THE TOCSIN SOUNDS IN BALTIMORE.
The Gathering Mob—Thronged Streets and Angry Men—Terrible Exhibition
of Passion and Temerity—Soldiers Stoned by Rioters—Sharp Volleys and
Sudden Deaths—A Night of Terror—Alarm Bells—The Torches’ Red Glare.
The sun was still high above the horizon when the crowds in the streets
of Baltimore had increased to such an extent, and manifested so
turbulent a disposition, that the authorities were forced to realize the
imminent danger which impended over the city. Peaceable citizens
trembled when they beheld the surging masses of passion-blinded
workingmen in possession of the thoroughfares. It was a threatening
throng. In the neighborhood of the armories, gangs of men and boys, and
even women, had collected and hooted and jeered the assembling
militia-men. Those crowds were composed of a few railroad men, workers
in machine shops, factories, mills, founderies, and vast numbers of
those who live by preying upon others—thieves, professional ruffians,
the scum of the city, jail-birds, or those who were hurrying with rapid
steps to enter prison doors, drunken loafers, tramps just returned from
making a circuit in quest of food and the pickings of rogues, with a
considerable intermixture of peaceable citizens who had come out to
gratify an idle curiosity, and been drawn into the seething mass of
grimy workingmen and odorous thieves. The excitement was intense, and
the tide of passion rose with every passing moment.
The Mayor and the Commissioners of Police foresaw the coming storm, and
realized how powerless they were to arrest its fury if the militia
should be withdrawn from the city.
Meanwhile the militia regiment which had been ordered to Cumberland,
were slow to obey the summons of the sergeants, and had not yet prepared
to march to the Camden depot to take the train. The attitude of the
street crowd was fearfully threatening. All along the route which it was
expected the troops would take on their march to the station, the
streets were thronged by dense masses of people, engaged in discussing
the situation. The passer-by needed not to inquire on which side the
sympathies of these throngs were bestowed. They were, as a mass, the
friends of the strikers.
Mayor Latrobe, at once issued a proclamation, reciting the riot act, and
ordering the mobs which had collected at four different points in the
city to disperse. But proclamations had no effect on the aroused
passions of the dangerous classes. What did they care for law, when they
already felt themselves sufficiently strong to subvert all lawful
authority? Later in the afternoon Governor Carroll received a
communication from Mayor Latrobe, which he embodied in the following
order to General Herbert:
BALTIMORE, July 20.
_Brigadier-General Jas. R. Herbert, Commanding First Brigade M. N. G._
SIR: I have just received the following communication from Ferdinand C.
Latrobe, Mayor of Baltimore:
BALTIMORE, July 20.
_His Excellency John Lee Carroll, Governor of Maryland._
DEAR SIR: In view of the condition of affairs now existing in this city,
and the violent demonstration that has taken place within the last hour.
I would suggest that neither of the regiments of State militia be
ordered to leave Baltimore this evening. I make this suggestion after a
consultation with the Commissioners of Police. Very respectfully,
(Signed) FERDINAND C. LATROBE,
Mayor of Baltimore.
In consequence of the above request, the order to proceed to Cumberland
with the Fifth Regiment is hereby revoked, and you will hold the men
under your command ready to aid the city authorities in case they should
be required in preserving order throughout the city.
(Signed) JOHN LEE CARROLL, Governor.
It was past six o’clock in the evening when collisions between the mob
and the police and militia became alarmingly frequent. At this time the
streets were literally overflowing with excited crowds of people. It was
now evident to the most temporizing that a collision could not be
avoided. The authorities must put down the mob, or be over-ridden by it.
Hesitation was out of place, and delay dangerous.
