Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1875-01-02
The Trenton Massacre.
BY REV. ALFRED j. HOUGH,

The fire is smoulderinag still my boy, the fir
is smouldering still;
We thought to see the last spark die, but hat
| is hard to kill.
Its fame will blast though love should plead
| will burn though blood should rain,
And ,rSp J the fS S9gatghsrn atgn heart th'" """' thu
They're gathering up the chains. my boy, the
fetters welding fast.
That shatter'd fell when War breathed out
her four years thunder rhlast
Through silent ranks of martyred dead, ten
hundred thousand strong,
They break to-day with tiendish joy to find
the buried wrong,
The power which shot thee blind, my boy, is
starting into life!
1t makes my old wounds bleed atresh ! 1t tells
of coming strife
The shadows fall, my eyes grow dim, can
not see to read,
But list! and will tell thee DER foul and
bloody deed
Through Trenton streets at dead Of night an
armed band doth ride,
Their words are breathed in muffied tones, and
masks their faces hide.
Fye heard that wrong would shun the day,
that evil feared the light
But what Is this that dare not look unmasked
upon the night 7
"Ho, Tor the jail" the leader cries; My God
and can il be
That human blood shall stain the streets Of
Trenton, Tennessee
They clalnor for the keys, my boy! the jalor's
trust il great,
He holds it not for friend or foe-he holds it
for the State
But threats fall fast-tho ,jailor yields-the
doors are open thrown!
And sixteen men from slum Der deep start up
with sudden moan;
A moment-and all bound they come into the
solemn night
Tho siytnan belnless men re- bJ0cE-the armed
men are White
shot-a shries-and on the ground four
liteless negroes lie.
And two beside them, wounded sore, fall
bleeding, there to die
Ye statesmen. hush your boastings vain, nor
wake the loud applause
one hundred armed men can ride straight
through the nations laws
Talk MT Of freedom making one vast broth
erhoo,l, and great, :,
hundred al'med men defy that winch should
guard Stat6
On, on they ride! Blk ''o'i'"S S'Si'' "n" ''A
yet to die!
But, o, the nations mighty voice shai "sA
the reason why!
Again the shot-the shrek, my boy, the hor-
ror of this night
Hath set another bloody gull between tho
black and white.
Splash splash! ten bodies, bleeding, warm
into the river fall
On flows the tide, on maskers rids, and dark
ness covers all.
Why wonder. boy, at bloody deeds, we've
lived to see the time
When Justice lays aside her sword to shake
the hand of Crime;
And darker, bloodier dseds shall curse the
nation in that hour
When faction, KuKlux Klan and Ring can
rule the ruling power,
The assassin's knife, the bankrupt State, the
murdefous midnight raid,
Are but the fruit of having laws that cease
to be obeyed.
When might or wrong can force or buy from
Justice smile or frown
Think you it will be thought crime to shoot
the negro downi
Arise, . nation, in thy might-from Ku-Klux
rule be free
The wounds of sixteen negroes cry aloud
from Tennessee
The, tell the world a fearful thing-that un.
conuemned-untried,
Sixteen of Afric's bruised sons from ku-klux
bullets died!
They tell what secret factions mean, that can
not bear the light
Of Law so shorn OF strength that she car
neither shield nor smite
We drift, the nation drifts, my boy, out on
stormy sea
Oh for strong hand at the helm like that
which set her frea.
From Ncp York Weekly Witness.