New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-09-01
THE PENSACOLA LYNCHING CASE,
Probable Innocence of the Murdered Men,

Probable Innocence of the Murdered Men,
The following statement is sent us by
six citizens of Pensacola who vouch for
the correctness of each detail of iuforma.
ton regarding the tragedy.
bynching is highly criminal under any
circumstances, but when the innocent are
made to suffer, as is too often the case, to
screen the guilty from punishment, it be-
comes worse than barbarous-it is fiendish.
There is too much of this impulsiveness in
the South; men permit themselves to be-
come intoxicated with virtuous indigna-
t;oa when they hear great outrage has
been committed, and the first thought is to
commit greater wrong to make it right:
PENSACOLA, August D. 1875.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN,:
1t Is more than probable that before this
reaches you. you will have been informed
of the awful tragedy that occurred her. on
the morning of the twenty first instant
we mean the lynching of two colored men,
JEFF Brown and Morris Morse, accused OF
outraging Mrs Melissa Taylor, resident
of Pine Barren Creek, in this county. We
write you this merely to give you correct
account of facts as far as ELECTED in regard
to the outrage on the lady and the lynching
of the men, because we are almost certain
that facts will be so distorted as to be IN
recognizable.
We have the evidence of persons who
visited the all on the morning of the TWEEN
tyfrst, which is as follows: They asked for
the keys, which were brought down by a
boy about eight years old; found the outer
door of the jail locked asked the hoy
how was it the door was locked:
| L1r ,nl ~ H. =, l., l.
with them, and unlocked the door and
locked it after leaving Examined the
inner door, and found it had been burst
open. They inquired of a prisoner if the
parties lynched were in separate room or
cell. He answered that up to the morning
of the twentieth they were together, when
the sheriff, or turnkey, removed the two
men, giving as reason that being young
men they might prefer to be by themselves.
Asked the prisoner if he saw or heard anv.
thing. He replied that he saw nothing. but
heard cry of murder then a murmur of
confused voices. then all was silent.
Now it seems apparent that the county
officers connived at the lynching of these
men because there were rumors atloat of
lynching them the evening before it was
done, and no precaution was taken by the
officers to prevent the lynching. We be
lieve tnat if the men were guilty they richly
deserved hanging, but after lawful trial.
The evidence of the lady was not positive
and the prisoners had, after preliminary
trial, asked for further time to get witnesses
to prove that they were in another locality
at the time the outrage was committed.
In the meantime a man had been brought
to the hospital, wounded by some parties,
but recovered enough to be able to make a
| confession in which he stated that himself,
Brown, Morse and another man still at large.
were the perpetrators of the outrage. The
doctor had declared him in a dying condi-
tion when he made the confession.
The deputy sheriff had subpoena for two
weeks to bring witnesses for the men, but
he neglected to 90 SO, which shows gross
neglect on the part OF that official aud
throws much responsibility for the lynching
on him; because, had he sctad as he ough {
to have done, those men might have had a
fair and impartial trial. and the community
would not have been compelled to witness
such an outrage. The citizens, both white
and cUlored, were very excited. and a thou
sand run ors were aftOat. And to such a
pitch did the excitement run that at night a
great many of the citizens armed them
selves and feeling of uneasiness pervadei
our town, all through the culpability OF our
officers.
Ii the lyrching had occurred immediately
after the outrage, we might say that on the
spur OF the moment the passions of the
people were excited to such pitch thft
they committed the deed, and it would lose
half its horror. But in this case it was
different the passions had cooled aud the
lynching was canvassed in cold blood.
After or before hanging the men they
were shot. j. is burning shame to o
Christian community that such Darbarous
feelings should pervade the human breast.
AS much as we condemn the lynchers and
their unlawful and barbarous conduct. we
al - l. t..
Our object in giving you this statement is
to give you the facts as near as possible,
that they may 20 before the public through
your valuable columns. Hoping that you
will give this place, We remain yours
truly, OBSERVERS.