Report of the Committee on Outrages in Mississippi

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON OUTRAGES IN MISSISSIPPI. frequent in the depositions of witnesses opposed to the republican party in the State. It is to be admitted that a small number of the immigrants from other States misused the confidence of the black people, secured office, and betrayed the trusts confided to them. But the number of such persons, compared to the whole number of immigiants, was very small; and it is but just to say that the great majority are intelligent, upright, and brave men from the North, who are entirely incorruptible, and who, in peril of their lives, are now struggling against serious odds to maintain their political opinions and to secure a just administration of the government. It is alleged that during the last six or eight years the expenses of the State have been unnecessarily increased and that heavy taxes have been imposed for which no adequate return has been received by the people. Comparisons are made between the rate of taxation previous to the war and since the year 1870, and the conclusion is drawn that large sums of money are extorted from the people and wasted, or through negligence and extravagance misapplied. It is undoubtedly true that taxes are higher in the State of Mississippi than they were previous to 1860 ; but the rate of increase is far less than in some of the northern States, where no serious complaints are made against the administraI tion of public affairs. It is to be observed also that previous to the war taxes were not levied for the support of schools in Mississippi ; indeed, there was no system of public instruction; and that since the war school-houses have been erected in all parts of the State for the education of the children of both races, and large sums of money have been expended annually for the maintenance of schools, including schools for training teachers, It is also true that previous to the war the taxes were imposed upon slaves and upon business, while since the war the taxes have been laid chiefly upon personal property and upon land. In 1873 the State expenses were $953,- 000; iu 1874, $908,000; and in 1875 the I expenses were only $618,000. The State The report of the committee is as follows : The special committee appointed under a resolution of the Senate adopted on the 31st of March last, and instructed to inquire how far the rights of the people of Mississippi, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, and secured especially by the fifteenth amendment, were violated by force, fraud, or intimidation at the election held in that State on the 2d of November, 1875, respectfully submit to the Senate the testimony taken, with the conclusions of the committee thereon. The testimony will fully support the allegation that force, fraud, and intimidation were used generally and successfully in the political canvass of 1875. But before proceeding to a detailed statement of the facts and conclusions sustained and warranted by the proof, the committee think it proper to refer to the suggestions and excuses offered in justification of the outrages committed. It has been alleged that Governor Ames was an unfit person to hold the office to which he was elected in the year 1873 ; but. on the contrary, the committee find from the evidence as well as from general report in Mississippi that Governor Ames was not only not amenable to any just charge affecting his personal integrity, his character as a public officer, or his ability for the duties of chief magistrate of that State, but that his fitness in all these particulars was sustained by the testimony of those who were not in accord with him politically. The committee refer especially to the testimony of lion. J. A. P. Campbell, appointed by the existing government one of the judges of the supreme court of the State of Mississippi. The evidence submitted tends strongly to show, what cannot be denied, that there were many persons in office in the State of Mississippi, especially in elective offices, in the^everal counties, who were either’ incapable or dishonest; and there were a few of the sam* character connected with the State government. The conduct of these persons, however, was not approved by the governor nor by the masses of the republican party. Complaints and charges against a class of persons called “carpet-baggers” are

2 _________' Olj A___ debt, not including trust-funds, is only $500,000. A tax of $1.60 upon each person will pay the public debt and meet the current expenses for a year. (Testimony, page 8.) Attorney-General Harris makes the following statement in regard to taxation for the period of twenty-six years. He says : “ Take, for example, twenty years of democratic rule in Mississippi,and see what amount of money their own records show were e pended, and they held uninterrupted sway, as we can best ascertain from the reports of the auditor and treasurer, made to biennial sessions of their Legislature. Take the twenty years from It50 to 1870 and compare it wit h six years of republican rule, from 1870 to 1875, inclusive, the following is shown: Expenditures: 1850............ $295,933 48 18G0 .... $663,536 55 1851............ 226,407 41 3851............ 1,824,161 75 1852............ 802,679 76 1862............ 6,819,894 54 1853............ 229,288 45 1863............ 2,110,794 23 1854............ 584,296 84 1834 .... 5,446,732 06 1855............ 311,578 19 1865............ 1,410,250 13 1856 ............ 784,896 79 1866............ 1,860,819 88 1857............ 1,057,086 57 38> 7............ 625,817 29 1858............ 614,659 00 1868............ 525,678 80 1859............ 707,015 00 1869............ 