informed of a tragedy which had been enacted during the night--Alexander
Boyd, county solicitor and register in chancery, had been shot to death by
Ku Klux! At first most persons discredited the gruesome story as an "April
fool" hoax, but incredulity gave place to amazement when the scene of the
awful tragedy was visited.
Of all the acts attributed to the klan, perhaps none was bolder than the
slaying of Boyd. A bachelor, he had for a long time occupied sleeping
quarters in a detached office building situated in a corner of the
court-house yard; but having received a warning note, he became alarmed
and abandoned these quarters and obtained an apartment on the second floor
of the Cleveland Hotel only a few nights previous to his death. This hotel
was situated on a corner diagonally opposite the court-house, and was the
principal rendezvous of townsmen with a taste for gossip.
Witnesses at the investigation into the circumstances testified that at
half-past eleven o'clock forty or fifty horsemen, in the regulation garb
and armed with revolvers, their horses robed and hooded, approached to
within a short distance of the hotel, where all except the customary
horse-holders dismounted and quickly and unhesitatingly entered the hotel
office, posted guards at all entrances, and then commanded the clerk to
take up a candle and show them to Mr. Boyd's apartment. Obediently the
clerk led the way until he reached the corridor upon which opened the room
they sought. Pausing here, in his speechlessness he indicated the door by
pointing, and then fled the scene. Within a brief space an agonized
scream, heard blocks away, issued from the room of the doomed man, and
was almost instantly succeeded by a heavy volley of pistol shots. The
panic-stricken clerk had hardly resumed his seat upon the office stool,
with hands to ears and head bowed upon his ledger, when the dread invaders
reappeared in the office. Signaling with whistles the recall of sentinels,
they quietly withdrew, remounted and rode around the square, in military
order, and then departed in the direction from which they first appeared.
[They were traced to the Mississippi border line.]
After their departure, officials and others repaired to the corridor and
discovered the dead body, robed in night dress, perforated with many
bullets and almost completely drained of blood. Not a shot had missed the
mark. Inside the room a table, bearing a lighted lamp, his revolver and
watch, stood close to the head of the bed. He had not attempted to use the
weapon. Evidently the purpose of his slayers was to remove him from the
building, for one of them carried a suggestive coil of rope, but his
outcry and struggles settled his fate.
Boyd was a nephew of William Miller, probate judge. Some years before the
war he was convicted of killing a young man named Charner Brown, and
sentenced to a term in the penitentiary. A petition in his behalf was
presented to Governor Winston, and in response thereto the sentence was
commuted to one year's imprisonment in the county jail. Having served the
sentence, Boyd departed for another state. At the close of the war he
reappeared, and, following the example of his uncle, sought office in 1868
at the hands of the negroes, and was made county solicitor and register in
chancery. He was not distinguished as a prosecutor, but regarded as
indifferent.
December 9, 1869, Dr. Samuel Snoddy left the village of Union, in the
northern part of Greene county, to return to his farm. Night overtook him
en route, and he became confused. Reaching the cabin of some negroes with
whom he was acquainted, he engaged one of them to pilot him. Early next
morning Dr. Snoddy's badly mutilated remains were discovered on the
roadside. The unfortunate man had been murdered and robbed of a
considerable sum which he had on his person. Sam Caldwell, Henry Miller
and Sam Colvin, negroes, were arrested, accused of the crime, and lodged
in jail at Eutaw. The scene of the murder had become notorious on account
of being a centre of league activities and disorders, and the murder of
Snoddy aggravated the sense of wrong under which the whites had long been
restive; and when, a few days later, the prisoners were released, one of
them on bond, they were seized and executed summarily. Solicitor Boyd, it
was alleged, manifested no zeal in the investigation of the Snoddy murder,
but became exceedingly active in the inquisition in connection with the
subsequent and consequent affair, and exultantly declared that he had
ascertained the names of all the men engaged in it, would send for
soldiers to effect their arrest, and vigorously prosecute them, and if
necessary hold the jury for six months.
