The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1866-10-25
the President, who was then and il
still supported BY him o:s) Il.

st'n supported by him. o:'5 Il.
Mayo, Monroe swearrs that General
Baird promised and agreed to and with
him on Friday and on Saturday to send
troops. ~
General Baird swears that he never &C
promised or agreed with him or an,
one, except with 'Lieteuant Governo,
Voorhies on the morning of the riot
supposing General Baird and Mayo,
Monroe to be Of equal credibility unde,
oath, the evidence of Lieutenant Gov.
ernor VOORHEES,, General Heron, and
Chief Of Police Adams, is sufficient to
indicate on which side the false swear.
ing lies.
The Mayor is proven to be guilty Of
perjury in order to shield himself from
the crimes deliberately planned and
executed. The Board further states:
At IL o'clock Sunday night the
night watchmen are drawn off thei,
beats, and held at the various stations
In the morning the whole uniformed
police are 80 masscd and held in readi.
ness; whether by orders or wi,hou,
orders, nearly every man is armed
They are not sent to the convention fol-
its projection, a. advised BY General
Heron ); on the contrary, they are
serupulously kept from appearing on
the streets, the Mayor, as he states, re-
lying on bis proclamation to keep away
the whites, and on tho troops, which, !,
rs be states, Gcneral Baird had prom
ised to send, to keep the negroes in
order. -
49, = When, therefore, ho with.
drew and massed his armed police, and
on the breaking out Of the riot preci-
pitated them upon the scene, the board
are compelled to. conclude that he knew
what their action would be, and that he
intended the inevitable consequences
Of his own acts !. - ~-.'~ :"--:. -.
y y The board are reluctantly
compelled to. disc.edit the Mayor and
to believe that he knew that not a
soldier bad been asked. tor, and that,
when he nassed his armed police and
held them aloof from the building, mo
barrier remained between the convention
and negroes and the infuriared citizens,
With whose threats the, city was yet
ringing, except bis paper proclamation:
He states, moreover, that he knew that
the hatred Of the mob toward the con.
vention and the negroes was shared by
his police. In this state. of affairs,
should the negroes assemble in any
number, collision might be considered
inevitable, and an attack by the mob
upon the convention as sure to follow
Then the police-massed, armed, and
ready-are let loose upon the scene to
"quell the riot" How they did quell
it will tppeaa from the evidence.
X Three-fourths of them
(the police) were ex-Confederate sol.
diers, and at least one Of their officers,
appointed by himself a notorious thug,
assassin, and former leader of the very
men Of blood who might be expected
to besfor most in the attack. Had the
police been sent to the hall in advance,
With orders to preserve the peace, they
could have no excuse for the attack
on the convention; IN the contrary,
they must have acted in its defence !;
aud this was the advice of General
Heron.
y \ Flremea were seen acting
as and With the police, making the ar
rests as special police, and lending the
assistance Of their iron wrenches in the
eongenial occupation Of despatchirg the
wounded. Whether this was in pur-
suance ofany previous orders, private
or otherwise, the board regard as i'm
material. There can be no doubt that
the signal was recognized throughout
the city as indicating that the attack
had commenced, and as call to arms
to all who might desire to participate
therein. "Look out for hot work nows =.
is the cry of the streets as the first
strokes Of the bells resound.
In regard to the scenes which now
took place around the building, and the
manner in which the allied forces in the
streets conducted the seigc, the board
cannot undertake to present even q
summary of the evidence. They can
only say that the work Of massacre was
pursued with cowardly ferocity un.
surpassed in the annals Of crime. Es.
Gaping negroes were mercilesly pur.
sued, shot, stabbed, and beaten to death
by the mob and police. Wounded
men on the ground begging for mercy
were savagely despatched by mob, po'
lice, firemen, and incredible as it may
seem, in two Instances by women but
in two or three most honorable snd ex.
ceptionable cases. white men and mem.
bers of the convention were protected
by members of the police, both agains,
the mob and against other policemen
The chief Of police, by great exertions
defended in this manner Gov. Hahn.
Ofthe further occurrences Of the day
Of riot tho board would respectfully call
attention to the brutal treatment and al.
most inhuman neglect Of the wounded
and dead prisoners at the various sta
tion-houses, before they were, by militia
ry orders, removed to the hospitals
The evidence of Lieutenant Colonel
Crosby, Major Sheridan, and Dr.. Avery
on this point shows as horrible a scene
Of suffering and neglect as could havt
been presented on lost battlefield.
They would also cali attention to the
evidence on the subject of the renewa
Of the attack on negroes, and th.
| shooting Of them in their dwellings, b,
both citizons and police, late on tht
same night in Victory street.
The board will state it as their firm
conviction, that but for the declaration
Of martial law, aud the presence Of the
troops, fire and bloodshed would have
ragged throughout the night in all negro
quarters Of the city, and that the lives
and properts Of Unionists aud North
crn men would have been at the mercy
of the mob. The conservators Of tn,
peace being for the time the instigatorl
Of violence, nothing would have re
mained but in arming for self-detence
and scene might have ensued unpara
lelled in the history Of the age. ~
Mayor Monroe has been persistent,
defended BY President johnson, bot
officially and personally, in, this tn
darkest blot on our history since tn