Litchfield enquirer., 1879-08-28
Terror.

| at all, only in the face of such atrocious mis
 government as that of the carpet-baggers. IT
 the face of system which corrupted the foun
 tains of popular government, terror was sim.
 ply revolution. That great American states
 can remain subject to no government but ter
 TOT, for year after year, seems absurd. Yet the
 assassination of Henry M. Dixon, independent
 candidate for sheriff of Yazoo county, Miss,
 by a political opponent, shows that at this
 very time, four years after the violent death
 of Carpet Baggery in that state, terror is still
 supreme III Mississippi. The facts, so far as
 we can learn, are briefly these:
 Dixon was himself an original bull-dozer.
 He was more than that, he was the most noted of the bull dozers who suppressed Republican ism in Mississippi in 1875; and received from
 Yazoo county silver pitcher ''as an humble testimonial of their high appreciation of his brilliant services in the redemption of the county from radical rule" The men who have blood, liar, demagogue, a gambler and a thief. They tell characteristic story of his terrorizing body of negroes into hanging their own leader: he was armed and bold they, unarmed and cowardly; and the story is by no means improbable. Whatever his char acter, it was the same Tn '79 that it was in '75. The only difference was in his political atti- tude. Of late he seems to have had political aspirations which found no favor with the regular Democratic managers. He had made himself popular among the negroes, and at last proposed to run as an independent candi- date for the office of sheriff. This was too much for Mississippi patience. A mob gath cred, and after some hesitation whether they should murder him out of hand, finally ac- cepted his withdrawal This proceeding was sharply denounced not only throughout the North, but one prominent Mississippian (ex- Gov. Brown and one Mississippi paper joined in denunciation of the act. Dixon, encourag- ed by this support, withdrew his withdrawal. and once more entered the canvass. Hereupon, he was murdered in open daylight; his mur- derer underwent the form of an arrest, and was admitted to bail.
 No doubt Dixon was not tlt man to fill the position he sought. Probably he was the murderer, the gambler and the demagogue, his former friends now picture him; but does all this excuse his assassination? The best Northern Democratic papers denounce the dead not SO the Southern. Even the Wash ington organ of the Democracy justifies this cold -blooded murder in the following aston- ishing language:
 In sheer defence, just as they would have united against an insane man with torch in his hand, or a wild animal, the citi- zens of Yazoo County, without distinction of politics or color came together and informed Dixon that he would not be allowed to turn their peaceful community into another hell. In most counties such man would have been hnng to the nearest lamp-post, and but little note would have been made of it. Here, how ever, quiet but determined suppression of him has been tortured into prescription of the worst grade, and Northern papers have print ed columns of denuucation of what they style "the Mississippi Method" Citizens who have combined merely to protect their firesldes from rapine and riot, are assailed as bulldOz- CTS and YaZoos and Yahoos.
 There is not the slightest evidence that Dix on had planned any other outrage than that of running for an office in opposition to the regu- lar Democratic nominee. This, it seems, is an offence which justifes 'quiet but determin- ed suppression" by means of the shot gun In other words, self government in Mississippi consists merely of the right to vote for the regular Democratic nominee for office. To be sure, the individual voter may perhaps cast without personal danger what in politics is termed scattering" vote; but to attempt any combination of individuals opposed to the reg ular Democracy, works an outlawry which subjects the offender to immediate death at the hands of any person who may choose to infict it.
 It is such barbarism as this which IS fast making the North forget hatred of Carpet Baggery which revolutionized the politics of this section in 1874, for hatred of Bourbon Democracy, which will bear fruit in stalwart politicians moderate the arrogance with which they now crush down all opposition. Pure terror will never bring good government to any people. If the ignorance of the negro calls for restricted suffragein some Southern states, let the restriction be frankly and hon. estly adopted. The shotgun will just as sure- ly bring about solid North, as it has already given us solid South.
 We saw it announced in the papers of last week, that Mrs Chisolm was to start on We'd nesday last for Mississippi to attend the trial of the assassins of her husband and children, and that she was to b, escorted by her surviv- ing son and General Stewart l.. Woodford. We hope she has not been deterred by the murder of Dixon from carrying out this plan. We honor MT. Woodford, too, for the step he has proposed to take. We do not believe the savages of the section he is to visit will dare molest him, and then we shall have at least one reliable witness to testify to the practi- cal workings of Mississippi justice.