Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-15
DANVILLE'S RACE RIOT.
THE TAKING OF TESTIMONY
COMMENCED.

Evidence Which Shows That the
Negroes Precipitated the Troubles, and
That There Was No Premeditated
Plan of Intimidation.
! WASHINGTON, Feb. 14.-The inyesti-
CATION OF the Danville election riots was
begun this morning. Congressman CabeIl
and John S. Wise, of Virginia, were pres
ent. Walter 5. Withers, colored. who. at
the time Of the riot, was a policeman in
Danville, was the first witness. He de-
scribed his experience on the Sd of No
vember. A white man and several col
ored men were fighting and the crowd as
sembled The witness arrived after the
combatants separated, but the crowds re-
mained. The whites were ranged i'm a
line along the curb and the colored men
were in the street. The white men had
pistols in their hands. The witness ad-
| vised the coIOred men to leave. fearin O,
that they would get hurt. He heard a
white man say that ''they the colored
mem could get enough if they wanted it.
and if they didn't leave some of them
| would get hurt.V The witness was nm
successful in his efforts. Some OF the
colored men objected to leaving, saying
tnat the whites were trying to override
them.
LIE AAAL NOL4E1
The witness stepped to one side and up
on the sidewalk just before the firing be-
gan. The first firing was in the air. The
colored people began to run, after which
the whites aimed at them wherever they
could see them. The witness did not
make any arrests, being afraid to do so,
The local officials were Readiusters. A
military company was called out about
/ an hour after the riot. Some of the white
] crrro ard hot
! OF the colored men, so tar as the witness
! knew, had pistols. One man was shot
! dead and several were wounded In con-
! sequence of the riot the colOred people
| agreed among themselves not to vote at
| the election three days afterWard, fearing
! violence.
! A DISCREPANCY IN THE TESTIMONY.
In reply to Senator Vance the witness
| said that his affidavit, made before the
Committee Of Forty at DanVille, was in
! correct IN so far as it ayerred that colOred
men had used firearms. The witness had
! signed the affidavit, but did not write it.
1t had been read once to him, but it
| seemed that something had been altered
| thereafter. The cOlored men had been
assured by leading white men of Danville
after the riot that they would not be dis
| turbed at the polls, but still they feared
/ to vote. The witness was not afraid to
vote, but did not because of an under
standing that the cOlored people would
not vote. No orders were received from
any source not to vote.
REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN's EXPERI-
ENCE.
| John Redd, colored, was called to the
! witness chair. He was Chairman of the
Republican Committee, and lived three
miles north of Danville His precinct
was New Design. He went into Danyille
! on saturday, November 5, to see Col.
! Sims. He had heard that Col. Sims was
| threatened in consequence of a speech he
! had made. About , O'Clock he was told
| that there was fighting and went towards
| the spot, but left hastily, as did other
| colored people, when the firing began.
| Afterwards, while returning to see the
! result, he was met by Col. Cabell. who
asked where he was going. Col. Cabell
said: "Ihis is just what l have been
! telling you would happen." Ned
| Hatcher came along with another
man and asked Col. Cabell who the wit
ness was. Being informed, Hatcher said:
Let me blow his d d brains out" Col.
! Cabell said: mo let the id scOundrel
leave here" Mr.. Hatcher struck the
witness, and then as the wit
ness left they began firing at him.
The witness saw his white neigh
bors going into Danyille that night,
and returning with guns, which they had
procured in DanvilIe. He saw them going
to the polls on election da. with the same
guns. The cOlOred people We're thereby
inundated and concluded not to go to the
polls.
Redo CONFUSED.
In reply to Senator Vance the witness
| became excited and evinced ignorance of
the distance from Danville to New De-
sign. the witness own precinct, where
colored people did not vote by reason of
intimidation, and from Danville to VIM
besher's, where they did vote. He did not
| know that New Design was four miles,
while Wimbesher's was only one mile
from Danville.
l.. L. Iyey, a cOlored ''huckster'' on the
Danville market, was called. He saw
people running and thought that there
was a lire, and, upon going to the corner
to ascertain, he saw white men standing
along the curbstOne with their pistols
aimed. He feared that somebody might
shoot him and went back to his business.
! Then the firing began and the cOlOred
men ran. One was shot dead across the
street. Jack Redd, the preceding wit
ness, came along and asked the cOlored
men, what are you all running for? De
white people is only burnin' powder"
They replied, ''What's de meanin' OF dat
dead man ober dar if dey don't mean
harmY ~
The witness described the maltreat-
ment OF Jack Redd by Hatcher and others
and the threats which were made to him
self on the same day by whites. The wit
ness didn't vote because Of fear inspired
by the riot The committee then took
recess.
THE FIGHT AND IT'S CAUSE.
The proceedings were resumed at >
O'Clock, and w. r. Taylor, a white to-
bacconist of Danyille, took the witness
chair. Replying to a series of questions
by Senator sherman and Senator Vance
he said that on the afternoon of Nov. 3 he
was dO0rkeeper at a Democratic meeting
in the opera house in Danville. Mr.. Noel
told the witness that he had been insulted
by negro named Henry Lawson, and
asked the witness and Mr.. Lee to go down
and see fair play while he NOel) thrashed
Lawson. The three went down the street,
met Lawson, and Noel administered
thrashing. Two policemen came UP to
separate the cOmbatants, and the witness
told Noel that he had done enough, and
the two were parted. just then Lee
called the witness, and the latter turning
saw large negro trying to take Lees
pistol away.
THE FIRST SHOT.
The witness struck the negro on the
back with a cane, and then tripped and
fell. At this moment Lees pistol was
discharged, but whether by accident or
design the witness did not know. The
negro ran, and a crowd of coiOred men
began to gather, asking who fred at that
negro. The witness was pointed out by
some one as the man who fired the shot
A negro named David Llewellyn stepped
out of the crowd. and the witness said to
him: g have not fired, but if you want
the contents of my pistol you can have
it.v
THE RACES ARRAYED.
Lewellyn drew a white-handled pistol
from his pocket and returned il again
The crowd increased and became threat
ening. When the fight began there were
but three white men and some fifteen ne
groes on the street in sight. At the climax
there we're between 200 and 800 negroes
and about fifteen white men. In the wit
ness opinion had the white men shown fear
they would all have been murdered. Then
the witness saw two or three Distols
among the negroes. The witness emptied
five chambers of his pistol at the crowd
of negroes and would most assuredly do
so again under like circumstances. He
did not know whether he hit ANYBODY or
not.
BAD LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
There was not to the Witness knowl-
edge any predetermination among the
whites to bring on riot. The condition
of affairs was threatening in consequence.
as the witness thought, of the character
of the local government at Danyille. Ne
grOes crowded white men and white la
dies off the sidewalk. The witness had
been insulted by Lawson two davs before
the riot. Lawson advanced toward him