enes of brutality that are reported from New Orleans. In
the heat of blind fury one might conceive how a mad mob might beat and
kill a man taken red-handed in a brutal murder. But it is almost past
belief to read that civilized white people, men who boast of their
chivalry and blue blood, actually had fun in beating, chasing and shooting
men who had no possible connection with any crime.

But this actually happened in Gretna, a few miles from New Orleans. In its
description of the scenes of Tuesday night, the _Picayune_ mentions the
brutal chase of several colored men whom the mob sought to kill. In the
instances mentioned, the paper said:

Gretna had its full share of excitement between 8 and 11 o'clock last
night, in connection with a report that spread through the town that a
Negro resembling the slayer of Police Captain Day, of New Orleans, had
been seen on the outskirts of the place.

It is true that a suspicious-looking Negro was observed by the residents
of Madison and Amelia Streets lurking about the fences of that
neighborhood just after dark, and shortly before 8 o'clock John Fist, a
young white man, saw the Negro on Fourth Street. He followed the darkey
a short distance, and, coming upon Robert Moore, who is known about town
as the "black detective," Fist pointed the Negro out and Moore at once
made a move toward the stranger. The latter observed Moore making in his
direction, and, without a word, he sped in the direction of the Brooklyn
pasture, Moore following and firing several shots at him. In a few
minutes a half hundred white men, including Chief of Police Miller,
Constable Dannenhauer, Patrolman Keegan and several special officers,
all well-armed, joined in the chase, but in the darkness the Negro
escaped.

Just as the pursuing party reached town again, two of the residents of
Lafayette Avenue, Peter Leson and Robert Henning, reported that they had
just chased and shot at a Negro, who had been seen in the yard of the
former's house. They were positive the Negro had not escaped from the
square. Their report was enough to set the appetite of the crowd on
edge, and the square was quickly surrounded, while several dozens of
men, armed with lanterns and revolvers, made a search of every yard and
under every house in the square. No Negro was found.

The crowd of armed men was constantly swelling, and at 10 o'clock it had
reached the proportions of a s