Over seven thousand unemployed workers gather in…

Over seven thousand unemployed workers gather in Tompkins Square Park on January 13, 1874, including about twelve hundred workers from the German Tenth Ward Workingmen's Association.

 

This is the largest demonstration that New York City has ever seen.

 

Roughly sixteen hundred policemen are stationed in the surrounding area.

 

There are no notices in sight, however, to inform the crowd that the meeting's permit has been revoked.

 

Shortly after 10 a.m., police enter the square and disperse most of the crowd from the park, beating people with clubs.

 

Other police on horseback clear the surrounding streets.

 

Men from the German Tenth Ward Workingmen's Association fight back, attempting to defend the square.

 

One policeman is hit in the head with a hammer.

 

Christian Mayer is arrested for the incident. 

 

Samuel Gompers describes the events and his experiences: "mounted police charged the crowd on Eighth Street, riding them down and attacking men, women, and children without discrimination. It was an orgy of brutality. I was caught in the crowd on the street and barely saved my head from being cracked by jumping down a cellarway." 

 

Panic spreads across New York the rest of the day.

 

One school is put under police protection as it is rumored that immigrants are planning to burn it down.

 

City Alderman Kehr will claim that he had to jump off a street car to escape from protesters.