Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-10-06
Interview with Lewis Thomas.CoIored.


Thos. II. Allen dispatch from
reliable party 10 $50 mel and ammunition 10
tTiars Point.
Interview with Lewis Thomas. q OIOred.
An APPEAL reporter met with Lewis
Thomas, a COlOred planter, who lives about
thirty miles back Of Frlars Point, who came
up on the Quickstsp yesterday morning to
purchase suppIts and implements for MS
farm. Lewis Thomas Is IN Intelligent oiored
man, who, bv hard 4abOT and close attention
40 his gUn business" has acquired quite a
competency, owning splendid farm OF over
four hundred acres In COanoma county. He
has one hundred ami twenty-five acres under
cultivation this year, OF which about eighty
acres are in cotton. He is not az all in syn
patry with the ksdical element
THE DISTURBERs OF THE PEACE
and good order of the county, he says-and is
very positive in the opinion that If the col
oIet people would let politics alone. and 90
along and attend to the cultivation of their
farms, OF take ADVANTAGE OF the great demand
for labOrers row prevailing, the whole cOuu-
try would be better of He states that the
prime cause OF the trouble in COahOma
county IS that the present sheriffJo Brown,
CO Ored,.is charged with
ALL MANNER OF CORRUPTIONS,
and Ia at his beck and call a host OF bad
men. who are ever ready to do his bidding.
l.astSaturday, during the day, Brown called
his crowd together in what he terms a couVen-
ton of the Republican party, at which he
BROWN wsS nominated for re election % the
Office Of sheriff. Another bad man named
Smith, alss eolored, was nominated for cir
cult and ctanceTg clerks. Nov, this man
Smith, originally from Ohio, but recently
J ON Bolivar county, has already three offices.
He emigrated from Bolivar county during
last winter into Coahoma county, where he
was elected TO the State senate to I'LL an unex-
pired term, after which he was crammed into
the position OF superintendent of education.
Nit. Alcorn, son OF the governor, and
THE ONLY WHITE MAN
on the ticket, was also nominated ai this So
called convent on, for county treasurer, All
the balance of the favored of this nominating
machine were colored followers ofsSheriG
Brown. The announcement of the action OF
the Brownies, and the manner of its accom-
plishment created the greatest dissatisfaction
and confusion, to the extent that at night
convention was called and held III the court
mouse, at which the taxpayers and solid cit
liens OF the county we've in attendance. This
was called and considered
THE REGULAR CONVENTION
of the Conservative voters of the county.
Judge Ruells, a prominent citizen whose
standing for integrity. honesty and intelli-
gence is second to none in Coahoma county,
was called 10 the chair, and julius Elagg, an
intelligent cOlOred man, appointed secretary.
This convention proceeded to the nomination
OF ticket, with the following result: For
sheriff, Judge Harrison P. Reid; for circuit
clerk, julius Flagg, colOred; for chancery
clerk, George Alcorn. The latter two Offices
were consolidated into one by the BroWnfteS,
to which Mr.. Smith, as above mentioned, was
nominated. After the above nominations,
the convention was addressed by Judge Har-
Governor AlcOrn, durin which the latter de-
nOunced the action of the Brownies in the
seyerest terms, and proclaimed it as facttha
Brown, the present sheriff and nominee of the
Radicals for reelection, had already defraud-
ed the county out of
FORTY-SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS,
and in many other respects had proven him
self unworthy the trust of the people; that
there was not one hundred dollars worth of
tax receipts held by the entire represen taUion
in the convention that nominated him for re-
election. These severe remarks OF EX-GOv-
ernOr Alcorn created considerable confusion,
during which Chairman RuckS abruptly ad-
journed the convention, whereupon Sheriff
Brown, who was present and leader in the
confusion, mounted q prominent position
and called meeting, to be held Monday
night, when he would take occasion to prove
that
EX-GOVERNOR ALCORN HAD LIED.
AS far as our informant knew no disturbance
occurred Saturday might, but feeling ran
high, and as the matter was discussed the
ch2Snl between the cOnteSting elements grew
wider, and II was thought that serious trouble
would arise before the meeting or Monday
night transpired. Lewis Thomas placed no
confidence in the wild rGmorS afiOat yeSter-
day morning, but could not say positively
what tTanspired, as he left FrIars Point on the
QUickstep before the meeting came off. Oar
informant related the distressing fact that
the cOttOn-pic6erS are actually fleeing the
country on account of
THE THREATS
made by the leaders in these dissensionS and
that IL is almost Impossible to get men to 90
there 10 pick out the cotton. He says that by
this time last year ne had realized three
bales to the hand from his cotton fields,
when, up to now, when the yield has been
more than twO-fold greater, he can scarcely
count on as much as one bale to the hand.
The minds of the pickers are kept in such
A STATE OF TURMOIL
by the pol tical disturbances, that it is next
to impossible TO get them To work. Our ia.
fOrInant states that II the Mississippi river
had deluged the entire country, and swept
from the face of the earth the entire crops of
the NJ Mtssissippi valley, the confusion, disorder
and damage to the material interests of the
country could not have been much greater
than is being brought about by these political
dissensiOnS. He states that there rs q large
NUMBER OF Industrious,
HARD WORKING COLORED MEN
who, like himself, have accumulated a little
farm and home, and who are trying to
make of themselves and their families useful
citizens; that they appreciate the fact that
the black and white people are almost indis-
pensable TO each other in this country, and
that If left alone they can get along smoothly
and prosper, and by united effort can restore
this part OF the country to Its former great
ness and financial standing. But, on the
other hand, there are numbers of them with
out a home or habitatiOn. who are continual
ly. wandering from place TO place ready to
take q hand IN anything calculated to unset
tie the country, by which they hope to
PLAY GRAB
at whatever comes in sight, ana they most al
ways make for the offices. he is in favor OF
TluIlng Jne country OF JneS9 ulStufDerS, so
that tae quietly-disposed may pursue their
avOeatiOns of industry in peace He was
pretty severe on some schoolteachers who
have eSsayei to lead the colored mind by in
stilling into them more ef politics than of
common sense, which always is made use of
in the campaigns, and by which the aforesaid
teacher Is almost always promoted to some
position where there is
MORE MONEY THAN LABOR,
and by which they are enabled to I'LL their
pockets with the hard earnings OF the tOllers
of the soil, and then HE away to other and
more salubrious climes. Our informant
dWelt upon this class in about this vein for
some length, which leads 10 the conclusion
that the cOlOred people have been greatly i'm
posed upon by the fanatical schOOl-teacher.
He returned to Friars Point yesterday evening
by the Quickstep, saying as he parted with u
that he had come to Memphis on business,
which he had transacted satisfactorily, and
now he was
GOING To RETURN HOME,
where he would pursue his business accord
nd IN n 10