"contains no grant of power to the Federal Government over the right to keep and bear arms...."

The Enforcement Acts Declared Unconstitutional by Messrs. Johnson and Stanbery--The Government Counsel Evading the Issue.

   The last case of the Ku Klux trials that was attempted to be brought before the Supreme Court for final disposition, is entitled the United States vs. Avery et al, and came to the Supreme Court upon a certificate of division from the Circuit Court for District of South Carolina. The defendants in this case were indicted for conspiracy under the Acts of May 87, 1870, known as the Enforcement Or Ku Klux Act. The particular act charged was the murder of one Jim Williams, while attempting to prevent colored citizens voting, and to hinder and prevent their exercise of the right to keep and bear arms.

   Motion having been made to quash the indictment, the court were divided in opinion on the question whether it had jurisdiction of the crime of murder charged, and whether the right to keep and bear arms is a right granted and secured by the Constitution of the United States so as to support the charge in the indictment, and render the offence cognizable by the court.

   The Government submits that the questions having arisen upon a motion to quash, this court cannot take cognizance of them, the motion being preliminary in its character, and determinable by the court below us a matter of pure discretion.

   It is then contended that the Act was intended merely to visit with increased punishment offenders against the laws of the United States, who, in the act of violating those laws, shall also commit offences against the laws of the States, and this it has power to do; and it necessarily follows that the courts of the United States have jurisdiction to inquire into this additional fact. Nor is it any answer to say that in so doing they take jurisdiction of an offence against State laws, and of which Congress cannot give them jurisdiction. The court merely admits evidence of a fact, as matter of aggravation of another offence. The criminal laws of several of the States are cited to show that in those States where any person is convicted of a criminal offence, who has before been punished by the United States or other States for a like offence, such person is sentenced to an additional penalty; and it is said that the difference between taking into account the conviction of a first offence, with a view to fix the punishment of a subsequent one, as in those eases, and taking into account the commission of an offeuoe with a view to fix the punishment of another offence contemporaneously committed, considered merely as facts constituting matter of aggravation, as in this case, is only a difference in time, and is wholly immaterial. In neither case is the punishment, in contemplation of law, applied to the offence, which is regarded as an aggravating circumstance merely.

   In respect of the right to bear arms, it is said that the United States, by reason of the power given to Congress to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, has a direct interest in seeing that the right which the Constitution itself declares to be essential to a well-ordered militia is not infringed by unlawful authority, and, in the absence of State legislation, to punish violations of the right, and it is but a reasonable construction of the Act to construe it as applying to this Act as well as to any other.

   For the defence, it is urged, after controverting the theory of the Government, that the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution contains no grant of power over the right of suffrage, but is in the nature of a restriction or abridgement of such power in one respect only and that is in the power to discriminate on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. It is to enforce that section and prevent such discrimination, that by the second section Congress is authorized to enact appropriate laws. And this article contemplates only legislative action, and does not expressly apply to individuals. Before the Act in question can take effect, then it must appear that the State has authorized the discrimination prohibited by the amendment, and that such discrimination is attempted to be carried out by an individual. If the State has not violated the article, and has passed no law to authorize such discrimination, the unauthorized act of an individual, or combination of individuals, makes no case for Federal cognizance. An individual cannot deny or abridge the right to vote in the sense of this amendment. It is a right that can only be given or denied or abridged by law. South Carolina has not violated the amendment; she has passed no Act to discriminate on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, and admits citizens of all color, race and conditions, who have the qualifications of voters, to the full enjoyment of the right of suffrage. But if it be held that it would be appropriate legislation to enforce this amendment against individuals, where the State had passed no Act, then it is contended that the conspiracies charged are not within the jurisdiction of the court, because they are offenses not within the purview of the amendment, nor appropriate legislation to enforce the amendment, and are, therefore, void. It is, then, submitted as too clear for argument, that within the legitimate sphere of the rights reserved to the States is included the right of exclusive legislation in the matter of suffrage; the very existence of the States depends upon it, and they have never surrendered the jurisdiction.

   It is declared that not a single offense defined in the Act in question comes within the provisions of the amendment. When the States, by the amendment surrendered the right to discriminate the matter of suffrage on the ground of color, race, &c., , and authorized Congress to enforce that amendment, they surrendered no other right touching the suffrage, and gave Congress no further power over the subject, and hence the Enforcement Act is not appropriate legislation.

   The constitutional provision in respect to the right of the people to bear arms contains no grant of power to the Federal Government over the right to keep and bear arms. On the contrary, the established constitution is, that it only recognizes a pre-existing right in the people of the States, and is merely a restriction on the Federal Government against any interference with that right, and consequently a subject matter exclusively within the cognizance of the States.

   As to jurisdiction, it is contended that the jurisdiction attempted to be given by the Act over another "felony," committed in the attempt to do the acts prohibited, and in this case murder, belongs exclusively to the Courts of South Carolina, and that consequently so much of the Act is unconstitutional and void, as an exercise of a legislative power not in pursuance of the Constitution.

[The Daily Phoenix, Columbia, S.C., Saturday Morning, March 23, 1872.  Vol. VIII--No. 2. Pg. 3]

"as not to infringe the constitutioual right to keep and bear arms...."

CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPONS.

   I call your attention specially to Sec. 932 of the Revised Statutes, concerning carrying concealed weapons.

   A person is guilty of the offense set out, if he carries on or about his person, a weapon which is only partly concealed. It must be fully exposed not to be concealed. The object of the law is to protect the orderly and well disposed citizen from the treacherous use of weapons so frequently resorted to by evil disposed men, who seek an advantage over their antagonists in the disturbances and breaches of the peace, which they are prone to provoke, 11 Ann. page 683[?], Late Chief Justice Manning, in the case of State vs. Blas, 37 Ann, 260. says; The manifest object of the statute was to prevent the carrying of dangerous weapons--to stamp out a practice that has been and is fruitful of bloodshed, misery and death--and yet so to prohibit the carrying as not to infringe the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

   The constitutional right is to bear arms openly, so that when one meets an armed man there can be no mistake about the fact that he is armed."

   Wherefore if one carries about with him a dangerous weapon, not fully exposed to view, he violates the law; he must carry it so any one meeting him can make no mistake about his being with a weapon.

   I charge you particularly, gentlemen, if the sheriff or any of his deputies, or any constable, policeman or town marshall carry about him any weapon concealed, except in the actual discharge of his official duties, he violates the law; and the violation is graver than if committed by the ordinary citizen, for they are officers whose duty it is to see that the law is observed and not violated.

   The Sheriff, his deputy, policeman and constables are considered in the actual discharge of their official duties, as contemplated in this section, only when they are actually engaged in the service of some process to which resistance might be suspected or offered, and a weapon might be required by such officers to enforce the law; for instance; the arrest or conveying of a prisoner, the attachment of a person and the seizure of property and the fact that such officer has a warrant for the arrest of a person in one pocket is not a permit for him to carry a pistol concealed in another. The exemption is good only when he is bona fide in the actual discharge of some duty as above set out.

[The Meridional, Abbeville, Louisiana, Saturday, December 2, 1905. Volume 49 Number 48 Pg. 2]

"a man with musket to shoulder, or carbine slung on back, or pistol belted to his side, or such like, he is bearing arms in the constitutional sense...."

   "The constitutional right is to bear arms openly, so that when one meets an armed man there can be no mistake about the fact that he is armed. When we see a man with musket to shoulder, or carbine slung on back, or pistol belted to his side, or such like, he is bearing arms in the constitutional sense. Of course there are other examples. These are but illustrations."--Chief Justice Manning, Louisiana Supreme Court, The State of Louisiana vs. Lacy Bias. [Cite as State v. Bias, 37 La. Ann. 259 (1885).] No. 9310.

"We had them come armed because the law gave them a right to bear arms...."

Powers On The Stand

In his Own Defense, Admits
Bringing Mountain Army
To Frankfort.

Murder Was Not the Object
Prepared To Defend
himself Against

Seizure of Office, Taylor
Paid All Bills, So Said
Powers

   The defense in the Caleb Powers* case at Georgetown, Ky., opened its case and outlined its plan of procedure on last Monday As was expected the defense asked for peremptory instructions for acquittal which motion was promptly overruled by the Court.

   Judge E.T.Faulkner made the opening statement setting fourth a general denial of almost everything the Commonwealth claimed, except as to the gathering of the mountaineers which he claimed was a perfectly lawful and peaceful procedure and had nothing to do with the assassination.

   Powers then took the stand in his own defense and admitted having brought the mountaineers to Frankfort under instructions and with the assistance of W.S Taylor.

