USA > Mississippi > Pike County > Pike county. Mississippi, 1789-1876: pioneer families and Confederate soldiers, reconstruction and redemption > Part 28
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At the beginning of the speaking they stood afar off, but were gradually coaxed up around the stand during the closing address, when they received enlightenment on the forty acres and a mule and the Freedmans Bank swindles, with an illustration of how they ob-
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tained their pork and beans at the hands of Benjamin Lampton, the President of the Tylertown Club, whose interests they had been casting their votes to cripple; and if the members of this club who they had voted against in the past were to cut off their supplies, they, with their wives and children would starve to death in ten days, unless they went to stealing, which would result in every one of them being hung.
This was an opportune occasion and the first and only one when a Democrat got a shot at them from his mouthpiece, and they were admonished that the time had come when there must be a change in their attitude toward those who gave them houses to live in and furnished them the necessities of life; and there was going to be a change if every negro had to be swept from the face of the earth; and before the dawn of the day of the November election they would hear it thunder as it had never thundered before in Pike County.
The writer does not say it boastfully, but he was almost constantly in the saddle or on other conveyance visiting clubs and arranging details to make sure of the result on the day of the election. A large amount of powder was obtained for different neighborhoods and election precincts to be used the night before the election. A torch light horseback procession was arranged to make a circuit from Holmesville around by China Grove to Tylertown and return. This procession was headed by Jesse K. Brumfield and the editor of the Magnolia Herald, who rode side by side the entire circuit of over thirty miles. The pine tree cannonading began about ten o'clock and con- tinued through the night. The torch light procession proceeded by China Grove and stopped for a few minutes at the residence of Hon. A. S. Bishop, where there was an exchange of courtesies in which Mrs. Bishop and some other ladies participated with most gracious hospitality and kindness. From here it proceeded to Tylertown, recrossing Magees Creek and passing by the old Smith place and the old home of Sampson L. Lamkin. During this time the horse of Jesse Brumfield took fright and lunged against the horse of the writer, causing a severe and painful sprain of his left knee. Some little excitement was produced in the ranks by the report that a body of
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negroes were in ambush, but nothing checked the procession. Rans Lewis, the only negro in Pike County who had never voted the Re- publican ticket, but always voted the Democratic ticket, was with this procession from start to finish.
The procession arrived at Tylertown about twelve o'clock, where a large crowd of people, containing some negroes, awaited it. Mrs. Benjamin Lampton had prepared supper for a few. After partaking of this last supper with a much beloved aunt, the writer was forced to respond to repeated calls.
During the year and through the campaign of 1876 the White League and the Bulldoozer organizations were kept up in Louisiana and in Mississippi. The most persistent and bitter opponents and denouncers of these organizations were the carpetbaggers-political adventurers, seekers after the flesh-pots, and ambitious negro poli- ticians. The United States military and government authorities were not on friendly terms with them either. It was a bold peasantry indeed that would arm themselves and assert their inherent rights against such tremendous odds. Mississippi had complied with the terms of the reconstruction laws. It was self-government they claim- ed and the overthrow of a system which was bankrupting the tax- payers, who were the white, bona fide citizens of the State.
The State of Louisiana had been trampled under foot and the right of self-government completely overthrown by an insolent soldiery and it was deliberately approved by nearly a unanimous vote of the Re- publican majority in the United States Senate.
In his message to Congress in February, President Grant proposed the invasion of Arkansas and the overthrow of the government of that State, then in the hands of the men he had already recognized. What then could be expected for Mississippi, even after she had deposed the military and impeached the usurping Governor Ames?
An incident occurred in the town of Magnolia during this time to indicate the cool determination of the White League and Bulldoozer organizations. One of their number had been arrested and confined in the county jail at Magnolia. John Q. Travis was Sheriff, F. W. Collins, First Deputy, and Dave Walker, Under Deputy. A band of
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about seventy-five White Leaguers, said to be from Louisiana, unex- pectedly appeared just on the outskirts of the western part of town and went into camp on the Minnehaha Creek, in old time cavalry fashion, late in the afternoon. The Sheriff and his deputies were un- able to cope with such a body of men so unexpectedly appearing at the county seat, even if they had attempted or committed an overt act. They simply went into camp and proceeded to broil their meat and cook their hoecakes and procure feed for their horses, "very deliberately." After dark the Sheriff sent his Deputy, Dave Walker, and one or two other persons out to spy and scout around to ascertain their objects. Walker was captured and held a prisoner all night. Scouting parties of this command were sent all over Magnolia making inquiries for the Sheriff, after night set in. It was a bright moonshine night. The Sheriff took refuge in the residence of Rev. Farris, a Baptist minister, and went to bed. Deputy Sheriff Collins became the guest of the editor of the Magnolia Herald, who had the reputation of being the Bulldoozer mouthpiece. The whole town of Magnolia soon got into a fever of excitement over the invasion of the Louisiana Bulldozers and their determined effort to capture the Sheriff of Pike County and his deputies. After assuring Mr. Collins of perfect se- curity and protection at his home, the editor of the Herald walked out on the streets and encountered several squads and conversed with them. They said they wanted to find the Sheriff to get the jail key to get their friend out of jail and they intended to have him or tear the jail open, if they could not get the key. The editor suggested to them that they all retire to camp and wait till after breakfast time in the morning; that they could not find the officers even by searching every house in town, perhaps; to go back to camp and tell their com- mander to wait till morning and ride in to the court house square; that the Chancery Clerk was authorized under the law to fix the amount of the bond and they could get their comrade out of jail without violence and that there were some people in the community who would be pleased at their success in order that they themselves might escape apparent danger. The suggestion was adopted and the following day
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the bond was fixed and the prisoner released, when the troop disap- peared as mysteriously as it came.
