True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 11

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HOUSTON AND HOUSTONIANS 11
evitable. About 20 Mexicans mounted him with knives and
when they got through they had him cut into shoestrings./j
-
^Cain Norton was killed in one of the battles over in Louisiana,
\and, so far as I can recall, he was the only one who met a soldier's
death among the whole number. Every one of them died with
his boots on, however.
"If I could find time I would write a book telling of those
stirring days and of the men who kept things at fever heat all
the time. That would be one book where style and literary
excellence would be at a discount, for the contents of 'the book
-would carry it along."
KU KLUX DAYS.
IN 1868 reconstruction days were on in full blast all over
Texas, and Houston, being so prominent a central point
both in commercial and political matters, came in for a
large share of shame and outrage. The "black belt" over on the
Brazos being so near, it was an easy thing for the scalawags
and carpetbaggers to bring negro voters by the hundred whenever
a so-called election was held. There was no registration
required and all that was necessary was to have a red or blue
ticket or a white one with a big flag painted on it, so that the
ignorant negro could tell what ticket to vote, and the Republican
leaders were assured of success in advance. Governor A. J.
Davis had appointed the negro state guard a special police,
and had suspended habeas corpus and given these negroes the
right to make arrests on their own judgment without writ or
any legal process whatever. Not content with this, the scalawags
and carpetbaggers went even further in their effort to put
the negro above the white man. They organized the Union
League, an organization formed for the sole purpose of controlling
the ignorant negro votes and boosting the worthless
white men, who were out for everything in sight, into office.
There was only one voting place for the whole county and
city at first-the court house-but later this was changed and
the country people were allowed to vote in their own precincts.
Everybody in Houston, though, had to vote at the court house
and this was done because it enabled the Republicans to control
things to suit themselves. It is almost incredible the power the
scalawags had over the negroes. They owned and controlled
them like so many dumb animals and voted them, not in blocks,
but as a solid unit.
With so many imported negro votes In the field, the white
men found themselves in a hopeless minority, but be it said to

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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/11/ocr/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

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