   Powers says there were three crowds of men brought to Frankfort and that he helped to bring each crowd. The first was while the Canvassing Board was in session. They came not as witnesses but to show their interest, but not as stated by Noaks, to intimidate. They were instructed not to crowd around the Canvassing Boards.

   The second crowd was summoned as witnesses in the contest cases and came from January 12 to 17.

   The third crowd was brought to Frankfort on January 25th to show their interest in the outcome of the contest. We had them come armed because the law gave them a right to bear arms openly and also to petition the legislature, and the authority for that can be found in subsection 6 and 7 in the Bill of Rights. Gov. Taylor told me he would pay the expenses of bringing the men and me to keep an account of the railroad fare, etc.

[Mount Vernon Signal, Mt. Vernon, Rockcastle County, KY., Friday, August 3, 1900. Volume XIV. Number 45 Pg. 1]

* - Caleb Powers, was the Secretary of State of Kentucky.

Chief Justice Campbell: "all laws against carrying weapons are wrong and should be repealed...."

 

 [Supreme Court of Mississippi 

Chief Justice J.A.P., (Josiah Arthur Patterson), Campbell]

LET THE CARRYING OF WEAPONS BE MADE GENERAL.

   The following letter on the subject of carrying concealed weapons has been received:

   "Jackson, Miss., Nov. 28, 1895.
"Editor of The Times-Democrat;

   Reading your editorial on car[r]ying concealed weapons leads me to write that, after an experience of nearly a half century, in active connection with the enforcement of laws, my judgment is that all laws against carrying weapons are wrong and should be repealed. They cannot be enforced, and for that reason should not exist. They operate unequally and harmfully, by being a restraint on those in whose hands the weapons would be harmless and often useful, and imposing no restraint on those in whose hands they are dangerous and often destructive.

   "My view is that all should be free to carry arms, as they please, and that every girl especially should be taught to use them expertly. We would then hear less of rapes, and burglaries, and such crimes as so often occur, and there would not be a crime more by reason of the unrestrained right to carry arms.

   "It would prevent rather than promote crime. The man disposed to commit crime is never restrained by the law against carrying concealed weapons, while the good citizen ofted is, and is thus placed at a disadvantage, being at the mercy of the villain who assails him and is emboldened to do it by the confidence that his victim is unarmed.

"J.A.P. CAMPBELL."*

   It will be observed that Judge Campbell, who is one of the ablest and most distinguished Jurists in the South, not only adds the weight of his great authority to the view of this question enunciated recently by The Times-Democrat, but takes a wider and broader view of the question still.

   And, when we think over the matter we believe that Judge Campbell is right; and that, while nothing is gained by the lop-sided restraint at present placed against the carrying of weapons, much would be gained by making the carrying of them as wide and general as possible. The hoodlum and criminally-disposed person who habitually goes armed is almost certainly a coward to boot; and the knowledge that his would-be victim is likely to be as well armed as he and liable to give as good an account of himself with his weapon, would make his dastardly hoodlumship hesitate in gratuitously assuming the offensive. He would recognize that the persons he runs up against and picks quarrels with are apt to be as expert at the game of handling firearms as himself; that the odds between himself and his would-be victim have been evened up: and, on the whole, that it will be safer for him not to take the chances implied in drawing a weapon.

   The general carrying of weapons would almost to a certainty produce this desirable result among the hoodlum class who habitually carry them; and the lawless use of the weapons that would be otherwise by a general wearing of them would probably not amount to much--would not counteract one tithe of good produced among the murderous hoodlum class.

   As to the other half of Judge Campbell's proposition that girls should be trained in the use of the revolver with a view of self-protection, the chances are that it will be received with a divided sentiment; some of the population holding it to be right and proper and almost necessary, under the circumstances of everyday assaults upon females, that women be ready and able to teach the assailant a salutary lesson, and the other moiety of the people holding that the practice of using and carrying pistols is unladylike, and dangerous and demoralizing to the wearers.

   The chances are, however, that if female folks were accustomed in their youth to handle weapons of self-defense and were to become fairly expert in their use, the danger and demoralizing tendency would disappear and it might become the vogue; in which case it is almost superfluous to remark that the persons of women would be safer and more inviolate than they are now.

   Judge Campbell's proposition is one that is certain to induce a large amount of reflection.--Times-Democrat.

   The Baton Rouge truth has the following to say of the above subject:

   The right of an American to carry arms in any method be wishes is a question now being energetically agitated in this State. It is held by many that as the constitution of the United States grants the right to bear arms without prescribing the method of so doing, one may carry them concealed or not at his own pleasure. We don't pretend that a man not has the right to carry his gun concealed, but if the practice is carried on much longer the editor of the Truth will be compelled to carry a Winchester on his shoulder. A hidden pistol on our person makes us feel as if about to commit a murderous act, and for this reason we don't carry them, and as we do not we are at a disadvantage for nearly every one else does. For this we vote to carry arms openly, and when such becomes custom we will bet our heads that killings will very materially decrease while the plea of self-defense, on the ground that the dead man made a motion as it to draw a weapon, will be heard no more.

   It has gotten so from carrying guns out of sight that one is afraid when meeting an enemy to draw his handkerchief from his pocket, for fear of being shot for making a threatening motion. Let us all carry Winchesters, and the quick shooters won't be so handy with their guns.

[The St. Tammany Farmer, Covington, St. Tammany Parish, LA., Saturday, December 7, 1895. Vol. XX.--No. 50. Pg. 2]

* - Supreme Court of Mississippi Chief Justice J.A.P., (Josiah Arthur Patterson), Campbell. Chief Justice Campbell served 18 years on the Mississippi Supreme Court - 1876 to 1894. He wrote the Mississippi Code of Law which established legal and official White Supremacy. Chief Justice Campbell had both a white and black family, and spent most of the last 27 years of his life with his Black family teaching them how to break the system of White Supremacy. [See: The Father of White Supremacy by James Meredith, whom is the African American great grandson of Justice Campbell]

Addendum: At the close of the war Judge Campbell was elected to preside over the Kosciusko court district.  “This was in a state of confusion almost chaotic through the doubtful status of state currency.”  But throughout this unhappy period in the State’s history he did invaluable work in upholding law and order.

   He was elected circuit judge of the fifth judicial district of Mississippi composed of the counties of Attala, Leake, Madison, Yazoo, and Holmes, in 1865, soon after his arrival home from the army, when thirty-five years of age.  He was reelected without making a canvass.

   Judge Campbell was a democrat presidential elector, selected by the State convention, but did not attend.  He became judge of the supreme court of Mississippi when forty-six years old and served continuously eighteen years.  He was twice chief justice of the court, missing only eighteen days from his judicial duties.  After serving nine years as supreme judge, he was appointed by Governor Lowry to succeed himself.

   In 1870 he was appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate one of three commissioners to codify the statutes of Mississippi and succeeded in securing several valuable new laws in the interest of the people.  But the legislature amended the work of the commissioners to such an extent that it was injured.  In 1877 an incoming legislature invited him to prepare a new code, which he did while engaged with his duties on the supreme bench.  It was adopted with but little change by the legislature of 1880.  The code of 1880 abound in reformatory laws which have proved of great value to the people.  It contains nearly two hundred sections written solely by Judge Campbell, which were adopted as written, and the record shows that not one has been declared unconstitutional by the supreme court in later years.

   The State Bar Association of Mississippi expressed high appreciation of his service as the author of the Code, as is shown by a committee report by C. H. Alexander, himself one of the truly great lawyers of the State.  The report states that Judge Campbell was the “author of more legal reforms than any other lawyer, judge, or legislator in the State.”

   Judge Campbell retired from the supreme court in 1894, as full of honors as of years.  A meeting of the bar in attendance was held in the court room, and the following resolutions of high commendation were adopted and signed, and an engrossed copy presented to him and his family:

“Whereas Honorable J. A. P. Campbell, chief justice of the supreme court of Mississippi, is about to retire from service on the bench, and those members of the bar of that court practicing in this city wish to give some expression of the feeling occasioned by an event so important in the history of the judicial department of our State government.

   Be it Therefore Resolved, That the long and devoted service of this learned, upright and able judge I such as to inspire, along with universal regret at his retirement, a profound sense of the obligation under which he has put our great commonwealth for the conversation, enrichment, and elevation of its jurisprudence:

   Resolved Further, that our admiration for his various endowments and accomplishments as an expounder and codifier and author in large measure of the law under which we live, is not earned than our appreciation of his uniform courtesy and consideration.”

