Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-27
DANVILLE'SSTREETFIGHT
BROTHERS IN BLACK TELL,
ABOUT THE ARSENALS.


None of the Death-Dealing Appli-
ances ObtainabIe by the Blacks
Stories of the Firing.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26.-The first wit
ness called this morning before the Senate
Committee on Privileges and Elections
was Stephen Long, colored:
lie was not down town in Danville at the
| time OF the firing, on November g. On No.
/ vember he was at Schoolfelds hardware
| store and saw two white men loading about
! 10 dOu0le-barreled guns. He saw no pistols
/ there. He had seen guns in the store before
! but not that many. He did not know the men
| VINO were loading the guns. He could not tell
N;fi Whether they were clerks or outsiders. He
| dld not hear them say that there was going to
be riot. When he left Scho0lfelFs Store no
! went to another hardware store to buv n
/ pocketknife. He saw white man there
loading ble-barreled guns. A man came
| IN and asked the man what he was going to
| 20. The man replied that he was going to kin
/ all The ID something. The witness did not
near the rest OF the sentence. He did not
| know elther OF the men.
BLOOD TO BE SHED.
Rufus Hatchett. colored. testified that he
! was IN ass, hardware store on the first Mon
| day IN october. In came Mr.. Fox and said
! 70 Mr. ass, Isn't this town in a dreadful
Mr.; Vass said, ''Yes; we are not going to
al, stand II. Before we stand it, we are going to
Then Fox went out. and Charlie Holland
came IN and said to Yass, "Isn't them boys
yass said, 'Not vet but have bill of
| ladlng Tor them. | am expecting them on
| every train. ordered 500 of them"
Mr.. Gerst came in and said that if the
| boys dld not come soon, there would not be
| any time for practice.
THE WHITES BOUND TO RULE
The witness was at the post Office on the
| Friday before the riot, and he heard a white
| man say: 'Ihe white folks are going to rule
TINS town If we have to kill all the niggers."
The witness then detailed a conversation
| which he held with Capt. Graves on election
day, in which the latter said that the riot had
taken place three days before he expected
ana that II II broke out again the whites were
going to spare none.
BULLETS FOR BALLOTS.
Manuel Harvey, colored. said that he was
at work on new warehouse on the dav of
the riot. He heard the fire bells ringing and
after that pistols firing, but did not leave his
work llll O'Clock. He did not vote because
ne had been used to voting with a ballot and
there were so many pistols around that day
% t%hat he was afraid that he would have to vote
Win Dullet. lie dld not want to do that.
He TOOK TO HIS HEELS.
James Bruce, cOored, was present in Dan-
Vllle on the day of the riot. He saw ffty or
sixty colored people standing in the middle of
the street, and about fifteen or twenty white
men standing on the sidewalk armed He
didn't see any cOlored persons armed He
heard somebody say:
And he got off, This was before the general
firing began. When the firing began he was
at his huckster stall. The shots were so
rapid that he thought that they were a set of
squlhs hred of. The people came rushing
down Market street in a solid mass Sometime
before the election the witaess was passing
a DemocratlG club room and heard some one.
he thought Henry Barksdale, saw that the
Democrats intended to carry the election Inv
fair means or foul.
FL0URISHING A REVOLVER
VIM. jackson, colored, gave description of
the rot but was unable to say whether the
whites fired into the air or not He only saw
one col0red man with pistol but he was not
using 1t. He pulled 1t out of his pocket and
showed 1t to Mr.. Taylor, and then put it back
AN UNsATIsFACTORY WITNESS.
colored barber named Fillmore Hughes
was next called. lie was an intelligent look
ing young man, but the examination failed to
elicit anything of interest. His testimony
was evidently disappointing to the examiner,
had told anybody about what he would testi-
fly 10, an inquiry to which the witness re-
sponded with an emphatic negative.
REGULAR ARMoRY.
John HOlderness, cOlOred. described the
riot and the events which preceded If. He
went to the back door of a store in the course
of his business and for nd it locked The clerk
let him IN. He asked why the door was
locked and the clerk said that HI was to
pay, and in short time he would see more
dead niggers than he had ever seed" before.
