The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1909-11-19
Reconstruction in Monroe County
BY f. r. Pickett, Is. ). 1909.
Continued from last issue.


to come back. He came back and
arrested the defendants of the Alec
Page murder case. He was seen
in Oxford during the ku klux
trial. He did not remain long in
the county after the election of
1875. He. however, came more
toward the democratic way Of look
ing at things and even promised to
help the democrats i'm the election
# 1875, but of course his assistance
was weak.
G. Wiley Willis, another carpet
Dagger, has given the following e.
innate of Higgins character: He
il man Of excellent habits, of
good character, a man whom |
have always understood 10 be above
reproach." He says further, that
popular sentiment did much to
bring reproach upon him on account
Of his utilization with the republic
cans. Ii this be true, it may he,
that, viewing his character from an
unbiased standpoint. he had some
admirable traits, bat we cannot
disassociate the man from his
deeds.
Ku Klux Khan Reports. III.
| l141. The whipping Of higgins
| gave rise to the expression, The
| Bloody Shirt" g. \. .Jonas.)
| General opinion Of the county
places hin in the category Of the
republican devils. One man.
ID. A. Beeks, stated quite
succinctly, he was as mean as the
devil After the election of 1875
he and his wife went west and little
was heard of them from that time.
There were two brothers who
had their fingers in the spoil. g."
These were Finis H. and Il. b.
Little. They were born and reared
in Kentucky, came to Mississippi
in 1865. The former was elected
to the State Senate. in 1869. TO
represent Monroe county and
Chickasaw county. He was also Il
farmer and a merchant, but both
were looked upon with contempt by
| the people of the county. His
brother, r. 8. Little. held the
office of Chancery Clerk for several
years. C. ]. Leftwich and ID. a.
Beeks.)
In the election of 1875 he ran
again for thai office and F. H.
Little ran again for Senator, but
both of them were defeated. Both
came from respectable families in
Kentucky and married into good
families in Monroe county. | have
not been able To find out where
they went upon leaving the county.
The next carpet Dagger of impor-
lance was j f. Lacey. He was a
nondescript" according to Major
Jonas characterization. He came
to Monroe county from Pennsyl-
vania soon after the war. He
was man of generous instincts,
but was bv no means coward. "
He was a little past middle age
about fifty years old-and a bold,
courageous kind of fellow. A
Mayor of \ berdeen-having been
appointed by Governor Ames in
1S69-he presided with dignity;
liked to have his way; liked to
show great pomp in office. and
wanted men to show him great
honor as he sat behid the bar and
melted out justice tc the people.
In the administration of the
| lutics of mayor, it seems that one
Tom Ragsdale had in some way
abused and insultcd Lacey. In
order to preserve peace. Lacey was
told tina. he ought to fight duel
with this man Ragsdale. No doubt
but that j. ID. McClusky was be
hind it all, for he had great infiu-
ence with Lacey, even though he
belonged to different party.
| Lacey challenged Ragsdale to a |
fist and skull fight. A ring was
| drawn on the west bank of the |
Tom bigbee river near Aberdeen, |
and in this they were to fight |
while the bystanders-composed of
almost the whole male population |
of Aberdeen-looked on. As ar
ranged, Capt r. f. Houston was
Ragsdale's second, and ]. ID. Me- |
| Clusky-Lacey's friend-was La
cey's second. The contestants were |
about equally matched, but it is |
stated that Lacey came near getting |
the better of his antagonist and |
would have done so but for the fact |
that in the fight Ragsdale got hold |
of Lacev's long, flowing beard and
would not let 60 until Lacey was
out of breath. The whole affair
was a huge burlesque and brought |
n