463.219 71 5,623,741 49 , 20,218,894 95 5,613,741 49 Total expenditures for twenty years, 25,832,646 44 Now, take the republican administration for six years. Expenditures for— 1870 . . . . $1,061,249 90 1873. . . . $953,030 00 1871 . . 1872. . . . 1,319,626 19 . . 1,098,031 69 1874. . 1875 . . . . 908,330 00 . . 618,259 00 3,478,906 78 2,479,619 00 3,478,9 6 78 5,957,525 78 “ Total expenditures for six years, $5,957,525.78. “The twenty years of democratic administration show an annual average of $1,291,632.32. The six years of republican administration show an annual average of $992,920.96. “This may be claimed to be unfair, as it embraces four years of the war; but, for the sake of fairness, let us strike out the four years of the war, or the amount expended during those four years, 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864, and add in lieu thereof the amount expended in 1860, $663,536.55, and we have an expenditure of $12,184,619.06, or an annual average of $699,200 95, a s against $992,920.96. From this it would appear that the republican administration has been more expensive than the democratic administration ; but there are several reasons for this : Before the war the taxes were paid in gold and silver, and everything much cheaper than since the war ; and in January, 1870, when the republicans came into power, the State warrants were worth about sixty or sixty-five cents on the dollar ; the capitoland mansion were dilapidated; the penitentary and lunatic asylum were too small, and had to be extended and repaired, and all the improvements cost nearly two prices, because payments were made in warrants at their reduced value. And the judiciary system was rendered more expensive to the State by dispensing, with the probate court, the expenses of which had been formerly paid by the counties ; this jurisdiction was given to the chancery court, and th - number of citizens had more than doubled, and all departments of State government rendered necessarily more expensive. And, again, the school system1 has been carried on at an expense very large, a thing that had never existed before the war. The expenditures for school purposes in the six years I have been about $320,000 per annum. Let us add I a few items which have been necessary since the war, and for which no expenditures were ever made by the democracy, by way of annual averages, and it will be seen at a glance why it is that the expenditures have been larger than formerly: I For school purposes, (as above).................. $320,000 Probate court business by the chancery court, (probate salaries by the counties,) Code, 1857, (p. 4-3)......................... 36,700 Average annual improvements on public buildings, about.................................... 160,000 County record, &c., furnished, (destroyed during the war, and exhausted, &c.). .. 12,500 Making an average per annum of. ... . 469,200 “ Ta king this from the average, $992,920.96, leaves $523,720.96. These were necessary expenses, never incurred by a democratic administration. The only common-school system in the State before the war seemed to be a well-organized system to squander the school fund of the State as rapily as the same was donated to the State by the Government, as the history of the fund will show. Take these items from the annual expenditures of the six years of republican administration, and the average is reduced per year to $523,720.96; thus showing the average annual e - pense of the republican administration to be, on the old basis of State expenses, actually $75,480 less than the average expenses under the democratic rule of twenty years, with less than one-half of the citizens to be governed, and at a time when expenditures everywhere were largely in advance of former years. Many other items of extraordinary expenses have been incurred since January, 1870, not included in these statements. “ This, I think, shows a fair statement of the expenditures for the last twenty-six years, twenty years of democratic rule and six years of republican rule. “ The taxes have been increased and decreased for the various State purposes, for the six years • alluded to, as follows: 1870,5 mills onthe dollar; in 1871 it was4mills; in 1872, 8%mills; in 1873, it was 12% mills ; in 1874, it was 14 mills ; in 1875, it was 9% mills. In the last three years there was a school tax as follows : 1873 and 1874 a school tax of 4 mills, and for lt75, 2 mills. This is included in the above estimate, and the counties were restricted in their levies for county purposes as follows: By act of 1872 the counties were prohibited from levying a tax which, with the State and school tax added, shall not exceed 25 mills on the dollar, and in 1875 they were restricted to 20 mills on the dollar, “ It seems that the real complaint of the people of the State, as to the burden of taxation, grows out of the fact that the taxable property of the State is, in the main, unproductive ; and to evade the tax the tax-payers, in giving their property to the assessor, place it far helow its actual value, and continue year after year to reduce the taxable values of the property.” The statements made by Hon. G. E. Harris, attorney-general, Captain H. T. Fisher, and Mr. E. Barksdale are referred to as presenting both sides of the case, and furnishing the best means at the command of the committee for a just judgment. The testimony taken tends to show that those who participated in the means by which the election of 1875 was carried by the democratic party rely, for justification, upon the facts of maladministration, as set forth in the testimony submitted with.this report. In the opinion of the committee, those errors and wrongs, if admitted to the extent claimed, furnish no justification whatever for the outrages and crimes established by the testimony.

