Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-05-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Special Correspondence Public LrDorn.I

Special Correspondence Public LEDGRR.l
WASHINGTON, April 26.-Tuesday
the senate exodus committee exam
ined Lewis Stubblefeld, a negro
planter, who lives in Bolivar county,
Mississippi. The witness testified
that he is unable to read or write,
but owns q farm Of one hundred and
sixty acres, well stocked and in good
condition, his property being worth
$4,000. He testified that there are
twelve or fifteen negroes in his county,
each Of whom is worth $4,000. As
to public education, he said the negro
children had equal facilities andshared
the opportunities afforded the white
children. Stubblefeld is a republi-
can, and for eight years had been a
supervisor of Bolivar county. He
gave his evidence in an honest, simple
manner, despite the artful interroga-
tions of Senator Window and Senator
Blair, whose talent is doubtless in ex-
cess Of their sincerity in this matter
of the exodus investigation. Stubble-
field has a good reputation, due to his
character, which is duly recognized
and properly appreciated by General
Chalmers shotgun constituents" the
title inspired by the malignant enmity
and dishonest zeal of the northern
radicals. He told the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing bat the
truth" Hence the disgust of Messrs.
Window and Blair. whose %apprecia-
tion Of the truth when it looks to the
v%indication Of the south, is very acute
ly wanting. In the course of his evil
dence, Stubblefeld testified that his
fellow negroes might have done equal
ly as well as he and the others, who
had accumulated $4,000 worth Of
property, had they not preferred idle
ness to industry. As to the immedi-
ate cause of the exodus from Bolivar
county, he stated that the negroes
were contented enough until a north
r man came among them
and organized secret societies,
by means Of which they filed the
heads of the Ignorant and credulous
with the widest and most e~xtrayagaut
stories regarding the Eldorado.
Among the stories told by this radi-
cal hireling to induce the negroes to
emigrate from the south was one of
Munchausen character, viz, that the
north and northwest (Kansas) were
full Of trees that produce an abuud-
ance Of good white bread, while other
trees up there had only to be tapped,
when they gave a flow of lard in great
abundance. Now, be it not forgotten
that Lewis Stubblefeld, a negro, an
ex.slave, and ex-supervisor and a re-
publican, upon his oath, testified that
such stories were circulated by north
ern men to induce the negroes to
leave the south. His testimony. the
truth Of which cannot be questioned,
shows how the poor negroes Of the
south have been deluded, deceived
and decoyed from their old log cabins
In the warm sunny south and carried
to the rigorous climate of the north
ern country. And for what?-why to
make political capital for such crea-
lures as Window, Blaine, aud the rad
ical party generally. Even human
life has not stood in the way Of these
desperate men. To them human mis-
cry is a boon, and there is no suffering
they would fail to heap upon the ne.
gro, and no infamy they would hest.
tate to cast upon the white people OF
the south, provided such would tend
to the retention of radical rule and
official corruption. These are
the men who, as leaders
Of the republican party never lose an
opportunity to SANDER the best and
most virtuous people Of the south, and
it is such men as these that the ma.
tionals and the greenbackers, as vel
as all other aisorganizers of the demo.
cratic party in Tennessee and Vir.
Rinia Eyes, the regulators tool, arc
calculated to keep in power and re,