The daily gazette., 1881-10-29
INDIGNANT yIRGINIANs.
serious Charges brought Against "a
Massachusetts Militia egiment-
Alleged Outrageous Conduct Of
Visiting Troops in Richmond
Official Investigation Ordered.

AieSeu Outrageous Conduct Of
Visiting Troops I'm Richmond
Official Investigation Ordered.
Despatch to the Herald.
RICHMOND, Va, Oct. 81, 1881.
Much comment and indignation have
been caused here to day by The publica-
tion of articles taken from the Boston
Herald, denying the reports of the bad
behavior OF the Ninth Massachusetts reg
ment while in this city en- route TO
Yorktown, as well as their reprehensibe
conduct after they reached Yorktown,
These articles, it appears,are based upon
| the statements of the members of the
Ninth, who, IN addition to sweeping
contraditions of their disgraceful behav-
ior, denounce the people Of Richmond,
| aud Virginians generally. The Rich
| mond State will to morrow, in column
editorial, called forth by these reports,
| say
| REPELLING INJURIOUS ACCUSATIONS.
We had wished to say nothing about
| the behavior OF the Ninth Massachusetts
regiment during Its stay in Richmond,
but as members OF that organization
have been so imprudent as to att ,mpt a
| defence of their bad conduct, which is
notorious,and as in doing this they have
sought to prejudice the whole country
| against our people, we Cali hesitate no
longer to tell OF their lawlass acts In this
| city. Many of them were drunk. Some
| took wagons from their drivers and drove
them through the streets. Others re-
fused to pay fare Ia the street cars, while
others grossly insulted ladies. Indeed,
1t was not safe for any lady to be on the
street. The denial OF any of these char
ges is simply false. The Washington
despatch to the Boston Herald of last
Sunday, in which defence OF the Ninth
| Massachusetts regiment is attempted, is
a tissue of falsehoods, and the spirisin
which 1t is written is malicious.
This report is based on statements
made by members of the Ninth Mass
| achusetts themselves, and though it Is
not surprising that these men did not
confess their disgraceful conduct, still
it is nothing less than crime that
they should try to draw attention
away from their lawless behavior by
array ing Massachusetts, against Vir-
ginia and by seeking to bring to life
that sectionalism which is happily
dead. Those words are not more alb
surd than they are vindictive. A few
| ill.mannered fellows do not represent
Massachusetts nor can they lightly
brush away the good feeling that has
long existed between the two old
Commonwealth. They alone are held
responsible for their behavior in this
city. The lilo is easily given to their
charge that 'a studied effort was
made from the beginning to malgn
them simply because they were from
Massachusetts" for our people have
no pleasanter remembrance than that
of the visit of the Boston knights
Templar last spring, and the Press
excursion to Boston few years ago is
still talked of as an event without blot
or blur, ever to be recalled with de-
light. Vilginians, however, have
many friends in Massachusetts who
will defend them against the false
charges of few men who, strange to
say, have prejudiced themselves
against us by their own bad con-
duct.
No falser opinion could be held than
that the blue uniforms of the Massa-
chusetts troops had any effect on the
"maligner" of their regiment, for the
st Fl OF the Governor of Virginia, the
Richmond Blues and Company b oi
the First Virginia regiment all wear
blue uniforms. So much for Southern
mems hatred of blue. The charge that
the music of the nation is not listened
to with patriotic feelings by our peo-
ple, our people themselves with one
voice deny. Nor will such an accusa'
tion as this have weight with any fail
and honorable man wherever he may
live. If sectionalism prompted the il
treatment of the Massachusetts regi.
ment why were not the Thirteenth
New York and the New Jersey regi-
ments i'll treated during their stay il
Virginia? They will not fail to ware
off the slander that has been hurled al
our people. How plainly false ant
easily refuted are these charges agains
Virginia Happily the whole countr,
can now clearly see and fairly judge
for sectionalism is no more. Our Pres
. ident's suffierings brought us all al
one family to his bedside, and Will
clasped hands We together moarnet
his death. The sacred memory o
those days of hope and doubt ant
common sorrow can never be broken
SHOCKING ARRAIGNMENT.
, These extracts from the Stato's edi
d torial are intended to show that tn
s members of the Ninth Massachusetts,
!, while denying facts notorious in Rich
mond, proceed to villify the peopl
whom they insulted. Their conduc
while in this city was simply outra
geons, and the fact that they wer
Northern soldiers passing throug
Richmond deferred the authoritie
from taking forcible measures to pun
II ish them for their excesses and orgie
committed in broad daylight upon th
principal streets. From the time c
= their arrival to lodge in tho city the
resortcd to acts OF violence in whic
= thap raopaatad nathan thu rIUhtH