The Richmond palladium., 1875-01-20

~ by Warmoth and others Was equiv
alent to twenty thousand>voters. and
they add that to recognize the MeEn
cry government would be recognizing
government based upon fraud. in
| defiance of the wishes and intentions
I of the voters Of the State. Assuming
/ the correctness of the statements In
! this report, and they seem to hsve
been generally accepted by the coun
| try, the great crime in Louisiana
about which so much has been done
and said. is that one is holding the
4 out of twenty thousand votes against
smother whose title to the Office is uu-
doubsedly based on fraud and in def
ance of the wishes and intentions OF
the voters Of the State. Misinformed
and misjudging as to the nature and
extent of this report the supporters
of McEnery proceeded to displace by
! force in some parts of the State the
appointees of Governor kellogg, aud
on the 18th of April. in an effort of
/ that kind, butchery of citizens was
committed at Colfax which, in blood
| thirstiness and barbarity, 10 hardly
surpassed by any acts of savage war
fare
To put the matter beyond contro-
| versy, | quote from the charge of
Judge Woods, 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. l proceed to state some of
them in the presence and hearing of
the council on both sides, and if l
state as conceded fact any matter
that is disputed they can correct me"
| After stating the origin of the difi
Guilty, 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 persons. which
| led to fighting, in which quite a num-
Der of negroes We're killed, the Judge
states that most of those who were
| or sixteen of the blacks had lifted the
| floor of the Court House They we're
all captured About thirty-seven men
were taken prisoners. The number is
not de6nately fixed. They we're kept
under cover until dark. when they
were led out by twos and threes and
shot Most Of the men were shot to
death. A few were wounded not NOR
tally, and by pretending to be dead
were afterwards, during the night,
able to make their escape. Among
| them was the Levi Nelson named in
the indictment. The dead bodies of
the negroes killed in this affair were
left unburied till Tuesday, April Is,
when they were buried bya deputy
marshal and an officer Of the militia
from New Orleans These persons
found fifty nine dead bodies. They
showed pistol-shot wounds, the great
majority in the heart and most of them
in the back of the head. In addition
to the dead found, some charred re-
mains of dead bodies were discovered
near the Court house. Six dead
bodies we're found under a warehouse,
all shot in the heart but one or two,
which were shot in the breast. The
only men injured from the beginning
of these troubles to their close were
Hadnet and Harris The Court house
and its contents were entirely consum-
ed. There is no evidence that any
one in the crowd Of whites bore any
lawful warrant for the arrest of any
of the blacks. There is no evidence
that either Nash or Cozabot after the
affair. ever demanded the Office which
they had set up claim to, but the Reg
lister continued to act as parish judge.
These are the facts in this case as 1
understand them to be admitted To
hold the people Of Louisiana generally
responsible for those atrocities would
that insuperable obstructions we're
thrown in the way of Furnishing these
murderers and SO called Conserva-
tives Papers of 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 de-
nupciations ran through the country
about oficeholders and election mat
ters in Louisiana, while every one of
the Colfax miscreants goes, unwhip-
ped of Justice, and no way can be
found in this boosted land Of cIviliza-
ton and Christianity to punish the
perpetrators of this bloody and mon
strous crime.
Not unlike this was the massacre in
August last. Several Northern young
men of capital and enterprise had
started the little and f1ourishing town
of Coushatta. Some Of them were
Republicans and Office holders under
Kellogg They were, therefore. doom
ed to death. Six of them were seized
and carried away from their homes
and m ardered in cold blood. No one
has been punished, and the Conserva-
tive press of the State denounced all
efforts to that end, and boldly justified
the crime. Many murders of a like
character have been committed in in
dividual cases which cannot here be
detailed. Fer example. T. 8. Craw-
ford. judge of the Parish, and the
District Attorney of the Twelfth Ju-
dicial District of the State, while on
their way to court, we're shot from
their horses by men in ambush on the
9Th of October, and the wife OF the
former, iD a communication to the De-
partment of Justice, tells piteous
tale of the prosecutions of her husband
because he was . Union man; OF the
efforts made to seize those Who had
committed crime which, to use her
language. left two widows and nine
orphans desolate. To say that the
murder Of negro or white Republi-
can is not considered a crime in Lou
isiana. would probably be unjust to
great part of the people; but ii is true
that a great number of such murders
have been committed and no one has
been punished therefor, and mani
testify the spirit of hatred and violence
is stronger than law.
Representations were made to me
that the presence of troops in Iouisi-