The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-06-14
THE VICKsBORG HERALUs Az
ATTACK UPON JUDGE
CHRISTIAN.

/
crime of buldozery in his District. 1t was
orr intention to show the groundlessness
and Injustice of the Herald's insinuations
at the time they appeared. but we preferred
to wait for the development OF further facts'
1t is, however, never too late to defend a
conscientious and faithful officer from the
effects of baseless assailments.
The Herald takes strong ground in favor
of the suppression of bulldozery, and we
don't propose to quarrel with it on this ac-
count; but it would at the same time igno-
ranty strike down one of the most uncom
promising and influential conductors OF the
anti.bulldozers in all of south mississippi
To men who know Judge Chrisman, who
have heard his clear and ringing charges to
grand iuries, and are familiar with his pro-
nounced and relentless pursuit against that
class of public disturbers, are surprised
that he should be made the subject OF as,
sailment on such ground.
But ''the great and good Herald, it
would seem, is not over particular whose
character it hoists upon its dull petard, OF
of the grounds for its reckless condemna-
ton. In its misguided zeal to be consider
ed the champion of law and order, it would
if it could, in its laundering blindness and
folly, break the back bones of the staunch-
est ministerial and judicial officers we have.
Governor Stone, in rendering the APP
pointment of Judge to Chrisman IN this So
called bulldozed district, was well aware
that Chrisman not only had the will but
the nerve to administer the law to this lawN
less gang, styled bulIdozers. 1t looks to
us like great hardship for judge to have
J the concentrated fire of all the bulldozers
in his district, and then look abroad and
find the editorial law-ahiding blunderbusses
leveled at him also.
Ask the District Attorney of the 10Th
District, man of power and force and
fidelity to his trust, if Judge Chisholm has
ever, even for one little moment wavered
IN the exercise of all the functions OF his
Office to put down this evil. Ask any law
yer, or any officer of any court in the Dis
trict, or any intelligent citizen, WHO IS not
a buldozer, whether Judge Chrisman has
been derelict in this regard. Not one can
be found to endorse the assault of the Her.
aid. Not one who will not say that Chris
mans record as judge and as citizen IS
mado up on the other side. And yet the
great Herald would impress its readers with
| the opinion that Chrisman was either weak
or tempered with an undue sympathy for
the law-breakers. Never was great paper
more mistaken, and never did great and
good organ strike blow so entirely unde-
ser Jed. If the Herald was not quite so
big we might venture to suggest to it the
policy of getting some information about
men and circumstances before it assaults
the first or perverts the other.
We have had version of the Caseyville
meeting which throws very different gla'
mour over its proceedings from that seen
at first, and shows how easy it is for astute
local organs, and great dailies like the
Vicksburg Herald and the New Orleans
Times to be humbugged. This meeting,
which pronounced against bulldozing, and
condemned the officers of the Courts in the
same breath, made itself at once the object
of suspicion, because its members could
not have been ignorant of the zeal and de-
| termination and active efforts of the Dis
trict Attorney and Judge of this District to
bring these offenders to justice, and break
up this disturbing clement Why, then,
condemn them? Would they thus weaken
the arms of the laws ministers, and
strengthen the hands of the lawless? Was
there, after all, an element in that meeting
that desired to further an object like this ?
Was tho threat alleged to have been posted
up, and the resolutions splitting upon it,
written by the same hand, or least, inspir-
ed by the same fruitful brain? Have they
stopped buldozing III the neighborhood
We understand not. Have any of them
made an affidavit against any bulldozer?
Do they come forward when the Grand
Jury is sitting, and report criminals so that
the law can find a process to reach them
If they will not make an affidavit, what
right has Justice to issue warrant? If
they refuse to testify, how can the Grand
Jury indict Do they expect to stop bull
doing by holding meetings to denounce
officers who are straining every power they
have to stop it, and then quietly surrender
the field to the bulldozers2
The province of good citizens is to hold
up the law and strengthen the arms of its
ministers, not to paralyze them by unjust
and untmely condemnation. 1t is a sad
thing for a conscientious and faithful
officer, who brings to the service of the
people fidelity, nerve and ability, to be
condemned in public meeting for not dos
ing the thing that he wants to do, and would
do if they themselves had not made it i'm,
possible by their own dereliction or want
Vi LlOLi bOtlaSO ~ ASlJOli anu bCot4lJ
against the miscreants.
We are aware of the fact that several
cases Of bulldozing have occurred in the
southwestern counties, and no man depre-
Gates them or condemns the participants in
them more heartily than we do. But We
know the lawlessness has been largely
checked, thanks to the fdelidy and pervo
Of the Judge and District Attorney; and
We are positively sure that the man lives no
where in Mississippi who could or would
have proved more faithful and more eff
cient on the bench in this good work than
Judge Chrisman. The people there feel
themselves largely indebted to him for the
good work he has already performed for
them in checking the lawless, and in infus-