The Colfax chronicle. [volume], March 14, 1914, Image 1

About The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981

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THE COLAX CHRONI ..
Aed t GRANT PARIBH DiOCRAT May 2. . .
- Demnocratic ournal, devoted to Local and enmvatws Latwes, &iams, lgrcl ttur, 6t. ]
L XXXVIII COLFAX, GRANT PARISH, LA., SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1914
A History of the Colfax Riot'
Facts G(herecd from Fye Witnessee Correcting the MiE
statement that it Was a Massacre of Innoent Ne
groes I6 Whites Without Cause or Any Rea
asnable Grounds of Juttikfletion.
[From The Colfax (La)
The following account of the
Colfax riot contains such a glar
ing misstatement of some of the
oceurences' on that memorable
Easter Sunday of April 13, 1878,
and does such injustice to a nia
jority of the whites who took
part in that unfortunate conflict,
that, for the purpose of correc
tion, we publish the articleentire.
It is from the N. O. Mascot of
May 27, 1882;
During the summer of 1878, in the
town of Colfax, parish of Grant, the
nation was thrilled by ode of the most
frightful massacree ever recorded in
the annals of this State.
Aeoreding to the published state
ments of the time, a negro ring leader,
named Ward, undertook to take forei
be possession of the parish offices of
Grant, and install negro incumbents,
claiming to be elected in opposition to
Jude Rutland, and other white perish
ojiaers, who held commissions from
W. P. Kellogg, then Governor of Lou
islan.
The testimony elicited at the trial of
the case, before the U. S. District
Court in this city, was to the egect,
that Ward and a gang of negroes claim
ed to be legally elected ofeers of
Grant parish, after taking forcible pos
ession in several istances, were fin
ally driven by the infuriate whites, into
a building, formerly a sugar house ia
the town of Colfax, which was then
eed as a court boose. This edifice n
was surreunded and fired by the whites,
sad the negroes who attempted to es
uesp were ates aeisaed and stood in a
lmag am each being securely pinioded,
After remaining in a standing position
tveral hours the signal was at last
gives, and the massacre commenced.
The row of negres were shot to pieces
where they stood, and the saughter be
coming general, negroes throughout
the perish were shot on sight. If the
writer be not mistaken in the summary,
Se* hundred and twenty dusky cotpes 1
In one hbeep told the dismal story, and
for days together the birds of prey in
the perish feasted upon n gro carriara
tb individual directly responsible for
Ithis horrible butchery, whoes fiendishl1
braln conceived the murder, and who, 1
with deliberate deviltry, carried it into
eaehatioa, is a person named to The
M'cot by a prominent Republicans,
who makes not the slightest objection
to the use of his name, and expressed
to The Mascot his entire willingness to 1
testify under osth to the exact truth of
the revelation be is about to make. To
quote substantially the gentleman's
ery words, he said:
"One day in the spring of 187, It
tras sitting in the offlee of W. P. Kel- 1
logg, Governor of Louisiana, when I
Word, a colored member of the Legis
lature, and a colored political leader
in Grant parish, entered the Governor's
ofee, with the commissions of the
newlyelected Republican parisholaere, U
which bead just been received from the 1
olbe of the Secrstaqi of State. It
heard W. P. Kellogg direct Ward to
dliver those commissions to thei parties
doignated, in person, and say to each C
of them that he, Kellogg, expected I
them to take possesion of their ofcesI
add exercise their fullest functions, g
even it in exerting their authority it
wer necessary to resort to volenee. I
heard Ward ask Kellog if he were au
thised I tell these men that they I
wuM be sustained by the Executive
of the State, and Kellogg replied, "i t
seesaary I will sustain them with the
entire militia force under my command.'
Ward had scarcely left. when Jdge
Rutland, parish judge, and tha Daeo. E
antic leader in Grant, made his appear- t
e in the Governor's eoe. He al~s
bad a entire set of commssioas isued
to white Democratic ~oce of Grant
perish. Keilolgg intimated, n lmbis
rakble laguage, to Judge Rutieof, 5
that the Democratic party cl aimd ad
maissits of the votes cat hi grsant y
and that he had esemlnes d t
has that their abhity to rati thu of
len wmld - upod n
sIessr oI~it.&ar~
,* $ .uet2· .~et~
) Chronicle. June 3, 1882.]
e oeratie and the other Repubilea, had
been issued for the parish of Grant.
When W. P. Kellogg was expostulated
with upon this exhibition of treschery,
he remarked sententiously: "We muat
burn a little powder, and spill a little
blood. "The blood of the martyr is the
seed of the church,' and my govern
C ment has not been recogoized at Wash
ingtoL"
The statement of the Masat,
in relation to Kellogg commis
sioning two sets of officers for
Grant parish at one and the same
,time, with the view of precipitat
s ing a conflict between the races,
t is correct in the main, being well
' known to hundreds of living wit
nesses, and can be abundantly
substantiated.
