The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-02-02
Z Political Murders.

On this subject the gros5est MISC
hoods 8re daily fabricated ana sent
Broadcast throughout the country. The
air Is filled with them by the Kellogg
officials. Indeed, II Is the capital by
which they aim to elicit the sympathy
their own usofpAtion. An examination
and scrutiny OF the testimony taken
will satisfy any impartiel mind that nt
| least nine-tenths Of these stories are
without any just foundation. The reck-
lessness and disregard OF the common
decencies and proprieties OF life with
which some officers OF the army have
gathered up these atrOciOus fabrlcatiOns
and sent them to the world with their
official sanction, thus aiming to bolster
up the monstrous ustlrpatiOn that now
| dominates over that unhappy people,
should be strongly condemned. They
have neither witnessed any OF these acts
nor taken any testimony In regard
thereto, but have reckleBsly and un-
scrupulously gathered up the ISLANDERS
with which the ,lsurpers have poisoned
tho air, and hoped to give them credit
by their official PRONUNCIATION.
| With the exception OF the cases Of
riots which have occurred. the causes oil
which / shall not here attempt to dis
c,lss, ind which have been heralded to
|
and shade Of coloring, very few cases OIL
homicide, or even Of assault, have been
shown growing out OF political quarrels.
That hOmicides arc fearfully frequent
| in the State Is unquestiOnable, and much
| TO be- deprecated. But l think the evil
donce very clearly shows that In great
majority OF cases the murlerers and the
victims alike are negroes. Indeed,
tho cases in which negroes are as
saulted or killed. by negroes are so
frequent and common rs to scarcely
attract attention outside OF the I'M
mediate circle OF the victims. While
your committee was in New Orleans,
two negro Republicans, high kel-
logg officials, had u drunken quarrel Mt
midnight, In saloon, and one, the As
sistant Secretary OF State, was instantly
killed; and yet this elicisod no special
attention. and was scarcely the subject
of q passing remark. II the man kill.
| ing this sable high public functionary
had happened to be white man and u
Democrat, all know that 1t would have
been hernlded to the four ends OF the
earth as TN evidence Of the barbarity,
cruelty, and Intolerance Of the white
people OF the South, and 1t would doubt.
less have found its place In ringing and
high wrought sentences In the pages OF
| a Congressional report. Mobs and afro
cious crimes by negroes are not unire.
uuent, but us there Is no political capital
| TO be made OF them, they are not made
the subject OF Congressional investiga-
ton, and their history is permitted to
drop into obscurity or forgetfulness.
One Of these Is described IN the testi-
mony Of Gen. Thomas, which give,
and another Of a most atrocious charac-
ter has, as shown by the newspapers,
/ s,,k uov ria n al
committee left the State.
duced by the Republicans, who attempt
| ga to give shape and form to these
charges OF political murders, was an
ignorant negro from De Soto parish, by
| the name OF J. J. johnson. He WAS a
| member Of the Legislature, having been
cess although ii bosse5nT at the pills by
over one thousand majority. Ho got
along swimmingly with frightfui story
! OF intimidation and political murders,
NEARLY all OF which was afterwards dis
proved by Judge Elan, a gentleman Of
| the highest charactcr), until he reached
| the process OF q REORGANIZATION. Thls
johnson protested to have kept from
1858 a regular record, made at the time
Of each Homicide, Of all the murders In
that parish up to 1875. He handed the
committee a paper which he said was {.
list OF one hundred and twenty-six
negroes killed in the parish during that
time for political purposes. On OK
animation it was found that there were
but twelve names on tho list, one hun
dred and fourteen being added In bulk,
without names, to make up the number.
or these twelve It appeared, on cross
examination, that he knew little or
i coAki,1 An,no NJ fhon vuora white
mon some he knew nothing OF, except
that their naIAes wore oa tha liat he
had no personal knowledge OF the death
| Of any OF them, and even from hearsay
| he could finally name but two that he
could say were killed for political cause.
| And yet this man protested to have kept
| q regular account OF every man killed In
the paifsh sihcp lsaa The list, or
rather the whole story, had manifostly
been made up for him by some one en-
gagged In the outrage manufacture. And
| this Is the kind Of material from which
Gen. Sheridan makes up his frightful
reports, .5.
/ cannot here oven refor TO all the evil
pie will mention Natchltoches, which
was the most disturbed parish in the
State, and there the people were greatly
excited and embittered on account OF
their ruinous local government, which,
under Republican and negro rule, had
increased the taxes until they reached
about eight per cent on q high assess
ment OF Property; There WAS more evil
dence charging intimidation and ostra-
cism for political cause in this parish
than any other In tho State, and yet
there was none showing single homi-
eide growing out Of the political quar-
rels. E. L. Pierson, Of Natchitoches, a
member OF the Kellogg Legislature by
virtue OF the magnanimous action OF
the Returning Board, was examined as
witness against the Conservatives,
and was evidently strongly prejudiced
against them, and DESTROYS Of making
as strong o cass as possible against
them, and yet In regard to the political
murders his testimony was as follows:
Q.--Have there ever been murders In the
parish for political opinion? A.-Well, sir am
for political opinion or not
Q.-None that you know of A.-No. sir.
OF the homictdes In the State, white
men are generally killed by whites, and
colored men BY men OF their own race.
The exceptions on either side are rare.
There was q good deal Of evidence oerti-
fled officially from tho records Of the
parishes In regard to felonies, and espe-