The Brookhaven leader., 1890-05-15
The Index Answered.

every other political, economic or moral
Question in Mississippi"
Capt. Banks' record, il we have it
correctly. does not bear out that as
sertion. In the local option campaign
in Lowndes county he is said to have
stood shoulder to shoulder with the
saloons and the negroes to override
the moral and intelligent white men
and women Of his county. And we
further venture the assertion that he
and his whisky supporters wouldn't
today leave the settlement of the sa-
loon question in Lowndes county to a
white primary. Would theyf Please
BrOOkhdUeR Leader, May 8.
Since our last issue copies of the
Weekly and Tri-Weekly Index have
come to hand, in which the editor of
that paper takes serious exceptions to
the above and wildly founders
through more than column editorial
in which he INDUCES some language
any thing but parliamentary and civil.
The burden of his wall is that our ar
ticre is sase Islander on his personal
and political record, and demands
that ne give him our authority or
make the amende honorable.
The LEADER is always more than
willing, when convinced of wrong, to
make full repafation for any injustice
it may do any one. Its editor has
endeavored to make it a principle of
his life to- never, through false pride
or any other consideration, refuse to
acknowledge error of any kind when
convinced of it; but after considering
this whole subject fully, we think our
article above quoted is substantially
true, as we believe we can demon
strate, to any unprejadiced reader.
The editor of the Index frankly adj
mits that he was an anti Prohibition
list and took a prominent part on that
side in the campaign of 1886. He took
the stump and made speeches in IA
vor of high hncensed whisky, and. as
our Columbus correspondent put it
last week, the whisky drew the ne
groes, and it naturally followed that
the editor of the Index and the other
white men who were with him, were
thrown shoulder to shoulder, figura-
lively speaking, with the large ne
gro population, which went almost
solidly for the saloons.
Our impressions of Capt. Banks
record in that campaign were derived
principally from reading the Column
bus Index of that date-then under a
different management-and the press
dispatches in the daily papers He
was then mentioned as figuring prom
inently on the saloon side and as
member of the "Tax-Payers and Per-
sonal Liberty League" What argu-
ments he used in his speeches we
have never heard any ono say,Or Civ
Ell che matter a thought. Presuma-
bly, they were the same old Orm-eat-
en- chestnuts now being rehearse1 by
him In the Index-"PrOhibit don't
notwithstanding the public rev.
enue and increasing matchmaking
away mems personal liberties and de
stroying the unity of the Democratic
party,n etc.-which last two asser-
tons are always peculiarly Catching"
to the "brother in black"
Fortunately we have at hand a
clipping from the Ipdex of July, 1886,
which goes to prove cOnclusively
(taken in connection with his own
adm issions) that Capt. Banks and his
white colleagues on the saloon side
were unwilling to leave the question
of license or no license to decision
of the white Democrats of Lowndes
county in that contest.
This record, which we haven't space
to copy in full, shows that IL commit
tee Of reputable citizens representing
400 white veters of the several dis
tricts of Lowndes county, petitioned
the Executive Committees of the two
opposing sides to submit the decision
of the question to white primary, to
be ordered by the county Democratic
Executive Committee, and all white
people abide the result. The Prohi-
bition Committee readily accepted the
proposition, but the anti-Committee,
after higgling over it day or two,
presented a string of flimsy objections
and declined to do so.
The concluding report OF tHe white
citizens committee to the people of
county speaks for itself, and
as it is short We copy it below in full:
To the Citizens of Lowndes County:
From the citizens meeting, We, as a
representing white voters
of the four country beats of Low ndes
met in Columbus on Tuesday,
July 9th, to consider petitions from
the different country beats, asking the
Executive Committee of the anti-li-
auOr saloon society and the tax-pay-
ers aud personal liberty league to
submit the pending question of the
liquor traffic to the people in prima-
~ election as has been the custom OF
the Democratic party of this county.
TInon examination we fOund the D6-