Lists, records, books, the drafting-wheel,
every article of furniture or work in the room was rent in pieces, and
strewn about the floor or flung into the street; while the law officers,
the newspaper reporters,--who are expected to be everywhere,--and the
few peaceable spectators, were compelled to make a hasty retreat through
an opportune rear exit, accelerated by the curses and blows of the
assailants.
A safe in the room, which contained some of the hated records, was
fallen upon by the men, who strove to wrench open its impregnable lock
with their naked hands, and, baffled, beat them on its iron doors and
sides till they were stained with blood, in a mad frenzy of senseless
hate and fury. And then, finding every portable article
destroyed,--their thirst for ruin growing by the little drink it had
had,--and believing, or rather hoping, that the officers had taken
refuge in the upper rooms, set fire to the house, and stood watching the
slow and steady lift of the flames, filling the air with demoniac
shrieks and yells, while they waited for the prey to escape from some
door or window, from the merciless fire to their merciless hands. One of
these, who was on the other side of the street, courageously stepped
forward, and, telling them that they had utterly demolished all they
came to seek, informed them that helpless women and little children were
in the house, and besought them to extinguish the flames and leave the
ruined premises; to disperse, or at least to seek some other scene.
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