On this day in New York · June 16, 1857
Two Police Departments Go to War on the City Hall Steps
For half an hour on a June morning, New York's own cops beat each other bloody over who actually ran the city.
The facts
- Date
- June 16, 1857
- Location
- New York City Hall, Manhattan
- Casualties
- 53 men injured, including Patrolman Crofut of the Seventeenth Precinct, permanently disabled
- How it ended
- State militia under Major General Charles W. Sandford surrounded City Hall and arrested Mayor Wood
By June 1857, New York had two police forces glaring at each other across City Hall Park. Albany lawmakers, fed up with corruption under Mayor Fernando Wood, had abolished his Municipal Police that spring and stood up a new Metropolitan force answering to the governor instead of the mayor. Wood refused to stand down, even after the state's highest court sided against him, and kept hundreds of loyal patrolmen on his own payroll under Superintendent George Washington Matsell. On June 16, a dispute over who would serve as Street Commissioner brought a Metropolitan captain to City Hall to arrest Wood, and Municipal officers threw him out. More Metropolitans rushed in, and for over half an hour the two forces fought each other on the steps and in the corridors of the building both were sworn to protect.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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The Municipals charged out of the building, and for over a half-hour, the rival forces fought on the steps and in the corridors of City Hall.
Wikipedia's account of the June 16, 1857 clash
Source: Wikipedia -
During the riot, 53 men were injured, including one officer from the Seventeenth Precinct, Patrolman Crofut, whose injuries resulted in his becoming an invalid.
Wikipedia's account of the riot's toll
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The state won this round, and New York's police stayed under a governor-appointed board until 1870. It's the wildest early proof that fights over who actually controls the NYPD, City Hall or Albany, are as old as the department itself.
Sources
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