Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-05-17

periods resulting II the incarceration
Of 5 man mans Rush for the alleged
shooting of maa named Gully.
Chisholm and GiImer were arrested
and vert taken 10 jail accompanied By
the formers wife rnd daughter and alsc
his sons, The mob attacked the Jail
McLelland was ens Of the jail guards
and vas killed fov attempting to de-
fend the Chisholm family from the
mob. The son and daughter of CHS
holm we're shot and the Judge riddIed
with bullets by the concili&ted chivalry
Of Mississippi
4 correspondent Of the New York
Tribune says Of the matter
Il wish I could say that politics had
nothing to do with the terrible affair
/ but ] cannot in view of the fact that
, the assailants were all Democrats aad
4l-----vHvUTHs Republicans, and IN view
Of the bitter feeling against Chisholm
and Gilmer that has perTaded this
county for years.
4 correspondent in to-day's Tribune
closes his statement q the case thus i;
eff President Hayes can possibly
originate something, short Of guillo-
tine, which shall make some Of the
Southern States q safe place Of resi-
dence for the immigrant Of every poll
teal bias, he aciU do more than has
erer get been done, and be entitled to
the thanks Of the whole country"
In commenting upon the above reel
tai Of fact, and what the New York
correspondent has to say relative to
the matter the Chicago Post adds
No steps, ne believe, have been tax
en- thus far by the authorities to arrest
and punish the perpetrators Of tie
assassinations above narrated. The
affair Is permitted to occur, and the
assassins to 60 unwhipt of justice. It
IS Of q series Of bloody rencounter8
which have rendered portions Of the
South, ever since their settlement a
disgrace to civilization. It iustifes
the term bandit, vixen applied to
large numbers of bloodthirsty men
whose habitat is in the Gulf States.
How to deal with them is Il question.
As the writer above quoted says, if
President Hayes can quell them che
will do more than has ever yet been
| done" We do not think either the
Executive or Congress can accomplish
tho work with any certainty Nothing
short Of an armed force in every hamlet
would do it. The trouble is in public
sentiment The murder districts Of
the South are largely inhabited by bar
bariaas. Among them are a few civil
lied men When an entire State is
taken for examination the latter no
doubt predominate-even in MISSISSIPPI
/ pi. But men of peace almost always
are, for time at least, dominated and
~orr5d by DtJUyJ- 1lTUUI K
while they are forced in sheer daspera-
ton, to rise up and overthrow the out
laws among thelQ. In the South this
! process just now IS slow, because the
| body of the influential part of the peo-
pie thinks one way politically, and
partisan afhliation will hide a greater
multitude Of sins than anything else.
It is q disgrace to Mississippi that her
public continent is such that those as
sa8sInations may occur with impunity.
But it is nevertheless a fact, and while
It IS 4 fact there IS little probability
that President Hayes will be able to
prevent these occasional yendetta8.
President Grant did not do it. 4
Congress overwhelmingly Republican
did not do it. A community Of cata-
mounts can never be transformed into
a peaceful civic organization, by an
| outside force. The work must be the
result Of evolution. In the strug-
| gle for existence the anti-assassins will
| after awhile rise and overthrow the
| assassins, in theer self-defense and in
time, by selection, ? variation, etc.
the people in the crtemo unit country
viii take a humble position within the
family Of civilized man. Until then,
since this country is broad and since
the dark aud bloody ground" is com
paratively limited, the best thing for
people TO do, IS to keep out Of it, and
let the Kilkenny cat fight 60 on. One
thing must not be overlooked in this
Mississippi business all the parties to
II were disciples Of the shotgun and
the revolver. At least ona Of the Re
publjcans had in his day killed Dem
ocrat who had quarreied with him in
his store. Judge CHS holm was ma
tive ire-eater in the sense Of travelling
on his personal proves and depending
largely on his revolver for his personal
! rights. It how happens that he and
his friends are the weaker party, ard
among. men who know no law except
/ that the stronger IS to rule the weaker,
/ they suffer. This will change in time,
aud it is certainly time that it did
change. There is no party tenet now
held by the Republicans Of enough
utility to warrant its defense, an Sea- h
eap States overwhelmingly Democratic,
at the price Of assassination on the one
hand or armed intervention on the
other.
That the above is fearfuIly thin log
ic IS obvious to any one not a natural
born fool
To sum UP. the whole argument Of
/ tl,a D,sf - 70 Sr3 4I,f IL. Pa 10