[12] hundred individuals had already gathered around the street door and opposite the building, and their number was rapidly augmenting. On ascending into the hall,1 I found about fifteen or twenty ladies assembled,2 sitting with cheerful countenances, and a crowd of noisy intruders (mostly young men) gazing upon them, through whom I urged my way with considerable difficulty. “That's Garrison,” was the exclamation of some of3 these creatures, as I quietly took my seat. Perceiving that they had no intention of retiring, I went to them and calmly said— “Gentlemen, perhaps you are not aware that this is a meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, called and intended exclusively for ladies, and those only who have been invited to address them. Understanding this fact, you will not be so rude or indecorous as to thrust your presence upon this meeting. If, gentlemen,” I pleasantly continued, “any of you are ladies—in disguise—why, only apprise me of the fact, give me your names, and I will introduce you to the rest of your sex, and you can take seats among them accordingly.” I then sat down, and, for a few moments, their conduct was more orderly. However, the stairway and upper door of the hall were soon densely filled with a brazen-faced crew, whose behavior grew more and more indecent and outrageous.4
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1 It was up two flights.
2 ‘Mostly white, but some negroes and mulattoes’ ( “Garrison mob,” p. 17). The names of some of these can be given: Miss Mary S. Parker, Miss Henrietta Sargent, Miss Martha V. Ball, Miss Elizabeth Whittier, Mrs. Thankful Southwick, Mrs. Lavinia Hilton, Miss Ann Greene Chapman, Miss Anne Warren Weston, Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman. Mrs. Garrison was among those excluded by the mob. She reached Washington Street in sight of it, and was taken by Mr. John E. Fuller to his home, where she passed the night. ‘Though she was conscious,’ says her husband, ‘of the danger to which in all probability I should be exposed, yet she made no plea in advance as to the duty or expediency of my remaining at home, at least for her sake; but with calmness and fortitude was ready to suffer with or for me, as the emergency might require. . . . And . . . on no occasion, however perilous, during the whole anti-slavery conflict, did she ever counsel a less personal exposure or a more moderate course of action on my part’ ( “ Helen Eliza Garrison: a Memorial,” p. 25).
3 Right and Wrong, 1836, (1) p. 30.
4 ‘The tumult continually increased, with horrible execrations, howling, stamping, and finally shrieking with rage. They seemed not to dare to enter, notwithstanding their fury, but mounted on each others' shoulders, so that a row of hostile heads appeared over the slight partition, of half the height of the wall, which divides the Society's rooms from the landingplace. We requested them to allow the door to be shut; but they could not decide as to whether the request should be granted, and the door was opened and shut with violence, till it hung useless from the upper hinge’ ( “Right and Wrong in Boston,” by Mrs. M. W. Chapman, 1836, [1] p. 30).
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