The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-09-07
TUESDAY. sEPTEM. 7, 1875.
The Georgia Alarm.

The war of races in Georgia is
over, and not a white man hurt. The
mighty army OF blacks that was
about to com Rence its march Of des-
olatlon and death, has been dis
banded without firing a shot. In
fact, IL has vanished in thin air,
without anyone seeing its countless
legions. A few hundred innocent
black men, who knew about "a much
Of the pretended instruction as they
did about algebrn, have been crowded
into Jail, and the young men who
divide their time between the rifle
and the whisky jug, have been sent
home, with the Llessing of all the
white men and the ugly women"
who were TO have fallen victims to
the black masters of Burke, Jeffer-
son and Washington counties.
This insurrectiouary story seems
To have been groundless from begin
ming to end. y letter was picked
up by somebody. 1t purported to be
an order from ms negro to another
to commence killing the whites at "a
certain time. Without finding out
who wrote il, or taking steps 10 dis
cover what there was of truth in IT,.
the white people jumped at the con
clusion that a terrible plot to murder
and destroy was ON foot, and at once
SEM the alarm over the whole State.
The letter bore on its face evidence
OF fraud. No cOlored man with sense
enough to keep his eyes open, would
harbOr such crazy ideas, much less
commit them to paper, and then drop
them in some convenient spot for II
white man to pick up. This part of
the farce looks decidedly fshy.
The confessions, which we are in
formed have been made, sound eve
more so. Thei idea of an inSurrection
that was 10 spare all the pretty
girls and kill Off all the white men
and ugly women" is too ridiculous
to- believe for n moment. This sounds
very much like the incendiary
letter, and probably came from the
same white source. Wherever or
whoever IL came from, it has pro-
duced its effect. The white folks
have been badly scared, n few hun
dred harmless blacks have been cast
into Jail, and hundreds Of others
have been forced to flee in terror
from their cabin homes.
The Governor of the State appears
to have acted with considerable judg-
ment. He would neither order out
the militia, nor join in a general
He went down to the troubled
district, and by his orders and pres
ence, probably prevented q second
edition of the horrors of COlfaX and
Vicksburg. He no doubt arrived at
the sensible conclusion, that the cap
ture of the suspected parties without
"A show of resistance on their part,
was pretty good evidence that no
murderous organization vas to he set
in motion within twelve hours. If
the insurrection was as nearly ripe as
reported, some white men would
have been hurt in making the arrests
of the pretended leaders.
The whole affair has been exagger-
ated (; a mountain has been made out
of a mole hill n wrong has been
lone "A simple people, whose crime
has been that they love Republican,
ism and despise Democracy. 1t is
quite possible that they have held
meetings from time to time to discuss
NlHGiI lCSdl IlBulS anu u SukStNl Sblllt
remedy. BY the operation of unjust
laws, they have been practically dis.
f~ranchised. An excessive pOll-taX
has been levied upon them, which, in
effect, has cut them off from the bal
lot. 1t is but natural to suppose that
they protested against this, and sought
means to redress their grievances
but we do not believe that they ever
dreamed of i~nsurrection, or of doing
any harm to white people. If the
history of the past ten years proves
anything, it proves that the negro
race desires to live in peace, and will
bear persecution and cruel wrong,
rather than seek redress through
bloodshed.
Sooner or later the white people of
the South must recognize the consti-
tutional rights of the colored men,
and allow them to enjoy their fran
chise without molestation. No con-
hdence can exist between the two
races until this time comes. The
longer it is delayed the greater will
be the injury to both white and black.
Their interests are mutual, and with
this to unite them, each should labor
for the security and advancement of
the other. Kindness and justice will
do more to dispel fears of a negro in
surrection than all the armed forces
that a State can muster.