at Aucoin were the first shots of the fight. As a matter of fact, Pierce
never fired a single shot before he was covered by Aucoin's revolver.
Charles and the officers did all the shooting. The _Picayune_'s account is
as follows:

Patrolman Mora was shot in the right hip and dangerously wounded last
night at 11:30 o'clock in Dryades Street, between Washington and Sixth,
by two Negroes, who were sitting on a door step in the neighborhood.

The shooting of Patrolman Mora brings to memory the fact that he was one
of the partners of Patrolman Trimp, who was shot by a Negro soldier of
the United States government during the progress of the Spanish-American
war. The shooting of Mora by the Negro last night is a very simple
story. At the hour mentioned, three Negro women noticed two suspicious
men sitting on a door step in the above locality. The women saw the two
men making an apparent inspection of the building. As they told the
story, they saw the men look over the fence and examine the window
blinds, and they paid particular attention to the make-up of the
building, which was a two-story affair. About that time Sergeant J.C.
Aucoin and Officers Mora and J.D. Cantrell hove in sight. The women
hailed them and described to them the suspicious actions of the two
Negroes, who were still sitting on the step. The trio of bluecoats, on
hearing the facts, at once crossed the street and accosted the men. The
latter answered that they were waiting for a friend whom they were
expecting. Not satisfied with this answer, the sergeant asked them where
they lived, and they replied "down town," but could not designate the
locality. To other questions put by the officers the larger of the two
Negroes replied that they had been in town just three days.

As this reply was made, the larger man sprang to his feet, and Patrolman