New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-10-24
TuE ST. MARY AssAssINATIoNs


We copy from the New Orleans Advo-
cate the following details of the assassina-
tiOn of Colonel Pope and Judge Chase, at
Franklin, on the evening of the seven
teenth instant:
The circumstances Of the Franklin mur-
ders, as related to us by the bereaved
widow of Colonel Pope and other fueitiyes
from st. Mary, mark this as perhaps the
most atrocious Of the recent political
assassinations.
The Sheriff occupied rooms in the
Planters Hotel, opposite the Courthouse,
in the rear range of apartments, and on the
corner. One side of the square occupied
by the hotel opened upon the alleyway.
Our friend was sitting on the gallery over
looking the court yard at his side was
Judge Chase, quietly conversing. The
assassins entered stealthily from the
alley, coming in under the gallery,
to the broad stairway, rushed up the
stairs and opened fire upon both gen.
tlemen. Several shots entered the side of
Colonel Pope's face, who at once fell and
crawled upon bis hands and knees into the
room. The Judge, Rot being hit fatally,
struggled to get away from his murderers,
rushed down the steps, and in the yard had
another struggle with the fiends, who shot
and stabbed him repeatedly. He got away
again, ont of the yard and around to the
rear Of the hotel, facing upon the bayou ;
here the fatal shot was fired. the ball enter
ing the back of his head, where he fell and
was left until morning. No "guard was
placed over the body" as stated by the
papers, and every one knew where it was.
He did not die Immediately, but was heard
groanlng most of the night, though no one
dared go to his assistance. When the firing
took place, Mrs. Pope was at the bedside
of the landlords wife, Mrs. 0'Neil. She
at once ran across the yard and
up the steps, gaining the gallery,
while the assassins were struggling there
with Judge Chase. Her husband was then
| dying and could give her no sign of recog.
milton. Most of the night she paced the
gallery in view of his mangled body
friends for whom she sent feared to re-
spond, or else were not permitted to receive
her message. With difficulty could the
landlord, otherwise kind hearted man, be
persuaded to enter her room and stretch
out the body before it stiffened in death
| Being refused coffin and hearse, she bravely
kept vigil beside the beloved remains until
| Monday morning-the deed having beer
committed on Saturday, about dark, What
Sabbath to that crushed widow, alone
with her dead husband and her liv
ing infant! Surely, Gods swee
angels lowering near, to aid her
| The ladies of Franklin did not visit
their poor sister, but sent her word that
they would gladly do so were it not for the
opprobrium it would provoke on account
of her husbands politics. One precious
woman called, and fearless of the danger
incurred, did all in her power for the be.
reaved, it was Mrs. Parks, teacher of the
colored school in our church. All honor
to her and the womanly nature she adorns
AT the coroner's inquest, Mrs. Pope charged
the death Of her husband upon editor Den
nett. 1t is said that on Friday bennett
Haheigh, Tucker and others, left town, re-
| turning on Sunday, that the roads and
bayou were picketed to "catch the carpet.
baggers," and that the editors of the Re.
publican paper, the Register, had escaped
also Judge Fisk, the Registrars and 9th.
ers, who had been marked as victims.
AS in the case of Mrs. Bentley. at Ope-
lousas, and in every other case on record
the outraged parties used all their inf1u-
ence to prevent any retaliation, hoping for
justice and future protection from the law
and dreading an appeal to violence. Mrs.
Pope and the friends of both of the de-
ceased were besought by the citizens to
quiet the people whose leaders had been
SO brutally murdered; and it was done.