E 668

.V88
Copy 1

No. 1.

Reconstruction Review.

TheVoiceof the
Carpet Bagger.
"If I say I will not speak any more
then there is in mine heart a burning
fire and I am weary with forbearing
and I cannot keep silent."

Address:
No. 2939 Princeton Ave., Chicago, Illinois.

'/yv^JUv
;
 RECONSTRUCTION REVIEW.

The Voice of the

Carpet Bagger.

""Ising the hvnin of the vanquished, who fell in the battle of

life—
The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overborne in
the strife.
Not the jubilant song of the victors for whom the resounding
acclaim
Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet
of fame.
But the hymn of the low, and the humble, the weary and
broken in heart,
"Who strove and who failed, acting bravely a silent and des-
perate part;
Whose youth bore no flower on its branches, whose hopes
burned ashes away.
in
From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who
stood at the dying of day.
With the work of their life all ai-ound them, unpitied, unheeded,
alone,
"*'ith death swooping down o'er their failure and all but their
faith overthrown."

Address: No. 2939 Princeton Ave., Chicago, Illinois

PublisheJ for the

ANTI-I.YNCHING BUREAU,
 -

INDEX.
Introduction •{

The Voicf of the ("arpet IJagger r»

Before Itecoiisrniofion r.
o
A Yankee I>un)l)ermans Experienrn' S
(Jen. I.ongstreet's
The Average Congressman
Experience H
-12
liarbarous ^^
A (Jomparison ^

The Last Decade of the Nineteenth Century 15

An iOxperimeiit jr;
False Witnesses j^^j
The Strong Arm of Force Ij)
The Final Sefitlement of the Southern (Question 2S
A South Carolina (ientleman .-{O
Tillnaan
;{j^
South Carolina 32
Observe the Difference 34
I Tow the iJloody Work Goes On 37
t'hristian Civilization of New Orleans 3)S
A Soutliern Sjibbatli •.
4.4
A .Memory ^j^
An Object Fesson 4S
 INTRODUCTION.
This is the lirst miiuber of a scvios whi(.-h the author intends to
publish. It may bo either an annual or a qiuu-terly or a monthly,
as the support given shall permit.. The friends of Equal Kights
the American people who love Justice and hate lawless cruelty are
earnestly called to help. All who feel that the horrible brutality of
mobs is a disgrace to our country, all who would have the innocent
protected and the guilty lawfully })unished are called to the great
conflict of Eight against Wrong.
We are told that the memory of the evil days Avhen Ku Klux
and White Leaguers extinguished the free governments of the Recon-
structed States in blood, should not be revived; that the past must
not be recalled. But these advocates of oblivion of those lawless
deeds make no protest when southern orators and organs exultinglx-
boast of the achievements by Avhich their party gained control.
The Times-Democrat of [N'ew Orleans, a leading organ of the-
Southern Democracy, on October 8th of the present year said
"It is clear to every intelligent observer that the direction and_
numipulation of the Eepublican party in the Southern States dur-
ing the last thirty-five years has been one of the scarlet infamies of
xlmerican politics. The record of the Republican party in the
South since 1868, blazed as it has been by the subversion of every
law of right and decency." "It is no exaggeration to state that
no people were ever so cruelly subjected to the rule of ignorant,
vicious and criminal classes as were the southern people in the
awful days of reconstruction."
"It is both wise and right that the new generation should keep
that splendid though terrible picture vividly in mind, not for pur-
poses of revenge, but as an object lesson which knaves and char-
latans may read with terror."
That is the way the South forgets the past. The meaning of
the last words is plain. It is a threat that whenever Republicans
anywhere in the. South attempt to exercise the rights of American
citizens with prospect of success at the polls, the bloody methods of
the White League will be revived to strike them with terror.
The author is prepared to prove that most of the charges made
against Carpet-Baggers were false; that mo.st of the men thus stig-
matized were soldiers and officers who served in the Union army
during the war with untarnished records. That they went South
with abundant capital, and were financially ruined, many op them
before the Reconstruction acts were adopted by Congress, and then
took part in the great political struggle, moved thereto by the same
imselfish. patriotic impulse Avhich years before prompted them to
enlist in their country's service.
He is prepared to show that southern witnesses made no at-
tempt to prove the trutli of tlie slanders invented for the purpose
of discrediting the Republican leaders, but depended upon repeated
assertions instead of proof.
If the friends of Truth and Eight give us sufficient support
to pay the actualcost of publication, the series of pamphlets will
be continued.
All readers who can furnish information of the events of the
Eeconstruction period or of the lynchings now occurring in the
Soutb, are requested to write.
The facts stated in this work are found chiefly in official re-
ports pubHshed by Congress, the results of investigations by com-
mittees sent South to learn the truth. The volume entitled, "Riots
in Xew Orleans, 1866. Report Xo. 16. Second Session, 39th
Congress."
Also report of committee that investigated the election of 1875
in Mississippi, and of the two committees that investigated the
election -of 1876 in the states of South Carolina and Louisiana.
The incidents of the Kew Orleans riot in 1900 are taken from
the leading dailies of that city published at the time.
The author is anxious to avoid exaggeration and to write only
the truth.
 The Voice of the Carpet Bagger.
The men called Carpet Baggers wevc brave soldiers or gallant
officers ofthe Union army who went South immediately after the
end of the Avar. They took with them abundant capital and en-
gaged in legitimate business enterprises.
During the period of two years when Johnson's policy pre-
vailed, they were financially ruined by the hostility of the former
rebels. About the time that they found themselves bankrupt by
the systematic persecution to which they were exposed, the con-
gressional scheme of Eeconstruction was developed, and these loyal
men attempted the tremendous task of Eeconstruction. Without
their help no state south of Virginia and Tennessee could have been
organized under a loyal government. For this patriotic service
they were blasted by the vilest slander that baffled traitors could
invent, their reward was the contempt of friends, the distrust of
comrades, and in many cases death by the hand of the assassin.
And after that their names were blackened and their memory made
infamous by the lies of their murderers. The work they so bravely
wrought has been destroyed and the gigantic power for evil is now
advancing step by step in its lawless'march to victory.

BEFORE RECONSTRUCTION.
]\Iost people have been made to believe that the ill-will of the
South was caused by the Carpet Baggers, whose misgovernment
exasperated the white men of that section. Nothing could be far-
ther from the truth. Eead the proof:
In June, 1S66, a congressional committee, appointed several
months before, made a report on the existing conditions in the
South. They said:
, ''The evidence of an intense hostility to the Federal union
* * * is decisive. The bitterness and defiance exhibited tow-
ards the United States under such circumstances is without a
parallel in the history of tlie world.
"Officers of the Union army on dut}^ and Northern men who
go South to engage in Imsiness. are generally detested and pro-
scribed. Southern men who adhered to the Union are bitterly
liated and relentlessly persecuted."
In December, 1866, a committee appointed by the House of
Kepresentatives took testimony in Louisiana.
Eufus K. Cutler, who had lived in and near New Orleans
twenty-two years, was a witness. He had been judge of a local court
and United States senator-elect. He testified that:
 '*In the city ofXew Orleans mail}' societies have been formed
by the such as the society among merchants not to employ
rebelS;,
a clerk except he be of rel>el sentiments a society among clerks :

not to Ije employed by any but reljel eiiiplo3-ers, and among steam-
boat captains and ])ilots not to be employed by any Ijnt rebels.
These societies are formed in every department of business in the
cit}' of NcAV Orleans."
Hon. R. K. Howell, then a judge in the highest court of the
state, and had been district judge before the war, testified: "The
fealing of enmity against the government and against Southern
loyalists is, if possible, more intense than it was during the war."
Mr. Nat Paige Avas another witness. He said: "I went to
New Orleans with Gen. Banks, when he took command of the de-
partment there, in the capacity of correspondent of the New York
Tribune. I was at that time intimate with many of the officers,
liaving Ijcen engaged with the army from tlie commencement of the
"war and coming in contact with all the leading citizens there. After
tlie close of the Avar, from the time of Lee's surrender until the
—
change of policy by Mr. Johnson as it is called or rather the —
time he commenced pardoning leading rebels, the sentiment was
very favorable indeed. Northern men were not persecuted in any
A\ay. I traveled very extensively in Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama, on business, and I met with no annoyance or persecution,
until the leadei-s had been ])ar(lonc'(1. tlie large, wealthy ]ilanters,
and those Avho had been leaders in the rebellion. After they had
been pardoned and their plantations had gone back to them, then
they commenced agitating political questions of state organization,
etc. From that very moment Northern men began to be oppressed
and annoyed excessively b}' the commencement of suits against
them in the state courts, especially those who had been engaged in
planting during the war on those plantations, Avhich, in large num-
bers, had been in possession of the government and were leased by
its agents. I think there was a concerted movement u])on the part
of the leading ])oliticians of Louisiana and Alabama to drive out
from the business of planting, all Northern men who had been
there, and, not only that, but from all business avocations in New
Orleans, for many Northern men had gone there upon the arrival
of Oen. Ranks, and had established large mercantile liouses.
"•Tliey iiiadi- no distinction between the Southern Yankee, as
they tei'iiM'il liiiii. niid ilic Nortlu'ni Yank(>e. Tlu\v were all classed
logellici' ;i> riiciiiics of the Soiitlici'ii cause.
•'I Ihiiik il is almost iiiijiossible now" (Jan., 18(IT), continued
^li. I':iigc. •for \orllicni men to i)rosecut(' business successfully.
1 1has been growing w(»rs(' contiinially and is growing worse to-day.
'riit-y are ojjprcsscd in cvi'ry way. I'arlies who leased i)lantatious
Ihcrc from ])rivate individuals, or from the government, have had
suits brought against Ihcni in the coui-ts for damages to the jilanta-
li(tn. while Ihev were Icssrcs. many of them of tlu' Ignited States,
;iii(| Ihi-ir |ilanlaiiuM> nml.-r tlif cimtrol of Ihc military aiithorities,
 suits of from $20,000 to $80,000 and $100,000, against the lessees.
There is scarcely a lessee has not liad one or more of these suits
A\'ho
brought against him.''
Mr. Paige explained that the lessees and the owners, heing resi-
dents of the same state, the defendants could not appeal to the na-
tional courts, and there was no hope of justice from Southern tri-
bunals. Many of those abandoned ]dantations were owned by prom-
inent rebels, who, ra receiving a pardon from President Johnson,
"commenced suits'instantly against the lessees for the crops they
had taken off during the war, and for the loss of personal property,
stock and agricultural implements. And that svstem of oppres-
sion has been extended to those who leased from "loyal owiiers and
from those whose jdantations were not seized."
:Mr. Paige left the South before the close of the rear ISGG, and
his examination before the committee was in the city of Washing-
ton. He added : '-'Many of the Northern men have' already aban-
doned their enterprises and of those who remain nine-tenths would
leave at once if they were not sustained l)v the liojie tliat Congress
would promptly enact laws for the protection of loval men in the
South."
Such M-as the condition of Union men in the South before the
reconstruction acts were passed.
Col. Henry X. Frisbie was another witness. After leaving the
army at the end of the war he engaged in planting in Eapides
parish, Louisiana. In answer to a question as to the feeling tow-
ards Union men, he answered:
"It is very hostile towards army officers and those persons
known and recog-nized in the community as Union men. I have
had nothing to do with politics in any way, shape or manner.'' He
explained tluit the hostile feeling was manifested "Bv threats, by
:

arrests, frivolous suits,by attempts to decoy and draw off mv hands,

by false stories and in ahnost every conceivable wav wherein a com-
]nunity united, could and did tr}'" to break up, ruin and drive out
a man.
"I went up there with a very large force of hands, some four
hundred who had belonged to my regiment. I toolc witli me a very
large amount of capital, not less than ($350,000) a quarter of a
million of dollars. I let everything alone that would interfere
with my success in planting. I cultivated five of the largest plan-
tations in the parish, successfully, made a crop, but tlie jealousy
and hatred of those people have compelled me to abandon every-
thing.
"T established a store there and stocked it with over $50,000
worth of goods. I erected a very large gin and other buildings."
This was a man from Illinois who had served as captain and lieu-
tenant-colonel in the Thirty-seventh Kegiment from that state be-
fore he took command of the Xinetv-second United States Colored
Begiment in Louisiana. Be it noted that not the slightest attempt
was made by the Democratic witnesses to contradict or impeach
his statements. And observe, also, that his experience was all in-
cluded in the year 1866. There was then a white man's govern-
ment in the state. Neither negro voter nor Carpet Bagger had the
least political power or influence.

EXPERIENCES OF A YANKEE LUMBERMAN.

