Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-11-22
THE DANVIiLE RIOT.
REPORT or A CITIZENS COMMITTEES
summary OF tho Facts TcsIiiied ~ by Thirty.
seven witnesses After quo rucl,c

meeting Of tho citizens Of Danvillc, Va,
on the 10th instant to inquire into all the
facts and publish full and truo statement
of the causes and circumstances leading to
tho riot thcrc on the third instant and also
a statement of the conduct Of tho people
from that date to tho close Of tho day of
the election, concluded it's labors WCdnes.
day evening. The report is signed by
Major w. L. Sutherliu, chairman, and the
balance of the forty. The committee 70.
| ports almost word for word as follows
THAT on the l9th Instant the com.
mittee organized and appointed proper
sub committees, aud by publication in the
| Daily Register requested all persons having
| information Of the matters to be inycsti
| gated to appear before n sub committee at
| tho Office of q notary public and testify as
to such matters, that SAID sub committee
attended regularly at said Office from the
morning OF tho 18th till the evening Of
the 2lst, during which time - witnesses
were duly sworn and dcpOsed before said
committee. Tho witnesses SO deposing
were for tho most part known to the com
mitteo personally, and represented all
classes aud vocations among our citzens,
including two policemen present at tho
riot exerting themselves to quell tho
same. All these witnesses whose names
are signed to their depOSitious) are known
to the citizens OF Dauvillo, and will be rec.
ognized as intelligent and thoroughly
reliable. After careful and impartial
consideration Of the evidence so taken,
your committee submit the following
statement of facts developed thereby
First. That by their success in the
election of large majority Of their party
nominees to the town officers in tho May
election of 1882, and the subsequent
appointment, by the council so selected,
of negro policemen as well as by the
conduct of officials SO elected, there was
engendered in the minds of the negroes Of
Danville belief that as against the white
men they would receive the support and
protection of the municipal government,
in consequence of which relief they became
rude, insolent and intOlcrant 10 the white
citizens, and the bal temper and i'll feeling
between the races thus generated con-
tinued to increase, and was Of late greatly
aggravated by the heated political canvass
preceding the last election, and that in
, the midst of the intense excitement of the
last days of tho canvass William +. Sims,
the Coalition candidate for the Senate
from Pittsylyania county and D1nville,
made in front of the court house of the
town on the night OF the ID OF November
a most Inccndary aud violent speech TO
more than 500 negroes, in which he de.
! bounced many Of the respectable and
prominent white citizens Of the town as
liars, scoundrels and towards, because
Of their exposure Of the evils Of negro
rule in Danville.
" Second. That on the moTuing follow.
ing the night Of Sims speech the excite.
ment of blacks and whites alike was vic
lent and acrimonious, and among the
negroes there was an evident expectation
Of conflict; that about midday two
negroes insuted D whitO man going away
that at least two hours later in tho day,
, ard while large portion of the mon of
Danyile werc assembled at the opera
house in a public meeting, tho same white
man, when in buggy and on his way out
town, was again loudly and repeatedly
called on and iusulted by one OF
tho negroes with whom no had been
previously fighting during the day, and
he thereupon - in spite of his pre-,
viously expressed determination not
: to engage in further difficulty because
. of the then public excitement, having G
called two friends TO insure fair play and
assuring them that no would use no
= weapon-eugaged in listicuil upon the
street with tho negro that during this
fight large number of negroes gathered
around, but were kept from interfering by
the two friends of the white man until
policemen arrived, when the combatants
were separated and each was taken away
from tho street that short time there
, after tho negroes assembled in large NUN
bers around tho two friends of the white
man and some ten or fifteen other whites
who had gathered about thom, and, with
5 loud ordinations and great violence OF
manner, asserted their determination t.
have their nights and their belief that q
conflict between themselves and the whites
q was inevitable and had as well come then
= as at any other day, as well as thoir readi
T ness for it at that time that these negroes,
numbering not less than 200, in open
defiance Of the authority Of the policemen,
who repeatedly commanded them to dis.
! perse, and iu disregard Of the persuasions
Of the white men, who united with tho
policemen in their efforts to disperse them
continued to press upon the few white
u men in front of them, aud to exhibit. tiro-
arms and proclaim themselves ready for a
q. conflict, until the policemen retired TO the
{ rear of the whites, whcreupOn firing com
\ menced on both sides, and after some
forty or fifty shots the negroes dispersed
3 that about seven negroes were wounded
s (fOur of whom died), and two
o white men seriously, but not mOrtally
|
wounded was certainly shot by negro,
and the other white man most probably
. that more negroes were seen with pistols
, in their hands during tho firing than there
were white men present at the commence
ment, and that the meeting OF white Giti
. zens assembled at the ope.a house was not
adjourned, and for the most part did not
. reach the street until after all the firing
was over that very soon after the firing
the sergeant appeared upon tho streets
0 and, with tho aid Of prominent white cti
zens, restored peace and good order, which
Z were not afterward violated except by the
, wOuadiug, while on duty that night Of O
special policeman by shot fred from
{ behind the house OF negro man.
! Third. That from within half an hour
after the commencement Of the riot tho
town was completely under the control of
the sergeant and his police force, and that
7 no further disturbance of tho peace aud
good order, except shooting of the special
policeman, as stated above, occurred, aud
that such peace and good order continued
, TO prevail up TO and including the day OF
{ election that on Sunday prominent citi,
zens prepared and caused to be printed and
circulated, and also on the day preceding
the election, circulars signed by themoyes
and by tho superintendants of both p0lit.
ioal parties, guaranteeing TO each an d