The following is a transcript of an article written regarding the events in Christiana on September 12, 1851. This article was found in the Lancaster Intelligencer and Journal on September 16, 1851. From whose viewpoint was this written?
Horrible Murder
The following letter from an intelligent correspondent at Columbia gives the particulars of the horrible Negro Riot and Murder perpetrated near Christiana in this county:
Friend Sanders – The murder of Edward Gorsuch, Esq.
By the Negroes and white abolitionists of Lancaster County, has filled the
public mind in this community with but one feeling, and that a feeling of
indignation commensurate with the atrocity of the murder. The following particulars were present at
the murder, and who received a wound himself upon the head from one of the
rebellious Negroes, just as Mr. Gorsuch felt.
Mr. G. was in pursuit of two or three runaway
Negroes, accompanied by his son, his nephew, two cousins, and the Deputy
Marshall and a police officer, in all seven persons. Very early in the morning,
this party approached a shanty in which was supposed to be secreted the
runaways, and soon perceived a Negro running ahead of them whom Mr. Gorsuch
recognized as his boy. They tried to
intercept his reaching the house, but the Negro succeeded in getting in and
ascended to the loft, interposing a barrier between himself and the pursuing
party. Baffled thus in accomplishing
their object, the party came out to reconnoiter the premises, and as Mr. G was
passing by an exposed place, a Negro from the shanty fired at him, but without
effect. The Negroes now commenced
blowing horns, keeping the party at abeyance at the same time. The neighborhood soon became alarmed and in
the space of three quarters of an hour, two hundred Negroes had assembled, most
of whom were armed with guns, and many of them came on horse back. At this critical juncture, a white man was
perceived among the Negroes, encouraging them on to resistance. The Marshall instantly read his warrant to
the white man, and ordered him to assist in preserving the peace, and in executing
the law of the country. This he
refused to do, and told the Marshall that “no arrest should or could be made
there without spilling blood,” at which the Negroes cheered and yelled like
furies. The marshal then declared his
determination to hold the white man responsible for the value of the slaves and
ordered the party to retire, which they were doing when Mr. Gorsuch, who had
hitherto been surrounded by the Negroes, turned round and said that he would
have his boys, before he left the neighborhood; upon declaring which he
received a blow on the posterior of the head from some sharp instrument
supposed to be a scythe, by a Negro.
This blow knocked him forward, and as he was falling, another Negro
discharged a gun, containing shot and slug into the superior portion of the
right lung producing instant death.
When Mr. Gorsuch fell, his son rushed forward to the body of his father
and discharged his revolver among the party of murderers, but with what effect
is not known. He received several shot
himself and would have been dispatched but the Negroes took alarm at their
bloody work and dispersed, yelling like demons incarnate. The young man’s life is in a very critical
situation.
Mr. Gorsuch was a class leader in the M.E. Church –
about sixty-three years of age, and enjoyed universal esteem as a neighbor,
citizen, and Christian. He lived near
Muncton, Baltimore Co., Md., and is reputed to be quite wealthy. His body was taken through this place this
morning en route for his former residence, and was visited by large numbers of
our citizens.
He was a horribly murdered man, and a fearful
retribution hangs over the heads of his murderers.
P.S. – About 50 of our citizens are now, 10 o’clock
at night, waiting to start down in the cars, in company with some Marylanders,
to make arrests. Wo to them who resist!
Columbia, September 12, 1851.
Simultaneously with the intelligence of the Negro
riot at Christiana, and the murder of the owner of the fugitive slaves, it was
announced that Gov. Johnston had arrived at Philadelphia, on another
electioneering tour, and intended to remain for several days, perhaps weeks, in
the eastern portion of the State. Thus,
for months at a stretch does this Abolition Whig Governor absent himself from
the seat of government – and riots and bloodshed may accrue in consequence of
the Abolition sentiments he advances, and yet there is, practically, no Chief
Magistrate at Harrisburg to take cognizance of the outrages of the peace and
dignity of the Commonwealth! Truly we
have fallen on evil times, when a citizen of an adjoining State, in the lawful
pursuit of his property, may be murdered in our midst, and the Executive of the
Commonwealth (to whose policy may be traced the outrage) roaming about in quest
of votes, instead of being at his post to enforce the utmost rigor of the law
against the white and black murderers!
