"You do not need for me to tell you never to vote for one of these white traitors and rebels who held you as slaves. ("Dat we ain't!" "We'll see 'em in h---- fust!") We have fought for you on the field of battle. Now you must organize and fight for yourselves. ("We gwi do it, too! Dat we is! We gwi fight!") We have given you freedom. We intend to give you property. We, the Republican Party, propose to confiscate the land of these white rebels and traitors and give it to you, to whom it justly belongs--forty acres and a mule and $100 to every one of you! (The Chairman exhausted himself seeking to subdue enthusiasm.) The Republican Party cannot do this unless you give it your support. All that it asks is your vote and your influence. If the white men of the South carry the elections, they will put you back into slavery." A scalawag delivered the gem of the occasion: "Ladies and gentlemen: I am happy to embrace this privilege of speaking to you. I desire to address first and very especially a few words to these ladies, for they wield an influence of which they are little aware. Whether poor or rich, however humble they may be, women exert a powerful influence over the hearts of men. I have been gratified to see you bringing your mites to the cause of truth. Emulate, my fair friends, the example of your ancestors who came over in the Mayflower, emulate your ancestors, the patriotic women of '76. Give your whole hearts, and all your influence to this noble work. And in benefits that will come to you, you shall be repaid an hundred-fold for every quarter and dime you here deposit!" The meeting closed with race-hatred stirred up to white heat in black breasts. Later in the day, Richmond firemen were entertaining visiting Delaware firemen with water-throwing. A policeman requested a negro, standing within reserved space, to move; Sambo would not budge; the officer pushed him back; Sambo struck the officer; there was a hubbub. A white bystander was struck, and struck back; a barber on the corner jerked up his pole and ran, waving it and yelling: "Come on, freedmen! Now's de time to save yo' nation!" Negroes of all sizes, sexes and ages, some half-clad, many drunk, poured into the street; brickbats flew; the officer was knocked down, his prisoner liberated. Screams of "Dem p'licemens shan't 'res' nobody, dat dee shan't!" "Time done come fuh us tuh stan' up fuh our rights!" were heard on all sides. The police, under orders not to fire, tried to disperse or hold them at bay, exercising marvellous patience when blacks shook fists in their faces, saying: "I dar you tuh shoot! I jes dar you tuh shoot!"