Demoine courier., 1855-01-25
ERIE, January 8. 1866


The men Of Harbor Creek met early
in The morning. and gave evident signs
If a mob spirit. An hour before noon
they got ready for their work, apc did
u up thoroughly. Sheriff Vincent was
driven off. and near q mile Of rail re-
moved. the bridge destroyed, and the
road ,orn up.
AT Erie, the rioters me, early ia ,hs
morning round the Court House, and
were ~haranguad by a Duichman. He
spoke broken English for . while. aRd
then broke out in his native tongue.
..l'll give you a little Deussehe." said
he; but ended his speech with 'down
mi. the bridge, by Cod" A hurrah for
The bridge was given. and of the mob
started for il.
This was about ono P N. they
reached State Street Bridge. which 10
abeu, 100 fee, long, and here Sheriff
Vincent met them.
Jus. then, say 2 P. NJ, = courier rode
up from H4rbor Greek with the M We,
Shube Smith took off his hat and shout
ed, ..Hurrah for Harbor Creek-ihey
have done it up good" The Du,chman
shouted, .The Harbor Greek boys are
he 5oys-.he boys OF Erie are dam'd
cowaSds. Down goes de dam bridge,
And then the work Of destruction began.
rhis was abeul half past two p. NJ.
and a, this hour two Dutchmen were or
the bridge with crowbars. Sheriff Vim.
cent, half scared. ordered them to desisi;
they hesiiated Tor a few mlRutes, but one
of the Dutchmen piled his crowtar 10 !
rail. and was so drunk that in ai,em ptiuy
to rip il up he pitched some twenty fre,
into the creek below.
Sheriff Vim 4 n, ihen left. Immediate
Iy Ony McGan and Others wca, to work
,earlng up and destroying the track aud
bridge. Sheriff Vincent in abou, half or
three quarters Of an hour, latter 3. P. NJ
returned, And walking near to The end Of
tie bridge. took GU. \ proclamation and
tegsr TO read II.
The muh crowded on him, and drove
him into the keystone Saloon. a small
coggery there they kept him for half az
hour. ,he building being surrounded by
over 100 persons. Officers LOOMS aud
Hunter got h,m out 10 take him home,
and walked on each side Of him-while
Judge Miles was in The rear endeavorins
to keep The crowd back. Here stones.
eggs, brickba,s, snow-balls, and clubs
fell thick and fas. around the "oficisIs"
III e party reached a large brick house,
and was compelled to take refuge in it,
The mob stoned them as they entered.
and surrounded the house, and KEEP, "ihs
party" there near an horr. Mayor King
then appeared for the first time. He
waved his hand to The crowd and said.
''yo" must dispense and GO away;" he
took the Sheriff home, and the crowd
went back to The bridge and commesced
operations there again.
About this lime. ssy 4 p. NJ. a com.
pany Of fantasies, rouged. masked with
false whiskers, and drunk. appeared,
headed by a dwarf who beat The drum
and a stall Teller" who played the fife.
They marched round the crowd shout
ing spies" "ro,,en eggs" &c.
Meanwhile up went the rails and down
went The whisky. Over wen. the iron
INFO The creek, and out shouted the riot
ers. Slowly they worked-and hard
and bv 5 P. M. the bridge was stripped
and The Iimbers set on FIRE, amid the
drunken brawls of as low a Sc. Of meu
as could be gathered together.
Then the rioters marched Ia the
French street b%ridge-6O feet long -
Here they had recruits and worked more
rapidly. Rails and timbers were torn
up and pitched down the embank ment.
Then the torch was applied to the tim,
hers. BY 6 p. NJ. the work of deslruc.
ton was done.
The mob numbered no; over 500, wo-
men and all. They were Of The lower
class. the majority Of them drunk. In
deed il was a shocking sight , o see tho
brutality and debanchery displayed by
these lawless beings.