charged in the vicinity of the voting place.
4. That at about eleven o'clock the sheriff of the county, a white man
and a Republican, who had been a colonel in the rebel army, made a
brief address to the Republican voters in which he said that there could
be no election and advised them to go to their homes. This they did
without delay. The sheriff locked himself in the jail where he remained
until the events of the day were ended. General Davis insisted that
all these demonstrations of apparent hostility had no significance--
that the artillery men had no ammunition--that the cavalry men were
assembled for sport only--and that the discharge of muskets was made by
boys and lawless persons, but without malice.

In many parts of the State the canvass previous to the election was
characterized by assassinations and midnight murders. But all were
explained upon non-political grounds.

In 1878 General Davis offered himself to the electors as a Democratic
candidate for Congress. The convention nominated another person. He
then entered the field as an independent candidate. He was defeated,
or rather the Democrat was declared to have been elected. The
Republicans had voted for Davis, and when the contest was decided by
the returning board Davis published a letter in which he charged upon
the Democratic leaders the conduct which in 1876, he had explained and
defended. After the election of General Harrison in 1888, General Davis
appeared at Indianapolis as a Republican, and as such he had an
interview with the President-elect.

While I was conducting the investigation at Jackson, a stout negro from
the plantation sought an interview with me after he had been examined
by the committee. He was a mulatto of unusual sense, but he was under
a strong feeling in regard to the outrages that had been perpetrated
upon the negro race.

Finally he said: "Had we not better take off the leaders? We can do it
in a night."

I said: "No. It would end in the sacrifice of the black population.
It would be as wrong on your part as is their conduct towards you.
Moreover, we intend to protect you, and in the end you will be placed
on good ground."

There is, however, a lesson and a warning in what that negro said. If
the wrongs continue, some "John Brown" black or white, may appear in
Mississippi or South Carolina or in several states at once, and engage
in a vain attempt to regain the rights of the negro race by brutal
crime