by Bruno, Joe
In the early 1800's, there was a vibrant movement in the United States to end slavery. Yet, there was no other place in the country that displayed more animosity towards blacks than the mean streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Abolitionist Movement (to abolish slavery) was spearheaded by men like William Lloyd Garrison, and bothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan. Yet, the hatred for black slaves permeated throughout New York City and was incited by the ruling Irish faction of Tammany Hall. This malevolence was punctuated by a multitude of atrocities, perpetrated against the slaves by the Irish Five Points street gangs, which Tammany Hall overtly protected from prosecution for their heinous crimes.
In 1833, aided by the fiery speeches of William Lloyd Garrison, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. Many of the Brits living in America also spoke out vociferously against slavery. This did not go over too well with the powers that be at Tammany Hall, which had convinced the Irish street gangs that the Abolitionists were looking to transform America back into a British colony.
Anti-Abolitionist James Watson Webb provoked the Irish gangs even further, when he printed in his Courier and Enquirer that, “Abolitionists had told their daughters to marry blacks, black dandies in search of white wives were promenading Broadway on horseback, and Arthur Tappan had divorced his wife and married a negress.”
All Webb's statements were lies, but they were believed by the rabble nevertheless.
On July 7, 1834, a group of black slaves gathered in the Chatham Street Chapel to hear a sermon by a black minister. In the audience, lending his support, was Arthur Tappan. The sermon had just begun, when members of the New York Sacred Music Society broke in, claiming they had rented the chapel for the evening. The slaves, who had already paid for the use of the chapel, refused to leave. The street gangs, with members of the Plug Uglies, Forty Thieves, and Roach Guards, banded together and attacked the slaves with leaded canes, seriously injuring several slaves.
An angry mob had formed outside the chapel, and as the police arrived to try to quell the disturbance, Tappan hurried from the scene to his house on Rose Street, which is now the site of the New York City Municipal Building. Knowing he was an avowed abolitionist, a crowd followed Tappan, and as he rushed inside, they pelted his home with rocks.
Webb's paper predictably lied again, when he described the event as a “Negro riot,” owing to "Arthur Tappan's mad impertinence." The Commercial Advertiser, another pro-slavery rag, said, “Gangs of blacks were preparing to set the city ablaze.”
This was just the beginning of a string of atrocities. The next night, a mob of gang members broke down the door of the Chatham Street Chapel. And while they held an impromptu meeting inside, W.W. Wilder yelled, “To the Bowery Theater!”
The reason for their attack on the Bowery Theater was because its manager, and British actor, George P. Farren, another avowed abolitionist, had recently said of the pro-slavery crowd, "Damn the Yankees; they are a damn set of jackasses, and fit to be gulled.”
Farren had also just fired an American actor, and as a result, anti-abolitionists posted handbills, detailing Farren's actions, throughout New York City.
An estimated 4000 rioters broke down the doors of the Bowery Theater, interrupting the performance of beloved American actor Edwin Forrest, who was a favorite of the Five Point gangs. Forrest tried to quiet the angry mob, but they insisted on knowing the whereabouts of Farren, who was hiding somewhere on the premises. Before the mob could take the place apart looking for Farren, with the intention of hanging him, a large contingent of police officers arrived and drove the mob from the theater with billy clubs.
Still, the mob was not through. They yelled, “To Arthur Tappan's house!”
Tappan and his family had already escaped before the mob showed up. Yet, when the mob did arrive, they tore down Tappan's house, board by board. They also piled Tappan's furniture into the street, and set it on fire until there was nothing left but a painting of George Washington.
As one rioter tried to throw the Washington painting into the fire, another one ripped it from his hands saying, “It's George Washington! For God's sake, don't burn Washington!”
The mob rampaged through the city, torturing and raping black slaves and even gouging out the eyes of an Englishman, after they had ripped off his ears. The worst rioting was in the Five Points area, where dozens of houses, including St. Phillip's Church, were burned to the ground. Several English sailors and black slaves were captured and mutilated. Word soon spread in the streets that every house in the Five Points area that did not have a candle burning in its window would be burned down. In minutes, candles appeared in every window; saving the neighborhood from destruction at the hands of the out-of-control racist lunatics.
