Letter from Special Correspondent of the Picayune from Richmond, TX

“A line or two from this section might be of interest to your readers, as there is so much excitement in regard to the late attempts at incendiarism in this State. The thousand and one rumors afloat respecting the actions of the Abolitionists, are as you may surmise, very much exaggerated. That individual Abolitionists have had a hand in the numerous fires that have occurred there is not a moral doubt; that their emissaries have succeeded in tampering with negroes there cannot be a question; and that the State is infested with them, in league with horse thieves and assassins, is daily proved by arrests, and I regret to say few convictions. The citizens of this State have not heretofore been decisive in their actions with such characters. There was an arrest, an examination, and verdict “to leave the State.” Such trials are a farce. If the person arrested is guilty, he deserved punishment; if not, on what grounds can he be ordered to leave? Is it justice, after having discovered the firebrands in your own house, to throw them on your neighbors? No, it is not. Let these mock trials be ended. If the prisoner is guilty, let him suffer; if innocent, let him be free to go when and where he pleases.

I have seen quite a number of negroes from the northwestern counties passing down towards Galveston, on their way for sale in your city. I have made inquiries from authentic sources, and find that many of these negroes have been directly implicated in the recent incendiarisms; others are strongly suspected, so much so that their owners think it better to run them to New Orleans and sell them there than risk them in the scales of justice at home. I would caution planters and others purchasing negroes not to touch any from the tainted districts of this State at any price. Many of them have been so tampered with that it would be folly to place them in a position to contaminate others. . . .”¹