Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1879 — THE YAZOO METHOD. [ARTICLE]

THE YAZOO METHOD.

Ih«' AwMMlnatlon of Mr. Utaon iu Obedience to the Heheete of t|>« Democratic Organisation—A Nlauimenl io the Public by .’lre. Dlxou, in Which Thia la Clearly Shown. (From the Vicksburg Herald. August 29. j To the I’uniJC: . Political animosity and iar»>nal hatred have at length accomplished their dire purpose. My husband was murdered in the streets of Vazoo City, on the morning of the 19th, by James A. JtareMtakJDfflnoyretic candidate for the of (’hanoerv Clerk. Still, persecution and outrage are not jetspent-calumny and prejudice pursuing him even into his grave. Charges cannot now harm the proud soul they were intended tooruab. It stands in the presence of a Higher Tribunal. But. above the storm of rage that is now sweeping over bis tanrily. may the voice of a wife be heard in behalf of the memory ot the father of her six helpless little ones?. Without proof, yet without remorse, have the epithets of liar, inbdel, murderer, gambler, etc., been heaped upon him. That this was done by a liody of men. no single one during to offer the resolutions, but simply moving that what was laid on the table should be read (before the mass convention called by Dr. McCormack, Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, on Friday, August 16). makes it none the less hurtful, even though it left a brave man without the opportunities of manly defense. Of hie enemies 1 expect neither justice nor mercy l , but to his friends, and to the public here and everywhere, do I appeal that the memory of a brave man be not blackened for party purposes or private revenge. I can refute every slander ever produced against him. and it was the intention of him who was so ruthlessly and violently torn from the arms of his wife and little oncn. This so-called liar, infidel, murderer, gambler, etc., was the same whose name brave men wore proi'dly upon their besoms in 1875. as indicating his leadership of them jn the hour of his country's peril. Drawn up m rank and file on the streets of Yazoo City, my husltand and bis brave comrades received the commendation of Lamar. Singleton. George, and others, for his courage and fidelity to Ins country. Fair and true women evinced their gratitude in souvenirs, poetry, music, etc.; and, ra-the-ilfnminwtionof our city sgliich followed the political triumph of that time, his name blazed from the windows ot opr Sroudest homes. He was the man that people elighted to honor; and. in proof of my assertion. I have, among hie private papers, letters from the first and best men of this State commending his course. Yet the events which so glorified him at that time arc now. distorted by bis enemies and discussed to his injury. From the murder which is so elaborated in the scurrilous resolutions adopted in the mass convention, 'he was exonerated by the testimony of Col. Campbell, Capt. Wallace, W. A. Mangum, and others, of eq "al integrity and intelligence. If the jury by whom he was acquitted lacked virtue ana intelligence, as the ilcmocratic resolutions declared, let the Sheriff and counsel for the J prosecution, whose duty it was to eelect proper urymen, be responsible. In this present campaign, which has cost him his lite, when charged with midnight meetings and incendiary influences upon the colored race, lie repeatedly demanded an investigation of these charges, and challenged hia accusers to produce any responsible man, white or black, to assert this upon his personal knowlege, and promising, when they would do so. he would leave the county, never to return. In all his political meetings he invited the participation of his opponents, and.no one has ever been able to produce any argument or appeal from him calculated to bring about discord between the -races. He was called the "man of violence.” 1 leave it to the public to decide jwho were the men of violence during this-ojtnrfiaign. When the mob of tlie 26th of his life, and he was ordered, thief and outlaw, to leave his home and fdniily. and these demands made ta the preseufie of his family—the sanctuary of his hometiol 1 utedyfiy these lawless scenes, even over tag <n’adle of his almost dying babe—was therefrom him or hia friends one single act of violence or retaliation ? Midnight asaissins, in a band of twelve or fifteen strong, gathered themselves iu ambush on the public road, one mile frorti Yazoo City, to murder him on the night of his anticipated return to his home from a visit to some friends ip the country. Did Henry Dixon or any of his friends retaliate by highway murder, or any attempt so to do? And when the last heartrending scene of this dark tragedy was enacted and my busband lay slaughtered in these streets, was there any attempt at revenge? If he had used incendiary influence upon the colored race, as was asserted in the Democratic resolutions, would not this have been the wmasien for an outbreak of violence on the part of the colored people?

