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CHAPTER XXIV

MILITARY AND CIVIL EXECUTIONS-RIOTS.

FIRST MILITARY AND CIVIL EXECUTIONS - MILITARY RIOT OF 1792, THE PRO-SLAVERY RIOTS OF 1836, THE BANK RIOT OF 1842, THE JAlL RIOT OF 1849, AND THE BEDINI RIOT OF 1853- MEMORABLE AND BLOODY RIOTS OF 1884---DESTRUCTION OF THE.

THE first case of capital punishment, within the present limits of Hamilton county, occurred in 1789. Two soldiers, John Avers and Matthew Ratmore, were convicted of the crime of desertion and shot at Fort Washington. They were tried by court martial, but as the records have long since been lost, the only account we have of the execution is found in the traditions handed down by old pioneers.

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The shooting took place in the southeast angle of the fort, which had just been erected by Maj. Doughty.

THE FIRST RIOT.

The first riot or unlawful disturbance occurred February 12, 1792. Lieut. Thomas Pasteur, belonging to the garrison of Fort Washington, having quarreled with John Bartle, who kept a little store at the corner of Broadway and Front streets, decoyed him, on pretense of business, to the garrison, when be assaulted him in the presence of his friends, and beat him severely. Bartle prosecuted the lieutenant for the outrage before a magistrate, and at the hearing his attorney, a Mr. Blanchard, pictured the officer in a light so contemptible as to draw on himself the indignation of the latter. Smarting under the tongue lashing he had received from Blanchard, the lieutenant detailed a sergeant and thirty privates to personally chastise the lawyer and all who might, be disposed to defend him or his cause. The sergeant and his detail started on their mission, and an affray took place on Main street between the military and citizens, eighteen in number, headed by Magistrate McMillan and John Riddle. The fight was a severe one, but the citizens succeeded in driving the soldiers off. The affair naturally created great excitement. Oren. Wilkinson, then in command, after an investigation, reduced the sergeant to the ranks, and would have inflicted greater punishment, had it not been proven that, he and his coen were acting under orders. A general order was then issued in which the attack on the magistrate was severely denounced, and the affair characterized as a dishonor to the military, and forbidding the recurrence of anything of the kind under severe penalty.* Lieut. Pasteur was tried by the court for assault and battery, found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of three dollars!

FIRST EXECUTION BY THE CIVIL LAW.

John May, convicted of the murder of Wat. Sullivan, was the first man hanged in Hamilton county. The crime was committed in 1792, soon after the military riot, and the particulars are as follows: May and Sullivan, who were old acquaintances, had been drinking and carousing for several days, when they quarreled abort some trivial matter, which finally ended in blows and the punishment of May. Friends interfered, and they were separated; but May brooded over the idea that be had been worsted by a man much smaller than himself, and openly made threats that he would kill Sullivan at the first opportunity. A few evenings afterward a party was given at the log cabin of Hardin Smith, which stood near the corner of Sixth and Main streets, and May and Sullivan were both present. The latter asked May to "let by-goner be by-gores," and for the resumption of their former friendship; but May said he had sworn to kill him (Sullivan), and there would not be a better time; then, suiting the action to the word, he drew a hunting knife-an article found in the belt of every backwoodsman at that time-and plunged it into Sullivan's heart, who sunk lifeless on the floor of the cabin. May was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed by Sheriff John Ludlow. The gallows was erected on a spot on the south side of Fifth street, east of Walnut. This took place toward the close of the last century, and, as executions were all public at that time, the whole population of the country for a distance of fifty miles in every direction came to seethe vindictive May hanged. The bill of Sheriff John Ludlow, in which be charges the county of Hamilton for "boarding May after sentence, his execution and expense of gallows and grave," is dated November 15, 1702, and is for £15 8s. 9d. It was not paid until six years after it was rendered.

PRO SLAVERY RIOTS OF 1836.

The pro-slavery riots, which began April 11, 18:36, raged unremittingly for several days. At that time the most bitter feeling existed against the negro in Cinema-

* Cist, 1859,p,. 133.

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nati, and it required but a slight provocation to cause this popular feeling to find vent in mob violence. Two boys, one black and the other white, became involved in a quarrel from some trivial cause, when the white boy was beaten. The cause of the white boy was championed by those who wanted to rid the community of the negro, and a mob soon collected. Violence began at the intersection of Broadway and Sixth streets, known as "The Swamp." The houses of many negroes were burned to the ground, and their occupants shot down like dogs. The police were called out and made heroic efforts to put down the rioters, but without avail. Members of the force were compelled to stand and see unoffending colored men killed, without lifting a hand to save, so overwhelmed were they by the mob. Finally the governor of the State declared the city under martial law, and fixed his headquarters in Cincinnati. The stringent measures adopted by him soon guelled the mob, and restored law and order. On July 30, of the same year, several men clubbed together and destroyed [See chapter on the Press] the Philanthropist newspaper, when the police were called out and succeeded in suppressing the riot. A remarkable feature connected with these pro slavery demonstrations was the eminent respectability of the men who acted as leaders and urged the rabble to commit deeds of violence and destruction.

THE BANK RIOT.

Howe, in his "Recollections," informs us that Monday evening, January 10, 1842, the Miami Exporting Company assigned its effects, and Tuesday morning following the Bank of Cincinnati closed its doors. The news spread rapidly, and by 11 o'clock angry crowds of depositors had assembled, had broken in the doors of the bank, destroyed all movable property, and whatever books, papers, etc., Could be found. The excitement became so intense. and the mob was so demonstrative, that ten of the city guards, headed by Capt. Mitchell, were called out by the municipal authorities. After some effort they succeeded in driving the rioters away, and for a time maintained their position. The mob soon rallied and drove the police away, firing upon them and wounding one or two. The rioters then had undisputed possession of the city. An attack was made upon Babe's Exchange Bank, and then upon Lougee's exchange office, both of which they sacked, making havoc of everything which was destructible. A very had feeling existed for several days, but it finally died away, and peace was restored.

THE JAIL RIOT OF 1848.

