Choctaw County AlArchives News.....More About the Horrible Plot August 30, 1883 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kenneth Stacy klstacyfamily@aol.com January 2, 2007, 11:53 am The Huntsville Weekly Democrat August 30, 1883 The Horrible Plot in Alabama ------------------------------------ Chattanooga Times The alleged preparations of the negroes in Choctaw County, Ala., to massacre the entire white population, accounts of which have reached us by telegraph, have very naturally caused great excitement, not only in that immediate section, but throughout the State. It is true, there may be no other confirmatory proof of the plot than appears in written documents, found where they had been accidentally dropped, bearing evidence of a conspiracy for an indiscriminate massacre of the white people, but there is a circumstance not mentioned in dispatches which would seem to strengthen the apprehensions of the citizens of that part of the State. Some eight or nine years ago, old Jack Turner, whose name is mentioned as the head devil of the whole affair, actually attempted to put in execution a similar plot. He had a body of negroes nearly to the court-house square, in the town of Butler, while court was in session, and there were large numbers of persons in attendance, but instead of dashing in and striking the people with consternation, as he had planned, he halted his men in the bushes, where they were discovered, and, when the whites went out with guns and pistols to meet them, they fled like frightened sheep. They were pursued to Bigby river, which they crossed in great confusion, and it was thought they were too badly frightened ever to engage in another uprising. We are glad to observe that, amid all the excitement occasioned by this threatened insurrection, the good people of Choctaw county are acting with due discretion. Those of the negroes they captured (except Jack Turner who was hanged) are confined in jail, and we hope the law will be allowed, to take its course with them. Gen. Jack Turner ------------------------- More About the Choctaw Insurrection Special to the Times-Democrat. MERIDIAN, Aug. 21.—One of the most horrible and cruel conspiracies ever entered into by the negroes of this section, came to light in Choctaw county, Ala., just across our State line, near Butler, the county seat, on Wednesday, of last week. It seems that some white men were riding along the road leading to Allen’s mill near DeSotoville, and found some papers, which, upon examination, proved to be the minutes of a negro organization, formed for BRUTAL DEEDS OF BLOOD Information was gleaned from the minutes found that is was the intention of the negroes to make a general assault upon the whites between the 15th and 17th of September, and that the organization was 400 strong and four years old, having been called into existence in 1878. Every member had subscribed to the most solemn oath, and binding obligation to secrecy, and the conspirators were pledged to kill every white man, woman and child in the county, from the cradle to the grave. A notorious black negro by the name of Jack Turner who, in his communications to the organization, signed himself “Gen. Jack Turner,” was the evil spirit of whom the conspiracy was, and who, it has wicked scheme proved successful, was to be made the ruler of this county with a big salary. There were also communications from “Capt. Jesse Wilson” and Capt. Peter Hill” among the papers. THE PLAN WAS, When the time came for action to divide their organization into three companies, to be commanded by “Gen. Jack Turner,” “Capt. Jesse Wilson” and “Capt. Peter Hill,” who were to take up positions in the Butler, Mt. Sterling and DeSotoville neighborhoods, and attack the whole county simultaneously, and slaughter every man, woman and child that was of white skin. This news was circulated rapidly over the country among the white people, who organized and armed themselves and went in search of the black fiends who were planning to slaughter them. They soon came upon Gen. Jack Turner,” “Capt. Jesse Wilson,” “Capt. Peter Hill,” secretary Fred Bonner, Limon, a preacher, and two other leaders, names unknown, and took them in custody to Butler, the county seat where they were lodged in jail. Saturday morning, Secretary Bonner was taken from jail by the whites and interrogated, and no withstanding the proof was conclusive against him, he denied all knowledge of the conspiracy and affirmed with Christian like sincerity his innocence. He was TIED UP BY THE TOES, while Rev. Limon was brought out to tell what he knew. He knew any-nothing at first, but under there freshing and persuasive influence of the lash, applied vigorously to his bare back, he remembered and told a great many things. When the minutes were read to him, he admitted that he had heard them read twice before in the meeting; that he knew the conspiracy existed; that it was the intention of the negroes to kill all the people, take possession of the county and make Gen. Jack Turner ruler, but that he had nothing to do with it. He admitted that he had been carrying the call around and getting the negroes to join, and that when arrested, he was on his last round, and, that he was paid 50 cents a day for his services. He could not be whipped into telling where the books and other papers of the organization were kept. He denied all knowledge of their whereabouts; said that he knew they existed; did not know where negroes asked in the jail the night before if the white people had found the books and other papers; and that Jack Turner spoke up and said: “No they are not quite that d----d smart. After this admission and other conclusive proofs against him, it was unanimously agreed among the whites that “Gen. Jack Turner ought to swing.” So, accordingly, he was taken from the jail, and between the hours of 12 and 1 o’clock in the broad open light of the day he was HANGED TO THE LIMB OF A TREE on the main street of the town. There was a strong intimation manifested on the part of the people to hang the other six, but older and cooler counsel prevailed, and they were spared. It is said the people were quiet and cool as people well could be under the circumstances, and that the execution of Turner was as deliberate as if done under the forms of law. All is quiet now, and no further trouble is likely to occur. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/choctaw/newspapers/moreabou1238gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 6.9 Kb