A constable detached it, and hurled it down to the rioters in the street.

But by the act the mayor had signified that the rule of law had collapsed, and the rule of the mob had really begun.
When the rioters had wreaked their wrath upon the emblem of freedom, they were in the mood for more violence.

The appetite for destruction, it was seen, had not been glutted; only whetted.

Garrison's situation was now extremely critical.

He could no longer remain where he was, for the mob would invade the building and hunt him like hounds from cellar to garret.