Soon after the close of the Mexican war, two discharged soldiers came to Cincinnati with the view of settling here. They procured boarding with a German family living near the " Brighton House," and obtained work in a down-town factory. Things passed on smoothly for some time, when the proprietor of the boarding house commenced trying to get their land warrants. The boarders expressed a total unwillingness to part with their papers, when the keeper thought he would try another method. He swore out a warrant against the ex-soldiers charging them with having assaulted his little daughter who was only seven years of age. They were arrested, when the father, mother and child appeared as witnesses, and swore that the charge was true. The prisoners were required to give $5,000 bail each, which of course they could not do, and they were sent to jail to await trial.

A Mob Assemble,.-The report of the affair came out in the papers, and caused much indignation among the people. Finally the excitement culminated in the assembling of a great mob in front of the old jail for the purpose of taking the prisoners out and lynching them. Sheriff Weaver went out and expostulated with them about their conduct told them not to let the good name of the city be tarnished by the disgraceful proceedings of a mob, and if the prisoners were guilty they would assuredly be punished; that he had called on the militia (Citizens' Guards and Cin-

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cinnati Greys) to assist, him in preserving law and order; that it was his sworn duty to protect his prisoners, and he was going to do it, and if they attempted to take the prisoners out of jail he could, with the assistance of the militia, repel any attack. He then read the riot act, and retired within the jail. The snob then commenced a furious attack on the prison. At first they were fired on with blank cartridges; this not seeming to deter them in the least, the sheriff then ordered ball and buckshot to be put in the guns; then at, the risk of his life he went, out and informed the mob what he had done, and implored them to desist and prevent the effusion of blood; he was only hooted and laughed at, and the attack became stronger than ever. The fences were torn down, the pavements torn up, and a general scene of riot, ensued. The mob had almost reached the jail door; one platoon of the troops was ordered to fire, when several of the rioters were killed and wounded. The mob now found that they had more than they had counted on, and beat a hasty retreat. As is usual in all such unfortunate affairs, the innocent must suffer with the guilty, and it was found that one or two had been killed and a similar number wounded, who had had nothing; to do with the affair at all. A lady living across the street was shot while attending to her domestic duties. Jackson Carnahan, a hard-working, intelligent, and highly respectable mechanic, had his dinner bucket with him on his way home from work. He stopped to learn the cause of the excitement and was killed.

The Prisoners Acquitted. -At the next session of the court, the prisoners were placed on trial. More than twenty of the first physicians testified that after a careful examination they wore satisfied that no assault had been committed on the child. When the little girl was placed upon the stand, it soon became apparent that she had been carefully instructed what to say, and the lawyers for the defense soon made her tell that her father and mother had taught her what to say. One of the jail turnkeys swore that he heard the father of the child in jail tell the prisoners that if they would give him their land warrants he would go away and not appear against them; and when they declined to accede to his request, the " old man " said : " If you had given me your land warrants when I asked you to, this would not have been." In fact, the proof was overwhelmingly in favor of the prisoners, as there was not the least evidence against, them, and they were promptly and honorably acquitted of the charge. What must be thought of a father and mother who could concoct, such an infamous scheme to acquire land ! History fails to record the names of the participants in this celebrated trial, and as nearly half a century has rolled away, and the records have been burned, they are buried in oblivion.

THE BEDINI RIOTS.

What, is known in the police history as the Bedini riots occurred in December, 1853. At that period quite a large colony of Germans, who had taken part in the rebellion of 1848, and who were known as "Forty-eighters," resided in Cincinnati, having been compelled to fly from their native land. In this country they organized a "Society of Freemen," made up of bold, determined men, whose hatreds engendered five years before still rankled in their breasts. They believed in the universal equality of man, and it was the attempt to put their doctrines on this point into practical operation that had caused their banishment to the United States. With them the belief was popular that they had been betrayed, and among their betrayers they thought they recognized Father Bedini, who had in some way got mixed up with their affairs in Europe. When, therefore, in 1853, as the Pope's Nuncio, he reached Cincinnati, and took up his residence with Archbishop Purcell, they were confident that his coming had something to do with the rebellion in which they were prime movers. They called an indignation meeting, the result of which was the framing of a request for the Nuncio to leave the city.

Upon the adjournment of this meeting, a crowd of the " Forty-eighters," to the number of two hundred or more, started for the Archbishop's residence, where it

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was known Father Bedini was stopping. In the meantime Mayor Snelbaker had heard of the threatened disturbance, and had issued an order to Chief of Police Looker to take steps to prevent it. When, therefore, the mob had reached the intersection of Eighth and Plum streets, and had started to cross the open space in front of the old city buildings, tine entire police force, which had been rendezvoused in the buildings for the purpose, sallied forth under command of the chief and advanced on the mob briskly. His orders were to attack vigorously. This they did by using their clubs right end left in such a vigorous manner that a panic seized the rioters, and they broke and fled before they could catch a glimpse of the archiepiscopal residence. Many shots were fired during the melee, and many heads were battered; fourteen people were wounded, one of whom. a policeman, died soon after; a citizen also died from blows he had received from the clubs of the policemen. A number of the rioters were arrested, but at the popular behest were promptly dismissed. The affair caused intense excitement.; flanging handbills were issued denouncing the conduct of the police for using their clubs so vigorously, and calling on the people to rise in their might and put them down. The Germans disclaimed any intention to do personal violence to Father Bedini. Tire popular outcry resulted in the call for an indignation meeting. A committee of 100 was appointed to wait upon the city council and request that body to compel Mayor Snelbaker to resign. This the committee did, but the council took no notice of the request. The committee then held a meeting and sent word for the mayor to appear before them. This he refused to do, replying that he was busy, but that he would receive any communications the committee saw fit to transmit to him. This action of the mayor added fuel to the flames, and Judge Spooner, of the Police Bench, sprang to his feet, and moved that since the mayor had refused to comply with a polite request, he be compelled to come, and that a sufficient force be sent to bring him. Foreseeing the result of such action, Hon. Bellamy Storer, who was present, arose and poured oil upon the troubled waters by saying that they were American sovereigns, assembled together for the performance of a public duty; that that duty was to express their disapproval of the conduct of a servant of the people, and to induce him to mend his ways. To do more than this was to violate law. Since the mayor had not seen lit to come before them, the best thing they could do was to adjourn and go home. The meeting took this view of it and adjourned. Popular indignation, however, was so great that the mayor was compelled to dismiss Chief of Police Looker, although the latter had done nothing but obey his orders. Tire affair engendered a had feeling which took years to eradicate, although it was quite clear that the prompt action of the police suppressed what might have been a dangerous and destructive mob.