Capt. A— of Xew England, after three 3-ears' service, was mus-
tered out at Xew Orleans in 1864:. He was familiar with the lum-
ber business before he enlisted and seeeing the opportunities for
success in that line, he sent for his family and set to work. Along
the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain were vast tracts of wood-
ed land, abounding with valuable timber, and sloops navigating that
sheet of water came by means of the canals to the very heart of the
city. Capt. A. invested $30,000 in the enterprise. His mill was
soon running, his yard filled with good lumber and the business
was vigorousl}" prosecuted. From the first he prospered, for he
—
possessed ever}^ requisite for success sufficient capital, a thorough
knowledge of the business, and the skill, energy and perseverance
which liis people seldom lack. His prosperity continued and in-
creased, until the war ended. But soon after the return of peace,
when he expected an enlaroed trade and an extension of business to
follow the removal of the restrictions upon intercourse with the in-
terior, he found, instead, a strange and sudden blight. Orders for
lumber fell off unaccountably; owners of the sailing craft on the
lake began to demand unreasonable rates for freight; his Avhite em-
ployes left him without any apparent cause, and in a few weeks
his business was so cripnled that it no longer paid expenses. At
first he could not understand it. A silent, irresistible power had
laid its invisible curse ujDon his enterprise. He soon found that his
friends in all the various pursuits and occupations of business life,
were in a like manner smitten by the blighting influence, which,
like the evil eye of the old-time fable, n)ade all human skill and
energy of no avail. The secret cause became apparent, when those
Northern men reflected that the return of the rebel soldiers to the
city and the strange decay of business were almost simultaneous.
And whispers of midnight gatherings, and of secret signs and
cabalistic words, dimly seen or faintly heard h\ loyal men in cer-
tain quarters of the city began to be understood, while they waited
idly for the customers who former!}' sought their doors in crowds
well pleased and friendly. But now they came no more, for men
\inknown to the waiting merchant paced up and down, not far away,
and ])eople wlio seecmed inclined to enter, warned by some slight
sign or unintelligible word, hesitated, looked about and passed on.
Reflecting on the subject, Capt. A. recalled to mind that New
Oi'lcans had been a center of disloyalty in the early days of the re-
bellion, a hot-bed of treason. He therefore concluded that preju-
dice iind iiilolcranee were naturally greater and fiercer there than
in remote rural districts. He knew that vast tracts of splendid for-
est extended along tlie Eed river and its many branches; so he de-
termined to go into that region and continue his efforts. He sold
his propert}- in the city and vicinity at a loss and set out on his
new venture. A locality Avas soon found combining every natural
advantage, affording facilities beyond anything he ever saw in his
old Northern home
Immense and cypress stretching along tranquil
forests of pine
streams and deep bayous, rivers never closed by ice, their navigation
seldom interrupted by lack of water, unbroken communication by
steam and sail with the greatest city of the gulf coast and with the
boimdless plains of Texas. Yet these dense forests of the most
valuable timber on the continent, thus easy of access and convenient
to the best markets in the world, could be bought at prices ranging
from 25 cents to $1 per acre.

FOLLOWED INTO THE WILDERNESS.

Encouraged by the prospect, he brought heavy machinery, boil-
ers and engines, and in spite of enormous difficulties, lack of roads
and bridges in the swamps, the work Avas done. All obstacles were
conquered and his mill, giving employment either directly or indi-
rectly to a hundred men, was soon running. Up to that time he
met with no opposition. The people of the vicinit}', mostly poor
country farmers, seemed pleased to have him come among them.
They understood that his enterprise was a benefit to them, making
a market for many things their little farms produced and which
could not before be sold at any price. But even in that remote
region the influence of the secret league made its way, and just as
success seemed certain and the captain was writing to his distant
friends that all was well, the change began. The chiefs of the con-
spiracy in the city had by that time extended the order over the
whole state. They waited until the intruding Yankee had invested
his money in permanent improvement and then —as it had been in
—
the city so it Avas in the country an invisible, irresistible power,
enveloped him and his business and his friends.
But its methods were somewhat clianged. As ]\r slii]i|i(il Ids
lumber to distant markets, the secret order could not drive oft" the
purchasers as in the city. First a bridge, wliich he had built over a
deep, muddy stream, and across wliich his teams daily brought
scores of huge cypress logs, was burned at night. Some of the
neighbors said it Avas accidental; others said the "niggers" did it.

Then his mules strangely escaped from the yard on a dark, stormy
night, and only a part of them could l)e found after an expensive
searcli. Then the colored men at Avork for him, cutting pine logs in
the hills, Avere threatened by armed Avhites and shot at till they were
frightened aAvay. Along Avith these annoyances came vexatious
legal proceedings, by Avhich the captain Avas coni]ielled to go to the
court-house town, more than twentv miles awav, to answer the
ciiarge. But no prosecutor appeared, or else the case was aban-
doned or withdrawn. Tlie charges were always for minor offenses.
Trespass, or enticing a negro from his employer, or hiring one who
had left a former employer, and were always utterly Ijaseless. As
soon as tlie captain was again at home, trying by exhausting efforts
TO make up for lost time, another writ or summons would be served
by which lie was forced to leave his work and spend one or two days
at court, only to find the case abandoned or postponed.
And when he again returned to his mill it was to find some new
—
vexation awaiting him loss of stock, negroes driven from their
work or their cabins, white men leaving his service Avithout visible
-:-ause or Avarning. Steamers bringing his freight from the city
made the most unaccountable mistakes, left it at the wrong landing
or failed to bring it at all. Rafts of logs and luml)er. floating down
tlie river to market, were wrecked on snags or bars, which never
:-aused loss to others.

AND FINALLY RUINED.

Siicli was the Avelcome he received from the people whose coun-
try he wislK'd to improve and in which he had made his home. Fi-
nally, in just one year from the commencement of his enterprise he
was reduced to the necessity of selling his watch to pay the passage
of himself and family back to the city, where he landed in abso-
lute poverty. Xot one dollar remained of the $30,000 with which
he so hopefully entered into business in 1864. In all this time he
had taken no part in politics. There was no Republican party in
the state, the legislaiure was composed of old citizens, most of
wliom had been active rebels. There Avas then no voting negro, nor
<:>ltice-seekeing carpetbagger to rouse the indignation of the South.

All the loyal men Avere AA'itnesses before that committee tes-
aa'Iio

tified that this intense hatred existed in the South. General CouAvay
of the Freedmen's Bureau; Hon. Hugh Kennedy, mayor of New
(.)rleans from March, 18(55, to ]\Iarch, 18()(); John lUirke, chief of
police during Kennedy's .iilitiiiiistrnlioi). and (Jovenior Wells, all al"-
lirmed the same.
And it may
be observed that not one of the Democrats called as
^Mlnesses, by a committee of eminent citizens appointed for that
piir])Ose, attem])ted to im])each them oi- deny tbe fads tbey stated.
Jt Avas in evidence thai all the Union men wvw dismissed from
the police of New Orleans early in ]8G(), and all ihe Union teachers
removed from Ibe ])\djlie seliools. All Ibis array of ])i-oof shoAvs
that it Avas not **(!ar]»et liag and Nigger"" rule tbat t-mltiitered the
poopli! of tbe Soutb against the Nortb.
All Ibis was l)efore tlie i{ecoiistruction acts were passetl by Con-
grefis, before any negro in tlie South could vote, or any Northern
mnn could be elected to ollice.
lo
 LONGSTREET'S EXPERIENCE.
Wheu the war ended, no man in the Southern army stood higlier
than Longstreet, except General Lee. His popularity was un-
bounded. And he was respected l.y all who knew him in the
North. General Grant requested President Johnson to pardon
him in Xovember, 1805. Johnson refused, l)ut Congress at its Jiext
session removed his political disabilities. General Longstreet thus
describes his experience as to Eeconstruction
"In January, 1866, I engaged in busineess in Xe^v Orleans with
the Owens Brothers, old soldiers of tlie Washington Artillery, as
cotton factors, and speedily found fair prosperity. Before theyear
was out I M-as asked to take position in an insurance company.* *
I accepted the place with a salary of five thousand dollars, and
my affairs were more than prosperous until I Avas asked an opinion
upon the political crisis of 1867.
'Tresidejit Johnson after the war ado])ted a reconstruction
policy of his own and some of the states were reorganized under it
with Democratic governors, and legislatures, and" all would have
followed. But Congress being largely Eepul)lican. was not satisfied
and enacted that the states could not be accepted unless they pro-
vided in their new constitutions for negro suffrage. One of the city
papers of Xew t)rleans called upon the generals of Confederate ser-
vice to advise the people of the course tliev should persut
the officers."
"
—naming *'

On June 3. 1867, General Longstreet wrote to J. :\f. G. Parker

a very moderate statement of his views. He tliought the South
should accept the Peconstruetion plan of Congress— as it was the
best they could do, and give it a fair trial, trusting that Congress
would make such changes as experience might show to be needed.
The general continues:
•'The afternoon of the day u])on which my hotter was i)ublished,
the pa]ier that had called for advice published a column of edi-
torial, calling me a traiior! deserter of my friends, and accused
me
of joining the enen)y, but did not pul)lish a line of the letter upon
which it based the charges. Other ])apcrs of the Democracy took
up th(! garbled re])resentations of this journal and s])read it broad-
cast, not even giving llic Icltcr updu wliicli tlicy \r.\<vA llirir evil
attacks upon me.
"The day after the amiouncement. obi comrades ])as>t'd me on
the street without speaking. Business began to grow dull =•= *
and in a few weeks found myself at leisure."
1

Of all his old comrades only one. General ITood, continued to

visit him. Ladies refused to ride in the same car with him, and
he found himself an outcast in the land of his birth. This incident
alone is enougli to show the savage, malignant tem]>er of the South
before tlu' first of the Peconstructed governnu'nts was organized.
Nearly two years after this occurred. General (Irani, having be-
ll
come president, appointed Longstreet surveyor of enstoms for the
port of Xew Orleans.
Immediately the Southern malignants asserted that Longstreet
had sold his honor for an office and a systematic effort was made
to blacken his reputation as a soldier, and make the world believe
he had failed to do his duty Avhen a general in the Confederate
army.

THE AVERAGE CONGRESSMAN -WHAT HE DON'T KNOW.

Xo man is fit to make lawsfor a great nation, like ours^. and
help shape its policy anddirect its destin}', unless he is familiar
with history. Especiall}' familiar with the political history of
the nation for which he assumes to legislate. It is an astounding
fact that many, we might even say the most of our congressmen
are ignorant of the very subject which they should understand
most thoroughly.
At the end of the war, which saved the Union from disruption,
began the most important period in our national history.
After two years of uncertainty, the Reconstruction Acts were
—
adopted by Congress in ]\Iarch, 1867. Under those acts the states
that had waged war against the Union were reorganized.
But
in April, 1877, the last of all those reconstructed govern-
ments swept away and the Faction Avhieh divided tlie Union
Avcre
in 18G1, and fought desperately for secession, again rc>umed un-
disputed sway over all the vast region that sixteen years before lay
—
under the ]^ebcl flag. That period that single decade in which
this double transformation was wrought, is the most imjiortant in
our historv. The work of Reconstruction began in 18Gr was de-
layed by the persistent opposition of the white people. If they had
—
taken the advice of General Longstreet ^liad accepted the condi-
tions honestly, neither negroes nor Carpet Baggers could liave
found ]ilace in the new governments. All the important positions
would have been filled by competent Southern men. In many cases
the}^ were urged to accept nominations, but almost to a man re-
fused. If they had shown a willingness to treat tlie negroes with
fairness and justice, they might have controlled tlie whole policy of
the new South.
But the laws that hocn enacted by the legislatures elected
liad
under Johnson's sclieme, made tlie emancipated negroes mere serfs.
Mississippi forbid tlicni to own land —
and they were not allowed
to rent land for cultivation. Louisiana made it impossible for a
negro to leave, even for an hour, the ])lantation on which he worked
without a written permit. And he was subject to anvst if he set
foot on any white man's land in his walk, unless the owner's per-
mission was previously obtained. I^verywliere in the South he was
hedged about with inlolerable legal restrictions. Is it strange that
he negro welcomed Hie men of the Xorth who believed in liberty,
justice and l--(inal h'ights? Tlie moment the Reconstructed govem-
11'
merits were formed, the work of destruction was begun by the malig-
nant enemies of freedom. From every Democratic press from —
—
every Democratic speaker a torrent of slander burst forth and
continued day after day till their object was attained.
The work of murder was begun even before the first election in
the Eeconstructed states and nothing but the presence of the United
States soldiers made it possible to have an election.
The statesmen at Washington failed to understand the condi-
tions,and struggling Republicans who formed the new governments
received but slight assistance from the Xation. They "and the en-
tire people of theXorth were half paralyzed by the flood of South-
ern lies—they hesitated and finally allowed the former rebels to
work their will and destroy the only free governments ever known in
the South. Congress looked tamely on while the revolution was in
progress and thousands of citizens were brutally slaughtered by
political assassins. "While

"Wrath and Hate

And sordid selfishness and cruel lust
Leagued their base bands to crusli out Light and Truth."

The revolution was thus accomplished, not by open, honorable

war, but by secret conspiracies, assassinations, midnight raids, mur-
ders, fraud, perjury, by every crime that ever blackened the annals
of the world.
And important period of our history of which Mr.
it is this
Average grossly ignorant.
is He has never spent a single hour in
its study. To him the story of those ten eventful years is a sealed
book. More than fifty volumes of evidence taken by congressional
^

committees during that wonderful period are lying "in the national
capital. He knows nothing of them. Scores of reports written
—
by the most distinguished statesmen leaders in our national coun-
cils who helped to guide the ship of state through the storm of
war, the statesmen who gathered around T.incoln and Grant are
there at his hand, but he has never seen them.
—
Those reports set forth most plainly the true condition of the
South at that time, and recount the hori'id crimes committed to
gain power.
Ask Mr. Average Congressman about Reconstruction and he
will reply in the flippant style of his tribe "Oh, that is ancient his-
:

tory I AH
is well now. It was a mistake to make the negroes citi-
zens. Adventurers rushed down Soutli and by misleading the col-
ored voters got themselves elected to office. They were after the
money and robbed the unfortunate ]ieople for their own benefit.
It was this horde of unprincipled wretches made all the trouble.
They openly boasted that whenever the whites killed a few negroes
it helped them to carry the election. They kept the Soutli in con-
stant turmoil till the Better Element —
the "Respectable citizens sent
them home. Since then peace and quiet prevails. The South is
13
prosperous, we are now a reunited people. All is well. Let us for-
get the past and think of the future.'^
All is well? AVhen nearly a million of American citizens are
deprived of the most sacred rights of Free men? All well, when
)nen and women are lynched almost daily without the slightest
proof of guilt; when human heings are hurned alive without —
—
trial withoiit the sliglitest opportunity for defence. It will never
be well till all such "Average Congressmen"' are retired to the ob-
scurity in wliich such shameful ignorance should be buried.

BARBEROUS, BRUTAL, DISGUSTING.

