What Answer?

  CHAPTER XVIII

  "_Will the future come? It seems that we may almost ask this question, when we see such terrible shadow._"

  VICTOR HUGO

  Here it will be necessary to consider some facts which, while they arerather in the domain of the grave recorder of historical events, than inthat of the narrator of personal experiences, are yet essential to thecomprehension of the scenes in which Surrey and Francesca took suchtragic parts.

  Following the proclamation for a draft in the city of New York, therehad been heard on all sides from the newspaper press which sympathizedwith and aided the rebellion, premonitions of the coming storm;denunciations of the war, the government, the soldiers, of the harmlessand inoffensive negroes; angry incitings of the poor man to hatredagainst the rich, since the rich man could save himself from thenecessity of serving in the ranks by the payment of three hundreddollars of commutation money; incendiary appeals to the worst passionsof the most ignorant portion of the community; and open calls toinsurrection and arms to resist the peaceable enforcement of a lawenacted in furtherance of the defence of the nation's life.

  Doubtless this outbreak had been intended at the time of the darkest andmost disastrous days of the Republic; when the often-defeated and sorelydispirited Army of the Potomac was marching northward to coverWashington and Baltimore, and the victorious legions of traitors underLee were swelling across the border, into a loyal State; when Grantstood in seemingly hopeless waiting before Vicksburg, and Banks beforePort Hudson; and the whole people of the North, depressed anddisheartened by the continued series of defeats to our arms, werebeginning to look each at his neighbor, and whisper with white lips,"Perhaps, after all, this struggle is to be in vain."

  Had it been attempted at this precise time, it would, without question,have been, not a riot, but an insurrection,--would have been a portionof the army of rebellion, organized and effective for the prosecution ofthe war, and not a mob, hideous and devilish in its work of destruction,yet still a mob; and as such to be beaten down and dispersed in acomparatively short space of time.

  On the morning of Monday, the thirteenth of July, began this outbreak,unparalleled in atrocities by anything in American history, andequalled only by the horrors of the worst days of the French Revolution.Gangs of men and boys, composed of railroad _employees_, workers inmachine-shops, and a vast crowd of those who lived by preying uponothers, thieves, pimps, professional ruffians,--the scum of thecity,--jail-birds, or those who were running with swift feet to enterthe prison-doors, began to gather on the corners, and in streets andalleys where they lived; from thence issuing forth they visited thegreat establishments on the line of their advance, commanding theirinstant close and the companionship of the workmen,--many of thempeaceful and orderly men,--on pain of the destruction of one and amurderous assault upon the other, did not their orders meet with instantcompliance.

  A body of these, five or six hundred strong, gathered about one of theenrolling-offices in the upper part of the city, where the draft wasquietly proceeding, and opened the assault upon it by a shower of clubs,bricks, and paving-stones torn from the streets, following it up by afurious rush into the office. Lists, records, books, the drafting-wheel,every article of furniture or work in the room was rent in pieces, andstrewn about the floor or flung into the street; while the law officers,the newspaper reporters,--who are expected to be everywhere,--and thefew peaceable spectators, were compelled to make a hasty retreat throughan opportune rear exit, accelerated by the curses and blows of theassailants.

  A safe in the room, which contained some of the hated records, wasfallen upon by the men, who strove to wrench open its impregnable lockwith their naked hands, and, baffled, beat them on its iron doors andsides till they were stained with blood, in a mad frenzy of senselesshate and fury. And then, finding every portable articledestroyed,--their thirst for ruin growing by the little drink it hadhad,--and believing, or rather hoping, that the officers had takenrefuge in the upper rooms, set fire to the house, and stood watching theslow and steady lift of the flames, filling the air with demoniacshrieks and yells, while they waited for the prey to escape from somedoor or window, from the merciless fire to their merciless hands. One ofthese, who was on the other side of the street, courageously steppedforward, and, telling them that they had utterly demolished all theycame to seek, informed them that helpless women and little children werein the house, and besought them to extinguish the flames and leave theruined premises; to disperse, or at least to seek some other scene.