On the afternoon of July 11, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence issued a proclamation asking all good citizens to band together to stop the rioting. He also ordered Major General Shadford to call in the 27th Regiment of the National Guard Infantry. At 9 p.m., around 300 Five Point Gang members assembled before the Laight Street Church, which was run by vocal abolitionist Reverend Samuel Hanson Cox. The church was guarded by several New York City policemen, but the mob charged anyway, forcing the outmanned policemen to run for their lives.
As the mob destroyed the church, Mayor Lawrence ordered the infantry into action. Armed with clubs, bayonets, muskets, and pistols, the infantry drove the rioters from several downtown churches, and the surrounding streets, back into the Five Points area.
The next day, armed soldiers and policemen scoured the Five Points, looking for known mob members. They rounded up and arrested 150 Five Pointers, but then, inexplicably, Tammany Hall stepped in and released almost all of them.
Only 20 gang members, out of the thousands who pillaged the streets of New York City in July of 1834, were ever tried, convicted, and sent to jail.
Astor Place Theater Riots of 1849
One of the worst riots in New York City history took place on May 10, 1849. It started over an impassioned disagreement over who had the better Shakespearian Actor: the United States, or hated Mother England.
British actor William Macready was considered to be the most accomplished actor on both sides of the pond. Yet Macready, who called himself an aristocrat, was a snob, who looked down on America in general and their inferior actors in particular. One of those actors who caused Macready to sniff in superiority was the Philadelphia-born Edwin Forrest, a self-taught thespian, who was the darling of the rough and tumble New York City crowd. To make matters worse for Forrest and his followers, the New York City aristocracy much preferred the foreigner Macready instead of the homegrown Forrest.
In 1848, Forrest, on a mission to prove to the world that he was the equal of any actor alive, traveled to London, England, to play Hamlet. Even though Forrest dined with Macready the night before Forrest's performance, when Forrest took the stage he was brutally hissed by the audience. Forrest's performance was panned viciously in the London newspapers and repeated in the American press. Forrest blamed this on Macready, and by the time Forrest arrived back in the United States, there was a global feud ready to explode.
Two New Yorkers were instrumental in fanning the flames of discontent concerning the rude treatment of their homeboy Forrest in England. One was Captain Isaiah Rynders, who owned the notorious Empire Club on Park Row. Rynders was also the mob boss, who controlled all the vicious gangs in the Five Points area. The other instigator was E. Z. C. Judson, who wrote under the pen name - Ned Buntline. Both men hated the English, and in the weekly newspaper, Ned Buntline's Own, Buntline turned a mere heated actors’ dispute into an international incident.
The tension mounted, when it was announced in the New York City press that Macready would make a four-week “farewell” appearance in America, commencing on May 7, 1849. His first show was scheduled to be at the new Astor Place Theater, on Astor Place in Manhattan. As soon as Macready graced the stage with his presence, Rynders rose from his seat, and in concert with hundreds of his gang thugs i
n attendance, they peppered Macready with rotten eggs, ripe tomatoes, and old shoes. Macready, incredulous at the blatant disrespect for his great talents, thundered off the stage. He canceled the rest of his four-week engagement and vowed never to appear in the United States again.
This caused great consternation among the blue-bloods in New York City's society crowd. Quickly, they assembled a petition with 47 signatures, which included those of Washington Irving and Herman Melville, begging Macready to stay and continue his tour. Macready, against his better judgment, caved in and agreed to give it one more try.
The news hit the newspapers, that on May 10, just three days after he was rudely chased from the stage, Macready would appear as Macbeth in Macbeth; again at the Astor Place Theater. Coincidentally, Forrest also opened that same night, playing Spartacus in The Gladiator, in a playhouse a mile south of the Astor Place Theater. The newspapers played up the rivalry and the British crew of a docked Cunard liner said they would make their presence known at Macready's performance, lest an unruly American mob again tried to insult their countryman.
