The record-union., 1895-03-13
Special to the RECoRD-UNIoN.

leans is to-day in condition of excite
ment that can only be compared to that
following the attack upon the Parish
Prison March 16, 1892, when the citizens
shot and lynched eleven mon charged
with implication in the assassination of
Chief of Police d. C. Hennessy. The
thick fog early this morning was the veil
behind which desperate white levee la
borers gathered, and which they pene-
trated with Winchester rifles, all aimed
at the colored non-union workmen on
the ships loading at the docks. The at
tack was made at points several miles
apart, just before the arrival of the po-
lice and as result there are half dozen
corpses and a dozen or so wounded men.
The police saw the attack, but no arrests
were made, they claiming that they were
too few to cope with the unexpected out
break. The day before the massacre all
was quiet and the Governor saw no
grounds for interference, but to-day the
business men are denouncing both the
Governor and police. The militia is in
readiness to move, an appeal to the Fed
eral Government has virtually been
made, and even the foreign Consuls have
decided 10 join in the move tor peace at
any price.
The causes which led to the trou bic
have been Of long standing. and grew out
OF the attempt OF ship agents and others
interested to reduce rates. The white
screwmen claim that the colored men,
who were getting share of the work
under an agreement, made secret cuts
and violated the agreement IN order to
obtain more work and gradually crowd
the white men off. The white association
then severed all ties with the blacks, and
refused TO work with them or for the men
who employed them. The white long
shoremen joined the screwmen in this
Since then the steamship lines have been
gradually going over TO the negroes.
Lately the white screwmen quit work on
the lines still loyal to them, stating that
they would not work until the whole
affair was Strengthened out. Several more
lines then took on negro laborers from
necessity.
The white Union finally determined to
retaliate upon the steVedores by accepting
the reduced rates and dealing with the
ships direct Ships in haste accepted the
offer, but the agents stood by the steve
dores. The latter offered to pay more
than the sCreWmen asked, but the screw
men refused to deal with them. The
agents offered to pay the screwmen their
wages and place the stevedores over them
as uperintendents, but this the screw
men declined. Then the stevedores be-
gan importing colored screwnlen from
Galveston, and the whites, growing des-
perate, broke loose in riot
The police were maSSed in the Sixth
Precinct Police Station all night, under
command OF Acting Chief of Police John
Journe. Everything was quiet, when
there came message that a dozen men
had been killed in front of Jackson
Square and a terriDle riot was IN progress
Police were at once hustled into the
patrol wagons and hurried away. They
had hardly gone when Sergeant Richard
Walsh, in command OF the precinct,
heard a volley from the direction of the
levee in front of the station. He rushed
to the scene, and among the freight cars
between Phillip and First streets, he
found a crowd of negroes surrounding a
wounded companion. The mans head
was covered with blood. lie was shot in
the mouth. The negro. who was un-
known, was taken to the station. Those
about declare he was crossing the levee
and found mob OF 80 men, armed with
Winchester rifles and other guns.
They marched along the leves to
Eighth street, then back on Chopltouvas
street to Jackson and dispersed. Accord
ing to what seemed a prearranged plan,
at W Washington street they were arrested
by Sergeant Walsh, who recognized a
man among the leaders as Walter Owens.
Port Warden McCobDen said the riot
ers were from down town and did not
belong to the screwmen.
AT $50 everything in town was com
paratlvely quiet, with few weapons in
sight. All the negroes had left the levee.
The mob deposited their shotguns and
rifles in the barroOms.
While this was going on four negroes
had been shot and one Caribbean killed
at the French market. The trouble oc-
cured at the landing of the Harrison
line steamship, opposite Jackson square.
In the log a hundred armed men got
through the guards of the police and
opened fire on the negroes at work. They
fled in terror, some jumping into the
river. Those who ran across the levee In
the direction of the square were subject
, to volley. The smoke seemed to come
from doorways, windows, galleries and
the street.
Look where they would the negroes
saw pistols and heard reports as the re-
volvers were discharged. Each man ran
in a different direction, and the poor
creatures seemed panic-stricken. Those
whites not armed with revolvers picked
up stones, clubs and other improyiSed
weapons and attacked the negroes. Fol
many minutes the firing continued on
the river front and the police made nc
move against the murderers. Not until
every negro had fled did the white men
desst.
The time of the shooting seemed to have
been fixed for the hour just preceding
the beginning of the working day. AS
usual LnlD8 the SLeNeuOreS ana lOnEShOr
men begin work at o'clock, and it was
just before this hour that the firing be.
gan. 1t seems 10 have been totally unex-
pected, for the negroes were upon The
levees in large numbers. They evi.
IDENTIFY believed there was a sufficient
police force on the river front to protec
them.
The dead are: William Campbell. g
colored screwman, shot at Phillips street;
jules Calico Carrebe, shoemaker, sho
In front OF Lyons clothing store; un.
known man, shot in the vicinity of Crom-
well; negro in the same vicinity. not We,
identified; Leonard Mallard, a colored
screwman.
Injured: James a. Bane (white,. purse,
on the steamship Engineer shot in the
head twice, dangerously injured: Henry
Brown, colored screwman, shot five
times, in both arms and both legs. will
recover; Lem Pereslen, colored coal.
wheeler, shot seven times, in both legs
thigh and head, may recover; Lunis Cast
colored employe of the sugar refinery
shot in the hip, will recover; Billy
Williams, a colored screwman, shot ir
the leg, will recover; Frank Lighthal
(colored), shot in the leg. dangerously
Marion Brooks, white 'longshoreman
shot in the right leg below the knee; two
negroes, names unknown, jumped int
the river and are supposed to be drowned
General John Glynu. commanding TIN,