The want of alacrity on the part of the militia in assembling, induced
General Herbert to cause the general militia alarm to be sounded. This
step was not approved of by Governor Carroll. The number 151, the
militia call, was tolled from all the alarm bells. The excitement was
terrible. It was the first time in the history of the city that the
dreadful tocsin had fell upon the ears of the citizens. The wildest
commotion ensued. The people poured into the streets in every quarter of
town, and rushed excitedly towards the City Hall Square. Women and
children, old and young men, constituting vast streams of humanity,
flowing at the same time on all the streets, through which access to the
square could be had, with awe-inspiring tumult, moved onward to the
common center of interest. Again the dreadful bells pealed forth 151;
and the shouts and cries, cursings and prayers of that maddened throng,
composed as it was of every class, but most largely of reckless,
idiotic, drunken, imbecile, poverty stricken, unwashed, grimy men,
seamed with every line which wretchedness could draw or vicious habits
and associations could fix on human faces, presented a spectacle that
made one feel as though it was a tearful witnessing in perspective of
the last day, when the secrets of life, more loathsome than those of
death, shall be laid bare in their hideous deformity and ghastly shame.
Meanwhile the Fifth Regiment, Maryland National Guards, had completed
preparations and marched by a different route from that anticipated by
the rioters, to the Camden Station, and thereby avoided any serious
conflict on the streets.
The alarm sounded from the City Hall called the members of the Sixth
Regiment, Colonel Clarence Peters in command, to hurry to their armory,
corner of Fayette and Front streets. In front of this armory a mob
numbering three or four thousand persons had assembled. The demeanor of
this mass was very threatening, and it was with great difficulty that
the soldiers could assemble. Shortly after eight o’clock orders were
given to this regiment to move out towards the Camden Station which was
threatened by a great mob of malcontents. The roughs began to make more
active demonstrations. A perfect storm of bricks, stones and other
missiles were hurled at the building. The windows were watched, and when
a soldier appeared a shower of missiles and pistol balls were at once
aimed at him. It was with exceeding difficulty that the soldiers could
make progress through the densely crowded streets. They were followed on
the march by a vast mob, who with demoniac yells and blasphemies ceased
not to pelt the marching column with bricks, stones—anything they could
seize, capable of inflicting wounds. The militia behaved as if wanting
in coolness and courage. But as yet no reply was made to the incessant
peltings of the mob, which every moment became more daring.
The marching detachment was in actual danger of being overwhelmed by
sheer force and weight of numbers. When the troops had reached the
intersection of Frederick and Baltimore streets, the mob pressed so
closely upon them that they were constrained to protect themselves. No
command to halt was given; no orders to fire, but the men acted without
orders. A sharp rattle of musketry rang out above the tumult of the mob.
A whistling of bullets was heard, men were seen to drop, cries of agony
were mingled with curses and howls of rage. Women screamed and fainted
on the streets; children mingled their piercing cries with the general
uproar. There was a shrinking back of the crowd for a moment, and the
militia marched on. But the rioters quickly rallied and by the time the
troops had proceeded two squares the throng was as great as before, and
the mob threatened to rush upon and disarm and murder the soldiers in
the streets. When opposite the office of the _American_, newspaper,
another halt was called, and another volley of bullets were poured into
the midst of the howling mass of men who pressed upon the marching
column. Men sank in their tracks and expired. This second discharge was
received by the rioters with mingled cries of agony, threats and jeers.
Paving-stones were gathered from the streets and hurled by strong arms
into the ranks of the soldiers. The determination of the mob was a
fearful exhibition of aroused passions. The momentary check given the
rioters was taken advantage of by the militia to continue their march.
But again the mob rallied and assailed the troops as the head of the
column turned into Charles street. Another halt, another fusilade, a few
more dead on the streets, was the result. Then the soldiers proceeded,
amid the hoots and jeers of a maddened populace, to the depot.
[Illustration: THE MOB FIRING THE CAMDEN STREET STATION.]
The Fifth Regiment had already arrived at that point. The mob collected
there was vast in numbers, and threatening in demeanor. The malcontents
were ordered to disperse; but they paid no attention to the command. The
lower part of the depot was in the undisputed possession of the rioters.
The engineer and fireman of the train which had been got ready to convey
the Fifth Regiment to Cumberland, had been forcibly taken from their
engine, and threatened with death if they dared approach it again. As
the Fifth Regiment approached the depot it too was assailed by the mob,
with showers of missiles. Several soldiers were hurt by being struck.
