Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1866-08-10
THE NEW ORLEANS MASSACRE
Far account by an Eve Witness.

Ffsm ta spesial Correspondence of the einciuu az
sE 10 Gszstte. =
~ ~ New ORLEANS, July 81. s
sJn suite 7ef a promise to the physicians to
avoid newspsper writing, and of apremise to
myself TO avoid wearing out welcome always
too kindly given by the readers of this journal,
l cannot avoid some accountof yesterday g work.
Necessity is upon me, as upon every honest
man able to reach the avenues of public opinion,
to tell that which my eyes have seen and my
ens heard Of the latest rebel victory in thiscity
add the men who ersahiksd.its
For it was no drudkeri brawl, or low street
fight that clotiied the floors of Mechanics In
4itute with gorh end filed the carts that haul
ID dead men nks freshly aaughtereds swine
through the streets. ] saw the Governor OF
Louisiana, for whose Inauguration Banks can.
non thundered their choral salute, and Abraham
Lincoln gave public thanks, dragged, lame as
lie was, for two SQUARES fhrouglt q 6ootiligS mob
that, graced by such IBen as Huipphrey Mar
shall snIfli1g delighted approval from the yer-
andaM sbdsef shouted land dheered while the
par6lsl 4 be) soldiers, wearing the uniform o!
thep6iiee' Of New Orleans, roughly jerked- him
forward, and the rioters from behind shot at and
cut at and struck at him till his bare head and
his shoulders were dripping with the fresh
flowing blood. Elegantly appearing persons
assur1ing the selectest places in the aristocratc
society of the city, leaped upont 1ifcless bod
les of freshly murdered usn as. they lay on
Canal street, within sight, he Clay statue
and crushed flesh and bones with their heels
Cheers and laughter greeted an express wagon
that passed the corner of Carondelet and Conn
mon containing the bodies of six murdered me-
groes, heaped up one upon another till the wag-
on body ould hold no more.s The an,for
whose murderous careerano fitting terms could
be found tibs years ago the citizens, by Com
mon consent, borrowed anaine from the atroci.
ties of the East, and called him the King Of the
Thugs, led body of fifty paroled rebel soldiers
in the uniform Of poBcemen tothe charge upon
the @Copvention snd the negroes Is It moi
right to call such scenes and such triumphs g
rebel victory?
And yet one must not conceal the fact that
the men against whom their attack was primari.
ly directed were poor representatives of the
Union element, and were engaged in IN under.
taking of questionable legality. Its President
could notsbe induced TO cali it together again,
and the best lawyers and truest men Of the Rad.
ical party in New Orleans doubted its present
legal existence. But nobody doubted the abso.
lutte right of its members to hold as many meet.
ings as they pleased, and set up as many crazy
preteustous 90 'hSJ p.sos'u, eo ionS oe my
kept the peace aud broke no laws. Fortunate.
ly, the right Of American citizens to assemble
together does not find its foundation in the
opinions of New Orleans rebel Judges, or the
wishes of New Orleans rebel policemen.
A temporary President was induced to issue
a call for the Convention to reassemble, and
Governor Wells who is nything but radical
to issue proclamation for an election to fill va
cancics On Friday evening mass meeting
was held at the Convention building (thc Me-
chanics' Institute, and defiant speeches were
made by Cutler, DR.. Dostie, Judge Hiestand and
Others Next day the city was all afame.-
The papers reported that incendiary speecbe:
had been made and if was in everybody mouth
that DIR. Dostie and King Cutler had advised
the negroes to arm themselves on Monday, and
stand by the Convention that was going to give
them suffrage, drive off the police, shoot, staf
and destroy their enemies. a.. h..e.-5f
| was present at the latter part Of this meet
ing, and heard most of the Objectionable speech.
es, Tut heard nothing of this kind. Threat;
had been made that the Convention should bt
broken up, and its friends (nOt negroes as such
but in general, ats friends') were urged to bt
present and protect it from violence. There
vas some excitement and much enthusiasm
but neither the speeches nor the tone Of The
crowd struokyme as more Incorporate than il
usual at large political meetings. asifi
All day Saturday and Sunday, men talked O
this revolutionary meeting and the revolution.
ary Convention that was TO meet on Monday,
the irihanmatory sJeeches and the riot we wer(
sure TO have. Pistolsrwere purchased in large
numbers, and everybody seemed preparing
Sunday night the rebel Mayor of the city, Mr.
John T. Monroe, sent to the Dry Tortugas by
Butler, elected to the Mayoralty by the return.
II ola1o ord fnrh fort
and especially pardoned by the. President, that
be might enter Upon the duties Of his Office,
called private meeting to consult. The Presi-
dent had been telegraphed that the Convention
was about to assemble in defiance of the courts,
i. e. in defiance of the charge of Judge Abel,
"a petty Judge here) to the grand Jury, 10 the
effect that their assemblage would be viola.
ton of the oath of office they had taken in 1864
and:should be punished as perjury. The Presi'
dent had replied that the military would sus.
tain, the civil courts. Gonceiving everything
to be now in their own hands, the rebel author.
tiles thought they should be able to "settle the
Convention and the nggers.
Monday morning everybody talked about
athe riot that was to come off to-day Some
business houses were never opened at all, OIL
were closed by nine o'clock The streets were
full, and nearly all the residents were armed
The assembling of the Convention seemed to be
awaited as the signal for the expected outbreak
Respectable rebel citizens earnestly advised
their friends who were strangers in the city moi
to be induced by curiosity or any other motive
to 90 into the hall of the Convention, and as,
sured them that they knew there would be
bloodshed.
By twelve O'Clock, Canal and Common streets
between which the Mechanics Institute is sit
uated, were crowded. Men gathered in excited
groups about the doors of the houses and at the
crossings, and rumors of affrsys in distant part:
Of the city occasionally passed from mouth to
mouth. f'r
A little after twelve clock, the members Of
the Convention, who had repaired to the 1nsti-
tute as unostentatiously rs possible, were called
to order. Only twenty-five or thirty answered
to their names, but few more came in after the
roll-call. The Sergeant-at- Arms was ordered
TO bring in absentees, and mean-time arecess oi
an hour was voted. By this time considers-
bic crowd of whites aud negroes had assembled
in the chamteF outside the bar; and larger
crowd, composed mainly Of negroes, nearly all
armed either with clubs or revolyers, had gath
cred in the street before the door. Half a square
off, on Canal street, the citizens and police were
assembling. Manifestly here were the materi-
ais for an explosion. 1t wanted but spark,
that any accident at any moment, might fur
nish.
At this unfortunate juncture, procession of
negroes, preceded. by band Of music, came
marching up from the French quarter. The
crowd in front Of the Institute fcheered them
heartily as they approached to which they re-
sponded, amid the curses and ieers of the whites
on Canal street. What next followed no man
can now undertake to affirm The negroes say
that policeman wantonly fired. into their col
umn, Others say that white man, accidental
ly or Intentionally jostled from the curbstone
by member Of the passing procession, fred at
the offender and drew out a return shot. 1t is
certain that in a moment or two shots came to
be exchanged, and both parties began those
surges to and fro. rushes around the corner and
rallies down the street again which generally
mark the inception of a street fight. One or
two negroes fell; the policemen continued to
discharge their evolvers into ths corpses, and
the sight ofblood infiaped all alike.
Meantime, that which happened inside the
Mechanics Ipstitute, which had thus become
the nucleus Of the opening riot-the only avail,
able point of refuge for the regroes, and the
central object of attack to citizens and rebel
soldiers in the uniform of policemen, may be
more definitely stated.
Within few moments after the first shot,