It is estimated that over forty thousand negroes were enrolled in the Democratic ranks and voted the Democratic ticket in the fall election of 1876. A tremendous majority was given in the State for Samuel J. Tilden for President.
In Pike County there was a clear gain of six hundred votes for the Democratic ticket over the returns of the election of 1875.
From the very first pioneer who settled in Pike County territory, in 1799, there had not been any census of the county taken or re- ported until 1820, when the population was shown to be 4,438, five years after the county was formed. In 1860, it was shown to be II,- 135; in 1870, 11,303; in 1880, 16,688; in 1890, 21,203; and in 1900, 27,545.
In consequence of the ravages of war and the revolutionary con- dicions prevailing the next five years after its close, the increase of the population of the county from 1860 to 1870 was only 168, while the next ten years showed an increase of 5,365.
After the re-establishment of authority and government by the white people and the restoration of peace and confidence, the gain was commensurate therewith, and the growth in population, prosperity, wealth and happiness that followed, the fulfillment of the aims of the leaders and the rank and file of the White League.
Tilden and Hendricks were elected President and Vice-President at this election by a large popular vote and by a majority of the elec- toral college, but so determined were those of the Republican party in control of the executive and legislative branches of the United States government to keep the Democratic candidates out that a measure was passed by the Congress to render the decision of the election in a manner contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, and so stultifying in its character as to stamp the Republican candi- date who was declared elected by this fraudulent act, as "His Fraud- ulency R. B. Hayes," thus adding another chapter of scandal to the name of the United States government, in its shameful record through- out the war against the Southern States and the reconstruction era.
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Infamous as the crime was in making R. B. Hayes President, it will always be remembered of him that he exerted himself in a laud- able way to harmonize the bitter feeling of the Southern people engen- dered during Grant's administration, by removing the United States troops and stopping their interference in State affairs; and from his administration dates the beginning of the rehabiliment of Mississippi.
Let the recollections of the past be a lesson for those who come in the future to teach them to love their country and adhere to the fun- damental principles upon which the government and their liberties were founded though the heavens fall.
"Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay; Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, A breath can make them as a breath is made.
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied; 'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land."
WILD JIM BARNES.
In its early history there existed in the State of Mississippi a band of outlaws, and many were the scenes enacted that gave rise to exag- gerated sensational reports of lawlessness which frustrated the au- thorities as to the methods best to be adopted to defeat the schemes concocted by them to further their aims in depredating on the live stock and other movable property of farmers and others that the organization operated on.
There was an organization known as Copeland's Clan. This clan had a line of operation from Alabama, through Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, and along this line there lived a class of farmers who were in league with the clan, aiding and abetting their work and harboring the active operators. A system of relays was established so that a horse could be stolen from a community and, during the
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night, hurried off twenty miles to the next man and the actual thief back at the place of theft without being missed from the neighbor- hood and the horse hurried on to the next relay and so on until he was entirely out of reach, without the owner being able to get trace of him, and thus back and forth through a wide area the work went on for many years, until finally it was broken up by the Governor of Mississippi, who put a detective at work among them. They were sometimes called "Border Beagles" and a book was pub- lished bearing that title, giving a history of their operations. But there was what we may call a tail end to this clan which revived some years after the main head had been chopped off, that operated in scattered sections, almost every county in the State being more or less troubled at times with its work. This is reverted to in order to reach the subject of this article, who, many thought, back in the fif- ties, belonged to an organized clan during that time.
