Major Gen. Shaler's Official Import Of The Late Riot

Major Gen. Shaler, who commandedr all the troops on the day of the riot, July 12, has made an official report. He sta tes that the total number on duty was 5,332, rank and file. After detailing the positron of the regiment during the day, and repeating1 the eircumstances of the riot, which ditfer littlo from the previous reporta, the General sums up by praising the militia for tho promptitude with ■which they turned out and the numberg that appeared in the ranks, in souie regiments the increase being 50 per cent. more than usual on parade. He continnes: "Their conduct during the 24 consecutive huurs' service was in the highest degree cominendable. A very small portion of the public press, and a few persons with biased and prejudiced minds, ndeavored to créate the iuipression that some of the regiinents acted hastily in firing on Eighth avenue, but by a carel'ul perusal of the official reports of all the principal commanding otlicers engaged and the citizens residing in the neighborhood aa tó the circumstances atteuding the melee, I have failed to discover suffioient cause for the statements made. The testimony is abundant to show that long before the troops retaliated, firearms ■were discharged, missiles of all kinds wcie thrown at them, from sidewalks, and windows, and it was not till one man had been shot in tho head, and another had received a flesh wound.two men of the Ninth had been killed outright and a number wounded, and three of the Sixth wouuded, that fire was opened on the mob. It is the opinión of the most experienced officers of the pólice forcé and military present that the troops did not fire any too soon, bttt that in a few nioments more it would have been diffioult if not impossible to overeóme the mob, and that the lives lost at liigkth avenue and Twenty-fourth street saved the sacrifico of a much greater number at some other point. Orders issued from time to time were obeyed by all commands on duty with an alacrity rarcly witnessed. The report aoncludes by commending the pólice for thx;ir pulían t conduct. It says: "Their alacrity, courage and dash in attacking the mob, as well as their patience ar.d coolness in bearing with its abuse and assaults, are cheerf ully tcstified to by all officers of tho National Guard who witnessed their movements, and they are declared eutitled not only to the respect of their superiors, but to the confidence of the public at large.