Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-03-27


enough to make the blood of any man,
who has soul, boil in his veins We
called upon Mr. Schaller and obtained
the statement which We published below
We saw the bloody evidence of the hor-
rible treatment he had undergone, heard
the story of the affair as given by him,
and could not help believing every word
of his statement. He is respectable and
intelligent, and his plain and. simple ac-
count of the dastardly outrage was, we
venture to say, implicitly credited by the
hundreds OF our citizens who called at
Mr.. Dasbach's yesterday.
Mr.. Schaller has always voted the
Democratic ticket, and we are assured,
By German citizens of Quincy, that in
his visit to this city he has defended the
institution as it existed in Missouri
That he is entirely innocent of the charge
of assisting negroes to escape-as he as
serts-we have no doubt.
STATEMENT OF Mr.. scHALLER.
have been resident of Missouri for
twelve years, have resided part of the
time in Palmyra, and part of the time in
Lagrange. In the latter place have
property. I have never meddled with
slaves or slavery, and have always been
Democrat. Last fall, or early in the
winter, l heard that ten slaves had ran
off, 1 knew nothing about it till heard
of it, and do not recollect of ever having
seen them I could not therefore have
aided their escape.
Nobody in Lagrange ever suspected
me of tampering with slaves, till last
5unuay. I went On rnae uuy to eeautorr;
to invite some friends to party that was
to take place last Tuesday. On my ar
rival there was waited upon by three
persons, Jim Ring, Josh Owens and Bill
Webster, who informed me of my being
under suspicion of having aided the es-
cape Of a slave of Mr., Harris, and would
have to return with them. At first /
took the matter for joke, but soon found
that they were in earnest. On the night
on which the slave ran off, who was
caught by ten o'clock, I can prove by
twelve or fourteen persons, that | was in
my house tilftwelve o clock, consequently
could not have aided the negro.
l returned with the three, satisfied of
my innocence, and asked for fair trial
only, as I could have easily proven my
innocence. Twas taken to the Lagrange
House, and asked to be tried next day
{ Monday but was refused. :. Monday
night ain armed posse of twenty-five or
thirty men came, tied our-my brother s
-(Rob. Matti, had been taken before
my return from Canton hands, and put
us into hack. Two others, Frank Ger
lach and Mr. Holmes were set free, but
ordered to leave town. Our hands we're
tied and we were driven in the hack
about three miles on the Memphis road,
where the hack stopped and l was taken
out. To my question where they were
taking me to, [ got the answer that |
was to be hanged. l asked them what
for; and received as an answer that I
should tell them all about the nigger
scrapes, about Vandoon, &c
As | knew nothing about them, and
had never heard of Mr.. Vandoon, l
could not give the answer they wanted.
They tooke me about quarter of a mile
into thewoods and hanged me. l caught
the tree, but by beating my hands with
sticks, they compelled me to let go my
hold Soon I was senseless. When l
came to again l felt two persons, one on
each side, whipping me with. whips or
cowhides. My hands we're tied to the
tree above my head, and Twas entirely
naked. The night was cold, and my
back was soon covered with coat of fro
zen blood. I became weaker, and
when they united me l fell to the ground.
l heard one Of them say, "now you can
go, you son Of bitchp' When I put
on my clothes again l found my money
(s128 in gold) and watch gone. AS 1
could not stand, l crawled as well as pos
sible to the house of my father inlay,
where DR.. Niemever treated me.
My brother, whom they have released,
told me that they must have abused me
for more than an hour.
I again say that am as innocent of
the charge as a child, and have never
aided the escape of slaves.
The American (Matti) is still in La
grange, sick from similar treatment.
FREDERICK SCHALLER.