THE PANIC AND FLIGHT.
The publication of the foregoing proclamation in the late editions of
the evening newspapers of New York and Brooklyn, on the evening of
its issue (May 15th), occasioned the wildest excitement and terror in
those two cities. At first, many of the inhabitants regarded it as a
cruel hoax, and utterly refused to believe it. They had been so
thoroughly convinced that the British fleet had been practically
annihilated on the night of the 11th, and had yielded themselves up
so completely to the current feelings of joy and triumph at the
supposed success of the American fleet, that they could not seem to
realize that their rejoicings had been premature; and that, although
partially destroyed, the British fleet was still formidable enough to
carry out its instructions, and bombard New York and Brooklyn.
The transition from joy to terror was too sudden to be at once
comprehended in all of its force. The streets and squares uptown
were crowded all the evening, and late into the night; and wherever
there was a newspaper bulletin, or a transparency, thousands of
excited men and woman congregated in the hope of getting the latest
news. It is safe to say that but few people slept any that night, in
either city. Even the doubters and unbelievers tossed sleeplessly in
their beds, anxiously watching for the coming of day; or else
remained up all night, packing their clothing and valuables, so as to
be ready to start on short notice, in case remarkable proclamation,
should prove to be genuine. All doubt upon this point, however, was
set at rest the next morning.
All of the newspapers contained the Proclamation of the British
Admiral, and supplemental ones by the Mayors of the two cities,
calling the attention of the inhabitants to the imminent peril; and
advising all non-combatants to seek places of safety without delay.
The news columns of the newspapers also contained full details of the
movements of the hostile fleet, and the astounding fact was made
manifest beyond question, that British guns were even then in
positions from which they could shell the two cities.
After the first momentary paralysis which these announcements
occasioned, the whole population was seized with a wild panic. An
irresistible desire for immediate flight seemed to possess them in a
moment, and a scene began which beggared description, and whose like
has probably never been seen before or since.
"Anything to get uptown or out of town," seemed to be the cry.
Husbands who had gone to business as usual, early in the morning,
telephoned to their wives and children to meet them at High Bridge,
at the Grand Central Station, or at some of the landing places of the
steamboats going up the Hudson River. The Sound boats were tabooed,
by reason of a rumor that the attacking fleet had been divided into
two sections, and that one division was coming through Long Island
Sound to attack the city from the Hell Gate side.
By ten o'clock on the morning of the 16th of May, the flight had
fairly commenced. Frantic crowds of men, women and children,
thronged every possible avenue of departure from the doomed cities,
and pushed and pulled and struggled and wrestled with each other, in
their wild and headlong rush to reach their several points of escape.
The streets leading to the Grand Central Station in Forty-second
Street, were blocked for nearly half a mile in every direction, by
carriages, cabs, and express wagons, as well as by hurrying and
anxious pedestrians, all rushing pell mell to get beyond the reach of
the terrible bombshells.
Many amusing tales were told as tending to illustrate the absolute
and unreasoning terror of the fugitives.
"Where to?" inquired the railway ticket seller of an excited and pale
faced man, whose hands trembled violently as he handed a roll of
bills in through the ticket window.
"Oh! Anywhere! Albany; Buffalo; Chicago; Denver! Anywhere to get
beyond the reach of those d--d shells," was the trembling response.
The train service was doubled and quadrupled.
Passengers took no thought as to whether or not they could secure
seats; but packed themselves in like sardines, filling the aisles and
closets and platforms of the cars to suffocation. The entire
passenger equipment of the road was called into requisition, and
utterly failed to supply the demand; and milk, freight, and ordinary
platform and gravel cars were pressed into the service; and the crazy
fugitives absolutely fought each other for precedence in securing
positions on them.
Similar scenes were enacted at all the railway stations and steamboat
docks. The "Mary Powell," a passenger steamboat, which then ran
every afternoon up the Hudson River to Rondout, was obliged to leave
her slip more than an hour before her regular starting time, simply
because the people could not be prevented from forcing themselves on
board of her, even after she was dangerously overcrowded.
Numerous excursion steamboats were pressed into the service, and the
most exorbitant prices were paid for tugs and launches, or craft of
any kind, on which persons could reach places of comparative safety
up the river. Similarly all sorts of wheeled vehicles were pressed
into the traffic; and the east and west drives of Central Park were
crowded with hurrying fugitives of both sexes, and of all ages and
conditions, in public and private carriages, cabs, hansoms,
omnibuses, butcher carts, dumping carts, and grocery and express
wagons. Even hearses were utilized as a means of escape; and the mad
prank of a lot of Columbia College students, shocked a great many
people, and amused a great many more.
These young men, desiring to go out of town in style, went to a
fashionable undertaker's establishment, and hired his handsomest
hearse and four of his best horses, and having fitted up a lot of
seats on top of the hearse, and supplied themselves with two or three
coaching horns, drove wildly up through Central Park to Yonkers,
waking the echoes from one end of the route to the other, with the
shrill notes of their horns, and attracting universal attention to
this novel style of a four-in-hand drag.
