The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1901-11-27

In opening his charge to the grand
jury the first Monday in November,
Judge Powell said:
l am reliably informed that in the
southern part of your county, in the
neighborhOod of Bogue Chitto, per-
feet pandemonium of crime has been
raging for the last few months.
Churches and school houses have been
burned, men have been shot and the
good people of that community, white
and black, have deem absolutely terror
lied by band of hoodlums. | am told
that these gentry, banding themselves
together, have taken possession of the
town of Bogue Chitto, defied the Off
cials, wounded private citizens and
made night hideous with the firing of
pistols and drunken yells.
Now, gentlemen, it is to you, the rep
resentatives of the sovereign law, that
the good people of that community
look and have right to look to pro-
tect them in the quiet enjoyment of
their lives and property, and to bring
these red-handed violators of the law
to justice. 1t would seem, from all re-
ports, that there is large crop of can
didates in that neighborhood for the
State penitentiary. See to it, gentle
men, that they are promptly elected.
Demonstrate the fact by your action
that in Lincoln county there is no man
or set of men so high or powerful that
the long arm of the law cannot reach
them, or so low that the broad shield
of the law cannot protect them.
How we'll the Court and the grand
jury discharged their duty to the good
people of South Lincoln, is shown by
the election" to the penitentiary of
the above leading members of the law
less band down there, who were carried
to jackson last Monday by the peni-
tentiary sergeant. That the list is not
larger is due only to the fact that other
members of the gang indicted by the
grand jury were not caught and
brought into court in time to be tried.
1t is believed that what has been ac
complished by the court will put a
sudden quietus on the fiagrant lawless-
ness in Southwest Lincoln, effectually
stampede the gang of bold and defiant
hoodlums who have so long held sway
there, and make that portion of the
county safe for peaceable and respect
able citizens to live in.
John r. Albritton is the recognized
leader of the bad element down there,
and the three Brown brothers are re-
puted to be his most Jealous and faith
full lieutenants, hence the court and
good citizens cooperating with it be-
gan at the right end of the internal
machine to effect the desired result.
Necessary and salutary, however, as
is what has been done, it has its sad
and pathetic side. Mems wrongs aud
crimes always bring sorrow and suffer
ing to the innocent and helpless, and
so it is in this instance. John Albrit-
ton has wife and two daughters just
on the threshold of young womanhood
and son of 15. Asa and Jim Bob
Brown, sentenced for the same offense,
each has wife and four young chill
dren, the Oldest not over 10 years of
age, and neither has a home he can
call his own. These two Brown
brothers, like Albritton, claim that
they were not really guilty of burning
the Montgomery church and two
school houses nearby, but plead guilty
as the shortest way they could see out
of the fight they knew they would have
to make in the courts. Wes Brown,
the eldest of the three brothers, who
was sentenced for one year for assault
with intent to kill and murder Deputy
Marshal Robt. Brent OF Bogue Chitto
during the raid made by the gang on
that town on the night of October 5th,
| is a widower with eight motherless