On several occasions when Southern papers have described the
burning alive of a negro, they also told how the spectators scram-
bled for fragments of the mutilated body, many of the fragments
cut from the living victim after' he is chained to the stake and
while tlie flames are kintlling around him. Ears, toes, fingers are
among tlie trophies tluis secured aiid highly prized by tlie chivalry I

Half burned bones raked from the bloody ashes, and pieces of
scorched human flesh are carried away and proudly shown in the
streets of Southern cities.
When Samuel Hase was burned on Sunday, April 23, 1900. a
leading journal of Atlanta, Ga., described ""The eagerness witb
which the people grabbed after souvenirs. They almost fought
over the ashes of the dead criminal. Large pieces of his flesh were
carried away, and persons were seen walking through the streets
carrying bones in their hands. When all the larger bones, together
with the flesh had been carried away by the early comers, others
scraped in the ashes, etc.'' What a picture of refinement ! How it
must impress the world with astonishment and Avonder as the
"High standard of Southern civilization," is thus displayed, and-
illustrated by this object lesson on a Christian Sabbatli within a
few miles of the capital of Georgia. l]arly that day the news spread
through Atlanta that a negro would be burned at Xewnan. A
special excursion train was promptly engaged to take people to
llic sliow. —
"All aboard for the burning special train lo Xcwnan."
was tlic ci-y of the j)romotcrs of the excursion. And the cars were
soon filled. After tliis train moved out another was made up to
accommodate those ])eo])le irlin had been at clmrch. In this way
some '?.<>00 citizens of Ailaiila \\-ei-e conveyed to fhe burning.
Among lliem were many ])rominenl leading men, not one of whom
])rolested against ibis inost horrilde murder of an American citi-
zen, wiiliout trial, without ])roof of his guilt. And liis disjointed
meniljers, his fire-blackened bones and his half-roasli'd llesli was
borne far and wide in tiu; hands of the sujierior race into the re-
lined christian homes of Georgia! AVhat could be more shameful,
what more loathesome? .\nd l)e it noied that the story of this bru-
falifv Awd Innlbsomc savagery is not fold b\- outsidei-s. but published
11
in the papers which approve and cneouragc the horrible scenes th"^y
describe.

A COMPARISON.
The parisli of Ouaehila (W'ashilaw), Louisiana, was under
EepubHcan rule eight years, from 18(38 to the end of 18TG. Duj-ing
that time several Eepublicans were murdcr(>d because the}' were Ke-
publicans. But no case of lynching occurred or was attempted in
all those years. At the beginning of ISTT, the Democrats regained
control; from that time every ollicial was an oUl citizen, a whiti
Democrat. In the next period of eight years, eleven men were
lynched —two w'hite and nine colored. These lynchings occurred
at intervals, one in 1877, four in 1878, one in 1879, two in 1881.
and three in 1884. These were for common crimes, having, no
connection Avith politics whatever. Here Ave have the singular fact
that during the wdiole period of Radical government —when our
enemies asserted that corrupt, incompetent officers fdled everv
position, the ''-Better Element," "The Oldest and Best.'' did not
find it needful to lynch anybody or even attempt to lynch, yei
when all political power w^as in the hands of this same "Better Ele-
ment," a resort to mob law Avas necessary. "Who Avill explain?

''IS IT WELL THAT AN OLD AGE IS OUT AND TimE TO

BEGIN A NEW?"
In the period of ten years endingAvitli tlic year 1900, in the
last decade of the nineteenth century, more than 1,G00 American
citizens Avere lynched. Xot one of all that number had a legal
trial. Not one of them Avas proved guilty of any crime. They
Avere suspected or accused, and then murdered by mobs. Fifteen
of them were delibcratly burned alive.
Our nation stands before the world at the beginning of the
tAventieth century stained Avith this horrid record ! All Christen-
dom may Avell point fingers of scorn and cry in the Avords of the
IlebrcAV prophet

'<0, NATION THAT HATH NO SHAME/'

And the disgraceful stain groAvs broader and darker as every
month of the ncAV century adds to the number of these monstrous
crimes.
In the eight months of this ncAV century ending August 31.
fully one hundred persons Avere lynched— three of them burned ai
the stake.

WHICH SHALL IT BE?

This issue of the Carpet Bagger is an experiment. It may
prove to be only
"A cry of shijiwreck on a ehorelofs st'a."'
 A voice speaking for the Eight and against the AVrong, but
speaking in vain. It may be a voice overborne by the howhng of
brutal mobs. A voice crying for justice, but silenced by the shouts
of lawless lynchers, who in their turn shall be silenced by the roar
of battle which will follow if the American people permit the fast
growing evil to continue.
The blood of the victims shed by the crowds of murderers
whose feet haste to do evil will not always sink in the groimd un-
avenged, but its appeal will rise to the Judge of all the earth and
the day of Recompense will surely come at last.
But our experiment may succeed. The feeble voice may wax
stronger and stronger till the American people give heed and crush
the horrible monster whom Southern assassins fatten upon the
blood of the innocent.

FALSE WITNESSES-ASSERTION.
The people of the Xorth have believed Southern assertion with-
—
out proof without asking for proof. They have believed the
vilest slanders against their own comrades who went South after the
war. Malignant rebels who called Lincoln a '''T3-rant." '^'A Nero,"
were believed when they traduced the loyal men who supported
Lincoln. The Southerner who called Grant "A drimken Butcher"
was believed Avhen he cursed Grant's brave soldiers who sought to
make homes in the region over which thev upheld the national
flag.
.Such credulity is unaccountable, yet it existed in the Eecon-
struetion period, and exists to-day.
Why the man who asserted that JelT Davis was a nobler charac-
ter than Lincoln, should be implicitly believed when he said our
comrades were penniless adventurers, unworthy to live among the
Southern chivalry whom they had defeated in battle, is a question
not yet answered.
None of the monstrous charges made against Carpet Baggers
were ever proved. Who ever saw any proof? Open any volume of
the reports of congressional conmiittees — and those volumes num-
ber more than fifty— and what do we find ? Assertions, page after
—
page of assertions and scarcel}'' a line of proof.
The witnesses whose sworn statements fill thousands of pages
were lawyers, judges, editors, doctors, planters. All honorable
Mien. "The Better Element," "The Intelligence of the South,"
•Tlie Chivalry."
Hfre is a sample: A judge in ]']ast Feliciana. Louisiana, the
lion. Tliomas B. Lyons, was a witness in 1877. He gave the con-
gressional committee the Democratic version of the political trou-
bles in his parish. —
He said the trouble began in June, 187') that
tbe White Ijcague Clubs were organized at that time.
i'loasc remember the date, June, 1875. Some of liis friends,
IG
 prominent citizens, said it was "mid-summer of iSTo'* they or-
ganized.
Judge Lyons said : "To make as short a story as possible, there
has been very great mal-administration in the affairs of the parish
ever since 18G8. We have had officers who were incompetent and
venal, especially magistrates, Justices of the peace, who had crim-
inal jurisdiction, to make arrests in all cases, and who had civil
Jurisdiction up to the amount of one hundred dollars. They were
generally men of gross ignorance and venality and they exercised
their offices with great oppression and extortion. The whole gov-
ernment of the parish was bad in the extreme. People began to
lose confidence and respect for the government. They lost respect
for every kind of government because of the management of our
affairs. The district courts failed more than half the time to be
held according to law.
It Avas almost possible to be acquitted of any crime for the
—
paltry costs the district attorney's fees included.
Xuraerous instances have come under my observation where for
fifteen dollars, payment of the district attorney's fees, the most
heinous crimes were nol-prossed.
That continued for years. The prosperity of the parish waned
— declined. People lost all respect for the law and spoke of it with
, contempt and held a great many of the legal officers in contempt.
"The parish court was presided over for four years by men utterly
incompetent. One was a foreigner who had recently come to the
country, another was a man who had been a blacksmith/'
"He was an honest man, but utterly incompetent to fill the of-
fice. The criminals went unpunished and people began to think
that the only way in the world to protect their property was to do
it with the strong arm of force."

Such was the stump speech made by Judge Lyons from the wit-
ness stand. A Avild harangue, in which not a single fact is men-
tioned. He did not cite a single instance of incompetence or of
—
fraud did not name a single criminal who escaped punishment.
When asked as to names and dates, he said
"The first parish judge we had was Boedecker, a German, elect-
ed in 18(58, for two years. He was an intelligent man. A man of
education. He spoke our language, but with an accent."
That was all this wordy witness could sav against the first Ee-
pul-jlican Judge.
The next was L. N. Pitkin, a white lawyer of Southern birth.
In answer to questions, Judge Lyons said
"I can't say he was incompetent. TTo was a lawyer and did
very well."
After him came Hughes, the man wlio liad been a. blacksmith.
"An lioncst man." Lvons said, "but not cultivated bv educa-
tion."
Huglies died, and tlic unexpired term was filled by Hon. J. G.
17
 . : :

Xilbourne, a Democrat appointed by the Eepiibliean governor, Kel-

logg. He served from June, 1874, to the end of the year. Judge
Lj'ons approved him as:
"A lawyer. Perfectly competent."
Then the witness continued:
''Iwas elected in 1874, and succeeded Kilbourne," and he filled
the bench two full years, 1875 and 1876. Xow compare the asser-
tions in his direct testimony with the facts extorted by cross-ex-
amination :

"Our parish court was presided over for four years by men ut-
terly incompetent."
Yet all he could urge against Boedecker was that ^^le spoke our
language with an accent."
"He was intelligent. Educated," but he had an accent;
Then Pitkin served two years, a native-born white man, ac-
knowledged by Lyons to be competent.
After him came the man who had been a blacksmith. Judge
Lyons, an aristocratic contemner of labor, thought that was enough.
He was a blacksmith, not a gentleman, and former slave-owner.
But he admitted Hughes was an honest man, and he failed to men-
tion any act or ruling of his while on the bench which showed him
unfit for the position.
When Hughes died, a Democrat, "perfectly competent," was
appointed. This was in June, 1874. When Judge Kilbourne re-
tired, the witness, Thomas B. Lyons, was installed, liaving gained
his election in that strong Eepublican parish by the aid of the col-
ored voters.
He presided two years, or until the end of 1876. Where do
we find the four years of utterly incompetent judges? Eemember
that the "Strong Arm of Force" first appeared in June, 1875, or
"midsummer" of that year, as some Democratic friends of Judge
Lyons expressed it, when perfectly competent Democrats, Kilbourne
and Lyons, had presided a full year.
Was it not somewhat late for the "Strong Arm of Force" to be-
gin the work of reform with the shotgun ? Take another assertion
"Xumerous instances have come under my observation where
for fifteen dollars, payment of district attorney's fees, the most
heinous crimes were nol-prosscd
When asked to name the officials who did this he said
"a\Ir. risk, / am told, practiced it. I am satisfied that Mr. De
Lee practiced it."
He liad sworn that "numerous instances" came "under my ob-
servation." —
Yet could not mention a single case could only say
he had been told of one and was satisfied as to another ! That Mr.
Fisk. of wlioiu lie had l)cen told, went out of office at the end of the
year 1872, and De Leo was a white Democrat, as Lyons reluctantly
admitted. Further questions forced him to confess that A. E.
TJeed, a white Democrat, was then district attorney anrl liad been for
18
nearly four years from his appointment, in 1S73. Eeed had filled
that position more than two years before "The Strong Arm of
Force"' began its campaign of murder. But Lyons said of Eeed
"I do not make any charges against him."
De Lee, whom he had accused, was Eeed's assistant ! Look at
another assertion:
'•'We have had officers who were incompetent and venal, justices
of the peace * * generally men of gross ignorance and venality
and they exercised their office with great oppression and extor-
tion.''
To he repeated a long tale about a colored
illustrate this matter,
justice —Jefferson—who imprisoned negroes in an old shop and
extorted money without warrant of law. But Lyons omitted to
mention the date of these enormities. He was asked when those
things happened, and he haltingly replied:
"That was a good while ago. That was along in the begin-
ning of his official existence. It was a good long while ago. I
think it has been six or seven years, anj^how."
Another question brought out the fact that Jefferson had been
prosecuted for his official misconduct, convicted and punished
"He was fined and imprisoned," Judge Lyons said. And this was-
the only case he gave to show that the justices were generally
venal, oppressive and extortionate.
Observe his attempt to mislead when he said: "It Avas
along in the beginning of his official existence," thus implying that:
he was still in office, whereas the judge knew that this same Jef-
ferson was then serving out a two years' term in prison for lar-
ceny of which he was convicted after his punishment for illegal acts
when justice of the peace.
We now present a brief and truthful account of the events in
East Feliciana, by which the Eepublican majority had been extin-
guished in 1876

THE STRONG ARM OF FORGE.'

HOW IT PROTECTED THE WHITE MAN'S PROPERTY.

East Feliciana, a large and populous parish of Louisiana, lies
on the line AAhich divides that state from Mississippi. It was one
of the Eepublican strongholds, and previous to 1875 had suffered
less from political troiibles than most of the other Eepublican com-
munities in the Creole state. In 1868, when the horrible massacres
of Bosier, St. Landry, Caddo and St. Bernard occurred, and the
AVhite Camelia, aided by the Ivu-Klux, gave Seymour a majority of
47.000 in the state, East Feliciana was comparatively quiet. By
a display of force, by systematic intimidation, emphasized by whip-
ping a few stubborn negroes, twelve hundred of the legal voters
were kept from the polls at the Xovember election. The local offi-
V.!
cials had been cliosen by the Eepublicans at the state election of
April, 1868. The succeeding elections of 18T0 and 18T2 were com-
paratively peaceful and fair, and even in 1874, the year in which
the AYhite League entered upon its blood}- career in many parts of
the state, East Feliciana was but slightly disturbed. But at mid-
siimmer of 18T5 the revolutionary work of the league began there.
The Eepublicans had adopted the liberal policy of electing moder-
ate Democrats to certain important positions, judicial and clerical,
instead of filling them with men from their party who were not
thoroughly competent. In such cases no political j)ledges were re-
quired, no bargains made.
In 1870, L. X. Pitkins, a Democratic lawyer, was elected parish
judge and served a full term of two years. A Eepublican, a white
man and an old citizen, succeeded him, but he died in office, and
then Governor Kellogg appointed a prominent Democratic lawyer,
J. G. Kilbourn, to fill the vacancy. His commission was issued in
June, 1874, and he held the office until succeeded by his personal
and political friend, T. B. Lyons, who was elected by Eepublican
votes in Xovember, 1874. and entered upon his tAvo years' term
early. in January, 1875. Governor Kellogg, in 1873, also appointed
A. E. Eeed district attorney, with a Mr. De Lee as attorney pro-tem,
usually styled parish attorney; both of these gentlemen were old,
white citizens and Democrats. About the same time another prom-
inent Democrat was appointed clerk of court, J. S. Laniere. Thus
this strong Eepublican parish had a Democratic judge. Democratic
district and parish attorney, and Democratic clerk of court, con-
tinuously from June, 1874, to the end of the year 1876, and it was
in tliat period tliat all the political violence and outrage occurred.

