THE WAY THE FEDERALS ABOLISH SLAVERY

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 14, 9 December 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE WAY THE FEDERALS ABOLISH SLAVERY

(From the Times.) " Manhattan," under date of July 1 7th, from New York, the following vivid description of the atrocities perpetrated by tlic Frdemls on the negroes. It will l>e observed by the reader that, so far from the outrages being wholly atliibuted to tlic mob, the latter are abetted and sustained in them by the respectable citizens : — "At the City Hall [ learned that the riot was renewed with more fierceness in my own neighborhood. I hurried henie. Found Twenty-xeventli street blockaded, and the mob at the corner, below my house, had hung up a negro to the lamppost. In mockery, a cigar was placed in his mouth. His clothes had beensripped off. Soon after a i ompaay of mili ary arrived, hut they did no! fire upin the mob. Later, boys dragged the n«gro round the block, some of them p'ayfuily picking out his eyes with sti ks, oknocking out, his firm while teeth wi f .h stones. For hours ihese scared negroes poured up Twenty-seventh street, passing my house. My wife, who is southern, and consequently does not believe in ill treating negroes, whether slave or free, was crying as if her heart would break at some of the scenes. One old negro, seventy years old, blind as a bat, and such a cripple that be could haidlymove, was led along by his equally aged wife, with a fjw ra«s they had saved, trembling wi h fright, and not knowing where to go. 1 went out with a doll ir bill in hand (o "ivo it A fiiend stopped me and said, " Do not, for God's sake, unlcs9 you wish to be killed, and have your house burned over your head. The cry of Aboliiionist will hi raised on you."' I let the old couple meet their fate, and Heaven grant it may have been a mild one. Eveiy now and then the shrieks of the negroes — some of them raving mad with fright — would make our bloo 1 run cod. Above us, in Twenty -seventh street, Me Stephens kept his place secure by car.non ready to he fired upon the mob. I remained at home the remainder of Wednesday, havingnoticed that H«ii!di;i<;s would he fired near my home. About midnight I felt relieved when the flames bursf o;n at 101, J3, nnd 5. It was twenty buildings off. I went up to the top of my house, and c.juld .see the whole operation. The firemen would be interfered with by the mob, but would soon coux them to «o away. Then a lull in the noise. Then r lie flames would spurt up brighter than ever, and the air would b-j Mile 1 with such screams ■is never cami 1 . from any other mob. All this time the sky seemed to be on liie in the lower part of th^ city. !t was the burning of the grain elevators in Brooklyn

Docks. Finally, the fire was put out, and I got some sleep. The next morning (Thursday), the Woven th-avenue, from Thirty-three to Twe'ity-^eventh street, was swept by musketry. In the afternoon Andrews, the mob -orator, was arrested. He was committed to Fort J,afayette for treason. '• From a low estimate I should think 20.) negroes had bj n killed in ihe streets and houses by the mob. Many have been hung, more shot, and a still greater number

bealen to death. How truly ] prophesied this in former letters, when [ told you how imprudent the negroes were in cars and omnibuses ! Negro life hereafter will be worthless. It. will not be punished as a crime, for all hands have engaged in it.

In the hight of God, Henry Ward Beecher and that set are the true murderers of these poor negroes, and the cause of the horrible suffering that they now endure. The negroes wi-ro contented and happy un'il sucli humbugs as lieecher, Tillon, Greely, ami Co., puffed them up, that they were mt equal, but superior to other nations. ' Mr. , don't it do your heart good to see a nigger hanging tight and fast to a lamp post '"' s<vd a respectable citizen to me, in view of the '•fixed fact"' of that kind, as though lie really enjoyed it, and really deemed it as a very meritorious proceeding. He represents 200,000 persons who do not think dif jcrenthj. I visited York .Street ; it is a short street, running from the rear of St. John's Clvipel to West Broadway. Not a house in the sireet but what is "gutted." or, as the rioters say, is empty. The old negro haunts of Thomas and Leonard Streets were too strong for the mob, or rather, the cannon, in Worth Street (between those streets)— and the outstanding pickets awed the mob and saved the negroes, many of whom were born there. The effect upon the prospects of the negroes will be very gloomy. Many of them have escaped from the city into the adjacent country; I ut they will find that their appearance brings terror, and no security to themselves They must starve with their little ones, or return to a place where life is less sacred than black crows. The police now protect them in ihe stationhouse, or send them to Lii-ker's or 81.-ick-weli's Islands — pauper ami criminal establishments. A negro or ;rp:>liceman are on an equality in safety of life, if they walk about alone. A policeman's life, alone, is not worth a oc. piece. They go in squads of fifty to one hundred. One thousand new ones have been created, so that we now have 4,000. They really have done service — great eervire, far ahead of the military. The gallant uciion of Kennedy, the superintendent, made the force formidable. They have attacked the mob at all hours— ni*ht and day. The troops do not lire in earnest, for ycsler lay 100 to 40',) shots weie fired fioji both sides in Ck'cond avenue, while the 7t.h Regiment was traversing one block, and not a man was killed or wounded on cither side."