The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-12-07
"Gou- a,ru n,.r Ratt6e Aaarn.'
however, was to be. seen there, and
the door itself was asajn shut.

however, was to be- seen there, and
the door itself was again shut.
"Are you ready" inquired the
chief, looking into the tree above him.
"Mercy!" feebly whispered the
counterfeiter, as terror renewed par.
tally the power of speech.
"Mercy!" cried the mother and
Eliza, saveral rods distant from the
awful spot
"All ready" said the execution,
ers perched in the magnolia, tighten
ing the fatal cord.
"Thcn-" But the captains
voice was drowned in those screams
for "mercy;" and BY sudden shock
of air, more terrible still, and far
moro difficult to withstand.
"Boom! boom"! loud and heavy,
two reports, that roared almost to-
gether, pealed from the door Of
the log cabin. The girl Mary had
begun her work.
The commencing sentence died on
the captains livid lip. He fell to
the earth CHASTITY corpse, his
head torn to pieces With bullets and
buck-shot, for the heroine had tax.
en- aim with double-barrelled gun,
and had given the enemy both
loads at once.
"Boom! booml" sounded two 9th.
ers, as the panic.stricken lynchers
fled away in the most hopeless con.
sternation, leaving on the bloody
field, besides their dead captain, sew.
eral others badly wounded, and many
of their weapons cast behind them in
their flight. Indeed, SO thorough
was their alarm, that they dared
not return to their horses, or to
bear off their slain, until they had
first sent back committee of neigh.
boring females to crave permission in
the hunblcst of terms.
In the meantime, the short, sharp
cracks of several rifles were heard.
Mary was endeavoring to bring down
the two !yncllers lathe magnolia,
who had hastily ascended high.
er up. and hidden deeper in the
thick foliage-themselves now cry.
ing for "mercy" in their turn.
Though the interposition of the
counterfeiter, his wife and the elder
daughter, the backwoods "Aftnerva'
was finally induced to spare the rest.
The news of this tragedy Great.
ed, as may well be conceived, a
tremendous excitement, and led to
the abolition of lynching forever in
the prairie land Of Jasper; for
tho people, everywhere, are always
certain to take sides with extraor.
dinary bravery, and, although the
friends of the old regime of violence
managed to have an indictment
returned by the grand jury against
Mary Silmore for the murder OF
Mays, she was acquitted afterwards
on trial, amidst the acclamations
of five hundred spectators. Much
greater interest was manifested in
her favor, owing to the general be.
lief that she was not apprised oil
her fathers fclonious practices. The
female members Of the family had
been popular all the while, even when
the countcrfeiter himself was un.
iyersally exccrated.
AS we are not dealing in fiction,
hut naked, unadolned truth. prov.
en- and sworn in court of justice,
we cannot crafty the readers cur.
iosity by any additional particulars
as to the subsequent history of Mary
Silmore. The writer shortly after
wards emigrated to Texas, and has
not since heard aught from one
whose beautiful image rises up often
before the eye of memory.
Why is "truth stranger than fc.
toni" Because truth is from the
wild, passionate, living heart, while
fiction is forged in the cold, crafty in
tellect. The one is wrought in
figures Of fire; the other in embroid
cry Of frost.work.