coolly walked away without molestation from the few citizens who had observed the bomb-throwing, and who thought a live citizen was better than a molested bomb-thrower. As the news of this calamity was rapidly carried through the city, it reached the bomb-throwers detailed to blow up the other armories before the regiments themselves were made aware of this new method of attack, and all the regiments but one were buried amid the ruins of their armories, without being able to fire a single shot. This regiment, owing to a miscarriage of the Anarchists' programme, was enabled to march out upon the street without learning of the destruction of the other troops, and took up its line of march down town. At several points, en route, it met small bodies of rioters; but, being commanded by a cool, competent officer who had smelled much gunpowder in the Army of the Potomac, it bore down all opposition without opening fire on the crowds, by presenting an undaunted front, and advancing at "charge bayonets" whenever occasion served. All the regiments, when first called to arms, had been ordered to report to the Brigade Commander in Union Square; and toward that point the veteran Colonel directed his line of march. As the head of the little column passed Madison Square, the Colonel saw the unaccustomed sight of a body of police retreating in disorder up Broadway, bringing with them many officers of the Brigade Staff, and followed up by a heavy mob, between whom and the police a fusillade of pistol shots was in desultory operation. As the heads of the two columns approached, the regiment was halted on the north side of a street-crossing to enable the retreating mass to debouch into the side streets, and clear the space between the mob and troops. On came the mob, yelling over its anticipated victory, and mad with rum and lust, for plunder. It was indeed a heavy mass to check. If checked at all it must be by an immense weight of metal crashing through the foremost masses. The dispositions were quickly made. The street was wide enough at that point to admit of a division front, which was formed in double-time; the second divi sion was closed up directly against the first; the front rank of the first division lay down flat; its rear rank knelt; both ranks of the second division remained standing; the space each front-rank man occupied across that street would send its four rifle-balls crashing into the mob at each volley—and it was a tough mob which would stand up to a fight like that. The Colonel stood in the front rank between the companies, and it was plain that the old-time, hot battle-blood was beginning to surge within him. He was pale, with lips tightly set, and eyes that grew hard and pitiless as he watched the storm gathering before him. The paving-stones had begun to reach his men; several pistol balls had whistled overhead, yet the veteran gave no sign of action. A bullet from the mob now struck a third-rank man in the breast, and he fell backwards in his tracks, dead. Quick, as though the word had been part of the dying groan of the soldier, came from the Colonel's lips, " Ready!" Click-click-click went four ranks of rifles. "Now, aim low." "Aim!" "Fire!!" and the winged messengers of death sped on their lightning errand into the bodies of the enemies of law and order. The front rank still lying down, placed the butts of their pieces on the ground and raised the muzzles to the position of "charge bayonets," until the smoke cleared away, and it became evident that the mob would not try to rush in before the ranks could reload. The other three ranks rapidly reloaded, then the front rank, and again a tremendous weight of metal went tearing through the mob. "Rise!" "Load!" Carry Arms!" "Charge Bayonets!" "Forward; Guide Centre; March!" and on dashed the gallant citizen-soldiers of the little two-division battalion, followed closely by the balance of the regiment. The carnage among the mob had been frightful, and when they saw the solid front bearing down upon them with cold steel, they turned and fled precipitately back towards Union Square. The street grew narrower, the division front was abandoned for the column of companies in close order, and thus Union Square was reached, and the veteran officer had reported, in literal accordance with his orders, but for the last time on earth! 1 The regiment was formed in line of battle, along the north side of the plaza facing the square. The mob, no longer pursued, halted under the trees in the square. The full scope of the morning's work, in destroying the other regiments and the main body of police, now was first communicated to the troops. They saw that the situation was desperate, far beyond the conception of the most cowardly recruit an hour before. Mobs were gathering in immense numbers in various parts of the city; the criminal classes were all afoot; every workman had ceased work, deserted his bench, and either hastened away to secure and protect his home and its precious contents from a peril the scope of which he knew it impossible to measure, or, if disposed to evil, to swell the murderous throngs already numbering many scores of thousands. These alone were enough for a single regiment and the whipped and ragged remnants of a police force to face; how much worse, then, to add to them hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bomb-throwers, each bomb filled with the death of a hundred men, and almost certain to be launched from some unseen hand, some unsuspected lurking-place. set by such exemplars, and the result was that very few soldiers had more than twenty ball-cartridges, while the first and second divisions, comprising two-fifths of the whole regiment, had but eighteen to the man. A brave man, with his foes all in front, his flanks secure, and plenty of ammunition, is a dangerous man to tackle, even when outnumbered ten or twenty to one, as our own war history has shown many a time. Here, none of these conditions were present, except the brave men. The police were instructed to guard the entrances to all the houses whereby any roofs or windows could be gained from which the bomb-throwers could attack the troops from the rear, while the Colonel readily engaged to keep the main body of the mob far beyond bomb-throwing