All of these facts were related in explanation of popular displeasure with
Boyd, which revealed itself first in the note of warning and finally in
the taking of his life. Mr. Boyd's tombstone in the Messopotamia cemetery,
Eutaw, erected by Judge Miller, is inscribed: "Murdered by Ku Klux."
Greene county continued in a state of disorder, which grew worse as the
election approached.
The Republican state executive committee advertised that on October 25,
1870, Senator Warner, Congressman Hays, Governor Smith and Ex-Governor
Parsons would deliver addresses at the court-house in Eutaw. On that day
the party of visitors, accompanied by General Crawford, military commander
of the department, and others, arrived in town. They were informed that
the Democratic county committee had invited the voters to hear an address
by the Democratic candidate for the legislature, and had chosen the same
time and place. Thereupon the Republican leaders held a conference and
decided to invite the Democratic committee to hold with them a joint
meeting. Accordingly, Judge Miller, Congressman Hays and Mr. Cockrell were
commissioned to convey to the Democratic committee the following note:
"We propose to appoint a committee of two to meet a committee of two from
your party, to arrange the terms of a discussion for the day, to meet
immediately at the circuit clerk's office."
To this note the following reply was sent:
"Gentlemen,--In answer to your note of this date, we, the committee
appointed by the president of the Democratic and Conservative Council of
Greene county, are instructed to say, that we do not consider the
questions in the present political canvass debatable, either as to men or
measures; and we therefore, in behalf of the Democratic and Conservative
party of Greene county, decline any discussion whatever.
"J. J. JOLLY,
"J. G. PIERCE,
"_Committee_."
This reply was ominous. So apprehensive were the leaders that Congressman
Hays, who was exceedingly unpopular, decided, with the concurrence of the
others, that it would be safer if he should refrain from speaking. The
garrison troops were quartered a half-mile away from the court-house, and
Governor Smith requested General Crawford to have the entire body brought
to the court-house; but after conference with the sheriff, the general
concluded that a detachment posted two blocks distant would be a
sufficient safeguard.
Immediately after the note of reply was sent, the Democrats called their
meeting to order on the north side of the court-house, and soon thereafter
the Republicans assembled on the south side. The Democratic meeting lasted
only a short time, and at its conclusion the auditors repaired to points
where they could listen to the Republican orators.
Corridors run through the court-house, crossing each other in the centre
of the building. These spaces were thronged by white men.
For the accommodation of the Republican speakers, an improvised platform,
formed of a table, was placed against a window opening from the clerk's
office. All of the Republican visitors and local officials occupied chairs
in this office. By request of Senator Warner, the office door was locked
from the inside, in order, as said, that "whatever danger there might be
would be in front."
Senator Warner spoke without unusual interference. Ex-Governor Parsons
followed and was listened to attentively. When he retired through the
window, the negroes called for Congressman Hays. A Democrat, Major Pierce,
approached Governor Parsons, who was seated inside near the window, and
advised him to restrain Hays. Parsons, in response, endeavored to attract
the attention of Hays, who had mounted the platform with the intention, as
he subsequently testified, not to deliver an address, but merely to
dismiss the audience. If this was true, his purpose was misunderstood, for
the table was suddenly tilted and Hays precipitated. As he fell a pistol
was fired, and the ball passed through Major Pierce's clothing. Some
witnesses testified that Hays fired it, and Parsons afterward admitted
that Hayes was armed with a derringer; others, that the shot came from the
direction in which the negroes were massed. However this may be, there was
an impulsive forward rush by the negroes, and, as Warner admitted, they
had weapons in their hands.
The first shot was instantly succeeded by a volley from the corridors, and
the onrush was halted. Suddenly, in a resonant voice, someone in a
corridor shouted: "Go in, boys, now is your time!" Continuous firing
followed, and the negroes fled in great disorder, leveling the stout fence
which enclosed the yard, a few discharging pistols as they fled.
