The subject of these Notes is now about fifty-seven years of age,—a hale, hearty, rosy-faced man, agile, lithe of limb, in the full vigor of life; and were it not for his gray beard and hair, might easily pass as not over forty years of age. Always temperate in his habits, he has, notwithstanding the many hardships of his life, some of which would have broken down less vigorous constitutions than his, preserved to himself the blessing of health and the hues of youth in a remarkable degree. He is of a medium height, with a countenance not only always fresh and rosy, but beaming with benevolence—"a good face to look into," to quote Carlyle. Judging from Officer McWatters' physiognomy, and from his style of speech, it would be difficult to declare him to be either Scotch, Irish, or English; he might, by many, be considered an American by birth and education, especially if he were to assume the name "Hudson," "Clark," or "Hyde," for example.
It matters not in what country a man may have been born, whatever the institutions under which one is reared may have to do with the formation of his character; and as to Officer McWatters' place of birth, we are not absolutely certain, but believe he was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and was taken thence by his parents, at an early age, to the north of Ireland, where he was reared.
It is easy to conjecture that a man like Mr. McWatters must have had a more or less ambitious boyhood; and his friends have sometimes heard him recite the wakeful dreams he as a youth indulged in, of "the beautiful land beyond the western waters." Officer McWatters was evidently born out of place, for he is intensely democratic in his sentiments, more so than most native-born Americans, and manifests an appreciation of free institutions, which not unfrequently rises to the sublime, or intensifies to the pathetic. It is doubtful, for example, that during the late civil war there could have been found in all the land a man who took a deeper, soul-felt interest in the integrity of the republic than he. But of this farther on.
Mr. McWatters after receiving a very respectable education in the schools of the north of Ireland, became a mechanic; but the monotonous life of a working-man there, was ill suited to an ardent nature like his; and while yet a young man, full of the spirit of adventure, he left his Irish home, and proceeded to London, where he pursued his trade, and eventually married a most estimable lady, who has ever been to him a helpmeet indeed. By this lady Mr. McWatters is the father of a very interesting family of some six children, who have been carefully reared, and have enjoyed excellent opportunities of education. Miss Charlotte, the eldest daughter of Mr. McWatters, a lady of refined culture, as well as extreme personal graces and attractions, was married in October, 1860, to Signor Errani, then the distinguished tenor of the Academy of Music, and who not only occupies a first class position in his profession, but is a gentleman of marked intellectuality and extensive literary acquirements.
London is a world-school in itself. What a man cannot learn there of arts, sciences, and literature and of all the various phases of humanity, from the worse or lower than the barbarian, up to the highest type which "Natural Selection," according to the Darwinian theory, has developed, he would be unable to learn in any other spot of Earth. Though young yet mature, and with an active, inquiring brain it cannot be supposed that Mr. McWatters allowed the grand opportunity for observation which life in London gave him, to pass profitlessly. Going from among the stiff Presbyterian forms of life in the north of Ireland, which must have been galling to a spirit like his, directly to London with all its social freedoms, the change was a great one for him, and must have piqued his intelligence to the keenest examination and scrutiny of his new surroundings.
In London dwell the best as well as the worst people to be found in the world. The advanced spirits, philosophers and reformers, whom the civilization of other European countries is not sufficiently developed to tolerate, seek the asylum of England and make London their home; so, too, of the criminal classes. The most murderous thieves and burglars find in London a hiding place and theatre of operations. London, which was too large even fifty years ago, and was then emphatically one of those accursed "vampires upon the public weal," as Jefferson declared all cities to be, has grown marvelously since, and continues to grow to the wonder of all political economists, who are at a loss to determine wherefore. But such is the fact, and into this great seething sea of human life was it that Mr. McWatters plunged in his first essay at "studying human nature" away from the narrow field of his boyhood's observations. Whoever resides in London, and acquaints himself with what is about him, and mingles in the city's strifes, and comes out unscathed need not fear to trust himself anywhere in the world.
Mr. McWatters, after sojourning in London for a while after his marriage, betook himself, with his estimable wife, to this Land of Promise. In London he had made the acquaintance of many of the leading men most interested in questions bearing upon sociology, humane reforms, and philanthropic efforts at the amelioration of the condition of the laboring classes. His warm heart became greatly aroused in seconding the needed reforms which his keen intellect demonstrated were urgent for the good of not only the laborers of London, but of the working classes everywhere; and he brought with him to this country what may properly be termed an intense general anti-slavery spirit, embracing in its sympathy not only chattel-slaves, but wages-slaves, of every kind and color. And this may properly be said to be the chief characteristic of Mr. McWatters; and that he has made this felt for the good of his fellow-men as effectively, perhaps, as any other man living, considering his means and the sphere in which he has operated, cannot be questioned by any one who has attentively read our city journals of the last ten years especially.
The writer has gathered, and has before him, not less than two hundred and twenty different extracts from the papers of New York, in all of which Mr. McWatters is complimentarily spoken of in reference to his benevolent action, his humanitary deeds to the poor and suffering, or his active coöperation with some great public charity.
Mr. McWatters, though gifted with that untiring industry, clear, native intelligence, and wide understanding of men and things, which conquer fortunes in money for their possessors, has never achieved fortune for himself, so busily has he been engaged in deeds of benevolence. At the expense of his heart he could never afford the time to make a fortune. The like fact has marked the history of many other philanthropic spirits, and should redound as much to their credit, as does the same to that of certain great scholars whose devotion to science would never allow them the opportunity for turning their great talents to money-making. It is reported of Professor Agassiz, the great scientist, that being asked by some admirer of his vast talents (and who knew that he rejoiced not in a large share of "this world's goods" in the shape of money), why he did not turn his attention to money-making, and get rich, as he would be sure to do soon, he replied, "I cannot afford the time."