  By his dress recognizing in him a government official, so far fromhearing or heeding his humane appeal, they set upon him with sticks andclubs, and beat him till his eyes were blind with blood, and he--bruisedand mangled--succeeded in escaping to the handful of police who stoodhelpless before this howling crew, now increased to thousands. Withdifficulty and pain the inoffensive tenants escaped from the rapidlyspreading fire, which, having devoured the house originally lighted,swept across the neighboring buildings till the whole block stood a massof burning flames. The firemen came up tardily and reluctantly, many ofthem of the same class as the miscreants who surrounded them, and whocheered at their approach, but either made no attempt to perform theirduty, or so feeble and farcical a one, as to bring disgrace upon aservice they so generally honor and ennoble.

  At last, when there was here nothing more to accomplish, the mob,swollen to a frightful size, including myriads of wretched, drunkenwomen, and the half-grown, vagabond boys of the pavements, rushedthrough the intervening streets, stopping cars and insulting peaceablecitizens on their way, to an armory where were manufactured and storedcarbines and guns for the government. In anticipation of the attack,this, earlier in the day, had been fortified by a police squad capableof coping with an ordinary crowd of ruffians, but as chaff before firein the presence of these murderous thousands. Here, as before, theattack was begun by a rain of missiles gathered from the streets; lessfatal, doubtless, than more civilized arms, but frightful in the ghastlywounds and injuries they inflicted. Of this no notice was taken by thosewho were stationed within; it was repeated. At last, finding they weretreated with contemptuous silence, and that no sign of surrender wasoffered, the crowd swayed back,--then forward,--in a combined attempt toforce the wide entrance-doors. Heavy hammers and sledges, which had beenbrought from forges and workshops, caught up hastily as they gatheredthe mechanics into their ranks, were used with frightful violence tobeat them in,--at last successfully. The foremost assailants began toclimb the stairs, but were checked, and for the moment driven back bythe fire of the officers, who at last had been commanded to resort totheir revolvers. A half-score fell wounded; and one, who had been actingin some sort as their leader,--a big, brutal, Irish ruffian,--droppeddead.

  The pause was but for an instant. As the smoke cleared away there was ageneral and ferocious onslaught upon the armory; curses, oaths,revilings, hideous and obscene blasphemy, with terrible yells and cries,filled the air in every accent of the English tongue save that spoken bya native American. Such were there mingled with the sea of sound, butthey were so few and weak as to be unnoticeable in the roar of voices.The paving stones flew like hail, until the street was torn into gapsand ruts, and every window-pane, and sash, and doorway, was smashed orbroken. Meanwhile, divers attempts were made to fire the building, butfailed through haste or ineffectual materials, or the vigilantwatchfulness of the besieged. In the midst of this gallant defence, wordwas brought to the defenders from head-quarters that nothing could bedone for their support; and that, if they would save their lives, theymust make a quick and orderly retreat. Fortunately, there was a sidepassage with which the mob was unacquainted, and, one by one theysucceeded in gaining this, and vanishing. A few, too faithful or tooplucky to retreat before such a foe, persisted in remaining at theirposts till the fire, which had at last been communicated to thebuilding, crept unpleasantly near; then, by dropping from sill to sillof the broken windows, or sliding by their hands and feet down the roughpipes and stones
, reached the pavement,--but not without injuries andblows, and broken bones, which disabled for a lifetime, if indeed theydid not die in the hospitals to which a few of the more mercifullydisposed carried them.

