Year: 1876

THE TESTIMONY.


Those who doubt the story of Eliza
Pinkston would doubt no longer if they
had access to the mass of testimony from
the bull dozed parishes that / have been
examining for the past week or ten days.
have sent great deal of it to the Com
mercial, but not one fortieth part; that
is, for every sworn statement | have for
warded there are forty or fifty that re-
main unpublished. Making all allow
ances for errors and exaggerations, there
yet remains enough to convince any can
did man that the FIVE so-called bull-dozed
parishes were carried by murder and in
timidation. do not jump at conclu-
sions. i have simply been convinced by
testimony.


The following affidavit was made by an
old colored woman. Ann Myers, of East
Baton Rouge. 1t is confirmed in every
particular by the testimony OF her daugh-
ter. / was present at the Custom House
when they told their story, and their
poor woe-begone faces confirm the hor-
ror. Their look Of settled anguish could
not be assumed for the occasion. The
statement Of the old woman is as follows:


II am resident OF the Tenth Ward, Of
the Parish of East Baton Rouge On the
18th day of April. 1876, about 3 o'clock
at night, ] heard a noise at the gate in
front. My husband heard it, too, and
thought il was q horse or COW that had
worked into the garden. He got up and
took a chunk of fire from the fireplace,
and went in front Of the house ] heard
some one say halt At this my son. who
was in bed, said it was the bulldozers,
and he got up and ran out hastily. and
ran towards the woods. | went to the
door and saw q band of about ten or
twelve armed men, who were disguised
and painted until / could not recognize
them. When my son started for the
woods they began shooting at him. and
four or five followed him up and riddled
him with bullets, and he fell dead about
one hundred yards from my house. In
the meantime my husband ran into lit
tie house he had built TO put his pota
toes in, and hid himself IL being dark.
and the band having turned to look after
my son, they did not see him hide.
III ey looked around again, and said the
id Radical nIgger had hid. They
came into the house and searched it,
while part of their band were looking
around the yard Tor him. They asked
me and my daughter for the gun and
pistols belonging to my husband and
son. " gave luCLu III Olu DibkOl anu an
old musket that stood behind the door
in the corner BY this time the men out
in the>yard had found my husband and
dragged him out of his hiding place, and
hallooed, we have got the old devil; you
were too smart for US once, but we have
caught you ct last. / screamed and hal
looed for mercy on my old man, asked
them for mercy's sake to save his life
and not to carry him away. They
laughed and said. old woman, pray to
God, for you won't see your old man any
more My daughter and child set up a
wall Of grief, but the bull-dozers only
groaned at US and rode away. They took
my husband about a mile from the house
and hung him to a limb of a tree on the
road and they left him. We found him
in the morning stone dead and still
hanging. Ny husband and son were
both prominent Republicans. Ny son
was wanting to run for some Office, but
do not know what il was. Ny husband
never ran for any Office He owned the
little place where we lived. He also
owned oxen, cows, a colt and some chick.
eRs, besides some tools and a large lot Of
hogs left the place and what was on
it as soon as | buried my husband and
SON. They were often told their lives
were III udb ger ~ Ahfg pcIsibAeu IN DeluB
Republicans. Ny son-In-law was afraid
to live there. He succeeded in getting
away the night my husband and son
were killed, though he was in the house
when the bull-dozers rode up. There is
but one family of colored people left in
my neighborhood; all the rest have been
run off All the colored people are Re
publicans. and would attend Republican
meetings, if they had not been told they
would be killed, and so many have been
killed that they are scared nearly to
death, and live in the woods, and are
afraid to be seen by the white Demo
Gratis, who say they will kill all colored
men who vote the Republican ticket.


her


ANN X MEYERS.


mark.


Attest: j. n. HOGINs


"TSworn to before F. A. Woolfley, Com
missioner United States Circuit Court,
District of Louisiana.


talked with the old woman and her
daughter, and | am convinced of the sub
stantial truth of their story. That look
of settled woe could not rest upon their
faces il there was no cause for IT,


Certified copies Of inquest upon the
bodies of these two murdered men, by
Benjamin Morgan, Coroner, are on file.
They bear date April l3. 1876. and are
that Jerry Myers came to his death by
being hung to an oak tree with q cotton
rope by parties unknown" and that
Daniel Myers (same date) came to his
death by being shot six times through
the body and twice through the head, by
narties unknOwu