Soon after arriving in this country, Mr. McWatters made his way to Philadelphia, where he took up his residence. After various vicissitudes, he gave his time (1848-9) for a year to the study of the law, under William R. Dickerson, Esq., a Philadelphia lawyer of large practice, but a man of that stamp of character which made him of peculiar value as a collector of debts, especially in doubtful cases. He was rigid, exacting, and uncompromising with debtors. Mr. McWatters reveled in the study of Blackstone, Kent, Chitty, etc., and looked forward with eagerness to the time when he should be prepared to enter the "glorious lists" of the Knights of the Bar.
But a change was to come suddenly over the spirit of his beautiful dream, and which he foresaw not. Eventually Mr. Dickerson intrusted Mr. McWatters with sundry collections. He found this branch of the business unpleasant in its performance. His soft heart ached for the poor debtors. He could not nerve himself to act the part of an extortioner. When a poor widow, or orphans, or some discouraged man just arisen from a sick bed, and in arrears for rent, etc., shed tears in reciting his sufferings, Mr. McWatters forgot the lawyer in the humanitarian.
Finally, one day he was sent to collect a debt of a poor shoemaker, who was barely able to get bread enough for himself and his family to subsist upon. The laws of Pennsylvania exempt from civil process certain portions of a housekeeper's furniture; but when contracting for rent, the housekeeper may waive his right to such exemption, if he likes. The poor shoemaker in question had done so; but in order to distrain his goods for the debt,—in other words, to take away his very bed, and other necessary furniture,—it was incumbent upon the officer to get peaceable admittance into the house; and that he might do so in this case, Mr. McWatters was sent forward to effect entrance as a person seeking the shoemaker's service, while the constable had his post at a corner near by, and was to rush in when the door should be opened.
The whole thing was sickening to Mr. McWatters. He went, however, as ordered, and rapped at the door, the officer watching at his post. For a reason most creditable to Mr. McWatters' heart, but which may be left here only to the reader's surmise, that door, which was unlocked when he rapped, became duly locked, without the officer's being any the wiser as to how it was done, and entrance was not then effected.
This was the crowning grief to Mr. McWatters' disgust with the practice of the law, and he quitted the further study of the "science" thereof, feeling that he could never harden his heart to the practice of a profession which often requires much of unscrupulousness of conscience and such mercilessness. But his year's study became of great service to him later in life, when called upon as a detective officer, or member of the Metropolitan Police force, in sudden emergencies, when a knowledge of the law in this or that particular was necessary for judicious action.
About this time the great exodus from the United States, in fact from all parts of the world, to the California gold diggings, began. Mr. McWatters arranged his affairs, and migrated, with tens of thousands more, to the new El Dorado. But he was not happy there. The mad strife for gold overwhelmed all other things there. Men, in general, lost whatever of conscience they carried there, and the whole population was plunged in vices or crimes of one kind or another. Mr. McWatters found that he was not constituted to engage in such reckless warfare at the expense of all that was manly and good, and after nine months came to New York, which has since been his home.
Soon after his return from California, Mr. McWatters became associated with Laura Keene, the actress, as her agent in New York and Buffalo; and it was while he was at this time associated with her (for he was connected with her in subsequent engagements) that Mr. MCWatters was first called upon to enact the part of a detective.
To his success in this instance referred to may be attributed the series of wonderful articles which constitute "Knots Untied;" for had he failed on that occasion, it is probable that he would never have had confidence to attempt again the critical rôle which the successful detective must necessarily play; and the literature of the age would therefore have lacked the charming contribution of the mysterious revelations of hidden life which Mr. McWatters has made in these spirited tales.
It would be pleasing to the writer to make allusion here in detail, somewhat, to that incident, and other affairs in which Mr. McWatters became engaged, and which have come to the writer's knowledge, but which Mr. McWatters has not seen fit to reveal in "Knots Untied;" but it would, perhaps, be an unwarranted act to do so. He has conceived the design of the book to suit his own tastes, of course; and while he has in these articles struck a chord which cannot but awaken in the popular mind a rich responsive appreciation of his book, yet he cannot expect to suit everybody's taste in every respect.
It is not attempted here to give the current of Mr. McWatters' life as it occurred, in successive steps; indeed, the writer is not sure in respect to dates in all cases, possessing only the facts in substance. But not long after Mr. McWatters' first engagement with Miss Keene was determined, he became the exhibiting lecturer accompanying a grand panorama of a "Journey to California by Water and back by Land," and it is not difficult to conceive that with his experiences as a traveller, his residence in California, and his gifts as a public speaker, he made the "Journey" a matter of great delight to his audiences. The panorama was exhibited in the chief cities and towns of various States.
Subsequently Mr. McWatters became the agent of the late Countess of Lansfeldt, more generally known as Lola Montez, which he continued to be until nearly the time of her death. Much has been written about Lola,—much which is false, as well as much which is true. She was, in some respects, particularly social ones, a great woman, but had her weaknesses, like other mortals. Lola, like many, was inclined to occasional religious fits; and this fact suggests an incident worthy of recital, since it illustrates something of the life of persons of much public note.
Reference has been made to Mr. McWatters' association with Laura Keene. At a certain time Lola Montez became very religious, and continued so for a while. During her pious enthusiasm she determined to sell her theatrical wardrobe, consisting of splendid dresses, and dress-patterns (unmade-up), stage jewelry, of magnificent description, etc. She requested Mr. McWatters to offer them for sale to Laura Keene. He took some of the "goods" to Laura, whose purse at that time was rather limited. She could not gratify herself with the purchase of all, but selected a very heavy, rich dress-pattern, for which she paid in part, but on which Mr. McWatters trusted her for the sum of twenty-five dollars. When Mr. McWatters reported the sale to Lola, she was angry that he had trusted Laura.
