The Portland daily press., 1879-08-28
THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST %.
Letter from Dixon's Wife.
What His Brother Has to Say about the
Assassination.

The Washington correspondent CT the Clil-
cinnati Commercial has been permitted to see
some letters written by the wife of III. NJ. Dixon
to Dixon's mother in Washington. one Oh
them which was dated before the mob visited
the house, read as follows: 81 am in a state OF
constant anxiety for Henry His life is daily
threatened by the men who are on the oppos-
ing ticket to him. 1t seems that the Demo-
cratic party las they call themselves), say he
shall not have the Sheriffs Office They know
he will be elected if he runs and they are or
ganizng militia companies to prevent the col
ored people from registering and voting. They
say that if Henry does not withdraw they VIII
make him leave the country or put INN under
the ground. You can imagine what my con-
slant feeling of anxiety is.
The following is an extract from another let
ter which was dated July %, and was written
a few days after the attack by the mob Mrs.
Dixon refers to the dangerous illness of her
babe and says: "But my heaviest trouble, to
which the burial of all my little ones would be
nothing, is about Henry. An armed mob OF
500 men from all parts of the country came
after him Friday last, and at first ordered MN
to leave the country, never to return. he toid
them he was as good citizen as any OF them,
and would not leave. They then started II INTO
our house, trampling over me and my Ilttle
baby, which we supposed was dying. When
Mrs. Moore, Gadberry, Meyers, Hudson, and
Kelley proposed to the mob 10 spare him II he
would withdraw from the canvass, some said
No no; rope him. Others yelled, Run him
out of the country A great many speeches
were made to the mob by the most influential
citizens who were opposed to Henry, and they
finally agreed, to spare his life.it he would
withdraw, which he had to do or be murdered.
Now, you can understand his feelings under
the circumstances-to be compelled to knuckle
down to vile mob headed by men OF wealth,
position and influence, who ought to be the
best friends to us, Just because Henry would
run independent of the convention. No one
knows the end of this. Henry friends are in
fuential and wish to raise an indignation meet
ing and demand his rights but I am unwilling
that he should risk his life in any such way.
We would leave the State this minute If we
could possibly get away"
The brother of Captain Dixon has arrived at
Washington from Yazoo, on visit to his
mother According to his statement Barks-
dale fired at his brother from behind. and at a
distance of not more than twenty-five feet.
Barksdale had been lying in wait for. him,
armed with a shotgun, for some time, IN the
drug store of DR.. Mccormack, chairman OF the
Democratic county committee. To show that
the assassination was l"cmedltated ana Known
to many it appears that at the instant Barks-
dale fired fifteen or twenty men, armed WIN
shot-guns, appeared in the street where Banks
dale was, crying, "Where is hep kill him!'
"Kill him!'' and as soon as they found that he
was shot the, dispersed. One the day OF Dix
on's funeral fifteen hundred Independents,
one-third white, met and determined to nom
mate full ticket and keep it in the field, even
if they had to fight fof this right. About one
third of eighteen hundred white voters in the
county are Independent, and as most OF the
colored voters will support the independent
ticket, there seems to be every prospect OF its
success Mr.. Dixon says that he can produce
at any time the duplicate keys to the ballot
boxes in that district, which were procured by
the Democratic county committee, at an eX-
pense of $4,000 to $1,000 He has also evidence
to show how these keys were obtained, and
who were in the plot to stuff the ballot-boxes.
The statement is made by the friends OF
Captain Dixon that his private correspondence,
dated during the campaign of 1876 when he
was engaged in bull-dozing the Republicans,
shows clearly that several Mississppians prom
inent in public life, were involved with him to
the extent of melting him to the work and en-
couragng him in it. Among those whose
names are used in this. connection that OF Rep
resentative Singleton is said to be prominent.
In this connection it will be remembered that
the Democratic reports from Mississippi few
weeks since, when the campaign of violence
began against Captain Dixon, were to the eff
feet that Mr. Singleton and Mr. Barksdale, the
candidate for United States Senator, visited
Yazoo and urged their Democratic friends to
crush this Independent movement at the start.