V / CL ^ LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IU.INCS Campaign Document -No. 2 PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED BY 1HE 1875. THE CLINTON RIOT. True Statements sviowirvM who omGirvATisi> IT. A Premeditated Massacre of the Whites. Testimony of While ami Colored Witnesses, Under Oatn. GEN. J. Z. GEORGE: Chairman Democratic and Conservative Executive Committee: At your request we have received the statements of many persons who wit¬ nessed the disturbance at Clinton on the 4th inst., which we now hand to you. We think the following general history of the matter, is fairly sustained by these statements. An invitation was extended to all per¬ sons to attend the Republican meeting and Barbecue at Clinton. There was to be a joint discussion. Accordingly per¬ haps sixty or seventy-five white men went to the grounds. There were from one thousand to twelve hundred negro men present. As many perhaps as two or three hundred went there armed with pistols. There were probably twenty or MSOQQE thirty white men with pistols on their persons—not more than fifteen of whom participated in the fighting. Many of the negroes went to Clinton anticipating a fight and armed for it, and seized as a pretext for the affray a quarrel between a white man and a negro. o % There is nothing in the evidence to show that there was a drunken man, white or colored, on the grounds. The inception of the quarrel is envel¬ oped in obscurity. But in the light of the subsequent action of the whites we do not regard the merits of this alterca¬ tion as important—at all events there was an altercation between a white man and a colored man. The former left the negro, joined a small party of white men a distance of about one hundred yards from the speaker’s stand, followed by the colored man. This party of whites con¬ sisted at first of four or five, soon in¬ creased to about eleven; was sligntly scattered in small groups. Some colored man cried “a fight!” and called to the colored men “to come on.” Immediate¬ ly orders were given to “rally;” the drums were beaten; the cry of “kill the white men” was raised, and a large mass of negroes, armed with pistols and knives and brandishing clubs pressed down on the party of whites. The crowd of negroes numbered probably as many as three hun¬ dred. The whites, about eleven in num¬ ber, gave way and retreated about forty yards, along a little branch, asking the The Clinton Riot . negroes to stand back, and to keep the peace ; and saying they desired no diffi¬ culty. The negroes in their front pressed on, crying “kill them.” After retreating this distance, another crowd of negroes came down on them, coming from an opposite direction. After the altercation commenced and before the firing began, the whites made every effort to avoid a fight. Abouf this time, a pistol in the hands of Mr. Thompson, (a white man), was discharged accidentally, the ball going in the ground at his feet. A shot was next fired by a colored man, which struck young Mr. Wharton. The firing instantly became general. The whites stopped and fired vigorously. Two ne¬ groes were killed on the spot, and four or five wounded, and the crowd in front of the whites retreated. The white men then commenced leaving the ground in small parties. The negroes were rallied, by one of their number, who told them not to let the white men escape, and the pursuit began; separate crowds of ne¬ groes pursuing in different directions the retreating groups of whites. Sively and Thompson (white), were overtaken, killed and their bodies mutilated. Chas. Chilton was killed in his own yard. Capt. White was captured, shot, stabbed, and beaten, and left for dead. Rice, Wells, Wharton, Robinson, (all white), and perhaps several others were wounded. It was subsequently reported that the negroes threatened to attack the town, and consequently, during Saturday night, between four and five hundred armed white men were concentrated in Clinton, from Vicksburg, Jackson, and the coun¬ ty for the protection of the town. During Saturday night and Sunday morning, perhaps seven or eight negroes, who were supposed to be leaders in the affray, were killed by the whites,* who were indignant at the murder and muti¬ lation of their white friends. Early Sunday morning most of the white men returned to their homes. A few remaining at the request of the Mayor during Sunday night, as a police force. By Monday morning, as the Mayor of Clinton states, the town and neighbor¬ hood were quiet, and peace was restored. In justice to the memory of Martin Sively, we deem it our duty to state that he had no connection with the com¬ mencement of the disturbance. His conduct was beyond reproach. He was an estimable gentleman, and a sober and exemplary citizen. We make this state¬ ment to correct an unjust rumor that he was the originator of the difficulty. E. W. Cabinis, S. M. Shelton, Frank Johnston. Walter A. Bracey (white)—I reside in Raymond; am a dentist by profession; I came to Clinton last Saturday morning on the occasion of the Republican barbe¬ cue; perhaps as many as fifteen white gentlemen from Raymond came to Clin¬ ton that day; there was no disposition or intention on the part of any of these gentlemen to disturb the peace, or to in¬ terfere with or interrupt in any way any colored men or any Republican, so far as I know and believe; I may safely say no such intention existed; the gentlemen from Raymond did not come to Clinton in a body, but separately and in the usual and customary mode, by private convey¬ ances, on horseback and in buggies; the object was simply to hear the speaking at this barbecue; about 12 o’clock I went out to the ground selected for the barbe¬ cue; most, if not all the Raymond white men went out to the grounds; a few of the Clinton white men went out to the grounds, and others from the neighbor¬ hood; I do not think there were over forty white men on the grounds; I saw part of a negro procession as it came in Clinton; I only remained in Clinton a short time before going out to the place of the meeting, and I did not notice the negroes particularly; I noticed, however, that the negro in charge of this proces¬ sion had a drawn sword; I am sure there was not an intoxicated white man on the grounds during the day, nor did I see an intoxicated negro; there was not a dis¬ orderly or turbulent white man on the grounds; my opinion is, not more than fifteen or twenty white men, at most, were armed; there was not a white man armed with a gun on the grounds; seve- The Clinton Riot. 3 ral of the Raymond white men were not armed at all; the meeting was held at a grove about three-quarters of a mile in a northwesterly direction from Clinton, about 300 yards from the Upper Vicks¬ burg road, and between it and the rail¬ road (V. & M. R.R.); the speakers’ stand is about a quarter of a mile lrom the point where the public road crosses the railroad, and this crossing is between the speakers’ stand and the town of Clinton, and pretty nearly on a straight line to¬ wards Clinton ; a few of the Raymond gentlemen, I think, the two young Whar¬ tons, Vink Waddell and Thompson, and perhaps young Huntly, about ten or fif¬ teen minutes before the fight, had been lunching at a wagon; after lunching, they walked to their own wagon, about twenty steps distant from where they had lunched; this latter wagon was at a branch in a little bottom near a group of willows, about 100 yards from the speak¬ ers’ stand; I passed this party a short time—a few minutes—before the fight; they were very near the wagon ; some were seated in chairs and some were standing; they were laughing and chat¬ ting among themselves, and all in a good humor; none of them were intoxicated, and not one of them was in the least disorderly; I am certain of this; I passed them and walked towards the stand and near to it, accompanied by Martin Sivley; Sivley was sober—in fact, I know that lie did not drink, and has not used any liquor for at least three years ; we stood (Sivley and I) near the stand a few min¬ utes, when my attention was attracted by a rush of negroes towards the spot where 1 left the Raymond party, and by the remarks of the negroes as they moved down, to “ come on, we are going to have a fight ”; the negroes near me commenced drawing pistols and moving in that direc¬ tion ; I was surrounded by negroes, and every one I noticed had a pistol in his hand ; not a shot had then been fired ; I heard nothing of what was transpiring down at the branch ; I heard several or¬ ders given to the negroes to “ fall in,” or ‘ ‘ form ranks, and come on” ; I then heard the drums, and just after the drums beat a pistol shot was fired and the firing commenced ; before the shot was fired, however, Sivley and I walked towards the group of willows on the branch ; we were enveloped in a crowd of negroes, numbering several hundred, that were rushing towards the spot, and in fact we were borne along by the crowd ; I reached the wagon at the group of willows, where I had left the Raymond men before the firing commenced ; the Raymond white men whom I had left at the wagon were not at the wagon, but they had retreated at least forty steps from the wagon before the crowd of negroes; the negroes, a dense mass several hundred in number, were crowding close on them, and pushed so close to them that I soon afterwards lost sight of them ; it was at this point that the first pistol was fired, by whom I do not know ; the nrst shot that I saw fired, which was the second shot I heard, was fired by a negro at young Ramsey Wharton, hitting him in the head ; Siv¬ ley was with me at the time ; immediate¬ ly after the first shot a general firing commenced; the negroes continued to rush down to the spot; the negroes then retreated a little on one side of this crowd, but the drums continued to beat, and numbers of negroes cried “ come on,” and they rallied ; there were not exceeding twelve white men on this part of the ground engaged in the fight; I am informed that in addition to these, several other white men, not more than three or four, whom I did not see, were engaged in the fight; they were broken into little groups a few paces apart, and were being crowded on by the negroes ; the white men retreated all the time, de¬ fending themselves as well as they could; all the while the white men were giving way before the negroes, I heard them asking for peace and asking the negroes to stop firing on them ; the negroes were I crying, “kill them, damn them, kill I them”; the white men were soon scat¬ tered, and those who were not killed made the best of their way from the ! field ; Sivley and I started to leave ; we i were at first separated by a rush of ne¬ groes; we came together'again, still re¬ treating, about two hundred yards from where the firing commenced; the negroes 4 The Clinton Riot. were then on us, firing and some striking us with empty pistols ; at this point, Siv- ley begged them not to kill him, saying he had not commenced the difficulty; the}'' told him to give up his pistol; he handed his pistol to a negro, holding it by the barrel and presenting the handle; as one negro took the pistol, another ne¬ gro knocked him down with a pistol, breaking the pistol by the blow ; Sively staggered to his feet, and he and I ran off towards a cotton held, negroes pur¬ suing, firing at us and crying “ kill them, damn them, kill them”; Sivley, as he ran, was bleeding from three wounds; we had gone perhaps one hundred yards into the field, when Martin Sivley fell, struck by a negro from behind ; I ran on into a little branch, and stopped a mo¬ ment somewhat concealed ; ten or twelve negroes surrounded him, and I heard them striking him ; after that I came on to Clinton ; after the firing became gen¬ eral, the white men (as I have described them) became separated and I lost sight of them, and cannot say how they left the ground or how they escaped ; I saw two negroes dead on the grounds, and four or five others that I supposed to be wound¬ ed ; I have since ascertained that three white men were killed and about eight wounded (Charles Chilton is included, who was