New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-01-04

sinating and numbering innocent and inof
fensive and unresisting freedmen, in man
ner which PROVED that they were also
towards and muINerers by nature and of
choice, and only required favorable occa-
| sion to put into prastice their hellish ma
lures.
But perhaps more excavation than con-
domination should be indMlged in these
premises; for the great and tsanscendently
brilliant poet and philosopher, Shelley,
| has well remarked, that whateveS, may be
| said of the abstract principles Of tbN just
| fatleness of war, it can not be denied that
| the common soldier is mere machine, Nut
| forward and driven by superiors to kill ain
| slay those to whom he owes no anInosi,y or
| i'll will. Therefore war, in all its phases,
| can no. fail to demoralize and brutal.ze the
| human hearte
Homer, in Claiborne parish, is the most
| pleasant little village in all North Louisi-
ana. 1t is located IN a healthy and please Mt
country, Its society is first class for what
might be termed backwoods community.
| They have churches and school houses N
thai locaEty-had them long before the
war, all through the war, and have them
still. The general tone and temper of the
| people may be classed far above and in
every way superior to that of the adjacent
localities generally. The town IS symme-
trical and picturesque, and the forest
scenery both in the tUsgn and the immedi-
ate neighborhood. romantic and poetical &,
all seasons of the year, but more especially
in the month of May, which is the most
beautiful and pleasant month known to the
| sunny South.
| The entire community of Claiborne par
ish was strongly tinctured with ''Unionism
| at the commencement Of the war, and
| wholesomely imbued with mat patriotic
feeling throughout the war. The Homer
| Iliod was kept up and maintained as a
Union paper throughout. The editor was
menaced from time to time and threat
ened with determination, but his personal
| friendships and the general good temper OF
the community saved him.
Ae che time General Lee surrendered,
| General Marmaduke's command was at
Homer, in charge of General Green-General
Marma9uke himself being a prisoner OF
war. When President Lincoln was assas-
| sinated, the Homer Iiiad was indiscreet and
| candid enough to denonnce the act in the
most bitter terms. This Of course greatly
| inceneed the Confederate troops. They
| contended that QuantreN, one Of their
! chosen and celebrated guerrilla chiefs, was
| the man who had assassnated Lincoln, and
| declared that the editor of the IH00 must
| look up a limb
This looked squally. The editor of the
| Ifad had many time and oft" looked up
| a limb when listening to the hum OF bees
and the song of birds in his beautiful native
forests of Arkansas, in the spring time and
innocence Of his gushing and joyful youth;
but to look up limb with rope around his
neck, he imagined would not he a very
pleasant view; the only consolation being
that it would hardly last long.
But he did not look up a limb on that &C.
casion. General Green was gentleman,
and cane to the rescue of the poor, reckless
and outspoken Union editor. He interceded
and saved the editors life; and the wild
and blood thirsty troops were soon marched
to Shreveport and disbanSed forever.
But the editor of the Homer Ilja0 found
many ether friends in that command be
sides General Green-among them gener
Gus and most talented nephew of General
NJ. JEFF Thompson. He was wild then, bu.
had a heart and soul, and believe is now
preaching the gospel of Christ near Balti-
more. May he live long and prosper, and
be the means Of saving many souls from
the wSath o, come.
The first assassination in North Louisiana
after the close Of the war, tina. l now recall
to mind, occurred in the town of Homer.
i regret to state ii, because that beautiful
town is really entitled to a better record
than this would indicate. 1t IS not a town
of assassns nor of assassination, by any
means. Bat a poor innocent negro was as
sassinated there soon after the close of the
war in the most unprovoked and cold
blooded manner. The negro had CHANGED
10 become acquainted with some facts con-
nected with the stealing Of some cotton,
which implicated certain itinerant parties
then in and about Homer. So he had to be
murdered, and was urdered-basely as
sassinated. Two men called at his house
and called him out to the gate in seem
ingly friendly manner, and in the presence
of his family deliberately shot his brains
out. They rode away, and were never mo-
Tested.
The next thing of this sort that is now
recollected occurred near the same pleasant
and beautiful village. A negro woman
quite young woman-and her husband or
brother. l do not now remember which,
were arrested Gin the country under the
charge of stealing some clothing from a
white woman, and brought to town for
trial. There was not yet much civil rule in
that locality, and no military force in
Homer. General Foley was in command
of some federal troops at Minden. twenty
miles distant, and so it was concluded to
send these Eegroes to him for trial or some
disposition A lingering Missouri Con-
federate solder volunteered to take charge
of them and delivered them to the federal
commander. as he said he was going TO
Minden anyway. He took charge Of them
and took them about mile from Homer,
into a little cove or glen, surrounded by a
dense forest of oaks and pines-it was re
treat something like those in which the
early Christian martyrs of Scotland took
refuge from their perst cutors-and there IN
deliberate tendishness shot them both
through the head and left them lying to be
By the hogs and buzzards. Their
skeletons were finally recovered, but the