Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1866-11-24
Around the Mechanics Institute and i 10

adjacent streets upwards OF v nunuTeu
negroes Law welterin . in their blood, and
the dead carts drove by loaded with warm
corpses and bodies Of the wounded still
writhing with life, all tumbled lndlscr'-
minately together.
In one of these carts the mangled Hor
ton was flung, after laying awhile at the
station house, and under a sitting load OF
dead and wounded negroes, his stomach
crushed in by a blow from a heavy plank
He was taken to the Marine Hospital.
Furious with the taste of blood, the
police and their fellow thugs raved up
and down the streets, declaring their 10
t~ention to slaughter every Union man IN
New Orleans. In the midst of the ex-
element and carnage, however, the ba
yonets of the Federal troops appeared,
and further murder was prevented. The
mob dispersed, and the blood-stained
streets, and battered windows, and muf-
fled groans from distant hospital wards,
alone testified to the horrors of the Goth
Of July.
As the hours of that bloody day pass
ed, the wife of Mr.. Horton waited at her
home, five miles distant, for his return,
Three o'clock came, the limit he had set
for his absence. She looked long and
anxiously to catch a glimpse Of him APP
preaching along the familiar street. He
did not come, aud her anxiety grew into
alarm. To add to her terror, a hreathless
messenger arrived at her residence, and
warned her that she would not be safe
there that night, for trouble had happen
ed at the State House, and the secession.
lists were searching fer all Unionists in the
city and suburbs. Hastily summoning
the negro servant, she told her to bar the
door and windows, and, with a few bur-
ried preparations, set off for the city to
learn the fate of her husband.
Having formerly boarded with a Mrs.
E., she took her way first to her house,
and made known her anxious errand.
She was told of the riot and massacre,
and at once feared the worst. Several
young men who boarded at the house
volunteered to search for Mr.. Horton.
They returned late in the evening, but
could give her no news save that he had
been badly wounded.
Only the darkness of the dangerous
streets and the restraint of friends pre-
vented the almost distracted woman
from going forth that night to continue
the search herself. AS it was, the night
brought no sleep to her eyes, and as 5000
as it was morning she started on her sad
errand.
Information had been received through
the city papers that Gen. Baird, the mill
tary co%mmandant, had released all who
had been a1EastR and confined by the
police, her husband among the rest. and
stating that he had returned home. Act
ing on this representation, she went alone
to Carroltou, but only to return by the
next train. Without waiting for break
fast, she set off for Gen. Birds head
quarters /; a young Methodist clergyman,
Mn Henry, accompanied her..
No sooner did Gen. Baird see Mrs.
Horton and know who she was, than he
expressed much surprise that her hus-
band had not been seen, and told her he
had ordered his release. Perhaps she
would find him at the City Hall. To this
place she Immediately went, but she
searched in vain. He had not been there
She then hurried to the first police sta
tion, determined to wiring from the brutal
officers a confession of what they had
done with her husband. Entering the
Office, she forced her way within the rails,
and asked the clerk what had been done
with her husband. The man declared
THAT preacher Horton had been sent
by him to the Charity Hospital, and she
at once hurried thither. Again she was
disappointed. He had not been been
seen there. THE truth was, the cart
(which carried Mr.. Horizons body had stop
ped there, and been sent away, as it ap-
peared to contain only blacks. The hor-
rid idea o suggested itself to the aflict-
ed woman that her husband had been
conveyed away with a load of dead DO.
dies, and had been buried alive, but, as a
last resort, she determined to visit the
Marine Hospital. This was in a low and
distant part of the city, and devoted en-
|tirely to negroes, and she could not have
believed he would be carried there by
his worst enemies. but at a friends sug
gestion she sought the place, still accom-.
panied by Mr.. Henry.
Arrived at the gate, she was refused
entrance, but catching a glimpse of Dr..
Harris, the head surgeon, whom she
knew. she called to him and asked him if