The Brookhaven leader., 1888-09-06
SETTLED.
Reports of the Copiah and State
Alliances on the Trouble Be-
tween Capt. Oliver and tho
Beauregard Alliance.

beauTeRaTu <Alilhiice.
The trouble between the Mississippi
Mills and Beauregard Alliance, which
ia we'll known, has been adjusted.
4 meeting of the COpiah County Ali
ance was held Aug. 18th, and appoint
ed a committee of & to investigate
the matter. This committee reported
as follows, to an adjourned meeting of
the County Alliance held on the 2lst:
To the Copiah County Farmers AL
liance:-
Your committee appointed at the
call meeting of Aug. 18th, 1888, to in
quire into and make report las to the
state of facts between Beauregard
Farmers Alliance, No SO, and VIM.
Oliver" would respectfully beg leave
to report as follows:
Your committee organized lmmedi-
ately and agreed to take the testimO-
ny of the Beauregard Alliance at that
place and of the other party to the
controversy at Wesson, and at the
earliest practicable day, proceeded to
Beauregard. After due deliberatiOn
the majority of this committee was of
opinion that it was not our province
to consider any issue except the first
and main one, tO-wit:" That VIM. Oil
yer, General Manager of the Mississip-
pi Mills, Cotton and Wooden Manu-
factory at Wesson, Miss, had discharg-
ed from the employ of the Mills Il
number of our members, assigning for
the discharge of such members the
reasons that they were members of the
Farmers Alliance, and that said mills
did not want nor would they employ
any one n member of the Alliance.
The counter charge of Capt. VIM.
Oliver as to whisky being sold in
Beauregard and the consequent de
moralizing effects of the same at the
meeting of the Alliance, shooting pis-
tolls, &c, &C., and the action of the
Beauregard Alliance, No. SO, charging
Capt. Oliver with slandering (by his
counter charge) the good name and
fame of certain lady members of that
Alliance, were all regarded by your
Committee as outside their line of
duty, inasmuch as it is the duty of
sworn grand juries to inquire into
violations of the existing liquor laws,
and the civil courts of the county to
take cognizance of Islander. 1t was
agreed by the committee that Bro. T.
c. Collins las requested by the Beaure
gard Alliance) should be present du
ring the examination of the Alliance
witnesses and question them on any
point, and that Capt. Oliver, or any
one selected by him, should have the
same privilege with witnesses of the
other side, and that when witnesses
not connected with either party were
on the stand, the room should be
closed. Thereupon, under the rule of
procedure, your committee began the
investigation ON the 18th of Aug. by
accepting as evidence the statement
of Miss Matte Edwards, b. Lard, w.
+. Adcock, A. L. Rochester and others,
us published in BroOkhaven Radiator
of Aug. 8, 1888, and the written state
ment of certain absent members
of the Beauregard Alliance, No.
SO, who do not wish their names to be
made public i'll this investigation.
All witnesses brought before this
Committee, by that Alliance, were
given full hearing, and we also had
the evidence of certain citizens of
Beauregard not connected with the
case.
Having finished this part of our
work, the committee proceeded to
WessOn, and on the 10th inst, exam
ined all witnesses brought before lis
by the Manager of the Mississippi
Mills, and certain parties introduced
Beamegard Alliance; also a number
of employees in said mills, who aer
members of Subordinate Farmers
Alliances in different localities, and as
was done at Beauregard we examined
a number of citizens of WessOn not
connected with the case. Your COM
mittee would state that they had be-
fore them, in person and by written
statements, the testimony of about 55
witnesses.
After hearing the evidence and re-
tiny of the notes taken by our chair
man and secretary, your committee
realize the extreme delicacy of the
task imposed on them, of deciding
the point at issue when so many wit
nesses made such different statements.
We ascertained that rumOrs Vague
and indefinite as they could be) ting
ed great deal of the testimony; that
there is now, and has been for years,
an unpleasant state of feeling, almost
amounting to open hostility, between
the two towns; that there was great
deal of personal feeling between GER
tain parties to this controversy, and
that both were hasty in their actions
at the beginning of this trouble.
Your committee "with charity to-
wards all and malice to nOnen after
due deliberatiOn and carefully weigh
ing the evidence, and considering the
the cOrrObOrating circumstances, do
find the charge made by Beauregard
Alliance, against VIM. Oliver, in that
he discharged certain employees for
the sole reason that they were mem
beers of the Farmers Alliance, is not
sustained and in support of this, we
further report, that the prepOnder-
ance of evidence shows that said par
ties were discharged for other and
sufficient causes; that the families of
said discharged employees are now at
work in the Mississippi Mills; that we
find among the employees of said
Mills, more than 100 members of the
Farmers Alliance (many of whom
were examined by your cOmmittee)
and no one of them had any appre-
hensiOn of being discharged on ac-