The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-01-04
xu.xrux IN SABINE OouMrY.
"A Bloody Christmas-F1vo Msgrsss
Murdered and the Work Not 9ndsA.

a Bloody ohrdStmas-rvo Negreo1
Murdered and the Work Not Ended.
From the sedalia tlMo.) Times, Dec. 2s.
On Christmas day, while the sun
was shining brightly on all below
and peace and good will prevailed
among Christian men, the most h0r-
rid scenes were enacted in the coun-
.ty of Saline, adjoining us. The
deviiish spirit Of the Ku-Klux which
has beens.for some time past darkly
nursed among q certain class of per-
sons in that county, broke out with
bloody violence on Monday last and,
it is hardly necessary to say, took the
shape of an indiscrlminatc slaughter
of negroes. There is q class of des-
perate rowdies in some parts Of
this state who do not realize that the
war is over, aud whose first impulse
when under tho Influence of liquor
is TO kill q "nigger' or two. Nor
does it always take liquor to set their
diabolical cruelty to work, for it
seems that they consider the muir
dering of colored people ths fittest
way to celebrate Christmas and en-
joy themselves.
From . gentleman who cleft
Marshall, Saline county, on Monday
atnoon, we have the following details
of the bloody and murderous scenes
then being enacted in that county.
How long they lasted or how many
negroes were killed we are not yet
informed, but our informant saw FIVE
dead bodies, and when he left the ex-
citement was at its height. He
sayA:
Con Monday morning | started
from a poiEt in Saline county where
| had been living for nearly a year
past 10 come to Scdalia. | was on
foot and with a pack on my back,
was travelling on tho Glasgow road,
which | struck about four milcs from
Saline City. At that point | heard
they were having lively times in.
Marshall, and it seemed to be under
stood that the negroes wero getting
cleaned out. When within eight
miles Of Marshall | came upon two
negroes hanging to q tree. Both
were dead, and were hanging by the
neck about twenty feet apart. About
q mile and 4 half further on 1 saw q
large colored man lying by the road
side. Thinking ho might be alive |
walked up to him but found him stone
dead. His stomach was torn open
and bis bowels ~protruding as If he
had been shot more than once or prob
ably with a heavy load Of buckshot.
The whole lower part Of his vest
and upper part of his pantaloons
were shot away. Icontinued or my
way towards Marshall about two
miles, when l came upon two more
negroes lying stiff and dead in the
road, both Of them shot through tho
bodies. Being alone and in some
alarm | hurried ON. At the railroad
crossing two and o half miles from
Marshall | met two white mon with
u negro in-charge. The white men
wersn60th armed and the negro had
his RICH shouldershot off. He was
badly wounded and Was. knping
along between tho other two. When
| neared Marshall / took . by-path
through the woods and came into
town Just behind the Catholic
church. As | came in out of the
brush four men, all heavily armed,
jumped out and cried halt 1stopped
and thcy came up with pistols cock
ed. When | told them ! was from
near Glasgow they said sall right
and let mo pass. When they left me
they went to q little negro shanty
near by and two went inside while
two stood guard without. What
they did there l do not know. In Mar
shall l found everything in u state
Of excitement. l went into . rcs-
taurant to get something 10 eat, but
could get nobody to wait on me.
Then | went to the hotel and sat
down to dinner. While there | saw
q party of armed mon starting out
on the Aarrow Rock road as they
said to clean u another lot of mig
gers | got away from there as
soon as l could aud came on to .
point near Honstona in this county,
whore l took the cars for Sedalia.
VIZ give our informant's language
almost Uerbatim. We have no COM
ments to add at present, but it is
evident that the Ku-Klux rowdies
of Saline county are making a des-
parate and bloody attempt to exter-
inmate the negroes.