The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-09-17
The COpperhead Riot.

the Comprehend riot OF last Monday
night, which resulted in the wound
ing of some of the Spectators Of the
reception ceremonies, and the MUIR
der Of Mr.. Stewart, who had given no
cause of offense to any person or par
80 ty After the windows of the Bates
House had been closed and the blinds
drawn, O'Leary, one of the marshals,
mounted ON horseback, rode back and
I forth through the dense crowd, to the
manifest danger of every person with
whom his horse came in contact; but
finding that that course was not sui
fciently effective to disperse the thou
sands assembled in the street, he cried
out to his DULLES who had marched
In the procession, come on, boys,
we will have free fight or "a foot
race" He, or some of his accom-
plices, exclaimed, about the same
time. "clean out the - Radicals.
Another voice was heard in the crowd
''we have sixty pistols"
Vandegrift, who headed the Fifth
Ward Democratic Club, was heard to
give the order: Drive these - =
abolition DULLES out of the way,'' and
started with his followers in process
sion through the mass of people who
were so densely packed that it was al
most impossible for them to move.
These acts and threats occurred almost
simultaneously, and it is stated that
the Vandegrift squad used their torch
sticks on the heads of some persons
in the crowd. At all events, blows
were struck, and they were immedi5
ately succeeded by volley of pistol
shots, the first of which was fred by
. Trucksess, one of the Democratic
: marshals, as hereafter appearsam
to. The larger portion of the people
left as rapidly as possible, and
= .O'Leary himself, finding the job he
had undertaken too heavy for him,
fed down Kentuc kylAVenuea at the
ID highest speed his milk-white horse
could make. ..i.,,., a.fl s,es
Mr.. Unversaw, the City Marshal,
states that on hearing the firing he
made his way as rapidly as possible to
the spot, and saw Trucksess follow
+ ing up the crowd, which was slowly
r. falling back; and as he and police
man Buser came up, Trucksess was
leveling his pistol to fire. They in
i stantly seized and disarmed him, when
. he called three times on his comrades
8 for protection. The officers saw that
he was wounded, and Buser inquired
of him, Who commenced this?H'
2 To which Tru cksess replied, IT fired
the first shot, and received mig toOund
inanaedia tely afterwards. J."
p Thomas s. Wilson, Chief of Police,
states that about fifteen minutes be-
fore the fight commenced, a. tall man.,
e unknown to him, stepped out of the
torchlight procession laid his lamp
down.. and then remarked: Boys,
the shooting will commence directly,
4 and am going away" Up to this
i time there had been no .quarreling or
any difficulty. These facts show that
the Copperhead managers of the affair
went prepared for fight, sought occa-
sion for collision and brought it on
without any necessity or excuse there
for. Mr.. Unversaw further informs
us that after taking Trucksess to Jail,
and sending physician to examine
his wounds, he returned to the Bates
House corner. The larger portiontcf
the crowd had left, but considerable
number were still lingering there.
twenty0 minutes after his arri-
val, without any premonitery warnings
of disturbance he heard two shots
fired in quick succession few yards
.0Gfrom where he stood. He rushedlto
Il the place from whence the report came
and saw Mr.. Stewart fall, and found
Stretcher, who shot him, in the
eco hands of. some other police officers.
Before reaching that place a third
. shot, which was probably fred by one
q Sam. Scribner, loafer aud; a black
leg of the Copperhead. persuasion.
This shot hit and slightly wounded
~ Benjamin House, a discharged Union
soldier, who was standing near by.
Scribner had leveled his pistol to fire
q again, when he was seized and dis
armed by some of the police force.
Mr.. Stewart had attended Aft Bur
i3u nett's entertainment at Masonic Hall,
and had left there in company with
his son but few minutes before he
was killed. He was quiet peacable
- old man, had disturbed nobody, nor
given any provocation whatever for
violence. The only persons seriously
hurt at the first firing, so far as we
know, were Mr.. Rocker, of Hamilton
County, who was a quiet spectator,
and Trucksess. That more tragicical
results did not follow, from the num-
d Der of shots fred, is a wonder.
As the case of Stretcher is to un-
dergo judicial Investigation we make
oi no further comments upon his con-
duct than simply to state how Stewart
came to his death. -
That the bloodshed of that evening
81 was caused by the rash and outrage
Gus conduct of O'Leary and Vande-
grift, two pot house Copperhead poll
ticians, is unquestionable, and if they
had received the bullets which
wounded and killed their innocent
81 victims there would have been less