killed in his own yard, as I have been informed). I will here state that when I reached the group of willows where I had left the party of Raymond gentlemen, and where the altercation first began, I found that the crowd of armed negroes had crowded them from the spot, and they had retreated about forty paces before the fight began; when I reached the wagon at the group of willows they were still retreating; there were not more than eleven white men, not all quite to¬ gether, but a little separated in small groups ; as the white men gave back, and before the fighting began, I could hear them (the white men) saying to the ne¬ groes to “go back,” that “ there was no difficulty,” “ no fuss,” and that they “ wanted no difficulty”; and the negroes, many of them, at this time (and before the firing) said, “ kill them, damn them, kill them”; at this precise point of time, while the white men were frdling back and the negroes pushing on them, I think the negroes at that place and in the crowd that was pushing forward num¬ bered several hundred, certainly more than three hundred ; many of them were armed ; I saw numbers with pistols in their hands ; I could safely say I saw as many as one hundred ; many negroes had uplifted sticks; I could see the sticks above the heads in the crowd; several had branches of trees in their hands, and one had a pole ten feet long; this was the attitude of the negroes as they crowded on the white men before the fighting ac¬ tually commenced; I was not with the largest party of white men I have spoken of, consisting of eleven or twelve, but off twenty paces with Sivley, and I think Mr. Neal was with me , none of us, that is Sivley, Neal or I, drew a pistol until the fighting commenced and the negroes attacked us; I had a bullet hole through my coat before I drew my pistol; I think the negroes had crowded right up on the white men, and had actually closed up against them before the firing commenced; I do not think there were more than fif¬ teen or sixteen white men who participat¬ ed in the fighting, and, as I have stated, the little groups who were pressed by the negroes, and who were retreating, as I have already described,consisted of about eleven men. In conclusion, I will state that the party of negroes who pursued Sivley and I was led by Charles Cald¬ well, Jr.; I saw him (Caldwell) shoot at us several times; lam unable to state how the quarrel at the group of willows began, or the persons who commenced the altercation. W. A. BRA.CEY. Sworn to and subscribed before me, the 10th September, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J.P. Morris Ward (white Democrat)—I live at Raymond at present; came to Clinton on last Saturday, Sept. 4th; I went out to the barbecue about twelve o’clock ; while Fisher (Republican) was speaking, I was standing on the outskirts of the crowd that was gathered around the The Clinton Riot. speakers’ stand ; the first thing that at¬ tracted my attention was a rush of ne¬ groes in the direction of the group of willows where the wagon of some of the Raymond men was standing; I moved down in that direction, and got pretty close to this wagon, where I had seen the Kaymond boys a short time before ; the negroes were running by me drawing their pistols, and pressing down on a small party of white men, about ten to fifteen ; this party of white men was scat¬ tered.in little groups, a few paces between the groups; some of the negroes said ‘‘shoot them,” others said “kill them these white men were falling back before the negroes, and the negroes were press¬ ing them; I could hear the white men talking and pleading with the negroes for peace; I heard them say they did not want a fuss ; the negroes did not stop at at all but continued to press on; the white men did not turn their backs in retreating, but backed off from the ne¬ groes while asking for peace; they retreat¬ ed because the crowd of negroes pressed on them so closely; the negroes from other parts of the ground continued also to reinforce this crowd of negroes that were pressing the retreating whites ; the drums were beaten ; the, negroes called to each other to “rally,” to “come in and kill the damn whites,” and “damn sons of bitchesI saw the negroes close up, almost touching the whites, and a large negro in the front of the negroes holding a large pistol uplifted in his hand; at this time the whites had retreated about forty yards, and another stream of negroes had approached them from nearly an opposite direction ; I would suppose that about three hundred negroes were in the crowd which was pressing the whites; all the negroes I noticed were armed ; Many had pistols, and those who had no pistols had sticks and clubs and knives; I saw them drawing their pistols as they ran down to the spot, and as soon as the first intimation was given that a quarrel was going on, they commenced drawing their pistols. About the time that this crowd of negroes were so close to the white men that they could touch them with their hands, a shot was fired ; I cannot tell by whom, whether by a white man or negro; in two seconds a general fir¬ ing commenced ; I saw the whites make a stand and fire vigorously; then some of the white men retreated, and most of the negroes retreated ; the whites did not folloiv, but separated and commenced leaving the ground in little groups of two or three ; then one negro gave a yell and said “God damn it, are you going to let these whites off without killing them ;” there was one white man still shooting; the negroes then commenced coming back ; Capt. White (a whiteman) then said “boys, stay together or we will be all murdered I saw Capt. White up the hill in the direction of Clinton ; the white men were badly scattered making their way singly and in twos to¬ wards Clinton ; the fiegroes having ral¬ lied came up and divided into crowds that followed in various directions the white men; that is each whit - ; man and every two white men who were to¬ gether, were followed by a separate crowd of negroes; the negroes were still shoot¬ ing ; the white men had quit firing, most of them had no loads in their pistols and were begging the negroes not to kill them; I could hear the negroes say “kill them, God damn them, kill them;” the negro women came up and encouraged the negro men ; the whites seemed afraid to run, but were then walking off, soon afterwards some of them did run ; I left the grounds pursued by the negroes; before I reached the railroad crossing a negro came up with me and pointed a pistol in my face, and another who called me “Buckley” made him desist; another negro came up and said “damn him, kill him, lie’s a white man ;” another negro pursued me with a hatchet, when Dr. West, a white man, passed between us on a horse, and I then got off to the railroad ; I could not see what became of the other white men, the confusion was so great and they were so scattered ; when I reached the railroad crossing, 1 saw ten or twelve negroes on the crossing, some with pistols, who shot at me as I passed some distance from them ; I next saw a group of negroes in the railroad below the crossing, shooting ; I saw an- 6 The Clinton Riot . other group of about ten negroes in the tan-yard shooting at Mr. Wells who was passing in a buggy ; I avoided this group and came into Clinton ; I suppose about fifteen white men participated in the fight, and I think there were about sixty white men on the ground ; in conclu¬ sion, I will state that just before the firing commenced I said to Charles Caldwell, Sr., who was not more than a few steps from the party of white men I have already described, that he must, for God’s sake, stop this fuss ; I heard him say, “I am trying to stop itI am sure Cald¬ well tried his best to stop the difficulty and to keep the peace ; I can safely say Caldwell did not participate in the fight, and I think I was in a position to have seen and known it if he had, for I was standing near him ; I do not think Cald¬ well was armed ; I certainly saw no arms on him. I was born in Ireland, came to America in 1849; lived in New York about seven years, in Illinois until 1866, and came to Mississippi in 1866. I saw no white men on the grounds with guns; none of the whites had guns; and I saw none of the negroes with guns. M. Ward. Sworn to and subscribed before me this September 10th, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J. P. The sworn statement of B. S. White:— I live four miles west of Raymond, in Hinds county, Miss. Having heard that there was to be a joint political discussion at Clinton, Miss., on Saturday, the 4th September,1875, and that the white people were invited to attend, I, in company with several others, attended, reaching the town of Clinton about 11 o’clock A.M. We got to the place of meeting about 12 o’clock m., where we found a large number of negroes and very few whites. After we got there a large procession—said to be from Edwards Depot—came in. After they had all dismounted, Judge Johnston took the stand and commenced speaking. I walked around through the crowd in different directions. I found the negroes very turbulent on every part of the grounds, making threats and declaring they were going to have their way there, that day. They frequently rubbed against me, seeming to be trying to provoke a difficulty. Some of the white boys had been drinking. I went to them and told them not to touch any more whisky, saying to them that there was an immense crowd of negroes there, and very few whites, and it was manifest to me that the negroes were eager for a difficulty, and they would use any pretext for beginning it; that if a shot cracked it might begin. Just before Judge Johnston finished speaking, I went among a crowd of negroes gathered on the south side of the speaker’s stand. I heard one negro say, “Who is that speaking?” Another said, “Johnston, I believe.” The first then replied : “I did not come here to hear any such damned stuff as that; I want him to get down from there; I want to hear Fisher speak.” Another said, “Well, I reckon he will soon be through, then we will have it all our own way.” I went back to where I had left the boys. Two of them were going off down the hill. I called to know where they were going; they said, “We have a bottle a whisky down here.” I then made them come back ; telling them to remain where thev were, near the speaker’s stand. Just before Johnston closed, the negroes had become so boister¬ ous and dissatisfied, and seemed so determined to prevent any one from hearing him, that I remarked to a friend that Johnston had better quit, as the negroes seemed so much dissatisfied ; that I was sure he was doing no good. They were very restless, walking about and making all kinds of noises, disturbing every portion of the crowd. Pretty soon Johnston closed speaking. Fisher was then called for, who at once responded. Immediately the negroes became quiet, and all was still. The negroes saying, now we will hear something good. Johnston’s speech was very kind and conciliatory. The best speech I ever heard him make to the negroes, so far as I could hear it. Fisher had been speaking some eight min¬ utes when some person in the upper part of the crowd made some remark—I could not hear what it was. Immediately there was a rush of negroes in that direction. I went there and found a young man, who, I The Clinton Riot. 7 was told, was McNeal. I told him he must make no remarks in that crowd; that the young men from Raymond had agreed to put themselves under my orders, and as he had gotten with them he must do the same thing, and I would have no talking in the crowd. I then returned to where I had left the Raymond boys—near the stand. Pretty soon I noticed a rush of negroes to a bottom about a hundred yards north of the stand ; I told the boys to re¬ main and I would go and see about it. I ran down and jumped into a buggy; I saw a large crowd of negroes surrounding two of our boys and trying to get something from them. Neither of these boys was Martin Sivley or Thompson; I left both of these young men at the stand. Thompson was then talking to Capt. Lake, of Jack- son, and