Astor Place Riot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Astor Place Riot was a riot that occurred May 10, 1849 at the Astor Place Opera House in New York City which resulted in over 22 people being killed.
The Bowery Theatre had opened in New York in 1826. By the late 1840's it catered mostly to a working class audience from the notorious, immigrant-heavy Five Points section of lower Manhattan a few blocks to the west. Its lead actor was Edwin Forrest. Wealthier patrons, to avoid mingling with the immigrants and the Five Points crowd, had built the Astor Place Opera House on the corner of Broadway and Astor Place in 1847, a twelve minute walk to the north.
Edwin Forrest had recently completed a European tour, which was a failure, in large part due to the actions of William Charles Macready, a former friend and competing actor. Macready then came to New York to perform Macbeth in the Astor Place Theater. In competition, the Bowery Theater decided to offer Macbeth on the same nights but starring Edwin Forrest in the leading role.
On May 7, 1849, the first night of Macready's performance, an unruly mob of Edwin Forrest fans infiltrated the audience at the Astor Place Theater and pelted Macready with rotten eggs, potatoes, and a bottle of a liquid believed to have been asafetida, which is nicknamed "devil's dung" and even old shoes and a copper coin. Macready completed the performance but decided not to complete the run until he was convinced to do so by City Elders including American authors Herman Melville and Washington Irving. On May 10 he took the stage again.
The crowd began gathering early in the day. By the time of the performance, over 20,000 people filled the streets around the theatre.
Reported the New York Tribune: "As one window after another cracked, the pieces of bricks and paving stones rattled in on the terraces and lobbies, the confusion increased, till the Opera House resembled a fortress besieged by an invading army rather than a place meant for the peaceful amusement of civilized community." The police force could not quell the riots so the National Guard from the Seventh Regiment, already mobilized and prepared, was called in. They fired into the crowd.
This article relating to the history of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
