The Forrest City times., 1894-03-30
THE WHITE CAPS

| iaWleSSDeSS DlouSnI tue DluSn Ol SndLlc upon our whole county, have al last come to grief and will be made to an- swer for their crimes against the law and against society, and the good name of St. Francis county shall be yindica- ted. It was inevitable that they should sooner or later be apprehended and brought to punishment. Their depre- dations included the burning of twen- ty-twe buildings, and so secretly had their nefarious work been done, that they had begun, evidently, to ima- zine that immunity had been accorded them. Our local officers exhausted every means to ferret out the evil doers, but with indifferent success. Being well known to the criminals aud their friends, Sheriff Williams and his deputies could never catch them nap ping, and it was found necessary to in- yoke the aid of foreign detectives. How well these latter officers performed their duty is told in another column.
 In seeking motive which prompted these men to involve themselves in series of crimes which could only end in a sentence to the penitentiary, we can only discern one. It is an unwel- come truth to utter--doubly unwelcome to the editors of this paper, because we had hoped the spirit of anarchy which showed it's hideous head in our midst a few years ago had been forever quelled but it is the truth, nevertheless. That this lawlessness is the direct out growth of bitter, vitiated politics, no thinking man will doubt. It is the le- gitimate offspring of incendiary politi- cal speeches made by certain we'll known leaders of the populist move ment in this county, behind closed doors and in the dead hours of night. At such times the town people were held up as bosses, tricksters. ringsters. etc., and the merchants as the worst enemy of the country people. No Ian guage was too extravagant to paint this imaginary antagonism.
 It is easy to see how these young men were led step by step through easy stages deeper and deeper into the mire of crime. Last year, in Prairie town ship. a number of men organized them selves into society for the purpose Of securing reduction in rentals. This they had a perfect right to do. In fact, their objects, as first announced, were laudable and met the sympathy of the people at large. The society grew and prospered, and had it not been that certain parties essayed to use the or ganization for the qualification of per sonal spite and ill-wlll, it is very likely almost positive-that the purposes Of the originators would have been real ized by the granting of the reduced rates of rent by the landlords. But in an evil hour resolutions were adopted, the purport of which frightened some of the members and they expressed their disapproval. These timorous ones were promptly expelled, at the sugges- tion of self-appointed leaders, and all succeeding meetings were held behind closed doors or at isolated points in the forest CT on the prairie. And right here the prophets of anarchy began to get in their work. Smarting under the sting of defeat-disgruntled revenge ful, conscienceiess, indifferent of the fate which must certainly overtake their blind tools, so long as they could be made the medium of their ven- geance-these evil-minded men urged their followers on to the commission of one deed of outlawry after another un- til this entire section stood aghast at the carnival of arson. Save in two in stances, the buildings destroyed have been the property of democrats.
 We know very well that there are hundreds of good men and kind neigh bors, some as good men as there are in the state who affiliate with the Populist party in this county who condemn this outlawry in unmeasured terms, and who are in no wise blamable or in any manner accountable for such conduct; but, nevertheless, eveTy man 80 fur arrested Is Pop,tliSt. Their crimes are fastened upon them by the testimo- ny of eye-witnesses, and two of their number have turned states evidence These unpleasant statements afford no pleasure to the writer. He would far rather the occasion for their publica tion had never arisen; but, painful as