Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-02-16
BLooDY SHIRT ECHOES.


man Is shot by order of a political
club, merely for voting the ticket of
his choice, and the state authorities
endorse the shooting, congress has
no power to investigate the affair.
If this view be correct, suffrage is
not right guaranteed by our pres
ent government, but a pastIme reg
ulated by shotguns, and the only
refuge left the republican is to fight
or surrender"
The Scimitar is a democratic pa
per, and, therefore, many may won
der how it is that il can utter a just
thing for Its political opponents
that would reflect on its own party.
But there will be no matter OF mys-
terry or wonder when ii is known
that our contemporary has two ed
itors; one a man, the other a wOm-
an. The man is from his desk, the
woman has complete editorial con-
troll. Would that the e litorial chair
Of every journal were at times occu-
pied by sister womani How sur
prised would be the readers to come
suddenly upon words of honesty,
truth and soberness What "A CLEAN
of sunshine would conscientious ex-
pressions bring to the hungry souls
of patrons OF many journals we wOt
of.-NaShUilLe Banner.
The Banner is a paper that affects
much honesty of purpose and prides
itself on its plainness of speech. 1t
holds alnof from party bias and
proposes to discuss all public affairs
from the lofty perch of political in
dependence. We can't question its
sincerity of intention in this regard
and have no disposition to do so,
but in such intimations as the above
contains, We are constrained to be-
lieve, 1t considerably overshOots the
mark. No party affiliations, how
ever strong, should lead paper to
endorse crime, or even prevent ii
from pointing out and condemning
all violations of the law, however
or whenever committed but over
ly virtuous organs sometimes run
counter to popular sentiment sim
ply for the sake of posing as superb
or beings, and not because of any
thing wrong about the popular SEN
timent.
There is nothing Objectionable or
untrue in the quotation from the
ScImitar so far as it enunciates a
general principle, and the same
may be said of the Banners COM
ments. But the insinuatiOn that
turks in the above is what we con-
denim, and what makes ii the re-
verse of its high-toned pretentiCns.
The Banner affects not only to
believe that the white population
OF the South have been guilty of the
political crimes and outrages with
which they have been charged, but
that the Democratic press has wan
tonly and wilfully lied in denying
such charges. The South has suffer
ed greatly from this kind of calum-
ny when circulated by its avowed
enemies, and such utterances are
past endurance coming from the
mouths of professed friends. The
Banner probably did not intend
that its remarks should be given so
harsh construction, and we would
be glad to know that it did not, but
we really can't understand the
above in any other sense.
II the Memphis Scimitar wishes
to have a Governmental investiga-
ton of a political crime that the
State authorities have never taken
any cognizance of, we would like
to call its attention to q damnably
foul deed of this nature that was
perpetrated within thirty miles OF
Memphis three years ago. 1t oc-
Cured Immediately after the last |
Presidential election on the planta-
ton of Mr.. Ford, near Hickory
INithe, in Fayette county. A negro
man ventured to openly vote the
Democratic ticket against the COM
mand of the Republicans of the
neighbOrhOod who considered him
their political property. The night
following the election this man was
called to his cabin door and shot
down like dog and there could be
no other reasonable inference but
that the murder was the work OF
the Republicans who had threaten
ed him and who sought by this
means to terrOrize all blacks from
daring to oppose their will. The
writer can substantiate what he has
detailed. II is i'm no way exaggera-
ted or cOlOred. The facts we've pub
nshed in the Memphis Appeal and
the local papers of Fayette county
at the time, but we never heard of
their going any further. The Gin
cInnati Commercial Gazette didn't
publish them, and Senator John
Sherman has never introduced any
resolution to investigate the out
rage.
Such political crimes as this,
where Republicans were the guilty
parties, have never been blazened
before the world to mark the base
ness of the people and the moral
of the section where they
were committed. But whenever a
negro has been killed by Southern {
Democrat, the facts have been con- I
tOrted to give the homicide politi-
cal significance, and the crime, s
out of all proportion to
its due Importance, charged upon
the whole South, and cited as an
evidence of the innate meanness of 6
The Southern whites. !
The Nashville Banner and the
Memphis Scimitar should both @
know how gross are the misrepre-
the South has suffered in {
this regard and that such articles as $
those quoted above are calculated to :
give color and endorsement to tlUse
Misrepresentation. We can't re- s