Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-11-19

Hon. Emory speer Tells OF the
Late Trials I'm Georgia
Changed Sentiment OF the
People.
speelal . lhs comm,reInI an,,tt,.


WASHINGTON, November l3.-Hon
Emory Speer, U. S. Attorney fol
Georgia, is in the city. lie gives an
interesting account of his late success
ful trial Of ku-klux. In an inter.
view which will appear in the Repub.
lican to morrow, he says the clan il
not yet broken up, and proceeds. 81
have indictments now pending against
members OF this same band. made
the injured parties pull of their shirts
in the courtroom, and some Of their
backs were Scared as if by hot irons
although the whippings had been in
ficted three months before, so the
flesh had time to heal"
How are the convictions regarded
in the State?"
THE best thing about them is that
the best people Of Georgia have been
aroused, and they have been approved d
by a great many of the leading citi.
zens Of Atlanta and other portions Of
the State, and | believe that is an ex.
ceedingly healthy sign"
Have any OF the witnesses been in
timidated or threatened since the trial
because they testified"
Yes, Warren Bryson, who was 50
badly whipped, has been forced to
leave his farm and live in Atlanta, To
escape the threatened vengeance OF the
kinfolks Of the convicted men. He
told me that Mr.. Anderson, a white
man, and another witness for the Gov
ernment, had informed him Bryson)
that Mack Yarbrough and three 9th.
ers were looking for him, and had said
that wherever they found him, right
there they would leave him. "
Anderson is good citizen, although
Democrat, and he advised Bryson Ia
leave home. Very great alarm is tell
among the cOlored people at the action
Of this gang. The respectable and more
liberal people Of Georgia have nc
sympathy with these outrages, but
they are certainly most potent evil
and tend more to degrade and retard
the cOlored people in the exercise Of
every right aud privilege than any.
thing else that could be imagined
Why, the colored people have laid out
in the woods aud fields for weeks at q
time
isn't colored ku-klux rather out
Of the regular order2 | refer to Jake
Hays, the colored man." remarked the
reporter.
THE colored ku.klux lived on the
land Of ore Of the Yarbroughs, and
was a Democrat, He was in lull sym,
pathy with the gang"
What WAS the general appearance
Of the prisonersp"
"a majority Of them were above the
average, although some of them were
quite hard and desperate looking
They ranged in age from twenty 10
thirty years. They were not all farm.
ers; some Of them had a good deal to
do with the sale Of liquors" "
What kind Of DISCUSSES did they
usually wear when on a raid2"
Mostly black Goth faces 0ne Of
them wore an extraordiary cap oil
many colors. That cap was a material
piece of evidence in his Identification
1t was described by the negroes before
it was found, and was afterwards dis.
covered iQ the house of Jasper Var,
brougb. ~
THE evidence, in many places. -
said Mr., Speer, revorting to the trial
was often delivered in true. uucere,
monious style, and was affecting in i'll
simplicity and truthfulness. Warren
Bfyson, the old colored man who wa.
so frightfully lashed, said: When
heerd 'em bangin' at my dogh al
yelln' out open, Cd d-m you,"
looked down on de foah, an dare LAY
my littual baby | was aleerd dey
trample her, an so struck a light, Sc
dat dey might see her an not Kill ny
chile ,"