Year: 1875

they add that to recognize the McEn


cry government would be recognizing


government based upon fraud, in


defiance of the wishes and intentions


of the voters of the State. Assuming


the correctness of the statements in


this report, and they seem to have


been generally accepted by the coun-


try, the great crime in Louisiana


about which so much has been done


and said, is that one is holding the


Office of Governor who was cheated


out of twenty thousand votes against


another whose title to the Office is un-


doub.edly based on fraud and in def


ance of the wishes and intentions of


the voters of the State. Misinformed


and misjudgiBg rs to the nature and


extent of this report, the supporters


of McEnery proceeded to displace by


force in some parts of the State the


appointees of Governor kellogg, aud


on the 18th Of April, in an effort of


that kind, a butcnery of citizens was


committed at Colfax which, in blood


thirstiness and barbarity, is hardly


surpassed by any acts of savage war


fare


To put the matter beyond contro-


versy, | quote from the charge of


Judge Woods, of the United States


Circuit Court, to the jury in the case


of the United States VS.. Cruikshank


and others, in New Orleans in March,


1874. He said: I'm the case on trial


there are many facts not in contro-


versy. | proceed to state some of


them in the presence and hearing of


the council on both sides, and if I
state as conceded fact any matter
that is disputed they can correct me-"
After stating the origin of the difi-
Guilty, which grew out of an attempt of
white persons to drive the parish
judge and Sheriff, appointees of Kel


logg, from Office and their attempted
protection by colored persons. which
led to fighting, in which quite num-
ber of negroes were killed, the Judge
states that most of those who we're
killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen
or sixteen of the blacks had lifted the
boards and taken refuge under the
floor of the Court House. They were
all captured. About thirty-seven men
were taken prisoners. The number is
not deinately fixed. They we're kept
under cover until dark, when they
were led out by twos and threes and
shot. Most of the men were shot to
death. A few were wounded not NOR
tally, and by pretending to be dead
were afterwards, during the night,
able to make their escape. Among
them was the Levi Nelson named in
the indictment The dead bodies of
the negroes killed in this affair were
left unburied till Tuesday, April 10.
when they we're buried by deputy
and an officer of the militia
from New Orleans These persons
found fifty-nine dead bodies. They
showed pistol-shot wounds, the great
majority in the heart and most of them
in the back of the head In addition
to the dead found, some charred re-
mains of dead bodies were discovered
near the Court house. Six dead
bodies were found under warehouse,
all shot in the heart but one or two.
which were shot in the breast. The
only men injured from the beginning
of these troubles to their close were
Hadnet and Harris The Court house
and its contents were entirely consum
ed There is no evidence that any
one in the crowd of whites bore any
lawful warrant for the arrest of any
of the blacks. There is no evidence
that either Nash or Cozabot. after the
affair, ever demanded the Office which
they had set up claim to, but the Reg
lister continued to act as parish judge.
These are the facts in this case as
them to be admitted To
hold the people of Louisiana generally
for those atrocities would
not be fact, but it is lamentable fact
that insuperable distractions we're
in the way of Furnishing these
and so called Conserva-
tives. Papers of the State not only
justified the massacre, but denounced
as Federal tyranny and despOtism the
attempt of the United States officers
to. bring them to justice Fierce de-
ran through the country
about officeholders and election mat
ters in Louisiana, while every one Of
the Colfax miscreants goes, unwhip
ped of justice, and no way can be
found in this boasted land of civiiiza-
ton and Christianity to punish the
of this bloody and mon
strous crime.


Not unlike this was the massacre in
August last. Several Northern young
men Of capital and enterprise had
started the little and fourishing town
of Coushatta. Some of them were
and Office holders under
kellogg. They were, therefore, doom
ed to death. Six of them were seized
and carried away from their homes
and murdered in cold blood No one
has been punished, and the Conserva-
tive press of the State denounced all
efforts to that end, and boldly justified
the crime. Many murders of like
character have been comm,tted in in
dividual cases which cannot here be
detailed. For example. T. s. Craw-
ford, Judge of the Parish, and the
District Attorney of the Twelfth Ju-
dic:al District of the State while on
their way to court, were shot from
their horses by men in ambush on the
oth of October, and the wife OF the
former, in a communication to the De-
partment Of Justice, tells . piteous
tale of the prosecutions of her hus band
because he was Union man; OF the
efforts made to seize those who had
crime which, to use her
language, left two widows and nine
orphans desolate. To say that the
murder of negro or white Republi-
,an is not considered crime in Lou
siana. would probably be unjust to
great part of the people: but it is true
hat great number of such murders
have been committed and no one has
been punished therefor, and mani
estly the spirit of hatred and violence
8 stronger than law.


Representations were made to me
hat the presence OF troops in Louisi-
ina was unnecessary, and that there
vas no danger of public disturbance if
hey were taken away. Consequently,
Early last summer the troops were
p;thdraup from tho Sfaxo 9Th H.