Year: 1864




From the State Journal.


Another Rebel Raid-lmportation ofArms


into Canada.


The Detroit Advertiser, March Sd,
says:


The number of secession refugees,
from the North and South, now in Canada,
is several thousand, who, when consoli
dated and organized, would constitute
very effective fighting force, were 1T not
that the scarcity of arms in Canada forms
a serious obstacle to their proper equip
ping. The expectation of arms from the
United States is prohibited by the exist
ing military regulations, and accordingly
a wholesale system of smuggling is carri-
ed on, by which small arms are carried
into Canada The common method of
avoiding the vigilance of the officers on
both sides ofthe river, is by concealing a
large number of arms in a herring box
with several layers offerings. As there
is no duty on this fish, and a perceptible
perfume generally indicates its presence.
an apparent laboring man, with herring
box freighted with herrings and weapons.
easily crosses without molestation. Many
revolvers are brought for this purpose of
returned soldiers, and eventually find
their way into the hands of those, who
were and are the deadliest enemies Of
their former owners.-An occasional
musket or gun is conveyed across by
some one, claiming merely to be on
brief hunting trip for pleasure The re
pairing and refitting of these firearms is
done at a little smithy near the Hirous
House. These weapons are then placed
in the hands of trusty men, and they go
off in squads to the East-few at time,
so as not to attract attention. BY various
routes and means they cross over to the
States, generally choosing some spot on
the Eastern frontier, where less vigilant
watch is kept than in this section. Once
in our boundry lines they quietly rem
devious at different stations in Southern
Illinois and Indiana, where associations
are now and have been forming to co op-
perate with them.


The design of the movements is in the
ensuring spring to open a fire in the
rear" by raising the standard of armed
disaffection in those sections, and thus
distracting the attention aid dividing the
strength of our armies in the front. In
fact, advices from that section already
report the commencement of guerrilla
hostilities by outlaws and desperadoes.
On Monday last a squad of Federal
soldiers were fired upon while quietly
passing along the streets of Paris, Edgar
county, Illinois, by party of ruffians,
concealed in an old stable. The soldiers
charged upon the building, and lost one
of their number His murderer, how
ever, was shot in thirteen different places,
and the whole gang arrested. They
were found to number about fifty, and
evidently expected serious disturb
ance.-This is undoubtedly but the COM
mencement of a series of similar affairs
in that section, which the Government
will be called upon to crush with an iron
heel The authorities have recently
been placed in possession of all the facts
narrated below, and measures have been
taken to nip the evil in the bud. For ex-
ample: A squad of five men, under an
individual named Ostride, one of the
leaders in this scheme, left Windsor on
Monday last for the East. for the pur-
pose stated above. This fact being
known to the United States detectives in
Canada, information was dispatched
which resulted in the summary arrest of
the gang on Tuesday, Immediately on
~
agara Falls. One man subsequently made
his escape, but the rest are still confined
there awaiting an investigation into their
business and destination. We do not
state facts to alarm but solely to inform
the public Of threatening peril, and place
them on their guard against impending
danger.


What connection there may be be-
tween these rebel refugees and the Sc
cret Copperhead organizations in the
Northwest, we cannot say, but we can say
that the *. G. C.'s" or whaterer they
may now call themselves, who were scat
tered by legal prosecution and popular
wrath last year, are organizing the same
reasonable objects, and the same infernal
spirit, that made them so long q more
effective army than any that Bragg or
Lee commanded, and with more caution
and secrecy than ever The State is full
of them, but bitter experience has warn
ed them to be less boastful of their
strength and presence than they used to
be, and till within short time past. no
attention, not even that Of the authorities.
has been directed to them. But timely
revelations have been made which will
probably defeat some of the more des-
perate schemes they contemplated, and
this announcement will, we trust, direct
public attention to them in every county
and prevent the partisan operations which
they are relied upon to accomplish.
They have probably changed some Of
the non- essential features Of the former