Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1884 — SIXTEEN KILLED. [ARTICLE]

SIXTEEN KILLED.

Hot-Headed Politicians Engage in Wody Battle at LoreauLa. One Hundred Shots Exchanged, and the Battlefield Strewn with Dead and Wounded. a fNew Orleans telegram.! There was a Republican meeting at Fansse Point, a small village near the town of Iberia, Iberia Parish, on Saturday. The place is located on the bank of Bayou Teche, is dotted with canebrakes, and the low lands make it the, home principally of negroes of the poorer andharder classes. These were the people who werp holding the meeting on Saturday. Their speakers were Judge Fontelieu, a white Republican, and one or two colored politicians from Louisville. The speeches were l articuiarly bitter and the speakers laid great emphasis on their experience of last summer when the State militia took the Court House by force and turned the administration over to the Democracy. The result of the speeches' was that the negroes became agitated, and those of the Republican faith were furious in their passions. As the meeting was abont to close some colored Democrats, came up and began to discuss the question with the men who had sjtraggled out m groups from the place at which the meeting had been held. In one of these,groups tne discussion had grown into a desperate quarrel, and the men were dividing for a battle, when Joe Gilfonx, a white democrat, stepped into the crowd and took a hand in the discussion. He was a prominent character in the quarrel of last summer, and his presence increased the indignation of the Republicans- Epithets came quick, and Gilfaux had been in the crowd but a moment when a negro fired from a pistol in his pocket and the ball passed through Gilfaux’s hat. The latter responded to the attack by drawing a gun, and had fired one harmless shot when be received a fatal wound. He fell dead in his tracks, and his death was the signal for a quick and furious attack. A number of Democratic politicians, whose presence had not been observed, rushed suddenly to the scene, and, commanding their friends to form a line, they at once sent a murderous volley into the crowd of negroes. Many of the latter fell, some dead, others dangerously wounded, and many more or less hurt. The shots had attracted mauy of the men who were at the meeting, and in approaching the —scene of the quarrel they were forced to come np on the side of the Republicans and-were exposed to the fatal volley. The spectacle of the dead and dying had a confusing effect. Many of the negroes were stampeded and ran like men into the glades and canebrakes. Others whose fright was uncontrollable fled into Bayou Teche and were drowned. Some of the wounded crept to the roadside to die of the injuries they had already received or to receive fresh wounds that were fatal. There were many of the negroes, however, to whom the sight of their dead and bleeding comrades was a demoniac inspiration, and, drawing such weapons as they had, some pistols and others knives and clubs, they rushed upon ■ the Democrats. A furious hand-to-hand battle ensued. Neither side of the stampede showed signs of faltering until their weapons had been rendered useless. and.then they drew off sullenly, and with threats and jeers taunted even the dying of their enemies. The battle subsided as quietly as it began, although more than 1,000 shots were ’fired and many knives were stained with blood before the fray was over. After the eombatants separated each left the scene. The dead'and wounded were uncared for. The Democrats went to New Iberia; the Republicans to Loreauville. In the course of halt an hour a truce party returned to minister to the injured and carry off the dead, but they attended only to those who lay ifi the road where the battle had occurred. , An embassador notified Coroner Manville of the affray, and he visited the scene. He returned to-day, and gives the following version, as gleaned from the Democratic survivors : There are sixteen negroes dead.and two white men. I have ordered a jury, and will hold the inquest to-morrow. All in the fight when it began say that the first shot came irom a negro, who fired at Joe Gilfoux from his coat-pocket. Giltoux and another Democrat named Bell were killed Instantly, and from tiie first volley. The pistols taken from their bodies show that they had not fired, a shot when they fell. It is not known how many were killed, but it is certain there were sixteen, probably twenty. Nearly all those killed received wounds from stray shots. It was reported that the white Republicans present wore breastplates. Judge Fontelieu’s clothing was full of bullet holes, but his skin was untouched. Capt. Bell was buried to-day at St. Martinsville. Bell and ■•'Gilfoux were two ot Fausse Point’s most respected citizens. Their friends present, six or eight men. were so infuriated that they went into the battle regardless of everything, and fought bravely. A great many negroes stood and fought until they emptied their pistols. A majority, however, stampeded. Hundreds of them jumped into the bayon, and some being wounded did not get out. Others ran and some fell down on the way and died. One negro was found near by in his cabin, dea-d, without a bruise.