Law and Order

LAW AND ORDER. The traducers of the South-the ” bloody shirt shriekers” of the North, especially Mr. John Sherman, will please note the fact that, the negro Jim Seams, the villainous murderers of Deputy Sheriff Awtrey, of this county, was pursued day and night by a large number of citizens, and who fired twice upon the small squad who finally captured him, by shooting him down with a charge of squirrel shot, -was brought a-foot 18 miles to the court house, where an orderly but indignant crowd of several hundred people had assembled, and he was taken from their midst by an officer of the law and lodged in jail, without any disturbance : after night-fall the Warrior Guards surrounded the jail through the whole night to protect the murderer from possible violence, and next morning escorted him to the train, and detail sent with him to Birmingham, where he awaits his trial here in April, for the unprovoked murder of a brave and popular officer of the law. We say we want you to note all this,–and the further fact, there is not a man, white or black, in the county, who does not feel that the murderer ought to be hung for his daring crime, and that he will be hung according to law at the proper time. He could have been hung at any time before he was placed in jail; after that it would have been perilous for any man or set of men to have attempted violence–the hands of the law, backed by a more powerful public sentiment decreed that the law should take its course. And yet, it is charged we are a vicious, lawless people,-peculiarly savage and blood-thirsty towards the colored race, delighting in shooting and killing negroes. An Indiana gentleman remarked in our office, yesterday morning, that he expected to see the negro hung-and had he (the negro) been in his State, the Sheriff would never have locked him up. We do not deny that acts of violence are committed in the South,-but we deny that our people are less law-abiding than those of any other State or county in the Union and we have a good mind to say, that Tuskaloosa county has a higher regard for law and order than any county in the North, East or West, with an equal population, and that life and property are as safe here as anywhere else in the Union. Besides, she has as many other attractions as any other section.