Litchfield enquirer., 1835-08-20
ExCITElENT IN WAsnlNeToN.

HAAAONBG4NAGa&DAF AAN WAS&4eHS&I VlNs t [Corresponarnee of Newark D. Advestiser.l
 Washington. August lI, 1885.
 We have been during the last few days, in . state of considerable excitement. in eO0ae- quenee Of an application which was made by the District Attorney snd United States Mar shal, to the Secretary Of the Navy for . ma. riDe guard, to secure the peace of the city, which has been endangered by the arrest Of eOlOred man. lt appears that this man. who is well known heFe as an old slave at StOthers, celebrated fer his immense corporate capaci. ty, was charged with being engaged in for the) conspiracy against the white population, The circumstances which led tO his arrest. were these A letter, was put intO. the Post Office some week or two ago, addressed to this man, as Rrigadier General PumrI: &c. Before it had left the office, the intelligence of the Vicksburg atfair came to hand, and at that moment white man came to the Post Office to get back this letter. The clerks re- fused to give it to him Without an order from the person to whom it was addressed and when he had produced such an order, it was still refused, and the letter was opened and
 examined. nnEer the impression that thrIe
 was somethiOg in its contents which at this
 peculiar crisis wOnld justify. such a proce-
 dure. It was then found to be an invitation
 tO Pumel t0 collect his forces by certain time and have them ready for action. The
 tRan was then arrested. On being taken and
 questioned, he affected tO believe that inc
 whole was mere hoax play ed If upon him
 by white man. His explanation was not, however. deemed satisfactory, and he W us conveyed to prison. The excitement through. out the city was so great. and the alarm so
 infectious, that it was thought proper to sp-
 ply for a guard of marines. as much for the
 personal safety, as the safe keeping of Pu-
 mel. There were some reasons tO fear, on the one hand. that mob of white people
 might attack the prison fur the purpose of sa-
 crifcing the prisoner; and on the other, that
 the colored people would band themselves to- gethpr to effect his release. The attempt
 made by Mrs. ThorDton's negro to take her
 life. which you have read statement of, in
 his reported declaration, that if Funnel had not been taken up, the whole of the city would have been in the hands of the c,llored
 people before this time, are construed as con.
 meeting him with the affair of Pnmel, and the
 conspiracy, and completed the consternafion of the white inhabitants. Not the least sin- gular part of the matter is, that the fellow
 who entered Mrs. Thorntpn's chamber, not
 withstanding that he is SD well known in the
 neighborhOod, and had so few moments start,
 has not yet been discovered. This is the
 state of facts and of public feeling in our city.
 We have been for some time anxious for ex- cltement. and we have enough of it now. It
 is certain that the negro whO assailed Mrs.
 Thornton. and Pumel. have read the publica-
 tlODs of the aholitinmsts, some of the expres- slons and exclamations of fthe prisoner hefore he escaped being merely repeiitions of phra-f ses contained in those inischievous papers. It is deeply to be lamrnted that onr liyes are to be placed in danger by the zeal of ignorant intermediates, who cast about them fire brands without reaecting upon. or caring for the consequences which may ensue.
 sa From she Natioaai inteL eLiIgenesy, Aug. A.
 The State cf the City.-Our paper was clo. sed0n Wednesday evening with a reference to the excitement which then threatened a breach of the peace, and to the measures which had been adopted by the citizens ,un- der the call of General Walter Jones, for quellIng 1his disOrderly spirit, should it break out into further violence. We wish we could say that the peace of the city remained en- t'rely uninterrupted during the night. On the contrary. we regret to state that some disor- ders took place at three e ar four points, in the demolition of fson1e small wooden tenements occupied by free negroes, as dwellings ar as schools. and the breaking the windows of one ot their houses ofpnblic worship. The scenes 0f these disorders were all Of them remote from the City Halla Prison. where the arna- eI citizens were statioDed, and one or two, of them in the suburbs. One of these, a house 0f iIl fame, mile and half from the City Hall, wss. about twelve o'clock. set fire to, and with it's furniture, burnt. This outrage, making 1t known by the light of fhe ire. a body of the armed citizens marched towards the place, headed by the Mayor and the Ma jor General. hut before they reached the spot, the fire had burnt down. and the rioters had dispersed, and no more xas heard of them during the night. It is certainly mortify- ing as well as disreputable, that a handful of People,, some of them, aud the most active amongst them, not rtsidents even of the city. and a large portion of them boys. should ] have power and have been permitted to com. l init any depredations with impunity. and ! keep the whole population of a largo town | in state of anxiety and alarm for twenty four hours together. Several of the more 1 active. however, were arrested by the civil | authority during the night and committed to jail. and others of them who are known tO | have been cOuspicuods iA the disorders of the night. will be arrested. 4.
 The City remained perfectly quiet yester- day. and we trust its peace will not again be disturbed by the evil minded and inconside. rate but should any recurrence of disorder take place. measures have been adopted for it's prompt aod eifectual suppression. A large and adequate number of citizens, enrolled