The Daily Nashville true Whig. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1851-1855, 1855-08-09

The Riots YEsTERDAY.-We deeply regret
to have to record the scenes of violence, blood
shed, and house-burning which occurred in our
city yesterday. We cannot now express our
great adherence of such things; nor can we
find space in which to say what we would wish
to say upon this subject. A terrible response
| bllity rests upon those who have melted the
foreign population of the city to the deeds of
/ violence which were the commencement of the
riots in the First and Eighth wards. We are
confident that these riots were not Occasioned
! by anything that happened at any of the seve-
raj voting places. The election throughout the
city, as far as we can learn, had passed off with
unusual quiet, with the exception Of a brutal
outrage in the First ward, of which we shall
speak presently, and some fighting at the Eighth
ward polls, in which no ono was much hurt
The riots were occasioned by indiscriminate
and murderous assaults committed by foreign
ers, chiefly Irish, upon inoffensive citizens.
peaceably attending to their own business, at
some distance from any of the voting places.
All the circumstances connected with these
assaults strongly indicate that they were pre-
neditated and instigated by other parties than
| those by whom they were actually committed.
| We are not now prepared to say that they
were the consequences only of the incendiary
appeals, for some time past, publicly made to
our foreign population by some of the leaders
of the antiAmerican party, or that they were
! instigated by direct instructions of men with
| fendish hearts who control in a great measure
the passions, and are able to dictate actions to
the Germans and Irish who made these at
tacks. All the facts will probably be ascer-
tanned judicially, and then the responsibility
will rest where it properly belong. The cir
| cumstances as detailed to US, and the confess
| ions of some of the miserable wretches who
were made the victims of their insane folly
! and murderous violence, show that these as
saults upon unoffending and innocent native
| born citizens were prcmeditated, and that the
blame attaches to others who are, as yet, un-
named. .... .-a r ..
! We have not now time to give details. We
/ assert, however, and are sure that it will be
proved by respectable witnesses, that every
act of bloOdshed was begun by Foreigners
! That in every instance where mortal violence
ensued, the beginning of the riot was an I'M
! provoked slaughter by foreigners of peaceable
Americans while quietly passing the streets at
O distance from the polls. This Infatuated the
populace, and prompt and terrible resort to
mob violence by which many foreigners were
killed and much property destroyed was The
consequence. In the first ward about o'clock
in the morning, while the election was pro-
Ceeding quietly at the polls Mr.. Geo. Burge,
/ respectable and quiet American citizen, was
! brutally assaulted by party of Irishmen on
Jackson street, between Jefferson and Greene,
without having given any provocation, he was
| knocked down and horribly beaten with stones
and clubs. He attempted to escape from the
| tiends by whom he was attacked, and ran
into the alley of an adjoining house, where he
was followed by his blood-thirsty assailants,
| and cut, stabbed and beaten until he was sup
posed to be dead, when one of these inhuman
brutes deliberately opened his knife and pro-
| ceeded to cut the throat of the murdered man.
When this act of violence was made known,
q party of Americans started in pursuit of the
murderers, who were subsequently arrested
and lodged in jail by the Mayor and City Mar
shal.
In the afternoon between three and four
O'Clock, several Americans were fred upon and
severely wounded while quietly riding or walk
| ing by the German brewery on Jefferson street,
near the Beargrass bridge. Among these
were some gentlemen from Jefferson county
and several respectable citizens. One gentle
man who was fired at was riding in a buggy
with his wife seated by his side. About the
same time O perfect shower of shot and bull
lets were rained upon every American passer
| by from the windows of some houses occupied
| by Germans upon Shelby street, in the neigh
borhool Of Madison street.
AS soon as these occurrences were made
known it was ascertained that large bodies of
! foreigners, armed with shot guns and rifles,
| had assembled in the neighborhood of the
brewery and also on Shelby street. An indis-
crimInate slaughter of American citizens was
unprecedented. An immense crowd of excited,
maddened, Infatuated Americans assembled,
they were fired ut from the windows of the
brewery and the houses on Shelby street, and
| in seeking TO arrest these offenders several men
| were badly wounded aud the incensed and in
| furiated mob burned the brewery and sacked
the houses from which the shots were fired.
In the Sth ward, the most serious disturb
ances occurred about o'clock in the afternoon,
A Mr.. Rhodes, in company With sIo friends,
all American citizens, wa quietly passing upon
Main street, near Chapel, when they were set
upon by party of ten freshmen, who, with
horrible oaths, swore they would clean the
streets Of every American. Fifteen shots
were fired upon them. Rhodes was killed,
aud both his companions badly wounded,
one of them seriously. The Irshmen then
ran up Chapel street, and on being pursued,
took refuge in house at the corner OF Chapel
and Market streets, whence several shots were
fred by the inmates, by which several Amer
lean citizens were wounded and two were
killed, q Mr.. Graham and a Mr.. Hobson. The
firing from tins house continued for some half
hour. The Irish were armed 10 the teeth with
firearms of every description, while the
Americans were almost entirely unarmed, and
were obliged TO go to their homes to procure
arms TO defend themselves and friends from
the murderous fire Of the insane wretches who
had made this attack upon them. Between
and 7 O'Clock, a sufficient force bad assembled
to capture the murderer Of young Graham;
an attempt was made to hang him, but We
learn that he is still living.
In the meantime, fusilade OF shOt-guns and
rifles was kept up against any American pass
ING by the row of houses at the corner Of
Eleventh and Main, belonging TO an Irishman
named Quinn, brother OF Father Quinn,
Roman Catholic priest; several Americans
were wounded by shots fired from these prem
ises, and the attention Of the crowd was given
TO them They were filed with lrishmen and
with loaded arms, as the sequel proved beyond
a doubt. An attempt was made 10 drive them
ont and the houses were fired, whether on the