Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-12-19
MURDER
In CopIah County, Miss, as 1t Is Viewed
by the Bloodiest Of the Bloody
Shirt Organs.
A Logical and S~esuential Statement Of
Crime Worthy Of the Immediate
Attention Of All the
Good People Of a State Whose Name and
Fame Are Involved in 1t Until
II Is Punished.

be a Republican State If the reign of ter
ror had not been established among the
blacks by a series of murders as devilish
as ever red savages committed, and that
were perpetrated for the political effect
that they have produced.
The most recent Mississippi murder in
tended to intimidate voters was that oil
Sheriff Matthews OF Gopiah, county, not a
carpetbagger, But an old Mississippian, who
ventured to question the infalhbility OF
the Democratic party, and to assert his
right to vote as a citizen of the United
States and the State of Mississippi.
On the evening before the late so-called
election in Mississippi, a Democratic com
mittee waited upon Mr.. Matthews and
handed him the following:
WHEREAS, 1t is thought that the public interest
will be subseryed By, Print Matthew's aOsentins
himself frem the polls CT election day therefore
Resolred, That Print Matthews be ordered to
Adopted by citizens of Copiah county this, the
5th day Of November, 1855.
Mr.. Matthews was a man of high spirit.
There was no drawer man in Mississippi,
and that is about Is much as could be SAID
on that subject.
He knew that the times were serious.
The kuklux had been riding, as usual, to
scare the blacks from the polls. Mrs. Mat
thews says:
Six weeks before the election Mr.. Burnett, In
crat. He was carried to our house to be nursed,
where be fingered until two days before the elec-
fti % isa when fn ,rsen ss 81 fu III eTes giS,eb beed ior Of Sr men
ing negroes, and driving them from tkeir, homes cad
,Sas sepen,v veGSs old, .Ssa ,sIo had harmed no one,
tpas called 9Hs Of ". soGse az midnight and shot 70
degA' a"d y, 'Gye ']orioasp 'eoandsd. His onsy
anti Rourbon ticket. Sererat others IUerc k[Hed "a
a similar manner. The house %, Erqsrsas Matthew
other fMiepesdchfs aud Republicans loere uisited,
and threats Of p~ioleace freely indul9ed, and ia seq
erat cases the men severely tuhipped.
There never was an atrocity in Bulgaria
surpassingthi The answer that Matthews
made to the warning he received that he
must not vote, was that he was a free man
had as much right to vote as anybody, and
vote he would. What other answer could
an American citizen give?
Mrs. Matthews says that on the morn.
ing of election day her husband ''ate nc
breakfast" but said to his brother he
would vote, and left his house, 100 yards
from the polls. His wife and children
never saw him again alive. Presently they
heard a shotgun and knew what it meant
When Matthews entered the votine
place he had a pleasant conversation with
Wheeler, who had no personal feeling
against him whatever. He told Wheeler
he was going to vote, and Wheeler said
81 would MOI vote if l was you" There
was no alteration; nc excitement. Mat
thews said he had a right to vote, took
ticket in his (a .rds moi a Democratic ticket.
and we quote the narrative of Mrs. Mat
thews:
On. Of the officers reeeiped the tieket, dropped i
~ re CDr, GATED ~ name; drd 'dns gete4, gnd a
barrels ofkis qua, nc charges striking kim IN thc
seek ard breast, and killing him instantly.
1t was not a personal matter at all. Mr.
Wheeler was not unfriendly in an indi.
vidual sense to Matthews, but shot him
lead at the polls because he defied the
Democratic party-and there will be just
as many murders of that kind committed
as are necessary in the judgment of South
ern Democrats to keep their section solid
for the party. There is no mystery about
it. The facts are not disputed. The case
is representative. What is to be done
about it? Well, the thing not to be done
is to elect a Democrat President OF the
United States.
Wheeler has been rewarded for the muir,
der of Matthews by being made marshal Of
his town. He has become a person of con-
sequence. Such murderers as he is are
perfectly safe in Mississippi. Mrs. Mat.
thews says:
None. of the famous political murderers OF
Mississippi have ever been punished, and not all
ed for their party service. Barksdale, who muir.
dored Dixon, has been chancery clerk, and is now
a member Of the Mississippi Legislature. Gully,
the, leader Of the mob that assassinated ChisOlm
and his children, has since been q member Of the
Legislature.
Wheeler's party service with the shot
gun was exceptionally brilliant, and he got
his reward Immediately. He will no doubt
soon take a leading position in the affairs
of his sovereign State.
Not satisfied with the murder of Mat.
thews because he voted against the party
OF the shotgun, the Democracy held a
meeting and adopted a series of resolu-
tons, as follows:
Resolred, By the people of COpiah county, in
mass-Ineeting assembled this day, at the court
house of said county, that if any person shall be
injured, or attempted to be Injured, either in per-
son or property, in any manner by the said rela-
tives or friends of said j. p. Matthews, that we
hereby declare that we will hold his said relatives
or friends who participate accountable for the
same, and that we hereby regard them without
the pale and protection of the law and common
t tRem certain ia SO Snd wi hPq rot tafs Ts vii be Y Il faT qRSp
Resofced, That SO long as the said relatives and
friends of !. 2. Matthews obey the law, as be
comes good citizens, we hereby pledge them the
protection of the law:
Resotred, further, That in the opinion of this
meeting it is necessary to the safety of society and
the welfare of all races and classes of this coun.
try, that hereafter the Matthews family shall
keep out of politics in Copiah county.
ResOtued, further, That from henceforth no man,
or set of men, shall organize the negro race
against the whites in this county, and that if il
shall be attempted in the future we hereby give
notice that it shall be at the peril of the person OF
persons attempting TO do SO.
Resotred, That We do hereby pledge ourselves
each to the other, our lives and fortunes and our
sacred honor, that we will all and individually
from henceforth hold ourselves in readiness to
enforce the foregoing resolutions, and to meet at
any time upon the call of the chairman Of this
meeting.
Re'olred, That a committee of twenty-four from
each supervisors district be appointed by the
chair to presenta copy of these resolutions to the
brothers and sons of the late j. p. Matthews, and
that the same be published in the Copiah Sigma
and the Crystal Springs Meteor.
These resolutions tell the story. 1t is as
bloody a picture as there is in the book o
time. Now, are the people of the North
going to have a President of the United
States elected by a shotgun, and turn ovel
all departments of the government to the
powers evolved by the Mississippi process
of murder?