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MISSISSIPPI.
BLOODY WORK IN THAT STATE.
Jackson (Miss.) Times, Nov. 11.
Although the accounts received are as yet conflicting, enough is known to warrant the belief that Jefferson County was recently the scene of a bloody tragedy. From a private letter we learn that Merriman Howard, formerly Sheriff of the county, and now a special Deputy United States Marshal, was warned last Saturday night that his life was in imminent danger, and advised by a leading Democrat and others to flee from his home for safety.
The following account of the affair, the partisan character of which is apparent, was furnished the Natchez Democrat by the editor of the Fayette Chronicle, one of the most bitter of bitter White-Line journals:
FAYETTE, Nov. 6, 1876. - Editors Democrat:
As our community for several days past has been greatly excited on account of a most dastardly outrage committed about seven miles southwest of here, I have concluded to write you a short account of it. On last Friday night a colored man by the name of Charley Chester was shot and badly wounded by a would-be assassin. On Saturday evening our Sheriff deputized Capt. Put Darden to take a squad of men and try and find the assassin. The Captain went to the residence of Chester, and was informed that one Dave Bingaman was suspected of being the assassin. Capt. Darden then went about three miles to a house where there was preaching or singing going on, and, as he rode up with his posse, the preacher came out, and the Captain told him not to be uneasy, as he was only in search of Dave Bingaman. Then the crowd of negroes in the house ran out in all directions. Capt. Darden gave orders to surround the house, or rather the premises, as there were several houses, and, in surrounding them, the negroes shot from a cistern-house, mortally wounding Henry Darden; and from another house shots were fired, seriously wounding Walker Harper, son of Capt. William L. Harper. Young Harper was literally shot from head to foot, but with squirrel shot only. Our men were so situated that it was impossible to return the fire. The woods and neighborhood were thoroughly searched that night and next day by over 400 men, from all parts of Jefferson and Franklin Counties. The shooting took place within three miles of the Franklin line. So far we have captured about nine or ten of them; several more are at large. Henry Darden was a most estimable young man, the only son of A. J. Darden. He leaves a young wife and two little children. The only clue so far we can get to the matter is, that one of the negroes remarked: "We got our orders in town to shoot any white man that comes this way; that the soldiers were here now to protect us." It is all the effect of Grant and his policy. R. H. TRULY.
The absurd remark above quoted, alleged to have been made by a colored man, was, as is intimated by Mr. Truly, seized upon as a pretext for a general hunting-down and indiscriminate arrest of fleeing negroes.
It was asserted, our informant states, that leading Republicans would be held responsible for the difficulty, and hence Mr. Howard was compelled to leave the county. The edition of the Fayette Standard closes an account of the trouble, quite similar to that of the Chronicle, as follows:
This whole affair evidently grew out of the coming of United States soldiers into our town on Saturday morning, for the ringleader (he is not caught yet) of this bloody plot went galloping home from Fayette last Saturday evening, proclaiming aloud as he went to every negro he saw on the road, "The soldiers have come; our people have come; now we can do as we please, and they will back us." His plot is supposed to have been formed in Fayette Saturday evening, because somehow (we don't define yet) the fact of this search and contemplated arrest by the Sheriff's posse leaked out before the posse was entirely gotten up.
The following paragraph, which we find in the Natchez Democrat, throws light upon the dark hints contained in the above:
We understand that R. H. McClure, who has been accused with being the instigator of the recent murder of Mr. Henry Darden, near Fayette, on Saturday night last, has been arrested at Dead Man's Bend, in this county. A dispatch was sent from Fayette, we understand, charging him with this crime and asking for his apprehension.
It is believed that a warrant was also issued for Howard, but it is not yet known whether he has been captured or slain.
A letter in our possession, dated the 6th, states that eight colored men had already been killed, and the following from the New Orleans Republican indicates that the work of slaughter had not yet ceased:
A prominent planter of Concordia Parish gives us the information that twenty-four negroes were slain at Fayette, just east of Natchez, Miss., on election night. His information that this horrible atrocity was committed without provocation, and simply to gratify the lust for blood which has prevailed since the inauguration of the "Mississippi plan." Our informant concludes his statement, he being direct from the vicinity, "The telegraph-wires were first cut, as a precaution that the fun of the boys might not produce an unfavorable effect on the country."
The idea that the presence of a dozen United States soldiers at Fayette should be seized upon as a pretent for a general slaughter of colored people, is another evidence of the fruitful resources for which the average White-Line journalist is already so justly famous. That the colored people were engaged in any "plot," other than to vote the Republican ticket, or that they expected the troops to do anything further than to preserve the peace, and protect them in the enjoyment of that right, when called upon by proper authority, is contrary to all precedent, and will not, in the absence of any evidence, be for one moment believed by candid and intelligent people.
BLOODY WORK IN THAT STATE.
