San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-03-06
TUESDAY, MARCH, 6, 1888.
ONLY A NIGER.

The LIGHT has now waited patiently
and In silence, for more than week, to
give the fsir-plsy democratic journals OF
Texas not merely chance to do q man
ly and honorable thing, 10 denouncing
an outrage perpetrated upon pesceable.
law-abiding citizens, but to denounce
one OF the most foul and bloody muir
ders, one OF the most willful and unpro-
voked and brutal assaults upon the lives
of innocent and unsrmed men that has
ever been recorded In the annals OF
Texas, and the LIGHT has waited in
vain. WhyP For no other reason on
Gods green earth than this: The skins
OF the seven murdered men were blacker
than the skins Of the white villains who
murdered them.
The simple facts OF this horrible
butchery Are enough to make the check
OF the embodied Evil himself pale with
terror, so fiendish and diabolicsl was the
manner Of the murder, so unprovoked
and uncalled for Its preparation.
The bald facts are these: In Wharton
county is q village called Spanish Camp.
1t is q retired and isolated spot In the
edge OF q dense forest. Here some
negroes had gained possession Of some
land which they were quietly filling
and from which they had raised q crop
Some white men coveted the ground and
they refused to do. The matter came to
trial in court Of justice and
the negroes won the suit, the
court sustaining their legal claim to the
property. This was about one month
ago. Finding that threats could not in
timidate, nor law dispossess these col
ored men their white antagonists In the
dead OF night gathered q posse Of their
own diabolioal breed, who armed them
selves with wholesalers and shot guns,
surrounded the house, while eight ne
groes were asleep inside, saturated the
outside Of the building with kerosene,
while the inmates to whom the law had
given possession were within, fred 1t,
and as the roasting victims attempted to
escape shot them down In cold blood,
killing seven out OF the eight and
wounding the sole survivor.
Tn csc are the bare facts. No more
hellish crime has been perpetrated this
side OF perdition, and yet where are the
deDunciations that should follow the
damnabIe.nsture Of such a bloodthirsty
and cruel deed Of violence. The demo-
cratic press OF this state has the lockjaw
on this matter. 1t gives the facts, as
news, but forbears to brand the ini-
guilty as one OF the most shameful, inhu-
man, cruel and malicious that ever
stained the dark annals Of this state.
Has 1t come to this In Texssf Dare not
the democratic journals Of this great and
free state rebuke as II deserves, crime
Of this magnitude, because, forsooth, the
victims had darker skins than their muir
dsrers? The skins Of these innocent COL
ored men were virgin white compared
to the black hearts OF the miscresnts
who murdered them.
1t is only few days since a white girl
was marched through the streets Of this
city chained to white man, q Mexican
and colored man In q crime coffie and
the press Of the state went into one
spasm Of indignation ever the inhumani-
ty. 1t was well, and the voice Of the
LIGHT was not wanting In that general
cry Of indignant feeling. Now comes
the murder Of seven innocent men, ac-
cused Of no crime, adjudged by the
district court to which they appealed to
be entitled TO the property which they
held and others coveted, and simply be-
cause they hold possession OF that which
the law declares is their rigbtfully, they
are shot down 10 cold blood and the
great body Of the great democratic press
OF the great state of Texas Is silent as
IN oyster over the outrage. Why? Be-
cause those who were killed were cOlored
men.
This dastsrdly act is an affront to the
manhood, and justice, and sense Of hu-
manity and fair play Of the citizens Of
this great state. IL is an awful oalumny
upon the people and one that the state
will be held responsible, for that such
thing8 should be and no notice taken.
When the simplest laws OF being, when