Miss Keene was then running the Olympic Theatre. John Duff was her manager, together with Leutz, her husband. Laura wished to surprise them with the story of her new purchase, and had sent it off privately to have it made up gorgeously. When she heard that Lola was angry at Mr. McWatters' having trusted her, she sent for the dress; found it finished; declared that she had already paid for it all it was worth, but sent Mr. McWatters to some merchant's to have the goods appraised; whereupon he found that it was not dress-goods at all, but stuff for covering furniture,—known by all ladies now as "rep." Mr. McWatters reporting the discovery, Laura became angry, and sent the dress, with all its costly trimmings on, to Lola. Lola got angry again in turn, and tore off the trimming (which she sent back to Laura), and burned up the dress.
Mr. McWatters was busily occupied in connection with theatres, etc., for a long period, more or less interspersed with his enterprises as a detective officer, and his busy life was richly freighted with interesting experiences.
Mr. McWatters has ever been greatly interested in social problems, having in view the emancipation of the laboring classes from their more grievous burdens, and belongs, in his sympathies, to that class of humanitarians who see in Association something like a realization of the teachings of the Founder of Christianism; and at one time was practically engaged with several other philanthropists, in an experiment partaking considerably of Coöperation, but which unhappily failed of its desired success for want of more, and better disciplined coöperatives therein. It would be interesting to the reader, but out of place here to present something particular of the history of the experiment alluded to.
The writer has before him, clipped from the public journals, the record of remarkable incidents enough in Mr. McWatters' life to fill a small volume of themselves, only a few of which can properly be alluded to in a cursory biography. Such men's lives are often illustrated by "hairbreadth escapes," or signal good fortune under trying circumstances; but it is doubtful that a more singular and happily ending affair has ever occurred in any man's experience than one, the record of which was made at the time, in the New York Dispatch of June 20, 1858, and which is here copied in full.
"Pusillanimous Highwaymen.—Two Knights of the Road Frightened by a Spectacle Case.—At a few minutes to one o'clock yesterday morning, Mr. G. S. McWatters, late door-keeper at Laura Keene's theatre, was passing through Bleecker Street, near Mott. Suddenly two men sprang at him from behind a tree, one catching him around the waist, and the other making a grab at his throat. With a quick and powerful effort, turning himself around, he managed to fling from him the one who had hold of his waist; and quickly taking from his side coat-pocket a silver spectacle case, he drew his hand back with great emphasis, cautioning the other fellow not to advance a step, or he would stab him to the heart. The second fellow evidently mistook the glistening of the spectacle case in the moonlight as the gleaming of steel, for in double-quick time he took to his heels, followed by his companion, whose fall, as the result proved, had not detracted from his nimble-footedness. Mr. McWatters let the fellows run, very prudently avoiding imposing a task upon his lungs by calling for the police. It is thought they followed him for his money, of which he had a considerable amount about him."
McWATTERS' SPECTACLE CASE.
Passing over a period in Mr. McWatters' busy life, checkered with incidents and exploits of a marvellous kind in his career as a private detective, as well as much that is interesting of his active participation in many measures of a politico-reformatory and socialistic nature, we find that Mr. McWatters entered the Metropolitan Police force in 1858, wherein he distinguished himself, for the period of twelve years, up to October 17, 1870, when he resigned his post,—not only as a most effective and reliable officer in routine duties, but also by many suggestions and plans of enlarging the utility of the force to the community in general. For instance, we find in the New York World, of date November 22, 1860, an article under the head "Information to Railroad and Steamboat Passengers," which dilates, to some considerable extent, and most complimentarily, upon the beneficent results to the public of the operations of a detachment of the police force, "called the Railroad and Steamboat Squad," by which travellers visiting New York, and passing through, were saved from the impositions and robberies of ticket swindlers, hotel runners, unprincipled boarding-house keepers, etc., by encountering the travellers before they leave the cars and steamboats, and giving them all requisite information in regard both to the swindlers, and how best, most safely and economically to conduct their sojourn in the city. The World's article concludes with stating, that "this plan originated with Officer McWatters, who, we know, was for a long time an efficient, and one of the most popular officers attached to this section of the force."
How well Officer McWatters performed his individual duties in connection with this squad, might be illustrated by the quotation of an article entitled "Personal," in the Daily Tribune of July 7, 1860, which is most highly complimentary of Officer McWatters, but is too long to be incorporated here.
Mr. McWatters' onerous vocation as a policeman did not forbid his finding time for earnest participation in many matters not pertaining to his special duties as an officer. Indeed, it would seem that, with all his labors, he found more time to devote to good causes outside of his police duties than many men of leisure and benevolent spirit think themselves able to bestow. It is said that none find so little leisure time to do anything as the wholly indolent and unoccupied, and the more a man has to do of daily labor, the more time can he find to attend to extra calls upon his services. Officer McWatters seems to have practicalized this "doctrine," for, judging from the several hundred extracts before us, taken from the New York journals for the last ten years, one would be led to think that Officer McWatters possessed the attribute or faculty of ubiquity, for we find him "here, and there, and everywhere" in the city, and without it, in attendance upon reform meetings; or advocating humanitary measures from the rostrum, for Officer McWatters is a forcible public speaker. The suffering and starving people of Kansas (1861) we find elicited his warm sympathies and active exertions in their behalf, expressed by the practical mode of raising contributions for their aid. In the Evening Post of October 2, 1861, we find allusion to Officer McWatters as the Secretary of the Patriotic Association of Metropolitan Police (of which, in conjunction with the late Inspector Carpenter, if the writer is not mistaken, Officer McWatters was the originator), which was organized to afford support to the families of policemen who joined the Metropolitan Brigade in the war for the Union.