   There is a story of Judge Campbell’s retirement from the bench that should be written in the pages of Mississippi history.  Though beyond sixty years of age, he was, owing to a vigorous constitution and perfect health, as well preserved as some are in the prime of life.  His voluntary withdrawal from a most congenial position to which Governor Stone desired to reappoint him, and in which the state bar and public desired his continuance, was the occasion of no little surprise.  The explanation as made to personal friends of Governor Stone was that under a recent change in the law, if Judge Campbell was reappointed, his colleague and devoted friend, Judge Woods, being from the same district, would be forced to retire at the end of his term.  Judge Campbell coupled the withdrawal of his name for renomination (sic) with an earnest appeal that Judge Woods, a lawyer of the first class, be reappointed.  It was an arrangement to which Governor Stone, himself the embodiment of all that was true in Southern manhood, finally agreed.

   In 1870, Judge Campbell was elected professor of law in the University of Mississippi, and urged to accept the position but declined.  The university conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in recognition of his erudition not only as a student in the science of law but for scholarly attainment as well.--Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi, 1798-1935, By Dunbar Rowland, B.S., LL.B., LL.D., Press of Hederman Press, Jackson, Mississippi, 1935, pgs 103-110.

 In Memoriam.

    Report of Memorial Committee on the death of Judge J.A.P. Campbell as taken from the minutes of the Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October Term, 1916—Monday—February 12, 1917.

Your Committee appointed to report resolutions commemorative of the life of Judge J. A. P. Campbell, beg leave to submit that:

   The life of Josiah A. P. Campbell having far exceeded the allotted span is closed on earth. For nearly three score years as a lawyer or as a Judge, his learning and industry, added to the great natural powers, advanced and securely kept to him a recognized position among the leaders of the profession. In the later years of his life, he was by common opinion considered as its acknowledged head. Judge Campbell was born in the State of South Carolina on March 2, 1830. He died in Jackson on January 10, 1917. His parents removed to this State after his birth. He said, he did not remember when he learned to read, but his mother told him he could read well when four years of age, and that he remembered to have completed the memorizing of the West Minster Catechism on his fifth birthday.

   He was admitted to the bar in June A. D., 1847, and entered upon the practice the following March. At twenty-one years of age he was a member of the Legislature; and was the Speaker of the House when twenty-nine years old. When thirty years of age he was elected one of the seven Representatives of Mississippi to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States; he was one of the forty-nine representatives who formulated and subscribed the constitution of the Confederate States and of that number he was the last survivor. At the age of thirty-two he was the Colonel of his Regiment which he commanded at the battle of Corinth, where he was wounded. Soon after his return to active service, he was appointed as Judge Advocate upon the staff of General Polk. At the close of the war, he was elected as Circuit Judge, from which position he was removed by military authority. He then removed to Canton and entered into partnership with Judge S. S. Calhoun, who was afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1876 he was appointed to the Supreme Bench and upon the expiration of his term of office, was again appointed and served eighteen years upon that Bench. The length of his Judicial service exceeded that of any other Judge in this state. His public service was not limited to those who performed as a Legislator, or a Judge or a Soldier. In 1875 he was member of that Committee of which J. Z. George was Chairman, and which, by the boldness, persistence and courage, added to the high character of its members, freed Mississippi from the rule of alien adventurers and restored the control of government to its citizens. No higher duty has been performed at any time by any man under any circumstances; no step in civilization further advanced. In the year 1871, Judge Campbell was appointed one of the Commissioners to codify the Statutes of the State. He prepared and submitted many important provisions; but by reason of the incompetency of the Legislature, many of them were rejected and the symmetry of the Code destroyed. In the year 1878, he was selected to prepare a new Code which in 1880 was adopted practically as prepared by him. His ripe experience and almost unerring judgment contributed largely to the consistency and simplicity of our Statutory Laws. More than two hundred changes were made, not one of which was ever declared to be unconstitutional. The Code of 1880 is his monument in that field of labor. As a Judge, he magnified his office. In the discharge oi the great duty it imposed, he was earnest to discover truth and justice; he was laborious in investigation, neutral and impartial in decision. To his diligence and industry, was added accurate and profound learning and an unequaled knowledge of the legislation and decision of the State. All this contributed to make him, as he was, an ideal Judge. He was the equal of Poindexter as a codifier of laws; of Sharkey as a Judge, and of Harris, George and Yerger as a lawyer. No chapter in the history of this state for the past fifty years can be written from which his name is omitted. His private life was without a stain; he was an affectionate husband and father, an honored and revered citizen. In recognition of his distinguished service and of his great ability and high character;

   RESOLVED: That we should and do hold in affectionate and grateful remembrance the life and character of our deceased brother, and commend them as standards to be emulated by the bar and people of the State.

   That a copy of this report and resolution be supplied to the members of his family and to the press and that the Attorney General be requested to present the same to the Supreme Court and move that they be spread upon its minutes.

Respectfully submitted,
Ross A. Collins
R.B. MAYES
A.H. WHITFIELD
JAS. F. McCooL
TIM E. COOPER
T.C. CATCHINGS
R.N. MILLER

- Cases Reported. Cases Argued And Decided In The Supreme Court of Mississippi At The March And September Terms 1922. Vol. 129. Reported By Robert Powell. Columbus, MO. E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. Law Publishers 1922 (Pgs. XV, XVI).

"The constitutions of the United States and of North Carolina both guarantee to all citizens the right to bear arms...."

BACKBONE.

   The carrying of concealed deadly weapons is the result of pure cowardice--for no brave man will conceal a weapon about his person under ordinary circumstances--and mean liquor. Both practices are against the laws of North Carolina. Public sentiment against liquor is sufficiently aroused, in many localities, to prevent its use by the better class of young men. But public sentiments not sufficiently aroused to prevent the carrying of deadly weapons concealed about the person. The constitutions of the United States and of North Carolina both guarantee to all citizens the right to bear arms. That is, to bear arm openly and above board, so that all can see that the arms are there, ready for use. But there is no such guarantee in favor of bearing arms concealed. Why? Because the fathers of our fundamental law knew that the concealment of weapons is done for a mean and cowardly advantage, and so set their sturdy faces rigidly against it. If they could not settle their quarrels with their fist, they went to the courts. The man who really is in fear of his life carries his gun openly. The coward, who hopes to gain some advantage over any chance opponent he may encounter, conceals his. Liquor makes him a coward, for liquor tells him that he must swagger and bully and bluff, and curse and use vulgar language, and be overbearing, in Order to appear brave--things he would never do in his right senses--and that such conduct invites resentment. If he is armed, secretly, and the one who resents his insolence is not, then he has the advantage in the sense of superior physical force. Hence the deadly pistol in the concealed hip pocket.

   The legislature and juries are not to blame for carrying concealed weapons. It is right that the legislature should give the judges some discretion in the punishment inflicted for violations of the law against concealed weapons, for there are often mitigating circumstances. But. if the judges would impose prison sentences on the kid-gloved cowards who come before them even one day in jail the same cowardice which prompted them to conceal their weapons would, restrain them from the stigma of a term in jail. For they would be afraid for the community to know them in their true characters as criminals and cowards. On the other hand, the low-down element, which carries its weapons concealed, usually cannot pay a tine, and is not disgraced by a term in jail or on the roads. Yet, it is the this class our judges sentence to prison while they impose a fine only on the kid-glovers, to whom a fine is no punishment at all. Juries seldom get a chance to try concealed weapon cases, which are usually "fixed up" between the defendant's attorney and the Solicitor, payment of the costs being generally the only penalty imposed, witnesses for the State having been dismissed, and the judge being ignorant of the facts.

   And the pulpit--is it altogether blameless? Whoever heard a preacher denounce the carrying of concealed weapons from the sacred desk? And the newspapers? What editor handles this subject with gloves off? What one calls a spade a spade and a coward a coward?

   What we all need, criminals, judges, editors and preachers is not a little more backbone, but some backbone--for really, we have had none whatever about this appalling and bloody business.

[The Watauga Democrat, Boone, Watauga County, Thursday, June 4, 1914. Vol. XXV No. 45. Pg. 2]

   And there is yet another putrid example of how the press has been historically employed in the destruction/diminshment of our right. In all my years of study concerning the right to bear arms. I have yet to read ANYTHING from ANY of the founders that decried carrying weapons concealed. That was something that only appeared later on, in the local and state legislatures as well as the courts.

"and the rights of the people however hostile to Keep and bear arms could not be infringed..."

