Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-04
JUDGE LYNCH'S DEFENSE.
A PrOminent Citizen Of Gibson COun.
~ ON the Recent TrOubles-He Takes
the Bull by the Horns and Justifies
the Trenton Massacre.


~ ON the Recent TrOubles-He Takes
the Bull by the Horns and Jusfines
the Trenton Massacre.
To the Union and American.
TRENTON, Sept. ?, 1ST4-Those who
live at q distance, and have not been under
the influence Of the excitement which grew
out Of the startling revelation which had
been made by the negroes lynched in this
county last week, may condemn the out
rage perpetrated upon a part of these
wretches, because they rest in per
feet security and their homes and
dear ones are not exposed to the fury Of
demons and SavageS, but we do protest,
most solemnly and sincerely, against the
indignation which has been excited in
peaceable communities and found utter
ance in the public meetings and the press,
toward the people OF Trenton for the part
they have acted in the DRAMA In Gods
mercy, we have already suffered enough in
evil forebOdings and apprehensiOns OF
threatened danger 10 our homes and fire
sides (Of which we had indubitable evi-
dence from the confessions Of the negroes
themselves) without suffering now from
the sympathies Of your public meetings in
behalf Of these misguided sayages. To
show ia what light the cOlOred people
themselves view it, need only refer you TO
the statement made By one Jordan Meri-
Yether, a oOlOred Methodist preacher, at a
public meeting of his own people held at
the time in the city of Jackson, in answer
10 the speech made to them by Gen. A. w.
Campbell. He ridiculed the white people
Of Trenton for calling on Jackson for aid
"Wednesday, and thought that the whites of
Jackson did wrong 10 respond TO that call
IL they condemned. as they said
they did, the lynchiDg of the negro
prisoners. lie also stated that the negroes
held meeting at one o'clock Wednesday,
(Only three hours after the alarm was given
at Trenton,) and organized for the purpose
Of going to the aid Of the negroes in Glib
son, had the whites Of Jackson gone TO the
assistance Of the white people. He said,
'.If you white people had left that evening,
We would have been along some time dur
ing the night" Now this negro MerIi-
wether has been universally esteemed by
the white people of Jackson and Trenton,
to whom he is well known for his intelli-
gence and conservative Influence upon the
eolOred people, and they believed that his
ministTatiOn among them was for the gen
eral good of all, yet he miseOnstrues your
unqualified condemnation of the people of
Trenton into sympathy for the eOlored
murderers and assassinS, whom a body Of
disguised men preferred to execute without
waiting for the tedious and uncertain pro
cess Of the law.
The wholesale dennnciatiOns of the
Memphis Appeal against the people of
Trenton is having a very peTniciOus infiu-
IN, Ill s4yr ax-affa1 ffrr
and the cOlOred people, many Of whom can
read and do read its articles, feel justified
i'm resOrting To any measure Of revenge
upon our people for permitting an act OF
violence upon body OF wretches for whose
protection they were under no obligations
TO expose their lives.
The people Of Trenton, and l might say
Of the county of Gibson, are as much Op-
posed TO mob law and lynehing as the
people of any community. Perhaps We
were not as fast as other communities
would have been under similar eircum-
stances. md herein lies our great OfeRSe.
But, while we may be slow 10 act, our ven
geance is none the less terrible when the
honor and the lives cf our loved ones and
ourselves are in peril from such diabOlical
oOnspiracies rs had been matured against
them. Our sympathies are with our wives
and children, and when they are in peril
We know no law TO screen the devils that
threaten them
As a general thing, the people Of our
county are Conservative, and there has
been less political excitement about Civil
Rights than in perhaps any other county OF
the State. Here Summers abOminatiOn
found no open advocate either among the
white OF cOlOred population, and If such an
idea was privately instilled into the minds
of the latter class, il could only have found
a favorable lOdgment in those districts
where opposition TO our State system Of
public schools was predominant. The re-
cent negro inSurrectiOn which eliminated
in waylaying and firing upon two young
men bv 40 armed negroes, before carrying
into execution their diabOlical plan Of
slaughtering the whites indiscriminately,
sacl<ing and destroying their property and
violating the persons of their wives and
daughters, was in such a section Of the
county. This opposition to the public
schools was further intensified by the fail
ure Of the crops, which was freely discussed
and a terrible future presented in CHASTITY
light. In such a community, with
out employment and with starvation prom
inently presented before them, il is possible
that the cOlOred population should become
the plant tools Of secret emiSSaries. What
ever may have been the cause of their dis
satisfaction, whether this or that thing, il
was enough for Us 10 know that their
hatred 10 the white people was unbOunded,
that they had perfected their plans and
were thoroughly organized for our destTue-
ton. This was not prevented by the cap
ture of few of their numbers, but served
only 10 infuriafe them the more. Our dan
ger was Orly ayerted by our own prompt
action i'm dealing with them.
A correspondent of the UNION AND
AMERICAN ("Max''), at Milan, in eNcusIng
the perpetrators of s'the Trenton outrage
laws the responsibility upon the whole
county and claims that they were not from
any particular locality. How does he know
and why does lac observe that there were
none from the vicinity OF Milan? Why
attempt to excuse any portion OF the coun-
ty from its full share Of the responsibility
When il was reported in Trenton the next
day. tha' the negroes from the Pieketisyille
and Milan country were in arms and all
vancing in a strong body upon Trenton,
sacking and destroying the farms in their
route. the news electrified the whole COM
munity. and by two o'clock two thousand
of our citizens, many coming from the eX-
treme borders of the county, III companies
and squads, were in Trenton and in arms
ready for action. The summary execution
Of the prisoners the night previous, and the
prompt response Of the citizens ereTy'1here,
served more to stifle the insurrectiOn that
was brewing than a thousand Criminal
Courts, with their grand juries and legal
technicalities, could, by delay. Ii showed
that our people, without regard to political
differences, were aunt and favored prompt
action in suppressing a vile conspiracy
against their homes and families. Our
county is willing TO shoulder the
t7hole responsibility, and l trust can bear
with meekness the epithets Of "mldmght
| murderers" and ''assassins" by those at a
distance who know not our dangers and
| NAV wish to appease the troublesome ele-
ment around them by their apparent sym
pathies.
We protest against the sweeping denun-
Citations heaped upon us from all quarters,
| and would invoke our friends to pause and
/ consider. Let them imagine themselves
placed upon a volcano, where they can feel
| the rumbling beneath their feet, hear It's
| roaring thundeTs and see the black sulphur
Gus smoke emitted from the deep chasn
before them, and ask themselves If II IS not
| tiD,a to act and that prOmptly We may