Chancing to turn at this moment to the New York World of March 14, 1861, the writer finds that on the day before Officer McWatters "immersed" himself in the North River, plunging in to rescue a six-years-old boy, who had fallen off the dock. In the Sunday Mercury of April 7, five weeks after the occurrence last mentioned, we find Officer McWatters aiding in the rescue of another boy from a watery grave; and in the Daily Tribune of March 11, 1861, appears the statement of still another rescue from drowning by Officer McWatters, this time of a man, one Captain William Vanname. We might extend, indefinitely, the list of kindred good deeds by Officer McWatters, as gathered from the public journals; but these will serve to show the fact that he was always to be found in the line of his duty. He was frequently saving life, or performing other noble acts.—But we do not intend to dwell in detail upon the professional life of Officer McWatters in his connection with the Metropolitan Police. It is enough, perhaps, to say in general terms, that he fulfilled his duties nobly well; that from Superintendent Kennedy, under whom, for the most part, he served, his official career received the very warmest praise, and that the public press made frequent complimentary mention of him all along the period of about twelve years during which he was a member of the Metropolitan Police force.
We might also refer for further evidence of Officer McWatters' honorable performance of his official duties and high standing in the force to the expressed opinion of the late Superintendent Jourdan. This gentleman's judgment of the merit of an officer's services was, of course, to a great degree worthy of respect. But though the Latin maxim is, "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" (say only good of the dead), we are constrained to feel, that although Superintendent Jourdan's praise had a certain professional merit, yet his moral character was so questionable, that his commendation of Officer McWatters could hardly add to the merit of the latter, while his taste as a gentleman, and his reverence for the honest and the true, would probably induce him to prefer the non-production here of the former's testimony.
Officer McWatters' earnest love of, and reverence for the free institutions of the United States, are something extraordinary, it would seem. Reared in the north of Ireland, and having resided in London long enough to thoroughly understand the miseries of the subject-classes of that great metropolis and of England, Officer McWatters was prepared, when he landed on our shores, to render at least due appreciation to republican institutions; and when the late civil war broke out, he entered into the conflict against secession with all his soul. His anxiety to go to the front at the breaking out of the rebellion, and take a soldier's place in the struggle, was only equalled by the bitter regret that he was prevented doing so by untoward circumstances. But what service to the country he was thus forbidden to do upon the field, he fully rendered, in various forms, in his capacity as a most active and enthusiastic patriot at home. Officer McWatters was not of that "noble home guard," so justly and severely ridiculed at the time, who urged others on to the war, and felt satisfied with their achievements in so doing; but he was ever alert in the discovery of ways and means to serve the government, perhaps more effectively than if he had been in the ranks on the field, or had headed a regiment in battle; for if Officer McWatters had gone to the field, such are his temperament, popularity, and capacity, that he could not long have held a position second to that of many men who gained distinction and led New York regiments and brigades—to say nothing of superior leaders.
He was of the number of those (few, indeed, they may properly be said to have been), who, in the early part of the rebellion, took anything like an adequate preview of its results. It appears that, early in the war, he wrote a letter to the press, in which is clearly stated his opinion, that the war "can have no less result than the abolition of negro slavery." He was prepared for this: implicitly believing in it, he ordered his conduct thereby, and throughout the contest manifested an enthusiasm proportionate to the mighty victory for humanity which he so clearly foresaw was to be won.
Always vigilant, and, everywhere that he was able, ready and prompt to serve the government, it must have been a matter of proud satisfaction to Officer McWatters when he made the first seizure of guns which occurred at the North during the war, and which guns were intended by their Northern consignors—sympathizers with the rebellion—to be used by their Southern consignees to shoot down the patriot forces. This seizure is thus recorded in the Tribune of May 12, 1861:—
"The vigilance of the police was yesterday evinced by the seizure of four nine-pound Dahlgren guns by Officer McWatters, of the Steamboat and Railroad Police, on Pier No. 3, North River."
It will be recollected by all who watched the current affairs of the war, that it was in regard to this seizure by Officer McWatters, that Fernando Wood, then Mayor of New York, so infamously and cowardly made an unasked apology to Robert Toombs of Georgia. Communication with the South was not at that time suspended, and he telegraphed to the secessionist his regrets at the seizure, and added assurance that if he had had control of the police the guns should be restored, or that he would have forbidden the seizure. Such was the substance of his telegram. But fortunately for the honor of the nation, as well as of the city of New York, the control of the police had, before that time, been taken from Mayor Wood. But his telegram sent a thrill of shame through all patriotic hearts, and added a new lustre to the merit of Officer McWatters' deed, by the contrast in which it placed the two men,—the dutiful, freedom-loving police officer, and the poor creature who, having escaped the issues of a criminal trial by pleading the statute of limitations, had been borne on the shoulders of a "Sixth Ward brigade" of repeating voters to the questionable height of the Mayoralty of New York.
It is, perhaps, worthy of note here that the virtues of Fernando Wood have since been duly rewarded by an appreciative constituency in New York, who have sent him for several terms as their fit representative to the Congress of the nation. It is seldom that the historiographer has the opportunity of recording such a lofty expression of the "gratitude of republics;" and the writer hereof takes especial pleasure in fixing it here "in eternal types." Officer McWatters' due reproof for the seizure is fitly found in the fact, that a noble constituency like Wood's, would, if they could, have annihilated him for the deed.
Not only at his post of official duty was it that Officer McWatters rendered efficient service to the government, but throughout the war we find him frequently making noble appeals for aid to the Union in one form or another, or setting forth some judicious plan of operations to secure the same, in able and spirited letters to the Evening Post, the Tribune, etc. It should give the writer pleasure to copy some of these letters herein, especially one which appeared in the Evening Post of October 2, 1861, but the limits of these biographical notes forbid.
In the Tribune of August 5, 1864, appeared a letter from Officer McWatters, from which, notwithstanding our narrow limits, we cannot forbear to make a short quotation, since it so well evinces his spirit, both as a man and a writer, as well as his lofty appreciation of the honor and glory of his adopted country's institutions. A portion of the letter is addressed to working-men, urging them to loan to the nation, in its hour of peril, such sums of money as they could save; and the letter concludes with these noble words: "Fellow Working-men: I have, by hard scraping, saved one hundred dollars. I am going to lend it to the government. I ask you, in the name of humanity and patriotism, to 'go and do likewise.' Your country demands your assistance; respond generously, quickly; think of the proud eminence on which you stand before the working-men of the world,—as American citizens!—and acquit yourselves as though you felt your dignity."
