New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-10-15
BLOOD ON THE BORDER
PROGRESS OF THE EAST FE.
LICIANA REBELLION.
FIfNDlSH DEEDS BY THE WHITE LINERS
John Gair Arrested and Shot to
Death in the Woods.
His sister-in-Law Hung to a Tree
in the Clinton Courtyard,
BOTH ACCUSED OF POISONING A MAN
WHO rs ALIVE AND WELL,

Dispatches were received yesterday morn
ing from Baton Rouge. and confirmed later
in the day, that John Gair had been shot
and his sister-in-law hung by the armed
whites of East Feliciana For some time
past that parish has been in a chronic state
OF disorder, and the perpetration of deed
of violence was not entirely unlocked for,
but the taking of the life of John Gair and
the hanging of a woman exceeded in atroci.
ty anything that could be reasonably an.
ticipated.
From the dispatches received it appears
that Mr.. Gair was arrested in Baton Rouge
on Wednesday by Deputy Sheriff Wood.
ward, of EaGt Feliciana, by legal warrant,
charged as accessory before the fact to the
poisoning of DR.. j. w. Sanders. He was
taken fro N Baton Rouge at 9 P. NJ. by the
deputy sheriff and posse, in the dire elton of
Clintor, and on the road he was shot to
death. This ''posse" was an armed body of
white men, who took him on Wednesday
night to the woods, and, it is now az ser. I'd
was overpowered eleven miles from Clinton
by party of masked men, who did the
shooting.
1t is not claimed by Democrats, who agree
in the above statement of facts, that Dr..
Sanders is either dead or in bad health
Mr.. Gair was arrested as an acce ssory be.
fore the fact to an alleged attempt to poison
a man who now lives and moves as free as
the freest, bis illness unknown, if he suffers
from any, to near relatives in this city; and
he has been denied hearing or trial.
taken by masked mob, who must have
| covered their faces from very shame at the
deed they were perpetrating, and shot in
the woods, where no voice or hand was
raised in his behalf.
Afterward, a sister-in. law, named Babe
Matthews, charged with administering the
poison for Gair, dispatches Democratic
editor of Clinton, twas taken from the
guards by an armed body and hung to a
tree in the courtyard" Then follows that
graphic sentence peculiar to such scenes:
"All is now quiet"
John Gair, native of East Felicana,
was a colored man of fair ability, and ouite
prominent as leader of the Republican
party in his parish. lie was d member
| of the Cor stitutional Convention of 1865.
which framed the constitution under which
civil authority Wa, reinstituted in Louisiana
by virtue of the reconstruction acts of Con-
gress; member of the State Legislature
in 1884. He was a candidate for State
Senator, twelfth district, in 1874, receiving
in the parish of East Feliciana 1851 votes.
to 974 for Breaux Irregular Republican, and
81 for F. V. Hagaman, straight-out Dem
ocrat. At this election he ran as an indie
pendent Republican, his name headed a
compromise or Fusion ticket and he re-
ceived, as the Conservative returns given
show, almost the entire white vote. Being
defeated in the district BY the regular Re.
publican candidate, he was chosen Sergeant.
alarms of the House of Representatives
which position he held until the Wheeler
compromise resulted in the election of a
Democrat to that office.
During his Ell tire public career he has
been noted as man of conservative views.
and strong attachment to the local interests
of East Feliciana. He harbored no feeling
OF malice against his white fellow citizens
but heartily favored their representation in
the government of his parish. Through his
personal efforts the cOlored voters of the
parish were induced to cast their ballots for
Conservative candidates, receiving in re.
turn pledges of Just and honest rule. To-
day Mr. Gair and his compatriots are the
victims of misplaced confidence. He is
dead, his associates exilad, and his people
under reign OF terror.
The shooting of Mr.. Gair is, no doubt, in
pursuance OF the general policy inaugu-
rated in Mississippi some months ago, and
in East Feliciana few weeks ago, to drive
out Republican officials and leaders; to de-
moralize the party. and make the South
united for the Democratic candidate for
the Presidency in 1876 "Peaceably, if we
can, and forcibly, if we M lst," seems to be
the motto along the Democratic line, and
poor Gair has become victim to this mex
orable decree.
Nearly all the officials of East Feliciana
have been driven out, and an armed organ
ization rules supreme.
Judge Dewing arrived in the city early
yesterday morning. He declined to make
any statement to the newspaper men who
interviewed him concerning recent affairs in
Clinton, stating that what he had to say
would be in the Governors hands to-day
over his own signature.