New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-10-31
Is THE Narrative AUTHENTIC

has sent to that paper what purports to be
advance sheets" of new book, ''written
by member of the Louisiana Tigers" who
represents that he was police officer after
the war and had hand in the thirtieth of
July massacre at Mechanics Institute. The
writer describes the scenes which occurred
that day and adds:
l am constrained to say that think more
force ives used by our side than was neces-
sary. What was needed was such a demon
stration against the free negroes and Radi-
Gals as would make the Conservative De-
mocracy sure Of holding the power they
already possessed. Instead OF this many
things were done which gave our enemies
handle against us. l saw unarmed men
pushed from the door OF the hall aud
shot when they were down. Many
were beat by the police with clubs and
sticks, Offering NO resistance; shots were
fired into the heads and breasts of men
already in the agonies of death the ewes
of men lying helpless from wounds were
punched out with sticks; man was killed
with swOTd-cane, though speechless at
the time a negro man on his knees and
praying for life with clasped hands was.
while in the attitude, killed by shot in the
bowels at the hands of the man he was i'm
ploring to spare him men running for life
were shot and killed by our fellows living
in places OF coneealment lad not sixteen
wears OF age, led by the hand by his father,
was set upon and his eve shot ont
three negroes, found hidden in the gar
ret of the Mechanics Institute, were
dragged out, trembling, from their
conceaJment, and killed, and two
others, found upon the high roof Of that
building, were thrown off with broken
limbs and ghastly bruises: an old negro
named Rcmoir, whom knew when small
boy as mason, was knocked on the head.
cut in the right hand with a bowie knife SO
that his thumb hung from his hand and then
thrown ont of the window upon a fence;
an old man several squares IRON the place
OF the Convention was shot in the head
from across the street; he was going home
from his work; another, trying to ge. into
a street car to escape the crowd, was shot:
several were pounded to Jelly; some were
torn in the face with cotton hooks; one
slashei across the face by a woman who
came out Of house with razor for the
purpose; one beaten till the kidneys pro-
traded from his wounds a negro was
dragged from under street crossing where
he had thought to hide, and his brains
dashed out with a club. AT night when
we were called upon to make report of the
day s proceedings at police headquarters,
tie above, with many other facts, came
out. 1t was there, in fact, we first learned
OF The extent OF our o. e.auons, and were
made aware how eftectuai an end we had
placed to the attempts OF the Radicals and
negroes 10 get possession OIL power in New
orleans.
The gathering mp and hauling Of the
and dead to the hospitals ard
station-houses was dreadful job. We
were obliged to make short work of it.
The day was intensely hot, and the dead
and dying both were in trightful condi- |
ton. They were picked up and piled
together in t. and furniture wagons,
though sometimes it seemed to hurt the |
very much. Sometimes in order |
to keep some of the less severely wounded |
still we had to sit on them in the carts. and |
even 10 knock them on the heads with our
clubs. In one instance, wounded negro,
who gave some insolence, was killed after
we got him into the cart. A proposition
was made by one of cur fellows to dump
The worst wounded of the negroes into the
river, and some may have been thus dis
posed of, but am not sure of that. But
1t is certain that about dark we had got
the various piles of wounded to the freed
mans hospital-the city hospital would
not receive them-and during the night
and the next day the dead had been buried.
The grand result OF this days assault was,
killed and wounded whose bodies were
found, one hundred and fifty-fye.
Besides these. many who were severely
wounded, crept under piles of lumber or
hid in various places there 10 die, or per-
haps to escape thence alive after night |
The whole number killed and wounded in
that days fight was not less than two hun
dred and eighty.
Some Of the timid among our officers |
and men We're afraid that the laws of New
Orleans might not sustain us ID all we had |
done. But Lucien Adams, one of the |
bravest of men, said he had no fears: We |
had acted under orders, and the courts
would not go back on u.s." Sure enough
he was right. On the second day of Au-
gust, three days after the events | have
been relating, many of us were summoned
before the grand jury as witnesses Of the
affair.
The charge of Judge Edmond Abel to
the jury was that the convention itself
was an unlawful assembly; that being
such, the convention twas liable for all
the criminal consequences that fol-
lowed up to the abandonment Of its
Illegal purposes" that the police were justi-
fed in suppressing the meeting, provided
they used no more force or violence than
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