JOHN GAIR, THE COLORED LEADER.

John Gair Avas the boldest and most ambitious of the colored
leaders. In April, 1868, he was elected to the house in the first
reconstructed legislature, but offended his people by voting with
the Democrats on" a bill to pay some claim for money six'ut during
the Avar. This prevented his re-election in 1870, but he regained
his popularity sufficiently to be again sent to the house. In 1874
a split occurred in the Eepublican party of East Fi'liciana and
Gair was not elected.
Tliere was no election in Louisiana in 1875, but the neighbor-
ing state of ]\Iississippi was a vast battlefield whereon the White
Ticague was testing its power and skill in overthrowing the gov-
ernment of the majority and effecting, in time of peace, a forcible
revolution more complete and lasting tban that attempted by open
war in ISOl.
Ecpultlicans of East Feliciana felt no fear of immediate
'J'he
trouble, had no ap]H-ulicnsion of the coming storm, for always here-
tofore political violence had occurred during the campaign immedi-
ately before tlie election. But tbo Wliite League was organized
20
very quietly and secretly, in Jun^, and the Republicans knew noth-
ing of its existence in their parish until several large clubs had
been formed and armed. Then a report suddenly spread through
—
the parish that one of the colored Kepublicans Ray a member—
of the legislature and ex-sheriff, living in Clinton, the court-
house town, had used violent and threatening language. Several
negroes in that vicinity had lately been assaulted and beaten by
white men, and their efforts to secure redress and protection by
legal methods were unsuccessful. Speaking of this matter, the ex-
sheriff said that if he were thus attacked by white men he would
defend himself. Such words spoken by "a nigger" were denounced
as "incendiary" by the law-loving leaguers, and not to be tolerated.
By way of rebuking his insolence some scores of mounted men rode
into Clinton the next Saturday afternoon, all of them armed and
cursing Ray furiously. And not only Ray but Gair and other lead-
ing Republicans, including Capt. De Gray, a white man, late of the
Union army, and a citizen of the parish since the end of the war.
—
The wildest excitement prevailed that evening the armed riders
dashed recklessly up and down the streets yelling, cursing and
—
threatening but no actual violence or outrage was committed be-
yond frightening the peaceful colored people in the town. Xext
morning the armed crowd increased and the threats against the
colored leaders grew louder. The sheriff, also a colored man, but,
like Gair, nearer white than black, appealed to the prominent white
citizens to help preserve the peace. He did not attempt to summon
a ]iosse or arrest the leaguers, but begged Judge I^yons and other
citizens of influence to exert themselves to allay the excitement.
Thev did nothing. About the same time couriers were sent out
with the fearful tidings that Ray and Gair had called upon the
plantation negroes in the surrounding country to come in armed,
and the cry soon resounded through the town that vast hordes of
brutal niggers were marching in line of battle, coming to burn the
town and murder the whites. Tlie country leagues, knowing tlie
whole plan as ]"»rearranged by their chiefs, were already assembled
under arm.'; and ready to marcli the moment tlie couriers reached
them. Before sunset fully 500 armed white men occupied the town
of Clinton. Guards were posted at every street corner, and pickets
and patrols on all the roads. The threats against Ray, Gair, Smith,
the sheriff and Clark, the recorder, were heard everywhere. Xight
came, but the ''invading hordes of niggers marching in line of bat-
tle" never came. As soon as darkness concealed their movements,
the four colored leaders quietly stole from their homes and fled by
unfrequented paths for their lives. Then quiet fell upon the ex-
cited town, the clubs so lately summoned from the country for its
protection rode homeward, and the noisy farce was ended.
While the tumult was at its worst, some of the leaguers seized
Captain De Gray and proposed to hang him. The chiefs inter-
fered and saved his life. He was allowed to remain, but he was
21
effectually silenced. The flight of the colored leaders and this re-
moval of De Graj- from political activit}- left the negroes without
local organizers and managers. This was the object of the furious
demonstration.
The White League chiefs had decreed the removal of the Ee-
publican leaders and thus accomplished it. And it was done with-
out giving them written orders or warnings, as in the Ku-Klux
times, without sending committees to give formal notice to leave.
Such proofs of their action had been found troublesome heretofore
when congressional investigations were made. By assembling 500
armed men under the pretense of defending the town threatened
bv the negro hordes, and making hostile demonstrations against the
Eepublican leaders, they forced them to fly as the only way to save
their lives. And they knew it was the only way. Had they re-
mained, certain "persons or parties unknown" would have killed
them that night. This was done in an off year, when there was no
political excitement, no election pending, and the chiefs of the
league boldly testified that they and their friends assembled merely
to protect their homes and families, nothing else, and if Eay, Gair
—
and others took fright and fled it only showed their guilt proved,
in fact, that they had ordered their ignorant followers from the
country to come in and destroy the town. Thus, without bloodshed
or open violence, the colored people were deprived of their leaders
and the first step in redeeming East Feliciana was accomplished.
The leaguers by this method avoided bloodshed and direct vio-
lence in strict obedience to the rule of the order to "do whatever is
necessary to carry the election and nothing more." Gair went to
New Orleans to see Governor Kellogg, and urge that the state
should at least try to give protection to its citizens. He remained
at the capital of the state, and the chiefs of the league in Clinton
began to be troubled. They suspected that Gair might secure some
appointment which would require his presence in East Feliciana.
It would make their task of expelling or silencing him much more
difficult ifhe returned hol(iing a commission from the governor as
tax-collector; or, worse yet, they feared he might, through the gov-
ernor's influence, obtain an appointment from the president, and
Gair, the boldest of the Eadicals, with a commission as an officer
of the United States, would be a greater obstacle in their way than
ever before.
Xot knowing that Gair had the faintest prospect of such ap-
—
pointment, they imagined it possible even probable and the—
chiefs resolved by one bold stroke to sweep him from their path at
once, when no political excitement prevailed, and in a time of pro-
found quiet, which would give additional force to their assertion
that his removal was non-political and caused only by his personal
offenses. The regular term of tlie district court would begin early
in October, and the plot formed against Gair made its indefinite
postponement iiiT.--nr\- for Ihe convenii-iuc and safotv of the plot-
ters. Just before court time, Sheriff Smith was requested to re-
turn and perform his duties, their chief object being to induce him
to aj^point certain of their ovm men deputies, who could act in his
absence. Judge Dewing arrived at Clinton and opened court on
—
the 7th of October, but the leaguers assembled in crowds though
not armed with guns. The sheriff, having appointed the white
deputies, was attacked, shot at near the courthouse door, wounded
and forced to fly for his life. Then the lawyers, all of them in the
cojispiracy, urged the judge to adjourn court sine die, as the only
way by which a bloody race conflict could be prevented. '•'If the
session continues," said the lawyers, "hundreds of men of both
races will rush into town and bloodshed will be inevitable." Tltey
gave no reason, but added: "If the news goes out that court has
adjourned the people will remain quiet." The deputy sherifl: was
thereupon ordered to announce the adjournment. Having thus
cleared the ground for future operations the impending tragedy
soon followed.

ALLEGED POISONING OF DR. SANDERS.

Dr. J. W. Sanders, of Clinton, was the captain of the first
league formed in the parish, and was noted for his violent and in-
tense partisanship. He was a hard drinker and had often been
seen intoxicated, and more than once raging in delirium tremens.
But these afflictions did not impair his value and usefulness as ii
thorough-going bull-dozer. John Gair was still in New Orleans,
and his wife, having left their home in Clinton, awaited him at
Baton Eouge, a large town on the Mississippi, thirty miles from
Clinton. A younger sister of Gair's wife, a colored girl 18 years
old, more white than black, sprightly, intelligent and fairly edu-
cated, was a nurse in the Sanders' household, a favorite with her
mistress, to whom the girl was devotedly attached. A few days be-
fore the enforced adjournment of the court, this girl, Catharine
^Matthews, usually called by the name of "Babe," visited her sister
in Baton Eouge, and, after a brief absence, had returned to her
duties in Dr. Sanders' family. A little after noon on the 11th of
October, the report went out through the streets of Clinton, that
Dr. Sanders was dying from the effects of poison administered by
Babe Matthews. i\Iessengers rushed through the village calling
physicians and proclaiming on every hand "A Radical plot ! Pois-
oned by Babe j\Iatthews, instigated by Gair and Ray ! One of our
oldest and best citizens murdered." While these fearful tidings
were spreading, several doctors gathered, at the bedside of the dying
man. They found him somewhat ill, but able to give them a full
and minute account of all the circumstances attending the pretend-
ed crime. He said that he returned home after spending a few
hours in the village, entered his house just after noon, and, accord-
ing to his invariable habit, stopped at the water pail to drink. He
found the pail filled with fresh water, and the gourd lying read}'.
2:{
As he drank, Babe Matthews stood near, looking angn- and savage.
He —
noticed her look, but said nothing only asked his wife when
he met her in the next room, if she had had a row with the girl.
The Avife said "no,'' and then the doctor told her that Babe was
about to leave. He also told the attending physicians that the in-
stant he swallowed the water he felt intense heat, burning pain, and
other symptoms of poisoning. Lest a tender-hearted reader feel
needless distress, let us here mention the fact that Sanders did not
die, but early next morning he was walking the street and telling
everybody of his awful agonies, how intensely he suffered the pre-
vious evening, and urging them to avenge this dastarly attempt of
the Eadical leaders, Ray and Gair, to murder an old and respectable
citizen.
From the moment when Sanders said he saw Babe looking
angry while he drank, until after sunset, a period of six hours,
not one of the numerous witnesses, the doctor's personal and politi-
cal friends, could give any account of her. The first trace of her
is found in tlie testimony of .J. S. Laniere, clerk of the court, who
said: "I came for my mail after dark, I saw several parties with
the girl in charge, was stopped and told that she wanted to make an
affidavit. Don't know Avhether that was the way I was accosted,
because the affidavit was written out anyhow. I went to my office
and it was read to her. Then I remarked that I would prefer that
made before Judge Lyons.''
the affidavit be
For this strange preference Laniere gives no reason. It was
night and Judge Lyons was at his residence, half a mile from the
courthouse, in which the parties were assembled. An important
part of the clerk's duties was to administer oatlis in such cases.
He expressed his preference immediately after the reading of the
affidavit in the presence of the prisoner, but he neglects to say what
the girl told him; does not even mention that she uttered a word.
Several liours before this scene in his office, a party of men, without
legal nutbority, had seized Babe Matthews, dragged her into the
market-house and by threats and torture continued most of the
afternoon, forced her to make the confession they demanded. A
lawyer. Captain Hardee, wrote out the affidavit, and. when at last
the unhappy girl consented to sign it, they took her along the dark-
ening street to the clerk's office. Then she tried to tell him the
truth. She knew that he bcM liis position ])y the a]>pointment of
the Eepuljlicaii governor, nii ihc reconnncndation of her friciids,
and she a])p('ale(l to him ft»r help. He heard enough before the
guards could stop her to make him uinvilliug to ])(,'rrorm the part
assigned him. Ift' eontiinu's his statement under oath before a

congressional committee: 'T started off with tbe girl and the
parties who had her in charge, and on our way to Judge Lyons she
seemed very much disjiosetl to talk wilb me. I told her that when
phe got to Judge Lyons to tell him lie wlinic occurrence, and if she
I

did it. I toM licr I wnnfi'il tlie whole i-esj)0]isiliilily to lay on Judge
24
 Lj'ons. I did not care about listening to any of her complaints."
Snch account of his part in the proceedings. He
is this official's
does not explain what responsibility must lay .on Judge Lyons, but
one of his words indicates the character of the appeal made to liim
hx the i^risoner. He did not care about listening to her "com-
plaints." It was not a confession of crime that she made, but com-
plaints of injustice, and he refused to listen. And by the time
he had convinced Babe that he would not listen to her complaints,
the party had reached the house and entered the judge's presence.
Then the clerk goes on witli his statement. He says that the
affidavit already prepared by Colonel Hardee was read by Judge
Lyons, buf when asked if it was read to the girl he gives an evasive
answer and merely repeats that Lyons read it. He does not say
that the prisoner was allowed to speak, that tlie judge asked her
any question, or that she tried to tell him anything. She was care-
fully watched by the party and Avas helpless in their hands. The
affidavit was re-written, and it is said that she signed it with her
o\n\ hand. It sets forth
"Catharine ^Matthews doth depose and say that one week ago,
or more, she was in the town of Baton Eouge on a visit to her sister,
the Avife of John Gair. that while there a young colored man. John
George, who formerly resided in this parish, gave her some poison
in a small vial and requested her to poison Dr. Sanders, saying that
'

