ganization that gave
its services without pay, but its members were exempt from military
duty. Their engines were worked by hand, the companies having from
seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five members each, and were
always present at the fires, but were powerless to do anything. The mob
had sense enough not to attempt to injure any of the engines, as that
would have precipitated a fight with the fire laddies, and they had the
reputation of being fighters from the word "Go."

Down town, the rioters made an attack on the New York Tribune building,
but old Horace Greeley was prepared for war. The doors and windows were
barricaded with bales of paper and behind that were all the employees,
all heavily armed. The mob took in the situation and went after
something that was easier, such as chasing negroes into the East and
North rivers and watching them drown. At Twenty-first Street they caught
several and hanged them to lamp-posts; then straw mattresses were placed
under them and set on fire. United States marines were sent from the
Brooklyn Navy Yard to guard the United States Treasury building on Wall
Street, as well as the banks in that neighbourhood. Towards evening the
rioters became drunk and more reckless; nothing could be done to check
them, and all the respectable citizens anticipated a night of terror.
Fortunately, about eight o'clock a heavy rain commenced to fall, and
that caused the drunken brutes to disappear. The rain also extinguished
the fire in the many ruins in different localities. The next day the
weather was quite pleasant, and the rioters, early in the morning,
recommenced their work of destruction; houses would be pillaged and then
set on fire. The lower class of people, especially the women and
children from the tenement-houses, could be seen carrying off everything
that was portable. The thieves were very busy stealing all the valuables
when a house was first raided, and they were usually the first to make a
demonstration at any building, the mob being always ready to follow, on
general principles. The police remained in the station-houses, not one
of them daring to come outside, as it would have been certain death to
do so.

Gun and hardware stores were broken into and looted of all arms and
ammunitions, and, by that means, a large number of the most desperate
rioters became armed. A mob composed of about five thousand men started
for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, situated on Madison Square, consi