3 It is also alleged in justification of the acts of intimidation, and of the crimes committed during the canvass and at the election, that Governor Ames had organized, or attempted to organize, a force, termed the negro militja. At the time of the riot /at Clinton, on the 4th of September, 1875, which resulted in the death of at least thirty persons, there was no military organization in the State. The sum of $60,000 had been appropriated by the Legislature at its preceding session, for the organization and support of a military force ; and the event at Clinton, in connection with the fact of disturbances in other portions of the State, led Governor Ames to attempt its organization. At the same time he issued the following proclamation : PROCLAMATION. State of Mississippi, Executive Office, Jackson, September 7, 1875. Whereas persons have formed themselves into military organizations in various parts of t he State without sanction of law, and such organizations are moved to the support of each other from point to point in counties and from one county to another wit hout the approval or consent of the peace officers of such counties, and without the knowledge or authority of the State Government, and Whereas such organizations have overthrown the civil government in Yazoo county, set it at defiance in Hinds county, and created distrust and fear in Warren and other counties, causing the loss of many lives, and compelling many persons to flee from their homes; and Whereas such action has already caused great injury to the interests of the people, and, if persisted in, will result in incalculable evil: Now, therefore, I. Adelbert Ames, Governor of the State of Mississippi, do hereby make proclamation and command all persons belonging to such organizations to disband forthwith ; and I hereby require all citizens to render obedience to and assist the peace officers of the various counties in the preservation of peace and order and the enforcement of the laws of the State. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the great seal of the State of Mississippi to be affixed, this the 7th day of September, A. D. 1875. [l. s.] Adelbert Ames. By the Governor; James Hill, Secretary of State. Some of the officers selected by him were native-born white citizens who had served in the late war on the side of the confederates, and he solicited and accepted recruits from the white as well as from the black population. (See testimony of General Hurst, page 87.) This effort on the part of the governor, it is now claimed, was the occasion seized by the democrats for organizing and arming themselves, ostensibly to resist the black militia; but, in fact, such organization had been effected previously, as is shown by the testimony concerning the Clinton riot, and in the end it became the means by which the colored inhabitants and the white republicans of the State were overawed, intimidated, and deprived of their rights as citizens. (See testimony of Hon. H. Swann, pages 307, 308 ; W. A. Montgomery, page 546 ; and others.) These organizations were the instruments also by which numerous murders were committed upon persons who were then active, or who had been active, in the republican party. By the terms of the peace conference entered into by General J. Z. George, rhe chairman of the democratic State committee, and Governor Ames, on the 13tji of October, 1875, the attempt to organize the militia was abandoned, General George on his part agreeing to secure a peaceful election and the full and free enjoyment of the elective franchise by every c.tizen. The stipulation on the part of the governor was faithfully kept, but the promise made by General George was systematically disregarded by the democrats in the larger portion of the State. The outrages perpetrated by the white people in the canvass and on the day of election find no justification whatever in the acts or the policy of Governor Ames concerning the State militia. The effort on his part to organize the militia for the preservation of the public peace seems to the committee to have been not only lawful but proper, and the course of the democrats in organizing and arming themselves to resist the governor in his efforts to preserve the public peace was unlawful, and the proceedings should have been suppressed by the State authorities if possible, and, in case of failure on their part, by the Government of the United States. The constitution of the State provides that the militia shall consist of the able- bodied male citizens between the age of eighteen years and the age of forty-five years, and the Legislature provided for its organization by an act passed at its first session in the year 1870. It was the duty of the governor to use the militia for the suppression of such riots as those of Vicks- burgh and Clinton, and this without regard to the question whether the white or the black race was most responsible therefor. In the opinion of the committee the riot at Clinton was in harmony with the policy previously adopted by democrats in that vicinity, and designed to intimidate and paralyze the republican party. The testimony shows that the riot was inaugurated by a body of eight or ten young men from Raymond, who acted, apparently, under the advice of the Raymond Gazette, a democratic newspaper, edited by G. W. Harper, an aged and highly respected man, according to the testimony of Frank Johnston, W. A. Montgomery, (page 550,) and others. The riot occurred September 4, and the Raymond Gazette, as early as June or July, gave this advice : “ There are those who think that the leaders of I the radical party have carried this system of

fraud and falsehood just far enough in Hinds county, and that the time has comewhen it should be slopped—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. And to this end it is proposed that whenever a radical pow-wow is to be held the nearest anti-radical club appoint a committee of ten discreet, intelligent and reputable citizens, fully ident ifled with the interests of the neighborhood and we 1 known as men of veracity, to attend as representatives of the tax-payers of the neighborhood and county, and true friends of the negroes assembled, and that whenever the radical speakers proceed to mislead the negroes, and open with falsehoods and deceptionsand misrepresentations, the committee stop them right then and there, and compel them to tell the truth or quit the stand.” Nor do these outrages find any excuse in the statement made repeatedly by witnesses, that the negroes were organizing or threatened or contemplated organizing themselves into military bands for the destruction of the white race. The evidence shows cone usively that there were not only no such .organizations, but that the negroes were not armed generally ; that those w'ho had arms were furnished with inferior and second-hand weapons, and that theirleaders, both religious and political, had discountenanced a resort to force. Many rumors were current among the whites that the negroes were arming and massing in large bodies, but in all cases these rumors had no basis. In a