Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-02
NO ONE KNOWS.
How a Trivil Occurrence Brings
on a Panic and Riot.
Some Four or Five Hundred Shots Fired
in Less than Fifteen Minutes.
Story of the Police.
One White Man and a Number of ColOred PeO-
pie ShOt-The Scene of the Trouble not
Far from New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS, La, Sept. This
morning about 10 'clock fire broke out
in Gretna in a one-story frame house,
owned and occupied by two Germans
named Lunks. The fire department re-
sponded and the fire was extinguished
| Some time afterwards an alarm was
again sounded.
Between and 5 CLOCK an excursion
train, composed entirely of colored peo-
pie, 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 CLOCK. AS the train neared the
depot one of the excnrsionists attempted
to get off and fell to the ground. Some
unknown person said, ''Look at the
black ID, - when the negro drew a pis-
tol and fired four or five shots in rapid
succession, one of which struck a white
man named William Miller, a 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
police of Gretna.
a terrible panic occurred, women and
children running in all directions shout
ing and screaming, leaving dishes,
| baskets, hats, shoes, etc.
Ed Levy, colOred man living in Al
giers, was shot in the left arm, and
colored woman named Fleming was
| also fatally shot in the back.
Mr.. John Rainey, superintendent of
Esthe Algiers and Gretna railroad, who was
about two squares away waiting for the
excursion train, stated that the panic
caused by the rapid discharge of fire
| arms was dreadful. He did not know
what caused the trouble. His buggy on
the way down to Algiers was fred into
and one of the bullets passed through the
dashboard Mr.. Rainey stated that for
q time he and his driver were in immi-
nent danger Of losing their lives.
About 4:30 O'Clock this morning q
large reflection was seen near the line
between Algiers and Jefferson parishes
An alarm was turned in. The Algiers
ire department FASTENED to the scene
and found a large number of men armed
with muskets, etc., and negro church
5eh fire. There was no water at hand and
the church was entirely consumed.
a colored man named Ben Watkins,
aged seventy-tive years, was shot in the
breast and slightly wounded by some I'M
known parties.
Several negroes who claimed to have
formed part of the excursion party, be-
ing interviewed, state that when the
train was nearing the GouldsborO depot it
was fred on by men who were secreted
along,the line of the railroad track, and
when the shooting commenced the train
was yet III motion, and as soon as it
stopped q general stampede took place.
Where the shooting occurred is
not thickly settled, and all those
living in close proximity to
the depot when interviewed 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 a
single person who witnessed the begin
ming of the shooting, outside of the po-
lice force of Gretna.
Ben Watkins, colored, residing in
GouldsbOro, was shot while lying in bed
at his home by some unknown person
who fired through a window. The
ball struck him in the right
arm, hand, breast and left hand,
infiicting severe wounds. He was taken
70 lag AOSpltal, where IHe surgeon din-
pufated the thumb of his right hand.
SThe fingers of his left hand are also badly
shattered. Watkins says he knows moth
ing of the trouble, as he was asleep at
about 5 O'Clock, when a party fired at
him through a window of his house.
Across the river from the foot of Canal
street is AIgiers. Above AlgieTs are Free
town, Gouldsboro and Gretna in the or
der named. The object of the fire might
have been to call out the shooters. At
any rate they appear to have come out.
The second alarm might have been nee
essary to hold the,warriors together till
the arrival of the train of, colored eX-
cursionists. The firing commenced about
fifteen minutes after the train left Gret-
ma, and soon after or at the time it was
pulling up to Gouldsboro, where the eX-
cursionlsts left the train for their homes.
A short distance below Gouldsboro four
street ears were waiting to convey the
Algiers contingent to their town. The
firing party was stationed between the
Gouidsboro depot and the street cars land
fired mostly up the road in the direction
OF the excursion train. Gouldsboro is
the terminus of the Texas and Pacific
road.