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White House estate.

She was there, with shows that 1,884 were killed and wounda part of her family, when the Nationals ed. From 1868 to the present time no approached, and fled towards Richmond, official investigation has been made, and but was brought back. Under the im- the civil authorities in all but a few cases pression that this was the house in which have been unable to arrest, convict, and Washington resided a while after his mar- punish perpetrators. Consequently, there riage, it was carefully guarded as a pious are no correct records to be consulted for relic of the Father of his Country; but information. There is ample evidence, when it was found that the white house however, to show that more than 1,200 sanctified by the presence of Washington persons have been killed and wounded had been burned more than thirty years during this time, on account of their pobefore, all reverence for it was dismissed. litical sentiments. Frightful massacres White League. The aspect of affairs have occurred in the parishes of Bossier, in several of the Southern States, par- Caddo, Catahoula, Saint Bernard, Saint ticularly in Louisiana, was so unsettled Landry, Grant, and Orleans. The general in 1874 that there was much uneasiness character of the massacres in the abovein the public mind. Outrages of various named parishes is so well known that kinds and murders were committed for it is unnecessary to describe them. The the alleged purpose of keeping peaceable isolated cases can best be illustrated by citizens from the polls, and an utter dis- the following instances which I have taken regard for law was reported in many from a mass of evidence now lying before districts. In September, when these out- me of men killed on account of their porages were increasing in number and litical principles. In Natchitoches parish violence, the United States Attorney- the number of isolated cases reported is General, with the sanction of the Presi- thirty-three. In the parish of Bienville dent, issued a circular letter to the authorities in the States affected, expressing his determination to take vigorous steps for upholding the laws and protecting the rights of all citizens of whatever class or hue; and the President directed the In Jackson Secretary of War to consult and act with is twenty; the Attorney-General in the matter. By the number vigorous action these disturbances were where men almost suppressed at the beginning of 1875; but they broke out with more violence in the summer of 1876, and appeared in increased strength during the canvass for President and Vice-President that year. The leaders and inciters of these outrages were members of a secret organization, alleged to be The White League, Howell, Edgerton, and Willis, were taken, formed for the widely indicated purpose of depriving the colored citizens of the elective franchise.

The following is General Sheridan's report, together with an extract from President Grant's special message to Congress:

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 10, 1875. Hon. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War: Since the year 1866, nearly 3,500 persons, a great majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded in this State. In 1868 the official record

the number of men killed is thirty. In Red River parish the number of isolated cases of men killed is thirty-four. In Winn parish the number of isolated cases where men were killed is fifteen. parish the number killed and in Catahoula parish of isolated cases reported

were killed is fifty; and most of the country parishes throughout the State will show a corresponding state of affairs. The following statement will illustrate the character and kind of these outrages. On Aug. 29, 1874, in Red River parish, six State and parish officers, named Twitchell, Divers, Holland,

together with four negroes, under guard, to be carried out of the State, and were deliberately murdered on Aug. 30, 1874. The White League tried, sentenced, and hanged two negroes on Aug. 28, 1874. Three negroes were shot and killed at Brownsville, just before the arrival of the United States troops in the parish. Two White Leaguers rode up to a negro cabin and called for a drink of water. When the old colored man turned to draw it, they shot him in the back and killed him. The courts were all broken up in this district, and the district judge driven out.

In the parish of Caddo, prior to the arrival of the United States troops, all of the officers at Shreveport were compelled to abdicate by the White League, which took possession of the place. Among those obliged to abdicate were Walsh, the mayor, Rapers, the sheriff, Wheaton, clerk of the court, Durant, the recorder, and Ferguson and Renfro, administrators. Two colored men, who had given evidence in regard to frauds committed in the parish, were compelled to flee for their lives, and reached this city last night, having been smuggled through in a cargo of cotton. In the parish of Bossier the White League have attempted to force the abdication of Judge Baker, the United States commissioner and parish judge, together with O'Neal, the sheriff, and Walker, the clerk of the court; and they have compelled the parish and district courts to suspend operations. Judge Baker states that the White Leaguers notified him several times that if he became a candidate on the Republican ticket, or if he attempted to organize the Republican party, he should not live until election.

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State has existed only when that opinion
was in favor of the principles and party
supported by the Ku klux and White
League organizations. Only yesterday
Judge Myers, the parish judge of the
parish of Natchitoches, called on me upon
his arrival in this city, and stated that
in order to reach here alive, he was obliged
to leave his home by stealth, and after
nightfall, and make his way to Little
Rock, Ark., and come to this city by way of
Memphis, Tenn. He further states that
while his father was lying at the point
of death in the same village, he was un-
able to visit him for fear of assassina-
tion; and yet he is a native of the parish,
and proscribed for his political sentiments
only. It is more than probable that if bad
government has existed in this State it
is the result of the armed organizations,
which have now crystallized into what is
called the White League; instead of bad
government developing them, they have
by their terrorism prevented to a consid-
erable extent the collection of taxes, the
holding of courts, the punishment of crimi-
nals, and vitiated public sentiment by
familiarizing it with the scenes above de-
scribed. I am now engaged in compiling
evidence for a detailed report upon the
above subject, but it will be some time
before I can obtain all the requisite data
to cover the cases that have occurred
throughout the State. I will also report
in due time upon the same subject in the
States of Arkansas and Mississippi.
P. H. SHERIDAN,
Lieutenant-General.

