The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-07-02

istence, and the latter state was recon
structed under Democratic auspices,
with the ex-confederate General
Throckmorton as governor. A consti-
tuition was adopted embracing a sys-
tenn of labor laws that brought the
freedman into the most abject peonage,
and the penitentiaries and jails Of the
state were filled with labOrerS convict
ed on a charge of absenting themselves
from their employers premises with
out passes, and similar offences. These
convicts were then hired out to the
highest bidders, making the system of
involuntary servitude complete. Gen
eral Hancock was appealed to in petit
tons and prayers of the more intelli.
gent union men, and instead of ex-
tending the protecting arm of govern
ment to them, their confidential ap-
peals were referred officially back to
Governor ThrockmortOn, who in turn
| refused them to the county authorities,
resulting in making the writers the
target of their persecution and in
creasing the latter's fury.
GAS an illustration: A young man
named Lindsey, living at Bolton, in
Bell county, was conscripted in the
Confederate army. He was of union
family, and by advice Of his father he
fled the country, and being pursued by
officers he caught up pony running
wild on the prairie and with it's aid
escaped across the line into Mexico,
made his way to Brownsville, enlisted
in a Texas union cavalry regiment,
and at the close of the war was hon.
orably discharged, w en- he returned
home to his fathers. The two had
been active in their community in
opposition to the peonage laws, also
were instrumental in getting up a Pc
tition for relief, citing instances of
outrages within their knowledge. This
petition was returned in the manner
above described, and those two men
Instantly became shining mark for
the persecution of their ku-kIuxing
neighbors. To escape the dangers
they had unwittingly brought upon
themselves, these men were compelled
to Immediately abandon all their accu-
mutations of two generations and flee.
They settled in Attasc0Sa county, more |
than 100 miles away, where they hoped |
to live in comparative peace and out |
of range of the hornets nest they had |
disturbed. Not SO, however. A war
rant was sworn out against the son on
a charge Of horse-stealing, based on
the above named circumstances. AL
though the ownership Of the pony |
(worth less than five dollars) was not
known. the father was included as
accessory and officers Of Bell county pro-
ceeded to execute the warrant. While
en- route to Bell county in the custody |
of the officers the Lindseys succeeded |
in getting friendly freedman to con- /
yey information of their peril to eX-
Major 7. t, Teal, q promi-
nent lawyer of San Antonio, who APP |
pealed to General Mason, commanding
the post, to intercede on the ground !
that the charge was fraudulent and
was made to get them into custody for
the purpose of assassination. General
Mason retained the two pris-
oners in jail in San Antontio, and for
warded their appeal for change OF
venue in due form to military head
quarters. This in turn was referred
to Governor ThrOckmOrtOn, who dis
approved the petition, and the prison
ers were again put in the custody of
the Bell county authorities, with the
commanding officers kind assurance
that they should have justice" The
Lindseys were taken to the county jail
of Bell county, which was tWo-story
concern built of hewn logs, with an
outer and inner layer Of logs laid hor-
izontally and dovetailed at the cor
ners, and another thickness of logs
between them standing perpendicular
" and loose, in order that they might
keep dropping, if by any device the
prisoners should attempt to cut a por-
ton out. The second story was sep
arated from the first by a solid log
floor with twenty feet clear between
the lower floor and this ceiling, and the
only entrance or opening to the lower
story was through twenty inch trap
in the separating floor, the upper story
being reached by outside stairs. The
Lindseys were placed in this dungeon,
where they remained and Weltered in
their own filth about four months, in
company with a couple of colored
prisoners charged with capital offenses,
until within about ten days of the
time the court was to meet to try
them, when an organized band of
about sixty of the best citizens of
Bolton calmly entered the jail about
midnight one night, and throwing
torches of cotton, saturated with tur-
pentine, into the dungeon emptied
their shotguns into the bodies of the
two Lindseys until they and their col
ored companions lay welteringin their
blood, after which a score of the lead
ers were let down into the pit, when
they marched around the mangled
corpses, singing rebel war songs and
emptying their revolvers into the help
less carcasses Of the victims. This
was the eliminating point of Han
cocks surrender to the ku-klux. On
the presentation of the circumstance
of this outrage to President Grant,
| who had succeeded President Johnson,
| oo thor, xxroro proparn6 nv Moi0r Teal