sentence it may be asserted that all the statements made that there was any justifiable cause for the recent proceedings in Mississippi are without foundation. On the other hand, it is to be said, speaking generally, that a controlling part and, as we think, a majority, of the white democratic voters of the State were engaged in a systematic effort to carry the election, and this with a purpose to resort to all means within their power, including on the part of some of them the murder of prominent persons in the republican party, both black and white. There was a minority, how large the committee are unable to say, who were opposed to the outrages which by this report are proved to have taken place. This minority, however, is for the time overawed and as powerless to resist the course of events as are the members of the republican party. Under more favorable circumstances they may be able to co-operate with the friends of Older and redeem the State from the control of the revolutionary element. (1.) The committee find that the young men of the State, especially those who reached manhood during the war, or who have arrived at that condition since the war, constitute the nucleus and the main force of the dangerous element. As far as the testimony taken by the committee throws any light upon the subject it tends, however, to establish the fact that the democratic organizations, both in the counties and in the State, encouraged the young men in their course, accepted the political advantages of their conduct, and are in a large degree responsible for the criminal results. (2.) There was a general disposition on the part of white employers to compel the laborers to vote the democratic ticket. This disposition was made manifest by newspaper articles, by the resolutions of convections, and by the declarations of | land-owners, planters and farmers to the woikmen whom they employed, ar.d by the incorporation in contracts of a provision that they should be void in case the negroes voted the republican ticket. (3.) Democratic clubs were organized in all parts of the State, and the able-bodied members were also organized, generally into military companies, and furnished with the best arms that could be procured in the country. The fact of their existence was no secret, although persons rot in sympathy with the movement were excluded from membership. Indeed their object was more fully attained by public declarations of their organization in connection with the intention, everywhere expressed, that it was their purpose to carry the election at all hazards. In many places these organizations possessed one or more pieces of artillery. These pieces of artillery were carried over the counties and discharged upon the roads in the neighborhood of republican meetings, and at meetings held by the democrats. For many weeks before the election members of this military organization traversed the various counties menacing the voters and discharging their guns by night as well as by day. This statement is sustained by the testimony of Captain W. A. Montgomery, Captain E. O. Sykes, J- D. Vertner, leading democrats in their respective counties, as well as by the testimony of a large number of trustworthy republicans. (4.) It appears from the testimony that for some time previous to the election it was impossible, in a large number of counties, to hold republican meetings. lu the republicau counties of Warren, Hinds, Lowndes, Monroe, Copiah, and Holmes meetings of the republicans wyere disturbed or broken up, and all attempts to engage in public discussion were abandoned by the republicans many weeks before the election. (5.) The riots at Vicksburgh on the 5th of July, and at Clinton on the 4ch of September, were the results of a special purpose on the part of the democrats to break up the meetings of the republicans, to destroy the leaders, and to inaugurate an era of terror, not only in those counties, but throughout the State, which would deter republicans, and particularly the negroes, from organizing or attending meetings, and especially deter them from the free exercise of the right to vote on the day of

5 the election. The results sought for were in a large degree attained. (6.) Following the. riot at Clinton the country for the next two days was scoured by detachments from these democratic military organizations over a circuit of many miles, and a large number of unoffending persons were killed. The number has never been ascertained correctly, but it may be estimated fairly as between thirty and fifty. Among the innocent victims of those days of horror’ and crime was Mr. William P. Haifa, a white man, a teacher by profession, a justice of the peace by the choice of his fellow-citizens, and a candidate for re-election upon the republican ticket. He was a resident of Philadelphia with his family until the year 1870, when he emigrated to Mississippi for the purpose of planting. The story of his assassination, as related by his wife, is here given in full : ASSASSINATION OF MR. HAFF A. Washington, D. C.. July 7, 1876. Mrs. Elzina F. Haifa sworn and examined. PERSO' AL STATEMENT. By the Chairman : Question. Have you lived in Mississippi; and if so, how long ? Answer. Yes, sir ; it will be seven years next February since I went there. Q. Where did you live before that? A. In Philadelphia,, my native place. Q. What was your husband’s name ? A. William P Haifa. Q. Did you go to Mississippi with him ? A. Yes, sir. Q. He is not living now ? A. No, sir. Q. Will you state to the committee the time when he died and the circumstances of his death? A. Do you desire me to state anything previous to that? Q. You can state just what took place in Mississippi that you think important. A. We were there about two months and a half or three months----- Q. When did you go there ? A. In February. Q. What year ? A. Eighteen hundred and seventy ; seven ' years next February. Mr. Haifa went there for the purpose of raising cotton and corn. Q. Where did you live ? A. In Hinds county, third district. visited to define his politics. Q. Near what town ? A. I cannot tell you how many miles from Vicksburgh, I don’t remember ; but we lived within a few miles of Auburn, Mississippi; I think it was two or three i miles. After we had been living there I about three months we were waited upon by the owners of the land, and they asked Mr Haifa whether he was a friend to the white people or to the nigger, using a profane word. They called him outside and I followed him and stood at the door and heard what they said. Q. Do you know who these people were? A. Frank and William Bush, the owners of the land. William Bush was not an owner, but Frank was. William Bush was the agent for his wife and did all the business connected with the estate, which be- belonged to his wife. Her name was Mollie Bush. Mr. Haifa said he was a friend to any one, be he black or white, that was deserving of his friendship. They then said to him, “We understand that you are a friend of the nigger,” using profane language ; and they made some other remarks, I don’t remember what ; but they went