The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1904-07-09
history REPEATING IrStLf.

ehAF StAA eAe1a eNst8etN& HsOeaASA
The article which The Leader
copies elsewhere from the Brook
haven Comet of Oct. oath, 1877,
reads very much like ancient
history which is being lived over
again, when applied to the situa.
tion in Lincoln county for the
past Is months or two years. II
one will only substitute the word
whitecapping" for BULLDOG
ing" and the names of some pres
emit actors in the place of those
who figured prominently in this
first case Of bulldozing'' in Lin.
coin county, he can read this old
Comet article of ~ years ago and
easily imagine he is reading .
Leader article on current Lincoln
county. experience.
Twenty-seven yearsl More than
quarter of century. Judge
w. P. Baggett, the sturdy and
incrruptible justice who presided
at the bulldozer trial; all the law.
yers who figured on both sides, ex-
cept Hon. A. e. McNair; all the
jurors, except one, who sat on the
case and brought in the verdict OF
guilty as charged, and one of the
two convicted bulldozers have all
passed from earthly scenes to
their final account. The evil that
men do lives after them, alas! as
well as the good, and the stares'
the Franklin build zers sowed in
thier own county and this nearly
a generation ago, have lately
sprung up like dragons teeth 10
multi lied form. 1t is the old
story, oft-repeated, of the eternal
conflict going on between good
and evil which has come to us
down the ages; and The Leader
is glad to be able to record after
this more than a quarter of cen
tury since The Comet article was
published, that the good and stall
wart citizens of Lincoln county
who are not afraid to stand up
and battle for the right for law
and order and peace and the we'll
being of society have also multi
piled with the passing years, and
are as ready to meet and bring to
justice the boldest coherts of evil
and laWlessness, as were the CO.
temporaries of The Comet, wheth-
er they are marsEaled in secret
midnight bands calling themselves
"white-cappers, 'bnlldozers''
or are simply operating as indi-
vidual murderers, assassins or
house burners for private revenge.
All Of the court records have
been twice destroyed by FIRE since
the first trial of bulld0zers in the
county generation ago. and in
the absence of these records and a
complete file of The Comet news
paper, the writer does not know
what became of the appeal to the
Circuit Court in this particular
case; but from tradition and other
sources of information, it is
known that this first warming Civ
en- by Judge Baggett and six faith
full white Jurors, who based their
verdict on negro testimony, was
not Needed as it should have been
that the hnlldozing spirit and
methods which were introduced
from Franklin county at that
time, like the white-cap lawless-
ness which has Iatterly been in
troduced from Franklin and
Amite, afterward spread over the
greater portion of western and
southwestern Lincoln; that Capt.
r. r.. AppIeWhite, one Of Che in-
trepid Confederate heroes Of Fort
Gregg, organized a valiant band
Of regulators to hunt down the
bulldozels; that Gov. Stone.
whose name was the SYNONYM 81
bis rugged character, singled out
Franklin, Amfte and Lincoln and
placed them under marshal law
and that following this step, with
the stern, upright, indexible
Chrisman on the bench, and HI
ram Cassidy, one Of the ablest,
bravest and most aggressive dis
trict attorneys the State has ever
had, as prosecutor, supported BY
the great body Of citizens, there
was finally q memorable rounding
np Of the build ozers ID the courts
Of these three counties, and they
were taught the important lesson
il The end that the arm 0f The law
backed By Che Governor and the
whole power Of The State. was
longer and stronger and far more
to BE feared than any band q
law breakers IL this 81 any other
county riding around 1nael the
cowafdly cover Of darkness COR
rorizinQ and committing crimes
against ah interior and dafense.
less zace and schooling them
solves and their families ii tke