was taken on these reports, I do not care to recite at any length
either the report or the evidence, but it is sufficient to say that
the allegations made in the preamble of the resolution were
substantially sustained by the testimony. There was a deliberate
effort on the part of the Democrats at Danville, and in other parts
of Virginia, to prevent the negroes from voting, and preceding the
November election this movement was organized by the formation of
clubs, and every means were adopted to intimidate and suppress the
Republican vote. A letter, called the Danville circular, was
prepared and issued to the southwest valley of Virginia, containing
the most inflammatory language, evidently intended to deter the
negroes from voting.

The incidents connected with the Danville massacre preceding the
election were very fully stated in the report, and established
clearly that the massacre was planned at a Democratic meeting at
the opera house, at which five hundred or more had assembled. A
scuffle grew out of a pretended quarrel between Noel and Lawson,
two white men, and revolvers were drawn and warning given to the
colored men to stand back or they would every one of them be killed.
A colored policeman endeavored to separate the two men who were
fighting, and soon after there was a general firing from pistols
and guns by white men at the negroes, the number of shots being
variously estimated at from 75 to 250. The negroes fled. There
was no evidence that the negroes fired a shot until after the whites
fired a general volley at them, and the weight of the evidence was
that very few had any weapons, that they had gathered there in
their working clothes as they had come out of the factories, of
all ages and both sexes, unquestionably from curiosity and not with
any view of violence or preparation for it. The whites, on the
contrary, were generally armed, were expecting an outbreak and
obviously seeking a pretext for resorting to violence. Many of
the whites emptied their revolvers and the evidence showed that
Captain Graves reloaded his. There was conflicting evidence as to
the negroes having arms. Only one was shown to have exhibited any
before the firing, and the colored witnesses and many of the whites,
including some of the policemen, said they saw no arms in the hands
of the colored men except the one named, and there was no reliable
evidence that he fired. There was no evidence to be relied upon
that any of