The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-12-18
A BRUTAL OUTRAGE.

1t was expected that many people in
the South who yet have greater regard
for the lost cause than for the govern
ment of the United States would ex-
press their anger because the War De-
partment did not half-mast its flag as a
mark of respect to Jefferson Davis, but
no n was prepared for an exhibition
of such intense hatred and fiendish con-
duct as is related regarding the treat
ment of a native of this State, who was
at work in Aberdeen, Miss. The letter
which is given below, relative to the
matter, was received by a resident of
ST. Louis, but formerly of Cleveland, o.,
who forwarded it to the Leader. 1t is
dated Aberdeen, Miss, Dec. II, and
reads as follows:
Yesterday. morning there was a large
rope, or cable, stretched across Main street.
one end of which was made fast to some
now In course of construction. Suspended
to the cable, about midway the street, was
al effigy hanging by the neck. with this in
%scriptiOn on it: Red Proctor, the Cow
ard" AT about z A. VI. the timers went to
work putting on the roof. when one of
twenty years old, from the State of Indi-
ana, cut the rope, and the eff
figy fell TO the ground in the
street. The men who had hung the
Secretary of War in effigy took offense at
his action, and one of them, j.. /. Mcdonald,
armed himself with a horse-whip. and when
Fans, the timer, came down at IL NJ. Nc
Donald assaulted him with the whip in the
most savage and brutal manner admins
terIng about eighty or a hundred ticks on
his back, head and shoulders. The city
marshal. +. f.. Stewart. and policeman
Drake came up; but bystanders caught and
held them until the boy had been whipped
as much as he could stand. He was ordered
to leave the city at once. He is now at the
T0chudi Hotel unable to CO.. There are
several men here from the North who wit
messed the affair. There are some good men
here who do not approve such conduct, but
can do nothing.
The Leader a y that the above is,
beyond doubt, entirely authentic. Not
only is a member of the Cabinet of the
properly elected President of the United
States hung in effigy, but a young man
who resented the insult to the govern
ment is whipped nearly to death and
ordered to leave the place! If a citizen
of the United States is denied of the
least of his rights in a foreign
land, the government makes haste
to investigate the affair, and if, as
represented, the slightest injury to his
property or insult to his person is
proven, reparation is demanded and
made by the offending government;
and none are more prompt to demand
such reparation or express greater indig-
nation than the Democratic press. But
in Mississippi and other Southern States
a citizen of the United States can be
nearly murdered. and he has no rene
dy. He can be compelled to leave his
business without being guilty of any
crime, and has no recourse against his
prosecutors. If the outrage was perpe-
trated in Great Britain, or even in Spain,
the government would give him protec.
ton and relief. But in Mississippi
where lawlessness prevails, his citizen.
ship is no protection, and he has no pos.
sible redress. If States are to continue
to shield ruffianism, it is the duty oil
the federal government to adopt som
policy which will afford citizens as much
protection as it can in Turkey or Corea
Can this matter be investigated