Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-04-24
Attitude Of the BrCcks and Bax-
ter Belligerents-Tke Valiant
Troops Resting On their
Arms.
Correspondence between Secretary
of State johnson and Bully
BrOOks-A New Phase
Ofthe Difficulty.
No "Give" by BrOOEs-The Baxter
Side Still Intaet-Shalfs Eu-
neral-The u. s. Forces
The Facts of the Case.
A NEW TURN ON PRooKs.

/ NEW VUkN ON 6fsOOhSs
LITTLE Rock, April 23.-Seeretary-
| of-state johnson, whose election has
never been controverted, called at the
! statehouse this morning, and ordered
! Brooks and his men out of his office.
| They refused to go, and Brooks said,
! since johnson had signed Governor
| Baxter's proclamation cOnvening the
! legislature, and refused to recognize him
as governor, he would refuse to recog-
| nize him as secretary of state. johnson
| then left, and applied tC Colonel Rose
| for troops to assist him in taking pos
session of his office. The result Is not
yet known.
All is qniet to-day. There are no
| hostile demonstrations on either side.
The people are generally satisfied with
the call for the legislature.
THE JOHNSON MOVEMENT.
LITTLE Rock, April 22.-Last night
| Secretary of-State johnson visited his
| office in the statehouse, and found Mr..
Brooks in possession, surrounded by q
body Of armed men. Johnson asked
| Brooks whose Office that was, his or
Brooks's. The latter said It was John
sons, of course. Then johnson said he
had better get out of there with his
forces. Brooks said he recognized John
son as secretary of state.
johnson then left, and went to the
headquarters of Governor Baxter, where
he signed officially the proclamation of
the governor convening the legislature.
This morning he went up 20 the state
house again, and demanded its possess
sion. He ordered Brooks and his men
out OF the office. They refused to go,
Brooks remarking that he no longer
recognized johnson as secretary Of state,
he having signed BaIter's procla-
nation cOnveniHg the legislature. Some
hot words followed, johnson remarking
that he never heard that there was any
contest over his right TO occupy the Office
of secretary of state; that Judge Why
took certainly never Ousted him,
etc. Mr.. Brooks remarked that mill
tary necessity compelled his course, and
johnson left. After doing so, he ad-
dressed the following Letter to Mr..
Brooks:
LITTLE ROCK, April %.
Hon. Joseph Brooks:
SIR-On my return after a short alb
sence from Little Rock, found the Of
flee of secretary of state, to which was
elected in 1872, and which / have held
regularly since the sixth day Of January,
1878, until this time, occupied by q
crowd Of men under your command,
and this morning in demanding possess
sion of the same l was refused by you
and men under your command, and
now l am out OF my Office
by the action of yourself and your fore
es, and not able to perform with facility
the duties of such Office. When l left
here q short time since the government
of the State was being conducted under
the management and direction of Eli
sha Baxter as governor o. Arkansas.
then recognized him as the lawful gov
ernOr of the state, and have not been
apprised of any lawful change in that
office, and know no other person as ex-
ecutive of the State. When l left, at
the time named, General Frank Strong,
my efficient deputy, wss in charge
of the Office and carrying en- the business
of the Office satisfactorily, out on my re-
turn j find that he had been elected
from the Office by your men, and had no
control of the office, the papers, seal, or
anything connected Herewith. The du-
ties of my Office cannot 5e discharged
without great difficulty, unless am adj
mitted to the place where the papers and
archives of the State ere kept, and 1
liver or have delivered to me the pos
session of the rooms IN which the
office of secretary CO state is
kept, and has been kept ever since the
time l was installed in office on the
sixth day of January, 1878, as well as the
papers, documents, the seal of the State,
and my official seal, all OF which, under
the law, am the custodian. Very re-
spectfully, J. N. JOHNSON,
Secretary Of state.
In addition to the above he addressed
another letter to Mr.. Brooks, reciting
that under the law he was the custodian
OF the public buildings ard demanded
that the same be vacated; that the legis-
lature would soon meet and he desired
to have the halls in proper repair. AS
yet he has received no official reply.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Colonel John NJ. Clayton, brother of
Senator Powell Clayton, arrived last
evening with a company &C cOlored men,
sent back home several companies Of his
troops. Mr.. Brooks does not recognize
the right of Governor Baxter to convene
the legislature. The people generally
appear to be satisfied that the legisls-
ture should settle the matter.
1t is raining again to-day, and very
disagreeable out Of doors. The forces
remain in about the same position as
last night. The funeral o. the late Ma
jor Shall to-day was cne Of the largest
ever seen in this city. Mr.. Brooks
made speech to his forces this morn !
ing in which he announced his determ-
inatiOn to hold the statehouse in spite of |
everything.
THE BOYS IN BLUE TO RETIRE.
WASHINGTON, April 23.-The secre-
tary of war to-day telegraphed TO the
at Little Rock that he
might retire to the arsenal with his COM
mand as soon as the danger of loss of
life is no longer threatened, and leave
the question to be settled by the con-
testants in the courts