Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-09-09
Riot, Murder and Fire In Drum
hometown, Virginia. q r. II

mOndtOWn, Virginia.
From the Newtown (Md.) Gazette, Sept.
| The 30th ultimo (last Monday was
the commencement of what is usually
termed the august Courfp for Aoco.
! mac county, and, knowing tn eoroverb.
ial good name of the people of Drum
mondtown and vicinity, and their utter
condemnation of all lawlessness, we re-
greet to say, was also the scene of riot
, and murder, and terminating, before the
following morning, in MISUNDERSTANDING
to ashes the large hotel occupied by
Henry Oyerton, and the surrounding
buildings thereto belonging, and also
| the store house and contiguous two
story residence belonging to DIR. Ed
ward J.. Young. r
On the occasion Of every August
Court, dense ,concourse of people,
both white and black, assemble at the
county seat, irrespective Of business,
age or condition 10 life, and on last
Monday the crowd, all told, must have
numbered at least two thousand, for
every street and vacant lot in the vicin-
ity of the court house was a moving
mass of human beings. IS. ~ iE. "a.
Notwithstanding the dense crowd
seeming to us more like an old fashioned
camp meeting than mere court day
everything was passing off in quiet and
harmony. and the citizens, having ex-
perienced some trouble in August, 1868,
were felicitating themselves ON the good
order which existed among the white
and the colored population. But some-
time between the hours of 4 and p.
M, bad whisky and sour cider began to
develop their pernicious effects upon
the brain of a set of young, irresponsible
country boys ranging in age from Is to
20 years, who imprudently went in
among the negroes who had selected an
unoccupied square opposite the court
house, where they might enjoy them
selves in their own way without
molesting or being molested; and while
the boys, who were, perhaps, over mis-
chievous, were mixing in with the ne
groes, some slight difficulty occurred,
and a negro woman was seen to have
revolver, and knife, when one of the
boys, not over sixteen, thought himself
particularly called upon to take the piss
toll from her, and in the act of 80 doing
the woman, of course, resisting-he
got one of his hands severely cut, and
when we saw him vending his way
to DR.. Wise's office, his hand and arm
we're as bloody as though he had dipped
both into a tub of blood. This was the
signal for, seemingly, a general row.
The word was handed around that
"a, negro woman had cut a
white boy when a number of indis-
Greet young men, all hailing from the
country, made general attack upon
the negroes, and one young man by the
name Of Marshall, in the general scram-
BILE, was pieced through, the side with a
knife by negro man named Jacob
Guy. Jake was singled out and pur-
sued, and chastised at every step by
some one of the party, while another
fred upon him with revolver. The
ball took effect between the knee and
groin, passing clear through the leg,
severing in its passage, the femoral ar
terry. There being no bones broken the
negro was still able to retreat into the
store of Colburn & Co.; passing from
thence into the street and over the fence
into tho courthouse yard, where he fell
from the loss of blood. The wound
was examined and the blood stayed by
DR.. Fitzhue, who pronounced the
chances of life aaginst the negro; and
we here add, being an eye witness, that
while the Doctor was engaged in his
examination, Jake's guilt was establish
ed Of having stabbed young Marshall,
by the finding Of a bloody knife, some
twelve inches long, upon his person.
The negro's wife..was soon on'the spot, q
cart was procured, and she started
home with him; but he died on the
way. A coroner's inquest was not held
until Wednesday, when a verdict in ac-
cordance with the facts and circumstan-
ces was rendered. s..
Il While this tragedy was being enacted
in one part of the town, another OF )
less magnitude was going on elsewhere,
which resulted in the beating of a negro
who had drawn either knife or a pis-
tol on white man. The negro, how
ever, would have been killed had not
few gentlemen of influence Of the vi
age promptly went to his relief.
In almost one short hour from the
commencement Of this terrible affair,
the town was as quiet as Sabbath
morning. A general stampede took
possession of the negroes, men and wo-
men alike, and scarcely one was to be
seen on the streets at seven o'clock.
Presuming all to be quiet in and
around the village, and fearing no other
outbreak, the citizens, at their usual
hour, without even SO much as taking
the precautionary measures of organic
ing a night watch, retired to rest. But
ere the light of the following morning
had dawned. they were aroused, at
about three a. M, from their peaceful
slumbers by the ringing of bells and the
cry of fire. In the darkness and still
of night, the incendiary applied the
torch to the above mentioned hotel, and
it, together with the store-house and the
dwelling, also mentioned, were soon a
heap of smouldering ruins. Tho wind
being favorable, the iucendiary, no
doubt, contemplated complete destruc-
ton Of the entire town; but in this par