Wild Jim Barnes was a native of Marion County and in his early training was given advantage of a good education. He sprang from one of the best pioneer families of that county and was considered to be a young man of model characteristics up to a certain period of his life, when he was set adrift in pursuit of a livelihood by his own exertions. In connection with his excellent education he possessed a most remarkable memory, and was considered a prodigy in this particular gift. Everything he heard was indelibly stereotyped on his brain, and, like the graphophone, had only to be wound up for the occasion to reproduce whatever he wished, and with this remarkable talent he was possessed of the gift of oratory, witticism and sarcasm to a wonderful degree. Whenever the occasion presented itself he could and would reproduce any speech or sermon he ever heard and even in his early manhood he got to be a regular encyclopedia of ser- mons, speeches and prayers. He figured in Pike County to some ex- tent and gave to the writer, in his boyhood, a lesson he never forgot. He was a prisoner in 1858, in the town of Holmesville, and was kept under guard until a trial could be had on the charges preferred against him, as the county jail had been destroyed by fire when the only pris- oner in it at the time was cremated in the building. The writer was
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one of the guards appointed by the Sheriff to watch at night, and this fact gave rise to the information which this article contains.
He was arrested ac the instance of Robert Ligon, a justice of the peace, in the town of Summit, charged with grand larceny. His witticism was pointed and side-splitting at times. He was a great talker and always commanded an attentive audience. He ridiculed the officer who had him arrested on such a charge and characterized his court as a nonentity. A famous expression fell from his lips in which he stated that "a bright idea has as much room for navigation in that officer's brain as a frog has in Lake Erie."
On one occasion he was taken to jail and delivered an interesting sermon to a large crowd, on cucumberology, taking "the cool cucum- ber" as his text, and declared, with vehement emphasis, eloquence and convincing argument that the cucumber was as apt to be saved as some of the gourd-headed upstarts who had filed affidavit against him on charges they could not prove, based upon the best of their knowledge and belief, which was merely a freak of their imagination.
Wild Jim Barnes traveled from Alabama to Texas, and back and forth, which gave rise to the supposition that he was following an unlawful avocation and belonged to one of the numerous gangs of horse and negro thieves that infested the South in those days, and it took considerable means to pay expenses. Horseback was the prin- cipal mode of traveling, on account of the character of the roads, trails and by-paths that had to be followed to reach given points in sparsely settled sections. There were no railroads nor telegraph lines, and the facilities for the transmission of news was through the slow process of the mails carried on horseback or by stage, and the outlaw or the one engaged in a questionable avocation could out travel these and be far away before the news would reach a point desired. Jim often got hard pressed for money to meet his demands, but he was resourceful, and when he got into a good neighborhood it was said he would hold divine services, either Baptist or Methodist, as occasion fitted, prayer meeting, protracted meetings and Sunday sermons, for the betterment of the community and particularly for the better- ment of his empty pocketbook, and he always left full handed. Wheth-
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er Wild Jim Barnes was the originator of this style of raising funds for the depleted finances of the ministry in South Mississippi and else- where, there is no positive proof, but it was practicable and Jim may have been the originator of it for aught we know. It is said at times, when he wanted to "raise a flush," he would sell his horse and then hold a big meeting, make a poor mouth to the brethren about having lost his horse, being on his way to fill a mission or attend a special call at a great distance. He proved his mission by his ability to preach and would hold meetings and give them some of his fine sermons, and his gift of oratory and entertainment never failed him. He would stir up their religious feelings and sympathy and always got a new horse, and then when he reached a suitable village or town he was ready for a game of poker, or a horse race.
One of his impressive sermons, for the "hat act," was on the sub- ject of homes, the text being taken from the 5th chapter and 9th verse "of the gospel of our Lord, by Isaiah."
"In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant." Care was taken to impress upon his hearers that a homeless man was a sad subject to contemplate and how wholly dependent the servant of the Lord was on the brethren of the church for sustenance and support to enable him to satisfactorily discharge his duties to his flock. God had given to us all the privilege to locate a home and build a house · and be the possessor of all that we need; but when we thought we had reached the height of our desires for comfort and happiness, a wave of illness would spread over the land and the angel of death appear, and behold the house made desolate. It is the house well provided and administered that gives the happiness He intended we should enjoy on this earth, and when we believe in Him and do His will, we will be rewarded abundantly, as was the case with Job, until he fell into the meshes of the devil. When we lay aside the will of the Lord that moment the devil reaches out and takes us by the hand and leads us astray from the paths of righteousness and we become sorely afflicted. Job was always patient, so say the Scriptures, and . he believed it was for his own good that affliction was put upon him,
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and it was well that he believed this that he might bear his affliction with more patience. But I am not exactly prepared to say that I would feel as Job did.
"Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant," says the text, and in the palace as well as in the hovel there shall be desolation.'
