Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-12-29
The l3eOrgia KuKlux.

Tue southern Democratic press
shrieking itself hoarss over what
calls the persecution by the FEEDERS
Government of the inhumau fieuds /
Georgia, who, last July, broke open
number of negro cabins and took out tn
male members of the family--those VIII
voted at the election in Noyem Der, 1888:
for Emory Speer,- and gave then
from twenty i've to one hundred an,
seventy five lashes and shooting others
These poor negroes had never commit
ted any other offence than that of vot
ing for Mr.. Speer, " no was an indepen
dent candidate for Congress against tn,
regular Bourbon nomisee, Mr.. Cander
Mr.. Speer bad been before regularl,
elected by the Democrats to Congress
but his independent course in that bod )
did not suit the Bourbons who refused
to re-nominate him. He then offered
himself ~ an independent candidate
and naturally the colo red men, those
who voted, cast their votes for him in
preference to the Bourbon nominee.
The shootines and whippings Of the ne
groes who voted for Speer took place
last July. There seemed to bea be.
coming fitness in the fact that the aven.
ger of the wrongs of these shot riddled,
bruised and whipped negroes was the
same Emory Speer for whom the ue-
groes voted and " no had been appointed
United States District Attorney for
Georgia. He had the inhuman fiends
who committed the outrages arrested,
and in spite of the howl of the Bourbon
press and threats Of assassination, he
had them convicted. There were sew n
OF them and they belonged to the lead.
ing families in that neigLhorhood, and
let the church hide its face with shame
70 think that they should have been
tolerated a. acceptable members of an
orthodox branch of Christ's church on
earth. The prisoners were called up
the other day for sentence before Judge
Mccoy, who, before passing sentence
took occasion ~ say:
The offence Of which you have been
convicted Is one of the very gravest
character. The freedom of elections ia
necessity for the good Of this State.
and OF the greatest importance TO the
whole people. OF what avail is the
form OF Republic, the machinery and
parade of ballots and elections, If the
voter may not cast his vote without
rear What is the right of suffrage
worth II 1t Ii to be exercised under the |
rear mat unless 10 be exercised 30 as to |
SUIT The notions OF the mob the voter
VIII De walked up at night by lawless
Dand' and be shamefully and cruelty
Deaten. The acts of which you have
Deen found guilty are not therefore mere
acts OF Violence; they are attacks upon
the very vitals of the Republic, and if
permitted to continue would make tie
right TO vote sham and snare. The
circumstances render this case q partic
ularly aggravated one.
The violence was in the dead of nj yht
IN the presence Of the wives and infant
cniluren or those maltreated, and the
oeatlng was most cruel and bloody.
Indeed, one could hardly suppose it
possibie that without some special per-
sOnal malice ihs heart of man could
nave been capable Of such deliberate,
bitter and heartless cruelty az the evil
dence In the case exhibits. That the
victims were negrOes-formerly slaves
poor, helpless and ignorant. AZ il [
seems TO me, aggravates the offence. .
Ihelr condition Of life, their poverty,
their Ignorance ought to excite the sym
pathy OF the good citizen instead of
awakening the lower or more degrading ,
passions OF their nature In view of ali ,
these circumstances, but especially in -,
view OF the effect which the prevalence '
OF such acts if permitted would have |
upon the freedom Of elections, and that |
those who do them may know that thew
are running the risk of no light penalty 7,
have not felt myself at liberty TO treat
thls offence as a mere assault and bat | l
terry, but TO consider it an offence I
against liberty itself and to punish it t
accordingly.
Judge Mccoy then sentenced each Of |
the prisoners to two years imprison. .
ment IN the penitentiary, but scarcely r
had the sentence been passed. when d
they were followed by an unexpected +
disclosure. Five of the prisoners who, e
up to this time, had denied their guilt, a
completely broke down and acknowl. i,
edged their guilt and the righteousness ii
OF the sentence, but desired that the v
remaining two be cleared, as they were C,
not really parties to the conspiracy. Il
Sentence was accordingly deferred on
the two referred to that the new eyi.
dence might be considered, la
The report of the trial was taken by q
sble and faithful stenographers, and Ill
though we cannot give a quarter of tho D;
violence In detail justice and truth Ii
ieDand that we should give the evil a
ience of two of the witnesses who were G.,
'he victims Of these bell-hounds in I'm. AZ
nan shape. Here is the evidence of III
AleCk Brooks: of
lhey came over TO my house there. ID
was asleep when they came. had "A on
lo5 mat made fuss and it woke me III,
ip' They said Get up and open the r..
loor. held the door. | didn't open ~
Z. Ihey said Open the door, but vi
leid on to 1t, and ] still held on to the Vi
LOOT, and they said 4 You don fu
pen the door, when get in hell will NJ
% your portion. And they knocked p'
ne door down, and the door turned and III
still held the door until they over to
owered me and came in anyhow. wi
hen they came they downed me, and oo
ne and them scutlied long while in 90 ~,
ne house. ] would not go out, and he'
hey pulled me out, and Mr.. Yarbronph ma
ald You have got to go out tax. the
I'm ont the door | told one Of the cd
hildren TO hollow, that probably Mr..
anderson Ga neighbor) or somebOdy
night come down there and give some
eip and ! would get shet of them, but enc
obodg came and they hung on, and ule
ftpr thew haJ ! allan ., n a,,t =,