Persecution in the South.
By Editor
We sometimes receive letters from “my policy” men, asking if we publish lies about the persecution of Union men in the South. In reply we would say, it would give us great pleasure indeed if we could only believe these reports were false, but the evidence is so conclusive, and the proof so overwhelming, that the bitter partisan can only deny it. Below we give a short extract from a report of Rev. J. F. Chalfant, late Pastor of Trinity M. E. Church, Cincinnati, and now Superintendent of Mission for the M. E. Church in Western Georgia and Alabama:—Christian Press. HAS THE GENERAL STATE OF SOCIETY IMPROVED IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS?
Let the following facts answer: 1. The massacre of colored people at Memphis. The result is summed up by the investigating committee as follows; let it go upon the record, and go down to posterity: Colored people killed, 46; whites, 2; rapes on colored women, 5; mal-treatment, 10; robberies, 100; houses and cabins burned, 91; churches, 9; school-houses, 12. Value of property destroyed, $130,991. Most of these colored people were murdered in cold blood; men and women were shot in bed; little children were dragged out, and their brains clubbed out on the spot. In one instance, a sick girl, one of the most promising scholars in Memphis, arose from her bed and rushed out of the flames, but was shot and thrown back and burned to a crisp. 2. The mysterious removal of two teachers, Foster and M'Cool, from Corinth, Miss. They were modest, inoffensive young men, from Ohio. Threats were made against them, of which they took no notice, but proceeded with their school, sleeping in the school-house, for they could find no white family who would board them. One night after a heavy discharge of musketry about their house, all was still, and next morning they were gone. They have never been seen or heard of since, though the Mayor of Corinth and the Freedmen’s Bureau have put forth commendable efforts to find out the men who removed them; as yet they have learned nothing. A young lady then undertook to teach the school; she taught but one day, for that night the house was burned down. 3. The reception of anonymous letters and threats. One Union man in Huntsville has received as many as four or five, warning him to leave. Threats of personal violence have been made against the superintendent of the work of the M. E. Church. Efforts of a public and private character to bring in to disrepute the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church—the studied effort to prevent our purchasing property for school and church purposes—the circulating of a slanderous181report through the societies formed by Rev. Mr. Lakin, in Jackson county, Ala., that he had been convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced to the penitentiary, and had finally run away. 4. The surrounding of the place of worship in La Grange, Ga., where Rev. J. H. Caldwell was holding services, and annoying them from evening to evening, firing as many as thirty to forty shots of an evening, so the whistle of the bullets could be distinctly heard about their heads. 5. The holding of an indignation meeting because we dared to visit Oxford, Ga., and preach to the colored people; and the writing of an insulting letter, calling in question the character of one of the oldest and most reputable ministers of the Georgia Conference, for no cause, except he had come back to his mother, the Methodist Episcopal Church. 6. The burning of one church at Jonesboro, Ga., as soon as purchased by the Methodist Episcopal Church; and the burning of a school-house in another portion of our work in Georgia. 7. The persecution and annoyance of Union men in other fields, till such men as Rev. Jno. Murphy and Rev. J. W. Talley cry out, one, “We cannot stand it much longer unless the Government protects. Is there no help? Why do rebels reign?” and the other, “Our persecutions are as great as Wesley’s.” These facts, with scores of others that now lie before us, go to show the state of society in this country. Will any man say that the rights of conscience are respected, that Union or Northern citizens are respected?