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.

1474 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
republicanism, I would have been killed upon the spot by democrats. I cannot, as a
southern man, see why the southern white people, as a mass, wish to whip into democratic faith, by brute force, every white man in the South. I tell the democrats,
openly and honestly, that I cannot, honestly and sincerely, be a democrat. Now, are
you going to murder me for such? Were I to be forced into your party, (as I was at
Linden on the 7th instant,) and acknowledge through such force that I was a good
democrat, such acknowledgment would only be a ruse, or a forced democratic lie.
" W. B. Jones, a noted radical desperado, raised a row with some respectable gentlemen at Linden, a few days since."-Denopolis Exponent.
The above was clipped from the Selmna Daily Times of the 14th instant. I cannot,
nor do I, blame the people, who peruse the columns of the democratic papers of Alabama, for believing that I am a very depraved and desperate character, when those
papers knowingly misrepresent me before the public. The editors of the democratic
papers of Alabama claim all of the sense, and refinement, and virtue, and veracity.
The editor of the Selma Daily Times published the above as coming from the Demopolis
Exponent. I now give the public exactly what the Exponent did say, and leave the
public to judge for themselves, whether the editor of the Selma Daily Times has fairly
and truthfully represented me. Here, now, is what the Exponent did say:
"DIFFICULTY AT LINDEN.-We hear upon the streets that on last Saturday, while
W. B. Jones, republican. candidate for sheriff of this county, was making a speech in
the court-house at Linden, that a dispute and difficulty occurred between him and
some party or parties who made a part of the audience, and whose names we did not
learn, that came very near resulting very seriously; but that some of the older citizens
interfered and prevented any very serious result. We have conversed with no one who
was present in Linden, and have heard no definite or reliable statement of the affair,
nor the particulars. Our information is based upon very indefinite rumors, and we
therefore refrain from any further statement until we obtain facts and names upon
which to base a relation of the occurrence. Rumors on the streets go to show that
some statement made by the speaker, which is considered offensive, and that a row
occurred upon that, which was finally quieted without marked results. In view of the
fact that our contemporary, the Marengo Journal, is at the scene of the occurrence, and
fully informed of all the facts, we will await its account, as we have no other means
to-day of obtaining reliable information from that point. In consideration of the fact
that various statements may be made affecting public opinion, we respectfully suggest
that a statement of the cause, and all the particulars connected with the affair, be published over the signatures of reliable men who were present and know all the facts
and circumstances."
The public will see from the above that the lie was given to me from some one in
the crowd, and upon that " a row occurred." I have too much confidence in the honesty
of the editor of the Exponent to believe he ever wrote such a paragraph about me. I
am willing that six fair and honest men, all democrats, shall investigate the whole
affair; that not a republican shall have anything to do with the investigation; and
that I am willing to abide by their decision. Let those six be selected from the citizens
north of the Chicasabogue. This is a fair proposition to the peaceful democracy of
Linden. Will they accept? I have heard since my arrival home that some one has
circulated the report that I had telegraphed for troops, or had gone for troops. The
above was circulated to increase public sentiment against me. I refer the public to
the telegraph operator in Demopolis. I have never telegraphed nor written for troops,
but I am now thoroughly convinced that we need some desperate means to put down
desperadoes and assassins; and I believe all good lovers of peace will join in the
above.
I have just read a letter from a Mr. Steel, who is intendant of the town of McKinley,
written to the sheriff of this county, in which he asked the sheriff to be in McKinley
on the 14th instant, to preserve peace; that the citizens of said town had learned that
I intended to speak there on the 14th instant. I did intend speaking there at that
time, but owing to the Linden persecution, on the 7th instant, I concluded to let excitement die out. I am told that the white people assembled in large numbers at McKinley,
fully prepared for a fuss; but, lo and behold, "King Jones" failed to be there, and
there was much disappointment. One of the Lindenites, a deputy United States
revenue officer, I understand, was in Demopolis last Thursday, bragging that "Jones
carried the United States flag into Linden whole, but did not return with it in the
same condition." Jones returned with the flag, but it was in a very different state, it
having been torn down and cut. It is a great pity that the people of McKinley were
disappointed. I wrote a letter to a citizen (a democrat) of McKinley, telling him that
I would be there on the 14th instant; then wrote him another, telling him why I could
not. Publish the letters. I have once appealed to the governor of Alabama. In
July, 1871,-1 wrote him a letter to arrest the lawlessness in West Alabama. He treated
that with such contempt that I dare not write to him again. He was too busily engaged
at the time in New York. If he had have been in Alabama, attending the duties of