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.

1982 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
session. I think that is the fact. They were going over to the legislature; and this
was the second session of the legislature; perhalps it was a recess.
Question. Had his course in the legislature given offense to anybody?
Answer. No; he was a quiet man; he did not pretend to speak; he would simply
vote upon a question.
Question. Had his course or his vote in the legislature been denounced in your
democratic paper?
Answer. Not singled out that I know of. The democratic papers, I suppose, say of
Crosslaud like they say of others. I do not remember that he was singled out.
Question. You spoke of that paper being very severe upon Judge Peck in its strictures. Was Mr. Crossland also the subject of its strictures?
Answucr. I am not aware that he was. I don't think he was. I don't remember it if
he was.
By Mr. BLAIR:
Question. There was a negro man here testified yesterday, named Gleed, that an article appeared in the " Tuscaloosa Monitor," which was afterward copied into a Greene
County paper, which called upon the white people to kill all the negro leaders, and to
spare none but the humble and obedient negroes.
The WITNESS. Did he produce the article?
Mr. BLAIR. No, sir; he did not. He testified that such an article appeared, and that
he had carried it about with him until he wore it out.
The WITrNESS. What other paper was it copied into?
Mr. BLxIR. Into the Greene County democratic paper, which I suppose to be the
" Whig."
Answer. Well, sir, I think I may say with great confidence that no such article
ever appeared; it never appeared in a Tuscaloosa paper.
Question. Would not such an article have attracted universal attention?
Answ(er. Yes, sir; I may say I think with certainty that he is mistaken. I can say,
Senator Pratt, that I presume Mr. Crossland was named by this paper; he no doubt
named all the officials-Miller, the probate judge; and Crossland, the representative
the senator-and all their names would figure in that paper.
By the CHAIRMAN:
Question. How figure?
Answer. He assailed them as radicals and as enemies to the country. That is the
idea you will find in the " Monitor."
Question. WIas Crossland a southern man or a northern man?
Answuer. I think he was a Tennesseean.
Question. He would have been assailed then, I suppose, as a scalawag?
Answer. I suppose so, if he had singled him out.
Question. Would he, coming from Tennessee, be regarded as in the category of carpetbaggers?
Answer. No; he would be assailed as a scalawag, if Crossland was ever singled out.
Question. Was that paper very bitter in its denunciation of carpet-baggers and
scalawags?
Answer. Yes, sir; pretty bitter; it handled them pretty roughly.
Question. Now that I have mentioned that paper, what was its course toward Judge
Peck? What accusations did it bring against him? Why was he the subject of its
spleen?
Answer. Judge Peck, I suppose, was singled out because of his having more talent
and influence to carry scalawag influence.
Question. Was he a candidate for an office?
Answer. He ran for the convention, and was a member of the convention, that reformed or re-orgalized our State government. It was about then that he was opened
upon.
Question. Was his private character attacked?
Answver. I think not, sir; I don't think Judge Peck's private character has ever been
attacked; simply his political sent ilments.
Question. Yet he had come to the South in early youth, had he not?
Answver. He was a grown practicing lawyer when he came to the South. He opened
a law-office when he came here.
Question. IHad been here a long time; thirty odd years?
Answer. Yes, sir; over forty years.
Question. I think he said forty-e ght years?
Answer. He had been in Tuscaloosa upward of thirty years.
Question. He had married South?
Answer. Yes, sir. She was a northern lady, but they married South.
Question. Were these denunciations of Judge Peck in the paper discountenanced by,
the democratic party?