The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-04-29
'sGOLUMBIA.. .
Sunday Morning, April %, 1858.
The Riot at Norfolk.

. fatal results-the killing ofstwo- or
three white citizens. Phis killing Of
citizens by band Of armed and
drunken negroesengaged IN celebrat
ing their "civil rights has, naturally
enough, created profound. sensation
among the people Of Virginia. On
Ahe first information Of the slaughter
by these negroes, it was put forth,
probably by. radical emissaries, that,
an attack upon the procession was
commenced by white rowdies," and
that thereupon the riot" followed
From the testimony taken Ion
Wednesday before the Mayor of Nor
folk, it is shown that the negroes,
many of whom were defiantly and
openly armed, Us if anxious for "a
bloody issue. originated the disturb
ance by assailing apohce offer who.
in pursuance of his duty, attempted
to- arrest one of their number for Il
breach of the peace. The account,
taken from the published synopsis OF
the testimony, reads:
= ''Guy Holland, one of the marshals
of the day, fully corroborated the
statement Of Marshal Capps, the
white hackman, relative to the origin
of the riot. He testified that the
riot was caused by the indiscretion of
one colored man shooting pistol
loaded with n blank cartridge at
another colored man. Policeman
Mosely ran up to arrest the parties,
when colored man told him he had
no right to arrest any one. The
officer drew knife and commenced
cutting right and left. Then the
crowd set upon him and beat him.
This, then, was the origin of the
massacre that subsequently occurred.
Here we have n mob OF an inferior
race assembled together, clearly pre-
pared to shoot down any who might
express disapprobation Of their con-
duct, and even, as the event showed,
ready to resist the legitimate authori-
ty Of the city; indamed with strong
drink, and made insolent by the
appreciation and applause of men
whose white skins belle the hue Of
their hearts. 1t is all very we'll to
talk of quiet celebration of an event
that is itself an insult to those among
whom the celebration occurs; but
when drunken negroes are allowed to
assemble in great throngs, armed
with deadly weapons, and utterly re-
gardless (both by reason of their ma
tive instincts and because of probable
immunity from punishment for any
crime that they may commit) of the
lives of citizens, it becomes a serious
question whether those who permit
these assemblies should not be held
accountable for the bloodshed natnr
ally arising from such occasions.
If this is to be one of the 'scivil
rights of the negro, common decen-
cy and justice would seem to require
CiAoo CllC lllIiil, VI ulcu, whose low ma
lures find pleasure in seeing to it that
the armed negro is not deprived of
his right to shed the blood of un-
armed white men, be removed from
the positions which they disgrace,
and which they use only to make per-
manent the bitterness growing out Of
the war. This is the great trouble
lying i'll the path of the Presidents
labor Of rehabilitation; and it is a
stern duty with him, we conceive, to
remove from the sphere of their evil
those mischief-makers who prompt
acts of murder by refusing to inter
pose their authority between the per-
petrators of crime and the occasions
that afford an opportunity for the
shedding of blood.
Another Proclamation.
The Washington correspondent of