Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-09-02
OUR pIsGRACE.


it. that we transfer its remarks to our
own columns. 1t accounts in part for
these disgraceful scenes, from the semi.
barbarious habit which is so prevalent
in Tennessee and other Southern
States, of Carrying concealed weapons.
On this point it says:
The pernicious and unlawful habit of car
ryng pistols inevitably leads to bloodshed.
Those who are familiar with the weapons
Of blood naturally become blood-thirsty
and reckless of human life. We arc sorry
to say that the laws forbidding this are
never enforced practically, and at every
public and even private gathering the pis-
toll is part of an outfit, as much as Il hat or
IL pair fboots.
This Is true, TO our disgrace be it said,
and until an indignant public opinion
frowns down such "a practice, it will
continue. Let man who is in the
habit Of carrying concealed weapons
upon all occasions be frowned out Of
decent society and the habit will be
come less general
Speaking Of this Gibson county af-
fair the AUdLanche says further:
But why were there hundred or fifty
men in Gibson county who banded together
to take the lives of sixteen colored prison.
ers in the hands and custody of the officers
of the law 1t occurs to US that if public
opinion were sound, if the citizens who love
public justice-who believe in law and
order-had made themselves felt it would
have been impossible for fifty cut-throats to
live in Gibson county. The fact must be
admitted that the passions Of the whites
have been inflamed against the blanks, snd
without sufficient cause or provocatior; the
fact must be admitted that the blacks have
been placed in position by politicians on
both sides, which is untrue and unjust. to
them.
The Internal cry of war of races has
not followed but preceded, and led the way
to the horrible and wholesale murder in
/ Gibson county. 1t is time to cry halt to
/ these enemies of public and private peace.
| The cause of humanity demands it, every
consideration of public and private inter-
est demands it; our own manhood, and
decent regard for the opinion of all good
men and women everywhere demand that
/ the insane cry of n war of races in Tenues-
| see be supprcsSedlaUd stamped out Of all
/ hearing. The cOlorcd people in Tennessee
are in a hopeless minority. They are
docile, tmid and humble. Now and
then may be encountered boisterous
fellows who talk loud and buster, but
we venture to assert that not ten
can be found in any part Of the State Of
Tennessee desperate enough to band to-
gether to murder the whites. All the
so-called riots or threatened uprisings Of
the COlOred people have existed only in
wild rumors, circulated by alarmists and
tA iniiammatOry style in which the rela-
tiOns Of the races has been discussed has
simply prepared people TO believe every
rumor. Now take the case in Gibson
county, in which there were given the de-
tails of plot to kill the whites, and the
details given by vagabond negro, without
names and dates. How easy it would have
been for the supposed ringleaders, who
were in Jail, to have been tried and con-
victed under the law, if guilty.
But no, these outlaws could not wait
for the law to do its sure work, for the
reason probably, that they feared their
unfortunate victims were not guilty,
as we firmly believe they We're not.
Our reason for thus believing is, that
when rumor reached Trenton that
the 4, groes were armed and organized
at point few miles away, and a
hundred or two armed whites left for
the place at once, when
they arrived there was no evidence of
the truth of the rumor. Not a negro
was found, and none heard of. The
facts are, that the negroes were worse
frightened than the whites, and there
is not particle Of proof that they ever
meditated a riot or an outbreak.
This whole disgraceful affair grew
out of white man attending barbe~
cue Of colored people, and quarreling
with colored man about the price of
a small piece of meat.
Abiding to the position of Governor
Brown, the AraldHche further OBJ
serves:
1T has been suggested thaC no arrests
: will be made that ifmade, no convictions.
{ It is not our province to point out what
, should be DONE but if we were permitted 10
> be in the presence Of the Governor Of Ten
nessee, we would appeal to him to see that
, the State draw the sword Of justice, and
that it be not returned without the blood OF
, the guilty. Let him go to Trenton and
remain there, giving the weight and .nau-
encc Of his personal presence to the cause OF
a law and humanity--let him exhaust the
last exerlion Of official power and save his
5 administration from the curse Of good citi-
, zens all over the kepubuc. resolution;
and prOClamatiOns are very proper a. eX,
pressing public opinion, but let US not end
V with procamatons and resolutions. Arrest
0 of the murderers, conviction and hanging
. by the neck in the open sunlight Of heaven
that the world may have ocular proof o
0 the decency and manhood of Tennessee
/ and the vndication of the law. Nothing
short of this will answer the just eXpecta
tions and demands Of good citizens in and
t out of the State,
f This is the kind of talk that should
! come from the entire press of Tennes'
I see.
JUDGE HoUK, in his private - cir
cular, a copy of which appeared in the
. CHRONICLE Saturday, says:
take an early occasion to place myself
in opposition to the so-called Civil Right;
% Bill" And Maynard and Thornburgh
-. IL al D., Al