The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-05-25

me IOilOWiiiS dCCouuI VI thC Ooiion
riot contains such a glaring misstate-
ment of some of the occurrences on
that memorable Easter Sunday of April
IL, 1873, and does such injustice to a
majority of the whites who took part
in that unfortunate conflict, that, for
the purpose of correction, we publish
the article entire. 1t is from the N. o.
Mascot of May 81, 1882;
During the summer of 1873, in the
town Of Colfax, parish of Grant, the
nation was thrilled by one of the most
frightful massacres ever recorded in
the annals of this State.
According to the published state
ments of the time, negro ring leader,
named Ward, undertook to take forci-
BILE possession of the parish Offices of
Grant, and install negro incumbents,
claiming to be elected in opposition to
Judge Rutland, and other white parish
officers, who held commissions from
w. p. Kellogg, then Governor of Lou
isiana.
The testimony elected at the trial of
the case, before the u. S. District
Court in this city, was to the effect,
that Ward and gang of negroes claim
ing to be legally elected officers of
Grant parish, after taking forcible pos
session in several instances, were fin
ally driven by the infuriate whites, into
a building, formerly a sugar house in
the town of Colfax, which was then
used as court house. This edifice
was surrounded and fired by the whites,
and the negroes who attempted to es-
cape, were at once seized, and stood in
a long line, each being securely pin
toned. After remaining in a standing
position several hours the signal was at
last given, and the massacre commenc-
ed. The row of negroes were shot to
pieces where they stood, and the
slaughter becoming general, negroes
throughout the parish were shot on
sight. If the writer be not mistaken
in the summary, one hundred and
twenty dusky corpses in one heap, told
the dismal story, and for days together,
the birds of prey in the parish Toasted
upon negro carrion. The individual
directly responsible for this horrible
butchery, whose fiendish brain conceived
the murder, and who, with deliberate
devitry, carried it into execution, is a
person named to The Mascot by a
prominent Republican, who makes not
the slightest objection to the use of his
name, and expressed to The Mascot his
entire willingness to testify under oath,
to the exact truth of the revelation he
is about to make. To quote substanti-
ally the gentleman's very words, he
said:
lone day in the spring of 1873,
was sitting in the Office of w. P. Kel-
logg, Governor of Louisiana, when
Ward, a colored member of the Legis-
lature, and colored political leader
in Grant parish, entered the Governors
Office, with the commissions of the
newly elected Republican parish officers,
S,sbich had just been received from the
office of the Secretary of State.
heard w. P. Kellogg direct Ward to
deliver those commissions to the parties
designated, in person, and say to each
of them that he, Kellogg, expected
them to take possession of their Offices,
and exercise their fullest functions,
even if in exerting their authority it
were necessary to resort to violence.
heard Ward ask Kellogg, if he were
authorized to tell these men that they
would be sustained by the Executive
of the State, and Kellogg replied, eff
necessary will sustain them with the
entire militia force under my COM
mand.' Ward had scarcely left, when
Judge Rutland, parish judge, and the
Democratic leader in Grant, made his
appearance in the Governors Office.
He also had an entire set of commits
sions issued to white Democratic Of
ficers of Grant parish. Kellogg init
mated, in unmistakable language, to
Judge Rutland, that the Democratic
party claimed majority of the votes
cast in Grant, and that he had COM
missioned them, but that their ability
to retain the offices would depend upon
their exhibition of pluck. Feeling sat
isfed that fearful conflict of races
was about to be precipiated, called
at the office of the Secretary of State,
and discovered that two sets of COM
missions, one Democratic, and the other
Republican, had been issued for the
parish of Grant. When w. p Kellogg
was expostulated with upon this exhi-
bition of treachery, he remarked sen.
tentiously: 1--WE must burn a little
powder, and spill little blood. The
blood of the martyr is the seed of the
= church, and my government has moi
been recognized at Washington.
The statement of the Mascot, in re.
lation to Kellogg's commissioning two
sets of officers for Grant parish at one
and the same time, with the view Of
precipiating conflict between the
races. is correct in the main, being
well known to hundreds of living wit
nesses, and can be abundantly sub
stantiated.
The first misstatement of the Mascot
is in speaking of Judge Rutland as the
parish judge, and designating him as ,
Democratic leader in this parish. Judg,
Pntland uac n Rannhlican NOT a nano