Even in this grave situation there was an amusing incident. In his
testimony before an investigating commission Senator Warner, describing
the riot, related it accurately. Beaver hats were not worn in Eutaw at
that period. Mr. Parsons' attire was similar to that of Quakers and
included a light-colored beaver hat. Senator Warner's tile was
conventional, black and glossy. "I caught up the papers in my hands," he
said, "and walked very deliberately to the right, in order to get out of
the way of the firing. There came from the right-hand side of the
court-house a pretty good line of men, thirty or forty, I should think.
They came around all together, and formed a tolerable line across from the
corner of the court-house to the fence, and commenced firing on the
negroes, who had broken down the court-house fence and were fleeing as
fast as they could. These men cocked their revolvers and fired upon them
as rapidly as they could. I looked at them for a moment, and then walked
up to them as they were firing. I saw some colored men falling on the
grass and then scrambling up and moving off. I walked up to these men and
held up my hand in a deprecating manner, and said, 'For God's sake, stop
this!' One of them who was nearest to me turned around and cast a kind of
defiant but yet somewhat surprised look at me. One of them leveled his
pistol upon us, Governor Parsons, Mr. Brown and myself; he was standing
about the length of this table distant from us. He leveled his pistol at
Governor Parsons. The governor said: 'For God's sake, don't shoot at me; I
have done you no harm.' The crowd stopped firing and turned their
attention to us. Just at that instant the sheriff came around with his
arms spread out, and said: 'Stop this! stop this!' The man stopped for a
moment and seemed to be deliberating whether he should shoot Parsons. He
then saw Mr. Hays on my right; turning a little to one side to avoid me,
he threw his pistol down upon Hays and Mr. Brown, who were both together,
and tried to shoot them. They both sprang behind me; I saw them getting
behind me and squatting on the ground to avoid his fire. By that time the
negroes had been driven out of the court-house yard and across the street,
where they had stopped and turned, and began to fire back. A few were
firing back. Just at that moment I heard somebody call out, 'Boys, hold
your fire!' The firing then ceased. I started and walked through the
crowd, right among them. I suppose there were forty or fifty of them, all
standing there with their revolvers in their hands, smoking, as they had
been firing. Just as I was getting out of the crowd somebody from behind
struck at me and knocked my hat off; I just felt the blow on my head, but
I could not tell who it was, for when I turned around his hands were
dropped, whoever it was. I guess it was pretty lucky I did not know, for
the blow aroused me a great deal, and I am afraid I should have lost my
self-possession. I turned around to pick up my hat, when another man
kicked it; then another kicked it; and then the whole crowd, one after
another, played football with it and kicked it across the yard. I started
back to get it, when a man by the name of Dunlap, a Democrat, who seemed
to be in accord with the party there, walked up to me and took me by the
arm in a friendly sort of way, and said, 'General, you had better get away
from here or you will get hurt!'"
The senator's hat furnished diversion at a critical moment, and in all
probability was the means of saving his life and the lives of his friends.
There had been firing from the clerk's office, and Mr. Cowan (one of the
actors in the Greensboro tragedy mentioned in an earlier chapter), was
slightly grazed on the left thigh. He was brandishing a pistol and calling
to the white men to rally about him, and standing near a window of the
clerk's office. He believed that he was made a target by a prominent
Republican who was in the office. Two other white men, near Mr. Cowan,
were struck by missiles from the negro ranks just before they fled from
the yard. Some of the party with or about Senator Warner had, a moment
before the scene described by him, emerged from the office and were
retreating to the Cleveland hotel, and a determined group of men,
including Reynolds, with a shotgun, were pursuing them when the fun with
the hat commenced. While it was yet in progress, the soldiers wheeled
around the nearest corner and rescued the imperilled Republican leaders.
