Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-05-12
Affairs in Grayson County.

Affairs in Grayson County.
The public have been informed, through
the newspapers, of the recent lawless pro-
cecding of the people of Grayson county.
An aged and respectable man, named
Cornutt, suspected of abolitionism was
dragged from his home by an armed mob,
taken to public gathering, tied, strip
ped and blindfolded, and dashed till the
blood ran down to his feet His wife al
so, coming to his assistance, was tied and
rudely treated. He sought to appeal to
a Court of Justice, for redress, but the
same mob and their sympathisers, inclu-
ding, it is said, some of the most respec-
table people of the county, interposed to
prevent the regular course of the laws,
by denouncing vengeance against the At
toneyS who had undertaken the case,
the Clerk who should issue the process or
the Sheriff who should execute it. Infiu-
enced by the threats of the people, the
Clerk resigned, and no one else being
willing to accept the office, the last ses-
sion of the Circuit Court was broken ND.
business is entirely suspended in the
county for the present. and the people
will elect no Clerk not pledged to On
before he will issue the writ. James W.
Shelley of SmYthe county, one of the
lawyers employed by Cornutt, in an adj
dress to the public on the subject, says
I" The state of things does not now exist
which would authorize call upon the
Governor for the Militia to suppress the
combination, because the officers are not
reslEted--no officer can be got to act. 1t
is only in case of resistance, to the exeou-
ton 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? Is the State of Virginia
powcrless to redress the grievances Of one
OF her citizens, who has been mos. cruel
ly maltreated by band of outlaws?-
Surely We should think no.--we hope not.
If SO, who is safe The first instinct of
nature, then; urges all we'll disposed citi,
zens to call upon the Legislature and Ex-
ecutive.of the State, to give this matter
their attention. If, as Mr.. Shefey thinks,
there is no existing law which authorizes
the Governor to interfere, cannot the Leg
lslature pass an act which will secure the
performance of their duties by the officers
of the Court, and provide for their pro
lection? The sovereign power Of the
State assumes to guarantee to every citi-
zen the safe possession of his life, liberty
and property, unless deprived of them by
a jury of his countrymen in accordance
with the laws of the land Here we have
case for testing the value Of this guar
antee Let the perpetrators of this out
rage 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
FirYimian, in Carol county, states that
Cornutt had acknowledged himself an ac-
complete of Bacon, preacher of the
Methodist Church, who was known or be-
lioved to have instigated the negroes to
rebellion. This is directly contrary to
Mr.. Shcffey's statement. Mr.. S. says,
" He most solcmnly denied the charge of
aboltioniSm. He told me that 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 set
ting the slaves free, or interfering in any
way with any body's slaves or property,
he was as far from being an abolitionist
as they were-that he would not renounce
principles that he did not hold, and that
he would die before he would renounce
the Wesleyan religious faith in which he
was raised, though he WAS not a member
of the Church"
But the inquiry as to Cornutt's guilt or
innocence, is foreign to the issue. If he
was guilty, the law prescrbcs an ample
punishment, and there is no reason to
suppose that the public sentiment in
Grayson would not have required its exc
cuton with the utmost rigor. The ex-
treme unwillingncEs of his prosecutors,
however, to confront him in Court of
Justice, seems to us virtual acknowl-
edgement by them that he did not merit
the treatment he received at their hands.
Stanton Spectator,
Scarcity OF SEAMEN.-Sailors are i'll
i Al. T.