THE STORY OF ‘ JINNY ’

New Zealand Tablet, 27 May 1915, Page 7

THE STORY OF ‘ JINNY ’

It was in the autumn of 1826, when my grandmother had been only a few months a bride, that there came to her house as cook a bright young colored girl, Jane Goldsmith, who was then, I think, about twentyeight years old. In a few months she left to be married ; but in less than a year she returned to my grandmother’s house, her husband having been blown up in an accident to a small river steamboat plying the Hudson,—which occurrence led my father in later years to illustrate the story of Jane’s short period of wedded bliss by telling of a colored man who said: ‘lf you get blowed on land, dar you are! But if you get blowed up on water, ware are you?’ Be that as it may, Jane’s husband disappeared forever ; and henceforth she lived with my grandmother, spending over fifty years in our household. She was known to four generations of our large family as ‘ Jinny,’ and I think she loved us as

much as we loved her. ■-■..- In her extreme old age she became totally blind. : ; '' J -- .-•'--'- ' ; :'.K : When the Civil War broke out, my grandfather realised that Jinny would require extra care. At that time his house was on East Forty-Second Street,'between Fifth and Madison Avenues, New York,a block that both then and for years after was* one of the most attractive in the city. My grandfather's house'was the first one from Fifth Avenue, on the south side of the street and running along the west side of it was a narrow alley, that gave entrance to the rear of. a row of houses on Fifth Avenue extending from Forty-Second to Forty-First Streets, known as 'The Duke of Devonshire Row.' Externally they were built"to look like a single house, and I well remember their quaint-and charming appearance. The stone used was of buff color; the windows were long and narrow, having the appearance of lancet windows, and filled in with small panes of glass. On the second floor were bay windows of a rather unusual shape. The houses, English basement, stood back from the Avenue with grass-plots in front that were finished by a long iron railing which ran the length of the block. The whole row was said to represent his Grace's palace in London, hence the name. It is a pity that these and other quaint old houses in New York were ever pulled down. My grandfather and his family, being Protestants, attended the Church of the Transfiguration on East Twenty-Ninth Street, later known as ' the little Church around the Corner.' The rector was the Rev. George H. Houghton j and as the manner in which his church got its nickname may not be known to my readers, I will recount if. * * * -x- * A certain actor had died, and his relatives called on the pastor of a church on the corner of Madison Avenue and Twenty-Ninth Street to arrange for the funeral. The rector declined, saying he did not care to have a member of the theatrical profession buried from his church; 'but,' he added, 'there's a little church around the corner where they will do it.' Dr. Houghton, whose large-hearted love and generosity made no distinction of race or profession, at once agreed to have the funeral at his church. He was also a friend of the colored race, and many of them attended his church. Among others was Jinny, who was devoted to tho Doctor. I was particularly fond of her, and she of me. She never could or would pronounce my name, and she did not want to call me "by my nickname. Instead, she always called me ' Missy George ' ; and regularly once a week Jinny, attired in the black silk dress she always wore on Sundays, would escort little ' Missy George' to church. If I became sleepy during the sermon—which frequently happened, as sermons in those days were no twenty-minute affair —Jinny's ample shoulder made a soft cushion to lean on. She was very short and fat, and, with the addition _ of the wide hoops that were worn at the time, she took up so much room in the pew, especially when she stood up to sing, that I, in the corner, was almost lost to sight. Like so many of the colored race, she possessed a sweet voice, and her singing was always an event for me. „It was on the 13th of July, 1863, that the greatest drama in Jinny's life occurred. There had been a call for 300,000 enlisted men for the war. New York was filled with Southern sympathisers and half-hearted adherents to the Federal cause; and my grandfather, although a Northerner, was accused of being in sympathy with the South because he kept a colored servant. On the 3rd of March Congress had passed a Conscription Act, whereby men between the ages of twenty and forty-five years could be drafted for service. A man, however, could procure exemption from service by the payment of three hundred dollars. This led to the draff-riots, which began Saturday, July 11, when an enrolment office was opened in the city. Not only the Governor of the State but also a number of prominent men in New York were very justly opposed to the three-hundred-dollar clause in the Conscription; and it did not take the lower classes long to find out

