Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-12
SENTER ON TENNESSEE.
Statement of the Governor Be-
fore the Reconstruction
Committee.
What He Says of the Outrage:
i'm Tennessee and the Ac-
ton of the Legislature.
Some Pertinent Questions and
Answers in Regard to the
August Election, the Mi;
litia and the Ku-KIuX.
speoIal to the Louisrllle courler.JOurnal

Special to the Louisville Courier-Journal
WASHINGTON, April 9.-The question of
the proposed reconstruction of Tennessee
was resumed at special meeting of the
Reconstruction Committee, this morning,
all the members being present, with so large
an attendance of interested spectators, that
all but the the Tennessee delegation in
| Congress and the Committee were exclud-
4 ed from the room. Gov. Senter was on
| hand and took the stand and made a state
| ment relative to the general politics and
| condition of that State. He did not go
wholly to the Radicals as was so generally
rumored he would on yesterday. Gov.
| Senter began his evidence by stating that
the main point as it presented itself to his
| mind was whether the citizens of Ten
| nessee were safe under the laws as now
| administered. With reference to this point
| he would state that outrages of very seri-
| GUS character had been perpetrated in the
| State, and their frequency had prompted
| him to send special message to the Leg
| islature asking power to apply remedy.
| In support Of his action in sending that
message Gov. Senter stated that in Decem-
Der and January last, outrages had been
perpetrated of character more heinous
than any heretofore Among these were
| the taking from the custody of the civil
officers, of five or six colored men, in the
county of Obion, the killing outright of
| four of them and the wounding Of the
| other two.
| Also ia rutherford county and the town
| of Smyrna, station on the Nashville
| Chattanooga railroad, in January last a
| double outrage was committed IN breaking
| into citizens house in search Of colored
man, who was acting as his servant, and
who had been hired to him for several
| years. He was not found in the servants
room, but in a kitchen on the road near by
| where he was shot to death, without any
serious charge made against him
| This mans name was Aver or Avery, |
| could not tell which.
The same night, as he had been in
| formed, white man named Marable was
taken out and hanged, as was afterwards
| charged by q party of colored men, who
reported that he had outraged the wife of a
| colored man, but he (the Governor de-
sired to say that he believed this charge
was the afterthought of the parties impi-
| Gated or their friends. Marable was a
| Union man, and had been a Federal soldier.
| The next was an outrage committed in
| Huntingdon, where an old woman named
| Coleman was murdered under very aggra-
waited circumstances by negroes. These
negroes were committed to Huntingdon
| Jail, from which they were taken by men
| disguised in masks, robes, ETC., and shot
| within few hundred yards of the jail, on
/ the bank of creek or river near the town.
| The next was the hanging of two ne
/ groes taken from jail at Lebanon,
Wilson county; in thelatter part OF Decem-
/ Der. They were taken from the Jail and
hanged by the wayside. These cases COM
| ing to the knowledge of the Governor, he
was compelled, he says, to take official no.
tice of them, and issued message to the
| Legislature in relation to mob violence In
| Tennessee, in which he states among other
things, his inability to preserve the peace,
and asks for such legislation as will enable
him to repress violence. In reply to
question from the Committee, Gov. Senter
stated that the principal part of the out
RACES occurred in January; that his appi-
cation to the Legislature was fruItless; that
although it was before them for whole
month, yet they adjourned without taking
action thereon, although he understood
that bill was proposed, but not passed
into law, which did not meet the case in
his view, inasmuch as 1t restricted him
in the appointment OF officers
to keep the peace to the locality where
thew were to exercise their functions.
There had been other outrages reported
besides those already stated, such as the
whipping of colored men and the driving
from their homes of colored workmen,
without receiving compensation for labor (;
| and, while evidence was abundant that
these things were SO, yet it was impossible
to detect the perpetrators. The Legisla-
ture repealed certain laws giving the E1ecu-
| tive power to call out the militia, or rather
the power to equip andprovision military
force in Tennessee; also the law known as
the Ku-Klux law, passed by aformer Legis-
lature, and law authorizing Sheriffs to call
out and keep on pay posse for the sup
preston Of outrages in any particular To-
cality. Since that time, however, they
have passed law perhaps more stringent
than the one repealed In regard to men
who appeared in public in masks.
He thought it due to the people Of Ten
nessee to state that this Legislature had
not represented the mass of the people, and
| he was satisfied that the better classes OF
/ | society in all sections of the State deplored
these outrages, but had not been properly
aroused to arrest or prevent them. Out
RACES had been committed bymen believed
| to belong to both parties, such as the whip
| ping of minister Gin Blount county, said
; | to have been done by Union men. This
was about year ago. But the main suf-
ferers had been men who either from theiI
race or politics differed with the majority Of
the people with whom they resided
l There had been other outrageS
| which conld not be traced to politics, sue /
as occur in any community. Outrages
throughout the State had decreased IL
frequency from 1866 down to the close Of
1869. at about which time most of these
above enumerated occurred. He believed
that the repeal of the Ku-Klux law had g
, deleterious effect upon the morals of the
u community, although he had never known
an arrest under that law, nor the one pass
cd subsequent to its repeal, He was theI
questioned thus by the Committee
. Question by Gen. Farnsworth-Was
there any conniving by men in power, by
: yourself and the officers in power in Ten
a nessee at the frauds charged in the las
t election?
# Answer-There was not. l can answe
d that there was no conniving on my part.
IS Q-Or by the officers appointed by you!
A.-None that l know Of The order
which were issued from my Office were tina
Il | TIC Commissioners of Registration in tn
n | GIdJ6 VI ItuucsSCo SuOllt lCSlohSl SNoA.
J. man entitled to vote by the Brownsville de
cision, which was that if man held cert
ficate of registration there was no law
which could deprive him of it.
! O. What remedy do you propose for thi
lie state Of things?
d A-Ipropose nothing, but if you give m
is troops IL Tennessee l will keep order.
m Q-How do you mean, that Congress
N shall give you troops by reconstructing tn
- State, or that the President shall give 20
- troops under the law as it stands?
At would be presumption on my pan
\ to tell Congress what it ought to do.
d Q-Don't you believe that the bad fee
l. ing in the State has, in a great measure
n been influenced by the disfcanchisement {
p SO many white people?
er A-That, of course, had its effect
be Q-Dont You think the enfranchisment {
nc the white people of the State tends to ala
ne the feeling of jealousy between the race
ze A-Reason would say it did. shoul
is think it ought to.
- By Mr.. Beck, of Kentucky:
T. Q-Tas it on account of th
y failure Of the Legislature to give you Il
us power YOU wanted that you wrote to Il
ST President of the United States the lett
YOU did, asking for military aid
Not on account Of that fallur
~ but of the eyils which existed and whie
on thew had given me no power to remedy.
"a X In 4ha annointment of vol