The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-09-25

their intended victim. A decoy letter,
in the meantime, had been sent Loftin
which took him along certain pathway
when the four men pulled down on him
and fired. 1t was only bad marksman-
ship that saved him from instant death.
The brutes supposing they had accom-
plised their hellish work, separated and
made their escape. AS a result, Loftin
was seriously, if not fatally wounded.
Could the imps of hades conceive any
thing so damnably foul, or cowardly?
Appointed by president, who was elect
ed by a majority of the people of this
great nation, an in the exercise of his
sworn duty, this brave man was decoyed
into ambush, and there cruelty shot
down, practically in helpless condition
and left to weller in his lifes blood with
mail bearing the stamps of this great
government upon his person. What a
commentary upon the will of the major
ity supposed to representa- government
of the people, for the people and by the
people! President Mckinley has re-
ceived a personal afront by this outra-
geous assault upon Loftin. Nor have the
actions of the would be murderers been
condemned by single white resident of
Hagensville AS far as can be ascertain
cd their bloody work has been connived
at and condoned by the entire commu-
nifty of white inhabitants. Usually the
commission of such foul deeds meet the
disapproval Of the better class of white
citizens, who abhor such acts and do not
fail to enter protest against them, but
inthis:respect HagensSille h., ofar, issan
exception. Congress upon converting
should demand thorough investigation
and see to it, that the perpetrators Of
this murderous assault upon an official
of the government in the discharge of
his duty, are brought to the bar of JUS
tice and properly punished. If Mr..
Loftin RECEIVERS, President Mckinley
should appeal to the proper authorities
to have the present incumbent, usurping
and defying his power of removal, forci-
bly, elected from office, and that Mr.. Lof-
tin is installed safely into the position
to which he was appointed and is there
fore entitled to even if it is necessary to
call the entire army and navy to do so
and protect him in his rights as an
American Citizen. The South is the
first to stir the Gre of the Nor h and first
to cry out "bloody-shirt" when it finds
sentiment strongly against it. It brought
about the var of the rebellion by it's in
constituencies, and got the worst of it
It continues to frown upon the suffrage
granted the emancipated slave. and
seeks to heep revenge upon the North
by humiliating and degrading his off,
spring without cause or reason. Mr..
Loftin was not charged with being un-
qualified for the duties of postmaster,
but with having black skin, which was
cause sufficient enough in the benighted
village of Hagensville to take his life,
rather than have it's citizens receive their
mail from his black hands. In the Ian
guage of the lamented Douglass we shall
continue to wave the bloody-shirt as long
as there is spot of blood upon it. We
do not deny that the better class of white
men and women at the South are not
the better friends Of the Afro-American.
We do not advocate another exodus
from the fertile lands of the Southland
That has been tried and experimental
with to our utter failure. We must fight
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