Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-07-29
C~RITTENDEN COUNTY.
A Plain UnVarnished Statement OF
Facts.
The Conduct of c. N. Wilson and
Others.

ONtIOt .
We have received from a gentleman
whom we know,to be altogether relia-
bic, the following statement of facts.
Can any man read it without feeling
his blood boil? Will the day of retri-
button never come?
MARION, ARK, July q, 1859.
Editors Appeal: A wrong is always
to be deplOred. The death of Capt.
Haynes has entailed many wrongs
upon the quiet, the peaceable and the
law-abiding citizens of the county. If
Capt. Haynes lost his life in a manner
not sanctioned by law and order, there
was redress. If the manner in which
his life was taken was wrong, there
were a thousand wrongs committed
by the parties styled conservators of
law and order.
To be brief: As soon as the event
was known, the scallawag magistrate,
c. n. Wilson, who is located here in
Marion, at Once assumed the complete
power. Sheriff Hardin was sent off
with a small squad of men to endeaVOr
to arrest Collier. This vagabond VIII
son then sent messengers to every
part of the county peremptOrily order
ing all men and horses to report to.
Marion, pretending it was done in ac-
cordance with authority from Little
Rock. He organized a company of
negroes and kept them at Marion to
Overawe the defenseless inhabitants.
He ordered the stores closed, put his
negro guards over them, and took the
keys in his possession, and up to to-
day has only allowed but one store to
be kept open. This he has done in
defiance of all law and authority.
Travellers passing through the town
have been arrested, insulted and
abused. He conceived7a special spite
against John NJ. Jones, n of the
wealthieSt, most ~law-abiding and
~peaceable inhabitants of our county.
He sent down, in the first place, and
arrested not only him, but Morgan
and all the other white male persons
on the place, brought them to Marion
and put them in Jail. In fact, the Jail
at this place has been crowded with
the citizens of the county, put there,
in most instances, to crafty a private
hate. The jailOr, Capt. Click, was ar
rested and confined, and a fellow
named Hemphill (sOn of the man you
noticed the other day. appointed, and
a negro guard put at each door to pre-
vent prisoners talking to each other.
As Don as Mr.. Jones' place was. de-
populated, he sent down all of the
riotOus negroes in the county, to the
number of several hundred, and they
destroyed Mr.. Jones' crops, wasted
his corn and lived on his place. They
were there for the purpose Ostensibly
of looking for Collier, but in reality to
crafty a private revenge, because Col
lier had rode by there the night that
the recontre with Haynes occurred,
and stopped a few minutes. The man
Robert G. Hemphill, whom you de-
scribed the other day, was at the head
of the mob, and prepared to obey the
behests of Wilson, if even it was
burning that was needed.
Quietness and order being, to a GER
tain extent, restored in the commu-
nifty, our Sheriff, Mr.. Hardin, sent his
deputy down yesterday morning, the
26th, with instructions to disband the
armed force that Wilson had been
keeping around town. He did 50.
During his absence, and when Wilson
returned, h. ordered the men to form
into line, gave them ammunition, and
told them to obey no orders but his.
To-day he has a military guard pacing
up and down In front of his quarters,
in defiance of all law and order. b @
| have lived where military law has
been exercised, but in no case has il
ever come to nay knowledge where ar
rests and being placed in a loathsOme
Jail have been done as arbitrarily as !
here. During all of last week the
working force of the county did
nothing. Peoples horses and mules
were taken without due process of
and the damage by the mob law
by this man Wilson's influence,
have been incalculable. His language
has been violent and incendiary, and
he has committed acts that in any
other place would send him TO prison.
On the Sunday after the death of
Haynes, he stopped a squad of men
near Mound City and told them he
wanted their horses. They said that
they would not give them up, as they
did not live in the county; that he
had no right to make demand upon
them. There We're q number of dis
mounted negroes about him who were
He Immediately drew his
pistol and told them to get down,
threatening death in case of refusal.
On account of the numbers around
him, they were compelled to obey.
This can be substantiated and proven.
merely mention these facts, gentle
men, to show to you what we are
ealled upon to endure. There is, /
rust in God, a day coming when we
will be relieved from the curse of all
such fellows as this man Wilson and
his stripe. Comment is unnecessary.
Yours, II. w. It.