...Again, the court says in its opinion in the Peacock case that if we had been ceded to the United States by a treaty of peace "would the Constitution extend to it forthwith ex propria vigore with the result that crime could not be suppressed because there was no provisions for a grand Jury or for unanimous verdict by petit Juries and questions of private right could not be settled for the same reason that there was no provision for unanimous verdicts, and the rights of the people however hostile to Keep and bear arms could not be infringed, and trade with other countries might be suspended because there was no law extending the United States shipping and custom laws to the newly acquired Territory and no machinery for the collection of duties under United states laws and vessels registered under the laws of the required territory would be without a flag, so that, in a word, there would be anarchy in place of order?"

   Now let us see how this reasoning has been upheld by the authorities in the United States. In the first place less than a month after the decision in the Peacock case the Hawaiian Supreme Court in an opinion by Judge Frear, who also wrote the decision in the Peacock case, held per syllabus, "The registry laws of Hawaii were not abrogated immediately upon the annexation of these Islands to the United States," and the court said, 'The Hawaiian registration laws are a part of the municipal legislation of these Islands which was to remain in force temporarily by the terms of the Joint
Resolution of annexation,"

   On September 12, 1899, this decision was reviewed by Hon. John W. Griggs (22 Opinions of Attorney General, p. 579. 581) who said, "the Joint resolution of Congress for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands provide that 'the municipal legislation of the islands, * * * not inconsistent with mine," and then said, "With due re- this joint resolution * * * shall United States shall otherwise deter- remain in force until Congress of the spect to the judgments of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, I am unable to admit that a Hawaiian registry can now be issued to a vessel and the flag of Hawaii, "the usual token of registration, be flown by her," and "By the very language of the resolution municipal legislation inconsistent with the resolution shall not remain in force, and upon these views I am constrained to hold that the registration laws of Hawaii have been abrogated as a necessary consequence of annexation."

   What did the Supreme Court of Hawaii say in regard to this last provision of the resolution of annexation? In the decision following the Peacock case. Republic v. Edwards, 12 Haw, 55, they said, in construing the provision that "The municipal legislation of the Hawaiian Islands, not enacted for the fulfillment of the treaties so extinguished and not inconsistent with this joint resolution nor contrary to the Constitution of the United States, nor to any existing treaty of the United States shall remain in force," etc, that it was only by inference that they could hold that laws inconsistent with the resolution or contrary to the Constitution or to any existing treaty, were abrogated, and that to hold that the sentence made such an inference was to hold that it was intended to be, not, as it purports, an affirmative declaration of what should continue, but an indirect repeal of what was not declared to continue. On general principles such a construction should not be favored." The reasoning of the court was that the "inference is one of repeal and that repeals by implication are not favored." But the rule as stated does not apply here for Congress if it did anything abrogated and annulled such legislation and did not "re peal" it. A statute can be repealed only by the power which passed it, and Congress in acting upon our laws did not repeal any of them but it did abrogate and annul many of them. But regardless of this question the judgment of the local Supreme Court that laws inconsistent "with this Joint Resolution' and "contrary to the Constitution of the United States" and "any existing treaty" remain In force regardless of the provision of the resolution, and that these provisions were "intended to be merely declaratory and not remedial" and therefore are of no force or effect to abrogate inconsistent or contrary laws in expressly and emphatically repudiated by Attorney General Griggs where he says that "with all due respect to the Judgments of the Supreme Court in Hawaii," by "the very language of the resolution municipal legislation inconsistent with the resolution shall not remain in force," (22 Opinions of the Attorney General, p. 580. 581).

   And here it should be noted that the "very language of the resolution" is this same speaking of "legislation inconsistent" therewith as it is of laws "not contrary to the Constitution" and that it must follow that by "the very language of the resolution" laws "contrary to the Constitution" were abrogated.

   The reasoning of the Peacock case and other cases in which Chief Justice Frear wrote the opinion of the court is based principally upon what the court calls a "transition period"' and it is this "transition period' theory upon which the later decision in the Marshall case is based. That is that there was a period during which we were in a state of transition from a foreign country (with reference to the United States) to a country which became a part of the United States.

   This theory this Court does not think sound, and believes that not only the authorities but the reasoning as set forth in the case of ex-parte Edwards, 13 Haw., p. 32, states the law as it is, and that the conclusion therein arrived at that the "Hawaiian Islands were a part of the United States on the 10th day of August, A. D. 1898; that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States were in force here at that time....

[Evening Bulletin, Honolulu, Territory Of Hawaii, Wednesday, July 24, 1901. Vol. XI. No. 1898. Pg. 4 - Excerpted from the article "Deprived of Liberty Unconstitutionally" (Cont'd. from page 1)]

   It can be safely asserted, that if the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States were held to be in force there at that time. Then so must also have been the remainder of the amendments to the Constitution.

   Our hired servants in government were not delegated the authority to tell We The People what our rights are. Nor were they given the authority to tell us how, when or where they can or cannot be exercised. Our hired servants are BOUND by We The People's Constitution to "secure" those "blessings of liberty" for us. We can only be punished for abuse or misuse of our Constitutionally secured rights. But the right itself can never be Constitutionally removed.

"decided that the state law prohibiting persons from carrying concealed weapons is unconstitutional...."

[Mower County Transcript, Austin, Mower County, Minn., Thursday, August 12, 1869. Vol. 2. No 18. Pg. 2]

"any regulation in regard to the "keeping and bearing of arms" is an infringement...."

   F.J.B.--"Does the Constitution of the United States permit men to carry arms, and, it so, why are men fined for so doing?" The Constitution says that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," and the courts of this state have decided that any regulation in regard to the "keeping and bearing of arms" is an infringement which the State has no right to make. Any police magistrate interfering with a man for carrying arms violates his oath to support the Constitution and laws of his State, and any magistrate who fines a man for keeping or bearing arms commits grand larceny, for which he may be sent to State Prison. They have not a shadow of excuse, for the city ordinance which they attempt to enforce, has been three times declared unconstitutional by the highest criminal court in the City.

[The Evening World, New York, Friday, November 4, 1887. Last Edition, Pg. 3 - Under the heading "Answers to Correspondents."]

"The meeting had been called simply to defend the right of our people to bear arms...."

THE 14TH OF SEPTEMBER,

The Victory of the People of New Orleans Over the Kellogg Usurpation.

A History of the Causes That Led Up To It.

Organization of the White League--Seizure of Arms by the Kellogg Police--The Grand Rally and Arming of
or the Citizens.

The Battle, the Victory and the Surrender.

   When Jackson, with his hastily recruited army, met and vanquished the trained hosts, the very flower of the British army, on the field of Chalmette, the people of New Orleans, in gratitude for their salvation, tendered the hero a grand ovation.

   The grateful population of the city turned out en masse to greet him on his entry, and his pathway was strewn with flowers and garlands--offerings of the fair women whose homes he had defended.

   Chalmette saved New Orleans from the fearful disaster of capture and occupation by a foreign army, which had made the vilest threats against her people; the Fourteenth of September saved New Orleans from even a worse fate. Saved her from a degradation which one thinks of shudderingly even now--the horror of being held in absolute bondage by the rapacious and conscienceless carpet-baggers who had been installed by bayonets over a people to whom they were aliens, and whom they regarded as their just prey--to be

ROBBED AND WRONGED

and outraged in every way that ingenious malignity could devise.

   For months anterior to the conflict the Kellogg usurpation, aided and abetted by the Federal government and chiefly instigated by that unsparing foe of the South, Landaulet Williams, who disgraced the position of Attorney General of the United States, had been committing outrages of the most glaring character in the city and parishes. Every difficulty was magnified into a rebellion against his authority and against the Federal government itself, and the usurper seized upon every pretext to call for troops to sustain his government, which,

BORN OF BAYONETS,

he well knew could only exist while guarded by them.

   Difficulties in Grant parish, Baton Rouge and St. Martineville were magnified into battles; were used to fire the Northern heart and to give color to the wild appeal for Federal troops. Failing to obtain all the assistance be required, Kellogg determined to organize an army of his own and found an excellent nucleus in the Metropolitan Police Brigade, which was at once under the supervision of Gen. Longstreet, greatly increased, armed with the most improved weapons, including several Gatling guns, and placed on a war footing.

   The men had most of them been old Federal soldiers, and were drilled in the manual and in maneuvering until their distinguished commander was quite satisfied that they could be depended upon for any possible emergency. He had a lofty contempt for the citizen soldiery, and expressed the belief that one volley from his brigade would put them to rout. A cavalry force was also organized for raiding the parishes, while the steamer Ozark was fitted up and armed as  the necleus of a navy.

   Civil government was virtually at an end, 1 and burly militia officers of all colors, with golden and glossy epaulete, and gleaming swords, marched their armed companies about the streets of the city, to overawe the people and inspire them with a wholesome fear of the usurpation.

