The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-06-13
THE KEmPER TRAGEDY.
Letter from GEN. - Il. George ON
1he Subject
Jackson. Mis-. June 4. 1877.

DEAR SIR--4 our letter III re isttiffH 10
is now Called -.the kemper county tragedy
was recei4 ell several days ago An answer
has been delayed by my necessary absence
and bF constant attendance upon the courts
and now | am pelle 70 write amlust Ut
/ ANNOYANCE aud pressure OF professional en-
i SagenIents.
1 recognize the interest you naturally Zee
in all that concerns Mississippi. your for
kmer home. and am grateful To you TOT suen
eff Jrts as you have made TO prevent mlscoh-
| struction of the condition anu sentiments VI
our people.
We ali here deplore 'the kemper county
tragedy" as il is called. We deplore IT, ho'
only bee 4use it has been made the occasion
| OF much unnecessary aud unnerited cen
| sure upon the people and government OF the
! state but also because, both in its provoca-
/ ton and in its consummation, humtH Dioou
has been shed and human life been taken
by violence.
A oond nan. As all who knew him testify,
Was wayIaid and shot at. The assassin :
| bullet tailed Of its aim. AM the Intended
| victim escaped La a few weeks lie attem pit
| WAS renewed. and this time with SUCCESS.
| \ husband, ahd father, AMI brother, a
| beloved ueighb3r, a benefactDr aud pro-
| tector, aud leader who was revered ana
/ looked up to, was, without Warning, with
out opportunity to save himself by manly
| defence, or By flight, suddenly removed
| nom his family and his friends, and the
| scene OF his iabOrs and usefulness.
| This Was an act well calculated to engen-
| der the most intense excitement, anu 10
| arouse in o dangerous activity the most Vlo-
| lent passions. Ii had this effect. The com
! munity in which the murd -red man had re-
| sided Tor many year, the witnesses of his
| houored and useful career, the recipients OF
| his benefdctionS, accustomed To rely upon
| his counsel and advice in tunes OF dIfnculCY
| aud trial, were profoundly moved. y n i'm
| menSe cOncourse from all parts OF the coun-
/ ~ attended his funeral. SORROW Tor his
| death and Indignation at the manner OF his
| taking Oft were naturally heightened and
| intensified by that magnetic sympathy
| which perVades and Influences multitude
| collected for a common purpose, anu moved
| by common passion.
| IL came across their minds too, possibly,
| that there was no safety as long As the as
| SaSsin lived Mr.. Gully was good, honora-
be and law abiding. 1t was said, he knew
/ who attempted his assassination in the first
| instance, and yet, to preserve peace, TO calm
| excited passions, % restore harmony to a
| disturbed community, he had taken no
| steps To punish him by la" or otherwise.
! Yet the attempt to aSSasSinate was renewed
| and with success. There Is and C IN be no
defence against assassination. Gully's fam
| iIy and neighbOrs felt the force of this.
| None knew whose turn might be next.
| Whilst that community was th6s moved
/ bV the bloody drama of the ass tSSlnatIOn OF
! Mr. Gully suspicion fell on Chi shOm and
! Gilmer the authors or procurcrs of the
| iced | do not say this suspicion was well
| founded. | will not even here repeat what
| have heard hat the leaders of the mob claim
AS iustifying the suspicion. Chisholm and
! Gilmer are dead--they cannot answer Il
| charge made against them. Ii is enough for
| thepurBose | have in view TO say that have
| no doubt that the men who admin istered
| this terrible vengeance firmly believed they
/ were guilty.
| You will say this was no Justification for
| their conduct--that they ought to have re-
| sorted to legal proceedings--to have given
| their victims the opportunity of defense and
| "A fair trial. Tins Is so. do not mention
| these things justification but to miti-
| gate and explain the conduct oil the parties.
| They assumed, on great prOvocation, to be
| Selt-appOinted ministers of the law, and in
| that character to punish great and horri-
| ole crime, they. taking counsel from their
| passion, administered il terrible retribution.
| They did more than this-they so managed
| than in the din and tumult OF the conflict,
| injury resulting in death, was inflicted on
| the confesSedly innocent and unotfending
| out, as | have no doubt, by accident and
| contrary to the design of the assaiants.
| The distinctions between these men, and
| the cold FLOODED assassin who waylaid and
| murdered Gully, is plain. Both acts are to
| be condemned, and both are to be depressed
| and punished yet we all can they are
| essentially different in degree. The essence
of the one being an unwilingness to await
| the delays and abide the process of law to
| yindicaJt. the supremacy of right and to
| punish asSassihation-the essence of the
| other is the pure spirit of murder-the cool,
| deliberate and prearranged plan of private
| malice.
That there should be in Mississippi and
| some others of our Southern States some.
| what less of respect for law than there is in
| the other states of the Union "a position,
| however, which | deny)- would not be
strange or remarkable when we consider the
| causes which would naturally tend to pro-
| duce lawlesSneSS among us.
1 The q DpODlp SSj
| TO law and respect for governmental author
| ity. 1t is supposed by political philosophers,
depends to great extent upon the charac-
| ter of the government which ruled over
| them. For the last fifteen years much has
| occurred in the South, the tendency of
| which would be to lessen that respect for
law and governmental authority which eX-
lists in we'll ordered communities During
the late civil war our section was the bat
tie field + the cOntenuIng armies. The leg
timacy of the established governments
charged with the duty ofmaintaining order
| was denied by the conquerlng section. The
| judges and other ministers of law whose
duty it was to maintain order and punish
| crime were in many instances arrested by
the armies of the North, and in others COM
PEELED to fly to escape arrest. In. no in
| stance were they allowed to discharge their
civil functions without hindrance or moles-
tation where the federal armies held sway
| Neces Sarily the arbitrary will of the mill
tary commanders. great ana petty, GGlsti-
| tuted the only law In many places and at
| many times. Lives where destroyed and
property taken and appropriated without
the Intervention of the courts" without
due process If lay"
| After the war was over aud the s4preMa a.
CIV of the constitution and laws, the de
| clared object of waging ii, was restored,
| we were subject in the first place to a mill
| tary rule, under which millions of property
alleged to have been sold to the con federate
| government was taken by military force
| from the possession of the owners without
| affOrding them an opportunity of testing in
| the courts the justice and legality of the adj :
| verse claim set up to it. ] do not ,rer-
! ton these things in any spirit of complaint
/ or recrimiuation. What has been done is
| irreversible. and what is harsh and unjust
in it should not be allowed to prevent Tie
restoration of the old friendship and narmo-
ny between the sections,
| After this, we were cursed with govern
ments inangurated VA pursuance of a law
| the constitutionality ofwhich the congress
| took especial pains to provide should no. be
passed upon by the supreme court of the
United States. These governments made
| their ex istenge known, only by their cxac-
| lions and burdens, ana their grotesaue at
| temptS, through Ignorance and vice to exer-
else sway over the virtue and intelligence
Of the country. These governments foster
ed no industry, advanced not one single in
terest OF the state. and furnished no prOtec-
ton to person o. property. They were om-
| nipotent for evil-powerless for good That
anarchy did not ensue his wholly due to the
| conservative love of order and respect for
constituted authority characteristic of the
! Anglo Saxon race. During these unhappy
| years, mems minds were familiarZed with
the irregular and unlawful force in govern
ment; and with irregular force in inGividu-
ais asa substitute IOf governmental action.
Seeing the impoteney and corruption of the
| government, men were inclined to rely up
| on themselves and the irregular forces of
society tor protection, and the redress of
| wrongs, rather than on the action of the
constituted authorities. This was the re-
suit, and the necessary result of bad gov