The weekly North-Carolina standard., 1866-06-06

MAN KILLED.
The Speaker laid before the House
yesterday the following communication
from the Secretry of War:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WATH1NeToN Cry, May 20, 1866.
Hon. ScAayler Coztaa, Speaker Of the
House Of Representatives,.
SIR: In compliance with the request
therefor contained in resolution ofthe
House of Representative of May 2s,
1866, / have the honor to send herewith
two reports from Major General Stone
man, dated respectively May ls and
May Is, concerning the recent riots at
Memphis, being ali which have been re-
ceived relating to that subject.
Very respectfully, sir,
Your obedient servant,
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
HEADo'Rs DEPT OF TENNESSEE,
MEMPHIS, May IL, 1866.
Lieut.. General Q. S Grant, 2. s. H.:
Your telegram of this date received.
The Sd colored artillery has been sta
toned here since its organization, and
consequently were not under the best
of discipline large numbers of the men
have what they call families, living in
South Memphis, contiguous to the fort
in which the soldiers were stationed.
These soldiers had been used as the in
struments to execute the orders Of Gov
ernment agents, such as provost mar
shals, bureau agents, &C., and conse-
quently had been more or less brought
directly in contact with the law-break-
ING portion of the community, and the
police, which is far from being compos-
ed of the best class of residents here,
and composed principally of Irishmen,
who consider the negro as their COM
petitor and natural enemy. Many ne
gro soldiers have, from time to time,
been arrested by the police, and many
whites, including some of the police,
have been arrested by the negro soldiers,
and in both cases, those arrested have
not unfrequently been treated with a
harshness altogether unnecessary. These
remarks and hints will lead you to re-
Elections which will explain and indi-
cate to you the state of feeling watch
; existed between the negro soldiers and
their sympathizers, and the lower class
of the whites and their sympathizers, in
which last are included agitators, dem
agogues, and office-seekers. The tes-
timony before the commission which |
have assembled to investigate the cir
cumstances connected with the riots
shows that at about o'clock Monday
afternoon, April 80, four policemen were
walking down Causey street and met
three or four negroes. They jostled
each other on the sidewalk; an alterca-
tion occurred. One of the policemen
struck negro with a pistol, and was in
return struck by another negro with a
cane. There was no further trouble,
though good deal ofeNcitement among
the negroes during that night. Incident
on this encounter, about p. M. Oh Mon
day, May l, a crowd of from fifty to
sevcnty-hve negroes, mostly discharged
soldiers, were congregated together
near the corner of Main and South
streets; the greater portion of these ne
groes were intoxicated. Six policemen
approached the crowd and arrested two
of the most boisterous of the negroes.
The policemen proceeded to conduct
these two negroes toward the station
house, being followed by the crowd of
negroes, which increased as they pro-
ceeded, and who used very insulting
and threatening language, and accom-
panied their threats by firing pistols in
to the air.
The police turned and fired upon the
negroes, wounding one; one of the ne
gro prisoners escaped, and the other
was released by the police. The ne
groes returned the fire, wounding one of
the police. The police force of the city,
together with large crowd of citizens,
congregated together in the vicinity OF
South st.eet, and being very much in
t furiated, proceeded to shoot, beat, and
threaten every negro met with in that
portion of the city. This was continu-
ed until about midnight on Tuesday
night, when it was quelled bf the inter
ference of a small detachment of Uni
ted States troops. Wednesday morn
ing arrived, and found large crowds Of
people collected together in South Mem
phis, most of whom were armed. They
remained there until about one clock
P. NJ, when they were dispersed by a
detachment of United States soldiers
which had been employed during the
day in keeping the discharged negro
soldiers in and the white people out Of
the fort. During the day several ne
gro shanties were burned down. About
10 o'clock on Wednesday night, par
ty of mounted men began to set fire tc
the negro school-houses, churches, anG
dwelling-h houses. 1t is hoped that the
investigation now being had will result
in identifying the parties engaged.
During Tuesday and Wednesday
several inoffensive negroes were killed
and many maltreated and beaten in diff.
ferent parts of the city. The numbe
killed and wounded in the riot, as fa
AS ascertained by the commission, wer'
one white man killed (shot by whit,
man behind him;) one white mai
wounded (shot by negroes.) The mum
Der of negroes shot and beaten to deatl
has not yet been ascertained. will
) give you the information when procur
ed. Frequent applications were mad
for arms and provisions to organize