American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-08-29
Vbe New S,rIeans Massacre.

r
and the mind penetrates into the true
state of fthings,no as they were represent
ed. but as :hey actually occurred. The
New Orleans massacre has already passed
into history. At first the horrid scenes
enacted there were eloudel in mystery,
AMI the responsibility of the loss Of life
laid distinctly upon no ones shoulders.
Conflicting ACCOUNTS poured in, to puzzle
the people till they calmly rested their
Inquiries, trusting to Providence that
truth might eventually prevail The
mist is fast disappearing, The evidence
Of truthful men is finding its way to the
North and fixing IN characters of blood
the dread responsibility of the terrible
massacre upon the President aud bis
party.
Goner4l Alfred L. Lee, Of Kansas,
brave officer of cavalry under General
Banks and Sheridan, has made speech
to his fellow-citizens at Leavenworth. lie
was au eyewitness to the massacre, and
spoke only of the things which passed be-
fore his own eyes Here is the picture
of the protectors Of the poace-the gal
liant fellows who only did their duty, ac-
cording to the word of their ailers and
abottors in the North
"I stood on my balcany aud looked on
that crowd of four hundred policemen,
maddened with liquor and drunk with
fury assisted By firearms and Thugs, as
sisted by two or three hundred citizens,
on this field day of slaughter | saw
passing an innocent black man, with
market basket on his arm. He was met
by knot of policemen. They said You
are from the hall, are your He said
NO They said, Yes you are He
started to run. Two policemen ran after
him, and a. many as dozen bullets were
shot into his body before he fell A cit
izen then stamped Yith his heel on his
face. and he was beaten to death with
clubs.
"Within five minutes after this | saw
a policeman approach black man, and
putting pistol to h back shoot him
down. About ten minutes after great,
coarse, brutal rufian approached and
kicked the dead black corpse. While he
was kicking the corpse street car pass
ed. In it was a bright yellow woman
She put out her head to look, and this
rufiian raised his hand and struck her on
the face"
Listen to this horrible narrative Of hui
man cruelty;
"Another little chapter in the scene.
There is in New Orleans, as in most other
large cities, baggage and transfer com
pany a returned officer of our army
was an officer of one of these companies.
lie told ne, his office being near the
scene of the riot, the police came to him
and said they wished his baggage wagons
to bear away the dead. They seized
them, and he said he saw them repeated.
ly throw six and eight bodies. black and
white, into one wagon and carry them off.
He told me Of one scene in particular
Eight or ten men had been thrown into
wagon. Two of the first who had been
thrown in (black men) were not quite
dead, and the shock revived them. They
eudeavored feebly to push from them the
recumbent mass of corpses, 4 police
man saw it; he leaped into the wagon
with the expression, Cd d--n you, |
will fix you, | will fix you so you will be
STILL and with his revolver very deliber-
ately blew out their brains.
" Another negro was shot down on the
street and had boen left for dead. He laid
there until notice of him had ceased A
policeman came along and poticed that
the man had some life in him He saw
the policeman, aud the poor, ignorant, de
luded man raised his head with petit
tion for aid Instead of giving him the
aid he requested, he gave him such as he
had been instructed to. He raised his
club and broke his neck at blow"
Gen. Lee tells more. He confirms the
belief that the official dispatches of Gen
Sheridan were terribly mutilatcd and
garbled before given to The public, and
this nails consciousness of guilt upon
the President and his advisers. This
speech of Gen. Lees also shows how the
rebel military power was kept in exist
ence under tho guse Of Relief Associa
tions, till Sheridan fully comprehending
the object of the traitors, compelled them
to disband. But hes. General Lee where
he says:
sheridan, the noble, great and true
man of our war, was not there; he had
gone to the Rio Grande. But he has
returned. / have heard some criticisms
regarding his dispatches to the North,
but see it stated that the dispatches
published as from him were but garbled
extracts, and Ltell you gentlemen, that
| believe it.
. IL have som ething to tell you Of Sher
idan Some three weeks ago, and two
weeks before left New Orleans, waited
on General Sheridan, and told him was
about to leave the South and come North
again. I told him my statements might
appear onesided; that possibly some per-
sons might think radical unsafe to trust
and / wished to know from him his opin
ion, as a conservative old army officer,
and one then and there in antbnr;t, 7,