New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-04
MEETING AT IRON BUILDING
CHOICE SPECIMENS OF vNTERRIFIED


ing through the dusty depths of broad
Canal street, might have seen on the river
side of the iron building two lights Of pOr-
tentOus, sullen Brightness casting fitful
glare around.
There might have been seen, in front of
the iron building, as the hour became close
upon the stroke of seven, group of male
figures-such as Salvador Rosa would have
delighted to paint unkempt, unshaven,
clad in habiliments in which the pictur-
eeque was lost in the uncOuth.
This group of hearers were eighteen in
number, and were engaged in earnest dis
cussion, hardly audible enough for distant
listener to gather its purport. 1t might
have been Of a religious character, to judge
from the frequent use made by the speakers
of the persons in the Holy Trinity,
Slowly the group was augmented by later
arrivals. until the number amounted to for
ty or forty-fve. Then there seemed to be
some animated discussion, mingled with ex-
pressions of dissatisfaction. At length an
individual emerged from the crowd, and
after some scrambling succeeded in mounting
a pile of bricks conveniently abuttlng IN the
iron building, and which served the purpose
of a rostrum. Facing the assembled group.
the individual pulled off his hat and spoke:
I'VE ought to open this meeting some
how. What shall say Amt you a pretty
set ian expressive oath came In here) of
steamboatmen :" "a voice in the crowd,
"thats talk.") 1--WE must nominate a chair
man, who shall l nameW Voices Wiltz,
Sambola, Rawle, He'll, Fagan.) The cries
at length concentrated On Pagan, who ap-
peared to be the only one of those called for
who was present, except, perhaps, Hell"
The chairman then put the vote for Pagan,
who was vociferously acclaimed, and
climbed the bricks After considerable
calling of names, Mr.. Bloom was voted sec
retary and he also mounted the brick pile,
but, az he used no pen. pencil or paper, it
ia to be feared that the only report of the
proceedings will he found in the REPUBLICAN.
The meeting organized, the president and
secretary stood by, and the man who
called the meeting to order continued
to speak. His name, we were informed,
is Robert j. Duffy, and he is engineer on the
steamer Governor Allen. Gentlemen" he
said. 1.-The object of this meeting is to form
a club to have the members registered. 1t
is a club formed of steambOatmen, long
shoremen and generally attaches Of the
levee. Everybody knows everybody on the
levee; the business is done SO that all know
what every one is doing. Every - man
must go to Captain Fagans Office over yon-
der and put down his name, and if he don't
do so he will be marked as -- black
sheep, that's all. There's got to be some
thing done, by -. and every man
in this bloody crowds got to do it. Tear up
every mp railroad, pull down every
- sugar shed, and hang the -
| -- who are at the head of them"
The speaker, after expressing his disgust
at the smallness of the meeting, cOuched in
language thickly spiced with cursing. con-
cluded by saying that several speakers
| would address the - crowd.
| Several names were called, SambOla,
| Wilt, Rawle, etc. none of whom were
present; but Mr.. Charles CulbertsOn being
at length called, mounted the bricks. What
he said and how he said it Is unutterably
unfit for publication any where, except,
perhaps, in some sporting book. The
| speaker to Judge from few sentences, had
the faculty of speaking well if he chose. 1t
is Il pity he could not reflect that decent,
modest women passed along the walk lead
| ing to the ferry in full sound Of his voice.
| After he concluded, several names being
called without response, Judge Childress
came forward and addressed the meeting.
He spoke with gentlemanly propriety OF
| language, but the sentences he uttered were
of the most fOssilized order, calling to mind
a certain class OF dnciens habitanS who
have never been above Canal street, and
fancy that it is all swamp in "the fau-
bourg" Among other things he said that
while the flag of the United States could
be seen every where, vet should he attempt
to raise the beautiful flag of the State OF
Louisiana before his door, he would the
next moment be stuck over with bayonets.
After Judge Childress had concluded an adj
dress of about four minutes, as it appeared
impossible to scare up another speaker.
Robert j. Duffy again took the stand.
and declaimed la Artful Dodger. He said
every man must register and be nigger.
Well make every one do it: we will register
all and make niggers of them. He didn't
mind the poor cusses of niggers, but as Tor
those who tutOred them, they should be
hung; and if any one thought he would not
take the lead in hanging them, they were
mistaken. A nigger was natural Democrat
- if he wasn't. In fact, there never
was Democrat in the world as good as a
nigger.'
The speaker concluded by repeating sew
eral times that. the meeting adjourned to
meet tomorrow evening at Polymnia Hall
Leaving out the cursing part of the bust
ness, the meeting was fzzle. The adver
tisment called is signed by one hundred anG
eighty-six names: while there was certainly
not more than sixty present. There was NJ
club formed; and although there was plenty
of damning uttered, all that was done was
not worth single damn.