  The work thus begun, continued,--gathering in force and fury as the daywore on. Police stations, enrolling-offices, rooms or buildings used inany way by government authority, or obnoxious as representing thedignity of law, were gutted, destroyed, then left to the mercy of theflames. Newspaper offices, whose issues had been a fire in the rear ofthe nation's armies by extenuating and defending treason, and throughviolent and incendiary appeals stirring up "lewd fellows of the basersort" to this very carnival of ruin and blood, were cheered as the crowdwent by. Those that had been faithful to loyalty and law were hooted,stoned, and even stormed by the army of miscreants who were only drivenoff by the gallant and determined charge of the police, and in one placeby the equally gallant, and certainly unique defence, which came fromturning the boiling water from the engines upon the howling wretches,who, unprepared for any such warm reception as this, beat a precipitateand general retreat. Before night fell it was no longer one vast crowdcollected in a single section, but great numbers of gatherings,scattered over the whole length and breadth of the city,--some of themengaged in actual work of demolition and ruin; others with clubs andweapons in their hands, prowling round apparently with no definiteatrocity to perpetrate, but ready for any iniquity that mightoffer,--and, by way of pastime, chasing every stray police officer, orsolitary soldier, or inoffensive negro, who crossed the line of theirvision; these three objects--the badge of a defender of the law,--theuniform of the Union army,--the skin of a helpless and outragedrace--acted upon these madmen as water acts upon a rabid dog.

  Late in the afternoon a crowd which could have numbered not less thanten thousand, the majority of whom were ragged, frowzy, drunken women,gathered about the Orphan Asylum for Colored Children,--a large andbeautiful building, and one of the most admirable and noble charities ofthe city. When it became evident, from the menacing cries and groans ofthe multitude, that danger, if not destruction, was meditated to theharmless and inoffensive inmates, a flag of truce appeared, and anappeal was made in their behalf, by the principal, to every sentiment ofhumanity which these beings might possess,--a vain appeal! Whateverhuman feeling had ever, if ever, filled these souls was utterly drownedand washed away in the tide of rapine and blood in which they had beensteeping themselves. The few officers who stood guard over the doors,and manfully faced these demoniac legions, were beaten down and flungto one side, helpless and stunned whilst the vast crowd rushed in. Allthe articles upon which they could seize--beds, bedding, carpets,furniture,--the very garments of the fleeing inmates, some of these tornfrom their persons as they sped by--were carried into the streets, andhurried off by the women and children who stood ready to receive thegoods which their husbands, sons, and fathers flung to their care. Thelittle ones, many of them, assailed and beaten; all,--orphans andcaretakers,--exposed to every indignity and every danger, driven on tothe street,--the building was fired. This had been attempted whilst thehelpless children--some of them scarce more than babies--were still intheir rooms; but this devilish consummation was prevented by the heroismof one man. He, the Chief of the Fire Department, strove by voice andarm to stay the endeavor; and when, overcome by superior numbers, thebrands had been lit and piled, with naked hands, and in the face ofthreatened death, he tore asunder the glowing embers, and trod themunder foot. Again the effort was made, and again failed through thedetermined and heroic opposition of this solitary soul. Then, on thefront steps, in the midst of these drunken and infuriate thousands, hestood up and besought them, if they cared nothing for themselves nor forthese hapless orphans, that they would not bring lasting disgrace uponthe city by destroying one of its noblest charities, which had for itsobject nothing but good.

  He was answered on all sides by yells and execrations, and frenziedshrieks of "Down with the nagurs!" coupled with every oath and everycurse that malignant hate of the blacks could devise, and drunken, Irishtongues could speak. It had been decreed that this building was to berazed to the ground. The house was fired in a thousand places, and inless than two hours the walls crashed in,--a mass of smoking, blackenedruins; whilst the children wandered through the streets, a prey tobeings who were wild beasts in everything save the superior ingenuity ofman to agonize and torture his victims.

  Frightful as the day had been, the night was yet more hideous; since tothe horrors which were seen was added the greater horror of deeds whichmight be committed in the darkness; or, if they were seen, it was by thelurid glare of burning buildings,--the red flames of which--flung uponthe stained and brutal faces, the torn and tattered garments, of men andwomen who danced and howled around the scene of ruin they hadcaused--made the whole aspect of affairs seem more like a gathering offiends rejoicing in Pandemonium than aught with which creatures of fleshand blood had to do.