that this clause enabled all the rich men to evade service, leaving the real drafting among the poor. ' ; " : ; ' ';" ***** \ What was the cause of it all Why, the Negro of course! So on Sunday, July 12, the working men, aided by a number of political agitators, addressed crowded meetings all over the city, and proceeded to organise an opposition to enrolment. Their slogan was, Kill the Niggers!' and they quickly acquired the name of 'The Left Wing of Lee's Army.' By Monday the anger of the population was extreme, and bands of rioters began to march through the city, fighting the police and committing numberless outrages. Their first act was to burn the colored orphan asylum, on the north-west corner of Fifth Avenue 'and Forty-Third Street,only a block from our house. The building stood on a green lawn shaded by fine old trees, and occupied about half the block. One of my cousins who saw what occurred has vividly described the burning and sacking of the asylum. Not only men, but half-grown boys, and women who equalled in fury the Madame Defarges of the French Revolution, pillaged and fired the building, carrying out mattresses, chairs, and anything they could lay hands on. Previously to this the poor little children had been hurried out through a rear entrance to places of temporary safety. As soon as my grandfather learned the serious nature of the trouble, he called Jinny to him and gave her strict orders to keep away from the windows. It was thought that this would be precaution enough, but the next day a story reached us that every house where there was a Negro would be mobbed ; and private information was conveyed to my grandfather that the rioters knew he was harboring a colored servant, and that hence his house was no longer a safe asylum for any one. The militia had been called out to aid the police. But, nevertheless, Negroes had been killed all over the city: and at any moment our house might be entered, poor Jinny dragged out and murdered, and the whole place wrecked. The fears of the family were augmented by the arrival at my grandfather's house of his sister-in-law and her family. That very morning (Tuesday) it was decided that for her own sake and ours, Jinny must be sent away until order was restored. But where to? Fortunately, the answer to that question was close at hand. At the beginning of the trouble some of the frightened colored people had fled to Dr. Houghton for protection. He had locked them all in a loft in his church yard, and had stationed inside the gate a man with a gun, giving him orders to shoot the first rioter who tried to enter. Then for the five days that the reign of terror continued, Dr. Houghton himself attended to his charges. Not even his own servants knew he was harboring the Negroes, as he carried food to them at midnight when the household was asleep. The man at the gate was under the impression that he was there to protect the rector, —a service that Dr. Houghton would have scorned for himself. ' Dreadful stories reached my grandfather of how the unfortunate Negroes who fell into the rioters' hands were tortured and killed; so all the family felt that no time was to be lost in getting our faithful Jinny to the safest place to which we were able to send her. She herself, although naturally a brave soul, was by that time thoroughly frightened and perfectly passive in the hands of my grandmother and aunts. The whole household gathered in my grandmother's room while Jinny was attired in a black taffeta silkdress, a Paisley shawl belonging to my grandmother, and also hexbonnetfortunaely, one of the immense bonnets of the period, covering all the head and hair. Finally, she was enveloped in a thick green barege veil that completely concealed her features. A pair of my grandfather's kid gloves were brought into requisition to hide her hands, and then she was ready to go.

About dusk my grandfather opened the front' door and Jinny passed out, my father on one side of her, my uncle on the other. My father gave Jinny, his arm and called her ' auntie.' In fact, being of a lively disposition and scorning any danger to himself,' he tried to make her think it was a very easy matter to get her safely transferred from one place to the other. It had been decided that to walk was safer than to drive so they turned down Fifth Avenue, my uncle on Jinny's other side, carrying a carpet bag in which was my grandmother's silver tea set, a family heirloom which had been entrusted to -Jinny's care. It was thirteen blocks from Forty-Second to Twenty-Ninth, but the trip was made in safety j although they met bands of shouting stragglers, and the noise of firing could be heard constantly. All three men were prepared to sell their lives, if need be, to protect their charge. But, through the mercy of God, the party at last reached Twenty-Ninth Street, and a few minutes later Jinny was locked in the church, under Dr. Houghton's sheltering care. As soon as Jinny was safely started with my father and uncle, the rest of the'family prepared to leave the house, as it was decided it would be much safer at the home of my great-uncle on Twenty-Third Street, at the foot of Madison Avenue ; some of the available troops being gathered in Madison Square, directly opposite. So the family set off in two's and three's, fn order not to attract attention. They took with them money and jewels. One boy of the family, then just grown up, was the proud possessor of three white duck waistcoats, and these he crowded into his bag to the exclusion of more valuable things. No one was sure the party would ever reach my great-uncle's house safely. But, fortunately, all arrived there unharmed : and for three days my uncle entertained practically all his relatives who were in the city, the younger ones being obliged to sleep on the floor. * * * * * On July 15 Archbishop Hughes, who lived on the north-west corner of Madison Avenue and Thirty-Fifth Street, decided that something must be done to end the trouble. He was loved and revered by all and had unbounded influence over the workingmen, whether' they were of his religion or not. So he sent out a call for the rioters to come up to his house—a command that they obeyed almost to a man. From the balcony of his house the great Archbishop, whose fearlessness and love of justice were well known, addressed the men, calling upon them to stop rioting and return peaceably to their.homes, and telling them that, unjust as the Conscription Act might be, their present lawless behaviour was no way to obtain redress. His impassioned appeal had a marked effect, and by one's and two's or in groups the men began quietly to disperse. i The Archbishop's timely intervention was reinforced that afternoon by another Catholic, the gallant General Kilpatrick, who had been hurriedly sent for from Virginia. At the head of several hundred cavalry, he took charge of the city, and his regiment was bivouacked in Madison Square. These were not dress parade soldiers, but the real thing,—the horses skinny, worn, and muddy; the soldiers and officers travelstained, shabby, and showing the effects of hard fighting with Lee's Army. But they could ride splendidly : and under their spirited leadership the disturbers of the peace, who had been deeply impressed by Archbishop Hughes' commands to cease rioting, were quickly overcome. This was on Wednesday, and by Friday the uprising was ended. During the five days that it lasted more than a thousand men were killed, and property valued at a million and a-half was destroyed. ***** The colored people were kept by Dr. Houghton, I think, a week longer, until it was deemed perfectly safe to let them return to their homes. For this and many other deed of kindness Dr. Houghton to the end

of his life was beloved by the colored race in New York, He waso as large hearted and as cosmopolitan in his sympathies as was the great Archbishop himself. Our Jinny, faithfully guarding the family silver, was joyfully received when she came home again. / She lived to a green old age, dying in 1878. As our lot in Trinity Cemetery was by that time rather crowded, she was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery, on Long Island, in a plot reserved by Dr. Houghton for his colored people. And here, after half a century of loving and faithful service given to us and our house, all that is mortal of her rests in peace. —Ave Maria.