distance. One platoon of troops was sent to cover Broadway to the north and Seventeenth street westward, while another covered Fourth Avenue northward and Seventeenth street eastward, with instructions not to waste a cartridge. This left the bulk of the regiment, some 600 men, to devote themselves exclusively to the mob in front. Retreat was not thought of, and To add to the horrors of the situation, the idea would have been instantly rethe military now knew that no fresh sup- jected if proposed. No column of troops plies of ammunition could be expected; could now expect to march five blocks none could be brought to them through in any direction without being dynamited the streets already thronging with riot- from some housetop or window, en route, Only twenty rounds could be car- and besides-there was no place to retreat ried in the cartridge-boxes. Twenty more to. Every armory had been destroyed, per man had been served, with orders to no building could be made capable of recarry them in the men's pockets; but sisting an attack of dynamiters, however this order had been but partially obeyed. carefully its approaches might be guardThe old soldiers of the war, particularly, ed and defended. A single bomb would were averse to loading themselves down sweep away the picket-line and expose in that way, and recalled the scores of the building to instant destruction. No, times when such orders were obeyed, the open air was best and safest, and if only until they got out upon the road, the soldiers must die they could perhaps and then pockets were emptied, and have a chance to sell their lives dearly rarely was the act repented. So, now, in the open plaza. There was a faint the prospect of using more than twenty hope that they might so punish the mob rounds upon a crowd of ragamuffins, as to frighten off the dynamiters, and armed only with pistols and stones, thereby secure their safe passage to seemed too remote to balance the incon- Central Park, where a camp might be venience of stuffing their pockets with established and a rally of good citizens hard metal cartridges before a long be organized. The punishment of the march. The dropping of cartridges had mob became most evidently the first step begun as soon as the street was reached; to secure their own safety. Then the those who had never been in battle were sooner done the better! A brief council quick to follow so agreeable a precedent, of war was held in front of the regiment ers. at which the police officials were present, and it was decided to advance immediately upon the mob with such spirit as to demoralize them, if possible, and then having seriously punished them, send police and skirmishers ahead up Broadway and Fifth avenue to sweep bombthrowers from the buildings, while the regiment and main body of police followed. One company was deployed as skirmishers in front of the battalion, with instructions to make every shot tell, and the regiment advanced in line of battle across the plaza and into the square. The skirmishers did their work well, and the mob slowly and sullenly retired before them until they were in Fourteenth street, and the line of battle had reached the centre of the square; then the mob cheered wildly, and broke away right and left, uncovering Broadway, up which advanced an irregular and heavy mass of men armed with rifles, escorting two Gatlings which had been captured an hour before. They came "in battery on the run, and in a moment more the machine guns, evidently handled by men acquainted with their management, were pelting a hailstorm of balls among the troops with great effect. 66 Lie down!" commanded the Colonel, and, as soon as the skirmishers had retired upon the line of battle, the roar of a regimental volley broke upon the air. Every man was swept away from the Gatlings; half a thousand of the foremost rioters had furnished living targets for the bullets of the soldiers. 66 'Load! Rise! Right shoulder arms! Now for those guns, boys! Forward, double time, march!" With cheers that rang for blocks above the roaring of the mob, the gallant battalion dashed forward upon the guns. Those of the mob who had rifles and bayonets closed in, quickly, in front of the Gatlings, delivered a telling volley into the ranks of the troops, and came to a "charge bayonets;" the regiment staggered a moment under the heavy shock; the Colonel dashed out in advance of the line, and waving his sword, called out: Come on, men; show them what you're made of!" and forward again, with a wilder cheer, swept the helmetted line, no longer straight, but bent and bowed, in and out, from flank to flank, with great ragged gaps here and there, especially near the colors, toward which the followers of the red flag seemed to show a special hatred. The curb was reached, the line surged heavily together now towards the centre, rifles came down to "charge bayonets," and, with set lips, the gallant troops threw themselves upon the mob, who waited for their shock in dense and heavy masses. Straight at the breasts of the maddened rioters went that line of glittering steel; straight home went the sharp point of bayonet; down before the fierce onset went the foremost lines of rioters; still on, pressing through, bayonetting as they went, the rear rank filling up the gaps torn in the front, the officers rushing up and down behind the impoverished ranks waving their swords and cheering on the men. High aloft swung the stars and stripes and the State colors in the line of file-closers; high aloft waved the red flag of anarchy and murder. A hundred men had seized the Gatlings, and were dragging them toward a place of safety, but the thick mob impeded their progress, and, as rank after rank of the mob went down, this movement was disclosed to the soldiers. A wild rallying cry was sounded, and one company, headed by its captain, dashed ahead of the battalion line, with clubbed muskets, to reach the fleeing guns; the mob, already breaking, rallied for their defense; the regiment lost its cohesiveness; each captain acted excitedly for himself; two companies halted abruptly, loaded their empty pieces in a trice, and straight into the breasts of the men rallying about the Gatlings poured a deadly volley, before which they melted away like