I told Martin Sivley to keep the boy sat the stand until I returned. I called out to the crowd to stop that fuss, and to the negroes to let the boys alone. They seemed to heed me, and all would soon have become quiet, but just at this time a negro from about Edwards Depot, wearing yellow epaulets, called out in a loud voice, “We did not come here to let no God damned white trash run over us; this is our day.” Just at this time Chas. Caldwell, Sr., came into the crowd, followed by about 100 negroes. He said, “ Stop this damned fuss here; I am going to have it stopped.” Pushing his way through the crowd he reached the whites saying, “Get out of here; get out of here, you damned rascals, and stop this noise. One of the white boys said, “We are interfering with nobody; we do not wish to disturb anybody, nor create any disturbance; but we will not be run over.” Just at that time the firing be¬ gan. I cannot say positively who fired first; but I sincerely believe that the first shot was fired by the negro from Edwards Depot, with yellow epaulets before spoken of. I was standing in a buggy above the crowd where I commanded a good view of all, and I saw the smoke rise from a pistol in his hands. Just before the pistol fired I heard a drum beat. By the time the firing began the crowd of negroes had become very dense around the boys. As the negroes came they were brandishing their pistols, crying, “Run over the whites; kill the damned whites ; run over them, God damn them ; run over them,” I think I saw not less than three hun¬ dred negroes with pistols in their hands. As soon as the firing begun, the negroes commenced falling back rapidly, and in a few minutes the bottom was cleared. Immediately then an immense crowd of negroes came rushing down from the hill firing indiscriminately into their own people. By this time the boys were making for the stand, leaving me alone. I called to them to fail in on me and reserve their fire, as we must get out of there. At this moment a negro ran up tome, crying, “There is one of the damned rascals—kill him.” I turned and faced him ; telling him to get away as I did not wish to kill him unless it was necessary. He stopped, and one of the boys asked me to let him shoot him ; I told him, “No, do not shoot unless it is necessary.” We then moved on toward the prairie — southeast of the stand—[ telling the boys to keep closed up and fall in on me. As we got to the edge of the prairie, I saw Morris Ward, and called to him to fall in with us ; asking him could we not get ten men together ; as I had just seen some twenty- five negroes, followed by about 250 with pistols, coming across to cut us off, and crying out, “ There are the God damned Raymondites—kill them.” Some one then said that the whites had exhausted their pistols. I told them to move to the right, and try to cross the railroad ; that my sop and myself had reserved our fire, and would try to hold them in check until they could escape. The negroes seemed to be especially after Martin Sivley and myself—crying, “Kill them.” We turned and faced them, and told them to halt; that we were armed and would defend ourselves ; that we wanted no bloodshed ; they had begun the fuss themselves, but would not be murdered. They continued to pursue us, firing. When I told them they had begun the difficulty themselves, young Chas. Caldwell said, “Yes, and God damn you, we will end it.” We fell back about 100 yards, trying to reach the railroad crossing. When we got near the dirt road, I accidentally stepped into a hole and fell. Immediately I was 8 The Clinton Riot . covered by about six negroes, who disarm¬ ed me. I rose with them and tore loose from them. Just at that time Martin Sivley jumped the fence, about six or eight negroes being on him—three of whom were Sam. Caldwell,Chas. Caldwell, Jr., and Walter Wilborne. As soon as I got loose I and my son ran—I then being disarmed. The negroes followed, firing on us, and crying, “Kill the damned scoundrels; catch them ; murder them, and quarter them.” Just as we reached the railroad crossing we were cut off by another party, headed by a negro whose name I afterwards learned was Wade Walker ; they seized us ; threw me down on the railroad ; stamped me ; kicked me, crying, “Kill the damned scroundrel; beat his brains outafter they had stamped me and kicked me, one called for a club and said, “Let me get his brains;” they then struck me several times with a club, and picked me up and threw me in a hole, remarking, “Now we have done for you,damn you my son said, “Do not kill my fatherthey said “Yes we will kill him, and you too; but we will take you up on the bill in the woods and cut you up.” Their attention was then at- trrcted to another white man who came on in a buggy, and I managed to crawl out of the hole and conceal myself from them, where I remained for an hour, and finally dragged myself to a house. Now going back to the beginning of Fisher’s speech, I want to say that as soon as Fisher begun to speak the crowd of boys from Raymond were surroundered by a crowd of negroes, headed by Eugene Wilborne, Sam. Caldwell and Chas. Caldwell, Jr. ; when I heard Eugene Wilborne say to another negro, “ How far do you reckon the ravens will fly to-day;” the negro said, “They will not fly far; we will clip their wings when they rise.” All told, I do not think there were over sixty whites on the ground that day—including men and boys—of whom I am sure not over twenty were armed ; I think there were between 1,500 to 2,000 negro men on the ground, besides women and children ; I have long been accustomed to see crowds of men, and am certain I am not mistaken in my estimate ; lying in my bed make this statement, under treatment of two physicians ; I have been very near death’s door, and solemnly swear that every word I have uttered is the truth. The meeting was a republican meeting, and the invitation for a joint discussion came from them ; I also swear that I went to that ground with no expectation of a diffi¬ culty ; a difficulty was that day expected at Unica, and many white men had gone there,to prevent it,where it was expected ; that a large number of armed negroes from Hinds, Copiah and Claiborne coun¬ ties were expected to be there ; I carried my pistol—it being my habit in going out to carry a pistol; I had no other weapon, nor did I see any white man on the ground with any other weapon than a pistol; I was told that after the fight, some citizens from Clinton and others, come to the grounds with guns, but I was then in such a fix that I could see nothing—my eyes being clotted with blood. R. S. White. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 10th day of September, 1875. Sworn to by Capt. B. S. White and his signature appended by S. M. Shelton at the request of the said White, and in my presence, White being too feeble to sign for himself. [seal] Silas J. Carey, J; P. The sworn statement of A. H. Sivley : I reside in Raymond, Miss., Martin Sively was my cousin ; 1, with P. TV. Shearer, his brother-in-law, and Lemon, brought his body off the field on the afternoon of Sept. 4th, 1875, after the difficulty at Clinton that day. We found his body in a cotton field, some quarter of a mile east of the scene of the diffi¬ culty, lying on his back, with all the top of his head mashed in; with several wounds from pistol shots about the body; his abdomen ripped open with a knife, and his intestines protruding ; there were also several other bruises made by blow's from clubs or some heavy instrument about the body and face ; a considerable piece of flesh was torn from his finger where his ring had been pulled off; his shoes were gone and his clothing torn all to pieces; he being nearly stripped 9 The Clinton Riot* naked. I also assisted in the recovery : of the body of F. T. T. Thompson, also killed on the 4th day of September; we found his body about a mile and a j half from the scene of the difficulty in | a westerly direction ; the body was lying on the back with a pistol shot in the thigh, and another just over the left eye, and the skull mashed in over the left eye, apparently with some heavy edged instrument; skull seemed to have been mashed and then shot—the flesh around the wound being powder-burnt; and gash in the neck, apparently made with a knife. I have lieen told by others that his watch and the contents of his pockets were taken from him. A. H. Sivley. Sworn to and subscribed before me, on this the 10th day of Sept., 1875. [l.s.] Silas J. Caeey, J.P. Sworn statement of Hubbard Strange : I am a citizen of Hinds couutv; a colored man, and a Republican; I am about 40 years old ; I came in procession with the Raymond colored Republican club to the barbecue at Clinton, on last Saturday, 4th Sept.; was near the speak¬ er’s stand ; heard Judge Johnston’s speech as best I could for the confusion and dissatisfied talking at hearing him ; Capt. Fisher took the stand after Judge J. had finished, and I heard some one say, “now, damn you, don’t tell any lies.” This man was Mr. John Neal. Some negro replied to this remark of Neal’s in a quarrelsome tone, and some white man came up to Mr. Neal and started off with Mr. Neal, and the negro man, who was quarrelling at Mr. Neal followed them; I started after them and they w T ent down in the direction of where the fight occurred; as T followed on, I met Martin Sivley and young Waddell, and the latter said to me, Hubbard, you are not after a fuss with us ; and Mr. Martin S. an¬ swered and said “no, Hubbard is with us, and wants to keep at peace like me.” This negro man commenced hollowing in the rear of' us, “reinforce, police, reinforce; I was calling out for peace, and so was Martin Sivley; I turned to him and asked him “ what in the devil are you hollering reinforce police, for; if they commence a fight, you will be the first to run,” and he turned back and went off laughing. I continued to follow Mr. Sivley, and this same negro commenced again to hollow “reinforce, police,” and then I heard the drum commence to beat rapidly, and the confusion increased, and the crowd gathered densely, moving in the direction Mr. Neal had gone, and the v T ay Mr. Sivley was going. I followed on, trying to get to Martin Sivley and others to try to take care of them, and being on the rise of the hill I could see- over the crow'd somewhat, and X saw Mr. Frank Thompson, Mr. Jno. Neal, Mar¬ tin Sivley, Jesse Wharton, and others of | the white men together in a crowd, and densely surrounded by a large crowd of negroes, in great confusion ; at this time I saw Mr. Frank Thompson draw his pistol and cock it, and holding it with the muzzle towards the ground it went off. Then the shooting commenced gen¬ erally, and I turned to run and went about five or ten steps and stopped, and turned and looked on until the crowd of negroes rushed back and give way, and I saw Mr. Thompson run out of the crowd and run and get on a roan horse. I saw Charley Caldwell, Sr., for the first time after the fuss commenced run to¬ wards Mr. Thompson, (buthe, Caldwell had no arms), and call to him with a mo¬ tion of his hand, and saying, “here, Mr., you man on that horse, stop there.” Rut Thompson paid no attention to Caldwell and rode off. My attention was then called to Jesse Wharton ; I saw a colored man pick up a large limb and strike Jesse over the head, knocking him down, and X run up and told him X had raised that young man and he should not hurt him. The limb broke in two and he turned off from Jesse. Mr. John Neal, sitting on a wagon tongue close by and wounded, said to me, “uncle, save my life, too;” I answered, I will, come to me! X then took them both under my care. This same negro who struck Jesse Wharton said tome, “if you protect their lives X will kill you.” I then called to my son Levi, and told him that this negro wanted to kill these white men and for 10 The Clinton Riot . him to come to my help. My son came and we carried them and put them in the buggy, and I put my son in to drive, and seeing three negroes following, calling out “kill the man with the black hair,” I walked along behind the buggy to pro¬ tect Jesse and Mr. Neal. After we got near the big road, some two hundred yards from the fighting ground, I got in and drove the buggy on to Mr. Neal’s house. When I got back to the battle ground the fight was all over. I think that the majority of the colored people desired peace, and that there would have been no fuss or fight if it had not been for a few bad disposed negroes who I blame for the whole difficulty. his Hubbard X Strange. mark Sworn to subscribed before me this 10th day of Sept., 1875. Tl.s] Silas J. Carey, J.P. Statement of Cl. M. Lewis, (white) : I am Mayor of the town of Clinton. On Saturday, September 4th, there was a Republican Barbecue and Mass meet¬ ing at this place; the place where the barbecue was had, and where the meet¬ ing was held is about three-quarters of a mi lei from the town. For a few days previous, it was generally known that there would be a joint discussion. On Saturday morning about 10 o’clock the negro clubs from the surrounding country commenced coming into town ; a negro club came from Bolton’s Depot, number¬ ing about 397—I counted them as accu¬ rately as I could. Another club from Edwards, which was larger than the Bol¬ ton’s club, came into town about 12 o’clock; a large sized negro was in com¬ mand of the Edward’s club ; I have been informed that his name is Scott, and that he is a justice of the peace; as he marched his club into town he halted it near the hotel, and rode forward alone up the street; he was armed with a cavalry sabre which he carried in his hand drawn; other clubs came into town; and many negroes gathered from the country; I saw in town several other negroes carrv- ing drawn swords; supposed them to be officers of clubs; the Boltons and Ed- wards negroes came into town mounted and ip procession, formed in column of twos. In my judgment there were about 1000 or 1200 negroes in town ; after the mounted clubs came in, they passed through town, and shortly afterward re¬ turned through town going in the direc¬ tion of the place for the barbecue and meeting ; before the negroes left Clinton for the place of the meeting, there were many crowds of them congregated about the streets, and many of them in their manner were boisterous, loud, and dis¬ orderly^ ; heard several negroes say, the Democratic party was “gone up that day,” or words to that effect; there were about fifty white men in town ; they had nothing to say to the negroes; they avoided coming in contact with the ne¬ groes ; the white men were quiet and orderly in their conduct and bearing. About half-past twelve the crowd of ne¬ groes had assembled at the barbecue grounds. The negro men numbered about 1000 or 1200 ; there were not exceeding forty or fifty white men on the grounds ; I am sure at least ten of that number were not armed ; I cannot tell how many were armed ; from all I have heard, my opin¬ ion is that there were about twenty white men on the grounds armed ; I went out to the grounds about half-past one; Judge Johnston, (Democrat), was speaking at that time ; I heard nothing from J udge Johnston calculated in the least to pro¬ duce any disorder, or lead to a breach of the peace; while Judge Johnston was speaking there was a good deal of laugh¬ ing and talking among the negroes, ap¬ parently intended to keep persons from hearing his speech ; I heard one negro say in the crowd, in a tone of voice loud enough to be heard several yards, (but not to be heard as far as the stand), “ damn it what do we want to hear a Democratic speech for;” and another say in about the same tone of voice, that the speaker ought to be “ put out,” and not allowed to speak ; mauy of them were angry because he was allowed to speak at the meeting. There was no disturb¬ ance, or fight until IT. T. Fisher, Re- The Clinton Riot . n publican speaker, had spoken a little j while, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes be- i fore the fighting commenced. At the time j the firing commenced, I, (with Mr. J. j H. Dupree), was lying under a tree j about one hundred and fifty yards east i of the spot where the firing began, and j one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards from the speaker’s stand ; ten or fifteen minutes before the firing, a negro approached us, and asked in a peremp¬ tory way, “who is speaking ?” I replied, Judge Johnston ; the negro said, “hell,' I thought this was a Republican meeting I and not a damn Democrat's meeting.” A few moments before the firing began, a j negro woman came near me, saying in a i loud tone, “a fight, a fight.” The negro ! men commenced moving rapidly towards ; the branch, where a few white men, (three or four), were congregated, about one hundred or one hundred and twenty- five yards from the speaker’s stand ; sev¬ eral of the negroes said: “go for them, boys and I heard this expression used > by a negro: “ this is the thing we have j wanted, boys, kill all the white men”—and ! one negro told another negro to go to- j wardsthe stand and have the drums beat¬ en, and for them to rally at the drums ; the drums were beaten. All this occurred before a shot wasfired. As the crowd of negroes rallied by the drums, they com¬ menced moving or surging towards the place where the excitement commenced, (that is the point about the branch where the few white men had gathered), a pis¬ tol shot was fired ; this was followed in quick succession by two or three other shots, and then a general firing com¬ menced ; I walked down towards this point; going around the crowd of negroes, and had just started to walk in that direc¬ tion when the firing commenced ; where the firing commenced I could see but few white, probably not over three, and they seemed to be surrounded by negroes; there was probably more white men, but they were scattered and I did not see them ; the crowd of negroes on the very spot where the fighting began, at the time the firing commenced, was at least three hundred ; I saw a great many negroes with pistols; I am of the opinion at least one hundred ; many negroes who were not armed, broke off large limbs or branches from the trees for clubs, saying of the white people, “God damn ’em we will mash them in the earth.” I heard threats on all sides from the negroes against the whites. I started to leave the ground, but stumbled and fell to the ground, and as I rose from the ground, I saw a negro get a pistol from a pair of saddle-bags on his horse and fire at me; I was shot at repeatedly as I left the place ; I went to Clinton without being hurt. When the fight commenced, the white men were not massed in one body, but were scattered about the grounds ; the three or four white men who were off at the branch, made the largest group I saw. I do not know of my own knowl¬ edge the cause of the difficulty, or who fired the first shot. My opinion is that the white people did not desire any riot or trouble and did not anticipate it; and I think this because of the small num¬ ber of whites in Clinton and on the grounds; and because so few of those present were armed; and because of the vast number of negroes that were pres¬ ent. The manner and conduct of many of the negroes during the day was over¬ bearing and aggressive. I did not fire a shot during the difficulty. A great many negroes, perhaps all of Edwards’ and Bolton negroes, after the firing, moved off on the roads leading to the West. I met a squad of negroes between the tan- yard and Clinton, and one negro was urging them to go on and kill all the white men. I am Mayor of Clinton. When I reached Clinton it was reported to me that the negroes would mass them¬ selves and come into town to burn the town, and kill all the white people in tne town. I immediately telegraphed to Vicksburg and Jackson for assistance; for aid to protect the town. A body of citizens came from Vicksburg, about 125, and about 60 came from Jackson to pro¬ tect the lives and property of the cidzens of Clinton, from the threatened violence of the negro mob. No attack on the town however, was made during the night. Several colored men were killed in Clinton during the night. This was not authorized by me, or done by my ap¬ proval or authority. This was done by 12 The Clinton Riot . unauthorized persons, who supposed that the negroes killed were engaged in the killing of white men on Saturday even¬ ing. Seyeral other negroes—exact num¬ ber not known by me, were killed in the vicinity of Clinton early Sunday morn¬ ing, by persons not acting under my or¬ ders. Early Sunday morning the men from Jackson returned to their home, as did the Vicksburg men, with the excep¬ tion of about twenty whom I requested W. H. Andrews of Vicksburg, to leave here for the protection of the town ; not being fully satisfied that the negroes, would not return. By Sunday evening' everything was quiet and peaceable and the excitement caused by the occurrences of Saturday had subsided. Sunday night a Deputy Sheriff from Jackson, with a large posse came to Clinton. The Dept. Sheriff, Col. W. H. Taylor, expressed himself as satisfied that quiet was re¬ restored, and very soon returned to Jack- son. Since that time there has not been the least disturbance or breach of the laws in Clinton or its immediate vicinity. On Monday morning business was re¬ sumed; and Isent out messengers through¬ out the neighborhood to inform all the citizens in the vicinity of Clinton that quiet was fully restored, and that there was no cause for alarm. Everything to- day is perfectly peaceable and quiet in Clinton and vicinity. And to-day. on learning that the Sheriff of tiie county, and probably Gov. Ames were under the impression that some lawlessness pre¬ vailed, I sent a dispatch to Jackson to Sheriff Harney, offering him 100 men to act under his orders in the interest of peace and order in the county. I do not think there is any disturbances in the countv. But I was willing, with the hun- dred men tendered, to do everything pos¬ sible to restore a feeling of confidence to the mind of every citizen in the county. G. M. Lewis. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 10th day of Sept., 1875. [l.s.] Silas J. Carey, J.F. Statement of T. A. Wells, (white) — I live in Clinton ; on Saturday, Sept. 4th, a Republican barbecue was held at this place, about three-quarters of a mile from Clinton ; the Republicans agreed to divide time with Judge Johnston, a Democrat; 1 went out to the grounds in the morning; Judge Johnston com¬ menced speaking about 1 o’clock; he said nothing in his speech calculated to disturb the peace ; H. T. Fisher, a white Republican, then commenced speaking, and had spoken about five minutes when the fighting commenced; there were from 900 to 1200 colored men on the ground, according to my best judg¬ ment; I noticed a great many pistols among the negroes, that day; I saw an unusual number of negroes with pistols, and I would judge that several hundred of them were armed ; I think there were about fifty white men on the grounds ; I am personally acquainted with pretty near all of the white men who were present on the grounds that day ; from my observation, I should say that about 25 white men were armed with pistols; not a white man on the ground had a gun, so far as I know, or have been in¬ formed ; I will state as follows in regard to the commencement of the fight: About the time Fisher commenced speaking, and this was fifteen or twenty minutes before the fight, three or four white gentlemen left the stand where the speaking was going on, and walked off about one hundred yards away from the entire crowd, to their wagon which was by a little branch, or rivulet in a low, flat place, near a group of willow trees ; I think that Vasser Shearer, Vink Wad- del, Mr. Frank Thompson, and perhaps young Mr. Wharton were in this party ; none of them were drunk ; they were be¬ having in a quiet, orderly and peaceable manner, and had been so conducting themselves all day; I passed by this party five or ten minutes before the fight¬ ing commenced ; these gentlemen had a bottle of liquor out; I did not see them take a drink, but suppose their object in going off the grounds was to take a social drink; I