Year: 1866




At time like this, when the public minC
is in a state of wild excitement over tn,
events of yesterday and the day before, W,
consider it the duty of the public press t
allay rather than add fuel 10 the flame. w,
shall, therefore, forbear full comment OF
the affair to future time. We are gather
ing a mass Of facts in reference to the oc
currenees of the two days, and already tht
affair of Tuesday evening wears an aspec
very different from that given by the city
papers of yesterday morning. A thorough
ly reliable gentleman informs us that Re
corder Creighton told him that he was pres
ent at the commencement of the riot. Be
ing in south Memphis, he noticed croWC
of negroes gathered together evidently in
state of excitement, and he directed two
policemen to go forward and disperse<ht
crowd. When the policemen obeyed the
order the fracas began. Who fred the irst
shot no one can tell.


The brutal and reckless manner in which
our police force are accustomed to treat ne.
groes whom they have occasion to arrest
has been q matter Of comment by every
citizen who has observed their action in
such cases. Calm, thinking men, have OBJ
served this state of affairs with apprehen.
sion, because it was known that large num-
Der of cOlored soldiers were about to be dis
banded and scattered among the negro pop
ulation Of the city. These soldiers are
trained to the use of arms, and to more re-
lance on themselves than is usual among
their race, and it was feared that violence
would be met by violence. That the ap-
prehension was well grounded is shown by
the event.


1t is useless and it is false to say that the
teachings or any action Of the dominant po-
htical party of the country since the war,
has had anything to do with this affair. 1t
is one Of the direct consequences of the war,
The people of this city and other portions
of the South, who were arrayed against the
Government and were subdued; cherish an
mostly against the negro because he has,
to some extent, aided in their discontinue,
and, having been their property, is now a
free man, This being the case, spark only
was at any time needed to cause an out
break such as has occurred. The people
throughout the country who read the par
ticulars Of the catastrophe, will naturally
feel surprised when they hear that South
Memphis was for two hours at the mercy of
an infuriated negro mob" and by the same
authority learn that enc white man was
killed and two wounded, while over twenty
Of the negroes were killed and wounded.


When the blood of our people shall be-
come cool, they will look with horror on
the massacFe of unarmed and defenseless ne
groes. The negroes may have been, and
doubtless were, in the commencement,
guilty Of some Of the offenses charged.
but the statements of the Avalanehe
and Argus, particularly, were sensa.
tional, and in the highest degree exagger-
ated. We believe they did much to cause
the renewal of the contest on Yesterday
These newspapers are busy sowing the
wind, which, II 1t bear not the whirl-
wind will be no fault of theirs. That this
riot was premeditated by the negroes, no
man with the slightest pretension To com
mon sense believes. Il was q sudden. nm
premeditsted outbreak, and the exact origin
Of it is given in our local columns, on IA.
authority Of a gentleman who was an officer
in the United States volunteer service du-
ring the war, and who resides now in the
vicinity Of the original outbreak. A large
number of negroes have been shot down
while entirely unarmed and defenseless
simply and solely because they were ne
grOes.


Tina Third United States Colored Infsn-
try. the regiment which is being disbanded
has been probably the worst regiment Of
colored troops we have ever had in the CITY
and many Of its members have been guilty.
ofofenses against the law which have gone
uupunished. We believe that some drunk
en- members Of the regiment were among
those with whom the riot commenced. If
they alone could have been the sufferers.
no harm TO the cause Of justice could have
occurred. But, in almost every instance.
those who were killed had not participated
in the riot. The interests Of our cityars
being sadly injured by occurrences Of this
kind.