CHAPTER IX.

It was during the mayoralty of Cornelius W. Lawrence that the great Flour Riot took place-a riot which, although I can find no mention of it save in the contemporaneous records of the day, at first threatened the most serious destruction to life and property.

The winter of 1836-37 had been one of unusual severity. In addition to this, a scarcity of the cereal crops throughout the country, the preceding season (not more than one-half the usual quantity having been harvested), had raised flour to twelve and fifteen dollars a barrel-at that time an enormous price. The poorer class of citizens, as a matter of course, suffered greatly; and a mistaken idea having got abroad that a few of the larger flour and grain dealers had taken advantage of the scarcity to buy up all the flour in the city, there was added mental to physical distress. But, granting all this, it is extremely doubtful whether these feelings would have culminated in actual deeds of violence, had not two political factions-the Loco-foco and the Temperance-for their own ends, fanned the embers of discord into a blaze. The former, through their party organs, labored to stir up the evil passions in the bosoms of the laboring classes by the war-cry of "the poor against the rich;" while the latter attributed the scarcity of grain to the distilleries. A few weeks before

the riot, a public meeting had been held at the New York Tabernacle, to consider and act upon the high price of grain and provisions, on which occasion the speeches evinced considerable heat, though they were not of an openly incendiary character. The fires, however, were only smoldering, and, accordingly, on Friday, the 10th of February, 1837, a notice was published in some 1837. of the newspapers, and conspicuously placarded through the city, of a meeting to be held in the Park on the afternoon of the next Monday, February 13th. The notice itself, as will be seen, was couched in language of a highly injudicious character, and well calculated to inflame the minds of the unthinking, and lead them into the excesses which they afterward committed.

The following is a fac-simile of the notice:

BREAD! MEAT! RENT! FUEL!!

THEIR PRICES MUST COME DOWN!

The voice of the people shall be heard and will prevail. The people will meet in the PARK, rain or shine, at 4 o'clock MONDAY Afternoon,

To enquire into the cause of the present unexampled distress, and to devise a suitable remedy. All friends of humanity, determined to resist monopolists and extortionists, are invited to attend.

MOSES JACQUES,

PAULUS HEDL,

DANIEL A. ROBERTSON,

WARDEN HAYWARD,

New York, February 10th, 1837.

DANIEL GORHAM,

JOHN WINDT,

ALEXANDER MING, JR.,
ELIJAH F. CRANE.

The New York Tabernacle, built in 1835-'36, and designed for a free church, was torn down in 1856, and re-erected in 1859 by the society, on the

corner of Sixth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street.

Under the above call, a mob of about six thousand people collected together, at the time appointed, in front of the City Hall, combining within itself all the elements. of riot and revolution. Moses Jacques was selected as the chairman. Order was not the presiding genius, and the meeting was divided into various groups, each of which was harangued by some favorite demagogue after his own. fashion and on his own account.

Conspicuous among the orators was Alexander Ming, Jr., and other speakers, who, in a most exciting manner, denounced the landlords and the holders of flour for the prices of rents and provisions. One of these orators, after working upon the passions of his audience until they were fitted for the work of spoliation and outrage, expressly directed the popular vengeance against Mr. Eli Hart, who was one of the most extensive flour-dealers in the city. "Fellow-citizens," he exclaimed, "Mr. Hart has now fiftythree thousand barrels of flour in his store. Let us go and offer him eight dollars a barrel, and if he does not take it"-here some person touched the orator on the shoulder, and he suddenly lowered his voice, and finished. his sentence by saying, "we shall depart from him in peace." This hint was sufficient. A large body of the rioters at once marched off in the direction of Mr. Hart's store, situated on Washington Street, between Dey and Cortlandt. The store was a large brick building, and had three wide but strong iron doors upon the street. Being apprised of the approach of the mob, the clerks secured the doors and windows, but not until the middle door had been forced, and some thirty barrels of flour rolled into the street, and their heads staved in. At this point Mr. Hart arrived on the ground with a posse of officers from the police. The latter were immediately assailed by a portion of the mob in Dey Street, their clubs wrested from them and shivered to pieces. The numbers of the

mob not being large enough at this time, the officers succeeded in entering the store, and for a short while delayed the work of destruction. The Mayor next arrived on the scene, and attempted to remonstrate with the infatuated multitude on the folly of their conduct, but to no purpose; their numbers were rapidly increasing, and his Honor was assailed with all sorts of missiles, and with such fury that he was compelled to retire. Meanwhile, large reinforcements of rioters having arrived from the Park, the officers were driven from the field, and the store carried by assault-the first iron door torn from its hinges being used as a battering-ram against the others. The rioters, like enraged and famished tigers, now rushed in; the windows and doors of the upper lofts were wrenched open, and the work of destruction again commenced. Barrels of flour by dozens, by fifties, and by hundreds were thrown in rapid succession from the windows, and the heads of those which did not break in falling were at once staved in. Intermingled with the flour were sacks of wheat by the hundred, which were cast into the street, and their contents emptied upon the pavement. About one thousand bushels of wheat and six hundred barrels of flour were thus wantonly and foolishly destroyed. The most active of those engaged in this were foreigners, debased by intemperance and crime-indeed, the greater part of the assemblage was of exotic growth; but there were probably a thousand others standing by and abetting their incendiary labors. Amidst the falling and bursting of the barrels and sacks of wheat, numbers of women were engaged, like the crones who strip the dead on the battle-field, filling the boxes and baskets with which they were provided, and their aprons, with flour, and making off with it. One of the destructives, a boy named James Roach, was seen upon one of the upper window-sills, throwing barrel after barrel into the street, and crying out with every throw,

H

"Here goes flour at eight dollars a barrel!"* Early in the assault, Mr. Hart's counting-room was entered, his books and papers seized and scattered to the winds.†

Night had now closed upon the scene; but the work of destruction did not cease until strong bodies of police arrived, followed soon after by detachments of troops. The store was then closed, and several of the rioters were arrested and sent to the Bridewell, under charge of

the Chief of Police. On his way to the prison, the latter, with his assistants, was assailed, his coat torn off him, and several prisoners were rescued.

Before the close of the proceedings at Hart's store, the cry of "Meech" was raised, whereupon a detachment of the rioters crossed over to Coenties Slip to attack the

*This boy, however, with others, paid dearly for his flour, being afterward indicted, tried, and sent to prison for a term of years.

+ Mr. Hart's loss was set down at $10,000.