Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1878 — The Santa Cruz Insurrection. [ARTICLE]

The Santa Cruz Insurrection.

A letter from St. Thomas to a Neiv York paper gives some additional particulars of tlie recent uprising of the negroes on the Island of Santa Cruz : “On tlie outskirts of the town on every hand are seen blackened walls and ruins of Avliat were once spacious residences. On every side, too, Avere patches of green cane too wet to burn, although the negroes did everything in their power to destroy it, even throwing kerosene over it. The brutality of the negroes Avas horrible. On the second night the mob arrived at Grove Place estate, and found about nineteen of the estate laborers. The latter attempted to save some things, and refused to join the rioters. They were then shut up in an inclosure used for storing megass, upon which kerosene oil was poured and the Avliole set on fire. Three or four escaped, and now lie horribly maimed in the hospital. The charred bones of the remainder are silent Avitnesses of the truth of the story. This act of cruelty toward their own people shows what little chance there Avas for any who opposed them after their passions had been fully aroused. The whole business portion of the town of West End is a mass of rains. The people have lost all they possessed, and men and Avomen, heretofore in good circumstances, are now clad in motley and misfitting garments. There are still a great variety of reasons regarding the causes of the outbreak. Good reasons for dissatisfaction on the part of the negroes existed, and yet none which Avere of sufficient importance to excite them to the fearful outrages which Avere perpetrated, and, so the affair seems a mystery. I think truth lies in the fact that no such outbreak as occurred was premeditated. The laborers had come into West End seeking new contracts, or intending to leave the island. Becoming excited while discussing their wrongs among themselves, many of them drinking liquor, they first attacked the police, whence the negroes obtained an exaggerated idea of their power, and so went on from step to step, until a regular insurrection resulted. Fifty-one estates Avere destroyed, besides large numbers of pri\’ate buildings and residences.”