Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1884 — The Copiah County Farce Ended. [ARTICLE]

The Copiah County Farce Ended.

The trial 6t Wheeler, at Hazlehurst, Miss., for the murder of Matthews has ended with the acquittal of the muraerer. It will be remembered that Matthews was a prominent Republican of Copiah County, who was obnoxious to the Bonrbons of his neighborhood. Upon the approach of the November election the Bourbons of Hazlehurst held a public meeting at which Matthews was notified that he must not appear at the polls election-day, and the man Wheeler was selected to “remove” him if he did appear, as a warning to other Republicans that they must not attempt to interfere with alleged Bourbon majorities. Matthews, being a courageous man, paid no heed to the warning, went to the polls, and as he was about to vote was shot from Rebind by "Wheeler and killed. The murderer had no personal quarrel with his victim —indeed, only an evening or two before the murder he had dined with the Matthews family and enjoyed their hospitality. He did the infamous work to which he had been assigned by his Bourbon associates. No inquest was held upon the body of Matthews, the Coroner having been notified by the Sheriff that it was unnecessary. No complaint was lodged against the murderer. The only cognizance of the awful deed was at a public meeting of Bourbons, who passed resolutions justifying and applauding the act and notifying other members of the family that they would be treated in a similar manner if they took any part in politics. At a subsequent local election the murderer was rewarded by being made City Marshal of Hazlehurst. The trial was a farce from beginning to end. It is nearly six m&nths since the killing, all of which time the murderer has been at large and exercising the duties of a public oflice, no action having been taken by the authorities until about a week ago, and that action would , not have been taken had it not been for the investigation of the crime by the special committee appointed by the Senate. That committee, of which Senator Hoar was Chairman, made a patient and thorough examination ot all the circumstances connected with the crime, and reported, in accordance with the testimony, that it was a political murder, deliberately,, planned and carried out for a political purpose. To offset the effect of that report, at this late date —six months after the commission of the murder—Wheelei has been arraigned and tried for the crime, with the result as above stated, though there was no question as to the leading issues in the case. No one expected, there or elsewhere, that Wheeler would be convicted. No jury could have been impaneled in Copiah County that would have convicted him, for no juryman’s life would have been safe after such a verdict. So the farce is ended, but it has not altered the situation. The Senate Committee's report remains unchallenged, Wheeler remains a rewarded murderer, and the charge remains that murder is a recognized feature of electioneering in Mississippi, and that Bourbon majorities, other methods failing, will be maintained by the shotgun.— Exchange.