away, and a short time after that they came back and inquired for him. He was not in ; he was out in the field. They went out there where he was, and my little boy, who was out there, said that they used some insulting language toward Mr. Haifa, and that they threatened him. He came in very much excited from the field and said to me, “Mamma, I am afraid there will be difficulty here.” ELECTED JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. Then the colored people nominated him for squire—magistrate—and he received his appointment from Governor Alcorn, who was then Governor of Mississippi. That raised the indignation of the white people. They declared no Northern man should come down there and rule them, so they sent up a number of petitions to have him removed. Governor Alcorn said there was nothing against him that he could find out, and unless there was something else against him than his birth he could not do anything, as long as it was the desire of the majority of the people, who are colored people. So then he fulfilled his office for two years, and the first election came on and he was renominated for the same position, and he was elected by the people at that time. Then he had occasion to have s- me business with these people, the Bushes. MR. HAFFA LASHED. Q Was it private or public business ? A. I have forgotten now; I cannot say. They came to the house one Saturday afternoon; I don’t know what time it was, but anyhow they got the colored people all to leave the premises except one, an old colored woman; she could not get away. They came to the house and asked me if Mr. Haifa was in. I said yes. They said they wanted to see him. 1 went to the door as

6life. One evening after he came home from the depot—he went there generally of a Saturday to get his mail—a son of a member of the board of supervisors—I think he was a supervisor; he was an officer anyhow; his name was Fatheree. I always answered the door if anybody called at 1 night; and, in fact, in the daytime as well | as night, for I thought I might do better than Mr. Haffa—he came to the door and says: “Is Mr. Haffa in?” <Says I: “Yes, sir.” He says, “I wish to see him on business.” I said. “Won’t you alight and walk in?” He said, “No.” I went in and told Mr. Haffa, and I went out with a candle, and he says to me, “Mamma, you go in; it is too cold for you here, you will take cold.” The young man says to him: “Send your wife in. I want to talk about business, and it is not prudent for ladies to be present.” There was a colored woman, a school-teacher, there,standing by me Mr. Haffa then spoke in a more emphatic manner than usual for me to go in, and I went to turn around with the candle to go in when this colored woman just shook her head that way, [indicating,] and I said, “I will not go in,” and I turned, and at that moment saw a pistol aimed at Mr. Haffa. He had it cocked, but Mr. Haffa snatched it from his hand and made him get down off his horse and put him in the cotton-house and locked him up until the next morning. In the morning he knocked at the door and prayed to be let out, and asked Mr. Haffa/s pardon, and said he did not intend anything. Mr. Haffa thought, probably, on account of the feeling, that it would be better to be lenient than to use harsh means, though he had him in his power, so he let him out; and, said he, “Squire, won’t you give me my pistol?” It was a small Derringer pistol. Mr. Haffa said, “I don’t know that I will.” He said, “Will you give it back to me, please? I will promise you I won’t do any such thing as that again, and I am very sorry for it, but I was put up to do it.” Mr. Haffa said, “Who put you up to do it ?” and he would not say who it was; and he gave him back his pistol and h® went home. Two or three days after that his mother called on me—Mr. Haffa was absent at the time—and made an apology to me for the conduct of her son. Mr. Haffa says, “We will think nothing about it; we will let it slide, as long as he made reparation for it: In that way probably I can overcome them by kindness.” MRS. HAFFA TEACHES SCHOOL AND ADVISE* COLORED VOTERS. Then he came on North here and remained a year, and left me there as teacher. I have been teacher there evei- since the public schools have -been iii vogue. Th® I school-house was only twenty or thirty usual—T always went to the door when there was white people come around, for I was very much afraid of them myself. So they got him out by a tree a short distance off, and they had hitched their horses to that tree. I watched them and they took a cowhide and commenced to lash him very freely with it. I ran out and grasped him around the waist. They said, “We will show you what Southern blood is.” Mr. Haffa never said a word. I said, ‘ ‘Mr. Bush, you have a wife in heaven and a child also, here; remember what your fate will be. I am here among strangers.” He says, “Well, you have got no business to be down here among such an illiterate class of people.” MBS. HAFFA INJURED. And finally, I kept on, and I presume it lasted over an hour, perhaps two hours; and they kept on until they got up to the house, and then Frank Bush took hold of me and threw me violently against a sill in front of the door, and the effects of it I have never got over yet. I was laid up in consequence of it for about a month. I was taken to J ackson, Mississippi. Sena-. tor Caldwell, of Mississippi, a colored man, paid my expenses there, which cost h m $50. I was there for a month to be recuperated; I was not able to be home at all; they had no hopes of me. In the meantime Mr. tlaffa had gone to Jackson to make his bond for his position as magistrate for the second term. He was there for a few days and then went back and attended to his business, leaving me there. HER HUSBAND INSULTED—HER BOY FIRED 1 AT. Then I went home, and there was nothing of any moment occurred for several months. Then Robinette, a brother-in- law of these Bushes, met Mr. Haffa coming from the depot with my little boy, who was on a mule, and Mr. Haffa was on a horse. Robinette came up to Mr. Haffa and took hold of his whiskers and told him he wanted him to come down off his horse and be would have it out with him there. Mr. Haffa somehow got away from him and put spurs to his horse, and the horse ran, and then Robinett fired at my little boy. ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION. Owing to the excitement he could not get out any warrant to have the man arrested, and there was never anything done with him. So, repeatedly after that, the Bushes made attempts at Mr. Haffa, and Mr. Haffa had always somebody with him wherever he went. He had to be guarded by the colored people. Even in going to the stable, which was no farther than from here across the street., he was afraid of his