THE RIOTS OF 1884,

Coming down to a later period it falls to our lot to refer to the great riots of March, 1884, J. S. Tunison,* in his analysis of the causes and results of these riots, informs us that preceding the outbreak twenty-three persons accused of murder, or at least, homicide, occupied the county jail. Some of these persons had been in jail many mouths; some had been tried several times, and their guilt was, so far as the courts went, a (natter still undecided. The Long detention of these prisoners and the delay in the courts were condemned in the public prints and in various other ways as utterly without excuse. No effort to defend the officers of the courts from the charge of laziness and inefficiency has ever been attempted. While it was not true in its full extent, it was true to such a degree as to justify the irritation felt by the people. That irritation, hardly noticed at first, had grown steadily as one hatchery followed another in rapid and apparently endless succession, The quality of the crime had no effect upon the stolid indifference of judges, jurors, and attor

* See "Tunison's Cincinnati Riot: its Causes and Results, 1886." A rare and valuable treatment of the affair.

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neys. The burking case in Avondale, where two body-snatchers were accused of murdering a family in order to secure bodies for a dissection table, was viewed with the same indifference as was shown to an ordinary example of manslaughter in a drunken brawl. For such a state of things the courts, continues Mr. Tunison, were manifestly to blame. Not that they approved of such conditions, but they had fallen into a state of lethargy and supineness which was taken advantage of by the lawless to commit crime, under the belief that escape from punishment was easy.

In the midst of the growing agitation on the subject of the law's delays, there occurred an incident which became the focus of all the excitement and irritation. This was the murder of William Kirk, a stableman in West Eighth street, near Mound, by two of his workmen. The crime was causeless and brutal, and the hardened indifference of the two persons accused -William Berner, a young German, and Joseph Palmer, a light mulatto-increased the public resentment against them. From the moment that the fact of the murder was known the universal feeling was that now the system of the police and the courts was to be submitted to a most important test. The progress of the case, from the arrest of the accused men through all the intricacies of the legal trial, was watched with feverish interest and impatience. The evidence as presented went to show that the murder was done for the sake of a small sum of money; that the first thought of the crime was in the mind of Berner; that he persuaded the mulatto to aid him; that the two beat their victim into insensibility and then strangled him. Indirectly the testimony and the conduct of the prisoners showed that, except in the matter of physical form, the two murderers were hardly to be thought of as human beings. They showed a singular lack of moral sense, of rational intelligence, and of feeling or sympathy for their kind. It is not an exaggeration to say that they gave the impression of two-footed wild beasts, in whom the instincts of destructiveness and self-preservation had been extraordinarily developed at the expense of every other faculty. After the murder of Kirk they put the body in a wagon, took it to the outskirts of the city and threw it into a thicket. When the case came to be tried, T. C. Campbell, counsel for Berner, succeeded in separating the indictments, and had the trial of Berner taken up first. The consideration at the bottom of this preference was the well-known popular contempt for the negro. It was natural to suppose, therefore, that the populace would be content to let a white man escape, since the negro, Palmer, was certain to be hanged. Public indifference to previous violations of law had given good reason for supposing that the expressions of discontent that were now common would be followed at last by a mute acquiescence in the verdict whether it seemed, to the popular judgment, right or wrong. Although more than one banging done by a mob had taken place in the country almost in sight of the city, it was presumed with some reason that a civic population even as impulsive and excitable as that of Cincinnati would be reluctant to appeal to lynch law.

In the meanwhile, those classes of the population which frequented the beer gardens and grog shops were moving with an energy and purpose all their own. Not only in Cincinnati, but in Covington and Newport, were to be seen in the windows of the refreshment houses caricatures of the jury, the attorneys and the court engaged in the trial of Berner. These caricatures were accompanied with explanations, the purport of which was vengeful and murderous. Mysterious marks and emblems appeared on the fences and buildings in the neighborhood of the city. Placards wore not uncommon announcing meetings the avowed purpose of which was to encourage mob violence. A vigilance committee was the subject of common talk. But while there were knots of men in every neighborhood of the city who talked of vengeance, there was no effort to organize these small companies into an army of disorder.

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The trial of Berner came to an end at last. * He was found guilty of manslaughter, and was sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years, the maximum time under the law. There was a decorous interval between the day of the verdict and that when sentence was pronounced. The anger of the people was shown as soon as the verdict was known. Nothing less than the death sentence was considered a lit punishment for Berner's crime. Various things were thought of as reasons why the measure of the popular will had not been fulfilled in this instance. The judge before whom the case was tried was Samuel R. Matthews. The jury was selected according to law on challenges by counsel for State and defendant, out of a venire issued by the trial judge. It did not occur to anybody that the methods of the courts, and the popular sentiment as shown toward murderers for years previous in the Ohio Valley, had been such as to make the verdict against Berner one of astonishing severity.

