The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-29
THE TRUTH FROM A SOUTHERN MAN.

ghsh, that nobody need fail to understand. IA
rising young lawyer named Dodds," who took
pains to explain that he was not a Bourbon,
but a conservative Democrat, tells very
straightforward and ingenious story. Warm
ing up to his work of vindicating the people
of Copiah county, and encouraged by the evil
dent sympathy of other Democratic witnesses
he finally unbosomed himself as follows:
"If you should send your biggest nan.
General Grant, down into our county, to
organize the negroes, he would re killed at
once. All our trouble last fall was among the
county supervisors. We we're determined to
elect our men and get I'D of the Independents.
We would have taken human life if it had
been necessary in order to get rid of them.
Yes, we would do it if they had majority of
the votes. In some places | deny the right Of
franchise to the majority and believe in
qualification to limit the suffrage. We limit
it anyway. l believe it is moral obligation to
get rid of the Independents, even if they are
in majority and that opinion is shared by
the good white people. That was the cause of
our trouble last fall" ,ea
The witness was not prepared to admit that
Wheeler, the assassin of Matthews, was a
murderer nor that he is likely to be hanged
for his crime His statement that General
Grant would be killed if he tried to organize
the negroes Of Copiah county was received
with applause among the crowd Of Democratic
witnesses in attendance showing plainly that
his utterances were in perfect accord with
their own views --, e
An older man than this ''rising young law
yer would not have gone so far, nor allowed
himself to be swept away by the desire to catch
applause from sympathetic fellow citizens.
But Mr.. Dodds, full of the spirit of Copiah
county Democracy, pours it out unestrained-
| ly, and, with childlike simplicity, "glories in
the truth" He undoubtedly stated fact
when he declared that even General Grant
would be killed if he endeavored to organize
the negroes of Copiah county, for he was
roundly applauded for his temerity in giving
utterance to the sentiment We have in this
one sentence what the Democrats of Copiah
county have pronounced capital crime. The
man who organizes negroes for the purpose of
getting out full vote is to be killed. J. P.
Matthews did so and was killed, and the same
fate awaits any man who dares presume that
negroes are entitled to the same rights en-
| joyed by white men.
But. Mr., podds had more to declare, and
seemed in no wise disposed to be silent under
such an opportunity tie make his views public.
| 1--WE determined, he said, .'to elect our men
| and get rid of the Independents. We would
have taken human life if it had been necessa-
ry in order to get rid of them" The chal
lenge Is unequivocal: We will commit murder
but that we have our own way in elections.
Yes" continues this Democratic witness,
1--WE would do it if they had a majority of the
| votes" There are, then, portions of the
Union in which the majority does not rule;
localities and entire counties held in subjec-
ton by desperate and murder
GUS minority. "In some places"
this Copiah county man declares, II deny
the right of franchise to the majority, and be-
leye in qualification to limit the suffrage"
More than that, he put argument out Of the
way and useless by swearing that 1--WE limit it
anyway These sentiments, he says, ''are
shared by the good white people,
If the Journal has ever charged more than
this prominent Democrat swears to, we are not
aware of it. Never were more bloodthirsty
sentiments given utterance; never any more
threatening to popular government. Despite
the ridcule of those who sympathize with
and who hope to be personally advanced by
these crimes against popular suffrage and
human liberty and life, the Journal will still
point out those who threaten the very life of
the government, and continue to lift voice
of warning. Such a condition of affairs can
not be permitted to exist unrebuked without
seriously weakening the very foundations of
the nation. They are so utterly infamous
that even Democracy would cry out against
them did not the hopes of the Democratic
party in the national campaign depend on
plscating these political hushwhackers and
mulderers No honest, honorable man can
offer even the SHADOW of an apology for com
munities in which murder cuts the throat of
argument, and in which the law-abiding
majority is driven away from the ballot-box
and from home and friends by desperate
minority, armed with shotguns and backed
by the sentiment OF "good white people" No
wonder the Democratic House hesitates to nay
the expenses Of further investigation. The