Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1871 — NASBY. [ARTICLE]

NASBY.

„ ffWwitUTotodom^*.] MB. m»W BOLDS AM EXAMINATION Of WE CITUEHS OF THE CORNERS, THAT HE MAT GIVE THE WORLD THE TROTH ** w TH B ALLEGED OOTRAOES COMBITTED BV THE EO-ELCX IN THE VICINITT OE THE CORNERS. Co»r*D*rr X Roam, i [Wich li In the suite by Kentacky,) V March 1A ISTI. 1 The Corners hoc bln agftatid recently, at the report which hex bln apred abroad that m oommittoe wnx sgoln to visit us for the porposi, \xr investigate the triflin matter BT the kllUn uv a few niggers and North«n white men in this part uv Kentucky. The Corners courts lnvestigashen. She hex allot bln ex law-abidin ex could lie expectid under the circumstances under wich she hex bln placed, and hex no fears uv any fhlr Inquiry, but for fear that wat hex bin done mite be misunderstood, es evidence shood be taken by a prejoodist committee, me and Deekin Pogram decided that I shood make uv myself a Court uv Eggsaminaahen, and report precisely the status uv affairs in this pcrtlkeler. Last Tooedy I summoned the leedin citixenS Uv the Confers afore me in the back room uv Baecom's, and put cm thro the most sarchin eggaamiuashen. Captin Hugh McPellcr wuz the first man eggsamined. I swore the witnesses n a spell in book, wich we capchercd from the lastnigger skool-housc wicli wuz burnt last year. I swore em on a spellin-book that the oath mite be more bindin. Men allnz hev a reverence lor that wich they can’t comprehend and for that uv wich theyare ignorant, and a spellin-book alluz strikes the average Cross-Reader with awe. The Captin statid that no outrages bed bin committed in the Corners or visinity that he wuz aware uv. Last fall the niggers wich bed workt on his farm, Fennibackcr’s, Deekin Pogranfs, Sutton’s and Isaaker Gavitt’s, all summer, refoozed to continyoo work ontil they hed bin paid suthin. They held a meetin to consider wat they shood do, and hearin uv that meetin he did organize a party uv citizens and did disperse em for the public safety. In the disjiersin, thirteen uv em wuz' accidentally killed, and on their way home the party did burn five cabins wich he understood wuz inhabited by niggers. By the Commission—(wich wuz me.) —State how the _accideutal killin took place.

