under officers of the court, were colored men. The more important
county offices were held by white men. On a given day, fifty or more
heavily-armed white men appeared at the county seat and drove from
their offices and homes the colored officers named above, together
with the colored local doctor, the lawyer, the schoolmaster
of the colored school, the editor of the colored newspaper and a
number of other prominent colored citizens.

The farther details of the transaction are given in a thoughtful and
calm article in a recent number of The Independent by Rev. B.A. Imes,
the colored minister of the church at Memphis, Tenn., under the care
of this Association. We give below all of the article that relates to
the facts:

THE CRITTENDEN COUNTY OUTRAGE.

BY THE REV. B.A. IMES.

From the bluff at Memphis we look across the river, where along the
western shore stretch the forests of Crittenden County, Arkansas, and
Marion, about fourteen miles from Memphis, is the county-seat. The
story of the recent banishment of fifteen prominent colored
office-holders, professional men and farmers has gone to the world.

The whites, well armed, took their game by surprise, bagged and
shipped it without bloodshed. Now the "empire is peace" they say,
although for a time terror reigned among the startled colored people.

With a Negro population six or seven times as large as the white, it
is not strange that the County Court Judge, the County Clerk and his