7 yards from my house, and we held all our club meetings there, and in the absence of Mr. Haifa I attended to the business of the 'colored people; was their secretary part of the time, and I did various other things for them. During the election of McKee the colored people waited on me and asked me if I would persuade them to vote for McKee. They left it all to me whether he was the right kind of a man for them to have to represent them in Congress. I had heard Mr. Haffa speak very happily of Mr. McKee, as well as several of his intimate friends, at Jackson, one of whom, I think, was Captain Fisher; so I said to them, “Vote for McKee; vote the republican ticket straight through ; don’t allow anything to influence you against voting that ticket.” They had. implicit confidence in me from the fact of my being there so long; and they' always consulted me in every respect during Mr. Haifa’s absence. I taught day school and night school up to the day of Mr. Haifa’s murder. He came back, I dont remember exactly what time, but I think it was in May—April or May, somewhere. MR. HAFFA TEACHES SCHOOL. Q. How long ago was that? A. I think it was three years ago last May, if my memory serves me right. The colored people waited on him and asked him if he would take their school to teach, about seven miles from there. He said he did not know whether he would or not. They asked him whether he would take an office at the next election. Said they, “We are determined to have you somewhere, because we are afraid we are going to lose you. We are very much afraid of that, and you have got to remain here with us.” He always consulted me in every question. Said he, “Ivlamma, what would you advise me to do?” Said I, “Do just as you think best. If you think it will be remunerative, perhaps you had better take the school.” He said he would give them an answer. So they came again, and he finally determined to take the school, and he taught the school up to the time he was assassinated. WARNED OF IMPENDING DANGER. The school closed on Friday, and the public school was opened the following Monday, the 6th of September—I have forgotten whether it was between two and three or three and four o’clock in the morning—but my affidavit that I made out in Jackson has the precise time, but I have forgotten now. There was a number of colored people waited on Mr. Haffa on the Sunday before. He attended their Sunday school, and always preached there Sunday for the colored people; and he came back and they said to him, “Squire, don’t you feel afraid of your life ? Don’t you feel timid?” He said, “No, I am not timid.” They said that the white people said they were going to destroy very many, and that they were not going to escape a limb, and that he was mentioned as one of them. Said he, “O, no; there is so much bragga- docia about them, I don’t suppose they will harm me now, after we have been living here so many years, and they have attempted it so often.” A FEDERAL OFFICER APOLOGIZES FOR HIS NEGLECT OF DUTY. I neglected to say that when we were first struck how he would take it to court, and a gentleman that has a United States position he came to him and apologized for not doing his duty to him. I think he is now United States marshal. When we first went there he was sheriff, and the Bushes were wealthy, and he said, “Mr. Haffa, it is no use for you to be butting yourself against the bricks while you have no money and the Bushes are wealthy, and you might as well drop the case right away, for you can’t gain anything.” But Mr. Haffa laid his damages at $10,- 000. I heard Mr. Haffa say that myself; and he got defeated out of it. Through Mr. Lake not sending the papers to the proper place at the circuit court our damages were all lost and we never got anything. When the election came around again Lake came to Mr. Haffa and apologized to him. He said, “I am very sorry for what has happened; it was my fault that those papers did not reach their destination.” Says Mr. Haffa, “Is it so?” Says he, “Yes.” Q. Do you remember Mr. Lake’s first name? A. No, sir. They told me that he had a position there when I was in Jackson. THE ASSASSINATION OF MR. HAFFA DESCRIBED. We were aroused by the barking of our dog furiously on the morning of the 6th of September. I halloed, “Who is there?” and no answer. I repeated it, and there was no answer. And then Mr. Haffa got up and said, “Who is there?” They said, “We will let you know who is there ;” or, “You will know who is there,” or something to that effect; and I said, “My God, they have the yard full of men.” I presume there were from fifty to seventy-five men barricading the whole house. And they had not only armed themselves with one or two weapons, but they had, some of them, half a dozen, because I could see them. They had them buckled around them, besides the musket that they carried. They tried to unfasten the door to get in, but we had a small crevice where we could insert »ur foot between the door and the sill, and I inserted my foot between th®

8other gentlemen—and they did nothing ! but use profane language all the time, and abuse the northern people. They said that they would show them that they were fully armed now and ready for war at any time, and that they could not rule over them and do as they pleased with them. They would not allow me to have a coffin for him at all. Col. Griffin, former ly United States Senator here—so he told me— he came and said, “Mrs. Haifa, I regret this very much.” Says he, “I cannot get a coffin for you. for they won’t allow any travel through.” Do you want to know anything about the other men that were assassinated the same day? ASSASSINATION OF A FATHER AND SON. Q. If you know any others you may specify them. You have not yet given the date of the night when this took place? A. This was the 6th of September, 1875. Well, after Mr. Haifa was gone, the colored people, who were very friendly toward us, all the colored people, they were there, and they said. “Well, I would like to see any one come to my house and kill me in as brutal a manner as they did the Squire. We have lost our best friend.” The names of the people who said this were Stevens; and his wife said, “I must go home.” He says to her, “Yes, you better go home, for I will be the next one. ” Mr. Whiteheadsaid, “Dolph,”—his name was Adolph—“you better be careful how you talk or the men will be after you.” So about 11 o’clock these men came back to see if Mr. Haffa was gone, and they were looking like hungry wolves; the most fiendish-looking men I ever saw. They said, “Any colored people secreted about your premises here? Says I, “No, sir.” There was nobody in the house then but my children and Mr. Haffa. I said, “There is nobody here, but you are privileged to come in and examine the premises and look up the chimney ” Two of them alighted and came in and looked around, and they said that was all they wanted to know They went over to these colored people’s houses and took the Stevenses, father and son, out and stood them on a stump and shot them, and killed them instantly. Q. Did you know these people who came to your house the last time? A. No, sir; I could not know them. Q. Were they disguised in any way? A. No, sir; not the last time, they were not; the first time they were disguised. They did not give them any warning, any more than they did Mr. Haffa, when they came hi the house and took them out. They said they had a large days work on hand, and