Jolui George told her it was a made-up thing between her brother-
in-law, John Gair, and Bob Eay, to use the poison to kill Dr. San-
ders ; that he told her to put it in the water for him that she used
;

said poison as directed and that she is sorry for what she has done;
that she committed the act because John George told her that Gair
and Eay wanted her to do it.''
"Tatharixe Matthews.'"
Having thus laid the responsibility iipon Judge Lyons, Clerk
Laniere returned to his office with the prisoner and the parties hav-
ing her in charge. On the way "Babe again tried to talk with
me," he testified, and added that he finally told her that "I didn't
want her to speak to me in any way." And thus he left her, not
in the custody of a legal officer, but watched and guarded by a party
of gentlemen, a committee of citizens, though he could not tell by
what authority they lield lier. Xo legal arrest was made, no
warrant was ever issued for her apprehension she was not lodged
:

in jail, but from the hour of her illegal seizure to the hour of her
death the respectable gentlemen of Clinton watched her in the
courthouse, relieving each other at intervals, and keeping her under
constant restraint. Xot one of her own people or personal friends
were allowed to see her or to communicate with her. It was to
prevent this that she was not put in jail. The jailer was a colored
man, and if she had been placed in his care, she could not fail to
find an opportunity to communicate with her friends, opportunity
to tell the truth and expose the fraud and cruelty -of which she was
the victim. All through Thursda}- night, Friday, Friday night,
and all through Saturda}', the gentlemen, lawyers, clerks, doctors,
took their successive tours of duty in watching that hapless girl,
keeping her cut off from every friendly voice, separating her from
every person of her own race, until the hour of doom arrived.
Among the witnesses who came before the congressional committee
were several of those gentlemen. Captain Laniere and Dr. Mony-
han both told the committee that they guarded Babe during the
first night, and that she talked with them at intervals. But neither
of them could recall to memory what she said. The doctor would
only say "Her remarks impressed me as a confession of guilt," and
:

the captain, who was also the clerk, could only remember that she
said "She didn't think Gair had anything to do with it."
: Besides
.this, they could only give vague expressions about John George be-
ing the cause of the trouble.
Leaving Babe thus guarded, the chiefs of the conspiracy went
on with their work. A deputy sheriff, with a posse of seven men,
was sent off to Baton Eouge to arrest John George, the colored lad
whom it was charged gave Babe the poison and told her Gair and
Eay sent it. No reason could be found why those two men should
entrust a mere boy with that dangerous secret, but the plotters
hoped to get him in their power and then extort such a confession
as they wanted. But he could not be found at Baton Eouge, and
while the posse sought him John Gair arrived on a steamer from
the city.
The deputy sheriff, Woodward, promptly telegraphed this in-
formation to Clinton and received instructions to wait until a war-
rant could be issued for Gair. Then Dr. Sanders went before a
magistrate in Clinton and swore "That on the 11th of October, in-
stant, he and family were poisoned by the administration to him of
arsenic, or other poison, in water, by the hands of one Catharine
Matthews; that from information of said Catharine Matthews, and
by circumstances connected with said poisoning, he has reason to
believe, and it is believed, that John Gair did instigate the said
Catharine Matthews to administer said poison; and therefore he
prayed for the arrest of the said Joliii Gair." A warrant was issued
and another deputy sent to Baton Kougc, who delivered it to Wood-
ward on the morning of the 18th of October. Gair was arrested
before noon, and a telegram was immediately sent to Clinton an-
nouncing the arrest and also the time when the posse would leave
Baton Rouge. After noon the two deputies and the ])ossc of seven
men started with their prisoner, who was furnished with a horse
and rode simong them. About sunset they crossed ilie line of the
parish of Baton Rouge and entered East Feliciana.
The narrow road ran througli tlio lonely pine forest, with neither
house nor fiuhl in sight. As the twiliglit was fading away, and the
shadows of the dark ])inos grew darker, two prominent citizens of
riirilnii ini'f lliiiii. Till' hvo frcnllfincn rode together in a buggy.
 —
and passed by without speaking then stopped in the rear, turned
about, and followed slowly behind the posse. Presently a long line
of armed men, mounted, and sitting motionless in their saddles,
was seen extending along the roadside in the shadowy gloom of
the fast-coming night. As the posse and prisoner advanced along
the road in front of this arra}*, the two extremities of the line moved
forward, and bending inwards enclosed them as in a net. At the
same moment several men rode inside the ring thus formed, dis-
armed the posse, seized the prisoner, and then ordered Woodward
and his party to move on. The order was obeyed, and the posse,
guarded by a squad of armed men, was taken outside the encircling
line and halted. About that moment a volley of a hundred guns
Avas heard, the captive posse was dismissed, and the formidable bat-
talion disappeared in the darkness, leaving Gair, mangled by scores
of bullets, lying lifeless and bloody in the edge of the dark pine for-
est. This happened about ten miles froni Clinton, and an hour or
two later, when the deputies and posse had just reached the town,
citizens saw the dead body of Babe Matthews hanging on one of
the trees in the courthouse yard, and there it remained all night and
until the sun rose bringing in the peaceful Sabbath day.
It was before 8 o'clock, in the light of an unclouded moon, when
this murder was committed in the center of a town of 1,500 people,
yet all the witnesses testified that the murderers were utterly un-
known — —
unsuspected that no citizen saw the deed done. jSTeither
could they remember who had charge of the girl on the last day of
her life, or on that evening. They remembered that on the first
night of her detention. Captain Laniere and Drs. Monyhan and
Hall guarded her, and that other equally respectable gentlemen
took their places next morning; but they could not remember any-
thing later. So several citizens said under oath. Babe IMatthews
was thus deliberately murdered, the moment that the conspirators
knew that Gair was killed, murdered to prevent the exposure of
their fiendish cruelty and falsehood. For, if she lived, she would
tell the truth, and the world would Imow that whatever confession*
she made was extorted by violence and torture. To make this ex-
posure impossible, they kept her closely guarded until the}' effected
their most important design, the killing of Gair, and then finished
their work by hanging the girl, who, according to their own story,
was the only witness against him.
Let the reader observe the strange use made of the "Strong Arm
of Force" which Lyons said was for the protection of property. Xot
one of the magistrates whom he denounced as ignorant and corrupt
were removed, the venal district and parish attorneys were not dis-
lodged, but John Gair, a private citizen, and a servant girl were
killed. A strange way indeed to reform the local government. The
murder of a nurse girl and a colored man who held, no office And
!

Judge Lyons made his wild harangue,

"A lie in every other word,"
to excuse these inhuman crimes.
THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.

HAYES DID IT IN 1877.

Ill the spring of 18TT, President Hayes withdrew the national

troops stationed in the states of Louisiana, South Carolina and
Florida. Those were the only states in the South which the Ivu-
Klux and White Leao-ue had not redeemed hy the "Strong Arm of
Force." The Eepuhlicans in those states had bravely struggled
against the assassins and gave their electoral votes for Hayes. It
was their courage and devotion made him president. But he, when
thus elected, withdrew the slight protection the presence of the
soldiers afforded and allowed their enemies to resume absolute con-
trol.
This was announced as a triumph of statesmanship. It was
said that the final restoration of peace was accomplished. Hence-
forth, the whole administration of public affairs being in the hands
of the intelligent class —
the property owners, the responsible citi-
zens, allwould be well. Our Xorthern statesmen, willing to be de-
ceived, exhausted the language of Optimania in extolling the won-
derful discovery in j)olitics:

"That statesmansliip wholly consists

In yielding whenever opponents insist."

Grand and glorious results were promised to flow from this

policy.
1. Peace, good government, the reign of law and order and
prosperity.
2. The colored man no longer aspiring to control tlie South,
would be protected in all liis riglits, there would be free schools for
his children and he should vote without intimidation or fear of
harm.
3. The dread of Radical — —
Carpet ]iag nigger rule l)eing re-
moved, the white citizens would soon form new political parties,
one of which, if not both, would be a ])arty of progress, improve-
ment, liberality and all good things generally.
4. This party might ho called "Whig." or the "Administration
Party,'"' or the "Liberal )iiiiih r;i(\ Z" <>r tlu' "Hayes
I
Do as you
please Party."' And undei- the benign inthiencc of tliis ])oliey.all old
things in the South would be forgotten, the 1)loody chasm closed,
the wounds r»f war fully liealed forevei'.
Pi{(>vii)i;i). Ai.AVAYs: 'Hiat llie loyal i^'ople wlio saved the
"tJ.nion would l)e silent and wail (|nielly till all these good things
came to pass.
depended u])oii that. A word of doubt, or reproach, even a
All
liintor sus]iicious look might so woun<l the sensitive souls of owt
Southern brethren as to spoil everything. Conserjuently the Xorth
was iin]»loi-fd. wliatever might liajijien. to remain silent. .And the
2S
 wearied Xation, perplexed and sad, laid its hand upon its lips and
was still.

And immediately a new series of political murders began. James

Law, an intelligent colored man, believing it was peace indeed, re-
turned to his home in East Feliciana, from Xew Orleans, where he
had remained after he was called as a witness and truthfully de-
scribed the methods of the White League. On the very evening
of his return, six gentlemen rode up to his door and shot him dead
as he stood beside his mother's chair.
Weber, a German citizen of Baton Rouge, where he had been
tax-collector, also hoped for peace and went home from Xew Or-
leans. During the previous year a committee of Democratic law-
yers, appointed by a public meeting, examined his office and re-
ported everything correct. One of them said openly that Weber
was the best tax-collector they ever had in that parish.
Afew days after his return, he went from his office to his home
— and while answering the greeting of his children who watched
his coming from a window, he fell dead as the fatal shotgun startled
the quiet street. This was the peace of statesmanship. Similar
scenes occurred in other states, and the supporters of ''Hayes' Xew
Policy" whispered "Be still. Be still. We
must expect, and ex-
cuse, such things. Stormv passions subside slowly. Prav, be still,
be still."
In i\.pril, 1877, a formal defence* of "President Hayes' Xew
Policy" was published at Washington. The country was told "It :

means the blending together of a large and influential element of

. both parties, and the breaking down of the color line in the politics
of the South.
"Its success calls for no abandonment of the right of suffrage
on the part of any class. The humblest citizen is to be protected
in his rights. It has been claimed that there is a large and in-
fluential party in the Southern states who do not countenance the
violence and outrages perpetrated upon the colored voters, but they
are forced to look on with indifference because they have been ig-
nored by the Administration."
Another writer engaged in the same task of extolling the "Xew
Policy," said:
"The Xorth looks with hope to the old Whig element in the
South," and then he foretold the glorious time
"When that old Union-loving Element shall declare itself the
Protector of the rights of all men. White and Black, under the
!"
amended constitution
This same Prophet-Statesman, declared that the "Xew Policy"
would secure "a hearty and generous recognition of the rights of
all. The complete protection of every American citizen, in the
free enjoyment of all political and private rights." There would
be "A new division of ]iarties obliterating the color line." and thus
"secure to the colored man the unmolested exercise of the fran-
chise."
 : !

Thus sjjoke the wisdom of statemanship, the highest wisdom

of the time. When common-sense remembers all that has happened
in the interYening 3'ears and considers all that is happening to-day,
—
how silly such utterances appear mere senseless twaddle.
The country has seen twent3^-four years of political murder and
fraud and lynching, till finally we see the formal denial of the right
of suffrage to almost a million American citizens. Such is the
harvest from the seed sown by Hayes and his weak associates.
The only excuse that can be made for these blind and blunder-
ing statesmen is found in the promises and pledges of the Southern
leaders. They promised protection to the negro in all his rights,
they promised fair elections, free speech and an honest, impartial
enforcement of the laws. The New Policy men believed, or pro-
fessed to believe, but not one of these promises were kept. The
chiefs of the White League never meant to keep them. They
wanted power and they cared not how it was obtained.

A SOUTH CAROLINA GENTLEMAN.

Hon. Alex. C. Haskell, chairman of Democratic state commit-
tee, said,under oath:
"The militia arms and ammunition have been used in these
riots, have been found in the hands of the rioters —the colored peo-
ple.^'
When asked if he had personal knowledge of that fact, he an-
swered :

"Xo, sir. * * I -^vas only informed by the commander-in-

Chief."
Then Senator Merriman said
"You got your information from the governor of the state as
commander-in-chief ?''
"Yes."
Senator Cameron asked:
"Do you mean to say you got the information from the gov-
ernor that these arms were found in the hands of the negroes?"
"Xo, sir, only that they created tlie riots. It was only as to
there being riots among them I"
First he swore that the governor told him the negroes, the
rioters, had militia arms, and then owned that the governor only
said there had been riots among tlie colored people
This same witness swore that the Eepublicau government of
the state had refused to accept wliite militia companies, but had
armed the negroes.
"I organized one com])nny myself and asked to have it accepted
as state militia. The white organizations were refused by the gov-
ernor."
\«l<'i1 :t^ *(> lii~ I now Icclgo of this matter. li<' :iii>;wi'ri'd
:
 "It Avas either mv company or another that was rejected. I
must reflect. It has been several A-ears ago. If I cannot remem-
ber, I Avill produce witnesses who have information."
It seems he continued to reflect, but he never presented the
proof of his assertions. Even the witnesses who had information
never came.
After the riots in Xew Orleans, La., July 30, 1866, a leading
Democrat, Lieutenant-Governor Voorhees, blamed General Baird
for the delay in bringing troops to the city to preserve the peace.
Toohees testified that he sent certain notes to the general warning
him of threatened trouble. The last note, he said, "was sent about
noon" and then it was "sent hetiveen eleven and twelve/'
General Baird produced the note and presented it before the
committeee.
It bore date in Voorhees' own writing,
"One and a half O'Clock.'"
one of the better! element impeaches a negro witness.
That nigger Otley swore to a lie,
A villainous, wicked and perjured lie,
When he said Bogan was in the fight
Where thirty negroes were shot that night.
I know it is false, for he went to stay
That night with a friend four miles away.
"How do I know it?" "Yes, how do you know?"
"I know it for Bogan told me so!"

