Despite the lack of evidence, the local press freely blamed the “Dagoes” for the murder.[4] A closely watched trial of eleven of the indicted Italians finally began on February 15, 1891.[5] After closing arguments the jury quickly came to a verdict. Eight defendants were found not guilty and a mistrial was declared for three.[6] The judge then remanded all eleven men to the parish jail.
That evening about 150 citizens, including prominent leaders of the legal and business communities, drafted a notice that appeared in all the morning papers on March 14.[7] It read: "All good citizens are invited to attend a mass meeting on Saturday, March 14, at 10 o'clock A.M. at Clay Statue[8] to take steps to remedy the failure of the Hennessy case. Come prepared for action."[9]
Six to ten thousand people of varied backgrounds awaited the organizers that morning. Men, women, and children cheered from windows as the mob marched past them on their way to Orleans Parish Prison in the Treme chanting, “We want the Dagoes.”[10]
About 40 vigilantes forced their way into the prison and shot nine of the accused and hung two on trees outside the prison. One man was shot 42 times. Of the victims, five had not stood trial, three had been found not guilty, and no verdict had been found for three.[11]
Throughout the history of our country newcomers have been vilified as dangerous others—less than human. As the New Orleans community honors its Italian heritage this weekend it is an opportune time to reflect—have we learned from the mistakes of our collective past? 1. John V. Baiamonte, Jr., “Who Killa de Chief” Revisited: The Hennessy Assassination and Its Aftermath, 1890 -1991,” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 33, No. 2, (Spring, 1992), p. 122 and Clive Webb, “The lynching of Sicilian immigrants in the American South, 1886-1910,” American Nineteenth Century History, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2002, p. 45.
2. Barbara Bolten, “The Hennessy Case: An Episode in Anti-Italian Nativism,” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer, 1979), p. 265.3. Baiamonte, Jr., p. 123-126.
4. Bolten, p. 267.
5. Seven hundred and eighty prospective jurors were interviewed before 12 were found to be free of prejudice against capital punishment and Italians. Bolten, p. 268.
6. Ibid., p. 271.
7. Ibid., p. 271.
8. The Henry Clay statue was installed in 1860 in the median of Canal Street, at the corner of St. Charles. In 1900 it was moved to Lafayette Park on Camp Street.
9. New York Times, March 15, 1891.
10. Bolten, p. 272 and Baiamonte, p. 135.
11. Richard Gambino, Vendetta, A True Story of the Worst Lynching in America. The Mass Murder of Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891. The Vicious Motivations Behind It, and the Tragic Repercussions That Linger to This Day, (Garden City, 1977).
