Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
NEGRO POLITICAL RIOT.
Several Lives Lost In a General Fusilade
Which Ensued.

NEW IBERIA, Nov. AT hellOgg
meeting at LOreauville to-day some ne
groes got into a difficulty. Joe Guilfaux
tried to quiet them, when he was fired
upon by a negro, a ball penetrating his
hat. He returned the fire, but without
effect. BY this time there was n general
resort to firearms, and a general fusilade
commenced. GUilfaux was the first to
fall, shot dead. He was one Of the
best citizens and was Demo-
crat. Sheriff Theodore NiatOr has
been brought IN here wounded, but not
him say that Capt. r. Bell, Democrat,
was also shot dead, and that Abner
B0utte, a cOlOred politician, and three
other negroes were killed. jules Mesteyer
and Judge FOntelieu are reported
among the wounded. Large numbers of
men are under arms at LOTeaUville, and
the excitement is at fever heat. Particu-
lars are difficult to obtain. The excite
ment here is very great. Squads of armed
men have left for the scene of the conflict.
The town is picketed and Will be patrOlled
tonight.
THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE.
Judge FOntelieu and or 10 others left
here this morning for LO:eauViile, Fausse
Point, in this parish, to hold a political
meeting in the interest of Kellogg. After
a crowd had assembled a disturbance
was created by persons shouting 'hurrah
for Gay" Joe GuilfauX rushed to the
scene of the trouble, and was
fired at as described. In addition
to Capt. Bell, who was a
prominent sugar planter and Democrat,
and Joe GuilfauX, a leading Gay man,
Oliver BOutte, colOred Kellogg sup
porter from New Iberia, was also killed.
The wounded, as far as known, are Jules
Mestayer, the Republican candidate for
Sheriff last spring, whose thigh was
broken, eX-Sheriff r. ViatOr, who was
shot twice in the abdomen, and about a
dozen others who were slightly injured.
The perpetrators were surrounded, and
kept under guard until the Sheriff arrived
to arrest them. a courier was dispatched
to New Iberia, and in few minutes after
he arrived the town was in the widest
excitement.
All the drinking saloons We're closed at
4 O'Clock by order of the Mayor. Fifty or
seventy-five men from this place LETT
under orders of the Sheriff for the scene of
the trouble, all being armed with double
barrel shOtguns and rifles. They ar
rested FOntelieu and Adolph Bievenu
and five white men, who are now
in Jail under a heavy guard. The first
ball came from the Republican ranks,
after which, it is said, thousand shots
were fred at once. On the battlefield, it
is said, dozen horses are lying dead. 1t
is impossible to learn how many were
wounded, but it is reliably reported that
a great many wounded left during the eX-
citement.
A large number of prisoners were
brought in at o'clock by armed men
and lodged in jail. Judge Theo-
dOre FOntelieu, Albert Fontelieu,
l.. FOntelieu and AlphOnse FOnte-
lieu are among the prisoners. The
most reliable and impartial reports are to
the effect that the Republicans went to
LOreauville expecting trouble, and that ii
commenced among the negroes. Judge
FOntelieu is not wounded, as
first reported. r. F. DOugas and
st. Clair DOugas are reported wounded
Many others were wounded, but they GOT
away. Most of the reports agree that SIX
negroes were killed, but as the negroes
stampeded after the first fire it is impOs-
sible to say positively how many were
wounded.