The Music Hull Meeting.-Naturally the thought was of a public meeting, to demand reform in the treatment of criminals. The call for the meeting was issued and the meeting was held, regardless of the fact that the resentment of the people had taken the form of a murderous frenzy. Among the 8000 persons who crowded into Music Hall there were great numbers of the wisest and most prudent citizens of Cincinnati. They hoped to secure a calm but emphatic expression of public opinion in respect to the abuses of the courts. But they had evoked a. spirit which they could neither exorcize nor control. No remarks by the speakers met with applause unless they could be applied to the objects of popular feeling, Ropes suitable for a lynching party were openly displayed, and threats of mob violence were frequently heard. The speeches of the night were ill-advised in view of the manifest temper of the audience; ill-advised, that is, if the purpose of the meeting was to demand reform and not to encourage a lynching party. The resolutions,(t) which at any other time would have seemed vigorous enough, were assented to by the assemblage without enthusiasm, and the adjournment was no sooner ordered than a cry "to the jail," rang through the hall. Vast numbers of the crowd went to the jail merely because of curiosity. They manifestly looked for a conflict, but they did not expect to take part in it. A small number showed from the first a determination to hang Berner if he could be found. But while they were actuated. by a single desire, they were without a leader, and no man capable of leading them was found during the three days of disorder and bloodshed which followed. Although there had been every reason to expect an attack on the jail sooner or later, the supposition was that instead of the sudden dash of Friday night (March 28) the mob contemplated a deliberate attack on Saturday or Sunday night. The sheriff and his subordinates were by no means as well prepared as they might have been. The fact that the building was impregnable except to a well-armed force, and could in a few minutes be made strong enough to resist anything but artillery, was the principal dependence after the populace began to show signs of temper. For in the first instance even the most determined among the people masked their designs under a laughing indifference. They crowded into the jail by the main doors, and met with little or no resistance until they had ranged through most of the corridors. The indecision of the officials created a feeling that the mob was to have things its own way. In the hour during which hundreds of men were running about from cell to cell, Berner would certainly have been caught and strangled if he had been left in the jail.. Fortunately for him, he had been secretly taken out by an officer who succeeded in getting his prisoner to a train for the penitentiary at Columbus.

*After a jury was, impaneled the taking of testimony commenced March 12. 1884, and the trial ended Mardi 24 in ills conviction for " manslaughter," and he was sentenced on the 28th, do intense eras the feeling against the Jurors that when they emerged from the courthouse they here hooted at and hissed, and there cries to "hang them." Several' of them were so frightened that they ran in the back streets in mortal terror.

(+) Tire resolutions. which are lengthy, may be fond in a bound file of the Enquirer, under date of March 29, 1854. in the Public Library. They are particularly severe on the, Jurors, and denounce them as men unfit to live in the community.

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How easy the conquest would have been is shown by the fact that the snob reached the cell of Joseph Palmer,* Berner's partner in crime, and were baffled only by the coolness and presence of mind shown by the prisoner himself. When asked if he was not Palmer, he came to the front of his cell and said: " No, can't you see that I am a white man"" The mob turned away satisfied, and, after some difficulty, were pushed out of the cell room. The gate was closed, leaving the unwelcome visitors in possession of the jail office, and, in fact, of the entire front which faces Sycamore street. How easily the jail could be defended was shown later, when a party of melt forced their way into the gallows yard, and, with a heavy beam of wood, burst the door leading into the corridor of the jail. The police met these men with decision, and took them prisoners as rapidly as they entered the building, reminding each one, with a sound rap on the head, that he was a violator of law. An attempt to burn the building by setting lire to some small wooden houses showed how easily the jail could be defended in this particular.

Altogether, the experience of Friday night was sufficient to convince cool-headed men that, with some very simple precautions, a small force of policemen, well armed, could defend the jail against a mob of many hundreds of men. Inside of this structure, the militia were from first to last useless. They should have been used to defend the courthouse, which faced Main street, and at the rear overlooked the jail. The entire block was practically in a state of siege, and should have been defended at all points. So extraordinary was the defect in the plan of defence-in view of the fact that the sheriff, M. L. Hawkins, was a military man and had seen some services to persuade many persons that the burning of the courthouse on Saturday night was the work not of the mob, but of men in the employ of corrupt officials who desired to efface the records of their crimes. In any case, there is no excuse for the incompetence which left the building, second in importance in the State of Ohio, to the wild vagaries of a mob. The only excuse ever attempted was the statement that the forces in hand were insufficient. If they had been properly disposed there were enough men available from the first. Indeed, the Gatling gun, belonging to the police department, which was of little or no use during the riots, if it had been handled promptly, would have driven the mob out of Main street at a less cost. of life than that, which followed the desultory and indecisive firing of the militia.

Throughout the three days of disorder the defect in the conduct of the authorities was a lack of energy and decision. As it was, no effort was made to protect the firemen, who might have saved the courthouse; the populace found it easy to throw firebrands into the building. Fired upon by the militia, they simply gathered up the dead and wounded and retired, to return in a few minutes with fresh brands and renewed determination. When the flames had gained such headway that they could not be extinguished, the crowd made their way into the building, by battering down the front gates, and carried on the work of demolition without hindrance. Late on Saturday night, troops began to pour into the city, and the disorder was put down by mere weight of numbers. With the exception of two or three attempts to capture gun stores, and to rifle pawnshops in order to secure guns and pistols, the populace had shown no disposition to attack any buildings except those belonging to the county. The people had proved themselves capable of the most irrational and insane conduct that had ever been attributed to free citizens of the United States. No disorder known to the history of the country had been so purposeless in its origin; so difficult to quell, considering the number of persons engaged in it, and so devoid of result in the outcome. The courthouse was a ruin. The jail had resisted every attack made upon it. Even an attempt to set it on fire with coal oil had only served to prove how impregnable it was to the assaults of an ill-armed mob. Not one of the prisoners against whose lives threats had been numerous was hurt. Berner, the

* Some months after the riot Palmer was tried, convicted of murder, and executed. After the terrible experiences of March no jury would have dared to find any other verdict.

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immediate occasion of the outbreak, after an eventful journey, in which he escaped from his guard and wandered about, the country in mortal terror of being hanged, was caught and safely placed in the penitentiary at Columbus.

Forty-five persons had been killed and a large number were wounded. The only gain that anyone could put his hand upon, was the experience which will probably prevent the recurrence of such a disturbance, and will certainly prevent the mistakes that made the struggle more costly to life and property than it ought to have been. If Berner had been captured and hanged, the gain would have been nothing more than a gratification of popular resentment. In the years that have intervened since the riot, it has been shown by repeated instances that. the effect of the murderous tumult was to increase the number of crimes in the city and in the. States near to it. Put the effect of the agitation has been to draw the lines of the law strictly. Capital punishment has been more frequent. Respect for the law on the part of the law-abiding has been increased, and the determination to enforce it has been strengthened.