   Those days, so full of misery and injustice and intolerable wrongs, seem, at this distance of time, almost unreal. It is marvelous how rapidly and with what audacious strides the usurpation progressed in its march toward absolute power; how insolently it trampled the rights of the people in the dust, and
spurned them from the courts erected by Kellogg and subservient to his will. No greater exhibition of patience under gross wrong was ever given than was offered by the people of Louisiana in submitting as long as they did to the Kellogg government.

THE WHITE LEAGUE.

   Early in June a number of citizens, members of the Crescent City Club, a political organization that had taken part in previous political campaigns, organized themselves into the Crescent City White League, and called upon all persons interested in the preservation of white civilization from the Afrcanization threatened it under Radical rule, to join with them in this fight for the white people of Louisiana. The White League organization rapidly spread through the city, and soon numbered several companies of semi-military character. The State Convention of 1874 responded to the appeal of the White League, and the platform began with the words: "We, the white people Louisiana."

THE RATIFICATION MEETING.

   The campaign of 1874 was inaugurated in New Orleans on the night of the first of September. The nominations for Treasurer and Congressmen had been made but a few days before at Baton Rouge. To indorse and ratify these, September 1 was selected as the time and Canal street, opposite the Varieties Theatre, as the place for a grand man meeting of the people. Fifteen thousand turned out. The meeting was orderly, quiet, peaceful; yet such was the moral effect of this out-pouring that the distant roar of their cheers terrified the frightened Kellogg, who crept from his house to the police station for protection. Some rockets, sent off in honor of the occasion, alarmed the police, who were hastily called in from their beats to the stations, where they stood armed with rifle and cannon, ready to attack the citizens, should any outbreak take place. There was none. The crowd was enthusiastic, but, at the same
time, cool and determined.

   On the outskirts of the meeting, Justin Bourdonnay a member of the White League, was most foully murdered by a Radical desperado and paid hanger-on of Kellogg; yet, such was the calmness of the crowd, that although there were fifteen thousand of Bourdonnay's friends around, who felt that Kellogg would pardon the murderer (as he subsequently attempted to do), they refrained from what almost any other crowd would have demanded, an immediate vindication of justice--lynch law.

   Thus began the campaign of 1874 in New Orleans. The first blood was spilt by the Radicals.

THE KELLOGG GOVERNMENT.

   There was no need of blood to arouse the popular feeling. Every deed of the Kellogg government, from its very inception, rallied the people against it. His false title, his lies, his standing army, tax seizures, illegal and arbitrary arrests, military expeditions to the country, the abolition of courts, pardons, murder, rapine and theft--all these had made our people desperate and determined. There were no courts to appeal to, they had been abolished; no law, it had been murdered. The only remedy lay in arms.

   The registration offices were thrown open at the beginning of September, and then the Radical plan of the campaign became only too evident. This was to throw such difficulties in the way of the registration of white citizens as to practically disfranchise them, and, at the same time, produce some popular
uprising, which the Radicals hoped, with their State arms, backed by United States troops, to defeat and break thereby the spirit of the people and the opposition to the fraudulent Kellogg government.

   From the first they meant that the campaign of 1874 should be a fight of armed forces, not a contest of votes.

   An appeal based on the Coushatta affair was made by Kellogg, through Landaulet Williams, early in September, for more Federal troops for use in Louisiana. These, of course, were promised him. At the same time his own forces were largely increased in number, particularly on September 4, when they were joined by a large number of levee hands, thieves and convicts, familiarly known as "The Mulligan Guards," and drilled each day to make them thorough soldiers.

   On the other hand, companies of citizens were organized in all portions of the city. There was no lack of men--everybody offered himself freely to Louisiana--but weapons were sorely needed. The police were armed with the finest breech-loading rifles, supplied by the United States government as the
State's quota of arms, while the citizen soldiery had old shotguns, rusty Belgian riles, and many not even these.

THE SEIZURE OF ARMS.

   On September 8, two boxes of second-hand Belgian rifles, intended for the citizen soldiery, were seized by the Metropolitans as they were being conveyed to Olivier's gun store on Canal street and carried off to the police station. The owners of these guns claimed their property and made several attempts to get them back. A court of competent jurisdiction heard and decided the case, and ordered Badger, chief of the police, to surrender the guns to their true owners. Badger laughed at the order, refused to obey it, and when the court sought to punish him for contempt, produced a full pardon previously written out by Kellogg, which absolutely authorized him to defy all courts and law. Not content with the seizure of private property the Assistant Attorney General discovered a statute, begotten of a Radical Legislature, creating a crime known as treason to the State, and the gentlemen who owned the guns the Metropolitans had stolen; were arrested and held to answer for the crime of owning them.

   Fearful of a popular outbreak in consequence of this outrage, the police were again called in from their beats that night, and concentrated, fully armed, for a sortie, at the stations. This practice was followed for several nights in succession, during which the streets were free to burglars and murderers,
while the police drank themselves into braggart courage at the stations.

   On September 10 the police, emboldened by their late successful seizure, invaded Olivier's store and carried off some seventy more muskets. A large crowd gathered at the corner. There were some threats, but no violence.

   The next day the police visited the levee and carried off six more boxes of guns, just landed from the steamer City of Dallas.

   Another attempt was made to take the matter into court and test it judicially, but this the Radicals would not permit, and continued their arbitrary acts in defiance of laws and courts. A similar attempt to seize some guns that came in by the Jackson Railroad proved unsuccessful and the arms were safely
distributed at Leeds' foundry.

   It was publicly known that the steamer Mississippi, which was expected to arrive in this port Sunday, September 13, contained a large supply of arms for the citizens. This was well known to the police. In fact, the citizens made no concealment of it; claimed the right to have arms sent them, and declared that they would vindicate this right. On the other hand, the police authorities declared most emphatically that they would seize all and any arms coming to this city. In order to carry out this purpose, a large force of police, armed with Springfield rifles, with one cannon, was placed on duty Saturday evening at the wharf of the steamer, opposite Jackson Square, ready to seize the arms the moment they were landed.

   The people, however, were just as determined to insist on their rights, and, in response to the strong popular feeling, a call, written on the inspiration of the moment, appeared in the Sunday papers, calling for a grand mass meeting at Clay Statue, September 14, to assert, demand and enforce the constitutional right of the people of Louisiana "to keep and bear arms," and "to meet in peaceable assembly and petition."

THE MASS MEETING.

    Monday, September 14, proved a hot, sunny, southern day. The streets around Clay Statue were crowded from an early hour, and groups gathered on every corner discussing the situation. Some foreesaw war; others believed there would be no trouble, and not a few wandered off to the regatta fixed to take take place at Carrollton that day. Most of the stores opened in the morning, but finding business dull, no ladies out shopping, and the men to excited to think of anything but the approaching conflict, closed at an early hour.

   From 10 o'look the crowd around Clay Statue increased rapidly in numbers, and within an hour there were some four or five thousand persons collected there. The appearance of half a dozen well known gentlemen on the gallery of the Crescent Hall opposite, with tables, glasses and papers, the paraphernalia of speakers, caused the crowd to surge over to that corner, where, bare-headed and with upturned faces, on which the hot sun glared pitilessly down, they waited for the watchword,

   It came, after a long list of grievances read by Mr. Marr, in a formal demand for the immediate abdication of William Pitt Kellogg. At these words, the crowd burst forth in the wildest applause and cheers, in shouts that bore evidence that the movement was successful; that the people accepted the demand for Kellogg's abdication as the issue of the day; were determined on it; would insist on it, and would fight for it. The die was cast. The meeting had been called simply to defend the right of our people to bear arms; but when the people met together their enthusiasm grew so strong, their strength became so apparent, that they lost sight of their original grievance, and demanded that the tyranny that had so sorely afflicted them should end at once. From that hour the Kellogg government was doomed.

   The history of that memorable day moved rapidly after this. A committee was chosen to bear this demand and challenge of the people of Louisiana to Kellogg. In half an hour they had returned and reported. Kellogg was gone; Kellogg was missing; Kellogg was not to be seen; but from the Federal stronghold, the Custom-House, he had mustered courage enough to refuse this demand.

   "What must be done now?" asked one of the committee.

   "We must fight!" "Give us arms!' "Call out the troops!" were the cries from a thousand men.

   Dr. Beard stepped forward, and in glowing words called on them, in behalf of liberty and Louisiana, to defend their rights. They must bring their arms, pitch their tents upon the neutral ground, determined never to leave there until the last vestige of Kellogg's rule had been uprooted from our soil. If they needed food, their wives and children would gladly bring It.