Gov. Johnston should have been at the seat of government, where the
Constitution intends he should be at all times, and at once offered a liberal
reward for the apprehension of the guilty parties, even had it operated with
severity against some of his Abolition friends who instigated the riot and,
perhaps, assisted in perpetrating the murder.
As it is – for anything Johnston has done – the murderers are still
running at large, ready again to shoot down or cut the throat of the next
master that may come along on the hunt of his slaves. Can such a state of things be longer tolerated by our law
abiding, law loving people? The second
Tuesday of October will answer the question through the medium of the ballot
box.
Since the above was in type, we are gratified to
learn that two white men, named Castner Hanway and Elijah Lewis, and nine
Negroes have been arrested as accessories, and are now in our prison awaiting
their trial for murder. The slave who,
it is supposed, killed his master, has not been arrested. Too much praise cannot be awarded to the
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of this County, John L. Thompson, Esq., and
Alderman J. Franklin Reigart, of this city, who promptly repaired to the scene
of the bloodshed on Friday morning and succeeded, with the aid of a number of
the citizens in that neighborhood and the hands on the public works of the
State, in ferreting out and arresting the guilty ones, and having the brought
here and imprisoned on the same day.
The following facts, taken from the deposition of
H.H. Kline, Esq., Deputy Marshal, who was with Mr. Gorsuch at the time of his
death, will explain the whole transaction in a satisfactory manner to our
readers:
Mr. K. states in his deposition that they got to the
house at which the slaves were secreted about daylight on Thursday
morning. As they approached it they
were discovered by a colored man who gave the alarm. The blacks were upstairs.
He (K.) went to the stairway door and told the man who occupied the
house that he wanted him to come down so that he might talk to him about the
two slaves secreted there. He heard
them loading their guns upstairs. Mr.
Gorsuch then came to the door and called the slaves by name. He told them that he would take them along,
treat them kindly, and forgive them all.
He then went out of the house, looked up to the window and called them. They then fired at him, but did not hit
him. He then fired his revolver at
them. He (K.) had read his warrant
aloud to them before they fired. He
gave them ten minutes to consider – during which time a white man came riding
up, named Castner Hanway. He called upon
him to assist in the name of the United States. Hanway replied he would not and did not care for any act of
Congress. By that time, another white
man, named Elijah Lewis, came up , and demanded his authority. He showed it to him, and he then turned
round and told the Negroes they had a right to defend themselves. About this time, some 15 or 20 Negroes,
armed with guns, came up in the same direction the white men came. They came with their guns pointed at him and
ready cocked. – He begged the white men to keep them from firing, and said he
would withdraw his men and leave the Negroes go. Hanway said the Negroes had a right to defend themselves and he
would not interfere. – About this time another gang of Negroes came on the
ground armed with guns and clubs.
Hanway rode towards them and said something. Our men then run, and the Negroes commenced firing on them. He had left Mr. Gorsuch at the house coaxing
the slaves to go with him. The Negroes
fired on the old man, and he fell, but cannot tell whether it was a shot from
the window or from the gang outside that killed him. The son ran to his assistance. – Joshua Gorsuch, Dr. Pierce and
Dickerson Gorsuch were all wounded – the latter dangerously. He is now lying very low. The party then retreated to Peningtonville.
On the evening of Friday, the Philadelphia
authorities arrived on the ground, and, during Saturday some eighteen or twenty
more blacks and one white man were arrested, five of whom are now in our
prison, and the rest taken to Philadelphia to be tried there in the U.S. Court.
Governor Johnston, under the impression no doubt that
it was “better late than never,” and fearful of the effect the Abolition Riot
at Christiana might have on his political prospects, issued a Proclamation
on yesterday (four days after the murder!)
offering a reward of $1,000 for the apprehension of the guilty parties! This, it strikes us, is only, adding insult
to injury.
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