The most extraordinary illustration of the folly alluded to in the worn proverb about " locking the stable door after the horse is stolen," was given in the effort to punish T. C. Campbell,* the attorney who defended Berner. For a generation the bar had indulged all grades of morality among its members, and now one man was to be made a scapegoat for the sins in which all had shared to a greater or less extent. It is, perhaps, fortunate for the self-respect of the profession in the future that this effort was not successful. The verdict for the defense in the trial of Campbell for bribery and subornation, may be considered equally fortunate. He became the victim of the general resentment, and the punishment of abiding unpopularity was fully equal to the offenses with which he was charged. When his house was burned, with a valuable library and other property, the wantonness and cowardice that marked the arson were such as to cause some reaction in public opinion in his favor. His courage in facing the populace, even when its expression of animosity were the most bitter, deserves the praise of all who respect bravery.

History of the Riots in Detail.-The riots of March, 1884, came suddenly. None were more astonished at the whirlwind they had evoked than the. respectable citizens who called the Music Hall meeting, and whose inflammatory speeches convinced the mob that it would have the sanction of the better classes of society.

According to some accounts it was the mob in Elm street, unable to get into the crowded hall, that started for the jail, while others maintain that it was from the audience in Music Hall that the rioters were recruited, (t) They were led on by four negroes, and, with constantly augmented numbers, rolled down toward the jail. The news traveled before them, and Sheriff Hawkins sent in the riot alarm. The crowd was soon battering at the jail doors, and was not long in effecting an entrance. The number of the riot alarm was known only to a few, but the multitude seemed to divine by instinct what the unusual ringing of the bells meant, and rushed for the scene of conflict. In a few minutes the mob had possession of the jail, but there were no leaders, and it did not know how to break down the cell doors. A detachment of police arrived, and by persuasion and a moderate display of force, succeeded in getting the mob out of the jail before any of the cell doors had given way before their battering. More police arrived, and the patrol wagons came dashing through the crowd, which they vainly tried to disperse. No. 1 was able to penetrate the dense mass as far as the jail entrance, when several shots were fired, and the first blood was shed, a boy of seventeen sinking to the pavement with a bullet in his brain.

* Tunison's Cincinnati ),lot, p. 15.

(t) This account of the riot is drawn materially from the excellent account written by Oscar Edgar, and published in Mr. Tunison's pamphlet, pp. 81-93.

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The crowd quickly rallied, and, breaking into the offices and residence portion of the jail, wrecked doors and windows in their passage, but spared private property. It looked strange to see a piano with its woolen covering unhurt and not even pushed away, while broken glass crunched under the feet of the rioters. The crowd first got into the jail over a plank which was thrust from the pavement into a window, and then used as a bridge to span the wide area before the office. Soon the crowd was assaulting the well, which is a circular apartment containing an iron staircase leading to the cells and corridors above. From the well four passages lead, all guarded by iron doors. One opens into the jail office, one into a long corridor leading to the bath-rooms and other offices; one to the kitchen, and another into the tunnel by which prisoners were conveyed between the jail and the courthouse. Three iron doors are set in this tunnel, and while it was entirely open from the court-house end the crowd did not attempt to carry it, They filled the office and the corridor leading to the bath-rooms. From the office they attacked the barred gate with a heavy plank. In the south corridor sledge hammers were employed by men who knew how to use them, and the great lock gave way before repeated blows of the hammer. The crowd in the office was a mixture of respectable looking Men, mostly young, and the worst elements of society. Most of those who swung the battering ram looked like thieves and murderers. Here and there in the crowd were men whose torn and dirty jackets were distended with the bowlders they were carrying concealed. Suddenly the gas went out. "Hold on! Stay where you are!" was the cry, and some passed out and quickly returned with lights. The darkness had little effect on the crowd. The gas was quickly relighted. "The door is giving away!" shouted another. The crowd poured through both doors and precipitated itself upon the ranks of deputy sheriffs and police, which were drawn up in front of the two entrances. Several policemen were bit with bowlders, one with an axe thrown at him. It was now midnight.

The Militia Arrives.-Then the jail rang with loud reports. This was the first intimation that the militia had been called upon. It was also the first report of firearms. Then followed more reports, and shortly the crowd surged out of the office and corridor, followed by a line of gleaming bayonets. What had transpired in the meantime is a subject of dispute. The militia, for whom Sheriff Hawkins had sent, entered the tunnel from the courthouse, and suddenly found themselves in darkness, for the gas had been turned out. They saw before them a knot of then whom they mistook for rioters. So they were, mainly, but they were captives under the charge of two policemen. The command came to fire, and Capt. Foellger cried: "For God's sake fire high!" Whether the mob fired first from the well into the tunnel is still the disputed matter, One militiaman assured a reporter that he and others in the front ranks had to jump aside to escape injury from those behind him who fired wildly. A reporter who had no sympathy with the mob accompanied the militia in the tunnel, and be heard no firing except from the militia. Corporal Cook, who received three wounds at this time, was powder-burned in the face- a result which, could not have followed from the discharge of pistols fifty feet off. But Col. Hunt and most of the militia assert that they were fired upon first. Several were wounded at this time and one rioter was killed.

The jail was soon cleared of the rioters, and it is only due to the militia to say that during the remainder of that trying night most of then displayed considerable coolness. In the first flurry-coming directly from the quiet of the armory, where they had been enjoying their weekly drill-these young men, who had most of them never been under fire before, found themselves hemmed in in a subterranean passage in pitch darkness. Before them somewhere-they could hardly fell where in their confusion-a crowd of angry and bloodthirsty rioters. Who can wonder that some of the more excitable lost their heads? If they did fire first, they may be well excused from it.

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The Mob Still in Force.--Foiled by the arrival of the military, a factor on which they had not counted, the mob raged without. It had undisputed control of the jail yard, and, leaderless as it was, it used that advantage with considerable judgment. "Smoke them out, smoke out the murderers, the militia!" was the cry, and fire was set to two small offices attached to the rear of the jail. Then it was perceived that the jail could not he burned in this way, and two fires were built in the yard. A frame office was destroyed. and combustibles were brought from far and near. Burning planks from the fires were thrown into the boiler-room and the coal cellar. These, fortunately, did not communicate with the jail, except through two narrow passages which opened upon the tunnel. The closed iron doors kept out the smoke, and the defenders were not aware of this last assault by fire until a reporter passing through the, tunnel informed them. Now the infuriated crowd assaulted the south side of the jail, and the brickbats and pistol balls rained so thickly on the building that they kept up a continuous rattle and crash.

