Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1878 — ELIZA PINKSTON [ARTICLE]

ELIZA PINKSTON

The Truth Regarding a Story that Startled, the Country. [New York HeraLi, adihj During the counting of the presidential vote of Louisiana, in New Orleans, before the rcturni ig board and the visi ing statesmen in November, 1876, the- country was startled and shocked by the introduction, us the victim of and wi.ness to savage dem'•ratic . bull iezim l- , of a colored woman uumad Jliiza Pinkston. She had been severely wounded, was apparently dying-was brought in to give testimony lying on a sofa or settee, and gave a remarkably succinct and dramatic stalenßint to the effect that her husband. ll<-nry Pinkston. ■ had been dragged out of his cabin by a. gmig of democrats mid m irdered before her eyes beeatme lie was a prominent republican, ami. that the same gang then brutally beat, cut and shu* her. She seemed still greatly debilitated when testifying;,'am.l her story and her appearance pio lueed a profound impre -.sion in N ?w Orleans and tcro’ out the coiiiit> y. Jiei appearance was a complete surprise to tne democrats of the state mid of the county (Ouachita) in whh'b she lived, ami where the i>i"utal out rage is said to h ive- been committed. Tn y apj.iear Io have at first aeccp.ed her tale, but as soon ms they could reach the county and look into the story the truth was positively denied, and lah.-r it was charged that E iza Pinkston, having, with her busbum!,z been the victim of a quarrel With some of her colored neighbors, had been [licked up by republicans, brought to New Orleans, tutored carefully m the part she ] J.'iv ami liie r> idencc she should 'give, an 1 v as than suddenly and in the dramatic manner which wili be remembered, brougl't iiM'-ire the returning board as a sample of democr.Jic brutality. The denials came ioo la.o, how.-wr. Eliza’s testimony haii gone over the country, it. was given out that, the 1 a.’ <•/-. at..re J mb! mq i.cci'ver from i'.i-l wor.i:-. Is. fm e d ropried 01; tof pu Lille sight and at tent! on ns other event? camo up, mid until lately it was not ea:i known in New Orleans whether she was dead or i.'.ivm Sue had dis up[>eareu from 1, .meuitA paii-di, and no one thought of her, eliza’s statement. A correspondent of the Herald chanced to learn a few weeks ago that Eliza, was still alive; that she Lad recovered from her wounds; had morried again, ami had removed to Madison comity, Miss., wh . re she and her new husband, Waymond Pritchard, a respectable colored man, wore living on the land of Mr. Vv. J. Mosby, us tei i nis. The Herald correspondent had. the curiosity to visit Eliza and talk with her, and finally procured rrom her mid from her present husband sworn st itements. Eliza here states u-uder oath • 1. That she was induced to appear before th-> returning board and make .he statement there given by two republicans, O. 11. Brewster and LinkSi ave. 2. That she received for her testimony and the part she acted on that occasion $5 )0, a very largo sum of money to a woman in her eonditfon ; and she now swears that of this money she took S3O in hand and allowed the remainder to lie in the hands of Brewster, from whom she says she has never been able to get it back. 3. She denies that her husl-nnd over took any [.art as a republican in polities, and asserts that he was engaged in a quarrel with a colored man, having no relation to politics; and that, while she does not know who killed her husband and wounded herself, she believes it was this colored man; also, that, contiar}’ to the testimony she gave before the returning board, she never knew’ who committed the outrage. 4. That she was brought by republicans from her home to New Orleans and instructed by them to pi etend that she was more seriously hurt than she wav, and also instructed to’lay the blame of the killing and assault cm the democrats. ■) That so far from being unable to

walk, she nad walk d, on the days before giving her testimony, considerable distances, as well as up and down the custsm house stairs in New Oilcans; that on the day of her appearance before the returning ooard she walked up the stairs, but was induced to lie down on a sofa and allow her self to be carried into the room to produee |be greater i mpressio n. Her [Present husband, WaymdWh Pritchard, in an affidavit, condrms Eliza’s story as being that which she always told him since he married her.