Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-04
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP

The LATE RIoTs.-Our readers have been
fully informed of the miserable attempt by
few speakers in front of the City Hall OH Tues
day evening to incite a renewal, at a day not
distant, of the horrible scenes of bloody Mon
day in W Washington. How men occupying re-
spectacle positions in the community can hope
to justify their extraordinary course, it is diff
cult to conjecture.
1t is in evidence that the peaceable and or.
der-loving citizens Of Washington assembled in
their various Wards on Monday last to exercise
the inalienable privilege of choosing their own
officers for the government of the city that
while so engaged, they were interrupted by a
hired gang Of DULLES and cut-throats imported
from Baltimore; that this filthy crowd traversed
the streets and pavements of the federal CAPT.
tai to the terror of women and children and
unarmed men that at an hour pi OBJ b v pre-
concerted, they proceeded to beat W th stones
and bricks, shoot with pistols, and menace with
almost every species Of deadly weapon, all such
persons as dared to express opinions contrary to
their own, or to attempt to deposit their votes
in the ballot-box; that they travelled from ward
To ward, and particularly insulted and abused
all such as they came in contact with charged
with the crime Of foreign birth that they final
ly succeeded by threats and actual deeds of yio-
lence in closing the polls.
Here il plain and unvarnished statement of
facts, which can be proved by hundreds of the
Oldest and best citizens of the mctropolis-a
statement which no man, Of any party or sect,
having the slightest regard for the truth, and
unwarped by the vilest bigotry and prejudice.
dare attempt to deny.
Our city, our peace, our homes, our very fire.
sides, were literally invaded and absolutely A.
tackled by pack Of cowardly, treacherous ruff.
fans, whose arO,ced object was conquest and
murder. Would it have been less creditable IN
surrender to the troops of a foreign government
than to give up the streets and the ballot. boxes OF
Washington to an infamous horde of unwashed
miscreants collected from the lowest dens of nm
adjoining city!
There was but one course left. The police
had been overpowered; riot abounded in everv
quarter; the plug Uglies"-as pestilent and
scrofulOus brood of scoundrels as hell itself
could vOmit from its vilest crater-were march
ing in double column along the sidewalks, dis
playing heavy hammers, clubs, revolvers.
knives, &c, and calling in loud terms upon the
natives" to rally and assist them in their
devilish pursuit of the Irish, Germans, and
such other persons as they in their wisdom had
determined should not be allowed votes in the
city, - ''''
AL TINS crisis, the Mayor requested the Presi.
u'n' " 'a'i out the Marines The "Plugs" and
'.'" @'es In crime then secured brass
piece ana after filling it with lead and stones.
planted it 50 as to rake the ballot boz, and hid
open defiance to both the civil and miIi,arv
power Even after these outrageous proceed.
ings, The Marines did not FIRE until the snen,;..
Of law and order had commenced firing ,h.;r
pistols upon them.
The deaths of some innocent persons will Ia
sincerely regretted by all; but itwa necessary
to set a terrible example, and sustain the laws
of the land. The writer of this article was ex-
posed to the FIRE Of the Marines, and perhaps
narrowly escaped shot; but, had he been in
jured he could hare blamed no one but himself