It did not take long for the crowd to find that the garrison was not discommoded yet. The mob on the north side discovered an area adjoining the kitchen and surrounded by a wall. A hundred or so mounted the wall overlooking the kitchen and rained in missiles, with an occasional pistol shot. So long as they contented themselves with smashing glass the defenders allowed them to work their own sweet will. The crowd was not playing, however, for in a few minutes a burning plank was sent sailing through the air. It struck sideway between the bars, carrying away the sash, and lay with one end projecting into the kitchen, sending forth volumes of stifling smoke. This had to be stopped, and a lieutenant of the First Regiment stationed himself at the door leading from the corridor into the kitchen, and, with a detail of men, tried to keep down the crowd. The cry rang down the corridor, "Get back there! get back! lookout! get away from there! " And then in a lower tone, Steady--fire! " And the loud report of the rifle told that some boy or young man had dropped down from the wall with a wound in his leg or foot as a reward for his attempt to fire a pistol or hurl a rock through the window. Yet as each one dropped another would scramble to his place. Fear had no place in that mob.

It was about this time that several men were sent up to the roof on an upper part of the jail to fire over the mob on both sides of Court street, so as to compel them to hug closely the walls inclosing the jail, and thus prevent the rioters doing mischief. About an hour and a half had elapsed since at midnight the jail doors had been broken, and only the timely arrival of the militia prevented it from falling into the hands of the mob. The rattle of brickbats and pistol shots had become monotonous, when the crowd tried another stratagem. The jail office, which ninety minutes before had been filled with a surging mass of angry men, was now guarded by ten soldiers with fixed bayonets.

Coal Oil Applied. Occasionally a knot of men had gathered at the railing overlooking the area, but they had generally retreated when warned. About half-past one o'clock this area railing suddenly became black with men, and a liquid poured down the step, the smell of which proclaimed it petroleum. Immediately the men seized the carpet and rolled it back, and conveyed the furniture into the well. By this time the barrel had been dropped in and fire was dropping upon it. The militia as one man sprang to the door and delivered a shattering volley on the mob, then pushing their way up the steps fired again on the sullen crowd. It was in this volley that Joseph Sturm was killed. He was standing by the side of patrol wagon No. 3. The soldiery were unconscious of his presence. Several bullets entered his side and he fell dead.

Blood was hot on both sides. The prospect of a horrible death by coal oil was too much for the militia. The detail that had been guarding the office was now drawn up on the pavement and reinforced from the reserve in the jail. Orders were

374 - HISTORY OF' CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

given to aim effectively and waste no more shots. The crowds had retreated to shelter behind the jail wall, from which numbers would suddenly emerge upon sycamore street to fire on the troops. The young officer's voice would then ring out: "Get back! get back there! got back! " If this triple warning was unheeded, then the low command would come, " No. --, fire! " In a few minutes the crowds discovered that the militia were really firing bullets, and firing them in their direction. Then only the most adventurous would sally from the hiding-place, and one at a time. Finally about three o'clock in the morning the crowd, wearied of a warfare in which it lost so much and did so little, began to thin out. At the hour named the guard of militia, which had been twice changed, was reinforced. It was drawn up on the pavement. wheeled to the right and left, wheeled again down North and South Court streets, and ordered to fire volleys down these streets. The rioters tumbled over each other in the effort, to got out of the way. Squads of police came behind them, marched through and patrolled the streets for hours, driving the mob slowly before them. The first night of horror was over.

There were but two incidents which did not occur in the vicinity of the jail. The armory of a post of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Court and Walnut streets, was broken into and a number of stands of arms taken. The rioters found a bass drum, with which they amused themselves, but they had no ammunition. Another party broke into B. Kittredge & Company's gun store, on Main street, between Fourth and Fifth, with the intention of getting arms and ammunition, but found none of the latter. In a short while they returned, gutted the store, and among other things seized upon a small brass cannon and three kegs of powder, but they found little or no fixed ammunition. The threat was made that they would blow up the jail, but, the attempt was not made. The fire department responded at the sounding of the riot alarm, but the firemen were not allowed to use their hose. They were at the mercy of the mob, and an attempt to lay the hose would have resulted only in its being cut, and, if persevered in, the destruction of their engines. They lost $150 worth of hose as it was. After watching affairs for awhile they received orders to return to their houses, and left amid the cheers of the crowd.

Second Day of the Riot.-The second day was one of apprehension at Cincinnati and Columbus. Many persons believed the worst was over, but such as had witnessed the pertinacity of the mob feared the approach of nightfall. Sheriff Hawkins, whose coolness during the excitement of the preceding night had won him the respect and admiration of all beholders, made preparations for a worse night than the one before. Governor Hoadly offered him the aid of the State militia. He was unwilling to shed more blood, but after consideration of the condition of affairs he reluctantly consented to accept the offer made by the State. After consultation with Col. Hunt of the First Regiment, Chief of Police Reilly and Hon. Matthew Ryan, he disposed of his forces. He had only 150 men-to extend his lines so as to cover the courthouse was to lose both it and the jail. He was bound by his oath of office to protect the jail. To barricade all approaches to the latter was the best he could do, and he could not extend his breastworks more than half a square from the jail without leaving each squad of men out of support of the others in case of an attack. The jail was strengthened as well as could be, and Sheriff Hawkins prepared to resist the expected assault of his position until reinforcements should arrive.