That he was gddicted to cards I admit, ns he •was also fond of the turf. He bad the means rand leisure to indulge in thesqamuseinente, and to the injury of no one; they were at his own expense, and often in the society of his accusers. W hile these amusements are not to be commended, when before were such charges ever used for political capital, and by men who were equally culpable? Were this test applied to all who occupy the highest offices of our country, 1 fear our Congress-halls and Senate-chambers would lose some of , their brightest ornaments. He was a strictly temperate man. anti no one had more regard and appreciation for the virtue and chastity of woman. As an enemy, he was bold and aggressive; as a friend, he Was warm, affectionate, and true as steel. That he was not the outlaw portrayed by his political tradneers, I refer to the fact that at his funeral was gathered a isrger cone, mrse of people than have ever assembled at this place to pay the last sad tribute of respect to the dead. Widows and orphans, who always found in him a friend, stood over bis pulseless form, and wept that his generous heart could never again respond to their appeals. Strong men showed the tenderness of women when thev came to look for the last time upon the form of him they had loved so well in life. He was the friend of the oppressed and the unfortunate, and his heart and hand always open to the cry of the needy. Btave almost to rashness, he would have scorned to take advantage of his bitterest foe. Tender and chivalrous, he was a friend to the weak and defenseless. When the bitter strife which rules the hour has passed away, then will justice be done the memory of my murdered husband, even in Yazoo County. For the take of his brokenhearted wife and six fatherless children, may this day soon arrive. That it is unsafe now for even his friends to express their natural sympathy tor his cruel death, 1 quote an extract from the Yazoo City Herald of the 22d. In commenting upon the assassination it says: "To men of the opposite party we would say, bridle your tongues, curb your paasiows, and do the young man who escaped unharmed, even though four shots were fired by his opponents (these shots were fired by my husband after he was shot in the back, his right hand broken and mutilated, the pangs of death already upon him; of course the young man escaped unharmed). no injustice by false accusations concerning him one way or another. It will put no money in your pockets or bring honor to yonr homes.” When before were charity and sympathy for a murdered man and hia family demanded to be suppressed for fear of doing harm or injury to his slayer! When the honor of men s homes and their purses ore threatened to cheek the outpourings of sympathy for an unfortunate friyad, or to prevent comment upon what they thunk a deed of violence or wrong, then indeed arc we no linger a free people. When the Czar of Russia, for State reasons, takes off toe head of a Nihilist, be could scarcely do worse than to threaten the friends with dishonor and poverty for an expression of regret or sympathy. “It brings no honor to their homes.” What does " dishonor to their homes” mean ? Not poverty, for that is also a separate threat “ Who steals my purse steals trash; tis something, nothing, 'twas mine, is his, and has lieen slave to thousands; but he that filches my good name robs me of that which not enriches him. and makes me poor indeed.” Friends of my forefather, friends of my youth, friends of my murdered husband, at the peril of your honor and your fortunes, dare not deplore or comment upon an act that took the life of a fond husband and father, a faithful and true friend. My ancestors lived and died among you without stain or reproach. I was born ana reared on Yazoo soil; yet the sympathies of good men and women must be denied me and mine for fear of injuring the murderer of my husband. If this be not a political murder, why is the Herald so careful to stifle public sentiment and so eager to prejudge this case? When before was a citizen of any town shot down without warning, the case tried, and judgment rendered beforehand by the journals? Andi if this was not a political matter, why did the Democratic Convention make tnat appendage to their scurrilous resolutions passed on the 15th of August, which reads as follows?: “The names of two reliable men have been handed to the Secretary of this meeting stating that threats of assassination have been made by H. M. Drxon against James Barksdale, Democratic candidate for Chancery Clerk.” Pointing to thia my busband said to some of his friends: "That means murder; 1 am to be assassinated; this is another way to prepare the public mind for it; 1 shall demand the author of this slander—hold him responsible; also inform James Barksdale I hr.ve never made such threats;” all of which he swears in his dying testimony, under oath, and in view of eternity, to have done the day before he was murdered. My husband was an infidel, say his accusers, the Democratic Committee. No one of their falsehoods has less foundation than this. In the Srivacy of bis home,find in his serious momenta, id he always avow bis firm belief in the Christian religion. While he was not a pious man, he was not a scoffer nor a skeptic. No man for his means contributed more largely to the support of the churches of this place than he. A few hours before his death he was baptized in the Catholic Church, and his last word was " Bible.” When dying be forgave his murderers, saying: "I had rather been killed than to have killed any of tn®!®." And at his bedside kneit two Stay ters of the Holy Order of Nazareth, anddfferea up prayers for the departing soul of him who during 4he epidemic of last year had nursed their priest and assisted in laying away their after the-shooting of my husband, telegrams were hastily sent from this place by the Chairman and others of the Democratic Committee, Mating that he was killed in a "street-fight,” “personal encounter, etc. It takes two parties to make an “encounter, a ” street-fight;” and in this affair the murderer was the only actor. ;. . My husband, after being shot in the back,ln th broken and mutilated hand, and in a fainting condition, crawled up a stairway opposite, and fired hia pistol four times, with broken right hand supported by the left hand. Here ta my husband’s dying testimony, taken by our estimable and faithful Mayor, who was the only ofiioer who dared perforin his duty wh< nthe mob of the 35th of July threatened to rash into our home '» ,

