Litchfield enquirer., 1875-06-03
&4s4s EfgHpzs SH st sss45t From the New Yrok. Herald. = t LoUIsiAMA- .
NEW ORT.HAEsA ApriI 28. I8

| A friend WH1E0S me rom the North thls
 question, 'sAre white and black Union
 men safe in life, liberty and property in
 Louisiana? That is the question which
 we of the North want to have honestly
 and seriously answered."
 l answer:-First, the population of Lou
 isiana is divided politically into republi-
 cans, called here radicals; and democrats,
 called here conservatives. They are all
 Union men. It IS absurd and wicked to
 keep up the old war animosity by giving
 to the Southern republicans the special
 title of 'sUnion men," The republican
 party in Louisiana contains great many
 men who were bitter secessionists, not on-
 ly during, but after the war; One of the
 most conspicuous republicans, who came
 before the Congressional Committee with
 complaints, and who was proved there and then by documentary evidence to be a
 rogue Judge Myers, of Natchitoches, was
 a Breckenridge democrat before the war. Another, Green, who admitted that he
 and his sons held pretty much all the off ces Tn Lincoln parish, made Q speech in the Legislature after the war advocating payment for slaves. I could mention dog
 ems of cases. On the other hand, in my limited acquaintance in the State, l know at least fifteen Northern men, who were
 strenuous republicans in the North, most of whom still openly act with the Nation al republican party Tn federal elections,
 but who vote and use all their influence for the democratic or conservative party ln State and parish affairs There are hundreds of such men in the state Even the republicans themselves are not so ab- l surd as to arrogate to themselves the title of "Union men" They would be laughed l at sd %. t,-i " .-s-.--
 What my correspondent, and no doubt many other Northern men, want to know IS whether Northern men and negroes are safe and can get security and justice in Louisiana; and to this reply, unhesita- tingly, ''Yes." It is perfectly true, as I said in previous letter, that between 1865 and 1868 there was good deal of savage and brutal wrong inflicted on blacks; and in the same period, probably for year or two later. Northern men who came here to take possession of the State | politically, and who at once began pro digious system of public plunder, we're | not always safe from the anger and resent ment of the native whites utseveral of the most prominent republican politicians of the city have told me positively that the State was peacable and quiet from 1868 to 1872. and that since then the whites had been dissatisfied mainly because they be- heyed sincerely Shat Kellogg was not fair ly elected Governor. and that his rule was that of a usurper. If General Sheridan ever turns in his famous list of ?, 800 mur- ders, and puts dates to them, it will be found that the political murders happened before 1868, with the exception of the Coushatta affairs. Myers, the corrupt Judge who claims te have been driven out ot Natchtoches parish assured me that that parish was one of the most quiet ln the State until 1874, when he and swim ding tax collector were driven out.
 t,,aI Ihas MSl lRarish has become se aaterinnss taIaza some pains to ascertain the facts; because there, if anywhere, persecution of Northern men and negroes would be found. Now, then-First, an official re- port, properly authenticated, of the mur- ders committed in this parish from 1858 to 1875 lies before me. They number fOrty-one, and of those there were whites murdered by whites, 13; colnred- murder ed by colored, 13; whites by coIored, 4; cOlOred by whites. 3; whites by all an known person, 3; colored by unknown, l; colOred by officers of justice in serving process, 3; Indian by a white maB, l. Now somebody may object that the rec ord is not correct, but to that the reply is that the parish has been almost continual ly since 1868 under Republican officers, and that the Coroner Is reputed here as elsewhere, to be an officer very jealous in the collection of fees. It is not credita- ble to the republican rulers, that for these Al hOmicides not one man has been hang ed, and only one had been punished in ony way. should add that there is no evidence that any of these murders arose out of political causes.
 Now, then, consider that the parish had for years corrupt Judge and a. thieving tax collector, who managed to get all his sons into offices and police jury County supervisors) made up mainly of illiterate negroes. Governor Kellogg, for instance, Tn 1871, appointed as police jurors three colOred men who could neither read nor write, one white man of infamous charac- ter, whom even his fellow republicans publicly protested against, and one decent white man. Under such rulers the parish tax, which amounted to $l3,475, with valuation of 8, ,O00, 900 in 1860, rose to S46, S94 on valuation of but 5000, 900 in 1879. S54, ,9O2 in 1870, and in 1873 it rose to SS2, POT. This was the parish tax alone, exclusive of the State tax. The Supervisors allowed themselves one year fifty cents mile mileage for every time they met. They paid out 1,5OC for a bridge which could have been built for $3OO, and gave the contractor privilege to levy toll upon 1t for his own use when 1t was built. The Parish Judge, Myers. acknowledged before the Congressional Committee that ne had for two years re- tained $7, 800 of parish money in his pos- session, Tn violation of an order of a District Court to return 1t to the Treasu- "; he refused repeatedly to. draw juries. in order to shield his confederates;and yet this person was appointed by Governor Kellogg District Judge, higher office. The people formed 8 taxpayers associa- tion and warned Myers and one of his confederates, Tax Collector Boult, to leave the parish. The sons of Boult to-day hold offices in the parish. but none of them were killed. Myers and Boult walk about freely in New Orleans and are not molested; but they tell fearful stories of intimidation and danger to their lives, and cali themselves Union men," The Tax payers Association was composed of re- publicans as we'll as democrats, and had among it's members 300 negroes. Myers calls it white league, of course, and talks about intimidation of republican voterss but the official returns of the reg istratoin and election show these figures: The parish had by the census of 1870 1912 whites and 10,929 blacks. Of these one in five and a half blacks registered as voter and only one in seven and a half whites in 1874. the year of the disturb ance. Of the 3, ,665 who registered 3.131 actually voted, and the republicans car rled the parish by 315 majority. 10 was shown that many negroes voted with the conservatives, and many others stayed at home, because they were disgusted with the theft of the school fund. s5fF
 have taken Natchitoches as an exam pie, because it has an especially evil rep utation. Contrast with this parish in which the republicans have given the peo- pie an honest and economical government and where there has been no disturbance. There are but four or five honestly gov erned parishes in the State. | happen to be well informed about one of these, Ten