  Standing on some elevated point, looking over the great city, whichpresented, as usual, at night, a solemn and impressive show, thespectator was thrilled with a fearful admiration by the sights andsounds which gave to it a mysterious and awful interest. A thousandfires streamed up against the sky, making darkness visible; and from allsides came a combination of noises such as might be heard from anasylum in which were gathered the madmen of the world.

  The next morning's sun rose on a city which was ruled by a reign ofterror. Had the police possessed the heads of Hydra and the arms ofBriareus, and had these heads all seen, these arms all fought, theywould have been powerless against the multitude of opposers. Outbreakswere made, crowds gathered, houses burned, streets barricaded, fightsenacted, in a score of places at once. Where the officers appeared theywere irretrievably beaten and overcome; their stand, were it ever soshort, but inflaming the passions of the mob to fresh deeds of violence.Stores were closed; the business portion of the city deserted; the largeworks and factories emptied of men, who had been sent home by theiremployers, or were swept into the ranks of the marauding bands. The citycars, omnibuses, hacks, were unable to run, and remained under shelter.Every telegraph wire was cut, the posts torn up, the operators drivenfrom their offices. The mayor, seeing that civil power was helpless tostem this tide, desired to call the military to his aid, and place thecity under martial law, but was opposed by the Governor,--a governor,who, but a few days before, had pronounced the war a failure; and notonly predicted, but encouraged this mob rule, which was now crushingeverything beneath its heavy and ensanguined feet. This man, throughalmost two days of these awful scenes, remained at a quiet seasideretreat but a few miles from the city. Coming to it on the afternoon ofthe second day,--instead of ordering cannon planted in the streets,giving these creatures opportunity to retire to their homes, and, in theevent of refusal, blowing them there by powder and ball,--he first wentto the point where was collected the chiefest mob, and proceeded toaddress them. Before him stood incendiaries, thieves, and murderers, whoeven then were sacking dwelling-houses, and butchering powerless andinoffensive beings. These wretches he apostrophized as "My friends,"repeating the title again and again in the course of his harangue,assuring them that he was there as a proof of his friendship,--which hehad demonstrated by "sending his adjutant-general to Washington, to havethe draft stopped"; begging them to "wait for his return"; "to separatenow as good citizens"; with the promise that they "might assemble againwhenever they wished to so do"; meanwhile, he would "take care of theirrights." This model speech was incessantly interrupted by tremendouscheering and frantic demonstrations of delight,--one great fellow almostcrushing the Governor in his enthusiastic embrace. This ended, heentered a carriage, and was driven through the blackened, smoking scenesof Monday's devastations; through fresh vistas of outrage, of the day'sexecution; bland, gracious, smiling. Wherever he appeared, cheer uponcheer rent the air from these crowds of drunken blasphemers; and in oneplace the carriage in which he sat was actually lifted from the ground,and carried some rods, by hands yet red
with deeds of arson and murder;while from all sides voices cried out, "Will ye stop the draft,Gov'nur?" "Bully boy!" "Ye're the man for us!" "Hooray for Gov'nurSaymoor!" Thus, through the midst of this admiring and applauding crowd,this high officer of the law, sworn to maintain public peace, moved tohis hotel, where he was met by a despatch from Washington, informing himthat five regiments were under arms and on their way to put an end tothis bloody assistance to the Southern war.

  His allies in newspaper offices attempted to throw the blame upon theloyal press and portion of the community. This was but a repetition ofthe cry, raised by traitors in arms, that the government, struggling forlife in their deadly hold, was responsible for the war: "If thou wouldstbut consent to be murdered peaceably, there could be no strife."

  These editors outraged common sense, truth, and decency, by speaking ofthe riots as an "uprising of the people to defend their liberties,"--"anopposition on the part of the workingmen to an unjust and oppressivelaw, enacted in favor of the men of wealth and standing." As though the_people_ of the great metropolis were incendiaries, robbers, andassassins; as though the poor were to demonstrate their indignationagainst the rich by hunting and stoning defenceless women and children;torturing and murdering men whose only offence was the color God gavethem, or men wearing the self-same uniform as that which they declaredwas to be thrust upon them at the behest of the rich and the great.

