KEMPER, a co. in e. Mississippi, bordering on Alabama; 775 sq.m,; pop. 12,920— 7,211 colored. It is intersected by the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and is drained by a number of streams, chiefly by Sucarnoochee creek. The soil is fertile, but a considera ble portion of the surface is covered with forests. The productions are Indian corn, cotton, and sweet potatoes. Kemper co. has gained an evil reputation on account of the vicious character of the stronger portion of the inhabitants of some pelts of it. At DoKalb, capital of the co., on April 29, 1877, occurred what is known as the Chisolin massacre, when judge W. W. Chisolm, his daughter and son, were brutally murdered by ;in but characteristic mob of the natives. The cause of the attack lay in the existence of a factious condition in politics, out of which there grew frequent deadly feuds and popular outbreaks. Ia connection with this state of things one Golly had been waylaid and murdered, The man headed a faction which opposed judge Chisolm and only awaited an opportunity to compass his death. The killing of Golly was charged upon judge Chisolm, as an accessory or instigator, although apparently with out a shadow of evidence to sustain the charge; a warrant for the arrest of the judge was obtained, and he was lodged in jail, when the jail was besieged by a mob of the friends of Gully and enemies of the judge, and though he defended himself, aided by one of the keepers, and by his courageous wife, son, and daughter—the latter mere children—he was shot to death, while only Mrs. Chisolm was permitted to escape alive. The daugh
ter and son fell riddled with balls. The occurrence produced a profound feeling through out the country, lint the .customary delay of the law was protracted, so that though indictments were found against 31 persons for their connection with tins tragedy, it was not until three years later that a trial was held which resulted in the acquittal of the accused. Mrs. Chisolm was present at the trial, sustained by the counsel of hon. Stewart L. Woodford, U.S. district attorney of New York, an act on his part which, under the circumstances of the existing state of public feeling in Kemper co., may be characterized as both generous and courageous. It is a remarkable feature in the history of this case that all public expression in the county was in sympathy with the assassins of judge Chisolm and his fatnily, and that neither the governor of the state, the courts, nor the Federal government could procure the vindication of justice in regard to it.