Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-05-12
Why tho South Does not Prosper.

IL
speakers, in discoursing on the
needs Of the South, place foremost
the need of migration and Of CAPT
tai. The South has the most fertile
of soils, the most genial ofclimates;
and needs only an influx of enter
prising Northcrners and Northern
capital to enable her to enter upon
a career of unparalleled prosperity.
This is the burden of all our South
ern exchanges, from De Bows
Monthly to the smallest country
newspaper. In response to this cal,
a number Of Northern capitalists
have settled in the South. Among
these were Mr.. Henry Bigger, Of
Napoleon, Henry county, Ohio.
He is endorsed by the Cincinnati
Commercial as gentleman Of
thorough integrity and unquestioned
veracity. Mr.. Bigger has returned
from the South. His reasons he
gives in the Commerci0l as fol
lows:
"About four years ago l settled in
Clarendon county. l had capital
of about SIS, 700, and invested every
cent Of it in business. / bought
mules and provisions from the
North, and sold to the people on
time. They were poor, broken up,
and needed assistance. betricnd-
ed them, as they will tell you to-day,
if you will go there. did large
business in cotton, stock and mer-
chandise. Everything went on well
enough until last November. Then
party of masked men tried to
break into my store, but my en-
ployees repulsed them. They fired
several shots into the house and
left. In December they took us by
surprise, broke into the store, tied
us, and deliberately burned two
thousand dollars worth of my goods.
On the night of the 18th of March
myself and clerk, Mr.. J. Il. Parker,
were in my house at Manning. A
negro boy was with US. ] sent him
after bucket Of water, when, just
as he opened the door Il half dozen
masked men rushed in. Parker
was taking bath in one corner Of
the room, and | had just got into
bed. Near the foot ofthe bed stood
a table, on which were two pistols.
| made Il lunge for the pistols, but
was seized and borne down to the
floor. Parker is very stout man
for his size, and made square
fight, knocking right and left; but
half dozen were too many for him,
and they soon got him down. They
blindfolded me with a towel, and
took us off mile and a half in the
woods to a swamp, as dismal a
place as you can imagine. Here
they took Parker off to one side
and bucked and gagged him. From
the noise thought they were kill
ng him. They then threw me to
the ground, and thought my time
had come. The leader of the gang
was a Mason, and | gave the Ma
sonic sign of distress. He then
told me that would be let off this
time, but that we had better leave
the country within twenty-tour
hours, as there might not be any
Masons in the next gang that came
along. They then bucked me and
left. When they had gone l tried
my best to get loose, but could not.
The cords were fairly sunk in my
flesh. In a little while who should
come up but the colored boy, who
had been left at the house. He had
walked away around a distance of
at least three miles, and came to
W here he could see the Kuklux, or
whatever they are, when they went
away. lie had knife, and cut the
cords that bound me. We went
as quick as we could to where Par
ker lay, and found him in worse
condition than l had been. We
loosed him, and stayed in the woods
till daylight. Next day we left"
The above is but one instance out
of hundreds. Men who each have
experienced such treatment at the
hands of the South are scattered
over all the North. Through them
the North understands that when
the South cries for capital and
immigration, it practically means,
capital to rob and immigrants to
murder. The vagabond element,
unwilling to work, and regarding
every dollar gathered by a Northern
man by honest thrift and energy as
so much wrongfully taken from
them, in their Kuklux operations
only exhibit in organized form the
sentiment Of hostility towards
Northern "carpet-baggcrs" which
all classes cultivate rs noble feel
ing. 1t is to be hoped that ere long
the South will see that it is herself
and not the North, that is most
deeply injured by this suicidal