ABSTRACT
The trouble began when three officers of the New Orleans police department, all white, accosted two Black men sitting on a stoop on Dryades Street. The officers had learned of the residence from Pierce, whom they had interrogated for several hours, and they hoped to catch the fugitive at home. He had returned to bandage his gunshot wound before heading to other quarters, but now, with the police closing in, he pivoted. Charles seized his rifle and waited, quietly, by the front door, which he cracked open to provide a view of the alleyway that led beyond. Thursday brought news that Mayor Paul Capdevielle had issued a call for volunteers to form a “citizen police” to support the official police, maintain calm, and protect New Orleanians of all races from the roaming mobs. The plan worked; Charles descended the stairs, sprinted through the alleyway to the back door of the main house when he could tolerate the heat no longer.
