John Prentiss "Print" Matthews (August 27, 1840-November 6, 1883) was a Reconstruction era social reformer and African American rights advocate in Copiah County, Mississippi who was murdered in the act of voting after defying the local white supremacists order to not vote.
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John Prentiss Matthews, best known by the nickname "Print," was born near Hazlehurst, Mississippi to wealthy slave owning parents. During the Civil War of 1861-1865 he became a supporter of the Union, putting him at odds with the majority of the local population, who supported the Confederate States of America.
After Democrats took over the area in 1875 Matthews was influential in organizing the Independent Party in Copiah County, consisting of black and white farmers. The Democrats began night riding to threaten African Americans ordering them to not vote for the Independent Party in the upcoming 1883 elections.
The white Democratic leaders of Hazlehunt delivered a written ultimatum to Matthews ordering him not to vote. When he persisted, the precinct captain, a white farmer named Erastus B. "Ras" Wheeler, reached inside a wooden box for a double barreled shotgun and killed Matthews.[1]
The evening after his killing, Matthews' political enemies, organized in a local group known as the "Trail-Hold Club," gathered in the yard of his residence where they mockingly held a celebration of the feat.[2]
Wheeler was brought to trial in May 1884 before a specifically chosen all-white jury who quickly returned a verdict of not guilty, much to the pleasure and expectation of the judge and the community. Knowing full well the guilt of Wheeler the jury posted a statement noting that if an "error" occurred it was "one of the head, and not of the heart." J.T. Dameron, a merchant, testified that he saw Ras Wheeler in a street car in Jackson on the 13th or 14th of February.
Wheeler was talking in a low tone. He said; "Yes, old Hoar is coming down here on an investigation committee. If I get a crack at him I will kill him, too. I killed Print Matthews, or rather it was the Democratic party that did it. If it had not been for politics, I would not have done it; but it was politics that did it." [2]
Ras Wheeler went on to a successful political career. [3]
Print Matthews was survived by his wife Mary "Tine" Barlow (married June 6, 1862). Matthews had a son, John Prentiss Matthews, Jr. who carried on his father's principles and became a leader in Republican politics. On Christmas Day, 1890 he suffered the same fate as his father when he was shot dead by local Democrats in Carrollton, Mississippi. Another son, Simon Matthews, became an activist in the People's Party during the decade of the 1890s.