The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-06
TIE YAzoo FRAUD.
Something About the scheme-burn-
1tne Papers in Public View

ing the Papers in Public view
E,or, the Atlanta (Go) Journal.
BOLD SPRING, FRANKLIN Co, ia,
--- July !, 1890.
To the Editor Of the journal
mar Sir-In the Gainesville Eagle OF
lime % there is copied from your paper
under the beading, United States Senate.
a letter under the signature OF :. T. opeer'
which contains many very interesting his
.oricaI facts but is married by some very
,oa+s-isI errors. to which errors l beg leave
~ calI the authors attention. MY great
love for historical veracity must oe my e1-
cpsa Cor thus troubling you and the autnor
of the aforesaid interesting letter
Speaking of James jackson, the author
saws: HE served as governor one term OF
two years, from 179o to loOi. IL was u 1nIl
his administration that the 1azoo Irauu
LIE. ,.1covared There is a ira
6;tion that Gov. Jimmie. who was mettle-
some old gentleman, took the Griglnal orait
of the act. and, calling upon the legislature
IN witness her doing, destroyed IL with the
help of sun-glass," etc. -,
Now for the facts. On Jan. Z, I19o, the
act known as the 'Yazoo FRAUD was en-
acred by the legislature of Georgia, SITTING
at louisville. the capital of the state, and
was duly signed by Gov. George Mathews
Nv this act millions of acres of the best land
belonging to the state of Georgia, now IN
Alabama and Mississippi, mitch OF IL laying
On the Yazoor iver, was sold to JOINT STOCK
company for about mills per acre. When
news of the fraudulent sale reached the peo-
nle there spraug up such storm OF lndlgna-
zion that every member of the legislature
who had voted for the fraud. and the
governor who had approved l; ,ded Id ter
ror from the state, never more 10 return
One of them was pursued into the state OF
South Carolina and shot by his indignant
ueiehbor Atthat time James jackson was
in the United States Senate. As soon as he
heard of the fraud he resigned his seat and
returned to Savannah and became candi-
date for seat in the Georgia legislature,
Jared Irwin of Washington county being
the peoples candidate for governor. During
the wear 1895 James jackson "stumped the
state" and urged the people to vote for no
man as legislator until he had
pledged himself to vote for the re-
peal of the fraud. Hence the
1896. was unanimous. They elected Jared
Irwin as governor, and then proceeded to
pass the bill drawn by jackson repeating or
annulling the fraud and enactin2 that
every scrap of paper in the records OF the
state that had anything on it concerning
the fraud excepting the annulling act shall
be burnt up. After the passage of the act
the TeCOTuS were SSdICuco dHu tAiO OAbAA {
record of the fraud was cut out of the arch
ives. a procession was formed with Gov.
Irwin at its head on the right, and James
jackson with the bill and records of the
fraud in his hand on the left Of
the governor, and the whole legislature
following, and thus they marched out to
the corner of capitol square, where pile OF
combustibles had been prepared. James
Jackson placed the hated papers upon the
pile and drew a sun-glass from his pocket
and drew down fire from the sun in the
heavens, and thus the detested Yazoo fraud
was burnt up, and until this day the arch
ives of Georgia have no record of the fraud
except the annulling act. And, by the way,
that annullipg act is a curiosity well worthy
the attention of antiquaries, especially In
legal lore. l have seen but one copy of it. and
that one is in the court house in Jefferson,
Ga. And by the way again, after burning
up the records of the Yazoo fraud, the leg
islature proceeded to make a new county
and to name it jackson, in honor of James
jackson. Therefore the county of jackson
stands to-day as a perpetual monument of
the hatred which Georgians entertain for
fraud. James Jackson succeeded Jared
Irwin in the office of governor; but the
Yazoo fraud was perpetrated under Gov.
James Matthews administration, and was
annulled under Gov. Jared Irwin's admin.
istration. II Mr.. Speer will hunt up the
old act annulling the fraud he will see that
it is signed Jared irwin. Most respectfully
GROVES H. CARTRIDGE.