The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-10-17

order to establish that he is not only
innocent, but that his rights as a free
man are wrongfully, maliciously and
inhumanly disregarded. Rob Roy was
not treated moro like felon. We will
endeavor to state the case:
VIM. II. Adams, intent on business,
he being the proprietor of three cotton
plantations, went to Rayvllle to take
the cars for Delta. On the train, the
Same morning, was I. III. Crawford,
Sheriff Dlnkgrave and q colored woman
named Jane Woods. Jane was fleeing
the settlement where Judge Crawford
and Mr.. Harris were assassinated, of
which diabolical deed she claimed to
have been an eyewitness.
When Jane Woods saw Mr.. Adams
at the Rayville depot, she declared that
he was in company with the assassins.
I. III. Crawford demanded, upon James
evidence, that Adams should be arrest
ed, and Dinkgrave, without warrant or
authority more than that any citizen
had, arrested Mr.. Adams, who made
no resistance. DInkgrave, by force,
carried Adams to Delta, In Madison
parish, and detained him under arrest
until Crawford made affidavit against
him as one Of the assassins of Crawford
and Harris.
There was preliminary trial, the
result OF which seems to have been that
the Parish Judge of Madison commit
ted Adams to Jail to await the demand
of the judicial authorities of the parish
of Franklin, In which parish the assas-
sinations were committed. Judge Buie,
the Parish Judge OF franklin, ordered
the Sheriff OF that parish to go Delta
and bring the accused, Adams, to
Franklin; and Sheriff Hawthorn, of
franklin, with q posse Of citizens, pro-
eeeded to Delta to execute tho order of
Judge Buie.
At Delta, and even before reaching
that place, Mr.. Hawthorn was met by
armed and forcible resistance by ne
groes. Tho excitement, on tho part of
these negroes, clearly Indicated that
they would kill Adams before he should
Buie's order. The action OF Brown, the
Sheriff Of Madison, In refusing to obey
the order was commended by tho Delta
Journal as mn act Of prudence. The
result was, that not only were tho no.
groes in arms-if as militia, makes no
bly, taken and hurried across the river
into Mississippi, and confined as n felon
in the Vicksburg Jail, ,citA Ma,aacles on,
his limbs.
Subsequently the prisoner was brought
back to Delta.
These movements from State to State
of n prisoner who was simply commit
ted for trial before n jury OF his peers,
and was legally innocent, took place
without the shadow of law, and were
gross outragcs upon Adams's rights,
and upon the manhood Of Madison
parish, and the dignity and sovereign
ity OF the State OF Louisiana. We ven
ture to say that no parallel case can be
shown In all the criminal proceedings
Of any State in tho Union.
&AuuAlAS WIS EetuTNNu 10 tho lGlC0
Jail, after the Sheriff of Franklin had
confessed his inability to execute Judge
Buie's mandate and had virtually given
up the mission upon which he was
sent.
All this time, be it remembered, this
man was in Jail, and carried from State
to State upon the testimony of
the negro woman, Jane Woods, who in
her testimony before the Coroner's
Jury, on the spot where the dead
bodies were found, solemnly swore she
knew nothing Of the persons who COM
mitted the crime.
Capt. II. wells, counsel for Adams,
came to Monroe, after this, and asked
Judge Ray for a writ of habeas corpus.
Judge Ray granted the writ, and it
was made returnable in Monroe on the
18th and directed to Sheriff Brown of
Madison parish, commanding him, on
the llav f3yps} fo ,,rrn},cr fbn b,,lx, Of