Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-09-15
"OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS


ing Southern outrages." II our readers
will glance at the numbcrless small Demo-
cratic newspapers that derive a precarious
support from an unfortunate people they
will see the above sentence repeated many
times nowadays. The immediate cause is
the full accounts which VIC have published
of the recent outrage at Clinton, Miss. For
the benefit Of such papers we reproduce
herewith a couple of extracts from two
newspapers not inclined to deal very large
ly in the "bloody-shirt" business. The
first is from the principal Democratic paper
of the Mississippi ValIcy--the 81. Louis
Repu62ican-and is as follows. Cut 1t
out aud rreaerre 1t:
"Hinds County has total popuia.son .oi
| 30,400-9,s00 whites and 10000 blacks.
These figures tell the story. The blacks
outnumber the whites two to ono. + 4
At the beginning of the fight there were
probably four negroes to one white man on
the ground ; at the end of it there were no
negroes to be found except those who had
been shot dead by the other side. = o
Nobody ever heard OF a Fl ght between whites
and blacks in the South being queled by
the local officers, and nobody ever will !;
these fights generally, if not invariably,
take place in districts where the blacks out
number the whites, and always end as did
this affair at Clinton--in the whites rally
ing from the surrounding country, attack
ing the negro mob, massacreing unknown
numbers Of them, and driving the rest in
terror from the disputed ground. In short,
they end in a butchery of the blacks and a
victory for the whites. AU the accounts
zoe haze received Of the Clinton affair,
eccn those from the side Of the sohites,
indicate that the latter rere to blame
for it-if not for the commencement, at
least for the pitiless cruelty scith qchich
they conduct it,"
So this, at least, is not an Inter. Ocean
canard. Our letters from the scene of the
troubles have told how the blacks were
cautioned against bringing arms to the
ground, and how they observed the advice
given, coming to the scene of the massacre
in defenseless condition.
The second extract is from the New
York Herald, which paper laments the
occurrence principally, it would seem, be-
cause in its own words 1t will "scare peo-
pie back into the Republican party" Says
the Herald:
Unfortunately for Mississippi, this is not
an isolated case Of nnprovoked outrage up
on colored people within few months.
% the 4th Of July, when the blacks Of
Vicksburg met quietly in the Court House
to celebrate the day, a few white ruflians in
truded on tho meeting, and after insulting
and NOISY demeanor, began to shoot right
and left, and broke up the assemblage.
There was not the least excuse for this; but
we do not remember that any one was pun.
ished for it, though the men wtro very well
KNOWN
And the Inter-Ocean may add right
here that it saw no condemnation Of this
crime in the columns of the Herald or any
other Democratic newspaper in tie North.
But the article continues:
"In the first place, it is easy to see that
such brutality as this Clinton outrage is
of the greatest use to Northern demagoglies
who want to "hoist the bloody Shirt The
white people of Mississippi ought to UNDER
stand that the Northern people are very
impatient under such things. They do not
wish the least harm to the Southern whites.
We are all ready here to say that the war
is over, and to let bygones be bygones. But
such outrages as that Of the 4th Of July at
Vicksburg and at Clinton on Saturday
arouse bad blood here in the North, We
remarked the other day that the folly of the
Ohio Democrats was soaring the people
back into the Republican party, and was
putting that party into the hands of its least
scrupulous men. But these Mississippi
brutalities do even more than Allen and
Pendlet0n to this end. Again, the whites
Of Mississippi would do well to remember
that it 10 not prudent to goad even long
subejct and naturally mild race to extremes.
BY such wanton attacks on peaceable color
ed people, as are but too frequent there, they
are arousing Gevil that some day may rise
upon them in fury. They cannot 90 on
forever permitting injustice and outrage to-
ward weaker race"
ut L. of the greatest use to demagogucs
who want to hoist the bloody shirt" says
the Herald. In the name of humanity, is
1t not about time, according to its own
showing. that somebody should denounce
such crimes? Call them demagogues If
you please the fact that they are not blind
to acts OF this character, but, seeing them,
cry out against the bloody iniquity, is sui.
ficient to redeem them from ali opprobrium.
And yet, according to the Herald, the era
of peace and reconciliation ia at hand Let