TILLMAN.

"HE CLOTHED HIMSELF WITH CURSING AS WITH A GARMENT."

What shall be thought, what shall be said, when a society pro-
fessedly christian, whose ostensible work is the proper education of
the young, invites a self-confessed assassin who boldly advocates
murder (if the victim is black), to come and speak in their assem-
blies ?
Tillman, a coarse, narrow-minded bigot, who came to tell these
christian gentlemen and ladies, that he helped to gain political
power and ofiice by killing American citizens to tell them he ap- —
proves of mob-violence, the lynching of men and women accused of
crime, without trial, without the slightest investigation, without
the least proof of their guilt.
And his ravings in defence of these monstrous crimes are
—
cheered applauded by these christian people
How all this must elevate the morality of the young, who lis-
tened, how it must improve their character and make them better
citizens than their elders who had no such guide and instructor as
Tillman.
In speaking of the Eepublican government of South Carolina,
which he helped to overthrow with the shotgun, he gives no facts
ni
merely raves about stealing everything, and the disgraceful cred-
ulity of his audience believed it all. His description of the govern-
ment overthrown by violence, fraud and murder is absolutely false.

SOUTH CAROLINA.
The Republican government established in South Carolina un-
der the Eeconstruction Acts, was the most uusatisfactor}" of all in
the South. The negroes outnumbered the whites and most of them
were more ignorant than in other states where they were les.s nu-
merous. The intelligent white citizens refused to help, and in fact
did all they could to prevent the formation of a good government.
Consequently serious evils followed. Serious financial errors
and frauds. Yet an examination of the new constitution formed
under these unfavorable conditions shows that it was a decided im-
—
provement on the old. It was more liberal more in accord with
the spirit of the age and modern progress. ]\Iany of the
laws enacted by the first legislature were of the same
character, and abolished antiquated, class legislation, which
had been continued from the dark ages. Outside of fi-
nancial mismanagement and extravagance,
. there was little
cause for complaint. Tlie better class of Eepublicans succeeded in
gaining control in 18T4, and elected D. H. Chaml)erlain governor.
His reform measures encountered strong opposition from a large
faction of his own party. But won the earnest approval of many
Democrats. The vast improvement in the conduct of public af-
fairs was soon recognized by the more liberal of the old citizens, and
as the election of 1876 approached, they urged a union of honest
men of both parties in support of Chamberlain.
"We ask the reader to note the following extracts from the con-
servative Democratic papers and speakers in Soutli Carolina. They
show what was their estimation of the last Eepiiblican governor of
that state, whose re-election was prevented by the fraud, violence
and murder which Tillman approves and applauds.
The Yorkville Enquirer said: "He has fought a good fight in
IjC'half of the people."
The Winnsboro News said in June, 1875 : '"Governor Cham-
Ijerlain is a necessity. He alone in the state has the power, at pres-
ent, to check fraud, foster honesty and restore order."
The Clraitgc said in the first year of his administration: "Gov-
ernor Chamberlain is every day fulfilling the pledges made alike to
Conservatives and Eepublicans."
The Sumter }Vaichman. June, 1870, declared that: "The
movement to organize the Democratic party in this state is mainly
confined io a few leaders who want oflice themselves."
The Jlorry Xeivs said of (iovenior Chainlu'rlain : "His bi>-
tory as governor has been pure, uns])ottod and unstainctl.""
Tlie Marion Star remarked in June, 1870: "We would like to
Ix' Cf)nvincc(l Ibnt \vr arc wrong. bu( uniil souu- one sliows us how

••52
30,000 Eepublicaii majority with a leader like Governor Chamber-
lain in command, can be whipped at the polls, we shall not with-
draw our support from him."
In December, 1ST 5, General Connor presented this resolution at
a meeting in Charleston, and it was adopted
''We tender to Governor Chamberlain our grateful thanks for
the bold and statesmanlike struggle he has made in the cause of re-
form and the economical administration of the government, in the
jDreservation of public faith, in the equal administration of justice
and in the maintenance of peace, and we pledge him our cordial
support for the accomplishment of these ends."
The Neivs and Courier, the leading Democratic paper in the
state, said in April, 1875, of Governor Chamberlain:
'•'At first session of the legislature, we take
the close of this
l^leasure in saying tohim: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.''
The honest men of all parties look upon him to-day as a governor
whose administration has been bold, honest and exceptionally able."
A meeting at Sumter passed the following resolution, January,
1876 "Governor D. H. Chamberlain has illustrated by his con-
:

duct, the noble ends which may be achieved by a stranger who dif-
fers from many of us in matters of political faith, but who unites
with good men of all views in measures of reform, and this people
will sustain him to the end."
'T honestly believe that Governor Chamberlain can do more for
South Carolina than any other man." Thus wrote a Democrat, G.
W. Williams, in July, 1876.
The News and Courier added: "The most influential bankers
and merchants in Charleston hold substantially the same opinions
as those expressed by Mr. Williams."
The same pajDer about that time, said "Mr. Chamberlain has
:

earned the gratitude and deserves the confidence of the whole peo-
ple."
These are a few of the many Democratic indorsements of the
Republican state government. All the best of the white citizens
joined in this approval.
As late as July 11, three days after the Hamburg massacre, the
News and Courier published a brief review of the governor's ac-
tion. We condense the review
"The abuse of the pardoning power has been corrected."
"The character of the officers appointed by the Executive has
been improved."
"The floating indebtedness of the state has been provided for
in such a way that the rejecting of fraudulent claims is assured and
valid claims arc scaled one-half."
"The tax laws have been amended so as to secure substantial
equality in the assessment of property."
"And taxes have been reduced to 11 mills on the dollar."
.^:5
 !

"The contingeut fund of the executive deparnnent has beeu re-

duced, saving in two years $101,200.'"^
"Legislative expenses, in like manner reduced, so as to save tlie
people in two 3'ears $350,000."
"Legislative contingent expenses in the same wav reduced so
as to save the state $355,000."
"Public printing reduced from an annual average of $300,000
to $50,000."
Such is the character of the last Eepuhlican governor of South
Carolina and the government of the state at the time when the
malignant faction led by men like M. C. Butler, Gary, Ehett, Has-
kell, and the Avhole tribe of obscure Tillmans began their campaign
of murder to reinstate themselves in power.
That faction deliberately planned and perpetrated the Ham-
burg massacre, expressly to cause an excitement which could enable
them to force the conservative Democrats to Join in their lawless
work. They forced a conflict with a negro militia company, under
the false pretence of outrages committed by the militia. The
charges were mere lies invented by the malignants. Xot one of all
the many witnesses before the committee of investigation could
furnish proof of any unlawful act by any company of colored
militia in the state. The leading men of South Carolina were wit-
nesses before the senate committee sent to investigate the election
of 1876. They repeated vague reports, hearsay rumors, but not
•one of them could show proof of a single crime eommitted by the
negro militia.
And now iTi the first year of the twentieth century one of tlie
murderers and slanderers is invited to come Xorth and defend
those monstrous crimes, to approve lynching and praise the mobs
that hang, shoot and burn whoever they may accuse, without trial,
witliout proof of guilt, condemned on suspicion to horrible deaths.
Yes, christian teachers of the Xorth bring such a inonster to address
them and then cheer this brazen advocate of murder
"Eartli, Oil Avliere do thy wonders end?"

OBSERVE THE DIFFERENCE.

Fraud and violence reducetl llie l\e])ublican vote in the South
for many years. But those methods proved expensive. Besides, it
was fatiguing. Armed clubs had to be maintained and the riding
on midnight raids was tiresome, and these violent methods inter-
feri'd with colored labor upon which the South de]iends for all its
wealth. Consequently the Southern statesmen devised a legal or con-
stitutional scheme to kee]) colored voters from the Imllot-box. It is in
direct and positive conflict with the ISTatioual eoustituiion, but that
is of little consequence so long as our Kejnibliean congress is too
cowardly to enforce its mandates. The following tables show the
results of Southern skill and daring. wli(>reby they make one voter
in those states equal in ])olitieal jiowei- to tlii-ee or live or ten in the
North. Tlie fijiures in all cases show the number of votes cast for
the successful ticket. The opposing vote is not considered
In 1893 the Cleveland electors in Mississippi received 40,237
votes, Avhich gave that state nine votes in the electoral college. Min-
nesota also had nine electoral votes, but they represented more than
122,000 voters. Thus we see that in the choice of a President 40,-
000 voters in Mississippi were equal to more than three times 40,-
000 in Minnesota
In 1894 Mississippi elected seven representatives to the national
congress. The total vote polled for them was 38,071, In the same
year Minnesota elected the same number of representatives, seven,
the total vote being more than 150,000.
In 1896 the vote for congressmen elected was as follows in
Mississippi and Wisconsin

MISSISSIPPI. WISCOXSIN.
First District 7.321 28,275
Second District G,041 23,957
Third District 3.069 26,691
Fourth District 8,143 25,89e
Fifth District 10.475 26,613
Sixth District 0.739 26.649
Seventh District 7,327 24,013.

In the Fourth district, three Republican voters were almost

equal to one Democrat in the corresponding district in Mississippi.
But in the Third the difference was more than eight to one in favor
of the South.
In 1896 Georgia elected eleven congressmen. Iowa elected the
same number.

GEOKGI.\. IOWA.
First District 8,786 21,944
Second District 7,454 23,202
Third District 7.450 29,654
Fourth District 8,519 26,659
Fifth District 9.258 26,133
Sixth District 8,236 21,970
Seventh District 10,719 25,578 '

Eighth District 9.088 24.783

Xinth District 11.037 24.904
Tenth District 10.119 23,523
Eleventh District 9,141 29,601

Each of those states had thirteen electoral votes. The thirteen

from Georgia received 94,232 votes. The thirteen from Iowa re-
ceived 289,923 votes.
The rebels who stood guard around our starving comrades in the
Andersonville prison pen have full three times the influence in
electing presidents and making laws as the maimed survivors of
their brutal cruelty.
In 1898 the vote for members of congress was as follows in two
states, each having seven members in congress
35
 1

MISSISSIPPI. MINNESOTA.
First District 2.469 18.939
Second District 2.94:9 21,296
Third District 2,068 19.27
Fourth District 3,431 15.955
Fifth District 4,943 18,736
Sixth District 3,276 22,194
Seventh District 3.278 20,409

ELECTION OF 1900.
SEVEN CONGRESSMEN FROM EACH STATE.
SOUTH CAROLINA. CALIFORNIA.
No. of Votes, Xo. of Votes.
First District 3.666 21.227
Second District 6,713 23,019
Third District 7.834 22,109
Fourth District 8,189 17.111
Fifth District 6,634 23,443
Sixth District 7,506 27,081
Seventh District 7,285 23,450

LOOK AT THE VOTE FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.

GEORGIA.
Date. Xo. of Votes.
1892 129,386 Thirteen Electors.
1896 94,232 Thirteen Electors.
1900 77,353 Thirteen Electors.

LOUISIANA.
Date. Xo. of Votes.
1892 87,923 Eight Electors.
1896 77.175 Eight Electors.
1900 53,671 Eight Electors.

SOUTH CAROLINA.
Date. Xo. of Votes.
1892 51,6t)S Eight Electors.
1896 58.801 Eight Electors.
19UU 47,236 Eight Electors.

MISSISSIPPI.
Date. Xo. of Votes.
1892 40,237 Xine Electors.
1890 53,800 Nine Electors.
I'JOO 51,706 Nine Electors.

At the election of 1900, the three states of South Carolina, Mis-

sissippi and Louisiana had 25 votes in the electoral college. The
total of the popular vote for those t\vent3'-five electors was 152,613.
At the same election, Illinois had twenty-four votes in the electoral
colk'ge, but it required more than 597.000 voters to elect them. Thus
we see that 153,000 men in those Southern states have greater power
in the election of a president than 597,000 in Illinois.
Yet we arc told that all is well. "Don't irritate the South by
asking (o have our national constitution respected and obeyed."
3<i
 A FEW EXAMPLES.
HOW THE BLOODY WORK GOES ON.

It will be said by the frieinl? of Southern methods that vio-

lence and outrages ceased in those sraios as soon as Carpet Bag and
Negro rule was ended. This assertion is false. There has been a
constant succession of political murders since 1877, when the last
vestige of Carpet Bag government was swept awaj'.
The Chisolni massacre in Kemper, Miss., occurred at the end
of April, 1877, a very few days after the extinction of the last Ke-
publican state government in the South.
In 1879 Captain Dixon was publicly shot in Yazoo, Miss., be-
cause he dared to be an independent candidate for sheriff and was
likely to receive the votes of colored men. Four 3-ears later, Foote,
the last of the Republican leaders in Yazoo, was murdered by a
mob of two hundred white citizens while he was a prisoner in jail.
Not far from the same time, Mathews, a white Southern-born citi-
zen of Mississij)pi, the wealthiest man in the county where he lived,
was shot in the immediate presence of the election officers, in the
room with the ballot boxes, the moment after he deposited his bal-
lot for theRepublican candidates.
A few years later, Judge Clayton, Republican candidate for con-
gress in Arkansas, was murdered while prepariug to contest the
election.
A colored man who was trying to discover the assassin, was
killed a few days after, having disregarded the warning to desist.
In 1898 bloody scenes occurred on election day in both North
and South Carolina.
'*At Phenix, South Carolina, there were serious disturbances
on November 8 and for several days after. The Tolberts, an old
and well-known family who have been Republicans since the M'ar,
were attacked by mobs of armed men, some of them scarcely escap-
ing alive, being covered with Avounds. John R. Tolbert, head of
the family, collector of the Port of Charleston, was at one time not
expected to live. One of the Tolberts was a candidate for con-
gress; and finding that the negroes were not allowed to vote for
him, was making a list of those who were shut out, in order to make
a legal test of the law. He was attacked and the negroes attempted
to defend him. They Avere overpowered and the Tolberts compelled
to flee for their lives." Several days of rioting followed. Two
white men and twelve or fifteen negroes were shot or hung.
—
In that same month and year November, 1898 the disgrace- —
ful riot at Wilmington, North Carolina, occurred.
Wilmington, the largest town in the state, had a population of
20,000, the negroes being more numerous than the whites. Re-
ports sent out before the revolution began, '^pictured in deep colors
the horror and peril of the situation to Avhich negro rule had
brought the city. Neither property nor life nor woman's honor
 :

vras ssiie/' ''Political corruption was rife,'' '•'Crime had increased."

