Within the Haunting Bedrock | Part 11-3. Propaganda and 4000 Anti-Abolitionist Rioters

Organizers moved the Emancipation anniversary celebration of the July 4 service to July 7, 1834. The Black community met again at Chatham Street Chapel. The New York Sacred Music Society’s secretary rented the church to Black attendees without informing members. Arthur Tappan sat in the audience to lend his support. As the sermon started, New York Sacred Music Society members interrupted, saying they had rented the venue for the night. They claimed the space, sparking a fight. When the Blacks refused to leave, members of the Plug Uglies, Forty Thieves, and Roach Guards attacked them with leaded canes, seriously injuring some. Meanwhile, an angry mob had formed outside the chapel.

As the police arrived, Tappan fled to his home. Knowing who he was, the crowd followed him and pelted his home with rocks as he rushed inside. James Watson Webb’s newspaper labeled the event as a “Negro riot,” owing to “Arthur Tappan’s mad impertinence.” The Commercial Advertiser, another pro-slavery rag, said that “gangs of blacks were preparing to set the city ablaze.”

On July 9, a mob incited by the press returned to Chatham Street Chapel to attack the abolitionists again. The chapel was empty, so the Nativists broke in and held their own meeting. At the impromptu gathering, speakers denounced abolitionists and urged sending Black Americans to Africa.

Anti-Abolitionists had posted handbills detailing British actor Farren’s slur against abolitionists throughout New York City. An agitator yelled, “To the Bowery Theatre!” to deal with Farren. An estimated 4,000 rioters broke down the doors and interrupted Edwin Forrest’s performance. He was a favorite of the Five Points gangs. Forrest tried to quiet the angry mob, but they insisted on knowing Farren’s location. Before they could tear the theatre apart and hang Farren, a large contingent of police arrived. They drove the mob from the theater with Billy clubs. Some call this event the “Farren Riots.”

Story to be continued tomorrow.