Anser —The boys hed with em doublebarrelled shot guns, wich, by a singular coincidence, happened to be loaded with ball and buck-shot. They pinted them guns in the direeshun uv ihe niggers ez they wuz a mnnin from the meetin-house in wich they wuz assembled, and they wentoff. We wuz surprized to see the thirteen a lay in there shortly after the volley, with the tops uv their heads blowed off. Question by the Commission—(me.) —The bumin uv them five cabins wuz-ao-cidcntal, wuz it ? Anser —Not so much so. It wuz did partly in a jocose sperit, and partly from a sentiment uv pity. The heads uv families wich dwelt in cm bed bin killed in the affair at the meetin house, and ez there wnz nobody' to take keer uv them houses but wimmin and children it wuz consid-j ered best that they bc.burhed ; and ez the wimmin and children wood hev a hard time uv it without houses, it wuz considered humane to put em out uv a cold, unfeelin world, and they wuz aceordiuly knockt on the head cz the torch wuz applied to their dwellins. Question by the Commission —Hev yoo knowd uv any violence bain offered to any other residents uv this visinity r Anser —None but wat wuz deemed ness&ry to the safety' uv the community, A stun-mason by the name of Albrite come here from In jinny, and ez lie took five Northern papers we knowd he wuz a car-pet-bagger wich gloated over the misfortunes of the sunny South. AVe warned him to leave, but he stubbornly refoosed ; whereupon some of the boys put on masks one nite, and took him out uv his house and hung him. He wuz a long time kickin, and his straggles wuz so amusin that Abe boys felt that they lied bin amply rcpaid for the trouble they had bin to. The same nite they bustid in the front uv Pollock's store, and wood hev hung Pollock bed not that unreasonable man appeared at a second story window with Jbe Bigler, both uv them lievin revolvers in ther hands, Deekin Pogram wuz next eggsamined. Hed not bin aware that there hed bin any pertikeler disturbance in this visinity. It was troo that Issaker Gavitt and some others uv the y'oung men bed, at times, in a jolly mood, put on masks and mount id their horses, and, to perfect themselves, ln d taken sich rifle?, and shot-guns, and revolvers, and knives, and axes ez they lied handy, and hed made it lively for the niggers up toards Garrettstown, but nothin more that he knowd uv. Question by the Commission— Hev you bin aware uy any manifestashen uv a desire to yoose violence toards niggers or Northern men ? Anser —Bless yoor sole, no. Last fall three niggers did'attempt to vote, afore Joe Bigler got to the polls, and uv course we didn’t stand that. It wuz an insult toSouthern blood wicli we coodent endoor, and they wuz promptly knockt down. One uv them hit back, and the three wuz immejitly pounded over the head with fence stakes. I believe one of em died on the another in perhaps half an hour, and tother in the afternoon; but it wuz agreed that It wuzu’t the poundin that killed em, but the infliinaslien that sot in afterward. Amos Dibble, a Connecticut Yankee, offered his vote at the same election, and he wuz also pounded with a hickory club, and he likewise died. It is possible that others wood liev bhi founded similar, hed not Joe Bigler and ollock come up jist at that time. Question by the Commission— To wat do yoo ascribe the blame for these irregularities t Anser — There can’t be no doubt as to where the blame ought to rest. The niggers hev got an insane idea into em, that they are reely citizens by virtoo of the 15th amendment, notwithstanding the fact that every justiceuv the peece in Kentucky has declared it unconstitooshnel and consekentlv void and uv no effect. 1 They ’bleeve tiiey hev rites tz citizens, j and they won’t be managed ez they yoostd ! to be. They insist on bein paid for labor, ! wich alluz irritates the Southern mind, and they insist upon continyooally insultin us by offerin their votes, wich ain’t to be tolerated for a minit. Es they wood quietly resooni their normal posishen, and let us rool em as we yoosd to, I asliooryoo there wooden’t be no trouble whatever. Ez to the Northerners, they an* really at the bottom uv the whole trouble. They come down here and buy land, and try to build &ctrys, and set the niggers wild by hirin Uv em, and pay in uv em, and they take incendiaiy periodicals, and do their level best to disorganize things generally, and we can’t hev no peece so long ez they are permitted to be here, iln all that hez been done our people hev simply acted in self-defense. Issaker Gavitt was eggsamined. Didn’t know wat all this fuss wuz about. Hed helped to skeer the niggers—he liked tt. He wnz very fond uv dressii hieself in a mask, and loadin up his shofgun, and join out with the boys and skecrin uv em. Bed (hot half a dozen uv em—it wnz better sport than fox-huntin, coz niggers ooodn’t dodge into holes and git out uv yoqr way and foxes cood. He knowd uv nothin so lafiable ez to see a nigger sqnirinia on the ground, with a charge uv buckshot Into him, ceptin one time, when the hoys tarred one uv em and sot the tar on

Are. Lord how the cuss run, till the burnin tar used him up! Hed he bin amablebodied nigger he wood hev run furder, and made more amoozemenf for u». Things wuz comln to a perty pass when a Southern gentleman coodn’t amooze hiss*-If without hevin Fedral solgcrs sent after him. At this pint I closed the lnvestigashen. It will be seen that the people uv the Corners hev conduct id tin trsefves ez neer like law-abidin citizens ez cood be expected under the circumstances. There hez bin wat mite be called violence, but it will be observed that in all cases it wuz either made nessary by tlie ackshen uv the niggers and Northerners, or wuz the hjjin over uv the exuberant humor uv wich the Southerners hev so great a muchness uv. But in dispite uv this fact, wich is evident and palpable, I sposc these tritlin irregularities will lie made the pretext forsendin Fedral troops among us! I spose there will lie a compny of Fedral cavalry siasliened at the Corners, wich will cofnpel our citizens to keep ther hands off these degraded bei'ns, and the still worse Northeners, and to treat them cz tho they wuz our ekals! Good Heavens! Arc we livingsimr Republic or under au old World despotism? Are we free men or are we Rooshn serfs? Wh* n I think uv of these things I reely tremble for poplar government.

PETROLEUCM V. NASBY,

(Wich wuz Postmaster.)