The 1880 Garret Rock May Day riot or 1880 Garret Mountain May Day riot was a

civil disorder Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...

event in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

that harshly protested oligarchical power.

Riot

For many years

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

German immigrant community had gathered at Garret Rock, a large

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

at the summit of

Garret Mountain Garret Mountain Reservation (also spelled Garrett) is a park located on First Watchung Mountain (Garret Mountain) in Paterson and Woodland Park (formerly West Paterson) in southern Passaic County, New Jersey. In 1967, it was designated a Nation ...

Passaic County, New Jersey Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...

, near Paterson in continuation of the ancient German spring festival of "Maying" or ascending a mountain to sing in the rising sun of the first Sunday of May. Fully 3,000 people were gathered upon the plateau by sunrise

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

, 1880. In progress to the festival, a group of the celebrants crossed upon the property of Mr. Dalzell, a local merchant, whereupon Dalzell's son Robert ordered the inebriated, rowdy

trespassers In the law of tort, property, and criminal law a trespasser is a person who commits the act of trespassing on a property, that is, without the permission of the owner. Being present on land as a trespasser thereto creates liability in the tr ...

off the property. A grappling then ensued between Robert and a locally popular 19-year-old newlywed, Joseph J. Van Houten, during which altercation the elder Dalzell shot Van Houten in the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

with a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

, killing him. On hearing the shotgun's report, large portions of the celebrants advanced down the mountain to find Van Houghton shot dead. Dalzell and his son retreated to the

curtilage In common law, the curtilage of a house or dwelling is the land immediately surrounding it, including any closely associated buildings and structures, but excluding any associated " open fields beyond". In feudal times every castle with its depen ...

on the property, where they were arrested by a local

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

. The growing crowd, which was set upon the pair's

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

, torched the barn. The elder Dalzell fired indiscriminately upon the crowd wounding a little boy and girl and further inciting the mob, whereupon the constable and his prisoners retreated from the blazing barn to the farm's main house, which the crowd surrounded. After pelting the house for a time with rocks and bricks, the crowd – still intent upon smoking out the Dalzells and hanging them – set it aflame, and the constable and the Dalzells were obliged to again flee to a second house. Paterson's mayor and sheriff arrived on the scene just as the main house was being put to the torch. By this time, some 10,000 enraged Paterson residents were occupied the countryside. With the sheriff's meager forces unable to themselves control the crowd, Paterson's Mayor Graham and Sheriff Van Voorhies called upon the greatly revered Paterson Catholic priest

William N. McNulty William N. McNulty (1829–1922) was an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and Dean (Christianity), dean, who arrived in New York City, New York from his native Ballyshannon, Ireland, in 1850, during the Great Famine (Ireland), Great Fam ...

, whose exhortations to the crowd were enough to temporarily quell or distract that mob, while sheriff's deputies removed the constable and the Dalzells from the rear of the second house and placed them in a transport

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. To prevent the passengers stoning, McNulty then mounted the roof of the coach. Some few of the mob did still chase and jump onto the sides of the coach as it swiftly fled the scene, but were clubbed off by the constables.

Governor McClellan had readied several companies of the state's military forces at

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

was ultimately countermanded.J. Bilby, H. Ziegler and J. Madden ''Hidden History of New Jersey'' The History Press (2011) , 9781609494636 “Trouble On Garret Mountain” p 70-76

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garret Rock May Day Riot Riots and civil disorder in New Jersey 1880 riots 1880 in New Jersey German-American history May 1880 events