The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-10-13
THE COAHOMA RIOT.
A Carpet.Bag Negro OMcfaI of
the Ames Clan at the Bot.
tom of il.

Memphis Appeal
Below We publish the statement o.
Senator Alcorn, written in response tC
the Appeal representative
FRIAR's PoINT, MISSISSIPPI, !
October 7, 1875. !
=" N. Hop Johnston, Esq;
Replying to your inquiry touching
the race conflict now existing In this
county, 1 will give you as briefly as
can the main points One John Brown,
mulatto from Ohio, has been for the
past two years sheriff of this county. He
was elected on the Ames ticket, and has
had, and now has, the warm support Of
the Executive. For the past month he
| has been making the most infammatory
speeches to the negroes of the county ;
| has made the disorders in other portions
| of the State pretext for not only the
abuse of the whites of this county, but
has urged the negroes to prepare for the
enforcement of what he called their
rights. Brown was in the habit of stating
TO the negroes that his race had been
murdered throughout Mississippi; that
the grass was growing over the ground of
their murdered dead, and that he was
here to protect and defend them; that
he asked the whites no odds, and that
they should obey the law. In these
speeches Brown used my name freely
charged that l was a Democrat, an old
stakeholder, and that no colored man
should put his trust in me- This is a
community of planters, and not politi-
- Al - "a r Al
of the county, as to who shall hold them,
if they will but discharge the duties.
My interest in the community caused me
to take part in the effort to allay excite
ment. [ sent messengers, and spoke
freely with the negroes, urging them not
to believe Brown, but to feel assured of
the friendship of the whites; pointed
them to the fact that every planter was
anxious to obtain hands to gather the
crops; that we did not wish to kill me-
groes, but that we were constantly ad-
ding, by importation, negroes to our
population. Brown, denouncing all such
statements as hypocritical, urged the ne
grOes to hold themselves in readiness.
On the night of the second of October,
being called on, | made an imprOmptu ad- |
dress to the people at the courthouse, |
and there in his presence arraigned |
Brown for his incendiary speeches. He |
denied one of my statements, to which / |
replied with point. The meeting closed |
without any further demonstrations. Soon |
after this a rumor prevailed that Brown
to bring the negroes, with their
arms, to town Monday night, for the
purpose of denouncing me. No one
r. 4
but the citizens urged him not to make |
an armed demonstration on the town. |
He finally agreed that he would not do
so on Monday night, the time he had
proposed, but that he would bring his |
clans, without arms, on the day follow
ing. No one objected to this. On Tues
day, the day appointed for the proposed |
denunciation on the part of Brown, in
came that armed negroes |
were moving toward the town in large |
bodies, making threats of violence There |
were not over a hundred white men in |
town, and half Of these were without |
arms. Citizens went to Brown urging |
him to send the advancing column back. |
A paper was brought to me for my sigma
ture, offering to Brown the services of a
posse to keep the peace. L signed it, and |
was told that the negroes would be in
duced to return to their homes. | had |
seated myself in my office, on the sup |
position that all was quiet, and | don't |
think it was more than thirty minutes |
when runner came to me with the |
statement that a heavy column of ex-
cited negroes had already reached the
border of our town. | seized my gun,
L. Co., : h j
when | had reached that spot the front |
of the advancing column was in full view. |
L could not guess their numbers, but |
there were several hundred. | fastened |
to rally our forces. Each and all our
white citizens, without regard to party, |
fell into line. Gen. Chalmers was in the |
town-had his baggage in hand ready to
leave for one of his courts, but he ex-
changed the saddlebag for the pistol, and
was soon in command of our little squad. |
Mr.. White, our Baptist divine, was soon
on horseback, urging our people to stand
firm. Dick Cooper, one of Morgan's
captains, was soon on the warpath, our
forces now numbering seventy-five men.
The negroes had now halted for parley
a few were willing to desist, but their
chief officer declared his purpose to sack
the town. The negroes were rapidly
reinforcing. Chalmers sent a courier,
demanding that they should retire their
forces within fifteen minutes or he would
charge upon them. They fell back
mile and half, but were still reinforcing.
We thought it advisable to drive them
back, and they fell back to a bridge
about two miles south, and there took
ctr T1OSitinp In tho fiDaa Onr
forces had been augmented to about a
hundred men with arms. A skirmish
began at the bridge, which ended in the
fight of the negroes. Brown escaped,
his general fled; no one was hurt. Of
the movements subsequently you are
already advised. There could not have
been a more unprovoked war on the
whites of our town. There has been for
the past three years no Democratic or
ganization in this county. Not a single
imprudent speech has been made by
any white man in the county, so far as |
know. Not a negro had been killed by
a white man in this county since the close
of the war And when Sheriff Browns
Republican friends, now nine months
since, obtained a release from his bond
on plea, well taken, that he wrongfully
held four thousand seven hundred and
twenty five dollars of the money of the
taxpayers in his hands, and that he was
endeavoring to enforce a fraudulent de-
mand on the County Treasurer, Repub-
lican, for six thousand FIVE hundred
dollars more, the Democrats of the coun-
ty, in the hope that they might control
the Sheriff in the interest of peace, made
mn his h0nd hv an array of some half a
dozen of the most wealthy names in the