   "Go home, get your arms," said Dr. Beard. "Come here again at half-past 2 o'clock, and you will find leaders to lead you to victory."

   It seemed scarcely a second before armed men began to appear in every direction. Old armories and gun stores had been ransacked to find something military. One man had an ancient Roman broadsword, taken from some theatre's green-room; another bore as his only weapon a keg of powder; old muskets, disabled shotguns appeared, carried on the shoulders of old and bending men.

   Those having arms rapidly coalesced into squads, and these squads were organized into companies by officers who moved here and there among the crowd, and then marched up the street.

   At the same moment that the meeting broke up the papers appeared on the streets containing the proclamation of Lieut. Gov. Penn, Gov. McEnery being absent from the State,declaring the McEnery government organized and calling on the citizens and militia to arm and drive Kellogg from power. This proclamation also appointed Gen. Fred N. Ogden commander-in-chief of the militia.

   It having become apparent that the object of Kellogg's military forces, then assembled down town, was to disperse the mass meeting and arrest the leaders of the people under the lately discovered crime of State treason, messengers were at once sent to the various offices of the White League and other forces in waiting, each at its own rendezvous, with the information that the police was determined to precipitate a fight, and that a conflict was, therefore, unavoidable.

   Accordingly, at 2 o'clock, Gen. Ogden put his forces in movement from Felicity street down Prytania and thence down Camp. Shortly after a portion of Gen. Angell's command, about twenty strong, under Capt. McGloin, occupied the City Hall, in order to be in possession of this important position, and the Central Police Station. Care was taken at once to break up the telegraph communication between the various police stations which centred there.

THE CITIZENS' FORCES.

   A few minutes later the Crescent City White League and auxiliary bodies, with two home made cannons, marched up Camp street to Poydras, along which they prepared to form their line of defense under Gen. Ogden as commander-in-chief, and Col. Behan second in command. Protector White League of the Second District, Battery C, and Company E, C.C.W. L., Capt. Pleasants, formed on Delta street. Thence the line extended up Poydras in the following order:

   Company A, Capt. W.T. Vaudry; Company B, Capt. C.H. Lord; Company C, Capt. S.H. Buck; Company G, Capt. D.M. Kilpatrick: Company K, Capt. Ed. Flood; Andress' Company, Allen's Company, Dupre's Company, Company F, C.C. W.L., Capt. McIntyre; Phillips and Tennyson's Company; Roman's Company--which formed the extreme of the line on Poydras street, being stationed at the corner of St. Charles and Poydras. Angell's Battalion, Capts. Boiland, McGloin, Richardson, Blanchard, Lincoln and Hill, were in line on St. Charles, some of them being stationed in the Crescent Hall, and others along Canal street as skirmishers.

   The rear line was formed on Julia street, where Coleman's Battery, and Captains Augustin's, Mitchell's and Prados' commands were stationed. There were altogether twenty-five companies on duty; few of them, however, were strong in numbers, the whole force of men with muskets or rifles amounting to probably less than 800. The new recruits were drafted into these companies, while many lookers-on, armed only with pistols, fell into line and prepared to do battle for Louisiana.

   A few minutes after this line was formed the news spread along the line that the police were advancing to attack them. There was intense excitement. The men knew that the police were better armed and better drilled than they, were nearly equal in numbers and boasted of a large artillery force; they foresaw, therefore, a desperate and bloody fight, but not a single man wavered at this thought. Every one was determined to fight to the bitter end, to give up his life if necessary in defense of the rights of Louisiana. Fortunate, indeed, was it for the Metropolitans that day that they were so easily beaten and so early in the action, for had they been temporarily successful, had they gained some slight advantage at the beginning, their defeat, which ultimately must come, such was the firm determination and spirit of the people, would only have been the bloodier and more destructive to them.

THE POLICE.

   At the same time that the citizens were organizing the police were preparing for battle. The Jackson Square Station was selected as their headquarters from its proximity to the arsenal and State-House. Here they rendezvoused early on the morning of the fourteenth, and organized and armed. The other stations were wisely deserted, so as not to weaken and divide their forces. The Supreme Court room and the station were transformed into barracks, and the greater part of the police stationed in these, under arms, and ready for an Immediate sortie. The cannon in the arsenal were hitched to the horses, so as to be moved out at a moment's notice. The total police force, which had been largely increased in the previous few days, numbered about 650 men, with six cannon--two Gatling guns, three Napoleons and a howitzer. In the State-House two squares distant, was stationed an additional force or militia, about 600 strong, for the most part negroes, well armed, but without artillery.

   Scouting parties and spies were frequently sent out during the morning to report the action and feeling of the citizens. About 3 o'clock these reported that the citizens were organized and armed, and preparing to march to the steamer Mississippi, lying opposite the station, to protect the landing of the guns she contained. A conference was at once held, and it was determined to advance to Canal street and give battle there.

   A picked body of men, organized into three companies, chosen for their conspicuous courage, very few of whom, by-the-by, were colored, was accordingly marched down toward Canal street, under the command of Generals Longstreet and Badger. At Canal these took up a position in the middle of the street, just in front of the Custom-House. with four guns pointing northward toward St. Charles so as to sweep it.

   A squad of mounted police rode up both sides of the street, calling to the citizens to disperse, as the police were about to open fire. The crowd on Canal street was, at that time, very large, particularly around Clay Statue. Most of these were non-combatants, lookers on, and not a few of them ladies, but, here and there armed men could be seen in the crowd and, at the corner of St. Charles, Company A, of Angell's command, Capt. Borland, was stationed as skirmishers.

   Believing that the police were really going to fire, most of the lookers-on fell back to the side street, but some still lingered around Clay Statue and many sought galleries and roof-tops, from which to witness the expected fight.

   Their flank and rear thus cleared, the main body of the police, with three guns, under Badger, marched down Canal to the levee, leaving Longstreet behind with a small force. Here they took up a position with their right resting on the old Iron building, in the centre of the street, since removed, and their left just in front of the Mobile depot.

   To meet this movement Col. Behan ordered Companies A, B and C, of the Crescent City White League, to the foot of Poydras, where they stood opposed to the Metropolitans.

   Just at this juncture Col. Behan was advised that it would perhaps be more prudent to fall back to Julia street, but he knew his men and felt sure it was their wish as well as the part of wisdom to be led against the enemy, now in full view and about to open fire.

   He rode slowly along the line of his veteran troops, men who had faced death with him upon other battle fields, and said to them, "Boys, we are all soldiers, and the first duty of a soldier is to obey orders. You must keep cool, fire low, take good aim and remember that you have officers who will command and lead you." Turning to Capt. Vandry, he pointed to the Gatling guns of the Metropolitans, which were in full view, and said, "Captain, those must be our guns."

   With the eye of an experienced soldier Col. Behan saw at once that a flank movement on the enemy's left, rapidly executed and under cover of the sloping apron of the wharf, would be successful, and instantly ordered Capt. Glynn, Protector White League, and Capt. Pleasants, Company E, Crescent City White League, to the position.

   A few minutes after, at a quarter-past 4. Capt. Glynn's command, consisting of Company E, Crescent City White League, Capt. Pleasants, and Protector White League of the Second District, Lieut. Guibet, with one gun, marched down Delta street and formed in line just in front of Morgan's depot, where the
men were partially protected by some hay and other freight on the levee.

THE FIGHT.

   This had scarcely been done when the police opened fire on the citizens, particularly on Company A, which was the most exposed, both with cannon and rifles. Capt. Glynn's company attempted to reply to the cannon of the Metropolitans with their own gun, but this worked unsatisfactorily, and they abandoned it. The two companies advanced rapidly along the river bank upon the extreme edge of the levee, where a pile of freight protected them. They opened fire thence on the police, directing their attention to the men at the cannon, several of whom they brought down at the very moment that they were turning the crank of the Gatling gun. Their fire grew more and more severe as they approached nearer to the police, and finally proved so telling that the Gatling gun was pointed toward the levee and discharged in that direction. By this fire fell Richard Lindsey, of Company E, the first citizen killed on that day.

   The loss of the Metropolitans, in consequence of their exposed position, was quite severe, and a great many of them wavered and retreated, while most of the rest showed a disposition to act similarly. Taking advantage of this, and of the fact that the fire of the police toward Poydras street was less brisk in consequence of this flank attack, Col. Behan ordered Companies A and B to charge the battery. A full volley was fired on the police, and the men then advanced gallantly in the face of a hot fire from the enemy. S.B. Newman, Company A, fell killed, and several seriously wounded, before they reached Gravier street; while E.A. Toledano was killed at the very corner of Canal street, and within a few feet of the battery. At the same time Capt. Glynn's command charged from the levee.

