The leader., 1904-12-28

In the paragraphs published il
the last issue of the Advocate.
clipped from the Br00khak en
Leader, relative to the oath taken
in Lincoln county by members 81
the farmers league, etc, We
should have said, and Dc now say,
that we had no thought Of charg-
ing or intimating that members
of tile farmers league, an organi
zation in this county, ever took
such an oath as the ones publish
led from Lincoln county, and ii
justice to the people of this coun-
.ty, many Of whom were members
and as good people as can be
found anywhere, we will state
that their farmers organization
was not identical with any organ
izati0n of similar name in Lincoln
or any other county. The Advo-
cate at the time the farmers
league was organized published
its bylaws and declaration Of
principles, and commended the.
organization to the public as a
body favoring law and order,
which at that time, was SO much
needed on account of white cap
disturbances. We make this ex-
planation to set us right III the
matter, believing as we do, that.
many of our citizens, personally
known to as, who were members
of the farmers league, were en-
tireIy incapable of taking such an
oath. We published the article
as a news item only from Lincoln
county, without comment or en-
dorsement. We will further state
without fear Of contradiction that
crime Of the more serious nature
is on the decrease in this county,
and as we stated in an issue q
month ago, peace has been restor-
ed. We reap more pleasure in.
commencing the good than in con-
|demning the bad. Franklin
County Advocate.
The members Of the farmers
league who spoke to the Advocate
with that air Of injured innocence
and that paper itself are making
entirely too great claims for the
farmers league of Franklin coun-
ty. 1t is true that the Advocate
in 1902 published the bylaws and
declaration Of principles Of the
farmers league, and that later,
having failed to secure the ap-
proval Of Gov. Longino as a law
full organization and being under
grave suspicion of responsibility
for the white Gaping in east
Franklin and west Lincoln its
leaders deemed it advisable to call
a meeting in MeadVille and for
mally adisband" the league; but
If the Advocate win investigate
into the facts impartiaIIy, it will
discover that q large part Of the
Franklin membership never dis
banded in fact that the MeadYille
performance was a sham SO far as
they we're concerned, to mislead
the public and the officials and
chat no genuine white capper is
expert enough to explain just
where the farmers league ceased
and the white cap organization
began. The Advocate will also
discover, when it learns more
about its subject that the secret
oath published in The Leader and
by the Lincoln grand jury in its
report is practically the same OBJ
legation which had been taken BY
the men who participated in the
big Shallow Ford meeting' III
Franklin county before the So
called farmers league disbanded,
at which Shallow Ford meeting
a prominent Franklin Lacquer is
alleged to have proclaimed to
those present that s.the only good
niggers are dead niggers; and
that no other secret oath was In
general use among farmers
leagues or white cappers in Amite,
franklin and Lincoln counties be-
fore or after the before mentioned
.disbandment' at MeadViIle.
Oath No. 2, published in The
Leader, and for which a Franklin
(not a Lincoln) farmers leaguer
gouches, was not ID such general
use as No. I, and seems not TO
have been administered except to
members Of the inner circle;
when moving orders we're Civ
en- and niggers we're to be made
good niggers according to the
formula Of the Shallow Ford.
spokesman already mentioned.
The Leader is gratifed TO note
that GOV. Vardaman has employ
ed Detective Hoyt to take up the
Franklin investigation seriously, J,
and chat the good citizens of that
county who have never figured as
farmers leaguers or white caps
are pledging their hearty cooper
alton to the movement. We pre-
dict now that when the uncover
ing work is done in that county as
it was III this, our neighbor, the
Advocate, will discover that it has
been both too previous and too
fulsome ID its apology.
After what has become noto-
rious about white cappers in
Franklin county, for the last
grand jury Of that county to mys-
teriously ignore its own offenders
and indicf fW0s men 0f Lincoln.