Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-04-01
THE KUKLUX COKVICrEOEs-HSW
INFECTED AT OXFORD.

aIlSE 0ONtIuOI AlSoAA
ward of five thousand dollars for the
aoprehension and conviction Of each
kuklux. traversed the State Of Missis-
sippi. 1t was his special business to
INQUIRE into the facts, and ascertain
whether the proRlmoAuNie71to Of Al
corn were a mere device Of partizan-
ship or the outgrowth Of urgent public
necessity. Mississippisns visiting
Memphis knew nothing to justify
such stage thunder, and, though the
people were insulted and robbed by
school commissioners and revenue
collectors, the knaves generally
holding st the same time Fed
eral and State offices, poverty
and outrage and ~intolerable tax
alton were borne with marvellous
patience. There were loyal leagues
everywhere, and loyal blacks were
summoned to weekly cOnvocations by
fies and drums that trsversed the cot
ton and cornfelds. There was idle
ness and desolation and robbery and
ruin wrought by q few mischievous
negroes led by white men, OF whom
an express robber was chief, and a
felon. who cooked his victim in coal
Oil,.-was an active agent, and both,
deputy United States marshals. Our
correspondent, alter inquiring into all
the facts, stated that there had been
deeds OF violence done, but that it was
only amazing that the people did not
rise at night and put to death the foul
mob Of adventures that preyed upon
eastern counties of the State. The
poorer the farmers became the more
rsvenous the tsx-gstherers and more
Wasteful the negro-chosen custodians
OF the wealth Of counties.
There are men in all communities
having little patience, and d~isposedtO
avenge fercely any wrong. By such
as these, who found themselves beg
CARED by villains invested with SUI
preme power by State and Federal au-
thOrity, a negro or two, perhaps half
a dozen, were put to death. The only
real wrong done by these farmers, as
the facts wsre presented to our
correspondent, consisted in the vic
limitation Of negroes. However de-
PRAYED and murderOus and insulting
to men and women these blacks in or
out Of Office, they were the simple
dupes and tools Of dirty villains ap-
pointed to plumber the country by
Grant and elected to local Offices by
the negroes. The crime Of the kuklux
consisted rather in the selection than
in the disposition and punishment Of
victims.
While this was the condition Of that
portion Of the State In which the negro
population outnumbered the white as
three and fge to one, a shrewd ring
induced Governor Alcorn to prefer a
reward Of five thousand dollars for
each kuklux conviction effected in the
State. Reed and Webster became
at once Federal marshals; juries were
packed for convictions; and periured
knsves, as shown by Mr.. Philips YER
bsum reports of trials at Oxford,
swarmed as witnesses in the purlieus
OF the Federal courts. Whole neigh
borhoods were arrested. A jOint-stOck
company had been organized; money
was raised and lawyers were en-
ployed to conduct the prosecutions.
The decent Of these, having ascertained
the purposes Of their employers, as
defined at the time by the APPEAL,
withdrew from all connection with
the suits. There were, perhaps, three
hundred arrests, and since depraved
witnesses wefeiSot wanting, there was
fair prospect, in view Of Alcorn's
virtuous proclamation, Of wrenehing
one million and five hundred thou
sand dollars from the treasury Of
Mississippi. 1t was never alleged
that AlcOrn was q partner in this
scheme Of public robbery; but having
failed when advised Of the character
aud purposes Of Reed, Webster and
their associates to revoke the procls-
nation, il was suspected by his enc
that he was NOT unwilling that
the treasury might be robbed il it re-
In the promotion Of his psrti-
Ean ends.
In any event the defendants In
these prosecutions have been impov-
,rished, and their wives and children
1eggsred, and fields laid waste. Term
lfter term they have been dragged to
he distant Federal court. Lawyers,
II cCurse, have preyed upon thSm;
md at length, finding no possibility
# peace, they have agreed to share the
polls with the prosecutors. They 20 to
be penitentisTy to rest from turmoil
nd excitement until the day before
be presidential election, when they {
ecome subjects Of executive Glenn
ncy. It is, as a correspondent sd- :
ises Us, a good trade, and we can {
srdIy find Il in onr hearts to con- E
emn the Wretched victims Of re-
lorseiess despotism. at least we !
ave not yet seer enough to I
1ndemn wholly the conduct Of !
whose inducements to evil j
lay have been stronger than the \
Teak and ignorant know how to re- Z
st. There are ten convicted, con- I
ssed ielons, and $25,eOO 90 into the
Dckets Of the prosecutors and $4,000
the felons or to their hungry, half 4
ad families. But the great good a. B
consists in the banking capital B
on by Northern radicalism. The par y
should not Orgett that it owes all this q
Alcorn, Reid and Webster, one of : Z
hom should contest the palm with
)lfax for the Yice-Presidency.
-vrDrr