The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-10-09
MRS. CHIsoLM's STATEMENT.

II is impossible to overestimate an
guish of refined and sensitive lady who
finds b. rself deprived of husband and
children by a riot, nor can words OF de-
nunciation too severe be found for the
instigstofs of such bloody deeds, but in
an affair like that which occurred at De.
Kslb, Kemper county, Miss, it is diff.
cult to determine who is most to blame.
Mrs. Chisolm was undoubtedly deeply
aggrieved, and her case aroused the pro-
foundest sympathy by the detailed mar.
rative which she prepared for the New
York Tribune some time ago, and which
is now published for the first time, oC
cupyiDg some seven columns The state
ment furnishes complete ver6Cation
Of the report, that feud had long exist
ed between eX.Judge Chisolm and the
family of Gullys, the head of which was
mysteriously murdered. Upon the an.
nounCement of the murder, suspicion at
once fastened upon Chisolm, and so in
tense was the indignation aroused, that
q mob collected when he was taken to
Jail under an order of arrest. Seeing
that the situation was desperate one,
Chisolm's friends procured weapons,
aud when the attack came it met with
q stubborn repuse. Several Of the at
tackiDg party fell before Chisolm ard his
children tell. Mrs, Chisolm accompa-
MED her husband to the Jail at his re.
quest. It was bloody affair on both
sides; out it must be remembered that
blood had been previously spilled pre-
Bumably by some one of ChisOlm's
friends. It was no doubt the purpose of
the rioters to make ChisOlm pay the
penalty of this crime, and no other per
son would have been harmed had not
desperate defense been made and the
fight become hot one. Mrs ChisOlm
says that there were some 800 or 400 in
the mob The whole pOpuaCe seemed
to have been aroused. Judge Chisolm
must have been an ex remedy odious
person in that community to be thus vi
olently sssaiied, under a charge of being
accessory to the crime Of murder, and
had bur few defenders outside of his own
household. Mrs Chisolm charged that
the shot which killed her husband was
fred BY Berry Gully, son Of the muir
dered man, but be has been tried and
acquitted. II Mrs. Chisoim's testimony
2 at@ the trial corresponded with her
newhpaper statement, the jury must have
been convinced that it was impossible
for her or any other spectator to deter.
mine, in the turmoil of that terrible
strife, who fred the fatal shot. Accord
inc 10 her narrative nearly the whole
community must have been equally gnil-
". Who is Immediately ly responsible
viii probably never he known. Nor is
il likely that the murderer OF John Gull
ly Wiliever be brought to punishment.
The attempt to make political capital
ont Of this unfortunate local difficulty
WillpTOve miserable failure. twill not
suffice to do duty as q bloody shirt. II
was The hope, however, If finding such
material as this in the tragedy, that in
duced Stewart l.. Woodford to act as
knight errsnt of the Republican party
and escort to Mrs. Chisolm on the oeca
sion of her recen visit to the scene to at
tend the Gully trial. He 10 doubtless
preparing a btood.curdling oration for
the coming campaign. The New York
Tribune, in an editorial hunling the
bloody shirt, makes singular blunder
In one place it says There are nol
many counties let us hope, in which ex
actly such scene would have been pos
sible" Further on in the same article
it says; ''If there ID chance-even, th'
faintest chance, that creatures like these
who ran be found in every county o
the solid South, ere to become rulers o
this country, is it not time for civilized