The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-21
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No 24-Maior General John Pope Commanding
1865-1374

| great bulk of the negroes were on the canebrake plantations in the northern d. vision of the county. The county, then,
 extended so as to take in Newberne, l Prairievlle, Arcoln, now in Hale. The
 white people lived In the southern and eastern parts, except the planters and their families
 No data exists to fix the number of negroes who went to Linden, the county seat. to vote. october l, 2 and 3. The att tendance was general and it was certain | thousands were there, ot all ages of males, the first day. Some had walked % miles.
 1 Very few white men attended and those who did go were there as spectators of one of the most awe inspiring scenes that mortal eyes ever beheld. It was not a spectacle of blood flowing over the field | of broken limbs and torn flesh and death. | Ah no. 1t was far more. It was there erucihxion of Alabama took place. I shall venture upon a personal exper- l fence for brevity's sake here: The head wagoner of the plantation came to me early in the night to say all the men on | the plantation had orders to go to vote at Linden, 1s miles away, next day. By permission, he would bitch his six mules to the corn wagon that would carry 20 seated on their stools and stick chairs from the cabins II was the busy cotton picking season and he would advise me to permit him to haul them to and fro. He would start before day broke and be back, in safety, the same night. In this was the first and only reference to politics that had ever passed between freedmen and their employer
 It was a dreadful experience with the contemplative white man of the plantation, October 1, 1867 The white fields were bare of harvesters. Un- pan wonder of the cause. What was that cause? The docile, affectionate, ignorant negro had left off his willing toll, the fruits of which fed the richest commerce of the civilized world Allured by the con- queror to enter upon the task of revo- lutionl
 Next day all hands were at work as usual Not syllable of reference to yesterday was given to me or by me ever afterward to those men.
 Months passed. A negro man. who, besides being possessed of rare native faculties. had gone through the war as body servant to soldiers in the field and had thus learned much of general in- formation, spoke. saying he thought l might like to know how the election was conducted His narration was val uable historical data and I give it here exactly as I received 1t, with perfect confidence in it's correctness Linden,  a village in the center of the county, 1 with one wide street. The street was bordered and also split, the long way by rows of large and ancient china trees. The courthouse and jail sat on the east side and on the west side, [ the end of the settlerAent. was the hotel, with a window opening on the street. l
 Great crowds of negroes had assem- l bled by o'clock in the morning. About that hour "a man in blue" came from the hotel and walking down the mid de of the street called out, Fall In here! Fall in" Quickly a double file of negroes formed a long. uncounted line. Few of the number had ever seen Linden before. None could explain be- .yond the visible thing before his eyes. Some were lads. Not dozen, probably not a single one, in the line knew a letter of the alphabet.
 The man in blue" now walked down | the line distributing blue tickets. He called them ballots" They were the 1 death warrants of godliness and de- cency In white letters on every ticket i were the words For Convention" and Immediately under the words Pierce | Barton, c. w. Dustan, J. Wright Me Leod."
 The man in blue called out move upr TheN whole line moved and hell itself never heard tramp soi resound-
 
 the head of the column past the little | window in the hotel and as the voters | passed, by twos the ballots fell in the open barrel by twos. Only men in blue | were inside
 At 12 o'clock the man in blue walked | the wide street again calling Fall in! | Fall i'm"
 At in the afternoon he walked the | third time for the first day of the | three days.
 Negro suffrage thus came. It passed | not without leaving scars on the form of Alabama.
 Each call resulted as with the first | The bureau had "saunt the word" in advance, vote early ands vote often." The blue ballot with white letters fell | like a mountain of woe upon Alabama |
 convention carried Marengo, Pierce | Burton and the others were elected del | egates from Marengo. Who was Pierce | Burton? The ideal carpetbagger left by the army of invasion. Where Lyon, Lomax, Griffin, Ashe, Reese, Hatch, Whitfield, Strudwick held converse, Pierce Burton was never seen. None of the gang was more fitted to assist in the preparation of a constitution for this state than the toads that feed on the vapors of the dungeon.
 I have told of one of the three days of election" ordered by General Pope. have no record of the others. There was said to have been no count made of ballots cast, beyond a known suf- ficiency
 JOHN WITHERSPOON DUBOSE.