The first misstatement of the
Mascot is in speaking of Judge
Rutland as the parish judge, and
designating him as a Democratic
leader in this parish. Judgej
Rutland wasi Republican, not a
Democrat. and at that time was
simply a lawyer practicing his
profession, and held and laid
claim to no office whatever. The
contestants for the Judgeship at
at the time of the riot were Judge
A. Casahat, Democrat, and Shep.
Williams, Republican. In the
controversy, Judge Rutland, who
sympathized with the whites,
made a visit to New Orleans in
their behalf, as stated by the
Mascot. After the riot Rutland
abandoned the Republican party
and became.a Democrat.
The second, most glaring and
unjust statement, is as to the
manner in which the negroes
were killed. In order to put our
account of this affair is a con
nected shape, we. will rehearse
all the important oceurences of
the day and of a -few days pre
vious. To begin with, the condi
i tion of afairs were about as stat
ed by the Mascot, namely, two
sets of officers, one Democrat, the
other Republican, held Kellogg's
comn~iasons, and had been in
structed by him to hold their
places by force if necessary. The
whites secured possession first,
and were soon driven off by a
mob of negroes, who installed
their officers. A.meeting of the
whites (Democrats) was called
for the first day of April, to as
semble at Colfax, to consider the
propriety, and the best measures
to pursue, in order to gain pos
session of the parish government.
The negroes, to the number of
two hundred or more, assembled
at Colfax early on the morning '
of the first. They were nearly
all armed, and exhibited their'
weapons with such freedom and
made such open threats of vio
lence in case the whites attempt
ed to hold their meeting, that,
although a large number of
whites came to town to attend I
the meeting, it was deemed best I
not to assemble. This action of 4
the whites seemed to give the I
negroes greater confidence and
they began to boast and make I
direful threats that they would i
kill all the white men and take'
the women and raise up a new i
people. In the neit four or hve'
days several hundred negro men, I
women and chfldren iathered at
Colfax, all making the most ter- 1
,lbt threats ad ad condueting
theiliglives an wse an fnsolent
wolest upanne, that the I
q~llnv~a~mop d kdl
night. The negroes finding the
houses vacated broke them opeA
'and took possession, rifleing the
stores and residences of every
thing in them. Their acts of
•vandalism during thees days of
terror almost beggar descriptioni.
In the house of Judge Rutland
they found a coffin containing the
remains of a child,' awaiting
transportation, which was ruth
lessly thrown into the yard, face
downward, and the lid broken
nearly off. Among the catalogue
of crimes committed by them
was robbery, rape, and murder.
The whites were terror stricken
and the alarm spread into adjoin
ing parishes like wild fire. The
call of the citizens of Grant'par
ish for help was responded to by
the adjoining parishes, who sent
about two hundred men to their
assistance. These men encamp.
ed within two miles of Colfax on
the 5th of April, and a demand
was made on the negroes to dis
band and give up the offices and
records of the parish then in their
possession. This they refused to
do, and set to work throwing up
breastworks, saying they propos
edtofightit out. Capt. C. C.
Nash, who is at this time a resi
dent merchant at Colfax, was
the acknowledged leader of the!
whites, being the sheriff elected'
by them, and he made repted '
demands for the negroes to dis-i
I band or he would attack them
and drive them away by force.
Day after day the same demand!
was made and refused. Thus'
things went on until the morn
ing of Easter Sunday, April 18,]
1873, when the negroes were noti- i
fled to disperse, or else to remove I
their women and children, as an I
attack would be made by the l
whites on the breastworks.,
The negroes sent off their women t
and children and manned their c
fortifications. The two opposingi
forces were somewhat reduced e
in numbers, owing to the fact a
that the attack had been delayed c
so long they thought there would i
be no fight, and a large number f
of men had left and gone home. I
At the time the fight commemeed, t
a little after 10. o'elock a. m.,
there were about 150 white men, ,
some 25 of whom were' kept de- t
tailed to hold the horses, and e
about 250 negroes behind the in- d
trenchments. A kind of skirmish e
was kept up all day until about,
3 o'clock in the evening, when it >
was decided to send a sort of q
"forlorn hope" of thirty men b
along the river'bank, who were r
to creep up until they got behind i
the breast works then to raisme
up and open fire a the negroes .
in the rear. This was to be the
signal for those in front to charge t
to their rescue. These thirty -
men were led by Mr. James Da
iels, a resident of this riph an
til two years ago, when he re.