tear my hiuband from bis family, to oomchit the deed of violence fur which they were tbintinir. At UJO o’clock on the muroitqc of the 19th my hnsband wm (•ronght home on a lounge leirne by the populace, naked to lu* waist, Um: City rbvaimnu having tufn off hl* clothing nown the street, to yxamine hi* wounds. When placed spun hi* lied, my husband gasped: “Oh! fam murdered;'’ then, afters moment or so, "for nothing, if 1 could only live long enounb to tell it all." Then, upon the arrival of Mayor Holt, my hunband. being duly sworn, made the following statement: *' 1 was walking down the street As 1 neared McCormick’s drugstore 1 saw Jim Barksdale and W. D. Gibhs [who, by the way, is Democratic Htate Henator) standing in the do.>r. 1 thought I could get by without being attacked (although for two weeks I not gorire down the street expecting to get back alive), when, just ae 1 got opposite McCormick «, Jim Barksdale rushed out into the middle of the street..’and began firing at me. 1 felt that I was badly shot and made for a stairway near; crawled up, sat on the top step, and fired my pistol until I fainted.’ In a cross-examination Mr. Holt naked him if he saw Jim Barksdale with a gun. "I did see him with a Mr. Molt asked if he saw anyone else shoot "I did not” Mr. Holt asked if Jim Barksdale spoke at -all, and if Barksdale fired first. ” I did not bear a soubd. and did not dream of immediate danger until I felt that I was badly shot in the back." Mr, Holt asked my husband if he had ever threatened Jim Barksdale's life, or made any threats of any nature. " Never in my life, and only yesterday sent a friend who told him I was innocent of all charges. I wrote the same to the Democratic Executive Committee, also to John Posey (who was Secretary of the Mass Convention when those scnrrilous resolutions were read], and demanded of Posey the names of the two men who con Id say they had ever heard me plotting the assassination of Barksdale. He refused their name?., saying t at I wished to attack them. 1 ngain sent to him that I did not - I bad no desire or wish to harm any oneonly wished to clear ut> the groundless charges and the plot which I had seen gradually thickening against me. He again refused the names, saying that he would confront me.” My husband said, before dying: “I had rather been killed thnn to have killed any of them”; and. when I exolaimed; “Oh, no! 1 would that you had killed them all. and yonr life had been spared to me." he said, " No. no, von must not say that.” He also said: " I wish Jim Barksdale was here to sue a brave man die.” Then some members of the Democratic Executive Committee, or those who indorsed those scurrilous resolutions of the 15th of August, have reconsidered the convictions they held at the time of wiy husband’s imprisonment for the murder (as they in those resolutions call it, the cold-blooded" murder) of Samuel Harrison. 1 herewith append an extract from a letter written my husband by the Hon. John 0. Prewitt, brother-in-law to James A. Barksdale, while my husband lav in prison. He states in a letter of March 5.1878: "I know you are an innocent and persecuted man, and I sincerely hope that you may come out redeemed and cleanped from all stain. The people are always right; they will vindicate you in the end; and they will never forget the gallant man who drove out their plunderers and oppressors in the historic year of 1875.” Then again. April 13. he says: With kindest regards and the hope that you will be acquitted, not only on account of yourself, but your wife and children, and because of your innocence. I am. very truly and sincerely, J. C. Prewitt.” Thus, a man of legal ability, and never at any time a particular friend of my busband, declares his opinion that he was an innocent and persecuted man,” This ends my statement, honest and true, sacred to the memory of my murdered husband.

MRS. H. M. DIXON.