St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-02
Negroes and Whites Engage
in a Hot Fight in
Louisiana.
So Far as Is Known Less
Than a Dozen We're
Wounded.
Gov. Lowry, Having Cinehed
Prize Fighters, Tackles
a Race War.
He Is in Command Of the
Militia at Shell
Mound.

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. between 2
and o'clock an excursion train, COM
posed entirely of colored people, arrived
at the Gouldsboro depot from Baton
Rouge. A large number of colored men
and women were near the depot waiting
for the train, which was due at II
o'clock. AS the train neared the depot
one of the eXcurSiOniStS attempted to
get off and fell to the ground. Some
unknown person said: 'LOOk at the
black -" The negro drew his pistol
and fired four or five shots in rapid sue
cession, one of which struck a white
man named William Miller, brother of
one of the Gretna police, in
the nose, and lodged itself in
the back of the neck. Then the
shooting became general, some four or
five hundred shots being fired in less
than fifteen minutes. The above ac-
count of the trouble is from the police
of Gretna.
A TERRIBLE PANIC OCCURRED,
women and children running in all di-
rections, shouting and screaming, leav-
ing dishes, baskets, hats, etc. Ed Levy,
colored man living in Algiers, was
shot i'll the left arm, and a cOlOred
woman named Fleming was fatally shot
in the back. John Rainey, the superin-
tendent of the Algiers d Gretna rail-
road. was about two squares away with
two cars waiting for the excursion. He
stated that the panic caused by the
rapid discharge of firearms was dread
ful. He did not know what caused the
trouble, but the ears on their way down
one OF the bullets passed through
a dashboard. Mr.. Rainey stated
that for time he and his
drivers were in imminent danger of los
ing their lives. About 80 O'Clock this
morning a large reflection was seen near
the line between Algiers and Jefferson
Parish. An alarm of fire was turned in.
The Algiers fire department started to
the scene and found large number of
men armed with muskets, ETC., and
negro church on fire. There was no
water at hand, and the church was en-
tiFely consumed. Just after the fire at
The cOlOred church cOlored man named
Ren Watkins, aged seventy-tive, was
shot in the breast and slightly wounded
by some unknown parties. Several
negroes who claimed to have formed
part of the excursion party. being inter-
viewed, state that when the train was
nearing the Gouldsboro depot it was fired
by men who were Secreted along the
line of the railroad track, and when the
shooting commenced the train was yet
in motion, and as soon as it stopped a
GENERAL STAMPEDE TOOK PLACE.
Where the shooting occurred is not
thicklY settled, and all those living in
close proximity to the depot, when in
terviewed, said they heard the shots,
but do not know who did the shooting
or the origin of the trouble. 1t is very
difficult to locate single person who
witnessed the beginning of the shooting
outside of the police force of Gretna.
Ben Watkins, cOlOred, residing in
Gouldsboro, was shot while lying in bed
at his home by some unknown party
who fred through the window. The
ball struck him on the light arm, hand,
breast and left hand, intiicting severe
wounds. He was taken to the hospital,
where the surgeons amputated the
thumb of the right hand. The fingers
of the left hand are also badly shat
tered. Watkins says he knows nothing
of the trouble, as he was asleep at about
o'clock when the party fired at him
through the window of his house.
The list of casualties in the GOulds-
bOrO riot are as follows:
WILLIAM MILLER. white, shot in the face
and seriously wounded.
ED LEVY, colored, shot through the left
forearm.
Wife of ELDER FLEMING, colored, shot
through the shoulder and seriously hurt.
MARY CARROLL. colored, shot through the
instep and painfully wounded.
BEN WATKINS, shot in the right hand,
breast aud left hand and seriously wounded.
The TimeS-Democrat has a long ac-
count of the GouldsborO affair, giving
statements of both whites and negroes,
summarized below, and the following
loo -,,NtiA Of hn In
sion train had just returned from Baton
Rouge freighted with about 500 colored
people, more than half of whom were
women and children, and either just be-
fore or very shortly after the train had
come to a StandStill, two or three shots
were fired, which caused a tremen- |
dOus panic among the eXcurSionists,
who threw themselves from the train |
pell NELL and scampered away in two or |
three different directions under decided |
fusilades from the Winchester rifles, |
shotguns and revOlvers. Those who |
witnessed the scene described it as one |
of the widest excitement. Shortly be- |
fore the arrival of the train small |
house had burned down just beside the |
levee, but the remains of the fire threw |
LIGHT ON THE SCENE
and enabled the panic-stricken negroes |
to make their way to the street car |
Quite as rapidly as though 1t had been |
daylight. While those who were firing |
them were enabled to determine |
at least the general direction in which
the negroes we're hurrying. The stories
of the row and its origin differ very |
widely. The negroes say that before
the arrival of the train there |
was a large force of armed |
white men waiting its arrival and
that some ten minutes after the train
had stopped, and after portion of the
had reached the street
cars, and while others were still on
board the train, white men, without
any sort of pTOvOcation, opened fire
ON the crowd. The white mems version
of the affair, as given by eye-witnesses,
differs very materially from that of
the negroes. They state that
there were only some half-dozen
white men concerned in the
aft air, and that the shooting was COM
menced by the negroes before the train
had stopped. Two shots were fired from
the train at a white boy named Bur-
meister just as the train was coming
into the station. Then William Miller
was shot in the face by negro as the
latter was getting off the train, and
then it was that B. Miller, police
officer of Gouldsboro, and brother of
the wounded man, attempted to ar
rest the wOuld-be murderer. At this
the negroes opened fire on the whites
and, the latter returning their fire. the
became general and the excur-
sionists fed panic-stricken from the
scene. The whites III and about GOulds-