This incited Captain Rynders to plaster New York City with thousands of posters saying, “Workingmen, shall Americans or English rule this city? The crew of the English steamer has threatened all Americans who shall dare to express their opinion this night at the English Aristocratic Opera House! We advocated no violence, but free expression of opinion is to all men!”
New York City mayor Caleb C. Woodhull anticipated a riot, and he sent 350 policemen, under the command of Police Chief G.W. Matsell, to the Astor Place Theater to quell any possible disturbances. In addition, General Sanders, of the New York Militia, assembled eight companies of guardsmen and two troops of Calvary to patrol the area around the playhouse.
When the show started, all 1,800 seats had been sold, with the pro-Macready crowd vastly outnumbering the pro-Forrest crowd. It was estimated that more than 20,000 people stood outside the theater, making Astor Place, from Broadway to the Bowery, one large sea of discontent.
At 7:40 p.m., the play started, and the first two scenes played out without any interruption. However, when Macready majestically strode on stage for the third scene, all hell broke loose. Captain Rynders and his gangs hooted and hollered and hissed at Macready. Outside, the angry crowd, hearing the animosity inside, started to bum-rush the theater. They threw rocks and stones, breaking all the theater's windows. And just because they could, the mob smashed all the street lamps in the area too.
The police attacked the angry mob with clubs, but to no avail. The mob screamed “Burn the damned den of aristocracy.”
The police were getting the worst of the riot, and at 9 p.m., the first of the militia arrived. They too were pelted by bricks and stones. Ned Buntline was at the head of the angry mob chanting, “Workingmen! Shall Americans or Englishmen rule? Shall the sons whose fathers drove the baseborn miscreants from these shores give up liberty?”
Chief Matsell, after being hit with a 20-pound rock in the chest, gave the order for the militia to shoot into the crowd. And they did just that, hitting men, women, and children, and even a lady who was sleeping in her bed 150 yards from the theater.
When the dust cleared hours later, 22 people were killed and 150 were injured. Five of those who were injured, died within five days. 86 rioters were arrested, including Ned Buntline, who received a year in jail and a $250 fine. Captain Rynders escaped without arrest, or injury, only to torment the city for many years to come.
The lawmen were not without their own injuries. More than a hundred policemen and militia were injured by rocks and stones, and another six were shot; but none died.
The next night, another mob tried to burn down the Astor Place Theater. But they were beaten back by a new battalion of militia, which had been brought into the city in case of further disturbances.
On the night of May 12, another crowd assembled at the New York Hotel, where Macready was staying, screaming for him to come out and be hanged like a man. However, Macready somehow slipped away. He boarded a train to New Rochelle, and then to Boston. From Boston, he sailed to England, never again to set foot in America.
Bow Kum -- The Vicious Killing of Bow Kum
In 1899, the Tong Wars began in New York City's Chinatown, when the smaller Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs joined forces against the powerful On Leong Tong, in a battle for the immense illegal profits generated in Chinatown from gambling and drug dealing. There were sporadic killings throughout the first decade of the 20th Century, but the blood started flowing more rapidly in 1909. It was sparked by the vicious murder of a Chinese slave girl named Bow Kum, known as “The Little Flower.”
In the Canton Region of China, Kum was sold by her father for a few paltry yen. She was then brought to the United States where she was sold at the slave-trade market in San Francisco, for the huge sum (at the time) of three thousand dollars. The buyer was Low Hee Tong, a high-ranking member of the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs.
Kum lived with Tong for four years, but then the San Francisco police discovered the illegal servitude. When Tong could not produce a marriage license, Kum was taken away from Tong and placed in a Christian mission run by Donaldina Cameron, a Scotswoman famous for helping young Chinese slave girls escape from the terrible tongs. Soon, gardener Tchin Lee, a member of the On Leong Tong, married Kum and took her to New York City.
Tong was furious he had lost the services of his female slave, but more furious over the loss of his three thousand dollars. As a result, Tong demanded that Lee give him back the money he spent on purchasing Kum.
Lee refused.