"The black officials were either utterly ignorant and incapable or in
collusion with criminals.'' "The only remedy was revolution."
Observe how this language resembles that used by Judge Lyons
twenty years before in another state. !N'ot a single fact mentioned.
Southern Democrats all use the same vague terms. They abhor
facts.
The citygovernment of Wilmington was overthrown by armed
force. The number of negroes killed was variously reported from
six to twent}', many more Avere wounded. Many hundreds, includ-
ing whole families, fled in terror from their homes into the woods.
The Republican press and printing office were destroyed. Several
white Republicans were driven from the city. Among them was
the mayor, the chief of police, the deputy sheriff and the United
States commissioner.
Now let us look at the negro government which was thus over-
turned by murder.
The mayor was a white citizen. The council consisted of ten
members. Seven of them were white. The chief of police was a
white man, and a decided majority of the policemen were white.
The board of audit whicli passed on all expenditures by the alder-
men had four white and one colored. The school committee was
two wliite to one colored. Such was the Black government which
the white men of Xorth Carolina extinguished in blood, the blood
of loyal, lionest American citizens.
Systematic intimidation and violence carried the late election
in Xorth Carolina, by which the Democrats gained power to dis-
franchise the colored voters. In the legislature of 1898 there was
IGO white members and eight negroes. A striking instance of
negro rule ! One negro to twenty white men. How those "niggers"
must have dominated the Avhites It Avas to prevent this "horror
I

and peril" that armed clubs of whites forced the disfranchisement

of colored voters. It is not negro rule that the South hates, it is
the principles of true Republicanism. In ^Maryland this is openlv
avowed.

THE CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION OF NEW ORLEANS IL-

LUSTRATED BY THE SCENES OF JULY, 1900.
•Our IIIkIi ^«tiiii<liir<l of < l\ lll/iitlon" — Tlw TliiiPM-Deiuucrat <iilN it.

it was in the last year of the century, the nineteenth century,

and a few days after the 124th anniversary of American freedom.
In the hour before niidniglit. three i)olieenien learned tliat two
ncgriK's were sitting on a step in front of a house in Dryades street,
New Orleans. Thf ihrci' guardians of the peace promptly sought
an interview. Sergt-ant ^lora, who ai)pears to have Ix'cn tlie fore-
most, thus described the scene that ensued
 •'We interrogated them." he said, "•as to who they were^ what
they were doing, and how long they had heen here. Thev replied
that they were working for some one. and had been in town three
days. At about this stage, the larger of the negroes got up and
I grabbed him.'"
Observe that the policeman makes no charge against those quiet
citizens, doesnot even accuse them of insolence. They answered his
questions promptly and civilly. Then one of them got up. ''I
grabbed him,"' says Sergeant Mora, but gives no reason or excuse
for his violence. A quiet, unoffending citizen rose from his seat
and stood upright But the protector of the city grabbed him
!

and then continues: "The negro pulled, bvit I held fast and he
me into the street. Here I began to use mv
finally pulled billet.
The negro jerked from my grasp and ran. He then pulled a gun
and fired."
Three shots were bv each of the men, so the policeman
fired
said. The negro but escaped, and Mora was picked up
Avas hit,
from the street by his comrades and taken to hospital, wounded
in each hand and in the hip. Another policeman pursued the negro,
and fired after him till his revolver was empty and the fugitive had
disappeared in the darkness.
Thus ended the first act in the tragedy, an ending quite unex-
pected and unusual. Instead of quietly yielding to the will of the
superior Race, and allowing himself to be grabbed and beaten, this
nigger, Robert Charles, jerked from the white man's grasp and ac-
tually ]iroved himself the better marksman by disabling his assail-
ant. This was awful. The negro must be killed. The whole po-
lice force of the city was on foot, promptly, and the man-hunt be-
gan. A few hours later, about 4 a. m.. Charles Avas found in a
small house, Xo. 2023 Fourth street. He knew from the moment
he fired the first shot that his escape was impossible. He had shot
a white man, and his own death by bullet or halter was inevitable.
In any civilized community he might have given himself uji to the
authorities, and Avould have been safe from mob violence and sure
of a public trial. But he knew the Southern methods, knew them
well. He had read the history of hundreds of men and women of
his Eace — —
murdered by raging mobs without trial, without proof
of guilt. He knew his fate was certain, and like a brave man he
resolved to die fighting liis innumerable foes. A party of police
surrounded the house in which he awaited tlieir coming waited—
with a loaded \\'inchester in his hand. Captain Day led the ad-
vance upon Charles, who, Avatching from his door, fired one shot,
and the captain fell dead. Another shot and the next policeman
was struck lifeless to the ground. The otliers retired to shelter.
Charles Avas not the kind of nigger they liked to hunt. So they
waited for daylight and reinforcements. When these came
Charles had AvitlidraAvn to other quarters. By that time the city
was Avild Avith excitement, and thousands of white men joined the
)olice in tlie disorderly search for the bold fugitive. As he coMld
lot at once be found, the mobs, which rushed tip and down the
treets unchecked by the police, assaulted negroes Avherever they
ould be caught.
Some individual policemen tried to prevent such outrages, and
lelped to rescue the victims of lawless violence, but the chief and his
issistants made no effort.

Ayoung negro was arrested on Fourth street for talking too

nuch or too loud. The charge as published in the Times-Democrat
s vague, and it is not said that he had committed any unlawful
ict or advised it. Two policemen took him in charge and started
owards the station on foot. A crowd of negroes followed, but did
lot interfere. Corporal Trenchard, of the police, met them and the
3lacks fled. Then he went after the prisoner and Joined the two
policemen who had him in charge.
"At everystep he would punch him or hit him M-ith the barrel of
!"
lis pistol, while the onlookers shouted, '"'Kill him Lynch him
!

Presently the negro was thrown into an empty ice wagon. "'A gang
jf Avhites climbed into the wagon and beat the helpless negro most
?avagety. When the Avagon stopped some ten yards from the prison
:loor. he was dragged out by the mob, two hundred strong, "beaten,
punched, torn, till his face was unrecognizable,'' Avhen, after Ave
minutes of this treatment he was thrown into the prison. All this
occurred in broad daylight in the streets of the greatest of South-
ern cities.
But this was merely the beginning.
The leading dailies of Xew Orleans, while they editorially con-
demned mob violence, published such accounts of outrages as
tlie

encourage the law-breakers to continue tlie brutal work. The

negro Charles was denounced as a criminal, "a monster," "a fiend,"'
'a murderer," "a dare devil." and one of the papers added tliat
lie Avas "a Eavisher," trying thus to excite the mob to still
greater fury and prepare, in advance, an excuse for burning him
alive if he could be captured. Yet not the slightest proof could be
found to justify those terms. Even after his lieroic death, nothing
could be found to show that he had ever been guilty of a crime up to
the moment when he got u)i from his seat on a door-step, for which
the policeman "grabbed and clubbed him."
But the search for liim went on. The mob and the police would
probably have found him sooner if they had known he was not
armed. But they made up for their failure by finding unarmed
—
negroes in various parts of the city men and women who coubl not
be suspected of complicity in his actions or any knowledge of him
— —
persons not even charged with crime but they were black and
defenceless. ]{ead llu- bloody story as told from day io day. The
Picayune thus described the situation on the second morning of the
disturbance:
40
 "Hiuidreds of policemen were about: each corner was p"uar(leJ
by a sqnacl, commanded either by a sergeant or corporal, and every
man had the word to shoot the negro as soon as he was sighted."
The mayor issiied a proclamation offering a "reward of $250 for
the body of the murderer, dead or alive."
The Times-Democrat thus spoke of the affair at No. 2023 Feurth
street when Charles first used his Winchester: ''There is good
reason to believe that Charles was seriously wounded, and at any
event he had lost quantities of blood.- His situation was as critical
as it is possible to imagine, yet he shot like an expert in a target
range."
And again: "His aim was deadly, and his coolness must have
been something phenomenal."'
But neither mob nor police found him again that day. At night
a crowd of citizens gathered at the Lee monument —
seven hundred
—
white men and the mayor of Kenner, a town a few miles above the
cit}', made a speech.
''I Kenner, gentlemen, and I have come down to-night
am from
to assistyou in teaching the blacks a lesson. I have killed a negro
before," he yelled, "and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you
and yours 1 am willing to kill again. The only way you can teach
these niggers a lesson and put them in their place is to go out and
hnich a few of them as an object lesson. String up a few of them.
That is the only thing to do— kill them, string them up, lynchthem.
I will lead you. On to the parish prison and lynch Pierce."
The mob followed, rushing through the streets nearly two miles,
but found the doors closed and the keepers refused to open them.
The leader, "His Honor of Kenner," seems to have disappeared
about this time, but the mob found compensation. Xear the prison
was a row of second hand stores and pawn shops, which were quickly
plundered.
"Everything, from breast-pins to horse-pistols, went into tlie
pockets of the crowd. In the melee a man was shot down. Some-
body planted a long knife in the bodv of a little newsboy for no
reason as vet shown. Everv now and then a Xegro would be fluslied
somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd and left beaten to a pulp."
How manv suffered at the hands of this mob is not known, but at
least twelve had their wounds dressed at the
Charity Hospital.
the crowd from tlie Lee monument finislied its work
of ]ilun-
When
der and violence in the vicinitv of the prison, tlie
white citizens
detachments and set off on the various streets looking
divided into
for negroes to kill. One of these parties saw a street car on Canal
street,^stopped it by force, found a negro among its
passengers,

forced him nut and after a long chase, killed him,

and left his dead
body in the gutter. The horrible details of this murder filled
a half

column of the next morninor's papers. After he was shot and

fell

he was kieke<l, and beaten by the crowd

helpless in the street
"they would
around him. "Everv few minutes." tbe paper >nys.
41
 —

.op, and, striking matches, look in the man's face to see if he still
ved. To better see if he was dead the}' would stick lighted match-
;to his eyes." When quite sure he was lifeless they left the mau-
led hody in the gutter and with fiendish yells rushed on to find
:her victims. Towards morning of that same night of horror a
egro named Philo, seventy years old, on his way to his regular
ork in the French market, where he had been employed for years,
as met by a crowd of whites and shot down. He was taken to the
ospital, where his wounds were pronounced fatal. One of the
wless parties that roamed at will all over the city fired into a negro
ibin on Eousseau street. The inmates were asleep, for it was mid-
ight. and one of them, an old woman, was killed in her bed.
Another, a colored washerwoman who lived on South Claibourne
reet, hearing one of the noisy groups passing looked out to see
hat was going on. She was attacked and beaten insensible. A
egro. T. P. Sanders, was sitting qviietly at his own door, when a
action of the mob marched by he was shot and beaten till they left
;

im for dead.
Such were the scenes that continiied day and night from Mon-
ay till Friday evening. Only a few have been told.
About 3 p. m. Friday the police learned where (Hiarles could be
)und, and a house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio was sur-
(unded. Besides lue police, a great crowd of citizens assembled
mong them were the good citizens who had filled the city with out-
iges like those described above. Charles was waiting and his
•usty AVinchester was in his hand.
a' sergeant, Porteus, and Corporal Lally, entered a lower room
11(1 the first fell dead at the first shot, tlie second Avas mortally
ounded by the next, and for a few moments no one else ventured to
in. But the crowds outside rushed wildly through the yards and
assages shouting, "Where is he?" An answer came from his rifle
— —
irough an upper window and a citizen Bloomfield one who was
atching, gun in hand, to shoot the negro, fell wounded and the
'C(ind shot killed him outright. The crowds fled from this dan-
crous ground and then l)ii lifts from rifles and ])istols began to
our into the house fi-oiii weapons in tlir liands of the Inmdreds
lat filled the streets.
"The fusilade souiuled like a battle,*' the reporter Avrote, and
iiitinues: "'Throughout all this hideous uproar, Charles seems to
ave retained a certain diabolical coolness. He kept himself most-
•
out of sight, but now and then thrust his gleaming rifle through
IM <<{ the shati.ivd window panes and fired at his beseigers. Ho
(irked his weapon witli incr(»<iible rapidity, discharging from three
) live cartridges each time before lea])ing l)aek to a ])laee
of safety.
'Iiese rei)lies came from all foiii- windows indiscriminately and

lowed tbat he was keeping a di-x- watili in every dirtvtion. His

onderful marksmanshi]) never failed him. and when he missed
\v;t- alwav- l'\' ill'- naiTowesf nuwiiin." All tins time the tre-
mendous fusilado contimicd from tlio street?, from adjoining roofs,
windows and walks. And Charles replied from time to time, kill-
ing tM'O more of his assailants and wounding two others. At last
the house in which lie so bravely defended himself was set on fire.
The lower part Avas soon filled with flames and smoke. He knew
the end had come and he met it boldly. Having reached the ground
he rushed straight at his countless foes, fired one last shot and fell
dead. Then a most disgraceful display of brutal ferocity followed.
'The bleeding body Avas dragged to the pavement. It was shot,
kicked and beaten almost out of semblance of humanity. The limp
body was dropped at the edge of the sidewalk and from there
dragged to the muddy roadway. More shots were fired into the
body. Corporal Trenchard led the shooting into the inanimate
clay. With each shot there was a cheer for the work that had been
done and curses and imprecations." Finally the mangled remains
were thrown in a wagon, the hideously mutilated head kicked,
stamped and crushed, hung over the end. Some of the crowd
wanted to burn the body and they protesti'd against its removal.
Unable to burn the body, "they poked and struck it with sticks,
beating it into a condition that it was impossible to tell what the
man ever looked like.'^
*
"As the patrol wagon rushed through the rough street * *
the gory mud-smeared head swa,ved and swung and jerked about in
a sickening manner, the dark blood dripping on the steps."
During all the horrible scenes which continued day and night
from Monday to Friday, of which only a few specimens have been
briefiv given, no honest effort Avas made by the authorities to pro-
tect the negroes or restrain the mob. The poAvers that rule tbat
great city were Avilling to have the negroes taught "an object les-
son," as the mayor of Kenner advised.
But Avhen the telegraph brought ncAVS that such long-continued
disorder Avas injuring the financial standing of Xcav Orleans,
prompt action Avas taken and the moment that the Better Element
cried "'Halt," peace instantly prevailed.
The mobs of murderers dissolved and tlie blood-stained assassins
of innocent men and defenseless Avomen retunied to their usual
haunts, boasting of their brutal deeds, safe from arrest or punish-
ment in the bosom of the christian civilization of the Creole State.
The folloAving items from the Times-Democrat may fitly close
this sketch, shoAving the justice administered to negroes
"Lee Jackson Avas before the recorder and Avas lined $-2.5 or
thirtv da3^s. He around where the trouble happened,
Avas lippy
Tuesday morning, and some Avhite men punched him good and hard
and the police took him. Then the recorder gave him a dose, and
noAV he is in the parish prison.
"EdAvard McCarthy, a Avhite man. mixed up \\ itb the crowd, and
an expression of sympathy nearly cost him his head, for some whites
about started rov'biin administerinir licks aiul blows Avith fists and
4;i
mbrellas. The recorder fined him $25 or thirty days. He is
rom Xew York." He had been in Xew Orleans three days.
The men Avho committed these wanton ontrages, unrestrained
y the authorities and unpunished by the courts, wield five times
lie power at the ballot box that is exerted by any voter in the North.

