The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-14

HHreeI anu carried OH 10 NHe pDE
lice station. The owners OF
J these guns claimed their prop
erty and made several AT
tempts to get them back. A
court Of competent jurisdiction
heard and decided the case
and ordered Badger. Chief Of
Police. to surrender the gupt
to their true owners. Badget
laughed at the order, refused
to obey II. and when the court
sought to punish him for con
, tempt. produced a full pardon
previously written out by Kel-
logg. which absolutely author
lied him to defy all courts and
law. Not content with the seiz-'
ure Of private property the As.
sistant Attorney General dis
covered n statute, beRotten OF a
Radical Legislature, creating a
crime known as treason to the
htats, and tho gentlemen whoI
owned the guns the Metfopol
itans had stolen, were arrested
and held to answer Tor the erimel
Of owning them.
| Fearful Of d popular outbreak
In consequences Of this outraged
the police were again called in
from their beats that night,
and concentrated. fully armed
| for u sortis, ut the stations.
This practice was followed for,
several nights In succession. /
during which the streets we're
free TO burglars and murderers.'
while the police drank them,
selves into braggart courage
at the stations.
| On September 10th the police,
emboldened by their late sue
cessful seizure. invaded Oil.
vier's store and carried of
some sew nty more muskets.
A large crowd gathered at the
corner. There were some
threats. but no violence. '
| The next day, the police vis-
tied the levee and carried off
six more boxes Of guns. Just
landed from the steamer City
of Dallas.
Another attempt was made to
take the matter into court and
test 1t judicially, but this the
Radicals would not permit. and
continued their arbitrary acts
Ia defiance OF laws and courts
A similar attempt to seize some
guns that came In by the jack
son Railroad proved unsuc-
cesaful and the arms were safe
ly distributed at Leeds foun-
dry. =,
II was publicly known that I
the steamer Mississippi. which
was expected to arrive in this
port sunday. September 10.
contained d large supply of
arms for the citizens. This was
well known to the police. In .
faet. the citizens made no CON-
cellment of It.. claimed the
right to have arms sent them.
and declared that they would
vindicate this right. On the {
other hand. the police author,
tiles declared most emphati-, =
cally that they would seize all
and any arms coming to this
city. In order to carry out this :.
purpose.a large force of police,
armed with Springfield rifles.
with one cannon. was placed
on duty Saturday evening all
the wharf Of the steamer. OPT
posite Jackson Square. readyI
to seize the arms the momenu
they were landed.
The people. however. were
just as determined to insist on
their rights. and. in response
to the strong popular feeling. a
call. written on the inspiration
Of the moment. appeared in
the Sunday papers. calling for
a grand mass meeting at Clay
Statue. September IA, to assert,
demand and enforce the consti-
tutional right OF the people of
Louisiana ito keep and bear
arms md TO meet in peace
able assembly and petition"
The Mass Meeting.
Monday. September IA. proved
a hot. sunny, Southern day.
The streets around Clay Statue
were crowded from an early
hour. and groups gathered on
every corner discussing the
situation. Some foresaw war;
others believed thers would be
no trouble. and not a few wan
dered Off to the regatta fixed
to take place at Carrollton that
day. Most of the stores opened
In the morning. but finding
business dull. no ladies' out
shopping, and the men too ex-
cited to think Of anything but
their rights. closed at an early
hour. -
From 10 o'clock the crowd aroul
increased rapidly in numbers
an hour there were some four or
persons collected there. The a.
half a dozen well-known gentlem
lery Of the Crescent Hall OPPOSITE
glasses and papers, the par;
speakers. caused the crowd to
that corner, where. are-headed
turned faces, on which the hot ST
iessIy down. they waited for til,
1t came, after a long l;ot ~ ~,