Newspaper Page Text
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 . da ·.irt T.4e~~~~j.~ 1+"ss - "r h~~w. 47,~ a . wfiV4' 'ý sr f er '? i t ~ItIA , A -,·- · - t .5·V