Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the warStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
History
Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the war
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Several women who were among the crowd also kicked the unfortunate man.
Yelling like so many devils, three or four men seized the Colonel by his
hair, and dragged him into the street, where they again kicked and beat
him.
A man keeping a drug store on the corner, carried out a glass of water
to give the Colonel, whereupon the mob turned about and completely
gutted his store.
After beating Colonel O’Brien until he was insensible, they again
dragged him into the yard and threw him into a corner, where every now
and then they visited him and renewed their attack upon him.
Several persons witnessed this outrage from their near windows, and
protested against it, when the mob cried out “kill them too, don’t let’s
have any witnesses.” The ringleaders notified the neighbors that they
intended burning the block at night, and were going to burn the body of
the Colonel.
The brutal murderers watched over his body until life was extinct,
refusing to allow any one to approach to give him the slightest
assistance. Two Roman Catholic priests finally came up and conveyed his
body in a hand-cart to the Bellevue Hospital Dead-House. He was terribly
mangled, and his body was almost naked and covered with gore.
Among the acts of the rioters during Tuesday, were the following: The
main track of the Hudson River railroad from Fifty-ninth to Fifty-third
streets was torn up by the insurgents about ten o’clock in the morning,
the Albany express train which left at that hour being compelled to back
out of town on one of the turn outs. The crowd was armed with
cart-rungs, small clubs, and other weapons. After damaging the railroad
they proceeded down the avenue, amusing themselves by applying the torch
to the house of any person whom they considered opposed to them.
The Western Hotel, the Western Drove-Yards, and other buildings, were in
this manner destroyed.
At the corner of Twenty-sixth street and Eleventh avenue, the Hudson
River cars were stopped and threatened with destruction, but were
eventually allowed to proceed on their way.
The residence of Colonel Nugent, Eighty-sixth street, was utterly
destroyed; and an adjoining building was burned to the ground. A large
factory in Harlem was fired, and completely consumed. Post-Master
Wakeman’s residence in Yorkville was pillaged of everything it
contained, and then reduced to ashes; an attack was made on the clothing
store of Mr. Brooks, Catherine street, the rioters carrying away
articles of clothing of great value. The robbery was interrupted, and
the probable subsequent destruction of the building prevented, by the
arrival of a police force, who fell upon the mob with great fierceness,
capturing many, and scattering the remainder in confusion. Thieves,
garroters, rowdies and ruffians of all descriptions took this
opportunity of joining the mob and robbing and plundering at their
pleasure. Many of the rioters arrested by the police were recognized as
old offenders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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