The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-08-12

been borne out of doors into the field.
-Four men swung him from the ground
by arms and legs, while fifth admin
lstered the lash upon his face and
body, iacerating him terribly. Near
by four others of the fends held his
son, while similar barbarous torture
was inflicted upon him, until finally,
IN his thirst for blood, one of the mid
night assassins put bullet through
the young negro's body from side to
side. Their hearts We're still insatiate
for blood. They re-entered the house,
dragged Joe Thompson's aged and un-
offending wife from her bed, and in
tflcted upon her a whipping no less
brutal than that which they had Just
inflicted upon father and son. Yelling
and waving their torches aloft, the
assassins then departed, marking the
path of their return by firing into a
neighboring negro's house on their
way. Joe Thompson soon recovered
conciousness, and, dragging his bleed
ing limbs about his home, found his
son lying fatally wounded in the field,
his daughter lying dead between her
fully and bleeding from the effects of
the lash.
Joe Thompson had recognized
among the murderers John Gray, his
former oppressor, and James McElroy,
brother-in-law of this human fend.
On the following morning these two
men were arrested for murder and in
carcerated in the Jonesboro Jail.
1t seems a terrible thing that even
fifteen men could have been found in
one county in Georgia who would
band together and deliberately march
fifteen miles to the commission of
such crime as this. But subsequent
events proved that large class of the
residents of that county sympathized
with them in this outrage, and travel
ed in arms to Jonesboro to effect their
release from jail. Late last night
Governor Colquitt received a telegram
from the Sheriff of Jonesboro asking
him to order the military to that place
Immediately. Ten men had been ar
rested, suspected Of completely in the
outrage, and large crowd had arrived
in the city from Fayette County, and
demanded the release of the prisoners.
The Jail was then guarded by fifty
armed men, but collision was mo-
mentarily expected. Governor Col
quit, escorted by the Gate City Guards,
repaired to the scene at midnight last
night, quelled the riot and returned to
Atlanta with the ten prisoners to-day
The negroes of the community, out
ragged as they have been, have raised
no hand against their oppressors, nor
even held an Indignation meeting
Submissive as brutes, they bow hope
lessly beneath the brutality that has
been practiced upon their race. The
whites of Jonesboro have held an in
meeting, offered reward |
for the apprehension of the murder
ers, and are IN great CONSERVATION I
from the fear that this outrage will be
used to the detriment Of the Demo-
cratic party in the present campaign.
1t is true that this affair is of mo-
mentous political insignifcance. 1t
illustrates the methods Of the South
ern Democracy. 1t points out the
slight esteem in which the life of a
negro, to say nothing Of his rights, is
held in the South. It tells in unmis-
taxable language that for reasons far
less trivial than any political ones,
negroes are slaughtered in the South
mercy and without cause. No
more cold-blooded, objectless murder
than this which | have recorded can be
found in the annals of crime. But it
has higher significance than a polit-
ical one; it cries aloud for a change Of
moral principles, as well as political
ones. 1t demands the abolishment of
q negro slavery far worse than that
one that was characterized by barter
and trade of human souls. 1t cries
out for redress to every honest lover
Of justice and humanity. And unless
there soon comes change in both the
moral and political tone of the South,
The negro will be driven from the land
Of his birth, or ingulfed in slavery
tenfold more terrible than any he has
ever known. G.. M. d.