   It was this gallant charge that decided the victory of the day. The men who charged were few in number; less, probably, than the Metropolitans; but the latter were so astonished and demoralized by this bold attack that a whole company which had almost altogether escaped fire, broke and fled, making for Customhouse street. A few of the bolder ones remained around the Gatling gun to the last moment and kept up a fire until the citizens were close upon them.

   Badger, their commander, while vainly endeavoring to rally his retreating men, fell, bleeding from several wounds. The fall of their leader completed the demoralization of the police, and those few that remained, seeing the day lost, joined in the flight, deserted their cannon and retreated precipitately up Canal street. One of the cannon was carried off the field, but the traces of the horses were cut and it was left standing in the centre of the street.

   At the rout of the Metropolitans, Capt. Buck was unable to restrain the impetuosity of his company (Company C), and they charged down Front street, joining in the attack on the retreating Metropolitans.

   The Metropolitans scattered in their flight. The left wing sought refuge in the Mobile depot, whence they fired a volley on the citizens, but were soon dislodged therefrom and driven down Customhouse street. The greatest portion, however, fell back behind the iron building, under cover of which they kept an irregular but telling fire on the citizens, who were ranged in the middle of the street and
wholly unprotected. A. M. Gautier, Chas. Boulard and A. Bozonier, a one-armed man, all of Battery C, or Protector White League, and W.C. Robins, of Company C, Crescent City White League, fell, either killed or mortally wounded by this fire, while some eight or ten citizens were severely wounded by it.

   Gen. Ogden at once ordered Company G forward down Fulton street, to flank the Metropolitans. Their fire proved effective. The police were dislodged from the iron building and broke again and retreated up Canal street, chasely pursued by the citizens. A large number of policemen dashed into the Custom-house, while many did not even stop at the Granite Building, but fled in the utmost haste, up Canal street, toward St. Charles. Some thirty or forty joined Longstreet at the corner of Peters and Canal streets, where they organized again, and by keeping up a fire with the only cannon left them, prevented, for awhile, the citizens from taking off the captured guns, Even when this was done the citizens found themselves without ammunition and unable in consequence to make use of their captured cannon.

   Company G pursued the retreating police almost to the corner of Peters, but the fire from that street, as well as a volley from the Custom-House, compelled them to retreat with the loss of Major Wells. They retired behind a deserted street, from which position they kept up their fire. Firing was also kept up from Techoupitoulas, where Hill's company, Company E, of Angell's command, were. The police replied briskly, killing Mohrman. Allen's company, and Bernes on Tolhoupitoulas, and Gousidine, Lincoln's company, near the corner of Magazine. It was at this time that Gen. Ogden, while riding down Tehoupitoulas, directing the operations of his men and reconnoitering the position of the enemy, had his horse shot from under him and was himself slightly wounded.

   The police finding the firing too warm again retreated, proceeding up Customhouse, still pursued by Company G, which opened on them from the head of Crossman street. The police proceeded thence up Old Levee, Capts. Phillips and Tennyson's oommands, together with a number of irregulars, firing on them from Bienville and Customhouse, which was replied to by the retreating police as well as by those at the station. By this fire one policeman and two citizens, J. Graval, St. John White League, and M. Betts, Washington White League, were killed.

   The police marched on the station, murdering J.K. Gourdain on their way. Here the single gun left them was placed in position, pointing up Chartres street, and scouts, dressed in old United States uniforms, to delude the citizens into the belief that the Federal government had interfered in behalf of the police, were thrown out at St. Ann, Jefferson and St. Peter streets. Of Kellogg's army of that morning there remained only sixty or seventy men, many of them wounded and all completely demoralized and broken in spirits.

   The police had lost in their fight on the levee and retreat fifteen men killed, while five or more of those carried off the battlefield into the Custom-House, were mortally wounded. Of those seriously or slightly wounded there were fully sixty or seventy.

   The fighting began about 4:20 p.m. Fifteen minutes after the first gun was fired the citizens were in possession of the cannon of the enemy, and by half-past 5 the firing had almost altogether ceased.

SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENTS.

   When the firing at the levee was heard, the companies stationed above Tehoupitoulas street, expecting an immediate attack, commenced throwing up barricades. These were built of horse cars, barrels, planks, etc., while the Iron Street crossings being torn up left quite effective ditches.

   It was some time after the fight before its result was known among the men not engaged in it. The news, however, when it spread though the streets, attracted a large number of the people to the foot of Canal street, and these assisted in carrying off the wounded, both citizens and police, and attending to all their needs.

   The men engaged in the fight were withdrawn to Poydras street, where they rested on their arms.

   A conference was held to determine whether the citizens should move forward and take the State-House while the police were still demoralized by their late defeat, but a forward movement was thought premature, it being the general opinion that if the police were left alone they would be overcome by terror during the night and disperse. Moreover, the supply of ammunition was very small and not sufficient to enable the citizens to keep up the fight, If such became necessary, sufficiently long to make it complete. The forces of the citizens were therefore not moved forward beyond Canal street.

   From the hour of their defeat until midnight parties of police deserted, eagerly surrendering to any citizens they met. They seemed greatly to dread the popular vengeance, and threw away their hats and took off their coats to escape recognition.

MIDNIGHT.

   At midnight the city had become quiet, although armed sentinels were stationed on the corners of all the streets up town, allowing no one to pass the line of the citizens, extending from the levee out to Rampart, and from Canal to Julia.

   Gen. Ogden held his headquarters at the store of Kursheedt & Bienvenu, on Camp street, near Poydras, and thence directed all military movements. Ammunition and provisions were also distributed among the various companies.

SEPTEMBER FIFTEENTH.

   Early on Tuesday morning Angell's brigade crossed Canal street, moving down town, it being reported by a deserter that the militia and police in the State-House were completely disorganized and that a majority of them had left. A detachment under Lieut. Clem. Walker was sent forward to report the situation. The men proceeded as far as St. Peter street, where a picket of eleven Metropolitans was captured by surprise and taken to the rear. Lieut. Walker then proceeded to the station,where he held a conference with Capt. Lawler, in command, but badly wounded and unable to act, and Sergeant Bahnke, who acted in his place. Bahnke refused to surrender unless ordered to do so by Kellogg. He promised, however, to see Kellogg and get his orders. At day-break Bahnke replied that Kellogg had commanded him to hold the station, and declared that he intended to do so.

   Col. Angell's command, supported by Coleman's Battery, was at once ordered to move forward to the State-House and Arsenal. Companies A, B, C and E accordingly moved down Royal street, Company A, Capt. Borland, in advance. At the news of the approach of the citizens the negro militia in the State-House, probably three hundred strong, broke and dispersed, and when the citizens reached the building a white flag was exposed from an upper story as a signal of surrender. Companies A and C immediately occupied the building. The other two companies, B and E. under Capt. McGloin, with Coleman's Battery to support them, proceeded down the street toward the arsenal.

   It was soon evident that whatever was the disposition of the police officers their men would no longer fight. When the citizens appeared in sight the police refused to fight, reversed their cannon, which had previously pointed up Chartres street, threw down their arms, and took flight down town, a few of them discharging their guns, accidentally, it is said, at the citizens, wounding one.

   The arsenal, containing one cannon and three thousand stands of arms, was at once taken possession of by Capt. McGloin. Twelve policemen, one of them dead, were found in the building.

   This ended the victory. Every point in the city was now in the possession of the citizens, and the only remnants of the Kellogg government were a few dozen broken, hungry and mournful men, cooped up in the Custom-House, under the protection of the United States flag.

 THE INAUGURATION.

    At 2 o'clock Gov. Penn left his residence, on St. Charles street, and, escorted by a multitude of people, moved down to tie State-House, where the legal government of Louisiana was soon organized and in working order in all its branches. And here, with the inauguration of the government elected by the people, ended the victory of the Fourteenth of September.

 THE FRUITS OF THE FIGHT.

    There were those who thought, when the gloomy seventeenth came so soon, cloudy, damp and chilly as it was, when all our people wore mourning and desperate faces, that the victory of September 14 was a defeat, and the blood spilt that day spilt in vain. Time has since shown us the true fruits of that glorious victory. To it we owe our present freedom, our government--everything. September 1l was the first armed appeal and protest against reconstruction, carpet-baggism, Africanization, the first fight against Grantism and the use of Federal troops in State elections; it won us the State election in November; it returned, for the first time in fourteen years, a Democratic Congress; it elected a Democratic President at the next election; it made Hayes's Southern policy a necessity, and changed the relations of the South to the Union. It was the death blow of Radicalism and the true end of the war.

