n.t. (Retelling the events that happened in Tuscaloosa the week prior)

However much good citizens may deplore the occurrences of last week, they should be careful how they talk in the hearing of negroes. The conduct of some white men in Tuskaloosa, who should know better is truly contemptible. Some, in their timid eagerness to conciliate the negroes lay all the blame of the late unfortunate transactions on the whites. They seem to lose sight of the monstrosity of the crime of certain negroes who killed one white man and wounded three others. They lead the negroes here to believe that they have been prodigiously aggrieved, without provocation. The consequence is, they (the negroes) are becoming surly and disaffected, disposed to renew the troubles that otherwise might end. Last year, about this time, some of our citizens took a foolish fright similar to the one now felt. They, believed the negroes to be dangerous, and all powerful to destroy them, notwithstanding that the whites about doubled them in number. Let there be no more cringing on the part of the white men. Whilst all must deprecate the unhappy events of last week, we should not endeavor to conciliate or quiet negroes by leading them to believe that they are innocent. They do not, understand the negro character, who expect to control them by sympathy. Fear is the only feeling in their hearts that may induce them to be orderly.