  It was absurd and futile to characterize this new Reign of Terror asanything but an effort on the part of Northern rebels to help Southernones, at the most critical moment of the war,--with the State militiaand available troops absent in a neighboring Commonwealth,--and theloyal people unprepared. These editors and their coadjutors, men ofbrains and ability, were of that most poisonous growth,--traitors to theGovernment and the flag of their country,--renegade Americans. Let it,however, be written plainly and graven deeply, that the tribes ofsavages--the hordes of ruffians--found ready to do their loathsomebidding, were not of native growth, nor American born.

  While it is true that there were some glib-tongued fellows who spoke thelanguage without foreign accent, all of them of the lowest order ofDemocratic ward-politicians, of creatures skulking from the outstretchedarm of avenging law; while the most degraded of the German populationwere represented; while it is also true that there were Irish, andCatholic Irish too,--industrious, sober, intelligent people,--whoindignantly refused participation in these outrages, and mourned overthe barbarities which were disgracing their national name; it ispre-eminently true,--proven by thousands of witnesses, and testified toby numberless tongues,--that the masses, the rank and file, the almostentire body of rioters, were the worst classes of Irish emigrants,infuriated by artful appeals, and maddened by the atrocious whiskey ofthousands of grog-shops.

  By far the most infamous part of these cruelties was that which wreakedevery species of torture and lingering death upon the colored people ofthe city,--men, women, and children, old and young, strong and feeblealike. Hundreds of these fell victims to the prejudice fostered bypublic opinion, incorporated in our statute-books, sanctioned by ourlaws, which here and thus found legitimate outgrowth and action. Thehorrors which blanched the face of Christendom were but the bloodyharvest of fields sown by society, by cultured men and women, by speech,and book, and press, by professions and politics, nay, by the pulpititself, and the men who there make God's truth a lie,--garbling ordenying the inspired declaration that "He has made of one blood allpeople to dwell upon the face of the earth"; and that he, the All-Justand Merciful One, "is no respecter of persons."

  This riot, begun ostensibly to oppose the enforcement of a single law,developed itself into a burning and pillaging assault upon the homes andproperty of peaceful citizens. To realize this, it was only necessary towalk the streets, if that were possible, through those days of riot andconflagration, observe the materials gathered into the vast, movingmultitudes, and scrutinize the faces of those of whom they werecomposed,--deformed, idiotic, drunken, imbecile, poverty-stricken;seamed with every line which wretchedness could draw or vicious habitsand associations delve. To walk these streets and look upon these faceswas like a fearful witnessing in perspective of the last day, when thesecrets of life, more loathsome than those of death, shall be laid barein all their hideous deformity and ghastly shame.

  The knowledge of these people and their deeds was sufficient to create aparalysis of fear, even where they were not seen. Indeed, there wasterror everywhere. High and low, rich and poor, cultured and ignorant,all shivered in its awful grasp. Upon stately avenues and noisome alleysit fell with the like blackness of darkness. Women cried aloud to Godwith the same agonized entreaty from knees bent on velvet carpets orbare and dingy floors. Men wandered up and down, prisoners in their ownhomes, and cursed or prayed with equal fury or intensity whether thehomes were simple or splendid. Here one surveyed all his costly store ofrare and exquisite surroundings, and shook his head as he gazed, ominousand foreboding. There, another of darker hue peered out from garretcasement, or cellar light, or broken window-pane, and, shuddering,watched some woman stoned and beaten till she died; some child shotdown, while thousands of heavy, brutal feet trod over it till the hardstones were red with its blood, and the little prostrate form, yet warm,lost every likeness of humanity, and lay there, a sickening mass ofmangled flesh and bones; some man assaulted, clubbed, overborne, leftwounded or dying or dead, as he fell, or tied to some convenient tree orlamp-post to be hacked and hewn, or flayed and roasted, yet living,where he hung,--and watching this, and cowering as he watched, held hisbreath, and waited his own turn, not knowing when it might come.