Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-04-13
The Aiken Affair.

Ot TIE letter, Spuke VI vi 40
saw them around her. This utter WAS published,
and some one sent copy Of tho paper to tho
pu tmas,er ut Aiken. A public meeting was I'M
lu.ately called aud Committee appointed to
ferret out the writer. Northern gentleman who,
Us au invalid, happened also ut the hotel was su'-
pcrcd. and was threntened with lynch law II he
dill not confess. Az. of course nc could only per-
sist in ,leli Il. he wou probably have suffered ac-
coraia.ly, had not the lady nobly come Forward
to cAoncr;tc him 10y acknowledging the letter ~
her uwu affirming, ut the time, that she WAS
NOT nriyv to it's publication. The citizens then
turned their wrath upon her, and she WAS pcrcmp-
iorily ordered to leave the place III IS hours. Ihe
lady pleaded for more time on behalf OF her sick
laughter but the citizens of Aiken knew no Such
humanity. She asked for liberty TO remain until
her husband could arrive to escort her anu hef
sex child. Eut the citizens OF Aiken Knew NOM
ing of gamlantry "r courtesy. Tue order was ith-
u .rat.r. in spite of the earnest pleading oi tae
woman, wife and mother. Nor was this all. Inc
LANDLORD Of the hutcl-wuuld that We knew the
| monsters nanr-urlered the mother AMI sick
| daughter to leave his premises i'll hnlf an hour.
| What further occurred between the Lady AMI the
| inhuman ,ilizc,ls of Aiken, South Carolinn, We
i c not Informed. But we learn that on Wcunes-
lay morning last her husband received lettcr
,pprsing him of her situation, and on the aittr-
neon of the same day he started for the Soath'
/
their way home
Thus barke one of the big dogs. Whcr,npon,
the Trays, Blanchcs and Swecthcar;< Of the Coun-
try press open in full cry, evidently delighted ut
having som ching new land little curious) against
which to uplift their yclpins tbroats. The O*rcyo
Times IS particularly furbund, and. after detailing
the circumstances, as they did not occur, concludes
with the following terrific illumination FROM its
iratc pcricranium. Read and tremblc:
aye Gods it doth amaze us!" Is possible,
in this bnaStcd land OF the free and home of the
,ruvc." fair woman can thus be abused ANA lnsul-
] ted and free speech stricken down and silcncc,
rhauk Heaven it is Il state Of affairs bounded by
Masons and Dixon'S Line and peculiar unly to
the cline Of sun and slavery: Or we.iear W. should
all soon, in righteous Indignation ami retrloutlul
be swallowed up like tue cities of the plain. We
| have awayS heard that the system Of Slavery en-
,ura-cd and fustcrrl brutality but never till now
believed that the "gallaut sons of the South" "
ever deserted their 'nisscrs tu vent their cowardy
wrath upon poor drfcncelcss woman. The base
| aad brutal attack upon tue gifted Sumner was
enough to ha:ken the annals Of South Carolina
forever, and this last is another damnipg disgrace
which will never be wiped out.
We usk the men of Tioga, the honest, hardwork.
ius mcrhalici aud lahcrin. men, who arc styled
bv st,e arstpcratic slavs-drircrs ,of the South.
"thc mu!-siIls of society,"" whether, with such
unvarni.!cd ftcts and glarins proofs of the de-
basins and brutaliziug effects Of the system OF
human bondage, and its blighting effects upon
free institutions they will ever cast another vote
to aid in cxtcnling and proragatips 1t! Let us
hear one good strong, unanimous, emphatic No.
and in lSGO wo. shall hear from tho undivided
North with Ja,ksonian emphasis "by the cicrnnt"
n, and We shall once more enjoy what We have
40 long boon denied. fair, honest anu economical
national government.
Second only to the Times of 0Swego, another
journal hearin, that popular allcllation and rur-
porting to be published at one Albany in the State
of Wisconsin, gets OF its thunder thus:
Surrumnx CmIvALRY.-Mrs. Thompson. the au-
thor of the letter which appeared III the Times of
last week, written from Aiken, ;. e., was forced tu
iuavr the place, for during to write such letter to
her friends. AZ Suon n it was discovered that
she wrote the article. n mob of hcNhoHnds gather
ed around her boarding house, and orde: ed her
to leave the place within forty-cight hours and
forbid the landlady harboring her any longer.
few dozen yankees should ~ down and obiterato
that place called Aiken.
Should they, indeed? We can but think what
pleasant expedition they would find it to be.
Nothing to do but sail down to Charleston, run up
the South Carolina railroad, sweep the offending
village out of creation, scratch its name of the
map, say T"ju tait, whrl back to the scaboar'l.
subslizc the city for oysters and wines, take i
triumphal feast, 80 ont to sea with flying colors.
and home again :" Truly, the thing is bright
conccriiun. Try it, blades Of Oswego. 1t would
make ur pretty little chapter of adventure, quite
out of the ordinary line.
gut, balaase aside, VIC propose to administer
4 correction or two to the journals that have ut
tempted to magnify very simple occurrence into
Il monstrou< proceeding. The statement they are
50 eagerly embracing and rropagatng is at rari-
.ncc with truth in the following Important points:
]. The Northern gentleman, alluded to, was
rot, at any time by any citizen OF Aiken, threat
cncd with Lyme. law; he attended the citizens
meeting of his own accord, and, Of his own accord,
disavowed all knowledge Of the letter or its au-
thor.
2 There was no display of wrath on the occa-
sion, nor was there the least degree of rudencss
towards the lady; neither was she ordered to quit
the towa within IS hours. On tho contrary, the
committee politely requested her to leave, and
s,l that il the time they suggested was not sufIi-
cicnt for making her arrangements, more would
nc allowed her. She replied to this that the time
was quite enough The morning after the meet
ing. Mr. FINLEY tone of the c"mnitccl and his
wife calc,! the Hotel aH took the lady and her
daughter in their private carriage to the railroad.
l,,I,, ;, ii ,f Il ,tpt
3. The Commercial .idrcrtiscr says that the la
tly xnl her daughter were ordered by the landlord
10 leave lis premises in half an hour. This we
arc also authorized to pronounce utterly untrue.
Mrs. THOMPSON (ifSuch be lie: Eame) aud daughter
we're treated with the greatest Kindness through
out, by Mrs. lIAEEoRs, Il widow lady WHO owns
the hotel. It was r:crio"s to the meeting, and
picrioa. 10 Mrs. r. avJwins the authorship of
the letter in question: that alt the b"aTdr's ut tai,
hotel l.a been requested 10 leave il anu Eud lvds
n, elsewhere.
W.;!l 'hest material corrections, tho C,nmsYcim
.deer;oer'3 arraisumcnt falls to the ground; his
Indictment lies ritiahly quashet And these cor
rcctions make upon the authority Of ono who
challenges their disprovul
The true prcsentment Of the matter is this: A
Northern lady, taking advantage of the salubrity
ola Southern village to benefit daughters health,
is treated by white and black with the utmost con-
sleraton. Her child is improved by our genial
air; and the kindly people, among whom shc is
s@journing, rejoice with her on the event. The
lady. thus treated and thus benefited, is found to
employ her leisure hours in writing lrejudccd and
onc-sided accounts Of f"ur domestic institution, and
in ilnpugming the character of the community of
which she is temporarily welcome member One
of her letters only comes to light; but the pre-
sumption is natural, that il is olc Of many. This
letter is Indicative Of dccp-scate, hostility to Af.
rican try-ltaving out Of view, us it does, all
rc,eclnirg characteristics Of the institution, and !
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