disposition of the men, in
his strategy, and the promptness with
which he met trying emergencies, he
showed himself natural military leader,
and on the field he would easily have
won the rank of general. He gave the
mob no rest he followed them day and
night, and when they fancied themselves
so secure that they could pillage without
hindrance he suddenly descended upon
them and drove them like sheep bloody
with attentions from the locust.
In 1870 President Grant appointed
him Superintendent of the United States
Assay Office here, post which he held
for twelve years. Later he became AS
sistant Treasurer of the United States,
but resigned about two years ago to make
way for an appointee of President Cleve-
land. His friends then organized the
Bank of New Amsterdam here and made
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