Anything that had wheels to run on, and horses to draw it, was
eagerly snapped up at the most exorbitant price. The hegira was
something unprecedented, and almost incredible. It was estimated at
the time, that not less than 500,000 persons left the city between
the hours of noon and midnight, on that memorable sixteenth of May.
Of course there was a vast amount of inconvenience and suffering
involved in such a hasty invasion by such a horde of people, of a
country totally unprepared to receive them; and thousands of cases of
illness and death resulted from the exposures and discomforts to
which the fugitives were subjected. It was also the occasion of many
ludicrous and embarrassing incidents, which were fully described in
the newspapers in the racy and sensational style so prevalent at that
time.
I have ample material in the shape of extracts and clippings from
those journals, to make a chapter which would be both thrilling and
amusing to the reader. But I forego the introduction of such matter
here, lest it should be deemed too trivial in its nature, to be
incorporated into a sober and truthful historical work like this.
The exodus continued, but in diminishing proportions, throughout the
two following days; until by noon of the 18th (the time fixed upon
for the commencement of the bombardment) there remained probably less
than 100,000 people in the two cities of New York and Brooklyn.
Those who remained, were either unable from illness or some similar
cause, to get away; or else they had determined, through curiosity or
indifference to consequences, to remain and "see the thing through."
But their members were so few, that they merely emphasized the
magnitude of the exodus which had taken place.
Immediately upon the announcement of the intended bombardment, the
Sub-Treasurer had telegraphed to Washington for instructions. There
were in the Sub-Treasury vaults gold and silver coin and bullion,
amounting to nearly $300,000,000. In case of the capture of the
city, this would be at the mercy of the British; and as they had
practically announced money to be their chief object in coming across
the Atlantic, it was not at all probable that they would fail to
snatch such a rich booty as this. What, therefore, was to be done?
A Cabinet meeting decided to order the removal of this vast amount of
treasure to a place of safety; and instructions to that effect were
telegraphed to the Sub-Treasurer, who was also authorized to demand a
suitable Military escort from the force of regulars, which had been
hurriedly summoned to New York as soon as war was declared.
Accordingly, the Sub-Treasurer at once set about securing
transportation for the gold and silver. The proportions were about
one-third gold and two-thirds silver; and the total weight of the two
metals was found to exceed 5,000 tons. It was found almost
impossible to secure men and teams enough to transport this enormous
amount of metal. The flight of the inhabitants had taken so many
horses and trucks from the lower part of the city, that it was found
necessary to telegraph to all neighboring places; and Newark, and
Elizabeth and Staten Island, and the nearby portions of Westchester
County, were scoured for horses or ox teams, or any thing that could
draw a load of money. There were heavy trucks and brewery wagons in
abundance, which had been deserted for lighter vehicles by their
owners and drivers, so that the only imperative need was animal power
to drag the loaded vehicles.
The supply of horses, mules, and oxen having been exhausted, it was
necessary to fall back on men, and the strange spectacle was seen of
a procession of heavily loaded trucks and beer wagons being dragged
up Broadway from Wall Street to the Thirtieth Street freight station
of the N.Y.C. and H.R.R.R., by long lines of men, pulling drag ropes,
in the same manner as had formerly been the method of dragging fire
engines and hook and ladder trucks to fires. A large number of
freight trains were accumulated here by the railroad company, into
which the gold and silver were stowed; and then, with a strong
military guard on each car, the cars were made up into trains, and
taken up the river to Albany.
A very large proportion of those who remained in the city, belonged
to the idle and criminal classes, and this fact soon made itself
apparent in the sudden breaking out of what might be called an
epidemic or carnival of crime. Numerous incendiary fires occurred,
and hundreds of residences, which had been abandoned by their owners
and tenants in their mad flight, were broken into and rifled of their
valuable contents, by troops of thieves and tramps, who seemed to
rise out of the ground, as it were, by magic; and were so numerous
and so bold, that they bid utter defiance to the over-worked police.
During the days of the bombardment, these outcasts of society, would
lounge around Central Park, out of reach of the exploding shells,
which were creating such havoc in the lower portions of the city, and
then at night-fall, when the fire from the fleet slackened, they
would organize themselves into little supper parties, and
deliberately break into any private residence whose imposing exterior
happened to strike their fancy, and proceed to make themselves at
home.
As long as the bombardment and the armistice lasted, the aristocratic
regions of Fifth Avenue and Murray Hill, resounded nightly with the
songs and shouts of these rough and drunken revellers of both sexes,
who seemed never to tire of their unaccustomed surroundings, and
exhibited the most remarkable diligence and perseverance in searching
for mansions (as yet undisturbed) whose larders and wine-cellars were
liberally stocked. These little parties were sometimes broken up by
the police; but probably less than half of them were interrupted in
this way; as they were so numerous in all parts of the city, and the
police were so thoroughly over-worked and exhausted, that it was
impossible for them to afford anything like adequate protection to
the property of the absentees.