The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-02-02
NEW ORLEANS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1876.

the editor Of the Leader speaks az one Interested
In this Illicit trade. which has been carried on TO
an alarming extent In this parish.
Thus we find as early as 1872. one Of
the brothers, Weber, charging the other
in the most rigorous Language, not only
with encouraging the cotton seed steal
ing business, but with being engaged in
1t himself. The man thus charged
with being. a traficker In stolen
goods, with encouraging, aiding
and abetting thieves, with being
a thief himself-the Hon. Z. L.
Weber-represents, In the Senate Of
Louisiana, the once rich and prosperous
parishes Of Point Coupee, East and West
Feliciana. The charge made by D. A.
Weber against Il. l.. Weber, in 1872, is
claimed by the people here TO be literally
true, and since that period he has been
encouraging the seed cotton trade until
1t has grown to such magnitude that
during the last two years 1t has actually
involved very large proportion Of the
cotton crop Of the parish The planters
have thus made nothing, while negro
thieves have multiplied, and thieving
shop keepers, dealing out rotgut whisky
and mean tobacco for stolen cotton,
have grown rich.
Against this vile and runous trade,
encouraged and participated i'm by i. L.
Weber, and for which the victims could
obtain no redress IN law, the planters
rose as they had done In some Of the
other parishes, and Of their great and
righteous action, bad and lawless men
have made cloak to cover their wicked
ness and cruelty. The evil, 80 far as 1t Is
due to the encouragement which united
armies OF cotton thieves have received
from public officials, and the immunity
they have enjoyed for their depre-
dations, through the ignorance and cor
ruption Of Justices OF the Peace and
juries, may be measurably remedied by
the appointment Of officials identified
with the prosperity and business in
terests OF the parish, and who have the
confidence of the better classes Of the
state in this connection that, In 1874,
the Dunn Leader, Il. L. Weber's paper,
all through the canvass, defended the
traffic In seed cotton, and gave the ne
groes and the store -keepers constant en-
couragement The mass meeting intro
duced in their resolution, which you
have published, extracts from the
Leader on this subject. Since my ar.
rival here, / have myself examined the
files Of the paper for 1874 and read the
articles from which the extracts were
made, and number Of others Of a
similar import. It is proper, also, to
state that a large proportion OF the
country negroes accept the words Of
Weber's paper as IL they were Gospel
truth, and that they follow his advice
In all matters implicitly.
PAR MOBILE FRATRUM.
The white people Of this parish have
made serious charges against p. A.
Weber, the tax-collector, and +. L.
Weber, the Senator from the district,
and candor compels me to say that these
two mon are extremely odious In this
community. And yet, nothing that their
enemies honest people OF West Fe-
liciana say Of them Is 80 bad as what
they have publicly said Of each other
Indeed, since the brothers Weber are
intimately acquainted with each other,
were close political allies up to 1879, and
have been such since sometime early In
1873, II Is needless to bring the testimony
OF outsiders toprove their bad character,
when they have given us fuller and more
reliable information on the subject than
any other persons could possibly possess.
During the canvass OF 1872, ID. A.
Weber was the editor OF the semi-weekly
Feliciana Republican, and Il. l.. Weber
was the editor and proprietor OF the
Dunn Leader, both published in this
parish. During that canvass. the Re
publican was a Warmoth paper and the
Leader a Kellogg sheet, and tho war
between the rival journals, edited by
the rival brothers, was intensely bit
ter: and II their utterances are to be
relied upon, ID. A. Weber Is rogue and
a liar, and E. l.. Weber Is q thief, q
coward and a murderer. For the credit
OF human nature 1t Is to be trusted that
these interesting brothers were mis-
taken about each other. But the truth
must be admitted that before their
Quarrel they had been close political
allies, and that they had every oppor-
tunity to know just what sort OF fellow
Ihave found 1t impossible to obtain a
file of the Dunn Leader for 1872, and
cannot quote the exact words OF Sena-
tor Weber about tax collector Weber !;
but, day after day, the Senator charged
the tax collector with being all sorts OF
scoundrel. The files OF the Feliciana
Republican, d. A. Weber's paper, for
| 1872, are before me, and find that ".
A. had fully as bad, II not a worse. opin'
| few extracts will show what ID. A. Weber
| Thought of his brother Il. l.. Weber in
1871. d. A. throughout the whole can,
yass refers to E. j.. as the Boss Buz.
zard." and on the 10Th Of March he said
OF him in the Republican,: This vile
wretch, whose life, short as it is, Is al
ready one Of infamy, has dashed at oul
feet the gauntlet" etc. On the 10th o.
April. ID. A. Weber said, referring to T.
i. Weber, in the Republican,:
But by the same wisdom in which the Creator
| made the greatest best and noblest OF men, ~
aisc In HE omnipotence. for the culmination o
| His Gnds, made the imbecile, lunafic and idiot
the rogue. the thief, tae murderer. the good anc
| the bad.
Again, on the Sth OF October y. A.
Weber thus speaks Of E. l.. Weber:
To hear the Devil make professions Of honesty
is on par with what might pc cxpeted ~ ir2n pa,
ge ediior q[ tp Dunn Leader ''''o IS aar o' ~
On the same day D. 4, refers to p. l.
as IAN unhung rascal. By Octoper,
1872, the feud between the brothers had
reached such point Of bitterness that
ID A. Weber addressed his brother
letter through the columns Of the re-
nubiican, in which we find the following
passages;
Your career whinh. In His Rll-wise providence
! God has seen flt to prolong 80 as 10 make
! burden and curse on me and mine.
might charge you with AN enaiess cnaiH a,,. ~ ~
| crimes, yet would email NO oiSui' upo" os'No'
myself or my name
Sometime In 1869 bale OF cotton was
stolen from the railroad depot in Bayou
Sara. The thief was never suspecte0
vntsi the 26th OF March, 1872, when ~