Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-06-27
MlscfoAN1.
MISSISSIPPI LAWLEssMEss.
How ColQYed People Are Whipped
IN the Old Slave Driving style.

1
Mississippi prosecutions and law.
lessness did not cease with the
massacre of the Chisholm family
neither are they confined to Kemper
county. There are chivalric gentle
men of the old plantation ante-bellum
type in other parts Of Mississippi who,
emboldcncd by recent acts of "recon-
ciliation," have gone back two de-
cades and resumed the overseer's lash
and tho intolerant arrogance and
tyrannical domination that distin-
guishcd Southern rule before the
legal barrier which divided American
slaves and frcemen was broken down.
Since tho Kempcr county massacre
many letters have been received from
Mississippi at the Washington bureau
of the Times, rccounting some of the
prosecutions daily practiced in that
state. All these letters are written
with a dread of terrible consequences
should the writers be discovered.
Some of them are SO cautiously writ
ten that dashes are used for the names
of persons and places, and all of them
close with a prayer to preserve the
writers from the possibility of recog-
nition. A gentleman who has just
arrived from Mississippi relates some
acts of lawlessness Of which he was
cognizant, and which, he says, are ex-
amples of similar crime daily perpe-
petrated in various parts of the state.
This gentleman says that while he
was in Fayette, Jefferson county, three
colored people were numerically
whipped. One of these was an en-
ploye of Judge Hicks, who, under
the instructions of tho Judge, killed q
cow that had broken into his field and
done considerable damage. That
night club of armed men dragged
the colored man from his cabin, and
gave him one hundred lashes on the
bare back. Judge Hicks was, of
course, indignant, and threatened to
present the case to the grand jury.
Captain Thompson, one Of the party
engaged in whipping the colored
man, called on Judge Hicks, and
warned him that if he undertook to
prosecute the case he would be served
in the same manner.
Another case of whipping was on
DR.. Miles place. An old colored man
who lived on the place objected to a
young married colored man visiting
his daughter. Some difficulty grew
out of the matter. and q magistrate
was appealed to, but refused to act.
That night club went to the old
mans house, took him out and whip
ped him, from the effects of which he
~ v,ak c,,lI ron1rowol
A third case occurred on the place
of w. w. Maddox, under the follow
ing circumstances A white man who |
formerly kept colored women, and
had children by her, being about to
get married, sent the woman and |
children away. Some time after his
marriage, and during his absence
from home, the colored woman, feel
ing neglected and aggrieved by his
conduct, came back and informed
Mrs. Maddox all about the case, in.
sisting on her right to remain. That
night she was taken out by party of
white men and terribly whipped.
These cases Of whipping were notori-
Dusly known in the county. The
grand jury was in session at the time,
yet no indictments were found for
such Outrages, or were the three cases
described ever presented to the grand
Jury.
In speaking of these things this
gentleman says: cit is astonishing
hat whole county can be SO COM
pletely at the bidding of desperate
md lawless men. 1t need not be, and
would not be, were il not for the fact
hat the mob engaged i'm this lawlcss.
ness has the sympathies of the
people. Even the most conservative
democrats seem to have but little re-
'pect for the law, or are afraid to
raise their voices in opposition to law
essness, and therein lies the hopeless
iess of the case.'
A letter received at the Times bu-
'eau from another point in Mississippi
'elates the whipping of DIR. Thomas
W. Stringer, an educated colored
nan, about so years of age. Doctor
Stringer is a minister of the African
Colorcd Church, and is located at |
Grenada. lie has been in Mississippi
'or several years, has always been
as conservative man, and |
was in 1873 candidate on the demo-
cratic state ticket for State Treasurer.
He protested in public against the
oppression and wrong of which he
was daily witness. This gave offense
10 the democrats, and he was accord
ngly whipped.