St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-02-16
WHO'S A LIAR !?
Continuation of the Inquiry Into
the Danville Riots.
Some Tall Lying on Either One Side
Or the Other,
But Nobody Seems to be Able to Determine
Which are the Most Adept.

which must have been fred by the negros
j. c. Reagan, (white), testified that he saw
crowd of angry negros, andwent to hard
He told the clerk there was going to be a
knock down fight. The clerk refused to give
them. The witness hunted for them, but
could not find any, and returned to the scene
of the riot, and was armed with pistol.
Senator Sherman-''Did you fire on that
occasionH'
| question"
answer that question unless you chooses
Senator Sherman-'I put the question to
YOU. did YOU fire on that occasions''
Witness-''I decline to answer that ques-
ton"
Witness refused to say how many times he
shot into the crowd that day. He thought it
was necessary for the white people to fire.
R. w. Glass, (colored), was called and
said, he did not feel safe in telling what he
knew about the riot.
Senator Lapham-''Why not?"
Witness-'I live in Danville and got to
go back there" Witness had heard it said
any negro who testified
Senator Vance-"Oh, we do not want
that Mr. Chairman
Senator Lapham-'I have the right to
know the grounds of his fear"
! The witness being treasured told the story.
He heard a pistol fired and rushed to the scene,
and found some seventy-ive colored men
and twenty-five white men. The white
men and the policemen were telling
the negroes to leave, The negroes replied
''We are not doing anything, why should we
leave?" He heard Hatcherssay: ''This is a
white mans town, and / am damned if we
don't rule you. All are going to get killed if
YOU don't leave" Then the white men drew
| pistols The witness named Hatcher, Lee,
! Covington and Oliver whom he said had
pistols. Lee gave orders to fire, and they did
fire. Then the colored men be-
gan to leave and the whites
came out of the opera
house It looked like 300 or 400. They
| (whites) went into hardware store and got
pistols. He saw pistols, twenty-five or thirty
of them, and bag of cartridges, in a real
estate office, where he took refuge, and the
white people came in and supplied them
selves. When all the negroes had left wit
ness heard the whites going about the street
scouting, "Hurrah for the Democrats. +"
| Laughter.
He heard some whites say, "Kill every
damned niger we can see." Heard Henry
Barkdale make a speech, in which he said s'we
intended to carry this election by fair means
or foul.' Heard him say it was to be carried
by the point of the gun. At the time of the
riot saw white men riding home after their
guns, and saw no colored men armed.
Geo. A. Leap, white, saw several pistols in
the hands of the colored people. He believed
| ha RrSf rvnll
the crowd of negroes. but after
the latter began to run q great many
shots fired in the air. Saw some eight or ten
pistols among the colored men pointed at
Taylor and himself, the negroes declaring
they should come out and show
their faces. If the whites had not
used their pistols, we would have
been shot into smithereens, sir, and not only
that our wives and sisters would have been
murdered in their houses, sir, murdered in
our houses. Iknow this, by threats made
two or three days before by their leader.
Senator Sherman, ''Did you hear that
threat ?''
Witness-sT did not hear it'' Witness
couldn It imagine how an excited crowd OF
people could have shown as much mercy as
they, the whites, did. The general remark
was, it was the leaders who ought to have
been killed and not these poor negroes. The
direct cause of the excitement was Simm IS
speech. The original cause was the cold
blooded murder of one eff our ''best citizens" :"
by our 'readjuster, brindle-tailed mayor
The witness spent the better part of the
day in the real estate office, where the wit
ness, Glass, had seen arms and cartridges,
and he saw no arms or cartridges. 1t was
positively not true that men went in there
| and armed themselves. He was positive
there we're no arms there. The witness
feared the safety of the wives and sisters of
the whites, because of threats he heard, that
on election day, while the white men were
fighting the negroes at the polls the negroes
would be numbering the women in their
| houses.
| Senator Sherman "Did YOU not know that
during the was the whites left their wives,
mothers and daughters under the protection
! of colored men?''
Witness-That was bsfore the class of mis-
chievous men came there to lead the negroes
astray. A jury had passed upon his conduct
on November Sd, and complimented him.
There were apprehensions of secret burnings.
1t was the general opinion by the whites in
the south, that the colored people, when not
mislead, were inoffensive, and there was no
animosity. He charged that the conduct of
the negroes was attributable to bad advisers.
Coalition rule, was the worst rule
that any people were ever cursed
with. colored man was not safe in being
a Democrat, as colored Democrats were ostra-
cized, and their wives threatened to leave
them. The women had lodge among them
selves for the purpose of keeping the men
straight, and white leaders of the party incul-
Gated that sentiment. The same ostracism
did not operate among the whites when they
| turned Republicans.
| Charles D. Noel, white, whose quarrel with
the negro, Lawson, preceded the general
riot, was called as witness by the chair, and
described the difficulty. His story did not vary
from that SO frequently published.
| Chas. q. Freeman, white, policeman of
| Danville, was called. He was Democrat
| He described the efforts to disperse the crowd
of colored men. They replied, they had been
mistreated, and were going to have their
rights before they left. The witness remarked,
| 'Well,you all just remain here few minutes
and according to all appearances you'll get
| 'em.'' Witness saw fifteen or twenty color
| ed people with pistols.
| Mathew P. Jordan, white, was called, and
in reply to Senator Sherman, described the
| riots. Witness was armed. He declined to
say whether he fired, and declined for salts
factory reasons. Witness bought his pistol
three or four days before the riot Pur-
chased it for the protection of himself and
family. The negroes were turbulent and
| insolent.
Lemon Coleman, colored, had lived in
Danville about twenty years. He heard some
one cry murder, and he went toward the
scene of the riot, but did not
reach it. He was met by a
retreating crowd of blacks, and sought safety
from the flying bullets in a store. While in
there he looked out and saw white man
raise his pistol and fire, and another white