Often is it, perhaps, that little deeds of gentle and silent charity, care for the suffering, and unostentatious benevolence, speak more eloquently for the heart of a true man, than those of valor on the field of battle in the noblest cause. In the Tribune of June 1, 1863, is copied a certain appeal made a day or two before, and which we recopy below:—
"To the Police of New York: Thousands of soldiers—your fellow-countrymen—are now lying in the hospitals about Washington, suffering from wounds received in battle. Their chief torment is a craving thirst; water is unwholesome, and cannot be given in quantities sufficient to satisfy the craving. The only safe and effectual remedy is found in the juice of lemons, and for a supply of this fruit the kindness of individuals must be appealed to. Twenty-five cents from each member of the force would afford incalculable relief to those who now pine for the want of this simple luxury. Will you help? All money paid over to Inspector Carpenter for this purpose will reach its destination immediately."
This appeal, effectively "displayed" (in the job-printer's parlance), and printed upon small handbills, was secretly circulated among the police, and soon resulted in a contribution by them of the unexpectedly large sum of over six hundred dollars, for lemons for the sick soldiers. Though a small affair in the matter of money, it proved a great one in other considerations. It was not only a beneficent act, but a very judicious one. From whom the appeal emanated was a profound secret among the police, until, on the 8th of June, 1863, there appeared in the Tribune a notice of a "report" by the late Inspector Carpenter, in which, referring to this matter, he says: "To Patrolman McWatters, of the Twenty-Sixth Precinct, is due the credit of projecting this trifling donation from this department to relieve the sufferings of our sick and wounded soldiers."
In many other quiet and effective ways Officer McWatters administered to the comfort of our soldiers and their families during the war, but we have not space to recall them here. Some of them became known, from time to time, and were recorded in the public journals of the day.
During the whole war nothing of a more fearful nature to the cause of the Union occurred than the great riot in New York city, which commenced on Monday, the 13th of July, 1863, and was not subdued until the following Friday. The people of the North were, to a considerable extent, becoming weary of the war, and thousands, if not tens of thousands, who had previously exhibited a good degree of sturdy patriotism, began to wane in their vigor and firmness of purpose, and were ready to "let the rebels go in peace hereafter." But the facts of those perilous days are too fresh in the memory of all to need recital here. The rioters were exultant, and the people stood aghast for a while; but finally the Metropolitan Police force obtained ascendency over the surging elements of the local rebellion, and brought back peace to the city again. But this was not done without more severe effort and a greater destruction of life than was generally understood by the country at large at that time.
Before us is a book, entitled "Record of the Police during the July Riots, 1863," by David M. Barnes, in the preface of which the author, speaking of the slaughters during those days, says, "The number killed by the police and military in the different conflicts, when alone and united, can never be ascertained; it is estimated by those who witnessed the scenes, and had the best opportunity of judging, at fourteen hundred. The bodies of those killed on the spot were hurriedly taken off, and in many cases conveyed out of the city, or secreted here, and privately buried. Cases of subsequent deaths from wounds, it is known, were attributed to other causes. Eighteen persons are known to have been killed by the rioters, eleven of whom were colored."
We confess ourselves somewhat astonished at so large an estimate of the number killed during the riot; but those were horrible days, indeed, and the estimate is, we think, quite probably within the limits of the truth. The book was published in September, 1863, it appears,—a date a sufficiently long time after the riots to have allowed much careful investigation to have been made. Among the other heroes of those days, whom the author signalizes by especial mention by name,—Commissioner Acton, Superintendent Kennedy, Commissioner Bergen, Chief Clerk Hawley, Inspectors Carpenter, Dilks, and Leonard, etc.,—is found our chief subject, as brave, active, earnest, and efficient in the midst of a deathly struggle, as he is ever gentle, kind, and tender in his silent ministrations to the sick, sore, and suffering in the days of peace. On page eighty-two of the book referred to, and where the special history of the conduct of the police of the Twenty-Sixth Precinct is detailed in regard to their conflicts with the mob in the City Hall Park, Printing House Square, and the Tribune Office, the author says,—
"No mercy was shown, and over a hundred lay in the square and park, the well-punished victims of their own folly and crime. While the mob were being thus terribly handled in the street, some of the force turned their attention to the Tribune Building, fighting their way to, and entering it. The fire had just been lighted, and was readily extinguished. Officer McWatters, on entering the door, was assaulted by a burly ruffian, armed with a hay-rung, who, by a powerful blow on the shoulder, knocked him down; instantly on his feet again, he more than repaid, on the heads of the rioters, the blow. The building was cleared speedily, and not a man in it escaped without severe punishment."
But it is unnecessary to extend comment upon the career of Officer McWatters, as related to the active operations of the war. As a patriot, his name is not only "without spot or blemish," but is one of which the best of citizens might be proud, and of which only such could have made themselves worthy.
Before passing on, in direct course, to the most interesting portion of Officer McWatters' life, in which the character of the man, in his intensely benevolent nature, is most beautifully and nobly illustrated in a thousand ways, we pause here to revert to him as a gentleman of general literary tastes, and to his friendly and genial associations with men of letters. Mr. McWatters, in his almost countless letters, and other contributions to the public press, has ever seemed to avoid anything like notoriety,—to be, in short, quite unambitious to secure to himself anything like popular distinction by his pen; for nearly all his contributions to the press have been unaccompanied by his name, and when not literally anonymous, published over various sobriquets, known only to a few of his friends at most. Not a few of his most intimate acquaintances will doubtless be surprised when the spirited and elegant series of articles which he now gives to the world in "Knots Untied" reveal to them the man in his higher literary estate, so unostentatious has he been, and so little merit did his modesty permit him to attach to the articles in question, until diffidently submitted by him to the inspection of a few of his critical literary friends, who, delighted with their engaging style, and appreciating their practical worth, urged the half-astonished author to give them to the public, as a duty he owed to his fellow-citizens.
