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714 DOUGLASS' MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 1862 [[line]] [[3 columns]] [[column 1]] THE DISGRACEFUL RIOT IN BROOKLYN. [[short line]] Brooklyn, the city of churches and noble charities, is usually so well behaved, we could scarcely credit the report that a riot had actually taken place there; but a careful and impartial investigation of facts shows that the fair fame of our sister city has been sullied by a riotous mob of half-drunken and ignorant white men and women, whose jealousy of the blacks was kindled by a fight, on Saturday afternoon, between a negro and a white man in front of a grog-shop. The negro had taken a bill ot the liquor-shop to get it exchanged for postage stamps or small coin, and was standing on the threshold, when a white man of the name Spaulding pushed him aside. The indignity was resented by hard words, which soon ripened into hard blows, and the negro had the best of the fight, when Policeman Oats interfered and separated the belligerents. The idea of a white man being whipped by a black man was a source of humiliation too grievous to be endured. Sunday being a day of leisure, grog-shop and street-corner committees had the subject of retaliation under discussion and finally determined to mob the black women and children on Monday, while the majority of the men were absent at a public demonstration at Myrtle-avenue Park, in another part of the city. On Monday forenoon three or four scouts, wishing to ascertain the strength of the 'enemy,' called at Mr. Lorillard's tobacco factory, and were denied admittance. The foreman, anticipating trouble, sent all the colored persons in his employment at their homes, and closed the front doors and windows of the establishment. Soon a committee of eight Irishmen effected an entrance, and searched the premises for 'nagers;' but finding none, they retired for reenforcements, which were easily obtained. They soon returned with thirty or forty other rioters, and forthwith commenced hurling bricks and paving-stones at the doors of windows of Mr. Watson's shop, in which two sets of hands are employed - a set of white hands under a white foreman, and a set of black hands under a black foreman. These parties work side by side without quarreling or jealousy. In this factory where the fire originated seventy-five persons are employed, of whom fifty are colored and twenty-five white. The establishment was started eight years ago, and some of the negroes employed there at the time of the row have been faithful workers from the eommencement of the concern.- Negroes have always been employed in Mr. Lorillard's establishment, which is next door but one to Mr. Watson's; but there have been no sign of disturbance there before, although it has been in operation eight or nine years. At the time of the commencement of this riot, which was 12 o'clock at noon on Monday, the white employees of the establishment had gone to their dinners - and there were only twenty colored persons within the walls of the building, give of whom were men, and the remainder women and children. These colored employees not having homes in the neighborhood, had brought their dinners with them, and were quietly eating at the time of the assault. Scarcely had the first missile been hurled by the leaders of the gang, when four or five hundred men and boys, some of them intoxicated, came rushing with shouts and yells toward the factory, from the vicinity of Columbia and Harrison streets, and at once surrounded the building, crying out, 'Down with he nagers,' 'Turn out the nagers,' some of hem entering the lower story to look for the objects of their hatred. The mob continued to increase until it numbered thousands. Although it was well known for hours before this time that a riot was contemplated, no additional police force was sent to the neighborhood. The two officers, Oats and Burns, who belong to that beat, were on hand, but they could not control a drunken and infuriated mob. The negroes, who were on the upper floor, barricaded the stairway in the [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] best manner they could, and then threw at their assailants, when they attempted to approach them, whatever they could find at hand. In this way these five men and fifteen women kept the mob at bay for two hours, until Inspector Folk, with a strong detachment of policemen, made his appearance. Just before the arrival of the police force the rioters finding it impossible to get at the negroes, at the suggestion of a grogseller near by, determined to set fire to the building and roast the niggers alive. A pot of licorice and whisky, which was mistaken for tar, was emptied, and an attempt was made to set it on fire, but the flame was put out by the police. While Officer Donnelly was standing at the foot of the stairs keeping the rioters away, he received a wound on the head from a box thrown by a colored man named Baker, at the rioters. The police finally drove away the rioters, and arrested Patrick Canna, the grog seller, who is charged with arson and riot; Michael Maher, Wm. Morris. John Long Charles Baker (colored,) Charles Baylis, Thomas Clark, Jos. Flood, Patrick Day, and Elias P. Riddle. The rumor that fifty negroes had armed themselves with pistols purchased at a gun shop on Court street on Tuesday morning is untrue. It is not true that the negroes insulted white women in the neighborhood of the factory, as reported by The Herald. - That report was circulated on Sunday by a number of evil-disposed fellows, who lounged about the liquor shops in that vicinity for the purpose of creating the riot that followed. - It is not true that the Irish assaulted the negroes because they had taken up their residence in that neighborhood, for the negroes live in New York and on the outskirts of Brooklyn. It is not true that they are a poor, shiftless