Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1886 — A MISSISSIPPI CRIME. [ARTICLE]

A MISSISSIPPI CRIME.

Thirteen Negroes Shot Down in a Court* Room by a Mob of White Men. (New Orleans telegram.] r : Information has been received here of a. sickening tragedy in the court-home at Carrollton, Miss. It is impossible, owing to the isolated character of the town, to give full particulars, but the following facts are gleaned from different points within telegraphic reach: About a month ago James M. Liddell, Jr., a young lawyer of Carroll County, was shot and wounded by three negroes in ambush. ‘The wounds were painful but not serious, and Liddell suffered only temporary inconvenience. The negroes were arrested, but made a counter charge against Liddell, and both cases had been fixed for trial. to-day. At the opening of court this morning the negroes were on hand with their witnesses and a number of spectators.. About one o'clock a party of forty or fifty white men, armed with carbines and revolvers, rode up to the court house, dismounted, leisurely hitched their horses, and entered the court-room. Scarcely any words were spoken before the party opened fire on the negroes, riddling them with bullets, and shooting them down as they attempted to escape. In an incredibly stfort space of time ten negroes had been killed and three mortally wounded, none of the negroes in the court-room escaping. Having finished their work the party withdrew, mounted their horses, ana left the town by the same road they came in on. Those at the court house who witnessed the affair claim not to know the attacking party, and nil say none of the men live near Carrollton. Carrollton, where this tragedy occurred, is the capital town of Carroll County, and in the interior, away froin any railroad or telegraph line, but on the line of the proposed road from Greenville to connect with the Georgia Pacific. It is twenty-four miles south of Grenada, and about eight miles west of "Winona. The Illinois Cen-tral-runs across the southeastern portion of the county. The population of the county is about evenly divided between white and colored. The county takes good care of her schools and churches, and the people have been regarded as exceptionally law-abiding. In fact, it is in thosa portions of the State that have heretofore borne good repute where the informal taking of human life has been most notable in the last few months' The people there charge it to the unreasonable leniency of Gov. Lowry in commuting death sentences. Some very important convictions of both white and black murderers have taken place in the last few years, but in nearly all, if not in eveiy instance, the executive power hasTieen interposed to save the condemned from the gallows. The people have wearied of this and have, in half a dozen cases, lately done their own lynching to save costs of court. This may not be a case in point, but ig, doubtless an outgrowth of this sentiment. ’ A later dispatch from Winona throws a little more light on the assassination. At the trial about twenty colored men were present. The fifty white men, well mounted, and each carrying a Winchester, came riding up and surrounded the court-house. They then fired into the building, instantly killing ten negroes and wounding three others so that they died soon after, and, with the exception of a few who escaped through a window, all the other negroes in the building were wounded, some seriously. The trouble between Liddell and the negroes occurred three weeks ago. Liddell had interfered in a row between two negroes, and afterward heard the crowd cursing him. He walked up to them and inquired why they were abusing him. An altercation ensued and a number of shots were fired, Liddell being severely wounded.