The crowd had been dense all day, and it gathered numbers and confidence as darkness came. The barricades looked ugly, and the crowd gathered chiefly in front of the courthouse. The riot began with the throwing of bowlders and brickbats at the courthouse, while some fired pistols and shot guns at the windows. Gaining confidence, a storming party was formed, and the iron doors in the courthouse front were battered down in a few minutes. About the same time a gang of boys began breaking in the county treasurer's office, which was in the northwest

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corner of the basement. The idea of firing the courthouse began with this collection of boys and half-grown men, who were led, it is said, by men and boys from Kentucky. The furniture and broken counters were piled up in the middle of the room, and coal oil was poured upon them. The match was applied, and a small flame quickly shot forth. It leaped from one article to another, gathered head and roared with increasing strength. The mob cheered and yelled. One office after another was fired, and soot) the flames were dancing in every apartment of the front basement. When the mob reached South Court street it mashed along the side of the courthouse, intending to tire the offices on that side. It, was met by a volley of musketry which made it stagger and rush around the corner again. Soon after a white handkerchief tied to a stick was waved, and then a number of the rioters cautiously appeared and carried off the dead and wounded. In a few minutes afterward the sheriff's red auction flag, through which the mob had been firing bullets, was waved, and again the, mob surged around the corner, emptying its firearms at the barricade. "Fire!" And another volley made every wall in the narrow street tremble, and the multitude rushed back, some reeling and falling, others tripping over them, then picking themselves up and continuing the flight. Again the white flag was waved. "Make way, gentlemen, make way for the wounded," called out several surgeons, whom a sense of professional duty had called to the scene. "Make way," and the crowd opened lanes through which was carried many a poor fellow who had rushed around the corner but a minute before. Soon the tables of the Debolt Exchange were covered with mangled bodies, some from which life had fled, others which were gasping with feeble and perishing breath. The surgeons busied themselves with these while the battle went on without. After this the militia kept up a dropping fire on the mob whenever it showed itself, and continually the number of the wounded increased. The Debolt could not hold them all. Burdsal's drug store below Canal, and a saloon on Ninth street, were turned into temporary hospitals. This sort of skirmishing continued for hours, and amid it all the courthouse burned slowly. Steadily the flames crept from room to room through a stone building alleged to be fireproof. Anon the flames pierced the roof, dense volumes of smoke poured through the ventilator over the rotunda, iron shutters bent in the heat, iron girders sprang from their seats on iron pillars with loud explosions, records which were eloquent with human joys and sorrows turned into bright flame and vanished, while passions as hot as the tire raged around the devoted pile. Nothing could be done to stay the remorseless flames the fierce mob would not allow it, Thus for the second time perished the Hamilton county temple of justice by flames.

Military Begin, to Arrive.-But another turning point had been reached, and the insulted majesty of the law and order began to assert itself with greater force. Soldiers began to arrive from other parts of the `State. First came the Fourth Regiment, but only to teach Dayton how little reliance she might place in her citizen soldiery. Appalled by the hostility of the mob, which would have made respectful room before a gleaning line of bayonets, this regiment halted within sight almost of the building, which was only beginning to burn, and ingloriously returned to the depot from which it came. Capt. Frank Brown, of Company A, after trying vainly the command, returned with several members of his Dayton company to the lines the next day and did good service. The remainder of that company left for their homes in Dayton. Companies of the regiment from Springfield and other points retrieved their fame by assisting in quelling the disturbance the following day, and some of the Daytonians were forced to return by the scorn of their wives and fellowtownsmen. But the majority of them failed to return.

Not so the gallant Fourteenth, of Columbus. This regiment , -rived at. half-past ten, an hour after the Fourth, and marched from the Little Miami depot to the scene of conflict. They were ordered to clear the street before the courthouse.

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Marching down South Court street they drove the mob before them. Company A pushed the mob up Main street. Companies B and F wheeled to the left upon the mob in Court street, and found themselves engaged with the real rioters. At first the snob gave way; then sixteen or twenty rioters separated themselves from the mass, precipitated themselves through the first company, several falling dead in their tracks at the first volley, and were caught by the colored company, the Duffy Guard, and pushed aside.

Ten of this regiment were soon wounded under the fire of the mob, and the command devolved from one officer to another until the third who took command gave the order to fire. With the precision of veterans, platoon after platoon delivered its fire. It was about midnight when the rapid succession of crushing volleys told that, the tables had turned, and many an anxious citizen ejaculated his thanks, as he divined that the mob hall met its master. The mob rushed up Court street. Every volley found its victims, and Kinzbach'a drug store, at the corner of Court and Walnut streets, was soon filled with the dead and dying. The rush of fugitives into the store and the crashing of bullets through the windows imperiled the lives of the wounded and the surgeons, who were mostly devoting themselves to suffering humanity. It was too much for the mob. The Fourteenth hold the ground it had captured, and the Gatling gun was brought up from its post near the jail to support the militia. Then the skirmishing continued. Occasionally some section of the mob, with reckless daring, sprang from behind a sheltering corner to fire; on the troops. The troops returned the fire, not in volley, now, for the discharge of two or three guns was enough to disperse the crowd, and almost every such episode added to the list of the dead and wounded. Thus the night wore away, and with the gray dawn the firing gradually ceased.

Stirring Incidents.-Soon after the Fourteenth Regiment had driven back the mob, a couple of engines were sent for and brought around, under military escort, to Sycamore street. The firemen laid their hose without hindrance, and played upon the burning courthouse for the rest of the night. They were enabled to save the northeast corner of the building, including the recorder's office, the grand jury rooms, the coroner's office.. and the carpenter's shop in the basement. Their success showed that the fire might have been stopped at any stage, but for the violence of the mob.

About 9 o'clock a portion of the mob started down Main street to procure arms and ammunition. William Powell & Company's gun store was attacked, and coal oil barrels were rolled up to the front of the store with the intention of burning it, The result was totally unexpected to the mob. A barricade of empty boxes had been built in the store, and behind this lay several clerks armed with repeating rifles. Guilford Stone had stationed himself at an open window in the second story, The street was jammed with heads when Mr. Stone lot loose his batteries. At the first discharge five men fell, two of them dead. Soon the mob was in fall retreat. About midnight a telephone message came to the Hammond street police station to the effect that a squad of the rioters had captured two cannon in Power Hall, and was then on its way up Main, from Fourth street, toward Powell's. Lieut. Burke took a squad of police with him, and came upon the rioters as they stopped in front of Powell's to get ammunition. One volley from the " navy sixes," and each rioter was seeking safety in his own individual way. The police ran down and captured several prisoners, and then trundled the cannon up to the Main street barricade, and delivered the pieces to the militia.

