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
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