The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-31

Captain Desmond was young
lawyer of much promise, fine looking soldier,
the pride of his regiment, and one whose loss on
every account is deeply depored. There was no
use now of trying to stop the incendiares They
went from Office to Office starting fires and in
few minutes. with the windows all broken out.
the inside of the court house glowed like fur
mace. The fire department was powerless; first.
because the fremen refused to go out
without an escort of troops, and second.
because the crowd could easily have cut the
hose and prevented the use of the engines SO
the fire had its way Office after office was
reached by the flames and as the floors crashed
and fell the crowd cheered
CENsURING THE SHERIFF.
The bad management of Sheriff Hawkins has
been again and again commented on to-day with
reference to the loss of this building An i'm,
mense veranda with huge stone columns reach
ing from the top of the first story to the roof,
and commanding Main and Court streets. formed
place where twenty men in safety could have
cleared the whole space with two volleys, and
could have made certain the death of any men
coming within range. Moreover, after the at
tack on the treastuers Office was made it would
have been but the work of minute TO have sent
three times twenty men to all the front windows
of the Court house building and driven the mob
away. Instead, poor Desmond. with mere
squad, was sent to the first floor to put out the
fire. and he was sacrificed. 1t was the gallant
work of Col Freeman's Fourteenth regiment that
finally cleared the streets and gave the authorities
control of the entire space about the Court house
and Jail. Colonel Hawkins had evidently mis-
understood the motives of the mob He thought
the prisoners in the jail their objective point,
whereas, if they had any purpose at all, it was
to take revenge on the militia for the previous
nights reckless firing. Colonel Hawkins there
fore had given his whole attention to the protec-
ton of the Jail and the prisoners. His oppor-
tunities for knowing the exact situation were
not good, and he had reason to expect assistance
earlier from outside troops. The Fourteenth
regiment was expected at o'clock. 1t was nearly
Y when it reachedthe court-hous The Fourth
regiment was total failure 1t marched to
Eighth and Walnut streets and then marched
back TO the depot 1t was afterwards
ordered to march to join the other troops, at the
Jail, but the Colonel stated the troops had scat
tered. and he could not get them together. 1t was
after all possibility of doing any good had passed
when these troops finally joined the rest of the
command The conduct of Colonel Mott will
probably be the subject of investigation. So far
as now known the failure of this command was
not attributable to any indisposition to do their
duty.
CowARDICE OF THE MOB.
The united testimony of men who had oppor
tunities of observation, was that from 200 to
200 composed the bulk of the violent active
rioters, and that they were not fully
armed They were stimulated by cheers
and the presence of others. but the general
opinion is a very little amount of generalship
would have been sufficient TO put them to fight.
This is strikingly proven when the attack was
made on Powelrs gun store about midnight.
The first man who entered was shot dead. The
second shared the same fate and the third was
severely wounded. An effort was then made to
burn the building, but the proprietor, from an
upper window. fred a well directed shot and the
effort was given up. 1t was shown later, when
another portion of the mob got The cannon from
Music Hall and were met and overcome by
squad of thirty policemen, who captured the
cannon and took it up to the Jail and turned it
over to the militia.
Inside the jail, scenes were spiritless. The
the building unless by light harmless missiles.
The troops We're lying on arms, taking such rest
as they could get, when not called for special
duty The police, worn out were lounging
about in such manner as was most comforta-
BILE, though they had frequent calls for special
duty. The prisoners We're locked in the cells,
trembling with fear Not one slept through the
night
To-day the gravity of the situation impressed
every one. Everywhere solemnity prevails.
The appalling loss of property and frightful de-
structon of life brings the people to a realiza-
ton of the awful calamity. If anything could
intensity the honest indignation directed against
The first cause of this outbreak, the revelations
this morning does it. The scene of the riot
seemed to be regarded with dread, and at noon
even, when the weather was delightfully."- pleas
ant, there was not so much travel on the streets
in that vicinity as is usual on ordinary Sundays.
True, Colonel Hawkins had extended his lines
by barricadng all the streets leading to the
court house for distance of a square, and the
opportunity for seeing not good. Still there
seemed to be lack of desire to crowd about the
place.
PLANS FOR PEACE.