Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-22
The Mobile Riot--The Late Riot
and Panic.
I . rFrom the Mobile Register, May ISL

- from the Mobile Register. May lel "a
The disturbance that occurred at the
meeting to hear Judge Kelley was the re-
suit. as we have stated, of the merest acct
cent. First citizen who had been drink
ing made several loud comments on por-
tiops OF Judge Kel1ey,s- remarks that did
not please him. This happens at every
public political meeting. It was very inn
prudent and improper to have been in
dulged in at this meeting. In truth, the
best thing that the white people can do is
to keep away from these meetings. The
poliee endeavored to quiet the tipsy eiti-
zen, and railing in that to arrest him. The
arrest provoked scuffie, and about the
same time g. carriage and horses ran off
through the outskirts of the, crowd, pro-
dueing rush to get out of the way. The
two circumstances created the impression
in the body of the crowd that there was g.
fight begun, and the whole mass broke up
and dispersed at double quick. Meantime
the freedmen commenced firing the pistols,
and, as we learn, in the air, as they ran.
The last account must be true, for, as there
were from $50 to 200 shots fired, If they had
beens aimed In the crowd, nearly as many
hundred men must have been hit. AS it
was, the shot casualties do not exceed six
or eight and most all of those to white
men. aT1isl, l5Li - - -; -. = I'd. ~ :.
crowd, and the firing commenced on. the
pavement, next to the stand, and it was
here that the colored men were thickest.T
Thewhite people were, mostly on the out
skirts of the crowd. ~ /;
We think it perfectly clear that neither
whites nor blacks, went to that meeting
with any thoughts of or intent about row.
It is true many negroes were armed-but
that is a bad habit of theirs at all their
ueetings.1 q,s- -7aa % ieass sis asa
This affair, the result of sudden panic
spfinging from two accidental causes, like
- - .snnrw wrrTll
no doubt be greatly exaggerated when 1t
reaches the Northern Radical papers, and
magnified into q fierce rebel attack on coll
ored meeting and its COngression al orator.
We hear that the wires are already freight
ed with any quantity of sensational false
hood and slander. This is another of the
misfor tunes of our unhappy and defence
less condition A base traduction is thus
added to our other many wrongs and woes.
OF all these wrongs, we cannot but feel
that the most gratuitous and the meanest,
is that which we endure in the peripatetic
politicians who are sent down among us to
interrupt the harmony between whites and
blacks. and to stir up discord, riot and
bloodshed in our large communities. Con-
quered and submissive as we are, an enemy
with one touch of magnanimity would
have spared US this outrage. If they cared
not for the men, they ought at least have
thought of the women and children of the
South, and spared them the alarms and per-
lis Of such q proceeding, Judge Kelley's
remarks at this meeting were OF the most
infiammatOry character. and the best call
culaeed toereate distrust and hatred in the
mil DIS of the colored men against their
former masters. We submit to all honora-
Bile and generous men at the North, to the
Government of the United States and to
their generals in command at the South, if
this is not alcruel outrage upon the peace
of communities who are living under mil
u, E.1s. -w.<%x
help themselves, are under the protection of
He informed his hearers that it would
not have been safe for him to come here and
make such q speech before the war. That
is certainly true, and it is equally true that
if Southern man had attempted similar
incendiary haraDgue IN the N orthern cities
he would have been torn to pieces by a
Philadelphia or Boston mob, and he would
have been served right. @But now, added
the speaker, II have got the 10th Infantry,
and if that is not sufficient, the whole Uni
ted States army to- uphold me-" 1t does not
seem to- have occurred to this plotter OF
sociel mischief and bloodshed that he was
I,ffarinp a most cowardly sentiment. He
belongs to a party that has, first, denied
us.o by brute force, those rights in the
Union iiq which it proclaimed during
arms. second, that he belonged to a party
that had reduced this people to q military
sub;ectioll, and third, that he had come out
to insult and traduce people helplessly
pinned down by bayonets. which he had SET
al their throats. Who will say that this is
not 4 brave act, all worthy of his party
Shooting prisoners in war in cold blood is
onlv little less chivalrie than abusing them
to their faces, with manacles on their hands
we once more repeat the hope that ifany
more Of these missionaries of sedition come
among us, that the white people viii stay
away from their meetings. The course ol
those who do 90 to these meetings and ust
words calculated to provoke collisions,
cannot be too severely reprobated. They,
too might pause to think of the alarms
and periIs they. cause to women and chill
dapua lsTtusE :55 - s.7Isa 19q = ,tsaiisl ~
II is notto be denied that the white boys
Of Ohio oyer sixteen and under twenty-one
wears of age, are better qualified to vote
Evan the negroes. They have had the adj
vonta0e of our common schools, and as a
ciSss Are educated and Intelligent. Why is
no effort made for their nfranchisement
Dots any one pretend that they are oppress-
ed because they can't Yote?r Or that they
are deprived Of any right when denied a
vote? No. 1t is all question OF fitness
as to who shall Eotes and the right to vote
must always rest on this basis.-MdrtOn
Democrat. QffEHEEEE09