The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-04-01
LaWlcss Combinations in Ouachita.

The editor of the TELEGRAPH express
es considerable establishment at that
,ortion of Judge Rays charge abiding
% combinations existing to defeat the
ends of justice. Has he forgotten that
lot quite a year ago, gang of men en-
tered this town, killed the Sheriff and
An important witness, and released a
prisoner confined in Jail, and that SO far,
two sessions of our District
Court have been held, and our vigilant
District Attorney has used his best eff
forts, no clue has yet been found p
htelligencer.
Our astonishment at that portion Of
Judge Rays charge was well founded,
and the quiet and orderly condition of
the country justifies us in it. The con-
tinuous cry of Ku klux, a synonyme
for Radicalism, is the natural exclama-
ton of a purient wish for disorder to
aid doomed-aye, a damned cause.
We arc not surprised at any expressions
of opinion from the "junior editor" rel
alive to Il twelve months disturbance;
nor are we surprised that the Grand
Jury has not called him before them
touching his knowledge of that lament
able affair, to whom 'smany of the MUIR
derers and their abettors were well
KNOWN all that would have been need
cd to arrest and oven convict suspected
Offenders.
Since the first of January there have
been dozen or more violent deaths in
Ouachita parish among the freedmen.
How have they occurred, and by whom
committed? Has one of them been
killed by white man? They have
been the result of their own quarrels in
every instance. So far as we can learn,
the whites and freedmen are on good
terms. The planters have offered wa
ges beyond their means, and the cities
pay liberal prices. OF what then have
the freedmen to complaint Nothing,
absolutely nothing. Their masters, or
would-bc masters, the Republicans, find
much grief and display much sympathy,
not that they are not cared for, not that
they are not protected, but that their
party is not supported, that their cause
is not sustained against the good sense
and sound judgment of tho American
people.
We rc-assert that we know of no such
combinations as combination to resist
the law, and we probably know better
than Judge Ray what is the temper,
tone and aim of this people. Nor have
we ever known of any combination,
save tho Confederate army, Gin which
His Honor was a soldier,) in this coun-
try, to resist any law of the country,
except in a peaccable and legal manner.
The killing of Wisner was one result of
misrule in its workings upon human
passions and prejudices, as the presence
of outlaws in Office and pcrjurc7sses law
givers is another, not to be gainsaid.
If Judge Ray knows enough OF these
combinations to assert positively their
existence from the bench, why does he
not furnish tho proof Of his knowledge
and have the conspirators arraigncd
and tried? His declarations must be
based upon something tangible let him
produce the proof and show that there
are lawlcss combinations existing in the
country. The killing of Wisner has
nothing to do with the condition of
affairs i'll this parish to-day. We have
never believed that any man in the
parish was concerned in his death, and
we do not think any unprecedented mind,
not demoralized by its own conscious
ness of Wrong-doing, could produce q
particle of testimony to the contrary.
1t is oftentimcs a mans want of faith
in the rectitudc and integrity of his
own acts that makes him imagine evil
in others. The editor of tho Intelligent
Ger may recall how he has, in various
ways, attempted to wrong this people,
and in the remembrance find sutli-
cient reason for his feeling toward them
now. The controlling, influential por-
ton of our population is rs free from
resisting tho law as Judge Ray, and, SO
far as we know, are not half so we'll in
formed rs to combinations organized to
resist it.
What we deem the great drawback
among the people is a perfect and al
most abjcct submission to everything
having even the scmblancc of law. A
law regularly enacted ought to be lived
up to, if there be no legal remedy, how
ever cNactinG it may be; but where
there arc means of rightfully resisting
an unjust law, resistance becomes a
duty. Legislative discretion is not in