The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-11-04
WAR ARKANSAS.
An Imes.essing Story ToId by One Who
was There.

EDI@OR HERALD The mention in
yesterdays HERALD of Johu Nc
CIuE~, OF Ark, as chief supervisor Of
elections in thst State, calls to recol-
lection the Brooks ami Baxter war in
1874; of u hich L have never seen a
history.
ELISHA BAXTER, nominee of the Re-
pa o!icah p !aEty, WAS eie Lted Governor
Of Al kaIpr3sS in the fall If 1872. He
was Souhhera Union man. His OPP
pOuent WAS joe Brooks, II kansa as Jay
hawkeE & tie Powell Clayton strip,
who ran rs Az In dependent and
claimeI 30 be a Methodist preacher.
rho Democrats We're Iy dis
trace aistu and rot beng able to vote
Rad no candidate. Those who were
allowed TO voc sup, o-ied BROOKS,
because lie was All INDEPENDENT |
Arkansas WAS writing under the
heel OF the carpet bag government,
directed ty Powell Clayton, Stephen
Dorsey and the president John Nc
! Clure, who Was Chief Justice of the
supp espe CO9rt, put there by a car
pet-bag Legislature. Clayton and
| DoAsey We're In tie L. s. Senate and
! MctSase Oh tke Supreme bench anG
all we've Kansas adventurers. They
! thought ARKANSAS vas cher meat"
a: d SetSal accordingly.
They had is 70 arranged by. regis
tratiOu ard returning boards that
| they ~ elect to office whom they
| pleased and by throwing out votes
they 80 ibid defeat whom they
! pleased.
All this wee explained to the
/ writer by n man who WAS membe'
of the R4kslatuTe-a particepS crlD-
inis, a beneficiary OF the scheme, AID
who said they were so tiimiy III the
/ 10 la cd
| One Of his chief points OF reliance
was that John Mcclure was the
Chief Justice OF the Supreme Court,
and would render any decision the
eXigency Bequired.
AS stated above the election was
held IL the fall of 1872 The vote S
were returned to Little Rock and
canvassed and Baxter, the nominee,
was declared duly elected. But
Brooks alleged fraud I'd said that
with = fair count Ee aud not Baxter
was elected by a handsome majority.
and through lS73 he kept travelling
over the S,ate and stirring things up.
Gov. Baxter took his seat 3bOu.
January lst 1873. It soon developed
| hat he Soald not be nSde tile tool
OF the ring who were running the
State. He began to play "Senter' Oh
them. 1heir complaints We're loud,
their aDathemas deep. If Baxter
were allowed to pursue his policy he
would soon ,enfranchise the whole
white Pcpplaiion aud then "Othello's
OccupatSsn weuld be gone" Some
thing had to be done.
Mr. BROOKS was on hand to point
The way out Of the difficulty. He
me gasted a recount of the votes that
ha1 Lean Gust for Cove rn"r. Per
maps IL might be- found that the
wrong rsan Was IN the guOeruatOrial
| chair.
In sire early TT OF 1871, when
! Baxter hal been Governor u year,
| Brooks began y process in john Me-
! Clure'o CsdrC 80 lave recount of tie
votes. Taey went o. er the returns
| again Rud thi4 time they counted
/ Br. okx IA and Baxter out. Baxter
! seems EUt To haze. been aware of tie
time Of the dual proceedings, aud as
soon AS Mr.. Brooks got - Tie proper
point be procured Il writ from The
court GAd in company with
few partisAns proceeded to the
Governors office ard demanded
| pos session. This being refused he
and bis friends took hold of Governor
Baxter and pushed him cut. They
were then In full possession.
Now comes the tug If war"
Both claimants now recognized the
ne ed Of troops 10 sustain tLCm aud
issued FrOclamatiOns calling for the
same. The COUNTIES around Little
Rock began, at once, to respond.
Several ~ mPauIes To sustain each
claimant were soon on the grCunt-I
the negroes from the bottoms 1lncked
to Mr.. Brook standard, seemingly
because he was NOTthtrn man,
though thty haI voted for Baxter a.
the nouIisee Of their party. Little
Rock WIS In st'tte OF 81, ge- The do
main clsin'd ~ each party was
hOuuded 10y cram sir,ets; there
were n ckets out, aud citizens pass
ing frun4 one domain to the other
had TO show their passes. Tuere wa+
a company Of L. >. troops stationed
lii the city, and Gen. Grant-at that
time PEesi them 10 pre-
vent collision betw. en- the two
PAL Lies and thus avoided n bloody
fight. This state or things continued
for ,hI~ty days. There were several
skirmishes Ia the streets and some
valuable citizens were killed.
Congress Was in session at the time.
| Gen. Grant laid the MISTER before
COngteEs. 4 committee WAS APP
pointed 90 visit Arkansas to iuvesii-
! gate the lnstttr and ascertain WHO
| w.,s really tie Governor If tie Site.
| They made faithful and impartial
! iuvGstt Tx .tioa, 3 al tt,rau4h ti.cir char
man, Zen. Luke i, PulHrd. If Yer
mons, reported TIA, E'ist'a Is ;X;er
was entitled to the ; at; much TO tie
cbaerin ana disgust % Joe Is U0ks,
Powell Ck4Yion and Join Mcclure
! Gen Grant intn i, sued Il pre- CLAIMS
tiun to Joe b. o. lIs aud h ) troops taAt
they were in Insure elton against tn
laws and th%y must Il .speIsg Enl 70
to their homes.
Thus was the back hone of c:rpet
baggery in Arkansas broken and
HPOker jack AZ he is fEmiliarly
called over there, now seems 20 be
engaged in an effort 20 Teii sta,e j!
and regain W hat lie had lost.
The Congre> which appointed the
above committee WAS Republican
Cong esq. Ia INV opinion the cope at
Arkansas and the VINO Z :-oHii' "We a
debt OF gratitude 10 that ca, gr'- :, ="
| Gen. Grant, to tn Couii. itt,e and -
pecisIly to the Chairman, H"'
Luke p. POlsnd, row dead.
Such is a meagrr ont inc OF the lis
tory of one Of the most important
events in the annR's of cafp"t-iag
gerry. 1t IS written from mur,o:y
AID il important now as bearing %
the resent schemes Of Jack VI Cinfc
Ar. the reOi'le Uf our Safe VIII
! ing. by their indifference -tuhhrrn-
ne-s and spite. to facilita the n.ii-
ping itAo office OF men VIII" vii a~-isi
! in bringing about a =. petition # III"
same stsSe of alf,irs IN Trunese' :?
ONE PRESENT.
la Oiden Times