Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-05-25
The Mississippi Bashi- -Basouks.


The Mississippi Bashi-BaxOuks.
There have been good many events
in Mississippi both before the war of
the rebellion and since its close, which
have rendered its existence rs a State
disgrace to the Union of States to which
it belongs 1t was Mississippi which,
long before there was the excuse of
war, or any sudden and calamitous loss
of prosperity, deliberately repudiated its
public debt and evinced deplorable alb
sence of honesty among its people. 1t
was in this State that the horrors of
slavery were carried to the utmost ex-
treme of devilish inhumsnity. 1t was
here that the dueIJo degenerated into the
most barbarous form; street.6ghts and
shooting On sight we're dignified by that
appellation. The vendetta was as much
an institution there as in the early times
of Corsica. The feud between the Vicks-
burg editors will be remembered as one
of the most relentless series of personal
revenges on record; the average life of
an editor in that community for a time
was not more than four months. 1t was
the State which produced jeff. Davis,
who approved the An1ersonville horrors,
and afterward disguised himself in pet
ticoats to escape arrest-thus typifYing
the brutality and cowardice that have
been observed TO go together in that de-
PRAYED community. After the war, the
influx of the carpet-baggers and the en-
franchisement of the negro served as ex-
cuses for renewal of the desperate
practices of the re-eateTs. All during
Republican government the State was
the scene of murders and massacres.
Even under Gen Grants Administra-
tion, and under the very nose of the
United States troops, the rifle clubs
secured the country, killed negroes,
drove away Northern white men, seized
the polls, and turned the State over to
the Democrats. The shotgun was the
avowed political weapon, and the Mis-
sissippi practices passed into by-word,
and became known as the Mississippi
plan" which was soon initiated in other
Southern States still under tine rule of
the Republicans.
But the recent massacre at DE Kalb,
in Kemper County, was provoked neither
by negroes nor carpet-baggers; it was
simply an outbreak of the Bashi-Bazouk
character which distinguishes a large
part of the Mississippi population. The
murdered, like the murderers, were ma
tive whites. 1t is stated that there has
never been carpet. bagger in the entire
country. But the negroes are in the ma
jority, and certain of the native whites
including Judge Chisolm, who had been
civil officer under the Confederate Gov
ernment) acted with the Republicans,
and the government of the county was
Republican up to 1875, when, along with
the rest of the State, it was stolen by the
Democrats. Now that the fre.eaters
have control of the local offices, the
courts, and the machinery for clearing
themselves of any charge brought against
them, they propose, it seems, to kill of
all white men who acted politically with
the negroes. Judge ChisOlm was the
Republican leader, and had been Sheriff
of the county for seven years. He was
brave man, and, assisted by certain
staunch friends, he defended the political
rights of the blacks valantly. He had a
devoted family of more education and
culture than their neighbOrs, which
probably increased the animosity of the
Bashi BaEouks of his county, and led
them to make him the first victim of
their vengeance. So an absurd charge
of murder was trumped up against
ChisOlm, a friend of his named Gilmer,
and three or four others tall Republicans),
for the purpose of getting them into Jail,
where couple of hundred cowardly as
sassins might attack and kill them while
they were in defenseless and helpless
condition.
Gilmer was overtaken while proceed
ing to deliver himself up on the charge,
was run down by the pack of wolves,
and, as the correspondent of the New
rat in trap" Judge Chisolm also yield
ed quietly to arrest, but his family, sus'
pecting that the intention was to murder
him, followed him to the Jail. There it
became evident what the mob was going
to do. The Jail was surrounded. The
guns belonging to the guards had been
unloaded, and there was no powder at
hand Judge Chisolm's daughter-a girl
of eighteen years, whose name must be
enrolled in the list of herOines and
martyrs-fOrced her way back through
the mob to her fathers house under the
pretext of getting something to eat, but
returned with powder and shot concealed
in her garments. The Bashi BaZouks,
numbering over 200, after awhile mus
tered up sufhcient courage to attack a
family they supposed to be defenseless.
But one guard was true to his post, and
he was shot dead. Forcing their way in
side the Jail, the fends killed a son of
Judge Chisolm-a brave boy of thir-
teen, who was clinging to his father =
first wounding him, then numbering him
in cold blood, The daughter by this time
had succeeded in getting loaded gun to
her father. He fired at the crowd,
and killed one man in the ad-
vance AT this, the cowardly pack gave
way, and rushed back into the street.
There they began to howl for setting
fire to the Jail, and one devil, more in
genious than the others, cried out that
the Jail was burning. The building was
of frame, and Judge Chisolm, to save his
family, resolved TO face the mob that
dared not face him. The firing began as
soon as the hunted family appeared in
the hall below. Mrs. Chisolm fired of
both barrels of the shotgun which she
held, in the hope of checking the as
sault. The Judges daughter clung
around her fathers neck with one arm,
and with the other pushed away the guns
leveled at him. Had there been spark
Of manhood among this herd Of wild
beasts, the heroism and devotion of that
daughter would have averted the slaugh-
ter. But the brutes kept on firing,
wounded the poor girl in two places and
the Judge in eleven, then left them for
dead. When the family were carrying
the wounded to his house, a short dis
tance away, few of the Bashi- Bazouks
returned, and were only appeased by the
brave daughter, bleeding from the
wounds they had inflicted, who assured
them her father had died in her arms.
This was not all Of it, Mrs. Chisolm
had TO secure permit from the mob to
bury her boy whom they had murdered.
She wrote pitiful letter addressed to