Is it any wonder that men who substitute brute force for argument, should so strenuously object to the efforts of the executive officers to enforce the law and bring order out of the chaos, into which their wild and licentious acts have plunged the respective communities in which they live? Thinking men will say “nay,” and will ask and demand that the policy now being pursued by the administration shall be continued until the supremacy of the law is fully established, and men of all shades of color and political faith may “sit under their own vine and fig tree, with none to molest or make them afraid.”
Allen Wicker, William Smith, Butcher Smith, James King, and Lewis Kinsey, all residents of Echol county, Ga., and members of the Camp that had decided that Mr. Drigger must surrender his political opinions, leave his home, or die, were the persons upon whom the officers of the United States Secret Service fastened the guilt of this outrage.
AN APPALLING TRAGEDY.
TERRIBLE DEATH OF A WHITE MAN IN WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA.
One of the most appalling tragedies ever resulting from the free expression of political opinions, was that enacted at Irwinton, Wilkinson county, Georgia, on the night of the 31st of August, 1871.
For more than a year previous to this date, a white man, familiarly known throughout the county as Sheriff Deason, had taken a very active part in politics, having espoused the republican cause, as one might say, in the very den of the lion himself, and standing almost alone, in what he considered a contest for the right.
Deason was a large, powerfully built, and muscular man, inured to hardship from his youth, resolute in his purpose, tenacious of his principles, and ready under all circumstances to expound them, whenever it seemed good to him to do so. He was a man whose good nature was proverbial. He delighted to get into the country grocery, and there, surrounded by an admiring audience of colored men, and such of the whites as sympathized with him, although secretly, express his opinion, that the principles of the republican party were the only ones upon which a righteous government could be founded, and which would eventually bring the ship of State safely to a secure anchorage.
Among his hearers were many of those who had sworn to uphold the “white man’s government,” and who believed that Deason’s arguments were calculated to damage their labors in this respect, but, bold as they were, when in bands of twenty, armed and disguised, they assailed defenseless men and helpless women, they dare not single handed to make even so much as an utterance against his outspoken logic, and they writhed and twisted under it in silence. They comprehended, however, that seeds were being sown that would take root in the minds of thinking men, and produce results which they did not desire to see accomplished.
A formal presentation of Deason’s case was made to the Irwinton Camp of the C. U. G., to which Order, at that time, two-thirds of the white population of Wilkinson county belonged. As was usual in such cases, it was decided to issue a warning to the intended victim, which was forthwith done. Deason replied to it by pasting the warning upon the door of his house, where it remained an ever present witness to the contempt in which he held its authors, until it was washed away by the fall rains.
This was regarded as an act of defiance upon Deason’s part, that could not be overlooked. To add to this, he continued uttering his political views with the same freedom as before, and it was resolved that he must be stopped. This, however, was easier said than done; Deason was known to be thoroughly armed, a man of undoubted courage, and a terrible opponent when thoroughly aroused, although very quietly disposed when left to himself.