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Show 418 WESTERN WILDS. the court- house, afore the town started up so with the railroad, an' now we're sellin' it off fast in buildin' lots at from fifty to two hun-dred dollars a lot, savin' just twenty acres in the middle for the uni-versity. We'll soon have it runnin', and it will be free to both sexes, ' thout regard to color or previous condition." Texas is the most tolerant and liberal of all the reconstructed States. While under Republican rule, very stringent laws had been adopted to repress disorder; for the condition of the State just after the war was deplorable. Before the war, it had not been as bad as reported, though quite bad enough. For instance, in 1860, with a population of 650,000, Texas had a total of 121 homicides; while New York, with 3,000,000 people, had but 37. There was a steady and rapid in-crease of crime until 1869, the first year of the new regime, for which there are full returns, when the State had no less than 1200 homicides! In this state of facts, the leading Republicans brought forward what are sometimes called the " Five Administration Measures : " The militia law, the State police law, the concealed weapon law, and the school and immigration laws. The first authorized the Governor to suspend the habeas corpus at his discretion, to order the militia from any part of the State to another part, and to arm any portion of the population in any disturbed neighborhood. The police law organized a small body of mounted men, to be continually under pay of the State, and ready to go to any section. They never numbered more than three hundred. Many brave Confederate soldiers joined this militia and aided in putting down disorder. The moral effect was tremendous. Eight hundred robbers and desperadoes fled the State in a body. There was a hanging in every county, till in the State, except in the extreme west, life and property were as secure as in New England. Then, un-fortunately, these extraordinary powers were perverted. It was the old story over again: a condition of strife and social disorder leads to the placing of immense power in one man's hands; but when the dis-order is passed, the ruler has grown too fond of his power to part with it without a struggle, and employs it to crush opposition. The people seek refuge from anarchy in a sort of legal despotism, and are driven by despotism into anarchy. In 1872 the State police were used to break up Democratic and Liberal- Republican meetings. But in an-other year the revolution was complete, Governor Davis yielded, in an awkward hurry, to a Democratic Governor, and now Texas is the most solid outpost of the " Solid South." |