Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-11-19
From the Richmond Wing.
Hunnicuttism and NegrOism.

''Hunnicutt and his set are terrified, not by
their excuses, but by the discovery of them,
and all sorts of disclaimers and explanations are
being made We should have heard no such
disclaimers and explanations but for the pub
licity given by the press to the incendlary
speeches of these white and black Jacobins.-
Public sentiment was so shocked here, and will
be so shocked at the North by the disclosures
made that it becomes of the first Importance to
sneak out of their dilemma as well as they can.
To this end the effort is being made to produce
the impression that Hunnicutt's negro associate
On the Convention ticket, Lindsey, did not say
what he is reported as saying, and that what
he actually did say was disapproved OF by the
meeting. AS some of our readers probably
failed to see what he did say, we reproduce
it-as follows: "That before any Of has chl
'dren should suffer ytorJood, the streets Of Rich
'naond should run knee7deep IN blood; and he
thanked God the negroes had learned to use
guns, pistols and ranrods." The reporter
says this seditious language received ''the snai-
ling approval of Hunnicutt and the cheers OF
the ignorant masses. y
The disclaimers and explanations now hypo
critically and falsely made were thus met and
refuted by our neighbour, the Dispatch, yestel-
day ..o.8.
The report which appeared in the Dispatch
on yesterday of the Radical meeting on Friday
night last was made by leading Radical of this
CITY, who was present on the occasion, and who
says every word reported is true. The attempt
now made by Lindsey and his friends to break
the force Of his language is altogether an after.
thought They did not know when his remarks
were uttered that they would be published, non
did they then know that the grand jury of the
Hastings Court Of this city would, on yester
day, take steps to bring these black conspira
tors against the peace Of society to trial fol
their reasonable and bloodthirsty doctrines. =
But, taking the alarm, they now seek to retreat
from the position which they assumed in then
secret conclave The resolutions above adopted
virtually admit the correctness Of our report OF
the Friday night meeting
A card, signed by John Oliver, Matthew
Hopes, Fields Cooke, R. G. Hobson, R. W.
johnson (eolorea men, which appeared yes.
terday in one of the city papers, admits that
the speech was delivered as reported, and pro
tests against both Mr.. Lindsey and his
speech" But in doing So they use this very
singular language: THAT it was not sympathy
with Mr.. Lindsey which caused the meeting
ito applaud him CO the above occasion, but
the ludicrousaess of has adeasi' Ludicrous-
that ;'the streets Of Richmond should run knee
deep In bloodI' Very funny, this-a capita
joke. The white people whose lives are thus
threatened cannot be brought to view it in thai
light. They are deficient, perhaps in thai
acute sense OF the !udicrous which belongs tt
the sacred race
"Hunnicutt and his set cannot gloss over
or back down from this affair. 1t will forever
stand against them.
But it is not il Richmond alone that the
fruits of their dabolical teachings are SEEM
We hear Of threats, plots and incendiary de
monstratlons from various parts of the State. :
Almost simultaneously with this Richmond af
fair we hear Of "a meeting of fifty negroes il
Campbell county, called to devise an eHectua
mode of shooting and hanging the differen
white people and the few black Conservative
in the neighborhood We hear also, from King
William county, of an attempt at the Court
house on Court day by sixty or seventy negroe
under the leadership Of the white delegate cleo
to the convention, E. w. Massey to mob Ma
jor FRANK 4. Butts, former agent of thu
Freedmen's Bureau. A 1ettes to the Enquire
says:
major Butts was quietly playing backganl
mon with friend III the parlor of the hotel
when he heard furious yels and shouts from
the negroes, daring him to come out threaten
ing to take his iife-''Ee will have his heart
blood we will kill the id rebel On sight
&C., they cried The Major was only dissuadet
from meeting them. pistn! in hand, by the en-
treaties of his friends. who did not wish to SCI
him uselcssly sacrifice himself The negroe
and finally dispersed after this bravado.
:" But nov for the more serious and ugly par
Of this business: Major Butts went before
magistrate and sued ont q warrant for the ar
rest of the ring leaders, but the officer who wen
to execute it was defed by the negroes wht
were banded together, aud refused to be ar
rested, as they said, by rebel officer, or trieC
before rebel court"
The same letter says:
Under the administration of Major Butts, O
New York, Lieutenant Choice, OF Pennsylvania
and their predecessors in the Rureau-all O
whom have been conservative officers and gen
tlemen-the relations Of the races in this coun
ty had been very harmonious. But ever sine,
the advent of Lieutenant G. Goodyear, Radi
CAL as learn, from Connecticut, as agent O
the Bureau, trouble has been brewing The
negroes have been permitted to form militar,
organizations, and to drill openly at public
places. in defiance of the laws of Congress ant
the orders of General Schofeld and this wa
| the case even after Lieutenant Colonel Ayres
a military commissioner, was sent down here t.
| investigate and take testimony touching thu
| facts | have detailed.
What do oil these things mean? The same
design pervades them all--vengeance agains
the whites-all whites, Southerners, Northern
ers and foreigners-and a few mean white mon
sters are at the bottom of them. Is there M
remedy? We are under the exclusive contro
of the Federal Government, and the remed,
must be found and applied by the authorize
of the Government. There is much to exas
perate us all In the state of things to which w
refer, but we advise calmness and entire absti
| nence from all retaliatory measures, not onl,
from violent acts, but from menaces and angr,
words. 1t will be time enough for our citizen
to think of devising means for the protection O
their lives and their homes and their Preside
when the Government authorities show eithe
inability or unwillingness to interpose in thei
behalf Negroism is now eliminating in Vir