His course has been altogether a too modest one (if we be permitted to speak in criticism thereof). But, for his own private happiness, Mr. McWatters has never failed to appreciate the society of literary men, and notwithstanding his multiplied duties, official and humanitary, has always managed to find time to cultivate the acquaintance of the most gifted and distinguished literateurs, artists, and so forth, who, during the last fifteen years especially, have given lustre to the great metropolis. A genial man, a good story-teller, courteous under all circumstances, full of sparkling intelligence, generous to an extreme degree, a man of excellent habits as well as refined sentiments, he has always been welcomed by these men of lettered distinction, to whom we refer above.
And here we should be pleased to introduce the names of the most remarkable of Mr. McWatters' literary associates, up to the year 1871, as illustrative of the good taste of our subject. But the record would be too long for place here; besides, we might, while reciting the names of some, fail, through fault of memory, in this hasty writing, to recall those equally worthy of record here. But we have at hand an article clipped from the New York Illustrated News of August 2, 1862, in which is arrayed a list of many of those who at that time were distinguished lights in the literary world, and some of whom have achieved imperishable honors since, while others of the number have been gathered to their fathers—borne to their tombs in the "laureate hearse," after having won and borne upon their brows the bays of many a literary victory.
The article in question descants upon "Pfaff's;" and its literary, artistic, and other distinguished habitues. But we will quote it entire for the reader's pleasure, and information, possibly, as well:—
"As so much has been said in the papers, from time to time, about 'Pfaff's,' it may be well to state that the name is descriptive, simply, of a 'restaurant and lager bier saloon,' kept at No. 647 Broadway, by a Teuton of that name, and which, partly from its central position, and partly from the excellence of its fare, has been such a favorite resort, for several years, for artists, literateurs, actors, managers, editors, critics, politicians, and other public characters, as to have become quite famous. It is not, as has been often reported, the rendezvous of a particular clique or club of Bohemians (whatever they may be), but simply a general and convenient meeting-place for cultivated men, and one where, almost any evening, you may meet representatives of nearly every branch of literature and art, assembled, not by appointment, nor from habit even, but 'met by chance, the usual way.' Among the literary men whom we have met there from time to time, during the last three or four years, may be mentioned Walt Whitman, Aldrich, Winter, Stoddard, Bayard Taylor, W. Ross Wallace, W. D. Howells, Frank Otterson, Charles Dawson Shanly, W. H. Fry, Edward Howland, Charles Seymour, 'Doesticks,' 'Artemus Ward,' 'Figaro,' T. C. Evans, E. C. Stedman, Charles F. Briggs, E. G. P. Wilkins, Charles Gayler, J. V. Sears, Harry Neill, E. H. House, Frank Wood, C. Burkhardt, Rosenberg, A. F. Banks, 'Walter Barret,' George Arnold, Charles D. Gardette, 'Howard of the Times,' and Thad. Glover; among artists, Stillman, Palmer, Launt, Thompson, Cafferty, G. H. Hall, Shattuck, Innis, Sewell, Henessy, Loop, Avery, Frank Howland, Homer Martin, Eastman Johnson, Bierstadt, Van Beest, Hitchings, Bellew, Mullen, Anthony, Eytinge, Nast, Baker, Sontag, Boughton, Rowse; and of other well-known characters, Ullman, Strakosch, Maretzek, Grau, Stigelli, Mollenbaur, H. L. Bateman, Nixon, Dolly Davenport, Davidge, Young, Fisher, Floyd, Reynolds, Stuart, Moss, Chanfrau, Mason, the Hanlons, Officer McWatters, J. Augustus Page, Gill Davis, Schauss, Seitz, Brisbane, Dr. Wainwright, etc., etc., including a good number of politicians, and that large class of people, called Germans, without end."
Of this goodly host, the gifted Wilkins; Fry, the erudite, then so distinguished in the editorial and musical world; Arnold, the genial young essayist, poet, and humorist; "Artemus Ward," and perhaps others, long since made their last visit to Pfaff's—their lights of life going out in the peaceful darkness of death, while "their literary torches burn on,"—"stars which gleam forever."
And other of these,—Whitman, Stedman, Howells, Aldrich, and Edward Howland, for especial example—(the last four being, in 1862, of the very youngest of the above array), and Bierstadt, Shattuck, etc., have climbed to the top of Parnassian heights, won bright and solid victories in the field of prose as essayists, historians, etc., or transferred nature to the canvas with that beauty and sublimity of artistic truthfulness which have commanded for them the admiration of the world.
It is with these men, and others of equal order of intellectual and social gifts, that Officer McWatters has passed most of his leisure hours for many years; thus keeping his genial nature and bright intelligence free from the corrosion and canker which eat into the moral and intellectual vitals of the mere business man; and preserving himself physically, too, fresh and buoyant as youth itself. The great number of personal souvenirs which Officer McWatters' author friends have presented him, in the shape of copies of their respective works, constitute quite a "library" in themselves,—a pleasing recognition, grateful to himself and his family, of the excellent social merits, intellect, and moral worth of the man and the officer.
Whatever are our subject's merits otherwise, as a man and an officer, and extreme though was his patriotic zeal during the late civil war, and to which he gave practical expression in the wisest and noblest ways, all these has he eclipsed, and rendered comparatively unworthy of note, by his career since the war as a Good Samaritan, a practical "Home Missionary" (if it be not derogatory to apply to him a designation, however kindly, which usually signifies but little more than a sectarian proselyter of one school or another). Always interested in social problems, Officer McWatters is too intelligent not to fully understand that the fragmentary reforms and the ordinary great charities of the times can never subdue the evils which his heart would abate and banish from society forever. Indeed, it is the opinion of the writer, (however little this may accord with Officer McWatters' views, or however opposed he may be to so radical sentiments, for herein the writer speaks for himself and no one else), that the availability of charity towards abolishing evil is but pitiable at best. Giving the beggar an old coat, only to be called on by some other beggar for a like coat, and never seeking to abolish beggary and its attendant sufferings by some judicious means of abolishing beggars themselves, by destroying the causes which create them, is unscientific, paltry, and in every way unwise at best.