that they had to commence early; and during that day they perpetrated a number of murders. They were after Senator Caldwell, but I don’t know door and t he sill and kept the door closed, and they could not get in. My daughter assisted me also. Finding they could not get in they Anally took one of the fencerails and broke the door down and part of the furniture; and we were hallooing all the time, “Murder! murder!” and no one came to our assistance. They could hear me halloo “murder” for about two miles, as the neighbors told me afterward. Finally, Mosely, the agent of the Singer sewing machine, came up to me and choked me, and held a revolver close to my head. Before he choked me I said, “I am not afraid; if you will take me and kpare my husband that is all I ask.” And ^osely said to me, when I called his name several times, “ Sh—! sh—!” I had a nursing baby then, and it was lying on the bed screaming. After I was choked so I could not halloo any longer my daughter came, and she left me and went over to her father; and they broke a shutter off the window and fired at Mr. Haifa; and my little boy told me yesterday—I have him at boarding-school, at least at a house out in Germantown—he said that he would take oath any time that it was Jimmy White- head who Ared one of the shots at Mr. Haifa; and Sid. Whitehead, the owner of the land that we rented our land from, he had threatened Mr. Haifa’s life several times which the children know of. They Ared twice, and 1 went to him, and he asked me to take him to the bed; so my daughter and I assisted him to the bed ; and—we had no light; it was utter darkness there—and says to me, “Mamma, I want water.” , As soon as I could get a light I gave him water and laid him down and ran but for assistance, and sent my little boy over to some colored people and they came rushing over. Finally Sid. Whitehead came along and refused to let me have a physician. He said it was no use, that he would die anyhow. Mr. Haifa spoke as strongly as I am speaking, and he asked for water, and that was alb he asked for. He said, “Mamma, I am going to die,” and he asked God to have mercy on his soul, and he laid his head on my shoulder and expired. THE WIDOW FORCED TO DENY THAT SHE KNEW ONE OF THE ASSASSINS. So after the colored people had laid him away I said to Mr. Sid. Whitehead, •■Mosely is the one that choked me; and he held a revolver at my head;” and Sid. Whitehead said, “You know Mr. Mosely was not here.” I said, “Yes, sir; he was;” and he spoke out—that is Jimmy Whitehead—to say that I had to recall those words for the sake of my life. They made me recall it, and say it was not him. PROFANE LANGUAGE—ABUSE OF NORTHERN PEOPLE—A COFFIN REFUSED. They came there together and set up the first, night—Whitehead and two or three 6

9 w hether they got him at that time or not; I never found out. THE WIDOW ORDERED TO LEAVE. Mr. Whitehead then gave me ten days’ notice to leave; and so the colored people harbored me. I could not get away from there, as no one came in and out of the depot, for they were afraid to go there. Mr. Haifa was buried in a rude box, and just the colored people and my son went along. He was just wrapped up in a sheet; they would not allow it in any other way. Mr. Whitehead said that I must leave, that we were looked upon asspies here. The colored people harbored me until I got a conveyance to take me to the depot. Finally there was a man, an intimate friend of Mr. Haifa’s, came out with three pistols belted around him, and said he would take us in. THE COLORED PEOPLE DISARMED. They disarmed all the colored people through the country there, took their arms from them, and would not allow them to have any; and before I left for the depot they made the colored people break up their clubs, and every one of them joined the democratic clubs; they compelled them to do so or their bfe, one or the other. They were given ribbons, and I could see them marching along to the democratic clubs at Auburn and Utica; they went to and fro. CAPTAIN MONTGOMERY GIVES HELP. We went to the depot, and there they sent for Captain Montgomery. I had no money, and I was obliged to leave everything; I had not even a change of clothing; and Captain Montgomery raised me a purse of between thirty and forty dollars, and I went to Jackson. I had to make some purchases there for the children; and after I got there I was taken into Mr. Wolf’s house, the superintendent of education, and his famiiy received me very kindly. He was an intimate fr end of Mr. Haifa’s, and he said he would do all he could for me; but he could not have me there at his house at all, because his life would be in jeopardy; but said that he would call on the Governor, and that he would send his officials around to take my affidavit, and he would secrete me at the hotel, and pay my board while I was there. This is the document that he drew up [exhibiting paper. ] And he went around among the Republican members of the Government, and he was chagrined at the Republicans not doing more than they did. Governor Ames donated $5 and gave me a ticket half way to Cincinnati; and after I arrived at Cincinnati with rny children I had to beg my way on to Philadelphia, i was only a few hours at Mr. Wolfs house, and then was taken to the hotel there. Q. How many children have you? A. I have two; I have lose my baby. Q. What is your age? A. Thirty-eight. The story of the murder of Square Hodge, a colored man, Sunday morning, September 5, is thus told by his wife ; ASSASSINATION OF SQUARE HODGE. Jackson, Miss., June 19, 1876. Ann Hodge (colored) sworn and examined. By the Chairman: PERSONAL STATEMENT. Question. How old are you? Answer. Eigteen years old. Q. Have you been married? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is your husband’s name? A. Square Hodge. Q. Where do you live now? A. Eight miles below Raymond. Q. Do you know anything about the Clinton riot last September? A. I was not there. I know my husband came home; he was there. Q. What day of the week was that? A. On Saturday. The riot was on Saturday. Q. Did your husband come home to your place ? A. Yes, sir; he came home Saturday night, in the night. Q. Was he hurt? A. He was shot in the arm. Q. Could he use his arm ? A. No sir; he could not use it all. He had it in a sling. Q. Did he tell you how he got hurt ? A. Only that he got shot. That is all he told me. Q. Did he stay at home that night ? A. Yes, sir. WHITE PEOPLE CAME FOR HIM. Q. On Sunday morning what happened? A. The white people came there after him in the morning. Q. Who were they ? A. Henry Quick, Willy Locke, Bryan McDonald. John McDonald, George Allen, John McNeir, and Allen Grafton came. Q. Any more ? A No, sir; I did not know any more. Two or three, I didn’t know them. Q. Did they have horses or come on foot? A. All riding. Q. On horses ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did they have any guns ? A. Yes, sir ; guns and pistols, Q. They came to your house ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who was in the house besides yourself? A. Me and my brother there and another brother. Q. Who is he?

