Tom Roberts- The Daily Standard

Title

Source Type

Newspaper

Publisher

J.B. Neathery & Co.

Publication Place

Raleigh, North Carolina

Publication Date

05/22/1986

Transcript

A commission appointed by the Governor of Alabama has fully investigated the recent Jawless events at Tuscaloosa. Some three or four weeks since, two white men, who were under the influence of liquor, were riding through the streets of that city, when they overtook a colored boy, and thought it would be a fine operation for them to carry him off. The father of the lad, and a col- ored friend pursued and overtook them. An exciting conversation followed, but no acts of violence were committed on either side. The white men, however, vowed ven- geance. They belonged to a gang of des- peradoes, about fifty in number, who live in Sipsey Swamp. The next day they rallied a number of their gang, and proceeded to the house of the father of the colored boy referred to. Preparations had been made to receive them, however. The negroes de- fended themselves vigorously, and killed one of their assailants. Thus ended the day. The Sipseyites, thenceforward, were determined to avenge the blood of their comrade ; and the freedmen, becoming panic- stricken, dispersed in every direction. In the succeeding two days, two negroes were murdered, and one Sipseyite was wounded, through the carelessness of one of his own party, and amputation was followed by death. One freedman was regularly arres- ted, on a warrant, and to save him from the fury of the mob. But such was not the re- sult. The night after the Sipscyites learned of his arrest, they took him from the jail and murdered'him in cold blood. The Sip- sey gang has long been a terror, and the public of all shades of politics condemn the.m. Vigorous measures are now being taken against them.

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