Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1891-04-03
THE NEW ORLEANS LYNCHING.
The Story Of Parkerson Who Led the
Crowd to the Parish Prison.
New York Tribune correspondence.

STOWu W tu0 3dElSn ETlSOu.
New York Tribune Correspondence.
William $. ParkersOn, the leader of
the regulators" is only "a years old,
is exactly six feet high, heavily built,
and dresses in brown tweed suit,
with plain black ncck.ie. His head
is large and his eyes are intensely
black, quiet in repose, but swapping
fire in moments of excitement. The
most striking thing about Parkerson
is his voice, which is deep, but soft,
almost caressing. His manner is en-
inently quiet, without trace of
swagger. Altogether he impresses
one as man of great natural magnet
ism and immense reserve force. A
pattern of domesticity and a great
favOritc with those who know him
well, he lives with sick wife and
three children in a modern house near
the Swamp at the edge OF the city.
His popularity was attested in 1888,
when he was made the leader of a
body OF young men who Overthrew the
ring Democracy that controlled the
city and elected the entire anti-ring
ticket. He holds no public office him
self. He was elected City Attorney
by the reformers, but refused to serve.
81 didn't take the initiative" he
said, in answer to questions. a could
not tell you who did. 1t was all done
by others. was in court on Friday
morning in distant building attend
ing to some business, and came back
to the office after the verdict acquit-
ting the Italians. When got here l
found a large number of citizens
awaiting me some of them old
enough to be my grandfather. They
were talking about the outrageous
verdict and told me they had come to
ask me to take some measures to right
it. After fifteen minutes converse
ton We adjourned to meet again that
evening. We met in the rooms of
young man, whose name I don't care
to give. There were about $50 of us,
among them the men who were here
in the morning. We stood up and
were packed like sardines. They made
me chairman. There was some more
talking about the verdict, and ! was
again appealed to. None of us drank
anything and there were no refresh
ments in the room. We all signed a
call that was published in the next
mornings paper, asking the citizens
to assemble at 10 o'clock on Saturday
morning at the Clay statute, and say
ing we would be prepared to carry out
their instructions.
"At the meeting on Friday night
they tried to get me to 60 to the prison
then, but l refused to do anything in
the night time. From the statute we
started for the prison, / leading and
the crowd following us. We had to
walk about mile, and as we walked
people came out from the side streets
and fell into the procession. The wo-
men were crying and the men cheer
ing. 1t was the most terrible thing l
ever saw, the quiet determination of
the crowd. There was NO disorder.
We stopped on the way to the prison
at our friends rooms, where we found
guns awaiting us. had my own gun
there. There were about $50 VIM
chesters and shotguns, l think, given
out. / never carry a revolver, but that
morning l put one in my pocket. 1
took Winchester, besides. At this
moment am unarmed.
"The crowd was composed of law
yers, doctors, bankers, and prominent
citizens generally. 1t was the most
obedient crowd you ever saw. They
obeyed me implicitly, just as if 1 was
a military commander. If there was
any riff-raff it was all on the outside.
"Did you kill anybody with your
own hands?"
"NO; didn't fire a shot. In fact
at the meeting the night before 1 had
said that Matranga and another should
be spared, the two who were declared
to be innocent by Judge Baker, a man
in whose integrity We had perfect
confidence. l said l would deferd
these men with my own life, if neces-
sary, and they were not harmed"
Didn't it strike you as not courage
GUS to shoot the lot OF unarmed men
in hole?"
"Well," said the young lawyer
quietly, there was no doubt about
the courage of any man in our party
Of course, it is not courageous thing
to attack man who is not armed, but
we looked upon these men as so many
reptiles. Why, l was told that on
Friday, after the verdict, the Italian
fruit and oyster schooners along the
wharves hoisted the Sicilian flag over
the Stars and Stripes the prisoners
themselves had champagne supper.
IL regretted the necessity. 1 re-
gretted that so painful a duty had
been forced upon me-" Parkerson
paused impressively, showing that he
sincerely realized the gravity OF the
situation. "There is no man who is
a more law-abiding American citizen
than l. 1 am proud of my citizenship
and will do everything to uphold it.
"No; this was a great emergency
greater than has ever happened in
New York, Cincinnati or Chicago. l
didn't act through sentimental or
personal interest in Hennessy. He
was fine man and an efficient officer,
and we felt that when he was killed
there was no telling which of us would
80 next. While the Malta confined
itself to killing its own members we