New-York tribune., 1884-01-09
COPTAH COUNTY AGAIN.


letter we print elsewhere in this paper from the
son of the victim of the Copiah County murder
in Mississippi. The effect of the letter will be
heightened if the reader will consider the
circumstances changed a little Let 1t be sup
posed that young Matthews was student at
Yale or Amherst, and had been suddenly sum-
moned TO his home in Connecticut or Mass
achusetts, because his father had been
murdered at the polls for voting the Dem
ocratic ticket by an assassin designated by lot
to do the deed; that previous to the murder
the father had been warned by q resolution
passed at a meeting Of Republicans not to
attempt to go to the polls; that after the
murder, a meeting was held of the Republicans
in the neighbOrhood who warned the relatives
of tie dead man not to attempt to avcnge"
his death under penalty of being regarded
without the pale and protection of the law
and common enemies of society; that the same
resolutions declared that it was necessary to
the safety of society and the welfare OF all
"races and classes in this country" that the
family to which the murdered man belonged
shall keep out of politics.; that n committee
of twenty-four was appointed to present copy
of these resolutions in duo form to the " bro
thers and sons" of the murdered man that the
Republican coroner held no inquest, but simply
accepted the word of the murderer that he had
done the killing; that while the murderer went
through the form of being put under bonds, he
was really made hero, failed by only three
votes of getting the Republican nomination for
Mayor being defeated by shrewd members of
the party who saw that such a nomination
would be a grave scandal; was Immediately
appointed Town Marshal by the Republican
Town Board, and is to-day in no more danger
of his life for having murdered human being
than if he had killed mosquito.
We are inclined to believe that there would
have been considerable excitement among the
Democratic newspapers if all these things had
been done by Republicans in a Northern State
Let the reader change the party name wherever
it has been used, and he will have Ii ,eral,
historical account of this transaction by the
Mississippi Democrats. Perhaps the reader
will be better able to wonder, then, at the COM
narrative moderation with which this young man
is able to write of the men who butchered his
father. He brings indisputablo evidence to
show that the men who killed Matthews have
been lying about him since his death. He was
Il llltll Ol plODtIlN anu Clltldtlcl, anu lul
more, popular with the men who reluctantly
concluded that it would be good party policy to
take his life We already knew that the dcsig-
mated assassin spoke pleasantly to his victim
Just before firing; we learn now from this letter
that he took tea in Matthew's home circle not
long before, and that he still has an open
account at Matthew's store. These things are
among the curiosities of Southern civilization.
Neither Congressman Barksdale nor any of
the apologsts of the Copiah County murder
seem to realize that the evidence on record
against them is of their own making. The res
olutions passed by the citizens meeting, FROM
the warning to Matthews's relatives to keep
quiet down to the final offering of thanks to the
Hazehurst Brass Band for their services on
this occasion, make a complete picture of the
political barbarity of this people which no
amount of protestation and denial can wipe out.
Every American citizen who believes in a free
ballot owes thanks to these men who thus un-
consciously drew their own portraits in true
lines.