"And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled," says the prophet, Isaiah, and we see it all through our lives.
No man or woman should fail to perform the duties devolved upon them in responding to the calls made upon them by one of the Maker's servants who has laid aside all he possessed to administer to the spiritual needs of His children. Christ has said: "Sell all thou hast and follow me," and now there is an opportunity presented for those whose alms should be freely given, if they would escape afflic- tion and torment, and desire to obtain everlasting life, lest the house become desolate. Let your light SHINE so that it will be acceptable to the Lord, that you may feel the consolation that you have given freely of your great abundance to advance His Divine Will." And then Brother Barnes would submit his distressed condition to the congregation through one of the deacons whom he had previously coached to make the call for help. Success always crowned his efforts.
When the Civil War broke out Wild Jim Barnes joined a compnay that became a part of the Thirty-third Mississippi Regiment, command- ed by Col. David W. Hurst, Featherston's Brigade, Loring's Division, of the Army of Tennessee, C. S. A., and performed the duties of a faithful soldier. But he kept up his old practice of preaching for profit in the army, taking up collections to buy blankets for the boys, and gambling. Whenever a chance offered, when near a large town, he would have it announced that Brother Barnes of the 33rd Mississippi would hold divine services in one of the churches and he would preach one of his most stirring sermons, and always made a good hit and a good haul, in Confederate money, which he divided generously with the members of his company, and when monotonous
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camp life was on and the boys wanted something refreshing, they would call on him to hold a meeting. He always responded as sin- cerely and earnestly as if he had been a regularly ordained minister.
A man who could thus command the wages of a minister of the gospel and be a mischievous runabout and sportsman was an enigma to all who knew Wild Jim Barnes. He may have lived in its atmos- phere as happily as any person performing the regularly ordained and acknowledged functions of the Church, and perhaps more so. We have no evidence that he ever gave a thought to anything of great- er value to himself or to the world. While he was a genius and a man qualified to stand aloof from such conduct as that attributed to him, he never gave to mankind any evidence of heroic self-abnegation that belongs to those whose lives are free from stain. If he possessed talents to advance a great cause it would seem reasonable that there is something in the personal influence of a Creator on man for special purposes.
Here we have a man with power of thought, of language, eloquence and witticism and great memory traveling over the country as itin- erant minister at times and at others filling the roll of a gambler, or of a vagabond from established moral society. He performed the farce act for the ministerial department of churches on his own hook at a time when ignorance and superstition predominated a large class of the people in sections where he operated, a representation of hypoc-' risy, of a class who believe they only were the elect and saints on earth and who abused the power entrusted to them by humbugging the people, as illustrated by Wild Jim Barnes, who gave to the world the picture of saintly ministry for personal profit as proof of a plan which has dominated the ministerial forces of the Christian churches, as evidenced in later history, and which with thinking men has dam- aged the cause of Christianity; and religion has been prostitut- ed in the glow and glitter of costly edifices and paraphernalia for the edification of the rich and haughty, while the poor and meek and the lowly are driven to the hovels, beshamed and denied association with those they can not reach in personal adornment. The relig- ion of the holy Jesus who was born in a manger and whose teachings
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and examples were of the purest simplicity and suited to all mankind has been superseded by the glamor of costly temples, where wealth revels and where souls that are earnest and sincere are denied entrance without pay; and to raise means to sustain these establishments and their belongings, great advertisements and bill posters are sent abroad announcing protracted revival meetings which are turned into collection bureaux, while millions are starving on account of the taxation. In the widespread competition for supremacy every Chris- tian Church is struggling to outclass its rival in gorgeous temples of worship.
Beneath the starry dome of heaven, the blue canopy above us, nor in the woodland groves where nature spreads out in wholesome glory, are not good enough places to commune with God. We live in an age when wealth stands as the personification of all that is great and good, and the mean man who has a rented pew set aside for his own exclusive occupancy is not disposed to worship and com- mune alongside of his neighbor whose bank account is inferior to his own.
And this reminds us of a story told on Bob Ingersoll. While a country lawyer in Illinois, he visited a large city, and, as was his cus- tom, he attended church to get new material for his lectures and seated himself in the first convenient pew. Soon afterward the renter of the pew walked in, faultlessly dressed, and seeing his pew occupied by a stranger, drew a card from his pocket and wrote upon it the fol- lowing: "You are occupying my pew; I pay $500 a year for that pew." This he handed to the old pagan through the usher. Inger- soll reversed the card and wrote the following: "You pay too damned much," which he handed to the five hundred dollar pew man and walked out.
Wild Jim Barnes gave to the world all that was necessary to illus- trate what has been written, and he made a point which cannot be refuted, and in doing this, he may have performed the work as- signed to him by his Creator.
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