moved to Rapides parish, where
he now resides. The moast of the 4
men who accompanied Ir, Nn- t
iels were Grant perish men, and
a large proportion of them were
of the citizens living in the Rig.- 1
let neighborhood. While they l
made their way along ti river 1;
bnk those in front kept up a e
consrtant fire to divert th`eW a
tention away from them. So t
successful was this storming t
party that the negres hbad no
idea of their approach nti thetr a
opened'ire on tdpe IM the iear;
at a distance t boft on, he m
dred yardsA. theflrat ie
ther wets auisesd 4 ' ithSea -
and broke to. -g, tihe -as ti
e Calhoun plantation for a stable
d (and never used as a sugar house
e as stated by the Mascot). From
- this building they kept up a con
f stant fire, wounding three white
f men in the meanwhile. The on
. ly approach to the building was
d at one end in which there were
a no openings. The whites made
ga torch of oil and other combusti
ble material, and, putting it in
e the hands of a negro prisoner
r (qlive at this writing) compelled
e him to set the corner eaves on
n fire. The wind being from that
. direction the flames commenced
a to spread immediately. The ne.
- groes attempted to lpunch od the
e burning shingles, but by keeping
up a regular fusiladeon the barn
Ping spot they were forced to de
t sist. Ina few minutes lags of
r truce were run out pt various
- windows. The firing oeased the
I minute it became known the se
I grees desired to surrende.
SRight here the negroes cam
mitted one of the most dastardly
r acts of treachery ever perpetra
' ed by fiends in human shape.
? Mr. James Hadnot, a gtay-h3 d
ed, venerable and respected cit
zeson of this parish, desirous of ald
* lowing the negroes to escape
s from the burning building, rush
!led up to the door in company
I with five or six other white men,
I in order to make terms of capita
jlation as quickly as potsthle.
1 When they got within a few feet
of the door, a volley was fired at
them from the inside of the bild
ing, mortally wounding Mr. Had
inot, Frank Moses. and Sidney
Harris, and slightly wounding
two others of the party. After
this act of treachery the anegtes
attempted to escape in the aen
fusion that ensued 'Ihe whites
were enraged at the perfid of
the negroes, ana, as they ru)ed
out of the building, shot tia
down like dogs, and those .st
escaped the first fire were rid
down in the open fields by me
on horseback and "shot without
mercy. Notwithstanding thS I
fearful carnage, same 1A*4gs.
ere were taken byithose dlsped
to be more humans .At 4 o'edibk
all firing had ceased and the
whites were masters of the elt
tion. The prisoners werem l (
ed into the back yard.of a s-l-i
deuce, so theyr would be mnveln-1
ento a clstern of wasr. Taey
were not bound, nor was eva a
guard set over theu lbnger them
one hour, after which thbaeg. ht
have gone without .let . kinds
rance, had it not been far  fe~o
incurring the displeasure of their
captors. The wounded widtes
were taken into the booe, sp.s
to be convenient to the same 'cis.
ter to which the aegrees bad s.n
wes. There was a general dls
badment of the whites, many
of whom weut hae thiuklug al
wasover. Abcutdark thatam.
boat Sou& twte ame da 't
Lndllri state, and other ts
erly wounded whites, m
Whil, this boat w at thend.
Ing a number of the ,whitsdak
ett freely  d a sdbecameii 6
rebthtldsewese . ~as
thbiers of Mr. Ja i.uleht,
teo tpi bbat wusss~. a
UmdtetatI down
Ransdell Opposes W ei .tI
I3 Fight s PE l t. Repeal ee. t Se he
Engaged in Coetswis er age thy*
bag Tall to Pi sThk Ct.
If A tremendos effort is now
1b ping made to seure the repeal
s, and this effort is mkly p
succeed unless those who ate op
1posed t legislation by the Con
fprees of the United States which
is in the interest of Great Britia*
and the tanslcntinentaln a il
ways, rather than of the AThemei
can people, shall enter a pruapt
and energetic protest.
The Nationsl Rivers and R
burs Congrese at its convention
in 1912 onanimously pessed
resolution commending the bnd
Congress for its exemption of
cnstwise commnerce from the
payment of tolls, and this nation
was unanimously r afrmed at
the cogvention of 19i3. The ex.
ecutive officers of the Congres1,
therefore, consider tme te;
in-duty bound to use, all lgiti
mate means to prevent the re
peal of this portion of the law.
It Is claimed by Great Brit.al
that the .'"free tolls" povieion
is a violation of the Ha -Pauae
tote Treaty, but the maembrs.
the Senate who voted to qlty
that treaty held a .ierat iew.
Senator tadge, who owas I o*
dos while the negotialioesawe
going on ad afterwasrt was
charge of the treaty in tis
ate, Sena tae Clappand
foramer Senator Bard,f theMa
Seator bais, who * es .
man of the Caeta' i eeot
Porelpi baations ~ ang
who rit thee
Mred that drtin
broke and st n Ian
of t".e ird
ght was tht pvr
gs itsry white*
they id h i ,a
Sthentra th
Ngt wthit .
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