Islands. As it took some time for this news to spread throughout the
island the rioting continued. Finally the authorities called to their
assistance General Bourdeaux and Martin King, who partly restored
order. The rioters in the eastern part who refused to disperse were
fired upon. A few were killed and many wounded. General von Scholten
did not at first let the military commander fire on the rioters. The
planters appealed to him for permission to take the field against the
Negroes but he refused. Upon renewal of the request, however, the
militant element was allowed to proceed on the condition that they
should not fire on the rioters, unless the latter fired on them.
Accordingly the cavalry ran over the estates and forced and overawed
many Negroes into respecting the law on the north side of the island.
On the south side in the meantime disorder was unusual, but energetic
troops under Major V. Geillerup and Captain V. Castonier scoured the
country, captured leaders of the riot and imprisoned them. In the
meantime Governor Prim of Porto Rico had in response to an appeal for
assistance despatched 600 Spanish troops and two mountain howitzers
that assured peace and order.

The subsequent humiliation of General Bourdeaux is a blot on the
character of the Danish government. After using his influence to save
the lives of many of the planters who assured him of their good will,
he was forcibly abducted from his station and made a prisoner. Major
Gyllich, whose life General Bourdeaux saved, stood by him, sharing
even his imprisonment a few days. He was finally sent aboard a vessel
in the garb of a gentleman, provided with all the necessaries and
comforts and then stripped of them as soon as the vessel was out of
port and forced to toil as a member of the crew. He was taken to the
Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he was told that if he returned to the
Danish West Indies, he would be executed.[386] He was said to have
been seen in Curacao afterwards, whence he proceeded to the United
States of America. Martin King escaped arrest until after the reign of
martial law. He was imprisoned, however, for two years and in 1855
could do no better than serve his community as rat-catcher.

Peter Hansen the next governor undertook to settle these difficulties.
He passed what is known as the "Labor Act," intended to meet the
exigencies of the situation. This was a little better than slavery but
it actually gave the Negroes a status ranging