Daily Kennebec journal., 1874-09-04
Tho Jictin,s -1ssassinated because
then acere Republicans.
The Deed done to Intim idatc and
Control the Republican Major
ity.

marx lOr reOel vengeance. we copy
the following specials from New Orleans
dated the 1st.
1t is now ascertained through private dis
patches that one of the most horrible massa-
cres ever perpetrated in this State has just
been committed in Red River Parish. The
accounts which have been received thus far
have come through White League sources,
and therefore it is but reasonable to suppose
that but one.half of the horrible story has
been told. So far as ascertained, the follow
ing persons have been made victims, as the
following statement will show: On Saturday,
Aug. 20, FL. X. Twitchell, Deputy Postmas-
ter; W. f. Howell, United States Commis-
sioner at Coushatta, La. Robert A. Devices,
State Supervisor of Registration of Desota
Parish; Frank Edgerton, Sheriff; N. c. Will
lis, Justice of the Peace, and Clark Holland,
Supervisor of Registra ion of Red River Par
ish, were visited by regularly organized and
armed White Leaguers from surrounding par
ishes at Coushatta, the capital of Red River
Parish, who demanded that they should re-
sign their offices. They refused Shortly
after the White tLeaguers returned, rein
forced, and demanded their surrender. They
surrendered in order to save their women and
children from the horrors of bloody fight.
but this was not done until they had been as
sured by the White Leaguers that they would
be protected from further personal violence,
and that the women and children would not
be molested. They were then made prison
ers, together with seven colored men, and
placed in the parish Jail, where they were
guarded by the White Leaguers. On Sunday,
the 30th, their captors took them all from the
jail conveyed them beyond the limits of that
district, and murdered them in cold blood.
The Instigators of the Terror.
This is the work of the White Leaguers,
encouraged by the murderous speeches of
McEnery and Mari, who, in the late conven-
ton at Baton Rouge, in set speeches advised
the white people to organize, arm, and drive
Republicans from the State, and offered them
selves as leaders to resist even United States
troops, McEnery going so far as to say that
Grant would not dare to use United States
troops against them.
COushatta, n Yankee Colony.
Coushatta is a northern settlement, thrifty
and prosperous, two-thrds of the town and
large part of the parish being owned by North
ern ex Union soldiers. 1t has long been
threatened by the old rebel element of the
surrounding country that they would exterml-
nate that Northern colony. McEnery, in a
recent tour through that part ofour State, ad-
vised the people to hang all carpet t-baggers
and scallawags to the limbs Of trees. This
bloody and horrible tragedy is only one of the
many fruits of his advice. There were no
charges Of crime against the victims. They
were all residents and taxpayers. The great.
est anxiety prevails here on the part of the
friends and relatives of the murdered men.
When the Union boys first went to Coushatta
it had but one log house and store. What
they had made it up to the time of the mas
sacre will be seen by the following account
taken from the New Orleans Republican of
Aug. so:
"Coushatta is one Of the most prosperous
! towns on Red River, and has grown into i'm
portance since the war. A majority of its in
habitants are Northern men who have settled
there since the war, built sawmils, grist
mills, machine shop, and cotton pckery,
and inaugurated other enterprises. TWAS
few years ago selected as the capital of the
new Parish of Red River. A court house and
school-house were built, the levees were put
in good repair, and everything shows signs
of thrift and energy. 1t is strongly Republi-
can, and has been unusually quiet, peaceful,
and prosperous for that section of the State.
large portion of the parish is owned by
Northern men, white Republicans. 1t is
known in all the surrounding country as a
Yankee colony. Hence it must have been
special object of the hatred of the white
leagues"
A Conservative Journal OH the White
League.
The Times Of this city, a conservative
journal opposed to the White League organ
iza,ion, in an article upon the subject of these
murders says eve have not heard of any
crime being charged against these men, ex-
cept that one Of them was Tax Collector, and
some of the others held parish Offices" and
concludes as follows "The civilized world
will not be inclined to attach much credit to
the Judgment of these highwaymen as to the
guilt of men who have not been tried, and, SO
far as we have learned, have not been ac'
cused of serious crimes. In fact they will
prefer to believe that the real I'D scoun-
drels" are the murderers themselves. We
charge distinctly that this atrocious deed is
the direct and legitimate outgrowth of the
violent Red River White League organza
tions, anc for it the able and diabolical White
League organ, the Shreveport Times, is, in
large measure, responsible"
A Call for Troops I'm New Orleans.
The Governor has called out an extra regi-
ment of State Militia, to be composed of