The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-03-27
MODS IN OTHER DAYS.
The Doctors Mob of 1881, and the
Draft Riots of 1868.

tlJN.
1t was in 1877, before the names of
Gould, Vanderbilt or Ward McAllister
had been heard, when the Dutch wood
en- gables quantity faced Broadway, and
Castle Garden and Battery row were
aristOcralic neighbOOds. In corner of
the old common stood an Out-of-. he
way ructure, formerly an army nospi-
tai, which the medical students had !
made into a dissecLing house and there |
experimental upon the bodies procure Il |
for the purpose.
One fall morning, according to a wri- |
ter in the ST. Louis Post Dispatch, |
nunber of students were busy at Jnelr |
anatomical stu lies with Il ''subject" be- !
fore them, when some school boys hap
pened to pass and stopped a6ar the
door. One of the students thinking To
brighten the lads, ran to the door and,
holding out a freshly severed arm,
i:See here" he cried, pointing to the
bloody member, "this is your inOther's
arm, ;" and added brutal reference To
the "hand that whipped him."
The boy turned pale and He'd with bis
| fellows, While the student returned to
his friends, laughing al the joke. But
1t happened thai the boys mother had
| really died afew weeks before, and to
| the child it seemed certain that ker
| body was be- ing hi eIed to pieces. He
ran and told his father, The poor man
| was horrihed, His grief was so recent
| that he did not stop to consider the
story, but, acting on his fears, left his
| WORK ana was so earnest III u0ScElDiIlS
the matter to his neighbors that they
agreed to help him uncover tine grave
of the wife and gee If the body was
there. They did SO, and made tile dis
coyery THAR the body was gonei
Filled with rage they GtSTted for the
dissectipg- house, the crowd gathering
farce as it went. A veritable crusade
against public outrage was the. result
and the sqrgipg mob tore d9wA the now
deserted building to its foundations.
turned out the whole medical probes
sion. Surely the doctors employed the
body snatchers; they would destroy
them all. And the leader gave the cry
Down with the doctOrs!'
The mob surged on, growing larger
az every adVaaye and With a NOUS us
ual holses h99tingy bowling and ours
ing. 4 Physician9s sign was enough to
| cause raid, and the Offices of the mem
hers of the profession were broken into
snd ransac ked, eVefything .Porta-
ble being thrown into the street! Es-
peGiallY were the raiaera angry upon
, flesh, their rage being almost beyond
The physicians themselves had fled,
being nearly wild with fright, knowing
that capture meant death. 1t made no
difference how high they ste9d; S9me
, in an hour barren ruins. Fires were
: started in some of the offices and the
structures burned to the ground. OF
flee after office was pulled or burned
: down and the terrified doctors fled Iro:l
= nlaoe 20 place. not EnoWln9 %he4e To
! find SAFETY;
! The police gould do nothing to stop
: the thrOng, and even the military was
! unable to check the onrushing rorce
= The CITY was in the pontr0t of demons
: utterly regardless of life or property
I" Two days and nights the reign OF ter
= rOr lasted. Over 100 houses were de-
) j.
= ously injured and nearly score killed
. Gov. Clinton tried in vain to influence
+ the crowd and Baron Steuben, in
q charge 81 the troops, 4s6d every posi-
= bic means except Hiring into the Ilass o.
humanity to stop the slaughter '
Finally the physicians, driven from
| place to place, took refuge in the coun-
: ty iail-there we're nearly 100 OF thea
+ rhe police and military aurrCunded the
place to protect them. On the third day
, of the riot the mob found out where the
e doctors were and conferred its final fury
< upon the Jail. paeT were wilder lh&H
!; ever with rage and shouted ana hoWleo
u about the place, ready to murder every
e man inside the walls if they could only
II get to them. The arrangements were
/ made to carry the place by storm.
o Gov. Clinton, John Jay, AleXandel
5 Hamilton and Baron Steqben places
themselves in front Of the RCliCa anC
soldiers and tried to quiet the thousand:
# of raiders, but il was useless. Ihey de
!, manded the doctors and nothing less
!, This was refused and stones, stick:
and mud was thrown at the soldiers
l., Now and then pistol would go of anC
# a duh roar of angry curses rolled ul
I from the desperate throng. Finally
r John Jay was knocked down by stone
n and then Gov. Clinton determined L
n order the soldiers to FIRE lntH tho mob
# thing he had not done before because
a be did not like to cause the bloodsheC
a | which he knew would follow.
Rarnn Stanhnn- hnWRVAr. fOr mDT
n cy still and epEraated thG GGFernor loi
n mercy on the NAB. But even while h'
!, was persuading in the rabies favor
n brick bat hit the sturdy old warrior OF
a the head and tumhled him out of hi
saddle. That settled it. While 1t die
not deprive him of speech it altered hi
mind.
IS "Fire! Governor, fire." he shouted, a
,. he fell to the ground "tiiye II ia tn
% The humor in the sudden change o
l. the Baron's feelings was Irresistible
r Instead of ordering the soldiers to FIR
Q ISLANDERS smiled. Then they grinned
q Then they laughed hearty and long, a
g the incident went quickly from lip t.
b lip. In moment roar OF gui'aw
s went up teoIn the I,lass OF rough work
y men gathered about the Jail.
Ir Fhe riout was over. Mirth conquered
n murder. The mob dropped their weap
b ons and went peacefully homeward
II cry for vengeance, to placid Mammal
/ tanites, haw-haWiAg as IL they. hat
t been to COMIC opera. The injured
p ones Of the crowd We're now in the doc
s tors power, and it is to be presumed
e that the ply sicians were not too care
n full how tenderlY they handled theil
IS patients. Ihe DOCTORS mob ended will
r the doctors in possession of the field
= NEW YoRK's DRAFT RIOT.
l. Another famous riot occurring In New
If York City was that of July l3, IA anC
: 10, 1863, when the draft made to force
II citizens into military service melted {
l. disturbance which held both New forl
b and Brookly in its sway. The draf
# riot commenced with the distribution
3 of incendiary hand bills urging thu
: people to rise for the VindiUatiOn o
;, their liberties. The great body of for
r eign-born laborers rose in their might
l. and in the absence of the military force
: which usually was within call, the
o police department was helpless. AL
+ WHO were opposed to the abOiitionists
r or had no sympathy with the negroes
T augmented the numbers until the
It streets were filled with a drunken, bel
Il lowing, furious mob, which was in en-
: tire control of the city for three whole
: days. The blacks were particularly OBJ
g nOXiOus to the rioters, and many were
Y killed outright, while the homes o. 9TH
b ers were destroyed. One negro boy was
q | chased from cellar to cellar, from alley
!. to alley, for three hours one evening by
# an infatuated body of the miscreants
Y but be finally escaped.
e The Co!ored Orphan Asylum was ran
V sacked and burned to the ground, the
{ damage being over 500, 900. In Brook
!, Ign magnificent grain elevator costing
5 over 100000 was destroyed. The run
$ ming of the railroads was stopped, yes
sells stood unloaded and the business OF
the city was paralyZed. Reports of de
cisive Union victories in the field put 4
quietus on the excitement, and on the
q fourth day small body of soldiers, un-
der Capt. Putnam, arrested the leaders
, and put a stop to the damage. Before
5 doing so, however, Capt, Putnam was
compiled to order his men to fire into
the mob, by which thirteen were killed
and eighteen wounded. The whole
amount of property destroyed foI
which the city was held responsible by
the owners was valued at S2,0O00eQ, and
nearly fifty lives were lost. The ar
rival of more troops from the field on