Tong then listed his grievances in a letter to the Hip Sing and Four Brother Tongs in New York City. Tong's Tongs agreed with him, and they demanded that the On Leong Tong force Lee to return Tong's money. Their request was denied, and immediately the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs flew the red flag from their building on Pell Street, indicating they were declaring war against the On Leong Tong.
On August 15, 1909, a Hip Sing assassin broke into Lee's apartment at 17 Mott Street. The assassin stabbed Kum three times in the chest, cut off several of her fingers, and then mutilated her torso. This started a bloody war that resulted in over fifty killings in just a few short months.
In late 1909, Captain William Hodgins, the Commander of the 5th Precinct on Elizabeth Street, interceded, and he tried to make peace between the factions. He approached the On Leong Tong first, and they agreed to end the war, but only if the other two tongs gave them, as reparations, a Chinese flag, a roasted pig, and ten thousand packs of fireworks. The two smaller tongs considered this a huge insult, and the killings intensified for another year.
In late 1910, the United States government became involved. The Chinese Minister, in Washington D.C., appointed a committee of 40 Chinese merchants, teachers, and students to mediate the Tong Wars. An agreement was forged between the On Leong Tong, and the Hip Sing Tongs. However, the Four Brothers Tong refused to participate in the peace. As a result, the killings continued but not at the same pace as before.
Kerosene was thrown on the fire in 1912, when a new Tong, the Kim Lan Wui Saw Tong, suddenly appeared in New York City. In a battle for the illegal buck, these upstarts inexplicably declared war on the other three established tongs. This was a dumb move, since the three older Tongs, instead of fighting among themselves, turned all their venom on the outmanned Kim Lan Wui Saw Tong.
The bodies continued to pile up in Chinatown, bringing outside business into the area to a halt. Finally, the Chinese government on mainland China, in conjunction with the New York City Police Department, compelled the warring factions to formally agree to halt the hostilities. The treaty was signed on May 22, 1913, by the Chinese Merchant's Association.
Since tourists were no longer afraid to enter Chinatown (and get caught in the cross hairs of the daily gunfire), peace and prosperity returned to the area.
That is, until 1924, when the bloody Tong Wars resumed.
Bowery Boys Str
eet Gang
The Bowery Boys street gang ruled the Bowery area, just north of the Five Points, from 1840 through 1860.
The Bowery Boys were an anti-Catholic, anti-Irish gang, who fought tooth and nail with the other Lower Manhattan gangs, most notably the Dead Rabbits from the Five Points area. Unlike the other gangs of its era, who were predominantly thugs, robbers, and murderers, the Bowery Boys were mostly butchers, mechanics, bar bouncers, or small businessmen. They wore a uniform of sorts, consisting of red shirts, and black trousers; the pants of which were shoved inside their calfskin boots. Most of the men had oil-slicked hair, covered by black stovepipe hats.
The Bowery Boys were ardent volunteer firemen, who aligned themselves with the Know-Nothing, or American Political Party (which lasted from 1849 to 1856) and later the Democratic Party. All of the big politicians of the time, including William “Boss” Tweed and future first United States President George Washington, were at one time volunteer firemen in Lower Manhattan. The Bowery Boys were attached to various firehouses, with names like the White Ghost, Black Joke, Dry Bones, and Red Rover. Each of the other downtown gangs, like the Dead Rabbits, Roach Guards, and the Plug Uglies, were also affiliated with various firehouses too, and the competition over who would arrive first at a fire was fierce and often bloody.
The Bowery Boys were said to love their fire engines almost as much as the loved their women. The worse thing that could happen was to arrive at a fire and find that all the fire hydrants had already been taken by other firehouses. The Bowery Boys often used a scheme to prevent this embarrassment.
As soon as a fire alarm sounded, the biggest Bowery Boy available would grab an empty barrel from a grocery store, and run to the fire plug closest to the burning building. He would turn the barrel over, cover the fire hydrant with the barrel, sit on it, and defend his position, battling men from other firehouses, who were trying to remove him, and the barrel, from the fire hydrant. It was said that the fights for the fire hydrants were so ferocious, the battling volunteer firemen sometimes didn't have enough time to actually extinguish the fires, which caused many buildings to burn to the ground.