10 then we got the news; and Mr. Quick he took and made a box for us, and he loaned us a wagon, and we went after him that Saturday. THE BODY FOUND. Q You found his body ? A. The buzzards had eat the entrails; but from the body down here [indicating] it was as natural as ever. His shoes were tied just as I had tied them The skull bone was on the outside of the grave, and this arm was out slightly and the other was off. Some we didn’t find. We picked up the rings of the backbone. We got the pocket-book, and there was the hat hanging up, and this ring was put on the tree and the black one was on the ground; this one. By Mr. Bayard : Q. Did you ever take an oath before ? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know the meaning of taking an oath? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know what the consequences are of swearing falsely ? A. No, sir. ASSASSINATION OF SENATOR CALDWELL. An equally horrid crime was the murder of Senator Caldwell and his brother, at Clinton, Christmas night. A history of the events of that evening is given by Mrs. Caldwell, which we here quote in her own words. Mrs. Margaret Ann Caldwell (colored) sworn and examined. By the Chairman : Question. What is your name? Answer. Margaret Ann Caldwell. Q Where do you live? A. In Clinton, Hinds county. Q. Was Mr. Caldwell, formerly senator, your husband ? A. Yes, sir. Q What was his first name ? A. Charles. Q. When did he die ? A. Thursday night, in the Christmas. Him and his brother was killed. Q. You may state to the committee what you know of his death. A. I know when he left the house on the Thursday evening, in the Christmas, between dark and sundown. In the beginning of the day he was out on his fox-chase all day. The first commencement was an insult passed on his nephew, and he came out home. STORY OF HIS ASSASSINATION. Q. Who was that ? A. David Washington ; he is in Washington city now. He is there in business; watchman in the Treasury Department now ; has been ever since October, I think. So they picked a fuss; Waddy Rice in George Washington’s blacksmith shop in A. John Jones. Q. Who else? A. My other brother, Lewis, and brother William, and my mother and little children. Q. How many children ? A. Five of them. Q. Have you any children yourself? A. Yes, sir; I have two. Q. Did these men come in the house ? A. Allen Grafton and John McNeir came in. The rest staid around the house. THEY FIND HODGE. Q What was done ? A. They made my brother come out from under the bed—my brother John— and asked where Square was, and said, “Is he in the room ?’ ’ and I did not tell, and said I did not know, at first. Then he asked if they had been at the Clinton riot, and I said that I did not know. Then he said, “ If you don’t tell, I will shoot your God damned brains out.” They made him come out from under the bed, and started to shoot under the house—mother put the children under the house ; she was scared and put the children under the house, and they gone around. There is two doors in the house They had pistols pointed under the house, and I told them that nobody was under but the children. Then they came into the house, but could not find Square, and they went out right where he was, and snatched off the weatherboards, only one in the room, and the other went outside the door and snatched the weatherboard and turned back the bed, and made him come out, and called him a damned son of a bitch, and said he must come with them. Mr. Quick says, “I told you this; if you had listened to me you would not have come to this, and they told him to put his shoes on, and I got them and said I will put them on ; and I had to put them on and could not tie them very well; and some one said, “ Let the God damned shoes be ; he don’t need any shoes.” I put my brother’s coat on him, and they carried him before them. Q. On the horse ? A. No, sir ; he walked before them away toward Raymond. Q. Now what happened? A. Nothing else. 6THEY KILLED HIM.” Q. What became of your husband ? A. They killed him. I never did find him for a week, until the next Saturday. Q. Where did you find him ? A Near about a mile and a half to the last bridge to Raymond, in the swamp Q. Who found him ? A. A colored man who was running off, keeping out of the way of the rebs, too, and he come across the body, and went and got a spade, and dug a hole and put a blaze ©n the trees all the way out, and

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