This was now assailed, and stones came crashing through the windows. The
Mayor was sent for, and soon appeared with the sheriff, backed by forty
watchmen. Mounting the steps, he held up his staff of office, and
commanded the peace. But the half-drunken mob had now got beyond the fear
of the mere symbol of authority, and answered him with a shower of stones,
and then charged on the force that surrounded him. A fierce and bloody
fight followed. Citizens rushed out to the help of the Mayor, while the
watchmen fell on the mob with their clubs. They soon stretched on the
pavement more than their own number, but the odds against them was too
great. The Mayor received a wound--ten or fifteen watchmen besides
citizens were wounded--Captains Stewart, Munson, and Flaggs, badly
injured, the latter with his skull horribly fractured, ribs broken, and
face cut up. A few of the rioters were arrested, but the great mass broke
through all opposition, and streaming into the hall, forced the committee
to creep through back passages and windows.

The news of this high-handed outrage was carried like the wind to the
lower anti-Democratic wards, and the excited Whigs came streaming up,
until Duane, Elm, Pearl, Cross, Augustus, and Chatham Streets, up to
Broadway, were black with determined, enraged citizens. Ten or fifteen
thousand were in a short time assembled, and a fearful battle seemed
inevitable. In this appalling state of things, the Mayor called a
consultation, and it was decided to declare the city in a state of
insurrection, and call on the military for help. A messenger was
immediately despatched to the Navy Yard for a company of marines. Colonel
Gamble, commanding, replied that he would be glad to comply with the
request, and put himself at their head, but that he had just sent them on
board the "Brandywine" and "Vincennes." Application was then made to
Commodore Hidgely, commander of the station; but he refused, on the ground
that he had no authority to interfere. A messenger was then hurried across