The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1869-08-14
AsSteamboat Riot.

The davenport (lowa) Gdzetfe furn-
ishes an account Of the terrible riot
which occurred July 10Th, on the stea,n-
boat Dubuque, while near Hampton, Illi-
nois. and to which reference has been al
ready made in the NEWS" The fol-
lowing extract give tho main facts:
The steamer left Davenport at about
z o'clock in the morning. She is known
ms one of the finest packets in her line.
Her deck crew was composed of some
thirty hands, some of whom were white,
but the majority were colored. When
she left here, the nlate informs us, she
had over two hundred deck passengers
on board, third of whom were RATS
men, the remainder being harvest hands.
She also had over one hundred cabin
passengers
THE DEADLY RIOT COMMENCED
"a little after eight o'clock, as the steam
er was nearing Hampton. Mr.. Jones,
second clerk, went on deck to examine
tickets and receive fares, and stationed
,colorcd deck hand named Muses. Dawson
at the stairway, to prevent d ckers from
going above, while he was thus employed.
Soon raftsman, we'll known rs ''Pock-
marked Lynch" attempted TO ascend the
stairs. Dawson stopped him, and, after
a brief quarrel, blows were passed. The
mate, John +. Sweet, interposed aud
stopped the fight Then, save loud talk
ing among many of the mftsmen aud by
Lynch himself, there was no trouble for.
ten minutes or so. Dawson stood one
side and bore their insults without re-
turning word. BY this time tue boat
WAS ut the slcsee. At last the raftsmen
formed kind of ring on the foreeastle,
with Lynch III their centre. aud DAWSON
was hustled alongside OF him and COM
ilianded to fight it out. Lynch didn't
like tho luoks of Davisru, and, calling
him a.J---sf sigsser, l.;.,. .Y;sI.s.
sise;
nIatter had bceh lsreed upelsas many as
twenty-Gveof Of thefafesmen joined in the
assault
and armed themselves with chunks of
coal, with which they stormed the colored
men. But Lynch and one Ted Butler,
with d,zcn followers, commenced hunt
ing the negroes on the boat. In the
melee Dawson escaped and ran up the
hurricane deck and sccretcd himself un-
der the life boat, aft of the Texas. The
Lynch gang went sweeping through the
deck passages. The negroes scattered,
some leaping to the shore, and some
rushing for up stairs. Two of them
were caught aft of the engines, terribly
pounded and cut and hurried to the
stern, and made to leap into the water
The passengers saw them sink immediate
ly, and that was the last of them
One negro was pursued along the star
board guards, across the rear of the
boilers, to the larboard guards, where he
was hit on the head with piece of coal.
caught and beaten till he was nearly
senseless. Then II haltdozcn VILLAINS
seized, ran him to the stern aud jumped
him into the water. 1t was said by two
lady passengers, who saw him as he
sunk, from the windows of tire passage
in the rear of the ladies' cabin, that his
throat was cut from ear to ear
The fourth negro who was murdered
was pursued up stairs, along the cabin
guards across the hurricane deck to the
other side, down to the guards and the
stairs to the deck again. He fled toward
the stern, was caught and plunged into
the river. AS he struck the water, a
great piece of coal struck him on the
head and he weut to the bottom.
DAWSON KILLED AT LAST
After the murder of the negroes men
tioned above, the raft tiends wandered all
through the place and byways on deck,
and along the guards of the cabin and
-on the hurricane deck. At last Lynch
'spicd Dawson as the latter lay curlcd up
under the life bont He cried out,
'"Horc's -" Dawson heard him,
and turning the boat ap, sprang out and
ran, with Il knife in hand, toward the
cabin stairs Lynch cried, "That's the
one we want" and with three others