Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-05-11
MISSISSIPPI
Hsssags Ct GsvsFnsr AI0sFH-Ths HoraIs Of
the State.
Hsw iS Rsnsdy KH-EluxIsm aHd HsmlOlde-
Neck HeFolsn and Cheap GalIaEjry.

tives Of Mississippi:
Geutlemell-Our statistics of CriIAP
have recently come before me in direct
relation to our moral character and
material interests. The actual facts
embraced in those statistics are, am
| glad to say, by no means so shocking
as they have been made to appear, but
they are, nevertheless, so painful as to
| demand at our hands earnest consider
alton, with a view to remedy.
Some Of the murders committed since
the Inauguration OF civil government
in this State are, I have no doubt,
ehargeable to the cOWardly bandittt
known as
KU-KLUX,
Having found the powers conceded at
the last session, insufficient to bring
the parties engaged in the crimes Of
those assassins, to punishment, I call
your attention earnestly to the fact
that YOU have not vet supplemented
those powers, by giving me authority,
in certain cases, to change the venue,
and by giving me further powers
asked for in my annual message Of
last January. trust your honorable
bodies viii not fail to pass, before your
dANDG4AAAAE-La EANA IA a. o4ldAAA EAAo-
bic me 10 draw the ku-kiuX assassin
from his hiding-place, and when so
drawn, to hand him over to
CERTAIN JUSTICE.
An act of the Legislature Of this
State, approved 18th Of December,
1861, undertakes TO amend the law Of
evidence with the usual result Of tam
pering with the wisdom of the COM
mon law. This statute enscts that
"When two or more persons are Joined
in an Indictment" !" "eaCh Shall,o if
counsel so demand, "be a competent
witness for the other" Be the dispO-
sitiOn Of the Code what il may, 1 re.
commend that you repeal, immedi-
ately, the act of December 10, 1861,
entitled "An act to amend the law Of
evidence in criminal cases"
Another source of the amount Of
MURDER IN THIS STATE
is, as it is in all other States, found in
the dram shop.
A more painful source OF capital
crimein this State then either the
Ku- -KluX or the dram shop, is Un-
doubtedly the custom Of carrying
deadly weapons. The suppression Of
the pistol and knife will do as much
in Mississippi as the suppression Of
the sword did in England, for assert
| ing the sanCtity Of human life.
We pledged before the people to
/ punish men who
| 60 PREPARED FOR ASSASSINATION
/ by carrying concealed weapons. As
| candidate for the GOveTnOrship of
the State I pledged myself and my
/ supporters to the prevention Of that
/ practice in the following passage Of
my published address, on the 10th of
/ November, 1863.
The painful exaggeratiOn of the
| capital crimes committed in the State
/ have directed my attention to the
| above recommendation and I, there
/ fore, now again bring it before you
| as one reaching what has ever been a
/ fruitful cause of precipitating the or
| dinary alteration in
WELL REGULATED SOCIETIES
! into murder in Mississippi. I recon-
] mend that your honorable bodies will
/ see to il before your 8djOrnment, that
/ the cause which Outrages our CiviliZa-
! ton and supplies a basis, in fact, for a
/ misrepresentation, at once injurious to
/ our interests and WOunding to our
/ pride, shall be subjected to the arrest
Of severe legislation.
To meet one Of the causes Of the
failure or justice in the cases covered
by the foregoing remarks, I recon-
mend that the preliminary eXamina-
/ tiOn Of parties accused of the hOmi-
/ eide OF Ku-KluXism shall be held be-
fore either
A CHANCELLOR OR A CIRCUIT JUDGE.
/ 1 recommend further that until that
examination shall have commenced,
/ the accused shall be held in the county
jail to the exclusion OF any applica-
ton for his enlargement on bail.
This will remove cases Of so grave a
/ character from the good nature or
the timidity Of an ordinary magis-
trate to q magistrate whose learning
will prove a foil to that Of counsel,
and whose dignity OF position will
/ OveraWe the
AGENCIES OF INTIMIDATION.
/ A further cause Of crime amongst
Us lies in the ridiculous practice Of
"pOsting." Such mock herOism might
very well have passed away amongst
a people educated in the stern chival-
/ ~ OF war. If, however, the man
/ lfuess Of public sentiment has not
learned to laugh to scOrn this routine
of cheap gallantry, the law must
/ come to the rescue OF, at all events,
our decency and order. BloOdless
though this
"POsTING"
usually is, it adds sometimes to our
list of violent deaths, and as it should
be dealt with, therefore, in examining
! the sources Of the calendar Of crime, i
recommend that, being in some in
stances an overt act Of felOniOus In
tent, il be declared, in express terms
a crime punishable by ine and i'm
prisOnment.
j. L. ALCORN, Governor.
Executive once, MAY 4. 1871.
New Orleans liens.
NEW ORLEANS, May 1O.-W. W.
Marsh, brought from st. Louis. &C
. / oWapn nf Arson in aafffrr. q -, ~ sbo