Doc. 183.-Major McKinstry's proclamation.
To the People of the City and County of St. Louis.--
The undersigned having been appointed provost-marshal of the city and county of St. Louis, calls upon all good citizens to cheerfully obey the rules it has been deemed necessary to establish in order to insure the preservation of the public peace.
The undersigned enters upon the duties of his office with a full sense of the responsibility that devolves upon him, and he deprecates as sincerely as any citizen can, the state of affairs that compels the establishment of the stringent measures he will enforce, but having confidence in the loyalty and patriotism of the masses, he appeals to them to cooperate with the civil and military authorities in preserving peace and good order in the city and county.
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The civil law will remain in force, and the undersigned will exercise the power given him only in case where the civil law is found to be inadequate to the maintenance of the public peace and the public safety.
Any violation of order will be followed by prompt and adequate punishment, regardless of persons or positions. J. Mckinstry, Major U. S. Army, Provost-Marshal. Office of the Provost-Marshal, St. Louis, Mo., August 14, 1861.
Order no. 20.
Office Provost-Marshal, Aug. 14, 1861.
The wearing of concealed weapons by any persons not in the military service of the United States, or in the regularly constituted police force of the city, is hereby prohibited.
No excuse of any kind or description will mitigate the severe punishment ordered to be inflicted for a violation of this order. 