"
"'The town fairly exploded,'" quotes Macatamney,--from what writer he
does not state,--"'and went flying beyond its bonds as though the
pestilence had been a burning mine.'"
It was in 1822 that Hardie wrote:
"Saturday, the 24th of August our city presented the
appearance of a town beseiged. From daybreak till night one
line of carts, containing boxes, merchandise and effects,
was seen moving towards Greenwich Village and the upper
parts of the city. Carriages and hacks, wagons and horsemen,
were scouring the streets and filling the roads; persons
with anxiety strongly marked on their countenances, and with
hurried gait, were hustling through the streets. Temporary
stores and offices were erecting, and even on the ensuing
day (Sunday) carts were in motion, and the saw and hammer
busily at work. Within a few days thereafter the custom
house, the post office, the banks, the insurance offices and
the printers of newspapers located themselves in the village
or in the upper part of Broadway, where they were free from
the impending danger; and these places almost
instantaneously became the seat of the immense business
usually carried on in the great metropolis.
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