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Overview
+SHOT AN OFFICER+
The bloodiest week which New Orleans has known since the massacre of the
Italians in 1892 was ushered in Monday, July 24, by the inexcusable and
unprovoked assault upon two colored men by police officers of New Orleans.
Fortified by the assurance born of long experience in the New Orleans
service, three policemen, Sergeant Aucoin, Officer Mora and Officer
Cantrelle, observing two colored men sitting on doorsteps on Dryades
street, between Washington Avenue and 6th Streets, determined, without a
shadow of authority, to arrest them. One of the colored men was named
Robert Charles, the other was a lad of nineteen named Leonard Pierce. The
colored men had left their homes, a few blocks distant, about an hour
prior, and had been sitting upon the doorsteps for a short time talking
together. They had not broken the peace in any way whatever, no warrant
was in the policemen's hands justifying their arrest, and no crime had
been committed of which they were the suspects. The policemen, however,
secure in the firm belief that they could do anything to a Negro that they
wished, approached the two men, and in less than three minutes from the
time they accosted them attempted to put both colored men under arrest.
The younger of the two men, Pierce, submitted to arrest, for the officer,
Cantrelle, who accosted him, put his gun in the young man's face ready to
blow his brains out if he moved. The other colored man, Charles, was made
the victim of a savage attack by Officer Mora, who used a billet and then
drew a gun and tried to kill Charles. Charles drew his gun nearly as
quickly as the policeman, and began a duel in the street, in which both
participants were shot. The policeman got the worst of the duel, and fell
helpless to the sidewalk. Charles made his escape. Cantrelle took Pierce,
his captive, to the police station, to which place Mora, the wounded
officer, was also taken, and a man hunt at once instituted for Charles,
the wounded fugitive.
In any law-abiding community Charles would have been justified in
delivering himself up immediately to the properly constituted authorities
and asking a trial by a jury of his peers. He could have been certain that
in resisting an unwarranted arrest he had a right to defend his life, even
to the point of taking one in that defense, but Charles knew that his
arrest in New Orleans, even for defending his life, meant nothing short of
a long term in the penitentiary, and still more probable death by lynching
at the hands of a cowardly mob. He very bravely determined to protect his
life as long as he had breath in his body and strength to draw a hair
trigger on his would-be murderers. How well he was justified in that
belief is well shown by the newspaper accounts which were given of this
transaction. Without a single line of evidence to justify the assertion,
the New Orleans daily papers at once declared that both Pierce and Charles
were desperadoes, that they were contemplating a burglary and that they
began the assault upon the policemen. It is interesting to note how the
two leading papers of New Orleans, the _Picayune_ and the
_Times-Democrat_, exert themselves to justify the policemen in the
absolutely unprovoked attack upon the two colored men. As these two papers
did all in their power to give an excuse for the action of the policemen,
it is interesting to note their versions. The _Times-Democrat_ of Tuesday
morning, the twenty-fifth, says:
Two blacks, who are desperate men, and no doubt will be proven burglars,
made it interesting and dangerous for three bluecoats on Dryades street,
between Washington Avenue and Sixth Street, the Negroes using pistols
first and dropping Patrolman Mora. But the desperate darkies did not go
free, for the taller of the two, Robinson, is badly wounded and under
cover, while Leonard Pierce is in jail.
The bloodiest week which New Orleans has known since the massacre of the
Italians in 1892 was ushered in Monday, July 24, by the inexcusable and
unprovoked assault upon two colored men by police officers of New Orleans.
Fortified by the assurance born of long experience in the New Orleans
service, three policemen, Sergeant Aucoin, Officer Mora and Officer
Cantrelle, observing two colored men sitting on doorsteps on Dryades
street, between Washington Avenue and 6th Streets, determined, without a
shadow of authority, to arrest them. One of the colored men was named
Robert Charles, the other was a lad of nineteen named Leonard Pierce. The
colored men had left their homes, a few blocks distant, about an hour
prior, and had been sitting upon the doorsteps for a short time talking
together. They had not broken the peace in any way whatever, no warrant
was in the policemen's hands justifying their arrest, and no crime had
been committed of which they were the suspects. The policemen, however,
secure in the firm belief that they could do anything to a Negro that they
wished, approached the two men, and in less than three minutes from the
time they accosted them attempted to put both colored men under arrest.
The younger of the two men, Pierce, submitted to arrest, for the officer,
Cantrelle, who accosted him, put his gun in the young man's face ready to
blow his brains out if he moved. The other colored man, Charles, was made
the victim of a savage attack by Officer Mora, who used a billet and then
drew a gun and tried to kill Charles. Charles drew his gun nearly as
quickly as the policeman, and began a duel in the street, in which both
participants were shot. The policeman got the worst of the duel, and fell
helpless to the sidewalk. Charles made his escape. Cantrelle took Pierce,
his captive, to the police station, to which place Mora, the wounded
officer, was also taken, and a man hunt at once instituted for Charles,
the wounded fugitive.
In any law-abiding community Charles would have been justified in
delivering himself up immediately to the properly constituted authorities
and asking a trial by a jury of his peers. He could have been certain that
in resisting an unwarranted arrest he had a right to defend his life, even
to the point of taking one in that defense, but Charles knew that his
arrest in New Orleans, even for defending his life, meant nothing short of
a long term in the penitentiary, and still more probable death by lynching
at the hands of a cowardly mob. He very bravely determined to protect his
life as long as he had breath in his body and strength to draw a hair
trigger on his would-be murderers. How well he was justified in that
belief is well shown by the newspaper accounts which were given of this
transaction. Without a single line of evidence to justify the assertion,
the New Orleans daily papers at once declared that both Pierce and Charles
were desperadoes, that they were contemplating a burglary and that they
began the assault upon the policemen. It is interesting to note how the
two leading papers of New Orleans, the _Picayune_ and the
_Times-Democrat_, exert themselves to justify the policemen in the
absolutely unprovoked attack upon the two colored men. As these two papers
did all in their power to give an excuse for the action of the policemen,
it is interesting to note their versions. The _Times-Democrat_ of Tuesday
morning, the twenty-fifth, says:
Two blacks, who are desperate men, and no doubt will be proven burglars,
made it interesting and dangerous for three bluecoats on Dryades street,
between Washington Avenue and Sixth Street, the Negroes using pistols
first and dropping Patrolman Mora. But the desperate darkies did not go
free, for the taller of the two, Robinson, is badly wounded and under
cover, while Leonard Pierce is in jail.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013196759 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | SAP |
| Publication date: | 08/03/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 57 KB |
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