Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

ALABAMA-SUB-COMMITTEE. 1771
Answcr. No, sir; I think that might be accounted for upon other principles and
upon some other supposition than that. It might be accounted for upon this principle:
There was a great deal of interest taken in that last election in some counties, and
those who had the negroes employed used more argument and used more persuasion, I
suppose. They say so. I had no information that any violence was used toward
themi. But they account for it upon the ground that the feeling of the negro toward
the democratic lparty thad, to some extent, been counteracted-the former feeling
against the cemocra.tic party-and that they had come to believe that the democrats
would not be so bad, if put in office, as had been represented; that is the way in
which it w as accounted for. I (o not think these acts of violence had any effect to
change their -ote.
Qicstiow. NWould it not, naturally, miake them disheartened and timid?
Anltser. No; I thrnk not. Take the city of Tuscaloosa, and I think probably the
republica vote was as large in the city of TulscaloosaSBy Mi. KrcE:
uetsiioit. Where they wVi(re enttirly safei
itns cer. Yes, sir; they alimost all wenlt to Tu>scaloosa.
By Mrr. lBUOCKIEur:
*Questio. They went there bect,-.se it A-ias safer io vote there, did they not?
_Aatswer. I do not know.
By Mr. BLIRi:
Queistion,. Did they nlt go lthere bcaise their managers wanted them there to contrlol them?
Antsuwer. All I can state is the fact. You are as able as I am to judge of the cause
of it. The'tact is. the most of them voted at the city of Tuscaloosa. It may be
because they felt more secure, or because they were advised to come by those who
wanted their votes. I have no doubt that the republican candidates thought if they
brought themn to the polls they would have a much better chance of getting their
votes than if they let them vote where their employers were; because, in Tuscaloosa,
the whites were almost entirely democratic and the republicans were colored men.
By Mr. BUCrKLEY:
Question. Three of the counties in your circuit join Pickens County?
Answier. Yes, sir.
Question. Do you know anything of the condition of Pickens County?
Answer. No, sir; I have not been in the county for some time. I do not know how
it is.
LIVINGSTON, ALABAMA, November 2, 1871.
REUBEN A. MERIDITH sworn and examined.
By the CIxAIRMAN:
Question. Please to state where you reside aud wlat is your occupation.
Answer. I reside in Gainesville, Sumter County, Alabama; my occupation is attorney
at law.
Questilon. -How long have you lived in Sumter County?
Answer. About thirty-three years.
Question Are you a native of Alablama?
Antswer. No, sir; I was born in the State of Virginia, ten miles north of Richmond,
and resided there till I was about nineteen years old.
Question. The conmmittee desire to learn from you the condition of society in this part
of the country, as to peace and good order and the observance of the law, and how far
the rights of person aind property are protected. You nmay make any general statement you may desire on that subject.
Answer. There has been great disorganization in society here in the last five years in
the mass of the people generally. It has been very much disorganized, and there have
been considerable outrages committed, and an indisposition to hold terms of courts
and to have the law executed. There have been sonme terms that were not held here
that ought to have been.
Question. What is the character of the lawlessness of which you speak?
Answer. It generally exhibits itself about midnight; all that I have seen or heard of,
or know anything about, midnight assassinations, &c., outrages, and lawlessness of all
kinds in the late hours of the night.
Question. Are these acts of individual violence, or are they committed by bands of
armed men?