Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1868-08-15
I.aNiessness.


Mr.. Keigwin, 0f ls'0n, Offered a pr9-
test against the late report OF 'he
Committee On Crime and l-aNless'
nrss, bat the President ruled 4 cat
al order and would not oven allo"
il Ia bo read. Its author has, there
flrc, sent il "a the contreViile ,"n'
srrvative, in which paper Il Is pub
lishel, accompanied by a letter lnom
Mr., Koigwin, containing the follow
ing statement;
In some instances IL Is proven al
ready that the assertions arc a0so'
Iuloly false and without foundation,
as the persons reported 10 bo kllled
arc now living and never have been
molvsleL. 4 resolution WAS offered
that the testimony On which tho
assertions Ia their report was found
ed, should be published, which was
voted down, etc,
In place of adopting that reSoln'
tion, the Convention at once sent
Hamilton and Caldwell TO Washing
ton TO obtain absolute power for
itself which was the object OF issn'
ing the false statements Of tho re-
port on crime. The thing was done
TO operate on Congress aud at the
North.
The following IL nm extract from
Mr.. Koigwin's rejected report
Now, | admit that IL may DO pos
siblc that in some remote localities,
or in some isolated instances, that
there may be- some foundation Tor
tho assertion of such facts but that
they exist us general thing, or that
they arc formidable or numerous,
| deny. will inform that Commit.
too that am willing TO testify, and
| have no doubt that hundreds of
other loyal men in different locali
ties of tho State will testify before
thom, or before any competent OIL
Ger authorized TO administer oaths,
that, US n general thing, Or TO any
formidable extent, that no such state
of affairs exists in Texas rs they
represent. That hostility to any
great extent does not exist in tho
breast of OK rebels against loyal men,
and that no class of men exhibit n
determination to resist the establish
ment of Republican State Govern
ment, or to compel Union men to
abandon their advocacy Of their
principles and that absolute free
dom of speech is respected in almost
every section Of the State, instead
of only a few localities, .as is stated,
and that Union men do dare to as
sert their political convictions, and
hold public meetings almost, if not
everywhere, in the State. That they
have no knowledge of desperate men
leagucd together for the purpose OF
numbering prominent Unionists,
and that they do not think it roa-
sonablo to believe, nor do they be
licvc, that such is the case; and that
animosity to the government is not
prevalent anywhere or to any eX-
tent by any Formidable number OF
people. / have no doubt but that
these flcts can be sustained by the
tcstimtsys hundreds Of loyal men
in var Az % ections Of the State ni
unquests.@a.,able vcracity. But ,GtS
dencc of that character is not INC
kind that has been sought after by
tho Committee. Such testimony as
that docs not suit their purpose.
The report oftho committee states
that Gen. Hancock S Order No. 40
declaring that the people of his Dis
trict were entitled to the benefits Of
civil government, ETC., is in a great
measure the cause Of the lawless-
ness which they charge on our pco'
pie.
TO this Mr.. Keigwin replies:
That ordor, it is known, has not
generally been respected by officials
but many of them have gone on ir
violation Of the same, and assumed
to exercise authority which that or
der expressly denied them the priv
ilegc of exercising, which in many
cases, no doubt, has brought about
a conflict of authority, the result O.
which is set down in the list OF law
lessness and violence.
The Bureau Agent in my county
has not seen proper TO respect the
authority of Order No. 40, but ha'
issued orders in violation thereof
and seized and sold property not
for the settlement of frecdmcn''
claims, but at the instance of, anc
to satisfy claims of white men; ant
| have heard of very many othel
officers who have exhibited no re
spect for that order, and parties
thinking themselves protected by
the same, and unwilling to yielt
the right to officials to violate it, in
some instances have added to th'
list of reports of violence, by pro
tecting themselves in what they
supposed to be n vested right. IL
all such cases, to the violation o
said order may be ascribed the law
lessnoss, but not to the order itseli
If the order had been generally re
spected and sustainded instead o
violated and maligned know tha
the list of lawlessness would hav
been considerably curtailed.
In an old oak stump not far from
Richmond, kentucky, a black ebon.
oosl.et badly decayed. was recently