The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-09-18

New Orleans Times Report.l :

Ward Republican Club. AS there was
little or no business to engage attention,
the occasion was utilized as a speaking
meeting. The frsS and principal orator
g was Mr.. j. Stella Martin, just arrived in
. the city from Washington.
On taking the stand he was consider
ably jeered at by Il few individuals on
accountofhis CONNECTION with the Fusion
movement i'll 1872Sand that fact seemed
to give direction asld tone to much he
said. The speech. although Martin is
justly regarded asDne of the best colOred
y orators in the SSlte, was exceedingly
, diffuse and full of iepetition. The effort
%abOunded in metaphor and anecdOte,
! still it was plain Martin was not himself
= on this occasion, Gld on the whole the
speech was a f~aill.re.
In VlndlcatlOn o. his course in 1872, he
said he had never!b been able to see any
well-fOunded reason why there should
= y exist an antagOniSm between the white
,, and black races, atld for that reason he
: had earnestly desHed to,see them recon
: clled and act III uRisOn and harmony for
) the general good 1T the State and of all
the people. 1t WaS in thatSpirit he had
acted, and now if; he had been in the
camp of the opposition, his experience
, there was of some Ealue. Hehad trusted
the promises of Ehe Southern people,
only to find then& worthless and their
authors falthless. They gave rs, he said,
the Cincinnati platform, and they
are arrayed in tho White Leagues, and
by their violence have invoked the pres
ence of Government troops. Admitting
the Ignorance III the rank of the cOlOred
people, he said if Ihey had been corrupt
as Legislators the lesson had been taught
them by the whites. But all the ignor-
anCe and corruption was not confined
to the negroes. Ehe opposition Of the
Democracy was on account of the negro's
color, and for thaF reason only was the
negro q Republican. His color keeps
him a Republican, He believed if the
white people wGflld cOncede to the
blacks the same Treatment they gave to
other men in the tordinary relations of
life, the Third Wtrd Club would be dis
banded. He did pot mean by that social
equality, for that Ewas a humbug-an alb
surdity-an Observation-Disclosures
race pTacticed or acknowledged. Pass
ing from this lf$ launched n plfilIippic
against those col@red men who had talk
ell unto themselves white wives, and
said that his observation had been that
such persons livesl only to be rejected by |
all respectable cosOred people. A white
woman who wOusl marry a negro de-
mOnStrated that she vas unworthy of
llNl Il " IL loolr anu uC 1fC DuItlC 10
also true of the snegrO man, the most
charitable conclusion was that two fools
had met. This portion of the speech
caused much attCntiOn to be directed'to
a particular part pf the room, and to a
particular son of africa, who was there
by much excited nnd exasperated. Re-
peating his Interruption Of the speaker
on this point, Mr$Martin told him to be |
quiet and he would answer him. He
said he was on ST. Charles street at a
shooting gallery. Many shots were
fired, and many missed the mark. At
last a little bell rang. And so, said Mar
has rung. The kesidue of the speech
was devoted t~otdefending the blacks
against the charge of being more dis
orderly and ~riottsus than other people.
Mr.. Martin waz followed by MI. Bean,
who said that theEIied River parishes had
won a victory fog the Republican party
which it might NOT otherwise have gain
ed. Numerous sother addresses were
made, and the GLIB adjourned.
From a publication made by the Com
mittee of Seventy relativetO the troubles
at C0ushatta, it ;sppears asst the popularf
political heart hkd been fred on both
sides. There evidently existed an intent
VII III lIILU VI tlIE'SC II dlIllISlBCN WIFI !
the White Leagl{e to force the Republi-
cal officials of Rkd River parish to re-
sign. This inde5d is proved by the sue
cessful accomplishment of the purpose.
In view Of thi8 well understood deter
mination, NJ. H. STwitchell, Republican
Senator from ReSl River parish, wrote a
letter to 7. S. Etlgert0n, Sheriff Of the
parish, announcing that he had seen
the Governor alSd United States Mar
shall in this city, stonching the condition
of affairs in Redssttiyer parish, and was
informed that az Don as some overt act
had been cOnnEtted, a United States
Marshal would be sent up there, who
would doubtless take United States
troops with himS Mr.. Twitchell added I:
81 will advise yEu, in case q demand is
made for your designations, to. be certain
first that viOlen9e is to be used in~case
you do not, andShen to, save. your life,
resign t*&a* =4@ so
Clearly Senator Twitcheli thought the
case in the pafiSf was becoming despeF- S
ate. He suspected that violence would {
be resorted to, aid advised bis friends to {
resign only wheA they found that their
lives were in danger, As Red River t
parish contains ! large preponderance of s
cOlored voters, tAley were easily persuad- t
ed to assume ansgttitude of organized re-
sistance to 1.-THE d:mand in question. The t
idea had evidently been instilled into t
their minds thaE there was to be a fight I
for supremacy iii the parish between the {
whites and blacks, and they were easily |
persuaded to take q part in the contest. s
1t would seem by this just published /
record that the sirst threats Of violence a
came from the whites, when they de-
termined tofortse Objectionable Republi- f
can officials to 1sesign; that armed oppo- E
had been organized by these {
officials, who Unlisted the negroes in /
their service; that the first blood. was f
shed by Paul Williams, u negro, who
at and dangerously wounded Mr.. @
and-tEiere the record stops 7
without any attempt to showhow twas, 6
Or why it was, 3lat, after the officials id I
question had Designed, to save their c
lives, they wer3s met by masked men Y
and murdered. il
There are undoubtedly two sides to +
HE story but 10th sides have an ugly
look, So far as demonstrated. \
Other developHlents may be expected b
shortly.-[N. o. Times. a
THE COTTON GRoPs.-From the Tele-