The Hartford herald., 1879-09-03
The YaxOO Trouble.

The true inwardness of the YazOo
matter has perhaps never been present.
ed to the public. The public has learn
eel this much: That Capt. Dixon an
nOunced himself as an independent can
didate for the Sheriffalty of Yazoo coUn-
ty, Mississippi; and that two or three
hundred Democrats armed themselves
and served notice upon him that he
could not be a candidate for Office in
that community. Upon its face this
looks like fearful outrage; but there
are matters lying beneath it which go
long way towards palliating the az
fair, if they do not entirely justify it.
We learn the facts in the case from a gen.
tleman who is perfect cognizant of the
state of affairs in YazOO county. The
facts are these: In that county there are
about 1000 white voters and 1000 col
Ored voters. For a number of years
after the war the county was under the
control of the carpet-baggers and ne
grOes; and it is needless to say that il
underwent a reign of terror and pillage.
The people were robbed and wronged
and trampled upon until life was bur-
den. Finally in 1875 by mighty eff
fort, the white people wrested the con-
troll of the county from the negroes, and
have been running it themselves ever
since. of course, under their rule there
has been nothing but peace and pros
perity, and fairness The negroes, see
ing the benefits accruing to themselves
from the white rule, have been voting
Democratic almost unanimously /;
and in doing so they have not been dis
regarded, for at every election held in
fazOo county some colOred man is
elected to office by the Democrats
One of the members of the Legislature
from that county to-day is a colOred
man, and was elected by the Demo-
Gratis. Everything was lovely until this
man Dixon, an "ex-COnfederate" Cap
tain, announced himself an Independ-
ent candidate for Sheriff, at the same
time publishing by word of mouth that
he intended to make the negroes vote
for him, and that he would be elected
and run matters to suit himself, with
out reference to law or order. This
man Dixon was a notorious gambler,
and he was also a murderer and theft
Ii was freely reported and currently be-
lieved that he had stolen $4,000 from
the county treasury a few years ago.
The good people of the county became
alarmed, rs well they might. They
saw at once that they must either re-
sort to arbitrary measures, or else suffer
themselves to be robbed and pillaged
and Over-ridden for years and years and
years by "A set of murderers and thieves.
Having been burnt once before, they
dreaded the kindling of a new fire; so
the sOvereigns assembled i'm their majes-
" and proclaimed to the world that
they would not allow their community
to be infested by a horde of bandit
and any other community of decent
people, whether in the North, South,
East or West, would have done the
same thing. Dixon was bully who
had long had things his own way, and
he thought every man in the county
was afraid of him. But when the hon
esty and intelligence of the county
arose en- Bldsse to confront him his brag-
gadocia forsOok him and he crawfished.
\ few days ago he was unfortunately
killed in the streets of YazoO City by a
young man named Barksdale. We say
unfortunately, not because he did not
deserve killing, but because the affair,
occurring at the time it did, is natural
that preceded it, when really there
was no connection whatever between
the two affairs. The killing was Occas-
ioned by purely personal difficulty be-
tween the two men. The Northern pa
pers denounce the YazOo affairs where
the people were merely protecting them
selves against robbers, as n high-hand-
outrage, but these same papers justify
the stealing of the State Governments
of Louisiana and South Carolina, and
that master iniquity, the fraudulent
counting in of a President. They throw
myriads of stones when their own
houses are Of the most brittle glass;
Winchester San.