572 



MISSISSIPPI. 



official duties by an armed insurrection, notwith- 

 standing and in defiance of rny proclamation on the 

 4th instant : 



Now, therefore, I, Adelbert Ames, Governor of 

 the State of Mississippi, by virtue of the authority 

 vested in me by the seventh section of the fifth arti- 

 cle of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi, 

 do issue this my proclamation convening in extra 

 session the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, at 

 the Capitol, in the city of Jackson, at 12 o'clock, 

 meridian, on Thursday, the 17th day of December, 

 A. D. 1874. 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the Great Seal of the State of Mississippi 

 to be affixed this 8th day of December, A. D. 1874. 

 ADELBEET AMES. 



By the Governor : 



JAMES HILL, Secretary of State. 



Pursuant to this summons, the Legislature 

 assembled in Jackson on the 17th of Decem- 

 ber. In reviewing the subject which the Legis- 

 lature had been convened to consider, Governor 

 Ames said : 



To-day, in Warren County, the laws and authority 

 of the State are set at defiance. Although there is 

 not in that county^ a single militia officer, they have 

 organized companies and regiments, officered by men 

 who pretend to act by authority of the State, exer- 

 cising all the functions of an independent sover- 

 eignty, even so far as to search the homes of citizens 

 of different political faith to take from them their 

 arms, incarcerate them in jail, compelling legally- 

 elected officials to resign their offices, and, above ail, 

 putting citizens to death, without even the formali- 

 ties of law. 



Officials and prominent men holding political views 

 different from the insurgents, have been compelled 

 to flee, and even the Judges of the State courts, 

 though one of those courts was in session, were 

 forced to escape under cover of night that they might 

 not fall a sacrifice to the mob. 



It is pretended that their acts of bloodshed were a 

 necessity; that men were fighting for their homes, 

 their families, and their firesides. But how inad- 

 equate the plea when we know that those who went 

 to the city of Vicksburg from. Warren County, as 

 many did, left their homes, their families, and their 

 firesides, absolutely unprotected, in the midst of a 

 large population of the very class they were engaged 

 in shooting down ! Had they believed there was 

 danger they would not, they could not, have aban- 

 doned them ; for had those they pretended to fear 

 the purpose to destroy, they could have done so 

 without opposition. 



By armed men riding through the county, this 

 persecuted class have been maltreated and intimi- 

 dated till a perfect reign of terror prevails. Such 

 has been, and is, the condition of affairs in Warren 

 County. 



What is the real or pretended cause therefor? A 

 recent grand-jury indicted one official, two ex-fficials 

 (clerks of the courts), and the sheriff's bonds are 

 claimed to be insufficient and invalid. It is also as- 

 serted that another cause of action was a fear, real 

 or imaginary, that the petit jury for the trial of these 

 indicted persons might be organized to acquit. 



These are proclaimed as the causes for the at- 

 tempted expulsion of these officials from office, the 

 interruption of the State courts, the violations of the 

 laws, and defiance of the authority of the State. 



No single legal remedy has been exhausted. The 

 petit jury had not been organized. The sheriff could 

 have been restrained from continuing to act as sher- 

 iff and tax-collector until he should comply with the 

 requirements of the law with regard to his bonds by 

 injunction, upon application to any one of the thirty- 

 three Chancellors and Circuit Judges of the State, 

 or any one of the Supreme Court Judges. And, upon 



proper showing to the Chancellor, could have been 

 required to give new bonds, either as sheriff or tax- 

 collector, or both. Yet not the first step was taken 

 to remedy any grievance by such injunction, nor by 

 such application to the Chancellor. 



The subject was at once taken up by the 

 Legislature, and on the following day, the 18th, 

 the subjoined majority report was adopted : 



Whereas, It is provided in the Constitution of the 

 United States, article IV., section 4, that the United 

 States shall guarantee to every State in the Union 

 protection to each State against domestic violence, 

 on application of the Legislature of that State ; and 



Whereas^ In the county of Warren, in the State of 

 Mississippi, several of the legally elected and acting 

 officers of said county, including the sheriff thereof, 

 by force and violence on the part of lawless persons, 

 have been compelled to abandon, and have been pre- 

 vented from exercising the duties of their respective 

 offices ; and the public property, including the court- 

 house, the jail, together with the prisoners lawfully 

 confined therein, and the public records of said 

 county, have been taken possession of by like force 

 and violence, and are still held by such lawless and 

 unauthorized persons, contrary to and in defiance of 

 the laws of said State ; and 



Whereas, In consequence of such illegal and vio- 

 lent acts, as aforesaid, many of the peaceable citizens 

 of said county have been killed, and a large number, 

 through fear of violence, have been compelled to 

 abandon their homes and families, and forced to seek 

 protection by flight and concealment, and are still 

 unable to peaceably return to and occupy their re- 

 spective abodes ; and 



Whereas, Certain lawless, armed, and riotous per- 

 sons, in flagrant violation of the Constitution and 

 laws of the United States, and of the State of Mis- 

 sissippi, have made illegal searches of the private 

 houses and persons of citizens of said county of 

 "Warren, have also imprisoned and held for a number 

 of days many of the citizens of said county, includ- 

 ing public officers, without any legal authority and 

 process of law whatever ; and 



Whereas, A large number of armed men from ad- 

 jacent States have invaded the State of Mississippi 

 in aid of such lawless and riotous persons and acts 

 therein, and others have signified their willingness 

 to assist such lawless and riotous persons whenever 

 called upon ; and 



Whereas, The courts of the country have been 

 paralyzed to such extent that they cannot be held, 

 and thus rendered incapable to suppress such violence 

 and to enforce the laws ; and 



Whereas, The chief Executive of the State has no 

 sufficient force at his command, by calling out the 

 militia, nor other adequate power, to suppress such 

 domestic violence, to execute the laws, and to guar- 

 antee full protection to all citizens, irrespective of 

 race, color, or condition, without causing a conflict 

 of races, and thereby endangering life and property 

 to an alarming extent : therefore 



Resolved, by the Senate of the State of Mississippi 

 (the House of Bepresentatives concurring^ That the 

 President of the United States be and is hereby 

 called upon, and urgently requested, by use of the 

 military power at his command, to suppress such 

 domestic violence, to restore peace and order, in this 

 State, and to guarantee to ail citizens the equal and 

 impartial enjoyment of their constitutional and legal 

 rights. Be 'it further 



Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor of this 

 State be and is hereby authorized and requested to 

 transmit, forthwith, the foregoing resolutions, prop- 

 erly attested, to his Excellency the President of the 

 United States. 



At the same time the following minority re- 

 port was submitted : 



We, the undersigned members of the joint com- 



