Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-11-16
Martyged

"GOod-by, Emma, he sald.
shall not be gone loUg. It can't take
more than ten minutes to open the
convention, and then I shall come
right away. Look for me at 3 o'clock
at farthest, :" and the young pastor kis-
sed his wife and hurried away to the
city.
That day was destined to be one
among the most memorable in the an
nails Of human Wiekedness since the
famous St. Bartholomew The mem
bers of the Union convention had look
ed forward to it with apprehension.
They knew that the spirit of the late
rebellion sill survived in New Orleans,
and they could not hope that they
should be permitted to assemble with
out some molestatiOn from disOrderly
individuals, but they had no suspic-
ion that the masses of the city would
rise against them, organized for dellb-
crate bloodshed. They did not know
that all the arms had been bought up
till the guu-shops contained not so
much as a pocket pistol. They did
not know that the mayor had tele-
graphed to the President that there
certainly would be a riot, and received
the assurance that the military would
not interfere with the civil power.
They did not know that the police
force had been increased by the addi-
ton of gang Of blOOd-thITsty men,
and that the municipal authorities had
agreed upon signals, and arranged to
begin the riot themselves. Watched
by no suspicion, and awed by no But
/ ler's strong right hand, the conspira-
| tors were suffered to perfect their pre-
parations, and when the morning of
July Both daWned, the treaeherous Of
fcials appeared at the station-hOu
full armed. and waiting the OppOrtuni-
ty Of their bloody work.
The pastor of the Coliseum Baptist
Church, Rev. lothian W, Horton, had
been requested to open the convention
with prayer. Moved by the warmest
Christian sympathy for the freedmen,
this young New England minister had
gone to the South with his wife, to
give his best energies to their welfare.
He was a man Of sincere -plety and a
1 large heart pure as a little child,
self denying where duty was connected
/ to an extent that often made him sui
/ fer, aud so peaceable that though re-
peatedly insulted and even once fired
upon, and though conscious that he
was fatally marked by malignant dis
/ loyalists, he would never go armed.
After taking leave of his wife, Mr..
! Horton proceeded in the cars, from
! his residence in Carrolton to the city,
Ever apt to look hopefully on the
worst prospects, and slow to suspect
/ evil of his fellow-men, he had felt no
! fears of injury on this day, beyond per-
/ haps a foreible seizure and commit
ment to the parish prison,
The hour arrived for opening the
/ convention, and Mr.. Horton, having
entered the hall, stood up to Offer
/ prayer just as the clock struck y
4 Strongly and fervently his words came
up, breathing petitions for the peace
/ of his country and the deliverance Of
/ the oppressed. God heard him, but
with that His servants work ended
and then He gave him for little while
to the cruel wrath of his enemies, thai
1 He might make that wrath praise Him
/ Immediately On the sounding of the
/ stroke of noon from the city clocks
and simultaneously with the opening
of Mr.. Horizons prayer, the armed pO-
lice filed ont of different stations, BOO
strong, and marched toward the
! institute. Some of them entered the
hall during the prayer, a mob in the
meantime rapidly collecting round the
door, and hardly had the good mar
uttered the closing "amen, when {
miscreant fired a bullet at his head.
There could no longer be any doub
of the intentions of the officers anC
the mob The latter assailed the win.
dows and rushed in at the DOORS
"KiH him Kill him ~ they yelled
: L 4
house F' just then all the bells in the
city began to toll. It was the precon
certed signal Of slaughter, and now tht
horrors of the day began.
The disloyalist rufians rushed il
with pistols, knives and clubs, anC
commenced their appointed work o
murder. Resistance was hopeless
The convention broke up in the wild
est confusion, some of its member
/ falling dead, aud many mortally wOun
J ded in the hall, while few who could
fed. The Union men saw that the,
were doomed. Instead of PROTECTING
them and arresting the rioters at th
< firing of the first shot, as with thei
force they could easily have done, th
), police headed the attack, aDd there ]
reason to believe that one of thei
5 number fred the first shot.
Mr.. Horton received five balls in hi
e body and fell. These balls we're fire
9 by policemen. Not satisfied wit
> their work they seized him, kicke
and dragged him over the pavemeu
: to the first station, the mob followin
behind, cursing, beating, and tramplin
him with their shoes. Thrusting hil
in cell, he was left, mangled an
= senseless.
!, Meantime the shop keepers of til
city had closed their stores, and stroI
led about, gratified spectators of th
fendish carnival, greeting the murder
ers of Horton and every squad Of DC
lsnn-nn-. AhnA -.n-.nL L.. 3.