The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-11-12
HO1y THE vOTES WE'RE COUNTED.
Tremendous Excitement in the City
Hopes and Fears-Boisterous h1uitn'
ton Of the Negroes.

| u
The excitement in tho city yesterday was
even greater than on election day. Early II
the morniu. the impression was general amont
both Radicals and Conservatives that the Cltl
zens' candidate tor Mayor, and Respectable
majority Of their candidates tor Aldermen, hae
been elected. AS long as this impl ession pre-
vailed the city was quiet, which continued te
be the case until alter eleven o'clock. Iht
counting of the votes having then progresssi
sufficiently to show that the election was very
doubtful. the excitement Of both blacks ono
whites was worked up to the highest pitch
A crowd of nearly if not quito thousand ne
groes gathered ut the corner of Broad anc
| Meeting treets, and the white people collected
in groups on the principal thoroughfares. The
centre of attraction was, OF course, the State
House and the City Hall, where the votes o.
ten precincts were being counted-only one
Ward s, being counted at the Upper Guard
house, and Ward at Market Hall. About ore
o'clock. the announcement of the result In ono
of the heavier negro wards infused hope and
courage into the colored throng outside, ano
they sent up a yell that made themselves ano
great many others believe that PIllsbury's
election had already been announced.
| They repeated these demonstrations on
every announcement favorable to Pillsbury,
and at every frosh outbreak the crowd was in
creased by negroes coming up from various
parts of the city. Meanwhile the white people
stood aloof from the Hall, only struggling re-
porter now and then going in to learn what
the news was, and he could scarcely find his
way back to the Office of his paper for being
stopped by eager citizens anxious to learn the
latest intelligence. The newspaper Offices were
crowded and dense thronss surrounded The ou.-
letin boards for hours. Reports were rife oi
disturbances and fights, but most OF them
proved to be without foundation. Finally,
about three o'clock it was announced that all
the votes for Mayor had been counted, and
that Gilbert Pillsbury was elected by seventeen
majority. The negroes then fairly made the
welkin ring, and the crowd that was about the
City Hall dispersed in various directions
through the city, shouting and yelling, the mon
whirhng their sticks over their heads, and the
women jumping, dancing and waving shawls,
bonnets, or whatever loose article they might
have in their hand-in short, carrying on as II
they were stark mad.
At one time, shortly after the announcement
o. the result had been made, report was cir
culated that mistake had been made in tho
return from the first precinct OF Ward No. 3,
and that Mr. Lososne was elected by irty-four
majority. This report was believed BY great
many people, and the consequent cmbracings,
shakings OF hands and general gesticulations
indulgcd in by gentlemen Of acknowledged
steady habits were scarcely less remarkable
than the uncouth demonstrations of the other
party. This fa.se hope, however, was soon
dispelled, and it is no exaggeration to say that
feeling of fdespondency and insecurity settled
down upon the city, such as had not been felt
since the rotous days of '66. We give below
some detached Incidents Of the day.
ATTACK ON THE RESIDENCE OF E. W. MAR
SHALL, ESQ.,
Yesterday afternoon, shortly after the result
OF the election had been announced, party of
negroes waited on the Mayor elect to congra-
lulate him on his success. On their way back
whether un4er the influence of refreshmcnt
partaken ofat.his house, or merely laborins
under the general excitement of the day, they
made an attack on the residence of ex-Alder-
man E. ". Marshall, near St. Pauls Church,
slamming the shutters Of the basement win
dows to and fro, and threatening further yio-
lence. Mr.. Marshall went out at once and adj
dressed them, and, with the assistance Of II.
c. DeLarsc and some other persons, succeed
cd in preventing any other demonstration.
MIR. Marshall notified Mayor Clark Of the occur
rence, but he replied thatit was only an exhi-
bition of The feeling Of the people.
THE DEAD OK ON POLE.
In the afternoon about five O'Clock q slob or
some hundred or more negroes passed the Of
fec of The DAILY News shouting for Pillsbury
and carrying, elevated on long pole, doad
rooster, evidently intended to ridiculo our
rooster who crowed too soon in the morning.
They also carried skinned opossum on another
pole, but the meaning OF that strange emblem
we were unable to divine. Probably it signiied
that the time had come TO cat Judge Aldric!l's
opossum, with which heretofore only their
mouths and hands had been creased. Tho
municipal opossum is still raw like the one on
their pole, and by the time it is cooked the
poor negroes will find that it has Slipped
through their hands into the gullet Of some
white Radical
ASSAULT ON sTEpuSEY RILEY-EIoToUs CONDUCT
OF THE NEGROES.
The bold, outspokcn action of Stcphney
Riley, the colorod livery stable keeper, in be-
half of the Democratic party, gained him the
Ill will OF tho majority Of the freedmen WHO
w6rc devoted to the Piiisbury Cause and ho
has been frequently subjected to their insults.
The two last elections brought out this i'll feel!
ing, and Riley, on several occ sions, narrowly
escaped being mo55ed for the active part that
he had taken for the Democrats. The excite
ment caused BY the election for Mayor, and
tho subsequent counting of the votes, vas not
allayed when Riley drove past the Courthouse,