the
measure. Meetings were held in every county; and public opinion
became so strong that those who had voted for the Yazoo Fraud found it
dangerous to remain in the State. A senator from Hancock County became
so alarmed that he fled to South Carolina. He was followed by one of his
neighbors, found in a lonely cabin at night, and shot to death. Except
in one or two counties, the men who voted for the Yazoo Fraud were
compelled to hide themselves until the anger of the people had cooled.

In his "Sketches of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia," Governor
George R. Gilmer tells a little story that will serve to show the state
of feeling in Georgia at that time. After the Yazoo Fraud was passed,
the people of the counties held indignation meetings. A meeting was
called in Oglethorpe County, and on the morning of the day, a citizen on
his way to town stopped at the gate of a neighbor to wait until he could
get ready to go. The man who was getting ready was named Miles Jennings.
The citizen, waiting, saw Mr. Jennings put a rope in his pocket.

"What is that for?" the citizen asked.

"To hang Musgrove!" replied Mr. Jennings, Musgrove being the name of the
member of the Legislature.

When the two neighbors arrived at the courthouse, all the people had
assembled. Mr. Jennings hitched his horse and went into the crowd,
pulled the rope from his pocket, and, holding it above his head where
all could see it, cried out,--

"Neighbors! this rope is to hang Musgrove, who sold the people's land
for a bribe!"

[Illustration: Rope to hang Musgrove 138]

The words of Jennings and the sight of the rope made the people furious.
Musgrove had been given a hint by Jennings's neighbor, and he had made
good his escape. But for that, no human power could have saved him.

The whole State was in a condition of excitement that is hard to
describe. Grand juries made presentments, county and town meetings
passed resolutions, and petitions were sent from hand to hand, and
signed by hundreds of people. A State convention, called to alter the
constitution, had been chosen to meet in May, 1795, but the members had
been chosen at the same time that the members of the corrupt Legislature
had been elected; and a majority of them had been "tarred with the same
stick," as the saying goes. The presentments, resolutions, and petitions
crowded so fast upon the convention, that it was decided to postpone the
changing of the constitution to a time when the