The Opelousas courier., 1896-04-04
The Killing at Pet Barre.

! tuo loiio"luS sptCldi IIOtl optlOuSdS
You correspondent had an interview witt
! DR.. g. W.hMartin, of Arnaudvile, this after
noon, and from him ELECTED the following de
tailed account of the unfortunate killing al
Port Barre on Friday evening:
II had gone to Palmetto on Thursday eve
| ming in command OF n body of seventy five meI
| for the purpose OF preventing negroes from
| registering there on Friday. the day fixed by
tho registrar to be at that place. On arriving
at Palmetto Thursday evening found there a
large number OF our friends under arms from
different sections of the parish, all of whom
had assembled for the same purnose. and was
put in command of the entire force. We had
heard that the combine forces We're to be
there for the purpose Of backing up the ne
grOeS against the whites, and it had also been
| rumored that said combine had made very VIC
lent threats against Registrar Swords and his
party. We mad gone there to protect Mr.
Swords fram threatened violence and to pre-
vent the negroes from registering. AS an evi,
dence that the combine had made such threats
and did intend to send force there, relate the
following incidents When within about seven
miles of Palmetto with my company, at about
II O'Clock p. ~. a man who was standing on the
roadside hailed my advance guard by calling
out, Hello. doctor! Is that you9' The guard
answered. and asked this party what doctor he
was addressing, and the man replied, Dr.
Walker The guard said You have made a
mistake. This is not Dr.. Walkers crowd.
While this conversation was going on between
the guard and this unknown party, rode TO
the front to see what was the matter. and he
was relating to the guard that his brother, the
there were seventy-fve armed men already in
the village. 1 asked him where they were
from, and he said from Big Cane.
had received information earlier in the
day that DR.. Walker and others were or
ganizing the opposition forces at Washing
ton for the purpose OF going to Palmetto,
and the above related incident goes to confirm
the report which had previously reached me.
We believed that this man had been placed at
that point for the purpose of posting DR.. Walk
er, who was expected, as to the exact situation
of f1,ny 11nrv mil RI
However, we proceeded on our way unmo-
Tested. reached Palmetto at about midnight
and camped la militaire until next morning.
At the appointed hour. O'clock the registrar
opened his office and proceeded to register
every voter who applied. No negroes applied
and everything passed off serenely., The negro
reached Palmetto Thursday afternoon. had
no hand in that. During the day tFriday) 1
thought would go around and talk
in a friendly way to some Of the leading ne
grOes and explain to them the wish OF the
good thinking people OF this parish, whom we
were representing. I went to their houses and
told them We had no desire to harm them but
that this was white mans country and the
white men intended to control its political des-
tiny in the future. all we asked of them was to
stay at home, attend to their work and let
nothing in politics for them except trouble,
and that the men who were urging them to
register and vote were not thei" best friends
and y4SPe only using them to boost themselves
into Office, not caring how much trouble they
got into afterwards. told them plainly that
we looked upon them as the inferior race and
we were opposed to both political and social
equality: that the white Republicans and Pop
uists were as much opposed to social equality
as we were and only advocated political equal
ity because they needed their votes to ride
them into office. The negroes took my advice
in good spirit and assured me that they recoS-
nized the force OF my arguments and were per-
fectly willing to let the white people settle
the elections among themselves.
A f. O'Clock n * htn npSji iicp
force had not put in an appearance, no negroes
desired to register and everything was quiet, [
concluded to start for home. On reaching
Port Barre told my men that there was a
negro named Julien Sicily living in that
nelghborhood who had registered, but after
seeing that the sentiment amonst the white
people of this section was strong against
him, that he had sent one OF his cOlOred friends,
Numa Landrio, to Mr.. Adam Guidroz, mem
Der Of the White Supremacy League, to inquire
if the white supremacists would accept his
apologies for having registered, and to say
that he would stay out of politics and not vote
Mr.. Guidroz mentioned the matter to me,
whereupon told him that was not the only
one to consult about it. but would mention it
to the other white men Ut the ward.
"a few days afterward we had a meeting, at
which about 100 men were present. addressed
the meeting, and in the course OF my remarks,
brough the matter up and advised those pres
ent to accept Stelly's explanation and as
surances. Now as had quite a large number
opportunity to have Sicily come. in the pres
ence of these men, and make these expIana-
ti0ns to them and at the same give him all the
the necessary guarantees for his safSty in the
event he should stick to his promises "
1--WE reached the ferry at Port Barre at 4:3O
Which neeessItated @ % eonsiderable inside @ delay so e
sent four of the first batch crossed ahead to
tell Stclly to meet us on the road and also to
tell him why we wanted to see him. These
four men called at his house and delivered the
message andihe replied that he would not goOut
and surrender to anyone but ii DR.. Martin
was there he would talk to him, whereupon he
he had been standing, and ordered his children
to shut mp the house. Three Of the men re-
manned near Stely's house, while one went
back to the public road; Labor; about three acres dis
told what Sicily had said and done, thonght
his conduct somewhat strange and Omnous.
1 asked him where the other three men were
He replied that they We're near Stelly's house,
and said, Well, cannot leave my men there
that way; must go and get Them The man
who had met me at the roadside said,3 Yes, CO.
20 stelly's yard with my whole company, who
nad arrived in the meantime. sty three men
who were stationed there called t. fpe to be care
full, as they did not like the ,nanliaiJ in which
Sicily had acted. / then ordered my men to
and put themselves under cover as
much as possible. then walked right up to
his house and called him three times, telling
him to talk to me and reminded him of the
message he had sent to Mr.. GuidrOz, and told
him that il he would come out and listen to
what had to say 1 would guarantee him he
should not be hurt, and il what 1 had to say
was not satisfactory would give him permis-
sion to go back ii his house and shut himself
up again and let him take his chances
Just at this moment, while waiting for his
reply, L heard shot from side window and
saw my man fall ] then ordered my men to
return the fire. I spied an ak in the kitchen
through an open window. jumped DIN and Sc
cured the ak and got out again, meeting one OF
my men, who had come up close by, following
along the side OF the house under the windows.
I handed him the ak and told him to break the
which he did, and it was through
these windows that the shooting was done.
yard and shooting into the windows. The ne
gro was inside shooting at lis through the same
About seventy-tive shots were fired,
of which the negro fired about twenty-five be-
fore he was killed BY this time my men had
become very much excited, and wanted to set
fire to the house, and had great difficulty in res
training them. When was satisfied the negro
was killed, led my men away.
s'Mr. BOutte, who was wounded by the nc
gro was taken to the residence of Mr.. C6zaire
near by. where he received the last
rites of the Catholic church, and died i'll about
two and one-half houkJ after receiving his
death wound. His last words were that he
'cheerfuIy gaye up his 0ife for the cause he
Constable Moreau, 1h,( made an investiga-
tion of the premises the IF1xt morning, informs
guns, one rifle and a sack MI of cartridges.
-&AAs-
EDITOR CoURIER-A correspondent of the
City Item, writing from Washington March
30th, contradicts my statement of the Sicily
affair at Port Barre which was published in the