The Portland daily press., 1876-12-02
Louisiana.
THE ATROCITY IN oUAourra.
Details of the Evidence which SO Shocked
thelNortbern Visitors.

The following were the proceedings before
the returning board, in executive session Tues
day afternoon; Eliza Pinkston, colored, one of
| the witnesses, was brought in on chair car
ried by two colored men, attended by colored
woman, The witness was sworn and the fol-
lowing interrogatories propounded to her by
| Gen. Anderson:
Q. Do you live in Ward One, known as the
Island, in the Parish of Ouachlta? A. don't
know nothing about wards. live in Ouachta
] Parish at Hugh Young's place.
Y. Do You know what has become of your
| husband Henry Pinkton? A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Was he killed in the day or NIGHT time2
| A. He was killed in the night-in the morning.
| before day.
Q Was he in the house and in bed when his
m1rderers attacked himt A. Yes, sir.
Y. Give me the names of those who attacked
MIN, and the manner in which be was treated
| aod kiiledf A. DR.. Young was the first one
| that attacked at my door,
MI. DaVy-Please PROFOUND the question SO
| she may understand it,
Gen Anderson-You say that DR.. Young
| was thereS
Wisness-He was the first one; they all rode
| by, thirty or forty of them. and they said, rs
Henry in? A friend of Henry's is come to
guide him to Monroe" | SAID. "Bus, doctor.
you are not Hepry's friend" Ipeeped through
Capt Craig cried out. Gag him; he votes 40
Radical ticket. He may vote it in h.; he has
voted it thus far, aud msy vote it 10 farthei-,'
They came in the house and gagged him; that
IS when they cut him in the leg. I said, "Oh
Lord! don't kill my husband; that is all have
got. One man struck me in the face and on
| the head with his pistol. They said. "Leave
the ----- -" l said, THAT is my
husband" 1 grabbed Dr. Young, and he
struck me with his pistol and knocked me
down on the hearth.
President Wells-How many others besides
DR.. Young?
Witness-There were several. 1 was q strang-
er in that parish. l knowed no more of them
than what each other called their names Frank
Derms. know him because he had his nose
OF. He was the only one and Capt. Tebault
that knowed personally.
q How did those parties attack aud kill
dragged hlm out of the door and shot him seven
times They had pockethandkerchief over
his mouth.
President Wells-How many times did they
shoot him?
The Witness-Every time they shot him he
drew his breath They shot him seven times
T. State what those parties told your hus.
band about fooling them as to joining the Dem
ocratic club? A. He told them that he had
fooled them thus far, but he would fool them
no further. Que man said, "Hurrah for Brew
ster," and he said 81 reckon by daylight Brew
ster would be d--sorry he had got into this
parish.
@. Was not Henry Pinkton an active Repub-
llcan, and was he not killed on that account?
A. He was killed because he was Republican:
they finally got him; Tebault said, "Givs him
The -, he will vote no more Radical
tickets; if he does he will vote in -.
The witness here testified to being outraged
by two men. Her testimony was then re-
sumed.
Q. What became of your child? II it was
killed, who did it? A. They came into the
house and SAID, "Put your baby down." said,
"Oh. no Sir; what do you want to kill me for?
La am ths nothing hing. but at wo%an man If You kin me-
throat from ear to ear; 1 raised my hands; I
let my baby fall; they wanted to take some
thing from nae before they killed me; two of
them bad dealings with me; ran under the
bed, when he shot me in the leg; they caught
me by the leg and pulled me out and broke the
bed. They cut me with the AK one man said,
IF you are going to kill tbs woman don't be
bothering with her" and they wanted to kill
me, and he cut me with knife; struck him,
aud it flew up, and they never saw it again;
they got another knife, and they cut and stabbed
me, they cut me on the legs with the AK and on
the side.
At this point the woman unfastened her dress
and revealed her wounds, which were a horri-
BILE sight to look at. The effort of the examin-
alton caused her to faint, and the examination
was therefore delayed few moments until she
had recovered.
