The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-05-08
The Last of the Memphis RiOt-The
Military i'm Full PossessiOn-The
S,auses Of the Troubles.
From the Bulletin, May .

The Last Of the MemphlS hiOt-hhe
Military i'm Full POssessiOn-The
Causes of the Troubles.
From the Bulletin, May4.
Yesterday morning everything was quiet,
as far as we could learn. No more arrests
had been made.
No casualties occurred from shooting
last night that we heard of; in fact, there
was little or no shooting; an occasional
shot, perhaps, over the city, not at any
person though.
The fires that were mentioned in our last
issue were in all parts of the city, but
most of them were in South Memphis, and
were reported yesterday morning. The
one, though, that occurred on Poplar
street. and the one on the corner OF Union
and Overton streets (both of these were
churches), were after we had gone to press;
therefore we could make no report.
Yesterday we visited again all the sites
of this burning, and saw some very appail-
ing things. The worst that we saw was
negro woman, who had been sick,
being burned to death in little cabin on
South street, near the bridge, in front Of
the school-house occupied by Rankin,
negro teacher. The school-hou was fired
Wednesday evening by inccndiarics, but
this shanty was savcd-although several
around were burned-until about mid
night, when it was fired. In this locality,
nearly all being negroes who had witnessed
the fighting for the last two days, and had
seen so many of their color killed, would
not stir for fear of meeting the same fate,
and the few whites here were too much
| frightened to venture out to stop the fire
in such poor, miserable looking howell;
consequently we could not get many of the
particulars of the sad occurrence. All we
could gather was that the house was burned
down, having been set on fire by some UNI
known person, and this woman, having been
confined to her bed several days, was sup
posed to be unable to get from the house,
or else, being asleep, had no time to make
| her escape. We were told that some sup
posed after the house was partly burned
down, some one passing and hearing her
cries pulled her out of the burning mass
and laid her down at some little distance
from the cabin, but her clothes caught
from the sparks, and thus she died. Nearly
all of her clothes was burned off, and an
old shawl was spread over her. No marks
of violence were to be seen on her body.
This was truly an infamous deed, and all
good citizens are speaking of it in the same
way. Burning churches, school-hOuses,
and dwellings of innocent persons is a
crime that should not 60 unpublished by
the civil authorities.
There are no negro churches now stand
ing, within our knowledge, in the city.
This is the effects of the course pursued
by the negroes On the first and second days
l1r% hn ~. - ,hn hnr
sufficient cause for this lawlesSness have
taken the law Of vengeance in their own
hands, and this is the sequel. Two men
who stood high in the municipal forces
have been killed, and their comrades have
naturally desire to seek revenge.
We heard, after writing the above, that
a church was burned on the corner of
Washington and Orleans streets. 1t is a
great pity that men will allow their
passions to thus mislead them.
To secure quiet, the citizens of Memphis
held meeting and resolved that the
Mayor Of the city, with the sheriff of the
county, together with the chairman of this
meeting, be authorized to summon force
of citizens of sufficient number to act in
connection with the military, but were
headed off as follows:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT TENNESSEE,
MEMPHIS, Tenn, May 3, 1866.
To the Mayor, City Council, and all The ciuiI
officers Of the county Of Shelby and city Of
Memphis:
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. compel the
undersigned to interfere with the civil
affairs OF the city of Memphis. 1t is for
hidden for any person, without the autho-
1 rity from these headquarters, to assemble
| together any posse, armed or unarmed,
white or colored. This does not include
the police force of the city, and will not
so long as they can be relied upon as pre-
servers of the peace.
am, gentlemen,very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
GEORGE SToNEMAN,
Major General Commanding.
1t is to be hoped that this riot will soon
be stopped, and the negroes come to their
proper senses.
RUMORs OF RIOT IN CHELSEA.
! 1t is rumored that considerable riot
was made in Chelsea last night. There are
: different stories about it, but nothing can
be said to be reliable. One report was
that two negroes We're killed; another,
that the negroes were victorious and drove
the whites to the city.
May God protect our good city and its
good inhabitants.
! From the Argus, Mays.
THE CAUSES OF THE RIOT.
Many ascribe the unfortunate events OF
the past few days to enthusiasts in African
pulpits. Missionaries Of the extreme ra-
dical sort, of misshapen heads, like that
pretty Uranium which rises, gorgeous
temple of thought, from the shoulders of
Smith of Hardeman, have exhausted the
force of nasal melody and hum-drum phi
lanthropy in lecturing blacks upon dignity
and the assertion Of social and political
rights. We would not object if blacks un-
derstood the sensible and just of their
teachers, or If their stupidity did not cause