Richland beacon., 1888-04-07
WOMEN IN A BREAD RIOT.
A Scene in Richmond I'm the Early
Part Of the War.
From the Washington Post. 7

From the Washington Fost.1
It was in the early part of the late war
in, think, the second year. Our armies
tthe Confederate) had been generally
successful, and there was as vet little Of
/ that great suffering to which the people
of the South were, afterward to be re-
duced. The dearth of men in Richmond
made it necessary to employ large
force of women in the various depart
ments Of the Government. great many
Of them refugees, and many from the
oldest and wealthiest of Southern aristo-
cratic families.
The Treasury Department occupied
on Broad street, in Richmond, large
store, and in that store a number Of
ladies were occupied in numbering and
signing coupon bonds, and others in
signing and numbering the one and two
dollar notes with which the Confederacy
was flooded.
One afternoon there was q rumor IN
Richmond that a body of disorderly
women and boys had assembled on the
Capital square, clamOring for bread. II
was asserted that Gov. Letcher and the
Mayor of the city had addressed them
in the Interest Of law aud order, and
promised them relief.
But as yet little WAS Anown for certain,
and gave the rumor little thought, as
l walked up Broad street the next morn
ing toward the department, now only
few squares of
Bread. bread, give us bread" amid
pandemonium of wells, startled me,
As l turned in alarm, a scene met my
eyes thst l will not soon forget.
Pouring out Of side street a motley
crowd of women and boys surged up in
M wake to the very building that wa.
my goal II was striking and uaiaue
sight-not man visible, Du. every
woman in the city seemed to be there
yelling for bread.
For me to oe thus tine unwilling leader
OF a mob was anything but a pleasant
sensation, and fastening my steps, I
reached The department Just before il
was closed against the mob. Hating in
front of the building they vainly sought
to force an entrance. Fearing that they
might have firearms, our cL ef had given
orders that the ladies should keep clear
OF the windows. But Mother Ewes vice
got the better of us and we eagerly
watched the crowd as they battered the
doors, Mt the same time demanding that
money should be given up to them.
Fooled in their attempt to obtain the
Governments currency, they turned
their attention to Otner more accessible
plunder A milliner's shop and shoe
store were quickly sacked and their con
tents appropriated. Decked with the
unlawful spoil, they next proceeded to
break in a bakery and appease their
famished stOmachs by emptyine the
-four into the streets and trampling the
bread beneath their ieet. While en-
ployed in this congenial occupation they
were interrupted by the arrival of de-
tachment of soldiers, sent by the Cover,
nor to disperse the rioters. The troops
opened fire with blank cartridges, with
no other effect than causing laugh and
jeers from the mob, who seemed amused,
The Numbering continued, and there
seemed no way OF dispensing them with
out using bullets, which the soldiers
were unwilling to do.
Finally, by charging with the bayo-
nets, the military managed to stampede
the crowd without, however, woundine
any of them. They returned to their
nomes and gave no further trouble. To
the credit of the women of the South it
should be said that the women who in.
spired the riot, though in the South,
were not of it, but the wives principally
Of foreigners who, when the war broke
out went North, leaving their wives to
carry on their market gardens and shops
in Richmond, and thereby save their
property. The leader of 4he not, q
market gardener, was said to be worth
$40, 900 in gold. Many of the psrtici-
pants were known to be almost as rich,
but their victims were reduced to pow
erty. The leader of the rioters was SEN
fenced to the penitentiarys It was
thought in Richmond that il WAS CON
cocted with view of making the cause
of the Confederacy appear more desper-
ate than it then was, and thereby bring
it in discredit both at home and abroad.