Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-22
THE OARRo44ToN TRAGEDY.
Further DetaIIsit of the shooting oil
Twelve Negroes in = Court of Justice.

ready been published ini5he MORNING
NEWS. The following is the story told by
an eye witness, Mr.. WillMIddeIl,t TO a re-
porter OF the New Orleans. III fneS- Demo-
crat. 1t seems that the trouble, which lie d
to the massacre, ,oceurred9a about three
weeks ago. Tbeibrother on Mr.. Liddell,
who furnishes the following Statement,
was one OF the principals in tnat trouble.
Mr.. win. Liddelusays; sl,m
"While do not seek newspaper notoriety,
have nothing t0'conceal, audI N ~ Willingly
give you all the Information ha'te relative
to the occurrence You are tRsaAfch OF. As
live fifteen milesi northwest of tJarrOlltOn |
was not present on The day tines shooting took
and ali / have Regarding that u learned
from him and some of my friends.
THE AFFAIR TOOK PLACE
about three weeks ago. My brother lvee in
the county OF Lei0re, Miss. lie had returned
from New Orleans. but was de tanned for some
days on business in Carr0llton On the
evening in 9auestion he finished
his supper at the Planters hotel
and walked No. down the street.
When on he west side of the court hosee,
about forty yards from this hotel he met
crowd of about twenty-five negroes, whom
he had previously been informed had been
talking about him. He approached them and
asked why such q crowd had collected. One
of them answered. that IL was none OF his
- - BUSINESS He then tried 10 strike
the negro with HE left hand. He bad hardly
gotten his arm IN a position 10 strike when
the negro drew his revolver, ana, leveling IT.
at him, fred. t8he same time brother of
the negro, who WAS standing just in the rear,
drew his revolver and commenced firing.
MY BROTHER, 1o
"a quick as 1t was possible, drew o self acting,
3S-calibre Colt thai he had and proceeded To
defend himself. AS he got his pistol ready for
action the crowd separated, and he dscOv-
cred negro who secreted himself behind a
tree popping at him. while two others were
engaged in the same buRlness across the
street, He continued defending himself until
mis- weapon was empty. The two negro
brothers, who had extra cartridges, reloaded
their pistols, and we're on she eye Of oontinu-
ing the shOOtings when Town Marshal Curry
put in an appearance and ARRESTED him and
The two negroes, who had been wounded.
ONE OF THE NBeBoss
was slightly wouRded in the abdomen, while
the other was hlt in the shgUlder. My brother
had received two woundS-0ne in the thigh
and one in the right arm near one elbow. He
was confined TO his bed aboat two weeks.
ION the Monday Following the shooting the
two negroes were arrested ON charge of as
sault an shooting, and released on $20] bond
each, pending theaction Oi the grand jury.
Subsequently the negroes made AN ailidav t
against my brother for assault and battery
with intent TO kill and murder, and on
Wednesday the trial was fixed, MY brother
being lawyer and believing he had good
case, j should moi have even been at the
court house except that | was going from
there to Winona " take the excursion train
for New Orleans.W 10.
WHEN THE, CASE WAS CALLED
there were about twenty-five negroes and
some twelve or fifteen whites, including some
little boys, in the court-rQOm During the
progress of the trial my attention was at
Gracted to the negroes becoming excited and
making a rush for the door.
"YOu must understand that the court room
is on the second floor of the building, and the
negroes, when they reached the door, were
prevented from going down the steps by the
armed men, who Immediately ODened fire.
The excitement at this moment became in
tense, and the blacks commenced leaping
rom the windows. l did not see who the men
we're doing the shooting, and cannot say
whether they were masked or not. | did not
make any inspection of the premises after the
tight, and cannot say how many were killed or
how many were wounded. / was subsequently
told that ten had been killed and four or five
wounded. After | saw that my brother had
not been hurt | left CarrolltOn within the
hour, going to Winona TO take the train for
New Orleans
THE COURT HOUSE
is a square brick building two stories in
height, measuring about so feet each way.
On the lower floor are two halls running clear
through-One from east TO west, the other
from north to south, The stairway starts ne ar
the intersection of the two Railways, and runs
in the north and south hallway TO a landing
about 8 feet from the lower floor. where il
takes turn and goes up 10 the right into the
court room. The door into the court room is
a good sized one, and the landing commands
the door. About . feet from the door com %
mences the rows Of bepehes for spectators,
each row being lower than the one back Of it
until the level OF the fiodr is reached
1.-THE seat where the Mayor sat was about Is
feet ID front OF the first row OF benches, the
space between being dlvided by an iron ran
ing. There are 10 windows to the court room,
three ON the east and west and four on the
~. 81.
mostly on the west side oftbe court room. IL
as to the right as you go lnh on the north
side, near the Judges stand, Sitting down. 1t
was about o'clock. loaeo f0q.
THE FIRsTaTHING Il NOTICED
was young negro mat get up and 80 Snuff
ling toward the door. He got TO the door and
looked out, and turned round eXctedly and
beckoned 10 the rest of the negroes to come
out. They all got up and started when the
firing opened. A few ran 10 thewindOws and
''Ihe first firing vas a yolley, followed and
kept up for some dime. There were a great
many shots fired. 10 was regular fusilade
NV brother was seated 'abOIltO twenty feet
from me. Before | heard u sh9t saw Ed
and Charles Brown pun thetr pistols. The
firing followed Immediately an bheIr getting
up. The negroes we're hWddleaat the door
way at this moment. Ioonld mot say that the
first shot was fired at mF brOtheEl [ was not
in danger from tho firing as the negroes were
on the other sideOf the room from where /
sat. / did not see any of those iaNf
WHO DID THE FIRING,
as the row OF benches we're 100 high for me to
see ! walked Out down thestaiTs and passed
the negroes who had been shot, but did not
care to see them. and had rather not see them.
/ saw the tail end OF the crowd asst was leav-
ing the town. They were mounted, but they
were 100 far OF for me TO say what they were
armed with. 1 was tOlrtfh had Winchester
rifles. There must have been at least 100
mounted men In the cavalcade.
"Cnas. and Ed. Brown were copper -colored
negroes about - aRd 0years old. One sOme-
times drove a hack and worked IN a black
drink whisky and raise rows, Within the last
six months Ed. Brown cursed two white men,
and went into tile store OF W. II. Johnston
about Christmas and said he could whip any
white man in towns These two
men are said TO have had in their house four
or Ave double barreled shotguns constantly
loaded, and were frequently heard TO declare
who would put his foot in their yard il he
didn't have anything more than a stick VITA
him. They also sad they could pick out ten
cOlOred men and whip out tue whole town.
When ! left the court room saw that most OF
the dead we're massed near the door on the
landing. l mad TO step over dead bodies to get
60 the stairs. one dead negro was lying at
crawied away from the deadP 500 l.
Are you aware Of the eNlstefleaaf 5.1I
VIGILANCE G0MMIIfEFs
IN your section Oft5e cquntfykb ,rat.
days after the RrsL 9fmc9jtY aboiit 40 masked
men, armed and mounted, rode into town,
aud at the muzzle OF their pistols obtained
the keys OF the jail nom alld5 atler. tnhey then
went into the jail. ana took 4 negro who had
lgiitad a votn q ~ htfaf mani amt rhodawav