The Portland daily press., 1871-07-20
lFrom the New York Post.I

Unparalleled Feats of Bravery.
An official report has been published from
the officers of the Ninth regiment, which has
the honor OF being commanded by Colonel
James Fisk, Jr., and this report asserts in nos-
tive terms that Col. Fisk did command the
regiment during the riot-and in his shirt
sleeves at that, and with a majors sword; and
that he did his full duty to preserve the pub
lie peace, and was foremost in the fray" Also.
the report asserts, that "there was no dissatis
faction in the regiment with the Colonel, but.
ON the contrary, he was cheered by the reei-
ment on its return to the armory."
This evidence, from his own "brave compan-
ions in arms" as Mr.. Fisk would probably
call them, viii no doubt be immensely gratify-
ing to his friends, who may proudly say that,
though it is not often necessary for an officer
to get his bravery certified to by his comrades
few could be made happy by such positive tes-
timony.
A military report is necessarily brief, and 1t
is fortunate for the future historian OF New
York that Col Fisk has furnished to the Sum
of this morning a more detailed and payticular
account of the perilous adventures on the 12h
of July. Here is his account of the orders be
gave his regiment. They were admirably oal-
culated. it will be seen, to induce united action
at critical moment, and preserved the regi-
ment from Generalization:
"As for the order to fire, my men received
instructions before leaving the armory not 10
hre of their pieces until they should be as
saulted by the mob; and not to fire ii onIv
stones should be throwB. But should it be-
come SO hot that they could not stand it, and
should any shots be fired, they ,oere not to scdit
for any orders, but to fire into the mob and pro-
tect themselves"
But what can exceed in thrilling interest the
following:
81 was standing in front of my regiment
with Major Hitchcock's sword in nv hand.
The mob closed in upon me in an instant.
knocked nae down and trampled upon me.
After the crowd passed me / tried to rise and
found was hurted about the foot cannot
say whether l was struck by anything or re-
ceived my injuries from being trampled upon.
Some OF my men seeing my condition carried
me into bakery close by. was taken TO the
second story and the surgeons examined INV
foot and found that my ankle was out of Joint.
They took hold of it and jerked 1t back into
place. The surgeons then left me, and as
was looking out of the window with Captain
Spencer saw the crowd close around the two
men of my regiment who had been left in
charge OF Pages body. saw man with
"The next thing remember was hearing an
Irishman, who stood iu front of the bakery, cry
out: The ----is in here. Lets
go in and get him out and kill himp Others
said, Hang himP Crowds began to gather
thick and fast about the door, and fearing the
house was about to be sacked, seized heavy
cane which had been given me and left by the
back way. L must have Jumped over five
fences, when reached house, through which
went and attempted to pass out by the front
hnnF nnlr inn do ha
avenue saw the mob 5siii-tl>->---GA GA.aiae.
down from Ninth avenue was another crowd
hard looking set. For moment thought
there was no possible chance of escape, but ON
glanciug across the street noticed door
open and ran toward it This house is in
Twenty seventh street, between Eighth and
Ninth avenues. L went through the hallway
to the yard. Here met high fence. found
a barrel, mounted it and climbed over. L
climbed several more fences until became ex-
hausted at last, and started for house 'front.'
ing on Twenty y-ninth street. Some woman
slammed the door in my face. Seeing a base
ment window open crawled into it. and was
confronted by an Irishman who wanted to
known what it all meant. 1 explained my
case to him, and borrowed pair OF old trow-
SETS an old hat, and a large coat When left
the house the crowds had disappeared from
Twenty-ninth street, having followed the pro-
cession down.
"My first thought now was for carriage
Seeing none in sight limped toward Ninth
avenue, and looking down the avenue espied
OF coming up. L hailed the driver, and ,k-
ing inside saw Jay Gould. The driver sIop-
ped; but Gould, not knowing me in disguise,
ordered him to go on again. i explained who
l was, and was taken in. The driver took us
to the Hoffman House; but / had not been
there more than fifteen minutes before a mob
elected around the neighborheod. Seeing
that danger still followed me, ordered an
other coach and was driven to the Pavonia
Ferry, where number OF our tugs are gener-
ally stationed. got on boa rd of one of them
and was taken to Sandy Hook. From there
came here in the cars. / did not take off my
disguise until reached this hotel"
The man who went through (and over) all
this-we mean through so many houses and
back yards and over so many fences, and lives
to tell of it, surely needs no certificate of brav-
cry. The determined "pluck," the straight
forward, and what may be called headlong
courage, with which Col. Fisk ran away, is
something unequalled iR real life, and scarcely
excelled in story.
But what will be thought of the Sun, when
1t prints, in the same number which contains
Col. Fisk's intensely interesting narrative, the
following, plainly intended to cast ridicule ON
the conduct of that gallant officer:
The annual Vondou saturnalia near New
Orleans was this year attendedswith a gro
tesque incident A prominent colored citizen.
who had held an important position during
the internal ceremonies of the occasion, be-
came impressed with the belief that the wor-
shippers intended to wind up their orgies BY
maklrg him the subject of a sacrifice to the
devil; and, as the situation became critical,
with yell of alright and Jump for liberty,
he cleared the circle with q bound, and, cloth
ed as he was in the robes OF Office, made for
the woods, the whole yelping pack Of devotees
at his heels. But terror lent HIM fsetness,
and he soon distanced his pursuers. arriving at
| last safely in the streets of the city where he
sought the protection of the police authorities.
| He was unable to give any iDtelligible account
of what had happened, and is now in the luna
| tic asy hun.
This is too bad. To insinuate that Long
Branch is lunatic asylum, is surely going too
far.