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Murder of Marsh Cook

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Murder of Marsh Cook
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LocationJasper County, Mississippi
Coordinates32°0′45.72″N 89°17′16.13″W / 32.0127000°N 89.2878139°W / 32.0127000; -89.2878139
Date1890
TargetMarsh Cook
Attack type
Murder by shooting
WeaponsGuns
VictimsMarsh Cook
PerpetratorsWhite supremacists
Assailants6

F. M. B. "Marsh" Cook was a political candidate in Mississippi who was murdered by white supremacists for campaigning for a seat at Mississippi's 1890 Constitutional Convention. A white Republican, he was campaigning in Jasper County, Mississippi.[1][2] He was ambushed by six men and shot 27 times.[3] A historical marker commemorates his death.[4][5]

History

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Congress election campaign

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Cook was an 1888 Republican candidate for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Democrats had retaken control of Mississippi after the Reconstruction era. "Our chief duty when we meet in Convention is to devise such measures...as will enable us to maintain a home government, under the control of the white people of the State."[6]

Cook contested his election loss to Chapman L. Anderson.[7] Anderson recorded about five times as many votes as Cook in the November 1889 election.[8][9]

Mississippi Constitutional Convention

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Mississippi's 1890 Constitutional Convention was organized to disenfranchise African American voters. Cook campaigned for a seat on the position that he would oppose attempts to limit Black voting rights.[10] He also encouraged Black people to organize against the discrimination.[10][9] Democrats threatened him after his two public speeches.[11][12][3][13]

Attack

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On July 23, 1890, Cook was assassinated as he approached a log schoolhouse in a rural area near Mount Zion Church.[11][14][9] His body was found hours later by a woman.[14][6][15][9]

Aftermath

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Cook's murder received national news coverage.[9] Some editorials blamed Cook for his "incendiary" speeches.[12] The Jackson Daily Clarion-Ledger wrote, "Cook was slain because of his inflammatory speeches and efforts to stir up strife and bad blood between the races."[3] In another article, the Clarion-Ledger said, "The Clarion-Ledger regrets the manner of his killing as assassinations cannot be condoned at any time. Yet the people of Jasper are to be congratulated that they will not be further annoyed by Marsh Cook."[16] The Pascagoula Democrat Star called Cook a "scalawag".[17] Terre Haute Daily News wrote that Cook "had the reputation of being a turbulent spirit in the community, and his chief desire seemed to be to antagonize and engender all the race prejudices possible."[14] The Grenada Sentinel wrote, "While we have the utmost detestation for such characters as Marsh Cook, we have a greater of assassination."[18]

Other editorials reacted to claims that it was not a "political" murder; the Eau Claire Free Press Weekly wrote, "Yet we all know, and those who are honest admit, that such murders are political. The murderers are always democrats... But it is a way of giving the public notice that freedom of speech is not tolerated in democratic Mississippi."[12] Cook's brother, Dr. J.H. Cook, denied that the speeches were incendiary and claimed it was a political murder.[19] The Davenport Morning Tribune reported, "The Memphis Avalanche agrees that Marsh Cook was murdered because he was brave enough to publicly proclaim his convictions. Those whom Mr. Cook opposed, were not able to keep him quite [sic] so they killed him."[20]

Governor John Marshall Stone offered a $500 reward for apprehending the perpetrators.[9][21][11][17] No one was ever prosecuted for it.[9][10]

The convention moved forward in August with a state constitution that included tactics to disenfranchise Black voters, including literacy tests and poll taxes.[10][22] This became known as the Mississippi Plan and other Southern states followed by rewriting their state constitutions with similar disenfranchisement clauses.[23][10][24][3] Mississippi adopted its constitution on November 1, 1890 and it went into effect immediately, rather than being ratified by the voters.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Wharton, Vernon Lane (1947). The Negro in Mississippi 1865-1890. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-0-8078-5028-2.
  2. ^ Clarion Ledger Jackson, Mississippi July 31, 1890
  3. ^ a b c d Jr, James G. Hollandsworth (2008). Portrait of a Scientific Racist: Alfred Holt Stone of Mississippi. LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3483-2.
  4. ^ "July 23, 1890: F. M. B. "Marsh" Cook Killed". Zinn Education Project.
  5. ^ "Assassination of F.M.B. 'Marsh' Cook Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org.
  6. ^ a b United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Case: 19-60632 Document: 00516445896 Page: 37 Date Filed: 08/24/2022 https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/19/19-60632-CV2.pdf
  7. ^ "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States House of Representatives, 1789-1946: (Record Group 233)". 1941.
  8. ^ "United States Congressional Serial Set". 1891.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Cresswell, Stephen (February 5, 1995). Multiparty Politics in Mississippi, 1877-1902. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617034367 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b c d e Equal Justice Initiative (2018). The Post-Slavery Experience (Report). Equal Justice Initiative. pp. 50–66.
  11. ^ a b c ""Marsh" Cook's Murder". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1890-07-27. p. 6.
  12. ^ a b c "Political Murders in the South". Eau Claire Free Press Weekly. 1890-08-07.
  13. ^ "In the latest southern political murder...". Dubuque Times. 1890-08-01. p. 2.
  14. ^ a b c "Republican Assassinated: An Agitator Filled With Buckshot in Mississippi". Terre Haute Daily News. 1890-07-25. p. 2.
  15. ^ a b Nave, R. L. (2013-07-10). "Voting Rights: Was Chief Justice Roberts Wrong About Voting in Mississippi?". www.jacksonfreepress.com. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  16. ^ Wormser, Richard (2014-04-08). The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: The Companion to the PBS Television Series. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4668-6747-5.
  17. ^ a b "Gov. Stone has offered $500 reward for the arrest of the assassins of Marsh Cook, the dead scalawag in Jasper county". The Pascagoula Democrat Star. 1890-08-08. p. 2.
  18. ^ "no title". Grenada Sentinel. 1890-08-09. p. 4.
  19. ^ "The Cook Assassination". Atlanta Constitution. 1890-07-27. p. 11.
  20. ^ "no title". Davenport Morning Tribune. 1890-08-06. p. 2.
  21. ^ "Mr. "Marsh" Cook". Iuka Reporter. 1890-08-07. p. 1.
  22. ^ Mitchell, Jerry (2023-07-23). "On this day in 1890". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  23. ^ Shafer, Ronald G. (2021-05-02). "The 'Mississippi Plan' to keep Blacks from voting in 1890: 'We came here to exclude the Negro'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  24. ^ Mitchell, Jerry (2015-07-21). "History: Red Summer begins, Emmett Till born". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
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