Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-10-31
Swept Through Crowd Of Ne
groes at Ball Town, La.
One White Dead, One Dying Nine
Negroes Dead, Several Dying.
A Blood, Time. but Negroes Have Enough and
Leave the Place.


blacks and whites which started at !
negro lampmeetins at Duncan sthapel
Sunday. forms a story of blood un
cau;;lled in the history of the Pear
river valley.
one white man is dead. another /!
nov diving with bullet hole through
The stomach. and a third white man Is
badly wounded. Nine negroes were
killed in the bloody ARRAY. five men
three women and one small child.
dozen or perhaps more negroes escaped
to the woods and swamps with wounds
that are believed To be certain death
in the brush away from medical care.
The dead twhite)-JOseph Sea-. son of
Willis Seal. aged o.: residence of Va
rando. La.
Wounded tu.hitcl-Cllrence Thomas
Elliott. aged %. fatally wounded. now
dying: residence. Narando. La: Ed
wand Thompson. 10. shot through the
thigh, and tieshy portion of leg: resi-
dcncc, Narando. la.
Dead tcofored)-Rev. Alexander Con-
nelly. -. pastor Duncan Chapel: Mary
Davis eyed 30. his daughter; Crear
I.a;,. 46: Julie Peters. Lofts daughter.
a: Mellon Peters. her child. aged /
lcUS: Amy Tony, -. motherin-law
~ CI,ar Lot: Lewis Duncan. Is. ii
rar'arNillc: Thomas Parker. -; Kid
Severely. age. l.. a turpcntinc worker
from Georgia.
~ one is able To estimate the num-
her ot Wounded negroes who escaped
the carnage behind the church. They
scattered in all directions. Some are
/. h.. hnt h,,t IN,
not be- II found.
The conflict ragged for half an hour.
Those At Il distance say The. firing
sounded like 4 battle between troops.
TO the campmeeting negroes had
come from 200 miles all W and down
the valley. Elder stephen Duncan of
Nrw Orleans. for whom tho chapel was
named. was present. on last Thursday
III" meeting opencd with several hun
drcd negroes cncanped around the
church in tents ana in rudcly mad.'
ShantieS. 1t was To continue one week.
There they ate and slept and held ser
vices in the chapel.
one day previous To the cImpmect-
ing when the negro Fill Norris had
been burned at the stake near Ball
Town for an assault on Mrs. J. J. Bail.
public feeling was at Il high pitch.
rnder these conditions the negroes
gathered at Live Oak. There was
trouble over license and Crear Lofts
tent became the center of contention.
Some trouble occurred. Saturday even
ing. but there was no blood shed. IL
came up again. Sunday afternoon.
when Constable Boone and a posse rode
W 10 Lofts tent with a warrant.
Lott came out and is reported 10
have shouted with an oath: "One mig
ger has been burned. but a - - -
u Mite man will be next"
Wade Walker, one of the conSt a BILE s
posse. was struck over the head with
a Winchester and then the slaughter
began. The black fled from the frail
wooden church. for it was no shelter
from the rain of bullets. Lott retired
into his tent shooting and fighting. Joa
Seal received his death wound. tor
rent of lead was sent whizzing through
thr tent and church. while the negro"e
Nvd.
Preacher Connolly was shot while
standing in his yard. His dauShtgr
tel just inside the house. The other
negroes around Lofts place kent VI 4
SttstlN ram pl DuitflS. II y d. 'lt'i II
ana blood and the shrieks of the
wounded and dying were heard on ev-
cry side.
Lofts old mathC:-in- law. his tWo
daughters and the little boy fell in 30
heap inside the shelter Sophia Lot
saved her life by conCealing hel self BE-
hind the stove. Then she escaped and
the men did not harm her. They wer''
attire Crear Lott. He was barricadeG
and II" next move was 10 fire the
riace. When the fire forced him from
under cover he appeared in the door
way and % rifle balls went crashing
through him He fell in a heap on the
ground Parker and beverly. both
blacks. fell with him.
Joseph seal and Charles Elliott and
Edward Thompson, the wounded
whites. We're carried to the home of +.
=. S"nes. about thrce-quarters of u
mile through the pine woods. There
Seal died yesterday. He was buried,
today. from his home in Narando. six
miles away. and there. in the Sine $
Emergency hospital. Elliott lies dying.
For Il hours it looked as if general
uprising would wipe out the black race
in Washington parish. The news
spread like wildfre and by yestertla y
over 1000 armed men had reached the
scene of the battle. They came foi
miles below, but when Sheriff Norman
II. Simmons and J. n. johnson. cler,;
of the court of the parish. arrived from
fr? nklin. Yesterday, the excitement
was considerably allayed.
Gov. Longino Of Mississippi. ant
Gov. Heard of Louisiana. We're notified
and the replies came that troops woul6
ne hurried to the scene.
Yesterday afternoon, the nine ne.
sroes who We're left in heap where
my mad died, We're piled into three un.
marked graves. dug near the charrc5
remains of Lofts tent house. Their,
was no ceremony. The minister an,
MS daughter filled one of the hole,
III women and children another. tn,
men third. AT the same time prom
H'ent citizens held a conference. which
was attended by Sheriff Simmons. an,
message was sent to the negroes.
DO You want any more?" was tn
query
NO. came the reply.
This had quieting effect neac
reigned and the negroes left the coun
try.
The pica