@. In your last answer you stated that your
chl'd was killed. What became Of your child's
body? A. They threw it in the lake, aud we
did not find it again under IL days.
O. Do you know of any one else being kill
led, shot, or whipped on account of their poll
tics? A. don't know, Sir, nothing about it.
l walked down to the river, and seen Marion
Rhodes there with his guns out.
O. do you know OF any persons who were
driven away from their homes on account of
their politics? A. don't know. Sir, what
you call politics. don't know who they drove
away but me. All know is about myself
Q. Did not many colored voters leave their
homes at night through fear of these armed
men riding over the parish at night? A. Yes.
Sir. l went to heap of peoples houses, and
they were all lying ont in the woods to keep
from the bulldozers. Two stayed up at the
gin-house. Both were women.
President Wells-You said that your husband
had been thrown down. What was the action
of the parties that threw your husband down?
What portion of his body did they cut? Did
they cut any portion of his body?
A. Oh, yes. They put knife through and
through him. You could hear the knife grind
ing like you cut new leather. Capt Tebault
told somebody to jerk his arm out.
Ia portion of this testimony is unfit for pub
lication
By President wels-They first chopped you
A. Yes, Sir; and struck me on the head
with pistol; they killed my child when they
were fooiDg with me; after they had killed
my child L went to fight them with all my
might then Logan stabbed me here, [pointing
to her breastI somebody knocked ont my Jaw
teeth; l did not have a hollow tooth in my
head.
New Orleans Nov. 29 Special Correspondence OF the
New York Times.l
At this mornings session of the returning
board the Democrats made extraordinary
efforts to overthrow the testimony regarding
the killing Of her husband aud child given BY
Mrs. Eliza Pinkston yesterday. They were
not successful, They did indeed prove that the
poor woman had told various aud contradictory
stories IN relation to the crime, and that at Que
time she had charged number of negroes with
having admitted 1t. This Mrs. Pinkston ad-
mitted in her original affidavit, but at the same
| time she swears that she dared not let any
white Democrat know that she suspected any
| of that party. She accused the negroes through
| fear nd to save her life which she knew
| would be sacrificed il she told the truth. Her
| evidence must stand among the annals Of the
| other terrible outrages committed for political
purposes upon the Republicans of this stale.
| Regarding the intimidation and violence
practised by the Democrats, q most important
| witness appeared to-day in the person of Brevet
| Msjor-General and Lieutensnt-Colonel John r.
| Brooks of the third United States infantry.
/ This gentleman has been stationed in Louisi-
| auu IOr numOer OF years ana curing tne last
election had command of the troops IN the
"bulldozed" parishes. The Democrats do not
attempt to deny or question his evidence,
| which was substantially as follows "In the
parishes of Louisiana. just prior to the election,
| there was complete system or organization OF
the white or Democratic party, which had the
l effect OF teriorizing The blacks; this was es .
| pecially the case in the parishes of East Felc-
lana and East Baton Rouge, the blacks of
| which came to me in large numbers, telling me
| of threats made and acts committed, which
| caused item to fear the consequence of any
| free political action on their part. The threats
| were as follows: Discharge, bodily Ajury and
in some cases extending to death, in case they
| (the blacks) did not join the Democratic clubs
| and vote the Democratic ticket have bee n
4 told by many black men of both of the parishes
that during the winter and spring last past
| many of their people had been killed and
| beaten by parties to them unknown who came
| in the night disguised and armed, in squads
numbering from ten to fifty, who would sur
| round cabin, take the man out and either
beat or kill him. This occurred so frequently
that they (the blacks) often for weeks at
time slept in the woods away from their
houses. l became satisfied fiom the frequency
| and similarity of these reports that
this was the fact. After took command
there there but few oatrages of this
| kind brought to my knowledge. Among those
| saw was one Colman Brown, a coored man