The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-05-19
THE MISSISSIPPI VENDETTA.

Chandler e. Co., have been worth hundred
thousand votes in the way Of firing the north
: ern heart In this milk.and- watery reign OF
Hayesism, however, it is hardly worth sin
! Gle vote ON either side, and to the late devo
, tees of the bloody shirt, who now stand tremb
ling before the shadow of the new regime, i,
is the cause of inexpressionable perplexity
What! Traitorous democrats shooting loyal
republicans in Mississippi, and no Union
troops there to put down the rebels! And
worse still,-the great loyal republican party
Of the north not even allowed TO utter one
} piercing, ringing cry for vengeance!
But it is not often practicable entirely to
J subdue instinct. No matter how thoroughly
the tiger may be tanned, at the sight of blood
} he will turn upon the kindest keeper. 1t is
so with the editor of the Ottawa Repujlicdn
For weeks the persuasive influence of the OF
Itawa post office IN pr0Spectu had So toned him
down to Hayesism that he could COO to the
southern white leaguers as gently as a suck
ing dove. But this Mississippi atrocity
awakes all his leonine instincts, and in his
bIsh barrel, brings up the old bloody SHIRT,
and giving one hearty, thunderous roar, swings
it wildly over his head
1t is pure instinct, however, without rea-
son. There is nothing in the sickening mar
rative, even as detailed in the n. Y. Tribune
account which the RepuJlicaH copies, TO bear
out its statement that "there is no doubt that
the cold blooded murder was the result of a
whlte-league conspiracy for political reasons
only" with the necessary radical inference
that therefore the Hayes policy is wrong to
send no more troops to the southern states to
prevent the white.league rebels from murder.
ing the loyal republicans. Even the writer
copied by the Republican, prejudlced as he
manfestly is admits that sit was by no means
purely political outrage"
The facts briefly stated are these: For
years there had prevailed between certain
parties or families in Kemper county, Miss,
one of those deadly feuds, of which we have
so many striking examples in earlier
Scotch history, and of which Kentucky
and Tennessee, in the last fifty years, have
furnished many distressing cases
One ofthose parties. or clans was headed by
a man named John w. Gully, and Judge
Chisholm was regarded as the head of the
other On the Goth of April Gully was way.
laid and brutally assasslnated Whether
true or not, his friends charged the crime to
the opposite party, and at once insisted on the
arrest OF Judge Chisholm, j. p. Gilmer and
others. Warrants were issued for them, but
that was all On the Goth 200 Of the Gully
party rode into DeKalb and demanded tina,
the parties complained of should be taken to
Jail. Gilmer tried to escape by running and
was shot dead. Judge Chisholm allowed
himself to be taken to jail, whittier his wife,
10 accompanied him,-the whole being plac-
ed under guard offs armed men. Towards
evening the mob surrounded the JAIL de.
manding that Chisholm should be brought
out One Of the guards, IN resisting the ap
prOach of the mob, was shot The mob then
rushed iuto the Jail. The leader, one David
ltosscr, was instantly shot by Chisholm, on
which the mob rushed back and presently
raised the cry of fire, pretending that the jail,
"A flimsy, wooden structure-had been set on
fire. Chisholm, in despair, descended from
the upper floor TO the lower hall, where in
stantly dozen guns were drawn upon him
His daughter threw herself upon his breast to
shield him. A dozen of shots were fred
m, dciy a., l,,,l
is still alive; the daughter was so badly
wounded that she has since died, and one of
the boys was killed. The murderers soon af-
forwards mounted their horses and rode
away.
This is the sickening narrative. Gully was
a democrat and Chisholm republican, and
doubtless the friends on both sides sympa-
thzed In politics with their leaders But all
were white men, and most of them on both
sides, were, II not natives of Mississippi, at
least southern men. There were no carpet.
baggers or niggers in the case-thcre was no |
electioneering or buldosing about tit was
clan Gully against clan Chisholm, pure
family or neighborhood feud. This is the
view the Tribune itself takes OF It in its com.
ments upon the account the RopUbiicdn cop
les, saying: at grew out of one of those per-
sonal ieuds which make the history of the |
South read like the annals OF barbarous
people, and seems TO have had but little more |
political significance than such brutal blood |
shed would have at the North, if such a |
slaughter were possible here" or course Il, |
would be very gratifying it a good, solid point
against the Hayes policy of mo more bayon.
ct protection TO the loyal republicans of the
south" could be made out of this case, but
really We don't see how 1t can be done. We
are sorry, brother Cullen-cery sorry, bat !,
seems II can't be helped