Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-01-13
From the New York Independentl
An 1rishman's Suffer1nss in South Car

published brief paragraph from the Charles
ton Mercury, announcing in very nonchalen
| style, that a workman engaged on the Statt
House, in Columbia, S. c., was recently seizeC
| by mob, on account, as was alleged, of hold
ing anti-slavery opinions, and that he received
twenty-nine lashes. and was tarred and feather
ed, and escorted out of the State!
| 1t took very few lines TO tell this story, nc
cording to the style of the Southern press fol
it is a trait of Southern chivalry, first to prac
tiee cruelty, and then to suppress the facts
| We have seen this unfortunate man, and
heard his story, and looked at his wounds
| His name is James Powers. He is an intelli-
gent young man, about thenty-three years Of
age, native of Wexford, Ireland, and stone
cutter by trade. He went from Phiadelpsfia
to the South, and obtained employment in
| Columbia, where he had worked for nine
months
| The only opinion he ever expressed agaiIst
slavery was that it caused white laborer in
| the South to be looked upon as an inferior
| and degraded man. But this was enough
| The remark was reported to the Vigilance
Committee, composed of twelve members,l
who Immediately ordered the police to arrest
him. He was seized two miles away from
town in attempting to escape. He was
brought back and put in cell, where he re-
maincd for three days, during which time he
was denied the use Of pen and ink, and all com
munication with his friends outside.
At length he was taken before the Mayor.
Four persons appeared and bore testimony to
the remark which he had made The evidence
was conc usive. He was returned to prison,
and kept locked up for six days During this
time, he was allowed only two scanty meals a
day and the food was carried to him by ne
gro. He was then taken out of jail in the Gus
tody of two marshaIs, who said to him,
" You so fond of niggers, that we are
going to givs you nigger escort. !" h,
He was led through the main street amid a
great crowd hooting and yelling. the marshals
compelling two negroes to drag him through
the puddIes and muddy places of the street,
and of the State House yard. As he was ia
ken past the Siato House. three members Of
the Legislature, including the Speaker stood
looking aud laughing! The crowd gradu-
ally increased until it numbered several thou
sand persons, headed by troop of horse.
After march of three miles out of the city,
to place called " the Junction" the process
sion was stopped, and preparations were made
for punishment. The p2pu!ace cried Bran |
him r Burn him y "Spike him to death!'
and lrade threats against his life by pointing
pistols at his head and flourish.ng sticks in his
face.
The Vigilance Committee ordered him to
strip himself naked, and forced negro to as
sist in taking off his clothes. a cowhide was
then put into the negros hands, who was order
ed to lay on thirty-nine lashes mot twenty
nine, as reported) and to draw blood with cs.
cry stroke. Our informant describes the pain
of this inaiction as exceeding in severity any
thing which he ever suffered before. His back
and lower limbs are still covered with the scars
of the wounds.
A bucket of tar was then brought, and two
negroes were ordered to rub it upon his b'eed-
ing skin, and to cover him from head to waist.
His hair and eyebrows were c!otted with the
tar After this part of the ceremony was cof-
cluded he was covered with feathers. His pam
falcons were drawn up to his waist, but he
was not allowed to put on his shirt or coat.-
He was conducted in this exposed condition,
amid the shouts of the populace, to the rail-
road tr;tin and was put on board the ne
groes car. The engineer blew a continuous
blast on his whistle to signa!ise the perform
ance.
A citizen of Charleston, on the train; who
saw the poor fellows unhapp~ condition, step
ped into a neighboring hotel, before the start.
ing of the cars, and brought cup of coffee
and some biscuit to relieve the sufferers faint
ness 1t was timely gilt, and gratefully re-
ceived: But the Southern chiva,fy gathered
around the Southern gentleman, and threaten
ed him with summary vengeance if he repeat
ed his generosity. The exaSperated crowd de-
tained the train. and called for more tar and
feathers, for a further infliction upon their
| bleeding victim. More tar was brought, but
more feathers could not be found and after
| fresh tar was applied, cotton was stuck upon it
| instead.
| When the train started for Charleston, the
mob babe him goodbye, and told him that
when he reached this city he would receive 120
| lashes At every station between Columbia
and Charleston, tie engineer blew prolonged
whistle, and gathered mob to add fresh in
suits to the wounded man. AT length, on ar
riving, he was met by the police, conveyed to
prison and detained there week. Here he
| received, for the first time, soap and water to
wash off the tar, and oil to soften his sores.-
4 mob several times threatened to break into
the prison to carry him out into the street, and
make a public spectacle of him a second time
| But he was kept clolely confined. A physi-
clan called to see him, to examine his wounds
who told him that his case was Il mild one,
comparing it with that of a man who was ther
lying in the City Hospital from the effect ol
500 lashes, which had almost put an end to his
life.
j On Saturday morning last, at seven. o'clocl,
the poor workman was taken from prison, and
conducted quietly on board the steamer fol-
New York. He arrived in this city on Mon
day last, where he is still staying, recovering
from the effects of his iI-treatment, and
looking for work, which we hope he will find
We have only one comment 10 make Oh thi
case. This man informed us that, in common
with the g,eat mass Of Irishmen in this coun
try he had always voted with the Democratic
party He had long known in Philadelphia
that the Democratic party upheld slavery, bu
he never learned, until hc went TO South Caro-
lima, that slavery crushed the white laborer
and that the Democratic party, in upholdins
slavery,is therefore the enemy of Isrishmen, wh'
are Il nation of laborers. In the Southern
States, work is looked upon as dishonorabIe
and workmen as degraded. This is what a
Irish stone cutter learned while cutting ston
in South Carolina. We hope the lesson c
his experience may reach the ears of his cour
trymen.
In publishing the above, it is but just to tn
tai treatment of Powers was properly denour
y ced by the Charleston Courier, the most infir
entail paper in the State. That journal, afte
n recapitulating the facts, says:
" In the name of law, and the honor an