The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-07-22

ry County, Alabama, under date o1
August 81, 1879, and is addressed tc
the Treasurer of the Freewill Baptist
Home Mission Society, to whom he
addressed his document in 1876.
In order to find out with more ac-
curacy the true condition of affairs, |
moved from Virginia into the very
heart of the South, where / have been
for nearly two years watching every
movement with the closest attention
as to the conduct, plans and attentions
of the white people in the South. In
order to arrive at a just conclusion,
have conversed with colored men of
every grade, from the preacher down
to the most humble laborer in his cab
IN. This investigation has covered a
wide section of country, including
North and South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mis-
sissippi. And [ have heard only one
sad story of crime, murder, assassina-
ton and cruel wrong. And from
what [ have seen and heard, | am
forced to the conclusion that [ was
wrong, and that you were right in
1876. And I do hereby frankly re-
tract every word [ said in my letter to
you on the 21st of August, 1876, which
expressed single sentence in favor of
the Democratic party Of the South or
country"
Mr.: Dunjie, in explaining the rea-
sons for his taking the position that
he did in 1875, refers to the terrible
sufferings of his people from the per-
secution of Southern whites, and to
the perplexity that he felt in desiring
to know the best course to persue. He
adds:
I'm this condition Of darkness and
doubt, the leading white men of the
South came to the leading colored
men and offered to make full and man.
ly reconciliation between the two ra-
ces; and made the most sacred pledges
to the colored men, declaring that
they would put down all opposition to
the rights of the colored race, that
murder and wrong of every kind
should stop.
"Now every good man in the coun-
try, both North and South, desires to
see better feeling existing between
the two races in the South. | for one
accepted these propositions as being
Christian and right.
MY letter to you Of August 81,
1876, was used by the National Demo-
cratic Committee as campaign docu-
ment, without my knowledge or con-
sent. It was not in any sense written
for that purpose. | wrote it purely
because | then believed that it would
be best to divide the colored vote be-
tween the two parties as a base Of set
tlement, and means of putting an
end to the wholesale slaughter Of the
colored people then going on all over
the Southern States, leaving out Vir-
ginia, as none Of these murders have
ever occurred in that State.
"Have they (the Southern people,
kept their pledge to the colored men
and to the country? All fair-minded
men must say they have not. 1t
makes ones blood boil to recall even a
few of the black crimes which the
South has committed against the col
ored citizens, and against the Repub-
lican party of that section. In all the
States further South than Virginia,
hundreds of our people have been shot
down as if they had been beasts of
prey. In fact, the Southerner who
can kill and maltreat the most color
ed men, has been and is now regarded
as the best man in the South, and is
always elected by his friends to the
highest office in the gift of the peo-
pie. Witness the murder of Dixon
in Mississippi.
''It never was a crime here in the
eyes Of public sentiment for white
man to kill a colored man. In fact,
the liberty Of the colored people of the
South is a most miserable farce. We
can not vote our sentiments at the
polls; we are treated with every bru-
tai indignity known to arrogance and
wrong. | have made a most careful
canvass Of these matters, and [ have
not been able to find single case, in
all the thousands of murders of col
ored men by white men, since the
war, where a single white man has
been punished. [ firmly believe that
the Democratic party of the South is
united III its efforts to crush the col
ored race, and the whole legislation Of
the South since 1865 has aimed to re-
duce the race to condition even
worse than slavery itself"
Mr.. Dunjie then refers to the case
of a colored candidate for the State
Senate in Alabama, in a district where
the colored voters outnumber the
whites six to one, who without any
shadow of doubt was elected over his
white opponent by a majority of
$500 votes, but the colored man was
counted out" and his opponent seat
ed. Mr.. Dunjie continues:
There is no law for the protection
Of colored people in the South. The
jails, chain-gangs and penitentiaries
are being filled with our people all
over the South. The Southern States
have passed laws by which, if color
ed man is guilty Of the theft of one
cent, one chicken, one box Of match
es, one ear of corn, he is disfranchised
forever Thus any bad white man
may trump up false charges against
the most respectable colored man in
the community, and present them to
the grand jury, and they always find
a true bill; the party is brought be-
fore the Courts, where he rarely es-
capes the sentence of guilty, no mat
ter what the evidence is, and he or
she is sent to the States Prison for
from one to ten years. Whites are
never convicted for such offenses.
Nov the South has two-fold plan
in this thing. First, every one they
convict, they make one less colored
vote. But this is not all. In all these
States they have passed laws BY which