!y the unconstitutional suppression of the Republican vote, a small

umber of Democrats control the elections. The six members of
heHouse of Eepresentatives who were then in Congress from the
tate of Louisiana Avere elected by the following vote:
First District 5,422
Second District 6.802
Third District 4.929
Fourth District 4.424
Fifth District 3,382
Sixth District 2,494

In the same Congress the members who represented the cor-

esponding districts in Illinois received from 18,000 to 37,000
otes each.
The members from Louisiana was less tlian
total vote for the six
8,000. But then must be remembered that the Southern voters
it
re gentlemen, they sa}' so at least, and have always claimed to be
uperior to Northern mitd-sills. And every Northern man who
amely submits to this inequality does thereby confess his inferior-
ty. And every member of Congress who does not protest against
nd oppose the methods which makes one voter in the South equal
n political power and influence to five voters in the North is a cow-
rd or worse.

At the last presidential election, 06.3G8 ballots in Alabama gave

Jryan the Eleven' Electoral votes of that state.
'in New Jersey 221, lOT ballots gave McKinley Tek Electm-al
otes.

A SABBATH DAY IN THE SOUTH.

Since the white men of tlie South, the De}nocrai-y, regained abso-
nte control of those states there has been a constant succession of
lUtbreaks in which negroes are shot five, ten and twenty at a
ime. These murders are in addition to the numerous lynchi}igs.
n July a small affair of iliis kind occurred in Mississippi. A ne-
;ro plot to kill whites was said to l)e the occasion. Tlie re]iort was
ent out that written ])roof of the conspiracy was found, but it was
lot published. Tlie assertion was printed after five negroes were
:illed. A similar story was told to excuse the killing of colored
nen some years ago in Louisiana. In that ease investigation was
nad«'. and the written ])roof. when iinally found, consisted of a list
)f names of colored men without a single Avord to show wliy it was

nadc. It was sim])lv a list of the colored men in that locality —not

44-
a word about plots or combinations or anything else. And it could
not be shown that any colored man wrote it.
Such was the '"'written proof*' of a murderous plot
'"'Only this and nothing more."
As late as the last Sunday
in October in this the first year of the
twentieth century a slaughter of colored men and women occurred
in Washington parish, Louisiana.
A few days before that Sabbath day's slaughter a negro named
Morris was accused of the crime of robbery with violence. It was,
—
charged that he entered the country store at Balltown a straggling
—
settlement and in the absence of the trader knocked down the
woman and took five dollars from the till. The woman revived,
gave the alarm, pursuit was made, and Morris was found at his
—
home four miles away. The white savages or shall we say "Chris-
tian gentlemen?'"
alive
—
promptly chained him up and burned him

They forced another colored man to light the fire. This pro-
ceeding was not approved by the colored people of the vicinit}', and
some of them protested against it. Nothing was done, however.
For some years previous the negroes had held a camp-meeting every
fall, and they assembled as usual at their church, in a pleasant
grove, where their pastor lived in his own house near the church.
The first dispatch about the trouble stated that
"A charge had been made that Crea Lott, of Booth, La,, one of
the prominent negroes in that section of the parish, was running a
restaurant at the camp-meeting without a license. Under the pre-
tense of investigating whether that was true or not, the constable
started to the Live Oak church with a large armed posse. Accord-
ing to the whites, when the posse came near the church the negroes
opened fire firing from two or three differ-
on them from ambush,
ent directions. of the whites, however, were injured by this
Xone
fire. They called to the negroes to surrender and demanded that
Lott should be given to them.
"The negroes continued to fire from the restaurant, and as it
was impossible to dislodge them otherwise, fire was set to the restau-
rant. When it was in flames and it was impossible for the men in
it to remain longer, two rushed out —
Lott and a friend. Both
men carried double-barreled shot guns and both fired at the posse,
Idlling Joe Seals and a man named Elliott, both members of the
posse.
"More than 600 shots were fired back, and botli negroes fell
dead, Lott having his head completely blown off. The posse had
been greatly increased by this tiitie, a number of armed men com-
ing to its support when they heard the firing. The negro preacher
came to the front of the church armed with a shotgun and was shot
down and killed. The posse then turned its fire on the church,
which was riddled by more than 2,000 shots. The negroes broke
and ran in all directions."
45
 : —

"In the ruins of the bnrned restaurant were the Itodies of three
legro women, and one child so badly bnrned that it was impossible
say Avhether or not they had been shot to death before the restanr-
nt had been' set fire to."'
Observe that the firing from ambush harmed no one. Xo white
ran Avas shot until the negroes tried to escape from the burning
uilding.
Several hundred men, women and children fled from their
omes leaving their property behind.
The following statements made by two of the colored women is
opied from the Times-Democrat of Xew Orleans, Louisiana
"Well, sir, it Avas about half-past 3 o'clock Sunday evening when
le shooting began. I was so frightened, and my folks were l)eing
illed around me so fast that I forget lots of things that did happen.
'es, sir; it Avas about half-past 3, and my husband, my two daugh-
?rs — Julie, tAventy-tAvo years old, and Katie, fourteen years old
Qd my old mother, Amy, Tony and her grandchildren, were all
tting in the tent. I had just put some meat on the fire, for I had
) cook supper, A\dien I heard Crea say 'Sophie, you Avomen get out
:

f the Avay I those Avhite men are coming.' I looked up from my

Doking, and I saAv a lot of men. I jumped behind the stove and
ly husband craAvled under the bed. Crea said 'You AVomen look
:

Lit; they arc going to kill us all.' My old mother, aa'Iio is seventy-
ve years old, ran to the door. I heard her say: 'For God's sake,
entlemen, don't shoot.' I looked up, and Axdien I did I Avas bliud-
1 by a flash of light and a sliarp report like thunder. I Avas not
nocked senseless, I guess, for I remember I heard my mother
•ream 'Oh Lord, have mercy upon me.
: I am shot.'
"When I heard her cry out I took my hands from before my
ice, and I saAv my mother staggering over toAvard me. The blood
as all over her face, and Avas spouting from her arm. In a min-
te more she fell OA^n' the hot stove, and Avlien I pulled at her she

id off and fell over my knees. My daugliter. Julia, had run over
I me, too, and, stooping down, caught liold of my knees. By this
me the men Avere nearly in the door, and Avhen I saw tliem raise
leir guns the second time and start to fire I hid my face in my
-ms, for I thought sure they Avcre going to shoot me this time. I
[ard the reports, and the poAvdor luinied my hands, but Avhen I
It notliing hurt me I looked dow n .it my rid. Just as I did look
3wn I felt my daugliter's arms loose my knei'S and then I noticed
?r. Blood was pouring from her l)reast, and she was gasping. I
epped over her body, and as I did another shot rang ont, and if
y mother's head liad been s|)lit Avitli an axe it could not liaA'C been
ore torn to pieces. Wlien I saw hiT lying dead and my dauglitci-.
ulie. gasping, I could Jiot stand it any more, and I tlirew a blanket
M-r my head and ran out.
"As I Avas passing through the yard one of the Seals l)oys said,
)on"t slioot tliat woman." Tlie men lowi-red tlieir guns, and I ran

46
over across the branch. As I was running I stopped onlv once, and
when I looked back I saw my daughter, Katie, fall. The tent was
on fire, and out of the cloud of smoke I recognized my husl^and as
he ran out and across the yard. I saw him fall, too, just as he was
near the gat.e,.and then the guns began to pop like firecrackers.
Every one of the men seemed to Ije shooting at him, but it Avas onlv
when the flames burst out and drove the smoke back that I could
see his body, which was lying face dovm near the gate.
"While I was looking back a man aimed and fired at mo. The
gun Avas loaded with small shot, and when they struck my aruis and
breast it felt like bees stinging. This made me realize, though, that
if I did not run they would shoot me, too, and I went into the
swamp and lay down with my face in the water and mud. That's
all I can tell you, sir."
Jane Connelly, wife of Parson Connelly, told the following
story of the manner in which her husband met death
The Connelly family consisted of the Kev. Connelly, his wife
and two daughters, Martha and Mary Davis. They lived in d two-
room frame house, separated from the church by an alley scarct-ly
ten feet wide. This alley affords an entrance to the inclosure iii
which Crea Lott's tent was erected. It was in this alley that
Connelly Avas killed. Connelly's wife described the shooting as it
happened this Avay:
"My husband was sitting in the front room of our house. He
had been out nearly all day, preaching in the forenoon and visiting
in the afternoon. He had just taken off his coat and sat down to
eat his dinner when we all heard shots. My husband jumped up
and putting on his coat started to run out in the yard, but I told
him not to go. He came back, but just then the shooting began
again and he grabbed up Martha, who has the misery in her knee,
and ran out into the yard. Me and ]\Iary Davis followed. ^My
husband ran into the alley, and seeing the men stopped. He ])ut
Martha down and he had no sooner done so than some one sliot,
and he fell. Several more shots were fired, and I knew they had
KILLED MY HUSBAND,
for I saw blood all around, and he lay stretched out just like a
dead man. After they shot the parson I ran aAA'ay. I do not
know what became of Martha or Mary Davis. I have not seen
them since, but I heard other folks say they had seen them."
The Connelly woman declares that her husband had no pistol.
The report continues:
"Lott was easily the most prominent negro in this section. He
was a carpenter, blacksmith and farmer, and owned a fine place
two miles from here. He bought his household groceries and sup-
plies in Xew Orleans, and his credit Avas good for anything he
bought. He could read and Avrite and transacted all of his business
without assistance. But it is said of him that while he associated
4-7
 —

ritlinegroes, he believed himself far superior to nearl_y all the white

eople in the vicinity, and in his dealings with them was very dicta-
orial and overbearing. He is said to have criticized the burning of
lorris very bitterly and to have suggested that the negroes ought
D even up with some white man,"
The number of colored people killed is variously reported from
Bn to thirty.
A MEMORY.
^^'henit was announced from ^Yashington that a committee was

D Louisiana and investigate the election of 1876, I wrote to

visit
lie chairman and called his attention to the vague charges usually

lade against Eepublieans by southern witnesses. The suggestion

'as offered that it might be well to ask those intelligent A^itnesses
3 state facts. If they denounced an official as incompetent, let
liem tell how that incompetence was shown. If they charged
raud, beg them to mention the dishonest acts, on which they based
be charge. If they swore that the thieving negroes, encouraged
y impunity from punishment, had forced the planters to abandon
lie raising of cotton, give them a chance to state by how many

ales the crop had fallen off.

A few weeks later, when the committee had fairly begun its
^ork, I read in a southern paper, an indignant protest against its
lethods.
**The Eadical senators cross-examined Southern gentlemen as
f they were witnesses before a police court." Thus shrieked the
ditor, and the result of such examination was very discouraging
3 his friends. .
;j(.«ftj|^
AN OBJECT LESSON.
In estimating the value of southern assertion it is well to re-
leniber certain historical facts. All the world knows how Union
ri.-oners were starved in southern prison pens, knows that thou-
ands died of starvation. In all the history of the world no event
r fact was ever proved by a greater multitude of eye-witnesses
dtnesses numbering tens of thousands. Yet all southern leaders
ave denied it. Davis and Stephens said our comrades died of
ome sickness Most of the others assert that the prisoners were
!

ed as well as the resources of 'the South allowed.

Yet these same men declare that Sherman's great army lived
n the country as it marched through Georgia, the state in which
2,000 loyal soldiers in tbe Andersonville prison pen had starved
D death within the year. Southern historians, like Pollard of the
Lost Cause," wrote that the Yankee soldiers destroyed more food
lian they consumecl. They mention the vast herds of cattle driven
way, the millions of bushels of sweet potatoes destroyed, and the
xtensive fields of corn in which the cattle were turned at night,
nth ail this abundance of food at hand our comrades died of-
tarvation. And tbe leaders tliroughout the South bavo coustantly
enifd the truth.
48
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