Meanwhile the negroes, having fled in two directions to points where they
had guns concealed in wagons, secured these arms and resolutely moved back
toward the scene of their rout. They were aware of their preponderating
numbers, and counted on the sympathy of the soldiers. Those on Prairie
street had not proceeded far when they encountered a squad of mounted men
commanded by the marshal and a few sharpshooters posted behind trees in
private yards, who speedily checked their advance. At the intersection of
the two streets which were scenes of reviving combat a line of white men,
armed with guns, all men of tested courage, was formed to prevent a
junction of the two bodies of negroes. Just then the soldiers, at
double-quick, made their appearance and were halted opposite the line of
armed citizens. After a brief hesitation, the officer gave the command to
move and the soldiers proceeded down Prairie street. The negroes quickly
lost courage and retreated, and before long none could be seen within
miles of the town. And so ended the Eutaw riot, in which, according to the
local newspaper, the _Whig and Observer_, and the testimony of witnesses,
54 men were shot, and from 250 to 300 white men and from 1,800 to 2,000
negroes were engaged. The number of wounded was probably exaggerated.
The pistol shot which followed so quickly the rude interruption of Hays'
remarks was not the real cause of the riot; it was but the signal for the
opening of a conflict which had been impending for some time, and it gave
vent to indignation which had been suppressed with difficulty. The
explanation is found in earlier occurrences.
In October the white people of Greene county were much disturbed by rumors
that a number of bands of negroes had been drilling with arms in parts of
the county where plantations were largest and the negro population
densest. A country store was burned by incendiaries, and threats were
made that the several bands would be consolidated and Eutaw attacked by
the combined force.
Lieutenant Charles Harkins, commanding the detachment of troops
garrisoning the town, reported to his superior officer at Huntsville as
follows:
"I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 19th instant,
reports were brought to this town, by both colored and white men, to the
effect that a band of armed colored men intended burning the town that
night. The rumor seemed to be generally credited by the citizens, which
caused great alarm and excitement. Armed parties of citizens were
immediately formed, under the direction of the sheriff, and patrols and
pickets sent to the suburbs of the town, where they remained all night. No
demonstration was made by the colored men, if they had any such intention,
which I am inclined to doubt. The excitement has abated, but there is
still a feeling of distrust and anxiety among all classes.
"The real facts of the case, and cause of the present alarm, I believe to
be as follows: The colored men and Republicans generally of this county,
feeling aggrieved at the many murders and outrages perpetrated on men of
their party by the Ku Klux organization, have determined to protect
themselves in future and have banded together for that purpose only, not
to assume the offensive, or interfere with the peaceful, law-abiding
portion of the community."
The relation of cause and effect in this thwarted conspiracy to destroy
Eutaw and the riot which followed so soon is indisputable. The trend of
Lieutenant Harkins' sympathies is equally plain. He was inclined to doubt
that the banded negroes intended to burn the town, but readily intimated
that they had provocation in "the many murders and outrages perpetrated on
men of their party by the Ku Klux organization." Not a word is there in
the report concerning the burning of the store, nor of the fact that
refugee white families from the widely-separated plantations were moving
into Eutaw for protection against the menacing bands of negroes, nor that
the "patrols and pickets" were necessary precautions not of one night
only, but of three nights, and served to deter the negroes from
prosecuting their design.
The prompt action of the whites in driving the negroes out of town on
October 25 would seem precipitate and unjustifiable if not considered in
connection with the facts just recited. Nearly two thousand negroes
attended that meeting, and they took with them guns, which were secreted
in wagons at the foot of Prairie street. They were aware that the
commanding officer of the garrison was in sympathy with them, and that
they would encounter only a small body of white men should there be a
collision. No doubt they counted much on the presence of the radical
governor of the state, the military commander of the department, a senator
and a congressional representative, all in sympathy with them, and all
smarting under indignities received only a few days before at a meeting in
an adjoining county.
