The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-02
C~INCINNATI'S RIOT.
OVER A HUNDRED OF THE MOE
KILLED.
THE COURT HOUSE BURNED.
Gun Shops Sacked and Firemen
Fired Upon.
TROOPS CHARGE THE RIOTERS WITH
A GATLIN8 GUN.

- AAA-NF 'A%N
Se-.ral Soldiers Ldid Lotr-Other Cities
Also Ripe for RcroH-T1e jail Made
a FortreSs-.Streets Bdrrtcdded BY tie
4UthOrttieS-COTpses Streos erery-
Uhere-BerHer SAFE IN jail at Column
bus-4 Vigilance Proclamation
Blackiegs and Suafui Women Ordered
10 Depdrt-The Mob Counting Death
Bullets and Cannon haze no Terrors
for the Nadmen.
Here you have an outline of the three
days Riot in Danville-we mean to say
in Cincinnati. the most Loyal Of all the
Loyal States" so called city so
Blush" that it even furnishes Yankee
uniforms for Southern soldiers.
To comprehend the matter you must
know that cor a long time the courts Of
all the larger cities at the North have
been corrupted to such an extent that
only the downright poor and friendless
need fear the severity Of the law. Hun.
dreds of black crimes have been either
hushed by the police, or converted into
the milder misdemeanors, with only nom
inal punishment. We mentioned last
week that out of 1900 murders in 1883,
less than one hundred were convicted
Cincinnati appears to have been espe-
cially subject to malfeasance on the part
of the courts and is asserted that no less
than rty-three murderers are now in
jail in hat city, lodging or postponing
trial, by various pettifogging practices.
At all events the public mind became
wrought to indignation, and when a
wealthy livery stable man named w. II.
Kirk was brutally slain in his stables,
for the purpose of robbery, there was
a general call for the hanging Of his
murderers, Berner ana Palen, who were
caught. They confessed the crime, but
contrived to delay trial for three months,
and finally secured a verdict with W
years imprisonment for punishment
On Friday night a huge mass meeting
for the purpose of expressing indignation
at the verdict was held in the Music Hall.
Many of those who were present las was
atterward ascertained) had equipped
themselves with the necessary articles
for lynching. Pieces of rope were freely
displayed. When the monster meeting
was over and the crowd began to dis
perse, everything was ready for a tre-
mendous riot. A crowd of several hun
dred moved east on Twelfth street.
The formidable procession proceeded
at once to the county Jail, followed by
thousands of yelling men, whose num-
bers increased at each turn of a square.
At five minutes to 10 the fire bells struck
the riot alarm, and followed this imme-
diately with a regular alarm as for fire,
giving the number of the box located at
the Court House. This alarm caused an
o crowd to flock to the county
jail. Just about midnight of Friday
night the mob on Sycamore street sue
ceeded in battering open the entrance a
second time and forced their way into
the Jail office. At Il o'clock the people
were in full possession of the lower recep-
ton room of the jail. Meanwhile the
fight continued and the mob succeeded
in efecting an entrance to the very cells
of the murderers confined there.
The city militia arrived, and, with the
policemen, made up a strong guard of
about 800. Attempts were made to burn
the Jail by throwing a barrel of coal oil
into the kitchen, but the flames were
extinguished. The cell of the colored
murderer, Ben johnson, was attacked.
but the mob did not succeed in taking
him. The jail and its adjoining yard
were finally cleared, but the mob about
the Jail remained until broad daylight on
Saturday morning. The militia fired,
and many a stray shot was also fired in
discriminatory by the mob. The number
of killed and wounded in this melee of
the early Saturday morning is unknown,
but was probably over fifty.
TERRIBLE SABBATH MORNING SCENES.
At daylight this morning a reporter
walked through the quarter where the
stormy scenes of the previous night had
been enacted. Over the ruins Of the
Treasurer Office, in the northern part
of the Court House building, the rudy
glow of fire was still visible. An hour
before on Sycamore street lay four or
five dead bodies of drunken or venture
some men who, in spite of the police
mems warning, had gone beyond the
limit established by the militia, when
l1CN IClf uudCl WIG ~ " III SOIllC1
No one dared go to take them way until
the mob had disappeared and the streets
we're clear. Only two hours before, at 3
A. NJ, when a small crowd gathered at
the drug store one square west of the
| Court House, 10 see the patrol wagon
take away a dead man, the militia, mis-
taking this for a renewal of the riot, fired
a volley, killing one man and wounding
j IL oy- = 4rL1 ,-n 80 -. - & L.
Passing to the north side of Court
street a sickening scene was presented.
Here apparently the wounded had taken
shelter behind a protecting building.
Pool after pool of blood dyed the ground
all along the curbstone, and in a hallway
three squares distant, on Main street,
the floor was smeared, where some un-
fortunate had dragged himself TO dress
his wounds or die.
Just here occuued one of the most
melancholy events of the night-the kill
ing of Captain John j.. Desmond. He
the Court House, and was sent with a
squad of militia to try to put out the
fire. The mob fired Oh him and a ball
crashed through his head, AT the same
time Private Mcclure was shot through
the breast and fatally hurt. Captain
Desmond was a Young lawyer of much
promise. He was a fine looking soldier
and the pride of his regiment.
There was no use now trying to stop
the incendiaries. They went from office
to office, starting fires. and in a few min
utes the interior of the Court House
glowed like a furnace. The Fire Depart
ment was powerless first, because the
6remen refused to go out without an es-
cort of troops and second, because the
crowd could easily cut the hose and pre-
vent the use of the engines.
The Fourth Regiment was a total fail