The Caucasian. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1874-1875, 1874-06-20
Communicated.
The Verdict.

Well may the foreman OF the Jury
have handed it with trembling hands
and his co-partners hardly dared te
raise their eyes on their doomed vic
. Tins, the holocaust to be offered te
the Vengeance of their party. Gull
ty! Guilty of what? Guilty of con-
spring to defend their lives; guilty o.
conspiring to prevent the whole
country from being laid. in ashes
guilty Of conspiring to prevent riot
bloodshed, rape and all the concom.
itants which generally accompany the
rising of a lawless mob.
The human mind almost shudders
at the thought, and tremblingly
awaits the next act of the drama.
The acqu;ttal of five of the priso-
ners amounts to nothing in the solv'
ing of the question before the coun-
try. Their case was clear alibi, and
their conviction was an impossibility.
They ace'e at home! While the three
CONVICTED prisoners were part of the
noble band to whom we owe that We
are now alive, and our fresides un
molested. 1t is their case which is
our case; their conviction, our con-
viction; their dungeon, our dungeon.
The blacks have gained the victory
and you can hear their demoniac
laugh, as they exultiusly boast of the
result. Where is the spirit Of the
peop'e? Where are the men of the
land? Do they think they can sit
down at their ease and chuckle that
i 'hey are beyond the grasp of the iron
hand? No, thousand times Nos
It is not the manacled, condemned
martyrs that are the felons, to-day
1t is you, it is re, it is all of us! The
same power which is crushing all the
established landmarks of our govern
ment has to-day, oyerridden all laws
and D1ecedents and lowered us to the
rank II bondsmen; that same power
while you are sdpinely waiting for the
result will silently tighten the banis
around your wrists and when you
awaken to sense Of your danger
you will find yourselves PROSTATE and
powerless.
Emboldened by their success, will
they not fill our country with their
mercenaries, and surrounded as we
are, by a race in whose ears has been
instilled the creed, that everything
is lawful which leads to our downfall;
where will be our security ? Driven,
tracked and hunted, our tenantless
homes and deserted fields will stand
as a memento that not daring, we
lost all, the victims of policy and in
difference. q
The verdict of that Jury has placed
the question of races sauarely before
us, and the parishes of Grant and
Rapides have to decide it. They can
not evade it, nor can they heal the
wound by compromise. Eight of
their fellow citizens have stood their
trial, accused and prosecuted by
solid phalanx OF suborned, pe,jured
blacks, consistent aud vindlctive in
their hatred of our race. They are
new ready, willing and anxious to re:
new the trial. The privileged GETS
of soulless government, they con-
slider themselves licensed to override
all rights and all laws.
Under The promptings of such q
District Attorney and the rulings of
such a Judge, will they not place all
of us before the same court? And
the very verdict which cons;gns Had
not, Irwin and Cruikshank to a living
tomb, will people the government
prisons with our fellow-citizens.
Last year the blacks dared to force
the issue on these parishes and they
soon learned that the Caucasian race
was still their master. To day, back
ed by an unprincipled government
they have dared by perjury to con-
denim three of our citizens, and have
returned exultingly to boast Of their
prowess. Shall they be left to enjoy
their victory while Our brethren are