   To the men who fought and fell on that day do not only the people of Louisiana, but the people of the whole Union, owe thanks as men who did not fear to risk their lives in defense of those rights we all hold dear.

[The New Orleans Daily Democrat, New Orleans, Sunday, September 14, 1879. Vol. IV--No. 269. Pgs. 1 & 2]

Chicago: "Revolvers sold without permits"...

[The Daily Missoulian, Missoula, Montana, Friday Morning, March 26, 1909. Vol. XXXV. No. 325. Pg. 7]

"The court held that the family had a right to drive him away with firearms...."

[The Morning call, San Francisco, June 3, 1893. Volume LXXIV--No. 3. Pg. 2]

"certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside government’s reach..."

"But on the other side of this case is another feature of government: certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside government’s reach, including the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment. This right must also include the right to acquire a firearm . . ."--Judge Edmond E. Chang, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION, [Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers v. The City of Chicago and Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of the City of Chicago. No. 10 C 04184, Jan. 6, 2014.] (Judge Chang was appointed by Obama!!).







"The right to bear arms in self-defence is of course a natural and constitutional right which the statute cannot take away..."

A Wise King.

   The end of Mayer King's enforcement of the ordinances regulating the sale and use of explosives in Philadelphia go admirably crowned the work that he derives therefrom great moral reinforcement in his present avowed purpose to prosecute to punishment all violators of the statute law against carrying concealed weapons. He has positively enjoined upon officers that they use their best efforts to arrest and prosecute all persons who shall carry any firearms, slung-shot, or other deadly weapons about their persons, and to apprehend all these that they may have reason to believe are violating the law in that particular. The benefits resulting from a vigorous and thorough enforcement of this order would be immeasurably greater than even the wonderfully gratifying exhibit from the Hospitals of the philanthropic services performed by his regulation of the late Fourth of July observance. To the prevalence of the habit of carrying these weapons and the readiness which a large number of city loungers display in their use may be traced much of the crime, accident and disorder that distinguish city annals and put the life and limbs of all citizens in peril. There can be no doubt that if they were banished the police and hospital records would be greatly shortened and all the best interests of society conserved.

   It is true that in the enforcement of this order the mayor is confronted with the ruling of, we believe, Judge Allisen's court of quarter sessions of Philadelphia, that these acts are unconstitutional, so far as they apply to the carrying of arms for self-defence, and that it is competent for the accused to rebut the unlawful intent raised by the statutory provision. That ruling, if we recollect rightly, was made in the case of a negro who was disclosed on the witness stand to be carrying a concealed revolver. It was at a time of great excitement and when many people felt, and encouraged negroes in Philadelphia to feel, that their color put them at constant risk of assault. Under that pressure Judge Allisen made this ruling. If there was any occasion for it, that occasion has passed away, and such a remark expressed gratuitously at the time, would hardly be made new, to afford encouragement to the evil-disposed. The right to bear arms in self-defence is of course a natural and constitutional right which the statute cannot take away, but few people in Philadelphia or in any ether part of this state would need to carry arms in self-defence if all were stripped of them. It is against the rowdies with their slung-shots and billies, and dirks and pistols, that decent people have te arm themselves, and if the former were shorn of their weapons of offense, the latter class would be glad to lay down their defensive equipment, especially as most peaceably disposed people who have to carry a pistol are in constant dread of sheeting themselves, from inexpertness. Moreover, when the arms are borne in self-defense, that is a matter of evidence, which can be shown by testimony. There is nothing in our state of society to create a presumption that a man who carries a pistol carries it for self-protection. But if he does he ought to be able to establish it to the satisfaction of a court and jury. Only in that case is his constitutional right invaded by the prohibition. Even then it is a question whether his theory of self-defence would not be more manifest if he carried his shotgun over his shoulder, or were his dirk in a girdle, rather than by concealing his weapon and his purposes.

[The Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, Lancaster, PA., Saturday, July 16, 1881. Volume XVII---No. 272 Pg. 2]

   And it was just this type of presumptuous theorist which brought us to the situation that we have today. Which begs the question: Just what part of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall NOT be infringed". Does the treasonously minded people such as this author NOT understand?

"The collection of arms to be used in self defense of person or property is of itself proper and lawful..."

[Headline]

Pleads Right Of People To Self Defense

JURY GETS CASE
OF KILLERS OF
EX-SOLDIERS ON
ARMISTICE DAY

Killing Confessed on Stand
Is Murder, Says Judge
In Charge

SELF DEFENSE PLEA
DENIED BY COURT

Bench at Montesano Leaves
Little Hope for Reds
From Verdict

(By Associated Press)

   MONTESANO, Wash., March 12.

 --The case of ten Industrial Workers of the World charged with the murder of Warren O. Grimm, one of the former soldiers shot during an Armistice day parade at Centralia, Washington, last November, went to the Jury at 10.20 o'clock tonight.

DESTROYS DEFENSE PLEA

(Special to the Review)

   COURTHOUSE. Montesano Wash., March 12.-- What accused I.W.W. admitted from the witness stand makes them "guilty or murder," according to instructions delivered by Judge John M. Wilson this afternoon to the jury trying the case of ten men charged with the death of Lieut. Warren O. Grimm, a victim of the Armistice day shooting at Centralia. In his charge to the Jury Judge Wilson* held that legal interpretation of justifiable homicide did not include a scheme of supposed self defense "stationing men in outside places for the purpose of shooting the persons real

(CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO)

I.W.W. CASE
GOES TO JURY

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE)

or apparent from whom force or violence is expected."

   In the presentation of the defense's case. Bert Bland took the stand and said he fired from Seminary hill, into a crowd in front of the I.W.W. hall. His brother. O.C. Bland, said that he and John Lamb posted themselves, with a loaded rifle and revolver, in a window across from the hotel but did not shoot. Lamb corroborated this testimony.

   The Court's instructions were delivered before a crowd that packed every part of the court room. Perhaps 800 persons were present. Many of them had waited for five hours, prosecutor C. D. Cunningham, at four o'clock this afternoon, began his opening argument for the State. A night session was held in an effort to complete the arguments. The ease probably will be submitted to the jury late tonight. At 9:40 o'clock the addresses by counsel had been completed.

   No matter what verdict jury returns, the ten defendants cannot be freed. Attorney Herman Allen of Lewis county, today filed in chehallis a second charge of first degree murder against each of the prisoners. It is an information accusing them of the murder of Arthur McElfresh, another of the four ex-service men killed in the Armistice day tragedy. The preponderance of evidence, indicated that McElfresh was killed instantly as he stood before the I.W.W. hall. McElfresh was a druggist, 24 years old and an overseas veteran. He had served in Company M of the 16th Infantry. The warrants from Lewis county will arrive before the jury has agreed. In case of conviction the new charge is not expected to be pressed.

   The part of the instruction of Judge Wilson's which went to the crux of the issue said: "The collection of arms to be used in self defense of person or property is of itself proper and lawful, but the law does not authorize the killing of people stationed about, or property inside the habitation, and if you find, that any two or more of the defendants, in the manner and form and at the time charged in the information, planned to defend the I.W W. property therein or by of the persons therein, by the stationing of armed men in the Avalon hotel, the Arnold hotel, or on Seminary hill, for the purpose of shooting from those points, all persons actually or apparently engaged in a raid or attack upon the I.W.W. hall, or the persons or property therein, the placing of such men and the shooting from said outside points would not be lawful acts of defense of person or property but would be unlawful, and if you find that any two or more of the defendants carried out said plan and as a natural, necessary or probably result thereof. Warren O. Grimm was shot and killed as charged in the information, then such killing would be unlawful and would be murder and each and all of the defendants so planning or participating therein would be guilty of murder. But the mere collection and presence of arms is not sufficient Weheron to place information guilt on any of them, nor proof of conspiracy."

   The court also advised the jury that none of the defendants should be convicted simply on prejudice against the I.W.W.. which is not on trial.

   The jury was told that if the only evidence against Elmer Smith, Centralia atorney charged as accessory, was that he informed the I.W.W. they had a right to protect their hall then he should be acquitted....

[The Bisbee Daily Review, Bisbee, Arizona, Saturday, March 13, 1920. Vol. 24.--No. 58. Pgs. 1 & 2]

 * - Judge John Wilson of Olympia, WA. Grays Harbor County Superior Court. The incident about which the trial concerned was known as "The Centralia Massacre", or the "Armistice Day Riot". The killings had taken place on Tuesday, November 11, 1919.