The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-09-27

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WaKahnohle, Friday, oplnphlsA
IllllsnOTO, saturday, october ~
Clebnrno, Tuesday, October ",
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ExoIrING eyenlslre0d no closely up
on tho heels Of each other that before
one IL disposed Of aud III elleolS thor
oughly understood lla successor
crowds II OF the stage, aud II N ban
lahed 10 the category of worn out Top
los. The amoup of the reverend
BROOKLYN Lolharlo lllled the public
attention 10 the exclusion Of almost
every other subject, A this was be-
ginning TO grow stale, II was removed
from the board, aud "southcrn out
ragoa,n hot aud well seasoned, were
dlshed up for the dainty paloteo OF the
north. Az these were beginning 10
sour, even on the stomachs OF those
who cooked aud prepared them for
the public taste, the revolution In New
Orleans came, and, by the magnitude
of the Issues involved and the hcrolSm
of liz authors, swept all other subjects
for the time, out OF the public mind
This has, In turn, been discussed ana
looked at from every point by the
press until II too has begun TO pail
upon the public Appetite and tho
question now IL, what will the next
act be?
Selling the opportunity afforded by
this temporary absence from the stage
of any ono all.engrosslng subject, we
deem II not inappropriate TO reaur to
the "rrenton massacre" and show
what the immediate result Of II, 40 far,
has been, especially since II has been
the cause of bringing prominently be-
fore the American people IN illuSlra'
ton of the extent TO which the con-
solldating tendencies Of the national
government have gone.
II will be remembered that on the
night of ,he 25th Of August n party of
disguised men took from the Jail at
Trenton, Tennessee, sixteen negroes
who were confined therein on q charge
of melting riot and MURDER that six of
the negroes were found near the town,
four of them shot TO death, the two
Others being severely wounded, and
that the fate of the ten other negroes
remained enveloped in mystery. Gov
ernor Brown ut once bent all his in
dividual and official energies to dis
covering the authors of this most in
excusable crime, and bringing them to
justice. A special term of the crimi-
nal court was convened mt Trenton to
have the grand jury inquire into the
circumstances of the case; large re-
wards were offered for the detection of
the guilty parties, and the governor, in
company with the attorney general of
the state, went in person to the scene
of the outrage to lend their power and
influence to the vindication of the law.
All the machinery of justice was put
into operation to ferret out the crimi-
nails, and at last the efforts of the Off
cials We're crowned with success. A
young man, seventeen years of age,
named Ben. Davis, was found, who
admitted that he was in the party that
took the negroes out of the Jail, and
expressed his willingness to save him
self by turning states evidence. He
made clean breast of it before the
grand jury. His statement was that
the band of disguised men numbered
sixty-eight; that they We're disguised
in every possible way, some wearing
gowns, some their wives clothing, the
most Of them with masks, but some
not disguised nor masked and that
the band consisted of persons hurried
ly gathered together in the neighbor-
hood, without any previous arrange
ment or organization. Davis, said that
1t was not,as he understood it, the pur-
pose to kill the negroes; but to take
them out and force them to tell all
they knew about the alleged conspira-
cy to murder the white people. As, |
however, they were moving across
bridge not far from Trenton, on the
Huntingdon road, at signal given by
one of them the negroes all endeavored
to make their escape. Immediately
an indiscriminate firing began, the re-
suit of which was that ten negroes
were left upon the ground for dead. |
Subsequent development proved that
four of these must have been playing
possum, for only six were found upon
the ground by the citizens of Trenton
on the following day.
On 1.-The testimony of Davis the
grand jury found true bills against
forty-one persons, all of whom, except
hose that fled the country, were ar
rested. Notwithstanding these strenu-
,us and successful efforts of the state
of Tennessee to detect the
yrong-doers and bring them to pun
shment, the u. S. Marshal for the
western district of Tennessee, aided
" soldiers from the garrison at Hum
'oldt, raided upon the country and /
'egan to arrest some men that had
lready given recognlzance to answer |
or their alleged crime In the state ! q