The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-27
TIE BLOODY SHIRT ISSUE.
what the Records Shsw as to the Hue of the
Democratic Southern Shirt,

anu lunufudIl atAuSh VA " tuClI poAiAiCdA
opinions. we regard, in common with all sensible peo-
Sie. ss apocr; bal and having no existence except in
Che diseased minds OF u few homeless cranks, who
want to keep up a sectional disturbance everlastingly.
Plain Dealer. -
tt is passing strange that a newspaper, pub
lished in a Christian community and pretending
to truthfully record the events of the day,
should have the audacity to utter such an un-
blushing falsehood as Is contained in the above.
The editor who wrote it knows that he penned a
giaring falsehood. He, as well as every intelli-
gent man in this country, knows that white and
black Republicans of the South have been most
cruelty aud disgracefully prosecuted during the
past twenty years. to prove our assertion the
Leader will state a few facts which have been
derived from the reports of congressional investi-
eating committees.
In 1864, under the auspices Of General Banks,
q convention assembled in New Orleans to form
q State government. 1t met again at Mechanics
Institute, July 30, 1866, and was largely com
posed of white and colored Republicans. The
convention, says a congressional report, was at
tackled while in peaceful session, and white and
eclered Republicans were indiscriminately butch
cred. For several hours" says the report, 1.-The
police and mob, in bloody emulation, continued
the butchery in the hall and on the street until
nearly two hundred persons were killed and
wounded. The number was probably much
larger than this, but of that number the names
and residences are known"
Will the p. d. maintain that the Mechanics
Institute massacre has no existence except in the
diseased minds of hopeless cranksq' But let us
refer TO still greater outrages.
In 1868 the vote at the Louisiana spring cleo
lions, the voters being registered, resulted in
electing the Republican candidates by over
whelming majorities. The Democratic leaders
In that State resolved to change that majority in
che fall and give the State to Seymour and Blair,
and they carried their bloody determination into
effect The testimony taken by the congress
sional committee which investigated the out
RACES of 1868. fills ], 500 pages of closely printed
matter. The report shows that 'over 1000 per-
sons were killed, wounded, and otherwise in
jured in Louisiana, and that half the State was
Overrun by violence!" We quote from the re-
port:
midnight raids, secret murders, and open
riot kept the people in constant terror until the
Republicans surrendered all claims, and then
the election was carried by the Democracy:
Riots prevailed for weeks, sweeping the city of
New Orleans and filling it with scenes of blood,
and Kuklux notices were scattered through the
city. warning the colored men not to vote. In
Caddo there were 1887 Republicans. In the
spring of 1868 they carried the parish. In the
fall they gave Grant one vote!"
We might go on indefinitely quoting we'll -au-
thenticated cruelties and wrongs that would
make the blood curdle and thrill every honest
heart with indignation. Yet the P. D.. would
~ y tttO th0 Va q AtCCaSC0 lhlAu
Bashi Bazouk editors are not affected by such
horrors.
But We will come a step nearer to the present.
In 1871 another congressional committee inves-
tigated the rumored Outrages. A number of
Southerners were arrested, charged with polit-
zeal crimes such as murder and intimidation.
In defending one of the prisoners. Mr.. Reverdy
johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat, said:
II have listened with unmixed horror to some
OF the testimony which has been brought before
Won. The OutrageS Droye1 are 8hockinp t0 hu-
mainly. They admit of neither excuse nor JUS
tification; they violate every obligation which ma
-ture imposes upon man; they show that the par
ties engaged were brutes, insensible to the obi
cations of humanity and religion"
Does the Plain Dealer think that Reverdy
johnson was under the influence OF a diseased
mindq
In Louisiana in 1873 and 1874 there were the
Colfax and Grant parish massacres. The report
by the investigating committees states that the
bodies of ffty-nine colored men, shot with pis-
tolls or revolvers, were found in one place, and
the charred remains of numerous dead bodies
were discovered in the ruins of negro cabins. A
little later Marshall II. Twitchell, a gallant
Union soldier, was shot and dangerously
wounded by a Southern Democrat at Coushatta.
His bleeding body was rescued by a negro, who
conveyed the man to the camp of a detach-
ment of United States soldiers, where his
States consul at Kingston, Canada, if he
has not been removed for offensive par
tisanship." 1t was proven at the investi-
CATION of the Coushatta horrors that
o number of white and black Republicans sur
rendered themselves and agreed to leave the
State, provided they were accorded a safe escort.
1t was given them, and every man of them was
murdered.
General Grant, Phil Sheridan. D. E. Siekles,
George FL. Thomas, w. d. Whipple, Pope, j. j.
Reynolds, A. Fl. Terry and others are all on
record in their reports to the effect that white
and black Republicans have been hunted down
like beasts of prey throughout the South. Gen
eral Grant. July 8, 1866, transmitted a report to
the government on the Memphis riot, in which
he said:
Judging from the testimony and the relative
number of whites and negroes killed, the out
break on the part of the negroes soon ceased.
But this massacre commenced on Tuesday. and
until the end of Wednesday night there was a
scene of murder, arson. rape and robbery, in
which the victims were all helpless and %unresist-
ing negroes, stamping lasting disgrace upon the
civil authorities. The testimony shows that
two whites were killed and two wounded, while
forty of the blacks were killed and fifty four
wounded"
The riot herein referred to grew out of the ar
rest OF some disorderly negroes. The trouble on
the part of the negroes ceased as soon as the ar
rests were made, but the Democratic roughS of
Memphis continued their bloody work with the
results as reported by the hero of Appomatox.
Was his mind diseased Was General Sheridan
Scrank2 Read what he wrote from Louisiana
IN 1919:
Human life in this State is held so cheaply
that when men are killed on account of political
opinions the murderers are regarded rather as
heroes than as criminals in the localities where
they reside, and by the White League and their
supporters
congressional committee reported that the
elections in Mississippi in 1875 were carried by
the Democratic party by terrorism and fraud;
that Republican county officials were driven
from their homes; that hundreds of Republicans
were killed and half the people of the State were
terrcrized. Authentic reports demonstrate
that the same methods were employed in
Alabama and Louisiana in 1876. Written pro-
lection was afforded to negroes who agreed to
vote the Democratic ticket. In Mississippi and
South Carolins, in fact in all the Southern
States, the Same violent methods were resorted
to. In four counties in Mississippi Hayes re-
ceived only eighteen votes in 1876, while Grant
nollod q 062 IN 1870 Dnripo fhiS ca ue year tha