Record Data
Transcription
Riot at Carlisle
A slip from the office of the Herald and Expositor, dated June 3, states that a desperate excitement has been created this previous afternoon, by an attempt on the part of a large portion of the colored population to rescue several slaves who had been arrested as fugitive.
The slaves (one man, a woman, and a little girl,) were arrested in the morning, and in the afternoon taken before Judge Hepburn, and remanded to the custody of Col. Hollingsworth and Mr. Kennedy of Hagerstown, Md. Who claimed them.
During the hearing a large crowd in and about the Court-House, and an attempt was made to rescue the prisoners, first in the Court-room, and afterwards as the slaves were brought down from the Court-room to the carriage, which latter resulted in a serious riot.
The attack was commenced at the door of the carriage, where, before the slaves were were got into the vehicle, a general rush was made on the slave-owners and constables by the negro men and women, and a frightful melee ensued in the street, in which for some minutes paving stones were hurled in showers, and clubs and canes used with terrible energy.
The result was that the woman and girl escaped, while the man was secured and taken back to Maryland. Mr. Kennedy was very severely hurt, having been felled to the earth under a succession of blows from stones and clubs, which completely disabled him. A boy in the street by the name of Black, we are informed, was also so severely wounded in the head by a stone, that his life is endangered. Some twenty of the rioters had been arrested.