President Grant said in a special message to Congress, Jan. 13, 1875:

They also tried to intimidate him through his family by making the same threats to his wife, and when told by him that he was a United States commissioner, they notified him not to attempt to exercise the functions of his office. In but few of the country parishes can it be truly said that the law is properly enforced, and in some of the parishes the judges have not been able to hold court for the past two years. Human life in this State is held so cheaply that, when men are killed on account of political opinions, the murderers are regard ed rather as heroes than as criminals in the localities where they reside and by the White League and their supporters. An illustration of the ostracism that prevails in the State may be found in a resolution of a White League club in the parish of De Soto, which states, "That they pledge themselves under (no?) circumstances after the coming election to employ, rent land to, or in any other manner give aid. comfort, or credit, to any man, white or black, who votes against privileges and elections of the Senate made the nominees of the white man's party." Safety for individuals who express their opinion in the isolated portion of this

"It has been bitterly and persistently alleged that Kellogg was not elected. Whether he was or not is not altogether certain, nor is it any more certain that his competitor, McEnery, was chosen. The election was a gigantic fraud, and there are no reliable returns of its result. Kellogg obtained possession of the office, and in my opinion has more right to it than his competitor.

"On Feb. 20, 1873, the committee on

a report, in which they say they were satisfied by testimony that the manipulation of the election machinery by War

moth and others was equivalent to 20,000 votes; and they add, to recognize the McEnery government would be recognizing a government based upon fraud, in defiance of the wishes and intention of the voters of the State.' Assuming the correctness of the statements in this report (and they seem to have been generally accepted by the country), the great crime in Louisiana, about which so much has been said, is, that one is holding the office of governor who was cheated out of 20,000 votes, against another whose title to the office is undoubtedly based on fraud, and in defiance of the wishes and intentions of the voters of the State.

"Misinformed and misjudging as to the nature and extent of this report, the supporters of McEnery proceeded to displace by force in some counties of the State the appointees of Governor Kellogg; and on April 13, in an effort of that kind, a butchery of citizens was committed at Colfax, which in bloodthirstiness and barbarity is hardly surpassed by any acts of savage warfare.

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To put this matter beyond controversy, I quote from the charge of Judge Woods, of the United States circuit court, to the jury in the case of the United States vs. Cruikshank and others, in New Orleans, in March, 1874. He said:

"In the case on trial there are many facts not in controversy. I proceed to state some of them in the presence and hearing of counsel on both sides; and if I state as a conceded fact any matter that is disputed, they can correct me.'

"After stating the origin of the difficulty, which grew out of an attempt of white persons to drive the parish judge and sheriff, appointees of Kellogg, from office, and their attempted protection by colored persons, which led to some fighting in which quite a number of negroes were killed, the judge states:

"Most of those who were not killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen or sixteen of the blacks had lifted the boards and taken refuge under the floor of the courthouse. They were all captured. About thirty-seven men were taken prisoners; the number is not definitely fixed. were kept under guard until dark. were led out, two by two, and shot. of the men were shot to death.

were wounded, not mortally, and by pretending to be dead were afterwards, during the night, able to make their escape. Among them was the Levi Nelson named in the indictment.

"The dead bodies of the negroes killed in this affair were left unburied until Tuesday, April 15, when they were buried by a deputy-marshal and an officer of the militia from New Orleans. These persons found fifty-nine dead bodies. They showed pistol-shot wounds, the great majority in the head, and most of them in the back of the head. In addition to the fifty-nine dead bodies found, some charred remains of dead bodies were discovered near the courthouse. Six dead bodies were found under a warehouse, all shot in the head but one or two, which were shot in the breast.

"The only white men injured from the beginning of these troubles to their close were Hadnot and Harris. The court-house and its contents were entirely consumed.

"There is no evidence that any one in the crowd of whites bore any lawful warrant for the arrest of any of the blacks. There is no evidence that either Nash or Cazabat, after the affair, ever demanded their offices, to which they had set up claim, but Register continued to act as parish judge, and Shaw as sheriff.

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These are facts in this case, as I understand them to be admitted.'

"To hold the people of Louisiana generally responsible for these atrocities would not be just; but it is a lamentable fact that insuperable obstructions were thrown in the way of punishing these murderers, and the so-called conservative papers of the State not only justified the massacre, but denounced as federal tyranny and despotism the attempt of the United States officers to bring them to justice. Fierce denunciations ring through the country about office-holding and election matters in Louisiana, while every one of the Colfax miscreants goes unwhipped of justice, and no way can be found in this boasted land of civilization and Christianity to punish the perpetrators of this bloody and monstrous crime.

"Not unlike this was the massacre in They August last. Several Northern young men They of capital and enterprise had started the Most little and flourishing town of Coushatta. A few Some of them were Republicans and office

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