The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-08-05
The Steamboat Tragedy.

Ou tue HOTtItIB vi lHoisuaN, cuiS 50
! most brutal and murderous assault
upon q number Of colored deck hand
belonging to the steamboat Dubuque
was made by crowd Of raftsfnen whit
were passengers on the steamer. bounf
I'm the river. The riot commenced &
short distance above Davenport by the
upprovOked attack of raftsman named
Lynch upon colored deck hand who
was stationed by one of the officers o
she boat to prevent deck passengers
frun, iDtruding into the cabin. Lynch,
unfortunately, had not. at last accounts,
been apprehended; but the Sheriff of
Rock Island county being telegrapiled
to, went by extra train with large aud
well armed posse to Clinton, where he
overhauled the Dubuque and arrested
forty three OF the raftsmen. The prls-
oners were taken on the boat back to
Rock Island for trial. The following
extracts from the Davenport Gdzette's
report of the preliminary examination
will be Of interest as containing an ac-
count Of the fray and the result OF the
trial up to Saturday evening:
Friday afternoon the preliminary ex-
animation was held before Police JUS
tice f. G. cropper, In the large room of
the court house, which was densely
crowded.
The witnesses were sworn, and the
investigation in the ease of "lhe state
of Illinois vs. John Gallagher and 9TH
ers.n for "wiIfully and feionously TAX
ing the lives Of Moses Davis, VIM.
Armistead and two Others commenc-
I'd.
The testimony of all the passenger
witnesses examined was, in brief, as
follows: When near Hampton heard
the noise, went forward and looked on
deck, saw a stout white man ana ne
gro engaged in All observation-disclosures
head cut, latter's face ditto-with white
men surrounding them aud encouraging
pale face To "kill the d-n Niger" and
then ..ciean the boat of niggers and run
it ourselves In pursuance of that
threat, white men made a rush for the
negroes, who fled like flock of sheep.
Several of the witnesses testified that
they heard several shots and saw rioters
with pistols shooting at the fleeing ne
groes.
Several Of the witnesses testified that
they saw three negroes struggling in the
water aft Of the wheel.
The mate, james Sweet, testified
negro AflU IHe tnusufisi, LtHcu. The
interfered and stopped the fight, as he
thought, when Lynch said "d-n you,
take a nigger's part ~ He replied he
would take n nigger's part no sooner
than lie would any other mans, but he
wanted no fighting on the boat. Then
Lynch said, II Will get even with YOU
and then made cut ut him with a
knife. Sweet caught him 10y the wrist
with both hands aud called for some
one to take the knife. A man came up
and gave Lynch push, and the mate,
seeing the raltsnen were gathering
around in an exciting manner. got out
of the way. Lynch said, well run
the boat ourselves and the crowd took
up the cry, some suggesting that they
will burn the boat. BY this time the
boat was at Hays landing, Hampton.
There was then Il general rush for the
negroes, the rioters being armed with
chunks of coal, chairs, sticks of wood, or
anything they could get hold of. Lynch
said, We'll Kill every Niger on the
boat Some of the negroes went ashore,
and witness heard three shots fired at
them. Some of the negroes fled to the
pilot house, some got down in the hold
some fled to lady's cabin and state
rooms. Witness saw two negroes go
down in the river, and watched for
them to rise, but they never came up.
Some Of the rioters went on shore and
got rocks and stoned negroes in water,
H.. ~ al
Of the boat did all they could to quit the
went up stairs after negroes. When
asked II he couldn't identity the men
who threw rocks, he sa'd il was mighty
hard to tell. the rocks flew so fast. The
rioters seemed strong enough to Clean
out severs. boats crews. saw only one
man, Lynch, with a knife. Witness
testified that he went to engineer and
had the hose attached to the hot water
pump, tn be used in case the rioters at
tempted to carry their threat of burning
the boat into execution. When asked
why he didn't use 1t any way, he re-
piled he was afraid he would scald the
Innocent with the guilty, and did not
want to resort to 1t till the last thug
He testified they left st. Louis with
deck crew of thirty Ave men, six white
aud the rest coloIed. On the way up,
one white aud one cuiored were dis
charged. The crew We're peacpuhly DIS
posed, end there was no trouble till the
clerk came 10 take deck fare above Dav-
export. The man Lynch was seen
ashore at Hampton, and did not see
him afterwards. After boat started up
river the rattsnt took charge of the
gang plank at landings, saying they had
cleaned the niggers out, aud would do
the work themselves.
Four Of the prisoners were discharged
at the close of Fridays examination.
On Saturday, after the evidence closed,
the negroes who were on the boat and
10 Fortunate as to escape the vengeance
of the rioters, We're called up, one by
one. to identify those among the pris-
nners who were actively engaged in the
bisndy work. This resulted in the dis
charge OF all but thirteen, as follows;
John Gallagher, John Toomey, John
Hart. VIM. Blair, John Campbell
VIM. Doolan, Haley Hammond, Den
mis- Eagan. j. Chandemas, Nick Schultz
Jas Cronan. Lewis Sampson, fatrlcl
Coadey. These were remanded to jai
till the next. session Vi court, on Mon
day morning.
Il n