A number of disorderly persons followed the carriage and crossed the ferry with us. No attempt was made to disturb us; but on reaching Mr. B.'s house we found it surrounded by a reinforced mob. I had been instructed how to conduct myself on our arrival. I was told that two or three gentlemen would rush from the door and suddenly carry me in. Accordingly, when the carriage stopped close to the door steps I found myself in the arms of three strong men, who landed me safely. I found Maggie sick and nearly paralyzed with fright. There were strong-armed forces for protection on our side. We had not been in the house ten minutes when several shots were fired and stones thrown, breaking everything in their way. We crouched beneath the furniture, and lay on the floor to escape the bullets, expecting at every moment some stray shot or stone would strike us. (Our hiding-room was in the interior of the house.) The mob threatened and did all in their power to destroy us; but, knowing the gentlemen inside were so well prepared for them, they retired for the night. They, however, continued their watchfulness until we left the place. Mr. Bouton's house stood in the outskirts of West Troy, near a lumber yard, a capital hiding-place for a mob, and I am not sure there were any policemen there at that time. Poor Maggie's nerves were terribly unstrung. She would start in her sleep and cry out fearfully, believing she was still besieged by the mob. She was too ill to be taken home, and I managed (with the aid of friends) to get her to Albany, where we remained several weeks at the Delavan House. During our stay in Albany, the identical men who met me and followed me from Schenectady to West Troy were prowling about my home in Rochester. All the circumstances connected with the affair show conclusively that there was a deep-laid scheme to destroy us, and that these men had been appointed to accomplish that object; but, like every other attempt at violence against us, they met with nothing but discomfiture. CHAPTER X. NEW YORK. 1850. "THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS AT BARNUM'S HOTEL"--HARD WORK--OUR VISITORS--A POISONED BOUQUET--HAIR OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I.--HAIR OF JOHN C. CALHOUN--INVESTIGATION AT RESIDENCE OF REV. RUFUS W. GRISWOLD, BY THE LEADING LITERARY CELEBRITIES OF NEW YORK. FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK. We arrived in New York City on June 4, 1850, and had engaged rooms at Barnum's Hotel, corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane. (This proprietor must not be confounded with the great showman of that name.)