The Forrest City times., 1894-03-30
SMOOTH WORK.
St. Francis County's White
 Caps in the Tolls of the Law.
ne Law!ess Marauders Run Down oy Detectives-Their Names and
 @ History of Their Crimes.

sA"i1' ehCii VNu way ONeF m Gralrle
 and Goodwin townships in this (St.
 Francis) county and in the northern
 part of Lee county. Dwellings and
 barns have been burned and citizens ordered to leave on pain of severe pun ishment or death. Twenty-two tenants
 on the Banks Wilkelson properties
 have been expatriated and the rich
 plantations lie fallow, owing to the iupossibility of securing laborers to do
 the farm work. Dread of the white cap organization has deterTed men from
 seeking homes on the plantations of
 these gentlemen. Fl. A. Martin I5 Co.,.
 of Palestine, are about as badly off. Their colored tenants have also been
 frightened into leaving. Tenants on
 places belonging to other parties have
 also been frightened off.
 The origlu of the troubles dates back
 into the early part of last fall. A so-
 ciety to secure reduced rent rates was organized in Prairie township. No ul- terior design was manifested in the
 early days of the society, but evil men secured admission snd the original ob- jects of the association were turned
 from their proper channel. A resolu-
 tion was adopted declaring that no
 member should trade with Banks, Wilkinson & Co.,, or with H. A. Mar tin & Co. Some of the tenants on the
 places of these firms protested that it
 was to their interests to purchase SUD- plies from their landlords. and objected
 strenuously to the hardship imposed
 upon them by the provisions of the res olRtion. They were peremptorily eject
 ed from the place of meeting. Up to
 this time no secrecy had been observed,
 but now all this was changed. The sessions of the society were held behind weli-guardec doors, and the organiza- tion rapidly developed into band of criminals commonly known as white
 caps" 1t is alleged that some of the leaders of the Populite party secured ascendency in their deliberations aEd
 used the membership to vent their per sonal spite upon certain members of the community, their animosity being
 chiefly directed toward the firms men, toned above. It was the custom of
 these lawbreakers to decorate the outer
 walls of the dwelling of tenants (col)
 on the premises of these firms, with mo- tice to vacate instanter or take the consequences Not content with this, the torch was freely applied and many barns and dwellings, went up in smoke. These crimes are the direct result of the aDarchistic utteranceS of certain leaders of the erstwhile Third. or Peo-
 ple's, party. This conclusion, in the
 light of the developments, is inevita-
 ble, and the proof of our assertions will be forthcoming in due time.
 The first overt act was the destruc- tion Of building in course of erection by Norton & Prewett, lawyers of this place, on their farm north of Palestine in Prairie township. Several negroes
 were employed on this work, and this fact aroused the animosity of the whitecaps. These negroes were Or dered to leave and, on their failure to do so, the building was razed to the ground. The perpetrators of this out rage were undetected and this emboid-
 ened them to resort to the torch, which, as before stated, was unstintingly ap- piled to the property of people who had aroused their animosity. The first burning occurred on Christmas day. | The crime could be fastened upon no one, and the criminals then entered upou a carnival of arson which has had few equals in this country. Sher-
 if Williams and his deputies wrought night and day to ferret out the crimi- | nals, but owing to the fact that the off,
 cers were we'll known personally to all the guilty persons, to dodge them was
 an easy matter. Two months ago Mir. l Williams secured the services of De-
 tectives Richardson and Webster, of Memphis. and placed the matter in
 their hands. The detectives secured
 the aid of two female assistants, bOr-
 yowed baby, assumed the guise of farmers and rented land from Banks.
 Wilkinson & Co. They brought their
 household outfits from Memphis.
 It was not long ere they ascertained
 they were in the hotbed of the anar-
 chists, and they proceeded to make
 themselves solid. They attended log
 rollings, dances, etc, aud became very
 popular in the countryside. Richard
 son and Webster gave it out that they were fugitives from Mississippi. the charge against them being illicit dis tilling. They became the heroes of the hour with their boon companions. Fi-
 nally, in return for the many courte- sies extended them, Richardson and Webster proposed to give a dance and the event promised to be the social event of the season. And right here
 the sheriff got in some Of his fine work.
 Pretending the owners of the furniture objected to it's use in the prospective
 blowout for fear it might be damaged,
 bogus attachment was run on the