Year: 1874


tlemen upon whom have called. For instance
this morning. as was returning from visit 10 "a
friend In the outskirts OF the cIty, met two men
10 whom | was entirely unknown. One OF them
described himself as in favor OF a white mans
party; and he then proceeded TO denounce what
he called the disgraceu acts oi his party with q
1erocty 1 never heard from party man before
If he had not asserted TO the contrary should
have mis- AIKEN him for a ieariully outspoken and
deluded radical. Speaking OF the Trenton affair,
he SAID 1t was not only disgrace to the State but
that the action Of the mob was directly
would not do TO aleae that 1t was
all owing to the carpetbaggers. such a
The negroes at PicHettve he declared had Killed
no one, and as they had had no trial II was un-
crime. They were in jail and the courts were
open. II they nad committed any offence there
was ample power in Gibson county to punish
them. Democrats he SAID, are In Office there.
The Attorney General is democrat. The judges
and even the juries are democratic. Nobody
pretended there was any fear OF an attempt at
the rescue OF the prisoners by the negroes. 1t
would have been an easy matter to let the law
take It's course. But for the action OF the mob
great shame and everybody would have been the
be ter lor It. Though ne was himself democrat
ness, and he was ready to insist that the demo-
cratic party must take the responsibility lor
crimes like this or stamp them out altogether,
especially IN the counties where the party is In
the majority. His whole speech was so positive
and direct that 1t could not fail to make deep
impression upon me, and alter my return to my
hotel )otted 1t down as specimen OF the way
men talk in Memphis


ANOTHER VIEW BY ANOTHER MAN.


had scarcely finished my memoranda OF the
foregoing conversation, when gentleman to whom
mad been casually presented, gave me an entirely
OF the action OF the mob in the Trenton massacre,
but OF the condition OF things generally Accord
ing to his view the et-6aggers had caused all
the trouble by iing The heads or the negroes with
erroneous doctrines, and exciting In them bitter
pe1e ana wnea OF
them being unable to obtain credit lOr so much as


clean SHIRT at their homes In the North, they had
managed to get control oil the negro element had
used the negro vote for their own purposes. They
bankrupted the State, got the city and county
enormously in debt and ruined everything and
everybody. Whenever tDey succeeded ln emDroil-
ing the negroes in trouble with the whlLes, they
ran away and lett the blacks to their iate owing
compelled to Kill a lot OF the negroes several
times" doubt If he would have made this latter
assertion II he had known was chel amang
'em tahin' notes, but, regarding me as gentleman
travelling at my leisure, there was no motive Tor un-
usual reiicence. Much OF what he told me, indeed
l may say all that he said was true, l have no
doubt. His complaints OF the carpet-baggers were
founded IN only too much reason aud MS picture OF
the sad condition OF things in the State was, be-
leve, not overdrawn. But TO any one WAC Is here
aud for himself IL alis tO be satisfactory
eXplana tion OF the relations of the races. The
poWeriess Even the negroes have lost confidence
In them as leaders and guides. This TACT he ad-
mltted in the course OF the conversation, ani he
even expressed belief that the negroes hereafter
might be induced to vote with the whites. In tnis
l
the 1uture regarded as possessing no Importance
whatever, and his opinions CT the past are only
portant as indicating the standpoint from which
many people In Tennessee discuss the present att-
tude Of aralrs. They argue from the past instead
OF looking solely the present, and they are pos
sessed with the idea that in order to keep the
blacks in order 1t sometimes becomes necessary
to Kill lot OF negroes When an accident Of tLis
kind occurs-ior do not believe they ever kill the
negroes IRON long premedltated design-they
dress up the story In Its most presentable shape,
and, while seeming to hold the mirror up to
nature, cOntrive TO make the black face look more
ferOciousIy out OF the glass than the white coun-
tenance at its side.


NEW THEORIES ABOUT THE MASKED MOB.


This view of the case peculiarly enforced by
the new theories which are advanced in regard to
the masked mob which attacked Trenton Jaii. In
the beginning nobody doubted that the maskers
were an organization Of the ku KluX order. see
no reason to DOUBT 1t now. Since the murder, how
ever, the question. has been raised whether the
murderers were not negroes or friends OF the ne
grOes. 1t is claimed tnat the six who were killed
are the six who turned States evidence against
band which fired upon the two young men, War.
rem and Morgan. heard this story while was at
as TO the identity OF the murdered negroes with
the witnesses lor the Commonwealth. There was
also story that two OF the ten negroes who are
supposed to have escaped were seen IN the neigh
DorhoOd. Now, the same story In regard to the
six witnesses comes here from Milan with the ad-
dJlonal assertion that one OF the ten has written
to his wife from an adjoining county. Five OF the
ten are also reported as having been seen some
the neWspapers here. and II they are true It Is
st strange em 's At sSs sssns etasas msas
which took place at Pickettville on Monday. These
citizens IN their resolutions, denounced the firing
upon the two white men by the band ol armed
negroes and the outrage at Trenton jail, and COM
planned bitterly OF injustice done them by the
Memphis and Nashville press In charging them, by
implication. with lawlessness and disorder In
their speeches they denounced the ku KluX, but
nobody suggested that there might be black or
radical Ku Klux capable OF moving with all the
celebrity ana secrecy OF The old organization The
mob which attacked the Jail was not lever in num-
ber than hundred. They came from NOBODY kne W
where and they went n. nopody knows s whittier: 1t
that they were white men. 1t Is apparently I'M
possible that mob oi white men, trends OF the
notice and have acted with sucn extreme secrecy
ana deadly effect. The six witnesses, II indeed
have been shot by accident and it Is just as likely
that party dlabOlical enough to kin anybody as
these men were killed would select them as their
victims as that the other lmprobabillty should hap
pen. In order to sustain this new theory II Is
necessary to assume that the organization and
ability Of the old Ku Klux have changed SIDES and
secret and thoroughly formed purposes OF the
blacks. The thing Is inadmlssbe In any sense.
such an organization could not be formed at all
ana even 1t could be formed 1t could not commit
such dastardy outrage as that at Trenton with
many people give ear, II not credence, TO this new
theory; and this reminds me OF a conversation
had this morning with Ex-Governor Harris upon


TALK WITH IsHAM G. HARRIS.


Ex-Governor Harris is very much absorbed In
his law business and practically out of politics
but he still has very great II not active, interest
In public AFFAIRS and AT the instance Of Trend he
named time for me to call upon him. went,
and found MIN at his o1ice ready TO receive me.
The conversation was quite informal, and on the
Governors part it was especially remarkable 1or
the tone OF cand0r, moderation aud earnestness
which pervaded all his opinions AS regards the
third term idea Governor Harris thinks there Is
not more than one man In Memphis who Sc
did not ask him whether this man
Is the Postmaster, tat, puny-faced
old gentleman who stands about the hotels ana
looks as II he could enjoy any number OF terms Of
office. The ratio OF thlrd-tern men in the State,
the Ex-Governor thinks, Is about one in
ten thousand In tnls estimate, however,
he wishes to be understood as speaking
OF the abstract question-of the principle
as policy. But General Grant, he says, has
made many friends in the State within the last
year or two There is less partlsanship IN Tennes-
see than ever befOre-not less interest In politics.
but more mOderatiOn-and less disposition TO
crticse public measures in advance, but rather to
judge them by their results In all this he sees
signs for great announcement. At this point the
conversation turned upon the recent troubles in
Tennessee and Mississippi. He RAPIDLY sketched