The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-03-20
FOR LAW AND ORDER.
THE MISSISSIPPI PLAN Or STOPPING
TURBULENCE

Rights of Man-Mob Law in Its Most
Vigorous Application - A Model for
Judge Lynch Everywhere.
New ORLEANS, March GA special
from Carrolton, Miss, where the riot oc
CURED Wednesday, gives the following par
tlculars of the affair Mr. J. NJ. Liddell is
Il young lawyer of lie Flore county, Missis
sippi; of one of the best families in tie state,
and cousin of Gen st john Liddell, of
Louisiana, one of the principals in the
famous liddell-JoneS feud which lasted |
from 1856 to 1872, and in which thirteen
lives We're lost The Iiddelis are noted |
as fighting family, full of cour-
age and determination, and Will not |
brook a word The last week in February |
young liddell was in Carrollton, in attend
ance on the court there. On the evening of |
Feb 26, while he was going from the Plant
ers' hotel to the court house, he found a |
party of twenty or twenty-five negroes con- |
grated on the street-corner. Among them |
was one Ed Brown, quite leader among the |
ne yroes of Carroll county, with whom Lid |
dell had had previous difficulty. He had |
then attempted to shoot Brown, and Brown |
had armed himself for the encounter and il |
was expected when they met there would be |
some shooting As Liddell walked by the
negroes several illusions Were made
tc him. With the spirit OF his family, al
though entirely alone, he stepped up to
Brown, who was the central figure in the
thtong of negroes, and demanded what he
meant by this and why such a crowd OF
negroes were collected there. Brown re
piled with None of your d-n usiness
Liddell raised his arm and struck linn acres:
the face. Each party has its own version
of what followed, the negroes charging Lid
dell with using firearms first
and Iiddeil charging it on the negroes
At any rate this matter was brought into
court, lidden being charged with assault
with intent to kill and this case was on
trial when the slaughter took place The
negroes believed that they had been badly
treated in the matter, and We're determined
to have Liddell punished for his shooting
When the case was called Wednesday morn
ing some fifty negroes, including all those
who We're engaged in the first affair, were
present, congregated in one corner Of tn
court house. There were twelve or fifteen
white men present besides the law officers,
who were seated in the front OF the room
near the Judge, the negroes Icing generally
in the rear, occupying the witness benches.
The court house is a two ostory building, tn
room where the ttial was going IN orcu
pying the second story. There was but
one stairway leading downstairs but sev-
eral windows looked out on the street ON
each side There was considerable excite
ment over the case, as it was said that Ed
Brown had boasted on the street that he
IfI - brl.
guard surrounding him, and that if the
slightest motion was made at him he would
shoot the man who did it While the case
was in progress scene of excite
ment was observable among the negroes in
the back part Of the court room
One of them, looking out of the window,
had seen body of armed white men, nearly
100 in number on horseback, armed with
rifles, draw up before the court house The
negroes were panic c-stricken at this sight
and made for the narrow stairway. 1t is
said that Ed Brown at the first information
that the regulators had entered the build
ing, drew his revolver and fired at Lid,lell.
but without effect Liddell's brother, how
ever, who was present, does not verify this
and says the first shooting he heard was IA
voley
Inc IittpGttS tTbkt ltT Iut SHIFTS, but
found armed men below, preventing their
egreSs 10y them The men in the hniIdiug
both white and black, finding that there was
no other escape, broke open the windows
| and leaped to the ground, a distance of
| twenty feet, the mob firing on the negroes
as they jumped down. The room was com
pleely filed with the smoke of the attic,
the benches and chairs were overtu nel and
| "a. -
blood The firing continued but n few
minutes, but it was very severe while
it lasted and several hundred shots We're
| fired. When the firing upon the negroes
had ceased. and it was evident that all of
| them we're killed or had escaped the mob
| sprang on their horses and rode away As
| quietly aud mysteriously as they had come
| The court room when inspected was per-
feet wreck There We're l5t shots in the
south wall fired by the mob, ten in the
| passage down stairs, and thirty in the
benches An examination showed twelve
negroes dead, and four or five others badly
| some fatally wounded.
| Carrollton, where the killing occurred, is
a village of 400 inhabitants, the seat Of jus
| tice of Carroll county. The county is about
evenly divided between the blacks and
whites, and considerable bitterness has OK
| listed between the two races for some time,
| growing out of the lynching of IA negro
prisoner for the murder of a young white
man. The negroes were well organized and
| polled u large vote for Blaine in the last
election. Among the negro leaders were
the two brothers, Ed and Charlie Brown.
The general impression is that this will
end further trouble, as heretofore a few of