Southern shield., 1857-06-27
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON
Election BiOt
,orresnondence of the N. Q. Daily Delta.l


 public. would not send my letter till the best evidence had been given under oath pe- fore the Coroner's inquest
 From that testimony, turns out to have been nrettv much family affair. The sub stance of the testimony is this: At the up her nrecinct of Fourth Ward, while the vo- ters were standing in line one oehlnu an other to take turns at the ballot box, just at the entrance of the narrow plank passage, which admitted one person only to move up to the box, some persons-no one knows who-began to push others. This led to re- sistance, of course, and in minute the llne was broken and a general row was raging between Know -Nothings and Antl-hnow7 Nothings. Brickbats and stones were thrown, some pistols were fired, and one man IS sald to have been wounded; the board passage to the ballot box was torn away, and one of the election judges, it IS said, was struck in the wrist with pistol ball. Ihls was about ten o'clock. In about twenty mln- utes all was quiet and the voting going on as orderly as 1t was before the disturbance began.
 At the commencement of the disturbance some one ran to the Mayor-about half mile-who wrote letter to the p"@7-10i10 ,.shilg TOT force or United otates troops. This was dispatched to the President-a mile and a-half-who sent for the Secreta- " of the Navy, and after consultation an order was made out for detachment of marines from the Barracks at the Navy Yard, three miles from the Presidents House. By this time the disturbance was at an end.- On receiving this order-carried by the May or, or sent, to Col. HendersOn-a hundred and ten men were sent from the Marine Bar racks to the scene of difficulty, under the control of the Mayor. When they reached that place they found the people voting .qui- etly: the disturbance having subsided about two hours before their arrival. They learn ed, however, that near to that place-at the east end of the Northern Liberties Market House-a number of persons were assem- bled with little swivel, all in full view.- Tke Marines were ordered to charge them with bayonets and take the piece. Cit was now l o'clock.) They did SO; they who had possessed 1t abandoning it on the ap- proach of the Marines. After they taken the piece they returned to the position whence they moved in the charge and form ed into hollow square. Then it was that they were ordered to fire. Four witnesses in the inquest swore positively that they heard the Mayor give the order, and four teen that it was after the taking off the little gun, and that there had been no firing and no disturbance whatever for two hours pre- cedng that action; that, between the talk ing of the little gun and the firing by the Marines, there was no provocation whatever given. The advocates of the Mayor deny this; not on oath, it is true; but they affirm that the Marines were assailed, abused, fired upon, and wounded-one or two-by the rufians, yiolators of law and order, and that they only returned the fire of those scoun- drels-'E Plug Uglies," &c., and that no good citizen can regret the chastisement they received, awful as it was-some seven or eight having been killed on the spot and more than twenty wounded, some of whom have died since.
 But, there is one circumstance which they do not tell, and which none of our city pa pers has disclosed. It is this: with one single exception, erery one 7 those hlHed e.aJ o,zos.e7sied by the firing of the marines, was of the Anti -Kn0w- Nothing Party, and all but one, citizens of Washington! One Know Nothing was badly wounded in the arm. It was his place of voting, and he was standing near the Marines, not dream ing of danger-unarmed, quiet, his place of business, and not having taken any part whatever in the disturbance. He is a man of character and responsibility.
 IL is, indeed, remarkable that the Marines should have poured their volleys into the ranks of " Plug Uglies'' and l" rufian Know Nothings,'' and hit none of them; but, on the contrary, should have killed and wound ed only the enemies of those they supposed they were shooting.
 Our city papers alleged that a band of "rufians" from Baltimore, calling them- selves " Plug Uglies," came here and were the authors of the disturbance--and that it was they who assailed the Marines and re- ceived so severe a chastisement for their yil- lainy.
 If this statement were true, 1t would make these z" Plug Uglies" the most extraordina- " people that ever existed; for our whole city police was unable to catch, or even to see distinctly, single one of them; and | they seem to have had the power, on being known citizens of Washington, and G Anti Know-Nothings." For, state emphatical- ly and positively, that, according to the best evidence, one Baltimorean OnIy (Mr. Dalrymple) was shot by the Marines, and he is admitted, on all hands, to have been c 1 Democrat. dU the others were well-known citizens of Washington.
 This statement is made from the best ev- idence that has been given. And, as some may think such a statement should be on the responsibility of proper name, have to request that you will give my proper name to any one who shall ask it of you.
 would say, in addition to the foregoing, that the reason why an impartial statement has not appeared in any paper published in this city is, that every one of them is devot- cd to the FE Anti Know Nothing" party, and will not publish anything that reflects upon that party; and, an impartial statement of those occurrences must necessarily do so.--. Neither would reporter of any of those papers write down the testimony which was given under oath before the Coroners, either of Know Nothings or of Anti Know Moth ings. The little swivel was brought to the market house by gang of young men and boys at the Navy Yard, who, seeing the ma rines turn out, ran to the fire engine house and dragged it out and came along the most of the way in company with the marines whether Know-Nowings or Anti Know-No- things, am unable to say, as no definite testimony has been given on that point but, from the fact that they were passed on the road by the Marines, and came along after wards in their rear without molestation, and l Al.-l