A Rebel Outrage
On Saturday night last, a gang of young rebels from the upper end of Kenton county, Ky., and some that were imported from Grant county for the purpose, entered the village of Independence with the avowed intention, as they expressed it, of "cleaning out the d___d Lincolnites." They commenced their foray into hallooing for Jeff Davis, and abusing everyone who had voted for Lincoln, declaring that their mission was to "whip all the d___d abolitionists in the town." They knocked down Benjamin Wiltshire with a slung-shot, beat Andrew Nicholson in a most shameful manner, and committed other outrages too numerous to mention.
There were thirty or forty of the scoundrels, all armed with revolvers that they have been obtaining for some time. Such a force, of course, could overcome the few Union men who are left in the village, a large proportion of the Union population having gone into the army. Some Union men, however, stood up to them at the risk of their lives, and succeeded in checking the operation of the dastardly scoundrels. Among those were Moses West and Frank Donnelly. Some of the raiders have been in the rebel service, and are shielding themselves under the amnesty proclamation. One is said to be liable to arrest for assisting deserters to escape, and one boasts that he has been in the revel service several times and returned without being molested. This is the way the Union men of Kentucky are treated for standing up to the cause.
from the Louisville Journal, December 1, 1864.