The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-01-21
REIGN OF TERROR IN LOUISIANA.

.. .. M. 10. e..
REIGN OF TERROR m LOUISIANA.
Wholesale Butcheries by the White
League.
$500 PERSONS KILLED SINCE 1866
| FOR POLITICAL REASONS ALONE.
Unimpeachable Testimony.
| EXTRACTS FROM PRESIDENT GRANTS
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE SENATE.
! A State administration was organ
lied with VIM. P. Kellogg as Gov
ernor, which, in the discharge of my
| duty under section 4, article 4 Of the
constitution, I have recognized as the
government Of the State. It has been
bitterly and persistently alleged that
kellogg was not elected. Whether
he was or not is not altogether Ger
tain; not any more certain than that
his competitor McEnery was chosen.
The election was gigantic fraud and
there are no reliable returns of its re-
quilt. Kellogg obtained possession of
the Office, and in my opinion ha. more
right to it than his competitor.
The supporters Of McEnery proceed
fd>to displaoe by force in some
points of the State, the appointees of
Gov. Kellogg, and on the 18th of
April in an effort to that end a
putcheryof citizens was committed at
Colfax which, in bloodthirstiness and
parbarity, is hardly surpassed by any
pets of savage warfare.
To put the matter beyond contro-
Fersy, l quote from the charge of
Judge Wood, Of the United States
Circuit court, to the jury in the case
of the United States vs.. Cruikshank
and others, in New Orleans, in March,
1874. He said in the case on trial ::
There are many facts not in contro-
versy. proceed to state some of
them in the process of hearing of
counsel on both sides, and if 1 state
as q conceded fact any matter that
is disputed, they can correct me. At
ter stating the origin of the difficulty
which grew out of an attempt of
white persons to drive the parish
judge and sheriff, appointees of Kel-
logg, from Office, and their attempted
protection by colored people, which
lead to some fighting, in which quite
q number of negroes were killed and
taken prisoners, fifteen or sixteen of
1.-THE blacks had lifted the boards and
taken ke refuge under the floor Of the
Court House. They were all captur-
led. About thirty-seven were taken
|Eprisoners. The number is not defn-
|itely fixed. They were kept under
guard until dark, when they were led
l'out three by three, and shot. Most
Iof the men were shot 10 death a feu
were wounded, not mortally, and by
supposing them to be dead, were af:
terwards, during the night, able to
make their escape. Among them
Twas the leader, Nelson, named in the
indictments. The dead bodies of the
negroes killed in the affair were left
unburied till Tuesday, April 18th,
when they were buried by a deputy
marshal and an officer of the militia
from New Orleans. These persons
found So dead bodies. They showed
pistol shot wounds, the great majority
in the heart, and many of them in the
back Of the head. In addition to the
dead found, some charred remains of
dead bodies were discovered near the
ECourt House. Six dead bodies we're
found under warehouse, all shot in
the heart but one or two, which were
Ijshot in the breast.
/ THE ONLY WHITE MEN INJURED,
from the beginning of these troubles
Ito their close, were Hadnot and Har-
Iris. The Court House and its con-
tents were entirely consumed. There
lis no evidence that any one in the
Ecrowd of the whites bore any lawful
|lwarrant for the arrest Of the blacks.
4 There is no evidence that either Nash
or Gazabat, after the affair, ever de-
Emapded trial before an officer who
feven set up claim to legally act but
1.-THE Register continued to act as
Parish Judge.
/ These are the facts of this case, as
I understand them to be admitted
ITO hold the people Of. Louisiana gen
era1ly responsible for these atrocities
fwou1d not be just but it is lament
liable fact that insuperable Instructions
were thrown in the way Of Furnishing
these murderers, and the State not
only
JUSTIFIED THE MASSACRE,
but denounced as Federal tyranny
and despotism" the attempt of the
United States officers to bring them
to justice. Fierce denunciations ring
through the country about office hold.
ling and election matters in Louisiana
while every one of the Colfax mis-.
creants goes unwhipped ofjustice, and
no way can be found in this boasted
land of civilization and Christianity
to punish the perpetrators of this
bloody and monstreus crime.
THE coUsHATTA MASSACRE.
! Not unlike this was the massacr,
in August last. Several northern
young men Of capital and enterpris.
had started the little and flourishinf