The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-06
The Fires Mnnaar Nirht

Yesterday morning, about 2 o'clock,
the alarm of fire was raised on the dis.
coVery of flames issuing from builc-
ing IN rear of the colored peoples
church, on Union street, used as a
schoolToom and classroom
The firemen were promptly on the
spot, and, by dint of great exertion,
succeeded in saving the church build
ing and preventing the spread of the
flames beyond the buiididg first fired
A couple of hours later, the large an
finished eoIoiel church, on Harrison
street, south Of the New Market, was
found to be on fire in several places.
and such Roadway had the flames At
tanned, that despite the utmost efforts
of our fire companies, it was found i'm
possible to save the building.
At the same time, it was discovered
thst the wooden church building, On
the east side of the same street, and
further south, had been forcibly enter
ed and every arrangement made to Sc
cure its destruction.
We note these events to call on the
civil authorities of the city to take
steps at once, in every possible way, to
bring to justice the miscreants who
have been guilty of these infamous
acts Nothing has ever transpired in
Petersburg which has so profoundly
sgitsted and incensed her people.
From every quarter and from all clas-
ses, We have heard an unbroken com.
ment of regret and indignation that
there could have been found within
the limits Of Petersburg one heart so
profigate and abandoned as to inhict |
this outrage on our colored people, and !
there is a disposition equally wide
spread to take every possible means to |
hunt down the author or authors of the |
crime, and at the same time extend |
whatever assistance may be in our pow
er to those who have suffered by the |
outrage.
If the guilty parties imagined that |
they would find the faintest shadow of |
approval of their villainy in the sym |
pathy of this community, they have |
been wofully deceived. In no part of |
Virginia, or of the South, does a better
feeling exist between the whites and |
blacks. With exceptions too trihing
for mention, the demeanor of the col |
ored people in Petersburg has been all
that could be desired, and the COM
mendation of their general conduct has
been unstinted. But if they had been
as riotous as they have been orderly, if
they had been as troublesome as thew
have been well behaved, such method
of retaliation as this, if it were so de-
signed, would meet the unqualified re-
prosch of our people.
When the authors of this crime shall
be found out, we guaranty that they
will represent no class of the Southern
people; indeed, we shall not be greatly
surprised if the suspicion, already cir
culated on the streets and widely cred
tied, that this villiany is the work of
parties in our midst who hate the white
far more than they love the
blacks, should prove to be the truth.
We renew the expression of our hope
that the Common Council may at once !
authorize the offering on behalf of the =
city, of q large reward for the guilty E
parties, and that cur citizens may de. a
wise some means of assisting the colored 7
people to replace their lost church. t
A public-spirited merchant has au-
5horized us to head a subscription list =
with his name for a handsome sum, n
and although the poverty of our people b
s notorious, many, we doubt not, will Il
'ollow his example-PetersJ1rg Inder, 7
ld inst