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KILLING IN MORGANTHE PEOPLE SPEAK THKlfc SENTIMENTS.THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE.CAPT. K. O. GORDON PRINCIPAL IKSTIGA TOR OF THE RIOT. AND WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OFHIS SON.THE CRAWFORD FAMILY VINDICATED11IMorgan County, Cm., Aug. 12. Mr. T. l*. Gantt—Dear Sir: As tbe article in your daily ot the 30th I jof July, written by R. G. Gordon, 11in reference to the killing of bis son, reflects seriously upon a family 11 whom the citizens of Wellington I j district are proud to claim as ne:gh-1j lxrs, and contains the erroneous 11 statement that only the “drunken I whisky men” are in sympathy with J s the Crawfords, and all the good h people are for him,- (Gordon) we j think it but justice to the Crawford family that the public should I iknow the true sentiments of the 11people ot this district concerning [ 1 the matter.1ICapt. R. G. Gordon has*been tor lt;several years a prominent politician j r of this district, and has wielded 11considerable influence among the t negroes, generally voting most of 11 them, his way, and always in oppo- J t sition to the good peopie of the 1 district. At the county election ^ last January, the Crawford hoys ntook some interest, and came to the |; polls with about 30 negroes to vote j ^ in opposition to the wishes of the Captain. To see these negroes I j whom he had always voted at will j 1 sticking in their ballots in opposi- 1 tion to him, was more than he could lt;hear. So he interfered, and »his in-11terference was the IBEGINNING OF THE. TROUBLE. | ]The Capram would have done violence upon Henry Crawford at that time, if Henry had not shown him his pistol. .Now the Captain,who has a rule-or-ruin spirit, presented Henry to the grand jury for carrying the pistol.As there had been considerable dispute concerning the district line between Wellington and Dogsboro and all knowing that Capt. Gordon really lived in Dogsboro, although he claimed Wellington, the Crawford boys got up a petition askingthe county commissioners to havethe line run, and this petition was signed by the best people of both districts. The firstTuesday in July was the day appointed by the commissioners to decide concerning the line. Good counsel was employed on both sides and everything went to show that the day would be an exciting one. Capt. Gordon notified his son “Chunk,” of Gwinnett, and his nephew, Tom Vincent, of Madison county, ot the day of the trial and requested them to be inMadison on that day. Sending for these men plainly showed that the Captain intended to have a row if the c^sc was decided against him. The day came, the trial was had, and the case decided against theCaptain. Now this should havebeen an end to the whole matter and would have been but for the Gordons, who were not satisfied with the decision of the commissioners, and asserted that the thinghad to be settled, and dared the Crawfords to go the upper road.Now this upper road is the one that the Crawfords always go, and is two or three miles nearer for them than1trr1»91MrIr»efeseany other route, and of course they never intended going any otherway. The Gordon’s left Madisonfirst hut were overtaken by the Crawfords about a mile from town, As soon as the Crawfords got in speaking distance of * the Gordon wagon, Cal. Gordon, the one who was killed in the riot later, commenced cursing and abusing old man Berry Rouark, who was with the Crawford boys. Capt Gordon, ex-officio Tustice of the Peace, not only allowed his son ‘*Cal,” who was only 19 years old, to abuse this old man, who is morethan 70, but encouraged him in itThe Crawfords, knowing that“Cal” was put up to this by his party for the purpose of raising a row,and desiring to avoid such an engagement, quietly submitted to the abuse heaped upon this old man.The Gordons, seeing that “Cal’s talk didn’t have the intended effect, and that the Crawfords didn’t want to fight, they quieted down some, and everything went smoothly for several miles. Then some fellow, just for fun, hollowed “Hurrah forthe line!” At this, Capt Gordon, who was in front of all the crowd, became furious and stopped his mule in the toad, and remained there cursing and daring any one to own the hollowing, until all thecrowd had passed. They thought that it was Tom Davenport that hollowed, and six of the Gordon crowd got out of their wagon and walked behind his buggy for some distance with clubs, hollowing “take himout,” which they; would have done if the Captain had let them. This riotous mob never got into their wagon any more until after the riot, which took place about a mile further on, but walked the road with their clubs.' A fight between James Ronark and Sam Gordon started the11enJryitball, after wljich a general riot ensued around the Crawford wagon. It was when this., riot was raging, when rocks and sticks were flying in every direction, that Henry Crawford, who had not spoken an insulting word all day, to protect his lile, sprang from the wagon and shot “Cal” Gordon, the leader of this riotous mob.The facts that Capt. Gordon sent for his son and nephew to be with him on (that day; his encouraging Cal” in abusing old man Berry Rouark; his stopping in the road and cursing like a wild man and daring any one to own the hollow* ing; and his power to have prevented the riot by controlling, his sons,forces the conclusion upon the people that he not -only intended a riot, but was principal instigator of it n I and directly responsible for the f death of his son.'4 ^it ( The above is'the''opinion'of the citizens of _ Wellington district, Capt. Gordon’s statement to the contrary, notwithstanding.’ We have heard before that old man Crawford' was a full-bloodedesrerIndian, and have only this to sayj-1 about it: It he is an Indian, thecountry would be better ofl if there were more Indians in it He is aY model citizen, stays at home, andattends to . 'his own* business, pays 01 his debts and has been a consistentg j member of the Missionary Baptist, denomination, for more than tnirtyYI years. Some.'of his boys, like most q boys, take their dram/but the state-i hnent that they . are a rowdy and 1 fussy set is-wholly .untrue. t }3, hi -.Many Citizens. -
Newspaper Details
Athens Banner Watchman
Athens, Georgia, US
Tue, Aug 18, 1885
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Jm C.
USA 14 Mar 2023
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