Record

Case file

1891-03-15

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1891

Mr. Blaine to Governor Nicholls, telegram, 15 March 1891 (FRUS 1891, Document 619)

Secretary of State Blaine's telegram to the Louisiana governor the day after the killings: three or more of the victims were subjects of the King of Italy, the treaty guarantees their protection, and the President regrets that a question for the courts was transferred 'to the passionate judgment of a mob.'

Date: 1891-03-15
Kind: case-file
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1891
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: A publication of the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. A United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105; the document dates from 1890-91.

Blaine’s telegram says the Italian minister reports that three or more of the victims were subjects of the King of Italy and cites the treaty guarantee of “the most constant protection and security” for Italian subjects. It says the President regrets that New Orleans citizens “transfer[red] to the passionate judgment of a mob” a question for the courts, and asks the governor to prevent further violence and bring offenders to justice. Document 620, Blaine to Fava of the same day enclosing this telegram, was also opened.

itemGovernor Nicholls to Mr. Blaine, telegram, New Orleans, 16 March 1891 (FRUS 1891, Document 623)Governor Nicholls's reply to Blaine's telegram of 15 March: everything is now quiet, he anticipates no further trouble, and 'the recent action was directed against particular individuals; their race or nationality was not a factor in the disturbance.'itemConsul Corte to Baron Fava, telegram, New Orleans, 14 March 1891 (FRUS 1891, Document 615)A short telegram, in translation, from the Italian consul at New Orleans to the Italian minister at Washington on the day of the killings: a mob led by members of the 'committee of fifty' took the jail and killed eleven prisoners, three of them Italians and the others naturalized.itemPresident Harrison's annual message, 9 December 1891 (paragraphs on the March 1891 New Orleans killings)The President's message to Congress, printed at the head of the 1891 Foreign Relations volume, calls the March lynching at New Orleans of eleven men of Italian nativity 'a most deplorable and discreditable incident' and says the federal government had no power under existing law to intervene.