It is only about nineteen hundred years since the advent of Christianity; and perhaps not over two hundred and fifty millions of people at the present time profess to be Christians, and belong to some of the symbolized divisions of the church, while may be not over three hundred millions more profess to be Christians in spirit; and not much of good could well be expected to grow up in so short a time, and with so few advocates to encourage it; yet the writer confesses that, in some of his weaker moods, he is astonished after all that something has not been done by Christian people to abolish the proximate and fruitful cause of nearly all the crimes and sufferings, namely, poverty. The sufferings of the poor in New York, for example, are terrible to contemplate; and the much-boasted great charities of the metropolis are directed only to temporary relief of the sufferers. This is their highest aspiration even. They proclaim no desire to do more, at best, than to smooth the bed of the sick, and procure "places" for children (to grow up and work for others in), or situations for this woman or that poor man out of employment.
The right of these children and these poor men and women to live at all, and the duty of society to guarantee to the individual the enjoyment of that right, are wholly ignored by them. Year after year they perform their patchwork charities with a patience which would be commendable in the pursuit of science, and which, while it astonishes the writer at its stupidity, nevertheless commands from him, as he cheerfully confesses, a sort of respect, if not admiration; for many of these charity-doers are really the best of people at heart, and would doubtless, if they knew how, do better, act more wisely. But they are ignorant of better means than they use; and, in fact, it has never occurred to them that better and wiser means ought to be, or could be taken than those they employ, to assuage human suffering.
With his study and understanding of sociology, Officer McWatters must necessarily see, we think, and painfully feel, how meagre and pitiful are the amends which charity makes to those victims whom society has robbed of their rights; and his sense of this must constantly operate to weaken his courage and chill his enthusiasm in the cause of petty or "patchwork" charities. Yet withal so abundant is his good nature, so sensitive his sympathies, that years do not seem to abate his zeal therein at all; and here is the wonder. He keeps on in his good works, though the institutions of society multiply the sufferings he would abate, and bring to his door ten new sufferers because he has just aided one old one. As long as such souls as McWatters' continue doing their good deeds, so long will the rapacious and extortionate thank them, and continue to create victims for them to practise their humanity upon. The landlord, whose tenant is poor and sick, is very grateful, of course, to the "charitable society" which helps his tenant to pay the rent; and it is a question with the writer, sometimes, if it were not better that the kind and tender-hearted benefactors of the poor were less numerous; for if the poor were goaded on by suffering a little further, they might, dispelling the mists of ever-fallacious "hope" from before their eyes, come to see their rights, and demand them.
It is to the advantage of the master to feed his chattel-slave sufficiently well to keep him in good strength for work. Charity, under direction of the masters in society, feeds the working classes only up to the point of usefulness as wages-slaves. It is cheaper for a given present time to keep a poor man in a working condition than it is to let him starve to death, and so incur the expense of burying him. That expresses the morale of the master-classes' "consideration" of the subject-classes; and here in the United States the "tender love" of the strong for the weak is just as marked as in other lands, perhaps; but, alas! no more so, notwithstanding our boasted love of "liberty and right."
But we remarked that Officer McWatters must understand all this, and yet pursues his constant course of charities. Not for the wisdom (or the lack of it, as the case may be) which prompts or permits him to do the thousand acts of benevolence for which he is noted, is it that he commands so much of our admiration, but for that tireless sympathy and wondrous vitality of benevolence (so to characterize it) which ever bestir him, notwithstanding his clear understanding that he will, and can alone, only mitigate effects, and not cure causes; that he is "carrying coals to Newcastle" all the while, or is putting one brick on a pile, only to see a dozen fall therefrom; and this, though he repeats it day after day.
As we have before remarked, Officer McWatters is not a rich man, save in his own good nature and the affection of his multitudinous friends; and his charities mean something to his purse, drawing from it constantly whatever he can find time or opportunity to place there; for, if the writer is correctly informed, Officer McWatters has never received a cent for his multifarious labors in connection with any of the several organized charities to which he is attached. As a member of the Metropolitan Police he received his salary, rendering therefor his full duty; and this was all he had to support himself and family upon; and that was constantly depleted by his benevolence, as we have remarked before. In view of these facts, Officer McWatters is elevated, in our esteem, to the rank of the Howards, and the other marked philanthropists of the world.
During the late civil war, as we have said, Officer McWatters took a deep and patriotic interest in the conflict. This was manifested in many ways, particularly towards the soldiers and their families; and he has not forgotten them since. Whatever the reader may think of a man who in this age allows himself to go deliberately into a contest, the avowed purpose of which is to maim and kill his fellow-men, for any cause; or what he may think of that order of society which compels a man to enlist in a cause of cruelty and blood (as hosts of men were driven into the rebel ranks at the point of the bayonet, or by conscription, or want of something else to do, however remonstrating), ought to have but little bearing upon the case of the veteran soldier now.
Our Northern soldiers went to the war with the assurance of the public press, and the declaration of hundreds of thousands of those who remained at home, but who gathered in crowds ("to see the soldiers off") at the places of departure, that they should, on their return, receive the gratitude of those for whom they fought. Promises were abundant, and the poor, confiding fellows for the most part believed them, and on the battle-field found consolation for their hardships and dangers in the love of those they had left behind, and which, poured forth in unstinted measure on their return, was to be their "good and abundant reward." Poor fellows! they have learned, for the most part, the value of their countrymen's love; they have learned how priceless is the glory of an arm or a leg lost, since it secures for them, who only had precarious homes before, a permanent home in the poor-house, or has led them to the due consideration of the virtue of economy; the estimable and superior value of rags over the whole coats they used to wear; of temperance in eating, and other like virtues. Very few care for the "veteran soldier" now, and his family is left to starve with those of other paupers, or with those of the imprisoned criminal. This is the sad truth; and were another civil war to arise to-day, probably but very few of the old rank and file, who are still strong and able, would muster around the standard again, but would generously suggest to those who remained at home before, that they might now win all the victories, and enjoy all the glory.