It was on this night that Capt. John J. Desmond, of Company B, First Regiment, was killed. * He was leading a detachment of his company through the court

* 1n the corridor of the new Courthouse, to the right of the foot of the morn stairway as you enter from the street, is a marble tablet inserted in the wall, which hears this inscription; " in memory of John J. Desmond, attorney at law, and captain of Company B, First Regiment, O. N. G., who was killed near this spot March 29, 1884 while defending the courthouse front lawless violence. this tablet is erected by members of tire bar."

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house to protect the county's property, before it had been fired by the mob. As his detachment emerged and deployed upon the street, a ruffian aimed a revolver at him and brave Desmond was no more. Daring the evening his murderer was taken into the jail mortally wounded, and confessed his crime before he gave up the ghost.

This is the history of the second night. Revenge was the motive of the mob revenge for those killed during the attack on the jail. The rioters no longer thirsted for the blood of the imprisoned murderers, bat for the blood of the militia who were preserving law and civilization against anarchy. During the disturbance the communistic element showed itself in a baud bill distributed around the city advising the formation of vigilance committee to "purify" the city No heed was paid to it, and by the single act the handful of socialists in the city showed how weak they were.

Third, and Last Day of Terror.-Sunday was a day of apprehension. Rumors filled the city. Threatening crowds confronted the barricades, which, with the strengthening of the military force, had been moved out to cover the smouldering ruins of the courthouse. It was rumored that Music Hall, "Hunt's Hotel" and other places were to be attacked, and citizens and militia looked forward to a night of carnage and tire. Troops continued to arrive all days, The city buildings were turned into barracks. Soldiers stacked their arms and slept in the jail, on Court and Main streets, in the corridors of the city hall, and in the City Park. Sleep was sweet to many of them, even on a blanket spread on the hard ground behind the barricades.

The mob that confronted the barricades was noisy and demonstrative. One stubborn man was shot down on North Canal street, the only man who lost his life in broad daylight during the whole riot. Threatenings were loud and bloodthirsty. Tile severe handling the mob bad received from the Fourteenth Regiment, the knowledge that the militia organizations were pouring into the city on every railroad, and the reaction of sentiment caused by the wanton destruction of the courthouse, were all having their effect on the mob. About 8:25 o'clock P. M. the mob at Court and Walnut streets grew morn demonstrative and could not be quieted. Suddenly several shots were fired at the troops, who responded with a blank volley. The mob coolly stayed to note the effect of the fire, and, finding it was with blank cartridges, did not badge. The next volley raised a cloud of dust and dropped several of the rioters, and the balance lost no time in dispersing. This cleared the street for some time.

About 11 o'clock P. M., a gang of half-grown boys, who had visited Bohne, one of the jurors in the Berner trial, at his house, intending to adjust a noose to his neck, and, luckily, failed to find him, came down to the Court street market-house and fired upon the barricade. The galling gun was turned loose for the first time. It filled the air with bullets* and several of the rioters dropped. The others bid behind pillars of the market-house and the street corners, and annoyed the militia for some time. Whenever a fair chance was afforded the machine gun was turned loose, and a few more added to the wounded.

The mob rapidly thinned out after midnight, and by 3 o'clock in the morning there was not so much as a knot of men to be seen at any corner of the battlefield. It soon became apparent that the mob was conquered, and a feeling of relief fell upon the watching citizens, the militia anti the city authorities.

During the night a portion of the mob which had been amusing itself by throw-

* Among residents of the neighborhood who made narrow escapes, was Maj. Jesse Fulmer. He keeps a house furnishing establishment at No 33 west Court street. His place of business was closed, of course, during the disturbance, as the mob was violent in this street. When the gun was fired one of the bullets crashed through his window, curt through a nest of till pans sitting on a shelf, then passed through a pine board and flattened Itself against the brick wall. A minute or two before the gun was fired lie was at the door peering through a crack at the mob, and had ,just stepped bach when the ball crashed through. had he remained at the door lie would have been killed, as he was in the line of the shot. The bullet holes can still be seen, and the Major has preserved the perforated till pans as relies.

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ing cars off the track at Elm and Twelfth streets started for Music Hall, firing off pistols as it went. After some parley with the officers of the building the mob entered Power Hall, and began to put together the parts of a cannon they found there. Word was sent to the city buildings, and two companies of the Sixth, the Waverly and Lancaster companies, were dispatched to the scene. The rioters fled, but three of them were captured. About the same time a raid was made on the pawnbrokers' shops on Central avenue, near Sixth, by thieves. A squad of police charged them and captured a number in the stores. In the police court next morning all these amen got heavy sentences.

Scenes at the Morgue.-Ghastly wore the scenes at the morgue. In a small room, lighted by two candles, lay stretched out, at one time, the stiffened bodies of twenty' victims staring at the ceiling. Some with great blackened holes in their heads or breast, with hands upraised as if in the very act of hurling a missile; others with shoulders half torn away, leaving bloody gaps through which their lungs could be seen. The wounds made by those slugs were horrible. At the hospital were about one hundred and fifty wounded and dying. The sufferers bore their pain with remarkable fortitude. Few were the groans, and some of those severely wounded were ready to converse about themselves and the scenes they had witnessed, while the torn nerves throbbed with agony.

All the country had its attention drawn to Cincinnati, and bulletin boards in distant cities were watched all day by eager crowds. The suspense and agony of apprehension in Ohio and Indiana was such as was witnessed during the first great battles of the Rebellion. The most startling rumors flew through the country. Every city of the State felt it had an individual interest in the issue. Persons hurrying to Cincinnati, troops and officials, were surprised to find less excitement in the city, except in the vicinity of the courthouse, than prevailed in the smaller cities of Ohio and the neighboring States. The recklessness of the mob is what made apprehension greater. The cost in the loss of property, to say nothing of the lives that wore sacrificed, was very great. The magnificent courthouse, which had cost fully seven hundred thousand dollars,* was a ruin, and hundreds of records bad fallen a prey to the devouring flames.

In course of time a new building, more elegant, and costly than the first, arose upon the site of the burned " Temple of Justice." It is complete in all its interior arrangements, the court rooms, and offices for the county officials, are ample in size; it is three stories in height, and a credit to the opulent county of Hamilton.