set, unable to take care of themselves, or that they caused this disgraceful riot. The riot raged from 12 o'clock until about half-past 2, when it was quelled by the police. Why did not the police officers in charge of that district, knowing as they must have known that a row was anticipated, send a force there to protect the lives and property of peaceable citizens? After the riot commenced, why were the police authorities so slow to move? It is not more than twenty minutes' walk from the City Hall in Brooklyn to the tobacco manufactories, near the corner of Columbia and Sedgwick streets, where the riot occurred. - When this force arrived, why did it behave so strangely as to merit the following rebuke from The Brooklyn Eagle? "It is stated that the officers who were first at the scene of the riot allowed their feelings against the negroes to interfere with their duties, and that instead of attacking the white rioters they struck at the negroes with their clubs." Mr. Watson's establishment, with its broken doors and windows, is closed and unoccupied, and the hands, white as well as black, are for no fault of theirs thrown out of employment. The colored people dare not return to Mr. Lorrillard's factory even. Threats of future demolition and assault are made, and yet we found only five policemen there yesterday to defend the just rights of the people. Such a riot could not have occurred in that place had it not been for the number of unlicensed grog-shops that abound there. The following persons were injured during the riot: James Burns (officer,) hit on the head with a brick; John Donnelly (officer,) hit on the head with a box; Michael Oats (officer,) hit on the back with a brick; Capt. Holbrook, wounded in the hand; Sergeant Wright, wounded in the shoulder; Chas. Baker (colored,) badly wounded in the neck with a pitchfork by a negro; Phelan, a boy, stabbed dangerously. Yesterday morning the Court-room of Justice Boerum, in Court street, near Baltic, was thronged with an excited crowd. A large array of lawyers, all volunteers, appeared on behalf of the rioters, and but one man, Mr. [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] Charles Kelsey, Jr., had anything to say on the other side. Being no lawyer, he made but poor progress. The persons arraigned are named as follows, with their occupations, &c., and the charges against them: Patrick C. Keenan, aged 30, born in Ireland, ginseller by occupation, charged with riot and arson. Charles Baker, black, aged 29, born in the United States, laborer, charged with felonious assault. Joseph Flood, aged 19, born in Ireland, a soldier charged with riot. Elias P. Viedell, aged 26, born in the United States, carpenter, charged with riot. Patrick Day, aged 17, born in Ireland, tobacconist, charged with riot. Michael Maher, aged 30, born in Ireland, laborer, charged with riot. Wm. Morris, aged 18, born in Ireland, laborer, charged with riot. John Long, aged 46, born in Ireland, laborer, charged with riot. Richard Raylis, aged 46, born in the United States, seaman interfering with officer. The District-Attorney, not being able to be in attendance for the prosecution, the Justice concluded to adjourn the examination of the parties until Monday next, fixing the bail of each at $500. Several, including Mr. Keenan, procured bail, and the others (with the exception of the colored man, Baker,) were committed. The charge against Baker was withdrawn, as it was evident that he had assaulted the officer under a misapprehension. - The Justice, in discharging him, said that he did perfectly right, under the circumstances, in defending himself as he did. It may be proper to state that Keenan denies having sat fire to the premises, or countenanced such a proceeding in any manner. - N.Y. Tribune. [[short line]] DISPOSAL OF RECAPTURED AFRICANS. [[short line]] THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN M. DE RAASLOFF AND SECRETARY SMITH. [[short line]] [From the National Intelligencer, July 24.] In acceptance of a proposition made some time since by the Danish government, and communicated by the President to Congress, an act was passed at the recent session authorizing the President to enter into arrangements with one or more foreign governments having possessions in the West Indies or other tropical regions, to receive from the United States all negroes delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by commanders of United States vessels, and to provide them with suitable instruction, clothing and shelter, and to employ them at wages, under such regulations as shall be agreed upon, for a period not exceeding five years from the date of their being landed at the place or places agreed upon. IN pursuance of this act the subjoined contract has just been entered into by the Minister of Denmark and the Secretary of the Interior on the part of the United States. COPY OF AGREEMENT 'This agreement, entered into between Waldemar Rudolph Von Raasloff, Charge d'Affaies for an on behalf of the government of Denmark, and Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, for and on behalf of the government of the United States, witnesseth: 'That the government of Denmark agrees to receive from the United States, through its duly constituted authorities, for a term of five years at a landing place called Westend on the Danish Island of St. Croix, in the West Indies, all negroes, mulattoes or persons of color delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by commanders of United States armed vessels, and to provide them with suitable instruction, and with comfortable clothing and shelter, and to employ them at wages, in conformity with the provisional act issued by the Governor of St. Croix on the 26th day of January, 1849, entitled 'Provisional act' to regulate the relations between the proprietors of landed estates and the rural population of free laborlar [[/column 3]]
