[please note that very little in the following article is true]
CLINTON.
The Killing of Caldwell Brought on by His Own Conduct – A Sketch of Caldwell’s Life.
On last Thursday evening, about 7 1/2 o’clock, our community was startled by a report that another riot had broken out at Clinton. Immediately the telegraph office was crowded by anxious inquirers after the particulars, etc. Companies B. and C. Home Guards, tendered their services, with those of other citizens, to go to the aid of Clinton, if called upon but received assurance that no help was needed. That what was reported to be a riot was nothing but a street row.
THE PARTICULARS, as far as we can learn them, are that late in the evening Chas. Caldwell went down into the heart of the town, from his residence, and, being intoxicated, was cursing about the streets, saying that he was “the best man in Hinds county;” could “whip any man in Clinton, etc.” He had pistols strapped upon him, and was evidently looking for a fight, which, after an hour or two, he got, in the following manner, and which resulted in his death and that of his brother Sam. Chas. Caldwell, having gone into Mr. Chilton’s store, was taking a drink, when a pistol was fired on the outside of the building accidentally, while some young men were handling it. Immediately upon this, Caldwell Drew his pistol and opened fire upon some gentlemen who were in the store, shooting Dr. E. G. Banks through the knee, and Mr. Aaron Page in the thumb. The firing was, of course, immediately returned, when Caldwell either ran or fell into the cellar of the store. A few minutes afterward he called for help, but, knowing his desperate character, it was some minutes before any one would go down. Rev. W. S. Webb went down, and found Caldwell mortally wounded; he was brought up-stairs and soon after died. While the fight was progressing, Sam Caldwell dashed up with a pistol in his hand, and was himself shot and killed.
DR. BANKS’ wound is very serious. He was carried to Vicksburg, on the first train passing, for surgical treatment, and it is feared his leg will have to be amputated.
CHAS. CALDWELL was born a slave in this (Hinds) county, and was raised partly in Jackson and Clinton. Prior, and during the war, he bore a good character with his owners. In 1866, if we remember rightly, he killed a white man in Clinton, and was tried and acquitted. In 1867 the reconstruction acts passed and he became a politician, and was elected to the black and tan convention. While a member of that body, he attended a colored dancing party which some Federal soldiers attempted to disturb, and who, when put out, went off and returned armed, and fired into the party. The attendants, most of them, ran, but the fire was returned by one of them, (said to have been Caldwell,) and one of the soldiers was mortally wounded, and another slightly. During the canvass of 1868, Caldwell went to Carroll county, and, in a political broil near Carrollton, killed another white man. In 1870, he provoked a fight with a white man, in this city, in which both were wounded. During the Clinton riot, he was said to have tried to prevent it, and was, in consequence, told, by the citizens, that he could live there, but that his son, Charles, Jr., having taken a prominent part, must stay away. About this time the reckless men who were “running” the State government put on foot the so-called militia movement, and knowing Caldwell’s desperate character, made him captain of a company, and the real leader of that unlawful and marauding band which marched through Hinds county, and was to have invaded Yazoo. After the election he returned to Clinton, but instead of living quietly, has repeatedly before raised disturbances of the character which brought about his death. This time he went a little too far. Living by the sword he perished by the sword. His brother, Sam., was not a prominent character.