The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1867-09-20
Blood Will Tell.

anu III Cousl uerhtion tucrtol, some VI lHe rela-
negro severely for it. For this interference with
the rights of freedwomen the distinguished Gen.
Sickles, commander of the second military dis
trict, fined and imprisoned the parties to this re-
taliatory fogging. This case has received the
notice of almost all the Republican papers in the
country. Glowing accounts, with terrible head
ings, after the following style, have graced the
columns of nearly every Republican sheet in the
land "Shocking Brutality to Freedwoman,"
"Dragged before q Self-constituted Conclave,"
"Horrible Outrage" "Outraged Justice"
''Monstrous 3arbarity," "Inhuman Treatment"
"Savage Vengeance" sc. These and the like
constitute the headings to the various articles
which have for month or so adorned the COL
umns of the Republican press. 1t may be pos
sible that these white men who whipped this ne
gro woman were more severe in their treatment
to her than the circumstances of the case would
justify but of this we have no proof, beyond the
assertion of the Republican press and the finding
of prejudiced so-called military court ccnstitu-
led by the veritable Sickles. If there had been
any means of prosecuting this negro before any of
the civil courts, these people would have had no
right to use any force towards her; but there were
none, and therefore the whites WERE as far as
justice was concerned, left in a state of nature
and left subject to her laws, one of which is self
defence. One would suppose, after reading the
comments of the Republican papers on this case,
and rejecting upon their melancholy tones,
that they were all Christians and that charity
with them began abroad but when we consider
that the negro was q freedw oman and the white
men who whipped her were not of theirs or
Sickles school of politics, this exhibition of feel
ing on their part is not matter of surprise.
Not long ago white man, for no crime at all,
WINS whipped by an order of Col. Dodge, the
commandant of Fort Sedgwick, with one hun
dred lashes. "This man" says correspondent
writing from Fort Sedgwick, under date of the
10th ofJune last, was "a stranger very much af-
ficted with an incurable disease which incapaci-
tated him from manual labor. The man, whose
name was Hendricks, was accosted by two men
in citizens clothes. They requested him to bring
them bottle of whiskey, which he consented to
do. They furnished the req isite funds and he
went to store, bought the whiskey and gave it
to them" This was his offence, according to
the authority which we have quoted above, and
which was published generally throughout the
country at the time. These men in "citizens'
clothes' were not known to Hendricks as SOL
diers, their DISCUSSES, of course, deceiving him.
This was shown to Col. Dodge but ne was mex
orable. ga rude cross was firmly planted in
the ground and he was firmly bound with his
face to the cross, and in this situation one hun
dred lashes were laid upon his naked body by
two soldiers. The mans screams, says the cor
respondent, were awful. He bounded from side
to side, spasmodicaly upward, and hung as if
lifeess on the cross. His lacerated body was
perfectly frightful. After ono hundred lashes
had been administered the signal was given to
desist, when he crawled and limped painfully
away toward the sand bluffs to the northward."
Now we do not cite this case tojustify the whip
ping of the negro woman, nor will we counte-
nance cruelty and outrage under any circum-
stances to either white or black But we call up
this case merely to show that It's outrageous
brutal and inhuman horrors called down not
one word of condemnation from any Republican
newspaper in the country that we have any
knowledge of nor did one of them, to our
knowledge, express one word of sympathy for
the poor, sickly, defenceless creature who re-
ceived this inhuman treatment at the hands of
the miserable fanatic who commanded at Fort
Sedgwick. Her case they greedily sought after,
and column upon column has been written upon
it. while its horrors sink into utter insigniicance
when compared to the more than savage barbar-
ity with which Hendricks WAS treated. Yet the
Republican press everywhere herald forth the case
of this black woman as one of astounding cruel
ty, while the few who even record the facts in
Hendricks case do it without one word of COM
ment. Cruelty is cruelty, and nothing else,
wherever it may be found, and any one who con-
dennis it because be believes it to be wrong in
one case, must condemn it in all cases, or there is
no sincerity in his opposition. Therefore every
man must see that political capital is the only
object of the people who are constantly holding
up to public view the case of this freedwoman.-
1t is to gain votes for the Republican party, by
exciting the prejudices and passions of its mem
pers. 1t is to poison the minds of the unrefect-
ing snli further against men whom the leaders
ste proper to direct the shafts of their malice.
Many OF the would-be religious journals of the
east have t'ken up the cudgel to assist Sumner
Wilson Il Co. in their political plumber, forget
ing that truth and fair dealing is the only course
which can render religious journal respectable
or make it acceptable to IN honest and we'll
meaning people. Such things might be expected
from journal which made no claims to either
truth or decency; but when newspaper that holds
itself out to the world as the advocate of moral
and religious creeds, sinks so low as to lead it
self to such base purposes as this, it does not
deserve and ought not to receive the patronage
of even the vicious, lest they should be sunk
still lower in the scale of morality, by contact
with its pollutng influences.