Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1866-02-21

eresent myself before your Committee Of
Investigation. A telegram from my
family calls me 10 them az once, and i
90 to st. Louis Immediately. sha re-
turn TO Kentucky as Dol as can leave
nv family, and trust that day VII not
be beyond the date named in my tormer
communication, % wit: twentieth or
twenty-6fth instant.
Has your Committee authority tOsum-
mon witnesses and investigate the affairs
of freedmen throughout the State? II
50, please advise me by letter addressed
to number two hundred and seventeen
Chouteau Avenue, St Louis, and ! viii
forward the names of parties I desire
summoned. If ten per cent. of the re-
ported outrages upon colOred people in
Kentucky are not false, the matter de-
mands the earnest attention Of our entire
Legislature, as well as every good citizen
in your Commonwealth.
IT is not the intention Of this Bureau to
establish or continue its authority in any
locality where the civil authorities can
and wiz afford ample protection to the
persons and property Of the freedmen.
l viii thank YOU 10 inform me by early
reply just what your Committee desires
Of me, and whether you will convene
the witnesses I may name to you.
Very respectfully. your o~bediaut servant.
CLINTON B FISK,
Brevet Mai.-Geu. and Asst Com'r.
Said letter was shown TO the majority,
on the morning Of the 18th, before ma
king their report TO the Senate. still
these gentlemen, exhibiting q zeal for
the honor Of Kentucky, were unwilling
to allow Gen. Fisk time 20 present him
self and offer such proof in vlndication
Of himself ss he might be in possession
Of. Gen. Fisk, after reaching st. Louis,
having been called 70 that city in conse-
quence Of sickness and death in his fam
ily, sent the following telegram
ST LOUIS, Feb. q. 1900.
To Hon. J. r. ArmstrOnq Please tel
eVraph ne the latest day l can meet your
committee at Frankfort. II az all con-
sistent for me to leave my family, I
viii be with you
CLINTON FISK, Maiden.
The undersigned has, therefore, seen
nothing in the action Of Gen. Fisk 20
warrant the conclusion arrived at by the
majority Of the Committee, that he
wished 10 shuu an investigation, or trife
with the Committee. Il viii he seen that
Gen. Fisk does not state in his telegram
read before the Committee in Lexington
that he would arrive in Kentucky on
Tuesday, or Wednesday, land the first
intimatiOn that he had as 10 the sitting
Of the committee was, by a telegram
from the undersigned, dated February
second. eighteen hundred and sixty six,
only the day before their meeting in
Lexington, THE notice Of the Committee
and Joint resolution mailed at Frankfort,
tlirtietn January, addressed TO him at
Louisville, not having reached him %
and he has not Trrived at the same con-
clusiJu with the majority Of the Com
mittee, viz that the alleged statements
made by Gen. Fisk are yGiss and sian
dsrJgs.
It is true that the proof taken does not
show that the statements reported TO
have been made by him were true, nor
does il show that they were false. The
proof Is entirely OF "a negative charac-
ter: Il merely establishes the fact that
the witnesses did not see the thirteen ne
gro soldier, OF hear of their presence IN
Lexington. The statements are that the
negroes were seen 10y him in the streets
Of Lexington, and bearing on their per-
sons marks of bad treatment, but not
that they belonged in Lexington, or Fay
etce county, OF that they had been sub
iected to that bad treatment in that Gig
or county.
But. in the absence Of any better evil
denCe than mere negative testimony, it
viii not violate g q Of Justice and
Dr0priety 10 give some weight TO the pos
Tive statement Of Gen. Fisk himself,
who has not vet been shown to be def
Client in truth and honor, and who must
be presumed to possess these high Qusli-
ties from the high trust reposed in him
BY the Government.
Il can hardly be supposed that e man
Of his position would say % the public
that he couTusd an investigation, If he
were conscious that he had made state
menJs of so important q character which
were falss-thaJ he could thus tTli6 with
his own reputation for truth and honor
before the world. He informs me in the
letter which has been published that the
counties Of Bourbon, WUOdiOrd, Madison,
Montgomery and Garrard were repre-
scented in the number seen by him at
Lexington.
Nothing which has come to myknowI-
edge is sufficient 90 produce even q belief
that Gen. Fisk wishes either 10 avoid ap-
peariug before the Committee, or tOshirk
an Investigation
It must be borne in mind that he is a
mere subordinate in the Freedmen's
Bureau, and is bound to obey the orders
of his sUperiors, and has been absent
from the State ia obedience 10 such Of
ders until his return To Kentucky on the
eleventh instant, and that be was imme-
diateiy summoned from the State by a
call which no humane man could dis
obey.
He may well think that the Immediate
n4-a-HfraHfasn of This rha-Ha a. nor -, nv
ceedingly important as 20 require the re-
preston Of the Eoblest instincts Of hU-
mauity Ia order 70 hasten it.
Suppose the statements about the thir-
teen negro soldiers be true; they would
only show that some keutuckians had
been cruel and inhuman, and that, dur
ing their short stay in Lexington, the
citizens had either failed 10 discover their
condition, or that, if they did discover it,
they discovered also that the perpetra-
tors Of the injuries resided in other coun-
ties, and We're, therefore, beyond their
reach,
Then why hurry this investigation ?
Truth Is the object of Investigations; and
if this one be hasty and partial, il will
not give satisfaction in any quarter, nor
will il allay excitement in the public
min on this subject. The original object
was 10 ascertain the truth or falsiJy OF
the alledged statements Of Gen. Fisk,
and to repel supposed SANDER
upon 9 portion Of the people
Of Kentucky but since that object
cannot he fully a~scertained HOU, and
at once, why not extend the iuyestiga-
ton, not only for the sake of the original
but also 70 ascertain whether or
not wrongs and outrayes are being com
mitted on the negroes by bad people for
we ought 10 afford redress and
protection
J. n. ARMSTRONG