There were 200 loaded pistols living on the
counter. just after the firing eight or ten
colored men rushed into the store Burcb
and another white man came in with emDty
pistols and exchanged them for loaded ones.
dered them out. He said that they (the ne
groes) mad raised this thing and that they
must not harbor there.
ALL DONE FOR HIRE.
Mr.. sherman gave notice that the money
for the payment of witnesses was exhausted.
lie SAID that he was willing to advance
money, and asked Gov. Vance for his opinion
Mr.. Vance sand that he could see no obiec-
tOn. He supposed that Congress would sun
ply all the money necessary.
Mr.. sherman said that the bill appropria-
ting money for the Sena'e's contingent fund
had been passed by the Senate, and was now
upon the House table.
THE INTIMIDATION DODGE.
WaTrick Read, a mulatto, was called. He
keeps private boarding house in Danyille
lie was asked with respect to the proceedings
of the Democratic Committee of fifteen or six
teen men, which he had overheard. He asked
the committee to excuse him from answering
lie said that he was resident of Danville
and must go back there; his bread depended
upon his patronage in DanVille and to testify
would be ts risk his living. He represented
considerable real property, and his interests
were considerable. Inquiries upon this pOint
were pursued at length by Judge Lapham
but without any result. He was asked if he
knew X. W. Glass, who testified before the
committee several days ago. The witness
witness lot. In reply to further inquiries the
witness sand that Glass had disappeared i'm
medlately after his return to Danvile from
Washington. The witness declined to tell
what he knew of Glass whereabouts With
respect to the cause Of his disappearance. the
witness was proceeding to tell what he had
heard. when Senator Vance objected on the
ground that ii was hearsay.
Senator sherman being absent at the mo-
ment the witness was asked to step aside
temporarily. and William ii. Paxton, colored
was examined.
AN ARTFUL DODGER.
He was apparently rather stupid, and upon
cross examination became very suspicious of
traps ana pitfalls. He managed successful
ly to evade every question put to him for half
an hour, at the end of which time he was dis
charged.
Senator Sherman having returned the ex-
animation Of Warrick Read was resumed. Mr.
sherman told him that no power was lodged
with the committee to excuse him from
answering, and the success of all the inyesti-
cations depended upon the frankness of wit !
nesses in giving their answers to proper
questions.
CONVENTION BOMBAsT.
The witness then said that he heard a voice
which he took to be thatOf DIR. Keene saw.
I'VE must carry the town at allihazards we
have the men if they will do their duty; if not
now then certainly next spring."
Another voice was heard interrupting
- ! es, by violence If necessary"
Upon cross examination the witness said
that he entered the building, and being in
terested for his race, he remained in the hall
listening.
SOME OF THE SHOOTERS.
Elijah Cousins, cOlored, described CONVEX
sati0n he had with Mr.. Young, a white man.
on the morning Of the day of the riot. The
witness was brought up by Mr.. Young's
father Young advised him to get off the
street and to have his friends get of the street.
because some of the negroes were going to get
killed, and that evening he saw four white
lads going into Voolfolk & Blair's insurance
Office each with gun in each hand He saw
them afterwards in the rear ward of the
Office cleaning and loading guns. The
witness saw Blunt. Lea, Graves and Hatcher
shoot. He recognized none of the Others
The W tness was behind the white line The
witness carried tickets on election dav and
voted.
no AMMUNITION FOR NEGROES.
He SAID that the colored people would have
voted, but on Monday morning (the day be-
fore the eleetiOn) Il lot of us wanted to go a
huntin' and went to de store to buy some am
munition and he wouldn't sell us none and a
lot of Young white fellahs came up and bought
some ammunition, and we asked him why did
he sell to de white men and not sell to Us, and
he saN that he had orders to sell to de white
men all dc ammunition dey wanted and not
to sell us nun. and so de cOllud men dey say
dey want gOln' vote no how and dey got
afeared and didn't vote"
TIE witness said that during the riot he saw
"a crowd, several people," standing in VOL
folk & Blair's Office with guns but they didn't
come out or discharge their arms.
KNOW NOTHING.