The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-10-28
BLOODY-SHIRT PAPERS!
NUMBER XLvI.


the question whether Mr.. Thomas T.
Jones, candidate for Auditor on the Re
publican Ticket, did, or did not, go to
Wales during the war, to escape the draft.
We are reliably informed that Mr.. Jones
had not been from Wales long enough to
place him within reach of the draft. In
fact, that he was too young. But while
this subject of escaping drafts has been
called up by Democrats, let us consider it
for a moment, because there is no period
in the history of the Democratic party
which is more firmly impressed upon the
minds of the members of that party than
the draft, during the Democ-at Rebel
lion.
AS illustrating the Democratic respect
for the draft, we may be pardoned for re-
ferring again to what we may have spok-
en- of before. In 1868, the good old line
Democrats of Holmes County, Ohio, re-
solved that, though the Lincoln hirelings
might invade other counties with their
unholy drafting offices, they must not
venture to lay foot upon the sacred soil
of Holmes County. They decided that it
were far better to die like Democratic pa
triots-patriots to the Solid South-on
their native heath, than to run the risk of
being hurt by some of their brethren in
the South. These Holmes County Demo
Gratis therefore armed themselves with
squirrel-rifles, shot-guns, corn-cutters, and
similar uncouth and deadly weapons, and
declared that all the blood they were des
tined to spill, should be spilled in Holmes
County. They organized, in armed Re-
bellion against the United States. They
went into camp. They appointed brig
ade bugler, whose duty it was to sound
the alarm on an old-fashioned dinner-horn
about four feet long. They threw out
pickets on hillside, in a meadow, but
just in front of piece of woods. One
bright day who should they see coming
around bend in the road but a company
of boys clad in Union blue, and bearing
breech-loading rifles. We happened to be
with that Company, and shall not forget
the ludicrous aspect presented as the
staid old Democratic pickets behind the
.rock-piles began popping away at us.
But just here came in feature of the
procession which the Democratic soldiers
were not looking for: The blue line kept
coming around the bend. Following us
came detachment of the old Third Ohio,
and next came two pieces of artillery.
1t is needless for us to say that this was
too much for the Democratic stomach.
The main force took to their heels, and a
volley from our company-fred more in
jest than anything else-set the pickets
on their way to Canada at a lively rate.
We managed to catch and corrall several
of them, and we believe some of them
took trip to Columbus. This, then, was
a Democratic Rebellion in Ohio, to keep
from taking part in the suppression of
the Democratic Rebellion in Alabama
and Georgia. These men were all solid
Democrats. not Republican, Greenback
or Prohibitionist among them. This af-
fair clearly demonstrated the Democratic
regard for the draft, and the Government
which made it.
But you say this was away up in Holmes
County, and is an exceptional, or isolated
case. Not bit of it, At the very mo-
ment that these Holmes County Demo-
Gratis were being taken in by Union Sol
diers who found them in armed Rebellion,
Jackson County Democrats were going
about armed with pistols and knives, and
swearing that the Abolition Government
could not take themIalive. The butternut
pin, hickory bush and white flag found a
place in the Democrotic professions, and
the curses of the "John Brown Raid" }"
were loud and deep. In one township in
this County in the early days of the war,
Democratic women displayed miniature
Confederate flag at a public meeting, and
the wife of a recruiting officer, and the
daughters of an old soldier, gave a thrash
ing to the women who held the flag. The
secret meetings of the blood-thirsty
Knights of the Golden Circle were far
richer than the armed Rebellion in Holmes
County. In those dark conclaves the
whole Union Army was whipped the
Confederacy established, the "nigger''
consigned to perpetual bondage, and the
good old doctrines of Democracy implant-
ed in the life of this great Nation-no,
no. Not Nation-but string of Sovereign
States, forever. Oh, these fellows were
lovers of the draft! Why, the mere sight
of a blue coat in some parts of this Coun-
ty during those dark days, would cause a
cracking in the red-brush which struck
terror into the foxes and rabbits.
This, then is the party which affects to
sneer at some imaginary case of running
away to avoid the draftl If there is any
organization on Gods earth which ought
to hide in shame when the name of draft
is mentioned, it is the Democratic party
of Ohio. Had that party done its duty,
and encouraged rather than discouraged
enlistments. perhaps no drafts would
have been necessary. Those days form
the darkest spot on the Democratic record
It is a stain of disgrace and infamy that
will not be forgotten until the memory
of man fails, regarding the incidents and
experiences of the war.
At Edgefeld, South Carolina, one
hundred and fifteen men have been
indicted for homicide, within the last