But there are a few in the community who have not forgotten the maimed veterans and their suffering families; and chief among these few is Officer McWatters; for we hazard nothing in saying, that, all things considered, there cannot be found another person, male or female, in the whole land, who has done more for the poor soldiers and their families than he. He seems to be impelled in his constant care for them by what amounts to almost a generous frenzy, and which might so be denominated were it not that his deeds in their behalf are always directed by wisdom; it is a passion, at least, with him; the poetry of his current life.
Officer McWatters is an active member of several charitable organizations; but that under which the greater share of his benevolent deeds have been done for the last five or six years during which he has been connected with it, is the Ladies' Union Relief Association. This is an organization, under the directorship of several benevolent ladies of distinguished social position in New York, such as the wives of Messrs. Marshall O. Roberts, Ex-Mayor Havemeyer, Dr. Joseph Worster, Henry Dwight, J. A. Kennedy (President), William E. Churchill, etc., with Miss Evelina S. Hamilton, as Corresponding Secretary, Miss Madeline McKibben, Recording Secretary, and Miss Marianna Hale, Treasurer of the Association. This organization has an advisory board, composed of Generals Dix, Van Vliet, Butler, Rev. Drs. Chapin and Thompson, Hon. W. F. Havemeyer, Drs. Herrick and Worster, Messrs. Theodore Roosevelt, George Bliss, Jr., William E. Dodge, Jr., and many other distinguished gentlemen. But the chief and most active man of the board is our subject, Officer George S. McWatters, with whom, and his constant aid, this benevolent Association would not willingly part.
The Ladies' Union Relief Association undertake to assist the sick and disabled veteran soldiers and their families, and the families of deceased soldiers; and their self-imposed duties are very onerous, and a vast amount of charitable work do they, visiting the sick and taking to them the necessaries of life, paying their rents, clothing the children; finding places of employment for the ex-soldier, or his widow, or family; furnishing this or that one means of transportation to the far West, for example, when offered a home there with some relative, etc., etc. These duties are constant. The field is always a large one; and in a season like that of 1870-71, when business is dull, and employment is scarce, the poor of New York suffer extremely. It is in such a season that the relations of poverty to the wealth which its labors have created (for the workers are ever the poor), is seen in painful relief upon the face of society.
In the performance of his voluntarily assumed duties under this Association, Officer McWatters found nearly all his time, aside from that strictly required by his official duties, occupied, nights as well as days. At the police headquarters, where he held a detailed position, the poor and suffering flocked to him during the day for advice and succor; and when off duty as a policeman, he gave his time to visiting and aiding them in their squalid homes.
The Ex-Superintendent Kennedy cordially seconded Officer McWatters in his benevolent work, and gave him every facility for receiving the poor at the police office. In this way he was enabled, while fulfilling his duties as a policeman, to gratify his heart with kindly attention to the poor. But eventually Superintendent Kennedy was superseded by Mr. Jourdan. Jourdan was, it would appear, an unfeeling man. He refused to let the soldiers visit the headquarters in search of Officer McWatters, and declared that they were "dirty, and smelled bad," and that he would no longer suffer them to come. Thus Officer McWatters' mendicant clientage was prohibited consulting with him during the hours of police duty, and he felt that his dearest, most cherished "occupation," was almost "gone." His sphere of pleasant, though onerous duties, was limited, and he fretted under the restraint of the rule which prevented the poor to approach him—a man whom the Rev. Dr. Bellows declares, when referring to the poor soldiers, to be "one of their few steady, laborious, and judicious benefactors."
But death came, and laid Superintendent Jourdan in the grave—the common earth—as lowly as the graves of the "dirty," poor soldiers whom he despised. It is a significant fact that this man Jourdan's remains were followed to the tomb by many distinguished citizens of New York,—politicians, men of wealth and professional good standing, and others. But perhaps it is not so strange after all that he should have been so honored in New York, for Fernando Wood has been mayor of the city; and many who have grown rich by political thieving are kept in office, and Jim Fisk, Jr., is not only suffered to live within the city limits, but has been elected to the post of colonel of the Ninth Regiment, and is actually extolled by great numbers of the people. Crime is no great stain to any man in New York if he but have money, or is in the "line" of making it fast. The city's moral worth reposes, for the most part now, with the few members of the churches who are what they profess to be, and with the benevolent and Christian women,—comparatively few in number,—like those of the Ladies' Union Relief Association, and the few Howards, whose best representative is Officer McWatters.
Jourdan's death, however, did not abate the unjust rule he had made, forbidding the poor to seek their friends at the headquarters of the police, and Officer McWatters, unwilling longer to follow for a livelihood a calling by which he was prevented from honoring the dictates of his heart by doing all which he might do in some other vocation for the poor soldiers and their families, determined on resigning his post. While he was casting about for such a position, some of his friends, among whom were Rev. Dr. Bellows, President of the United States Sanitary Commission (and who cheerfully says of Officer McWatters, "The evidence is overwhelming that few private persons have given so much time and effectual aid to the friendless class as he"), Wm. Cullen Bryant, and other gentlemen of high character; and the ladies of the Relief Association, who were unwilling to part with his invaluable coöperation, sought, for Officer McWatters, a place in the custom-house, where the lingering sway of no heartless Jourdan would oppress him. Officer McWatters' desire being made known to Collector Murphy, he, be it said to his honor, immediately and generously offered him a situation which would enable him to earn his living, and continue his benevolent work; and on the 17th of October, 1870, Officer McWatters tendered the resignation of his place as policeman to the Commissioners, by the following letter, a copy of which we take from the New York Dispatch of the 23d of that month:—