The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-08-23
Two Dollars a Year.

A None whatever; they came among
us as strangers at the close of the war.
e. With whom did that class affiliate
A. n great many of them affiliate,
mostly with the negroes.
z. What was the feeling and course O
action toward citizens of the Northern
States who came here as men of fail
character and as good citizens to settle in
| your midst
A. Upon the part of most of the citi.
zens, especially Of the better class, there
was no indisposition to receive them, and
great many desired them to come.
And when they came among US, rs citi
zens engaging in some business, | believe
any such man was received kindly and
treated kindly. A great many of them,
however, came among us, as | remarked
before, and engaged in no business, but
Just went among negroes, the whole aim
and purpose being to gain the confidence
| of the negroes and ALLEVIATE them from
the whites and their old masters. They
carried this 10 such an extent that some
OF them would visit the negroes houses and
cabins, and meet them on terms of social
equality. Some would not go so far but
would lnix up with them in politics. And
the general aim of that class was TO de-
stroy the confidence of the negroes in the
whites and in their old masters. | have
heard men OF this class on the stun D. i'm
addressing crowds of negroes. saw
everything they could to exasperate the
then recently emancipated negroes
against their old masters. / have heard
them lay down this rule, "You must
never follow your masters in politics !;
just watch them, and when they take one
direction you take the other, and you will
certainly be right"
Q Was this the current course of ad-
vice to this class of men?
A. So far as it fell under my obscrva-
ton, the general object was to convince
them that their old masters were unaltera-
bly, opposed to them, and that they must
look alone to Northern men for their pro
lection.
q. Was it from this class that General
Ames drew his associates and advisers
A. Yes, sir: he very soon threw oil
what he regarded as the better class of
Republicans.
Q. Threw them off?
A. Yes.
Q. Was it thought that that led to the
split of the Alcorn wing against the
Ames
A. Yes perhaps | might state fact
or two there. Alcorn came back and ran
for Governor against Ames.
e. What yearg
A. In 1878. During that canvass
Alcorn on the stump denounced as thieves
and swindlers the main supporters of Gen.
Ames. The speeches made by Governor
Alcorn i'll that canvass were the most
denunciatory / ever heard against the
leading men of the Ames party,
q. Were there other leading members
of the Republican party who took the
same tone as did Alcorn, in regard to
the Ames administration.
A. La 1873, not great many. Ames
had the confidence of the negroes and
Alcorn was not sustai ned by his own party
to any great extent in 1873.
@. How was it later, in 1875?
A. Alcorns strength continued to gain
after that, and before 1873 tho split was
a very marked one. A great many had
Become followers of Alcorn and opposed
to Ames.
Q. Was the feeling between the two
wings, the Alcorn wing and the
Ames wing, as great or greater than
between the Republicans and Demo
Gratis?
A. The feeling between these two
wings of the Republicans was Just as
bitter as could have existed. In my
district the opposing candidates for Con-
gress were Wells and Howe, and when
the Wells party had a meeting they de
nounced Howe as a thief and falsifier,
and applied to him every epithet they
could invent, and when the Howe party
came along they would apply the same
epithets to the Wells party.
q. Who is Howe?
A. He had been member of CONGRESS-
from that district.
q. Who was he2
A. i northern man.
@. Was he on the Ames side or the
other.
A. On the Ames side Wells was for
Alcorn. He is our present member of
Congress. The collision between the two
wings of the party had a great deal to do
toward carrying that district against the
Republicans.
q. 1t was charged in the public papers
that the character of the officers under
Ames' administration was known to him,
after which knowledge he continued to
keep these men in office and consort with
them politically.
the knowledge Of Ames upon that sub
ject, but these delinquencies and this
misconduct were known to the public
generally, and Ames still retained them
in Office and in his confidence, and the
more they were abused and exposed
the closer he seemed to adhere to them
1t seemed to be rather a recommendation
to him.
9. Many Of them we're placed under
, indictment?
A. a good many
q. BY the grand juries of their coun-
ties?
A. Yes.
@. The grand jury, as a rule, was
under the control of the Republicssl
party.
a. Yes.
Q. After these indictments took place
were the confidence and association Of
Governor Ames withdrawn from these
/ people:
A. As a general rule it was not. In
Northeastern Mississippi Governor Ames
appointed a man as chancellor by the
name of Barton, with no intelligence as a
lawyer and no standing at the bar. More
over, he was charged with fragrant act
/ of forgery.
/ @. Had he been indicted
A. He had not; but Governor Ames
was informed by gentlemen of high re-
spectability, among others by our present
Governor, who came from his vicinity,
of the character of this man. Governor
Ames refused to believe it, but had il
been untrue and his moral character