The soldiers dared not attack the mob until reinforced by the Sixth
Regiment. When that regiment arrived the rioting began. The soldiers
formed in line, and charged bayonets. The gleam of the bright steel in
the gaslight had a magical effect on the courage of the rioters. They
shrunk back aghast at this exhibition of death dealing implements. The
depot was cleared of the mob in a short time. A strong guard was placed
about the grounds to protect the property. The mob, however, was not
conquered. Threats that the depot would be burned were made. At 10.30
o’clock a fire was started at Camden Station. At first the rioters
refused to allow the firemen to play upon the flames; but at last the
fire was extinguished without doing much damage.
Subsequently two fires were started in the southern part of the city,
which, however, were extinguished without involving very heavy losses.
The mob still held all that district of the city, and boldly declared
their purpose to destroy all property situated in that quarter, if their
every demand was not complied with. All the shops and warehouses of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company are located in the portion of the
city which was held by them.
The order of the Governor countermanding the order to send away the
troops, was of the very first importance. Without the presence of these
troops, Baltimore would have been completely in the power of the
“dangerous classes,” for it was the vicious and depraved that now came
forward as leaders of the workingmen. There was much more need for
soldiers in the metropolis than at the wayside station of Cumberland.
During all the time while the military were dealing with the mob at the
depot, the excitement throughout the city had gone on increasing. Nine
o’clock, ten, eleven, twelve, one o’clock came, and still there was
scarcely any perceptible diminution in the numbers of people thronging
the streets. The spectacle was something fearful. The loud mouthings had
given place to deeper cursings. The froth of the first ebullition of
passion had been swept away by the breath of an intenser hate. Men
cursed society, defied all law, and swore to wreck the peace of mankind
by inaugurating a reign of social chaos. The streets had been stained
with blood; “ten lusty lives had been snuffed out” by “the whiff of
volleys of bullets.” Twenty-three more strong men, who had rejoiced in
the strength and vigor of manhood when the sun went down, were now
mangled and helpless. The scent of blood whetted the appetite of the mob
for more blood. In the hour of madness, society encounters its gravest
perils. Then the bonds of union are broken.
The names of the killed by the volleys fired into the mob by the Sixth
Regiment on its way to the depot, were Thomas V. Byrne, Patrick Gill,
Louis Sinovitch, Nicholas Rheinhardt, Cornelius Murphy, William Hourand,
John Henry Frank, George McDowell, Otto Manck, and Mark C. Doud. Several
of these were respectable and peaceable citizens, who had been drawn to
the scene of disturbance by mere curiosity. Two more persons, James Roke
and George Kemp, wounded at the time, died of their injuries afterward.
All night the excitement continued. The citizens of Baltimore were in a
state of nervous anticipation, which banished sleep from their eyes.
What would the morrow bring? What dire disaster come upon the city?
These were questions each asked but which none could answer. The blind
Polyphemus was directing blows from the mighty arm of the giant
Briærius. Who could tell what blind fury might or might not do!
The two regiments of militia remained at the Camden Station during the
night. The feeling against members of the Sixth Regiment was quite
bitter. The members of that command could not leave the station the next
day after the firing without risk. They had to secretly leave their
quarters in citizens dress, without arms. To admit that one was a member
of the Sixth, was to expose one’s self to the danger of being torn in
pieces.
It was evident that there were agencies at work outside of the
workingmen’s strike. The people engaged in these riots were not railroad
strikers. The Internationalists had evidently had something to do with
creating the scenes of bloodshed. The threats of their leaders made at
meetings held the same evening were evidently not merely idle vaporings.
Women frenzied with rage, joined the mob and incited the men to stand
firm in the fight. The scenes of the night of the 20th of July, 1877, in
the city of Baltimore, were not unlike those which characterized the
events in the city of Paris during the reign of the Commune in 1870.
So alarming had become the situation, so great and so determined had
become the lawless elements, that Governor Carroll was constrained to
appeal to the Federal Government for assistance, which he did by making
a formal call on the President of the United States for troops, the same
evening after the bloody fusillades.