Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-08-23
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4 THR MRIss Cousrr DKxocRkf 81
TIE LOUISVILLE RIors.-Thelast Dem
iocrat spread ITSELF beautifully on the
Louisville riots. To read the account
lgiven BY the editor. ons would be led
to believe the Americans in Louisville
"got drunk on gore to vomit crime. "
He attributes the cause of the blood
shed to the Americans taking posses
sion of the polls, when nothing of the
kind took place, and every respectable
paper in the city. as well as the coro-
ner's report, gives the lie to the state
ment-that instead of any unusual diff
6culty resulting at the polls, the elec-
ton was marked with unusual quiet,
and that the foreigners commenced an
indiscriminate slaughter of Americans
at least q quarter Of q mile from the
polls. The outbreak on their part can
alone be attributed to the inHammatory
appeals of the Sag Nicht organs, which
used the vilest epithets towards the
Americans they could invent, thus in
flaming these misguided men to such
degree. that on the day of election,
finding the American party had sue
ceeded in electng their ticket by an
overwhelming majority. they wreaked
their vengeance upon unofending A
merican citizens by stationing them
selves behind doors and windows, and
shooting them down upon the public
streets of the city. 1t has also been
proven to the satisfaction of every rea-
sonable man who has read the investi-
cations by the coroner and the state
ments published in reliable papers, that
in every instance of bloodshed the for
eigners were the aggressors, that arms
and ammunition in large quantities had
been provided them several days pre-
vious to the election, and kept ready for
immediate use. 1t has also been pro-
ven beyond cavil that the foreigners con-
templated an attack on the torchlight
procession of Americans on the Satur-
day night previous to the election. and
were only deferred from carrying their
hellish design into execution by the
large body of Americans that composed
the procession. This has been substan-
tiated by the testimony of foreigners
themselves. To admit the provocation
to be true, that few foreigners were
whipped at the polls by the Americans,
would that justify the resort to fire.
arms and an indiscriminate slaughter of
peaceable and unofending citizens,
some of whom had not even been to
the polls to vote. Besides the difficult
ties at the polls were about such as usu-
ally occur in every city on election days,
where large bodies of men of all par
ties congregate, particularly during such
an exciting canvass as the one Just
closed in Kentucky. The editor of the
Democrat mistakes the American and |
particularly the Kentucky character
very much, when he makes the asser-
ton that the Americans were the ag-
gressors in those scenes of lawlessness
and bloodshed, and it is astonishing to
US how man, who has read the differ.
ent statements published in the Louis
vile papers, who calls himself an Amer
lean citizen, with the truth staring him |
in the face, can have the effrontery to
publish such statements against his own
In the excitement of no
political contest have we ever so far for
gotten ourself as to give an unjust state
ment at the expense of truth and honor.
Were the Americans to blame in those
scenes of bloodshed and houseburning,
we should not hesitate one moment to
condemn them, even though by so do
ng we should bring upon ourself the
,ensure of every American.
1t is true the Americans carried mat
,ers to extremes, but when it is consid-
cred that their unarmed and innocent
were shot down and beaten
ike dogs, it is not wondered at if ter
-ible retaliation followed. They felt it
heir duty to avenge the atrocities COM
nitted upon their injured countrymen,
md we cannot in our heart blame the
Americans for quelling the turbulent
md excited foreigners, even at the price
If blood. They would not have been
Americans had they not done SO.
1t is true the foreigners were melted
o acts of bloodshed, BY infammatory
ppeals through the columns of Sag
Sicht papers of such ilk as the Meigs ,
%. Democrat, which denounced the /
Americans in such terms as 'rabble," ]