Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-04-02

80 WE 80 ~
In Justice to Mr.. w. w. Liddeli,
whose statement TO a New Orleans
Times. Democrat reporter has been
garbled, we print the following card,
sent by him to the New Orleans Times
Democrat, but which we have never
seer in its columns, nor in any other
paper that quoted him:
C~ARRoLIToN, MISS, March %, 1886.
Editor Times-D emocrat-When your
reporter asked me for the interview
published in the Times Of the 18th
inst, / told him that l preferred to
wait till morning, giving, as reasons,
that / was quite unwell, and complete
" broken down from loss Of sleep and
constant travel for two days in success
sian; that l feared that / would be In
able to give him ineligible accountof
the affair. l also feared that misun-
derstandings would be the result If l
gave an interview in my condition at
that time. / see, from the interview
as published, that such misunderstand-
iDgs, either Of me by the reporter, or
OF him by me, did occur.
These l will try to explain as briefly
and clearly as possible, SO as to place
myself correctly before the public, be-
lieving that they were caused simply
through misconceptions Of questions
and answers.
The first mistake is as to the firing.
In regard to this l am quoted as fol-
lows I: "Before l heard a shot | saw
Ed and Chas. Brown pull their pistols"
This should have appeared thus Be
fore I heard ashot ! saw Chas. and Ed.
Brown rise up, draw their pistols and
FIRE.
When / am quoted as saying "The
first fire was a volley," refers to the
first firing Of the crowd after Ed and
Charles had fired. In your editorial
where / am represented as saying, 81
saw no such firing" was in answer to
a question as to whether Ed and
Charles fired at my brother. Itold the
reporter l did not know whom they
fred at; could not say whether it wa:
at my brother or at some one else.
Again there is
CLEARLY A MISUNDERSTANDING
of me by the reporter when he say
that II saw no reason or justification
for the slaughter of the negroes" be
cause l had just given the cause an
reason for the killing of Charles ant
Ed. Brown, and that part Of the inter
view was intended by me to refer t
the killing Of those l then supposed in
nocent negroes.
Developments after | left the seen
proves conclusively that no innocen
negroes were present. They were toll
repeatedly by outside parties not to g
into the courthouse, Ghey replying tina
they were "going there to help tn
boys through" ''see them out" shay
them righted," and similar expressions
Developments 60 to prove also tina
the Browns had brought on the tria
and had their friends around them t
raise another difficulty and slaughte
the whites who were on trial.
AS a citizen of the good State @
Mississippi, [ regret exceedingly
state of affairs that brings abou
and makes necessary such actior
as that which occurred at Cal
rollton, but / believe, with the goo
citizens of Carroll county, that tn
Brown negroes were caught in thei
own trap, and met a death they richl
deserved. One more point and l wi
close. l was asked by the reporter
there was any excuse for the slaughtt
Of SO many negroes. L told him l SUI
posed it was unavoidable and not ii
territorial, for the negroes wet
all mixed together and shots fire
at the Browns must have struc
the others. Since the excitement cor
sequent upon such a proceeding ha
passed away the citizens of CarrOllto
and vicinity express themselves q
highly gratifed that Ed. and Charlie
Brown are out Of the way, and promis
themselves a season of peace that wa
impossible SO long as these BARRON
DULLES were alive, and have kept thel
from enjoying for several years pas
Regrettlng that more mlsconceptio
should again render it necessary tn;
l should again appear 10 print with r,
gard to this unfortunate affair, / II
main yours, ETC., w HI. LIDDEL.