Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-05-05
Affairs i'm Grayson County.

The public have been informed. through the
newspapers, of the recent awless proceeding of the
people of Grayson County. An aged and respect
able man, named CoRNUTT, suspected of aboli-
tionism, was dragged from his home by an armed
mob, taken to a public gathering, tied, stripped
and bindolded, and lashed till the blood ran down
to his feet. His wife also, coming to his assist
ance, was tied and rudely treated. He sought to
appeal to Court of justice, for redress, but the
same mob and their sympathisers, including, 1t is
said, some of the most respectable people of the
County, interposed to prevent the regular course
of the laws, by denouncing vengeance against the
Attorneys who had undertaken the case, the Clerk
who should issue the process or the Sheriff who
should execute it, Influenced by the threats Of
of the people, the Clerk resigned and no one else
being willing to accept the ufice, the last session
of the Circuit Court was broken up. Business is
entirely suspended in the County for the present,
and the people will elect no Clerk not pledged to
resign before he he will issue the writ. JAMES
w. SHEFFEY, Esq, of Smythe County, one of the
lawyers employed by CoRNUTT, in an address to
the public on the subject, says-"The state Of
things dees not now exist which would authorize
call upon the Governor for the Militia to sup
press the combinaton because the officers are not
resisted-no officer can be got to act. 1t is only
in case of resistance, to the execution Of the law
that such call could be made"
The question naturally arises, whether there is
no remedy for the state of affairs related above 2
Is the State of Virginia powerless to redress the
grievances of one of her citizens, who has been
most cruelty maltreated by band of outlaws?-
Surely we should think not-we hope not. If so,
who is safe? The first instinct of nature, then,
urges all well disposed citizens to call upon the
Legislature and Executive of the State, to give
this matter their attention. If, as MIR, SHEFFEY
thinks, there is no existing law which authorizes
the Governor to interfere, cannot the Legislature
pass an act which will secure the performance Of
their duties by the officers of the Court, and pro-
vide for their protection? The sovereign power
of the State assumes to guarantee to every citizen
the safe possession of his life, liberty and property,
unless deprived of them by a jury of his country
men in accordance with the laws of the land
Here we have case for testing the value of that
guarantee. Let the perpetrators of this outrage
escape punishment, and the laws will hereafter be
set at defiance by every band of men who can
league together in sufficient numbers to control the
officers of the County.
A correspondent of the Lynchburg pngiaia,,
in Carroll County, states that CoRNUTT had &C
knowledged himself an accomplish Of BACON, a
preacher of the Methodist Church, who was known
or believed to have nstigated the negroes to rebel
lion. This is directly contrary to Mr.. SHEFFEY's
statement. Mr. S. says Gle most solemnly de-
MED the charge of abolitionsm. He told me thai
when they charged him with it, and required him
to sign resolutions renouncing the Wesleyan faith
and all abolition principles, he told them that he
did not know that he knew what abolition meant
but if it meant setting the slaves free, or interior
ing in any way with any body slaves or property
ne was as far from being an abolitionist as they
were-that he would not renounce principles tha
he did net hold, and that he would die before he
would renounce the Wesleyan religious faith il
which he was raised, though he was not mem
Der of the Church"
But the inquiry as to Coxxurr's guilt or limo
cence, is foreign to the issue. If he was guilty
the law prescribes an ample punishment, and there
is no reason to suppose that the public sentiment
in Grayson would not have required its execution
with the utmost rigor. The extreme unwilling
ness OF his prosecutors, however, to confront hin
in Court ofjustice, seems to us virtual ae
acknowledgement by them that he did not merit tht
treatment he received at their hands.