New-York tribune., 1884-01-09
THE MURDER or M4TTHEWS.
HIS son REPLIES TO CONGRESSMAN BARKs
DALE.
MR.. MATTHEws's REPUTE IN MISSISSIPPI BEFORE
IT BECAME A POLITICAL NECESSITY TO KILL

MR. MATTHEws'S REPUTE IN MISSISSIPPI BEtokE
IT BECAME A POLITICAL NECESSITY TO KILL
H1M.
To the Edftor Of Tke Tribune.
SIR. In simple Justice to the memory Of my mur-
dered father. j. P Matthews, trust you will allow
me "a replv TO the shameless and false statement OF
CONGRESSMAN Barksdale which / find in your issue
of December II, 1888
First-Barksdale denies making the assertion in
his speech on the night preceding the election that
the Democrats should carry the election If they
had to do so at the muzzle Of their guns and, TO
sustain him, he produces the certificate OF ). l..
Meade a drunken, irresponsible dead-beat and
leader of the mob which murdered my father, and
some Others who we're also in the mob. There were
many reputable citizens, not IN the mob, present
one a leading minister of the gospel and a man of
the highest character whom Barksdale does not call
upon for a certificate None would doubt his abi-
itv to procure n certificate to any falsehood from
Meade. Wheeler or their ailcrs and abettors in
crime. Barksdale knows that he not only stated
what has been attributed to hun, but in the same
speech said of +. NJ. Bufkin, Republican member
of Supervisors of the county: "YOu should hang
him So high that the birds Of prey could not bury
their beaks in his carcass" And he knows how
nearly his advice was followed in this, and how
completely it was followed III carrying the election
at the muzzle of the shot gun"
SCCORd-BarkSualC says my ldilHI WIS -Il'liH
during the Ames regime and acc Inulateda large
fortune; he banded the negroes against the whites
and taught them to hate and in every manner TO
tagonize them as their enemies, ETC." Barksdale
knows that my father was IL good circumstances
when he went into the Sheriff. Office; that he was
a good business man that as an officer and a man,
outside of being a Republican lie stood high with
all. lie knows that my father is the only Sheriff
who has gone out Of the Office in Copah County
since the war who has not been defaulter, It being
generally Democratic county BaFksdale knows
that Democrats of the county repeatedly insisted on
my fathers becoming a candidate for Sheriff Oh
their ticket, telling him if he would that he could
hold the Office as long as he wished He knows,
what the record Will show, that during Amess ad-
ministration, when some efforts were made to re-
move my father, every prominent Democrat in the
county petitioned the Governor to retain him,
speaking of him in the highest terms as an officer
and citizen. As one Of the many evidences / could
give Of the falsity of Barksdales slanderou5 state
ment | here give in full a letter addressed to my
father by Judge Tim Z. Cooper, on the Supreme
Bench written after my father had been Sheriff for
many years and covering the Ames regime
CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss, June p, 1871
DEAR SIX: Your favor received herewith inelose
i regret am sure do many OF your friends beside me-
that difference in political views makes II necessary
for TO vote against you IN your candidacy for the
office which you have filed accepaby to all ella ses in
aud officer concerned they are OF the kndesJ and II
Re1uLican uartv which makes il absolutely necessary
to defeat the Organization o the purity in this canvass
that makes the Office Tor sAcIu political one KNOW on
no VINO ! think has more faithfully and honestly
filed an olce than you, or more acceptaDly To the
am haupv 70 he able 10 say the same thn-in regard
to Harvey, and while expect 10 work AGAINST your
party and vote against both OF you am yet satisfied
that except your ID poAcs you are oOtA & 5opt IeL
sentiments and the only ones l expect to express.
Your friend. etc, TIN l.. COOPER
Barksdale knows that the Democratic Taxpayers
League in S75 had my fathers books as Sheriff in
vestigatcd by a committee of Democrats and the
report of that committee was that TIE bookswcre
correct.
Do not these strong facts crush forever every
aspersiou which Barksdale would cast upon the
memory Of my father and need follow his shame
less ISLANDERS furthcrl One would have thought
that this Congressman would scarcely have referred
to the "Ames regime" when it is remembered that
it was during this same regime" that Barksdale,
then Editor Of The Clarion, barganed and intrigued
with The Plot (Ames's organ for division of the
public printing in such a way that il is claimed the
State was defrauded out Of many thousand dollars
Ii his record during this regime was as free from
suspicion and taint as my fathers, lie would be
fortunate.
Ihird-Barksdale SAYS: Matthews went to the
polls with pistol in hand and was killed" Now
the three judges of the election, COSwell Bankstone
and Hamilton-two of whom are DemOcrats-beiOre
whose eyes the murder was committed have already
publicly stated that this is not true and that no
pistol visible until after the murder. when 1t
taken from my fathers body. No living man
Will state TO the contrary Does this talsehoOG need
further answerf
FOurth-Again, he says that in a speech before
crowd of negroes my father denounced Democrats
OF COpah when standing at his side was negro
win shotgun Ia his hand. Now he does not state
where this speech was made or who are the mum
DcI OF respectable citizens who verify 1t; indeed
barksdale knows, az every honest man in the county
KNOWS, JhaJ There IS not shadow of truth IN the
statement. MY father made but four speeches
during the canvass, two at HazlehuTst and two in
the country. Now will BaIksdale undertake to tell
the pubnc where tins speech was made and who
were The respectable citizens who gave hun he in
formation If not will the public not be justified
in believing that this like other similar statements
is a coinage Of his own brain and a shameless
slander on the memory of "a man he has aided in
having murdered
FIfh-Agaln Barksdale alludes 10 it as a personal
difficulty between Wheeler and my father The
murderer himself has since the murder stated that
there had been no Ill feeling between himself and
my father but short time before he had taken tea
al our house; he has now an open account az our
store; but q few weeks before he had solicited my
father % support him for Mayor. The last person
IN life 10 whom my father spoke was Wheeler |
W hen lac came toward the polls they IN pleasant
manner spoke together until Wheeler SAID Print |
II were you / would not vote to-day" and in one |
moment atterward shot him uOwn because lac did |
vote. Indeed, 10 is now an open secret that lots !
were drawn as to who should be selected % carry |
into elect the resolution which had been given my
father on the day before by the mob not 10 vote,
and 10 Kill him If he attempted 10 do So" The lot
10 do the bloody work fell 70 Wheeler, and II was