Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-22

Its Color.
DANVILLE, VA, Nov. 21.-The COM
mittee of forty, appointed at a meeting of
citizens on the 10th instant, to inquire
into all the facts and publish a full and
true statement of the causes and circum-
stances leading to the riot here on the Sd
instant, and also a statement of the con-
duct Of the people from that date to the
close Of the day Of election, concluded its
labOrs this evening. Thirty-seven wit
nesses were examined, the testimony
taken covering about eighty pages, to be
hereafter published. The report is signed
by Major w. +. Sutherlin, Chairman, and
the balance of the forty of the committee.
Tne reports are almost word for word as
follows: That on the 18th instant the
committee organized and appointed a
proper subcommittee, and by publica-
tion in the Daily Register requested all
persons having information of the mat
ters to be investigated to appear before
the subcommittee at the office of a
Notary Public and testify as to
such matters; that said subcommittee
attended regularly at said office from the
morning of the 18th till the evening of the
2lst, during which time 81 witnesses were
duly sworn and depOsed before said COM
mlttee. The witnesses so depOsing were
for the most part known to the committee
personally, and represented all classes
and YocatiOns among our citizens, includ-
ing two policemen present at the riot eX-
ertlng themselves to quell the same. All
these witnesses whose names are signed
to their dispositions are known to the cit
liens of Danville, and will be recognized
as intelligent and thoroughly reliable.
u nj II
ton OF the evidence taken your commit
tee submit the following statement of
facts developed thereby:
First. That by their success in the cleo
ton of large majority of their party
nominees to the town offices in the Nav
election of 1882, and the subsequent ap-
pOintment by a Council so elected of
negro policemen, as well as by the con-
duct of officials so elected there was
engendered in the minds of the negroes
of Danville the belief that, as against
white men, they would receive the sup
port and protection of the municipal gov
ernment, in consequence of which belief
they became rude, insulting and intolerant
to white citizens, and the bad temper and
i'll feeling between the races thus gener-
ated continued to increase, and was of
late greatly aggravated by the heated
political canvass preceding the last elec-
tIOn, and that in the midst of the intense
excitement of the last days of the canvass
William {. Sims, the coalition candidate
for the Senate from Pittsylvania county
and Danyille, made in front of the court
house of the town on the night Of the ID
of November most incendiary and Yio-
lent speech to more than 500 negroes. in
which he denounced many of
the most respectable and prominent
white citizens of the town as "liars.v
''scOnndrels" and ''cOw ards,' because of
their exposure of the evils on negro rule
in Danyille.
Second. That on the morning following
the night of Sims speech the excitement
of the blacks and whites alike was viO-
lent and acrimonious, and among the
negroes there was an evident expectation
of conflict; that about midday two
negroes insulted a white man on the pub
lie streets and engaged him in a fight,
which was ended by the white mans
going away; that at least two hours later
in the day, and while large por-
tion of the men of Danville were
assembled at the opera house in
public meeting, the same white man
when in buggy and on his way out of
the town was again loudly and repeatedly
! called on and inSulted by one Of the ne
grOes with whom he had been previously
lighting during the day. and he thereupOn,
in spite of his previously expressed deter
minatiOn not to engage in further difficult
ty because of the then public excitement.
having called two friends to insure fair
play, and assuring them that he would
use no weapon, engaged in a tisticuff upon
the street with the negro; that during this
fight a large number of negroes
gathered around, but were kept from
interfering by two friends of the white
man until policeman arrived, when the
c0mbatants were separated and each was
taken away from the street, that a short
time thereafter the negroes assembled in
large numbers around the two friends Of
the white man and some ten or fifteen
other whites who had gathered about
them, and with loud eXclamatiOns and
great violence of manner asserted their
determination to have their rights, and
their belief that conflict between them
selves and the whites was inevitable, and
that it had as well come
then as at any other day, as
well as their readiness for it at that
time, that these negroes, numbering not
less than POO, in open defiance of the au-
thOrlties. of the policemen who repeatedly
commanded them to disperse. and in dis
regard of the persuasions of the white
men who united with the policemen in
their efforts to disperse them, continued
to press upon the few white men in front
of them and to exhibit firearms and pro-
claim themselves ready for conflict
until the policemen retired to the rear Of
the whites, whereupOn firing cOmmsnced
on both sides, and after some 40
or 30 shots the negroes dispersed;
that about ! negroes were wounded
four of whom died, and two white men
seriously but not mOrtally wounded; that
the white men most seriously wounded
was certainly shot by anegrO, and another
white man most probably; that more
negroes were seen with pistols in their
hands during the firing than there were
white men present at the commencement,
and that a meeting of white citizens
assembled at the opera 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
Sergeant appeared upon the streets, and
with the aid of prominent white citizens
restored peace and good order, which
were not afterwards violated, except by
the wounding of a white man, on duty
that night as special policeman, by a
shot fired from behind the house of
negro man.
Third. That from within one-half an
hour after the commencement Of the riot
the town was completely under the con-
troll of the Sergeant and the police force,
and that no further disturbance of the
peace and good order, except the shooting
of the special policeman, as stated above,
occurred, and that such peace and good
order continued to prevail up to and in
cluding the day of election; that on SUN
day prominent citizens prepared and
caused to be printed and circulated, and
also on the day preceding the election,
circulars signed by themselves and by
the superintendent of both pOliti-
cal parties, guaranteeing to each
and every citizen, without
regard to color or party the free right of
voting; that no violence, threats nor in
timidati0n whatever was shown towards
the negro or coalition voters, but, on the
contrary, that such voters wereirepeated-
ly assured by citizens, policemen and
military officers sent 10 Danville by the
Governor of the State that they would be
protected in their right to vote as they
choose; that election day was quiet and
without any disturbance or difficulty
at any precinct or elsewhere in
the town, and that the election
was honestly conducted and free and fair
in all respects, and that the negroes, as a
body, refrained from voting under the
advice and command of their party lead
ers, while the others voted the coalition
ticket without hindrance from any quar-
ter. Your committee has thus confined
itself to an investigation of the facts and
the preparation fthe statement required,
and herewith submit the evidence as
full and complete vindicatiOn of our town
and people from the gross misstatements
which have been circulated through
portion of the press of the country.
A Tragedy Near Pulaski County.
ATLANTA, GA, Nov. 21.-A special
dispatch says: "Just across the line OF
Il.