RIOT IN DANVILLE

   Last Saturday afternoon a riot occurred in Danville, between the white and colored people, which resulted in the death of five or six colored men, the wounding of several others and the wounding of two or three white men—one of them, perhaps, fatally. Putting all reports together the facts of the case seem to be as follows: A young white man named Noel was passing along the street which was considerably crowded, when he encountered two colored men one of whom jostled against him or stepped upon his foot. Noel made some forcible remarks and the negro immediately apologized; his companion, however, thinking there was no reason for apology expressed himself in that respect, whereupon Noel attacked him with his fists. A man was in company with Noel drew a pistol, which a colored man attempted to snatch from his hand, and in the scuffle the white man was thrown into the gutter. The negro then ran away and the white man jumped up and shot at him. At the sound of the pistol the negroes who had gathered scampered away and several hundred white people who had been holding a Bourbon indignation meeting near by, were attracted to the spot. A crowd of colored people soon congregated in the street and the white men were upon sidewalks. A pistol shot and outcry from the crowd of white men precipitated a general fusillade, probably a hundred shots being fired. The colored people quickly fled in every direction, and in about two minutes the street was clear of them. The fire bells immediately sounded alarm and hundreds of armed men were quickly upon the street and one military company was ordered out. Subsequently, there men acting as mounted police were fired into while passing a house occupied by colored people, and one of them badly wounded. The house was raided and one colored man captured. Great excitement reigned in the City, and throughout the surrounding county.

It looks like a poor chance for the Bourbons to make political capital out of riot where only negroes were killed.

THAT RIOT

   In regard to the recent riot at Danville, we have a few words to day in behalf of the colored people, not because they were entirely right but because they were not entirely wrong.
   The Bourbon press of the State have made a great furor about this thing and blame the colored people and their political friends for all of this trouble, and represented that their party are wholly innocent of the causes which led to the riot and that they acted wholly on the defensive in the fight. To substantiate the first claim, they cite various speeches and publications which have been made by the Readjusters during the campaign, claiming that it has been a constant endeavor of the white Readjustors to engender feelings of hatred on the part of the colored people against the whites. To some extent this may be true, for there are unprincipled men in every party, and some of the Readjusters may have said an d done things which were calculated to stir up bad blood; but it ill becomes the Bourbons to raise the cry of, “Stop Thief,” for their representatives were even more guilty of drawing the color line, broad and black. As an evidence of this fact we shall reproduce just one example from a newspaper which we had always considered the most fair and liberal one of all the Bourbon press, Richmond State. It said:

   “Place the foul foot of the degraded black upon the fair white necks of Virginia’s matrons and daughters and free sons, and trample them in the dust! Oh, no; it cannot be that the white man of old Virginia, who have been hitherto looked upon as the highest types of American manhood, can fall so low, can sink so low, in the scale of humanity, as to thus surrender every sentiment and feeling of their nature, give up all their pride of race and birth, degrade themselves below the status of the average African, who already looks upon them with scorn and contempt, and feels that he is not only their equal socially and politically, but their superior.”

   Is this not incendiary language? Is it not the stuff of which bad blood is engendered?