The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-04-02
THE OINUINNATI q
Its Cause and Work Of De.
etTuction.
Burning Of the Court House and
Names Of Killed.
Action Of the Governor, Mayor
and City Authorities.

The recent great mob uprising il
Cincinnati was as unexpected ant
startling to the people of the country
as would be q clap of thunder in
clear sky. It had its rise In wha'
the people conceived to be a culpablt
lack of the proper administration O
justice in that city, Il criminals. The
Berner case was not the prime cause
of the disgraceful riot. It was simply
one in a long line Of criminal
cases in which, it is said, thieves,
burglars and midnight assassins had
been too leniently dealt with by the
courts, and the indignation of the
people eliminated in a murderous
mob against its disposal. Berner.
with an accomplish, had murdered
his employer in cold blood for his
money last February and threw
his body in a small stream where it
was found. His trial came off last
week and his guilt, it is said, conclu-
siveIy proven. But the Jury brought
in q verdict for manslaughter, and
| the Judge sentenced the criminal to
twenty yea6 in the state prison-the
| full extent of the law.
The inadequacy of the punishment
to the Nervousness Of the crime was a
spark which set fire to the shoulder
ing wrath of the people. One of the
largest mobs thar ever formed in the
United States Immediately congrega-
ted around the Jail in which Berner
was confined and demanded the muir
derer. Our dispatches tell of the
scenes which were enacted, how the
officers succeeded in getting the
hunted man away from the bowling
mob, of his subsequent escape from
and recapture by the officers, and OF
his final Incarceration in the peni-
Tertiary at Columbus. How the mob
tried to burn the Jail at Cincinnati, of
the firing upon it by the militia and
the consequent loss of life, how it
was reinforced by outside parties I'M
til it numbered 5000 strong and of
it's setting fire to buildings contigu>
GUS to the Jail. Our dispatches show
the situation there at 8 O'Clock Sun
day morning.
From the voluminous mass of press
reports on hand 1t is learned the mob
had dispersed at 1870 p. m. Sunday
and the streets were cleared of peo-
pie.
Barbados had been thrown
across every avenue Of approach to
the court house and Jail a square
away from those buildings. The
General had called for all
the available militia in the State to
assemble, as quickly as possible, in
Cincinnati. The scenes of Saturday
night were expected to be repeated
night, as the mob seemed
to get possession Of the
fifteen or twenty murderers still con-
fined in the Jail.
At 8 p. m. a man named Bank was
shot and instantly killed by a militia
man. Firemen were throwing water
upon the burning, crumbling ruins
Of the court house, but the building
totally destroyed. Several drunk
en-, or venturesome men, in attempt
ing to reach the burning ruins, were
shot by the police on guard and the
around the fated building
was marked by pools Of blood from
The unfortunate victims.
The firing of the court house Was a
malicious act, inspired, it is
aid, by communist leaders Of the
mob who boosted they would make
1.-THE Paris Of America"
John Desmond, of The mill
ia, and two others, n a promising
1oung lawyer, were killed in trying
prevent the mob from burning the
court house. Col. Freeman, of the
Fourteenth Infantry, finally cleared
he streets around the burning build
ng and gave the tiremen, who re-
used to work without AN armed es.
'ort to protect them, al opportunity
play upon the burning ruins,
1t is said that 200 to 300 men COM
POSED the violent, active rioters and
hey were not fully armed. They
we're stimulated and encouraged,
however, by the cheers and shouts of
he large crowds supporting them
t is also said that but for the poor
,eneralship upon the part Of the POI
ice and militia the rioters could have
zen easily overcome and put to
light. An instance is given where
ne man shot three of a mob dead
nd run the rest off when it attempt
d to break into his gun store. A
quad of thirty policemen captured a
annon from another branch of the
aOb. !
This all happened last Saturday
light. Sunday, the gravity of the
imnrosse6 ovorvODo The I