Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-05-30

! IIlub HO OHG ntIt tOulu Ttdu the IN. Il .
Tribune, the Independent, or the Anti
Slavery Standard without incurring the
penalties of the law. Cries from the
colored people, "That's so, and "That's
lie!', from group of whites.
AT this point, q crowd of white men
on the outside of the meeting began to
hiss and cry out, "Put him down !'-
"Give that dog a bone!" "You're a
captain of the Pennsylvania home
guards ~ "Give him two wenches-one
won't beenough ~ and otherexpressions
of a like elegant character evidently in
tended to provoke hostilities.
These interruptions caused the Judge
to pause, when he resuined
"In 1S47, John G.. Calhoun introduced
resolutions into the United States Senate
denying the right of Congress to prohibit
slavery in the Territories, and demanded
the right of the South to take their Ter
ritories into the
A savage yell broke forth from the
crowd of whites on the outside, at this
lopuS lingue of the Judge, who instantly
corrected himself and added-"take their
slaves into the Territories"
BY this time, the outside crowd had be-
come very boisterous and insulting, and
one man cried out
Chow many pianos did you steal from
us?'
The Judge, mistaking the word "pi-
amos" for "cannons,n answered-"We
took as many Confederate guns as we
could, and the Confederates took as many
from us as we yielded to them; but
when it came to take the pool, we bagged
the whole"
This was received with shouts of
laughter from the colored people, and ex-
pressions of disapprobation from the out
side crowd, who by this time had become
conscious of their strength, and COM
menced crying out: "Put him down."
"Take him down. "Take him down !"
The last named expressions, in this
latitude, means to shoot the man to
whorp it is applied.
! Kelley answered-"My friends, you
can't put me down. Don't you know
that have the Fifteenth United States
Infantry at my back, and you also know
that if they can't protect me the United
States Army and Government can"
At this moment fire alarm-bell on the
opposite side of the street struck three
taps, which rang out sharp and shrill on
the night air
The negroes near the stand kept very
quiet. One or two said, "put him out ~
referringIo some of the disturbers of the
meeting, and scufIle begun on the out
side of the crowd.
Kelley snid, "Oh no; don't put him
out. The sick man, only, needs phys
ican but the sound man don't. Let him
stay"
At this juncture the first pistol shot
was fired, directly opposite the stand, on
the verge of the crowd. A cry of "fire"
was raised A horse, standing on the
street near the meeting, became fright
ened and dashed into the crowd. Stimuli
taneously horse and wagon were driven
rapidly down Royal street, past the
meeting, and in crossing the little wood
en- bridge over the opening of the street,
made heavy, rumbling sound, increas-
ing the excitement, as many of those in
front of the stand did not know the
meaning of it.
A rush was then made for the stand
by the crowd on the Royal street side of
the meeting, with the evident intention
to shoot those on the platform before
they could escape. At the same moment
fully twenty pistol shots were fired at
the speakers stand from the crowd of
white men on the outside of the meeting,
whose faces could be distinctly seen in
the moonlight.
The afirighted negroes broke and fled
in all directions, while the crowd on the
outside completely encircling the meet
ing, poured volley after volley directly
among those who remained, and could
not get out of the way.
AT the beginning of the firing, the fire.
alarm bell of Neptune Hose Company,
No. 2, was rung rapidly and violently,
and its tones, with the sharp, quick re-
ports and flashes of the pistols, made the
scene perfect pandemOnium for q few
minutes.
The first shot caused sudden scatter
ing of those on the stand. One colored
man, near the writer, clapped his hand
on his abdomen, and with an agoniZing
cry, said: "Oh, my God! am shotp'-
He stopped down and fell or rolled over
into the street, Another colored man
was shot in the shoulder, while standing
near where Judge Kelley had just been
speaking. He crawled down the steps,
and this is the last we saw of him.
The armed rioters continued to close
I'm upon those in front of the stand, who
could not get away, and distinctly saw
them empty their revolvers as rapidly as
they could fire them off, upon the bodies
of the crouching negroes, who, on their
hands and knees, were crawling upon
the ground, and like a flock of sheep,
were covering and leaping over
each other, to escape from death by
the bullet, with the imminent risk of
meeting it by suffocation.
This was the scene as witnessed from
tne plutlOrln, we VINO were on III mad
no means of escape. Behind us was n
thick stone wall twenty feet high-(they
are great believers in StoneWdiLs in this
section)-while in front, and on both
flanks, was q murderous crew, steadily
narrowing that circle offre that inclosed
us.
My old army experience was at that
moment of infinite service, and begging
Judge Kelley to lie down out of the range
Of the fire, and "squatting" down on my
launches beside the table, waited until
the assailing party had expended their
ammunition, which / knew must soon
bc the case from their rapid discharges.
We remained in this position for perhaps
three or five minutes, without the power
to defend ourselves, for we had no other
arms than those nature had given us,
when the firing ceased In front, and
gradually rolled away down both Royal
and Government streets, where the fir-
ing could be heard distinctly, mingled
with the shouts and curses Of the COM
batants.
The lights on the platform were extin-
guished when the firing commenced,
which was fortunate for those in the vi
entity.
Seeing the way clear, Judge Kelley,
with his two correspondents, cautiously