snow; the first company reached the guns, brained their abductors, and the mob was in full retreat, whipped, terribly punished; the Gatlings were once more in the hands of the National Guard, were turned upon the mob, and rained death upon them, until they surged out of the line of Broadway into the side streets. The march was immediately begun for Central Park. No means of transporting the wounded were available; those who could not walk nor crawl to a hiding-place must be left behind to be beaten to death and brained by the fiends who would soon again swarm over the battle-field to glut Up to their left stood the noble pile of the Vanderbilt mansion. "Step out, boys, step out; close up; the park is in sight; no mob stands between-we'll be there in ten minutes "-aye, in less time, but where? their malice upon helpless heroes. The police and two companies as skirmishers preceded the column, driving every suspicious-looking character before them, entering many houses and stores, and forcing into the street all of whom they could feel the least doubt. Twenty-third A huge rent in the pavement in front street was safely reached; it looked as of the first company, another in the rear though they might reach the open ground of the second company, another behind of the park; hope grew stronger in every the colors, yet another under the very feet heart, and the saddest thoughts now were of the eighth company, and still one more those of the gallant comrades whose faces behind the tenth; the earth ploughed out they should never see more. Thirtieth in vast heaps, the stones hurled with sustreet, and still no bombs; surely the perhuman force in deadly circles from police were doing their work with exem- each chasm, a blinding crash and shock plary skill and effectiveness. A look back four times repeated, in such quick sucdown the slight incline of the avenue cession as to seem almost one; a clearing showed that the mob was not following; away of smoke, an atmosphere reeking the street was clear, except for boys and with offensive odors-we draw the veil a few scattering vagabonds. Had such over the rest of that sickening scene! A an unlooked-for fact any ominous sig- few scattered knots of men still stood nificance ? What had turned the mob erect and stupefied along the space where backward from its intended victims? the regiment had stood, when a second Surely it must be the fearful punish- volley of bombs fell near each group ment it had just received, and a new- and reduced the survivors of that galborn respect for the prowess of the boys lant band to a mere handful. Two skirin blue. On tramped the column up the mishers but slightly in advance of the stately avenue; houses showed no sign column turned and aimed their rifles of being inhabited; had the wealthy peo- with quick sight at the upper windows ple fled? Here and there a front door of the Vanderbilt mansion. A wellhad been broken through; but the march dressed man was leaning far out of one was more rapid, and the skirmishers had window to get a better swing for his to do speedy work to take even a hasty right arm while his gaze was riveted survey of the interiors before the head of upon one of the little groups of survivthe column reached them. All thoughts ors below the house and somewhat down were now concentrating on the goal of the avenue, holding to the casement with safety, less than a mile ahead; quicker his left hand. It was an awkward posiand quicker became the step of the col- tion, and in his fiendish fever to furnish umn, longer and longer still the pace. yet more victims for Death, he swung Half-an-hour ago they had faced almost his body as far out as possible. It was a certain death; now hope, dashed with fair enough shot, but he must be a quick fear and anxiety, had taken possession marksman who caught that murderous of every breast. Each man drew his arm before it should send half a dozen breath shorter and quicker; it seemed as more souls into eternity. There was a if he had not time to allow a full inspir puff of smoke in the street, a sharp "zip" ation; talking in the ranks had ceased, at the murderer's left elbow, a reeling, a except in short, quick, highly-condensed clutch for the window-casement again sentences. Would some new and in- with the wounded arm, the bomb dropped surmountable danger confront them at from the right hand while it involunFifty-ninth street-would they be turn- tarily drew up toward the sill feeling ed back and overwhelmed at the last for something to hold to, and in a momoment in sight of the leafless branches ment the entire body had plunged outof their only safe refuge "Thirty- ward, turning over and over lengthwise fifth street, and all's well!" "Thirty- in its swift pursuit of the fallen bombeighth, Fortieth, Forty-second, Forty- and the ruffian fell upon and was blown fourth, Forty-eighth, Fiftieth, Fifty- to flinders by his own petard. first"-thank God, all yet was well! The police and the few remaining sol diers sought the interiors of such houses as they could gain admittance to, and when they emerged again, after the lapse of some hours, it was to proceed to their homes in such civilian attire as could be furnished by those who sheltered them. Uniforms wholly disappeared from the streets. [TO BE CONCLUDED.] THE PIPES OF PAN. BEAUTIFUL Syrinx, garland-clad, Nothing of music then knew he; Over the fields, through woodland bowers, Till, at last, she hid by the river bank, Baffled and breathless, here and there, Mad with the passion that knows no rest, Clasping the reeds to his hairy breast; And soft on his ear a sweet sound smote, And he only wakened to pipe again, And to tell his love in the new-found notes, While the birds sought vainly to voice the strain, With the strength and power of their swelling throats; And Syrinx, wooed from her hiding place, Listened, with wonder upon her face. And Echo, too, from her mountain home, Across the stream, like a flake of foam, While deep in her heart there rose a flame Of love divine for the being there, Whose trembling music filled the air. Ever since then, Love's sweet desire, Has found the spark of a kindred fire In the souls that have heard love's minstrelsy. Heart seeks heart through the Notes of Pan. James Clarence Harvey. |