The Washington herald., 1911-01-22
SENATOR BAILEY SAYS THIS COUNTRY HAS MORE
REASON TO FEAR THE EDWARDS THAN THE CROOKS

sonal information that until now has
never been given out.
'Yes: was born in Copiah County. My
first money was earned by carrying green
bricks from the molders to the drying
yard. I owed S. and that is tho way l
paid the debt. I also pulled fodder, strip
ping the dry, sharp blades and husks
from dead stalks Of corn. No work is
| harder for a boy. unless II is bearing
on green bricks in a brickyard. 1
earned some money and borrowed some
more and entered the University Of Mis-
stssippi. had a bachelor uncle, an Irish
man. When he heard what ! had done,
| he sent me funds with which to pay my
debt and my expenses at the university.
He also made it possible for me to take
law at Cumberland College i'm Tennessee.
The course was a year, but it was as
thorough as any in the country. Now
adays. the ordinary law course is three
times as long. which is well enough for
the young man whose bills are paid. but
Is hardship for the young man who
must depend on massachusetts, IL de-
pr1ves him of the training he would get
II he baSan practicing as lawyer two
years earlier.
Had No Right to Refuse.
Il was twenty years old when I re-
turned to Hazlehurst and opened an Of
f1ce. During the first term of court my
fees were enough to support me the rest
Of the year. My initiation into practice
was the defense of an old citizen who
had cut another citizen with a knife dur
ing political debate. I refused to take
the case at first. believing that the man
ought to be punished and punished hard.
I also believed that he had come to me
because the judge was a friend of my
family and because some of the members
OF the jury probably would be reluctant
to see me lose my first case in court.
1.-The judge sent for me. ! had no right,
he said, to refuse to defend any one
charged with crime. I told the judge of
my suspicious. Moreover. the man wae
guilty. in my opinion. and should go to
Jail. He is a coward I said, and II I
were the man whom he cut I should
shoot him on sight After the judge
had threatened to assign me to take the
case. ! agreed to act IL the man were to |
come to ME the second time. He did |
come the following day. and I charged |
him $500. My client would have escaped |
but for a misunderstanding among the |
turymen. Ultimately he was fined 500 |
and given a Jail sentence of thirty days. |
/ refused to sign a petition for his par |
don. saying that I already had done |
enough to defeat the ends of justice.
AFTER that I kept out of criminal cases
so far as I could. l defended three or
four men accused of murder-they were
officers of the law and were compelled to |
protect themselves when attacked. ! |
didn't charge any of them a cent. One
man. however. decided me his property.
He died soon afterward and decided the
property back to his family
why did you move to Texas"
asked
There were more negroes in 1fissis-
sippi than white people, and race con-
iitions were complicated. Being opposed
10 government Of blacks. and so forth,
decided to go elsewhere"
Not So Ruinous a. Fraud.
Theft and fraud on election day. Bailey
he boy declared. degrades and de-
'auches the people. Murder on election
lay may brutalize. he said. but its eff
ects are not so ruinous TO human char
lcter. Bailey the Senator is Of the
a me opinion.
Il never committed a crime against
he ballot he told me, nor would I
'ermit it if I knew it were contemplated
notified the men with whom 1 was
cquainted that I would prosecute them &!
any frauds were consummated. But
was not averse to warning negroes to ,
tay away from the polls. or to making 6
show Of force if they neglected to heed :
he notice"
rs it true" l asked. that you were
IMPLICATED in the notorious Copiah Coun-
y riots?''
Yes; but I was a peacemaker, al d
iough somebody would periodically
rise in Congress, until a few years ago, !
nd read from the records. There was
n investigation by Congress, and Sena- y
'r Hoar. of Massachusetts,, was chair r
ian Of the committee. The committee I
let in New Orleans to get away from b
lie local atmosphere. Senator Hoar put '
ne question to every witness IT you n
ere living in State he would ask, b
where the negroes outnumbered the "
hite men, would you resort to force (,
4 election day, or would you move to Il
,me other place. I went to New Or n
ans in the hope that I would be asked