I’ve been reading Gotham, by Burrows and Wallace. It’s a history of New York City, starting from when the city was founded in 1625 and stopping at 1898. It’s a mammoth work. It’s written in a style that it’ll be difficult for me to write about. It is in no way a narrative history. Spanning over 1400 pages, broken up into four sections, each covering a block of time, each chapter in a section discusses one component of New York City at that time. There are chapters about politics, architecture, the gentility, and so on. It’s interesting but having no narrative thread makes it a tough plow to read. It’ll take me well over a month to finish.
Even so, I might occasionally write about things that I find interesting while reading it. One of the first things that I found amusing is how many times New York City has descended into riots. Some of the riots are quite serious indeed. For instance, there’s the slave riot in 1712 when a small group of enslaved people revolted, attacked settlers, and burned a building. More tragically, there was the Draft Day Riots in 1863. Outraged that the wealthy could buy their way out of the draft, white working class men rioted when the draft was implemented in New York City. Quickly descending into a race riot, black men, women, and children were hunted down by a mob. Over a hundred people were killed and a black children’s orphanage was burned down.
Some of the other riots, even though they were serious affairs in which people died, seem to somehow be less serious. Here’s a partial list of riots in New York City that, looking back at that them from our perspective now, seem quite odd.
Doctors Mob Riot (1788): A group of children were playing outside of a hospital. They looked in and saw a medical student dissecting an arm. Either as a joke or to terrorize a boy, the student lifted up the arm, shook it at the boy, and told him that it was his mother’s. Well, it turned out that the boy’s mother had just died. The boy told his father, who exhumed the mother’s grave and found an empty coffin. The father formed up a mob and they descended upon the hospital. The rioters moved down Broadway and they gathered in front of the courthouse. Doctors went into hiding. Rocks were thrown. The riot lasted for a couple of days until the militia was called in. Some twenty people died. All medical specimens were destroyed.
Flour Riots (1837): Due to US monetary policy, the economy went into a tailspin and several banks failed. In particular, the price of food dramatically increased. There were press reports that the flour supply was getting very low and that the wealthy were hoarding it. This led to a mass demonstration. In front of a crowd of four thousand, the last speaker called on the crowd to march on the major flour supplier. Police tried to stop them but were overwhelmed and disarmed. The mayor stood in front of the crowd to get them to stand down. Instead he was stoned. The crowd broke into the warehouse and stole / destroyed 500 to 600 barrels of flour and a thousand bushels of wheat. They eventually dispersed. One result of this was that, the next day, the number of police were increased.
Astor Place Riot (1849): This is one of my favorites. I even previously wrote about it here. This was all about Shakespeare. The gentry preferred the classic, refined Shakespearean acting of the English William Charles Macready. The working class preferred the brawny, masculine acting of the American Edwin Forrest. Macready gave a performance of Macbeth at Astor Place. The problem was that this theater was dangerously close to a working class neighborhood. Insulted, a crowd showed up and, during his performance, showered him with rotten eggs, fruit, and if reports are to be believed, half of a sheep’s carcass (who brings half of a sheep’s carcass to a performance?!). He was catcalled, including one of my favorite phrases of all time, “Down with the codfish aristocracy!”. When he tried again later, ten thousand people surrounded the theater in protest. The militia was called out. In close quarters, the crowd jostled the militia. The militia fired. Some twenty-five people were killed and over one hundred were injured. All because of Shakespeare.
New York Police Riot (1857): I find the name of it, if nothing else, amusing. The mayor of New York had authority over the municipal police. This force was notoriously corrupt. It was so corrupt that the state legislature ordered it dissolved and to start up a new metropolitan police force that would not be under the control of the mayor. The mayor refused to give up his police. The metropolitan force showed up at City Hall to arrest the mayor. The municipal police stormed out of the City Hall to protect the mayor. The metropolitan and the municipal police forces engaged in a fight. The metropolitan police were routed and retreated. Over fifty men were injured. Ultimately, the Supreme Court agreed with the state and the municipal police force was disbanded.
Dead Rabbits Riot (1857): This was another riot with a silly name. It resulted because of the politics behind the New York Police Riot. For a time, both the municipal and metropolitan police forces attempted to be the law in New York City. They would actively impede each other to make the other look bad. Criminal gangs saw this as an opportunity for looting and vandalism. A gang named, and yes, this was their name, the Dead Rabbits, used this as an opportunity to invade the territory of the Bowery Boys gang. Some 800 to 1,000 gang members engaged in a brawl. The police were called but were routed by the gangs. Ultimately, the state militia were called in to break up the fight. During the two days of fighting, eight people were killed and around one hundred were injured.
Straw Hat Riot (1922): Believe it or not, this riot was caused by a fashion faux pas. Straw hats were considered acceptable attire for men only during the summer months. They were supposed to stop wearing them on September 1st, but there was a generally accepted two week grace period. Well, on September 13th, two days before the end of the period, a group of kids decided to get a head start. They went around to factory workers heading home, yanked their straw hats off, and then stomped on the hats. Anyone who resisted was beaten. An estimated mob of 1,000 was stealing hats. Several men were hospitalized from their beatings. Eventually the police were able to break it up. Apparently, this was not the last of it. In 1925, a man in New York City was murdered for wearing his straw hat after the summer.
Patrolman’s Benevolent Association Riot (1992): This was another amusingly named riot. NYC mayor David Dinkins proposed creating a civilian agency to investigate police misconduct. The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York organized a rally in protest. Some 4,000 New York police officers showed up. They blockaded the Brooklyn Bridge, jumped over some police barricades, and rushed City Hall. These law enforcement officers damaged cars, were openly drinking, physically attacked journalists, and chanted racial epithets directed towards their Black mayor. The on duty police supposed to maintain order just stood by and let it happen. Later, the PBA president conceded that things got out of hand but blamed David Dinkins for the riot.
This is only a subset. I didn’t even mention the Hard Hat Riot, another riot with a quality name, or the most famous NYC riot of them all, the Stonewall riots, that were a watershed event for LGBT rights.
Fun times in the big city!
dorkenstein 