The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-12-16
How the North Behaved In an Insurrec
mountaineering "Reminiscences.

The Abolition eulogists, and Republican
apologists and sympathizers of JOHN Brown
and his murderous scheme for the Insured
ton of negroes and the murder of innocent
women and children, have provoked the
New York Express, to revive the following
"reminiscences in the history of Gotham it
was the negro plot of 1881. The city Of
New York then contained about 5000 in
habitants, of whom only 1000 were slaves.
1t says
On the 18th of March, fire occurred in the
fort, which consumed the Secretary's office and
the D itch church. About week later, another
though inconsiderable fire occurred, and, with
in two or three weeks later, some half-dozen
more, most of them, however, only the burning
of chimneys. These frequent fires, together
with prevalent belief that a great deal of
petty robbery was carried on by the negroes.
with the aid of certain white men, gave rise to
a general uneasiness, which soon increased to
panic. This was greatly heightened by d
proclamation Offering a reward of @ hundred
pounds for the discovery of the incendiares.
The reward was too tempting to be long re-
sisted. An indentured servant woman soon
after obtained her freedom and the hundred
pounds, by pretending to divulge plot formed
by her master, a low tavern keeper, named
HughsOn, and three negroes, to burn the city
and the entire white population. This infor.
nation was like spark among timber. The
whole population was thrown into paroXysm
of rage and fear. The military paraded the
streets almost continually. The accused par.
ties were arrested and hurried to the jail, and
the utmost rage against the negroes infamed
every breast. So intense was the panic, that
f1,a
statements were greedily caught up, and the
least suspicious circumstances were onstrued
as plain evidence against the accused.
In short time one hundred and fifty -four
negroes and twenty suspicious whites were
lodged in prison. The following is the way
the lawyers behaved on the occasion
There were at that time only eight lawyers
in New York, all of whom volunteered their
services to the Government, and assisted by
turns in the prosecution, leaving the miserable
prisoners without the aid of counsel. To OBJ
tain the required evidence upon which to base
a sentence, pardon and freedom were offered
to any who wonld turn Kings evidence, and
by this means any amount of testimony, to al
most any fact, could be obtained. While there
was no one to say single word to the accused,
the lawyers We'd with each other in scurrility,
IN neaping ABUSE upon them, IN Wnlcn they
were outdone by the judge, when he came to
pass sentence. Many purchased their own
lives by confessing their participation in crimes
of which it was afterward proved they knew
nothing, and accusing others; and. strangest
of all, some confessed at the stake their guilt
who knew nothing of the things with which
they were charged.
This is the result:
As the result of this bloody delusion. hiy.
teen ,cere burnt. eighteen hanged. and seventy
transpo, ted. The public blood seemed now
to be somewhat satisfied, and the frenzy began
to abate a reaction at length ensued, and
the persons remaining in prison were set at
liberty.