Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-12-01
A TALE or HORROR.
The Means Employed to Garry Louisiana
for Tilden.
Especial dispatch to the Chicago Tribune


The Means Employed to Garry Louisiana
for Tilden.
Especial dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.l
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 26.-There
arrived in this city to-day number
of witnesses from Ouachita Parish
who present most pitiful spectacle,
and whose stories are 80 awful, that
persons who cannot zee them and
near them tell their own tales would
be justified in incredullty. They
were brought down by military es-
cort, with a United States Deputy
Marshal, and there was no little diff
Guilty in getting them away from the
parish. Among them is Ben James,
the United States Deputy Marshal
who was shot while carrying the
ballot-box to the Log Town poll on
the morning of election and left for
dead. He has two bullet wounds in
his head, two wounds in his right
arm, which is broken, and one in the
hip. Another is
ELIZA PINKSTON,
whose husband, Henry Pinkston, and
whose baby were murdered by a
band of bulldozers on the Saturday
preceding the election. Eliza was
present, and saw her husband cut all
to pieces in his own house, and his
body dragged out and shot full of
bullets after he was dead. The ba-
by was killed in her arms. She has
a bullet wound in her breast, which
passed through her lung and out of
her back, deep cash from a knife
in her neck, a bullet-wound in one
leg, a cut with knife from the hip
nearly to the knee, and her head is
covered with wounds, one of which
was given with the butt end OF a
pistol and the other with an axe
The cords in one of her feet are also
severed. She was LETT for dead, and
how she has survived so long seems
to be miracle, as for two or three
weeks she has been almost constant
ly hunted by the Tilden men who
murdered her husband and babe.
HENRY PINKSTON
is represented as 4 colored man
somewhat different from the MAORI
ty i'll that he seemed incapable of
fear. The bulldozers had beeu to
him several times to get him to Join
a Democratic club, but he had open
ly declared that he would do moth
ing Of the kind, and when threaten
ed, took no pains to conceal his con-
tempt for the bulldozers, and said
he was afraid of none of them. On
THE SATURDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE
ELECTION
Eliza states that she heard a body of
horsemen stop in front of their house,
and man came to the door whose
voice she recognized, and said he
was Brewster, Republican candidate
for the Legislature, and that he had
made arrangements to have him
Pinkston) safely conducted to Mon
roe, where he could vote the Repub-
lican ticket on election day. She
said; "No, you are not Mr. Brews-
ter Henry is not here" They then
broke in the door, and one called
out, "Gag him! God damn him!
Gag him" And the room was filled
with armed men, who with their
knives stabbed her husband till, as
she said, his body was filed with
holes, and the blood dropped like
water on the floor. They then drag
ged him out, and shot him a great
many times afterwards. A man said
to her, ELIZA, put down that baby"
She said: 'If you are going to Kill
me, kill my baby, too" A man then
with his knife
CUT THE BABY's THROAT,
at the same time cutting ELIAS hand,
which was thrown up to guard the
child. She was then cut and shot
and left for dead. When she came
to her senses she had not 4 stitch of
clothes lett on her back, and she went
to many of the colored peoples cab
ms, but most of them were afraid to
give her shelter, for fear of the ven
geancc of the bulldozers who were
hunting her. Her story is almost be-
yond belief, but her wounds are
there to testify more eloquently than
words.
ANOTHER WITNESS,
James Henry Coleman,was under the
house when Pinkston was killed, hav-
ing jumped out of a window. After
the men left who killed Pinllston he
crawled out, but was taken on the
road by the same party. A rope was
placed about his neck, and he was
dragged down to the river, and he
believes that it was the intention to
drown him, but a shot was fired, and
the party, for some reason, gallopcd
off and left him.
STILL ANOTHER.
Joe Sheldon has a bullet in his
breast and his hand is all shot to
pieces. He states that this course
was taken to induce him to Join a
Democrat club, and he was shot two
weeks before the election. He did
finally vote for Tilden and Reform
at the Trenton poll. a man named
Willie Howard, who is a leading
Democrat and who denounced Con
gresham elect Leonard and Attorney
General Hunt, the Republican can
didatcs, as liars at a Republican
mass meeting previous to the election.
Sheldon had refused to join Demo
cratic club, and masked men had
visited his house during his absence.
On his return his wife told him about
it, and urged him to join the club, as
nearly all the colored men around
there had done so for fear of losing
their lives. He left home again, and
when he started back he was met on
the road by the man Howard. 1t
was a dark night, but the lightning
occasionally madeit bright. He saw
the man fire into the air twice and
he was afraid. The man asked him