The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-06-26


by certain degraded demagogues and political charatans
Who in seeking to excite the worst passions Of this poo
people and inaugurate reign of terrorism, thought t.
further their own political fortunesand also wished, by
fstter and fawnng sycophancy, to swindle them oui
OF the little money they may possess. Every communt
10 cursed with just such class of oicous and meddnl
persons, Who under preenee of furherng local interests
motives play upon the passions of the veal
and ignorant and sow the seeds Of discomfort and turbu
ence Of which they sooner or later reap the harvest
They aim at political advancement and care not VIII
means they resort to in order the end Sucl
cancers upon the body polite should be eradicated
once If peace and good order would be maintained anu
the best way to deal with Them Is to turn them over
the contempt and of all good and force then
into that insignfcance and privacy from which it hac
been better they never bad emerged Incted by these
bad men, and led to believe that their rights and Liberties
were In danger the negroes determined to take the law
In their own hands, and to this end organized and made
extensive preparations Their plan first to get rid
the military, which, they refooish enough to believe,
woud.be al easy task. feud had sprung up between
them and the soldiers which had been the Of sov
raj rencounte at night on the street. and few disepu
table dancehouses had been ceaned out" The negroes
vengeance against the soldiers and prepared for the
contest On Friday last they went into the woods and
cut and prepared several hundred large bludgeonsstck
OF hard wood about three feet in length and varying from
two to three inches in diameter-one blow from which
would he sufficient to fell an At night they armed
themselves with these and under chosen leaders, began
10 patrol different portions of the city One party
down Main street and made demonstration against the
guard in front of the guardhoe One of them struck al
soldier but the latter was too quick for him. and sozng
his club disarmed him and struck blow which brought
him to the ground The soldiers then made charge upon
the rest of the party and scattered them right and left
capturing about dozen of the budgeons, and six
seven OF the negroes In another quarter Of the CITY,
Near the circus, party Of the negroes fired upon
soldiers one of whom slightly wounded in the lef
ana about this time negro up Main street. and in
front of the Atlantic Hotel fired pistol in the air. About
ten o'clock great number of soldiers who were off duty
formed themselves into a mob and armed with clubs
started on an expedition against the negroes. The
first row occurred the circus, and several OF
the eolored individuals wero knocked down and bad
ly beaten The soldiers then started for those NO.
torious bathrooms, where the negroes are in the
habit of congregatng to carry their midnight Or
ges Some thirty gathered arund on Roanoke square
but the propretors had taken the precauion to close
up and bar the DOORS and all efforts get in were futile
though they beat against the doors and made great deal
Oh noise, calling for matches and insisting upon the it,
mates coming ont From here they went to Union street.
where there slight skirmsh but ,he negroes scat
tered In fact wherever the soldiers appeared upon the
field the colored men fled without offering any resistance
and soon the streets perfectly free of them strong
guard was put on and the patrols quickly restored quiet
making numbsr of arrests The police did not attempt
to interfere that have heard Of and perhaps it as
well they did not The fact is there was more noise than
any 1,ipuo
quiet as gravcyard-the stiffness was profound.
Rumor was busy during the evening and terrible sto-
rios were circulated Of bloodsbed and slaughter Now
we would hear that two three negroes had been killed
In one quarter of the city, and then some half dozen
had fallen somewhere else again that several soiershad
been slain outright and others wounded Each report
gathered in horror and Importance passed from mouth
to mouth The story of the three Black crows was notf
ing in comparison, though it completely exemplfes the
true state ofhecase for, after acknowledging Of all the
rumors arrived at the fact that one negro had been
shot through the cheek six shooter taken from his per-
son. and he himself sent to the hospital for treatment
The people of the city greatly concerned during
this excitement lest it might terminate In general riot
and felt nervous anxiety during the night They gen
orally remained at home and abstained from taking any
part in the disturbance excepting that occasionally some
gentleman would kindly interpose to protect sorey
pressed colored man. when assaed by the soldiers Great
fears expressed that the gathering would burst
upon the city with greater fury, and disastrous re-
suits either during the election on Saturday, after it
over on Saturday night but thanks to the prompt
Of Col Howard in the morning strong guards and
patrols ofsodcrs stationed in all parts of the
city, and confidence at restored The only rem.
counter heard of during the day night was at the
end Of the market, the wharf, where negroes
knocked down soldier who had just got off boat,
sand one of the negroes slightly stabbed by white
man. During the night the streets werc patroed by
strong bodies OF soldiers and there the least dis
position manifested to the disgraceful proceed
ings Of the previous night.
Astho election is over and strong and efficient police
will soon be put on we think oil apprehensions of furth
troubles of this may DO dismissed But an
ounce of prevention is worth pound of cure it is the
duty OF the authorities to that excuse opporu
nifty for like excitement in future be permitted to
cur
----$Se-------