The white men remembered the nights of anxiety for the safety of the women
and children and property of the town, and realized the danger of the
situation in which they were placed by the group of official Republicans
who heedlessly and recklessly assembled thousands of negroes who had so
recently been frustrated in a design to obtain revenge for punishment
administered to evildoers of their race. Those white men had courage and
resolution to meet the emergency, and they met it promptly and terribly.
And they taught a lesson for which there has never since been occasion for
repetition.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
RESTORATION OF WHITE SUPREMACY
The state election in 1870 resulted in a victory for the Democratic and
Conservative party, but there was a persistent effort to deprive that
party of the fruits of victory. There was instituted on behalf of the
incumbent governor and treasurer a proceeding in the chancery court to
enjoin the presiding officer of the senate from counting the votes for
candidates for those two offices. The legislature met November 20, and the
law required that the vote be counted, with the two houses assembled
jointly, within the first week. In the proceedings instituted, Governor
Smith alleged irregularity in the election. The judge of the circuit court
refused to grant an injunction, on the ground that the legislature could
not be enjoined by a court. It was then filed with a supreme court judge.
It prayed that the presiding officer of the senate be restrained from
counting the vote until the legislature could provide rules by which the
proposed contest should be tried. Judge Saffold, as chancellor, granted
the injunction. Lieutenant-Governor Applegate was dead, and Barr, an Ohio
man, was presiding. The injunction was served on Barr, and he very
cheerfully obeyed it.
There are some interesting facts in relation to this senate. The radical
constitution gerrymandered the senatorial districts, in some instances
apportioning a senator to a single county; in others, a senator to a group
of three or four counties, with nearly threefold greater population.
The constitution provided that representatives in the legislature should
be elected for two years, and senators for four years; that one-half of
the seats of senators first elected (in 1868) should be declared vacant at
the end of two years, thus providing for continuation of a certain number.
In accordance with this provision, at the session in November the question
whether the senators should draw for the long and short terms was
discussed; nobody wished to vacate his seat, and by hocus-pocus they
reached the conclusion that all should hold over. Consequently, one-half
of them sat four years and the others for six. This procedure contributed
much to the complication of affairs. This senate connived at the attempt
to prevent the count of returns.
At noon on the last day of the week the two houses assembled and Barr
proceeded to count the returns for other officers, declaring that for
Lieutenant-governor E. H. Moren had received a majority of the votes cast
at the election; that for secretary of state J. J. Parker had defeated J.
T. Rapier; that W. A. Sanford had defeated Joshua Morse in the race for
attorney-general; that Joseph Hodgson succeeded N. B. Cloud as
superintendent of public instruction. These winners were all Democrats. As
soon as he had declared these results. Barr and the radical senators
withdrew. Lieutenant-Governor Moren then appeared, took the oath of
office, assumed the chair of the presiding officer, and directed that the
returns for governor and treasurer be brought in. This being done, he
proceeded forthwith to count them and declared that Robert B. Lindsay, for
governor, and James F. Grant, for treasurer, had received majorities, and
to proclaim them duly elected. These officers were sent for and sworn in.
Consternation seized the Republican leaders. They were caught in their own
trap, for the injunction had been served on Barr and he had qualified his
own successor in the person of Dr. Moren, who as lieutenant-governor was
unaffected by the injunction. Lindsay lost no time in demanding possession
of the office, but Smith refused to yield and had federal soldiers
guarding all entrances to the offices of governor and treasurer.
Judge J. Q. Smith went from Selma to Montgomery, and before him Lindsay
and Grant instituted proceedings, demanding that the seal and all books
and papers and other property pertaining to the offices of governor and
treasurer be delivered to them, respectively. The proceedings lasted
several days. Meanwhile, Montgomery was fast filling up with young men,
strangers in the community, and there were rumors that bodies of men in
near-by towns were awaiting summons to the capital, and that locomotives
with steam up and cars attached, ready for service, were side-tracked at a
number of stations. Judge Smith's court-room was daily crowded with
strange men. Excitement was intense.