Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-09-04
Dinbolis,n at tho South.

of the Southern States have deter.
mined to inaugurate reign ofblood'
shed, terror and intimidation Of the
colored people and their friends, to
the end that the said rebel element
may control the elections this fall
The plot is developing daily. The
cry has gone forth for "whitc supreme
acy," and Southern Democratic pa
pers are advising their readers to
arm for the determination Of the Re
publicans, while perfect saturnalia
of blood and crime is established in
many localities. One of the latest
and most sickening of these tiendish
atrocities occurred last Sunday in
Red River Parish, La, wherein six
Republican officials of that parish,
and six negroes were murdered in
cold blood while being escorted to a
place Of safety, probably with the
concurrence of their escort. The
following account of the affair is
from the special dispatches to the
Chicago Tribune:
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. --latest
adviccs from Shreveport confirm the
report of the mur Ter Of the twelve
political prisoners taken from Cou-
shatta, while on their way to the for
mer place. Coushatta is the. county
scatsof Red River Parish, and The
men killed were F. s Edgarton,
Sheriff; III. I. Twitchell, Tax-Collec-
tor; Clark Holland, Register; Gilbert
Cone, Deputy Sheriff; w. +. Howell,
attorney at law; and r. A. Devices,
Tax Collector, of Desota Parish, all
white, and six colored men
whose names are not known.
The white men were all northern men
and formerly Union soldiers, and all
were Republicans and holding office
under Kellogg, except Howell: A
demand had been made upon them
some time since to resign their Off
ccs, which they refused to do, and
they were assured that they would
again be awaited upon by u sufficient
force to compel an acquiescence.
Sheriff Edgarton had called together
a posse OF hundred or so, mostly
colored men, but the force brought
to bear upon him was so great that
he probably thought it useless to
make fight. They were first locked
Up in the Jail at Coushatta, but it
was finally concluded to send them
to Shreveport at their own request, it
is stated, and a guard Of their own
choice given them. This statement
is not credited by Republicans here,
however, who allcgc that, as Red
River Parish is strongly Republican,
they would not be likely to run the
risk Of changing about in the unset
tied condition of the country there.
1t is also alleged that if they do SO
request they were treated with bad
faith in being taken out of the usual
course of travel to Shreveport, being
taken by an out-ot-the-way route
through Bossier Parish. As soon as
they entered this parish, the prison.
crs were taken out of the hands Of
the guards by a force Of forty or fiji
ty, who called thems Ives Texans,
and killed. The deed is very gener-
ally regretted here by all whom l
have conversed. The evening pa
pers, however, make no editorial re-
ference to it, except the Times,
which dcnounces it in unmeasured
terms as a White League crime.
The Inter- DEEMS special dispatch
es from New Orleans, say of this at:
fair:
This is the work Of the White
Leaguers, encouraged ssby the muir
derous speeches of M'Enery and Mari
who, in their late convention at Bat
on Rouge, in set speeches advised
the White post to organize and arm
and drive the Republicans from the
State, and offered themselves as lead
ers to resist the United States troops,
McEnery going SO as to say that
Grant would not dare to use United
States troops against them. Cous-
hatta is Northern settlement. thrift
ty and prosperous. Two-thirds of
the town and large part Of the par
lsh being owned by northern cx-Un-
ion soldiers, it has long been threat
ened by the old rebel element Of the
surrounding country that they would
cxterminate that northern colony.
McEnery, in recent tour through
that part of our State, advised the
people to hang all carpet-baggers
and scalawags to the limbs of trees.
This bloody and horrible tragedy is
only one of the many fruits of his adj
vice. There were no charges of
crime against the victims. They
were all residents and taxpayers
The greatest anxiety prevails on the
part OF the friends and relatives of
the murdered men. When the I'm
ion boys first went to Coushatta it
had but one log house and store.
What they had made up to the time
of the massacre will be seen by the
following account from a New Or
leans paper of Aug. 80:
"Coushatta is one of the most
prosperous towns on Red River,
and has grown into Importance since
the war. A majority ofits inhabitants
are Northern men who have settled
there since the war, built saw mills,
gristmills machine shop, cotton pick
cry and inauguratcd other enterprises.
1t was few years ago selected rs the
capital ofthe new Parish ofRed River.
a court house and school house were
built, the levees put in good repair,
and everything shows signs of ener-
gy and thrift.
1t is strongly Republican, and has
been usually quiet, peaceful, and
prosperous for that section of the
country. A large portion of the par
ish 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 ha-
tired of the White Leaguers.
IN, IL