Jackson (Miss.) Times, Nov. 11.
Although the accounts received are as yet conflicting, enough is known to warrant the belief that Jefferson County was recently the scene of a bloody tragedy. From a private letter we learn that Merriman Howard, formerly Sheriff of the county, and now a special Deputy United States Marshal, was warned last Saturday night that his life was in imminent danger, and advised by a leading Democrat and others to flee from his home for safety.
The following account of the affair, the partisan character of which is apparent, was furnished the Natchez Democrat by the editor of the Fayette Chronicle, one of the most bitter of bitter White-Line journals:
FAYETTE, Nov. 6, 1876. - Editors Democrat:
As our community for several days past has been greatly excited on account of a most dastardly outrage committed about seven miles southwest of here, I have concluded to write you a short account of it. On last Friday night a colored man by the name of Charley Chester was shot and badly wounded by a would-be assassin. On Saturday evening our Sheriff deputized Capt. Put Darden to take a squad of men and try and find the assassin. The Captain went to the residence of Chester, and was informed that one Dave Bingaman was suspected of being the assassin. Capt. Darden then went about three miles to a house where there was preaching or singing going on, and, as he rode up with his posse, the preacher came out, and the Captain told him not to be uneasy, as he was only in search of Dave Bingaman. Then the crowd of negroes in the house ran out in all directions. Capt. Darden gave orders to surround the house, or rather the premises, as there were several houses, and, in surrounding them, the negroes shot from a cistern-house, mortally wounding Henry Darden; and from another house shots were fired, seriously wounding Walker Harper, son of Capt. William L. Harper. Young Harper was literally shot from head to foot, but with squirrel shot only. Our men were so situated that it was impossible to return the fire. The woods and neighborhood were thoroughly searched that night and next day by over 400 men, from all parts of Jefferson and Franklin Counties. The shooting took place within three miles of the Franklin line. So far we have captured about nine or ten of them; several more are at large. Henry Darden was a most estimable young man, the only son of A. J. Darden. He leaves a young wife and two little children. The only clue so far we can get to the matter is, that one of the negroes remarked: "We got our orders in town to shoot any white man that comes this way; that the soldiers were here now to protect us." It is all the effect of Grant and his policy. R. H. TRULY.
The absurd remark above quoted, alleged to have been made by a colored man, was, as is intimated by Mr. Truly, seized upon as a pretext for a general hunting-down and indiscriminate arrest of fleeing negroes.
It was asserted, our informant states, that leading Republicans would be held responsible for the difficulty, and hence Mr. Howard was compelled to leave the county. The edition of the Fayette Standard closes an account of the trouble, quite similar to that of the Chronicle, as follows:
This whole affair evidently grew out of the coming of United States soldiers into our town on Saturday morning, for the ringleader (he is not caught yet) of this bloody plot went galloping home from Fayette last Saturday evening, proclaiming aloud as he went to every negro he saw on the road, "The soldiers have come; our people have come; now we can do as we please, and they will back us." His plot is supposed to have been formed in Fayette Saturday evening, because somehow (we don't define yet) the fact of this search and contemplated arrest by the Sheriff's posse leaked out before the posse was entirely gotten up.
The following paragraph, which we find in the Natchez Democrat, throws light upon the dark hints contained in the above:
We understand that R. H. McClure, who has been accused with being the instigator of the recent murder of Mr. Henry Darden, near Fayette, on Saturday night last, has been arrested at Dead Man's Bend, in this county. A dispatch was sent from Fayette, we understand, charging him with this crime and asking for his apprehension.
It is believed that a warrant was also issued for Howard, but it is not yet known whether he has been captured or slain.
A letter in our possession, dated the 6th, states that eight colored men had already been killed, and the following from the New Orleans Republican indicates that the work of slaughter had not yet ceased:
A prominent planter of Concordia Parish gives us the information that twenty-four negroes were slain at Fayette, just east of Natchez, Miss., on election night. His information that this horrible atrocity was committed without provocation, and simply to gratify the lust for blood which has prevailed since the inauguration of the "Mississippi plan." Our informant concludes his statement, he being direct from the vicinity, "The telegraph-wires were first cut, as a precaution that the fun of the boys might not produce an unfavorable effect on the country."
The idea that the presence of a dozen United States soldiers at Fayette should be seized upon as a pretent for a general slaughter of colored people, is another evidence of the fruitful resources for which the average White-Line journalist is already so justly famous. That the colored people were engaged in any "plot," other than to vote the Republican ticket, or that they expected the troops to do anything further than to preserve the peace, and protect them in the enjoyment of that right, when called upon by proper authority, is contrary to all precedent, and will not, in the absence of any evidence, be for one moment believed by candid and intelligent people.
Citation
Chicago Tribune, “Chicago Tribune clipping,” Mississippi State University Libraries, accessed November 21, 2024, https://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/624.
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