Serious Riot at Millican (July 18, 1868)

TEXAS- Serious Riot at Millican- Negroes Attempt to Hang a White Man- Fifteen Negroes Killed- Dispersion of the Mod by United States Troops.

Galveston, July 17. - On the evening of the 15th, a riot commenced, at Millican, a station on the Central Railroad. A mob of about 25 negroes, led by a white school teacher and a negro teacher named Brooks, attempted to hang a man named William Haleday. The white citizens prevented the execution and headed by the Sheriff and an Agent of the Freedmens Bureau, attempted to suppress the mob. The attempt resulted in the death of ten or twelve negroes.

On the 16th the numbers increased on both sides, and skirmishing occurred during the day. A small body of Federal troops arrived there late last evening, and killed three of the negroes and dispersed the mob who to the number of three to five hundred had entrenched themselves about three miles from Millican and refused to lay down their arms.

The rioters have dispersed and gone home, after losing fifty to sixty of their number.

It is now ascertained that the difficulty arose from the supposition that that a negro member of the Loyal League had been hung, but has since been found.