then walked up to the stand and stood near the stand; everything was then quiet; presently I saw many negroes, quite a crowd, moving rapidly toward the small party of gentlemen ai- The Clinton Riot 13 ready spoken of, who were at the branch; not a shot had then been fired ; I next heard a negro say “there is a fightMr. John Neal, a white man standing near me, said to the crowd of negroes who were still moving toward the branch, “it is not a fight, it is only a man taking a drink;” the negroes paused a moment; then the negroes said again “it is a fight,” and moved on ; Chas. Caldwell, Sr., said “come back” to the negroes, and Fisher said the same thing, but this had no ef¬ fect on them ; I heard a negro man down at the spot spoken of where the small party of white men were standing, call to the negroes to “come on;” I saw a negro between me and the party at the branch, trying to form the negroes to¬ gether, and heard him order them to “fall into ranks;” I do not know his name ; I saw another negro on a horse, not far from the stand, and, perhaps, one hundred yards from the branch, call to the negroes, “all you who have no pistols get clubs,” or words to that effect; the drums carried to the grounds by the ne¬ groes were then beat; I was about thirty yards from the drums; during this time there seemed to be a scuffle going on at the branch where the group of white gentlemen was, already spoken of by me, and there was a good deal of excite¬ ment ; the negroes rushed down towards I this party at the branch ; I then heard a pistol shot at the branch, and the firing instantly became general; after the firing commenced, many of the negroes ran from the grounds, and others ran towards the place where the fighting was going on ; I left the grounds very quickly af¬ ter the firing commenced, and before it was over ; I had no pistol, or weapon of any kind, and did not participate in the fight; I then came towards Clinton, and stopped at a tan-yard, near the road leading from Clinton to the place where the fighting took place, and about two or three hundred yards from the town ; I saw a squad of negroes, three or four, armed with guns, moving from Clinton towards the firing—that is. the place where the fighting was going on ; while I stood in the tan-yard, I saw Mr. Calvin Wells, a white man, coming up the road towards Clinton, in a buggy; I saw ten or fifteen negroes standing in the flat be¬ tween the tan-yard and the road, and as Wells passed, they fired ten or fifteen shots at him, saying at the time, “there goes a white man, shoot him!” I think Wells had lost control of his horse at the time he was passing, and I think the horse was running away; I have since been told, and I think the information correct, that Wells had previously been shot in the hand, that is, before this squad of negroes fired at him ; these shots did not take effect, for Wells passed on in his buggy to Clinton; the firing was soon over; I then came up to Clinton to the railroad depot. Thgs. A. Wells. State of Mississippi, ) Hinds County, j Personally appeared before me, T. A. Wells, who being first duly sworn, says that the foregoing statement is true and correct, according to the best of his knowledge and belief. This Sept. 9th, 1875. Silas J. Carey, J. P., Justice of Peace in and for Hinds Co. Sworn statement of Henry Jackson, (col.)—-lam a citizen of the neighborhood of Clinton ; about 19 years old ; am col- ! ored ; do not claim to belong to any political party, but am a son of Simon Jackson, former President of the colored Republican club of Clinton ; on the 4th of September, inst., on Saturday, 1 went to the barbecue ground about 10 o’clock ; I was up near the old build¬ ing on the grounds, about 100 yards from the speaker’s stand, at Mrs. Caldwell’s ice cream stand; about 2 o’clock p. M., as near as I can guess at the time, and I heard some one say there is a fuss on the grounds; I ran down towards where the crowd seemed gather¬ ing, and I saw a colored man have a white man by the throat; a big crowd had gathered around this white man, not less than fifty colored men ; I could see, be¬ ing on the hill, distinctly the crowd, the white man and the negro man, Louis Hargrove, who had the white man by the throat; I heard the whites tell Louis two or three times to turn him loose, and 1-1 The Clinton Riot. he held on ’till I heard a shot and saw Louis Hargrove fall; I do not know who fired the shot; cannot say that the white man who was being choked fired ; the white man asked Louis in a kind tone of voice to turn him loose as he did not want to pay the fine of $50 for disturbing the peace ; I saw some white man firing, but don’t know who he was ; the first shot I heard was when I saw Louis Hargrove fall; I thought it was time for me to be getting away, and I started as fast as I could for heme ; I saw Mr. Waddy Rice after he was shot through the hand ; there were a great many colored people and very few white on the ground that day. Henry G. Jackson. Sworn to and subscribed to before me this 10th day of September, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J. P. Statement under oath of Dr. H. T. T. Dupree—I was on the barbecue grounds by invitation to a joint discussion of the issues of the day ; I heard Judge John¬ ston’s speech through and that of Capt. Fisher up to the beginning of the dis¬ turbance ; there was much confusion in the crowd around the stand, and among other defiant remarks I heard made was one of a negro who said “what in the hell is the use of our listening to Johnston, havn’t the Avhite folks been telling us lies ever since the surrender and they con¬ tinue to do so,” and from the defiant words and actions I became convinced that they, the negroes, were seeking a pretext for a difficulty; Fisher had been speaking ten or fifteen minutes when 1 heard some one, about a hundred yards off, hallow very loudly, which I supposed was some one drunk, but immediately a large crowd of negroes rushed in that di¬ rection crying out for the police, and to arrest them, etc., but quickly this cry was turned into “kill them,” “kill them;” the crowd continued to gather around the scene and the further and louder cry of “kill the damned sons of bitches,” and many of the negroes had their pistols in their hands and others drawing their pistols ; I could not tell what white men they were after, at that time ; I kept my stand and saw the dense crowd still gath¬ ering ; their demoniac cries beggering all description, for blood and slaughter, in¬ creasing until presently the firing com¬ menced, when the crowd swaying back¬ ward revealed to me the fact that they had been surrounding a small squad, eight or ten, of white men ; before the firiug commenced the negroes beat their drums furiously ; among the white men thus surrounded I saw Capt. White, Mar¬ tin Sivley, Dr. Bracey, Frank Robinson and Willie Sims, coming out; they had their pistols in hand, but I think they were all empty; I started for Clinton, some half mile distant, and fell in with Major Harper and his son, and as we moved on I heard a cry behind us of “shoot them, kill them, they are the damn sons of bitches who killed our men ;” I recognized the same white men named above, being hotly pursued by a large crowd of negroes ; among the crowd of white men I recognized Henry Page, a negro and a Republican, trying to protect our white men ; these white men were now protesting for peace ; X imme¬ diately turned and exhorted the negroes to be peaceable, that the law should be resorted to ; that they knew the men and they could be had whenever called for by the law, I would go their security that they should be forthcoming ; the ne¬ groes answered, “there is no law now, kill them, God damn them, kill them;” the ne¬ gro who made this reply most loudly, was a yellow negro, whom 1 have since been informed was one of the Caldwell family ; by this time these white men were over¬ taken and partially surrounded by the negroes and one of the white men (X think Frank Robinson) was knocked down aod Henry Page, the colored man before referred to, took him, Robinson, off the ground and carried him away, being pursued by a large number of other ne¬ groes out of this crowd; X took advan¬ tage of these negroes following Robinson and moved on toward town with the other white men following me. We had gone about one hundred yards, still being menaced by negroes following, but not in such force until Robinson’s pursuers again overtook us ; they came up again with their cry of “kill them” and the white men begging for their lives; one or more of them surrendered their pistols The Clinton Riot. 15 to the neo-roes, among them thus surren- dering was Martin Sivley, who handed up his pistol and immediately another negio struck him over the head (I think the same yellow negro Caldwell, before spoken of,) with a pistol, knocking Sivley down and breaking the pistol; Sivley got up and ran, and I think Dr. Bracey with him, hotly pursued by many ne¬ groes, this same yellow negro in the crowd ; Sivley jumped the fence and ran about one hundred yards in a field, and soon I heard demoniac yells and many shots from towards the direction Sively ran, and where I think his body was found ; I took advantage of the ab¬ sence of the negroes that ran after Sivley and Bracey, and I moved on towards town again followed only by Capt. White and Willie Sims ; I got near to the rail¬ road crossing, nearly a half mile from where the fighting first commenced ; we were still being pursued and menaced by many negroes and at, or near, the rail¬ road crossing, a negro, who I am informed is called Wade Walker, assaulted Capt. White, swearing he would kill him any¬ how ; then I again tried to parley with them, the negroes, again telling them the white men could be had when wanted by the law ; this big black negro hesi¬ tated for a second and said ‘‘God damn you, then give me your pistol” Capt. White handed him a little pistol ; he then de¬ manded my pistol, and I gave it to him ; he, the negro, cursed, and I started down the dirt road and White down the railroad, diverging so that 1 lost sight of him (White), but he was again over¬ taken and beaten and left for dead, as I have since learned; I moved forward again and got near the depot, and hear¬ ing shots again looked back and saw a white man (Calvin Wells) coming in his buggy and saw a negro who had as I thought, his horse by the bridle, while others from both sides of the road were advancing on him (Wells), firing at him ; just at this time Capt. Mongomt- ery came to Well’s relief with a double barrel shot-gun, and firing both barrels the negroes gave back and the horse bounded forward and was running away. Wells not having the lines, which were down under the horses’ feet ; Wells hal¬ looed to me to stop his horse, which 1 did, and he told me he was wounded and to get in and take him home ; I am satisfied that there were not more than seventy- five white men and not more than fifteen or twenty were armed and 1,000 or 1200 negro men, very many of whom were armed, and many women and children; this was on the 4th September, 1875, in Hinds county. H. T. T. Dupree. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 10th day of September, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J. P. The sworn statement of D. W. Rice: I am and was on the 4th inst. a clerk in the store of T. G. Rice, merchant, in the town of Clinton, Miss.; under the instructions of my employer, I closed the store about 10 o’clock a. m. on the 4th inst., and went to the meeting then being held about three-quarters of a mile from town, arriving there just before the con¬ clusion of Judge Johnston’s speech; I went up to the speakers’ stand; Judge Johnston concluded his speech, and Mr. Fisher had been speaking some five min¬ utes, when I saw a negro running from a bottom some one hundred yards from the | speakers’ stand, who said there was a fight between a white and colored man ; a crowd of negroes immediately went down ; the same negro again returned, and proclaimed the same thing, saying in addition, “come down, boys, come down”; immediately the whole crowd of negroes ran rapidly down to the bottom ; I then went down to about twenty-five yards of the crowd, hoping to preserve peace ; I saw Simon Jackson (colored) backing Wade Walker (colored) out of the crowd, begging him to keep quiet; Walker was very violent, declaring that he would kill the “ damned rascal”; about that time a kettle drum was beaten rapidly for a minute or so : then I heard a shot fired in the crowd ; which was followed by rapid firing and hallooing; when the fir¬ ing began, I had changed my position to a point about fifty yards from the crowd, and heard cries in every direction, “kill every damned white man on the ground”; 16 The Clinton Riot- about this time I was shot myself; up to the time I was shot, I had been doing all in my power to preserve the peace, and had shown no weapons; I then drew my pistol to defend myself, there being about me a dozen negroes with pistols in their hands, firing, and shouting, “ kill every white man on the ground”; the negroes were infuriated beyond my power to de¬ scribe ; I felt that it was death tc a white man to remain on the ground ; 1 made my escape to town as soon as I could, and got ammunition and returned ; as I pass¬ ed the railroad crossing when I escaped to town, a negro, Wade Walker, was stand¬ ing there with a pistol in his hand, calling upon the negroes to rally ; as I passed him he fired on me; I am sure there were not over seventy-five white men on the ground when the fight occurred, not over twenty-five of whom were armed. D. W, Rice. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 9th of Sept., 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J.P. The sworn statement of TL C. Mar¬ shall. I live near Clinton, Miss.; having been informed that there would be a joint politi¬ cal discussion at Clinton on the 4th of Sep¬ tember, I attended the meeting ; 1 stood in about ten feet of the speakers’ stand while Judge Johnston was speaking ; was surrounded by negroes, among whom were many young negroes, who through¬ out Johnston’s speech were cursing the whites, and, in boisterous tones, contra¬ dicting the speaker, making such a noise that I was unable to hear what was said ; they frequently rubbed against me, put¬ ting their arms on my shoulders, and by every word and act seeking to insult and provoke me; being die only white man in the immediate crowd, I kept quiet to avoid a difficulty, if possible; my atten¬ tion was attracted to the difficulty in the bottom some hundred yards off, by seeing the crowd rush down ; I then tried to go to the place, to learn the cause; after I got down, the drum beat; the white boys were then falling back, and the negroes were pressing on them ; I could, once in a while, see the boys’ heads; the crowd of negroes was very dense around them; soon after the drum beat and the firing begun ; about the third shot the crowd "of negroes scattered some, but rallied again and pressed on the boys; the ne- ! groescame from the speakers’ stand to the ; bottom, brandishing their pistols, crying I “ kill the damned rascals”; I could not j tell how many white boys there were, as 1 was soon cut off from them entirely after the firing begun, and never did | succeed in getting to them where they were; the negroes soon begun shooting at me, and I made my escape as soon as | I could ; I suppose I saw from three hundred to four hundred negroes armed with pistols, and shooting in every direc¬ tion ; I think seventy-five would include ! all the whites on the ground during the day ; I think there were more than 1500 negro men on the ground, besides women : and children ; the negroes continued to follow and shoot at me until I crossed j the railroad and got nearly to the town. H. C. Marshall. Sworn to and subscribed before me, | on this 4th day of September, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J.P. The sworn statement of Washington Slayton (col’d), I am a colored man, and about twenty- seven years old ; am a citizen of Hinds county, where I have lived for ten years or more ; I live near Raymond ; am a Republican, and a member of the Ray¬ mond Republican Club; on the 4th Sept., 1875, I went to Clinton with my Club to attend a Republican meeting, where, I was told, there was to be a joint political discussion ; the first I saw or knew of the difficulty which occurred that day was in this wise: while Judge Johnston was speaking, a colored man created a dis¬ turbance in the crowd ; immediately a colored man came up and called for a policeman, and told him to go down the hill, as there were some white boys mak¬ ing a fuss; I asked him what he wanted with a policeman, telling him there was no one down there going to start a row ; I said to the policeman, “ come back” ; that his business was at the stand ; “ let us do as the white people did at Ray- The Clinton Riot 17 raond, and keep quiet and listen .to the speech, and pay no attention to that af¬ fair'’ ; lie said he was here to arrest any man who did not behave himself; he had heard that the boys had a bottle of whis¬ ky down there, and he was going to arrest j them ; I at once left the stand myself, I Chas. Caldwell, Sr., going at the same time; he got to the white boys and said j to the colored people, “go back, we will ‘qualify’ these young men directly”; I got in then, and said to the colored peo¬ ple, “ for God’s sake, do go back, and start no fuss here”; there was then a large crowd of colored people around us, J led by a big colored man crying “rein¬ force, police”; the colored people kept coming down the hill ; I got a few to stop ; before a pistol fired Caldwell said, “ God Almighty, people, are you not going to hear me when I speak to you?” the same big black man again cried, “ reinforce down here, men—God damn it, let us kill the men—don’t be fooling with them any longer”; at that time the colored people were between fifteen and twenty feet deep around the whites, who were falling back and the colored people pressing on them ; I then broke ranks, got out of there, and jumped my horse and run ; I was satisfied there would be a fight, for the negroes around us had out their pistols, and I saw a large crowd of them running down the hill with pis¬ tols drawn, and heard as many as twenty crying, “kill them, kill them damned white folks”; I am a true Republican, but I give it as my deliberate judgment that if the colored people had behaved themselves there would have been no fuss ; the white people seemed to do all in their power to avoid it; they had kept quiet and respectful all day; I do not believe there were over fifty or sixty whites on the ground ; the boys had no pistols out when they were surrounded as before said, except that a boy named Waddill picked up a rock or something, and Mr. Martin Sivley took out his pistol and said to him, “ if you do not behave yourself, I will knock you down with my pistol”; Sivley immediately put up his pistol. his Washington x Slayton. mark. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 10th day of Sept., 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J.P. Statement of' Frank Guiol, (white) — I reside in Clinton ; I went out to the grounds where the barbecue and speak¬ ing were had on last Saturday ; reached the stand while Judge Johnston was speaking ; I was near Charley Chilton, about thirty steps from the speakers’ stand; about the time that Fisher (Re¬ publican), commenced speaking, Mr. Chilton said he would go home, and he then left for home ; Chilton’s residence was about a quarter of a mile from the stand ; after Fisher had spoken about five or ten, perhaps fifteen minutes, I noticed some excitement off in the direc¬ tion of a little branch, about 100 yards distant; a white man and a negro seemed to be disputing ; the crowd of negroes commenced to move in that direction ; I heard a negro say, “there is a fight,” and the same person said “go down boys,” to the negroes ; then the drums were beaten ; there was one drum at the stand, and another in the crowd, thirty or forty steps from the stand ; as soon as the cry of a fight was raised, these drums were beaten; the negroes all rallied in a crowd, and rushed down towards the spot where the excitement first com¬ menced, which I have already described ; up to this time not a shot had been fired; when the drums were beaten, and the large crowd of negroes had rushed down to this spot, then a shot was fired, and the firing instantly became general; I do not know who fired the first shot; when the drums were beaten, I heard several negroes say, “rally boys, rally,” and this w 7 as before a shot was fired ; the ne¬ groes near the drums, and where this command was given, were about one hundred yards from the place where I witnessed the altercation, and 1 do not think it possible that they could have known anything about the merits of the altercation, and beyond the fact that an 18 The Clinton liioi. altercation or dispute was going on be¬ tween a white man and a negro ; as soon as the firing commenced, being unarmed, 1 started for Clinton ; when I reached a hill-top, about 150, or 200 yards from the spot where the fighting began, I met three or four white men who were also unarmed : we proposed to keep together, if possible, and make our way to Clinton; m the excitement we became separated ; the next thing 1 saw was a mulatto man, (I think from Jackson), stamping on the ground and holding a revolver in each hand; other negroes, quite a crowd, were coming behind him ; I seemed to have attracted their attention; I said to the man with the pistols, “for God’s sake stop this shooting, and quiet this thing;” he replied by saying, “stand back,” and then fired at me; I continued to retreat as rapidly as possible ; at this moment, young Martin Sivley, who had fallen near the top of the hill, struggled to his feet and attempted to escape; this attract¬ ed the attention of the negroes in my vi¬ cinity, they turned on Sivley and com¬ menced firing on him ; I did not remain to see him killed, but availed myself of this opportunity to escape; I have been told that Sivley was killed about 150, or 200 yards from the spot where I last saw him alive, and fleeing for his life; when I reached the railroad crossing, that is where the upper Vicksburg dirt road crosses the V. & M. R. R. about one- fourth of a mile from where the fighting commenced, I saw Wade Walker, a negro, beating a white man who was ly¬ ing on the ground in a helpless condition; the white man, I have since learned, was Capt. White ; Wade Walker was beating him with a stick, and held a pistol in one hand ; there was a crowd of negroes around Walker at the time; a son of White, a lad about seventeen, apparent¬ ly unarmed, was begging the negroes for God’s sake not to kill his father, he beg¬ ged them to kill him but to spare his father; the negroes shouted, “kill him, kill all the white men,” and they knock¬ ed him down and beat him ; I passed this group, as near as ten or twelve steps, and saw this in passing; they seemed to be occupied witli Capt. White and his son, and did not seem to notice me; I also saw a group of negroes shooting at a white man in a buggy, shouting, “kill him, stop him;” X have been told that Calvin Wells was the man in the buggy; X reached Clinton safelv; there were about 1200 colored men on the grounds during the meeting; X saw about 40, or 45 white men on the ground; many white men in Clinton did not go out to the speaking ; indeed X believe that the greater part of the white men of Clinton, did not go out to the speaking at all; during the day, in town and on the grounds, the white men were sober, quiet and orderly in their conduct and bearing, and I saw no disposition whatever, mani¬ fested on their part, to create any dis¬ turbance, or to interfere in any way with the negroes or Republicans. F . Guiol. Sworn to and subscribed before me this Sept. 9th, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Cakey, J.I 3 . Sworn statement of Silas Thomas, colored : I am a hired farm-laborer, and have lived for several years with Thomas Wells, and worked on his plantation, eight miles south of Edwards Depot, Hinds county, Miss.; have been there and in the neigh¬ borhood all the latter part of August and September, up to yesterday,when I came to Raymond ; on or about Thursday, the 19th of August, A. D., 1875, a colored man,who said he was from Clinton, Hinds county, came to Haifa's School-house, where the Oak Ridge Republican Club met, and made a speech to that Club; X am a member of that Club, and was present on that day ; the said school-house is about two miles from where X live ; in his speech he said he had come down to tell them to come to Clinton,on the 4th of September; that Caldwell was going to make a big speech there ; that the white folks had said that Caldwell should not speak there, “ but we will show them, he shall speak there ; come prepared for business ;” that if we did not hold up our heads on this side of Big Black, we would be just like Vicksburg was; that he wanted us to come mounted and The Clinton Riot 19 ‘prepared, and Marcus Kelly, Presi¬ dent of the Club, arose and said, “ Gen¬ tlemen, you all know what that means, don’t you?” we all understood that he meant for us to come armed ; said that those who did not have horses must borrow from those who had more than one; the club agreed to come to Clinton — elected their officers — formed two companies—William Jones, Captain of one company, and James Richards, Captain of tine other; did not see the companies going, but saw some of the men returning, and they told me that the companies did go to Clinton on Saturday, the 4th ; saw them returning home on Sunday morning ; the men told me they had been in the fight on Saturday ; they said they did not know what it started about; said white folks trying to run over the black folks, but we showed them bet than that. his Silas X Thomas, mark. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 9th day of September, 1875. Silas J. Carey, J,P. Statement of P. H. Hooker : I was standing in front of the speaker’s stand during Judge Johnston’s speech, to which very little attention was paid by the negroes and radicals ; when Fisher commenced speaking, I changed my position, and in moving, met a negro who told me that some loud balking, which was heard, was between a white man and a negro; the loud talk, or quarreling, increased until the drums commenced to beat a rally, when I left my position, and immediately the firing commenced, and it seemed a 100 shots were fired ; I then crossed the railroad and halted,when a negro man near by exclaimed, “ What j are those boys doing,” and commenced | to cry out, “Rally, boys, rally, boys IJ then started for home, and had gone about 1 a mile from the grounds, when young Thompson,who was killed, passed me rid¬ ing furiously from the scene ; about a half mile further on I passed Thompson ; he told me he was badly wounded in the leg ; we started on to trv to get to Mr. Campbell’s; Thompson spoke of no other wounds; we galloped on and I in front, but when I got to Mr. Campbell’s and looked back for Thomp¬ son, I saw nothing of him ; when I last saw him he was a mile and a half from the barbecue grounds. P. H. Hooker. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 9th day of September, 1875. [seal] Silas J. Carey, J.P. Statement of Ramsey Wharton, Jr., as to the difficulty at the Republican meeting at Clinton, on the 4th of Septem¬ ber, .1875 : I cannot state from my personal know- lege how this difficulty commenced, as I was standing only a short distance from the speaker’s stand, where it was said to have begun ; I then noticed a rush among the crowd of negroes towards the wagon, in which I, with others, came from | Raymond, which was about 75 or 100 yards ; from the speaker’s stand, and went in the | same direction; many of these negroes were i shouting, “Go for the Raymond boys; i kill them,” etc.; about fifteen or twenty ! steps from the wagon I overtook Charles | Caldwell, Sr., colored, when I asked him j io try and stop the fuss; he then said, i “Gentlemen, for God’s sake stand back,” ; or used some such language ; I did not then have a pistol in my hand, nor did I ex¬ hibit a pistol until after I was shot in my head by a negro man who was only three or four feet from me ; at this time I was standing near this wagon from Raymond, and talking to said Caldwell; I did not hear any firing until after the drum was beat, when the firing commenced ; I do not know who fired the first shot; I did not exhibit a pistol until after I was wounded, as before stated, and then used it for the protection of my life ; after I was shot, I was knocked down and stamped by negroes, and I am satisfied I would have been killed by them, when on my way to Clinton, after this fighting was over, but for the interposition of Pliram Turner, a colored man, who lives near Raymond, who used his influence with the negroes for the protection of the lives of Yasser Shearer and myself. 20 The Clinton Riot I am nearly twenty years of age, and a native of Hinds county, Miss. Bamsey Wharton. Sworn to and subscribed before me, a Justice of the Peace for Hinds county, Miss., Sept. 10th, 1875. [seal] J. W. Covington, J.P. Sworn statement of T. G. Bice, a merchant in the town of Clinton, Miss.: I was on the grounds on the 4th inst., where the difficulty occurred. While Mr. Fisher was speaking I heard loud talk¬ ing in a bottom some one hundred yards from the stand, and saw a great number of negroes running down ; I at once went down myself; when I got there I found five or six white boys, among whom were Martin Sivley and Frank Thomp¬ son ; in front of whom were about a hundred negroes pursuing them, and the boys gradually giving away—going back thirty or forty feet; about this time the “ long roll' 7 was beat, when the whole crowd of negroes rushed down ; many drawing their pistols before they reached the bottom, and many crying in loud voices, “ come here, men,” “ come here, men ” ; I did not see a single white man come down; I believe that every white man who was engaged in the difficulty were the boys of whom I have spoken ; before a single shot was fired Martin ►Sivley broke suddenly through the crowd as if he had escaped from some one who was holding him ; immediately after¬ ward the firing began in the crowd from which he had escaped; when the firing began the whole mass of negroes were around the boys before spoken of, having pressed them back until the boys were j entirely surrounded by negroes on every j side ; the negroes cursing them and cry- ! ing “shoot them,” “kill them;” the ’only shot which I distintly saw fired, was a colored man firing at a white man who was running, though I heard a great number of shots. When the firing be¬ gan I was pressed back and the crowd scattered ; 1 could not see the white boys any more ; I mounted my horse and rode opto where the dinner tables were spread, when an old servant of mine came up and begged me for God's sake to leave the grounds for they would kill me if I remained ; it was after the crowd had scattered that I saw a negro following a white man and firing on him ; I showed no arms on the ground ; I went down to where the boys were to try to stop the difficulty, but found it impossible to reach them in consequence of the immense crowd around them ; on my way to town I met citizens of the town going out with guns, but heard no firing afterward. I do not think there were over seventy-five white men, young and old, on the ground that day—most of whom were unarmed. I am certain not over ten white men fired a pistol on the grounds that day. I am certain there were between 1200 or 1500 colored men on the ground. I was told by the citizens who went out with guns that they did not fire a shot because they found all quiet when then got there. I understood from the cries “shoot them,” “kill them, 77 that the meaning was shoot every white man, for immediately a ne¬ gro reached up to me and put his pistol in my breast though I had shown no arms ; he demanded my arms; I told him I had a pistol but had not used it, and would not give it up. T. G. Bice. Sworn to and subscribed before me on this 9th day of September, 1875. [l. s.] Silas J. Carey. J.P. In and for the county of Hinds and State of Mississippi. Statement of Jesse Wharton in rela¬ tion to the difficulties at the Bepublican meeting at Clinton, Miss., on the 4th day of September, 1875: Shortly after H. T. Fisher commenced speaking, I, in company with Mr. V. Waddill, from Baymond, started from near the speakers 7 stand to go to the wagon in which some young men came from Baymond ; on the way, we were met by a negro man on horseback, whose manner indicated a purpose either to ride against or over us ; just as he passed, Mr. Waddill said, “ watch,” or “ look out where you are riding,” and showed a disposition to stop,but, fearing this might lead to some difficulty or disturbance, I The Clinton Riot . 21 succeeded in getting him on to this wagon from Raymond; neither Mr. Waddill nor I, at this time, exhibited a pistol or any other weapon ; shortly after we (Mr. W. and I) arrived at this wagon, I saw a crowd of negroes running from towards the speakers’ stand in the direction of this wagon, with pistols in the hands of many of them ; Charles Caldwell, senior, colored, was in advance of this crowd ; I then advanced towards said Charles Caldwell, senior, when he was about fif¬ teen or twenty steps from this wagon, and asked him what was the matter ; he made no reply to this question, as others were talking to him at the same time ; I then asked him, said Caldwell, to stop his men, or hold them back, saying, “ we did not come here to have a fuss or a row”; said Caldwell then raised his hands and said, “ for God’s sake, boys, hold on,” or used some such language; the crowd of negroes was still pressing on in the direction of this wagon from Raymond, which forced me, by backing j before it, beyond the wagon; I then heard the beating on the drum, and im¬ mediately after the beating of the drum the firing commenced ; I can’t say of my own knowledge who fired the first pistol, j or shot; I did not exhibit a pistol until after two or three shots had been fired, nor until after I heard the negroes shout, •‘go for the Raymond boys—kill every damned son of a bitch of them,” or some | such language; after this, I used my pistol to protect and defend my life ; I was twice knocked down bv the negroes, and stamped by them; after I was knocked down and stamped the second time, and when much stunned bv the blows, my life was protected by a colored man named Hubbard Strange, who lives near Raymond, who put me in a buggy and took me to Mr. Neal’s residence, near Clinton; I cannot state of mv own «/ knowledge whether the first shot was fired by a negro or white man ; I am twenty- two years of age, and a native of Hinds county, Miss. ,J. Wharton. Sworn to and subscribed before me, a Justice of the Peace of Hinds county, Mississippi, on this 18th day of Septem¬ ber, 1875. Witness my hand and seal. J. W. Covington, J.P. [seal.] State of Mississippi,') County of Hinds, j Personally appeared before the under¬ signed, Notary Public, of the city r of Jackson, H. O. Dixon, who on oath states that on the day of the riot at Clin¬ ton he was in Jackson and arrived at home about 5 o’clock that evening, 4th September, that his home is about four miles from Clinton, that he met W. H. Harney, Sheriff of Hinds county, on Wednesday after said difficulty, in the city of Jackson, and that in conversation about the difficulty at Clinton Harney said to him that they (the negroes) seemed determined to have a fuss, and that he tried to quiet them, but found it impossible to do so, and that he (Har¬ ney) h ft the grounds, and that the firing commenced shortly after he left. H. O. Dixon. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 11th day of September, 1875. [seal.] W. H. H. Green, Notary Public. Sworn statement of John B. Abou : I am a merchant in Clinton, and an old citizen of the place ; for several days before the Republican meeting near Clinton, on the 4th day of September, 1875, I had seen notices announcing that there would be a joint discussion at the meeting ; between 8 and 10 o’clock, A. m. on the 4th inst., I closed my store and went home ; my house is on one of the main streets of the town ; the procession of negroes, said to be the crowd from Edwards depot, about 250 or 300 strong, mounted, passed my house ; I have seen many processions of negroes through this town during the last eight years, hi t never saw them so boisterous, and be ligerant in their acts and words before ; 1 observed that nearly all of them were armed with pistols buckled around them ; I heard many such expressions like this, “I would like to see a Democrat;” “damn the Democrats;” “What do they call this place?”—“we can clean it out by ourselves.” So confident was I, The Clinton Idol. 4)9 after witnessing their conduct, and hear- ing their declarations, that there would be a difficulty that I did not go to the grounds where the speaking was and cautioned others to keep away ; I think over fifty or seventy-five whites, young and old, went to the speaking, so far as I know ; I saw no arms among the whites ; they were quiet and respectful to all ; my attention was called to the fight by hearing firing ; I ran out of my house and saw the crowd scattering over the i field ; a white man ran by me asking for arms, saying “they are murdering our people I ran to my store and got my gun and remained to defend the town if it should be attacked. J. B. Abou. Sworn to and subscribed before me this j the 9th day of September, 1875. [seal.] Silas J. Carey, J. P. Sworn statements of S. S. Hubbard, C. W. Grafton, and James W. Lowry : We all reside in the vicinity of Auburn, Hinds county—all farmers—and were all present at Haifa’s School-house, eight days before the Clinton difficulty, at a meeting of the Auburn Republican Club —sometimes called the Oak Ridge Club, and sometimes Spring Ridge Club. After the club adjourned, the men constituting the club, appointed two men Captains to raise two companies—each company to have one hundred men—and then go into election of Lieutenants and minor officers, and then to meet other companies at Mt. Moriah Church, three miles south of Edwards Depot, and form a regiment and elect a Colonel—all for the purpose of going to Clinton, the 4th September, 1875. S. S. Hubbard, C. W. Grafton, J. W. Lowry, Rep. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 10th September, A. D., 1875. [seal] J. W. Covington, J.P. State of Mississippi, ( Hinds County, j I, Silas J. Carey, a Justice of the Peace, in and for said county, hereby certify that I was personally present dur¬ ing the taking of the sworn statements of most of the depositions, to which my certificates are appended, and believe that the same were taken in a spirit of fairness ; that the statements were volun¬ tarily given, and are, from the character of the deponents, worthy of credit; I am a Republican, and am not moved by any partizan spirit in giving this certificate, but a desire to do justice. Given under my hand this 12th day of September, 1875. ]seal.] Silas J. Carey, J. P. THE NORTHERN PRESS ON THE RAD¬ ICAL RIOTS IN MISSISSIPPI. NT. Y. Tribune. Liberal Rep.] The attempt of Gov. Ames to secure military intervention in behalf of his party in the pending important political campaign in Mississippi promises to be a signal failure. All the proceedings fol¬ lowing the Clinton riot have served to bring out more clearly the entire in com¬ petency of this man for his present po¬ sition. And yet with such an Attorney- General as we had a year ago he might have had United States troops now rov¬ ing over Mississippi at his bidding, mak¬ ing domiciliary visits at midnight and dragging peaceable citizens miles away from home to stand trial for imaginary offenses. The like was seen in Louisiana and Alabama, it will be remembered, just before the elections of November, 1874. * * * * * * It would be well if the people of Mississippi were to choose a Governor as well as a Legis¬ lature next month. Baltimore Sun (Independent;. It is impossible not to feel sorry for | Governor Ames, of Mississippi, so com¬ pletely and quietly have both he and his insurrection been suppressed. It is the first time in the history of the South that | an “insurrection'’ has been put down without troops. The abundant caution of the Attorney-General in dealing with the matter has borne fruit, the result be¬ ing to illustrate the absurdity of the case. The Clinton Riot Philadelphia Times (Independent). Pierrepont may be a better lawyer than Williams, but he can’t run an outrage mill. And here are elections coming off, and no troops. It is too bad. C i n c i n n a t i Com m e r c i a I (Re p u bli c a n). It would be a wholesome tiling for the peace of the State if General Butler could persuade his son-in-law, Governor Ames, of Mississippi, to become his pri¬ vate secretary, or take charge of the clerical business of the office. St. Louis Globe-Dem. (ultra Radical.) Governor Ames’ assertion that the in¬ terference which he calls for is necessary is flatly contradicted by the evidence of those who have quite as good a claim upon our trust as he has, and who would not be likely to deny the existence of such necessity if they thought it really existed. There is, however, a very easy test of Gov. Ames’ sincerity in the matter, and one which it might be well to apply in all such cases. If the Governor is unable to maintain his authority; if, with all the prestige of possession, all the influence of patronage, all the organization of power and the support of the law-abiding citi¬ zens, he is still unable to command obe¬ dience or to enforce the law, then let him step aside and wholly withdraw until the central authority has finally succeeded in doing that which he has failed to do. It can make but little difference to any one but himself when a man who is nominally a Governor, but really a cipher, is com¬ pelled to realize the existence of that im¬ potence which he has admitted; and the direct relegation of an anarchic State to military subjection would have many ad¬ vantages. New York Times (Rep.) Attorney-General Pierrepont seems to reduce Gov. Ames’ Mississippi “insurrec¬ tion” to very small dimensions. His ad¬ vices are that there are no disturbances of any consequence in the State, and his opinion is that such disturbances as exist must be dealt with by the Governor in the first instance, and until his power is absolutely exhausted. This is good law and common sense, and is the position with reference to this class of questions which we have repeatedly had occasion to urge on the National Administration. The country will receive the expressions of Mr. Pierrepont with entire satisfaction. Norihfi'Ji §Sejml>Iic;aisi :mcl iud*'- posftdMu.t CFplBJucBii. ssjjK>s« flli« Conduct of ^lioreruor Arnes. From die Philadelphia Press, (Rep.)l The administration of Gov. Ames, a carpet-bagger and political adventurer, has done much to disorganize society and teach general contempt for all authority in Mississippi. The disorder is palpably the result of a corrupt and powerless government, that has taught its ignorant negro dependents that they were above the law in a struggle with the whites, and they have made the common mistake of taking the leaders at their word. The Chicago Tribune, (Rep.) The President and the Attorney-Gen¬ eral have, in their letters on the appeal of the Governor of Mississippi for Federal troops, plainly indicated that the Ameri¬ can people are getting tired of this South¬ ern outrage business,—this constant ap¬ peal to the United States to protect able- bodied men who will do nothing to protect themselves. The United States have made the blacks citizens ; they have been endowed with every civil and political right that white men can claim. The N. Y. Tribune, (Rep.) There are some white people in Mis¬ sissippi. There is no evidence except in Gov. Ames’s excited imagination that they have interfered or intend to inter¬ fere with the people whom he is so anx¬ ious to protect. The belief is coining to be quite general that except for the con¬ stant interference of such men as Gov. Ames between the two races there would be not only no occasion for troops but no disturbance whatever of their friendly relations. It does not look well for such men to be clamoring for troops when¬ ever an election is at hand which affects their own political fortunes. We say this in all kindness, and with 24 The Clinton Riot. no disposition to detract 011 c iota from the moral grandeur of Goy. Ames’s po¬ sition when he invokes upon his own head “ the odium in all its magnitude.” And our advice to the Admininistration is, to let the odium descend rather than the troops. X. Y. Herald [Independent]. If the President will only lend Gover¬ nor Ames United States troops, the Gov¬ ernor will take all the responsibility ! It is astonishing how ready he is to be re¬ sponsible. “ Let the -odium in all its magnitude descend upon me,” he tele¬ graphs ; and it is quite remarkable that General Grant and the Attorney-General have been able to resist a solicitation so grandly worded. Meantime what becomes of Governor Ames’ responsibility for his own duties? He is Governor of Mississippi ; lie has shamefully neglected the duties and shirked the responsibilities of that place. During the past summer lie was absent from Jackson for several months, and left in his place the ignorant colored Lieutenant-Governor, who is openly! charged with having released criminals for a bribe. Nor is this all. Governor Ames is charged by Republicans in Mis¬ sissippi with favoring and consorting with the most corrupt men in his party, black and white ; advancing their political for¬ tunes, favoring their schemes and making them his political allies. He has done a great deal to make the Republicans odious in Mississippi; he has helped to bring to the top in his party ignorant black and low white demagogues, who mislead the ; poor negroes, and persuade them to vote j for corrupt men and measures. If to-day ! there is in Mississippi a deep feeling of resentment against the Republican party, this is owing more to Governor Ames’ misconduct than to any other cause. If a large number of the white people are alienated from the Republican party there, it is because they have been re¬ pelled by the robbery and corruption which the Republican Governor has; countenanced. And now that he has raised the storm, he would like Federal troops to help him to quell it. He has done nothing which a Governor ought to do to maintain peace in the State. One of his own part) 7 , ex- Senator Pease, has notified the Attorney- General that good citizens of both par¬ ties are obtainable in every county to preserve order. But the Governor does not want this. What he wants, and what he needs for his political purposes, is to appear to the negroes to command Fede¬ ral troops. If he is merely Governor, if he relies only on the civil force and on his power as Governor,- they will desert him. If he can persuade them, however, that he is the confidant and representa¬ tive of General Grant, that he can have Federal troops at will, then they will flock around him and make him Senator. If the President continues to refuse the use of troops, the Governor’s power over the negro leaders will be broken. In that caae, and not otherwise, there will he a chance for an honest administration and an honest Republican party in Mis¬ sissippi, It is a ring of the worst de¬ scription which is calling for troops down there. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Of the Democratic-Conservative Party of the State of Mississippi. FOR STATE AT LARGE. Gen. J. Z. George, Chairman, Jackson. J. D. Vertner, Esq.,.Port Gibson. Hon. H. M. Street,.Booueville. FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 1st—W. H. H. Tison,.Baldwyn. A. T. Roane,.Pittsboro. 2d—H. H. Chalmers,.Hernando. E. C. Walthall,.Grenada. 3d—Thos. B. Sykes,.Aberdeen. John A. Binford,.Duck Hill. 4th—W. A. Percy,.Greenville. J. A. P. Campbell,.Canton. 5th—E. Richardson,.Jackson. U. M. Young,.Vicksburg. 6th—J. B. Chrisman,.Brookhaven, Roderick Seal,.Mississippi City. Marion Smith, Jackson, Secretary.