Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1922-06-08

MES with the arms distributed to
the state by the United States,
made discrimination, between
said companies on account of race,
color and former condition of
servitude.
Your memorialists respectfully
call your attention to the follow
ing additional facts: All or nea--
ly all of the white companies are
composed of men who fought in
the confederate army to destroy
the Union. Many of the colored
companies are composed of men
who fought in the Union Army to
sustain the Government. The
white companies chose the confed-
crate gray for their uniforms; the
colored companies prefer the Union
blue. On the 10Th day of Janu-
airy last the white companies of
Savannah celebrated the anniver-
sary of the birth of General Rob-
ert E. Lee, Ito which, however,
we did not object) and We're re-
viewed by General Joseph E.
Johnston. No national flag was
displayed by the companies, twelve
in all, although confederate bat
tie flag, carried through the late
war by the fifty-fourth Georgia
regiment was noticed as the .'bri-
gade" marched through the street
and it marked the post of honor
where General Johnston stood to
view the brigade" Recently,
three white companies in Atlanta
met for parade, when the COM
mander of the battalion" re-
quested the captain of one of his
companies to send his colors, a ma
tional flag, from the line, saying
the flag was Objectionable to him.
self and the majority of the men
in the companies and they would
not march in the column with it.
When colored companies parade
they honor the national flag"
After reading this part of the Pc
ton Pease proceeded with his
,eech, a part of which we quote,
hich will be found in same Congress
onal Record on pages Immediately
blowing 1874:
"The crime of murder is seldom
punished. The exceptions, how
ever, are against the negro. lie
is invariably punished. Justice in
the south is loath to shield it,,
sword when the criminal is a col.
ored man. We have some as
able, honest and faithful judges
as ever graced the bench in the
history of mankind; but there is a.
vitiated public sentiment in the
south that controls our courts,
controls our juries, controls all
our ministers of justice. A white
man may Stay negro, and it
may be proved as clear as the
monday sun that it was a case of
murder with malice aforethought;
and yet you cannot get jury to
convict, and, in nine cases out of
ten, you cannot get a grand jury
to indict a white man for killing
negro or a poor white man.
But change the scene. Suppose
negro has committed some
CRIME. The whole country is in
arms. A negro has murdered a
white man perhaps. The Associ-
ated Press throughout the south
darts its lightning messages all
over the country proclaiming a ne-
gro riot. The people in the sec
ton where the homicide is CONF
mltted pretend to be alarmed. The
slogan is taken up by the Ku-Klux
and White League clans, and sud-
denly there is hurrying to and
fro. The negro is arrested, and
In many cases he is not tried, but
summary punishment is admins
tered without judge of jury. Where
white man kills a negro the form
of an inquest is sometimes held,
and the verdict in nine cases out
of ten is a farce, something after
this manner: THAT the negro
came to his death by an inordinate
desire to run after white mans
pistol So much for the
honest, economical management
of the democracy in the control of
the finances of the south. | know
of my own personal knowledge in
the state of Mississippi, that III
almost every case where there has
hoop a ioh xub oro ooIorod offinioJc